"Since July 9th, 2022, we the team behind VCBW have challenged and focussed ourselves to make sure none of the mistakes that took place on that day could ever happen again. We choose to respond to this unfortunate day by making sure no issues that took place in 2022 could ever happen again, working our way to creating the best beer festival that has ever taken place in the Pacific Northwest.
By making the event one-day-only, all efforts can be focussed on making sure it is the very best it can be. By ridding this event of a currency (RFID/Tokens) for beverages, not only is there no opportunity for the currency to fail (like it did in 2022), but the guest experience is maximized in that they don’t have to pay for any drinks once inside the event. This will also drastically reduce line-ups at each booth, if there will be any at all. And of course, by bringing in refillable water stations, guests will have access to all the free water the could possibly enjoy.
As an organization, we have spent the better part of the last two decades producing some of the largest festivals and events in Vancouver and have always prided ourselves on creating amazing experiences for our guests in a safe, enjoyable environment. Unfortunately last year's festival came up short for many of you and thus we have completely revamped this particular event to make sure that everyone leaves the 2023 installment completely satisfied, with expectations met and exceeded.
For those of you who aren't coming back, we're sorry we let you down. That said, we've heard you, made changes and are excited for where VCBW goes from here."

I THINK (maybe it's more common than I thought) that I have a unique situation here and was wondering if anyone had a similar situation. My wife and I submitted the I-130/I-485 on 11/8/21, she got her biometrics appointment on 11/13/21, and they scheduled our interview on 3/23/22. We then moved from Connecticut to Nevada and submitted all of the relevant paper work but they never changed the interview location so we went to the interview in Connecticut.
I (husband) went through the interview process and at the very end when he asked my address I told him the Nevada one. The officer then said he'll need to transfer the case to Nevada and that he would be sending the information from the interview to Nevada and that I wouldn't have to do my portion of the interview again. Our status for both the I-130 and I-485 changed to Interview Cancelled on May 4th, 2022 and nothing at all happened for the better part of a year. We called USCIS many times explained to them, they weren't much help, our lawyer said everything was progressing fine, etc.
Flash forward to this year in early February we figured something must be wrong and we pressed our lawyer who made a formal request to USCIS. On March 19th they finally responded and said that our request to reschedule the interview was granted and the USCIS status on the I-485 changed to reflect that and then on March 20th the status changed to Case Is Being Actively Reviewed By USCIS.
My wife was already granted her work permit in February of last year, already did her biometrics stuff, and generally we've had no problems with the application or requests for additional information or anything like that and my portion of the interview went great. Everything was progressing super fast and then the whole moving thing apparently threw a wrench into everything.
I contacted our congresswoman at the advice of this sub regarding this prior to the interview rescheduled notification and a representative from her office is in contact with us and contacting them but we haven't heard back yet. Hopefully that will help but I'm nervous that by moving we pushed everything back by a long time. My wife has young kids from a previous marriage that she's been away from for well over a year and she's starting to reach her breaking point.
We are pretty much clueless at this point as to whats happening and I'm really curious to see if anyone had a similar experience. Part of me is thinking my lawyer screwed up (it wouldn't be the first time), another part is thinking the immigration officer that I did my interview with screwed up, and another part is thinking that this is just the normal timeline of things and we just need to accept that but something in general doesn't feel right.

English is my 2nd language and writing its my weekness sorry in advance. I was staion in texas finishing my 5 yrs contract, we had been separated for 3 years and since I wasn't in california the judge granted 50/50 legal custody and 93% physical to my spouse and I can have our sons on summer break. I recently got out of the Army and came back to California to be with my sons (I hate being away) she's now not letting me shee them because my sons 8 and 5 are "scare" of my girlfriend mother of my 3 son and stared seening her 5 to 6 months after I left my x. I'm very strick with my sons, I don't let any bad behavior go without being corrected, I don't let them spent all their days in tablet, TV or anything like that, I'm also very lovable, I kiss them more that 30 times a day and tell them that I love them multiple times in the day, everyday (I grew up without a dad and a abusive mother which is why I'm like that) when I was at work I would ask my girlfriend to raise her voice as well and put them in time out (she lost it twice and screamed at them. My ex is using that to say she won't let me see my sons because they are scared of her (she also said I make them scare). When I got to California I saw them for one day, before driving them back to their moms I ask them if they had fun, my 5 year old didn't want to leave and my 8 yr old said he want to be a week with me and a week with their mom. After her not letting me see them or talk to them for 2 week she finally answered and told me marisa was being mean to them, when I was with them all day and they are scare of her and they don't feel safe. Remind you before they left they hug her and kissed her, on the phone they were exited to talk to me and my girlfriend and when I question my older one he looks at her (she's off camera) before answering anything. I have a court day to change custody but it's not until 2 months from now. Any advice would help PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

