Hello all!
26 yr old mom. Received the “pre-approval for Cap1 Quicksilver” offer on the app. Should I go for it? Or just ask for an increase/upgrade? Looking to advance my very empty and sad credit profile. Reading these posts I realize I am not as good off as I thought I was. Turns out not using your credit is worse than over using. I’m not sure why my credit is considered “fair” when I have never missed a payment (in good standing on all thing on my credit report), and only have one credit card. The only things currently on my CR are student loans, and one charge off. A few hard inquiries as I purchased a car almost two years ago. Never missed , always early on payments.
TEMPLATE:
• * Current credit cards : Cap1 Plat Secured CC- Opened 9/22 200$ Limit , Never gone over 40% on statements and always paid IF before Due Date. Asked for a limit increase last month and was denied.
Told these were the best starter cards since I never had one and ran with it bc I didn’t wanna hurt my credit by applying for others.
• * FICO Scores): : Experian 673 (Their website) , Transunion 603 (CapOne Vantage Score)(, Equifax 627 Credit Karma)
• * Oldest credit card account age with you as primary name on the account: Only have the CapOne Secured. Always stayed away from CCs because of the bad stories
• * Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 6 months: n/a
• * Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 12 months:n/a
• * Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 24 months:n/a
• * Annual income $: 64,800.00 Household. I hold 24000 approx of that
CATEGORIES
• * OK with category-specific cards?: Open to advice
• * OK with rotating category cards?: Open to advice
• * Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below. Only include what you can pay by credit card.
• * Dining $: 100
• * Groceries $: Groceries are being provided by state via SNAP on partners account
• * Gas $: Tend to get gas at Walmart twice a month so 45-50?
• * Travel $: None. Biggest travel expense is taking my 5yr old to daycare during working hours. Adds an extra 20 miles a day. I am also VFD so I leave my tank on full in case of calls etc
• * Do you plan on using this card abroad for a significant length of time (study abroad, digital nomad, expat, extended travel)?: No
• * Any other categories : Amazon regularly maybe 80$ a month on the CC; Hobbys I sometimes put on it so 50$ ; Phone bill 35$ ---- Total: 165$? ish
• * Any other significant, regular credit card spend you didn't include above?: $ Not really. I tend to only use the card if I have the amount in checking or savings. All with Cap1
• * Can you pay rent by credit card? If yes, list rent amount and if there's a fee for paying by credit card: $ No. I pay in cash.
MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS (delete lines that don't apply)
• * Current member of Amazon Prime?: Use Parents account
• * Current Verizon postpaid customer?: No , Straighttalk
• * Current member of Costco or Sam's Club? Use friends/families
• * Currently paying $13.99/month or more for Disney Bundle (Disney+ / Hulu / EPSN+) or other Hulu services? I do pay for Netflix, Peacock, Youtube and Spotify but they come out of my PP account.
• * Current member of Chase, US Bank or any other big bank?: No, just Cap1
• * Active US military?: No
• * Are you open to Business Cards?: (these are an option if you have any kind of side gig, such as selling on eBay or Etsy) Possibly ? I am due to inherit a Masonry Company that I currently run full time.
PURPOSE
• * What's the purpose of your next card (choose ONE)?: To build a better credit profile honestly. The only one I have ever had is Secured. And I would like the rewards
• * If you answered "first credit card", are you an authorized user on any other cards? Would be my first unsecured, so yeah. And no, contemplating asking my Dad to add me. He has about 200-300 Thousand in available credit between big banks and store cards.
• * Do you have any cards you've been looking at?
Yes. Just got the email for the “pre-approval” for being a loyal CapOne customer. I have never carried a balance over 40% and used the card responsibly. My credit profile as a whole consists of several student loans equating to about 25k and one charge of for 71$ from an old bank account that was literally stolen and charged halfway across my state. Bank refused to do anything about it and I was 18.
Will answer any questions you have so feel free if I left info out !

I already have a regular platinum, gold, blue cash and use the platinum and gold regularly.
Tried applying for the Schwab card with my account, received the popup saying I couldn’t get the bonus so I backed out of there.
I realized my Schwab account had my old address so I changed it to my current address and then applied on my work browser, I didn’t get the popup that time, but did get the notice that my application was in progress and manual review pending a decision. Pretty rare for me as I usually get instant approval on most all cards and always with Amex.
Anyways I get the email about checking the status of application, log in there and notice it has all my prior applications (except the original platinum I got in 2019) and 2 applications for the Schwab - the first one cancelled, and the second one in progress.
Strangely, I also had an inprocess application for a cash magnet card from 2021 that was apparently not resolved and in progress.
I checked the decision reason for the first Schwab application that got the popup and was cancelled and saw that it said it was denied because it is Amex policy to not approve applications when there is a prior application in progress and unresolved (I’m guessing the cash magnet??)
However that is strange as after that cash magnet application I was approved for a gold with no issue.
Anyways I call Amex and the rep checks and just tells me the Schwab application (I assume the second one in progress) is in progress and will go to the back team and they will contact me with a decision. I planned to use the card today but I guess that’s not happening then.
I am military and not paying any annual fees so many that’s why I’m not getting approval anymore? I do think I spend quite a lot of my Amex cards but I guess not.

This weekend, the "Transformers" franchise returns to take on reigning box-office champ Spider-Man ("Across the Spider-Verse") with a pop-culture icon of its own: Autobot leader Optimus Prime rolls out again, this time with some new metal friends called the Maximals. With a more down-to-earth narrative, Eva Longoria directs a real-life dramedy about the Mexican janitor who claims responsibility for Flamin' Hot Cheetos, while there's also a trio of good horror-tinged films, including a documentary on "A Nightmare on Elm Street" legend Robert Englund.
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Here's a guide to new movies that will satisfy every cinematic taste, plus some noteworthy theatrical films making their streaming and on-demand debuts:
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If you grew up loving Optimus Prime: 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts'
Optimus Primal (voiced by Ron Perlman, left) and Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) are a dynamic duo in "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts."
On paper, it sounds a little weird, even for a franchise about transforming alien robots – Pete Davidson as an illusion-casting Porsche? Michelle Yeoh as a talking metal falcon? – but a lot of the 1990s-set "Beasts" works with crowd-pleasing sci-fi adventure and wry humor. This time around, thankfully, well beyond the days of Michael Bay directing these things, Optimus Prime and the Autobots squad up with the animal-themed Maximals to thwart Unicron's plans to devour Earth.
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Paramount’s films. It’s one meant to bring in both a young, new generation of fans and aging millennials with fond memories of cartoons from the ’80s and ’90s. Rise of the Beasts finds quite a bit of time to pay tribute to older, classic pieces of Transformers storytelling from places like the original Transformers animated movie from 1986. But when it comes to maximizing — which is to say capitalizing on and making interesting use of — the Beast Wars mythos Paramount implied would be a large part of its story, Rise of the Beast falls short, which is disappointing but not exactly a surprise.
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Though Rise of the Beasts pulls together characters from both the far-flung past and the distant future, it’s primarily set in 1994 and tells — shockingly — the story of how an unsuspecting human ends up becoming one of the most important participants in a longstanding Cybertronian war. As a young army veteran, all Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) really wants is to find a job to be able to support his little brother Kris (Dean Scott Vazquez) and their mom Breanna (Luna Lauren Velez). With steady work being hard to come by, though, it makes more sense for Noah to get into boosting cars with his buddy Reek (Tobe Nwigwe) than to sit around waiting for recruiter calls that simply aren’t coming in.
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It being the ’90s, an old-fashioned slim jim is all Noah needs to get into most cars, like the silver and blue Porsche 964 Carrera RS 3.8 he plans to drive off with the evening of his very first robbery. Right as he’s finally able to work up the nerve to get into the car, however, Noah’s shocked and horrified when the vehicle powers up on its own and starts driving off in response to a radio message calling for the Autobots to roll out.
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Paramount
It should be said that, as predictable and somewhat clunky as Rise of the Beasts is, the movie isn’t without its charms, like the clever and flashy ways that it uses its first chase sequence to introduce you to Mirage (Pete Davidson), the Autobot who takes Noah’s attempt to steal him in stride and as a sign that they should probably be friends. Instead of just telling Noah flat-out that he’s an alien who merely looks like a car, Mirage uses the chase sequence to give his human companion an idea of where his code name comes from, and many of the chase’s smaller details, like the mirage-like clones of Noah the Autobot creates, work to illustrate his lighthearted sense of humor.
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It’s quite clear from the jump that Noah and Mirage are going to be Rise of the Beasts’ emotional core. But rather than using its time judiciously to make sure that its human / alien robot friendship dynamic has enough juice to sustain this story, Rise of the Beasts splits its focus between Noah and the Autobots and Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback), an archaeologist and researcher of mysterious objects of indeterminate origin.
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It’s actually Elena’s late-night tinkering with a strange, birdlike statue that actually sets the bulk of Rise of the Beasts’ story into motion. But unlike Noah, who always feels like he’s being moved from one scene carefully crafted to build up his heroic framing, Elena constantly seems like something of an afterthought who ends up being saddled with spiels of exposition for dialogue. Fishback is doing her best with what little Rise of the Beasts’ script gives her, but Ramos is able to shine as both a comedic and somewhat dramatic presence opposite Mirage, who mostly just feels like Davidson — dick jokes and all — in Autobot form.
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Even though it’s a nod to Beast Wars, Rise of the Beasts’ central MacGuffin is every bit as memorable as those in previous Transformers movies, which is to say “not very much.” But it serves the purpose of bringing all of this story’s new players into focus very quickly, which helps keep Rise of the Beasts from ever feeling like it has major pacing issues.
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Paramount
One significant problem the movie does have, unfortunately, is the way it starts to feel overfull and like it doesn’t know how to manage all of its characters once Mirage and Noah have linked up with Optimus and the other Autobots and once the movie’s villains all begin to mobilize.

