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2023.04.01 13:26 Forsaken-Garlic4818 money diary: Iโm 28, live in Boston, make roughly $70k as a ๐ฉ๐ผโ๐ซ and everyone is ragey at work this week! (emoji-style baby)
part 1: net worth
positive net worth
debt
casita
NET WORTH: -45,672.46
part 2: income
Nothing exciting here as a public school teacher. My salary is fixed and the entire internet can figure out exactly how much I make. Next year I will apply to be a new teacher mentor to move over a lane (6% raise while I do the job). We won a great raise in our last contract so we can finally be paid almost as much as everyone around us!
This is my 5th year teaching but am on step 6 of 11 due to a full year internship.
read my paycheck and weep
pay schedule: 24 paychecks a year (NOT 26), biweekly Fridays with the exception of holidays and the final day of school, where you receive paychecks 22, 23, 24 and are expected to make that last late June through early September
each paycheck is different, so letโs do paycheck #1
Now paycheck #2
For those keeping track at home, my monthly gross is typically 5,871.66 and my net is typically 3,804.94
Why typically?
โญ
โญ
โญ
โญ
If you add up the categories, Iโm in the red and Iโm well aware of it โ not for much longer though, as Iโm saving really aggressively. ๐
part 4: el diario
Day 1 โ Saturday
Day 2 โ Sunday
Day 3 โ Monday
Day 4 โ Tuesday
Day 5 โ Wednesday
Day 6 โ Thursday
Day 7 โ Friday
Grand totals:
submitted by Forsaken-Garlic4818 to MoneyDiariesACTIVE [link] [comments]
positive net worth
| category | #shesworthsomething |
|---|---|
| ๐น 15,700 | Roth IRA, not much but itโs honest work. I wasnโt able to contribute last year but sent $1400 this month. Donโt think I will max this year but will do what I can. |
| ๐ฑ 1,400 | 457, not even sure why I contribute to this ($50/paycheck) |
| ๐ 25,100 | Pension โ cash value not super relevant here. 11% mandated contribution |
| ๐ฐ 7,100 | checking |
| ๐ค 3,000 | HYSA @ 4.25% |
| โ 52,300 | we keep it positive around here |
| category | oops, sheโs in debt again |
|---|---|
| ๐ท -45,203 | Private student loan @ 4.79%, paid biweekly but sending extra $ |
| ๐ธ -72,957 | Undergrad Stafford + grad @ 5.2%. halfway done with PSLF! |
| โ 118,160 | ๐ฌ (but it looks worse on paper!) |
| category | ah, but what about the house? |
|---|---|
| ๐ก 362,000 | Purchase price, spring 2022, ginormous (income-restricted) condo |
| ๐ธ -317,026.81 | Mortgage #1 balance @ 2.75% |
| โ -23,431.95 | Mortgage #2 balance @ 0%, down-payment assistance paid in full at end of mortgage or resale |
| โ 21,541.24 | Equity including both mortgages, since not including #2 feels disingenuous |
part 2: income
Nothing exciting here as a public school teacher. My salary is fixed and the entire internet can figure out exactly how much I make. Next year I will apply to be a new teacher mentor to move over a lane (6% raise while I do the job). We won a great raise in our last contract so we can finally be paid almost as much as everyone around us!
This is my 5th year teaching but am on step 6 of 11 due to a full year internship.
read my paycheck and weep
pay schedule: 24 paychecks a year (NOT 26), biweekly Fridays with the exception of holidays and the final day of school, where you receive paychecks 22, 23, 24 and are expected to make that last late June through early September
each paycheck is different, so letโs do paycheck #1
| ๐น 2,935.83 | gross |
|---|---|
| ๐ -37.14 | medicare (but not SS) |
| ๐ฉ๐ผโโ๏ธ -325.65 | PPO, I get sick often and in unexpected places |
| ๐ฆท -42.97 | dental |
| ๐ -5.91 | vision |
| ๐ฑ -50 | 457 contribution |
| ๐ -184.19 | federal withholding |
| ๐ -114.32 | state withholding |
| ๐ -322.94 | pension withholding |
| โ 1,852.71 | behold, how little of my take home I get to actually enjoy |
| ๐น 2,935.83 | gross |
|---|---|
| ๐ -48.01 | medicare (but not SS) |
| ๐ฑ -50 | 457 contribution |
| ๐ -323.86 | federal withholding |
| ๐ -151.79 | state withholding |
| ๐ -322.94 | pension withholding |
| ๐ช๐ผ -87 | union power, baby |
| โ 1,952.23 | Also known at work as โthe good paycheckโ |
Why typically?
- If we have 3 paychecks in a month: enjoy the big fat no medical or union deduction!
- โฆunless itโs April onwards, when they deduct health insurance from EVERY paycheck to cover your summer months (we call it double deduction season)
- in December we get a premium holiday (1/2 medical deduction)
- I also run an outdoors club at work, which I am paid $35/hr when I run the club and additional pay for certain trips (last month I was paid $375 alone for our annual weekend overnight before vacation). This can be wildly inconsistent but letโs just say I have an extra $100-150 to play with each month.
| category ๐ฒ | PAY DEM BILLZ |
|---|---|
| ๐ก 1343.38 | Putting the PIT in mortgageโฆor something like that. The other I is paid separately |
| โฒ 167 | HOA |
| ๐ 68.16 | Was not required to have insurance at closing. Donโt be stupid like me. |
| ๐ 0 | fed loans, thanks Grandpa Joe. I think this will be about $250/m when it starts up again. PSLF date late 2028 |
| โฝ 31 | YNAB tells me this is my average since moving to my house. Grateful to have big windows and a โput a sweater onโ childhood upbringing โ touched the heat twice this year |
| ๐ 50 | Averaged to include spicy hot summer months (it was 34 this month) |
| ๐ป 39.95 | interwebs |
| ๐ซ 412.92 | Private loan, paid biweekly (so if itโs a rare 3 payment month itโs more). The minimum monthly payment is something like $316, but Iโm sending an extra $50 to get some benefit from the power of compound interest. 4.79% is not a make or break rate. Payoff 2034 but hope this can happen sooner. |
| ๐ฐ 12.50 | NYT Academic rate |
| ๐ 90 | Monthly pass |
| ๐ฟ 15.99 | Somebody needs to pay the HBO Max |
| โ 2234.43 | Assigned this month |
| category ๐ฒ | important semi-regular expenses |
|---|---|
| ๐ 20 | Averaged gifts and donations, we have a special scholarship at work |
| โฒ 167 | HOA |
| ๐ 0 | I havenโt bought new clothes in a while and itโs starting to show. |
| ๐คธ๐ผโโ๏ธ 85 | trampoline class |
| ๐ฉ๐ผโโ๏ธ 60 | YNAB tells me my average is 60/mo, but this is overinflated due to an MRI in November that I will only have to do once more time. Iโm usually at the urgent care or a specialist doctor 1x/month (this month: a UTI), so itโs more like 30 |
| ๐ช 40 | Hard to quantify. Since I moved in, I had a free couch moved ($200), bought a very nice TV ($750), a vacuum ($250), filters for vacuum ($30), and the worldโs nicest washer ($1900). So YNAB is telling me a horrifying $400/mo, but letโs call it 40 going forward |
| ๐ท 0 | I was a good urban balcony gardener, but no balcony. Waiting for a community garden spot, hopefully next year |
| ๐ 250 | Includes booze and small household things (TP, paper towels, dish soap) |
| ๐ฅพ 30 | Am avid hiker and rollerblader. Averaged cost of trip incidentals like carpool or snacks, admission to roller rink |
| ๐ 55 | 3 lifesaving medicines (25/mo + 10/mo + 30 as needed) + 10 for whatever medicine needed for illness of the month (10 for antibiotics this month). Every year I get a new epi-pen for 10 or 30. This month was more like 85 because my pharmacy accidentally sent me a med I have plenty of. |
| โ 500 | rough guesstimate |
| monthly ๐ฒ | annual ๐ฒ | annual expenses (save early, save often) |
|---|---|---|
| ๐ค 3.95 | ๐47.33 | Splitting YNAB with a friend on the new family plan |
| ๐๐ผโโ๏ธ 22.50 | ๐ 270 | 2x curly haircuts a year (cut + tip) |
| ๐ฉฐ 127.78 | ๐ 1150 | Pair of opening weekend orchestra tickets + donor perks + volunteer dues |
| ๐ด 55 | ๐ 650 | My part of family vacation with parents |
| ๐ถ 33.33 | ๐ 400 | Annual eye visit (exam + contact fitting + 12 months contacts) |
| ๐ฆ 11.59 | ๐ 139 | prime shipping, no car in a store desert + my mom likes videos |
| ๐ 50 | ๐ 600 | I love Christmas |
| ๐ธ ? | ๐ 6500 | Roth IRA, weโre getting aspirational. I sent $1400 this month because it was a 3 paycheck month. Going to try to max and see how far I get. |
| ๐ฆท 86.35 | ๐ 2250 | Saving ยฝ of estimated costs for Invisalign โ never had braces as a kid and now my teeth are pretty bad. Hoping to start May 2024. There is unfortunately no savings for paying everything upfront so Iโm saving ยฝ now and expecting a monthly payment around 150/mo during the treatment. |
| โ390.50 | ๐ 4,686 | Ignoring the Roth IRA |
| category ๐ฒ | very big savings |
|---|---|
| ๐ 428.57 | 3k goal by August 2023 (current balance: 850), โNo August payโ โ we donโt get paid in August and the first week of September so setting aside money specifically for this without feeling guilty for draining my emergency fund |
| ๐ 300 | (181.82 since Iโm ahead) Homeownerโs 1% Warchest, itโs exactly what it sounds like. For any and all home expenses (things breaking or projects). Current balance: 2k |
| ๐ 140.91 | Building back EF, goal is 3k by December 2023 (current balance: 1.7k). I know this is low but my job is hilariously stable. I will try to add another month in 2024. |
| category ๐ฒ | fun money! |
|---|---|
| ๐ป 50 | Laptop replacement, just chucking money in there. Iโd like to buy a Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5i since I love the 2 in 1 form factor. Currently have 100/600 |
| ๐ 70 (paused) | Travel fund contribution, but full at 350. BFF getting married in VT in August so hoping to turn it into a girlโs weekend with another BFF |
| ๐ฎ 65 (paused) | General video game fund โ keep it topped up at 65 in case a new game drops OR if multiple games go on sale. I try to only buy games on deep sale |
| ๐ฎ 12.99 | Final Fantasy XIV sub, Iโll retire someday |
| ๐ฏโโ๏ธ 50 | Anything with friends, including eating out with them. usually 100 in the summer |
| ๐ฆ 30 | โeating outโ aka solo treats for myself (breakfast at dunks, small treats) |
| ๐ 10 | events happening that we want to go to not already covered, averaged. |
| โ 202.99 | Not including travel and video games since thatโs topped up |
part 4: el diario
Day 1 โ Saturday
๐ gotta get dad to the ballet! 4.80total: 30.80
๐ฏโโ๏ธ brunch with daddy-o before the ballet, I provide the tickets but he pays for brunch. his wallet is hurting because he only just got paid at his new job, so I kick in 20
๐ because brunch is attached to a swanky hotel and itโs PAX east wknd. 0 for free entertainment
๐ฅค my father requests a water bottle before the show. 6
๐ฉฐ don q, my 3rd time and dadโs 1st. Very good, but very long. 0 because these are volunteer comps
๐ & ๐๐ผ
๐งผ the casita before the week starts
Day 2 โ Sunday
๐ค lazy Sunday morning (dw, Iโm still up at 6). Read the NYT cover to cover then play ๐ฎTotal: 79.67
๐ meeting a friend of a friend to help her do taxes but Iโm early
๐ itโs gorgeous out so I photosynthesize in the BPL courtyard with my book club book
โ the wifi is too slow for us to do taxes so we pack up and ๐ถ๐ผโโ๏ธ down newbury st until we settle at trident
๐ฏโโ๏ธ I supervise her taxes, and eat a late lunch (grilled cheese w/ avo and tomato). 22.15
๐ make the mistake of dragging this poor girl with me to the postage stamp sized TJโs. and itโs 5:15. one does not shop here so much as get in line at the beginning & pick what you want as you go. a tall person fetches me frozen arepas. I come in right on budget so Iโm pleased. 57.52
๐๐ผ & ๐ home to plan my week and decompress with ๐ฎ and ๐
Day 3 โ Monday
๐ itโs just before 6 and birds are happy, but now I am taking the ๐ to workTotal: 0
๐ stuck on the bus with my BOSS because a ๐ข is passing through the drawbridge. at least we can now fill out 90 second walk from the bus to dunks with acceptable new england small talk subjects (weather, transit, and sports) before she dips to get coffee
๐ก the youth, because tomorrow & wednesday are standardized testing. sorry kids, I donโt make the schedule!
