Finally decided to switch from using the old Samba Backup Addon to the built-in Network Share and Backup features to try them out. Thought it would be relatively straightforward...it was NOT...
HA would not let me add the share with the unhelpful error of:

2024-05-11 15:28:06.896 ERROR (MainThread) [supervisor.mounts.mount] Mounting HABackup did not succeed. Check host logs for errors from mount or systemd unit usr-share-hassio-mounts-HABackup.mount for details. 

Once I determined where I had to go to find that log (System/Logs>>Select "HOSTS" from TOP-RIGHT), I found the following even more cryptic errors:

2024-05-11 19:11:00.301 deb-ha kernel: CIFS: Attempting to mount \\##SERVER##\ha_backup 2024-05-11 19:11:00.301 deb-ha kernel: CIFS: VFS: No username specified 2024-05-11 19:11:00.498 deb-ha systemd[1]: Mounting usr-share-hassio-mounts-ha_backup.mount - Supervisor cifs mount: ha_backup... 2024-05-11 19:11:00.499 deb-ha mount[360013]: mount: /usshare/hassio/mounts/ha_backup: bad option; for several filesystems (e.g. nfs, cifs) you might need a /sbin/mount. helper program. 2024-05-11 19:11:00.499 deb-ha mount[360013]: dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call. 2024-05-11 19:11:00.499 deb-ha systemd[1]: usr-share-hassio-mounts-ha_backup.mount: Mount process exited, code=exited, status=32/n/a 2024-05-11 19:11:00.499 deb-ha systemd[1]: usr-share-hassio-mounts-ha_backup.mount: Failed with result 'exit-code'. 2024-05-11 19:11:00.499 deb-ha systemd[1]: Failed to mount usr-share-hassio-mounts-ha_backup.mount - Supervisor cifs mount: ha_backup. 

I look high and low and could not find anything that worked to solve the issue. Thinking it was a permissions issue or a syntax error for the UI dialog, I tried creating another Public Share without any change in error. I even received a different error once that said something to the effect of "blank username not allowed" which was weird since I was definitely typing in a username.
For whatever reason, I keyed in on the only part of the log that tried to point to a solution:

you might need a /sbin/mount. helper program 

And searched google for that, finding a link to some 7 year old reference on AskUbuntu pointing someone to install cifs-utils.
After thinking about it for a minute, I realized that I was running HA-Supervised on Docker in a Debian install (the only supported Supervised install). I thought I'd check to see if that package was installed and it was not. So i ran sudo apt install cifs-utils and tried to add the share again. Success!!!
Such a silly error that took way to long to solve, but knowing the risks of going supervised vs HAOS, I have only myself and my lack of detail to blame!!

I sent the following to all of my senators, the insurance commissioner, the governor, and basically anyone in perceived power in attempt to stir up conversation and make BCBS uncomfortable. I encourage you guys do the same!! We can’t not try!
To whom it may concern, My name is Carly Jo Bolster, I am 29 years old and have been type 1 diabetic for 8 years. In the last few years, I have started a family and attempted to be a stay-at-home mom. I say attempted because of the cost of living—or should I say survival—for myself is astronomical. I am writing this to say my piece and hopefully reach someone who makes decisions at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina or within the government to plead my case, and all the diabetics across the United States, to be able to live affordably. I will be touching on the cost of insulin, the cost of insulin pump supplies, and the necessity and cost of CGMs or “continuous glucose monitors”. Insulin is a life sustaining drug. If my blood glucose were to get up to, say, 680 then the only option to save my life and keep me from going into DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) would be insulin. This example is the precise situation that happened to be upon my diagnosis in 2016 when I was rushed into the ICU. Since that day, I’ve had to use insulin every day. There have been many advancements in the cost of insulin, especially since Eli Lilly put a cap on vial insulin at $35 dollars per vial. To me, this is the bare minimum. The greed and selfishness demonstrated by these drug companies, namely Novo Nordisk, is palpable. The cost to manufacture insulin is $2-$4 dollars per vial (https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/the-price-of-insulin-a-qanda-with-kasia-lipska/#:~:text=But%20it%20takes%20only%20an,every%20step%20of%20the%20way. (https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/the-price-of-insulin-a-qanda-with-kasia-lipska/#:~:text=But%20it%20takes%20only%20an,every%20step%20of%20the%20way.)). Average costs of insulin per vials can be upwards of $250 for your “preferred brand”. There are only really 3 insulin manufacturers, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi. These 3 companies take it upon themselves, along with the help of private insurance, to create this nonsensical price for the lifesaving hormone. Dr. Banting, the man who isolated insulin for the first time and thus saved the lives of millions of diabetics, sold his patent for $1 to attempt to keep the drug accessible to every diabetic. Sadly, I fear Dr. Banting is perpetually rolling in his grave at the price gouging that is going as on to this day for something that I need to live day to day. At the beginning of 2022, my monthly cost of Novolog insulin was $657. It was unavoidable and inhumane. The atrocities don’t end there. An insulin pump is a wearable device that is used to deliver insulin to my body over the period of 3 days. During 2022, BCBSNC decided, without warning, to stop covering my insulin pump halfway through the year. The company I was purchasing supplies through at the time, Edgepark, wanted me to pay around $700 a month for my pump supplies. This was especially rough for me as they had already shipped the box and ran my credit card without clearing it with me first. Understandably, the company wouldn’t take the pods back as a return. Nonetheless, I needed the supplies. To catch you up, my tab that year per month was up to $1357 (just for insulin and pump supplies). I attempted to switch to insulin pens to attempt to save money. The price for NovoLog flex pens and Tresiba (fast acting and long-lasting insulins, I need both for daily survival without an insulin pump) fluctuate month to month with no rhyme or reason. Additionally, my A1C went up by over 2 points due to the inaccuracy that the pens cause. Not only was it expensive, but it was affecting my health. The inconsistency and unreliability of BCBSNC was and is causing unending stress. Today, May 8, 2024, I spent about 2 hours on the phone with BCBSNC because my insurance agent and I were misled. When I was shopping for health plans at the end of March 2024, she found a gold plan that considered my pump supplies a tier 2 drug, which would put the cost at $35 per month. Once on the plan, they changed the pump to a tier 3 drug, $60 dollars a month. Only upon arriving at Walgreens did I discover that it isn’t being considered a drug, it is being considered pump supplies, which are run differently through insurance, resulting in a cost of $222.10. I believe the term I like for this was “bait and switch”. The fact that the pump supplies are listed and written as a prescription on the formulary but not billed to insurance that way is frankly ridiculous and shouldn’t be allowed. Furthermore, I’d like a real answer from BCBSNC on why it is being listed on the formulary if it isn’t being considered a drug. Not a run around or political answer, I want a cut and dry response on why it is like this. An explanation for the tier changes after getting on the policy would be nice as well. Continuous glucose monitors or CGMs are vital to any diabetic’s lifestyle and daily operations. It checks our glucose every 5 minutes to keep us on track and know when we need to make changes to our basal and bolus rates for our insulin. I’ve been told by BCBSNC that it is not considered medically necessary nor is it considered DME (durable medical equipment) so it is treated differently when being run through “insurance”. This alone is an uneducated and absurd take. I don’t personally know any diabetic that can or will go without a CGM. Personally, my Dexcom is crucial to me as I can’t even feel when my blood glucose levels are going too high. High glucose levels can lead to DKA if untreated. Don’t even get me started on the cost of test strips for a glucometer—that is not a viable variable for this equation. Insurance, on it’s whole, is a scam. The US healthcare system is also a scam. I say this confidently because of my experience with it over the last 8 years. I was diagnosed the week of my wedding. If I had any idea what was to come, I wouldn’t have filed any paperwork stating we were married. My husband is offered insurance through his work, so that disqualifies me from any marketplace health insurance plans, any subsidies, or any help in general. However, if I were to join his plan it would cost over $1500 a month for the premium alone. The plan is not great for prescription coverage though, and with a high deductible, the cost per month would be astronomical. Although we have a decent income, I can’t think of many of my neighbors, friends, or family who would be comfortable spending what would likely and reasonably be about $2500 a month for healthcare and medical supplies. Right now, my cost per month is $1132 including my premium, pump supplies, CGM and insulin. Despite BCBSNC’s delusions, that’s an asinine amount of money and not feasible to lead to a sustainable household. As I learned today though, there is no alternative, and I am stuck with it until the end of the year when I can look at other policies. Who cares though, really? Not BCBSNC. I do think my husband, daughter, mother, father, sister, nephews, nieces, grandmother, sisters in law, brothers in law, aunts, uncles, friends, coworkers… the list goes on… would care about what happens to me. I’d even say strangers on the street would find my current situation appalling and disgraceful. I fear that the people who make these decisions within the drug companies (Novolog Nordisk), insulin pump companies (Insulet/Omnipod), CGM companies (Dexcom), and insurance companies (BCBSNC), are soulless and money hungry and not care about how inhumane it is to charge what they do for these products. They feign care for the diabetic community when they created such helpful and intuitive devices, and in the same breath slap a retail price sticker on it of $1500 for a month supply. I want BCBSNC to hold accountability for the tears I’ve shed, the thousands of dollars I’ve spent, and the sacrifices I’ve made due to their greed. It’s not moral, not necessary, and downright evil. The ideal outcome for me is to have my insulin pump supplies be considered as they are written in the formulary and charged as a prescription, or at the very least regulated to cost a reasonable amount, CGMs to be considered medically necessary and DME, while also being regulated to cost a reasonable amount, and most importantly, for insulin to have a price cap across the board and be available to all diabetics. The choices that the preceding companies have made impact my daily life in an extremely negative way. I’ve dealt with it the best I could for the last 8 years, but my silence ends today. My name will be everywhere because I intend on speaking out on these issues from here forward.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to having a reasonable resolution be met in the near future for myself and for thousands of diabetics just like me.

ALERT!
The SWARM’s NAZIS & ZIONISTS are uniting as never before, to snuff out the massive EDUCATIONAL awakening of billions who are learning:
(1) Anti-ZIONISM is NOT Anti-Semitism
(2) ZIONISM is RACISM (is Anti-Semitism) in the service of IMPERIALISM
Their strategy is to:
1) SPREAD Anti-Jewish, Pro-Hitler messaging to re-blur the difference between Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism so as to enable ZIONISTS to call Anti-Zionists, Anti-Semites to pass new draconian laws to suppress that awakening;
2) NORMALIZE fascism e.g. Hitler, Mussolini, etc.;
3) CONFLATE all Jews as one group - one class - intentionally not distinguishing between working class Jews who were victims of pogroms, etc. with billionaire Jews eg Rothschilds, etc. who financed ZIONISM and colluded with NAZISM;
4) DESTROY any memory of the heroic efforts of the WORKING PEOPLE of Russia & the Soviet Union who UNITED and sacrificed themselves against the NAZIS, and in fact were the true heroes of WWII;
5) MAKE YOU FORGET how NAZIS & ZIONISTS collaborated to butcher Jewish working people as exemplified in the Warsaw Ghetto.
All of this is being done to perpetuate their political ideology - ZIONISM, NAZISM, BRAHMANISM - that aims to justify why the 0.000001 % must rule over the 8 Billion of us,
So, WE THE PEOPLE, across all races, religions, nationalities, do NOT unite to ShatterTheSwarm.com
Exposing this unholy alliance is the order of the day!
Be The Light,
-Dr.SHIVA

Barca's season could be summed up by Xavi's comments on the press conference following the 4-2 defeat against Girona, in the fourth defeat facing the top two teams.
"The score doesn't show when we have been superior, we had the two games against Madrid and Girona under control, and the result slipped away. I hope we can be more competitive next season, because its impossible like this".
Xavi's team has spent the entire season with mixed feelings of insufficient superiority, false control and denied merit. Whats behind all of this?
Through out the season, the same phrases have been said over and over again to the point we have unwillingly memorized them: effectivity, lack of competitiveness, mistakes, we deserved more, we were better. Concepts that have plagued every single press conference Xavi has had, from August to May, acting as reminders of the limitations of a team hasn't been able to aspire for more.
"I have the feeling we gift games away. Its very difficult to compete like that, but its part of the immaturity of many footballers. I am sad and disappointed" Xavi said after the defeat against Girona.
The numbers don't lie.
This season Barca has had an xG of 1.82 per game, the highest tally in La Liga and as good as it was in 20-21, the final season of Leo Messi with Barca. Barcelona has generated more than the rest of the teams, but has scored far less than it should have. According to OPTA, Barca has scored 2,2 fewer goals than expected. The second time in a decade that Barca has scored less than expected.
Gone are the days of the MSN, when Barca managed to score 25 more goals than expected in the 16-17 season, 117 goals against 92 expected.
After having a record breaking season defensively, conceding only 20 goals, 13.9 less than expected (Barca's best defensive record in a decade), Xavi's Barca has conceded 5.3 more goals than expected, Barca's worst underperformance since AT LEAST 2014.
How is it possible that only one year of being the best defense in Europe its turned to be one of the worst?
Using the numbers as a shield
After losing against Dortmund, Luis Enrique used the xG stats to explain how dominant PSG had been. The french generated 2.6xG, the germans only 0.68.
Barca's main problem has not only been a lack of efficiency in front of goal, which has been incredibly detrimental, but a lack of attitude and identity. Timely errors and mistakes are more prone to occur when the teams foundation is not solid enough, and the players plays with doubts and questions of the game plan.
In the four games against Madrid and Girona, Barca has managed to score 7 goals against 8.4 xG, not a bad return, however they have conceded a total of 13 goals in those 4 games. More than 3 goals per game, the performance has been abysmal. Xavi is correct in saying that Barcelona has generated enough danger to win the games, but that is just looking at the problem on a very surface level.
Against Girona, Barca generated 1.16 xG (Not counting the penalty) before being 2-2. In only half an hour (minute 60-90) Michel's team generated 1.1 xG, almos the same number as Barcelona in an entire hour of game.
In the first game against Girona, at Montjuic, Barca shot way more than Girona, but the quality of the chances was much worse, players shooting from outside the box with one or two players blocking the shot. Girona on the other hand managed to get into genuine goal scoring positions time and again, and that is the reason they managed to score 8 goals against Barca this season, in only 2 games.
- Albert Blaya.
at - BlayaSensat on Twitter

Who am I?

I'm the owner and operator of So-Cal Console Modding. I have completed over 100 "customization requests" on all models of switches. I have a very high standard for my work and stand by my work with a 6 month warranty. I am located in the United States and have a heavy emphasis on fast, high quality service. I typically get the work completed with-in 1-3 days of receiving it.

Why Make a List of Trusted Modders?

While shipping costs are cheap and fast within the US, shipping costs can be quite prohibitive for people in other countries. So I am making a list of reputable installers for other countries. While it is easy to find a modder on eBay or Etsy, finding one that does quality work can be challenging. Often a customer will receive their switch from one of these listings and it will work. The customer then leaves a good review. However, they are unaware that the work done was of poor quality. Then it stops working in 1-2 months. By this time their money is gone, the modder has another good review, and the customer is SOL. I get many repair requests for failed installations done by other modders. I want to provide people with references for people they can trust.

List of Modders:

(this is a new verification program so I am currently accepting applications)

I Would Like to Become a Trusted Modder

My standards are very high so please only apply if you have experience and do good work.
Send me a DM with:

• Your country
• Experience level (# of consoles, #/week, time, etc)
• Turn around times
• Warranty
• Chips used, flex cable/hand wiring, etc.
• Pictures of Your Work on at least 4 different consoles (2 must be OLEDs)
• Best way for customers to contact you

How good is Person B as a theologian?
Person A:
But evolution is transitional.
As a human you are the product of about 50% of your parents DNA with about 100-150 mutations. Mutations in DNA occur in the letters A, T, C, and G (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine) which change as a recipe for the species, so there is no exact point in history in which humans became humans. It was all gradual changes and we just label (and argue) about whether something was human or not. It's like arguing about when blue becomes red in this image http://i.imgur.com/OpIKBPW.jpg
So to believe in evolution and that humans aren't descendants of any animal you would have to believe in a trickster god that

1. evolved non-human ancestors that looked just like your ancestors,
2. then the trickster god created new humans that appeared to be descended from the ancestors but they weren't despite many lines of evidence.

Person B (I'd write down their username but I don't know if that's allowed):

But evolution is transitional.

Yes, it is.

So to believe in evolution and that humans aren't descendants of any animal you would have to believe in a trickster god that

1. evolved non-human ancestors that looked just like your ancestors,
   
2. then the trickster god created new humans that appeared to be descended from the ancestors but they weren't despite many lines of evidence.
   

We don't consider this a trick, just a matter of God being consistent, which is a laudable quality because it is the basis for all scientific thought. Why would God do anything less than create the perfect and most meaningful environment for the first humans?
To do this would be to establish the laws of nature, create the universe, the solar system, the earth, all the events which occurred until abiogenesis, then the evolution of higher forms of life until the planet finally reached the stage where it was most suitable for the form chosen for Adam. Now if the planet is in a form most suitable for Adam, a hominid mammal, why wouldn't God have created all the life whose essence was necessary for ours? (and this is exactly what the old Sufis say, about whom John William Draper was talking about in my quotes in my original post). This view of the Sufis was also elaborated upon here by another redditor, I believe his name is PursuitofKnowledge, I'll copy my statement here:

This was a very common view of the world, especially among Sufis, who made 7 ontological distinctions of soul (mineral soul, vegetable soul, animal soul, personal soul, human soul, and the last two are the secret divine connection (our raw metaphysical souls)).

