Weis markets corporate office
Lead Generation in new Markets (Middle East, Nordics, Benelux, APAC)
2023.06.02 16:45 Wrong-Big4819 Lead Generation in new Markets (Middle East, Nordics, Benelux, APAC)
Hey guys, We've been luckily enough to expand into these markets, mainly driven by clients having remote offices, and done with no local lead gen at all.
I've decided to now do some lead gen (80% cold calling) in the below markets using the same model we use in our main market (UK), but wondering if there's any cultural differences I need to consider.
E.g we started in India last year, and hierarchy/case studies is king, Singapore, very friendly and open to cold calls but couldn't get meetings with the UK scripts
Our reps will be located in Dubai, Netherlands, Sweden and Singapore, and targeting both local and well as nearby markets
Wondering if anyone has any experience in these markets? And anything to consider
submitted by Wrong-Big4819 to msp [link] [comments]
I've decided to now do some lead gen (80% cold calling) in the below markets using the same model we use in our main market (UK), but wondering if there's any cultural differences I need to consider.
E.g we started in India last year, and hierarchy/case studies is king, Singapore, very friendly and open to cold calls but couldn't get meetings with the UK scripts
Our reps will be located in Dubai, Netherlands, Sweden and Singapore, and targeting both local and well as nearby markets
Wondering if anyone has any experience in these markets? And anything to consider
2023.06.02 16:37 CISO_Series_Producer Top cybersecurity stories for the week of 05-29-23 to 06-02-23
Below are the top headlines we’ve been reporting this whole week on Cyber Security Headlines.
If you’d like to hear and participate in a discussion about them, the CISO Series does a live 20-minute show every Friday at 12:30pm PT/3:30pm ET. Each week we welcome a different cyber practitioner to offer some color to the week's stories. Our guest this week is Howard Holton, CTO, GigaOm.
To get involved you can watch live and participate in the discussion on YouTube Live https://youtube.com/live/S1ZU-5piP8s or you can subscribe to the Cyber Security Headlines podcast and get it into your feed.
Here are some of the stories we plan to cover:
Amazon Ring, Alexa accused of privacy violations by FTC America's Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday charged, via the US Dept of Justice, two Amazon outfits with various privacy snafus. The Ring home security cam subsidiary was accused of “compromising its customers’ privacy by allowing any employee or contractor to access consumers’ private videos and by failing to implement basic privacy and security protections.” The FTC also took on Amazon over its Alexa devices’ data-retention policies, stating, “Amazon retained children’s recordings indefinitely—unless a parent requested that this information be deleted,” adding “even when a parent sought to delete that information, Amazon failed to delete transcripts of what kids said from all its databases.” (The Register)
Gigabyte firmware update system insecure Researchers at the security firm Eclypsium published finding that 271 motherboards from the computer OEM Gigabyte include a UEFI firmware update utility that runs on bootup. This system can go online and download updates without any user notification or authorization. However the researchers say this update system doesn’t properly authenticate code, often sending over an unencrypted HTTP connection, letting it be easily spoofed by a malicious actor. It also looks for updates available from network attached storage, which could easily be intercepted by an attacker on the same network. Eclypsium said it notified Gigabyte and the company plans to fix the issues. (Wired)
Leading experts warn of a risk of extinction from AI On Tuesday, AI experts issued a dire warning saying, “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.” Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and Geoffrey Hinton, also known as the godfather of AI who recently left Google, were among the hundreds who signed the statement posted on the Center for AI Safety’s website. The call for AI guardrails has intensified as companies have rushed to adopt new tech. This point was underscored Tuesday when chipmaker Nvidia briefly became worth over $1 trillion dollars after share prices surged due to its AI advances. (NPR and BBC)
Attackers use encrypted RPMSG messages in Microsoft 365 targeted phishing attacks Researchers at Trustwave have observed threat actors using encrypted RPMSG attachments sent via compromised Microsoft 365 accounts in a phishing campaign aimed at stealing Microsoft credentials. RPMSG files are used to deliver emails with Rights-Managed Email Object Protocol enabled. This protocol controls e-mail access and usage permissions. Instead of a plain text, e-mails via RPMSG files are sent with content encrypted and stored as encrypted file attachment. The recipients can read the encrypted messages only after being authenticated with their Microsoft account or obtaining a one-time passcode. The message attempts to trick recipients into clicking the “Read the message” button to decrypt the protected message. Upon clicking the link, the recipients are redirected to an Office 365 webpage with a request to sign into their Microsoft account. Once authenticated with the Microsoft service, the recipients are redirected to a page displaying the attackers’ phishing email. The message contains a “Click here to continue” button that points to a fake SharePoint document hosted on Adobe’s InDesign service. (Security Affairs)
Lender OneMain fined $4.25 million for cybersecurity lapses OneMain Financial Group, which specializes in issuing loans to people with “non-prime” credit histories, will pay a $4.25 million penalty in New York state for cybersecurity lapses found during a government investigation. The DFS investigation found, for example, that the company allowed local administrative users to share accounts and permitted those accounts to use the default password that users got when they were onboarded. The department also noted, it used a non-formalized project administration framework developed in-house that failed to address certain key software development life cycle phases, it did not assess third-party vendors properly, despite having a risk policy in place, and further failed to appropriately adjust several vendors’ risk scores even after the occurrence of multiple cybersecurity events. OneMain has responded by saying it has “long since addressed” problems found in the investigation, which examined its policies from 2017 to early 2020. (The Record)
The human factor fuels industrial APT attacks Kaspersky has issued a report identifying the primary factors contributing to advanced persistent threat (APT) attacks in industrial sectors. The first is the absence of isolation in operational technology (OT) networks which can allow attackers to better manage malware traffic. The report also highlights disgruntled employees and contractors as well as those accessing OT networks without adequate attention to information security measures as a significant driver of cyber-criminal activities in industrial settings. Finally, the report asserts that outdated, misconfigured and unpatched systems contribute to exacerbating the spread of security threats. (Pair with Kaspersky iOT APT discovery) (Infosecurity Magazine)
The dangers of Salesforce “ghost sites” Researchers at Varonis sounded the alarm on these so-called “ghost sites.” These can occur when an organization sets up a Salesforce “Communities” service, where customers, vendors, and other partners can collaborate within an organizations Salesforce environment. If an organization migrates from Salesforce, often these Communities remain online. This can occur when organizations point DNS records to a short convenient URL, and then migrate that to a new service. Since Salesforce also supports autonomous dataflows into Communities, these can continue to receive fresh data, potentially exposed to anyone with the internal domain. Varonis warns that organizations should delete these sites entirely, not simply ending URL redirects. (Dark Reading)
Amazon Ring, Alexa accused of privacy violations by FTC America's Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday charged, via the US Dept of Justice, two Amazon outfits with various privacy snafus. The Ring home security cam subsidiary was accused of “compromising its customers’ privacy by allowing any employee or contractor to access consumers’ private videos and by failing to implement basic privacy and security protections.” The FTC also took on Amazon over its Alexa devices’ data-retention policies, stating, “Amazon retained children’s recordings indefinitely—unless a parent requested that this information be deleted,” adding “even when a parent sought to delete that information, Amazon failed to delete transcripts of what kids said from all its databases.” (The Register)
BlackCat claims the hack of Casepoint The BlackCat ransomware gang has added the company Casepoint to its list of victims on its Tor Dark Web site. This discovery was made by cybersecurity researcher Dominic Alvieri. Casepoint provides a legal discovery platform used by several US agencies, including the SEC, FBI, and US Courts. The gang claims to have stolen 2TB of sensitive data, belonging to lawyers, SEC, DoD, FBI, police and more. If this breach is verified, the ransomware group may have compromised sensitive and possibly classified information. (Security Affairs)
submitted by CISO_Series_Producer to cybersecurity [link] [comments]
If you’d like to hear and participate in a discussion about them, the CISO Series does a live 20-minute show every Friday at 12:30pm PT/3:30pm ET. Each week we welcome a different cyber practitioner to offer some color to the week's stories. Our guest this week is Howard Holton, CTO, GigaOm.
To get involved you can watch live and participate in the discussion on YouTube Live https://youtube.com/live/S1ZU-5piP8s or you can subscribe to the Cyber Security Headlines podcast and get it into your feed.
