Here are the goodies.

I am excited about the butter. It's dairy free, and you can't tell the difference for most of the baked goods I make!

Total: $19.84

Coupons: None!

Total Cash Back: $20.45

Final Cost: -$0.61 - Money Maker

 
Here is the complete break down and sites used. The stores are listed in the breakdown image. I don't include sites that take any receipt on my breakdown.
Note: Individual deals vary by user for most apps. If you don't have the deals right now, you can try checking back later.
 
My Guides

1. All rebate apps/sites I use and/or know about
   
2. How I do my hauls
   
3. Beginners guide to using rebate apps/sites - for those who don't know where to start
   

 
If you aren't interested in this kind of thing, please keep your comments to yourself. If you don't like what I buy, you can buy different products. If you don't like hunting for deals, you can do surveys, microtasks, games or whatever else you like instead. There is no need to discourage other users just because you aren't interested in the same things!
 
If you don't need feminine hygiene products, toothpaste, soaps, etc - consider donating them to your local women's shelter, church, or school!
 
Some Additional Deals

• Stem Fly Trap Starter Kit - Money maker after IB + SB
  
• $10 back on 7 Kellogg's Products (specific products only) - Military Commissaries only - Refund is a digital gift card (includes Prepaid visa - view the website for all the options) - Expires 5/31/24 - (Thanks to u/Kicker774 for mentioning it!)
  
• Nature Valley Wafer or Breakfast Bars (specific products) - Free after Rebate - PayPal or Venmo - Void in CT, RI, ND, and Miami Dade County - Expires 8/31/24
  
• Nature Valley Lunch Box Bars, Mott's Baked Bars, Fiber One Donuts (specific products) - Free after Rebate - PayPal or Venmo - Void in CT, RI, ND, and Miami Dade County - Expires 8/31/24
  
• Fresh Fizz - Free can at Fresh Thyme - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Painterland Sisters Yogurt - Free at Whole Foods (PA, VA, MD, DC) - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Pepsi - Free after Rebate. Expires 6/17/24
  
• Tru Water - Free can at Walmart - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Cheesecake Factory GC - $10 bonus card when you buy a $50 one - Expires 5/12
  
• Fromm Diner Can - Free after coupon. (It's pet food)
  
• Painterland Sisters Yogurt - Free after rebate. PayPal or Venmo. Whole Foods only.
  
• Beneful - IB + SK
  
• Suja Protein Shake - Free at Target in-store or online.
  
• Coffee (Any?) - You get a coupon for up to $10 in free coffee when you buy 3 participating special K cereals. I don't see anything mentioned about specific brands, but I also don't quite know how it works. - Expires 5/30/24
  
• Gooey - Free after rebate - Venmo/PayPal - (It says Walmart at the top, but it also says "from any store")
  
• Perfect Bar - One free bar - PayPal, Venmo, Amazon - Rebates are often instant
  
• CHKP - Free after Aisle - Fairway, Whole Foods, ShopRite
  
• Dr Elsey's Cat Litter - Up to $22 back on a bag up to 40 lbs when you purchase at Target, Walmart, or a local business pet store. You need to cut out the barcode and mail it in with the receipt. One rebate per person/household/address. Must submit within 90 days. There's also a handful of $1 coupons on this page.
  
• Free bag of Like Air Puffcorn - Refund via PayPal or Venmo. Must purchase in-store or for curbside pickup. Expiration date unknown.
  
• Kellogg's Promotions - Various stuff ranging from coupons for free products, movie tickets, various merchandise, and more.
  
• Various Sampoll offers
  
• Offers on Aisle Referrals: Halfday Rockstar - Buy 2 get $5 back. No gas purchase needed. Can do every other week. Free HOP Water (using my ref will give me another rebate offer) Pays out via PayPal or Venmo
  
• Various freebies on Ibotta.
  
• Various deals I've done in previous weeks can still be done.
  

 

Afterthoughts

Small haul for a small bonus today. I put together that part of the haul last night, and once I saw the $5 / 10 bonus, I completely forgot to check every other app, haha. Technically a slight profit loss meeting my IB bonus today, but that's okay because I'm making progress towards my bigger bonus. If I were to prorate that bonus, that'd be an extra $4.52, so it's definitely worth it.
 
My Beneful finally stopped resetting, unfortunately. Hopefully the Mac a Roni and butter keep resetting. I was going to get a couple other things too just to work towards my big bonus, but my store was out. I'll be going out of town later this week, so maybe I'll get lucky and find some good deals at stores that aren't around here.
 

Time Spent

I glanced at IB last night for like 5-10 minutes. I was planning to finish planning the haul today, but I didn't need to find any more deals. I was in the store for 50 minutes today, which included my regular shopping as well as browsing through the plants and clearance aisles.
 

Food From Deals

Here's an idea: Mix up a white cheddar Mac a Roni, with your choice of ham, sausage, chicken, pork, or one of the vegan meat alternatives. Add a little soy sauce, and some green peas if you wish. You could even add some extra butter and milk (or plant based milk) to make it a bit creamier. Serve with a slice of buttered toast or some Jasmine Rice. Perhaps make a little Banana bread for dessert. (Note: Everything mentioned has Ibotta deals available.)
 
Here's some things I've made in the past: High Protein Tomato Crackers, Hot Sausage Cups, Peanut Butter Fudge & Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge, Chocolate Cherry Pie
 
Do you guys want me to continue showing things I've made using ingredients I got from rebate apps on these posts? Let me know in the comments, or you can vote on this poll if you want to remain anonymous.
 

Mini FAQ

• If you're new or confused - check out the guides near the top of the post. They go into detail about everything.
  
• I'm from the USA and these posts are tailored as such, but this post of mine does list things from other countries that I know about.
  
• My posts are tailored to being money makers to suit this subreddit. There are tons of great deals that aren't money makers but can still save you a lot of money.
  
• A lot of what I get is given away to friends, family or is donated. I do this more as a hobby than anything.
  
• I generally do not share my spreadsheet since the one shown in this post is not the one I actually use (it's put together with a script from my usual spreadsheet) and there are a ton of little things that will give you wrong values if you don't know about them and even then you have to be careful. It's super easy to make a spreadsheet with Google Sheets though.
  

A local company withheld 10% tax for the first quarter. I recently learned that I must register and file my taxes, even though the company remits the taxes on my behalf. That's why they remitted 10%, but I've requested to change it to 5% after sending them a copy of my CoR. (I registered on April 9).
That said, may I confirm if I should only input these data (value is sample data): - Sales/Revenues/Receipts/Fees: P50,000.00 - Creditable Tax Withheld per BIR Form 2307 for this Quarter: P15,000.00
Since I have an overpayment, do I need to choose 'Yes' under Amended Return? Or is it better to choose this for the annual filing?

For those who are unaware, there was a very recent change (January 1, 2024) in the residency requirements for foreign Taiwanese nationals - people with Taiwanese parent(s). For these people, Taiwan has what is called a National Without Household Registration (NWOHR) Passport. It is green and looks like a normal Taiwan passport, but it doesn’t convey full citizenship rights as it didn’t include residency and household registration. (I posted mine here in the passport sub).
Prior to this year, in order for someone with a NWOHR passport to qualify as a full citizen, they had to first live in Taiwan for 366 days in a row without leaving the country (there were some other options that allowed you to leave for short times involving 2 and 5 years, but also quite impossible for most, unless you were in Covid lockdown or found a job in Taiwan.)
But earlier this year, Taiwan’s government removed this requirement for NWOHR passport holders who had at least one parent with household registration at the time of their birth. Hence, to get your own household residency and full citizenship, you no longer have to live in Taiwan for a year without leaving. You can just go to Taiwan, spend a few weeks there and complete the application process to obtain residency and a National ID, and become a full citizen of Taiwan. Taiwan will also allow you to keep your other citizenship (as long as they allow dual citizenship with Taiwan, which the U.S. does).
I kept really detailed notes and will post below some tips from my experience. The most important one is that what was formerly known as the TARC is now folded into the 定居證 (permanent resident certificate). So you just skip having to live in Taiwan for a year but provide almost the exact same documents as the old TARC for your 定居證.
There is a process listed here which says that you can start the permanent residency certificate from outside Taiwan to shorten your time in Taiwan by just exchanging your permit in 3 days. However, when I spoke to people at TECO a few months ago, and then more recently immigration in Taipei, they said I had to start the process in Taiwan. A friend’s parents in Taiwan also called immigration the other day and they told them the same thing. So not sure how one would go about the shortened process that is in on their website. But if anyone has successfully done the shortened process themselves, please post and let us know how you were able to get it done since it would cut the process by 1.5 weeks and help out a lot of folks who can’t spend 2-3 weeks in Taiwan.
This older post in this sub covers military conscription and also has many previous links about what to do if you are male and 18-36 written by FewSandwich6. (This was not applicable for me).
This very helpful post here contains a list of definitions for commonly used terms in Chinese and English that are often used in this process, written by HongKonger85. There is also an image of a 定居證 (Permanent Residency Certificate) after immigration has issued it to you, and this is what you need to swap for household registration (covered in Part 2 below).
My detailed notes for folks are as follows. Part 1 based on my experience getting my NWOHR passport, and Part 2 getting residency, my National ID, and full citizenship in Taiwan. Some info repeats what has already been mentioned in previous threads, with the difference being the new 2024 rule change. There are probably other ways to get this process done, but just sharing my own recent experience to help others looking to do this now.
In all, I am so glad I did this. I travel a lot to Taiwan to see friends and family but do not work there, so there were minor inconveniences in not having residency. My NWOHR passport was fairly useless in Taiwan, but once I got my 身分證, I can now do things like open a bank account, get a permanent cell phone number, qualify for health insurance (after waiting 6 months), and vote in Taiwan elections. I also have a second passport to travel with if there is a country more hostile to the U.S.. Doing this will also allow any future children of mine to qualify for Taiwanese citizenship if they choose to at some point in their lives. I could also consider retiring in Taiwan or taking a gap year from work in the U.S. and still have health insurance. The total costs from start to finish ran me about $550 (excluding the costs for my trip to Taiwan).
Happy to answer any questions for folks about the process. Cheers! Hopefully my notes below are helpful.
Please note that this was written in May 2024, so things may change over time. Also, there are parts where different forms, documents, or processes may be acceptable instead of what I did, so what I outline here might not be the only possible process.
********