Trying to plan our annual outing for work for 20-25 people. Hoping for something a little different this year, we have done a couple river floats and a Squirrels game previously. It’s 95% dudes, and alcohol is permitted but shouldn’t be the focus. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

We want to inform you of upcoming price changes for QuickBooks Online products and services, beginning August 1, 2023. QuickBooks Desktop 2024 and QuickBooks Desktop Payroll pricing changes will be announced in August. Details are below. While price increases are never easy, they’re necessary to continue to deliver the products, services, and support you and your clients need today, and in the future. See the key enhancements we’ve made over the last year: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/accountants/news-community/product-updates

What’s changing?

Here’s a comprehensive list of updates. We understand that some of these changes may not apply to you. Please navigate to the appropriate section(s) below.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online Subscriptions

New and existing QuickBooks Online Self-Employed, Essentials, and Plus subscription prices are changing on or after the date indicated below the table.
NOTE: QuickBooks Online Simple Start and Advanced prices are not changing.

QuickBooks Online	Self-Employed	Self-Employed Tax Bundle	Self-Employed Live Tax Bundle	Simple Start	Essentials	Plus	Advanced
Current monthly base price	$15	$25	$35	$30	$55	$85	$200
New monthly base price	$20	$30	$40	No change	$60	$90	No change

August 1, 2023 - QuickBooks Online Self-Employed new subscriptions - QuickBooks Online Essentials or Plus client-billed subscriptions
September 1, 2023 - QuickBooks Online Self-Employed existing subscriptions - QuickBooks Online Essentials or Plus accountant-billed subscriptions

For more information, please refer to https://www.firmofthefuture.com/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/changes-to-quickbooks-pricing-2023-faqs-article/ 

QuickBooks Online Payroll

New and existing QuickBooks Online Payroll Core per-employee monthly fees, and QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium base price changes, will occur on or after the date indicated below the table.

QuickBooks Online Payroll	Payroll Core Base Price + Per employee fee	Payroll Premium Base Price + Per employee fee	Payroll Elite Base Price + Per employee fee
Current monthly price	$45 + $5 per employee/per month	$75 + $8 per employee/per month	$125 + $10 per employee/per month
New monthly price	No change to base price + $6 per employee/per month	$80 base price No change per employee/per month	No changes

August 1, 2023 - Per-employee monthly fee for all QuickBooks Online Payroll Core client-billed subscriptions - QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium base price client-billed subscriptions
September 1, 2023 - Per-employee monthly fee for all QuickBooks Online Payroll Core accountant-billed subscriptions - QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium base price accountant-billed subscriptions
Additionally, we’re introducing annual billing for customers who have client-billed subscriptions. They can quickly switch to annual billing - and save 10%* - by going to “Billing and Subscriptions,” and selecting “Annual Billing.” For information about QuickBooks Payroll, please refer to https://www.firmofthefuture.com/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/changes-to-quickbooks-pricing-2023-faqs-article/

QuickBooks Online Payments

QuickBooks Online Payments price changes will occur on or after the date indicated below the tables. The new pricing plans feature no fixed transaction fees. Please see tables for details. More
information will be provided in advance of any changes being made.
NOTE: ProAdvisor Preferred Pricing will only be available through the new Pay-as-you-go plan. The monthly fee plan will no longer be available.
QuickBooks Payments - ProAdvisor Preferred Pricing

	Card reader	Keyed-in	Invoice (card)	Invoice (ACH)
Current price - Pay-as-you-go	2.2% + $0.25	3.1% + $0.25	2.9% + $0.25	1% / Max $10
Current price - Monthly	1.5% + $0.25	2.9% + $0.25	2.75% + $0.25	1% / Max $10
New price - Pay-as-you-go	2.3%	3.3%	2.8%	1% / Max $10

QuickBooks Payments - Standard Plan

	Card reader	Keyed-in	Invoice (card)	Invoice (ACH)
No change	No change	No change	No change	No change
Current price per transaction	2.4% + $0.25	3.4% + $0.25	2.9% + $0.25	1% / Max $10
New price per transaction (existing customers)	2.5%	3.5%	2.99%	1% / Max $15
New price per transaction (new customers as of Sept. 5, 2023)	2.5%	3.5%	2.99%	1%

September 5, 2023 - Prices for new QuickBooks Online Payments customers go into effect.
Between September and October 2023 - Existing QuickBooks Online Payments customers will be moved to the new pricing, or migrated to the Pay-as-you-go plan, in phases. Customers will be notified before changes are made.

More information will be shared soon. In the interim, please refer to https://www.firmofthefuture.com/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/product-update/changes-to-quickbooks-pricing-2023-faqs-article/ 

QuickBooks Desktop

QuickBooks Desktop 2024 and QuickBooks Desktop Payroll pricing changes will be announced in early August.
We’re making enhancements to our QuickBooks Desktop 2024 products that we look forward to sharing with you later this year. For medium-sized businesses, QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise will continue to be our primary Desktop solution. As with all of our QuickBooks Desktop products, we remain dedicated to providing ongoing service and support.
For clients who need an easy and flexible payroll solution, our suite of QuickBooks Online Payroll products is available to meet their needs - with or without a QuickBooks Online accounting subscription.
We strongly encourage you and your clients to consider QuickBooks Online for remote access, enhanced flexibility, and real-time collaboration.

If you take on too much land you’ll stretch yourself (and your wallet) too thin, but if you take on too little you could end up with a failing farm fast.
For aspiring self-reliant homesteaders or hobby farmers, figuring out just the right amount of acreage is crucial.
For answers to this foundational question, we turned to successful and well-known homesteader, small-scale farmer, educator and farming consultant Ben Godfrey of Sand Creek Farm in Cameron, TX.
Ben and his wife Alysha started out as small-scale hobby farmers and now run a successful, full-time 169-acre sustainable farm and homestead. Today, Ben shares his story, advice and insights on how you can get started on your hobby farming journey.
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A gradual shift from city slickers to suburban equestrians, then hobby farmers, then professionals

Like most families, the Godfreys didn’t begin their life together as homesteaders.
Ben (a country boy), his wife Alysha (a city girl) and their growing family gradually migrated from suburbia to full-time farming over the course of many years. Ben explains:
“My wife was a city girl, so I kept wanting to bring her out to the country. I started with our first house in a little subdivision, then I drew her out to a rural subdivision with about 3 acres so she could have her horses there, then I lured her out to a bigger house on around 20 acres.”
As the family fell in love with hobby farming and country life, they quickly expanded to 40 acres. All the while Ben was still running a successful construction company in town.
Ben says jokingly, “The 20 acres was really just to entice my wife in the beginning, but I had plans to purchase the 20 adjoining acres as well.”
On their 40 acres they had a small dairy and horses; grew their own produce and livestock; and had an orchard. It worked for them and allowed Ben to continue his career in construction, until…
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Trading in a lucrative construction business to live off the land

Like most hobby farmers, Ben’s “real job” as owner of a construction company supported the family and afforded them a comfortable living.
Though Ben and Alysha were more than capable of straddling both worlds, it didn’t come without a price.
“We’d been evolving over to farming and I just enjoyed it much more,” Ben explains. “Even though the income was a lot better in construction, it caused a lot of stress and the quality of life was a lot better in farming.
“Plus in construction I was gone from the farm and my family a lot and I really wanted to be closer to my family. Now every day, with the exception of deliveries, I’m at home with them.”
Ben and Alysha now have five girls, ages 3 to 16, who help them out on the homestead.
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How the Godfreys tackled the sustainable farming learning curve (with help from the Amish)

