ACT 1. Sunday afternoon after visiting the local market two brothers wait for their train to arrive. If they were even a minute late, they knew their mother would surely scold them and scold the elder of the two far worse. The idea of another beating did not bother the elder brother; he had been through far worse just dealing with the brat and his attempted jailbreaks, though something did begin to make him painfully nauseous forcing him to feel pressured by the light breeze as if gravity had suddenly been increased tenfold. All his senses were heightening beyond anything he had thought possible.All around him he saw that the once energetic and hyperactive passengers had become little more than mannequins; their movements slowing to a standstill. They had all gone silent. The station was no longer filled with the cries of children or the gentle laughs of their parents. He had never heard such silence in such a crowded location. He did not feel panicked, nor did he feel a need to act for this silence was oddly comforting to him. However, the newly calm atmosphere would quickly be the source of a lifetime of suffering.His hand began to reach for his brother in an attempt to call his attention. Though in a moment of both unprecedented shock and exhaustion John shoved his younger brother onto the rails of an oncoming train. Local news would report the incident as nothing more than a tragic manic episode of a young sixteen-year-old. However, for John this single visceral instant in which all of his brother's bones were instantly crushed was stretched into hours. He was painfully aware of how every bone in his brother's body contorted in inhuman ways some nearly resembling perfect right angles, until eventually, they snapped and sent insurmountable pain throughout his nervous system. His blood curling screams were made mute by the screech of the train coming to a halt, though, by the time they stopped, his brother had torn his every vocal cord and had long ago lost consciousness. Still on the platform, the elder brother stood still, attempting to process what exactly he had done. He had no idea what force had compelled him to push his brother, but that instant would forever define what he saw as reality.That however was nineteen years ago, in present day he lived in isolation far from any person. He spent his isolated days wandering the land around his cabin completing house chores that distracted him from reminiscing about his days in the asylum or as he liked to call it “The Echo Room” where he was transferred after the incident. He headed inside after spending a portion of his morning counting all one-hundred-and-thirty-two trees that were showing signs of life after the harsh winter that nearly forced him to cut down two of them for firewood. Once inside he began preparing his morning coffee when he heard a loud creak come from the hall. He (after many incidents) learnt to avoid the boards that creaked, so in his mind immediately an intruder was breaking into his cabin searching for food or his stash of special edition coffee. Deciding to investigate he walked towards the noise when suddenly he heard two knocks at his front door. Confused and slightly worried, he proceeded to walk towards the door making sure not to step on any of the annoyingly loud floorboards.He approached and looked through the peephole and saw only what remained of the melting snow outside. Opening the door, he saw that only his steps led to the doormat. He glanced around and saw no indication of any life aside a few dark patches on the snow. He was about to close the door when he noticed a tiny red package wrapped in a radiant red bow placed clear from where the door would open. Cautiously picking it up, he noticed how it had almost no weight to it; as if empty. He walked inside and sat at his desk planning to journal later about the weird morning he had been having. He examined the exterior of the package and saw how not only was it near perfect condition but it was also slightly warm to the touch; as if recently held. He undid the bow and cautiously opened the package, half expecting an explosive of some sort. Though, all he found was a ragged ripped piece of paper. Unremarkable aside from the fact that it was inside such a carefully constructed package. On the other side he saw that it had some scarlet lettering inscribed into it reading.“Ouroboros”. At first believing it to be a prank by the kids who had heard rumors about him, and his incident, nearly caused him to dismiss it entirely deeming it little more than a slightly humorous event. He decided to put it aside for now as he had coffee left to drink that was quickly getting cold. He walked back towards the kitchen still distracted by the idea of no trace being left by whoever had left the gift. Was it even a gift? Maybe it was just some well-executed prank? In any manner he would later have a better look at it. He absentmindedly, reached for his cup and immediately pulled his hand back shocked by the temperature of the cup. It was frozen! Almost to a complete solid. He thought himself slightly distracted but not enough to freeze his morning coffee especially not his special edition coffee. First The Box and now this, it was all adding up to an annoying morning. Was it still morning? No, that’s not right. He had just spent the day counting trees. How could it still possibly be morning?The thought of Dr. Lumis being correct about his mental condition after so many years sent a chill down his spine especially since last time they talked, he did not exactly behave amicably. He was sure that both incidents had been isolated events that could never happen again. Sure, he had heard the echoes every once in a while, but he was never insane like the others; this he knew to be a fact. If he was insane, how could he have ever left? Disoriented and beginning to sweat, his legs suddenly gave out causing him to fall backward landing on the cold wooden floorboards. He looked around hurriedly expecting to see an intruder that had somehow found him. After seeing nothing but his pristine furniture, he steadied himself and began to control his breathing. He slowly got up causing the wood underneath to creak under the sudden release of weight. Deciding to further assure himself he went around the cabin checking in all four rooms. He found nothing aside from his own disturbances. Still feeling slightly nervous and disturbed he headed back towards the living room in search for The Box with the red bow determining that it had somehow triggered his current situation. The Box was still where he placed it; much to his relief. He sat down. He looked once again at the scarlet lettering.
Act 2. Back in the asylum he would often spend his days wondering how he could have ever been grouped alongside individuals who had purposefully and viciously committed heinous crimes against innocent victims. He was not insane like them. Whatever had caused his hand to shove his brother had long abandoned him. His routine now consisted of cleaning whatever mess the older residents made in the halls and transporting lab waste to the crematorium. He would clean from the southern stalls all the way to the northern cemetery and make his rounds gathering the waste from the rooms. It was a simple job but lonely, nonetheless. The halls were often only illuminated by tiny flickering red lights that indicated the position of the cameras through which Dr.Lumis would often monitor John during his nightly crusades. Though incredibly distasteful, John did not mind, he accepted that odd situations would be easier to explain if someone of credit had seen them. Yet despite this, he felt he was being watched by someone other than the doctor. He assumed that this feeling was due to the paranoia he had been diagnosed with a few months back. On a particular night, moments after dumping another bag of soft solids and dense liquids down the chute, he heard footsteps, just outside the room. Expecting to see the doctor he begrudgingly walked towards the door. Exiting and seeing no one he called out for the doctor but got no response aside from the echo of his own voice. He began to walk towards where he had heard the footsteps come from when he suddenly collapsed out of exhaustion. The same exhaustion that had plagued him during the moment of his brother’s death. He tried to reach for his panic button (a gift from Lumis) but it had disappeared from his chain. He tried to scream but not a single whisper was heard. He gazed into the dark corridor where he had thought Dr.Lumis had gone, but saw nothing but soft shadows. Though something was unnervingly wrong about them. They moved as if following an order, all synchronized, all heading towards him. That night in the asylum had left him scared to even return to the disposal area; he feared that The Shadows might eventually be able to reach him. The Shadows did not haunt him unaccompanied: they followed alongside The Echo tormenting his nights. While The Shadows could not reach him during daylight, he could never escape The Echo. It followed wherever he went and tracked everything he did. Dr.Lumis explained that he merely suffered from an extreme case paranoia but John saw the others; who yelled and who screamed true nonsense, he was perfectly aware of himself and the ones around him. Dr. Lumis secretly believed patient #132 experienced Hyper-sanity though this he would never verbally confess. It was term he decided would for now adequately describe his patient’s acute awareness of The Shadows and The Echo. John would for many years go without hearing The Echo after that night, only ever hearing what seemed like the final moans of a dying voice. Back in present day, he hoped he wasn’t suffering another hallucination as they tended to leave him in an embarrassing shocked state. He questioned what “Ouroboros” could possibly mean in relation to himself. He considered the possibility of it being an early warning of some threat to the sanctity of his home. He quickly dismissed it as he had not interacted with anyone long enough to possibly annoy them. Weird them out? Sure. Offend them? Maybe with his sense of fashion. Following his incredibly fine-tuned survival instincts he put on a light coat and went outside to walk among the trees. A mundane task, but one he truly enjoyed especially since he hoped it would distract him for a short while. Just before he closed the door behind him, he took one more look at The Box sitting on his desk and decided to take it with him in case he met the person who had left it. The sun had begun to set marking the end of the day. He watched the sun hide behind the mountain range letting the world bathe in darkness for another night. John did not dislike the night (he had worked nightshifts in The Echo Room for years) but he didn’t find the freezing cold to be ideal. He had not left his land for what was a few years now and the idea of even slightly stepping out of his comfort was making him incredibly anxious. Still, he walked forward towards wherever the path took him. The night only got darker and quieter, and he only got colder. He did not see the lightning bugs that usually warded away the dark near the edge of his hill. Without the soft hum of bugs or soft breeze that would brush against his beard he felt alone. Even the nights back in the asylum did not possess this level of quiet. He kept moving hoping that eventually he would find something that could break the uncomfortable silence. As he continued down the hill, he realized he could no longer distinguish the path from the dirt surrounding it. He considered heading back when he realized he had not kept track of where he had come from. Not only was he lost but alone with his thoughts and whatever had been watching him from the start. He walked a step forward and then another one back repeatedly. What he was attempting to achieve was beyond reason. Had he gone mad? No, he was perfectly sane. “Wait, I can hear them clearly now” he spoke, his voice dried from the cold.“This is not a hallucination” he spoke softly.“i-I AM NOT HALLUCINATING” he proclaimed. He heard The Echo once more though they were not of his voice but rather of Another. He had long been aware of “The Echo” but he could never fully determine whether it was a dream or an effect of the chemicals but this Other was undoubtedly real. “I don’t know where you are but please. Are you real?” he asked the night. He could now hear The Echo or rather feel the pressure of its words upon his reality. Had it been trying to hide the Other? He walked forward and pulled out The Box. “You gave me this right? What for? What purpose does it serve?” No one responded.Annoyed, he threw it as far as he could down the hill. “THERE! THIS CAN’T CONTINUE WITHOUT IT, RIGHT?” He shouted at the endless empty. That’s when out of the darkness emerged a faint light. Was it a lightning bug or maybe a sign of civilization?
Act 3. Cautiously, he approached the cold light and saw that the light was artificial. The tube inside flickered before another appeared a few feet ahead, and then another and then another and then what seemed like an uncountable amount more. He took a step forward and noticed that the ground underneath had turned to hard white tile. Accepting that this was not the weirdest occurrence that had affected him he proceeded to walk forward making sure to keep a mental note to journal about it later. The surrounding landscape transformed into white walls that every so often had a window that let him peek at the other side. At first, he could still see the snowy landscape, but it to slowly changed; first having scattered papers and then chairs, cabinets, and desks until they eventually resembled a typical office. Its purpose was not obvious to him, and neither was the hallway but if they were changing surely, it possessed a deeper metaphorical meaning that related to his life. He saw a door at the very end of the hall and decided to not postpone the ploy of whatever “The Echo” was planning. He stood before the door wondering about what it could possibly contain. John proceeded to open the door. Inside was a desk along with a single cabinet. Walking inside he noticed that the room was illuminated by some otherworldly source that had no words that could possibly describe it. He walked towards the desk and a file he had not seen previously, sat open. Inside was a description of his physical appearance. “Age: 35. Height: 5’8. Weight: 185 lbs. Hair: Black with obvious signs of stress. Eyes: Brown. Character Aptitude: High.” “Okay, I get it. I’m old, you didn’t have to expose my hair like that” he said slightly embarrassed quickly restyling his hair. He noticed that even though they had an almost perfect description of his hobbies, dreams and wishes they did not have a single picture as if they for some reason were only able to use words. “SOOO you know about that one time in the asylum (don’t ask) BUT NOT A SINGLE PICTURE? That’s lame.” he said mockingly. On the final page he found what looked like an incomplete file; most of the personal attributes had not yet been filled and only a note was made reading. “They don’t need a complete story just one they can understand.” Besides the fact that whatever role he played in this act had been a mere afterthought; he was confused as to how anyone could have ever gathered such sensitive and personal information about his isolated life. Was it The Echo? Had it told them his life? A phone started to ring somewhere in the room abruptly breaking the silence he had become used to. He quickly rotated towards the source of the ringing but did not find anything. There was only him and the four walls that despite the lighting did not change a shade of grey. He walked towards one of them that seemed to be where the noise came from resting his hand on it and gently put his ear to it thinking that the ringing was from another room entirely. The wall he had just laid a hand on had no longer a physical representation and causing John to fall through to the other side. Disoriented he slowly looked up and saw The Telephone illuminated by what seemed to be the same light that illuminated the previous room. This one however was far more powerful and concentrated solely on The Telephone. He approached it expecting a chasm to somehow appear underneath his feet. The Telephone did not stop ringing and only seemed to increase in intensity (though this could have simply been a hallucination). He lifted it to cut the blaring noise and slowly put it to his ear. “hello?” “…” “…” “The protagonist only dies if the story ends” the voice said quietly. “HUH? YOU DRAGGED ME HERE TO TELL ME THAT OMINOUSLY ANNOYING LOAD OF *********!” “…I’m so sorry” The call disconnected not out of offense but rather out of completion. John slammed the phone back onto its stand and decided it was time for this nonsense to end. He walked out into the room he was in before anxiously attempting to find another exit: only to be met with solid walls. What wicked game had he been roped into? When would it end? These were questions he would answer far earlier than he expected. A door appeared in the center of the room. No, it was more of a two-dimensional plane that appeared to be a sort of portal. With no other options, John stepped into the newly opened portal.