Part 1. Getting the NWOHR Passport:

If you do not have any Taiwanese passport start here. If you already have the NWOHR passport then skip to Part 2 (converting the passport to residency under the new 2024 laws).
The first step is to get what they call a NWOHR (National Without Household Registration) passport. This part is actually not done in Taiwan at all, and are issued by what are de-facto embassies, which in the U.S. are called the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO). There are 12 in the US and the U.S. National Office TECRO based in DC. (Other countries have a similar versions of this like the TRO in the UK).
I was told to use the TECO office closest to where you were born and/or where your parents were married. Luckily, this was the same office - the LA branch. If it happens that you were born closer to a different one than where your parents were married, call them and ask what they recommend. One reason for this is that it makes it easier to authenticate documents that the office is familiar with, which tend to be in the areas around it.
So what is authentication? This is a process that involves notarization where someone essentially authenticates your documents and verifies that they are real. For example, you bring a copy of your official birth certificate to TECO, then the TECO office will go through the process of contacting the relevant authorities where you were born to verify that this document is indeed real. Once TECO deems it authentic, they authenticate and notarize that document for you. You need to have this done for your passport application documents.
Here is what you need to submit to your local TECO for the NWOHR passport (these guidelines are from the TECO LA Office). TECO needs to first authenticate your birth certificate and parent’s marriage license. Then they use these for the NWOHR passport application. Documents cost $15 each to authenticate. The passport application for a 10-year passport is $45.
I highly advise you make an appointment with TECO. They even advise you to book two back-to-back appointments if you need both authentication and passport services done - which is what you need to do anyway. They cut off the number of walks ins per day (in LA it was 35 max walk ins).
The authentication of documents are usually done in a few weeks and your passport around 8-10 weeks. LA TECO gave me a pick up date and a receipt (save this to give them when you pick things up). If all goes well, you should have your NWOHR passport in about 2 months! If there are any issues, like inconsistent spelling of names between documents, and something is rejected, TECO will let you know and you will have to get the docs amended before your passport can be issued.
This whole process is done outside of Taiwan. Once you get your NWOHR passport, there is no time limit to complete Part 2 in Taiwan (though if your NWOHR passport expires after 10 years, you do need to renew it).
Congrats! You now have your NWOHR passport and can continue to Part 2 whenever you are ready.

Part 2. Getting household registration, your National ID with full citizenship rights, and converting your NWOHR Passport to a NWHR Passport to finish the process.

There are now two more things you need. A health check and an FBI background check (or other relevant agency of your country; apologies that this is U.S. focused). You will also need to figure out your household registration in Taiwan (more on that later). The FBI background check took about 4-6 weeks to get, and you need to have this authenticated and notarized by TECRO. This was done outside of Taiwan while I was still in the U.S. The FBI check result is valid for one year, while the health check is only valid for 3 months, so plan accordingly.
(I chose to get the health check later in Taiwan since I did not know how to go about getting an acceptable health check done in the U.S. and also did not want to bother having the results translated into Chinese. Doing it in Taiwan also ensured my health check wouldn’t be rejected, delaying my application.)
FBI Background Check
For the FBI check, there are two steps here and it’s kind of confusing.
The first is initiating an FBI background check for yourself through the online request form on the FBI site and getting a secure link and pin. (FBI emails this to you). Get your fingerprints done at a verified USPS, it's super quick and easy. Once your background check is complete and you get your electronic results, you forward that email with the PDF directly to TECRO. The website is not super clear so I emailed them for clarification and they wrote back to me more detailed instructions after I had received the completed PDF of my background check. What they said in their email:
***
For authentication of electronic FBI Report, there are 2 steps:
Step 1:
Please forward the digital FBI Report (.pdf format) and the email of pin number (under FBI email account) to our consular email at [consul.tecro@mofa.gov.tw](mailto:consul.tecro@mofa.gov.tw) directly.
Step 2:
Meanwhile, please prepare and mail the relevant documents listed below to our office for further proceeding:
* fill out the application form for authentication as attached
* a copy of the applicant's passport (including Taiwan passport if have)
* print out the FBI Report and the email of pin number for crossing reference
** For overseas Applicants:
* a US bank draft (美金匯票) $15 in Taiwan local banks with payable to TECRO
* a prepaid shipping label from FedEx or USL or DHL (for mailing the authenticated document back to you)
** For domestic Applicants:
* authentication fee: USD 15 (either money order or casher's check with payable to TECRO)
* a stamped self-addressed return envelope (to mail the authenticated documents back to you)
Also, please allow additional time for mail delivery. Thanks
***
In about 4 weeks or so, TECRO will mail you back a physical copy of your TECRO authenticated FBI background check using the self-addressed stamped envelope you sent them. Now that you have your FBI background check, you have one year to get your citizenship done in Taiwan before it expires.
Chinese Translation and Authentication/Notarization of your documents:
For this next part of the process, you need to get all your docs that were submitted for your NWOHR passport and the FBI background check translated and authenticated into Chinese. People on the internet mention that you can do this yourself. I recommend hiring professionals here who know what they are doing and also do the notarizing since you don’t want the translation of your documents to be rejected by immigration, wasting time and money. The docs also need to be formatted in a certain way. Given this, I went with a place in Taipei that charged about 6200 NT (~$200 US) for doing all my docs (background check, birth certificate, and parents marriage license, with notary). I used: 口藝國際有限公司(翻譯/公證代辦) and they took a little over a week to get these translated and notarized for me. (TECO actually told me to save money and do the translation in Taiwan, since places in the LA area were quoted as more, maybe in the $300-400 range, but if others have found cheaper US or Taiwan options please let us know who you used and how much they charged).
Plan a 2-3 week vacation in Taiwan (possibly with your parent(s) whose household registration you will be joining). 2 weeks if your health check is done already and all your docs are translated and notarized, 3 weeks if you need to do a health check in Taiwan. Less than a week might be possible but unclear if anyone has successfully done the 3-day exchange version mentioned here.
Enter Taiwan with your NWOHR passport on the Taiwan resident/citizen side and make sure to get your NWOHR passport physically stamped with your entry date.
Health Check in Taiwan
For my health check, I went to MacKay Memorial Hospital, 16th floor (No.92, Sec.2, Zhongshan N. Rd., Zhongshan Dist., Taipei City). I called all the Taipei hospitals on this approved list of health check hospitals, and MacKay was the shortest guaranteed turnaround at 7 days. Walk-ins only, no appointments, - 8am-11am, 1:30-4pm M-F, and Saturday but only in the morning. Exam fee was 2050 NT, an additional 750 NT if you need a booster shot. The turnaround was 1 week and there was no way to speed this up. Bring passport, face mask (maybe not required now), and money. You can use your U.S. passport for the application and might actually be easier as they don't need stool samples for U.S. applicants. They draw some blood and take a chest x-ray.
After getting all your documents translated and authenticated, the health check, and entering Taiwan on your NWOHR passport, you can begin the 3-step process of getting your full citizenship and new NWHR passport in this order:

1. 定居證 (permanent residency certificate) ->
2. 戶口名簿 (household registration) and 身分證 (National ID) ->
3. New NWHR Passport (and leaving Taiwan on it).

