Dell chromebook 11 3100 series reviews

[Cali] [H] 50 different items.Floppies, sets, runs, groups, TPB and 2 HC [W] $10 each

2023.06.04 21:05 Omicbob2 [Cali] [H] 50 different items.Floppies, sets, runs, groups, TPB and 2 HC [W] $10 each

Listed below are various comics the only thing have in common is the S10 price. I am working on photos, so if you are interested and Ned a photo not up yet, please ask.
Shipping is a flat $5 for as many as you purchase.
2000 AD ANNUAL HARDCOVER 1981 JUDGE DREDD
Action Comic # 235 (1957 coverless) well top 3/4 front cover but no back cover
Action 537 Masters of the universe preview DC Comics 1982)
Adventure Comics # 467 (1st new Starman origin)/Plastcman both start in series plus #468 and Plasticman 13
Adventure Comics # 469-472 (Starman & Platicman stories).
Angela: Asgard's Assassin 1-4
4 issue Archie bikini covers inc. Pep 257, Giant Series 224 , 553, & T.V. laugh Out 53
another 4 bikini covers pep 294, jughead 196, at Riverdale 104 and Date with Debbie 11
Avengers # 200 1st App Marcus Immortus
Batman 288 (1976 Penguin apps)
Batman # 50 (Jim Lee variant cover)
Batman: Battle for the cowl # 3 Damian Wayne becomes Robin
Batman: Brave and the Bold (2008 CARTOON 1ST series) # 3 (Batman PRESIDENT with Green Arrow ) & # 12 (Christmas with Adam Strange).
Batman : Brave and the Bold (2011 CARTOON 2nd series set of five : 2, 12,13, 14, & 16
Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol 2 # 2 (Harley Quinn) 5 (Subscription Variant) & 6 (last issue) set of 3
Bugs Bunny Four Color 327 (Dell 1951 The Rajah's elephant).
Dollman FLASHBACK SERIES 1974 B&W REPRINT
Doom Patrol # 93 DC Comics 1965
First Issue Special # 7 (Reintroducing Creeper)
Flash # 1 REBIRTH 1ST HINT of Godspeed
Flash # 6 REBIRTH 1st full Godspeed
Hot Stuff # 20 (Harvey Comics ) 1960 wendy, stumbo stories
Labyrinth # 2 David Bowie (Marvel Movie tie in )
Master of Kung Fu # 125 ( 52 page last issue)
Masters of the Universe # 8 (Marvel)
Mickey Mouse Four Color 296 (Dell 1950 Private Eye)
Omac # 1& 2_(1974 Kirby 1st/2nd app)
Planet of the Apes # 11 (last issue atomic bomb cover 1975)
Porky Pig Four Color # 322 (Dell 1951 'Roaring Rocket
Robin #1-5 (1991, Tim Drake #1 has poster, Both 1 &2 are Newsstand
Shade the Changing Man # 1 (1st app) plus 5 & 8 DITKO
Showcase # 97 (1st solo Powergirl) A couple of light creases on the front cover)
Showcase # 99 (3rd Powergirl) nice copy)
Showcase # 100 (Giant special issue) nice copy
Star Wars # 27 (marvel 1980 direct version)
Star wars # 47 (marvel 1981 1st app captain klingson) newsstand
Star wars # 67 (marvel 1983) newsstand
Buy all 3 Star Wars for $20
Tales of Suspense # 74
War Machine # 1-12 complete (Marvel Max)
Witches Tales 9 (1952 Harvey coverless) PCH
Wonder Woman # 112 1960 Coverless)
Wonder Woman ( 2008 3rd series ) # 15-19
TPB either read once, lightl, or not at all
Batgirl new 52 Vol 3 Death of the family
DC COMICS ZERO YEAR
Batman R.I.P. (Grant Morrison)
The return of Bruce Wayne
Batman versus Bane
The Joker New 52 Death of the Family
Amazing transformations of Jimmy Olsen
Hardcover;
Superman: Escape from the Bizarro World Powell art HC
Marvel Monsters 2006 hardcover, no dust jacket USED
again sorry about no photos, yet. Just ask.
submitted by Omicbob2 to comicswap [link] [comments]

2023.06.04 19:22 ericmendelson0 Prospect Watch- Week 8!

This week we review Marcelo Mayer (6:55), Owen Caissie (11:40), James Wood (15:25), Mike Vasil (18:40), Anthony Solometo (23:45), Cade Horton (27:10), Luis Perales (31:30), Nelson Rada (35:55), Justin Crawford (40:10), Nick Loftin (43:10), Bailey Horn (47:05), Elly De La Cruz (50:05). I'm targeting Horn in a couple dynasty leagues. Who are you looking at?
MLB Prospect Series - The Call Up Week 8 presented by Triple Play Fantasy (Dynasty Fantasy Baseball) - YouTube
submitted by ericmendelson0 to fantasybaseball [link] [comments]

2023.06.04 19:12 ZappaPhoto Digital Back Options + Questions

Hi all, looking for some input and experience with digital backs for Hasselblad v-systems.
I'm a studio portrait photographer, and I switch a lot between film and digital processes, often in the same shoot. I also occasionally work on location. Recently, I feel pretty uninspired by my digital workflow and while I've been brainstorming ways to get jazzed about shooting digitally again, it crossed my mind that using a digital back on my V-series Hasselblad could be a great option. I'm thinking it could provide some of the same satisfying experience of using a mechanical camera that I love about shooting film in the studio and reduce the number of cameras I need to use in a single shoot.
So, I've been looking at digital back options for the V-series. Frankly, I'm a bit overwhelmed by the options, and I have remaining questions. So I thought I'd ask for input and advice here.
First, since I've yet to find a comprehensive list of options anywhere online, I thought I'd at least try and compile a list of makes/models:Phase One H Models (H20)Phase One P Models (P25, P45, P65)Kodak DSC BackLeaf Valeo Models (6, 11, 22)Leaf Aptus Models (II-33, 54, 65, 75)CFV models (16, 39, 50, II 50C)
I'm sure I'm missing some.
The new CFV models are not in the budget for me, so I'm looking at older backs. I'm only considering those that don't require tethering to a computer. It's important to me to be at least a bit mobile and not need a computer nearby, so CF card capture or something similar is a must.
Here are a few questions that remain:
  1. A lot of reviewers and users mention the connection issue between the back and the camera. My hope is that, if I go this route, using a digital back on a V-series Hasselblad would be my go-to studio workhorse setup, but this connection issue gives me pause. Is the finnicky cable connection via PC-sync a dealbreaker for my purposes or just a minor nuisance?
  2. Many reviewers say that they had to get their V-series model camera adjusted to obtain critical focus for a digital back. Does this mean that the camera would then not have critical focus for a regular film back? If I'm going to go this route, I'd need to be able to switch between film and digital easily and without a hitch. I don't want to have to modify/adjust my 500CM in a way that makes it unable to shoot film accurately.
  3. Since I shoot portraiture, I'd want a back that can be used in portrait orientation (or one that has a square aspect ratio). I recall reading that at least one of the models I listed above was rotatable, but now I don't seem to be able to find that information anywhere. Which of these might work best for studio portraiture when it comes to aspect ratio and orientation?
  4. Lastly, and more generally, is it a pipedream to think that a V-series model with a digital back (especially given that it wouldn't be the new CFV II 50c) could be a go-to portrait setup? It sounds really great in theory, but the more I dig, the more I'm confronted with the compromises and hiccups that these backs pose. I still want to give it due consideration. If it's possible, great. But if it's totally impractical, then I don't want to have any illusions about it.
Any other input, sample photos, experience, etc is great appreciated too!
EDIT: I am financial restricted for the time being. I can't imagine I'll be able to put more the 1-2K toward this, at least for now and until I'm more familiar with the role a digital back can play in my workflow.
submitted by ZappaPhoto to hasselblad [link] [comments]

2023.06.04 18:01 silver_lavender [[Takt Traum]; [Repository]]: [#005]

[[Takt Traum]; [Repository]]: [#005]
[[Takt Traum]; [Repository]]: [#005] 「『[[Takt Traum]; [Repository]]』」: (Oneirology Morphology R&D(s)); (Dream Journal series' R&D(s)): [6.04.2023 5:10 a.m; 05:10 GMT/ UTC +8:00 PHT [#005]]
["Tranqueuelogy"]
The dream realms with its involvements with the suburbs, with the scenes and scenarios that includes with the research, programs, developments, and operations alongside with the metamystic physics work during, and with the practices and professions. Amongst such varying, and various events of My ventures with the traverses.
My traverse ventures with the varying mixtures of the mixed paths with suburban sites, common grounds, and locations with such realms' suburbs with the dimensions. Where the varied suburbs, trades, businesses, operations, and developments with such realms amongst the varying fields, and areas with the various accommodations commodities, and amenities involved with such suburbs cross paths with such realms.
Dreamt with the transverses and traverses with the phase include, and involve with the traverses, and operations with the occurrences include, and involve with the traverses, and operations with the occurrences were the ventures with the scenes, and scenarios with the realms, sites, and fields with the varying various variances with the varied varieties with the suburban fields & sites with the fields, planes, realms, and sites with the dream realms, the phase, oneirology fields, and dimensions, ethereal realms' Aether arts with, and the mystic arts during with the ventures, and operations with the transverses with the traverses, and the Phase with the suburbs with with the dreamworld's realms' fields, sites, and dimensions with the varying variances with the suburbs during with the ventures were the ventures with the scenes, and scenarios with the realms, sites, and fields with the varying various variances with the varied varieties with the suburban fields & sites with the fields, planes, realms, and sites with the dream realms, the phase, oneirology fields, and dimensions, ethereal realms' aether arts with, and the mystic arts during with the ventures, and operations with the transverses with the traverses, and the Phase with the suburbs with with the dreamworld's realms' fields, sites, and dimensions with the varying variances with the suburbs during with the ventures.
Where the scenes & scenarios with the ventures, and traverses include with the methodologies, and training with the studies & practices with the R&D with the research, and developments and research & documentations with the trades & developments during with the traverses with the ventures, and operations with the areas, sites, ports, districts, fields, realms with the suburbs with the fields & sites with the suburbs during with the traverses with the mixed various variants with the common grounds, paths, roads, routes with the fields, and sites with the suburban areas with the, and traverses with the scenes & scenarios with the involvements, and inclusions. during with the traverses with the traverses. During with the traverses with the ventures, and operations with the R&D, methodologies, training with the trades, and developments with traverses during with the traverses with the traverses with the ventures, and operations with R&D with the methodologies, and training with the research & development with the R&D and research, and documentation and methodologies, and training with the studies, and practices with the trades & developments during with the traverses during with During with the ventures with the scenes & Scenarios with the ventures, and traverses with the traverses with the mixed various variants with the fields, and sites with the suburban areas with the traverses with the ventures with the varying suburban fields & sites with the suburbs where the traders, traveling travelers, business personnel, merchant agents as well as agencies, organizations, institutes, forces, institutions, governments, ministries transact, operates, and negotiates with the amenities, comorbidities, accommodations, commodities with the trade, market, conventions, commerce, business sectors, sites, districts, areas with the fields, and realms with the suburban sites and fields with the suburbs with the occurrences during with the traverses, and operations during with the R&D and research, and documentations with the methodologies, and training with the studies & practices during with the traverses, and operations with the ventures, and traverses the tours en route with the suburban variants with the varied realms, sites, and fields in which the ventures the battlefields with, and against battlegrounds with, and against ground zero fields with, and against ground zero events during with the occurrences with the ventures, and operations with the traverses.
Where the scenes & scenarios with the ventures, and traverses include with the methodologies, and training with the studies & practices with the R&D with the research, and developments and research & documentations with the trades & developments during with the traverses with the ventures, and operations with the areas, sites, ports, districts, fields, realms with the suburbs with the fields & sites with the suburbs during with the traverses with the mixed various variants with the common grounds, paths, roads, routes with the fields, and sites with the suburban areas with the, and traverses with the scenes & scenarios with the involvements, and inclusions. during with the traverses with the traverses. During with the traverses with the ventures, and operations with the R&D, methodologies, training with the trades, and developments with traverses during with the traverses with the traverses with the ventures, and operations with R&D with the methodologies, and training with the research & development with the R&D and research, and documentation and methodologies, and training with the studies, and practices with the trades & developments during with the traverses during with During with the ventures with the scenes & Scenarios with the ventures, and traverses with the traverses with the mixed various variants with the fields, and sites with the suburban areas with the traverses with the ventures with the varying suburban fields & sites with the suburbs where the traders, traveling travelers, business personnel, merchant agents as well as agencies, organizations, institutes, forces, institutions, governments, ministries transact, operates, and negotiates with the amenities, comorbidities, accommodations, commodities with the trade, market, conventions, commerce, business sectors, sites, districts, areas with the fields, and realms with the suburban sites and fields with the suburbs with the occurrences.
By now, [[[B.A.S.E]; [M.A.P]]; [[M.A.P]; [B.A.S.E]] (((Relative related cases such as. Cited with, and mentioned with): ([[Morphoneireuism] Dream Journals 03.12.2023 07:58 a.m; 07:58 gmt/utc +8:00 #002 Asia Ulaanbaatar Beijing Manila PHT/ PST "Workspaces"]); ([[Morphoneireuism] Dream Journals 02.01.2023 06:11am; 06:11 gmt/utc +8:00 #001 Asia Ulaanbaatar Beijing Manila PHT/ PST
"Park 'N Fly"]); ([[Morphoneireuism] Dream Journals 02.02.2023 05:22 a.m; 06:11 gmt/utc +8:00 #002 Asia Ulaanbaatar Beijing Manila PHT/ PST
"Resorts Poblacion Resorts"]))))).] May have also amplified My R&D(s) with, and with the including and involving R&F(s) with the Inclusions and involvements (such as today's case for 6.4.2023(Which I'm kind of Contemplating somewhat to continue... ...but'll see what can be done with as much as possible Alloting allotments allots) at [5:10 a.m GMT/ uct +8:00 PHT 6.4.2023]). Which the Oneirology Anthology Aventhology case with the R&D(s) apparently feature some events and occurrences with the scenes and scenarios with the case woth the R&D. From Me wearing some Grey Suit with some Suburban Sites and fields with the ["Areth Realms'"(As the [MIT('dot')edu] site off all things would market some DnD campaign with the Dream realms (the "Areth Campaign")] where I seemingly then went to some Subdivision where I'd eventually acquire some Grey shorts with Yellow highlights and A Yellow Tee(which kind of feels very Oriental Asian' message'(...?) Of sending of meanings of the sort with such symbolism supposedly...(?)) Though I'd then just went with wearing a Vest like a Butler-Handyman would(possibly just a part of the Entire Grey suit mentioned earlier but with the Coat swapped with a Brown-ish Vest whilst still having the Yellow terno acquired cloths Considered with some Black Backpack apparently).
During which with then the Scene shift occurs; where I'd then At some Festival or Olympian level event with Oriental Asian Cultures(unsurprisingly as I'm somewhat, and somesort includes and involves with such involvements and inclusions) where amongst the Arena or Stages presented, is that of [Japan] with the Text highlights the Stage as ""Japan's Dragon'". Where it kind of resembles the Duel Stage for Aquaman and His Brother for the right as King (though in this case is that of an Oriental Dragon Encircling the Stage from the ground and base level whilst the crowd are is with at the upper level). In which the Stage is set up for the occurrence is that for something akin to a Broadway-Gymnastic Cheerleading Gym area for Eventual purposes which The Uniform of the Team that Showcases some show for the "Japan's Dragon'" Stage that of Primarily a theme of Red (not saying it'd probably be the same for the next Team that'll showcase) where'd the Lassos that they've showcases reminded Me to do some [[[Rope Dart]; [[Chainblade]; [Grappling hook; blade arts]]] (((Relative related cases such as. Cited with, and mentioned with): ([[Thrimuiage: Tracteur] Dream Journals 07.27.2022 06:08pm; 18:08 gmt/utc +8:00 #391
"Silver Slates Strates"]); ([[Thrimuiage: Tracteur] Dream Journals 07.26.2022 06:59pm; 18:59 gmt/utc +8:00 #390
"Subnautic Mall Storms")]); ([[Thrimuiage: Tracteur] Dream Journals 08.14.2022 07:08am; 07:08 gmt/utc +8:00 #409
"Sunflower Crow Phoenix"])))))] for this case(something I am kind of Mystically regularly involve with with the R&D(s)). With which with such occurences, I then found Myself involve, and include with some, and some inclusions and involvements with [[[ONE PIECE](series; series)] (((Relative related cases such as. Cited with, and mentioned with): ([[Thrimuiage: Tracteur] Dream Journals 08.12.2022 06:29am; 06:29 gmt/utc +8:00 #407
"Soro Lobo"]); ([[Thrimuiage: Tracteur] Dream Journals 07.12.2022 04:39am; 04:39 gmt/utc +8:00 #376
"Mixed Mixtures Arcs"]); ([[Thrimuiage: Tracteur] Dream Journals 06.28.2022 03:31am; 03:31 gmt/utc +8:00 #360
"Spiralling Encircles"]))))) (Apparently about stuff with Usopp amongst with the Straw hats and that Guy with Glasses with a Rifle from Marshall D'. Teach's Crew)]; which then led to some stuff probably involving and including inclusions and involvements with ((Relative related cases such as. Cited with, and mentioned with): ([[Thrimuiage: Tracteur] Dream Journals 08.14.2022 07:08am; 07:08 gmt/utc +8:00 #409
"Sunflower Crow Phoenix"]); ([[Thrimuiage: Tracteur] Dream Journals 07.29.2022 08:25am; 08:25 gmt/utc +8:00 #393
"Phases Planes Phases"]); ([[Thrimuiage: Tracteur] Dream Journals 07.25.2022 01:01pm; 13:01 gmt/utc +8:00 #389
"Chess Calculus Geometry"])))) (Apparently some VIP(mostly with the ones that CIA treats as) Vaults stuff (with the Gotham; Arkham Levels') stuff with [#479]' with the R&D(s))).
During with the traverses with the ventures, and operations with the R&D(s), methodologies, training with the trades, and developments with traverses during with the traverses with the traverses with the ventures, and operations with R&D with the methodologies, and training with the research & development with the R&D and research, and documentation and methodologies, and training with the studies, and practices with the trades & developments during with the traverses during with During with the ventures with the scenes & scenarios with the ventures, and traverses with the traverses with the mixed various variants with the fields, and sites with the suburban areas with the traverses with the ventures with the varying suburban fields & sites with the suburbs where the traders, traveling travelers, business personnel, merchant agents as well as agencies, organizations, institutes, forces, institutions, governments, ministries transact, operates, and negotiates with the amenities, comorbidities, accommodations, commodities with the trade, market, conventions, commerce, business sectors, sites, districts, areas with the fields, and realms with the suburban sites and fields with the suburbs with the occurrences during with the traverses, and operations during with the R&D and research, and documentations with the methodologies, and training with the studies & practices during with the traverses, and operations with the ventures, and traverses the tours en route with the suburban variants with the varied realms, sites, and fields in which the ventures the battlefields with, and against battlegrounds with, and against ground zero fields with, and against ground zero events during with the occurrences with the ventures, and operations with the traverses.
Side events; Feature events.: As for with [['Subject Rev'] ((Relative related cases such as. Cited with, and mentioned with): ([「『[[Takt Traum]; [Repository]]』」: (Oneirology Morphology R&D(s)); (Dream Journal series' R&D(s)): [6.03.2023 3:00 a.m; 03:00 GMT/ UTC +8:00 PHT [#004]]
["["Warlock Sorceries Wizard"]"]]); (https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=292608193100145&id=100070528988359&mibextid=Nif5oz); ([「『[[Takt Traum]; [Repository]]』」: (Oneirology Morphology R&D(s)); (Dream Journal series' R&D(s)): [6.02.2023 7:48 a.m; 07:48 GMT/ UTC +8:00 PHT [#003]]
["[P.A.X.U.V.O.C]"]])))).: [[[Thrimuiage: Tracteur] Dream Journals 08.24.2022 09:08am; 09:08 gmt/utc +8:00 #419
"Mesh Chain"]: (Relative and Related with Zohan Dvir varied R&D; with something also related with the Michelin stuff (['Project Kasama']) reviewed variant rated in which such involvement even transitions similar to how Spider-Man's Belt Changes with his Red & Black Suit fronFar From Home and No Way Home with some relative; and parallel [Zohan] and, and with some (Oriental) Asian settings, themes, and elements featuring Paul Mitchell being transitioned'(?) As with and with the varying varied Michelin Variants' reviews where in which I review on the Mirror My hair dressed Hair.)] ((...); ((Relative related cases such as. Cited with, and mentioned with): (#明晰夢); (#夢路); (#夢幻的); (#霊夢); (#夢占い); (#夢判断); (#明晰梦); (#梦次); (#梦境占卜); (#夢判斷); (#자각몽); (#꿈의길); (#luciddreamingjournal); (#dreamjournal); (#dreamjournaling); (#luciddreaming); (#dreamjournals); (#luciddreamjournal); (#dreamjournalseries); (#mysticism); (#mystery); (#mysteries); (#metaphysics); (#mysticarts); (#journalseries); (#series); (#researchanddevelopment)))).
Includes the varied events throughout the various and varied areas including and involving the urban-rural, suburban, rural-urban, and varying suburbs areas with such events while associating with the areas and districts of the business and trades, accommodations, and commodities. Including the industries, ports, Trades, Market, and Industrial Commerce, Sites, businesses, and districts where the merchants, agents, trades, and business personnel traverses with the sites and vicinities with such accommodations, commodities, and amenities that crossroads with the realms. Including the research, development, programs, and operations I work with the forces, assets, & figures. Professions development with the R&D(s), programs & developments works. Also includes the accounts, and cases with the meta mystic, industries industrial commerce, market, trade, and developments with businesses with such multidimensional, and Multiverse of realms.

