So I've been dabbling into starting some sort of a carwash because I've always liked the idea of it but looking into most franchising businesses requires crazy net worths and a large down payment. I came across Sonny's The Carwash Factory is their assistance worth pursuing? I have zero experience with starting things like this and was hoping to get other opinions before going through a route like theirs.

Hi everyone! Just came back from my first trip to Japan. It has always been my biggest dream to visit Japan since I was a kid and I'm so glad I finally got the chance to go! The trip was actually planned by my boyfriend who booked everything for us in May, which is my birthday month.
Tips:
Make Reservations Months in Advance! We made reservations for cafes, activities, restaurants, and even trains months in advance to make sure we would be able to do everything we wanted; we were not taking any risks and we were so thankful for our reservations. Make sure to do your research about when to make reservations months in advance.
Pack and Travel Light. Japan isn't really suited for traveling with big luggage to haul around. The trains can get incredibly crowded, you’ll probably be walking around and using stairs frequently, and hotel rooms can be very small at times. I recommend bringing a small rolling luggage and a large backpack and only pack what you need. Leave some room in your luggage for souvenirs or snacks to bring back.
Get Yen immediately at the airport or at the nearest convenience store! You will definitely need yen for a good amount of places in Japan. My boyfriend and I tried to load money in our Suica but the machine we used only accepted yen. Luckily we found a nearby conbini that accepted our debit card but we couldn't use our credit cards for some reason because the atm required a pin number. I might have accepted Mastercard but we both didn't have one.
Bringing comfortable shoes is a must in Japan! I brought comfortable shoes and my feet still hurt by the third day because we were walking and standing most of the days. I also recommend buying Lion’s Foot Patch if you find it at a conbini (I think we bought them at Lawsons) as the gel patch felt so good after a long day of walking!
Plan more days to relax. Although I have no regrets doing all the fun things we planned for our trip, I do wish we had more rest days in Japan, especially when our feet were so sore and we were so sleep deprived from waking up early. I wish we would have stayed a full 2 weeks in Japan and planned relaxing things to do in between our activities like visiting an Onsen and staying in a Ryokan.
Get to popular places early! My boyfriend and I would wake up at 5am to get ready and beat the morning rush hour and to get to popular places before the crowds showed up, it definitely worked out well for us.
Use hotel luggage transport or lockers when necessary. The luggage transport was especially useful when traveling long distances and carrying luggage through the trains would just be a hassle. All we had to do was just talk to our hotel clerk and give him the information for our next hotel we would be sending it to, and the clerk did the rest of the work. The luggage would usually arrive 2 days after we sent it. For the rest of the time, we just used lockers at train stations to store our luggage as we went sightseeing.
Trip Report:
Sunday May 14: Arrival and TokyoDisney
Arrival at Narita Airport
Arrival was simple, fast, and easy. For immigration and customs, we just had to scan our QR codes and passport and also take a picture.
Yen situation
As we arrived at Disney by bus, we wanted to use the coin lockers to store our luggage. The lockers only took suica (maybe yen too) so we tried to buy a suica but the machines only took yen (it didn't look like it took foreign cards). We tried walking to 7/11but it was closed so we ended up just walking to our hotel to drop off luggage. We ended up spending more than an hour walking everywhere and only had 2 hours for Disney.)
Tokyo Disney
The only ride we had time for was the beauty and the beast ride and it was amazing! We loved our experience inside the castle and we were amazed how fluid the animatronics were. If I could recommend one ride in Disney it would be this one. We did have time to go on one more ride so we went on the Monsters Inc ride which was just a shooter game and was just okay.
Monday May 15: Tokyo- DisneySea
Before we went to disneysea, we wanted to try some convenience store food so we went to Lawsons and Family Mart. The convenience store food was delicious! The onigiri tastes better than the ones in the US, the chicken in the hot food section was so juicy and delicious! Definitely recommend eating the hot foods and drinks. We tried getting money out of the ATM with our Visa credit cards but it didnt work so we used our debit card because the atm required a pin number.
Tokyo Disneysea
We arrived at Disneysea almost an hour early and we still had to wait in line. After the gates opened, we went straight to Journey to the Center of the Earth, but it broke down before we were able to ride it. The staff did offer us a fast pass to use for the ride later when it would be fixed. When the ride was working again, we headed back, used the fast pass and immediately got on the ride. It was a fun. fast, and short ride. All the rides at disneysea are pretty short and are moderately thrilling. Afterwards, we went to the submarine ride, 20,000 leagues under the sea, which was a unique experience and a very chill ride. Next was the Indiana jones ride; it was fun and a much better ride than the one in california. Then we went to Tower of terror which wasn't too scary. We also went to Soaring which actually has really long lines and wait time but it was a cool experience. The ride with the longest line was probably toy story mania; we decided not to go on the ride because of the long lines and we've been to the one in california. Kings triton castle was the most beautiful area to look at and explore, our favorite part of the area was exploring ariel's trinket room. Lots of rides were closed the day we went so we didnt get to ride on the spirits roller coaster, autopia, and explorers. My favorite food i tried there was the Ukiwa bun.
We also got to eat at Magellan which is one of the more expensive dining options. We didn't make a reservation until that very same day but we luckily able to reserve a spot in the morning. The food was tasty and it was my first time going to a fancier kind of restaurant that offered 3 course meal that were all tiny portions. I got the cheaper option (around $40 or $60, i cant remember) and it was very delicious. My boyfriend got the most expensive option (around $100) and it tasted terrible! I wouldnt recommend getting the most expensive option there.
Tuesday May 16: Tokyo-Harajuku
Harajuku
We took the trains to get to Harajuku and it was a little overwhelming trying to figure out how to find our train the first few times but, after a while, it became a very easy process. We used google maps to find the trains we needed to take. Then at the train stations, we looked for signs with the name of the train line we needed and followed the arrows and asked for directions when we needed extra help. Then we used our suica card to tap into the specific station we needed to be at to find our train. Next we looked for the PLATFORM NUMBER our train would be arriving at and followed the signs for that number. Once at the platform, we confirmed if we were at the right place by making sure the ARRIVAL TIME, PLATFORM NUMBER, and TRAIN LINE on the digital signs matched the one from our google maps. Make sure to follow train etiquette by stepping to the side to let people out of the train and putting your backpack in front of you if the train is really crowded.
At Harajuku station, we put our luggage in coin lockers for the day so we could explore. We went to a conbini, grabbed some food for breakfast and went to Yoyogi park to eat since nothing was open at 7am. After eating, we went to Meiji shrine for a bit, which is also near yoyogi park, and then headed back to harajuku so we wouldn't be late for our mipig reservations.
Mipig cafe was our favorite cafe and one of our favorite experiences in japan! The pigs were so loving and friendly, they came right up to us and laid on our laps after the staff put some blankets on us. They were adorable and as many as 2-3 pigs would come up to us and sit on our laps. Some pigs would even get aggressive with other piggies if you gave one too much attention. Some pigs started chewing on my dress so I had to get another blanket to hide my dress from being eaten.
