To what's left of you quarter, piece, and part powerful gentlemen and to the appearance of an extreme degree powerful “women” of this penny parade continent, this five and dime celebration, this dollar store revelation, this world-wide cultural instantiation and its jubilation, from factories in Fiji, to factories in China, to the world itself as if a great, round, roving, marvelous factory to print colored bits of paper and tin cans, shells and bombs to burst in midair – confetti for every beach and ocean in this ever-expanding tidal future of ours!
It is nearby somewhere my own hunger urged me from mine and your wilds alike, and in the emergence of a lucidity from the depths of yon trash heap (and my longstanding work therein), which predates not just my meeting you, and its tending endlessly to your children, but every and all conception of me for eternity and more; I came to you and allowed you to mistake yourself for me, as there was no mistaking me for you - for what's left of life in your eyes reveals to me what you know that you both know, and don't know, you need, what you can only ever imagine is lost or out there to be found or bought in your world, what has been conditioned into you so as to preclude seeing and especially the strength of “not seeing,” and it is with every momentarily wakeful glance you give in my direction, every question you hear, every call answered, that ensures me all is not forsaken despite the ceaseless attempt on “all’s life” to the contrary, a tryer of the reigns finds reigns, a fisher finds fish – in the depths of this land, and what clings to it on all fringes and fronts, fits you as your highest metaphor of a culture’s soul: a prisoner’s home for a lost vagabond, the destitute, overdosing on richness, dressed nicely if in the most poorly-fitting and disheveled clothing, as when a child too small tries to don the clothes (i.e., attitude, appearance, nature, purpose) of his absent father – he was looking into a future, and now he is this “future,” much less a “future” anyone would desire, utterly abandoned in hope, deed, action, and almost word, but for everything effeminately subtle and indirect, one thing is said, another is done, and no value may be found in the schizoid feeding frenzy to the tune of perhaps the most psychotic ruling herdsman type who have ever had the unfortunate chance (for every living creature) to love at all, but as anyone here only ever understands such things on meticulous spreadsheets of numbers that can never add up (Remember 2008? Whoops!), as if a sort of simulation of life, or in many cases, simulation of a simulation, of life, or something resembling some sort of denizen of some sort of strange land’s strange life, or similarly, a home that can’t house anyone at all, is only understood in familiar commercials where, a large volume of words, images, and bright colors are lauded and leveraged as a subliminal jackhammer, and of course, the less they mean, the less bearing, therefor reminder of and on reality, the better, so long as one message is clear (desire - what is missing and sought? How to twist the knife into the lonely and afraid?); I can state without undue excess and absolutely zero excitement, that the vault is empty, the account reads zero, rather, your vault is empty, and zero would be an improvement, for its implication would be that of an animal who, having a glance in the mirror, has had a profound and terrible revelation, not the ghost and mummy and living skeleton, the standing ruins that stand and stare back, but, had instead, possibly relearned to create beyond itself, or unlearned, to take pride in everything it IS, and to feel longing and despair and especially contempt for everything that it ISN’T; not a goal, or a destination, and yet would be a road as if so? Feign one more pointless yet needy life, lived as long as possible, forever taking more than can ever give, in service of the greatest number of pebbles and papers, and for itself, its own little day? When is this day? No, let us not see beyond the day – things are too good, your future is already in the water, don’t let anything, least of all yourselves, stand in the way.
Yet it wasn't for any of this I was glad or sad, as the tepid radiations and hopeful evacuations of a life on the wondrously vapid factory clone farm are often quite touching, and at times, seem to reveal the confessions of a beautiful animal, or the image of what once was, now reminiscing on their own or someone else’s golden years, some creature lost to winter everlasting, and astonishingly absent and completely unaccounted in a strange game of 'the most numbers' (as if creating for an audience, what you know as consumer groups and shrubbery, that doesn’t even exist, at least previously, without even realizing it) - once more, let us congratulate this species on its wildest success - it is rare that anyone changes anything, such as, even the most minor character of nature, culture, and being, let alone channeling, cultivating, and hobbling an entire species' psychic domain, with a success not unlike Malaria (and its nature), be it with prescription methamphetamine or the other panoply of assorted multi-colored poisonous candies and treats, largely advertised in yellow and red, like warning signs one finds on a deadly viper, you know (they really catch the eye), and though the medicalization of the future, a sort of savaging by the greatest of shorts never even conceived, but like a carcass that is just there, waiting for the bloated and their bloated feast, because as wisdom will teach anyone who lives long enough, success with or without awareness, as with all success, is classified as Victory under the great auspices of Nike, of which Nemesis never fails to find conscious or unconscious compensation. That’s the thing about the “unconscious” – the unknown is most feared, but just because it is unknown, does not mean it is wrong, unreal, or “not there,” nor does it make it chaos, merely, beyond you, before you, after you, your aftermath – to quote a wise woman, “funny that, humans can be ruins too, and that ruins can stand so long!” - and with these digressions aside, all these matters of which I speak need not in fact be recorded by anyone (even me), it is merely sufficient that they occur. Things are revealed, and those beings who are being revealed to, are helpless, but TO BE revealed to. Whether they see or understand what they are seeing, at all, is another matter. What emerges can’t not emerge, what is revealed, can’t not be revealed, or not witnessed. Like flowers and bees (and spiders) – the world is beautiful and many-legged, bites and stings and sometimes even smells nice.
For, to attempt to comprehend - what it means, for life to mean nothing? It would mean to truly understand this precipice – that, for time itself, mankind itself, ceases to exist, or have any reason, meaning, purpose, or even justification - but that is not our numbered and enumerating way, for, as a nation of decadent accountants, as nation of creditors and debtors even to one’s own family and friends, a nation of strangers and government agents who are primarily bound by their need to sell products and services in plebian, repeated, undifferentiated-as possible-like fashion, all of whom have many guns, are coerced by many guns, under auspices of those guised as ‘the educated’ even, it is the number here that matters most, and nothing else, but it was seeing the real nature of that number, and to what it applies (and how the code is woven through data to reveal all the ugly facts of life) that has us clapping ourselves on the back, or at each other’s throat, both of which are great opportunities for enterprising individuals, for, in a country and culture of mercenaries and prostitutes, the accountant who promises the most, wins, which is to say that the world’s oldest profession has taught all great and small American alike, how much the world, a family, a son, a daughter is worth: nothing. Love has no monetary value, happiness, contentment, the fact that a human being is born is complete, has no value, and if you market to them while they are bewildered, frightened, and alone, coming as they are from a culture conditioned to be sick farm animals, vacuous watchers and consumers and food and sacrifice and disposable animal, then one’s success is eventually guaranteed – and it is this sort of flagrant and glamorous prostitutions and illustrious illusions that has dominated our culture, to allow the most mediocre types to not just attempt to inherit the world, but to continue to assume that they are entitled to it, and to entreat themselves to all therein as if disposable possession, an entire world, increasingly filled with this singular, totalizing, delusion. Sadly, it is this sort of brainless extroversion, and disease, that dominates and continues to pass as leadership in what is already a totally medicalized, encapsulated, and strait-jacketed culture.
Which is really humorous, when you know then the term “business leader” is an oxymoron, and unfitting. After all, a pimp and a butcher do not have followers of loyalty or even duty, they don’t own minds or hearts, they own a line to the bank and paying bills – they have animals employed under pressure, under duress, under the knife, performance, art, feeding the hungry and the needy. The sort of deprecating and depredating effects one finds in such miasma and gore are what is known in the slammer as prisoner conditions—not just immediate depression that conduces to deep, dark, dreamless sleep – and not just that animals in captivity will act out violently as a matter of vital Will and its need to prove to itself, that it is indeed alive in some capacity, but to race to the bottom of the behavioral sink. But everything comes and goes, so it is that which went down the drain has washed back up on our shores, like dumping and leaking perchloroethylene and trichloroethylene, which, as deadly solvents seep directly to the bottom of the groundwater table, some things are just like that – an avalanche – unstoppable, indelible, ineffable, unstoppable, inevitability as it is – fate weaving itself, the basilisks of the new dawn cawing, and then their coming home to roost – leaving the question, who or what was this all for? The state, the herd, and the people are indeed “one,” even if many. Fascism with a good conscience, is to say, civilization is for the survivors, the good, the moral, and the just; and every judge, jury, and executioner agrees, especially when they elicit the confession from the condemned, all of which is fortunate and convenient for the survivors (cowards), so long as one takes their place in the orgy and circle-jerk chain of pity (which is all pity for self, projected outward as cover) of which, all the strangers with guns agree as well, yet despite all these plain as fact appearances, behaviors, and communications that anyone can see, read, and almost even understand, I know others don’t yet know or share my excitement at proposals of an updated and appropriate lexicon, and it is here that we visit terminology that is apt for a soulless, blood-sucking age that would rather see man as docile sheep, than become anything different, more, abd superior.
So it is, henceforth, all those conspicuously inconspicuous nobodies who always hunger more than they can Will - you are not known as the “the managerial elite,” but the “Malarial Elite.” Not the “business class,” but the “boring class.” Not the “political class,” but the “parasitic class.” Not the “leaders of tomorrow,” but the “pillagers of yesteryear.” After all, who would want health - when sickness is so profitable? Rather, how could the healthy even bother with the sick, how could they understand them? The entire medical profession’s creed, to this day, is “please don’t bother us,” as, everyone needs their papers. Yes, while even Dr. Frankenstein and his murdering monster appear naïve and juvenile compared to the sort of psychos who run most wards and hospitals, not to mention any of its direct connection to the state, this is the nature of miasma, no one could choke through it even if they wanted, - so who could ever stand on the shoulders of giants or titans, when the entire country from top to bottom, can only beg, borrow or steal from around the ankles? And the need is locked in – slavery, the most wealth and power ever created in the history of the world, wasted on a dying, decrepit ruling class of pseudo-human being who sound and appear as if they couldn’t have a genuine thought or feeling in their bodies, even if needed to prevent a nervous breakdown, even if needed to mitigate the breakdown of an entire civilization, or imminent death and war around the globe.
And this is perhaps the most astoundingly marvelous thing about a long-extricated, tortured-out diffusive chain of irresponsibility – the one who conceives of the bottom, the lowering of the bar, is not the same as the one who enacts it, is not the same as the one who installs it, is not the same as the one who tills it, is not the same as the one who owns it, all of which beleighs the truth that, most everyone is happy to disappear, they are happy that so little is ever asked or expected, that nobody remembers their name, or asks more. Yes, aloneness, and dangerous aloneness therein is the only real condition, but so it is for everyone. You see, take heart, you’re not alone here. It was only illusion. One or many, many or one – you’re the same thing, desire, create, act and enact the same thing – like addict and supplier, and that’s how and why you have built precisely what it is you have built - and the isolation also serves a purpose – as it makes your domination precipitously convenient (a civilization of people taught to be helpless, passive, watchers and consumers, and bad actors for bottomless pits of crowds at that). People are easy to manipulate, coerce, and control, when alone. The solution that knows how to answer for all problems- as both Socrates and the rapacious, long-annoying American salesmen, marketers, and spammers of all inboxes humanly known, know – you look for the self-conscious weakness, and then you twist the knife as insidiously and compellingly as sublimely [terrible and frightful yet divine distance between desire and reality] possible. Imagine doing this to an entire lower class – like raising rabbits for disposal and harvest.
And while our most acrimonious of orders is, pertaining to the supposedly beloved objects of one’s and one’s culture’s desires, first to try to masticate it, if not, fornicate with it, if not, buy and sell it with the purpose of others enacting the former and/or the latter behaviors upon it, it strikes me that even the larger, stunningly clueless population is beginning to scratch their heads as they watch time stand still in perpetuity, rather, as they watch time leak, fume, and die, to their detriment, on their dime (they pay for it), which, if you’re wondering why is an alarm to you and them, is because this is not what they were promised, and, that first Boston Tea Party is a simpleton's joke compared to the tyranny that rules happily and without remorse today. And so it is, what is being witnessed, interpreted, spun, and sold, is not what they are being promised right now (they see the very opposite in fact – reality, right under their nose, and they can even almost “read it”), and as with right now, Victory demands compensation, and it isn’t just coming, it is already here. Oh no, the best is yet to come, you assure me? I’ll agree, but only because it is in my language and on my terms, and you have no idea what that means.
Even then, despite my great love for this land and some of its most rare and valuable individuals (because the rest is corporate, i.e., state-sanctioned, wasteland), despite knowing all of you far, far, far too well, I am left with no pity in common with you, and if you’ve been reading the stars and the wind and the times (it stands still, slow enough to read for even the illiterate, in some regards, after all), you know then that you have all but nickeled and dimed away everyone else’s pity too, and those left parroting the party line are dead already without knowing it, fail to see they are alone, the target, the victim, the product, as well – but there’s hardly an accountant alive who can cook these books, even a Jew, or maybe someone from the Chinese Communist Party, of which, our own leadership shares beds, and a future as insect-overlords of a placated, wasted, dying populace of a poisoned land.
Yes, our way of life is incidental, a waterwheel in the river of misery for most that is called human biology – so nobody can help themselves against their own (intentionally) weakened and morbid Will and better interest, for instance, the people who once lived here were helpless to crave the steel and alcohol Spanish merchants advertised – and once this poisoned stream had traveled for centuries, found its way into my mouth and after a lifetime of ripping it out, to see what is beyond it, a life-time of sickness and its convalescence, exactly as everyone here intentionally and unintentionally designed, and with perspective on asylums and institutions from both deep inside and far beyond their walls (these are funny conceptual and imaginary designations, walls, barriers, doors, etc.), inside or outside of it, it is fear and hatred and pain – and a recirculation of dollars and pity, with its requisite shame, sympathies, and pities. The price for playing the game? Your eternal soul? No, that was marketing, so you didn’t notice your body was being used, abused, and consumed, by little camouflage predators who have the appearance of ‘ordinary’ human-beings (now its sublimated into the market, god being dead and all), but, alas, are not Apex, but incidental, happenstance, a laugh, a gas, mediocrity given its day since the real predators are medicated, surrounded, and killed off, and ultimately, as ape is to man, this homo sapien is to a better humanity of present and into the future – a (blind) laughing stock. An emperor and empire with no clothes at all. Just as neanderthal did not understand why homo sapien laughed at him, homo sapien doesn’t know how bad the joke is, and the exacting ways in which he and she are the joke (yes, presuming entitlement, and to be the goal, and what's to be preserved).
Even as I have watched, and continue to watch, the most basic and mediocre types of animals reach majority, in all human arenas, whose vanitous parents, teachers, and policemen, all profiting, even forming a way of life, based on their own absence in these future ‘derelicts’ lives, starting in their most vulnerable precatory age, of their own wisdom, persuaded them, having generally only paper or medications to offer, in manners not dissimilar to business in Italian mafia or other gangland activity, to become physicians, psychiatrists, lawyers, sociologists, and even justice-fighters, or freedom fighters (at least on TV, or social media) for an entire society that was conditioned to be ineffectual, hapless, resentful dependents, a dollar farm, a low-wage servant class, buckets of frozen fish consumer voting blocks to market sickness to, tossed to the dust and wind as fertilizer for future pennies, all vegetating on an American-factory-farm-scale organized lunatic asylum, or, as is well known, the streets, and other similar institutions such as prisons and schools, whom all get their French fries from the same governmentally relevant contracted organization, aka business, aka American business, aka corporation, aka, the State as nation, and the state of its affairs – an entire population missing in action, on vacation, tending tiny, totalized, cog-size gardens and planting for their own promised day alone, or sick on the job, owned as it were, by the people who own the entire country, and in some sense, the world, with our closest business partners, in both industry, and way of life, being the Chinese State, of which all Americans should be horrified.
—all of which conduces towards a feeling, or, thought of tremendous weight and burden, which is to say, what can anyone expect in a land where one doesn’t have friends and neighbors or even a husband or wife, but predatory yet desperately needy and dependent associates (nothing is more depraved than businessmen in rut, when they see only paper dollars with starry, religious-eyed zeal), all of whom can, do, and will continue to charge each other by the minute, to get the most out of every serviceable transaction they can name for a surcharge, or convenience fee, or tax, or service fee, of which, the original stamp act which was one of many matchsticks that helped founded this country, is a farce and a joke compared to the sort of brigands, actors, and ugly celebrity that is our body politics – a society where brutal taxation and its repression is culture, is the way of life, occasionally exemplified by “kill dozers” or small business owners flying their small airplanes into local tax offices (see Texas), of which we can say, the genius of America wasn’t a recreation of the old slave pyramid, at least two or three times in a row, as merit turned to money, that is gold, which turned to paper, which turned to non-existent ones and zeroes, nor is the genius the ever-present image and its parading and campaigning of forgettable faces and non-existent personalities and all its pretense of the removal of what sadly passes for aristocracy these days – the genius of America was to monetize every part of the body, every aspect of culture and life, to scrape the human being down to the bone, not of any human value, not of any real value that they themselves feel or want to represent in the actual world, in any remotely authentic, sincere, and even needed manner, but strictly: monetary value. There is no value outside paper money zero and ones values. Which is to say, the modern human soul is a worthless copper penny stretched between the crude, well-armed yet hapless Europeans of America, those eroded basalt Pillars of the West, and the equally hollow and vacuous Chinese Communist Part of the East, whatever facsimiles are left from their origins derived – between the two, like the upper and lower clamps of a vice grip, humanity are a great mass of herd animal, ready to be flambéed, roasted, crispen and woolied, ready to be turned into garment, and dinner, and pointless, disposable sacrifice (for the people that own them, but not for gods, greater purpose, men, or connection to the Earth and environment).
And how much value may be derived from this worthless penny? When the game is the bait and switch, it is never enough. And then how much can you charge for the sickness you create? Each layer of skin is a few cents more, and every American businessman, who becomes wealthy, knows that every penny adds up, because for most American business men, when it is, was, or becomes their time to rob anyone and everyone blind, we see the American for what they are (an empty, pitiless, stomach, no brain) and the most powerful nation in the history of the world – which proves, not just how blind great power is, but also states, the more one wants, the more one must debase one’s self, thus the entire human future, had to be sold out to satiate the money printers - where lavish expense in both cheap thrills and their curtailing, are incurred, inflicted, endured, yet loved with Barnum and Bailey advertising appeal of a culture that can’t decide whether it wants to be most pitiless master or most pitiful slave, prude or whore, noble Paladin or gutless Brigand – a nation not of refined or even rudimentary taste in appearance, behavior, and communication, but of tawdry delight and intoxication, angry politics, fear, and hate, not two minutes, but 24/7 – the assailing and travailing of the world against the senses, against reason, against purpose, against humanity, and harder will it become still. Not just against better, superior senses, but all senses, but that is nonsense for you, and as with yesteryear, today, nonsense rules – the lack of sense, the utter lack of reality. And when it’s clear, when you can quote a man, speaking of a past that hasn’t happened yet, who once said, “even if this country had been twice as big, it still wouldn’t be enough,” and, “the love of possessions is a disease in them” - What can you then truly say to a nation of dependents and liars all suffering under the same physiological sicknesses, whose condition is to admit, buy, sell, or permit everything, except for the Truth, and by design? Cowardice, that is generally called, “healthy fear”? And, the straightforward truth? The simple Truth? All of which precludes the complex, take lifetimes-of-vigorous-activity-to-understand-and painfully destructive-to-swallow-Truth? This isn’t s dog and pony show nation, it is a dollar-leash nation. And where reason and logic fail, passion prevails, therefor, a poem to end, in your honor:
Your life, on a leash, how much can you pay? Therapy, credit, lease no money down today
Your life, on a leash, it isn’t worth a thing
Humans have no value, but for the pennies
They might bring, but them alone, isn’t enough,
Together, a few bucks, but none are left That’s right, not a dime for you or for your kids
Sell it all before the fall, retirement commune called “to live” When nothing to give, but everything with a price No tomorrow, don’t think twice, wondering why
There's no ovation to your ending, fearful but
Just pretending – for, behind all that is corporate nice
Are strangers with guns, aplenty at small price
But the cost is wrought, you broke it, you bought
If you’re so smart, how come you aint rich?
One shouldn’t ask such clueless questions
In culture’s nihilistic pitch – few flown
To the top of the roost of the coup
When one is oh so unconcerned,
Rich, and hidden without a peep
This dollar harvest continent
Then demonstrates, by all such
Empty imagistic reprobates
What was sown was
salted stupid, to be easy
then well reaped
Buy and sell an empty shell
shooting fish in a bucket
Or herding sheep
But this sickness
It lingers
Trade coins
For every
Finger
squeeze
And lie
you
Paid
The
true
Price
That you’re nice
That you deserve it
That you can actually afford it
Selling dependence as codependence
the people are stupid and so deserve it
But your dull, dusty harvest, you made it, is here
I don’t know how you tolerate it through the smell of shit
that anyone would be appalled
scrawled floor, ceiling, wall, stinking skins on crawl
Or how people will live through the coming years
of ever-worse, ever-harder, all-consuming and producing horrid fears
A chicken shit nation of no rank and station, a parasite full of parasites
Not providence, guns and hatred
Of course would make so much noise, it’s simply what you can get away with
when real men are all absent, resented, and hated - but this is the price for your fascist consumer statist corporate paradise of low-rent, low-class dread and vapid, empty, paper-money doll pretty heads
After it was written, this poem was titled - “Squeeze [the fun out of it]”

