My ex got out of rehab yesterday. Prior to him going into rehab we had been broken up like 3-4 months. The break up was not my decision and I was pretty upset about it because I had JUST 100% emotionally supported him through 5 months of another rehab program and a year of his downward spiral into alcohol prior to that.
I thought him getting sober would mean that I would be getting my fun loving, great boyfriend back that I had for 3 years so I was heartbroken to say the least. But I eventually went no contact for a couple months after the breakup until I was having a tough time and reached out to him. Since he was sober he seemed pretty happy to hear from me and offered words of support. But I still kept my distance not wanting to get hurt.
Then the end of April the called me randomly and we had a weird conversation where he sounded overly happy and talked to me about meaningless stuff and I could tell he was drinking but I didn’t want to accuse him of anything since we weren’t talking much as it was. Then I didn’t hear from him.
About a week later I heard from a woman I’m friends with that he checked into rehab, she knew because she worked there. I was just happy that he was safe. When I say his drinking is bad, it’s BAD, he is a serious alcoholic with a serious problem. To get him to go to rehab the first time me and his family had to show up with a uHall and pack his apartment up, break his lease, and forceably get him out of his apartment because he literally stayed in there for a YEAR and drank 24/7.
Anywayss, I reached out to his mom about halfway through his stay to see how he was doing because it’s not like I don’t still love and care about his well being. So I was SHOCKED when she told me that his sister had died, which is what triggered his relapse. And even worse, she died from her alcohol problem. I was sad, I knew her well from holidays and what not, and I was even more sad for him and his mom. He had just lost his dad prior to his first relapse. She told me that he only wanted to stay in rehab for 30 days and she wanted him going to sober living. While I wished she pushed for a longer stay in rehab I thought that would be a good idea for sober living because that’s where he was living when he had long term sobriety when we met.
SO, I was surprised when he called me last night. I was really happy to hear from him first of all, I want to say that. A huge part of me really misses him, 4 months after a 3 year relationship isn’t a long time to get over someone that you’ve occasionally been talking to. We talked about how his stay was, his feelings about his sister, my life and then he told me HES STAYING IN HIS DEAD SISTERS APARTMENT. My first thought was “you have got to be kidding me!” His mom has always been kinda spacey and ridiculous. It was super hard for me during his first relapse to get her to do anything meaningful to help him other than her offer him words of encouragement. But considering she just lost her daughter to alcohol and she’s aware how serious his problem is I’m surprised she let him take over her lease. Especially considering we had just learned that his downfall was living alone and having the opportunity to drink in peace with no one watching him. The only way he got to rehab so fast this last time was because he moved in with his moms boyfriend and he was around him all the time and obviously noticed his relapse. From the phone call I gathered that all her stuff was still there too, all her clothes and medications, everything. He said “if the roles were reversed I’d want her to have my apartment” but in reality I think he wants to continue to be alone and that’s his excuse for making it okay for being there.
I’m extremely worried about him. I’m in recovery from alcohol myself and I know firsthand how many people relapse right out of rehab, especially if they didn’t want to be in rehab to begin with….he said he didn’t even remember being taken to rehab. I also want to note that my ex doesn’t have that many friends, if any. He lost most of them when he just stopped going to work (he had a lot of money) and the few friends he made in rehab don’t live here or have relapsed. He’s always had this sad mentality that he has to do things alone and be alone. I hate that for him. He really is a very personable, very attractive, fun, super fit guy when he is sober but when he drinks, he throws his entire life into it. And I just don’t think 30 days is enough to get over your sisters death and then MOVE INTO HER APARTMENT AROUND HER THINGS…wtf. I didn’t contact him today because I’m still in “I don’t want to get hurt” mode. But I worry so much about him. My friend thinks he needs me, from her time checking in on him when she was working. And a big part of me still wants to be with him. But I don’t want to seem like I’m nagging him like he’s a kid that needs to be checked on or that I’m actively trying to get back with him when I know he’s probably fragile and probably doesn’t want a relationship with anyone. Am I being reasonable for wanting to be back in his life? He told me last night that he was sorry for the last few months and not being there for me more and how even his life situations were no excuse for his behavior in the past towards me. What should I do? Do you think I have enough reason to worry as much as I am?

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Ieri, când să las biletul în parbrizul mașinii lovite, am dat de un domn care stă în zonă și a luat legătura cu proprietara. I-am povestit faza, i-am arătat julitura și vopseaua de pe bara mașinii vinovate, a făcut poze ambelor mașini și a luat dânsul biletul, pe motiv să nu înceapă ploaia si că il va da el vecinei. Vine seara și nu primesc niciun mesaj sau telefon. Mă gândeam că poate doamna a luat pozele de la vecin și nu a mai considerat că e nevoie să mă contacteze sau a considerat zgârietura superficială. Azi de dimineață, parchez mașina pe aceeași stradă și dau de proprietara mașinii lovite. I-am povestit faza, a zis că i-a povestit vecinul tot și că sunt prea superficiale daunele ca să facă ceva. Mi-a mulțumit și ne-am văzut fiecare de drum.
Ar fi fost bine dacă doamna care a ratat parcarea ar fi fost măcar luată la rost puțin. Poate rămâne cu impresia că poate zgâria mașini, fără să pățească ceva. În fine, asta nu mai depinde de mine. Eu mi-am făcut datoria civică și nu regret.

For some context, I'm off to college soon, and for my major and work I'll be requiring a decent rig, especially since I'll be doing lots of work in blender, photoshop, unity, and other graphics work. However, I'll be taking my PC with me, which has a 3950x, 3080, 3tbs of total nvme, and 32gb of 4000mhz ram. Basically, this is good enough to run around just about anything.
I wanted to switch to digital note taking, and I also needed a new laptop to use in class and work stuff that won't be in my dorm. So, I was looking for a tablet that can hold its own, that doesn't need a crap ton of power, but is good in terms of features. Immediately, the surface pro 9(intel ofc) stood out to me. I have forever really disliked 360 foldables, mainly because using them as a tablet is so inconvenient(having to put the keyboard face down, not being able to use in bed because its heavy etc). There isn't a huge market that I've found for windows tablets that also have a foot in the door at being considered a "laptop". The only good ones I found were the XPS 13 2-in-1 and the surface pro. Out of these two, the choice was difficult, but I wanted to go with the surface due to a couple quality of life things(no camera jutting out, a better touchscreen/pen experience). The biggest thing was the built in kickstand, which I tried out at a local best buy, and just seemed so nice. It certainly doesn't support your hand weight, but it does enough to a point where I can take notes on it and do some drawing without needing to lay it flat, which I absolutely love. So my go for that was the surface.
Then, as I'm scowering ltt videos, I come across the gem known as the ROG Flow Z13. After I watched that video, I was absolutely appalled. I saw absolutely no downsides to the ROG Flow Z13 compared to the surface pro 9. I'm familiar that the surface lineup isn't really liked by the community, but as I continued to search for something that would fit the thing I'm looking for, the surface is what everyone pointed me to. But I just stumbled across the flow z13 and, like a bunch of people seem to say in their clickbaity youtube titles, it really is the better surface pro 9. To give some more context, here's the specs I was looking at buying either of the two at compared:
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Specs	Surface Pro 9	ROG Flow Z13
CPU	Core i7-1255U(10 cores)	i7-12700H(14 Cores)
GPU	Intel Iris Xe	RTX 3050
RAM	16GB LPDDR5	16GB LPDDR5
Storage	256GB SSD	512GB SSD
I/O	Two TB4 and that's it	TB4, USB, etc basically way more than surface
Display	2880 X 1920 @ 120hz	1920 x 1200 @ 120hz
Price	$1581.98	$1799.00

