Date: 06/08/2023
Reading time: 9 minutes, 1872 words

The units of the Azerbaijani armed forces open fire in the direction of the Armenian positions in Gegharkunik

Azerbaijani forces opened fire on Armenian positions in the Tretuk sector, Gegharkunik Province. The Armenian side has no casualties.

Armenpress, Azerbaijani forces open fire at Armenian positions, Azerbaijani forces open fire at Armenian positions near Khoznavar – MoD, Azerbaijan opens fire on Armenian positions

Red Cross visits kidnapped Armenian servicemen in Azerbaijani detention

Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have visited the two Armenian servicemen who were kidnapped by the Azerbaijani military and jailed. Private conversations took place, and they also helped them to make contact with their families.

Armenpress, Baku shares info about 2 Armenian troops abducted by Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan violates Nagorno Karabakh ceasefire

Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire in Nagorno Karabakh in the early hours of June 8, the Ministry of Defense said. The situation on the line of contact is relatively stable, the ministry said. Azerbaijan continues to spread disinformation, trying to substantiate the regular ceasefire violations committed by its units.

Armenpress, Artsakh reports fresh ceasefire violation by Azerbaijan, Armenia reports ceasefire violation by Azerbaijan, The Ministry of Defense of Armenia and Artsakh report about the firing by Azerbaijan, there are no losses, Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire in Artsakh, the Armenian side has no losses. PB:, Karabakh reports new ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan

Military universities will merge

Military University named after Vazgen Sargsyan and Aviation University will merge. The draft of the relevant decision is included in the agenda of the June 8 session of the government. The rationale of the decision is due to the decrease in the number of university applicants and the demand for certain professions in recent years.

CivilNet

Armenia makes every effort to encourage the development of "North-South" and "East-West" directions. Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan participated in the regular session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Sochi. The EAEU plays a key role in strengthening ties, establishing a single market, promoting trade and creating a single market. The Prime Minister delivered a speech, in which he said: "During these nine years, we have achieved considerable success"

Armenpress, Armenia advocates the systematic development of mutually beneficial and equal cooperation within CIS – PM

Azerbaijan attempts to derail agreements, Armenia warns at meeting of CSTO Security Council chiefs

Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan delivered a speech on June 8 at the CSTO meeting of Security Council Secretaries. He said Azerbaijan continues to escalate the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and Nagorno Karabakh.

Armenpress, Armenia participates in CIS Border Guard council meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, The delegation of border guard troops of the National Security Service of Armenia left for Baku

Prime Minister Pashinyan participates in CIS Council of Heads of Government session

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in the regular session of the Council of Heads of Government of the CIS in Sochi. The meeting is taking place in the year of the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Charter of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Armenpress

Russia ready to discuss financial issues on building new nuclear power plant in Armenia, says PM Mishustin

Russia is ready to discuss financial issues and parameters of building nuclear power plants in the territories of Eurasian Economic Union members, including Armenia, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at the Eurasia Is My Home exhibition. The heads of government were briefed on Rosatom’s most effective plant, a joint Russian-Belarusian project with two reactors with 1200 megawatt capacity.

Armenpress

Belarusian leader Lukashenko calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to find mutually acceptable solution

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to find a mutually acceptable solution to end the conflict. President Lukas

Armenpress

Russia aims to block EU from hosting COP29 summit, potentially leaving Armenia and Azerbaijan as contenders - report

Russia intends to block EU countries from hosting next year's UN international climate negotiations, according to internal emails seen by Reuters. Armenia and Bulgaria had put themselves forward to host the summit. If Russia vetoed all EU countries, then Armenia or Azerbaijan could still be in the running.

Armenpress

Armenia eager to develop ties with UK, Speaker Simonyan tells Leader of House of Commons Penny Mordaunt

Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan and his delegation met with Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The delegation also discussed regional security with their British colleagues and presented the situation resulting from Azerbaijan aggression.

Armenpress

At CSTO, Armenia’s Security Council chief calls for targeted assessment of the situation in Artsakh

Azerbaijan continues to escalate the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin Corridor. Secretary of the Armenian Security Council Armen Grigoryan addressed the Security Council Secretaries of CSTO member states.

ArmRadio

Russia has no long-term strategic plans in Artsakh. Lilit Gevorgyan

Analyst Lilit Gevorgyan says Russia has no long-term strategic plans in Artsakh. He says the issue of making Armenia a part of the Union State is not removed from Russia's agenda. The analyst says the guarantor of a possible Armenian-Azerbaijani treaty is Azerbaijan itself.

CivilNet

Armenian Foreign Minister speaks with new Turkish counterpart

Ararat Mirzoyan congratulates Hakan Fidan on his appointment as the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey. The sides expressed their willingness to continue working towards full normalization of relations between Armenia and Türkiye.

PanArmenian

Germany expects immediate release of Armenian POWs kept in Azerbaijan

Germany expects that the Armenian prisoners of war held in Baku will be immediately released as part of the peace negotiations. Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the German Bundestag Michael Roth said at the press conference in Yerevan on Wednesday, June 8.

PanArmenian

Semi-precious stones, precious metals, machinery named top Armenian exports in January-April

Armenia exported goods worth 2 billion 158 million 463,4 thousand dollars in January-April of 2023. Most of the exports went to Russia, a growth of 3,8 times compared to 2022. Precious and semi-precious stones, precious metals and related items comprised most of the exported goods.

Armenpress

The CSTO countries intend to increase the number of joint exercises

Secretaries of the Security Councils of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) discussed security challenges and threats in the region. The Security Council of the Russian Federation noted that tasks were set to block the ways of recruiting citizens and traveling to different places to participate in terrorist activities.

Armenpress

Armenian President receives Maren Jasper-Winter, member of Executive Board of Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom

President of the Republic of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan received delegation headed by Maren Jasper-Winter. Meeting was attended by Martin Kothé, Regional Director for East and Southeast Europe, Katrin Bannach and Armen Grigoryan.

Armenpress

Speaker meets SNP’s Drew Hendry, calls for cooperation between Armenia’s self-governing municipalities and Scotland

Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan and members of his delegation have met with Drew Hendry, Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom representing the Scottish National Party. Regional challenges, post-war issues and consequences were discussed at the meeting, the Armenian parliament’s press service said.

Armenpress

Armenian metal smelting plant will continue its activities in the border area irrespective of Azerbaijan's complaint

GTB Steel, which is building a smelting plant in the village of Yeraskh, Ararat Province, Armenia, issued a statement responding to the statement of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Azerbaijan that the construction of the smelter will harm the environment of their country.

Armenpress, Company behind smelter in Armenia’s border village of Yeraskh to continue activity despite statements from Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan opposes Armenia’s plans to build new metallurgical plant

Armenian Minister, German Ambassador discuss the possibility of concluding a migration partnership agreement

Minister of Internal Affairs Vahe Ghazaryan received Viktor Richter, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to Armenia. The issue of the possibility of concluding a migration partnership agreement with Germany was discussed at the meeting.

Armenpress

ICJ ruling on Azeri checkpoint in Lachin Corridor expected soon

Armenia is waiting for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on its request regarding Azerbaijan’s checkpoint in Lachin Corridor. The United Nations’ highest court ordered Azerbaijan on February 22 to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo in both directions.

Armenpress

2 Ukrainian-Armenians affected in Kakhovka Dam collapse

Two Ukrainian-Armenians are among those affected as a result of the collapse of the Kherson Dam. Several Armenian communities have already offered to accommodate those affected.

Armenpress

In Syunik, United States Ambassador to Armenia observes tense situation at border with Azerbaijan

United States Ambassador to Armenia Kristina Kvien has visited the Syunik Province, the U.S. Embassy said on social media. The Ambassador also traveled to Tegh where she observed first-hand the tense situation at the border.

Armenpress

Turkey's lira plunges 7.6% to record low

Turkey's lira plunged 7.6% to a record low on Wednesday in its biggest selloff since the historic 2021 crash. Traders called it a "strong signal" that Ankara is moving away from state controls toward a freely traded currency. The lira was trading at 23.2300 against the dollar at 1739 GMT after touching a record-low of 23.2620.

Armenpress

Christian Lawmakers urged to de-platform Azerbaijan ambassador

Azerbaijan has attacked and ethnically cleansed vast areas of Artsakh – a Christian land and democratic state on the frontiers of global faith and freedom. Azerbaijan has executed armed and bound Armenian prisoners of war, using prohibited munitions and recruiting jihadist, ISIS-aligned mercenaries from Syria.

ArmRadio

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TL;DR: Recruiter talks smack about my employer after I get promoted, I informed my director about this clown, Recruiter calls Director with a potential hire, and my Director goes off about trying to take employees then offer up candidates. Recruiter gets blacklisted by company.
This is gonna be a bit of a long one, but just a recent experience I had in the last six months. So about October 2022, this outside recruiter starts hitting me up. I'll give him some credit in that he called before and after working hours. I keep telling him no, he keeps calling every 2ish weeks. I start ignoring calls (not blocking because I don't want to burn a bridge yet) and he gives up for a while, at least I think so. I get my review in February 2023 and my director promotes me. I'm pretty stoked because I'd spent 2 years since joining this company in 2020 working for this after leaving a company that told me they didn't know how to get me to the next level. I do the LinkedIn update in March 2023 when the new title takes effect. No less than 2 days later, this recruiter calls me. I answer because I think it's a subcontractor I'd been playing phone tag with (same area code and numbers were really close). This guy congratulates me then immediately starts digging into his pitch. I politely decline. This is where things take a turn. He states my employer is great from everything he's heard BUT that it's hard to get promoted further and that I'm likely to stall out here. This clown actually says this.
Now, I'm not stupid and understand that the higher you go up the fewer and fewer promotions there will be. My new title has manager in it and I know that there's only one more title between where I am at and Director. There's only a handful of directors in my department, and only 1 in my sector. My director and I are really close as he was a mentor to me at my previous employer and got me this new job that was a major step up for me financially, had vastly better benefits, and exposed me to more in my field. So, I'd be taking his spot eventually and if I beat out others. We discussed this at my promotion and my director said he wants to make this department larger, covering more areas of our field. This means more director positions in the future and this aligns with company goals. I'm good with this.
Back to the recruiter. I cut him off with his repeated pitch about this company having a lot of room for growth and how they promote all the time to tell him he doesn't have all the information and I am done with him. He tries to apologize and I'm over it at this point. I tell him lose my number, hang up, and block his number. Now my director calls to discuss a project. I casually ask if he's heard of this guy. I'm surprised to hear he had heard of this recruiter and had told him at one point to kindly stop calling his team and trying to poach them. Apparently, he had called two of my teammates as well. Having nothing to lose, I tell my director about what this guy said about the company. Director notes it and sends it off to our internal recruiting team to raise a flag about him. The NEXT DAY this recruiter calls my director to pitch a candidate to him. I wasn't privy to all that was said, but in our team meeting director brings up this recruiter being blacklisted now that he's not only tried to poach people, but then had the audacity to try to recommend someone.
I will state that I rarely tell my director about recruiter calls, because most don't push it like this clown did. Is it a common tactic for recruiters to use any negativity to try to sway someone? If someone is happy and doesn't want to leave, why go that route?

