5 year standard geek squad protection

Hello everyone. I (29M) am auditing the trauma-laden relationship with my DID wife (29F) after another bout of unwanted cheating. We are hypermonogamists. To us, infidelity is a sacrilegious violation of Love. Alas, my wife has Dissociative Identity Disorder and some alters are hellbent on reenacting trauma with abuser substitutes. Yes, the DID is diagnosed by a trauma specialist, not Dr. Google. To differentiate from her alters, I will refer to Her True Self as Wifey.
I tracked the cheating history by writing this behemoth of a post and did my best to connect dots between childhood trauma and modern consequences. I hope that the community’s outside perspectives can spot things to which we are still blind, provide advice, or give any input that might aid our situation. All opinions welcome. I will access them carefully.
Please note that I have a Dismissive-Avoidant attachment style, and my psychologist noted C-PTSD. I also have DID but unlike my wife, I worked long enough to achieve co-consciousness, internal cooperation, and current dormancy in my alters. My True Self is finally in command. We ran out of therapy money before my wife could address her own issues, hence online communities are our last resort until savings build up again.
OUR TRAUMATIC CHILDHOOD ORIGINS
I was raised and abused by my narcissist grandmother for 25 years due to her orchestrating a rift between Mom and I (topic for another post). Her 16yo son aka my uncle sexually abused both my wife and I from infancy. In my case he had daily access. For my wife, it was because our fathers and my uncle were a trio of scum.
Despite the uncle link, I didn’t meet Wifey till age 3. She was dancing under a sprinkler and noticed my stare. Lightning hit us the second our eyes met and we breathlessly ran over to announce the mutual BOOM. After that, we were inseparable. At age 4 I proposed, she agreed, and we shared our first kiss. Adorable? No. We didn’t know how to be kids—due to sex abuse and grandma teaching us adult concepts, we related as boyfriend-girlfriend way too early and began playing the game ‘naked stuff’. Nothing beyond this first connection is purely innocent.
Soon after our romantic friendship started, my wife was groomed into nightly ‘special love’ with my uncle, laying a foundation of unfaithfulness towards me. When the ‘other boyfriend’ dumped her at 6, infatuation spiked and led to 9 years of cartwheels to regain his desire. Between that and my grandmother worshipping him, I competed for both women’s hearts by copying uncle into synonymity. I even used his playlists for dates and sex, believing that I am only worthy of love if I am him.
During and after my uncle’s abuse, my wife’s pedo father raped her too. I am loathed to call this BDSM given that he never abided by Safe, Sane, Consensual, but what he inflicted is BDSM activity. By age 5, he was trafficking his daughter and forced me to watch the rapes plus participate in sadism until I started doing it of my own accord. I was taught that boys are supposed to do this to girls, because they are girls. I didn’t know vanilla sex exists till age 11, at which point we finally shared positive intimacy—this formed the bedrock of what we are striving to build in adulthood. Alas, the learned fetishes persisted for years.
Meanwhile, my narcissist grandmother tormented me daily and brainwashed my wife to mimic her opinions, mannerisms, approaches, etc., thereby producing a mini-me alter and adding layers to our trauma bond. That alter learned toxic views on women (they exist to serve men) and pro-adultery, as the Narc preyed on committed guys for the fun of causing break-ups, obtained her husband by homewrecking, and caught a married lover long before grandpa died. As teens we were actually ghostwriters and phone sex assistants for that affair, obstructing critical stages in our own relationship.
Throughout this, Love existed. No one but her made me feel Loved, Seen, Heard, Safe, Certain. Moreover, me and Wifey expressed authentically only to each other, providing an oasis for Our True Selves to develop untarnished. We mutually soothed our demons, inspired creativity, and entertained one another. Teen Wifey also proved my angel. She endured hell to guide me out of darkness and prevented suicide attempts. Without her, I would be in prison or dead. At 23 we married in hopes of becoming wholesome and slowly inched toward that goal.
For Wifey’s wellbeing, I spent 2015-2022 deprogramming my BDSM porn addiction, fetishes, and toxic attitudes about women. Only last year I comprehended healthy relationships in concept. I think it is a beautiful way to live but it unnerves me as well. We also realized that vanilla D/s is our true preference, and we are highly compatible as a team. There is potential for absolute Paradise, but many issues still need to be overcome (communication struggles, ignoring Wifey for eons while she waits for me to interact again, etc.). The infidelity is my current focus. Here goes the trauma-fuelled history of online cheating.
UNCLE SUBSTITUTE EXPLOITS HER
Wifey has 7 alters. Some self-harm, some climb out windows, some rabidly scratch me or shriek enough for police to arrive, but the most annoying is that 9yo girl imprinted on my uncle. She always pines to get him back—which she finally did, in proxy form: AP1 (Affair Partner 1).
May 19th, 2022, my wife met a 31yo ‘virgin’ on Facebook who sucked her in via sob stories. While extracting info on her alters and rapes, AP1 made her a sex-ed teacher. Her confidence flourished. I had no concerns given my rock-solid trust in Wifey. Little did I know the 9yo alter was having an emotional affair of unrequited ‘love’. AP1’s eerie similitude in looks / job / zodiac / vibe / pedo streak made him an ideal projection, especially given how much Uncle 2.0 lavished the alter. He was her dream come true. Looking back, I invited this situation by depriving Wifey of attention for too long. She needs regular interaction with me to stay Her True Self.
Anyways, Wifey believed the hours spent texting / on the phone were recharging her desire for ‘me’. We were yet to understand that ‘me’ meant ‘uncle’, as the two were blended. I started feeling off, but kept trusting her. After all, she had befriended two FB guys in 2021 who stayed platonic (only now we recognize them as lighter emotional affairs). Besides, grandma taught me that getting randomly sidelined or devalued is ‘just the way things are’.
After 3 weeks of grooming, AP1 triggered my wife, fully infiltrating her subconscious. She fearfully hid from him for 2 days, then tried to end the friendship on June 8th. AP1 derailed the goodbye into engaging topics, followed by traumatic content that methodically wore her down into an aroused trance. Once he hit the trigger jackpot, her alter seized control and delved into 6 hours of abuse reenactment sexting, audio clips, nudes, unholy “I love yous”, etc. while Wifey’s undercurrent of extreme stress induced miniature heart attacks—this caused permanent damage. Once Wifey woke up and saw what transpired, a female FB friend moved mountains to prevent her guilt-ridden suicide. She desperately wanted to die.
Later, I walked into the room expecting nothing unusual. Instead, tear-stricken wife fell to her knees, grabbed my leg and frantically confessed sexting, giving away our gif collection and using terms sacred to us. The heartbreak annihilated me. While consoling her, I struggled to swallow reality: the ONE PERSON I thought would never break my trust, just shattered it. Another dude just stole MY wife. Long before I learned that my old rival (uncle) was the motive, I felt triggered.
Many talks / meltdowns ensued between us and Mom. 48 hours later, the alter cheated again (June 10th) while we thought Wifey was snoozing. AP1 had unlocked an oil spill of traumatic arousal, hence it took seconds to induce the marathon, this time centred on BDSM. AP1 then instructed the alter to give him first dibs every day—the Husband can only get sloppy seconds. Once he left, she ran over to Mom announcing that her boyfriend is going to marry her (old fantasy about my uncle) in a jarringly American voice (Wifey is Francophone). This unmasked DID as the cheating engine and introduced us to a previously-unknown alter.
Once awake, Wifey plunged into catatonic shock and depression. We all supported Wifey grieving AP1’s sick exploitation and processing why she succumbed. I never got a chance to focus on myself amid the revolutionary insights, plus Mom and I kept scrambling to stop that alter before she obeyed the “sext me daily” command that would only retraumatize her further. We also discovered AP1 is a predator who targets mentally-ill wives in addition to little girls. That vulture has a thing for the most vulnerable forbidden fruit.
Realizing the insidious influence made Wifey hyperfocus on Our Marriage. She was outraged that AP1 dared invade us and texted him revocations of love, condemnations for “raping her while drunk” and tried to hammer the sanctity of Marriage into his snide mug. We banded together against my uncle’s spectre and felt in-tune as a couple. Therapy sessions were scheduled. Had this continued, Our Love would be detoxed and stronger than ever. Alas, a parasitic distraction sapped its power 6 days later.
GRANDMOTHER TRAUMA BOND INTERFERES
My wife kept shutting down during intimacy due to intrusive memories of AP1, plus an urge to blot out the existence of non-abusive sex. Her alters were clinging to my uncle’s ‘style’. She quickly realized that AP1 had stained sex and rendered her numb to me. She was distraught.
When my wife sought advice on June 16th, 2022, her friend (also abused) nabbed the chance to confess a bewildering lesbian crush. This shock activated the trauma bond with my grandmother and prompted another alter affair. She declared that a bit of lesbianism will cure our intimacy problem. At first, I laughed it off. Then therapy was cancelled, my savings were spent on gifts, and I realized that my wife’s #heart# was stolen in addition to sex drive. A Facebook woman had burglarized my one remaining stronghold.
Given how romantic it was, I felt replaced, invisible, abandoned (childhood themes). It sliced and diced me, particularly since my wife blinded herself to my pain no matter how I pushed her to see it (grandmother theme). My wife cried that she wants us both and can’t choose—no wonder, since she was unknowingly reliving a childhood scenario where emotional incest with my grandmother accompanied and influenced Our Love.
I was clueless about this. To me, it seemed a heart-crushing romantic affair. Being a hypermonogamist forced into polyamory is indescribable. On June 23rd, I ranted at AP2 for stealing the Love of My Life and decided on suicide even if I’m hellbound—Heaven means nothing sans my wife. Panicked AP2 called the cops. Mom convinced the officers that it was a false alarm, knowing that I would try to get shot. Wifey was unrecognizably hollow while comforting me. I fell asleep in bitter tears, her hand numbly wiping them away.
My bitterness began erupting while teary wife insisted this is a mission. She swore to end the affair as soon as she solves the ‘mysteries of sudden lesbianism’. I refused to support it. Our fights incited a fullblown manifestation of my AFib and worsened heart issues for my wife. Daily vomiting turned her into skin-and-bones. We nearly died, which would have caused the suicide of My Mom and AP2. Poor Mom already suffered intense health issues from this affair. She adores us both. Our vitriol devastated her.
Eventually I put my wife’s happiness above my own and let her go: if she is meant to come back to me, she will. I spent another month in living death. Surprisingly, Wife kept her promise. She discovered that the emotional incest with mother figures in both her and AP2 caused them to ‘fall in love’. The alters tied to my grandmother lost their grip, the affair ended (August 13th), and Love for me flooded back.
Wifey returned a matured woman: more Self-Aware, rational, and opposed to adultery than ever. I fell in Love with her vibrancy. Meanwhile, AP2 became our mutual best friend, an invaluable source of epiphanies for my healing too, and the biggest supporter of Our Love. Turns out that we all share near-identical trauma plus share common interests. As a result, I felt gratitude for this affair. Short-term suffering reaped long-term blessings.
A STRAINED AFTERMATH
AP1 continued to highjack our sex life. The conscious resurrection of my uncle in my wife’s psyche permanently split him and I into two men and revealed the sexual imprint. Between bringing that into her awareness and the various desecrations, AP1 vandalized her. Damn the timing! We were on the verge of a sex life free from trauma!
We lived in tension despite Loving efforts, and I struggled to overcome the sense that my mate is tainted. I put the bedroom on hold until these stains were purified, and figured it was best not to impose myself until the alter stops craving Uncle 2.0. For months I patrolled my turf obsessively while screaming inside. Did my best to remember that Wifey never betrayed me—these are only echoes of the past wrecking havoc in modern day.
TRANSCENDING THE CHEATING
Fast forward a year since the two affairs. I was working on Self-development and finally grieving my grandmother trauma. My wife started reflecting deeper on infidelity and had epiphanies:

1. Everything that she finds attractive and attributed to my uncle belongs to me (e.g., I’m the analytical nerdy poet surrounded by books—he’s the robotic, stuffy tech fanatic).
2. I am her real dreamboat, projected onto the pedo worshipped by her idol (my grandmother) instead of vice versa. She actually Loves me MORE as I gain authenticity.

