From bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-29/svb-collapse-shows-us-treasuries-aren-t-a-risk-free-asset?srnd=premium

Look deeper into the latest US banking crisis, and the cause may come as a surprise to anyone still thinking in terms of the crash of 2008. It wasn’t dodgy loans to impecunious homebuyers that sank Silicon Valley Bank. It was a stash of what are thought to be the safest securities on Earth: US Treasuries.
Those loans to the government were, of course, entirely safe in a very important sense. Uncle Sam is going to be good for the cash. (Set aside an unforeseen disaster with the debt ceiling—more on which in a moment.) But the final repayment date of SVB’s bonds was typically years away. The problem is what happens to their price in the meantime. Purchased during a time of ultralow interest rates, those long-maturity Treasuries were always liable to lose their immediate resale value if rates took off. Which they’ve done in a big way over the past year.
The Federal Reserve raised rates at the fastest pace in decades to tame inflation, pushing its key policy rate from about zero to a range of 4.75% to 5%. Treasury prices spiraled downward, since bond prices move in the opposite direction of rates. That’s only an immediate problem for someone who wants to sell a bond before it matures. Unfortunately for SVB, it fell into that category. Its clients, many of whom had much more than $250,000—the cap on federal deposit insurance—at the bank, got nervous and started yanking out their money. SVB could only sell Treasury holdings, as well as mortgage bonds backed by government agencies, at steep losses. The bank collapsed within days.
“We always refer to Treasuries as the world’s safest asset,” says Paul McCulley, the former chief economist for Pacific Investment Management Co. “That’s from the standpoint of credit quality. That’s not from the standpoint of asset price stability. There’s a huge difference.”
Kim Forrest, chief investment officer of Pittsburgh-based Bokeh Capital Partners, says she can’t get over how SVB bankers failed to spot the duration risk they were taking. “It’s kind of head-spinning,” she says. “They have to really know the parameters of what is going to happen to these bonds, given the forecasts for interest rates. What the heck happened? The supposedly bright people out in Silicon Valley couldn’t put that together and do a little calculus?”
Most banks don’t have as many uninsured deposits from jumpy tech startups as SVB did, but US lenders hold more than $4 trillion in government-backed securities. And Treasuries last year posted their worst losses since at least the early 1970s, with the longest-dated ones tumbling almost 30%. That’s one reason fear of bank contagion won’t go away, even after the Department of the Treasury, the Fed and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. swooped in to offer emergency protection for all depositors at SVB and New York’s Signature Bank, which collapsed around the same time. Policymakers haven’t said for sure whether other lenders will enjoy the same cover. Deposits have continued to flow out of banks—especially smaller, regional ones. Losses Piled Up at US Banks as Rates Soared
The Fed loaned billions to banks after SVB’s collapse to ensure their liquidity, including new emergency programs that offered generous terms for borrowing against Treasuries and other bonds that had lost value. Essentially, the central bank—which already holds trillions of dollars’ worth of the low-yielding debt issued in the pandemic—was taking even more interest-rate risk out of the banking system.
But the Fed is also pushing ahead with monetary tightening. It raised rates another quarter of a percentage point on March 22. Bond prices have rallied anyway, because markets think Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues will change course. If they don’t, that could spell more losses for Treasuries—and more trouble for banks that hold them.
Rising rates aren’t the only problem in the $24 trillion Treasury market. Another is a long-standing concern about the market’s liquidity—essentially, the ease with which trades can be carried out. Many institutions and businesses count on the Treasury market to function smoothly. The past month’s fear and uncertainty has created near-unprecedented volatility, with the largest swings in some yields seen in 40 years. Liquidity was “significantly compromised,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists told clients in mid-March, as trading in Treasuries surged to a record $1.5 trillion on one day.
There are various explanations of the liquidity problem. Treasury debt has ballooned by more than $7 trillion since the end of 2019, and there’s a widespread belief that the size of the market has outstripped the capacity of bank dealers to keep it orderly. Many say regulations imposed on banks after the 2008 financial crisis have also crimped dealers’ ability to keep enough bonds on hand to make sure buying and selling proceeds without hiccups. The Fed, Treasury and other regulators have been working for years on proposed fixes, but change has been slow in coming.
Then there’s the looming debt ceiling standoff—the possibility that politicians won’t reach a compromise on raising the nation’s self-imposed borrowing limit. Failure to do so before the Treasury runs out of ways to keep funding government spending could potentially trigger an unprecedented default on US public debt and throw a wrench into the global financial system that relies on Treasuries. The 2011 debt ceiling episode spurred S&P Global Ratings to downgrade US government bonds from the top AAA rating, days after a deal to lift the limit and avert default was reached.
The recurring fights in Washington over debt limits may be one reason investors around the world have been showing more interest in potential alternatives to US Treasuries as a safe place to store wealth. Another is America’s aggressive use of financial sanctions, including the freezing of Russian central bank assets after the invasion of Ukraine, which has left some countries that hold lots of Treasuries wondering: Could that happen to us, too, someday? Global alternatives that sometimes get touted include old favorites such as gold, new monetary units based on commodity baskets, or the currencies of other large economies, like China’s yuan—even though it’s hard to make a persuasive case that any of them are better than Treasuries.
For many American investors seeking a risk-free asset, cash seems like the best option. Below the $250,000 cap on FDIC insurance, a bank account is reliable. But many individual and institutional savers alike have over the past months been seeking other options, like higher-yielding US money funds—which just attracted their biggest weekly influx since early in the pandemic. Those funds invest heavily in Treasuries, though at very short maturities that largely protect them from interest-rate risk. As rates go up, the funds can keep rolling over their holdings and pay investors the new higher rates.
How much more volatility is in store for Treasuries—and how much more damage the financial system suffers as a result—mostly hinges on the Fed. History suggests the US central bank has a poor track record when it comes to pulling off a major policy shift without something blowing up. SVB is already Exhibit A for this cycle.
McCulley recalls the wrecking of the US savings and loan industry in the 1980s—smallish mortgage lenders who went bust partly as a result of the same kind of duration risk that’s piled up on bank balance sheets today. He points out that the Fed has been raising rates at the fastest pace since back then, when former Chair Paul Volcker oversaw the inflation fight. And he says his key question for the Fed is this: “For the last year you’ve been channeling Paul Volcker. How much Volcker is too much Volcker?”

Hi y’all,
I’ve seen that the foam has been submitted for approval by the FDA as of February 2023 (roughly a month ago).
Does anyone either have knowledge on when Roflumilast specifically will be approved by the FDA for sebderm? Or if not, does anyone know generally how long it takes between submission and approval/denial for most other drugs?
Really banking on it lol
Thanks for any input!

I just got a Capital One pre-approved offer. “Congrats on your track record, we’d like to recognize your loyalty with this special offer”. It seems like a crap offer.
Background
I am not a US resident. I only do seasonal summer work there on J1 visa. Last year I got my first card, a Capital One quicksilver with $300 limit. It’s my only US CC.
Oldest account: ~7 months Limit: $300 Fico score: 750
The limit sucks and I regularly cycle through it by repaying and spending several times a month. I also never pay interest. I do the utilization hack by paying before the statement date. A new card would definitely help but the offer does not have a sign up bonus. The only benefit is it’s a guaranteed approval.
The cards I want are a Capital one venture or a Chase preferred because of travel perks and no international fees. Any card would help lower my utilization and add a new line of credit to help my credit profile.
Do I accept or just wait and apply for something better. If I accept it’s a hard enquiry and I may not get a card I actually want. The savor one has good earning categories for what it’s worth. The quicksilver and savor one are always in the pre-approved tab anyways.