Karma, Coincidence, or Penitence: Abortion, a Man’s Story
June 5, 2023
Around April or May 1973 I had intimate relations with a girlfriend in college in the last days of our relationship. I was a confused young man and didn’t know what to think of our relationship—I assumed it was over. I was graduating that May and my ex-girlfriend had two years to go. I had also contracted hepatitis A and felt awful. I was told by my Doc that I probably contracted the virus from contaminated food; who can say for sure but it didn’t come from my ex-girlfriend (she never had the disease.) Not knowing what to do I moved back to my parents’ home to be treated and rest; it was the year of the 1973 oil embargo. My ex-girlfriend had become pregnant sometime in late May to the dismay of both of us. She called me with this information and I took no responsibility other than sending her $100. I never called to check on her emotional state or anything. At the time, I thought a woman just gets an abortion and has a procedure like a person gets their ear’s flushed—something like that. Frankly I did not think about nor reflect of the ramifications of an abortion on an unborn soul or on the woman at all, other than it was an inconvenience. She was not able to have children when she married and wanted children.
In 1977, I met my next girlfriend, whom I moved in with. After a few months she got pregnant. I thought she was on birth control pills but I didn’t really pay that much attention. I didn’t think I was ready to be a parent, being a musician who traveled, but to be honest, I didn’t want the responsibility and didn’t think I was mature enough to be a parent. At the least, I did go to the clinic with her. No one at the clinic talked to us about how an actual abortion procedure worked: no images of the fetus; no counseling on alternatives—nothing. After 2 or three years in this relationship, she got pregnant again; this time I don’t remember going to the clinic to be with her. I might have been on the road, but I think we’d recently broken up, it’s been a long time ago. Not even remembering says a lot about me.
The cultural climate of the 1970s was that abortion was just another type of birth control. I was of the opinion, that life started after a birth—that’s the way I thought about it at the time. I knew my parents tried to have me for years before my Mom got pregnant. I always and still do feel like I was wanted when I was born and that’s how I wanted to have children. On my Dad’s side there was a lot of dysfunction and plain meanness and I knew that there was an element in me that would rear its’ head occasionally. I desperately wanted to have children, but on my terms when I thought I was most ready to break the cycle of dysfunction with a flourishing career and with a loving wife.
So at 36 years old, I married the lady of my dreams and looked forward to having a solid home life, a burgeoning career as a musician, and independent record label owner. At this time, we embarked on consciously bringing children into the world. After two years, my wife developed pelvic inflammatory disease and had to a have an emergency surgery which resulted in one ovary and fallopian tube removed. My wife had terrible pain after the surgery and it was discovered soon after the surgery that she had massive amounts of scar tissue and it was strangling internal organs. We then found a surgeon in Los Angeles who was skilled in removing scar tissue in this area of the body. During the surgery, the Doc informed us that the one remaining fallopian tube that normally and necessarily has undulating fingers had been cut off. We were not informed of this by the first surgeon, who by this time left the country and relocated in Mexico. The Doc made tiny slices in the end of the fallopian tube hoping that it could allow the end of the fallopian tube to move and capture an egg. My wife and I then went to a fertility doctor for 3-4 years (the length of time is hazy but I believe it was that long.) By the way, the insurance company wouldn’t pay for that $35K procedure because once the doc made the slits on the fallopian tube, they considered the procedure for fertility. We tried everything short of buying eggs. Before we went down the road of fertility enhancement, the Doc required us to get counseling, in regards to fertility treatment. We were informed that couples that don’t get pregnant after lengthy efforts have a 70 – 90 % chance of divorcing from the stress and trauma. I’ll never forget that moment; we looked at each other and said that was nonsense. Well, it did happen to us. On Thanksgiving Day, I believe 1997, she asked me for a divorce. I knew it was coming. I was broken and wanted to separate in order to regroup but she was ready to part ways completely. I was shocked to my core.
In 1998 I gave CDs from my “Sacred Sites” series to an abortion clinic in Albuquerque. The music is slow and relaxing. I was asked to come to the clinic which I did. After seeing the faces of the women and the feelings in the clinic, I had a reversal of my feelings for abortion. For the last 25 years I have been haunted by my actions in regards to abortion and how life turned out for my girlfriends, my wife, and me. I never had children or attempted to have children after my past actions. I was totally selfish, ignorant, and arrogant as a young man. I am so, so sorry for my actions and guilty for not fighting for those souls. I thought of myself as someone who thinks of himself as caring, compassionate, and intelligent, but didn’t engage any of those qualities when I participated in those pregnancies. I have asked for forgiveness from both ladies, God, the unborn little people, and myself for years, but to be honest, I don’t feel it in the depths of my soul. Both ladies who I had the abortions with were not able to have children later in life as a result of the procedures and they were all done in supposedly profession clinics. They intensely wanted to have children. I take responsibility for those disastrous decisions. The pregnancies started from me, no matter what excuses I might have expressed at the time. As for my ex-wife that I wanted to have children with, I can only wonder if my previous actions brought suffering and loss to her.
This wasn’t my fate, but a result of the choices I made. I took the easy way out, or so I thought regarding abortion. But what I’ve learned through all this, is that the pain and inconvenience of discipline is nothing compared to the pain of regret.
As of June 13th, 2022 I was diagnosed with 4th stage prostate cancer. I’ve gone through chemo, currently radiation, and hormone therapy. I won’t go into the specifics what happens to a man during this process, but it does affect the sex organs. Google it up if you’re interested.
I am eternally sorry for my actions; they will reverberate in me until my last breath and I am at peace with that. If my story helps one person to reconsider their CHOICE in regards to abortion; then I’ve done something good. Please, think deeply about what your actions will mean to yourself and others now and in the unknown future.
So, is it “Karma, Coincidence, or Penitence?”
Jay Rusty Crutcher

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Hi!
I am a current Sophmore (class of 2025) who, due to mental health struggles, has a realtively poor GPA. I do not do a many ECs as the few I do, plus having therapy 3+ hours a week, takes up a lot of time. I am looking to get recruited for my sport (rowing, coxswain) but putting that aside, I would love advice on what else I can do.
Also, next year and senior year, I will be doing dual enrollment at my local community college. Around 18-20% of students in my district do it so it is not that uncommon. I am not expecting credits to roll over once I go to a 4 year college, nor am I going for an AA, this is mainly for my mental health and so I have more flexablity for rowing. Any advice on people who have done this/thoughts on how these classes compare to APs please let me know. Next year, I will be taking one class at the high school, AP Research, and senior year I will only be at the community college.
Posting stats/info below.
College List
It is a pretty big list as of now, over 35 schools. Here are 3-5 safeties, reach, and matches that are like my top few in each.
Safeties
Barry University, Bucknell, Bryant University, Jacksonville, Rollins
Matches
SMU, Ithaca, Colby, Santa Clara, Stetson
Reaches
Columbia (note- this is mainly due to their joint degree program with the Jewish Theological Seminary), Brown, Georgertown, Harvard
Background Info
Major: English with a creative writing concentration and/or marketing or communicatiuons with a minor in Jewish Studies
Demographics: Jewish, LGBTQ+, white, upper-middle class
High School: Top 20 public school in Washington state, would say pretty competive with a strong academic focus
Parents: My mom went to UGA (no intrest) and my dad Jacksonville University
Stats
GPA: 3.58 UW as of January (when our first semester ends), will likely stay the same/drop a bit this semester
Tests: ACT was between a 24-26 cummaltive when I took it in 7th grade, I do not have access to the score report. PSAT as of fall 10th grade: 1180 with reading/writing being a 660 and math 520
Classes 9th Grade - No APx offered to Freshman, took all honors avalible per my math level: Art 1, Health, English 9 Honors, Spanish 1, geomatry, biology (honors track), world religions, digital design, psych, world history 1
Classes 10th Grade: Ceramics 1, AP seminar, English 10 Honors, Spanish 2, algebra 2 honors, AP world, Creative Writing
Awards
Duke TIP Scholar
Scholastic Arts and Writing Personal Essay and Memoir Regional Gold Key Recipient
John Hopkins CTY Scholar
ECs
Rowing
I rowed for 3 years and switched to coxing this past fall. I am on a junior mens team and also work with a nationally competive masters team (adult women). No crazy/outstanding race results- but I am looking to get recruited for it- either a mens or women's team. I am already talking to 3-4 D3 schools, but cannot talk to D1 for another week. This takes up 20+ hours a week.
City's Youth Council
About 2 hours every 2 weeks, so call it an hour plus/minus a week. We help plan events that benefit
high school and middle schoolers in our city, are a focus group for the city planners. I am not currently in a leadership role, but I was nominated last year and this year, elections are this upcoming week.
City's Library Board Youth Seat
Similar to above. About 1-2 hours a month. Was recently appointed and do not know much about what my role will be yet, but I know the general goals of the board are to provide acessablity and make the library a better resource for all.
Jewish Student Union
Was created this year and am a founding member. We are currently working to change the curriculum around the Holocaust/Jewish history in our school, and working with admin to stop the increase in anti-Semitism at our school/in our community. In addition, we help out at a local Synnaguge.
School Newspaper
Was a staff writer last year and this year was both a staff writer and PR manager for the first half of the year. I stepped back from the club mid-year as I was struggling to balance everything, but am hoping to get back involved next school year.
Volunteer Hours
As of this week I have 189.5 from 2021- Today. A mixture of work at a local Synnaguge, my city board/youth council work and spending the summer before my Freshman year as a camp counsler. Hoping to be at 350-375 by September of senior year.
Summer
Last summer I worked as a lifeguard at my local pool, rowed, and did a creative writing course at UWashigton Seattle. In addition I did a 4 day rowing camp at UW Seattle.
This summer, I applied at got accepted to the following, but am staying home to do an intensive therapy program as to avoid the issues I have had the past two years arising again.
I am planning on doing a Jewish Studies research project though, with a plan to submit it to National History Day, and than contine to work on it and eventually submit it to The Concord Review.
Summer 2023 Acceptances:
Brandeis Genesis Program, Community Rowing Inc U19 Mens Summer Racing Team, USRowing Olympic Development Program: Youth Development Program
Other
I am a big writer and, in addition to the application essays, am planning on attaching a portfolio to any school that accepts supplemental material. I also have a poetry chapbook in the works that I would like to get published (traditional route) and hope to begin that process before college application season. I also am an avid reader and read over 100 books a year. I also am already planning on including some information about my mental health in the grade explanation section (don't know what it it called).
​
If you made it this far, big thank you for reading and for any advice you may have!

