March/April 1519
The Italian War of 1515-1516 and its consequences have been disastrous for the county of Cremona and its people. Much like in several of the previous conflicts in Lombardy, Cremona was bitterly contested by the French and Imperial armies, having been the victim of a lengthy Imperial siege in 1515 and a much shorter French siege in 1516. The results were devastating, and the scars of the sieges were still readily apparent when Francesco Maria arrived in the city in late 1517.
Though he meant to spend the beginning of 1518 helping to heal these scars, God had other plans. The treason of the Gonzaga of Mantua revealed at the Trial of Cesena, and the following declaration of war by Pope Leo X turned Francesco Maria’s attentions from peace to war. By March, he was already in the field.
Before long, the campaign year settled into a siege. Sieges are long, plodding affairs, leaving Francesco Maria with an abundance of downtime between directing engineers and commenting on maps of proposed trenches. Throughout the year, a flurry of letters flew between his camp and Cremona, managing and directing the repair of his new city from afar. In time, he hopes that these repairs and reforms will build Cremona into the wealthiest of his many possessions.

Prevosto dei Mercanti di Cremona

Among the first reforms introduced by the new Count of Cremona is the creation of a new bureaucratic position, the Provost of the Merchants. Largely copied from the institution introduced in the city of Milan in 1509, the Provost is an official appointed by the Count of Cremona, bearing responsibility for overseeing public works, provisioning the city, collecting taxes, and managing Cremona’s canal network. He is assisted in this task by four assessors, who are nominated by the Count, but approved by a majority vote in Cremona’s city council (of which the Count is the leading member, but by no means the only powerbroker).
With the creation of this new position, Francesco Maria has appointed a loyal administrator from La Marche as Provost, while filling the assessor positions with local notables (a mix of local nobles and upwardly-mobile merchants). To ensure that they have the proper facilities available to them to complete their tasks, he has designated Palazzo Cittanova as their permanent headquarters.
Fixing the Navigli
Like much of Lombardy, Cremona is host to a series of complex, interconnected canals they criss-cross both the city and the province. These canals (the navili in the local dialect) are used for both navigation--allowing Padane trade direct access to workshops and warehouses throughout the city--and agriculture--the various canals bring irrigation water from the Adda and Oglio throughout the county, making it some of the most productive farmland in Italy.
The successive sieges of Cremona caused extensive damage to the navili. The besiegers--first Austrians, then French--regularly diverted the navili to supply fresh water to their siege camps and deny it to the city. Within the city proper, collapsed buildings and sunken ships had clogged narrower portions of the navili, while other sections had been intentionally dammed off to build reservoirs for firefighting or drinking. While the worst of the damage had been repaired since the war ended, the navili were still operating well below their full capacity, causing serious economic damage to the city and its inhabitants.
Addressing this persisting damage is the first task facing the new Prevost--one that is likely to earn near-universal support in Cremona.
Repairing the Walls
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the walls of Cremona were devastated by the successive sieges of the last war. The brutal eleven week Austrian siege of 1515 in particular destroyed large sections of the walls--part of why the French siege in 1516 was so much quicker. While the walls are more-or-less functional at the moment, with earthen palisades protecting those portions that were breached in the two sieges, they still leave much to be desired. As the southeasternmost city of French Milan, it is more likely than not that Cremona will see yet more sieges in the future. Thus, it is critically important that the city’s defenses be brought back into working order, and that they be upgraded to ensure the success of future defenses of the city.
Recognizing the strategic importance of Cremona to maintaining France’s presence in Milan, the Duke Philippe’s regency council has authorized the Count of Cremona to renovate the walls of his city. To this end, France has transferred its best and brightest military engineers (many of whom have already had experience upgrading the walls of other Lombard cities, such as Novara, Asti, Milan, Pavia, Lodi, Bergamo, and Crema), and agreed to fund the upgrades (M: we’re waiting to see what the cost is to work this out). The planned upgrades will introduce modern defensive innovations to the walls, such as reinforcing bastions to allow for enfilade fire and earthen ditches and glacis to protect the base of the walls from cannon fire. Furthermore, the Castello di Santa Croce, the castle and ducal residence on the western edge of Cremona, will be upgraded to bring it in line with modern defensive works (M: I’m not sure how much of the historic upgrades occurred--I’m mostly just looking to make it so that the OTL 1503 fortifications and 1520 fortifications are built with these upgrades). Upgrades and renovations will be managed by the Provost of the Merchants.
Now Entering/Exiting Milan
Cremona’s position is not just strategically important, but economically important. Built just a few miles east of the confluence of the Po and the Adda, Cremona is the first major Milanese city along the Po (Casalmaggiore notwithstanding), making it the first port-of-call for Padane shipping moving into French Milan (or even Savoy--the Po flows all the way to Turin), or the last port-of-call for shipping moving towards the Adriatic. Put simply: just about every vessel moving into or out of Milan will pass by Cremona at some point. This makes Cremona ideally situated for two things, which are mutually beneficial and, in the right circumstances, very lucrative.
The first is taxation. By decree of the Duke of Milan, Cremona will henceforth be a mandatory port-of-call for merchants wishing to enter French Milan via the Po. In order to continue along the Po, merchant vessels will first have to stop at Cremona, where they will have to pay customs duties on the goods they are importing into French territory, as well as a per capita toll on their crew. Once the duties have been paid, the ship’s captain will then be provided proper documentation for his goods and sent on his merry way. Further tolls may be collected along the river--particularly if the ship means to make use of the navigli--but the customs documents will be valid from Cremona to Milan to Turin.
The second is trade. As the first major French port on the Po, Cremona is well-suited to operate as an entrepôt for imports to and exports from Milan. Merchants, looking to save themselves time by avoiding a full trip along the Po, might instead look to offload their goods at Cremona (and pick up goods for their return trip). Others might be looking to transfer their goods to different sized vessels (smaller if they are continuing onto the Po tributaries or the navigli, larger if they are heading towards the Adriatic), or onto numerous different vessels (say, if a spice merchant from Venice wants to send his product to Crema, Pavia, Milan, and Turin). More entrepreneurially-minded local merchants might even try to profit from the arbitrage opportunity introduced by the new customs rates, which are lower for French and Milanese merchants than their foreign counterparts, by buying up foreign (usually Venetian) goods and selling them in French Milan at a profit.
In any case, for Cremona to fulfill this purpose, there is a need for new infrastructure within the city--something that the Count is all too eager to provide. With funds from his own treasury, Francesco Maria will be building a series of warehouses, guest houses and trading posts both near Cremona’s waterfront and further into the city, dotted along its canal network. The largest of these warehouses, dubbed the Fondaco dei Veneto (literally, the warehouse of the Venetians) will be conveniently situated close to the Po. Built in the style of a Venetian fondaco, with high arches, waterfront access, and living quarters above the ground floor, this trading post will specifically cater to Venetian merchants, giving them a safe place to store, buy, and sell their wares while enjoying the comfort of a hot meal and a good night’s rest. All while paying the Count for the services provided, of course!
By mandating that merchant vessels stop at Cremona to pay duties on imported goods, ships that would previously pass Cremona without stopping will have to spend some amount of time in the city’s port. With this in mind, traffic is expected to increase considerably. Thus, it is imperative that ships are moved as quickly and efficiently through Cremona’s port as possible. To this end, Francesco Maria has announced the construction of a new customs house in the port district of Cremona, the Palazzo dei Mercanti, a two-story building intended to function as the administrative headquarters of the new customs system. In search of a leading Italian architect to design the building, Francesco Maria has invited noted pupil of Raphael (who arrived in Milan in 1517 Lorenzetto. Should he fail to retain Lorenzetto’s services, invitations will then be sent to local Lombard architect and pupil of Bramante Antonio da Lonate and, failing that, Girolama Genga, who Francesco Maria has hired several times in the past.
Collecting customs duties, managing the city’s primary customs house, and operating the Count’s network of warehouses and trade posts will all be under the purview of the Provost of the Merchants.
Attracting Investment
Despite its strategic position on the Po and fertile farmland, Cremona is… strangely devoid of economic activity. Francesco Maria is not quite sure why this is (perhaps Venetian merchants and Lombard nobles fled with their wealth when the province was conquered by France?), but the effect is the same: there is an immense opportunity to expand the county’s productivity. Like the rest of Lombardy, Cremona’s farmland is some of the most productive of Europe, and the city’s position on the Po gives it easy access to population centers like Turin, Milan, and Venice.
If the Venetian merchants won’t invest in the province, maybe their Lombard and French counterparts will. The new Provost of the Merchants of Cremona will offer institutional and legal support to subjects of French Milan--that is, French and Lombard merchants, nobles, and clergy--looking to establish new holdings in the city and the county. To help incentivize further investment by Cremona’s nobility and merchant families, Francesco Maria will also consider the willingness of individuals to reinvest in Cremona when making future political appointments in the county--most notably the four assessors of the Provost of the Merchants and the Castellan-Provosts of the Castellany-Provostships of the county.