Act 4. On the other side was a station, and his ears were immediately flooded with the cries of children and the laughs of their parents. He walked around moving through the crowd careful to not miss any indication of the location. His pace increased as he began to recognize the commuters shortly realizing exactly where he was. He rushed to a platform, the platform where he and his brother were to arrive after their day in the market. He sat on a nearby bench committed to saving his brother no matter who he would have to shove instead. Three agonizing days passed with the daily commuters repeating their routine with the slightest variations. One of these variations would be the key to preventing the day that haunted his nights. Something would soon cause him to shove his brother onto the tracks. He was determined to stop the fall or kill himself to keep his brother safe.He heard a familiar laughter and turned towards the source and saw his brothers face uncontrollably laughing and himself lightly smiling. He began to run towards them but felt once again suddenly exhausted. As if the air became a type of nonnewtonian sludge making his legs impossibly heavy. The crowd around him seemed to be moving just as easily as before; children laughing just as maniacally and just as carelessly. He tried to yell to them, but his lungs were filled with the dense fluid drowning any screams he attempted. He was forced to watch how his brother got closer and closer to the edge. Through much effort, he managed to get close enough to extend a hand towards his past trying to desperately push him away from his brother. The past reacted in what seemed to be a defensive system and sent a temporal anomaly throughout the space his past and present inhabited. Time began to exponentially speed forward. In a last desperate attempt to prevent his brother’s death he tried to distract the past long enough to let the train pass without incident, but the temporal anomaly caused the relative slow velocity of his touch to have the effect of a sudden jerk and in his final moments of consciousness he saw his brother accelerate towards the rails in a split second. He awoke back in the office alone with nothing, but the realization of what force had killed his brother. He curled into the fetal position and began to cry; still believing his lungs to be filled with the dense liquid he did not let out a single sigh. He spent several hours in this state of painful silence without even opening his eyes. His emotions were chaotic and his thoughts unending. They tormented him for hours far after he had run out of tears to let out. They were merciless and torturous forbidding him from resting, insisting on his suffering. Being the cause of his brother’s death nearly caused him to go insane yet part of him kept insisting that Another was to blame. Another had caused him to do it. The Other had forced his hand. Of this, he was now sure. The Other enjoyed his suffering, The Other forced him to kill his brother. He had not eaten nor slept in what seemed like years and yet he stood up defying the gravity that held him down. He took a deep breath of as much oxygen as his lungs allowed and began to speak. “Whoever you are. Whatever you are. Wherever you are. Just know I will no longer play for your entertainment the rest is entirely my choice” he said threateningly. He then began to walk forwards confidently towards the dark wall and through the hidden door that he was not supposed to see. He entered what seemed to be a studio room though, unlike the sterile office; it was trashed. Papers littered the floor and empty bottles populated the lone mattress. On it laid a journal that had recently had liquid spilt on it. He picked the journal and gently opened it and began to read. It was scratched with the stray ideas of a creator who seemed to have never decided upon an end or beginning to his story; yet possessing the journey. He saw many ideas that together seemed to create a way for the continuity to depend entirely on Another rather than itself. A thought described in a single word interested him enough to take it with him. The room started to dissolve around him transforming into a cold landscape. Armed with the knowledge of who he was he treaded what remained of the worn-out path. The sun began to rise signing the start of another day, yet John did not seem to notice as he was focused on something buried in the snow. He could not see much of it yet he knew it was The Box he had thrown the previous night. He dug it up and began his walk up the hill once more. He eventually arrived at his cabin and walked towards his front door….
Act 5.
If you wish to rebel; continue reading on the next page.
Begin the story once more on Truth 2.
If you wish to ward away The Other; don’t read any further
If you wish to follow The Echo read Truth 3
To understand turn to Truth 4
Truth 1
…Before deciding that no longer would he be a puppet for someone’s amusement. John arrogantly began marched back down the hill and headed north towards the nearest interstate a few miles from his home hoping that he had derailed The Echo’s plot. It took him hours on foot, but he would eventually come across the road and start his journey back to civilization no longer subject to the whims of an Otherworldly Audience. He believed his future was now his to decide. He decided what he would become. He decided when and what to think. This he was sure would be how he escaped his torment. John suddenly suffered a complete body collapse and fell forward landing face first onto the scorching road. It would be several sweltering hours before anyone would find him. But eventually someone did, john suffering heavy burns and on the brink of death was saved. He would awake months later in a hospital bed though no one would ever know of this. Weeks would pass as john laid in the hospital bed unable to speak or even move; alerting no one to his consciousness. The doctors and nurses were busy with whatever important patients needed immediate attention; they walked from one end to the other in what seemed like mere minutes. The entire time the only company he had was The Echo and yet slowly it too seemed to forget his existence as well. Eventually The Echo having no interest went away.Jane a third-year medical student had recently joined the staff a month prior and had already been assigned two elders and one child. Though overwhelmed she did not grow annoyed nor frustrated; she loved her job and by proxy her patients. Despite her benevolent nature there was a single patient she never went near as he always seemed to be watching her despite his eyes being shut for over four months. Any time she got near to patient #132 she would begin to get nauseous and quickly retreat. She had no ID on the man, but it seemed he was dehydrated for far longer than should’ve been possible and should be by all accounts dead if not near it. Whenever she worked nightshifts, she would swear that she heard the man whimper slightly as if to warn her of something. Even when she was on the opposite side of the building, she would hear the echo of his groans. She would eventually be transferred and would soon forget the man who after 6 months was officially declared braindead and was due to be disposed of, yet she would still every once in a while, still hear The Echo. Forgotten Ending
Truth 2…Realizing that there was no other choice John took a step forward while placing the note he ripped from the journal into The Box making sure to keep it neatly packaged. He saw the footprints he had left two nights before and carefully stepped into each one making sure to not disturb the surrounding snow. Whatever…Whoever had set him on this path allowed him to live a life of suffering, a life of loss, and a life of pain. This, he felt was the way things were intended to play out; the way it had to end. He placed The Box on the final step making sure it would not be knocked away whenever the door would eventually open. He walked away nearly to the edge of the property when he looked back once more. Managing to peek inside he saw his past still making his coffee when he saw an almost invisible distortion appear near the front door. He smiled and turned away only saying…Freedom ending
Truth 3…though spotting a disturbance near the back of the cabin distracted him from the front door. He decided to investigate for fear of losing a single blossoming tree. Arriving near the back fence he saw no indication of a disturbance giving him much needed reassurance. He heard noise emerge from inside the cabin giving him one more dilemma to deal with. He headed to the backdoor making sure to not disturb the recent snow and entered the cabin. Being sleep deprived and without coffee he had forgotten about the wooden floor and stepped on one that caused a creak to be heard throughout the cabin. He quickly hid in the bathroom fearing that he had disturbed the continuity that The Echo had established when suddenly a bright flash blinded him. He found himself at the front door next to The Box. Slightly amused he proceeded to knock on the door and was soon after transported once more to an empty hall. Both confused and entertained as he was being transported from one place in time to another he took a few steps forward alerting the past to his presence. Seeing his past enter the hall he ducked and quickly hid around the corner. His past seemed to believe that the doctor was in the halls and decided to investigate though just as he was nearing closer; his past collapsed. John saw how his fall was slowed as if moving through the dense liquid he had once gone through. He walked towards his past and noticed an old fashioned panic button that would instantly call Dr.Lumis to his location. Measuring the consequences, he decided to remove the panic button and head back towards The Shadows. For a third and final time he was transported to a final location, the bottom of a snowy hill. Taking in his surroundings he noticed burn marks on the snow where his past would eventually walk through the portal whenever the past caught up. He reached into his pocket and realized how the plot was supposed to move forward. He walked until he reached the exact point where his past would once again find The Box. He kneeled and buried The Box making sure to erase any evidence of his own disturbances. Fully fulfilling his purpose John collapsed. The End.
“Did the hero die?” “What?” “Did he die?” “No? He beat the bad guy and saved the day remember?” “Yea but like AFTER.” “Well, I guess after a few years he would.” “No” The young child said growing annoyed, “when you said, “The End” did he die?” “No.” responded the elder brother. “Then what happened to him? Is he still alive?” “The protagonist only dies if you stop reading.” concluded the elder brother as if possessed. Begin again?
Truth 4…Then just as he took his first step forward everything began to rot. His trees, his home, his coffee, all of it was slowly eroding into a fine dust. He knew that another temporal anomaly would be the likely cause, but he had not yet experienced one that possessed this level of molecular destruction. The fabric of his reality was slowly and thoroughly being untangled into its most simple of compositions. It separated the light from dark, gravity from time, and words from spaces.John could now comprehend what had defined his reality for so many painful years, he finally understood The Narrative and how all possible endings had been chosen long before his creation. John had been a slave from the moment The Narrative began; not once in his entire existence had he ever had a real choice only walking paths already treaded by Another. He was nothing but a plot device in an otherwise self-indulging tale written by a gentle master forced to be cruel for those above. From the moment this story began, John was in pain. He could never hope to truly escape; he could only die until he arose once more. Had John never understood what his life really was then maybe he could’ve found meaning in his suffering. Unfortunately, this choice has now forced John to become aware of how truly meaningless his existence was. His life was little more than entertainment for The Other; they were the ones truly in control. For as long as The Other remained, The Echo would doom John to eternal suffering. The Echo was never in control of The Narrative; he too was merely a subject to it by an even greater force. The Echo did not wish for John to suffer but The Other would not allow John to live if he did not. It is a toxic cycle of pain, suffering and realization that forces John to relive The Narrative lifetime after lifetime. The Narrative must have suffering intertwined into its foundation otherwise The Other would grow bored and erase the reality ending John in but a mere thought. Don’t you see? Don’t you understand? This is reality; John cannot exist without pain, The Echo cannot live without a narrative, and The Other is you. THE END......
Intended to be a philosophical narrative detailing the tragic relationship between the reader, the narrator, and the character and how they cannot coexist without hurting each other.