1) 定居證 (Permanent Residency Certificate)
For your 定居證 (permanent residency certificate), go to a National Immigration Agency office in Taiwan with all the necessary documents that have been authenticated and translated. (I used the one in Taipei on 15 Guangzhou Rd). Once you start this part, you cannot leave Taiwan until you get your new passport, and when you next leave Taiwan, you must do so on your new NWHR passport. In your application, you need to show that you have the ability to establish household residency (easier to do if joining your parents), along with the original and one set of copies of all of your translated/notarized documents and yours and your parents' Taiwan passports. They will also ask for a photocopy of the dated entry stamp in your NWOHR passport. You will also need pictures, and the basement of the Immigration Agency has a booth where you can get 6 photos for 120 NT. Those 6 pictures should be enough for the rest of the process - just keep them with you for each step.
The permanent residency certificate process takes 7 working days, so essentially 10 days. This is the longest part. If someone has successfully done the shorter 3 day exchange, please let us know how you did this, since it would likely help out a lot of people given that this was the longest part necessary in Taiwan.
2) 戶口名簿 (Household Registration) and 身分證 (National ID)
In 10 days, once you get your 定居證 permanent residency certificate, to get your household registration you must go to the household registration office in the district you plan to register in. The easiest is to have a parent add you to theirs, but their household registration has to be current and not expired for you to be able to do this, and best updated within the past 3 months (what TECO told us). If you can’t do this, then you need to register a household yourself using a lease/other steps that you should look up how to do.
At the household registration office, you give them the 定居證 (permanent residency certificate) and other documents they need to establish your residency (parent’s household info or lease etc). Don't forget your picture. Then you get your 戶口名簿 (household registration). Also remember to get a copy of your 戶籍謄本（transcript of household registration) since you will need it in 6 months to apply for health care if you plan to do that.
Right after this, they will print out your 身分證 (National ID). You get your household registration and 身分證 the same day at the same place (took me about 1-2 hours).
At this point, you are actually considered a citizen of Taiwan. However, when you choose to leave Taiwan, you must get a NWHR Passport and leave on that passport.
3) Getting your NWHR Passport
You now need to go to BOCA to apply for the new passport. I did my household registration and national ID in the late morning, so I still had time to go to BOCA before they closed at 5pm.
Their Taipei office is near the Shandao MRT stop. Bring your national ID, NWOHR passport, 2 pictures, and cash for payment. Normally for a passport there is a 10-day turnaround at 1300 NTD. Expedited next business day service is available for an additional 900 NTD. So I paid 2200 NTD for my passport since I needed mine the next day as my trip to Taiwan was planned for exactly 3 weeks and by now, I had only 2 days left in Taiwan.
Pick up your passport the next day (and they give you your previous NWOHR passport back with the corner clipped off)! Don’t forget, when you eventually leave Taiwan, you must leave Taiwan with your new NWHR Taiwan passport but there is no deadline to leave (and I got mine stamped in case that was required, but not sure if it was or not).
CONGRATS on finishing the entire process, getting full Taiwan Citizenship/Household Residency with your National ID, and your new NWHR passport to allow you to leave Taiwan!
Health Insurance: 6 months after doing this you can qualify for NHI (and is technically mandatory). To apply, go to any district office and bring your 戶籍謄本 (transcript of household registration), National ID, and a chop stamp. (Yeah, they still use those lol). I found a chop stamp place near my household registration office that did a wood stamp for 100 NTD, and had them do multiple in case I lost one, since any duplicates have to be done at the same time for them to match. Someone else can even apply for you if you are not in Taiwan as long as they have a copy of your ID, 戶籍謄本 (transcript of household registration), and chop stamp.
If all your income is outside of Taiwan, health insurance payments should be about $25 a month. If you pay monthly, you qualify for full health benefits in Taiwan. You can also suspend your payments if you plan to leave Taiwan for more than 6 months and do not plan on using their health care system. You can also keep coverage and continue to pay into the system even when gone for long periods of time. However, don't forget that your household registration will be suspended if you are gone from Taiwan for more than 2 years, and while you can easily renew it when you come back, this will pause your health coverage.
Total Cost for Taiwan Citizenship
The total cost, was about US $75-100 for the NWOHR passport, depending on if you have to get new copies of your original birth/parental records. The cost for the Part 2 were roughly: FBI check ($32), U.S.P.S. fingerprinting ($50), Health Check ($85, mine was more than the usual $63 because I needed a booster shot for one of my MMR vaccinations), Translations and notarizations ($200), residency permit (~$30), National ID ($5), expedited passport next day ($68). So my out of pocket costs for the residency conversion in Taiwan was roughly $465 or so.
So the entire citizenship process from start to finish was about $550 USD.
You only have to do this once, and now you are a full citizen with all the rights to live and work in Taiwan and can vote! I would have never been able to do this without the new rule change, so really thankful that the process is so much easier now.
Let me know if there are any questions!
(Edits for clarification.)

Problem description & analysis

We have an XML file invoice.xml. Below is part of the data: ``` …
1 28-JUL-14 111820 27-AUG-14 1493092 1712368 111820 28-JUL-14 Invoice 27-AUG-14 SAMPLE SALE WASHINGTON 4382 9648082 64.4 64.40 SAMPLE SALE 0 111820 19-OCT-15 … ```
We are trying to extract data from the XML file. The expected result is as follows:

SORT_INVOICE_NUMBER	TRANSACTION	SORT_DUE_DATE	TRX_DATE	TRX_AMOUNT
111820	Invoice	27-AUG-14	28-JUL-14	64.4
111820	Payment	27-AUG-14	19-OCT-15	-64.4
1100585	Invoice	30-JUL-15	30-JUN-15	69.4
1100585	Payment	30-JUL-15	05-AUG-15	-16.73
1100585	Payment	30-JUL-15	09-SEP-15	-52.2
1100585	Payment	30-JUL-15	19-OCT-15	-0.47
1101491	Invoice	05-AUG-15	06-JUL-15	69.4
1101491	Payment	05-AUG-15	19-OCT-15	-69.4
…	…	…	…	…

Solution

Write the following script p1.dfx in esProc:

	A
1	=file("invoice.xml").read()
2	=xml(A1,"G_STATEMENT/LIST_G_AMOUNT_DUE/G_AMOUNT_DUE")
3	=A2.news(if(ifa(LIST_G_LINE_CLUSTER.G_LINE_CLUSTER),LIST_G_LINE_CLUSTER.G_LINE_CLUSTER,[LIST_G_LINE_CLUSTER.G_LINE_CLUSTER]);SORT_INVOICE_NUMBER,~.TRANSACTION,SORT_DUE_DATE,~.TRX_DATE,~.TRX_AMOUNT)

Explanation:
A1 Read the XML file as a string.
A2 Parse A1’s XML string, get data at the level of G_STATEMENT/LIST_G_AMOUNT_DUE/G_AMOUNT_DUE, and return it as a table sequence.
A3 Extend the table sequence by a specific column to get the targe result. Note that LIST_G_LINE_CLUSTER.G_LINE_CLUSTER could be a record sequence, which should first be checked and then converted into a sequence if it is a record sequence.
Refer to How to Call an SPL Script in BIRT to learn about the method of integrating the SPL script with BIRT.

hello all!! i’ve been very interested in fragrances recently and decided to order some perfumes online to try out from a shop called “heavenly ouds”. because i didn’t know the seller well/how nice the perfumes actually were, i just ordered two samples instead of a full size perfume. here’s the sad part: i placed the order almost two weeks ago, got my receipt and heard NOTHING after- no tracking number, no “your order is on the way”, nothing. i even tried contacting the brand through their email and heard nothing back. any suggestions on what to do? will it just show up one day or was i dumb enough to get scammed?

Feels like a dumb question but something I've always wanted to work on is a boggle type game. My oldest daughter is finishing up kindergarten so reading and spelling is huge for her right now. She also enjoys watching me play games and make games and often has ideas of her own. I'm really wanting to make a boggle type game for her to play and also maybe be something she can "help" me with. The problem is that I have zero idea where to even start with something like this. I have experience as a hobby dev but I've never made a word game and don't know where to begin. Any tips or if anyone knows of a sample project it would be appreciated.

TL;DR: it looks like generating invoices in foreign currencies (such as EUR) and producing BIR-compliant reports (such as the alphalists of payees for the withholding tax) are not commonly found together in online accounting solutions - at least, I found none that tick both boxes.
Hi. I have an OPC that has foreign customers. So far, I have created invoices manually in LibreOffice, sent PDFs to customers, and then, after they paid, issued them manual official receipts from the booklet that was printed for me under the ATP. The invoices were treated as "internal documents" and were, therefore, subject to no requirements, so I was told that making them in LibreOffice was OK. The auditor did ask to show them, but did not say anything bad or good about them. All the accounting and auditing was done using the official receipts as a basis.
Now that BIR demands (via EoPT regulation and Revenue Regulations (RR) No.7-2024) that the invoice becomes the primary document and can, therefore, no longer be treated as an internal document. Therefore, LibreOffice is apparently no longer a legal way to make invoices.
Going back to manual invoices (handwriting in a booklet printed under ATP) or even loose-leaf invoices (that would require a dot-matrix printer) would look quite unprofessional. Therefore, I am looking at applying for a permit to use a computerized accounting system. But to apply, I need to choose one.
I already asked MPM, and the result is that their cloud-based system is not suitable, as it is not able to create invoices in foreign currencies. According to the videos from oojeema, they have the same problem.
A sales person from MPM recommended QuickBooks, however, then it's on me to produce all the documentation (e.g., sample reports) required by BIR. I think there are other solutions, but I don't know about them.
So, here are my requirements:

• Cloud-based solution for invoicing and accounting, with nothing to install on my laptop except a browser
• Compliant with PH laws
• Can issue professionally-looking invoices and official receipts as PDFs that I can send to customers
• Can issue invoices and official receipts using foreign currencies
• Can track bank account balances in multiple currencies (currently we just enter everything in Pesos, which is also fine, but then it needs to understand that the "~61500 PHP equivalent" increase in the EUR account balance directly corresponds to the customer paying the previously issued 1000 EUR invoice)
• Can automatically submit e-invoices generated by them to BIR in JSON format (if this is indeed a requirement - not sure here)
• Would help me with the initial BIR application for the permit to use the CAS (here MPM would do it for an additional fee, but with QuickBooks this is out of question)
• Ideally a local company

Any recommendations?