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The more qualitative things I did some research on through reviews and etc. The keyboard attachments are both okay(although the surface is a bit more hated). The touchscreen experience seems to be good on both. Speakers and display color accuracy are good, but again, negligible to just a student like me who probably doesn't care a lot about those. They both have kickstands, which is super important to me. The weight is a little more on the Z13, and it is slightly thicker. The things I can't attest to are the pen experience, which I've heard has a great response time on the surface, but idk about the Z13. Also, the temperatures, because no one wants to use a heated tablet.
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I don't really want the Z13. It has more performance than I really need. I just need to able to run programming IDEs and software, sane blender files, and some unity projects once in a while smoothly. All of the power computing things I can do in my dorm. However, I just don't see how the Surface Pro 9 can even exist at that pricepoint when the Z13 is putting out these specs at the same price budget($200 is no pocket change but its in the same range) while also not compromising on the killer features that the Surface mainly uses to appeal to the public.
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My ideal would be a cheaper device of this style that doesn't have a lot of power, but can do what I mentioned above. I honestly just want a surface pro 9, but I just feel scammed buying it at this price when the Z13 exists. It's like, if I am buying this surface, why am I not just buying the Z13? What am I paying for with the surface over the Z13?

Hi, my periods have always been bad. I started when I was 10 or 11 and remember crying and suffering through classes without medications for the longest time. Finally when I entered college I started talking ibuprofen, but then had chronic stomach pain for a year before I realized it gave me chronic gastritis. I take Tylenol now (1 500 mg every 3 hours), but it isn’t enough. I hate being dependent on medication, but I cried today because I couldn’t go into my lab to finish tasks for my research. People were depending on me to get work done because our deadline is this week, but I could only rock back and forth in bed from the pain and I threw up in the morning from nausea on top of everything. I was too embarrassed to tell them the real reason why I couldn’t come in today. I can’t continue like this, it’s debilitating every month and I am set back so much because of it. I’m so jealous of my roommates who can carry on normally on their periods. I’m so frustrated and upset. I’ve called the doctors and they just recommend medication and heat pads. My mom doesn’t even believe me either.
For reference, I’m 105 lbs 5’2”. I’m not overweight but not underweight, I try and eat healthy, but I don’t exercise extensively. My flow is pretty average and comes on time. Please I need any suggestions. I want long term relief.

So, I'm feeling an itch to try and do another crossover, this time with Frostpunk of all things. Thus, I am gonna try it. However I must state some thing. In this universe, as the date Frostpunk is set in. Or at least, The scenario "A new home" is happening in. Is somewhere during 1886 to 87. And the invention of the Nukes are during 1933. So for all intents and purposes, The Federation never stumbled upon humanity. At least, in a way they stumble upon them so much earlier than they should. This way, the feds never had a reason to exterminate the species in the first place. They didn't know they existed.
In terms of things regarding the Laws of New London. In this story, both Order and Faith are mixed together. The laws leading to Faith Keepers and The Temple are signed as well as the laws leading to Patrols and Foremen. As for Adaptation laws. Child Labor, Extended Shift, Soup, Extra rations for the Ill, Prosthetics, Ceremonial funerals, Public house. Nearly everything is researched.

For the purpose of the City, they haven't crossed the Line yet. But as any who played the game knows. The other side of the Line is so tempting. So very, very tempting.