And what he pasted here:

Some people have cited Islamic thinkers like Ibn Sina and Ibn Khaldun as proof of evolutionary thought having existed in earlier Islamic thought. But Islamic Studies professor, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, explains their observations as follows: “What the traditional Islamic thinkers said is that you have levels of existence of life forms starting with plant life, which is superseded by animal life through the creative power of God, while this animal life also includes plant life within itself. Moreover, plant life itself has many levels not caused by temporal evolution but by the descent of archetypes into the temporal order as is also true of animals. We know, for example, that we have vegetal nerves about which Ibn Sina speaks. In the animal realm we also have a hierarchy; many Muslim thinkers such as al-Biruni and Ibn Sina have written about this matter and have asserted that there are simple life forms and then ever more complicated life forms and that the complicated life forms contain within themselves the simpler life forms. Obviously human beings have a more complicated life form than the monkey, but possess also some of those characteristics we see in the monkey, but this does not mean that we have evolved from the monkey.” (On the Question of Biological Origins, 2006 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/On+the+question+of+biological+origins.-a0157034139)

This is important to note because if we take the traditional Muslims views literally as a materialistic evolutionary theory, they are saying we evolved from monkeys, which doesn't make sense by any evolutionary model (we had a common ancestor). While Al-Biruni touched on natural selection and materialistic evolution (and even Ibn Khaldun to an extent), what the others were talking about was the consistent, cohesive, and poetic model of life on earth as manifested in the essence of Man. If God created everything for Man, and He designed Man in the form we know (bipedal mammalian hominid as a foundation), then it would be inconsistent for the physical application of that abstract essence which occurred in time through many ages to NOT feature these various essences manifested in physical creation because this would defy the very principle of Time. It would be imperfect of God to do otherwise.
You call it a trick because you dislike God and don't want to admit anything good of Him. To us it is the usual: God being perfect. The creation of Adam should have come with the creation of Adam's context (this universe and world) because to do otherwise (as you suggest) would be incomplete.
Within the essence of man is the basis for the entire universe. Our mineral soul (physics, represented in the Earth itself), our vegetable soul (organic chemistry, represented in all the life which first arose), our animal soul, our personal soul (i.e, psychological capacity and differentiation), human soul (morality), and then our divine connection (our metaphysical souls which are not of the material world, which are seat to our free will). In Man this is instantiated in one being, but to create an environment for the being would necessitate drawing out these essences in a process of creation over a period of time according to the same laws of nature by which that being functions which necessitates everything we see (including the independent evolution of animals closest to us in form). This is all deductively derived by medieval Islamic thinkers. It gives you the "why" for evolution (since you think evolution is some kind of trick, it's supposed to be the opposite, the poetic and ordered nature of it is evidence for a Creator since order doesn't spring into material existence of its own accord: what you call the laws of nature are for us the commands of God).
Person A: TL;DR: Occam's razor
Person B: Occam's razor isn't a logical proof. To apply it here, one would have to accept the possibility of a purely materialistic world (even in a deistic type of monotheism), which we do not. So for us, God must exist. After that, our choice of Islam is based on personal conviction that Allah is that Supreme Being we deduce must exist in order for everything else to exist, making the Qur'an His actual command, which then makes the acceptance of the creation of Adam mandatory. We don't accept Islam because of the story of Adam (I mean, I can't say I've ever heard of anyone who said they converted to religion because they liked that story that much).
See my other posts in here regarding the history of Islamic metaphysics.
End of conversation between A and B
I, being a layman, am certainly mesmerized by person B
The issue is that I'm a layman and it doesn't take much to mesmerize me, which is why I'm here

Signed up for Escape From Alcatraz as my first triathlon! This is a super long post and might read kind of diary-y, sorry - there are a couple questions at the bottom (maybe 2/3 down?) if you're not into my stories (I've been told I'm a terrible story teller, so take that for what you will). Definitely a little excited, so it's very much too long. Apologies
Anyway, saw pictures las summer of a buddy of mine that did it last year and I guess you could say it inspired me to finally sign up for it. I've always been fascinated with amazing, infamous, crazy human feats - DB Cooper, the Red Baron (which was my nickname during my wrestling career ), the Alcatraz escape... The story behind the movie Alive, climbing K2/Everest etc. I've been aware of the race for maybe twenty or more years, always thought it would be cool to do.
Never really did I truly think I would, because if I were to get pushed off a boat, I'm definitely more of an "I probably won't die" swimmer. Did swimming lessons as a kid, but never really swam more than maybe 400m at any one time before, which did not go well. And in hindsight was probably one of the most stupid things I've ever done (and I've done more than my share of stupid things). So I always figured 1.5 miles would be out of the question (forgive the unit of measurement switch!)
Anyway, I got selected! Was actually a big surprise. Hemmed and hawed a little bit about the price, about my poor swimming ability, that I should really get ankle surgery, having never actually trained for any long-duration endurance sport... Even though I'm pretty active and am always in a decent level of fitness (example, 2 years ago I decided to run a 10k two days before the event, finishing a respectable 52:24. I don't "go for runs" as part of my fitness.) in addition to the swim, I've never biked more than ~5 miles nor ran longer than 10k... But then I thought to myself: I wrestled at a pretty high level for a pretty long time. I'm definitely a subscriber to the "once you've wrestled, everything else in life is easy" mindset. So I said fuck it and signed up, with 3 simple goals (in order of importance, in case it's not obvious):
1) Don't drown
2) Finish before the boats bring you in
3) Don't use the rafts to rest
I did swimming lessons as a kid, so I can do breast/back/side/front stroke. Unfortunately that's in order of skill I think I have for each, which of course is suboptimal for a swim where you're allowed to utilize any stroke.
Fast forward to my first swim in March. Take my kids to swimming lessons and figured it would be a good spot to test my pace. Thinking to myself that cutoff is an hour, so I need to swim only 1.5 mph to make it under limit... But effectively not even that, because if I'm close, they're probably going to pull in the ones furthest away first. And I walk at like 3+, so definitely should be able to swim half that fast. Wrong. I could not do that at all. My first 50 I looked at my watch, just over 1:10. Before you give me too much credit, that's 50 short course yards. Then I would routinely need 20-45 sec rest after each lap. Ended up only 550 yards in like 20 min. Pace just over 3.5 min per 100y. And that was with like a ten min rest in the middle. Oh shit. I don't typically overestimate my abilities, particularly with something I know I'm not strong at. Definitely figured I would've gotten over half mile during the lesson. Now I'm wondering if I'll be able to finish the swim. I HAVE to finish it. Another part of the reason I signed up was as a challenge to myself. We had recently got a house on Topsail Island, NC, and with my kids, I was never confident enough in my abilities to save them - without major injury to one or both of us - if they got out in the ocean too far, or stuck in a rip current, and couldn't make it back. Still don't know how to diagnose a rip current, so I guess that's another thing I need to learn. But anyway, never did anything about trying to improve my swim, so signing up for the Escape seems like THE MOST logical thing I could've ever done.
At any rate, after realizing exactly how poor I was, i had been mentioning to my therapist how my Dr told me I'm definitely a good candidate for ankle surgery, so if it gets close and I'm not feeling confident for the race, I can always do the surgery and take an injury deferral... And they're like "it just sounds like you're trying to give yourself a reason to not do it." Which of course hearing that helped me kick myself into gear.
Signed up for my local Charlotte Masters program and started swimming a lot. I'm much more efficient now, and recently did an OWS and a local tri event, whose times made me officially confident enough that I'm not worrying if I'll finish before the cutoff (aided now even more that the cutoff is now 75 min). Was even pacing under 2 min per 100 for some of the time at the pool today. Weekends is long course so that's per 100 METERS, keep up with the changes! Doing the Pier to Pier swim next weekend in Wilmington, NC as a final confidence boost, as that swim should be longer than at Alcatraz.
Given my initial goals after signing up, I have been swimming like 3-5x per week for the past two months, sometimes twice a day. Did strength training maybe 3x a week, but I haven't really done much for the other disciplines. Back in March I rode 18 miles (bike leg length at Alcatraz) just to see how long it took, and followed by a run to see how well I can run after a ride. Did the bike in 91 min, and run was 57 (6.4 miles when Alcatraz run leg is 8). I basically wrote off the slow bike time, because I use a shit hybrid commuter type (that's probably too small) I got from Costco like 7 years ago that hasn't been tuned up in a few years (Infinity boss.two women's - I'm male but women's was either cheaper or was all they had in stock). Also that was the only time I'd ever done a length like that. The run started hurting my hip/knee so I didn't finish as much as I wanted. I couldn't get my cadence up where it was supposed to. Come to realize it's probably because my bike cadence was too slow and so recent muscle memory kept my feet plodding.
Did the local tri (750m/18mi/3mi) April 27. Outside of riding to/from work (~1.6 miles) or the pool (~2.1 miles) a couple times a week, I rode exactly 0 times in preparation. I knew my bike was not a great option, so my wife let me use her MTB. I'm sure the wheels have a good bit of rolling resistance, but it is a hard tail so probably not a ton of power loss (but I'm no expert). Anyway I did that 18 miles in 77 min. Thought I'd finish it ~ten min faster.
The run I did maybe a little faster than expected, 3 mi in 24:08… long story short (or, I guess.... long), I finished middle of the pack for novices, but I'm terms of individual splits, 10th on swim, 17 bike, 7 run. I beat Luke Kuechly on the run part, so I'm going to bring that up as often as possible maybe until I die! For you ex-US folks, sorry I don't have an equivalent name that's plays rugby (Luke is a future Hall of Fame NFL player). But anyway, if I were to have been 10th on the bike, that means I saved 6+ minutes, putting me within my goal time (sub 2 hrs). Definitely could feel dehydration an issue on the run with the odd low muscle pain/mini cramping for a bit. Once I got the first aid station and a bit of water it went away. I only had one bottle of water on my person for the bike, and it dropped twice so I think some of it spilled onto the roads anyway (no bike aid stations; I thought there was one).
Onto question stuff....
Now that I'm confident I'll be able to finish the swim, figure it's time to work on the bike. I've read its ~1500 ft elevation gain, and many people walk up some of the hills. That's given me a new goal- NO WALKING THE BIKE. Always figured I would just ride my crap bike to train, and then rent a bike there so I could get used to the feel of the different handlebars, etc. ($80 from local shop), then rent the bike out there ($270). But I just noticed that the local charity bike shop has a couple bikes that would fit me (I'm 6', 182 cm, so the frames they have, have been too small) - a Cannondale Synapse ($650) and a Trek ($450). I should probably upgrade my bike just generally speaking (but definitely if I plan to do more races), but I ride the one I have pretty hard, without worry about having do ride over curbs, or paying attention to the terrain on which I ride, gravel, jacked up sidewalks, etc. I always assumed that it would jack up the rims etc since they have smaller tires. No idea about the Trek, but some googling done, and it seems like the Synapse is a 2012 model. We've been using this shop for years, and it seems like (to me, an ignoramus) they do a good job of replacing parts, tune ups, etc after they get donated, to put them back out to sell. So does it really matter that the bike is that old? I'm not sure if they replace with cheap parts for cheap bikes, and nicer parts for better bikes. Is there much of a difference between bikes to someone who hasn't really done much biking? I can't imagine if I ride the bikes a quarter mile I'll be able to notice something that would be a show-stopper either way.
If I buy a bike to take out there, it would "save" me on ~$350 for purchase (from rentals I no longer need), and I'd have a decent bike when I get back. However when I looked a little more, seems like Southwest charges $75 to ship bikes. And it seems like I'd have to take the bike apart and put it in some sort of special luggage (just a cardboard box?!), which of course would eat more into the 'savings' of just buying a bike. If it fits within the guidelines to not be oversized luggage, I'm not sure how they'd know it's a bike. But alas, I couldn't even take off and put back the wheel of my current bike without messing up how the gears move, so putting it all back I'd most likely have to pay a bike mechanic (or are they free for participants of the event?). So I guess the 'effective' cost to buy a new bike would be around $200-250 less than 'sticker.'
Cannondale: https://www.tripsforkidscharlotte.org/inventory?pgid=k859tcnt-29a029fc-69f3-4d5f-b9b2-bbdad07863f7
Trek: https://www.tripsforkidscharlotte.org/inventory?pgid=k859tcnt-2b4930c3-89a5-4d54-b3bd-d7a34901a844
So I guess bike questions:
1) I've heard many complaints about the way airlines ship bikes - would it be worth it to risk it getting all damaged since it's not like it's any big time, high level bike? And is it a huge pain? I'm not looking to compete here, so I definitely want to avoid huge hassles when possible.
2) Are the used bikes even good for the price? The Synapse seems to be a popular model with a decent price tag relative what I saw on the internet during a 15 minute search, even if old and $200 more than the Trek. Don't know anything about the Trek other than I always thought they were more a MTB name.
Nutrition questions:
Given the race should be (at least for me) under 4 hrs, prob 3.5, I get I should be able to finish the race with just water. Of course definitely don't want to do that. I've been reading generally about on-course nutrition, and figured I'll bring some clif bars, gummy bears, watesome type of Gatorade, and probably some kind of caffeine pill and salt tablet just in case.
1) But with my reading, I did notice a couple things conspicuously absent about people's nutrition plans. Why is that?
a) Protein - Is this because of its high fluid/energy needs to metabolize, so one shouldn't 'waste' on that during races? And/or the body doesn't really repair itself mid-exercise anyway?
b) Fiber - Thought this would be helpful to avoid both GI discomfort, and swings in blood sugar. My understanding is that at a high heart rate (don't know exact), blood stops/slows flowing to digestive system and flows more to muscles to continue fueling them, so I thought that bowel movements wouldn't really be an issue mid race? Or also is it that we are burning such an exorbitant amount of calories per hour that it's practically impossible to not race at a caloric deficit anyway, so worrying about blood sugar swings is lower on the priority list?
2) Outside of that, as mentioned I am not a great swimmer and anticipate I will be swallowing a good bit of the salt water of the bay. Should that impact the the amount of salt tablets/electrolytes that I take? Definitely feel like I don't drink enough, but that should be easy enough to fix, bc it's not like I don't drink because I think I'll feel nauseous.
3) Do people (generally) carry water bottles with them for 8 mile run? There is water and isotonic available at each mile. I anticipate pacing 8 or maybe 9 max min per mile, so I should be finishing that in under 70 min. (8 min/mile is ~5 min/km)
I figure I'll probably burn my last match at the top of the sand ladder, and let the last ~25 mins just be mostly downhill, muscle memory, with the excitement of almost being finished, carrying me to the end.
Thanks all- sorry it's so long, guess I got a little excited!!

Looking for a seedbox for use to maintain ratios on PTs. Currently have about a 40Tb plex library locally, and I'd like to move the downloading/uploading to a different machine. Using current local setup I get around 1.2Gbps up/down but can't keep machine up 24/7. Looking for recommendations if it's worth.

1. Are you OK with direct message offers from vendors?
   NO
   
2. What are your main reasons for wanting a seedbox?
   Seeding, ratios on PTs
   
3. Are you okay with sharing hardware resources with other users [shared] or do you need the seedbox hardware dedicated to just you [dedicated]
   No preference
   
4. Do you want someone else to be responsible for maintaining the seedbox software (operating system, applications) [managed] or do you want to do it all yourself [unmanaged]?
   Someone else
   
5. Please describe your seedbox experience. (You may wish to list any seedbox providers you've been with before.)
   Zero
   
6. Please describe your experience with Linux. (Most seedboxes run Linux and some knowledge of it may be helpful.)
   I can follow prompts, that's it
   
7. What is the high end of your budget? (Please give a specific amount and a currency. "Cheap" might mean something different to one person than it does to another.)
   $15/month
   
8. Do you have preferences or requirements concerning payment? (Paypal, Bitcoin, etc.)
   Bitcoin/Paypal preferred
   
9. Do you plan to use public trackers?
   Mix of private and public
   
10. What kind of connection speed do you need? (Common answers would be 100Mbps, 1Gbps, 2Gbps, 10Gbps.)
    At least 2Gbps
    
11. How much combined upload and download traffic do you expect each month? Include download of files from the seedbox to your local computer. If you don't know, tell us what upload amount per month would realistically make you very happy with your seedbox.
    Most likely 1Tb up/down
    
12. What is the minimum disk space you need?
    Storing 50Tb locally
    
13. Do you require a specific type of mass storage? (HDD, SSD, NVMe SSD) If other than HDD, please explain why you think you need this.
    No
    
14. Do you require a specific torrent client?
    Will be using qBittorrent most likely
    
15. Do you require any other applications on the seedbox? (e.g. Plex, Subsonic, Radarr)
    Don't think so - I have everything set up locally, just using seedbox for download and upload
    
16. Do you require SSH access to the command line?
    Don't know
    
17. Do you require access to a remote desktop?
    Don't think so
    
18. Do you require admin level (i.e. 'root') access? If yes, please explain why.
    Don't think so
    
19. Do you have any other specific requirements?
    Don't think so
    

2.8.5. Sabbe Saṅkhāra Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta:

The Fact of Impermanence (Piyadassi Thera)

They arise and cease, that is their nature: They come into being and pass away, Release from them is bliss supreme. — Mahaa-Parinibbaana Sutta (DN 16)[1]

Anicca (Impermanence) According to Theravada (Bhikkhu Ñanamoli):

"What is impermanent? The five categories [khandha] are impermanent. In what sense impermanent? Impermanent in the sense of rise and fall [udaya-vaya]" (Ps. Aanaapaanakathaa/vol. i, 230).

• Saṅkhāra is the process of constant rise-and-fall.
• Saṅkhāra are sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and thought. They are constantly rising and falling, from the beginning to end, according to their lifespans.

The Buddha uttered the following verses to Sāmāvati:

appamādo amatapadaṃ pamādo maccuno padaṃ appamattā na mīyanti ye pamattā yathā matā

Verse 21-23 - The Story of Sāmāvati (Ven. Weagoda Sarada Maha Thero)
Citta, cetasika and rupa are impermanent. Everything constructed with them is conditioned to be impermanent. An impermanent thing (Saṅkhāra) is ownerless, as it goes on its own accord. Impermanence is a law. It does not hear the cries and prayers of the atta (self/ego). One should accept reality. To be able to accept reality, one needs to train the mind. When the mind is well-conditioned to accept reality, one ends mental suffering.

• Sabbe saṅkhāra anicca (all constructs/activities are impermanence).
• Anicca is dukkha (impermanence is suffering).
• Time and again to begin and end is samsara, the cycle of pain.

The Buddha said that one's imminent duty is to get rid of sakkāyadiṭṭhi. One should contemplate thus, this impermanent metaphysical body is not me. It is not mine. It is not somebody. It is not a being but Paticcasamuppada the law of life (the chain, or law, of dependent origination, or the chain of causation).

Two Types of Dukkha

[The vipassanā Dipani (The Manual of Insight): The Three Parinnas (Mahāthera Ledi Sayadaw)]
[Quote] Dukkha-parinna means either a perfect or a qualified knowledge of the intrinsic characteristic Ill or infelicity [unhappiness; misfortune]. Here Ill is of two kinds:

1. Vedayita-dukkha (Pain-feeling ill).
2. Bhayattha-dukkha (Fear producing ill).

Here Vedayita-dukkha is synonymous with Dukkha-vedana, which is present in the Vedana Triad of Sukhaya-vedanaya-sampayutta- Dhamma, Dukkhaya - vedanaya-sampayutta-dhamma, and Adukkhamasukhaya-vedanaya-sampayutta-dhamma.
Bhayattha-dukkha is synonymous with Dukkha-saccam and with Dukkham, which is present in the three salient features, Anicca, Dukkha, and Anattá. [End quote]

• Will for verbal activity or bodily activity is Vedayita-dukkha,
• Sabbe saṅkhāra dukkha: When three sticks are set upright leaning against one another at their upper ends, each of them depends on, and is depended on by, the other two. As long as one of them remains in such an upright position, so long will all remain in the same position. And, if one of them falls, all will fall at the same time. (construct/activity) is thus synonymous with dukkha.
• All kusala and akusala (wholesome and unwholesome) verbal, mental and physical constructs (activities) are dukkha.

Enjoyment:

There is enjoyment. This knowledge is saññā.
One does not know much about enjoyment. This lack of knowledge is avijjā.
Avijjā-Paccaya Saṅkhāra:

• Enjoyment is mano-saṅkhāra (mental-construct/activity) supported by a convenient (constructive/desirable) support.
• Enjoyment occurs when craving for enjoyment is provided with a convenience. Underneath the enjoyment are craving and clinging, coexisting together.
• When the convenience is cut off, enjoyment is cut off and disagreement (mano-saṅkhāra) arises, and dukkha arises.
• If craving and clinging are cut off, enjoyment is cut off, too, and dukkha is cut off.
• Enjoyment spends too much physical and mental energies.

Mano-saṅkhāra and Citta

• Mano-saṅkhāra: mental Construct/Activity
• Mind leads every time, but it is conditioned/supported by saṅkhāra (i.e. mano-saṅkhāra)
• Enjoyment (sa
• Mano-saṅkhāra triggers the Vaci-saṅkhāra (verbal construct) and Kaya-saṅkhāra (bodily construct)
• These saṅkhāra are Kamma saṅkhāras (except the saṅkhāras triggered by vāsanā).
  • Vāsanā refers to habitual patterns of thought, speech or action that are imprinted in the mind.
  • The habitual way one speaks, walks, eats, behaves, etc. are saṅkhāras with no intention (kamma) and innocent. For example, when scare-pranked, one screams and jumbs irrationally but predictably and laugh spectacularly. And the people watching the show laugh, too.

Mano-Saṅkhāra: Mental Construct & Construction

The Mind Citta Sutta (SN 1:62)

• Citta-Sutta: The world is led by thought （citta） and plagued by it．S.i.39； cf．A.ii.177.
• Sanā and Saṅkhāra work together. Wrong view leads wrong action (akusala kamma) to wrong destination (dugati / duggati).

Avijjā-Paccaya Saṅkhāra

paccaya : (m.) cause; votive; requisite; means; support.

• Ignorance conditions/supports the re-construction (rebirth) of the various mental, verbal and physical activities;

Avijjāya tveva asesa viraga-nirodha, saṅkhāra-nirodho (When such ignorance ceases, it cannot condition the re-construction)

• Avijjā: heedlessness, recklessness, carelessness, lack of attention, ignorance, misperceiving, misunderstanding, taking a wrong view,
  • View is kamma (mono-kamma or mano saṅkhāra).
  • Wrong View (micchaditthi) basically means misperception or with reference to sakkāyadiṭṭhi—I am, he is, she is, it is, beautiful.
  • Our actions are usually led by sakkāyadiṭṭhi, which makes us to be ego-centric and discriminatory.

Anusaya Kilesas (latent tendency): How Does Saṅkhāra Occur?