TL; DR:
Me (25M) and her (26F). Keeping anonymity.
We were best friends (in two countries in Europe). Let’s call me X and her Y. It was October 2020, a few months after I broke up with my ex girlfriend due to long distance and Y came to visit me for a surprise birthday visit. At that time she was in a long distance with her boyfriend Z. They were perfectly normal couple, all in love, but the distance had gotten on them. He never introduced her to his friends or family despite them dating for more than a year. Long story short, I already had feelings for her at that time but never accepted it to her since she wasn’t single. It was a night or two after my birthday, she kissed me (we weren’t drunk or high). She felt bad and stopped, but it happened again the next day.
I accepted I loved her but she rejected me saying it was a mistake. I knew her since many years, and a night before she was leaving, we were speaking about her sex life. She had always told me that she was virgin, and wanted to have sex only with Z. That night, my gut said something was wrong, I confronted her and asked if she did it with one of her friends where she was living. She got super shy and ashamed, and accepted that she did. She had several make out sessions with this friend of hers and they even tried to have sex, but she told me that it was super painful and it didn’t go in completely, so technically she was still a virgin. I chose to not make her feel weirded or awkward and showed my support. She could trust me with this and I promised her nobody would know. I felt bad about Z, but it wasn’t my place to decide what happens to her relationship, but of course the right way was to leave it.
Nothing happened in between her and I, but in the course of a few months, my feelings got stronger towards her and I confessed it. She said she loved me too, but wouldn’t want to leave her boyfriend. She said she wanted me to wait. It was a bad idea to wait for her, but sooner I asked her the reasons for it.
Z was an athlete who might have had a few chances to go really big in his sports career (playing for a national team). She said she didn’t want to affect his career. I called bs on it and said I can’t wait so I’ll leave, and you can continue with your life. She begged me to stay, and my love overpowered my logic, again. I flew to her in December 2020, and things started getting intimate. We had sex for a couple of times in the span of three weeks. I knew this was wrong, but she was enjoying it and confessed that this was only because she loved me too. Once we got drunk and in that state she started to cry and said, “Can we just be friends with benefits?” This took me by a shock, and I asked her the next day if she remembered what she said, but she said she didn’t recall it. I chose to ignore it as a drunken mistake.
We had several arguments later because it was already August 2021 and she didn’t leave him despite me asking maybe a hundred times. I was tired and didn’t want to continue when I finally said I was leaving. You cannot have two boyfriends at once.
She took two days to continuously speak with Z and break up with him (I didn’t expect this). She told this to me at the end of it and I asked her about what she spoke with him. I never got any answer. But I got this, “I didn’t want to jump from one relationship to other with you but I’ll do it anyway, you are now responsible to handle me.”
It was pretty weird and I told her it is not a necessity to be with me if she doesn’t want it. Forcing something like this is something I never want. She said it was her will to be with me. I knew she’d take some time to get along with this change, so I did every single thing possible in my power to support her in all ways. I used to visit her or she used to visit me often, but the sex went from amazing (when she was cheating on her ex-Z) to 90% less, and within a few weeks to 0. This was also the time when she just graduated and was looking for jobs, and I was still studying at University.
I kept my support to 110%, but never received anything from her. Eventually her situation started getting better, she switched between a job and an internship and then back to another job. This whole scenario affected me so much that I lost most my money, and had to put much much much more efforts to pass classes in uni, and find a job in before finishing the final project. There were a million problems in my life, not gonna lie, but I still managed to support her more than anything else.
She’s a really amazing person, but the DB got to me. It is always me who initiates intimate part, and I get nothing but rejection. Sometimes I get a sympathy bj, but never am I allowed to do anything to her. Mid 2021 to mid 2023, we have been in a Db. I have tried talking to her many times but she always rejects the conversation. I have suggested therapy several times and also offered to pay for it and support in any way she wanted, but she rejected this every single time.
Last week, we had a big argument about the same issue, and she said “you want sex? You will get it. Problem solved”. This was in a tone that resembles to how rich people throw shit at beggars. I have also gotten this statement several times recently, “I know because of the sex thing you are going to leave me anyway”. She has shown immense efforts in finding a new set of friends and hanging out with them. Over these few years, none of her close friends have known about be, or no one in her family except two cousins who are teenagers and don’t give two flying fucks. On the other hand, I have introduced her with all my friends and family. She even meets with them and speaks with them regularly.
On top of this, she has often asked me to propose her for marriage, but I have never given in to that because of her ways of treating me and DB. And when I complain about it she says, “yeah you have no other statements than always blaming me”
I do not want to leave her but it seems like there is no option left. I will wrap up my degree next week and soon end things with her. I have had the thought of leaving her many times before, but it’s always the thought “I might not find anyone after her. I am too old for the girls now. I don’t even have basic confidence to approach women anymore” has stopped me.

Here's my list for this weekend, enjoy and be yourself at Pride this weekend. WGBH has a very comprehensive pride calendar here. I'm sure there is plenty I missed so please add it down below.
At popular request you can now get this as a newsletter. Sign up and maybe one day I'll be able to afford Dunkin' more than twice a week.

THURSDAY- JUNE 8

Randy Feltface Comedy Show @ The Wilbur @ 7:30PM
The Wood Brothers @ Roadrunner @ 7:30PM *Shovels & Rope
PIXIES @ MGM Music Hall @ 6:45PM *With Fran's Ferdinand & Bully
Phony PPL @ Paradise Rock Club @ 7PM
KayCyy @ Brighton Music Hall @ 7PM
Hot 8 Brass Band @ Crystal Ballroom @ 8PM
Trap Karaoke @ Big Night Live @ 8PM

FRIDAY- JUNE 9

Pride at the Museum @ MFA @ 5PM The MFA is celebrating Pride Month with a series of special Spotlight Talks to help raise awareness and uplift the voices of LGBTQIA+ communities.
‘The Watermelon Woman’ Screening @ MFA @ 7PM Don’t miss the chance to see this landmark of queer cinema on the big screen!
National Youth Film Festival @ Harvard Art Museums @ 6PM ‘Do It Your Damn Self!’ is the country’s longest-running youth film festival where you can catch the works of promising teen filmmakers
Tina Fey & Amy Poehler @ MGM Music Hall @ 7PM / 10PM
Ross Mathews Live @ The Wilbur @ 7:30PM Ross Mathews is one of the most in-demand media personalities, having worked on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ and ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ just to name a few.
Sam Bush @ Hanover Theatre @ 8PM The mandolin/fiddle/guitar-playing icon performs live at the Hanover!
Young the Giant @ Leader Bank Pavilion @ 7PM *With Milky Chance
Jay Wheeler @ House of Blues @ 7PM
Summer Salt @ Paradise Rock Club @ 7PM
Rio Romeo @ Brighton Music Hall @ 5PM
Emo Night Brooklyn @ Brighton Music Hall @ 10PM
Gimme Gimme Disco @ Big Night Live @ 9PM

SATURDAY- JUNE 10th

New England Revolution vs Inter Miami CF @ Gillette Stadium @ 7:30PM
Boston Pride Parade and Festival @ 11AM *Organized by Boston Pride For The People
Fenway Porchfest @ 12PM Now in its fourth year, Fenway Porchfest provides a unique opportunity to see musicians perform on the steps, plazas, parks, and parking lots of the neighborhood.
Gospel Night @ Symphony Hall @ 8PM This annual celebration with the Boston Pops and Boston Pops Gospel Choir features Grammy-award winning vocalist Smokie Norful!
Charlotte Klein Dance Center @ Hanover Theatre @ 11AM Celebrate the 70th anniversary of the nationally renowned dance academy with performances by its best students.
Bryan Adams @ TD Garden @ 7:30PM *With Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
Fonseca @ Boch Center Shubert Theatre @ 8PM
John Mellencamp @ Boch Center Wang Theatre @ 8PM
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue @ Leader Bank Pavilion @ 7PM
Temples @ Paradise Rock Club @ 7PM
Tumblr Night @ Brighton Music Hall @ 8PM *Presented by Fangirl Fantasy
Pride Party @ Roadrunner @ 8PM Boston’s Biggest Pride Dance Party returns with an iconic lineup featuring Baby Tate & COBRAH, and Detox.
Sapphic Nights - PRIDE @ House of Blues @ 9PM
Chris Lake @ Big Night Live @ 9:30PM
​

SUNDAY - JUNE 11th

Queer Family Festival @ BCA Plaza Theatres @ 11AM This festival showcases family centered and queer friendly vendor expo, performances, interactive play stations, discussions, drag story hours, and more.
‘Lawrence of Arabia’ Screening @ Coolidge Corner Theatre @ 1PM The epic of all epics, David Lean’s ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ presented in 70mm!

ALL WEEKEND

THURSDAY & FRIDAY - Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey @ 8PM This Boston Pops performance combines Europe's most stirring Romantic-era anthems with beautiful high-definition cinematography and Rick Stevens' insights into European history.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY - Sound Baths with Guadalupe Maravilla @ ICA Join artist Guadalupe Maravilla and other sound healers for an hour-long sound bath at the ICA Watershed.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY - ‘Boogie Nights’ Screening @ Coolidge Corner Theatre For the first time, see Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Boogie Nights’ in 70mm, struck from the original 1997 camera negative!
SATURDAY & SUNDAY - Kevin James Stand Up @ The Wilbur @ 7PM
All weekend - Cirque du Soleil: Corteo @ Agganis Arena Cirque du Soleil’s latest production is a unique show where tragedy meets wisdom and reality blends with magic.
All weekend - 'Evita' Opera @ Loeb Drama Center @ 7:30PM Inspired by the real life of the iconic Eva Perón, this Tony-award winning rock opera is remastered and back on stage after much anticipation!

Ongoing events

Ongoing - Musical Shows @ MoS Planetarium Museum of Science puts on special experiences adapting the music of Coldplay, Rihanna, Pink Floyd, and Prince to immersive visuals in the Charles Hayden Planetarium
Ongoing - ‘Wedding Fashion and Traditions Exhibition @ MFA NEW - The exhibition explores the origins and development of wedding customs in the United States through fashion, jewelery, and photography.
Ongoing - 'E.Jane: Drenched in Light' Exhibition @ MFA E. Jane's work explores the labor and inner lives of Black women and the future of Blackness and queerness.
Ongoing - ‘Otherworldy Realms of Wu Junyong’ Exhibition @ MFA Inspired by Chinese folklore and Greek mythology, Wu Junyong’s mixed-media works seamlessly blend diverse historical traditions with his contemporary experience to express human emotions, conflicts, and aspirations that transcend time and borders.
Ongoing - 'Touching Roots' Exhibition @ MFA This exhibition traces narratives of Blackness across the Atlantic world by bringing together work from artists who absorbed and reinterpreted African artistic practices, sacred customs, and cultural expressions.
Ongoing - 'Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence' Exhibition @ MFA The exhibition explores Katsushika Hokusai's impact during his lifetime and beyond. More than 100 woodblock prints, paintings, and illustrated books by Hokusai are on view alongside about 200 works by his teachers, students, rivals, and admirers.
Ongoing - 'Who Holds Up the Sky' Exhibition @ MFA Organized in partnership with a Ukrainian NGO, this exhibition presents the work of artists who have been documenting the war—providing testimony of Russia’s crimes and a glimpse into many Ukrainian citizens’ lives.
Ongoing - 'María Berrío: The Children’s Crusade' Exhibition @ ICA Innovative, unique, and touching, María Berrío's work is a blend of watercolor painting and collaging inspired by poetry, folklore, and realms of magic and how these elements are woven into our reality.
Ongoing - Simone Leigh Exhibition @ ICA Simone Leigh’s landmark masterpieces from the 2022 Venice Biennale are now on view along her other key works.
Ongoing - ‘American Art from the Spanish Empire’ Exhibition @ Harvard Art Museums The exhibition showcases Spanish colonial paintings from South America and the Caribbean and reflects on the colonial past of the America’s and the role of art in imperialism.

https://theblackwallsttimes.com/2023/05/01/entire-west-virginia-state-police-department-under-sexual-misconduct-investigation/
"The entire West Virginia State Police department is under sexual misconduct investigation after multiple lawsuits filed from dozens of women, including minors.
The Department of Homeland Security is investigating the West Virginia State Police department after serious allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, theft, physical assault, and cover-up and fraud have come to light.
A five-page anonymous letter was sent to Governor Jim Justice (R) in February alleging sexual assaults, thefts, and hidden cameras inside the women's locker room at the West Virginia State Police Academy.
A group of women who used the locker room at the West Virginia State Police Academy filed a "30-day notice of intent to sue" through their lawyer Teresa Toriseva back in March.
Toriseva has filed another "30-day notice of intent to sue" on behalf of the group of women, saying developments in her investigation reveal "an environment that's downright hostile to women."
Photos of women undressing in the locker room were allegedly shared between troopers.
The latest filing from Toriseva represents 42 women, including 10 minors who attended the Junior Trooper Academy.
We're finding and getting reports of sexual misconduct, including reports of improper sexual relationships with instructors. We're getting reports of physical assaults," Toriseva said. "Evidence of a cover-up, of fraud, not letting this become public, so to speak, to oversimplify it and that is a problem too."
In February, Gov. Justice said that he fully supported "cutting out bad actors," adding that law enforcement is a "tough job".
Homeland Security Secretary Jeff Sandy said "over the past few months, extensive work has been done by the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General and other retired law enforcement officers employed by the Department of Homeland Security...The actions of a few should not tarnish the reputation of the organization."
However, it is the entire organization that is under investigation, not just a few."
​
The usual excuses are already being used, (see the ironically-named Governor Justice)- portray it as just a few bad apples, ignore/dismiss the systemic corruption and discrimination, and then talk about how hard it is to be a police officer, implying that this justifies officers' crimes. Just like when officers shoot an unarmed (often Black) person.
"Poor cops, they were under so much stress, they just couldn't help being predators and pedophiles."
The real issue here, in addition to the obvious misogyny and sense of entitlement to womens' (and underage girls') bodies, is the idea that those charged with upholding the law, and given extraordinary power to do so, should therefore be held to a lower standard than everyone else, not a higher one.
Police, by and large, are not your friends. They are, for the most part, powerful men in a culture which values toxic masculinity, with very little accountability, doing what powerful and unaccountable men have always done.
And these are the people who are going to be responding first to DV and SA reports.

