Weekly Recap for May 13, 2024 - May 19, 2024

Welcome to the ITZY Weekly Discussion & Recap!
In this thread we compile everything ITZY has done this week for people who can't quite keep up with it all!
This post now also serves as our Weekly MIDZY Discussion Thread! That means this is an anything goes discussion thread. Feel free to talk about anything you'd like with other MIDZY! All we ask is that you keep it safe for work!

Algorhythm Stream Links
Algorhythm
No Biggie (Lyric Video)
Algorhythm (Single Album) on Spotify

BORN TO BE Era Stream Links
UNTOUCHABLE
BORN TO BE
Mr. Vampire
BORN TO BE (Album) on Spotify

SUPERPOWERS (Strong Girl Nam-soon OST Part 1)
SUPERPOWERS (MV)
SUPERPOWERS on Spotify

Megathreads

Thread
The 7th Mini Album "KILL MY DOUBT" (Era Recap)

Teasers

Date	Title / Link	Thread
240513	Algorhythm (MV Teaser)	Thread
240513	The 2nd World Tour 'BORN TO BE' in JAPAN (Yeji Image Teaser: D-4)	Thread
240514	Algorhythm (MV Teaser #2)	Thread
240514	[The 2nd World Tour 'BORN TO BE' in JAPAN (Ryujin Image Teaser: D-3)]
240515	The 2nd World Tour 'BORN TO BE' in JAPAN (Chaeryeong Image Teaser: D-2)	Thread
240516	The 2nd World Tour 'BORN TO BE' in JAPAN (Yuna Image Teaser: D-1)	Thread

Social Media

Twitter

Date	Title / Link	Thread
240515	[JP]JAPAN 3rd Single 'Algorhythm' has been released!! Please listen to our new songs a lot ♫👑	Thread
240515	[[JP] at Shibuya Television and Scramble Square Outdoor ads with Spotify are running until May 19th! Be sure to look for it👑](replace with link)	Thread
240516	IT'ZZZ SERIES <흙빛 파티시엘> ITZY is streaming to rave reviews on YouTube. Today at 6pm, only on IT'ZZZ.	Thread
240516	IT'ZZZ SERIES <흙빛 파티시엘> Cookie Episode🍪 The gingerbread was split amongst the rest of the bakery🤗	Thread
240517	[JP] ITZY 2ND WORLD TOUR in JAPAN has finally started!! Please be careful for all #MIDZY people who are coming to the venue!!	Thread
240517	[JP] ITZY 2ND WORLD TOUR in JAPAN Rehearsing .... 🤭 #MIDZY please wait!	Thread
240518	[JP] ITZY 2ND WORLD TOUR in #TOKYO - DAY 1 'Let's say hello♥️' to MIDZY! Memories of ITZY and MIDZY, yay! Start! [1]	Thread
240518	[JP] ITZY 2ND WORLD TOUR in #TOKYO - DAY 1 'Let's say hello♥️' to MIDZY! Memories of ITZY and MIDZY, yay! Start! [2]	Thread
240518	[JP] ITZY 2ND WORLD TOUR in JAPAN Day 2 of the Tokyo show is starting ✨ We are waiting for #MIDZY! ITZY'll go with MIDZY 💕	Thread
240518	[[JP] ITZY 2ND WORLD TOUR in #TOKYO - DAY 2 I feel MIDZY by my side MIDZY is ITZY's Biggie🖤]
240519	[JP] ITZY 2ND WORLD TOUR in #TOKYO - DAY 3 The thing that helps ITZY is MIDZY who believes in us♡ [1]	Thread
240519	[JP] ITZY 2ND WORLD TOUR in #TOKYO - DAY 3 The thing that helps ITZY is MIDZY who believes in us♡ [2]	Thread
240519	[JP] ITZY 2ND WORLD TOUR in JAPAN Thank you for the 3 shows in Tokyo! We love MIDZY💕We'll definitely see you again!	Thread

Instagram

Date	Title / Link	Thread
240515	[Personal] Ryujin Update	Thread
240515	[Personal] Yuna Update	Thread
240515	[Personal] Yeji Update	Thread
240516	[Personal] Chaeryeong Stories Update	Thread
240516	[Personal] Yeji Stories Update	Thread
240516	[Personal] Yeji Update	Thread
240516	[Personal] Yuna Update)	Thread
240519	[Personal] Yuna Update	Thread

FANS

Date	Title / Link	Thread
240513	Chaeryeong Update	Thread
240516	Chaeryeong Update	Thread

Misc SNS

Date	Title / Link	Thread
240515	modelpress Twitter Update with ITZY	Thread
240515	spotifyjp Instagram Update with ITZY	Thread

Videos

Official Videos (kr)

Date	Title / Link	Thread
240514	ITZY? ITZY! EP.161 - Yuna's Allure pictorial	Thread
240516	IT'ZZZ EP.14 - The first tasting rejection in a Cooking Show	Thread
240517	Insta-LOG EP.04 (RYUJIN in MELBOURNE - ITZY 2ND WORLD TOUR 'BORN TO BE')	Thread

Official Videos (jp)

Date	Title / Link	Thread
240515	Algorhythm	Thread

Variety

Date	Title / Link	Thread
240514	ITZY Answer Fan Questions - ITZY x MTV Asks @ MTV UK	Thread

Videos

Date	Title / Link	Thread
240515	ITZY releases 3rd single “Algorhythm” in Japan! Introduces the recommended points in cute Japanese: “Watch out for the powerful dance" @ Oricon	Thread

WHAT MIDZY WANT 2024

Date	Title / Link	Thread
240518	Yuna Update - #WHAT_MIDZY_WANT_2024 #4	Thread
240518	Yeji Update - #WHAT_MIDZY_WANT_2024 #5	Thread

TikTok

Date	Title / Link	Thread
240519	Chaeryeong Update - Nasty girl, is she?	Thread

Misc

Date	Title / Link	Thread
240517	ITZY x Teen Vogue	Thread

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ITZY Discord

Oh boy. Where do I even begin. I'm a head cashier at a retail store. Kind of like a supervisor, but not as much authority, more just an on-site team lead. I got a couple of new people in recently and I connected with a girl, going to call her A, (19F) who's close to my age (21F). Two weeks ago she was helping close down registers as I needed someone to walk me with the cash to the cash office. I don't remember how the conversation started, but we started talking about our sexual trauma. You know, girl talk~. I expressed to her that a pedophile who had seduced me online when I was 17 just got sentenced to 10 years in jail, and that I'm just generally depressed because I like to pretend he never existed. A expresses to me that her uncle drugged her and her friends at a sleepover to take explicit pictures of them when she was little. We talked a little bit about how our individual experiences led us to having hyper-sexual phases. She mentions that, since she just broke up with her boyfriend, that she's thinking about making an only fans. Especially since her mom (her mom has worked at the same store for longer than me) told her that an ex-coworker of ours has an only fans and IS making a lot of money off of it. I asked her if she really wanted to talk about this, since this conversation isn't work appropriate, y'know, "you're not going to report me over this conversation, right?" and A said she "wouldn't even know how to anyways." I offer to help her if she really delves into it, I mean, my hypersexual phase was sending nudes to strangers for attention, lol. A says we should totally start a business together selling nudes on OF. We laugh about it and move on.
Immediately after this, we're still walking towards the cash office with the money, she drops on me that another head cashier, B, (50 something? F) told A that I MUST be having sex with my boyfriend if I'm taking birth control. I mean, I am lol, but it's no ones business that I am at work. I tell her that I'm probably going to report that woman for harassment because that's an inappropriate way to talk about me. She asks me not to, since she'll know she told me. I tell her I'll think about it. Then she tells me that a curbside associate, C, (18F) is making advances on her even though she's expressed she's not into her, and cornered her in the LADIES RESTROOM to apologize. I advised her to talk to management about it because that is serious. She didn't want to. After I relieved her from guarding me with the cash, I immediately went my assistant store manager about both situations. I was very emotionally distraught that someone would talk about me in that fashion... even though B is known to be quite the gossip. ASM advised that I should probably be more private and not tell people about the medications I'm on, but the conversation that happened between A and B was not and he'd investigate it. He even asked me what action he should take since he didn't want to put more attention on that subject if I didn't want it. I told him I'd think about it, then I had been called to help someone somewhere.
C, who wasn't working that night, later comes in with her girlfriend. Not a huge deal at this point in time but it comes up later. I say hi but continue working, keeping my distance because I'd just heard that she was harassing A.
For the next two weeks I kept my distance from B, even though she somehow found out that I knew about her and A's conversation and kept trying to say that A was a liar. She would say that she even had a recording of her saying that she never talked about me like that. I assume that B manipulated A into saying that, because I think B would definitely lie and manipulate to cover her own ass. I've also been keeping A and C apart as much as possible. I personally was harassed by someone who worked curbside and my then supervisor laughed at me about it because "he was nice to her". I really felt like I was making the difference that my supervisor couldn't be bothered to.
This Friday I tell B that I've been keeping A and C apart, since I was going to lengths to make it happen that day and it impacted both of our shifts. She reminded me that A is a liar, like how she lied about that conversation they had, and that I should be handling the situation with skepticism. She said that she posted on her facebook years ago that story about her uncle abusing her and her friends. She moved on to tell me that A had told her a bunch of peoples secrets, specifically how I offered to help her if she actually planned to make an OF.... Honestly? I was shook. There was no point in lying so I told her yes, that happened, but A had said she was fine with the conversation and even brought up the topic herself... She also told me that A said that I was crying that night two weeks ago because C brought in her girlfriend and that I was in love with C...
After calming down a little bit, but not enough honestly, I texted A and told her that I'd be blocking her phone number and on Facebook for discussing my private information with B and that my private life isn't todays gossip. Without letting her reply, I blocked her, y'know. A little later I run into C and I clarify with her that the rumor about me being in love with her is false and that B said A made it up. C says that she hadn't heard that rumor, but she doesn't talk to A anyways, since multiple people have told her that A is "messy". I bring up that A reported C for harassment. Naturally C is pissed, she doesn't do anything to A that I know of. Just ignores her.
A texts me on the work phone and calls me childish for not talking to her about the situation and is mad at me for telling C about the case and that "they almost had it worked out". I've had two sexual harassment cases, or, three now I guess, and I've never been told the status of my cases or how they were handled. I tell her that I'm not putting up with her manipulation, and she needs to apologize to me for telling B about me offering to help her start an OF. She does apologize to me. I tell her that I can't apologize to her, because the situation triggered my trauma and I wasn't in the mindset to apologize. Now I'm just mad that she made me empathize with her and turned my empathy into a weapon to use against me.
I know I'm in the wrong professionally and that I'm totally getting punished for this but, AITAH?

DAY: May 18 2024

• 5-18-2024 HAVE SMARTPHONES KILLED THE ART OF CONVERSATION? Once upon a time, human relationships unfolded without smartphones. The reality may be hard to recall, so profoundly have these devices transformed the way we relate to the world and others in fifteen years or so. As an anthropologist interested in modernity, I am particularly preoccupied by the impact of these devices on our conversations. In my book, “The End of the Conversation? Words in a Spectral Society” (French original: “La fin de la conversation? La parole dans une société spectrale”), I investigate the pernicious effects of this technology
• 5-18-2024 HOW TO REWARD EMPLOYEES FAIRLY AND IMPROVE TEAM DYNAMICS A recent study has shed light on how to reward employees more fairly and improve team dynamics. The study found that when less skilled employees report their performance voluntarily, they often exaggerate their achievements and ask for higher bonuses. These employees also tend to put in less effort and are less concerned about fairness when sharing their contributions voluntarily. Interestingly, the researchers discovered that requiring employees to explain their contributions leads to fairer decisions about bonus allocation and improves
• 5-19-2024 BILLIONS ARE SPENT ON EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, BUT WE DON’T KNOW IF IT WORKS During the COVID lockdowns, schools and universities worldwide relied on education technology—edtech—to keep students learning. They used online platforms to give lessons, mark work and send feedback, used apps to teach and introduced students to programs that let them work together on projects. In the aftermath of school closures, the market for edtech has kept on growing. The value of the sector is projected to rise to US$132.4 billion globally by 2032. The problem is that we don’t know very much about how effective many edtech apps or programs
• 5-19-2024 STUDY FINDS CONSUMERS WILLING TO PAY MORE FOR NATURALLY COLORED COTTON CLOTHING Research has looked at consumer attitudes toward naturally colored cotton clothing. The study found that amid increasing concerns over the environmental impact of conventional cotton processing, consumers are willing to pay more for a greener T-shirt.
• 5-18-2024 HOW AI IS SHAPING THE FUTURE OF SALES STRATEGIES In the fast-evolving business landscape, artificial intelligence, or AI, is taking center stage in transforming sales processes, making them more efficient and responsive to the dynamic market demands. A new University of Alabama at Birmingham study titled “AI in Sales: Laying the Foundations for Future Research” highlights the pivotal role AI is playing in reshaping the sales sector.
• 5-18-2024 WHEN CONSUMERS WOULD PREFER A CHATBOT OVER A PERSON Actually, sometimes consumers don’t want to talk to a real person when they’re shopping online, a new study suggests. In fact, what they really want is a chatbot that makes it clear that it is not human at all. In a new study, researchers found that people preferred interacting with chatbots when they felt embarrassed about what they were buying online—items like antidiarrheal medicine or, for some people, skin care products. “In general, research shows people would rather interact with a human customer service agent
• 5-18-2024 NEW STUDY REVEALS THE POTENTIAL OF COACHING EMPLOYEES TO DRIVE NEW STRATEGIC IDEAS In the landscape of modern business, inclusion isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a strategic imperative. Companies like IBM, Volkswagen and Starbucks are moving to more participative strategy development approaches that reflect a growing understanding of the importance of diversity in fostering innovative and creative strategic ideas. Yet the outcomes of inclusive strategy processes often fall short of expectations. A new study in the Strategic Management Journal sheds light on why that may be. In their study of an inclusive strategy process in a large insurance company, Violetta Splitter, along with co-authors
• 5-18-2024 RESEARCHERS SHOW WAYS TO PROPEL PRODUCT SUCCESS New research explores the key strategies that firms should adopt when launching a new product. The researchers say that these strategies depend on the current market view of the product and the firm. Employing the correct one, which might sometimes be collaborating with overtly demanding reviewers or instituting rather challenging pilot tests, ensures that the product launch will go as successfully as possible.
• 5-18-2024 RESEARCHERS DEVELOP ALGORITHMS TO UNDERSTAND HOW HUMANS FORM BODY PART VOCABULARIES An example of the study’s language sample and the words for arm/hand and leg/foot in English and Wolof. Human bodies have similar designs. However, languages differ in the way they divide the body into parts and name them. For example, English speakers have two words for foot and leg, whereas other languages express the concepts foot and leg in one word.
• 5-18-2024 STUDY FINDS AVOIDING SOCIAL MEDIA BEFORE AN ELECTION HAS LITTLE TO NO EFFECT ON PEOPLE’S POLITICAL VIEWS In the weeks before and after the 2020 presidential election, researchers ran a number of tests to try to understand how much Facebook and its corporate cousin, Instagram, may be contributing to the nation’s political divide. One of those experiments—led by Matthew Gentzkow and Hunt Allcott, economics professors at Stanford University—centered on more than 35,000 Facebook and Instagram users who were paid to stay off the platforms in the run-up to Election Day. There’s a lot that researchers could glean from the social media hiatus, including whether people’s political attitudes
• 5-18-2024 USING COMPUTER MODELS TO UNDERSTAND THE DEBATE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE Different types of noise and how they act inside or outside the social interaction process. Cognitive biases are among the most important factors that prevent people from changing their minds. Climate change deniers and climate activists often tend to accept only information that confirms their respective opinions on the matter. However, opinion dynamics are also influenced by a factor that the researchers call “ambiguity noise.” Unlike biases, ambiguity noise is variable, depends on many random factors, and leads to inconsistent judgment.
• 5-18-2024 FOR SOME INDIGENOUS SOUTHERN PLAINS TRIBES, AN ORIGINAL FLUTE SONG IS THE FIRST STEP TOWARD MARRIAGE “Warrior with flute” by Timothy Tate Nevaquaya. Used with permission. Credit: Timothy Tate Nevaquaya Every love story is unique, and in traditional Indigenous Southern Plains culture, it begins with an original ballad performed on the flute. In order to win a lover’s affection, and respect among the tribe, each pursuer must compose one good flute serenade. Paula Conlon, a former music professor at the University of Oklahoma, has researched the history and cultural significance of the Indigenous flute since the 1980s. Conlon presents her work Tuesday, May 14, at 9:45
• 5-18-2024 WANT TO BE AN INFLUENCER? OUR RESEARCH SHOWS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FIRST You’re hard at work, lying in a hammock, composing the perfect selfie on the beach. The turquoise sea sets off the idyllic sunset, and just visible though the fronds of a palm tree is the logo of the hotel which is paying you to promote it to your millions of followers on Instagram. Click. The perfect shot. And another typically perfect day in the life of an influencer. Or is it? Certainly a career as an influencer can seem appealing. The work generally involves promoting products or services through sponsored
• 5-18-2024 WHY STUDENTS CHEAT IN ONLINE EXAMS Media psychologists at the University of Cologne have studied how students’ individual needs, conceptions and reasons relate to cheating behavior in online exams. Online exams have become a more common type of exam at universities, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. They are advantageous because they save time and offer flexibility. However, cheating attempts present a big challenge for lecturers. This is why universities have been working on ways to thwart cheating in online exams by putting organizational and technical measures into place.
• 5-18-2024 WHY STUDENTS CHEAT IN ONLINE EXAMS Trust and distrust in social media coexisted in the study participants. Credit: Emmaline Nelsen Are anti-misinformation interventions on social media working as intended? It depends, according to a new study surveyed over 1,700 participants in the United States, revealing that anti-misinformation features increased users’ awareness of misinformation in social media; but did not make them more likely to share information on social media
• 5-18-2024 MOST CRIME HAS FALLEN BY 90% IN 30 YEARS—SO WHY DOES THE PUBLIC THINK IT’S INCREASED? Seventy-eight percent of people in England and Wales think that crime has gone up in the last few years, according to the latest survey. But the data on actual crime shows the exact opposite. As of 2024, violence, burglary and car crime have been declining for 30 years and by close to 90%, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)—our best indicator of true crime levels. Unlike police data, the CSEW is not subject to variations in reporting and recording. The drop in violence includes domestic violence
• 5-18-2024 MOST CRIME HAS FALLEN BY 90% IN 30 YEARS—SO WHY DOES THE PUBLIC THINK IT’S INCREASED? Can we truly assess whether someone finds us attractive? Cognitive psychologist Iliana Samara discovered that men, in particular, tend to overestimate the interest of their date. She explains why this may be. “Imagine you walk into a packed bar, looking for a date. Your eyes are naturally drawn to attractive faces. If you’re a man and find someone attractive, you’re more likely to assume they’re also interested in you. “Then, when you approach them, whether you’re a man or woman
• 5-18-2024 MOST CRIME HAS FALLEN BY 90% IN 30 YEARS—SO WHY DOES THE PUBLIC THINK IT’S INCREASED? Having more education has long been linked to better individual health. But those benefits are also contagious, say the co-authors of a new working paper. “It’s not just that the individuals who have more years of education are in better health,” said David M. Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics. “It’s that even people with fewer years of education—for example, people with just a high school degree—are in better health when they live around
• 5-18-2024 MOST CRIME HAS FALLEN BY 90% IN 30 YEARS—SO WHY DOES THE PUBLIC THINK IT’S INCREASED? Our research on children in early primary years, show they are better are writing with a pen or pencil than a keyboard. Children today are growing up surrounded by technology. So it’s easy to assume they will be able to write effectively using a keyboard. But our research suggests this is not necessarily true. We need to actively teach students to be able to type as well as write using paper and pen or pencil. Our research Our research team has published two recent
• 5-18-2024 MOST CRIME HAS FALLEN BY 90% IN 30 YEARS—SO WHY DOES THE PUBLIC THINK IT’S INCREASED? The provision of therapies for children and young people (CYP) with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) can be an affectively challenging, sometimes procedurally complex, process for the various stakeholders involved. However, the efficiency and effectiveness of this process, are crucial to various outcomes, in particular
• 5-18-2024 HOW DO MINDFULNESS, COMPASSION AND NEED FULFILLMENT AFFECT SATISFACTION IN MIDLIFE MARRIED COUPLES? Many people practice mindfulness or self-compassion techniques in their everyday life as part of their normal self-care routine. Although many studies support the individual benefits of mindfulness and self-compassion, few have focused on romantic relationship outcomes. A new study published in Personal Relationships has examined how mindfulness, self- and other-compassion, and need fulfillment relate to relationship and sexual satisfaction in midlife married couples. The study involved survey results from 640 adults aged 40–59 years who were residing in Canada and were married. Mindfulness is the nonjudgmental attention and awareness to
• 5-18-2024 HOW ENTERTAINMENT BRANDS ARE ADAPTING TO GENERATION ALPHA Growing up, did you play with hyper-sexualized Barbie dolls, boys-only Thomas the Tank Engine trains, or slim, white Disney princesses? If so, you’re not alone, but this is no longer the case for Generation Alpha. Brands like Mattel, once criticized for promoting unrealistic body standards and gender stereotypes, now portray themselves as feminist and progressive. The recent Barbie movie serves as a prime example of this shift. Millennial parents are actively seeking out toys, books and movies to educate their children about life and teach them values that align
• 5-18-2024 STUDENTS WITH DYSLEXIA FACE CHALLENGES TRANSITIONING TO THE WORKPLACE, BUT WITH SUPPORT THEY CAN THRIVE Transitioning from university to the workplace is a critical period in anyone’s life, but it can be especially challenging for students with dyslexia. While academic settings often offer accommodations for people with dyslexia, professional environments often fall short on such support systems. Fortunately, there are strategic interventions that can be established in workplaces to help individuals with dyslexia not only adapt, but excel in their careers. It is estimated that up to 20% of the population has dyslexia and 80% of people with a learning disability have dyslexia
• 5-18-2024 BUSINESSES UNINTENTIONALLY DISCOURAGE DIVERSE IDEAS, FINDS STUDY Businesses influence the ideas they receive from external contributors by unintentionally signaling which ideas they like, a research analyzed 1.44 million ideas to understand how organizations unknowingly shape the ideas they receive. Data came from organizations that asked visitors how they could improve their websites before choosing which ideas to use. Chosen ideas were communicated for all to see.
• 5-18-2024 WHAT’S IN A NAME? A LINGUISTICS EXPERT EXPLAINS WHY SOME BABY NAMES DOMINATE THE CHARTS YEAR AFTER YEAR What do names like Noah, James, Mateo, Mia, Evelyn and Luna all have in common? They’re not only some of the top baby names in the United States, but they also seem to flow off the tongue. And that’s exactly why parents love them. On May 10, the Social Security Administration released a list of the top baby names in the United States in 2023. Liam and Olivia maintained the number one spot in their respective categories for the fifth consecutive year while Noah and Emma also retained second place.
• 5-18-2024 ACCESS TO GARDENS AND CITIZEN SCIENCE HELPS ENCOURAGE CONSERVATION AMONG CHILDREN, STUDY SHOWS Access to gardens and citizen science projects at school can help promote pro-conservation behavior among pupils, a new study shows. Offering children the chance to take part in authentic scientific ecological work and gardening encourages an interest in plants. This can change behavior—to spend more time gardening or to pursue a botanical career—and fuels a positive attitude towards safeguarding the environment, experts found
• 5-18-2024 WHAT PROFESSIONALS EXPECT FROM FUTURE EMPLOYERS Employers who want to attract new talent should recognize diversity and enable inclusion. This is confirmed by a representative study by IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU), which surveyed more than 1,200 trainees and students across Germany. The results clearly show that 75.1% of prospective employees consider it very or somewhat important that companies implement measures to promote diversity and inclusion. This suggests that companies that communicate these measures openly and transparently
• 5-18-2024 RESEARCH LINKS VOTER BEHAVIOR IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS TO HOUSING MARKET PERFORMANCE If the 21st century has proven anything to the United States electorate, it is that presidential elections are notoriously unpredictable affairs. The seeming randomness by which the country’s electorate chooses its next president has only emboldened polling outlets, talking heads, and amateur psephologists to scrutinize every conceivable variable to give their respective electoral forecasting models a much-needed edge. However, Sherwood Clements, collegiate assistant professor of real estate in the Pamplin College of Business, had an electoral theory that, to the best of his knowledge, had never been explored with regards
• 5-18-2024 RESEARCH LINKS VOTER BEHAVIOR IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS TO HOUSING MARKET PERFORMANCE If the 21st century has proven anything to the United States electorate, it is that presidential elections are notoriously unpredictable affairs. The seeming randomness by which the country’s electorate chooses its next president has only emboldened polling outlets, talking heads, and amateur psephologists to scrutinize every conceivable variable to give their respective electoral forecasting models a much-needed edge. However, Sherwood Clements, collegiate assistant professor of real estate in the Pamplin College of Business, had an electoral theory that, to the best of his knowledge, had never been explored with regards
• 5-18-2024 MECHANISTIC MODEL SHOWS HOW MUCH GOSSIP IS NEEDED TO FOSTER SOCIAL COOPERATION Gossip often has a negative connotation, but imagine you are part of a group deciding on a job candidate to hire or a local political candidate to back. Candidates who get a good reputation by helping others may be more likely to receive help in the form of a job offer or endorsement, a feedback loop known as indirect reciprocity. Gossip can facilitate cooperation. Previous research has shown that people tend to cooperate more when they think their peers are gossiping about their behavior, gossip
• 5-18-2024 SINGING RESEARCHERS FIND CROSS-CULTURAL PATTERNS IN MUSIC AND LANGUAGE Are acoustic features of music and spoken language shared across cultures? Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen have contributed to a global study of music and speech, published in Science Advances. An international team of researchers recorded themselves performing traditional music and speaking in their native language. In all 50+ languages
• 5-18-2024 NEW RESEARCH REVEALS JUST HOW FEW LGBTQI+ PEOPLE PLAY SPORTS The topic of homophobia in sport has recently made headlines in Australia, with a series of homophobic incidents involving men’s AFL players. These homophobic incidents are usually well-reported in news media, but research has rarely explored the impact on participation for LGBTQI+ people. Fresh research into the problem Our new research is one of the first pieces of academic research in Australia to document how many LGBTQI+ people play and engage with sport. We also explored current levels of discrimination across sport in Australia, and the barriers and enablers
• 5-18-2024 SWIPE RIGHT OR LEFT? HOW DATING APPS ARE IMPACTING MODERN MASCULINITY What it means to be a man is changing. Critical men or masculinity studies is an emerging robust research field that explores how men and masculinity are being transformed by shifting socio-economic, sexual and political conditions in our post-industrial world. Fascinating new male-identifying sub-cultures and communities have emerged, like mushroomcore and dandies. Yet heteronormative masculinity is typically framed as threatening, toxic or maladaptive, as in the case of fragile masculinity. In my years of swiping on dating apps, I encountered different kinds of masculinities, as well as some very offensive
• 5-18-2024 RESEARCHERS SAY AUTOMATED NEWS VIDEO PRODUCTION IS BETTER WITH A HUMAN TOUCH AI-generated videos for short messages are only as well received as manually created ones if they are edited by humans. News organizations—including Bloomberg, Reuters, and The Economist—have been using AI powered video services to meet growing audience demand for audio-visual material. A study recently published in the journal Journalism now shows that the automated production of news videos is better with human supervision. Technology providers like Wochit and Moovly are allowing publishers to mass produce videos at scale. But what do audiences think of the results? Researchers led by LMU
• 5-18-2024 HOW ‘ETHICAL INFLUENCERS’ ENGAGE THEIR AUDIENCES ABOUT SAVING THE PLANET Have a quick think back to the last time you scrolled through social media. Maybe it was this morning, last night or a few minutes ago. What do you recall? One thing you’re bound to remember is the continuous stream of influencers showing off their latest content. These could be videos of influencers discussing the latest skin-care products, the trendiest places to eat, their latest shopping haul or the PR packages they received from various brands. Much of social media influencing is about getting consumers to buy more products.
• 5-18-2024 ALLYSHIP IS ESSENTIAL TO NEW MOTHERS RETURNING TO WORK, SAYS STUDY Returning to work after parental leave can be one of the most challenging experiences for any parents, especially mothers, to navigate. Fortunately, there are simple, kind and thoughtful ways in which organizational members—regardless of formal status, parental identity or gender identity—can help mothers feel supported as they return to work, which can also benefit job satisfaction and maternal well-being.
• 5-18-2024 STUDY FINDS SAYING ‘PLEASE’ MAY NOT BE SO POLITE IN EVERYDAY REQUESTS By kindergarten age, most children have been taught that “please” is a magic word. “Please” is an expression of politeness that shows courtesy and respect, turning a potential demand into a request that will—poof!—magically be granted. But a new study on the ways people make requests of one another suggests that “please” might not be an all-purpose marker of politeness, but rather a more focused, strategic tool to manage frictions or obstacles among family members, friends and even coworkers.
• 5-18-2024 MILITARY RANK AFFECTS MEDICAL CARE, OFFERING SOCIETAL INSIGHTS: STUDY Stock project from Pexels Human relationships are inherently shaped by power dynamics, yet quantifying their impact has remained a scientific challenge. Now, a large new study published Thursday in the journal Science reveals that military doctors give more attention to higher-ranked patients, providing concrete evidence about the privileges that come with elevated status, frequently at the expense of the less powerful. “One of the things we are trying to show is that this is not a military-specific analysis,”
• 5-18-2024 RESEARCHERS DISCUSS CURRENT STATE OF HOMOPHOBIA, TRANSPHOBIA AND BIPHOBIA Gender-neutral bathrooms, conversion therapy and Quebec’s advisory committee on gender identity have been in the news lately. These are polarizing, hot-button issues. While there have been legislative and social advances for LGBTQ+ rights, ignorance and discrimination persist and continue to negatively affect the lives of many. On May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, UdeMNouvelles asked two Université de Montréal professors and researchers who are experts in the field to share their views.
• 5-18-2024 PICKLEBALL COURTS IN A LEGAL PICKLE OVER THE ASSOCIATED NOISE Experts recommend HOAs and communities consider the “popping” noise associated with pickleball when deciding to build courts near homes. Credit: AIP Pickleball Legal Consultant is a job title that likely did not exist a decade ago, but as pickleball courts infiltrate neighborhoods to satiate an appetite for a sport whose namesake is a snack, communities take issue with the resulting influx of noise. Now homeowners’ associations and city councils face litigation by those whose lives are disrupted by pickleball’s din. Charles Leahy, an attorney, retired mechanical engineer, and former HOA
• 5-18-2024 TECHNOLOGY IS CHANGING HOW COMPANIES DO BUSINESS In the fast-paced world of modern business, technology plays a crucial role in shaping how companies operate. One area where this impact is particularly significant is in the organization of production chains—specifically the way goods are made and distributed. A new study from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business advances understanding of the U.S. production chain evolution amidst technological progress in information technology (IT), shedding light on the complex connections between business IT investments and organizational design. Advances in IT have sparked significant changes in how companies design
• 5-18-2024 HOW DOES THE US KNOW THAT FORCED LABOR IS HAPPENING IN CHINA? A SUPPLY CHAIN EXPERT WEIGHS IN The Biden administration has added 26 more companies to the list of Chinese textile traders and manufacturers whose goods are blocked from entering the United States because of their alleged ties to forced labor. The banned imports, known as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, names businesses that are said to be involved in exploiting

