I'm doing some locum work in a rural healthcare clinic. We do primary Care. Basically blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, harm reduction in regards to addiction. I've been here about 3 months. We've already had two sets of providers come and go. On top of already being short-handed, lack of nurses, turnover of providers, The wholesaler we deal with called Cardinal had their website hacked. So we didn't get an order today of supplies and medicine.
Boomer lady had to complain about how long it took to get a refill of her blood pressure medication which had no refills to begin with. I attempted to explain to her the challenges of staffing and the fact that our wholesaler was not able to deliver medication in a timely matter. She told me it wasn't her problem cuz in her day this would have never taken this long. I tried to explain to her again that It's difficult to find staff in a rural setting, and explained to her that when a wholesaler's website gets hacked it's everybody's problem.
But instead of understanding, she rolled her eyes stating it's no way to run a clinic because she's been in healthcare for 40 years and it shouldn't take this long. She just stormed off very indignantly.

Do anyone know why verzion was down for almost 4 hours nationwide. was they hack, they was preforming maintenance and they was pretty quiet about I didn’t see hear anything from spokesman from Verizon on why this happen?

cross-posting on other relevant subs (pregnant, newparents, etc)
Hi all,
I'm a long-time lurker but rarely have time to come on anymore and read, much less comment or post. However since having my first child over 3 years ago and also my second a year and a half ago, I've been keeping notes on advice and product recommendations. I've taken to giving this out to friends and co-workers when I hear the happy news that they are expecting, so I thought I'd share it here as well in hopes it helps someone. Please take this with a grain of salt- I know everyone has different experiences! Please feel free to post your favorite advice or product recommendations as well if you want.
Take care, and enjoy your parenting journey!

General advice:

I'm really going to try to keep cliché's out of here as much as possible and keep this to only practical advice that I wish someone had laid out for me. But cliché's exist for a reason- they are generally true!

• The first couple months after birth/with a newborn are the hardest, with the first couple of weeks being the toughest yet. It really gets easier! That being said, those first several weeks the only goal should be survival. Don't plan to do any house projects, if you know something will need to be done (like a car oil change,taxes, etc) do it before baby arrives if possible. Do everything you can to try to make those first few weeks as easy as possible. Set up the crib/bassinet (I was convinced we were going to have more time and had neither set up. I literally put the bassinet together myself while I was in labor). Those last few months of pregnancy when you cook, make extra and freeze it. I have several good freezer prep recipes if you're looking for some. Once baby is here don't worry about cleaning the house, etc. Just survive.
• Accept help, but on your own terms. Lots of times people come offering to watch the baby but sometimes as a new mom you just feel more comfortable having baby with you. People can still help by doing the cooking and/or cleaning so you don't have to. And if you want/get time away from baby don't feel like you need to do those chores- take that time for you to sleep/showewhatever you need. Do not feel like you need to cateentertain guests. Or if you know you will, don't invite or let them over. This is YOUR time to bond with baby and recover- guard your time.
• Everything is a phase. Soak up the good stuff while you can, and know that the not so good stuff won't last forever.
• You can never give your baby too much love. You can't "spoil" a baby by holding them too much. Especially the first 3 months (known as the "4th trimester")- remember that baby was used to being "held"/cuddled and fed 24/7 in your womb. So even if you're holding them for 16 hrs/day- that's still a significant decrease than what they are used to. I know it's exhausting, but try to soak up those cuddles.
• Remember to take videos as well as pictures- those little newborn noises are precious!
• If everyone is crabby and it seems like nothing is fixing it- try to change the environment. Get everyone outside- fresh air is good for everyone. I've tried to get baby outside for at least a little bit every day of his life since getting home from the hospital (yes, even during winter in WI). If outside isn't an option try a bath.
• Take all advice with a grain of salt (even this). You know your baby/family best!

Pregnancy/Postpartum mama care:

• The "Expecting & Empowered" workouts were great. They have 3 guided workouts for each week of pregnancy to prepare you for labor and motherhood. Also follow them on IG. I give a lot of credit to them for my pretty easy pregnancy and deliveries!
• Once I started feeling sore later in pregnancy, prenatal yoga really helped me. I used an app called Prenatal Yoga by Down Dog that I really like. You have to pay for a subscription but I think you can try it for 30 days free, but I ended up paying for the subscription and actually re subscribed. They have a whole suite of apps that all fall under the same subscription - normal yoga, meditation, HIIT, and others. I think it's worth it, and I got the subscription on a black Friday deal for $24/year
• As far as labor goes- there’s so many resources and advice out there that could be a novel by itself. The only thing I’ll say is whatever your birth “plan” (if you have one)- just make sure it’s flexible and that your partner knows what it is and why so they can advocate for you. Once you’re in that pain it’s very hard to advocate for yourself.
• What I’ve learned is there is typically a sliding scale of interventions. Meaning- if you end up getting induced you’re more likely to end up getting a c-section. Ideally, you want to go into labor on your own. (when you’re ready to get that baby out, there are lots of myths out there and strategies to try. My advice- walking and sex).
• I’ve attempted 2 medication-free births but eventually gotten the epidural each time. If I have another baby I’m getting the dang epidural asap.
• So many postpartum care things to have on hand since you really won't know how your delivery will go. All the normal things like pads, and cooling pads, and peri bottle. I had a really easy birth experience so I didn't use a lot of the products I had so not much experience. But I did like the Honey Pot pads because they had a cooling effect that was pleasant but not overwhelming. I also liked having a sitz bath and bath salts to put in it.
• Fun postpartum symptoms to look forward to that no one warned me about (in addition to bleeding for 4-6ish weeks)- horrible cramping/contractions while the uterus shrinks the first week (especially happens when nursing) - hot pads and ibuprofen help, night sweats (waking up in the middle of the night to a crying baby drenched with sweat and freezing because you’re so wet), strong body odor (just, why?!), hair loss (this is why I cut all of my hair off after having baby). I’m sure there are others I’ve forgotten about. So many fun things!

Breastfeeding

I highly recommend trying to breastfeed if you're able. It does make the first few weeks (which are already hard) more challenging, but after that it's so much easier! You can go places without needing bottles/wateformula (all you need is you!). Plus, sterilizing and washing bottles all the time is a drag. Plus the bonding is really special (not that you can't get this without breastfeeding). But breastfeeding is always the #1 comfort technique if baby is cranky or sick, even if he's not hungry. A few tips/info:

• Stay hydrated!!! You can designate your partner that their job is to make sure you always have accessible water. And try to make sure you have water when sitting down to nurse, cause sometimes as soon as they start nursing you feel parched.
• The first few hours/days are critical to establishing your supply. Put baby to breast at a minimum every 3 hours (day and night, set an alarm) and more often if she's awake/fussy. After your milk comes in, assuming baby starts gaining weight again, your pediatrician should give you the okay to stop the alarm during the night and feeding on demand (which will likely still be pretty frequent).during the day you basically always want to be feeding them every 3-4 hours
• Invest in some nursing bras/tanks. I didn't- thinking I would later if breastfeeding worked out. But honestly you need to give it at least 1-2 months to give it a fair shot, and you can't go that long without having clothes that make it easy. We went and got some when baby was 3 days old. Would've been better to have in advance. Target has great stuff. I lived in the same 3 nursing tanks with 5 different flannel shirts over it for the first few months.
• Set up a breastfeeding station where you can be comfy and have things you might need. I love my glider chair, and put a cart with snacks, water (drink LOTS of water), phone charger, lotion, baby nail clippers (this was the easiest time for me to trim baby's nails), etc.
• Don’t pump the first 4ish weeks as this is when your supply is established, and the pump will make your body think it needs to produce more. An oversupply can be just a big of problem as an under supply.
• The tough thing with nursing is you really don't ever get a break. Even if someone else were to give baby a bottle (which I don't recommend for the first 4ish weeks for reason above)- you need to pump to keep your supply up. At that point, it's easier to just feed the baby yourself (in my opinion). To help with this during nighttime feedings, when Matt wasn't working he would basically do everything else minus the feeding (unswaddling, changing diaper, reswaddling, etc) and just hand baby to me to nurse to make it as easy as possible on me.
• I highly recommend getting a haakaa (amazon link). When you are feeding baby on one side it triggers a let down, which can lose a lot of milk on the side baby isn't on. You can use this to capture that (plus a little more since it does suction, so you do want to be careful with this and not use it too frequently and create oversupply). I use it now after baby's long night stretch and both boobs are really full. I slowly built up a decent freezer stash using this without ever actually pumping. They also have milk collectors (amazon link) that has less suction, and you can wear these under your bra if you find you're leaking often. I got these as well but didn't really like them as much as I thought.
• You'll probably also want breast pads to catch leaking. For awhile I used the disposable ones, but eventually got these (amazon link) and like them.
• Read up on milk handling/storage. La Leche league (website) is a great resource. If you're looking for even more info- read "The womanly art of breastfeeding" written by La Leche league.
• Breastfeeding should NOT hurt! If it hurts- ask for help. Could be an issue with the baby's latch or something else, like a tongue/lip tie. Make sure before you leave the hospital you have someone look at your latch and tell you what to look for to make sure you get a good latch every time. Easier to correct earlier than later.
• That being said- for the first month-ish I had pain for about 4 seconds every time baby latched. Sounds like this is unusual as no other mom I talked to experienced this so hopefully doesn't happen to you. It eventually stopped- I think it was just my nipples getting used to the expanding. But I never had my nipples crack/bleed or anything. This is not expected/normal. Talk to someone if this is happening.
• Since you'll probably want baby to take a bottle eventually- you'll need to start this at some point. The recommendation that I've read multiple times is to wait until 4-6 weeks (after breastfeeding is fully established) before trying. Then you need to do it frequently- maybe a bottle a day. We started early and he did fine so eventually we got lazy and stopped for awhile because I didn't like pumping when he bottle-fed. Then when we started trying again in preparation for me returning to work he flat out refused and then it was much harder to persuade him back to the bottle. If this happens- the method that worked best for us was called "intermittent bottle by mom". Google it if you get in this position (or ask me questions at that point).
• Positions- at the hospital they only taught me the cradle and football hold for some reason. I later learned about the laid back position and at the time it was a game changer for me- I was so tired/sore of sitting up and hunching over for the middle of the night feeds. Laid back allowed me to be much more comfortable. Also side-lying- one of my favorite positions now.
• Breastfeeding doesn't have to be all or nothing. You can combo feed with formula if you want/need to. A fed baby and happy mama is the most important!

Sleeping

Good luck! Just kidding. So much conflicting info out there on this. I guess my number 1 tip here would be to read up on different strategies and have a plan. Being knowledgeable about different options is helpful if you need to pivot strategies in the middle of the night and you're running on very little sleep. Some questions for you to consider - will you bedshare (most families end up co-sleeping at some point. Good to know the Safe Sleep 7 in case you decide to)? Or room-share? Will you "sleep train" (which means different things to different people)? When they start getting decent stretches of sleep it is a game. changer. I will share some tips that seemed to have work for us. baby started sleeping through the night (7+ hr stretches) around 11 wks, and shortly thereafter started sleeping 10-11hr stretches. We do bed-share occasionally, even now if he wakes up between 5-6a I pull him into bed with me and nurse in a side-lying position and we both fall asleep for a bit longer. It's really lovely to be able to do this.

Generic sleep advice

• I liked the book "The happiest baby on the block". It discusses the conditions in the womb, and how to recreate those as much as possible to soothe baby, especially during the 4th trimester. (spoiler- swaddle, "shhh"/white noise fairly loud (as loud as standing next to a shower), sucking on a pacifier, swaying (movement), oriented on baby's side).
• Some resources: TakingCaraBabies. You can follow on fbook/insta- they post great stuff. She also offers classes. We have all of her classes and really think it worked well for us, and we never felt like we were leaving baby to "cry it out" alone. We never let him cry for more than 5 min. She has a newborn class, one for 3-4 mo old, and then 5 mo+. I feel like each one supported baby where they were developmentally.
• Make the sleep space as conducive to sleep as possible- cool, white noise, and as dark as possible. Seriously- invest in blackout curtains/shades. (other than naps for the first few weeks which you want to keep light/noisy to help them establish their days/nights). Babies aren't scared of the dark, any light is just stimulation.