Here are some of the stories we plan to cover:
Amazon Ring, Alexa accused of privacy violations by FTC America's Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday charged, via the US Dept of Justice, two Amazon outfits with various privacy snafus. The Ring home security cam subsidiary was accused of “compromising its customers’ privacy by allowing any employee or contractor to access consumers’ private videos and by failing to implement basic privacy and security protections.” The FTC also took on Amazon over its Alexa devices’ data-retention policies, stating, “Amazon retained children’s recordings indefinitely—unless a parent requested that this information be deleted,” adding “even when a parent sought to delete that information, Amazon failed to delete transcripts of what kids said from all its databases.” (The Register)
Gigabyte firmware update system insecure Researchers at the security firm Eclypsium published finding that 271 motherboards from the computer OEM Gigabyte include a UEFI firmware update utility that runs on bootup. This system can go online and download updates without any user notification or authorization. However the researchers say this update system doesn’t properly authenticate code, often sending over an unencrypted HTTP connection, letting it be easily spoofed by a malicious actor. It also looks for updates available from network attached storage, which could easily be intercepted by an attacker on the same network. Eclypsium said it notified Gigabyte and the company plans to fix the issues. (Wired)
Leading experts warn of a risk of extinction from AI On Tuesday, AI experts issued a dire warning saying, “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.” Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and Geoffrey Hinton, also known as the godfather of AI who recently left Google, were among the hundreds who signed the statement posted on the Center for AI Safety’s website. The call for AI guardrails has intensified as companies have rushed to adopt new tech. This point was underscored Tuesday when chipmaker Nvidia briefly became worth over $1 trillion dollars after share prices surged due to its AI advances. (NPR and BBC)
Attackers use encrypted RPMSG messages in Microsoft 365 targeted phishing attacks Researchers at Trustwave have observed threat actors using encrypted RPMSG attachments sent via compromised Microsoft 365 accounts in a phishing campaign aimed at stealing Microsoft credentials. RPMSG files are used to deliver emails with Rights-Managed Email Object Protocol enabled. This protocol controls e-mail access and usage permissions. Instead of a plain text, e-mails via RPMSG files are sent with content encrypted and stored as encrypted file attachment. The recipients can read the encrypted messages only after being authenticated with their Microsoft account or obtaining a one-time passcode. The message attempts to trick recipients into clicking the “Read the message” button to decrypt the protected message. Upon clicking the link, the recipients are redirected to an Office 365 webpage with a request to sign into their Microsoft account. Once authenticated with the Microsoft service, the recipients are redirected to a page displaying the attackers’ phishing email. The message contains a “Click here to continue” button that points to a fake SharePoint document hosted on Adobe’s InDesign service. (Security Affairs)
Lender OneMain fined $4.25 million for cybersecurity lapses OneMain Financial Group, which specializes in issuing loans to people with “non-prime” credit histories, will pay a $4.25 million penalty in New York state for cybersecurity lapses found during a government investigation. The DFS investigation found, for example, that the company allowed local administrative users to share accounts and permitted those accounts to use the default password that users got when they were onboarded. The department also noted, it used a non-formalized project administration framework developed in-house that failed to address certain key software development life cycle phases, it did not assess third-party vendors properly, despite having a risk policy in place, and further failed to appropriately adjust several vendors’ risk scores even after the occurrence of multiple cybersecurity events. OneMain has responded by saying it has “long since addressed” problems found in the investigation, which examined its policies from 2017 to early 2020. (The Record)
The human factor fuels industrial APT attacks Kaspersky has issued a report identifying the primary factors contributing to advanced persistent threat (APT) attacks in industrial sectors. The first is the absence of isolation in operational technology (OT) networks which can allow attackers to better manage malware traffic. The report also highlights disgruntled employees and contractors as well as those accessing OT networks without adequate attention to information security measures as a significant driver of cyber-criminal activities in industrial settings. Finally, the report asserts that outdated, misconfigured and unpatched systems contribute to exacerbating the spread of security threats. (Pair with Kaspersky iOT APT discovery) (Infosecurity Magazine)
The dangers of Salesforce “ghost sites” Researchers at Varonis sounded the alarm on these so-called “ghost sites.” These can occur when an organization sets up a Salesforce “Communities” service, where customers, vendors, and other partners can collaborate within an organizations Salesforce environment. If an organization migrates from Salesforce, often these Communities remain online. This can occur when organizations point DNS records to a short convenient URL, and then migrate that to a new service. Since Salesforce also supports autonomous dataflows into Communities, these can continue to receive fresh data, potentially exposed to anyone with the internal domain. Varonis warns that organizations should delete these sites entirely, not simply ending URL redirects. (Dark Reading)
Amazon Ring, Alexa accused of privacy violations by FTC America's Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday charged, via the US Dept of Justice, two Amazon outfits with various privacy snafus. The Ring home security cam subsidiary was accused of “compromising its customers’ privacy by allowing any employee or contractor to access consumers’ private videos and by failing to implement basic privacy and security protections.” The FTC also took on Amazon over its Alexa devices’ data-retention policies, stating, “Amazon retained children’s recordings indefinitely—unless a parent requested that this information be deleted,” adding “even when a parent sought to delete that information, Amazon failed to delete transcripts of what kids said from all its databases.” (The Register)
BlackCat claims the hack of Casepoint The BlackCat ransomware gang has added the company Casepoint to its list of victims on its Tor Dark Web site. This discovery was made by cybersecurity researcher Dominic Alvieri. Casepoint provides a legal discovery platform used by several US agencies, including the SEC, FBI, and US Courts. The gang claims to have stolen 2TB of sensitive data, belonging to lawyers, SEC, DoD, FBI, police and more. If this breach is verified, the ransomware group may have compromised sensitive and possibly classified information. (Security Affairs)
2023.06.02 16:36 Separate_Bend_4184 Found this today. Is it worth something?
 | submitted by Separate_Bend_4184 to u/Separate_Bend_4184 [link] [comments] |
2023.06.02 16:35 docohbot [Insider] $FOMC - Vikram P Grover (CEO, Director) buys $360.00 k at $0.90/share
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Filing date/time | 2 June 2023 10:32 |
| Transaction date | 6 March 2019 |
| Company | FOMO WORLDWIDE, INC. |
| Ticker | $FOMC |
| Transaction | Buy (open market) |
| By | Vikram P Grover |
| Total amount | $360.00 k |
| Shares | 400,000 |
| Security | Series B Preferred shares |
| Price per share | $0.9 |
| 10b5-1 | No |
| Officedirector | Yes |
| Direct or indirect | Direct |
2023.06.02 16:32 rustyleak The rumours are true, it’s official! And what are we seeing as recruiters as a result…⁉️(from a LinkedIk post, name witheld)
 | As a resident of Singapore for many many years this is sad to see, especially knowing the impact it will have. The constant Yo Yo back and forth for the TOP spot between Singapore and Hong Kong seems once again to perhaps be shifting. submitted by rustyleak to SingaporeRaw [link] [comments] ⚠️But what are we seeing as recruiters for both these markets as a result ⚠️: ✔️ Companies are now open to a “SG OR HK” location for new roles. ✔️ Businesses are exploring moving their HQ offices BACK to Hong Kong. ✔️ Candidates are actively seeking opportunities outside of SG, be it returning home OR HK. ✔️ HK candidates are now keen to stay put as they see the SG light dimming. ✔️ Remote work opportunities are increasing as companies seek to alleviate their employees financial pressures. ✔️ Businesses are offering to relocate employees out of Singapore if requested. ✔️ Candidates are not willing to move laterally without significant salary increases. |
2023.06.02 16:31 siku93 CMV: The reason inflation is on sky high is because of market makers.
We have active a step on evolution on which we can produce resources out of thin air. Production levels and optimization of primary resources like food have never been that efficient.
Now that would mean we are fine? No, corporate greedy keep wanting more, income projections always aim for higher goals, damaging the pockets of the consumers that can produce more currency to match the artificial inflation of the prices.
The ones in top demand more work, but for what porourse if the resources are just been wanted to keep the artificial price of the values high.
The only solution to satisfecho the global market is to come with a real price cost calculation of the product we all consume and not stick to the old fashion price tagging of offer vs demand. Because product manufacture can just waste it and creat artificial price increases, what is just material wastefullness and a greedy behavior.
submitted by siku93 to changemyview [link] [comments]
Now that would mean we are fine? No, corporate greedy keep wanting more, income projections always aim for higher goals, damaging the pockets of the consumers that can produce more currency to match the artificial inflation of the prices.
The ones in top demand more work, but for what porourse if the resources are just been wanted to keep the artificial price of the values high.
The only solution to satisfecho the global market is to come with a real price cost calculation of the product we all consume and not stick to the old fashion price tagging of offer vs demand. Because product manufacture can just waste it and creat artificial price increases, what is just material wastefullness and a greedy behavior.
2023.06.02 16:30 AutoModerator Pejman Ghadimi - Watch Trading Program (Here)
Chat us on +44 7593880762 on Telegram/Whatsaap if you are interested in Pejman Ghadimi - Watch Trading Academy.
Watch Trading Academy will teach you how to buy, sell, trade and invest in luxury timepieces.
Watch Trading Academy by Pejman Ghadimi will provide the education and expose the loopholes of the watch trading markets while showing you step-by-step how any person with minimal capital and access to a post office and computer can actually take advantage of this opportunity right from their own home.
Between jeweler margins, sleazy tricks, and private labeled garbage out there, there are tens of thousands of dollars being lost from consumers on each and every watch purchase they make.
This loss is the opportunity for you to step in and earn your cut of that same margin jewelers have been hoarding for themselves.
Pejman Ghadimi's Watch Trading Academy covers everything from which models to buy and which to run away from, how to get started, where to buy and sell, and, most importantly, how to become profitable.
To get Pejman Ghadimi - Watch Trading Academy contact me on:
Whatsapp/Telegram: + 44 7593880762 (Telegram: silverlakestoreproducts)
Reddit DM to u/RequestCourseAccess
Email: silverlakestore/@/yandex.com (remove the brackets)
submitted by AutoModerator to PejmanGhadimiCars [link] [comments]
Watch Trading Academy will teach you how to buy, sell, trade and invest in luxury timepieces.
Watch Trading Academy by Pejman Ghadimi will provide the education and expose the loopholes of the watch trading markets while showing you step-by-step how any person with minimal capital and access to a post office and computer can actually take advantage of this opportunity right from their own home.
Between jeweler margins, sleazy tricks, and private labeled garbage out there, there are tens of thousands of dollars being lost from consumers on each and every watch purchase they make.
This loss is the opportunity for you to step in and earn your cut of that same margin jewelers have been hoarding for themselves.
Pejman Ghadimi's Watch Trading Academy covers everything from which models to buy and which to run away from, how to get started, where to buy and sell, and, most importantly, how to become profitable.
To get Pejman Ghadimi - Watch Trading Academy contact me on:
Whatsapp/Telegram: + 44 7593880762 (Telegram: silverlakestoreproducts)
Reddit DM to u/RequestCourseAccess
Email: silverlakestore/@/yandex.com (remove the brackets)
2023.06.02 16:30 pastel_boho_love Can't get help after years of searching, no hope left, disabled, intrusive thoughts
I'm disabled. All my diagnoses are "invisible" & I can't stop masking even with friends. I can't mentally survive going back to the squalor of subsisting on nothingbut SSI (which couldbe cut off at anymoment). I forced myself back into the workforce a few yrs ago out of sheer force of will & angry desperation, and no matter what I do I can'tget ahead financiallyto the point where I don'thave to be in constant fear & lack anymore .
Been pushing myself past my limits for so long I can't sustain it anymore. But I can't handle losing everything I've worked so hard for--my jobs as a respected musician & private piano teacher. Only 3 students but I'm so good with my teaching philosophy & things that they obviously love me a lot, they're always going on and on how I'm their favorite teacher & how much they wish their other teachers were like me, etc. I can't handle disappointing them & losing that sense of fulfillment.
I have exhausted all help resources within my knowledge & access. I always fall through the cracks of the meager US social safety nets. I'm 30 yrs old, have thousands in debt frombeing scammed, no transportation access, minimal healthcare access bc all the hospitals in my area are monopolized by a single corporation that has consistently failed to help me. My family doesn't like me anymore since I've deconstructedmy religious conservative Christian upbringing. They don't even know I'm bi. Can't tell them. But that's the least of my worries
Housing crisis. Exploitation. Isolation. Ableism. Dealing with the local Social Security office & such has traumatized me so badly I'm considering figuring out how to get a gun, travel there, & shoot myself so they can be traumatized as much as they've hurt me.
Struggled with SI my whole life, more psychiatric inpatient than I can count. But there's nothing more they can do. They can't fix these systemic issues harming me. They won't pay my bills. I can't survive constantly seeing how much easier the folks around me have it while having to pretend that I'm not jealous & not suffering because that makes THEM uncomfortable.
And if they try to 302 me back into that hellhole, I'm considering suicude by cop. There is no way out for me even if I do die bc I can't stand hurting people i love.
submitted by pastel_boho_love to SuicideWatch [link] [comments]
Been pushing myself past my limits for so long I can't sustain it anymore. But I can't handle losing everything I've worked so hard for--my jobs as a respected musician & private piano teacher. Only 3 students but I'm so good with my teaching philosophy & things that they obviously love me a lot, they're always going on and on how I'm their favorite teacher & how much they wish their other teachers were like me, etc. I can't handle disappointing them & losing that sense of fulfillment.