THIS IS ALL JUST RUMORS AND ALLEGATIONS GIVEN TO ME.
THE DRAKE RECEIPT ARCHIVE
Got banned on Rap, KendrickLamar and Drizzy for posting receipts 🤔. They didn’t add a single one against Kendrick yet. 100k people have seen this.
Kendrick planned this and proved he did: https://www.reddit.com/KendrickLamas/lC5j1fvsEm
Claims that are true so far: 1. Drake has sex offender Baka on payroll and more apparently. 2. Drake is a pedo for sexually assaulting a 17 yo and dating minors (Sza, and haily beiber) 3. Drake is a groomer for texting many celeb child actors like Hayley Bieber, Millie Bobby Brown, and Billy Eilish. 4. Drake shows up to girls high school basketball games.
Claims we’re waiting on: 1. Kdot dave free shit 2. Kdot domestic abuse 3. Drake kid 2
Add some receipts below
——————————————
Lil Wayne Admits Drake fucked his girl: https://youtu.be/AOLi96rLvJ4?si=qXiN0sPohUYClsZc
Drake kissing a 17 yo after finding out she is 17 and sexually assaulting her on stage: https://youtu.be/h-p1feEHJZM?si=VY8o9fztin6NjYkR
Drake using Rkelly music after allegations: https://variety.com/2021/music/news/drake-r-kelly-songwriting-tsu-certified-lover-boy-sample-1235057256/amp/
Drake texting minors and hitting them up when they’re 18: https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7eq5y/whats-up-with-drake-texting-teens
Reminder, Kendrick kicked off the war the second P Diddy got arrested. This is not a coincidence. He is going for the throat.
More grooming: https://www.yourtango.com/entertainment/drake-grooming-underaged-girls-times-drake-allegedly-groomed-young-girls
Drake planted the leaks debunked: https://ktt2.com/ktt-exclusive-popular-theory-about-the-picture-in-family-matters-32570472
Drake getting punched by diddy: https://www.miaminewtimes.com/music/diddy-punches-drake-at-liv-miami-6445458
Drake was pissed on: https://www.complex.com/music/a/cmplxjoshua-espinoza/ti-years-old-rumor-friend-urinating-on-drake#
Nice for what high school pic line???: https://genius.com/14262718
Grooming: https://images.app.goo.gl/JHTz3rE6BMeSkbt6A
11: https://people.com/drake-addresses-millie-bobby-brown-friendship-new-song-8349324
Someone else’s list: https://www.reddit.com/Fauxmoi/s/Z14bHVDAJY
Drake talking bout his feelings towards young girls: https://www.reddit.com/BlackPeopleTwittes/FtYT4BaImO
Colonizer shit: https://www.reddit.com/BlackPeopleTwittes/GL2TUVVqK6
Kendrick didn’t defend R Kelly, we knew this: https://twitter.com/ReignOfApril/status/1786834800806166876
Kendrick beats wife?: If Kendrick’s wife is a victim of domestic abuse, why is Drake telling her to twerk for him? He’s a sicko and a liar.
Drake goes and watches high schooler women’s basketball??: https://youtu.be/j_LE6GkDUGI?si=6f1vk2ReByXHOoX3
Drake come at megan the stallion for getting shot in the foot??: https://www.complex.com/music/a/jaelaniturnerwilliams/megan-thee-stallion-drake-kendrick-war
Earl sweatshirt called Drake a culture vulture a decade ago: https://www.reddit.com/hiphopheads/s/icThEtIJ0y
Drake said he’ll show them a real predator: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6kQsAQNO4?igsh=dmR5eTI5YWFzMzg5
Drake inviting high schoolers and college freshman to 37th birthday: https://www.reddit.com/KendrickLamas/jChgJ4WEee
Drake lies below ——————-

1. ⁠That he didn't send a cease and desist
2. ⁠That Kendrick has a strained relationship with Top Dawg
3. ⁠That he melted the chains
4. ⁠That Kendrick is not really engaging in activism
5. ⁠That Baby Keem is writing for Kendrick.
6. ⁠That he is not taking ozempic.
7. That he didn’t have a son before

Credits: https://www.reddit.com_TheBlackPope_/s/3FI6FscD1R

Back to basics:
I am analyzing purchase data for a company that would like to get a churn analysis project going. It is a basic machine learning problem, a very trivial classification you will say. Yet it has a lot of problems on the data side, in particular: the company is a supermarket chain and has extreme difficulty identifying which customer is a churn.
The method used at the moment is to define a time range and count the days since the last receipt. With this mode of study, we verified that in the example sample of 2023 every bimonth the average number of days between the last receipt and the end of the bimonth is 4 weeks! It is therefore complex to say who is a churn, how much time must pass?
Have you ever faced such a problem with a retail customer? Do you have any advice?
Thanks

Summary of TwitteX Spaces Event
Plutus hosted an AMA event on 9th May on TwitteX Spaces to update on planned features, and announce the planned new whitepaper.
Below is a summary of the answers and what was said. Please listen to the recording if you want the full info (Incase I missed anything!). The link to the recording will be posted here when ready: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1gqxvQVQbBkJB/peek
There’s some very exciting news (IMO anyway!) with the detail on the whitepaper, so be sure to read through 👍 ————
Host: Yogi Participants: Danial Daychopan, Jasper Tay, Minyi Soon.

1. Apple Pay
Minyi: It’s Not far off now. We’re waiting on Apple for a checkpoint. But it’s really not too far off. I can’t give an eta sorry, but as soon as we are close to a date we will communicate.
Dan: Unfortunately it’s not in our hands.

2. Premium/Bank-like Features
Minyi:DirectDebits, StandingOrders etc. These have been held back/delayed due to security issues atm. We will provide an update in due course on this once we have fully resolved the fraud and finance crime issues. But they’re not too far off.
We’ve had card and cross-border transaction fraud. We’ve managed to bring this under control which forced us to take action with things like a Sleep Mode etc. Which has caused some of these features to be paused/delayed etc.
Dan: The fraud rate did spike, but the action we took has resulted in 0% fraud rate for the last few months because we clamped down. Our card partner has said these about us too, compared to other fintech providers.

3. Any update on whether we will be increasing the sub prices?
Dan: We have operational costs. We have a finance team that looks at what we do and our costs and we need to be more business like to be sustainable. In terms of the price - the price increase will go ahead if everything is delivered (last thing being Apple Pay), but if the features aren’t delivered we will not increase immediately.

4. PLU Withdrawals Cost. Any plans for a change soon, given a Sub fee is also paid?
Minyi: It’s not free to provide the service for customers, and we believe that it is a fair price for what we are providing at the current time. But we keep this under review.

5. Are we on track with Metal?
Minyi: They are in production in the US with a partner. Their recent update is that the cardswill be released just after June. It’s a matter of weeks, so a slight delay, but that is out of control for the physical card.
But - the product functionality and the merch box will all be on time. So the functionality and merch will arrive in the next 3-5 weeks. It’s just physical card that will be very slightly delayed.
The metal card company we are working with - we met them in London last year - they produce premium cards for Monzo, Revolut, Amex, so they’re are a great company.
We will stagger the metal features - with stackable perks etc coming first etc, and the merch box after that. Then metal card a little later.
Jasper: The Metal card samples we saw look really sick. We’re getting really high quality. Next time we make metal available it should be a lot quicker - as we will be over the hard part and the company will be used to working with us.

6. How close are we with instant withdrawals after 45 days
Minyi: I can’t give a date for it - but it’s very close now. Very soon users will be able to upload receipts from the app - really quick and intuitive (you’ll get a ping if it’s needed - it will not be needed for every transaction). This will allow automated checks. We may even reduce the 45 day period further if that is possible based on our monitoring.
Dan: This is one of my personal goals too, to be able to spend, earn and get rewards. We would like to reduce to 30 days or even lower - that’s what we want to do , to make it easily accessible. But it does depend on how the process and release goes.

7. We’re working on a Brand Refresh
Minyi: Within the next two weeks we will have the brand refresh with fresh colours, warm, exciting. We will review new website in next two weeks, followed by the app. We’ll use the process to improve the onboarding flow and how the app operates.
Website will also now be in 8 languages (Italian, French, Romanian, Spanish…).
We’re working on giving enhanced usability to product questions and info on the website.
Support now has 22-24h coverage, but making it easier to find answers yourself on the website is also important.
Dan: Our current website and app is a little outdated and in some ways not palalatbale for some customers. So our refresh working with partners have done a great job to be able to deliver the message and vision of Plutus in a user friendly way, and we’re really excited to see it launched.

9. When new perks and which?
Minyi: New perks are definitely coming. We’ll share the info and what they are when the time is right.

10. What is the current info on US launch and move towards 1m customers?
Jasper: So - the US partnership is inked. The structure around rewards is tricky as US legislation is tricky. But we have the contract inked. It’s on hold as there are some improvements to tokenomics that we wanted to make (intro new utility, launch Swap, reducing gas fees etc).
All the building blocks in place, but I think it’s important to be clean with the operating model - so any new features and changes we want to launch these in UK and EU first so they’re in place when we launch. So we’re super bullish and we have a long waitlist for the US.
Re: 1m customers - from Aug last year to March we hired customers service and support staff, and we have strengthened marketing and customer engagement, social media side. We’re at 100k + users - switching on the marketing tap and getting to 1m, whilst not easy, it’s easier than getting to the first 20k.
So we’ve been working hard on how to scale customers without affecting the product and service. So we’ve been working very hard on those things and getting ready to expand.