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[REQ] $275.44 CAD, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

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Hey there,
I am looking for $275.44 CAD to pay off my credit card "debt". I am a student, and I just lost my job, I am doing small work on utest.com and its working okay, but its really hard to find tests for a new member. Anyway, I will be able to pay off $280.44 CAD within the next 3 months, By Feb 13th 2015.
I prefer to receive the money via e-transfer (Interac e-Transfer) directly to my bank account OR Visa Trasnfer (Visa Money Transfer), but if there is another way of receiving it feel free to tell me.
Thank you very much.

Prelude

In 2000, CBS kicked off the reality TV craze in the US with the first season of Survivor. The basics of the show were:

• The 16 contestants (or "castaways") were split into two tribes and marooned on an island
• Each episode had an immunity challenge. The winning tribe was safe (or "immune"), while the losing tribe had to vote somebody out
• When there were 10 people left, the tribes merged and became one tribe
• The immunity challenges became individual after the merge. The winner was safe and the tribe could pick anybody else to vote out
• Once there were 9 castaways left, anybody voted out became part of the jury. The jury would vote between the final 2 players left in the game to decide on the winner, who would win $1,000,000

CBS instantly had a hit on their hands. Fans were fascinating as contestants stopped voting based on survival skills or merit, but instead based on strategy and alliances. The season 1 finale was the 2nd most watched TV episode of the '00s (only behind the finale of Friends) and while viewership has dropped somewhat, it remains one of CBS's flagship shows to this day. However, this story about one particular contestant starts back in 2008.

Survivor: Micronesia – Fans vs. Favorites (2008)

That's Jeff Probst, he's just standing there!

In 2008, Survivor was casting its 16th season and decided to experiment with the format. Production decided that the theme of the season would be Fans vs. Favorites, where half the contestants would be returning fan favorites, while the other half would be fans of the show who would get the opportunity to play against some of the very people who had inspired them to apply.
Among the Fans was Erik Reichenbach, a 22 year old ice cream scooper. He was a young, naive, enthusiastic goofball and absolutely loved Survivor. One of the best moments to demonstrate this is when he made it to the family visit (where Survivor flies out a loved one to visit for each of the remaining contestants) and got to see his brother. First he enthusiastically points out that he grew a beard during the month he has been on the show. Then, he remembers he's on Survivor and is living his dream, so he literally points this out by pointing at the host and yelling, "That's Jeff Probst, that's Jeff Probst. He's just standing there!". Moments like these and Erik’s good-natured attitude endeared him to viewers, many of whom hoped to see him win. Erik was also from the town of Hell, Michigan which prompted fans to give him the nickname "The ice cream scooper from Hell", since it was literally true and a humorous contrast with his upbeat personality
Despite a number of twists and turns in the game, Erik managed to reach the final 5. The other 4 remaining players were a group of women known as "The Black Widow Brigade" - They had successfully duped several men during the game and voted them out. The group’s name was coined by one of the group’s members, Parvati Shallow:

It's like the Black Widow Brigade. Like, all the girls are coming together and we're spinning the guys around as much as we can. Just spinning them and spinning them until they don't know which way is up. And then we're devouring them one at a time.

Erik was the last man standing and he was outnumbered. But, things were not yet hopeless for him. He was young, athletic and he had a decent chance to win challenges that would keep him safe from being voted out. If he made it to the end, he was well liked enough that the eliminated contestants could vote for him to win. If he won the remaining three challenges he’d be in the finals and he could always try to turn the women against each other as well. It was a fairly simple and straightforward strategy. Or it should have been.

A Life Lesson

(Note: The rest of this section is covered in detail by this compilation of scenes in the show and this article which has a ton of behind the scenes info. The article was written in 2019, 11 years after the episode aired, which shows just how impactful this one episode was.)
Before Erik made it on to Survivor, he had to submit an audition tape. The tape is mostly him highlighting his ice cream scooping job, hobbies and personality, but it does a great job showing off all of this. In retrospect, the most memorable line has to be when he's trying to pitch why he'd be good on TV.

I will do whatever I need to do to get to the top of the game, I will do that... And you know I'm stupid. You know I'm young and stupid. Young people are notorious for doing stupid things.

It was a rare case of real-life foreshadowing.
Before the Final 5 challenge, Erik had been somewhat wishy-washy and inconsistent with what he had told the remaining women. He had strategy conversations with many of them where he agreed to their individual plans or pitched ideas to vote out one or another person. In what was probably a combination of wishy-washiness, indecisiveness, desperation and the short-sightedness of youth, Erik did not have a consistent plan and apparently didn’t consider that the women might compare notes. They did, which Erik noticed, "I've been telling these girls all these different things and I walked up on all three of them talking to each other and I'm worried. I'm definitely worried". At this point Erik knows that he needs to win the next challenge to keep himself safe, otherwise he’s almost certainly going home.
Fortunately for him, the challenge was physically demanding. The players had to run up and down the beach, digging up puzzle pieces under the hot tropical sun. Erik’s fitness paid off, as he handily won the challenge (part 1 and part 2) and the immunity necklace to keep him safe from the next vote.
After the challenge the women were commiserating about the fact that one of them would be leaving, leading to what is still one of the most famous conversations in 44 seasons of Survivor:
Parvati: If he didn’t have that necklace he’d be gone Cirie: I wonder if he would give Nat his necklace? Probably not, huh… Cirie to Natalie: You think you could talk him into giving you the necklace? … Cirie: Nat, tell him if he were to give you the necklace, that would redeem him and we would vote for Amanda. Natalie (incredulous): Who would fall for that? I feel stupid listening to you guys right now.
Natalie and Cirie proceeded to individually make their pitch to Erik. It was essentially 1.) Nobody respects him because of his wishy-washiness, so he won’t get any votes to win if he makes the finals and 2.) His lies have made his words meaningless. The only way for Cirie to believe him is through actions (like giving up his necklace).
Following a somewhat brutal tribal council where the women laid into Erik for being untrustworthy, Jeff Probst presents the same typically straightforward choice he does before every vote, but which has incredible significance tonight. “Erik, you have the individual immunity necklace. As always, you can give it up to somebody if you choose to. Otherwise, it is yours and you are safe tonight.”
Erik begins to give a small speech and, to the astonished faces of everybody at tribal council, ends it with 8 of the most memorable words in 600+ episodes of Survivor: “I want to give individual immunity to Natalie”. He gives the immunity necklace to Natalie, Jeff explains that Natalie is safe and that Erik can be voted for, then it is time for the vote. Survivor usually leaves you in suspense about how each player voted, but not this time. The show immediately shows all the women voting for Erik in disbelief that their plan worked.
As Erik is getting up to leave, he good-naturedly says, “You guys drive me crazy… I should have known better”. After he leaves, Jeff turns to the remaining 4 women and summarizes the remarkable moment by simply stating, “I think that’s what you call a life lesson”.