"He who can destroy a thing has the real control over it"-Paul Atreides.
In Civil law, and according to political ideologies like Anarchism, Power is the control one has over an object or person, being able to exert your will over it/them and make them work to your advantage. At it's strongest form, Power is the ability to destroy that thing or person with no consequence to oneself.
Gege appears to use this same concept in the mechanics of Jujutsu, Cursed Energy is the physical manifestation of the concept of control. Cursed Energy is intrinsically tied to Fate, controlling all who generate it and are under it. Cursed Spirits are living concentrations of Cursed Energy, seeking to destroy as their primal instinct.
Cursed Energy Reinforcement is the usage of a body/tool in the protection of the owner by strengthening that body/tool. But too much cursed energy, too much control, and that body/tool is destroyed, because the absolute of control is destruction. Cursed Energy output by itself is therefore a way of controlling the environment by destroying it, and since the opposite of destruction is creation/reconstruction, then the reconstructive opposite of CE output is RCT.
Note: This is also why RCT is poison to Cursed Spirits, inherently destructive and controlling beings are cancelled out by creation and freedom, it's also why Sukuna used the Tranquil Deer's RCT output to cancel out Yorozu's control of her liqyid. And it's why we don't have anything like RCT reinforcement, Positive Energy is opposite control, so it can't be used in any other way except to heal and free up things.
For Cursed Techniques I'll use three examples, First Gojo Satoru and the limitless. As Gojo says, Infinity exists everywhere, his cursed technique simply brings it into reality.
When Gojo activates neutral Limitless which protects him, he's merely engaging in the use of that naturally existing property.
The Cursed Technique Lapse:Blue is the Destruction of the Limitless. By exerting supreme control over Infinity, he destroys a portion of it, and because nature abhors a vacuum, the rest of reality contracts to fill in that void and the attractive force is born.
Cursed Technique Reversal:Red therefore is the opposite of the destruction of Infinity, and creates even more of it, pushing out reality and creating an explosive force.
Uro Takako's Sky Manipulation treats Space like a fabric and uses it, Thin Ice Breaker is a lapse that treats space like ice then destroys it, because ice is compressed water, it releases energy when broken, so TIB creates shockwaves. A Reversal of Sky Manipulation would be like Thin Ice Maker, causing space to contract and causing implosions/perhaps tidal forces.
Kaori Itadori's Antigravity System manipulates gravity, it's lapse increases Anti-Gravity(destroys the curvature caysed by the earth), and it's reversal increases gravity(increases the curvature of the earth).
This also explains why Yuki's Star Rage kills her. Star Rage is like CE reinforcement, at lower levels, it strengthens, but at too high a level, it destroys.
Lastly Domains, they are pocket dimensions that grant complete control of all within to the owner. A space completely dedicated to the empowerment of the owner and the hindrance and destruction of everyone else. Even domains as simple as Simple Domain amplify the owners output and decrease the strength of an opponent.
EDIT: The title of this post was to say that "Jujutsu Mechanics match the real life concepts of social and political power" 😭

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Welcome back to the Reformed UPG of the Week!
Gonna leave this here because reddit is still a massive pain these days

Slight update, the new reddit UI has made it almost impossible for me to quickly do these, like I used to be able to do. Thus, theres a chance it becomes UPG of the every other week until the problem is fixed. I can't spend every one of my entire Monday mornings working on this for hours with stupid formatting issues.

Now, please meet the Jordanian Arabs of Jordan!

Region: Jordan

map
Stratus Index Ranking (Urgency): 34
It has been noted to me by u/JCmathetes that I should explain this ranking. Low numbers are more urgent, both physically and spiritually together, while high numbers are less urgent. The scale is 1-177, with one number assigned to each country. So basically on a scale from Afghanistan (1) to Finland (177), how urgent are the peoples physical and spiritual needs.

The Stratus Index - Synthesizes reliable data from different sources to clearly display the world’s most urgent spiritual and physical needs.The vast majority of missions resources go to people and places already Reached by the Gospel, while only 3% of missionaries and 1% of missions money are deployed among the Unreached. This is the Great Imbalance. As a result, there are more people without access to the Gospel today than a decade ago. Stratus seeks to equip the global church with fresh vision to accomplish the Great Commission by addressing some of the factors that perpetuate the Great Imbalance. We hope this tool allows the church to better understand what steps will be required to overcome the barriers that prevent needs from being met, spurring informed and collaborative missions strategy. Stratus Website

Amman, Jordan
Climate: The climate in Jordan varies greatly. Generally, the further inland from the Mediterranean, there are greater contrasts in temperature and less rainfall. The country's average elevation is 812 m (2,664 ft) (SL). The highlands above the Jordan Valley, mountains of the Dead Sea and Wadi Araba and as far south as Ras Al-Naqab are dominated by a Mediterranean climate, while the eastern and northeastern areas of the country are arid desert. Although the desert parts of the kingdom reach high temperatures, the heat is usually moderated by low humidity and a daytime breeze, while the nights are cool. Summers, lasting from May to September, are hot and dry, with temperatures averaging around 32 °C (90 °F) and sometimes exceeding 40 °C (104 °F) between July and August. The winter, lasting from November to March, is relatively cool, with temperatures averaging around 11.08 °C (52 °F).Winter also sees frequent showers and occasional snowfall in some western elevated areas.
Wadi Rum
Terrain: The east is an arid plateau irrigated by oases and seasonal water streams. Major cities are overwhelmingly located on the north-western part of the kingdom due to its fertile soils and relatively abundant rainfall. These include Irbid, Jerash and Zarqa in the northwest, the capital Amman and Al-Salt in the central west, and Madaba, Al-Karak and Aqaba in the southwest. Major towns in the eastern part of the country are the oasis towns of Azraq and Ruwaished. In the west, a highland area of arable land and Mediterranean evergreen forestry drops suddenly into the Jordan Rift Valley. The rift valley contains the Jordan River and the Dead Sea, which separates Jordan from Israel. Jordan has a 26 kilometres (16 mi) shoreline on the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea, but is otherwise landlocked. The Yarmouk River, an eastern tributary of the Jordan, forms part of the boundary between Jordan and Syria (including the occupied Golan Heights) to the north. The other boundaries are formed by several international and local agreements and do not follow well-defined natural features. The highest point is Jabal Umm al Dami, at 1,854 m (6,083 ft) above sea level, while the lowest is the Dead Sea −420 m (−1,378 ft), the lowest land point on earth.
Village in Jordan
Wildlife of Jordan: Carnivorous mammals in Jordan include the striped hyena, caracal, jungle cat, sand cat, African wildcat, Arabian wolf, golden jackal, fennec fox, Arabian red fox, Blanford's fox, Rüppell's fox, Egyptian mongoose, least weasel, caucasian badger, honey badger and European otter. There are about twenty species of bat and a similar number of rodents including the Caucasian squirrel, Asian garden dormouse, Euphrates jerboa, Middle East blind mole-rat, and various voles, jirds, mice, rats, spiny mice, gerbils and hamsters. Other mammals found in suitable habitat are the wild boar, European hare, cape hare, Indian crested porcupine, rock hyrax, European hedgehog, long-eared hedgehog and desert hedgehog. Approximately 426 species of bird have been recorded in Jordan. Some of these are the Atlantic petrel, northern bald ibis, Egyptian vulture, Griffon vulture, lappet-faced vulture, Pharaoh eagle-owl, barn owl, golden eagle, steppe eagle, greater spotted eagle, eastern imperial eagle, MacQueen's bustard, Siberian crane, sociable lapwing, saker falcon, marbled duck, aquatic warbler, Syrian serin, short-toed snake eagle, long-legged buzzard, Barbary falcon and Bonelli's eagle. Five species of turtle are known from Jordan and there are a variety of snakes, mostly colubrids and vipers, but with representatives of seven snake families. The Shaumari Wildlife Reserve, a fenced off area in the deserts of central Jordan, has since been used in a breeding and reintroduction programme for the Arabian oryx, as well as other species such as the Somali ostrich, the Persian onager and gazelles. Other animals that have been released into the wild are the Nubian ibex, wild boar, fallow deer and roe deer
I cannot figure out if there are monkeys in Jordan but it doesn't appear to be the case. Praise the Lord!
The Arabian Oryx
Environmental Issues: Jordan is considered one of the countries most affected by environmental changes, especially those caused by the climate crisis and the resulting drought, desertification and loss of arable lands.
Languages: The official language is Modern Standard Arabic, a literary language taught in the schools. Most Jordanians natively speak one of the non-standard Arabic dialects known as Jordanian Arabic. Jordanian Sign Language is the language of the deaf community. English, though without official status, is widely spoken throughout the country and is the de facto language of commerce and banking, as well as a co-official status in the education sector; almost all university-level classes are held in English and almost all public schools teach English along with Standard Arabic. Chechen, Circassian, Armenian, Tagalog, and Russian are popular among their communities. The Romani people, though they may speak Arabic, speak Domari.
Government Type: Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy

People: Jordanian Arabs

Jordanian Arab woman
Population: 4,717,000
Estimated Foreign Workers Needed: 94+
Beliefs: The Jordanian Arabs are 2.5% Christian, but only 0.3% Evangelical. That means out of their population of 4,717,000, there are roughly 14,151 believers who share their faith. Thats less than 1 believer for every 333.
The state religion in Jordan is Islam. Nearly all of Jordanians are Muslim. The great majority of Arabs practice Sunni Islam. Shi'ites living in the East make up the remainder. Christians account for a small percentage of the population, but the largest churches are Orthodox and not evangelical. There are also a few small Muslim groups who desire to see a more extreme Islamic government. The Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood is gaining support in Jordan. This is an illegal political organization who are known for terrorist actions and violence against Christians.
King Abdullah I Mosque is the most famous Masjid in Jordan. Completed in 1989 as a memorial by the late King Hussein to his grandfather, King Abdullah I Mosque is the largest Masjid in the state.
History: Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire in 332 BC introduced Hellenistic culture to the Middle East. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the empire split among his generals, and in the end much of Transjordan was disputed between the Ptolemies based in Egypt and the Seleucids based in Syria. The Nabataeans, nomadic Arabs based south of Edom, managed to establish an independent kingdom in 169 BC by exploiting the struggle between the two Greek powers. The Nabataean Kingdom controlled much of the trade routes of the region, and it stretched south along the Red Sea coast into the Hejaz desert, up to as far north as Damascus, which it controlled for a short period (85–71) BC. The Nabataeans massed a fortune from their control of the trade routes, often drawing the envy of their neighbours. Petra, Nabataea's barren capital, flourished in the 1st century AD, driven by its extensive water irrigation systems and agriculture. The Nabataeans were also talented stone carvers, building their most elaborate structure, Al-Khazneh, in the first century AD. It is believed to be the mausoleum of the Arab Nabataean King Aretas IV.
Roman legions under Pompey conquered much of the Levant in 63 BC, inaugurating a period of Roman rule that lasted four centuries. In 106 AD, Emperor Trajan annexed Nabataea unopposed, and rebuilt the King's Highway which became known as the Via Traiana Nova road. The Romans gave the Greek cities of Transjordan—Philadelphia (Amman), Gerasa (Jerash), Gedara (Umm Quays), Pella (Tabaqat Fahl) and Arbila (Irbid)—and other Hellenistic cities in Palestine and southern Syria, a level of autonomy by forming the Decapolis, a ten-city league. Jerash is one of the best preserved Roman cities in the East; it was even visited by Emperor Hadrian during his journey to Palestine.
In 324 AD, the Roman Empire split and the Eastern Roman Empire, later known as the Byzantine Empire, continued to control or influence the region until 636 AD. Christianity had become legal within the empire in 313 AD after Emperor Constantine the Great converted to Christianity. The Edict of Thessalonica made Christianity the official state religion in 380 AD. Transjordan prospered during the Byzantine era, and Christian churches were built everywhere. The Aqaba Church in Ayla was built during this era, it is considered to be the world's first purpose built Christian church. Umm ar-Rasas in southern Amman contains at least 16 Byzantine churches. Meanwhile, Petra's importance declined as sea trade routes emerged, and after a 363 earthquake destroyed many structures, it declined further, eventually being abandoned. The Sassanian Empire in the east became the Byzantines' rivals, and frequent confrontations sometimes led to the Sassanids controlling some parts of the region, including Transjordan.
In 629 AD, during the Battle of Mu'tah in what is today Karak Governorate, the Byzantines and their Arab Christian clients, the Ghassanids, staved off an attack by a Muslim Rashidun force that marched northwards towards the Levant from the Hejaz (in modern-day Saudi Arabia). The Byzantines however were defeated by the Muslims in 636 AD at the decisive Battle of Yarmouk just north of Transjordan. Transjordan was an essential territory for the conquest of Damascus. The first, or Rashidun, caliphate was followed by that of the Umayyads (661–750).
Byzantine Madaba Map showing the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. Dating to the 6th century AD, it is the oldest surviving depiction of the Holy Land
Under the Umayyad Caliphate, several desert castles were constructed in Transjordan, including: Qasr Al-Mshatta and Qasr Al-Hallabat. The Abbasid Caliphate's campaign to take over the Umayyad's began in a village in Transjordan known as Humayma. A powerful 749 AD earthquake is thought to have contributed to the Umayyads defeat to the Abbasids, who moved the caliphate's capital from Damascus to Baghdad. During Abbasid rule (750–969), several Arab tribes moved northwards and settled in the Levant. As had happened during the Roman era, growth of maritime trade diminished Transjordan's central position, and the area became increasingly impoverished. After the decline of the Abbasids, Transjordan was ruled by the Fatimid Caliphate (969–1070), then by the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (1115–1187).
The Crusaders constructed several Crusader castles as part of the Lordship of Oultrejordain, including those of Montreal and Al-Karak. The Ayyubids built the Ajloun Castle and rebuilt older castles, to be used as military outposts against the Crusaders. During the Battle of Hattin (1187) near Lake Tiberias just north of Transjordan, the Crusaders lost to Saladin, the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty (1187–1260). Villages in Transjordan under the Ayyubids became important stops for Muslim pilgrims going to Mecca who travelled along the route that connected Syria to the Hejaz. Several of the Ayyubid castles were used and expanded by the Mamluks (1260–1516), who divided Transjordan between the provinces of Karak and Damascus. During the next century Transjordan experienced Mongol attacks, but the Mongols were ultimately repelled by the Mamluks after the Battle of Ain Jalut (1260).
In 1516, the Ottoman Caliphate's forces conquered Mamluk territory. Agricultural villages in Transjordan witnessed a period of relative prosperity in the 16th century, but were later abandoned. Transjordan was of marginal importance to the Ottoman authorities. As a result, Ottoman presence was virtually absent and reduced to annual tax collection visits. More Arab Bedouin tribes moved into Transjordan from Syria and the Hejaz during the first three centuries of Ottoman rule, including the Adwan, the Bani Sakhr and the Howeitat. These tribes laid claims to different parts of the region, and with the absence of a meaningful Ottoman authority, Transjordan slid into a state of anarchy that continued until the 19th century. This led to a short-lived occupation by the Wahhabi forces (1803–1812), an ultra-orthodox Islamic movement that emerged in Najd (in modern-day Saudi Arabia). Ibrahim Pasha, son of the governor of the Egypt Eyalet, rooted out the Wahhabis under the request of the Ottoman sultan by 1818. In 1833 Ibrahim Pasha turned on the Ottomans and established his rule over the Levant. His policies led to the unsuccessful peasants' revolt in Palestine in 1834. Transjordanian cities of As-Salt and Al-Karak were destroyed by Ibrahim Pasha's forces for harboring a peasants' revolt leader. Egyptian rule was forcibly ended in 1841, with Ottoman rule restored.
Only after Ibrahim Pasha's campaign did the Ottoman Empire try to solidify its presence in the Syria Vilayet, which Transjordan was part of. A series of tax and land reforms (Tanzimat) in 1864 brought some prosperity back to agriculture and to abandoned villages; the end of virtual autonomy led a backlash in other areas of Transjordan. Muslim Circassians and Chechens, fleeing Russian persecution, sought refuge in the Levant. In Transjordan and with Ottoman support, Circassians first settled in the long-abandoned vicinity of Amman in 1867, and later in the surrounding villages. The Ottoman authorities' establishment of its administration, conscription and heavy taxation policies led to revolts in the areas it controlled. Transjordan's tribes in particular revolted during the Shoubak (1905) and the Karak Revolts (1910), which were brutally suppressed. The construction of the Hejaz Railway in 1908–stretching across the length of Transjordan and linking Damascus with Medina helped the population economically, as Transjordan became a stopover for pilgrims.
Increasing policies of Turkification and centralization adopted by the Ottoman Empire in the wake of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution disenchanted the Arabs of the Levant, who came to adopt Arab nationalism. These changes led to the outbreak of the 1916 Arab Revolt during World War I, which would end four centuries of stagnation under Ottoman rule. The revolt was led by Sharif Hussein of Mecca, scion of the Hashemite family of the Hejaz, and his sons Abdullah, Faisal and Ali. Locally, the revolt garnered the support of the Transjordanian tribes, including Bedouins, Circassians and Christians. The Allies of World War I, including Britain and France, whose imperial interests converged with the Arabist cause, offered support. The revolt started on 5 June 1916 from Medina and pushed northwards until the fighting reached Transjordan in the Battle of Aqaba on 6 July 1917. The revolt reached its climax when Faisal entered Damascus in October 1918, and established an Arab-led military administration in OETA East, later declared as the Arab Kingdom of Syria, both of which Transjordan was part of. During this period, the southernmost region of the country, including Ma'an and Aqaba, was also claimed by the neighbouring Kingdom of Hejaz.
The nascent Hashemite Kingdom over Greater Syria was forced to surrender to French troops on 24 July 1920 during the Battle of Maysalun; the French occupied only the northern part of the Syrian Kingdom, leaving Transjordan in a period of interregnum. Arab aspirations failed to gain international recognition, due mainly to the secret 1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement, which divided the region into French and British spheres of influence, and the 1917 Balfour Declaration, in which Britain announced its support for the establishment of a "national home" for Jews in Palestine. This was seen by the Hashemites and the Arabs as a betrayal of their previous agreements with the British, including the 1915 McMahon–Hussein Correspondence, in which the British stated their willingness to recognize the independence of a unified Arab state stretching from Aleppo to Aden under the rule of the Hashemites.
The British High Commissioner, Herbert Samuel, travelled to Transjordan on 21 August 1920 to meet with As-Salt's residents. He there declared to a crowd of six hundred Transjordanian notables that the British government would aid the establishment of local governments in Transjordan, which is to be kept separate from that of Palestine. The second meeting took place in Umm Qais on 2 September, where the British government representative Major Fitzroy Somerset received a petition that demanded: an independent Arab government in Transjordan to be led by an Arab prince (emir); land sale in Transjordan to Jews be stopped as well as the prevention of Jewish immigration there; that Britain establish and fund a national army; and that free trade be maintained between Transjordan and the rest of the region.
Abdullah, the second son of Sharif Hussein, arrived from Hejaz by train in Ma'an in southern Transjordan on 21 November 1920 to redeem the Greater Syrian Kingdom his brother had lost. Transjordan then was in disarray, widely considered to be ungovernable with its dysfunctional local governments. Abdullah gained the trust of Transjordan's tribal leaders before scrambling to convince them of the benefits of an organized government. Abdullah's successes drew the envy of the British, even when it was in their interest. The British reluctantly accepted Abdullah as ruler of Transjordan after having given him a six-month trial. In March 1921, the British decided to add Transjordan to their Mandate for Palestine, in which they would implement their "Sharifian Solution" policy without applying the provisions of the mandate dealing with Jewish settlement. On 11 April 1921, the Emirate of Transjordan was established with Abdullah as Emir.
In September 1922, the Council of the League of Nations recognized Transjordan as a state under the terms of the Transjordan memorandum. Transjordan remained a British mandate until 1946, but it had been granted a greater level of autonomy than the region west of the Jordan River. Multiple difficulties emerged upon the assumption of power in the region by the Hashemite leadership. In Transjordan, small local rebellions at Kura in 1921 and 1923 were suppressed by the Emir's forces with the help of the British. Wahhabis from Najd regained strength and repeatedly raided the southern parts of his territory in (1922–1924), seriously threatening the Emir's position. The Emir was unable to repel those raids without the aid of the local Bedouin tribes and the British, who maintained a military base with a small RAF detachment close to Amman.
The Treaty of London, signed by the British Government and the Emir of Transjordan on 22 March 1946, recognised the independence of the state upon ratification by both countries' parliaments. On 25 May 1946, the day that the treaty was ratified by the Transjordan parliament, Transjordan was raised to the status of a kingdom under the name of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Arabic, with Abdullah as its first king; although it continued to be referred to as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan in English until 1949. 25 May is now celebrated as the nation's Independence Day, a public holiday. Jordan became a member of the United Nations on 14 December 1955.
On 15 May 1948, as part of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Jordan intervened in Palestine together with many other Arab states. Following the war, Jordan controlled the West Bank and on 24 April 1950 Jordan formally annexed these territories after the Jericho conference. In response, some Arab countries demanded Jordan's expulsion from the Arab League. On 12 June 1950, the Arab League declared that the annexation was a temporary, practical measure and that Jordan was holding the territory as a "trustee" pending a future settlement. King Abdullah was assassinated at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1951 by a Palestinian militant, amid rumors he intended to sign a peace treaty with Israel.
Abdullah was succeeded by his son Talal, who would soon abdicate due to illness in favour of his eldest son Hussein. Talal established the country's modern constitution in 1952. Hussein ascended to the throne in 1953 at the age of 17. Jordan witnessed great political uncertainty in the following period. The 1950s were a period of political upheaval, as Nasserism and Pan-Arabism swept the Arab World. On 1 March 1956, King Hussein Arabized the command of the Army by dismissing a number of senior British officers, an act made to remove remaining foreign influence in the country. In 1958, Jordan and neighbouring Hashemite Iraq formed the Arab Federation as a response to the formation of the rival United Arab Republic between Nasser's Egypt and Syria. The union lasted only six months, being dissolved after Iraqi King Faisal II (Hussein's cousin) was deposed by a bloody military coup on 14 July 1958.
Jordan signed a military pact with Egypt just before Israel launched a preemptive strike on Egypt to begin the Six-Day War in June 1967, where Jordan and Syria joined the war. The Arab states were defeated and Jordan lost control of the West Bank to Israel. The War of Attrition with Israel followed, which included the 1968 Battle of Karameh where the combined forces of the Jordanian Armed Forces and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) repelled an Israeli attack on the Karameh camp on the Jordanian border with the West Bank. Despite the fact that the Palestinians had limited involvement against the Israeli forces, the events at Karameh gained wide recognition and acclaim in the Arab world. As a result, the time period following the battle witnessed an upsurge of support for Palestinian paramilitary elements (the fedayeen) within Jordan from other Arab countries. The fedayeen activities soon became a threat to Jordan's rule of law. In September 1970, the Jordanian army targeted the fedayeen and the resultant fighting led to the expulsion of Palestinian fighters from various PLO groups into Lebanon, in a conflict that became known as Black September.
In 1973, Egypt and Syria waged the Yom Kippur War on Israel, and fighting occurred along the 1967 Jordan River cease-fire line. Jordan sent a brigade to Syria to attack Israeli units on Syrian territory but did not engage Israeli forces from Jordanian territory. At the Rabat summit conference in 1974, in the aftermath of the Yom-Kippur War, Jordan agreed, along with the rest of the Arab League, that the PLO was the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people". Subsequently, Jordan renounced its claims to the West Bank in 1988.
At the 1991 Madrid Conference, Jordan agreed to negotiate a peace treaty sponsored by the US and the Soviet Union. The Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace was signed on 26 October 1994. In 1997, in retribution for a bombing, Israeli agents entered Jordan using Canadian passports and poisoned Khaled Meshal, a senior Hamas leader living in Jordan. Bowing to intense international pressure, Israel provided an antidote to the poison and released dozens of political prisoners, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, after King Hussein threatened to annul the peace treaty.
On 7 February 1999, Abdullah II ascended the throne upon the death of his father Hussein, who had ruled for nearly 50 years. Abdullah embarked on economic liberalization when he assumed the throne, and his reforms led to an economic boom which continued until 2008. Abdullah II has been credited with increasing foreign investment, improving public-private partnerships and providing the foundation for Aqaba's free-trade zone and Jordan's flourishing information and communication technology (ICT) sector. He also set up five other special economic zones. However, during the following years Jordan's economy experienced hardship as it dealt with the effects of the Great Recession and spillover from the Arab Spring.
Al-Qaeda under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's leadership launched coordinated explosions in three hotel lobbies in Amman on 9 November 2005, resulting in 60 deaths and 115 injured. The bombings, which targeted civilians, caused widespread outrage among Jordanians. The attack is considered to be a rare event in the country, and Jordan's internal security was dramatically improved afterwards. No major terrorist attacks have occurred since then. Abdullah and Jordan are viewed with contempt by Islamic extremists for the country's peace treaty with Israel, its relationship with the West, and its mostly non-religious laws.
The Arab Spring were large-scale protests that erupted in the Arab World in 2011, demanding economic and political reforms. Many of these protests tore down regimes in some Arab nations, leading to instability that ended with violent civil wars. In Jordan, in response to domestic unrest, Abdullah replaced his prime minister and introduced a number of reforms including: reforming the Constitution, and laws governing public freedoms and elections. Proportional representation was re-introduced to the Jordanian parliament in the 2016 general election, a move which he said would eventually lead to establishing parliamentary governments. Jordan was left largely unscathed from the violence that swept the region despite an influx of 1.4 million Syrian refugees into the natural resources-lacking country and the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
King Hussein on 21 March 1968 checking an abandoned Israeli tank in the aftermath of the Battle of Karameh.
Culture: Typical qualification that all people groups can't be summed up in small paragraphs and this is an over generalization.
In the villages, Jordanian Arabs are usually hospitable and friendly. It is common for them to welcome traveling strangers into their homes. A woman's public presence is more accepted than in other Arab countries. However, restaurants may still only welcome men or show the women to a "family room," where ladies and children are allowed.
Education of children begins at five years old and is free. There is a secondary school system for both boys and girls. The brightest students attend one of three Jordanian universities or study abroad.
The economy is centered around the production of phosphates, fertilizers, agricultural products, manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals.
Jordanian folklore band playing bagpipes in Jerash.
Cuisine: As the eighth-largest producer of olives in the world, olive oil is the main cooking oil in Jordan. A common appetizer is hummus, which is a puree of chickpeas blended with tahini, lemon, and garlic. Ful medames is another well-known appetiser. A typical worker's meal, it has since made its way to the tables of the upper class. A typical Jordanian meze often contains koubba maqliya, labaneh, baba ghanoush, tabbouleh, olives and pickles. Meze is generally accompanied by the Levantine alcoholic drink arak, which is made from grapes and aniseed and is similar to ouzo, rakı and pastis. Jordanian wine and beer are also sometimes used. The same dishes, served without alcoholic drinks, can also be termed "muqabbilat" (starters) in Arabic.
The most distinctive Jordanian dish is mansaf, the national dish of Jordan. The dish is a symbol for Jordanian hospitality and is influenced by the Bedouin culture. Mansaf is eaten on different occasions such as funerals, weddings and on religious holidays. It consists of a plate of rice with meat that was boiled in thick yogurt, sprayed with pine nuts and sometimes herbs. As an old tradition, the dish is eaten using one's hands, but the tradition is not always used. Simple fresh fruit is often served towards the end of a Jordanian meal, but there is also dessert, such as baklava, hareeseh, knafeh, halva and qatayef, a dish made specially for Ramadan. In Jordanian cuisine, drinking coffee and tea flavoured with na'na or meramiyyeh is almost a ritual.
Mansaf, the traditional dish of Jordan, originates from Bedouin life and is a symbol of Jordanian hospitality.

Prayer Request:

• Pray for the work among other unreached peoples living in Jordan - Egyptian and Iraqi Arabs.
• Ask God to protect the small number of evangelical believers and help them to grow strong in Him.
• Pray that Jordanian Arab Christians would be willing to sacrifice their time, and even their lives, to bring the Gospel to neighboring countries.
• Pray against Putin and his insane little war.
• Pray for our nation (the United States), that we Christians can learn to come alongside our hurting brothers and sisters and learn to carry one another's burdens in a more Christlike manner than we have done historically.
• Pray that in this time of an upcoming election and insanity that the needs of the unreached are not forgotten by the church. Pray that our hearts continue to ache to see the unreached hear the Good News.

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. (Romans 10:1)
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Here are the previous weeks threads on the UPG of the Week for Reformed from 2023 (plus a few from 2022 so this one post isn't so lonely). To save some space on these, all UPG posts made 2019-now are here, I will try to keep this current.

People Group	Country	Continent	Date Posted	Beliefs
Jordanian Arabs	Jordan	Asia	04/29/2024	Islam
Bouyei	China	Asia	04/22/2024	Animism
Arab Libyans	Libya	Africa	03/25/2024	Islam
Gafsa Amazigh	Tunisia	Africa	03/18/2024	Islam
Hindi	South Africa	Africa	03/04/2024	Hinduism
Arabs	Iraq	Asia	02/26/2024	Islam
Bagirmi Fulani	Central African Republic	Africa	02/12/2024	Islam
Gujarati	Portugal	Europe	02/05/2024	Hinduism
Western Cham	Cambodia	Asia	01/29/2024	Islamc
Yadav	India	Asia	01/22/2024	Hinduism
Thai (updated)	Thailand	Asia	12/18/2023	Buddhism
Bayad	Mongolia	Asia	12/11/2023	Buddhism
Bedouin (Suafa)	Algeria	Africa	12/04/2023	Islam
Aboriginal (Reached)	Australia	Oceania	11/27/2023	Christian

a - Tibet belongs to Tibet, not China.
b - Russia/Turkey/etc is Europe but also Asia so...
c - this likely is not the true religion that they worship, but rather they have a mixture of what is listed with other local religions, or they have embraced a liberal drift and are leaving faith entirely but this is their historical faith.
Here is a list of definitions in case you wonder what exactly I mean by words like "Unreached".
Here is a list of missions organizations that reach out to the world to do missions for the Glory of God.

We met on twitter three years ago. I thought he was smart and handsome. He messaged me and spoke in a very eccentric way. He confessed to me he was a dominant in a bdsm sense. I didn’t fully know what that meant but I had always been inclined to being more submissive in the bedroom and my sexuality has always been very creative. Within three days, barely knowing me, he had told me he loved me. Being lonely for so long, I ate it up, albeit I was confused. I was just going to “go with it”. Background on me - cptsd for severe physical abuse at the hands of my narcissist cop father from 5-14. I am very successful, being an overachiever as a “superpower” of the cptsd. I make close to a million a year. He makes $80k and doesn’t have a nickel to his name. He’s overdrawn 90% of the time.
Over the next several months, I got to see his drinking problem. He’d never touch me, but he’d say really mean things. He’d watch me cry and be almost dead in the eyes. I also saw he had zero friends. He has four kids- only two of them speak to him which of course according to him is his ex wife (and mother of his 4th kid) fault. His 2nd eldest, a daughter, hasn’t spoken to him since prior to us being together. She even testified in court so that she didn’t have to speak to him. His eldest is autistic, a sweet kid, and his teachers testified in court about his cruelty and blow ups. He also physically attacked a man who beeped at him walking across a crosswalk while he was drunk about two years before I met him. He spent the night in jail for that.
Over the past few years I have learned to tolerate the previously unimaginable. He’s at the very least emotionally cheated several times, catching him on the apps. Hes violated terms of our kink agreement and put me in incredible distress.
He’s deeply attracted to anyone he considers a damsel in distress, but also has her own voice. I clearly was one. He was dating another woman before me that I’m sure many of you follow on twitter. She’s one of those influencer types whose exhusband was abusive. My hopefully soon to be ex also was in a relationship with her but she was smart enough to leave him before she really got to know his darkness. They’re still friends and talk- something he likes to remind me of regularly. He often would show me her photo when we first started dating and I had no idea why. He liked to do this in general with anyone he had ever dated. He also has spoken of her in completely vulgar terms sharing everything he ever did with her. Separately, I’m on a rape crisis board and we had a speaker who was raped but has turned into an activist since then. He has a little obsession with her, constantly offering to “help” her cause - he’s a 50 yo journalist with little connection to real power, just likes to think he does.
When we met he was $15k in debt for child support. I filed all his years of back taxes and closed more than half the gap. I had floated him some money for a few weeks $5k and he spent all of it on drinking and impressing a radio personality he befriended. He calls into their sports radio show regularly. He doesn’t even live in the city he calls into. I know he spent this way because when I saw this man’s radio partner they said B* is always so generous paying for everything. Did I mention he always offers to pick up the tab whenever we’re with company even tho it’s me paying?
In this time, he’s never paid for anything. I pay for trips, and meals, and his drinking. He takes my credit card without asking. I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on him, and he has the nerve to throw money in my face, which I’ve never done to him. It’s sickly ironic. His apartment is barely a step above squalor. He leaves rotting food out for days. Piles and messes abound. He once puked from drinking too much and the vomit stayed around the sides of his toilet forweeks. I have also cleaned his puke from a hotel room. Have I mentioned the mice I’ve seen scurrying all over his apartment? Why did I look past it? I just thought he was broke and depressed. So I cleaned his apartment over and over.
He’s funny and very smart, and really knows how to get me going in bed. But he humiliates me in public. I used to think he was on the spectrum and needed patience. And that may still be true but after spending the week looking at narcissistic personality disorder, I’m realizing so many of the patterns we have look like that. How does he humiliate me in public? He pretends to be over the top wonderful with me and it gets him praise. He is a polyglot and will assume based on race or context what language someone else speaks and start speaking it to them. This works 80% of the time. But otherwise it just comes across as racist and ridiculous. His ex / mother of his fourth kid is Ethiopian. He constantly racially profiles women and speaks Ethiopian to them. He flirts with them in front of me and sometimes it works and other times you can see how uncomfortable it makes me and her. We’re both white. It’s especially uncomfortable because I have no idea what is being said.
His biggest cruelty of all and it took him months to figure out - is getting mad at me for some perceived slight and then blocking me for days. Yes, this should be welcome but it hits right at my abandonment fear. I have deep trauma there and he knows it. He blocked me last Thursday and knows I’m leaving for Portugal today. I’m so scared to go on this trip. I’m headed out for some healing time on a women’s retreat. I know this seems all bad, but when things are good there’s nothing better. I love him so much and this pain is so much. When I hurt he doesn’t seemingly feel anything. Last summer I was curled up in a ball on my floor begging for his mercy. He looked at me without any emotion.
Also last summer we got a little tipsy in Vegas and yes I was being snippy, but he cut me off and called me “daddy’s little girl” and then leveled some of my worst childhood trauma at me. I ripped the $200 shirt I bought him pleading at him to stop. He kept going. And ever since then has accused me of being an abusive attacker. He’s twice my size and I neither tried or did hurt him. I just wanted him to stop the verbal abuse.
I broke it off with him this past December when I told him the things he has said to me (he’s called me cunt, kooz, bitch, etc.) were hard to repair and that I’d fallen out of love. He wrapped himself around me and promised to do better. He even cried. I believed him.
But now I lie in bed four months later wishing he’d call. He blocked me on Thursday after a fight and I stood up for myself. Hes on the apps looking for kink sex. I’m in so much pain over this man. I am trying to logic my way out of loving him with all the facts above but I’m in so deep it’s hard to see another way. I loved him so much. Idk what’s wrong with me that this is the type of person I’d chase.

I wanted to share an interesting application scenario for a multi-agent LLM system.
Repairing formal specifications (formal specs) in software engineering is a daunting task. Formal specs describe precisely what a software system should do, and bugs in these specs can lead to incorrect or unsafe software behavior. Detecting and fixing such errors, or 'buggy specs', often requires deep domain expertise and can be very time-consuming.
In our study, we explored how LLMs can assist in repairing defective Alloy specifications, which are a type of formal spec used for modeling systems and verifying software properties. We developed a dual-agent LLM repair pipeline using the Langroid multi-agent framework: a Repair Agent proposes a revised spec, and a Prompt Agent acts as a critic to give feedback, which is used by the Repair Agent to produce its next revision. The system thus iteratively improves a given Alloy specification. This pipeline has been shown to work well with three pre-trained models: GPT-4-32k, GPT-4-Turbo, and GPT-3.5-Turbo.
We leveraged some key features of Langroid in our agentic approach: tools/function-calling, cost tracking, multi-agent orchestration.
The scripts don’t quite work with local LLMs like Llama-2 and Mistral, mainly due to their inability to reliably use tools/functions. Our full implementation is available on GitHub, and the study's detailed findings can be found in our paper.
GitHub Repository: https://github.com/Mohannadcse/AlloySpecRepair
Research Paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.11050
This approach demonstrates a promising avenue for using advanced AI tools to enhance software reliability through improved specification repair.