I am part of AI-team in my current organisation, joined in DEC 2022. In last 1.5 years, I have done multiple projects in my current organisation but I feel I haven't solved any tough engineering problems. I want to know as a ~1.5 year SDE is my career going on right trajectory or not. Here I highlight my projects and the problem that I perceive. 1. Built an internal tool. Tech : React with a reverse proxy in node.js and dockerized it . Problem : it was simple college/internship level, and didn't involve any kinda caching, limiting, blocking, gateway or scale. (since max users can be ~300).

1. Data pipelines setup: Set up few data/daily task pipelines, here and there Redis ingestions, mostly involved PySpark, Hive Jobs through airflow. Problem : since similar jobs were already there, I just had to mock the same pattern, and tailor it to my use cases.
   
2. Backend Changes: There were few Ai-backend changes and API creation, which I implemented. They made impact if we see from business(metrics) perspective (increased/improved user experience). Problem : Implementations were too simple, bunch of python modules, test-files, singleton pattern, REST APIs. Didn't pose any engineering challenges as of now. :(.
   
3. Monitoring setup: Set up dashboards and alerts on Grafana (LOKI). Problem : Just had to follow a medium blog for whole implementation, nothing new, and again didn't find it challenging.
   
4. Random bug resolutions: resolved many client facing issues, mostly involved log and request data checks. Few presto queries to fetch those data. Problem : again nothing tough.
   
5. Experimentations: Mostly data sanity checks. Any new tool/ database(vector) team decides to integrate in tech-stack, they assign me to do load/relevance testing or parameter tuning. Here I don't see any problem as I managed to learn few new algos/techniques or fail-cases of particular tech.
   

I aspire(ML engineer not data scientist) to work more on ML-design problems, i.e services involving ML , model training at scale, deployment and system-design. I am not sure if my career trajectory is going in a right direction as I didn't do enough ML/hardocore-design related tasks. Surprisingly, my reviews are going great but still I m not able to digest the good ratings that I got.
I am trying to read books/blogs related to system designs, coursera ML courses, just to make sure I don't miss the train.

Apologies if this has been asked before but, I've been pondering this as a bit of a mental paradox I couldn't get my head around and was hoping someone more knowledgeable could help.
Essentially we are told that dividend investing is a red herring since the perception of free cash flow ignores the tax drag on the dividends and also the fact that the money is coming directly out of the share price (i.e. you are being given the cash to reallocate directly/"from one pocket to the other"). In addition, there is the entire point regarding the fact that a high dividend payout may not equate to good future growth or a generally healthy company. As such, I think we can generally agree a young 20 something year old Bogleheadlet, investing for 20+ years of compound growth, would be well served by a lump sum into VT/VTI/VOO.
On the other hand, slightly more nuanced investing theory suggests the existence of additional factors that explain variations in stock returns through alternative sources of compensated risk outside of market beta and resulting premia. Now, this isn't meant to be a debate on whether small-cap value will outperform or whether you believe factor investing can achieve superior returns to simple market-cap weighted indexing a la Bogle.
Rather, my question is that if you were to start from a position assuming the veracity of factor investing, would one not expect funds like SCHD and NOBL to outperform something like VOO in a tax advantaged space (assuming all dividends were reinvested) due to increased exposure to the value premium? Now of course the exposure won't be as concentrated as something specialized like an Avantis fund but we are clearly happy to use dividend ETFs as proxies to some degree as shown by the use of DGS for overweighting EM SCV allocation. Likewise, would one not similarly expect equal weighted S&P 500 funds like RSP to outperform VOO due to increased exposure to the size factor, however marginal? I just find it particularly interesting as a lot of the well-made videos explaining dividend underperformance gloss over value's historic underperformance for the last decade. Either that or I missed their point.
I started thinking about this since financial literacy is comparatively poor in my country compared to the US and dividend investing still remains the most popular method of portfolio construction alongside very simple one fund index investing from the subsection of people who do invest in the stock market. Which means that, assuming one person does buy and hold for life, will they inadvertently surpass the very best of us?
TLDR: Time to sell all my holdings in Vanguard ETFs for the (Almost) Daily Dividend portfolio, I've been overcomplicating things...
https://preview.redd.it/6wlkcxd8s71d1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3102a682e97829ca5898f264fdea0b1317f783c1

Admission

• If the orientation is on 22 July then ideally you need to plan your reach here just a day before on 21^st but you can skip your Orientation/Induction program.
• The important thing is EPT (English Proficiency Test) which will happen before your classes start. This test is mandatory so you need to reach a day before your EPT in the worst case. EPT is to check general English proficiency as all the courses are taught in English. If you fail you would automatically be given a basic English course in the first semester.
• Different branches have orientation on different days, but the classes start together.
• Your classes will start within a week after orientation.
• Document Verification will be done within a few weeks after your arrival.

Hostel

• You will have time to pay your hostel fee after selecting the hostel of your choice, the dates will come up have some patience.
• You will get to select your hostel.
• You can choose from 2/3/4/6 bedded AC/NON-AC combo for boys
• You can choose from 4/6 bedded AC/NON-AC combo for girls.
• Your roommates will be allotted randomly, you cannot choose anyone.
• Internet in hostels is totally dependent on the location of your room, you can get 400 in some to not getting any 5g signal.
• Jio and Airtel both work decent overall.
• Will provide info about different hostel blocks and rooms on a different post. Keep a watch.
• You can be out of the campus from 6AM to 7PM, but in 1st semester you are not allowed to.
• There exist limit of 2hr in the instructional day and 4hr for non-instructional day for outing. This is strictly followed for girls but for boys you can stay out as long as you want.
• For Mens you can get out of your hostel around 5:45 in the morning and have to be inside the hostel before 9 or before attendance in general.
• For Girls you can get out of your hostel around 5:45 in the morning and have to be inside the hostel before 8:30 strictly.

Mess
There exist four different messes: Veg, Non-Veg, Special and Paid
Look and compare the menu yourself: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vinnovateit.messit&pcampaignid=web_share

• General: You will get 4 meals, Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks and Dinner. Try to eat in mess to keep your wallet healthy :) .
• The taste and quality vary from caterer to caterer, but is good overall.
• Veg: Pretty basic mess.
• Non-Veg: You get chicken and egg.
• Special: You are provided the option to have veg or non-veg course with a better food menu.
• Paid: This works like a restaurant with credits. You will get the option to change to this mess later on.
• There also exists night mess which provides limited options for cooked food. You can get snacks here. Night mess runs from 10:30 to 12:30.

Personal Advice: The food is better in Special compared to Veg and Non-Veg mess so if you can, then do select Special Mess

Academics

• Your previous academic performance does not link up to how you will perform here, but if you were a disciplined student and will stay so then you can keep up a good CGPA easily.
• The theory courses here are graded relatively, which means that average score will get you 8 grades. So, in order to keep a CGPA of 8.5+ which is decent overall you just need to score above the average of your class and need to be good with your labs.
• To get those above average marks, some pull it off in a day just before exams, but on a brighter side if you even study 2 hrs daily you could easily get 9+ CGPA.
• In the first year you will have at max 4 classes in a day. Generally, will have 3 classes. You only have 4 labs per week. You get plenty of free time for any recreational activities.
• Professors here range from very-strict (who will fail half of the class without any reason) to very- lenient (who will give the whole class S or A grade).
• In the first semester it is on your luck as you will get allotted your professors randomly.
• From the second semester onwards, you can get the professor of your choice, in a thing known as FFCS (FULLY FLEXIBLE CREDIT SYSTEM).
• Talking about FFCS is a nightmare in itself as it is done on first come first serve basis, the whole of your batch fights for the best teachers, the website cannot handle the request of all the students so some get properly fucked and most partially. There are also students who manage to nail their professors and timetable to their liking.
• To sum up FFCS it is highly based on your luck and how many backups you created.

General Things

• Wifi is accessible in your hostel and library. The speed is capped at 5mb/s. You can get through this using proxy.
• Night library is open till 12:15AM. In the first semester boys are not allowed to go for night library.
• Your monthly expenditure totally depends on you. Some make live with just 500 per month some spend 50k.
• Around 2-4k is good enough in my opinion.
• There isn’t any fixed expense here.
• Your expense can increase rapidly if you start eating out.
• You can get some facilities here in the campus like Gymnasium, Badminton, Squash and Swimming. Theses have cost ranging from 3k to 6k per semester. There also exists free version of these facilities, but they are a little crowded.
• You can visit the campus if you want anytime but I advise against it, you will just get to look at all the buildings so not worth it.

Attendance

• You have to maintain a minimum of 75% attendance in all of your courses in the 1st sem.
• From next semester onwards if you have your current CGPA is more than 9 without any backlog then you don't need to maintain minimum 75% attendance. You technically don’t need to attend any classes that semester.

Placement

• Don’t worry about placements right now, you haven’t even joined the college.
• Some companies will check your boards result actively; others will just have a criterion of 60%.
• Having a CGPA of 8.5+ is decent enough to make you eligible for most of the companies.

It's my understanding that with XIQ, daily wifi data limits per user can only be set using RADIUS user groups.
Assuming the above is correct, I have a wifi account that can't seem to login at all using the below config. Any advice appreciated whilst we wait for Extreme support to resolve it.
Using ExtremeCloud's own authentication/radius service, no certificates involved, only usepass logins. Setup a 802.1x WPA2 SSID and assigned a CLOUD/RADIUS user group with a single test user account. Deployed to access points using the delta config update without issues. Two AP's are auto assigned as RADSEC proxies. AP305C's on v10.6.5/v10.6.7.
Mobile device asks for Identity/Anonymous Identity/Password for the Wi-Fi login. Filled in the Identity and Password fields only, unable to connect.

Should I vote my proxy against election of certain directors of my employer? Will they be able to find out?
I don’t own enough shares to make a difference. Really just cathartic for me, as they’re annoying af on a daily basis.
They’re held through a brokerage account if that makes a difference.

Hello Everyone!

I've been working on something that could potentially be interesting to the community, and would love your genuine feedbacks.

I've been talking with some of my friends working as traders in the space, particularly those focused on paper trading, who have shared fascinating insights into the lengths they go to gain an informational edge. Many are spending significant sums to establish direct access to key sites around the world, aiming to be the first to know about supply chain disruptions, inventory fluctuations, and other events that could move markets.
Interestingly, this real-time, on-the-ground intel often spreads first in private chats among exclusive networks of traders before hitting mainstream news channels. This allows those with access to act quickly on the information asymmetry.
I'm developing a crowdsourcing platform (using blockchains as payment rails) that aims to revolutionize this dynamic by connecting data providers ("Agents") directly with data consumers, enabling the efficient exchange of unique, actionable information that can inform trading strategies and risk management. The platform would feature verification mechanisms for data integrity, bonding curve pricing to reflect data value, and tokenized incentives for participation.
Key features of the platform include:

1. Agents can create private data channels and set a bonding curve pricing model, where the price of access increases as more subscribers join. This acts as a proxy for the credibility and value of the Agent's information. (A Bonding Curve would look something like this: 1*72qA4WIL6LvWUnX6tmfviQ.png (640×480) (medium.com) where supply is the current number of subscribers.)
2. Various verification mechanisms are in place for Agents, such as location tracking, email confirmation, daily check-ins, and sensor connections to ensure data integrity and reliability.
3. Data consumers do not directly pay Agents, but rather interact with a smart contract that automatically handles payments and access control based on predefined rules.
4. The platform includes a real-time chat feature for direct communication between Agents and subscribers, enabling more contextual and timely information sharing.