Hey there, fellow Mississippians and cannabis connoisseurs! We have some news to share amidst this whirlwind of controversy surrounding Reddit's decision to kill 3rd party apps.
We know everyone has their opinions on this issue, and we respect that. We're all about supporting causes we believe in, however, while acknowledging our differences we wanted to inform users that our sub will remain open and active during the protests.
Why, you ask? Because we firmly believe in creating a vibrant space for both medical and recreational users to come together, exchange ideas, share epic reviews, and dive headfirst into lively discussions about all things marijuana in the great state of Mississippi! We're not about locking up valuable information and cutting off our community from the knowledge they seek. We're here to keep the doors open and the MississippiMarijuana love flowing.
For those of you who choose to take part in the protest, we completely understand! And when you return, we'll be here waiting with open arms and a smoke-filled celebration! Thanks and lots of love to each and every one of you for being part of this incredible community. We can't wait to keep blazing the trail together! 🔥✌️
Yours greenly,
u/Johnny-Galt-Jr and the MississippiMarijuana Mod Squad

Company: The Crypto Recruiters
Location: United States 📍
Date Posted: June 08, 2023 📅
Apply & Description 👉 https://jobboardsearch.com/redirect?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=bot&utm_id=jobboarsearch&utm_term=web3jobs.so&rurl=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIzam9icy5zby9qb2JzL3JlbW90ZS1zZW5pb3ItZWxpeGlyLWJsb2NrY2hhaW4tYmFja2VuZC1kZXZlbG9wZXItdGhlLWNyeXB0by1yZWNydWl0ZXJzLTQ4ODU0

About Davidscloud: Davidscloud is a long-standing gaming community that believes in creating a place for all gamers to get together and enjoy playing various games together without worry of pay-to-win spoiling the enjoyment. Our community is friendly and works together to achieve a place everyone can find something to enjoy. Cloud City is a community of mature roleplayers who are looking to recruit other like-minded adults for some drama-free, action/comedy-rich roleplay. We have a special place in our hearts for people that are brand new to GTA RP. We’ve all been there ourselves, and know it can be hard to take that leap. We could be your first home, or your new one! Here, you’ll find a fully developed city with all the bells and whistles, with more on the way. Come join us, and see what all the fun is about!
Features: Something for everyone! -Fleshed out discord for members to hang out and communicate outside of roleplay. -QBCore framework -Actual custom content/scripts (written and actively worked on by our team). -Active Development with daily updates and planned DLCs -18+ populated city with men and women, at all hours of the day and night. Members from multiple continents. Drama and Greifer free, no shit lording tolerated. -200+ Imported Cars, 1500+ imported clothing items (Non-Esl) -Buy and customize your own house -Own/Stock/Price items at your own store -Available activities include restaurants, paintball, hunting, gambling, fishing, trucking, and more for civilian RP. Many more activities are coming in planned DLC's! -Hiring citizens for Local PD, State PD, Judges, Lawyers, Car Dealer, the highest paying jobs in the city -Unlimited business potentials! -Criminals can rob convenience stores, NPC's, Jewelry Stores and Banks. They can also start their own Gangs/Criminal Organizations -You can find and craft items and weapons at locations all across the State -You can find, cultivate, process and sell Weed, Coke, Meth, Heroin, Vicodin, LSD! -You can chop cars for useful and valuable parts! -A 30-day daily rewards system that rewards money, weapons, and vehicles -Free Casino spins every 24 hours for a chance to win casino chips, money, and vehicles, if you're lucky
How to get started: Join the fun! 1.) FiveM Server Address: Search “Cloud City RP” in FiveM and connect. No whitelist application needed. 2.) Join us on Discord at: https://discord.gg/wDPY5yr​

Company: The Crypto Recruiters
Location: United States 📍
Date Posted: June 08, 2023 📅
Apply & Description 👉 https://jobboardsearch.com/redirect?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=bot&utm_id=jobboarsearch&utm_term=web3jobs.so&rurl=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIzam9icy5zby9qb2JzL3JlbW90ZS1ibG9ja2NoYWluLWFyY2hpdGVjdC10aGUtY3J5cHRvLXJlY3J1aXRlcnMtNDg4MDg=

Hey all,
It's been an amazing run thanks to all of you.
Eight years ago, I posted in the Apple subreddit about a Reddit app I was looking for beta testers for, and my life completely changed that day. I just finished university and an internship at Apple, and wanted to build a Reddit client of my own: a premier, customizable, well-designed Reddit app for iPhone. This fortunately resonated with people immediately, and it's been my full time job ever since.
Today's a much sadder post than that initial one eight years ago. June 30th will be Apollo's last day.
I've talked to a lot of people, and come to terms with this over the last weeks as talks with Reddit have deteriorated to an ugly point, and in the interest of transparency with the community, I wanted to talk about how I arrived at this decision, and if you have any questions at the end, I'm more than happy to answer. This post will be long as I have a lot of topics to cover.
Please note that I recorded all my calls with Reddit, so my statements are not based on memory, but the recorded statements by Reddit over the course of the year. One-party consent recording is legal in my country of Canada. Also I won't be naming names, that's not important and I don't want to doxx people.

What happened initially?

On April 18th, Reddit announced changes that would be coming to the API, namely that the API is moving to a paid model for third-party apps. Shortly thereafter we received phone calls, however the price (the key element in an announcement to move to a paid API) was notably missing, with the intent to follow up with it in 2-4 weeks.
The information they did provide however was: we will be moving to a paid API as it's not tenable for Reddit to pay for third-party apps indefinitely (understandable, agreed), so they're looking to do equitable pricing based in reality. They mentioned that they were not looking to be like Twitter, which has API pricing so high it was publicly ridiculed.
I was excited to hear these statements, as I agree that long-term Reddit footing the bill for third-party apps is not tenable, and with a paid arrangement there's a great possibility for developing a more concrete relationship with Reddit, with better API support for users. I think this optimism came across in my first post about the calls with Reddit.

When did they announce pricing?

Six weeks later, they called to discuss pricing. I quickly put together a small app where I could input the prices and it would output monthly/yearly cost, cost for free users, paid users, etc. so I'd be able to process the information immediately.
The price they gave was $0.24 for 1,000 API calls. I quickly inputted this in my app, and saw that it was not far off Twitter's outstandingly high API prices, at $12,000, and with my current usage would cost almost $2 million dollars per month, or over $20 million per year. That is not an exaggeration, that is just multiplying the 7 billion requests Apollo made last month by the price per request. Could I potentially get that number down? Absolutely given some time, but it's illustrative of the large cost that Apollo would be charged.

Why do you say Reddit's pricing is "too high"? By what metric?

Reddit's promise was that the pricing would be equitable and based in reality. The reality that they themselves have posted data about over the years is as follows (copy-pasted from my previous post):

Less than 2 years ago they said they crossed $100M in quarterly revenue for the first time ever, if we assume despite the economic downturn that they've managed to do that every single quarter now, and for your best quarter, you've doubled it to $200M. Let's also be generous and go far, far above industry estimates and say you made another $50M in Reddit Premium subscriptions. That's $550M in revenue per year, let's say an even $600M. In 2019, they said they hit 430 million monthly active users, and to also be generous, let's say they haven't added a single active user since then (if we do revenue-per-user calculations, the more users, the less revenue each user would contribute). So at generous estimates of $600M and 430M monthly active users, that's $1.40 per user per year, or $0.12 monthly. These own numbers they've given are also seemingly inline with industry estimates as well.

Apollo's price would be approximately $2.50 per month per user, with Reddit's indicated cost being approximately $0.12 per their own numbers.
A 20x increase does not seem "based in reality" to me.

Why doesn't Reddit just buy Apollo and other third-party apps?

This was a very common comment across the topics: "If Apollo has an apparent opportunity cost of $20 million per year, why not just buy them and other third-party apps, as they did with Alien Blue?"
I believe it's a fair question. If these apps apparently cost so much, an easy solution that would likely make everyone happy would be to simply buy these apps out. So I brought that up to them during a call on May 31st where I was suggesting a variety of potential solutions.

Bizarre allegations by Reddit of Apollo "blackmailing" and "threatening" Reddit

About 24 hours after that call with Reddit, I received this odd message on Mastodon:

"Can you please comment publicly about the internal Reddit claim that you tried to “blackmail” them for a $10,000,000 payout to “stay quiet”?"

Then yesterday, moderators told me they were on a call with CEO Steve Huffman (spez), and he said the following per their transcript:

Steve: "Apollo threatened us, said they’ll “make it easy” if Reddit gave them $10 million."
Steve: "This guy behind the scenes is coercing us. He's threatening us."

Wow. Because my memory is that you didn't take it as a threat, and you even apologized profusely when you admitted you misheard it. It's very easy to take a single line and make it look bad by removing all the rest of the context, so let's look at the full context.
I can only assume you didn't realize I was recording the call, because there's no way you'd be so blatantly lying if you did.
As said, a common suggestion across the many threads on this topic was "If third-party apps are costing Reddit so much money, why don't they just buy them out like they did Alien Blue?" That was the point I brought up. If running Apollo as it stands now would cost you $20 million yearly as you quote, I suggested you cut a check to me to end Apollo. I said I'd even do it for half that or six months worth: $10 million, what a deal!
The bizarre thing is - initially - on the call you interpreted that as a threat. Even giving you the benefit of the doubt that maybe my phrasing was confusing, I asked for you to elaborate on how you found what I said to be a threat, because I was incredibly confused how you interpreted it that way. You responded that I said "Hey, if you want this to go away…" Which is not at all what I said, so I reiterated that I said "If you want to Apollo to go quiet, as in it's quite loud in terms of API usage".
What did you then say?

Me: "I said 'If you want Apollo to go quiet'. Like in terms of- I would say it's quite loud in terms of its API usage."
Reddit: "Oh. Go quiet as in that. Okay, got it. Got it. Sorry."
Reddit: "That's a complete misinterpretation on my end. I apologize. I apologize immediately."