明晰夢 #夢路 #夢幻的

霊夢 #夢占い #夢判断

明晰梦 #梦次 #梦境占卜

夢判斷 #자각몽 #꿈의길

luciddreamingjournal #dreamjournal #dreamjournaling #luciddreaming

dreamjournals #luciddreamjournal #dreamjournalseries

mysticism #mystery #mysteries #researchanddevelopment #metaphysics

mysticarts #journalseries #series

submitted by silver_lavender to u/silver_lavender [link] [comments]

2023.06.04 13:11 Ankiit20 Some Goalkepper Options for us

Some Goalkepper Options for us
I am aware that the goalkeeper position has been problematic this year because Rui Patricio hasn't been playing well. Let's look at his stats first.
Age:35 Value:5.3M€ Contract:Jun 2024 Avg rating:6.73(16th in league) Clean sheets:13 (4th in league) Totw:0 Ball distribution: Average Saves per game: 2.1(68%) 17th in league Goals prevented in Serie A: -7.21 Goals prevented in UEL: -2.01 Accurate long balls(46%) Errors leading to goals: 3
We have seen him making lots or errors and even in uel final one shot bounced and we almost conceded that
Here are a few replacement I had in mind for Rome's budget, most of which I tried to keep in line with reality.
1)Frederik Ronnow The 30-year-old Danish player was a part of this season's Union Berlin team that finished fourth in the Bundesliga despite being in contention for the league title at the beginning of the season. He was one of the top goalkeepers in the league and his contract expires in June 2024.
Avg Rating: 7.13 Clean sheets:11 Goals prevented in bundesliga:+ 8.32 Saves per game:3.2(78%) Ball distribution:great Accurate long balls:9(40%) Errors leading to goals: 0 Totw:2
I am aware that Union Berlin has qualified for the Champions League, making it difficult to recruit him, even after a spectacular season. However, if Mou stays, I believe he can convince him. He also played in the UEL this season, so he is familiar with the flavour of European games.
2)Yehvann diouf(23) Reims
One of the best goalkeepers in Ligue 1, valued at 4.7 million euros, he is a bargain and has room to grow. Reims finished 11th in the league; why on earth wouldn't he join a team like roma with such a rich history and play in Europe the following season?
Contract till 2027 Clean sheets:14 Avg rating:7.15 Saves per game:3.5(78%) Goals prevented:+6.24 Errors leading to goals:2 Ball distribution:Average Accurate long balls:6.2(49%) TOTW:2
3)José Sá (30) Wolves clube de portugal
Of course, I had to include him only because he is Portuguese. He is also a respectable goalkeeper whom i added due to his saves in the Premier Leaue but maybe a bit expensive for roma valued at 17.2M€
Contract till 2026 Clean sheets:11 Avg Rating:6.81 Saves per game:3(60%) Goals prevented: -5.73 Errors leading to goals:2 Ball distribution:Average Accurate long balls: 3.7 (28%) TOTW:2
He is the least desirable option on the list in light of his price and mistakes, but he played in the Premier League this year with the wolves team and is somewhat comparable to Rui, so who knows?
4)Paulo Gazzaniga (31) Girona(fulham)
Paulo, a 31-year-old argentine who is valued at 2.73 million euros, was an important player for Girona this season. He really performed well for the Spanish side, but they narrowly missed the conference league after losing the final game of the season. Paulo's loan from Fulham will end on June 30, 2023.
Clean sheets:4 Avg rating:6.90 Saves per game:3.3(72%) Goals prevented:9.05 Errors leading to goals:3 Ball distribution:Good Accurate long balls:6.4 (40%) TOTW:3
I think we can pull that off as fulham alredy have a first team kepper whom they trust even more and he is also on the list
5)Berns leno The 31 year old german plays for west london's club fulham valued at 9.2M €
Contract expires in 2025 Clean sheets:8 Avg rating:7.18 Saves per game:4(74%) Goals prevented:+9.47 Errors leading to goals:0 Ball distribution:great Accurate long balls: 4.4(36%) TOTW:4
6)Edgar Badia
Elche finished last in the la liga and will go up to the segunda division of Spanish football, so there is a fantastic opportunity to get the 31-year-old Spaniard, who is only valued at 3.9 million euros. Despite not doing as well as previous season, he still outperformed other goalies in the league despite having a week team.
Contract expires in 2025 Clean sheets:4 Avg rating:6.98 Saves per game:3.9(69%) Goals prevented:+9.10 Errors leading to goals:1 Ball distribution:good Accurate long balls: 6.7(48%) TOTW:3
7) David Raya
One of the most crucial players for the team's performance was their custodian David Raya, who was saving goals for fun and had the most saves in this season's Premier League. With the value of 27 million, the 27-year-old Spanish man was part of this year's mighty Brentford team that shocked the world with their performance. No one actually believed that Brentford would finish in the top half of the season.Although he has gained interest from teams, Brentford will not participate in any European competitions after this outstanding performance, making it a crucial time to sign a player of his calibre.
Contract expires next season Clean sheets:12 Avg rating:7.18 Saves per game:4.1(77%) Goals prevented:+2.77 Errors leading to goals:1 Ball distribution: excellent Accurate long balls:10.2(42%) TOTW:2
I know it's merely impossible that roma will spend soo much on a goalie when they want to bring a goalscorer and players for a good bench but football is unpredictable who would have thought last season that roma will sign dybala when big teams like man utd,arsenal,inter and atlético were linked with the argentine
Here are my 2 other options koen casteels from Wolfsburg and david de gea of man utd i know he wasn't on the level this season and eth wants a goalkeeper who is good on the ball and he isn't fitting in the system and might not even start for the red devils next season and as he has worked with mou and roma don't need a keeper who is good on the ball we might see this happening
In Italiano: Sono consapevole che la posizione del portiere è stata problematica quest’anno perché Rui Patricio non ha giocato bene. Diamo un'occhiata alle sue statistiche prima.
età : 35 Valore: 5,3 milioni di euro Contratto: giugno 2024 Valutazione di Avg: 6.73(16th in league) Scatole pulite: 13 (4th in league) Giochi 0 Distribuzione del pallone: media Risparmi per partita: 2,1 (68%) 17° in campionato Giochi evitati in Serie A: -7.21 Obiettivi evitati in UEL: -2.01 Palloni lunghi accurati (46%) Errori che portano agli obiettivi: 3
Abbiamo visto lui fare lotti o errori e anche in finale un colpo è salito e abbiamo quasi ammesso che
Ecco alcune sostituzioni che avevo in mente per il bilancio di Roma, la maggior parte delle quali ho cercato di mantenere in linea con la realtà.
di Frederik Ronnow Il giocatore danese di 30 anni faceva parte della squadra di questa stagione di Union Berlin che ha terminato quarto nella Bundesliga nonostante sia in disputa per il titolo di liga all'inizio della stagione. È stato uno dei migliori portieri della liga e il suo contratto scade nel giugno del 2024.
Valutazione di Avg: 7.13 Scatole pulite: 11 Obiettivi evitati in Bundesliga: + 8.32 Risparmi per gioco: 3.2(78%) Distribuzione del pallone: grande Palloni lunghi accurati:9(40%) Errori che portano agli obiettivi: 0 Tuttavia: 2
Sono consapevole che l’Unione Berlino si è qualificata per la Champions League, il che rende difficile reclutarlo, anche dopo una stagione spettacolare. Tuttavia, se Mou rimane, credo che possa convincerlo. Ha giocato anche in UEL questa stagione, quindi è familiare con il sapore dei giochi europei.
2) Yehvann Ignaf(23) Reims
Uno dei migliori portieri della Ligue 1, valutato a 4,7 milioni di euro, è un affare e ha spazio per crescere. Reims ha terminato 11 ° nella liga; perché sulla terra non si unirà a una squadra come la Roma con una storia così ricca e giocherà in Europa la stagione successiva?
Contratto fino al 2027 Scatole pulite: 14 Valutazione di Avg: 7.15 Risparmi per gioco: 3.5(78%) Obiettivi evitati: +6 Errori che portano agli obiettivi: 2 Distribuzione del pallone: media Palline lunghe precise: 6.2 (49%) Verità : 2
José Sá (30) Wolves Club di Portogallo
Naturalmente, ho dovuto includerlo solo perché è portoghese. È anche un portiere rispettabile che ho aggiunto a causa dei suoi risparmi nella Premier Leaue ma forse un po’ costoso per la Roma valutata a 17,2 milioni di euro.
Contratto fino al 2026 Scatole pulite: 11 Valutazione di Avg: 6.81 Risparmi per partita: 3(60%) Obiettivi evitati: -5.73 Errori che portano agli obiettivi: 2 Distribuzione del pallone: media Palloni lunghi accurati: 3.7 (28%) Verità : 2
È l’opzione meno desiderabile nella lista a causa del suo prezzo e dei suoi errori, ma quest’anno ha giocato in Premier League con la squadra dei lupi ed è in qualche modo paragonabile a Rui, quindi chi lo sa?
Paolo Gazzaniga (31) Girona(fulham)
Paulo, un argentino di 31 anni valutato a 2,73 milioni di euro, è stato un giocatore importante per Girona questa stagione. Ha fatto davvero bene per la parte spagnola, ma hanno perso la conferenza dopo aver perso la partita finale della stagione. Il prestito di Paulo da Fulham scadrà il 30 giugno 2023.
Scatole pulite: 4 Valutazione di Avg: 6.90 Risparmi per gioco: 3.3 (72%) Obiettivi evitati: 9.05 Errori che portano agli obiettivi: 3 Distribuzione del pallone: buono Palloni lunghi accurati: 6,4 (40%) Verità: 3
Penso che possiamo togliere questo come fulham alredy hanno un cappello della prima squadra a cui si fidano ancora di più e lui è anche nella lista
5 – Berns Leno Il 31enne tedesco gioca per il Fulham di West London valutato a 9,2 milioni di euro
Il contratto scade nel 2025 Scatole pulite: 8 Valutazione di Avg: 7.18 Risparmi per partita: 4 (74%) Obiettivi evitati: +9 Errori che portano agli obiettivi:0 Distribuzione del pallone: grande Palloni lunghi accurati: 4.4 (36%) Verità : 4
di Edgar Badia
Elche ha finito l'ultimo nella la liga e andrà in seconda divisione del calcio spagnolo, quindi c'è una fantastica opportunità per ottenere lo spagnolo di 31 anni, che è valutato solo a 3,9 milioni di euro. Nonostante non stia facendo bene come la stagione precedente, ha ancora superato gli altri gol della liga nonostante abbia una squadra di una settimana.
Il contratto scade nel 2025 Scatole pulite: 4 Valutazione: 698 Risparmi per gioco: 3.9(69%) Obiettivi evitati: +9 Errori che portano agli obiettivi: 1 Distribuzione del pallone: buono Palloni lunghi accurati: 6.7 (48%) Verità: 3
di David Raya
Uno dei giocatori più cruciali per le prestazioni della squadra è stato il loro custode David Raya, che stava salvando gol per divertimento e aveva i più risparmiati in questa stagione della Premier League. Con un valore di 27 milioni, il 27enne spagnolo faceva parte del potente team di Brentford di quest’anno che ha scioccato il mondo con le sue prestazioni. Anche se ha guadagnato interesse dalle squadre, Brentford non parteciperà a nessuna competizione europea dopo questa straordinaria performance, rendendo un momento cruciale per firmare un giocatore del suo calibro.
Il contratto scade la prossima stagione Scatole pulite: 12 Valutazione di Avg: 7.18 Risparmi per gioco: 4.1(77%) Obiettivi evitati: + 2,77 Errori che portano agli obiettivi: 1 Distribuzione del pallone: eccellente Palloni lunghi accurati: 10.2 (42%) Verità : 2
So che è semplicemente impossibile che la Roma spenderà molto su un goalie quando vogliono portare un portiere e giocatori per un buon banco, ma il calcio è imprevedibile, chi avrebbe pensato la scorsa stagione che Roma segnerà dybala quando grandi squadre come l'Uddd, l'Arsenal, Inter e l'Atlético erano collegate con l'argentino.
Ecco le mie 2 altre opzioni koen castel da Wolfsburg e david de gea di man utd so che non è stato sul livello questa stagione e eth vuole un portiere che è buono sulla palla e non si adatta al sistema e potrebbe non iniziare nemmeno per i diavoli rossi la prossima stagione e come ha lavorato con mou e roma non hanno bisogno di un custode che è bravo sul pallone potremmo vedere questo accadere
NOTA:Il loro potrebbe essere alcuni errori di traduzione come io non parlo italiano soo prendere facile

dajeroma #goalkeepers

submitted by Ankiit20 to ASRoma [link] [comments]

2023.06.04 07:59 Pupetual333 Looking for LGBTQ+ readers to review some work.