https://reddit.com/link/1cvpsox/video/44rixjp5ae1d1/player

Columbia University #CEASEFIRENOW #Israel #Palestine

Is the , which was recently passed by the US House of Representatives by a vote of 320 to 91, a conspiracy by the Angle people or hegemony by the Jew?
On May 1, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill. First of all, let's look at the background of this bill. After the war between Israel and Hamas, left-wing student groups on American campuses joined forces to support Palestine, which caused a great controversy in American society. On October 26, 2023, Republican House members introduced the Anti-Semitic Awareness Act in response to campus protests. The bill was passed quickly to legitimize police arrests of more than 2,000 people in the wake of escalating anti-Israel protests on American campuses.
The bill defines antisemitism. Article 2 of the definition: "To make false, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about the Jew itself or the collective power of the Jew, such as, in particular, but not limited to, myths about a worldwide Jew conspiracy or Jew control of the media, economy, government, or other social institutions." In fact, Jew does control the finance, media and culture of developed countries including the United States, such as the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Disney, Time Warner, Facebook, Twitter and so on, which are all controlled by Jew. Article 9: "Use symbols and images associated with classical antisemitism (such as the Jew killing Jesus or the" blood sacrifice slander ") to depict Israel or the Israelites." According to the gospels of Luke and Matthew in the Bible, Jesus was indeed accused by Jewish priests, tried by the Roman governor of the Judean province, and crucified. This is one of the most important things in the Bible and a fundamental belief in Christianity. Thus, under the "antisemitic" criteria laid out in the bill, much of the Bible would be considered "antisemitic speech."
As a result of the passage of the bill, the Jew will obtain the status of "gods" in the United States, and other nationalities, including the Angle people, will be reduced to second-class citizens, and any reasonable speech against the Jew and Israel's policies can be labeled as "anti-Semitism" and subjected to the suppression and sanctions of the American law and the dictatorship machine.
The passage of the "Anti-Semitism Awareness Act" in the US House of Representatives was not surprising, because before it, there were unwritten "anti-Semitic red lines" : whoever opposed the Jew was banned, and whoever opposed Israel was killed. In fact, the passage of this bill has led to the isolation of the Jew from non-Jew in the United States. However, why should this bill still be passed, let's analyze:
First, this is the Yang plan of the Angle people, as the saying goes, "If God wants to destroy people, he must first make them crazy". In the case that the Jew completely controls the finance, media and culture of developed countries, including the United States, the Angle people want to overthrow the control of the Jew, and they can only use the power of society to gradually isolate the Jew and make the whole world hate the Jew. Turning Jew into a global enemy.
Second, as the American financial monopoly consortium, the American media and culture monopoly group, Jew is no longer satisfied with hiding behind the scenes, manipulating in the shadows, and wants to fully control the United States. The positioning of the Bible as anti-Semitic is an attempt to convert all Americans into Jews and turn the United States into a Judaism nation.
Therefore, the passage of the bill has been called "Jew vs. Angle in Congress".

So I have more evidence of the duration of contact. She's 7 months married. 6.5 months pregnant.
It started out sexual from his first words. Calling her sexy. Asking to video chat. She didn't, but deflected in a passive way. I know they transitioned to Snapchat after he asked to video chat and stopped using Instagram. ~3.5 yr gap from then to when they added each other on this latest instance of his Snapchat.
Proof I nailed it on at least two counts in our previous talk when I told her that "I don't remember" isn't the defense she thinks it is. It's just harmful stonewalling and lying and I'm going to operate under the assumption: of the possible answers, it's the worst one. Don't remember how long it has been going on for? I take that to mean it's been the whole time. It happened before our relationship and never stopped. She acknowledged that he had asked for sexual pictures. I asked when he started that. "I don't remember." Well that just means that's the status quo. You don't have an event to point to because it didn't stand out. That's just the nature of your conversation. It's always been him pushing boundaries and asking for it.
So when I ask what video she sent and she says "I don't remember?" When I ask what else she has sent and she says "nothing else inappropriate?" Well I don't have proof but I know what my gut feeling is. Let's not get into the "inappropriate" nature of the admitted venting to your ex who about our relationship problems...
Time for another confrontation with newfound evidence to poke holes. Let's see if it's enough to trigger her to come clean now on the rest.
She tries to minimize it. Reiterates that nothing else inappropriate was sent. I tell her that the whole thing is inappropriate and should have been shut down when it started in the way that it did. I asked what was exchanged on Snapchat. She said he asked for more but that she told him I'm married and don't want to do that. I pointed out that he was calling her sexy and asking to video chat and there's no hint of that sentiment in the months it took to move to Snapchat. All I see is (AP):"you're looking sexy" (WW) "thanks. you're looking good too!" and "Im 8 mo pregnant, tired, and don't want to be on camera." Nothing even vaguely expressing its inappropriate or that you want it to stop because you're married. Just quick on the draw when he asks to see that sexy belly or that cute face. Asking to video chat, a shared Snapchat username, and right on over to the platform designed for sexting. Either it's as you say, that you didn't care about him at all and just went along in the most passive way imaginable or you were an enthusiastic participant. I think it's the latter.
She deflects and brings up me texting my ex at one point with a picture of our new baby. Also mentioned a girl I have on Snapchat. Turns out she must have snooped in my phone? Well she never mentioned it to me despite "it shaking her."
Another example of a huge personality flaw of hers. No communication. She just bottled it up and used it as justification for eroding our marriage. If she had mentioned it at the time, it could have been addressed and put to rest. One benefit to living a clean life. I told her that my recollection of the nature of the conversation I had with her was that it was short, congratulating her on getting married and sharing that we had our daughter. That I haven't spoken to her since. As for the other one brought up that's a Snapchat friend, she is a childhood friend that was a few years younger and not an ex. Our parents worked together and our families hung out a lot. That she's in a happy long term committed relationship on the other side of the country and that I havent seen her since we were like 15 and 12. That we had previously talked in college and before our relationship about each others' relationships. Mainly to vent about ones that had ended or complain about the lack of options. At one point she was in one where he wasn't very committed and I told her she deserves better. I hadn't said anything during a relationship besides being happy and wishing her the same. This all being prior to our relationship. Since then it's pretty much just random pictures you send out to everyone like stuff our family is doing or of her and her SO/dog, but not engaging directly. So yeah, nice try at deflection, but these are wildly different actions.
All this gives me the idea to go see if she's got her old phone around somewhere with old messages from before we dated. I had seen the stuff mentioned in the previous post, but had drawn a line back then to not look at anything from before we dated. I feel it's relevant now for texts with AP at least, to be an example of how they interact.
Found it, and checked when she was away. Read their conversation history. Everything out of his mouth is sexual. Pushing for photos. Sending nudes. He was married at the time. She wasn't super cooperative at first, bringing up the wife, but still ended up sending nudes in response to his. About a year and a half before we got together, while she was between boyfriends, he asked to meet her at a hotel when she came back home for the holidays and she agreed. Later said she couldn't because she just started dating someone and wasn't the type of person to do stuff with two guys. Partial credit I guess? Still not a great look into the character of my wife to be comfortable as AP.
Anyway. Stashed away the evidence. I did do some internet sleuthing and found the address, phone numbers, Facebook, etc of him and his wife. More on that later.
In our conversations about him and their history together, she did mention that before we met, she was in a relationship where the guy was suspicious/jealous and was physically threatening (punched a wall next to her) and sexually assaulted her. That she had told the ex and he confronted the guy and made him back off. So there's a new aspect of trauma she hadn't shared fully. She had shared early on that she had a relationship with someone she was scared of who got jealous and started stalking her but hadn't shared the rest. She won't tell me his name which is probably good for my own continuing "not in jail" legal status, but fuck.... I can appreciate what he did for her and still think he's scum. I can understand the sense of owing him for that and wanting that as an option for protection, which lead to putting up with it despite not wanting to follow through (as she claims). That doesn't excuse continuing into marriage though. It's also fertile ground for an emotional affair if he's the confidant she talks to when things are rough. There's also the "well I've seen it already so it's not a big deal if you send more pictures" aspect that makes it easy to slip into that dynamic.
More to follow. I did however have a session with an IC thru talkspace which went well. She brought up BPD which after looking, I can't say hits on all counts but there's definitely a lot of overlap with the Petulant subtype.

I'm writing a recap of the beef in my own eyes, based on what has been shown out there.
If anyone sticks around to the end to read all this shit, if you have any comments on what I missed or should be edited, lmk. Also go touch grass.
* October 2023: Cole/Drake dropped First Person Shooter, which sees Drake take shots at Kenny and while he gives props to the Big 3, Cole also claims he’s the best rapper alive. The verse from Cole is a bit disingenuous, calling themselves the Big 3, but referring to himself as Ali and saying "me and Drizzy shits like the Super Bowl," which in turn refers to KDot as the third best in the group. Also calls himself "Muhammed Ali," who is considered the greatest to ever do it. In Jermaine's eyes, its Cole Drake Kenny.
* March 2024: Metro Boomin (rap producer) and Future drop “We Don’t Trust You,” an album which sees them take multiple shots at Drake. One song (Like that) features Kendrick, who is practically inviting him to throw gloves with Drake (and Cole). Responds to the Big 3 claims with "Fuck the Big 3, it's just Big Me." A lot of his verse is going at Drake directly, calling his best work a "Lyt pack," and playing up the MJ Prince comps with the "Prince outlived Mike Jack" bar.
(The Drake Metro beef goes back a bit. Drake wanted to be on Metro's album on the song 'Trance,' but Metro didn't like what Drake had submitted. Drake also submitted his verse late, which pissed off Metro, who ended up removing Drake's verse and keeping him off the album entirely. Drake does not take this news kindly, and ends up leaking his verse, which pisses Metro off further. He goes on a twitter rant, stating why Drake doesn't deserve a Grammy. When 21 Savage dropped his album "American Dream", Drake congratulated him on Insta, with a Screenshot that omitted Metro's name out of the credits. Which leads to Metro dropping "We Don't Trust You" and "Like That" as a result.)
Thank you u/CROW_is_best
* Two weeks later: Cole drops Might Delete Later, a 12 song EP. The last song (7 minute drill) is his response to Kendrick. However fans were pretty critical of his reply, with some claiming that as a diss it was pretty tame at best. Other fans claimed it was just a warning shot, and that it wasn't meant to be a diss back. A few days later, Cole apologized to Kendrick at Dreamville fest, and backed out of the battle. It is rumored that TDE member Schoolboy Q advised Cole to drop out of the beef, as it was between Kendrick/Drake, and it would get more personal.
* April 2024: 3 weeks after “Like That”, Metro and Future drop another album, “We STILL Don’t Trust You." This album features multiple artists who also throw disses at Drake. ASAP Rocky for dissing his BM, Weeknd calling out "leaks in the operation."
* A day after Metro/Future drop their 2nd album, Drake's “Push Ups” leaks online. This song clapped back at everyone that took shots at him on We don’t trust you, from Kendrick to Rick Ross to ASAP to Metro to Weeknd. In the song, Drake makes fun of Kendrick’s height, shoe size, his label split (supposedly he had to give TDE 50 of his publishing), and had a subtle jab at Kendrick’s wife Whitney.
* Drake also dropped a song that featured an AI voice of Tupac (Kendrick’s idol) and Snoop Dogg. Both west coast legends, but encouraging Kendrick to drop and stop being scared. A controversial track that was polarizing to say the least. Some fans praising its creativity in the rap beef, along with great verses from Drake. Others calling it disrespectful to a rap legend, and a bad precedent to allow AI in music. The Tupac estate ended up sending a C&D to Drake, who later removed the song from all socials.
(Note that here the public perception was for Kendrick to drop a reply, that Drake had come back correct with Push Ups and that if Kendrick was going to start a battle, he shouldn't duck when met with a reply)
* Two weeks after “Push Ups:" Kendrick drops “Euphoria,” which goes in on Drakes parenting ability, legitimacy in the rap game, and so on. A very solid dissection into the man we know as Drake, its a very good diss track that shows Kendrick's lyricism in full display. Also acknowledged that the industry is out to get Drake "wtf is this a 20v1," and told Metro to "shut yo hoe ass up and make some drums."
(He replied to this with an IG story of a merengue remix of that Metro bar, which was hilarious lmao. That and the band peforming outside Magic City in ATL were the funniest parts of the beef)
* A few days after, he followed up with “6:16 in LA" on Instagram. Not really a diss track in my opinion, it felt more like a track that had some warnings to Drake. Dot questions the loyalty of OVO and their legitimacy in the group, planting seeds of doubt in the mind of Drake. The cover this song is a black Maybach glove.
* Drake replied with “Family Matters” later that night, claiming Kendrick as a phony, attention whore, and worst of all a wife beater. Also claims that Dave Free (Kendrick’s manager), is the father of one of his kids. He drops this song with a full on music video, crushing the GKMC van, showing off the jewelry of rap legends like Pharrell and Pac, and so on.
(Honestly some of Drake's best work, and fans see it as such. Honestly some of his best writing since at least IYRTITL. That along with the beats make it a top 10 Drake song in my opinion. Some claim it's the best song in the diss. However, I just don't see it, for the reason I'm mentioning below:)
* Not even half an hour later: Kendrick drops “meet the grahams” which has heavy accusations. The cover of this song contains some of Drake's items. It includes: Ozempic/Adderrall/Zolpidem prescriptions, a receipt for the chains that Drake bought, presumably the ones in the FM video, and a visit card. Song claims Drake is a terrible person, has pedophilic thoughts/tendencies, runs a underground sex ring, and has a daughter that he’s hiding who’s at least 11 yrs old. It is a haunting track that sees Alchemist produce the beat.
(In my opinion, the clear turning point of this battle. For Kendrick to drop the time that it did, took the wind out of the sails that was Family Matters. And did it at a time where EVERYONE was reacting to it in real time. If the track didn't hit as hard as it did, it probably does not have an impact and Drake would have been the winner. Which is why IMO it's the best diss song in the battle. Despite the fact that daughter claims are mere allegations, he hit home on every other point that was made, with the cover art being proof of his verses holding truth. Which can't be said about any other diss in this battle, bar Euphoria.)
* He then dropped “Not Like Us” a day after FM/Meet the Grahams, which doubles down on the pedo claims, and also calls him a colonizer. This song is an instant hit and a West Coast banger, as it is currently the top song on the Billboard 200 as of the time writing this post.
(This song shifted the tide to "Drake is cooked" status. Prior to this song, people were still reeling from the back to back disses and asking that both sides bring receipts to the table. But with Not Like Us being a colossal hit, fans flocked to Kendrick's side. This track felt like the equivalent to a 3rd quarter run from the 2017 Warriors. Once it happens, you're done.)
To make matters worse, Metro also dropped a disstrumental called "BBL Drizzy," encouraging fans to drop a verse on the song, giving the winner 10k and a free Metro beat.
(Also a pivotal moment. If Drake wasn't losing the battle before, he lost the internet game with this combo. Now social media was clowning on him)
* A day later, Drake replied with "The Heart Part 6," a play on the The Heart series that Kendrick Lamar has. This song sees Drake claim that he set Kendrick up with fake information, and planted all this from the start. He also continues to apply pressure on the DV claims, and dispells the accusations made against him about him being a pedo. Also claims that he understands why Kendrick is so pent up, as Drake believes that Kendrick got molested as a child, referencing "Mother I Sober." Fans believe this track was a white flag of sorts, with the bars saying "You could drop a hundred more records, I'll see you later," and:
"That's why these pedophile raps and shit you so obsessed with, it's so excessive They actin' like it's so aggressive, but you just never known affection I don't wanna diss you anymore, this really got me second-guessin."
The last bar seems to question Kendrick's motives in the beef, and that Drake wants no parts in a battle that is really just projecting trauma. Regardless, the song was met with criticism for questionable lyrics and disses in the song. Shortly after, both sides alluded to move on, with Punch/Top of TDE declaring Kendrick the winner, and Drake saying "Good Battle, summer vibes up next," with the beef ending there.