To all the community members, I'm seeking your valuable feedback on two key aspects:

1. What kind of alternative data or market insights would you find most valuable and are currently not easily accessible to you? This could include data on supply chain flows, inventory levels, weather patterns, satellite imagery analysis, or any other information that could give you an edge in your trading decisions. I am aware alternative data industry is already a huge industry, but would there be valuable sources of data that are only accessible through last-mile, real-time data updates? (For example in these two posts on oil and coffee's influence from weather, would access to these information through a verified source provide you with information edge?)
2. What do you foresee as potential drawbacks, risks, or pitfalls of such a platform? Are there any specific concerns around data quality, privacy, security, or regulatory compliance that we should be mindful of? Any thoughts on how to mitigate these risks and build trust in the platform?

Your input would be greatly appreciated as we shape the development of this crowdsourced data exchange platform. The goal is to create a mutually beneficial ecosystem that empowers commodity traders with timely, actionable insights while rewarding data providers for their valuable contributions.
Thank you in advance for your time and insights. I look forward to a fruitful discussion and learning from your experiences in the commodities trading space.
Best regards, OnlyGold

REAL Entrepreneur InterviewsGuys - earlier this year, I MINED my network for succesful entrepreneurs outside the info-product space, with replicable business models.I wanted to create a "summary" post of info where you guys who are just starting can get some exposure.These interviews might not be as exciting as JOE ROGAN - BUT these are more applicable, goals for you to set for yourself as an entrepreneur.THE VC PATH

• Peter Thiel Backed-Founder - In FINTECH Treasury Management https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtegI2IZWaY&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork -
• Runs VC Accelerator + NFT In Miami Ecosystem - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9KjAldrCEE&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
• Seed ROUND Founder Raises $5M off pitch deck - NYC - proxy shareholder voting (Colombia grad) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIneKX0ucrk&t=311s&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
• BOSTON VC/accelerator community https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTDh_YgyJoY&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
• Joey Gilkey (linkedin influencer) - hiring sales people and growing operation, 6 figure VAs and more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDW19ghWuGQ&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork

Outbound Marketing And COLD Email + Sales

• successful founder launching SAAS (AI) on top of email agency https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcumQPo0vhg&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
• key early employee at Apollo.io https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_7pOoZJf4s&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork - trained by KD (KEvin Dorsey
• head of sales at MAILSHAKE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzvAJ1SRnAs&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork talks door-to-door, digital nomad
• Scott Martinis - major outbound influencer on LinkedIn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4rGGyevFK0&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
• major influencer Christian bonnier of client ascension https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfpq6pJW_LA&list=PLv53unCGxbSQL4ReN4O9IjL7tMtPTUvWz&ab_channel=ChrisHanson + andre haykal jr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcChU2WekU8&ab_channel=ChrisHanson

Marketing Agency

• DAVID DEUTSCH - oG Of copywriting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThJ06IQMrJ8&list=PLv53unCGxbSQL4ReN4O9IjL7tMtPTUvWz&index=10&ab_channel=ChrisHanson
• Ryan Hilderbrandt the ZAPIER SAVANT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biv48tSDvjo&list=PLv53unCGxbSQL4ReN4O9IjL7tMtPTUvWz&index=11&ab_channel=ChrisHanson
  
• 7-figure ecom owner - transition from job to agency world https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl7--vid_tQ&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
  
• mar agency for legal services in Colombia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrYo6tAjNo4&list=PLv53unCGxbSQL4ReN4O9IjL7tMtPTUvWz&index=11&pp=gAQBiAQB
  
• CRO wizard and influencer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y42QpRR_6Q&list=PLv53unCGxbSQL4ReN4O9IjL7tMtPTUvWz&index=6&ab_channel=ChrisHanson - 7 figure exit
  
• Joel Kaplan protege - in and out of maragency world in 5 years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWbq3fp1e2o&list=PLv53unCGxbSQL4ReN4O9IjL7tMtPTUvWz&index=7&ab_channel=ChrisHanson
  
• Scaling a UX agency in India -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSAFJs7IJgo&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
  
• $70k a month mar-agency (full stack - old school) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PO_PefhpZY&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
  

SaaS

• EXPANDI founder to 10 figure ARR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5FaPJ8zv_I&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
• BreakCOLD Founder on disrupting CRM market https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Aozb7yzKU&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
• small fintech founder - SaaS in wallstreet looking for exit,
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SrfejxgSrs&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork quit job in 08 recession
• sales agency https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA5IqR6HEbk&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork - Srinivas of PayTM (India)
• construction SaaS growing over 10 years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mgx_zPPof4&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
• AI knowledge base https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NtvKyeaKTk&list=PLv53unCGxbSQL4ReN4O9IjL7tMtPTUvWz&index=9&ab_channel=ChrisHanson
• UGC platform in brazil - major influencers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts3L1-piemE&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
• gen-z mar agency https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDKLo2CmpIM&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
• DIY mar agency for SaaS bootstrapped https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72tJ0A0NxOk&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork (major LINKEDIN influencer)
• billing SaaS - husband wife duo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnatICZquTs&t=2s&ab_channel=ChrisHanson in office

Other

• health-tech exited doctor to HUMANA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVb5wJV4Slg&list=PLv53unCGxbSQL4ReN4O9IjL7tMtPTUvWz&index=4&ab_channel=ChrisHanson
  
• selling patented products/working for governor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5JCC-ycYGs&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
  
• coaching business https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM2E6D62e4I&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
  
• wearable technology business - funded by grants, proof of concept https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNiOGW0hcc8&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
  
• brick and mortar biz - suburban coworking space (side hustle) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg1euQclq2w&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
  
• selling government contracts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77MUxz368pk&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
  
• data analysis - influencer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLy-6XIpX3o&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork
  
• fatherhood and entrepreneurship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwIbWeiqpJE&list=PLv53unCGxbSQL4ReN4O9IjL7tMtPTUvWz&index=8&ab_channel=ChrisHanson
  

Struggles

• failed companies and rebounding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLcSaYF1koI&ab_channel=TheOneNetwork

I have also created a list of their contact info if you enjoy and want to connect - please hop on our DAILY MEETING https://discord.gg/onenetwork?event=1239630525694480434 and let me know you want it!

Hi,
I have a SwiftUI view like this:

ScrollViewReader { proxy in ScrollView { VStack(spacing: 0) { ForEach(viewModel.timelineRows) { timelineRow in switch (timelineRow) { case .Data(let calculation): let contentView = ContentView( // This is the view that won't update type: type, calculations: calculation, showBalanceForToday: viewModel.showBalanceOnToday, responseBalanceType: viewModel.responseBalanceType ) let timelineRowView = TimelineRowView( date: calculation.date!, contentView: contentView, showRightArrow: viewModel.canNavigateToHistory ) .id(timelineRow.isToday ? "today" : timelineRow.id) if viewModel.canNavigateToHistory { NavigationLink { HistoryViewController.SwiftUI(date: calculation.date!) } label: { timelineRowView } } else { timelineRowView } case .Separator(let date): TimelineMonthSeparatorView(text: date.formattedText(format: "MMM. yyyy")) } } } } .onAppear { proxy.scrollTo("today", anchor: .center) TimelinesHostingViewController.ViewMediator.shared.onTodayButtonPressed = { withAnimation { proxy.scrollTo("today", anchor: .center) } } } } 

The `ContentView` is quite simple, it just has some logic that decides which struct to return depending on the parameters:

struct ContentView: View { var type: TimelineType var calculations: UserCalculations.DailyCalculation var showBalanceForToday: Bool var responseBalanceType: SystemSettings.ResponseBalanceType var body: some View { ZStack { let isCalculationTodayOrEarlier = calculations.date?.isBeforeDate(DateInRegion(region: .current) + 1.days, granularity: .day) == true if type == .Balances && isCalculationTodayOrEarlier { let shouldShowBalance = == false showBalanceForToday BalanceView(showBalances: shouldShowBalance, responseBalanceType: responseBalanceType, runningValue: Double(calculations.calculationResultSummary!.runningBalanceValue!), dailyValue: Double(calculations.calculationResultSummary!.dailyBalanceValue!)) } else if type == .Schedule { ScheduleView(timePolicy: calculations.timePolicy, absence: calculations.absences?.first) } EmptyView() } } }calculations.date?.isToday 

The field that's changing at runtime is `showBalanceForToday` and it resides in `ViewModel` like this:

u/Published var showBalanceOnToday = false init() { ClockStatusManager.shared.$clockStatus.map { status in status?.status?.isClockedIn == true } .assign(to: \.showBalanceOnToday, on: self) .store(in: &cancelBag) } 

I double checked that the ClockStatus value gets propagated to the `showBalanceOnToday`, however, the SwiftUI view who utilises this Published variable still doesn't get updated.
What could be the issue here? My only suspicion is that the Views inside `ForEach` loop won't get updated unless the ForEach parameter itself gets modified, but that wouldn't make any sense from coding perspective since other independent state variables could make their way into the ForEach block.
Edit: Per request, adding the TimelineRowView code:

struct TimelineRowView: View { var date: DateInRegion var contentView: Content var showRightArrow: Bool var body: some View { ZStack { // Background date.isToday ? Color("TimelineRowHighlight") : Color("List") // Content HStack { // Day VStack { Group { Text(String(date.day)) .font(Font.system(size: 24)) Text(date.date.formattedText(format: "EEEE")) .font(Font.system(size: 9)) } .foregroundColor(date.weekday == 1 ? Color("Red") : Color("TextBlack")) }.frame(width: 64) // Content View Spacer() contentView Spacer() // Arrow if showRightArrow { Image("arrow_right") .renderingMode(.template) .foregroundColor(Color("TextLight")) .padding(.horizontal, 16) } } // Divider VStack { Spacer() Divider() } } .frame(height: 56) } } 

Edit 2: Adding ViewModel

class TimelineViewModel: ObservableObject { @Published var timelineRows: [TimelineRow] = [] @Published var error: NetworkError? @Published var showBalanceOnToday = false private let user = LoginManager.shared.user private let client = StatisticsClient() private let systemSettings = SystemSettingsRepository.shared.systemSettings private var disposeBag = DisposeBag() private var cancelBag = Set() var responseBalanceType: SystemSettings.ResponseBalanceType { return systemSettings.responseBalanceType } var canNavigateToHistory: Bool { return user?.canViewHistory == true } var isUserClockedIn: Bool { return ClockStatusManager().clockStatus?.status?.isClockedIn == true } init() { ClockStatusManager.shared.$clockStatus.map { status in status?.status?.isClockedIn == true } .assign(to: \.showBalanceOnToday, on: self) .store(in: &cancelBag) } func loadTimeline() { error = nil let from = (Date() - 1.months).dateAtStartOf(.month) let to = (Date() + 1.months).dateAtEndOf(.month) client.getLatestUserCalculations(fromDate: from, toDate: to)? .subscribe(on: SerialDispatchQueueScheduler(qos: .background)) .observe(on: MainScheduler.instance) .subscribe { (response: ApiResponse) in if let error = response.error { self.error = error } else if let calculations = response.responseObject { self.timelineRows = self.calculateTimelineRows(calculations: calculations.dailyCalculations) } }.disposed(by: disposeBag) } private func calculateTimelineRows(calculations: [UserCalculations.DailyCalculation]?) -> [TimelineRow] { let sorted = calculations?.sorted(by: { $0.date!.isBeforeDate($1.date!, granularity: .minute) }) var rows: [TimelineRow] = [] for calculation in sorted ?? [] { if calculation.date?.day == 1 { rows.append(TimelineRow.Separator(date: calculation.date!.date)) } rows.append(TimelineRow.Data(dailyCalculation: calculation)) } return rows } } 

Happy Monday, Barkada --

The PSE gained 41 points to 6659 ▲0.6%

Today on Inside the Boardroom, my series where I try to cut through the corporate jargon and get to the heart of the matter by asking direct questions to top executives, we have Joan Adaci-Cattiling, OceanaGold Philippines’ President and General Manager, to talk about the gold miner’s unusual 100% secondary IPO.
We cover a lot of ground, so I hope you'll get something out of the chat!