11. In last AMA you mentioned a possible public round investment
Jasper: We’ve had some serious conversations with institutional investors. There are some fixes on tokenomics side that Dan wants to address - but in terms of where we are as a company, we have never been in a better state fiscally.
The powerful thing about Plutus is we have a lot of users - an army of 100k users using the product, which many crypto startups don’t have. We are a very attractive company/product to investors.
We have always considered having a community round too as part of it - so whatever we put together with institutional investors we will look to offer the same terms to the community.

12. Last AMA you mentioned partners would pay in PLU - it was mentioned in reconcilliation would be visible.
Jasper: That will be in the next reconciliation - revenue from perk partners will be going into the rewards pool and will be included in next Reconcile, and is on block chain so it can be shared and verified.

Dan: Announcement & Info on new Whitepaper & Tokenomics Plans
75% of all PLU is stacked - it has more day-to-day use case than top 10 tokens. Plutus Dex was closed for improvement but this also caused concern and a bad narrative. The difference with the top 10 is they have a strong good narrative, despite they don’t have usability.
PLU is an in app token with day-to-day earning and use, but the whole tokenomics need education updating. This means moving to a new network, which could be a new L1 or an L2.
The whitepaper I’m about to realease in coming weeks will discuss this.
The blocker to releasing whitepaper before now is a partnership agreement we are working on for an L1 foundation. It won’t come as a surprise as everyone will know them. We haven’t fully decided if it’s an L1 or an L2 on ETH, but this will be in the whitepaper and voted on by the community.
What are some of the things we can expect in the Whitepaper?
Goal is to improve tokenomics. Reduce gas fees. Improve usability and experience. So the paper will include info on network migration, improved reward levels, improved utility etc.
The team are excited as they’ve been working on it for a long time with partners, and im sure community will be too.
Another feature is to offer additional stacking rewards, similar to APY you see on other exchanges. Unlike APY by exchange or platform, this will be self-funded from fees. It will be a self-sustaining APY rewards system. It’s still in the works with things being scoped out, but anyone who holds PLU, not just reward levels. Will be able to benefit.
Other things in the whitepaper are: a store to swap PLU for other things (ie airmiles or products), redeem PLU for other things ie features such as stackable perk. NFT “slot machine” - a method to allow perk partners to allow perk partners to issue PLU to their customers not just via Plutus. All need further scoping, but the info will be in the whitepaper, and the community will be able to vote on it.
Also, 4 new reward levels will be introduced. A new lower category for those starting out, and more above HoneyBadger. They will be in groups with incremental requirements and benefits. Tied to FIAT value rather than PLU as now. Also will be stackable, so each PLU stacked will get an increased value.
So some of these ideas have come from the community and were requested - we listen to ideas, and if it makes sense we will bring it forward.
More in pinned comment…..