Though Ben has a degree in Agricultural Development from Texas A&M, plus some previous hobby farm experience, the Godfreys knew they still had a lot to learn about how to manage a sustainable farm and homestead.
“The type of agriculture they teach at Texas A&M is not at all like what we do here," Ben says. "We’re using agriculture that was probably taught at A&M 100 years ago, before chemicals were so prevalent. It is a lot more sustainable.”
So how did they figure out how to start their sustainable farm?
“When we bought the 40-acre hobby farm it was a blank canvas. It was basically a hay field with just a little bit of woods. We wanted to build a home, our barns, facilities and everything for a homestead. So I told my wife I thought we should visit the Amish to see how they do it.”
His wife agreed, and Ben quickly scheduled a business trip up to Ohio with the main goal of observing the Amish.
He connected with an Amish family there, and they invited Ben to bring his whole family to work and learn from them on their farms.
“I was just so impressed by the quality of their children. And from there, we went from really 'a city lifestyle while living in the country,' to a much simpler lifestyle doing a lot more as a family.”
It was through their work with the Amish that they discovered the magic of using draft horses for farming.
“After our first visit, we returned to Ohio in October and bought a team of horses and all the equipment,” Ben recalls. “We harnessed up the two horses right there at the sale barn and drove them 2 ½ miles down the road to our friends’ farm…and it was just as peaceful as can be. From then on I was hooked.”
Ben and Alysha have remained close with their Amish friends for the past 13 years, and still return to Ohio to visit and purchase horses and equipment.
To date, they’ve brought more than 200 horses from Ohio to Texas.
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How cashing in on their first hobby farm allowed them to “Go Big”

Though they loved their hobby farm, the Godfreys dreamed of having enough land to start up a larger dairy and sustainable farming business.
So, when the opportunity arose to sell their homestead (for a healthy profit) in 2007, they jumped on it and used that income to buy a bigger farm in a more rural area.
That bigger farm was 169 acres, and would soon be known by the entire sustainable farming industry as Sand Creek Farm.
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What a 169 acre sustainable farm and homestead looks like

The Godfreys have diversified their land beautifully. They offer raw milk and other dairy products (theirs was one of the first farms in Texas to get a raw for retail channel license), grass-fed beef, pork, broiler chickens and a limited number of eggs.
Their farm is almost entirely horse-powered using techniques and equipment acquired from their Amish friends, plus a few tricks Ben’s picked up online.
The pace, peacefulness, connection and environmental benefits of using horses falls right in line with their commitment to sustainability.
As for acreage and farm design, their four aquaponic greenhouses take up about 1 acre, 5-10 acres are dedicated to produce cultivation annually and all the rest is pasture for rotational grazing.
The farm is not “certified organic” though they raise all their products using organic principles. Ben explains:
“I’ve had the certification paperwork on my desk but I just haven’t seen the value in doing it. The relationship with your customer is the biggest deal. The only reason you’d need a certification is if you’re not selling direct to your customer. But if the customer is inspecting your farm themselves then you don’t really need it.”
They also offer sustainably grown food products from other farms, like pure Vermont Maple Syrup, raw honey, soaps and wholesome breads.
Historically, the majority of their business has come from dairy, which lead customers to the farm’s other offerings, such as their CSA program.
At present, Sand Creek Farm is transitioning.
“Dairy is still a major key, but I would say ideally we’d like to be 50% aquaponics, 25% dairy and 25% field vegetables, farm-stays and on-site training,” Ben explained.
Even with their success and reputation, the Godfreys aren’t afraid to embrace change and shift their business model as they continue to learn and grow.
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40-169 acres works for the Godfreys, but what about beginner homesteaders and hobby farmers?

Ben gave some serious thought to our original question, “How much acreage do you need to start a hobby farm or homestead?” and offered this advice:
“If you were going to have a homestead with 1-2 horses, a family cow, and your gardens, I’d want 10 acres of pasture, 2 acres for produce, maybe a one-acre orchard and the rest of it would be buildings. So 15 acres could hold most of what you want to do.”
The Godfreys opted for larger pieces of land for their homesteads because they have five children and usually keep 7-8 horses in addition to their dairy cows. All this requires more pasture.
Ben also offers this advice to aspiring homesteaders with “real jobs” on farm location:
“I wouldn’t recommend moving way outside the city limits. About 20-30 minutes outside civilization is good, but 45 minutes and up feels a little far. Unless you can telecommute, then being further out is great.”
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Learn to farm, hobby farm or homestead firsthand from the Godfreys

Educating on sustainable farming is a HUGE piece of the Godfrey success puzzle. Here’s how you can tap their knowledge basin and learn from the best:
They offer seasonal internship programs at the farm that usually last 3-6 months, and they also hold on-site classes for those who can’t leave their full-time job to intern.
The Godfreys also offer consulting services and advice on everything from choosing your niche and the best location for your farm, to budgeting, planning, design, marketing, aquaponics and using draft horses.
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The BEST first step you should take

Ben offered one last bit of advice on what all aspiring homesteaders or hobby farmers should do right now before investing in land:
“If I were them, I would invest all of your time and money now in education and information. A library of books, experience—go work on a farm, go do a farm stay somewhere and try to get as much experience as possible before you buy the land. You’ll have a much more successful enterprise if you know what you’re getting into beforehand.”
You can learn more about the Godfreys’ farm, upcoming classes and their farm consulting services at: www.sandcreekfarm.net or call 254-697-2927.
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Article Source

Hi /glaciernationalpark,
I'm planning on going up this month with a rental car and was wondering if there were some shortesafe hikes that were well trafficked. I'm used to parks in and around cities and the thought of getting mauled by a bear gives me unease.
I'm also looking at entering from the east side and I have an annual parks pass. To make sure I'm reading this correctly, we don't need reservations to enter from the east, right? Just don't want to get there and find out it's wrong.
Thanks!

Hi /glacier,
I'm planning on going up this month with a rental car and was wondering if there were some shortesafe hikes that were well trafficked. I'm used to parks in and around cities and the thought of getting mauled by a bear gives me unease.
I'm also looking at entering from the east side and I have an annual parks pass. To make sure I'm reading this correctly, we don't need reservations to enter from the east, right? Just don't want to get there and find out it's wrong.
Thanks!

Hey everyone!
It's open enrollment time at my company and we have 3 plans to choose from (all plans are from Cigna after a few years with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield). One of the plan is a low deductible but pretty basic plan so I'm not going to choose that one. I'm trying to decide between a HDHP with an HSA (with lower premiums) and a more traditional, low deductible (and higher premiums). The plan will be just for me, my wife has her own plan though her employer. The plans:
OAP Buy Up Plan ("traditional")

• $117.72 biweekly ($235.44 a month)
• In Network deductible of $500
• Copay of $25/$50 (PCP/Specialist)
• Coinsurance of 90%/%10
• In Network Maximum Out-of-Pocket of $4,000
• Out of Network Deductible of $1,000
• Out of Network Maximum - Out-of-Pocket of $10,000
• $0 Deductible for prescriptions with $10/$40/$60 for Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 and maximum out of pocket combined with medical

HDHQP OAP (the high deductible plan)

• $83.84 biweekly ($167.68 a month)
• In Network Deductible of $2,500
• Copays are all deductible
• Coinsurance is 100%/0%
• In Network Maximum Out-of-Pocket is $4,000 (same as the other plan)
• Out of Network Deductible of $5,000
• Out of Network Maximum Out-of-Pocket of $10,000
• Prescriptions are deductible (combined with medical) - with $10/$40/$60 for Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 with maximum out of pocket combined with medical

This plan makes me eligible for an HSA, with contribution limits of $3,850, and an employer contribution of $750. However, it's not a lump or annual sum, but a $62.50 a month (or $31.25 per pay period). I am assuming it'll also save me money on taxes (but I guess around $500-$600 as I'm in the 24% tax bracket).
My question is, given all these parameters, which one is better for me? I am not a young, super healthy guy who only goes for annual checkups, I do have a monthly appointment with a nurse practitioner and weekly therapy sessions, some prescription drugs but vast majority are generic. BUT I'm also not a huge spender on healthcare and don't expect (knock on wood) any major procedures or expenditure on healthcare this year. So my worry is I'll end up paying a lot out of pocket but with the possibility of not reaching my deductible and having the insurance take over the expenses.
What should I do? What would be the best course of action for me? I'm leaning towards the "traditional" plan for my peace of mind, but wondering if I'm "leaving money on the table" by not taking the HDHP + HSA. Thank you so much!
Edit: changed the flair from "Individual/Marketplace Insurance" to "Plan Choice Suggestions"

I saw this post here today: https://www.reddit.com/murakami/comments/142rm2i/murakami_loves_music_and_i_love_his_taste_can_we/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
And I was also looking for something similar myself some time ago. I know there are plenty of Spotify playlists and there is that official Haruki Murakami website that lists the artists, but I was looking for something really specific.
I would like to know every mention not only of every song and artist, but also a casual reference to an artist, also every author and book, movie and anything else pop culture, organized by book and specific page.
I don't think that exists, or maybe I haven't found it yet, so I was wondering would some kind of app where you put the name of the book and it lists all of these things be helpful?
I was planning to create an open source project on github, setup a lightweight app for easy searching up by book name and let others include references too because I have not read all his books yet.
Thoughts?