I have exhausted all help resources within my knowledge & access. I always fall through the cracks of the meager US social safety nets. I'm 30 yrs old, have thousands in debt frombeing scammed, no transportation access, minimal healthcare access bc all the hospitals in my area are monopolized by a single corporation that has consistently failed to help me. My family doesn't like me anymore since I've deconstructedmy religious conservative Christian upbringing. They don't even know I'm bi. Can't tell them. But that's the least of my worries
Housing crisis. Exploitation. Isolation. Ableism. Dealing with the local Social Security office & such has traumatized me so badly I'm considering figuring out how to get a gun, travel there, & shoot myself so they can be traumatized as much as they've hurt me.
Struggled with SI my whole life, more psychiatric inpatient than I can count. But there's nothing more they can do. They can't fix these systemic issues harming me. They won't pay my bills. I can't survive constantly seeing how much easier the folks around me have it while having to pretend that I'm not jealous & not suffering because that makes THEM uncomfortable.
And if they try to 302 me back into that hellhole, I'm considering suicude by cop. There is no way out for me even if I do die bc I can't stand hurting people i love.
2023.06.02 16:26 bro-away- Do the reddit admins really hold this kind of power!!?
 | submitted by bro-away- to apolloapp [link] [comments] |
2023.06.02 16:22 TheTalkedSpy "Faith Under Fire" by Jefferson David Tant (6/1/2023)
Note: Taken from J.D. Tant's email newsletter ([[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])).
Among the various threats we face in our nation today is the role of the government in seeking to quash or eliminate any semblance of the religious freedom that has characterized our nation from the day of our founding fathers. This is evident in different areas of our public life, and should cause us to being in continual prayer for our nation and its leaders, even as Paul encouraged us in I Timothy 2:1-2: “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”
In this article, we will note various examples of “Faith Under Fire.”
In 2013, President Obama began a war on Christian members of the military with the proclamation that “Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense…Court Marshals will be decided on a case-by-case basis.” Under this edict, Christian servicemen or chaplains could not “talk about Jesus,” “quote the Bible,” or “share their faith.” Furthermore, if an atheist, homosexual or non-Christian was offended in any way, the Christian member who caused the offense could be punished. My understanding is that these policies remain in force today.
The then president and his anti-Christian friends in the House and Pentagon demanded that military chaplains facilitate homosexual marriages or face penalties. In 2013 Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk was punished and relieved of duty after 19 years of good service when his openly lesbian commanding officer Major Valenzuela objected to his Biblical views on marriage. She wanted him “severely punished” for his religious objection to homosexuality.
Navy Chaplain LCDR Wes Modder was fired by his commander after quoting a Bible verse to a homosexual sailor who asked him what the Bible said about homosexuality. The sailor then complained, even though he had been asked the question about the Bible, and the chaplain suffered termination.
Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling was a Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune. She posted a Bible verse near her desk which read, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper” (Isa. 54:17) The next morning the verse was in the trash can, and then she was court-marshaled. An appeal was made which invoked the First Amendment right of religious freedom, but it was denied and she got her bad conduct discharge and a reduction in rank,
Sadly, the Air Force is violating Federal Law DoDl 1300.17 which plainly allows freedom of religious expression in all branches of military service. Some anti-Christian complainers made a complaint against some Academy cadets who wrote some positive, encouraging Bible verses on their personal white-boards, and thus were pressured by their chain of command to erase the Bible.
Under policies initiated by Obama which are still in force, chaplains have faced ridicule and have lost the ability to serve their nation because they chose to obey God rather than man, and have been charged with “being guilty of treason,” “committing acts of ‘spiritual rape,’” and even “assault,” and “Declaring them ‘enemies of the Constitution.’’’
The story of Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt is well-known to many. He was a Navy Chaplain when the order was given that any chaplain who prayed in Jesus’ name outside of a Sunday Chapel could be court-marshalled. He did pray in public using Jesus’ name, and was honorably discharged, but lost his 16-year career and his pension.
But the story doesn’t end there. 520 newspapers and over 300,000 citizens and 35 pro-family groups rallied to his cause and petitioned the President to reverse the Navy’s policy of targeting believers in Christ. In time Congress did comply and restored the rights of chaplains to freely express their faith and to pray in Jesus’ name. And it is my understanding that Klingenschmitt was eventually exonerated.
This was only one victory as opposed to numerous assaults by the atheist agents of Satan who are seeking to make our nation “One Nation Under Satan” rather than “One Nation Under God.” This latter phrase originated on June 14, 1954, when President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill to insert the phrase “One Nation Under God” into the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance that children recited every morning in school. Sadly, that phrase has been removed in many places today.
Dr. Ben Carson, whom my wife and I met some years ago, said “As Christians, the Bible calls us to be salt and light to influence our culture.”
This information was adapted from a booklet titled “In God We Trust.”
Please continue to pray for our nation.
submitted by TheTalkedSpy to Learning_God [link] [comments]
Among the various threats we face in our nation today is the role of the government in seeking to quash or eliminate any semblance of the religious freedom that has characterized our nation from the day of our founding fathers. This is evident in different areas of our public life, and should cause us to being in continual prayer for our nation and its leaders, even as Paul encouraged us in I Timothy 2:1-2: “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”
In this article, we will note various examples of “Faith Under Fire.”
In 2013, President Obama began a war on Christian members of the military with the proclamation that “Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense…Court Marshals will be decided on a case-by-case basis.” Under this edict, Christian servicemen or chaplains could not “talk about Jesus,” “quote the Bible,” or “share their faith.” Furthermore, if an atheist, homosexual or non-Christian was offended in any way, the Christian member who caused the offense could be punished. My understanding is that these policies remain in force today.
The then president and his anti-Christian friends in the House and Pentagon demanded that military chaplains facilitate homosexual marriages or face penalties. In 2013 Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk was punished and relieved of duty after 19 years of good service when his openly lesbian commanding officer Major Valenzuela objected to his Biblical views on marriage. She wanted him “severely punished” for his religious objection to homosexuality.
Navy Chaplain LCDR Wes Modder was fired by his commander after quoting a Bible verse to a homosexual sailor who asked him what the Bible said about homosexuality. The sailor then complained, even though he had been asked the question about the Bible, and the chaplain suffered termination.
Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling was a Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune. She posted a Bible verse near her desk which read, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper” (Isa. 54:17) The next morning the verse was in the trash can, and then she was court-marshaled. An appeal was made which invoked the First Amendment right of religious freedom, but it was denied and she got her bad conduct discharge and a reduction in rank,
Sadly, the Air Force is violating Federal Law DoDl 1300.17 which plainly allows freedom of religious expression in all branches of military service. Some anti-Christian complainers made a complaint against some Academy cadets who wrote some positive, encouraging Bible verses on their personal white-boards, and thus were pressured by their chain of command to erase the Bible.
Under policies initiated by Obama which are still in force, chaplains have faced ridicule and have lost the ability to serve their nation because they chose to obey God rather than man, and have been charged with “being guilty of treason,” “committing acts of ‘spiritual rape,’” and even “assault,” and “Declaring them ‘enemies of the Constitution.’’’
The story of Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt is well-known to many. He was a Navy Chaplain when the order was given that any chaplain who prayed in Jesus’ name outside of a Sunday Chapel could be court-marshalled. He did pray in public using Jesus’ name, and was honorably discharged, but lost his 16-year career and his pension.
But the story doesn’t end there. 520 newspapers and over 300,000 citizens and 35 pro-family groups rallied to his cause and petitioned the President to reverse the Navy’s policy of targeting believers in Christ. In time Congress did comply and restored the rights of chaplains to freely express their faith and to pray in Jesus’ name. And it is my understanding that Klingenschmitt was eventually exonerated.
This was only one victory as opposed to numerous assaults by the atheist agents of Satan who are seeking to make our nation “One Nation Under Satan” rather than “One Nation Under God.” This latter phrase originated on June 14, 1954, when President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill to insert the phrase “One Nation Under God” into the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance that children recited every morning in school. Sadly, that phrase has been removed in many places today.
Dr. Ben Carson, whom my wife and I met some years ago, said “As Christians, the Bible calls us to be salt and light to influence our culture.”
This information was adapted from a booklet titled “In God We Trust.”
Please continue to pray for our nation.
2023.06.02 16:21 aussie_bob NIAA Fraud safeguards
 | submitted by aussie_bob to Asked_Australia [link] [comments] |
2023.06.02 16:13 Queen_of_Meh1987 As a former Target team member, I'm enjoying watching the show.
I would like to start off by saying I don't want team members to lose their jobs, or condone threats/acts of violence from either side, or that I want to have a discussion about the situation.
I worked for Target for 6 years until I hit my breaking point last December. Here's my post about why I walked out:
https://www.reddit.com/Target/comments/zb30x4/nope_no_more_im_out/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
And now I see them drowning in a self-made quagmire, and it's hilarious af to see them take heat from both sides, seeing how they're floundering to appease everyone, watching the stock price go lower each day, imaging corporate scrambling to figure out what they're going to do.
My store wasn't alone in the problems it had; the subreddit was full of similar situations. From management that hid in the office while calls for assistance and back-up non-stop, corporate cutting hours and then demanding increasingly insane quotas from a shrinking staff, rampant favoritism, sexual harassment ignored and victims blamed, having one or no team members in a department day and night shift, no cashiers being scheduled past 7, so last 3 hours are self-checkout only, 1 person on drive-ups all night, the list goes on and on. And yes, the Ethics Line was called numerous times by many different team members, for many different situations. We were always told that it would be looked into, but the only thing that would happen would be that the team members who called (anonymously I might add) had their hours cut and given the worst assignments.
They made their bed, and now I'm watching them be forced to lay in it, and it's hilarious.
submitted by Queen_of_Meh1987 to confessions [link] [comments]
I worked for Target for 6 years until I hit my breaking point last December. Here's my post about why I walked out:
https://www.reddit.com/Target/comments/zb30x4/nope_no_more_im_out/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
And now I see them drowning in a self-made quagmire, and it's hilarious af to see them take heat from both sides, seeing how they're floundering to appease everyone, watching the stock price go lower each day, imaging corporate scrambling to figure out what they're going to do.
My store wasn't alone in the problems it had; the subreddit was full of similar situations. From management that hid in the office while calls for assistance and back-up non-stop, corporate cutting hours and then demanding increasingly insane quotas from a shrinking staff, rampant favoritism, sexual harassment ignored and victims blamed, having one or no team members in a department day and night shift, no cashiers being scheduled past 7, so last 3 hours are self-checkout only, 1 person on drive-ups all night, the list goes on and on. And yes, the Ethics Line was called numerous times by many different team members, for many different situations. We were always told that it would be looked into, but the only thing that would happen would be that the team members who called (anonymously I might add) had their hours cut and given the worst assignments.
They made their bed, and now I'm watching them be forced to lay in it, and it's hilarious.
2023.06.02 16:07 JY-HRL Is software review a good niche or very competitive?
hi, everyone, I want to create a software review website and monetize it by affiliate marketing of software.
I want to write content on review on software like Office and some others used to improve work efficiency.
I'm not sure if this is very competitive or difficult to get traffic from Google.
Thanks!
Zach
submitted by JY-HRL to webmonetization [link] [comments]
I want to write content on review on software like Office and some others used to improve work efficiency.
I'm not sure if this is very competitive or difficult to get traffic from Google.
Thanks!
Zach
2023.06.02 16:03 Dangerous-Bag-7327 [HIRING] 25 Jobs in Chicago Hiring Now!
2023.06.02 16:01 Adam_RJ Akur8 and NEXT Insurance Partner up to Help Small Businesses
NEXT has selected Akur8’s Risk and Rate modelling solution to build a data-driven, high-performing and scalable predictive modelling framework for their insurance pricing process. Through this agreement, Akur8 continues its growth within the commercial insurance marketplace in the US.
“Our partnership with such an innovative and true disruptor of the small business insurance market – a historically complicated industry – demonstrates that Akur8 is a powerful pricing solution for all types of insurance companies across all lines of business,” said Brune de Linares, Chief Client Officer at Akur8.
“We are thrilled to support NEXT, a modern leader revolutionising small business insurance, and enhance its pricing process with our state-of-the-art risk and rate modelling platform. This partnership also demonstrates the relevance and attractiveness of Akur8’s solution for insurance providers targeting the small business market,” stated Samuel Falmagne, CEO at Akur8 (pictured).
Founded in 2016, NEXT, launched by Founder and CEO Guy Goldstein, is committed to helping small businesses thrive by providing a one-stop-shop to customised and affordable insurance policies. Today, the company is trusted by over 450 thousand business owners and serves over 1,300 classes of business, including restaurant owners, general contractors, accountants, fitness professionals and many more. NEXT’s seamless policy purchasing process and affordable pricing is one of the many reasons the company experienced rapid growth over the years.
“While every small business is unique, they all share a need for accurate policy pricing. We’ve long been committed to investing in machine learning and predictive analytics for superior underwriting and pricing, and this unique approach has solidified us as a technology leader in the space,” said Phil Natoli, Chief Actuary at NEXT. “Together with Akur8, we’re able to further innovate upon our current capabilities to deliver even more accuracy, speed and efficiency at scale for NEXT’s growing customer bases.”
“With Akur8’s platform, our actuarial, data science, and product teams can collaborate seamlessly throughout the insurance pricing process. It ensures higher efficiency and delivers visual insights that are explainable across a variety of stakeholders,” noted Peter Yin, Senior Actuarial Manager at NEXT.
More than 900 actuaries use Akur8 daily to build their pricing models across all lines of business. Akur8’s strategic partnerships include Milliman, Guidewire, Duck Creek and Sapiens.
Akur8 also recently completed a new position paper on Applying Machine Learning to Actuarial and Pricing Workflows.
submitted by Adam_RJ to insuretech [link] [comments]
“Our partnership with such an innovative and true disruptor of the small business insurance market – a historically complicated industry – demonstrates that Akur8 is a powerful pricing solution for all types of insurance companies across all lines of business,” said Brune de Linares, Chief Client Officer at Akur8.
NEXT’s AI innovation compliment’s Akur’s pricing solutions
Developed explicitly for insurers, Akur8’s solution enhances pricing processes by using proprietary machine-learning technology. The core benefits for the commercial insurance marketplace include accelerated model building, transparent GLM outputs, and data-driven underwriting. Building on NEXT’s leading AI and machine learning capabilities, the company will leverage Akur8’s technology as the foundation for a scalable, transparent, and efficient pricing platform.“We are thrilled to support NEXT, a modern leader revolutionising small business insurance, and enhance its pricing process with our state-of-the-art risk and rate modelling platform. This partnership also demonstrates the relevance and attractiveness of Akur8’s solution for insurance providers targeting the small business market,” stated Samuel Falmagne, CEO at Akur8 (pictured).
Founded in 2016, NEXT, launched by Founder and CEO Guy Goldstein, is committed to helping small businesses thrive by providing a one-stop-shop to customised and affordable insurance policies. Today, the company is trusted by over 450 thousand business owners and serves over 1,300 classes of business, including restaurant owners, general contractors, accountants, fitness professionals and many more. NEXT’s seamless policy purchasing process and affordable pricing is one of the many reasons the company experienced rapid growth over the years.
“While every small business is unique, they all share a need for accurate policy pricing. We’ve long been committed to investing in machine learning and predictive analytics for superior underwriting and pricing, and this unique approach has solidified us as a technology leader in the space,” said Phil Natoli, Chief Actuary at NEXT. “Together with Akur8, we’re able to further innovate upon our current capabilities to deliver even more accuracy, speed and efficiency at scale for NEXT’s growing customer bases.”
“With Akur8’s platform, our actuarial, data science, and product teams can collaborate seamlessly throughout the insurance pricing process. It ensures higher efficiency and delivers visual insights that are explainable across a variety of stakeholders,” noted Peter Yin, Senior Actuarial Manager at NEXT.
Akur8’s market position
Akur8 already serves over 80 customers across 40 countries, including AXA, Generali, Munich Re, Tokio Marine North America Services (TMNAS) and MS&AD; commercial P&C insurers FCCI and HDVI; specialty insurers Canopius and MGA Bass Underwriters; consulting partner Perr & Knight; and insurtechs Manypets and wefox.More than 900 actuaries use Akur8 daily to build their pricing models across all lines of business. Akur8’s strategic partnerships include Milliman, Guidewire, Duck Creek and Sapiens.
Akur8 also recently completed a new position paper on Applying Machine Learning to Actuarial and Pricing Workflows.
2023.06.02 15:55 AutoModerator [Download Course] Robert Kyosaki Ultimate Collection Bundle (Genkicourses.com)
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2023.06.02 15:46 Dismal-Jellyfish Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) seeks public comment on the Risk Management Program Requirements for Swap Dealers and Futures Commission Merchants. Regulation 23.600 does not explicitly require an SD’s RMP to include written policies and procedures to safeguard counterparty collateral.
 | https://www.cftc.gov/media/8671/federalregister06012023/download submitted by Dismal-Jellyfish to Superstonk [link] [comments] From a Press Release:The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today published an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking public comment on potential amendments to the Risk Management Program (RMP) requirements in CFTC Regulations 23.600 and 1.11 (collectively, RMP Regulations) applicable to swap dealers and futures commission merchants. Background:Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (DoddFrank Act) amended the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA)2 to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework to reduce risk, increase transparency, and promote market integrity within the financial system by, among other things, providing for the registration and comprehensive regulation of swap dealers (SDs) and major swap participants (MSPs), 4 and enhancing the rulemaking and enforcement authorities of the CFTC with respect to all registered entities and intermediaries subject to its oversight, including, among others, futures commission merchants (FCMs). Added by the Dodd-Frank Act, CEA section 4s(j) outlines the duties with which SDs must comply. Specifically, CEA section 4s(j)(2) requires SDs to “establish robust and professional risk management systems adequate for managing the day-to-day business of the [registrant].” CEA section 4s(j)(7) directs the Commission to prescribe rules governing the duties of SDs, including the duty to establish risk management procedures. In April 2012, the Commission adopted Regulation 23.600, which established requirements for the development, approval, implementation, and operation of SD risk management programs (RMPs). Wut mean? (I think):The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was introduced to provide comprehensive regulation of the financial system. It required the creation of robust risk management systems by Swap Dealers (SDs) and Major Swap Participants (MSPs). In 2012, Regulation 23.600 was established, outlining the risk management program (RMP) requirements for these entities. After several insolvencies involving misuse of customer funds in 2011-2012, additional risk management rules were established in 2013 for Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs).Despite these measures, there were ongoing queries from SDs about compliance, particularly regarding governance, suggesting further clarifications necessary. There were also significant variances observed in the risk exposure reports (RERs) of SDs and FCMs, which affected the ability of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to understand how risks were being monitored and managed. There are also concerns that the current reporting schedule and lack of a specific format result in inconsistent reports with outdated information. Many SDs reported that these RERs were only created for compliance purposes, not for internal risk management, suggesting a review of this requirement is needed. Lastly, there is recognition that risk management programs might need to be updated to reflect technological innovations. Therefore, the Commission is seeking industry and public comments on these issues related to the existing RMP regulations. Periodic Risk Exposure Reporting by Swap Dealers and Futures Commission Merchants:In accordance with Regulation 23.600(c)(2), an SD must provide to its senior management and governing body a quarterly RER containing specific information on the SD’s risk exposures and the current state of its RMP; the RER shall also be provided to the SD’s senior management and governing body immediately upon the detection of any material change in the risk exposure of the SD.48 SDs are required to furnish copies of all RERs to the Commission within five (5) business days of providing such RERs on a quarterly basis to their senior management.49 Likewise, Regulation 1.11(e)(2) has an identical RER requirement for FCMs.50 This Notice seeks comment generally on how the current RER regime for SDs and FCMs could be improved, as well as specific responses to the questions listed below:
Potential Risks Related to the Segregation of Customer Funds and Safeguarding Counterparty Collateral:The segregation of customer funds and safeguarding of counterparty collateral are cornerstones of the Commission’s FCM and SD regulatory regimes, respectively. Currently, the existing RMP Regulations address the management of segregation risk and the safeguarding of counterparty collateral in different ways, given the differing business models between FCMs and SDs. Regulation 1.11(e)(3)(i) requires an FCM’s RMP to include written policies and procedures “reasonably designed to ensure segregated funds are separately accounted for and segregated or secured as belonging to customers. This requirement further lists several subjects that must, “at a minimum,” be addressed by an FCM’s RMP policies and procedures, including the evaluation and monitoring process for approved depositories, the treatment of related residual interest, transfers, and withdrawals, and permissible investments.The Commission seeks comment generally on the risks attendant to the segregation of customer funds and the safeguarding of counterparty collateral. In addition, commenters should seek to address the following questions:
Potential Risks Posed by Affiliates, Lines of Business, and All Other Trading Activity:In light of increasing market volatility and recent market disruptions, as well as the growth of digital asset markets, the Commission generally seeks comment on the risks posed by SDs’ and FCMs’ affiliates and related trading activity. Generally, the RMP Regulations require SD and FCM RMPs to take into account risks posed by affiliates and related trading activity. Specifically, Regulation 23.600(c)(1)(ii) requires an SD’s RMP to take into account “risks posed by affiliates” with the RMP integrated into risk management functions at the “consolidated entity level.” Similarly, Regulation 1.11(e)(1)(ii) requires an FCM’s RMP to take into account risks “posed by affiliates, all lines of business of the [FCM], and all other trading activity engaged in by the [FCM].”The Commission seeks comment generally on the requirements related to risks posed by affiliates and related trading activity found within the RMP Regulations for SDs and FCMs, including non-bank affiliated SDs or non-bank affiliated FCMs. In addition, commenters should seek to address the following questions:
How to comment:You may submit comments, identified by RIN 3038-AE59, by any of the following methods:
TLDRS:
|
2023.06.02 15:38 Princess_Terror Company knows I'm currently on crutches after an accident so they scheduled an interview in person.
I had an ankle surgery few weeks ago and can't walk, I have another several weeks before I can start putting weight on my foot. I'm currently on crutches and walking on them longer distances is rather exhausting. The company knew about that and they scheduled an IN-PERSON interview?? It's a corporate job based on a hybrid model. I was shocked. I actually haven't had an in-person interview since 2020. Anyway, I have expressed my concern about having to walk a lot to their office, stairs (it's a big tall office tower) etc and they haven't addressed nay of that in the email that came with "how to find us" instructions. I'm really terrified, I haven't been out of the house other than hospital appointment. I also can't drive so will need to pop a ton of pain killers in the morning, find an outfit that will go with my orthopedic boot, and then spend money on Uber back and forth just so i can meet with the HR person (it's a first interview) while praying i don't have to have to face any stairs or even escalators. Am I missing something? I feel borderline disgusted by their attitude but the interview was arranged by a recruiter who also doesn't seem to think it's a big deal.
submitted by Princess_Terror to recruitinghell [link] [comments]
2023.06.02 15:38 Maarzen WE ARE THE ENEMY
WE ARE THE ENEMY
I have been dicked around by Fidelity and AST the last 3 months. It feels like Fidelity doesn't want to hold my NBHC shares on their books and they know that we know that the entire system is a fraud. We will NOT go away, we will NOT be silenced. Here's my story:
My main takeaway from this is that Fidelity does not seem to want my shares on their books and has seemingly maliciously sent them to AST in absolute contradiction of my wishes, their original promises, and system restrictions.
I believe we are their enemy by holding this stock. Fidelity may be worried of being on the hook for a settlement payment or something similar, who knows. We all know the market is a fraud and the system is a house of cards. They're doing everything they can to sweep this under the rug and minimize future collateral damage.
They don't care about us, we are not their customers. We are the cattle they'll readily slaughter before they let us have a taste of the greener grass. We must keep pushing. Keep calling. Keep writing. They know we know they know we know.
End the fraud, fix the system. Wishful thinking, I know, but we, our children, and the rest of our descendents will be slaves to their system unless we stand up and fight NOW.
Thanks for reading. I'll update this as any updates come.
submitted by Maarzen to MMTLP_ [link] [comments]
I have been dicked around by Fidelity and AST the last 3 months. It feels like Fidelity doesn't want to hold my NBHC shares on their books and they know that we know that the entire system is a fraud. We will NOT go away, we will NOT be silenced. Here's my story:
- Fidelity erroneously filed a request to send my shares to me in paper certificate form through AST without my consent in March '23.
- I contacted Fidelity who acknowledged the mistake via chat records and said yes, they can put the shares back in my account and waive the $100 processing fee if I send the paper certificates back to them. I also get them to agree to put a note in my account stating that in the event NBHC ever trades again before the shares are received Ican phone in a trade request that they will record and process at the price traded once the paper shares are returned.
- Three weeks pass and no shares are recieved by me. I contact AST who says yes, they can reverse the transaction as it has not yet been processed on their end, but I must fill out a W9 to certify my account with my SSN first.
- I certify my AST account with my SSN. Mind you, AST has taken the full maximum 5 business days to respond with each correspondence. It is now late April.
- AST sends me instructions on how to change my name on my account before my request can be processed. I notify them that the name on my account is correct. Before they respond a week later, my NBHC shares appear in my AST account. Last October I filed a transfer request with Fidelity to move my MMTLP shares from AST to Fidelity. It processed in three days. So I notify AST that I will be following that same process to transfer my NBHC shares back to my Fidelity account. I file the transfer request with Fidelity.
- I receive an email from Fidelity notifying me that there will be a delay in the transfer for the following reasons, but do not actually list any reasons on the memo.
- I call Fidelity to ask about the situation. I end up with a specialist who reviews my account and speaks to their back office for 25 minutes. They return to tell me the shares are non-transferable. I ask how that's possible when they managed to transfer them to AST without issue. I insist on transferring them back as I was assured by Fidelity back in October 2022 during my initial MMTLP transfer that any sales or dividends issued by NBHC could be handled via my Fidelity account without issue. They continue to tell me they are non-transferable. Being polite with the specialist and confirming I am not frustrated or mad at them personally, I assert that they are not fulfilling their fiduciary duty to me as a customer and account holder by not rectifying their mistake. The call drops and I am disconnected.
- I call back, engage another specialist, and inform them of my situation. Another 20 minute conversation with the back office yields the same results: the shares are non-transferable. I again inquire how they could be transferred to my AST account if they are non-transferable and assert that between AST and Fidelity, the transfer back not only must be possible, but absolutely must happen.
- I am given the extension number for a back office manager who is supposed to look into what can be done and send me an email with what he finds. It has been a week with no response from the back office manager.
My main takeaway from this is that Fidelity does not seem to want my shares on their books and has seemingly maliciously sent them to AST in absolute contradiction of my wishes, their original promises, and system restrictions.
I believe we are their enemy by holding this stock. Fidelity may be worried of being on the hook for a settlement payment or something similar, who knows. We all know the market is a fraud and the system is a house of cards. They're doing everything they can to sweep this under the rug and minimize future collateral damage.
They don't care about us, we are not their customers. We are the cattle they'll readily slaughter before they let us have a taste of the greener grass. We must keep pushing. Keep calling. Keep writing. They know we know they know we know.
End the fraud, fix the system. Wishful thinking, I know, but we, our children, and the rest of our descendents will be slaves to their system unless we stand up and fight NOW.
Thanks for reading. I'll update this as any updates come.
2023.06.02 15:33 CaspianX2 Arcade Archives VS. Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo Switch - Review
Arcade Archives VS. Super Mario Bros.
Genre: PlatformerPlayers: 1-2 (Local Alternating), Online Leaderboards
.
Review:
The classic Platformer, Super Mario Bros. (not to be confused with Mario Bros.), was originally released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, and would later go on to be ported to almost every major Nintendo platform in some form or another. The game received a port to Arcades as well in 1986, though this wasn’t exactly the same game that we received on home consoles. Rather, VS. Super Mario Bros. was a slightly-altered version of the classic game, with changes made to the game to add in greater difficulty.
These changes are fairly minor - a few power-up blocks have been changed or removed, some stages have been swapped around, and more challenging versions of stages appear in place of the earlier ones. I won’t go into a detailed list. Suffice it to say that this is almost exactly the same game as the classic Super Mario Bros. we all have seen countless times before, save for a few differences sprinkled throughout the game.
For those who have somehow missed the original Super Mario Bros., that is one impressive rock you’ve been hiding under. However, for the sake of being comprehensive, this game is a classic of the Platforming genre, and one that virtually all Platformers since owe much of their existence to. Without this game, there very likely would be no Sonic, no Crash Bandicoot, no Spyro, no Castlevania, no Mega Man... in fact, there may very well be no Nintendo, at least as we know it today. What's more, after the Atari Crash of 1983, the videogame industry as a whole simply would not exist as it does now if not for the rejuvenating effect that this game had on the entire medium. Super Mario Bros. is, without question, one of the most important videogames ever made, if not the most important videogame ever made.
This is not just due to being one of the first games in the genre, nor for being a quality game at a time when the videogame industry really needed a winner to revive the market, nor for innovating design in countless areas from screen scrolling to power-up systems. The original Super Mario Bros. still holds up surprisingly well even today, though of course it pales next to more modern entries in the series. The game design here is superb, the physics are excellent (though still rough compared to later Mario games), the pixel art visuals are iconic, the game’s chiptune themes are some of the most memorable tunes ever seen in a videogame. Even to this day, Super Mario Bros. is still one of the greatest videogames ever made, even if it has been eclipsed by its later sequels.
This release of the game, as a part of Hamster Corporation’s Arcade Archives series, gives players a decent array of options, including various display options, sound options, challenge modifiers, button mapping, and online leaderboards. There is also a new “Hi-Score Mode” (for the aforementioned leaderboards), that challenges players to make as many points as they can on one life. There is also a new “Caravan Mode” that does much the same, but with the limit being five minutes rather than one life.
So there are only two remaining elephants in the room to discuss. First: Is this game worth its $8 price tag? And second, is it worth buying if you already subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online, which includes a version of this game on its Nintendo Entertainment System app. To be perfectly honest... no, I don’t think so, at least not for most people. The changes to the “VS” version of the game aren’t enough to really set this game apart and make it feel like a different game, but they are enough to frustrate the muscle memory of players who are used to the NES version of the game. What’s more, in prior Virtual Console releases of this game, the price was set at $5, making the $8 price tag here seem like gouging. Finally, with the NES version of the game already on Nintendo Switch Online, the only reason to buy this game is if you aren’t subscribed to that service, or prefer to own outright the classic games on your Switch, and don’t mind that this isn’t quite the version of the game you may be familiar with... or if you’re a collector or completionist who only wants this game as a fun little curiosity rather than an actual game.
Either way, despite being mostly the same game as one of the greatest videogames of all time, it’s hard for me to give this release a full-hearted recommendation. Arcade Archives VS Super Mario Bros.is a decent enough port of the Arcade game it’s based on, but that game is a frustratingly-altered port of the classic Platformer it is based on, and the combination of a high price tag and the original version of the game being available on Nintendo Switch Online remove most of the reason anyone would buy this.
tl;dr – Super Mario Bros. is an absolute classic Platformer, and VS. Super Mario Bros. is a version of the game that’s altered just enough to be frustrating without changing enough to make it feel truly new. On top of this, the price seems too steep, especially with the NES version of Super Mario Bros. being easily accessible on Nintendo Switch Online’s NES app. As a result, while this is still a great game, it’s a game that almost no one will find worth buying.
Grade: B
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2023.06.02 15:33 SmallCapsDaily Pre-Market Movers for 6/2/2023
MMV Minerals Inc. (MMV) is seeing a significant uptick in its pre-market activity today. The stock is displaying a substantial increase of 114.7%. Trading volume is registering at approximately 1,013,000.
UCAR Inc. (UCAR) is also demonstrating a robust pre-market performance. The stock has surged by 78.8%. Trading volume for UCAR stands around 8,086,000.
Pre-market trading for Kaixin Auto Holdings (KXIN) shows a hefty gain, with the stock price increasing by 50.0%. The company’s trading volume has reached roughly 2,097,000.
Lavite Therapeutics (LVTX) is showing strong pre-market activity. The stock has risen by 28.5%. With a trading volume of approximately 804,000, there is a clear interest in the company.
MongoDB Inc. (MDB) is experiencing a notable rise in its pre-market trading, with a gain of 25.9%. The company’s trading volume stands at roughly 303,000. Today’s boost seems to be tied to the announcement that the company will host an investor session.
Better Choice Company Inc. (BTTR) shows a substantial pre-market increase. The stock has jumped by 24.6%, and trading volume is currently around 1,191,000.
Digital Media Solutions Inc. (DMS) is seeing a marked uptick in its pre-market trading today. The stock is up by 17.5%. The trading volume is estimated at 262,000.
Rain Therapeutics Inc. (RAIN) is also demonstrating a solid pre-market performance. The stock has risen by 13.6%, with trading volume around 912,000.
Senseonics Holdings Inc. (SENS) shows positive momentum in pre-market trading, with a gain of 12.9%. The company’s trading volume stands at approximately 632,000.
Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd. (PBTS) is enjoying a substantial pre-market increase, with the stock price going up by 11.2%. Its trading volume is currently around 4,365,000.
Lastly, SiDu Corporation (SIDU) is seeing strong pre-market activity. The stock has risen by 10.3%, with a trading volume of approximately 1,719,000.
submitted by SmallCapsDaily to SmallcapsDaily [link] [comments]
UCAR Inc. (UCAR) is also demonstrating a robust pre-market performance. The stock has surged by 78.8%. Trading volume for UCAR stands around 8,086,000.
Pre-market trading for Kaixin Auto Holdings (KXIN) shows a hefty gain, with the stock price increasing by 50.0%. The company’s trading volume has reached roughly 2,097,000.
Lavite Therapeutics (LVTX) is showing strong pre-market activity. The stock has risen by 28.5%. With a trading volume of approximately 804,000, there is a clear interest in the company.
MongoDB Inc. (MDB) is experiencing a notable rise in its pre-market trading, with a gain of 25.9%. The company’s trading volume stands at roughly 303,000. Today’s boost seems to be tied to the announcement that the company will host an investor session.
Better Choice Company Inc. (BTTR) shows a substantial pre-market increase. The stock has jumped by 24.6%, and trading volume is currently around 1,191,000.
Digital Media Solutions Inc. (DMS) is seeing a marked uptick in its pre-market trading today. The stock is up by 17.5%. The trading volume is estimated at 262,000.
Rain Therapeutics Inc. (RAIN) is also demonstrating a solid pre-market performance. The stock has risen by 13.6%, with trading volume around 912,000.
Senseonics Holdings Inc. (SENS) shows positive momentum in pre-market trading, with a gain of 12.9%. The company’s trading volume stands at approximately 632,000.
Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd. (PBTS) is enjoying a substantial pre-market increase, with the stock price going up by 11.2%. Its trading volume is currently around 4,365,000.
Lastly, SiDu Corporation (SIDU) is seeing strong pre-market activity. The stock has risen by 10.3%, with a trading volume of approximately 1,719,000.
2023.06.02 15:31 itsdirector The New Species 41
Previous First
Wiki
Chapter 41
Subject: Ship-Head Uleena
Species: Urakari
Description: Reptilian humanoid, no tail. 5'3" (1.6 m) avg height. 135 lbs (61 kg) avg weight. 105 year life expectancy.
Ship: RSV Lowelana {Fights with Honor}
Location: Sol
"It's been more than three hours, ship-head. When can we stand down?" asked Kriin.
"We'll be able to stand down when they tell us to stand down, sister," replied Kraan in my stead.
Kriin made a face and hissed softly at him. This playful exchange did a lot to ease the tension that had settled over the bridge as time had dragged on. It even got a smile out of Liwna.
It was still unnerving to be on standby so long after the battle had ended, though. I'd asked for an explanation but received no response, which indicated something was happening or had happened. The OU had consistently increased their numbers with each wave, so I desperately hoped it wasn't going to be another attack. Maybe we'd received orders from the Republic to go home. One could dream.
A soft bing from my terminal nearly made me jump. All heads turned to me as I opened the message, desperate to know if we were in the clear. I nibbled my tongue as I softly pressed the notification to open the message.
--
Ship-Head Uleena
RSV Lowelana and her crew are to stand down but remain in a state of readiness. You are summoned to meet with Admiral Heckett and myself. A guide will meet you in the bay.
Fleet Leader Onaya
--
I looked around at the faces of my bridge crew. They were all hoping I would be giving the order to stand down, to tell them we were in the clear. The anticipation was brutal, and I found myself considering a little prank. If I were to simply say that the message was nothing, the looks of disappointment would be pretty great. Although, the fleet leader wouldn't appreciate waiting...
"Stand down, but stay ready," I said and then sighed audibly, "I'm off to meet with command."
"You have my sympathies, sir," Liwna said.
"I'm sure it won't be that bad, ship-head. Maybe they want to give you a medal," Kraan said cheerily.
"Don't get your hopes up, sir. We didn't really do anything medal-worthy. But maybe we'll get to see one of the planets we've been protecting," Kriin said excitedly.
"That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is 'one of the planets we put at risk'," Kraan replied with air quotes.
"That's rich, coming from the cloaca that put the planets at risk in the first place!"
"Hey! I was following procedure! Why don't you..."
"That's enough," I interrupted, trying to keep a straight face. "I'll go find out what they want. You just stay ready for our next move."
I stood and left as the two siblings began whispering insults at each other. As I exited the ship, I wondered how long I'd have to wait for the guide. To my surprise, the guide was actually waiting for me. A seven foot tall human wearing olive drab armor and carrying a rifle that was the size of my leg. That's a bad sign.
"Ship-head Uleena. This way please," the marine gestured.
"Of course," I said as I began to follow.
We walked past a crew of gont engineers and one of them waved at me. I waved back. Must be Plinas, but it's hard to tell them apart at a distance. We continued into a corridor and I began to have questions. I worked up my nerve to ask the giant death machine that was guiding me to my destination.
"So, why isn't Tim guiding me this time?" I finally asked.
"I don't know, sir," he replied.
"Do you know Corporal Simmons and Lance Corporal Johnson?"
"I know a few Corporals named Simmons and a few lances named Johnson, sir."
"They're the ones who were assigned to our rescue detail."
"Oh. Then they're probably part of a ship crew. Or maybe MARSOC," he said. "So I probably don't know them."
"What's MARSOC?"
"Marine Special Operations Command. It's special forces. They get assigned to whatever needs a specially trained marine, and usually whatever's closest to wherever they happen to be."
"So they probably wouldn't still be on the Thanatos, then?"
"Sir, I'm not qualified to even begin to wager a guess," the marine said with a chuckle. "There's plenty of MARSOC marines aboard, but I'm not one of 'em. Just a home-grown, corn-fed grunt, at your service."
"Corn?" I asked. "What's corn?"
"Huh?" He stopped to look at me. "Oh, right. It's a type of vegetable that's kinda sweet. Small yellow kernels that grow on a cob are the edible part, but some people use the leaves to store their food for some added flavor."
"I see... So you eat a lot of corn?"
"Yes, sir. It's good for muscles if you have it with meat," he said as he began to guide me again. "The phrase corn-fed refers to someone who's normal, though. Like, there's nothing special about them."
"But aren't you one of those... um..." I said as I struggled to remember the term.
"A gen-alt? Nope," the marine replied with laugh. "Believe it or not, some of us humans naturally get this big."
"Really?" I asked, my eyes widening in shock.
"Oh yeah. The genetic augmentation just swaps around certain genomes that we all already have, or something like that," the marine said. "Technically, every human has a chance to be born with all the benefits of being a gen-alt. It's a pretty low chance though."
It was with this shocking information that we boarded a bus. The ride was spent in silence as I digested what I had just learned. Humans were odd, to be sure. Despite their soft skin and disarming features (which I'm pretty sure has a lot to do with how much of their face actually moves), they were a warrior race.
I remembered how nervous I had been to meet my first Isolan. Now THEY look the part of a warrior race. Muscles that ripple and bulge with every movement, a natural scowl, and elongated canines that can definitely tear into most throats with little to no effort. Their military was very disciplined as well, to the point that horror stories about disciplinary action have spread throughout the fleet. Still, the Republic would have been able to handle the Isolan without much problem if they went rogue.
I can't say the same about humanity, though. Maybe if the Republic had found them early on in their development, we could have taken them. On the other hand, I get the dreadful feeling that we would have lost a lot of people in the attempt. I couldn't help but imagine what life would have been like if humanity had joined the Republic without a fight, though. We'd have a lot more in the way of technology, that's for sure.
They like to give a lot of credit to the knuknu and the gont for their current level of tech, but it's obvious that the majority of it comes from humans. The other species likely sped things along, but humanity would have gotten to the point they are now on their own eventually, and still much faster than us. Although I wonder how much of that is due to their bloody history, and how that history would have changed as part of the Republic.
"We've arrived, sir. Just inside those doors is where the debrief is," the marine gestured.
"Understood, thanks," I replied.
I stepped towards the doors and they opened with a slight hiss. Inside the room was a table with plenty of chairs and several US and Republic officers. I immediately recognized Reynolds and Wong, as well as fleet-leader Onaya. I snapped to attention.
"Ship-head Uleena reporting as ordered, sirs!"
"Sit down, Uleena," Onaya said with smiling eyes.
I took my seat as introductions went around the table. Most of the people here were higher officers of the fleets protecting Sol, but there were also a couple of diplomats from both sides. Not my sister, though. Thank the sun. I'm sure she tried to be here, but I'm willing to bet that our father blocked her attempts. Far too dangerous.
"There's one more that we need to introduce, but he's been delayed somewhat," Admiral Heckett said as the doors hissed.
I turned to look and saw a short human in the black directorate armor with two marines flanking it. It took me a second to realize that the human looked short because the marines were so damned tall. I'll never get used to that.
"What impeccable timing," Heckett said with a grin. "Everyone, meet Director 3. I'm sure he already knows who you are."
"Correct," Director 3 said as he took a seat. "Ship-head Uleena, pleasure to see you again."
"Likewise," I replied.
"Oh, hey Uleena!" one of the marines said with a familiar voice. "Good to see you again."
"Simmons, we're on duty. We can say hi later," the other marine said.
I smiled and replied, "Hi Corporal Simmons and Lance Corporal Johnson. Good to see you too."
I was glad to see the two of them alive and well. So glad that I almost didn't notice the rest of the Republic officers giving me a sideways glance. As I deflated slightly under their gaze, I noticed that the human officers were doing the same to the two marines. I guess we're more alike than I thought.
"Okay. Well, with all of the pleasantries out of the way, I'm going to turn things over to Director 3," Admiral Heckett said.
"Thank you, Admiral," Director 3 said with a nod before turning to look at the Republic side of the table. "The invasion of the Omni-Union stronghold was a success."
Clapping and some light cheering erupted from both sides of the table, but Director 3 quickly held up a hand to quiet things down.
"That's the only good news, I'm afraid. What I am about to tell you has already been relayed to the Republic's senior leadership, and they will be communicating with you in regards to whether they consider the information classified or not. Until they do so, I recommend treating it as classified," he said.
After a round of nods, he continued, "First, some of you may already know this, but we have a superweapon called the USSS Nidhogg. It's a dreadnought class ship that has the capacity to destroy a solar system by causing a star to go supernova."
"What?" one of our officers asked in shock. Several senior officer's eyes immediately darted towards the offending individual, who quickly quieted down.
"Your shock is understandable. To clarify, the Nidhogg was built in response to our conflict with the Daluran, as a deterrence to any further xenocidal action taken against the United Systems and its member species. Frankly, many of us hoped to never use it. But we were forced to use it against the Omni-Union during the invasion."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was like the room got smaller somehow. A superweapon that can destroy an entire solar system, something the likes of which the Republic would likely never get close to. And they USED it. Wait hold on, did he say...
"Apologies, Director, but what do you mean you were forced to use it?" Fleet-Leader Onaya asked.
"Exactly that. One of our AI infiltrated their planetary systems, as planned, and retrieved mission critical intelligence. The next step of the plan would have been to cripple the OU's planetary activities by any means possible and move on to the next planet," Director 3 said. "However, it turned out that the planet wasn't actually a planet at all. It was a massive machine containing an Artificial Intelligence of unknown origin. And it was heavily armed."
Silence filled the room as images taken from US ships began to display. A planet filled our view. It looked like any other planet, but something was off about it. The images scrolled until they reached a short video of the planet firing, and two US ships exploding. My blood ran cold. Two US ships, ships with the most advanced shielding and hulls that I've ever seen, with one shot.
As much as I hated to admit it, I was grateful that they had that superweapon. The Republic was pursuing an offensive war against the Omni-Union even now, and if we would have run into this thing... Sun preserve us.
"This AI was called Prime 29 and the machine itself is a Mobile Prime Platform. During the confrontation with our AI, Prime two-niner was able to extract actionable intelligence from the AI. Thankfully, prior to this confrontation our AI managed to disable their communications which prevented Prime two-niner from being able to communicate said information with the Omni-Union. We were able to keep it trapped in the system using our own warp-jamming technology," Director 3 said. "The reason that we used the Nidhogg was to make certain that it didn't have enough time to eliminate the warp-jammers or escape their range."
"If we had tried to eliminate that thing with standard tactics, our casualties would have been in the tens of thousands," Admiral Heckett said. "As it stands, we lost 2,316 ships and more than one million marines."
"The Republic's casualties would have easily exceeded one hundred thousand ships. If we were even able to take it out at all," Fleet-Leader Onaya said, looking somewhat deflated.
"Was this the only Mobile Prime Platform, sir?" I asked, knowing damned well what the answer would be.
"No," Omega said, his avatar appearing where the images were previously. "We found intelligence in the form of a list that shows a total of 114 Mobile Prime Platforms. The intel indicated that at least one was damaged beyond repair prior to Prime 29's destruction, and that one is currently being built. Since we couldn't confirm if the other four planets in the stronghold system were MPPs or not, we will go on the assumption that there are now 111."
"Why don't we know if the other four planets are MPPs?" Onaya asked. "They didn't attack, so isn't it likely that they weren't?
"I suspect that the platforms require immense amounts of power, and so they stay in a sort of hibernation until something forces them out of it. Since the OU didn't awaken the MPP, it's reasonable to assume that they might not be able to. Prime 29 also had its communications cut, so it wouldn't have been able to wake them up, either," Omega said. "We had to go on the assumption that the other four planets were also MPPs, which is why we utilized the Nidhogg."
"So what's the plan to deal with them?" I asked.
"We're working on that," Director 3 interjected. "Obviously, we don't want to be running around causing supernovas everywhere."
"I guess it's time to come up with another 'bigger gun', eh?" Tim asked.
"Or a lot of little ones," John replied, appearing next to Omega.
A lot of our officers began to look nervous. Until very recently, AI was seen as the enemy and it's hard to kill old habits. They all looked to fleet leader Onaya to judge what their reactions should be. He didn't react, so they didn't either.
A bigger gun, or even a lot of little ones, would probably take quite a while to come up with. The US has amazing manufacturing procedures, but not nearly as many shipyards as the Republic. It was arguable whose engineers were better. The US had come up with some amazing things, but they had the benefit of necessity driving their creativity. Our engineers came up with what they created out of pure speculation. If the two worked together...
"Omega, if I may ask, how long would it take the US to create a new fleet?"
"One of ours or one of yours," the AI asked with a hint of smugness.
"One of yours," I replied.
"Factoring in material procurement, at least a year and a half. Assuming everyone working at capacity and nothing went wrong, which isn't a very realistic assumption," Omega said.
"What about us, fleet leader? How long to manufacture five million ships?" I asked.
"Or primary delay would be material procurement, but we managed to do eight million in seven months at the beginning of the OU war," Onaya replied.
All of the US officers eyebrows rose at this. I took a little pleasure at being able to surprise them, for once. Our manufacturing capability was borne from nearly every species already having at least one shipyard prior to joining the Republic, and maintaining those shipyards even now. If we were able to apply US manufacturing standards to those shipyards, the OU wouldn't stand a chance.
"We have a lot more shipyards than the US does," I began. "If the US were to make use of those shipyards, both sides would benefit massively."
"While that may be true, there's always the risk of us turning on each other after the OU is dealt with," Omega said.
"That's a bit pessimistic," John said.
"But historically accurate!" Tim cheerily exclaimed.
"That may be the case, but there are ways to prevent that. Bolstering the US fleet and shipyards to meet the same size as the Republic's, for instance. It would take quite a while for the US to catch up to the Republic's ship count on its own, and we've got barely any chance of catching up to your tech on our own," I said, holding my hands up to quiet the AI.
"This is true," Onaya began, "and your corporations would even fall in line. Greed is their primary motivator, and this deal would require a lot of trade and chance for profits."
Director 3 looked deep in thought before he finally spoke up, "Is this something that the Republic would agree to?"
"Probably," I said. "I'm not an official diplomat so I can't say with 100% certainty, but the US is more likely to say no than we are."
"I'll bring it to the Directorate, and we'll convince the senate of the necessity," Director 3 said with a nod.
"And I'll get have the diplomatic corps draw up an official agreement, and I'll push the proper buttons to get the votes on our end," Onaya said with smiling eyes. "Also, Uleena, you actually are an official diplomat now. The RSV Lowelana is our first armed diplomatic vessel. The decision came down yesterday."
"What?" I asked in shock.
"Your temporary post as liaison has become a permanent one. You'll be starting your training as soon as we can spare you. Same with your crew," Onaya said, the smiling eyes turning ever so slightly malicious.
Ah, I see. The Sun has forsaken me for some grave, unknown sin. Woe be unto me.
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Wiki
Chapter 41
Subject: Ship-Head Uleena
Species: Urakari
Description: Reptilian humanoid, no tail. 5'3" (1.6 m) avg height. 135 lbs (61 kg) avg weight. 105 year life expectancy.
Ship: RSV Lowelana {Fights with Honor}
Location: Sol
"It's been more than three hours, ship-head. When can we stand down?" asked Kriin.
"We'll be able to stand down when they tell us to stand down, sister," replied Kraan in my stead.
Kriin made a face and hissed softly at him. This playful exchange did a lot to ease the tension that had settled over the bridge as time had dragged on. It even got a smile out of Liwna.
It was still unnerving to be on standby so long after the battle had ended, though. I'd asked for an explanation but received no response, which indicated something was happening or had happened. The OU had consistently increased their numbers with each wave, so I desperately hoped it wasn't going to be another attack. Maybe we'd received orders from the Republic to go home. One could dream.
A soft bing from my terminal nearly made me jump. All heads turned to me as I opened the message, desperate to know if we were in the clear. I nibbled my tongue as I softly pressed the notification to open the message.
--
Ship-Head Uleena
RSV Lowelana and her crew are to stand down but remain in a state of readiness. You are summoned to meet with Admiral Heckett and myself. A guide will meet you in the bay.
Fleet Leader Onaya
--
I looked around at the faces of my bridge crew. They were all hoping I would be giving the order to stand down, to tell them we were in the clear. The anticipation was brutal, and I found myself considering a little prank. If I were to simply say that the message was nothing, the looks of disappointment would be pretty great. Although, the fleet leader wouldn't appreciate waiting...
"Stand down, but stay ready," I said and then sighed audibly, "I'm off to meet with command."
"You have my sympathies, sir," Liwna said.
"I'm sure it won't be that bad, ship-head. Maybe they want to give you a medal," Kraan said cheerily.
"Don't get your hopes up, sir. We didn't really do anything medal-worthy. But maybe we'll get to see one of the planets we've been protecting," Kriin said excitedly.
"That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is 'one of the planets we put at risk'," Kraan replied with air quotes.
"That's rich, coming from the cloaca that put the planets at risk in the first place!"
"Hey! I was following procedure! Why don't you..."
"That's enough," I interrupted, trying to keep a straight face. "I'll go find out what they want. You just stay ready for our next move."
I stood and left as the two siblings began whispering insults at each other. As I exited the ship, I wondered how long I'd have to wait for the guide. To my surprise, the guide was actually waiting for me. A seven foot tall human wearing olive drab armor and carrying a rifle that was the size of my leg. That's a bad sign.
"Ship-head Uleena. This way please," the marine gestured.
"Of course," I said as I began to follow.
We walked past a crew of gont engineers and one of them waved at me. I waved back. Must be Plinas, but it's hard to tell them apart at a distance. We continued into a corridor and I began to have questions. I worked up my nerve to ask the giant death machine that was guiding me to my destination.
"So, why isn't Tim guiding me this time?" I finally asked.
"I don't know, sir," he replied.
"Do you know Corporal Simmons and Lance Corporal Johnson?"
"I know a few Corporals named Simmons and a few lances named Johnson, sir."
"They're the ones who were assigned to our rescue detail."
"Oh. Then they're probably part of a ship crew. Or maybe MARSOC," he said. "So I probably don't know them."
"What's MARSOC?"
"Marine Special Operations Command. It's special forces. They get assigned to whatever needs a specially trained marine, and usually whatever's closest to wherever they happen to be."
"So they probably wouldn't still be on the Thanatos, then?"
"Sir, I'm not qualified to even begin to wager a guess," the marine said with a chuckle. "There's plenty of MARSOC marines aboard, but I'm not one of 'em. Just a home-grown, corn-fed grunt, at your service."
"Corn?" I asked. "What's corn?"
"Huh?" He stopped to look at me. "Oh, right. It's a type of vegetable that's kinda sweet. Small yellow kernels that grow on a cob are the edible part, but some people use the leaves to store their food for some added flavor."
"I see... So you eat a lot of corn?"
"Yes, sir. It's good for muscles if you have it with meat," he said as he began to guide me again. "The phrase corn-fed refers to someone who's normal, though. Like, there's nothing special about them."
"But aren't you one of those... um..." I said as I struggled to remember the term.
"A gen-alt? Nope," the marine replied with laugh. "Believe it or not, some of us humans naturally get this big."
"Really?" I asked, my eyes widening in shock.
"Oh yeah. The genetic augmentation just swaps around certain genomes that we all already have, or something like that," the marine said. "Technically, every human has a chance to be born with all the benefits of being a gen-alt. It's a pretty low chance though."
It was with this shocking information that we boarded a bus. The ride was spent in silence as I digested what I had just learned. Humans were odd, to be sure. Despite their soft skin and disarming features (which I'm pretty sure has a lot to do with how much of their face actually moves), they were a warrior race.
I remembered how nervous I had been to meet my first Isolan. Now THEY look the part of a warrior race. Muscles that ripple and bulge with every movement, a natural scowl, and elongated canines that can definitely tear into most throats with little to no effort. Their military was very disciplined as well, to the point that horror stories about disciplinary action have spread throughout the fleet. Still, the Republic would have been able to handle the Isolan without much problem if they went rogue.
I can't say the same about humanity, though. Maybe if the Republic had found them early on in their development, we could have taken them. On the other hand, I get the dreadful feeling that we would have lost a lot of people in the attempt. I couldn't help but imagine what life would have been like if humanity had joined the Republic without a fight, though. We'd have a lot more in the way of technology, that's for sure.
They like to give a lot of credit to the knuknu and the gont for their current level of tech, but it's obvious that the majority of it comes from humans. The other species likely sped things along, but humanity would have gotten to the point they are now on their own eventually, and still much faster than us. Although I wonder how much of that is due to their bloody history, and how that history would have changed as part of the Republic.
"We've arrived, sir. Just inside those doors is where the debrief is," the marine gestured.
"Understood, thanks," I replied.
I stepped towards the doors and they opened with a slight hiss. Inside the room was a table with plenty of chairs and several US and Republic officers. I immediately recognized Reynolds and Wong, as well as fleet-leader Onaya. I snapped to attention.
"Ship-head Uleena reporting as ordered, sirs!"
"Sit down, Uleena," Onaya said with smiling eyes.
I took my seat as introductions went around the table. Most of the people here were higher officers of the fleets protecting Sol, but there were also a couple of diplomats from both sides. Not my sister, though. Thank the sun. I'm sure she tried to be here, but I'm willing to bet that our father blocked her attempts. Far too dangerous.
"There's one more that we need to introduce, but he's been delayed somewhat," Admiral Heckett said as the doors hissed.
I turned to look and saw a short human in the black directorate armor with two marines flanking it. It took me a second to realize that the human looked short because the marines were so damned tall. I'll never get used to that.
"What impeccable timing," Heckett said with a grin. "Everyone, meet Director 3. I'm sure he already knows who you are."
"Correct," Director 3 said as he took a seat. "Ship-head Uleena, pleasure to see you again."
"Likewise," I replied.
"Oh, hey Uleena!" one of the marines said with a familiar voice. "Good to see you again."
"Simmons, we're on duty. We can say hi later," the other marine said.
I smiled and replied, "Hi Corporal Simmons and Lance Corporal Johnson. Good to see you too."
I was glad to see the two of them alive and well. So glad that I almost didn't notice the rest of the Republic officers giving me a sideways glance. As I deflated slightly under their gaze, I noticed that the human officers were doing the same to the two marines. I guess we're more alike than I thought.
"Okay. Well, with all of the pleasantries out of the way, I'm going to turn things over to Director 3," Admiral Heckett said.
"Thank you, Admiral," Director 3 said with a nod before turning to look at the Republic side of the table. "The invasion of the Omni-Union stronghold was a success."
Clapping and some light cheering erupted from both sides of the table, but Director 3 quickly held up a hand to quiet things down.
"That's the only good news, I'm afraid. What I am about to tell you has already been relayed to the Republic's senior leadership, and they will be communicating with you in regards to whether they consider the information classified or not. Until they do so, I recommend treating it as classified," he said.
After a round of nods, he continued, "First, some of you may already know this, but we have a superweapon called the USSS Nidhogg. It's a dreadnought class ship that has the capacity to destroy a solar system by causing a star to go supernova."
"What?" one of our officers asked in shock. Several senior officer's eyes immediately darted towards the offending individual, who quickly quieted down.
"Your shock is understandable. To clarify, the Nidhogg was built in response to our conflict with the Daluran, as a deterrence to any further xenocidal action taken against the United Systems and its member species. Frankly, many of us hoped to never use it. But we were forced to use it against the Omni-Union during the invasion."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was like the room got smaller somehow. A superweapon that can destroy an entire solar system, something the likes of which the Republic would likely never get close to. And they USED it. Wait hold on, did he say...
"Apologies, Director, but what do you mean you were forced to use it?" Fleet-Leader Onaya asked.
"Exactly that. One of our AI infiltrated their planetary systems, as planned, and retrieved mission critical intelligence. The next step of the plan would have been to cripple the OU's planetary activities by any means possible and move on to the next planet," Director 3 said. "However, it turned out that the planet wasn't actually a planet at all. It was a massive machine containing an Artificial Intelligence of unknown origin. And it was heavily armed."
Silence filled the room as images taken from US ships began to display. A planet filled our view. It looked like any other planet, but something was off about it. The images scrolled until they reached a short video of the planet firing, and two US ships exploding. My blood ran cold. Two US ships, ships with the most advanced shielding and hulls that I've ever seen, with one shot.
As much as I hated to admit it, I was grateful that they had that superweapon. The Republic was pursuing an offensive war against the Omni-Union even now, and if we would have run into this thing... Sun preserve us.
"This AI was called Prime 29 and the machine itself is a Mobile Prime Platform. During the confrontation with our AI, Prime two-niner was able to extract actionable intelligence from the AI. Thankfully, prior to this confrontation our AI managed to disable their communications which prevented Prime two-niner from being able to communicate said information with the Omni-Union. We were able to keep it trapped in the system using our own warp-jamming technology," Director 3 said. "The reason that we used the Nidhogg was to make certain that it didn't have enough time to eliminate the warp-jammers or escape their range."
"If we had tried to eliminate that thing with standard tactics, our casualties would have been in the tens of thousands," Admiral Heckett said. "As it stands, we lost 2,316 ships and more than one million marines."
"The Republic's casualties would have easily exceeded one hundred thousand ships. If we were even able to take it out at all," Fleet-Leader Onaya said, looking somewhat deflated.
"Was this the only Mobile Prime Platform, sir?" I asked, knowing damned well what the answer would be.
"No," Omega said, his avatar appearing where the images were previously. "We found intelligence in the form of a list that shows a total of 114 Mobile Prime Platforms. The intel indicated that at least one was damaged beyond repair prior to Prime 29's destruction, and that one is currently being built. Since we couldn't confirm if the other four planets in the stronghold system were MPPs or not, we will go on the assumption that there are now 111."
"Why don't we know if the other four planets are MPPs?" Onaya asked. "They didn't attack, so isn't it likely that they weren't?
"I suspect that the platforms require immense amounts of power, and so they stay in a sort of hibernation until something forces them out of it. Since the OU didn't awaken the MPP, it's reasonable to assume that they might not be able to. Prime 29 also had its communications cut, so it wouldn't have been able to wake them up, either," Omega said. "We had to go on the assumption that the other four planets were also MPPs, which is why we utilized the Nidhogg."
"So what's the plan to deal with them?" I asked.
"We're working on that," Director 3 interjected. "Obviously, we don't want to be running around causing supernovas everywhere."
"I guess it's time to come up with another 'bigger gun', eh?" Tim asked.
"Or a lot of little ones," John replied, appearing next to Omega.
A lot of our officers began to look nervous. Until very recently, AI was seen as the enemy and it's hard to kill old habits. They all looked to fleet leader Onaya to judge what their reactions should be. He didn't react, so they didn't either.
A bigger gun, or even a lot of little ones, would probably take quite a while to come up with. The US has amazing manufacturing procedures, but not nearly as many shipyards as the Republic. It was arguable whose engineers were better. The US had come up with some amazing things, but they had the benefit of necessity driving their creativity. Our engineers came up with what they created out of pure speculation. If the two worked together...
"Omega, if I may ask, how long would it take the US to create a new fleet?"
"One of ours or one of yours," the AI asked with a hint of smugness.
"One of yours," I replied.
"Factoring in material procurement, at least a year and a half. Assuming everyone working at capacity and nothing went wrong, which isn't a very realistic assumption," Omega said.
"What about us, fleet leader? How long to manufacture five million ships?" I asked.
"Or primary delay would be material procurement, but we managed to do eight million in seven months at the beginning of the OU war," Onaya replied.
All of the US officers eyebrows rose at this. I took a little pleasure at being able to surprise them, for once. Our manufacturing capability was borne from nearly every species already having at least one shipyard prior to joining the Republic, and maintaining those shipyards even now. If we were able to apply US manufacturing standards to those shipyards, the OU wouldn't stand a chance.
"We have a lot more shipyards than the US does," I began. "If the US were to make use of those shipyards, both sides would benefit massively."
"While that may be true, there's always the risk of us turning on each other after the OU is dealt with," Omega said.
"That's a bit pessimistic," John said.
"But historically accurate!" Tim cheerily exclaimed.
"That may be the case, but there are ways to prevent that. Bolstering the US fleet and shipyards to meet the same size as the Republic's, for instance. It would take quite a while for the US to catch up to the Republic's ship count on its own, and we've got barely any chance of catching up to your tech on our own," I said, holding my hands up to quiet the AI.
"This is true," Onaya began, "and your corporations would even fall in line. Greed is their primary motivator, and this deal would require a lot of trade and chance for profits."
Director 3 looked deep in thought before he finally spoke up, "Is this something that the Republic would agree to?"
"Probably," I said. "I'm not an official diplomat so I can't say with 100% certainty, but the US is more likely to say no than we are."
"I'll bring it to the Directorate, and we'll convince the senate of the necessity," Director 3 said with a nod.
"And I'll get have the diplomatic corps draw up an official agreement, and I'll push the proper buttons to get the votes on our end," Onaya said with smiling eyes. "Also, Uleena, you actually are an official diplomat now. The RSV Lowelana is our first armed diplomatic vessel. The decision came down yesterday."
"What?" I asked in shock.
"Your temporary post as liaison has become a permanent one. You'll be starting your training as soon as we can spare you. Same with your crew," Onaya said, the smiling eyes turning ever so slightly malicious.
Ah, I see. The Sun has forsaken me for some grave, unknown sin. Woe be unto me.
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