The Dumbest Survivor Ever

Although it wasn’t shown during the season, Parvati had a joke with another contestant James (who had made his own notable blunder the previous season) that James was, “The dumbest Survivor ever”. In referencing the in-joke, Parvati and James unfortunately passed the title to Erik.
Parvati (as she’s voting for Erik): You're crazy! You'll officially go down as the dumbest Survivor ever! In the history of Survivor. Ever.
James (raising his arms after Erik is voted out): I have lost my reign as dumbest Survivor ever!
Fans were mostly shocked by Erik’s decision and many were particularly disappointed because they were hoping he would win. While many agreed with Parvati and James, the reaction was perhaps not as brutal as we might expect now-a-days. Survivor players weren’t really expected to engage with social media back then (Twitter was only 2 years old at this point), so Erik fortunately didn’t have to deal with an internet mob, even though every fan was talking about his decision.
Erik: In the days right after it aired, I started being approached by Survivor fans, and everybody was pretty nice. They would say, "That was a really dumb move," but they didn't say it to my face or anything terrible. To me, they just said, "You're a really good kid, but you got played."
Jeff Probst: I don't think I appreciated at the time what those four women did. I think we labeled it a really good move, and then everybody called Erik the dumbest Survivor player ever. And I don't think that does either of the parties justice. I don't think Erik was a dumb player. I think Erik played a great game, and he got outplayed. And I don't think anybody fully appreciated how well those women played that. When you go back and look at it now, if that happened today, people would label all four of them instant hall of famers.
The article about the episode (which was published in 2019, or 11 years after this episode), summarizes the impact and long lasting nature of the moment on the fandom:

The first time Erik handing over his immunity aired on TV was certainly not the last. Whenever any sort of Survivor montage pops up on the show looking at the famous moments, biggest blindsides, or egregious errors over the years, Erik's immunity giveaway is always there. At this point, it is likely the most-aired Survivor moment ever, meaning Erik has to relive it constantly.

If you have any doubts about how significant this event was or how frequently it was replayed in the years that followed, here’s an 8 minute montage of it being brought up
Erik claims he doesn’t regret it and remains surprisingly good natured about his nationally televised blunder:

If any life lesson came out of this, it was that failure is human. Failure is what we do. You're going to fail. And you're going to fail hard sometimes. The lesson is not, don't do that again, or be weary. I'm not going to stop trusting people. I'm not going to stop believing that people have good intentions… Maybe other people would have something happen and they'd be like, "I'm never going to let that happen again." Or they'd get really bitter and dark about it. But I can't live like that, and I don't think that's the lesson that I'm supposed to learn.

Survivor: Caramoan - Fans vs. Favorites 2 (2013)

I am the author of my own fate!

5 years after Erik’s infamous decision to give up immunity, he finally got an opportunity to redeem himself when he was cast for Survivor’s 26th season, which was the 2nd time Survivor used the Fans vs. Favorites theme (this time with Erik as a Favorite). Fans were excited about Erik’s return. He was beloved in his first season and people were curious how he’d adjust his gameplay this time around given his mistakes the first time he played.
The season started well enough. The Favorites tribe won the majority of challenges, which meant they didn’t have to vote many people out. Erik connected with one of his tribemates, Brandon Hantz (they may have bonded because Brandon was also voted out after giving up immunity in Survivor’s 23rd season). Unfortunately this meant Erik was involved in another of Survivor’s most infamous moments. Simply put, Brandon did not get along with another tribemate Phillip. Following an argument, Brandon threw a tantrum and poured out all the tribe’s food, while yelling things like, “I am the author of my own fate!” and “Now vote me out, bitch!”
The behind the scenes story is that Brandon was effectively ejected from the game, but for the purposes of the show they still wanted to have a vote. They had the Favorites tribe forfeit the next challenge and vote Brandon out there. It is a bizarre scene, where Jeff pulls Brandon to the side and gives him a shoulder massage to prevent a fight from breaking out. Viewers had some fun with the fact that Erik was the one that handed immunity to the Fans tribe, but the episode is widely regarded as one of the worst and most uncomfortable episodes to watch.
Brandon was unrepentant for his actions stating, “It was awesome. I feel like a man, not a little boy, anymore.” and “I’m the biggest hero to ever play Survivor”. There would definitely be enough to write an entire HobbyDrama post on Brandon Hantz (whose uncle, Russell Hantz, may be the most polarizing contestant in the history of the show), but this is where he leaves Erik's story, so I'll leave it there.

Hold on to your seat

While Erik had lost a friend in the game, he managed to essentially fly under the radar strategically and once again make it to the end game. Many fans of the show were disappointed though, Erik was getting very little screentime and not much was shown about his thoughts or strategy. Erik later explained that he was being deliberately non-strategic on the island to be less threatening so that the other players wouldn't vote him out. It may have been a good plan, but it wasn't necessarily good TV.
Anyways, Erik's plan was paying off and he made it to the final 6. He was working with a number of members from the Favorites tribe who were planning to vote out Eddie (who, I suddenly realize has some good parallels with Erik’s original season, since he was a young athletic male fan who was in over his head strategically). However, some of Erik’s allies betrayed him and voted out his ally Brenda instead. It seemed like a run of a mill blindside, but things with Erik never end up being simple.
At the beginning of the next episode (which was also the finale), they opened a few minutes after tribal with Erik sitting on the ground with his head in his hands. He said he was dizzy and the world was spinning. Jeff Probst and a medic came out to assess the situation. After taking Erik’s vitals, the medic decided that they couldn’t risk letting Erik continue, so he was pulled from the game (part 1, part 2). 5 years and 10 seasons apart, Erik once again ended up in 5th place.
Erik eventually released a video explaining what happened in more detail. Earlier in the season, he had cut his shin. Initially it had looked fine, but after a bit it started to get infected. At the beginning of tribal council, the Survivor medical staff gave Erik penicillin to treat the infection. Erik was unaware that he was somewhat allergic to penicillin and when combined with the fact that he was malnourished/dehydrated from being on Survivor for a month, he had a negative reaction. He was so disoriented at Tribal Council, that he was just focusing on not falling off his chair because he didn’t want to be pulled from the game. He also didn’t realize that Brenda had been voted out, and instead thought that another contestant (Sherri) had been eliminated, so he was really just not with it. He vaguely remembers talking to the doctor, then being in a van, then finally woke up in a hospital with two IVs in his arms. He ended up being fine, but it was weird he got 5th again (insert “if I had a nickel” meme).
Usually, immediately after the finale they have a reunion in LA where Jeff talks to the players about the season. They didn’t invite Brandon for obvious reasons, but to disguise that fact, they put all the players who had been voted out before the merge in the audience. Considering they had flown to LA and invited family members, they were not exactly happy. Jeff also did not talk to Erik at all during the reunion, despite the fact that he was medevaced in the finale. He was pretty unhappy with the producers excluding the early players, not properly explaining his injuries and not letting him speak at all, saying “Tons of people were upset. After a while it became a farce”.
The reunion episode is widely considered to be awful by fans, who were also generally disappointed that the season showed relatively little of Erik despite making it to the finale.

Kickstarter - Islands of Chaos (2013-2019)

Note: Before I begin this section, I want to say that while some of this drama happened on Reddit, the drama is old and Reddit has rules against brigading. Don't post in old threads and don't contact the people involved.
In December 2013, Erik and his friend Billy decided to combine his passion for Survivor and graphic design into a mobile game called Islands of Chaos. He needed funding for the game, so he turned to Kickstarter, with a goal of raising $8,000. The pitch video described essentially a mobile game version of Survivor. It showed mini-games, character selection, a voting interface and the description promised inventory and chat systems.
In 2023, people might have been more skeptical about a game that requires 16-24 people to stay active for an extended duration, as well as unfiltered chat between players, but fans were excited at the time. It seemed like one of Survivor’s biggest fans was giving the rest of the fans a small taste of what it would be like to be on the show. The Kickstarter eventually raised $8,936 from 127 backers. A majority came from 4 backers who each donated at least $1000.
Initially, the goal was to have the game done by “late September or early October 2014”. By September, that date had slipped to late November or early December.
November is the first date that the WaybackMachine has an archive of their development site (The site looks awful with menus overlapping text when I’m in fullscreen. You may want to reduce your window size to read it). You can see some of the artwork there and discussions of the technical stack, but it’s unclear what the actual state of the development was.
On December 26, Erik posted an update saying the project would be severely delayed and that Billy was essentially fired,

Billy refused to include major working elements of the game that made it truer to the experience we initially pitched to Kickstarter. His continued efforts to turn the game into something other then what it was concieved as recently grew to be too much and Billy had to be released from working on the project.

Erik mostly had the community's support at this point, with fans mostly deciding it was better to have a delayed product rather than an incomplete or rushed one.
This started to change for some people once Billy posted in the Kickstarter comments:

This update is a surprise to me and I'd like to ensure you all that while Erik suddenly cut communications, changed our password and released a Kickstarter update without my knowledge, the game is still a 50/50 partnership as it always has been.

While it's bold to claim to be in a 50/50 partnership with the person who just said they fired you, Billy seemed determined to push forward. He also stated the project would be submitted to the app store “in the next few weeks”
On December 31, Billy apparently updated the website to say,

Islands of Chaos has been delayed indefinitely due to a misplaced fear of inadequacy that has manifested itself in the form of a surprise lawsuit from the game's artist. Weeks before submitting IOC to the app stores, he has changed our kickstarter password, claimed our partnership never existed and stated I no longer have permission to use his art for a game release or this website.

The game’s artist of course being Erik. Erik claimed he would release a statement addressing this, but as far as I can tell, never did.
In January, Erik posted to the kickstarter that the project had a new developer named Josh.
In April, he announced a new development blog, but the archived versions of the site don’t go back that far. The old dev blog was still controlled by Billy and displayed the same message about the lawsuit from December.
At some point in late August or early September 2015 Billy updated the message on the original dev blog.

UNFORTUNATELY ISLANDS OF CHAOS WAS CANCELED WEEKS BEFORE SUBMITTING TO THE APP STORE AFTER A SERIES OF SURPRISE LAWSUIT THREATS BY THE GAME'S ARTIST. I WORKED EVERY DAY FOR A YEAR TO BRING THIS GAME TO LIFE AND NOTHING WOULD DISAPPOINT ME MORE THAN BEING DENIED THE RIGHT TO SHARE IT WITH THE KICKSTARTER BACKERS WHO WERE SO KIND TO US. UNFORTUNATELY MY ARTIST GOT LAWYERS INVOLVED WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE AND WAS SO UNSATISFIED WITH HIS WORK HE HAS FOUGHT ANY ATTEMPTS I'VE MADE TO SHOW THE GAME IN ANY WAY.

This appears to be the last message ever posted on the original development blog.
There are a few updates posted to kickstarter, over the next few years, but they are all only available to backers. The first message I can find in the WayBack machine on the new dev blog is from January 2017. Erik states that he is teaching himself unity and C# to do the development on the game himself. There’s no mention of Billy or Josh. Erik continues to make major changes to the design, “While the original scope of the project asked for players to be simple 2D comic characters against a flat backdrop, since that time they have evolved to accommodate an explorable 2.5D Isometric Environment“. In bold, it says, “There is still a lot that is left undone simply because the full scope was not understood at the time of conception”. That feels like an understatement.
By March, there’s an update with videos (since deleted) showing player creation, island movement and minigames. In September, Erik still shows optimism but acknowledges some challenges,

After a grueling summer, the majority of starter character animations have been mapped to sprite sheets, the items have been organized by type and purpose, and the database is finally being built. As a small team of developers, we couldn’t have picked a more difficult project to work on for our first foray into mobile gaming – but the challenge is worth the effort!

In August 2018 (4 years after the initial expected completion date), Islands of Chaos Development Build 1.0 is released. It can still be downloaded and launched, but it requires a login to do anything and the servers supporting that no longer exist.
In November 2018, Erik announces that they’ve decided to change the project to fully 3D. This is 1.5 years after saying it would be 2.5D.
Two months later, in January 2019, Erik finally pulls the plug after 5 years of development. He lists the 3 major factors for the failure of the game as

• The funds raised were far too low to create what was promised in the Kickstarter
• The game itself is much more complex, unique, and dynamic then first anticipated
• As an artist, I am only a small part of the equation when building a video game.

The survivor post linking to the cancellation has some people calling him a scammer. Many of those point to the fact that Erik mentions buying a computer to help with the development of the game. I’m more inclined to agree with the comment that said, “I don’t think Erik is a scammer, I believe he is a naive idealist who didn’t understand what he was getting into.” (The phrase, “naive idealist who didn’t understand what he was getting into” would also describe his first outing on Survivor pretty well).

Consequences

In the aftermath, Erik went pretty quiet on Reddit for a while and views of him had turned negative among a portion of the fans. As memory of the Islands of Chaos debacle fades, his reputation has mostly returned to positive, helped by the fact that he’s semi-active in the subreddit and occasionally answers fan questions.
In April 2022, he did make a few comments about why the game failed (thread).

Programmer #1 didn’t deliver what was promised and left with the lion share of money from the Kickstarter. Programmers 2-8 worked for no money (promise of revenue share) but none of those worked out. The KS goal was flawed from the start; my first programmer estimated it would be $8k worth of work, but later (year or two after the KS ended) I discovered that the real price to fulfill the stated goals was closer to $100k.

and

to follow up on this, I followed through as best I could and it created really terrible stress and financial problems for five years of my life. I tried learning programming myself to try and build it from scratch, brought in more and more devs, made custom art to appease high priced backers, and generally did everything I could think of to try to attract more investors (to bring on good developers I could pay). It was mentally and financially draining and I had to put a hard stop on it. I love the idea and think it’s a literal goldmine waiting to be claimed, but not without some initial game producer effort and an infusion of cash to start.

There are still occasional comments calling him a scammer, but there's often pushback on those. Mostly, it's not a topic of conversation anymore and everyone has moved on.
In regards to his past seasons, Fans vs. Favorites is widely considered one of the best seasons, while Fans vs. Favorites 2 is widely considered one of the worst. While Erik giving away immunity still comes up (particularly when new viewers see it for the first time), the article in the "A Life Lesson" section is the definitive summary and comments now are mostly, "wow, what a brilliant move by those women".
Erik isn't super highly ranked in terms of his Survivor skill, but few people have made it to the Final 5 twice with winning chances. While not a strategic mastermind, it seems like he was doing something right during the game.
After season 40 and a year-long Covid hiatus, Survivor has moved to what they call "the new era" of the show. There are far fewer references to early season and I can't recall any recent references to Erik giving away immunity. However, Fans vs. Favorites was on Netflix for most of 2022 and Survivor seems to have undergone a resurgence post-pandemic, so a whole new cohort of fans were introduced to Erik's infamous mistake.
Erik is still active in the Survivor community and posts drawings to the subreddit after each episode.
He also sells Survivor related prints on his website. His top seller is him being haunted by the Black Widow Brigrade

I want to use the CL Card and if it's not good I don't want a ledger so I have some questions first
I found a comment where a user says CL card charges 2% fees on transaction and it looked like they also charge for loading the card, can you even load it from your ledger love app?
Also, I saw a comment about spending 100$ before you can get the card, how does that work like spend 100$ where? Do I have to send money through my bank? My bank is anti-crypto so I'm trying to avoid any bank connection until I can switch banks

Anyone know of a bank in san antonio that doesnt charge extra for returning coins? Wanting to get back into coin hunting but the banks I have called state that they charge a sorting fee even for members.

Just wanting to get this off my chest.
I (m24) have for the past 3 months been working as an accounting trainee, that is required for me to finish my education, and hopefully be working as an accountant some day.
I study away from my family and friends, I wanted to try have my own place and have my own place so I had choose a school quite far away. 1.5 hour in car. But the firm I applied my trainee for was close to my home town, thus meaning could live with my N mom while studying. My dad has offered for me to stay at his place 2 times a week.
It has been a struggle because my mom is not doing well, she suffers from depression and I believe other things by the looks of it.
During the stay my mom has had her up and downs. I really try to be nice, and I have tried my best. I've tried to do the house work as good as possible, but i every now and then made mistakes. I forget sometimes to close the window after being in shower, she loves to use that as a turning point. Or forgets to close the door sometimes.
I don't deny that, I have flaws, and its stressing me out. I would say I have improved in those areas, but not enough.
At the end of my trainee internship I had to do an presentation regarding my internship, it is quite a big test. I have been so stressed. Not enough with a unstable mom being misunderstood and yelled at some times, I also had to learn a new job and write a 20 pages paper to my presentation, while its depressed winter here in northern europe. And im hard of hearing, life aint easy sometimes.
But hey, at least I have something going with a girl during this winter. A cute chinese girl studying here, and we got in talk because I study chinese as a hobby, and she learn Danish while staying in Denmark. I think that's pretty cool.
Back to my internship. It went well I got an A, top score. Didn't expect that, and off course my mom light up and was happy. When she is happy in her presence I can feel happy. I expected with my good grade that i was sure to land a job at my trainee internship, but sadly I didn't. I tried my best but i didn't do it right.
But today they said that they weren't sure if i were the right one for the job. They wanted to have a test week i May where i can try to see if i can keep up. I am a bit bummed out about that. But hey, at least they wants to give me a change, and they said i did it good. They said that i should consider going for banking instead. I said I'd consider it, but deep down i feel account is more for me. None the less i try to talk with my teacher about it.
When i got home my n mom tried to get into an heated argument. I was so tired and drained I most of all wanted to lay in bed and see the walking dead. She said that i don't work hard enough, and I act the same at work as I do at home. And said i have not changed for 24 years. Furthermore she blames my passion for learning chinese and my nerdiness for statistic as one reason for me failing my internship (not statistic, stock analytic).
She began to feel emotional and said that she thinks i hate her with all my heart, and that i loves dad more. I said that i choose to live here because I wanted to spend time with her. But it didn't changed much. She clearly had that rageing energy inside her.
I wasn't in the mood to argue. I have to consider my next step in life, so I just letted her get her verbal frustrations out on me. It would get insane if I even dared speak up.
Last day at work tomorrow, after that i have 2 months in my apartment, preparing for my last exsamn. And planning my future from there. Its going to be great
I want to believe that i have a big heart. That i can let her in. But hell, she makes it so hard.

I moved out of the Spectrum service area in Oct of last year. I got a call today from Spectrum saying that they don't have my equipment, but I returned it shortly after I moved. I returned it in person, but didn't think to keep the receipt for months. Does anyone else have experience dealing with this? They said if they can't find it they're going to charge me a fee.

My wife and I received our lease renewal a month or so ago and noticed that with the acquisition of Schneider by HomeRiver Group this past fall, some new policies were put into effect. On top of our nearly-maxed rent increase, the new company was attempting to charge a $50 "lease renewal fee" as well as a mandatory $39.95 per month "Resident Benefit Package," including such "benefits" as your rent payments being counted towards your credit score, renters insurance, and ironically enough, "home buying assistance."
Obviously, we were upset by these mandatory charges that we were informed about at the last minute, so we contacted the city to determine the legality of these charges. The Housing Safety Office was very responsive, and it was determined that since these are required as part of rent, they are considered rent, and are subject to rent control increase limitations. The local property managers were super understanding of this decision, and have informed us that all Portland tenants will be able to opt out of these charges.
I'm not sure when these new charges were implemented, but essentially, if you've signed a lease with HomeRiver Group recently within Portland, I'd check for these mandatory fees and if you have them, reach out about it, because there is a decent chance they are not legal.

I just got hired onto a great new job post-PhD in industry, making way more money and way better hours than I ever would have in academia. I’m finishing out my dissertation, my intro is mostly written, my first two project papers are published and done, I’m just finishing up the analysis for my third and then the discussion over the next month.
Right now, I’m working MAYBE 4 hours a day, enjoying my last few weeks in my country before leaving for my new job. I’m going to have to finish up the last touches on my dissertation inevitably while starting my new job, so maybe an extra hour or so of writing in the evening while working a remote 9-5. My mental health is close to perfect and things are looking up. I’m enjoying writing, if anything.
How I did this: I accepted I wasn’t going to be an academic years ago. I said no to every single side project and opportunity. Authorships wouldn’t benefit me in the long term. I set boundaries and stubbornly refused to do anything that wasn’t the bare minimum to meet my end goals. I also accepted that end dates can be flexible. I want to defend by the end of August, but if not? That’s life. Nothing beyond paying a little bit of money for an extra month or two of fees won’t solve. I finished my first two projects early so I can have those done and published and nothing I have to worry about. I also pushed back against even the smallest amount of scope creep for my third project. I worked to the letter of my contract and nothing more. I honestly feel a little guilty over how low stress this whole thing is. Yeah, edits may suck from time to time but one day of cramming writing edits isn’t going to ruin my week or my month or anything.
To those reading: The end of a PhD can be very low stress!

But god damn Season 2 is some of the best television ever made. Not to say 1 or 3 aren’t good, they’re incredible, but fuck season 2 is just on another level.
Especially the episode where Ally leaves Ray, that unicorn scene was beautiful, and that break up scene hit way too close to home for me.
Then there’s then last few, the pedophile one, the one where Ray gets into a shootout with the bikers (RIP Boof), and one of the biggest emotional gut punches I’ve ever seen on television. Brucey says his final goodbyes to Britt and starts to cry. I started to tear up at that point, and then the final scene with Ray and Bruce in their childhood home. Just fucking waterworks man.
I love the way the show ended, but good god Scott Ryan has to do something else. He’s fucking brilliant in this show. I’ve watched the fuckin thing three times in the last month. It truly is up there with some of my favorites (Sopranos, The Leftovers, Hannibal, Fargo, Better Call Saul, Twin Peaks etc) and it’s a fucking shame that it didn’t get the attention it deserved. I’ve been pushing all of my friends to watch it for the last month.
TLDR: Season 2 might be my favorite season of television ever.

I took AAMC FL 1 this week and got a 503 (125/125/125/128), my goal score honestly is anything above a 507, but I would love a 508 or 509. Is this a realistic score to achieve in a month?
I am taking a FL (2,3,4,5) weekly, and starting the section bank this week.
I'm memorizing c/p equations because I haven't fully done that yet, and doing 2-3 CARS passages every day.
I'm also doing a lot of B/B practice because I realized a lot of my errors came from not understanding the question or not interpreting the passage correctly.
Any timing strategies, especially in the science sections would be great. I have trouble keeping my pace, and I've been trying to do 8 minutes per passage but it's hard to tell without doing math.
I have 8-10 hours a day to study since this is my last month. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

I've been a travelling freelance contractor for many years staying in hotels all over the world so I thought I knew how the process worked - usually my clients would include me in their room block and upon check-in I'd be asked to provide my personal credit card for incidentals but the cost of the booking would already be taken care of. Sure there were one or two times where a mixup meant I was forced to put down my own credit card to pay for the rooms, but that was the exception (in my experience).
Recently, though, I started a new role booking hotel rooms for my company's freelance staff, and it's been a major pain point. It seems that even when our travel agent books a room on behalf of our staff member and supplies our corporate account details for payment, OR when I 'manually' book a last minute hotel room myself using my company card but adding the guest's name to the room booking, my freelance staff are still ending up being charged on their personal cards for their room booking fees/resort fees/taxes etc.
This is particularly irking to me as an ex-freelancer as I don't ever expect my staff to pay for their own rooms, even if they will be reimbursed. It's simply not fair to expect someone to pay from their own personal funds in order to work, and not everybody is priveleged enough to have money in their bank account or a credit card to cover these $500-per-night hotels that some of our clients hold events at.
Am I doing hotel booking wrong? This even seems to happen when I fill out those 'pre-authorisation' forms to try to ensure our company card is billed but then on check-in they STILL ask my staff to provide a card for a deposit or what have you, and wouldn't you know it 9 times out of 10 that's the card they end up charging, making a huge headache for us and our accounts team when it comes time to reimburse our staff.
Thankfully as yet nobody has been unable to check in due to lack of personal funds, but I shudder to think of any of my staff maxing out their credit cards/not being able to eat or what have you because the hotel forced them to provide their own card for payment or they wouldn't be allowed to stay.
TL;DR: How can I make sure hotels never charge my freelance workers for their stays and ONLY charge our corporate credit card with which we pre-booked (and in some cases pre-paid) for their room?

There I was, face to face with the bald, phallic head of my nemesis, Lord Rizzemort, the murderer of my mentor, my parents, and a countless number of my peers. They called him He Who Must Not Be Rizzed, but I thought back to the Chamber of Secrizz when I saw him as a student. How did Tom Marvolo Rizzle grow into this monster? Surrounded by students and Wife Beaters (his gang), he’d just completed an attack on what was once the safest place in the rizzarding world. We were all that was left after his attack on Hogwarts School of Rizzardry.
Desperate, I tried an extreme measure to provoke him. “Come on Tom, what’s with that lame ass fit? You have no drip.“
“You’re one to talk,” he sneered. “At least my parents didn’t name me Hairy Potty. Yo momma a bitch and yo daddy a bitch. That’s why I spun yo block and murked them. That’s why they dead.”
“DON’T talk sweet about my momma, fool! You a bitch and ima expose you right here, right now. We’re going band for band. Loser fucking dies.”
“Band for band?” His leprosy-riddled face contorted as he howled with laughter. “You think you can flex on ME?” His gang of Wife Beaters all began to roar with laughter under their hoods.
I waited, patiently, until the crowd died down. “Come on Rizzemort. I know you have no drip. Plus, you’ve never even done a money spread.”
Members of both camps glanced around and whispered, both students and Wife Beaters alike. Although I couldn't hear them, I knew what they were saying — wait a minute, it’s true. I’ve never seen him do a money spread. Has anyone seen Rizzemort do a money spread? He was losing the crowd, and he knew it, too. Seeing the seeds discord being sown into them, I continued. “What’s the matter, Rizzemort? Scared? That’s why you a bitch. That’s why you momma a bitch - cuz she RAISED a bitch!”
“DON’T DISS MY MOMMAAA!!” He roared with anger and his nostrils flared. “Fine. Let’s go band for band right now, cuh, I know you broke as fuck.”
We used our magic sticks to summon bands from our accounts at Gringotts. With everyone watching, rolled up hunnids were dropping at our feet. They were being continuously fed into money counters. The racks piled up one by one with seemingly no end in sight. Minute after minute after minute, we dropped bands until no one could even tell whose pile was larger: we were just looking to see who’d run out first.
But something was off – he was far too composed. How could he just stand there calmly, smiling to himself? I started to sweat. Doesn’t he know I have a massive inheritance? Doesn’t know I’m a trust fund baby? He started to laugh. And laugh. His laughter grew louder and louder. Eventually, I had to ask. “Bitch what the fuck is so funny that it got you giggling like a toddler?” I looked around, and noticed each one of the Wife Beaters were smiling. “What the fuck did you do, Rizzemort? WHAT DID YOU DO?”
He wiped a tear from his eye, from his smiling face, and sighed — “Hairy Potty. You fool. Sure, you could’ve beaten me had we went band for band months ago, when I was revived at the TriRizzard Tournament, but since then, I’ve established a meth empire in America. A business big enough to be listed on the NASDAQ is constantly funneling money directly into my account as we speak. There’s no chance you’ll beat me. I am the one who knocks – knocks up bitches! I am LORD RIZZEMORT!”
“NOOOO!” I fell to my knees. My heartbeat accelerated like a galloping horse. Blood rushed to my head, as students looked at each other and whispered. Although I was a trust fund baby, I knew firsthand that there was no way I could compete with the power of meth.
It was all over.
It really was.
I thought, “Maybe he’ll let me live if I surrender. Fuck, he’s outflexed, outsmarted, AND outrizzed me. I really suck.”
wait a minute.
I really suck.
I Really Suck….
THERE! With my high rizztelligence, I came up with one last hope. I jumped to my feet and cackled like a maniac. I heard the sound of panicked chattering behind me, and saw the faces of confused Wife Beaters in front of me. I laughed and laughed, as Lord Rizzemort bellowed “what— what are you— WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?”
The crowd fell silent as I smiled at him.
“Why. Are. You. LAUGHING? You’re getting ratio’d the fuck out of you right now. You got no drip, no bands, and no bitches. You’ve lost the duel. You lost your parents. Did you lose your mind too?”
I smiled, and pulled out my iPhone. Upon seeing this, his confusion turned to chuckled laughter. “You do realize I also have an iPhone, right? iPhone 14 XLS,” he said. But that wasn’t what I was going for. I didn’t give a fuck if he had an Android or a Motorola.
I dialed a number, and prayed. Please don’t put me on hold, please don’t put me on hold, I repeated this mantra in my head hoping it would manifest.
“Due to a large volume of calls, we are placing you on hold!” FUUUCK! The robotic voice of the answering machine made my heart sink. But still, my money and Rizzemort’s money were continuously being summoned and counted. At this point, our stacks of blue hunnids piled high. There was more cash here than a mediocre white-collar criminal would see in a single pump-and-dump. The whole field was completely silent, save the ftt-ftt-ftt of money counters, the elevator music emanating from my phone, and the wind. All I could do was pray that I would be taken off hold before my money ran out — before the duel ended with my immediate death. Rizzemort and I locked eyes, and I could see in his grinning face that he truly believed he’d already won. But I had one final hope.
After 7 minutes of waiting, my phone was slipping out of my clammy hands. My heart beat like a massive drum, a piece of leather stretched tightly and beat with a mallet. After 12 minutes, I noticed a circle of sweat around my neck. And as more and more beads of sweat ran down my face, Rizzemort grew more and more confident.
Finally, after 19 minutes, the sound of money counters and telemarketer music was interrupted by a rizzbotic voice. “WE ARE TRANSFERRING YOU TO A PERSON WHO CAN ASSIST YOU. PLEASE WAIT.” The startling rizzbotic voice of the answering machine was a rizzlief to my ears. All in the meantime, Rizzemort grinned stupidly at me, still believing he had won. But this time, I had the confidence to grin back.
I put the phone on speaker as my money flowed, praying my bank account would hold out for just a few more seconds. The sound of the money counters grew louder and louder.
Brrring…
Students began whispering behind me. I could feel that some of them had given up hope. In front of me, Wife Beaters grinned ever more stupidly.
Brrrrriiing…
I heard students shout, he’s gone mad! from behind. Wife Beaters jeered in front of me as my fellow students lost faith. But this was my final shot, and I was giving it my all. As the noise grew louder, Rizzemort himself raised (rizzed) his hand in the air, signifying to everyone to shut the fuck up.
And they did.
Brrrrriiing… \click**
My call was connected. Good. My phone was at maximum volume. The stars had aligned, and this was my moonshot. (Fuck the Apollo mission, that shit was fake btw.) The crowd, the Wife Beaters, the students, Rizzemort himself – soon, they would all see what I was aiming for.
From the other end came a woman’s voice:
“Internal Rizzenue Service. How many I help you today?”
Rizzemort’s face dropped. His grin turned to a frown. I smiled and spoke my next words.
“Hi, yes, I’d like to report a case of fraudulent failure to report rizzenue.”
“NO! Harry, don’t do this. Not the IRS! Anything but the IRS!!!“
“Too late, Rizzemort. This is my get back.”
He started to float towards the sky as he spoke. His pale face turned red with anger as he shook his fists and screamed. He clenched his muscles so hard that he began spasming and foaming at the mouth as he rose. Wife Beaters began panicking and screaming, even latching on to his ankles to pull him down. But as he rose higher and higher, they all fell. Students were cheering, and a chant began to form. “HARRY! HARRY! HARRY!” Rizzemort rose higher and higher, and cracks seemed to form in his image, with glowing green light shining through. His violent screaming began to echo, growing in volume and competing with the chant of “HARRY! HARRY! HARRY!” As he floated higher and higher, more and more cracks of shining green light formed in his body — until finally, he shattered, and pieces floated throughout the wind. This time, he was gone for good.
That was the day I outrizzed Lord Rizzemort, He Who Must Not Be Rizzed, and I saved the rizzarding world at the Battle of Hogwarts School of Rizzardry. I flexed on the most feared rizzard of the rizzarding world so hard that he vanished from existence. Based on my experiences in the rizzarding world, I believe that I would have a lot to offer at JimmyTDB’s School of Rizz. It’s a perfect match, and I hope you’ll feel the same.