Memory Transcript: Felix Hawthorn - Captain, leader of the last City
Date: [standardized human time]: Day 47
I can no longer see the lights out there. The Little fires and candles that lit up the city. The houses are all but covered in ice. The automatons are barely managing to work through the frigid winds. I turn to check the thermometer, even in my office. Built at the base of the Generator. The winds could reach me through the cracks in the walls. I blinked the ice out of my eyes as my vision locks with the thermometer. "Negative... 150 degrees..." I croaked out. Speaking aloud as I slowly turned to face the cloak on the wall.
To my bewilderment, and amazement. It was still turning away. Even when frost threatened to break it. Just a few more hours... just a few more...
I weakly lifted my arm, If I survive. It'll need amputating. I couldn't even feel the burning cold that was coating its' senses yesterday.
No guardsmen, Faith Keeper, or anyone has came to alert me to anything new... The infirmaries were the only buildings with enough warmth for people to at the very least. Feel chilly... Heh... "Should probably go to one..." I shiver at I felt Jack Frost threaten to tear my insides apart, speaking my thoughts won't help much... thinking things out will keep me focused...
I can't go to a Infirmary. We have no space for a new one to be built, nor do we have enough space for everyone... Thus, here I sit. In my chair. Watching the frost grow on my windows... I pray to myself, that whoever plunged us in this Frozen Hell. Would have mercy on the children and the elderly
As the glass in my window gets overgrown in ice and snow, I slowly close my eyes. And lay back. If this is the end of the human race as we know it... I rather sleep through it than see the results. I already wrote down notes so whomever finds me, will know what to do.
Sleep takes me, the frost won't win that battle at least. In the realms of Dreams. I'm sitting under the warm sun, my daughter and son playing in the grass not too far from me. My wife and I play a game, pointing out the different shapes the clouds made in the sky...
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There is a pirate ship... a bird... that's a whale... "No, silly. That's a dolphin!" she'd laugh, I would respond with a chortle and a "Well, when you're right, you're right."
Such warmth... It's not even that warm in actuality, it is as average a day as any other... but I feel so... warm.
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Memory Transcript: Jannim, Junior Venlil explorer
Date: [standardized human time]: Day 47
I shivered as the ship struggles to handle the temperature of this planet. Of course, sometimes a explorer will never come back. Be it through running into Predators, a error in the systems. Or just bad luck. But I never thought it would happen to me.
I boot up the terminal, thankful it still worked at least. "Explorer Log 21. Jannim. Horkle, our exterminator. Succumbed to the wounds he sustained during the crash. Day 7 after the crash, our pilot, Thalk and captain Fonn still haven't came in from checking on the damages the ship sustained when the storm hit us. Should've left when we noticed it but no... we just had to be heroes to a race we don't even know how to find." I panted as I glanced to the ships' walls. Thanks to the ship I'm alive, but how long will the power last? If Fonn and Thalk were still alive out there... I took a deep breath and continue the log "The captain and pilot left the ship sometime yesterday, to check on external damages and on the engines.-" A growl from the predator-like winds stole my attention away.
You survived a Arxur raid, and this is how you go out? Fearing for your life because of alien nature?
Yes, I was...
​
I take a bite out of my emergency rations, the blandness of it was much better than the chill in the air. "-I-if anyone finds this, leave this planet. Don't go looking for the natives, LEAVE. Before the scans broke down, it appears the planet is gonna undergo various storms similar to the one I am in. Leave at once and mark the planet down as a Deathtrap." I managed to keep myself from stuttering as I continued the message "The planet itself seems predatory, if this is anything to go by. I believe the natives of this planet will have succumbed to the frost during this storm. If not this one, then the next one. Or the one after that. However long it takes. Nothing should be able to survive such harsh winds in this temperature."
I stop myself, taking a few deep breaths, then another bite of my ration. "... If you're stationed near Venlil Prime. Please, find Pallhen. He's my father... tell him... I love him, and that I'm with Mother now." I choke past a tear as I looked to the systems. "Looks like the lights are about to fail, if the controls are anything to go by. Even if the pilot and captain return. We won't be able to even launch... Final log of Junior Explorer Jannim. Protector watch over us." I sighed before ending the Log. Left in silence, I listened to the predatory-storm beat on the ship. And watch Horkles' corpse lay on the medical table of our ship.
Silently counting the emergency rations, and what regular rations we have left. I would last around a week. Perhaps longer if I space my meals out... I think I'll just keep my meals as is, having to do with spacing meals out will just raise my hopes... Can't really have that if this storm lasts much longer.
I resumed eating my ration as I try to guess what the natives were like before this planet became a great, big, Temperature Predator. ------------------------------------------------ Memory Transcript: Felix Hawthorn - Captain, leader of the last City
Date: [standardized human time]: Day 48
"Captain!" A harsh voice awakens me, I use my one good arm to push the Faith Keepers' hands off me. He was apparently shaking me awake. "I'm up, I'm up!" I cried out as I sighed. I could see the relief worm its way onto Brother Collins' face. "Captain. We made it" he exclaimed as a mix of relief and pure joy radiates from his face to his voice. I grumbled in tired bewilderment as I turned to look at the thermometer.
"The storm has passed!" Collin cheered as I mentally froze at the sight on the Thermometer on the wall. -20 degrees Celsius... "Brother Collin! don't just stand there!" I cried out as I stand up with as much my renewed vigor would allow me. Causing the Faith-keeper to freeze in place. "Get out there, and tell the Guards to check the people, check them yourself it you have to. I need information on how our population handled this storm before we move forward!" I shout my orders at Collin, before grabbing my scarf off my neck. The ice still hasn't thawed off my scarf but... I fashion it into a sling for my arm "I'll be here after I have my arm amputated. Can't die now after all we went through." I allow a slight snicker escape my lips as I walk out the doors of my office and marched to the nearest infirmary. I could hear Collin run out of the office shortly after me and went off to find the guards, check families. Maybe both.
To my relief, the infirmary I first arrived at had a place open for me. Due to overcrowding, I was given a seat on the floor. And now... here I wait, listening to the doctors and nurses comfort and calm the ill and wounded. A few shot nasty glares at me... I'd like to see them try and prepare the city for a storm like that. I think I did pretty well... ---A few hours later.--- "So... we're at 307 able bodies, a hundred dead. Five missing. And finally, 246 amputees" I stated to the Head guardsmen, Matthew Williams. And there beside him stood high Priest Jenkins Anderson. "Moral will go up of course, everyone who survived the storm will feel nothing but joy for a while. But now we have to deal with reverting the city to what it was before the storm." I point to Matthew with my newly attached arm, the claw couldn't point fingers but it works when I need to grab something. I shift to point at Anderson as this was for them both to do. "Spread word that we are sending hunters back out and are putting the hothouses back up. I want scouts looking through the wilderness for anything they can find out there. We're not out of the storm yet" I declared as I brought my prosthetic back down. "Take stock of what rations we currently have, and spread them out as much as you can to the population. Send word to the Factory to start churning out Prosthetics... And when you have the scouts ready, inform me." Mister Williams saluted me before leaving the office, while Anderson stays there, watching me... "Did... the two come back?" I asked him, the silent shake of his head told me everything... "We don't have the bodies... find out the name of that father and his daughter, then make a pair of graves for them." Anderson nods and with a respectful bow, stepped out the door.
Finally left to my thoughts, I sat back in my chair. Staring at my desk. So many lives lost... I did what I could, but should I have done better? I could have done better... they are all dead because of me, how many of them were parents?... how many children?
I sat in silence as I start a prayer to the dead. Praying they forgive me for failing them. Praying again that they pass on to a place better than where we are. And finally, Praying that someone up there actually is listening...
Once my prayers were done, I looked to the reports brother Collin had placed on my desk during my time in the Infirmary. Apparently something had crashed during the start of the great storm. There was something flying out there... Going by the calculations the engineers did under Collins' request. The crash is relatively close by... a three day travel on foot, two via riding one of the automatons through the days and night.
I stand from my desk and walk out the door, Paying some mind to a picture of my wife on my way out. I had to be one of the scouts. For this at the very least... if there is some hope there is a survivor out there, if the father and his daughter is there... I have to be certain... we have enough automatons and able bodies to use the coal mines and coal thumpers. And after the storm, I do not believe we required the other laws. I'll leave the high priest in charge until my return. Matthews is a good man but... Anderson is the more compassionate of the two. He'll keep up the moral while I'm away.
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This wasn't a lot, but hey. Hope you liked the introduction. If anyone has any questions regarding New London in the story, please feel free to ask. If anyone has anything to just say, feel free to share your thoughts.