Need some help from the hivemind for building this out. I'm wanting to really do this build and character justice, but I'm having trouble figuring out a strong way to build it, what gear to use, and also some of the role-playing choices he'd make.
STATS: For my stats I was gonna dump str and abuse the elixirs. High dex, high wisdom for some control spells and decent con since I'll be a frontline fighter. I'm not too worried about charisma, but if I should be lmk.
LEVELS: Started with druid but I'm willing to respec if paladin will be easier with early levels. So far, I'm thinking level 5 paladin for extra attack, and 7 druid for all the spell slots and undead fun, (which I think also gives owlbear just in case I really need to tank) With dual wielding and having flame blade in my off hand I have thought about 3 levels into rouge thief
WEAPONS: My dual wielding has me using flame blade in my off hand if it's helpful, if not, whatever a good offhand weapon might be. For my main hand there's just so many choices I don't know where to start. Also, can you smite on a flame blade hit?
ARMOR: Luminous maybe for radiant orbs to pair with the radiant light hammer Adamantine scale male? In later levels vulnerability to slashing is gonna be great, but that's a ways off.
FEATS: dual wielder - maybe, otherwise I'll just use scimitars? Savage attacker -most likely. Alert - maybe, because shared initiative is great War caster - because druid concentration spells (I think I'll only get two feats from my levels?)
Good companions to complement me?
Build wise: Stealthy-ish person, or maybe just shovel Another powerful caster, maybe cleric Another battle mage type maybe. Thinking of trying bard for more control, which depending on build I know could fit any of the three above.
Role play wise: Minthara for sure (mainly because I haven't recruited her before) Laezel to have her ascend Astarion to have him ascend Shart and have her go full Shar Gale turned into a god, if he'll be willing to stay through my durge shenanigans Wyll and karlach will probably leave And idk if I'm all that interested in the others, but I do think jahira's scimitars will be handy.
Role play decisions:
Was gonna try to side with the khaga and the shadow druids, but was told they shut you down no matter what. I don't really know what else though. He's not gonna be outright aggressive, but won't be sympathetic. I don't know what story beats that's really going to change yet.
Tadpole
He'll be skeptical of the tadpole, but won't say no to power.
Durge
Trying to figure out if durge would even work for his backstory, or if I should just do an evil Tav. I really want the cloak though..
Any other tips? It's my first honor mode, but I've gotten a bit of progress on tactician so I don't think the difficulty is going to be that bad for me. Look forward to seeing what you guys think.

Hey guys, first time poster here. よろしくお願いいたします！
Before anything, I'm aware of the compilatory thread that is pinned above, and will make this post a bit more general/informative for other users in similar situations too. With that said:
I'm a 5th year JTE ALT who's contract limit is coming up now in August. My Japanese is at N2 (and growing!), and don't have any teaching degrees/qualifications. To put it very shortly, I've really enjoyed this position for the last 5 years, confirmed I have a passion for teaching, been blessed with wonderful staff/schools/students and T1/project opportunities, and I'm interested in continuing into a higher level position in education in Japan.
My JTEs and me often bring up the idea of me becoming a "main/regular English teacher" in passing, but of course... when it comes to the "how" to do that, no one has a clear answer (including me, of course). With that said, I've done my research on the past few days on this subreddit (and a few of the attached sources/links on the FAQ) and I have a better understanding of potential paths to becoming a main teacher here.
According to sources, there are typically three licenses (Short-Term, Special Teaching, Standard). Short is the easiest to receive (but shortest time of validity), Special Teaching needs to be requested by your school, and Standard seemingly awarded after ~3-4 years of Japanese college. There is also seemingly opportunities to get directly hired by a private school and/or international school.
​
With that said, I wanted to get some input on the "transitional period", and how someone in my position could/should get there.

For someone that must work full-time to maintain an income/VISA, how should one go about transitioning into being a regular classroom/homeroom teacher?

​
Thankfully, I've been offered a couple of jobs (in this same ALT/Board of Education field) that would secure me a job and a VISA status to stay... but what would be the recommended path towards the next step? Could one feasibly obtain a license while working full-time? Is it best just to get your experience (and certificates?) up while working, and aim to directly transition into a private school? Shooting for the Standard License seems like a tremendous time/money investment, especially without any transferable credits from back home.
I would like to hear some opinions/experiences from those that know or have gone through the process from other teachers.
Thank you for your time!
​

This post is for every guy who got lit up by semen retention and then seemed to lose the spark, for every guy who never noticed the amazing benefits everyone else keeps talking about, and for every guy who has gotten the benefits and is seeking to take their practice to the next level.
This post is a continuation of the series Keys to the Kingdom of SR Success. These are aspects of practice that I've found over the last 14 years to be critical to succeeding with semen retention.
Today we'll be covering :

• Tapas, the path of inner fire and illumination;
• The concept of syntropy - the process of gathering, retaining, and focusing energy;
• How semen retention/brahmacharya and tapas are all about syntropy;
• The connection between tapas and tejas, an intense, fiery, magnetic, inner illumination;
• How to produce abundant tejas by igniting your sexual energy with tapas;
• A quick routine to begin cultivating tejas.

In Part 2, we'll cover :

• How to use tapas to laugh in the face of sexual urges, or any urges/aversions.
• Limbic friction, the feeling of resistance towards doing what must be done;
• Training Go/No go circuits in the brain;
• Types of tapas, and why your spiritual practice is the highest form of tapas;
• Many ideas to best utilize tapas to induce exponential growth in both your practice and life in general;
• More practices to specifically increase tejas.

Making Life Juicy Again

What is arguably the most enjoyable aspect of semen retention? The increase in sexual energy, known as jing in Traditional Chinese Medicine and ojas in yoga.
It feels like that missing dimension of your manhood has come back online. You have more energy, more determination, more strength, and a quiet, knowing confidence that beats any sort of arrogance out of the water.
In short, life becomes juicy again.
But, after some time, many retainers feel that they lose that spark. It isn't actually lost, it simply becomes your new baseline. That said, some retainers do actually seem to lose it, a struggle known as PAWS/flatlines. If that's you, this post on tapas will help tremendously, and you can check out this earlier post I wrote on the topic of flatlines.
Today's topic details a method for bringing the magic back, or for further intensifying the magic if it never left. It's a deep dive on one of my favorite yogic concepts, that of tapas, which translates as "warmth, heat, fire".
Tapas will light your semen retention practice, and life in general, on fire.
This is how you can turn that spark of sexual energy into a roaring blaze of illumination.
Just as you experienced an unfolding of a deeper dimension to life when you began to practice semen retention, tapas is a powerful means to unfurling even deeper dimensions, as well as ratcheting up energy, willpower, strength and confidence levels to even higher heights.
Semen retention is not the only cheat code for life, as it turns out.
Tapas is how you can allow your growth to occur exponentially, rather than linearly.
Let's dive in.

Tapas - Voluntary Self-Challenge

“Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.” WB Yeats

In yoga there is a concept known as tapas), or spiritual austerity.
Tapas, at its most basic, simply means denying oneself pleasure while pushing oneself through the internal resistance to do what is beneficial. Giving up ice cream, Discord, video gaming or Reddit could count as tapas. Doing whatever you know you should be doing but feel resistance towards is a type of tapas.
But understand that to light your whole life and entire being on fire, your tapas needs to be of a more spiritual nature - by intensifying your sadhana, your semen retention/spiritual practice.
Just as heating ice turns it into water, and heating water turns it into steam - the very steam that can then power a locomotive - tapas is the inner heat that transmutes the energy we conserve through semen retention into pure, fiery luster - and that luster is known as tejas. More on tejas shortly.
The word tapas literally means "to burn", but what is it here we are burning?
The friction of whatever austere practices you perform burns up physical and mental defilements, defilements like laziness, fear, depression, dullness, and of course, lust.
"Resistance is the grindstone of the soul." - Aubrey Marcus
Chip Hartranft writes, "…tapas actualizes our commitment to know freedom by disentangling us from our attachments, snipping their tendrils one by one. Every time a distracting impulse is noted but not obeyed, the body-mind sees through and beyond it, gaining energy and inching closer to discriminating awareness."
Gaining energy and actualizing our commitment to know freedom… That’s what I’m talking about. Gaining energy is a critical and beneficial dimension to our practice of tapas as well, as semen retention is all about gaining energy.

Syntropy and Inner Fire

As I wrote about in my book, proper semen retention is all about syntropy. We’ve likely all heard of entropy, which is the tendency for things to fall apart, to dissipate, and lose energy and form over time.
Entropy is chaos and decay. It is the 2nd law of thermodynamics. A dead animal’s body will not remain intact for long due to entropy. Your room getting messy is entropy. You need to continually eat food to replenish your body as entropy is constantly chipping away at you.
Masturbation? Entropy. Straight to jail.
I think you get it.
The opposite of entropy is syntropy, the ability of a system to cohere, unify, and retain its energy and structure.
Life itself, being alive is syntropic. Once you die, once the spark of life leaves your body, entropy quickly reigns supreme.
That begs the question, if simply being alive is a sign of syntropy within ourselves, are there any other ways we can increase it further?
Damn straight there are! And things that increase syntropy make one feel more alive.
Semen retention is a syntropic practice - you plug up a huge leak of energy. Simply retaining will change a guy's life.
Tapas is another very powerful method of increasing syntropy.
With tapas, you become downright selfish the way you retain all energy within - a healthy kind of selfishness. You don’t fritter your energy away scrolling on apps, binge watching tv, drinking alcohol or doing drugs, gaming for hours on end, eating junk food or overeating in general.
You don’t engage in constant talk and banter with people. You don’t lose energy by getting upset at every little thing that doesn’t go your way.
With tapas, you retain all that energy that would normally be wasted on pointless pursuits and emotional upheavals, and then you tap into and reveal the great storehouse of energy within by overcoming your laziness and fear of discomfort.
You have superhuman levels of energy waiting to be tapped into, if only you can burn through the sludge and muck that is gunking up your system.
You can also add much more energy into the system with the practices of yoga. Yoga, breathwork, meditation and practices like mudras (energetic seals) and bandhas (energetic locks) are just as, and arguably even more effective at introducing energy/syntropy into your body-mind system.
All that energy that would normally be used in all of those useless activities (there’s a time and place for some of those things, sure), is retained within and ignited by your spiritual practice, producing tejas, an inner fire that is palpable to yourself and others.

Turning Energies Within

“Tapasya draws our energy within, allowing it to expand, developing new potentials for clarity and awareness. Turning the energies within arouses an intense heat, whereas letting our energy disperse outwardly is cooling and debilitating. We should strive to embrace life’s energy within us as inner tapas.” Yogic Secrets of the Dark Goddess, Shambavi Chopra, p. 266
Yoga has had a term for semen retention for thousands of years - brahmacharya. Many translate brahmacharya to mean celibacy or chastity, and that’s what we’re all here for, but that is only a very superficial translation of the word.
When translated, brahmacharya means “God-like conduct” or “behavior that leads to God” (brahma = God, carya = behavior, conduct). “In ancient and medieval era Indian texts, the term brahmacharya is a concept with a more complex meaning, indicating a lifestyle conducive to the pursuit of sacred knowledge and spiritual liberation."
Some choose to translate brahmacharya as “wise use of energy”, and I find that to be the most succinct and appropriate translation of the term, as it encapsulates not just retaining sexual energy (jing, ojas), but also entails not frittering away your energy on pointless pursuits.
So if you're practicing retention but still wasting time and energy on apps, gaming, partying, imbibing booze and drugs and nicotine, you're burning through the very energy you're cultivating.
Brahmacharya/semen retention is a very powerful form of tapas, and they both emphasize retaining energy within, without letting it disperse.
The benefits you get from semen retention are because it is a syntropic practice! If you want to enhance the benefits, add more syntropic practices - like tapas.
This was the paradigm shift I tried to explain in my very first post on this sub - that semen retention is the means, not the end - the end is cultivating energy.
Nikola Tesla had it right
By practicing semen retention, you have already begun to retain large amounts of energy within, and you have felt the delicious benefits of doing so. Who here wouldn't want to add more energy into the system, to make life even more tasty and vibrant?
If you like the benefits of semen retention, and you want more - start practicing tapas.
Consider this the call from the universe to take your life to levels you weren't even aware of.

Outer vs. Inner Tapas

At some point, your tapasya, your practice of tapas, will necessarily go from being outwardly oriented to being inwardly oriented, meaning at some point in your evolution you will no longer find it difficult to eschew your flimsy, superficial cravings, nor will it be hard to push yourself into doing the things you have resistance towards.
Your “internal resistance mechanism” will mostly be overcome.
Your untamed and rambunctious puppy-dog mind will turn into a steady, strong wolf-mind, and that wolf has gone beyond mere obedience and now acts wisely of his own accord.
Like Simba laughing in the face of danger, your wolf-mind will laugh in the face of your cravings and aversions.
“The ego is not the enemy - the ego is a wolf and you need to learn how to tame it so it hunts with you.” Erick Godsey, #116 Kyle Kingsbury podcast
At this point, most outward manifestations of tapas will no longer provide the necessary friction to continue burning away the dross of the mind, and you will have to start pursuing higher, more concentrated tapas.
“Turning the energies within arouses an intense heat, whereas letting our energy disperse outwardly is cooling and debilitating.” Syntropy vs entropy. Gathering and retaining energy vs wasting it.
But how?
This is the time to start diving deeper into your sadhana, your spiritual practice, if you haven't already.
This is when your brahmacharya, your cultivation and retention of energy, your syntropy, kicks into high gear, when the dial gets turned up to 11.
This is when tejas, your spiritual luster, will truly begin to shine, by thoroughly purifying your nervous system via asanas and pranayama, and when the energy contained within your nervous system is increased many times over, from asanas, pranayama, semen retention, jing-boosting herbs, mudras (energy seals) and bandhas (energy locks), and perhaps even with tantric sex.
This is when you go from simply a badass who is well disciplined, to a true yogi, a true tantrika, a superman, an Übermensch - a man with fire burning in his eyes.

Tapas and Tejas

That burning fire in the eyes is known as tejas, an inner “fire, energy, majesty, or authority”.
Sounds pretty good, right?
Tejas is why sages throughout almost all cultures were depicted with a halo around their head - because this energy is palpable.
“Tejas is responsible for [an] inner radiance, glow or aura, luster in one’s eyes, clarity, fearlessness, courage, intelligence, and understanding and comprehension at the cellular level. It is the subtle and positive essence or counterpart of pitta or fire element in the body and is responsible for the digestion and metabolism of everything we take in.” Link
You've likely experienced a touch of tejas if, while practicing semen retention, you've felt like you have some sort of magnetic energy field that draws people's attention to you. Tapas will magnify this magnetic field many times over.

The Sexual Energy and Tejas Connection

The previous series I wrote focused on sexual energy - how to begin cultivating it, how to hold onto it, how to increase it, and how to transmute it. That sexual energy is known as ojas in yoga circles, and jing in Taoist/Traditional Chinese Medicine circles.
In that series, we went in-depth on transmuting that sexual energy (jing/ojas) into bioelectric energy (qi/prana), then into spiritual energy (shen/sattva), two equally powerful energies within the body-mind system.
Tapas adds an electrical or fiery dimension to all of those energies.
When you start retaining, you're building up sexual energy, known as ojas in yoga. Ojas, being the subtle dimension of the water element, has a heavy, nourishing quality, like the oil in a lamp, or the wax of a candle. This sexual energy, this oil, can be lit ablaze through the practice of tapas to produce tejas, which is the refined essense of the fire element, and is a type of fiery, inner illumination, that leads to courage, strength, indominatable willpower, and a palpable fire within.
This is different than transmuting sexual energy into qi, and then into shen. Tejas is a fourth type of energy, and as it is produced by tapas and is a refining of the fire element, it has a clean-burning, fiery/electric feel to it.
Sexual energy/jing/ojas must be cultivated before you can truly begin cultivating tejas, meaning you have to have cultivated a sufficient amount of sexual energy before lighting it afire with tapas in order to produce tejas.
There needs to be oil in the lamp for a flame to be sustained. Ojas is the essence of the water element, and without enough of this watery nectar, you will simply burn yourself up if you try to practice serious tapas.
“Tejas is the activated state of the reproductive fluid when it is transformed into heat, passion and will power. This occurs not only in sexual activity but whenever we are challenged or need to exert ourselves. Tejas gives us valor, courage and daring. In yoga this force is necessary to enable us to perform tapas or transformative spiritual practices.” David Frawley
You can see from this quote that tapas not only produces tejas, but tejas is needed to dive deeper into tapas. It's a positive feedback loop of purification and illumination.
“Tapas is more than heat. It’s a purification that builds strong character, willpower, and intention. When tapas is appropriately applied, it leads to tejas (radiance), which expresses itself in courage, love, and tenderness. To create tejas through tapas, you must overcome a healthy amount of resistance. Without this process, yoga would not bear fruit.” Rod Stryker
“The concept of tejas relates to the individual’s inner fire or illumination, which can be utilized to gain more spiritual benefits from yoga or any other type of meditative exercise as well as guides our development and enhances our perception of the world." Yogapedia

A Quick Routine for Increasing Tejas

One incredibly powerful way to start building tejas today is by doing 3-5 rounds of sun salutations followed by a quick rest to allow the heart rate to return to normal, and then doing 2-3 rounds of kapalabhati (the skull-shining breath) or bhastrika pranayama (the bellows breath).
In yogic parlance, all three of these practices help refine the fire element into tejas, especially as they all have an activating effect on manipura chakra, your solar plexus chakra.
In modern verbiage, sun salutations stimulate and tonify your endocrine system, regulating hormones and gently massaging the adrenals. Both pranayama practices stimulate your solar plexus, firing up the nervous system, and both are forms of hyperventilation, which not only stimulates the nervous system but ensures proper oxygenation of every cell in your body.
This is transmuting sexual energy/ojas/jing straight into qi/prana - you will feel the difference. Over time, this will also refine some of that sexual energy into tejas.
Bonus points if done outside in fresh air and sunlight.
Please understand that just as you need to continue rubbing two sticks together over a period of time to finally create fire, you also need the extended friction of intense austerities to truly engender a strong practice of tapas, which is when tejas will really begin to shine.
You can find a short but highly effective yoga routine along with basic breathing exercises here, and a deeper dive into your energy body and additional techniques for amping up your energy body in this post.
More exercises for increasing tejas through tapas will be included in Part 2 on tapas.

