First, let me introduce you to the cast A - friend 1 B - friend 2 C - my girlfriend D - old friend we cut off
I (15F) have a friend group all around my age. I began hanging out A and C summer last year. Genuinely one of the most amazing summers I’ve ever had, everyday we just fucked off and drove around. A even helped me get with C, my now current gf. We eventually met D who started dating A, which might be the source of how I feel as of now. It’s a whole other post about what they did. Long story short,at homecoming they accused my girlfriend of saying she wanted to break up with me via text, after she told me I broke down crying. When C comes to pick me up I question her (obviously upset) and she denies it and show proof (no deleted receipts) This was around October, months later in December we found out they had lied. So me, A and C cut them off. The few months I spent with D and C arguing on and off and both kinda leaving me in this were some of the most agonizing days of my life, I cried almost every night, it was either my best friend or my girlfriend lying to me. What the hell was I supposed to do? The whole mess left me an absolute wreck, ever since my trust issues have spiraled out of control. You have never met someone with true anxiety and paranoia before you’ve met me, and this drama changed me, I’ve not been able to trust anyone fully ever since.
Me, A and C still stayed together, C has been a pretty amazing girlfriend, but A has changed and it’s been bothering me a lot. We me B on homecoming night but didn’t start talking to them until weeks later, when A and B became super close. B is a really chipper girl, but it just feels like she’s too nice. I’m my group we constantly joke about she would never do any wrong and im not sure why but it’s been bothering me. A is sort of the “main character” of our group, and I can’t stand it. Everyone is constantly trying to talk to him and ignoring everyone else, maybe I’m just jealous, but I feel like friend groups shouldn’t be “lead” by someone. Everyone deserves an equal share and should be heard out and participate as much as the next guy. I asked another one of my good friends to confirm my suspicion about A being followed around by my friends like dogs, and she said she sees it too. When me A B and C hang out it’s just me and my girlfriend talking and A and B pretty much talking to each other exclusively. I’m scarred of what happened months ago will repeat, A and B will start dating, and B does something horrible like how D did. I know that A and B are pretty genuine people, but everytime I hang out with them I feel an itch. I constantly get left out, A B and C Always talk about what amazing times they’ve had

Hi guys,
I bought a Xiaomi 13 Pro recently for battery life and camera and I'm certainly happy with it! However, coming from an AOSP-ish experience I can't help but feeling very frustrated with the UI/UX of MIUI so far, setting up my new phone, especially:

1. Not being able to use full-frame gestures on third party launchers
   
2. The app manager cleaning my widget apps when I clean apps forcing them to close and not refresh widgets before I reload the app + reload the widget
   
3. Having to set up manually lockscreen notifications for every sub category of notifications within each and every app - by default, apps will not show lockscreen notifications and when the general toggle within the notification menu is switched on, I have to go into each notification subcategory to re-confirm my setting of actually having this notification show on the lockscreen in a secondary toggle - is there any way ALL can be selected to show on lockscreen = ON by default?
   
4. Lockscreen notifications disappearing when I unlock the screen once
   
5. Some apps just not working at all, like Tiktok (I'll write a different post on it)
   
6. Unnecessary bloatware I don't need
   

If you have any workarounds for any of these issues or know how to get something as close as AOSP as possible that would be very much appreciated, as much as I love the hardware of this phone, the software is difficult to manage and I don't want to end up selling the phone!
Thank you so much

Before we get into the predictions, I would first say that I won't predict the showcase matches yet, as the Women's Showcase is still incomplete and there is also nothing the winners will receive from those matches. I will only predict those that were made official in this post. For the purposes of putting them on a certain night, I would have the men's showcase on Night 1 and the women's showcase on Night 2. I know there are reports that Lashley is getting a match but we don't know yet. LA Knight (YEAH!) is reportedly gonna be a part of it but we don't know, yet as well, in what capacity.
NIGHT 1: April 1st
UNITED STATES CHAMPIONSHIP
Austin Theory (c) vs John Cena
Result: Austin Theory retains the US Title. I don't mind if John Cena wins this match too, but that will depend on whether he is slated to appear on WWE TV post-Mania. However, if they are tapping Theory as one of the company's next stars, a win against his childhood hero would increase his credibility and legitimacy. Theory can also do an open challenge as Cena did, opening up chances for NXT call-ups like Bron Breakker, whom I think will drop his NXT Title to Carmelo Hayes at Stand and Deliver.
SIX-WOMAN TAG TEAM MATCH
Becky Lynch, Lita, and Trish Stratus vs Damage CNTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai, IYO SKY)
Result: Becky Lynch, Lita, and Trish Stratus win. What I see in this match is something similar to Clash at the Castle when Edge, Rey, and Dominik faced Judgement Day. The face team wins but one member of the face team turns heel after. I say that because there have been reports of Stratus potentially turning heel. If this is the case - I would give the fans a feel-good moment with the legends winning then allow Trish to turn heel, much to the delight of Damage CNTRL. In this way, you start a new storyline for SummerSlam or perhaps next year's WrestleMania.
SINGLES MATCH
Seth Rollins vs Logan Paul
Result: Seth Rollins silences Logan Paul. With how they are booking the build-up to this match, I think that Seth winning should be the right call. Logan seems to have Rollins beat in every interaction that they have, with those punches that seem to "knock out" Seth, and Rollins should not be screwed up again. I think this is where you start to rebuild Rollins' momentum with some wins and to return to the world title scene because it's high time he gets a shot at the world championships.
HELL IN A CELL MATCH
Edge vs Finn Balor
Result: Finn Balor wins. I know that Balor already has one win over him back at Extreme Rules last October in that I Quit Match, but the fact that he could potentially bring back The Demon is the reason why Finn should win. If we all remember the last time we saw that version of Finn Balor, it was when he tripped on that top rope back in Extreme Rules 2021 when he faced Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship. Finn pinning Edge would also not only give him credibility (the last match they had was an I Quit Match) but also give him a chance to return to the world title scene. He was the first Universal Champion and he won it as The Demon when he faced Seth Rollins all those years ago. This feud should end with Balor pinning Edge and bringing The Demon back to true form.
SMACKDOWN WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
Charlotte Flair (c) vs Rhea Ripley
Result: Rhea Ripley gets revenge on Charlotte Flair. There is a reason why WWE booked Rhea to win the Rumble this year and that is for her to become a champion. While the build-up to this story may seem a bit flat for some, I think the storyline that dates back to WrestleMania 36 when Charlotte faced Rhea makes this match huge in a sense. I was also one of those people who thought that a Ripley/Belair match would have more of a story with them being the final two back in the 2021 Royal Rumble but this one works too. Ripley can get revenge for her loss in 2020. It's Rhea's time and WrestleMania is the stage to do it. Additionally, what would a Charlotte Flair win do to the future of the women's division?
UNDISPUTED WWE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
The Usos (Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso) (c) vs Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
Result: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn win the titles. This match I believe should be the main event for Night 1 - since it has a stronger story and more frequent interests. Sami Zayn's time with the Bloodline and Kevin Owens' battles with them has been well-documented over the years now and coming back together after many ups and downs was a sight to behold. The Usos have been one of the greatest tag teams of all time and there is no denying that. However, for this match - it has to be a win for Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. They've had issues with the Bloodline for many months and it would be a great payoff to see them win the tag titles from a legendary tag team. Additionally, this also gives Sami an opportunity to get revenge on Jey - both of which have been at the forefront of the Bloodline story since last year and if you will have the Bloodline crumble at WrestleMania 39, then this is how it should start - which in turn will have an impact on the world title match.
​
NIGHT 2: April 2nd
INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Gunther (c) vs Sheamus vs Drew McIntyre
Result: Sheamus becomes a grand slam champion. That Intercontinental Championship match between Gunther and Sheamus at Clash at the Castle back in September was, no pun intended, a banger. Obviously, Gunther won that match to retain and preserve his title reign. Speaking of which, Gunther is undoubtedly one of the best intercontinental champions of all time, bringing back its prestige and the gravity it can have on a show. Gunther faced all challengers, and was even in the final two at the Royal Rumble, lasting more than anyone ever. However, the title he currently holds is what's missing in Sheamus' long list of titles he has won. With this being a triple-threat match, I think Sheamus should get his WrestleMania moment and become a grand slam champion. As for Drew McIntyre, I would think that he adds an element of unpredictability to the match and his storyline with Sheamus could extend post-Mania. Gunther losing does not affect his credibility, however, as this is an opportunity to propel him into the world title picture, which I believe he should be in once he drops the IC Title.
SINGLES MATCH
Brock Lesnar vs Omos
Result: Brock Lesnar wins. This is one of those matches that will heavily rely on spots and some good snapshots or moments, but otherwise is a repeat of last year's WrestleMania where the giant is defeated. This does not say, however, that I don't expect Omos to get some offense in this match and one hot take that I have would be that this could be a better match than Omos's clash with Lashley last year in Dallas. I think Omos will have a good showing and will look strong, but I think Lesnar will win this one.
SINGLES MATCH
Rey Mysterio vs Dominik Mysterio
Result: Rey Mysterio wins as a proper send-off. Some may argue that Dominik, being younger, should win the match against his father to get some credibility. However, Rey is set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year, and facing his son on a stage like WrestleMania is a full-circle moment for both of them (not kayfabe but real life). Additionally, Rey has not competed in a high-profile match in quite a while and if he was stacking up wins, maybe I would pitch for Dominik to win the match. In this case, however, I would want Rey to win in what could be his final WWE match. Dom won't be that much affected by a loss, although I would be fine if Dom wins, like I said, to give him credibility and to build him up more. I'm fine with either outcome.
RAW WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
Bianca Belair (c) vs Asuka
Result: Asuka wins the title and her first WrestleMania win. Since Asuka's character change at the Royal Rumble, many have argued that she should have a crack at the championship again and for the past few years of his career, she has not had a major milestone in the company other than winning the 2018 Royal Rumble. Remember that in that year, she was undefeated until Charlotte beat her at WrestleMania 34. Speaking of such an event, she has not won a match at WrestleMania. 2018, she lost. 2019, she was in a battle royal and lost. 2020, was not there. 2021, lost to Ripley. 2022, was not there. This year needs to be the time to give Asuka her first Mania win. While Belair's reign as champion has been great, it's time for a change.
UNDISPUTED WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Roman Reigns (c) vs Cody Rhodes
Result: Cody Rhodes finishes the story and dethrones Roman Reigns. It has been a debate for many years now - who should dethrone the Tribal Chief? Lots of interesting suggestions came to mind but I would argue in this pitch that Cody Rhodes, the man who reinvented himself to become a superstar, should be the one to do it. If you think about it, those who want Roman to retain are those "fans" of his, and those making the argument that 1000 days as champion is a rare feat and should be capitalized on. However, this match is not only between the top two stars in the wrestling industry but also a match that determines the future of WWE. Don't get me wrong when I say that Roman Reigns is one of the greatest champions of the modern era. "We the Ones" has become a cultural thing in recent months, where many people would point to the sky as a gesture, which is so cool, even I do it at times. However, what would a 1000-day statistic do for the future of the company? If Roman retains, then the company would scramble to build up the stars at the level of Reigns, which can take some time considering his megastar status. As far as Cody goes, WrestleMania is the perfect stage to win the championship his father could not win. In addition to that - Cody Rhodes is the only one on the roster who has the credibility to dethrone Roman Reigns. Those who said "he needs to struggle a bit," because Cody has been undefeated since coming back last year at WrestleMania 38, are those who refuse to acknowledge his first WWE run where he was frustrated creatively and personally, and his run in the independent circuit and his tenure in AEW, which he founded. That I believe is the struggle he endured and what better way to reward someone who has done a lot for the industry as a whole than to end a historic reign and begin a new era for the business. If Cody wins, this allows the Bloodline storyline to be more unpredictable in my opinion since they don't have the titles anymore. Roman can face Jey at SummerSlam, the latter of which has been at the forefront of the story since 2020, and many other related storylines. Cody Rhodes can have a substantial title reign and he could drop the title to someone like Gunther, perhaps at SummerSlam or next year's WrestleMania in Philadelphia. A title split I believe is something that Cody could work on, being a former executive and all that. Remember, both shows need a world title to increase TV ratings and revenue. Case and point: we acknowledge Roman Reigns but the future of the company is more important than obtaining a statistic.
​
One final thing: The matches I put on each night balance everything out because the problem with the past two Manias has been that Night 1 is always dubbed as the better night than Night 2. I took that into consideration in where to put these matches. For instance, if you're gonna have the Hell in a Cell match in one night then you need to have the Intercontinental Championship match on another night - that way you have one match per night that can have guaranteed carnage.
So those are my predictions for WrestleMania 39 so far. Let me know what you guys think