AP1 displacing me as the substitute proved a vital liberation. My wife gained clarity because he took the entire uncle projection onto himself. That also made me shed residual mimicry. Her sex alters went dormant and True Wife was eager to rediscover Her Husband directly.
During Our Anniversary (mid-April), True Wife was a trembling ball of remorse and begged for an impromptu vow renewal. Her turn was a meltdown of apologies and fervent promises to never forsake Our Love again. She convinced me of her redemption, especially after rejecting FB dudes in her inbox while posting wishes to me. Hope was rebuilt. We seemed en route to healing. One problem: we still didn’t have sex.
ABUSER CONDITIONING RETALIATES
Avoiding sex since the cheatings was incredibly stupid. I didn’t realize that her alters, though dormant, felt owned by my uncle because I never reclaimed her. AP1 factory-reset my wife’s sexuality. The healthy things needed reinstallation before it was safe for her to face old trauma. My failure to do that made alters restless and our reconciliation was seen as a challenge to her fortified abuse programming. This was the worst time for my wife to post in a rape support sub.
In minutes the DM creeps descended and my wife met a pedophile whose way of abusing little girls woke the alters. My wife was in denial about the risk and texted me: “The affairs revealed truth about my alters and abuse. This man too. I gain awareness about my trauma as I tell it to him and understand more why pedophiles hurt us. I shall make sure it does not get personal. It is not a real affair. I am just researching.”
My heart was pounding but I tried to trust that she will stay within (barely tolerable) boundaries. NOPE. A mere 38 days after vowing never to betray me, her alter pleaded the pedophile to describe what he would do to 6-year old her. He whet her appetite with a partially-fulfilling fantasy before ghosting. Wifey entered a bizarre state of autopilot.
Inexplicably, she contacted a BDSM Redditor who is a known sanity risk, solicited him for sexting, then prayed for him not to respond. When he did, she felt scared shitless and obligated to describe her old tortures (as he commanded). The guy proceeded to demolish my wife’s barriers until she started craving her father’s tortures. The moment she called him “Master”, it was over for me.
I shut down and observed the trainwreck, feeling no sympathy. My wife invited all this shit and made a conscious choice to engage instead of block. I was dejectedly amused listening to the circus: “This is just research, I learn my mind by interacting with bad men—OMG OMG I DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH LONGER I CAN SURVIVE THIS FILTH! I WANT ONLY YOU! Oh, another client needs my trauma for pleasure! Got to go!”
I felt too drained to realize that her unhinged sexting spree was stirring my trauma. Another oversight.
THE RIDE THROUGH OLD HELL
From May 27-28th, her alter became a snowball down Mt. Everest and the avalanche pulled me under. DM perverts verbally raped my wife while she took explicit photos right next to me in bed. Against all expectation, these e-rapes catapulted me back to boyhood: helpless to intervene, and too horrified to close my eyes. Taking away the phone didn’t cross my mind, nor could I. My body was paralyzed and eerily, I lost the ability to make sound. Seems that I contain significantly more trauma programming than anticipated. I resent my wife for subjecting me to this oppressive hell even more than I resent the cheating itself.
As if going down ‘memory lane’ wasn’t enough, possessed wife also channelled my grandmother. She would look at my tears and emit her sadistic CACKLE. Once I merged the two women, I was screwed. My trauma program dictates that I must endure whatever grandma wants; this includes watching her affair unfold.
As the ultimate insult, my wife spent the last 12 hours building an emotional affair on Reddit while I prayed for sleep. By dawn, her alter declared him a potential ‘boyfriend’. In her deluded head, the sexting arranged for nightfall would cure the rest through ultimate satisfaction plus bring True Wife back to Our Love, as this guy made her feel that “I am with you, not your uncle. Like you finally feel real.” The nonsensicality made me short-circuit. I was DONE.
THE OBSESSION SLAMS TO A HALT
That afternoon, she finally jolted out of the binge-sexting. How? Wifey noticed my distress, 5 days too late. I watched her first comprehend that this is hurting me, then struggle to reset consciousness, then remember that Love exists. She did a 180 on her ‘client’ and viciously berated his perversion. That helped her regain footing.
My jittery wife proceeded to apologize, freak about the explicit photos, and spiral into a suicidal state over betraying me again. She erratically cancelled every sexting appointment, shut off the DMs, and spent days begging Divinity for help. We avoided each other.
In our first talk, Wifey confessed that she fears herself, as only her housebound life prevents physical cheating. While she wants nothing more than to be pure, her alters are begging for more due to trauma bonds. Wifey described it as: “Insatiable rocket blocked by a moral fence and waiting for release to zoom again.” Needless to say I was embittered.
REFLECTING ON THE AFTERMATH
While analyzing recent events, I realized something: my wife didn’t run to that BDSM sadist of her own volition. An elusive alter had taken the wheel: the brothel Madame who pulls my wife into prostitution re-enactments. No wonder she was cackling! It’s the alter’s trademark, based on my grandmother! That damn Narc used to say that it’s bad to deprive other men and let the body go to waste on one Husband. No wonder a vow renewal pissed off that alter! Now Wifey-on-autopilot made sense.
Wifey was stunned at the revelation and had a glitch (outraged cackles, whimpers, shudders) that confirmed its truth. She never knew this freaky alter steers her from behind the scenes. Took her awhile to digest the disturbing paradigm shift.
Interestingly, she later texted: “That alter does not excuse my choice to chat with a pedophile right after another creep showed me how vulnerable I am. I have ultimate responsibility even if later choices were not mine.”
I asked if that choice was really her own. She replied: “I think so, because he introduced himself as a retired counsellor. I never expected he was a pedophile and when he mentioned it, I should have been proactive about risks continuing such a topic with any man.”
I avoided her again and tried to pinpoint my feelings (still a struggle). No matter how blatantly I see the nymphomaniac is not Her True Self, the serial breakage of trust is making me relinquish hope, care, and concern. The more I sink into numbness, the less I care who is culpable. The whole Wifey & Co. feel ruined. I know it is very unfair to shun Wifey for sins committed in a trauma trance. DID is involuntary. Yet, her issues are a jinx now that I am surpassing our old life. The very toxicities Wifey healed in me remain her alters’ addiction. Now they’re in nasty withdrawal, desperate for any ‘drug’.
For the first time ever, divorce is drifting through my thoughts. I keep wondering, do I treat these events as a growth opportunity for her, or grounds for divorce? I want to reconcile, but should I? I’m burned out. She’s constant trouble. I feel ready to bail. And honestly, I feel unsafe.
Like my grandmother, my wife let me fly again before shooting me down. I barely began grieving narcissistic abuses and am scared of her containing grandma energy. The no-contact I implemented seems pointless—that Narc lives in my wife anyways. She even has the same power to crush me to dust, only stronger. My wife is my biggest weakness. I abhor weakness, thus I am abhorring her. I also detest the oppression of tiptoeing, compromising, and obliging alter whims at the expense of serious plans—JUST LIKE WITH MY GRANDMOTHER.
Then again, I can’t fathom living after a divorce. Wifey loves Celine Dion and we are the epitome of that duet I Hate You Then I Love You. The lyrics “It’s impossible to live with you, but I could never live without you, for whatever you do, I never never never want to be in Love with anyone but you” still rings true.
The Spouse Slot in my heart was formed in my wife’s shape and for her Essence alone. I can’t accept any other. If I was the dead guy in What Dreams May Come (one of our favourite films), I would definitely traverse the afterlife to save my wife no matter how broken she is. Existence in any world is meaningless without her.
We overcame worse hells than cheating. Why would I abandon Wifey when she is in desperate need of protection!? We live by the quote: “A perfect marriage is two imperfect people refusing to give up on each other.” In my belief, we are Twin Flames, and Wifey is definitely my Ideal Woman: demure, dreamy, melancholic, full of mischief and poetry. She saved my life. She redeemed me. We are supposed to grow old and go to Eternity together. Why would I give up on a lifelong mate over trauma!?
It seems that I am losing interest. This necrosis spurs the desire to amputate, while the increasing loss of exclusivity is repellent. For years I unquestioningly believed that she’s incapable of desiring anyone but me. Now my ownership feels diluted, invalidated, defeated. Several guy’s marks are all over her and nothing scrubs them off. Her intrusive memories of affairs even obstruct our intimacy!!!!! It is slammed into my face constantly—she is no longer ONLY MINE. That triggers a kneejerk aversion to others’ territory, which she now is.
After decades of impassioned Gomez & Morticia-style romance, I have no clue if I even Love her anymore. Something feels extinguished between us. There is a loss of respect—for the first time, my wife’s worth has fallen in my eyes. I saw her defile every renewed vow. It’s burned into me: she is substandard. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. My beloved is suffering. Why am I on the verge of abandoning her!?
MY WIFE’S PERSPECTIVE
Wifey insists that she deserves patience as she tackles her trauma. Is Wifey right? I am going to copy/paste that text message from her here. Only fair to include both sides.
“Mon Amour, before you sink too deep with ghastly divorce ideas, may I please remind you one thing? I had infinite patience while you wrestled with your demons…I sacrificed myself to my depths for your healing and stayed even when I should have fled. You bemoan loss of trust online while I lived many years never feeling safe to trust you face to face!!!!!! But I never gave up on Love and the amazing man I saw beneath your shadows…my Ideal Man you have now become!
My alters twist and blur my thoughts dreadfully until I forget everything I have now…but they are NOT ME. You also were not yourself when you were lost…I fought so much to free you from problems and I would pray not to be abandoned when my own problems catch up with me…no one can heal their distortions overnight. “In sickness and in health” hm? I am sick. Why throw me away now? I do not feel this is very fair no matter how utterly loathsome my own actions…you know I shall always regret succumbing again. Alters aside I should have been proactive when I still had control and listened to Mama and even Mods warning me to turn off DMs when I signed up. I overestimated myself and now I pay many prices for my idiocy.
You do good job punishing me with ice already…I beg you be merciful enough to stay while I cleanse…please…we are like in the Destino animation…meant to be together but lost among shifting sands and obstacles trying to separate us…please do not forget Our Destiny of Love…remember, we don’t say goodbye…J’taime Éternellement!!”
CLOSING QUESTIONS
How do I cure the disenchantment / indifference? If I decide to stay, how do we rebuild when we lack solid rubble for a new reconstruction? How do I stop her restlessness to cheat? Is my wife getting exploited similarly to a drunk woman or is she culpable for her cheating? Am I the real failure here? Is this worth fighting for? Am I the real failure here?
TL;DR: Our Marriage is plagued by a shared abusive childhood, wife’s DID in particular. In 2022 an online predator reactivated her trauma programs through sexting. The fortified issues were never resolved, thus her alters cheated again once new predators DMed her in 2023. I hit my tolerance limit and something extinguished between us. I need advice on how to help my wife and rekindle Love.

Overview:
This is a discussion thread for future rules changes that have not yet occurred. These rules changes are currently set to occur on July 1st, however, we may choose to make the changes sooner or later depending on the discussion.
Moderators will be reading through and responding to comments as we can. We’re open to suggestions and making further changes before the rules changes occur. This doesn’t mean we’re going to take every single suggestion, of course, but we’ll take them into consideration.
Thank you to everyone who has participated in the previous discussion — many of the changes below, such as adding artist attribution and allowing Adobe Firefly, are specifically a result of member suggestions.
Overall Rules: Self-Promotion
We’re updating our self-promotion rules to serve two critical functions. First, to protect artists that have had their assets utilized through certain forms of AI content generators without permission, and secondly, to continue to support newbie authors that are just getting started.
To start with, there are two general changes to our self-promotion policies.

• Any author promoting their work using an image post, or including an image in a text post, must provide a link to the artist of that image. This both helps support the author and shows that the author is not using AI generated artwork trained through unethically-sourced data. More on the AI policies below.
• We recognize that our rules changes related to AI generated images could be detrimental to some new authors who cannot afford artwork. While we expect that AI generated artwork will be freely available through ethical data source shortly, during this time window in which it is not available or up to the same standards as other forms of AI, we do not want to put these authors at a significant disadvantage. As a result, we are making the two changes below:

1. Authors who are not monetized (meaning not charging for their work, do not have a Patreon, etc.) may now self-promote twice four week period, rather than once every four weeks. In addition, their necessary participation ratio is reduced to 5:1, rather than the usual 10:1 participation ratio.
2. Authors who are within their first year of monetization (calculated from the launch of their Patreon, launch of their first book, or any other means of monetizing their work) may still promote every two weeks, but must meet the usual 10:1 interaction ratio that established authors do.

New Forms of Support for Artists and Writers

• To help support novice artists further, we are creating a monthly automatically posted artist’s corner thread for artists to advertise their art, if they’re taking commissions, running deals, etc.
• To help support new writers further, in addition to the monthly new author promotion thread (which already exists), we’ll start a monthly writing theory and advice thread for people just getting started to ask questions to the community and veterans.

Overall Rules: AI Art

• Posts specifically to show off AI artwork are disallowed, even if that AI is generated with a program that uses ethical data sources. Not because it's AI, but because it's low-effort content. Memes generated using ethical AI sources are still allowed.
• Promotional posts may not use AI artwork as a part of the promotion unless the AI artwork was created from ethical data sources.
• Stories that include AI artwork generated through non-ethically sourced models may still be promoted as long as non-ethically-sourced images are not included in the promotion.
• If someone sends AI art generated through non-ethically sourced models as reference material to a real artist, then gets real art back, that’s allowed to be used. The real artist should be attributed in the post.
• If someone sends AI art generated through non-ethically sourced models to a real artist to modify (e.g. just fixing hands), that is not currently allowed, as the majority of the image is still using unethical data sources.
• We are still discussing how to handle intermediate cases, like an image that is primarily made by hand, but uses an AI asset generated through non-ethically sourced models in the background. For the time being, this is not generally allowed, but we’re willing to evaluate things on a case-by-case basis.