๐๐ผ โmy plan is to read the questions carefully and ask God to help me knowโ โ A+ testing strategy
โ๐ผ 2:30 and on my way home
๐คธ๐ผโโ๏ธ take the ๐ to go to bounce (0, see monthly expenses) and catch up with bounce buddy M.
๐ถ๐ผโโ๏ธ walk with M. to the ๐, go home for ๐, ๐ฟ, ๐, ๐ฎ
Day 4 โ Tuesday
๐ hello, happy birds as I walk to the ๐total: 68.16
๐ฅ the computers are not charged for testing. teenagers have been divested of all electronics and are not allowed to talk to each other. mayhem approaching in 3 โฆ 2 โฆ 1 โฆ
๐คฌ nonstatus (male) colleague uses a work group text thread to refer to an unknown female colleague as the b-word. mayhem continues
โ 2 hour (!) meeting after work due to snow day cancellations. male colleague doubles down on his comment before storming out. brain is mush
๐ I remember nothing
๐ as I am politely informed by my e-mail 68.16
๐ฉ๐ผโ๐ณ white bean & tomato stew & watch abbott elementary because itโs cathartic
๐ฃ๐ ballet book club on zoom! we just finished a book about martha graham so we talk about it (Iโm hosting next time about james whiteside)
Day 5 โ Wednesday
๐ please go away, very loud mourning doveTotal: 25.99
๐ computers are charged, the youth are not. Mr. Insult has decided not to come to work today (probably for the best?)
๐คฌ is there something in the water?! another nonstatus teacher informs me that two of my students are talking to each other in the hallway and are not following her instructions which tbh is a day that ends in Y. important context: her instruction is in English and they only understand Spanish. I send them back to their testing rooms and she says, โwhen students ignore me and continue to speak in a language they know I donโt understand, they are being assholesโ UM! GOODBYE!!!
๐ก before I say something I regret I turn heel and inform my boss of this interaction. she takes a breath and thanks me for letting her know
๐ค this is me taking a calming inhale / exhale before returning to staring at children
๐น when I am proctoring (read: not allowed to read, grade, do work, browse the interweb), I like to imagine how the hunger games would go down if these kids were in it. the odds are in this roomโs favor overall.
๐ฉ๐ผโ๐ซ these miserable youth are forced into a half day of classes, so we conference about grades and I let them have some free time
๐ run weekly outdoors club for the youth. one student informs me a teacher refuses to sign a permission slip & doesnโt know why. make mental note to find this person and politely inquire. students make a great poster of images from our last trip and practice map skills
โ๐ผ at 3:30 to get the ๐ to then get on the ๐ to go to ๐คธ๐ผโโ๏ธ โฆ it sounds awful but it all goes pleasantly smoothly, especially given how the T has been. class is great, lots of one-legged kicking on the trampoline. this is my 2nd week in a row of going from 2x class a week to 3x and itโs a tough adjustment. 0
๐ถ๐ผโโ๏ธ to the ๐ with M., who canโt make it to class on Friday โ sad!
๐ the medicine I didnโt ask for but keeps coming has arrived. Note to self to call pharmacy and ask them to stop, but says 0 refills. Not a total waste because I KNOW I will get bronchitis again & need this. 10
๐ฟ paid for to keep my mother happy 15.99
๐ด eat leftover stew and ๐ my mother and best friend T. to debrief this very strange day
๐ฎ and ๐ before bed
Day 6 โ Thursday
๐ ahoy! Run into coworker D. on the ๐ who gets coffee at dunks. I am feeling weak and acquire some ๐ฅ๐ 3.69total: 43.64
๐ค๐ผ find this teacher who refuses to sign permission slip (who is also new). his reasons are very valid and we agree on conditions the student needs to fulfill to attend trip. hooray, adults being civil!
๐คฌ thatโs it, something is in the water. two best friends in 3rd hour begin a heated verbal altercation about โฆ a girl? in the middle of my class?? One kid takes off so I call security to let them know he would benefit from a check-in. the other student begins texting threats to his buddy and goes off on me when I tell him to stop. what is happening?!
๐ผ๐ผ boy returns with security at end of class, so I walk him to dean to process. 35 minutes later dean says everything is gucci and no more problems. hormones, man.
โ๐ผ please get me out of here
๐ป bill is paid 39.95
๐ต๐ผ our weekly call (she is my only grandparent and is not doing well)
๐จ๐ผ weekly call with father, who still likes his new job
๐ leftover stew and Mandalorian with my ๐ฉ๐ผ (we live text each other). finally, a good space battle!
๐ฎ and ๐ to decompress along with a long hot ๐ฟ
Day 7 โ Friday
๐ I donโt think I can do this today.Total: 1,524.35
๐ง๐ผโโ๏ธ It has been such a frustrating week (there was another incident that happened that I canโt even reference due to state law/FERPA) that was incredibly traumatic and draining.
๐ฑ to best friend T. and work friend R. to ask what they would do. Both endorse me taking a day off after this wild week.
๐ฎ and ๐ along with some stretching. ๐ with best friend E. to catch up on her wedding prep and life
๐ค payday! Good paycheck since itโs the 3rd of the month, but it might be missing hours from club. I wonโt know until I see my paystub on Monday. +2,183.48 (+50 to 457, +322.94 to pension)
๐ธ ah, but itโs also the 31st. easy come, easy go ๐ก (1343.38) and โฒ (167)
๐ to ๐คธ๐ผโโ๏ธ to a really ๐ฅ class. Learn the name of the girl next to me on Fridays who also brings her inhaler and it turns out weโre both teachers!
๐ฆ take a nice mozzarella sandwich home from tatte 13.97
๐, ๐ด, ๐ฟ, ๐, ๐ฎ
Grand totals:
- food & drank: 65.81
- entertainment: 15.99
- home & health: 10
- clothes & beauty: 0
- transport: 4.80
- other: 1,618.49 (how I would class my house expenses)
2023.04.01 13:17 beautifulmind8494 jump start service near me
 | NAPERVILLE CLASSIC TOWINGโS JUMP-START SERVICE IS AVAILABLE IN AURORA AND NEIGHBORING AREAShttps://preview.redd.it/ji12ootab9ra1.png?width=300&format=png&auto=webp&s=79050a770b1b6ca85b30b242080806f1b49a134b Getting a jump-start in Aurora, IL or anywhere else in the Chicago Metropolitan Area isnโt hard when you choose Naperville Classic Towing for the job. As a company with a reputable 33-year proven track record in serving Naperville, Plainfield, Aurora, Bolingbrook, Joliet, and all of the Chicago Metropolitan Area, you are guaranteed excellent service. After all, getting a fast and dependable jump-start means choosing the right roadside assistance provider. We provide fast and affordable jump-start service in the area and anywhere else within a 35-mile radius. Not just that, but when you call us for a jump-start, our technician will get to you wherever you are in the Chicago Metropolitan Area in 30 minutes or less. We can handle any roadside assistance needed whether itโs light, medium, or heavy-duty because we have the equipment, expertise, and staff to do so. We are also available 24/7 to cater to your needs. So call us today for a jump-start because Naperville Classic Towing is always just around the corner. Jump-start in Naperville IL, Aurora, Plainfield, Bolingbrook, & All of the Chicago Metropolitan AreaJump-starting can be very dangerous if it is not done properly. Many late-model vehicles feature extremely sensitive electronics that can be easily damaged by incorrect jump-starting techniques. This is especially true of hybrid and electric cars, such as the Toyota Prius, Chevrolet Volt, and Nissan LEAF.From foreign to domestic vehicles, Naperville Classic Towing uses only the manufacturerโs recommended methods when jump-starting your vehicle. So, whenever you need a jump-start in Aurora or anywhere in the Chicago Metropolitan Area, give Naperville Classic Towing a call. If there is a bigger problem and your vehicle is unable to start after the jump-start has been attempted, we can tow your vehicle to any location of your choice. Hereโs a list of some of the domestic vehicles we can jump-start:
SEMI TRUCK JUMP-STARTS Naperville Classic Towing has the equipment to jump-start cars as well as large commercial vehicles such as:
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Even if youโve done all you can to avoid getting car battery problems, sometimes it can still develop problems due to different reasons. If thatโs the case for you, and your car wonโt start, call Naperville Classic Towing at 630-392-6844. Our services for jump-start are available in Aurora, Naperville, Plainfield, Bolingbrook, Joliet, and all of the Chicago Metropolitan Area. |
2023.04.01 12:40 ridfox Took a picture of the weatherscan this morning, Good morning neighbors!