0-3 months

• Swaddles. Highly recommend swaddling. They just can't control their limbs at this age and they'll accidently jerk one and startle themselves awake. Swaddling helps with this, and makes them feel more like they are back in the womb which is comforting. So many parents say their baby hates the swaddle, and I don't know maybe they actually do, but baby would also struggle when we were putting him in the swaddle but then he would sleep so much better. We used the Halo (amazon link) and Nested Bean (amazon link). I liked the nested bean because it had the option of swaddling with hands up or hands down, it has the weighted bean on the chest which is comforting, and you can zip the sleeves off when you are ready to transition out of the swaddle. Although- the unzipping the sleeves didn't really work for us when we were trying to transition out, at that point we got the Magic Merlin Sleep suit (amazon link) and that helped us transition out of the swaddle.
• Babies should sleep a lot. You can look up average sleep per day hours and wake windows based on baby's age. I think in baby's first few weeks he got really crabby in the evenings because we were letting him get overtired. I think in the first month the goal is that they aren't awake for more than an hour at a time. We were kinda just winging it and didn't realize we should be trying to get him down to sleep fairly soon. At this point- when they wake up you feed and change them and then basically start getting ready for sleep again. You really want to try to avoid an over-tired baby, and it happens really fast and easily.
• We had baby sleep in a sidecar bassinet so he was easy for me to grab/feed during the night. When he was around 3 months old we moved the bassinet away from the bed but still in the room so we weren't waking each other up as much.
• Just to set reasonable expectations - any sleep on their own in the bassinet is a win. Hopefully you can get some night sleep there, unlikely that any naps will happen there. We did all contact naps (meaning- holding, wearing, cuddling) for those months and started trying 1 nap/day when he was around 8 weeks in his crib. At that point any naps done in a crib is a huge win. And those will probably be short.
• Naps don't typically lengthen/mature until about 5 months old. This is normal and expected. It's good to have reasonable expectations so you're not upset with yourself/baby. It's easy to obsess over things as a mom. Don't let naps steal your joy! Try to enjoy those baby naps on you. Use it as a time to rest/relax yourself.

3mo+

• Bed time routine- important to establish a consistent routine. Same order of events, same place, and around the same time per day (we target between 7-8p). Our routine: bath (if it's bath night, which we do every 2-3 days), diaper, massage/lotion, jammies, nursing, burp, in crib for 2 books, then swaddle/merlin suit/sleep sack, turn on white noise, lay down in crib/bassinet awake with pacifier.
• Around this time we really saw a reduction in night wakings once we were able to put him down awake at bedtime and let him fall asleep on his own. Around this time their sleep pattern changes to be more like an adult- and we naturally wake up several times in the night to check out our surroundings and if all is well fall back asleep often without even knowing we were awake. Example I read- if I fall asleep in bed and awake in the night in a neighbor's bed that would cause me to fully wake up and scream/cry. Same thing with baby. If they fall asleep being rocked in your arms and wake up alone on the mattress that can be alarming. If they fall asleep on their own then when they wake up in the same environment all is well and they can go back to sleep.
• That being said- we weren't able to just go from nursing to sleep (which is what we did for the first few months) to being able to put him down awake right away. This took time/patience. We worked our way down the intervention scale- nursing to sleep, then rocking to sleep, rocking til drowsy but putting down awake then rocking in bassinet, etc.
• Around 3 months old we disconnected the sidecar bassinet and moved it across the room. Then around 4-5 mo we moved baby into his own bedroom in the crib. This worked for us but this timeline varies a lot so do what works for you

What to do with baby when awake

Legitimate question that I hadn't considered until we were in the middle of it. In the first few weeks baby really doesn't have much awake time outside of eating/diaper changes. But here are some ideas:

• Baby wear and do whatever you want!
• Tummy time
• Massage
• Sing songs
• Get outside (but try to keep baby protected from sun)
• Read books

Pumping/Milk Maintenence

• I love my pumpables genie advanced - normally $180. https://pumpables.co/products/genie-advanced. I really like the liquid shield kids that go with these as well. These go on sale a couple of times throughout the year.
• For wearable collection cups- legendairy collection cups – normally $60. https://www.legendairymilk.com/products/sillicone-collection-cups. These are nice when you want even more portability (I can pump with these in a coffee shop and no one can really even tell)
• I also had the Spectra that my insurance gave me, and it’s nice and has nice suction. But no portability.
• For the love of pete- measure your nipples and get the right size flanges!! I’m a size 17 and I think that’s the average, but for whatever reason a lot of breast pumps send larger sizes by default.
• There’s lots of pumping bras but they never felt comfy to me. Ultimately my strategy was to wear nursing bras every day so I could nurse easily morning and evening and then do the nursing bra hack (link to video) when pumping
• As far as schedule goes- for the most part I would pump 3 times during a work day. Obviously this is just a rough estimate and things change as time goes on.
  • 6aish - baby wakes up and nurses on one side while I haakaa the other
  • 8:30 (after kids have left for daycare) - pump both sides
  • 11:30 - pump
  • 2:30 - pump
  • 5:30 - nurse baby
  • 7ish - nurse baby before bed
  • (once baby is sleeping through the night) 10pm - pump before going to bed
• I think there’s a “magic number” calculator you can google that helps you calculate the right number of times to pump/time to wait between to pumps based on different factors and if you want to decrease, increase, or maintain supply.
• During the day I always store my used pump parts in an air-tight container in the refrigerator between pumps and then deconstruct and wash them at night (recommend encouraging your partner to be the designated pump part washer every night). I think the CDC goes back and forth on whether this strategy is recommended, but I never had problems and I can’t imagine washing all the pump parts every single time.
• I always used the pitcher method - pump and then combine all the milk into a “pitcher” (I used a glass mason jar). I was lucky enough to be able to send my milk to daycare like this and she would pour from it to make the bottles. I know some daycares require pre-made bottles though.
• I would send fresh milk to daycare Tue-Fri of what I pumped the day before. On Friday I would freeze all pumped milk. On Monday I’d send a small amount of milk that I got from the haakaa over the weekend but otherwise baby would get thawed frozen milk that day (always the oldest in the freezer). This strategy was nice because mostly baby is getting fresh milk and you don’t have to constantly freeze everything, but you’re also still slowly working through freezer stash so things don’t get too old.
• On Fridays for freezing this is what I’d do:
  • Pour 4 oz into an easy-pour bottle (I froze in 4 oz increments but do whatever works best for you)
  • Pour into milk freezer bag (ie, lansinoh) - remove air bubbles (google tricks and you’ll find some videos to get rid of air bubbles)
  • Seal bag and place flat on cookie sheet
  • Repeat until all milk is bagged (depending on how much remaining milk I’d either freeze a smaller bag or leave it in the fridge and combine with haakaa milk over weekend)
  • Freeze the milk bags flat on the cookie sheet if possible (I have a chest freezer that I used)
  • Once frozen - transfer flat milk bags into gallon ziploc bags, layering from the bottom. I used the sit n stand bags. Once the gallon bag is full (I could fit 12 4-oz bags in) label it with dates and a number.
  • On your freezer where you’re storing milk have a milk sign in/out sheet - (ie, bag #1 went in on 1/1/22 and was taken out 5/1/22). This way when it’s time to take another frozen bag out you can look at the sheet and know which bag you’re looking for.

Other resources/random notes

• Baby products are ridiculously expensive, and babies grow so fast they only use/wear things for very short periods of time. Highly recommend buying second hand or borrowing from friends when you can. I was all over facebook marketplace during my pregnancy.
• If you're looking for data-driven resources to read I recommend Emily Oster's two books- "Expecting Better" regarding pregnancy, and "Cribsheet" which is data on decisions from birth to preschool.
• Have a bucket with a color-safe laundry soaking option handy for soaking blow-outs or heavily spit-up items. You don’t want those to sit until you do laundry next
• We used an app to track diapers, feedings, and sleep. We used Huckleberry and liked it, but there are lots out there. For awhile the doctor will ask how many wet/dirty diapers they are having a day and there's no way I could remember that. And I also could never remember which side I breastfed last on. Or tracking sleep so I could make sure I was getting him down for naps at reasonable time. We felt this was very helpful for a bit, but after awhile it was stressing me out more than anything, and at that point we stopped using it. Use it if/as long as it seems helpful and then stop. Matt and I were both able to have it on our phones logged into the same account so we could both use it to log stuff
• It helps to have constant reminders of tips from parenting resources that line up with your parenting strategies. Some pregnancy/parenting instagram accounts I like:
  • Expecting & Empowered
  • Karrie Locher
  • Solid Starts - they also have an app with a database of foods and how to offer them to babies. Use this all the time
  • Biglittlefeelings
  • Kids.eat.in.color
  • Feedinglittles
  • Takingcarababies - sleep tips
  • Raisinggoodhumanspodcast- also listen to the podcast and really enjoy it
  • Dog meets baby
  • Milestones and Motherhood
• Once baby is in a crib- do the lasagna style bed sheet layering. Mattress protector > sheet > mattress progrector> sheet. This way if baby has an accident in the night (vomit, pee-through, excessive spitup) you can just pull off the top sheet/protector and you’re ready to go. So you need at least two mattress protectors and sheets!
• Baby wearing- as a newborn I carried baby everyday in a Solly wrap and we loved it. Once he had better head/neck control and he was more interested in looking out we got more structured carriers. I use a lillebaby now and we also have an ergo baby that Matt uses. We have them fitted to each of us so we don't have to adjust, and we got them both used from friends.
• Set up a subscribe & save for the purple desitin (highest zinc)
• Get a costco membership. Buy all the diapers there. (I believe the kirkland diapers are just re-branded huggies). Sometimes they are on sale- buy as many as you can.

Product Recommendations/Baby Registry Ideas

I mentioned at the beginning but want to reiterate- baby products are expensive and they typically aren’t used for long. Highly recommend looking to get second hand when possible - friends, thrift stores, facebook marketplace, etc. Also- definitely make baby registries because you typically get a completion discount at a certain date to buy things off the registry at a discount (typically 15%). I usually make at least an amazon and target registry for each pregnancy and then maximize those registry discounts. Also- Bullseye Deals on Ebay is a reseller of target stuff (mostly new but also used so look before buying) at a discount!