After Mipig, we wanted to get some food. We tried Marian crepes, candied strawberries, and some small cafes. We visited Anakuma cafe and it was definitely an interesting experience. A bear hand would come out of hole in the wall and give us candy and a coin to put in a gacha machine and it would also play rock paper scissor with us.
Next stop was Hedgehog cafe which i wouldnt recommend only because I learned later that hedgehogs are nocturnal and they were sleeping most of the time we were there. We ended up leaving early because there was not much to do as we felt bad disturbing the little guys.
Afterwards we visited the Kiddyland store and I enjoyed the studio ghibli section but they also had kirby, pokemon, and sanrio merchandise.
Teamlabs
Next we took a train to team labs, we got there early but we had to wait until it was closer to our reservation time before we could line up. After getting inside we had to put our shoes and backpacks in lockers so we could go through the water exhibition first. They offer shorts if you are wearing dresses as some of the exhibitions have mirror floors. I wasnt too into the water exhibition but I did like the lights exhibition and flower exhibition the best. Overall it was a cool experience and I got some amazing photos out of it.
Shibuya sky
Lastly we went to shibuya sky. We also couldn't get inside until our reservation time started. The elevator ride up was pretty cool as they played a video on the ceiling. They have some restaurants and cafes near the top, I wish I came earlier to try them but we were so tired I didnt want to stay too long. The top of shibuya sky was outside and it was cold (i wish i brought a sweater) but it was incredibly beautiful, especially at night. It's a nice place to relax and look at views. This was probably my favorite sky building out of the three i went (shibuya sky, umeda sky, and tokyo skytree).
Wednesday May 17: Nagoya-Ghibli Park
Ghibli park
We left early morning to get on the train and avoid morning rush hour. We ended up taking the Nozomi train to Nagoya. We bought our shinkansen tickets at the JR ticket booth. We recommend reserving seats as its only a couple yen more and gives you peace of mind knowing you get to choose your seats. We also grabbed some ekibens which were delicious, my favorite was the blue one with mt. fuji on it. Next we had to take a bus to ghibli park which was actually very hard to find. We had to ask for help to find it. To pay for the bus, you can use a suica card or yen to pay as you board the bus.
We arrived super early, and put some of our bags in the lockers. We went to lawsons nearby and bought a ghibli park book which features the exhibitions inside. We walked around the park a bit before we were allowed to start lining up for our reservation times. There are also no trash cans at ghibli park so make sure you bring a trash bag with you to take all your trash back with you.
Around 12pm we went inside and went straight to the first exhibition (Becoming characters in Memorable Ghibli scenes) and there was already a line to get in. Once we got in we took pictures with Noface from spirited away, ponyo, princess mononoke scene, and many more movie scenes.
The next exhibition we went to was the food exhibition (Delicious! Animating Memorable Meals). You can't take pictures in that area but it was cool to be able to interact in the kitchen spaces from your favorite movie scenes. Also, in the end of this exhibition, you can take pictures with totoro and the cat bus!
We visited the ghibli store next because I heard the lines can get rather long at the end of the day and I bought some merchandise from there.
Afterwards, we took pictures at the central staircase, the castle in the sky scene, and the scene with Yubaba.
Next, we took the elevator down to the bottom floor and took pictures in the arietty scenes, it was cool feeling so tiny while everything was supersized!
Lastly we went to the bakery to get some sandwiches. Unfortunately, the food does sell out and there were not a lot of choices left by the time we got there. The food we got was okay but nothing special.
Osaka: Ichiran ramen
After Ghibli park we took the train to Osaka. In Osaka, we lined up to get into Ichiran ramen. We ordered our ramen through a vending machine and it gave us our ticket to give to our server. We were seated in these small cubicle areas but we were also able to close the partition in between us so my boyfriend and I could share our table space together. I thought it was a unique dining experience; it was cool not having to say a single word to our server, and the food was also delicious too.
Thursday May 18: Osaka-Universal Studios Japan
Got to USJ an hour before it opened and there were still super long lines! As the gates opened up, we ran to nintendoland to make sure we got in. We went to toadstool cafe to get ticket reservations but they didn't open until 9am so we decided to take the single rider line for the mario kart ride, it was a bad idea. For some reason the single rider line still took us 30 minutes to complete and it felt like it was going slower than the regular lines. The mario kart ride was cool, it used like a VR headset and you were able to shoot shells at others but I really didn't understand what was going on.
Toadstool cafe
We went back to toadstool but all the tickets were gone, I tried talking to one of the workers if they would offer tickets later but I don't think he understood what i was saying. He actually just let me in the line after I asked a few times if they had anymore tickets for the afternoon. After waiting in line and ordering, we grabbed our drinks and table number and sat down at our table. The drinks were delicious! Definitely recommend. We also ordered some kind of mushroom pesto soup and it was bomb! We recommend that too since they don't offer it in the California Universal. We also got peaches cake for like $30 which is supposed to be for 4 people but just the 2 of us ate it. It was light and fluffy and we recommend getting it as they also dont offer it in the California Universal. The staff also came by and offered to take pics of us which was so nice.
Next we bought the limited edition wrist bands and started playing some of the mini games. We played about 3 games before we decided to leave nintendo land and check out the other areas because we also bought a reserved time to get back into nintendoland to use our fastpass for the yoshi ride.
We had a fastpass for the Jurassic park ride so we went on that next. Make sure you are prepared to get wet cause you will get soaked at the end. Then we went to Hogwarts and watched some of the shows they offered and grabbed a meatpie. We didn't stay long here as we have already been to Hogwarts in california. Next we got in line for the mario strawberry shortcake pancake and it was delicious light and fluffy! I think we also had a fastpass ride for jaws and that ride was actually really cooler than I expected . The next fastpass ride was for despicable me ride so we did that one too and it was actually better than the california version. And lastly we went back to nintendoland to use our reservation time and our fastpass for the yoshi ride. It was a cute slow ride but it had nice views of the park. I enjoyed it even though it was a kiddy ride. Lastly, we had the yakisoba shells and melon lassi and both were delicious
By this time our feet were so sore from walking for days so we left early to go rest at our hotel. I ended up being so sore and tired I just knocked out early. My boyfriend bought Lions Foot Patches from Lawson and put them on my feet while i slept. They felt so nice and cool on my feet. I recommed getting those foot patches while you're in japan.
We woke up for a late dinner and got some nearby mcdonalds. I'm not a fan of mcdonalds in the US but i wanted to try japan's mcdonalds to see if its better. I honestly didn't like the Japan Mcdonalds either even though it does taste different, I'm not sure what the hype is about with the japanese mcdonalds. I found that japan's convenience store chicken was much juicer and tasted better than the mcdonalds chicken.
Friday May 19: Kyoto-Fushimi Inari Taisha, Nishiki market, Ninenzaka
Fushimi inari taisha shrine