Hi I'm a 21 y/o Caucasian female. 125 lbs at 5'3". no drug use but former polyaddict, quit nicotine in 2022. I'm on dextroamphetamine ir 10mg BID and hydroxyzine hcl 5mg 1-2prn for sleep. diagnosed conditions: severe combined type ADHD, chronic rhinitis, anxiety disorder, secondary amenorrhea, vit d deficiency.
The last 2-3 years for me have been hell. Before 2020 I used to consider myself somewhat healthier than the general American population as I cared about diet and was a healthy bmi. I also exercised a lot at my job. I had low blood pressure and low resting HR. I was very ambitious and had a lot of energy for hobbies and friends. At the time I was still diagnosed with vitamin d deficiency and anxiety and I also was anemic due to a vegan diet which I followed in adolescence. I did feel fine physically though and only really struggled with bulimia and a stressful home life. (Mom was alcoholic, history of childhood sa from father passed away)
At the beginning of the pandemic my health started changing. I began having panic attacks nightly, one of my tonsils blew up and became cryptic. I think around the time I had a case of strep throat and pinkeye at the same time which were both treated with antibiotics. I have always had a slight hand tremor and my body has always "run cold," but both of these got worse progressively. I would have panic attacks often and my fingers would turn waxy white. I also live in Minnesota and I get extreme pain in my extremities (and TMI but also my nipples?) from the cold weather. I began having to sleep with a hot pack or a space heater pointed at me every single night due to cold feet/general cold feeling. I only ever had a normal menstrual cycle at age 14-15. ever since then I've have had oligomenorrhea or amenorrhea. Sometimes I might have a period once or twice a year. Sometimes I get the dry brown blood spotting but no real period.
The worst symptoms started appearing around 2021. I had difficulties falling asleep due to anxiety and air hunger. I started having really bad neck/shouldetrap/rib pains. My voice deepened significantly and I had a globus/tight throat feeling. I began to become very fatigued and couldnt get anything done. I was diagnosed with ADHD and given meds, which helped somewhat. I had to take hydroxyzine or I wouldn't be able to sleep. I started having chest pains at times and ended up going to the ER on various occasions with no findings. I became agoraphobic for a bit and wouldn't answer any phones or go outside without my boyfriend unless it was to go to work.
In 2022 I quit using my stupid vape box mod for good hoping it would stop whatever was happening to me. I had to stop working full time because I was only getting 3-4 hours of sleep and had no time or energy to clean my apartment. I would wake up several times a night also. I was extremely emotionally volatile and cried often. My back of neck pain was becoming unbearable and it felt like my neck was too weak to hold my head up some days. Doctor said to take ibuprofen and stretch which I had already been doing. My ribs always hurt a lot too. The spaces between my upper ribs feel tendebruised upon touching them. I am always rubbing my chest and the back of my neck at work due to them hurting which probably looks strange.
I got a Galaxy watch that year which has shown my resting heart rate is usually 80-110 and that my pulse remains high while sleeping (70-100) and that I average 6 hours of sleep a night. I still find myself waking up randomly every night. I have started to experience what I think are PVCs where I get an scary skipped beat feeling in my chest before my body forces a dry cough out then it stops. I have developed very dry, burning eyes and my fatigue is unbearable now. I feel like the sleepiest person on earth. I struggle at work. If I didn't have my medication I'd probably not be able to get up at all. It's like I'm paralyzed every morning. My blood pressure has become ... weird? My pulse pressure has widened. It used to be like 110/65 always but now it's usually 125/60 or 130/65. At my appointments I sometimes have an unexplained low grade fever like 99 or 100. I can't regulate my temperature at all. I'm either super hot and my face is flushing or I'm freezing cold. I have to use clinical strength antiperspirant daily and I still sweat through it which never was an issue for me growing up. In the evening my face gets really flushed and hot. If I bend over my face flushes and I get dizzy. If I choose to eat breakfast I will become dizzy and sweaty within a couple hours so instead I choose to fast usually until work is over. My pharmacist took my blood sugar at work once and it was 50. My pharmacist also always mentions my shaking hands when I'm working. I have to take hot baths sometimes due to aches/being cold and I have fainted upon leaving the bath, but this has been happening since I was 17 so I honestly am less concerned by it.
I just had a thyroid ultrasound today which just showed that my thyroid was normal sized. I was really really hoping it'd show something because hyperthyroidism was my last big lead on what could maybe be affected. My TSH last time was .76 and t4 was 1. I've had various autoimmune tests like Lyme and rheumatoid which all came back negative. My boyfriend will end up leaving me if I can't get back to my old self. He is frustrated from carrying the financial weight currently with me only working part time. I am putting off a lot of adult responsibilities like collections debt and car issues out of exhaustion and extreme anxiety. I want to make art like I used to and go back to school. I feel genuinely insane and doctors keep brushing me off. I just feel so sick, tired, and in pain every day. I KNOW used to feel better but I can't remember exactly what it was like. I used to wake up at 5:30 am for school every day and now I can't even get up at 9:30 am for work. I am often late from struggling to wake up. I work in a pharmacy and I'm afraid that my fatigue and dissociation will cause me to make a major mistake. I am extremely ashamed of my existence rn as I think everyone is starting to doubt me and I feel so behind financially. I feel like I may do great harm to myself or my something bad will just happen to me like a heart attack or something if I can't feel better soon. I just can't live anymore this way; everything is SO miserable. Ik this is long and probably won't get comments but if anyone has any ideas I'd be really grateful. I'm just really desperate especially with the massive gaps of time I have to wait between doctor appointments.

I started a new job as a server for olive garden (Darden) in Utah. I currently do not have insurance and am looking to get good insurance that can help with costs of SRS. I honestly am so confused and know nothing about navigating insurance policies etc. And to make it more confusing, I am going to be moving to California in a few months and my legal name and gender marker change is happening in a few weeks here in Utah.
I don't think the plan offered to me through Darden right now will cover anything, so I'm wondering if I should just opt out of the insurance right now and save money until I move to California and try again? (I've heard they have better trans insurance plans there). Is that smart? If I simply transfer to a new Darden location in Cali will they offer me better plans? Sorry this is so basic I'm just so confused and stressed and don't know who to ask, but I really want to get surgery in the next couple years. Any help is appreciated.

Hello!
I'm 31 years old and moved from Sweden to Finland 3 years ago, and not having made any friends here yet why not start now?
I'm only interested in people from the Nordics.
Some information about me you might find interesting:

• I'm actually fairly good at sewing, just haven't done it in years.
• I work in a niche IT field
• The longest lasting friendship I've had is currently running at 25 years.
• Even though i live in Finland I don't speak more than a few words of finnish, mostly relying on swedish and english.
• I'm looking forward a lot to summer, not because I like summer but because I can restart my garden.
• I have a game I've been on and off playing since 2004.
• Only reason I play Pokemon GO is to have a reason to go outside.
• I've never bought a game or app on my phone.
• I've programmed a solution for a company that I sold for a considerable amount in mid 2010s.
• My music taste changed overnight after having been to a festival.
• I used to be an avid gamer with a steam library of over 1000 games, but during 2022 i've opened at most 10 games.
• I got a 3d printer and loved it, until I couldn't figure out how to level the center of the bed and basically gave up using it.
• I've seen more movies and series than I'd like to admit.
• I don't drink, smoke or use any forms of drugs.
• I'll do anything to make robots do all my chores.
• I have not gone to university, yet everyone I work with has.
• I'm a very happy and genuine person, who loves to listen.
• I'm a progressive person with feministic and equality views.

So now you know some random facts about me, here's what I hope you are/have. You don't have to be all of this but it's mostly what i hope for.
I hope you can keep a conversation going, I'm tired of one way friendships where I either have to write every single starting message or where I'm never getting any questions back or interest in what i'm doing. If you're mentally ill in some way, please don't make it your entire personality or the only thing you want to talk about. I'm not necessarily looking for conversations where we're deep into politics and other difficult subjects. While I can have those I'd hope you can also be easy to talk with, just casually talking while working or something similar.
Other than that I'm open for anything. Hit me up!

Within the last 5 months, my Flatmate has:

1. Keyed my new vehicle twice and set a nail under my tire
2. Created an email account with my info
3. She applied for Welfare Benefits with my info, using my work address. (Welfare Fraud.) She put on the application that I had lost my job and was homeless
4. Made a fake Chase Bank Business Credit Card denial letter. She made it look as if I had tried taking a credit card out in my company's name. She put my job place as the address and my boss received it.
5. She applied for Geico Insurance and an Amex card in my name, also with my work info
6. She smashed my eggs and put a ton of rubbing alcohol in my half & half and in my bathroom products
7. She put stickers all over my windows, from the outside, to cover my outdoor cameras. She said my cameras were illegal. This was hypocritical because she has outdoor cameras too. I got these cameras as a response to my truck being vandalized. I'm an audio engineer and have a lot of audio gear stored in the home.
8. She painted a 10 ft. x 6 ft. painting on the property saying I was a sociopath: "(my name) is a sociopath who plays victim to avoid accountability." She painted over it within 48 hours. Later when I confronted her, she said that I wasn't even supposed to see it, that it was just an expressive art piece. That me sharing footage with my friends and family says more about me than it does her.
9. I've nicely confronted her about a couple of these other things and after I've confronted her, she then turns and says I'm doing those things to her. A.) When I confronted her about the vehicle damage she said, "I have no idea what you're talking about, it's kinda funny though. I'm not surprised you've made more enemies." Then proceeded to tell people I keyed her Jeep. I proved that I did not, then she changed the story and started saying I dented the hood of her Jeep. B.) I sent her an email asking for reimbursement for my bathroom products but she never responded. She started telling people this: That I was the one who put rubbing alcohol in my shower products, and that she went into the restroom after me to "set me up" and "mimicked" putting rubbing alcohol in my products to prove I had hidden cameras in the restroom. Which I would never do because that's illegal.