 | submitted by ridfox to Wilmington [link] [comments] |
2023.04.01 12:35 moondog151 "The Huang Yanqiu Incident" A rural villager would on three separate occasions go missing after going to bed only to wake up in a major city thousands of miles away and arrived in the city faster than he should've been possible given the distance.
 | Huang Yanqiu was born in 1956 in Dongbeigao Village in China's Hebei province. Little is known about his early life aside from the fact that he worked as a farmer in the village and his mother passed away while he was a child. submitted by moondog151 to HighStrangeness [link] [comments] Huang Yanqiu On July 27, 1977, Huang was 21 years old and still working as a farmer. Huang was recently engaged and planned on marrying his fiancee after the harvest season and the couple recently began building themselves a new home. At 10:00 PM Huang had just finished his farm work for the day and went to bed in his unfinished home. That was the last anyone had seen of Huang for a while as the next morning when the village woke up on July 28 Huang was nowhere to be found. The village was greatly alarmed by Huang's disappearance and initiated a massive search effort to try and find him but there was no trace of Huang anywhere to be found. This worried and confused the villagers especially Huang's family as Huang never travelled far and only had a primary school level education. They searched the surrounding roads, ponds, cliffs and other unknown locations to try and find him and even contacted the nearest hospitals and police to ask if any unidentified bodies had been discovered but to no avail. Fortunately, Huang would be found alive and unharmed but this only resulted in more questions. 10 days later on August 6 the village committee received a telegram from Shanghai. The telegram said that Huang was being held at a deportation center and that they were hoping for a local to come and pick him up. The telegram was late to arrive because it was accidentally addressed to the wrong village. There was just one problem, the telegram from Shanghai was dated at 9:AM on July 28 less than half a day after his disappearance. Huang was later returned by the police in Shanghai and it was indeed Huang. There was just one problem, Huang being in Shanghai that soon should've been impossible. Huang was questioned by his fellow villagers and he could not provide an answer. According to him, he went to bed and when at 6:00 or 7:00 AM he was awoken by a loud noise, this noise wasn't that of the farm animals but instead the sounds of vehicles and numerous people. When he fully awoke he found himself on a sidewalk and that around him were cars, neon lights and tall buildings/skyscrapers. He wondered around and saw writing on the various buildings and businesses which said things such as "Nanjing Shopping Center", "Nanjing Restaurant", and "Nanjing Pharma" and that nearby was a large "swimming pool" which he later found out was Lake Xuanwu. It didn't take Huang long to realize that somehow he was in Nanjing the capital city of Jiangsu Province located 485 miles away from his home village. While Huang who was now in complete and utter shock at his circumstance walked aimlessly around the unfamiliar city until he was stopped and approached by two police officers. Huang due to his state of shock and disbelief could barely answer their questions. When they asked Huang what he was doing or who he was he simply said that he was "really lost" the two officers led Huang to the Nanjing Rail Station and gave him a ticket to Shanghai and told Huang that they would be waiting for him and once he arrived he'd be taken to a "repatriation camp" for migrants and those without a hukou document. Huang not knowing what else to do and being in no position to disobey or resist bordered the train. 4 hours later the train pulled into Shanghai station and Huang headed out for the first police station he could find and to his confusion, the exact same police officers from Nanjing were already waiting for him despite being out of their jurisdiction, not boarding the train before him and most of all the train was the fastest method available at the time to travel between the two cities and the officers did not bored the train. Arriving to Shanghai before Huang should be straight-up impossible. The two officers refused to let Huang enter the police station in Shanghai and instead dropped Huang off at the repatriation camp in Shanghai. Huang first told his story to a PLA soldier at the camp named Lรผ Qingtang and added the detail that the police officers in question were likely from Shandong province based on the ticket he was given. Huang stayed in the camp much longer than expected as when Huang woke up in Nanjing he didn't have any of his identity documents and when the telegrams were sent out to the village to come collect Huang they erroneously addressed them to Xinzhai Village instead of Dongbeigao Village. The confusion was only cleared up after Huang was identified via a birthmark and because the PLA soldier Huang talked to had relatives in the village. As mentioned any questions the villagers had were multiplied as opposed to answered. Huang arriving in Nanjing that soon should be impossible. At the time trains in China were too slow to make such a fast trip. The nearest rail station was in the city of Handan which Huang would've had to find his way to in the dark despite having never even been to Handan before. But even if he did make it to Handan all by himself with next to no money the train would take 1 whole day to reach Nanjing as opposed to the 9-10 hours between when Huang went to sleep and when he woke up. And this is without taking into account the waiting time for the train to arrive at Haidan station and trains were notoriously late back them sometimes even being held back by an entire day and tickets were expensive. Other methods of transportation also wouldn't work out. Planes and civilian aviation travel in China was still very new and of course expensive. The entirety of Hebei Province only had a tiny handful of airports with the closest one being in the north near Beijing located on the complete opposite side of Hebei from where Huang lived. It was deemed highly unlikely for Huang to make the trip there by himself especially as he wouldn't know the way and even if he did somehow make it to the airport there would still be the issue of paying for a ticket. A car also wouldn't work as nobody in Dongbeigao village owned a vehicle and even having a bicycle was considered immensely expensive and outside the means of the villagers. And even if he could use any of these methods it still wouldn't explain the short time as to even get from Dongbeigao village to the nearest city Handan would take 4 hours to drive from the village to the city by car. There was also the question of why Huang would assuming he wasn't lying would do this. Huang had never mentioned Nanjing or Shanghai at any point prior and the fact that leaving their ancestral village and families was frowned upon. How Huang made it to Nanjing in such a short amount of time is unknown but most villagers were prepared to accept it as a strange oddity and move on while others dismissed Huang as lying or bragging about visiting a city. That was until it happened again. On September 8, 1977, it was harvest season in the village again and Huang and his fellow villagers were made to do backbreaking work during a meeting held by the village cadres. At 10:00 PM the head of the village gave Huang and a few other villagers permission to leave and go to bed early as long as they send and deliever manure/fertilizer the next morning. They all took the cadres up on this offer and went to sleep. The next morning on September 9 the villagers arrived at the fertiliser storage area only to notice that Huang was missing. Thinking that he had overslept they all went to his house only to find it empty. Something different caught their eye however, Carved into his bedroom wall was a message and that message said "Shandong Gao Dengmin, Gao Yanjin Relax" Just like the last time Huang was in Shanghai and was quickly sent back to the village on September 11 and this time there were witnesses both in Shanghai and Dongbeigao. A majority of the village witnessed Huang go to his house and sleep before his disappearance the next morning and just like with his first disappearance Huang couldn't explain it. According to Huang, he woke up at The Shanghai Rail Station due to a cold breeze, the same one the two mysterious police officers sent him to. Huang was again startled by his surroundings as it was the middle of the night and according to the Station's clock tower, it was 2:00 AM and as far as Huang could see there were no other people and the only light came from the stars and moon. Not only had Huang unknowingly travelled a far distance in an impossibly short time but he also did it at an inopportune time because along with the darkness Huang was constantly startled by the sound of thunder, lighting and battered by heavy rain and high winds because Typhon Babe had recently made landfall near Shanghai. Huang who was now even more terrified than he was before could only think of Lรผ Qingtang, Lรผ was the PLA soldier who helped him after his first trip to Shanghai and was the one who ultimately helped him return home due to his relatives in the village. Lรผ was not only the only person Huang could think to help him but he was also the only person he knew at all in Shanghai. Finding Lรผ was not going to be easy as Huang wouldn't be able to navigate Shanghai at all let alone during a typhoon in the middle of the night with no people in sight. As Huang began to walk he heard a voice coming from behind him hearing a man say "Hello there, you must be Huang Yanqiu of Feixiang County. Trying to head to the artillery division?" this shocked him immensely and he quickly turned back to see who this person was. When he turned around he saw two men dressed in military uniforms. They told Huang that they were soldiers belonging Lรผ's division and were assigned to pick him up from the railway station. Huang followed the men who took various ferries and buses before arriving at the "artillery division" located in what is today the Pudong District. Despite how heavily guarded the area is the guards let Huang and the two men pass without issue. They then went to where Lรผ lived with his family and they were completely shocked to see them as well as Huang again. Lรผ however, wasn't home at the time. His wife Li Yuying was surprised that the three were even at their home because according to Li "When a relative comes to visit, they have to show their legal documents and sign in at the gate, we'll then come down and confirm their identities, then they can finally be let in. No way the guards and soldiers would let them in without any proceedings!" and years later Lรผ's son when questioned about the case would say that the two solider's uniforms looked off, he commented that . "...their uniforms looked quite the ordinary, yet not very fitting, especially their visors. One's shoes and visor are the most important part of the uniform,... their visors were too big, and their uniforms seem to have been borrowed, too." Before his family could question the two they simply walked away and couldn't be found again. Huang being at the base was a major security violation and officials interrogated the guards on duty who all claimed to have never seen Huang and the two soldiers at any point. Once Lรผ returned home another telegram was sent directly to the head of Dongbeigao Village and they wanted to know every last detail about Huang and who exactly he was with the telegram even straight up asking if Huang was a spy. They received a response from the head of the village, telling them that Huang was just a farmer with no ill intent. Without any other information, the army decided to send Huang back to the village but sternly warned him that he'd be arrested if they ever see him again. He returned home on September 11. In their official reports the military was unable to explain how Huang got to Shanghai so quickly and managed to get into the base. Due to the multitude of witnesses testifying that Huang went to sleep in the village and the military confirming that he was in Shanghai all those who felt that Huang was lying about his travels soon had their doubts erased. Huang became the most talked about resident of the village and not in a good way as he became the main subject of all the local gossip, rumours and of course superstitions. Many thought that he was possessed or haunted with that being the reason for his seemingly supernatural speed and ability to travel such short distances. The constant attention took a mental toll on Huang's fiance who sued his family for 200 yuan due to "reputational damages" and divorced him. This financially and emotionally ruined Huang and it was when he was at his lowest that the third and final incident happened. Huang