The admission that you mistook me, and the four subsequent apologies led me to believe that you acknowledged you mistook me and you were apologetic. The fact that you're pretending none of this happened (or was recorded), and instead espousing a different reality where instead of apologizing for taking it as a threat, you're instead going the complete opposite direction and saying "He threatened us!" is so low I almost don't believe it.
But again, I've recorded all my calls with you just in case you tried something like this.
Transcript of this part of the call: https://gist.github.com/christianselig/fda7e8bc5a25aec9824f915e6a5c7014
Audio of this part of the call: http://christianselig.com/apollo-end/reddit-third-call-may-31-end.m4a
(If you take issue with the call being recorded please remember that I'm in Canada and so long as one participant in the call (me) consents to being recorded, it's legal. If anyone would like the recording of the full call, I'm happy to provide.)
I bring this up for two reasons:

• I don't want Reddit slandering me to internal employees or public people by saying I threatened them when they reality is that they immediately apologized for misunderstanding me.
• It shows why I've finally come to the conclusion that I don't think this situation is recoverable. If Reddit is willing to stoop to such deep lows as to slander individuals with blatant lies to try to get community favor back, I no longer have any faith they want this to work, or ever did.

What is an API or an API request anyway?

Some people are confused about this situation and don't understand what an API is. An API (Application Programming Interface) is just a way for an app to talk to a website. As an analogy, pretend Reddit is a bouncer. Historically, you can ask Reddit "Could I have the comments for this post?" or "Can you list the posts in AskReddit?". Those would be one API request each, and Reddit would respond with the corresponding data.
Everything you do on Reddit is an API request. Upvoting, downvoting, commenting, loading posts, loading subreddits, checking for new messages, blocking users, filtering subreddits, etc.
The situation is changing so that for each API request you make, there's a portion of a penny charged to the developer of that app. I think that is very reasonable, provided, well, that the price they charge is reasonable.

Claims that Apollo is "inefficient"

Another common claim by Reddit is that Apollo is inherently inefficient, using on average 345 requests per day per user, while some other apps use 100. I'd like to use some numbers to illustrate why I think this is very unfairly framing it.
Up until a week ago, the stated Reddit API rate limits that apps were asked to operate within was 60 requests per minute per user. That works out to a total of 86,400 per day. Reddit stated that Apollo uses 345 requests per user per day on average, which is also in line with my findings. Thats 0.4% of the limit Reddit was previously imposing, which I would say is quite efficient.
As an analogy (can you tell I love analogies?), to scale the numbers, if I was to borrow my friend’s car and he said “Please don’t drive it more than 864 miles” and I returned the car with 3.4 miles driven, I think he’d be pretty happy with my low use. The fact that a different friend one week only used 1 mile is really cool, but I don't think either person is "inefficient".
That being said, if Reddit would like to see Apollo make further optimizations to get its existing number lower, I’m genuinely more than happy to do so! However the 30 day limit they’ve given me after announcing the pricing to when I will start getting charged significant amounts of money is not enough time to deal with rewriting large parts of my app to lower total requests, while also changing the payment model, transitioning users, and ensuring this is all properly tested and gets through app review.
Further, Reddit themselves said to me that the majority of the cost isn't the server, it's the opportunity cost per user, so the focus on 100 versus 345 calls, rather than the cost per user, doesn't sound genuine. At the very least providing even a bit more time to lower usage to their new targets would be feasible if they've historically provided it, and it's not the majority of the costs anyway.

Me: "Because I assume the majority of it isn't server costs. I assume the majority is the opportunity cost per user."
Reddit: "Exactly."

Why not just increase the price of Apollo?

One option many have suggested is to simply increase the price of Apollo to offset costs. The issue here is that Apollo has approximately 50,000 yearly subscribers at the moment. On average they paid $10/year many months ago, a price I chose based on operating costs I had at the time (server fees, icon design, having a part-time server engineer). Those users are owed service as they already prepaid for a year, but starting July 1st will (in the best case scenario) cost an additional $1/month each in Reddit fees. That's $50,000 in sudden monthly fee that will start incurring in 30 days.
So you see, even if I increase the price for new subscribers, I still have those many users to contend with. If I wait until their subscription expires, slowly month after month there will be less of them. First month $50,000, second month maybe $45,000, then $40,000, etc. until everything has expired, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. It would be cheaper to simply refund users.
I hope you can recognize how that's an enormous amount of money to suddenly start incurring with 30 days notice. Even if I added 12,000 new subscribers at $5/month (an enormous feat given the short notice), after Apple's fees that would just be enough to break even.
Going from a free API for 8 years to suddenly incurring massive costs is not something I can feasibly make work with only 30 days. That's a lot of users to migrate, plans to create, things to test, and to get through app review, and it's just not economically feasible. It's much cheaper for me to simply shut down.

So what is the REAL issue you're having?

Hopefully that illustrates why, even more than the large price associated with the API, the 30 day timeline between when the pricing was announced and developers will be charged is a far, far, far bigger issue and not one I can overcome. Much more time would be needed to overhaul the payment model in my app, transition existing users from existing plans, test the changes, and have users update to the new version.
As a comparison, when Apple bought Dark Sky and announced a shut down of their API, knowing that this API was at the core of many businesses, they provided 18 months before the API would be turned off. When the 18 months came, they ultimately extended it another 12 months, resulting in a total transition period of 30 months. While I'm not asking for that much, Reddit's in comparison is 30 days.

Reddit says you won't get your first bill until August 1st, though!

The issue is the size of the bill, not when it will arrive. Significant, significant charges for the API will start building up with 30 days notice on July 1st, the fact that the bill for those charges being 30 days from then is not important. If you hear that your electricity bill is going up 1,000x and the company tells you, "Don't worry, the bill only comes at the end of the month", I hope you understand how that isn't comforting.

What would be a good price/timeline?

I hope I explained above why the 30 day time limit is the true issue. However in a perfect world I think lowering the price by half and providing a three month transition period to the paid API would make the transition feasible for more developers, myself included. These concessions seem minor and reasonable in the face of the changes.

I thought you said Reddit would be flexible on the timeline?

That was my understanding as well based on what they said on a call on May 4th:

Reddit: "If there's an entity who's like 'Hey I'm showing really good progress', you know trying to like we're trying to get a contract in place, we're trying to do all that type of stuff, I don't think you're going to see us be like, you know, like overly aggressive on that timeline. And I feel pretty confident about that point by the way based on conversations I've heard internally."

However when asking about more time, such as a 90 day transition period to make the changes, they said:

Reddit: "On the 90-day transition, remember that billing doesn't kick in until July 1. So you won't see your first bill from July until the beginning of August, and it won’t be due until the end of August (It’s net 30 day billing). You do, however, have to sign an agreement to get paid level access on July 1."

Did you explicitly ask Reddit for more time?

Yes, my last email to them (including Steve) said:

In terms of timeline, what concerns me most is the short nature of it before I start incurring costs. I have a large amount of users at price points that I won’t be able to afford to support with 30 days notice. For instance, users who subscribed for a year for $10 six months ago when I had no idea any of this was coming, amounts to $0.83 per month or $0.58 after Apple’s cut. Even if I’m able to decrease my API usage down to the number in your charts, that still puts me in the red for everyone of those users for awhile with no recourse. A situation like this is one that is legitimately making me legitimately leaning toward shutting down the app, but one that I could salvage if given more time to transition from the free API to the paid API.
In prior calls you mentioned that provided I kept communicating and progress was being made, the timeline wasn’t an absolute.
Is that still the case, or is it now the case that the date is set in stone?

That was a week ago and I've yet to receive any further contact from Reddit.

Isn't this your fault for building a service reliant on someone else?

To a certain extent, yes. However, I was assured this year by Reddit not even that long ago that no changes were planned to be made to the API Apollo uses, and I've made decisions about how to monetize my business based on what Reddit has said.

January 26, 2023
Reddit: "So I would expect no change, certainly not in the short to medium term. And we're talking like order of years."

Another portion of the call:

January 26, 2023
Reddit: "There's not gonna be any change on it. There's no plans to, there's no plans to touch it right now in 2023.
Me: "Fair enough."
Reddit: "And if we do touch it, we're going to be improving it in some way."

Will you build a competitor? Move to one of the existing alternatives?

I've received so many messages of kind people offering to work with me to build a competitor to Reddit, and while I'm very flattered, that's not something I'm interested in doing. I'm a product guy, I like building fun apps for people to use, and I'm just not personally interested in something more managerial.
These last several months have also been incredibly exhausting and mentally draining, I don't have it in me to engage in something so enormous.

Will you sell Apollo?

Probably not. Maybe if the perfect buyer came along who thought they could turn Apollo into something cool and sustainable, but I'd rather the app just die if it would go to a company that would turn something I worked really hard on into something that would ruin its legacy.
To be clear: I am not threatening anyone in the previous paragraph.

Reddit states that the Twitter comparison is unfair

Reddit stated on the first call that they don't want to be like Twitter:

Reddit: "I think one thing that we have tried to be very, very, very intentional about is we are not Elon, we're not trying to be that, we're not trying to go down that same path. [...] We are trying to do is just use usage-based pricing, that will hopefully be very transparent to you, and very clear to you. Or we're not trying to go down the same path that you may have seen some of our other peers go down."

They now state that the comparison of how close their pricing comes to Twitter is an unfair one, and that when they said that above, they were apparently referring not to the pricing, but to the decision Twitter made to ban third-party apps at a rule level, not a pricing level.
I think regardless of whatever their intent/meaning behind the comparison to Twitter was, the result is the same: the pricing will kill third-party apps, just as Twitter did.
I said this to Reddit, and they responded that they don't think Twitter's pricing is unreasonable, and that if anything, if Twitter reversed the rule about third-party apps, they would probably increase the prices as well.
Just to be clear about how wrong and out of touch that is, without naming names, a formerly very, very high up person at Twitter messaged me on Twitter and said:

"The Reddit api moves are crazy. I’m not sure what choices you have but to move to another network. [...] That pricing is designed to prevent apps like yours forevermore."

So to be clear, even this person thinks this pricing is unreasonable. I do too.

Have you talked to CEO Steve Huffman about any of this?

I requested a call to talk to Steve about some suggestions I had, his response was "Sorry, no. You can give name-redacted a ping if you want."
I've then emailed that person (same person I've been talking to for months) suggestions approximately one week ago about how Apollo could survive this, and I've yet to receive a response.

Do I support the protest/Reddit blackout?

Abundantly. Unlike other social media companies like Facebook and Twitter who pay their moderators as employees, Reddit relies on volunteers to do the hard work for free. I completely understand that when tools they take to do their volunteer, important job are taken away, there is anger and frustration there. While I haven't personally mobilized anyone to participate in the blackout out of fear of retaliation from Reddit, the last thing I want is for that to feel like I don't support the folks speaking up. I wholeheartedly do.
It's been a horrible week, and the kindness Redditors and moderators and communities have shown Apollo and other third-party apps has genuinely made it much more bearable and I am genuinely so appreciative.
I am, admittedly, doubtful Reddit wants to listen to folks anymore so I don't see it having an effect.

Your initial post in April sounded quite optimistic. Are you dumb?