Previous / Next
I’m back, still alive!
So, I saw another animal, but first, let me talk about my discussions with Andrew. He seemed relieved that I wanted to stay on after meeting Miss Giant Spider. There were several occasions that she was the reason a new night security person had quit, mostly because she was often the first to come say hello once we were able to see her. She was social, or at least the version of social that things like her could be.
At that, Andrew told me he’d decide to resume tours. Apparently I’ve been doing so well, and I’d handled meeting Yui with such grace (I didn’t tell him I almost pissed my pants) that he figured I’d be sticking around. He was right, of course. And it was encouraging enough to hear it from him that I got a little boost of self-confidence. I know y’all are probably older than me, but this is my first real full-time job, so that was really cool to hear from him.
I know continuing to work here does make me the world’s biggest hypocrite considering my pet peeve of people who lack common sense, but it seems the universe found my weakness. I can’t help it. I’m a wildlife biologist at heart and these animals are devastatingly fascinating, and if I quit I wouldn’t be able to learn all about them. I’m hoping Andrew will eventually let me ask Suzanne for books about them, from wherever they’re from. Plus, the scariest thing I’d ever seen in my life didn’t kill me, so maybe I can put this in the ‘common sense win’ column, hm? The spider wanted to eat me, she didn’t eat me, therefore the wards are solid and she can’t eat me. Right? I’m going with that.
Apparently Roger, the last guy who ran the night shift, ran a tight ship. He interacted with the animals on a purely basic level, never falling for their tricks, never getting killed or even hurt. Some of his job, and therefore what was becoming my job, was ensuring that the animals were doing well. This meant he needed to be able to see all of them, and so once they realized he’d reached his limit at eight, Suzanne did some wand-waving (no, I don’t know if she has a wand, I’m being facetious), and he could see the rest. According to Andrew, that had something to do with letting our minds stretch and reach its natural limits before stretching it further.
Most nights I arrive early, just before Andrew leaves, and I ask him questions I have. After seeing Yui’s human form, I did ask Andrew about her intelligence, but he just smiled and shook his head. He explained that there were dogs smarter than any the animals at the zoo, at least when you were comparing them to levels of human intelligence. Her appearance was just a disguise and her polite words to me were intelligence of an impressive border collie the filtered through the skill of a parrot. I wouldn’t be able to converse with her on any real level.
However, saying all of that lacks accuracy, because comparing animals to humans always leaves out quite a bit. For example, humans realized ants can figure out where they are and where to go from the position of the sun, while humans would need trigonometry for that. It doesn’t mean ants are capable of learning trig.
Something notable that I brought up with Andrew was enrichment. The layout of the zoo isn’t exactly typical, because for most of the animals, it backs up quite a ways into the forest that surrounds the zoo before ending at a tall fence. That means there’s more of a natural existence for them, and with a lot more space than even the most generous zoo, it likely feels to them like they’re still out in the wild, and they don’t get bored too easily.
That was the reason Andrew gave for having so few enrichment ideas, that they already had space to roam and engaged with plenty of animals including some that burrowed, various birds (and snatching eggs from nests), and climbers like racoons, opossums, and squirrels. The big thing my boss considered enrichment was putting specific live prey like goats or turkeys into the enclosures for some variety, which made sense. But I couldn’t help thinking that it was still important to make like any other zoo and give them some bonus fun occasionally.
When it came to Yui, I asked Andrew if he knew whether she’d prefer something to play with in her human form or her tarantula form. That’s when I learned the human form was a disguise, to get prey to come closer, which was exactly the honey trap of death that my subconscious had imagined it to be. (Yay.) So, she remains a tarantula most of the time.
On that note, did you know many pet tarantulas like ping-pong balls? Check it out on YouTube if you’ve got some time to kill. On that note, I thought it’d be worth a shot to see if Yui liked it.
My first image was of that meme of George R.R. Martin in a giant hamster ball, the person who’d shared it giving the photo a caption that scolded him from goofing off when they wanted him to be writing the next Game of Thrones book. The thing is, that was approximately the right size, but most of those are inflatable. Yui has little claws at the end of her feet, so I needed something plastic. That meant making some calls around to manufacturers (by email, since I was doing this in the middle of the night) for something custom made.
I do have to say, looking to have a giant plastic ball for a huge tarantula to play with had not been on my list of likely things to happen at my new job, but it was highly entertaining. I wish I could have told the people I was emailing, but at least I can tell all of you.
I wrote a list of other enrichment possibilities in my phone, and one morning when I arrived early, I spoke with Andrew about them. It wasn’t much of a list yet, but I’d gotten started from what I knew about Yui and figured I’d throw some other things at the wall to see what stuck.
Andrew did seem iffy about introducing new things, saying, “If it ain’t broke, I don’t like trying to fix it.” But part of my job was allegedly enrichment, according to the job posting. It just seemed like over the decades of the zoo’s existence so far, they counted on prey to be that enrichment. Not that I’m saying they were neglecting the animals, of course; honestly I still have a lot (or rather, everything) to learn about them. But I figured doing the kind of enrichment I’d been taught in my college classes could be great.
“By the way, this might sound stupid, but does Leila need any enrichment?” I asked with a grimace. “I don’t know a lot about ghosts, but I would assume it’s a boring existence. I can only go on stories, and a bored ghost gets into trouble, according to the popular culture.”
Andrew smirked and nodded. “Yeah, they do in films, but this isn’t that kind of situation. With Leila…her soul isn’t actually here. The ghost is more of an echo of her, left behind, imprinted when she was attacked,” he explained.
“Her soul isn’t here,” I repeated. “That’s…interesting.”
“I’m not in charge of the afterlife,” he said with a shrug. “Gratefully, Ripley, I only have to manage this one business. Whatever goes on with that side of things must be more stress than I can imagine and I’d turn down the job if offered, no matter the pay.”
Once I received an email confirming a company’s ability to create a lightweight but solid plastic ball, much like a super-sized ping-pong ball, Andrew approved the purchase of the toy. I was eager to get started on stuff for the other animals, but until I got a good look at them, I felt I didn’t have enough info to go on. And Andrew still didn’t want to educate me on things I hadn’t seen yet, calling it learning on a ‘need-to-know basis,’ since I’m human, so he’ll be waiting before spilling all the weird, freaky beans. I’ll have to be patient.
What he had done was given me a summaries that Roger had written down, but actually they weren’t much help. This was because Roger had a background as a security guard rather than being educated in wildlife, as I did. Andrew said the man had been extremely capable at his job, but looking for someone with a degree this time was a choice he was happy with.
Roger was concise, I’ll give him that. On this list of his, taking Yui as an example, it said ‘spider woman - enclosure 7 - Yui’, along with the animals she liked to hunt. It hadn’t taken him that long to figure out what our animals most enjoyed hunting, mostly from wildlife cameras that were installed in the forestry. They were all omnivores (or rather, you could say they had degrees in being omnivores with a specialization in being a carnivore, because Andrew said they could eat almost anything someone might toss into their enclosure), but some of them had special preferences on top of that.
Another description for animal I hadn’t seen yet was, ‘centaur - enclosure 10 - Arnold’. For any animal that didn’t have a given name (Yui was able to introduce herself, since she’d been named before, I was told), Roger made one up, and Andrew told me that Arnold was named after Arnold Schwarzenegger because he had incredible muscles. Also notable was that he was not a centaur, that was just the closest approximation that Roger’s mind was able to label him, because his most notable feature was that he had no skin. The part of my brain that was a biology major crawled all over that fact, but couldn’t make sense of how it could be beneficial to survival. Then again, since they came from another world, I had no environment on which to base my evolutionary ideas.
Yui has looked out at me from the forest on two more occasions so far, both times in her spider form, though she didn’t attempt communication again. I was extremely grateful, because even as I reminded myself that she hadn’t so much as attempted to hurt me, and that there really was an invisible wall there, I still wanted some more time to get used to her appearance. There was a near certain chance she would love to have me as a meal, just as any predator might, so my hindbrain trembled whenever I saw her. But each time, I reminded myself that this was why I’d been hired, because I showed a healthy amount of fear for the animals. Then I took a deep breath and moved on.
However, I did see another animal on the cameras, and then on a walk, a few days ago. This one wasn’t as terrifying as Yui (though that’s a high bar), but it was freaky. I saw it when I passed the area that led to the small lake, where I’d been told several animals had access from their enclosures bordering it. I zoomed in to get a better look, the cameras doing the impressive job of making the animal many times bigger and perfectly crisp on the screen.
At first glance it seemed like some sort of dog-possum hybrid, the size of a Doberman. Most notable was the hand at the end of its tail, like that of a racoon but larger and with claws. I recall thinking that the animals in our world with prehensile tails have nothing on that. It had small ears and black and grey fur covered its body, but the animal had shaken itself after coming out of the water, and when it had done so, its hair stood up on end like it was infused with static electricity. The thing was, having done that, it looked like the hair down its back had become a mohawk of spines. Wondering if it had the skills of a porcupine, I mentally took in as much information as I could about its appearance.
Later that shift, on another walk through the zoo, I thought I heard an animal crying. I say animal, but if I hadn’t been a major in wildlife biology, I would’ve said I heard a human baby crying. There are a surprising amount of animals that sound like humans shrieking or crying, which can make for a disturbing experience if you live in rural areas with lots of forestry. If someone grew up there, they got used to it. If they were unfamiliar with that weirdness, however, they might get worried some psycho had left a baby in the woods and went looking for the source, but those folks were probably candidates for a Darwin award.
This was definitely an imitation of a human baby crying, and it was spot on. It was coming from Spike’s enclosure, but I just stopped a couple yards from the fence for a long, thoughtful moment before moving on to walk the rest of the zoo, ignoring the sound. Two hours (and therefore two laps) later, it gave up trying to draw me in.
Anyway, the first time I’d seen the animal, I’d returned to the security room, double-checked, and confirmed that this animal was named ‘Spike’ (no points for originality, Roger). Apparently its food of choice was fish, but musing on that didn’t give me many hints as to what it might enjoy as enrichment. Clearly the sound imitation was a form of drawing in prey, so that didn’t help much either. What did give me hints was the fact that, according to Roger’s notes, it was known to not just kill the fish and eat the meat, but also the scales.
In addition, it didn’t just eat fish, but also turtles, lizards, and snakes, and if it killed a human, it had been known to specifically go for our nails and hair before making like a carnivore on the rest of us. That meant keratin was an important element of his diet. So, any fish or reptile made nutritious prey, which was convenient since the lake was stocked regularly and the reptiles were plentiful throughout the forest.
Determined to find something for it to enjoy, though, I considered what its instincts might prompt it to appreciate. That’s the way to go with all enrichment, even for humans. Just think of all the games we play as kids. Hide and seek. Tag. Red light, green light. All things that tested our ability to avoid predators and catch prey. We play these games since we enjoy them, and we enjoy them for a very good reason: our brain gives us happy-hormone feedback because it’s good training for our ongoing survival.
With that in mind, I considered possibly giving it foods that were difficult to eat, to mimic the difficulty of pulling nails and hair out of corpses. I know, it’s a gruesome train of thought, considering I was one of those animals that he’d probably be delighted to snack on, but that’s what happens when you’re in charge of animals like these. I considered things like pomegranates, artichokes, avocados, or pineapple, but definitely nuts like pistachios, pecans, peanuts, and hazelnuts. Its claws were made for attacking prey, but they could also be useful when opening nuts. And I didn’t get a good look at its teeth, but I figured it was similar to a squirrel in that way.
Those items were easy to fetch from a big grocery store, and there was a Walmart on my commute home, so I stopped in to buy some. The cashier was probably confused as to why I was sampling a bunch of things, but I was using the zoo’s business card for this, and didn’t want to overdo it.
I’d asked Andrew if he wanted to get them himself or reimburse me, actually, and he’d just handed me the card. “I doubt you’re the type to head to Vegas,” he’d said with a smile. “Keep it in your wallet for the future and I’ll get another. Just bring me the receipts from your purchases and I’ll file them in the system.”
The diet of the zoo’s animals didn’t wholly consist of animals they hunted. Some was delivered, and near the dumpster was a pile of boxes that had been broken down, so I grabbed one of those and taped it back together to bring the food out to Spike. I put the fruits in, and then a handful of each of the nuts. Then I folded the flaps closed, walked through the zoo over to enclosure four and, from two yards away, lifted the box to my shoulder and chucked it as hard as I could.
The box landed with a thud, and I waited around for a minute but Spike didn’t show, so I headed back to the security room. He’d emerged from the trees shortly after I’d left, wandering over to the box. I pulled up the view of the camera and enlarged it on the screen, zooming in, watching hopefully as he prodded at it. It didn’t take him long to open it, though he used his claws rather than following the strategy of simply unfolding the flaps like a human would have done.
Spike was definitely curious of the variety of new, potentially edible things splayed across the ground. He took a minute to look through them before settling on the pineapple. The spikes seemed to intrigue him, and he used his claws to open up the fruit, carving out a slice. Eating it, I couldn’t really decipher his reaction through facial expressions, but he dropped it and backed up at step before swiping at it with a hand, flinging it yards away, as if it had insulted his mother. So, it seemed he was not fond of it.
The same thing went for the pomegranate and avocado, unfortunately, and I slumped in disappointment, but I was happy to see that the artichoke was one in the win column. He looked like he was enjoying peeling of each leaf individually, and then ate the heart last. By that point I felt like I’d gotten a small sense of reading his body language, and I think he enjoyed the heart.
The smaller foods came next, and I leaned in closer, folding my arms on the desk. The pistachios are what Spike went for first, presumably because the gap between the shells let him get into it pretty quickly. Those were a no-go too, unfortunately, which wasn’t that surprising to me considering their distinctive taste. But when he tried the pecans next? Holy crap, he bounced from foot to foot in an undeniable happy dance, finding the others and gathering them all in a pile.
Cracking each shell open with his claws, he went through every single pecan, one by one, often opening several and eating them together. I leaned back in my chair with a satisfied smile as I watched him go through all of them. After he’d finished them, he moved onto the peanuts, which weren’t appealing, but the hazelnuts were.
My eyes widened when put the nut in between his teeth and chomped down enough to crack the shell. I swore under my breath. Those shells are tough, so that was terrifyingly impressive. And again, the hazelnut was more appealing to him, whatever quality of taste it had prompting him to go through each of them just as he had the pecans.
“So, that was a job well done,” I spoke to myself out loud.
Taking my notepad from my pocket, I added in Enrichment: artichokes, pecans, hazelnuts, on the page that I’d titled Spike and mentally patted myself on the back.
I know it’s unlikely that I can find enrichment items for every animal at the zoo, and Andrew was right that they don’t have typical enclosures, since they have their own little forests. But it was fulfilling to finally use my degree for something, to add something to the life of an animal that didn’t get to hang out with others in its species, as was typical for animals. Or at least was typical for animals on Earth. I figured these things at least had a drive to mate. These things might be terrifying, dangerous cryptids, but they are starting to feel like my terrifying, dangerous cryptids.
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***
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storiesbykaren