We got to the shrine early, maybe around 7am,and it was not very crowded but there were still people there. It was raining a bit so luckily i brought my umbrella, unfortunately my boyfriend did not, this would haunt him later. We took a picture of a map to see which way to go to reach the top as there are different routes you can take. It was a gradual climb up but my boyfriend really struggled as his feet still hurt from the days before. The gates were beautiful and there were so many areas to look at and explore as we climbed. Unfortunately my boyfriend was tired and we were in a time crunch so we didn't explore every area but I wish I could have because this was the most beautiful place I had visited in Japan. As we neared the top it started to rain more heavily and my boyfriend ended up getting soaked. The top of the shrine was anticlimactic, but we took our picture and headed back down. On our way we stopped by the little stores and bought an umbrella for my boyfriend which we were thankful they had some. As we went down the steps in the rain, my boyfriend accidentally slipped and fell on his back pretty badly. He ended up with a deep gash on his finger as the blood gushed all over the floor. Luckily I had some tissues to wrap up his finger. We headed back down the mountain and bought some bandaids at a conbini store. We also bought some strawberry daifuku at a small little shop and it was the best daifuku I ate in Japan. The mochi was a great consistency and the strawberry was the juiciest strawberry i ever had. I wish i had bought more from there.
Nishiki market
We went to Nishiki market around 11am and it was super crowded while the path was so small and narrow. We literally had to push through the crowds at times because there were so many people, it was not a fun time for me. I also ended up losing my suica card somewhere around there. I'm also not the biggest fan of seafood but my boyfriend is so he ended up eating most of the food. We ended up not staying long for all those reasons and ended up going to a nearby store that sold all kinds of different food which I liked a lot better because there weren't crowds of people there.
Ninenzaka
Next we walked to Ninenzaka which was like a 30 minute walk. It was still raining so we were just looking for a place to stop and eat for a bit. We went to Kudamono cafe and got the cloud dessert. It was pretty good and fluffy and the dessert looked so pretty. Afterwards, we had room for more dessert so we tried Meccha cafe. We ordered the matcha tiramisu and the parfait. The matcha tiramisu was probably the best dessert i had in Japan, I definitely recommend getting it! We also visited Donguri and bought more totoro merchandise. At this point, my boyfriend was so tired and soaked from the rain we decided to go back to the hotel. We took the bus this time and it was packed! We had to push people just to get out.
Saturday May 20: Kyoto, Nara, Osaka
Kyoto:
Arashiyama bamboo forest
We got to the bamboo forest early at 7am, there were a few people there but not too many like later in the day. I recommend going super early to beat the crowds. The bamboo forest was super short but it was still a cool area to check out and plus there are many things to do around the area. We walked to a nearby park next to a big river and the views were absolutely gorgeous! Kyoto is really breathtaking. After walking a while and checking out the scenery we headed back to the bamboo forest to board the Sagano Romantic Train.
Sagano Romantic Train
We had reserved seats for the Sagano Romantic Train and the views from the train were amazing! Get there early because you might have to do some minor paperwork stuff to print out your ticket if you reserved in advance. The reserved seating we had was in a train with no glass windows so you can just feel the air rushing through your hair as the train moves. Truly it was a memorable and fun experience with a lot of breathtaking nature views. After coming back to our initial departure spot on the train, we left for Monkey Park.
Monkey Park
We rushed over to Monkey park and by this time the streets of kyoto became much crowded as we had to dodge pedestrians left and right. We paid a fee to get into the monkey park and hiked our way up to the park, there were a couple benches to take rest if needed. At the top, you can see monkeys running around and playing with one another. We went inside a little building where you can buy food for the monkeys and feed them through windows covered with a mesh net. We didnt stay long as we had a full schedule planned for the day so we left to go catch a train to Nara but we did eat some amazing street food on the way. I don't know why but the street food in Kyoto was so delicious, the best I had in Japan probably.
Nara:
Nakatanidou
We arrived at Nara from the trains and went straight to Nakatanidou for some mochi and it was packed with people! It was even hard trying to get a space to watch them make the mochis. It was cool to experience the mochi making and to taste the mochi but I probably wouldn't go back there again because of the crowds.
Nara Park
After the mochis, we walked to Nara park and it was amazing! There were so many deers and they were so friendly and polite! This was my favorite part of nara for sure. For a few yen, we bought some crackers and found some deers that would bow everytime they wanted a cracker, it was too cute. The deers were literally everywhere, on the streets and even at temples.
Shrines
There were lots of shrines around the area but we came pretty late so most of them were closing up but the ones we did see were pretty neat to look at. We also ate some udon at a little restaurant next to a small lake, the views of the lake were amazing from inside the restaurant.
Osaka:
After Nara, we came back to Osaka and the streets were so crowded at night. I tried shopping at don quixote but there were just to many people to weave through that I just decide to give up and try a 10 yen cheese bread near the store. The line was kind of long but I decided to try it out, it was actually really big, not that good, and made my stomach hurt. I would not be getting that again haha
Matsusakagyu Yakiniku Restaurant
My boyfriend had reserved this place for Thursday but we were so tired that day that we decided to cancel our reservation. We decided to try to go in person on this day to see if we could get in. We were lucky that they had a spot available and we ordered a platter of A5 wagyu beef for more than $100 US dollar. Im not really a meat person but the beef was very tender and delicious and the service was very good. They took pictures of me and my boyfriend and gave me free ice cream for my birthday.
Sunday May 21: Tokyo-Joypolis, Akihabara, skytree
Joypolis
The next morning we took the Nozumi back to Tokyo and headed straight to joypolis. We got tickets that allowed us to go on pretty much any ride there. Joypolis was small but had some interesting and unique rides and attractions. My favorite was the rhythm rollercoaster where you play rhythm games on a small roller coaster. We also played a VR Laser tag which was actually pretty fun even though I dont really play VR. There was an Attack on Titan walkthrough attraction that was completely in Japanese so I didnt understand any of it but it had some very cool props inside. The other interesting attraction was a scary house, where you have to get into these lockers and a girl comes and bangs on them and then the lockers flip you back horizontally. It wasnt that scary but it was pretty unique.
Akihabara
Next we went to Akihabara just to check out but we were actually super tired so we didnt stay long. We went to a couple stores but to be honest it was actually kind of boring as I am no longer as into anime as I was when I was a kid so we ended leaving akihabara fairly quickly.
Tokyo Skytree
Instead of going to akihabara I kind of wish I just went to the tokyo skytree shopping area because there was so much cool things to do there! They have a pokemon center, a kirby cafe, studio ghibli shop, and so many stores to shop or restaurants to eat at! We also went to the top of skytree but it honestly wasnt worth the money as the very top didnt have that much stuff and we just had to wait in these super long lines to get both up and down the skytree. After the skytree, we found a yakitori spot and ate some beef skewers which were delicious. We wished we went restaurant hopping more as there were just so many places to eat in this area.
Monday May 22: Ueno Park and Departure
Ueno park
Before we left to the airport, we visited Ueno park which was only a few blocks away from our hotel. It had a beautiful lake which was covered with some sort of lily pads. The park was pretty big and it was nice just walking around the area.
Life Mart
We decided to stop at Life Mart to get some food before we left to the airport. The Meat was so delicious and was so cheap, and it had different options from conbinis. We took train back to Narita Airport, this train I think you have to reserve in advance.
Narita airport
Going back through immigrations and customs and tsa was super easy and fast. We recommended getting lunch or snack early because there were pretty long lines as our departure time approached.
We also bought Tokyo Banana for souvenir snacks to bring back to our families, its very delicious!
In the end, visiting Japan was better than I could ever imagine and I just cant wait to go back! Please let me know what your favorite parts of Japan are and what other areas in Japan I must check out!