Verse 1: manopubbangama dhamma [Dhammapada Verse 1 Cakkhupalatthera Vatthu]
Verse 2: All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have mind as their chief; they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness (sukha) follows him like a shadow that never leaves him. [Dhammapada Verse 2 Matthakundali Vatthu]

• Citta (vinnāna/consciousness) leads the thought (kamma saṅkhāra: intentional activity). Kamma is intention. This intentional thought (kamma vaci-saṅkhāra) becomes the subject on which the next vinnāna to occur as the rebirth of new consciousness—saṅkhāra-paccāya vinnānam.
  • When a unit of vinnāna (consciousness) ceases, another unit of vinnāna is born right away. Every new vinnāna is based on saṅkhāra—saṅkhāra-paccāya vinnānam. This process will go on as the samsarā of the three saṅkhata dhātu (citta, cetasika, rūpa).
  • Saṅkhāra is cetasika, either wholesome or unwholesome.
  • Cetasika and vinnāna (citta) co-arise—Aññamañña paccayo (explained above).

These two verses from Dhammapada echo the Paticcasamuppada teaching that vinnana is conditioned by sankhara. For the verses say that happiness or misery arises from kamma sankhara, and in fact sukha or dukkha occurs together with vinnana. Again, vinnana implies the associated mental factors and its physical basis viz., rupa. Hence, the teaching that vinnana conditions nama rupa. [A Discourse on Paticcasamuppada (Mahasi Sayadaw):]

• In the rebirth process, saṅkhāra-paccāya vinnānam (mano-saṅkhāra conditions/causes/supports the consciousness)
• Mano-saṅkhāra includes rebirth vision (gati nimitta, which is the vision of the abodes or plane of existence he will be reborn in (Ven. Janakabhivamsa)).

In Atthi Raga Sutta: Where There is Passion (Nyanaponika Thera), the Buddha explains how saṅkhāra conditions the arise of vinnāna—(volitional thought: saṅkhāra; consciousness: vinnāna.

"If, O monks, there is lust for the nutriment sense-impression... volitional thought [vaci-saṅkhāra/mano-kamma]... consciousness [vinnāna], if there is pleasure in it and craving for it, then consciousness takes a hold therein and grows. Where consciousness takes a hold and grows, there will be occurrence of mind-and-body [nāma-rūpa]. Where there is occurrence of mind-and-body, there is growth of kamma-formations [kamma saṅkhāra]. Where there is growth of kamma-formations, there is a future arising of renewed existence. Where there is a future arising of renewed existence, there is future birth, decay and death. This, I say, O monks, is laden with sorrow, burdened with anguish and despair.

• kamma saṅkhāra: volitional saṅkhāra
• Vaci-saṅkhāra/mano-kamma: Thought is considered as vaci-saṅkhāra, but as it occurs in the mind, it is mano-kamma. Vaci-kamma is speech through the mouth.

[The Concept of Existence (Bhava) in Early Buddhism, iafor (Pranab Barua):]

• Cetasika (mental concomitance): vedanā, saññā, and saṅkhāra (feeling, perception and mental formation and emotion)
• Cetasika is led by citta. However, citta and cetasika occur simuteneously.
• Citta is immediately followed by vedanā, saññā, and then saṅkhāra and replaced by another citta
• Saṅkhāra can continue as thought, as the saññā feeds the information (memory)

Dependent on feeling [vedana] arises craving (taṇhā). Craving results in grasping (upadana). Grasping is the cause of kamma (bhava) which in its turn, conditions future birth (jati). Birth is the inevitable cause of old age and death (jara-marana). [Buddhism in a Nutshell: Dependent Arising (Paticca Samuppada) (Narada Thera)]

• Taṇhā(lobha) is a kilesa (akusala cetasika).
• Perceiving a construct as a cat, a car, a woman, a dog, a hand ... is a wrong view. Delusion (avijja or moha) causes this view. A construct should be understood as it is. There is no cat but nāma-rūpa. There is no car but rupa. There is no woman but nāma-rūpa.
• Perceiving is kamma saṅkhāra (volitional saṅkhāra) that leads to Kammabhava.

[Mahasi Sayadaw:] Kammabhava means the kamma that leads to rebirth.

• consciousness takes a hold therein and grows: that is Ārammaṇa paccayo:

(7)All dhammas are related to mindconscious-ness-element and its associated states by object condition.
(8)Grasping any dhamma as object, these dhammas arise: consciousness and mental factors. The former dhamma is related to the latter dhammas by object condition.

The Law of Dependent Arising

(The law of life; the chain, or law, of dependent origination, or the chain of causation)
Narada Maha Thera

• Dependent on Ignorance (5 ) arise Conditioning Activities (6).
• Dependent on Conditioning Activities arises (Rebirth) Consciousness (7).
• Dependent on (Rebirth) Consciousness arise Mind and Matter (8).
• Dependent on Mind and Matter arise the six (Sense) Bases (9).
• Dependent on the six (sense) Bases arises contact (10).
• Dependent on Contact arises Feeling (11).
• Dependent on Feeling arises Craving (12).
• Dependent on Craving arises Grasping (13).
• Dependent on Grasping arises Action or Becoming (14)
• Dependent on Action arises Birth (15).
• Dependent on Birth arise Decay, Death, Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Grief, and Despair. Thus arises the whole mass of suffering.
• Thus arises the whole mass of suffering.
• Herein this is the Law of the Dependent Arising.

Abhidhammattha Sangaha of Anuruddhacariya; A Manual of Abhidhamma: CHAPTER VIII - THE COMPENDIUM OF RELATIONS,

2.4.6. Saṅkhāra and Rebirth

Ārammaṇa paccayo: Beings are reborn according to their sense-data/perception and mental activities. Perceiving and constructing views (mano-saṅkhāra) on nāma-rūpa complex as dog, pig, cat, fish... beings are reborn as dogs, pigs, cats, fish... Perception and mental activity never stop. That is how we know things and how we are traversing the neverending from one species to another in the samsarā, carrying the burden of nāma-rūpa.
Upādānakkhandha: perception (saññā) is firmly attached to the physical body (rūpa), feeling (vedanā) and consciousness (vinnana).
That view makes us see things on the surface as a cat, a car, a woman, a dog, a hand, and so on. We are not used to perceiving beneath the skin. Such a sight is too uncomfortable for us. A cat, a car, a woman, a dog, a hand, and so on are a construct (a thing conditioned).A construct (a conditioned thing) differs from illusion. For example, there is no arahant (Tathagata) but a construct or one who has reached the other shore the Nibbāna.
A conversation between Yamaka bhikkhu and Venerable Sāriputta Thera went this way in the Yamaka Sutta (Thanissaro Bhikkhu):

"Do you regard the Tathagata as that which is without form, without feeling, without perception, without fabrications, without consciousness?"

Nāma is the mental aggregates (four mental phenomena: vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, vinnana) and rūpa is the physical aggregates (the 32 body parts).
Seeing things as they are (Yathabhuta ñana Dassana) overcomes attachment and aversion. However, only the vipassanā-ñana (vipassanā-insight) can stop the nature of the mind from involuntary development of (mano-saṅkhāra) attachment to the body as I-being (I-am) and aversion.

When you feel a pleasant feeling what will arise? Attachment...

Pleasant > Attachment (taṇhā); Unpleasant > Aversion (dosa). The mind attaches to something whether it is desired or undesired. Love/attachment and hate/aversion are the causes for the mind to attach to an object or subject.

Every moment, the mental state is either attachment or aversion. This is how we constantly experience dukkha (suffering).

Experience (mano-saṅkhāra) is suffering. We only experience suffering. But craving (taṇhā) makes us think we feel pleasure while we experience pleasurable feeling or lesser pain. For example, salt is salty. The right amount of salt makes good taste and craving. Too little or too much salt makes bad taste and agression.
All of these are the five upādānakkhandha: rūpakkhandha, vedanākkhandha, saññākkhandha, saṅkhārakkhandha, viññāṇakkhandha.
Active Suffering: saṅkhāra and kamma are interchangeable, so there are vaci kamma/saṅkhāra, mano kamma/saṅkhāra and kaya kamma/saṅkhāra. Passive Suffering is caused by sight, smell, sound, taste, touch and thought (mental fabrication or citta-saṅkhāra). We go through active and passive sufferings from one moment to another. We suffer physically and mentally at the same time.
Only the arahants are free from mental suffering. They do not mentally suffer from the mental and physical vedanā (feeling) because they have cut off the mind from attaching to vedanā. An arahant no longer feels vedanā as his or hers even at a serious pain is present. Mental attachment to feeling is like a piece of magnet to large and small iron pieces. The attachment occurs involuntarily due to the nature of mind.

• Vedayita-dukkha (Pain-feeling ill)—from the presence of the undesirable, and from the lack of the desirable (essential);
• Bhayattha-dukkha (Fear producing ill)—fear of the presence of the undesirable, and fear of the lack of the desirable (essential);

vedayita : (nt.) feeling; experience.
bhaya, n. fear, fright, danger, calamity,
bhayaiikara, adj. fearful, dreadful,
[THE STUDENT'S PALI-ENGLISH DICTIONARY (MAUNG TIN. M.A.)]

Saññā is the enemy:

Saññā can be understood as sense-datum, outside object, perception, and memory. Saññā (sense datum / perception) tells us vedanā is pain, itch, cold, good smell, bad smell, girl, boy, cat, etc.
(Based on the teaching of Mogok Sayadaw and Theinngu Sayadaw:)
Vedanā is vedanakkhandha. It is vedayita, dukkha-sacca (the truth of suffering). It is a cetasika, one of the four paramattha (realities). Whenever we experience something, we should notice vedanā and know it as vedanā rather than pain, itch, cold, good smell, bad smell, girl, boy, cat, man, woman, tree, etc. However, saññā hides vedanā, the reality (paramattha), and informs us that we experience pain, itch, cold, good smell, bad smell, girl, boy, cat, man, woman, tree, etc. Thus, we fail to notice the vedanā and follow the information given by saññā and become delusional and miss the reality.
Vedanā: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch
Pannā tells us the reality: vedanā is experience.
Pannā develops when one notices or knows sight, sound, smell, taste or touch as vedanā. Thus, we must be mindful of vedanā and let go of saññā, according to Ārammaṇa paccayo: Grasping any dhamma as object, these dhammas arise: consciousness and mental factors.

Saṅkhāra is an enemy, too:

• Saṅkhāra is mental activity, thought especially.
• If the mind has something else to do or think, it does not focus on vipassana. One needs strong samādhi and commitment.
• Avijjā-paccāya saṅkhāra ;
  • Avijjā is heedlessness, caused by the lack of mindfulness (samādhi).
• Saṅkhāra-paccāya vinnānam (Construct/activity conditions/supports consciousness);
  • Saṅkhāra sends the mind outside (out of meditation) to attend on various sense objects
  • Saṅkhāra causes the mind to be attending on unimportant subjects.
  • Saṅkhāra bends the mind, while Saññā deceives it (provides the mind with misperception).
• Saṅkhāra-nirodha vinnāna-nirodho;
• In the Dhammapada, the Story of Sāmāvati, the Buddha uttered verse 21:

appamādo amatapadaṃ pamādo maccuno padaṃ
Heedfulness is the Deathless path, heedlessness, the path to death.

Pabhassara Sutta

• In the Pabhassara Sutta (Luminous), the Buddha clarifies the effect of saññā and sankhāra on vinnāna:

"Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements. The well-instructed disciple of the noble ones discerns that as it actually is present, which is why I tell you that — for the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones — there is development of the mind." {I,vi,2}

• Defilements are ten kilesā, which associates with saññā and saṅkhāra that condition the vinnāna.
• Saṅkhāra, which is not associated with kilesā, can condition the vinnāna, too.
• Saṅkhāra-nirodha vinnāna-nirodho;

The Restraint of the Faculties (Indriya-Saṃvara-Sīla)

Detachment (Anupādāna) is free from attachment and aversion.

Nibbana is a Pali word and it derives from nirvana which composes of ni and vana. Ni means nikkhanta or liberated from vana or binding effect. Vana is the dhammas that bind various different lives in the samsara. So nibbana means liberated from binding in the samsara. this binding is tanha. [Htoo Naing. Patthana Dhamma: Chapter 6 - Ārammana paccayo (or object condition)].

Practicing the development of detachment reduces sakkāyadiṭṭhi. Traditionally, the development conprises upekkha (calmness in the sense of Brahmavihara) and the Indriya-Saṃvara-Sīla (Restraint of the Faculties).

While the Brahmaviharas are natural human capacities, they may be underdeveloped and unavailable when they are most needed. [The Four Faces of Love: The Brahma Viharas (Gil Fronsdal)]

The Buddha explains about self-restraints that can prevent bad rebirth. Laypeople do not train with them because of the difficulties laypeople have to deal with in society.

After receiving the Buddha’s discourse with delight, Sakka put the next question:
“Venerable Sir, how does a bhikkhu practise so as to keep his faculties well guarded?”
[The Great Chronicle of Buddhas (Ven. Mingun Sayadaw)]

Deeper understanding of atta is attained with Nāmarūpapariccheda ñana.

Sakkāyadiṭṭhi is reduced gradually at the first stage of enlightenment, which is nāma-rūpa pariccheda ñana. This ñana (knowledge) is the ability to distinguish nāma (mental phenomena) and rūpa (material phenomena).
In the Anatta-lakkhana Sutta, the Buddha clarifies nāma-rūpa as anicca, dukkha and anatta:

"Bhikkhus, form [rūpa] is not-self. Were form self, then this form would not lead to affliction, and one could have it of form: 'Let my form be thus, let my form be not thus.' And since form is not-self, so it leads to affliction, and none can have it of form: 'Let my form be thus, let my form be not thus.'

• Form (rūpa) is the five aggregates of clinging.
• Nāma is the collective term of consciousness (vinnāna), feeling (vedanā), memory-perception (saññā), and mental activities (Saṅkhāra)

Right View, Right Understanding:

Magganga Dipani Ledi Sayadaw:

• kammassakata samma-ditthi--Right View or Understanding that in the case of beings only two things, wholesome and unwholesome actions performed by them, are their own properties that always accompany them wherever they may wander in many a becoming or world-cycle;
• dasavatthuka samma-ditthi-- Right Understanding of the ten kinds of subjects;
• catu-sacca samma- ditthi--Right Understanding of the four Realities or the Four Truths.
• Kammayoni: Only the wholesome and unwholesome actions of beings are the origin of their wanderings in many a becoming or world-cycle.

Sotapanna's Right View

a person born blind [...] is cured of the cataract and gains sight. From the moment the cataract disappears, the view of the earth, the mountains, the sky with sun, moon and stars, etc, is opened to him and remains so throughout his life. Similarly, the noble stream-enterers (sotāpanna-ariya) gain the view of the three characteristics of existence (ti-lakkhaṇa) and of the Four Noble Truths, and do not lose it. This is how the path factor “right view” is firmly established.

The Venerable Ledi Sayādaw. The Requisites of Enlightenment (Bodhipakkhiya Dīpanī).
Right Understanding (Kyaw Min):
[Quote] The Doctrine of Anattā [Anattavāda] can be understood as composed of 3 parts.

1. there is no soul,
2. there is no self,
3. there is no control over our body processes. [End quote]

Self (atta or soul) means the non-existent owner of nāma-rūpa. Nāma-rūpa are dhamma (nature or phenomena) and the slaves of no one. They do not take command. They obey none but the law of anicca. That is why we must observe them using a vipassanā method to understand them and to become wise.
That is why nāma-rūpa are anatta: owned by no-one. Details are taught in Cula-Saccaka Sutta.
When views are corrected, one achieves Ditthi-Visuddhi (purifications of view).

a yogi ... should first fortify his knowledge by learning and questioning about the soil. After he has perfected Sīla and samādhi that are the roots. Then he can develop the five purifications (of view) that are the trunk. [The quote is modified.]

Attaining the Insight Wisdom, the fundamental knowledge of nature, is to gain the ability to give up sakkāyadiṭṭhi: craving for existence (bhava taṇhā) and claiming ownership of the nāma-rūpa complex.

A word of warning; until one attains to the Path-Knowledge as the first stage (sotapatti magga ̣ñāna), there is no stability and security for a worldling or puthujjana whether he happens to be a great monarch of men, or of devas, or of Brahmas. Only sotappatti magga provides real security. For a sotāpanna, one who ‘enters the stream’ of the Path, is one who realizes Nibbāna and has been precluded from falling into the four miserable states or apāya; and is also firmly put on the Path until one is released from the hazards of samsāra, the round of births, ageing and death. That is why the Buddha, out of great compassion for all sentient beings, urged for the teaching of the Truth. [The Elder Revata. 2491 Sāsanā Era. Catusacca Daḷhī Kamma Kathā.]

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Also good to read:

Paramatthas are explained in several books, including the following:

• Dr Mehm Tin Mon: Introducing the Higher Teachings of the Buddha: Buddha Abhidhamma: Ultimate Science

His ultimate teaching, known as Abhidhamma, describes in detail the natures of the ultimate realities that really exist in nature but are unknown to scientists. His method of verification is superior to scientific methods which depend on instruments. He used His divine-eye to penetrate the coverings that hide the true nature of all things. He also taught others how to develop concentration and how to observe with their mind-eyes the true nature of all things and finally the four Noble Truths which can enlighten one to achieve one’s liberation from all miseries for ever.

• N.K.G. Mendis: The Abhidhamma in Practice, The Wheel Publication No. 322/323

First Cause: Buddhism does not postulate a first cause. The world is beginningless, a continuous arising and passing away of phenomena dependent on conditions.

• Ledi Sayādaw Mahāthera: The Manual of Insight Vipassanā Dīpanī; The Wheel Publication No: 031/032

Lokuttara, or supramundane consciousness, is the noble mind (ariya-citta) which has become free from the threefold desire, and has transcended the three planes, kāma, rūpa, and arūpa. It is of two kinds, thus: noble consciousness in the path (of stream-entry, etc.) and noble consciousness in the fruition (of stream-entry, etc.).

• Saṅkhāra (Pali Kanon): Saṅkhāra

Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines: This term has, according to its context, different shades of meaning, which should be carefully distinguished. (I) To its most frequent usages (s. foll. 1-4) the general term 'formation' may be applied, with the qualifications required by the context. This term may refer either to the act of 'forming or to the passive state of 'having been formed' or to both.

• Bhikkhu Bodhi: Saṅkhāras in Dependent Origination

Saṅkhāra is virtually synonymous with kamma, a word to which it is etymologically akin.

Milindapanha: Saṅkhāra and Anatta

The answers of Venerable Nagasena and the questions of King Milinda are compiled as Milindapanha.
Two of the major topics are self (page 46) and soul (page 128) (see Pages). Venerable Nagasena and the king agreed a being and a thing are constructs (saṅkhāra).

2.8. Saṅkhāra:

Saṅkhāra (Theravada glossary):
Formation, compound, fashioning, fabrication - the forces and factors that fashion things (physical or mental), the process of fashioning, and the fashioned things that result. Sankhara can refer to anything formed or fashioned by conditions, or, more specifically, (as one of the five khandhas) thought formations within the mind.

• Saṅkhāra: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and mental activities
• Saṅkhāra is construct. Construct is activity.
• Sight is a construct. Sight occurs as an activity composed of looking, seeing, light/image incoming, brain and mind functioning, etc.
• Sound is a construct. Sound occurs as an activity composed of listening, hearing, sound waves incoming, brain and mind functioning, etc.
• Smell...
• Taste...
• Touch...
• Thought is a construct. Thought occurs as an acivity composed of recalling memory, composing ideas, brain and mind functioning, etc.

Paramattha & Saṅkhāra

Existence is made of paramattha (reality, real things) and saṅkhāra (activity).
Four Paramatthas are Citta, cetasika, rūpa, Nibbāna.
Saṅkhāra is either natural or intentional.

The Four Noble Truths

The Catusacca (the Four Truths or Facts) are Ariya-Sacca (the Noble Truth, the Ultimate Truth). These four truths are the true nature (sbhāva) of paramattha and saṅkhāra.
The Catusacca Daḷhī Kamma Kathā composed by the Elder Revata (2491 Sāsanā Era) is a must-read:

The Buddha had to acquire the ten perfection (pāramis) over four asankheyyas and a hundred thousand kappas; a paccekabuddha, over two asankheyyas and a hundred thousand kappas; a Chief Disciple or Mahāsāvaka, over one asankheyyas and a hundred thousand kappas. To what end? To attain to the Four Noble Truths. Why? Because it is only knowledge of the Four Noble Truths that leads to the realization of Nibbana, which makes one secure against the hazards of repeated (birth), ageing, disease and death and the natural tendency of all worldlings to fall into the four miserable states (apāya). One should therefore follow the example of those Noble Ones who have entered Nibbana and strive for the knowledge of the Truth.