Effective employee scheduling is a critical aspect of running a successful business. Properly managing your workforce’s time not only ensures smooth operations but also promotes employee satisfaction and productivity. However, there are common mistakes that employers often make when it comes to employee scheduling. In this blog post, we will explore these pitfalls and provide valuable insights on how to avoid them, ultimately leading to a more efficient and harmonious work environment. Let’s get started –

Employee Scheduling Mistakes To Avoid in 2023

1. Lack of Proper Planning One of the most significant scheduling mistakes is a lack of proper planning. Failing to plan employee schedules in advance can lead to a host of issues. When schedules are not thoughtfully organized, businesses may face understaffing during peak hours, excessive overtime costs and dissatisfied employees struggling with last-minute changes. It is essential to consider workload forecasts, peak hours and employee availability when creating schedules. Inefficient scheduling practices can cost businesses up to 7% of their annual payroll, as reported by the Aberdeen Group.Efficient planning involves analyzing historical data and forecasting future needs. By taking into account factors such as seasonal fluctuations, anticipated sales volumes and special events, businesses can proactively allocate the right number of employees for each shift. Additionally, considering employees’ availability, preferences and skills is crucial in creating a well-balanced and efficient schedule. Read more about Employee Scheduling……..

Heyo!! StageZero Life Sciences has been on my radar the last little while since I seen them on a few subreddits and today I’m making my first post on them! They just put out a PR that goes over their recent shareholder meeting and I thought I’d cover it.
It seems like the shareholders gave a thumbs-up to the company's plans and strategies. They voted in favor of various resolutions, such as the election of directors and authorizing important transactions. It's always coolto witness the support and confidence shareholders have in companies.
Summary: StageZero Life Sciences received shareholder approval for all resolutions tabled at their recent annual and special meeting. This includes the election of directors, appointment of auditors, and authorizing transactions related to private placements and share issuance. The positive outcome of the meeting reflects shareholders' support and confidence in the company's future endeavors in the life sciences sector.
Main Points:

1. Shareholders voted in favor of all resolutions, including the election of directors and approving important matters related to private placements and share issuance.
2. The positive outcome of the meeting indicates shareholders' support and confidence in
3. StageZero Life Sciences' plans and strategies.
4. This shareholder approval paves the way for the company's continued growth and development in the life sciences sector.

TLDR: Shareholders of StageZero Life Sciences voted in favor of all resolutions at the recent annual meeting, indicating their support and confidence in the company's future. This is a positive outcome that sets the stage for the company's continued growth and success.
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Read more here: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/stagezero-life-sciences-ltd-announces-232800725.html