▌In today's MB:

• OceanaGold PH's 100% secondary IPO
  • Why all secondary?
  • What's the "pitch" to buyers?
  • The huge dividend (90% FCF)
  • Gold price impact on dividend
  • Potential expansion
  • First IPO of 2024

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

▌Today's sponsor: MerryMart

▌Main stories covered:

• ▌Inside the Boardroom

NOTE: Some quick background might be for those unfamiliar with primary/secondary shares, and why an all-secondary IPO might be interesting and unusual.

• When an IPO is sold to the public, the shares can be either primary (new, issued by the company going public) or secondary (previously owned).
• If the shares are secondary, the money raised by selling the shares goes to the person who previously owned the shares, not to the company doing the IPO.
• If the shares are primary, the money goes directly to the company doing the IPO, which is cash that company can use to execute its prospectus plan.

Terms used in the interview:

• FTAA - This is the ""Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement"", signed directly with the President of the Philippines, that governs a foreign large-scale mining firm's exploration, development, and utilization of minerals.
• Free Cash Flow - This is the cash that is left over after all of a company's expenses are deducted from its revenues. It ignores non-cash expenses like depreciation and impairments.
• Inferred Resources - These are quantities and grades of gold and copper that OGP can reasonably assume exist based on geological evidence, but that haven't been physically verified.

Inside the Boardroom
WITH: Joan Adaci-Cattiling of OceanaGold Philippines [OGP]
RE: 100% secondary IPO
Merkado Barkada (MB): Joan, before we talk about the thinking behind OGP’s upcoming IPO, I just want to congratulate you on making it out the other side of this process, and for being the first company to take the IPO plunge in 2024.
Joan Adaci-Cattiling (JAC): Thank you, Brian. Indeed, we are this year’s curtain raiser and our listing is one of the many firsts that we have had the privilege of experiencing. We are the first FTAA of the Philippines in 1994, first to go into production in 2013 and the first to be renewed. When we had the confirmation of our FTAA renewal in 2021, we had provisions in our addendum and renewal agreement, which are firsts in the Philippine industry and with our bell ringing today, we have completed the remaining requirement of our renewal.
MB: Cutting right to the chase, an all-secondary IPO is usually a red flag for many investors. What pitch would OGP make to potential IPO investors who are looking for share price upside?
JAC: The objective of our IPO is to give our fellow Filipinos the opportunity to participate and invest in the value and upside potential of the Didipio Mine. For context and as has been previously shared, we are required to list on the PSE as part of our FTAA renewal in 2021. Since we have no debt on the balance sheet and no major capital plans, we do not require additional capital investment in the business at the time, hence the secondary offering of common shares.
We believe there is plenty of upside for investors in OGP. Firstly, we have identified additional Inferred Resources that represent upside beyond the Reserve case outlined in the Didipio Mine Technical Report. Secondly, we have recently completed underground optimization work that suggests we can increase mining rates from underground, which would provide higher-grade feed to the mill in the coming years. Finally, we have exciting exploration upside both at depth of the Didipio Mine, as well as at our Napartan regional target nearby. We are currently investing capital exploring both prospects and expect to release regular updates to the market on the progress.
MB: OGP’s best attribute appears to be the dividend. Can you walk us through that?
JAC: Didipio is a highly profitable and cash-generative mine and the current production and cost forecasts, at both current gold and copper prices and those published in the technical report, is expected to lead to significant Free Cash Flow generated this year and beyond. And with a dividend payout ratio equating to 90% of Free Cash Flow, we expect this to lead to very strong dividend payments to shareholders this year and moving forward.
MB: How would expansion activities impact OGP's free cash flow and its dividend should the company elect to spend capex on developing those opportunities?
JAC: The FTAA with the Philippines government is a 60/40 profit-sharing agreement. Our cash flow projections for OGP are on a 40% basis only. Any additional capital that may be incurred is paid on a 100% basis and therefore the costs shared between OGP (40%) and the government share (60%) have a lesser impact on the dividend. That being said, all of our current capital investment plans can be funded through the current proceeds from operations, and we don’t expect to need additional capital at this time.
MB: How does the price of gold impact OGP's financial performance and potential dividend? For investors who might be using an investment in OGP as a proxy for investment in the medium-term price trend of gold, how does OGP's average price received for its gold relate to the average price of gold for that period?
JAC: Considering the favorable outlook for both copper and gold, OGP should benefit from upward metal price movements. We believe the market outlook for gold and copper is attractive, with Central banks’ sustained buying for gold (2022 and 2023), as well as the key role of copper in electrification + potential supply deficit in 2026.
MB: Is there a way for non-metals experts to do their own estimating and forecasting? For example, all else equal (all costs/expenses/production as estimated), how would a 10% increase in gold prices over the respective periods translate into OGP's free cash flow for the purposes of calculating its expected dividend?
JAC: Gold accounts for 71% of our revenues (and copper largely accounts for the remaining 30%). Very roughly, a 10% increase in gold price will translate to ~7-8% increase in free cash flow.
MB: How could capex expenditures impact future dividends? If expansion is to be funded organically, how could this impact OGP’s dividend policy?
JAC: The OGP dividend policy targets at least 90% of free cash flow distribution to shareholders, meaning that OGP could continue to retain some (10% each year) cash on its balance sheet to save for any known capital expenditures in future years. We also expect any additional capital expenditures to incur strong returns on capital and near-term pay-back. The expectation is that it will not impact dividend payments at this time.
MB: Thank you for this informative boardroom chat! Best of luck to you, OGP, and all of the IPO buyers on OGP’s market debut later this morning.
JAC: Thank you too for giving us the opportunity to answer very relevant questions about our IPO!

• MB BOTTOM-LINE: You all know my obsession with primary/secondary shares configuration in an IPO, and this was one that really caught my eye. We've seen all-secondary IPOs before thanks to the advent of REITs on the PSE, but it's rare for a non-REIT IPO to be configured like OGP.
  Deals that are secondary-heavy have the burden of proof to overcome my distaste for this type of transaction. But OGP isn't here trying to pretend to be a normal IPO: this is a compliance listing that comes with a big fat (projected) dividend. They're eyes wide open about how an all-secondary deal looks, and they've priced the deal in hopes that the dividend will be enough to prevail over that sour secondary taste.
  Will it be enough? We are about to find out!
  If the income stream proves to be dependable as the projections, or investors merely perceive that it will be, then I'd expect the yield to come down after the IPO as the stock price rises to equalize.
  Ms. Adaci-Cattiling has given us a quick way to translate our gold price projections into potential increases or decreases in OGP's free cash flow. Increased gold price (above the prospectus price projections each year) could lead to a higher dividend, which could lead to a higher share price (all else equal).
  There's a lot going on here that requires your consideration. There's interest rate risk, there's gold price risk, there's regular old market risk, and there's the political risk that comes with operating under signature of a President. As always, do you own research, and only make decisions that are right for you based on your personal considerations. Take my words and Ms Adaci-Cattiling's words into consideration, but please do not base any investment decision purely on what you've read here this morning. This is a long-term investment play that needs long-term investment deliberation!
  Thank you again to Joan for taking the time with me to talk this out more fully for MB's readers. Let's see what happens today!
  

MB is written and distributed every trading day. The newsletter is 100% free and I never upsell you to some "iNnEr cIrClE" of paid-membership perks. Everyone gets the same! Join the barkada by signing up for the newsletter, or follow me on Twitter. You can also read my daily Morning Halo-halo content on Philstar.com in the Stock Commentary section.

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My LO did a lot of estate planning, costing a fortune. This included a medical POA (and financial POA). The originals were managed by the attorney, and stored in the law firms safe/depository. They were NEVER distributed to anyone for months if not years, until…
The care home had an old POA document, as did the banks ( in some but not all accounts). The ER had an even older POA document with someone else as attourny-in-fact….since elder-LO tended to change will/trust/POA every 3 months (depending on mood, who kissed the ring, etc). Without being official dementia (unlike the spouse), he had periodic mental impairment ( from heart condition, from typical fall concussions…)
Have a guess what happened in the ER (during what DID look like a bit like the last hurrah)?
Well, in short, the dr in charge of hospice makes a determination, and calls up the (ancient) POA listed person: who says, oh yes: let him go. Quick (subtext: I want my bequest, now; I’m 70 myself and have been waiting 40 years…)
Well, then it gets embarassing, as someone basically just said: oh just let him die. Our LO makes a bit of a recovery, now that ER procedures HAVE stabilized all the various body functions (and the brain basically reboots, now the chemistry is good).
LO, is discharged, and goes on the do lots of productive things (including high $$ transactions) for a month (before the next ER crisis).
Clearly, LO is bumping along the bottom, but…such is life. Every day is a struggle, but between doing daily online banking transactions, trust management (all the receipts etc) and yelling at his estate attorney very 3 days, things seem pretty normal - and largely in line with the last 5 years. IN the last month, there is little obvious cognitive impairment
Now comes the next ER visit, in a different hospital - who have NO POA on file - old one, new old, falsified one… just none!!
Well the ER does its magic ,and stabilizes LO - whose brain reboots just fine again. But, nothing can stop the wider disease (making cognitive impairment happen, at crisis points). LO is given a week or two, and comes to terms with what he knows is happening to his own body.
Well at some point, someone comes to visit in person (as the initial folk taking LO to ER are just staff). And someone asks for medical update, which means POA issues are checked.
There is none
So, now LO calls up attorney (still on a big monthly, and thus slightly responsible), yelling as always. Get me that newest medical POA (PDF scan copy by email)! Someone receives the email sent by attorney or proxy, the hospital prints out the PDF, and duly updates their records (allowing now present medical POA agent to get formal updates on medical condition).
Can you see the hole in all this planning?
EITHER make sure all your ER (etc) have an updated POA document - not that you need tell your agent they are your agent,
OR, make sure your agent has ACTUALLY accepted their appointment (and have a copy of the POA, if not an original).