continued his work as a farmer and labourer for the village and on September 20, 1977, he had finished his work for the day and began walking home. According to Huang, however, so tired that he ended up passing out in the yard in front of his house and went missing again. He would stay missing until September 28 when he was found under a Jujube tree in the village and when asked where he had been he told them about the most extraordinary story yet. According to him, after he passed out in front of his home he woke up and instead of on the sidewalk or in a deserted train station during typhoon season he instead found himself in a luxury hotel room. He looked around and behind him, he saw the same two men from the first two incidents. This time, however, they were both dressed in civilian clothing and introduced themselves. They told Huang that they were brothers from Shandong Province and identified themselves as Gao Dengmin, 26, and Gao Yanjin, 25. Huang also estimated that they were around 170 cm tall. They told Huang that they were the cause behind his disappearances and that they dressed as police and soldiers to help him find his way home, they said that they had something special planned for Huang and that during the next 9 days, they would take him to 9 major cities. Huang asked where he was right now and the brothers told him that it was still September 20 and that he was in Lanzhou located in China's Gansu Province the furthest he has ever been from home. A composite sketch of the two created by the police Soon Huang would learn how he had travelled so far so quickly because the next day on September 21 they made Huang climb onto their back and as Huang would later state "They took off" and quite literally flew away with just their bodies. Huang said that they were "flying" at a low altitude and that he didn't feel any wind, he also recounted that the brothers took turns carrying him on their back. In over an hour, the three had arrived in Beijing. They first went to the Chang'an Grand Theater without tickets and just like at the army base nobody stopped them. They watched an opera performance of Forced Onto Mt. Liang. Their next stop was Tiananmen Square and were in front of a Huabiao. The brothers who were now speaking standard Mandarin instead of their dialects introduced Huang to the surrounding areas and checked into a hotel showing the staff a "provincial-level introduction letter" for registration. That same day they then flew to Tianjin where they snuck into a movie theatre without tickets and watched a movie. On September 22 they arrived in Harbin located in Heilongjiang Province. In Harbin, they visited a department store and then visited Changchun in Jilin Province. On September 23 they went to Shenyang in Liaoning Province. On September 25 they visited Fuzhou in Fujian Province before visiting Nanjing. They spend the next day in Nanjing. On September 27 they visited Xi'an in Shaanxi Province for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Also on September 27, they made their last stop returning to Lanzhou. When Huang went to sleep in their hotel room he woke up under the jujube tree mentioned earlier and was back in Dongbeigao Village They travelled to every city via the brothers flying and according to Huang no matter how close or how far the city was the time it took to get there was always 1 hour. He also noted that the brothers could speak the local dialects of all the provinces they visited and whenever they went to hotels the brothers always had a "provincial-level introduction letter". One of the brothers always watched Huang while the other would borrow clothing such as police or military uniforms from somewhere Huang didn't know. Clothing and yuan for the accommodations and meals were the only items the brothers carried as they didn't seem to own items such as bags and wallets. Aside from their ability to fly to anywhere they wanted and their strange behaviour such as only carrying clothes and money, Huang said that they were seemingly normal human beings in every other aspect and ate and slept like anyone else. They also had the same body temperature as anyone else would The only rules they seemed to have were that Huang was not allowed to photograph them or anything and he couldn't keep any souvenirs from his trips. When Huang asked why they singled him out they wouldn't respond and when he asked if they could teach him how to fly like them or tell him how they learnt to do it they gave a firm "No" as their answer. Just as they had told him in the 9 days he was missing they had visited 9 different cities. A map of his travels Huang was the talk of the village all over again and the superstitions that gods or ghosts were responsible continued. Eventually, the gossip around Huang had gotten to the point that the local police, propaganda department and the nearest military base had heard of Huang's story and began a very extensive investigation into Huang. Offical's believed that he was purposefully sabotaging the village's production and reputation and proceeded to classify him as a "class enemy" While being interrogated his behaviour was found to be "normal" and he showed no signs of mental illness or cognitive disorders. After they were unable to find any evidence of Huang being a threat they reluctantly let him go and revoked his "class enemy" status. Huang's story became well known throughout China and is one of the country's most famous alleged paranormal events and even the government officially declares his case as "unexplained" This is not the end of Huang's story though. On December 14, 2004, the case was reinvestigated by Zhang Jingping, an investigator of the Beijing Branch of the China UFO Association, Ji Jianmin, the chairman of the Feixiang UFO Association, and Dr. Wu, a famous Chinese hypnotist, professor of Peking University Medical Department. There was rather conclusive evidence of Huang's first two incidents as numerous witnesses as well as official telegrams all confirm that Huang had gone to sleep in his home village only to appear in Shanghai but there was far more doubt as to if he had been to any of the cities mentioned during his third disappearance. Huang was put under hypnosis and asked what happened and he told the doctor the same story he did back in 1977. Huang eventually woke up from the hypnotic state claiming that one of the two brothers made him wake up. In 2004 a documentary was made by CCTV and several interviews and tests were conducted during the documentary. He was subjected to a polygraph test and he ended up failing the test and Huang refused to accept these results. Those administering the tests also admitted that Huang's declining memory, the 27-year gap between the test and the incident and the stress of being subjected to such a test for the first time may affect the results. During the documentary, the police based on Huang's descriptions also created composite sketches of Gao Dengmin and Gao Yanjin. Due to the advancement in China's transportation infrastructure, Huang was brought to Nanjing and he was able to retrace his steps and attempt to recreate his journey from the sidewalk to the former then non-existent military base. They then brought Huang to the physiatric division of Beijing Anding Hospital where the lead doctor after reading his statements said that the brothers would've been travelling at supersonic speeds and that Huang had been sleepwalking or lying. Although nobody defended him from claims of sleepwalking his fellow villagers all refused to entertain the possibility that Huang was purposefully lying to them. They cited Huang's lack of motivation or ability to travel, how he travelled to Shanghai in such a short amount of time and how he had no reason to lie about it since telling his story caused him to become a laughing stock and lost him his fiance. Huang quite literally gain nothing from telling this story and it severely affected him negatively. Aside from a lack of evidence others supporting the lying theory state that Huang only claimed to have visited major cities prompting some to speculate that he just picked them out from a map and that oddly enough he never visited Shijiazhuang which is the capital of Hebei, the province that Huang actually lives in. Huang was examined by other psychologists and mental health professionals who deemed Huang to be sane which is the source of the sleepwalking theory. As this theory suggests, Huang was sleepwalking when he made his way to Nanjing and that the stories of the two brothers were just dreams he had while sleepwalking. Various Chinese netizens don't view this theory as credible since Huang while sleepwalking would need to either walk all the way to the train station in Handan (which would take 4 hours to drive to by car) and buy a tick with money he didn't have all while asleep. And while still sleeping once the train stopped in Zhengzhou he would've sleepwalked onto the next train to Shanghai all with nobody noticing he was sleepwalking and waking him up. Just to be sure though doctors performed an MRI scan of Huang's brain and the results came back normal. The third theory is that Huang suffered from multiple personality disorder and that Gao Dengmin and Gao Yanjin were in fact Huang himself and that he just perceived them as different people due to his disorder. The Gao personalities are the ones that actually travel to the locations only for Huang's normal personality to take over once he arrives at the destination hence him waking up. This theory also states that Huang flying on their backs is actually just a fantasy of Huang Yanqiu's repressed personality. This theory doesn't stand up to scrutiny as various Mental Health officials have found Huang sane and that he would've shown signs of multiple personality disorder before and after the three incidents. This theory also wouldn't explain the short travel times and Lรผ Qingtang's wife and son also witnessing the two as separate people. There is one more theory though it is from those who want to believe that it is all real and that Huang is telling the truth and that UFOs may be involved. They looked further into Huang's claims to try and find any proof that he was in the cities mentioned during his third disappearance. According to one source when describing the weather they matched up with geological data at the time but this appears to be unconfirmed. A journalist went to the Chang'an Grand Theater in Beijing to look through their records and see if they ever held the same performance Huang claimed to have seen. He discovered that the theatre closed due to the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake and wouldn't reopen until 1979 meaning that Huang could not have seen any performances in that theatre. However, there was another theatre nearby named the Jixiang Theater and they were open in 1977 and on September 21, 1977, the day Huang claimed to be in Beijing they held a performance of Forced Onto Mt. Liang. This journalist ruled that Huang hailing from a small and rural village could've easily confused two nearby and similar theatres in an unfamiliar environment such as the major city of Beijing. There are also those who agree that Huang travelled at nearly supersonic speeds but instead have a more terrestrial explanation and that Huang fell victim to military experimentation. This theory states that the military flew Huang to these cities for various experiments and that the Gao brothers were high-ranking officials in charge of the experiments. They then drugged Huang and made him undergo hypnosis to make him forget what he experienced. Many are skeptical of this theory because if the Chinese government wanted to conduct human experimentation they had a myriad of death row inmates and political prisons to draw upon so why instead abduct an innocuous rural farmer from his small village? "The Huang Yanqiu Incident" remains one of China's most infamous unsolved mysteries but as of now, there have been no new developments as a now 67-year-old Huang has opted to live a quiet life in his village away from the cameras. The last bit of news from Huang came from 2008 when he underwent another round of mental evaluations Sources https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%BB%84%E5%BB%B6%E7%A7%8B%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6/3270760 http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050729/100743.shtml http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050729/100649.shtml http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050728/102027.shtml http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050727/102186.shtml https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/27626821 |
2023.04.01 12:35 moondog151 "The Huang Yanqiu Incident" A rural villager would on three separate occasions go missing after going to bed only to wake up in a major city thousands of miles away and arrived in the city faster than he should've been possible given the distance.