I've written the first book in a series of three planned books and would really like some feedback. Especially from fans of semi-mature gay male main character based content.
If you have kindle Unlimited you can check it out in the link bellow, but if you do not and still want to help a hopefully blossoming writer fullfill their dreams, and take part in their journy please pm me and I can give you a link to a readable online file.
https://a.co/d/0tDIGgi
  1. Did you find the protagonist's character compelling and well-developed? Why or why not?
  2. How did you perceive the portrayal of LGBTQ+ themes in the book? Did they feel authentic and respectful?
  3. Were there any specific moments or scenes involving the protagonist that stood out to you? If so, why?
  4. Did the litRPG elements of the story enhance or detract from your reading experience? Were they well-integrated into the plot and world-building?
  5. How did you feel about the pacing and overall structure of the book? Did it keep you engaged throughout, or were there any parts that felt slow or rushed?
  6. Were there any dialogue exchanges or interactions involving the protagonist that resonated with you? Were there any areas where the dialogue could be improved?
  7. What did you think about the representation of relationships involving the protagonist? Were they portrayed realistically and sensitively?
  8. Was the level of mature content too much, just enough, or would you like to see more, and do you prefer the allusion to the mature acts instead of directly describing each mature act in detail?
  9. Did the book effectively explore themes related to the experiences of a mature gay male protagonist? If so, which themes stood out to you the most?
  10. How would you describe the writing style of the book? Did it effectively convey the tone and atmosphere of the story?
  11. Overall, what were your general impressions of the book? What were its strengths and weaknesses?
  12. Was the story length to short, to long, or just right? Would you like the following books to be fleshed out more and contain more of one aspect or another?
  13. As there are two more books planned for the series and knowing that I will use the feedback of everyone who reviews it here to improve upon them from now on, would you read more of the books?
Remember, feel freed to express your honest opinions and provide detailed feedback.
submitted by Pupetual333 to litrpg [link] [comments]

2023.06.04 04:36 Yebzey Is this a good pre built for the price

Is this a good pre built for the price submitted by Yebzey to pcmasterrace [link] [comments]

2023.06.04 04:20 Cephalomagus 2023 Season 3 Release Notes [Pre-Release Version]

The Release Notes for 2023 Season 3 have been posted on the iRacing Forums!
Find them posted here:
https://forums.iracing.com/discussion/42721/2023-season-3-release-notes-pre-release-version#latest
​
Or read them below!
========================================================================

2023 Season 3 Release Notes [Pre-Release Version]

This is the iRacing 2023 Season 3 Release! This release contains both content and upgrades for 2023 Season 3, which officially starts on June 12th! This season update includes three new cars: Cadillac V-Series.R GTP, Ligier JS P320, and Porsche 911 GT3 R (992). iRacing also expands its track offerings to include MotorLand Aragón (7 configs) and Willow Springs International Raceway, as well as a new 2023 Cup config for Chicago Street Course.
Our Dirt Taskforce has completed their work on the Dirt Refresh Project shared with the community back in February, and we are excited for you to experience the fruits of their labors. The Spotter System has received a Race Control-focused set of updates and new calls that will liven up your racing and keep you better informed about what is happening on the track and in the race. New challengers approach - you will now have the ability to add AI Opponent Rosters to your Hosted Sessions that utilize the Heat Racing format! We are excited to announce we have been investing time into saving you time, loading time to be precise, and this Season Release includes a first phase of loading optimizations that should get you into the driver’s seat just a little bit faster. Willow Springs International Raceway is proud to pioneer a new 3D Foliage System that automatically populates the environment with grasses, shrubs, and other creations of Mother Nature. USB Audio Hot Swapping is now fully enabled and supported by iRacing for all of your headset and speaker needs. A new Graphics Option has also been added which controls the display of all cockpit obstructions instead of this parameter being car setup specific.
The New Damage Model has been put into practice on eleven additional cars. And last but not least our AI Drivers have mastered eight new cars and twenty-four new track configurations. Welcome to iRacing 2023 Season 3!
Season highlights include:
Visit our 2023 Season 3 features page here: https://www.iracing.com/seasons/2023-s3/
Full 2023 Season 3 Release details are below.
​

iRACING UI:

--------------------------------------------------------------

Hosted Racing

AI Racing

Tracks

Leagues

Paint Shop

​

SIMULATION:

--------------------------------------------------------------

Windows Support

Race Servers

Loading

Dynamic Track

Race Control

Qualifying Scrutiny

Dirt Racing

AI Racing

New Damage Model

Auto Fuel

Spotter

Graphics

3D Foliage System

Visual Effects

Audio

Environment

Interface

Camera

Controls

Force Feedback

Replays

Telemetry

Official iRacing Sporting Code

submitted by Cephalomagus to iRacing [link] [comments]

2023.06.04 04:07 BigBlueMagic BE HEARD!!!! Last chance to stop TERRIBLE STADIUM HANDOUT!!!!

(I also posted this in /vegaslocals. If reposting here isn't allowed, I apologize, and feel free to take down).
Hey Everybody!!!
I just want to keep you in the loop on what’s going on with Oakland A’s owner John Fisher’s request to have the Nevada Legislature give him up to $380 million in public funds for a new stadium. The Legislative session ENDS MONDAY, which means that they will ram this through very quickly in the next 48 hours or so or call a special session.
NOW IS THE TIME FOR YOU TO SPEAK OUT!!!! I have put together a fairly well-documented argument below demonstrating that this is a bad deal and Fisher is a terrible partner. Please share this post and information as widely as you can! Most importantly, contact members of the Legislature and BE HEARD!!! Be sure to tell them that you live in Nevada!!!
Contact your Assemblyperson and State Senator!!
Assembly contact info: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/LegislatoA/Assembly/Current
State Senate Contact info: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/LegislatoA/Senate/Current
If you would like, you could use or modify this sample letter which contains URL links supporting the claims.
Dear Senator or Assemblyperson [Last Name], I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed public funding for John Fisher's baseball stadium in Nevada. I believe this project should be stopped for several reasons: Lack of transparency: Fisher and his team deliberately released funding details at the last minute and scheduled the only public hearing on Memorial Day evening, during a Golden Knights playoff game, limiting public awareness and participation. This is a shameful subversion of democracy and I hope you had no part in it. Neglected education system: Nevada ranks 49th out of 50 in educational attainment. Our focus should be on improving public schools, not funding a billionaire's stadium. Unrealistic economic projections: Expert analysis discredits the claim that the stadium will attract an additional 400,000 tourists, which, even if true, would only be a 1% increase on an annual basis. A Stanford economics professor expressed his belief that Fisher’s Stadium will result in the equivalent of a few hundred, permanent, long-term jobs. Fisher’s economic projections are detached from reality and unreliable. Fisher's history: His track record with the San Jose Quakes, another publicly funded stadium venture, raises concerns about his commitment to investing in player payroll and creating a competitive team. Fisher owns the Quakes. After he was given a public handout for a stadium, he did not change or competitively fund his soccer team. Troubled partnerships: Mark Davis of the Raiders, who shared the Oakland Coliseum with the A’s, has expressed frustration with Fisher's management group. MLB owners are also frustrated by doing business with Fisher. Nevada should expect to have the same experience if we proceed. I urge you to oppose public funding for John Fisher's stadium. Let's prioritize transparency, education, and responsible use of public funds for the benefit of all Nevada residents. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Please consider my perspective as you make your decision. Should you require further information or have any questions, I am available to discuss this issue. Sincerely, [Your Name]
Feel free to modify, expand or use as-is. You can also write your own letter too. I'm just trying to make this as easy as possible for everyone so that we are HEARD!
TLDR Bullet Points For Big Argument Below:
PUBLIC FUNDING FOR JOHN FISHER’S STADIUM MUST BE STOPPED!!!!
1. They Don’t Want to Hear From You
Fisher and Kaval strategically waited until the 11th hour to release details about the handout. From USA Today:
The A’s, their cadre of lobbyists in Nevada and friendly politicians and tourist officials are doing their best to hide the sausage, introducing, finally, legislation for state funding of myriad projects on the Friday night of a holiday weekend, and then offering public discussion on the evening of Memorial Day. Pretty slick! And it sounds like Gov. Joe Lombardo’s signature would be waiting.
The only public hearing on giving away hundreds of millions of dollars occurred on Memorial Day. And not just on Memorial Day — it was in the evening during Game Six of the Western Conference Finals where the Golden Knights punched their tickets to the Stanley Cup Finals. A hearing at 4:00 AM on Christmas morning would have received a higher profile and greater public scrutiny.
They didn’t want you to know about the hearing and your opportunity to be heard. And if, by chance you did hear about it, they didn’t want you to be able to show up and be heard. They are not very subtle about their preference to not hear from you, the unwashed masses.
Guess who else wasn’t there? A’s owner John Fisher and President Dave Kaval. I am not making this up. They didn’t bother to show up to the Memorial Day hearing. They want us to give them hundreds of millions of dollars, but couldn’t be bothered to show up at the hearing and answer questions themselves? Where were they Monday night? What was so important they couldn’t be bothered to show up for a public hearing to answer questions in public? Fisher and his army of lobbyists have had weeks to meet privately with lawmakers behind closed doors. Are you telling me Fisher couldn’t give us regular folks two hours in public?
2. What Are Our Priorities?
There’s no way to sugarcoat it. Nevada, and in particular the Clark County School District, fail to provide adequate public education. Nevada ranks 49th out of 50 for educational attainment. Of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States, Las Vegas ranks second worst for schools. This is unacceptable, yet real education reform is never a priority for the same politicians who are willing to pull the Memorial Day/Stanley Cup Playoff hearing shenanigans for Fisher.
If our elected officials can turn on a dime to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars to a billionaire for a sports stadium, why can’t they act with similar urgency for our disastrous public school system?
Our failed public schools, especially CCSD, are the most significant impediment to economic growth and diversification. The number one reason companies and individuals are reluctant to relocate to Las Vegas are our terrible public schools. If we want to create economic growth, we need to fund and fix our public schools, not build another billionaire a sports stadium.
3. The Numbers Don’t Make Sense. They’re Basically Fraud.
Whenever a billionaire asks the public to finance his stadium, the ask is always accompanied by a series of fantastical economic projections. If you watched the Memorial Day/Stanley Cup Playoff hearing, you saw a powerpoint presentation made by Fisher’s hired lobbyists. The numbers presented by Fisher’s lobbyists aren’t simply slightly embellished, they are disconnected from reality.
First, there is the claim that Fisher’s publicly funded stadium will bring an additional 400,000 tourists. John Mehaffey breaks down this non-sensical claim in the Nevada Independent:
The 400,000 number seems inflated to me. The A’s host 81 baseball games per year. This projection assumes 4,938 tourists at each game that would otherwise not be in Las Vegas. Considering only one American League market is within a reasonable driving distance, most of these tourists would fly to see their home team. Many or most of these tourists would go to two or three games in a series to justify this travel. If the average number is two games, that puts 9,877 visitors in the stadium per home game. If those fans go to an entire three-game series, that number is 14,815. If the 1.8 million locals attendance prediction is accurate, and visiting fans tend to go to a series as opposed to just one game, the A’s project that they will sell out the stadium's 35,000-seat capacity every home game. If visitors go to only two games, that is 90 percent of capacity. That is a bold projection for a team that was last in attendance in 2022 and at the bottom so far in 2023, especially since no MLB team comes close to selling out all its home games. The lack of flights makes 400,000 new visitors seem impossible Most teams that would visit the Las Vegas A’s stadium are in the American League. Most are in the east where nonstop flights to Las Vegas are scarce. For example, I found five or fewer nonstop flights per day from six of the other 14 American League cities. Four of those six teams had home stadium attendance below 20,000 per game in 2022. It’s hard to imagine that 10,000 or 15,000 fans will fly across the country for a series when that is around the average attendance for the 81 home games in their own cities. Some displaced fans may be within driving distance, but the point is one that needs to be considered. Las Vegas would need dozens of flights per series that don’t exist to accommodate this prediction.
Mehaffey also points out that Miami, which recently built a publicly financed stadium, also has 40 million visitors a year, just like Las Vegas. However, the Miami metro is substantially larger than Las Vegas. “In 2022, the Miami Marlins averaged 11,204 per game. A market with a much larger metro population that posts similar tourism numbers does not come close to the A’s projections. There is no reason to think Las Vegas will be different.”
Stanford economics professor Roger Noll agrees with Mehaffey that the attendance numbers Fisher projects are not credible. From USA Today:
“Baseball is different than the NFL,” Roger Noll, professor of economics emeritus at Stanford University, tells USA TODAY Sports. “This notion that of those 162 baseball games, I've got to see those three that are between the A's and the Royals in Las Vegas - it's just nonsense, right? It's not true, it's not going to happen. “That's the fundamental reason why economists, when they do research on the impact of sports teams, typically find that the effect on local incomes and employment is slightly negative.”
But what about job creation?
Noll says the hours that stadium workers put in – for 81 games a year – computes to roughly 15% of a full-time job. “So the 500 people who work at the stadium on game day, you got to multiply that by .15 to get the number of full-time equivalent jobs, which means it's less than 100. Wow,” says Noll. “You know, $1.5 billion to create less than 100 jobs, right? Wow.”
4. Grossly Underfunded Payroll
The total payroll for the 2023 A’s is just $59,630,474, just 37% of the MLB average payroll of $116,112,414 and just 17% of the highest-spending New York Mets ($345,474,042). To provide context, the highest paid players in the league, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, will each make $43,333,333. Verlander’s salary, by itself, is 72% of the entire A’s roster!
This meager spending is by choice, not necessity. It’s a strategy that works. From Sports Illustrated:
The A's were a top-5 team in 2022. Not on the field. The A's finished with a 60-102 record, second-worst only ahead of the Washington Nationals. On the spreadsheets though, they netted $62.2 million according to a report from Forbes. The only teams they finished behind were the revamped Seattle Mariners who made the playoffs for the first time in two decades, the San Francisco Giants, the Boston Red Sox, and the Baltimore Orioles who had a Mariners-esque upswing and an A's-esque payroll.
When the A’s do develop talent, they quickly jettison those players to avoid paying them their true worth on the market. As Review-Journal columnist Ed Graney explained, when Fisher’s A’s have experienced success, the response has been to break down the team and sell off the parts. Graney concluded: “John Fisher is an owner with deep, deep pockets who (incredibly) has always acted in a way that he can’t afford to hand out exorbitant contracts to his best players. About him, an overwhelmingly popular opinion is that he simply doesn’t want to.”
Why do this? Wouldn’t a competitive team generate more revenue? In Major League Baseball, there is a revenue sharing agreement among the franchises, intended to help smaller markets field competitive teams. Fisher uses revenue sharing, and dumping talent, to be one of the most profitable owners in baseball. From the New York Post:
At least a few rival MLB club owners are annoyed at the Athletics for conducting a major fire sale to enhance their bottom line soon after being added as a new revenue-sharing recipient in a vote by owners. “The idea of revenue sharing is not to make money, it’s to field a competitive team,” one rival owner complained Thursday during the owners’ meetings at MLB headquarters in Midtown. “That money is supposed to go toward player salaries. [The A’s] took the money and put it in their pocket.” Yet another owner, also upset that the A’s didn’t use the money to buy new players, but instead did the opposite and sold three major stars and drastically cut their payroll, referred to the franchise generally as “a mess.”
Fisher will not fund a competitive team in Las Vegas if we give him a stadium handout. That would destroy his very profitable business strategy. Why would he do that? The payroll of the Las Vegas A’s will be 30th out of 30 MLB teams, just like the Oakland A’s.
5. History Repeating: Quakes Publicly Funded Stadium
There seems to be some hopeful thinking that if we give John Fisher a stadium handout, he will increase the A’s payroll to become more competitive. A’s President Dave Kaval stirred excitement when he insinuated that the franchise would bankroll a World Series championship team with a new stadium in Las Vegas. “But with more revenues, we want to turn a playoff team into a World Series team. That’s why we’re fighting so hard for a new stadium, whether it’s in Las Vegas or Oakland,” Kaval told the Review-Journal.
Many people, including our elected officials, want to believe this, in good faith. It would be awesome to have a Las Vegas MLB franchise win a World Series!
This isn’t Fisher’s first rodeo with a publicly funded stadium. Fisher is also the owner of the San Jose Quakes of Major League Soccer. From an Associated Press article in the May 25, 2006 Salinas Californian on public financing for a new Quakes stadium: “The Quakes won MLS championships in 2001 and 2003 led by former star forward Landon Donovan but attendance slid to an average of just 13,037 fans last season.” Sound familiar?
So what happened? Did Fisher increase player payroll once he obtained his publicly financed soccer stadium?
From the San Jose Mercury News:
Out of the 29 MLS teams, the Earthquakes rank 21st in guaranteed player compensation and base salary, both on a per-player and teamwide basis. The Earthquakes’ average salary came in at $434,079, nearly $100,000 lower than the overall average salary for an MLS player ($530,467). San Jose’s total spending ($13.022 million) comes in at more than $2.8 million below the average team spending across the league (15.822 million). It’s a continued trend for the Quakes, even after they moved into the state-of-the-art PayPal Park in 2015. The Earthquakes have consistently ranked in the bottom half of the league in spending, per Spotrac, even as the MLS has continued to add new expansion teams over the years. Earthquakes spending rank in MLS by year · 2015 (20 teams) — 15th · 2016 (20 teams) — 11th · 2017 (22 teams) — 16th · 2018 (23 teams) — 19th · 2019 (24 teams) — 19th · 2020 (26 teams) — 17th · 2021 (27 teams) — 24th · 2022 (28 teams) — 22nd · 2023 (29 teams) — 21st That has been reflected in on-field results, too. Since the Earthquakes moved into their new home, they have never finished a season with more wins than losses — the closest they came was in that first year, at 13 wins, 13 losses and eight draws.
Nevada should expect Fisher to act in the future as he has in the past. His business strategy is clear: spend as little as possible on player payroll regardless of venue. If Nevada gives Fisher a handout, nobody — nobody — can act surprised when his miserly payroll does not change.
The Raiders and A’s shared the Oakland Coliseum for decades. Aces and Raiders owner Mark Davis is very familiar with what it means to “partner” with John Fisher. Davis did not hold back when he spoke with the Review-Journal:
“I won’t forget what they did to us in Oakland. They squatted on a lease for 10 years and made it impossible for us to build on that stadium,” the Raiders owner said in a phone chat Thursday afternoon, referring to the stadium the A’s and Raiders once shared, the Oakland Coliseum. “They were looking for a stadium. We were looking for a stadium. They didn’t want to build a stadium, and then went ahead and signed a 10-year lease with the city of Oakland and said, ‘We’re the base team.’” … Davis was asked if he could envision an environment where the Silver and Black would cross-promote with the green-and-gold Las Vegas Athletics. “Not with that management group,” Davis said. “I just have, again, a lot of personal animosity toward the front office. But with a new management group? Absolutely.”
Mark Davis did business with John Fisher for decades. Davis knows Fisher. Nobody in Nevada has done business with Fisher as much as Davis. Davis’ reaction to Fisher, basically unfiltered instinctual revulsion, should be a massive red flag to our elected leaders who are being plied with sweet nothings by Fisher’s hired guns.
Sources:
“A’s Stadium Math Doesn’t Add Up.” The Nevada Independent, May 30, 2023. https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/as-stadium-math-doesnt-add-up.
Graney, Ed. “Graney: A’s Penny-Pinching a Reason for Las Vegas to Reassess.” Journal, March 18, 2022. https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/sports-columns/ed-graney/graney-as-penny-pinching-a-reason-for-las-vegas-to-reassess-2547852/.
Gutierrez, Ana. “Nevada Ranks as the Second Least Educated State in America.” KLAS, February 17, 2022. https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/nevada-ranks-as-the-second-least-educated-state-in-america/.
Jenkins, Bruce. “MLB Has Punished Other Owners. Why Is A’s John Fisher Getting a Pass?” San Francisco Chronicle, June 3, 2023. https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/jenkins/article/john-fisher-mlb-oakland-18130516.php.
Katsilometes, John. “Raiders Owner Rips Oakland Athletics’ Likely Move to Las Vegas.” Journal, April 27, 2023. https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/raiders-owner-rips-oakland-athletics-likely-move-to-las-vegas-2765229/?xxyy.
Lacques, Gabe. “Why A’s Las Vegas Stadium Gambit May Be a Losing Bet: ‘It’s Just Nonsense.’” USA Today, June 1, 2023. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/athletics/2023/06/01/oakland-as-move-las-vegas-stadium-gambit-losing-bet/70277528007/.
Lozito, Nick. “‘this Is Not Our Fault:’ Oakland A’s Fans Are Defending Their Image.” The Oaklandside, May 5, 2023. https://oaklandside.org/2023/05/01/oakland-athletics-leaving-las-vegas-john-fisher-dave-kaval-fans/.
“MLB 2023 Payroll Tracker.” Spotrac.com. Accessed June 3, 2023. https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/.
Oakland Athletics made over $60 million in 2023 - Sports Illustrated ... Accessed June 4, 2023. https://www.si.com/mlb/athletics/news/oakland-athletics-made-over-60-million-in-2023.
Shea, John. “Don’t Believe John Fisher’s Propaganda: A’s Fans Are the Best in Baseball.” San Francisco Chronicle, June 1, 2023. https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/athletics/article/oakland-a-s-fans-aren-t-reason-team-las-vegas-18126429.php.
Simon, Alex. “Would New Oakland A’s Ballpark Lead to More Spending? John Fisher’s Other Team Shows That May Not Be the Case.” The Mercury News, May 17, 2023. https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/05/16/would-new-oakland-as-ballpark-lead-to-more-spending-john-fishers-other-team-shows-that-may-not-be-the-case/.
Wootton-Greener, Julie. “Las Vegas Area Schools Ranked Second-Worst in Nation for Quality.” Journal, December 9, 2021. https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/education/las-vegas-area-schools-ranked-second-worst-in-nation-for-quality-2493177/.
submitted by BigBlueMagic to Nevada [link] [comments]