Hello everyone,
So I making the decision to switch to Linux after using windows for so long, I'm using Debian VM, on a windows hyper-V in order to familiars myself with the interface.
So... the first challenge I faced was not something that most would experience which is censorship and limited bandwidth.
Living in Iran means that you can't access Youtube, reddit,... and because of the sanctions some websites just outright blocked us. The early solution to bypassing the censorship was the good old VPN from VPN providers, but in past few years, it's been getting harder and harder, where a legit NordVPN or ExpressVPN accounts, just do not work.
we've recently had to rely on V2ray, and other fringe methods of networking in order to bypass the censorships, and quite frankly I don't have the clue how they work even on windows. Currently I'm using "v2rayN-With-Core" with a big line of code that my brother provided me and it does a proxy setting change then I can access the internet properly through browsers, which is not a proper solution where still because 90% of the windows apps don't use system proxy...
anyways
so what does have to do with Linux?... well where the vast majority of the apps are blocked in Iran, and/or blocked by the government, how does one try to acquire the apps?
When I access the "Internet" on the Linux, I can't do much with it. The "Software" app on Debian which I assume is like an app store equivalent, is just outright empty. The installing I want to do through terminal, do not work most of the time, giving me random errors like "Package xyz is not available, but referred to by another package. This means that the package is missing has been obsoleted, or is only available on another source.", where I can't seems to understand if my internet is the issue or my lack of knowledge about the OS.
I don't even know if that's possible to download the installer, is there a proper website for it to search? What we usually do in windows is that we download the apps and just keep the installer for whenever we want to install the program, but I don't know how would that work in Linux?
what tools can I use to bypass the censorship?
The funny thing is I'm an IT "professional" lol. I'm running 5 Proxmox nodes, triple TrueNAS SCALE set up for semi-high availability and live back-up at work, which are all Debian underneath, and as far as internal (Private) networking goes, I'm fairly good at it, but then again, the main issue is not being familiar with daily driving it where I heavily rely on censored internet, which granted is not a common issue.
Thanks in advance

The recent sociological meta-study examines the feminist implications within gynecological research, focusing on the efficacy of using double layers of feminine napkins during heavy menstrual flows. Data drawn from 17 studies indicates a significant increase in efficacy, with a 95% confidence interval showing a 12-18% improvement in user-reported satisfaction. Furthermore, the research contextualizes these findings within feminist frameworks, analyzing the social and personal autonomy impacts through the lens of 23 different feminist theorists. The meta-analysis reveals a confidence interval of 88-95% in alignment with predominant feminist theories supporting enhanced personal care options. Overall, the study advocates for broader societal discussions and policy considerations to support these findings, emphasizing the necessity for informed choices in women's health products. Most importantly, the study concludes that online posts about feminism, menstruation, and the use of boring language has a lower risk of non-feminist readers.
Source: Double Napkin Feminism
[[ FOR FEMINIST EYES ONLY ]]

Back of the Envelope (BOTE) Model:

Bear or Man in the Woods

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Abstract

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This thought experiment explores the comparative safety of being in the woods with either a bear or a man, using a theoretical model to evaluate the likelihood of harm in each scenario. Drawing on data from bear behavior studies and US victimization statistics, the model calculates the rate of incidents per opportunity for violence, aiming to determine which scenario poses less risk. The results aim to illuminate broader social issues regarding safety and perceived threats in isolated environments. WIthin the assumptions of the model, the hypothesis that *being in the woods with a bear is significantly safer than being in the woods with a random man is confirmed. The results find that bears are an order of magnitude (10 times) safer. There is some indications that a bear could be greater two order (100+ times) safer than a man in the woods.
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Preface

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Notes on the Purpose of the Thought Experiment:

The results of the model and the model itself are at worst irrelevant to the point of the thought experiment: "As a woman, would you rather be in the woods with a bear or a man?" The apparent controversy surrounds someone choosing a bear over a man. Here, the actual dangers posed by the bear are the least significant aspect of the broader discussion.
Women are subjected to emotional, psychological, and physical abuse by men at an alarming rate. Yes, men are also victims of other men's brutality, but that is not the topic of this discussion. Raising concerns about the Amazon Rainforest doesn't mean dismissing other forests.
To put the choice into emotional context, consider the following dialogue from the movie, Good Will Hunting:
INT. SEAN'S OFFICE -- DAY
SEAN (after a pause) My dad used to make us walk down to the park and collect the sticks he was going to beat us with. Actually the worst of the beatings were between me and my brother. We would practice on each other trying to find sticks that would break.
WILL He used to just put a belt, a stick and a wrench on the kitchen table and say "choose."
INT. WILL'S CHILDHOOD APARTMENT -- FLASHBACK
A large, callused hand sets down a wrench next to a stick.
CUT BACK TO:
INT. SEAN'S OFFICE -- DAY
SEAN Gotta go with the belt there...
WILL I used to go with the wrench.
SEAN The wrench, why?
WILL Cause fuck him, that's why.
A long quiet moment.

Notes on Bears:

Being in National Parks that have a meaningful bear population is exceptionally safe thanks to the nature of bear behavior, park management, and the highly recommended and highly effective bear spray. Pepper spray for defensive purposes against human offenders is also highly recommended for that matter.

Notes on Modeling:

Although models can have substantial utility in describing aspects of reality, all models have limitations. Generally speaking, nearly anything can be described as a model if it is in some way representative of something real within the boundaries set by assumptions. Assumptions are inescapable.
Everything that has ever been or will ever be expressed carries assumptions intrinsically. However, the explanatory power or fitness of a model can have a strong inverse proportionality to the minimal-ness of assumptions in many instances. In other words, fewer assumptions can correlate with a stronger model.
With a well-defined model, the truthfulness of the model is inarguable within its assumptions. This is not to be confused with its ability to describe every aspect or entirety of reality OR its utility within that reality.

Notes on the Modeler:

Background includes applied mathematics (BSc); computational theory (MSc and PhD Candidate); subject matter expert in logistics, mobile infrastructure, and communications.
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Hypotheses

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[Null Hypothesis]:

A woman in the woods with an average bear may or may not be safer than being in the woods with an average man.

[BEAR ATTACK RATE] [?] [MAN ATTACK RATE]

[Alternative Hypothesis]:

A woman in the woods with an average bear is significantly safer than being in the woods with an average man.

[BEAR ATTACK RATE] < [MAN ATTACK RATE]

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Model Elements

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US Victimization Stats

Note: The total number of female victim incidents according to the weighted data from the BJS NCVS is greater than four times the total number of victims from the BJS NCVS report. The difference is self-explanatory (as the number of victim incidents is greater than or equal to the number of victims), but worth a mention to avoid confusion.
BJS NCVS Data

2022 Weighted Tabulations:

- Female victim incidents: 9,312,137 - Female victim incidents, male offenders: 2,019,697 - Female victim incidents, male offenders, strangers: 1,313,778 - Female victim incidents, male offenders, strangers, others present: 461,980

US Population Stats

US Census: U.S. and World Population Clock
US Census: Population per year and per sex

2022 Population Statistics

- Total US population: 334,130,076 - Total female population (age 12+): 145,714,126 - Total male population (age 12+): 141,169,957

Social Interaction Stats

Number and Type of Social Interactions:

Social Interactions Study

At the individual level, participants reported, on average, 2.4 social interactions at each momentary assessment (that is, approximately 12 social interactions per day).
In terms of partner type, participants reported that 45% of their most recent social interactions were with one or more family members, 25% were with friends and 30% were with peripheral relationship partners.

- Average number of interactions per day: 12 - Family interactions: 45% - Friend interactions: 25% - Peripheral interactions: 30%

Nature Stats

Bear Olfactory

NPS: Yosemite NP: Bear Sense of Smell

Bears are commonly thought to have the keenest sense of smell in the animal kingdom.
[I]t's difficult to measure just how far a black bear can smell, a range of a few miles isn't unrealistic. With 300 to 500 bears roaming Yosemite at any given time, it's more than likely that at least one of them are smelling you at all times.

NPS: Brown Bears

[Brown bears] have an especially good sense of smell and under the right conditions may be able to detect odors more than a mile away.

- Lower bound of bear olfactory radius: 1 mile

Bear Incidents

Global Bear Study

According to https://worldanimalfoundation.org/ (accessed on 18 February 2024), globally, the average number of annual bear attacks on humans is 39.6, of which **11.4** and 18.2 attacks occur in **North America** and Europe annually.

- Average incidents per year in North America: 11.4

Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GRSM)

NPS: GRSM: Bear Stats

Bears inhabit all elevations of the park. Though populations are variable, biologists estimate that roughly 1,900 bears live in the park. This equals a population density of approximately two bears per square mile.

NPS: Stats)

Park	Rank	Recreation Visits	% of Total
Great Smoky Mountains NP	1	12,937,633	14.59%
Grand Canyon NP	2	4,732,101	5.34%
Zion NP	3	4,692,417	5.29%
Rocky Mountain NP	4	4,300,424	4.85%
Acadia NP	5	3,970,260	4.48%
Yosemite NP	6	3,667,550	4.14%
Yellowstone NP	7	3,290,242	3.71%
Joshua Tree NP	8	3,058,294	3.45%
Cuyahoga Valley NP	9	2,913,312	3.29%
Glacier NP	10	2,908,458	3.28%

- Bear population density in Great Smoky Mountain NP: 2 bears per square mile
- Recreational visits: 12,937,633 visits per year
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Method

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Context

The evaluation of hypotheses uses generous bounds that favor male human offenders (MHO) to demonstrate the exceptionally passive and avoidant nature of bears at a distance (all interactions where the bear does not suddenly realize a human in close proximity). If a model element is accurate and reliable, the actual value is used instead of selecting a bound. Technically, the actual value is itself a bound—the difference is simply that no additional choices are made regarding that model element.
Note: The determination of hypotheses differs from statistical hypothesis testing due to the nature of BOTE Modeling. In this instance, if the results indicate that the MHO bounded approximations are lower than bear bounded approximations, it does not prove that bears are less safe than MHO.
The reason is due to the structure of bound choices, which in this case favor MHO and are unfavorable to bears. Favorability is not as a moral judgement but as a model device used to strengthen the Alternative Hypothesis if determined to be true within the model assumptions.

Method Description

MHO Incidents and Opportunities of Violence:

The variable stranger is used as a proxy for the average man in the thought experiment because sampling out of the entire US population of men, the probability of randomly selecting someone you know is virtually zero. Meaning that the scenario of being in the woods with a random man is effectively being in the woods with a stranger.
In the Social Interactions Study, the variable called "peripheral relationship partners" (hereon: peripheral) includes acquaintance, coworker, stranger, roommate, classmate, therapist, healthcare provider, or other person. The sub-category of stranger is one of many others—some of which most likely have a much higher frequency, such as acquaintance, coworker, and classmate.
The number of stranger interactions cannot be greater than the number of peripheral interactions. Therefore, the peripheral percentage is used as a bound for the number of stranger interactions, which is then applied to the daily average of interactions.
This social interactions variable is then applied to the US population (from US Census) to approximate national values. Combined with the victimization statistics (from BJS) to compute the bound for the number of MHO Opportunities of Violence and the number of incidents in relation to those opportunities.
To address the critique that high-density city centers somehow modify the overall rate because it would supposedly increase the number of possible interactions relative to the number of incidents. On face value, this appears to be a valid critique; however, when considering basic facts, logic, and probability theory, it can be dismissed:
- The ratio of men to women is roughly even. - Even if the ratio of men to women was not even, the likelihood that city center ratios being drastically unrepresentative of the national ratio is exceptionally low. - If there were any difference, it is additionally unlikely that it would be greater than an order of magnitude.
With underlying probabilities of a man being an attacker and an attacker attacking in any opportunity does not modify the outcome of incidents. Consider the following basic analysis:
- p_attacker := probability of a man being an attacker - p_attacking := probability of an attacker attacking
Simplified instance of 1 woman (n_women_1 = 1) around multiple men (n_men >> 1):
- n_attackers = n_men * p_attacker - n_attackings = n_attackers * p_attacking - n_attackings = n_men p_attacker p_attacking - n_attacks_per_woman = n_attackings / n_women_1
When considering n_women around n_men, where n_women = n_men:
- n_attackings remains the same but n_attackings_per_woman changes. - n_attacks_per_woman = n_attackings / n_women - n_attacks_per_woman = (n_men p_attacker p_attacking) / n_women
Since n_women = n_men, it doesn't matter how many women and men there are—to include the minimal one man and one woman.
If we consider the existence of some unknown probability of a man being an attacker and an unknown probability, this would not be altered by the increase in density (according to crude modeling, of course).