Here's some background about me:

• I joined Stripe (after being laid off from Snapchat) as a senior software engineer
• At Stripe's peak valuation (100B), my vested equity (options + RSUs) was 18x the grant price
• In early '23, I had the option to sell back my equity at a 50B valuation (9x grant price)
• At this valuation, my equity accounted for 40-60% of my net worth
• I sold 100% of my equity. The goal of this is to outline my thought process

I thought a lot about what company to join, and in particular, as a senior engineer, I really prioritized growth and compensation.
I provide my detailed thought process here and would love to hear any opposing views! Also happy to answer any questions

I made a sizable net gain trading VCash, so I'm not really mad.
But I did make the mistake of buying 2.5 BTC worth when the price dropped, not knowing the dev had gone insane. :(
At the time that wasn't so much, but at its peak... I would have sold and bought a nice car. :D

Like many of us here, I was always planning to FIRE with no particular pause between FI and RE... I remember telling my financial advisor "I'm in it to win it, and once I've won I'm done." But I hit all my FI savings goals in 2021 at just about the same time as a nervous breakdown got me, and as I limped back toward recovery from that I (surprisingly) got a really interesting job offer within my own company that would let me take a leave of absence and then come back to work part-time. It was too perfect to pass up, in a year where I was really too exhausted to leap into reinventing a life anyway.
So I took three months off, which was an adventure of its own, and started the cycle of "eh, maybe One More Year". The economy hasn't been great anyway, so holding off a little bit on starting to pull from my capital seemed like an okay idea even if I wasn't saving anymore.
What I'm finding is that these are days of tremendous financial freedom. I still have much of my old income but now I don't need to save (I'm still saving some, maxing out my pre-tax and post-tax 401(k)). It's like holding a firehose full of money that I can now point at whatever I want, because I don't have to be filling up my own little bucket anymore. And at work, in the absence of worrying about getting laid off or whatever (meh, if it happens it happens), I can just focus on the people and on finding ways to enjoy it... not that I always succeed, but sometimes? I think I'm doing better with practice.
Here's how that's gone. The first year (2022) I mostly saved up money pretty aimlessly, until dear friends of mine suddenly had a need to buy out their neighbors in a 2-family house they were in. They weren't entirely prepared for that, and the rule of thumb seems to be that one should have 25%-40% of net worth in real estate -- which I was way, way under, at more like 10% -- so I went in halfsies with them and now we're renting the other unit out together. Rental income feels pretty great when it rolls in, and is definitely going to soften the blow of losing the big corporate income when I finally RE.
The second year (2023) I realized that I could do a philanthropy thing that, thus far, I'd only ever planned to do in my will, and pay my college back for all the grants it ever gave me. Doing it early as a scholarship fund is actually way better -- lots of the good from it will happen in my lifetime when I can hear about it. So I got them to give me the numbers, ran them through an inflation calculator -- that was the painful part -- and found I could indeed do it in a single calendar year. And I'm doing it. Tomorrow I kick off the first of two stock donations.
What next? Will I stay for 2024? I don't really have a good idea for 2024 money yet, but if this rental property thing goes well for me and my co-landlords we could definitely consider expanding to another property together. I could do a more extreme "earn to give" year, or do something nice for my aging parents. Or yes, I could just inflate my nest egg. I really only need one good idea per year, so I'm not worrying too much about it; corporate life is wild, and if my current manager leaves then this phase might be over.
It's much more fun than I expected though. So very fun. I never planned on this stage of life at all, but it suits me. Is anyone else out there in OMY and actually liking it? And what are you doing with your income if so?