2023.06.04 04:02 aaaaa143222 The US overseas Chinese Democracy movement's scandals part 1

Note: and other people in the same category as them

Wang Dan accused of sexual harassment by two people

Lee Yuan-chun accuses Wang Dan of sexual harassmentAccording to Radio Free Asia, on June 2nd, 2023, a man named Lee Yuan-chun (李元钧), accused Wang Dan of sexual harassment on Facebook. According to Lee Yuan-chun, in 2014 in Flushing, Wang Dan kissed him, attempted to rape him, and later continued to say sexual things. On Facebook, Wang Dan wrote that this did not happen. Li Yuan-chun told Radio Free Asia that he has some evidence related to the allegation.Reports: China Times SanlihRadio France International reported about this, but the article was deleted.**Xu Haoqian accused Wang Dan of sexual harassment (note: this name was transliterated from Chinese to pinyin)**Later, according to multiple news media, a Master of Taiwan's Tsinghua University also accused Wang Dan of sexual harassment.Reports: Apple Daily China Press United Daily NewsFurther reports: HK01 CTS

Zeng Dajun was rumored to be a CCP agent

In 2011, the China Social Democracy Party had a lot of internal conflicts involving Liu Guokai, Lu Yi, Liu Yinquan, Xiaopingtou, and others. Some members of the China Social Democracy Party were accused of being agents or doing bad things.In 2016, Bowen Press reported that Zeng Dajun, the chairman of the China Social Democracy Party was a CCP agent who infiltrated the overseas Democracy Movement and who had caused the arrest of many people in China, such as the China Social Democracy Party member Wang Xiaoning (王小宁). Zeng Dajun joined the China Social Democracy Party in 2000 and was elected to be its chairman in 2013.https://bowenpress.com/news/bowen_54262.html

Guo Baosheng convicted of fraud and defamation

On December 23rd 2019, the jury verdict ordered that Guo Baosheng pays a total of $24,000 (in defamation and fraud charges). WENGUI GUO is the plaintiff and BAOSHENG GUO is the defendant. The court is the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.To verify this information, you can use the case number , which is 1:18-cv-01064-TSE-IDD.

Chen Yangchao and Zeng Jieming had a conflict on a forum of the Democracy Movement

Chen Yangchao is the author of "On Privilege" and a participant of the "Democracy Wall" movement. Zeng Jieming is an exiled Chinese who participated in various dissident publications.In May, Chen Yangchao suggested that Zeng Jieming was a CCP spy on The Independent Review.Below is the continuation of the online conflict translated from Chinese to English.On May 18th, on the Independent Review forum of the Democracy Movement, Chen Yangchao wrote another post criticizing Zeng Jieming. In this post, Chen Yangchao called Zeng Jieming a "suspected communist agent", a "Little Pink", and a "gangster" ("共特嫌疑人小粉红混混"), and accused Zeng Jieming of supporting Russia against Ukraine.Zeng Jieming: "[...] What pro-democracy activist are you now? Since 2008, after you fought with Wu Fan to be the 'President of the Transitional Government of China', ended in failure and shame, except flattering the tyrannical dictators, writing letters to persuade Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping [note: Zeng Jieming used the nicknames 僵贼泯, 胡紧套 and 习正恩], proclaiming the emperor to 'create peace for all ages', what have you done? Is flattering and persuading tyrannical dictators the 'democracy movement' according to you? [...]"Chen Yangchao: "You immoral, corrupt thing that reverses black and white, didn't you see my series of long essays against the CCP? [...]" Chen Yangchao also attached a long article about the Christianity and Chinese politics.Zeng Jieming: "In October 2011, you and Liu Guokai (刘国凯) visited my residence by chance and were warmly received by my partner and me. Later, Liu Guokai reluctantly left first, but the next day, you left angrily. For a long time, I didn't know why and thought that my hospitality wasn't good. Later, I finally understood: when taking the group photo (my wife took the photo), I didn't let you 'saint' stand in the middle, but let Liu Guokai stand in the middle. [...]"Chen Yangchao: "In October 2011, to reconcile the conflict between Liu Guokai and Liu Yinquan (刘因全), before flying from Los Angeles to New York, I made an appointment with Liu Guokai to meet and exchange ideas at your home. I went to see your family who just immigrated to the United States.After that, you propose to take a group photo. Guokai was a person who personally experienced the Democracy Wall movement and the shocking influence of 'On Privilege' at that time. Therefore, he insisted that I stand between you and him. Because I thought that you just arrived in the United States and needed Liu Guokai's help, and should help strengthen your relationship with him, I insisted that he stand between me and you. So we pushed each other several times. You said: 'It's better to ask Chairman Liu to stand in the middle', and I also said: 'Guokai is welcome to be in the middle.' Only then did the mutual pushing between me and Guokai stop. After the group photo, I took a photo while holding your son who was born after I took a long-distance taxi in Bangkok to visit your family in Thailand. Where is that 'fact' that you fabricated?[...]Not to mention, Mr. Liu Guokai your wife are witnesses. If your wife is as heartless as you are, responding to kindness with hate, then the wrath and severe punishment of God will come upon your family![...]It's a pity that you didn't send me any of the photos you took this time. Otherwise, I can post it now to let everyone see if I am narrow-minded and "angry and resentful (yet)" as you said![...]At your house this time, you insisted that when I went to live with Liu Yinquan's family in Los Angeles, I was sick because Liu Yinquan drugged me; that the computer had problems because Liu Yinquan damaged it! You insisted that it was this scoundrel spy Liu Yinquan who did it! You asked me to publicly reveal this matter, and expose Liu Yinquan's true face! I have repeatedly told you that you can't do this arbitrarily. I have repeatedly advised you to improve your relationship with Liu Yinquan as much as possible... [...]"Zeng Jieming: "Only looking at your words 'he died well' when you heard the news of Peng Ming (彭明)'s death, Peng Ming's spirit in heaven will not forgive you! [...]"Chen Yangchao: "[...] I have some criticisms of Peng Ming's seriously anti-democratic dictatorial gangster tactics that are more vicious than those of the Communist dictators. [...]In the article '答友人谈彭明的典型意义和代表性兼及其它', I have already quoted a series of anti-democratic and anti-society words written by Peng Ming in his 'Democracy Project' and the 'legal clauses' tailor-made for Peng Ming from the '中国联邦临时政府约法（草案）' personally revised by Peng Ming, which solidly proves that Peng Ming — in essence, he is a typical evil breed hatched in China's century-old troubled times. [...]"Other commentsSome people commented on their conflict on The Independent Review."Guo Qinghai" (郭庆海): "I support old Chen to relentlessly pursue and fiercely attack, heheh""Leg pain" (小腿疼): "When mental illness occurs, you should increase your medication."

Shen Tong accused of adultery and beating his wife

Shen Tong was a leader of the '89 protest movement. In recent years, his level of participation in the overseas Democracy Movement diminished.In 2005, Shen Tong was accused of adultery in Taiwan with a woman surnamed Lai.TVBS: https://news.tvbs.com.tw/local/417997In 2017, Shen Tong was accused of beating his wife (Ms. Lai) in the U.S and was indicted on one count of second-degree assault.New York Post: https://nypost.com/2017/10/04/millionaire-anti-violence-activist-busted-for-beating-his-wife/

Wu'erkaixi's controversy in Taiwan

In June 2005, Wu'erkaixi was photographed "picking up girls" at a nightclub in Taipei.TVBS: https://news.tvbs.com.tw/life/440370In 2019, Wu'erkaixi was arrested in Taiwan for driving a motorcycle while drunk. The level of alcohol contained in his body surpassed the allowed limit.China Times: https://web.archive.org/web/20190515050022/https://www.chinatimes.com/amp/realtimenews/20190331001111-260402

Wang Dan allegedly received 400,000$ from the Taiwanese government

In April 2011, multiple news media reported that testified in court that he had received two grants from the Chen Shui-bian administration totaling 400 000 USD and that the source of the money was not clear.
China Times: https://www.chinatimes.com/amp/newspapers/20110416002085-260107
Liberty Times: https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/pape484870
Wang Dan responded that the reports of him having received 400 000 USD are false.
North America Online/BBC: http://naol.ca/news/world/2011/04/16-1.htm
Later, Wang Dan said "The report [of the Central News Agency] is misleading. What we accepted is the Republic of China's government's funding of the overseas Democracy Movement. Well, if it is said to be Chen Shui-bian's personal support, then I think this is not in line with the facts. [...] What he represents is not himself, but the government of the Republic of China."Deutsche Welle: https://www.dw.com/zh/%E7%8E%8B%E4%B8%B9%E5%8F%B0%E6%B9%BE%E8%B5%84%E5%8A%A9%E5%B9%B6%E9%9D%9E%E9%99%88%E6%B0%B4%E6%89%81%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%AA%E4%BA%BA%E6%94%AF%E6%8C%81/a-14997215
Cao Changqing pointed out that Wang Dan's response to this allegation made no sense.ChinaAid: https://www.chinaaid.net/2014/09/blog-post_38.html

Chen Shui-bian disclosed in 2022 that he paid Wang Dan

Chen Shui-bian paid 6.6 million NTD to Wang DanIn April 2022, Chen Shui-bian revealed 21 cases of "Guowu Jiyao Fei", including two payments to Wang Dan, totaling 6.6 million NTD.China TimesMing PaoChen Shui-bian disclosed that Wang Dan was paid 200,000 USD after meeting himWang Dan came to the Presidential Palace to talk to Chen Shui-bian. Chen Shui-bian also allocated 200,000 US dollars to be paid in two years to Wang Dan. However, Chen Shui-bian said that U.S. law stipulates that it is not allowed to accept foreign government funding. In order to help Wang Dan, the government used many people. Wang Dan admitted it in a secret court.SanlihThe Storm Media

Wang Dan was accused of pretending to be ill to receive donations

In 2014, Wang Dan claimed to have a brain tumor and asked for donations. Feng Congde and Tang Baiqiao accused him of deceiving people.China Times Liberty Times

Innapropriate photos of Sheng Xue

Sheng Xue is the leader of the Federation for a Democratic China (FDC). Many other political dissidents, such as Fei Liangyong, accuse her of behaving badly.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/world/canada/china-dissident-harassment-sheng-xue.htmlThese are alleged nude and innapropriate photos of Sheng Xue. She denied it.https://web.archive.org/web/20230228122715/http://45.35.61.42/hero/201608/xiaopingtouyehua/2_1.shtmlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20230228122715/http://45.35.61.42/hero/201608/xiaopingtouyehua/2_1.shtmlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20230228123614/https://club.6parkbbs.com/bolun/index.php?app=forum&act=threadview&tid=15257084

A spy and an murder in Flushing

Wang Juntao is the leader of an organization of the "China Democracy Party" in Flushing. A Beijing petitioner named Zhang Xiaoning killed the lawyer Jim Li. Zhang Xiaoning was a participant of the protests of Wang Juntao's group. Wang Shujun, someone who was close to Wang Juntao, was found to be a spy of China.https://nymag.com/intelligencearticle/wang-juntao-exile-chinese-communist-party-nyc.html

Liu Gang's wife was accused of being a Chinese spy

Liu Gang is the former leader of the student self-government federation during the '89 protest movement. In 2011, he accused accused his wife of being a spy of China.