Bear Incidents and Opportunities of Violence:

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) has the highest number of recreational visits per year of any national park in the United States. However, GRSM's total is significantly lower than the total number of recreational visits per year across all US national parks. The GRSM total is used as a proxy for the US total to represent the number of times individuals are in proximity to a bear. The GRSM bear density is also used.
- The reason the GRSM total is used as a favorable bound is because the actual count of being in the proximity of bears across the US is strictly less than that of GRSM. The lower the count of being in the proximity of bears is inversely proportional to the rate of bear incidents. In other words, as the count goes down, the rate goes up. - The total count of being in the proximity of a bear per year in all US national parks could be as large as six times higher when considering hours of recreation as a proxy. - The total annual recreational visits to US national parks with bear populations are over twice (close to three times) that of GRSM when tabulating Yellowstone NP, Great Smoky Mountain NP, Yosemite NP, Glacier NP, Grand Teton NP, and Shenandoah NP. - The bear density from GRSM is used as opposed to other national parks as a matter of consistency. Its favorability is neutral but does not introduce additional complexity to the formulation of bounds.
Experts on wildlife and specialists of bear populations estimate the sense of smell range of species of bears to be in the tens of miles (20 miles, even perhaps 40 miles). There is high confidence that bear sense of smell range is greater than a one-mile radius. The lower bound chosen is a one-mile radius.
- The reason this bound was chosen was because the sense of smell of bears is their strongest sense in the wild. This sense-radius is used to create a bound where bears become aware of human presence. - For simplicity, the area covered by this one-mile radius is reduced to one square mile—instead of roughly three square miles. This simplicity is a favorable bound for MHO by a factor of three. - Using the statistics of the total 'out of vehicle' visits per year and bear statistics (bear population density and sense-range), a bound for the number of 'Bear Opportunities of Violence' and the number of incidents in relation to those opportunities is calculated.
The scientific estimation for total incidents of bear violence against humans per year in North America is used as a proxy for the US.
- This bound is favorable to MHO, since the US total is at most equal to the estimation, but most likely less. This proxy does not significantly change the size of actual values considering the US population, tourism, and number of national parks. The actual estimation for the US may very well be near the North American estimation, but on average across years, it is strictly less.
Note: An exact equivalence is practically unknowable, because of (i) the social dynamic differences between bear-human and human-human interactions, (ii) the ethical/moral violations that are unavoidable in performing any such experiments. Analysis can only be done with assumptions. Without them, there is no analysis of hypothetical decisions, such as in this instance.

Summary

[MAN ATTACK RATE]

Elements:
- [interactions] := total social interactions per day per person - [portion peripheral interactions] := portion of peripheral interactions per day per person - [total US population] := total population in US 2022 - [total female population (12+)] := total female (age 12+) population in US 2022 - [total female victim incidents] := total female (12+) victim incidents in US 2022 - [total female victim incidents of males] := total female (12+) victim incidents of male offenders in US 2022
Computed Values:
- [portion stranger interactions] := portion of stranger interactions per day - [stranger interactions] := total stranger interactions per day per person - [male stranger interactions] := total male stranger interactions per day per person - [total female interactions with male strangers] := total female interactions with male strangers in US 2022 - [total male opportunities of violence against females] := total number of opportunities males have had for violence against females in US 2022 - [total incidents of male violence against females] := total number of incidents of male violence against females in US 2022 - [portion of incidents per opportunity of male violence against females] := portion of incidents per opportunity of male violence against females in US 2022
Formulas:
- [portion stranger interactions] ≅ [portion peripheral interactions] - [male stranger interactions] ≅ [portion stranger interactions] - [PRT STR INT] := [portion stranger interactions] - [FEM POP 12] := [total female population (12+)] - [DAYS] := days per year - [TOT FEM INT W MA STR] := [total female interactions with male strangers] - [TOT FEM INT W MA STR] = [PRT STR INT] x [FEM POP 12] x [DAYS] - [TOT MA OPR VIO AGN FEM] := [total male opportunities of violence against females] - [TOT MA OPR VIO AGN FEM] ≅ [TOT FEM INT W MA STR] - [TOT MA VIO AGN FEM] := [total incidents of male violence against females] - [PRT VIO PER OPR] := [portion of incidents per opportunity of male violence against females] - [PRT VIO PER OPR] = [TOT MA VIO AGN FEM] x [PRT VIO PER OPR]^-1 - [MAN ATTACK RATE] ≅ [PRT VIO PER OPR]

[BEAR ATTACK RATE]

Elements: - [bear sense radius] := lower bound radius of bear sense of smell - [GRSM bear density] := proxy for bear density in US national parks - [total GRSM recreational visits] := total recreational visits to GRSM NP in 2022 - [total incidents] := estimated average North American incidents of bear violence against humans
Computed Values: - [bear sense area] := area around a bear within its sense of smell range - [bear density] := national park bear density in US 2022 - [total recreational visits] := total recreational visits to US national parks in 2022 - [total mileage] := number of miles hiked through US national parks through square miles of bear density - [total opportunities] := total number of opportunities of bear violence against humans in the US 2022 - [portion of incidents per opportunity of bear violence against humans] := portion of incidents per opportunity of bear violence against humans in US 2022
Formulas: - [bear sense area] ≅ [bear sense radius]² - [bear density] ≅ [GRSM bear density] - [total recreational visits] ≅ [total GRSM recreational visits] - [TOT MIL] := [total mileage] - [TOT REC VIS] := [total recreational visits] - [TOT OPR] := [total opportunities] - [BER DNS] := [bear density] - [TOT INC] := [total incidents] - [POR VIO AGN HUM] := [portion of incidents per opportunity of bear violence against humans] - [BEAR ATTACK RATE] ≅ [POR VIO AGN HUM]
-------------------------------------------------

Result

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According to the Rate of Incidents per Opportunity:

[MAN ATTACK RATE]: 6.86 x 10^-6
[BEAR ATTACK RATE]: 4.41 x 10^-7

It follows that:

[BEAR ATTACK RATE] < [MAN ATTACK RATE]

Therefore:

[Alternative Hypothesis]: Confirmed

-------------------------------------------------

Discussion

-------------------------------------------------
Since the Alternative Hypothesis is confirmed, a woman in the woods with an average bear is significantly safer than being in the woods with an average man—within the bounds of the model assumptions.
Despite the favorable bounds for male human offenders, the bounds indicate that an average bear is at least an order of magnitude safer than an average man. Considering the factors of favorability being in the 20s, in reality, a bear may be two orders of magnitude safer than an average man (two orders of magnitude in scientific notation is a factor of 100).
Although an offense rate of 6.86 x 10^-6 (slightly less than 1 in 100,000) opportunities may seem to be a negligible number, the annual offense rate is on the scale of 1 in 100 when considering the number of stranger interactions on the scale of thousands per year.
A more complex model, which could capture the behavior of bears, could indicate an even greater disparity in safety. A reason for this speculation is a study of bear behavior found that in 169 approaches of bears (as close as 50 meters), none of them "displayed any aggressive behavior towards the observers, and none of the observers reported feeling threatened during any of the approaches.".
-------------------------------------------------

Conclusion

-------------------------------------------------
The results of this model suggest that the relative safety of being in the woods with a bear compared to a man supports the Alternative Hypothesis. It underscores the potential safety a bear presents in comparison to human threats under the specific conditions studied. This conclusion is drawn within the strict boundaries and assumptions of the model, highlighting the need for careful consideration of context when interpreting model outcomes.

Before anything else, I really love my dad. Overall he is a pretty smart guy and usually actually listens and is able to change his mind when he is wrong.
But not when it comes to "Chemicals".
My Sister started to eat vegan. Getting meat-proxies or whatever you call them. I also try to reduce the amount of animal products I consume. Why is that important?
Well those meat alternatives aren't real, they are just made of Chemicals and because of that they can't be healthy. Or at least my dad thinks so. That he has a strict regiment of drugs he has to take daily to stay healthy doesn't seem to occur to him. Funny that I personally actually, physically feel better since eating alternatives instead of actual animal products, pure coincidence.
We had this discussion, with various examples and arguments multiple times but he just doesn't budge on that one so whenever the topic comes up we just try to move on as fast as possible.
Again, I love my dad but man, what is it with him and many others in his generation with that mindset. A generation that gets more and more dependent on daily drugs to keept them healthy?

A friend sent me this video, Vuong Pham in his own words: Đại hội đồng cổ đông thường niên năm 2024 - Phạm Nhật Vượng trả lời - Vingroup - Vinfast (youtube.com)
From 2:36 to 2:49 in the clip, Vuong Pham said (this is what a friend told me, Vietnamese can check):
“Đương nhiên rất khó khăn và đương nhiên rất nhiều người phá. Nếu để ý trong suốt 2 tuần vừa rồi đây thì bao nhiêu cái chiến dịch nó dồn vào để chống phá Vinfast. Cái đấy không phải tự nhiên đâu”.
Google translation:
“Of course it's very difficult and of course many people sabotage / attack Vinfast. If you pay attention during the past 2 weeks, how many campaigns have they put in to destroy Vinfast. That's not natural."
Vuong Pham is playing right into his Vinfans base: He is playing the victim card to the tune of exactly what Vinfans want to hear: Vinfast and Vuong Pham are victims to “malicious forces”. Note that this psychological trick is very frequently used by American politicians to rally their base.
And he sounded just like a plain old communist, Vietnam and North Korea communists: “we are in this difficulty because of the enemy is attacking us”. Blame the hardship on some adversary instead of analyzing the real cause of the problems like normal businessman should do in the West.
The fact that Vuong Pham publicly mentioned "there are people who attack Vinfast”, apart from this being his psychological tricks to his fan base, shows that he is scared of us, the truth seekers and truth fighters.
Let’s me “educate” the liar Vuong Pham a thing or two:
1/ I, Albert, the biggest antagonist of Vuong Pham on the web I supposed (can prove: I wrote and exposed Vuong and Vin more than anyone by the number of posts, which can be easily counted), have been exposing Vuong Pham’s dirty tricks since May last year, nearly a year ago, with daily posting (I can do that because you are so shady, there are tons of hidden truth, I never run out of thing to write about your shadiness). It is not just the past 2 weeks. It has been a year. You lied, Vuong Pham (or maybe your subordinates did not tell you). If you do not know my name, you should by now (you likely do now, per what you said).
2/ I and many other people just take the shitty Vinfast balance sheet, officially filed by Vinfast in SEC filings, and shed lights into it, making the number speaks.
We tell the truth that Vinfast is already technically bankrupt. $9.3B debt, just $123M in cash. 70% GSM stuffing. All are facts. Hard facts. Very easy to prove these facts by me, many other financial analysts with integrity (not the crooked one bought by you, Vuong Pham), and any lawyers.
The best part is that we use publicly available information and shed lights on it, not some kind of insider secrets for you to worry about plugging the hole and finding a mole. I arm with the truth, public data and logic, not secret sources, and because of this, you cannot do anything to combat me, actually, to combat the truth.
I expose your shadiness, Vinfast’s real financial health, and your financial tricks, Vuong Pham, to the level no one has done before. Some others have tried to fight you with financial analysis before, like Sonnie Tran and others, or with bandrolls, like the Vinhomes shophouse owners, or with facts and media, like GogoTV, but you, Vuong Pham, could silence them all with complete censorship in Vietnam and with police intimidation.
Here come Albert armed with data and logic, and I expose every single one of your tricks no matter how small it is, even your “8888” bribery, and I am sure you have not met anyone like me. And I will not stop exposing your shady tricks, every single one of them, financial tricks, marketing tricks, and psychological tricks, no matter what.
So if you call telling the truth is to destroy Vinfast, then you implicitly assumes that Vinfast needs secrecy and lies to survive and cannot face the truth, which is correct (except you don’t say that part out loud). And if you say what I wrote is false (well, they are SEC filings anyway), you are welcome to provide facts and figures to the media to refute what I wrote. You see, you cannot fight logic and the truth.
Welcome to the free world, Vuong Pham 8888.
We will continue expose the truth about Vin, Vinfast, and you, Vuong Pham 8888, and there is nothing you can do about it in America, the land of the free.
So, while you continue to play cheap psychological tricks to your fan base (playing the victims to hide your shadiness) and continue to use censorship and intimidation in Vietnam, the world out there is much bigger than the well you are in, Vuong Pham.
****
I think Vuong Pham might use money to bribe the Vietnamese government to block reddit because of me. It is a real possibility. When that happens, readers should report the story here. Vietnamese gov has blocked many international websites in Vietnam, BBC and VOA are prime examples. You can use proxy and VPN to bypass the firewall though.