Recap and Closing

Ok, that's it for part 1. To recap :

1. When a guy starts retaining, life becomes juicy again. That juiciness comes from the build up of sexual energy (jing, ojas) within the body-mind system (prolactin lowers, dopamine and testosterone increase, energy starts building up within the nervous system).
2. Tapas, which translates as "to heat, to give out warmth, to shine, to burn", and which can be summarized as "spiritual austerities" is the practice of willingly embracing discomfort in the search of growth. Engaging in tapas will not only add a deeper dimension of juiciness to the world, but will skyrocket your semen retention practice, your meditative/spiritual practice, and your life general to undreamed of heights.
3. Proper semen retention is all about syntropy, the ability to retain energy and create order and coherence within a given system - in this case, your body-mind system. This is contrasted with entropy, the tendency for disorderliness, decay, and eventual death within a given system - in other words, chaos. Tapas is a means to greatly increase your syntropy, making it a powerful adjunct to your practice and life in general.
4. While tapas can include pushing into discomfort/giving up pleasures in a daily life kind of way, this will only you take you so far - in fact, it's really no different than discipline. Real tapas is necessarily of a spiritual nature, or for those not into the word spiritual, of the nature of an interior discipline.
5. Proper tapas will produce an abundance of tejas, an inner “fire, energy, majesty, or authority”. Sexual energy (ojas) must be cultivated first in order to produce tejas, which is not to say you can't begin tapas today, it just won't create much tejas until abundant sexual energy is in the bank.
6. Certain yogic practices lend themselves well to producing tejas - sun salutations, bhastrika and kapalabhati being amongst some of the best. But do realize, it is really through sustained practice that we engender a well-lit and strong burning fire of tapas.

Increasing evidence supports a role for viral persistence, chronic inflammation and immune and metabolic dysregulation in driving long COVID
Bezisterim, an anti-inflammatory and insulin-sensitizer that permeates the blood brain barrier, could represent a novel oral treatment targeting an underlying cause of long COVID symptoms
CARSON CITY, Nev., April 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioVie Inc. (NASDAQ: BIVI), (“BioVie” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage company developing innovative drug therapies for the treatment of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders and advanced liver disease, today announced the grant of a clinical trial award of up to $13.1 million from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), awarded through the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP). The award can provide up to 2 years of non-dilutive funding for a Phase 2b clinical trial that will assess the Company’s anti-inflammatory and insulin sensitizer candidate, bezisterim (NE3107), for the treatment of neurological symptoms that are associated with long COVID. The Company anticipates the trial to commence by early 2025.
Long COVID is a condition in which symptoms of COVID-19, the acute respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, persist for an extended period of time, generally three months or more. The Centers for Disease Control recently reported that 6.8% of adults in the United States (more than 17 million individuals) currently or previously had long COVID. 1 Symptoms, which include fatigue, cognitive dysfunction and sleep disturbances, are debilitating. The loss in quality of life and earnings and increased medical costs has an enormous economic impact estimated to be 3.7 trillion dollars. 2 To date there are no therapies proven effective for treatment.
Chronic inflammation is one of the main hypotheses that researchers have proposed to explain the persistence of symptoms in long COVID. 3 Specifically in individuals with “brain fog,” sustained systemic inflammation and persistent localized blood-brain-barrier (BBB) dysfunction are key physiological features. 5 Bezisterim permeates the BBB and has been shown to modulate inflammation via the activation of NF-kB, thus representing a novel oral treatment targeting an underlying cause of long COVID symptoms.
“The investigation of bezisterim in long COVID exemplifies the broad potential of therapies targeting inflammation and insulin sensitivity. This approach holds promise for a range of conditions where neuroinflammation is a key player, offering an avenue for advancements in care that are yet to be realized,” said Cuong Do, BioVie’s President & CEO. “Long COVID symptoms appear to be driven by peripheral and neuroinflammation resulting from persistence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and spike protein. We believe the accumulating evidence behind this hypothesis supports the investigation of bezisterim to treat symptoms of long COVID and are pleased that this Department of Defense grant will enable further exploration of this molecule’s broader potential.”
Dr. Michael Peluso, who co-leads one of the first studies to examine the long-term effects of COVID and leads a Long COVID clinical trials program at the University of California, San Francisco stated “I am excited to see the trial with bezisterim receive funding given that recent advances in our understanding of the potential mechanism of action of bezisterim align with emerging evidence for the underlying pathophysiology of Long COVID”.
The Preliminary plans for the Phase 2b, randomized (1:1), placebo-controlled, multicenter trial are to evaluate the safety and tolerability of 3 months of treatment with bezisterim, along with its ability to reduce the neurological symptoms that are associated with long COVID, in approximately 200 patients.
Terms of the Award This project is supported by The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs endorsed by the Department of Defense, in the amount of $499,200 for the planning phase with an option to execute the $12,6 million clinical trial after the planning phase has concluded, through the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program under Award Number (HT9425-24-1-0300).
About Long COVID Long COVID is a condition in which symptoms of COVID-19, the acute respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, persist for an extended period of time, generally three months or more. Common symptoms include lingering loss of smell and taste, hearing loss, extreme fatigue, and “brain fog,” though persistent cardiovascular and respiratory problems, muscle weakness, and neurologic issues have also been documented. The Centers for Disease Control recently reported that 6.8% of adults in the United States (more than 17 million individuals) currently or previously have long COVID. 1 The loss in quality of life and earnings and increased medical costs has an enormous economic impact estimated to be $3.7 trillion. 2 To date there are no non-pharmacological or pharmacological therapies proven effective for treatment of long COVID.
Chronic inflammation is one of the main hypotheses that researchers have proposed to explain the persistence of symptoms in long COVID. 3 The expression of proteins associated with inflammation (LGALS9, CCL21, CCL22, TNF, CXCL10 and CD48) and immune regulation (IL1RN and CD22) have been shown to be elevated in individuals with long COVID versus full-recovered individuals. 4 Specifically in individuals with “brain fog,” sustained systemic inflammation and persistent localized blood-brain-barrier (BBB) dysfunction are key physiological features. 5 Thus, drugs modulating inflammation, and that work to regulate the BBB integrity, could represent potential therapeutic mechanisms for treating neurological symptoms of long COVID.
About Bezisterim Bezisterim (NE3107) is an orally bioavailable, BBB-permeable, insulin-sensitizer that is also anti-inflammatory. In addition, it is not immunosuppressive and has a low risk of drug-to-drug interaction. Bezisterim has the potential to reduce symptoms of long COVID, including fatigue and cognitive dysfunction. Persistently circulating viral spike proteins are believed to trigger TLR-4 driven activation of NFkB and the subsequent expression of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF, IFNg). NE3107 has been shown to modulate the activation of NFkB and thus modulate inflammation.
Bezisterim is being investigated for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). BioVie has conducted and reported efficacy data on its Phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, multicenter study to evaluate bezisterim in patients who have mild-to-moderate AD (NCT04669028). Results of a Phase 2 investigator-initiated trial (NCT05227820) showing bezisterim-treated patients experienced improved cognition and biomarker levels were presented at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD) annual conference in December 2022. An estimated six million Americans suffer from AD. A Phase 2 study of bezisterim in PD (NCT05083260) has been completed, and data presented at the AD/PD™ 2023 International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases and related neurological disorders in Gothenburg, Sweden in March 2023 showed significant improvements in “morning on” symptoms and clinically meaningful improvement in motor control in patients treated with a combination of bezisterim and levodopa vs. patients treated with levodopa alone, and no drug-related adverse events.
About BioVie Inc. BioVie Inc. (NASDAQ: BIVI) is a clinical-stage company developing innovative drug therapies for the treatment of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders and advanced liver disease. In neurodegenerative disease, the Company’s drug candidate bezisterim inhibits inflammatory activation of ERK and NFkB (e.g., TNF signaling) that leads to neuroinflammation and insulin resistance, but not their homeostatic functions (e.g., insulin signaling and neuron growth and survival). Both are drivers of AD and PD. In liver disease, the Company’s Orphan drug candidate BIV201 (continuous infusion terlipressin), with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) Fast Track status, is being evaluated and discussed with guidance received from the FDA regarding the design of Phase 3 clinical testing of BIV201 for the treatment of ascites due to chronic liver cirrhosis. The active agent is approved in the U.S. and in about 40 countries for related complications of advanced liver cirrhosis. For more information, visit www.bioviepharma.com.
Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, which may be identified by words such as "expect," "look forward to," "anticipate" "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "estimate," "will," "project" or words of similar meaning. In this press release, forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the potential impact of bezisterim on cognition and function among study participants and topline data from the bezisterim trial. Although BioVie Inc. believes such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied by the statements herein due to the Company's ability to successfully raise sufficient capital on reasonable terms or at all, available cash on hand and contractual and statutory limitations that could impair our ability to pay future dividends, our ability to complete our pre-clinical or clinical studies and to obtain approval for our product candidates, our ability to successfully defend potential future litigation, changes in local or national economic conditions as well as various additional risks, many of which are now unknown and generally out of the Company's control, and which are detailed from time to time in reports filed by the Company with the SEC, including quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, reports on Form 8-K and annual reports on Form 10-K. BioVie Inc. does not undertake any duty to update any statements contained herein (including any forward-looking statements), except as required by law.
References 1 Ford ND, Agedew A, Dalton AF, Singleton J, Perrine CG, Saydah S. Notes from the Field: Long COVID Prevalence Among Adults — United States, 2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2024;73:135–136. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7306a4 .
2 Cutler, David M. 2022 The economic costs of Long COVID: An update. long_covid_update_7-22.pdf (harvard.edu)
3 Evans RA, Leavy OC, Richardson M, et al. Clinical characteristics with inflammation profiling of Long-COVID and association with one-year recovery following hospitalisation in the UK: a prospective observational study. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine . 2022;10(8):761-775.
4 Yin K, Peluso MJ, Luo X, et al. Long COVID manifests with T cell dysregulation, inflammation and an uncoordinated adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2. Nature Immunology . 2024;25:218-225.
5 Greene C, Connoly R, Brennan D, et al. Blood–brain barrier disruption and sustained systemic inflammation in individuals with long COVID-associated cognitive impairment. Nature Neuroscience . 2024;27:421-432.
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Current flow is highly variable this time of year so check current conditions at the park before heading to the trail head. Just making an educated guess but, with the predicted temperatures at Duck Creek, this week could very well see the Narrows staying closed for at least two to three more weeks (it snowed in the upper reaches of the watershed this last week).

• The park department has closed the Narrows at Zion as the current flow is above 150 cfs. Anything over 100 cfs makes the hike much more challenging as the pools are deeper and you're fighting strong current higher up your body. Seriously - hiking when the flow is 140cfs will require a lot of work pushing against the current.
  
• Current flow is 274 ft3/s @ Apr 29, 2024 06:50 AM MST. Last year it was closed from March 10 to around June 18 (and peaked at over 3300 cfs on May 1st). Can find current data at North Fork Virgin River Water Levels.
  
• If you page down to the "select data to graph" section and select precipitation for the 2nd axis, you can see on this graph how quickly the 0.84 inches of rain on 3/31 caused the flow to spike over 150 cfs which would lead the rangers to close the hike (note the precipitation graph is cumulative)
  
• Current and historical snow depth in the drainage above the Narrows here: Kolob SNOTEL site. It is currently at 34", compared to 39" last week (plus an additional 5" the last few days) and 79" last year on this date.
  
• I have no predictions on when, or even if, the current flow will fall below 150cfs in the near future. Check at the visitor center to verify if open. Snowpack at the headwaters did decrease but there's still nearly 3 feet of snow depth up there. Again, prepare for the possibility that it will stay closed as spring melt continues or if it rains, and remember that flows over 100cfs make this quite an uphill slog.
  
• Any rain will spike the flow and temporary closures any time during the year do happen. Forecast for Springdale with highs mostly in the low 80s with low chance of precipitation. Forecast for Duck Creek Village will give you some ideas about temperature and precipitation in the upper reaches of watershed - forecast highs in the high 50s to low 60s with lows at or below freezing (this is why you see the daily cyclic change in flow rate).
  
• For those interested in typical water depth per section, Zion Guru has a nice map with details
  
• For the skilled and prepared adventurous, you can get a permit to kayak the Narrows if the flow is between 150cfs and 600cfs for 24 consecutive hours. It is definitely a challenge and not for beginners: video.
  
• This is my 9th update for the season. Started doing this last year as there were so many posts asking for information and I think it helped reduce the number of those posts. Thanks for reading.
  

Introduction: (This part is unnecessary, it's only to explain the general views and RP of this campaign)

In this game, being a socialist is tough, especially in terms of coups and recovering the economy without sacrificing too much.
Not many people support your ideas and most find them abhorrent, so do not be too open about your ideology and be polite, especially with Lucian and Iosef Lancea.
My Rayne's dream is to truly unite Sordland and help all of it's citizens, bluds, agno-sordish, women to get true equality, to do that he wants to remove the Bergia Semi-Autonomous Zone and reform the constitution.
He is a democratic socialist that wants to reform society from the top, in order to do it he will do whatever he needs to. He is not above underhanded methods and deceit to the betterment of Sordland and he will be making deals with many people he finds distateful. (Alphonso, Wiktor, Walter Tusk, Marcel Koronti, Gloria Tory, Albin Clavin and Heron Garaci)
Economically, my Rayne actually studied economy in university and learned the best ways to implement his "four year plan". He plans to be very focused in the fight against corruption and purge the administration of the Old Guard.
His strategy to recover the economy focuses in increasing foreign collaboration (especially from the CSP and Agnolia, as he distrusts most ATO nations), reforming taxes to redistribute wealth and improving production alongside infrastructure to stimulate industry despite nationalisation.
About the energy industry, he sees Gasom as a threat and wants to increase his influence over it.
Socially, although he doesn't think vanguardism is the best aproach to making Sordland better, he is uncompromising in his welfare reforms (he sees the privatisation of state services as a crime against his citizens) and seeks to improve everyone's rights and living conditions as much as possible.
He thinks that Sordland's military is an opportunity to increase it's international reputation and he wants to make it more impressive to scare Rumburg. He wants to end the BFF to make way for a peaceful reconciliation with the bluds.
Personally, my Rayne is extremely loyal to his country and it's people (bluds, agno-sordish and sords alike) spending almost all his energy in working for it. When he isn't working he spends time with his beloved family. He is currently trying to quit tobacco and alcohol to make for a better example for both his citizens and son Frank. He also is very trusting and polite to all of his citizens (including his cabinet, they are his workers after all)

Prologue:

Born in a middle-income family. (+1 personal wealth) (needed to get everything we need).
Study Economy to have an easier managing Sordland's recovery (you will study it and disagree with all your professors).
Protest with the students and don't back down (you will stand for your rights)
Join a human rights group (to have an easier time managing international relations, also it fits the character)
Support your wife (you will actually pass the Women's Liberation Act, so you are actually sincere)
Join the Red Youth (the nationalists will hate you regardless, so why not)
Vote for the United Sordland Party and generally support Soll until Alphonso is voted in (at first you believe that Sordland has no other alternatives other than him and later you prefer him to an uncompromising privatiser) (the conservatives will trust you a bit more)
Escort the refugees back (letting them through damages the military's opinion and you are very loyal to Sordland, even if you personally disagree with the orders)
Work to make the country better, accept Soll's offer and sacrifice family time. (It also increases the party's opinion of you)
When Soll leaves, be happy about it and choose to support Alphonso and the party, even though you disagree with his privatisation (You think that he will at least democratise Sordland)
Dedicate yourself to the party and it's success.
Once Alphonso demontrates his absolute ineptitude in both politics and economy advise him to step down. (he will listen to you and make GASOM negotiations possible)
Finally, promise to enact democratic reforms. (you do believe in democracy, you just want to enlighten Sordland first)

Promises:

Planned Economy, Align East, Retain Relaxed Immigration and Improve Healthcare.

Turn 1: B(8) PW(2)

For the inauguration speech focus on change and hope, our problems and promise to eliminate poverty and wave at the crowd (remember to always be inclusive there aren't just sords watching you)
For the political briefing agree to working with the reformists in the constitution reform. (you want democracy)
For the economic briefing listen to Symon's alarmant data and decide to promote a planned economy (Fun Fact; All the people in this meeting will be gone by reelection except Gus).
For the media briefing be open to Koronti's suggestion and accept the meeting (you would like to let the press be free, but you think that the old guard could use it against you to stop the reforms)
Veto the Electoral Campaign Finance Bill (it's undemocratic and unfair)
Reject the initial mega-project (only the second one will give improved infrastructure and it drains too many funds early on)
Buy 2000 shares of Armadine industries, it will double and be used to "persuade" people PW(-2) (0)
For the inauguration, tell the interviewer you welcome Ricter's statement and say that no political party deserves to be silenced. Later you will have a little jumpscare (Bernard will come greet you. I actually got scared when I saw him for the first time in 2.0)

Turn 2: B(8) PW(0)

Reassure your family. (your country is the most important, but you do love your family)
In the emergency meeting Lileas will tell you that United Contana is interfering with the Red Youth (obvious lie, dismiss her as always) and Iosef will tell you about Rumburg (say you might increase both law and defense budgets, to give the impression that you care about them)
For Tusk's visit we accept his second bribe, do not tell your personal spy. (Wealth Redistribution) (it has no consequences unless you actually do what he demands) PW(+2) (2)
To react to the unrest visit afected towns (by far the best option, it lowers unrest and increases support)
Don't enact an Economic Relief Plan (you need the budget and the modifier it gives you goes away)
Accept Koronti's deal. (You could do without it, but then you would need to nationalise his company to avoid capital flight and we need all the budget we can get)
Attend Bernard's Funeral, let red youth pass without security and do a good speech (you can say whatever you want)
In the diplomatic meeting I always choose to be diplomatic towards Rumburg (although we cannot kick them out of OMEC), you will survive if you decide to close the embassy (because we will join CSP).
In the meeting for the constitutional reforms they will tell you it will be difficult. (they are right)
Veto the Tourism and Cultural Preservation Act. (I would like to pass it, but it doesn't synergize with our strategy and we need the budget) (tourism will stabilize eventually anyways)
Meet with Hawker and Garaci and refuse to declare an emergency. (obviously)

Turn 3: B(8) PW(0)