Guo Wengui

Guo Wengui is a rich businessman who escaped from China. In 2017, he was supported of many people such as the dissident former official Bao Tong and the soccer player Hao Haidong.In 2017, he was accused of sex assault.He got into conflict with many political dissidents, including Bob Fu, Tang Baiqiao and Guo Baosheng.

Chai Ling accused Yuan Zhiming of raping her

Chai Ling was an important person during the '89 protest movement. However, she is not very active now.In 2015, she accused the dissident pastor Yuan Zhiming of raping her in 1990. In 2016, the christian group "GRACE" published their final report on the allegations.

Peng Ming

In October 1998, Peng Ming's organizations, the China Development Union, was declared illegal by the government and closed.In 2005, Peng Ming was in China sentenced for terrorism.Peng Ming intended to use violent methods to overthrow the Chinese government, such as assassinations and poisoning the Miyun reservoir in Beijing.Radio Free Asia, Yi Gai Creaders (万维)

Wei Jingsheng was accused of rape

Wei Jingsheng is the "father of the Democracy Movement". He wrote "the fifth modernization", calling for democracy.In 2019, Liu Huaizhao filed a complaint alleging that Wei Jingsheng had a child with her after a sexual intercourse but did not give financial support as promised. Wei Jingsheng claimed that Liu Huaizhao was sent by the CCP to disrupt his work.

Ni Yuxian

Ni Yuxian is the founder of a "Party for Freedom and Democracy in China".
In 2006, because of a conflict with Xie Wanjun (leader of a China Democracy Party), Liu Dongxing invited Ni Yuxian to cooperate. Because of this, Ni Yuxian got into conflict with other political dissidents.
In 2007, after Liu Dongxing and Ni Yuxian expelled each other from an organization named "China Democracy Party", Ni Yuxian reported Liu Dongxing to the 109th branch of the municipal police in Flushing, accusing Liu Dongxing of embezzling party fees and other crimes. On October 27th, the police arrested Liu Dongxing at the "party central office".
According to Ni Yuxian, Liu Dongxing demanded that anyone who joins the China Democracy Party must pay 500 US dollars plus 10 US dollars each month and an activity fee for each activity. According to Ni Yuxian, Liu Dongxing often asked for donations without receipts, and forced people to buy "democracy stocks" that he printed himself and the "US Headquarters of the China Democracy Party" ("中国民主党美国总部") of Liu Dongxing participated in political asylum business.
Ming Pao
submitted by aaaaa143222 to China [link] [comments]

2023.06.04 03:48 BigBlueMagic BE HEARD!!! Last Chance To Stop the Legislature From Giving Away Hundreds of Millions in Terrible Stadium Handout!!!!!!!

Hey Everybody!!!
I just want to keep you in the loop on what’s going on with Oakland A’s owner John Fisher’s request to have the Nevada Legislature give him up to $380 million in public funds for a new stadium. The Legislative session ENDS MONDAY, which means that they will ram this through very quickly in the next 48 hours or so or call a special session.
NOW IS THE TIME FOR YOU TO SPEAK OUT!!!! I have put together a fairly well-documented argument below demonstrating that this is a bad deal and Fisher is a terrible partner. Please share this post and information as widely as you can! Most importantly, contact members of the Legislature and BE HEARD!!! Be sure to tell them that you live in Nevada!!!
Contact your Assemblyperson and State Senator!!
Assembly contact info: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/LegislatoA/Assembly/Current
State Senate Contact info: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/LegislatoA/Senate/Current
If you would like, you could use or modify this sample letter which contains URL links supporting the claims.
Dear Senator or Assemblyperson [Last Name],
I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed public funding for John Fisher's baseball stadium in Nevada. I believe this project should be stopped for several reasons:
Lack of transparency: Fisher and his team deliberately released funding details at the last minute and scheduled the only public hearing on Memorial Day evening, during a Golden Knights playoff game, limiting public awareness and participation. This is a shameful subversion of democracy and I hope you had no part in it.
Neglected education system: Nevada ranks 49th out of 50 in educational attainment. Our focus should be on improving public schools, not funding a billionaire's stadium.
Unrealistic economic projections: Expert analysis discredits the claim that the stadium will attract an additional 400,000 tourists, which, even if true, would only be a 1% increase on an annual basis. A Stanford economics professor expressed his belief that Fisher’s Stadium will result in the equivalent of a few hundred, permanent, long-term jobs. Fisher’s economic projections are detached from reality and unreliable.
Fisher's history: His track record with the San Jose Quakes, another publicly funded stadium venture, raises concerns about his commitment to investing in player payroll and creating a competitive team. Fisher owns the Quakes. After he was given a public handout for a stadium, he did not change or competitively fund his soccer team.
Troubled partnerships: Mark Davis of the Raiders, who shared the Oakland Coliseum with the A’s, has expressed frustration with Fisher's management group. MLB owners are also frustrated by doing business with Fisher. Nevada should expect to have the same experience if we proceed.
I urge you to oppose public funding for John Fisher's stadium. Let's prioritize transparency, education, and responsible use of public funds for the benefit of all Nevada residents.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. Please consider my perspective as you make your decision. Should you require further information or have any questions, I am available to discuss this issue.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
Feel free to modify, expand or use as-is. You can also write your own letter too. I'm just trying to make this as easy as possible for everyone so that we are HEARD!
TLDR Bullet Points For Big Argument Below:
PUBLIC FUNDING FOR JOHN FISHER’S STADIUM MUST BE STOPPED!!!!
1. They Don’t Want to Hear From You
Fisher and Kaval strategically waited until the 11th hour to release details about the handout. From USA Today:
The A’s, their cadre of lobbyists in Nevada and friendly politicians and tourist officials are doing their best to hide the sausage, introducing, finally, legislation for state funding of myriad projects on the Friday night of a holiday weekend, and then offering public discussion on the evening of Memorial Day.
Pretty slick! And it sounds like Gov. Joe Lombardo’s signature would be waiting.
The only public hearing on giving away hundreds of millions of dollars occurred on Memorial Day. And not just on Memorial Day — it was in the evening during Game Six of the Western Conference Finals where the Golden Knights punched their tickets to the Stanley Cup Finals. A hearing at 4:00 AM on Christmas morning would have received a higher profile and greater public scrutiny.
They didn’t want you to know about the hearing and your opportunity to be heard. And if, by chance you did hear about it, they didn’t want you to be able to show up and be heard. They are not very subtle about their preference to not hear from you, the unwashed masses.
Guess who else wasn’t there? A’s owner John Fisher and President Dave Kaval. I am not making this up. They didn’t bother to show up to the Memorial Day hearing. They want us to give them hundreds of millions of dollars, but couldn’t be bothered to show up at the hearing and answer questions themselves? Where were they Monday night? What was so important they couldn’t be bothered to show up for a public hearing to answer questions in public? Fisher and his army of lobbyists have had weeks to meet privately with lawmakers behind closed doors. Are you telling me Fisher couldn’t give us regular folks two hours in public?
2. What Are Our Priorities?
There’s no way to sugarcoat it. Nevada, and in particular the Clark County School District, fail to provide adequate public education. Nevada ranks 49th out of 50 for educational attainment. Of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States, Las Vegas ranks second worst for schools. This is unacceptable, yet real education reform is never a priority for the same politicians who are willing to pull the Memorial Day/Stanley Cup Playoff hearing shenanigans for Fisher.
If our elected officials can turn on a dime to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars to a billionaire for a sports stadium, why can’t they act with similar urgency for our disastrous public school system?
Our failed public schools, especially CCSD, are the most significant impediment to economic growth and diversification. The number one reason companies and individuals are reluctant to relocate to Las Vegas are our terrible public schools. If we want to create economic growth, we need to fund and fix our public schools, not build another billionaire a sports stadium.
3. The Numbers Don’t Make Sense. They’re Basically Fraud.
Whenever a billionaire asks the public to finance his stadium, the ask is always accompanied by a series of fantastical economic projections. If you watched the Memorial Day/Stanley Cup Playoff hearing, you saw a powerpoint presentation made by Fisher’s hired lobbyists. The numbers presented by Fisher’s lobbyists aren’t simply slightly embellished, they are disconnected from reality.
First, there is the claim that Fisher’s publicly funded stadium will bring an additional 400,000 tourists. John Mehaffey breaks down this non-sensical claim in the Nevada Independent:
The 400,000 number seems inflated to me. The A’s host 81 baseball games per year. This projection assumes 4,938 tourists at each game that would otherwise not be in Las Vegas.
Considering only one American League market is within a reasonable driving distance, most of these tourists would fly to see their home team. Many or most of these tourists would go to two or three games in a series to justify this travel.
If the average number is two games, that puts 9,877 visitors in the stadium per home game. If those fans go to an entire three-game series, that number is 14,815. If the 1.8 million locals attendance prediction is accurate, and visiting fans tend to go to a series as opposed to just one game, the A’s project that they will sell out the stadium's 35,000-seat capacity every home game. If visitors go to only two games, that is 90 percent of capacity.
That is a bold projection for a team that was last in attendance in 2022 and at the bottom so far in 2023, especially since no MLB team comes close to selling out all its home games.
The lack of flights makes 400,000 new visitors seem impossible
Most teams that would visit the Las Vegas A’s stadium are in the American League. Most are in the east where nonstop flights to Las Vegas are scarce. For example, I found five or fewer nonstop flights per day from six of the other 14 American League cities.
Four of those six teams had home stadium attendance below 20,000 per game in 2022. It’s hard to imagine that 10,000 or 15,000 fans will fly across the country for a series when that is around the average attendance for the 81 home games in their own cities.
Some displaced fans may be within driving distance, but the point is one that needs to be considered. Las Vegas would need dozens of flights per series that don’t exist to accommodate this prediction.
Mehaffey also points out that Miami, which recently built a publicly financed stadium, also has 40 million visitors a year, just like Las Vegas. However, the Miami metro is substantially larger than Las Vegas. “In 2022, the Miami Marlins averaged 11,204 per game. A market with a much larger metro population that posts similar tourism numbers does not come close to the A’s projections. There is no reason to think Las Vegas will be different.”
Stanford economics professor Roger Noll agrees with Mehaffey that the attendance numbers Fisher projects are not credible. From USA Today:
“Baseball is different than the NFL,” Roger Noll, professor of economics emeritus at Stanford University, tells USA TODAY Sports. “This notion that of those 162 baseball games, I've got to see those three that are between the A's and the Royals in Las Vegas - it's just nonsense, right? It's not true, it's not going to happen.
“That's the fundamental reason why economists, when they do research on the impact of sports teams, typically find that the effect on local incomes and employment is slightly negative.”
But what about job creation?
Noll says the hours that stadium workers put in – for 81 games a year – computes to roughly 15% of a full-time job.
“So the 500 people who work at the stadium on game day, you got to multiply that by .15 to get the number of full-time equivalent jobs, which means it's less than 100. Wow,” says Noll. “You know, $1.5 billion to create less than 100 jobs, right? Wow.”
4. Grossly Underfunded Payroll
The total payroll for the 2023 A’s is just $59,630,474, just 37% of the MLB average payroll of $116,112,414 and just 17% of the highest-spending New York Mets ($345,474,042). To provide context, the highest paid players in the league, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, will each make $43,333,333. Verlander’s salary, by itself, is 72% of the entire A’s roster!
This meager spending is by choice, not necessity. It’s a strategy that works. From Sports Illustrated:
The A's were a top-5 team in 2022.
Not on the field. The A's finished with a 60-102 record, second-worst only ahead of the Washington Nationals. On the spreadsheets though, they netted $62.2 million according to a report from Forbes. The only teams they finished behind were the revamped Seattle Mariners who made the playoffs for the first time in two decades, the San Francisco Giants, the Boston Red Sox, and the Baltimore Orioles who had a Mariners-esque upswing and an A's-esque payroll.
When the A’s do develop talent, they quickly jettison those players to avoid paying them their true worth on the market. As Review-Journal columnist Ed Graney explained, when Fisher’s A’s have experienced success, the response has been to break down the team and sell off the parts. Graney concluded: “John Fisher is an owner with deep, deep pockets who (incredibly) has always acted in a way that he can’t afford to hand out exorbitant contracts to his best players. About him, an overwhelmingly popular opinion is that he simply doesn’t want to.”
Why do this? Wouldn’t a competitive team generate more revenue? In Major League Baseball, there is a revenue sharing agreement among the franchises, intended to help smaller markets field competitive teams. Fisher uses revenue sharing, and dumping talent, to be one of the most profitable owners in baseball. From the New York Post:
At least a few rival MLB club owners are annoyed at the Athletics for conducting a major fire sale to enhance their bottom line soon after being added as a new revenue-sharing recipient in a vote by owners.
“The idea of revenue sharing is not to make money, it’s to field a competitive team,” one rival owner complained Thursday during the owners’ meetings at MLB headquarters in Midtown. “That money is supposed to go toward player salaries. [The A’s] took the money and put it in their pocket.”
Yet another owner, also upset that the A’s didn’t use the money to buy new players, but instead did the opposite and sold three major stars and drastically cut their payroll, referred to the franchise generally as “a mess.”
Fisher will not fund a competitive team in Las Vegas if we give him a stadium handout. That would destroy his very profitable business strategy. Why would he do that? The payroll of the Las Vegas A’s will be 30th out of 30 MLB teams, just like the Oakland A’s.
5. History Repeating: Quakes Publicly Funded Stadium
There seems to be some hopeful thinking that if we give John Fisher a stadium handout, he will increase the A’s payroll to become more competitive. A’s President Dave Kaval stirred excitement when he insinuated that the franchise would bankroll a World Series championship team with a new stadium in Las Vegas. “But with more revenues, we want to turn a playoff team into a World Series team. That’s why we’re fighting so hard for a new stadium, whether it’s in Las Vegas or Oakland,” Kaval told the Review-Journal.
Many people, including our elected officials, want to believe this, in good faith. It would be awesome to have a Las Vegas MLB franchise win a World Series!
This isn’t Fisher’s first rodeo with a publicly funded stadium. Fisher is also the owner of the San Jose Quakes of Major League Soccer. From an Associated Press article in the May 25, 2006 Salinas Californian on public financing for a new Quakes stadium: “The Quakes won MLS championships in 2001 and 2003 led by former star forward Landon Donovan but attendance slid to an average of just 13,037 fans last season.” Sound familiar?
So what happened? Did Fisher increase player payroll once he obtained his publicly financed soccer stadium?
From the San Jose Mercury News:
Out of the 29 MLS teams, the Earthquakes rank 21st in guaranteed player compensation and base salary, both on a per-player and teamwide basis.
The Earthquakes’ average salary came in at $434,079, nearly $100,000 lower than the overall average salary for an MLS player ($530,467). San Jose’s total spending ($13.022 million) comes in at more than $2.8 million below the average team spending across the league (15.822 million).
It’s a continued trend for the Quakes, even after they moved into the state-of-the-art PayPal Park in 2015. The Earthquakes have consistently ranked in the bottom half of the league in spending, per Spotrac, even as the MLS has continued to add new expansion teams over the years.
Earthquakes spending rank in MLS by year
· 2015 (20 teams) — 15th
· 2016 (20 teams) — 11th
· 2017 (22 teams) — 16th
· 2018 (23 teams) — 19th
· 2019 (24 teams) — 19th
· 2020 (26 teams) — 17th
· 2021 (27 teams) — 24th
· 2022 (28 teams) — 22nd
· 2023 (29 teams) — 21st
That has been reflected in on-field results, too. Since the Earthquakes moved into their new home, they have never finished a season with more wins than losses — the closest they came was in that first year, at 13 wins, 13 losses and eight draws.
Nevada should expect Fisher to act in the future as he has in the past. His business strategy is clear: spend as little as possible on player payroll regardless of venue. If Nevada gives Fisher a handout, nobody — nobody — can act surprised when his miserly payroll does not change.
The Raiders and A’s shared the Oakland Coliseum for decades. Aces and Raiders owner Mark Davis is very familiar with what it means to “partner” with John Fisher. Davis did not hold back when he spoke with the Review-Journal:
“I won’t forget what they did to us in Oakland. They squatted on a lease for 10 years and made it impossible for us to build on that stadium,” the Raiders owner said in a phone chat Thursday afternoon, referring to the stadium the A’s and Raiders once shared, the Oakland Coliseum.
“They were looking for a stadium. We were looking for a stadium. They didn’t want to build a stadium, and then went ahead and signed a 10-year lease with the city of Oakland and said, ‘We’re the base team.’”
…
Davis was asked if he could envision an environment where the Silver and Black would cross-promote with the green-and-gold Las Vegas Athletics.
“Not with that management group,” Davis said. “I just have, again, a lot of personal animosity toward the front office. But with a new management group? Absolutely.”
Mark Davis did business with John Fisher for decades. Davis knows Fisher. Nobody in Nevada has done business with Fisher as much as Davis. Davis’ reaction to Fisher, basically unfiltered instinctual revulsion, should be a massive red flag to our elected leaders who are being plied with sweet nothings by Fisher’s hired guns.
Sources:
“A’s Stadium Math Doesn’t Add Up.” The Nevada Independent, May 30, 2023. https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/as-stadium-math-doesnt-add-up.
Graney, Ed. “Graney: A’s Penny-Pinching a Reason for Las Vegas to Reassess.” Journal, March 18, 2022. https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/sports-columns/ed-graney/graney-as-penny-pinching-a-reason-for-las-vegas-to-reassess-2547852/.
Gutierrez, Ana. “Nevada Ranks as the Second Least Educated State in America.” KLAS, February 17, 2022. https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/nevada-ranks-as-the-second-least-educated-state-in-america/.
Jenkins, Bruce. “MLB Has Punished Other Owners. Why Is A’s John Fisher Getting a Pass?” San Francisco Chronicle, June 3, 2023. https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/jenkins/article/john-fisher-mlb-oakland-18130516.php.
Katsilometes, John. “Raiders Owner Rips Oakland Athletics’ Likely Move to Las Vegas.” Journal, April 27, 2023. https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/raiders-owner-rips-oakland-athletics-likely-move-to-las-vegas-2765229/?xxyy.
Lacques, Gabe. “Why A’s Las Vegas Stadium Gambit May Be a Losing Bet: ‘It’s Just Nonsense.’” USA Today, June 1, 2023. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/athletics/2023/06/01/oakland-as-move-las-vegas-stadium-gambit-losing-bet/70277528007/.
Lozito, Nick. “‘this Is Not Our Fault:’ Oakland A’s Fans Are Defending Their Image.” The Oaklandside, May 5, 2023. https://oaklandside.org/2023/05/01/oakland-athletics-leaving-las-vegas-john-fisher-dave-kaval-fans/.
“MLB 2023 Payroll Tracker.” Spotrac.com. Accessed June 3, 2023. https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/.
Oakland Athletics made over $60 million in 2023 - Sports Illustrated ... Accessed June 4, 2023. https://www.si.com/mlb/athletics/news/oakland-athletics-made-over-60-million-in-2023.
Shea, John. “Don’t Believe John Fisher’s Propaganda: A’s Fans Are the Best in Baseball.” San Francisco Chronicle, June 1, 2023. https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/athletics/article/oakland-a-s-fans-aren-t-reason-team-las-vegas-18126429.php.
Simon, Alex. “Would New Oakland A’s Ballpark Lead to More Spending? John Fisher’s Other Team Shows That May Not Be the Case.” The Mercury News, May 17, 2023. https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/05/16/would-new-oakland-as-ballpark-lead-to-more-spending-john-fishers-other-team-shows-that-may-not-be-the-case/.
Wootton-Greener, Julie. “Las Vegas Area Schools Ranked Second-Worst in Nation for Quality.” Journal, December 9, 2021. https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/education/las-vegas-area-schools-ranked-second-worst-in-nation-for-quality-2493177/.
submitted by BigBlueMagic to vegaslocals [link] [comments]