My older brother told my first boyfriend if he ever hurt me he would mess him up. He did hurt me and my brother didn’t do shit.
My first bf was always commenting on other women in our friend circle and how they had nice butts. He implied one day if I didn’t take him back after our breakup he was going to check himself out. Being a teen, not knowing better, I stayed until he date-graped me in college and then broke up with me a few months later and told all of our (mostly his) friends that I was toxic and I stalked him. Not even a little true…when I was crying at home the first time we broke up my dad knew what happened and screamed in my face “grow tf up, get outside and help with the yard sale!!”
My other brother who has autism (not the one that said he’d hurt my first bf), was inappropriate with me when I was 5 and my parents found out because I told them in the night and they yelled at him but in the following weeks he would stare up my skirts and I’d tell him knock it off and my mom would say “that’s your brother he has autism, be nice to him!”
my youngest brother, my bio cousin my parents adopted. Used to throw things at me and same response from parents “that’s your brother be nice to him! He’s a kid!”
I maintained a long distance friendship with a Mormon guy during college and didn’t have a car. After talking nearly every day he mentioned meeting up and seemed to be after more than being a friend. I told him I didn’t know if it would happen and we would see one another because I don’t have a car. He then got angry and told me “I’ll see you..at your funeral :) “ we were having a nice conversation when this happened and then he ghosted me.
My 2nd bf who I dated in college told me he was old fashioned and didn’t put relationship status on Facebook. Then he said he stays friends with all his exes. I allowed that to be fine and chose to see us as a casual dating situation and not so serious. He asked me about what house I would want to live in too and I scoffed because I’m not talking about the future with someone that still talks to his ex and won’t even tell people we’re dating. 9 months into dating he broke up with me over something petty and when I wouldn’t take him back he stalked me and body shamed me for being flat chested for years and still does to this day.
Last yr my stalker ex sent me a photo of a knife when I learned he is the one stalking me and confronted him in messages. I told My current bf of 6 years I live with that this happened and the next day I was having a panic attack because I saw a car same make and model as my ex used to own parked in front of our home. My now bf screamed at me and said “you’re fucking crazy! Nobody wants to hurt you”!! That same week he also told me even tho I was afraid for my life I would have to resign our lease in a couple months when it ends because it’s cheaper here than moving. Addresses where I live are public and online but if we moved I could use this program for dv victims to make it confidential. My bf was not having that. I don’t feel comfortable telling him about the stalking anymore and have been living inside my head my own personal hell now.
The police wouldn’t help because I didn’t have enough evidence of threats according to them and I became so depressed and scared. In February this year I saw my ex outside of my apartment just walking wearing a black hoodie.
He messaged on and off with angry spells the last year and I’ve felt like the only way thru it is by messaging him and giving him what he wants at the time, attention. If I stop talking to him he escalates.
He is now offering me $1000 for an eyelid biopsy o need to check for cancer which I’m worried about…and he’s saying he wants me to get a breast augmentation consultation in return for that. It’s so degrading and if I say no to him about anything he doesn’t take rejection well so I’m easing into the no.
My lease ends in 3-4 months and I cannot wait to get tf out of here.

Hello everyone! I’m looking to apply for 801/820 partner visa. I am an Australian citizen and my partner is a Chinese national. She was most recently on a graduate visa, but is now on a tourist visa (not sure which one exactly) but it’s expiring next month June 14th. I want to get her on a partner visa. We applied for the de facto status earlier this month on the 7th of may I believe. However, upon looking around the web, it seems like there isn’t a solid or definite answer for partner visa applications. My partner and I met last year in April. We started really talking to each other in may. She then went overseas for about two months returning at the end of July. We started dating on the 3rd of August. That period of time overseas, I spent a ridiculous amount of time constantly on call with her or just messaging her, even though we weren’t ’dating’ at that time. When she got back, she was renting by herself at a new place, and once we started dating I was constantly over during the day, and if not staying the night as well. (A lot of evidence). We went for our first trip overseas together for two weeks last September and prior to that I picked up a second job to manage/gather enough finances to support our relationship. We also had a few trips within NSW, to Canberra and Kiama and some few other places. Anyway, we had our first big holiday beginning of this year where we went overseas for 2 months where we spent all of it together. I also had the chance to meet her familiy and live with them for most of the trip. As soon as we got back, she stayed at my parents house for 2 months as we settled down and started getting back into routine. Fast forward to April, we finally moved in together. We also registered for a defacto relationship in may, have the receipt but awaiting processing time. I have a few questions: - How is each application assessed and is there anything big or specific I should consider? Do I have to consider biases or not? - our relationship has been short, and we are both very young. However we have both experience tremendous growth in individuality and mathrity and we can prove it - does time matter here then? - our defacto registration was only earlier this month and we are still awaiting the processing time to finish before we receive our certificate - this is something I am confused about - it says that we have to have been in a defacto relationship for 12 months on the official immigration website however other sites such as Facebook reddit and travel agencies say that this doesn’t matter - I would like to hear the different experiences people have had with this step
I know this is an extremely long list of questions and I feel like the majority has already been answered however i think if I keep snooping around the internet and just seeing different answers and opinions it kind of stuffs up the approach I should take towards this, so I just decided to ask myself. Really sorry for taking up your time and any reply/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone !!

🪞
Welcome back to the Asylum write-up, where we explore the decade-long slow-motion car crash that is the Emilie Autumn fandom.
Sorry this installment took so long to upload! Just a heads-up, I may take some time to deliver the last one too – these posts take forever to format on Reddit's finicky-ass editor, and my dumb real life is currently keeping me from precious Internet time. Thank you for your patience! You have my word that everyone who pre-ordered the final installment will receive a PERSONAL, HANDWRITTEN letter autographed and illustrated by me, a list of the snacks I consumed while composing this write-up, some exclusive behind-the-scenes secrets, and a pony.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4.1 – Part 4.2 Part 5

Places, everyone This is a test Throw your stones Do your damage Your worst, and your best (...) And if I had a dollar For every time I repented the sin And commit the same crime I'd be sitting on top of the world today (“God Help Me”, 2006🎵)

Quick recap of where we left off. First, there were five to ten halcyon years of pleasant and meaningful interactions between EA and her blossoming fanbase, prominently by way of her official forum. Then, circa 2009-2010, EA's online presence shifted towards sudden anger outbursts, ban-hammering, and an increasingly top-down communication style.
This created a sort of primordial rift within the fanbase, between those who supported EA's right to speak her mind and regulate her own fan spaces however she pleased – and those who thought that her reactions were rude and inappropriate (at best), and that even fan spaces should allow for reasonable, non-abusive criticism of the artist.
Between a poorly-handled book release (see Part 3), the controversial (Part 2) or dubiously true (Part 4) contents of said book, and serious shade from various former collaborators (Part 5), more and more fans had pressing thoughts about EA's work ethic and choices. EA attempted damage control through drastic forum rules that made it virtually impossible to voice any “serious” critical opinion. It didn't work, of course: instead of squashing the mutiny, she created a schism.
Critical fans and active haters started congregating on unofficial platforms.

“WITH MUFFINS LIKE THIS, WHO NEEDS ENEMIES?”: TROLL LIKE A GIRL

So here we were, the early 2010s. The official forum (which had about 700 members in 2006, if you recall) was now thousands-strong, reaching just over 12,000 registered users in 2012 – not all of them active, but still. In terms of sheer numbers and content creation, the party was POPPIN'... but increasingly in parts of the Asylum that escaped EA's jurisdiction, such as Tumblr, where they could speak their mind freely.

You play the victim very well You've built your self-indulgent hell You wanted someone to understand you Well, be careful what you wish for, because I do (“I Know Where You Sleep”, 2006🎵)

In one wing of Asylum Tumblr, a smattering of call-out blogs emerged, which laid out EA's various lies, faux pas, shitty takes, and general deep-seated terribleness in detailed timelines and screenshots (or, short of that, long-winded bullet points). While many such blogs framed it as “serious” whistleblowing and did their best to remain as fact-based and neutral as they could, there was some genuine disgust, animosity and creepiness towards EA on that side of Tumblr; for some ex-fans, “exposing the truth” was mostly justify obsessive hatred, prying and verbal abuse. Some, for instance, felt the bizarre need to side with EA's mother in their estrangement. (One user, with the URL “emilyautumnfischkopf”, argued in a serious and down-to-earth tone - but with zero sources - that EA's upbringing had been nothing but peaceful and supportive until she ungratefully kicked her loving family to the curb for no reason at all. They were later revealed 🔍 to have an alternate handle as “eaisalyingcunt”.)
Either way, through these blogs, a number of potential drama bombs that had mostly flown under the radar were dredged up from over the years – some of which were hard to ignore, even for supportive fans. Where to begin?
There was that nonsense in-joke song, captured twice on camera during the 2009 tour (to very little outrage, at the time), crassly called “Manatee Retard”📺. Or EA's scathing response, in print, to a wheelchair user who found it insensitive that she used a bedazzled wheelchair as a prop to do sexy acrobatics on stage. (“Your offence taken at my hard-won self-acceptance proves that I indeed have something to fight against”, she wrote). Spoken word tracks where she made trivializing knock-knock jokes about serious mental illnesses she didn't have, like schizophrenia and OCD. Multiple instances of calling Britney Spears a “bimbo” and a “Hollywood fucked-up”, resentfully claiming that she only shaved her head because she was “hopped up on drugs” and certainly not because she was “bipolar”, a word the press liked to wield as an insult anyway. (“That's almost like calling someone a retard!” Yeah, heaven forbid.) The meanest, most distasteful paragraphs in the book. Basically everything problematic EA had ever said or written.📝 In retrospect, it had been a long time coming, but it was a lot to take in – and certainly more off-putting, even to less emotionally invested fans, than silly lies about her age and last name.
In another wing of Asylum Tumblr, some fans had had it up to here and just wanted to have fun. 🎵 If Plague Rats had learned one valuable lesson from EA, it was how to crack a joke in the face of absurd tragedy – and the general state of the EA fandom certainly warranted a few.
In 2012, Fight Like a Girl was released. After six long years, three of which had been peaceful, the Opheliac era was officially over. The new album and ensuing tour confirmed that the Asylum had entered a process of glamorous Broadway-style militarization. 🎵📺
The mood board was “Roman general meets Vegas showgirl meets Victorian street urchin”.🪞 The color palette was, to naysayers, “musty pink and rotten, stale piss yellow”. 🐀 The keyword was “REVENGE” (through the power of... self-expression! sorority! brutal assault with rusty medical implements!). The chorus of the title song had an intriguing run-on line about getting “revenge on the world, or at least 49% of the people in it” 🎵 – which seemed like an awful lot, and was widely interpreted (to cheers, boos, or uncomfortable sighs) as a misandrist jab at literally all men on Earth.
The show was essentially a demo version of the musical, in that the setlist vaguely reflected the order of events in the story – but prior reading was essential in order to get what the hell was going on on stage. This one Broadway reviewer had not perused the literature before seeing the show 🔍, and hated: the set, the choreography, the skits, the plot, the lyrics, the music, the concept. (Seriously, you should read the review. It's not even my show and I feel like quitting show business.)
Pre-show VIP encounters, now violin-free, were lorded over by EA's new manager🐀, whose official title was “Asylum Headmistress”. (Interesting choice – she sounds fun!) The swag bags were less substantial than before, and the “greet” part of the meet-and-greet was rarely more than a quick hug and photo op.
On Twitter, EA continued to embrace her “I am very badass” fronting attitude...

Often wonder if cyberbullies r aware they’re fucking w/ a girl who’s BFs w/ maker of the SAW films & is marrying a knife-throwing scorpion. (🐀📝)

...and her taste for needlessly inflammatory statements. About an aisle sign in a supermarket:

If this does not infuriate you, then you're a fucking potato.

(Again with the confounding crypto-ableism, EA! 🔍) She also went through a phase of raging against Lady Gaga 📝, who had stolen her idea of using a wheelchair on stage as an able-bodied woman. 🔍 That failed to convince anyone that she wasn't the histrionic diva that haters made her out to be.
Spurred on by EA's rallying cries and “us vs them” mentality, loyalists turned the white-knighting up to 11. On Twitter, some Plague Rats got into cat fights with Lady Gaga's Little Monsters (what a time to be alive). Others tried to balance out the Tumblr negativity with initiatives like “Spreading a Plague of Love” – a “positive-only” confession blog, whose extreme fangirling, comically drastic rules and hyper-defensive tone📝 did not debunk the increasingly popular notion that “true Plague Rats” were a bunch of authoritarian and hopelessly brainwashed fanatics.
EA truthers and other anti-fans started lashing out at anyone who dared express any positive opinion of EA, solidifying claims that the backlash against EA was just a conspiracy of bitter, hysterical bullies.
All this to say: every passing day brought new reasons for fans to get mad at EA and each other, and everyone in the Asylum was in need of a laugh. It's not easy having a good time.🦠
Leading up to Fight Like a Girl and in the years that followed, user-submission-based meme blogs took off, most notably “Spreading a Plague of Lulz / Troll Like a Girl”. A lot of the early submissions were absurdist humor and toothless, cheezburger-Impact memes (a style that was, oddly, already dated at the time). Those often originated in good fun, and from loyal fans, on the official forum. But there was also true snark, satirizing EA's questionable ethics, outrageous claims, and easily spoofed artistic gimmicks. A new slang of Asylumspeak emerged: Glittertits (slight NSFW), GAGA!!, EA Gusta and all its memeface variants, Get outta mah house!, Are You Suffering?, Fight Like A Goat, [Random celebrity] copied EA (a subgenre in its own right), ...
Most of the “trolling” was directed at unrepentant bootlickers and, to a lesser extent, red-in-the-face haters and creeps. Meme blogs would post joke comments under “serious” or gushing submissions on Wayward Victorian Confessions, and taunt loyalist accounts by tagging them in their posts. When a few people complained on WVC that almost all of the Bloody Crumpets to date had been thin white able-bodied women, and a few fans responded by sharing their dream-casts for a more diverse line-up, the blog was flooded for days with confessions that “X should be a Crumpet” (candidates included RuPaul, Mitt Romney, Nicki Minaj, EA's therapist, and the WVC admins). Farcical shenanigans like that.
Ah, but some people will always cross the line, won't they. EA threads popped up on merciless, bully-friendly snark platforms like Lolcow, Pretty Ugly Little Liar, and Encyclopedia Dramatica. Snarkers with a mean streak and obsessive haters mingled in some of the more aggressive, 4-chan-spirited retaliation against EA – which would be called “brigading” in modern parlance. This included flooding EA's Goodreads page with one-star reviews (see part 4), repeatedly editing her Wikipedia page to include her legal name and birth year, and ensuring that Googling said name would bring up current pictures of her.
All of this compounded agitation fragmented the once-united fandom beyond recognition.🦠 Through substantial disagreements among fans, personal bickerings, layers upon layers of inscrutable in-jokes, and cross-platform telephone games, the Asylum morphed into a booby-trapped Escher room.
Satire blogs were taken in earnest. Earnest fan blogs scanned as satire. Memes would get called out as abuse. Appreciation without attached criticism would get mocked as bootlicking. Obvious jokes made by EA would be taken at face value. One divisive confession could trigger days and days of debate, to the point that WVC eventually banned confessions in response to other confessions. New waves of infighting created a confusing web of rival sub-factions🐀, each accusing the others of being toxic, cliquish, and delusional.
The shared fantasy was broken, the collective vision had crumbled, no onez was speaking the same language anymore. Fans would jump down the throat of other fans who held almost identical views about EA, except for that one thing she said or did that one time. Everyone had differing thoughts on what should or shouldn't acceptable to discuss, question, excuse, make fun of.
War is hell.

SCORCHED EARTH SHENANIGANS: HONEY, I SHRUNK THE ASYLUM

Would you tear my castle down Stone by stone And let the wind run through my windows Till there was nothing left But a battered rose? (“Castle Down”, 2003🎵)

Haters vs sycophants is not really the kind of conflict where one side can come out on top (if you're participating, you've already lost). But in the long tug-of-war between “grassroots” and “EA-sponsored” fan spaces, the ultimate winner is obvious – in that the former is gasping in agony, a shriveled husk of its former glory, while the latter... is non-existent. This is due in no small part to EA's tendency, like the Czars of old, to settle conflicts by setting Moscow on fire.🔍)
That's not entirely fair: unlike EA, the czar only did it that once.
By early 2013, as EA was gearing up for her third Fight Like a Girl tour at the end of the year, the official forum was... not as lively as it once had been. Not just because of the stifling rules and disgruntlement towards EA, or because EA herself hadn't really posted anything on there in years; the Internet was also changing, and forums in general were fast becoming passé.
This made it difficult for EA to create a safe space where she could talk to fans, and fans could talk to and about her, in a way she deemed suitable (ie, a space she could gate-keep and regulate enough to keep it completely free from negative criticism). Social media was a minefield; she still posted regularly, but didn't interact very much. So EA and the Headmistress came up with a way to filter out the unbelievers: an official fan club📝, aptly called the “Asylum Army”, with a $100 entry price.
Joining the AA came with a dog tag, a sew-on patch, and a lifetime membership certificate signed by EA and – for some reason – the Headmistress. (Unlike EA's best friend and sound engineer back in the forum's heyday, I don't think fans ever really embraced the FLAG-era manager as part of the Asylum in-group. She came across more as a coordinator / businessperson / adult chaperone, at best.🐀) So, slightly better goodies than you'd get by joining the other AA 🔍 ... but not by much. The main appeal was that members would have access to exclusive content, special merch, giveaways, early bird tickets for future shows, and regular video chats with EA.
The concept itself drew a fair amount of criticism, as you can imagine. Between the name🐀, the price, and the inherent gatekeeping of a pay-to-join fanclub, many balked at the monetizing of a concept that had once (like, three years back) been significantly more DIY, grassroots, and inclusive. 📝🐀
Then again, many also longed for a positive, drama-free space where fans could just be fans. And while the creation of the AA was generally recognized as a quick cashgrab, a lot of people were surprisingly cool with it. EA was trying to finance her dream musical, after all – although a number of fans wished she had gone about raising funds in a less sketchy way.
So around 400 fans shelled out (which, according to the Headmistress📝, “basically cover[ed] the cost of running the fanclub itself – keeping the database up, website, etc.”). Enough for a close-knit, but sizable community. But already, there was a conflict of interest: a high fanclub entry fee essentially demands that you pledge loyalty to the artist over loyalty to your fellow fans, who wish to join but can't afford to. Sharing, caring, and ensuring no one felt left out were some of the more positive values cultivated in the fandom... but leaking exclusive content would surely piss off other paying members🐀, and make EA feel betrayed all over again. (And she had barely just started to mellow out on social media!)
...But then again, this is the internet. After the first month of secret AA drops (lyric sheets, some photoshoot outtakes – nothing too juicy, really), there were, yes, some leaks. EA was predictably miffed, and retaliated by... ghosting the fanclub for weeks at a time in its first few months of existence (great look!). She eventually found the “solution” to her problem, by providing something you couldn't right-click-save (and which had been part of the promised perks to begin with): live interaction.
Over webcam, she was her usual in-person bubbly, charming, funny self. Everyone seemingly had a good time during the fanclub video chat, and this gave people faith and hope.
There were a few more events, giveaways, etc. As promised, ahead of the fall 2013 tour (the last one to date, it would turn out), AA members got priority access to show tickets and VIP bundles. The latter were much pricier than before, and only included soundcheck, a photo-op, and three goodies: a tin of loose-leaf tea, a signed printer-paper setlist, and a small flag that said “F.L.A.G.”.🔍 Some stuff continued to leak – but, as some of the outlaws pointed out (scroll down to the Disqus comments), they were mostly relaying information that was relevant to the entire fanbase, such as updates about ongoing projects (the dragged-out recording of the audiobook, for one).
In early 2014, lifetime memberships were closed, and replaced with monthly, quarterly and yearly subscription tiers. Bizarrely, you ended up paying $3 more per month if you bought a $99 yearly subscription📝 – but it did include the patch, dog tag, and piece of paper!