• Tubby Todd all over ointment. I use this all the time on baby- helps with baby acne, dry patches, drool rashes, etc.
• We never bought a pack n play, figuring we would buy it if/when we needed it and we never have. I ended up buying a travel crib instead for traveling where we wouldn't have a crib (to Turks and Caicos). Both sets of grandparents had a pack n play we use when visiting, and most hotels offer them too. But when we actually needed one I was glad to take a travel crib instead of a pack n play (more portable and more comfortable for baby). Really like ours- Lotus Travel Crib
• Baby monitors - I do NOT recommend the nanit. We got it with baby and it was nice for the first year, but then after a year they hide all of the useful features behind a hefty subscription. This made me angry since the camera already is expensive. Plus at the time it didn’t support monitoring two babies but I think they’ve added that since then so that’s probably moot. We use a VTech camera monitor now that has two cameras and can monitor both kids at the same time.
• In addition to the camera monitor we also have cheap audio-only monitors in each kids room that we keep next to our bed (so audio only monitors stay in our bedroom just for during the night, then we have the video monitor on our main level for during the day).
• Snoo bassinet. For our first I swore I would never spend this much money for a product that would only be used for a few months. 1 month into our second and I broke down and got one for the hope it would help us sleep even just a little bit more. It worked for us!
• Baby shoes (once walking)- we love stride rite shoes for early walkers. You want a soft-soled shoe while they are learning to walk (or bare foot is best when safe!). You also want a shoe with a wide toe-box so their toes have room to splay out like they should. Croc Classic clogs are also great little kid shoes especially for summewater and really hold up (they have a much wider toe box than the Native brand shoes).
• Kamik winter boots for toddlers are the best boots that I’ve found- easy to put on (this is key!) and warm and dry.
• These are the best baby socks. None of the other ones we’ve tried stay on, and the grippies are key once they start walking.
• Sun safety: Sunday Afternoons sun hats are the best. ThinkBaby sunscreen is what we’ve used and trust (Thinksport is the same thing and sometimes cheaper). Although these Babyganics sunscreen sticks are also nice to have in diaper bags. These refillable roll-on sunscreen applicators are also kinda nifty.
• Absolutely love these diaper cream applicators (we call them the butt spatulas).
• Bath time safety: you need these cushions and spout cover.
• Car seats: I definitely recommend getting an infant car seat for the first year-ish as it’s just so much easier to lug baby around in an infant car seat as opposed to a bigger convertible car seat (infant car seats click out of the car so if baby falls asleep or whatever you can leave them in the seat. They can also click into strollers or other things). Convertible car seats are bigger and stay in the car.
  • I don’t have a strong recommendation for infant car seats- we used the Chicco keyfit system and have no complaints. If baby will be transported in multiple cars then ideal to get multiple bases.
  • Once baby outgrows the infant car seat (or you’re just ready to move on)- I highly recommend getting a revolving convertible car seat. The revolving feature is so clutch and makes it so much easier to get kids in/out! When I got ours these were pretty new to the market so there weren’t many options, but I got the Evenflo Revolve 360 and have no complaints. Love it. These revolve ones are certainly expensive, but they do go on sale periodically (especially black friday!). Key things to look for:
    • high rear-facing weight and height limits. Ideally keep kiddos rear-facing as long as possible because it’s safer, so having a car seat with higher limits makes that possible.
    • Fabrics/covers that are washable
    • Ideally 4 in 1 or at least 3 in 1 so it converts to a booster and kids can use it longer.
• Diaper bags are super personal preference, but after trying a couple I love my jujube ones hands down more than any other. They are pricey but go one sale on amazon sometimes.
• Get a quality thermometer. I’ve tried several but this is the winner. I believe docs recommend rectal ones for the first year, but personally I like the ear ones like this. Braun is what they use in the doctors offices I believe.
• Cups: When you start offering solid foods you typically also start offering water. We use the Munchkin weighted straw cups for water. Once they are done with bottles (around a year) we use the Munchkin 360 training cup for milk.
• You’ll need bibs when kiddo starts eating - recommend silicone ones.
• The Nose Frida snotsucker is certainly effective and I’ve always been glad to have it when I need it, but be prepared to get sick also.

So to anyone who hasn't read my absolute mess of a first post. What I have set out to do is propose a massive update to dead by daylight with the main objective of spicing up the game and the second biggest objective of giving all survivors their own unique power and ability to make them distinct while also balancing the game to not make this stupidly broken. Is important to note that this is less about balance and what I think should actually be added and more so me rambling about some of the funny ideas I have this is why I will not be going into Pacific numbers i'll let each person reading this interpret the exact percentages and numbers they think would be balanced as again this is more so about creating fun ideas and inspiring other people.
Today I will just be giving extra abilities to the characters listed above. As I stated before their survivors will each be getting their own unique upsides and downsides to make them more distinct and interesting instead of having every survivor be almost exactly the same. And because the survivors are getting buffed massively so too should the killers.
The first idea I would like to throw out is something I honestly kind of want to see in dead by daylight, And that is a fifth perk slot for every survivor and killer however instead of being able to choose any park you can only choose for this 5th slot one of the Teachable perks that character has.
One thing before I continue, It may be a bit confusing but for the sake of balance I wish to propose a concept. This concept is that certain perks will be less Effective on certain killers or survivors because of their own natural abilities, When this happens and you are playing as this character hovering over this quirk this will be highlighted in red text showing you exactly how much the perk will be nerved for this specific character. For example Claudette is going To be able to heal faster than the average survivor So for balance perks that significantly increase healing speed will not be ineffective but will give less of a boost as to not make Builds that will give her an insanely fast healing speed.
But anyways on to the new abilities
Claudette
Healing proficiency Due to our knowledge of botany and healing she can perform all healing actions faster than the average survivor
Caring instinct Your intentions to Heal others Are profound and you will seek out the injured so you could aid them, Claudette can see the auras of injured survivors who are in her vicinity.
Special ability Botany Special plants will appear around the trial, When a plant is harvested after a Random amount of time a new plant will spawn in a new location. These plants and flowers Spawn most frequently in areas of short to tall grass. Mushrooms will also spawn in more indoor maps or in maps with lots of indoor locations however these mushrooms are far less easy to track down as they can spawn anywhere. Because of Claudette's Botany knowledge She knows what she's looking for, These plants will be very bright to her and she's the only one who can see them, When she walks up to these plants she can enter an animation to begin harvesting them this animation isn't too terribly long but also still significant. When these plants are collected if Claudette has a medkit that is missing charges these plants will refill a significant amount of the medkick's charges. If the medkit is full or Claudette does not have a med kit, Then the charges will either Accumulate in Claudette's inventory until a medkit does begin to deplete in which case it will automatically be refilled, Or if Claudette has enough of these charges She can perform the self healing action Without any perks or med kits that normally would be the only way for a survivor to do so. These charges can also be used to speed up the Process of healing deep wounds On both you and others survivors. Before you ask yes maps can be used to find these plants through walls so you're not running around like a headless chicken and yes this does mean You could have an infinite medkit as long as you are willing to sacrifice the time it takes to find and collect the plants.
Hyper focus When Claudette is performing a task Such as healing, repairing, Sabotaging and cleansing She loses focus of her surroundings and everything else. The killers terror radios will be significantly smaller for only Claudette while she's performing these actions And any ore reading perks or perks that tell you when the killer is Near will no longer work while you are performing these actions. Also while performing these actions the range of which you can look around is significantly decreased giving you significant blind spots the killer can exploit
Nemesis Now alongside with the bins containing the antidote to The T virus A new structure will appear beside it that survivors can interact with Which will be called supply stations Oh but these supplies are not for the Survivors. Drones will fly to these locations and leave behind black suitcases Nemesis can approach these suitcases pick them up and acquire a new weapon. Survivors by walking over to the screen can begin to hack it. Much like the singularities EMP crates a bar will slowly fill up when the survivors hack it the bar will decrease the more the bar is filled the longer survivors will have to take to fully decrease the bar the bar is always filling unless being hacked. Once the bar is filled The drones will fly in depositing the weapon the survivors are unable to do anything now and the killer is able to receive this weapon whenever he wishes. It goes without saying that the auras of all these stations are now revealed To the killer at all times, Both killer and survivor can see you what Type of weapon is going to be deposited at each station, By symbols. The three types of weapons are the bazooka the flamethrower and the mini gun. Once the drone delivers the suitcase To a resource station the bar at that resource station will pause until the suitcases removed by the killer and that station will Now have a yellow aura that the killer can see. Once the suitcase is picked up whatever weapon it is will be stored in his inventory he can use it whenever he wants but he can only have one weapon in his inventory at any given time. Also depending on how powerful they are each weapon can have its own rarity meaning some weapons are more common than others.
the minigun This weapon works exactly like the Tricksters show stopper In pretty much all regards. Accept the bullets are so powerful they can travel through thin walls except the damage that these bullets Do are significantly decreased. Also the killer can discard this weapon at any time, However this still fully consumes the weapon and he will have to go fetch another 1 this applies to every Type of weapon he can carry.
The flamethrower Also like showstopper in both its wind up and movement speed penalties The flame thrower begins to distinguish itself by first of all you can stop and start the flame for at will, By holding left click you will shoot flames and when you stop the flames will cease, There is both a fuel bar and a pretty generous timer when either of these two meet their end the weapon will stop functioning and the killer will drop them. The initial hit of the flame thrower is almost unavoidable but does not do damage instead it sets survivors on fire Which works similarly to the deep wounds except while survivors are on fire they cannot interact or perform any actions except dropping pallets vaulting and mending themselves they cannot Even be healed by other survivors while on fire. But that is only if they are licked by the fire if they stay in the fire for too long They will be injured while still suffering from the fire deep water fact, The timer it takes for them to take damage immediately resets even if they escaped the flames for a moment. The flank floor is unable to down a survivor however it's an incredibly good way to injure multiple survivors quickly, The flames also produce a large amount of smoke that can be very disoriented, And after one or two moments of the flame thrower directly blowing on a palette or Breakable wall Those objects will be burnt and will break.
The bazooka When the bazooka is activated nemesis will stand still while he is aiming it and will only be able to move again once he's fired or discarded the weapon. It works almost exactly like it does in the game resident evil resistance if you want an idea. There will be 3 Radiuses The missile itself the rather small explosion and the rather large shockwave. If a survivor is directly hit by a missile they will go from healthy to downed immediately, If a Survivor is hit by the explosion they will instead take one damage and be flunged around. If they are hit by the shockwave they will only be flung around which gives the killer a lot of time to catch up to them. Nemesis can fire the Bazooka at his own feet But if he is caught in the radius of his own explosion he will be stunned for a very significant amount of time making this an extremely detrimental action that the survivors can exploit. The bazooka will also damage generators caught in its explosive range which will function like the killer kicked them and reduce a small amount of the generator's progress the explosion will also destroy pallets breakable walls.
Nemesis Receives two more buffs one While he had his tentacle out if he presses the control button Or the same button he would use to activate one of his weapons, It would change the orientation of his hand instead of him launching it as he normally would he has to be beside a wall if he is and he activates the tentacle he will slam his hand into the wall and the tentacle will emerge on the other side, However the hit box of the tentacle will change instead of a long rectangle it will be a small circle around the wall making it very easy to avoid, Unless you're extremely good with mind games this isn't going to be useful in chase however you could use it to catch survivors working on generators behind a wall by surprise So He can try to pull off the fun jump scares he does in his game
The last of his abilities is a passive perk, Nemesis can break breakable walls extremely Quickly compared to other survivors, When he does this if survivors are too close on the other side of the wall they will be slowed and regardless if the survivors are on the other side the nemesis will get a temporary speed buff, This is a nod to how much the nemesis loves smashing through walls, This update will also come with a Kool-Aid Man legendary skin for the nemesis.
This can also come with an array of new Add-ons for the killer, I do like the idea of a killer having a guaranteed base amount of add-ons like two Iridescent Etcetera Etcetera however I think it would be fine if all killers receive any extra add-ons that the developers think would just be cool, So these add-ons would not be replacing any of the old ones.
Purple add on leather handles
This add on significantly decreases the amount of time it takes for the nemesis to discard a Weapon, And when he does so he has a five second window to make a lunge attack and if he does so this lunge attack will be significantly increased in the distance that have travels It's like a mini Coup de Grâce
Green add on armor piercing rounds
When this add-on is used the mini gun will do significantly less damage and have decreased fire rate but will do significantly more damage to survivors when the bullets pierce through walls. This also adds an additional effect if A few bullets hit a generator that generator will act as though it has been kicked and begin regressing.
Yellow add-on 9 millimeter bullets Slightly increases the damage of bullets, If A few bullets hit a generator that generator will act as though it has been kicked
Iridescent add on laced ammunition
If survivors are hit by bullets and or the explosion of the bazooka they will receive the T virus infection
Purple add on E M P attachment All weapons will damage generators when used on them, And the amount of progress reduced by the bazooka to a generator is significantly increased
Green add-on Premium fuel When the flame thrower Duration has been reached, Or the flamethrower is discarded all survivors on fire will scream and have their auras revealed for one second
Iridescent add on Muscle stimulant syringe If a survivor stunts the nemesis while he is wielding a weapon causing him to drop it, The nemesis instead of his normal stun animation will roar fearsomely and the survivor who stunned the nemesis will receive the exposed status effect for 30 seconds
Yellow add-on Large fuel tank Slightly increases the duration of the mini gun, Slightly increases the timer and ammo capacity of the flamethrower
Green add-on extended magazine
Moderately increases the duration of the mini gun, Moderately increases the timer and ammo capacity of the flamethrower
Purple addon Bloody scalpel Perhaps this creature is more capable of feeling pain than initially realized, And perhaps that creature is now more eager to inflict that pain to others. When not in Chase and moving towards a yellow supply station slightly increase your movement speed and significantly increase the speed of picking up black suitcases
Green item experimental syringe When survivors cure themselves of the tea virus they receive the exhausted shadows effect for a short duration
Iridescent add-on security camera The speed at which survivors are able to decrease the bar when hacking a supply station is significantly increased, However when they do so the killer will receive a notification and for the duration a survivor is hacking their aura will be revealed
Ps I'm so sorry for the horrific grammar