2023.06.04 02:06 HotFudgeSundaj [USA-MN] [H] Dell Latitude 9430 2 in 1, TI 84 Plus CE [W] PayPal

Timestamp (Laptop)
Timestamp (Calculator)
Dell Latitude 9430 2 in 1 - $800 Local / $850 Shipped
Purchased from another user on here not long ago. It was brand new when I bought it, and it hasn't seen much use on my watch. This is what I paid for it -- not looking to make a profit here, just passing it along to someone who can make better use of it than I can.
The laptop works great for what it is, but I find myself needing more power in my daily workflows than a U series processor can provide.
Specs:
Ti 84 plus CE - $50 Shipped
Works great, no charging cable (5 bucks on Amazon) and there’s a small mark to the left of the screen shown in pictures. Doesn’t affect functionality. Note that the “mark” in the center in one photograph is an artifact and not actually there.
submitted by HotFudgeSundaj to hardwareswap [link] [comments]

2023.06.04 01:28 emuhneeh An update to my Melted 90 degree Adapter

This post is an update on my original post about my melted 90 degree adapter that was made 11 days ago.
I figured I'd make this post to share the aftermath of what happened, how I got my damaged card sorted out, and what I'm doing to stop it from happening again so that others that are going through similar situations can find some comfort in their malfunctioned $1600+ investments.
So, after the melting had occurred and I had removed my card, I created a support ticket through CableMod's website that mentioned what had happened and how it happened. Joe from the CM Support team responded to my ticket the same day I submitted my support ticket (thanks Matt) and suggested that I try to RMA my card back to ASUS to see if they would repaireplace my card. I immediately created an RMA ticket through ASUS' support site and filled out the necessary information. Immediately following the creation of of the RMA ticket I was sent shipping instructions for my card and I also purchased an express shipping label through FedEx for ~$60. I mainly did this so that I could get this whole ordeal over with as quick as possible. My card took 1 day to arrive at the ASUS repair center in Indiana (US) and it took a week in total for my card to go through their repair process and for a replacement card to be shipped back to my house instead. The replacement card was packaged in the retail 4090 TUF packaging with a 2-inch thick layer of bubble wrap surrounding it. I want to add that I was quite anxious about the RMA process as a whole since I've seen some posts/reviews on Reddit and elsewhere that mention ASUS' extremely inconsistent RMA service. A lot of people have had bad experiences with it and some have had good experiences. Fortunately, my experience was a good one. The shipping process went well and resulted in no physical damage to the replacement card, and the RMA process itself went smoothly (although I did have to frequently check their RMA status website as I wasn't receiving emails at all about the status of my RMA).
On the CableMod adapter side of things, I included pictures of my melted adapter and GPU connector in the ticket submission on CableMod's website so that whoever responded to my ticket would have so visual proof of my issue. Joe from CM support refunded my original 90 degree adapter purchase and arranged for a replacement to be shipped to me. All in all, the replacement took about 8 days from the start of the adapter RMA to my doorstep.
As I type this, I'm using my replacement 4090 and 90 degree adapter in my system and both are working well and as expected.
Immediately after putting my replacement 4090 in my system I undervolted it, power limited it, and also put a 16-pin low-voltage alarm in place. I undervolted and power limited through MSI Afterburner and set the low-voltage alarm through HWINFO. Thank you to those who suggested these on my original post, I appreciate it and STRONGLY suggest other 4000 series users (mainly 4080/90) do the same.
All in all it turned out well and I only had to (optionally) spend about $60 USD to get the card shipping sorted out. Thank you Matt for commenting on the original post and thank you Joe from the CM support team for helping me through this nightmare.
submitted by emuhneeh to cablemod [link] [comments]

2023.06.04 00:16 mwmyrin Righteous Gemstones event in Austin TX

Righteous Gemstones event in Austin TX submitted by mwmyrin to RighteousGemstones [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 23:08 Far-Long-3929 I'm brand new to computers and I'm looking to buy one under $1000. Preferably 16gb ram and 500gb ssd. I do plan on playing games but nothing super demanding. I am set on a laptop so can you guys let me know how this one stacks up against others?

submitted by Far-Long-3929 to PcBuild [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 22:38 joeywheby Dell g15 5225

Specs: Nvidia RTX 3050 ti Amd ryzen 7 6000 series Windows 11 Dell g15 5225 When I try to play games other then roblox it is like low fps and it says something about open gl being too low or it not being supported. I used g force experience to install the latest driver version and that did not work. I shut down and re booted up my pc after that too how to fix
submitted by joeywheby to techsupport [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 21:48 Correct-Brief6090 Help Deciding Aurora R13 Configuration

I currently have a Lenovo Legion laptop with RTX 3060, Ryzen 7 and 16GB RAM and also have an XBOX Series X as my only two gaming options. I would like to have a Desktop because it’s a pain to constantly connect my laptop to my two monitors, then game on it, then remove it and repeat. Decided on the R13 since I have some Dell Credits. I am stuck between two configurations and need some help on choosing one of them.
Option 1 - $959
Processor 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-12700F (25 MB cache, 12 cores, 12 threads, 2.10 GHz to 5.00 GHz Turbo) Operating System Windows 11 Home, English Graphics Card AMD Radeon™ RX 6700 XT, 12 GB GDDR6 Hard Drive 512 GB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD Memoryi 16 GB, 2 x 8 GB, DDR5, 4400 MHz
Option 2 - $1519
Processor 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-12900F (30 MB cache, 16 cores, 24 threads, 2.40 GHz to 5.00 GHz Turbo) Operating System Windows 11 Home, English Graphics Card AMD Radeon™ RX 6900 XT, 16 GB GDDR6 Hard Drive 512GB NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage) Memoryi 32 GB, 2 x 16 GB, DDR5, 4400 MHz
Is option two worth is for like $550 more? Or is Option one sufficient since my gaming is split between Xbox Series X and PC. I mostly play Halo Infinite, Horizon 5 and COD MW2. Also have a VR and would someday play some games on that too. Thanks for the help!
submitted by Correct-Brief6090 to PcBuild [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 21:40 Correct-Brief6090 Help Deciding Aurora R13 Configuration

I currently have a Lenovo Legion laptop with RTX 3060, Ryzen 7 and 16GB RAM and also have an XBOX Series X as my only two gaming options. I would like to have a Desktop because it’s a pain to constantly connect my laptop to my two monitors, then game on it, then remove it and repeat. Decided on the R13 since I have some Dell Credits. I am stuck between two configurations and need some help on choosing one of them.
Option 1 - $959
Processor 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-12700F (25 MB cache, 12 cores, 12 threads, 2.10 GHz to 5.00 GHz Turbo) Operating System Windows 11 Home, English Graphics Card AMD Radeon™ RX 6700 XT, 12 GB GDDR6 Hard Drive 512 GB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD Memoryi 16 GB, 2 x 8 GB, DDR5, 4400 MHz
Option 2 - $1519
Processor 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-12900F (30 MB cache, 16 cores, 24 threads, 2.40 GHz to 5.00 GHz Turbo) Operating System Windows 11 Home, English Graphics Card AMD Radeon™ RX 6900 XT, 16 GB GDDR6 Hard Drive 512GB NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage) Memoryi 32 GB, 2 x 16 GB, DDR5, 4400 MHz
Is option two worth is for like $550 more? Or is Option one sufficient since my gaming is split between Xbox Series X and PC. I mostly play Halo Infinite, Horizon 5 and COD MW2. Also have a VR and would someday play some games on that too. Thanks for the help!
submitted by Correct-Brief6090 to Alienware [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 18:03 abir_legend help me find a laptop under 90k INR that can handle anything I throw at it (specs-wise)

All prices are in INR and I am referencing Indian sites. I wouldn't have made this post if it wasn't for msi making a 4gb RTX 4060 laptop here.
I am currently running a dell latitude i3 4th gen 8gb ram so it's a massive upgrade, got a budget of 90k INR lower the better. I will be running Blender renders, a bit of game dev for fun in Unity few edits in premier pro and a lot of ai/ml projects so GPU needs to be beefy but the decision between 3050,60 and even in some cases 70 vs 4050 or 60 is hard especially when the desktop reviewers are saying 40series is bad other than 4070
submitted by abir_legend to GamingLaptops [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 15:38 obeliskposture Short story about bad times & bad jobs