What's an Ethical Data Source?
In this context, AI trained on ethical data sources means AI trained on content that the AI generator owns, the application creator owns, public domain, or openly licensed works.
For clarity, this means something like Adobe Firefly, which claims to follow these guidelines, is allowed. Things like Midjourney, Dall-E, and Stable Diffusion are trained on data without the permission of their creators, and thus are not allowed.
We are open to alternate models that use ethical data sources, not just Adobe Firefly -- that's simply the best example we're aware of at this time.
Example Cases

• Someone creates a new fanart image for their favorite book using Midjourney and wants to show it off. That is not allowed on this subreddit.
• An author has a book on Royal Road that has an AI cover that was created through Midjourney. The author could not use their cover art to promote it, since Midjourney uses art sources without the permission of the original artists. The author still could promote the book using a text post, non-AI art, or alternative AI art generated through an ethical data source.
• An author has a non-AI cover, but has Midjourney-generated AI art elsewhere in their story. This author would be fine to promote their story normally using the non-AI art, but could not use the Midjourney AI art as a form of promotion.
• An author has a book cover that's created using Adobe Firefly. That author can use this image as a part of their promotion, as Adobe Firefly uses ethical data sources to train their AI generation.

Other Forms of AI Content

• Posting AI-generated writing that uses data sources taken from authors without their permission, such as ChatGPT, is disallowed.
• Posting content written in conjunction with AI that is trained from ethical data sources, such as posting a book written with help from editing software like ProWritingAid, is allowed.
• Posting AI narration of a novel is disallowed, unless the AI voice is generated through ethical sources with the permission of all parties involved. For example, you could only post an AI narration version of Cradle if the AI voice was created from ethical sources, and the AI narration for the story was created with the permission of the creator and license holders (Will Wight and Audible). You’d also have to link to official sources; this still has to follow our standard piracy policy.
• AI translations are generally acceptable to post, as long as the AI was translated with the permission of the original author.
• Other forms of AI generated content follow the same general guidelines as above; basically, AI content that draws from sources without the permission of the original creators is disallowed. AI content that is created from tools trained exclusively on properly licensed work, public domain work, etc. are fine.
• Discussion of AI technology and AI related issues is still fine, as long as it meets our other rules (e.g. no off-topic content).

Resources Discussing AI Art, Legal Cases, and Ethics
These are just a few examples of articles and other sources of information for people who might not be familiar with these topics to look at.
· MIT Tech Review
· Legal Eagle Video on AI
While we’re discussing this here, we’re going to keep discussion on this topic limited to this thread. Any other posts, polls, etc. on the same subject matter will be deleted.

I don't think it's settled in yet for folks that your average terminator squad in space marines does not currently have a way to be resurrected by an apothecary. With the efficiency of 4W models (shields) being brought back to life, I'm stoked.
It remains to be seen if we'll have a stand-a-lone Deathwing Apothecary model or if we'll only be able to take them in the Deathwing Command Squad, but in either case our terminators seem to be particularly durable.
The space marines did have a command squad of their own revealed, but given its comprised of standard company marines, the special weapon limitations/bad loadouts on their version of company character models and the overall squad limit of 5 models it looks like a big dud. On the other hand, we can bring a squad up to 10 terminators with their normal weapon loadouts and the characters-type models inside the unit aren't targetable by precision and have good loadouts in their own right. The potential of also adding a captain or chaplain in terminator model on top of this squad, is also very spicy!
Needless to say, I just wanted to share my hype for the way our Deathwing Terminators are looking in the new edition. Like a lot of folks I was sad that we lost durability and options at the end of 9th, and this looks like a less oppressive (than inner circle) but still really interesting way of making our Terminators more elite and unique compared to your average squad.
What do you all think? Will you be bringing a big squad of 10-man Deathwing Command Squad? Who are you thinking of making lead that unit (Librarian, Captain, Chaplain, etc)?
​

Greetings mythology readers.
Today (June 11 2023) we are officially starting our reading of Homer’s ‘The Iliad’. For those of you who are joining us late or who haven’t decided on a translation please check out my translation guide.
Before I begin, I just want to reiterate that we are taking part in the Reddit API blackout. I provided a more detailed explanation of the situation and how it will impact us here.
We are planning to read ‘The Iliad’ over the course of twelve weeks. Each week we will read two (in one case three) books (aka chapters) a week.
The reading for this week is books 1 and 2. Book 2 of the Iliad is notorious for a having a long list of the names of everyone involved on the Greek side of the war. My advice is that you skim read that section – the important names will show back up in the text (and be listed here). I promise that once we get past the Book 2 name list the action picks up.
Weekly Schedule:
Week 1 - Books 1 & 2 - 17/06/23
Week 2 - Books 3 & 4 - 24/06/23
Week 3 - Books 5 & 6 - 01/07/23
Week 4 - Books 7, 8 & 9 - 08/07/23
Week 5 - Books 10 & 11 - 15/07/23
Week 6 - Books 12 & 13 - 22/07/23
Week 7 - Books 14 & 15 - 29/07/23
Week 8 - Books 16 & 17 - 05/08/23
Week 9 - Books 18 & 19 - 12/08/23
Week 10 - Books 20 & 21 - 19/08/23
Week 11 - Books 22 & 23 - 26/08/23
Week 12 - Books 24 & 25 - 02/09/23
Bonus Week - The Library of Greek Mythology 'Epitome' - 09/09/23
​
Context Behind the War:
The below information is a compilation of events mentioned in the early books of the Iliad as well as some other texts about the backstory. I drew most of this information from my reading of 'Troy' by Stephen Fry last year - a book that is great if you want to know most of the details surrounding the war.

• Helen was born a demi-god, the daughter of a mortal queen Leda and Zeus himself. There is a separate myth surrounding this coupling, but it doesn’t factor in to the story we are about to read. Helen grew up to be the most beautiful mortal in the world. When she reached marriageable age most of the princes/kings of the various Greek kingdoms proposed to marry her. Tensions were running high between all the suitors and Helen’s mortal stepfather, Tyndareus, was worried that no matter who he chose for her a war would break out. For a list of her the official suitors, click here
• Odysseus, a young hero, had come to Helen’s birth kingdom (Sparta) to originally propose to her too, but fell in love with her cousin, Penelope. As he was marrying into the family, he chose to stay on to help with the suitors. At the meeting before Tyndareus chose a husband for Helen Odysseus suggested that all the suitors had to swear an oath on the gods that they would support whoever was chosen as husband and protect his right to Helen should anyone try to ever tear them apart. Everyone swore. Tyndareus gave Helen the chance to chose her own husband and she chose a prince called Menelaus. Menelaus was the brother of the most powerful of the current Greek kings – Agamemnon. Agamemnon (who had also been a suitor) then married Helen’s fully mortal sister, Clytemnestra.
• During a big royal wedding (to which all of the gods were invited) the three main Olympian goddesses – Hera, Athena and Aphrodite – ended up in an argument over who was the most beautiful. Far away in the region of Troy there was a young prince (who was living a shepherd for various reasons) called Paris. For some reason of fate, they decided to bring the question to a mortal man and that man was Paris, who they appeared before. All the goddesses were beautiful to his mortal eyes so it came down to which goddess could bribe him with the greatest desire of his heart. The three goddesses each gave him some good options and he eventually went with Aphrodite’s offer – that he would ‘get’ to marry the most beautiful woman in the world. In fairness to Paris, he was unaware of Helen before Aphrodite showed him her face (which cinched the deal). Though also to be fair – he was a married man with a son so the level of sympathy we have for him is debatable.
• For clarity (though it makes the timeline for things a bit twisty) the wedding taking place was that of Thetis (a sea-nymph and goddess) and Peleus (Argonaut and king of Phthia). Thetis (as will be explained later) was close with Zeus but he couldn't marry her due to a prophecy that said her son would be greater than whoever sired him.
• Paris reconnected with his birth parents and reclaimed his title as a prince of Troy. He eventually travelled to Greece and found Helen. With the help of Aphrodite, he abducted Helen. As you will see in the actual text for the Iliad, Aphrodite held a great amount of sway over Helen’s mind. It is important to note that, at first at least, it appeared that Helen and Paris had fallen in love and run off together.
• Menelaus, who was out on kingly business when Paris arrived on his doorstep, discovered his wife had run off. Both Agamemnon and he invoked the oath made by all of the suitors to go and reclaim Helen. It took some time for them to get all the kings of the smaller kingdoms together but eventually they set off for Troy.
• The story we are about to read commences on the ninth year of the Greek’s siege of Troy. The sides are closely matched which has led to a stalemate for some time. The gods have mostly taken sides by this point. Athena and Hera chose the Greeks out of pettiness, while Aphrodite backed the Trojans due to her involvement with Paris and the existence of her own Trojan son, Aeneas.

​
Important Characters:
Please note that this is a short list and not exhaustive. Where possible, I’ve tried to provide the alternative (archaic Greek) versions of the names, which are used in some translations. If you want a complete list click here

• Helen (of Troy) – Daughter of Zeus and the mortal woman Leda. Sister to Castor and Pollux as well as Clytemnestra. Wife of Menelaus, seduced by Paris.
• Paris (aka Alexandros) – Prince of Troy.
• Priam – King of Troy.
• Hecuba - Queen of Troy
• Agamemnon – leader of the Greek forces, king of Mycenae - of a the line of Atreus (kings descended from Zeus). Basically he is the first among kings for the Greeks.
• Menelaus – (aka Menelaos) the younger son of Atreus. His marriage to Helen made him the king of Sparta. Husband of Helen, brother of Agamemnon. He is known as a great warrior and overall good guy.
• Achilles – (aka Achilleas) the demigod son of Thetis, leader of the Myrmidons and prince of Phthia. Notably, not one of Helen’s suitors: he joined the war under some duress (thanks to Odysseus) and because his mother had given him a prophecy – he could live a long, happy life in anonymity or go to Troy and become the greatest Greek hero of all time (but die there). He chose to be a hero.
• Patroclus – (aka Patroklos) Achilles companion since childhood. He was a warrior in his own right as well as being known as a healer. It is speculated (and likely) that he was Achilles lover.
• Thetis – sea-nymph, minor goddess and Achilles mother. Adding her here because she has important connections to the big gods. Zeus – she supported Zeus during a coup made by Hera, Apollo, Poseidon, and a few of the other Olympians. Zeus was pretty much losing and was captured by his opponents. Thetis freed him, allowing him beat them and to regain his role as king of the gods. He owes her, big time. Hephaestus – Thetis was one of the sea nymphs who saved baby Hephaestus after Hera (his mother) threw him from Olympus. Thetis and her fellow nymphs raised him for some time, until he eventually took up his place as a god and major Olympian. He is very fond of her and owes a debt to her.
• Briseis – a mortal woman taken in a raid of a nearby Trojan town by Achilles. She is held as a slave by the Greeks, originally under Achilles command. She is the woman Achilles and Agamemnon fight over.
• Chryseis – a slave taken from Troy, daughter of a powerful priest of Apollo, Chryses. At the start of the Iliad she is Agamemnon’s slave
• Hector – Priam’s heir and greatest warrior. He fights every single day. Married to Andromache and father of Astyanax.
• Ajax the Greater – (aka Aias) Son of a famous hero/king Telamon and cousin of Achillies. The best fighter (except for Achillies) on the Greek side.
• Ajax the Lessor – (aka Aias). This Ajax was mainly an advisor to Agamemnon.
• Diomedes – (aka Tydides) a young prince and a brilliant fighter. If there is a battle going on, Diomedes is there. Like most of the kings named here he is distantly related to the gods, in this case as the grandson of Oeneus. His father was a big-name hero who died at war.
• Idomeneus – King of Crete and an older but steady fighter and a main advisor of Agamemnon. He most commonly shows up on page with Odysseus.
• Nestor – the oldest fighter on the Greek side, he is a king and a hero in his own right. Was one of the Argonauts and uses his knowledge as a main advisor of Agamemnon. He became king of his kingdom, Pylos, after Heracles killed all his brothers. He is married and has several sons, some of whom fight at Troy. He was not an official suitor of Helen but his son, Antilochus, was so we can assume that this connection led Nestor to Troy.
• Odysseus – king of Ithaca, son of Laertes who was an Argonaut. Odysseus was known for being extremely clever. His genius gave him a huge connection to the goddess Athena. He was a great warrior and one of Agamemnon’s main three advisors.
• Teucer – (aka Teucrus) half-brother to Ajax the Greater, son of Telamon by his second marriage. He regularly teams up with his brother in battle as an archer.
• Aeneas – (aka Aineias) mortal son of Aphrodite and a Trojan prince via a relative of Priam. He gets a cameo in the Iliad, but he is the main character of the Aeneid.
• Antenor – notable Trojan who thinks they should give Helen back to the Greeks.

Breakdown of the Gods:
Please note that both the Greeks and the Trojans worship the Olympian gods.

• Greek side – Athena, Hera, Hephaestus, Poseidon, Hermes, and Thetis.
• Trojan side – Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Leto, Xanthus (river god of the Scamander (the river outside Troy)).
• Neutral – Zeus and Hades.

Miscellaneous Terms:

• Alternative names for the Greeks - Achaeans alternative spelling: Achaian. The Greeks are also often referred to as the Myceneans or Argives
• Alternative names for Troy/the Trojans - Troy is actually a city in the country of Ilion (or Ilium in Romanized translations). The Trojans are mostly referred by the name of 'Trojans' but are occasionally referred to as Dardanians or Illyrians (though these last two names can also refer to ethnically different groups as well were from the larger country of Ilion but not Troy itself)

[F4F] Novella style RP for WLW
Hey, come with a plot idea or inkling. I'll help collaborate with the plot idea, but having to brainstorm a plot with y'all is like pulling teeth. also please stop sending me dms asking if i'm still looking- just assume! I'm looking for a novella-style RP please!
SEND ME A SAMPLE FIRST.
I'm looking for an adv. literate roleplay involving my favorite trope: enemies to lovers! I just love characters who both loathe and reluctantly admire each other. I want them to be abrasive and even terrible to each other in the beginning and fall in love and ultimately get a bit of some softness as the roleplay progresses. I don't want your sweet, cinnamon roll romance. Give me a female character who is trying to decide if she wants to kiss or kill my character. No cutesy, weak women characters. Scheming femme fatales are one of my favorite types of women.
I also really love age and class differences associated with our characters. I'm a sucker for an older woman characters who drink expensive bourbon cocktail parties and having to deal with a rather inexperienced and impulsive street kid for example.
I am an advanced literate woman who wants some good characters and good writing (I generally write 3-5 paragraphs). I have years of experience and I want someone who is willing to plan and be active (make up side characters without asking input, make up lore, help plan and push the plot along). I'm very much a planning person and would prefer lot of OOC back and forth.
Additionally, I only roleplay over Discord and in 3rd Person. I will ask for a sample! Do not be offended.
I'm only searching for FxF.
Pitch me your plot but note that I despise Slice of Life and anything Realistic. Usually fantasy (I prefer low), historical, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, etc.
Pitch me a plot!
Craving a Witcher RP or a Witcher Inspired RP

1. WitcheWitcher (Two monster hunters from different schools fall in love?)
2. WitcheSorceress (A witcher and a powerful sorceress work together to kill a king?)

Craving an Assassin Creed RP

1. Like the Odyssey/Valhalla/Ezio Trilogy Setting (OC's only)

Craving a On a Leash RP

1. Super niche, but if you read the manga, hit me up >_>

Craving a Wild West RP

1. A certain lady of the night and a gunslinger having to protect the town from a rival gang

Craving a Grey's Anatomy-esque RP

1. Two rival doctors who kinda hate each other but are also kinda attracted to each other

Craving a cyberpunk RP

1. A corpo and a street kid have to figure out how to pull an impossible heist

Craving a lycan x vampire Plot! (I want to be a lycan!)

1. An awkward blind date leads to something more.

Craving a weird Dark Souls/Elden Ring/Bloodborne/From Software RP

1. Basically a demi-god character that has to face a lone mortal many, many times because the mortal can resurrect.

Fallout New Vegas

1. Two NCR rangers - bitter rivals- find themselves fighting a common enemy.

Dragon Age

1. Orlesian Knight x Fereldan Knight during the Orlesian occupation
2. Dalish Warden x Human Noble Warden
3. Mage x Templar
4. Fem! Cullen x Warden or Inquisitor
5. Fem! Solas x Inquisitor
6. Pitch me a plot

Craving an ASOIAF plot

1. A princess x hedge knight?

I'm also into F! Canon x OC especially for any movies/games/or anything- an AU! of a plot

1. F! Rick O' Conner x Evie
2. Fem! Anakin Skywalker x Padme

I need your advice! (23m&55m)
Before I get into it, I hope you can upvote and comment so hopefully you guys will help me make up my mind...So here is some info before I get into it,, I 23 male and my partner 55male have been dating for 2 years now, we have had our ups and downs, times when we took breaks etc...and not to forget to mention: 1-we are from a third world country in which homosexuality is a sin and you can even get punished by law! .. 2- my partner is mostly straight! He had been with guys when he was younger, but he described it as just being very young and horny! I'm basically the first guy he has ever dated... despite him almost being straight he started making moves on me as we were just friends before etc.. 3- he had truly fallen in love with a girl 5-6 years ago,he was mad about her and they dated until 4 years ago ,, thats when few months before their wedding he found out she is cheating on him... It made him depressed, lost his job etc... About one year and half afterwards we met and became friends... After 6 months I could tell that he was into me and was obviously flirting with me, It was not long till we started dating... For the past 2 years I have been waiting for him to say 3 simple words... Which is ( I love you)! Even tho I remind him and tell him I love him on daily bases, or sometimes call him just to hear his voice,, I have been trying my absolute best to help and fix the damage she had done to him. I have surely seen improvement but to be honest it's becoming tiring! Constantly and unconditionally showing love and not receiving much in return. Even when I say ( I love you) , he either says thank you or laughs and says (and I hate you) anyhow I understand it's hard for him to say these words after what happened to him and he is just trying to protect himself. But I believe 2 years of constantly being a loving boyfriend is enough for someone to build up the courage to say these 3 simple words and he knows how much it means to me .... And another hard pill to swallow is knowing he how he treated her like a queen and how much he loved her, and how emotionally available he was with her and I don't see 1/10th of that when it comes to me... Keep in mind I'm absolutely in love with and also want the best for him.. with him acting that way I'm starting to believe I'm not the one for him. Could it be that he is still uncomfortable with his sexuality and it's a hard pill for him to swallow as homosexuality is the biggest taboo here!? He has told me that he would have never imagined he would feel this way about a guy... What should I do? I'm happy to provide more context if needed

Hi all,
I've been googling around this afternoon and can't find a page/statement (or pdf would be better) on google.com stating the standard manufacturers 1 year warranty for a Pixel 5.
My phone became really hot a few days ago and the screen separated from the body of the phone, slightly bowed outwards on one long edge and seems to have a swollen battery. I can get this repaired by a local phone repair shop with a good reputation via my credit card extended warranty, but they require I upload the manufactures warranty which I didn't keep, if it was in the box.
Thanks!

Tl;dr The good: Electronics are well protected. The housing is good and attaches to the rifle well. The laser is pretty powerful. About as bright as a real peq15. The laser is focused well.
The bad: The lasers became unaligned after using it on a 7.62x51 HK91.
Unit came fast and was cheap. It's survived a year of beatings including being run over. It's been wet, cold, hot and neglected. The laser never lost zero.
The initial testing involved zeroing the green laser at dusk then checking the IR laser. The IR laser was spot on. That night I fired a few hundred rounds of m855 with it. No problems to report.
Over the following months the unit ended up having somewhere north of 10,000 rounds of m855 being fired with it on various rifles. It managed to survive about 2000 rounds of full auto fire.
Suppressed or unsuppressed. The unit never had any trouble.
It was shot several dozen times in the rain. It's been dropped in the mud. Spent days being sprayed salt water on a boat. It was run over by a F-250 on hard packed soil once by mistake.
At this point I thought the unit was surely on its last legs and proceeded to fire another 500 rounds full auto with it. After all it was a $150 Chinese unit and it had been through so much at this point.
Unsurprisingly it was still fine. I threw it onto the HK91 for it's final beating. Known for popping lens out of even good quality optics HKs have a violent recoil cycle.
After the first hundred rounds of 7.62x51 the lasers were beginning to misalign. After 500 rounds the alignment was about a 16 inch divergence at 10 feet.
Both lasers still worked. After rezeroing the IR laser it still held zero. It appears the laser diodes moved in the plate that moves to adjust the zero.
Overall it appears to be a well made unit considering the price. It's still in service on a rifle and still being fired although only the IR laser is zeroed now all the controls work fine.
With a sample size of one I can't comment on all the units. Did I get a uniquely good one from thousands of units? Possibly. But at a tenth of the cost it's likely worth the gamble. On the inverse of the coin is the chance I got a standard unit with nothing special about it. Maybe it's luck of the draw or maybe there's a warehouse with thousands of good units waiting to be bought.

The Zion Class Fast Aircraft Carrier
The culmination of eighty years of Israeli ambition, dedication and progress. The Zion Class Fast Aircraft Carrier is a new class of modern fast aircraft carriers to serve the needs of smaller navies and serve a more tactical rather than strategical role. It aims to redefine modern aircraft carriers, and create a new class variant of aircraft carriers, to be designated as "fast aircraft carriers". Carriers with a smaller aircraft load, but with the ability to quickly deploy out on operations as needed. It is specifically also designed for navies that may also not have a need for an ordinary aircraft carrier.
This carrier has been identified by the Israeli Defence Forces as crucial for the protection of Israeli gas and oil fields currently being developed in the Mediterranean.
Project Noah's Sacrifice (named after Noah of the Ark. Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9) is a joint Israeli-Franco-Polish project encompassing the best that each nation has to offer. It is designated to be built in the Gdańsk Shipyard (formerly Vladimir Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk) (due to the reduced labour cost in Poland vs France or Israel) and the first of its class will be ready for 2038 and will enter service with the Israeli Navy as the INS Shimon Peres (named after Polish-born former Israeli Prime Minister) with a second entering operation with the Polish Navy (naming convention left to the Poles). If France wishes to pursue construction, then they will also be welcome to use the design, as this is a joint project.
The Zion Class will have a full load displacement of 40,000 tonnes. It shall be 209 metres long, and have an overall beam of 73 metres, and a draught of 11 metres. The ship itself shall have 8 decks (one less than ordinary) beneath the flight deck and an overall deck space of 14,000 meters squared.
The Zion shall operate two proprietary pressurized water nuclear reactor developed jointly by the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center and Areva, based on the Areva K series of PWRs. Each should generate 200 MWt. The Zion shall also operate steam turbines as a backup power source with a total 70 MWt of shaft power. This should allow the Zion to travel at a speed of 34 knots maximum.
In terms of armament, the Zion shall be equipped with 16 vertical cells for the Barak-8 surface-to-air missiles (with the option to be easily refitted with future variants of the Barak) dispersed around the carrier, four Typhoon Weapon Stations on all four corners of the ship, 14 cells for the C-Dome (Naval Iron Dome) point defense system, 8 Gabriel V anti ship missiles. It shall also be installed with the SLAT (Système de lutte anti-torpille) torpedo countermeasures system.
The Zion shall be fitted with the EL/M-2248 MF-STAR AESA radar which is a multifunction solid state Active electronically scanned array radar developed for a new generation of naval platforms. The radar employs multi-beam and pulse Doppler techniques as-well-as effective electronic counter-countermeasures techniques to extract low radar cross-section targets from complex clutter and jamming environments. It is a lightweight system and therefore will reduce overall weight leading to greater mobility.
In terms of electronic warfare, the Zion shall be equipped with the new Scorpius electronic warfare system designed to counter and disrupt the communications and radar of UAVs, ships, missiles and more.
The Zion shall have the capacity for 20 F-35s (or variants thereof) along with three medium helicopters. An EMALS CATOBAR system shall be developed (through France) as is planned for their new large-scale aircraft carrier, and implemented on the Zion. Israel will ask the US for permission to use the Advanced Arresting Gear system as well. The EMALS CATOBAR, along with the AAG, will allow for a reduced runway, and will allow for the F-35I "Adir" to operate on the Zion.
The carrier shall have a crew component of 1600, along with the option to hold 200 marine infantry/special forces personnel during missions. Due to the nuclear-powered systems, the carrier shall have an unlimited range, although supplies will limit it to active operations of 55 days out of port.
The Zion Class shall cost a total of $13.3 billion in developmental costs, split on a 46-38-16 basis (Israel/Poland/France), with a per unit price of 5 billion USD. Costs will be split over 11 years.

A few times on this subreddit, I've tried to make the argument that the US should've gone to war with Russia in defense of Ukraine. The responses are overwhelmingly negative. People argue either that the risk of nuclear war is too great and/or that the US would take too much damage. If that's the case, what's the point of the US military and NATO?
The US spends about $800 billion a year on defense, which is about 3.5% of GDP. Most developed countries spend about 1-2% of GDP on defense, so the US makes defense a major priority. It has state-of-the-art aircraft carriers, submarines and fighter jets. It's projected that, for the F-35 in particular, we'll spend $1.6 trillion over the course of its lifespan.
We don't need to spend this much to either: (1) protect the borders with Canada and Mexico or (2) go to war with Third World countries. There are two ways to explain US defense spending. Either there's a corrupt military-industrial complex that entices the government to spend inordinate amounts of money needlessly, or the US is prepared to go to war with the world's largest authoritarian states (i.e., Russia and China). If the US is prepared to go to war with Russia, what would be a better time than now?
There's also NATO. Under Article 5, the US is obliged to go to war in defense of NATO countries if Russia attacks. Three NATO countries share a border with Russia: Finland, Estonia and Latvia. All of the arguments that people make against fighting for Ukraine could obviously be made against the US fighting for Estonia. And the argument that we should defend Estonia but not Ukraine because of a treaty is clearly superficial and post hoc. Why would a US-Estonia treaty deter Russia from using nuclear weapons?
Russia will always have nuclear weapons, so if that's the strongest argument against fighting it, then the conclusion is that we should never go to war with Russia under any circumstances. Maybe that's the case. But if so, take apart the carriers and submarines, and sell the scrap metal because they're a waste of money. If that's not the case, then we've invested all of this money in advanced military technology whose purpose is to confront Russia. Russia has invaded a country of 40 million, thousands have died in the process and millions have been displaced. When would there ever be a better time to confront Russia?

Some background info: i am 27 and he is 24 and in military, does cybersecurity stuff. hes in a different state from me right now until september and then it depends on where they order him to move. contract ends in four years and plans to leave then. he cant use his phone during work hours too.
He has had two serious relationships. He was cheated on in both. He told me he doesn't want to do long distance.
While we were hanging out, I asked 'him what is the point of this if you don't want to do long distance?' he said well because there's a super high chance they'll be relocating me here so then we'll be in the same place and be able to work through this. But he doesn't want to do long distance because 1. he is a bad texter and 2. he tried it once and he really got hurt over it (cheated on). so for him, that is now his boundary--we have to be in the same vicinity.
He said it is easy for him to detach himself from other people because he moves around so much. Like he has gotten so good at ghosting people. I asked him why? He said it's a def mechanism--like if he's constantly moving because of the military, he'll get hurt when he establishes ties that are too close. friend or relationship does not matter. He told me when someone starts caring about him, then it scares him because then he starts caring about them and that essentially ruins his ability to protect himself. I told him well since you don't like getting close to people, I don't want to get too emotionally invested in you because it's just going to hurt me in the end. He said 'well, yes but if I move back here, then we would be able to probably work it out'
He was on a boys trip and I was going to work--none of us thought we would meet one another and connect the way we did. He told me i threw wrenches into everything and bringing up all these emotions of his. And now he's just overthinking it all and doing all these calcs in his head to see what the probability of this working out is. He was like why did I meet you because now you've also set the standard so high and I'm going to compare every girl to you
I think this situation really caught him off guard and now he doesn't know how to deal with these feelings
I don't know what to do because assuming he moves back to my state(90% chance but 10% chance he'll be sent to Germany), we are still going to be two hours away from one another. And as a result, that is still sort of long distance. And if he isn't able to have that constant communication over text or call right now...when he is all the way in a different state...isn't that just proof that even when he is back in the same state, long distance still wouldn't work out?
We would only be able to see one another on weekends. If he can't make me a priority right now and doesn't want to do long distance, then doesn't it just show that it isn't going to work even when he relocates to the same state as me?
Is it fair for me to have expectations regarding communication with him? Especially since he and I aren’t even dating and made it clear that we’re not bound to one another and it’s perfectly okay to meet someone new during the time he is away.

The "R Mika is a bad character design" bandwagon never fails to disappoint. It's fucking Street Fighter. There is a green guy with electricity powers. He doesn't even electrocute you, he electrocutes his fucking self first and then you second. And you know what we did in the 90s? We shrugged our shoulders and nodded at each other, "Oh shucks! Capcom is so wacky!" What will they think of next? They thought of a 7 foot tall Mexican and then they took a lunch break for 3 months and decided that thinking of new characters for Street Fighter was hard work for a pre-globalized world with fair wages. Let's see, we can make a game in one year that pulls enough profit to pay for each employee that worked on this for....let me get my calculator out, that's 5 million dollars per person here at Capcom. Ahhhhhh just steal Bruce Lee and keep the money. And Fei Long was and is loved, for no reason, really. Back then, you could take risks on retarded ideas and people would still love you. Think about it - the fact that someone went to a board meeting, just got done making a sketch of Ryu, and another man spoke up and said said "Okay, and then we make an Indian guy with stretchy legs." And they did. And despite Indians having no cultural relevance to stretchy legs, or fuck, cultural relevance in fighting or games in general? We have Dhalsim. Are we better for it? Yes, he adds something to the game and because it was the 90s, it wasn't for diversity or hashtags, it was just because some idiots in Japan were not ashamed that they didn't know anything about India. They had no ideas then and they still released a Street Fighter every year because it was profitable. R Mika is a Dostoevsky character compared to T Hawk. They put Street Fighter on every system. They put it on a system with only 3 fucking buttons that couldn't produce anything that sounded human and told you to buy a controller for their game, and then told you to fuck off, No more street fighter games, and sorry about the controller you had to buy to play our game. Oh and all the characters sound like they have cystic fibrosis on the Genesis version, too. Look that up in Encarta. Games made money with no problem: For christ sake, they released a game where you needed to buy another game just to make the first game work - and it was a flagship Sonic game for $70 bucks...and it MADE money. Sonic and Knuckles was an extortion project, not a videogame. It didn't make "Uhh this game is successful, but we can't fund a sequel by ourselves" successful, it was "Let's put this faggot in a game about Pinball because Pinball rhymes with Spinball, a word we just made up." successful. The 90s were a time when you could make shit up without risk. You could fail at everything in life and still get a job in middle management making a good income. If Sonic Spinball could be made un-ironically, then so can your salary. Now kids without STEM degrees are called worthless by job-secure 59 year olds in hiring HR. "Look, I don't think you're qualified for this job, Microsoft Excel can be very daunting. 900 people are competing for this job, and I found 500 math PhDs in Bangladesh who are willing to do the work over Skype. "It says here you have a degree in History: I had a degree in history too, art history - it's just like regular history only less. Fuck you." So part of our interview is to figure out a way for me to justify why I can work here and why you can't - which is hard because, keep in mind, I have some brown people that will work over Gmail and pay for their own long-distance Skype credit, which saves me about 99% of an otherwise healthy worker's salary per year. A few questions: Do you have a math PhD? No? Do you have the motivation to work under pressure..hold on i'm not done...Do you have the motivation to work under pressure even if you're being paid in circus peanuts? It's not looking good for you. What makes you think you're in demand in a capitalist system that appraises your worth based on whether or not you can do a job better than poor people with the internet? Let me reiterate, I have a degree in art history - why should I hire someone that basically is just me + all other history? How do you think we stay competitive in the marketplace if we have people like me who have a degree in Peter Rabbit Illustration and don't seek out the absolute most unfortunate people with the best credentials? I have a guy with a math PhD from Nigeria that cleans our toilets remotely from a computer. What he doesn't know is that I piss all over the toilet seat on purpose. I literally just piss all over the toilet seat just to tell a black man to clean up my refuse, and godamnit if I will give back what Capitalism gave me just so I can go back to pissing vanilla-style. I work long-dick style from now on and I ain't going back to vanilla style. I can piss and shit anywhere I want and a black man controlling a robot will always be not that far behind me, remind me again why I'm not the richest man in the world? The economy has evolved - workers that used to use Excel 2005, now need to know Excel 2015 at this company - ...Excel 2005 was easy for liberal arts majors, but 2015? Much easier, actually. ..it's actually way easier for just about anyone to do work these days...and because of that, my piss gets cleaned by robots. Anyone can do this job and everyone needs it, hence piss robots. Only got one piss-robot but a long line of workers looking to pilot it. Poor people clean piss like it's their last day on earth...and if you piss as much as I do, they're spending their last day on earth a lot of times a day. It's Groundhog Piss day for these guys, and I am the groundhog. If some brown kid can convince me that I can call him racial slurs AND sign a non-disclosure agreement about said racial slurs, AND that he can get work done through GChat? Let's use the Groundhog Day analogy again..Name the only cool person older than 50. Bill Murray. I'm Bill Murray the Groundhog, baby. Devalue, debase, and reduce every last thing on this earth in the name of efficient markets and if you get to the end, you're Bill Murray. That's some economics they don't teach you in school. Welcome to the big leagues. I want a candidate that knows how economics works - not some socialist that reduces our competitive advantage in the world. We use Microsoft fucking Excel here. This isn't a fucking game. Microsoft Excel is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, and I'm still doing it 20 years later..it's practically the only thing I've done at this job for the past 20 years. The efficiency of being able to rename a servile little indian boy a SandNog on GChat in the same interface that I receive his work in and I get to pay him in beach shells? Uhh someone get me off the this gravy train because my goose is cooked and papa is ready to eat. That is why I voted Ron Paul - papa wants to eat. If the Efficient markets have worked themselves out to the point where I can call a desperate brown kid a sandnigger and get work that is more efficient and productive for it then we've won. Tell me what the difference is between a sandnigger that does good work and a white person that does good work? I'll give you a hint: If I can't call either of them sandniggers, there is no difference. Okay that wasn't a hint, that was the answer and I'm giving it to you long dick style. There are so many people from countries that I don't respect waiting to be hired... I'll eventually get to a Sophie's Choice situation - "Do I pick this guy who doesn't mind that I call him a CamelBoo (Jigaboo+Camel) or do I pick the white guy? Hold on with the Street Fighter and R Mika shit, I'm talking to you about economics - fucking always with the videogames, these kids. I pick the CamelBoo because Papa wants to eat. When I was your age, I could afford a car in 5 months on overtime pay alone, but I'm saving money on the fact that Banglor speaks a language that doesn't have a word for "Overtime". I want a payroll tax exemption for making him a non-salaried subcontractor, and he wants to understand why I keep asking for "More Clocks" in Google Translate. It's because your country is too poor to have a word that means getting more money at your discretion. It's a superfluous word for you. Of course you want overtime - that's like having four different words for "chicken wings". Of course I want to have the edible kind of chicken wings - I'm so rarely going to speak about a chicken's wings in the context of anything but fried chicken, the word is not necessary. Did you know that both Pakistan and the US don't have a word that represents the low-level humiliation of manning a robot that cleans my piss all day? Was there a word for the feeling of cool satisfaction that a man got from a nice shoe shine an affable and willing negro gave to man in Birmingham in the 1930s? No, but that shoe got polished. And so shall the toilet seat. That's a lot of math PhDs, that are literally just waiting to be called a nigger by me - a guy that still asks his employees to help him "log on the dotcoms" to check my aol email account. The real injustice is not that I continue to use AOL 3.0 like a security blanket, but that if a competing company is not filled with people like me I have to get more wizkid brown nerds to make up for it. I am a liability and yet I steer this ship away from the iceberg. I am the emperor with no clothes. I must bear the burden of the nakedness I have resolved to live in. I am exposed. And you are blaming me for spilling a little pee-pee or, god forbid, soaking the entire bathroom at work every 20 to 30 minutes? Even Jesus had to go to the bathroom when he was on the cross for 3 days. You think he just held it in because he was embarassed? Do you hold me to a higher standard than Jesus? It's a highly pissable bathroom and I'm a highly pissable man. That is my only sin. You think you have it tough because you can't get a job? I have to call 9000 kids named Rameen and sometimes I can't even make it to the end of the phone call to get to the part where I unapologetically make racial jokes that they don't understand. I called this one guy a SandySpook - you know, like the Sandy Hook shooting. I called him an entire massacre. SandySpook this, SandySpook that. I even got frustrated that he wasn't feeling shitty about himself, so I got obvious about it and started calling him "Dead Children". I literally called the guy Dead Children. He only started to notice that I was called him different things when I accidentally referred to him as "Dead Kids". If he had a problem with it, I got 8999 others who are willing to play part to their own degradation and abuse. I didn't make the rules of capitalism - if someone will clean up my piss by remotely controlling a robot for 5 cents an hour - do you get mad at the piss? No, you get mad at the toilet for being so pissable. Then you get mad at the entire bathroom for getting piss all over it. But do you blame the pisser or the piss-ee? No, he must piss. And maybe he doesn't have to piss all over the place, but who cares who has to clean up my piss if it isn't me? Were we talking about Street Fighter? Yes people were retarded and retarded people were a valuable part of the gaming economy. It was a good thing because we got interesting shit from retards. Retards with money are as useful as Investment Banks, they don't make anything to give the world, but they give their money to someone else that does and then the government has to give them welfare because they shit their pants too much. But it wasn't just retards that shit their panties... when UMVC3 was released so soon, people went apeshit. Maybe they didn't get the memo that that's how buying shit works. You are supposed to buy shit that you like and then it and things like it gets made again. You're not supposed to not buy shit that you like. Even fucking retard in the 90s knew that. There are indie games and then there are triple A games - the mid-tier games don't exist anymore, and 1 or 2 AAA games are all some studios budget out. The mid-tier is gone now. In the 90s, Capcom made SF2 for SNES and then they made SF2 for the Amiga. Is that really that crazy? Imagine being a Capcom employee in the 90s and you're coming back from your lunchbreak, which was a few days longer than you expected, in Italy, and you knew that you could make a profit by putting your game on a system that nobody has anyway - those SF2 devs had so much money that they didn't know what to do with: they literally did not know what to do with it. They made an Amiga SF2, an Atari SF2, a Commodore 64 SF2 - then they made some more SF2s, then they got millions of dollars for it. To this day, nobody knows what an Amiga is, yet they still pulled a profit on just the people that bought Amiga by accident. That's the 90s in a nutshell, you can make whatever you want because and you can make a profit from people that buy your shit by accident, and if you can't, you really had nothing to offer anyone. Buy more shares of Pets.com, it's 1997. Rocks.com and BagofEmptyAir.com are booming in the futures market. IT's the 90s and everything is great. This gravy train will never end." A few friends made Doom in a garage in a few months, and the economy had to start paying them in pussy because the dollars were all being used up. John Carmack was literally paid in stinky pussy for a few years. And this is why half of the 29+ year olds thought "Rai-You" says "Dookan" btw - nobody cared that Street Fighter sounded like shit, calculators were powered by lemons like 5 years before SF and you could make money investing in an internet company that sold ugly milk. There was a market for people that wanted to buy milk that was ugly. It was the 90s. You could make money just combining shit for no reason. In the 80s, Marketing scored it big by combining raisins and smokey black jazz musicians. To reiterate, they gave raisins blackface, and then told you that they go in your mouth, and ugh it was just gross - and back in the 80s, black people weren't useful or well-liked by white people until Social Networking, so really, the California Raisins were 0 for 0. Huge success. The 90s made Pogs successful. Pogs combined cardboard with itself to make garbage. And it was a phenomenon. You can't afford to make Street Fighter V in 2015, but we figured out a way to make people trade circles with value called money for circles of trash called cardboard, and then they sold us containers for that trash too: and nobody thought, hey isn't this Pogtainer a minitrash can? Did they sell me a mini trash can and call it a Pogtainer? Nobody just stopped and said, "Am I sure this isn't just a little trash can for cardboard?" for at least 4 years. People played with cardboard circles for longer than they played Street Fighter X Tekken, get your head in the game, Capcom. ...you can't afford to make your flagship fighting game. That's a problem. Just fucking scale back the technology already and make profitable games again. Games are too fucking expensive to make. Next gen is a disaster. It's unsustainable, just let it die. Start from scratch, bring back Lycos, pogs, ace of base, jell pens, and every other 90s codeword for trash because as soon as we start giving garbage value, so too will we get back to giving value to actual things. The commodification of capitalism was supposed to be scary because of the fear that we'll pump out shitty things that would sell. It's much scarier than that. We pump out shitty things that don't sell, and there are 9000 people waiting in line to do it, anyway. 9000 Bangladeshis working over the internet. 9000 people who work a day job on Reddit and Wikipedia, 9000 experts with LifeHack blogs stealing the same idea about saving money on shaving cream ortelling you why it's bad to shampoo your hair, 9000 girls who realize that they're not pretty enough to get paid to be naked unless they get cum in their mouth, the list goes on. In the 90s, If you waited 6 months, a computer three times more powerful came out, and internet speeds doubled - now instead of new computers, we look forward to pornstars that may or may not swallow cum. The innovation and progress of capitalism is truly upon us. We don't dare to wonder about things like space exploration as we stand in front of a threshold of doubt and a frontier unknown and take a step anyway. If we can't make spaceships, or find gratification in the grandiosity of an intrinsic sense of coming closer to something bigger than yourself, then just give me the porn. Everything is free, and if it's not, keep checking bittorrent, because it's probably fucking free. We forgot how to love, and when we see girls that love cum, we start to wonder and believe that we can love again, too. I'm not a homo, but that cum makes me feel things. And even if I was, she can guzzle cum like an Irishman at a swim-meet, i'll never love cum like that, not no way, not no how, not like that...and she does it for almost free, depending on how ugly she is. That's love. That's what I felt like the first time I played SFII - it kills me to know that the best times are behind me, and the closest I was to ever getting to experiencing what the true love of a mouthful of cum is like was when I was a supple, young child of 8. Things changed quickly because development costs were lower and shit was insanely expensive - Hardware and software was much more expensive than it is now - people paid $70 to $80 in 1990 dollars. That's crazy. People just threw money everywhere. There were companies that helped people sell things on Ebay, and they made a living. You can't even make a living on ebay selling things yourself. And the stockmarket proved that pyramid schemes could make you profitable - as long as someone that wasn't you had the shares of the hyper-inflated startup that tanked, it didn't matter that you made $50,000 buying options in a company that sells candy for raccoons, that's 50,000 shares someone who isn't me is stuck with. Chuck ROck 2 being $70 in 90s dollars makes a lot more sense now that people are burning money and raccoons have lollipops in their mouth, doesn't it? Square could justify selling a Final Fantasy game on a TI-83 calculator and still pull a profit. When a developer said "Jump" to a publisher for funding, they asked "How high?" right after "Are there at least 20 fat kids that are interested in buying this game to cover the entire budget?" Some of the most unlikeable, unfocus-tested, bullshit could make money because kids had grandparents. Nobody buys shit by accident and keeps it anymore, they'll argue on Apple tech support to get a refund for their 2.99 phone game. Why would you pay 60 bucks for a game with a caveman in it - they have never been able to make Cavemen likeable. But the 90s could try Encino Man, Chuck Rock, Joe and Mac, Flintstones, Adventure Island, Tomba... movies and games etc - what changed? Cave Men sure as fuck didn't - they literally sold Cave Man games to people and made a profit, now nobody wants to play cave man games? Fuck out of here. Cave Man games didn't change. People just don't want to waste their money playing as a Cave Man and they're willing to return the game and admit that they bought a game to play as someone stupider than they are. We can try to make the cave man cool, we can get Brendon Frasier, we can give them dinosaurs to ride on - no, like we have the internet now, nobody wants to play as a fucking cave man, not even by accident anymore. We're done. Nobody has made a cave man game since the 90s. Steam has a no-return policy and nobody so people will make sure they don't buy cave man games. There are no cave men in League of Legends or Dota. There are no Caveman in fucking any game that anyone likes. Would you rather live in an era where you could make money making things nobody likes and other things people like, or begging Capcom to look under the couch for development money for their most famous game that people already like. We had a market that was able to sustain CaveMan games being sold for 140 inflation adjusted dollars sounds bad, but let me tell you, Chuck Rock sold enough to get a Chuck Rock 2...on the Amiga, Amiga CD32, Sega Game Gear, Sega Mega-CD, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. Try to sell me Chuck Rock 2 in 2015, I dare you. I fucking double dog dare you. Kickstarter's incentive system better find a way to account for sloppy, almost blasphemous blowjobs, if they want to sell Chuck Rock in 2015. Pile of shit. Novelty was everywhere because innovation was highly rewarded in a society that valued things. You open up a magazine and see new games all the time: "What's this? Samurai Showdown? That's different." Nevermind that I have to go to the arcade and pay enough quarters to hear what Ryu says clearly, look at all these games we're getting. Now that people can understand what Ryu says at home, arcades are fucking dead. Oh, yeah, what a coincidence. As soon as Ryu doesn't talk through a speak-and-spell arcades die. Yeah no connection. I'm 12, I can make money at school selling Mortal Kombat fatalities because information has value when nobody has access to it. Is that a good thing? Fuck no, it's not a good thing. But I made it a good thing. I convinced a kid that Kitana has a "Fuck-Ality" and charged him $5. I wrote random button presses on a napkin and made money for it. If that's wrong, I don't want to be right. No James, I wrote the code down right, you're just doing it wrong - keep trying if you want to see titties. "Keep trying for titties" - the maxim that made people who they were before the internet. We had to try for those titties, and we always did. Kids risked juvenile records to steal dirty magazines of porn that wouldn't stimulate a 13 year old's dick in 2015. There was porn in the everyone's woods, and for some reason, it was always of fat girls with like, i don't know, gunshot wounds and stretch marks..real nasty bitches..it was just fucking gross, but in the 90s you found beauty in anything, especially because seeing areolas was a rarity for a kid. Why is it always the same woman, though? It was the same fat bitch with the bruises and shit all over her thighs. She was the Heidi Klume of porn-woods. Kids these days can spell titties wrong in Google and Google will correct them. No trying at all. "You Searched for: Parks in Connecticut? Did you mean: Steaming Hot Latina Pussy and if so, I found a few videos that you might be interested in.. i mean, it's whatever, no big deal, it's just instant 40 minutes of 1080p pussy and you're 13, so you probably aren't making a decision consciously anyway, but just thought I'd ask...dude this is crazy, girls are practically dying to give their picture away on these sites man, we've got all these results for you for free! Yo, you're so lucky I'm hooking you up, like 15 years ago all I had were the same 12 Jenna Jameson pics for some kid. Got him super hard, though. I'm Google. I feel kinda bad that you're 13 years old and you can't get fully hard unless I bring you weird shit like girls with cocks fucking clowns in the ass. You can't get hard from regular porn, and If someone calls you a faggot for liking videos of girls with cocks, which seems reasonable considering I remember when all I had to do was find kids pics of Sable from WWF, then Twitter will make sure your parents will lose their job for transphobia. The only time a kid is reduced to jacking off to a woman that looked like she went down all the broken rides at the waterpark at Great Adventure is because he can't get off to normal women anymore because he's been exposed to so much porn. Weird shit is everywhere now. Cuckolding is its own category on porn sites - that shit never existed in the past. Now obese women with thighs covered in black and blues are starting to become a category, instead of something you shame-cummed to after finding in the woods. This is not what I had in mind when I thought Capitalism would ensure that the cream was supposed to rise to the top. The most undesirable and obese filth-hogs are more desireable than supermodels, because nobody can jack off to girls in swimsuits, not even 11 year olds. Supermodels don't make money. If you're a woman and you're getting paid for having your picture taken, it's probably because cum is being dumped on your face. The Age of Pussy Deflation - the internet age - where 50 minute porn videos are just a click away. Pussy just pussy now homie. Imagine telling Cindy Crawford, "Hey, you're really hot and everything, but if you don't get some semen in that mouth before you turn 39, I'm not quite sure you'll capture the MILF market, which is a great market, don't get me wrong, but it's heavily targeted towards black men, which is fine, but it overlaps with the market of guys who don't like black guys in porn, and you have to take a side, Cindy. Which side are you on, Cindy? This is a big decision for you Cindy - are you yay or nay on the black cock? And keep in mind, both parties want to see your mouth full of sperm. Yeah, I know it's kinda different than what you're used to, but Porn Stars are the new supermodels. We've all got cum in our mouths now, Cindy, it's up to you to decide how much you wanna get paid for it. She would probably get a job at Trader Joes. A woman like that lived in an era where her titties made her a millionaire, and they were covered up and now you expect her to put a cock in her ass for a 40 minute video you won't ever pay her for? But you will pay for Anita Sarkeesian's Patreon because you masturbate to dirty filth-women, but princess peach is a national treasure. Ono couldn't get enough money to develop Capcom's FLAGSHIP fighting game even after it was hugely successful because games take years and millions of dollars in 2015. And there is still some kid in a ketchup-stained novelty gaming shirt complaining about the textures. "Oh, this looks like ass. Oh his hair looks like bananas. Oh this design is dumb." Nigga, I found out about T-Hawk by opening up a magazine and reading an article written by a community college dropout that could still find work in the field because the publication market was healthy. You could NOT get hyped about T Hawk. For one, he was mexican - which was very unimpressive in the 90s. Hot sauce or premium burrito places or whatever hipster bullshit that made Mexicans so cool today didn't have fucking retards cheerleading it. Burritos were good, but not This Needs a Subreddit good. For 2, he's fucking stupid, okay? "Oh, this Mexican Mestizo fights to defend his homeland." Oh great, now the Mexicans are invading our videogames and I have to fight for his right to be here, too? Fuck it, it's the 90s. This might have value. I paid money for an Aerosmith CD, and I didn't realize what a ripoff it was until I was able to download music for free. Turns out music is free all the time. If someone puts a sticker on a CD, be careful because music is actually free. It's worth nothing. You can just get it. In the 90s, we didn't know that. We didn't know music was worth nothing and Columbia House sent us Alannis Moresette cds in the mail and charged us for it, we said, "Oh these cds are an investment. I can sell these back for 5x the amount. It's the 90s, even Alannis Moresette is worth something. Now level with me here, if Rush or Pink Floyd or whatever has a sticker on it that says $20, what are the chances that another musician, totally unrelated to them are worth exactly the same? The 90s made sure that whatever was worth less, was more valuable because of everything else. It was the Friendly Capitalism of the 90s - If you made a Genesis game, and you played as a rodent of some sort, then godamnit, Sonic ain't the only $60 ticket in town. Make the filthy fucking rodent say "gnarly" a few times and do me a favor, stop being a worrying faggot and get him a pair of sunglasses. Of course you're gonna make a profit it's the 90s. Nobody knows what they're doing and we're making a killing.. I'll give T Hawk a chance. I gave Dhalsim a chance, and I know I'm genuinely not racist because there's no way I can tweet about it to everyone, so that must mean it's true. You can't confirm racism anymore - not being racist can sometimes be hard, but writing hashtags are always easy - and the benefits from getting high fives from cool black people come faster in the latter case. You can have your cake and eat it too, in 2015 - and then you can take a picture of your cake and lament about how "Trayvon would've turned 19 today...this cake is for him." But as soon as you log off, Trayvon's cake is as dead as he is. And lucky for you, you can eat dead cakes because you're a selfish fat fuck sycophant that gets self-congratulatory black people to retweet your cake-morality. "The cake is a lie" you laugh to yourself, because memes are a thing now too. What a faggot you are, you wish you could tell yourself. Also we were used to getting games all the time, so it didn't really matter. A game could be developed in a year, risk being innovative with characters and systems, and still pull a profit because they didn't have a $5 million dollar Chun-Li's Eyelash Physics Studio. You think Darkstalkers is even a thing anymore? Capcom will sooner develop a game where Cops kill black people to get that Twitter cash and keep the Darkstalkers name in one go. That's called a two-fer. Darkstalkers is now a survival horror game. Resident Evil 4 let you kill Africans, now DarkStalkers is a game about cops stalking black people. The cops are female so it's okay. Kotaku writes, " Goodbye Darkstalkers the fighting game, hello DarkStalkers: The SocioPolitical Commentary" - people flip their shit on Twitter "Capcom is politically and socially conscious? Finally!" Finally Capcom is taking a political stance. I was worried about them. Capcom. The company that can't afford to make the most popular fighting game on earth, after the most successful iteration of their game in decades, finally DarkStalkers is saying something...oh and it has an unreleased Macklemore track? Where do I sign up for this? I thought I wanted a horror-themed fighting game that aestheticized everything awesome about design in a solid fighting game, but nah, this got the Feminist Frequency "This is Fine For Now" award. Fuck off. This is not fine. Fuck off with this shit. You're killing games. Nothing is fine for now, it's all fucked up when I could get 3 Darkstalkers games in 4 years and now I have to embarrass myself by being middle-aged faggot when FFXVI comes out. By the time the next Final Fantasy game comes out, who knows? I might be dead, so I have to settle for playing this shit. I don't want to play as a bunch of queers. I shouldn't have to plan how I want to be ashamed 9 years in advance, but this is what the gaming industry has done. If you go to the Capcom offices and ask, "When are we getting another Darkstalkers?" 2 things happen: The first thing is that Capcom starts laughing in your fat fucking face. "It costs more to make Ryu's hair look like not-bananas than it did to make Darkstalkers 3, and that was all of our not-bananas budget that has to last until the Ken DLC. We can make 5 Darkstalkers games a year, or we can not make Ryu have hair that looks like bananas, and trust us, they really look like bananas no matter what we do. It costs millions of dollars to get the bananas out of his hair - Playstation 4 is so advanced, but unfortunately bananas happen until millions of dollars and a few months gets them off. Right now the bananas are on Ken, but we expect to make those bananas go away too when Sony fixes the overdraw issue on our credit line. Event Hubs and NeoGaf are posting gifs of Ken's Hair and Shoryuken has started blogging about it - they are at max cpm, we can't fight it, we just have to pay to un-banana everything. Thanks to technology, it'll only put us back about...yeah, 7 theoretical DarkStalkers games. We can bear that cost, I think - I think we can recoup 40 Dino Crisis games if we hit our sales targets. Capcom financial information is quantified by the dead games it has because it's easier to understand for people in a world where NOTHING IS FUCKING VALUABLE. YOU CAN'T FUND YOUR OWN STREET FIGHTER GAME, THAT IS A RED FLAG. WHEN YOUR GAME COSTS 93.4 BREATH OF FIRES TO ANIMATE SOME NO-NAME SWEATER WEARING FAGGOT IN THE BACKGROUND STAGE, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM. You don't even have enough money to give him any context - he cheers when both players die and when both players win, and he sure as fuck isn't cheering about street fighting in general, because he continues to cheer after the match ends. Just fucking don't have him at all, save your money at that point. Just fucking put the money elsewhere, no not in the fucking un-Banana hair jar - that's a waste of money too! Oh my god, you people have no fucking clue. What happened to you Capcom. What happened to you that you give anyone who says the word "Fundmantals" on EventHubs a job. You're Combofiending again. Combofiending the death of your company, and you pathetic bastards can't even see it. He spells every other word wrong on the Capcom blogs, but we Combofiending. Peter spelled Dragon Punch wrong again...Ahhh...we can't fire him now, we Combofiending. Peter, you need to proofread your work. But we Combofiending. The second thing that happens when you ask about Darkstalkers? EventHubs posts about how Capcom doesn't give a shit about their old IPs. Ono makes a statement on Twitter, "no, no no, we love our fans, but we can't afford to make a PS4 Darkstalkers game!" EventHubs posters come together, "How depressing. Capcom is just sitting on all their mega-fortune IPs! They don't know how to run a videogame company!" and make an online petition . "Ono-San, If this petition gets 92 signatures, will you release Darkstalkers 4?" Ono responds, "Listen all DarkStalk Fan! Sony no money for Capcom. Money hard to find for DarkStalkers series just like nut hard to find for squirrel in winter. Breath of Fire phone game now! So sad!" EventHubs and Shoryuken get an influx of inquiries about DarkStalkers and the Fighting Game community and blogosphere lights up. Everyone talks about how good DarkStalkers is, many of whom played it for 4 minutes at a roller rink are using words like "fundamentals" and "footsies" to make sure they sound legit. Capcom eventually realizes that they can make a $40 total profit if the online commotion of DarkStalkers is any indication of market interest. Ono petitions Jewish financiers to get funding after Sony's refusal. Darkstalkers 4 is a reality but Capcom will be indebted to Schlekestein Brothers investment bank for the rest of the company's life span. OH, and Part of the deal is that Ono has to join the IDF, too. Ono writes "I did it for you hardcore Darkstalkers fans!" when he shows off pics of himself in his IDF uniform in Israel." "This me serving our investors!" and holds up his little blanka figure in the foreground of a picture of a dead Palestinian child - you can't put blanka in front of everything and have it be funny. Nobody gives a FUCK that this is going on Ono's twitter, all they care about is that in the reveal trailer that was just released..and that Felicia's fur doesn't have real-time physics.."It's a war crime!". Everyone that pretended to like DarkStalkers is now on NeoGaf writing in a thread about how important 60 FPS fur physics are to the competitive scene. All posts start and end with, "Remember SF X Tekken". Kotaku releases a video showing that female representation per male representation in the trailer is problematic. Many refuse to buy a game that doesn't support 4k resolution. "Inadequate texture filter for a 2016 game" starts trending on Twitter. Surprisingly, the Jewish narrative in the trailer is universally praised. IGN lauds the trailer: "Capcom has taken Sasquatch and has evolved him in a bold and innovative new direction: He is now able to talk, which he does before every match by explaining why the Iran nuclear deal is bad for the western world." The Jewish direction is extolled by the FGC, as well: Maximillian makes a "I react to Demitri's yarmulka DLC announcement" video, which is publicized on all the major primetime news shows and Max is given a timeslot after Bill Maher. His show is similar to his Twitch channel: It's called "Assist Me" and he just asks for donations, which he gets. "Capcom is daring to be political in the current climate!" they say. Ryu takes up rabbinical study, eats kosher, and uses a bulldozer every 6 months to destroy Palestinian banks. Ono realizes that this is the key to the game's success, so he announces that "Holocaust-Remembrance costume pack in the works!" and he makes the Guinness book of world records for Most Retweeted Advertisement on Twitter. Everything is looking great for Darkstalkers 4 again. Then it happens: Chaos. Ono opens Arturo Sanchez Rosetta Stone.exe to translate what every 14 year old white kid in the suburbs is screaming over on Twitter. "4-frame buffer window? What a blowup. Frauds will body gdlk players. Dead game, says a kid with very thin wrists. "Trailer shows hard knockdowns on DP. Game is so dead." Ono tries to reply with his broken english into the his Rosetta Stone software but the program can't parse it. Ono's plea for the fgc to "No worry! We work on game and make better!" translates into "I have serious apprehensions about Zionism and Israel's use of unilateral force in Gaza and other occupied territories." People are disgusted by Ono's antisemitism and refuse to wait. Ono pleads, "Just give Capcom some time!" "Remember SF X Tekken?" says a cool kid on Twitter with an anime avatar. He gets a few retweets but no girls. "Because you certainly don't remember the 8 million." Okay now that gets him some girl retweets. Now that pussy is on the line, he's fighting for Israel. Ono realizes the perennial insight - the ultimate epiphany - if he, as an IDF soldier and puppet of the Israeli nation can be anti-semitic, is everything meaningless? Just as information has lost value in the internet age, so does the meaning of language itself atrophy too? Does everything die "just like Street Fighter X Tekken" and does nothing ever truly live, "just like Street Fighter X Tekken"? The irony is that the Holocaust wiped out the Jews from the streets without so much as a fight, but the Jews killed street fighter with the Holocaust. See how smart shit sounds when you reverse the sentences. Have you ever thought that perhaps smart shit is reversing the sentences? That is the second thing that happens.