Castellano-Prevosto di Cremona

Much like the city of Cremona was adversely affected by the sieges of 1515 and 1516, the countryside saw substantial damage. Armies on campaign tend to pick the countryside bare, stealing whatever they can get their hands on (most especially grain and livestock) and killing whoever tries to stop them. As Austrian, French, Venetian, and Bourbon armies criss-crossed the Cremonesi countryside, it was treated no differently. Fields were burned, livestock were slaughtered, storehouses were robbed, and families fled. Though peace has returned once again, the damage remains, and Francesco Maria must address it.
With the exception of the navili, which are governed by the Provost of the Merchants, the countryside of Cremona falls under the direct jurisdiction of the Count and is administered through a series of appointed administrators called Castellan-Provosts. It falls to those Castellans to mete out the Count’s aid and repair the land.
Food for All
The nice thing about farms is that they are largely self-sustaining. With proper stewardship, one harvest yields enough seed for the next, livestock beget livestock, and the farm continues as it always has. The bad thing about farms is that the bulk of farmers do not generate much in the way of surplus value. This means that when looting armies come through, burn fields, slaughter livestock, steal all of your valuables, and otherwise ruin (or end) farmers’ lives, the farmers can struggle to garner the capital necessary to start their lives anew. Such is the case in the countryside of Cremona.
In order to help restore the agricultural wealth of Cremona--the lifeblood of the province--Francesco Maria has authorized the disbursal of additional funds to the Castellan-Provosts, who will distribute these funds to replenish livestock herds and seed stores throughout the County.
Settling Property Disputes
While many farmers return to their fields after a war, some do not--some because they found a new life elsewhere, and others because they died. Ownership disputes over the lands they leave behind are common. Neighbors expand their farms into the abandoned lands while sons, cousins, uncles, brothers-in-law, and people pretending to be those things lay claim to the land of families who died. Sometimes, these competing claims turn violent.
Sifting through these claims and keeping the peace is the duty of the Castellan-Provosts. To help ensure that these legal claims are dealt with quickly and efficiently, Francesco Maria has transferred funds to the Castellan-Provosts to hire additional administrative and legal personnel.
Summary: Francesco Maria is spending money to reduce devastation throughout Cremona. A new administrative position, the Provost of the Merchants of Cremona (mirroring the Provost of the Merchants implemented in Milan in 1509) is tasked with repairing the canal system of the province, while the Castellan-Provosts who administer the countryside will be given additional financial support to repair the county’s agricultural production. Furthermore, with support from the Duke of Milan, Cremona’s walls will be repaired and upgraded.
The Duke of Milan has also designated the city of Cremona as the official customs hub for imports entering the Duchy of Milan. While the rates will be set by the Duke, the Count of Cremona (through the Provost of the Merchants of Cremona) is responsible for collecting those customs, which are intended to protect French and Lombard merchants in Milan from foreign (mostly Venetian) competition. Hoping to profit off of this new importance of Cremona for trade along the Po, Francesco Maria has also authorized the construction of a new customs house and trade hub within the city.
Moderation required:

• Price for reducing devastation in Cremona (4A1) and the unnamed neighboring province (4A2) through repairing the canal system and rebuilding the rural farm economy
  
• Price for rebuilding and upgrading Cremona’s (4A1) defenses (which will be shared with France--let me know what the cost ends up being, and I’ll let you know what the payment split will be)
  
• Price for building a trade hub (or fondachi?) holding in Cremona (4A1)
  
• Resolution for building customs house in Cremona (need to know which of Lorenzetto, Antonio da Lonate, and Girolama Genga accepts the Duke’s offer to design the building; cost for the construction; and also what mechanical effects it will have. Not sure if this should be a holding like the sound dues, a staple port holding, a tax efficiency increase for Cremona, or what--open to discussion)
  
• How successful is Francesco Maria’s call for investment in Cremona (4A1) and the unnamed neighboring province (4A2)? These provinces currently have almost no holdings in them (not counting the city, there are only three holdings between them), so I’m hoping to attract estates to build them out a bit. Not sure what estates are around these parts, but I imagine it’d be stuff like Lombard/Milanese/French merchants/clergy/nobility. Merchant/noble families in the county who make considerable investments will be favored when it comes time for the count to make political appointments in the future (most notably, the assessors of the Provost of the Merchants of Cremona and the Castellan-Provosts of the Castellan-Provostships of the county’s Castellany-Provostships).
  

Hi Folks!
Up for grabs today
☆ Everything is tested on a Sigma Pro
☆ All orders get a free 90% silver bonus and get entered to win a 1oz round (will be drawing monthly, winners announced first post of next month)
☆ Trading: I'm looking for gold or platinum 1/10ths, mostly. I also really like SilverTowne casino chips. If it's not on my list, I might still be interested just hit me up :)

GOLD & PLATINUM

2000-W Bi-metallic Library of Congress - Proof - with all OGP including outer sleeve - This Proof gold & platinum coin is the first gold and platinum bi-metallic coin issued by the US Mint.
☆ Contains 0.2509oz of platinum surrounded by a ring of 0.2509oz gold - Asking $1000, free Priority ship
Closeup and Reverse
~
☆ 2022 Platinum Kook - BU w/capsule - $160 (low mintage)
Closeups and Reverse

BOXED & PACKAGED

2021 Niue Jurassic World 2oz Antiquated with magnetic display, COA, and box - Priced to move at only $200
Closeup and Reverse
~
2021 Niue Chibi - Lord of the Rings series, Gimli - mint condition! - $80
Closeup and Reverse
~
2017 Zombucks Walker Proof - with matching box and packaging. Small tears on top flap of outer packaging - $110
Closeup and Reverse
~
2021 Silver Shield Torus Flower of Life - Proof with box & COA - $90
Closeup and Reverse
~
2021 PAMP Fender 351 Heavy guitar pick - limited edition, 10G sterling, absolute mint condition - $85
Closeup and Reverse
~
1992 Columbus Quincentennial - 1oz Proof with box & COA - $45
Closeup and Reverse

GRADED SLABS

2014 Niue Disney .5oz - Season's Greetings - Colorized - PF69 Ultra Cameo - $90
Closeup and Reverse
~
Palau - Undated Good Luck Casino Set - Green - MS69 - $70
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 Niue - Hogwarts: Dumbledore's Office - MS70 Antiqued - Comes with packaging too - $155
Closeup and Reverse
~
2019-P Tuvalu Laughing Buddha - Solid Jade Insert - Antiqued finish - MS70 - $320 ($70 under comps!)
Closeup and Reverse
~
2023 Chad Black Mamba - 2oz Figure 8 - Antiqued high relief - MS70 - Only 888 made and only two MS70 in existence, both are for sale! - Comes with original boxing too! - $320 each, FREE PRIORITY SHIPPING, priced at MS69 prices! Serial #159 and #160
Closeup and Packaging
🐳 Take both for $600
~
2021-S ASE - MS70 T1 FS EI - $79
2021-P MS69 T1 FS EI - $47
Closeup and Reverse
● Take both silver eagles for only $120!
~
2019 Britannia - Reverse Struck Thru Error - MS69 - $190
Closeup and Reverse
~
2014 Britannia - Lunar Horse Obverse Mule Error - Gem Unc - $95
Closeup and Reverse (which is missing castellation)
~
1/4 Onza PF70 UC - $47
1/4 Double Eagle PF70 UC - $47
1/2 Maple RP70 DCAM (#15 of 259) - $65
Fractional slabs and Reverse
● Take all 3 for $160, shipped!
~
Australian MS70 DCAM Kooks - 2013-P + 2016-P - $50 each
Closeup and Reverse
● Take both for $95, shipped!

FINE SILVER

Hand pours - RCM .9999 shot - Bravo's Coin - End the Fed (new stamp) ripple bar @ 6.4oz ($200) - End The Fed @ 4.9oz ($155) - Fuck The Fed @ 3.7oz ($115) - Weights rounded down, these are fat... scale pics by request.
Closeup
● FREE SHIPPING ON POURS!
~
Monarch - RIP 2021 with wood coffin, number 450 of 999 made - 2ozt - $85
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 Allegories - Germania & Polonia, with the convex airtite - Comes with COA too! - $38, only 2 left available!
2023 Germania Valkyries Ostara, with airtite & COA - $42
Closeup and Reverse

JUNK SILVER

LOT: $10fv 40% Kennedy halves - 8.5x = $85
Closeup
~
LOT: $4.75fv 50% Candian quarters - 12x = $57
Closeup
~
1935 50% Fiji Florin - $12 or add to any order for only $9!
Closeup and Reverse

Payments & Shipping

In order of preference: Zelle, CashApp, Venmo FF, PayPal FF, Google Pay, or BTC.
Shipping is $5 tracked, $10 Priority. I pack items like they're being airdropped into an active war zone and hand deliver fast (same day when possible) to the counter, but insurance is available. Once delivered to USPS, out of my hands. Willing to middleman at buyer's expense.
Everything is priced below comps, let me know if I'm overpriced on anything 😎

DM preferred but can do chat... make sure to leave a comment so I get notified on mobile.