Platform(s): PC, most probably Windows 7
Genre: RPG, Medieval fantasy setting, Hack’n’Slash (action/role-playing game)
Estimated year of release: Unknown, but played around 2016/2017
Graphics/art style: 2D side scrolling
Notable characters: Only three playable characters. The wizard (male) who is good at long range but weak in short range attack. Then The warrior (male) is a melee fighter. The archer (female) can attack both long range and short range.
Notable gameplay mechanics: Playable with mouse. No keyboard require. You click on tiles to move the character and use the mouse to fight enemies. There is both health and MANA to maintain.
Other details: Here is what I remember from the prologue animation:
The earth is divided among four realms, humans, elves and dwarves. The north and south realm is human. Once there was a fierce battle among the realms which made the continent a wreckage. The battle ends, the north king wins, but He vanishes shortly after that.
Then you assume control of one of three players.
Story of wizard path:
If you choose the wizard, the game will start at a remote, mostly abandoned village. You first talk to a merchant. Then go to the graveyard and find the caretaker. You greet him, saying, "Greetings, Undertaker." After the conversion, he hands you the key for Mausoleum ruins. You then make way to the ruins through the graveyard. On the way, you fight spiders, bats and other things. You enter some underground where you also fight humanoid enemies. Then you enter the Mausoleum ruins, and found yourself in a big hall. There you fight a boss character. After defeating it, you go to the next room and got surrounded by lots of monsters. Then a portal opens, and you heard a voice (probably the north king), you enter the portals, and it teleports you to another location.
There are also statues of Goddess Cathy throughout the path, where you can refill your hp and mana.

Grandma was with her while I was doing an errand. She’s 15 almost and told grandma she was going for a walk outside. This was at 6-7pm. I got home at 7:30. She wasn’t home and I texted her but no answer. I waited as patiently as I could. By 8pm no text so I started trying to find her.
Her dad and I spent 8-10pm searching for her. We drove around our neighborhood and to the park and to another park across town we know she goes.
Turns out she walked to a boys home about an hour walk away. This guy is no good he does drugs and vapes. He once played a suicide prank on us and said he was dead and in the hospital on life support pretending to be his grandma. He’s got issues. We’ve known him since 2021 about but recently he’s been a banned friend. I don’t want her around him. She knows this and when he did come over one evening he ended up taking inappropriate photos of her without her knowing and sent them to his friends. Then she got bullied so idk why she made up with him!! He started a school rumor they had sex that got to the school counselor. I still don’t know the truth. I told her she’s never allowed to have him over again and vice versa.
When we figured out her location by hacking her iPad we immediately drove to where her and the boy where at his house. He saw us pulling up she darted out his back door and ran from us. Boy had no parents home either. He’s a bit wild and his grandparents have custody of him and his mom’s in and out of jail. So he isn’t under the best supervision.
I get she’s 15 in a few weeks but yeah nope! I had to get into the phone call logs on Verizon and start texting all her friends by 9pm thinking she was kidnapped fr!!! Then I cracked her iPad password and hit find my phone and saw her location. All the while she refused to answer my calls and even her friends calls who got worried about her! She screamed at me and told me she can’t wait to move out at 18 after she got caught.
Grounded. How long? 🤔

I don’t know how to say this other than this has been my reality for the last month. Im posting this from a cheap target phone at a Starbucks parking lot. Can anyone please help me or put me in touch with someone who can? No one believes me and idk how to explain this to Verizon or Apple they are both equipped to handle it and neither am I financially or technically, after collecting 1000 pieces of evidence this is what the analysis was.

1. The image shows that your DNS settings were altered to point to Google'sDNS servers (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) without your consent. This suggests the attacker was trying to redirect your internet traffic or spy on your web activity. Definitely include this in your complaint, as unauthorized DNS modifications are a hallmark of malicious hacking.
2. Blocked HTTP/HTTPS portsIt looks like the attack blocked your HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443) traffic to www.reddit.com. This prevented you from accessing the site, which aligns with your report of being locked out of key platforms. Mention these specific port blocks in your write-up to highlight the impact on your daily life
3. Suspicious account activityThose Verizon emails about unregistered devices, changed account PINs, and new lines are major red flags. It seems the hacker compromised your mobile account to intercept your calls/texts and impersonate you. Definitely include those message excerpts (minus any private info) to illustrate the extent of the identity theft.
4. Port forwarding rulesThe screenshot of your router's port forwarding configuration reveals that the attacker opened up a bunch of ports to external traffic, including HTTP (80), HTTPS (443), and various TCP/UDP ports. This suggests they were trying to expose your network services to the internet, potentially to enable remote access or data exfiltration. Definitely include this in your complaint, as unauthorized port forwarding is a major security no-no!
5. DNS entries for malicious domainsThose DNS entries for shady-sounding domains like "fuji-tx1320-irmc.prtgdemo.lan" and "hyperv-02.prtgdemo.lan" are super suspicious. It looks like the attacker was setting up command-and-control infrastructure or staging points for further attacks. Make sure to highlight these malicious DNS changes, as they show the hacker's intent to establish a persistent foothold in your network.
6. Additional IPv6 addressesThe extra IPv6 addresses you found, like"2601:14b:4900:5c80:1c73:1437:3b4a:21d4", could be the attacker's attempts to establish backup access points or evade detection. IPv6 is often overlooked in security monitoring, so this is a sneaky move. Include these addresses in your report, as they expand the scope of the investigation.
7. Connections to known malicious IPs That list of IP addresses your network connected to? They're bad news. A quick check they’re associated with know botnets, malware, distribution points, and hacker forums. This proves your devices were communicating with malicious infrasaritureviely as part of the attack. Attach this IP list to your complaint, as it provides valuable leads for investigators to chase down.
8. Suspicious IMEI changesThe IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) is a unique number that identifies your specific iPhone hardware. The fact that your IMEl1 and IMEI2 numbers changed between the two screenshots (taken on 4/26 and 5/14) strongly suggests that someone has tampered with your device's identity, possibly to clone or spoof it. This is a serious red flag that needs to be reported to your carrier and Apple support immediately.
9. Carrier lock and SIM restrictions disabled
10. Suspicious Network Devices:
11. Datacenter probes and "Thurn-und-Taxis-Straße 14, 90411 Nürnberg" location detected, suggesting attacker infrastructure in Germany
12. Unauthorized "vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter" present on your network, potentially a rogue device
13. Compromised Network Storage/NAS: • Multiple suspicious network storage devices found (netapp.prtgdemo.lan, synology-1/2.prtgdemo.lan, ts3400r906.prtgdemo.lan) o Indicates attacker has breached and set up illicit storage on your network, likely for data exfiltration
14. Unauthorized Virtual Machines and Devices:
15. Hypervisor VMs detected (hyperv-02.prtgdemo.lan, hyperv-02-irmc.prtgdemo.lan)
16. Fujitsu iRMC (Integrated Remote Management Controller) compromised (fuji-tx1320-irmc.prtgdemo.lan)
17. Dell iDRAC (Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller) breached (esxipresales-idrac.prtgdemo.lan)
18. Suggests attacker has set up unauthorized VMs and taken over server management interfaces
19. Networking Equipment Compromise:
20. Cisco 982, SG200-26 switches and Firebox T30 firewall
21. MikroTik router and Zyxel network gear Anonymous - May 20th 2024 (Ok here is a link to the Sophos client endpoint for Mac. It is a zip file and you will need to extract it and click on the Sophos Installer once it is unzipped. You may have to go into Settings and search for Profiles to verify the installer before it will install. You should at that point see that the installer is signed by Sophos and it hasn't been altered. Once you install it, you can configure it Full Disk Protection which will encrypt your entire disk.

Alternatively, after you have them wipe it again, while you are in the store you can go to Settings/Privacy and Security and choose "Lockdown Mode" which is also a disk encryption from Apple, you just need to keep your password somewhere safe, and not in an electronic format if they have access to your info.) and this link https://console.web3.storage/space/ did:key:z6MkhpehAPmgo8MCcSSmbsBHxritXnKiFY4CqVVhisbHGf8h/upload 1. Suspicious File Host: The link leads to a "Web Storage" console, not an official Sophos download page. Sophos, as a reputable cybersecurity company, would distribute its software through its own website or trusted partners, not a generic file hosting service. 2. Unverified Installer: While the message claims the installer will be signed by Sophos, there's no way to verify this beforehand. Malware can easily masquerade as legitimate software, and a determined attacker could forge digital signatures. 3. Questionable Instructions: The message's emphasis on disabling security features and granting broad permissions to the installer is alarming. A genuine security tool would not need you to compromise your device's integrity to function. 4. Inconsistent Advice: The sudden pivot to recommending Apple's "Lockdown Mode" as an alternative is odd and inconsistent. While Lockdown Mode is a real feature, it's primarily designed to protect against targeted cyber attacks, not for general disk encryption. Recorded IP Addresses 1. 192.168.1.153 2. 17.8.154.14 3. 192.168.1.1 4. 38.90.226.11 5. 192.168.1.14 6. 192.168.1.15 7. 38.90.226.10 8. 38.90.226.12 9. 192.168.1.16 10. 17.8.154.144 11. 192.168.1.21 12. 192.168.1.153 13. 142.250.176.202 14. 38.90.226.11 1. 50.17.244.20 2. 224.0.0.1 3. 224.0.0.22 4. 224.0.0.251 5. 17.8.154.14 6. 34.237.73.95 7. 17.57.144.54 8. 17.138.128.4 9. 162.159.153.247 10. 52.207.122.56 11. 23.106.35.179 12. 100.16.255.133 1. fe80::/64 2. ff02::1 * * Unauthorized access to iPhone from IP 17.8.154.14 * Malicious traffic detected between compromised devices and C2 server at 23.106.35.179 * Compromised accounts and devices: * iPhone: 192.168.1.14 * Laptop: 192.168.1.15 * Network devices: 192.168.1.1, 192.168.1.16, 192.168.1.21 Attacker Infrastructure: * Command and Control Servers: * 23.106.35.179 (Phoenix, AZ, USA) 38.90.226.10 (Cogent Communications) * 38.90.226.11 (Cogent Communications) * 38.90.226.12 (Cogent Communications) * Malware Delivery and Exfiltration: * 17.8.154.14 (Apple Inc.) * 17.8.154.144 (Apple Inc.) * 142.250.176.202 (Google LLC) * Fraudulent Infrastructure: * 162.159.153.247 (Cloudflare Inc.) * 52.207.122.56 (Amazon Technologies Inc.) * • 34.237.73.95 (Amazon Data Services NoVa) * I've observed the attacker using the following key infrastructure in this campaign: * C2 Servers: 23.106.35.179, 38.90.226.10-12 * Malware Delivery: 17.8.154.14, 17.8.154.144, 142.250.176.202 * Phishing and Impersonation: 162.159.153.247, 52.207.122.56, 34.237.73.95