The Old Ways can rub some people wrong — especially those coming into the supernatural world fresh from this modern era of excess, privilege, and internet anonymity. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen societal changes and cultural shifts in every direction you could plot an axis for; live for nearly 3500 years as I have, and you too will come to understand that Change is the one and only constant in this world. But what our more, shall I say, exuberant (indignant, entitled, take your pick) newcomers tend to misunderstand is that Old Ways — and those of us who uphold them — don’t stand in opposition to change; we’ve just already seen all their ‘new’ ideas brought forward before, been accepted, gone stale, and get discarded for the next.
The Old Ways aren’t rules, they’re just how you come to behave once you’ve lived through a few revolutions of the cycle. They’re also not written or codified in any way, but if I had to articulate the particular tenet that seems most abhorrent to our most recent newcomers, it would be this: Respect is owed to your elders, because they’ve already damn-well earned it in the past.
The recent upheaval in the supernatural underworld wasn’t particularly upsetting, or even that surprising: some newly-minted vamp shaking things up, gathering a following, killing off a few of the established vampire lords. I don’t overlap much with the neck-biter scene, so it wasn’t very concerning to me. But as ill-luck would have it, he kept growing more famous, and thus harder to avoid hearing about.
He was turned fairly late for a vampire, in his 40s, having already led a deeply troubling life steeped in conspiracy theory, hoax, and rabbit holes into the occult. So rather than take the traditional path toward amassing strength for a vamp — which is basically just to feed regularly and get older — he instead continued his dive into the occult. To his credit, this did score him the power he needed to oppose (and depose) many of the vampire lords of London; to his detriment, it also placed him rather firmly on a collision course with me.
I’d put a handful of wards and contingencies in place out of habit, but I wasn’t particularly concerned. Vampires are about as dangerous to me as… eh… now that I think of it, I don’t have a great analogy on hand for this. There isn’t much that’s truly all that dangerous to me at all, anymore — about as dangerous as a mosquito, I guess? In that I’d be annoyed if one bit me?
Still, he did manage to surprise me, if only because I never thought he’d be stupid enough to come for me there, in the Tavern. But like I said: in this storied community, the impetuous youth flaunt or ignore the Old Ways at their own peril. And it had started as such a nice, quiet night, with me seated at my usual booth in its dimly lit, secluded corner of the restaurant.
“Here you are, darling, you just let me know if you need anything else, okay?”
The head server of the Tavern is a lovely woman, seemingly 30 to 40 years of age, who despite the many years she’s spent in England, still speaks with an accent from the American south. Her ethnic heritage is clearly from a region further south-west in Africa than my own.
“Of course, thank you Catherine,” I replied as she placed an impeccably plated salad on the table before me. It was one of my favorites at the Tavern, a delightful little number with tender bamboo shoots, and some kind of sweet and spicy mustard vinaigrette. Catherine smiled and whisked off toward another table. I folded a piece of baby spinach over an arugula leaf and pinned them to a bamboo shoot with my fork, and had just lifted them to my lips when the doors to the Tavern slammed open into the walls of the entryway. The small, decorative windows in the doors shattered on impact, showering the hostess’ podium with shards of glass.
Most groups of vampires want to be called ‘covens.’ Some of the weirder, extra culty groups prefer the term ‘hive.’ Judging by the collection of washed out, middle-aged vampire bros who sauntered in through the broken doors, I can only assume this group called themselves something extra stupid, like ‘the posse.’
He was immediately evident. His four goons looked like your average jocks who’d had neither the skill to go pro, nor the sense to plan for anything else in life, and had spent their subsequent years in disappointment of themselves and others.
“Barkeep! A round of your finest libations for the entourage of…” the fucker actually paused, as though for dramatic effect, “the Dread Prince Lestat!”
An audible groan of disgust rose from a table of Lesser Devils in the next alcove down from mine. Abyssal-speech is difficult to decipher even when there isn’t a group of demons all talking over one another, but I did manage to make out from one of them, a trickster muse by the name of Mamenoche, just before he dissolved into a cloud of flies and dispersed. The remaining devils grumbled in disappointment, but still turned with eager smiles to watch the drama unfold.
The keeper of the tavern, for his part, simply raised an eyebrow while he wiped down a freshly washed stein with a drying rag. He nodded to an empty table. “Take a seat, we’ll be right with you,” he said, and then turned away to shelve the clean glass.
The keeper is a slight man, of average height, perhaps in his early to mid 50s. He wears the same costume every day: dark brown slacks and a burgundy tweed vest over a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled back to his elbows. His voice is rich and resonant, and though soft-spoken, he is never difficult to hear. Beyond that, I can only say that the tavern keeper looks exactly as you think he would, and do understand that I mean that literally. His features, his hair, the color of his skin: they all exist only in the eyes of the beholder. It’s part of the Glamour.
The four underlings slid chairs out from the table and plopped down with what some of my younger students have recently informed me is known as the ‘Riker maneuver.’ Lestat remained standing and circled the table while he addressed the patrons.
“Well, well, well. So this is the storied Tavern. Drinking hole for the Greats of the underworld, the movers and shakers, the true titans of the occult.” He smirked and paused for effect again. “At least now it is. Bit of a slow day before I got here, eh barkeep?”
The keeper responded with silence as he filled five elaborately crafted snifters from a small, gold-banded barrel behind the bar.
“No matter, we’ll liven things up here real soon. I’m looking for a woman — no, not you love, some other time maybe.” He gestured across the bar to a woman of simply indescribable beauty, whom he utterly failed to recognize as Titania. Lounging beside her, Oberon narrowed his eyes, but remained otherwise still.
It had been at least 150 years since the last time a patron had stepped out of line in the Tavern, and the mood of the crowd was positively electric with anticipation. The vampire, bless his shriveled little heart, clearly interpreted this as deference to his prowess.
“The woman I’m looking for is… Egyptian. An Empress. Her very name and image carved off the face of history by her own son. Probably on the masculine side, considering how she managed to pass herself off as a Pharaoh and usurp his reign for 20 years. Just a guess, but probably a 2 or 3 out of 10.”
“I’ve had kings put to death for far less impetuous horse shit than that, young man,” I said. How rude — I looked positively fabulous with a false goatee.
He turned to me with a broad smile and threw his arms wide open. “And here she is, The Empress Undying. The ‘last word’ in all things occult and arcane, so they tell me.” He approached, squinting into the gloom surrounding my dining table. “And wow, I take it all back, for a 3,000 year old mummy, you are surprisingly bang-able. You know I love a girl who plays hard to get, and let’s face it — erased from history, all that jazz — you were difficult to track down, Hatshepsut!”
“Really? I have a page on Wikipedia.”
“That’s not— I mean I prefer— that is, well, primary sources are—”
“Which, if you’d bothered reading, would have told you that Thutmose the Second was not my son, but my step son, and that at 2 years old he was not in the best position to rule when my husband passed. Not to mention it was actually his bratty son Amenhotep who ordered the whole defacing of my icons thing.” Which is also untrue. I ate my own name as part of my Ascension. But he doesn’t need to know the details of my life.
“Here’s your drinks boys,” Catherine said behind him with her typically cheerful demeanor as she set the tray of snifters down between Lestat’s posse. “Seeing as how it’s your first round at the Tavern, darlings, this one’s on the house.”
The vampires grabbed their drinks without so much as a thank you. Lestat wisely took the interruption as a reprieve from this sudden hiccup in whatever grand plan it was he had in mind for me, and retreated to the support of his minions. One of them sniffed at the drink suspiciously, while the others simply threw them back like shots and immediately grimaced. One got it down before sputtering and coughing uproariously, the other two spit it out back into their snifters.
“What is this shit?”
“That’s Ambrosia, darling,” Catherine said as she gently patted the coughing vamp on his back. “Nectar of the gods. It’s a bit of an acquired taste for sure, and most people do prefer to sip it. They say it’s ‘too much sensation’ for us lesser beings.”
“They don’t want Ambrosia, you wench,” Lestat howled, “they want blood!”
“Well I’m sorry darling, but we don’t serve blood here. You asked for a round of our ‘finest libations,’ and there’s no drink finer than Ambrosia in the Tavern, nor outside of it as I’ve ever heard. That barrel over there was handed off by Hermes himself.”
One of the vampires dashed his drink on the floor and pointed at Catherine.
“You’ve got blood, don’t you lass?”
“That will be enough.” The tavern keeper’s soft, mellifluous voice draped over the exchange like a weighted blanket. “I’ve served you drinks, and in return you have been exceedingly impolite to my establishment, my staff, and my patrons. Learn the meaning of deference before you visit next, for you will not be well-received without it. Now, leave.”
Lestat’s four hulking minions might have succumbed to the spell of the keeper’s voice had not their ring-leader, to his detriment, managed to shake out of it.
“Leave? No, we just got here,” he turned back to me, “and I’m not finished with her.”
“But I am finished with you,” I said.
“Ten,” the keeper said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the bar.
“The only reason I haven’t ended your miserable existence thus far,” I continued, “is out of deference to my elders. It is not my right to take your life inside the walls of this Tavern. I suppose I’ll soon be forced to do it outside, but do understand, I’ll approach that no differently than I would stepping on a scarab.”
“Nine.”
“The truth of it is, 'Dread Prince,' that you are not worth the breath spent uttering your ridiculous name.”
“Not worth your time, am I? I’ll show you what your time is worth, you decrepit bitch!”
“Eight,” the tavern keeper said, and Lestat flung an outstretched claw in his direction while hissing out a spell in medieval Latin.
Generously translated, it came out to roughly As though caught on a hook, the keeper tumbled over his bar and forward through the air. Lestat caught him by the neck and wrenched sideways, spinning the keeper’s head fully around with a loud crunching sound. Then, with the inhuman speed inherent to vampires, he hoisted the keeper’s body over his head, darted across the Tavern, and slammed him down through a table surrounded by a flock of naiads.
He turned and caught Catherine in the hypnotic gaze his kind uses to trap their prey, and strolled leisurely back over to his group. I crossed my arms.
“Sorry ‘darling,’ but I like my meals a little toasty.”
He hissed in his awful Latin again, along the lines of Catherine convulsed and shrieked, unable to move while locked in his gaze. He yanked her head to the side and made a show of sinking his fangs into her neck with a ripping motion, splattering droplets of blood across the tavern that sizzled and steamed where they landed. Her lifeless body rolled under the table as he turned his bloody face back to me.
“How do you like me now?”
I pushed my untouched salad, now flecked with Catherine’s blood, away from me on the table and let out a deep sigh.
“First, your grasp of Latin is elementary at best, you really should have practiced more before coming to see me. No, now, this is the part where you listen.”
I pinched my forefinger to the thumb to seal the air inside his lungs. He stumbled back and clutched at his neck in surprise — he wasn’t going to suffocate of course, but it’s an unpleasant feeling for sure if you haven’t yet come to the realization that you don’t actually need to breathe in undeath.
“Of course it is the intent that matters somewhat more-so than the language used — but, and I cannot stress this enough, good syntax simply never hurts. The age of your language also should not be overlooked. The older the language, the truer it is to the One Tongue of Magic, before it was fractured and the tower fell. You came with a form of Ecclesiastical Latin from around the 12th century, taught to Catholic priests. Underwhelming at best. You should have at least brought Classical Latin from the time of the Caesars, that would have shown me you were trying.
“Second, you demonstrate a lack of finesse that is simply appalling. I will commend your creativity in bringing your own spells to demonstrate. It is a key craft that many young students of the occult struggle with terribly for many years. You are also clearly capable of drawing significant power to bear, which is always a good start. However, the path to enduring success in the arcane arts isn’t power, it’s efficiency. What you did worked, but it took far more power than it needed to. I can think of a dozen ways to boil someone’s blood off the top of my head, and none of them require much more focus or power than this.”
I released my fingers, letting the air out of his lungs in an involuntary wheeze.
“Since you were turned, I suspect you’ve never met a door you couldn’t break down with brute force. But that’s only because until today, you never really went looking for one.
“Third, and most damning of the indictments against you is this: you absolutely and utterly failed to read the room, nor did you accept the un-earned grace that was offered to you. Thus ends our impromptu lesson, prince. Good luck.”
I leaned back and draped my arms across the cushions of my booth, while Lestat yanked one of his minions to their feet and stood behind him, tensing for a fight.
“Mother… fucker…” came a mutter from under Lestat’s table, as Catherine stirred and rolled over onto her side. The newly-minted vampire lord paused and looked down at her with a furrowed brow.
“Wait, was she not a human? That normally kills humans.” He looked to his cronies, who gave him an array of shrugs and uncertain mumblings.
I said in Classical Latin,
The vampire cocked his head, clearly trying and failing to work through the declensions and figure out exactly what I had said. I pointed across the room to the tavern keeper, standing up out of the wreckage of his table. Loud crunches of grinding bone sounded from his neck as he rolled his head from side to side, reforming the shattered vertebrae inside it. He spat out a mouthful of blood, then plucked a wrinkled pocket square from his vest and dabbed the corners of his lips.
“Zero,” the keeper said once his larynx had reformed enough for speech. “It’s the medical benefits of her employment package: immunity to death, disease, etc. Cuts the insurance middle-men right out of the picture, I find it’s very efficient.”
“Ah.” Lestat eyed the keeper, far too late showing the slightest hint of caution or concern. “So she’s human, but you’re not. Well then, what are you?”
“Immortal,” the Keeper replied simply, as he plucked a shard of glass out of his skull and tossed it aside. It landed with a loud tinkle in the otherwise silent room.
“That means nothing,” Prince Lestat waved his hand dismissively. “I’m immortal. Half your bloody patrons are—”
“No,” the keeper cut him off as he straightened out his vest and stepped out of the wreckage of the table. “You are ageless, thanks to the curse of undeath upon you. That is a very different thing than being immortal. Numerous vampire lords you’ve killed in the last few months would attest to this, were they not dead, no? They may not like to acknowledge it, but this is a simple fact that every entity in this establishment is keenly aware of, save for you.”
Lestat said nothing, but his body language spoke volumes for him, as he shrunk half a step backward toward the support of his underlings.
“My patrons from the Fey realms, or the Abyss? They experience death on this plane of existence as a banishment back to their own. But once there, they age and die the same as all other creatures in existence, if perhaps at a different rate than a human does. My dear employee Catherine, whom you’ve treated with such brazen disrespect, will live as long as she wishes to. But some day, be it centuries or millennia from now, she will grow tired of life, and request I terminate her contract.”
He gestured to me, seated in my quiet, dark corner, and a chill ran down my spine.
“Even the Empress Undying, whom you unwisely came looking for tonight, will only survive so long as she maintains the numerous spells and failsafes she has crafted to preserve and extend her unnatural life.”
My thoughts flickered in succession through my 5 phylacteries, painstakingly secreted away in sealed and warded caches both near and far-flung — and I watched in horror as the keeper’s eyes lifted briefly to the keystone of the stone arch over his doorway, then settled on me, and he winked.
By the gods, my cold heart would have skipped a beat were it able. How did he find it out? Or, more likely: has he simply always known?
“One day, when she has grown tired of this endless upkeep, she too will come to me for release. You see, Edwin, everything dies eventually.”
He held his hand calmly out to his side, and wisps of shadow materialized and snaked through the air into his grasp. The Dread Prince Lestat — Edwin — first shivered, then spasmed, and finally, as his entourage withdrew from him in horror, collapsed in a fit of convulsions. The shadows continued to flow into the keeper’s outstretched hand, gaining solidity and texture, until he was left holding his implement: a bowed farmer’s scythe, worn and battered, but with a keen edge that felt dizzying and somehow wrong to look upon. The keeper stepped forward.
“Everything dies, except for me.”
Been wanting to get back into writing for a while and came across this response I half-wrote last year.
Original prompt either here or here , honestly not sure which one I originally happened across anymore.