Huang Yanqiu was born in 1956 in Dongbeigao Village in China's Hebei province. Little is known about his early life aside from the fact that he worked as a farmer in the village and his mother passed away while he was a child.
On July 27, 1977, Huang was 21 years old and still working as a farmer. Huang was recently engaged and planned on marrying his fiancee after the harvest season and the couple recently began building themselves a new home. At 10:00 PM Huang had just finished his farm work for the day and went to bed in his unfinished home. That was the last anyone had seen of Huang for a while as the next morning when the village woke up on July 28 Huang was nowhere to be found.
The village was greatly alarmed by Huang's disappearance and initiated a massive search effort to try and find him but there was no trace of Huang anywhere to be found. This worried and confused the villagers especially Huang's family as Huang never travelled far and only had a primary school level education. They searched the surrounding roads, ponds, cliffs and other unknown locations to try and find him and even contacted the nearest hospitals and police to ask if any unidentified bodies had been discovered but to no avail.
Fortunately, Huang would be found alive and unharmed but this only resulted in more questions. 10 days later on August 6 the village committee received a telegram from Shanghai. The telegram said that Huang was being held at a deportation center and that they were hoping for a local to come and pick him up. The telegram was late to arrive because it was accidentally addressed to the wrong village. There was just one problem, the telegram from Shanghai was dated at 9:AM on July 28 less than half a day after his disappearance. Huang was later returned by the police in Shanghai and it was indeed Huang. There was just one problem, Huang being in Shanghai that soon should've been impossible.
Huang was questioned by his fellow villagers and he could not provide an answer. According to him, he went to bed and when at 6:00 or 7:00 AM he was awoken by a loud noise, this noise wasn't that of the farm animals but instead the sounds of vehicles and numerous people. When he fully awoke he found himself on a sidewalk and that around him were cars, neon lights and tall buildings/skyscrapers. He wondered around and saw writing on the various buildings and businesses which said things such as "Nanjing Shopping Center", "Nanjing Restaurant", and "Nanjing Pharma" and that nearby was a large "swimming pool" which he later found out was Lake Xuanwu. It didn't take Huang long to realize that somehow he was in Nanjing the capital city of Jiangsu Province located 485 miles away from his home village.
While Huang who was now in complete and utter shock at his circumstance walked aimlessly around the unfamiliar city until he was stopped and approached by two police officers. Huang due to his state of shock and disbelief could barely answer their questions. When they asked Huang what he was doing or who he was he simply said that he was "really lost" the two officers led Huang to the Nanjing Rail Station and gave him a ticket to Shanghai and told Huang that they would be waiting for him and once he arrived he'd be taken to a "repatriation camp" for migrants and those without a hukou document. Huang not knowing what else to do and being in no position to disobey or resist bordered the train. 4 hours later the train pulled into Shanghai station and Huang headed out for the first police station he could find and to his confusion, the exact same police officers from Nanjing were already waiting for him despite being out of their jurisdiction, not boarding the train before him and most of all the train was the fastest method available at the time to travel between the two cities and the officers did not bored the train. Arriving to Shanghai before Huang should be straight-up impossible.
The two officers refused to let Huang enter the police station in Shanghai and instead dropped Huang off at the repatriation camp in Shanghai. Huang first told his story to a PLA soldier at the camp named Lรผ Qingtang and added the detail that the police officers in question were likely from Shandong province based on the ticket he was given. Huang stayed in the camp much longer than expected as when Huang woke up in Nanjing he didn't have any of his identity documents and when the telegrams were sent out to the village to come collect Huang they erroneously addressed them to Xinzhai Village instead of Dongbeigao Village. The confusion was only cleared up after Huang was identified via a birthmark and because the PLA soldier Huang talked to had relatives in the village.
As mentioned any questions the villagers had were multiplied as opposed to answered. Huang arriving in Nanjing that soon should be impossible. At the time trains in China were too slow to make such a fast trip. The nearest rail station was in the city of Handan which Huang would've had to find his way to in the dark despite having never even been to Handan before. But even if he did make it to Handan all by himself with next to no money the train would take 1 whole day to reach Nanjing as opposed to the 9-10 hours between when Huang went to sleep and when he woke up. And this is without taking into account the waiting time for the train to arrive at Haidan station and trains were notoriously late back them sometimes even being held back by an entire day and tickets were expensive.
Other methods of transportation also wouldn't work out. Planes and civilian aviation travel in China was still very new and of course expensive. The entirety of Hebei Province only had a tiny handful of airports with the closest one being in the north near Beijing located on the complete opposite side of Hebei from where Huang lived. It was deemed highly unlikely for Huang to make the trip there by himself especially as he wouldn't know the way and even if he did somehow make it to the airport there would still be the issue of paying for a ticket. A car also wouldn't work as nobody in Dongbeigao village owned a vehicle and even having a bicycle was considered immensely expensive and outside the means of the villagers. And even if he could use any of these methods it still wouldn't explain the short time as to even get from Dongbeigao village to the nearest city Handan would take 4 hours to drive from the village to the city by car. There was also the question of why Huang would assuming he wasn't lying would do this. Huang had never mentioned Nanjing or Shanghai at any point prior and the fact that leaving their ancestral village and families was frowned upon. How Huang made it to Nanjing in such a short amount of time is unknown but most villagers were prepared to accept it as a strange oddity and move on while others dismissed Huang as lying or bragging about visiting a city. That was until it happened again.
On September 8, 1977, it was harvest season in the village again and Huang and his fellow villagers were made to do backbreaking work during a meeting held by the village cadres. At 10:00 PM the head of the village gave Huang and a few other villagers permission to leave and go to bed early as long as they send and deliever manure/fertilizer the next morning. They all took the cadres up on this offer and went to sleep. The next morning on September 9 the villagers arrived at the fertiliser storage area only to notice that Huang was missing. Thinking that he had overslept they all went to his house only to find it empty. Something different caught their eye however, Carved into his bedroom wall was a message and that message said "Shandong Gao Dengmin, Gao Yanjin Relax"
Just like the last time Huang was in Shanghai and was quickly sent back to the village on September 11 and this time there were witnesses both in Shanghai and Dongbeigao. A majority of the village witnessed Huang go to his house and sleep before his disappearance the next morning and just like with his first disappearance Huang couldn't explain it.
According to Huang, he woke up at The Shanghai Rail Station due to a cold breeze, the same one the two mysterious police officers sent him to. Huang was again startled by his surroundings as it was the middle of the night and according to the Station's clock tower, it was 2:00 AM and as far as Huang could see there were no other people and the only light came from the stars and moon. Not only had Huang unknowingly travelled a far distance in an impossibly short time but he also did it at an inopportune time because along with the darkness Huang was constantly startled by the sound of thunder, lighting and battered by heavy rain and high winds because Typhon Babe had recently made landfall near Shanghai.
Huang who was now even more terrified than he was before could only think of Lรผ Qingtang, Lรผ was the PLA soldier who helped him after his first trip to Shanghai and was the one who ultimately helped him return home due to his relatives in the village. Lรผ was not only the only person Huang could think to help him but he was also the only person he knew at all in Shanghai. Finding Lรผ was not going to be easy as Huang wouldn't be able to navigate Shanghai at all let alone during a typhoon in the middle of the night with no people in sight.
As Huang began to walk he heard a voice coming from behind him hearing a man say "Hello there, you must be Huang Yanqiu of Feixiang County. Trying to head to the artillery division?" this shocked him immensely and he quickly turned back to see who this person was. When he turned around he saw two men dressed in military uniforms. They told Huang that they were soldiers belonging Lรผ's division and were assigned to pick him up from the railway station.
Huang followed the men who took various ferries and buses before arriving at the "artillery division" located in what is today the Pudong District. Despite how heavily guarded the area is the guards let Huang and the two men pass without issue. They then went to where Lรผ lived with his family and they were completely shocked to see them as well as Huang again. Lรผ however, wasn't home at the time. His wife Li Yuying was surprised that the three were even at their home because according to Li "When a relative comes to visit, they have to show their legal documents and sign in at the gate, we'll then come down and confirm their identities, then they can finally be let in. No way the guards and soldiers would let them in without any proceedings!" and years later Lรผ's son when questioned about the case would say that the two solider's uniforms looked off, he commented that . "...their uniforms looked quite the ordinary, yet not very fitting, especially their visors. One's shoes and visor are the most important part of the uniform,... their visors were too big, and their uniforms seem to have been borrowed, too."
Before his family could question the two they simply walked away and couldn't be found again. Huang being at the base was a major security violation and officials interrogated the guards on duty who all claimed to have never seen Huang and the two soldiers at any point. Once Lรผ returned home another telegram was sent directly to the head of Dongbeigao Village and they wanted to know every last detail about Huang and who exactly he was with the telegram even straight up asking if Huang was a spy. They received a response from the head of the village, telling them that Huang was just a farmer with no ill intent. Without any other information, the army decided to send Huang back to the village but sternly warned him that he'd be arrested if they ever see him again. He returned home on September 11. In their official reports the military was unable to explain how Huang got to Shanghai so quickly and managed to get into the base.