My goal, as stated in the title, is to cut from 16-18ish% bodyfat to 10-12% in two months (April 14th - June 14th). I'm being specific with the dates because April 14th marks the 2-month point until my school gets out for summer, and I want to be lean by that point. Not looking to be competition/unhealthy lean, just something that gives good definition and abs. Initially, I wanted the cut to be 3 months long so I could go as slowly as possible to maintain as much muscle mass as possible, unfortunately, that timing didn't pan out... but I digress. Additionally, I'll make it clear that I am OK (if absolutely necessary) with extending my cut into the summer months so long as I am close to my goal by the time it starts. And once summer is over, I'll go back to my normal routine.
As it is now, this is my diet. While I can't outline specifically what I eat (I don't keep track), I eat in the high 3000s of calories and sometimes break into the 4000-calorie zone. Granted, along with high-intensity resistance training, I also play volleyball for my highschool. So that amounts to roughly 3.5 - 4 hours of training total on some days. Once volleyball season ends (in mid-April) I'm afraid the steady-state cardio I plan on doing to theoretically allow me to eat more and still lose fat ultimately won't be enough to compensate for what I was doing before via volleyball. In terms of my protein, I hit my goal (about 180ish grams) and sometimes well beyond on the daily. There are days when I'm busier or things just don't pan out properly with schedule and timing that I accidentally don't hit my goal... but those days I try to make very infrequent. And once I start cutting and the need for a higher protein intake becomes ever more important, I'm going to be absolutely certain to lock in.
So this is mainly what I'm asking for. For one thing, I don't really know how to figure out how many calories to eat based on my age, activity level, height, weight, etc. My faith in BMI calculators online is not very high, and I don't have time to practice with my calories and my maintenance beforehand for multiple reasons. For one, I'm training to hit my 225 on bench RIGHT BEFORE I start cutting (I'm super close) and I obviously can't just start eating less. Secondly, I'm already really short on time. I have just over two weeks left until this cut starts. Secondly, is this goal even manageable? What are things I should expect, look out for, aim to do, etc... anything to make the process as smooth as it can be. To be clear, I don't expect this to be easy by any means, but that doesn't mean there aren't things I can do to make it EASIER. And finally, WHAT should I eat to hit my daily protein goal (actual food items) that isn't gonna make me want to throw up from eating it so repeatedly but that also don't take ages to cook (I don't have much time to do prep or cooking because of school). All help is much appreciated, thank you!!!
p.s. While I appreciate help and criticism... this is not a time where I am looking for "I don't think you should be cutting yet" or "you're too young, just stay healthy" or other statements to that effect. With all due respect, I'm going to be cutting starting April 14th one way or another... this just makes it a lot easier on me so I don't go in the wrong way. So if you have something to contribute, please do!

TLDR: Long loading times, extreme lag, frequent disconnections; could be problems caused by the BETA situation of the game, could be signs of the need to upgrade; but my system can definitely run it with the lowest settings; maybe some optimization needed. Also, I had fun!
My Device:
Acer VX15
Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz
8GB of RAM
Nvidia Geforce GTX 1050ti
1TB HDD
​
Other games I can run on this device:
Elden Ring (medium settings, 30-50 fps), Diablo 3 high settings, 60+fps) , Fallout 76 (high settings 40-60fps), Destiny 2 (high settings 60-100fps), God of War (low settings, 30-40fps), Red Dead Redemption 2 (low settings, 30-40fps); I could mention more, but I think you get the picture.
​
Diablo 4 Open BETA Experience
I downloaded the BETA in the late morning of March 25, 2023 took about an hour to finish, and immediately connected. This was around 10:30-11am Philippine Time (PHT), meaning it's night in the other side of the world so I managed to connect--no queue times, just immediate login. There was severe lag once I got to the choose your character option, so I twiddled with the settings and set everything to low. I managed to create a character, chose a preset appearance, then a generated name.
My character is a LEFT-HANDED Necromancer named Vasco. I started the game, and what followed was a slideshow of the opening cinematic that I couldn't skip because it kept saying "The cinematic will skip once the game has finished loading" (or words to that effect; I am writing mostly from memory now). I patiently watched that "slideshow" until I was thrust into Sanctuary with, AND I KID YOU NOT, 60fps!!! I even turned on the in-game FPS counter and it's even clocking at 71fps!
This joy was short-lived, however, because as soon as I tried to move, the FPS dropped between 2-10 unplayable montage. Somewhere along those frames, I managed to kill some wargs, and while standing still among those corpses, I summoned my skeleton minions. When I'm standing still, FPS was perfect; but as soon as I try to move or attack or interact, there's a heavy lagfest and fps drop. But I pushed through. I killed more mobs, and got to the first town. That's where I got disconnected for the first time. I tried logging back in, but here, I experienced an atrocious 30-minute loading screen. And once the game loaded, I was greeted with the message that I got disconnected. So back to the character menu, start game, no queue time or anything, then 30-minute loading screen, game disconnects. On my third try, I managed to play, got the quest from those villagers in the town, then managed to reach my first dungeon. That trip to the dungeon was a pain. I was having an average of 10-21 fps which drops to 1 or even 0 once there's a mob. Which meant it's most of my companions who did all of the work. I even gained levels and some beginner gear, which was nice. Opening inventory window and the skill tree is a pain too.
Surprisingly, the loading screen when I entered the dungeon (Icehowl Ruins?) took less than a minute. Probably because of the size of the dungeon or what? But it was in this dungeon that I experienced 60fps even while killing mobs. FPS still drops to 10 or 20, but the dungeon made me realize that my system CAN handle the game and it's probably the BETA at fault.
Right after the dungeon and the whole shebang in the plot that followed, I got disconnected when entering the big town (Kevedash? Kevash?). When I restarted, I went through the settings, lowered down the resolution scale, and even tried that option where it will give you lower image quality) but the loading screen, especially that first one, is sooooo atrocious. One even lasted 45 minutes before I decided to force close the game. However, I find that just lowering the resolution scale (and ignoring the other settings (I forget their names, but one involves temporal thingy and the other will give you lower image quality in exchange for better performance) equate to relatively shorter (5-10mins) loading screens. So I just set my resolution scale to 70% and managed to play for a few more minutes but by then it was getting dark and the other side of the world is starting to wake up so the lag I experienced was very bad. I couldn't move, couldn't click anything. I called it a day.
Today, I managed to play again, but the experience hasn't changed much. Standing still gives me 60fps when I'm out in the world, moving and doing anything drops the FPS, sometimes to 0. I did manage to do a side quest (where you'll have to collect tithes?), an event (protect the caravan from the ambush) and was continuing the main quest to go to the mines. In the mines, I managed to get to up to 70fps even with mobs and spamming corpse explosion. I actually felt immersed, and even found myself muttering shut up whenever the companions would endlessly talk of dead ends. Also, I agree with what the majority were saying: Necromancers are OP af, but I love it. It's fun seeing mobs die from the corpses of their fellow demons. I felt like Adrian Veidt using corpses of others to justify my savior-complex rampage. lmao.
So overall, I think my system can run the game. I personally can stand the long loading screens and pop-ups, but what I can't stand is the lagfest and severe fps drop that happens when I try to move or do anything. It could also be argued that it's because my laptop has an HDD, but there's just no way I can upgrade that to an SSD. I could try and upgrade my RAM, but with the prices and high inflation rates happening in our country right now, combined with high cost of living severely disproportionate with income, any upgrades or switching to a better system won't happen anytime soon. Good thing I didn't pre-order!
Also, I've seen posts in this subreddit about some work-arounds like increasing the page file size, etc. I haven't done those to be honest.
If it plays better on 16gb, they should just set that as minimum. If it plays better on SSD than HDD, then they should just list SSD as the only way to play, not a preference. Just my opinion.
I keep myself positive that a lot of the troubles I've had where just effects of everything being on "BETA". I just hope that when Diablo IV launches, it'll have a "starter" edition like in D3, so that I can see if it will run on my system before buying. If not, well, I guess I'd keep playing Diablo 3 or any other game that my system can still run.
Will I play more of the BETA? It's Sunday here now, and got stuff for work that I need to prepare for, so no. But minus the technical issues and hardware limitations, from what I managed to play, I did have fun.

Basically every Blood deck that currently exists in rotation gets neutered hard by the rotation of Omen of Storms, and rather than trying to supplement or offset the losses, the new set brings back Ye Olden Class Mechanic Vengeance in a frightening, if likely inconsistent way.
Thought given that this is my favorite Blood mechanic, and that dedicated Vengeance support has been something I've wanted for a long time now, that I would run down the list of new cards and try to see how this deck might look when all things are accounted for.
Legendaries
Galom, Empress Fist mommy? sorry. mommy? sorry. mommy? sorry. Definitely was underwhelming at first glance but in the context of the whole package, this card is honestly kinda cracked. Board clear and burn for a deck that has countless ways to go face for cheap. Enabling up to 11 damage on turn 5 (more on that later) with minimal setup, and minimal counterplay just feels like a better version of what Garodeth did for Wrath this expansion. 5/5
Vulgus, Infernal Headmistress Probably the most important card in this deck, given that it both acts as your meatiest source of payoff and also the best enabler for Vengeance, it's no exaggeration that whether you win or lose many games will hinge heavily on how skilled you are at drawing Vulgus at any given time. Makes Doomlord a card that was sleeper broken but tied to a bad archetype into a massive menace. That said, Vengeance mirrors will be insufferable given that evolving Vulgus leaves you vulnerable to potentially being OTK'd by an opposing Vania + Maron if your opponent has set up vengeance with Waltz or Shapeshifter ahead of time. 5/5
Golds
Arka, Sin Spinner Not a bad card per se, but one thing I noticed trying to put a list together is that this card feels like the 2nd least necessary part of the Academic package. It's a powerful swing on evo turns alongside Vulgus if you have Vengeance active, but outside of that very specific context it's honestly just kinda win more? The deck has a pretty critical mass of 2 drops and this one feels like the least consistently useful out of all of them. 3/5
Bad Girl Life The only cycle to be found among the new Vengeance cards in this set, which, spoiler, is my main concern with this deck at present. Pretty solid card that is hand neutral as a vanilla effect, and becomes a +1 with an upside in Vengeance. Pretty cool, you're likely running most of the Academic package as 3 of so you should basically never have a shortage of targets. 4/5
Silvers
Mach Speed Maron 1pp 3/1 conditional Storm, part of the 11 damage on turn 5 combo I mentioned earlier, as it gains full evo stats. This card seems genuinely terrifying in UL with the Seductress unnerf, but that's a whole other animal. I think this card suffers from one of the classic issues with Vengeance cards in that the disparity from how good the card is with Vengeance active and without it is so vastly polarizing that its' upside warrants it being run, but it is going to feel cataclysmically awful to have this card in hand if you don't draw into your Vengeance activators. 3/5
Demon Eyed Gangster So this is just Celeste Omega Crystallize and Filene Overflow effect baked into one card. This card is overwhelmingly good, and if the Vengeance package can manage any kind of consistency, this card becomes honestly kinda broken. Can theoretically be slapped into Handless as well if you just disregard the evo effect for the most part but that deck has bigger holes to fill. 5/5
Enchanting Rhapsody This card will never be played in any deck ever but it's neat flavor featuring two of my favorite Bloodcraft cards of bygone eras. Potentially funny in Take Two. 1/5
Bronzes
Denan, Big Bad Boss Big stat stick ward with a destruction and banish immunity in Vengeance, upgraded Crazed Executioner outside of it. It's not a bad card but I just think you have better cards to run for this deck. 2/5
Harmonic Wolf 1pp delayed cantrip that pings. Good for Wrath but also a generically good card that can probably go into every Bloodcraft deck that needs the tempo + draw. 3/5
Serenading Succubus What would any card set be without the Take Two monster that will never see any notable constructed play? 1/5
Fell Transformation 1pp hard destroy for small targets, but perhaps more critically, a very funny +3 damage to your Vania combos. Probably not run but I can kinda see an argument for it if the need for a sorta flexible hard removal emerges. 2?/5
The payoff for the majority of these cards is INSANE but I have 3 burning questions that need to be answered upon the expansion release.

1. Draw seems to be at a premium. Ferocious Harpy is a card that exists that theoretically fits right into the Vengeance package, but it only draws you cards AFTER you have managed to activate Vengeance. Blood Pact is cope but given that you will more than likely be looking to evolve Vulgus as early as possible, the 2 damage to your leader might be negligible enough to make it worth considering.
   
2. Overreliance on Vulgus for both enabling your Vengeance and also closing games means that you need to draw multiple copies. She can be pseudo-tutored by Malicious Blader but you run a LOT of 2 drops so that's not really reliable.
   
3. Waltz is the only other reliable Vengeance activator other than Vulgus so a lot of your vengeance dependent cards will often end up sitting in hand until after your evolve turn. Deceptive Shapeshifter is still in rotation but the discards for him are not overly reliable and deck space is tight without even considering Shapeshifter, Room Service Demon and Silvernail.
   

If I missed any potential synergy let me know, in spite of the caveats, I'm glad Cygames let my favorite archetype out of the basement.

My goal, as stated in the title, is to cut from 16-18ish% bodyfat to 10-12% in two months (April 14th - June 14th). I'm being specific with the dates because April 14th marks the 2-month point until my school gets out for summer, and I want to be lean by that point. Not looking to be competition/unhealthy lean, just something that gives good definition and abs. Initially, I wanted the cut to be 3 months long so I could go as slowly as possible to maintain as much muscle mass as possible, unfortunately, that timing didn't pan out... but I digress. Additionally, I'll make it clear that I am OK (if absolutely necessary) with extending my cut into the summer months so long as I am close to my goal by the time it starts. And once summer is over, I'll go back to my normal routine.
As it is now, this is my diet. While I can't outline specifically what I eat (I don't keep track), I eat in the high 3000s of calories and sometimes break into the 4000-calorie zone. Granted, along with high-intensity resistance training, I also play volleyball for my highschool. So that amounts to roughly 3.5 - 4 hours of training total on some days. Once volleyball season ends (in mid-April) I'm afraid the steady-state cardio I plan on doing to theoretically allow me to eat more and still lose fat ultimately won't be enough to compensate for what I was doing before via volleyball. In terms of my protein, I hit my goal (about 180ish grams) and sometimes well beyond on the daily. There are days when I'm busier or things just don't pan out properly with schedule and timing that I accidentally don't hit my goal... but those days I try to make very infrequent. And once I start cutting and the need for a higher protein intake becomes ever more important, I'm going to be absolutely certain to lock in.
So this is mainly what I'm asking for. For one thing, I don't really know how to figure out how many calories to eat based on my age, activity level, height, weight, etc. My faith in BMI calculators online is not very high, and I don't have time to practice with my calories and my maintenance beforehand for multiple reasons. For one, I'm training to hit my 225 on bench RIGHT BEFORE I start cutting (I'm super close) and I obviously can't just start eating less. Secondly, I'm already really short on time. I have just over two weeks left until this cut starts. Secondly, is this goal even manageable? What are things I should expect, look out for, aim to do, etc... anything to make the process as smooth as it can be. To be clear, I don't expect this to be easy by any means, but that doesn't mean there aren't things I can do to make it EASIER. And finally, WHAT should I eat to hit my daily protein goal (actual food items) that isn't gonna make me want to throw up from eating it so repeatedly but that also don't take ages to cook (I don't have much time to do prep or cooking because of school). All help is much appreciated, thank you!!!
p.s. While I appreciate help and criticism... this is not a time where I am looking for "I don't think you should be cutting yet" or "you're too young, just stay healthy" or other statements to that effect. With all due respect, I'm going to be cutting starting April 14th one way or another... this just makes it a lot easier on me so I don't go in the wrong way. So if you have something to contribute, please do!

We are about to be blamed for what is coming, so it's best to be prepared for the real reason this pathetic shit-show is occuring. 5 management changes that had clear and present outcomes could have turned the tide of our country.
1) Post 2000 - Failure to set policed rules and regulations. The dot-com bust was insane! And we all had recovering stress about Y2K fears. The market was very wild-west at that time. Tech companies shot up so fast and were overvalued by over a thousand to one. Politicians, celebrities and sports stars were endorsing things they had no idea about, only for boosting their own income. The conflicts of interest were insane and once the fool's buy spree ended and all these internet/computer companies' books revealed they had nothing but liabilities, they collapsed. The magic of the internet was met with the sorcery of stupidity. And the government did... nothing. They blamed it on poor people and the middle east? In-rushes of minorities spontaneously buying stocks? The breakdown of America? At no point did they say that people in power and wealthly positions in trust made stupid leveraged bets on shit they got dead wrong. After that, they should have REGULATED with a capital R. Jail time for crime. Transparency of books and people. Full disclosures placed on News and 'journalists'. Management of debt instruments for investing.
2) Post 2008 - Failure to remove threats to American investment, growth and economic stability. After the Great Recession, short selling should have been put to rest. Financial incentives to destroy companies and put people out of work are counter-productive to economic growth and civilian contribution/wellness. If you have enough money, it allows for gaming the market. Short selling and everything around it is devastating to economic success. The only lesson learned from the reckless stupidity and short selling, was that the US tax payers would come to their rescue. Insurance for increased future stupidity! Like the movie the Big Short says, they blamed poor people and minorities. At no point did they say that people in power and wealthly positions of trust made stupid leveraged bets on shit they got dead wrong. Only difference is this time they learned that they can bite the hand that feeds.
Like the previous mentioned, jail for crime, transparency, proper regulation and ethical management should have been implimented from this event. This in my mind is where we 'lost the battle to cancer'. Hedge funds were smart... but they learned that they can get real stupid and destructive and get rewarded. Insurance for recklessness. Investing became a game, where it became easier to make one team lose, then to cheer for a team to win. The more money you had, the more oppourtunity to buy the refs, the camera person, the announcer, and eventually, the audience. The amount of government regulation and management imposed on options after 2008 should have been strict audits, compliance checks, quality control via third parties, income verification, weekly reporting, heavy tax brackets, and yes, time for crime.
3) 2009 - Failure to remove obvious hiways for unethical motives and high level crime. After Bernie Madoffs' crimes came to light, the infrastructure he used for the crime should have been eliminated. Payment For Order Flow. Lack of transparency and piss poor regulation and management. Hey! This is starting to become a common theme here! Well fuck my truck and call it a hybrid! This fucker caused the losses of 10's of billions of dollars and the SEC only found out because Madoff confessed to his sons, who brought it to their attention. They were fucking obligated to do something. They had to be given the information because they were unable to find it themselves. If you ever watch a kids show and they make out the cop to be the idiot, that cop was too smart for the SEC. Just when you think they couldn't get more idiotic, they make commercials about theaters and utter threats about emojis as their countries fucking banking system collapses. That's like caring about a lone J-walker when closer to you is a 158 car collision (158 'at risk'banks). They left all the pathways for crime, most notebly of which is PFOF. Even fucking Citadel said it was bad.. like holy fucking shit! That was of course until they committed those crimes using it! Now it's good? Jesus. Well as you guessed it, for the issues, At no point did they say that people in power and wealthly positions of trust made stupid leveraged bets on shit they got dead wrong. They blamed it on everything else. After that, they should have found every route for crime he comited and sealed them up tight. They should have put a greater emphasis on regulation ENFORCEMENT and management. They should have made investigation a priority. Madoff was like a Diety being exposed as fake. No one after should have been put on a pedestal.
4) 2020 - The big problem is that the banks got all that money! Then they made stupid bets on stupid! Now they need to tame inflation, provide liquidity, manage dollar value vs. Gold, save bonds, and increase the interest rate or taxes. Every option comes with pain and it is impossible to manage now. On top of that, the failures mentioned earlier are biting them in the ass and short sellers are salivating at the US banks now. At no point will they say that people in power and wealthly positions of trust made stupid leveraged bets on shit they got dead wrong. Now it's not just poor people and minorities, I am proud to say it's because of poor people and minorities talking to each other! Because you know that people who haven't eaten more than 1 meal today affected the +100 trillion dollar stock/bond markets!?
5) 2021 - In June of 2021 during the run-up of AMC, they should have closed positions and been transparent. It would have affected the economy, but we would be doing better long term. They are just making everything worse, and I fear what the outcome is. They should learn from it and enforce and fairly regulate and ban PFOF and manage conflicts of interest, among everything else. They probably won't. I know that I am not selling.
We have a company that survived COVID. We get called a penny stock, but have up to a 1,054.00% borrow fee!? We have 4+ million people around the world saving the theater industry! We have an entire community and have slowly became a mutual fund - NCMI, HYMC - a fucking Gold mine!, Walmart distributed popcorn - among the highest value added snacks there is. We have stubbed fake news, watched our CEO drop his shorts on livestream (he fucking knows about naked shorts and he is on our side), haven't sold as per OBV, and we even have fake accounts and bots try to pursue us to sell. We are so fucking numb to stupidity that red makes us buy and deep red makes us heavy hoard and double down. We don't care if you are different here. All people equal - APE. We are a sports team all wearing the same jersey. We all hug and cheer when we win, and we are fucking winning. Our theater is doing better than their banks! Our popcorn is in better taste than their 'advising'. If they are 'smart money', I'd rather keep my money and be stupid. The only thing they have managed to compound is our numbers of AMC investors. The water is rising, and they lied about knowing how to swim. We are owners of AMC, and we aren't leaving.

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Overall rating: 7/10

• Excellent graphics and dark atmosphere
• Solid responsive combat
• Good story so far
• The return of skill trees (maybe a little too simple)
• Questionable class balance - but its end game where this matters most
• Melee punishing mechanics
• Messy UI system
• Frustrating dungeon mechanics

Assumptions:

1. The final game will have better balance and a higher degree of polish
2. The most egregious bugs will be fixed
3. Server stability is always a short-term problem
4. Some player feedback will be implemented

Classes (rated individually)

Overall comment: I am going to avoid 'skill balance numbers' as this is constantly changing and all it takes is a buff/nerf to change the flavor of the month. Focus is on how skills feels and their interactions to create builds.
Sorcerer 9/10

• All three elements (Fire, Ice and Lightning) felt solid
• Basic builds felt well thought through and smooth to play
• Simple but powerful build defining class mechanic system
• Meteor and Flame Shield didn't feel great to use
• Not much to dislike so far

Rogue 8/10

• The most dynamic class (I can see why the Developers like this class)
• The combination of melee and ranged attacks make the class versatile and able to adapt quickly
• Even with melee builds you don't get bogged down like the Barbarian due to numerous movement skills
• The class looks awesome with two melee weapons and a bow
• Some of the buffs don't look great aesthetically (Shadow Orbs - weird floating purple orbs)

Necromancer 7/10

• My favorite class so far on Beta but has some tweaks that could be made
• The class looks and feels great (summons aside)
• Skeletons and Corpses need new graphics as currently they have that D3 cartoon vibe
• Much like the Sorcerer, abilities fit together well with basic builds and rotations flowing easily
• The ultimate Blood skill is very 'meh' and IMO could be replaced with something more vampire like - it Just feels like they rushed this one to complete the class
• Very few if any minion options in the skill tree (moved to book of the dead)

Barbarian 6/10

• Attacks feel powerful mechanically
• Really like the concept of the arsenal system
• Automictic weapon swapping is cool
• Struggled on the Beta until around level 17
• Punished by bosses that appear to have numerous anti-melee abilities (biggest issue)
• Feels a little clunky and gets bogged down easy (unlike the Rogue, stuff just gets in your way)

Druid - didn't play for long-enough to comment
Character Customization (6/10)

• Much improved but would like to see a few additional body shapes and sizes available for each class

Skill trees (6.5/10)

The 'skill tree' has been broken into three parts;

1. Class skill tree
2. Class mechanic
3. Dynamic Paragon skill system

On face value there is plenty to digest and build your character around. I probably would have preferred one big skill tree with 100 levels and the class mechanic.....but without the ability to play with Paragon it's hard to know.
The Class skill trees more or less feels like Diablo 3 ported. Skills have three modifiers with one being compulsory. Skills trees generally feel linear but D4 on the more basic end of the spectrum.
When you understand that Blizzard is making this as an 'all commers' ARPG I think its good enough.

Game difficulty (4/10)

• Veteran was far too easy and there should an option from the start of the game to make it a challenge
• No doubt the end game stuff will be a challenge but I want that feeling from the beginning
• The Butcher was much appreciated
• Hardcore has the same always on-line issues as D3 (this will never change).

Game scaling system (5/10)

• 'Meh" I can see why its needed...doesn't mean I love it
• The key is tweaking it so you don't feel like your power level diminishes and lower level characters feel more powerful in certain scenarios
• Once again items really don't matter all that much until you get into the end game (is what it is I guess)

UI (5/10)

• Its serviceable but not great
• Feels like its designed for console players
• Could be more on theme (dark and grim)
• Requires multiple clicks to access basic information
• Map system and quest tracking needs improvement to allow to be easier to use and track multiple things at once.

Items and associated systems 7/10 (so far)

• Drop rate was too high but that should only be a Beta thing
• What is the purpose of common and magical items in the game?
• Affixes need to have a hierarchy make them easier to evaluate (right now they can appear anywhere on the item)
• The ability to hover over items on the ground and see their affixes is a needed addition
• Extracting legendary powers is a fun mechanic but I don't love having three tiers of legendary items
• More time should go into mechanics to help players quickly compare two items
• Its hard to evaluate the actual legendary powers until we have pumped a few hundred hours into the end game
• The transmog system requiring you to salvage items. It should trigger on simply finding the item.

Graphics 8.5/10

• The direction is dark and grim, something that was needed
• Playing at 4k the game looked excellent
• Not well optimized yet (pushes hardware excessively hard)
• Compared to D3 and POE they are superior in everyway (as to be expected)

Story 8/10

• Light years ahead of D3 and very good so far
• Would like to see more references to previous Diablo games to link the story together a little more
• This assumes the story continues to deliver.....

Dungeons 6.5/10

• Graphics are awesome
• Too much downtime and mechanics that are inherently frustrating but I don't see these things as hard to resolve
• With the end game mapping system and 4 more ACTS to follow this could easily improve to 7-8/10

Combat 8/10

• Blizzard smooth
• At least right now you have to consider mechanics and avoid powerful attacks. One thing I really dislike about POE is the extreme density and characters basically moving at light speed from screen to screen. Similar thing happened in D3 where you basically just blowup an entire room in a giant fireworks display
• The slower more considered combat ais also more couch-coop friendly
• As mentioned before, ranged attacks feel much stronger and have higher uptime due making melee feeling like harder work.

Open world (7/10)

• I personally like it and am happy to live with the scaling mechanic t make it all work - some people won't
• love the ability to climb up and down terrain

Monsters and Bosses (6.5/10)

• They actually have mechanics that move them beyond being just punching bags
• There still feels like too much repetition but the direction is solid and I will assume ACT I is intend to be a little new player friendly
• I hope we get 'gear check' boss fights like POE rather than simply dungeon bosses (time will tell)
• Demon variety was on the lower side
• Didn't really feel the monster family mechanics Blizzard talked about in their developer interviews and updates

General stuff

• 6 abilities is not enough, adding a 7th would go a very long way (especially from a PC perspective)
• The ability to use movement skills in town (less relevant if you can use mounts)
• ESC doesn't always work when trying to skip dialogue
• Balance wasn't great between classes at lvl25 (why would it be?) but more importantly internal balanced within skill trees seemed way, way off (maybe its a legendary power thing?)
• The tronsmog ability to hide weapons on the Barbarian was bugged
• The game does need some polish and its fairly rough around some of the edges (probably just a Beta thing)
• Huge relief that Paragon is capped (50) and we won't have the endless treadmill that was the Paragon and Rift grind

Something I am expecting (controversial)

• Cosmetics that alter animations, why?
  • Many of the class skill animations looked 'too basic' particularly' in relation to the Barbarian. My expectation is that some of these cosmetic item packages will include skill animation upgrades - maybe not in year one but certainly down the line.

Final thoughts

While the Beta server reliability was dodgy the bones of the game seem pretty good to me. When you consider this game is being designed for your average ARPG player its hitting the right notes. My biggest concern would be there are numerous systems and mechanics that need tweaking, and I am struggling to see how Blizzard can absorb player feedback and debug the game in only 2 months.

Hello beautiful people. Some of you may remember my post from about a month ago (A concerned sons search for hope). Details about my dad's diagnosis and progression are in that post, but I'll summarize for those who haven't seen it:

• My (25M) Dad (63) diagnosed with NASH Cirrhosis in 2019
• Liver developed a shunt on its own (we found out during the initial diagnosis)
• Portal hypertension present, but it is under control and no complications due to it so far (No history of bleeding or ascites)
• The only symptoms dad has is edema (slight) and tiredness (not debilitating, as he can do client consultations when he has to)
• All blood work and general health stable for the past 3 years. Nothing got worse, but improvement seen in some areas.
• Our hepatologist suggested the past December that it was time to start thinking about a transplant which came as a total shock to us as it was never talked about before and we thought we were doing well.

Now to the issue at hand.
Since the transplant suggestion, we have switched to a much better, healthier (not that he was eating bad before. Just that we're taking extra care now) diet and some light exercise for weight loss. It was all going well. Weight reduction, better blood reports, feeling overall better, reduction in edema and tiredness.
But about a month ago, he had an infection (which we do not know the source) and fever and I took him to the ER at a nearby hospital because he felt very weak and I did not want to risk waiting for much longer. His speech was also starting to get a bit laggy, like he would start a sentence and then the final word of that sentence he would sort of have difficulty getting out. At the ER we were told it was mild HE, and he stabilized from the HE within a few hours. But his blood work was looking worse, and his kidney values in particular were concerning for the doctors. So he was sent to the ICU for 2 days to be put under observation. All values stabilized the next day itself (including kidney values) and we had a hospital stay in a room for about 8 days (for the course of antibiotics to finish). This hospital was not the one we usually go for for our hepatologist appointment, this was one that was the closest because I felt it was an emergency. The usual one is about an hour away. The doctor at this hospital reduced his medication, and cut the dose of rifaximin to half without any reason. Discharged from the hospital, and back home, he got a fever again after 2 days. Similar to what happened before, another 7 days in the hospital, but no ICU this time and no kidney related value concerns. Discharged from the hospital, and back home, and a follow up a week later - blood reports looking good, infact, the best I've ever seen for my dad. Bilirubin finally went below the 3.9 that we were stable at and went to 2.7!!
A week after the follow up, fever, weakness and laggy speech again. :/ . So I take him to the ER and this time, he stabilized while we were in the ER itself, and doctor there told us admission was not necessary, and we just needed to go there twice a day for IV antibiotics (we live about 5mins away from this hospital). 5 days of IV antibiotics and then 10 days of antibiotics in tablet form. At the end of this 10 days, he started laggy speech again. Which was weird this time because he did not have a fever associated with it. He was adamant he didn't want to go to the hospital this time. But after a day, I took him to our main hepatologist (which is an hour away) as an emergency appointment and he basically yelled at the other doctor and told us that cutting his rifaximin dosage in half was a reckless, irresponsible thing to do, and he gave us a bunch of other medicines to improve dads immunity and improve his condition, including lactilol, but he did tell us that it would take a day or 2 for him to be normal. And we went back home. At night, he started behaving strangely, so I took him to the ER of the nearby hospital again. He stabilized within a few hours, and we were discharged after 4 days. Blood work again improving, to a 2.6 for bilirubin (we hadn't gone below 3.9 for a long time) right after discharge.
But our main doctor told us that improving blood work meant little when there were clinical complications like this, and again suggested the transplant. Aside from the fact that dad is adamant on not getting one, we neither have the funds nor donor for a transplant. Dad is stubborn. He will not even consider me as a donor. For a bit of context, it is just me and dad. My mom passed away years ago, and even before that, separated. My sister went with my mom, and so it is just me and dad. He says he would rather pass away than, and I'm quoting him on this, "cut me up so that so that he can get a few extra years".
​
Our main hepatologist advised us an alternative for now: Fecal Microbiota Transplant, or FMT for short. It's experimental for cirrhosis, in the fact that our doctor himself is one of the few people actually using it for cirrhosis. But in everyone that he has done this for (>200), they have never had a repeat episode of HE or infection, liver values improved significantly after a year and overall outcome was incredible. He stared this 5 years ago, and not a single patient he has done it for had a repeat episode of any of the complications. I'll link his published paper on it here.
A summary of the paper would be: "Indices of liver disease severity improved significantly within the first week after FMT compared with HC. This effect was continued and during a median follow-up of 355 (range, 220–368) days, ascites was seen to resolve in 5 (n = 8; 57.1%), and hepatic encephalopathy in 6 (n = 8; 71.4%). The mean bilirubin reduced from 20.5 ± 7.6 mg/dL to 2.86 ± 0.69 mg/dL (P = .001). Child-Turcotte-Pugh, MELD, and MELD sodium scores reduced from 14.5 ± 0.8 to 7.7 ± 1.2, 31.0 ± 5.6 to 12.3 ± 3.7, and 33.6 ± 4.3 to 13.7 ± 4.6 (P < .001), respectively. Survival was significantly better in the FMT group compared with HC (87.5% vs 33.3%; P = .018) (Figure 131000-X/fulltext#gr1)A). Excessive flatulence was a complaint of 50% of patients with FMT. Microbiota analysis showed no difference in phyla composition of donors and recipients at baseline. Firmicutes dominated in donors and recipients at 1 year, Proteobacteria reduced, and Actinobacteria increased post-FMT in recipients. Changes in relative abundance of certain pathogenic species, such as Klebsiella pneumonia (10% to <1% at 1 year), and nonpathogenic species, such as Enterococcus villorum (9%–23% at 6 months), Bifidobacterium longum (6%–50% at 6 months), and Megasphaera elsdenii (10%–60% at 1 year), were noteworthy (Figure 131000-X/fulltext#gr1)B and C). Putative metabolic pathways were different between study subjects (Figure 131000-X/fulltext#gr1) D). The methane metabolism, fluorobenzoate acid degradation pathway, (mediated by Pseudomonas and Escherichia coli groups) and bacterial invasion of the epithelial cells were up-regulated at baseline and down-regulated post-FMT at 1 year. Similarly, bile secretion, carotenoid biosynthesis, and pantothenate biosynthesis pathways, which were down-regulated at the baseline, improved to near normal levels following FMT"
He also told us very clearly that this was not to avoid a transplant, but it is just to give us more time to find a donor and arrange funds for an eventual transplant.
Now, after the visit to our hepatologist where he corrected our medications, dad seems to be improving. He's feeling better, looking healthier, and hopeful about the FMT ridding him of the complications from the past few weeks.
I'm scared man. I don't know what I'm gonna do. The criteria for FMT donors are so strict, that I've been searching for a week and I still haven't found anyone matching all the criteria. I'm trying. I've been a very protected child all through my life and now I'm suddenly thrust into this situation. Whenever I faced any difficulty in the past, I knew I would come out of it unscathed because I had my dad. As long as I had him, nothing else could hurt us. I feel like my entire world might be coming down and there's nothing I can do to stop it. I feel scared and alone.

Hello again.
I've been following juzamdj52 (Youtube) playthrough for almost whole 2 chapters and I've realized that maximazing xp on this game is really hard unless you build your MC as caster with high INT.
There are too many skill checks that concern only your MC, most notable Perception on top of others but that leaves me with the question that if you can get the luxury of missing some of that xp on Unfair and do/kill everything you encounter during the game without getting yourself crippled by being behind on xp and maybe even less level than ideal. I also know that Owlcat has changed a lot of xp gains during the last two months but I'm unsure about skill checks. When you recruited Camellia it used to be 750xp during dialog while its now 375xp if I'm not wrong.
I know that delaying recruitment of Ember and Wolfij contributes to a huge boost to xp during ACT1, but that leaves your team completely at mercy of many skill checks which some have high DC like Kaylessa (30 if I recall correct) opener quest giver.
So, the question is simple. Can you get away by building your MC as whatever you want while delaying Ember and Wolfij recruiment and missing out xp on skill checks without having to worry for later stages of the game?
I have the feeling that building your MC as Arcane caster is clearly favoured due to this issue on Unfair (and also buffs/crow control) but I might be completely wrong, so that's why I'm asking for advice.
Thank you in advance.

My [21m] brother [20m] is overweight, about 200 pounds at 5’10, and my family wants him to lose weight. They enlisted my help with this over spring break because according to them, a) I’m very fit and a personal trainer so I have personal experience b) I’m a pre med so I have some level of academic knowledge on this. I told them it would be better to consult a doctor, or better yet a nutritionist, but they said I should at least try.
I first asked him if that’s what he wants, and he agreed. I told him the key for weight loss is caloric deficit— doing cardio will also help, but a caloric deficit of say, 500 calories off what he needs to maintain his current weight + cardio will burn even more together.
I did the calculations to figure out how many calories he should be eating per day— there’s multiple ways to calculate it, so I ran different calculations, and since they all came out to similar results I just averaged them. I told him how to measure his calories, and then let him do that.
He came to me a week later saying my methods was wrong because he checked his weight and he actually gained two pounds. I told him this was quite literally impossible if he was following the caloric restriction— doctors haven’t reported any illnesses that could cause weight gain/prevent weight loss, and I haven’t noticed any symptoms of any such diseases, so in that case eating less quite literally would have to mean weight loss. He insisted he was doing everything right, so I told him to just show me everything he ate during the next day. He agreed.
The next day, I saw his issue right away— he was eating what he assumed to be small portions, and was thus underestimating the calories. For example he ate two slices of pizza and estimated it was 200 calories because it’s only 2 slices, and ate a scoop of ice cream and estimated it as 50 calories. I tallied up the actual amount of calories he was eating, and he was eating 1000 more than he needed to maintain his weight, or in other words 1500 more than the amount he’s supposed to eat to lose weight.
I told him the science doesn’t lie on this and it’s clear he’s eating too much to lose weight. I proceeded to tell him that he doesn’t have to lose weight if he doesn’t want to, but if he does, the amount he’s eating is too much.
He got angry at this, and called me TA. I don’t think that’s fair. I asked him at every turn if he wanted to do this, and he said he did, so I wasn’t forcing something on him he didn’t want. AITA?

TL;DR: atheist witch with Jungian sympathies digs myth and believes in the power of metaphor. Wants to use psychospiritual, mythologically oriented magick to increase her agency and willpower, grow spiritually, change her habits, and generally accomplish more long-term goals.
I thought I’d write out a bit of a rambling series of thoughts on my beliefs and goals in pursuing skeptical witchcraft and, more generally, a non-theistic Pagan spiritual path and lifestyle.
First of all—I am an atheist, and I do not believe in magick in the way most witches do. In my opinion, the effects of magick spells and rituals are more or less restricted to their psychological and psychospiritual effects on the practitioner(s) and anyone else who witnesses or is aware of the spell having been performed. These effects can nevertheless be profound, and of course psychological change in individuals can change all sorts of things about their lives and the lives of those around them, even in ways the individuals themselves may not be aware of or consciously choosing. I also think that there are many things that science doesn’t yet understand about the human mind and its powers of perception and influence. There may be ways the mind is capable of either perceiving and influencing reality that don’t fall into an existing, neat and tidy scientific explanation, although I don’t think this means they will never be understood by science.
I am partial to Jungian psychology and the associated Joseph Campbell style of mythological interpretation. Although I don’t think Jung had very much literally correct about psychology, I think he had profound metaphorical insights. I think deities are essentially powerful metaphors, taking form in many ways, such as through the collective and/or individual subconscious, or through the sometimes agent-like properties of impersonal forces.
I have always been drawn to paganism and witchcraft. I think I have some innate connection to the spiritual realm and the use of magick that I’ve lost touch with as I’ve gotten older. All of the spiritual experiences I’ve had in my life have been connected to nature. However, I’ve never gotten much in the way of good results when I have tried spells taken from books. It doesn’t “feel” like the magick is working, which, I believe, is one of the keys to making magick work. I think it’s possible I just haven’t practiced enough, or put enough effort into finding a practice that really resonates with me.
I’ve been considering putting some serious effort into developing my own eclectic spiritual path and belief system, complete with its own metaphorical interpretations of relevant mythology (I’m partial to Greek in particular but would like to incorporate myths from multiple traditions). I haven’t studied mythology formally and certainly wouldn’t be attempting to start from scratch, but rather to do research and pick out existing interpretations that particularly resonate with me. I would also develop my own guidelines for inventing spells/rituals that both refer to those myths and draw a bit on some historic forms of magickal practice (not necessarily Greek, in fact I’m not sure which tradition(s) I would most like to draw from here). There would probably be some leeway here for borrowing spells designed by other modern witches, provided I have some sense of the meaning behind them and feel they are close enough to my spiritual path for them to make sense within that context and actually resonate with me.
I am also open to finding an existing spiritual path with an existing community that really resonates with me and works with my belief system and goals. I just haven’t found it yet.
As far as my goals in pursuing this path: I want to mature spiritually and emotionally. I also want to gain power and agency in my life. I am ADHD and on the autism spectrum and lack a sense of agency in part due to poor executive function and organizational skills. I think magick could really help with this, especially if I start incorporating it into more and more parts of my life—if nothing else, it will help me be inspired to get things done and pursue my goals if I associate working on them with witchcraft, something I have some interest in and passion for and just find generally fun and motivating.
I have a lot of difficulty committing to medium-to-long-term goals. I’m too shortsighted and impulsive. I have a lot of unhealthy habits, including a moderate drug addiction (kratom). I am currently unemployed and not in school, and I’m pretty scared of moving forward with my life so that I can support myself, which I am currently under pressure to start doing within the next year due to savings running out. I am of course pursuing non-magickal solutions to these problems, including counseling and addiction treatment. But I think some form of magick and ritual spiritual practice could integrate well with these other approaches.
Questions:
-What reading, watching or listening material would you recommend based on my interests and goals?
-How should I get started practicing magick again? I want to work on both research/writing and actual spellcasting/ritual at the same time, but the research/writing currently looks like the easier thing to get started on (I’ve done a lot already). I have no idea in what ways the research I do on mythology etc. will ultimately end up influencing my practice.
-Should I continue trying spells and rituals from books/the internet or focus on designing my own?
-Should I seek out in person or Zoom based communities? Should I try to find a teacher? If so, in what tradition?
-Anyone else here with ADHD or other agency-crushing issues? How has magick helped you?

Hey guys,
I'm looking for a project I can tag along and contribute to and maybe make some new friends along the way. I think that's the goal of a lot of groups that spawn out of this place, but I haven't found the right group yet that has gotten anything started. I make a way better #2 than I do a project direction guy, so I haven't been super into the project ideas I've had recently.
I've been using C# a long time and I'm decent in Unity. I'm experienced with lower level networking protocols and quite a few databases and lots of odds and ends.
I don't really want to jump onto a huge project with no support from the team, but would join the right project if you wanted to onboard a new guy. I'm not against being a/the more experienced developer in the group if you're learning, you're having fun, and/or your project isn't planning to topple some existing billion dollar product.
I'm not even opposed to learning a new language, or Godot or something if someone has a project they are really excited about and they want to involve a newbie.
I start a lot of personal projects and learn through a lot of difficult issues, but the ideas aren't anything I want to push through a launch. I'd like to help push someone else's idea into existence but I don't really want to start it and I don't want to make a Twitter killer.
Anyone out there having fun and writing code? My timezone is EST for what it matters. Shoot me a message if you want to add one more!

PLEASE HELP ME WITH YOUR INSIGHTS AND EXPERIENCE.
​
Below were the job duties posted from a state/government agency for the position of IT application developer.

• Complete software programming and development assignments in support of high-risk mission critical systems and software development projects in accordance with defined project timelines and quality expectations.
• Perform system support, troubleshooting analysis, and implement programming changes necessary to solve reported system issues and requested system enhancements.
• Apply appropriate software change control procedures and IT “best practices” when applying software changes including to production, integration, test, and development environments.
• Provide technical proficiency for the implementation of adopted recommendations and for integrating new technologies with existing technologies.
• Provide technical solutions to complex, high risk and impact development issues
• Independently plan development approaches and strategies to programmatically solve business needs.
• Write documentation, including software requirements specifications, configuration management, software designs, software versioning, code documentation, software release notes, etc.
• Provide constructive feedback to peers via code reviews.
• Provides second tier technical support, system troubleshooting, and application development for all enterprise-level business computer applications, systems, and data interfaces under the responsibility of the Application Services Team.
• Consults with business users to identify, analyze, and resolve the source of reported production system and data issues encountered by business staff while using the agency’s custom built, mission critical systems.
• Serve as the "release configuration manager" to setup and maintain the software test and production environments.
• Automate delivery processes and maintain the continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline to streamline the software development lifecycle.
• Setup and maintain automated builds and releases for all agency environments.
• Manage and maintain code branches and merging strategy.
• Manage and maintain the Microsoft Azure DevOps environments.

I was offered for this position. My bachelor and Masters are in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. I Applied for the TN visa under the Computer System Analyst 2 weeks ago and went to the Peace Arch Blaine border. The border agent gave me really hard time for almost 4 hrs (took my verbal recording) and then denied with a conclusion written that "The job duties seem to be fit under a IT support position which is not a NAFTA category". Then I came back and discussed with an attorney and he said he thinks it’s better to apply under Software Engineer category and better to go either YVR airport or best to apply through USCIS premium processing. But my employer isn't willing to apply through USCIS. So planning to go the YVR with a revised letter from my attorney explaining why we are changing the category from CSA to Software engineering. Will they again give me hard time why I am applying for 'Software Engineering' although my Bsc. and Msc is in Electrical Engineering?Feeling really really scared. Anyone has any experience or advice/suggestions for my situation? Thank you.

Some of you may recall a few weeks ago I made a post asking for advice for playing as the NCR versus the Legion. I got a lot of helpful advice regarding airpower and division templates and I'm grateful to everyone who replied. I've been doing an Allgood Murphy NCR playthrough and it's been going quite well.
However I just got to the war with the Legion and now things have gone to heck in a handbasket. Not because my troops aren't strong enough, because I think they are (at any rate they're performing better than last time). No, the issue is that I can't get hardly any supply or organization up while inside the borders of the Mojave territories. I can't defend or attack at all- I even fail to hold the river crossings because my org is so low, when it really shouldn't be an issue. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm almost positive that the reason is that the braindead Mojave Territories AI let local resistance get to ridiculously high levels. In the state Cottonwood Cove is in, for example, it was at a full 100%. Other tiles were 90% or higher.
Is there anything I can do about this? I have none of the DLCs, so any mechanics from them are out. I think the event notice for the Second Battle of Hoover Dam said something about me annexing Mojave Territories automatically once I've held the dam/survived for a certain amount of time? In which case I would be able to manually go in and use my own manpoweResistance Eradication to bring it back down to sane levels. But I've been holding out for months now without Hoover Dam falling and nothing happens. I reloaded my save because I remembered that the event notice also said something would happen if the Legion took Hoover Dam, and left MT to themselves. The dam fell and almost the whole area besides Hidden Valley came under Legion occupation, and still I get no event. Is there some kind of event that I'm supposed to be getting? Do I need to trigger it manually somehow? Ideally I'd like to annex MT and get down the resistance, but I'll take surrenduring the whole stupid region to Caesar if it means getting some actual supply.
So my main questions are
1) How do I trigger the event to annex Mojave Territories?
2) Is it possible for me to get resistance down in MT states without annexing them?
3) Is this kind of behavior from the AI normal?
​
Also a sidenote. I've been taking your guys' advice and going really hard into airpower. Caesar has been making basically no gliders so I have 100% air superiority (which is weird because I remember in the past he always spammed thousands of gliders and overwhelmed me, but that's another issue). However it doesn't really seem to be helping me that much? Maybe I'm just doing something wrong but I was told that having CAS would give me an overwhelming advantage and it hasn't really been turning out that way. I have hundreds of Monoplane CAS and Bombers and it hasn't been nearly as decisive as I'd hoped. Should I just be patient or could there be something else going on? Airpower has changed a lot since that one update I was absent for, so if you have any tips I'll gladly take them.
Again, thanks for all your help so far, I really appreciate the advice. I won't go quietly, the Legion can count on that.

So I started WB mid-February, 150 for a few days and quickly up to 300.
Week 1 I had SO much energy and felt like a new person
Week 2-4 I came back to earth, slowly started to feel not depressed (was excited about the things I love, wanted to apply myself, felt good about being alive) but my energy levels were shot. Walking zombie and NO appetite. GI issues on top of basically forgetting to eat
Weeks 5-6 my energy is back to normal, still low appetite, still feeling not depressed yet FAR more irritable. Feeling angry over things that didn’t even happen, just stuff I imagined. My mind definitely bounces around more (I have ADHD) and meditating it harder, though overall I am a more content/happy person, even tho my anger is stronger than normal at times
I’m dead set on making it to at least 9-10 weeks to see how things play out. I’m hoping the anger evens back out, similar to how my energy did.
Anyone relate in their early weeks? How did your anger show up, and when did it fade (if ever)?

Hey!
I went to my eye doctor about a month ago due to headaches and severe dizziness (since mid 2022).. im only 21, so i wouldnt think this should be a concern at my age.
Anyways, we did some exams, dialated my eyes, that whole thing, and she found a drusen buildup of calcium and protien pushing on my nerve in my left eye, and a potential spot of CSF buildup as well. She couldnt get my left eye to 20/20 with glasses, so that is what brought us concern. I used to take the whole tetracycline family for years before this for acne, so my optometrist wasnt surprised. In the blood work my primary physcian did, i had high levels of protein and calcium in my blood, so theres another sign ig.
She referred me to an opthamologist in my state's captitol; she said its something she would get checked out asap, rather than keep an eye on it and let it go
Its been about a month now with no response from opthamology despite me and her both contacting them multiple times just to find out a time frame.
Is this something I should be super worried about? The dizziness happens daily, and is random and not associated with head movements or anything... should i make another appointment while we wait to keep track of the size? Maybe also see an ENT just in case? Its not a spinning sensation, but more of a tilting to the left sensation, despite standing upright. It causes balance issues
Ive had pretty bad health issues; stage 2 sepsis in dec 2021 (hospitalized for a week) and after that, thyroid issues, genitourinary issues, cardiovascular, sleep, etc etc... ive been jumping from doctor to doctor so not surprised my vision is next...
No drinking or smoking, and current meds are birth control (Tri-Sprintec), pristiq, wellbutrin, levothyroxine, and a weeks worth of penicillin.

My (26F) and my boyfriend (25M) have been doing through a tough time for the last 6 weeks.
We closed the distance and moved in together after dating on other sides of the world for 9 months (and 3 in the same city at the start).
It was finally meant to be our time but we seem to be stuck in a cycle. He makes no initiative to be romantic, organise dates, pursue me (all I assume due to being taking for granted living with him as this wasn’t an issue before when we lived separately in the same city). This in turn made me in turn controlling, possessive, hostile and needy.
We have fought non stop and he finally told me the other day that he isn’t attracted to me because of all this - he IS physically, but not on an emotional level where he wants to initiate.
This hit hard and destroyed my self confidence in an instant.
I moved to my friends to give him space which he so desperately needed and wanted and asked for, and after 3 days of hardly any conversation he asked to see me tonight.
I foolishly said yes (I am trying not to agree to last minute plans as I’d like dates to be planned more than once every 8 weeks) and we were like friends the entire night.
Kiss only on cheek, he didn’t meet me at the subway station but at the bar itself (super unusual), he didn’t so much as put an arm around me, no compliments despite taking a while to get ready to look good, a kiss on the cheek goodbye, and then I went home and he did not even ask if I got home safe despite me walking through nyc alone at midnight.
Men in my everyday life constantly hit on me and give me their number or ask for mine (even a dude in the doctors office yesterday) but my own has no interest where he used to be obsessed with my physically. Is this salvageable?

Press J to jump to the feed. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcutsJump to contentCreate PostSearch within massachusetts📷massachusetts11Calm_Local_552721 karmaUser account menu📷Create a crosspost📷By participating, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the rules and that you agree with all the stated rules and policies. https://www.reddit.com/massachusetts/about/rules**296/300**[**massachusetts**](https://www.reddit.com/massachusetts/)•Posted byu/Calm_Local_55277 minutes agoRichie Neal Slides Pedophile Protecting Catholic Church $2mil Fed Grant Ed Ryan Seeks to Divert Fed. Cash to Spfd MA Brothers in Rifle St. Hood Now Broken by Poverty. Ryan Begs AOC on Metaphoric Bended Knee To Call Out Neal as a 'Stinking Lying Corporate Fu#K' who Buggers Schwarzman for Nickels.NEWS📷
see; YouTube Ed Ryan Reform [email protected]
Richie Neal Corruption Now in District in Real Time.
Ed Ryan for Mayor of Springfield to end Richie Neal and Friends from Robbing and Impoverishing Springfield like a Greed Sick Crew of White Supremist Racist. Springfield City Hall has been under the Control of Richie Neal Corruption for too long. Mayor Sarno lies to the people adulating Neal as Sarno Presides over Massachusetts Poorest City , a place where over 50,00 people now Languish in poverty. Ed Ryan Promises to appoint a Co-Mayor, A Vibrant Young Leader from Springfield's Ignored and Impoverished Hispanics Community and Eds Ryan Donate Half His Mayoral Salary to Pay him as Ed Ryan is all about Establishing Real Racial, Economic and Social Justice that will Stimulate prosperity as Ed Ryan's project to Build a World Class Sister UMASS Campus in the Heart of Springfield will bring prosperity and Make Springfield an Academic and Art destination. This I promised do my best to Attain and I have little Doubt Springfield will be denied as the truth comes out that the UMASS President ( Marty Meehan the ex-congressman and extremely close friend of Richie Neal most likely knew about and assisted with the RICO Criminal Conspiracy in the Alex Morse UMASS Hate Smear, a dirty hate crime that violated Federal Election and Civil Rights laws while destroying the people’s faith in Democracy, goes uninvestigated by an FBI that is a secret police organization wrongly emmeshed in American political system protecting Corporate Democrats from any Prosecution for the often racist and hate Corruption and Corporate Pay for play that enriches and empowers Congressman like Richie Neal to now go forth at Ways and Means and write tax law after tax law that allows the Millionaires who have bought our congress, to continued not paying taxes as in the 2021 Richie Neal refusal of Bidens request to eliminate the 'step up' capital gains tax loophole used to pass down too heirs untaxed wealth at death. This Tax loophole still being used thanks to Richie Neal being bought off and denying Bidens request, and cities like Springfield, festering in poverty, are being denied by Richie Neal corruption the money needed to begin to cure this unholy, diabolically constructed mess, that is destroying the lives of so many good people. My friends, Teflon Richie Neal Corruption needs to go to jail, full stop period. Things are ugly as thousands of people, mostly of color, are thrusted into horrible lives of poverty ,thanks to Richie Neal and Friend’s Corruption in the form of these criminals literally Pillaging Springfield, and the entire district, over 30 plus year span. This Crime onto Humanity needs to end. Hopefully, things will get better soon as Ed Ryan, runs for, and is elected to Mayor of Springfield. In the spirit of always trying to do the right thing, Ed Ryan now promises to use half his mayoral salary to pay the salary of a co-mayor that Ryan will appoint from Springfield’s forgotten Hispanic community.
Yes, the story is sickening, our Hispanic brothers and sisters, and so many others in Springfield, have been buried under a slash pile of corruption that Richie Neal and friend's, like Springfield Mayor Dominic Sarno, Atty Jim Roosevelt and UMASS President, Marty Meehan (the guy who sees fit to pay a Football Coach over $850'000 per season rather than investing a dime in the great City of Springfield),and Springfield Power Law Firm Buckley Richardson's Atty Melinda Phelps, who acts as a racist administering housing grants in Springfield issued by Rich Neal to be used to stop low class minority encroachment into middle class neighborhoods. This are high end well educated people in powerful positions pretending their doing right, when, in reality their bunch of greed sick bigoted racist who need to learn what the inside of a jail cell looks like when door clangs behind you. Yes, my friends, no wonder their is so much apathy, as people trust their leaders less and less. And to top it off, the FBI now protects the Corporate Democrats so they can get a cut a cut of the corporate cash flowing like the champaign fountain at a Donald Trump wedding. And you will learn more of the sordid details as you read in the Sludge account below. But know this, it still goes on today in real time as Congressman Richie Neal recently issued a series of 2023 grant letters to a bunch of cohorts across district. Besides supplying grant money payola in the form of funding at least 10 non-essential projects across the district at a time when the cities die in poverty, Richie Neal now ‘gets down’ with his Catholic Church masters issuing a 2 million dollar grant to the Elms College to paint the yellowed walls of Catholic Church Property. Yes, in a certain scheme to allow Richie Neal and his bag men, along with the Bishop, with crews of tight lipped white collared priest, to loot the 2 million dollar slush fund with a papal kick-back designed by Vatican. If I am wrong, then ‘my bad’ but my gut is churning, and it is rarely wrong. So give me a break Richie Neal, you now enrich the same crew of sickos who allowed at least two bishops and an multiple of priest to damage untold number of boys with their twisted pedophile predilection. And now we see a Cardinal or Bishop in NYC paying lobbyist 2 million dollars to loosen up the child sexual assault laws so that priests and bishops, and others, can continue their sick ways fearless of being prosecuted. That's a fact Jack. Catholic Priest pedophile sexual abuse of boys is still going on today, and you ,Richie Neal ,and your Buddies at the Springfield Law Firm of Egan and Flanagan, the church lawyers, profit off it, as you do your best to help sweep this sick reality under the rug. In doing so the Church will continue to whisper support of you to the loyal flock members , and fund dark money PACS to destroy your opponents with Alex More Like Hate Smears. And All this warped corruption allows you to continue con folks with Irish Catholic phony piety. You sir are a dangerous corrupt bigot, says Ed Ryan. Yes, Ed Ryan was addicted, in the gutter years ago, but now, healed by adhering to Existentialist principles of not believing any Bible based superstition sold by the church because falsehood as truth corrupts logical intellectual abilities. So I am a godless atheist who is now, fully transparent, and serious as a heart attack about always doing the right. Thus I now adhere to the most important existentialist tenant, that being to defeat evil as best I can when I met up with it, and I have met it in learning about you along with the jam packed ongoing crew along for the ride ion the criminal concern you that you king pin. So I will l now singlehandedly, make sure that the Elms College does not see dime of that 2 million dollars on the table, even if have to sue in Federal court on the principle of separation of Church and state, or call the Pope and telling him what’s up. But, I’m sure he already knows as 2million is a worthy, holy chunk of change, even for a pointed hatted pope, sore in the elbows from waving at the hordes of brainwashed victims of church religiosity, That’s my promise mister, and know this, you are in a Donnybrook, and I am going to Donnybrook your corrupt butt, out of Congress. This I promise. ed ryan
see; YouTube Ed Ryan Reform [email protected]
Richard Neal’s Inner Circle of Corporate Lobbyists and Real Estate Developers, from Sludge Friends, family, and staff of Rep. Richard Neal have all benefited from the revolving door linking Springfield and K Street, at great cost to Massachusetts residents Neal, in his 16th term, finds himself in a single-digit race against progressive Holyoke mayor Alex Morse, according to two recent polls. On August 19, Rep. Richard Neal’s powerful D.C. lawyer Brian Svoboda sent a cease and desist letter to local news station WWLP-22, in Massachusetts’s First Congressional District. An outside ad had been hammering the incumbent over his record of taking more money from corporations than any other member of Congress. Writing on behalf of Neal, Svoboda claimed that the ad, from Justice Democrats, conflates taking “money from corporations”—a felony under federal law—with taking money from corporate PACs. The legal counsel for Justice Democrats described the letter as “not valid from a legal perspective.” ADVERTISING The letter comes as Neal, in his 16th term, finds himself in a single-digit race against progressive Holyoke mayor Alex Morse, according to two recent polls. The primary is on Tuesday. Semantics aside—and he is in fact the single largest recipient of corporate (PAC) dollars in all of Congress—Neal has used his powerful position as chair of the Ways and Means Committee to grease a revolving door that shepherds friends, family, and staffers between his office and the lobbyist firms that advocate on behalf of his biggest donors. Before threatening a local news provider with legal action, Neal made no small effort to conceal his fealty to the powerful special interest groups funding his campaign, corporate interests that have a dramatic impact on the lives of his constituents. More from Daniel Bogus law For example, Neal’s former legislative director Melissa Mueller has taken to lobbying for organizations that have donated considerable sums to the Neal campaign this year. At Capitol Tax Partners, Mueller took in $460,000 from Verizon, insurance companies like Northwestern Mutual Life, and big energy firms like NextEra and Terra-Gen Power. In 2020 alone, corporations compensating Mueller for her lobbying efforts donated over $290,000 to Neal’s campaign. After twenty years in Rep. Neal’s office, former chief of staff Ann Jabulon also began working as a lobbyist at Capital Counsel, a bipartisan D.C. lobbying firm, in 2016. Public lobbying disclosures show that in 2020, Jabulon’s firm received over one million dollars in income from the same hospital, pharmaceutical, and doctors’ associations that have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Neal’s campaign this cycle. Notable among them is the American Medical Group Association, which opposed legislation that would have curbed surprise billing that Neal ultimately killed and Jabulon lobbied against. The surprise-billing fiasco has damaged lives across the country, including those in Massachusetts. The surprise-billing fiasco has damaged lives across the country, including those in Massachusetts. A review of over 330 pages of complaints to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, obtained by the group Fight Corporate Monopolies, reveals the way numerous patients have been victimized by unexpected medical bills in the state. Time and again, Massachusetts patients check and double-check that they would not be hit with an out-of-network change for anesthesiologists, radiologists, or emergency room doctors, are told everything will be fine, and still end up owing thousands of dollars. One patient treated at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, Massachusetts, got a bill from “Rhode Island Imaging,” for having their radiologist read X-rays. When the patient questioned “why someone at Sturdy would be billing separately by a Rhode Island company, I was told ‘That’s just the way it is.’” Another patient went for a colonoscopy at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton because that was listed “in network” on her insurance company Cigna’s app. The bill from Cigna then stated “that Cooley Dickinson was out of network … I owed $1,730.06.” The same thing happened to a patient in Salem, who was assured before getting a mammogram that the services would be in network but found out later that the radiologist was not. A fourth patient from Waltham received a $4,321 bill for an out-of-network anesthesiologist. A fifth from Somerville had to pay $5,557.78 for an out-of-network doctor. A sixth from Newton racked up over $10,000 in charges from out-of-network healthcare providers, after confirming that the doctor was in-network. Trade groups representing hospitals, radiologists, and anesthesiologists have devoted over $600,000 to Neal’s effort, both through direct funding to the Neal campaign and third-party spending. WHILE NEAL’S FORMER EMPLOYEES have turned to lobbying, former lobbyists have in turn joined Neal’s staff. Picking up where Mueller left off, Neal’s deputy chief of staff on the House Ways and Means Committee, Elizabeth O’Hara, previously spent six years lobbying for O’Hara Federal Strategies, where her father now serves as principal. One of O’Hara Federal Strategies’ chief clients is Norfolk Southern, which has donated more than $25,000 to Neal over the last four election cycles. In between her former role as Neal’s legislative director and her current role as Senior Counsel to the Ways and Means Committee, Peg McGlinchey lobbied on behalf of Deloitte, Baxter Healthcare, PhRMA, Baxalta, and AmerisourceBergen. Combined, these companies have donated some $52,000 to Neal since 2014. Beyond friends and staffers, a member of Neal’s nuclear family has also come to benefit from the tremendous power that flows from the gavel of the Ways and Means Committee. Neal has also supported the endeavors of friends in addition to congressional staff. Melinda Phelps, head of the government strategies group at the powerful Springfield law firm Bulley Richardson, is also a former member of Neal’s mayoral campaign and a close friend of Neal’s. Phelps sits on multiple boards that have received donations from Neal. Data compiled by the Center For Responsive Politics for the Prospect shows that one of the boards that Phelps sits on, The Spirit of Springfield, has received $15,355 from Neal’s Congressional committee. While Spirit of Springfield is a civic pride organization, Develop Springfield, a privately funded development non-profit where Phelps serves as vice chair, has also received help from Neal. The congressman has written multiple times to the Springfield Community Preservation Committee advocating for public subsidies for private developments supported by the group. Neal has appeared at Develop Springfield events, and touts his record securing federal matching for their projects. None of the projects listed on Develop Springfield’s website mention low-income housing or community-based development, despite their requests for taxpayer dollars intended for projects that “preserve the character of the community.” This falls in line with Phelps’ statements describing community development projects as “encroachments” on middle-class neighborhoods. Phelps’s law firm Bulley Richardson has received $1,800 for “fundraising,” per Center For Responsive Politics records, and hosted a pre-gala VIP reception with Neal last year. Phelps also attended a Spirit of Springfield fundraiser co-chaired by Neal and MassMutual CEO Roger Crandall, although photo galleries on MassLive covering both events disappeared from their site, displaying an “internal server error” message, after the Prospect began contacting sources as part of its investigation into Phelps last week. The removal of the photos comes on the heels of The Intercept’s reporting on the tilted local media coverage of the MA-01 race. As of Sunday, the galleries seem to have been restored. Beyond friends and staffers, a member of Neal’s nuclear family has also come to benefit from the tremendous power that flows from the gavel of the Ways and Means Committee. As The Intercept reported earlier this month, Neal’s son Brendan was able to secure a lucrative lobbying job with Trestle Energy, a California-based biofuel company, after Neal helped the biofuel industry win a $3 billion dollar tax credit. As Lee Fang wrote, “The legislative gift followed a series of PAC donations from the largest ethanol and biofuel companies in America to Neal’s campaign, a tradition that enriches the campaign war chests of most legislators on the tax-writing committee.” Total biofuel industry donations to Neal this cycle are over $20,000. In addition to taking biofuel money, Neal has also advanced legislation that would give massive tax incentives to biomass energy providers like the embattled Palmer Renewable Energy, which has fought a prolonged battle with activist groups and city councilors to build a wood-burning biomass plant in East Springfield. Already suffering from the highest rates of asthma in the country, Springfield residents have raised the alarm over the plant’s potential to worsen public health, a sentiment that activists and local politicians have echoed. In 2010 Palmer Paving, whose owners the Callahans are also investors in the east Springfield plant, donated $5,500 to Neal. Between 2012 and 2020 members of the Callahan family donated an additional $2,500.
see; YouTube Ed Ryan Reform [email protected]
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