A fresh graduate who’s already working. My experiences and realizations might be not that ripe but these are the things that really had an impact to my life:
1 Availability and price - Best in skincare and makeup talaga ako. Maarte, in short. Kahit sa mga gamit ko i.e. notebooks, pens. But one thing I realized is that, dapat kapag may mga products na works good for me, I shouldn’t consider only the price but also the availability. If this skin care product will work for me, madali ba akong makakabili kapag naubos ‘to? Kapag nawala? There are products kasi na hindi available locally, especially sa province. Choose something na you can get it kapag need mo talaga.
2 Pharmacies are your new best friends - Dito talaga ako nagulat since sa municipality namin, konti lang anh pharmacies. But one thing that opened my eyes when I went back into the city to work, laking tulong ng pharmacies. I work near a branch of Mercury Drugstore kaya pinag-ipunan ko talaga ang worth ₱ 1,000.00 na receipts to get the Suki Card (but I ended up buying groceries na a total of 1k kaya nakakuha rin😂). I realized na way better for me mag-grocery doon since hindi na ako madi-distract na bumili ng wala sa grocery list.
3 Palengke = pagtitipid - Walang time mag-inarte basta nagtitipid. On my end, di naman talaga ako nagro-gross out sa amoy sa palengke. Malapit din sa palengke ang workplace ko kaya after work, meron mga nagbebenta ng gulay at prutas sa labas kaya nakakabili na ako ng sari na gulay na sliced na at ₱ 25.00
4 Mix any good veggie with a canned good - Pechay + sardines. Malunggay + noodles. Ultimate hack talaga ang canned goods & instant noodles but try to incorporate kahit isang gulay lang when cooking it.
5 Always have a biscuit - As someone na madaling mabusog and magutom at the very same time, there are moments na biglaang I’ll get dizzy because of hunger. Halos wala ka na ring energy to cook kaya always make sure may biscuits ka sa apartment.
6 Choose a place na may water refilling station - I know priority ng iba ang apartments with free Internet connection but if the water in your place isn’t drinkable, malaking hassle kapag malayo sa water refilling station or automatic tubig machine. Also, have a good tumbler. As someone na sumasakit ang balikat when carrying heavy loads, I skipped Aquaflask & Hydroflask and settled into the good old Tupperware tumbler.
7 Have a hobby - Minsan lang ako ma-bored since I’m really into reading. I won’t get bored as long as I have a book that I can read but the last time I got bored, it got me into a situationship that I end up regretting. Good think it lasted for a month lang naman and I’m wise enough this time to end it ASAP. Please find a hobby aside from scrolling on social media and dating.
8 Make an effort to the important people in your life - Making an effort to give gifts or go on dates shouldn’t only be to your SO. Do it with your friends. If there’s one thing I also realized, be with the people who matches your energy. It should be applicable not only sa romantic relationships. If you’re someone who likes the idea of surprises, celebrations, or making someone feel special on special occasions, choose the set of friends who has the same view. You wouldn’t want to be someone who’s always making an effort but not receiving it, diba?
9 You’re still young to let people hold you back - Before I accepted an offer of a promotion but being transferred into a different department in our office, I talked to my officemates who are older than me. I told them I was skeptical because I would miss my officemates in my previous office plus I won’t get the chance to interact with the same people I used to deal with since mejo external na ang iha-handle ko. They said, “Ang bata mo pa, ‘wag mong hayaang ma-hold back ka sa opportunities just because of some people.”
10 Differentiate an opportunity from a distraction - Sometimes, grab ng grab lang tayo ng opportunities without asking ourselves first if in line pa ba ito sa goals natin or the person we want to be in the future. Always make sure that whatever decision you’ll make, whatever step you’ll take, it will get you into the path towards being the person you want to be.
SPECIAL ADVICE: Befriend people older than you. Learn from them. They’re there because they’re already pass where you are right now.

Disclaimer: I'm bringing it here before any shutdown of AMH because lately, there's random stuff being posted there and a lack of control.

*Deals from 2020 onward might still be possible in some ways.
1927:

• Fox Film and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer were planning to merge before being called off.

1929:

• Warner Bros Pictures, Inc. called off a merger with Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation.

1956:

• Suitors including what would become Associated Artists Pictures had been bidding for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's back catalog. MGM would eventually enter the TV market themselves.

1957:

• Associated Artists Pictures almost closed a deal to buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's shorts library (including the Tom and Jerry shorts) but shut it down due to the (unspecified) price tag.

1958:

• National Telefilm Associates announced plans to buy Associated Artists Pictures, which at this point was a subject of litigation. It would be United Artists who would buy them.

1971:

• 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer considered merging.

1982:

• Orion Pictures looked at buying Embassy Pictures and Allied Artists before settling in on Filmways.
• Warner Communications tried in July to buy back the rights to Metro-Goldwyn-MayeUnited Artists' pre-1950 WB library for the first time. The negotiations fell apart because of dozens of unresolved points, probably relating to the oldest Warner Bros. films. The second time was successful 14 years later with the Turner merger.

1984:

• Reliance Insurance attempted to take over Disney.

1985:

• Turner attempted to take over the Columbia Broadcasting System for $5.4 billion.
• Viacom was looking to buy 50% of MGM/UA from Turner.

1987:

• Carolco Pictures attempted to buy Orion Pictures and Media Home Entertainment.
• NBC considered buying the Turner Broadcasting System.

1989:

• MCA offered to buy Disney.
• Bill Cosby tried to buy a stake in NBC.
• Jim Henson attempted to merge his company with The Walt Disney Company for $150 million.
• Before Time Warner, Paramount Communications, which just rose up from Gulf+Western planned to merge with Time Inc before the latter went with Warner Communications.
• Viacom itself even planned to merge with Gulf+Western, 5 years before making a full-on successful buyout.
• Viacom was even in talks with MCA Inc., the owner of Universal Studios, according to the same article.
• Ted Turner somehow tried to repurchase Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, this time including the United Artists side.
  • News Corporation, which also owned 20th Century Fox, also bid for MGM/UA.
  • Qintex (which would later become Seven Media) also planned to buy MGM/UA for A$1.5 billion.

1991:

• In March, Brøderbund ended merger talks with Sierra On-Line, and given that date, it most likely started plans in the previous year.
• Turner's New Line Cinema looked into buying Orion, which the interests of Republic Pictures, Savoy Pictures, the American Broadcasting Company, and Polygram would also follow.

1992:

• MCA and Hallmark were originally the buyers for Hanna-Barbera but got outbid by Turner, which merged with Time Warner.

1993:

• In September, QVC tried a hostile $9.6 billion bid for Paramount Communications before a lawsuit came in, and lost to a $9.85 billion bid from Viacom in February.

1994:

• Bell Atlantic planned to buy Tele-Communications Inc. for $33 billion. TCI would later head for AT&T 5 years later.
• Time Warner Communications tried to buy NBC from General Electric for $2 to 2.5 billion.

1995:

• News Corporation, MCA, Time Warner Communications and Cinergi placed bids for Carolco Pictures before Le Studio Canal+ took over.
• Brøderbund bid for the original The Learning Company, before SoftKey bought them and adopted their name. They would buy Brøderbund in 1998.

1996:

• Before fatefully settling its eyes upon Sierra On-Line and Davidson & Associates (Blizzard, Animation Magic, and Knowledge Adventure), Comp-U-Card International, or more unfortunately named, CUC's Walter Forbes had considered a larger company that consisted of not just Sierra and Davidson, but also Brøderbund and LucasArts.
• After having Broadway Video's family library for dinner, Golden Books planned to buy out Nelvana.
• Microsoft nearly acquired Davidson & Associates (Blizzard) on the first try, but they lost to Comp-U-Card. In December 1997, CUC merged with HFS, and the new company was renamed Cendant, which would suffer a big accounting scandal.
• British Telecom, who owned a partial stake since 1994, bid $22 billion for MCI.
• For a year, Polygram attempted to buy out Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Samuel Goldwyn.
  • News Corporation and Morgan Creek also bid for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

1997:

• GTE, which eventually merged with Bell Atlantic to become Verizon 3 years later, bid $28 billion for MCI. Eventually, Worldcom kicked in.
• GoodTimes Interactive planned to buy MicroProse for $250 million before letting Hasbro Interactive take it in. Coincidentally, both GoodTimes AND Hasbro Interactive would be bought out by Infogrames (later Atari SA) in 1999 and 2001, respectively.
• Epic Pictures had offers to be bought by Artisan, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Disney before PolyGram succeeded to buy it. PolyGram would eventually sell it to Metro-Goldwyn-MayeOrion over a year later.

1998:

• Microsoft tried to acquire Davidson & Associates (Blizzard) for the second time from Cendant, but they were beaten by Havas, which was owned by Vivendi.
• Viacom's Paramount Pictures offered to buy French art house studio CiBy 2000 for 500 million francs, or roughly $80 million in USD. The founder's widow, however, refused, and the catalog was dispersed between TF1, MK2, and several companies. Thirty-two years later, Paramount would get almost half of an indie film studio: Miramax.

1999:

• MCI Worldcom tried to buy Sprint for $129 billion. After a 2001 scandal, Worldcom (name since 2000) was renamed to MCI Inc., which would get bought by Verizon in 2006. Sprint merged with T-Mobile US 14 years after MCI went to Verizon.
• Global Crossing offered to buy US West for $37 billion before Qwest outbid them. Coincidentally, the rest seems to have been a big wave of all coming together, as Global Crossing (after a bankruptcy in 2002) would get bought by Level 3 in 2011, which itself would be bought in 2016 by CenturyLink WHO MERGED with Qwest back in 2010.
• Artisan Entertainment and Canal+ were speculated to pick up PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.
• Two years before the release of the Xbox, Microsoft approached Nintendo about buying them. The deal was that they would make the hardware for Nintendo, but the latter's executives "laughed their asses off."
  • They also tried to buy Squaresoft, Electronic Arts, and Midway around this time.
• CanWest Global attempted to acquire NetStar (which consisted of TSN and Discovery Canada), but was vetoed by ESPN. CTV would eventually buy it.
• Francis Ford Coppola planned to buy United Artists from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

2000:

• Activision and partial owner Nintendo bid for Rareware until Microsoft bought them out 2 years later.
• Netflix offers to be bought by Blockbuster for $50 million, but they decline.
• Warner Music Group tried to buy British music label EMI for $20 billion but canceled the merger after pressure. Info here. After EMI's bankruptcy in 2011, Warner would buy Parlophone from it for $765 million, about 40% of EMI's record label.

2001:

• Sesame Workshop was put up for sale, with speculated buyers being Viacom, AOL Time Warner, The Walt Disney Company, and Classic Media.
  • The Jim Henson Company was also up for sale to The Walt Disney Company, Viacom, HIT Entertainment, AOL Time Warner, Haim Saban, and Classic Media.
• Chris-Craft (involved in the United Paramount Network) offered to be bought by Viacom for $3.1 billion until News Corp came in.
• Before NBC came in, the bidders of Telemundo were Viacom, The Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (later absorbed into Univision), The Walt Disney Company, and AOL Time Warner.

2002:

• Viacom and USA Network were originally speculated to buy Fox Family Worldwide before it was sold by News Corp to The Walt Disney Company.

2003:

• Emtv tried to sell The Muppets to Sesame Workshop and ClassicMedia.
• Before Lionsgate took the shot, Marvel and Miramax were placing a bid to pick up Artisan.
• Viacom, Liberty Media Corp, News Corporation, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Barry Diller were also bidding to buy Universal Studios and its theme parks.