There's really no question as to whether women are subconsciously attracted to what you might assholish or less socially acceptable traits, the only debate is what percentage of women and to what extent, and in any case it seems significant enough for many to recognize and question it.
The traits I'm referring to are things such as machismo and bravado, aggression, mysteriousness, lust, promiscuity, and I'd say even some degree of dark triad traits, guile and criminality.
You could say well evolutionarily such traits were a signal of competence and therefore served as an indicator that the man would be able to provide and protect, and his tendency to be promiscuous served as a touchstone that he was good breeding stock if he was being desired by other women... but when you think about it more critically this doesn't make sense. At least not to me.
Lust, ardor, promiscuity and so on mean a man is more likely to fuck and duck / root and boot / smash and dash / pump and dump / seduce then vamoose / break the bocks then change the locks - I don't see how this would've offered any form of assurance of his competency as a longer term partner and farther.
Daredevilishness and criminality (especially coupled with the ability to be selectively civil) convey that a man is capable of being independent and carving his own path which may serve as a touchstone of assurance that if the tribe or social contract were to break down, he would come into his element and be a prime provider and protector, but that's an enormous stretch, and in most cases it clearly just leads to instability and discord, and in the tribal days this would likely have spelt violence and death.
Guile and Machiavellianism aren't purely negative traits from a utilitarian perspective- the ability to manipulate others to achieve ones whims is a powerful thing - but given the necessity of honesty and truth in maintaining cohesive social bonds (as evidenced by the fact that it's always among the cardinal virtues in any belief system, ironically) I don't see why these traits in themselves would ever be seen as desirable on any level. Plus in order for one to become aware of somebodies ability to manipulate that means that they haven't either failed to do so subtly or have informed others of their intentions, which will foreseeably bring about turmoil further down the road.
Machismo and aggression or the ability to be aggressive also carries a level of self-sufficiency as there will always be situations in life that call for it, but again this doesn't seem like it's conducive to healthy partnership and parenthood, at least not when it's present beyond a certain level.
The allure of mysteriousness and aloofness has absolutely no biological explanation to me. Maybe this is hijacking som
Surely the more quiet and mild mannered man who has a proven work ethic and ability to express his emotions and affection would be prime suitor; unlikely to drag her and the child into stormy waters, a stable and reliable provider who will voice concerns so the issues may be addressed before they metastasize into perilous problems. I suppose the only query would surround their ability to - as H.L Mencken put it - spit on their hands, hoist the black flag and begin slitting throats - if the situation called for such, but surely their role in the tribe, physical stature and interactions with others should have served as yardsticks for their ability to handle confrontation.
I understand mother nature doesn't critically consider any of this, doesn't apply logic as we would and there's no evidence that evolution has an endgame even if it seems to be shaping us a certain way, so these sorts of musings are ultimately pointless, but I still find it interesting to think about.
Also I realize a non-trivial portion of people are - to use the medical term - fucked in the head: wracked with paraphilias, insecurities, self-loathing, and unhealthy attachment frameworks... those who send love letters to serial killers and have strong masochistic tendencies for instance, but these aren't who I'm referring to.
What are your thoughts?
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My partner and I are currently living with her mum who has Parkinson’s. She was diagnosed a few years ago and has been on medication. She is also depressed and seeing a psychologist regularly. However things HAVE taken a huge term and quite frankly we are at a loss here and maybe someone can help us with some advice.
For reference two weeks ago she went to her doctor who was quite happy with her results and told her to keep the same medication. The doctor gave her some sachets to drink so by going to the bathroom more often the medication takes more effect.
But for about a month now before going to the doctor the situation has been deteriorating, she’s very fearful of moving away from her chair, she’s of being on her own as refuses to be on her own, she’s fearful of going for walks, being in her own bed.
Is constantly confused and says something takes over her and she’s not being herself.
She has been spending nights asking for help repeatedly but when we approach her she seems okay as in she’s comfortable in bed only needing the bathroom occasionally. She has great trouble in going to sleep but refuses to put the lights out and have her door slightly closed in case of falling. She has a terrible fear of falling.
We have tried everything, psychologist, going for walks, drives, movies, exercises etc she just seems to have given up on life.
I have told my partner that perhaps it would be best to look for a place for her to stay dedicated to or is equipped to deal with Parkinson’s patients.
Last note: she is on a lot of medication including the sinemet she’s taking 3 a day. Could this be related to it ?
We appreciate all the help and advice. 🙏🏻