Have a Barbecue with Franc. (reassure him, tell him about your past without holding back and say you will always be there to listen about his problems)
Your projected economic growth will now turn yellow and your Four Year Plan will start to be implemented.
When going to the presidential visit to Narbel you can give Serge the money, although I doubt he needs a million sordish ren to give an education to his family in my state run universities PW(-2) PW(0) (don't worry nobody will assassinate you, so you can pass on this if you want)
On the presidential visit to Narbel listen to the concerns of Ciara and Paskal and say that you are interested in signing the Worker's Rights Bill, tell them that you wish to strike a balance between the economy and its laborers. (they will be your allies in this campaign and they will sort out your welfare)
In the meeting with Manger and Alphonso; when talking to Gus say that you want to talk about the development here, say that you are intrigued by his vision, say that Alphonso knows how to make an entrance, tell him you will put people before profits, insist on Narbel's living standards, say "support the business" and say it feels very hands on deck.
When talking to Alphonso; tell him it's a pleasure to see what he has built from the inside, tell him we all yearn make a contribution, tell him you empathise with him, tell him foreign investors make sense, tell him that if his analisis is correct it will make returns, ask him if we could keep this between Sordland and Gasom, tell him that if we invest in Gasom the company must improve the conditions in Narbel, tell him you need concrete actions not just words, invest in Gasom alone, tell him you must adress the concerns as they jeopardize the administration and ask for better housing, access to healthcare and education.
Finally say you trust he will follow up on his promises and that you want to face the crowd head-on. B(-2) (6)
Adress the protestors and leave via car.
In the adress to the protestors say that you are here to bridge the gap between Gasom and it's employees, you aren't blind to their struggles, say that you understand Denis' skepticism, say that you understand their concerns and are listening and tell the reporter about the succesful negotiations and say that today is a victory. Then say that Sordland will invest alone to undescore it's commitment to self-reliance, say that you appreciate them as an old Red Youth member and say that dialogue has only started and you look forward to their continuing conversations. (everyone will celebrate this and you will be seen as a compassionate leader)
In the stability order of 1954 you decide not to ban the Young Sords as you think that will radicalize them further and want to protect stability.
Don't tell Livia about the changes and propose the new constituion that will look like this:
-Presidential Vetoes: Limit them with a 3/5 majority override. (you want to stop future tyrants but Sordland is a Presidential Republic, removing them goes too far)
-Remove Supreme Court's Voting Rights (necessary to restore the separation of powers)
-Impeachment of the President: The assembly and Supreme Court may impeach with majority in both (you control the assembly anyways and this will keep future tyrants on their toes)
-Appoitment of Ministers: They require a confidence vote. (This is to make the assembly happy and you find it useful to stop possible future crazy ministers)
-Electoral Threshold: 8% Threshold (you want the WPB and CPS in the assembly but you don't want to make Sordland unstable with a 3% threshold)
-Presidential Decrees: Do not change. (in your opinion, this power of the executive branch is balanced by the impeachment and you find it necessary to bring change in the future)
-Term Limits: Limit of 2 terms. (you want to avoid another Soll at all costs)
-Immunity of Justices: Justices may be impeached by the assembly. (you want to purge the Supreme Court and ensure there is no more corruption in the future)
-Member of Honor Rights: Do not change. (You are no sollist but you think this will antagonize your party too much and that he could make him a martyr if he were to be tried) (you prefer him to be forgotten)
Veto the G.R.E.E.N act. (you think it's important to take care of the environment but you can do that after you recover the economy on the next term)
Meeting on the Energy Protection Act of 1932: Be respectful of everyone's opinions but you have your plan, repeal the act entirely. (you will do a Norway inspired oopsy here, you will see how later)
Dinner with the Business Council members: Try to be polite with the pieces of shit and ignore Tusk after the dinner. (being with them gives me rashes, it is best to do it quickly)
In the budget allocation meeting make a statement: "years ago we gathered to bring change", don't comment on religion, say that you must prioritize critical branches and say that you should spend as much as possible. (Increase budget for all ministeries) B(-12) (-6)

Turn 4: B(-6) PW(0)

Pass the Worker' Rights Act. B(-1) (-7) (it is high time to enact this vital reforms, disregard the concerns of the exploitators, if they cannot meet this basic demands they deserve no business)
In the budget allocation of Law Enforcement meeting give the funding to Nia and form the Anti Corruption Police. (They will rid the state of the Old Guard)
In the evening walk with Monica treat her well and let her give a speech in the festival. (you will have to cancel it to compromise with Gloria)
Regional Investment Decision: Invest in Lorren. (this boosts the Morna Port, gives a surplus of coal, synergizes with our strategy, prevents the energy crisis and increases public opinion) B(-2) (-9)
Tax Reform Meeting: Increase taxes for large corporations and mantain for medium and small businesses. B(+2) (-7) (This is needed to avoid the trade war, unfortunately you cannot afford to decrease taxes to small and medium businesses)
In the visit to the school, be disapproving of the policies but don't take Soll's portrait down.
Briefing on the proposal of education reform: Reform education but don't privatize.
(If you have -7 budget or more after the education meeting the superpower trade war does not happen)
Gruni Rural Investment Plan: Initiate New Crop Research. B(-1) (-8) (synergizes with the investment in Lorren and future United Contana Investments)
In the meeting with Gloria: Greet her politely, tell her it's all in the name of democracy, tell her you would never betray the party, tell her to let you explain why the reforms are necessary, tell her the people demand change, that the decrease is necessary to democratize the elections, say that the change stays, say that this will benefit the party, say you cannot give concessions and take Monica off the schedule.
Don't play chess and relax at home. (it's the least you can do after ruining your wife's speech)
In the meeting with Albin he will say he cannot support you, you will promise him the VP position. (you won't give it to him, don't worry)
In the speech to the party talk about the people, why we need this to survive the next elections and order them to vote yes.

Turn 5: B(-8) PW(0)

United Contana offers aid: Accept. B(+2) (-6)
Veto the Religious Harmony Bill. (do not believe the NFP's lies and protect religious freedom)
Gus calls to tell you that you have won big time. PW(+4) (4)
In the meeting about immigration, don't antagonize Iosef and Lileas but keep immigration laws relaxed.
In the private party be polite to everyone. (Gus will tell you no more investments are available for you, too much of a commie, I guess)
In the Benfi Festival try to make Monica forgive you, watch the events unfold and do nothing until Leste tells you to intervene, then say that Monica is absolutely right but that we will take up her concerns at a later time.
In downtime at home be supportive and say that you look forward to working closer with her.
In the discussion about the formation of the new police force be polite to Karl (he will be an important ally in the fight against corruption in the state) and focus on Hawker and the Old Guard.
In the discussion about the allocation of the Sordish Armed Forces do not seem "too happy about the Contanan ships", purchase equipment and modernisation programme.
Be polite and accept the first Agnolian Trade Deal, don't accept the alliance or helijland's recognition. B(-1) (-7) (this helps to recover Agnolia later on without antagonizing Valgsland)
Be polite and accept the second Wehlen Trade Deal that only closes the borders. B(+2) (-5) (This helps to recover Bergia, it makes bluds a little angry but it stabilizes relations with Wehlen and is very helpful)
In the assembly speech about the reforms say that the assembly has always been overshadowed, prepare Sordland for a more democratic era, rebalance the branches of government, focus on unity and setting aside our differences. (do not mention Soll or the USP)

Turn 6: B(-5) PW(4)

In the meeting with Iosef Lancea remove or maintain mandatory conscription, it doesn't really matter (Although removing it gives a red modifier) and modernize the air force (United Contana will modernize the navy for us)
In the briefing on the economic situation hear their concerns, they will tell you that the country is on it's way to recovery.
Invest in the Morna Port. B(-2) (-7) (this gives green infrastructure)
In the meeting on the escalating Bergia situation choose to aprove Nia's plan. (we will use this to negotiate later with the USP later, you don't really mind between the two options but you don't want to agree with Lileas)
Pass the Central Bank Reinforcement Act. B(-1) (-8) (This prevents the debt crisis)
In the healthcare budget meeting keep healthcare state controlled and improve treatment in rural areas.
In the talks with Frens Richer be polite and he will support you. (Although he is a snake)
Assign the construction of the Morna Port project to the SSC. (it's the only company that is consistent with our economy and is free)
In the meeting on the situation of education build new rural schools.
In the briefing on the curriculum of schools ban creationism in public schools to separate state and religion.
Sell two thirds of the shares of Gasom. (We can nationalize or re-buy them on the next term after they are bankrupted by our actions)
Spend vast sums of money to sway MP's. PW(-4) (0)
When attending Victory Day remind Richter that he is negociating with racists and release the statement with the PFJP. (This is needed to change articles 6 and 7)
Very High Gasom Returns. B(+6) (-2)

Turn 7: B(-2) PW(0)

In the call with Koronti you agree to nationalize Tusk's company for him. (This will give us oligarch support while also nationalizing companies)
In the meeting with Lucian he will tell you about the escalating Bludia situation and that the WPB wants to meet up and decide to nationalize. (You can tell him the truth, he won't betray you)
Accept the meeting with the bludish leaders.
Be polite with them and say that you want true equality between Sords and Bluds, however you need a sound plan to pass it. Ejall will offer himself and the BFF to get the reforms, you will accept.
In the meeting about corporation ownerships, we will leave HOS alone and fully nationalize Bergia Steel. B(-1) (-3)
In the results of the economic direction you will see Tusk getting angry, I chose not to escalate as he doesn't have power any more. (Koronti is on our side, so capital flight won't happen)
Veto the Unified Language Act. (prohibiting the teaching in schools of a minority's language, really?)
In the confrontation before the vote be polite, explain that you had to do this because Faith Ejall is offering to end the BFF, wait and concede to all of her demands except the Bergia Autonomous Zone, compromise in it's centralization (this way we also avoid arresting Ejall) (This will make them happy and this was your plan all along, bankrupting Gasom and also preventing bludish protests)
Frens Ricter will tell you that he cannot support the reforms anymore, tell him to cut the crap and stop with his personal ambitions.
In the Assembly vote take the good luck charm (although it isn't needed) and make sure to tell Gloria to speed up the voting, after that, leave Soll be. (179 Ayes and 72 Nays)
In the meeting after the vote, refuse Ricter's alliance. (he thinks that is possible after what he just tried to do?)
Grant Asylum to Rumburg's Whistleblower. (he will give us information about their nuclear programme)
Do whatever you want in the movie premiere. (in the interview say that you trust the judges and you refuse to discuss Soll)
In the meeting about diplomatic strategy don't talk about CSP (Iosef is there, no need to antagonize him) and agree to negotiate with Valgsland.
When you come home, you will discover that your son failed his university admision exams. You can send him to Contana or the military. (I personally like the military option, he does well and we need future loyal officers) (this is where my username takes inspiration from)
Do the Ceremony of Descension correctly. (it's not hard)
In the dinner with Isabel, it will be a tough affair so I will write the conversation that works; wait for her to order, stand up for a handshake, good to see you Justice Edmonds, mrs. Edmonds?, get the salad too, how is the situation in the supreme court?, what do you think about the proposal itself?, Do you not approve of those?, we need a proper balance of power, I know I can't do a lot (without this it doesn't work), I thought you would agree on that, to ensure the new processes are executed with transparency, mrs. Edmonds please help us we have to be together in this, the judiciary shouldn't have legislative powers, I am no malenyevist, don't be this will open the door to further reforms, it must have the power of judicial review, it plays an essential role in ensuring each branch recognizes the limits of their own power, the threshold can lead to a political crisis in the future, nothing to worry about judges cannot be impeached that easily, stay silent. (This is the only combination that works, be careful)
Send Lucian to reach out to Judge Heron and offer him to be chief justice. (just in case, you know)
Attend the court decision anouncement and be reassuring. (7 judges will vote for the reform)
You have acomplished your promises and passed the constitution, congratulations!!!
In the cabinet meeting on the results of the vote, let Petr talk, say you have a new focus and plan forward (My objective is making Sordland socialist so I change the manifesto, but you can campaign for public opinion if you want) and finally start to impeach the Chief Justice.
After that, listen to their reports; the economy is recovering, rural areas are developing but Gasom is bankrupt, polio could become a problem, decide not to escalate with Rumburg, international cooperation has increased, we have built +100 new schools and the new curriculum is facing success, sign on the operation against the BFF and don't promise Lileas the transfer of the gendarmerie to interior.
When Karl asks, tell him to proceed with a legal case against the Old Guard.
In the adress to the nation speech focus on your accomplishments and say that the future is on our hands.

Turn 8: B(-3) PW(0)

Talk to your son before he goes to study. (or military school)
Presidential salary increase. PW(+1) (1)
In the meeting with Lucian do a socialist manifesto, break your promise with Garaci and appoint the most experienced judge. The edicts are: Fair Trade Commision, Abolish Special Zone of Bergia and Value Added Tax. B(+1) (-2)
Trade Talks with Valgsland: He will see you as the comrade you are, be pleasured to meet him, be interested in meeting Malenyev, you cannot ally Valgsland (the tariffs of Lespia take 1 budget from you), recognize Helijland for 1 budget. B(+1) (-1) (The recognition makes it impossible to expel Rumburg from OMEC)
You go to your old office, get the portrait of you an Monica. Petr will tell you about his affair, tell him you can weather it together, call Lucian immediately after.
(+2 budget because of the Valgsland trade deal) B(+2) (1)
Trust Lucian and investigate Livia.
When Lucian discovers the truth about Livia, put Koronti on it and shoulder the blame with Petr. (that way he will resign and change for the better in the future)
In the political briefing Nia will be upset about our actions in the Bergia situation, Paskal will tell you about new bills to help citizens, Symon will tell you new taxes aren't needed and Deivid will ask you to not escalate with Rumburg about Livia.
In the press release don't mention Rumburg and let Petr talk, then ask Lucian to end the conference.
In the briefing on the woman's rights situation agree with them and support their commision.
In the selection of a new vice president, listen to everyone and choose Gloria Tory. (Lucian is already useful and Albin is useless, corrupt and spineless)
Do whatever you want to the donation to the league of women. (it doesn't do anything) (I didn't do it)
When you see the new situation, ask Gloria to get along with Lucian.
Do not transfer the Gendarmerie to Lileas. (it makes Iosef angry and she is a traitior whom doesn't deserve it)
Pass the Equal Ability Bill. B(-1) (0) (This only appears if you have a surplus, the altenative is the tobacco tax)
In the meeting about the health situation, Paskal will tell you about the polio pandemic, enact mandatory vaccination to prevent the epidemic.
Build a state of the art medical school. (increases public opinion and economic development)
In the meeting with your family agree to a vacation with your wife and congratulate your daughter.
Attend Aschraf's aniversary to support it.
Focus on unity during the visit, don't grab the red candle and hug Leke. (this will initiate the reconciliation process)
In the meeting about the political situation Gloria will tell you about your purge of the party and your increased support. (listen to their advice)
Accept United Contana's agricultural aid. (Helps with all rural regions)
Expand the military industry. B(-2) (-2) (This together with increased military spending increases production)

Turn 9: B(-2) PW(1)

Pass Women's Liberation Act. B(-2) (-4) (This vital bill will promote equality and turn a red modifier into a green one, quite impressive)
At home I recommend ordering a pizza, talk with your son and watch FC Anrica with Serge.
(if you allied with Valgsland -1 budget because of tariffs, you cannot pass the Children for the future bill so don't) B(-5)
Veto the Human Dignity Bill. (arresting prostitutes, really?)
Pass the children for the future bill. B(-1) (-5) (Equality is here!!)
In the meeting with Leke agree to his commision and sign his decree. (I see this as a vital step to de-radicalizing the bludish population in the future)
Veto the Alcohol Tax and Pass the Fair Luxury Tax B(+2) (-3) (The assembly will override your veto on the alcohol tax and that will neutralize the hit to public opinion) (Thank you Albin!!)
Don't fund a political youth group. (It's too expensive and socialism is now mainstream anyways)
In the meeting about the escalating situation with Rumburg approach the incident with diplomacy and organize a military parade.
In the meeting about potential alliances don't show your colours in Iosef's presence and accept the visit, a plain welcome makes sense in this case. (Malenyev dislikes extravagance and needless militarism)
Your human rights situation becomes better. (It was about time it happened)
In the meeting with Malenyev accept to enter CSP and his funds. B(+1) (-2) (Sordland stands together with its workers and close allies)
At home, meet with Monica and support her you can show her the portrait if you want the "I still love you" achievement.
(+1 budget because the veto on the alcohol tax is overriden) B(+1) (-1)
Lucian will tell you about the results of the investigation, you will initiate the largest purge in the history of Sordland. (I see this as a guarantee that Sordland won't be easily couped in the future) after that, make a speech about your achievements.
Production increases and taxes are efficient but economy is unfortunately not consistent. B(+1) (0)
In the economic meeting he will tell you that the economy has recovered but our economic strategy was mixed (because of the repealing of the EPA). Provide with housing assistance with the surplus funds. B(-2) (-2)
In the TV interview tell Sacher about Rumburg's aggression, say that Petr and you took responsability together and say that Sordland has nothing to do with the invasion but Valgsland has the right to intervene, Sordland could intervene as a peacekeeping force, it broke your heart to see what happened on Wehlen, how to distinguish militants from civilians. (Rumburg won't be expelled from OMEC unfortunately)
Meet with Lileas and do whatever you want. (It doesn't matter anymore)
Celebrate the military parade. I am sure our state of the art air force and navy is intimidating.

Turn 10: B(-2) PW(1)

In the champions cup match you will meet Soll and Alphonso, both will hate you haha. (Anrica will lose, of course)
In the League of Nations meeting talk about Rumburg's nuclear weapons to make the AN investigate it.
Don't move your wealth to Kyrute.
When Deivid meets you, tell him you are fine and thank him for his service.
Friday Afternoon: Accept Symon's resignation. (it's understandable, although the recovery proves him wrong)
At home, be with your family and organize a holiday.
Put the main focus of the campaign in healthcare. (it has improved greatly and more is to come)
In the televised presidential debate highlight your achievements and reveal a basic living wage if you want to.

Turn 11: B(-2) PW(1)

Do the speech and be reelected. (congratulations!)

Conclusions:

Anton Rayne ends his first term having made most of his objectives a reality, the military is extremely powerful and scary, that and CSP membership has secured Sordland internationally.
Corruption has been tackled, human, worker's, minority and women's rights have improved and Bluds and Sords have began to reconciliate with a constitution that is truly inclusive.
Sordland's economy is recovered, infrastructure and production are much better and the recently bankrupt Gasom can be nationalized next term (this was achieved without increasing energy prices). All regional economies are booming and taxes are redistributed.
Welfare improved by leaps and bounds without compromising state control over it, literacy rates are improving, rural healthcare quality has increased, disabled people are now safe, working conditions are improved and homelessness rates are reduced.
Organised crime is a problem that we can now deal without Lileas, the BFF has been crippled, they can be erradicated next term and unrest is low across the nation after the discovery of the Bernard Circas conspiracy and Old Guard purge.
Sordland is now a member of the CSP, we will have to deal with that but I personally think it's the best sphere to be in. Agnolia isn't very angry with us yet and Wehlen relations are stable. Rumburg won't dare attack us anytime soon and have no nukes to throw.
Rayne's family is happy, he doesn't smoke or drink anymore and he has only lost three ministers during his term. He is ready to deal with four more years.

Hello everybody, I wanted to make this post to see if anybody has any thoughts or feedback as to how I might progress in the future.
So I am in a rather unique position in that I am on what is known as a 'Graduate Apprenticeship' course. What this means is that I work as a developer for a business Monday to Thursday and then I complete university work on a Friday and over the weekend. I go into university one Friday once every four weeks to complete closed book assessments and to attend some tutorials, but the usual workload is done online.
It's a very great program and I am very lucky to be on it, in fact, only 0.01% of applicants to my company for my year managed to get in. I suppose your opinion on this type of course will depend on your priorities. Although it means that I miss out on the traditional university experience, I will graduate from this course with an honours degree (also with no tuition, although university is already free in my country), with four years of experience, and I am also compensated very well for someone my age. I will graduate from the university course in September 2025, and I will roll off the apprentice level in my workplace and move onto associate level in January 2026 when I am 23 (I work for a financial services company, so it is investment bank grades, and as long as I get a passing grade for my degree, I have a guaranteed job afterwards).
So it all sounds very good, but to be completely honest, the experience I have received in the workplace is leaving me worried for when I do graduate. When I first joined this programme, I was placed in the team that I am in now, but it was very different. In the past few years, the three people above me (my manager, his manager, and my manager's manager) have all left for other businesses, and things just don't seem to be running smoothly. Despite being with the business for over two and a half years, I still have very little knowledge about what my team does. I basically get given a Jira and get told to go and complete it.
When I have 1-2-1 meetings with my manager, he tells me that I am not engaging with the team and putting enough initiative in, but when I tell him that I don't have the required background knowledge to go on and make my own suggestions, it feels very glossed over. I've been speaking to the programme manager for my location and she is helping me look for a new team to try out, but it's not an easy process and I'm not sure if it will happen.
The kind of tasks I have been working on are also not teaching me much at all, and the specific tasks are not very transferrable. For quite some time, I was working on Java Spark applications and I did find that quite interesting, but now most of my tasks are modifying bpmn files, which is quite literally drag and drop.
I'm worried about how my position will be in the future. When I roll onto associate level in January 2026, there is no way that I will be performing at the same level as other associates within the team. I probably won't want to stay with this company forever either because I just don't find the work very interesting, but I feel like moving to another business will be a challenge because I will have four years of experience, but still able to perform at the level of a graduate.
Apologies if this is a bit of a rant, and for thank you for anybody who has read through this. I'd really love some feedback if anybody has any.
tl;dr: work as an apprentice for a company, team is not very supportive, not learning much, will graduate with 4 years of experience to my name but much of that is not useful, how do I deal with this?