Thanks for looking & have a fantastic day!

Hi Folks!
Up for grabs today
☆ Everything is tested on a Sigma Pro
☆ All orders get a free 90% silver bonus and get entered to win a 1oz round (will be drawing monthly, winners announced first post of next month)
☆ Trading: I'm looking for gold or platinum 1/10ths, mostly. I also really like SilverTowne casino chips. If it's not on my list, I might still be interested just hit me up :)

GOLD & PLATINUM

2000-W Bi-metallic Library of Congress - Proof - with all OGP including outer sleeve - This Proof gold & platinum coin is the first gold and platinum bi-metallic coin issued by the US Mint.
☆ Contains 0.2509oz of platinum surrounded by a ring of 0.2509oz gold - Asking $1000, free Priority ship
Closeup and Reverse
~
☆ 2022 Platinum Kook - BU w/capsule - $160 (low mintage)
Closeups and Reverse

BOXED & PACKAGED

2021 Niue Jurassic World 2oz Antiquated with magnetic display, COA, and box - Priced to move at only $200
Closeup and Reverse
~
2021 Niue Chibi - Lord of the Rings series, Gimli - mint condition! - $80
Closeup and Reverse
~
2017 Zombucks Walker Proof - with matching box and packaging. Small tears on top flap of outer packaging - $110
Closeup and Reverse
~
2021 Silver Shield Torus Flower of Life - Proof with box & COA - $90
Closeup and Reverse
~
2021 PAMP Fender 351 Heavy guitar pick - limited edition, 10G sterling, absolute mint condition - $85
Closeup and Reverse
~
1992 Columbus Quincentennial - 1oz Proof with box & COA - $45
Closeup and Reverse

GRADED SLABS

2014 Niue Disney .5oz - Season's Greetings - Colorized - PF69 Ultra Cameo - $90
Closeup and Reverse
~
Palau - Undated Good Luck Casino Set - Green - MS69 - $70
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 Niue - Hogwarts: Dumbledore's Office - MS70 Antiqued - Comes with packaging too - $155
Closeup and Reverse
~
2019-P Tuvalu Laughing Buddha - Solid Jade Insert - Antiqued finish - MS70 - $320 ($70 under comps!)
Closeup and Reverse
~
2023 Chad Black Mamba - 2oz Figure 8 - Antiqued high relief - MS70 - Only 888 made and only two MS70 in existence, both are for sale! - Comes with original boxing too! - $320 each, FREE PRIORITY SHIPPING, priced at MS69 prices! Serial #159 and #160
Closeup and Packaging
🐳 Take both for $600
~
2021-S ASE - MS70 T1 FS EI - $79
2021-P MS69 T1 FS EI - $47
Closeup and Reverse
● Take both silver eagles for only $120!
~
2019 Britannia - Reverse Struck Thru Error - MS69 - $190
Closeup and Reverse
~
2014 Britannia - Lunar Horse Obverse Mule Error - Gem Unc - $95
Closeup and Reverse (which is missing castellation)
~
1/4 Onza PF70 UC - $47
1/4 Double Eagle PF70 UC - $47
1/2 Maple RP70 DCAM (#15 of 259) - $65
Fractional slabs and Reverse
● Take all 3 for $160, shipped!
~
Australian MS70 DCAM Kooks - 2013-P + 2016-P - $50 each
Closeup and Reverse
● Take both for $95, shipped!

FINE SILVER

Hand pours - RCM .9999 shot - Bravo's Coin - End the Fed (new stamp) ripple bar @ 6.4oz ($200) - End The Fed @ 4.9oz ($155) - Fuck The Fed @ 3.7oz ($115) - Weights rounded down, these are fat... scale pics by request.
Closeup
● FREE SHIPPING ON POURS!
~
Monarch - RIP 2021 with wood coffin, number 450 of 999 made - 2ozt - $85
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 Allegories - Germania & Polonia, with the convex airtite - Comes with COA too! - $38, only 2 left available!
2023 Germania Valkyries Ostara, with airtite & COA - $42
Closeup and Reverse

JUNK SILVER

LOT: $10fv 40% Kennedy halves - 8.5x = $85
Closeup
~
LOT: $4.75fv 50% Candian quarters - 12x = $57
Closeup
~
1935 50% Fiji Florin - $12 or add to any order for only $9!
Closeup and Reverse

Payments & Shipping

In order of preference: Zelle, CashApp, Venmo FF, PayPal FF, Google Pay, or BTC.
Shipping is $5 tracked, $10 Priority. I pack items like they're being airdropped into an active war zone and hand deliver fast (same day when possible) to the counter, but insurance is available. Once delivered to USPS, out of my hands. Willing to middleman at buyer's expense.
Everything is priced below comps, let me know if I'm overpriced on anything 😎

DM preferred but can do chat... make sure to leave a comment so I get notified on mobile.

Thanks for looking & have a fantastic day!

Hey guys, I am posting this for my sister who is pregnant and worried because she saw shave grass was an ingredient in her vitamin D supplement.
Age: 26 Location: Metro Atlanta Diagnoses: Anxiety Weight: 118lb Height: 5'6 Note - she is vegan as well
Current supplements include: Garden of Life Prenatal Multivitamin, Nordic Naturals Algal prenatal DHA, "Needed" brand prenatal choline, Jarrow b12
She sent me the following that she posted elsewhere:
"Hey everyone, I’m 14 weeks pregnant. I have always taken a vitamin D supplement, and I have been taking the same one since before I was pregnant. I didn’t really question it because vitamin d is always recommended, including by my doctor. But the specific supplement I take (supreme Vegan D by Veglife brand) apparently has shavegrass listed in the “other ingredients” category. Shavegrass is not recommended to take in pregnancy. I have stopped this supplement now that I’ve seen that. Should I be concerned about the fact that I had taken it for so long? Or do you guys think that it probably occurs in such small amounts that it’s inconsequential? After all, it’s not listed in the dosage, just an ingredient in the tablet. I’m worried. Has anybody ever taken this while pregnant? I’m waiting on a call back from my dr and I’ve also emailed the manufacturer of the vitamin to find out the exact quantity of the shavegrass/horsetail, but they are closed for the weekend!!"
Thank you for any advice!

Hey guys, I am posting this for my sister who is pregnant and worried because she saw shave grass was an ingredient in her vitamin D supplement.
Age: 26 Location: Metro Atlanta Diagnoses: Anxiety Weight: 118lb Height: 5'6 Note - she is vegan as well
Current supplements include: Garden of Life Prenatal Multivitamin, Nordic Naturals Algal prenatal DHA, "Needed" brand prenatal choline, Jarrow b12
She sent me the following that she posted elsewhere:
"Hey everyone, I’m 14 weeks pregnant. I have always taken a vitamin D supplement, and I have been taking the same one since before I was pregnant. I didn’t really question it because vitamin d is always recommended, including by my doctor. But the specific supplement I take (supreme Vegan D by Veglife brand) apparently has shavegrass listed in the “other ingredients” category. Shavegrass is not recommended to take in pregnancy. I have stopped this supplement now that I’ve seen that. Should I be concerned about the fact that I had taken it for so long? Or do you guys think that it probably occurs in such small amounts that it’s inconsequential? After all, it’s not listed in the dosage, just an ingredient in the tablet. I’m worried. Has anybody ever taken this while pregnant? I’m waiting on a call back from my dr and I’ve also emailed the manufacturer of the vitamin to find out the exact quantity of the shavegrass/horsetail, but they are closed for the weekend!!"
Thank you for any advice!

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 85%. (I'm a bot)

There's money to be made in chaos and the Russian private military contractor known as the Wagner Group knows how to capitalize on it.
The European Union and the United States recently imposed sanctions on Wagner specifically related to its activities across Africa.
Wagner may not be the only private military company contracted by governments in Africa - PMCs from China, South Africa, and the U.S. are known to operate across the continent - but it operates differently and more secretively, said Sergey Sukhankin, a senior fellow with the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
It's not clear what, if any, support Wagner may be providing to either side; Prigozhin denied any involvement in Sudan's internal conflict last month.
Although Wagner has worked closely with the RSF in protecting its gold smuggling operations, Medani said it hasn't necessarily taken a side in the conflict.
Today on Front Burner, she joins guest host Jodie Martinson to explain the evolution, and growing influence, of the Wagner Group in Russia and other parts of the world.