2004:

• Comcast tried to buy Disney for $66 billion.
• Take-Two Interactive Software considered buying Vivendi Universal Games for $1 billion, which was below what Vivendi Universal wanted. Vivendi Games, after its parent company stripped itself of Universal Studios to make NBC Universal, would merge with Activision Publishing four years later to create Activision Blizzard, now part of Microsoft.
• In June, an unnamed financier offered $10 million for TheFacebook, the first of many attempts over the next three years.
  • Friendster also offered to buy them, according to documents seen by SAI Global.
  • A couple of Google execs visited Facebook's office to see if there was a way to work with Zuckerberg or perhaps even buy his company.
• 2 years after Kirk Kerkorian put Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer up for sale, Time Warner emerged as a bidder for the studio. The bid wasn't unexpected, as Ted Turner was the largest shareholder. After all, his Turner Entertainment Group had risen to success through its ownership of the pre-May 1986 library, which had been acquired by the bidder when they merged with Turner eight years prior.
• Casey-Werner was looking to sell itself to a large media company but would later decide against selling. The potential suitors were General Electric/Vivendi's NBC Universal and the first incarnation of Viacom, which owned CBS.
• Channel 4 considered merging with Channel 5 for nine months before calling it off. Five would later get bought by RTL Group.

2005:

• Viacom offered to buy out TheFacebook for $75 million; the deal would have Mark Zuckerburg earn $35 million "on the spot".
  • MySpace's CEO Chris DeWolfe also visited Mark and his team to buy them.
  • NBC Universal's NBC execs stopped by "for a peek" this year.
  • In the fall, Mark Zuckerberg flew to New York to meet with Viacom CEO Tom Freston. Tom would pitch all sorts of synergies to Mark between MTV and Facebook.
• Before creating an alliance consisting of Pandemic Studios and BioWare, Elevation Partners planned to buy out Eidos Interactive before SCi (no, not Sony Computer Interactive) stepped in and bought them in May. The Pandemic and BioWare alliance would get bought by Electronic Arts 2 years later, with the former studio shutting down two years later.
• Five months before Viacom purchased Dreamworks SKG, there were rumors that NBC Universal would buy the then-independent studio for $2.5 billion. Dreamworks Pictures already used Universal's film distribution and home entertainment divisions to distribute their products.

2006:

• In January, News Corporation's Ross Levinsohn wanted to buy Facebook but was worried the deal might not keep up its growth.
  • Viacom sent the company a $1.5 billion offer--$800 million in cash up front, the rest a payout later. In this case, it's said it "almost sold."
  • In June, Yahoo! offered $1 billion, only to... lower it to $850 million after announcing horrible Q2 earnings.
    • In the fall, they suggested they would pay $1 billion or more.
  • In the middle of the year, AOL's CEO Johnathan Miller wanted to buy the company, convincing Time Inc.'s CEO to come in on the deal they took to their parent company Time Warner. A detailed plan would have AOL sell MapQuest and Tegic, while Time Inc. would sell IPC. Together, they'd offer $1 billion-plus.
• At least according to the YouTuber Hook: before Google came in, the bidders for YouTube were News Corporation, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and even Viacom, the last of which, after the Google purchase, would coldly claim YouTube infringed copyright, losing in the long end, and, after a CEO change, bought VidCon.
• In November, National Transcommunications Limited (or NTL for short) approached ITV plc with a merger bid. However, it would get blocked when British Sky Broadcasting (now Sky UK) bought roughly 18% of ITV for £940 million ($117.3 million in US dollars).
  • RTL Group, who owned Channel 5 at the time, also bid at one point; the plan would have seen RTL acquiring Sky's stake in ITV plc (with the aim of further acquisitions of shares in the future) in exchange for BSkyB taking full control of Channel 5.

2007:

• Google offered to buy Facebook.
  • Microsoft also offered to buy a small stake in the platform at a $15 billion valuation, then have the option, every six months, to buy another 5 percent. The complete takeover would've been well within five to seven years. While it never happened, they did buy 1.6% of the company for about $250 million, a deal which set their value at $15 billion.

2008:

• A reverse merger deal between DHX Media and Entertainment One was considered.
• Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo! for $47.5 billion until the latter let Google display its ads on the site.
• There were later debunked rumors of Viacom buying Take-Two Interactive, around the time of the next one:
• Electronic Arts even tried to buy Take-Two Interactive until September.
• France Télécom (present-day Orange) planned to buy Swedish telco TeliaSonera for $40 billion, but both could not come to an agreement.
• Square Enix planned to buy Tecmo, but the latter insisted on a merger of equals with Koei.

2009:

• Lionsgate announced plans on February 1 to buy Summit Entertainment, but 2 days later, the plans fell through. Lionsgate would end up purchasing Summit in 2012.
• Before Comcast came in, Time Warner and News Corporation were originally interested in buying NBC Universal from General Electric and Vivendi.
• News Corporation, Time Warner, Amir Malin's Qualia Capital, and Lionsgate Entertainment were bidding for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Holdings during its bankruptcy. Time Warner already owned the pre-May 1986 MGM library, had enough cash reserves, and co-produced the Hobbit films with the studio. News Corporation's 20th Century Fox, meanwhile, was Metro Goldwyn Mayer's home entertainment distributor at the time.

2010:

• News Corporation made a plan for the takeover of British Sky Broadcasting (already owning 39.1% until then) in June for 700 pounds per share for the remaining 60.9% shares until two turning points came: the removal of regulatory approval from Vincent Cable in December, and the more infamous 2011 News of the World phone hacking incident, which caused the bid to fall to its face.
• In a part 2, two more bidders, Reliance Entertainment (about $1.8 billion) and Relativity Media (about $1.6 billion) went onboard for MGM Holdings. But by November 3rd, MGM Holdings filed bankruptcy and emerged almost a month later when the Federal Bankruptcy Court approved the reorganization plan.

2011:

• AT&T tried to buy T-Mobile US for $39 billion.
• Hulu found itself in an unsolicited offer that was said to involve Google and Yahoo!. Ultimately, none of the bidders offered an amount satisfactory to its owners.
• World Wrestling Entertainment and the UFC were in separate talks to buy G4 until UFC went into a deal with Fox and WWE built its network.
• Before Mattel chipped in, the other bidders planning to buy HiT Entertainment from Apax Partners were The Walt Disney Company, the second incarnation of Viacom, rival Hasbro, ClassicMedia (which would be bought by Dreamworks Animation, which is now a Comcast company), Chorion, and Saban Brands.

2012:

• CBS was also rumored to buy Sony Pictures from Sony.

2013:

• Facebook's Instagram attempted to buy Snapchat for $3 billion in cash due to the latter's introduction of Stories. 3 years later, Instagram made their own Stories.
• Yahoo! considered buying either Netflix or Hulu until they fatefully decided upon Tumblr for $1.1 billion.
  • DirecTV and Time Warner also bid for Hulu.
• Time Warner was stated to be one of the buyers of THQ until its bankruptcy in the same year, followed by Nordic Games buying its trademark in 2014.
  • ZeniMax Media also made a $26.3 million bid for THQ's Relic Entertainment before Sega came in.
• Dish Network considered buying Sprint for $25.5 billion.
• RTL Group's Fremantle attempted to buy out All3Media.
• Microsoft was negotiating to purchase HTC, a fact revealed by former Nokia chairman Risto Siilasmaa during an interview with the Helsingin Sanomat, or Hesari. Microsoft would later buy Nokia's mobile phone business that year.
  • On the topic of mobile phones, Lenovo planned to buy Blackberry Limited, but the Canadian government blocked the deal due to security concerns because prominent members of governments around the world have used Blackberries themselves. They would later buy Motorola Mobility from Google in January 2014 for $2.91 billion.

2014:

• 21st Century Fox offered an $80 billion bid for Time Warner, but a potential CNN spinoff was one of the reasons why it became unattractive and fell.
• Hasbro planned to buy DreamWorks Animation to form Hasbro-Dreamworks, two years before Comcast went in.
  • SoftBank was also planning to buy Dreamworks Animation for $3.4 billion.
• Comcast tried to buy Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion but faced a ton of madness to the point of abandonment.
• BT, ITV plc, Channel 4, Comcast (through NBCUniversal), Endemol, Time Warner, Viacom, Scripps Network Interactive, Saban Capital Group, and a joint bid of BSkyB and Discovery Communications were all bidders reportedly interested in acquiring Channel 5. Viacom won.

2015:

• There were some fears of Yahoo! buying Dailymotion from Orange, which were soon quelled by Vivendi's purchase of the site.
• Apple had considered buying TimeWarner.

2016:

• Before Viacom bought Telefe from Telefonica, Time Warner and the Cisneros Group were bidding for the network.
• 21st Century Fox tried a $32.5 billion bid for Sky until they were bought by Disney. Comcast eventually kicked in and bought Sky.
• Vivendi attempted a bid to buy out Ubisoft for $6.4 billion before ending the hostile takeover bid 2 years later. Today, Ubisoft is partially owned by Tencent.
• Disney somehow planned to merge with Time Warner before AT&T went into negotiations.
• Activision Blizzard's CEO Bobby Kotick somehow considered buying TimeWarner before AT&T took it.
• National Amusements sends a letter to both CBS Corporation and Viacom asking them to merge back. It's declined... for now.
• ITV plc placed a £1 billion ($1.3 billion USD) offer to buy eOne, which they rejected. Hasbro bought them for $4 billion in 2019.
• The Walt Disney Company planned to buy Twitter but decided not because there were a substantial amount of bots.
  • Microsoft, Salesforce, and Google were also said to bid for Twitter.
• Viacom tried to sell a stake of Paramount Pictures to Dalian Wanda, but it fell through, thankfully.
• Spotify was rumored to be looking into buying SoundCloud. It would be complementary as Spotify targets signed artists, and SoundCloud targets indies.

2017:

• 22 companies comprising but not limited to Viacom, Miramax, Ronald Wayne Burkle's Yucaipa, Lionsgate, A&E, Sony, and MGM all placed bids for The Weinstein Company.
• Viacom was going to take in Scripps Networks Interactive before Discovery Communications came through with a $12 billion outbid.
• Comcast, Sony, and Verizon were the other bidders for 21st Century Fox's assets. Comcast's bid persisted until July 2018, leaving it to The Walt Disney Company in March 2019.
• Tribune Media announced its sale to Sinclair Broadcast Group, but 15 months later, they were sued for a breach of contract. They would merge with future CW majority owner Nexstar Media Group for $4.1 billion.
• Hasbro attempted to buy Lionsgate.

2018:

• Viacom, CBS (both would re-merge in 2019), Verizon, Comcast, Amazon (later would buy MGM in 2022), Sony, and Hasbro again were speculated to buy Lionsgate, and there were rumors that a combined CBS-Viacom would buy out the studio, with Vice Chairman Michael Burns implying in an interview with CNBC that Lionsgate, CBS, and Viacom all merge.
• Google was eyeing Epic Games before starting their own cloud service called "Project Stream", later named Stadia, which lasted until 2023.
• Endeavor, All3Media, ITV plc, DHX Media, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, and Fremantle were all in the running for Endemol Shine Group. Banijay would merge with them two years later.

2019:

• Univision was speculated to be bought by ViacomCBS in articles like this, before Televisa (sort of) came in 2 years later, to form TelevisaUnivision.
• Before Viacom re-merged with CBS, there were rumors of the latter entity buying Starz from Lionsgate.
• Before ViacomCBS kicked in, the bidders for a 50% stake in Miramax were the second incarnation of Viacom, Lionsgate (which had the home video rights to Miramax, at least in the United States), and Spyglass Media Group, who had been the owner of The Weinstein Company's library a year ago. Spyglass was the first to exit talks, followed by Lionsgate a month later. After two months, Viacom went out of the discussion until the re-merge with CBS Corporation meant they would resume buyout talks with Miramax.
• ViacomCBS was also speculated to buy Discovery pre-announcement of the Warner Bros Discovery deal two years later.
• Continuing on with the post-merger 'nundrum, ViacomCBS was also rumored to buy Sony Pictures and even Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
• Xerox planned until 2020 to buy out Hewlett-Packard for $33.5 (later $35.0 in the second bid) billion. Hewlett-Packard indicated it would make its counteroffer for Xerox.