Not getting interviews for internships at environmental nonprofits in Germany and seeking feedback on how to make this more compelling. I already know that language proficiency is an issue. Thank you very much for your help! (Please ignore the formatting, I couldn't figure out how to insert a two page image into the post so I just copy and pasted).
SUMMARY.
Visa: Permission to work in the EU.
Languages:
English: Native Spanish: C1 German: A1
Skills:
Research & Analysis Communications & Marketing Project Management
Interests:
Climate Change Mitigation Nature-Based Solutions Policy Analysis
WORK EXPERIENCE.
Agroforestry Intern (Master's Thesis) XXX Bolivia 11/23 – current
· Create cost-benefit analysis of the transformation of small-scale producers from monoculture to agroforestry systems in project co-financed by the European Union.
· Conduct surveys in the field and online with producers and experts on agroforestry, obtaining quantitative and qualitative data for analysis.
· Write literature review of topics pertaining to climate change adaptation, ecosystem services and agroforestry.
· Assist GIZ staff in tasks such as plant delivery, educational seminars, and meetings with key actors.
Communications Intern XXX Spain 2/23 – 4/23
· Created and executed interactive Spanish-language presentations and workshops involving both theoretical and practical activities to students on topics related to climate change adaptation and sustainability.
Biodiversity & Renewable Energy Intern XXX Germany 4/22 - 7/22
· Served as project manager for consulting project between XXX and XXX on how to enhance biodiversity at wind and solar power facilities.
· Conducted research on cutting-edge strategies for biodiversity enhancement in solar facilities, along with strategies for monitoring and evaluation.
· Served as copyeditor for final report and presentation to RWE.
Program Manager XXX USA 2020 – 2021
· Managed front-end web maintenance and marketing for early-stage nonprofit.
· Collaborated on climate change adaptation and mitigation technology event planning for conference with 500+ attendees.
· Helped formulate system for mentor-mentee matching of 150 program participants.
· Created program and website content on scientific and mentorship topics, managed relationships with vendors and contractors.
· Provided rapid customer service for program participants.
· Built and strengthened relationships with experts, stakeholders and related organizations for future collaboration.
· Left position to start master’s program in Germany.
Nonprofit Marketing Consultant XXXX USA 2015 – 2020
· Worked for nonprofit organizations such as the American Red Cross, Sustainable Conservation, Ocean Conservancy, and the Environmental Defense Fund.
· Created multiplatform digital marketing campaigns, created long and short form digital content, provided copyediting of annual reports and tracking of digital analytics.
Research Assistant XXX USA 2008 – 2012

• Collaborated on three Ph.D. projects: rodenticide usage and mange incidence in bobcats, how algae concentration affects estuarine ecosystems, and the role of algae in nutrient cycling.
• Developed graphic on bobcat food web interactions published in multiple presentations and websites.
• Fostered positive relationships with commercial fishermen while collecting samples, identifying bycatch, and cataloging receipts from six commercial fishing ports weekly.
• Analyzed and recorded data used by NOAA to set statewide catch limits.

EDUCATION.
LEAP Researchers 2024 Cohort 2024 – current
· Selected to participate in nine-month leadership development program for early career researchers focused on sustainability.
Master’s Degree XXXX 2021 – current
· M.Sc. Natural Resources Management and Development
· Exchange semester with the Technical University of Madrid, Spain
· Cumulative GPA: 1.8
Bachelor’s Degree XXXX
· B.A. Environmental Studies and Conservation Biology
· Exchange semester in Alajuela, Costa Rica as part of School for Field Studies

Here are the goodies.

Total: $49.06

Coupons: None!

Total Cash Back: $52.56

Final Cost: -$3.50 - Money Maker

 
Here is the complete break down and sites used. The stores are listed in the breakdown image. I don't include sites that take any receipt on my breakdown. Extra: Motts, Wafer bars
Note: Individual deals vary by user for most apps. If you don't have the deals right now, you can try checking back later.
 
My Guides

1. All rebate apps/sites I use and/or know about
   
2. How I do my hauls
   
3. Beginners guide to using rebate apps/sites - for those who don't know where to start
   

 
If you aren't interested in this kind of thing, please keep your comments to yourself. If you don't like what I buy, you can buy different products. If you don't like hunting for deals, you can do surveys, microtasks, games or whatever else you like instead. There is no need to discourage other users just because you aren't interested in the same things!
 
If you don't need feminine hygiene products, toothpaste, soaps, etc - consider donating them to your local women's shelter, church, or school!
 
Some Additional Deals

• $10 back on 7 Kellogg's Products (specific products only) - Military Commissaries only - Refund is a digital gift card (includes Prepaid visa - view the website for all the options) - Expires 5/31/24 - (Thanks to u/Kicker774 for mentioning it!)
  
• Nature Valley Wafer or Breakfast Bars (specific products) - Free after Rebate - PayPal or Venmo - Void in CT, RI, ND, and Miami Dade County - Expires 8/31/24
  
• Nature Valley Lunch Box Bars, Mott's Baked Bars, Fiber One Donuts (specific products) - Free after Rebate - PayPal or Venmo - Void in CT, RI, ND, and Miami Dade County - Expires 8/31/24
  
• Fresh Fizz - Free can at Fresh Thyme - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Painterland Sisters Yogurt - Free at Whole Foods (PA, VA, MD, DC) - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Pepsi - Free after Rebate. Expires 6/17/24
  
• Tru Water - Free can at Walmart - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Cheesecake Factory GC - $10 bonus card when you buy a $50 one - Expires 5/12
  
• Fromm Diner Can - Free after coupon. (It's pet food)
  
• Painterland Sisters Yogurt - Free after rebate. PayPal or Venmo. Whole Foods only.
  
• Beneful - IB + SK
  
• Suja Protein Shake - Free at Target in-store or online.
  
• Coffee (Any?) - You get a coupon for up to $10 in free coffee when you buy 3 participating special K cereals. I don't see anything mentioned about specific brands, but I also don't quite know how it works. - Expires 5/30/24
  
• Gooey - Free after rebate - Venmo/PayPal - (It says Walmart at the top, but it also says "from any store")
  
• Perfect Bar - One free bar - PayPal, Venmo, Amazon - Rebates are often instant
  
• CHKP - Free after Aisle - Fairway, Whole Foods, ShopRite
  
• Dr Elsey's Cat Litter - Up to $22 back on a bag up to 40 lbs when you purchase at Target, Walmart, or a local business pet store. You need to cut out the barcode and mail it in with the receipt. One rebate per person/household/address. Must submit within 90 days. There's also a handful of $1 coupons on this page.
  
• Free bag of Like Air Puffcorn - Refund via PayPal or Venmo. Must purchase in-store or for curbside pickup. Expiration date unknown.
  
• Kellogg's Promotions - Various stuff ranging from coupons for free products, movie tickets, various merchandise, and more.
  
• Various Sampoll offers
  
• Offers on Aisle Referrals: Halfday Rockstar - Buy 2 get $5 back. No gas purchase needed. Can do every other week. Free HOP Water (using my ref will give me another rebate offer) Pays out via PayPal or Venmo
  
• Various freebies on Ibotta.
  
• Various deals I've done in previous weeks can still be done.
  

 

Afterthoughts

This week's haul is split up because I was planning to do a haul Monday while I grabbed some necessary things, but I misjudged my ability (or lack thereof) to plan a haul while in the grocery store. So, I gave up and went home, haha. I knew I was going to be going by Wal-Mart today too. The Amazon purchase I did a little while ago. I was paid immediately, but it just showed up in the mail today so I decided to throw it on as well.
Those Strawberry wafer bars are surprisingly good. I always go for the strawberry whatever when possible, and I'm usually disappointed. These ones were better than expected though.
 
Not shown on this list, but I also grabbed 5 containers of Crest (plus one on Monday). They're $3.97 with $2 back on IB. I'm going to pair this with PG Good's rebate, but I haven't decided whether I'll go with the $5 back on $20 or the $15 back on $50. The toothpaste expires in about a year, so 6 (plus the 1.5 I already had) is probably enough for me, so it's just a matter of whether I'll be getting any deals for the other items. I probably won't, but in that case It'd be 6 tubes of Crest Pro-Health for $6.82 which isn't a bad deal. I get other brands free fairly often, but I only like Crest.
 

Time Spent

Monday I tried planning a haul for like 10 minutes while in the store before giving up since my brain wasn't working. Today's haul was planned over the course of like 10 minutes since it was already half done. I forgot to track how long I was in the store, but usually it's about an hour give or take a few minutes, and that includes my regular shopping too.
 

Food From Deals

Here's some things I've made in the past: High Protein Tomato Crackers, Hot Sausage Cups, Peanut Butter Fudge & Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge, Chocolate Cherry Pie
 
Do you guys want me to continue showing things I've made using ingredients I got from rebate apps on these posts? Let me know in the comments, or you can vote on this poll if you want to remain anonymous.
 

Mini FAQ

• If you're new or confused - check out the guides near the top of the post. They go into detail about everything.
  
• I'm from the USA and these posts are tailored as such, but this post of mine does list things from other countries that I know about.
  
• My posts are tailored to being money makers to suit this subreddit. There are tons of great deals that aren't money makers but can still save you a lot of money.
  
• A lot of what I get is given away to friends, family or is donated. I do this more as a hobby than anything.
  
• I generally do not share my spreadsheet since the one shown in this post is not the one I actually use (it's put together with a script from my usual spreadsheet) and there are a ton of little things that will give you wrong values if you don't know about them and even then you have to be careful. It's super easy to make a spreadsheet with Google Sheets though.
  