In hindsight, kinda yeah. Many of the other developers and folks I talked to were much less optimistic than I was, but I legitimately had great interactions with Reddit for many years prior to last week (they were kind, communicative, gave me heads up of changes), so when they said they were aiming to have pricing that would be fair and based in reality, I honestly believed them. That was foolish of me in hindsight, and maybe could have had a different outcome if I was more aggressive in the beginning. Sorry. /canadian
(And to be clear, they did indeed say this. They used the word "substantive" and I wanted to make sure we had the same definition of something "having a firm basis in reality and therefore important, meaningful, or considerable")

Reddit: "That's exactly right. And I think, thankfully, the word is exactly the right one. It's going to have a firm basis in reality. I also just looked it up. We're going to try to be as transparent as we can."

Reddit claims they've reached out to developers who were bad users of the API, was Apollo contacted?

On May 31st Reddit posted a chart of large excess usage by some unlabeled API clients, and stated: "We reached out to the most impactful large scale applications in order to work out terms for access above our default rate limits via an enterprise tier."
To be clear, Apollo was never contacted, and I've been told from someone internally that Apollo is indeed not one of the unlabeled API clients.
The only time that Apollo was reached out to by Reddit in any capacity about usage was late last year when we received an email about a 6 minute period where Apollo's server API usage increased by 35% before lowering again. Despite 35% for 6 minutes being a comparatively small blip (the above post references clients that are over by 500000%), we responded within 2 minutes. We offered to jump on a call with Reddit engineers if they needed an answer ASAP, identified the issue within several hours and Reddit thanked us for the fast investigation.
Full email transcript: https://gist.github.com/christianselig/6c71608cf617d2f881cd2849325494c1

Claims that Apollo has made no attempt to be a good user of the API

On the call with moderators, Steve Huffman said:

Steve: "I don't use the app, so I'll give you the best answer I can -- he does scraping so that he can deliver notifications faster, but has done NO EFFORT to be a good citizen of the internet."

First off, Apollo does no scraping, it's purely through authenticated calls to the API and has checks in place to ensure it stays within Reddit's API rate limits. I've open sourced the server code to show this.
Secondly, to say we have made no effort is categorically false. I have so many emails where I've reached out to Reddit expressing concerns about and bugs inefficiencies in the API, or ideas on how to improve things, or significant Reddit bugs that made things hard on us. When Reddit has had questions for us, as discussed above, we immediately jumped into action to get an answer as quickly as possible.
Here's an email of me giving a heads up to Reddit of IP address changes on our server:

Me: "With the new change it'll be maybe like, one IP address. This is all obviously still within the API rate limits as the requests are from individual user accounts that have signed in. Again, long story short the result will be more optimized if anything, I just wanted to give a heads up and ensure that it'd be okay if Reddit suddenly saw the server go from a bunch of different IP addresses to a single one which might cause some confusion if I didn't give a heads up."

Me wanting to make sure we were doing everything as best as we could:

Me: "Everything is going well, we just had a few questions about best practices making sure we’re following any suggestions your team has. Is there any way we could poke someone on your team with a few questions we’ve been having and have a tiny back and forth? We were just seeing some elevated response times, and just thought it would be great if we could maybe describe what we’re doing and see if anything seems off/suboptimal."

Me reporting to Reddit that the API has a serious bug in recording rate limits:

Me: "We obviously respect the rate limit headers and if a user comes close to approaching it (within 50 requests of the 600 every 10 minutes limit) we stop their requests until the refresh period occurs. However we're seeing some users have very, very weird rate limit headers. Things like "requests remaining: 0, requests made: 17,483, reset: 598 seconds left" which indicates they've somehow made over 17 thousand requests in two seconds which seems hard to believe."

Me suggesting to Reddit improvements that could help improve efficiency of notification API calls:

Me: "So like little stuff like that, where even if there's a streaming client or some way to minimize the calls there, I think it would help us both out enormously."

Further, when making suggestions to your own employees, they themselves have expressed concern about how terrible the public API is:

Call on January 26, 2023
Reddit: "I cannot tell you how painful it is to use our API. [...] The API needs to change. Like it's just unusable. I am surprised that you're able to build a functional app on it to be honest."

Claims that third-party apps are not interested in talking

Steve: "Why not work with the third party apps? Their existence is not a priority for us. We don't use them. I don't use them. It's a part of our traffic but not a lot, and it's a lot of work on our side to keep them alive. If I have to choose where to put our effort, we're going to focus internally. I'm kind of open to it, but I haven't – and I can't convince you, but I don't get the sense that they want to work with us either."

I'm genuinely not sure where Steve has got the impression that I don't want to work with him. Despite reaching out multiple times and him declining to talk, I've stated multiple times on calls, literally saying the words "I definitely still want to talk".

Reddit: "What I'm hearing is like, Yeah, great. We have this disagreement on pricing methodology, etc. But any feasible number that we get to, any number that's even in, the zip code of what we're sharing with you is unfeasible from your perspective financially. So it's like arguing around the edges of that price thing is like, it just won't make any sense to you. And I presume also just given the NSFW stuff and the removal of ads that makes it even more trickier." Me: Yeah. I mean, to be very clear, I'm not saying I'm walking away from the negotiation table and taking my basketball and going home and just gonna kick up a storm. That's not my intention at all. I definitely still want to talk. I'm not asking you to lower the price by a hundred times or something. I don't think – depending on what you mean by zip code – I don't think I'm so unreasonable that I'm requiring you to bend over backwards here."

I've also emailed Steve and the other contact directly stating that I'm interested in talking, and including ideas for how we could come to a solution:

Me: "I understand where Reddit's coming from in this. A free API, while appreciated, is not tenable for you especially heading into an IPO, and my only goal here is to come to a solution where we both feel understood. I also hear you that killing third-party clients isn't actually the goal, and in that spirit have been working on how to address your concerns from my end: [...]"

I don't know how you can say I'm not interested in talking when you haven't my most recent email in a week. To say it once more, I was very interested in talking.
On the other side of things, per the transcript, Steve and the other admin on the call don't even know when the discussions with third-party apps began.

Steve: "When did we start talking with them?"
AnAbsurdlyAngryGoose: "What month did you first start?"
Steve: "FlyingLaserTurtles? Do you remember? April or May of this year."
FlyingLaserTurtles: "Maybe late March? But yes."

Claims that Reddit has been talking to developers for months talking about these changes

Steve: "We've been in contact with third party apps for MONTHS, talking about these coming changes."

When you announce that the API will be charging developers, the most important portion of that conversation is what will be charged, which was not available for almost two months after the initial call. From the time developers were told the price, to the time developers will be subject to the price, is 30 days, not "months". Months would have been very helpful, in fact.

What about existing subscriptions?

I've been talking to my rep at Apple, and over the next few weeks my plan is to release something similar to what Tweetbot did (Paul has been incredibly helpful in all of this) where folks can decide if they want a pro-rated refund on any existing time left in their subscription as Apollo will not be able to afford to continue it, or they can decline the refund if they're feeling kind and have enjoyed their time with Apollo.
For the curious, refunding all existing subscriptions by my estimates will cost me about $250,000.

A nice send off at WWDC

Apollo got mentioned a few times during Apple's 2023 WWDC keynote, even by Craig Federighi himself, and even during the Vision Pro announcement showing Apollo as one of the existing apps compatible with the headset (I'm sorry I won't be able to see that happen).
I was lucky enough to be there in person and it felt incredible. Some folks asked if there was any deeper meaning behind that, and while that would be cool, in all reality these things are so well produced that they've been done for a while now, so I'm sure it's just a coincidence, even if it's a really cool one.

Extra icons

A funny amount of people have reached out wondering about all the extra monthly icons I had queued up for Apollo. I love them, was so excited for them, and I'll make them available immediately for the short time left, but if you're curious here's a screenshot of all of them: https://christianselig.com/apollo-end/remaining-icons.png
We ended up with well over 100 custom icons created by incredibly talented designers, and I'm really sorry to those designers who didn't get to see their work launched in the app (to be clear, don't worry, I paid them all – there isn't some bs "exposure" agreement – but it's fun to have your icon launch and I feel bad!)

When is Apollo's last day? What will happen?

In order to avoid incurring charges I will delete Apollo's API token on the evening of June 30th PST. Until that point, Apollo should continue to operate as it has, but after that date attempts to connect to the Reddit API will fail.
I will put up an explainer in the app prior to that which will go live at that date. I will also provide a tool to export any local data you have in Apollo, such as filters or favorites.

Thank you

I want to thank a lot of people who have made this last week bearable. First and foremost, the communities, Redditors, and moderators who have reached out in support of third-party apps, making Reddit's gaslighting a lot more bearable in making me feel like at least someone was understanding me and in my corner.
My girlfriend's been absolutely incredible and supportive. This year was our 10th anniversary, and Monday was her 30th birthday. We're down in California for Apple's WWDC and had a bunch of things planned to do for her birthday afterward, and I feel terrible that we're flying home early to deal with all of this instead of making her 30th special. I'll make it up to her.
André Medeiros worked on the Apollo server component with me for the last two years, and it's been an absolute joy to work with a professional who knows so much on that side of things.
The iOS developer community has been unbelievably kind to me over the past several weeks, I've spent the last week with many of them, even staying at an Airbnb with a bunch of them (they ordered me pizza as I wrote this post!), and I've got so many hugs and condolences haha. Specifically want to thank Paul Haddad of Tweetbot/Tapbots/Ivory, Ryan Jones, Brian Mueller, Curtis Herbert, André Medeiros, Quinn Nelson, Paul Hudson, Majd Taby, Ryan McLeod, Phill Ryu, Larry Hryb, Charlie Chapman, Mustafa Yusuf, Adrian Eves, Devin Davies, Jordan Morgan, Yariv Nassim, Will Sigmon, Barry Hershman, Joe Rossignol, Michael Simmons, Joe Fabisevich, my family, and so, so many more.
Also want to thank everyone at Apple who have gone out of their way to be incredibly kind here (I don't know if I'm allowed to name names but you know who you are).

I'll be fine

No bullshit, I'll be fine. Through pure chance last year I spun off my silly Pixel Pals idea into a separate app, and that actually makes good revenue on the side. I also have savings. Recently (like last week) my city had its worst wildfires in history with over 100 homes destroyed. That's brutal, losing an app is sad, but it's been helpful to me to recognize how much worse it could be just literally down the street from me.
Honestly. Apollo had an incredible run, I met the coolest people, by my last count talked with folks over 15,000 times in our subreddit about Apollo, and raised over $80,000 for my local animal shelter through Apollo. I feel incredibly fortunate.
I think I'll rewatch Ted Lasso though.

Supporting my work

I build a second app called Pixel Pals that I spun off from Apollo that's thankfully done pretty well and I'll be spending more time on going forward. If you like the idea of digital pets it's a really fun app to check out. https://pixelpa.ls

Media

If any media/press folks have any questions, please shoot me an email rather than messaging me on Reddit, I missed a few last week because my inbox was blowing up. My email is [email protected]

AMA

I think I covered everything, but if there's any questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer!
In the event that this post is taken down or you want to link somewhere else, it's also available at https://apolloapp.io
Thanks for everything over these last 8 years,
- Christian
EDIT: Few updates:

Tip Jar

Per many requests I also added back the Tip Jar to the top of settings if you update the app. It's incredibly kind of anyone to even think of that, but please feel no pressure. On one hand I don't want it to feel like I'm profiteering off this event, but on the other hand I imagine people understand it would have been much more profitable/ideal if the app were able to just continue to exist in the first place so that would be really bad profiteering, and the refund thing genuinely is daunting.