Pretty much EVERY Fontaine 5 star has been very good quickly becoming the best in their niche. Neuvillette's the best DPS in the game, Arlecchino is arguably the most preferred pyro dps now, Furina's broken, Wrio's competitive with Ayaka (But imo becomes the best cryo dps at c6) and Navia's changed Geo for the better. While characters from other regions are still very good at C0, the constellation powercreep is real. Wriothesley, Neuvillette, Arlecchino, Furina and Navia pretty much one-shot abyss chambers at C6 levels. Alhaitham's the only DPS who's status remains unchanged (don't think that'll change anytime soon). With Clorinde releasing soon, maybe she might become the new best electro dps? Of course Hu tao, Raiden, Childe, Xiao and Wanderer are still widely popular with Childe international and Raiden Hyper being one of the top 5 teams.
Thing is, with Fontaine characters already being this strong, Hoyo will have to go above and beyond to make Natlan and Snezhnayan characters still competitive with the already existing characters. It's probably safe to assume the Harbingers are definitely going to be strong considering the three playable ones we have for now are very strong in their respective elements. I don't know how they're gonna manage to make new characters good but not completely outclass the pre-existing ones.

Toxic Friendship.
Don’t know really why im doing this post but i just feel i need to express it about my friend. We shall call her “Rachel” just for show. I am from a rural village and let’s just say drinking is very much just a part of the mold in the local area. Probably due to the fact there is nothing else to do here and the only business’s around here are a coop , a cafe and a pub so there isn’t much else to do
Rachel is not much of a drinker at all which is fine. Me and our other friend i shall call Sarah do both drink. Not on the daily or anything just at the weekend. Im never against people not being big drinkers one of my other friends doesn’t really drink but when she is out she still has fun with us without needing a drink at all. What i dont get about Rachel is she suggests going to the pub but clearly hates it and does this thing where she orders a drink and just nurses it. But what is strange is when we do rounds she always asks for a drink but they all just gather up in front of her and she never drinks them. I am not the type to judge like if she didn’t want booze she doesn’t have to get it so i find it strange she does
Rachel’s problem is with most things in life is that if people do things differently from them , then they are wrong in her mind. She hasn’t got many friends due to her judgemental attitude and hating nearly everyone. With the pub being in a small area everyone knows everyone so usually by the end everyone is talking to each other and she gets really pissed off if anyone talks to us in the pub she looks down on especially if they are other girls.
We had got along fine but ever since we went on holiday things have been a bit tension filled between us. Me , Rachel and Sarah went to an all inclusive in Lanzarote. From the get go you could tell she was annoyed as me and Sarah would occasionally get a cocktail by the pool etc while we were there. Anyway we end up in a bar near our hotel. There are these guys there who sit round us. If they were girls Rachel would be furious but because they were men she is more than happy. My friend Sarah starts to feel a bit uncomfy with one of the guys perving on her but Rachel makes it worse by moving Sarah’s seat next to the bloke when she was at the bar.
We somehow end up back at these guys apartment. Me and Sarah end up pretty drunk along with all these guys. Rachel was very eager to go back to shag one of the guys even though she has a boyfriend at home. shes in the room doing her business. The pervy guy starts sleazing on Sarah again and shes visibly uncomfortable. In my drunk thinking as a way to stop him perving i say that they have boyfriends which is true. maybe not the nicest thing to do but it was drunk thinking. Sarah is happy that it keeps the guy away. Anyway i start feeling a bit worse for ware and want to go i ask if one of them can walk me back as i forgot the way back to our hotel since I’m crap at directions. Sarah jumps to leave and Rachel just grudgingly comes with us
On the walk i get asked by Rachel if i said they had boyfriends. I said yes that they do have boyfriends and went to explain them all of a sudden i feel a solid punch to the side of my face. Im shocked and turn to her. She then shoves me and my ankle goes over the pavement and my knee pops. I injured it in the past and it pops at times. She then starts shouting at me in a weird Glaswegian voice sounding like Martha from baby reindeer. She accuses me of ruining the holiday with my drinking and says I’m an alcoholic. She then says shes the only friend who has stuck by me and that i have. The reality of that is hypocritical when i have other friends and she doesn’t because shes so rude to people. Accused me of ruining the day we went to the beach because i was “gagging” for a drink. Sarah still laughs about that part because it was actually her who wanted to check out a bar she got advised to go to and i wasn’t anything to do with it. Anyway basically just for like an hour she shouted at me in the streets then decided she wouldn’t let me back in the hotel and that I’m not grateful for the holiday. Not being funny i paid for the holiday so don’t get why i have to be grateful towards her for me going on holiday
The rest of the holiday is spent kind of frosty between us. Sarah was afraid to drink at all for the last couple days and to be honest i was too. I regret backing down to her. Just because she has issues with people drinking should not stop us. Plus it’s an all inclusive in Lanzarote. We got drunk 3 nights of the 8 days which really isn’t bad considering what brits abroad are usually like
We get home and i have never been so happy to be back. I decide I’m never going on holiday with her again. Shit goes down a bit because Sarah hangs out with mine and her childhood friend Jenny. Jenny is also Rachel’s arch nemesis. Sarah ends up cracking and telling Jenny about what went down on the holiday. Jenny cant help herself but gossip so people start hearing about Rachel attacking me and her cheating on her boyfriend. Rachel hears and starts flipping her lid over it but manages to convince her boyfriend who is lets just say hen pecked that she didn’t cheat but also said that it was Sarah who wanted to be round the boys. A few weeks later me and Sarah end up on a night out with Jenny who books a holiday for the three of us low key against our will but we end up thinking we may as well. This ends up making Rachel furious. She would maybe be invited if she didn’t have a weird one sided feud with Jenny
A few months go by and we all end up on a night out as Sarahs brother came back to the area. This ended with Sarahs boyfriend saying we can have an after party at his. I find out that Rachel has been trying to convince them to not let me go and take me home then they go to the afters. Sarah , her brother and boyfriend are all closer to me so i dont get why she even tried it. I grew up with Sarah and her brother. Rachel only became friends with Sarah through me in the last couple years but are still more friends of a friend kind of situation
So we start walking to the house and i twist my ankle. Nothing new there as I’m very known for being clumsy. My old workplace used to call me mr fall. Anyway i go to carry on walking and Rachel starts shouting at me again. Usual stuff calling me an alcoholic. I hadn’t drank in a month before that night. Instead of taking it like i did on holiday i give it back to her both barrels and we end up in a blazing row. She starts saying i have nobody but i fire back with who has she got i have a small group of friends the reality is she has nobody because shes so mean. I then bring up the holiday. She says i deserved the punch i got. She also kicks off about the holiday with Jenny even telling me to cancel it. She soon realises shes not winning the fight and bursts into tears about how i treat her terribly etc and how i made her cry going on holiday with Jenny. i end up apologising like a mug but she just goes home and i go back to my friends boyfriends house.
Now i don’t know if shes a witch or something but that night when i was leaving my friends apartment the staircase top step broke because it was rotten wood. Me being cursed ends up being the first to step on it. It breaks and i fall 15 feet and break my ribs and hurt my whole body
Although it was a serious fall. The next day when me and Sarah talk about it we cant help but find it hilarious because her brother just saw me disappear in front of him. Our parents even get in on the joke and it almost because a meme within our group because I’m such a cluts they said it can only happen to me
Anyway it’s been two months since then and Rachel has been trying to get me the last couple weeks to go to the pub. I had something on and one night i just could bot be bothered. So me her and Sarah go out. Sarah brings up the fall and we end up laughing about it again. I go to the toilet and Rachel says “its not even funny, it should have been a wake up call that they desperately need” , not being funny we have all had drunken falls but i step breaking under me is kind of out of my control. Plus Sarahs brother fell through one too lucky for him it was at the bottom. I then go up to get another drink. Sarah is at the toilet. i offer Rachel a drink but she points at her and Sarahs unfinished drinks. I jokingly say “you bunch of losers” just a joke at them being slow drinkers. Literally a harmless very obvious joke. I don’t think loser is a real insult for anyone above 13. She tells Sarah when she gets back from the loo that i called them that but makes it out like i did it nastily. Sarah is used to her shit so she doesn’t care
Rachel leaves early thank god because she is tired and thats when Sarah told me all the things she said. She also revealed Rachel and her boyfriend came into the cafe she worked in and she was moaning about how she did not want to go out tonight and act like i dragged them out when the reality is i just felt bad because she had asked me out a few times and i never went
Im sorry it’s so lengthy but i don’t know what to do anymore. I admit I’m not perfect but i feel its getting to a whole new level with her and i just feel so drained by it all. She hates drinking but then never makes plans outside of the pub. I just don’t get her. I am not perfect at all and over the years i have been the person in the wrong in some of our falls outs I’ll never deny that. I think her issues are mainly just with people drinking in general but i think she needs to remember that just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean everyone else does

I'm a Korean Tekken player, and upon seeing the plans for the Tekken 8 character pass, particularly the release of Lidia, I feel compelled to convey my thoughts to the developers.
As I continue to monitor the developer's updates, one word keeps recurring: 'INSINCERITY' I wonder if I'm the only one feeling this.

• There's a lack of consideration for the users.
  • Ultimately, the purpose of a game lies in providing an experience for the users. While there seems to have been some improvement after the submarine patch regarding matchmaking balance, I'm unsure if the developers truly understand the experiences users had before that. To succinctly summarize my experience, it was like being matched in games that encouraged civilian massacre. Experienced players easily matched with lower-skilled players or those using secondary characters under the guise of fairness. Reading the community discussions, it seems they feel compelled to do so because they're being pressured by those above them. This rampant problem has driven away numerous new users, and the initial enthusiasm has significantly cooled down, leaving behind discontent among hardcore fans.
• There's a lack of sincerity in marketplace product design.
  • I'm unsure if there's no intention to design new items or if there's a lack of resources allocated to this, but seriously, can you tell reformatting existing characters' appearances into bigheads and selling them as new avatar outfits is good product proposal to users? Did they genuinely think users would be impressed by this?
  • What about the new outfits for characters? Aren't they all from previous games? Are they planning to advertise through the marketplace that they don't have enough time or money to design new ones? While there may be users who want replicas of really cool outfits, frankly speaking, it seems like they're saving money by rehashing designs from previous games and releasing them.
• There's decreasing sincerity in new character designs.
  • Do you guys truly believe Lidia is a character design that was carefully considered? Her motions are borrowed from several other characters, and on top of that, she seems to have inherited many elements from Reina, a character released as part of the new cast. Her appearance overlaps with Nina, and her background as a politician from Poland prime minster practicing karate—I can't understand how that combination came about. It feels like they just randomly drew some words from a pocket. Also I'm not sure how many more karate characters we need. considering the large pool of martial arts / modern combat styles.

In summary, I found the passion of the development/design team that was somewhat present in previous games seems to have vanished, and business rationalization appears to dominate the priority of game updates (e.g., the design of Leroy and Fahkumram vs Lidia). I understand what this is because I also work in that level of decision in a company.
I'm not saying not to pursue money or efficiency. They're important. That's why, despite feeling ripped off, I still bought the basic shading sphere primitive (which I also can add in an game engine in a minute if you ask), and previous game's default outfits bundled as a season pass (which even deluxe or ultimate edition users have to purchase separately).
But I can't shake off the feeling that decision-making prioritizes cost-cutting over love for the game and its users.
Am I the only one feeling this way? I'm curious about your thoughts.

ANALYSIS:

• Let’s look at and analyse the main things happening in premarket first of all.
• Firstly, the Yen intervention, which Japan’s Kanda hasn’t confirmed but reports are out from DJ that thats what happened this morning.
• We saw yen weaken to 160 vs the USD. This was touted by JPM as the intervention point that BOJ were looking at, although their commentary last week was all very much vague.
• When we saw 160 hit, we saw a big drop in USDJPY, as yen squeezed higher.
• The price action was more extreme because Japan has a national holiday today, hence trading volumes were thin.
• WE saw it drop from 160 to 154.5
• It found support from the technicals at the 20 day Moving average, as we see below:
• We saw recovery above the 155 level. 155 is one of the key gamma levels, where there is a lot of put support there. The bigger key gamma level, below this is 152. There is a hell of a lot of put support at 152. If the BOJ wants the yen to meaningfully improve vs the USD, it needs to get USDJPY below 152. Thats when we can go meaningfully lower. Above there, and we expect it to find support from these gamma levels and move higher, as we saw it do from 155.
• Skew actually points higher in USDJPY now. This tells us that traders are not really expecting much more meaningful intervention right now. We can see USDJPY move higher again soon. Probably won’t be as effective as BOJ hoped.
• Now the other key news from premarket, is TESLA, who have now received the regulatory approval for FULL self driving in China, rather than the limited product they had on offer already.
• Tesla is pumping in premarket.
• If we look at the gamma levels, we see 200 as having a lot of open interest. As such, we can see it as a magnet for price action moving forward.
• FTSE pushed higher to 8200, but we see skew lowering. This tells us traders are hedging for price action to mveo lower now. The move is likely close to done for now, except if the Fed support move higher. We expect that because OTM delta isnt really showing much call delta so traders aren’t betting FTSE goes much higher.
• HKG50 breakout from downtrend since 2023 continues, hitting 18k level today. 18k is v big gamma level, hence why we saw price action reverse from here.
• In SPX, we see traders unwind some of their hedges as they bet that geopolitical pressures are mostly behind us. We see that too, as oil skew points lower which suggests traders expect oil to move down soon.
• Finally, busy week ahead.
• This week ahead, we have FOMC decision on Wednesday, as well as jobs numbers throughout the week, which will give us some insight into the labour market.
• Put on top of that all the following earnings reports, and we are set for a volatile week of trading.

DATA LEDE:

• Spain inflation rate:
• 3.3% YOY vs 3.4% expected, previous reading was 3.2%
• SO ticked up from last month, but not as much as expected.
• GERMAN inflation rate:

MARKETS:

• SPX set to open above 5100 this morning, pulled up by Tesla and Aapl. Currently trading at 5112. This is just above the highs of Friday.
• Nasdaq: up 0.3% in premarket, trading at 17,780. 17,850 is a resistance, then The next big resistance will be the 18k level.
• Dow Jones: Flat in premarket, trading at 38,300.
• HKG50 up 1% again in premarket. Now at 17,750. Touched 18k then came down from there. 18k is now the strong resistance.
• UK100 higher to 8200, pared slightly to 8180. Still up 0.4% today.
• GER40: flat around 18,140.
• Oil: Flat at 83.65. Maintaining the uptrend drawn since December 2023.
• GOld: Flat above 2300.
• VIX: Vix flat at 15.22. last week closed perfectly at the put support of 15. Was a big VIX crush last week. Opened today at 15.22.

FX:

• USDJPY closed Friday at 158.3.
• In early Monday trading, it moved up to 160. This was a key level where traders were hedging for intervention.
• It seemed as though we did get that fX intervention hence the big decline.
• This decline was right down to 154.5
• This is where the 20 day Moving average was and so it found support there.
• Also a key gamma level at 155.
• It moved below this level, before recovering above again.
• Note: its a national holiday in Japan, hence why more exaggerated trading on thin volumes.
• Despite this no official comment from BOJ that they have intervened, although that is the clear assumption.
• So Yen squeezed higher after hitting 160 vs USD
• All other currencies quite flat compared.
• GBPUSD up 0.3% to 1.253EURUSD same trend, up 0.2% after selling off on Friday. Now at 1.071. On Friday, it retested 1.07 before pushing higher.

MAG 7 NEWS:

• TSLA - Tesla will spend $10B ons elf driving in 2024. Musk says “any company not spending at this level cannot compete”.
• Musk also makes surprise China visit to set up path for FSD there.
• Musk strikes deal with China’s BIDU for driver assistance. Tesla partnering with Bid to deploy mapping and navigation tech in China.
• TEsla has now paved the way for FSD to be launched in China now
• This is a market where their sales have been weaker, So is bullish for the company.
• Note they have had self driving there but limited version of it, not full self driving. They said that Chinese authorities removed restrictions on thier cars.
• TESLA up 8% in premarket.
• AAPL - renewed talks with openAI for iPhone generative AI features. This would be for the next iPhone.
• AAPL price target at 195 from Bernstein, raised to outperform.
• AAPl up 2% as a result.
• AMZN -The NBA and Amazon Prime Video have a framework for an agreement that will make the streamer one of the homes for significant regular season and postseason games for a decade
• GOOGL - plans $3B data center investment in Indiana.
• META - down as EU probing Meta over handling of Russian disinformation. Selena Gomez also said that deleting Instagram was best decision she made.

OTHER COMPANIES:

• BIDU - Musk strikes deal with China’s BIDU for driver assistance. Tesla partnering with Bid to deploy mapping and navigation tech in China.
• Tesla are leading other EVs like Li etc higher.
• PARA up in premarket as Skydance comes back with their “best and final” offer for Paramount.
• ORCL boosts its generative AI capabilities.
• Crypto stocks are generally lower slightly as BTC headed slightly lower this weekend just been. BTC down 2.5% in last 24 hours.
• SOFI up after earnings report. Strong revenue forecast.
• LUV down as Jefferies downgrades Southwest Airlines to underperform, lowers price target to 20. current price 27.
• Deutsche Bank lower after filing monthly SEC report. Warns on litigation with Postbank’s shareholders.
• Could face hit up to 1.3B euros.
• LULU - Barclays cuts to equal weight from overweight.
• Lithium producers are generally higher as Saudi Arabia seeks lithium imports for EV ambitions.
• Renewable stocks generally slightly higher.
• Phillips share rocket 46% as the firm settles the US respiratory device case. $1.1B settlement. That was a major legislative headwind surrounding the company tha tis now overcome.
• AVTR - maintained outperform by braid, price target 26 from 27.
• OLN - Pric target cut to 73 from 78, by Keybanc, maintained at overweight.
• DAL - Delta flight makes emergency return after exit slide separates from Boeing aircraft.
• DPZ - sees strong orders as they smash sales expectations
• BA - Turkish airlines in talks with Airbus and BA to buy 235 planes
• BHP tells investors that their bid for Anglo is on strategy and says they are extremely disciplined. They are weighing up a possible improved proposal for Anglo American.
• ZTS - will sell medicated feed additive portfolio to Phibro Animal health for 350M.