Part One: There's Something Awful Happening in Morefolk : nosleep (reddit.com)
​
You know who this is. Sorry for the long wait, and thank you for your patience. Yes, this is a new email address, though the reason for that should be obvious.
I have to hand it to the pigs. They're not as clueless as I believed. What I once thought were monkeys dressed in uniform flinging shit at the wall, are actually monkeys using rudimentary tools to fling shit at the wall. I'll admit, it's cute. Still, if Morefolk's finest thought that updating their firewalls, naming their files gibberish, and using monoalphabetic substitution ciphers for their file text was enough to throw me off, they're sorely mistaken. For one, firewalls aren't as effective when I've left a backdoor in the system for free access. Seriously, it's not that difficult to get into something once you've already been inside before. Not to mention... you seriously thought documenting stuff in some basic code would do the trick? That I wouldn't be able to convert it to plain text? At least do something a little sophisticated next time; might I recommend studying some old telegrams from wartime and seeing how they did things? Seriously, your tech department should be paying me for tutelage, your cryptography is weak. The only thing I can give you credit for, is that I haven’t found any information on the unnamed agency referenced in your files. I assume their documents are cataloged in their own, entirely separate database, which isn’t surprising. Still, the only reason another agency would be involved with you at all, would be to order you around behind the scenes like the bunch of lackeys you are.
Regardless, that has no bearing on whether YOU can keep me out of YOUR shit. I suspect you'll either throw out the system and start anew, or, the more likely approach you'll take, is to start cataloging your documents in analog style. Don't know, don't care. I've already got enough as is.
To say that I've got a lot to drop on you all would be an understatement, and a severe one at that. Not everything is going to be shown right here and now, but in time, all will be clear. I've been waiting patiently, meticulously crafting my strategy, waiting for the perfect moment to re-appear. Such is the price of truth in a world run by breaking news and hastily woven narratives. There are always dozens, hundreds, even thousands of hands intricately drawing each needle through each thread, until a net of lies and misrepresentations have been constructed and cast. Cast upon what? You all, the "helpless fish" adrift at sea, going where the tide takes you. Yet, you are not helpless. There is a hand outstretched towards you, and it is my hand. I offer you access to the one thing more valuable than the money or security they try to bribe you with.
I offer you access to reality.
Reality is, regardless of who witnesses it. Therefore, the optimal way to deny one access to reality is to remove their ability to witness, to see, to observe, and to ogle the beautiful essence of truth. Think, for a moment, about what it is that best achieves this goal of restricting your perception of reality. What is it, that is such an obfuscation, such an obstruction, and such a danger?
I'll tell you, it's the narratives. The news, the media, and the outlets, all serve as distractions. Do not be so naive as to think that the news is on your side. They actively serve the interests of the authorities and their agendas... and once you become privy to that fact, it's obvious. Still, you might find my claims to be dubious, so let's take a look together, shall we? Allow me to show you precisely what I am talking about.
---
"Ellie Singleton, 33, Found Deceased in Home"
"The body of Ellie Singleton, 33, was found unresponsive in her home on Monday, January 23rd, 2023. Authorities arrived on the scene shortly after her husband, Barry Singleton, reported an incident that occurred that Monday night, around 4:47 AM. Although emergency services were quick to the scene, she was regrettably announced dead upon arrival at Morefolk Town Hospital at 5:09 AM. Detective Clark Casper, who arrived at the scene shortly following the incident, declined to comment. So too did Barry Singleton.
Although the nature of this incident remains highly unknown, its impact on our community is not lost on anyone. Plenty of tears were shed among friends, family, and loved ones, who all shared their sympathies with Mister Singleton. Ellie Singleton was expected to deliver her first child in the summer of this year. She very much had a love for children, and it wasn't uncommon for her to work as a substitute teacher at Morefolk Elementary. Many of the young students she taught and influenced took part in laying down flowers and paying their respects at the school, which hosted a memorial assembly in her honor. Ellie stood as a pillar of this community, doing what she could to ensure that future generations had a reliable shoulder to lean on. Now, a community stands as one, hearts torn apart for the Singleton family. This will surely be a day of much mourning and prayer."
---
Innocent enough, right? Just a heartfelt news clipping in response to a horrific happening. A good old unifier of the people to get them through a trying time. Aside from that, there's not much to go off of, granted this was the first of what we now know to be murders. Let's continue.
---
"Tragedy Strikes as 25-Year-Old Sasha Baker Was Found Dead In Her Bedroom"
"Onlookers littered the streets as Sasha Baker, 25, was peacefully wheeled out of her home the other night on Saturday, January 29th, 2023. Mothers, fathers, and children held hands in solemn silence as they watched, burdened with the great loss of their friend."
"It just doesn't make sense, she was young and healthy and happy, I can't even wrap my head around it," said Chuck Rivera, a long-time friend of Sasha Baker.
"This kind of thing doesn't happen in this town... it just doesn't," commented Ashley Sanchez, who was so disturbed by the death, that she had to be comforted by those around her.
"Morefolk police released a brief statement following the occurrence, with Sheriff Tom Mackey being quoted as saying, "We want you to know that our hearts are heavy, and this loss is weighing down on us, all of us. Sasha was a great woman. From the food pantries she hosted inside the church, to all the service work she did for our town, she always served as a positive influence on our youth. To us, she was family. A bright and optimistic woman we grew up alongside. Our thoughts and prayers go out to David Baker, and to any and all who are undoubtedly hurting at this time. We will be conducting an investigation into this incident, absolutely. I cannot confirm anything to you with certainty, but we have reason to believe that, well, this incident may have been the product of foul play. The chances of that being the case are low. Still, our officers are working diligently to ensure that this was not the cause of her death, because that, well, it would be heart-wrenching for all of us. Even more than it already is. We'll do what we can to keep all of you updated. Thank you for your time, and God bless you."
"At this time it is unspecified whether this event has any relation to the death of the late Ellie Singleton, who was found deceased in her home just a week prior."
---
Would you look at that? Do you know what I see? Useless fucking platitudes. Thoughts and prayers don't mean shit to us. Not to mention how vague Sheriff Mackey was about the supposed investigation they were hosting. They "peacefully" wheeled her body out of the home? Perhaps it appeared that way with several white cloths and EMTs blocking the view of her corpse. I'm not entirely sure how the word "peaceful" could be applied to the remains of a woman who had her unborn child violently ripped out. Nor am I sure how there could be any ambiguity as to whether she was murdered or not. Now you go ahead and wonder why it is that they're using such passive and evasive language. Something tells me that you already know the answer.
---
"Homicide Investigation Launched Following the Murder of Claire Summers"
"Town officials have confirmed that Morefolk Police are investigating the untimely death of Claire Summers, 28, which occurred on Wednesday, February 2nd, 2023, as a homicide."
"We are deeply disturbed by the passing of Claire Summers. The shock and sadness we are all going through cannot be understated. This is not an easy time for anybody," stated Sheriff Tom Mackey when asked for a comment about the recent development. "Our investigator's assessment of her death indicates to us that, regrettably, this was the result of a sick individual rather than a horrible accident or medical issue," continued Mackey.
"This revelation also came with an announcement from town officials that a curfew has been set in place. All citizens are to stay indoors after 9:30 PM, and all exceptions must be pre-emptively requested. Failure to abide by this regulation will be met with detainment, and offending persons may face criminal charges.
The investigation into Claire Summer's murder will incorporate the recently deceased citizens of Morefolk (Ellie Singleton, Sasha Baker) as police suspect those incidents may be related to this one. As of this moment, Kyle Summers has declined to comment.
Claire Summers, perhaps most well-known for her bakery located on Oak Way, will be remembered as sweetly as the goods she lovingly shared with us all. Not a single person would disagree that when in Claire's shop, smiles were formed and memories were made."
---
Three people had to die for them to announce that they were being murdered. Three. Whole. People. Suppose for a moment, that you don't believe me or my leaks. That you don't believe that this was all the doing of a wretched ghoul with sadistic tendencies. Is it not still strange that it took this long for a homicide investigation to be publicly launched? Each death took place inside of the victim's home, while their husbands were sleeping in the same bed as them. Are we meant to believe that a killer did their dirty work, and the husbands just... didn't notice? Seriously? These fucking rats in blue think you're all idiots. They think that you won't connect the dots. Don't let them treat you like clueless animals. Do not allow them to be evasive about what's truly happening.
---
"Morefolk Police Patrolling the Streets in Response to Most Recent Death"
"The killing of Jackie Middleton, 37, has unsettled Morefolk to its very core. Her death is another in a series of murders, now that the deaths of Claire Summers, Sasha Baker, and Ellie Singleton have been found to be connected. Morefolk police have decided to patrol the streets at night in response to this recent development, and the town curfew has been lowered to 9 PM."
"The safety of our town is our priority. We not only need to protect those of you living here, but find and prosecute whichever twisted individual is responsible for these crimes as soon as possible. We ask that you all cooperate with our curfew, and please, if you have any information that may be helpful to this case, contact us. Thank you," Sheriff Mackey explained when asked about his plan moving forward.
"When asked to comment on this tragedy, Jackie's husband Craig Middleton was quoted as saying, "There's not much for me to say at this time. The amount of hurt and devastation I'm going through can't be articulated. All I can say is that I hope our police force brings whoever did this to my family to justice."
"Furthermore, Kyle Summers, David Baker, and Barry Singleton requested to make a joint comment. The three men had also recently lost their loving wives, likely at the hands of the suspected killer involved in Jackie Middleton's murder."
"We've gotten together to support each other as of late. Things have been unimaginably hard to get through each day, but the condolences and support of all of you wonderful people have made it more manageable for us. We know we cannot change what happened, but we can, and must, address this problem before more lives are taken. Throughout these long, sleepless weeks, we've had the unequivocal support of the Morefolk Police Department. They have shown us great attention, care, and consideration. Most importantly, we know and trust that they will bring this murderer to justice. Please, support and believe in them, because they're doing all they can to fix this mess. Once again, we thank you for all the love and kindness you've given us. You all truly exemplify what it means to be wonderful neighbors, friends, and family."
"Jackie Middleton has always been an outgoing neighbor, working with Craig out of their small ice cream parlor on the nearby boardwalk. She'd often supply ice cream to nearby businesses for office parties and other celebratory events. Though store-bought ice cream would do the trick in a pinch, there was always something special about her delicious desserts that she made with the utmost love. To Morefolk, Jackie Middleton truly was the cherry on top."
---
They aren't even trying to hide it, are they? Surely you all caught it as well. Suddenly, the husbands who have gone without comment for so long, all come together to give a statement. A statement with the takeaway message of trusting the police department.
Want to know an interesting little tidbit of information? The author of all those newspaper clippings is the same person. Guess who it was. Does the name "Phil Pratt" ring a bell? Morefolk's beloved journalist, who happens to be married to Jamie Pratt. As is common knowledge, Jamie Pratt's maiden name is Jamie Mackey... these articles were written by the Sheriff's son-in-law.
I couldn't make this shit up.
Still, I know what you're thinking. It doesn't matter who wrote those articles and what biases they have! That doesn't mean the contents of the texts themselves aren't perfectly rational. Of course the husbands took a while to comment, they've been through so much trauma! Obviously, they all came forward together because they've got something in common to commiserate over, they're serving as each other's support systems, right?
Sure, it all sounds plausible at first, but the more you think about it, the more what I'm saying adds up. Remember, the husbands weren't allowed to stay at their homes, because their houses had become a crime scene. Plenty of neighbors and family members offered them places to stay, but you know where they ended up? That's right, they ended up staying in the police station. Yeah, I know the reason given was that the police wanted to ensure the husbands were receiving attention to their mental health, but then why not have them stay at the hospital? Then there's the explanation that the police wanted them close by so they could aid the investigation. Still, is that something that would require them to eat, sleep, and drink at the station for almost all hours of the day? That doesn't add up, does it?
I'll tell you the real reason that accounts for these abnormalities. The police were keeping the husbands there to monitor them. To ensure they weren't freely spreading their stories. To prevent them from commenting on the situation until they could be fed a comment generated by the pigs themselves.
You should also consider the fact that, despite these husbands having been in close proximity to their wives at the time of the killings, they were never once considered suspects in the case. What could possibly account for that, other than the fact that the cops knew that someone else, or something else, was responsible from the very beginning?
Some of you won't ever believe me, and I acknowledge that. That doesn't take away from the fact that this whole debacle has been handled so unconventionally. We've been told that the police would keep us updated on their investigations, but what have they really given us? We've received no identifiable suspect, no autopsy reports of the deceased victims, and the newspaper is more focused on selling this bullshit "Unify and support the police!" narrative than focusing on the particulars of the deaths themselves.
Go ahead and tell me we're being kept in the dark for the sake of investigative confidentiality. Tell me I'm seeking to divide us and push some communist anti-police agenda in the midst of a community tragedy. Claim that I'm making mountains out of molehills. Here's all I have to say. Either you're with me, the people, and the truth, or you're going to be a mindless sheep, licking the boots of those keeping the real facts at bay. The time is coming to make a damn choice.
Don't worry, I've got so much more to share. I'm not done exposing the hidden truths I found in the police files I cracked. I am simply waiting for the most opportune time to release more of what I have. Be patient my friends, it will be worth it. Trust me, after you see what's coming next, you will be as angry as I am. This monster terrorizing our town isn't going to stop at pregnant women and their unborn children.
After all, it already has claimed more than just those set of victims. You all might be aware that little Dennis Bowers went missing within the last week. Guess what?
They're lying to you about what happened to him.
All of it is connected, and I know just when and where to show you. The next time you hear from me, it'll be in a... different medium. Something big is about to happen. I'm certain of it.
Signing off,
-J