I've shared fiction here before and it didn't go altogether too poorly, so I'm going to press my luck and do it again. This was written about a year ago, and I'm tired of trying to peddle it to lit magazines. Might as well share it here, know that it met a few eyeballs, and have done with it.
It's relevant to the sub insofar as it's about urban alienation and the working conditions at a small business run by IN THIS HOUSE WE BELIEVE people. (I tried to pitch it as a story of the great resignation with a momentary flicker of cosmic horror.) It's based on a similar job I took on after getting laid off during the lockdown, and the circumstances of the main character's breakup are faintly similar to one I went through several years back (her job sucked the life out of her).
Without further ado:
* * *
It was getting close to midnight, and the temperature outside was still above 80 degrees. We’d locked up the shop at 10:15 and walked over to Twenty, the dive bar on Poplar Street, where a single wall-mounted air conditioner and four wobbly ceiling fans weren’t putting up much resistance against the July heat baking the place from the outside and the dense mass of bodies giving it a stifling fever from within.
Just now I came close to saying it was a Wednesday night, because that was usually when the cyclists descended upon Avenue Brew, the gritty-but-bougie craft beer and sandwich shop I was working at back then. Every Wednesday between March and November, about fifteen to twenty-five Gen Xers dressed in skintight polyester, all packages and camel toes and fanny packs, locked up their thousand-dollar bikes on the sidewalk and lined up for IPAs and paninis. They reliably arrived around 8:00, an hour before we closed, making it impossible to get started on the closing checklist and leave on time at 10:00. The worst of them were demanding and rude, and even the best got raucous and stubborn after a couple drinks. There were nights when bringing in the sidewalk tables couldn’t be done without arguing with them. Most were sub-par tippers, to boot.
After Wednesday came and went that week without so much as a single 40-something in Ray Bans and padded shorts stopping in to double-fist two cans of Jai Alai, we dared to hope the cyclists had chosen another spot to be their finish line from there on out. But no—they’d only postponed their weekly ride, and swarmed us on Friday night instead.
I was the last person to find out; I was clocked in as purchaser that evening. The position was something like a promotion I'd received a year earlier: for twenty hours a week, I got to retreat from the public and sit in the back room with the store laptop, reviewing sales and inventory, answering emails from brewery reps, and ordering beer, beverages, and assorted paper goods. When I put in hours as purchaser, my wage went up from $11 to $15 an hour, but I was removed from the tip pool. On most days, tips amounted to an extra two or three dollars an hour, so I usually came out ahead.
This was back in 2021. I don't know what Avenue Brew pays these days.
Anyway, at about 8:15, I stepped out to say goodbye to everyone and found the shop in chaos. Friday nights were generally pretty active, the cyclists' arrival had turned the place into a mob scene. The line extended to the front door. The phone was ringing. The Grubhub tablet dinged like an alarm clock without a snooze button. Danny was on the sandwich line and on the verge of losing his temper. Oliver was working up a sweat running food, bussing tables, and replenishing ingredients from the walk-in. The unflappable Marina was on register, and even she seemed like she was about to snap at somebody.
What else could I do? I stayed until closing to answer the phone, process Grubhub orders, hop on and off the second register, and help Danny with sandwich prep. After the tills were counted out, I stayed another hour to take care of the dishes, since nobody had a chance to do a first load. Oliver was grateful, even though he grumbled about having to make some calls and rearrange Sunday's schedule so I could come in a couple hours late. Irene and Jeremy, Avenue Brew's owners, would kick his ass if he let me go into overtime.
Danny suggested that we deserved a few drinks ourselves after managing to get through the shift without killing anyone. Not even Marina could find a reason to disagree with him.
The neighborhood had undergone enough gentrification to support an upscale brunch spot, an ice cream parlor, a gourmet burger restaurant, a coffee and bahn mi shop, and Avenue Brew (to name a few examples), but not yet quite enough that the people who staffed them couldn’t afford to live within a ten-minute walk from the main avenue where all these hep eateries stood between 24-hour corner stores with slot machines in back, late-night Chinese and Mexico-Italian takeout joints with bulletproof glass at the counters, and long-shuttered delis and shoe stores. Twenty on Poplar was the watering hole set aside for people like us. It was dim, a bit dilapidated, and inexpensive, and usually avoided by denizens of the condos popping up on the vacant lots and replacing clusters of abandoned row houses.
When we arrived, Kyle waved us over. He didn’t work at Avenue Brew anymore, but still kept up with a few of us. He was at Twenty at least four nights out of the week.
So there we all were. I sat with a brooding stranger freestyling to himself in a low mumble on the stool to my left and Oliver on my right, who tapped at his phone and nursed a bottle of Twisted Tea. To Oliver’s right sat Marina, staring at nothing in particular and trying to ignore Danny, who stood behind her, closer than she would have liked, listening to Kyle explain the crucial differences between the Invincible comic book and the Invincible web series.
I recall being startled back to something like wakefulness when it seemed to me that the ceiling had sprouted a new fan. I blinked my eyes, and it wasn’t there anymore. It reminded me of an incident from when I was still living with my folks in South Jersey and still had a car, and was driving home from a friend’s house party up in Bergen County. It was 6:30 AM, I hadn’t slept all night, and needed to get home so I could get at least little shuteye before heading to Whole Foods for my 11:00 AM shift. I imagined I passed beneath the shadows of overpasses I knew weren’t there, and realized I was dreaming at the wheel.
I was pretty thoroughly zombified at that point. Heather and I had broken up for good the night before, and I hadn't gotten even a minute of sleep. Calling out at Avenue Brew was tough. Unless you found someone willing to cover your shift on like six hours' notice, you were liable to get a writeup, a demotion, or your hours cut if you couldn't produce a doctor's note. So I loaded up on caffeine pills and Five-Hour Energy bottles at the corner store, and powered through as best I could.
I finished the last thimbleful of Blue Moon in my glass. Oliver wiped the sweat from the back of his neck with a napkin and covered his mouth to stifle a laugh at the KiwiFarms thread he was scrolling through. Pool balls clacked; somebody swore and somebody laughed. The TouchTunes box was playing Bob Dylan’s “Rain Day Woman #12 & 35,” and enough bleary 40-something men around the bar were bobbing their heads and mouthing the words to make it impossible to determine which one of them paid two bucks to hear it. A guy by the cigarette machine who looked like a caricature of Art Carney in flannel and an old Pixies T-shirt was accosting a woman who must have been a toddler when he hit drinking age, and she momentarily made eye contact with me as she scanned the area for a way out. Danny was shouting over the bartender’s head, carrying on a conversation with the Hot Guy from Pizza Stan’s, who was sitting on the horseshoe’s opposite arm.
I never got his name, but when Oliver first referred to him as the Hot Guy from Pizza Stan’s, I knew exactly who he meant. Philly scene kid par excellence. Mid-20s, washed-out black denim, dyed black hair, thick bangs, and dark, gentle eyes. He was only truly alluring when he was on the job, because he seldom smiled then—and when he smiled, he broke the spell by exposing his teeth, stained a gnarly shade of mahogany from too much smoking and not enough brushing.
“How’s Best? Marcus still a joker?” Danny asked him.
“Yeah, you know Marcus. You know how he is.”
So the Hot Guy had been working at Best Burger (directly across the street from Avenue Brew) ever since Pizza Stan’s owners mismanaged the place unto insolvency. (Afterwards it was renovated and reopened as a vegan bakery—which incidentally closed down about a month ago.) Danny used to work at Best Burger, but that ended after he got into a shouting match with the owner. I happened to overhear it while I was dragging in the tables and collecting the chairs from the sidewalk the night it happened. It wasn’t any of my business, and I tried not to pay attention, but they were really tearing into each other. A month later, Oliver welcomed Danny aboard at Avenue Brew. I hadn’t known he’d been interviewed, and by then it was too late to mention the incident. But I’d have been a hypocrite to call it a red flag after the way I resigned from my position as Café Chakra's assistant manager two years earlier—not that we need to go dredging that up right now. Let's say there was some bad blood and leave it at that.
Anyway, I was thinking about giving in and buying a pack of cigarettes from the machine—and then remembered that Twenty didn’t have a cigarette machine. I looked again. The Art Carney-lookalike was still there, fingering his phone with a frown, but the girl was gone—and so was the cigarette machine.
I had only a moment to puzzle over this before Danny clapped me on the shoulder and thrust a shot glass in front of me.
“Starfish!” he said. (Danny called me Starfish. Everybody else called me Pat.) “You look like you need some juice.”
He distributed shots to everyone else. Marina declined hers, but changed her mind when Kyle offered to take it instead.
She and Kyle had stopped sleeping together after Kyle left Avenue Brew to work at the Victory taproom on the Parkway, but Marina was still concerned about his bad habits, which Danny delighted in encouraging.
We all leaned in to clink our glasses. Before I could find an appropriate moment to ask Marina if I could bum a cigarette, she got up to visit the bathroom. Danny took her seat and bowed his head for a conspiratorial word with Kyle.
I watched from the corner of my eye and tried to listen in. Like Marina, I was a little worried about Kyle. He got hired at Avenue Brew around the same time I did, just before the pandemic temporarily turned us into a takeout joint. He was a senior at Drexel then, an English major, and sometimes talked about wanting to either find work in publishing or carve out a career as a freelance writer after graduating. But first he intended to spend a year getting some life in before submitting himself to the forever grind.
He read a lot of Charles Bukowski and Hunter Thompson. He relished the gritty and sordid, and had already been good at sniffing it out around the neighborhood and in West Philly before Danny introduced him to cocaine, casinos, strip clubs, and a rogue’s gallery of shady but fascinating people. (None were really Danny’s friends; just fellow passengers who intersected with the part of his life where he sometimes went to Parx, sometimes came out ahead, sometimes spent his winnings on coke, and sometimes did bumps at titty bars.) Kyle recounted these adventures with a boyish enthusiasm for the naked reality of sleaze, like a middle schooler telling his locker room buddies about catching his older brother in flagrante and seeing so-and-so body parts doing such-and-such things.
Marina hated it. She never said as much to me, but she was afraid that the template Kyle set for his life during his “year off” was in danger of becoming locked in. The anniversary of his graduation had already passed, and now here he was trying to convince Danny to contribute a couple hundred dollars toward a sheet of acid his guy had for sale. He wasn't doing much writing lately.
I was the oldest employee at Avenue Brew (as I write this I’m 37, but fortunately I don’t look it), and when Kyle still worked with us I felt like it was my prerogative to give him some advice. The longer he waited to make inroads, I once told him, the more likely he’d be seen as damaged goods by the publishing world. He needed to jam his foot in the door while he was still young.
I could tell the conversation bored him, and didn’t bring up the subject again.
The bartender took my glass and curtly asked if I’d like another drink.
“No thanks, not yet,” I answered.
She slid me my bill.
I missed the old bartender, the one she’d replaced. I forget her name, but she was ingenuous and energetic and sweet. Pretty much everyone had some sort of crush on her. Sometimes she came into Avenue Brew for lunch, and tipped us as well as we tipped her. Maybe three months before that night—Danny witnessed it—she suddenly started crying and rushed out the door. Everyone at the bar mutely looked to each other for an explanation. (Fortunately for Twenty, the kitchen manager hadn’t left yet, and picked up the rest of her shift.)
She never came back. None of us had seen her since. But drafts still had to be poured and bottlecaps pulled off, and now here was another white woman in her mid-twenties wearing a black tank top, a pushup bra, and a scrunchie, same as before. Twenty’s regulars grew accustomed to not expecting to see the person she’d replaced, and life went on.
“How’re you doing?” I asked Oliver, just to say something to somebody, and to keep my thoughts from wandering back to Heather.
“Just kind of existing right now,” he answered. His phone lay face-up on the counter. He was swiping through Instagram, and I recognized the avatar of the user whose album he hate-browsed.
“And how’s Austin been?” I asked.
“Oh, you know. Not even three weeks after getting over the jetlag from his trip back from the Cascades, he’s off touring Ireland.” He shook his head. “Living his best life.”
He’d hired Austin on a part-time basis in September. We needed a new associate when Emma was promoted to replace a supervisor who'd quit without even giving his two weeks. There was a whole thing. I'm having a hard time recalling the guy's name, but I liked him well enough. He was a good worker and he seemed like a bright kid, but he was—well, he was young. Naïve. One day he found Jeremy sitting in the back room with his laptop, and took advantage of the open-door policy to ask why the store manager and supervisors didn’t get health benefits or paid time off. Jeremy told him it "was being worked on," and that he couldn’t discuss it any further at that time. I understand the kid got argumentative, though I never knew precisely what was said.
Irene started visiting the shop a lot more often after that, almost always arriving when the kid was working. No matter what he was doing, she’d find a reason to intervene, to micromanage and harangue him, and effectively make his job impossible. A coincidence, surely.
It’s something I still think about. By any metric, Jeremy and Irene have done very well for themselves. They’re both a little over 40 years old. I remember hearing they met at law school. In addition to Avenue Brew, they own a bistro in Francisville and an ice cream parlor in Point Breeze. They have a house on the Blue Line, send their son to a Montessori school, and pull up to their businesses in a white Volkswagen ID.4. But whenever the subject of benefits, wages, or even free shift meals came up, they pled poverty. It simply couldn’t be done. But they liked to remind us about all they did to make Avenue Brew a fun place to work, like let the staff pick the music and allow Oliver and me to conduct a beer tasting once a day. They stuck Black Lives Matter, Believe Women, and Progress flag decals on the front door and windows, and I remember Irene wearing a Black Trans Lives Matter shirt once or twice when covering a supervisor's shift. None of the college students or recent graduates who composed most of Avenue Brew's staff could say the bosses weren't on the right team. And yet...
I'm sorry—I was talking about Austin. He was maybe 30 and already had another job, a “real” job, some sort of remote gig lucrative enough for him to make rent on a studio in the picturesque Episcopal church down the street that had been converted into upscale apartments some years back. Austin wasn’t looking for extra cash. He wanted to socialize. To have something to do and people to talk to in the outside world. He wanted to make friends, and all of us could appreciate that—but it’s hard to be fond of a coworker who irredeemably sucks at his job. Austin never acted with any urgency, was inattentive to detail, and even after repeated interventions from Oliver and the supervisors, he continued to perform basic tasks in bafflingly inefficient ways. Having Austin on your shift meant carrying his slack, and everyone was fed up after a few months. Oliver sat him down, told him he was on thin ice, and gave him a list of the areas in which he needed to improve if he didn’t want to be let go.
When Austin gave Oliver the indignant “I don’t need this job” speech, it was different from those times Danny or I told a boss to go to hell and walked out. Austin truly didn’t need it. He basically said the job was beneath him, and so was Oliver.
It got deep under Oliver’s skin. He did need the job and had to take it seriously, even when it meant being the dipshit manager chewing out a man four or five years his senior. He earned $18 an hour (plus tips when he wasn’t doing admin work), had debts to pay off, and couldn't expect to get any help from his family.
The important thing, though, the part I distinctly remember, was that Oliver was looking at a video of a wading bird Austin had recorded. An egret, maybe. White feathers, long black legs, pointy black beak. Austin must have been standing on a ledge above a creek, because he had an overhead view of the bird as it stood in the water, slowly and deliberately stretching and retracting its neck, eyeing the wriggling little shadows below. As far as the fish could know, they were swimming around a pair of reeds growing out of the silt. The predator from which they extended was of a world beyond their understanding and out of their reach.
The video ended. Oliver moved on to the next item: a photograph of the bird from the same perspective, with a fish clamped in its beak. Water droplets flung from the victim's thrashing tail caught the sunlight. And I remember now, I clearly remember, the shapes of like twelve other fish stupidly milling about the bird's feet, unperturbed and unpanicked.
Danny peered at Oliver’s phone and observed a resemblance between the bird—its shape and bearing, and the composition of the photograph—and a POV porn video shot from behind and above, and he told us so. Elaborately. He made squawking noises.
“And mom says I’m a degenerate,” Oliver sighed. “Can you practice your interspecies pickup artist shit somewhere else?” Oliver flicked his wrist, shooing Danny off, and held his phone in front of his face to signal that he was done talking.
Danny sagged a little on his stool and turned away. I sometimes felt bad for him. For all his faults, he had the heart of a puppy dog. He really did think of us as his tribe. There was nobody else who’d only ever answer “yes” when you asked him to pick up a shift, and he did it completely out of loyalty.
He was turning 29 in a week. I wondered how many people would actually turn out to celebrate with him at the Black Taxi. Kyle probably would—but even he regarded Danny more as a source of vulgar entertainment than a friend.
Then it happened again. When I turned to speak to Oliver, there’d been a pair of pool cues leaning side-by-side against the wall a few stools down. Now they were gone.
This time it might have been my imagination. Somebody passing by could have casually snatched them up and kept walking.
But a moment later I seemed to notice a second TouchTunes box protruding from the wall directly behind me. I let it be.
Marina returned from the bathroom. Danny rose and offered her back her seat with an exaggerated bow. Before she got settled, I asked if she’d like to step outside with me. She withdrew her pack of Marlboro Menthols from her canvas bag, which she left sitting on the stool to deter Danny from sitting back down.
Marina never minded letting me bum cigarettes from time to time. I couldn’t buy them for myself anymore; it’s a habit I could never keep under control, and was only getting more expensive. Like everything else in the world. About once a month I reimbursed her by buying her a pack.
The air out on the sidewalk was as hot as the air inside Twenty, but easier to breathe. After lighting up, Marina leaned against the bricks and sighed.
“I wish Oliver would fire Danny already and get it over with.”
I nodded. Marina rarely talked about anything but work.
“He sneaks drinks and doesn't think anyone notices he's buzzed,” she went on. “He steals so much shit and isn’t even a little subtle about it. He’s going to get Oliver in trouble. And he’s a creep.”
“Yeah,” I said. These were her usual complaints about Danny, and they were all true. “At least he’s better than Austin.”
“That’s a low bar.”
Three dirt bikes and an ATV roared down the lonely street, charging through stop sign after stop sign, putting our talk on hold.
“Remind me. You’ve got one semester left, right?” I asked after the noise ebbed.
“Yep.”
Marina was a marketing major at Temple. She’d had an internship during the spring semester, and her boss told her to give her a call the very minute she graduated. Her parents in central Pennsylvania couldn’t pay her rent or tuition for her, so she was a full-time student and a full-time employee at Avenue Brew. Her emotional spectrum ranged from "tired" to "over it." She’d been waiting tables and working at coffee shops since she was seventeen, had no intention of continuing for even a day longer than she had to, and feared the escape hatch would slam shut if she dallied too long after prying it open.
She’d considered majoring in English, like Kyle. She went for marketing instead. I couldn’t blame her.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “You’ve been kind of off all day.”
“I’m terrible.”
“Why?”
I gave dodgy answers, but she asked precisely the right follow-up questions to get me going about what happened with Heather the night before.
It was the new job. Before the pandemic, Heather worked as a server at a Center City bar and grill. (That's where I met her; we were coworkers for about a year, and then I left to work Café Chakra because it was quieter and closer to where I lived.) When the place closed its doors and laid everyone off during the lockdown, she got a stopgap job at the Acme on Passyunk, and hated it. Then in March, she found a bar-and-lounge gig in a ritzy hotel on Broad Street. Very corporate. Excellent pay, great benefits. Definitely a step up. But her new employers made Irene and Jeremy look like Bob and Linda Belcher by comparison. It was the kind of place where someone had recently gotten herself fired for leaving work to rush to the hospital after getting the news that her grandmother was about to be taken off life support, and not finding someone to come in and cover the last two hours of her shift.
Heather seldom worked fewer than fifty-five hours a week, and her schedule was even more erratic than mine. At least once a week she left the hotel at 1:00 or 2:00 AM and returned at 9:00 the next morning. Neither of us could remember the last time she’d had two consecutive days off, and it had been over a month since one of mine overlapped with one of hers. She’d spent it drinking alone at home. All she wanted was some privacy.
I’d biked to South Philly to meet her when she got home at 1:30. The argument that killed our relationship for good began around 2:30, when I complained that we never had sex anymore. Heather accused me of only caring about that, when she was so exhausted and stressed that her hair was falling out in the shower. Quit the job? She couldn’t quit. The money was too good. She had student loans, medical bills, and credit card debt, and for the first time in her life she could imagine paying it all off before hitting menopause.
So, yeah, I was cranky about our sex life being dead in the water. Say whatever you like. But at that point, what were we to each other? We did nothing together anymore but complain about work before one or both of us fell asleep. That isn’t a relationship.
She said my hair always smelled like sandwiches, even after bathing, and she was done pretending it didn’t turn her off. I told her she was one to talk—she always reeked of liquor. As things escalated, we stopped caring if her roommates heard us. “You want to be a father?” she shouted around 4:00 AM. “Making what you make? That poor fucking kid.”
We fought until sunrise, and I left her apartment with the understanding that I wouldn’t be coming back, wouldn’t be calling her ever again. I biked home and sat on the steps facing the cement panel that was my house’s backyard. After my phone died and I couldn’t anaesthetize myself with dumb YouTube videos or make myself feel crazy staring at the download button for the Tinder app, I watched the sparrows hopping on and off the utility lines for a while.
At 11:40 I went inside. One of my roommates was already in the shower, so the best I could do was put on a clean Avenue Brew T-shirt before walking to the shop and clocking in at noon to help deal with the lunch rush.
“That’s a lot,” Marina finally said. “Sorry.”
I don’t know what I was expecting her to say. She was sixteen years my junior, after all, and just a coworker. She didn’t need to hear any of this, and I definitely didn't need to be telling her. But who else was there to tell?
She’d already finished her cigarette. I still had a few puffs left. She went inside.
I decided to call it a night.
The second TouchTunes box was gone—naturally. Danny had taken my stool, and regarded my approach with a puckish you snooze you lose grin. I wasn’t going to say anything. I’d just pay my bill, give everyone a nod goodnight, and walk the five blocks back home.
And then Danny disappeared.
One second, he was there. The next—gone.
Danny didn’t just instantaneously vanish. Even when something happens in the blink of an eye, you can still put together something of a sequence. I saw him—I seemed to see him—falling into himself, collapsing to a point, and then to nothing.
You know how sometimes a sound is altogether inaudible unless you’re looking at the source—like when you don’t realize somebody’s whispering at you, and can then hear and understand them after they get your attention? I think that was the case here. I wouldn't have known to listen if I hadn't seen it happen. What I heard lingered for two, maybe three seconds, and wasn't any louder than a fly buzzing inside a lampshade. A tiny and impossibly distant scream, pitchshifted like a receding ambulance siren into a basso drone...
I don’t know. I don’t know for sure. I’m certain I remember a flash of red, and I have the idea of Danny’s trunk expanding, opening up as it imploded. A crimson flower, flecked white, with spooling pink stalks—and Danny’s wide-eyed face above it, drawn twisting and shrinking into its petals.
For an instant, Twenty’s interior shimmered. Not shimmered, exactly—glitched would be a better word. If you’re old enough to remember the fragmented graphics that sometimes flashed onscreen when you turned on the Nintendo without blowing on the cartridge, you’ll have an idea of what I mean. It happened much too fast, and there was too much of it to absorb. The one clear impression I could parse was the mirage of a cash register flickering upside-down above the pool table.
Not a cash register. The shape was familiar, but the texture was wrong. I think it was ribbed, sort of like a maggot. I think it glistened. Like—camo doesn’t work anymore when the wearer stops crouching behind a bush and breaks into a run. Do you get what I’m saying?
Nobody else seemed to notice. The pool balls clacked. A New Order track was playing on the TouchTunes box. A nearby argument about about Nick Sirianni continued unabated.
Finally, there was a downward rush of air—and this at least elicited a reaction from the bartender, who slapped my bill to keep it from sailing off the counter.
“Danny,” I said.
“Danny?” Kyle asked me quietly. His face had gone pale.
“Danny?” Oliver repeated in a faraway voice.
After a pause, Kyle blinked a few times. “You heard from him?”
“God forbid,” said Marina. “When he quit I was like, great, I can keep working here after all.”
“Oh, come on—”
“Kyle. Did I ever show you those texts he sent me once at three in the morning?” The color had returned to Oliver’s face.
“No, what did he say?”
Oliver tapped at his phone and turned the screen toward Kyle.
“Oh. Oh, jeez.”
“Right? Like—if you want to ask me something, ask me. You know? Don’t be weirdly accusatory about it…”
I pulled a wad of fives and ones from my pocket, threw it all onto the counter, and beelined for the exit without consideration for the people I squeezed through and shoved past on the way.
I heard Marina saying “let him go.”
I went a second consecutive night without sleep. Fortunately I wasn’t scheduled to come in the next day.
The schedule. It’s funny. Oliver was generally great at his job, and even when he wasn’t, I cut him a lot of slack because I knew Irene and Jeremy never gave him a moment’s peace. But I could never forgive him those times he waited until the weekend to make up and distribute the schedule. This was one of those weeks he didn’t get around to it until Saturday afternoon. When I found it in my inbox, Danny’s name wasn’t anywhere on it.
As far as I know, nobody who hadn’t been at Twenty that night asked what happened to him. We were a bit overstaffed as it was, and everyone probably assumed Danny was slated for the chopping block. The part-timers were, for the most part, happy to get a few additional hours.
Oliver abruptly quit around Labor Day after a final acrimonious clash with the owners. I never found out the details, and I never saw him again. Jeremy and Irene took turns minding the store while a replacement manager was sought. None of the supervisors would be pressured into taking the job; they knew from Oliver what they could expect.
About three weeks after Oliver left, I came in for my purchasing shift and found Jeremy waiting for me in the back room. I knew it was serious when he didn’t greet me with the awkward fist-bump he ordinarily required of his male employees.
“You’ve seen the numbers,” he said. Business for the summer had fallen short of expectations, it was true, and he and Irene had decided to rein in payroll expenses. My purchaser position was being eliminated. Its responsibilities would be redistributed among the supervisors and the new manager, when one was found. In the meantime, I'd be going back to the regular $11 an hour (plus tips of course) associate position full-time.
Jeremy assured me I'd be first in the running for supervisor the next time there was an opening.
I told him it was fine, I was done, and if he’d expected the courtesy of two weeks’ notice, he shouldn’t have blindsided me like that.
“Well, that’s your choice,” he answered, trying not to look pleased. His payroll problem was solving itself.
I racked up credit card debt for a few months. Applied for entry-level museum jobs that might appreciate my art history degree. Aimed for some purchasing and administrative assistant gigs, and just for the hell of it, turned in a resume for a facilitator position at an after-school art program. Got a few interviews. All of them eventually told me they’d decided to go in a different direction. I finally got hired to bartend at Hops from Underground, a microbrewery on Fairmount.
I’m still there. The money’s okay, but it fluctuates. Hours are reasonable. I’m on their high-deductible health plan. There’s a coworker I’ve been dating. Sort of dating. You know how it goes. In this line of work you get so used to people coming and going that you learn not to get too attached. I walk past Avenue Brew a few times a week, but stopped peering in through the window when I didn't recognize the people behind the counter anymore.
submitted by obeliskposture to stupidpol [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 15:23 vandalimism Guide to Synthetic Fude (Cruelty-Free, Vegan Makeup Brushes)