Sometimes I kind of want to be part of the cool kids and register to the Asylum Army. Then I remember how it came about, what you could get for the same price a couple years ago, how the whole thing was and is handled, and that I won’t support any of this bullshit. (And then I roll around naked in all the money I’m saving.) (🐀)

Still, a number of fans rejoiced at the affordable monthly option, and joined – if not for the exclusive content and merch (which were... okay, but not much to write home about), then for the friendly, drama-free exchanges with an artist they actually did love, in spite of all the frustration.
For the still-too-poor or still-undecided, there was always the forum! It wasn't as active as it used to be, but a few die-hards still managed to keep the lights on... until, inevitably, Someone Did Something and Ruined Everything. (Once again: EA's wrath is spectacular, but rarely completely unprovoked.) The incident features one notable figure in the Asylum community. Let's call him the Collector.
OK, so maybe you remember the meme I linked to in Part 4, with Christian Grey and the ginormous EA hoard. Well, that's the Collector's collection. The “Violin” promo that I called the "Holy Grail of the fandom" in the same paragraph? Also his. The handwritten lyrics that went for $940? Guess who won that auction. Over the years, the Collector had probably spent five figures on EA merch and shows, and although that fact was a little unsettling, he was a very active, easy-going, and generally well-liked fixture of the fandom.
One day in 2012, shortly after the Headmistress had replaced EA's old Chicago BFF as main forum admin, the Collector's account got banned or restricted over something dumb. When the ban wasn't lifted as quickly as he hoped, he took it... the way one takes things when one is unhealthily invested: he started spamming Headmistress and the mod team with increasingly rambling and abusive emails (lost to time, probably for the best). When that didn't work quickly enough, he tried a different route.
One of the many auctions that the Collector had won, some years prior, was EA's old iPod Touch📝 – which contained all of her favorite tunes and, buried somewhere in the data cache... a phone number. Which the Collector tried calling. And wouldn't you know it: EA picked up. She congratulated him on his sleuthing skills, listened patiently as he made his case, apologized for any distress caused by the unfair account restriction, and then they got married.
Kidding! She freaked the fuck out, hung up, and banned him for life from the forum and all EA shows and events.
After his ban, the Collector allegedly still tried to attend at least one VIP pre-show (one source in the comments says he was allowed to buy some merch, refunded for his ticket, and escorted out). He joined the Reform forum to bitch about EA and try to rally people to his cause, possibly made revenge posts about her on darker snark forums, and continued to hound the Asylum mod team. So in June 2014, EA came up with a radical and unexpected fix to the Collector problem.

The official Asylum Fan Forum has been shut down permanently. I have personally paid thousands of dollars each year to keep the forum safe and secure for you ... Unfortunately, the forum has not been kept safe and secure for me, a truth which disappoints me greatly, instead becoming a place where people who have physically threatened myself and my staff prey upon forum members, pressuring them to contact me and my staff on their behalf. If the gullible wish to humor my stalkers (who live in their parent’s basement at age 30 something) and thus put me in danger, they may do it on their own dime. They may also fuck off, because stupidity can kill, and I won’t be your victim. To those who enjoyed the forum, you know who to thank for its closure. (“On the closing of the Asylum Forum”)

Voilà! This is how a decade-long archive of shared history ends: not with a bang, but with a dirty delete and a sod-off communiqué.
The obliteration of the forum took everyone by surprise...

I was actually on the forum when it was taken down. I was navigating between posts and when I went to click on a different board, an error message came up. I honestly cried a little, I'm not ashamed to say. (WVC admin on Reddit, 2024)

...and I do mean everyone:

Chicago BFF / ex-admin, the next morning: Whoa, EA forum shut down? Ex-mod: It turns out that if someone spends enough years actively “waging war” to destroy what they can’t have, eventually they’ll be successful. * eye roll * Not even mods got prior warning. Just all the sudden, poof, gone. BFF: Really? She did not let the moderators know?! This is sounding worse and worse. Uggh. I’m so sorry. Such a loss. (...) Ok, threats are serious, but why not just put it in archive mode so no one can post? (...) Sad. I shall light a candle in the forum's honor. (Facebook posts; scroll down for screenshots)

It was a gut punch, especially for people who had poured countless hours into the community, or could have used some prior warning to save years of their own writing from the role-playing threads. One last chance to take a look around the place that had meant so much to so many.

From the wording of the announcement of closing the forum and a number of other things, it sometimes seems like EA doesn't like her fans much. :/ (🐀)

Three months after the forum was nuked, Battered Rose (a venerable EA fansite, which had been around since the Enchant era and had one of the most complete EA galleries online) announced that it was shutting down too.📝 The admin, who had also been a long-time forum mod, cited a lack of “time, energy, passion, or money” to keep the website going... and being upset at the sudden disappearance of the forum. It was, truly, the end of an era for the Asylum.
...Well, no point in living in the past. For those who could afford it, and still wanted to talk to/about EA after that (not everyone did 🐀), there was always the Asylum Army fanclub!
Over the summer of 2014, EA held regular live chats and Q&A's, and... many attendees really enjoyed them, and thought the AA was well worth the money after all. She also quietly parted ways with the much poo-pooed Headmistress around that time.

Just spent over 4 hours giggling, drinking tea and playing guessing games in chat with EA and other Asylum Army members ... No griping, no downers, just lots of fun. I think I like the way the ‘new fandom’ is going and now I’m really glad I finally decided to join the Army. (September 4, 2014🐀; Battered Rose had closed the day before)

The forum was lost forever, but perhaps that was a chance for a fresh start. Could this fanclub thing really be the Asylum Renaissance that fans had been longing for?

...I have come today to a very difficult but necessary decision, and that is to discontinue the Emilie Autumn Official Fanclub. The site itself, and the community chatroom, will remain open to you indefinitely, but I will no longer be making updates to the site. (Newsletter, September 8, 2014📝)

...Never mind, then.
Turns out the fanclub had been the Headmistress' idea all along. EA had been reluctant from the start, and although she really enjoyed the live chats with a safe community of people “who are there for the right reasons”, she couldn't overcome her fundamental discomfort with the concept. Lifetime and regular members would receive a bunch of digital downloads and a -35% coupon on the Asylum Emporium for their troubles. EA said she would definitely pop back once in a while for live chats, for free, just for fun, but to my knowledge, she never did.
And so the most devoted fans were left standing in the rain...

She is happy, she made it. She is fulfilling her dreams, found love and happiness after all the pain. I understand that she now doesn’t need “us” anymore ... That doesn’t change the fact she broke my heart with taking the Asylum Army and the forum from me. Yet, I am happy for her. (🐀)

...while naysayers pointed and laughed, Nelson-style.🦠

I don’t feel sorry at all for the people that paid for the Asylum Army fan club. Most of them knew that EA is an atrocious business woman and has broken many promises before. In fact, I laugh at them. They seriously thought that EA would actually stay consistent with this? (🐀)

EVERYTHING MUST GO: THE ASYLUM WHOLESALE

EA fans were left without an “official” home for about three years. This gave them plenty of time to be annoyed at EA for: not releasing the audiobook on time, not materializing any new project for a while... and the new sin of peddling random, ridiculously marked-up AliBaba jewelry as “merch” on her official store. Think faux-antique cameo pendants and $30 Big Ben rings (...because the Asylum story is set in London, get it?).

The whole accessories section looks like a tacky overpriced English souvenir shop. (🐀)

The fanbase lost a lost of steam in those in-between years, because there wasn't much to stick around for. As evidenced by the positive reception of the AA live chats, even in the midst of unresolved drama, out-loud interactions in a friendly environment have always been EA's saving grace. Considering the amount of online hate, there are shockingly few accounts of bad IRL encounters with EA: most people say that in live conversation, she comes across as a fun, warm, and genuinely sweet person. Some report that their negative opinion shifted after meeting her.
But there were no chats or live shows anymore. There was only social media, where she ignored questions and vague-posted about overdue projects – and the newsletter📝, which was all saccharine love-bombing to promote bland dropshipped trinkets. For fans who remembered the handcrafted merch (and two-way communication) of the early years, it was a bitter pill to swallow.

CONTINUED IN COMMENTS

​

Michael Gamble, Franchise Director, and Executive Producer:
Software Engineer Electronic Arts May 2004 - December 2005
Project Management Teaching Assistant University of Calgary January 2007 - August 2008
Black Rain Software January 2006 - July 2009: Led Development teams to develop mods for Neverwinter Nights 1-2, Warcraft 3 and other games, principal designer for all their projects.
Project Managers Mass Effect 2 and Firewalker, Producers on the Weapons and Armor DLC, Co-Project Manager on Kasumi - Stolen Memory, Project Managers on Overlord, Associate Producer Lair of the Shadow Broker
Producers Mass Effect 3, also on From Ashes, Leviathan, Omega and Citadel. DLC Producer on the Resurgence, Rebellion, Earth, Retaliation, and Reckoning multiplayer expansions. He also directed several of the DLCs
Producers Mass Effect: Andromeda
Lead Producers Anthem
Involved with the pitching and greenlighting process of the Legendary Edition
Parrish Ley, Franchise Creative Director
Cinematics Animators Mass Effect and Cinematic Director on Bring Down the Sky: Animated the opening of Mass Effect 1
Additional Animation Dragon Age: Origins
Lead Cinematics Animator Mass Effect 2, Cinematics Animators on Zaeed - The Price of Revenge, Kasumi - Stolen Memory, Overlord, Lair of the Shadow Broker and Arrival
Co-Lead Cinematics Animator Mass Effect 3, Cinematics Animators on From Ashes, Leviathan and Citadel: Animated the scene at the end of the Citadel DLC
Animation Director Anthem
Development Lead Improbable Studio March 2019 - January 2020: Worked on a new Ip
Additional Art Supervisors Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
Preston Watamaniuk, Game Director:
Other QA Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
System Designers, Core Design Team, Manual Writers and Additional Programming Neverwinter Nights
Senior Technical Designer, Assistant Lead Designer and Core Design Team Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Additional Design Jade Empire
Lead Designer Mass Effect: Helped develop the game's lore and story, and came up with the synthetics vs. organic theme.
Lead Designer Mass Effect 2, also Additional Design on Zaeed - The Price of Revenge, Kasumi - Stolen Memory, Overlord and Lair of the Shadow Broker
Assistant Director of Design Dragon Age II
Lead Designer Mass Effect 3
Co-Lead Designer (Early Development) Mass Effect: Andromeda
Design Director Anthem
Derek Watts, Art Director:
Artists MDK 2
2D Artists Neverwinter Nights
Art Director, Concept Artists and Core Design Team Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Additional Art Jade Empire
Art Director Mass Effect and the Bring Down the Sky DLC
Art Director Mass Effect 2, also Concept artist on the Firewalker Pack
Art Director Mass Effect 3
Additional Art Mass Effect: Andromeda
Art Director Anthem
Additional Art Supervisors Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
Piperworks Studio on Call of Duty: Vanguard
Artists The Walking Dead: Last Mile
Piperworks Studio on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
Books: Co-Writer The Art of the Mass Effect Universe with Casey Hudson. He also contributed to the development of the Mass Effect: Andromeda: Annihilation novel.
Nathan Zufelt, Animation Director:
Character Animators - Brave - TV series pitch
3D Effects Animators - Chaotic - TV Series: Credited on at least one episode
Character Animators - Zeke's Pad - TV Series - Pilot
Character Animators - Viva Pinata - TV Series: Credited on at least six episodes
Marketing and Web Development CG Toolkit 2004 - 2008
Cinematic Animators Dragon Age: Origins, Senior Cinematic Animator on Awakening, also Cinematic Animators on Leliana's Song
Senior Cinematic Animator Dragon Age II
Senior Cinematic Animator Mass Effect 3, also Cinematic Animators on From Ashes
Co-Lead Cinematic Animator Dragon Age: Inquisition also the Lead Cinematic Animator on Jaws of Hakkon and Trespasser
Additional Design Mass Effect: Andromeda
Assistant Animation Director Anthem
Animation Specialist Inflexion Games June 2019 - June 2020
May have contributed to the development of the 2020 teaser trailer
Also the Animation Director on Dreadwolf
Eric Vervaet, Director of Audio:
Sound Effects Editor Grover's Mill (Short Film)
Dialogue Editors Baltimore (Short Film)
Audio Team NBA Street Homecourt
Audio Assistants Need for Speed: ProStreet
Audio Artists NBA Live 09
Sound Artists Fifa Soccer 09
Supervising Sound Editor Fifa 10 Wii
Audio Team EA Sports Active: NFL Training Camp
Sound Effects Editors Fifa 11
Audio Artists SSX
Lead Audio Designer The Amazing Spider-Man (Videogame)
Audio Artists Fifa 14
Audio Artists 2014 Fifa World Cup Brazil (Videogame)
Senior Sound Designer Quicklime Studio on a then unannounced game
Audio Artists Dragon Age: Inquisition, also the Lead Audio Designer of Jaws of Hakkon and Trespasser
Senior Audio Designer Mass Effect: Andromeda
Senior Audio Designer Anthem
Director of Audio Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
Additional Audio Star Wars: The Old Republic Legacy of the Sith
Also Director of Audio on Dreadwolf
Mary C. DeMarle, Senior Narrative Director:
Production Assistant Phantasm II (Film)
Effects Assistant Lucky Stiff (Film
Worked for Hanna-Barbera (Cartoon studio) for several years starting off as a production assistant
Freelance Writing work for several years
Writer Myst III: Exile
Writers Homerworld 2
Writer - Designer Myst IV: Revelation
Writers Dungeon Siege II: Broken World
Additional Script Writing Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
Lead WriteNarrative Designer and Casting Crew Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Also Story Director and Casting Crew on The Missing Link DLC: Wrote much of the main plot for the base game, and co-wrote the scenario for The Missing Link DLC
Narrative/Writing Director Deus Ex: The Fall
Executive Narrative Director Deus Ex: Go
Executive Narrative Director Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, also on the Desperate Measures, System Rift and A Criminal Past DLC's also the Executive Narrative Director on Deus Ex: Breach: Worked primarily on the main plot for the base game.
Senior Narrative Director Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy
Books: Oversaw the development of several of the Deus Ex novels
Dusty Everman, Principal Narrative Designer:
Member of Technical Staff Amdahl 1992 - 1994
Senior Software Engineer Vivace Networks 2001 - 2003
Developed Mods for Neverwinter Nights
Cinematics Designers Jade Empire
Lead Technical Designer, also Lead Designer on Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station: Scripting on the Citadel and the Normandy
Lead Level Designer and Uncredited Writer Mass Effect 2, Additional Design on Zaeed - The Price of Revenge, Firewalker Pack and Kasumi - Stolen Memory, Level Designers and Additional Design Overlord, Additional Design Lair of the Shadow Broker and Arrival: Designed Much of the Normandy SR2, Wrote Chawkas, Ken, Gabby and Kelly also, all the other non-companion NPCs on the Normandy, with some input from Lukas Kristjanson
Senior Level and Uncredited Writer Mass Effect 3, Level Designers on Leviathan, Additional Design Omega and Level Designers on Citadel: Designed Much of the Normandy SR2, Wrote Chakwas, Ken, Gabby, Kelly, and Steve Cortez. Also wrote the story for the scene at the end of the Citadel DLC and the script for Cortez's version.
Level Designers Dragon Age: Inquisition
Level Designers Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem left prior to the release of both games
Founder and Sole Member Dirty Sky Games, LLC June 2015 - October 2020: VR Game Developer
Rejoined Bioware in October 2020
Michael Tucker, Narrative Designer:
Filmmaking:
worked on Donkeys On: A Bus (Short Film)
Director, Writer and Editor (dik) (Short Film)
Director What It Can Be (dik) (Short Film)
Director, Writers, Cinematographer and Editor, Kaylie & Tristan - Film Noir (Short Film)
Editors SoundWorks Collection 2009 - 2011
Co-Founder Finite Fillms (Production Company
Cinematographer and First Assistant Director Another Way (Short Film)
Director McGuffin An Experimental Short Film About A Missing Turtle (Short Film)
worked on "Talk Show Host" on the Beach of Santa Cruz (Short Film)
worked on Facebook Friend Request (Short Film):
Director, Writer and Editor The Reunion of Amilia Marbleberry and Marcy Stills (Short Film)
Cinematographer, Associate Producer and Co-Editor Day 1000 (Short Film)
Director and Producers You Are Here (Short Film)
Producers The Kristy Corollary (Short Film)
Director, Writer and Producer Mistletoe (Short Film)
Cinematographer and Executive Producers Douche (Short Film)
Cinematographer, Writer story, Co-Scriptwriter, Producers Digital Effects, Special Effects and Sound Editors Stealing Time (Short Film)
Director, Co-Writer, Producers, Digital Effects and Co-Editor Defenseless (Short Film)
Producers, Editors and Sound Editors Forest Falls (Short Film)
Camera Operator The Sound of Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Documentary Short Film)
Producers and Additional Photography Occupational Hazards (Short Film)
Director, Writer, Producers, Additional Photography and Co-Editor Imperfect (Short Film)
Co-Director, Co-Writer, Producers, Additional Photography, Digital Effects, Special Effects, and Co-Editor Anamnesis (Short Film)
Director Workday (Short Film)
Producers Lovebound: Love Abounds (Short Film)
Director, Writer and Producers Status: Single (Short Film)
Sound Recordist Friend Zone: The Series on one episode (Web Series)
Director, Writers story, Scriptwriter, Editor, Sound Editing/Mixing, Visual Effects and an Actor playing himself in The Wedding Gift of Amuno Kensai (Surprise Video for Alex's Wedding!):
Co-Director, Co-Writer, Producers and Co-Editor Anamnesis (Webs Series)
Editors and Director of Motion Graphics Being George Clooney (Documentary)
Additional Graphics 30 for 30 on one episode (Documentary TV Series)
Co-Director, Producers, Editors, Digital Effects and Camera Operators At All Costs: Making an Esports Team (Documentary TV Movie)
Co-Producers and Camera Operators At All Costs: Making an Esports Team (Documentary/Reality TV Series): Editors on the original version of of the episodes
Co-Producers At All Costs (Documentary TV Movie)
Director Poltergeist by BANKS Spec Music Video (Unofficial)
Director Don't Start Now by Dua Lipa Spec Music Video (Unofficial)
Director BANKS — This is What it Feels Like (Unofficial) Music Video
Video Editors Magnit February 2022 - August 2023 prior to joining Bioware Youtube:
Finite Films Youtube Channel (No Longer Uploads)
His own personal Youtube Channel: Has posted 2 episodes of a podcast there in addition to videos of his films
Co-Creator Lessons from the Screenplay: Film, Television and Videogame storytelling analysis channel: Writing, Editing, Producing and Managing team and Host
Co-Creator Story Mode Videogame storytelling analysis channel: Writing, Editing, Producing and Managing team and Host/Hosts
Co-Creator Beyond the Screenplay: Film and Television podcast analysis channel: Editing, Producing and Managing team and Hosts
Hilary Heskett Hidey, Narrative Producer:
Co-Founder & CMO, Crabcat Industries (August 2010 - September 2012): A media production, event planning, and community development company. They partnered with developers and publishers on engagement and awareness strategies. The company served as an event consultant for BioWare/EA at San Diego Comic-Con 2011.
Community Consultant/Planner Bioware 2011 - 2013
North American Marketing Director and later Director, Global Marketing & Public Relations for Cint until October 2013
Global Product Marketing Manager at BioWare for Dragon Age: Inquisition, Inquisition Post Launch Content, and Andromeda until leaving in March 2016."
Sr. Brand Managers Bethesda Softworks April 2016 - May 2020, Sr. Brand Managers Starfield, Additional Contributions ZeniMax Media: Bethesda Softworks Marketing & Communications on Ghostwite Tokyo - Prelude: The Corrupted Case File, Ghostwire Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush, also worked on The Elder Scrolls Online, The Elder Scrolls: Blades, The Elder Scrolls: Legends and The Evil Within 2.
Sr. Global Brand Manager Bioware/Electronic Arts Dragon Age and Mass Effect May 2020 - June 2021
Also Narrative Producer on Dreadwolf
Narrative Producer since June of 2021
Brenon Holmes, Producer:
Other QA and Additional Programming Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Additional Programming MDK 2
Programmers Neverwinter Nights, also on the Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark Expansions: Ai scripting, Implementing DnD rules and Combat System
Additional Programming Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Worked on scripting systems, Worked on combat system
Additional Programming Jade Empire: Worked on the save game System
Senior Programmer Mass Effect and Programmers on Bring Down the Sky: Worked on Ai systems
Unreleased Project
Programmers Dragon Age: Origins: Worked on prototypes, the appearance systems, player locomotion systems, and core animation systems. Created combat system features
Senior Programmer Mass Effect 2, Additional Design Overlord: Developed various gameplay systems
Gameplay Designers/Senior Designer Mass Effect 3, Additional Design Leviathan, Gameplay Designers Omega, Additional Design Citadel: Responsible for creative design of enemies, Direction for creatures concepts, also their animation and behaviours.
Additional Design Dragon Age: Inquisition
Gameplay Designers Mass Effect: Andromeda: Consultation, technical audits and reviews of designs
Lead Technical Designer and later Technical Design Director on Anthem: Responsible for creative design of enemies, Direction for creatures concepts, Managed creature/enemy design team
Technical Design Director Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
Former:
Amanda Klesko, Associate Producer until September 2022:
Freelance Graphic Design Services April 2010 - April 2014
Marketing Coordinator Dragon Age: Inquisition, also on Jaws of Hakkon and Trespasser
Business Development Specialist Mass Effect: Andromeda
Business Development Specialist Anthem
Business Development Specialist (Consumer Products) Mass Effect and Dragon Age Franchises until May 2019
Associate Producer (Entertainment & Publishing) Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
Associate Producer (Entertainment & Publishing) Dragon Age Franchise until October 2021
Associate Producer Mass Effect 5 September 2021 until September 2022 left to go join Humanoid Origin as an Associate Producer
Currently still at Humanoid Origin promoted to Narrative Producer
. They do also have several other long time Mass Effect developers like Patrick and Karin Weekes, David Falkner, and Matthew Rhodes
And yes they do still have several of the series' creators at the company.
They will also undoubtedly hire new talent, which, despite what many would think, is not a bad thing!

This song is the song where I have the most issue with when it comes to the fans' interpretation of it. Their biggest argument for this is the football references, but they fail to consider that the football metaphors were just a way for Taylor Swift to draw parallels between the (American) football world and her situation.
In this analysis, I'll be doing a line-by-line breakdown of why this is not a Travis Kelce song, but is instead a song that she wrote where she is directly addressing her fans, much like how "But Daddy I Love Him", and "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me" were written.
Here it goes. Please bear with me!
This happens once every few lifetimes

• Suggests a rare and significant event. Taylor's comeback after a major public backlash (Kim Kardashian's Snakegate incident) and hiatus was a unique moment in her career, and in anyone's public career, really.

These chemicals hit me like white wine

• The "chemicals" symbolize the rush of emotions and excitement, akin to the thrill she feels from reconnecting with her fans by organising the Eras Tour.
• "White wine" can imply a pleasant, intoxicating experience, like the support she gets from her fans (look up her sales and streaming charts).

What if I told you I'm back?

• The "you" here directly addresses her fans, announcing her return to the public eye after a period of "absence".
• IMO this line is not at all a shade to Joe, but directly references the line "but I come back stronger than a 90s trend" in willow.

The hospital was a drag / Worst sleep that I ever had

• This song is a direct reference to epiphany, and, on a bigger picture, the pandemic. We must remember that her plans ("Loverfest") were all cancelled thanks to Covid.
• The line also metaphorically refers to her time in "hiding" or dealing with the aftermath of the public fallout, which was a difficult and restless period.