Summary Source FAQ Feedback Top keywords: Wagner^#1 military^#2 Africa^#3 Russia^#4 country^#5
Post found in /worldnews.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.

Foreword: Hi everyone! Be warned that this post was made by someone who A) hasn't done any creative writing outside of mandatory school work and B) has english as their second language Any and all criticism is welcome. Hope you'll like the piece!
The Captain didn't like the assignment when his superiors gave it to him. He started to dislike it even more when his RWR started beeping just after his ship started a retrograde burn to orbit this strange new world. He started disliking it even more when this planet's inhabitants, the Humans, he recalled from his briefing, seemingly started to redirect their artificial satellites to intercept his ship.
He commands the IS Poltergeist, a Ghost class Signal Intelligence vessel. Essentially a small freighter that, instead of cargo, carries an assortment of the best and most sensitive electronic intelligence gathering equipment that money could buy this side of the Milky way. Their task is to monitor the Human's planet, Earth, for any actionable intelligence and, more importantly, to make sure that nothing gets to the rest of the fleet parked in geosynchronous orbit of this Earth's moon without them knowing. The biggest plus is that you usually get to stay away far from the fighting, however, when things get tough, you can rely only on your speed and maneuverability because the ship doesn't have any PD, and since they were already low on fuel and had to do a whole lot of dodging on top of that, they were essentially helpless
The small Imperial fleet numbering less than half a dozen vessels arrived in the system 2 weeks ago after an explorer vessel reported that it found out signs of intelligent life in the system. The commander of this expedition was a young Prince of a small kingdom integrated within the Imperium determined to prove himself as a warrior and as most, if not all, of his kind was rash and hot headed. He decided that a planetary raid was the best course of action, against the advice of every senior officer in the fleet. He led his men personally to the surface. The raid ended after about a day on the surface, when an artillery shell landed about 5 meters from the Prince's tent and heavily wounded him. The Prince's second in command ordered immediate evacuation. They left behind nearly 200 dead and brought with them about 400 wounded. The Captain was glad that he and his crew got to sit that one out. He knew that a lightly armed marine raiding force going against a proper ground combat element wouldn't end nice. Now they were stuck in the system because the doctors didn't want to risk killing the half dead Prince by travelling in FTL and because the insolence of attacking an Imperial aristocrat had to be punished...
Lieutenant Clark, like everybody on Earth, was gripped by a mix of shock and excitement when it was revealed that an alien fleet was confirmed to be en route to his home planet. When the Aliens made planetfall and started killing people, all those feeling turned to anger, even if they landed far away from Clark's homeland. The Aliens swiftly started to evacuate once the local military started to rain hell on the Alien HQ, courtesy of their big guns. Some of the evacuating Alien transports were then shot down by either air defense batteries or fighter jets. Once the dust has settled, people far smarter than Clark were quickly able to decipher the Alien language enough to understand that the force they fought of was only a relatively small raiding party and that the Aliens would be back. In that moment, the entire world mobilized, and that included the transfer of lieutenant Clark to an experimental fighter wing.
As it turns out, the goverment procured a small number of anti-satellite missiles in the 1980s. The project was publicly scraped because of cost overruns and the ethics of leaving behind giant clouds of space debris with every weapon test, however the idea was never completely thrown out the window, and a new and improved missile had it's first few prototypes completed just a few months before the Aliens came. Someone thought that the Aliens would easily detect and shoot down a big ICBM launching at them, and so they decided that something smaller, like a stealth fighter jet armed with this new missile would more easily evade radar detection and interception. And lieutenant Clark was the person to fire this new missile when they came back. The theory is simple; pre-programm the target into the missile on the ground, initiate a steep zoom climb while aiming roughly at the target and the missile will automatically launch at an altitude of around 12 kilometers. Turning that theory into practice meant spending about 10 hours every day on simulator so that Clark and his colleagues would get the procedure right every time they tried.
When the space agencies of the world detected a lone Alien ship burning to orbit Earth, they aimed practically every radar they could on it. World leaders already decided on a course of action, they ordered satellites on orbits near the Alien vessel to crash into it. The Aliens dogded, but didn't defend themselves in any other way, which was seen as a good sign. When no attempts at communication were detected from the ship, the order to shoot it down was given.
"Lieutenant Clark to briefing room 4!" the voice sounded on the base's public announcement system. Clark knew it was his moment to shine. The plan was what they rehearsed a hundred times over the course of the last few days. Clark with his stealth jet would fire the anti-satellite missile, while two other planes would provide jamming support so that any attempt to intercept the missile wouldn't succeed. They would be doing this over the ocean, so they would be accompanied by an AWACS so that command would know what's happening. Before the pilots left the room, their aircraft were fueled and ready and Clark's missile already knew it's target.
The Captain was nervous, but he knew he couldn't show it to his small crew. It was only him, his XO, the pilot, the radar operator, three SIGINT gathering operators and an agent from the Imperial Intelligence Agency, from the First Contact Detachment. He didn't like spies, even if they didn't call themselves that, because they usually meant trouble, and this time was no different. He walked to the pilot's console and saw that their fuel reserves were dangerously low, and the Humans haven't stopped trying to intercept them with their satellites. He saw the RWR indicator light still flashing, however they turned off the sound long ago, would have turned crazy already if they didn't. They periodically deployed chaff, but it was essentially useless against having every radar capable of it turned on them. He then glanced at the map showing their orbit relative to the surface, seeing that they were just entering space above an ocean.
"Contact!" shouted the radar operator. "Two unkown contacts coming up from the surface. They are getting stronger, marking as Bogey one and two." The Captain looked at the radar screen with dread as, at first, the two bogeys were marked as weak signals, then strong, and then, what can be only described as a sea of new contacts of different sizes, strenghts and types, flooded the screen. "All men to battle stations! Seal your vac-suits!" screamed the Captain across the cockpit. Everyone, with the exception of the agent, who rarely found himself on a ship, knew that they were being jammed and what that meant. "Pilot, prepare maneuvering thrusters and deploy chaff!" ordered the Captain, focusing his sight on the radar screen. He knew that once the enemy weapon was close enough, their radar would burn through the jamming and they would be able, the universe willing, to dodge it.
"New artificial satellite on collision course, marking as SAT-37." said the radar operator. The pilot looked at his console and then at the Captain. "Permission to dogde?" he said, his voice shaking. He saw that with the amount of fuel they had, they either dodge the satellite, or the enemy weapon. The Captain looked at the map of the planetary system. He reckoned that if they dodged, they would need to orbit this Earth for another 40 minutes before they would be able to do what the Humans would call a Trans-Lunar injection and join the rest of the fleet, with the amount of fuel they had. "Permission granted" the Captain calmly answered. He would rather die to an enemy than to a bunch of scrap metal.
"Jester lead to all flights, initiating jamming, the field is your's Devil. Jester lead out."
"Understood, Jester lead. Devil out." said lieutenant Clark. He pulled the plane's joystick towards himself, putting the aircraft into a steep climb. The attack was timed flawlessly. They managed to aim another satellite at the Alien ship, meaning they will be busy dodging it and not the missile. He had the ship's position marked on his helmet's HUD, now it was only a matter of keeping it in his plane's gunsight long enough for the missile to fire. Clark now experienced the tiniest bit of doubt; will the single missile be enough? Enough to show them that they aren't untouchable, he thought. Seeing just a small piece of debris from the Alien ship fall to the Earth would be a huge morale boost to everyone, and Clark didn't doubt the power of motivation. At 39 000 feet, the missile launched automatically, and Clark let his plane first level off, and then descent. His comrades from Jester flight will need to continue to climb for a little while longer, to support the missile with jamming.
Just before the missile launched, it activated it's infrared seeker. It started to scan with this "eye" around the area where it expected it's target. It found it with the Ghost class's large aft radiators, designed to dissipate heat from the expansive electronic and computer systems found onboard. It momentarily considered locking onto the satellite thrown at the ship, however the flight computer chose the bigger and hotter target. About 10 kilometers out, it detached it's warhead, an 18 kilogram tungsten slug travelling at a speed of 6,6 kilometers per second. About 2 seconds later, the projectile hit it's mark. The Poltergeist's light armor gave way, and the slug penetrated the whole ship through and through. Unfortunately for the ship, it penetrated one of the fuel tanks with some fuel in it. The hole, acting as a makeshift thruster, started squirting fuel out of it and putting the ship into a spin while also slowing it down. This was prominent enough that the ship got put on a lower orbit, meaning that the increased drag from the atmosphere would aerobrake the ship little by little, until it deorbited.
When the contact corresponding to the enemy missile appeared on the radar scream, the only thing on the Captain's mind was shouting: "Brace for impact!" The Human missile hit the Poltergeist about 3 seconds later, and put the ship into a noticable and immediate spin. "Damage report!" shouted the XO. The pilot looked at his damage control instruments and replied: "Aft radiators hit, looks like it went all the through, we're leaking air and fuel into the void, 3 out of 8 aft maneuvering thrusters not responding, we lost a lot of the intelligence gathering equipment. We're also heavily spinning. The flight computer just updated our orbit. Looks like we'll deorbit in about 4 orbits."
The Captain, shaken but happy that they just didn't die there and then, spoke: "Abandon ship, get to the escape pod, we're done here." The crew then went through the procedure of destroying code books and any and all classified material. The Intelligence Agency agent, seemingly a big patriot, protested the abandonment of the ship and said that they couldn't do that to the injured Prince. He shut up when the XO told him he can stay behind and burn up in the atmosphere when the ship deorbits in a couple of hours. Once everyone was in the escape pod, luckily they had a variant able to survive atmospheric entry, they launched towards Earth. They landed in the ocean and were found by a military vessel. They had to be guarded and kept in isolation because a lot of the sailors "just wanted to ask questions".
On his way home lieutenant Clark had to be refueled by a tanker aircraft. When he landed and parked his aircraft, he got surrounded by a crowd of cheering aircrew and base personnel. The sergeant helping him out of his plane spoke to him: "That was one for the history books, sir!"
"Agreed, sergeant, agreed." He even saw someone walking to his plane with a bucket of paint and a stencil of a stereotypical UFO. Clark managed to get a medal and be promoted to Captain because of the whole ordeal. Most importanly for him, his callsign changed to the callsign of his solo flight: Devil. Because only the Devil could take a fight with an Alien ship and walk away unscathed.