​
I was really bad with boundaries and formed a friendship with her for a couple of years. There were a lot of behavioral patterns that I normalized (black-and-white thinking, not taking any accountability, social skill struggles, disproportionate emotions and reactions, gaslighting, etc.). The falling-out and harassment came about after I attempted to set a clear, simple, reasonable boundary with her. She took it as a personal attack and has been rageful toward me since. She was unemployed while doing all of this but I think in a recent couple of weeks she has gotten a job, which is relieving because she's leaving me alone for now but it would be more of a relief if she moved out. The landlords who also live on-site do not want her here but they don't feel they can evict her, they're intimidated by her. I've been documenting best I can and I have taken action, waiting on the outcomes. I cannot afford to move out within any reasonable amount of time and I love where I live. So instead of using my resources to move, I want her out. I was totally willing to live with her still until she did all of these unhinged things. I've lived with at least 10 other roommates in my adult life. I've never had problems that weren't solvable with others. There were 4 other women that lived here before me and they all had issues with her.
To paint a picture: This is in Los Angeles. This all started in October 2022 but has escalated since February 2023. She is a 34 y.o. Mindful Meditation Teacher and Artist. 🙃
If anyone has any suggestions or resources, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!
​
EDIT: The action I have taken: 1.) filed a police report for the vandalism. 2.) A second police report for the poisoning 3.) Filed mail fraud reports with USPS 4.) Filed a Welfare Fraud report 5.) The vehicle vandalism has stopped since I confronted her. I got a bi-directional dash cam. We parallel park on the street and I have 2 neighbors with cameras that have told me to park in front of their house. They're looking out for me, which I'm super grateful for.
So I'm waiting for the outcomes of the reports. I have some proof but idk if I have enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. As far as the Welfare Fraud, I think the state takes over, and I don't believe I will ever know the outcome of that. The same for the USPS but that's Federal.
What I'm wondering is what can I do as far as an eviction? She's lived here a little longer than I have but she rents month to month with no rental or lease agreement. The landlords agreed to do a lease agreement with me when this all started happening, but in CA I believe she still has the same rights as me regardless.
​

I'm from the US and have lived in California most of my life. About two years ago mid pandemic I started dreaming of pursuing my masters abroad. More specifically France, as it is a culture I've enjoyed in my travels and a language I've really enjoyed learning in undergrad. When I did month-long immersion programs a few times, the best I can explain the feeling at the end is it "wasn't enough".
I decided to shoot for what I wanted and honestly just expected rejection. Instead I just got the news a few days ago that I've been accepted and the orientation for the program is September 1. I will be quitting my job in July, starting the student visa process, and likely will not see my friends, family, and pets very much for the next two years. Its a huge change. I know the alternative is feeling stuck in the same place, both physically, in my career and personal development wise - but there's defiantly reservations in the back of my head.
Just looking to talk to those who have gone through a similar experience... like beyond logistics where do I even start

Shintaro Fujinami, once compared to Shohei Ohtani as a high school prospect looked like an even better pitcher to NPB scouts than Ohtani and was a fellow first round pick in the NPB draft in 2012. His first four years he was fantastic then he pretty much stopped being able to throw strikes in the NPB Major league team until this season brought out his best control in his entire NPB career. Is this a flukey dead cat bounce or is there something here? $3 million dollars says we'll find out if he has enough control to start or whether he should be used as a multi inning reliever (or even stay on the 26 man roster for that matter.)
From 2013-2016, Fujinami was actually quite good at the Major league level of the NPB. Over 103 games pitched (102 starts) he had a 2.96 ERA over 668 2/3 IP with 695 strikeouts (9.4 K/9 @ 24.5%) and 260 walks (3.5 BB/9 @ 9.2%). It wasn't as good as Ohtani but it was certainly worth noting as he was hyped as a potential player to join an MLB team in the future. It may have happened sooner though had it not been for Tomoaki Kanemoto, the heavy misuse of the still young Fujinami caused the downfall of a once promising superstar starting pitcher. For most of the 2017-2021 stretch Fujinami was wild and horribly ineffective 259 Innings and 1199 batters faced as he hit 20 batters, unintentionally walked 177 (6.2 UBB/9 @ 14.8%) while he still picked up 251 strikeouts (8.7 K/9) his strikeout percentage dropped to 20.9%. His ERA ballooned to a 4.59 in spite of pitching in the Central League which doesn't have a DH.
What changed in 2022 that made Oakland willing to spend on the now 29 year old Fujinami? Fujinami apparently stopped walking so many batters and was finally healthy/actually could control his stuff even if it meant he didn't get as many strikeouts as he did at his peak. In 66 ⅔ innings (276 batters faced) at the major league level in the NPB he only unintentionally walked 20 batters (2.7 UBB/9 @ 7.2%) which is a career best for Fujinami against 65 strikeouts (8.8 K/9 @ 23.6%). Fortunately he can still hit 99-100 MPH with his fastball (51% usage) and averaged 96.3 MPH with it last year. He also threw a splitter (26.3% usage) that averaged 91.4 MPH and a slider (20.2% usage) that averaged 86.2 MPH. He also occasionally throws a curveball as well.
Is this control gain sustainable? Not entirely as his previous years cannot be overlooked, even at his peak he was still walking 9.2% of his opponents so when we did our projections for Fujinami we figured he would throw about 150 Innings over 30 starts (assuming it's something between a five and six man rotation) we predicted he would walk 75 batters and hit another 8 in addition to 150 strikeouts which gave us a 4.25 FIP projection assuming a 3.112 FIP constant like last year and about a home run per nine innings. That said, we may have been too bullish on his 11.4% walk rate considering he has walked more than a batter an inning in 12 2/3 spring training innings and thrown 3 wild pitches so far, albeit with 17 strikeouts (30.9%).
Overall, I think he'll be more likely to succeed in a bullpen role/swingman role due to his command/control problems. That being said at just a $3.9 million investment between his salary and the posting fee the A's have made a low risk but potentially high reward signing for the cost of a typical middle reliever.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed learning more about our new starting pitcher option for this season. Let me know if you want to learn more about any other players and your opinions on Fujinami and whether you think he'll do well or get torched by his command and control issues.