Am I (22m) wrong to criticize my mum (60)? And is my BF (24NB) right about my mum treating me badly?what can I do to stop the fighting?
First time posting. English isn't my first language. This story is extremely long, I had to cut some stuff
Context: I (22m trans) live with my parents while I finish college, that's the rule where I live. Last year, my grandma (mum's side) and my aunt came to live with us, my aunt needed help caring for my 90 y/o grandma,who died this year after almost a year of not being able to walk/talk due to illness. Throughout process (of my grandma slowly dying) my mum became very stressed. She gets angry easily, yells a lot. But she loves me a lot, always does things to help me. We had money problems due to bad investments since I was 13.I tried to help my parents with everything I could. I have a older sister who left home when I was 15, ever since then I've been my mum's "therapist" whenever she needed to vent. I started my social transition last year, that was also very hard for my mum. On top of that, our 12 y/o dog died, my mum really loved her. I have been with my boyfriend (24NB) for a year. he's been my rock. He always wanted dogs, I always had dogs, we wanted to adopt shelter dogs. this year we got 2 dogs, one is 9 y/o, the other is 5 and kinda difficult to handle. This has also caused a lot os stress to my mum.
The issue: I have been criticizing my mum a lot more in the last year. At first it was mostly about my transition. I wanted her to respect my new name and pronouns. I'm very patient when explaining queer topics and I'm even excited about teaching people about it. But I always correct people when they use the wrong name/pronouns. My mum hates this since the beginning, especially when I do it when she's angry. Now, my boyfriend is on the autism spectrum and has anxiety. He takes meds. But in his house no one yells when they're angry. So when my mum screams at our dogs (which are also my boyfriend's dogs) or at me, he sometimes breaks down and gets really sad. He tells me that it isn't normal to yell mean stuff like my mum does, she's manipulative even if she doesn't do it on purpose. My mum doesn't like when i go to my BF house. She's jealous of my MIL. She's also overly protective of me. She doesn't like me driving at night or going out. Ever since my transition I've had to fight with her a lot more to be able to do the things i wanted. She sometimes acts like I'm a kid, likes to tell me what to eat/wear etc. She likes to know where I am/what I'm doing at all times. I have to think twice before doing anything cause asking/telling her I'm going out means starting a fight. Lately I've been asking her not to yell. we have been fighting over small things. I've asked my mum to see a therapist multiple times, but she refuses. I don't remember it being so bad when I was younger. I'm not doing what she wants. I still help around the house, take care of the dogs and help her whenever I can. But nothing seems to make us fight less. She says I'm being unfair to her. When we fight she cries sometimes and then I hug her. She's been through a lot and she loves me a lot. I don't want to be angry with her, but then my BF says that it's not normal for parents to yell like she does, and that she says very cruel and hurtful things to me frequently.
Here's some examples of things she says that might be mean/manipulative: -everytime I criticize her, she goes "I'm the problem." "You'd be better if I went away." "If you dislike me so much go live with your MIL" "What did i go wrong (while crying)" "I didn't do anything. Now all you do is say I'm crazy. I'm the worst mother in the world according to you." "I should leave/ if I did therapy I'd leave this house"
I don't like the things she says, and i wouldn't say them to my kid. But... I feel like she's just like that??
I feel bad for fighting with her when she has so much on her plate. I feel like I'm really being unfair for calling her out so often. My BF says she's kinda abusive, but idk. I don't know what to do, I'm just tired of fighting all the time.
TLDR; IS my mum's behavior abusive? What can I do to stop fighting with her? Am I being unfair to her? (other than moving out, not an option)

I’m a 33 year old male with no job living at home. I’ve suffered with mental illness my entire life. I have a criminal record because of it. Not to mention I hate my appearance I’m 5’7, have crooked teeth, a small penis and I’m possibly balding as well as being fat. I am far from a catch for any woman. I have no friends. I’m also scarred from self harm and have stretch marks from my weight and I’m missing a tooth due to neglect of myself. My jaw is misaligned as well resulting in me having difficulties.
I’ve read studies that taller men get more money, and tend to be seen as more powerful and wealthy. I’ve read studies that basically prove women statistically don’t want me. The only good things I have going for me are that I’m funny, somewhat intelligent and somewhat handsome and I consider myself a genuinely kind person. I look for all ways to help people. I’m working on being a volunteer firefighter and I’ve worked in the past as a crisis counselor. But I know this world has plenty of kind people. Nothing I’m doing is anymore special than someone without my short comings . I hate everything about myself, I’ve compared my penis size to porn, both professional and amateur.
But I even feel like I’m just blowing smoke up my own ass. I’m making attempts to better myself by going to college and taking it seriously this time. But even then I feel like the only way I will make up for these shortcomings is by becoming a billionaire which is slim. I’ve had some luck with women having one girlfriend my entire life. But I know the women I truly want and desire do not want me. I’ve had some women that were gorgeous smile at me.
But I frequently just look down and not smile because I hate my smile. I’ve also read that taller people make more money and have more success with women. I frequently question why god made me this way. My brother died during birth and I was a premature birth, part of me wishes I had died too. Why am I on this earth? Is it a cruel joke by god? My race is also not desirable to modern women. I’ve read studies that other races have higher testosterone and are seen as more masculine. (I’m white)
I’ve contemplated suicide for the longest time, I attempted to swallow pills and die and it didn’t work out. I for some reason cling to the hope that things will get better. I don’t know why I bother clinging to hope when the harsh reality of the world is infront of me. I might as well be dead in hopes that the next life might be better. I don’t know how to compensate.
I can’t help but to think if I didn’t have all of this wrong with me that I wouldn’t be depressed or have mental illness. If do happen to meet a woman I’ll have to accept the fact that I’ll inevitably be cheated on. Someone like me can’t have standards.

Am I (22m) wrong to criticize my mum (60)? And is my BF (24NB) right about my mum treating me badly?what can I do to stop the fighting?
First time posting. English isn't my first language. This story is extremely long, I had to cut some stuff
Context: I (22m trans) live with my parents while I finish college, that's the rule where I live. Last year, my grandma (mum's side) and my aunt came to live with us, my aunt needed help caring for my 90 y/o grandma,who died this year after almost a year of not being able to walk/talk due to illness. Throughout process (of my grandma slowly dying) my mum became very stressed. She gets angry easily, yells a lot. But she loves me a lot, always does things to help me. We had money problems due to bad investments since I was 13.I tried to help my parents with everything I could. I have a older sister who left home when I was 15, ever since then I've been my mum's "therapist" whenever she needed to vent. I started my social transition last year, that was also very hard for my mum. On top of that, our 12 y/o dog died, my mum really loved her. I have been with my boyfriend (24NB) for a year. he's been my rock. He always wanted dogs, I always had dogs, we wanted to adopt shelter dogs. this year we got 2 dogs, one is 9 y/o, the other is 5 and kinda difficult to handle. This has also caused a lot os stress to my mum.
The issue: I have been criticizing my mum a lot more in the last year. At first it was mostly about my transition. I wanted her to respect my new name and pronouns. I'm very patient when explaining queer topics and I'm even excited about teaching people about it. But I always correct people when they use the wrong name/pronouns. My mum hates this since the beginning, especially when I do it when she's angry. Now, my boyfriend is on the autism spectrum and has anxiety. He takes meds. But in his house no one yells when they're angry. So when my mum screams at our dogs (which are also my boyfriend's dogs) or at me, he sometimes breaks down and gets really sad. He tells me that it isn't normal to yell mean stuff like my mum does, she's manipulative even if she doesn't do it on purpose. My mum doesn't like when i go to my BF house. She's jealous of my MIL. She's also overly protective of me. She doesn't like me driving at night or going out. Ever since my transition I've had to fight with her a lot more to be able to do the things i wanted. She sometimes acts like I'm a kid, likes to tell me what to eat/wear etc. She likes to know where I am/what I'm doing at all times. I have to think twice before doing anything cause asking/telling her I'm going out means starting a fight. Lately I've been asking her not to yell. we have been fighting over small things. I've asked my mum to see a therapist multiple times, but she refuses. I don't remember it being so bad when I was younger. I'm not doing what she wants. I still help around the house, take care of the dogs and help her whenever I can. But nothing seems to make us fight less. She says I'm being unfair to her. When we fight she cries sometimes and then I hug her. She's been through a lot and she loves me a lot. I don't want to be angry with her, but then my BF says that it's not normal for parents to yell like she does, and that she says very cruel and hurtful things to me frequently.
Here's some examples of things she says that might be mean/manipulative: -everytime I criticize her, she goes "I'm the problem." "You'd be better if I went away." "If you dislike me so much go live with your MIL" "What did i go wrong (while crying)" "I didn't do anything. Now all you do is say I'm crazy. I'm the worst mother in the world according to you." "I should leave/ if I did therapy I'd leave this house"
I don't like the things she says, and i wouldn't say them to my kid. But... I feel like she's just like that??
I feel bad for fighting with her when she has so much on her plate. I feel like I'm really being unfair for calling her out so often. My BF says she's kinda abusive, but idk. I don't know what to do, I'm just tired of fighting all the time.
TLDR; IS my mum's behavior abusive? What can I do to stop fighting with her? Am I being unfair to her? (other than moving out, not an option)

Before I get into it, I hope you can upvote and comment so hopefully you guys will help me make up my mind...So here is some info before I get into it,, I 23 male and my partner 55male have been dating for 2 years now, we have had our ups and downs, times when we took breaks etc...and not to forget to mention: 1-we are from a third world country in which homosexuality is a sin and you can even get punished by law! .. 2- my partner is mostly straight! He had been with guys when he was younger, but he described it as just being very young and horny! I'm basically the first guy he has ever dated... despite him almost being straight he started making moves on me as we were just friends before etc.. 3- he had truly fallen in love with a girl 5-6 years ago,he was mad about her and they dated until 4 years ago ,, thats when few months before their wedding he found out she is cheating on him... It made him depressed, lost his job etc... About one year and half afterwards we met and became friends... After 6 months I could tell that he was into me and was obviously flirting with me, It was not long till we started dating... For the past 2 years I have been waiting for him to say 3 simple words... Which is ( I love you)! Even tho I remind him and tell him I love him on daily bases, or sometimes call him just to hear his voice,, I have been trying my absolute best to help and fix the damage she had done to him. I have surely seen improvement but to be honest it's becoming tiring! Constantly and unconditionally showing love and not receiving much in return. Even when I say ( I love you) , he either says thank you or laughs and says (and I hate you) anyhow I understand it's hard for him to say these words after what happened to him and he is just trying to protect himself. But I believe 2 years of constantly being a loving boyfriend is enough for someone to build up the courage to say these 3 simple words and he knows how much it means to me .... And another hard pill to swallow is knowing he how he treated her like a queen and how much he loved her, and how emotionally available he was with her and I don't see 1/10th of that when it comes to me... Keep in mind I'm absolutely in love with and also want the best for him.. with him acting that way I'm starting to believe I'm not the one for him.could it be that he is still ashamed of the fact he has caught feelings for a guy? As he has told me ( I never thought I would feel this way about a guy) What should I do? I'm happy to provide more context if needed

I'm trying to make her setup as perfect as humanly possible. Tryna make her a really dope perfect mac desktop battlestation. She's already got a top of the line beautiful white desk that she loves. And I'm giving her my 2015 macbook pro when I go up to visit her next month to use as a desktop mac until I can afford to buy her a mac mini later this year. And before anyone mentions anything about getting her a mac mini...she's a boomer who barely knows how to use technology or the internet. So a mac for her is much much more simpler and easy to use. If it were someone who actually knew how to use technology and/or the internet I would probably recommend a windows machine every time for a desktop pc setup. But not someone who doesn't know how to use the internet and technology. Anyway, this is what I have gotten for her so far (or plan to get her for sure in the future) for her mac desktop setup: 1. She already has the perfect keyboard for what she needs

1. A white headphones holder that will stick on somewhere on her desk to go with her white desk (And eventually I'm going to buy her really nice headphones) question though...do you guys think some kind of other headphones holding arrangement would look better? Her headphones are big over eard wired headphones and always will be cuz that's what she prefers (Don't have this yet)
   
2. Eventually when I can afford it I will be getting her the best 1080p monitor that is as color accurate and nice as possible, and as big as possible that will fit on her desk (Then later upgrade her to a very color accurate 4K one, don't have either monitors yet though)
   
3. A nice computer chair (Don't have this yet)
   
4. High speed HDMI cable (already got her this)
   
5. Top of the line monitor headphones (already got her this)
   
6. An audio interface for maximum sound quality for her headphones (already got her this)
   
7. 4 Port USB Hub (So in case in the future she ever needs to plug extra stuff into her computer she can, already got her this)
   
8. An apple cloth & a spray bottle filled distilled water (Because these are the best possible things to clean electronics with, already got her this)
   
9. The best standard sized wireless mouse that I could find (The MX Anywhere 3S in Black, already got her this. It's great because the specs say it lasts around 60 to 70 days on a single charge which is perfect for her)
   
10. A top of the line really big deskpad (already got her this)
    
11. A new nicer looking surge protector (And for safety cuz I think hers is extremely old, already got her this)
    
12. Might want to look into her wearing some kind of blue light or computer protection glasses to prevent eye strain for her eye health cuz her eyes are bad (I need to research this more though)
    

I'd like some perspective on Marriott credit cards and if they're worth paying an annual fee if I'm only going to stay one time a year around summer time. These stays may often be downtown right next to the events. Hopefully I can make that stay 5 consecutive nights to only pay for 4 nights.
I get that keeper cards kind of pay for themselves but the 35k bonus free night worries me because I've seen rooms reach 50k+ points which means that would make the free night points unusable. However the higher annual fee cards can probably cover this.
I'm a noob so I'll break down my thoughts on the Marriot cards at first glance and also share what cards I have and plan to apply for.
Marriott Card Thoughts: 1. Chase Boundless 95AF - Probably could be super attractive except for being worried about the 35k points not covering a free night. 2. AMEX Business 125AF - Maybe I'm missing something but looks a little better because of the gold status and 7% standard room rate discount? Still worried about the 35k free night being too low 3. AMEX Bevy 250AF - More than I want to spend on an annual fee to be honest but now the free night is 50k points which is good at least. 4. AMEX Brilliant 650AF - Ouch. I don't think I'd be happy with myself paying this kind of annual fee but 85k free nights and plat status I guess.
Is a Marriott AF credit card worth it if booking one stay a year?
Cards I own: 1. Wells Fargo Propel (Soon to be Autograph I think) 2. Chase Sapphire Preferred 3. BILT
Cards I'm Planning For: 1. Chase Freedom Flex/Unlimited 2. Chase Ink Cash

[B+/D] Esterbrook Silver Pearl Icicle. "Icicles" - so named because of their pin-stripped design - are a unique member of the more familiar J family. Manufactured in the U.S. and Mexico during the mid-late 1950s, these are becoming increasingly rare. This one has the Esterbrook imprint 'made in the U.S.A..' I have some with no imprint. Double jeweled model - SJ 4 3/4" capped. Completely disassembled, new j-bar & sac installed, cleaned, tested, and hand polished. [D] sub-rating due to the installation of new parts. No cosmetic blemishes or defects. Jewels in excellent condition. Very nice example in perfect condition. NOS 2556 Fine renew nib installed. Photos taken while still inked and are part of the description. Asking $70 plus $5.00 for standard first-class domestic shipping with tracking - $8.00 Priority.
Gallery:https:// https://imgur.com/a/ISTUEaQ Handwriting sample included in photos.
No Box or documentation. Shipped in a crush-resistant protective pen tube.
Shipping to CONUS only. Sorry - not considering trades at this time. Payment by PayPal Goods and Services only. I also have a Dubonnet Red S.J., and Grey SJ listed.
Please comment before PM or request to chat. Thank