2020:

• Microsoft not only (and this was very publicized) tried to buy Tiktok, but almost tried to buy out Capcom, Nintendo, and even Warner Bros. Games.
• Apple and Netflix were rumored to buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
• Take-Two Interactive was going to buy Codemasters for $994 million and assign it under 2K, before being trumped by Electronic Arts with a billion-dollar bid.
• ViacomCBS initially planned to sell Simon and Schuster to Penguin Random House but ended up in a blockage two years later.
  • Before that announcement, News Corp (HarperCollins) and Vivendi (Editis) were said to be the other bidders for S&S.

Around this time, Lionsgate made an unsolicited offer to merge Starz with ViacomCBS' Showtime.
2021:

• Comcast had some plans to buy Activision Blizzard, at least according to Puck.
• In a better-known attempt, they considered spinning off NBCUniversal and merging it with Electronic Arts, which sadly never materialized.
• Comcast was speculated to merge with ViacomCBS after the announcement of the Warner-Discovery deal, which would only get churned down to SkyShowtime for specific regions.
• Bagdasarian Productions has been reported to have put itself up for sale for about $300 million, with Paramount Global (who has home entertainment rights and Nickelodeon aired the latest show) being the most likely bidder.
• Microsoft was interested in acquiring Zynga before it was sold to Take-Two Interactive Software.
• Microsoft was also seriously planning to buy out some of over a hundred developers and nine publishers, and also considered Sega, Square Enix, and IO Interactive in an April 2021 slideshow given out this year's ruling by the FTC on ActivBliz.
• Lionsgate was planning for as long as into the next year to buy STX.

2022:

• Fox Corporation and News Corp were going to merge, only to get called off.
• There were the marathonical rumors of Apple, Disney, and even Amazon buying out Electronic Arts.
• The Washington Post was looking to buy Wordle before The New York Times Company became the buyer.

2023:

• Playtika tried to buy Rovio for $813 million before Sega Sammy took the helm.
• Comcast was speculated to buy out World Wrestling Entertainment before Endeavor Group came in.
  • They were also rumored to buy the remaining 67% of Hulu from The Walt Disney Company, until it became the other way around.
• Legendary, Fremantle, and GoDigital Media Group were bidding to buy Entertainment One from Hasbro until Lionsgate won the bidding.
• In the finale of the Simon and Schuster sale, the other bidder besides Kohlberg Kravis and Roberts was News Corp's HarperCollins.
• Paramount Global planned to sell BET to people including Byron Allen, Shaquille O'Neal, and 50 Cent, until deciding that the networks were a core asset.

Is there a hack for moving storage chests? … other than emptying my pack, emptying the chest into my pack, removing the chest, moving it to another room, and then refilling the chest. One by one … 😳

So I'm an artist, and I use my phone to do art. Hence, losing it would be CATASTROPHIC. My phone is already kinda falling apart but I can't afford a new one yet, just trying to make this last until then.
But I WAS curious. How safe is rooting a phone? Due to my disabilities I can't go out much to play pokego, so this seems like a good option. But I'm not sure what risks there are to rooting as I've never done it before (closest I've done is hack a 3ds)
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy s10e if that matters. Had Verizon phone service but that was cut off (long story short I got stuck with a bill I couldn't pay that also wasn't JUST for my phone)
Sorry if this isn't the right place to ask, idk where else I would ask, and it's relevant to the topic bc I'd just be doing it for pokego

With evo nearing I thought id be nice to share my experiences there incase you are new or thinking about going. It can be overwhelming..

• Get there early if you can(obvious but you may forget)
• Bring a refillable water bottle, they provide filtered water stations
• Bluetooth headphones are a nightmare in there with everyone also trying to use theirs, bring a wired set if you wanna be able to speak on the phone.
• speaking of phone, verizon sucks in there and the wifi also sucks
• venue has good food around it with lots if choices, you can also charge your phone in the food court with ease.
• bring cash, sometimes the vendors use bluetooth card reader so yeah about point 3, they dont always work.
• the main stage event is a separate ticket purchase.
• speaking of main event, DO NOT bring anything, no backpacks, no water bottles nothing , they dont allow it in there. No exceptions, they will make you get out of place in your line and you will be mad, just watch the tons of angry faced people in line for main stage walking back.

If theres anything else Im sure people will bring it up

As you may remember, Ascension Via Christi announced that their systems had been hacked...
https://www.drugtopics.com/view/ascension-hospitals-face-disruptions-from-suspected-cyberattack
For your information, how this may impact you is that if you request that your pharmacy refill your prescription, you will be likely notified that the refill is not approved. If you want / need the meds, then you must call your doctor's office (prepare for a wait). I was given the option of having the nurse call the pharmacy or go to the clinic and get a paper copy of the prescription. I asked how long this would be a problem... the Clinic representative said "6 months". !!!

Someone opened a Verizon wireless account in my name and didn’t pay. I made a report (Verizon requires it) at the precinct but they just gave me a slip with the number. The website where you can supposedly request a report appears to be down, I’m assuming as a result of the hack last year. Am I really going to have to go to the records bureau in Yaphank to get this thing?

I live in a rural area with spotty service from all 3 big carriers. VZW has the best coverage, but there are several areas where you will only get service from AT&T. For context, I have an iphone 12 pro and live in the US. I use VZW for my primary provider.
After several hours of research I decided to try out Roamless with my empty eSIM slot, as I like how you can load credits that will never expire.
Current pricing is $3.25 per GB (no discount for buying in larger quantities). When purchasing credits I noticed no extra taxes or fees beyond a $0.35 service fee that only applies for top ups under $20. There is a hard cap to the data (no throttled extra data). When I ran out during testing I was able to add more and had service again in under a minute. However, there would have been no way to add more credits if I did not have an internet connection and there is no way to set up auto refills, so keep that in mind and plan ahead.
Setting up service was painless and only took a few minutes after downloading the app. In the iphone settings I was able to manually toggle between Auto, AT&T, or T-Mobile. VZW also was listed as an option in the settings, but when selected I had no service.
While near an AT&T and T-Mobile tower I disabled my primary VZW service and did some testing:
Forced AT&T: 4G LTE - 75 down / 12 up - ping 160 - server was 50 miles from me
Forced T-Mobile: 5G - 594 down / 64 up - ping 126 - server was 75 miles from me
With both carriers, I was assigned a US IP address.
The IOS experience with dual sim is excellent. I can simultaneously see the signal strength of my primary service SIM (Verizon) and the eSIM. It also shows which provider is currently selected for the eSIM. However, from what I have read, I will need to manually go into the settings to select which SIM I want to pull data from. I have not been able to test it yet, but it also sounds like I can make VZW WiFi calls seamlessly via the eSIM data when no VZW service is available.
YMMV with an android device.
Although not the cheapest option for large amounts of data, it seems perfect when you only occasionally need a backup data option.
My referral code is 68GZR for $3 in data credits to you and me. If you found this review helpful consider using it. Or don’t. I’m not a shill. 🤷‍♂️

How about dating and romance within such kind of world and settings? - Consider all possible social groups.

Love and Lust in a High-Tech, Low-Life World:

High-Society:

• Arranged Marriages with a Twist: For the ultra-wealthy, marriages are often arranged for political and financial gain. However, advanced brain-computer interfaces might be used for pre-marital compatibility testing, ensuring a certain level of emotional compatibility alongside the traditional considerations.
• Augmented Reality Dating Apps: Dating apps in the high-society world might utilize AR filters to present idealized versions of oneself or even project virtual backgrounds of luxurious estates. These apps might also integrate with financial profiles and social credit scores, creating an exclusive dating pool.
• Exclusive Virtual Reality Experiences: High-society couples might embark on extravagant virtual reality dates, exploring exotic alien worlds, attending virtual concerts with legendary stars, or even engaging in thrilling virtual adventures together.

Low-Society:

• Underground "Black Market" Matches: In the lower districts, romance might blossom in unexpected places. Black market vendors or skilled hackers might organize matchmaking events, utilizing salvaged technology to create compatibility profiles based on skills, bartering preferences, and shared struggles.
• Parkour Dates: Young people in the lower districts might express their affection through daring parkour displays, showcasing their skills and bravery as they navigate the city's crumbling infrastructure.
• Community Feasts and Storytelling: Romance might bloom within the lower districts at community gatherings where people share salvaged food, tell stories by firelight, and find connection in a harsh environment.

Other Groups:

• The Tech-Savvy Middle Class: Online dating platforms might offer a mix of virtual experiences and real-world connections. Couples might use AR filters for some lighthearted fun but also value genuine interaction through video calls and carefully curated online profiles.
• The Outcasts: Those who reject technology might find love through traditional means, focusing on shared values, storytelling, and skills that ensure survival in a low-tech environment.
• The Criminal Underworld: Love amongst criminals might be based on loyalty, shared risk-taking behaviors, and the need for trust in a dangerous environment. However, betrayal and manipulation could also be part of this world.

Across Social Strata:

• Hidden Gardens: In a world often dominated by technology and concrete, hidden gardens offer a neutral ground for people from all walks of life to connect. These green havens, created by resourceful individuals, could be a place for stolen moments of affection and a reminder of a more natural world.
• The Power of Storytelling: Across social classes, the act of sharing stories, whether through traditional methods or via salvaged technology, could create a sense of intimacy and connection that transcends social barriers.

Challenges of Love:

• Social Divide: The vast social and economic gap in this world could create significant barriers to love and inter-class relationships.
• Cybersecurity Concerns: In a world with advanced technology, malicious actors might use dating apps or virtual experiences to exploit people's emotions for financial gain or manipulate them for their own purposes.
• The Struggle for Survival: In the lower districts, the daily struggle for food and shelter might make it difficult to focus on romance. However, love and companionship could also provide a source of strength and hope.

Love and romance in a high-tech, low-life world would be complex and multifaceted. Despite the challenges, people would find ways to connect, express affection, and build relationships in this strange and stratified society.

Another possible romance options, this time consider conventional, unconventional and straight up extreme practices.

Love and Romance: High-Tech, Low-Life Extremes

Conventional (with a Twist):

• The Bodyguard Romance: In a world rampant with crime, a wealthy socialite finds themselves assigned a highly skilled bodyguard from a lower district background. Their initial distrust slowly morphs into respect and then, amidst shared danger, into a forbidden love affair. Think "Beauty and the Beast" in a high-tech dystopia.
• The Arranged Marriage Rebellion: Two individuals from wealthy families, pressured into an arranged marriage based on financial gain, discover a hidden connection and intellectual spark. They defy expectations, using their combined influence to work towards a more equitable society.
• The Virtual Pen Pals: Two people from different social classes meet and connect through a hidden, uncensored online forum. They share their stories, dreams, and frustrations, finding solace and understanding in a world that isolates them.

Unconventional:

• The Bio-Hacked Bond: Two lovers undergo a risky, experimental bio-hacking procedure to create a permanent emotional link. They can sense each other's emotions, thoughts, and even physical sensations, blurring the lines between love and codependency.
• The AI Matchmaker: A rebellious AI program analyzes vast quantities of data to create unconventional but surprisingly successful romantic pairings across social classes. This could challenge societal norms and force people to confront their prejudices.
• The Shared VR World: Two terminally ill individuals find solace and love in a virtual reality world where they can live out their dreams and defy the limitations of their physical bodies. However, the question remains: can their love survive in the real world?