Three days ago, my housemates were alive.
And I wasn't losing my fucking mind.
Three days ago, I awoke to my housemate, Misty, shaking me.
“Get up!!”
Misty was usually the last to roll out of bed out of all of us, so I figured it was something important. My housemate wouldn’t get out of bed for nothing. She valued her sleep—often comparing her bed to a safe haven. Her place of solitude. I was right there with her, until she startled me out of slumber. I opened my eyes to find her face roughly three inches from mine, her expression lit up with excitement I couldn’t justify this early in the morning.
She smelled of toothpaste breath and her raspberry scented body wash. Her thick black curls framing her face were still damp from what I presumed was a shower, hanging in tangled knots in front of wide, almost unseeing eyes. When I first met her, Misty Kang had been my crush for a while. With a Korean father and a Texan mother, she definitely caught eyes when we hung out. We had a thing in freshman year, which quickly fizzled out once we started living together. Never date your housemates.
I will just say that.
Over the last few years, Misty has become one of my closest friends.
When she knew I was at least conscious, my housemate was grabbing my arm and yanking me out of bed. “Get up!”
I was barely awake, and those were the only words I could fully distinguish.
I shooed her away for a moment and swung my legs out of bed, taking a minute to blink sunlight out of my eyes coming through the blinds. “Sam.” Misty was in front of me again.
I don’t think she understood the concept of being half asleep.
She wouldn’t leave me alone, waving her arms wildly. Her shadow under the soft morning light almost reminded me of one of those inflatable tube guys.
“Huh?” My voice was a low croak, and her smile widened.
“Guess who’s just scored tickets for an actual screening of the first five minutes of gameplay for the most anticipated game of the decade?”
“What?” Her string of words wasn’t making sense in my caffeine deprived mind. It just sounded like gibberish to me, initially.
Like we were in some cheesy commercial, she was the lead, and I was the confused NPC with the WTF expression. But when I went over it in my head, words started to slide together like a jigsaw puzzle. Misty didn’t get excited about video games. Well, she did. Though, my housemate was one to get excited on behalf of someone else. After living with her for a while now, I had concluded she was a follower.
By that, I mean whatever others thought or did or said, she copied it. If her Twitter followers were mad at bad takes, she would drop all of her own opinions on said follower and focus on what other people said. We had Korean barbecue for takeout the other day, and Misty clearly did not like it from the creased look on her face, and her very obviously spitting it politely into a napkin.
Jay, my other housemate, liked it.
And so did I. So, naturally, Misty announced she wanted more.
I had to watch her suffer through two more portions before she excused herself—presumably to throw up. Blinking at my housemate who was clearly excited for Jay, I resisted the overwhelming urge to roll my eyes.
“Slow down. What game? What are you talking about?”
I got out of bed and threw on my robe, half aware of the mess from last night on my desk. Another attempt to finish an essay which just wasn’t happening. The monster energy cans and takeout Chinese wrappers were embarrassing. I got a basic run-through as I headed downstairs with Misty right behind me, practically breathing down my neck. From what I understood, there was a Reddit post.
That was all I got from Misty’s squealing. She leapt down the stairs after me with a spring in her step. The clock above the front door told me it wasn’t even 9am. The smell of bacon, however, was quick to arise me from the dead.
Jay was in the kitchen making breakfast. I noticed his laptop was open on the table, and every so often he’d peer at it with wide, almost disbelieving eyes. Jay and Misty were complete opposites, which made them great people to live with. Jay was a quiet book who was slightly on the pretentious side, routinely quoting something philosophical to piss me off.
He had rich parents on the other side of the world, but the guy himself was fairly humble and had mostly detached himself from said family.
My housemate was usually well put together. In fact, I barely saw him in his pajamas, excluding game nights. That morning, however, he was a disheveled mess, still in yesterday’s clothes.
He offered me a grin. I glimpsed sauce from last night’s dinner still staining his chin. Jay hadn’t brushed his hair or even put on deodorant.
I caught a whiff of BO when he ducked in front of me, his gaze glued to his MacBook. It was rare when Jay ignored basic hygiene, so yeah, I was going to guess this was a pretty huge thing. “I did tell her not to wake you up, y’know.”
His slight aussie accent was always refreshing on a morning. Born in Australia and moving to the states when he was ten years old, Jay still had a slight tinge in his accent. I had seen pictures of his family, and the guy had definitely gotten most of his dad’s genes, thick brown hair, and freckles. While his dad was built like a pro wrestler however, Jay was leaner like his mom.
I shrugged. “I was already awake.”
“Liar.” He didn’t look away from his laptop.
Looking closer, I glimpsed the Reddit homepage.
“So, you have won something.”
Jay didn’t answer. I could tell he was excited by the way he could barely keep still, bustling around the kitchen, barefoot. “Coffee?”
His voice was more of a Misty-like squeak, and I half wondered for a moment if they had switched bodies, or he had at least become one with my other housemate through a chemical explosion. In our kitchen, which was yet to be cleaned after a cooking disaster several nights ago, I wouldn’t be surprised if something was living on the countertop. I nodded, slumping into a chair. “What’s going on? Why is Misty freaking out?” I nodded at his laptop. “She said you’ve won something?”
As if my housemate couldn’t hold it in anymore, he nodded, turning his screen towards me. “You know____, right?”
“Yes.” I sipped my coffee, eyeing a toaster strudel sitting on the countertop. "You mean the game which has been coming out for a decade."
He ignored that. “Well, what if I told you one of the developer’s posted on the official sub this morning?”
“For _____?"
He nodded with a grin, and I wondered it this was one of those rare times when Jay was blindly looking through a red flag to see what he wanted. I had heard of these types of scams, and Reddit was a breeding ground for them.
Gamers were pretty intense. I didn’t realize I was pulling a face until I caught his lips curving into a smile. Jay was usually the skeptical one.
“You don’t believe me.”
I downed my coffee to avoid replying. When I had drained the cup, he was still staring at me with amused eyes.
“What?”
“You think it’s bullshit.”
I shrugged. “You said it,” I said. “I’m pretty sure that game isn’t even partway through development. Didn’t Twitter leak a still last year? Also, they’ll be bringing out a new console before that game comes out.”
I leaned back in my chair. “It’s more of a pipe dream, at this point.”
“The leaks were fake,” Even he didn’t look sure. “Anyway, that’s not the point. One of the dev’s posted on the official sub this morning. He asked if we were all excited for the new game, asked if we could post some of our favorite NPC dialogue, and he’ll DM winners.”
“Uh-huh.” I nodded at the screen. I had already checked my phone for an internet meltdown concerning this post, but there was nothing. “And where is that post now?”
Jay didn’t look at me. “It was deleted. So it only reached a certain number of people.”
“Oh, it was deleted?” I couldn’t resist a smile. “What a coincidence.”
When I laughed, Jay scowled, showing me his screen—navigating his trackpad to his Reddit DM’s.
To my surprise, there was actually a message from what I guessed was a throw-away account.
While I was skim reading the DM, Misty hurried in, all dressed and ready for the day. I peeked at her outfit from Jay's laptop. Cute.
Extravagant, but cute. My housemate cranked the radio up before bouncing between us, a toaster strudel hanging out of her mouth.
Misty was a living animated character. Ignoring her wide smile, I turned back to the screen. “Congratulation!!” The DM started with capitals.
It took me reading it twice to realize there was a clear spelling mistake. I sent Jay a pointed look, but he was too busy practically vibrating with excitement. If the guy had any more caffeine, he was going to explode. “Since when did winning DM’s start with a typo?”
“I knew you were going to say that.” Jay curled his lip. “They were clearly excited when typing the message.”
“But this is supposedly an official,” I said. “Surely they would make sure it’s professional?”
My housemate didn’t reply, shooting a look at Misty, who rolled her eyes.
“Wow.” I squinted at the screen. “I am so sorry for caring about your safety. You do realize these types of scam’s usually end up with you being sold on the black market, right?”
I shuddered. “I’ve heard horror stories about underground markets specializing in illegal organ harvesting.”
“Or…” Jay’s eyes were glued to the screen. “You could be happy for me?”
I frowned at the rest of the message, which was just a capitalized freak-out about the upcoming release of the game, before inviting Jay (and a friend!) to a five-minute preview of gameplay, as well as a Q&A. There was a location and a time, which was brow-raising. “10 at night.” I said. “Who hosts a gaming convention at 10pm?” I leaned my chin on my fist. “Unless they wanted to lure as many gullible people as possible, and ship them to some organ harvesting factory on the other side of the world.”
Jay scoffed. “That’s dark.”
“You’re actually considering going to a 10pm gaming convention in the middle of nowhere. I’m trying to wake you up.”
Jay nudged me that time. “It’s real. Relax.”
“And.” I pointed to the screen. “No phones? Why would they ask you not to bring your phones?”
“To stop us filming content,” Misty sang. “Duh.”
I groaned, leaning back in my chair. “You’re on his side? This is clearly shady!” I didn’t get mad unless something was seriously pissing me off, and this was one of those times. Jay was a smart guy. There was no way he was falling for this bullshit. I thought he was joking around when he spent the day tracking the location on Google Maps. I went to class like normal and got updates through text. At lunch, Jay agreed with me and said it was in fact shady, and he wasn’t going. By afternoon classes, he was texting me in paragraphs explaining his own skepticism but had found several “friends” on an online forum who were also going and had changed his mind once again. The guy couldn’t make up his mind. He was driving me crazy.
Misty sent me several videos of Jay pacing the kitchen with his MacBook in his hands. She was broadcasting his mental breakdown via Instagram stories. But then she started to send me pictures of herself in different outfits, asking me for my opinion on each one. At that point, I turned my phone off. My housemates had lost their fucking minds. I did my own research though, just to make sure I wasn’t actually going to lose them to a shady cult.
I searched for the game itself, but just as I thought, it was shown as still in development. Every “update” was just fan speculation.
There were YouTube videos and TikTok’s of fake leaks, but nothing was real. It was either AI generated, or badly edited. By the time my classes had ended and I had turned my phone on, I had a barrage of missed calls and texts.
Most of them were from Misty with her outfit changes, and Jay changing his mind again.
This time he was convinced it was all a scam, his texts full of typos and crying emoji's which he never used. Before it hit me that Misty was most likely using his phone to text me.
I was right. When I walked through the door, I was greeted by both of them sitting on the stairs. Misty was scrolling through Jay’s phone, while the boy had his head in his hands. According to Misty’s last text, he was back to being excited to go.
From the look on his face, eyes shadowed with sleep circles, light brown curls slipping from under his hood, I wasn’t sure what Misty meant by “excited”. The guy looked the complete opposite. His mind had been consumed by the game, and the idea of seeing new content.
When I dropped my bag and folded my arms, fixing the two of them with my best disapproving parent look, Misty jumped to her feet. “Sam!” she waved Jay’s phone at me. “Did you get my texts? We’re actually going now!”
The 100+ texts on both messenger and iMessage said otherwise.
I nodded, my gaze on Jay. “Both of you do realize it’s a scam, right?” I softened my tone despite growing progressively more irritated. We were grown adults, not kids. I could understand a group of teenagers falling for it, but two twenty-three-year-olds?
This time, I ducked in front of Jay. “Hey.” I pulled down his hood, and he groaned, burying his head in his knees. “I don’t want to freak you out, so listen to me, okay?”
I exhaled out a breath. “I’m not saying something bad is going to happen to you, because it most likely won’t—and yes, I admit I’m being paranoid.” When he lifted his head, blinking through bedraggled curls, there was a faint smile on his lips. “But.” I said. “You are most likely going to end up disappointed. Which I don’t want, because you won't shut up about it for weeks."
I was only partly joking.
For a moment, I thought my housemate was going to wake up, and nod, laughing at how crazy it was.
Before shook his head and jumped up.
“I’m going to take a shower, alright? I should start getting ready."
I admit, I exploded at him.
We argued while he was in the shower, and I paced up and down the hallway, coming up with multiple reasons why he was definitely going to die, and only two positives if it was in fact real. In the end, I gave up worrying all together. I didn’t say anything when the two of them were hurrying around looking for shoes and missing car keys. I didn’t realize they were gone until the door was clanging shut, and a text was coming through. I didn’t look at it until an hour later, and I had calmed down.
Jay: 1h ago: Stop worrying, lmao. We’re good! I’ll keep my phone just in case. I’ll make sure to avoid the organ harvesting 😉
Another from Misty a few minutes later: “Love you! Chillll, kay? 😭😭 It’s going to be fun! I’ll take pics!”
…
Followed by: “Oh shit, we can’t. I’ll try to sneak some!"
Attached to the text was a photo of the two of them. Misty with a wide smile and a peace sign, and Jay who looked like he was mid-shout, his eyes on the road.
Those texts were… at least comforting, I guessed. Maybe they were right. I figured I was paranoid, and they in fact would really be okay.
But that didn’t stop the anxious coil in my gut when I tried to force down takeout pizza. I attempted to focus on my essay to distract myself, but I couldn’t stop glancing at my phone, and checking Twitter. There was a hashtag on the DM, which was just “PlayStationGO.” When I searched for it, however, nothing came up.
Sure, it was a private convention and only a select few knew about it, but nothing could escape Twitter.
Somewhere, someone must be talking about it. After scrolling through endless tweets though, I realized I was wrong. There was nothing.
That put a bad taste in my mouth.
10pm came, and I held my breath all the way through a Netflix TV show I was forcing myself to watch, half asleep, slumped at my desk.
I could barely distinguish the plot.
I just had a vague idea of the character names, and some of their motivations.
Midnight passed, and I was struggling to stay awake.
I glanced at my phone.
No messages, just a notification from Spotify reminding me my favorite band was playing nearby.
1am.
Still nothing. I fell back to sleep.
2:48am.
This time, I stayed awake for a few minutes glaring at my phone before my eyes grew heavy.
3:16: am.
My phone buzzed with a text from Jay, but I could barely desipher it: "can't feel help my head hurts Canshdhsn727272_6798mi/!! _&go home please. (Sent from: PlayStationGo™️ BETA)."
3:27: am.
3:54: am. I was wide awake, blinking at a notification which had popped up from an unknown number. I was trying to figure out what number it was, when my phone vibrated again and I almost jumped out of my skin.
After a moment of hesitation, I answered it.
I was trying so hard not to think of the possibility of it being the emergency room, or even worse, the cops.
All of my worst nightmares had come true in a single second.
“Hello?” I whispered in a croak.
“Are they in the house with you?” The stranger’s voice came through in a hiss of interference.
His words sent my mediocre dinner lurching back up my throat. “What?” I managed to get out. “Who?”
“Your friends.” He said, and I leapt to unsteady feet, my gut twisting and turning.
“No.” I found myself taking slow strides toward the window, brushing back the curtain and peering out into the night. “Why? Did something happen to them?” I paused.
“How did you get my number?”
“That does not matter.” His voice rattled in my ear as I rushed downstairs, almost stumbling down the bottom two. “I need you to get out of that house. Now. Get as far away as possible.”
I could hear his rapid breaths.
He was driving. I could hear the rumble of the engine. With my phone pressed to my ear, I obeyed his instructions, pulling open the door and stepping out into the cool night, a brisk breeze grazing my bare arms was just enough to stop my thoughts spiraling.
I was barefoot, in nothing but a robe, staggering down the driveway. The night was calm and silent; our neighborhood was asleep, each window drowned in darkness. I couldn’t breathe, my clammy fingers wrapped around my phone, as this stranger broke down over the phone. “Whatever you do,” he gasped out.
“Do not, I repeat DO NOT remove the PlayStationGo—shit!! He hissed out, static rattling the call. The guy seemingly got ahold of himself, and the wheel, and continued. I started to walk—where I was going, I had no idea.
The stranger lit a cigarette. I heard the click of a lighter and his exhalation of breath. “It was a BETA version, but we had to rush it. This was not my idea. My boss is a greedy man. He wanted to release the game last year, which would have meant widespread infection. Luckily, that did not happen. We did manage to delay it, but only by a year.” His words barely made sense to me as I struggled to get a word in, peering in the dark. “It was supposed to be a virtual experience of the game—a whole new angle of gameplay. But testing was difficult. First, on monkey’s, we lost multiple subjects. Tonight was supposed to be a…well, I guess you could call it out first attempt on human subjects,” his laugh was bitter. “I knew the tech wasn’t finished. And I tried. Believe me, I fucking tried. I tried to blow the whistle, but these bastards know where my parents live."
Something squirmed its way down my spine.
“So my friends were lab rats?” I said stiffly. “You used them?”
I fucking knew it.
I knew it was too good to be true.
“Yes and no. Listen to me, the people I work for are hunting them down. Trust me, I don’t want my bosses to find them because a life of experimentation will await them. Torture. Do you hear me? It does not matter if subjects fail. They don’t care. As long as there is at least a light at the end of the tunnel for them, they will see it as a win, and bring the publication date closer. They will not be treated as humans. Your friends signed a contract before trying out the tech, where the small print stated that, under section 3, player engagement, all subjects must agree to offer themselves as participants in later updates. I silently cursed Jay for always skipping the terms and conditions when buying games." The man stopped to breathe.
“I have told you multiple times, and I won’t say it again. Get as far away from that house as possible. I will take care of them. I will make sure of it." The sound of squealing engines, and I stopped power walking, coming to an abrupt stop. The silence of the night around me, compared to the sound of the highway he was on, traffic horns and the wind rushing through the window was an eerie contrast, a disturbance to the heavenly bubble we were trapped in.
“What do you mean ‘take care of them?” I had to swallow a yell. “Hey! What are you talking about?
“I’m sorry.” Was all he replied with. “I’m afraid it is too late. There was once an opportunity to save the mind during the initial level of the demonstration. However, once the PlaystationGo has been fully attached to the base of the subject, we no longer have control of it. Once integrating itself into the cerebral cortex, the PlayStationGo can only be removed by signing out of the player’s account,” his breath was heavy. “On this unfortunate occasion, however, your friends are unable to navigate the system due to a malfunction which scrambled their brains,” He trailed off. “Which has left them stranded in the game."
I let out a breath. “Right.” I said. “That’s.. bad. I mean, it’s a fucked-up piece of technology, but they’re just playing a game, right?”
There was a pause, before the man laughed.
“Young man, I don’t think you understand,” he said. “The PlayStationGo was created to give the player a full virtual experience of our game. The PlayStationGo is not a physical object. Created with nanotechnology, it attaches itself to the subject’s brain and is supposed to create a personal gaming experience for each player. As I said, however, it is not finished. It is yet to be released to the public, and of course, we are expecting certain ethical arguments due to the controversial—”
I pulled the phone away from my ear, shaking my head. I didn’t need to hear his attempts at trying to save his own skin.
“You need to help them,” I whispered. “Do you hear me? Can you do that? Can you help them?!”
“That is what I am trying to tell you,” He said.
“I know you are upset and confused, and believe me, I offer my apologies. But you need to listen to facts. During initial testing, our subjects were conscious enough to know where their home was. We are unsure why this happens, though we have linked it to territory, as well as the main character of the game heavily influencing their actions. I have been tracking them from the testing facility, and they are incredibly close. Please get as far away from there as possible. If you are no longer in the vicinity of the house, I can end this quickly and quietly before we gain attention.”
I wasn’t sure what I was going to say. Maybe start fucking screaming at him, because he was talking about getting “rid” of my friends, after their mistake.
“Do you understand me?” He said, when I couldn’t reply. “Your friends are lost causes!”
Before I could answer, though, headlights were suddenly coming around the corner, and I found myself paralysed to the spot. The car which swerved twice, crashed into several trash cans, before reversing and coming straight towards me, was not Jay’s car. Jay’s car was an old hunk of junk he’d gotten from a scrapyard. Jay’s car had doors which were practically hanging off, and a stereo which exclusively played either static gibberish, or old tapes I had no idea how to use. This car was bright yellow, and definitely had an option to drive itself. When the car came to a stop, inches from careening into me, I lost all control of myself.
I was vaguely aware of my phone slipping from my fingers and hitting the sidewalk. But I was too busy staring at the two shadows in the front of the car. The driver, and the passenger.
And the muffled screaming coming from the trunk.
When the door swung open, a figure stepping out, I did not recognise my housemate.
The stranger told me I wouldn't, but I didn't believe him.
Jay had left the house in casual jeans and a sweater, bearing the game's logo.
Now, I found myself face to face with a man with my housemate's face and features, his smile and eyes-- but something had been severed in his eyes and twisted in his expression. For one, Jay was wearing a suit I knew he couldn't afford, the sleeves torn, collar pulled open, smears of red staining the front.
His pants had cufflinks, and the Rolex on his wrist had definitely been pulled off someone's corpse.
The silver was stained a revealing scarlet. Drinking in his face, he looked like Jay. His curls hung in front of his eyes, freckles speckling his cheeks, but everything else wasn't. It wasn't until I was glimpsing what was moulded into the flesh of his hand, did I remember how to move. But then I was taking all of him in, everything my mind had intentionally skipped, because I didn't want to believe the stranger on the phone. Nanotechnology, the man had said in a hiss.
Fiction, I had thought.
Before I saw the reality of it, a writhing metallic like substance glued to the guy's temple, and slowly, very slowly, inching down his cheek, already forming around the bridge of his ear, a very faint blue light flickering.
Something must have alerted him. His cavernous eyes left mine, and he twisted his head—and I heard the sound of his neck snapping, his head lolling to the left slightly, his eyes flickering. I watched his whole body seem to sway back and forth, ready to fall forwards.
Before the newly formed device on his ear turned red, then green.
It was almost like he was… rebooting. As if coming back to life, Jay lifted his head at an awkward angle, before looking straight through me. The blood vessels in his eyes had popped, rivulets of red beading down his face. He should have been dead, I thought. No. No, he was dead. That… that thing was keeping him alive. “Well, shiiiittt,” he said. I could sense the game dialogue which had taken over him, forming on his mangled tongue.
“I’m a man on a mission.”
In jerking movements, he turned and marched back towards the car, opening the door, and sliding into the front seat.
I remembered how to move, ducking to grab my phone, before something slammed into the back of my head—and I saw stars.
I didn’t remember hitting the floor, only the soft sound of her voice, a seductive murmur repeating NPC dialogue, and her kitten heel sticking into my spine, forcing me onto my face.
Misty. I was expecting her to get it over with. But when she dragged me to my feet, sticking the barrel of a gun into the flesh of my neck—I figured she was still playing the game.
Twisting around to meet her eyes, lifeless and empty, only filled with light from the device which had taken over half of her face, I felt sick to my stomach. This thing wasn’t a games console or a virtual reality headset.
It was an attempt at coercing and programming something you already don’t understand, to do something impossible.
I could see that in the way the things had visibly chewed and eaten through her flesh, devouring her from the inside and out. I could see what was left of the dress she had worn earlier, but something must have gone wrong with her too. Because Misty had thrown on another outfit over the top, a diamond necklace hanging from her neck.
I caught a thin river of red pooling down her right temple, trying to ignore the twitchy way she moved, just like a character. From the way Misty walked, stumbling, I already knew she was gone. My housemate had newly acquired strength, throwing me in the trunk of the car where three other hostages were, and slamming it shut on my attempts to reason with her. She didn’t tie me up or restrain me.
In the dim light I could just make out though passing streetlights, I could see the trunk opened from the inside. Which was too easy.
Still though, Jay was driving recklessly, and every time I tried to throw the damn thing open, I was knocked backwards, rolling into a screaming girl, who was bound by her hands and feet. It took me multiple attempts before I had the trunk open, freezing cold air blasting me in the face. I untied the other hostages, but when I told them to come with me, they just stared blankly at me, and continued begging for their lives—and it only took me glimpsing what was attached to their temples, a familiar writhing metal plate, for me to understand. They too were playing the game. This time, as NPC hostages.
I found myself gingerly touching the trembling metallic flesh of the girl's fingers bound in rope. It had a slimy consistency, and I swore, I felt something bite into me.
No way, I thought.
This thing was sentient, yes. But it wasn't living.
Listen, I wish I could tell you what it was like to jump out of a moving car, but I can’t.
I remember it as lunging out of the trunk, hitting the freezing cold air, before hitting the ground head first, neutron star collisions exploding in the backs of my eyes.
What I do remember is waking up on the side of the road. Hours later. The sky was bright blue, a scorching sun blinding me when I managed to force my eyes open.
The early morning rush hour flew by as normal, and I wondered how ignorant American people had to be to ignore someone knocked out on the side of the road.
It’s not like I was nowhere near civilization. There was a fucking Subway right next to me.
When I had gathered myself, I remembered I had no phone. I couldn’t go home in fear of running into my rogue housemates playing their own fucked up version of _____ in their head. My plan was to try and find my phone, get in contact with the stranger who blew the whistle on my friends being dangerous, and find them. They couldn’t be far., right? And even if they weren’t themselves… someone would be able to save them.
If someone could do this to them, surely they could reverse it.
I felt sick, tired, and I was starving.
So, with some loose cash I’d found in my pocket, I bought a Subway and a Coke.
The woman at the counter smiled widely at me. She leaned forward, with a wink. “Nice cosplay!”
Cosplay?
I didn’t understand what she meant until I swore I felt something… move its way up my pant leg. I ignored it, and it happened again, this time it felt like something was… biting.
A bug, maybe? I had been laying on the side of the road for around six hours.
When I went to the bathroom, though, I found myself staring at an all too familiar glint of silver creeping its way across my temple. Like it was sentient, parts of it sider webbed towards my ear while the rest writhed into my hairline.
I pulled up my pant leg again, and there it was, a fungus-like metal substance which had already formed in two solid metal masses on my knees. I remember grazing two fingers across the thing beginning its slow feast of my flesh. I remember trying to pull it off, hissing in pain when I risked ripping off my own skin with it. I remember shaking my head and being in denial, even when the lights dimmed above me, and the bathroom door in front of me became more of a shadow. When I strode back through the Subway store, I began to see slight flickers of light above each person, highlighting something not quite there yet.
I could see it already starting, beginning to take over my thoughts. Cars which sped past were suddenly highlighted, and at the corner of my eye, if I concentrated, the outline of a map was starting to appear. Even now, when the room is almost completely taken over by shadow, and my thoughts are half my own, and half not—when a metallic device is beginning to form over my eyes—I know if I hold on, this thing won’t take me. I have considered killing myself, but that wouldn’t… be right.
How could I kill myself when there is so much left to do?
This developer was right. I don’t even know where I can sign out. There’s what looks like the beginning of some kind of index when I look up, but it’s not… finished. I can still see entangled pieces of code struggling to load what I’m guessing was log out. Whatever this thing is, it’s taking over me. Fast. Like a fungus, like a virus, it will not stop until it’s dragged me into the game, until it's leeched itself onto me.
I can feel it happening right now. It's been slow.
Almost painfully slow.
But maybe that is the point. Maybe part of the game is to feel my own thoughts beginning to unravel in favor of something else entirely.
Fuck.
Time is going by…. Fast.
Five minutes ago… I was trying to get home. But I can’t remember where I live.
I can’t concentrate.
I can’t think straight.
I have a phone—but I don’t know how I got it. Did I steal it?
Every time I move, the slowly emerging map comes to life at the corner of my eye jerks with my movement. There is a car parked nearby.
I know it belongs to the man with a child.
But a confusing blur of light is highlighting it to be something of importance. Reality is crashing in front of me, replaced with contorting shapes and bursts of color I have to blink through.
I keep hearing... sirens.
Jay is messaging me.
On what, I'm not sure.
But I need to find him.
I’m sure one mission won’t hurt, right?