What if…

I've seen a lot of questions along the lines of: "What if Reddit gives you a deadline extension because of this post and posts by other developers?" and that's something I truly would have loved for them to have made an effort to communicate earlier. You can't give developers 30 days between when the pricing is announced and when they will start incurring charges, and also wait a week (25% of the time we're given) between replying to emails without so much as a "we hear you're concerned about the short timeline and looking into what we can do". In conjunction with your previous emails, it just appears like you've stopped any desire to communicate with developers, in a period where we have a serious, expensive deadline looming with not that much time to wind down our apps.
And I also just know if I sent another email saying "I'm going to post tomorrow that Apollo is shutting down unless you do something about the timeline", it would be construed as a threat.
Even more than that, Reddit's behavior has been so appalling that for any developer I've talked to it's completely erased the indication that they even want us around.

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https://preview.redd.it/0nhzohtskt4b1.jpg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2bfd03a1d8046dacbb08396d992ccbfddce4295b

Hearts and minds, under attack? — The risks of e-cigarettes and advertisements.

By BlueEarlGrey 8th June, 2023
Over the past decade, a new smoking trend has undoubtedly taken the world by storm: electronic cigarettes, or ‘e-cigarettes’. These battery-powered devices have gained significant popularity, especially amongst young people, offering an alternative to traditional tobacco smoking. Unsurprisingly, e-cigarettes have sparked both enthusiasm and controversy, raising questions about their safety, efficacy, and their impact on public health. E-cigarettes in their process being battery-powered devices, heat up a liquid solution containing nicotine, flavorings, and other chemicals, producing an aerosol (commonly referred to as vapor) for inhalation. Unlike conventional cigarettes, e-cigarettes do not burn tobacco, which eliminates the combustion and smoke associated with traditional smoking. This has led to e-cigarettes in their origins to be promoted as a safer and healthier alternative for traditional tobacco cigarettes. Whilst this is true with many health services offering e-cigarettes as a means to wean off tobacco smoking, in recent years have we seen these once noble aims be brought into question of safety and impact to public health as the development of consumer behaviour and commercialisation of the products revealed uneasy truths.
The commercialisation of e-cigarettes can very much explain itself in the corporate environment they reside in. Did you know that vaping companies such as ‘Blu’ and ‘10 Motives’ are actually owned by Big Tobacco? Funnily enough this correlation does not end there and quite a few vaping brands are owned by the tobacco companies they’re trying to steer customers away from. The e-cigarette industry is undoubtedly owned very much by dominant tobacco companies. From 2012, the e-cigarette industry’s rapid rise subsequently saw landsweeping purchases of once perhaps noble origins, into the hands of big tobacco companies. Whether it is through subsidiaries or direct ownership and operations, the hand of the tobacco industry remains an inseparable fact in how Governments ought to address the market too.
Government Action on Advertisement
Which is why the spurring of the debate of e-cigarettes in Parliament is the Government’s proposed bill to ban the advertisement of the product with the ‘Advertisement of Vape Products (Regulation) Bill’ currently making its way through the House of Commons. The current second reading of the session has seen statements in favour of the proposal from members of the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and the Pirate Party, whilst Solidarity members have opposed the move by the Government, unsurprisingly.
One of the primary concerns associated with e-cigarette advertising is its impact on young people. Aggressive marketing campaigns, often featuring attractive models and enticing flavours such as ‘peach ice’, have drawn the attention of adolescents, young adults and even the elderly old Cornishmen. The result has been a disturbing increase in e-cigarette use among this demographic, with potential long-term consequences for their health and well-being. The nature that the Government has went about this is very paternalistic, echoing Disraelian one-nation Conservatism, for what it believes is in the public interest, and it would be right to do. It is undeniable that young people are often vulnerable and susceptible to influence from advertisement that embeds itself through the use of celebrities, public figures, influencers and social trends. The rationale behind the policy can be explained in which by banning the advertisement of e-cigarettes, the exposure of young people to these products can be limited and can curb their curiosity and experimentation. Restricting advertising would help counter the glamorisation of vaping (as a result of usage and promotion by the aforementioned celebrities, public figures, influencers and trends) and prevent e-cigarettes from becoming a gateway to nicotine addiction and traditional cigarette smoking.
Advertising targeting young people?

As of 2016, about 80% of U.S. middle- and high-school students reported to have came across advertisements for e-cigarettes, says a March 16, 2018, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report, “Exposure to Electronic Cigarette Advertising Among Middle and High School Students—United States, 2014–2016.”
About 70% of these students saw e-cigarette advertising in retail stores, with roughly 40% that saw the ads on the internet or on TV, and about 25% saw e-cigarette ads in newspapers or magazines.

It is clear that the focus of e-cigarettes and their advertising is linked to the popularisation and commercialisation of the products towards younger audiences, whether directly or even indirectly. The banning e-cigarette advertising as policy is argued to discourage non-smokers, including younger people, from starting e-cigarette use and protect them from potential risks. Informed decision-making regarding personal health choices requires access to unbiased information, and limiting advertising can prevent misleading commercialised claims that may downplay the risks associated with e-cigarettes.
Exiting regulations actions against e-cigarettes very much reflects that the opponents will tend to be those in the pockets of the tobacco industry. Which certainly places into question the intentions and goals of opposing members of Parliament to the Government’s plans. Case in point being the European Union has remained a strong bulwark against the advertisement of e-cigarettes with its update to the Tobacco Products Directive, which brought e-cigarettes under the strict regulatory umbrella in 2016. Whilst it was challenged, however, by several important players in the tobacco industry -- the revised directive bans menthol flavorings (that typically aim to appeal to young people’s and imposes other restrictions some were not happy with, as well as the parent company of major UK e-cig retailer ‘Totally Wicked’. In any case, as far as the EU is concerned, if you want to sell a product containing an addictive substance, then prepare to be regulated, which is very much the tone the United Kingdom should take.
The Case for Regulation
In such a short time period, the e-cigarette market has experienced rapid growth, with numerous brands and products available. However, regulations and quality control measures have struggled to keep pace with this expansion. This lack of regulatory oversight can lead to inconsistencies in product safety and quality, increasing the risk of harmful substances or faulty devices reaching consumers. With how varied sources of production and their range of availability are, the lack of oversight and regulation has allowed the ease of access to these products at cheap prices and poor quality, inducing greater risk to public safety and consumer health.
Government action against e-cigarettes are very much reinforced with the economic concept of e-cigarettes being a ‘demerit good’. Demerit goods being where their consumption is regarded as unhealthy, degrading or otherwise socially undesirable as a result of the perceived negative effects on the consumers themselves, where there would be overconsumption of left to natural market forces.
Whilst e-cigarettes are often marketed as a less harmful alternative to traditional smoking, there is undeniably growing concern about their long-term health effects. While they may pose fewer risks compared to combustible tobacco products, e-cigarettes still contain nicotine, an addictive substance. Nicotine addiction can lead to various health issues, including increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, and potential harm to the developing brains of young individuals. The inclusion of nicotine within the product is what places it entirely comparable to tobacco in how the Government ought to regulate the industry. As the elasticity of demand is very much negative (price inelastic) especially due to the nicotine additive, for the Government to not regulate this market would be allowing the greater exploitation of impressionable individuals and increased consumption of a demerit good.
Risks of e-cigarettes
The consumption of e-cigarettes, being a demerit good, have been argued to create further external costs that are not borne directly by the individual user. These costs may include increased burdens on healthcare systems due to nicotine addiction-related health issues or the potential for future generations to bear the consequences of increased tobacco use resulting from e-cigarette initiation. In assessing the necessity of regulation, the policy from the Government very much has taken into account the social costs and public health risks already present.
Comparatively, as recognised, they are advertised as the ‘healthier’ alternative to tobacco, but many are quick to cite the relative infancy of e-cigarettes for supposedly invalid and misleading studies and assumptions. That is very much not the case, proponents of vape culture do tend to obscure if not dismiss the science and facts on the matter, but ought to be informed of the very present dangers it already has and is having on societies.
The Inhalation of Harmful Chemicals Can Cause Irreversible Lung Damage and Lung Disease

(Findings by the American Lung Association)
In January 2018, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine1 released a consensus study report that reviewed over 800 different studies.
That report made clear: using e-cigarettes causes health risks. It concluded that e-cigarettes both contain and emit a number of potentially toxic substances. The Academies' report also states there is moderate evidence that youth who use e-cigarettes are at increased risk for cough and wheezing and an increase in asthma exacerbations.
Studies from the University of North Carolina found that the two primary ingredients contained within e-cigarettes — propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin — are toxic to cells and that the more ingredients in an e-liquid, the greater the toxicity.
E-cigarettes in their current form produce a number of dangerous chemicals including acetaldehyde, acrolein, and formaldehyde. These aldehydes can cause lung disease, as well as cardiovascular (heart) disease. They were further found to also contain acrolein, a herbicide primarily used to kill weeds. Which can cause acute lung injury and Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and may cause asthma and lung cancer.
Both the U.S. Surgeon General and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine have warned about the risks of inhaling secondhand e-cigarette emissions, which are created when an e-cigarette user exhales the chemical cocktail created by e-cigarettes.
2016, the Surgeon General concluded that secondhand emissions contain, "nicotine; ultrafine particles; flavorings such as diacetyl, a chemical linked to serious lung disease; volatile organic compounds such as benzene, which is found in car exhaust; and heavy metals, such as nickel, tin, and lead."
Even the US Food and Drug Administration has not found any e-cigarette to be “safe” and effective in helping smokers quit.

Cases of lung injury associated with e-cigarette consumption

(Data obtained by February 2020)
A total of 2,807 lung related cases of hospitalisation across all 50 states resulting from the use of e-cigarettes/vaping products.
A total of 68 deaths confirmed in 29 US States.
Laboratory data showed that vitamin E acetate, an additive within e-cigarettes/vape products, were strongly linked to the cases of lung injury with many tests finding the chemical present in fluids extracted.
The CDC itself recommends that youths, young adults, and pregnant women should not use E-cigarettes or vapes containing nicotine and acetate.

The risks of e-cigarettes are very present, numerous studies will affirm the Government’s position, and very much growing public awareness, on why regulatory action needs to be taken.
So why not just ban e-cigarettes entirely?
The main reason as to why the Government has seemingly taken to restrict but not outlaw the e-cigarette industry, is because there is a useful lesson to follow in that of tobacco. The laws of supply and demand, in which a banning of the industry altogether would only see the creation of a black market. The demand for the product, especially being inelastic, would persist this, added with the containing of the addictive, nicotine, consumer demand.
Banning the advertisement of e-cigarettes would align with existing laws aimed at curbing tobacco advertising. The Policy places e-cigarettes on parity to that of tobacco in regards to regulated ban on advertising in the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act, 2002, and the Health Act, 2009. The very laws against the tobacco industry were put in place to protect public health, particularly the health of young people, by reducing the promotion of addictive and harmful substances. That is why Bright Blue very much recommends that e-cigarettes should be subject to similar scrutiny, considering the potential risks they pose, especially for non-smokers.
Concluding Recommendations
Moving forward, it is further recommended the Government ought to to equally adapt the arguments made on the opposing side about the benefits in e-cigarettes being used as potential harm reduction tools for current smokers. The proposed policy banning commercial advertisement is most apt with this, as by strengthening the current laws to fully support the use of e-cigarettes It is also advocated that the policy of an advertisement ban would encourage responsible use and regulation of the products. Rather than relying on persuasive marketing tactics, individuals ought to be informed about the potential risks and benefits of e-cigarettes through reliable sources such as public health campaigns and educational initiatives, and not commercialised advertising. This approach is argued to foster responsible decision-making and empowers consumers to make informed choices regarding their health.
Similar to the European Union’s actions against e-cigarettes and many other nations, Bright Blue very much endorses the idea of Government imposing a ban on certain flavours being produced in e-cigarettes. If their origins and potential for social benefit truly is in to weed off tobacco smokers, then the necessity of an ever expanding list of sickenly sweet and commercialising flavorings are simply superficial. Last term, Parliament saw the introduction an attempt for Plain Packaging Laws within the UK on e-cigarettes. Whilst this bill was withdrawn, it is very much a policy in support of, and believed to mitigate the harmful effects and risk of the products.
Already the move to ban advertisements for e-cigarettes has been expressed not just by countries and medical professionals, but even corporations themselves. The corporations that own CNN, CBS, TNT, TBS and other major broadcasting brands have announced that they will not air advertisements amid growing public concerns and the studies shown on the risks of e-cigarettes and how advertisements can promote them. The decision by the Government to make a move that is recommended by professionals, acted on by corporations and even shown to have high public support is a decision that has been made in the interest of public health and market parity.