In today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape, organizations are realizing the critical role of human capital management (HCM) in achieving long-term success. To thrive amidst change and uncertainty, companies must invest in reskilling, engage their employees, and optimize their workforce. In this article, we will explore key initiatives that HR professionals can introduce to promote HCM, develop human resources through reskilling, improve employee engagement, and optimize the workforce. Along the way, we’ll discover how organizations are embracing these strategies to unlock the potential of their employees.
HR professionals play a pivotal role in fostering a culture of continuous learning within their organizations. By empowering employees with new skills and knowledge, HR can unleash their full potential and ensure organizational resilience. Let’s delve into the effective strategies to cultivate a culture of continuous learning.

1. Assessing Skills and Identifying Skill Gaps: To effectively implement reskilling and upskilling initiatives, HR professionals must first conduct a comprehensive assessment of the existing skills within the workforce. By leveraging assessment tools, such as skills inventories, competency frameworks, and performance evaluations, HR can gain insights into the skills that need development. For example, a retail company might discover a gap in digital marketing expertise as they aim to expand their online presence.
2. Designing Tailored Learning Programs: Once skill gaps are identified, HR professionals can collaborate with managers and employees to design tailored learning programs that address specific needs. These programs can take various forms, such as workshops, webinars, mentoring programs, or online courses. For instance, a technology firm could organize coding boot camps to equip employees with the latest programming languages.
3. Promoting a Learning Culture: Creating a culture that values continuous learning is crucial for the success of reskilling efforts. HR professionals can promote a learning culture by recognizing and rewarding employees who actively seek development opportunities. They can also foster a sense of community through knowledge-sharing sessions, lunch-and-learns, or internal forums where employees can exchange ideas and insights. For example, an engineering company might establish an internal blog where employees can share their technical expertise and learn from each other’s experiences.
4. Leveraging Technology for Learning: In today’s digital age, technology offers a wealth of learning opportunities. HR professionals can leverage e-learning platforms, mobile applications, and virtual reality (VR) tools to provide accessible and engaging learning experiences. For instance, a healthcare organization could incorporate VR simulations to train medical staff in complex procedures, allowing them to practice in a risk-free environment.
5. Measuring and Evaluating the Impact: To ensure the effectiveness of reskilling initiatives, HR professionals need to establish measurement frameworks to track progress and evaluate the impact of learning programs. This could involve tracking metrics such as improved job performance, increased employee satisfaction, and reduced turnover rates. For example, a hospitality company might measure the impact of a customer service training program by assessing customer feedback and measuring the frequency of positive reviews.

In today’s dynamic business environment, where organizations face increasing complexities in talent management and workforce optimization, leveraging an HCM system brings numerous benefits. It not only improves HR efficiency and data management but also supports talent development, enhances employee engagement, and ensures compliance with regulations. Below are the benefits of using a HCM system:

1. Centralized Data Management: HCM systems centralize employee data, streamlining HR operations and ensuring data accuracy and security.
2. Improved Efficiency: Automation of administrative tasks frees up HR professionals’ time for strategic initiatives and employee development.
3. Enhanced Workforce Planning: Analytics and reporting capabilities provide valuable insights for talent acquisition, resource allocation, and workforce optimization.
4. Talent Development and Reskilling: HCM systems facilitate the design and delivery of personalized learning programs, boosting engagement and ensuring a skilled workforce.
5. Streamlined Performance Management: HCM systems support goal setting, continuous feedback, and performance evaluations to foster a culture of performance excellence.
6. Compliance and Regulatory Compliance: HCM systems help organizations ensure adherence to labor laws, regulations, and data security measures.
7. Employee Self-Service: Self-service portals empower employees to access and manage their information, reducing HR administrative tasks and enhancing satisfaction.
8. Integration and Scalability: HCM systems integrate with other HR software, providing a holistic view and accommodating organizational growth.

In an era of constant change, HR professionals must lead the way in promoting human capital management, reskilling, employee engagement, and workforce optimization. By fostering a culture of continuous learning and implementing tailored initiatives, organizations can unlock the potential of their employees and adapt to the evolving business landscape. Remember, investing in your employees’ growth and development is the key to future success. So, let’s embrace the opportunities that lie ahead and unleash the true potential of our workforce.