(too lazy to make templates this time, flame me)
So i want to see a somewhat 'underpowered' event compared to the last couple, thus i decided to bench all the S-tiers that are in Pride and the S-tiers that feel like they are a cut above the others at the moment. I only had Punz and Fruit left at this point, which seemed good enough together with the A+ players.
Red: Phil, Sneeg, Gemini, Scar
A team that probably has the same energy as Red28 and could be very strong in this event, mostly doing good in teamgames and possibly movement. Phil might try to make Scar swear, but maybe he can control himself.
Orange: Wallibear, Sparklez, Velvet, Gumi
Walli and Velvet go for redemption, this time joined by Gumi, who is also seeking redemption for mcc30, and Sparklez, the only player on the team with a win (who would've ever though this would be a thing?)
Yellow: Smallishbeans, Smajor, False, Pearl
An empire/hermit team like we've seen plenty times before, but this time they actually have a big chance of winning! Joel was last seen with a first indiv, Scott has performed like a solid A-tier lately, False already has a win this season and Pearl has to win sometime, right? This is probably the best teamgames team here.
Lime: Mysticat, Tubbo, Jack, Gee
A very chaotic event that introduces Mysticat to the canon MCC world. This team is very good at movement games probably, while being a bit too chaotic to do well in teamgames i think.
Green: Punz, Foolish, Impulse, ZombieCleo
Cleo joins Mysti as one of the two newcomers to canon MCC and is joined by fellow Hermit Impulse. Punz loves Hermits and i can imagine Foolish would work well with them too. A strong pvp team obviously, but not too OP.
Cyan: Hannah, Sylvee, Beky, Blushi
Girls, Girls, Girls! This team could potentially be very strong and mega dangerous in pvp and movement. Blushi hasn't had the best events recently, neither has Sylvee, so it mostly depends on their form. In terms of chemistry this team would probably work very well together.
Aqua: SB737, Ryguyrocky, Zeuz, Vixella
SB and Ryguy return for their annual MCC (well, almost annual :\) as a pretty strong movement and teamgames duo. Zeuz and Vixella join for their second duo in a canon MCC, after winning Pride (spoilers!). This team would be super chill and wholesome while also potentially being really strong.
Blue: Seapeekay, IntheLittleWood, SolidarityGaming, Shubble
Luckily Shubble has a short name... This is another classic Empires vibes team that excels at all parts of the game while not really being a master of any. Super solid and probably depends on form of the day mostly.
Purple: Fruitberries, Grian, OrionSound, Kara Corvus
FruityB and Grian duo returns finally. Joined by the chaos of Oli and Kara this would be a super fun team to watch and also one that has potential to do very well. Fruit is obviously the favorite for 1st indiv in an event like this and he has 3 teammates that can make sure that the teamgames go well too. Probably a favorite, unless Fruit has a lackluster event.
Pink: Tommy, TapL, Slimecicle, ConnorEsports
I bring you: chaos! Tommy and TapL is the strongest duo in the event for sure, but also one that can be very chaotic and bad at communication. Slime and Connor are both more meme than competitive players and therefore make this mostly a content team, but it still has big pop-off potential. It reminds me of Red15 but weaker, but the event overall is also weaker, so who knows.
Let me know what you think!