The CEO scum had a personal net worth of 500 million in 2022. It also looks like his cohort in crime, Flori, also had a personal net worth of 500 million. Multiply that by all the other management scum and figure out where your money went. BlockFi looks to be nothing more than a team of Bernie Madoff's. https://24-7-crypto.com/zac-prince-blockfi-founder-net-worth/

I just finished both my degree and about to finish my SE Bootcamp. My degree is unrelated to Tech, a magical communications degree. I was on and off with my degree and was on the path to do nursing, and then computer engineering, and then I went to the advisors to ask for the path of least resistance and found out that I could finish either an Econ degree or a Comms degree in the same amount of time, I did the Comms path. Around the same time I decided to finish the degree I started when I was 18 (now 26M).
The schedule I had for work required that I wake up at 3am to get on the highway for 45 mins to take a shot of preworkout and sling boxes and cases for 10 hours, to sit in traffic on the way back home and do it again the next day. I knew this was unsustainable. I had a friend, 24M who was making more than me, part time, as a software developer, specifically a WP dev. We had me up and talked about it, he said he believed I could do it and thats when he recommended Practicum, the bootcamp he tutored for.
I waited to start at a time where they were running a 30% off promo and i decided to join, with 0 coding experience. Back in 2020 i had purchased Colt Steele's complete web dev bootcamp on Udemy where it laid untouched for 2 years. I don't have a strong 'technical' background. I took mathematics as a necessity and decided against a computer engineering degree after flunking my first Engineering Calc test (didn't think Precalc was terrible but actual Calc is demonic.) I write well enough, 'speak' several languages (one of them ASL hence the quotes) but any logical thinking outside of general philosophizing of literature was gone.
When I started Practicum I was surprised with how thorough and fun the information was presented. You start with a small history and context behind what you're doing and then you learn some HTML, the markup language of everything web related. After that you learn some Styling via CSS and then you are prompted to create a small webpage with an 'About me'. That was powerful. Like its something you produced with something you learned that had a tangible output.
The curriculum is straight forward. You learn markup and styling for a few months, as CSS can be very robust, and then comes JavaScript. JavaScript was my crux initially. That is what real programming is. Respect it, take your time with it, because the next 2 months it will become your religion. I thought it was the end of my journey but then through practice it clicked. Its honestly just practice at that point.
Then after you start to grasp vanilla JS you learn a library called REACT, developed by Meta (I still prefer to call them FaceBook but I'll be accurate here). React is fun, and sexy. You can really start to enjoy the practice of writing components and not just vanilla JS. Files of pure JS end up looking terse and messy so even though you learn the principles of Object Oriented Programming you build on that foundation with component based architecture via REACT.
You then learn Node JS and Express and start to make API calls and write your own servers and then you develop your own Fullstack application. By then you have a decent portfolio.
​
If you stuck this far thank you and here are further recommendations for anyone still here. If you do decide to make that jump you need to take some time and BUILD things. Build things that interest you. I didn't think I wanted to build anything and now I get ideas all of the time and now I have the power to do so. I programmed my own bot to crawl a webpage and check out a certain product using Node JS (I didn't contribute to the PS5 shortage). I am now doing a Text to Speech app using GPT 3s engine and the Whisper API + Google's Text to speech API. I want to build something that I could talk to and have it spit things back at me.
You may also wonder what the job outlook is and if you could actually get a job with a bootcamp. The answer is a resounding yes. I just hit my 90 days at my first tech company. I got the job well before I finished Practicum (I finish this month). I also got the job before I got my Comms degree (finished 2 Saturdays ago). I am now working on getting various certs (AWS and Salesforce mostly. I would like about 10 by next March).
If you feel inspired by anything I wrote I hope that you would at least consider taking a bootcamp. If you were on the fence about it I hope to some degree I could have swayed you to try it. Practicum has a free 1 week pre-course for any of their programs if you wanted to try it out. I'm a very 'Just do it' (Shai LaBouf style) type of guy. If you worry about the price they run 15-30% off promotions during the different holidays (or if you reach out to me privately I have a 40% off promo code connected to my name). If you're a woman there's also a woman who code scholarship that I've seen a few people use (I don't know how much that is but it may be worth looking into). There's also a money back guarantee if you don't get a job after 6 months which is a good safety net for anyone wondering. If you are STILL here and have any questions feel free to respond to this post or message me privately.
Thank you 🙏 .