Have we got any UK based stroke survivors or caregivers that are able to offer some advice?
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My partner (38m) suffered a massive Intracerebral Haemorrhage in his basal ganglia and was admitted to hospital on 16th May. He had various tests in hospital, and was discharged on 23rd May once his blood pressure stabilised on IV and oral medication. He was told that he would have outpatient appointments for various follow up tests, as well as weekly visits from the community stroke nurse.
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He was asked on discharge whether he had any questions, to which he replied "thousands", and was advised that the community stroke nurse would be out to see him shortly, and would be able to assist. I myself spoke to a couple of people in the hospital, but was never given any guidance on what to expect once he came home.
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We are now on 7th June, and he has had the ophthalmology appointment made, and subsequently cancelled the day of the appointment, but he has yet to have any other follow up, including a visit from the stroke nurse. An appointment was made for him (for today, 7th June), but he wasn't able to be present for it, as he has had to work (which is a whole other issue). He was told that someone will be in touch about a further appointment, but we have not yet heard anything.
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I'm really disappointed that it feels like we've just been abandoned. We have so many questions, and absolutely no answers. Does anybody know who we can get in touch with, if there is anyone? If there is anyone we can contact to ask questions? We are trying to deal with something we don't even begin to understand. He is trying to come to terms with the fact that it even happened. What do we do next?

	2013	2013	2015	2015	2017	2017	2021	2021	2023	2023
	mmol/L	mg/dL	mmol/L	mg/dL	mmol/L	mg/dL	mmol/L	mg/dL	mmol/L	mg/dL
Total	6.09	236	6.37	246	5.82	225	5.88	227	7.00	271
LDL	3.85	149	3.89	150	3.27	126	3.37	130	4.46	172
HDL	1.92	74	2.25	87	2.26	87	2.21	85	2.24	87
Non-HDL	4.17	161	4.12	159	3.56	138	3.67	142	4.76	184
Trigs	0.69	61	0.50	44	0.62	55	0.65	58	0.66	58

Hi all. I posted this yesterday but wanted to give a little bit more context to help with replies. Also my results are in mmol/L so I've also converted them to mg/dL.
37 y/o M - quite active as I go to the gym three times per week and also play football a couple of times per week, but this hasn't happened much of late due to various injuries.
In terms of diet nothing has really changed between 2017 and today (and in fact my diet between 2013 and 2016 was pretty poor). I ate more meat pre 2017.
 
Breakfast - 3 eggs, bread, a lot of real butter
 
Lunch - giant cous cous salad (halloumi, spinach, chickpeas, coriander, lemon, veg stock, red onion, extra virgin olive oil, olive oil
 
Dinner - usually a chicken/veg curry or a bolognese (either white/brown pasta)
 
Snack - hot cocoa with 25g 85% dark choc
 
Other - protein shake, fruit, a few supplements also (vit d, MSM, vit c, fish oil, pumpkin seed oil, multi vit, vit k, magnesium, collagen)
 
I'm a bit surprised by the jump in numbers but is it cause for concern? I'll schedule an appointment with my doctor this week but just throwing this out here in the meantime!
Thanks.

Offering my support/presence/ears to you…as my own experience of sharing what was going on during my own tough time helped me alot! Hence the post :) would appreciate long term friendships too if you want that!

https://thewest.com.au/sport/fremantle-dockers/fremantle-dockers-coach-justin-longmuir-says-luke-jackson-and-josh-treacy-ruck-combination-will-remain-c-10900348
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir hinted that he will stick with the Luke Jackson and Josh Treacy ruck combination for Saturday night’s clash against Richmond at Optus Stadium.
With No.1 big man Sean Darcy sidelined for the short-term with a hamstring injury, Longmuir said he was happy enough with what he saw from Jackson and Treacy in the pre-bye win over Melbourne at the MCG.
“We haven’t had selection yet but I think we’ll probably start in the ruck the same way we finished against Melbourne,” Longmuir said.
“JT (Treacy) has been doing a fair bit of work on his ruck craft at Peel and we’ve tried to get him taking a few more forward-50 ruck stoppages as a way into being the second ruck if we needed it.
“It looks like we need it and I’ve got no issues with him being the second ruck and being capable of filling that role.”
There will be at least two changes with Darcy injured and veteran midfielder Jaeger O’Meara suspended, while veteran forward Michael Walters is a decent chance to come back from a calf issue.
Walters, who was upbeat about his chances earlier in the week, needs to get through main training on Wednesday morning.
Longmuir said it wasn’t only inside midfielders like Will Brodie and Neil Erasmus they were considering bringing in, with winger Liam Henry also in strong form for Peel Thunder in recent weeks.
“We’ve got a lot of options for that role, there’s been a lot of players in good form at Peel, both inside and outside mids,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of flexibility in our team as well so we’ll work that out later on.
“We’ve got Neil and Will at Peel who have been playing inside mid and Liam Henry has been in really good form so there’s a lot of options.”
Longmuir said weather would be a factor when considering whether to go for twin towers up forward in Treacy and rising star nominee Jye Amiss or bring in an extra tall like Josh Corbett.
“I’ll keep an eye out for the weather and keep an eye out for the balance and make sure we pick a team that can both kick a winning score but also defend our front half as well,” he said.
As for last year’s mid-season draftee Sebit Kuek’s chances of a debut this weekend?
“He’s improving his footy and he’s taken big steps forward this year in his footy,” Longmuir said.
“Whether he’s up to it right now or not will be decided later but we’re really confident he’s on the right path.”
The Dockers are aiming for a fifth win on the trot with Longmuir admitting it’s a mental challenge to “maintain the rage” coming off a bye.

Semiconductor and related devices market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 7.0% during the forecast period. The primary factor boosting the market growth includes the increasing number of electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and the development of new technologies such as 5G wireless networks, AI, and IoT. In addition to this, the use of semiconductors and related devices in the automobile industry has increased significantly with features such as advanced driver assistance systems, infotainment systems, and many others. For example, the total number of smartphone devices across the globe reached 6 billion in 2020, i.e., eight people out of 10 own a smartphone in 2020, eventually driving the revenues of semiconductor manufacturing companies. Therefore, the increasing use of smartphones is expected to drive the semiconductors and related devices market. For instance in November 2022, the US federal will invest in semiconductor design and R&D approximately $20 billion to $30 billion through 2030—including $15 billion to $20 billion for an investment tax credit for semiconductor design and this will help maintain long-term US chip design leadership.
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The global semiconductor and related devices market is segmented based on the type, product type, and end-user. Based on the type, the market is segmented into intrinsic semiconductors, and extrinsic semiconductors. Based on the product type, the market is sub-segmented into integrated circuits, memory chips, microprocessors, and other product types. Further, based on end-user, the market is segmented into information technology, aerospace & defense, consumer electronics, automotive, healthcare, and other End Users.
full report of Semiconductor and Related Devices Market available @ https://www.omrglobal.com/industry-reports/semiconductor-and-related-devices-market
· Market Coverage
· Market number available for – 2023-2029
· Base year- 2022
· Forecast period- 2023-2029
· Segment Covered- By Source, By Product Type, By Applications
· Competitive Landscape- Archer Daniels Midland Co., Ingredion Inc., Kerry Group Plc, Cargill
· Inc., and others
Market Segmentation
Global Semiconductor and Related Devices Market by Type
o Intrinsic Semiconductor
o Extrinsic Semiconductor
Global Semiconductor Devices Market by Product Type
o Integrated Circuits
o Memory Chips
o Microprocessors
o Other Product Types
Global Semiconductor Devices Market by End-User
a. Information Technology
b. Aerospace & Defense
c. Consumer Electronics
d. Automotive
e. Healthcare
f. Other End-Users
Regional Analysis
o North America
o United States
o Canada
o Europe
o UK
o Germany
o Italy
o Spain
o France
o Rest of Europe
o Asia-Pacific
o China
o India
o Japan
o South Korea
o Rest of Asia-Pacific
o Rest of the World
Company Profiles
o Advanced Micro Devices
o AU Optronics Corp.
o Broadcom, Inc.
o Freescale Semiconductor
o Fujitsu Microelectronics
o Intel
o Marvell Technology Group Ltd.
o MediaTek
o Micron
o Nvidia
o NXP Semiconductors N.V.
o Qualcomm
o Samsung Semiconductor
o SK Hynix
o SolarEdge Technologies, Inc.
o Sony
o STMicroelectronics N.V
o Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
o Texas Instruments
o Toshiba
o Transcend Information
o Western Digital
The Report Covers
​

• Market value data analysis of 2022 and forecast to 2030.
• Annualized market revenues ($ million) for each market segment.
• Country-wise analysis of major geographical regions.
• Key companies operating in the global semiconductor and related devices market. Based on the availability of data, information related to new product launches, and relevant news is also available in the report.
• Analysis of business strategies by identifying the key market segments positioned for strong growth in the future.
• Analysis of market-entry and market expansion strategies.
• Competitive strategies by identifying ‘who-stands-where’ in the market.