Two truths:

1. The paramattha-sacca (the ultimate truth, or reality that really exists in nature);
2. The samuti-sacca (the conventional truth, or the conventions and beliefs that really exist among us);

Sacca : truth; Truth also means a statement or speech is truthful or of a noble person.

TATHĀGATĀ
the Buddha uses to address himself. He is “thus come” (tathā āgata) in the sense that he is neither an emissary of any divine being (God, etc) nor prophets, but arises as the most highly evolved being amongst us as the natural process of spiritual evolution and awakening. He is “thus gone” (tathā gata) in the sense that, just like the truth he proclaims, he dies, thus authenticating the reality that he and we commonly are. (Sacca) Tathāgatā Sutta (Piya Tan)

Nāma and Rūpa

There are five aggregates of clinging.

• Nāma is the collective term for saṅkhata dhamma: citta (viññāṇa) and cetāsika (vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra). Thus, nāma is the four mental componets (vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra and viññāṇa). Citta is also known as mano and viññāṇa. Citta (mind) and cetasika (mental factors) rise and fall together.
• Rūpa is the four mahābhūta (solid, liquid, gas and heat) and space. Space is the gaps between the particles (mahābhūta). Thus, rūpa is the corporeal body. Rūpa is often translated as form; i.e. the biological body.
• A being is a nāma-rūpa complex or a metaphysical being.

Saṅkhāra as the three built environments:

• Satta-loka is lifeforms and their systems/activities—Avijja-paccaya sankhara (delusion conditions/supports constructs/activities).
• Okāsa-loka is large objects like plants, rivers, mountains, seas, oceans, rocks, galaxies, stars, planets, moons, etc. and their systems/activities. Okāsa-loka houses lifeforms.
• Saṅkhāra-loka is the particals (mahābhūta) and their systems/activities. Saṅkhāra-loka is of particle physics and chemistry existing inside and outside the biological beings (Satta-loka).
• The Satta-loka is made of the five aggregates. Okāsa-loka and Saṅkhāra-loka are made of matters (rūpa or mahābhūta).
• Everything in the three worlds (Satta-loka, Okāsa-loka, Saṅkhāra-loka) is saṅkhāra or a form of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch or thought.
• See Sabba Sutta (The All are these six senses only, no more.)
• Nibbāna is thus the other shore, relief from the burden of the natural activities (birth, aging, death) and intention (kamma saṅkhāra). Nibbāna is thus relief from the nāma-rūpa complex (the natural and intentional activities).

2.8.1. Three types of saṅkhāra:

• Mano-saṅkhāra (mental construct/formation/activity)
• Vaci-saṅkhāra (verbal...): words, comversation, cry, etc.;
• Kāya-saṅkhāra (bodily...): physical action and reaction (all physical activities, which are not vaci);
• These saṅkhāra can be natural or intentional.
• Kamma saṅkhāra (intentional activities) are led by the mind (viññāṇa and mano-saṅkhāra).

Kamma Saṅkhāra (Intentional Activity)

• Intention is kamma (mano-kamma).
• A mental activity with intention is mano-kamma.
• A verbal activity with intention is vaci-kamma.
• A bodily activity with intention is kaya-kamma.
• Intention forms in the mind, so it is a mano-saṅkhāra (mental construct).
• Intention is based on wholesome and unwholesome cetasika (mental factors)

In Samyutta Nikaya Sutta 12.25 the Buddha said “With ignorance as condition, either by oneself, Ananda, one wills bodily intentions (kāya Saṅkhāra), following which arises internally pleasure and pain; or, because of others one wills bodily intentions, following which arises internally, pleasure and pain.” [CONDITIONED ARISING OF SUFFERING (Ven. Dhammavuddho Mahāthera)]

• 'Bodily intention' (kaya-saṅkhāra): intention to act bodily;
  • Kāya: body, bodily;
  • Intention: mano-saṅkhāra
• Mental pain and pleasure; as intention is inside the mind, pleasure and pain are internal (inside the mind).

One casts three types of saṅkhāra (construct/activity) all day long.

• Kamma is volition, intentional action, which can be subtle or gross.
• The Buddha said, "Kamma is intention."

Saṅkhāra Examples:

Avijjā-paccaya saṅkhāra (ignorance conditions/supports construct/activity):

• Beauty is saṅkhāra (natural and with intent). Beauty exists because it is supported by other saṅkhāra-s, including but not limited to fashion, makecup, good health, young age, exercise, nutrition, perception, culture, cleanliness, and genetic conditions. Being propped up by various suitable supports, beauty exists. When suitable things come together, they create beauty. When these supports are affected, beauty is affected.

2.8.2. Cetasikas (Mental Factors):

Cetasika is a paramattha. It exists as it is.
A being is made of rūpa (solid, liquid, gas and heat), citta (viññāṇa) and cetāsika (vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra). However, one does not need akusala-cetasika (avijjā). By removing akusala-cetasika (avijjā), one attains kusala-cetasika (vijjā) and the binding (saṅkhāra) is unbinded.

• saṅkhārakkhandha (m.) the aggregate of mental coefficients

Sankharakkhandha (the fifty cetasikas which are not vedana or sanna) is real; it can be experienced. When there are beautiful mental factors (sobhana cetasikas) such as generosity and compassion, or when there are unwholesome mental factors such as anger and stinginess, we can experience sankharakkhandha. All these phenomena arise and fall away: sankharakkhandha is impermanent. [Nina Van Gorkom. Chapter 2 - The five khandas]

• Cetasika are vedanā, saññā and saṅkhāra (feeling, memory/perception, and construct/activity)
• 14 kusala cetasika (wholesome) and 14 akusala cetasikas (unwholesome mental factors) associate with saṅkhāra and Kamma Saṅkhāra.
• Viññāṇa (consciousness) is citta, one of the four paramatthas. Citta and cetasika occur together and stated as Aññamañña paccayo (explained below);

Aññamañña Paccayo (PAṬṬHĀNA)

Aññamañña paccayo: Paccaya RECIPROCATES WITH paccayuppanna
paccayuppanna : (adj.) arisen from a cause.
paccaya : (m.) cause; votive; requisite; means; support.

• Citta and cetasika (saṅkhāra and vedana/ayatana) arise together or mutually supportive. Details can be read in Pa-Auk Sayadaw's Sampayutta Dhammayatana.
  • Ayatana: sense
  • Vedanā: feeling
  • saṅkhāra: construct
  • Avijjā-paccaya saṅkhāra
• No matter how one is well-behaved, these Anusaya Kilesās will not die out. Either kusala or akusala cetasika (wholesome or unwholesome mental factors) will arise when consciousness (citta) comes in contact with a convenience. Our problems are the unwholesome mental factors.

[Ledi Sayadaw] Lokuttara, or supramundane consciousness, is the noble mind (ariya-citta) which has become free from the threefold desire, and has transcended the three planes, kāma, rūpa, and arūpa. It is of two kinds, thus: noble consciousness in the path (of stream-entry, etc.) and noble consciousness in the fruition (of stream-entry, etc.). [Ledi Sayādaw Mahāthera. The Manual of Insight Vipassanā Dīpanī; The Wheel Publication No: 031/032]

• By means of practicing vipassanā, one can separate citta from akusala cetasika. When akusala cetasika are eradicated from the mind, ariya-citta arises.
• Anupàdisesa-Nibbànadhàtu is the final cessation of the five aggregates of clinging (Upādānakkhandha).
• Nibbànadhàtu: Santisukha (the ultimate-peace element); Nibbàna is an element (paramattha).

Akusala Cetasikas (unwholesome mental factors)

Abhidhamma (Ashin Janakabhivamsa)

• Factor 1 - Moha (delusion)
• Factor 2 - Ahirika (moral shamelessness)
• Factor 3 - Anottappa (moral fearlessness)
• Factor 4 - Uddhacca (distraction, restlessness, wavering)
• Factor 5 - Lobha (greed)
• Factor 6 - Ditthi (wrong view)
• Factor 7 - Mana (conceit)
• Factor 8 - Dosa (hatred)

Factor 9 - Issa (envy)
Factor 10 - Macchariya (jealousy, selfishness)
Factor 11 - Kukkucca (remorse)

• Factor 12-13 - Thina and middha (sloth and torpor)
• Factor 14 - Vicikiccha (doubt, scepticism)

Among the akusala cetasikas are the ten kilesā (akusala cetasika) shown with bullet points.

Hetu paccayo

Lobha, dosa, and moha are called akusala hetus and alobha, adosa, and amoha are called kusala hetus. These latter 3 hetus if they arise with abyakata dhamma they are called abyakata hetus. Lobha is also known as tanha, upadana, samudaya and so on. Moha is sometimes called avijja. Alobha is sometimes refered to dana or offering but it is non attachment. Adosa is metta or loving kindness. Amoha is pannindriya cetasika and simply called panna and is sometimes called vijja. Htoo Naing. Patthana Dhamma: Chapter 5 - Hetu paccayo (or root condition). Htoo Naing. Patthana Dhamma (a different book): Hetu paccayo (page 15)

Kilesā occur in three levels:

1/ anusaya-kilesa: low level, latent, like sediments waiting to be stirred up. 2/ pariyuttana-kilesa: medium level arising only in the mind due to causes and conditions. 3/ vitikkakama-kilesa: coarse level, manifesting in unwolesome speech or action, breaking precepts. [Defilements (kilesā) (Thanh Huynh - Honolulu Dhamma Community)]

Anusaya Kilesas (latent tendency):

If you don’t remove or destroy [latent tendency or defilements (anusaya kilesā)] with Path Knowledge, the khandhas and samudaya (i.e., taṇhā) are always sticking together. [Buddhavada (Mogok Sayadaw); also see 4.2. ANUSAYA]

• Cetasikas are embeded in the formation of a being, including the arupa-brahmas.
• When something convenient (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or thought) is present to consciousness (Viññāṇa), anusaya kilesā (the latent tendency) grows like seeds.
• At the contact with the convenience, Viññāṇa and the cetasika co-arise simultaneously according to Aññamañña paccayo (Mutuality or Reciprocity Condition)
  • To think, one must be conscious; and to continue thinking, one must be conscious.
  • To see a sight, one must be conscious...
  • To smell a smell...

Comparing with Mahayanist concepts:

• Anusaya kilesās are not based on discrimination and erroneous reasoning (Lanka)
• Anusaya kilesās are not in the Ālaya-vijñāna (the Universal Mind, storehouse consciousness), nor are related to the buddha-nature (Buddha-dhàtu, Buddha-svabhāva). The Mahayanist Ālaya-vijñāna and Buddha-svabhāva are neither citta nor cetasika known to the Vibhajjavadis.

2.8.3. The Role of Saññā

Saññā is a type of cetasika. Other cetasika are vedanā and saṅkhāra. Cetasika is a reality (paramattha).
Saññā is memory (events) and perception (a form of mano-saṅkhārā). However, saññā and saṅkhārā must be different. Saññā must not be saṅkhārā (construct). Saññā must be a raw material. Although saññā and saṅkhārā are similar, saññā must not be saṅkhārā or a product of saṅkhārā.
Saññā as the past events is memory. Events are not imagined. Events occur at the present are reality (not memory).
Saññā can exist as the future events or future memory, like a plan. If a plan is possible to be carried out, then some future events are predictable. In that sense, some future events are knowable.
A Buddha can analyse an individual's mentality and potentials. Based on that knowledge, a Buddha can know and prophesies some major events about an individual or the world. However, a Buddha cannot know the potentials of all the individuals with weak mind (Iddhipāda) and faculties (indriya) who travel randomly any direction into the dark.
This is what the Buddha said about those going into the dark:

The chance for a being in a hell to be reborn as a human is less than that of a blind turtle, surfacing once a century, to happen to put its head through a ring moved by the winds across the surface of the sea. Even if a human rebirth is attained, the person will be poor, ugly and ill, and will tend to do evil actions which will send him or her back to hell (M. iii.169; Bca. iv.20)

PETER HARVEY. AN INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHIST ETHICS: Foundations, Values and Issues. Page 30 University of Sunderland
The Buddha advised the monks to go into the relief from the burden of nāma and rūpa:

“Monks, that’s how rare it is to get reborn as a human being. That’s how rare it is for a fully enlightened Buddha to be born into the world. That’s how rare it is for the Dhamma and training taught by a Buddha to shine in the world. Now, monks, you have been reborn as a human being. A fully enlightened Buddha has been born into the world. The Dhamma and training taught by a Buddha shine in the world.

Iddhipāda

iddhiyā pādo iddhipādo, i.e., root or basis of attaining completion or perfection (success or potency). [79] [The Venerable Ledi Sayādaw. The Requisites of Enlightenment (Bodhipakkhiya Dīpanī), Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy • Sri Lanka, The Wheel Publicaton No. 171/172/173/174.]
4. Iddhipāda Sutta.-The path mentioned above should be practised, accompanied by concentration and effort, compounded with desire, energy, idea and investigation. S.iv.365.

Indriya

1. Faculty of faith (saddh’- indriya) [Nyanatiloka Mahāthera. Guide through the Abhidhamma Piþaka, Page 18]

Avijjā-paccaya saṅkhāra; Saṅkhāra-paccāya vinnānam;

• Avijjā and saññā condition the saṅkhārā. Avijjā is a type of kilesā cetasika (mental defilement). Avijjā exists in two forms: Delusion or the lack of right view; Heedlessness or the lack of mindfulness. Both forms of avijjā are always present in saññā (i.e. wrong view).

Saṅkhāra is construct and construction.

Mano-saṅkhāra can also be understood as percept.

• percept. noun. : an impression of an object obtained by use of the senses : SENSE-DATUM (Merriam-Webster)
• Percept: a mental concept that is developed as a consequence of the process of perception [Google/Oxford Languages].
• [percept:] Perception usually combines several sensations into one thought or percept. The percept, of course, is a mental state corresponding with its outside object. A Percept is the product of Perception, or in other words, our idea gained through Perception

Saññā and Vipassanā

Saññā can be understood as sense-datum, outside object, perception, and memory.

The sense-datum is an object immediately present in experience. It has the qualities it appears to have.
A controversial issue is whether sense-data have real, concrete existence. Depending upon the version of the sense-data theory adopted, sense-data may or may not be identical with aspects of external physical objects; they may or may not be entities that exist privately in the subject’s mind. Usually, however, sense-data are interpreted to be distinct from the external physical objects we perceive. The leading view, in so far as the notion is appealed to in current philosophy, is that an awareness of (or acquaintance with) sense-data somehow mediates the subject’s perception of mind-independent physical objects. The sense-datum is the bearer of the phenomenal qualities that the subject is immediately aware of. [Sense-Data (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)]

Lifeforms (nama-rūpa complexes) and the law of life (Paticcasamuppada) have existed in the past infinity. Saññā as memory can be recalled or accessed by anyone. Some arahants can recall the past 500 lives. Some arahants recalled several eons of the past Earths. A Buddha can recall with no limit in a very short moment. The Sakyamuni Buddha said, even if He spent His entire lifetime, He would not reach the beginning (of existence), which is considered non-existent.
Inthe Western thought, the natural memory can be improved by training [Javier Vergara / Procedia (Page 3513) - Social and Behavioral Sciences 46 ( 2012 ) 3512 – 3518)]. In the Theravada teaching, a liberated mind (which attained arahantta phala) can recall at least the past 500 lives.
Saṅkhāra and saññā belong to cetasika, which is a paramattha (reality). However, they are impermanent. That begs a question: How can the impermanent saṅkhāra and saññā be accessed? They are impermanent in theory, as they will be forgotten. The physical destruction of the memory of the past events might not happen.
As though written down into books, the memories (including sense-data) seem not to have disappeared. The fact is each of us can recall the memory, which stays with us for a lifetime. We are forgetful and cannot recall our memories whever we want to; however, they are present, and our minds revisit them sometimes. Our inability to explain how memories exist should not prevent us from admitting the fact that memories exist and can be recalled. These noble ariyas can know others' minds and access the past memories and forsee the future events.
Avijja-paccaya sankhara (ignorance conditions/supports a construct; e.g. sakkāyadiṭṭhi).

• Avijjā (ignorance) is saññā (as memory, misperception or wrong view).
• Saṅkhāra (as activity) is misunderstanding/misperceiving nama-rūpa complex as an I-being, I am, he is, she is, it is, they are... Misperceiving the nama-rūpa complexes as individuals or as beings (I-beings).
• Saññā and saṅkhāra are always together as one's problems.
• Saṅkhāra-paccāya vinnānam: when saṅkhāra (e.g. idea) is present, consciousness arises. One begins to know the construct. Saññā-Saṅkhāra are the subject to know (be conscious about).
• Saṅkhāra-paccāya vinnānam: Saṅkhāra bridges between saññā and viññāṇa—perceiving is made of saññā, saṅkhāra and viññāṇa.
• Sabbe saṅkhāra anicca—all constructs are impermanence;
• Construction: Saṅkhāra as activity (intentional or unintentional):
  • sankhara-paccaya vinnanam (Dependent on reaction (conditioning), consciousness arises);
  • Mano-saṅkhāra (Citta-Saṅkhāra), vaci-saṅkhāra, kaya-saṅkhāra—mental, verbal and bodily construct/activity which a being performs intentionally or unintentionally;
  • Cetana is also intention (volition).

Saññā (memory) is like the soil and fertilizer. Sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or thought acts like a signal (reminder).

• In vipassanā, one puts effort to block the reminder reaching the memory (saññā)—like a responsible person kills the fire before it reaches the gunpowder. Once a sense reminder (ayatana) reaches saññā, they give birth to kamma sankhāras. The sense reminder (ayatana) is too fast for the untrained minds to block. So one does not block it but avoid it. One must develop the mind to have this avoiding ability and skill through a gradual training which comprises the indriya-samvara-sila and vipassanā. Basically, it means to prevent mano-saṅkhāra (thought) because it leads vaci-saṅkhāra and kaya-saṅkhāra.
• As the kilesā are not fed or fertilised, they will become weak and suitable for jhāna development; however, they will remain as Anusaya Kilesās. Only the vipassanā-ñana can totally eradicate Anusaya Kilesās.

Indriya-samvara-sila and Vipassanā

"In seeing there is merely seeing. In hearing there is merely hearing. In sensing there is merely sensing. In cognizing there is merely cognizing. In this way you should train yourself. "Bāhiya, when there is only seeing in seeing, hearing in hearing, sensing in sensing, cognizing in cognizing, then you will not be 'with that.' When you are not 'with that,' you will not be 'in that.' When you are not 'in that,' you will be neither here nor beyond nor in between the two. Just this is the end of suffering." [The Bāhiya Sutta (Douglas C. B. Kraft)]

Four Types of Capacity for Path Attainment

It is stated in the Puggalapaññatti (the “Book of Classification of Individuals,” (p. 160) and in the Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN 4:133) that, of the beings who encounter the Sāsana, i.e., the Teaching of the Buddha, four classes can be distinguished, viz.:
A padaparama is an individual who [...] cannot obtain release from worldly ills during this lifetime. If he dies while practising samatha (tranquillity) or vipassanā (insight) and attains rebirth either as a human being or a deva in his next existence, he can attain release from worldly ills in that existence within the present Buddha Sāsana.
niyata : one who has obtained a sure prediction made by a Buddha.
aniyata : one who has not obtained a sure prediction made by a Buddha.
aniyata neyya individuals can attain release from worldly ills in this life only if they put forth sufficient effort [...] within the present Buddha Sāsana.

(The Venerable Ledi Sayādaw. The Requisites of Enlightenment (Bodhipakkhiya Dīpanī))

2.8.4. Our concern:

Our concerns are our own mental, verbal and bodily activities:
Due to delusion (avijjā), we do not know where we have been and what we should do during this lifetime. The purpose of life in general is to practice selfishness to ultimate level.
One builds a life only to lose it to the death. Nobody can reclaim his/her previous life, properties, wealth and works. Rebirth in dugati-loka does not allow rebuilding life. One must get another opportunity in sugati-loka.
Due to clinging (upādāna) to self, one cannot separate from the new life, which is now. One always clings to the new life because of sakkāyadiṭṭhi (sakkāya-diṭṭhi). The past life is like yesterday.

• Sakkāyadiṭṭhi: clinging to nāma-rūpa as I am—i.e. this body is me, mine; the major wrong view (mano-saṅkhāra)
  • Nāma: the four mental khandas (vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra and viññāṇa).
  • Rūpa: the corporeal body or the four mahābhūta.