Tl;dr thank you (to all parties) for the content.
Long version:

Preface

This story starts as many good ones do rooted in the murky filth of betrayal, whispered plots and daggers in the dark. At the end of the Fire Flies war, a small alliance of Pure Blind corporations, OSCH, formed of S3VG, ETIC, MAG and others found themselves in a leadership power struggle.
Executor of OSCH, The defender of the North, Angel ‘the butcher’ Blackman and vice executor Ozhin from MAG found themselves at odds over the future of OSCH. Shortly thereafter Angel departed for PAND for a brief holiday, and a plot was formed in the darkness between Ozhin and the CEO of BNI to create a new alliance, BOSS and break out from the hand that fed them, SHH.
Many in OSCH, having been told about the new BOSS alliance merge, were none the wiser of the shadowy plot, and when it came to light a schism between MAG and the rest of the original OSCH tore open. Within 48 hours the new MAG citadel was consigned to the icy silence of space and MAG retreated to Greater Wildlands to regroup, although not without the theft of a yet to be anchored citadel - which stands to this day at O1Q-P1.
S3VG under the then leadership of Marnex, took in some of the lost ones from that fracture, as did ETIC, and both were given newly won systems in North Tenal to populate. Ripe t10 systems with rats and rocks to grow fat on, and quickly we grew our citadel in 3-QYVE to t3. Before long war broke out again, and whispers in the ear of Mommasaurus from the tongue of Ozhin (renamed to Obnoxious) himself saw GenFeds attention turn to S3VG and ETIC in Tenal. 3-QYVE was entosed by the genfed incursion and TK was blown up. It looked dire. A few weeks later however 3Q was recovered and shortly after GenFed fell and Mommasaurus regime lay in tatters.
All was well, or so we thought, a new citadel was dropped in T-K10W and the relative peacetime was good, until a sleeper alt of Ozhin, Golden Compass, emptied 5bn wallet and many other assets, before kicking all corp members. Chaos, anger, bitterness, vitriol ensued.
A new chapter was born however, when ETIC and S3VG merged under the leadership of Smachemo, and then more latterly, Arcticlizzard. This brings us up to the end of 2022.

The New War

2023 and the new war brought new challenges, we’d had little in the way of player content in the north, obese on the blood of rats and executor dead spaces, laden with ores, swollen in IP, but in truth a little bored and we welcomed the war drums.
Tenal had been our home for over a year, but she fell quickly and before long the region was ablaze. We had downgraded to t2 as had most, but within weeks the red hoarde had swept through and downgraded countless citadels from UF to FIRE To SHHF and SHH alike, Tenal and Branch smouldered, pilots thrown into diaspora.
In the smoke and empty shells of citadels S3VG started a clean up campaign and a new squadron called the Black Sheep Bombers. Cloakyboi operations to blow up (admittedly largely uncontested) t1 citadels in the name of cleansing Tenal of the crab invasion, all the while trying to hold our own citadels against the continued onslaught. In this side quest we have been successful in blowing up at least 10 trashed citadels.
S3VG held on as hard as we could IN Tenal, 3-Q AND TK changed hands numerous times, S3VG often fighting outnumbered and outgunned over citadels addons and POS. DEAD dropping caps on POS timers, S3VG rolling out homegrown sniper doctrines, Crab co smashing sometimes 3 times our numbers at us, and S3VG yeeting into the fray with no SRP to speak of. The skirmishes were exhilarating, savage, sometimes disheartening but always well natured. Eventually, and for reasons we can only guess at, MI re upgraded 3Q and TK to t2, and they were subsequently taken, held and downgraded to try and lock enemy caps inside. Whether they got out through blue spies we do not know.
The orders then came for the whole fed to move and so we let the citadels we’d call home for so long get popped by a fleet fc’d by none other than Oyzer himself and we then extracted all our assets to the south to prep for the next phase of the war.
And now we wait in a strange twilight zone, for the final move ops to be completed and for the orders to commence the bombardment to be received. What the future of S3VG looks like hangs in the balance of the offensive but I wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone for the content. Tenal has not been a salt mine for either side, which personally I appreciate. For the very most part the members of crab co, MxD, MI and others have been gracious in the victories they achieved, amiable in the defeats, good sports no matter the outcome and generally excellent combatants to brawl with. We’ve had frank and honest disagreements in local that ended in agree to disagree and not in salt flung or terse words. Both sides have kept it classy and it’s been excellent content. Special shout out to MI and the DEAD bois, you were especially excellent fun.
To the boys and girls of S3VG, can’t tell you how proud I am of all of you, to Arctic for navigating us through the past 100+ days, to the exec for the guidance and support, to StarDust for leading the Black Sheep Bombers and to all the pilots who helped with mats, building bombers, turning up to ops, and sharing in our efforts. It has not been easy, at times especially not so, but I’m impressed with the mettle and determination you’ve shown. Here’s to the fights to come and carving our new path forward wherever that may lie.
https://i.imgur.com/qEN0osA.jpg https://i.imgur.com/xFTqeR1.jpg

Hello everyone.
I'll keep this as short as I can. Full disclosure to start, I own and operate a small family physiotherapy business with my wife. For what it's worth, my wife and I work very hard to keep our people happy and well paid.
Health care workers providing service to victims of motor vehicle accidents in Ontario are getting shafted while the insurance companies' interests are protected by our government. Let me explain.
If you get injured in a car accident in Ontario, your insurance dollars and rehabilitation is handled through a system regulated by the Financial Services Regulator Authority (FSRA) of Ontario. Insurance companies have a very high level of control over how and when your rehab is delivered. Its highly structured. Privately employed nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, rehab/personal support workers etc., help victims recover from a crash under this system, and the rates they charge the insurance company for their time/service are set by the FSRA. These are set out in a document the FSRA put out in the 2014 called the "Professional Services Guideline" - if anyone tries to charge over and above this document, insurers will instantly reject the charge and reference this document. The last time these rates were increased was in 2014 when the document was released by FSRA. Per the Bank of Canada inflation calculator, inflation for 2014 - 2023 was 24.5%. That means health service professionals are making about 20% less today than they did in 2014 for the same service. Sure, OK, everyone is hurting for the same reason. What is special here?
Here's the infuriating part. The FSRA also regulates, reviews and approves any insurance company wanting to increase the premiums they charge Ontario residents like you and me for our auto insurance. The FSRA has approved, by my count, 228 increases since 2018 (online database), compared to zero increases for health care professionals since 2014. Most companies get multiple rates increases per year. Taking one major insurance company anyone here would recognize, their increases total 26% since 2018 - I don't have data for 2014 - 2018. Mad yet? Keep reading. The FSRA's own wording states that reasonable profit, increased operating expenses and inflation are justifications for FSRA approving these 200+ increases. That's fair, right? Well, no, not when these costs equally apply to health service professionals working in the exact same system, but for some reason health service professionals do not get rates increases like the mulit-billion dollar insurance companies. If insurance companies costs are going up, but they are not paying more to the people on the front lines that actually provide the care, where is that money going? Hmm.
The FSRA has shown no interest or action to address the fact that insurers continue to increase premiums, but not what they pay the people that actually do rehab for those that are recovering from life-changing injuries. Even the Ontario Rehab Alliance, a group of 130 small and medium sized businesses has been unable to get any traction after years of advocating on this issue.
The problem as I see it, is that many health care providers under this system are small businesses like us - health care professionals that work for themselves, or maybe in a business of 3-5 people. Most are awesome at providing care, but don't have time to keep up with things like inflation and regulatory process, and were overwhelmed just providing services through the pandemic and dealing with all the other nonsense insurers/adjusters throw at us in the name of profit. The FSRA dismisses us because we don't have big lobbying budgets like the insurance companies.
Given lack of action so far, I feel the only thing I can do is engage the public and connect with other providers to shine a light on this is to get enough stakeholders to contact the Ontario government and FSRA to show them it's not OK to protect major corporation's profits while ignoring small businesses completely.
I have some limited advocacy experience from the past related to Canadian telecommunications (don't get me started on Robelus!), but I need help. I want to do as much of the legwork as I can here to enable others to advocate for themselves. If you are a health care provider providing service to MVA clients in Ontario or know someone who is, DM me and I will help. If you have experience advocating for similar issues, I'd love your input in the comments on what I can do to be effective in advocating to the Ontario government. If you're involved in media, is this something news might pick up? If you're just someone who is sick of government prioritizing billion dollar corporations over small businesses and front-line healthcare workers, shoot FSRA and our Minister of Finance ([Peter Bethlenfalvy](mailto:[email protected])) a message and post a comment here voicing support.
Thanks everyone - this may go nowhere but I have to try.
Ministry of Finance (Oversees FSRA)
https://www.ontario.ca/feedback/contact-us?id=96911&nid=97156
FSRA Contact Page
https://www.fsrao.ca/contact-us
FSRA Insurance Premiums Rates increase database
https://autorateapprovals.fsrao.ca/
FSRA document from 2014 setting maximum rates for health care professionals
https://www.fsrao.ca/media/7996/download
Bank of Canada Inflation Calculator
https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/related/inflation-calculato