There I was, face to face with the bald, phallic head of my nemesis, Lord Rizzemort, the murderer of my mentor, my parents, and a countless number of my peers. They called him He Who Must Not Be Rizzed, but I thought back to the Chamber of Secrizz when I saw him as a student. How did Tom Marvolo Rizzle grow into this monster? Surrounded by students and Wife Beaters (his gang), he’d just completed an attack on what was once the safest place in the rizzarding world. We were all that was left after his attack on Hogwarts School of Rizzardry.
Desperate, I tried an extreme measure to provoke him. “Come on Tom, what’s with that lame ass fit? You have no drip.“
“You’re one to talk,” he sneered. “At least my parents didn’t name me Hairy Potty. Yo momma a bitch and yo daddy a bitch. That’s why I spun yo block and murked them. That’s why they dead.”
“DON’T talk sweet about my momma, fool! You a bitch and ima expose you right here, right now. We’re going band for band. Loser fucking dies.”
“Band for band?” His leprosy-riddled face contorted as he howled with laughter. “You think you can flex on ME?” His gang of Wife Beaters all began to roar with laughter under their hoods.
I waited, patiently, until the crowd died down. “Come on Rizzemort. I know you have no drip. Plus, you’ve never even done a money spread.”
Members of both camps glanced around and whispered, both students and Wife Beaters alike. Although I couldn't hear them, I knew what they were saying — wait a minute, it’s true. I’ve never seen him do a money spread. Has anyone seen Rizzemort do a money spread? He was losing the crowd, and he knew it, too. Seeing the seeds discord being sown into them, I continued. “What’s the matter, Rizzemort? Scared? That’s why you a bitch. That’s why you momma a bitch - cuz she RAISED a bitch!”
“DON’T DISS MY MOMMAAA!!” He roared with anger and his nostrils flared. “Fine. Let’s go band for band right now, cuh, I know you broke as fuck.”
We used our magic sticks to summon bands from our accounts at Gringotts. With everyone watching, rolled up hunnids were dropping at our feet. They were being continuously fed into money counters. The racks piled up one by one with seemingly no end in sight. Minute after minute after minute, we dropped bands until no one could even tell whose pile was larger: we were just looking to see who’d run out first.
But something was off – he was far too composed. How could he just stand there calmly, smiling to himself? I started to sweat. Doesn’t he know I have a massive inheritance? Doesn’t know I’m a trust fund baby? He started to laugh. And laugh. His laughter grew louder and louder. Eventually, I had to ask. “Bitch what the fuck is so funny that it got you giggling like a toddler?” I looked around, and noticed each one of the Wife Beaters were smiling. “What the fuck did you do, Rizzemort? WHAT DID YOU DO?”
He wiped a tear from his eye, from his smiling face, and sighed — “Hairy Potty. You fool. Sure, you could’ve beaten me had we went band for band months ago, when I was revived at the TriRizzard Tournament, but since then, I’ve established a meth empire in America. A business big enough to be listed on the NASDAQ is constantly funneling money directly into my account as we speak. There’s no chance you’ll beat me. I am the one who knocks – knocks up bitches! I am LORD RIZZEMORT!”
“NOOOO!” I fell to my knees. My heartbeat accelerated like a galloping horse. Blood rushed to my head, as students looked at each other and whispered. Although I was a trust fund baby, I knew firsthand that there was no way I could compete with the power of meth.
It was all over.
It really was.
I thought, “Maybe he’ll let me live if I surrender. Fuck, he’s outflexed, outsmarted, AND outrizzed me. I really suck.”
wait a minute.
I really suck.
I Really Suck….
THERE! With my high rizztelligence, I came up with one last hope. I jumped to my feet and cackled like a maniac. I heard the sound of panicked chattering behind me, and saw the faces of confused Wife Beaters in front of me. I laughed and laughed, as Lord Rizzemort bellowed “what— what are you— WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?”
The crowd fell silent as I smiled at him.
“Why. Are. You. LAUGHING? You’re getting ratio’d the fuck out of you right now. You got no drip, no bands, and no bitches. You’ve lost the duel. You lost your parents. Did you lose your mind too?”
I smiled, and pulled out my iPhone. Upon seeing this, his confusion turned to chuckled laughter. “You do realize I also have an iPhone, right? iPhone 14 XLS,” he said. But that wasn’t what I was going for. I didn’t give a fuck if he had an Android or a Motorola.
I dialed a number, and prayed. Please don’t put me on hold, please don’t put me on hold, I repeated this mantra in my head hoping it would manifest.
“Due to a large volume of calls, we are placing you on hold!” FUUUCK! The robotic voice of the answering machine made my heart sink. But still, my money and Rizzemort’s money were continuously being summoned and counted. At this point, our stacks of blue hunnids piled high. There was more cash here than a mediocre white-collar criminal would see in a single pump-and-dump. The whole field was completely silent, save the ftt-ftt-ftt of money counters, the elevator music emanating from my phone, and the wind. All I could do was pray that I would be taken off hold before my money ran out — before the duel ended with my immediate death. Rizzemort and I locked eyes, and I could see in his grinning face that he truly believed he’d already won. But I had one final hope.
After 7 minutes of waiting, my phone was slipping out of my clammy hands. My heart beat like a massive drum, a piece of leather stretched tightly and beat with a mallet. After 12 minutes, I noticed a circle of sweat around my neck. And as more and more beads of sweat ran down my face, Rizzemort grew more and more confident.
Finally, after 19 minutes, the sound of money counters and telemarketer music was interrupted by a rizzbotic voice. “WE ARE TRANSFERRING YOU TO A PERSON WHO CAN ASSIST YOU. PLEASE WAIT.” The startling rizzbotic voice of the answering machine was a rizzlief to my ears. All in the meantime, Rizzemort grinned stupidly at me, still believing he had won. But this time, I had the confidence to grin back.
I put the phone on speaker as my money flowed, praying my bank account would hold out for just a few more seconds. The sound of the money counters grew louder and louder.
Brrring…
Students began whispering behind me. I could feel that some of them had given up hope. In front of me, Wife Beaters grinned ever more stupidly.
Brrrrriiing…
I heard students shout, he’s gone mad! from behind. Wife Beaters jeered in front of me as my fellow students lost faith. But this was my final shot, and I was giving it my all. As the noise grew louder, Rizzemort himself raised (rizzed) his hand in the air, signifying to everyone to shut the fuck up.
And they did.
Brrrrriiing… \click**
My call was connected. Good. My phone was at maximum volume. The stars had aligned, and this was my moonshot. (Fuck the Apollo mission, that shit was fake btw.) The crowd, the Wife Beaters, the students, Rizzemort himself – soon, they would all see what I was aiming for.
From the other end came a woman’s voice:
“Internal Rizzenue Service. How many I help you today?”
Rizzemort’s face dropped. His grin turned to a frown. I smiled and spoke my next words.
“Hi, yes, I’d like to report a case of fraudulent failure to report rizzenue.”
“NO! Harry, don’t do this. Not the IRS! Anything but the IRS!!!“
“Too late, Rizzemort. This is my get back.”
He started to float towards the sky as he spoke. His pale face turned red with anger as he shook his fists and screamed. He clenched his muscles so hard that he began spasming and foaming at the mouth as he rose. Wife Beaters began panicking and screaming, even latching on to his ankles to pull him down. But as he rose higher and higher, they all fell. Students were cheering, and a chant began to form. “HARRY! HARRY! HARRY!” Rizzemort rose higher and higher, and cracks seemed to form in his image, with glowing green light shining through. His violent screaming began to echo, growing in volume and competing with the chant of “HARRY! HARRY! HARRY!” As he floated higher and higher, more and more cracks of shining green light formed in his body — until finally, he shattered, and pieces floated throughout the wind. This time, he was gone for good.
That was the day I outrizzed Lord Rizzemort, He Who Must Not Be Rizzed, and I saved the rizzarding world at the Battle of Hogwarts School of Rizzardry. I flexed on the most feared rizzard of the rizzarding world so hard that he vanished from existence. Based on my experiences in the rizzarding world, I believe that I would have a lot to offer at JimmyTDB’s School of Rizz. It’s a perfect match, and I hope you’ll feel the same.