Remember the following:

• Sakkāyadiṭṭhi is ego, egocentric and a very heavy burden to carry and climb uphill.
• Sakkāyadiṭṭhi extends beyond one's five aggregates.
• Sakkāyadiṭṭhi extends to others' five aggregates as well. So we can hear people say, this is mine, and that is also mine.
• Sakkāyadiṭṭhi only helps one to fall downhill.
• A chance of getting relief from this burden is rare.
• A chance to know true dana, sila, bhavanā is very rare.
• One day this body will be thrown away or buried somewhere; and that body, too.
• Truth is painful as long as one is clinging to the five aggregates.
• Thus, our true concerns are our own mental, verbal and bodily activities.

The Buddha warns us to reflect the following:

"The five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained..."
'I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging.'
'I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness.'
'I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death.'
'I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me.'
'I am the owner of my actions,[1] heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir.'

[Upajjhatthana Sutta— AN 5.57 (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)]

Upādāna (clinging) manifests as mano-saṅkhāra (mental activity/construct):

We cling to live body and dead body. We have seen enough pain in society in good time and bad time.
Upādānakkhandha：[m．] the factors of clinging to existence．
The five upādānakkhandha: rūpakkhandha, vedanākkhandha, saññākkhandha, saṅkhārakkhandha, viññāṇakkhandha

We take the body for self; thus we cling to rupakkhandha. We take mentality for self; thus we cling to vedanakkhandha, to sannakkhandha, to sankharakkhandha and to vinnanakkhandha. If we cling to the khandhas and if we do not see them as they are, we will have sorrow.

Saṅkhārakkhandha (m.) the aggregate of mental coefficients

• Saṅkhāra among the five aggregates is mano-saṅkhāra. Saṅkhārakkhandha is also designated as upādānakkhandha as there is clinging.
• The upādānakkhandha rises from sakkāyadiṭṭhi (clinging to self and the five aggregates).
• Most beings cling to all these five. Some cling to either rūpa or nāma and are reborn in the arūpa-brahma worlds.
• Will is the intention to get a desired object. To will means to get something one desires. One wills, and as one is willing, one acts. In this process, will and dukkha (suffering) rise together spontaneously.

In Samyutta Nikaya Sutta 12.25 the Buddha said “With ignorance as condition, either by oneself, Ananda, one wills bodily intentions (kāya Saṅkhāra), following which arises internally pleasure and pain; or, because of others one wills bodily intentions, following which arises internally, pleasure and pain.” [CONDITIONED ARISING OF SUFFERING (Ven. Dhammavuddho Mahāthera)]

• 'Bodily intention' (kaya-saṅkhāra): intention to act bodily;
• Kāya: body, bodily;
• Intention: mano-saṅkhāra
• Mental pain and pleasure; as intention is inside the mind, pleasure and pain are internal (inside the mind).

Anusaya Kilesas: Bhava-Taṇhă to Bhava-Saṅkhāra

Three types of taṇhă: kama-taṇhă, bhava-taṇhă, vibhava-taṇhă.

'Wherever in the world, there are delightful and pleasurable things, there this taṇhă (craving) arises and takes root.' [...] By 'taking root' is meant that, failing to contemplate on the impermanent nature of pleasurable things, craving for them lies dormant, taking root to arise when favourable circumstances permit. This latent craving, lying dormant in sense-objects which escape being contemplated on, is known as ărammananusaya. [U Ko Lay. Discose on the Wheel of Dhamma - Part 5: Maha Satipatthăna Sutta. SukhiHotu Dhamma Publication,1998)]

The Effect of Anusaya Kilesās: Kāmataṇhā and Kāma-loka:

After the destruction of a world of beings, either by a cosmic fire, flood or storm, only darkness remains in space, completely empty and void.
After forever and an aeon, and after cosmic condensation and precipitation, at the same place another human world will be reborn as a body of liquid just like the previous ones. This water body, as big as a planet, will gradually become suitable to support life.
Some of the Brahmas, who have lived their lifespans, will be reborn as humans in that new human world. The first-ever generation of humans are sky-dwellers, with brahma-like body, brahma-like rays, brahma-like lifespan and brahma-like lifestyle. Their auras can shine like the moon and the sun.
Gradually, after passing forever and an aeon, the water mass will condense into physical nutrition. Seeing that beautiful physical food and breathing its nice smell for forever and an aeon, these beings will eventually lose control due to their anusaya kilesa stirring and rising in their minds.
One of them will taste it, eat it and persuade others to do the same—that is how eating is the first religion and politics.

1. ... It was endowed with colour, smell and taste. It was the colour of fine ghee or butter, and it was very sweet, like pure wild honey. [Aggañña Sutta (DN27 On Knowledge of Beginnings) (Pali Canon Online)]

All things must come to an end one day. This is the impermanent nature of everything, anicca. So also the world [...] During the destruction of the world, all living beings become Brahmas and dwell in Brahma which is not affected by [the destruction.] [Ashin Janakabhivamsa. Part 2 - How The World Came To An End.]

Name : Jared
Gender : A suggestion
Age : Unknown
Species : Life Mimic
Character Level: LV1 (0/4 quests completed)
Appearance : Constantly shifting, this is their base form
Personality : Changes, depending on what they are. But they in their base form are more shy and reserved, not inherently aggressive, more tricky, luring people in. As of right now, they're kind though, pushing past their instincts, for their friend.
STATS (10/10):
Strength + 1
Dexterity + 1
Constitution + 1
Wisdom + 2
Intelligence + 3
Charisma + 3 (+1 from Trait)
GEAR :
None
MONEY:
0 g
INVENTORY :
- Shackles -- A set of shackles connected by a chain around 2 meters in length. Can be used as a whip/flail type weapon, using either DEX or STR, dealing 20+[Stat] damage, or can be used to grapple an opponent with STR.
HSD:
Nothing
ABILITIES:
Slots used: 15/15
Racial Traits:
- Mimic -- Being a mimic, they're naturally deceptive, and cunning, having proficiency in deception and persuasion. They have a +1 to CHA, which is also their casting stat. Their form being fluid, they're 50% resistant to slash and piercing damage, but 50% more vulnerable to blunt damage. Their bite attacks do 15+CHA+STR damage.
Core Passives:
- Mend -- 10hp Regen [2 slots]
- Reflexive Consumption -- Can form mouths anywhere on their body to bite an opponent as a bonus action, or in retaliation to melee attacks. [3 slots]
- Form Steal -- As a mimic, they're able to become any variety of beings. Granting him the ability to momentarily transform into another form. They learn from the beings they consume, knowledge and magic capabilities being assimilated.
Transformation changes the user's body to fit the Being's, and mildly changes their minds as well to align towards the being. Taking the Alternate form's stats and physical features.
Alternate forms can also be gained by defeating and consuming certain enemies along the character's journey. (With DM permission)
The stat block for the form is changed, adding a +2 to the form's highest stat and a -2 to their lowest stat. Select three abilities of the PC and replace them by the form's abilities. They may also take on some Weaknesses of the forms as they shift into them.
DMs can grant forms as rewards. Boss forms are nerfed to a PC level of course.
Transformation costs a bonus action, and they can take up to 2 forms into an encounter, being able to switch them out during long rests. After transforming, cannot do so again for 3 turns. [4 slots]
Core actives:
- Unexpected Ambush -- Make a magically enhanced dash towards any enemy within a 10xCHA radius, if there are multiple enemies in a line, can barrel through/past them to reach the targetted enemy. All enemies in this path must make a DEX save against his CHA roll. Upon failing, the targetted enemy takes 50 damage, and anyone caught in the crossfire takes 25. This attack has a 3 turn cooldown, where his movement speed is reduced to 20. [2 slots]
- Damsel in Distress -- Can feign distress, innocence, etc. to lure people in with a CHA roll against their WIS save. Successfully lured enemies walk towards Jared, and once they are in melee range, are grappled, and bitten, dealing 2x the damage of a normal bite. If using on the same enemy more than once, the attack is placed at disadvantage. [2 slots]
- Icy Acid Reflex -- Due to their ability to shift their form, and with a trick they learned from their friend, they can naturally produce acid, which they ice over and spit out towards their enemies. In a 15 foot cone in front of him, spray all enemies with an icy acid, the enemies must make a DC10+CHA CON save or take 10 damage, and be inflicted with a stack of Acid (3 DoT, caps at 5 stacks) and Hypothermia. Has a cooldown of 4 turns. [2 slots]

Hypothermia: Halves the efficiency of healing, both active and passive. This effect does not stack. An enemy afflicted with hypothermia must take one action to remove it

Learnt Passives:
None
Learnt Actives:
None
Weaknesses:
- Eternal Hunger -- Mimics require significantly more food to survive. If they do not get enough food, after a day they will be weakened, having -1 to all rolls, and after 3 days, will starve. [-1 slot]
BACKSTORY:

Season: 79-59-1
Yesterday: 1-2 (But still plus money)
BAL ML: John Means' spectacular debut for 2024, with seven shutout innings in Cincinnati, certainly re-introduces him as a key player for the Orioles, especially after being sidelined due to injuries in the past few years. Arizona's Ryne Nelson is average.
CHC ML (0.5 unit): Fading Paul Skenes (while we can. Kid is a G) in his MLB debut. Skenes hasn’t been heavily used in the minors this season, topping 4.1 innings only once and never throwing more than 75 pitches.
MIA +1.5 (0.25 unit): Just a sprinkle. The Marlins might be struggling, but the Phillies are also facing challenges with a weakened lineup due to the absences of key players like Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber.
SEA -0.5 F5 (0.5 unit): Moneyline to win and outright first five were too pricy so we roll with this. Estes had a 6.04 ERA in Triple-A this year. He made his MLB debut with the A's last year, started two games in September and allowed nine runs on 12 hits over 10 innings.
Battle of the Bets

TW: SA, DA, Violence, Self Harm
Sorry for formatting I'm on mobile and I've never ranted like this before
I was sitting on my couch watching TV when suddenly I realized something. My entire life I wondered why I was so awkward. Why I couldn't make friend's. Why I'm so horribly insecure. When I was a kid my parents physically/psychologically/and emotionally abused me and my brother and sister. I vividly remember him buying and selling pills while I was in the backseat. As if I couldnt see what he was doing. I remember once when i was around 5 i had a pretty bad ear infection, the kind that leaks. I was crying and my father told me to stop whining or he would give me something to cry about. I shut up, but when I saw my uncle Bubba was home I asked him which ear should I sleep on? To make sure I didnt make my infection worse. My father overheard and hit me across the ear that was infected. He also routinely beat us with home objects. Extension cords, spatulas, they even had a paddle with spikes on it. We would have to strip all the way down to be spanked. I remember as a kid I was very loving. I attached myself to anyone who showed me affection. I just felt so much. My father discouraged that with verbal abuse. He routinely called me queer, a fa**ot, fruit cake, 🐈, everything under the sun. He made me feel as though I was less than nothing which permeates itself even now in my everyday life. Eventually my mother and him decided they couldn't afford to take care of three kids as they were barely in their early to mid twenties. As a result of this we were placed in the foster system. We moved to many homes very often and many of the homes weren't kind to us. For example me and my sister arrived to one home (my brother was split up with us for some reason) they told us straight away "we are not your family" "We are not your parents." "Do not call me mom" "Do not call me dad." They would lock my sister in her room and they would keep me and the other boys in a shed in their back yard to play games so we wouldnt have to interact with them. We got no affection, no love, no way to grow and develop like regular children should. I did get to however do all their yardwork as an 11 year old to include mowing an acre with only a push and pull lawn mower in 100+ weather in TX, trimming their large hedge bordering said acre,(found an 80's mag behind there it was awesome) and painting a fence that was in front of the hedge as an 11 year old. They would also drop us off at the theatres on the weekends as soon as they opened with enough money for 1 ticket each and a popcorn bucket to share along with a drink. They would leave us there all day meanwhile me and my sister had to sneak from movie to movie so we wouldnt have to stay outside in the heat. Also another thing to note: the way the foster system works is there are certain "levels" associated with each foster kid. Each "level" represent the difficulty level of the child essentially. There were 4 "levels" if I remember. Basic (which means you are essentially a problem free child) Moderate (Decent amount of behavioral issues) Specialized (Major levels of behavioral problems) Intensjve (The child must essentially be watched at all times) The higher the level the child was the more the Foster Parents got paid. My sister and I were not perfect by any means but we were just like any other 13 and 11 year old. Our Foster parents would request to raise our level to moderate, then get paid for awhile before threatening to kick us out into another foster home. They then would lower us back to basic for awhile before continuing the cycle. Eventually the Foster Parents decide to go on vacation and placed me and my sister into something called "respite care" which is essentially another foster family that acts as a babysitter. Me and my sister grew to really like this family. And they helped us realize how crappy the other Foster Parents were treating us. My sister and I put in a request to move over to the other home and we settled in nicely. I remember turning 14 and starting 8th grade. It was amazing I felt like I had a family and I was making amazing friends in school. I was excited to maybe call this place my forever home. But i was also a teenage boy with hormones raging through his body and so to express my anguish I felt for how the 1st half of my life had gone I began to write poetry. Some of this poetry did imply self harm however at this point I had no intention of ever doing so. But my Foster Parents found my journal counting my silly edgy poetry and were obligated to report it to my Caseworker (you will not be named but screw you) who then told them to place me in a mental hospital for an evaluation. I stayed there for 7 days, insisting I was fine, that I was okay. I even nearly staged a breakout because the guy whose room I was in told me he tried to kill his dad. He then asked me to play a game he called "Soggy Biscuit." I didnt know what that meant but he then explained. I didnt get any more sleep after that. After the 7th day they told me I was just a normal teenage boy, and let me go. My Caseworker made my Foster Parents seem like the antagonist and essentially made me feel betrayed by them so I asked to be in another home. She moved me to an all boys home 4 hours away from my sister I lost touch with her after that I'm just now barely repairing that relationship with her and my older brother. Im still learning what it means to be a brother. Anyway moving forward when I was 14 my biological father called me from prison (I hadn't spoken to him in roughly 4 years as he had willingly given his rights over us as our legal guardian to the State of Texas.) He spoke to me and told me that my biological mom (who I hadn't heard from in probably 10 years because she split from my father soon after we were placed in foster care.) She had found a new partner but recently split from him. He didnt take take it well. He waited for her to go to her RV before shooting her in the back of the head. Even though I didnt know her that well, it still hurt me. I remember violently sobbing for hours. I think I forgot how tocry for a long while after that. I never even recieved closure because the guy walked to a nearby river and used the same gun he used to kill my mom to kill himself right after taking her life. I believe she was only 32. He took the easy way out. Some time after that, I was SA'd by one of my older foster brothers. I woke up to him with his hand on my bare you know what. I was terrified. I never told anyone. I dont know why. I should have seen it coming because he would often try and get me to sneak with him to the bathroom and jerk him off. I kept telling him "No I'm not gay" and he would try to convince me it wasn't gay because "We're Brothers" but I never let him take me there. I never said anything because he was so much stronger than me and I didnt want to be known as the weak boy who got molested. Even worse my assigned therapist at the time who I had considered kind of a father figure died and I went to his funeral and I was only 14 and I saw his dead body. I fought for years in to try and move back to my old Foster Family but my Caseworker would not let me. In fact she forbade contact with them. When I was 17, the single foster dad who was taking care of me and the other boys (including the one who SA'd me, he adopted him) went to jail for domestic assault if I recall correctly so I was moved in with his sister until I turned 18. I then moved back in with my old Foster Parents (the ones who took me and my sister from the leeching Foster Parents) and finished out highschool. I got a job as a bagger in a grocery store local to my town. Part of the job is taking the groceries you've bagged and unloading them into their vehicle for them. Like a courtesy thing I think. Anyway, since we were a small town I pretty much knew every face that walked in the store, and lo and behold a regular from the apartments across the road strolls up to me at the register with her cart filled up. She's a sweet old lady and she says to me "oh I forgot my car do you think you can walk with me to my apartment and help me unload my groceries for me? I've got fuve dollars in it for you!" I ran to clear it with my manager and began walking her to apartment. Along the way she mentioned a nephew who was serving in the United States Navy, specifically as a Submariner. She mentioned how much he loved it. I was only half paying attention because all I could think of was the five dollars. When we arrived to her apartment I began unloading her cases of water against her wall. She walked up to a landline she had attached to her wall and dialed a number. After a few seconds she handed it to me. It was a recruiter for the United States Navy. Im ashamed to say at that point in my life I didnt know how to say no to anyone because I still desperately craved that validation, love, and acceptance I never recieved as a child. Needlees to say, what started as a simple trip turned into me signing up for the United States Navy. Im a 5'5 male and dealt with depression for all of my life so I've never had the energy or motivation to move around, which caused me to become overweight at 175 lbs. In less than a month I lost 20lbs by running every single night and doing bodyweight exercises. I went to MEPS to take the ASVAB, which is a dumb intelligence test the military uses to determine what rate (job in the Navy) you recieve. I scored an 87, and among all the ratings I had to choose from I was heavilly leaning towards wanting to be a Coreman, which is essentially a military doctor. But the lead Petty Officer hyped up a submarine program. He told me I would see the world. Again I shouldve said no. But I gave in and chose submarines. Less than a month after meeting with that ohhhh so lovely lady, 🙄 I was off to boot camp, which was an interesting experience in itself. I never learned how to be a proper brother. I never learned how to form relationships with people, how to develop proper friendships because I had to move around so much,and I'm terrified of people in public. What's funny is I've finished my military contract recently and I'm still terrified of people and anxious all the time. Actually while I was in the military something traumatic im not sure if im allowed to say happened and I almost died. While I was still recovering from that my biological Dad who I had decided I was going to try and reconcile with, had gotten out of prison and remarried. He was also taking care of two new kids and seemed to be turning his life around. Well... he died. He was in a truck accident and had brain bleed and passed in his sleep. He went to the doctor after his accident and they said he was fine. One month later he died of the bleeding. Not long after that, my biological Grandmother, who was one of the only good people to me became very ill. I fortunately was able to go visit her before she passed. After my grandmother passed I ended up reconnecting with an old friend from high-school. We fell in love and I moved her up to my state. I finished out my military contract and proposed. She said yes. But things fell apart. I had many traumas undealt with and so had she. I just wish I knew how to be confident in who I am and not be afraid of everything. I'm still trying to figure out where to go from here. I'm sorry for ranting I did not mean for this to be so long I meant for it to be maybe a paragraph about my father but everything just started pouring out.

Hi!
I need advice from the community here for my following conditions:
• ⁠I've been working for the past 9 years off-shore in iOS software development
• ⁠Overall, I have at least roughly 80 points for 189, 85 for 190, and 95 for 491 if I get band 7 for IELTS (+10 if it's band 8)
• ⁠For the past 10 years, I've been living in my home country for 3 years while the remaining 7 years living in different country (Malaysia)
• ⁠My legal name in my home country documents doesn't match with my passport & overseas documents, there's extra word like "John Doe" in overseas documents while local documents only has "John"
With conditions above, I have the following questions:

1. ⁠I know the IT market is quite saturated right now, but does my specialty get affected? I haven't seen anyone talked about mobile development so far, and it looks like many companies are also struggling to fill the position since they've been advertised for quite some time there.
2. ⁠What do I do if I can't get employment reference from all of my employers or statutory declarations from all of my supervisors/managers for my skills assessment?
3. ⁠Will I be in trouble to get the visa with my inconsistent legal name? e.g police certificate from home country doesn't match with other paperwork.
4. ⁠Is it worth to use migration agent for my level of complexity?

Cheers.