​
The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai & Judy Martin) celebrate their win
Like most women's wrestlers of the era Leilani Kai & Judy Martin broke into the business through The Fabulous Moolah, who essentially had a monopoly on women's wrestling in the US & had a long list of predatory behavior (trigger warning SA). After years of Moolah stealing half their pay, the duo parted ways with Moolah. They changed their looks, paired up with Jimmy Hart & became The Glamour Girls.
Using that name they experienced the most success of the career. They were awarded the WWF World Women's Tag Team Championship & held the titles for over two years. Part of the reason behind the longevity of their reign was due to a lack of competition. Martin & Kai had the idea to start utilizing talent from Japan. After initially being rebuffed by Vince McMahon eventually Pat Patterson signed off on the idea.
Enter The Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno). Martin & Kai found the right dance partners with the tag team from Japan. They would have a series of the matches starting in mid 1987 all across the country. In a show stealing performance The Angels captured the titles at the 1988 Royal Rumble with the plan being for The Glamour Girls to win the titles back at WrestleMania V.
On the tail end tour of Japan, Martin received a call from The Fabulous Moolah who informed them the office said they needed to defeat The Angels for the titles on the final day of the tour. This was not actually requested by the office. Moolah seeing her stranglehold on women's wrestling being loosened by younger & more exciting talent decided to sabotage the division.
Martin & Kai tried to obtain confirmation of the change. They had difficulty reaching anyone else despite numerous attempts. So on June 8th 1988 The Glamour Girls defeated The Jumping Bomb Angles via count out (AJW rules allowed for title changes in this method) & once again were WWF World Women's Tag Team Champions.
Days later Martin & Kai were berated by a furious Pat Patterson for switching the titles without permission. They had derailed plans for WrestleMania V. The duo attempted to explain that Moolah instructed them to win back the titles. Nobody though was willing to entertain their side of the story.
In the fallout of this Martin & Kai were both fired. Martin eventually returned later that year. Kai didn't return until 1994 when the singles division was restarted with Alundra Blayze. The Jumping Bomb Angels never appeared again for the company. The WWF World Women's Tag Team titles were mothballed & without ever being defended again. It wouldn't be until over 30 years later for there to be a similar titles when The Boss 'n' Hug Connection became inaugural WWE Women's Tag Champions at Elimination Chamber 2019.