Hi! I recently received teaching offers at 2 schools, one in Dalian (right by Golden Pebble Beach) and one in Beijing (nw suburb near the Summer Palace) and struggling to decide which to pick.
Beijing: 25k salary + 7k housing. The school seems awesome, but the location isn’t great. My fiancés school will be an hour long commute probably (unless we can reliably use bike sharing apps, because hers is in a weird part of Haidian with no subway stations). We just don’t want to spend our entire two years stuck in a metro.
Dalian: 23k with no housing. The big pro to this one is being in a beach city and my fiancé has an offer that is 20ish mins away from my school in Kaifuqu. We are worried about getting bored in Dalian, though, due to its small size.
Any long time China expats (or locals) that could chime in and provide a bit of insight here?

So..I’ll be talking about how I can’t seem to make any true friends despite treating everyone well. By true friends, I mean friends I can open up and show my ugliest side to comfortably, friends I can truly call a bestie/close friend. A little context: I’m 17f, studying in poly whereas my sec sch friends are all in JCs.
P.s Idk why I suddenly turned to Reddit, but I guess it’s because I dh a community to open up to,, btw it’s my first time making a tread/post or wtv this is because I’ve only ever used Reddit for exam answers LOL and ironically,, it’s my bday. I’m not too sure who will read this or how the Reddit algorithm works, but it’s nice to get this off my chest anyhow.
To start off, what made me question my friendship is, well, my bday >.< Hear me out! Usually, I would try to give my close friends the best experience for their bday. In sec sch, I had many friends and maybe 2-3 cliques (everyone are friends actly), but only 2 ppl were considered close. Let’s name them person A and B.
I’ve always spent arnd an hr crafting long msgs (about 500 words) for them, expressing my heartfelt emotions and gratefulness towards them. This year, I planned to celebrate person A’s bday w her mom. (I texted her mom to ask her if they were going out on her bday, I told her to keep it a secret that we would be giving her a bday surprise at her hse etc) I gathered afew other friends to share the cost of buying her the bday cake and her gifts, and managed to get some of them to join me on her bday. Everyth turned out well and the day ended on a good note. Person A’s birthday is after mine, so I haven’t done anything for her yet. When it came to my bday (today), I expected them to be the first ones wishing me happy bday (I always make sure to wish them at 12am sharp, waiting in WhatsApp when it’s 11:58pm), but to my dismay the person who waited for 12am and wished me on the dot was a new friend I made from a school event, someone I’m not even that close to. Person A wished 30mins later, while person B wished 90mins later. Not only that, person A simply sent a voice recording saying she started recording at 11:58pm, and the voice recording was less than 3mins, with most of it being filler words and silence since she don’t usually do voice recordings (she decided to do it this time since I usually send msgs via voice recordings). Person B wrote a few lines of msg which I can tell is very last minute. It’s the first year all 3 of us are in different schools, which is all the more reason why I kind of need thag assurance that we’re still close but it already seems like we’re drifting.
My dad told me via text, I’ll just copy and paste “Everybody comes and goes, u will meet many more friends. But honestly, most of them won’t be true friends. In the end, family is the best. Cos I feel u will be in the same shoes as me…we excel to network with more ppl and be like king among them so they won’t be long term with us unless they need us. That sucks but that’s life. U will feel it and understand what I mean as u reach my level… or maybe u already beginning to feel, but I may be wrong. Rem what u do for others not necessarily they will reciprocate, that’s why u need to learn to do it without expecting them to treat you back as well or even do anything for you. Like the money I lend some is to close friends also now they disappear and rather hide from me then pay me and continue to be my buddy … Lol…But they around u to take advantage (sometimes) That’s why don’t overdo for your friends” Don’t mind his English lol, but while I do strive for excellence in my academics and personal growth, I also make it a point to treat everyone around me with respect and kindness. I guess I do expect people to reciprocate sometimes, but I always get disappointed.
Let me introduce person C. This guy is my neighbour, and we met on ML (yes mobile legends, but I quit alr). Apparently he found me via the location service which was actually creepy at first, but I learnt that he’s actually a nice guy. In fact, he’s the first person I’ve ever opened up so much to, I can confidently say he’s the one who knows me most, more than my friends in school, more than my family. Over our 3 years of rising from epic to mythical glory fighting for supreme titles in ml (brody player slay! actually I play assassins more but had brody and guinevere surpremes lol), we’ve made new friends together, grew our little social circle together and participated in tournaments with these new friends. Through these experiences we’ve talked a lot and got real close, and he actually confessed to me at one point in time but I turned him down. He seemed fine w it tho, we continued playing and having htht after that. It was until O lvls that I decided to sell my ml acc because I decided that it was taking up too much of my time, and so I did. I know that if I look back in the future, I’ll come to regret the hours I spent on ml when I could’ve spent that time learning a new skill or improving my studies and whatnot. When this happened, person C was very sad and he felt that we had nothing we could talk about anym since we usually bonded over ml. I suggested a swap to a low maintenance rs since we were practically talking to each other everyday, through voice calls or ml voice chats. However he started to bluetick me and didn’t reply my msgs when I told him about my new braces, which was an ordeal we were both supposed to go through tgt since he got Invisalign at shortly before I got braces, and I did discuss with him about this as well. He also didn’t wish me happy bday tdy, while I wished him and bought bbt for him on his bday. Hais… it feels like I’m losing a great friend now, and it rlly makes me question if I even have any true friends.
I get that person A is busy since she’s from RI but it’s holiday now so there should at least be some effort right…especially when we don’t have video calls everyday to do math together anymore. We really don’t chat as much as last year. But it’s only been one year, yet we’re alr drifting. Usually I’m the one initiating meetups and I tried to encourage them to do the same. I do see them putting in some effort but afterwards it was back to me again. Sometimes I wonder if this friendship is worth saving? But I really do treasure them, it just seems like they aren’t as devoted as I am to our fs. I actually have a person D, E and F but I think knowing the above is enough for y’all to get my situation :” I’m a very sensitive person which might be the problem here but still 🥹😭