Opening line: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5
Opening name: Ruy Lopez Schliemann Defense
Board image: https://i.imgur.com/wxQbxZs.png
Lichess board: https://lichess.org/analysis/pgn/1.+e4+e5+2.+Nf3+Nc6+3.+Bb5+f5++
Wikibooks page: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Chess_Opening_Theory/1._e4/1...e5/2._Nf3/2...Nc6/3._Bb5/3...f5
Winning percenatages:
White: 1598 (39.93%)
Black: 810 (20.24%)
Draws: 1594 (39.83%)
Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defence
Schliemann Defence
The first thing to note about the Schliemann Defence, formerly known as the Jaenisch Gambit, is that it isn't a gambit. Despite the apparent similarity to the Latvian Gambit, the knight on c6 changes everything. Obviously, White can't capture on e5 immediately, and capturing on e5 after exchanging on c6 doesn't win a pawn either because the usual Ruy Lopez rejoinder ...Qd4 wins it straight back. Capturing the other way with 4.exf5 is possible but then 4...e4 would embarrass the f3-knight and lead, surprisingly, to a draw by repetition after only 7 moves.
So rather than blast the Schliemann Defence off the board, White must try to act natural and exploit the weakened Black kingside further down the line. The two moves that contribute to White's development while also defending the e4-pawn are
Black's next move is going to be ...fxe4, so choosing between these two moves amounts to choosing which piece you want to recapture with. A knight on e4 would immediately invite ...d5, to which White can react with a hair-raising temporary piece sacrifice. A pawn on e4 creates the prospect of preventing Black from castling with the remarkable manoeuvre Qd1-d3-c4. A little theory goes a long way in both cases!
Most popular responses

• 1. d3 (Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defence) The move 4.d3 defended e4 but also threatened to snaffle the f5-pawn into the bargain, because now Black won't have the instant rejoinder ...e4. (Lichess analysis) (Wikibooks) (436304 games)
• 1. Nc3 (Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defence) (Lichess analysis) (Wikibooks) (307700 games)

Engine Evaluation
Depth: 48
Score: +0.62
Best Move: Nc3
PV Line: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. Nc3 fxe4 5. Nxe4 Nf6 6. Qe2 d5 7. Nxf6+ gxf6 8. d4 Bg7
Puzzles based around Ruy Lopez
https://lichess.org/training/Ruy_Lopez
Historical games for Ruy Lopez Schliemann Defense

Game	Result	Year
Caruana, F. (2818) vs Carlsen, M. (2882)	1-0	2019
Caruana, F. (2832) vs Aronian, L. (2765)	0-1	2018
Anand, Viswanathan (2817) vs Ivanchuk, Vassily (2765)	0-1	2011
Anand, Viswanathan (2798) vs Carlsen, Magnus (2775)	1/2-1/2	2008
Caruana, Fabiano (2772) vs Radjabov, Teimour (2793)	1-0	2013
Karjakin, Sergey (2760) vs Aronian, Levon (2801)	1/2-1/2	2010
Ivanchuk, Vassily (2779) vs Radjabov, Teimour (2761)	1/2-1/2	2009
Anand, Viswanathan (2799) vs Radjabov, Teimour (2735)	1/2-1/2	2008
Karjakin, Sergey (2788) vs Radjabov, Teimour (2744)	1/2-1/2	2011
Caruana, F. (2781) vs Nakamura, Hi (2750)	1/2-1/2	2022

Ye, yes, I know we have a yearly census in this community, but does that census really cover the important questions that you always wanted to know about your fellow humans Kdramalovers creatures who see this survey and know how to write? (Your cat is exempt from answering.)
For this survey to be as representative as possible, it is very important that you answer as honest as you can. We already know that those who love Korean dramas are good people through and through, so that shouldn't be too hard.
We will come back to you with the results on the last day of Heirs Appreciation Week. I hope that the professional statisticians on this sub can help me with the p number and the standard deviation and other complicated but importantissimo subjects.
This is the survey that will make you understand why the world is as it is. And the survey is

HERE

All the screenshots are from Heirs except one, and that one is from the Chinese drama Why Women Love (A TRAITOR HAS WRITTEN THIS POST! PLEASE DO NOT REPORT HER TO THE MODS!)

Hello community!
I'm reaching out for help/advice regarding my husbands sudden onset of symptoms that started in March, 2021. There was no sickness, injury, infection, etc., but he experienced horrific dizziness, erratic blood pressure and being faint/lightheaded. Fast forward to end of last year and we have run the long and painful course of specialists, Johns Hopkins and finally Duke University. He was diagnosed with bilateral vestibular hypofunction and oscillopsia in January, 2022 and tried a long course of VRT/PT with zero improvements.
He's been out of work since June, 2021 and while we're beyond grateful for getting his SSDI approved recently, everything just feels "frozen". Every day is different with severity of symptoms, but original symptoms remain, including extreme exhaustion. As soon as it starts to warm up, it wreaks havoc and makes his dizziness worse. We still have no idea what caused this and after two years, he's had maybe 30 "good days" where he can do any sort of mild physical activity. He used to be a heavy equipment mechanic, so this has been a painful adjustment to watch. For those who are a few years into this, I have some burning questions:
- Are you still confident in your original diagnosis?
- Are your symptoms still the same?
- Do you still feel compelled to get third/fourth/fifth opinions from other doctors?
- How has your partnespouse helped to cope with the sudden life changes caused by this disease?
Mentally he's still doing okay, but obviously some days are harder than others. He tries not to focus on it and I follow suit. I've been his advocate and have continued to push doctors and take him to all of his appointments, but at what point do you stop? The financial aspect is hard to ignore as we're still paying off bills from when he first became sick. As I said before, I just feel stuck and would love to hear your perspective and advice for those who are suffering with vestibular issues or those who are care takers of those who have them.

Ok so this has been going on for a few months now and this person keeps coming back.
​
Since 2017 I've been using the same internet name that I made back then to this day. Let's just say the name is "GC", and I made that name for my YouTube channel that I still use and manage to this day. Since then, everywhere I go I usually use "GC" as my name, Twitch, Twitter, you name it, along with my original logo. I also set up a video editing commission website with the same name and logo. Until a few months back around the end of 2022, someone emailed me a "Cease and Desist" email saying that plagiarized their product name and threaten to "call the authorities". Now I shall refer this sender as "Z".
I never heard of Z or Z's product, which is a computer program that also named "GC", and also have a similar logo. Confused, I asked Z about it and he said that I copied his brand. He then refers to the Section 8 of GPL 3. Which was indeed a copyrighting law, of programming and coding. I ignored him, think nothing of it.
Until he came back with what it seems to be a company email. Z wanted to settled it by having a match of Team Fortress 2, a VERY team based online game. The winner get to keep the name. I of course reject it since it's pointless and a waste of time humoring him. After this I tried to look up Z's name apparently he lives in the same country as me, which I don't think he's aware of that, and he tweeted about the match there. Apparently what he didn't say in the email, that it was a 1 vs 3 match, him and his 2 other friends. So he wasn't even planning to play fair from the very start.
Out of curiosity I looked up Z's "GC" program. He does have and made a program named GC and the earliest instance that I can found is in October 2021, on his github. He claimed that he own the copyright to GC as the name, and on his github he has that copyright symbol. But everyone can put that in there and claim they have copyrighted it. But here is when I think it gets complicated. In Z's Twitter he made a petition to force me to change my name which to this day no one signed, he even change the goal from 100 to 5 signs. He also Tweeted that are some people that also interested in his GC program and wanting to work with it, so I'm afraid someone aside from me and Z might be involved.
A few days ago I got another email from a different company email from the last one. He says I stole his brand, name copyright things, the same things. BUT he also threaten me reporting me to all the place I've put my names on to remove me from them, including Twitch, Discord and Steam, also claiming to have a remote access to my PC. Which I quickly do a full scan of my PC, found nothing so one crisis diverted.
This might sounds like a scam and sounds more like someone getting butthurt over names, but I just want this to stop, this has been going on for too long. So what should I do from here?
TL;DR: Some dude copyrighting my name which I made years before him, demand me change or he would call the internet police and/or hack my computer. What do?

I'm writing this for a friend that doesn't speak English. The location is California.
My friend has been living in the same apartment for several years. The original lease was for one year, and she has been month-to-month since then.
When she moved in, the lease explicitly said that renters' insurance was suggested but not required. My friend is disabled and has virtually no assets and no income. As an immigrant, she doesn't even qualify for SSDI and lives by gifts from family and friends. Even small bills have a large impact so, with nothing to protect, renters' insurance did not seem like a necessary investment.
Her apartment complex was recently purchased by a larger management group. The new management sent out a notice that they were modifying the terms of the lease to require renters' insurance. My friend responded by pointing out that under California Code 1946, they cannot change the terms of the lease.
Now, they've sent a three day notice. In this notice, they claim the change is a modification to the "Community Rules," rather than a modification to the tenancy agreement. (There are other changes to the tenancy agreement they seem to have dropped).
This all feels like semantic gamesmanship to bypass the protections in CC 1946. What's the point of lease terms if they can be unilaterally changed by calling it a rule?
We've reached out to legal aid and tenants' rights groups but haven't heard back. Is this something the landlords can do?

First, thanks to all of you at SLF: I can't believe how much I've learned from all of you in less than a week and how my perspective has been changed and improved every day by all of you. Thank you.
I'm a 53yr old lawyer with a wonderful, loyal, hardworking wife that just doesn't want to be / can't be physically intimate any more. Not just "no sex" but her interest in daily emotional exchange has disappeared. It's really the daily flirting that I miss more than orgasms in bed. I could put up with bad sex once a month or even a few times a year if my wife would just touch my face once a day and say "I'm so happy that you're my husband". That would be like a shot of cocaine. I'm not saying this to solicit sympathy, I'm just laying the scene. Men are a bit like dogs. You can get us to chase any ball you throw if you just rub our face and say "Who's a good boy! Good boy!" The truth is, my wife IS very happy that I'm her husband. I know this. But great marriages depend on small daily exchanges in each person's love languages. This is critical. My wife is no longer able/willing to do this. We are very affectionate roommates with kids. My wife can live happily enough like this. I can't. My problem.
I've never seen myself as handsome. I'm short and physically undistinguished, even though I was able to date well in college and the workplace before I got married. I always used my self-confidence to make up for lack of looks. But from a week's worth of searching/texting/phoning, it looks like I'm good-looking enough that I can get a very, very good vanilla relationship where I live if my wife was not an issue. Reaching real 50-something emotional maturity has turned my self-confidence from an advantage into a flirting/dating superpower. As I said in a previous post: being a 53yr old successful, emotionally mature man turns out to be a high-demand niche at the moment. If your just barely more handsome than "a face that would literally scare the paint off of a freight train" (favorite phrase of mine from Phil Hendrie), the bouncer at the club is waving you inside. You'll get turned down enough times, you won't get everybody you want, but you'll have plenty of action from desirable women, no problem.
Let's say my wife would agree to me having a discreet girlfriend. Cost would be investments in nice restaurants, travel and gifts without a "monthly allowance". I am *shocked* at the enormous number of beautiful divorced woman in California who were married to some guy that treated them badly and are now divorced and "looking". They have careers, their own money, are looking for an emotionally mature man to be with. After days of "Bowl Frenzy" texting all day/night, I've taken the veterans' advice to text only with real possibilties (prob 2-3% of profiles that contact me).
I haven't had to "woo" anyone since I met my wife in 1998 so it's been like heroin having pretty women asking to video chat with me. I think flirting with and wooing a desirable woman is one of the most fulfilling social activities I know. It's so much fun. Creating an emotional connection with a woman is challenging and so rewarding for me. I can give myself a great orgasm in the shower but wooing an alpha female and having her decide "I want to be with you" is such a huge rush for me.
Finally, after a few days of this, my life has gone back to normal. Kudos to the SDs' here who have privately told me in chat "YOU NEED TO CALM THE FUCK DOWN. Your sugar life is not your real life. You're going to fuck this up and really damage yourself very quickly if you're not careful". Thanks, friends.
I think I don't really need a full-time SB. I could definitely afford it but I don't need secret sex once a week in a suite at the Fairmont Hotel (great local place in San Jose). What I want is a woman to be emotionally supportive in the way that my wife can no longer be. I don't need the 19yr old super-hot UC Berkeley student who literally says on her Seeking profile: "My father is a pastor so I'm good on my knees. Please pay my tuition". Jesus. Is this what we've come to? I really feel for all the REALLY good-looking women 31-40 who now have to compete against the hot 20yr old college cheerleader on Seeking looking for an SD. I have it so much better: I just have to be myself.
At age 53, I try not to ever lie because I'm not good at it. Lying means having to keep track of multiple fact universes. Telling the truth means you only need to remember one fact universe. So if I get into a relationship, my wife is going to have to agree to it. The idea that I could do it in secret is absurd. A good vanilla woman is going to want to be in public, in the sunshine, not meeting in secret.
Where can I go for advice on how to negotiate this with my wife? I'm going to talk with our marriage therapist but my guess is that negotiating an open marriage (is that what this is?) is extremely difficult, like eye of the needle difficult. As a trial lawyer, I have a lot of experience with "how do we convince the other side to settle for something that we can accept". There are lawyer books on how to do this. Now, the other side is literally my wife, my life partner, the mother of my children.
​
Please give some advice. I think with the incredible help of you incredible people, I can improve the odds of success from <1% to maybe 5-6%. Otherwise, divorce is a real possibility. I don't even know what any of you look like, but you have been very good friends to me. Thank you. God bless you.