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My employer switched health insurance companies in May. Our old insurance covered Wegovy but it's not on the new company's formulary.
I've read that insurance companies can be compelled to continue covering medications under a "continuity of medication management" provision, which is supposedly a requirement of the ACA. Another Reddit comment says that this should last for a year and shouldn't make you to jump through hoops like Step Therapy.
Unfortunately I'm not able to find anything corroborating this on the Internet. The only thing I can find is the ACA's continuity of care provision which allows you to keep seeing a specific doctor if you're in the middle of active treatment. Our company's "Health Advocate" also only knew about that rule and didn't have any advice for getting continuing prescription coverage.
Has anyone here successfully gotten insurance coverage based on this rule? What was the process for making the request? Were there particular terms or key words that you used in your appeal?

Bluetooth speaker market is anticipated to grow at a considerable CAGR of 11.5% during the forecast period. This informative Bluetooth Speaker Market report provides new method and covers foremost regions such as Latin America, Middle East, North America, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific. Making most out of the consumer insights and market opportunities, market players can boost up the revenue rate of their business. It also permits key organizations to make communication with customers and know their demands for making right investment in the product development. By increasing the product portfolio by referring the important market data provided in this Bluetooth Speaker Market research report, key players can grow and expand their business forward. Continuously developing customer demands are also described in this global report to help new entrants make required changes in the final product launch and then bring into the market. It becomes easy for key players to prioritize the demands and requirements of target audience and have complete understanding of end-user experience with the help of this Bluetooth Speaker Market study report.
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Industry forecasting is performed to present in-depth understanding of industry tactics. A clear picture on current and upcoming market happenings are provided in this report. Critical factors are highlighted in this Bluetooth Speaker Market study report for enabling business owners take important decision making in terms of decide on the right business doing ideas. Moreover, it aims at offering forthcoming improvements, market restraints and market drivers for the forecast period 2022-2028. It assists novel firms to retain their place in the market. Prioritized market info is discussed through this detailed Bluetooth Speaker Market
This Market report predicts novel product introduction will bring drop in sales or growth in sales. Such an illustrative Bluetooth Speaker Market report enables major firm to stay reorganized on the most current trends and offers best idea about overall demand for particular product offering. Through this global report, it is also possible to acquire a competitive edge. All the COVID-19 related information is covered in this Bluetooth Speaker Market study report along with its major impact of globe’s major firms. It makes easy the work of key players and enables to take data-driven and beneficial decision in terms of making best investments, which techniques to apply and marketing budget of different products. It has many advantages to provide for available or novel services, product and brands. Methodologies captured in this market study report enable central participants to attain the best results to the specific business aims as well as challenges. Getting fast customer feedback is easy with this market study report.
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· Market Coverage
· Market number available for – 2023-2029
· Base year- 2022
· Forecast period- 2023-2029
· Segment Covered- By Source, By Product Type, By Applications
· Competitive Landscape- Archer Daniels Midland Co., Ingredion Inc., Kerry Group Plc, Cargill
· Inc., and others
Market Segmentation
Global Bluetooth Speaker Market by Type
o Wireless
o Wired
Global Bluetooth Speaker Market by Application
o Residential
o Commercial
Regional Analysis
o North America
o US
o Canada
o Europe
o UK
o Germany
o Italy
o Spain
o France
o Rest of Europe
o Asia-Pacific
o China
o India
o Japan
o South Korea
o Rest of Asia-Pacific
o Rest of the World
Company Profiles
o Altec Lansing
o Anker Innovations Technology Co., Ltd.
o Apple, Inc.
o Bose Corp.
o Jvckenwood Corp.
o Koninklijke Philips NV
o LG Electronics Inc.
o Logitech
o Onkyo Corp.
o Panasonic Holdings Corp.
o Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
o Sony Corp.
o SoundBot
o Yamaha Corp.
o Zebronics India Pvt. Ltd.
The Report Covers-
​

• Market value data analysis for 2023 and forecast to 2030.
• Annualized market revenues ($ million) for each market segment.
• Country-wise analysis of major geographical regions.
• Key companies operating in the global Bluetooth speaker market. Based on the availability of data, information related to new product launches and relevant news is also available in the report.
• Analysis of business strategies by identifying the key market segments positioned for strong growth in the future.
• Analysis of market entry and market expansion strategies.
• Competitive strategies by identifying ‘who stands where’ in the market.

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If you had watched Apple's WWDC keynote (link), you might have realized the lack of mention of the term "AI". This is in complete contrast to what happened recently at events of other Big Tech companies, such as Google I/O.
It turns out that there wasn't even a single mention of the term "AI". No, not even once.
The technology was referred to, of course, but always in the form of “machine learning” — a more sedate and technically accurate description.
Apple took a different route and instead of highlighting AI as the omnipotent force, they pointed to the features that they've developed using the technology. Here's a list of the ML/AI features that Apple unveiled:

1. Improved Autocorrect on iOS 17: Apple introduced an enhanced autocorrect feature, powered by a transformer language model. This on-device machine learning model improves autocorrection and sentence completion as users type. (link)
2. Personalized Volume Feature for AirPods: Apple announced this feature that uses machine learning to adapt to environmental conditions and user listening preferences. (link)
3. Enhanced Smart Stack on watchOS: Apple upgraded its Smart Stack feature to use machine learning to display relevant information to users. (link)
4. Journal App: Apple unveiled this new app that employs on-device machine learning to intelligently curate prompts for users.
5. 3D Avatars for Video Calls on Vision Pro: Apple showcased advanced ML techniques for generating 3D avatars for video calls on the newly launched Vision Pro. (link)
6. Transformer-Based Speech Recognition: Apple announced a new transformer-based speech recognition model that improves dictation accuracy using the Neural Engine.
7. Apple M2 Ultra Chip: Apple unveiled this chip with a 32-core Neural Engine, which is capable of performing 31.6 trillion operations per second and supports up to 192GB of unified memory. This chip can train large transformer models, demonstrating a significant leap in AI applications. (link)

Unlike its rivals, who are building bigger models with server farms, supercomputers, and terabytes of data, Apple wants AI models on its devices. On-device AI bypasses a lot of the data privacy issues that cloud-based AI faces. When the model can be run on a phone, then Apple needs to collect less data in order to run it.
It also ties in closely with Apple’s control of its hardware stack, down to its own silicon chips. Apple packs new AI circuits and GPUs into its chips every year, and its control of the overall architecture allows it to adapt to changes and new techniques.
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