Jokic had 53 on May 7, 2023 against Phoenix.
LeBron had 51 on May 31, 2018 against Golden State.
Chris Paul had 17 assists on April 22, 2006 against Dallas.
Jokic had 17 assists on May 5, 2023 against Phoenix (CP3 did not play that game)
Embiid had 21 rebounds on June 14, 2021 against Atlanta.
Jokic had 21 rebounds on May 16, 2023 against Las Angeles Lakers AND had 21 rebounds against Miami on June 7, 2023.
Sources below but pretty incredible that he’s matching the career highs of generational talents in the 3 major stats categories all within on playoff run.
Jokic stats: https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jokicni01/gamelog-playoffs/
LeBron stats: https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jamesle01/gamelog-playoffs/
Chris Paul stats: https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/paulch01/gamelog-playoffs/
Embiid stats: https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/embiijo01/gamelog-playoffs/

Sgsflair 1: here --- 90+ Confirmed Trades
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Sgsflair 2: here --- 15+ Confirmed Trades (no longer updating)
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PayPal region is US.
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Please use reddit private messages instead of chat once we come to an agreement Leave a comment first before PMing or I won't respond
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June 2023 Choice:

• Ghostwire Tokyo
• Curse of the Dead Gods
• Honey, I Joined a Cult
• Meeple Station

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May 2023 Choice:

• Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters
• Bendy and the Dark Revival
• Builder Simulator
• The Invisible Hand

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April 2023 Choice:

• Revita

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March 2023 Choice:

• Jurassic World Evolution 2
• Hero's Hour

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February 2023 Choice:

• Fallout 1
• Othercide
• Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel
• Five Dates

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Survival Instinct:

• SCUM
• Starsand
• State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition
• SurrounDead

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Fighting Farmers:

• Forager
• Kitaria Fables
• Re: Legend
• Serin Fate
• Spirit of the Island
• Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands

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In Case You Missed It: Gems of 2022

• Haiku, the Robot
• PowerSlave Exhumed
• Source of Madness
• Submerged: Hidden Depths

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January 2023 Choice:

• Encased: A Sci-fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG
• Hokko Life
• OlliOlli World - RAD Edition

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Black Friday VR Voyager's Pack:

• A Fisherman's Tale
• Acron: Attack of the Squirrels
• Car Mechanic Simulator VR
• Cook-Out
• The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets
• I Expect You To Die
• Sairento VR
• Shooty Fruity
• SUPERHOT VR
• Until You Fall
• The Wizards - Dark Times

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November 2022 Choice:

• Shadow Tactics: Aiko's Choice
• Unmetal
• Morbid: The Seven Acolytes

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October 2022 Choice:

• Disciples: Liberation
• Epic Chef
• Railroad Corporation

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Starlight Children's Foundation Games:

• Day of the Tentacle Remastered
• Full Throttle Remastered
• Grim Fandango Remastered
• Pinball FX3 DLCs
• Star Wars - Knights of the Old Republic
• Star Wars - Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
• Star Wars - The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition
• Star Wars Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy
• Star Wars Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast

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Valiant VR Bundle:

• Budget Cuts 2
• HARD BULLET

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2K Megahits Bundle

• BioShock: The Collection
• Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe
• The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour
• Mafia: Definitive Edition
• PGA 2K21
• Sid Meier's Civilization VI
• WWE 2K Battlegrounds + Ultimate Brawler Pass
• X-COM: Ultimate Collection

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LEGO At the Movies Games:

• LEGO Marvel's Avengers
• The LEGO Movie - Videogame
• The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame
• LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game

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September Choice Games:

• Just Cause 4: Complete Edition
• Crown Trick

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August Choice Games:

• Emily is Away <3
• Gas Station Simulator
• Omno

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July Choice Games:

• Legend of Keppers
• Lawn Mowing Simulator
• Yes, Your Grace
• Atom RPG Trudograd

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High Tier:

• 7 Billion Humans
• A Game of Thrones: The Board Game
• Amnesia: Rebirth
• Arizona Sunshine
• BATTLETECH
• Beyond Blue
• Cook-Out VR
• Crawl
• Dead by Daylight
• DMC: Devil May Cry
• ELEX
• Gears 5
• Generation Zero
• Gods Will Fall - Valiant Edition
• Golf It! x2
• House Flipper
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
• Kerbal Space Program
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance
• Kingdom Two Crowns x2
• The Long Dark
• Marvels Avengers: Standard Edition (might keep)
• Metro Exodus
• Monster Hunter: World
• NASCAR Heat 5 + Playoff Pack
• NASCAR Heat 5 + Ultimate Pass
• No Time to Relax
• Pistol Whip VR
• PGA Tour 2K21
• Phoenix Point: Year One Edition
• Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
• Project Winter
• RPG Maker VX Ace x2 + lots of DLCs (just ask)
• Saints Row: The Third - Full Package
• Scythe Digital Edition
• Starbound
• Swords & Souls: Neverseen
• SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising
• Team Sonic Racing
• theHunter: Call of the Wild x3
• Trailmakers Deluxe Edition
• Trover Saves the Universe VR
• Universe Sandbox
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
• Warhammer Chaosbane: Slayer Edition
• We Were Here Too

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Medium Tier:

• 112 Operator
• Beyond the Wire
• Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
• Carcassonne - Tiles & Tactics
• Desolate
• El Hijo - A Wild West Tale
• Endless Space 2
• Endzone - A World Apart
• Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition
• GRID 2019
• Heliborne - Collection
• House Flipper VR
• Huniepop
• Imperator Rome
• Killing Floor Incursion
• LEGO Batman 2 DC Super Heroes
• LEGO Batman 3 Beyond Gotham Premium Edition
• The Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game x2
• Memories of Mars
• Never Alone
• Overlord: Ultimate Evil Collection
• Primal Carnage: Extinction
• Quest Hunter
• Rebel Galaxy Outlaw
• Ryse: Son of Rome
• Skullgirls 2nd Encore
• Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed Collection
• Sonic Lost World
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Splendor x2 + The Cities and Strongholds DLCs
• Star Wars Squadrons (Origin key)
• Street Fighter V
• SUPERHOT
• Townscaper
• Trine 2: Complete Story
• Ultra Street Fighter IV
• Victoria II
• Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide Collector's Edition
• Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War
• We Happy Few

​
Low Tier:

• Act of Aggression - Reboot Edition
• The Battle of Polytopia
• Book of Demons
• Brawlout
• Bridge Builder Racer
• Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
• Close to the Sun x2
• Detention
• Dirt Rally
• Dungeons 3
• Enslaved Odyssey to the West Premium Edition
• Espire VR
• F1 Race Stars Complete Edition
• Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark x2
• Fling to the Finish
• Full Throttle Remastered
• Guns, Gore, and Cannoli
• Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
• Iconoclasts x2
• Legends of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Manager
• The Letter Horror Visual Novel
• Lucius
• Magicka
• Mordheim: City of the Damned x2
• Out of Space
• PAYDAY 2
• PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate + Shooter Bundle
• Quiplash
• Rise of Industry + 2130 DLC
• Rise of Insanity
• Sheltered
• Shift Happens
• Small World + Cursed DLC
• Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode 1
• Sparkle 2
• Supreme Ruler The Great War
• Tannenberg x2
• Tools Up!
• Tooth and Tail
• Total Tank Simulator
• Traffic Jams VR
• Tropico 4 Collector's Bundle
• V-Rally 4
• Vanishing Realms VR
• Vikings - Wolves of Midgard
• Voidigo
• Worms Rumble
• WRC 7 FIA World Rally Championship
• Yoku's Island Express
• Yooka-Laylee

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Very Low Tier:

• AER Memories of Old
• Ageless
• Alien Breed Trilogy
• All You Can Eat x2
• Archangel Hellfire - Fully Loaded
• Ballpoint Universe - Infinite
• Between the Stars
• Broken Age
• Combat Wings: Battle of Britain
• Crookz the Big Heist
• Crowntakers
• Crusader Kings Complete
• Deadly Days
• Deployment
• Detached
• Dino D-Day
• Drawful 2
• Earth 2150 Trilogy
• Enclave
• Endless Space - Collection x2
• Enforcer: Police Crime Action
• GoNNER
• GRIP: Combat Racing Artifex DLC x2
• Hiveswap Friendsim
• Homeworld Remastered Collection
• I Am Not a Monster: First Contact
• Imperial Glory
• In Between x2
• Iron Fisticle
• Jagged Alliance 2 - Wildfire + Classic DLC
• KnightShift
• Knights of Pen and Paper 2 x2
• Leisure Suit Larry - Manga Cum Laude Uncut and Uncensored
• Leisure Suit Larry 1 - In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
• Leisure Suit Larry 2 - Looking for Love (In Several Wrong Places)
• Leisure Suit Larry 3 - Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals
• Leisure Suit Larry 5 - Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
• Leisure Suit Larry 6 - Shape Up Or Slip Out
• Leisure Suit Larry 7 - Love for Sail
• Love Letter x2
• Magicka
• Men of War
• Milky Way Prince - Vampire Star
• MirrorMoon EP
• Mugsters
• Murderous Pursuits
• Newt One x2
• Nimbatus - The Space Drone Constructor
• Off-Road Drive
• Oh My Godheads
• One Finger Death Punch 2
• Overload
• Overlord II
• Overruled
• Pac-Man 256
• Pesterquest x2
• Porcunipine
• Realpolitiks
• Rebel Cops
• Rebel Galaxy
• Regular Human Basketball
• Save Jesus
• Septerra Core
• Sir, You Are Being Hunted
• Starcrossed x2
• Star Wolves 3: Civil War
• Steamburg
• Sudden Strike Gold
• Super 3-D Noah's Ark
• Swords of Gurrah
• Table Manners: Physics-Based Dating Game
• Tacoma x3
• Talisman: Origins
• Teleglitch: Die More Edition
• Tempest Pirate Action RPG
• Tropico 3 Gold Edition
• The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day
• Warlock - Master of the Arcane
• World War II: Panzer Claws
• World's Dawn
• Xenus 2 White Gold
• Ylands Exploration Pack DLC
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK HEADRUSH
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK MOVIES
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK SPORTS
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK TELEVISION
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 1 XL
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 2
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 3
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 4: The Ride

​
Want:

• PayPal (US) -- Priority
• TF2 Keys
• Sacks of Gems
• Steam Inventory Gifts
• Wishlist games
• Game offers I plan on claiming