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As mentioned above, John Wick: Chapter 4 movie 2 is set to begin premiering internationally on February 18, 2023, beginning with Malaysia and Singapore. An advanced screening will also take place at Los Angeles, California’s Orpheum Theatre that same weekend. However, this is considered an advanced screening ahead of the March 3 North American general premiere.
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So with the final approaching, I thought I would round out my deep dive series with a look at some of the more recent winners. Just a warning for those reading, this is the longest deep dive yet by quite a bit!
Previous deep dives:
#1: Susan (series 7)
#2: Ricky (series 8)
#3: Mark (series 10)
#4: Tom (series 7)
#5: Leah (series 9)
Before I go any further I just wanted to bring up something Lord Sugar said in an interview this year

Since we changed the prize to going into business with me for £250,000, it’s been very successful. Not 100% successful, but I can name at least five winners who are now millionaires.

The 5 millionaires I think he's talking about are Susan, Ricky, Mark, Tom and Leah. They are the top 5 most successful businesses Lord Sugar has invested in through the show. Obviously Susan didn't win but I'm guessing he considers her a winner as he still invested in her.
The thing that jumps out at me about these 5 is that they all came from the early series since the format change. From 2011 to 2014, every investment Lord Sugar made in a candidate has ended up a solid success. Their businesses all have turnovers of millions of pounds (or approaching those figures in Leah's case) with healthy profits. When looking into the winners from 2015 onwards though, things don't look so good.
I just want to caveat before I start that I am not an accountant. This deep dive is based on public filings of company turnoveprofits on Companies House, along with some assumptions I have made based on the balance sheets. One major assumption I have made is about the profit and loss account figures in the accounts. This represents the balance of the reserves of the company, the total of the post-tax profits retained by the company. This balance is entirely distributable, so can be reduced if the company pays the money out to shareholders with dividends, or the balance can be carried over to the next year. If the P&L account shows a net negative balance this means the company is operating at a cumulative loss, and there are no profits that can be distributed to shareholders.
Anyway without further ado, let's begin.
2015: Joseph (Impra Gas)
Some of you may have already seen in the media about Joseph's crash and burn already but his business failed pretty spectacularly. They went into liquidation (essentially the company equivalent of filing for bankruptcy) with debts of almost £2 million which they couldn't pay in March 2020.
He was making losses of almost £100k a year before his split from Lord Sugar in 2017. Lord Sugar allowed him to buy him out for £1 according to a statement that Lord Sugar made to the media. Valente sold the business for £31.5k in January 2020. He didn't get any of this money himself as the money was paid into the liquidation funds when they filed for insolvency, and was mostly consumed by legal/accounting fees. Soon after Impra Gas entered liquidation in March that year, interestingly the company that bought Impra Gas also entered liquidation in October of that year.
The liquidation statements are a long and complex document but they have managed to recover less than 1% of the debts owed (£8,857.02 to be precise). The fees owed to the insolvency practitioner for the liquidation far exceed the assets they have managed to recover!
This is without a doubt the biggest failure of any business Lord Sugar has invested in through the show. Which makes Valente's current grift of delivering courses about how to succeed in business hilariously ironic, but I digress!
2016: Alana (Ridiculously Rich by Alana)

	Revenue	Pre-tax profit	Dividends
Year ending June 2017 (6 months)	£175k	£22k	0
Year ending June 2018	£505k	£82k	£60k
Year ending June 2019	£439k	£25k	0

The accounts for 2019 state that the share premium account was transferred to the company's distributable reserves during that year's accounting period in June 2019. The share premium account is basically a reserve account representing the money Lord Sugar paid for his shares. The share premium account funds cannot be distributed to shareholders as dividends, unlike the profit and loss account.
In July 2019 Lord Sugar and Alana had parted ways. Alana paid £125k to buy Lord Sugar out according to Companies House filings.
So the 2020 accounts need a little guesswork here as they no longer report turnoveprofit, but the profit and loss account shows a reduction from £307k to £281k. However there are 2 things that make this figure different to interpret. The first is that it does not take into account any dividends paid by the company, as this takes money out of the reserves and gives it to the shareholders. The second is that Lord Sugar was bought out of the company during the 2020 financial year accounting period. If we take the £125k spent purchasing Lord Sugar out of the business from the 2019 P&L account balance, the company reserves would suggest a post-tax profit of £99k (not including any dividends paid).
The accounts for 2021 give us a better picture of the fact that Alana's business is in good health and making good profits. These accounts show an increase in the profit and loss account from £281k to £494k. From that we can infer that the company made a post-tax profit of at least £213k as their reserves increased by that much. That isn't taking into account any dividends Alana might have taken out of the company.
In 2022 their reserves dipped from £494k to £483k. This may mean a loss of £11k, but could also mean that they paid out a dividend of £11k more than their profits for that year. It's impossible to say for certain without knowing the dividends or profits that year. In any case, the balance sheets of the company still look pretty healthy with profit reserves of almost £500k.
2017: James (Right Time Recruitment)

	Revenue	Pre-tax profit	Dividends
Year ending June 2018 (6 months)	£451k	(£36k loss)	Not disclosed

After 2018 the accounts don't report turnoveprofit anymore. Looking at the balance sheets it appears that he made a loss of about £54k in 2019 and a further loss of £15k in 2020. After that him and Lord Sugar parted ways, with James paying £25k for his shares in December 2020.
Post-split with Lord Sugar, the accounts up to 2021 show the profit and loss account going from a negative balance of £157k to a positive balance of £117k. However this positive balance now includes Lord Sugar's investment money, which was moved from the share premium account to the distributable reserves when he left the company.
So that would cause an increase of reserves in the P&L account of £225k, if we take away the £25k paid to Lord Sugar for his shares. If we factor this into the reserves, they increased from about £68k to £117k. This would mean that his company is finally starting to become profitable after his split with Lord Sugar, giving profits after tax of about £50k, possibly more if he paid out a dividend that year.
2017: Sarah (Sweets in the City)

	Revenue	Pre-tax profit	Dividends
Year ending June 2018 (16 month period)	£1.007m	£94k	£98k

After starting off strongly, Sarah's business stopped reporting turnoveprofit/dividends in accounts after 2018. From the balance sheet it seems her business started to see some difficulties, as it showed a negative profit and loss account balance. In 2019 the company appears to have made a loss of over £117k, as the profit and loss account went from £14k to -£103k.
In 2020 the company appears to have made a small profit of about £24k as their negative balance decreased from £103k to £79k. In 2021 they again made progress on reducing their negative balance from £79k to £30k, implying a profit of £49k. However, the company is still in a negative overall balance.
In July 2022 Sarah and Lord Sugar parted ways, with Sarah paying Lord Sugar £50k for his shares
2018: Sian (Sian Marie)