Due to the multitude of witnesses testifying that Huang went to sleep in the village and the military confirming that he was in Shanghai all those who felt that Huang was lying about his travels soon had their doubts erased. Huang became the most talked about resident of the village and not in a good way as he became the main subject of all the local gossip, rumours and of course superstitions. Many thought that he was possessed or haunted with that being the reason for his seemingly supernatural speed and ability to travel such short distances. The constant attention took a mental toll on Huang's fiance who sued his family for 200 yuan due to "reputational damages" and divorced him. This financially and emotionally ruined Huang and it was when he was at his lowest that the third and final incident happened.
Huang continued his work as a farmer and labourer for the village and on September 20, 1977, he had finished his work for the day and began walking home. According to Huang, however, so tired that he ended up passing out in the yard in front of his house and went missing again. He would stay missing until September 28 when he was found under a Jujube tree in the village and when asked where he had been he told them about the most extraordinary story yet.
According to him, after he passed out in front of his home he woke up and instead of on the sidewalk or in a deserted train station during typhoon season he instead found himself in a luxury hotel room. He looked around and behind him, he saw the same two men from the first two incidents. This time, however, they were both dressed in civilian clothing and introduced themselves. They told Huang that they were brothers from Shandong Province and identified themselves as Gao Dengmin, 26, and Gao Yanjin, 25. Huang also estimated that they were around 170 cm tall. They told Huang that they were the cause behind his disappearances and that they dressed as police and soldiers to help him find his way home, they said that they had something special planned for Huang and that during the next 9 days, they would take him to 9 major cities. Huang asked where he was right now and the brothers told him that it was still September 20 and that he was in Lanzhou located in China's Gansu Province the furthest he has ever been from home.
Soon Huang would learn how he had travelled so far so quickly because the next day on September 21 they made Huang climb onto their back and as Huang would later state "They took off" and quite literally flew away with just their bodies. Huang said that they were "flying" at a low altitude and that he didn't feel any wind, he also recounted that the brothers took turns carrying him on their back. In over an hour, the three had arrived in Beijing. They first went to the Chang'an Grand Theater without tickets and just like at the army base nobody stopped them. They watched an opera performance of Forced Onto Mt. Liang. Their next stop was Tiananmen Square and were in front of a Huabiao. The brothers who were now speaking standard Mandarin instead of their dialects introduced Huang to the surrounding areas and checked into a hotel showing the staff a "provincial-level introduction letter" for registration. That same day they then flew to Tianjin where they snuck into a movie theatre without tickets and watched a movie.
On September 22 they arrived in Harbin located in Heilongjiang Province. In Harbin, they visited a department store and then visited Changchun in Jilin Province. On September 23 they went to Shenyang in Liaoning Province. On September 25 they visited Fuzhou in Fujian Province before visiting Nanjing. They spend the next day in Nanjing. On September 27 they visited Xi'an in Shaanxi Province for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Also on September 27, they made their last stop returning to Lanzhou. When Huang went to sleep in their hotel room he woke up under the jujube tree mentioned earlier and was back in Dongbeigao Village
They travelled to every city via the brothers flying and according to Huang no matter how close or how far the city was the time it took to get there was always 1 hour. He also noted that the brothers could speak the local dialects of all the provinces they visited and whenever they went to hotels the brothers always had a "provincial-level introduction letter". One of the brothers always watched Huang while the other would borrow clothing such as police or military uniforms from somewhere Huang didn't know. Clothing and yuan for the accommodations and meals were the only items the brothers carried as they didn't seem to own items such as bags and wallets. Aside from their ability to fly to anywhere they wanted and their strange behaviour such as only carrying clothes and money, Huang said that they were seemingly normal human beings in every other aspect and ate and slept like anyone else. They also had the same body temperature as anyone else would The only rules they seemed to have were that Huang was not allowed to photograph them or anything and he couldn't keep any souvenirs from his trips. When Huang asked why they singled him out they wouldn't respond and when he asked if they could teach him how to fly like them or tell him how they learnt to do it they gave a firm "No" as their answer. Just as they had told him in the 9 days he was missing they had visited 9 different cities.
Huang was the talk of the village all over again and the superstitions that gods or ghosts were responsible continued. Eventually, the gossip around Huang had gotten to the point that the local police, propaganda department and the nearest military base had heard of Huang's story and began a very extensive investigation into Huang. Offical's believed that he was purposefully sabotaging the village's production and reputation and proceeded to classify him as a "class enemy" While being interrogated his behaviour was found to be "normal" and he showed no signs of mental illness or cognitive disorders. After they were unable to find any evidence of Huang being a threat they reluctantly let him go and revoked his "class enemy" status.
Huang's story became well known throughout China and is one of the country's most famous alleged paranormal events and even the government officially declares his case as "unexplained" This is not the end of Huang's story though.
On December 14, 2004, the case was reinvestigated by Zhang Jingping, an investigator of the Beijing Branch of the China UFO Association, Ji Jianmin, the chairman of the Feixiang UFO Association, and Dr. Wu, a famous Chinese hypnotist, professor of Peking University Medical Department. There was rather conclusive evidence of Huang's first two incidents as numerous witnesses as well as official telegrams all confirm that Huang had gone to sleep in his home village only to appear in Shanghai but there was far more doubt as to if he had been to any of the cities mentioned during his third disappearance.
Huang was put under hypnosis and asked what happened and he told the doctor the same story he did back in 1977. Huang eventually woke up from the hypnotic state claiming that one of the two brothers made him wake up. In 2004 a documentary was made by CCTV and several interviews and tests were conducted during the documentary. He was subjected to a polygraph test and he ended up failing the test and Huang refused to accept these results. Those administering the tests also admitted that Huang's declining memory, the 27-year gap between the test and the incident and the stress of being subjected to such a test for the first time may affect the results. During the documentary, the police based on Huang's descriptions also created composite sketches of Gao Dengmin and Gao Yanjin. Due to the advancement in China's transportation infrastructure, Huang was brought to Nanjing and he was able to retrace his steps and attempt to recreate his journey from the sidewalk to the former then non-existent military base.
They then brought Huang to the physiatric division of Beijing Anding Hospital where the lead doctor after reading his statements said that the brothers would've been travelling at supersonic speeds and that Huang had been sleepwalking or lying. Although nobody defended him from claims of sleepwalking his fellow villagers all refused to entertain the possibility that Huang was purposefully lying to them. They cited Huang's lack of motivation or ability to travel, how he travelled to Shanghai in such a short amount of time and how he had no reason to lie about it since telling his story caused him to become a laughing stock and lost him his fiance. Huang quite literally gain nothing from telling this story and it severely affected him negatively. Aside from a lack of evidence others supporting the lying theory state that Huang only claimed to have visited major cities prompting some to speculate that he just picked them out from a map and that oddly enough he never visited Shijiazhuang which is the capital of Hebei, the province that Huang actually lives in.
Huang was examined by other psychologists and mental health professionals who deemed Huang to be sane which is the source of the sleepwalking theory.
As this theory suggests, Huang was sleepwalking when he made his way to Nanjing and that the stories of the two brothers were just dreams he had while sleepwalking. Various Chinese netizens don't view this theory as credible since Huang while sleepwalking would need to either walk all the way to the train station in Handan (which would take 4 hours to drive to by car) and buy a tick with money he didn't have all while asleep. And while still sleeping once the train stopped in Zhengzhou he would've sleepwalked onto the next train to Shanghai all with nobody noticing he was sleepwalking and waking him up. Just to be sure though doctors performed an MRI scan of Huang's brain and the results came back normal.
The third theory is that Huang suffered from multiple personality disorder and that Gao Dengmin and Gao Yanjin were in fact Huang himself and that he just perceived them as different people due to his disorder. The Gao personalities are the ones that actually travel to the locations only for Huang's normal personality to take over once he arrives at the destination hence him waking up. This theory also states that Huang flying on their backs is actually just a fantasy of Huang Yanqiu's repressed personality. This theory doesn't stand up to scrutiny as various Mental Health officials have found Huang sane and that he would've shown signs of multiple personality disorder before and after the three incidents. This theory also wouldn't explain the short travel times and Lรผ Qingtang's wife and son also witnessing the two as separate people.
There is one more theory though it is from those who want to believe that it is all real and that Huang is telling the truth and that UFOs may be involved.
They looked further into Huang's claims to try and find any proof that he was in the cities mentioned during his third disappearance. According to one source when describing the weather they matched up with geological data at the time but this appears to be unconfirmed. A journalist went to the Chang'an Grand Theater in Beijing to look through their records and see if they ever held the same performance Huang claimed to have seen.
He discovered that the theatre closed due to the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake and wouldn't reopen until 1979 meaning that Huang could not have seen any performances in that theatre. However, there was another theatre nearby named the Jixiang Theater and they were open in 1977 and on September 21, 1977, the day Huang claimed to be in Beijing they held a performance of Forced Onto Mt. Liang. This journalist ruled that Huang hailing from a small and rural village could've easily confused two nearby and similar theatres in an unfamiliar environment such as the major city of Beijing.
There are also those who agree that Huang travelled at nearly supersonic speeds but instead have a more terrestrial explanation and that Huang fell victim to military experimentation.
This theory states that the military flew Huang to these cities for various experiments and that the Gao brothers were high-ranking officials in charge of the experiments. They then drugged Huang and made him undergo hypnosis to make him forget what he experienced. Many are skeptical of this theory because if the Chinese government wanted to conduct human experimentation they had a myriad of death row inmates and political prisons to draw upon so why instead abduct an innocuous rural farmer from his small village?