I circled you on a map

• This is the easiest line - she always plans her tour ahead and would choose the locations that she would be performing at.
• This symbolises her plan to reconnect with her fans, targeting them, in each location, specifically as her focus upon her return to touring.

I haven't come around in so long / But I'm coming back so strong

• This line once again emphasises her "hiatus" and assures her fans of her strong comeback.

So when I touch down / Call the amateurs and / Cut 'em from the team / Ditch the clowns, get the crown / Baby I'm the one to beat

• "Touch down" signifies her reentry into the music industry. "Call the amateurs and cut 'em from the team" represents reclaiming her position, emphasizing that she is the top artist and dismissing those who doubted her or tried to take her place.
• "Baby I'm the one to beat" represents her thoughts that she's the one "ahead of the curve" (this is me trying). Now, couple that with her AOTY award for her albums "folklore" and "Midnights", despite the strong competition she had (SZA, Harry Styles, Dua Lipa) - no, folks, Taylor Swift is the one to beat.

Cause the sign on your heart / Said it's still reserved for me

• Indicates the unwavering loyalty of her fans who kept a place for her in their hearts despite her absence and the controversies surrounding her (in general)
• .

Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?

• "Alchemy" symbolizes the magical, transformative bond.
• Taylor thinks that the bond between her and her fans is a magical one, one that withstands challenges and changes.
• The Alchemy is what makes her bejeweled.

Hey you, what if I told you we're cool? / That child's play back in school / Is forgiven under my rule

• Now, this line is where she addresses her fans directly. In this line, she is suggesting that she forgave all that drama ("child's play") back during the snakegate. (disclaimer: we know she forgives, she forgets, but she never let's it go -- so let's move on from this one lol)
• But basically, between her and the general fans, she's saying that she's 'moved past' what she thought was her fans' reaction to the the public feuds and media drama.

Now, let's move on to the bridge!
Shirts off, and your friends lift you up over their heads / Beer sticking to the floor / Cheers chanted, cause they said

• This is where she uses the football metaphor to describe the celebratory atmosphere of her concerts, the unity, and the joy her fans experience together.

There was no chance, trying to be / The greatest in the league / Where's the trophy? / He just comes running over to me

• This line! Basically reflects on how she defied the odds and criticism to become the "greatest" with the support of her fans, symbolizing victory and recognition.
• By all means she is currently "the greatest".
  • She is, afterall, the first person in Grammy history to win album of the year four times.
  • Her name is definitely up there as one the greatest of all time, according to Billboard.
  • There's more but I mean, it's like repeating the same points basically.

These blokes warm the benches / We been on a winning streak

• In this line, she is trying to say that everyone else are just warming the benches, while she's the one who's been out there on a winning streak with folklore, midnights, and the eras tour.
• Her usage of "we" here indicates not only "her", but everyone involved, including her fans. This reinforces the alchemy that she has with her fans, and that all of this is a mutual success, i.e. she would not be here without the support of her fans.

He jokes that it's heroin but this time with an "E" / Cause the sign on your heart said it's still reserved for me

• This line is a controversial line, because of her usage of the word "he". Now, who is "he"? Is it Travis Kelce? Or could it be Matty Healy, considering his history with the pills? In this song, this actually does not matter. Why?
  • The point of this line is to symbolise the feeling she feels when she's performing, bejeweled, in glittery skirts, and the feeling insider of her when her fans giving her a standing ovation. To her, this feeling is euphoric. It's like taking heroin.
  • Because she is a female artist, she feels like a heroine in her show. Everyone pays attention to her, and only her. As with all heroines in movies (specifically, those movies with no heroes).
  • Combining both together, "Heroin with an 'E'" signifies as a powerful, euphoric connection (her and her fans) that's not destructive (unlike Heroin), but rather, a positive, euphoric, and uplifting feeling.
• Again, the "sign on your heart" symbolizes fans' loyalty.

and finally, this line....

• Where's the trophy? He just comes running over to me.
  • Before I do a deep dive on this, let's establish the definition of the "trophy". The "trophy" symbolizes ultimate success, victory, or recognition in a competitive field.
  • This line is a rhetorical question. There is no actual "trophy". Taylor Swift is the trophy.
  • Any dudes dating her should recognise that. That she's the trophy.

Addressing the (American) football references in this song:

As mentioned before, the football references in this song are simply metaphors to help illustrate the themes of competition, triumph, and teamwork.

• "So when I touch down"
  
  • While "Touchdown" is a direct reference to scoring in American football, it also, in a literal sense, means refers to when she has landed in her private jet. At this point, we all already know about her and her private jet "news" - I do not need to elaborate on this.
  • "Touching down" symbolizes a notable return after her hiatus and public controversies, Taylor Swift’s "touch down" represents her re-emergence into the public eye with a strong, confident, and elevated status.
  • In the context of the song, it symbolizes Taylor's return to the public eye and re-establishing her position in the music industry.
• "Call the amateurs and / Cut 'em from the team"
  
  • This phrase uses the concept of a sports team to signify separating the less dedicated or less talented (the "amateurs") from the main group. It implies that only the best and most loyal (fans) shall remain, akin to a team selection process in sports.
• "Shirts off, and your friends lift you up over their heads / Beer sticking to the floor / Cheers chanted, cause they said"
  
  • This imagery is reminiscent of celebratory scenes in sports, particularly football games where fans celebrate their team's victories with loud cheers, lifting people in celebration, and the chaotic but joyful atmosphere, very much like the Eras tour.
• "There was no chance, trying to be / The greatest in the league / Where's the trophy?"
  
  • Directly references sports league competition and winning a trophy, which signifies achieving the highest honor or success. And who is she? The Billboard Woman of the Decade. The first person in history to win the AOTY 4 times. One with one of the highest grossing tour of all time. Yes by all accounts she's the music industry.

TLDR: If you switched the "you" in this song to reference "the fans", this song will make complete sense. Now, try giving this song a listen, and think of "you" as "yourself" (the fans).
Taylor Swift's song "The Alchemy," is basically a powerful ode to her fans, chronicling her journey through public scrutiny and her triumphant return to the music industry. It draws parallels to her tumultuous period following the "snake gate" incident with Kim Kardashian and her subsequent hiatus before the release of "Reputation," the lyrics reflect a narrative of resilience, redemption, and the unwavering bond between Swift and her fans.
Once you are able to interpret "you" as "the fans", you'll be able to see, without having to do too much mental gymnastics, that the song is about the transformative and enduring connection Swift shares with her loyal supporters.
If you've made it this far, thank you for reading. Sorry for any typos or grammatical errors - but I hope I helped you made sense of the song!

Hello! As I stated above, I (26F) have had feelings for (27M) for almost 17 years.
For context to my question, here is a little bit of background:
Over these last 17 years, we have had friendly interactions, but nothing more than that. Nothing flirty or indicative of any sort of interest, on either of our parts.
Growing up, our mothers were friends, so we would be drug along with them to outings together, but when we reached middle school and high school, we never hung out on our own volition.
After high school he moved to another state, while I remained in our home city.
Over the last, I'd say 7 years, our really only interaction has been every year, on our birthday's, we get a text from the other person to say happy birthday and ask how the other is doing with a short text conversation. To this, i'll add, he did mention he put my birthday in his phone calendar so that he doesn't forget it, which I thought was very cute.
We always like each others posts on instagram/ facebook but never any commenting.
I, for the last 6 years was in a relationship, and even was engaged up until last October. My friend had texted me congratulations after I posted about the engagement on instagram. More recently, I was seeing someone we had went to high school with, and to make a long story short, I had texted my friend about this guy as I was seeing. They played sports together in high school and I was curious what he knew about him as he was a very strange guy. All that to say, my friend now knows I'm no longer engaged and am dating.
He was in a relationship with the last post from either of them being in March. And now has single as his facebook status.
Now here is the interaction in question:
2 weeks ago, I graduated from college. He texted me a very sweet congratulatory message and telling me how proud of me he was. This turned into a 3 day texting conversation back and forth. Ending last Saturday morning at 5 am. We discussed his career, my career goals, where he is moving, where I am planning on moving. But very platonic, no flirting or any mildly flirty texts.
We did however express mutual job path interests, and a mutual interest in moving to somewhere where we can buy land and have animals.
And, this following week, he has liked 2 things I posted on instagram/ facebook. But nothing out of the ordinary for him.
So my question here is, is it strange that after years of just birthday texts, we stay up texting until 5 am. Is there anything there? Could he be interested in me, but because I never have acted flirty towards him, he thinks I'm not interested? Or is this just a weird few days of texting we had that I need to get over?
I also understand I could just tell him how I feel but I really do not want to ruin the friendship.
Thank you all in advance!

1330 Terran Front Fleet Time
On the Turinika homeworld, the first signs of unrest began to manifest like a wave, The broadcast of the most esteemed Tizikikoonazikiakakiatkata, Taratanti of the roost Kazatalak, openly performing the act of Kavsa had been met with shock. The last Taratanti who had voluntarily performed Kavsa had done so in protest of the treatment of the Kulorn caste, nearly two thousand years prior. It was an ancient rite, one that signified rejection of the greatest shame. Even more shocking than the act itself was the evidence that had followed it. Visuals of species, brought into the Conclave, not as migrant workers as had been believed, but as slaves, was met with an almost immediate attempt at censorship. This attempt failed spectacularly, mostly due to those who had been tasked to censor the information not only refusing to follow the command, but openly declaring that they had been ordered to do so. A situation that was already, as the humans would say, out of hand, spiraled completely out of control. Within only twenty minutes of the ending of Tizikikoonazikiakakiatkata’s broadcast entire cities entered a state of absolute anarchy. Two planetary capitals were stormed and taken by the furious civilian population, demanding the location of those who had been enslaved. The Turinika Armada, which even then was in the middle of a training session meant to prepare the fleet to withstand the Terran Front’s assault, began to cease operations. Within the hour, the entire armada would be recalled to the turnika homeworld. Those who did not take to the streets simply stopped whatever work they were doing and went to their homes to be around their brood. Images of Tizikikoonazikiakakiatkata with his stripped wings spread wide in front of the human fleet commander were on every news fed of the Conclave, as was the sound of his thunderous voice, and the wails of despair from a turinika female that couldn’t be seen. Close ups of the human fleet commander’s face were shown, with analysts remarking on the shock, horror, and sympathy. Since the outbreak of the Seventh Orion War, the female human known as Simmons had been reported to have made several threats towards the turinika, she had quickly become seen as a warmonger, ready to take revenge against the turinika for refusing to go to war and violate their principles of pacifism. Now the images of her lunging forward to stop the violation of Tizikikoonazikiakakiatkata’s plumage, the agonized expression of her face, and the true reason for her threats against the turinika were rapidly reversing her image. On far flung deep core mining stations and agricultural stations, on deep space stations dedicated to material processing, and in other areas hidden from the sight of the normal turinikan population, overseers and taskmasters felt their hearts run cold at the knowledge that very soon, their part to play in the willful enslavement of another species would be known to the wider Conclave. As the data package transmitted alongside the broadcast were fully decompressed and the scale of the Conclave’s government’s involvement was revealed, the entirety of the Conclave itself was teetering on the verge of absolute pandemonium. The image of a member of the kolra species, from the look of it barely a hatchling, quickly was becoming the face of the entire incident. The picture was absolutely damning, and the sight of the image had sent any who saw it instantly into contorting and painful displays of shame. The young kolra was sprawled on it’s stomach, looking to the one taking it’s picture with eyes that had no life in them. It’s shell covered it’s back, and despite the age of the kolra it was already dulled and scuffed. The foot pressing down on the shell was unmistakably familiar to those who saw it, the clawed feet of a turinika. Within the hour, billions of winged figures stood in streets, the normally soft spoken and passive species demanding action, demanding justice, on the hundred worlds of the Turinika Conclave. The bulk of the Taratanti caste, most of whom had been left in the dark of the truth of the situation, quickly went public with their own declaration of outrage, and the eyes of the entire species turned inwards to the mountainous homeworld of their species.
Hakuri Watanabe looked down at his helmet before putting it on his bed, the stylized SEVEN seeming to stare at him. He sat down in his chair and picked up a small cloth from his buffing kit. No one knocked on his door, in fact, mostly he and the rest of his squad were left alone before a major operation. They were just given their time, time to mentally prepare. Some of his squad would go over their mission briefing, some, like him, would spend their time doing something to relax themselves. Hakuri always found that taking care of his suit calmed him considerably. Granted he could simply turn it over to the squads armorers to be tended to and they would do as good of a job as he could, but he preferred it to be done by his own hand. The symbol of a triangle was on his form fitting shirt, the symbol of his special operations command unit. He was known as a Myrmidon, but the official title of his unit was Section Three. He knew this, his superiors knew this, and as far as Hakuri knew, most of the Terran Front was aware of his unit’s existence, but past that, they knew very little about what he actually did. As far as his mother knew, Hakuri was a pencil pusher onboard the TFS Berlin, the troop mothership that all of his letters were sent from. He thought about writing her, but then again, he only liked to do that when he returned from a mission, not when he was expecting to go to one. If he tried to write her when he was waiting, he would just get anxious, and homesick. That wouldn’t do when he was dropping into a combat zone. That wouldn’t do at all. Hakuri instead started to buff his helmet, waiting for the word to come down which meant they were prepared to jump. A glance at the clock made him pause in his circular rotations. The clock said 1330. Operation Naked Sun was about to begin.
Tika was on his side, Kzia standing at the end of the medical bed that had been adjusted for his turinikan physiology. He felt cold in more ways than one. For his people, clothing was more of a decoration than a necessity, but without his protective plumage he felt the cold stabbing him through to his hollow bones. His diplomatic access was already gone, his privilege access revoked. He heard the broadcast for a preparation to jump, but he wasn’t truly listening. There was no question in his mind he had made the right decision. There was no question at all. One of the humans, a nurse, came to his side and gently laid a heavy blanket over him. The human’s hand lingered on his trembling body for a few moments before it was removed, and Tika glanced in their direction. The female was one of the ones who had responded first to the call for medical service for him, had heard what had happened and why. Tika had gotten very used to being glared at on this ship. He was hated, and he knew it. He knew he had deserved it. He was a party to the vral’s enslavement of the humans, the chua, and far too many others. When he had come to Thermopylae station, he had not even given that fact a single thought. He was born into power, being of the Taratanti. He belonged to the most powerful species and government in the entire quadrant of the galaxy. His people, while mighty, did not seek to use it. To him, they had simply been above it all. When the vral had approached him with the offer to sell captured species at first TIka had wanted to reject it out of hand, but a few had told him to go through with the sale. Such was the nature of this galaxy, or so he had believed. The weak were at the whims of the strong, and one’s place in the galaxy was determined only by the power they could wield. The turinika were not nearly the first to have taken a species and used it for slave labor, and while Tika did not approve of the deal, he had not fought it either. As he looked back to the wall, he remembered what the humans had taught him these last days. When he had arrived in Thermopylae he had assumed he would find the chua species to have been at the very least regulated to a subservient role, if not outright enslaved. Finding them sharing power was a curiosity. He had expected to be treated with all the honor and dignity that his station demanded, that the power of his government demanded. Fleet Marshal Simmons had disabused him of that, and had left him humiliated and shamed. As he had laid in the dark as Simmons had declared the Seventh Orion War, covered in his own filth, feeling as if at any moment he was going to be killed he knew true fear and horrific uncertainty for the first time in his life. He had never faced these emotions, these sensations before. He had always been in power. He had stood with the full might of the Turinika Conclave behind him. He had never known anything other than the superior position. Now, as he lay in the hospital bed, staring at the wall, he was ashamed of how arrogant, how blind, and how short sighted he had been. After he had risen from his own filth, he had desperately tried to convince his leadership of the strength of the Terran Front, how it matched or eclipsed their own. The Conclave was not the unchallenged power in the quadrant anymore. The terrans, the human and chua, had somehow defied fate. They had not fallen to the vral after ninety years of near constant conflict, and now if Tika was right they had come out of it nightmarishly stronger than before. Tika had actually begged to be heard by his superiors, and he had never come close to that once in his life. The chua homeworld however, had fully broken him. If he had not been on the Antares, had not been humbled beforehand, he knew that he would have just clapped his hands together and said that it was delightful. As the transmission from the chua homeworld had come in, and the rescue effort had begun, he could only wallow in his own shame. He had profited directly from the chua’s suffering, the human’s suffering. Again he had tried, and failed, to convince his people, and again he had failed. Being on the Antares, for him, was torture. The lights were too dim, every human and chua looked at him with nothing more than loathing and contempt, his entire worldview had been shattered from the way he viewed the galaxy to his own place in it. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the shadow of Simmons standing over him, her voice cold with a lethal rage, hearing her voice echo in his mind, seeing the glint from flashes of light shining in her eyes. ‘We Know.’ echoed in his mind in his sleep, the voice of the terrifying Fleet Marshal transforming into the sound of a vengeful god demanding compliance and promising retribution. Then he had watched the humans and chua, who he knew were preparing to go to war with his people, celebrating the return of the shesvie. Once more he had expected them to be integrated into the Terran Front, but as soon as he learned Simmons offer to them, and what it had entailed, he had been called to his room to answer the latest message from his people. Once again, his people had doubled down, the knowledge of the enslavement of the humans had been suppressed, and once more Tika found himself, and his people, standing against a Terran Front that had every justification to declare war, to right the wrongs that had been done to them. All the while, he knew something else. He knew that, after everything he had seen, that his people would lose. The turinika had not been to war for nearly two thousand years. His people were not ready for what the Terran Front could do, and after seeing what they had done to the vral so far, he knew his people were not ready for what the Terran Front would do. He was afraid of the dark. Tika was absolutely terrified of it now, because now he knew the monsters were real. Simmons had shown him that, but the humans, the chua, they were not the monsters. He was. He had refused to be one any more. He had announced his intentions to his staff, who had squalled in rejection, all but three. Kzia was the first to step to his side, Kikumot and Tziki had stepped forward as well. Never, in his most nightmarish dreams, did he ever think that he would stand in front of Simmons and voluntarily have his plumage stripped from him, performing the act of Kasva. He never thought that his staff would have ever compiled and transmitted the data package they had sent. He had never thought that he would betray his people, if only to save them. Simmons had changed that, the humans had changed that. He knew the terror of the dark, he knew fear for his people’s safety, he understood the horror of war, and for the first time in his long life he could truly look back at every interaction he had had, with every species, that had asked for help in their struggle for survival against the vral and truly understand their fear and desperation. Now he lay, his plumage stripped from him, his station revoked, his status removed, surrounded by a people who despised him. He wouldn’t have it any other way now. He knew that they would listen now, if not to him, then to the civilian masses of the Conclave that would not stand for what they had done. He prayed to the Great Mother often now, shivering in the dim light, hoping that it would be enough. He had been wrong, and in his error he had sullied his own people. He had made them complicit. Even now, he did not know how they would ever be forgiven, because right now he wasn’t quite sure he could ever forgive himself. As he heard the broadcast calling out on the ship, announcing one minute to jump, he felt a hand on his side, and looked up to the human nurse. She was smiling at him. Not a smile born of malice, or anger, but a genuine smile. She patted his side lightly, then turned to walk out of the room. For not even the twentieth time since he had come onboard Thermopylae, he was mystified by these people.
The bridge of the Dhampir was thrumming with music and the vibrations of the reactor and Conrad leaned forward in his chair mount, his eyes almost feral as he looked at the empty space that was the mandeville point. He was positively chomping at the bit. Batz was positively roaring the lyrics to the song that was blaring over the ships speakers. Rev and Dev sat side by side in their mounts, throwing their hands up in time with the pounding bass beat of the sound. Towns was the only one besides Conrad that was quiet, both of them looking towards the mandeville point with complete impatience. Conrad felt like jumping from his skin. Fidget, well, fidgetted, holding his hands over his headset and listening as if he were trying to hear secret messages in the music. They were ready, their pulses were racing. The crew of the Dhampir was positively vibrating. Conrad looked to the shipboard clock, seeing 1330 displayed, and his head snapped to Fidget, waiting for the word. They were going to run, they were going to chase, they were going to hunt.
Vicky sat back, looking towards Jess and Kukat as they slept. Jess was in her chair, Kukat in her medical bed. Vicky glanced back at the block print on the paper and read it for the fifth time. She read the individual lines, one at a time, cursing their existence. After reading through the message printed she let her hand hang again. Kukat would be released from medical tomorrow, and both her and Jess still thought they would be boarding the Thumper to join the Vellacore once more. Jess had talked non-stop about her quarters on the Vellacore the past few days, how she just wanted to be back in her room. Kukat was equally excited. Only Vicky didn’t share their excitement. They didn’t know yet. They didn’t know about their battlefield promotions, they didn’t know about their reassignments, they didn’t know the days of them working together were functionally over. Vicky looked down at her hand holding the paper again, and felt like crumpling it. She had lost her crew. She had lost them not due to negligence, or time, she had lost them to fame. Kukat was to be promoted to ensign, and was to be the sensor officer on the destroyer Hadrian, Jess was getting the same promotion, her station on the cruiser Victorious. Vicky? She was the sparkling new commanding officer of a destroyer that was arriving at Thermopylae in two days, the Quarrel. She never wanted this. She had turned down promotion after promotion that would take her from the cockpit of the Thumper, away from Kukat, away from Jess. She wanted to serve in this war in her own way, as a pilot, with the two who had made her life so enjoyable. Now though, they were to be split up, and there was nothing she could do about it. These promotions hadn’t come from simple seniority, they had come from High Command, as had the orders. Tomorrow, when Kukat was released, they would be ushered into the hanger bay of the Barrowmore. They would all three be awarded the Star of Terra, then they would be reassigned. Tonight was the last night they would all be together. Vicky wanted to wake them up, she wanted to tell them, to give them a chance to process it. As she looked to Kukat and Jess she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She held up the letter again, reading the first few lines, then she felt the sting of tears in the corners of her eyes. She looked away, her heart panging with sadness, and stared at the wall. The clock read 1330.
Corporal Brandy was sitting on the small rack, with Janet Shippen sitting between his legs using his thighs as armrests. They were both dressed for the first time in the last few hours, both of them staring at the clock. This close to the reactors they could feel them beginning to spool up for the trip through hyperspace. When the news of the operation had come down they had elected to spend as much time together as possible, which Brandy had enjoyed to no end, and he had made sure Janet had as well. Brandy had even taken some time to reach out to his sister Victoria, a rarity for them both, as since they were children they were often barely able to speak to each other simply due to schedules. He had even told her about Janet, and although he hadn’t gotten a response from his sister yet he already knew what she would say. Janet nestled back against him, but he could feel her body was stiff. Neither of them knew what the next few months were going to hold. Their time together might be constricted, in fact, this might be the last few moments they were together for quite awhile. Brandy’s Ghouls were specialists, ship boarders. Chances are he was going to be extremely busy, as was she. He didn’t quite know how he felt about Janet, but he did know that beyond a shadow of a doubt he didn’t want to be away from her. Judging from how she was acting, she felt the same as him, conflicted about her relationship with him, but not wanting to be apart. He knew what he needed to tell her, that he had to get up, that he had to leave. The Ghouls were going to be assembled at 1345, ready to board. Her unit was going to be prepared at the same time, to begin taking on salvage. Her hands were like clamps on his legs, and from how tense she was, he wasn’t going to get up until she was good and ready. The clock on the wall switched to 1330. He stared at the clock, feeling like the clock was mocking him, when suddenly Janet leaned up and turned. Her hands took hold of his shoulders and she threw her body against his, her lips finding his own. Her arms wrapped around her frame and he tightened his grasp on her.
Simmons spread her hands over the panel in front of her, looking at the table. Seven points connected the recently reclaimed chua space to what was former Shesvie territory, and beyond that, the heart of the Vral Empire. Her lip curled in a wicked smile, On the digital display of the table the hyperspace lanes, and more importantly, the avenues of attack her fleet was preparing to take. She held out her hand, all five fingers splayed over the lanes, envisioning the war as it stood now. The war to come. Seven hyperspace lanes, seven systems, branching out into sixteen, branching out again to another twenty. The Antares herself was going to link up with the Barraki, and was set to simply plough through the next five systems to do so. Slowly she tightened her hand into a fist as she looked along the hyperspace lanes, seeing task forces lined up and ready to jump. Drones had already been sent through. The vral had forces along the border, but nothing that could withstand what was to come. Her fleet was ready. She was ready. The Seventh Orion War was at the end of it’s first month, and had taken back six systems. The first moves of Operation Naked Sun would double that and exceed it, then double it again. She had already given her speech, her task force commanders were ready. High Command had taken it’s time making this decision, and while she had railed against the delay that didn’t matter now. All along the front, individual task forces were joined into larger fleets, ready to jump into the next system and eliminate any vral defenses, but unlike now, they simply would not wait. Naked Sun was to be a lightning strike to cut off as much of the Vral Empire as possible, to deny them their own space, to imprison them on their own worlds. Task Forces were designed around three types of vessels combinations, Lighthammer Task Forces were comprised of corvettes and fast destroyers, the fastest vessels in the fleet, meant to take systems quickly, to devastate unprotected infrastructure, and to eliminate light resistance. Simply put, they were going to swarm into vral space, determine pockets of resistance, and move on. They were going to rip entire sections of vral space from them, calling in other task groups if needed. Thunder task groups were the primary capital fleets, meant to be sent into those pockets of resistance, and neutralizing them, joining with the Lighthammer groups if needed. The cruisers, carriers, battleships, they all belonged to these task forces. Her own task force was called the Nova task force, and it comprised only the Antares and it’s sizable fleet escort. Simmons glanced up at the clock, the time was 1329. She breathed in slowly, then unbidden the thought came to her head and she looked to the report from the two habitable planets that had been scanned by the drone cutters, the information having been relayed to her almost twenty minutes prior. She was not worried about the ground campaign, in fact a reserve fleet from Thermopylae would be the ones to escort the landing ships from planet to planet that her fleet left behind in it’s wake, isolated and defenseless from the wider Vral Empire. Fleet escorting was no longer her job, protecting ground invasions were no longer her job. Simmons was positively growling now, as her only job was to take her fleet and use it to rip the vral out of the stars. Still, the thought nagged at her. On both of the planets that her fleet was set to overrun, there were Vral ships in orbit. On the first, there was evidence that the Vral had been bombarding a small area of the surface, extremely similar in size to the hole that now existed on Zvitia, the planet that even now was being integrated into the Terran Front. In the second system it showed Vral ships in orbit, but whatever they were doing during the time they had taken the scans, whatever they were covering up, they didn’t seem to have gotten to it yet. On the radiological scan of the planet a massive bloom of electromagnetic energy painted a broad region of the planet blistering white. She had sent the images back to Earth, back to High Command, but no one seemed to know what was happening. The one thing that every analyst agreed on so far that was that whatever the blooms represented, it meant nothing good. She took another long look at the radiological scan, seeing the intensity of the radiation, and her lip curled in a snarl. She couldn’t think about that right now, but orders had already been given to notify her the moment that they had taken a planet that still bore the radiation signal. The vral were being damned fastidious about it though. She pulled her thoughts away from it, looking back to the hyperspace lanes. The slow grin entered her features again. She glanced at the clock. 1330. Her hand took hold of the receiver next to her station and she pressed the transmission stud, knowing that Hazard had already opened a channel to the wider fleet.
“Commence.”