It started during Covid like I’m sure it has for many others, but I think the seeds of my alcoholism and depression were planted well before then. Covid just gave me the opportunity to realize and reflect that my life is headed nowhere except, perhaps, to an early grave.
The story starts about a year into what has been the longest relationship of my life. We met in April 2018 and I fell in her love with her, and I still feel the same, but something’s changed within me that’s not allowing me to find happiness anymore in my life. I could probably write a novel about my experience of being a caretaker to someone with brain cancer, but I’ll try to spare you of all the details as this will already be lengthy.
When we met, we were in our early thirties. Well, she was in her early thirties. I was in my mid-thirties. We were young, at least younger than we are now. We were vibrant and full of energy. She told me early in the relationship that she had what’s called an anaplastic ependymoma, a rare type a brain cancer. It was obviously important to her to let me know that she had this medical condition, as I’m sure it would scare off some romantic partners. Now at the time and on the surface, you wouldn’t have been able to tell she had cancer. But it didn’t scare me away as I simply asked, “Well, you’re not going anywhere, are you?” She said no and that was enough for me to continue with the relationship.
She moved into my house about 5 months into the relationship and about a month later I got a phone call while I was on a business trip telling me that the tumour had grown and that she was going to receive a procedure called a laser ablation. Up until that point in my life when she first told me, cancer was very foreign to me in the sense that I hadn’t experienced living with a loved one that had any form of cancer.
Over the years, we’ve endured so many surgeries. I couldn’t even count the amount she’s had anymore. We went through laser ablations, craniotomies, stereotactic radiosurgeries, compounded with treatment after treatment, chemotherapies, and immunization therapies.
In December 2019, she again had a reoccurrence. The Oncology and Neurosurgeon teams advised that another craniotomy was the best route to go. Unfortunately, after this one, she lost mobility on the left side of her body rendering her hemiplegic because of where the little fucking bastard grows. She spent about a little over a month recovering in an inpatient rehab facility. I would often stay the night to keep her company and sleep on what I would describe as the stiffest and starchiest couch I have ever sat on in my life. When she was released, we returned home and she began outpatient rehab therapy and, we as the supportive couple that we are, really focused in on getting her able to walk again and eating healthy. Of course, by this time Covid brought the whole fucking world to a screaming halt and I had ample time to assist in her recovery.
And wouldn’t you know it! We accomplished our goal. She never has, nor will she ever again have full mobility, but with the assistance of an AFO (Ankle/Foot Orthotic) she was able to walk well enough, but not very fast or very long distances. So we planned a trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and it was spectacular! Even though it wasn’t always easy getting around, we managed and created some of the happiest moments of my life together. I think my favourite was pulling her around Mackinaw Island using a rickshaw. However, right before our trip, she went in for an MRI. Once again, the fucking asshole had to rear its ugly little head back into our lives, not that it ever left, but it would have been nice to have kept it from growing again so fast. So we set an appointment for yet another craniotomy to be performed in June 2020.
And I think that this was the time when things started to get really, really bad for me. I just remember coming home after the surgery while she recovered in the ICU with a 12 pack of Two Hearted Ale and just started crying and I couldn’t stop. For hours and hours on end, I just cried. Anyway, there were setbacks, but not quite on the same level as the December 2019 surgery. She returned home and continued with outpatient rehab and, some short time after, we learned about a clinical trial being performed at the NIH in Bethesda, MD.
Here we go! Hopefully, this is our golden ticket, and we can be rid of this thing once and for all. Due to Covid, I had the time on my hands to accompany her back and forth to the NIH, however, for her to receive the treatment, we would have to travel 3 weeks a month, every month until the completion of the trial.
I remember my eyes welling up from the commitment we had to make and thinking, ‘this is my life now.’ And that may sound selfish to you. And you might be right, but I knew in that moment, I had lost control of my own life knowing that I would have to sacrifice my wants, needs, and desires for someone else who just simply wants to live. The experience was mentally, emotionally, and financially draining, but it was worth it in the end to keep that hope alive. My girlfriend became friends with another girl there. She really makes friends everywhere she goes. Her new friend had Acute Myeloid Leukemia and, unfortunately, she passed away and I know that was especially hard. So from July 2020 to December 2020, we travelled back and forth to Maryland until the clinical trial was deemed a failure. All the while, I’m drinking more and more, and my mood and behaviour is becoming increasingly more erratic.
From 2021 through 2022, not much had changed. That is to say - it was more of the same. Doctors; surgeons; beer cans are piling up. She did get three elective surgeries. Two for a club foot release and a tendon release on her wrist, which are residual side effects from the number of surgeries she has had on her brain. In October 2022, another laser ablation.
Now we’re in January 2023. The surgical scar from the ablation did not heal properly. The skin on the top of her scalp had been stretched so thin that you could see the titanium screws implanted in her head. The Neurosurgeon team told us that when hardware is visibly exposed as in this case, they must treat it as if there were an infection. The plan of action is to, once again, perform surgery in the form of a skin graft removing all the hardware, cleaning up the infection, and replacing it with unaffected hardware. It was close to a 12 hour surgery and all I could think about was escaping to get a beer.
We currently learned that there’s been regrowth once again. Due to the elective surgeries and the skin graft procedure, she’s been off any form of treatment for some time now, so it really didn’t come as a surprise to us. However, instead of surgery, the Oncologist recommends she returns to treatment by means of chemotherapy and a drug called Avastin, which is an anti-angiogenic that targets the source of tumour and in theory cuts off the blood supply feeding the little fucker. However, my girlfriend feels she wants to continue with another surgery on her foot because of the discomfort, which would prevent her from going on treatment and would result in another craniotomy. And over the past week, this sent me over the edge.
I understand that this is her choice. However, the route she’s decided to take has caused me so much stress and anxiety. I mean just scheduling an MRI causes me to have PTSD. I told her that I cannot handle another surgery. We went through 5 surgeries in 8 months including the skin graft operation.
And this is the part that sucks. I think we’re finished. There’s too many stressors in my life that’s causing me to repeat a vicious cycle. I’m tired of pretending to be strong while crying in shadows. Do I get help from anyone? Not as much as her immediate family should. The father lives out of state and the mother thinks she’s a martyr for buying her a $7 gyro. As much as I love her and will always love her, I can’t do it anymore. I’ve sacrificed my happiness for her health and it’s honestly going to kill me. She told me I should go to therapy. I didn’t listen. I should have gone to therapy because now all I feel is regret, disgust, and resentment.

Back in March I got a $22 parking ticket because my car, which hadn’t been driven in 2 years (the battery died and I was too scared to take it in to get it fixed bc I didn’t know what was wrong with it at the time) was parked on the street with expired registration. I was already planning to get a trip permit take it in the next week to get it fixed in time for my new job so it’s super frustrating that this happened right before that…anyways the parking ticket had no place to pay online, and implied that it could be paid by cash or check by putting it in a drop box in front of city hall. I put it in my purse to remember to pay it but it inevitably disappeared into the void.
I finally remembered it after 30 days or something and by then the price of the ticket had gone up to $52…gotta love the ADHD tax. I gathered the cash and drove over to city hall, but this just so happened to be as tourist season was picking up and the downtown area was VERY hectic and stressful with nowhere to park so I gave up and went home. I tried doing this several more times over the next month with the same result. There was nowhere to park and it was too overwhelming. Because I never was able to pay it the price went up to $72.
Fast forward to yesterday, my friend and I made plans to hang out downtown so I made sure to bring the parking ticket in order to FINALLY pay it. Again, there was no parking but she stopped with her hazards on in front of city hall so I could quickly run out and drop the ticket in the drop box. Downtown was even more hectic than usual because of First Friday (lots of local vendors, live music, art etc.), and I felt uncomfortable that my friend was stopped in a place she wasn’t supposed to be parked so I was VERY overwhelmed, but I ran over to the drop box and quickly dropped my ticket in. Only after the ticket slid in did I process what the box said. “PAY PARKING TICKETS HERE. NO CASH”. My heart kinda sank. Did I just throw away 70 fucking dollars??? Nowhere on the ticket itself did it say pay by check only. Also, who the fuck still uses checks? I don’t even know if I got a checkbook when I opened my bank account. If I did, it’s been lost for a long time. I’ve written maybe 2 checks in my life.
I talked to my partner about it today and at some point in the conversation he made a remark that implied I WANTED to wait this long to pay it. That I wanted to pay $72 instead of $22. This triggered my RSD and I’m left feeling very frustrated and overwhelmed and idk what to do. Will they accept my cash payment? Will it get stolen? Idk. I can’t process the situation enough to figure it out. I’ll try calling City Hall on Monday I guess. If you made it this far thanks for reading. PS sorry for formatting Im on mobile.
TLDR; ADHD Tax

Animated Film! Here are options for downloading or watching The Little Mermaid streaming the full movie online for free on 123movies & Reddit, including where to watch Disney’s latest live-action adaptation movies at home. Is The Little Mermaid 2023 available to stream? Is watching The Little Mermaid on Peacock, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Netflix or Amazon Prime? Yes, we have found an authentic streaming option/service.
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“The Little Mermaid” is a movie that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. It is a charming story about a young mermaid who falls in love with a human prince and must make a difficult decision between staying true to her family or following her heart. The movie has some great messages about staying true to yourself and being brave enough to follow your dreams. “The Little Mermaid” is a timeless classic that is sure to bring a smile to your face. There are a few ways that you can watch “The Little Mermaid” movie free online streaming at home. One way is to sign up for a free trial of a subscription service like Netflix or Hulu. This will give you access to a library of movies and TV shows that you can watch at your convenience. Another way to watch “The Little Mermaid” free online streaming is to find a website that offers the movie for free. These websites typically stream movies from their own servers, so you will need a good internet connection to watch the movie. Finally, you can also rent or purchase “The Little Mermaid” from a digital retailer like iTunes or Amazon.
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What is The Little Mermaid About?
The official synopsis for The Little Mermaid by Walt Disney Studios read:
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“The Little Mermaid” is the beloved story of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. The youngest of King Triton’s daughters and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea, and while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric. While mermaids are forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel must follow her heart. She makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land, but ultimately places her life – and her father’s crown – in jeopardy.There is not much mystery in The Little Mermaid’s plot. As seen in Disney’s many other live-action remakes, it is anticipated that the film’s plot will largely stick to the original. With the well-known song “Part of Your World,” in which Ariel sings about her wish to be a part of the world beyond the water, i.e., the human realm, the teaser already alluded to Ariel’s fascination with the human world. Fans will get to see Ariel and Prince Eric’s romance as they deal with the challenges posed by their differences
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You’ve also both been part of projects with color-conscious casting before, but this one elicited some particularly ugly feedback online. How was it watching Halle Bailey walk through that, the reaction to a Black mermaid?
DIGGS: Halle is, I am convinced, the only person in the world who could have played this part. To watch her navigate the world post the announcement — that would’ve probably broken me, particularly at her age. I mean, so much excitement is already one thing, and then also that kind of intense racism just being fired towards you, it’s insane. But I think her performance is so undeniable. The best way to silence a hater is to just be great.
The movie does seem to evoke some really powerful reactions, because of all the attachments to it.
AWKWAFINA: People have told me that they were crying from like, the second that Halle started singing “Part of Your World,” then never really stopped.
​
DIGGS: I am one of those people. I was right behind you, trying not to cry audibly.
​
AWKWAFINA: I think the really cool thing about the best kinds of adaptations is that they truly do bring people back to whatever their relationship with the movie is. When I was young, it taught me so many themes about life and storytelling and character that still really hold true in this new one.

Three years ago before getting into university, my life in high school was all perfect. Perfect in education and unimaginably, in society as well. I had never ever thought of support from anyone except myself, literally accepting no one to interfere with my life at that time. This was because my background from my former school where I had been being raised since I was in kindergarten by some ill-mental teachers, like being mocked of my feminine voice in front of my classmates, despite the fact singing is my self-admitted hobby, until for a period of my life, I had forced myself to sound low as a boy should, detaining me alone every day because my handwriting was not as beautiful as the standard one, and teaching me that all kinds of love except love for family are ought not to have the beginning of them, and its unreasonable strict rules, like not talking in the class (literally) if you don't want to be hit by any wooden or sometimes mental rulers roughly in the end of the day (some of my classmates were hit so often that they didn't even feel painful and laughed instead, no exaggeration) and not bringing any electronic devices to the class, which seemed agreeable but made me never have idea of having conversation with friends outside the class (this results in lack of attaching importance to friendship and also having no friends). All media just exposed the school and some of its other affiliated ones 3 years ago, and some other student cases that were harmed by teachers there either mentally or physically began to be reported since then. The schools are still now available, but they really are not a choice of most parents for their child education anymore. Before all of the truth was revealed, at first my parents, whom I love so much that I have pretended to be insensitive and independent all the time for fear of worrying them, wanted me to have life in high school there, but my one and only favourite English teacher, the one who first expands my vision of a language, especially English, told my parents not to let me stay there because she already knew that the entire school itself was hell in both education and management and took pity on my being and English skill if I had had to study there. On the strength of her advice, they encouraged me to enrol at a new school after that, and here was a start of a sense of perfection in my life.
I decided to enrol for the French-English programme, and it was the best decision in my life. I met two mesdames (French teachers, but we usually call each of them madame despite the fact we speak Thai). They really saw that I had a problem socialising with others, mindset one, although my French skill was top. At that time, I was unaware that all I had been through was unconventional because no one told me that the former school did wrong to me, and I just thought that it was its duty to "rectify" and "perfect" me in their way. Madame, instead of persuading me to focus on study, several times told me to hang out with others. I was so lucky that there were five classmates who first asked me to tutor them English and also French, and they began to reach out to me to socialise with them. It was the first time that I was given a birthday present, homemade cookies, from one of them and had someone, not my own family, say "Happy birthday" to me. It was the first time that I had my own mobile phone to play social media and share Youtube videos with someone. It was the first time that I was able to feel myself letting my guard down and dare to sing a little together with someone in spite of this feminine voice. Last but not least, it was the first time that I hung out with someone.
Somehow, two of them seemed to go out with someone, and another one had a crush on our classmate real hard. All of a sudden, I desired to know what love was. Admittedly, I was great at English because of chatting with online people on one application, and by chance, there was one online person who I had often had conversation with and who came to me and confessed me. I didn't reciprocate his feelings at all but was just curious about love. Of course, it lasted like three months, and the conflict was that I tended to express low self-esteem and repeat that I felt not so valuable as others. In the end, he was perhaps depressed by me and was gone. I admitted that it was the first time for me to feel a little heartbroken very briefly, but in a nutshell, all was well with me.
Personally, it was true for me to spend time on online conversation most because it was the only place where I could perhaps be valuable and feel helpful. And, I did observe that the application I was on had many online people who had a tendency to escape from their reality to there perhaps due to such problems in real life as dysphoria, financial problems, familial ones, and etc. It was certain and knowing that I was as runaway as those, but never had I had bad attitudes towards them.
As if to look at the mirror, someone then burst through the dark there. He appeared to be a boy and talked about stuff that I wasn't used to at all, but all I knew was that he had some secrets and covered his background, very enigmatic. It wasn't love at first sight at all. In the beginning, I urged to make him happy and also copied his vocabulary and speech style to practise my English. He then introduced me to asexuality, and I was so positive that I was in this term. Until... staying up late together with him echoed my reverie. I realised that something unusual grew within me. I imagined more. I talked more. I overthought more. I linked all to him. I felt connected... Then I confessed to him casually for the first time. It ended up with his exemplifying the situation where he used to get confessed by others and rejected them. By nature, I was so stubborn and thought that perhaps both of us might not be that deep at the time. Well, I began to plan to "make something happen." I had long wished that I would have had someone countdown with me on the 31st of December. I knew that he was the one I needed to cling onto that day, so I swayed him into doing it for me or perhaps dragged him into it. I admitted that it was pretty exhausting to prepare to materialise everything in my mind to show him, like the written lyrics at my own website and the painting of him despite the fact that I don't like painting because I'm not good at it. The second confession went on, and the response seemed the same, but he gave me his details on love more. Platonic love. "What is it?" I had no idea of it at all and still have not comprehended its definition up until now.
For those who can explain me what platonic love is and how it works, please read my questions on this subreddit:
https://www.reddit.com/aromantic/comments/13z1sjh/platonic_love_what_criteria_do_you_conside?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
All I knew was that he had impacted my life so much that I felt impressed and lost in his aspect. When I was in the French storytelling pair competition at the national level, I had to go and describe a random picture in French to French judges, and I luckily got a picture of a cosy fireplace with an ornate Christmas tree. So, I imagined to myself what I would want to tell him if we both sit next to each other at the fireplace at Chirstmastime. I taled all the judges about the warmth when with him and somehow made them laugh in a positive way. Abracadabra! I got a gold medal in French storytelling pair competition at the national level.
The feelings for him connected me more to all five friends of mine in a way that I almost dared open up to, most R&B and love songs in a way that I had no doubts anymore why a songwriter loves to write a love song most, and those Facebook posts about love in a way that a teenager seems to press the like button. I understood and visualised life full of colours, not only interested in spending all hours reading dictionaries or academic textbooks at home. Perfection, never had I imagined or been told before. My mother always noticed my smile and wondered why it appeared in my sleep every day. And, I saw only him in my vision, refusing those who confessed to me without hesitation or fear of depressing anyone, which I really did break a group of my online friends for this reason.
Perfection. It was like a drug. I was addicted to it and realised that it brought me back to life. When I was at the former school, I only hoped to survive each day. Study was never in my sight, nor did I homework. I left behind my class, and it seemed that I had no right to grab anyone's attention at all. This led me to think if I had had enough wisdom to impress him and also five friends of mine, they would have given me more attention. So, I made up my mind to live up to him. And the result was the worst decision. I was under pressure to impress him with my knowledge of everything; however, he was always ahead of me no matter how much I did research into various topics. I was really moody every time I saw him, his paintings and writings. Envious of his skill, I misbehaved towards him, and somehow he turned into my rival. Expecting myself more than anyone, I felt disappointed at myself and felt no values for anyone to love or take care of me. Then it was the first time that I... had an urge to criticise and judge him. Plus it was time for university admissions, and I admitted that I wasn't in a state of determination at all.
Eventually we were drifting apart, and he slipped away without farewell while I was still competing with him for perfection. Realising that I was all alone then and we were growing apart, I felt dead inside, a heavy heart to zone out for about 4 lockdown months without talking to any people around me. I blamed myself for all so much that I began to feel myself unable to differentiate between a dream and reality and oftentimes vomited when something about languages including alphabets and vocabularies reminded me of him. I hated myself more and more that I leaned on interpersonal relationships although I had never depended on such a thing at the former school. I never told all of these to my parents because I believed that no one wanted to be seen weak, did they? So, I pretended all the way although my mother did see something different from my usual traits such as a pitch change in my voice, insomnia, loss of appetite, and a lack of interest in reading. It was that time I tried to find his background on the Internet to somehow threaten him? It did seem possible for me, but this contrasted with my personal values, disgusting myself more and more. I ended up with myself, the root cause. I didn't think of self-harm, but with having nummular eczema for 8 years, I always woke up in the morning, covered in blood from scratching all severely inflamed skin subconsciously. This is from stress and allergy to my own immune system. For some reason, I couldn't stand it anymore and messaged one of my five friends and pretended that I just conflicted with one online friend. She did accompany me and really did remind me of my childhood memories influenced by my elder sister whom I haven't talked to since she got into university many years ago, like listening to Vocaloid and Kagerou Project songs, old Japanese songs, especially Utada Hikaru, anime (Cardcaptor Sakura, Kamichama Karin), and immaturity (RPG Maker horror games). I felt that I didn't have to be in a hurry to be an adult. Perfection does not have to lie in only wisdom but also liveliness? It was the first time that I got to play online games with my five friends and understood that it was okay to consult someone and call for help. I kept in mind that when Covid-19 was completely gone, they all had to grow apart as well as him to start their university lives. I wished that I could have frozen the time right here and rested in the moments of immaturity a little longer.
It was hard to control myself not to write and think of him. There were only fragments of memory, but didn’t memory of someone make them themselves? The linguistic exams, the last part was to explain relationships of phonology, morphology, semantics, and syntax, and I wrote answers with examples of pandas and names. I topped in linguistics. I should have forgotten. Him. But, the memories weren’t gone at all. Even in academic writings, there were several times when I made an intention on a connoted meaning. December, it was a month that I’ve loved less since then, while a choir teacher seemed to love it most because of the Christmas spirit to carol at the mall. It was the first time I felt that a dream about touching snow in December would be more possible than before.
Until...