"The Huang Yanqiu Incident" remains one of China's most infamous unsolved mysteries but as of now, there have been no new developments as a now 67-year-old Huang has opted to live a quiet life in his village away from the cameras. The last bit of news from Huang came from 2008 when he underwent another round of mental evaluations
Sources
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%BB%84%E5%BB%B6%E7%A7%8B%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6/3270760
http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050729/100743.shtml
http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050729/100649.shtml
http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050728/102027.shtml
http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050727/102186.shtml
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/27626821
submitted by moondog151 to UnresolvedMysteries [link] [comments]
On July 27, 1977, Huang was 21 years old and still working as a farmer. Huang was recently engaged and planned on marrying his fiancee after the harvest season and the couple recently began building themselves a new home. At 10:00 PM Huang had just finished his farm work for the day and went to bed in his unfinished home. That was the last anyone had seen of Huang for a while as the next morning when the village woke up on July 28 Huang was nowhere to be found.
The village was greatly alarmed by Huang's disappearance and initiated a massive search effort to try and find him but there was no trace of Huang anywhere to be found. This worried and confused the villagers especially Huang's family as Huang never travelled far and only had a primary school level education. They searched the surrounding roads, ponds, cliffs and other unknown locations to try and find him and even contacted the nearest hospitals and police to ask if any unidentified bodies had been discovered but to no avail.
Fortunately, Huang would be found alive and unharmed but this only resulted in more questions. 10 days later on August 6 the village committee received a telegram from Shanghai. The telegram said that Huang was being held at a deportation center and that they were hoping for a local to come and pick him up. The telegram was late to arrive because it was accidentally addressed to the wrong village. There was just one problem, the telegram from Shanghai was dated at 9:AM on July 28 less than half a day after his disappearance. Huang was later returned by the police in Shanghai and it was indeed Huang. There was just one problem, Huang being in Shanghai that soon should've been impossible.
Huang was questioned by his fellow villagers and he could not provide an answer. According to him, he went to bed and when at 6:00 or 7:00 AM he was awoken by a loud noise, this noise wasn't that of the farm animals but instead the sounds of vehicles and numerous people. When he fully awoke he found himself on a sidewalk and that around him were cars, neon lights and tall buildings/skyscrapers. He wondered around and saw writing on the various buildings and businesses which said things such as "Nanjing Shopping Center", "Nanjing Restaurant", and "Nanjing Pharma" and that nearby was a large "swimming pool" which he later found out was Lake Xuanwu. It didn't take Huang long to realize that somehow he was in Nanjing the capital city of Jiangsu Province located 485 miles away from his home village.
While Huang who was now in complete and utter shock at his circumstance walked aimlessly around the unfamiliar city until he was stopped and approached by two police officers. Huang due to his state of shock and disbelief could barely answer their questions. When they asked Huang what he was doing or who he was he simply said that he was "really lost" the two officers led Huang to the Nanjing Rail Station and gave him a ticket to Shanghai and told Huang that they would be waiting for him and once he arrived he'd be taken to a "repatriation camp" for migrants and those without a hukou document. Huang not knowing what else to do and being in no position to disobey or resist bordered the train. 4 hours later the train pulled into Shanghai station and Huang headed out for the first police station he could find and to his confusion, the exact same police officers from Nanjing were already waiting for him despite being out of their jurisdiction, not boarding the train before him and most of all the train was the fastest method available at the time to travel between the two cities and the officers did not bored the train. Arriving to Shanghai before Huang should be straight-up impossible.
The two officers refused to let Huang enter the police station in Shanghai and instead dropped Huang off at the repatriation camp in Shanghai. Huang first told his story to a PLA soldier at the camp named Lรผ Qingtang and added the detail that the police officers in question were likely from Shandong province based on the ticket he was given. Huang stayed in the camp much longer than expected as when Huang woke up in Nanjing he didn't have any of his identity documents and when the telegrams were sent out to the village to come collect Huang they erroneously addressed them to Xinzhai Village instead of Dongbeigao Village. The confusion was only cleared up after Huang was identified via a birthmark and because the PLA soldier Huang talked to had relatives in the village.
As mentioned any questions the villagers had were multiplied as opposed to answered. Huang arriving in Nanjing that soon should be impossible. At the time trains in China were too slow to make such a fast trip. The nearest rail station was in the city of Handan which Huang would've had to find his way to in the dark despite having never even been to Handan before. But even if he did make it to Handan all by himself with next to no money the train would take 1 whole day to reach Nanjing as opposed to the 9-10 hours between when Huang went to sleep and when he woke up. And this is without taking into account the waiting time for the train to arrive at Haidan station and trains were notoriously late back them sometimes even being held back by an entire day and tickets were expensive.
Other methods of transportation also wouldn't work out. Planes and civilian aviation travel in China was still very new and of course expensive. The entirety of Hebei Province only had a tiny handful of airports with the closest one being in the north near Beijing located on the complete opposite side of Hebei from where Huang lived. It was deemed highly unlikely for Huang to make the trip there by himself especially as he wouldn't know the way and even if he did somehow make it to the airport there would still be the issue of paying for a ticket. A car also wouldn't work as nobody in Dongbeigao village owned a vehicle and even having a bicycle was considered immensely expensive and outside the means of the villagers. And even if he could use any of these methods it still wouldn't explain the short time as to even get from Dongbeigao village to the nearest city Handan would take 4 hours to drive from the village to the city by car. There was also the question of why Huang would assuming he wasn't lying would do this. Huang had never mentioned Nanjing or Shanghai at any point prior and the fact that leaving their ancestral village and families was frowned upon. How Huang made it to Nanjing in such a short amount of time is unknown but most villagers were prepared to accept it as a strange oddity and move on while others dismissed Huang as lying or bragging about visiting a city. That was until it happened again.
On September 8, 1977, it was harvest season in the village again and Huang and his fellow villagers were made to do backbreaking work during a meeting held by the village cadres. At 10:00 PM the head of the village gave Huang and a few other villagers permission to leave and go to bed early as long as they send and deliever manure/fertilizer the next morning. They all took the cadres up on this offer and went to sleep. The next morning on September 9 the villagers arrived at the fertiliser storage area only to notice that Huang was missing. Thinking that he had overslept they all went to his house only to find it empty. Something different caught their eye however, Carved into his bedroom wall was a message and that message said "Shandong Gao Dengmin, Gao Yanjin Relax"
Just like the last time Huang was in Shanghai and was quickly sent back to the village on September 11 and this time there were witnesses both in Shanghai and Dongbeigao. A majority of the village witnessed Huang go to his house and sleep before his disappearance the next morning and just like with his first disappearance Huang couldn't explain it.
According to Huang, he woke up at The Shanghai Rail Station due to a cold breeze, the same one the two mysterious police officers sent him to. Huang was again startled by his surroundings as it was the middle of the night and according to the Station's clock tower, it was 2:00 AM and as far as Huang could see there were no other people and the only light came from the stars and moon. Not only had Huang unknowingly travelled a far distance in an impossibly short time but he also did it at an inopportune time because along with the darkness Huang was constantly startled by the sound of thunder, lighting and battered by heavy rain and high winds because Typhon Babe had recently made landfall near Shanghai.
Huang who was now even more terrified than he was before could only think of Lรผ Qingtang, Lรผ was the PLA soldier who helped him after his first trip to Shanghai and was the one who ultimately helped him return home due to his relatives in the village. Lรผ was not only the only person Huang could think to help him but he was also the only person he knew at all in Shanghai. Finding Lรผ was not going to be easy as Huang wouldn't be able to navigate Shanghai at all let alone during a typhoon in the middle of the night with no people in sight.
As Huang began to walk he heard a voice coming from behind him hearing a man say "Hello there, you must be Huang Yanqiu of Feixiang County. Trying to head to the artillery division?" this shocked him immensely and he quickly turned back to see who this person was. When he turned around he saw two men dressed in military uniforms. They told Huang that they were soldiers belonging Lรผ's division and were assigned to pick him up from the railway station.
Huang followed the men who took various ferries and buses before arriving at the "artillery division" located in what is today the Pudong District. Despite how heavily guarded the area is the guards let Huang and the two men pass without issue. They then went to where Lรผ lived with his family and they were completely shocked to see them as well as Huang again. Lรผ however, wasn't home at the time. His wife Li Yuying was surprised that the three were even at their home because according to Li "When a relative comes to visit, they have to show their legal documents and sign in at the gate, we'll then come down and confirm their identities, then they can finally be let in. No way the guards and soldiers would let them in without any proceedings!" and years later Lรผ's son when questioned about the case would say that the two solider's uniforms looked off, he commented that . "...their uniforms looked quite the ordinary, yet not very fitting, especially their visors. One's shoes and visor are the most important part of the uniform,... their visors were too big, and their uniforms seem to have been borrowed, too."
Before his family could question the two they simply walked away and couldn't be found again. Huang being at the base was a major security violation and officials interrogated the guards on duty who all claimed to have never seen Huang and the two soldiers at any point. Once Lรผ returned home another telegram was sent directly to the head of Dongbeigao Village and they wanted to know every last detail about Huang and who exactly he was with the telegram even straight up asking if Huang was a spy. They received a response from the head of the village, telling them that Huang was just a farmer with no ill intent. Without any other information, the army decided to send Huang back to the village but sternly warned him that he'd be arrested if they ever see him again. He returned home on September 11. In their official reports the military was unable to explain how Huang got to Shanghai so quickly and managed to get into the base.
Due to the multitude of witnesses testifying that Huang went to sleep in the village and the military confirming that he was in Shanghai all those who felt that Huang was lying about his travels soon had their doubts erased. Huang became the most talked about resident of the village and not in a good way as he became the main subject of all the local gossip, rumours and of course superstitions. Many thought that he was possessed or haunted with that being the reason for his seemingly supernatural speed and ability to travel such short distances. The constant attention took a mental toll on Huang's fiance who sued his family for 200 yuan due to "reputational damages" and divorced him. This financially and emotionally ruined Huang and it was when he was at his lowest that the third and final incident happened.
Huang continued his work as a farmer and labourer for the village and on September 20, 1977, he had finished his work for the day and began walking home. According to Huang, however, so tired that he ended up passing out in the yard in front of his house and went missing again. He would stay missing until September 28 when he was found under a Jujube tree in the village and when asked where he had been he told them about the most extraordinary story yet.