	Revenue	Pre-tax profit	Dividends
Year ending June 2019	£92k	(£47k loss)	0

After 2019, Sian's business stopped reporting turnoveprofits in their accounts. But from the 2020 accounts their profit and loss account went from a negative balance of £47k to £120k. Which means that they made a further loss of £83k. According to the 2021 accounts the P&L account negative balance went from £120k to £119k, so the company just about broke even with a tiny profit.
Lord Sugar and Sian parted ways in March 2022. There is no document on Companies House about the company purchasing its own shares, unlike Alana/James/Sarah's. From that I think we can assume Lord Sugar simply wrote his investment off/sold the shares for £1 like he did with Valente.
Sian's business unfortunately is another one that ended up going into liquidation this month, with debts of £81k according to company filings.
2019: Carina (Dough Artisan Bakehouse)

	Revenue	Pre-tax profit	Dividends
Year ending June 2020	£510k	£73k	£29k
Year ending June 2021	£705k	£30k	Not disclosed
Year ending June 2022	£636k	(£66k loss)	Not disclosed

Carina's business initially was trading profitably, but the most recent accounts showing sales decreasing and a loss are a bit worrying.
Based on the P&L account balances I estimate they paid a dividend of about £50k in 2021. They would not have paid a dividend in 2022, as the company did not have the profit reserves to pay one.
2022: Harpreet (Oh So Yum)
With Harpreet there hasn't really been enough time for any concrete figures. Her company did file accounts for the year up to June 2022 but that only includes a period of 3 months since she won. There are no turnoveprofit figures in the accounts, but the profit and loss account went from £2k to a negative balance of £1k. This suggests a small loss of £3k was made.
But this may just be due to the business spending money on their expansion plans. Even Susan/Ricky/Leah made losses in their first year of trading before becoming very successful. So it's too early to make any judgement on Harpreet's business yet.
Bonus: Scarlett (Harper Fox Partners)
So Scarlett obviously didn't win in 2019 but Lord Sugar still invested in her, taking a 50% stake in her business. While she hasn't reached the heights of the investments from the first few years of the show since the format change, she has made herself a profitable and decently successful business!

	Revenue	Pre-tax profit	Dividends
Year ending June 2020	£112k	£29k	£49k
Year ending June 2022	£290k	£77k	£32k
Year ending June 2022	£484k	£155k	£63k

The accounts for Harper Fox Partners don't have a share premium account like the other businesses Lord Sugar invested in. They instead list long term creditors of £250k, which I assume is Lord Sugar's investment. Which makes me wonder whether the investment in Scarlett was structured as a £250k loan for half of the business?
And that concludes my deep dive!
James and Sarah are now trading profitably, so the title of this deep dive is technically incorrect. But they aren't really making very big profits, and they came after bigger losses. Carina was also trading profitably but the most recent accounts show a decrease in sales and a loss for the first time, so the growth of the business doesn't appear to be plain sailing.
It seems none of the investments from 2015 onwards have seen the sort of success of the ones from 2011-2014. Out of the investments since 2015, Alana comes out on top. She is the only one to consistently make profit and her business has the healthiest balance sheet. Interestingly it looks like most of Alana's success came after her split with Lord Sugar, the figures she was pulling in while in the partnership were fairly average.
Buying back Lord Sugar's shares
It seems Lord Sugar sells back his shares at a discount when the winners end the partnership. He sold his half of the business back to Alana for £125k, to James for £25k, and to Sarah for £50k. And for Joseph and Sian it seems he completely wrote his investment off.
But maybe the selling for a discount is just because the businesses simply aren't quite big enough to pay the investment back in full. I certainly doubt Lord Sugar would let Susan have his shares of her company back for £200k, or Ricky to have his shares back for £250k!
Anyway that's all folks, if anyone has made it to the end of this very long deep dive thank you!

Here is a possible story of China's response to NASA landing the first woman on the Moon:
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The year is 2024, and NASA has just achieved a historic milestone: landing the first woman on the Moon as part of its Artemis program. The woman, Kate Rubins, is a microbiologist and astronaut who has previously sequenced DNA in space. She is accompanied by two other crew members, Dan Smith and RT, a robotic assistant. They land at Shackleton Crater, near the lunar south pole, where they plan to conduct scientific experiments and explore the lunar terrain.
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The world watches in awe and admiration as Rubins becomes the first woman to step out of the lunar module and plant an American flag on the Moon. She utters the famous words: "That's one small step for a woman, one giant leap for humankind." She is greeted by cheers and applause from mission control in Houston, Texas, as well as from millions of people around the globe who are following the live broadcast.
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However, not everyone is happy with NASA's achievement. China, which has been pursuing its own lunar ambitions with its Chang'e program, sees NASA's mission as a challenge and a threat to its interests and prestige. China's President Xi Jinping orders his space agency to accelerate its plans for sending taikonauts to the Moon by 2026. He also instructs his military to prepare for a possible confrontation with the US in space.
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China's response does not go unnoticed by NASA or by Rubins and her crew. They are aware of China's capabilities and intentions in space, especially after China successfully landed a rover on Mars earlier that year. They are also aware of China's aggressive behavior in other domains such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, South China Sea, etc.. They know that they are not only explorers but also representatives of their country and its values.
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Rubins decides to use her historic moment as an opportunity to send a message of peace and cooperation to China and the world. She says: "I am honored and humbled to be the first woman on the Moon. I hope that this achievement will inspire girls and boys everywhere to pursue their dreams and passions. I also hope that this achievement will serve as a reminder that we are all human beings sharing this beautiful planet Earth. We have more in common than we have differences. We should work together rather than against each other for our common good."
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Rubins' speech receives praise from many people around the world who appreciate her courage and wisdom. However, it also receives criticism from some people who see it as naive or weak. Some accuse her of appeasing or legitimizing China's actions or ambitions. Some question her loyalty or patriotism.
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China reacts with indifference or hostility to Rubins' speech. It dismisses it as propaganda or rhetoric that does not change anything on the ground or in space. It accuses Rubins of interfering in China's internal affairs or infringing on China's sovereignty or rights. It warns Rubins and NASA not to provoke or challenge China or face serious consequences.
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The tension between NASA and China escalates as both sides continue their lunar activities while keeping an eye on each other's movements and intentions. The situation becomes more volatile when RT detects some unusual signals coming from Chang'e 5 probe which landed near Von Kármán crater at lunar far side two years ago . RT suspects that Chang'e 5 may be secretly preparing for something sinister such as launching missiles at Shackleton Crater base . RT alerts Rubins Smith mission control about his findings . They decide
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Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/22/2023(1) South Korea Will Stay Out of a Taiwan Strait War. https://thediplomat.com/2023/03/south-korea-will-stay-out-of-a-taiwan-strait-wa Accessed 3/22/2023.
(2) East Asia - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asia Accessed 3/22/2023.
(3) Home to 28,000 U.S. troops, South Korea unlikely to avoid a Taiwan .... https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/home-28000-us-troops-skorea-unlikely-avoid-taiwan-conflict-2022-09-26/ Accessed 3/22/2023.
(4) North Korea–Taiwan relations - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea%E2%80%93Taiwan_relations Accessed 3/22/2023.