The Rockford Register Star pleasantly surprised me yet again today. Due to their efforts, I have officially purchased a one year subscription to their paper. I have been very impressed with the newspaper, and I am still unimpressed with the local news stations. Jeff Kolkey even provided information in the article that I wasn't even aware of. Miss Carly has a deadline of May 27 to provide annual reports for 2022 and her audited financials for 2021. I anticipate an audit of this nature would cost anywhere from $5,000-$15,000. I hope the CPA charges by the hour on this one.
Miss Carly will spend a lot of time over the next couple weeks going back and forth with her CPA. They will likely be asking for her Balance Sheet, Income Statements, and General Ledger from 2021. I personally think they will likely find these reports don't exactly match up to what was reported on her Form 990. Then, they will select a random sample of different transactions, and they will demand documentation on each one. For example, they will perhaps ask for 30 different transactions of each. For the expenses, they will want to see proper forms filled out, signed approvals, receipts, and they will want to verify it is a legitimate business expense. They will also want to make sure her Cash Balances line up with her Receipts and Expenses. Hopefully they will go in the trenches and explore her online donations, making sure each donation was properly accounted for before the electronic commerce company deposits the proceeds into the bank account. I still hope for a forensic audit, and I do fear that the CPA that performs this audit will be sympathetic to her organization. I pray they will not accept handwritten receipts by Miss Carly, and I hope the random selection is a good one!
Any organization that has a good accountant would already have this ready to submit to the CPA within a day or two. But, I feel Miss Carly may struggle a little more with this 3 week deadline.
I am just as confused as you are as to whether Miss Carly should be soliciting donations. The AG said in the email with Maggie:
Miss Carlys' does owe audited financials for multiple years, and this is in no doubt an expensive and time-consuming process, and Miss Carly's is working with a CPA. It is important to note that while the organization remains unregistered with our office, it is prohibited from soliciting donations. We have sent the organization a strongly worded reminder that it is not to solicit while unregistered, a reminder of what is owed to us to get registered, and a request for a status update, and we have copied the CPA on the correspondence.
But, yet today on FB, Miss Carly writes:
"We are absolutely allowed to accept donations and have been in contact with the AG". Also she answers a question from J.I. asking whether J.I. can take a legal deduction from her taxes for any donations (and not get in trouble). MC says, "Oh no, you certainly won't get in any trouble. It's absolutely a tax deduction".
Very interesting....

While the description of fengshui synesthesia provided so helpfully by your moderator on the right is correct ("Do you experience a vibe in a ...."), fengshui synesthesia is a poor description of this synesthesia. Smell + light + sensory + mood = vibe synesthesia, or SLSM=V synesthesia may be a better description. To get the best vibes, and they can be overwhelming (!), you need three to four ingredients, although two can be sufficient:

1. Smell. The smell needs to be different from the smells you are used to and has to be very specific to the situation which gives you the SLSM=V synesthesia. A good smell (hmmm, good smell!) is much much more likely to result into a good vibe than a bad smell, but any strong smell will do it. The stronger the smell, even a stinky moldy smell, the better. One of my best vibes is associated with a moldy smell.
2. Light. How light gets into your eyes needs to be different and special, it has to illicit an emotion, the first time you notice the light, you should have a "wow", or "huh?" reaction. Gemstones work really well, much better than anything else, but how light (incandescent light, sunlight) reflects from wood or from linoleum can also have a good effect.
3. A third sensory input: sound, temperature, tactile. This can be music or sound, but feeling/tactile works best for me. I can only recall two vibes in which sound played a major role (one on ABBA's Money Money Money the other on 10CC's Dreadlock Holiday). One vibe in which temperature plays a major role: walking outside in a crispy cold Dutch morning, OctobeNovember, with the typical smell of the industrial area I grew up in. Tactile is perhaps the strongest of the three: lying under a turquoise colored cover with a texture much rougher than I was used to.
4. Mood. Very important. Good moods help. Happiness is probably the one that gives the best vibes. Being in love? Yes, probably. Feeling more safe or less stressed compared to how you normally feel is also a good input. Being scared or stressed can lead to a bad vibe.

Let me give you examples of my best vibes.

1. Smell: A fabric softener which was new to me, because it was used by a friend's family. I was playing at their house as a 6-year old. Light: Looking at a deep dark transparent purple gemstone (probably glass) in a cufflink. This is how I discovered my SLSM=V synesthesia. When I switched to another cufflink with a transparent glassy stone, without changing the environment, the vibe changed immediately. By changing to looking at his moms pincushion, it changed again! All vibes were amazing and enormous. Third sensory input: probably the feeling of sitting on the carpet. Not very strong in this vibe. Mood: Happiness! We were good friends (still are after more than 40 years) and we connected well when we were playing, making up stuff, moving our Playmobil, Star Wars figurines and Lego around.
2. Smell: No specific smell. Light: Looking at a transparent LEGO piece. Sound: ABBA's Money Money Money. Mood: Happy and safe. Just playing at home, by myself. My mom working downstairs, hoovering. Later on, just listening to Mama Mia was sufficient to recall the vibe. It still does, but only for a few milliseconds. One of the first vibes I can recall.
3. Smell: Fabric softener / smell of my bed cover's fabric. Light: the pattern of my cover. It has a picture of Arabian Nights ("Sinbad", 1970s television series ). Third sensory input: The cover feels rougher than I am used to. It is also heavier. Mood: This was a time when things were changing in school. Very stressful but interesting time. I learned to read and write, made new friends. Found out I was in love for the first time, haha. My class was mixed with the year above us, and this gave a lot of stress because I was so easily intimidated.
4. Smell: A house filled with Camel cigarettes' smell, and food smells I was not used to. This was at our neighbors' house. Light: Interesting one. Their layout was mirrored compared to ours. This really threw me off. I made a separate post about this. Also, they had a chandelier which cast an interesting light pattern. Mood: Apprehensive? Not sure about this one. I was good friends with their son, seven years older than me, but both parents were intimidating. His mom was a bit overbearing but nice, and his dad was a bully. Third sensory input: Cannot recall. The smell was so overwhelming and different from the smell in our house, and the mirrored layout was also overwhelming. Just those two inputs were probably sufficient to create a vibe that was incredibly overwhelming, I really had to look twice when I went outside again to return home, because the view I was used to had "distorted". While nothing had changed, it felt like a completely different world. It took hours for the vibe to wear off.
5. I had a similar overwhelming experience returning from another friend's house as a six-year old. Their layout was very different. His mom was one of the nicest people I ever met, probably had a bit of a crush on her, while his dad was an idiot. So unpredictable. Very noisy man. Big moustache. Everything was so different in their house. Everything was done to make the kids happy. I was always treated as a special guest, not sure why. So different from how things were at home. There was so much happiness, while there was a lot of moodiness at our home. They once gave a birthday party for my friend in which they played different games and I won a sample of aftershave (as a 6-year old! showing how different everything was at their house). You see, smell. Their house was filled with gemstones. This was heaven. Upon return to my own house there was this strong contrast. At home, there was always tension when both my parents were around. With the vibe of their house/environment still stuck to me, it really did not mix with the vibe of our own house. This was difficult to deal with. My world came crashing down when his parents divorced and they all moved. Kuddos to my parents for sticking together.
6. Smell: moldy smell of my grandparent's cabin in the woods. Mix of tar and moisture/mold. Light: Light falling through the trees? Mood: Happy! Sound: things sound different in the cabin, the echo's are different. Other sensory input: everything is humid. Clothes, fabrics in the cabin.

Bad vibe:
Smell: Smell of erasers and pencils in our class. Smell of soap (different vibe) in school. Light: the teacher uses red stamps when she marks our work. Our learning to read method is very old school, it looks 100 years old. Mood: Stressed! I am at elementary school, just left Kindergarten and learn to read. Everything is so different. I don't like different. Some of the kids are much older. The teacher is nice and very patient. There is so much chaos in the class though, very liberal 70s. Still, after one or two months things settle down and I feel safe. But whenever I smell those erasers or the wood of the pencils, I fall back into misery.
Could probably add another hundred vibes, but you get the feel.
Your turn!

Hopefully you guys enjoy this story as much as me and the Costco employees did. This was about 15 years ago.
I'd bought an oval, slow drop lid and seat. Around the 2 year mark it split in the front. I called Costco to complain about it and they said to bring it in for a return. In fairness I DID ask incredulously are you sure, and the person on the phone was like it was no big deal, no problem.
So I remove it, put it in the work sink and bleached it. I always went once a week Thursday nights as part of a whole night thing with the kids to give mom a break. They were 8 and 10, and it was more about fun than shopping. Anyways, the return person laughed when I explained, and said no way. So I explained the call and how they said it was no problem. They get a manager and he has a good chuckle about it. We're all kind of chuckling about it cause it's pretty daft... So he says he cant help me but I can have a free cake or whatever I want from the bakery for getting the run around and fills out this little form.
So I do the walk of shame back to my truck with the toilet seat, and we return for a regular night of playing instruments, being pushed on rolling chairs, testing out bikes, food samples, etc. We pick out a banana loaf and head to the front with our groceries.
When I hand the cashier the free cake receipt, they say "oh, are you the toilet seat guy?" My kids and I look at each other and I say "uh, yeah I think so" , so he calls out "hey Marty, this is the toilet seat guy" and about half the employees look over and start laughing. So basically my lore had spread through the store the whole time we were shopping. I was a bit embarrassed but the kids were laughing and, well, everyone had a good time with it and suppose thats what counts.
It was memorable .
PS. on a tip from the manager, I called the manufacturer and they sent me a free replacement. Alls well that ends well!