Atlas Srugged. I've heard about it many times across my life--as, i'm sure many people have heard of Ulysses, or Satanic Verses--but never read this, and so wanted to be able to say "yeah, I've read it and...___" I started with a healthy bit of skepticism. It's taken me ~2 weeks to get to the end of chapter 7.Dagny and James taggert, owners of a railroad company, have a strange dynamic. James begrudges his sister the talent and capability of running a company, and seems to relish in causing managerial havoc as long as it causes Dagny anguish. Something something american economy is collapsing, and James wants to give to the poor. BAD, BAD JAMES LIKING MEXICO; it's only looters there or something like that. Where have we seen this in recent popular culture? Eddie Willers likes trees, Dagny is haunted by music. So were all of us, Dagny, until YouTube was around. It's OK.
Hank Rearden's family seem to be unlikeable charicatures; they don't seem to be made without much effort. There's SO MANY great ways that first family scene could have been depicted with more depth, but it feels like an impressionistic equivalent of a slash of paint topped by a circle to represent a person in the distance, intentially portrayed as forgettable and umimportant; we are being trained to think that "unsuccessful" people such as Paul & rearedn's mother (was she ever named?) are not worth remembering. Dangerous narrative posturing.
The government is headed towards anti-competition and the "looters" are going to anyone that benefits from govt handouts (?) We, the readers, are being maneuvered to think that, in a(n unrestricted) capitalist society, activities will eventually be prodigiously productive and beneficial to all. The term "progressive" in this book seems to be slant-term for...progress towards government control?
We see an ever-increasing number of people quit their positions, adding to the idea the book's original working title was "the strike." We see a strange legislation title: the "Anti-dog-eat-dog Rule."Don't we see similar behavior contemporaraily, in Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile/Comcast, then with our streaming networks? Very strange that these predictions, feared by Rand, would have been precipitated by Alan Greenspan, one of her "disciples".It feels oddly like, with the idea that the government, with the sanction of the general public, in passing this strange anti-competititve legislation, i'm being maneuvered into a thought of "it's good to reject the consensus of the mass of people." Still, why have so many "conservatives" that endorse Ayn Rand's principles still look to christian religion? Am I missing something?!?
Francisco D'Anconia is touted as a genius; this is why he wasted $15 million dollars to stick it to James Taggert and Orren Boyle, those conspiring men who wanted to "loot" from the handounts from Washington. Aight, cool. Musk bought Twitter for reasons, one among them so he could have a little more cover from journalists that have dogged his activities for years. And he's touted as a genius (or at least a genius-thief). Aren't many creators just thieves of ideas?
I struggled through some narrative choices on the first "lovemaking" scenes:"They were both incapable of the conception that joy is sin" [...] "She knew, even though she was too young to know the reason, that indiscriminate desire and unselective indulgence were possible only to those who regarded sex and themselves as evil" (page 106). When was this book first published? 1957? Had our religious values been that oppressively...catholic in austerity towards sex back then, or is this more deliberate narrative steering?
What's the most depraved sort of human being? "The one without a purpose." Interesting idea. A person who has no goal to strive for can easily find their course altered by someone with a larger context, thus swept away by collectivist thought. I actually find this idea to be valuable. A nugget, perhaps?
By this point "Who is John Galt?" feels like it's a narrative MacGuffin. After all, he found Atlantis, the place where heroes live in happiness unknown to the rest of the earth (Ouray, Colorado is generally accepted as where John Galt will lead us to). By the way, Here's the music we're supposed to hear for Halley's fourth symphony.
Chapter 6 is strange. Hank's only way of coping with a wedding is to project himself into a flow-like state, but the narrator perpetually drifts back to business. Lillian throws a party for their wedding...anniversary, but invites a bunch of "looter intellectuals" to use Dagny's words. Dagny happily exchanges her diamond-bracelet for the rearden-steel one. Hankey deals with guilt over having sexual urges, cause he doesn't need the wife, he just wants a woman's body to use the spooge. What is the purpose of this chapter? I imagine John Oliver screaming, YOU GOTTA LIVE A LITTLE, HANKEY!! FEEL SOME GODDAMN HAPPINESS!!
The employees treat Dagny worse as the book goes on. She's their boss, and they're second-guessing her left and right. Frightening that this still happens. Later, Dagny philosophizes with bums at a diner..hank rearden talks to a State Science Institute guy..Dagny and Eddie bemoan the circumspect criticism published about Rearden Metal, and a confrontation with Dr stadtler reveals a man bereft of personal conviction (effectively, the institute he runs issues a statement, but won't retract it despite the fact he disagrees). Odd that, in juxtaposing the hopeless wanderings of the bums--still perscpicacious enough to form an idea of morality--with Hank engaging a slimy and abstruse scientist--then the vague criticisms of metal, we're being primed to see or read "social impact" or "social welfare" and gain an impression of the exchanges and evaluations as being entirely irrelevant to useful measures such as practical business value or material wealth. Once again, as a reader, we're being maneuvered into thoughts that "government and science are bad" because they can interfere with--or limit--businessmen, and thus corporations.
Here's an odd quote: "Contradictions do not exist. whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises." (188). I guess Ayn Rand wasn't a fan of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Or the idea that I can hang out with a childhood friend, see them as they are now, but in my mind's eye, also them as they were when we'd first become friends; the two are different in time, character, and form, but also not.
And then we have Ragnar criminal. A guy who really robs from the looters..?
IDK if I can read any more past chapter 7. Send help.

Hi everyone!
For the past 2 months I have been working on a tool powered by gpt3 to automate the research analysis process. It produces a summary, insights, sentiment, average persona, a diagram and allows you to chat with the research content. The tool is called Research Studio
The concept is pretty simple and overall has already been executed to some degree on other tools. You create a research folder, upload your research content (pdf, word and excel for now) and then you wait for the AI to do it's job. I also added 2 resources that are available to anyone to help you kickoff the research planning. One being a remote interview presentation template and the other a research plan template.
I created this because as a designer I waste a lot of time doing the analysis, way more than doing the research itself and I needed a way to automate some of it and make sure that it is as unbiased as possible.
This is quite a super-niche product and I am not 100% sure how much it would help other designers and ux researchers, so right now I'm looking for users to try it and tell me how useful it is or isn't. I'm keeping it free in open beta untill I'm happy with its stability and I also want to build the collaboration side of it before I make anything "official".
P.S. It works well on mobile too 😁
Thanks a mil to any brave soul that takes a minute to try it out! 😅