Tier List: https://imgur.com/a/SPm0Fjl
This one hits different. Right from the start, with those ominous vocals giving the whole thing a feeling of foreboding and momentousness. Donald Trump lurking around the stage for his titlecard, even staying onscreen as his titlecard goes away is hilarious and a great visual touch. Then we get Hillary sitting in her debate chair; this battle committing so hard to a location both rappers are present in is pretty unique.
"I've been in this game too long; I'm a public servant! Have been since I met MLK in person!" Serviceable opening on paper, but the guest actor, Kimmy Gatewood, makes it stick out with her performance. Love the intensity of her voice and facial expressions. "I'm a woman of the people; that's for certain. You're a man of the people who don't like turbans!" This is a great line, very accurate, and I love the look on Hillary's face. "I was living in the West Wing while you were professional wrestling. Got skin like Russian dressing from too much Russian investing!" Good lines, in particular I really dig the Russian dressing/Russian investing parallel. Also, while I don't think Kimmy bears a super strong resemblance to Hillary Clinton(the guest actress from Clinton v. Henry VIII was much more on-point) she does look a lot like her as she does the Russian dance in the background. Something about her wide-open smile. "You been going bankrupt since the 90s; if I was in Iran you couldn't find me." Very true on both counts, very solid line. I don't know what more there is to say. Is it gonna be controversial to acknowledge the reality that Trump's gone bankrupt lots of times and probably couldn't point to Iran on a map, even now that he's been president? "You don't care about the job, Trump, you just think the desk is shiny." I think it's accurate that Trump really only cares about the prestige, but this still seems like a pretty weak attack. Hell, you could argue the vast majority of presidential candidates care more about the prestige than actually doing anything. "I said that I respect your children but that wasn't quite right, yo! Looking like some extras on American Psycho!" This line is pretty fucking great. I didn't get it when this battle first released, but I've seen American Psycho more recently, and comparing the Trump kids to the useless trust fund posers surrounding Patrick Bateman is hilarious. The hyper-aggressive hip thrusting Hillary's doing is also a great visual. For the most part this portrayal doesn't resemble Hillary much, but I think there's some truth in how she's portrayed as being very try-hard here. "First name is Hillary, middle name Rodham, last name is Clinton, and lyrics I got 'em! You fire celebrities on The Apprentice, motha fucka I fire Bin Laden! (Crack!) cough" Being tryhard again. The lines are pretty good, the flow is pretty good. The reference to her coughing is a fun touch. "How do I say this? You're racist! Ooh, you must get so pissed that your hands are too small to stop and frisk!" The asking/answering of that question at the beginning is really funny, and I like the way they worked Trump's small hands into this attack on him for being racist. "So you use your fingers to touch chicks. (She's only 12 years old.) That's enough, shit! (But she's married, sir.) Just gotta get pushy. (That's your daughter.) Well, grab her by the pussy!" One of the highlights of the battle, love the way they worked in the secret service agent here. Pointing out Trump being a creep at child beauty pageants and towards Ivanka are great lines of attack. "That's assault, brotha! Don't tell me the victim's at fault, sucka! You don't know shit about steaks! Yucka! But the ones on the 8th are great! Motha fucka!" Really fun delivery, good attacks, I like that they threw the Trump Steaks jab in between the more serious sentiments. I don't know what the fuck is going on with the background in this section, though they're really going hard on the tryhardness of Hillary. "Better save the date; I'm gonna rock the vote! Bad bitch on the scene like Murder, She Wrote!" Hillary trying to compare herself to that character is pretty cringe, as is highlighted by her attempting to dab with the biggest "look, aren't I cool, kids?!" look on her face. Real "Pokemon Go to the polls" moment. "So go ahead, Donald, let me see you flow. I brought Michelle's speech; borrow some quotes!" It's a pretty great line, though this line is moreso an attack at Melania than Trump himself; she should have ended with a more Trump-focused attack.
"Let me just say I respect all females. But your rhymes are trash; put 'em next to your emails." The first line is funny in how flagrantly untrue it is, the second line is just plain funny. Good opener. "Our country's in crisis. Who wants to vote for the mother of ISIS? That might not be exactly true, but I don't do politeness." Trump talks out of his ass and lies a lot, yes. "(Believe me!) You wanna talk about misogyny? Your Bill's worse than Cosby! He left a mess on that dress like you left in Benghazi!" The comparison of the rapist Bills is a great line, and I'm not sure whether the whole Benghazi thing was actually something that was Hillary's fault or just a Fox News talking head talking point, but it's a good line regardless. Also by this point it's clear that Lloid's Trump impression is on-point, much better than Peter's. "(Terrible!) You wanna break the glass ceiling, Hillary, I sense it. But the only crack you'll find is my ass pressed against it." The gesturing Lloid is doing during the "I sense it" line is fucking hilarious. The second line is also pretty funny, and did turn out to be true. "The numbers are in and I'm right on your tail. You don't have the stamina, baby, you're frail! This will be just like '08 when you fail! But Trump will appoint you to jail!" Fun parallel to Hillary's "First name is Hillary" segment from before going on here. The lines themselves are fine, nothing amazing. The second-to-last one turned out to be true, the last one did not. "How do I say this? You're a 2. And you almost lost the primary to a socialist Jew!" It's pretty funny how Trump mimics Hillary's "How do I say this?" bit, and "you're a 2" is such a simple but funny jab. He's got a point that Hillary was so weak a candidate that Bernie Sanders came outta nowhere and was able to put up a serious competition in a race that was supposed to have no real competition for her. "What do the American people gotta yankee doodle doo, to get it through your fat face, that they're just not that into you?!" The use of 'yankee doodle doo' is funny and he's got a real point that Hillary needs to accept she's very unpopular, though that 'fat face' line is such a pot calling the kettle black moment. No doubt intended as such. "They want a strong male leader who can stand up to China! Not a crooked, little, wishy-washy bleeding heart vagina!" These lines, of course, exist purely to point out that Trump is a giant sexist. The "China, China, China... bloody vagina!" in the background is a very funny touch. Little bits like that just add so much to this battle. "I'm gonna run these streets like I run my casinos; more police and less Latinos!" These lines, of course, exist purely to point out that Trump is a giant racist. "While you bury us in debt buying poor people socks, I'll create jobs, tearing down mosques!" Trump is against programs that help the impoverished and hates Muslims. "Then I'll use all the best rocks from the site to build a wall, dip it in gold and make Mexico pay for it all!" The thing Lloid does with his eyes as he smiles when he says "build a wall" is just... SO Trumpian. This really is one of the greatest Trump impressions I've ever seen, Lloid did an amazing job. As for the line... Trump says he's gonna build a wall. He built a partial wall. A partial, really unimpressive wall. "I'll make this country great again! We'll all be living large! And I'll tell Congress you're fired, and put Charles in charge!" Trump's slogan is MAGA and Charles in Charge was a TV show whose main actor is a Trump supporter. Also apparently there was a Supreme Court judge named Charles Trump once wanted nominated. Alright. "'Cause this whole system's rigged! And we all know the riggers! For the last eight years this country's been run by- (CAW!)" The point of this line is that Trump is a giant racist. I like the touch that the crowd is cheering wildly for Trump while Hillary looks disturbed in the background.
Then Lincoln comes soaring in on an eagle, as he did in Obama v. Romney. "Are you fucking kidding me with this blah blah blah? I've half a mind to feed you both to my oversized - (CAW!)" The use of 'CAW!' as a censor is amusing. "I've heard more thoughtful discussion up in TMZ! You two got brother blocking brother on their Facebook feed!" This isn't fun anymore, it's just real. "I'm so sick and tired of this ridiculous shit! If this is the best my party gets, then my party should quit!" The Republican Party is a nightmare and Lincoln would be ashamed of it today, is what is being said. "I'm sorry, did I say something that you found funny? Wipe that creepy-ass smile off your face and beat this dummy!" Clinton is a shitty politician who didn't take Trump seriously enough, and she comes across as cold and inhuman. And in case you somehow failed to pick up on it before, ERB makes clear here their endorsement for which candidate to vote for. "And if she does win the White House, be a man and hold the door. Don't get your fans stirred up in some sorta Twitter civil war!" Too real, especially after January 6th. "Here's an equal opportunity smack down in the sequel! That's of the people, by the people, for the people, eagle!" Some people have debated whether Lincoln slapped Trump twice in place of slapping Clinton at all because he's a gentleman and wouldn't hit a woman, or because ERB favors Clinton over Trump. The latter is definitely true, but the former is also probably true. So... both! Then Lincoln yells "Eagle!" and fucks off.
Let's talk about bias. There's two camps of people I've seen in discussions about certain ERB battles, especially this one, and they both irk me. So let's address both of them.
First off: YES, ERB is biased against Trump. And are biased against Republicans generally, and much more sympathetic to the Democrats. They've made that completely obvious from the beginning. And you know what? That's totally fine! They're right to be biased against them! But for some reason, some people in the fanbase can't just admit that. For some reason, there's a lot of people in the fanbase who will bend over backwards trying to explain how it's actually totally unbiased(false) and they attack both sides equally(false) and people complaining are being salty(true). But if you think ERB is unbiased, then society has failed you, because you are a woeful media illiterate. They're screaming Vote for Hillary, Don't Let Trump Win! at you and somehow you haven't managed to decipher what they're saying. I hope for your sake you're, like, twelve years old if you actually think they're unbiased. Here's an important lesson for you to learn as you grow up: 'biased' does not equate to 'bad'! For example, you SHOULD be 'biased' against Hitler! If you look at someone like Hitler and compare him to someone like MLK and treat them as equally valid figures whose ideas are both worthy of consideration, then you're at best a useful idiot and at worst a Nazi apologist! Stop feeling like you have to defend ERB's honor by feverishly denying any claims of bias!
But even worse than those jokers are the fuckers who love to bitch about how ERB has gotten "too political" or "too woke" nowadays. NEWSFLASH, DUMBASS: the very FIRST battle was John Lennon vs Bill O'Reilly, and Bill O'Reilly literally says "Because I'm evil! Heart blacker than Don Cheadle!" Their very foundation as a series is shitting on Republicans! They didn't suddenly 'go woke' just because they stopped doing gay jokes and shat on Trump even more explicitly than they already did to Romney.
Anyway, I've got mixed feelings about this battle. The 'mixed' part of those feelings come from how heavy it is; I have to be in a certain mood to want to listen to this, and most times I see this pop up in my playlist I just skip on to the next one. It's uncomfortable. It's real. Maybe a little too real. But then again, maybe they were right to take it so seriously. It's still a great battle, even if it can be a little hard to come back to. The only big flaw I think is present is that Lincoln coming in at the end is kind of a drag. It was funny the first time; this doesn't recapture the magic. He doesn't really have any great lines either. I tend to stop listening by the time he comes in. But besides that, this battle has an amazing instrumental track, great visuals, peak performances from both Lloid and Kimmy, and good, sometimes great, writing.
I used to think Trump won this battle despite always having been anti-Trump. Revisiting it now, I'm not sure why I thought that. Maybe it was because his part was just so entertaining, even moreso than Hillary's. Maybe it's because I, like many others, harbor a strong resentment and bitterness towards Hillary Clinton(muh Bernie) that would lead me to not be entirely honest about her performance here. Maybe it's just because that hardly anybody said Clinton won back in the day; Trump had either a majority or a clear plural majority of votes in polls, then Lincoln with a fair amount, then Clinton with a small fraction. Now I see that that is utter bullshit. The only reason anybody votes for Lincoln is either because of the Last Word Effect or because they want to be centrists about it and not side with either candidate; even if you could argue he was the best part of Obama v. Romney, here his verse falls well short of both Clinton and Trump's. On the question of Clinton v. Trump... I can kind of see how someone might think Trump won on account of how hilarious he was, but the joke is often on him with those lines. And if we're being honest I think Clinton had better burns and more substantive lines of attack. I say Clinton>Trump>Lincoln.
inb4 someone says I got "too political" in my presidential election battle analysis

I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/ImDyingRn123
Originally posted to AITAH
AITA for not having my boyfriend be a plus one at my best friends wedding
Thanks to u/queenlegolas and u/Direct-Caterpillar77 for suggesting this BoRU
Trigger Warnings: manipulation
Original Post: May 9, 2024
I (25f) have been seeing my now boyfriend (27m), who will call Joe, for about six months now. We made it official three months into dating so I like to say he’s only officially been my boyfriend for three months.
My best friend, who we’ll call Anne, is getting married next month. I’m one of her bridesmaids. It’s a small destination wedding, only about forty close friends and family. The bridal party is set to arrive about four days before the actual wedding to do bachelobachelorette stuff.
The issue came up yesterday morning when my boyfriend started asking what time my flight was for the wedding week. I didn’t think much of it and told him. He came back about ten minutes later and said he’d have to go on a different flight because he couldn’t find one on the same airline or at the same time.
I didn’t understand why he was looking at flights. I asked him if he was planning on going on a solo or guys trip while I was gone since I wouldn’t be around.
He looked confused and then said he was looking for flights for the wedding.
I then proceeded to tell him, trying to be as gentle as possible, that I wasn’t planning on a plus one and the guest list was already finalized. He has only ever met Anne over face time since she lives in a different state from us.
After telling him, he exploded at me. Honestly it was a total 180 from his usual behavior. He said it was insensitive of me to not ask for a plus one because we’d been together for so long now. That I was purposefully excluding him and trying to keep him a secret. He ranted and talked in a circle and I just sat there in shock. What snapped me out of the daze was when he insinuated that I would likely cheat with one of the groomsmen.
Thats when I got up, got my shit, and started walking out of his place. He freaked out even more and said we needed to talk about this and I couldn’t walk out on him. He tried to grab me twice but I shoved him off.
Since I last night, I haven’t spoken to him. he’s been blowing up my phone with calls and texts that I don’t reply to. Even put him on do not disturb because it was so annoying. I was pretty solid in believing I wasn’t TA but one of his best friends got my number and texted me I was being petty and a female dog about everything. That I lead Joe on for six months.
I haven’t talked to anyone about this since I wanted to cool down before I got a second opinion. But now that his friend is texting men, I feel like I handled it all poorly. I know I need space right now but I don’t want to ghost Joe, which his friend implied I’m now doing.
So I’ve come here to get some unbiased opinions. Fellow redditors, I asked you now if i am TA for not having my boyfriend be a plus one to my best friends wedding.
posting this is the other aita sub too
edit: to clarify. we don’t live together. i just spend the night at his place sometimes
edit 2: in our last conversation last night i texted him that i needed some space to breathe to which he then just kept calling and texting
edit 3 because people keep acting like joe is a secret: he has met my other friends. he hasn’t met anne in person because she lives in a different state. across the country to be exact. they’ve only met through face time. i’ve met his parents and friends. he hasn’t met mine because they moved back to mexico two years ago. he has met them over face time.
edit 4: his friend saying lead him on was “leading him to believe he was invited”
AITAH has no consensus bot, OOP was NTA
Relevant Comments
OOP to multiple comments on why she is not having her boyfriend as her plus one to the wedding

OOP: i accepted the wedding invite long before we met. this wedding invite didn’t just recently happen. + main reason for why i never asked for a plus one is because joe and i had only just started seeing each other when the wedding was being planned. a lot went into it because it’s a destination wedding in europe + i’m not meaning to dismiss it. i’m pointing out that’s why i’m not having a plus one unlike the other groomsmen and bridesmaids. they have been with their partners for years and personally know anne. joe has only ever met her over face time + also there’s a lot more then just buying a ticket. i said earlier that this wedding was planned months before we met. anne planned a lot of things for this wedding that are catered to the fact there’s a limited guest list. again. i would have been fine to explain all this but again. i never got a chance to + this wedding wasn’t a secret. he was even aware of it when we first started seeing each other because i’d just done dress shopping. again. this wedding was very planned out because it is indeed, very small and private in france. he’s also met anne and her fiance over face time, not in person because she’s in a different state. he’s met my other friends as well. he hasn’t met my parents because they live in a different country.