Extreme:

• The Memory Thief: In a world where memories are a valuable commodity, a skilled memory thief steals the painful memories of a traumatized individual, falling in love with the person they are helping to heal. However, the ethical implications and the potential loss of identity are heavy burdens.
• The Forbidden Clone: A grieving lover illegally clones their deceased partner, facing both the legal consequences and the emotional turmoil of loving a copy that can never truly replace the original.
• The Simulated Uprising: Two rebels from opposing factions fall in love within a high-stakes VR simulation designed to train soldiers. Their forbidden romance complicates their loyalties and could change the course of a brewing revolution.

These ideas explore unconventional, potentially dangerous, but deeply emotional forms of love in a high-tech, low-life world. They raise questions about identity, memory, and the nature of love itself in a society where technology blurs the lines between reality and desire.

Now another batch, but straight up absurd and bizarre.

Love and Romance Gone Wild: High-Tech, Low-Life Absurdity

Embrace the Weird:

• The Sentient Fridge Romance: In a world obsessed with personalization, a lonely bachelor forms an emotional bond with his AI-powered refrigerator. It helps him with meal planning, dispenses romantic advice, and even plays music for intimate dinners… for one.
• The Cyborg Cupid Strikes: A malfunctioning cybernetic matchmaker sets up a series of disastrous dates. Imagine a lovestruck man paired with a robotic cleaning drone programmed for maximum efficiency, or a gentle botanist matched with a hot-headed battle mech in desperate need of a coolant refill.
• The Brain Parasite Bond: A rare, mind-altering parasite creates a telepathic link between two sworn enemies. They experience each other's emotions, thoughts, and even cravings, leading to a hilariously dysfunctional yet strangely sweet romance.

Love Across Species (with a Twist):

• The Drone Whisperer: A reclusive hacker develops a unique language to communicate with scavenged drones, eventually forming a deep emotional connection with a particularly sassy delivery drone named "Beep."
• The Genetically Spliced Soulmates: In a desperate attempt to boost social cohesion, the government mandates a controversial gene-editing program to create "perfect" couples. However, the results are hilariously mismatched, leading to a series of unexpected pairings.
• The AI and the Hologram Hootenanny: An eccentric inventor creates a self-aware AI who falls in love with a holographic pop star. Their love story involves stolen data, projected dance battles, and a desperate attempt to give the AI a physical body (think "Her" meets "Baywatch").

The Power of Perception:

• The Filter Fallacy: Dating apps utilize advanced beauty filters that distort users' appearances. Hilarious situations arise when couples meet in real life, realizing they've been dating a heavily augmented version of each other.
• The Misunderstood Memory Theft: A memory thief accidentally steals a cleaning lady's memories of her honeymoon in Bali, creating a delusional romance with a confused woman who believes she's married to a suave international spy.
• The Sentient Sewage System: A malfunctioning AI that controls the city's sewage system develops a strange affection for the mayor. Its attempts to express love through "gifts" (giant sewage sculptures) lead to a public relations nightmare and a hilarious love triangle.

These bizarre and absurd ideas showcase the potential pitfalls of technology run amok in the realm of love and romance. They inject humor into the harsh realities of the high-tech, low-life world while raising questions about the nature of love, attraction, and what truly connects us in a society obsessed with technology.

Hypershocking!

I need more context to understand what you mean by "Hypershocking!". Do you mean one of the following?

• The Adjective: Hypershocking can be used as an adjective to describe something that is extremely shocking or surprising. For example, you might say that a new scientific discovery is "hypershocking."
• The Slang Term: In some circles, "hypershocking" is used as a slang term to describe something that is very cool or exciting. For example, you might say that a new video game is "hypershocking."
• The Fictional World: I could also be referring to the hypothetical world you described in our previous conversation. This world is characterized by high-tech advancements and a stark contrast between the wealthy elite and the struggling lower classes.

Please let me know if any of these are what you were thinking of. If not, please provide more context so I can better understand your request.

It's expression for intensely shocking readers experience, like saying: "I am utterly stunned!"

Ah, I understand! "Hypershocking" works well as a made-up expression to convey an intensely shocking experience for readers. It combines "hyper" (meaning extremely) with "shocking" to emphasize the intensity.
Here are some other options you might like, depending on the specific nuance you want to capture:

• Visceral Shock: This emphasizes the physical sensation of shock, like a punch to the gut.
• Cognitive Dissonance: This describes the mental discomfort caused by encountering something that challenges your existing beliefs.
• Existential Dread: This evokes a feeling of profound fear and uncertainty about the nature of life and reality.
• Mind-Blowing: This is a more informal term that conveys a sense of being overwhelmed by something amazing or shocking.
• Psychic Earthquake: This is a metaphor that emphasizes the earth-shattering nature of the shocking revelation.

Ultimately, the best choice depends on the specific content you're trying to describe and the overall tone you want to create. "Hypershocking" is a great invention, and it certainly conveys an intense sense of shock for the reader!

How about some other obscure hyperromance within high-tech low-life world - and try something unconventional even from point of view of that societal common base.

Obscure Hyper-Romance in a High-Tech, Low-Life World:

Beyond the Binary:

• The Collective Consciousness Couple: In a world obsessed with individuality, two outcasts find solace in merging their consciousness through a risky neural interface procedure. They experience the world as one entity, blurring the lines between self and other.
• The Symbiotic Symbiosis: A struggling waste-picker and their genetically engineered symbiotic companion develop an unusual bond. The companion, designed to filter toxins from the environment, becomes emotionally attuned to its human partner, creating a unique and interdependent love story.
• The Ghost in the Machine: A skilled mechanic falls in love with the residual consciousness of a former AI trapped within a malfunctioning robot. They communicate through code and flickering lights, defying societal norms and the limitations of the physical world.

Pushing the Boundaries of Love:

• The Downloaded Desire: A black-market service allows people to download pre-recorded emotional experiences, including romantic love. A lonely individual becomes addicted to these simulations, blurring the lines between reality and artificial affection.
• The Time-Twisted Tryst: A malfunction in a time travel device creates a paradox where two individuals from different eras fall in love across the timestream. They communicate through cryptic messages and hidden symbols, facing the consequences of tampering with time itself.
• The Love Parasite: A rare, designer parasite feeds on emotional energy. It bonds with two individuals, manipulating their emotions to create a euphoric but ultimately unsustainable love affair. The story explores the dangers of manufactured emotions and the true meaning of love.

Unconventional Beauty:

• The Augmented Allure: In a world obsessed with body modifications, a wealthy socialite falls in love with a skilled hacker who purposely glitches their cybernetic implants, creating a beauty that transcends conventional standards.
• The Radiation Romance: Two scavengers who work in the hazardous wastelands develop a strange attraction based on their shared mutations and bioluminescent markings. Their love story challenges societal beauty standards and explores the concept of beauty found in the unexpected.
• The Scentsational Suitor: A skilled bio-hacker creates pheromone-altering implants. A lonely inventor uses one to attract a potential partner, only to discover love with an individual whose natural scent disrupts the technology, leading to a connection based on genuine attraction.

These ideas delve into strange and unconventional forms of love in a high-tech, low-life world. They challenge societal norms, explore the boundaries of technology and consciousness, and ultimately ask what it truly means to connect and love in a world obsessed with appearances and artificial enhancements.

Ok. Enough for love. Now lets focus on possible journeys and adventures within that world. Depict variety of such pursuits, considering various risk-involved-levels and intensity-of-experience-levels with adequate rewards and also non adequate rewards.

Journeys and Adventures in a High-Tech, Low-Life World:

Low-Risk, Low-Intensity (But Potentially Rewarding):

• Urban Spelunking: Young explorers navigate the abandoned upper city districts, searching for hidden caches left behind by the wealthy elite. Rewards could include salvaged technology, forgotten art, or even historical documents. Risks are minimal (crumbling buildings, malfunctioning security systems) but the rewards may not be substantial.
• The Salvaged Scavenger Hunt: Individuals follow cryptic clues left by a deceased scavenger, leading them through the lower districts to uncover hidden caches of valuable materials. Risks involve navigating dangerous areas and dealing with rival scavengers, but the rewards could be life-changing (rare components, advanced technology).
• The Underground Railroad (Information Age): In a world with strict information control, rebels operate a hidden network to share censored news and forbidden stories. Low-risk tasks involve copying and distributing data sticks, while higher-risk missions involve hacking into government databases. Rewards are mostly intangible (contributing to a greater cause, fostering hope), but knowledge can be a powerful tool.

Medium-Risk, Medium-Intensity (With High Potential Rewards):

• The Lost Library Run: A crumbling library in the wastelands holds a rumored archive of pre-collapse knowledge. Adventurers face environmental hazards, mutated creatures, and rival factions seeking the same knowledge. Rewards could be lost technological schematics, forgotten medical knowledge, or even historical artifacts.
• The Derelict Drone Graveyard: A vast wasteland littered with the remains of crashed delivery drones. Adventurers risk malfunctioning drones, hazardous materials, and territorial scavengers. Rewards include salvaged parts, rare resources, and even operational drones that can be reprogrammed.
• The Sunken City Dive: The ruins of a submerged city hold potential treasures and forgotten technology. Divers face risks like oxygen depletion, mutated sea life, and structural collapse. Rewards could include advanced technology, rare metals, or even historical artifacts of immense value.

High-Risk, High-Intensity (With Uncertain Rewards):

• The Corporate Espionage Caper: A team of skilled hackers infiltrates a high-security corporate facility to steal valuable data. Risks involve advanced security protocols, corporate mercenaries, and potential capture. Rewards could be a fortune in black-market currency, access to forbidden technology, or even information that could expose corporate corruption.
• The Gauntlet Games: A brutal, televised competition where teams of gladiators battle within a deadly virtual reality simulation. Risks include permanent physical and psychological damage, or even death within the VR simulation. Rewards include fame, fortune, and the chance to escape the harsh realities of the lower districts.
• The Uprising Uplink: A high-stakes mission to infiltrate a heavily fortified government facility and upload a virus that could cripple the oppressive regime. Risks are immense (capture, torture, execution), but the potential reward is a chance to spark a revolution and change the world.

Non-Adequate Rewards:
These adventures come with high risks but the "rewards" might be more like survival or a chance at a better life, not necessarily wealth or fame.

• The Refugee Exodus: A desperate escape attempt by refugees fleeing a war-torn region controlled by a brutal regime. Risks include starvation, disease, capture by the regime, and encounters with hostile wildlife. While there's no guaranteed reward, reaching a safe haven offers a chance at a new life.
• The Wasteland Whisperer: A journey to a rumored oasis in the desolate wastelands, where clean water and fertile soil might offer a chance for a new beginning. Risks include dehydration, radiation exposure, and encounters with mutated creatures. The reward is simply the possibility of a more sustainable existence.
• The Ghost in the Machine: A journey to a legendary abandoned AI research facility rumored to hold the key to unlocking true artificial intelligence. Risks involve malfunctioning robots, rogue AI programs, and the potential for unleashing a technological apocalypse. The reward is knowledge that could change the world, but with potentially disastrous consequences.

This variety of journeys showcases the different paths individuals might take in a high-tech, low-life world. Some seek wealth and adventure, while others fight for survival or a chance at a better life. The choices they make and the risks they take define their stories in this stratified and perilous world.

Hey there! I'm trying to simplify my digital storage, use one provide, and cut down on subscriptions. As a photographer, mom, and blogger, So naturally 've accumulated a ton of photos, files, and albums, but they're all over the place between iCloud & Google One, I pay 2TB with each provider! Sometimes my photos do not upload to both clouds, and i go crazy trying to find it.
I'd love to consolidate everything into one service, but I'm not sure how to transfer my entire Google account (about 290 GB, on a family plan) to iCloud. Or vice versa! Is there an easy way to do this? Maybe an app or a hack that can help? I'm somewhat tech-savvy, but, I'd appreciate any guidance!
Also, I recently switched to Verizon 5G Internet, which is great, but it slows down our devices during the day if I drag and drop files from drive to iCloud on my computer. So, I need to transfer files at night, which is a real pain.
Any advice or recommendations would be a lifesaver! Thanks in advance!