Guide to Synthetic Fude (Cruelty-Free, Vegan Makeup Brushes)

Guide to Synthetic Fude by vandalimism

All links are non-affiliated and are included for citing references.
I created this guide because I couldn’t find a comprehensive overview of synthetic fude (which refers to, in this context, artisanal makeup brushes)—a proper niche within a niche. Thus, I have compiled a list of makeup brush lines that are from OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers make products for other brands) and are 100% synthetic. The consensus is that synthetics are for liquids/creams, while animal hairs are for powders. Brush lines with natural and synthetic fibers typically reserve a pure or blended mix of synthetic fibers for lip, eyeliner, eyebrow, and liquid/cream face brushes. Consequently, drugstore synthetic brushes may be satisfactory for these use cases. However, the smoothness and stiffness of synthetic fibers result in poor performance with powder cosmetics and scratchiness on a sensitive face respectively. By exploring a selection of fude that use the latest synthetic fiber technology, I intend to guide readers seeking a better experience from their current synthetic brushes. In addition, I hope to see more fude enthusiasts create posts or videos dedicated to reviewing their synthetic fude collection since there’s a lack of such content on the internet.
Information from My Blush Betty, Jackson's Art, Kingyin, etc. is used as preliminary research on synthetic makeup brushes' history and current landscape. The lack of cuticles in synthetic fibers means that they don't retain as much powder but also bacteria as animal hair; the resiliency of synthetic fibers also means that they can withstand frequent washings, leading to a more hygienic makeup routine. The primary goals in development are better powder absorption by texturizing and crimping synthetic fiber and to be more eco-friendly by relying less on fossil fuels. The unstable supply of fur and customer ethical concerns has dramatically increased the demand for synthetic alternatives to natural hair.

Types of Synthetic Makeup Bristles

Japanese Synthetic Fude

Name Number of Brushes Bristle Material Ferrule Material Handle Material Availability Reviews*
Chikuhodo AF (2016) 9 PTT 🌽🦠 ? ? Beautylish, CDJapan, Fude Beauty 👥 qaganoficeandfire, enflame, donothingdilettante, un3xpectedfate, ---boop---, makeupmatters1, pressedorchids
Hakuhodo I (2020) 46 Nylon, PBT Brass Wood Hakuhodo USA, Fude Japan 👤 jaybirdwalking, jaybirdwalking
Hakuhodo i (2020) 19 ? Aluminum Plastic Hakuhodo USA 👤 jaybirdwalking, twindly, un3xpectedfate
Koyudo Makiko (2020) 5 ? ? Wood CDJapan, Fude Beauty 👥 kinkysweat, krutikapuntambekar, xleucax, pressedorchids
Nakamura Seisakusho Moe (2020) 7 PBT 📏🦠 ? ? Fude Beauty 👤 kinkysweat
Nakamura Seisakusho Ai (2020) 8 PBT 📏 ? ? Fude Beauty 👤 kinkysweat, pressedorchids
Koyudo La Fuga del Gatto (2021) 6 PBT & PTT 🌽📏 Brass ? Beautylish, CDJapan, Fude Beauty 👥 kinkysweat
Uyeda Bisyodo Futur (2021) 13 PBT ? Wood Fude Beauty, Fude Japan 👤 kinkysweat, tortorre, irulancorrino, NYanae555
Uyeda Bisyodo Shiori (2021) 14 ? 🦠 Brass Wood CDJapan, Fude Beauty, Fude Japan 👥 tpmmpt11, 0410maria1995
Chikuhodo Framboise (2021) 5 PBT ? ? Beautylish, CDJapan, Fude Beauty, Fude Japan 🫂 ?

Chinese Synthetic Fude

Name Number of Brushes Availability Reviews*
Shou Shou Lang Velvet 🌽 11 AliExpress 🫂 ?
Shou Shou Lang Pink 🌽 11 AliExpress 🫂 ?
Shou Shou Lang Yellow 🌽 11 AliExpress 🫂 ?
Shou Shou Lang White 13 AliExpress 🫂 ?
Shou Shou Lang Blue 9 AliExpress 🫂 ?
Qin Zhi Navy / White Short Handle 3 / 4 AliExpress 👥 / AliExpress 👤 ?
Qin Zhi Blue / Purple 6 / 7 AliExpress 🫂 / AliExpress 🫂 ?
Qin Zhi Black 5 AliExpress 🫂 ?
Qin Zhi Red 8 AliExpress 🫂 xleucax
Qin Zhi Brown 9 AliExpress 🫂 ?
*Additional reviews can be found on product pages from online retailers.
Key
🌽 = advertises using more eco-friendly fibers
📏 = advertises using thin (0.05-0.07mm) fibers which result in a softer brush
🦠 = advertises adding an anti-microbial agent e.g. silver in fibers
👤 = is available only as individual brushes
👥 = is available as individual brushes and as a set/s
🫂 = is available only as a set/s
There are many unknown variables in the table due to trade secrets, language barriers, the relative niche of synthetic fude, and my lack of physical samples. In addition, the availability sections were written from an American perspective, which might have excluded some international options.

Review of Uyeda Bisyodo Shiori Eye Brushes (CDJapan)

It took 11 business days for me to receive my brushes (purchased with my own money) from CDJapan. The website was easy to navigate, but there was no option to filter for all makeup brushes in a synthetic material. I used an approximately $3 off coupon, and the threshold for free shipping was around $90. Fude Beauty and Fude Japan also carried the Uyeda Bisyodo Shiori series; however, their minimums for free shipping were too high i.e. at least $300 for my budget. Beautylish did not have the brand in its inventory. I also attempted to make an account for CDJapan but never received an email verification in my inbox or spam folder. So, I had to use the guest checkout and forwent points that I could have used in a future purchase for a discount. I still received shipping and invoice emails, so I knew I didn't mistype my email address. If I felt strongly about the points, I would've contacted their customer service but honestly didn't mind. The brushes also came with CDJapan's 1-year warranty on makeup brushes, which signaled confidence in quality.
Description of UB Shiori Brushes
Name Shape General Use
S-504 Large Angled Contour eye and nose
S-505 Pencil Precisely apply eyeshadow on the inner corner, uppelower lashlines, etc.
S-507 (the bigger version of S-508) Large Shader Quickly apply a wash of eyeshadow all over the eyelid
S-508 (the smaller version of S-507) Small Shader Apply eyeshadow below the eyelid crease, deepen the outer thirds, etc.
S-509 Smudge Apply eyeshadow as diffused eyeliner from the inner corner to the wing
​
Visual Comparison of UB Shiori Brushes to Similar Brushes
Comparison of UB Shiori Brushes to RT Brushes
UB's Characteristic Result Comments
More precisely bundled More precise application of eyeshadow, which is helpful near the lashlines The quality control from being hand-made by skilled artisans sets synthetic fude apart from drugstore options and is the primary reason for the cost. There are fewer stray hairs to accidentally poke the eye.
Denser Absorb more powder, which means fewer re-applications of pigment to get desired opacities People with difficulty getting colors to show on their skin tone may find that denser brushes can apply eyeshadow in a much more reasonable time.
More flexible fibers Less "pokey" experience i.e. less pushback when using more pressure, which means less irritation for sensitive skin The use of flexible fibers is apparent in shorter bristles. For example, I find the longer-haired RT 402 to be soft but any of the RT eye brushes to be pokey. I need to be mindful of holding RT eye brushes at certain angles and pressure to use them on my eyelids. To offset the stiffness of synthetic fibers, drugstore brushes are sometimes bundled in a tapered shape e.g. RT 402 so that as many of the finer-tipped ends can contact the face; but this can also limit the brush shapes that give a soft experience.
Brass ferrule Brass is less prone to rust than aluminum, which may result in longer brush life My decade-old aluminum-ferruled RT brushes haven't developed rust anyway. Brass feels more hefty and luxurious than aluminum.
After testing on my eyelids and fingertips, these are the softest brushes that I've ever used. Even with pressure, UB brushes don't feel as rough and exfoliating as RT brushes i.e. there is less audible "bristle" noise during use. Despite being denser than the RT brushes, UB brushes still feel softer due to having more flexible bristles. In comparison to my natural-haired BB Eyeshadow brush, UB brushes feel slightly slicker (but still much less slick than RT brushes). BB's and UB's fiber densities and flex feel similar.
My assessment of these brushes may be hindered by my relatively small collection of brushes. As a result, I can only compare expensive synthetic fude to mostly drugstore synthetic brushes. In addition, my RT and BB brushes are more than a decade old, and I have used my UB brushes for only two months (at the time of writing). I don't intend to purchase natural hair brushes, so I won't be able to compare natural hair to synthetic fude in the future.
I will also update the guide as I collect more synthetic fude and if readers suggest any corrections or give additional information. Feel free to discuss your experiences, good or bad, with synthetic fude in the replies!
submitted by vandalimism to MakeupAddiction [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 13:03 russianbababooey The "Campi Hobbit", an alternative to the Mainstream

The

DEFINITION

The "Campi Hobbit" were manifestations organized by the Fronte della Gioventù, the Youth organization of the MSI. They were inspired by more Movementist and Revolutionary tendencies inside the MSI, theories that proved to be much more attractive to the Idealistic Youth rather than the Reactionary Evolian theories.
DENOMINATION
They were called Campi Hobbit for the Neo-Fascist inspiration to Tolkien and his books, one of them featuring the Hobbit. On that same mystic inspiration the Fascist Youth also started using the celtic cross as a symbol instead of the original Fasces.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF FASCISM
In the year 1977 the Far Left in Italy had gotten much stronger and gave birth to the Movement of '77, a series of contestations against the PCI (deemed too moderate by the Radicals). In this exact moment a new man entered the Political scene attracting many young Fascists and Idealists, his name was Giuseppe Rauti, also called Pino. He was a strong opponent of Right-Wing "Fascism", and wanted to make the MSI move left in order to attract a younger and least corrupt group. This led to him getting inspiration from more collectivistic and alternative methods, in the end giving birth to the Campi Hobbit.
https://preview.redd.it/8yvn439pbs3b1.jpg?width=268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9623edd2ee4fe16a781a54521370c730f7dbee0a

THE CAMPS

THE FIRST CAMP
The Camp Hobbit was held from 11 to 12 June 1977 in Montesarchio, in the province of Benevento, organized by the local MSI leader, Generoso Simeone. The idea was to gather militants to share "metapolitical" initiatives that had been circulating in the environment for some years: music, radio, graphics and social issues such as unemployment, the condition of women and ecologism, which were not normally dealt with by the Party. In this field, between the traditional paramilitary camp and the youth festival, the new symbol of the Celtic cross dominates. Even a human Celtic cross was successfully performed. The groups playing in concert are Amici del Vento, La Compagnia dell'Anello and Janus from Rome.
THE SECOND CAMP
The second camp was held at Fonte Romana di Pacentro, in Abruzzo, from 23 to 25 June 1978. Compared to the previous year, a film was also shot on the event which was soon to tour sections throughout the whole Italy. It is perhaps the least successful gathering, born on the official initiative of the Youth Front as a whole, which attempts to take away the hegemony of the youth world from Rauti. However, the music remains the qualifying the Compagnia dell'Anello and the Janus performed in the concert.
https://preview.redd.it/fslagwrobs3b1.jpg?width=270&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7aed0247cd10063d10520e100b792d5537224639
THE THIRD CAMP
The third Campo Hobbit was held from 16 to 20 July 1980 in Castel Camponeschi, an old uninhabited village. The neo-Fascist alternative music as it was called at the time, sees among the numerous interpreters and groups that will perform in those days the historical group of La Compagnia dell'Anello and the Fr*nchman Jack Marchal with his album Science et Violence.
THE FOURTH CAMP
The fourth camp had a radically different nature from the previous ones, being associated with a relief expedition sponsored and organized by the weekly "Linea di Pino Rauti" and by "Radio Alternativa", preceded by a collection of basic necessities by the "Rautian" sections of the MSI of Rome organized at the head of a large group of youth militants of the MSI following the 1980 Irpinia earthquake not having a party nature nor music, had above all the value of a moment of human compaction for the Youth of the MSI.

CONCLUSION

The Camps were all extremely successfull, except the second which still got some traction. The need to reorganize and bring these collective events back is evident if we actually want to triumph and attract more people to the Fascist ideal. Talking about Theory might be good on the short term, but without the action Fascism doesn't have a reason to exist and the only way to win is to apply the principles in society and make everyone see that we are not the absolute evil that the media tries to equate to us.
https://preview.redd.it/251z021fbs3b1.jpg?width=270&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6acd864ce5ab0d1fe402e3d72cf83160f38749c8
submitted by russianbababooey to FascismReclaimed [link] [comments]