FT: San Diego Wave FC 0-3 OL Reign

OL Reign scorers: Ryanne Brown (29'), Olivia Athens (54'), Jordyn Huitema (60')
Venue: Snapdragon Stadium
Auto-refreshing reddit comments link
LINE-UPS
San Diego Wave FC
Shae Yanez, Kristen McNabb (Naomi Girma), Kaleigh Riehl, Madison Pogarch, Mia Gyau, Giovanna Demarco, Taylor Kornieck (Danielle Colaprico), Isabella Briede, Jaedyn Shaw (Melanie Barcenas), Amirah Ali (Meggie Dougherty Howard), Rachel Hill (Sofia Jakobsson).
Subs: Kailen Sheridan, Christen Westphal, Sierra Enge, Cheyenne Shorts.
^{____________________________}
OL Reign
Claudia Dickey, Emily Sonnett (Alyssa Malonson), Alana Cook, Shae Holmes, Ryanne Brown (Sofia Huerta), Olivia Athens (Elyse Bennett), Quinn, Nikki Stanton, Jordyn Huitema (Samantha Hiatt), Tziarra King, Veronica Latsko (Olivia Van der Jagt).
Subs: Lauren Ivory, Lauren Barnes, Luany, Megan Rapinoe.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
16' Emily Sonnett (OL Reign) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
19' Taylor Kornieck (San Diego Wave FC) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
21' Nikki Stanton (OL Reign) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
22' Shae Holmes (OL Reign) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
29' Goal! San Diego Wave FC 0, OL Reign 1. Ryanne Brown (OL Reign) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Tziarra King with a cross.
45' Substitution, San Diego Wave FC. Naomi Girma replaces Kristen McNabb.
45' Substitution, San Diego Wave FC. Sofia Jakobsson replaces Rachel Hill.
45' Substitution, OL Reign. Olivia Van der Jagt replaces Veronica Latsko.
54' Goal! San Diego Wave FC 0, OL Reign 2. Olivia Athens (OL Reign) right footed shot from very close range to the bottom right corner.
60' Goal! San Diego Wave FC 0, OL Reign 3. Jordyn Huitema (OL Reign) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner.
62' Substitution, OL Reign. Elyse Bennett replaces Olivia Athens.
62' Substitution, OL Reign. Alyssa Malonson replaces Emily Sonnett.
62' Substitution, San Diego Wave FC. Danielle Colaprico replaces Taylor Kornieck.
62' Substitution, San Diego Wave FC. Melanie Barcenas replaces Jaedyn Shaw.
67' Alyssa Malonson (OL Reign) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
73' Substitution, OL Reign. Sofia Huerta replaces Ryanne Brown.
78' Substitution, San Diego Wave FC. Meggie Dougherty Howard replaces Amirah Ali.
82' Substitution, OL Reign. Sam Hiatt replaces Jordyn Huitema.
90'+2' Mia Gyau (San Diego Wave FC) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
90'+4' Danielle Colaprico (San Diego Wave FC) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
90'+6' Melanie Barcenas Yellow Card
^{Don't see a thread for a match you're watching? Click here to learn how to request a match thread from this bot.}

I keep thinking about going to grad school, but my feelings are ambivalent.
Pros:

• I'm somewhat bored at my job (software engineer), and my curiosity has been hinting at me to pursue grad school in either computer science and/or economics, possibly even psychology
• Could possibly get into a very good school compared to where I graduated from (my GRE scores: https://imgur.com/a/en9zqF0), which could enhance my resume. Also, my GRE scores expire in about a year, which puts up an illusory deadline.
• I would love to work as a researcher. What holds me back is that I don't think I'm smart enough to be successful at it. I've worked as a research assistant in undergrad for a professor on some computational geometry open problems, and I wasn't able to solve any of them, which kind of bummed me out. It might be because I didn't have the background knowledge required as I hadn't taken enough advanced mathematics classes. I was very interested in solving them however, and would work very long hours trying different ways.
• I would love to inspire my daughter to follow her dreams, and grad school had always been a dream of mine growing up, inspired by my own father who did a PhD, a postdoc, and worked for decades as a researcher.

Cons:

• Opportunity cost of grad school is enormous as I'm currently earning over 300k a year. In the same vein, I'm a father now so money has become quite important because raising a kid is extremely expensive, and I want to give her the best opportunities.
• I have an interest in learning about those previously mentioned topics, but I have only a vague idea if that interest will carry through once I actually attend grad school. What if I'm not actually that interested? What if it takes time to gain a deeper interest, and I quit before that happens? What if I don't quit, and end up regretting the whole experience?

I think the biggest hurdle is the opportunity cost. The second con isn't that much of a blocker as I'm not scared of regret or hard work, and will take my chances. The biggest problem is walking away from all that money when I'm not financially independent yet. If my net worth were higher, that opportunity cost would greatly diminish, but with current estimates that would take another 5 to 10 years to achieve. Would grad schools admit someone who's somewhat old? Would my chances at the best grad schools diminish with age?

So I recently started helping my Dad out with his finances and looking everything over for him.
He has a 401k worth about $530k which is invested entirely in OOSAX. This was recommended by his financial advisor who probably sold it to him because it's a front loaded fund which probably netted the advisor a good chunk of change. Expense ratio is over 1.0% so to me this looks like a junk fund and he should sell but when I actually look at the numbers it seems to have done pretty well over the last few years.
2021 total return was ~7%
2022 total return was -0.8% (I guess not bad during a year where most people saw a huge dip)
2023 right now the monthly dividends are ~$3,400...which is around 7%.
So seems to be performing pretty well in the short term but I feel uneasy about this fund still. What do you all think about this one?