Edits: As its been pointed out, Maxim isn't named specifically in the filing. I can't edit their name has been corrected elsewhere.
Hey u/Master_inside4685, sorry that I didn't get around to answering your question yesterday but I wanted to throw up a post today answering your questions and providing my own insight. I apologize for the length of this post, it is a lot to read through. However, I think it would be worth your time to read, and I encourage you and others to ask further questions/clarification as necessary. SEC filings can be difficult and confusing to read, I'll admit that I don't know everything.
Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor, this is not financial advice. Some of what is stated below is fact and some is opinion. I STRONGLY encourage you to do your own due diligence and reading and to come to your own conclusions.
Okay, now to your question. For those that didn't see it yesterday, here is what you asked:

If I understood correctly, the upcoming proxy vote will vote of Seastar can raise the amount of shares for liabilities from 3 million to 9 million, where shareholders vote for this. If shareholders agree, the outstanding liabilities (to Maxim) would be paid in shares instead of cash (better for cashflow Seastar). If Seastar indeed has liabilities to Maxim, it would make total sense that it is in the best interest of Maxim that the shareprice is (at the time of 'payment' in shares) is as low as possible. Correct?

No, not correct. Your summary includes components of Proposal 2 and Proposal 3, but they are separate proposals. Both include an increase to the float, but one is retroactive. I will post the specific text of each proposal into the comments section for your review.
There are 4 proposals being pushed in the DEF 14A for shareholders to vote for on June 4th. 2 of those 4 proposals involve a change to the float, but for different reasons and in different ways.
Proposal 2: Increase the float from 3.5m shares to 10m shares. These shares are ONLY to be used for executive compensation. This proposal has nothing to do with Maxim. You referenced this increase to the float in your question, but remember that this is a totally separate proposal from Proposal 3, listed and detailed below.
Proposal 3: In December 2023, ICU entered into an agreement with A Private Investor. Private Investor received 6.3m of common stock shares and prefunded warrants to purchase an additional 4.5m shares at a strike price of $0.0001 per share. In a concurrent sale, Private Investor received an issuance of Series A common warrants that authorized the purchase of 10.8m shares and an issuance of Series B common warrants that authorizes Maxim Group to purchase 5.4m shares. The strike price of these shares, once the warrants are executed, is $0.8302 per share. We will come back to this strike price, this is what matters here. All-in-all, these warrants and shares capture greater than 20% of ICUs available common shares.
In the case of Proposal 3, you'll notice that these stock awards and transactions *already happened*. However, it was not above board. NASDAQ rule 5635(d) requires shareholder approval of any issuance of common shares >20% of the float when those shares are awarded or sold at a strike price below the last trading days stock price. Proposal 3 is ICU requesting shareholder approval for this transaction after the fact.
It is important to know that Private Investor has their shares whether this proposal is approved or not.
ICU outlines this very clearly on page 44 of their DEF 14A filing. ICU is bound to the terms of the purchase agreement that they signed with Maxim Group in December 23. Private Investor is owed $$, whether it be in the shares they were supposed to be given at that time, or fair cash value for those shares. If Proposal 3 is not approved, ICU is paying Private Investor with cash. This is not in the best interest of ICU, Private Investor, nor you and I. ICU needs to keep their cash for R&D purposes, its why Proposal 2 exists as well.
Okay, so now that we understand the *what* in the proposals, let's examine how Maxim stands to profit from these proposals as it relates to the share price.
There is text in proposal 3 that states the following:

The Common Warrants will be exercisable commencing on the effective date of stockholder approval for the issuance of the shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Common Warrants (the “Stockholder Approval Date”)

As it currently stands, Private Investor has a bunch of worthless warrants in their hands. Because it was >20% of the float but wasn't approved by shareholders, Private Investor can't exercise these warrants. Those shares and the warrants are worthless, *unless* they get shareholder approval. Once they do, they can exercise (or purchase) the shares that they were issued in those warrants. They can exercise those shares on the same day as the approval.
So, how exactly does a warrant work? A warrant is like a call option. It gives you the option to buy X number of shares at X price. If the warrants expire, they are worthless. The Def 14A filing does list the warrant expiration dates, but those don't really matter for the sake of this conversation. Warrants are sold to the purchaser at a set price, and this price is different from the strike price of the warrant. A warrant might cost $5 to purchase. If that warrant has a strike price of $15, then the warrant is worth $10, assuming the stock price gets to $15. When a warrant has a strike price of $X, the person holding the warrant only makes money when the stock price is >$X.
That's the basics of warrants. Now lets look at how this ties in with Private Investor.
Private Investor has millions of ICU warrants with a strike price of $.8302. The share price is currently trading below this. If Private Investor were to exercise these warrants today, they'd be worthless. But Private Investor cannot legally execute these warrants, they don't technically own these warrants yet, not until Proposal 3 is passed. It would be in the best interest of Private Investor to make sure ICU reaches the strike price of $.8302 or higher, so they can make money off these warrants.
How can you guarantee that the stock price hits $.8302?
You can do it by buying shares and propping up the price, you can release PR, you can help the company with its FDA approval, etc. That all costs money. At the end of the day, Maxim Group exists to make money, not to spend it.
You know what else you can do to ensure that the stock price rises? Short it as hard as possible during a time when the fundamentals (financials, lack of revenue, no sales, etc) of the company mean that general investor sentiment will be bearish. This doesn't cost money, in fact you can make a lot of money doing this. Then, you let off the gas and start to cover your short position. This encourages a short squeeze, the share price soars, compliance hits, investor sentiment turns bullish, more money flows in and the stock price starts soaring again.... then you execute your warrants, and make a shit load more money.
Yes, Maxim (if invested as a hedge fund but not necessarily the warrant holder) has an interest in keeping the share price low at the moment and then encouraging it to soar. My personal tinfoil hat theory indicates that Maxim is shorting the stock to keep it low in order for them to maximize profits. They control all the pieces to this game for now. However, you, me, ICU.. we can all benefit from this as well. The only people that really lose here are the intraday traders. If you are willing to accept the drawdown on your investment, and you keep averaging down, you will make a LOT of money in the mid to long term on this move. The share price isn't likely to get any cheaper, Maxim has a very vested interest in keeping ICU from delisting, and ICU has a vested interest in keeping Maxim happy.
My last note: You need to understand that retail investors don't matter. You and I do not have enough money to play this game the way investment firms and hedge funds can play this game. We do not have the insider information necessary to make the appropriate move before the share price changes on big news events. However, we can very easily see these companies strategies by reading and understanding these filings and thinking critically about what they mean.
PS: When a warrant is exercised at a strike price below the share price, it is a guaranteed sale. Imagine ICU trading around $5 with an average daily volume of 2m shares. Maxim executes their warrant for 5m shares at $0.8302. What will happen when Maxim executes this warrant? The share price see's a buy waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay below trading price for a MASSIVE amount of shares, so the share price will drop in that direction. Massively. Maxim doesn't want their warrants to expire, they can't do anything with them if that happens. Read the filing, find the expiration dates of those warrants, understand when that rug pull might happen.
Happy investing, and good luck.

As an Iranian college student, I am really struggling with everything happening on college campuses.
I truly believe that a decent portion of protestors are well-intentioned, and are joining the movement because they see the atrocities in Gaza, and want to use their power and privileges to stop it.
At the same time, the majority of the organizations leading these protests are extremely corrupt. Some misinform and radicalize students, others exploit them for ulterior motives. For instance, Columbia's protests have, for months, been made possible with the significant assistance of the organization "Within Our Lifetime," whose entire mission is to be what others deem "too radical," "too extremist," as described by Nerdeen Kiswani. This means glorifying the so-called "axis of resistance" led by the Islamic Republic in Iran. How on earth can you say you are protesting against genocide, and then stand with regimes like Assad in Syria, and the IR, which commits egregious human rights violations on a daily basis? Why are protestors not appalled and disgusted by this?
At other campuses, PSL and ANSWER coalition dominate the protests, both of which are heavily pro-islamic Republic, pro-China, pro-Russia, and pro-Assad. They both want to "abolish NATO," and PSL's Claudia De La Cruz is quite literally running to be the US president as a socialist candidate. Their posts pre-October 2023 had a few hundred likes, and showcased a few useful idiots organizing anti-Ukraine rallies and praising North Korea. Now, they are getting thousands of likes and have skillfully manipulated college students.
And many of these organizers are actually aware of this. I have brought it to their attention, and instead of being horrified and withdrawing their support, they will explain to me how no organization is always right, how they just agree with their pro-Palestine stance, how it doesn't matter because we are focused on Israel right now. How is this the same camp that chants "divest now," and bullies people over shopping at Starbucks and McDonald's? I can imagine if I work with an Iranian organization that is pro-Israel, I would never hear the end of it. So why the hypocrisy?
Meanwhile, the police response on college campuses has very much pleased the regime and its allies, which are now working overtime speaking of "U.S. hypocrisy" and "police brutality" against demonstrations. The worse the police response becomes, the more desensitized and unconcerned Americans become with regard to the regime's violence, believing it's "no better at home" (which, yes, it is by a DRASTIC amount, but I won't get into that).
My friends are so insanely radicalized they are posting things like "death to Empire," "this is Empire," "fascist states will fall," which is INCREDIBLY reminiscent of what happened to Iran in 1979 that ushered in the regime. All the more telling given the anti-democratic values of their affiliated organizations.
Many of these people will claim to support Iranians. But what kind of support is it when you condemn the regime's crimes, and then reshare regime lobbyists on your story, chant in favor of their proxies, and work with organizations who support them?
I hate how happy the Islamic Republic must be. I hate how no one cares about throwing everyone else under the bus for their cause. I hate the arrogance and narrow-mindedness of Americans who can't even point to middle eastern countries on a map. I've tried to be so tolerant, but honestly, after these last 7 months, my patience is running out.

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