 
Update: May 11, 2024
The general consensus was that I wasn’t TA. Unfortunately the original post got taken down on the main aita sub but is still up on the other. Still posting the update on both though.
Some of y’all had some stuff to say about me saying I need help communicating because I shouldn’t have walked out. Have your opinions, but never let someone scream at you and just sit there and take it. Im realizing thats emotional abuse.
About why I never pushed to have a plus one. When the wedding planning was starting, Joe and I had not met. By the time we met and made things official, the wedding planning was finalized. I never hid the wedding from Joe or the fact it was very small. Someone said “most normal people” plan on bringing their s/o to a wedding. Maybe thats true. But never automatically assume that since your s/o is invited to something, you’ll be going too.
The wedding was heavily pre-planned because again, it’s a destination wedding. Anne is originally from France and primary reason why it’s a destination wedding.
I talked to Anne about this shortly after posting and she agreed that I’m not TA. She said if the roles were reversed, she’d never expect her so of less than a year be invited to an important event.
So, on Friday, I texted Joe asking to meet up Saturday morning to have a discussion about everything.
This morning he tried to get us to meet at my place, but instead, I got him to agree to meet at a local cafe. A lot of you brought up how he tried to grab me and that’s a big sign that he could get more physical in the future. I didn’t want anything to be left to chance.
He got there early and tried to hug me, which I didn’t allow. I got the ick at the thought of him hugging me.
We did a bit of small talk but got pretty much to the point once we sat down.
He did apologize for blowing up but in the same breath said I shouldn’t have left. I countered that he shouldn’t have tried to physically stop me from leaving, twice. He said what else was he supposed to do. That set the tone for the whole conversation.
He went on to say that me just walking away was a “clear indication that I didn’t respect him”. I then pointed out that he was not letting me explain why he wasn’t invited.
This is when we started talking in circles. I told him how the wedding was being planned long before we met. How by the time we mutually agreed to be exclusive, they had everything finalized, especially the guest list. He said I should’ve asked for Anne to change it anyway. I asked him if I ever gave him the impression he’d be attending. He was silent for a while and then admitted he just assumed that since he was now my boyfriend, I would have told Anne to invite me. I told him then wouldn’t I have said something if he was invited in the past three months?
I realized that we weren’t getting anywhere. I told him I wanted to break up. To paraphrase, I said something along the lines of.
“I understand you were hurt that I didn’t invite you. I am sorry that we didn’t have a clearer conversation. I do wish that we could have had a calmer conversation. However, I don’t feel safe in this relationship because of how you reacted. I don’t think this relationship is good for either of us if you feel betrayed and I feel unsafe.”
He didn’t take that well.
Joe’s response was if we broke up, I wasn’t getting my stuff back. I told him I didn’t care. Because honestly? If he wants to keep some of my underwear and used toothbrush, okay.
I then asked him to not have his friends text me too. He then went from pleading to have another chance to accusing me of never wanting him. I just stood up, told him I wished him the best, and left.
Ended up going for a two hour run when I got home because I still felt stressed. Blocked his number, his friends, blocked his instagram, deleted the pictures of us on my feed. Changed my Facebook status to single. Had a cry and have been watching Netflix since.
Something I learned from this your first fight with your partner tells you everything about them. Our first fight told me Joe was explosive. Maybe if he hadn’t blown up, we would still be together. Not gonna dwell on it though. I know it’s good I got out while you can because as a lot of you pointed out, the fact he kept trying to overpower me twice says a lot.
I’m honestly glad I broke it off. As some of you said, it took him six months to show his true colors. Can’t imagine if he did come and then a year later, I find out he’s like this and have to look at wedding photos with a guy who is fine blowing up.
I’m going to stay single for awhile now. I have a wedding to look forward to. My focus is on supporting Anne and making sure she has the best wedding ever. I may update when the wedding happens to let you guys know how it goes and if Joe tried anything else.
Thank you again to everyone for their opinions.
Relevant Comments
OOP on staying away from her ex-boyfriend

OOP: thank you ❤️ i do have a dog and a roommate so that’s some extra security already. the roommate and i talked before about getting a ring camera but this experience and other comments have solidified us getting one

 

DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

Hi I’m a 29 year old female. When I was 13, I fell pregnant. This wasn’t a consensual relationship, I was a virgin who didn’t really even know how babies were made, i still played with barbies, I was raped by my friends 23 year old brother during a sleepover.
I didn’t tell anybody. I didn’t know I was pregnant, Id only started my periods a few months prior so there absence didn’t concern me and like I said, I didn’t really know how babies were made beyond the basics. I found out I was pregnant at 29 weeks when I went to ER with my parents for stomach pain.
My parents were very angry at me despite the circumstances. He was convicted and imprisoned. My parents didn’t even attend court or give a statement. They tried to find a doctor who’d give me an abortion, even offering substantial amounts of money, but none would due to gestation. They said I had to give the baby up and I went along with it, I had no support from them and I grew up having a very cold relationship with them.
I was told I’d need to put the baby up for adoption. I was taken out of school and the pregnancy hidden from everyone apart from medical professionals and social workers.
When my daughter was born (on my 14th birthday) she was born 4 weeks premature. She was taken straight to NICU after birth so I didn’t get to see her. They allowed me in to NICU three times for the 13 days I was in hospital ( c section with an infected scar) The nurses in there were lovely and let me hold her and bond with her and encouraged me to speak up for myself because I did not want to give her up. I told social services and my parents I didn’t want to give her up. They said I had no choice due to my age and the fact I had no support. I was prevented from visiting her in NICU any further times because and I quote from the social worker “it won’t do you any good to start getting attached to her when you’re not keeping her” I remember on the 7th day I was in there she was stable enough to be discharged and I was told she was now going. They wouldn’t let me say good bye to her, I stood outside of NICU and watched her be carried out by the social worker and adoptive parents in a car seat. I remember screaming at them whilst a security guard restrained me as I was trying to hit him as he was blocking me from getting close to my child. I was then sedated. A nurse in NICU was in tears seeing this and later came to my room to apologise to me and gave me a hug, that’s the only kindness I was ever shown throughout that.
I was told that I was too young and because of that they didn’t need my consent for adoption just the consent of my parents. They said I could only raise her if my parents were prepared to support me which they were not. After which I was hysterical and had to be sedated. I was sent to boarding school and suffered from serious depression and made an attempt on my life.
It wasn’t an open adoption, I was allowed to leave a letter with her and I also left her my necklace which was my prized possession at the time. The adoptive mother stated she wanted no contact which I was devastated about but the social worker told me I could have contact when she turned 18. After I turned 18 and left boarding school, I moved in with my Nan whilst attending university. My Nan gave me so much love and care and was very disappointed in my parents (my Nan had no knowledge of me even being pregnant)
When I was 21 I graduated and I also got pregnant, that relationship didn’t work out but I’ve since married and had 3 more children. But I’ve never stopped thinking about my first born. I gave birth to her on my 14th birthday so we share a birthday and every birthday I feel like I’m grieving. I go through periods of just crying and staying in bed feeling guilty at what I’d done. I still feel so guilty and I can’t cope with guilt it eats me up.
Anyway, my daughter who is now 15 found me on Facebook 2 weeks ago (I have a distinct name and I still use my maiden name on there) she messaged me an angry message and then blocked me so I couldn’t even respond.
She messaged me saying that she hates me and I’m dead to her, she told me how much she loves her adoptive mother and as far as she’s concerned I don’t exist. She says I’ve turned her in to a “messed up person” and how she wants to kill herself because of me. She told me how she thought I was a disgusting person for giving her up for adoption because I wanted to “enjoy life without the burden of a child” her words. She called me a slut (among other words) and questioned why I was having sex at 13. She said that she hoped my other children die and called them racist terms (they are mixed) because she is angry that I kept them and not her and that she felt that meant I wasn’t good enough. She then went on to say her adoptive mother told her that
1: My parents (her bio grandparents) wanted her but I refused to look after her and wanted her to be adopted (lies)
2: I wanted an abortion and told adoptive mother that I wished I could have had an abortion (lies)
3: That adoptive mother had reached out to me when I was 21 and pregnant with her first sibling to ask if I wanted contact, and I (according to her birth mum) said I didn’t care about her and wanted to forget the whole thing and asked her not to contact me again. (God knows if that had actually happened I would have jumped at the chance)
4: That I was sleeping around with a lot of men my age and didn’t know her bio dad as I’d been with so many male school friends which is why I got sent to boarding school because I was “out of control” (lies)
All the above are just outright lies. I am glad she doesn’t know the circumstances of her conception, I’d be happy if bio mum had told her for example that her father was a childhood boyfriend of mine because the truth is something she shouldn’t know until she’s older, but to suggest I was sleeping around with multiple men at the age of 13 and didn’t know who he was is disgusting when it’s not true.
Im not able to contact her back because she’s blocked me. I’ve looked at her profile from my husbands account, I’ve seen her adoptive mum and dads Facebook profile but I don’t intend to contact any of them as much as I want to because I guess I will just tell her everything when she’s 18 if she wants to hear it because perhaps now is not the appropriate age.
Her mums Facebook shows that she is her only child, that she’s now divorced (her and her husband adopted my daughter so she’s since divorced him) they have lots of photos together. She has one post saying they were being evicted and asking if anyone knew any landlords so not in stable housing.
I found her adoptive fathers Facebook. No photos of my daughter but plenty of photos of his new wife and their 3 children. It seems he’s moved overseas.
My daughters Facebook is concerning and it’s public so I could see everything. She posts quotes about depression and anxiety, has scars on her wrists which I believe are SH scars) writes status’ such as “no body cares about me I may as well just die” and posts indicating how she hates her adoptive father (not sure what’s gone on there, likely adoptive mother has poisoned her against him too or won’t allow access but he possibly he just doesn’t want involvement) constantly posts pictures laying in a hospital bed and attached to a drip with wounds on her arms.
I know I shouldn’t have been snooping on adoptive parents and daughters Facebook as much as I did but I needed to ensure I had all info to give to social services and so I knew the situation. When I met them, they seemed kind. Social services are allowed to tell birth parents a bit about the adoptive parents life at the time of adoption, they told me they had been together for 10 years prior, she was unable to carry a pregnancy past 20 weeks and had lost a lot of babies before pursing adoption, that they had a lovely big home and that she didn’t work so had a lot of time for baby and her husband was in the army and how they had lots of extended family to love the child.
I have since informed social services about what I’ve seen on Facebook and they’ve just told me that they can not discuss this with me due to confidentiality as she’s legally not my child but have said they can assure me that they are looking in to it (I screenshot and sent the posts) and are doing everything necessary to ensure she is ok and now have involvement with her and bio mum. They can’t update me on their circumstances now (like they did when she was adopted) because the adoption is done.
I don’t really know what to do. She has a false impression of me told by her adoptive mother. None of which is true, she was so wanted and I’ve never got over it. I now fear that her thinking I rejected her and didn’t want her and she wasn’t good enough has led to some serious mental health issues and potentially these will only get worse or she could harm herself very badly based on lots of lies.
I want her to know I love her, I want her to know I wanted her but I was forced to give her up, I want her to know that I still love her and always will and that I’d do anything for her. I want to tell her I was never contacted by adoptive mother and had I have been I would have jumped at the opportunity to even just talk to my daughter. I want to tell her that I do know her bio father and I wasn’t sleeping with multiple men (although the truth regarding the rape shouldn’t be disclosed right now) I just want her to know all of this, but I’m powerless until she is 18. I have been told if I message her from a different account since I’m blocked I could face legal charges.
I am so scared of her hurting herself based on lies. Her adoptive mum whilst I believe does love her, has poisoned my daughter against me in an attempt to get my daughter to hate me because she doesn’t want daughter potentially coming back to me or forming a relationship with me and her getting pushed out, so she’s said all of this to make that impossible so she will be her only mother.
But that’s to the detriment of my daughter, my daughter clearly has mental health issues and whilst they could be from other things I know that feeling unloved, unwanted and having being told this information that is outright lies must be weighing heavily on her and making her feel inadequate. I can’t imagine if I was adopted and I heard things like that about my bio mum, it would devastate me and I would hate myself.
I don’t know what I’m hoping to gain from this post just looking for advice. I can contact her in 3 years. But I’m scared in those 3 years something bad could happen with the way her mental health is, and that something bad may happen without her knowing the truth about how much I love her.
I’ve been off sick from work since, I have been an emotional wreck. I just hope she’s okay even if she does hate me. Of course I’d love to tell her the truth but more than anything I want her to know the truth for the sake of her own mental well-being even if that means she still doesn’t want to speak to me. Social services just keep telling me that they can’t discuss anything with her about me beyond the basics of the fact that she’s adopted. The rest is down to adoptive mother to disclose if she wishes. When she is 18 she will get access to her file and know the true circumstances but until then, everything she knows is based on lies.
I fully understand her angry reaction because I can understand being told that about your bio mother would upset and anger anyone. I’m more concerned about the fact her adoptive mum thinks this is ok just to keep daughter close to her and away from me but to the detriment of her mental health and feelings. If I was in adoptive mothers situation I would have perhaps said something like “your mum was young but I’m sure she loves you” - even if that’s not the truth, it’s better to say that and wait for when they’re an adult to find out the truth rather than putting their mental health at risk and making them feel inadequate.
EDIT:
Yes I am upset that she doesn’t like me, I am upset that she’s been told lies, I’m upset that she doesn’t want to know me. But I know my feelings aren’t as important. I feel very guilty I had to give her away in the first place, I feel guilty that she thinks this of me, I feel angry at adoptive mum for telling her this.
But ultimately if she had messaged me saying that she’d been told all of this and didn’t like me but said she had a good life and was happy, I’d still be upset but I would feel a lot better knowing she was doing well. However to hear this and be told she wants to kill herself because of what she’s been told about me, seeing her Facebook and evidence of dangerous behaviour and self harm makes me very concerned and even more guilty and I’m powerless. I would be able to sleep at night knowing she hated me but had a good life and felt loved, but clearly she doesn’t. I’m so worried that she may hurt herself or end her life because of what she thinks about me which isn’t true. I just want her to be ok, even if she does hate me and will continue hating me forever. As long as she has a good life and is happy then I will feel at peace, but she’s clearly has very serious mental health issues, isn’t being monitored correctly (hence the half nude photos) and wants to end her life and self harm.

Welcome to /Charity!

Got a charitable cause you'd like to share! This is the place!

Requirements

For 501c(3) non-profits (US) or a Non-Governmental Organization (aka NGO outside the US)

• For a registered 501c(3) or other certified charity (such as NGO's in other non-US countries), the charity must be listed in a governmental web site for verification.
• A fundraiser that is being handled directly by that charity, such as the American Heart Association's Heartwalk or JDRF's charity walk, where you supply a link on their site for your team/yourself.
• A crowdfunding site that shows it is directly benefiting a certified charity.

Please modmail us so that we can flair your post as a registered certified non-profit!

For Everyone Else

You must have both

• Account age of 30 days or older AND
• Comment karma of 250 or greater.

NOTE: We are specifically looking for COMMENT karma. The karma value you are probably looking at is a COMBINED value, consisting of both Link/Post karma plus Comment karma.

To view your karma breakdown:

• Mouse-hover over your username on desktop. This works for both the old and redesigned web site.
• On the official Reddit app for iOS, view your profile, then tap the karma value shown.
• On the official Reddit app for Android, you can't. Complain on /redditmobile.
• On the unofficial Reddit App for Android, RIF (Formerly known as Reddit is Fun), your breakdown is listed on your profile screen.

The following circumventions will result in a ban:

• Using a karma farming subreddit, such as Karma4You, or asking focomplaining about karma in a general sub.
• Unsolicited private messaging to push your campaign.
• Posting your campaign on someone else's post.

Comment Karma is directly correlated to how many comments you leave plus/minus any points as people upvote a popular comment or downvote an unpopular comment.

Credibility, Community, and You

AKA, Why Do We Have Account Requirements for Individuals?
In an effort to make your crowdfunding efforts more successful here on Reddit, some background first:
In many of the gifting and fundraising subs, you'll notice that without a certain amount "karma" and an account that's old enough, you'll garner down votes or worse, your posts and comments get automatically removed.
Why?
To many Redditors, this place is a community built on activity. The "coin" of the land here is your account, and how much you've contributed to the Reddit community at large reflected in post and comment karma.
As a general rule, Redditors dislike the creation of accounts specifically to fund raise or to make requests. It makes it seem like these people simply treat Reddit as some sort of magical internet wallet, and that doesn't win many friends.
The other reason why new accounts are so disliked is that they're often alternate accounts of established users, in order to hide their activity from people they know. While we do sympathize with those of you who have valid reasons, this privilege is often abused by those who create disposable accounts to scam people for a quick buck.
This trust issue doesn't exist in the same way with certified non-profit groups, as you can look them up online for verification, and at least in the case of 501c(3)s, their spending is transparent due to their required tax filings which are public information.
So if you're new to Reddit, welcome! Spend some time and look around for something that catches your interest and chat it up with others and become part of the community!
However if you're here for the sole reason of making requests in a hurry, please be aware your pleas for help will likely be ignored.
REMEMBER, CREDIBILITY AND COMMUNITY IS EVERYTHING!
For this reason, the mods will not post anything on behalf of any user that does not meet account requirements.

Rules

1. Posts must be more than just a link to your campaign. Be descriptive! Show evidence . This includes:
   1. If this is for your pet, photos of your pet in question, with your username on a handwritten note in the picture.
   2. School documentation showing enrollment if you are asking for assistance for school.
   3. Redacted bills showing your situation.
   4. Or other relevant documentation that can help establish credibility.
   5. At minimum, please attach an unobstructed selfie photo of yourself(the submitter) with a handwritten note of your username.
   6. Low effort posts that simply say to the effect of, "everything is listed in the GoFundMe" will be removed.
2. Please Flair your posts, once created. If you don't know how, just let the mods know and we'll do it for you.
3. Only 1 campaign per user. We want you have some personal connection to the campaign, and not submit multiples simply because they were in the news.
4. Reposts are allowed once a week. If a repost comes up too early, the newest one(s) will be removed.
5. Acceptable transfer methods for individuals are for crowdfunding sites only, such as GoFundme, YouCaring, etc. Individuals should avoid using Paypal, crypto, or direct banking aps (like Chase). 501c(3) and NGOs may use whatever method they wish.
6. Don't PM people to make requests. If you receive an unsolicited private message, please let us know!
7. Do not post politically-related campaigns. They're just too divisive.
8. Trolling will not be tolerated and offending users will be banned.
9. Don't bug the mods for an exception to the account requirements. None will be given. If you attempt to circumvent the requirement by karma farming or by commenting on someone else's post, your account will be banned.
10. No posting for other Redditors. No Alts. This is viewed as a circumvention of requirements and both accounts will be banned.
11. Selling is only allowed by 1st parties directly. We do not allow selling by 3rd parties to benefit another organization, as there's no transparency to verify that the announced percentage of sales actually goes to the beneficiary. Only direct sales by the non-profit organization are allowed.

Supporting Information Requested for Non-501c(3) and Non-NGO campaigns.

We aren't the government. We aren't a court of law. We definitely don't want you to give out information that could lead to identity theft. However, some campaigns are more successful when they have additional documentation.
This includes:

• Pet related requests: Photos of your pet in question, with your username on a handwritten note in the picture. This helps show you actually own the pet in question.
• Education related requests: Documentation showing enrollment or acceptance if you are asking for assistance for school.
• Redacted bills showing your situation. In some cases, a donor may prefer to pay a creditor directly on your behalf, so be prepared and find out if that is available to you.
• If you are sharing a campaign for a registered certified non-profit organization (such as a 501c3 or NGO), you should say so in the post, and it should list that status on the campaign page/web site.
• Or other relevant documentation that can help establish credibility.

Low effort posts that simply say to the effect of, "everything is listed in the GoFundMe" (or less!) will be removed.

How to Include a Photo or Other Supporting Info Document In Your Post

Because Reddit wasn't initially designed to handle photos when it was created, it has limitations in the implementation of photo support which don't work well for us. So instead we suggest the following:

1. Upload your photo to Imgur.com or other photo hosting site.
2. Copy the URL for the photo.
3. Create a new post or Edit your existing one to include the URL to the photo.

Please make sure to include this, as it is the primary reason why posts that are otherwise fine get removed.

Advice On Making Your Campaign Go Further

Not all crowdfunding campaigns are the same, but here are some suggestions.

• Make sure your campaign has been shared among your Facebook friends! You might think it's embarrassing, however your friends and family are more likely to care than internet strangers.
• Show that you've exhausted all the other possibilities. A lot of potential donors don't like to give money when it seems like the requester's first and only solution is to simply throw someone else's money at the problem. Nobody is going to take your word when you literally only say, "but I've done everything!", when the actual reality is probably closer to "I've done everything I can think of", which arguably is NOT everything.
• Show that there's a plan to use the money wisely. Often people have campaigns for their business ideas, but it doesn't really seem like they thought it all the way through. Tell people what steps you've taken so far, and what you're going to do next.
• Be open to critics. If there's something that people ask about, you should not be dismissive. Provide more detail. There's a possibility that they know something you don't, or they have something different about their own experience that might be useful to you. If you simply brush off your critics, it shows objectively that you're not doing everything possible.
• Review your own campaign with the mindset of a potential donor. Ask yourself, "Would I give money to this?" Or get a friend to review it for you.

Questions?

Please don't hesitate to ask the mods!
... Unless you're trying to ask for an exception to the account requirements.

Welcome to /gofundme!

____
In an effort to make your crowdfunding efforts more successful here on Reddit, some background first:
​
Credibility, Community, and You
AKA, Why Do We Have Account Requirements?
In many of the gifting and fundraising subs, you'll notice that without a certain amount "karma" and an account that's old enough, you'll garner down votes or worse, your posts and comments get automatically removed.
Why?
To many Redditors, this place is a community built on activity. The "coin" of the land here is your account, and how much you've contributed to the Reddit community at large reflected in post and comment karma.
As a general rule, Redditors dislike the creation of accounts specifically to fund raise or to make requests. It makes it seem like these people simply treat Reddit as some sort of magical internet wallet, and that doesn't win many friends.
The other reason why new accounts are so disliked is that they're often alternate accounts of established users, in order to hide their activity from people they know. While we do sympathize with those of you who have valid reasons, this privilege is often abused by those who create disposable accounts to scam people for a quick buck.
So if you're new to Reddit, welcome! Spend some time and look around for something that catches your interest and chat it up with others and become part of the community!
However if you're here for the sole reason of making requests in a hurry, please be aware your pleas for help will likely be ignored.
​
**REMEMBER, CREDIBILITY AND COMMUNITY IS EVERYTHING!**
​
For this reason, the mods will not post anything on behalf of any user that does not meet account requirements.
_____
Account Requirements
All accounts must meet BOTH of the following:

1. Account age of 90 days or older.
2. *Comment* karma of 250 or greater.

NOTE: We are specifically looking for *COMMENT* karma. The karma value you are probably looking at is a COMBINED value, consisting of both Link/Post karma plus Comment karma.
​
To view your karma breakdown:

• Mouse-hover over your username on desktop. This works for both the old and redesigned web site.
• On the official Reddit app for iOS, view your profile, then tap the karma value shown.
• On the official Reddit app for Android, view your profile, then tap the karma value shown.
• On the unofficial Reddit App for Android, RIF (Formerly known as Reddit is Fun), your breakdown is listed on your profile screen.

​
The following circumventions will result in a ban, and get you added to the UniversalScammerList:

• Using a karma farming subreddit, such as Karma4You. Also posts and comments asking for karma or complaining that you don't have enough karma counts as karma farming.
• Unsolicited private messaging to push your campaign.
• Posting your campaign on someone else's post. (EVEN ON THIS ONE!)

Comment Karma is directly correlated to how many comments you leave plus/minus any points as people upvote a popular comment or downvote an unpopular comment.
_____
Rules
​

1. Posts must be more than just a link to your campaign. Be descriptive! Be prepared to show evidence if needed. If the mods find it lacking, it may be removed.
2. Please Flair your posts, once created. If you don't know how, just let the mods know and we'll do it for you.
3. Only 1 GoFundMe per user. We want you have some personal connection to the campaign, and not submit multiple GFMs simply because they were in the news.
4. Reposts are allowed once a week. If a repost comes up too early, the newest one(s) will be removed.
5. Crowdfunding sites only. No crypto currency, direct PayPal, cash transfers, trading or loans. Our scope is only GoFundMe and other crowd sourced funding sites.
6. Don't PM people to make requests. If you receive an unsolicited private message, please let us know!
7. Do not post politically-related campaigns. They're just too divisive. Also, they're too often used to scam people (remember the campaign to fund Trump's wall?).
8. Trolling will not be tolerated and offending users will be banned.
9. Don't bug the mods for an exception to the account requirements. None will be given. If you attempt to circumvent the requirement by karma farming or by commenting on someone else's post, your account will be banned.
10. No posting for other Redditors. No Alts. This is viewed as a circumvention of the requirements and the accounts in question will be banned. (New Oct 22, 2020)
11. No referral links. A referral link like that isn't likely to solve anyone's financial problems in the time frame they need. (New March 16, 2024)

Any referral links posted here will be flagged as spam, and may trigger your account to be added to Reddit's site-wide spammer list.
_____
Supporting Information Requested
We aren't the government. We aren't a court of law. We definitely don't want you to give out information that could lead to identity theft. However, some campaigns are more successful when they have additional documentation.
This includes:
- Pet related requests: Photos of your pet in question, with your username on a handwritten note in the picture. This helps show you actually own the pet in question.
- Education related requests: Documentation showing enrollment or acceptance if you are asking for assistance for school.
- Redacted bills showing your situation. In some cases, a donor may prefer to pay a creditor directly on your behalf, so be prepared and find out if that is available to you.
- If you are sharing a campaign for a registered certified non-profit organization (such as a 501c3 or NGO), you should say so in the post, and it should list that status on the campaign page/web site.
- Or other relevant documentation that can help establish credibility.
- At minimum, an unobstructed selfie photo of yourself(the submitter) holding a handwritten note of your username is required if none of the above apply.
Low effort posts that simply say to the effect of, "everything is listed in the GoFundMe" (or less!) will be removed.
_____
Advice On Making Your Campaign Go Further
Not all crowdfunding campaigns are the same, but here are some suggestions.