EARNINGS:

• SOFI EARNINGS:
• Rev $581M vs $558M est
• EBITDA $144M vs $123M est
• Sees 2Q:
• Rev $555-565M vs $590M est
• EBITDA $115-125M vs $136M est
• Sees FY:
• Rev $2.39-2.43B vs $2.39B est
• EBITDA $590-600M vs $589M est

OTHER NEWS:

• Likely FX intervention from BOJ as USDJPY hit 160.
• Still no official comment from BOJ confirming the FX intervention. Japan’s Kanda says Japan will disclose if FX intervention came at the end of May.
• Said they will continue to take appropriate action against excessive forex moves.
• Phillips share rocket 46% in Europe as the firm settles the US respiratory device case. That was a major legislative headwind surrounding the company tha tis now overcome.
• Treasury yields slightly lower ahead of FOMC meeting.
• Eurozone April consumer inflation expectations came at 11.6, vs 12.3 in March, so less than expected.
• California fast food chains are rising prices as state raised minimum wage for fast food workers.
• Moodys on France: local currency senior unsecured rating remain unchanged at Aa2. The stable outlook remains unchanged as well.
• Fitch affirms France at AA- outlook stable.
• Israel officials worry that international criminal court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior government officials.
• HAMAS supposedly has no major issue with ceasefire proposal put forward by Egypt and Israel, Supposedly the majority of Israeli government supports the terms fo the deal too.
• Us says the proposal to Hamas is extraordinarily generous.
• Egypt says that only US has the ability to break the cycle of violence in Gaza
• Bitcoin ETF is set to launch in Australia now, following US and Hong Kong
• Russian foreign minister says that there will be a severe response if Russian assets are touched.
• Citigroup says that they expect 100 bps of cuts this year again, starting in July. They were previously expecting the first rate cut in June.
• Fitch maintains Switzerlands Credit rating at AAA with stable outlook.
• Turkish grocery delivery company, Getir says they are pulling out of European and US markets, to focus on main Turkish market.

For more of my daily analysis for free, including stock specific research, please join Tradingedge
ANALYSIS:

• Let’s look at and analyse the main things happening in premarket first of all.
• Firstly, the Yen intervention, which Japan’s Kanda hasn’t confirmed but reports are out from DJ that thats what happened this morning.
• We saw yen weaken to 160 vs the USD. This was touted by JPM as the intervention point that BOJ were looking at, although their commentary last week was all very much vague.
• When we saw 160 hit, we saw a big drop in USDJPY, as yen squeezed higher.
• The price action was more extreme because Japan has a national holiday today, hence trading volumes were thin.
• WE saw it drop from 160 to 154.5
• It found support from the technicals at the 20 day Moving average, as we see below:
• We saw recovery above the 155 level. 155 is one of the key gamma levels, where there is a lot of put support there. The bigger key gamma level, below this is 152. There is a hell of a lot of put support at 152. If the BOJ wants the yen to meaningfully improve vs the USD, it needs to get USDJPY below 152. Thats when we can go meaningfully lower. Above there, and we expect it to find support from these gamma levels and move higher, as we saw it do from 155.
• Skew actually points higher in USDJPY now. This tells us that traders are not really expecting much more meaningful intervention right now. We can see USDJPY move higher again soon. Probably won’t be as effective as BOJ hoped.
• Now the other key news from premarket, is TESLA, who have now received the regulatory approval for FULL self driving in China, rather than the limited product they had on offer already.
• Tesla is pumping in premarket.
• If we look at the gamma levels, we see 200 as having a lot of open interest. As such, we can see it as a magnet for price action moving forward.
• FTSE pushed higher to 8200, but we see skew lowering. This tells us traders are hedging for price action to mveo lower now. The move is likely close to done for now, except if the Fed support move higher. We expect that because OTM delta isnt really showing much call delta so traders aren’t betting FTSE goes much higher.
• HKG50 breakout from downtrend since 2023 continues, hitting 18k level today. 18k is v big gamma level, hence why we saw price action reverse from here.
• In SPX, we see traders unwind some of their hedges as they bet that geopolitical pressures are mostly behind us. We see that too, as oil skew points lower which suggests traders expect oil to move down soon.
• Finally, busy week ahead.
• This week ahead, we have FOMC decision on Wednesday, as well as jobs numbers throughout the week, which will give us some insight into the labour market.
• Put on top of that all the following earnings reports, and we are set for a volatile week of trading.

DATA LEDE:

• Spain inflation rate:
• 3.3% YOY vs 3.4% expected, previous reading was 3.2%
• SO ticked up from last month, but not as much as expected.
• GERMAN inflation rate:

MARKETS:

• SPX set to open above 5100 this morning, pulled up by Tesla and Aapl. Currently trading at 5112. This is just above the highs of Friday.
• Nasdaq: up 0.3% in premarket, trading at 17,780. 17,850 is a resistance, then The next big resistance will be the 18k level.
• Dow Jones: Flat in premarket, trading at 38,300.
• HKG50 up 1% again in premarket. Now at 17,750. Touched 18k then came down from there. 18k is now the strong resistance.
• UK100 higher to 8200, pared slightly to 8180. Still up 0.4% today.
• GER40: flat around 18,140.
• Oil: Flat at 83.65. Maintaining the uptrend drawn since December 2023.
• GOld: Flat above 2300.
• VIX: Vix flat at 15.22. last week closed perfectly at the put support of 15. Was a big VIX crush last week. Opened today at 15.22.

FX:

• USDJPY closed Friday at 158.3.
• In early Monday trading, it moved up to 160. This was a key level where traders were hedging for intervention.
• It seemed as though we did get that fX intervention hence the big decline.
• This decline was right down to 154.5
• This is where the 20 day Moving average was and so it found support there.
• Also a key gamma level at 155.
• It moved below this level, before recovering above again.
• Note: its a national holiday in Japan, hence why more exaggerated trading on thin volumes.
• Despite this no official comment from BOJ that they have intervened, although that is the clear assumption.
• So Yen squeezed higher after hitting 160 vs USD
• All other currencies quite flat compared.
• GBPUSD up 0.3% to 1.253EURUSD same trend, up 0.2% after selling off on Friday. Now at 1.071. On Friday, it retested 1.07 before pushing higher.

MAG 7 NEWS:

• TSLA - Tesla will spend $10B ons elf driving in 2024. Musk says “any company not spending at this level cannot compete”.
• Musk also makes surprise China visit to set up path for FSD there.
• Musk strikes deal with China’s BIDU for driver assistance. Tesla partnering with Bid to deploy mapping and navigation tech in China.
• TEsla has now paved the way for FSD to be launched in China now
• This is a market where their sales have been weaker, So is bullish for the company.
• Note they have had self driving there but limited version of it, not full self driving. They said that Chinese authorities removed restrictions on thier cars.
• TESLA up 8% in premarket.
• AAPL - renewed talks with openAI for iPhone generative AI features. This would be for the next iPhone.
• AAPL price target at 195 from Bernstein, raised to outperform.
• AAPl up 2% as a result.
• AMZN -The NBA and Amazon Prime Video have a framework for an agreement that will make the streamer one of the homes for significant regular season and postseason games for a decade
• GOOGL - plans $3B data center investment in Indiana.
• META - down as EU probing Meta over handling of Russian disinformation. Selena Gomez also said that deleting Instagram was best decision she made.

OTHER COMPANIES:

• BIDU - Musk strikes deal with China’s BIDU for driver assistance. Tesla partnering with Bid to deploy mapping and navigation tech in China.
• Tesla are leading other EVs like Li etc higher.
• PARA up in premarket as Skydance comes back with their “best and final” offer for Paramount.
• ORCL boosts its generative AI capabilities.
• Crypto stocks are generally lower slightly as BTC headed slightly lower this weekend just been. BTC down 2.5% in last 24 hours.
• SOFI up after earnings report. Strong revenue forecast.
• LUV down as Jefferies downgrades Southwest Airlines to underperform, lowers price target to 20. current price 27.
• Deutsche Bank lower after filing monthly SEC report. Warns on litigation with Postbank’s shareholders.
• Could face hit up to 1.3B euros.
• LULU - Barclays cuts to equal weight from overweight.
• Lithium producers are generally higher as Saudi Arabia seeks lithium imports for EV ambitions.
• Renewable stocks generally slightly higher.
• Phillips share rocket 46% as the firm settles the US respiratory device case. $1.1B settlement. That was a major legislative headwind surrounding the company tha tis now overcome.
• AVTR - maintained outperform by braid, price target 26 from 27.
• OLN - Pric target cut to 73 from 78, by Keybanc, maintained at overweight.
• DAL - Delta flight makes emergency return after exit slide separates from Boeing aircraft.
• DPZ - sees strong orders as they smash sales expectations
• BA - Turkish airlines in talks with Airbus and BA to buy 235 planes
• BHP tells investors that their bid for Anglo is on strategy and says they are extremely disciplined. They are weighing up a possible improved proposal for Anglo American.
• ZTS - will sell medicated feed additive portfolio to Phibro Animal health for 350M.

EARNINGS:

• SOFI EARNINGS:
• Rev $581M vs $558M est
• EBITDA $144M vs $123M est
• Sees 2Q:
• Rev $555-565M vs $590M est
• EBITDA $115-125M vs $136M est
• Sees FY:
• Rev $2.39-2.43B vs $2.39B est
• EBITDA $590-600M vs $589M est

OTHER NEWS:

• Likely FX intervention from BOJ as USDJPY hit 160.
• Still no official comment from BOJ confirming the FX intervention. Japan’s Kanda says Japan will disclose if FX intervention came at the end of May.
• Said they will continue to take appropriate action against excessive forex moves.
• Phillips share rocket 46% in Europe as the firm settles the US respiratory device case. That was a major legislative headwind surrounding the company tha tis now overcome.
• Treasury yields slightly lower ahead of FOMC meeting.
• Eurozone April consumer inflation expectations came at 11.6, vs 12.3 in March, so less than expected.
• California fast food chains are rising prices as state raised minimum wage for fast food workers.
• Moodys on France: local currency senior unsecured rating remain unchanged at Aa2. The stable outlook remains unchanged as well.
• Fitch affirms France at AA- outlook stable.
• Israel officials worry that international criminal court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior government officials.
• HAMAS supposedly has no major issue with ceasefire proposal put forward by Egypt and Israel, Supposedly the majority of Israeli government supports the terms fo the deal too.
• Us says the proposal to Hamas is extraordinarily generous.
• Egypt says that only US has the ability to break the cycle of violence in Gaza
• Bitcoin ETF is set to launch in Australia now, following US and Hong Kong
• Russian foreign minister says that there will be a severe response if Russian assets are touched.
• Citigroup says that they expect 100 bps of cuts this year again, starting in July. They were previously expecting the first rate cut in June.
• Fitch maintains Switzerlands Credit rating at AAA with stable outlook.
• Turkish grocery delivery company, Getir says they are pulling out of European and US markets, to focus on main Turkish market.

For more of my daily analysis for free, including stock specific research, please join Tradingedge
​

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For more of my daily analysis for free, including stock specific research, please join Tradingedge
ANALYSIS:

• Let’s look at and analyse the main things happening in premarket first of all.
• Firstly, the Yen intervention, which Japan’s Kanda hasn’t confirmed but reports are out from DJ that thats what happened this morning.
• We saw yen weaken to 160 vs the USD. This was touted by JPM as the intervention point that BOJ were looking at, although their commentary last week was all very much vague.
• When we saw 160 hit, we saw a big drop in USDJPY, as yen squeezed higher.
• The price action was more extreme because Japan has a national holiday today, hence trading volumes were thin.
• WE saw it drop from 160 to 154.5
• It found support from the technicals at the 20 day Moving average, as we see below:
• We saw recovery above the 155 level. 155 is one of the key gamma levels, where there is a lot of put support there. The bigger key gamma level, below this is 152. There is a hell of a lot of put support at 152. If the BOJ wants the yen to meaningfully improve vs the USD, it needs to get USDJPY below 152. Thats when we can go meaningfully lower. Above there, and we expect it to find support from these gamma levels and move higher, as we saw it do from 155.
• Skew actually points higher in USDJPY now. This tells us that traders are not really expecting much more meaningful intervention right now. We can see USDJPY move higher again soon. Probably won’t be as effective as BOJ hoped.
• Now the other key news from premarket, is TESLA, who have now received the regulatory approval for FULL self driving in China, rather than the limited product they had on offer already.
• Tesla is pumping in premarket.
• If we look at the gamma levels, we see 200 as having a lot of open interest. As such, we can see it as a magnet for price action moving forward.
• FTSE pushed higher to 8200, but we see skew lowering. This tells us traders are hedging for price action to mveo lower now. The move is likely close to done for now, except if the Fed support move higher. We expect that because OTM delta isnt really showing much call delta so traders aren’t betting FTSE goes much higher.
• HKG50 breakout from downtrend since 2023 continues, hitting 18k level today. 18k is v big gamma level, hence why we saw price action reverse from here.
• In SPX, we see traders unwind some of their hedges as they bet that geopolitical pressures are mostly behind us. We see that too, as oil skew points lower which suggests traders expect oil to move down soon.
• Finally, busy week ahead.
• This week ahead, we have FOMC decision on Wednesday, as well as jobs numbers throughout the week, which will give us some insight into the labour market.
• Put on top of that all the following earnings reports, and we are set for a volatile week of trading.

DATA LEDE:

• Spain inflation rate:
• 3.3% YOY vs 3.4% expected, previous reading was 3.2%
• SO ticked up from last month, but not as much as expected.
• GERMAN inflation rate:

MARKETS:

• SPX set to open above 5100 this morning, pulled up by Tesla and Aapl. Currently trading at 5112. This is just above the highs of Friday.
• Nasdaq: up 0.3% in premarket, trading at 17,780. 17,850 is a resistance, then The next big resistance will be the 18k level.
• Dow Jones: Flat in premarket, trading at 38,300.
• HKG50 up 1% again in premarket. Now at 17,750. Touched 18k then came down from there. 18k is now the strong resistance.
• UK100 higher to 8200, pared slightly to 8180. Still up 0.4% today.
• GER40: flat around 18,140.
• Oil: Flat at 83.65. Maintaining the uptrend drawn since December 2023.
• GOld: Flat above 2300.
• VIX: Vix flat at 15.22. last week closed perfectly at the put support of 15. Was a big VIX crush last week. Opened today at 15.22.

FX:

• USDJPY closed Friday at 158.3.
• In early Monday trading, it moved up to 160. This was a key level where traders were hedging for intervention.
• It seemed as though we did get that fX intervention hence the big decline.
• This decline was right down to 154.5
• This is where the 20 day Moving average was and so it found support there.
• Also a key gamma level at 155.
• It moved below this level, before recovering above again.
• Note: its a national holiday in Japan, hence why more exaggerated trading on thin volumes.
• Despite this no official comment from BOJ that they have intervened, although that is the clear assumption.
• So Yen squeezed higher after hitting 160 vs USD
• All other currencies quite flat compared.
• GBPUSD up 0.3% to 1.253EURUSD same trend, up 0.2% after selling off on Friday. Now at 1.071. On Friday, it retested 1.07 before pushing higher.

MAG 7 NEWS:

• TSLA - Tesla will spend $10B ons elf driving in 2024. Musk says “any company not spending at this level cannot compete”.
• Musk also makes surprise China visit to set up path for FSD there.
• Musk strikes deal with China’s BIDU for driver assistance. Tesla partnering with Bid to deploy mapping and navigation tech in China.
• TEsla has now paved the way for FSD to be launched in China now
• This is a market where their sales have been weaker, So is bullish for the company.
• Note they have had self driving there but limited version of it, not full self driving. They said that Chinese authorities removed restrictions on thier cars.
• TESLA up 8% in premarket.
• AAPL - renewed talks with openAI for iPhone generative AI features. This would be for the next iPhone.
• AAPL price target at 195 from Bernstein, raised to outperform.
• AAPl up 2% as a result.
• AMZN -The NBA and Amazon Prime Video have a framework for an agreement that will make the streamer one of the homes for significant regular season and postseason games for a decade
• GOOGL - plans $3B data center investment in Indiana.
• META - down as EU probing Meta over handling of Russian disinformation. Selena Gomez also said that deleting Instagram was best decision she made.

OTHER COMPANIES:

• BIDU - Musk strikes deal with China’s BIDU for driver assistance. Tesla partnering with Bid to deploy mapping and navigation tech in China.
• Tesla are leading other EVs like Li etc higher.
• PARA up in premarket as Skydance comes back with their “best and final” offer for Paramount.
• ORCL boosts its generative AI capabilities.
• Crypto stocks are generally lower slightly as BTC headed slightly lower this weekend just been. BTC down 2.5% in last 24 hours.
• SOFI up after earnings report. Strong revenue forecast.
• LUV down as Jefferies downgrades Southwest Airlines to underperform, lowers price target to 20. current price 27.
• Deutsche Bank lower after filing monthly SEC report. Warns on litigation with Postbank’s shareholders.
• Could face hit up to 1.3B euros.
• LULU - Barclays cuts to equal weight from overweight.
• Lithium producers are generally higher as Saudi Arabia seeks lithium imports for EV ambitions.
• Renewable stocks generally slightly higher.
• Phillips share rocket 46% as the firm settles the US respiratory device case. $1.1B settlement. That was a major legislative headwind surrounding the company tha tis now overcome.
• AVTR - maintained outperform by braid, price target 26 from 27.
• OLN - Pric target cut to 73 from 78, by Keybanc, maintained at overweight.
• DAL - Delta flight makes emergency return after exit slide separates from Boeing aircraft.
• DPZ - sees strong orders as they smash sales expectations
• BA - Turkish airlines in talks with Airbus and BA to buy 235 planes
• BHP tells investors that their bid for Anglo is on strategy and says they are extremely disciplined. They are weighing up a possible improved proposal for Anglo American.
• ZTS - will sell medicated feed additive portfolio to Phibro Animal health for 350M.

EARNINGS:

• SOFI EARNINGS:
• Rev $581M vs $558M est
• EBITDA $144M vs $123M est
• Sees 2Q:
• Rev $555-565M vs $590M est
• EBITDA $115-125M vs $136M est
• Sees FY:
• Rev $2.39-2.43B vs $2.39B est
• EBITDA $590-600M vs $589M est

OTHER NEWS:

• Likely FX intervention from BOJ as USDJPY hit 160.
• Still no official comment from BOJ confirming the FX intervention. Japan’s Kanda says Japan will disclose if FX intervention came at the end of May.
• Said they will continue to take appropriate action against excessive forex moves.
• Phillips share rocket 46% in Europe as the firm settles the US respiratory device case. That was a major legislative headwind surrounding the company tha tis now overcome.
• Treasury yields slightly lower ahead of FOMC meeting.
• Eurozone April consumer inflation expectations came at 11.6, vs 12.3 in March, so less than expected.
• California fast food chains are rising prices as state raised minimum wage for fast food workers.
• Moodys on France: local currency senior unsecured rating remain unchanged at Aa2. The stable outlook remains unchanged as well.
• Fitch affirms France at AA- outlook stable.
• Israel officials worry that international criminal court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior government officials.
• HAMAS supposedly has no major issue with ceasefire proposal put forward by Egypt and Israel, Supposedly the majority of Israeli government supports the terms fo the deal too.
• Us says the proposal to Hamas is extraordinarily generous.
• Egypt says that only US has the ability to break the cycle of violence in Gaza
• Bitcoin ETF is set to launch in Australia now, following US and Hong Kong
• Russian foreign minister says that there will be a severe response if Russian assets are touched.
• Citigroup says that they expect 100 bps of cuts this year again, starting in July. They were previously expecting the first rate cut in June.
• Fitch maintains Switzerlands Credit rating at AAA with stable outlook.
• Turkish grocery delivery company, Getir says they are pulling out of European and US markets, to focus on main Turkish market.

For more of my daily analysis for free, including stock specific research, please join Tradingedge
​