A/N: Yeah, I locked tf in when I was posting those side stories. I went through every chapter with a fine-tooth comb and revised them to bring them up to current Cap standards. Maybe I'll do this again at some point, too.
---
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“Holy shit! Kryll!” Those were Ivan Kaydanovsky’s first words as he stepped off his shuttle and onto the deck of the Republic’s Claw. An honor guard of two Republic marines flanked him, clad in polished black and carrying beautiful but deadly ceremonial rifles. On another shuttle, escorted by a black-clad RDF:Intelligence officer and a much larger honor guard, Kryll Naxol stood with the powerful bearing of a Republic Auxiliary.
“Ivan!” Kryll called back, committing a minor breach of protocol to rush out and greet his old friend. They wrapped in a bear hug, nearly crushing each other with their cybernetic strength before logic and neural inhibitors prevailed. “You were assigned to the Claw?”
“Probably old man Jedik trying to keep a watch on us,” Ivan chuckled. “But all’s well that ends well, right?”
Kryll blinked a bit and cocked his head before finally agreeing. “Suppose so. You’re with the standards, right?” The standard Auxiliaries. The ones without a Vanguard to guide their training. Many former apprentices had joined them over the course of the war. Some died with their masters instead.
“Yeah, yeah, the little babies sucking on bottles. That’s me,” smiled Ivan. “You’re motherfucking special forces. Give it a few years, you’ll be taking me as an apprentice.”
“Give it a few years, and the war will be won.” Kryll spoke with pride, and something between confidence and arrogance to back it up. “I… haven’t given too much thought as to what I’ll do after that.”
“See your people?” asked Ivan. “You have to have some.” Now that he thought about it, he didn’t know much of anything about Kryll’s past. He had never asked, and his friend had never told.
“You’re my people.” Kryll looked deep in thought for a moment. “Family, too, I suppose. Everyone else is dead.” Ivan suddenly felt very foolish. “Try not to die, too, okay?” Kryll made an attempt to cut the tension. “I kind of like you.” It had evidently failed.
Ivan remembered his old platoon on Atreides. Russian conscripts, hardly the cream of the crop, but sturdy and true fighters to the last. He missed them dearly, more than he would like to admit. He knew Kryll felt the same. “We’ll have to live for them, then. Keep their memory alive.”
“They lived as heroes,” Kryll replied. “Died like heroes, too. If we do have to go, I wouldn’t mind going out like them.” Ivan felt it was better not to go out at all.
“We had better pack it,” he said. “Don’t want to be late.” And, with that, he and Kryll had separated. Ivan wondered when they would see each other again.
The Auxiliaries Ivan was to meet stood in a large and gleaming cargo bay in clean and orderly ranks, like Ivan’s last platoon had done on Iera Prime. They were all dead now. He felt grimly thankful he had never gotten to know any of them. Then he wondered if Kryll had ever felt the same.
Forty men, Ivan counted. Or women, he added, as you could never really tell in combat armor. Forty Auxiliaries, standing at attention with automatics at port arms. Ivan realized that he was the forty-first. He had yet to don his armor, a suit which he assumed was custom-made for him. Even without the wings, Ierad physiology was alien enough for the Claw’s engineers to have to specialize a design. Ivan had learned as much when his martial arts instructors had to learn Muay Thai at the SpecOps academy.
A grim-faced officer directed him toward the armory. Two imposing marines flanked it, each standing at six feet tall and built like a gorilla in their powered combat suits. Ivan could have taken them apart like tin cans if he wished.
The door hissed open. Even on a Republic ship, all bright colors and sleek curves, there were some places where beauty was a foreign thing. This, a dull gray hallway with sixty berths for powered armor, was one of them. A requisitions officer stepped out of nowhere to challenge Ivan, surprising even his enhanced reflexes, and a brief exchange of words convinced him to show Ivan to his suit.
“Echelon-class standard-issue powered combat armor,” the officer explained, referring to the hulking black thing Ivan was to wear. “Modified for your… unique… physical characteristics. The wing weapons are absent, replaced with shoulder mounts for an arsenal of your choosing.” Ivan took all this in as he was told it. “Each forearm contains a mount for another weapon, usually an autocannon combined with a blade or cutting laser.”
Ivan had seen blades in use before. Horsemen, two of them, had boarded a battleship over the planet Segmentus. Why they hadn’t drawn guns, Ivan could not say, but he remembered vividly the ease with which they had cut down the ship’s marines.
“I’ll be using this?”
“You are Republic Auxiliary Ivan Kaydanovsky, identity number 87987, assigned to Standard Cohort Twelve, are you not?” Ivan nodded. “Then you will be using this.” The requisitions man jabbed a wing at the suit’s chest, where Ivan’s identity number was emblazoned in white Terran numerals.
Ivan stepped closer to the powered armor, admiring its massive bulk. No weapons were strapped to its arms, no artillery was stowed on its back, but this inert suit of armor seemed as formidable as a Greek god in front of lowly mortal Ivan. “You do know how to put it on, yes?” Ivan was really starting to dislike this requisitions officer.
He donned the suit and ran through his diagnostic checks. He had never used a powered suit of this caliber before, but it all came naturally to him. The implants were doing their work well.
After he had gotten the feel of things, some minutes later, Ivan Kaydanovsky took his first step in Auxiliary-grade powered armor. “It’s not unusual for operators of powered combat armor of this grade to experience a rush of euphoria, usually combined with a feeling of invincibility or limitless power,” droned the requisitions man. “Are you?”
Ivan knew all of that. Ivan had the specifics of this armor drilled into him so many times that he could have given that briefing from memory even without his computer augments. “Yes,” he said, taking a thunderous step forward and testing the suit’s systems with a few practiced movements. Then, he threw a lightning-fast blow that could have put a dent in the steel wall in front of him. He stepped back in shock. “I think I am.”
“Well, that’s natural.” The requisitions officer walked toward the door, beckoning Ivan with a wing to follow. “We should have someone here in a bit to remind you that you’re fallible.” Ivan needed no reminder. He had seen the casualty statistics. In a war like this, even gods were mortal.
The door hissed open. “Is that him?” Ivan looked to see a Republic colonel with striking blue plumage standing in the massive doorway.
“Auxiliary… Kaydanovsky, identity number 78987, come with me,” the officer commanded. There was no further communication.
A short ride in a transit pod later, Ivan followed the officer through a corridor and up to a door that was flanked by marines. That was hardly unusual, guarding doors was most of what marines did, but Ivan could not help but notice this door’s security was a bit overkill. The marines eyed him uneasily, and his armor reported that it was being scanned by a battery of concealed sensors. The door in front of him looked flimsy, coated in some alien wood and decorated with gold filigree, but his scanners detected six inches of blast proof metal behind it. “Admiral Jedik’s quarters,” Ivan guessed.
The marines looked among each other. “He’s cleared. Colonel, right this way.” The door slid open, triggered by an unseen operator. The colonel ushered Ivan in.
“Holy shit, Kryll!” That was the second, and not the last, time Ivan would say such a phrase. The Russian trooper spied his friend as he walked into a small but beautiful living room, surrounded by well-placed decorations and copies of artwork from across the galaxy. Most were from Earth, and there was even a Bible on some alien furniture near the door.
“Holy-” Kryll Naxol, clad in his own set of powered armor, shut his beak just before he uttered three alien syllables that would have been improper in the present company. There was, after all, a Republic fleet admiral standing by the hologram projector. “I apologize for my friend’s vulgarity, sir.”
“Apology accepted.” Yegel Jedik, the father of the microchip that now clung tightly to Kryll’s prefrontal cortex, snapped to attention and saluted Ivan. He saluted back. “Colonel Talta, you’re dismissed. Report to the fleet bridge and continue your work on the battle plan.” Jedik was dressed for a formal occasion, a rarity in the Republic fleet, and he was holding a glass of alcohol in his left claw. That was not a rarity.
The colonel, whose name tag Ivan had never actually bothered to read, saluted and left. “Sir, if I may,” said Ivan, “Why am I here?”
“You do remember, of course, that your friend owes his position to the computer chip my surgeons installed in his brain?” Jedik asked. Ivan nodded, a gesture which the admiral had learned by now. “Good. I must confess, I’ve not been entirely truthful with you.”
“With all due respect, sir, I suspected as much,” said Ivan. “I saw your spies when I was training.”
“And you?” Jedik turned to Kryll.
“I don’t think the microchip operates the way you explained it to me. A randomized tactical generator wouldn’t have had the effect it did.”
“I’m not going to discuss military secrets with you,” Jedik snapped, ending that line of discussion. “That is need-to-know only, and neither of you need to know it. Now, listen well.” They were listening. “You, Lieutenant Naxol, are an experiment. A test subject, functionally identical to every other soldier who agreed to have that microchip installed except for one factor; you are an Auxiliary. There is one other in the galaxy like you, lieutenant, and you both are assigned to the same unit.” He pointed a wing at Ivan. “You are their control group. The three of you will be fighting together, under my personal supervision, and your performance will be instrumental in demonstrating the effectiveness of this microchip technology. Are we clear?”
They were test subjects. Guinea pigs on the front lines of a war. Ivan really hoped that Admiral Jedik knew what he was doing.
“Sir, yes, sir!” Kryll and Ivan barked in unison, responding reflexively to their superior’s request. “Perfectly clear, sir!” After that, they were dismissed. They passed ranks of armored marines, who stood like suits of armor in some ancient castle, and thought of their new task.
“Kryll,” Ivan said, to break the silence. “Things make sense, now. The spies, the gold cadre, most of it. The one thing I don’t get is why a Vanguard chose you if Jedik had already laid a claim.”
“He probably didn’t,” Kryll figured. “Or Jedik was late to claim my services. Hell, this microchip is a wonder. I could never think of things like this before.” He paused, thinking of things like this. “Do you think Jedik even knows what it does?”
“Shit, I fucking hope so!” Ivan laughed. “It’d be real shitty if you started seeing the shadow people halfway through a firefight!” Then he had to think, too. “I’d wager he has some idea, but he can’t know everything. No need for an experimental unit if he did,” he explained.
“Agreed. He probably has thousands of units like ours. Tens of thousands of test subjects.”
“It’s kind of fucked, doing that to people,” said Ivan. “I mean, he doesn’t even know what the chips really do, and he’s testing them on intelligent beings.” Kryll didn’t feel the same way. “Why not use it on mice, or monkeys, or those six-legged things that can solve a Rubik’s cube?” ‘Those six-legged things’ referred to a species of mammal on Iera Prime whose average specimen was about as intelligent as an eight-year-old child. Most of them could not solve Rubik’s cubes.
“The Alliance killed two hundred billion people,” Kryll countered. “No provocation, no prior aggression on our end, just senseless murder. If putting computers in my head helps them finally get what’s coming to them, then hook me the fuck up.” There was a harsh finality to his words that ended all discussion on that matter. Ivan did not want to press him any further.
“Who’s the third Auxiliary?” Ivan changed the subject.
“How would I know? I got told the same thing you did.”
“Yeah, I figure that’s fair.” Ivan shrugged. “We should meet him soon enough.”
They did meet him soon enough. Both of them had made their own mental preconceptions of what their new teammate would be, and both of their preconceptions were totally dashed when they finally saw it. Not he, or she, but it. It sat on a huge crate in the cargo bay they had been assembled to, covered from head to toe in a thick brown exoskeleton and holding a massive assault weapon in two of its six limbs. Two others were obviously for movement, being furthest from its ant-like head and shaped much like animal legs on Earth, and the two middle ones were clearly manipulators. They were shorter and scrawnier, but still formidably strong as appendages went. They grasped the assault rifle, the same model of weapon Ivan had seen in the armored gauntlets of Republic marines just minutes prior.
The top two appendages, positioned similarly to Ivan’s arms, were neither for grasping nor moving. They were bruisers, thick as tree trunks and covered at the ends with sharp spikes of strong chitin. They could hold something, with three digits on each limb, but any fine motor tasks were impossible.
The insect was totally naked, not even wearing armor, but no reproductive or even waste-disposal organs were visible. Ivan, being a devout Christian, was thankful for that.
It stood up as it saw him, rising to the height of fully eight feet tall and making Ivan recall all the times he had crushed insects underfoot when he was younger. The burly Russian was clad in full powered armor, seven feet tall and one thousand pounds heavy, and this monster still made him feel small. Any previous thoughts of invincibility in his armor were quickly dispelled.
“Soldier caste,” said Kryll. “It’s a Krulvuk, born and bred for war.”
“I’ve heard of them,” Ivan breathed. “Good Christ, you look different in person.”
“Why?” asked the Krulvuk. “Holographic distortion?”
“No, no, it’s just an expression,” Ivan sighed. “Never mind.”
“My apologies,” the insect chittered. “I am unfamiliar with expressions.” It crouched lower a little, bringing Ivan’s helmeted head level with its own. Two bulbous eyes, like those of a Terran housefly, stared at his metal visage. A pair of massive mandibles clicked absentmindedly. “Command castes are meant for such a purpose. I am a soldier caste.”
Ivan recalled seeing a command caste on a news broadcast, defending her actions from a crowd of incensed reporters. She, or at least the broadcast said it was a she, was the magistrate of a Krulvuk colony on the outskirts of Regime space. When a famine struck, she ordered the killing of twenty thousand of the lower castes to conserve food for the rest of the colony.
Ivan did not like the Krulvuk command caste.
“Tell me more about them,” he said, gauging whether this soldier’s feelings aligned with his own. “How do they treat you?”
“The command caste are thinkers, scholars, leaders. They are exceedingly rare. Soldiers and workers serve them.” Then it paused, mandibles clicking and claws fidgeting. “My command caste sold me to Admiral Jedik for sixty thousand units. He had no need for me.”
There was no emotion whatsoever in that insect’s modulated voice. No hint of sorrow at its betrayal or sale, like a slave on old Earth. “Like a slave?” Ivan gasped. “You’re a slave?”
“It’s a hive insect,” Kryll explained to him, not to defend the insect but to explain its alien nature. “Hardwired to serve its colony, without any regard for its own life or safety. It would kill itself if it meant the colony stayed alive.”
Ivan looked at the insect. “Would you?”
“Without question.”
“Why?” he gasped. “What the fuck do you owe them?”
“It is my biological imperative to obey and serve,” chittered the insect, “No matter the cost.” Its mandibles clicked once, a gesture that Ivan’s suit translated into realization. “Oh, my apologies. I am Vigel, formerly known as Sekvit 1,829.” The 1,829th Krulvuk to hatch from one of Sekvit’s eggs. The command caste were the only ones who could lay them. “I was named by Admiral Jedik, who I am now legally and ethically required to serve.”
“You earned a name,” Kryll congratulated Vigel. “Good job, big man.”
“Thank you,” Vigel chittered. “Low castes are genderless, for your information, but I feel no offense at the mishap. I have been informed that my species can be found quite unnerving, and I truly appreciate your support.”
Ivan certainly found its species unnerving. They were alien, truly alien, and in a very bad way. There was a reason the Alliance had taken pains to exterminate them over the course of their invasion. Regardless of how he thought of the Krulvuks, Ivan was still glad they had failed.
“Well, uh, you seem agreeable enough,” he ventured. “It’s just the command caste that I mind. The way they run things doesn’t sit right with me.” Krulvuks were a cold and utilitarian species, having earned many enemies before they stood against the hated Alliance. Before the war, the threat of a Krell police action kept their species in line with Coalition morality. Now, with their army sorely needed to defend frontline worlds, there were no such restrictions.
Their lower castes were instinctively conditioned to obey and defend the command caste to the death, and the latter treated their servants almost universally like expendable machines. To them, lives were a resource like any other. Soldier caste, worker caste, even fellow command castes had a value, and they all could be left to die unflinchingly if another resource was deemed more precious.
Vigel did not mind this way of life. Most others did. The Krulvuk Regime had a very short list of allies.
“Why?” asked the massive insect. “They are logical. Efficient. Calculating. Are these not admirable traits in a leader?”
“A leader should have compassion,” Kryll countered. “They should care for their people, not just see them as tools.” Vigel understood this concept, even if he did not grasp the sentiment of it. Admiral Jedik had explained it to him.
“Like the admiral,” he clicked understandingly. “Compassion is unnecessary,” he countered. “Logic dictates that, when the colony prospers, the command caste will also prosper. Thus, logically, the command caste has an incentive to make their colony prosper. No compassion is involved in that.”
No compassion was involved on Tlelaxis III, either, when a battalion of Regime troops gunned down an entire worker caste habitation sector to cull the spread of a lethal epidemic. Ivan was really growing to dislike Vigel. “And what if I’m wounded on the battlefield, and logic dictates you leave me to die?”
“Ivan,” Kryll warned. “Let’s try to be cooperative here.”
“His concern is valid,” Vigel countered. “I assure you, I will always act in the best interests of the Republic. I would never abandon my unit unless the situation demanded it.” Ivan felt that was a fair answer, all things considered. He knew he’d shed few tears over leaving Vigel on the front. “Still,” warned the insect, “I may not refuse an order that is given to me. I am compelled to obey.”
“Any order?” asked Ivan, concern mixed with contempt in his voice. “Tell me honestly, are you a machine? Or are you a man?”
“I am neither,” said Vigel. “I am simply a killer. Born and bred.” A butcher was closer to Ivan’s description of it. “That is why I am here.”
“Damn straight!” Ivan exclaimed. “You’re a soulless, emotionless, murder machine, just like the rest of your shitty race.”
“Ivan!” snapped Kryll. “As your superior officer, I command you to be silent!” Ivan stepped back sheepishly. “You will not insult your fellow soldiers again.”
“I am not insulted,” Vigel defended him. “I find his assessment to be somewhat accurate, if in a demeaning way.”
“Which means you should be insulted,” Ivan snapped, jabbing a finger at Vigel. Kryll glared at him through his helmet. “Any normal person would.”
“Sergeant Kaydanovsky, do I need to tie your mouth shut with rope?” Ivan grew silent. After all he’d been through alongside Kryll, he had almost forgotten the bird was still his superior officer. “You will refrain from speaking in that manner about anyone in this unit, or I will have you running sixties until your legs collapse,” Kryll snapped. He could be quite intimidating if the situation called for it. “Am I clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Ivan growled, snapping to attention and saluting. “Perfectly clear, sir.”
“Good. Now, you’re dismissed.” Ivan turned and stalked out of the room. Kryll considered following him, thinking more as his friend than his commanding officer, but there was little he could do. Kryll Naxol could field-strip an automatic rifle in ten seconds flat, he could make an improvised explosive out of engine coolant and empty canteens, but he was far out of his element here.
Ivan walked out of the cargo bay in a fury, disgusted at the callousness with which Vigel treated life and the readiness with which he defended his despotic command caste. Kryll knew he was right, he felt the same way himself, but he was hopeless at convincing Ivan to hold his tongue around Vigel. The insect in question, confused about this whole affair, satisfied itself by standing at attention and chittering absentmindedly. Kryll dismissed it, too.
The fleet would be at Neldia within a day. He and his men would be fighting on the ground, behind enemy lines and with only each other to rely on, within three. And, like it or not, the bond between them was fast unraveling.
Kryll knew he had to act fast, but he didn’t know what to do. The doctrine that had held true all his life had just failed right in front of him and, unless he was able to make Ivan fight down his feelings, the entire unit would be in danger.
Kryll Naxol did not know how to succeed, but he very much knew he was failing. Part of him believed he already did.
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Lời nói đầu

Bài này sẽ nói cho bạn biết một vài thứ:

• Cho bạn biết cách nào để đường đường chính trở thành công dân của một quốc gia (ở đây là Anh quốc, những nước khác có thể giống hoặc khác nhưng về bản chất thì sẽ như vầy).
• Đây sẽ cho bạn biết một cá nhân có thể có mấy nguồn thu nhập từ đó lên kế hoạch cho mình.
• Nó là cú tát thẳng mặt cho những người nghĩ là thuế VN thấp, ở VN sướng. Và nó cũng cho các bạn biết được như thế nào là một chánh phủ vì dân.
• Cách tính thuế (Anh quốc, những nước khác cũng sẽ tương tụ vầy thôi).

Nói sơ qua về những môn ACCA. Vì là chứng chỉ nghề nghiệp nên toàn bộ kiến thức, bài tập tình huống (scenarios) đều là thực tế, gần như toàn bộ đều là luật và quy định. Từ những con số đến tình huống, hành vi đều xảy ra trong công việc, thực tế đời sống. Chứ hông tự bịa ra, như kiểu “nhà Lan cách trường 50 km, mỗi lần di chuyển mất 30 phút, hỏi vận tốc đạp xe của Lan”.
Nếu các bạn đến với post này để có thêm sự hiểu biết, thì nó dành cho bạn. Nhưng tin tui đi nó sẽ cho các bạn thấy sự thật và giúp các có động lực để thoát nghèo. Tui biết những bài như vầy rất là khô khan, nhưng mà thêm là bớt mà bớt là thêm. Nếu nhí nhố quá nó sẽ mất đi tính khách quan, vậy nên tui đã tạo ra dấu {} như là lời tâm tình của Bác. 😂😂
Có bạn góp ý với tui là tui viết tiếng Anh nhiều quá, nhưng các bạn biết rồi kinh tế thị trường xuất phát từ những nước tư bản nên dùng tiếng của họ là chính xác nhứt. Cố dịch sẽ hiểu sai. Và cũng vì nó là thuế, thuế là luật nên sẽ hông thể diễn giải theo ý của mình được nên tui chỉ có thể giải thích trong dấu {} thôi. Một điều nữa là thuế ở xứ tư bản đều tính theo năm chứ hông theo tháng như ở VN, chú ý kỹ điều này khi thực hiện phép so sánh (recommend: nên đổi về năm hết).
Trên tinh thần học thuật nên tui phải cố kìm nén cảm xúc của mình chứ bình thường tui bình luận thì “độc địa” lắm. Các bạn cũng nên chủ động tra từ điển hoặc những thứ dễ dàng tìm được trên Google, tui chỉ giải thích những thứ khó hiểu.
Nguồn:
1/ BPP F6 Tx UK
2/ https://www.gov.uk/

Learning objectives

• Explain how the residence of an individual is determined.
• Compute the tax payaple on saving and dividend income.
• Recognise the treatment of individual savings accounts (ISAs) and other tax-exempt investment.
• Understand how the accrued income scheme applies to UK Government securities (gilts).
• Prepare a basic income tax computation involving different types of income.
• Calculate the amount of personal allowance available.
• Understand the impact of the transferable amount of personal allowance for spouses and civil partners.
• Compute the amount of income tax payable.
• Understand the treatment of interest paid for a qualifying purpose.
• Understand the treatment of gift aid donations and charitable giving.
• Explain and compute the child benefit tax charge.
• Understand the treatment of property owned jointly by a married couple, or by a couple in a civil partnership.
• Understand how a married couple or a couple in a civil partnership can minimise their tax liabilities.
• Basic income tax planning.

Knowledge diagnostic

{cho bạn nào chưa biết thì phần này cho các bạn biết trọng tâm của mỗi la mã trong bài}

1. Scope of income tax UK resident individuals are liable to income tax on all income. Non-UK resident individuals are only liable to UK income tax on UK income only. There is a statutory test of residence.
2. Income tax computation Make sure you learn the proforma.
3. Types of income Income is categorised into three sections: non-savings, savings and dividend income.
4. Personal allowance Everyone receives a personal allowance. However, if adjusted net income > £100,000 it is reduced by £1 for every £2 excess income.
5. Computing tax payable Non-savings income is taxed at 20% /40% / 45%. Savings income is taxed at 0% / 20% /40% /45%. Dividend income is taxed at 0% / 8.75% / 33.75%/39.35%.
6. Gift aid Gift aid donations enable the taxpayer to save tax at their marginal rate. For higher and additional rate taxpayers, this is achieved by extending the basic rate and higher rate limits by the gross donation.
7. Qualifying interest Interest on certain loans can be deducted from total income.
8. Married couples/civil partners Split property income 50:50 for spouses/civil partners unless election for actual entitlements. Each spouse/civil partner should use their personal allowance, savings income nil rate band and dividend nil rate band.
9. Child benefit charge If ANI is between £50,000 and £60,000, the charge will be 1% of amount received for every £100 of income over £50,000.
10. Accrued income scheme Seller taxed on accrued interest received on sale. Buyer given tax relief against interest received of seller's accrued interest.

Learning content
https://preview.redd.it/mj5c9q7dftzc1.png?width=689&format=png&auto=webp&s=d4b04fe33600702095f41c51df53bafa198213ed
{Mọi người sẽ thắc mắc có “chẩn đoán kiến thức” (Knowledge diagnostic, tạm dịch) rồi thêm cái này chi. Đây là mind map, đọc cái tên là các bạn biết công dụng của nó rồi, nó giúp mình định vị mình đang ở đâu và khoanh vùng cái mình đã hiểu hoặc chưa hiểu. Còn cái “chẩn đoán kiến thức” nó như chú thích trong bản đồ.}

1. Scope of income tax

1.1 Residence

1.1.1 Statutory residence tests
A taxpayer's residence has important consequences in establishing the tax treatment of their UK and overseas income and capital gains. Generally, an individual who is UK resident is taxed on worldwide income whereas a non-UK resident is liable to UK income tax only on income arising in the UK.Statute sets out tests to determine whether or not an individual is UK resident in a tax year.The operation of the tests can be summarised as follows:
Statute sets out tests to determine whether or not an individual is UK resident in a tax year.
The operation of the tests can be summarised as follows:
https://preview.redd.it/u6rd0a6wftzc1.png?width=592&format=png&auto=webp&s=9cf1e31207b35ca7dcf7c8ef46e9ceb18beab591
{Ở đây các bạn phải phân biệt được 2 khái niệm “công dân” (citizen) và “cư dân” (resident). Công dân thì có quốc tịch, còn cư dân là bạn phải thỏa mãn điều kiện của quy định cư trú của nước sở tại, nôm na là phải lưu trú đủ số ngày, tháng. Tức là dù bạn có quốc tịch, nhưng bạn đã rời khỏi quốc gia đó quá lâu thì bạn không còn là cư dân ở đó, nhưng vẫn là công dân vì bạn còn quốc tịch mà. Đó là lý do mà bạn thấy nhiều người ở VN 6 tháng rồi trở lại Mỹ 6 tháng là vậy.}
{những mục lục tiếp theo sẽ là quy trình test một người có phải là cư dân hay không}
1.1.2 Automatic overseas tests
The automatic overseas tests must be considered first. An individual will automatically not be UK resident for the whole tax year if:

• They spend less than 16 days in the UK during that tax year; or
• They spend less than 46 days in the UK during a tax year and were not resident during the previous three tax years; or
• They work full time overseas throughout that tax year and spend less than 91 days in the UK during that tax year.

1.1.2 Automatic overseas testsThe automatic overseas tests must be considered first. An individual will automatically not be UK resident for the whole tax year if:

• They spend less than 16 days in the UK during that tax year; or
• They spend less than 46 days in the UK during a tax year and were not resident during the previous three tax years; or
• They work full time overseas throughout that tax year and spend less than 91 days in the UK during that tax year.

1.1.4 Sufficient ties test
If an individual's residence cannot be determined by any of the automatic tests, their status will be determined by the number of ties they have with the UK and how many days they are present in the UK in a tax year. There are five ties:

• Having close family in the UK (spouse/civil partner or minor child).
• Having accommodation in the UK in which the individual spends at least one night during the tax year.
• Doing substantive work in the UK (at least 40 days working at least three hours a day).
• Being in the UK for more than 90 days during either of the two previous tax years
• Spending more time in the UK than in any other country in the tax year (only relevant if individual was UK resident in any of the previous three tax years).

The following table, showing the number of ties by reference to the number of days in the UK, will be provided in the Tax rates and allowances in the exam.
https://preview.redd.it/8akh613bhtzc1.png?width=594&format=png&auto=webp&s=a733866f4d5ed4758df145bcc732355cf821be27
1.1.5 Day spent in the UK
A day in the UK is any day in which an individual is present in the UK at midnight.
{Đây là câu chốt để biết một ngày được tính bắt đầu từ thời điểm nào}

2. Computing taxable income

An individual’s income from all sources is brought together (aggregated) in personal tax computation for each for each year.
🔑 Tax year: The tax year, or fiscal year, or y*ear of assessment *runs from 6 April to 5 April. For example, the tax year 2023/2024 run from 6 April 2023 to 5 April 2024.
{Chúng ta cần phân biệt 2 khái niệm “fiscal year” và “financial year”.
1/ Fiscal year (năm tính thuế) là đủ 12 tháng ngày bắt đầu và ngày kết thúc như trên.
2/ Financial year (năm tài chánh) là nhiều hoặc ít hơn 12 tháng bắt đầu ngày nào cũng được. Nó tương ứng tình huống thực tế; khi mở doanh nghiệp hoặc cá nhân tìm việc làm. Đâu thể đợi ngay ngày 6/4 hay 5/4 mới thành lập hay ký hợp đồng lao động.
cái này có thể hơi lằng nhằn, nôm na giống như khi ai hỏi tuổi của bạn. Bạn nói tui 24 tuổi. Nhưng thực sự là bạn sống được 23 năm 4 tháng 15 ngày hoặc 24 năm 2 tháng 13 ngày. Chỉ khi bạn đăng ký thi bằng lái xe người ta mới cần tính kỹ như vậy}
https://preview.redd.it/z90t7zsehtzc1.png?width=598&format=png&auto=webp&s=023ee4a9d9b216ada28206611501fb6b5b7344fe
{Đây là công thức tính thuế cho một cá nhân bao gồm toàn bộ nguồn thu nhập. Giải thích một số thuật ngữ:

1. Dividend: cổ tức _ an amount of the profits that a company pays to people who own shares in the company
2. Loss relief: khoản lỗ}

🔑 Total income: Total income is all income subject to income tax. Each of the amounts that make up total income is called a component.
Net income: Net income is total income after qualifying interest and trade losses.
Taxable income: Taxable income is net income less the personal allowance.

3. Type of income

Income must be classified according to the nature of the income as different computational rules apply to different types of income.
3.1 Non-savings income

• Non-savings income consists of:
• Trading income {phát sinh từ nguồn self-employed, nôm na là tự kinh doanh}
• Employment income. {thu nhập từ làm thuê, salary + welfare}
• Property income.
• Pension income. {đây là lương hưu từ national insurance, ở VN gọi là BHXH}

3.2 Savings income
Savings income is interest income, including:

• Bank interest
• Building society interest
• Interest from company loan stock
• Interest from government stocks (gilts)
• Interest from National Savings & Investments accounts

3.3 Dividend income
Dividend income is the dividends received from owning shares in companies.
3.4 Exempt income
Income from certain investments is exempt from income tax. They are therefore useful for tax planning to minimise tax from investments.
Exempt income:

• Income from National Savings Certificates
• Statutory redundancy money
• Winnings (including premium bond prizes) {tiền hoặc hiện vật mà bạn trúng thưởng, kể cả xổ số kiến thiết (XSKT) (National lottery). Để tìm hiểu thêm chức năng XSKT ở Anh , Link 1, Link 2); các bạn sẽ bất ngờ. Nói thật ở VN tui cũng chưa bao giờ được biết tiền xskt để làm gì? Đi đâu, về đâu?}
• Scholarships
• Interest on damages for personal injuries
• Local authority grants
• Income from investments made through individual savings accounts (ISAs)

{Tui để link thu nhập miễn thuế của VN cho các bạn tiện so sánh. Xem cái nào thiết thực hơn, nhiều người được hưởng hơn}
3.4.1 Individual savings account (ISAs)
There are two types of ISA:

• Cash ISA (which only has a cash component)
• Stocks and shares ISA (which only has a stocks and shares component unless the provider allows some cash to be held in this type of ISA)

The annual subscription limit for ISAs is £20,000 per tax year (2023/24). It is possible to withdraw funds from a flexible cash ISA and reinvest them without that reinvestment using up any of the annual limit.
{Thuật ngữ này tui đã đề cập ở chapter 1 sang chapter này sẽ giải thích rõ hơn, khi bạn thấy dòng “£20,000 per tax year (2023/24)”. Nó có nghĩa là con số £20,000 này nó sẽ được điều chỉnh tăng giảm theo từng năm dựa vào lạm phát và chỉ số CPI để phù hợp với tình hình kinh tế đảm bảo đời sống người dân. Chức năng của nó là để khuyến khích người dân có khoản tiết kiệm và dùng số tiền này đầu tư vào các công ty có dòng tiền luân chuyển tạo thêm của cải}
Dividend income and interest income received from investments held in an ISA are exempt from income tax. Likewise, gains on disposal of such investments are free from capital gains tax. Note that additional rate taxpayers and individuals who have already used their savings income nil band will benefit from using a cash ISA .
4.Personal allowance
The personal allowance (PA) is £12,570. It is deducted from net income to arrive at taxable income, firstly against non-savings income, then savings income and finally against dividend income. It is given to all individuals (subject to tapering - see next paragraph) including children.
{tiếng Việt là trợ cấp cá nhân, PA ở VN link. Đúng vậy, chỉ có nhiêu đó thôi. Nếu đem nó quy ra đô la Mỹ chia tỷ lệ với GDP bình quân của UK link vs VN link thì bạn biết nó thảm như nào rồi. Con số này chưa bao gồm ảnh hưởng chênh lệch giàu nghèo, trình độ cư dân, môi trường sống}

4.1 Tapering of the personal allowance

If an individual's adjusted net income (ANI) exceeds £100,000, the personal allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 excess income. Once an individual's 'adjusted net income' reaches £125,140 or over, the personal allowance will be reduced to nil.
🔑 Adjusted net income: Adjusted net income is net income less the gross amounts of personal pension contributions and gift aid donations.
{Khi thu nhập vượt qua £100,000 thì PA sẽ giảm dần theo tỷ lệ £1 cho £2 thu nhập vượt quá, đến phần ví dụ sẽ rõ}
https://preview.redd.it/9e2csob7jtzc1.png?width=621&format=png&auto=webp&s=b63de78ffcad786aa753fe89c2f8eb500b3f9601
{Lưu ý: thu nhập tính theo năm. Ví dụ có lời giải rồi, đáng lẽ tui cũng hổng nên giải thích, tui chiều mấy bạn quá mà.
Clare có tổng thu nhập là £110,500. Có nghĩa là vượt £100,000 là £10,500. Theo tỷ lệ 1:2 như trên định nghĩa. Nên con số PA bị giảm là £5,250. Con số PA được hưởng PA= £12,570 - £5,250 = £7,320}

5. Computing tax payable

Having calculated the taxable income, an exam question could ask for one of two things:

• Tax liability
• Tax payable
  🔑 Income tax liability: Income tax liability is the amount of tax charged on the individual's taxable income.
  

Income tax payable: Income tax payable is the balance of the income tax liability still to be settled in cash.
Income tax payable is computed on an individual's taxable income. The tax rates are applied to taxable income first to non-savings income, then to savings income and finally to dividend income.
5.1 Tax rates
https://preview.redd.it/bk6qd195xtzc1.png?width=634&format=png&auto=webp&s=249fa2522cf188982150fc3aa3de11dde559e904
{Đây là link thuế suất thuế thu nhập VN, link. Tui sẽ hông vội so sánh ở đây mà cuối bài tui sẽ làm hẳn một cái scenario.}
{Tui nói cho các nghe bí mật này. Các bạn để ý quốc gia nào mà GDP bình quân đầu người gần bằng hoặc cao hơn mức thu nhập chịu thuế ở mốc thuế suất 20%, toàn nước tam quyền phân lập, càng cao hơn lại càng dân chủ; kỳ lạ thiệt}
{Các bạn thử search đi rồi comment dưới phần bình luận, tui làm trước}
{Anh quốc thu nhập chịu thuế suất 20% là £37,700 = $47,218.24}
https://preview.redd.it/bae5h7zaxtzc1.png?width=621&format=png&auto=webp&s=124cc98a64a4c87c511d1e983408ddedf54acfc7
5.2 Computations with non-savings income only
https://preview.redd.it/kub8u88dxtzc1.png?width=620&format=png&auto=webp&s=5422f67a3f47ffa0ad1fc27e3857dc5567788666
{con số £125,140 là số thu nhập mà khoản PA = 0,
125,140 - 100,000 = 25,140, PA = 12,570 - 25,140/2 = 0 }
5.3 Computation with non-savings and savings income
5.3.1 Savings income starting rate
There is a tax rate of 0% for savings income up to £5,000 (the savings income starting rate limit). This rate is called the savings income starting rate. The savings income starting rate only applies where the savings income falls in the first £5,000 of taxable income.
Remember that income tax is charged first on non-savings income. So, in most cases, an individual's non-savings income will exceed the savings income starting rate limit and the savings income starting rate will not be available on savings income.
{con số £5,000 này nó thể hiện sự nhân bản, ưu đãi cho savings income. Với những người thu nhập thấp (cái khoản Non-savings income thấp), mà chỉ sống dựa vào tiền lãi (savings income) thì họ sẽ được ưu đãi thêm thuế suất 0% của £5,000 bên phần savings income của họ, sẽ giải thích rõ bên dưới phần minh họa}
The savings income starting rate counts towards the basic rate limit of £37,700 and the higher rate limit of £125,140.
5.3.2 Savings income nil rate band
There is a tax rate of 0% for savings income within the savings income nil rate band. The savings income nil rate band for 2023/24 is £1,000 if the individual is a basic rate taxpayer, and £500 if the individual is a higher rate taxpayer. There is no savings income nil rate band for additional rate taxpayers. The savings income nil rate band counts towards the basic rate limit of £37,700 and the higher rate limit of £125,140.
{Lại là ưu đãi (dành cho savings income), con số này sẽ thay đổi tùy vào từng năm theo lạm phát và CPI, £1,000 thu nhập thấp, £500 cho trung lưu, £0 cho thu nhập cao}
https://preview.redd.it/nv3ukb5qytzc1.png?width=604&format=png&auto=webp&s=eeb97111b521f4feb86ea447bb263818b0af98fd
{Như tui đã nói ở lời mở đầu, ACCA là chứng chỉ nghề nghiệp nên mọi scenario đều là thực tế. Con số £5,000 dành cho đối tượng là người hông làm ra tiền (non-savings income thấp) như người già, về hưu, tàn tật; chủ yếu dựa vào thu nhập từ tiền savings income.
Các bạn nhìn vào hình thấy cô Alicia này tổng thu nhập là £23,170 trong khi gdp bình quân đầu người của Anh là $46.125,26 (để ý ký hiệu ngoại tệ), so ra thì thu nhập rất là thấp.
Bạn nhìn xuống phần tính thuế của savings income sẽ thấy phép tính £2,400 (5,000 - 2,600) x 0%
này là do quy ước tính toán bên Anh nên người ta viết vậy (tui thấy kiểu viết này nó gọn), người VN mình sẽ thấy hơi khó hiểu, phép tính (5,000 - 2,600) là để giải thích cho chúng ta biết £2,400 từ đâu mà ra. Theo kiểu VN sẽ là :
(5,000 - 2,600) = £2,400
2,400 x 0% = £0
Để hưởng trọn vẹn £5,000 này thì thu nhập từ Non-savings income ≤ (PA =12,570), lớn hơn đồng nào thì bị trừ.
Con số £1,000 này là được hưởng theo mức thu nhập, do net income của Alicia ≤ £37,700 (xem lại bảng phân loại thu nhập) nên được hưởng ưu đãi £1,000, thu nhập trung bình £500, thu nhập cao £0}
https://preview.redd.it/dcvjmxjj0uzc1.png?width=667&format=png&auto=webp&s=7eab7d54206e64a845e11ddbe4d830f4dde9b15f
{tương tự}
5.4 Computations with non-savings, savings and dividend income
5.4.1 Dividend nil rate band
There is a tax rate of 0% for dividend income within the dividend nil rate band. The dividend nil rate band is £1,000 for all taxpayers.
The dividend nil rate band counts towards the basic rate limit of £37,700 and the higher rate limit of £125,140.
{Lại ưu đãi, £1,000 lần này là dành cho dividend income}
https://preview.redd.it/gnzlxskz0uzc1.png?width=571&format=png&auto=webp&s=58fca987159de15193d91e9fb9c8ecaf615594ad
{ở minh họa này là điển hình cho thu nhập của một người Anh}
{ảnh bị chia ra 2 nửa, nửa trên là tính và phân loại thu nhập, nửa dưới từ dòng chữ “income tax” là tính thuế thu nhập}
{tui dung từ “ưu đãi” là chưa đúng trong chuyên môn, đúng ra là trợ cấp (allowance)}
5.5 Transferable personal allowance (marriage allowance)
An individual can elect to transfer £1,260 of their PA to their spouse/civil partner if certain conditions are met. This is sometimes known as the marriage allowance.
Neither the spouse or civil partner making the transfer nor the spouse or civil partner receiving the transfer can be a higher rate or additional rate taxpayer. The spouse/civil partner receiving the transfer does not have an increased PA. Instead, they are entitled to a tax reducer of £1,260 x 20% = £252. The tax reducer reduces the individual's tax liability. If the individual has a tax liability of less than £252, the tax reducer reduces the tax liability to nil.
{phía trên là trợ cấp dành cho tất cả mọi người, kết hôn xong hưởng thêm trợ cấp. Khoản trợ cấp này cho cặp vợ chồng kiểu một người nội trợ, một người thu nhập chính. Cái nước gì mà lắm trợ cấp thế.}
https://preview.redd.it/d9lrfcqw1uzc1.png?width=585&format=png&auto=webp&s=be27d28278de86e26fedf35c52b549049dbfa765
{PA (personal allowance) tui giải thích nốt lần này cho thuật ngữ này, lần sau thì phải tự hiểu}
{Ý nghĩa: Nếu partner xài chưa hết khoản PA thì có thể chuyển tối đa £1,260 cho người kia này, thực tế chỉ chuyển sang cho partner của mình được 1/5 thôi, lý do tránh lạm dụng, và cũng để khuyến khích cả hai vợ chồng đều nên đi làm để hưởng tối đa khoản trợ cấp.}
{Trong trường hợp khác Alec có net income = £12,000 chẳng hạn. Trong kế toán con số trong ngoặc đơn là số âm. (500) = - 500}
https://preview.redd.it/6xo61l952uzc1.png?width=566&format=png&auto=webp&s=10b98b8780218c828f10db319dcac8b932a94d8d

6 Gift aid

🔑 Gift aid: One-off and regular charitable gifts of money qualify for tax relief under the g*ift aid scheme *provided the donor gives the charity a gift aid declaration.
(a) Basic rate A gift aid donation is treated as though it is paid net of basic rate tax (20%). This gives basic rate tax relief when the payment is made. For example, if the taxpayer wants the charity to receive a donation of £1,000, they would only need to make a payment to the charity of £800. The charity reclaims the 20% tax relief that the taxpayer has received, resulting in a gross gift of £1,000.
(b) Higher and additional rate Additional tax relief for higher rate and additional rate taxpayers is given in the personal tax computation by increasing the donor's basic rate limit and higher rate limit by the gross amount of the gift. To arrive at the gross amount of the gift you must multiply the amount paid (the net amount) by 100/80. In the above example, the gross amount would be the amount paid of £800 x 100/80 £1,000. The effect of increasing the basic rate limit is to increase the amount on which basic rate tax is payable. This is sometimes called 'extending the basic rate band." The effect of increasing the higher rate limit is simply to preserve the amount of taxable income on which higher rate tax is payable. No additional relief is due for basic rate taxpayers. Increasing the basic rate limit is irrelevant as taxable income is below this limit. The gross gift aid donation is also deducted from adjusted net income (ANI) for the purposes of tapering the personal allowance.
{Chánh phủ Anh tạo ra quy định này để khuyến khích “higher rate and additional rate taxpayers” làm từ thiện nhiều hơn vì họ sẽ hưởng ưu đãi về thuế. Còn ở VN thì gần như việc đóng góp từ thiện này ít khi mà taxpayer khai báo và cũng như tỷ lệ được hưởng ưu đãi cũng hông cao với tỷ lệ 1:1 [link]; không như Anh quốc là tỷ lệ 5:4}
https://preview.redd.it/4e7ts52l2uzc1.png?width=682&format=png&auto=webp&s=52d402c9cc3dc1bca905a73eea8b264c2c4e8fd2
{Theo như tui thấy tất cả các môn liên quan đến luật và quy định thì việc đọc lý thuyết là để nắm các thuật ngữ và định nghĩa. Còn muốn hiểu thì phải làm bài tập minh họa}
{W1, W2 viết tắt của từ Working 1,2 để giải thích con số từ đâu ra}
{Solution đã trình bài rõ rồi, điều mà tui nhấn mạnh cho các bạn thấy việc mà cô Magaretta góp £5,000 đã làm tăng Basic rate limit như công thức từ £37,700 to £43,950}
{Vậy nếu cổ hông nguyên góp từ thiện thì tax liability là nhiêu?
Solution
https://preview.redd.it/xd5b2f3o2uzc1.png?width=638&format=png&auto=webp&s=52cce7bc9706f7d7965bed19304c86d456818d07
{số chênh lệch = 33,382 - 32,132 = 1,250; 1,250/5,000 = 1/4.
Các bạn thấy đấy ở xứ tam quyền phân lập làm từ thiện được phước rồi còn được claim lại tiền thuế, góp £5,000 claim được £1,250}

7 Qualifying interest/qualifying loan

Interest paid gross on the following can be deducted from total income:
(a) Loan to buy plant and machinery for use in a partnership or employment
(b) Loan to invest in partnership
(c) Loan to buy interest in employee-controlled company
(d) Loan to invest in a co-operative
For the purposes of TX, qualifying interest is deducted from non-savings income first, then from savings income and lastly from dividend income.
{Ở đây khi bạn cho người khác vay để lấy lãi thì thu nhập từ tiền lãi này sẽ được miễn thuế nếu các khoản cho vay đó thỏa mãn các điều kiện nêu trên}
{Một lần nữa các bạn thấy chính sách họ làm ra là để khuyến khích đầu tư}

8 Married couples and couples in a civil partnership

8.1 Spouses and civil partners

Spouses and civil partners are taxed as two separate people. Each spouse/civil partner is entitled to a personal allowance depending on their income. Spouses and civil partners should ensure, where possible, that each spouse/civil partner uses their main nil rate band, savings income nil rate band and dividend nil rate band (eg by transferring assets, bank accounts or shares).
{Đoạn này để giải là khi tính thuế của vợ/chồng thuế suất của ai thì dùng của người đó. Nghĩa là chồng thu nhập cao, vợ nội trợ thu nhập thấp thì thu nhập của ai tới đâu sẽ có thuế suất tới đó, chứ hông gộp chung để làm thống kê. Đề cao tính cá nhân và bình đẳng trong cơ hội. Chứ hông như nước nào đó, hông biết từ lúc nào mà “thu nhập hộ gia đình” trở thành tiêu chí để thống kê}
https://preview.redd.it/tpaw0bqx2uzc1.png?width=625&format=png&auto=webp&s=23ca8a8a17970d9817fe81ab143df3d458f1ba8e

8.2 Jointly held property

Income from jointly held property is split 50:50 unless the couple make a joint declaration to HMRC specifying the actual proportions they are each entitled to.
{Thu nhập từ tài sản chung thì chia đôi, chẳng hạn 2 vợ chồng có căn nhà cho thuê mua trong thời kỳ hôn nhân tạo ra thu nhập £48,000/năm thì đến khi tính thuế sẽ chia đôi. Cộng vào thêm thu nhập mỗi người £24,000}

9 Child benefit income tax charge

An income tax charge applies if a taxpayer receives child benefit (or their partner receives child benefit) and the taxpayer has adjusted net income over £50,000 in a tax year. Adjusted net income is defined in the same way as for the restriction of the PA described earlier in this chapter. The effect of the charge is to recover child benefit from taxpayers who have higher incomes.
A 'partner' is a spouse, a civil partner, or an unmarried partner where the couple are living together as though they were married or were civil partners.
If the taxpayer has adjusted net income over £60,000, the charge is equal to the full amount of child benefit received. If the taxpayer has adjusted net income between £50,000 and £60,000, the charge is 1% of the child benefit amount for each £100 of adjusted net income in excess of £50,000. The calculation, at all stages, is rounded down to the nearest whole number.
If both partners have adjusted net income in excess of £50,000, the partner with the higher adjusted net income is liable for the charge.
https://preview.redd.it/1zix7on53uzc1.png?width=653&format=png&auto=webp&s=e3e9b4de3f9bb2852b2dcabdcbdf222a1eab511d
{Các bạn nhìn vào ảnh thấy “child benefit” £1,828. Tui xác nhận là có nhá, con số này thì tùy trường hợp, nhưng trong khuôn khổ môn F6 Taxation UK sẽ hông đào sâu. Và đây trợ cấp cho cha/mẹ có con nhỏ bằng cash (tiền mặt). Ngoài ra, các bạn hay nghe là ở xứ tam quyền phân lập trẻ em được ăn (bữa trưa) + học “miễn phí”, y tế “miễn phí” đúng hông? Hồi đó giờ nghe hông à chưa thấy bao giờ, tui cho các bạn thấy chuyện này là có thật, link. Dĩ nhiên nói miễn phí là chưa chính xác, nhưng chi phí đó là từ tiền thuế (nói chung) và thuế thu nhập mà nãy giờ chúng ta tính đấy.}
{Đọc tới đây tui biết nhiều bán sẽ muốn đi lắm rồi. Tốt thôi đi được cứ đi nhưng phải là hợp pháp mới được hưởng đi bất hợp pháp là phạm tội hình sự. Nhưng tui muốn nhấn mạnh cho các bạn biết VN có 100tr dân trừ 8tr ra thì còn 92tr, 92tr người này đâu thể nào đi hết được. Vậy nên đây là bài học mà tui muốn các bạn phải nhớ kỹ.}

10 Accrued income scheme

Gilts are securities issued by the UK Government as a way of borrowing money. Interest is paid to the holder of the gilt (the investor) in fixed amounts on fixed dates.
The accrued income scheme ensures that a taxpayer who sells a gilt is taxed on any interest income included in the proceeds. Similarly, relief is given to the purchaser of the gilt for the interest included in the price paid.
As a forthcoming interest payment approaches the price of the gilt will start to increase. This is because a purchaser of the gilt will be entitled to the next interest payment, so the closer to the interest date we get the more expensive the gilt becomes as investors are willing to pay more for the gilt.
Usual income tax rules state that interest is taxable on individuals when it is received. However, where an individual holds gilts with a total nominal (face) value of more than £5,000 and sells the gilts for a price which includes interest, the amount of interest which has accrued since the last interest payment up to the date of the sale is taxed as savings income on the seller.
When the interest is paid to the buyer of the gilt, they are given tax relief by deducting the seller's accrued income.
{Gilt là trái phiếu chính phủ}
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Do đã post chỉ cho dán tối đa 20 ảnh. Vậy nên sang post sau mới so sánh thuế giũa VN và UK.
(còn tiếp)

Direct Messages: Direct messages regarding this post will not be read and will result in blocking.
Comment Requirements: Comments that miss a particular, key element mentioned in this post will result in the commenter not being considered for the project and may result in blocking. I will insta-block you if you make out like you have read the post and it is clear that you have not.
Central Theme: Zim as the chaotic mastermind behind a wildly dysfunctional city that is a Civilization VI & Cities Skylines mashup, with Dib desperately trying to restore order.
Comic Book Page Layout (note, panels 1 and 2 can be swapped):

1. Panel 1 - Zim's Introduction:
   • Description: Show Zim from the front or side, close up at, unbeknownst at this point to the viewer, his control panel, dramatically saying one of his scheming declarations ("Behold my masterful urban chaos!", "I shall rewrite history and traffic laws!" or "With a flick of my switch, empires fall and traffic jams... rise!" or other like that). I am thinking it should be shown first.
   • Purpose: This panel sets the tone and introduces Zim as the central antagonist, highlighting his delight in chaos. It focuses on his expression and excitement, drawing viewers into the story.
2. Panel 2 - Dib's Reaction:
   • Description: Dib is depicted within a chaotic city or urban environment from Civilization VI, appearing panicked/overwhelmed/frustrated/determined/bewildered (not sure which) and trying to manage the mayhem. Wonders from Civ VI are visible in the background. Maybe only one? I am not sure what Dib should be saying. Perhaps "Not again! Why does it always have to be city-wide chaos?", "This can't be good... even for Zim's standards!" (<-not this one if shown first) or "I knew I should've stayed in bed today..."
   • Purpose: If shown second, this panel reveals the impact of Zim's actions, adding tension and narrative depth. If shown first, it creates suspense and engages viewers by making them question the cause of the chaos.
3. Panel 3 - GIR's Antics:
   • Description: GIR humorously claims a grand role in the chaos, with a speech bubble like "I'm the mayor of everything!" or "I'm the boss of all the buildings!" or something else GIR-like. Perhaps he is interacting with a Wonder, too, to drive home the fact that this is a Civ VI mashup.
   • Purpose: Adds a layer of humour and showcases GIR's chaotic innocence amidst the havoc.
4. Panel 4 - Full Scene Reveal:
   • Description: A wider shot from behind or to the rear-and-side of Zim at his control panel, with screens showing both the game-like world and its chaotic scenes, including Dib and GIR. Show the in-game game HUD over the main screen. The HUD should not be dominant, should feel like a natural inclusion into the piece (so with a more alien design than the standard Civ VI or Cities: Skylines HUD). It basically only needs to be there as a way to drive home the tie in the piece has to Civ VI and add to the user wondering whether Dib is actually inside a game or if it is the real world. He should be exclaiming something, perhaps ""As the puppet master, I control the fate of empires and the flow of your so-called traffic!", "Witness my ultimate conquest! This world bends to my will!" or "Marvel at my strategic brilliance! I turn civilizations into playgrounds and playgrounds into chaos!"
   • Purpose: This final panel reveals the overarching scenario --- Zim manipulating these events as if they were part of a video game, tying all previous panels together into a cohesive narrative. The user might even wonder if Dib is inside a game or if Zim is altering the real world from his control panel.

Art Style and Detail Expectations:

• Budget Consideration: As long as it remains within the stated budget, I am open to the idea of the artwork being spread across two canvases if it enhances the overall visual impact. Artists who feel that a larger space could better serve the project’s needs should feel free to propose how they would utilize the additional canvas, ensuring the total cost remains within the budget limits.
• Preferred Style: Aim for a dynamic, expressive style akin to "Invader Zim," rich in bold lines and vibrant colours. Open to variations that maintain the energetic essence of the theme. I would highly prefer the style in the image I have posted to my profile. Note that it doesn't have to have that level of detail.
• Atmosphere: The piece should be lively and chaotic, yet humorously so, capturing the cartoonish essence of a villain's scheme gone awry in a video game world.
• Easter Egg: To test if you are reading this, include (do not draw attention to it, I will notice it even if you don't, just stick with how the following example places it where it doesn't make sense) a one-word bathroom item (e.g., towel, paste, brush, floss, soap, shaver) in the middle of your comment. Do not comment about this rule other than to place the word appropriately. For example, "I would love to create this artwork for you as I love Invader soap Zim and know exactly how I should stylise their gesture!"
• Detail Distribution: Each panel should carry consistent detail, adapted to fit the broader narrative scope of the scene. Emphasis on key elements to maintain visual interest and storytelling clarity. See the image posted on my profile for a visual guide.
• Printing Size: This artwork will be printed on an 18 x 12 inch canvas. Also will be used as a desktop wallpaper (I will rearrange the panels to use it as a desktop wallpaper). It does not need to be detailed enough for said size. It is ok to look good for a print size (eg, paint it with the detail/time-taken for a normal size piece, but at the resolution of what I am asking for. If that doesn't make sense, let me know)
• Focus Areas: Emphasise Zim's reactions, Dib's challenges, and GIR's mischievous impact, ensuring these elements draw and retain viewer attention.
• Reference: For a visual guide, refer to the fanart piece posted on my profile. It illustrates the desired level of dynamism and expressiveness. Note that it doesn't have to have that level of detail.

Other Notes:

• Orientation: Portrait orientation to enhance the sequential flow of the panels. This orientation supports a top-to-bottom progression that aligns with the unfolding story, making it more intuitive for the viewer to follow the sequence from Zim’s initial action, through the chaotic scenarios, to the final reveal.
• Scene Flow: Open to swapping panels 1 and 2 if it improves narrative flow. Initial thoughts lean towards starting with Zim to align with the show’s style.
• Communication: Please only engage through comments for discussions. Direct messages about this post will not be read and will lead to blocking.
• Recording: Something that will strongly sway me is if you are comfortable with recording the piece being made as you create it and uploading it privately to YouTube (I don't care if it is small, e.g., 360p). Once commissioned, communication methods such as direct messages or email are good to be used to share such links privately.
• Your Process: Please briefly describe your commission and artistic process in your comment to provide insight into how you plan to approach this project.
• Time to Produce: Please give me an ETC (ETA).

I’m just starting my CPTSD recovery — I’ve known I had trauma to some degree for the past 2 years but I am the victim of “chronic invalidation” as my therapist called it yesterday. However after I stupidly visited family for Easter, there was a sudden disappearance of my complete 24/7 emotional numbness that has been protecting me for the past 5+ years and i relapsed with self harm and after nearly carrying out my suicide plan I checked myself into a psychiatric unit where I was diagnosed with CPTSD. I am only now realizing that I am in a state of fight or flight, dissociation or having emotional flashbacks almost every moment of the day that I’m not alone in my room and how my childhood was truly much much worse than I have been telling myself.
I have such chronically low self worth and often blame myself for any social interaction that doesn’t go perfectly to the point where I will self harm. But after the surprisingly positive experience in the hospital with some incredible and truly compassionate doctors and with all the time I had to think, now that I’m back in the real world I’m realizing it’s actually not me. And for me to say that it must be true because I’ve been trying to twist it again into self blame but I’m seeing now it’s just not possible to do that because it’s so blatantly untrue.
It’s so much easier for me emotionally on some level to punish myself every time a person fails to support me or even give me the bare minimum then to realize no, people are simply selfish, apathetic, and have no desire to put in any effort into a relationship. And it brings up too so much of my childhood, of how even the caretakers who raised me until I was 9 while my mother was busy on vacation and with boyfriends who I’ve known since I was a toddler and my one family member I thought I could count on and all of my friends except 1 are simply awful people who do not care enough about me to even try to understand or engage with me when I try to talk about it.
And the worst part is they know!!!! They mention it casually sometimes how fucked up the situation was with my brother (i’m not sure if they know he raped me but i think most of them suspect it given the circumstances around it) or how cruel my mother was or how neglectful my father was as if they’re talking about the weather!!!!! And then I try to talk about it and they just shut me down. And they all were there or were at least aware of all the times I nearly killed myself as a child as a result of the death spiral the abuse sent me in! And then they all just went back to their lives and I had to survive my mother for four more years and no one has ever tried to get me to open up to them about it even once.
I am so angry at how literally EVERYONE failed me as a child and allowed the abuse to happen when they all full well knew it was happening. I don’t blame per say my old caretakers who were no longer in my life once my mother’s abuse began to intensify in the way I blame my neglectful father who simply ignored my brother grooming and abusing me and my mother’s abuse as well, but nonetheless. I am livid at how many opportunities there were for someone to protect me and not a single one did.
I genuinely don’t know how I can ever trust anyone ever again after the first 18 years of my life were just people going “wow! this is horrible, someone should protect that child and intervene!” and no one did.

Species: cat
Age: ~9 years old
Sex/Neuter status: spayed female
Breed: domestic longhair
Body weight: 12.5 pounds
History: Diagnosed with diabetes in November 2022. We meticulously tracked her blood glucose numbers at home and adjusted insulin as her pancreas started to work again (with vet permission!) and she has been in remission since March 2023. I test her monthly to verify remission status and she showed elevated numbers in late April.
She had been in for a checkup ~1 month prior and everything looked good aside from some gingivitis so we scheduled a dental cleaning and exam. They found multiple teeth that needed to be removed (I have another thread on here with links to x-rays) but our normal vet didn't have a surgery slot long enough to remove all the teeth so they referred us to another clinic. We scheduled the soonest appointment they had and she got 5 extractions on 4/30/24.
Her blood glucose remains elevated and we think it's likely that she is out of remission but I also wonder if the numbers could be elevated from her surgery and stress since she's had to wear a cone during recovery. She is on gabapentin for pain and that doesn't appear to increase her glucose levels. I tested her several hours in a row on the first day I gave it to her.
We have a vet appointment schedule for Tuesday and I plan on asking if we should get her back on insulin but the vet seemed unconcerned when we brought up the elevated blood glucose back when we first noticed it. The numbers have increased since then so maybe she will be more concerned.
Am I doing the right thing by asking to put her back on insulin?
Clinical signs: elevated blood glucose levels and trace ketones in blood. No other signs of diabetes noted. She is eating normally and NOT excessively drinking or peeing.
Duration: roughly 3 weeks, possibly longer
Your general location:
Links to test results, X-rays, vet reports etc: spreadsheet of blood glucose results here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQsfvYVQrlivti81tvgYtVOSuEfz02IEM9zlzM1lMLzfkxMZ6ToWW3ZZHeXKN4xXJVcvIFGT2G2kZqG/pubhtml
color codes: green = 60-99, blue = 100-199, yellow = 200-299
Tested on a human glucometer.
I can also provide blood ketone results if needed. She is showing some very small numbers of ketones (under 1mmol/L) and I am testing ketones daily since she has higher blood glucose numbers lately.