Hi, hope all are good Of-late I got offer from McMaster Engineering and I want to pursue my education there but the thing that stands as a wall is my financial condition. To pursue my education I need to afford a loan from the bank but the bank said they can't provide me more than 130000 CAD (equivalent to 2 year tution fee). Can I manage next 2 year la fee with my co-op and part-time job. Is there any other possibilities. I keenly want to pursue my education at McMaster but my financial condition put a big question mark.

I've just started a new job as a receptionist (in England), it's full time 40 hours a week, 5 days on 2 days off scheduling (but no guarantee those 2 days will be the weekend if that makes sense). During my interview my boss mentioned that they don't allow employees to take paid holiday during the 6 month probation period which I knew sounded like bs at the time but unfortunately I'm not really in the financial position to argue about it. They said I could take unpaid leave which tbh I would've accepted (the pay is decent enough to manage it and I've not had a holiday since 2019 so at this point idgaf). However, yesterday when I mentioned that I had a couple days that I would definitely need off as I have pre-existing plans (including my own uni graduation!), my managers answer was basically "well we'll see what we can do, maybe you can take some unpaid leave". When frankly these plans are non-negotiable, and I've never had a job that was unwilling to make reasonable accommodations around plans/holidays etc. already in place before I started. We're also talking about 1-2 days which tbh I was sort of hoping they'd be willing to just schedule my rest days around. So this doesn't fill me with much hope they'll let me take a week (even unpaid) leave at some point in the summer.
There's nothing in my contract explicitly about holiday only being accrued during my probation period just that "The Employee can only claim such entitlement of paid annual leave after the confirmation of employment", which given similar language is used to describe "confirmation of employment" in the probationary period section, I assume is referring to this policy. It's my understanding though that a contract can't override my statutory rights?
We got our rotas for next week and I realised today that I was scheduled to work the bank holiday next friday. My contract states that I'm entitled to "5.6 weeks (28 days) of paid annual leave in each calendar year, inclusive of all UK public and bank holidays", and the way it was explained in my interview made it seem like I would basically get 20 days plus bank holidays as paid leave. To be fair the contract also states that my employer has "the right to require the employee to work during Public Holidays or normal rest days from time to time" but that "Appropriate leave/compensatory rest will be given". Which to me suggests that if they make me work the bank holiday then they need to give me those days back to take somewhere else? Or am I totally reading that wrong?
I'm not an idiot and fully aware that I have legal rights surrounding my employment, and like I said I was aware that some of their terms probably violated some of them when I interviewed for the job, which was already taking the piss a bit, but I have a life outside of work and it feels ridiculous that I can't even expect unpaid leave as a given. Especially because I don't have any guarantees to weekends off. I just want some assurances that I know what I'm talking about when/if I bring it up with my manager. I also need to tread carefully because like I said, I'm not in the financial position to lose this job, I've had no income since December and my savings have basically run dry. Is this even worth having a fight about? My plan was never to stay in this job long term (honestly I'm hoping I don't have to work past the probationary period at all) I just wanted some admin/office experience that I can hopefully use to transition into my actual chosen field.