My fiancé and I recently got engaged and I’m considering getting a prenup done. We’re both in our mid/late 20s.
I currently make $540k/yr and have a total net worth of $425k (comprised of ~$200k in retirement accounts and ~$200k in equity across 2 real estate properties where one is my primary residence and the other is a rental)
My fiancé just recently got a job making $120k/yr and her current net worth is <$10k in random stocks. She does have the potential to be making $200k-$300k within the next 5y
I despise working so my goal is to work until our net worth is a minimum of $3 million in today’s dollars (outside of primary residence) and then decide if I want to retire or keep pushing a bit more. I definitely want to stop working at $10m in today’s dollars if I choose to keep working for that long
My fiancé enjoys working and has no intention of retiring anytime soon regardless of net worth.
Although my fiancé is hesitant, we are both agreeing to combine our finances upon marriage. Our combined household income will be ~$650k/yr. Potentially upwards of $800k/yr+ in a few years
A few questions:
1) Is the financial imbalance large enough in this case to warrant a prenup?
2) If yes to the previous question, what are some considerations I should keep in mind given I do have a considerably larger net worth and income as compared to my fiancé (our incomes might become more similar in the future, but I don’t want to play the what-if game and instead focus on what’s true today)?

I am a CS freshman in South America and i was researching about tech stacks that have good supply/demand ratio abroad for contracts, and one of the recommendations was C# and .NET, i want to ask you guys if thats really the case.
I have exp with C and C++ so learning C# shouldnt be that difficult and if its a good language for getting remote contracts it would definitely be worth it.

I am a CS freshman in South America and i was researching about tech stacks that have good supply/demand ratio abroad for contracts, and one of the recommendations was C# and .NET, i want to ask you guys if thats really the case.
I have exp with C and C++ so learning C# shouldnt be that difficult and if its a good language for getting remote contracts it would definitely be worth it.
​
If C# by itself isnt so good, is there an specific framework of the language thats good for that?

A dumb question I always thought was a little funny to think about. I’m certain it would most definitely destroy our economy but I’m curious what others think the immediate and long term effects would be.
EDIT: Okay so since this is obviously theoretically impossible, let’s assume everyone with a net worth of roughly one million or more, liquidates their assets and equally divides there money among the population (including themselves).

A lot of people seem to recommend SG, especially here on reddit, sometimes I'll see people recommend it as an alternative to IslamQA net, because they find it too extreme. SG depicts themselves as committed to the prophetic tradition, as per their about us page, but they always seemed sus to me so I decided to take a closer look.
Initial impressions, aside from the pics of women on their site, you can tell they take a more casual approach, their articles that answer fiqh questions are written like personal essays, and rarely have references to Quran/hadith, scholarly work, etc.
In this article Can a Husband Marry a Second Wife Without His First Wife’s Permission?, he basically says scholars today say its generally wrong, cites nothing except speculation on what harm it may cause, doesn't even cite who some of these scholars are. He doesn't even answer the question, lol. This article was written by the founder and leader of the site Faraz Rabbani.
Lets look at some more sus articles from their site, I'll just briefly go over them.
Am I a ‘Dayyuth’ If I Let My Wife Go out Without Hijab? A mans wife doesn't wear hijab outside, what do they advise him? Essentially just make dua and talk to her, tell her how you 'feel', teach her, bring others to talk to her. Nothing about disciplining her if she still refuses, as per whats advised in the Quran.
Should Women Refuse Polygamy in This World Because They Have to Share Their Husbands in the Next World Inevitably? This one isn't too bad but it just ends really weird, so its worth mentioning. They end with this:

Perhaps you can just marry a jinn in Paradise, and not worry about mankind at all:

And then it links to their article about if they can marry jinn in paradise.
Why Are Women Not Permitted to Marry More Than One Husband in Islam? This one is written by 'Ustadha' Raidah Shah Idil, remember this name because she'll come up quite a bit. In this article she tries to explore the wisdom behind polygyny, but she uses the common feminist reformist explanation, "Islam didn't start this, it just put a restriction".

Polygamy in today’s age opens the door to financial, emotional and spiritual abuse.

"Spiritual abuse" is basically a dog whistle for these liberal reformist types, anytime you hear this term used, you know you shouldn't take them seriously.
At one point she tries to justify why polyandry is not allowed because women with four husbands would have the burden of four mother in-laws... huh? Then she talks about female sexuality for some reason, and how little its written about in Islamic scholarship.
Can I Be the Second Wife to an Already Married Man With Children? Again written by Idil. A woman used to have this haram relationship, they broke it off, he later got extremely religious and married another woman, this woman asks him if he can be a second wife and he's open to it. Idil is against it, you'd think it was because of this specific scenario, but no she's against it because she's against polygyny in general, she gives the common liberal talking points, that he'll keep you as a secret wife and abuse you, even if he does tell his first wife she'll take away his kids and break the family. She accuses the guy of being controlling even though nothing the questioner says indicated that.
I Dislike My Wife’s Interactions With Her Male Relatives. What Do I Do? Again Idil. Mans wife mixes too freely with her non mahram male relatives, asks advice. Idil says:

To save your marriage, I suggest that you stop all attempts at controlling her behaviour. Focus on building happier memories with her.

Basically the same "teach, talk, tell her how you feel" advise, she even shills their marriage course. She also recommends:

I encourage you to look inwards, instead of outwards. What are your own shortcomings? How can you better worship Allah? How do you want to improve your relationship with the Creator, as well as creation?
Rather than preoccupy yourself with her flaws, preoccupy yourself with your own. It is far easier to find fault with those around us, instead of admitting that our own selves require much work.

I Committed Zina and Am Now Pregnant. What Do I Do? This ones a doozy, and even SG realized since its not on their site anymore, this was back when they were called SeekersHub, I've linked an archived page. Guess who wrote this one, yup, Idil again.
Girl commits zina with boy many times, gets pregnant, her parents would never accept them marrying since he's lower status. Idil advises basically to repent, ditch this guy, and get an abortion!

You have a made a mistake, and you do not have to make it worse by continuing this pregnancy. Please do not feel pressured into getting married to this young man. You have up until 4 months of pregnancy to decide whether or not you want to keep your baby.

How is someone titled "Ustadha" so ignorant when it comes to this ruling in Islam! Not only was she ignorant, but how did they let this be published on the site? Even says "Checked & Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani", the founder and leader of the site. No statement that they retracted the article either. Seems like she doesn't write articles for them anymore, but many of her articles are still on the site, a lot of the times one of few articles on these key controversial topics. I looked her up and I saw she has ties to liberal feminist Muslim deviants.
Some of you may know that the site also has had connections with Ingrid Mattson, a deviant who's been promoting (__) to Muslims, she's written articles for their site, she was a teacher for them and they promoted her courses. Even though she hasn't written on the site since 2020, her articles are still up too.

What could you talk about?

• Are you a FIRE beginner wanting advice? We'll try to help!
• Have you started your FIRE journey? Tell us!
• Have you hit a net worth milestone? We want to be motivated!
• Insights from work life or daily life? We are all ears!
• Just feeling lonely and want to hang out with FIRE-minded people? That's why this sub exists!
• Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics/trading still apply!

We have a Wiki that is constantly being updated, so please do read that if you are new here.
Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts.