Quick Answer: Is Gambling A Mental Health Issue? - Sportsbook
Quick Answer: Is Gambling A Mental Health Issue? - Sportsbook
Problem Gambling | CAMH
Gambling-related harm as a public health issue
Is Gambling A Mental Health Issue? > Betfair Community
What Is Gambling Disorder? - psychiatry.org
Gambling | 'This is a mental health issue': the
Gambling and mental health | Mental Health Foundation
Gambling and Mental Health | Gambling Addiction | Rehab Center
Gambling: a neglected public health issue - The Lancet
is gambling a mental health issue
is gambling a mental health issue - win
Having money is one of most addictive things on this planet, but it is also one of the least addressed forms of addiction. We focus on other addictions, like food, drugs, gambling, and spending as mental health issues, but we forget that money addiction could be a treatable mental illness.
Many people acknowledge forms of addiction like alcohol, drugs, food, spending, and gambling as mental illnesses, but very few people treat money and power addictions seriously. We brush it off as if it isn't really a thing, or even if it's a thing, we don't think much about it. I would argue that money and power are just as addictive, if not more addictive than the addictions we are used to hearing about. Earning money brings a dopamine rush. Lottery winners get a dopamine rush. Spending money gives a dopamine rush. Having power gives a dopamine rush. Over time, this rush gets less, and we require more of the thing to get the rush. For those addicted to money, the more money they have, the more they want. For those not addicted to money, the more money they have, the less they want, because they don't "need" it as urgently anymore. If money and power are so addictive, why aren't people recognizing it as an illness but rather a character flaw? Money hungry people are seen as evil, sick, and twisted, but could at least a few of them be mentally sick in a similar way to an alcoholic? Now before you think I'm defending the rich and need to be crucified, I'm thinking of this from a mental illness point of view. Forget politics, inequality, and the whole class wars for just a moment, and let's focus on mental health. Inequality is definitely a huge thing and I find inequality disgusting and want to fix it, but if we put all of those aside, could some forms of addiction to money be a mental illness? Calling certain rich mentally ill isn't exactly flattering to them, but just like the difference between a drinker and an alcoholic, being able to tell which rich person is in control of their money and who isn't can really open up areas of ideas that can solve inequality. Are some rich people evil? For sure. Heck, even rich people who are addicted to money could be evil, similar to how some drug addicts are evil. Addiction doesn't exclude you from being evil, but it certainly doesn't help. Recognizing addiction when it happens can create a breakthrough in recognizing human behaviour. One thing to understand about addiction is that you don't have to have much access to the thing to be addicted to it. For example, an alcoholic without any booze in his hand or in his cupboard is still an alcoholic. Alcoholism acts on your body and mind. It changes the way you think about alcohol. You feel you need alcohol. In the same way, you could be broke and powerless and still be addicted to money, but you don't know it. A lot of people feel they need money, and we do need money like we need food. But food addiction is a thing. What is the difference between food addiction and just being hungry? There is a lot of difference. You can be hungry, but not have an unhealthy relationship towards food. You could be full, but still have an unhealthy relationship towards food. If you find yourself wanting more money the more you have, then you could be at risk. Similarly, addiction can reduce your quality of life even if you have the said thing. An alcoholic with access to alcohol isn't exactly living the best version of his/her life. Just because an alcoholic has alcohol doesn't mean they are happy. Their life may be out of control, and their life could be revolving around alcohol against his/her consent. They may be smiling when they are drunk, but they might be unhappy inside. A lot of reasons why people associate money hungry people with evil is because when you get money, someone else doesn't get the money. They see it as a zero sum game, where money hungry people are getting money at the expense of others. If so, the same thing could be said of food. If I eat a hamburger, someone else doesn't eat the hamburger. There are starving people everywhere. Is it right to say that all food addicts are evil? "Why don't the rich people who protest against inequality simply give away all their money if they are so concerned about inequality?" Because money is addictive. If alcoholics protest against alcoholism, is it so easy to give away all their alcohol? Even I wouldn't ask an alcoholic to simply "just give up alcohol". It's way more complicated than that. We need to understand addiction better. Not only to help inequality, but to help all the addicts, including alcoholics, gamblers, eaters, spenders, and people with money. TLDR: Money is addictive and people addicted to money could be mentally ill and need to seek professional help.
Asian American Federation, a non-profit composed of 39 member agencies, calls on New York to do more for Asians on mental health: One specific shortfall, according to the AAF, is an absence of specialists who can deal with such issues as gambling, alcohol and drug addiction from an Asian perspective
DisclaimerI want to thank everyone for the gilds, replies and suggestions. I just do not have time to reply to everyone, but I am reading everything. I am not sure how much bigger the thread can be, I already typed this but it vanished so I think I'm at the limit. I will try to keep updating, but I don't expect the thread to be up top for much longer and will likely vanish soon, so if you need anything save it. Yes, it's hard, it sucks, it's depressing. It is something we all have to do if you want to see this virus go. Everyone knows the deal, too many think they're the exception but no one is. However, staying home is hard so maybe I can help at least one or two people with some incentives. I'll try to give links to some things that can help cure the boredom, and some support if you need it. Most of this might be obvious to some, some might not even have internet and of course, money is a big issue, so I'll try to give some suggestions: For streaming and on demand things such as Netflix et al, don't forget you can subscribe for free for your first month. This goes for most things in the list. If you are worried about putting in your payment details and forgetting to cancel a month later, don't worry! You can sign up and immediately cancel and you still get your free month! For people who don't have a smart TV, you can buy a cheap Amazon Fire TV stick or a Roku box. The Fire stick can go as low as £20 often for 1080p. It will drop to £30 for 4k. I picked up a 4k Roku device for £18 on Amazon once. It's fast and snappy. currently it's going for £33 for the 4k version. Having both, there is little difference between the devices. NowTV also do their own roku powered device. Subscription based streaming sites that all offer 2-4 weeks free for first timers
Netflix *According to comments the second month is free.
Amazon Prime You can either get Amazon video on its own, or take prime with other benefits. I strongly urge those who use Amazon for buying off their store front to use [https://smile.amazon.co.uk/] as there is literally no difference except everything you buy amazon donates to a charity of your choice.
Amazon channels. I believe you can get all these individually but Amazon offers them as channels bound to your prime account, and they are again either free for a couple weeks (again, take them, cancel instantly) or very cheap. I recently subscribed to Starzplay for £1 for 3 months. It has some good shows on it like Fringe, doom patrol. It also has channels like Curiosity stream and shudder
If you have not subscribed to the any of the above, you can get a few months of free TV by signing up and cancelling instantly. I suggest waiting at least 5 minutes just to let it go through the system. Some tips for Now TV. IF you already have a subscription, I've noticed you can get it cheaper by cancelling. When you cancel they will beg you to stay. Select "I can not afford it this month" and they should beg again, telling you what shows they have. If you say you still want to cancel, they'll beg one last time and offer you the subscription for cheaper. This won't work every month, but I've noticed they'll always offer it the first time, then again after a couple months. If you're subscribed to both films and entertainment do the most expensive one as it may not work both times (but it might!). You can also pick up passes from storefronts a lot cheaper sometimes, before I could pick one up on Amazon for £3 but, they seem to have cracked down on it. If you shop around (or if anyone knows of a legitimate store please let me know) you might be able to pick it up cheaper. Lastly, check their website and under your account they should have an "offers for you" section. Completely free TV
If you do have a smart TV and/or device, there are some good free streaming apps. One I really love is called PlutoTV. I know this is on both Roku and the fire stick, as well as Ps4/Ps5 and xbox. Pluto offers a bunch of live channels and now an on demand section, all for free. It has adverts but they are actually short (shorter than regular TV and fewer of them). Some of the channels are just streaming certain shows like Mythbusters 24/7 or Dog the bounty hunter, but it has a lot of old movie channels as well as 24/7 kickboxing and MMA. It also has a 24/7 poker channel I quite like. Another one I like is Rakuten Viki however, I haven't watched it for a while as my fire stick is only 1080p and I have too many other devices attached. I believe it is on Roku but you have to jump through some hoops and have an account. The last I checked on the fire stick you did not. Viki offers a metric ton of Asian shows, mainly from Japan and South Korea but it does have chinese, Malaysian etc. It has subtitles. Some Japanese shows are hysterical, albeit weird. Roku also do their own channels with free shows if you own a device. For those who don't have a smart TV or a Streaming device, you can set up your own computer as a dedicated streaming device with Plex. It's been a while since I used it but I believe it now also offers free movies and TV. Anime If you are into Anime there is
The first 2 are free to watch, or offer premium without ads which you can have a trial with. Crunchyroll is the better of the two with more original choice for Japanese voice and subs, while Funimation has more Dubs. I don't believe HiDive is free to watch but you do get a 2 week trial. These are more exclusives than the previous two. PC Centric software If you are a gamer or like Audiobooks or anything that uses computers for things like music making, programming or graphic design
Humble Bundle offers, as per the name, bundles. A long running site that got bought out by IGN. It offers both single items and bundles you can buy individually/as a pack while also offering a separate monthly subscription for around £8-9. The subscription gives you 12 games on average per month. That's the simplest explanation but it changes somewhat as sometimes you get to pick 10 out of 14 games, or get all 12. Humble bundle offers more than just games though. Every Tuesday they bring a new bundle of games, while Thursday (I "think) a new bundle of books. They very often have books from the Black Library giving you a ton of Warhammer books. Sometimes it's standard E-books, other times it's audiobooks. A few times a year they do bundles for graphic design, a typical bundle would include programs like Paintshop Pro Corel Painter etc, They usually go for £0.76 for tier 1 up to around £18 for tier 3, which would include 4-6 full titles with 10+ addons. They also often have Music making bundles or video editing software as well as Programming or video game development. The bundles change often, they usually have around 11 bundles at a time that last for 20 days. Sometimes it's trash but they do often have some very good deals. Fanatical offers the same as humble bundle except usually not as high quality, but sometimes they do have some incredible deals, and they are very very cheap. Both humble and fanatical are safe, trusted and been around a long time, and they are NOT grey market key sites. They work with the publishers and developers. You can buy games both old and new for a lot cheaper than you would most other places. Unless it states otherwise, keys are usually for steam. **BOTH HB and Fanatical (HB much more common) offer free games fairly often. The catch is linking your steam account to them (at least HB). It is safe however. IndieGala is another site like above. Except, these are much much lower quality. However, they offer a metric ton of free games. Quality is low but it is legitimate, and a lot of free stuff. Game Store Fronts
Steam This one is so obvious I didn't add it, but apparently many want me to. It is the best out there, and you can find almost everything, with fantastic deals.
Greenmangaming offers games cheaply. Again, not a grey market site (which are legal but unethical) and they sometimes do bundles.
GoG (Good old games) is a DRM free site run by CDPR, the makers of the Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk. They offer you games quite cheap and not needing DRM (such as Steam, Uplay etc which is less invasive versions of dodgy DRM from the olden days).
Epic Games Despite the controversy whether you care about their rivalry with valve, they offer free games ever week. Without ever having bought anything I have gained over 170 games. literally. Good games for the most part. They often give you £10 coupons as well.
Twitch Everyone knows twitch, but if you don't, it's a streaming service for watching gamers and girls with low cut tops accidentally bending over in front of the game. However, if you're signed up to prime, you get free games each month (and randomly between the set bunch).
Playstation Store Currently has January sales. Currently the free games for PS+ are for PS4: Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Greedfall. For the Ps5 it is Maneater
Games with GoldBleed 2 and the King of Fighters XIII is available until Janurary 15th whilst little Nightmares is available until January 31st.
Gaming Subscriptions Like the TV versions, you can sign up to these for a free trial (or very cheap). If you do sign up to only one at a time, it should keep you busy for a few months
Xbox Game Pass You can do this on both/either an Xbox or PC. If you sign up to the regular one, you can get a month (maybe three!) for £1. After you have done that, you can sign up to the premium version for 3 months at £1 a month. Most people know game pass, but you can download a large selection of games for free. The premium version gives you games with gold, allowing you to keep the games forever (but can only play with a subscription)
Ubisoft+ I'm not 100% sure if you get a trial or not. This allows a large collection of Ubisoft titles to play for £12.99 a month. Quite expensive but good if you like Ubisoft titles I guess.
EA Play EA's version. Goes by a ton of names I think, EA Access, EA Play, Origin Access etc etc. There's a couple of versions of this, and it is across all platforms (PS4/5, Xbox, PC) but not sure about the switch. I "think" the premium allows you to play on all platforms, while the cheaper one on a single platform, but I may be mistaken.
PS Now a once terrible service that is now actually very good. Allows you to download some Ps4 games to your PS4/5 and lets you stream a massive amount of Ps2/3/4 to your PC or playstation.
There's more like nvidia's service but you need the Shield device which is quite expensive. I'll leave it at that. Audiobooks & Ebooks
Audible Not sure what the current deal is but if you are a prime member you can sign up for a trial and get a free Audiobook each month for 3 months. Some warhammer books are 48 hours long, 3 of those gives you a good 100+ hours of listening!
Comixology Another Amazon company, but lets you download some free comics I believe.
Sign LanguageBSL here No experience myself, suggested by n21brown and asked for a few times. Didn't know SL was so popular! Listed as "Pay what you can"
BBC's Bitesizehere is apparently good for home learning. Again, no personal experience.
If you need some spare change Okay, I don't generally bother with it, but maybe some of this could be useful to you. These are NOT a quick way to make a fortune. These are small things you can do over time for a bit of pocket change
If you have prime you can get a FREE FIVE POUND GIFT CARD by literally just streaming a song from Amazon music (which is included in prime) here is the detailsAccording to the comments it's only for select people, but it's worth trying If the link doesn't work for you just google "Amazon £5 coupon music"
Now, these sorts of sites have been around for years, I haven't used any other than talkInsights which I must have signed up to 10-15 years ago. Basically they send you surveys and you answer them. They are confidential and don't ask for personal details in the survey. You need 2000 points and you get £20. During the pandemic they've slowed down but I probably get around £40 a year. Not much I know, but it's an email followed by a quick survey ticking boxes. Depending on your answer sometimes you get screened out, I'm not telling you to lie but just be consistent with your answers and you should be able to work out how to not get screened. Some emails are only worth 20 points, others 200. It's slow to get to the 2000 but very quick to just answer a few questions.
Apparently beermoneyuk is a good sub to make some pocket change with.
There is also matched betting. I have never done this, I don't have the patience but from what I've read, it's legitimate, it works and you can make a fair amount of cash from it so long as you do it correctly, and there's a ton of guides. I mention this because people stuck at home could get into it and as long as you're careful (I.E not entering in the wrong numbers) it's risk free AND it pisses off the betting shops. It seems people in comments have had success with it. Disclaimer A couple have complained about gambling. This arguably is not gambling. If you are susceptible to addiction do not do it. However, it's argued that there is no fun or buzz in this, and it's a very tedious and time consuming thing. Others argue you can't make the same money anymore (People were making thousands, now only hundreds if that). It's risk free providing you know what you're doing, the risks are user error, such as entering the wrong numbers. Someone pointed out that due to the lockdown, bets could potentially be cancelled due to sport stopping. So use on a side of caution. We're (mainly) adults so I'll leave it up just because this doesn't have the excitement of regular gambling.
Microsoft Rewards This is an easy way to make pocket change doing very little. Most people have a MS account. The rewards program offers you numerous ways to grab points, by playing free to play games, answering small questions (you don't even need to answer most of the time, just open the link and shut it) and by using bing and searching on it. I've gotten 20k points JUST by answering questions over a couple months. There are many rewards but you can grab a £5 gift card for 6k for example, or a month of game pass (and AFAIK you can make points playing the games)
Google rewards Someone mentioned this in the comments. I have not used it, so can not give any input on it. Sounds similar to TalkInsights which I linked. Google states "Complete short surveys while standing in line, or waiting for a subway. Get rewarded with Google Play or PayPal credit for each one you complete. Topics include everything from opinion polls, to hotel reviews, to merchant satisfaction surveys. We’ll notify you when a survey is waiting."
That's it for now. I will try to update as I go along. A long post but I hope that it can help some of you with finding something good to do that's free, cheap or a bargain. I do suggest getting prime, especially since you get free music, free delivery, free TV and music and free video games each month. In fact, there's a ton of perks and I feel I've gotten way over the cost investment. Hope it helps someone at least PartTimeCrazy said if you bought an Apple product you get 3 free months of Apple Arcade and Apple TV free for a year fakehunted is upset I didn't mention wanking. Tesco have 225 sheets of Tissue for £0.75! tale_lost suggested Project Gutenberg for a collection of free E-Books Learning Language Unfortunately, I don't have time to check every link listed so I will link the comments: TogtogtogGives a lot of links for Spanish
Board & Tabletop games Corporal_Anaesthetic has made a list of Board games ilyemco suggested these HEALTH I'm not a doctor! But if you're a smoker, something I strongly suggest is to quit. I struggled for years but in the first lockdown I quit, technically. I haven't had a cigarette since, however, I do that silly thing millennials do. I vape, but, it made quitting extremely easy. I would not have been able to do it if it wasn't for 88Vape They sell extremely cheap liquids at £1 each. You can find these in B&M but you can pick up 25 for £20 or buy your own mix. Vitamin D deficiency has been said to be a big problem for the virus. I'd suggest (again, not a doctor!) that you pick some up. Tesco do a 3 for 2 deal. So you can pick up 270 tablets for £7. If you are vulnerable you MIGHT be able to phone tesco and get put on their delivery saver list (currently it's paused but phoning may help. At the very least they might give you a priority slot. I did this for my mum, we didn't shop at Tesco but I phoned for her, and they put her on with no hassle, so she can always get a delivery. HELP & ADVICE The lockdown Rules. Reasons to leave home include:
Work or volunteering where it is "unreasonable" to work from home. This includes work in someone else's home, such as that carried out by social workers, nannies, cleaners and tradespeople
Education, training, childcare and medical appointments and emergencies
Exercise outdoors (limited to once a day). This includes meeting one other person from another household in an open public space to exercise
Shopping for essentials such as food and medicine
Communal religious worship
Meeting your support or childcare bubble. Children can also move between separated parents Activities related to moving house
I want to add, if you are in danger you are also allowed (and must!) to get away from the situation for some reason, BBC seems to have missed this very important thing (or I am blind)
FOR THOSE SHIELDING YOU CAN CONTACT THEROYAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE. These people helped my mother with picking up her medicine from the chemist. They were very helpful and went out their way to keep in touch and do it immediately. (It's the only experience I have with them though) _riotingpacifist wanted these links added, but I simply just don't have the time to vet and check all the suggestions here, so I will link as is:
Krita Arguably the best in my opinion. It has a load of options, brushes and a decent UI. It works fantastic with a tablet.
Gimp This is a decent program but last I used, the UI was a pain, and it isn't so user friendly while misses features, but it works, and it is possible to do some incredible creations on it.
Medibang Paint This is slightly geared towards Comics and Manga. I really enjoy using this with my drawing Tablet. As far as I know, it also for regular tablets for Android/Ipad and is free.
You can pick up a drawing tablet on Amazon quite cheap these days! Small ones that are just a black slate such as the wacom ones are good but takes some practice to get use to, but very worth it if you can't afford a dedicated drawing tablet with a screen. Office suit software A couple of free applications for word processing, spreadsheets etc.
LibreOfficeThis has most the average user would need to write their own books or to work from home. There's not a huge amount of difference between the two I'm linking (since I last used anyway) so it's more for preference.
Open Office You can pick this up here and again, like above it's just preference.
Music Making I'm going to direct to matthewharris806 for some links as all the programs I've used like Reason are expensive, or cheaper stuff in bundles such as Magix software. Games development D_Dad_Default gives some links for that here
got asked to make this it’s own post, so i did. For reference, keep in mind I’m 28F (so split between them age wise) and was an athlete in undergrad though not in a sport anyone cared about cause who tf cares about track Friendship break ups are really hard, especially for women in their 20’s. For women, that time period is usually the first times they’re actually enabled to make our own decisions, including through sexual empowerment. Freedom from your parents. Your female friendships are often therapeutic in this setting, as they’re the first people who really “understand” you. ESPECIALLY if you’re at a school with casual hook up culture, female friendships can especially protect you from being drugged while you navigate the novelty of casual sex under various substance influence. At least from the outside perspective, this is how it seems: disclaimer this is psychoanalytical af no I don’t think I’m “definitely” right
Sofia struggled with substance abuse and mental health in relation to work in capitalism and leaving a conservative rural area for a big city/culture shock where she could finally fit outside of the minute role she felt existed for her in her hometown. Just leaving the environment didn’t negate the years of negativity, or feeling like an “outsider” or “bad influence”
Sofia’s substance abuse started young, in childhood, making her particularly vulnerable to being taken advantage of in these contexts later in life. (Or able to disregard healthy behavior because it’s suspicious to you because you grow up thinking and knowing you won’t be accepted and flaunting “healthy” behavior in conservative cultures only shames normal, human reactions. As a woman who is sexually empowered, especially from a young age, there is a strong will to rebel. Or just not care. To then disregard a lot of “rules” because the ones setting them no longer have your respect. Purity culture especially makes women more at risk because sexual freedom is conflated as “high risk” behavior)
Alex came from d1 athlete mentality, which, imo is always a little toxic. You don’t play at those levels or have that drive without taking negative motivating factors and channeling them into fuel on the field.
However, sports psychology is poor. Sports psychology for women even more so. Female sports don’t command money (in part because we engrain that in our culture) For a female athlete in college, you’re raised on a pedestal by other collegiate members (“narps”) Then, you leave college and are pretty much on a level playing field, because that national prestige or ability to remain an athlete and be profitable isnt as realistic or available for women (yet?/it probably shouldn’t be a huge goal to play a game for a living just saying. The other work environments and hours shouldn’t be so shitty that’s the only version of happiness you can imagine but i digress) Alex happened to leave college and be an athlete’s girlfriend. An athlete within baseball, whose wives’ club mentality is one of the most misogynistic (my brother went back to back to back national championship games in baseball in college. The fan base is incredibly white as it relates to America’s pastime and racism). I’ve posted before about the overlaps in barstools culture with this. Alex had fuel coming in from needing to be better than her ex. She has fuel in general, as most athletes do, from needing to be better than XYZ. Track is actually helpful in that regard because it’s always racing against yourself, ultimately. Your own PRs. But for soccer, what happens when you no longer have a field to play on? Who are your new opponents? Where is your team? Sofia and Alex’s friendship came at the cusp of their combined lowest mental points. On a time when they were essentially on their own. They had had to be solo and strong because of their circumstances, mentally and fiscally to an extent (even if they ultimately had parental support or pressure to fall back on). In the process of building CHD, they built each other up, and used their tragedies and lack of caring about other’s mentalities to show it was profitable, smart, and powerful to be a sexually empowered female in a male world. That’s what so many of us wanted. (Literally the Tyra Banks meme “we were all rooting for you!” Comes to mind) especially for collegiate aged women, sexual empowerment and discussion is NEW and still very culturally based. Women can be sexual but only privately versus men can discuss sexual conquests openly and aren’t thought poorly of if it doesn’t work out with a partner. You don’t assume something is “wrong” with them. You don’t remind them “their clock is ticking”. Hypersexuality is part response to purity culture and likely a response to a heavy atmosphere of sexual trauma and being casual towards it is destigmatizing it inwardly. But money corrupts. Power corrupts more so. Combine both with Alex internalizing that the brand that gave her so much power and happiness and joy to work, during a dark period of her life, as a tangible result of how she was better (than her exes, everyone that’s wronged her, etc) as potentially being taken away from her by sofia (in the deal on the rooftop), versus by Dave (who was very manipulative in his “I keep 100% of the IP and all of your stories and all of YOUR content”) and this is where the break down in how they responded comes in:
Alex was in it for the money and recognition. She wanted celebrity status, not as justification for herself, but as justification for the attention from others. She was willing to do whatever she wanted to get that. Hopefully, with time, she’ll have a “moment of recognition” in how her actions were, but as long as she keeps carelessly traveling idgaf (I’m an epidemiologist, I have no sympathy for celebrity status right now. Tbh I don’t listen to CHD but I still follow the subreddit and listen to SWAF)
Can we blame her? Isnt that a facet of current sporting culture? Do you actually expect someone who has grown up in the wings of the public eye, whose parental role models were in sporting culture, to not embrace that spotlight? Particularly when her ex who caused her pain has that spotlight and is somebody’s version of a sex symbol? Why can’t she want it for herself?
but Sofia just wanted validation for HERSELF. As proof that she and who she is as a person was still valuable, that she was still worthy of acknowledgment. That the pain of her substance use and mental health was for a greater purpose. That she could share it and help people, not just profit from them. It’s clear with her guest quality and the work she’s done since going solo.
Maybe Alex also felt pressure in their friendship and business relationship to be Sofia’s healer. To always be the one caring for her, making sure she got home okay, and maybe that was exhausting even if it was a role she enjoyed playing. I often feel like I’m “heavy” for my friends to “put up with” because of my anxiety and PTSD. I don’t like to put pressure on living with them, which reduces my issues, because of this.
Alex ALSO has mental health issues, and the combination of living and working with someone else struggling with something so heavy and not having a medically appropriate background to know how to help was likely incredibly toxic for their friendship. I’m sure it made some great content, but it was clear they didn’t embody or encourage healthy behavior. Their own healing is going to be subjective. It’s not going to coincide. It’s not going to operate on the same scales or in the same direction and they’ll need different things. Such as separation when one person no longer serves you. My therapist reminded me “just because someone was a good friend to you at one point in your life doesn’t mean they still are”
Maybe this is more obvious with knowledge of CHD production behind the scenes. If Alex has constantly been just a figurehead and spoke openly about others stories and content, then to her what she’s doing now is no different. She’s being rewarded by her boss saying “yes keep acting this way. Money is flowing in. Do whatever you want.” So why would she stop? That’s who is paying her bills. That’s who ultimately gave her the “freedom” and show that she wanted to just be herself
To her, it’s the same thing. Especially if she had frequent ghost writers. It was never her content to begin with. Which, ultimately, makes her just a sex symbol for a male dominated gaze who may very well be financially compensated adequately (NOW) but is ultimately manipulated for the entertainment of others. If that’s your whole life, and what you’ve always done... who are you? Like with child stars or actors in general, you feed off energy i imagine. Extroverted people are almost more vulnerable to social coercion than others. To me, this enables them to be more susceptible to thriving off external validation and avoid the reality of who they are and that they don’t like themselves internally/struggle with who they are as a person (or just don’t know who they are without XYZ existing. If you’ve always been in sports, especially one single sport, your identity is tied to that. You don’t have the time or energy to question who you are. It takes years after graduating or being removed from that atmosphere to do so.) Alex now has money, time, and comes from rich white privilege. She likely will never have people who tell her it’s okay to struggle, because it seems like her family and general friend group is the “everything is fine. Here’s some money. Look! You can travel. You turned out okay” I’m sure she’ll have a time period later in life where she has this recognition. However, the CHD brand was built around the symbolism of a female friendship. Of female empowerment in a patriarchal world. The sexual empowerment worked because, at the end of the day, you had this community of people who understood you were just trying to figure out yourself and willing to laugh with you at your negativity. Not laughing at you. A community of people who were able to embrace, applaud, and financially reward you for sexual prowess when you’ve been told to dim it your entire life “to be taken seriously”. A community who LIKED the self deprecation because it was RELATABLE because we likely ALL have or know someone with sexual trauma related to drinking/college culture and dating is hard and flaunted like you’re always supposed to be in a relationship, especially if you’re attractive 🙄 Abiding to the influencer brand of how CHD has gone since “the break up” and how Alex has people like Tana—who exploit their childhood abuse, not so they can learn how to be healthier and live happier lifestyles or draw attention to substance abuse, but so they can continue to party in LA with idiotic “celebs” whose only contribution to the community positively is through money. Who go riot malls for YouTube material. Who are stuck in their own cycles of abuse and unhealthy behavior but vlog about the glamour and think “talking about it” is the same thing as “healing” because they won’t go to actual therapy even though they can afford it now. Who don’t realize they’re desensitizing themselves to the trauma by letting random men they barely know choke them out versus addressing how fucked up it was that they were raped as a child, or that their parents couldn’t protect them, or that they needed validation or father figures and only got it from their peers and just wanted an escape from reality and now need one ALL THE TIME. Who dont realize those people they think embrace them won’t embrace them when they’re sober and actually healthy, because it reminds them of how they’re not. But it’s scary to recognize that and you internalize it as not being loveable versus being brought up in unhealthy environments and not knowing better. Maybe with time, Alex will look back and realize the strength of female friendships lies in being there for each other in darkest times because humanity definitely doesn’t have your back. In the USA, 1 in 5 women are or will be attempted to be raped in their lifetime, over 80% have been sexually harassed. And yet, prostitution is not legal. Birth control is not freely accessible. Universal healthcare and comprehensive sexual education is not nationally mandated so a lot of people may never realize just how fucked up their circumstances are. Education is often unaffordable and inaccessible for those who most need it. Sexual harassment is so normalized that we voted in a president despite him being a rapist pedophile. And 55% of white women tried to vote him in again. The visual leader of the Barstool brand endorsed him openly. Sofia wanting to distance herself from a brand and drinking culture, at a company currently breaking into alcohol and gambling exploitation, on the basis that the majority of their fan base may not have done it otherwise, but will because they now have access to it (like with how Juuls target teenagers with flavoring and people who wouldn’t have normally smoked have nicotine addictions now) as well as FINALLY being paid adequately, YET was labeled as “greedy” mainly because Alex stayed instead of trusting Sofia and sticking with her. We normalize competition in the sense that most people are competing for just the right to live, for acknowledgment that the things they went through matters. It’s why working classes are currently pitted against each other and conservative Republicans think progressive policies are sure to doom the USA because Fox News says so. So instead of making our citizens stronger overall, we keep half of them convinced that healthcare should be debated, an educated population isnt good on a global scale, and that change ISNT possible even though societies are supposed to adapt that’s literally how progress works. We have research that shows us why we should do it and instead capitalism made education so elite that we distrust intelligence or condemn it as “liberal education”. So do I blame Alex for her inability to recognize that when she thought she was going to lose the brand that made that feasible for her? Maybe not. Do I think Sofia got fucked mentally, friendship-wise, and culturally and Alex enabled and fed into it? Absolutely. Even if CHD was always the “Mean Girls” mentality and didn’t ever really offer advice, Alex embodied “Regina George” and Sofia was “Cady Heron” in its time. Good female friendships are awesome, and hard to come by in a world that makes it so and makes you convinced you have to somehow compete for these men when the bar is on the actual ground for chivalry and women just want men who won’t scream or yell at them, will communicate, and will explore sexually in the bedroom without stigmatizing them or making them feel bad for their bodies. Shout out to anyone who read my dissertation. I’ve been in quarantine on a farm working remote contracts for almost a year now. I’ve also watched a lot of LOTR in the past week and barstool and Dave is going a very “Sauron” way and Alex embodies “saruman” vibes to me, for another allusion.
My sister dumped me last night - they never take my side. Fully estranged.
Last night, I (f30) got the text from my little sister (f22) who I was still speaking to which explained that she was done speaking to me. That she was siding with our mom and our other sister (f25). It really sucks. My mom grew up under extreme abuse - she was physically, emotionally, and sexually abused. She lived in poverty and starved. They moved around a lot so she never got to settle in. So guess what! When it came time to be a parent and raise me, she was wildly unequipped. She psychologically abused and terrorized me growing up. I believe that my mom has BPD based on her behaviors but she has never been diagnosed as such. I could tell you many things about her. She is a gambling addict who earns 6 figures but will often cry that she doesn't have enough money to pay for gas to drive to work. She is always in a lot of unspecified debt. I have a different dad from my sisters who saved his social security checks when I was growing up into a college fund for me. My mom and he divorced when I was very young. As a teen, when my mom felt too much pressure from her debts, she would scream and cry at me, "I am going to go out and drive my car into the ocean!! You sit on your golden gilded fucking nest egg and you refuse to help your mother!!" ...all because I wouldn't convince my dad to turn over my entire college savings account so she could blow it on her debt (and then immediately accrue new debt as she always does). That's just one aspect of her personality. Another is constantly stomping on boundaries and then shitting on me when I tell her to stop. "You have a very real problem with BOUNDARIES," she will text me, then tell me that when I tell her no and ask her to stop behaviors that are upsetting, that she gets suicidal ideation. Makes me out to be the bad guy. My mom always suggested to me that I get a certain kind of ground cover for my back yard. I think the suggestion she made is ugly and have told her no many times and have told her to stop talking about it. But she is the kind of person who - if I hadn't made some extremely hard boundaries - she would have already gone and snuck into my back yard and planted whatever she wanted in there and then gotten angry at me when I wasn't pleased about the "favor" she had done. Okay? Like, I have tried for my entire 20s to have a relationship with her that preserved my mental health and I found that I could not have it no matter what, so I decided to go NC. I fucking TRIED!!!! I had her walk me down the aisle at my wedding in 2019 in place of my dad who died, okay? I fucking tried!!! And then comes my sister Liz yesterday. We have had our own shitty relationship and decided to try to get along because our sister Rachel betrayed both of us last year over relatively simple disagreements and started telling vicious lies about our homes and our partners. Rachel did some extremely bewildering and potentially dangerous lying which could have had police sent to mine and Liz's houses last year. Rachel lived with me first, betrayed me and moved in with Liz (who took Rachel's side and didn't believe me!). Then - only after Rachel betrayed and lied about Liz to everyone in the same way - Liz came crying to me and apologizing for not listening and taking the wrong side. The lies Rachel told were not trivial I am no fool - I haven't spoken to Rachel since she did that. But apparently now Liz and Rachel have made up. Liz has taken mom's side. And she sent me a text where she chastised me for not being understanding of everyone's mental health issues and for not having an, "open, honest, and candid" relationship with all of them. Puh-LEASE!! What about my mental health issues? What about how just because someone has mental health issues doesn't mean you should tolerate abuse from them? What about all my efforts to include and care for everyone? Also of note in her message, she said she loved our mom and sister twice. But she never said she loves me in these parting words. Not even to say goodbye. So I feel pretty sad, like a giant stone is inside my chest. They can all have each other and stew in their intergenerational trauma. I am getting the fuck out. I really hope this message from my sister means they have all sided against me and cut me out and made me the bad guy - because maybe then they will fuck off and leave me alone!! It still sucks. Thanks for listening.
So, a lot of people have pointed out all the flaws in Caesar's Legion and how the faction won't last very long after the death of Edward Sallow, and hence for that reason (aside from just not wanting to live in a genocidal slave society) it isn't the best choice for New Vegas. I don't disagree with those people, but I also think that the NCR may collapse as well, and this is why I personally think Vegas would be better off becoming independent (I prefer the Yes Man ending to the Mr House one but I'm not going to get into that since this post is about the NCR). Now, obviously every society and faction will eventually fall apart, but I mean within a human lifetime. This isn't inevitable, granted, but it will likely require major reform to be averted, and I don't think annexing New Vegas will really do anything to prevent it, in fact it might actually end up doing so would do more harm than good. Doctor Thomas Hildern predicts that due to the projected population growth of the NCR, the country will suffer mass starvation just ten years after the events of New Vegas. Bringing a whole new city and its surrounding settlements into the fold in a region not particularly well suited to agriculture would like the problem even worse. What's more, while the Legion as it currently exists will of course collapse, it's former soldiers aren't just going to be immediately pacified, they're likely to continue raiding the area for slaves and resources, and while divided they might not be able to threaten the NCR like they did during the two battles of Hoover Dam, they are still going to continue harassing them to the point they have to station a lot of troops in the area, while they are still dealing with enemies in other parts of the country, such as in Baja California to the south. And bear in mind, the NCR has to transport all of its supplies by Brahmin, and since the roads are so damaged they can't even have them pull carts and instead have to carry the goods directly on them. It has few or no trucks, trains, boats or aircraft, or the infrastructure needed for these things to run on, and even the few that it has could pretty easily be sabotaged by their enemies or attacked by raiders or hostile wildlife, unless they deploy even more troops to patrol them. Now of course, some of you might point out that these same issues would likely affect an independent Vegas as well, but aside from the fact that the Mojave is a much smaller area than California, the primary advantage of the Securitron army isn't the fact that individual Securitrons are so powerful - it's the fact that they're robots. They don't need food or water, they don't need to sleep, they don't to be paid and they don't have emotions. This means that they will never suffer the morale or logistical issues that the NCR is facing and will continue to face. The troops are already barely scraping by during the events of New Vegas, but if the NCR due to it's over expansion and economic crises ends up unable to supply or pay its troops then they may well end up deserting, mutinying and even defecting to other factions in order to support themselves and/or their families (afterall, even Chief Hanlon had plans to sabotage the defence of Hoover Dam, so I’m sure the soldiers in the lower ranks are even more frustrated). This is especially likely considering the fact that most troops in Mojave are conscripts rather than volunteers. They're there because they were forced to go there, not because they wanted to. The securitrons on the other hand will always obey the leader of New Vegas, be they Mr House or the Courier (FTR, Josh Sawyer himself clarified what Yes Man meant by saying he was going to reprogram his personality to become more assertive - i.e. he was now only going to listen to the Courier, and hence some other person couldn't just come along and take over like the Courier did themself). The NCR would also struggle to recruit local soldiers because it's pretty much universally hated in the region. Jacobstown are opposed to them because they've attempted to exterminate its inhabitants, Westside don't like them because of their water dispute with them, the Great Khans hate them due to the Bitter Springs massacre and all their wars with them, the Brotherhood are still technically at war with them at the beginning of the game, the Followers are opposed to them because them because of their imperialistic aggression coupled with the fact they just denounced the organisation, the Boomers hate them because they’re not Boomers, the Kings are opposed to them because they want to maintain control of Freeside, Goodsprings are opposed to them because they don’t want to pay NCR taxes, the Powder Gangers are angry because they practically enslaved them, gambling and prostitution are banned in the NCR and so the tribes on the Strip are unlikely to support them. Now, regardless of whether you think these grievances are justified or not, they are nonetheless present. And yes, obviously the Courier can recruit the support of the aforementioned factions in the game or convince them to make peace, but I’m talking long-term here, not just the very brief amount of time the game takes place in. If things escalate further, NCR’s unpopularity could result in locals revolting against them, especially if the Legion has been defeated and hence the NCR’s presence is no longer considered necessary to protect the local populus. Another problem is in the internal politics of the NCR. The NCR has pretty much copy-pasted the entire political, economic and legal systems of the pre-war United States. The same United States which had itself collapsed two centuries earlier. Now, regardless of whether the US started the Great War or China or whoever else did, the fact of the matter is the excessive consumption of US, coupled with its jingoistic foreign policy at least shared part of the responsibility for the calamity. We even see the very same issues of the pre-war US crop up in the NCR. Like the former it has a hungry need for resources, and will stop at nothing to acquire these resources, hence its desire to occupy Helios One and the Hoover Dam. In doing so it has acquired more and more enemies from the likes of the Legion to the Brotherhood to the Enclave and so many others. The capitalist economic system of both the pre-war US and the post-war NCR demands endless growth. Choosing to simply cut its losses and pull out of the Mojave would not be acceptable as this would result in economic stagnation, hence why it simply won’t do so unless forced out by one of the other factions. We also see the rise of large corporations like the Gun Runners and the Crimson Caravans. Much as companies like Poseidon Energy and Vault-tec had done in the PWUS, these companies have begun using their excessive wealth to provide them with a disproportionate amount influence over the NCR’s government, effectively buying politicians that support their interests, helping them maintain their monopolies over their respective industries and muscle out potential competitors by any means necessary, and effectively replacing the democratic government with an oligarchy. Now, as awful as Caesar may be, he makes a very fair point when he says that…
Greed runs rampant. The government is corrupt, accepting bribes from Brahmin barons and landowners, to the detriment of citizens. The NCR is a loose conglomerate of individuals looking out for themselves. It's lost virtue. No one cares about the collective, the greater good. It's not built to last. I'm just hastening the inevitable.
Corruption both historically and in our modern world has been a major hamper for civilisations. If you look at the Corruption Perceptions Index (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index), you’ll notice that there is a very strong correlation between a country having a high level of corruption and being economically poor and/or politically unstable. This is because corruption makes it much harder for a country to collect taxes, enforce its laws, and do everything else it needs to do. If NCR corruption continues to run rampant, then Mr Sallow is very much correct in saying that it’s inevitable that it will be destroyed. The rise of the aforementioned corporations also suggests that the NCR is facing a growing gap between rich and poor, as many of its citizens have been forced to squat in Freeside, suggesting a lack of housing in NCR territory. Economic inequality is associated with numerous health and social problems including obesity, drug abuse, poor mental health, crime, poor social mobility, and warfare. It has also historically led to numerous political upheavals including the French, Russian, Cuban and Iranian Revolutions. During the NCR’s war with the Brotherhood, the latter destroyed the NCR’s gold reserves, which its currency was backed by. This forced the NCR to abandon the gold standard and adopt a fiat currency. Now, fiat currencies work in our real world because the countries/group of countries that issue the “safe-haven” currencies of the world (the Dollar, the Euro, the Pound, and the Yen) have been *relatively* stable and at peace for the last 75+ years, and hence they are generally trusted not to accrue excessive debt or to print money to excess. The same can’t be said about the NCR. The country has been almost constantly at war ever since it was founded. Whether against the Master, or the Khans, or the Enclave, or the Brotherhood, or the Legion, or all the various raiders within or around its borders, and as I mentioned earlier, it is also on the brink of famine. This forces the country to borrow or print money in order to fund its war and relief efforts, respectively, further devaluing its currency. In the game, NCR workers mention that the money that they are paid is worth a lot less than it should be as people in the area are reluctant to accept it instead of caps. The NCR has effectively three choices here – it can either continue paying them in NCR dollars at the current amount, which would over time decrease in effective value due to the inflation (which would likely spell disaster – if it’s workers or god-forbid, its soldiers were to see their wages gradually become worthless, they’d refuse to work or turn hostile), keep increasing it’s wages to keep up the inflation, which would result in further inflation, or just pay their wages in caps, which would set a pretty bad precedent if even the NCR’s government can’t trust its currency. If it were to abandon its currency altogether and go back to using bottle caps officially it would render all dollars worthless overnight. California, even in our real world is notorious for its water insecurity, and real-world Californians don’t have to worry about their existing water supplies being irradiated. In New Vegas, Chief Hanlon remarks that:
Back west, you don't see too many of these. Lakes, I mean. Natural or man-made. Any kind, really. We neglected the dams or pumped all the water out a long time ago. Owens, Isabella, the San Luis. Drained the aquifers of everything they had. Just a lot of mud and dust now. It's a different feeling, watching the sun come up over the water. Takes some getting used to.
This would suggest that the NCR is facing a massive water shortage due it its unsustainable use of its water reserves. Only the Hoover Dam can really prevent a major crisis. Now, as I mentioned earlier, the NCR gaining control of New Vegas would present a heavy burden on its already overstretched resources. But the truth is, it has kind of backed itself into a corner by even attempting to annex the region in the first place. If it were to pull out of the region and accept the independence of New Vegas, then that would break the lure of invincibility that it has acquired though out the American South-West. Under Kimball’s leadership, numerous settlements both in Mojave and elsewhere have been annexed into the NCR against their will. If all of them, inspired by New Vegas’s success were to revolt into regain their own independence, then it would spell disaster for the NCR, as it would have to divide its forces even further to quell said rebellions. Secondly, while Mr. House and presumably the Courier are willing to export water and electricity to the NCR, they are nonetheless going to charge heavy prices for it, and in caps, which would further deflate the value of the NCR dollar. If the Legion were to take the dam and New Vegas, then they obviously wouldn’t been keen on supplying their enemy with water or power. What’s more, while the NCR might still be able to defeat the Legion in a long-protracted war, due to the latter’s own internal problems, in the meantime, it would still have to defend against the Legion’s invasion. This might actually come with some benefits, as everybody in the NCR would be united against their common enemy, and tribes and settlements on its frontiers who might have otherwise been hostile to the NCR might become supportive after learning more about the Legion, seeing the former as the lesser evil at least. However, the amount of money and lives it would have to invest in its defence would be very difficult to source, especially without the increased tax revenues it could receive from New Vegas and from traders in the region. While the NCR is intended to resemble the US in the 20th-21st centuries, in practice I think it better resembles the US prior to the Civil War. At that time, it was more common for a person to identify with their state first and foremost and their country second rather than the other way around. The same holds true in the NCR – the five states that make up the union are constantly prioritising their own interests, even when this is to detriment of the nation as a whole. There are also internal disputes between them, with the Hub and Shady Sands competing with one another for economic dominance. With the perfect storm of a famine, a currency crisis, a shortage of water, a revolt of the frontier territories and a protracted war with the remnants of the Legion, escalated internal disputes could well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. So, what changes would the NCR have to implement to prevent collapse? The first thing it would need to do is break up the trade monopolies that have developed. If they are split up into smaller companies and forced to compete with one another than their ability to interfere with the NCR’s political process would go away along with a lot of the corruption the NCR is plagued with. Another thing it would have to do is adopt a much more sustainable policy towards its water resources, discouraging waste amongst its citizens and banning business practices which allow water to go to waste. Any further expansion should take place in the much less arid north, towards Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, providing more water and arable land. Further wars should be avoided wherever possible. The country would have to reform to become more centralised, diminishing the influence of the individual states and preventing further division of the country. Unfortunately, I don’t see these reforms being implemented quickly enough to prevent collapse. But then, why is New Vegas better off becoming independent? Because it presents an opportunity to create something entirely new, and better, rather than trying to recreate the very society under whose watch the world ended, and not even doing a very good job of that.
I don't really know how to start this out so I will just go ahead. Some of the older members might still remember me, but probably most of you won't since I haven't posted in this sub in literally ages, so I will just start to get my message across. As you can probably tell I am quitting this game for good after months of inactivity in NxB and on this sub, and I want to reason why and maybe motivate some of you that are struggling to do the same. I started this game in January of 2018 and I never really had to regret it because I loved Naruto and the game gave me the opportunity to play my favorite characters and it was so much fun, because even though there were definitely Meta cards and characters, basically every character had a use and it was actually a well balanced game. However since approximately when Kankuro released the game started getting extremely Meta based and in retrospective, I feel like I started to play the Game for meta characters, and not for my love of Naruto characters, which is when it all started to go downhill. I don't know if you noticed, but Bandai will at one point shut down the servers of this game, and everything you did will be for nothing. This alone is of course not a reason to discard a game you like, but there is more to it. With time, the game became Increasingly pay to win. Obviously, P2W players always had an advantage over f2p but you could still easily compete by grinding. If you look at the game now however, you have 0 chance against an ultra whale like the arrogance himself, Shikamaru Hokage, because there is just nothing you can do. I, who spent pretty much exactly 1900 euros on this game over the time stand absolutely no chance against this guy because of Bandai's power creep. Now look at this number, you could do SO MUCH more with money like that, especially since I suppose most of us are around the age of 18 - 21 and it is just an absolute waste of money, solely for the ability to compete in a mobile game. Did that stop me from buying packages? Of course not. I bought and bought and bought because, as I mentioned, I just absolutely had to be able to compete because I was now playing the game for meta characters and not for my love for Naruto. It was an absolutely toxic relationship, especially for my money an in some ways even for my mental health. I urge all of you who have a problem with buying too much packages to seek help if you cant mange on your own, gambling addiction is a serious health issue that can ruin your life and arguably even the lives of the ones you hold most dear if you have a family to take care of. With all of this I wish you all goodbye, and take care during the current pandemic
Disclaimer I am posting this here because I got a message from the mods asking me to. I'm not from London so links aren't London centric (but hopefully still of help) and the main post is here so any updates will likely be there (I will try here but it's hard to keep up with the amount of suggestions) Thanks. Yes, it's hard, it sucks, it's depressing. It is something we all have to do if you want to see this virus go. Everyone knows the deal, too many think they're the exception but no one is. However, staying home is hard so maybe I can help at least one or two people with some incentives. I'll try to give links to some things that can help cure the boredom, and some support if you need it. Most of this might be obvious to some, some might not even have internet and of course, money is a big issue, so I'll try to give some suggestions: For streaming and on demand things such as Netflix et al, don't forget you can subscribe for free for your first month. This goes for most things in the list. If you are worried about putting in your payment details and forgetting to cancel a month later, don't worry! You can sign up and immediately cancel and you still get your free month! For people who don't have a smart TV, you can buy a cheap Amazon Fire TV stick or a Roku box. The Fire stick can go as low as £20 often for 1080p. It will drop to £30 for 4k. I picked up a 4k Roku device for £18 on Amazon once. It's fast and snappy. currently it's going for £33 for the 4k version. Having both, there is little difference between the devices. NowTV also do their own roku powered device. Subscription based streaming sites that all offer 2-4 weeks free for first timers
Netflix *According to comments the second month is free.
Amazon Prime You can either get Amazon video on its own, or take prime with other benefits. I strongly urge those who use Amazon for buying off their store front to use [https://smile.amazon.co.uk/] as there is literally no difference except everything you buy amazon donates to a charity of your choice.
Amazon channels. I believe you can get all these individually but Amazon offers them as channels bound to your prime account, and they are again either free for a couple weeks (again, take them, cancel instantly) or very cheap. I recently subscribed to Starzplay for £1 for 3 months. It has some good shows on it like Fringe, doom patrol. It also has channels like Curiosity stream and shudder
If you have not subscribed to the any of the above, you can get a few months of free TV by signing up and cancelling instantly. I suggest waiting at least 5 minutes just to let it go through the system. Some tips for Now TV. IF you already have a subscription, I've noticed you can get it cheaper by cancelling. When you cancel they will beg you to stay. Select "I can not afford it this month" and they should beg again, telling you what shows they have. If you say you still want to cancel, they'll beg one last time and offer you the subscription for cheaper. This won't work every month, but I've noticed they'll always offer it the first time, then again after a couple months. If you're subscribed to both films and entertainment do the most expensive one as it may not work both times (but it might!). You can also pick up passes from storefronts a lot cheaper sometimes, before I could pick one up on Amazon for £3 but, they seem to have cracked down on it. If you shop around (or if anyone knows of a legitimate store please let me know) you might be able to pick it up cheaper. Lastly, check their website and under your account they should have an "offers for you" section. Completely free TV
If you do have a smart TV and/or device, there are some good free streaming apps. One I really love is called PlutoTV. I know this is on both Roku and the fire stick, as well as Ps4/Ps5 and xbox. Pluto offers a bunch of live channels and now an on demand section, all for free. It has adverts but they are actually short (shorter than regular TV and fewer of them). Some of the channels are just streaming certain shows like Mythbusters 24/7 or Dog the bounty hunter, but it has a lot of old movie channels as well as 24/7 kickboxing and MMA. It also has a 24/7 poker channel I quite like. Another one I like is Rakuten Viki however, I haven't watched it for a while as my fire stick is only 1080p and I have too many other devices attached. I believe it is on Roku but you have to jump through some hoops and have an account. The last I checked on the fire stick you did not. Viki offers a metric ton of Asian shows, mainly from Japan and South Korea but it does have chinese, Malaysian etc. It has subtitles. Some Japanese shows are hysterical, albeit weird. Roku also do their own channels with free shows if you own a device. For those who don't have a smart TV or a Streaming device, you can set up your own computer as a dedicated streaming device with Plex. It's been a while since I used it but I believe it now also offers free movies and TV. Anime If you are into Anime there is
The first 2 are free to watch, or offer premium without ads which you can have a trial with. Crunchyroll is the better of the two with more original choice for Japanese voice and subs, while Funimation has more Dubs. I don't believe HiDive is free to watch but you do get a 2 week trial. These are more exclusives than the previous two. PC Centric software If you are a gamer or like Audiobooks or anything that uses computers for things like music making, programming or graphic design
Humble Bundle offers, as per the name, bundles. A long running site that got bought out by IGN. It offers both single items and bundles you can buy individually/as a pack while also offering a separate monthly subscription for around £8-9. The subscription gives you 12 games on average per month. That's the simplest explanation but it changes somewhat as sometimes you get to pick 10 out of 14 games, or get all 12. Humble bundle offers more than just games though. Every Tuesday they bring a new bundle of games, while Thursday (I "think) a new bundle of books. They very often have books from the Black Library giving you a ton of Warhammer books. Sometimes it's standard E-books, other times it's audiobooks. A few times a year they do bundles for graphic design, a typical bundle would include programs like Paintshop Pro Corel Painter etc, They usually go for £0.76 for tier 1 up to around £18 for tier 3, which would include 4-6 full titles with 10+ addons. They also often have Music making bundles or video editing software as well as Programming or video game development. The bundles change often, they usually have around 11 bundles at a time that last for 20 days. Sometimes it's trash but they do often have some very good deals. Fanatical offers the same as humble bundle except usually not as high quality, but sometimes they do have some incredible deals, and they are very very cheap. Both humble and fanatical are safe, trusted and been around a long time, and they are NOT grey market key sites. They work with the publishers and developers. You can buy games both old and new for a lot cheaper than you would most other places. Unless it states otherwise, keys are usually for steam. **BOTH HB and Fanatical (HB much more common) offer free games fairly often. The catch is linking your steam account to them (at least HB). It is safe however. IndieGala is another site like above. Except, these are much much lower quality. However, they offer a metric ton of free games. Quality is low but it is legitimate, and a lot of free stuff. Game Store Fronts
Steam This one is so obvious I didn't add it, but apparently many want me to. It is the best out there, and you can find almost everything, with fantastic deals.
Greenmangaming offers games cheaply. Again, not a grey market site (which are legal but unethical) and they sometimes do bundles.
GoG (Good old games) is a DRM free site run by CDPR, the makers of the Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk. They offer you games quite cheap and not needing DRM (such as Steam, Uplay etc which is less invasive versions of dodgy DRM from the olden days).
Epic Games Despite the controversy whether you care about their rivalry with valve, they offer free games ever week. Without ever having bought anything I have gained over 170 games. literally. Good games for the most part. They often give you £10 coupons as well.
Twitch Everyone knows twitch, but if you don't, it's a streaming service for watching gamers and girls with low cut tops accidentally bending over in front of the game. However, if you're signed up to prime, you get free games each month (and randomly between the set bunch).
Playstation Store Currently has January sales. Currently the free games for PS+ are for PS4: Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Greedfall. For the Ps5 it is Maneater
Games with GoldBleed 2 and the King of Fighters XIII is available until Janurary 15th whilst little Nightmares is available until January 31st.
Gaming Subscriptions Like the TV versions, you can sign up to these for a free trial (or very cheap). If you do sign up to only one at a time, it should keep you busy for a few months
Xbox Game Pass You can do this on both/either an Xbox or PC. If you sign up to the regular one, you can get a month (maybe three!) for £1. After you have done that, you can sign up to the premium version for 3 months at £1 a month. Most people know game pass, but you can download a large selection of games for free. The premium version gives you games with gold, allowing you to keep the games forever (but can only play with a subscription)
Ubisoft+ I'm not 100% sure if you get a trial or not. This allows a large collection of Ubisoft titles to play for £12.99 a month. Quite expensive but good if you like Ubisoft titles I guess.
EA Play EA's version. Goes by a ton of names I think, EA Access, EA Play, Origin Access etc etc. There's a couple of versions of this, and it is across all platforms (PS4/5, Xbox, PC) but not sure about the switch. I "think" the premium allows you to play on all platforms, while the cheaper one on a single platform, but I may be mistaken.
PS Now a once terrible service that is now actually very good. Allows you to download some Ps4 games to your PS4/5 and lets you stream a massive amount of Ps2/3/4 to your PC or playstation.
There's more like nvidia's service but you need the Shield device which is quite expensive. I'll leave it at that. Audiobooks & Ebooks
Audible Not sure what the current deal is but if you are a prime member you can sign up for a trial and get a free Audiobook each month for 3 months. Some warhammer books are 48 hours long, 3 of those gives you a good 100+ hours of listening!
Comixology Another Amazon company, but lets you download some free comics I believe.
Sign LanguageBSL here No experience myself, suggested by n21brown and asked for a few times. Didn't know SL was so popular! Listed as "Pay what you can"
BBC's Bitesizehere is apparently good for home learning. Again, no personal experience.
If you need some spare change Okay, I don't generally bother with it, but maybe some of this could be useful to you. These are NOT a quick way to make a fortune. These are small things you can do over time for a bit of pocket change
If you have prime you can get a FREE FIVE POUND GIFT CARD by literally just streaming a song from Amazon music (which is included in prime) here is the detailsAccording to the comments it's only for select people, but it's worth trying If the link doesn't work for you just google "Amazon £5 coupon music"
Now, these sorts of sites have been around for years, I haven't used any other than talkInsights which I must have signed up to 10-15 years ago. Basically they send you surveys and you answer them. They are confidential and don't ask for personal details in the survey. You need 2000 points and you get £20. During the pandemic they've slowed down but I probably get around £40 a year. Not much I know, but it's an email followed by a quick survey ticking boxes. Depending on your answer sometimes you get screened out, I'm not telling you to lie but just be consistent with your answers and you should be able to work out how to not get screened. Some emails are only worth 20 points, others 200. It's slow to get to the 2000 but very quick to just answer a few questions.
Apparently beermoneyuk is a good sub to make some pocket change with.
There is also matched betting. I have never done this, I don't have the patience but from what I've read, it's legitimate, it works and you can make a fair amount of cash from it so long as you do it correctly, and there's a ton of guides. I mention this because people stuck at home could get into it and as long as you're careful (I.E not entering in the wrong numbers) it's risk free AND it pisses off the betting shops. It seems people in comments have had success with it. Disclaimer A couple have complained about gambling. This arguably is not gambling. If you are susceptible to addiction do not do it. However, it's argued that there is no fun or buzz in this, and it's a very tedious and time consuming thing. Others argue you can't make the same money anymore (People were making thousands, now only hundreds if that). It's risk free providing you know what you're doing, the risks are user error, such as entering the wrong numbers. Someone pointed out that due to the lockdown, bets could potentially be cancelled due to sport stopping. So use on a side of caution. We're (mainly) adults so I'll leave it up just because this doesn't have the excitement of regular gambling.
Microsoft Rewards This is an easy way to make pocket change doing very little. Most people have a MS account. The rewards program offers you numerous ways to grab points, by playing free to play games, answering small questions (you don't even need to answer most of the time, just open the link and shut it) and by using bing and searching on it. I've gotten 20k points JUST by answering questions over a couple months. There are many rewards but you can grab a £5 gift card for 6k for example, or a month of game pass (and AFAIK you can make points playing the games)
Google rewards Someone mentioned this in the comments. I have not used it, so can not give any input on it. Sounds similar to TalkInsights which I linked. Google states "Complete short surveys while standing in line, or waiting for a subway. Get rewarded with Google Play or PayPal credit for each one you complete. Topics include everything from opinion polls, to hotel reviews, to merchant satisfaction surveys. We’ll notify you when a survey is waiting."
That's it for now. I will try to update as I go along. A long post but I hope that it can help some of you with finding something good to do that's free, cheap or a bargain. I do suggest getting prime, especially since you get free music, free delivery, free TV and music and free video games each month. In fact, there's a ton of perks and I feel I've gotten way over the cost investment. Hope it helps someone at least PartTimeCrazy said if you bought an Apple product you get 3 free months of Apple Arcade and Apple TV free for a year fakehunted is upset I didn't mention wanking. Tesco have 225 sheets of Tissue for £0.75! tale_lost suggested Project Gutenberg for a collection of free E-Books Learning Language Unfortunately, I don't have time to check every link listed so I will link the comments: TogtogtogGives a lot of links for Spanish
Board & Tabletop games Corporal_Anaesthetic has made a list of Board games ilyemco suggested these HEALTH I'm not a doctor! But if you're a smoker, something I strongly suggest is to quit. I struggled for years but in the first lockdown I quit, technically. I haven't had a cigarette since, however, I do that silly thing millennials do. I vape, but, it made quitting extremely easy. I would not have been able to do it if it wasn't for 88Vape They sell extremely cheap liquids at £1 each. You can find these in B&M but you can pick up 25 for £20 or buy your own mix. Vitamin D deficiency has been said to be a big problem for the virus. I'd suggest (again, not a doctor!) that you pick some up. Tesco do a 3 for 2 deal. So you can pick up 270 tablets for £7. If you are vulnerable you MIGHT be able to phone tesco and get put on their delivery saver list (currently it's paused but phoning may help. At the very least they might give you a priority slot. I did this for my mum, we didn't shop at Tesco but I phoned for her, and they put her on with no hassle, so she can always get a delivery. HELP & ADVICE The lockdown Rules. Reasons to leave home include:
Work or volunteering where it is "unreasonable" to work from home. This includes work in someone else's home, such as that carried out by social workers, nannies, cleaners and tradespeople
Education, training, childcare and medical appointments and emergencies
Exercise outdoors (limited to once a day). This includes meeting one other person from another household in an open public space to exercise
Shopping for essentials such as food and medicine
Communal religious worship
Meeting your support or childcare bubble. Children can also move between separated parents Activities related to moving house
I want to add, if you are in danger you are also allowed (and must!) to get away from the situation for some reason, BBC seems to have missed this very important thing (or I am blind)
FOR THOSE SHIELDING YOU CAN CONTACT THEROYAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE. These people helped my mother with picking up her medicine from the chemist. They were very helpful and went out their way to keep in touch and do it immediately. (It's the only experience I have with them though) _riotingpacifist wanted this links added, but I simply just don't have the time to vet and check all the suggestions here, so I will link as is:
Krita Arguably the best in my opinion. It has a load of options, brushes and a decent UI. It works fantastic with a tablet.
Gimp This is a decent program but last I used, the UI was a pain, and it isn't so user friendly while misses features, but it works, and it is possible to do some incredible creations on it.
Medibang Paint This is slightly geared towards Comics and Manga. I really enjoy using this with my drawing Tablet. As far as I know, it also for regular tablets for Android/Ipad and is free.
You can pick up a drawing tablet on Amazon quite cheap these days! Small ones that are just a black slate such as the wacom ones are good but takes some practice to get use to, but very worth it if you can't afford a dedicated drawing tablet with a screen. Office suit software A couple of free applications for word processing, spreadsheets etc.
LibreOfficeThis has most the average user would need to write their own books or to work from home. There's not a huge amount of difference between the two I'm linking (since I last used anyway) so it's more for preference.
Open Office You can pick this up here and again, like above it's just preference.
Music Making I'm going to direct to matthewharris806 for some links as all the programs I've used like Reason are expensive, or cheaper stuff in bundles such as Magix software. Games development D_Dad_Default gives some links for that here
Feb/4/2021: (1) Armenia will grow weed (2) Colonel charged w/bribery & tampering w/draft during war (3) Education reform: grading, curriculum, preschool (4) Bill: treason, disability ranking, media (5) Diplomacy (6) Rumors & rebuttals (7) Cancer stats & free treatment (8) $750M bond (9) in-out stats
Your 14-minute Thursday report in 3497 words. Part 1.
anti-corruption: Defense Ministry official busted with bribery & tampering with draft during war
NSS report says: a Colonel, who had oversight over subdivisions, received a ֏975K bribe from a conscript to transfer him to another location on Sep-13-2020. Part of the bribe was transferred to his online gambling account. When the war began, a draft was declared and recruits began training at a location in Armenia. The Colonel took a ֏1.2M bribe from a soldier in exchange for not sending him to the front lines. During the winter draft, the Colonel took a ֏5.2M bribe from another conscript and used his connections to send him to the desired service location. A similar ֏1M bribe was requested on January 6th from another recruit. The Colonel took another ֏1.4M bribe to help promote a conscript and allow him to work at a hospital instead of regular service. On October 22nd, during the war, the Colonel decided to help a friend move from bordering Khndzoresk (Syunik) hospital back to Yerevan. As a result, the clinic became understaffed and couldn't fulfill its duties. Moreover, the Colonel then helped the same friend not to be deployed on Syunik borders as a soldier and instead to handle tasks in the rear, on October 26th, in exchange for a ֏300K bribe. On October 13th, during the war, the Colonel and his accomplices wanted to help a soldier to leave Artsakh. When they learned that the latter was already on the "deserted" list, they took steps to remove him from the list. Then, he learned that his friends' sons received a draft notice, and use his connections to remove them from the draft list. After the war, on Dec-13, a friend asked the Colonel to make sure that his son, who was serving in Lusakert, wasn't sent to the front lines. The Colonel contacted the Lusakert facility but learned that the soldier was not among those who were supposed to be sent to the front lines. Nonetheless, the Colonel decided to defraud his friend by claiming that "he took care of it", and received a ֏200K bribe. The colonel and over a dozen others were arrested. Illegal weapons were found under their possession. The investigation continues to expose other possible suspects. https://youtu.be/ifo13WJLpsU https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042334.html
bill: harsher punishment for treason, spying, espionage
BHK MPs drafted a bill to increase punishment for traitors, spies, passing of state secrets. They want to raise the maximum punishment from 15 years to 20-life. The authors explained the move by citing many media reports about alleged "treason" incidents. The bill was discussed at a relevant Parliamentary committee. The chairman QP MP Vladimir said he supports life imprisonment as the minimum punishment. However, during the discussion, they agreed to settle on 15-20 years plus property confiscation, or a life sentence. The committee found the espionage punishment too harsh and asked the bill author to reduce it from 15 to 12 years. The BHK author agreed. The bill was approved unanimously and will be debated/voted on the Parliament floor later. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042354.html
Jalal is back with another position
The wounded ex-Artsakh army commander Jalal Harutyunyan will serve as the Republic of Armenia's Defense Ministry's Head of the Military Control Service. He will replace General Movses Mosi Hakobyan who quit on November 18th. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042353.html
Russian-Turkish ceasefire monitoring group begins operations
ECHR received Armenia's complaint against Azerbaijan regarding 228 POWs / Azeris counter-claim for 13 POWs
Armenian families submitted a petition to ECHR to require Azerbaijan to provide information regarding 228 individuals. Azeris want to know data about 13 people. (From the language it is unclear to me whether the petition is for confirmed POWs, or it also includes families of missing soldiers who want to know whether their relatives are POWs. Likely the former.) https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042406.html
Russia removed tomato import ban on 13 Armenian firms
Russian regulator will allow 13 Armenian sellers to export tomato and pepper to Russia again after earlier finding a food virus in them. A similar ban was implemented against Azeri tomatoes. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042433.html
US Congressman demands an explanation from the US ambassador to Azerbaijan over "congratulatory" statement
Rep. Bred Sherman wants to know why the US ambassador to Azerbaijan Lee Litzenberger congratulated Azerbaijan's Economy Minister with "de-occupying territories and US's willingness to aid Azerbaijan with rebuilding those territories". He reminded the US officials that the US is a member of the Minsk Group and should take steps to ensure Artsakh's safety and prevention of a new war. Bred Sherman praised Biden's appointee Anthony Blinken for stating that the US will review its military assistance to Azerbaijan after the latest war in Artsakh. Artsakh MFA yesterday released a statement urging countries, officials, and organizations to refrain from such "congratulatory" statements. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042370.html
de-occupy Hadrut NGO
... aims to help 13,500 Hadrut residents who lost their homes during the war. It was founded during the war by activists who held protests in front of various embassies. In the early days, they received aid from President Sarkissian's office. The latter gave shelter to 25 families. Today the NGO aims to help refugees with employment, while simultaneously lobbying for Minsk Group to de-occupy Hadrut so residents can return. "I hope that one day our NGO will shut down because Hadrut is no longer occupied," said co-founder Meri Davtyan. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042286.html
govt session: financial aid for Syunik border villagers
The government approved a new aid package for residents of Syunik's Shurnukh and Vorotan villagers. Those who lost their homes will qualify for the same aid package as Artsakh refugees: one-time ֏300K payment plus monthly ֏65K payments for 6 months. There is another pending aid package to build new houses for them. Context: Two dozen houses in Vorotan and Shurnukh went under Azeri control because they were built on the Azeri side of the internationally-recognized borders. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042362.html
bill: disability ranking to be replaced with degrees of functionality impairment
The government approved a bill, yet to be approved by Parliament, to reform the disability system. The disability assessment process will analyze the person's level of functional impairment while taking into account surrounding conditions. "Today, the system is run under a 1993 law that does not do a comprehensive assessment of the surrounding environment, person's ability to function in public life," says the govt. The draft bill will repeal the 1-3 Categories and Disabled Child category. A person's functionality impairment degrees will be light, medium, heavy, or deep. Disability will no longer be considered a permanent health problem. The assessment will be based not only on the factor of health problems but also on the environmental factors of the person's activity and participation in public life. Healthcare and Social Ministries, NGOs, the UN, and the EU worked together to create and test an assessment methodology. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042365.html Tags: #DisabilityLaw #disabled
bill: require unknown Telegram/Facebook media channel owners identified before "linking" by mass media
QP MPs want to require social media channel operators identified before a "mainstream media" can link to them. It doesn't restrict citing "anonymous sources", however. It also requires outlets to disclose sources of revenues for transparency. Read yesterday's news for context and arguments in favor or against it.. The debate continued today. QP MP Arthur: For example, a legitimate news organization with an editorial staff of 30 people generates information, holds interviews, etc., while a Telegram channel that we do not know where it is managed from and by whom, begins to disseminate sensationalized information and over time becomes more "legitimate" than real media outlets because media outlets "advertised" them. This is also a national security risk because it is very possible that such sources are being operated by an adversary country to spread instability and an atmosphere of fear in the country. // The co-author criticized the critics who "claimed that the bill intends to ban anonymous sources. That's not true. This also won't affect the protection of journalists' source secrecy." https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042357.html If you're interested in more debates: https://youtu.be/MTHwRa4YjgY , https://youtu.be/ThDNVwZYEp8 , https://youtu.be/S6C_NocS9N0 , https://youtu.be/3_-i2Z23ubI , https://youtu.be/wiPnmfeLNJ8 Tags: #MediaLaw #TelegramLaw #FreeSpeech
rumors and rebuttals: Artsakh army isn't being dissolved
Serj's won-in-law Mishik earlier circulated rumors that were denied by state officials. Today, Kocharyan-ally Vitali Balasanyan, who serves as Artsakh's Security Council chief, confirmed that the army isn't "disintegrating." After the restructuring process, there will be subdivisions with professional contractors, he said. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042344.html
rumors and rebuttals: Azeri flag won't fly over Artsakh govt buildings
rumors and rebuttals: Azeri families won't resettle in Stenapakert / none are shopping in market
Vitalik Balasanyan said there are false rumors about two districts in Stepanakert being populated by Azeris, and Azeris allegedly freely shopping in Stepanakert market. "Dear citizens of Artsakh, on behalf of the authorities of the Artsakh Republic, I assure you that despite the irreparable losses inflicted on us as a result of the war, the state is always committed to fulfilling its responsibilities to ensure the security and normal life of the population. Accordingly, I urge you not to pay attention to the false news. Everything is being done to create and expand the necessary conditions for a dignified life of the people of Artsakh." https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042344.html
rumors and rebuttals: Artsakh envoy won't stop operating in Russia
The Permanent Representation of the Artsakh Republic in Russia will not be terminated, said the Artsakh govt in response to rumors. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042367.html
rumors and rebuttals: no single currency in EAEU trade bloc
There is a district called Hollywood in Yerevan, Armenia. Gamblers were caught running an underground casino in there. This is the second such bust in the past few months. The police say ֏5.5B in damages was done to the state. https://youtu.be/sp0Sb--e_ms?t=60 https://factor.am/335320.html
anti-corruption: prosecutors charge education officials with ֏1.2B auction shenanigans
Prosecutors said: State Oversight Committee (SOC) audited the "National Center for Educational Technology" government-affiliated agency's finances between 2013-2020. Every year, the agency submitted a report on the work done by them towards servicing the education system. The bill was ֏700M annually. It was revealed that between 2012-2015, they granted an auction-based contract to the same company. It received a combined ֏2.8B in funding. The law requires the auction-holding officials to examine the market and take other steps before the auction. They failed to do so. Later, during 2017-2019, the same company was selected to do the job, but this time it was only paid ֏300-400M annually, far lower than during the previous years. ֏1.2B in damages was done to the state. A felony case is launched. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042389.html
re: Armenia's $750M eurobond sale / lowest % in history / $3B demand by investors / economy news
Read yesterday's news for context. Pashinyan: The issuance of $750M eurobonds is a strong positive signal for the start of the economic year. The issuance was done under the most favorable conditions in the history of our republic, with the lowest 3.8% percentage rate. Our previous record was in 2019 at 4.2%. The demand was for $3B but we decided to issue only $0.750B. First, it provides a guarantee of macroeconomic stability. Second, this is the first serious signal of overcoming the post-war economic shock, which shows that international investors have confidence in the economic future of Armenia and the policy pursued by the government. // Economy Minister Janjughazyan: this was part of our long-term plan and we had planned to do it while drafting the 2021 budget. We planned to issue fewer bonds but decided to add $250M because of favorable terms. We plan to use that extra cash towards the stabilization deposit, as a safety pad, to be used throughout the year if necessary. As long as our budget has a deficit we will have to borrow. But this is only part of the story; the country's overall debt burden is calculated based on various indicators. So far Armenia has been rated as a country with a lower debt burden. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042351.html, https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042352.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042363.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042393.html
how many people did leave and arrive after reopening air traffic with Russia?
The governments of Armenia and Russian worked on an "app" to allow mutual travel after taking a test. By February 15th, there will be 4-route flights in 2 directions. There were several flights in the past few days. 3900 left and 3400 arrived. 1423 Armenian citizens left and 1263 Armenian citizens arrived. "More people were willing to leave in December than today," noted Diaspora Committee chief Sinanyan. "Some people flew to Russia but had to return due to a problem. This wasn't due to the COVID app implemented by us. Preliminary data shows that they went to Russia with a paper QP code which raised the suspicion of Russian authorities. We will work with them to resolve this," said Deputy PM Mher. (say what??) "We need to better inform the public about the existence of this app. Restoring routine flights will help the tourism industry," said PM Pashinyan. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042358.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042383.html
Pashinyan about the suspended Amulsar gold mining project
He repeated his earlier position that "Decisions must be made that take into account Armenia's best interests." "The mining industry plays a very important role in the development of Armenia's economy, including in the security context." "We must make decisions to make investment programs acceptable for the Armenian public while taking into account interests of Republic of Armenia." https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042368.html
COVID stats
1829 tested. 147 infected. 352 healed. 11 deaths. 4637 active. "We're negotiating for vaccines via COVAX global initiative. Separately, we're negotiating with Russia for Sputnik-V. Vaccines should be available in March. It will be targeted at specific groups. It won't be mandatory," said Healthcare Minister Avanesyan. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042341.html , https://youtu.be/vXz3pHx1BlM?t=92
the consumer market price increase in the past 12 months
Armenia's consumer market inflation was +4.5% from January to January. Food +6.4%. Alcohol & tobacco +10.8%. Clothing +2.6%. Utilities +0.6%. Appliances +5.8%. Healthcare +5.6%. Transport +5.7%. Telecom +0.5%. Leisure & culture -0.8%. Education +2%. Dining +1.6%. Misc +3.5%. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042323.html
Parliament MP stops a citizen's suicide attempt
Someone tried to jump from Kievyan bridge. QP MP Gor Gevorgyan was nearby and stopped the attempt. The police took the distressed person to a station. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042329.html
psychological support will be provided to war participants and the public
Emergency Ministry says 15-30% of people have PTSD after the war. Today the government approved a plan to provide psychological aid to war participants and others. The target group includes families of missing people, POWs and their families, those who received disabilities, families of those who died, those who fought in the war, IDPs, civilians who were affected in any way. The program will work in Armenia and Artsakh. The government will purchase services from experienced mental health service agencies. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042403.html
Armenia will grow industrial marijuana on mass industrial scale / incentive to boost land utilization
Hemp is a type of weed that contains less of the substance that makes you feel high. The government wants to grow industrial hemp on a mass scale to boost mood land utilization and revenues. Pashinyan: this is going to open room for many speculations. It's important to present the project in detail so the public will have a full understanding of what is being done. Unfortunately, "hemp" is interpreted as something else, while in reality, it is a very important industrial raw material. The growing process has risks but there are oversight mechanisms that have been tested in many countries. Deputy PM Avinyan: the US, Russia, and China have a great experience with industrial hemp production. The practice was examined by the Economy Ministry. We're talking about industrial production only. It will significantly activate agricultural land utilization. Today, 40% of lands are gone unused. This is part of our plan to boost the production of high-value agricultural products. https://youtu.be/ssZgr2DR3DM?t=7 https://www.healthline.com/health/hemp-vs-marijuana#marijuana https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042372.html
Education Minister says the "controversial" parts of Church/History merger were "resolved"
Education Ministry wants to merge the school subjects "Armenian Church History" and "Armenian History". Critics said it will shrink the church-related materials too much, others called it treason, while others supported the decision, stating that it's all part of our history and having a separate class is inefficient. Education Minister Dumanyan says he met colleagues at the National Academy of Sciences and they resolved the conflicts "that caused a noise earlier." He will reveal details soon. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042379.html , https://youtu.be/V0sC3dx-gzU
Major education reforms: "education alone will not solve all problems, but there is no problem that can be solved without an education"
... said PM Pashinyan during a govt session while discussing education reforms. Kids in 1-5 grades will no longer receive grades; tt will be pass or no pass (still needs Parliamentary approval). "There will be a criticism. How can you not grade? But this is a comprehensive program that emphasizes the student's needs and preferences," said Pashinyan. "We need to pay attention to how the time is spent in schools and what skills are being taught in school hours. It will reflect in our society 15-20 years later. It will define whether we have a technological product or not. What we were doing in 12 years (school length) can be done within 9 years, but a 9-year school isn't the solution. Instead of shortening the school, we're trying to fill the gap in a way to have a 50% higher efficiency by the end of the 12th year. In developed countries, education starts not from school but from preschool. The lower the education entry age the more developed the countries are," said Pashinyan. (the govt has a plan to make sure 70% of kids attend preschools by 2023) https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042394.html
cancer stats in Armenia / annual rate / drops among children / fewer abandon treatment
world 9.6 million people die from cancer annually. 1/3rd is possible to prevent. Another part can be cured with the help of early detection. Armenia Cancer was the 2nd leading cause of death in 2020. It has increased in the past 10 years but at a small rate. Lung cancer is more common among men, and breast cancer among women. First time diagnosis by year: 2018 - 8762, 2019 - 7908, 2020 - 7050. Deaths by year: 2018 - 5199, 2019 - 5434. 2020 - unavailable. (55% men, 45% women) The cancer rate went up by 1.5x compared to 1990. However, it declined by 2x among children under 14yo. Fewer people abandon treatment. 3 years ago 53% of lung patients did so, today it's 40%. Breast cancer treatment abandonment went from 47% to 22%. (I translated the word բարձիթողության as "abandonment". Correct me if it refers to something else.) Artsakh The number of cancer cases has decreased in Artsakh: from 345 to 260 YoY. prevention Oncologist Safaryan says the early detection helps to avoid complications and save lives, even if it's the type of cancer that is known to reappear. There are many patients who defeat cancer. "Smokers should get a lung x-ray twice a year. Those working in chemical plants should get a frequent screening. Do not ignore symptoms and չգցել ականջի հետև. You can defeat it more easily when it's at 1-2 stages. It's a lot harder when it advances to 4." Preventing cancer isn't easy. The causes of this disease are many. Genetics, bad habits, obesity, surrounding environment. A genetic test can reveal the likelihood of suffering from illness. Some women choose to undergo a mastectomy to prevent possible breast cancer in the future. "I decided that if 1-in-100 is destined to be cured, I will be that one," said Ashkhen, a woman who recently defeated cancer. More: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042291.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042364.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042405.html
cancer diagnosis, surgery, and radiotherapy are free
The treatment was made free recently. The Oncology Center urges the public to get screened as part of an early-detection initiative. The pilot program began in Vanadzor; 307 women were screened. Cancer diagnosis, surgery, and radiotherapy are free, while the medication has a co-payment. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042423.html
Artsakh president Arayik met donor Alec Baghdasaryan and thanked him. "Only with the joint efforts of the Armenian people is it possible to quickly overcome the difficulties and to plan development programs." Alec plans more charity programs relating to education. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1042326.html
Hey guys, it’s Coooolin!! How was everyone’s Throwback Thursday!? Gooodd ? Baaddd? Whaaat?! Lemme knooww, downn beloow! .... wait before going further, did you read this ? It’s for you! Here’s the new cards for today, Thanks EA!
Silver Master Icons
(All cards have +2 their Syns, i.e., DIS2) .. not home, and busy! will update! Bobby Clarke - 91 OVR - PHI / C - HOW2 , SWA2 Jacques Plante - 91 OVR - MTL / G - BAL2 , DIS2 Terry Sawchuk - 91 OVR - DET / G - BAR2 , H and S2 Needs 9 Collects to upgrade each —-
Montreal vs Toronto
Toronto Dave Keon - 88 OVR - TOR / C - SPA1 , SPE1 Tim Horton - 87 OVR - TOR / RD - SPA1 , SPE1 Bob Baub - 86 OVR - TOR / RD - SPA1 , SPE1 Montreal Steve Shutt - 88 OVR - MTL / LW - DIS1 , HOW1 Serge Savard - 87 OVR - MTL / LD - DIS1 , HOW1 Bob Gainey - 86 OVR - MTL / LW - DIS1 , HOW1
23 H / 40M • Mega Players Pack - 50k C / 1k P 30 items , all Gold Players , with at least 5 80+ OVR Players • NHL Players Pack - 30k C / 600 P 10 items, all Gold NHL players with at least 4 80+ OVR Players • Jumbo Premium Pack - 15k C / 300 P 20 items , at least 9 players with at least 4 Gold Players
P.S.
• Squad Battles Rewards - 5pm EST (Today) • New Game Modes of HUT RUSH - 5pm EST (Today) • Silver Upgrades for Sawchuk , Plante , and Clarke
• More Event Cards - Tomorrow at 5pm EST • Weekend! —————
Summary of the day
Quick Read Best Forward of the Day - PT - is DAVIIDD PASTRNAAK OVR 93 with the syn PASSINN PLAYMAKERRR and MAGIICIIAN Best Defence of the Day - PT - is RYYANN MCDONAUUGH OVR 87 with the syn LIIGHTT THE LAAMPP and WIINGMAANN ——- —— ——- • Squad Battles Rewards • New Season of HUT RUSH • Silver Upgrades for Plante , Sawchuk , and Clarke ———— —— ———
Important Notice
Dear haters, I have so much more for you to be mad at. Just be patient. Behind someone successful, always lies a pack of haters behind. Because lets face it — if you can’t handle being talked about... you’re not ready for success. Success comes in a variety of things; little and big. Everyone wants to be “successful” in life... but what they really don’t know? They already are. They’re waking up every single day, battling life as it comes to them; problems, situations, decisions, sickness, and just doing their best at life... and thats really all that matters? You’re waking up every day - if you’re blessed with it - doing little things during the day, or having a relaxful “nothing” day.... and that? That is successful, too. Reward yourself every so often. Don’t be scared to take a few days off work - you’re doing yourself a favour by making your mental and physical health better for a day... regaining all that strength, and just having a relaxing, stress free day... and we all deserve those every once in a while. So if you’re feeling anxious, and down, and not wanting to go to work? Don’t feel bad to call in.... everyone needs “those days” to get onto a better day!
Interested in Stocks?
EA’s Stock Price, after hours - Feb 4 $ 138.63 (usd) —- Currency Converter we looked at the stock at $137.54 usd —— That is a difference of ( $1.09 / 0.79% ) — Disclaimer - I am not a financial advisor. It is your money, please do your own due diligence. I am not responsible for your money. This is *not** advice. I added this section for an added educational purposes only. Thanks* —— —— —— —-
NEED A SOUNDTRACK TO LISTEN TO?
I made this for everyone. I’ll update it whenever I feel like it, but its been often!
WHO LIKES LISTENING TO MUSIC? How are you not listening to this playlist already!? Comment songs to add, and please give feedback! It’s much appreciated!! I currently have “Crazy Train” by “Ozzy Osbourne” stuck in my head.... which you can play, recently added to the playlist! Sidenote - How do you guys like the playlist!? I have a friend who makes music...and I really want to surprise him with some new people listening to his music... if you wanna help me, please click Here!! it would mean a lot to me!! ———-
Sites To Bookmark!
If you click here you will be redirected to bilasport. Bilasport is the best Online Streaming site for your entertainment needs for all sports! (Not affiliated) A great streaming source recommended by NHLStreams is SurgeSport. Click on Hockey and you’ll be good to go! Want to make your dream team, and show others what you’ve been working on, and much more? I will redirect you HERE!. Here’s a helpful pack guide for you! Click! Want to know how the market is holding up? With a simple TAP! you will be on the newly fresh made website for the HUT market, made by one of the guys on the sub! .... what do the stats on a card mean? Is my card I want / pulled good? Click here to find out!! When is my favourite team playing? When do they play!? Here you can click on this link, and tap on your favourite team. From there, tap “Schedule” . You can add this to your homescreen on iPhone by clicking the square with the upwards arrow, scrolling down, and tapping “Add to Home Screen” ——- —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —- —— —-
Fighting a Gambling Addiction?
Don’t feel scared to click here. Winning is SO much louder than losing. Know that you are NEVER alone. We are all here for eachother, and it is never too late to get help. I am here for you. This is a VERY important thread, especially if you are new to HUT. Here!
Colin’s Thoughts
Recently I’ve been writing a whole bunch of poems, and just writing stuff down. If anyone’s curious to read any of em, or wants me to post em next time in a daily content, let me know please! :) Thanks! ——- 35 / 365 —— —— —— —- —- ——- —- —— —— Thanks for reading. I’m always welcome to feedback, please let me know what I can improve on. If there’s anything missing, please let me know! Take care, happy gaming! TODAY IS NATIONAL GIRLS and WOMEN IN SPORTS DAY • Coolin Killin It (Life is like a puzzle, you just have to find the right piece.)
The major problem with Asian activism is that rich Asians control the narrative, Poor Asians should be the voice of Asian activism.
In America, Canada, etc. the Asians that shown to speak for Asian issues all grew up at least middle class. People like Jeremy Lin, Andrew Yang, and Constance Wu all have parents with high paying STEM jobs, and grew up in enviroments that allowed them to deal with much less racism than poor Asians. As a result, rich Asians tend to give out their experiences of racism like "they made fun of my lunch in grade school" or "I was insecure because I wanted to have blonde hair and blue eyes" or "people think I'm good at math when I'm bad at math". Andrew Yang plays into stereotypes so heavily because of his own private-school upbringing. The focus on rich Asians and their problems make people think that 1) all Asians are rich, and 2) Asians have barely any problems, so we don't need to care about their issues. If you look at other races, they always talk about the poor. Black Americans use poor black people murdered by police as examples of racism. Latinos talk about undocumented immigrants suffering. Native Americans point out the massive joblessness and alcoholism on the reservations. Trump built a huge base of poor whites by appealing to working class white voters and their problems. Poor Asians face the brunt of anti-Asian racism in the West. They get targeted for violent physical attacks by other races. They are eyed suspiciously when they try and get financial support because other people all assume Asians are rich. Many poor Asians have severe mental health issues coming from war torn countries. Poor Asians should be the ones centered in Asian activism. Asians make up the poorest racial group in NYC. These are the stories of racism we need to talk about. About getting assaulted in the street for collecting cans. About getting shot and killed delivering Chinese food. About the constant hate from others in public schools, the slurs and abuse. About the ones that never achieved the American Dream. The ones that crack and turn to drug abuse or gambling. The ones that are undocumented and are constantly under fear of deportation. These are the stories that need to be told. The problem is, rich Asians are the only ones able to climb America's social ladder and speak about their issues, which are pathetic compared to the experiences of poor Asians.
Extensive list of "improvement notes" I used to climb from Silver to Plat with Yuumi
I recently climbed to Plat for the first time playing nothing but Yuumi, and wanted to share some notes I compiled along the way. Ever since high Silver, after each game, I would try to think hard about mistakes I made, going back to watch the replay if necessary. If anything stuck out, I would make an "improvement note" in a text file. These really added up after a while, and I have pasted the entire list below. Those closer to the top are more recent. There may be a few typos here and there -- feel free to ask if you don't understand something.
When early game goes rough, you often start tunneling on immediate fights, and forget about vision set up around OBJECTIVES; try to calm down and think further ahead
Using Ignite+Exhaust on a seemingly isolated target while enemies are missing keeps baiting your allies to overcommit, and then die to the response
Basic: deep river wards are good against speedy junglers, but make no sense if your jungler is just about to take the crab in that same section of river...
In lane, highest payoff of mental energy seems to come from: 1) avoiding all CC; 2) hitting Qs (these add up!); 3) procing passive on enemy ADC while they last-hit
Reminder: continuing to lose 2v2's post-6 against Lulu in lane, even with significant HP advantage and good engages; stop underestimating her poly+R combo
When an ally is getting CC'd and potentially picked in an early invade, give them the heal and shield, then gtfo onto another ally; safer, and equally effective
Reminder: bush wards do NOT cut it against Hecarim, Nunu, Rammus, etc.; to be safe, you NEED a mid-river ward, and if possible, a control ward in your own jungle
With Tryndamere: even if he's fed, he's not a great anchor; your heals have anti-synergy with his kit, and may throw him off his ult; let him split if possible
Reminder: as games get later, not body-blocking a single Jhin W can mean ADC dies, which can in turn insta-lose the whole game on the spot
Best practice for ulting: ping your ult + target beforehand -> calculate best angle and fire -> continuously look for improvements using W and E for full duration
Missing P procs in crowded minion waves; try to better incorporate the target champion only key and use right-click on them
For first ward when on red side, putting it a bit further into the river, or bit left of the bush, will both give more time to see enemy jungler coming to gank
Reminder: whenever LeBlanc is anchor in a fight, you need to be holding space; crazy woman is constantly blinking, reverting, and cloning; very easy to get lost
When you get off to a really good start, you sometimes get too hype and want to perma-fight in lane; this is very dangerous if enemy jungle/mid are missing; careful
Weird aspect of Yuumi: perhaps because you often end up mainly supporting just one person, multiple teammates often feel useless; accept this and play, don't tilt
Against Sylas: in order to not get caught off guard by his CC and escape options, you MUST pay closer attention to whose ultimate he has
According to leagueofgraphs.com, my weakest stat by far is my gold income, relative to other Yuumis; seek out more quest procs -> get Moonstone sooner -> win more
If you're under 10% HP, just don't get off OR switch allies in any remotely hostile environment; sometimes weird effects proc and you just die to a light breeze
If you only have enough mana left for one heal, never use it to top off ADC, no matter how long they are; wait for right moment to use it to maximize MS/AS as well
Reminder: STILL forgetting to use heal when running it; try just permanently thinking about it?
Rather than wait out enemy CC before procing P, it's often better to ANTICIPATE ally CC, and then proc P during brief window where enemy can't retaliate
In a tight chase down on enemy target, E first to get your anchor closer, THEN Q to apply the slow; seems straight-forward, but you often mess it up
Playing a passive, safe lane is very coin-flippy (and boring), but against bad matchups (e.g. Thresh) that is better than trying to force an advantage and dying
When a teammate is tunneling and throwing, but doesn't seem outright tilted/toxic, try pinging them harder; may help snap them out of it
As games drag on and everyone tilts, both teams often seem to get dumber, regardless of who's winning; just chilling and looking for picks is weirdly effective
Even with Elder AND Baron, if your team doesn't have any tank/engage, and some members are weak, you can't just run it down mid; will have to split-push a bit to end
Reminder: if an important objective fight is coming up in ~1:30 min, you NEED to place wards there, back, and refill your wards; this is a critical responsibility
Observed: body-blocking works not just on Kaisa's W (missile), but also on her Q (burst), as some of the projectiles will naturally target you
Observed: if you are on Illaoi getting collapsed on 3v2, and she chills in a bush, the approaching enemies are in as much danger as you; stay calm, Illaoi strong
Observed: whenever anchor is backing, maximize downtime to scout whatever you safely can nearby, and W back to them at the end of their channel
Observed: you need to use W to laterally reposition during your ult more often; it's often key to rooting more enemies while your original anchor does their thing
Observed: you can proc passive on most forms of enemy clones, including Illaoi spirits
Observed: if enemy support keeps roaming and you can't follow, you should be attempting to freeze on enemy ADC
Reminder: you are a good tool for freezing waves; you can start tanking aggro if alone, then repeatedly apply aery to your ADC for free freezing
Observed: you are not utilizing Q to scout bushes enough; it's pretty cheap and can save a death
Observed: body blocking all types of enemy projectiles at the very last second is incredibly effective
Observed: if your ADC is absolutely going to be fatally hooked, and you can anticipate it, get off and take one for the team
Reminder: on ADCs like Ezreal and Tristana, if they get caught out and still have their dash, do NOT get off to proc P and then get left behind
Observed: on blue side, bush above red buff is a nice spot for an early control ward if you have a moment; try to use it more often
Client keeps resetting preference; ALWAYS make sure you have champion names visible over health bars, to prevent skins confusing you during key moments
Decent anti-tilt strat: after you make an "inexcusable" mistake, consider the game a well-deserved loss; then just play your best for your team, regardless of outcome
Against ANY type of engage/ambush/all-in lane opponents, just start E; you or your ADC keep giving up first blood from sudden, whacky shenanigans
When an ally makes you die, there will be a burning sting through your neck, stomach, and legs; if can feel it and not tilt, that's a major advantage over opponents
When a game is going well and there is no perfect support item to build, strongly consider building: mejai's, boots of lucidity, and redemption/mikael's
Major: you keep baiting in your ADC's with sudden exhaust+ignite on enemy ADC; instead, just ping they are ready and target, and let YOUR ADC be the one to initiate
In a way, every game starts as a coinflip either for or against you, just the degree varies; your goal: lose no games in your favor, and win those slightly against you
Reminder: you tilting leads to losses more directly than teammates throwing; enjoying or at least tolerating the game while losing is a very underrated "skill"
Even in high elo, good decisions are worth much more than perfect mechanics
10 minutes worth of smart lane trading can evaporate in an instant due to one slightly careless misposition; the game always hangs in the balance
Rage warding a new pink ward while your old pink ward is being destroyed is very rarely worth it
Reminder: don't blow your E for AS/MS alone unless there is zero danger of counter-kill; better to hold it for heal value in most cases
If possible, you want your lane to be a slow, safe war of attrition, not a violent fiesta of death
Reminder: when one enemy is uber-fed, you MUST save exhaust for them at all cost; doing anything else = directly lose the game
Reminder: ultimately, you will climb if you consistently outperform the enemy support; that means better lane trades, better vision, better objective/teamfight support
Against Rell/Tristana: if they hit level 2 first and all-in, they are capable of killing your ADC under tower, unless you start heal (!)
If your ADC gets hooked and locked down, try to time and aim your ult to root the enemy ADC just as the CC chain ends; this gives your ADC the best chance at escaping
After Moonstone, a point-blank Q can actually provide a critical heal to another teammate; in this rare situation, point-blank Q is good
Teamfighting directly underneath an angry Baron is not a good environment for Yuumi; his AA's alone can quickly kill you
Bad habit: when low HP ally is running, you keep trying to proc passive on the pursuer, and getting caught in hard CC; sometimes, it's better to just pray
When your team is winning early, it's fine to play safer, but don't play lazy; at the very least, keep hitting your Q's
Against any melee support, whenever their dangerous spells are on CD, HARASS the living hell out of them; show no mercy (though watch out for enemy ADC of course)
Too often, you "go down with the first ship" in teamfights; unless they're the sole carry, just let your anchors die; because if you die too early, then EVERYONE dies
Reminder: respect enemy burst more at level 2, regardless of their comp; you keep giving up first blood, stop that
If you are solo guarding while enemy ignores you and whacks your tower, treat them as a gold sponge; +20 per quest proc is great
Observed: on blue side, you can often soak lane experience at full value while in river bush, in order to better support your jungler invading enemy bot side
Observed: on blue side especially, if enemy jungler can't dash over walls, no reason not to ward a bit DEEPER in river on first ward
If your W gets put on CD, don't take potshot Q's while off; they are very unlikely to empowered hit, and you can be much more effective in a few seconds
Don't neglect landing your empowered Q's during key teamfights; the slow and extra damage are significant; keep one eye on your anchos, but aim it properly
Against Swain: fyi, his W (eye) has an insane range (5500+); also, his E (claw) has 850 range, and gives least time to dodge root at very tip, making it quite deadly
When you and your anchor get collapsed on in neutral territory, sometimes breaking off and running in opposite directions makes the double-kill impossible for enemy
Against Alistar: his flash-Q with ADC follow-up will 100-to-0 you through all countermeasures at all levels, just like Sett
Reminder: STOP getting off for random greedy P procs; you are throwing fights
For squishy ADCs like Twitch into CC heavy enemies, consider starting Mikael's; test it out a bit
If things are going south for your anchor, start looking for Plan B anchor immediately; slight delay can make a big difference
Consider P proc in teamfights as risk/reward; better to lose one anchor and continue the fight than lose whole game from getting hard CC'd and dying
In ~3/4 of games, someone on your team will be making attrocious decisions; if they're not playing with the team, do not encourage them with heals
When chasing and weaving in AAs, be more mindful of W CD; sometimes it is better to do nothing and just wait for Q
Reminder: when facing a tank support in lane, hard focus their squishier ADC with Q poke; if they all-in, hard focus their ADC in counter-attack
Against Malphite: if he levels up sapling first, then you probably want to start E; starting Q and then having your ADC get chunked low can be pretty rough
When games devolve into total fiestas, just sitting on whoever is farming mid is an okay principle; you're pretty good in ARAMs, and less likely to die in a pick
When you feel someone on your team doesn't "deserve" the win, just go on someone else who does; feels better, and sometimes it works out
When a carry is on a full rampage, just stay on them; no use trying to keep the whole team together, as the carry may dive in without you while out of sync
Your mid-laners keep getting killed by roaming enemy support; since you usually can't really match well, you must ping better
Against Sett: careful, his flash-E will not just chunk you at level 2; with his ADC, it can straight-up 100-to-0 you even through your E, potion, and ADC heal
Reminder: champ icons are safer to W to than champ models; also, you can't just W around in later teamfights once you've been chunked once; will explode
Against Lulu: if all her CDs are up post 6, you can't 2v2, even with HP advantage; she will just polymorph your ADC while ulting hers, and you will quickly die
Against Galio support: if possible, you want to poke down the enemy ADC with AP, while your ADC pokes him down with AD
Not tilting seems to make you play about 25% better, which is usually enough to turn a game
Reminder against Jhin: later in lane, his 4th shot or 4th bounce will chunk you for like 50% or more; imperative to keep track of and avoid these
Consider: roaming before end of laning phase often disheartens ADC a bit, especially if they get 2v1'd; try to ensure the roam is worth the mental toll
When an ally is "medium raging," just sitting on them and healing them a bit more than usual can actually seem to calm them down...
Reminder: on average, roughly HALF the players are better than you; if an ally is carrying, try just trusting them unconditionally unless it repeatedly backfires
Reminder: hold onto Exhaust, and put it on a dps carry, NOT a tank or support
Somehow keep getting stuck on the wrong side of the dragon/baron pit; again: stick to the member with dashes to avoid this
Unless grinding for wins, looking up teammates before the game often seems to make you play worse, like when someone is first-timing their champ, etc.
Late-game, try to save ignite for large threats with high healing, or those about to leave vision; don't just slam it on anyone unless it's the FINAL fight
Weird: if you ditch the carry before they die, they may believe they would have lived with you there, and int more; sometimes it may be worth dying WITH them??
If a teammate does something that makes you lose the desire to win, remember we're all ignorant in different ways; play for the moment and limit test
As soon as a player toxic pings once, mute them until at least late game; repeated toxic pings are sapping your desire to win
Play purely for improvement (win/loss due to team is meaningless!), until you feel you are at goal elo threshold; then play hard for the wins to try and reach it
Don't type after the match either, unless it's something all-around positive; not good for mental health
Major: sometimes you know your ADC is bad, but enemy gets low; in such cases, going in usually backfires horribly; just play safe, and do NOT fight with them
Pay closer attention to ebb and flow of minion waves for Q and P procs; there are certain windows when it is much easier to strike
Against Poppy: getting off or on in her W field counts as a dash, and will severely mess you up; never do that
Be liberal in your use of caution/danger pings; don't assume people see or understand obvious risks; this is your best chance of "improving teammate IQ"
If your ADC gets chunked horribly low and looks to back, don't bait them to stay with heals; good junglers will just dive and kill you before you can recover
Against Ekko: his W stun is telegraphed enough that you should never get caught; don't cut it too close either
Even when there is nothing to be body-blocked, getting off and getting aggressive can sometimes distract enemy enough for your ADC to escape in close fights
Pattern: your ADCs keep trading 1 for 1 in early bot lane battles; if possible, YOU should be the one dying in these trades, not them
There is an art to abandoning a teammate; heal them if they can get a kill, heal yourself if they are totally doomed, save heal if a new anchor is closeby
Some carries do NOT want your help (i.e. exp share) until late game, and will actively int if you force it; may need to play "suboptimal" to increase win chance
Boots of lucidity work surprisingly well after second item; CDR makes a big difference
Rare: potentially lost an entire game by hovering cursor too near a teammate while trying to get off to proc passive; be more precise
If enemy team has a single carry tearing through everyone, ping them hard whenever you see them in standoffs and throughout fights
In wild skirmishes, if you have ample health, things are really coming down to the wire, and everything is on CD, just get off and start AA'ing/body-blocking
Against Jhin: by mid-game, 3 ult shots will kill you; be careful not to get too carried away blocking; also, just stand still to block if possible, safer
If a hard carry anchor is destroying a T1 or T2 turret, and you can back, you can do so before it falls to increase the local gold going to your carry
General: at least once a game, you seem to make some completely questionable ult/exhaust/W decision; try to slow things down a bit and not make nonsense plays
Against Morgana: W is too slow to dodge her bind if she fires it from medium distance; give it more respect
When you have low vision and feel a gank may be coming, don't just ping once and hope your ADC wards; ping a lot, back off, and stay safe
The first honey fruit spawns between 6:00 - 6:30 near dragon pit; consider going to get it at 6:20 if safe
The wall-jumping blast cone spawns between 5:00 - 5:30; factor this into gank considerations
River ward placed at 2:30 will expire just as second ward comes online at 4:00; together this can give uninterrupted river vision until 5:30
When an ADC is not stepping up for your Q's to land, try pinging your target just before you fire; may help them get the message
Minor: when steering by map and hopping off to path to different ally, you keep hopping off in wrong direction (towards map); stop doing that
Still not used to running heal; when ADC takes ignite, try crossing your toes or something to remember
Unless you're at max mana, just do not shoot low chance/impact Q's in lane; your mana conservation is usually more important than your quest item
Talk as little as possible during champ select; much better for your mental
Especially when with jungler, need to be aware which of you revealed the ward, so that the other one can clear it for more gold; basic fundamentals
If ADC is pushing up with no vision, neither should you sit on them nor facecheck bushes; just BACK off, they can die alone if they insist
Against Neeko: she can be a surprisingly tough support to deal with; her emp. AA stings, her root is deadly, and her disguise can bait important CDs; careful!
Reminder: Wukong's ult continues to put your W on CD at bad times; whenever he is in the game, pay special attention for it
Consider getting an elixir of sorcery a bit more often if you sense both teams are tilted; one big win at a mid-game objective often makes the other team ff
Wasteful double-wards with allies happening fairly often; try to anticipate ally ward, or else ping your own ward and the spot beforehand
When there is clear down-time with no objectives, priority is: ward / rotate for possible picks -> back for more wards -> soak exp.
Leading up to a river fight, if no one else is placing control wards, pixel bush often get more mileage than dragon/baron pit; sweep pit and ward later
When you are below average level, melee minions actually take 2 tower and 2 AA's to kill
In poke-heavy lane match-ups, make better use of aery shield as a blocking tool; especially good for Tristana and Zilean delayed explosions
Roaming to mid briefly after first back often has surprisingly good outcomes; even topping off their HP, hitting a Q, and leaving can give them an edge
Immediately going for free passive procs should be second nature; keep them in mind always until they are
Poke a bit more conservatively in lane, and try to focus the same target repeatedly -- whoever seems worse at positioning/dodging
When someone ganks you successfully once, there's a good chance they'll try again by the same angle; ward accordingly
In skirmishes and teamfights, work on holding Ult for an extra second; the improved angle once people burn their dashes can be devastating
Quick hop offs to land Exhaust/Ignite still need significant work; focus extra hard when you anticipate needing to land summs at longer range
Reminder: competent enemy supports will just clear your vision on objectives before fights; better to set it up well ahead, and then back for more wards
Sometimes, you really don't need to be fast and flashy; just give the heals and wards and hit your Q's, keep it simple; otherwise, risk a rushed misplay
When there's Leona+Wukong right on top of your anchor going nuts, you just can't get off; CC everywhere
When going for picks, there may be no "perfect" ult angle, as they can just dash diagonally out; then best to ult to cut off the max amount of retreat path
When it's too dangerous to get off, a point-blank Q can proc moonstone renewer and give an emergency heal to a nearby ally
Reminder: when getting invaded through tribush on blue side, run DOWN around the rock outcrop; cuts enemy vision of you, and you can ward back over
Reminder: when alone and getting invaded on either side, you must E in the proper direction within about 0.5 seconds, or you should die unless enemy messes up
Against Yasuo: don't forget or underestimate his tornados; they move fast, and getting hit by one at the wrong moment can lose the whole game
Minor: just put support item on proper key to begin with; it doesn't shift when it upgrades
When AA'ing a tower, rather than mindlessly kiting back and forth, better to position in safest place, and then inspect the map/scoreboard
In lane all-ins, once you've used all your CDs, it's often best to just stand directly in front of your ADC and AA; if you die and they live, it's ok
"Hookshot" Q's that you can bend all the way behind enemy minions have very high hit chance; keep them in mind as priority method
With Ekko: avoid procing shield when he's likely to ult; very easy to get left behind
Generally, the deeper up the river you can ward, the safe you'll be; ward near the actual crab early if convenient
When behind, just stay calm, set up vision ring, and predict where/when enemy team is most likely to greed; be ready to punish
When taking Baron and things get hairy, best to stay on champs with dashes that can gtfo/turn more easily; do NOT start wandering around on your own
Sometimes ulting your anchor's target gets them killed; e.g. it's often much better to proc passive on Karthus and shield ally, than to immediately ult him
In teamfights, focus more on your OWN positioning; which side you hop off on to proc passsive can make an enormous difference for avoiding CC
If your ADC ints once, chances are high they will int again; be extra ready to ditch them
With Trist: ask her to ping before she all-ins, or rocket jumps in general; helps prevent getting left behind
Against Jhin: easy to forget, if he roots you with W, you will probably just die
Dying early in lane is worse than just the initial effect; frequently ADCs will rage and int themselves later in the game...
When enemy places a yellow ward in lane bush, get into habit of (E+)AAx2 and pinging it for ADC; can insta-clear with good reflexes
Consider pinging objectives a bit harder if team is greeding/unfocused
Against Nami: if she's smart, she will send her bubble into your dash path, dangerous; her poke also stings quite a bit, don't underestimate
If there is an early skirmish, start E; it just gets way better value than Q outside of lane
When the game is a total fiesta, with no one really carrying, just sticking on the ADC seems best; they CS and survive better with you around
Get in the habit of checking the scoreboard EVERY time you back; quick scan over all champ levels/CS/items
Try not to panic when you or your anchors facechecks a bush and gets ambushed; mashing buttons (other than E) is never the best play there
With Lillia: she's a great anchor for roaming picks, but can be awkward to sit on in teamfights; squishy, and can be hard to reach teammates in need
Against Thresh: while his Flash-Flay is deadly, you should be able to bait his hook okay while in W range of ADC, as long as you're ready for it
Take more care with your ult angle; a few degrees can make a huge difference, especially in moving fights and around choke points
Basic: if you know there's a control ward in bush, don't place a yellow in unless you know you can clear it; otherwise just directly feeds gold/exp to enemy
Ideal lane skirmishing is complex: want to hit emp. Q and both summs on best targets, have ADC benefite from full passive+aery+E, all while weaving in AA's
When running heal, need to pay extra close attention during dense teamfights; be sure to use it at a good time
In lanes that feel awful, try to be more patient; just help your ADC farm and get through it
In crazy burst fiestas, you may get more mileage out of Mikael's than Redemption; instant heal and cleanse on carry is more consistent?
With Katarina: she can and will jump all over the place in strange ways; use ult more in the general direction of the enemy, can even zone with it
Important: really need to keep better track of whether current anchor has flash up; keep getting stranded when they use it unexpectedly
Against Soraka: watch out for the root at the end of her E, it is very dangerous; you can't really side-step her Q, must use W to dodge
Against Irelia: she likes to use her stun soon after she ults; it's not safe to get off until you're sure it's gone
Jumping off and repositioning while ulting can be good, but you can also just get CC'd and have the ult canceled entirely; be careful
Against Blitzcrank: in lane, his hook costs ~1/3 of his mana, on a ~20 sec CD; play around these numbers more consciously
Against Jhin: body-blocking his W on your ADC can be huge, always be ready to do so
When people are greeding, and backing out very slowly, try to avoid going back in to heal them; it often encourages them to int
Against Fiora: just don't hit her with summs until you see her blow parry; it's not worth having one blocked
Start thinking about toplaner TP flanks more, and set up a ward at mid bush at least if one is possible
With Kindred: you cannot heal allies who reach the 10% threshold inside her ult, which lasts 4 seconds; wait until after the ult's ending heal triggers
Against Kai'Sa: try to anticipate and body block her W missile in lane; she often uses it to try to poke/kill your ADC
Stop burning Exhaust when you are obviously already dead
Do not gamble your life by solo warding bushes that enemy champs could quite possibly be in
Reminder: stop spamming wards; you get 3 yellows up at once -- think consciously about the best places to put them; know where yours are
With Katarina and Leblanc: just hold space in fights; otherwise it is very easy to lose track of where you are
Reminder: it is very rarely ideal to use Exhaust on enemy support -- main exception is in lane when they are damage heavy
Against Thresh: watch out for his Flash-Flay combo; you can't really react, and it is very deadly; staying far away in a bush is your best bet
Against Maokai: even if you can't clear saplings with W, consider trying to block some of the damage onto your ADC with aery shield
Regardless of if you feel hype, you need to feel out enemy bot's playstyle before going too ham
I keep confusing small champs (e.g. Lulu vs. Fizz) in crucial moments; turn on champ names above HP bars; pay attention
Against Hecarim: need to ward further up the river; bush ward will be too late
Hopping off a CCed teammate to continue a moving ult can be huge; similarly, W'ing between allies while ulting can root more enemies
When you see CS going to waste in any free scenario, get into the habit of grabbing it with AAs or Q
Against Seraphine: keep track of her echo counter, and make sure not to get rooted by the 3rd ability
In weird chaotic games where different lanes are stomping on different teams, focus extra hard on the high priority target/s
Reminder: wait out the initial shitstorm in full 5v5's before ally hopping; you will just get caught by random CC and explode
One Q can make the difference on a gank, which can swing the game; if jungler is coming, pay extra close attention to mana, CDs, and ideal target
Against Soraka: to win the poke war, try very hard to avoid giving her free Q's
Against Ezreal: body blocking either his W or Q is quite helpful for your ADC
Try not to fire ult from super inflexible positions; if enemies respond quickly, it may just get wasted
In games that are getting away, try harder to save ult for enemy shutdown
Reminder: greedy ward clearing loses games
Against Nautilus: his ult is worse than it seems; the knockup will often catch you while it travels to someone else, be very careful
When a gank is imminent, try NOT to hop off, so as to preserve CD on W
Tacking ALL enemy CDs in lane is too hard for now; just focus harder on those that CC you
Keep forgetting I can't proc my passive during R; be more careful about that
If an anchor does something that seems questionable/greedy, give one caution ping at least before just going with it
W off for a little extra distance, ward, then W back on
Don't lose focus or play scared just because you get chunked once in lane; stay proactive and stick to the plan
With Hecarim: his E and R often put him behind the enemy target: careful not to fire your ult in the wrong direction
Against Rakan: watch out for his snappy engage from long distance, easy to get caught off guard
If an enemy tank appears caught out, but enemy carries are missing, do not hard commit to killing the tank; doing so may throw the ensuing teamfight
Keep better track of which enemies are a real threat vs non-threat; don't blow ult and summs on non-threats (very impactful)
Keep track of GA's on own team, and play around them more intelligently
When W is not on CD (especially post level 11) and teammate is running for their life, consider helping shield them with aery procs; it can make the difference
If someone is getting turbo-focused by entire enemy team, dashing to them is probably unsafe...
Don't back when fight may be about to break out, even if you need items/mana
Q's continuing to miss in lane; teamfight awareness needs further improvement
Put indicator-aimed Q on an easier key, for long-range solo snipes; helps clean up random CS, tag dragon while approaching, etc.
Reminder: usually passive is easiesafer to proc on ADC, since they are more focused on last-hitting
Enlarge map, and spend 5 games where overarching goal is to keep track of enemy jungler+mid through laning phase, warding and rotating accordingly
Be aggressive as hell around levels 1/2 if you think you can get away with it; may confuse enemies and inspire own ADC
If you need to jump around to proc Moonstone in grouped chaos, use W on hero icons; VERY useful under certain circumstances
Treat pre-level 11 W as a majorly important CD; getting stuck off an anchor during an early skirmish can be game-losing
If team is overextending and not heeding caution pings, just start backing on your own, and see if they get the message
Weird: consider hopping off and moving around a bit when there's clear downtime in lane, to avoid tilting unstable ADCs for being "afk"
Try to keep track of whether anchor has hourglass/zhonyas; don't get off if you think they are about to use it
Pay closer attention to when enemy ADC is about to last hit; that's usually a safer time to proc passive
If safe, consider helping hit minions after procing passive at level 1; level 2 comes after 6th melee minion
Still having some issues with proper ability buffering and ally hopping during intense skirmishes; make sure you at least always know WHO you are on
Don't get impatient under turret; look for rotation plays when possible, but try to move more intelligently
Reminder: once again, hit by hard CC in lane = death = deserved loss
Be more intentional with warding spots; don't just slam wards for the hell of it; first think about where enemy is most likely to go
If things are falling apart / desperate, don't even bother trying to heal squishy non-carries in chaotic fights; just make sure the carry survives
Try harder to stay oriented and aware of surroundings during skirmishes; choose and commit to Q and R targets properly
Reminder: NEED to not get hit by hard CC in early laning phase; it is very, very bad
Refocus on not missing Q's in lane; while steering it, shaking cursor back and forth slightly seems to help counter enemy jukes
Against Maokai, be very careful of his W (dash) -> Q (shockwave) combo; it comes out fast, and if you get hit by either part, your W goes on CD
Against Varus, avoid healing ADC while they are inside the GW zone from his E (arrow volley), unless absolutely necessary
In mid-game, look harder for reset opportunities when you are out of wards and have some time until next objective
Never get knocked up by dragon, herald, or baron
In loading screen, try making a mental checklist of every enemy ability that will put your W on CD
Be more conservative with pink wards; try not to waste them in indefensible places while laning
Don't try to fire off Q when surrounded by enemy minions; it will just get blocked
Don't underestimate the strength of top laners who have just been farming all game as potential anchors
Refocus on optimizing ward placements, at the very edge of bushes using green dot indicator
Look for chances to hop between allies while ulting / Q'ing; remain aware of best time to E while channeling Q/R
Try to keep moonstone renewer and ardent censer procs in back of mind once owned
Get better at quickly warding across the thick wall into the red side botlane river bush
Try to be consciously aware of key abilities you should be ready to body block, like Ashe W, Cait R, Nidalee spear, etc.
Try not to bait teammates into sketchy situations with low impact Q poke in mid-late game
Be more cautious about upgrading Dark Seal into Mejai's if things are still volatile
Keep better track of cursor and anchor during chaotic teamfights; hold space more if attached to someone "blinky" like Katarina
Basic: be sure you have actually started attaching before buffering E
Be more careful with W cooldowns before level 6; do not attach/detach for no reason; be intentional; default state is attached
Identify the key Exhaust+Ignite target/s ahead of time
Be careful not to run out of mana at critical times by throwing out low impact Q's
Try not to jump off of champions with dashes that might be about to dash
Don't just throw out R to engage with no warning; ping intentions a couple seconds ahead of time
Use the "quick cast with indicator" green highlighted ward option to ward in edges of bushes; try to ward more quickly and usefully
Hope at least some of these are useful to fellow Yuumi fans!
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![[World] - 'This is a mental health issue': the devastating impact of problem gambling | Guardian](https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/mJ-eRNmho4JreebpZ4HPYXMha9SuWslsdaMMrTN0OFA.jpg "[World] - 'This is a mental health issue': the devastating impact of problem gambling | Guardian")