Hi,
My Father sadly passed away a few months ago. I found out that he had left me as a beneficiary for his thrift savings plan. He was a retired government employee. The total amount is a little over $50k. I'm in my late-twenties and still finishing my bachelors degree. I have about a year left. I'm also going into a field that is more art driven (film) and I likely won't be making a very lucrative income after graduating (perhaps around $40k a year). I really want this money to be put to good use. I have a remaining college debt of about $22k in federal loans, which will probably be around the same after graduation. I'm currently single and don't plan to purchase a house/have kids etc. in the near future. I more so plan to live in an apartment, perhaps a shared one, for awhile until I can make a decent living. I was planning to perhaps use some of the money to help pay off my college debt, and the remaining as an emergency fund, maybe even putting withdrawals into a HYSA.
I've spoken with some financial advisors, and most of them advised me to open an inherited IRA. If I withdrew the money as a lump sum into a bank account, there would be 20% withholding. But if I rolled it over into said IRA, I apparently wouldn't be taxed unless I took money out of it. I'd have to take all the money out of the IRA within 10 years however. I calculated it, and at my current tax rate (I make minimum wage currently, so about 12%), it seems that I'd lose about the same amount to taxes over time as the 20% withholding would be. That's why I wanted it to accrue interest in the IRA. Unfortunately, Merrill Lynch, who I spoke with, said I'd need to use an advisor and pay a fee at .85% annually to do so, as it, being an inherited IRA, can't be invested passively without continuously meeting with an advisor. Some of the advisors I've spoken to at Merrill also seemed a bit unknowledgeable of my situation as well, which set off some red flags in my head. But maybe I'm paranoid/have had bad luck?
I was curious what would be best to do with this money so I can earn interest over time and make it useful. Would an inherited IRA be my best bet for that?
​
Thank you.

Reddit recently announced changes to their API policy that have wide reaching impacts across Reddit. Some mod tools (bots) are impacted that will mean you will see more spam that the bot would have grabbed - please do report these if you see them.
It also means that third party apps such as Apollo, Boost, Reddit is Fun, BaconReader, Narwhal, etc. will have to pay very high fees to keep their access to Reddit. While most people use the official app, it is not completely accessible (see a post from blind here with details on how you cannot use a screen reader with the iOS app) and there are filtering options in third party tools not available on the official apps that allow users to mute harmful keywords etc.
The sub will be locked from Monday June 12th to Wednesday June 14th (approx 48 hours) as part of a reddit wide blackout with many subs participating. (This is dependent on the upcoming announcement from Reddit due Friday as admin are reaching out with promises of postponing the API changes and making the app more accessible.)
We are participating as part of an awareness campaign and will reopen if demands are not met. But note that with the moderator bots down, this will slow some mod actions in the future.
The demands:

• Allow fair third party access - Reddit’s current pricing structure goes well above similar sites and the short notice period means that these apps cannot give proper notice of required price changes to their users (or even pull their apps from the app store as they have people on annual plans)
• Make the official apps accessible so that users with disabilities are not forced into paying for third party access just to continue using their accounts.
• There are also NSFW impacts which do not directly impact the sub, read about them in Save3rdPartyApps

While some subs are not going dark, if you support the campaign, we encourage you to not log in to Reddit on those days to limit pageviews. The sub will remain visible but locked as the private page does not allow us to give the reason for closing to mobile users.
You can see full details here

• Don't Let Reddit Kill 3rd Party Apps!
• Reddit is killing 3rd-party Apps (infographic)
• Reddit to the Visually Impaired: "You no longer have a voice on this site."
• How Reddit Became the Enemy - with Apollo Developer Christian Selig

Subreddits with Additional Information:

• Save3rdPartyApps
• ModCoord

22 Blue in 2022: 'THE LIST'

Build Supermajorities of Democrats in the US House and US Senate

Here’s “22 Blue in 2022: ‘A Quick List’”:

1. Florida 2. Ohio 3. Kansas 4. North Carolina 5. Kentucky 6. Arizona7. South Carolina 8. Georgia 9. Texas 10. Michigan 11. Nevada 12. Pennsylvania13. Missouri 14. Wisconsin 15. Iowa 16. Arkansas 17. Oklahoma 18. Indiana19. Colorado 20. Alabama 21. South Dakota 22. North Dakota

The 2022 Midterm Election is the most important midterm of our lifetime.Democrats must behave as if our lives depend on this midterm, because our future depends on the outcome.
”We the people” must deny the Republican party political power at every level of government for decades to come “in order to create a more perfect union.” With 48 States having some statewide contest(s), November 8th, 2022 is our best chance the Democrats will get to do that for the rest of this decade, at least.
”The List” encourages the election of a Democratic Supermajority in the US Senate in 2022. This is the best chance we will have to create a Democratic Supermajority in both Chambers of Congress for the remainder of this decade. This midterm could be a devastating loss for the democrats if good patriots ignore this election. If Americans of good conscience band together instead, we could could begin the exile of the Republican party from power, not for years, but for decades to come.
“The List” is a set of suggestions about where to focus collective activism today.
The election of Democratic Supermajorities to both chambers of the US Congress is the best outcome we can strive towards in the 2022 Midterm Election for many reasons. Among them: breaking the decade of gridlock in Congress, supporting President Biden’s agenda, and his re-election in 2024. My personal favorite is that this could commence the decades-long political banishment of the GOP from power, which the Republican Party so richly deserves.
The Republican party has proved itself treasonous on many levels. They are traitors to Humanity by supporting Trump. Traitors to the Nation for supporting Putin. Traitors to the government and betrayers of the constitution through their apologies for the 1/6/21 insurrection. To safeguard our country and the world, we must block the Republicans from power at the ballot box, at all levels of government, for at least a generation.
Political game playing may be inevitable among humans. Change the numbers, and then change the rules, if not the game. Cynical refusal to play at this time in history cedes power to NAZIs manipulated by Active Measures. That is a surrender to crypto fascism, not radical thinking, mere cynicism, or hipsterism.
In 2022, Patriots must unify to crush the Republican Party at the ballot box. We can defeat them in every State, at every level. We need the biggest turnout at the voting booth of any Midterm ever. We need to raise more money for candidates and organizations than we did during the entire 2020 campaign season if we are to accomplish this. We need to do this in the next six months.
This is what a “Blue Tsunami” REALLY looks like.
Electing a Democratic Supermajority in Congress is our hope for the future and retribution for America’s enemies. “22 Blue in 2022” is a roadmap to the beginning of that journey. “22 Blue in 2022” is our war plan. ”22 Blue in 2022” is our electoral battle cry. “22 Blue in 2022” is a way forward out of gridlock, a way to non-violently thwart those who would poison the body politic with their hate.
If we don’t try this hard in 2022, Trump will go unpunished and metastasize by 2024.
Resist In Power, my sisters, my brothers, and my others.
Resist Together, and elect a Congressional Supermajority in 2022!
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