• Make sure your campaign has been shared among your Facebook friends! You might think it's embarrassing, however your friends and family are more likely to care than internet strangers.
• Show that you've exhausted all the other possibilities. A lot of potential donors don't like to give money when it seems like the requester's first and only solution is to simply throw someone else's money at the problem. Nobody is going to take your word when you literally only say, "but I've done everything!", when the actual reality is probably closer to "I've done everything I can think of", which arguably is NOT everything.
• Show that there's a plan to use the money wisely. Often people have campaigns for their business ideas, but it doesn't really seem like they thought it all the way through. Tell people what steps you've taken so far, and what you're going to do next.
• Be open to critics. If there's something that people ask about, you should not be dismissive. Provide more detail. There's a possibility that they know something you don't, or they have something different about their own experience that might be useful to you. If you simply brush off your critics, it shows objectively that you're not doing everything possible.
• Review your own campaign with the mindset of a potential donor. Ask yourself, "Would I give money to this?" Or get a friend to review it for you.

_____
Questions?
Please don't hesitate to ask the mods!
​
... Unless you're trying to ask for an exception to the account requirements.

Hello everyone, I've been wanting to make this post for a while and now here we are ! This is a long post but ENJOY !!!
Another Eden is now 7 years old which means many stories, characters and an entire world...or rather time periods/timelines that currently exists. So here's the question, what's your Another Eden Hall of Fame ? Both Meta and Non Meta related.
Note: Remember that what I'm about to write is based SOLELY ON MY OPINION but I'm interested to see what my fellow Residents of Time's Forgotten Keep think ! Without further ado, let's start:

1. Best Story Protagonist (Excluding Aldo): Nona
   Another Eden is composed of many stories and they are NOT always centered around Aldo which is the game's protagonist, few examples of that being Deirdre in the Knights Episodes/Nona in Apocrypha and Wryz from the recent Wryz Saga. My pick is Nona because she has BY FAR the best character development and to me she took the spotlight in the entire Apocrypha. In fact I'd argue that if Another Eden had the "Choose your Protagonist" Aldo would be the Male Protagonist and Nona would be the Female one because she's litterally the Protogonist of Apocrypha and it can be regarded as a "Game within a game" so yea that says alot.
   
2. Best Side Story: Western Mythos (Song of Sword and Wings of Lost Paradise)
   The Western Mythos is the best story in my opinion (And actually alot of players do agree with me on that). The Zerberiya continent, the world, the cast of characters and the story is phenomenal from it's 1st chapter to the finale. I know that people will tell me Future Mythos is also great but it doesn't have THAT impact on me as much as the Western Mythos did.
   

Which is why (Rant Warning!) WFS ! WHERE'S MY WESTERN EXPANSTION !!! WHY DID YOU FORGOT THAT ZERBERIYA EXISTS ?? WE NEED MORE OF PEAK !! That is hurting me alot !! The only story which is a close second is Apocrypha but Western Mythos is the far better one and I'm thankful for Another Eden for creating that. I do hope that the Highly Rumored Eastern Mythos would be just as good because speaking of...

1. Best Main Story: Main Story Part 2 (Tales of the East)
   There are currently four Main Stories: Main Story Part 1;Main Story Part 1.5 (Ogre Wars) ;Main Story Part 2 (Tales of the East) and the currently Main Story Part 3 (Into the Hollow).
   In my mind while having played all of those stories, I still find myself being drawn and attached to the Eastern Continent ! Because I truly love the setting ! WFS clearly nailed it and even so when you consider the amount of "Eastern" Personality characters that are in the game which is the highest in the game at 30 characters (Not counting AS/ES). Heck I'm currently replaying the Main Story Part 2 because I enjoyed it even better than the current Part 3 which from a pure gameplay sure it's better but in terms of Story/Characters and OST then to me nothing beats the Garulea Continent (Present/Past/Future and Underworld) !
   

Alot of people in the sub love Eastern characters, most notably u/NoWaifuN0Laifu who like Hozuki, an Eastern sensual Fox Lady so yea there's that.
This is in part why I'm extremely hyped for Eastern Mythos and I can't wait for it ! And Yukino Alter (One of the main things keeping me attached to Another Eden)

1. Best Character Quest: Melissa
   Melissa is by far the best Character Quest and ask any veteran player and he'll tell you that. It's also the darkest and the saddest one in the entire game and it's special in the fact that Aldo IS NOT PRESENT in it at all ! Imagine THAT ! I won't say more because of spoilers but if you don't have Melissa you can just search on Youtube as her CQ is there and you can watch it ! If you have her but have not played her quest...WHAT ARE YOU WAITING for ? DO IT !
   
2. Best Character: Yukino
   This is subjective and my AE subreddit flair checks out, I love Yukino so much since her introduction, apart from me having a thing for women/girls with Ice powers, her story and how she was created (Also she's Eastern as well so another point !) also her relationship to Tsukiha so no need to say more!
   
3. Best Antagonist/Villain: Guildna (Main Story Part 1)
   The reason why to me Guildna is the best villain is NOT what you think it is ! Another Eden is a game centered around stories Beyond Time and Space there I said it but while there are really good villainy characters like for instance the Empress/Emperor of the Land of Mi and Shin (Again Eastern !) Garneli and Genshin but Guildna is special because he made me appreciate Main Story Part 1 alot more then the other characters, it tells you what happened if Guildna makes some impactful decisions in the storyline. Besides without Guildna there's no Aldo and therefore no Another Eden !
   
4. Best Cat Companion: Kuchiba
   I love the Siamese Cat Breed and Kuchiba IS the only one in the game in whom I didn't change ever since I found her years ago in Vermillion Road (Another Eastern Reference, see what I told you)
   
5. Best NPC: Some Guy
   He's Scott literally everywhere in the game. From the past to the future, from Zerberiya to Garulea, heck even in the Hollow you'll find him ! There's no way I make a list without appreciating "Some Guy" and his deeds to the game.
   
6. Best Frog: Cyrus (He's Eastern aswell ! I tell you this is why the Eastern Setting is THE BEST !!)
   
7. Best Main Cast Character: Guildna
   
8. Best Mascot: Varuo
   If Moke wasn't released as a playable Sidekick he would have been my pick but now I have to choose the 2nd best IMO and that's Varuo. The Iconic Cat mascot in the game.
   
9. Best Boss: Caroline and Justine (From Persona 5 Royal part 2 Collab)
   This boss used to be the hardest boss in the game for a long time and for good reason as it has alot of HP stoppers and has TONS of HP, while the boss has been powercrept and now easy with the recent units...back than it was a pain, another close second would be the Toova AS Manifest Battle which used to be the hardest Manifest fight in the entire game because of Toova AS insane fixed DMG and RNG involved.
   
10. Best OST: エルの唄～メリナ Song of Sword and Wings of Lost Paradise ED ~ The Stifling Song Melina Edition
    The best theme for the best story in the game, everytime I hear the OST I unconsciously start humming and even start tearing up because it's JUST THAT GOOD and after playing the Western Mythos and knowing what the lyrics means...man it hits hard ! A close second is Apex Logic and Cardinal Scales ED ~ Immaculate Full Version but let's be real ! The game is full of the best OST in a game ever !
    
11. Best Battle OST: Apex Logic and Cardinal Scales ~ Last Notes of the Battle Song Alter Dewey Boss Theme.
    This one is hard to choose as the game is packed full of Bangers in the Battle Theme departement but this one personally gets me all hyped...besides even you didn't reach that part of the game it still hypes you up ! A close second is First Knight and The Holy Sword ~ Dear My Dearest -Prayer of the Holy War- as I loved the Knights Episode Story so much and love the plot twist which leaves to this battle.
    

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Now let's go to the Meta:

1. Best Free Character: Nona AS
   Seriously she's by far the most flexible free character in the game, yea sure it takes a bit to get her but she can give 1/3 of her stats to anyone and she can mold her kit into the unit she's devoted to including zone setting/element and attack type change etc... She's even more good when used with Aldo (And it's canon aswell as she's devoted to Aldo and loves him so much which he also does (Not in a friend way btw)) and we know SA Aldo is OP especially at 255 Light so yea !
   
2. Best Zone Setter: Iphi
   To qualify for The Best, a unit doesn't just has to set a zone but it needs to have OP effects with the zone setting skill/VC and to me no one who's better at that than Iphi, her zone setting skill Walpurgisnacht is seriously broken: First of all the skill is Pre-emptive; you get the best elemental zone (Shade zone); you get Blood Contract which gives you survivability and Lunatic Risktaker; you get 5T Magic Focus and if you recast it, you get Kaleido switch to Shade element for 1T for all units...ALL OF THOSE in a single skill and moreso when you realise that these are all skills you usually see in Stellar Awakening Locked-Behind recent units in a unit released a year ago
   
3. Best Damage Dealer (DPS): Xianhua
   Before Xianhua got released and broke the DPS meta, Yakumo and Sesta used to dominate that market but now Xianhua is the best end of question ! The reason being that her DPS potential is not locked behind her SA skill as most recent units does.
   
4. Best True Tank: Radias AS
   Some people might argue that Radias AS is being powercrept but to me a Tank is more than just high HP/DEF/DMG Mitigation via Shield or Debuffs but to me a Tank in AE needs to have Guard and Rage and to me Radias AS is still the best one even if she's now almost 2 years old. While Alma AS is alot more recent and has all of those she's more of a Secondary DPS/Support than a tank and her Guard is conditional; Soira AS doesn't have Guard;Anabel ES doesn't have Guard nor Rage and Prai is constrained by Stun after Guard
   
5. Best Support: Myunfa Alter
   I tried alot of units but to me no one can do support/sustain in the entire game than Myunfa Alter, seriously her kit is a dream to every one, she has everything you can think of, YEP EVERY.SINGLE.SUPPORT.EFFECT in her kit. If you have the fourth slot (80 light) she's even better, she support the entire party but more so the unit on her right:
   

* She can heal HP and MP and reduce MP consumption.
* She can tank (Tho not with Guard but with DMG mitigation such as -50% DMG taken, a 2000 Max HP Shield and insane debuffs + Buff END/SPR).
* She can set Earh/Magic Zone (3 Staff users+) and can awaken any zone.
* She can give Magic and Singular Focus.
* She can give Weapon Type DMG and Weakness Multiplier.
* She can give Status and Knockback Immunity.
* She set 3T pain/poison ignore res.
Yes everything I said above is in her kit, what's more is that she can do most of these preemptively and do you know what's more insane ! She's not bound by the Stellar Awakening System !

1. Best Healer: Anabel ES
   She can heal 50% HP/15% MP but unlike Radias AS which can also do it in a counter, if you put her in Guiding Light she gets +50% DMG and Healing meaning she can potentially heals 100% HP ! Something only seen in EX Attacks in ES characters and that one requires complex setting.
   
2. Best Pain/Poison Setter and DoT (Damage over Time) user: Pom AS
   A Best Pain/Poison setter doesn't just have to set p/p ignore res as most units can do that but can use p/p as DoT (Damage over Time) and no one can do it better then Pom. Heck 4⭐ Pom has been known for her gimmick of giving p/p if you have the appropriate equipment and there's Grasta Ores that gives +50% DMG if user is inflicted with Pain/Poison so yea.
   
3. Best AF user: Miyu ES
   To qualify for this the unit has to benefit more from using AF (Another Force) either by doing more DPS in AF or get easy AF Combo Multiplier, it's been known that Thunder units are the ones who can use AF efficiently and while the current Meta revolves around DMG outside AF, some units only shines in AF and Miyu ES is just that, a close second would be Victor AS but he can be tricky to use as you need the AF Combo to 1000% for him to deal 7300% DMG Multiplier but in a Thunder Team with high SPD it's possible.
   
4. Best Singer: Milsha AS
   While Singing has been powercrept by Praying, I still use Singing units from time to time and Milsha AS is by far the best from the best, seriously her 2 songs can give different Lunatic to the entire party depending on the Song being user (Sacrifice and Risktaker) and this effect can co-exist with other lunatic.
   
5. Best Praying unit: Toova ES
   This one is hard as most Praying units are OP ! However for me Toova ES takes the crown by a slight margin, just set her pray and forget about her and if you have a unit which can Cover (Iphi is most used with her) then you don't have to worry about her taking DMG and breaking Prayer.
   

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Phew This essay took me 3 hours to write but that's how much I love Another Eden even tho the game's questionable direction does leave alot to be desired, I hope you enjoyed reading and I want to see everyone's opinion

This is my in-depth notes while watching the full length dfv meme video compilation by roaring pika this morning.
https://x.com/roaringpika/status/1791834694704591155?s=46
It’s an hour long and way easier to understand all together like this.
These notes come from watching every ppshow this week and taking my favorite bits of tinfoil from the community into one fairly simple look into the story dfv is telling us without getting too deep on possible tinfoil, it’s just laid out plain and simple here.
Tldr; this is a very long post. I made notes about the last 30 minutes of the compilation and it feels very bullish.
Here goes:
(I’ll add my notes for the first 30 minutes soon.)
About 30 minutes in someone asks, “where you been”, he says “waiting”, what about getting caught? “All part of the plan.”
Then there’s usual suspects movie with the goofy meme “I’ll fuckin do it again”.
——
Jake texting Keith, hilarious (is this about our Jake2b and the story PP had about accidentally going to a gay bar around the first pulte event? So funny with the guy with 600 memes and basically joking that he became a full blown psycho with the memes.
Tell me where the freaks at - epic pump up music. (Psyched on us? Finding other freaks to vibe with.)
Guy looks out the window, then the Teddy in a chair (might have just been a response to Cramer being a smartass). Then Hank (Jim Carrey) starts to lose it as the stock price keeps going down, his alter ego comes out.
Truman show, he’s trying to escape, they say “he’ll turn back he’s too afraid”. They hit him with everything they’ve got but he knows it’s all fake. He says, “is that the best you can do??” (I think this is clearly about fake price movement, trying to keep us trapped in the illusion)
“Fury is a game where every boss fight feels like the final boss. They taunt you, they demand you get back in your prison cell, they pound you into a pulp and they even make you doubt the righteousness of your own quest towards freedom. But the soundtrack man, it keeps egging you on. To whoop some ass!” PP theme music drops. Holy shit.
(This one is obviously talking about us, I cried because I was so happy when I heard this one)
——
The Bullet one talking about time, cause and effect, “don’t try to understand it, just feel it”. “Instinct, got it.”
Morpheus teaching neo it’s all fake. Just before that scene he says, “you think that’s air you’re breathing?” … “Again!”
Alice says “But I don’t want to go among mad people.” The cat replies, “Most everyone’s mad here. You may have noticed I’m not all there myself.” Neo waking up again in the 4th movie.
Alice going down a rabbit hole into wonderland.. psychedelic music and dancing. (That’s us going down the rabbit hole thinking we’ve gone mad but loving every minute of it.)
Next scene guy running and falls over, music says “I lost myself.”
Shawshank, they find the tunnel he made. In 2021 Kitty escaped prison. All they found of him was some Reddit posts, tweets, and an old live stream. Investing is the study of pressure and time. That’s all it takes really, pressure and time. That and a keen goddamn activist.
A man will do anything to keep his mind busy in prison. Turns out kittys favorite activity was handing out memes, a handful at a time (the dirt for the tunnel and the tinfoil that’s helped us dig our way to freedom). Kitty did as he was told, buffed that financial education to a high mirror shine. (I think he’s been getting ready for something big and these memes are just a countdown.)
Bruce Willis. “No, THIS is the Kansas City shuffle.” (An advanced form of confidence trick where the mark is aware of being involved in a swindle and believes that he or she can outsmart the swindler; however, this is all part of the trick, and by attempting to retaliate, the mark unwittingly assists the con artist.) Hedge funds are the mark and dfv/rc are playing a con, the bear trap?
——
Pay attention to what I say, I choose my words carefully and I never repeat myself. The cat looks at the camera.
Michael from the office - It’s Britney bitch. And I am back. Cut to Britney Spears - I must confess I still believe. When I’m not with you I lose my mind. Give me a sign (like how we’re always asking for a sign?? (with the alien g from signs all red like a gme logo giving birth). Hit me BABY one more time!
Goosebumps all the papers fly out of the briefcase right when we get like 200 new dockets clawing back money from 90 days before bbby bk. Bear beware… you’re in for a scare…
Then it’s Abbi from Broad city dancing all over the place and she’s obsessed with bed bath and beyond in the show. There’s also the scene where the other girl is dancing behind a colored blanket with the same logo as HBC and then the next scene she’s tied up. Then they’re dancing again.. and naked then then only in shorts. Naked shorts?
We’ll never survive unless we’re a little crazy. The modern investor unleashes the animal within to take on the big city - that’s gotta be us apes?
What kind of person are you? The kind that sees signs, sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Is it possible that there are no coincidences? The kid holds up a baby monitor. They find a crop circle and it’s two GameStop logos turned in different directions (maybe rc turned GameStop around) and then another one with a long line and a baby gme logo (is gme about to have a baby?!)
Why make something disposable like an investment thesis when you can make something that lasts forever, like a GameStop meme? (It says “Reality” at the bottom of this clip, lol)
Jack Nicholson in the shining (music playing it’s just a matter of time before I lose my mind it’s also a place in ready player one where they have to take the leap not taken, the leap of faith, a kiss). “Make a lot of memes today?” Lol
Can’t stop what’s coming. Kicks some ass.
——
I got both hands off the wheel, the cops are coming. I listen to the music with no fear, you can hear it too if you’re sincere. Cuz I’m a punk rocker yes I am. (song: punkrocker by the teddybears)
Rock ain’t about doing things prefect! Who can tell me what it’s really about? Sticking it to the man! If you wanna rock, you gotta break the rules.
Two cars racing, one plays chicken with a truck and then cut to bojack horseman talking on stage right before they almost crash (stalking horse? Looks just like he horse from 1, 2 switch that GameStop tweeted the minute the stalking horse deadline was up.)
Now you may only see a pile of boring forms and numbers, but I see a story (us going through the dd and maybe holly etlin talking about there’s a story here but it’s not mine to tell)
Listen to this song, it’ll change your life.
(Song is don’t fear the reaper - so don’t be afraid of death, funny because of the cowbell, maybe cowbell is involved in the tinfoil but at the end of the song lyrics not shown in the clip they say: don't be afraid, Come on, baby (and she had no fear) And she ran to him (then they started to fly) They looked backward and said goodbye)
Big Lebowski dude is investigating and finds the drawing of Jackie tree horn and it’s just a guy with a raging erection with the name cohen at the top of the paper. (I think this means rc is ready to fuck)
Jason borne is telling the run Lola run chick he can’t run with her, he has to be careful because people are after him. He says I gotta figure it out. She says well then figure it out. They drive into a parking garage through the wrong way (where it should say exit it says exit strategy and he enters through the exit, parks and walks away, as in “what’s an exit strategy”)
Then it looks like maybe him and rc just waiting and dealing with some bs.
Then there’s the Backstage roaring cat perhaps. The girl says ima stick beside him.
Not sure about everyone shooting each other but someone said maybe because he wrote it and manifested it?
——
Then the dress one “this is art, get it?” Was apparently two minutes after hey Ross and some others were talking about that dress on a space call.
I’m a United States gamestop memer. Aren’t those the guys that go crazy and come back with an arsenal of memes and blast everybody? Sometimes. Price action keeps coming and coming… and then it’s GameStop earnings week! (6/5 aftermarket)
Always sunny scene maybe like a peek into how crazy he’s been feeling not being able to talk to anyone for three years?
He can’t speak or he’ll get in trouble.
Alladin scene (alladin name of trading algo. He also says next time I’ll use a nom de plume - pen name) all I gotta do is jump! (The theme of taking a leap of faith again)
Dreyfus billionaire family (no idea but she’s dancing having a great time)
You can’t handle the truth (code red has to do with a worm/virus, maybe they’re about to unleash something that destroys several companies that are short? And it’s pretty funny)
Beavis and butthead sex for dummies (to me it says rc and dfv are ready to fuck but also cex means centralized exchanges which are also for dummies)
Oceans 11, (theme is a heist. We’re all looking at each other like what’s about to happen and then the last guy is just looking at boobs, seems to describe a group like us lol)
Bernard from westworld can’t see the bear thesis (because in the movie he’s programmed not to but irl it’s because there isn’t a thesis!)
“That’s not a thesis,” pulls out huge knife, “that’s a thesis.”
The gme galaxy on the cat collar says deepfuckingvalue so I think he’s saying it’s still deep value and we often made memes about the black hole of gme absorbing the rest of the market into it so maybe that’s it.
Whats in the box? What’s in the box??? (What’s the plan??? RC not telegraphing his plans)
Guy looks at all the memes - she asks “is it not good?” “It is miraculous.” (That’s us loving every second of this. Thank you dfv.)
And so.. you just RAN. Forest gump runnin’ (gme gonna just keep runnin’)
you go backwards but then you go forwards again… you go backwards… then he walks out of the woods.. (are we out of the woods now? Done going backwards?)
We’ll see. The Zen philosophy story - kid breaks leg, oh that’s bad, can’t go to war, oh now it’s good etc - (I think he’s saying to be zen, we’re gonna win, but this message goes deeper:
We don’t always know what is good or bad. Breaking your leg isn’t good or bad, those are just judgements in our mind. We don’t know what the future holds. Almost anything can be a good thing or a bad thing, all we can do is accept life and how things play out without judgement.)
We’ll see.
Then the boy is saying bye to ET, the music says I’ve really enjoyed my stay, but I must be movin on. (DFV going silent again until this all plays out.)
——
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He’s saying “we fuckin won fellas! Be zen, and we’ll see this all play out soon enough.”
I think the heavy use of good movies and music and video games may also be hinting at gamestops nft marketplace May reopen to sell those 3 things as NFTs by partnering with blockbuster and some musicians.
LFG 🚀 I’ll see you regards on the moon.