According to him, after he passed out in front of his home he woke up and instead of on the sidewalk or in a deserted train station during typhoon season he instead found himself in a luxury hotel room. He looked around and behind him, he saw the same two men from the first two incidents. This time, however, they were both dressed in civilian clothing and introduced themselves. They told Huang that they were brothers from Shandong Province and identified themselves as Gao Dengmin, 26, and Gao Yanjin, 25. Huang also estimated that they were around 170 cm tall. They told Huang that they were the cause behind his disappearances and that they dressed as police and soldiers to help him find his way home, they said that they had something special planned for Huang and that during the next 9 days, they would take him to 9 major cities. Huang asked where he was right now and the brothers told him that it was still September 20 and that he was in Lanzhou located in China's Gansu Province the furthest he has ever been from home.
Soon Huang would learn how he had travelled so far so quickly because the next day on September 21 they made Huang climb onto their back and as Huang would later state "They took off" and quite literally flew away with just their bodies. Huang said that they were "flying" at a low altitude and that he didn't feel any wind, he also recounted that the brothers took turns carrying him on their back. In over an hour, the three had arrived in Beijing. They first went to the Chang'an Grand Theater without tickets and just like at the army base nobody stopped them. They watched an opera performance of Forced Onto Mt. Liang. Their next stop was Tiananmen Square and were in front of a Huabiao. The brothers who were now speaking standard Mandarin instead of their dialects introduced Huang to the surrounding areas and checked into a hotel showing the staff a "provincial-level introduction letter" for registration. That same day they then flew to Tianjin where they snuck into a movie theatre without tickets and watched a movie.
On September 22 they arrived in Harbin located in Heilongjiang Province. In Harbin, they visited a department store and then visited Changchun in Jilin Province. On September 23 they went to Shenyang in Liaoning Province. On September 25 they visited Fuzhou in Fujian Province before visiting Nanjing. They spend the next day in Nanjing. On September 27 they visited Xi'an in Shaanxi Province for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Also on September 27, they made their last stop returning to Lanzhou. When Huang went to sleep in their hotel room he woke up under the jujube tree mentioned earlier and was back in Dongbeigao Village
They travelled to every city via the brothers flying and according to Huang no matter how close or how far the city was the time it took to get there was always 1 hour. He also noted that the brothers could speak the local dialects of all the provinces they visited and whenever they went to hotels the brothers always had a "provincial-level introduction letter". One of the brothers always watched Huang while the other would borrow clothing such as police or military uniforms from somewhere Huang didn't know. Clothing and yuan for the accommodations and meals were the only items the brothers carried as they didn't seem to own items such as bags and wallets. Aside from their ability to fly to anywhere they wanted and their strange behaviour such as only carrying clothes and money, Huang said that they were seemingly normal human beings in every other aspect and ate and slept like anyone else. They also had the same body temperature as anyone else would The only rules they seemed to have were that Huang was not allowed to photograph them or anything and he couldn't keep any souvenirs from his trips. When Huang asked why they singled him out they wouldn't respond and when he asked if they could teach him how to fly like them or tell him how they learnt to do it they gave a firm "No" as their answer. Just as they had told him in the 9 days he was missing they had visited 9 different cities.
Huang was the talk of the village all over again and the superstitions that gods or ghosts were responsible continued. Eventually, the gossip around Huang had gotten to the point that the local police, propaganda department and the nearest military base had heard of Huang's story and began a very extensive investigation into Huang. Offical's believed that he was purposefully sabotaging the village's production and reputation and proceeded to classify him as a "class enemy" While being interrogated his behaviour was found to be "normal" and he showed no signs of mental illness or cognitive disorders. After they were unable to find any evidence of Huang being a threat they reluctantly let him go and revoked his "class enemy" status.
Huang's story became well known throughout China and is one of the country's most famous alleged paranormal events and even the government officially declares his case as "unexplained" This is not the end of Huang's story though.
On December 14, 2004, the case was reinvestigated by Zhang Jingping, an investigator of the Beijing Branch of the China UFO Association, Ji Jianmin, the chairman of the Feixiang UFO Association, and Dr. Wu, a famous Chinese hypnotist, professor of Peking University Medical Department. There was rather conclusive evidence of Huang's first two incidents as numerous witnesses as well as official telegrams all confirm that Huang had gone to sleep in his home village only to appear in Shanghai but there was far more doubt as to if he had been to any of the cities mentioned during his third disappearance.
Huang was put under hypnosis and asked what happened and he told the doctor the same story he did back in 1977. Huang eventually woke up from the hypnotic state claiming that one of the two brothers made him wake up. In 2004 a documentary was made by CCTV and several interviews and tests were conducted during the documentary. He was subjected to a polygraph test and he ended up failing the test and Huang refused to accept these results. Those administering the tests also admitted that Huang's declining memory, the 27-year gap between the test and the incident and the stress of being subjected to such a test for the first time may affect the results. During the documentary, the police based on Huang's descriptions also created composite sketches of Gao Dengmin and Gao Yanjin. Due to the advancement in China's transportation infrastructure, Huang was brought to Nanjing and he was able to retrace his steps and attempt to recreate his journey from the sidewalk to the former then non-existent military base.
They then brought Huang to the physiatric division of Beijing Anding Hospital where the lead doctor after reading his statements said that the brothers would've been travelling at supersonic speeds and that Huang had been sleepwalking or lying. Although nobody defended him from claims of sleepwalking his fellow villagers all refused to entertain the possibility that Huang was purposefully lying to them. They cited Huang's lack of motivation or ability to travel, how he travelled to Shanghai in such a short amount of time and how he had no reason to lie about it since telling his story caused him to become a laughing stock and lost him his fiance. Huang quite literally gain nothing from telling this story and it severely affected him negatively. Aside from a lack of evidence others supporting the lying theory state that Huang only claimed to have visited major cities prompting some to speculate that he just picked them out from a map and that oddly enough he never visited Shijiazhuang which is the capital of Hebei, the province that Huang actually lives in.
Huang was examined by other psychologists and mental health professionals who deemed Huang to be sane which is the source of the sleepwalking theory.
As this theory suggests, Huang was sleepwalking when he made his way to Nanjing and that the stories of the two brothers were just dreams he had while sleepwalking. Various Chinese netizens don't view this theory as credible since Huang while sleepwalking would need to either walk all the way to the train station in Handan (which would take 4 hours to drive to by car) and buy a tick with money he didn't have all while asleep. And while still sleeping once the train stopped in Zhengzhou he would've sleepwalked onto the next train to Shanghai all with nobody noticing he was sleepwalking and waking him up. Just to be sure though doctors performed an MRI scan of Huang's brain and the results came back normal.
The third theory is that Huang suffered from multiple personality disorder and that Gao Dengmin and Gao Yanjin were in fact Huang himself and that he just perceived them as different people due to his disorder. The Gao personalities are the ones that actually travel to the locations only for Huang's normal personality to take over once he arrives at the destination hence him waking up. This theory also states that Huang flying on their backs is actually just a fantasy of Huang Yanqiu's repressed personality. This theory doesn't stand up to scrutiny as various Mental Health officials have found Huang sane and that he would've shown signs of multiple personality disorder before and after the three incidents. This theory also wouldn't explain the short travel times and Lรผ Qingtang's wife and son also witnessing the two as separate people.
There is one more theory though it is from those who want to believe that it is all real and that Huang is telling the truth and that UFOs may be involved.
They looked further into Huang's claims to try and find any proof that he was in the cities mentioned during his third disappearance. According to one source when describing the weather they matched up with geological data at the time but this appears to be unconfirmed. A journalist went to the Chang'an Grand Theater in Beijing to look through their records and see if they ever held the same performance Huang claimed to have seen.
He discovered that the theatre closed due to the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake and wouldn't reopen until 1979 meaning that Huang could not have seen any performances in that theatre. However, there was another theatre nearby named the Jixiang Theater and they were open in 1977 and on September 21, 1977, the day Huang claimed to be in Beijing they held a performance of Forced Onto Mt. Liang. This journalist ruled that Huang hailing from a small and rural village could've easily confused two nearby and similar theatres in an unfamiliar environment such as the major city of Beijing.
There are also those who agree that Huang travelled at nearly supersonic speeds but instead have a more terrestrial explanation and that Huang fell victim to military experimentation.
This theory states that the military flew Huang to these cities for various experiments and that the Gao brothers were high-ranking officials in charge of the experiments. They then drugged Huang and made him undergo hypnosis to make him forget what he experienced. Many are skeptical of this theory because if the Chinese government wanted to conduct human experimentation they had a myriad of death row inmates and political prisons to draw upon so why instead abduct an innocuous rural farmer from his small village?
"The Huang Yanqiu Incident" remains one of China's most infamous unsolved mysteries but as of now, there have been no new developments as a now 67-year-old Huang has opted to live a quiet life in his village away from the cameras. The last bit of news from Huang came from 2008 when he underwent another round of mental evaluations
Sources
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%BB%84%E5%BB%B6%E7%A7%8B%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6/3270760
http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050729/100743.shtml
http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050729/100649.shtml
http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050728/102027.shtml
http://www.cctv.com/program/zoujinkexue/topic/science/C14443/20050727/102186.shtml
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/27626821
2023.04.01 12:09 laikasspam24 African intl student hopelessly applies to schools on their deadlines and gets surprising results
Demographics
Academics
List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.
List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc. (A/N: my ECs were nothing extraordinary or recognized nationally or internationally)
#1 Little Mx Social: IG page created to help people suffering from social anxiety after the pandemic, 300+ followers.
#2 Student Govt President: mentioned all the things I implemented as president, zero-tolerance bullying policy, art fairs, cultural events at school
#3 Cooking club: 4 hours per week, a great opportunity for students to showcase their cultures and learn from othersโ cultures through cooking. It was really fun and we had over 50 participants.
#4 Open Heart Charity: Charity created by my friends and I (we spent a lot of time working on it), raised over 100k cfa in fundraising and over 300 material donations
#5 Tennis: been playing since I was 4, won best junior player years ago
#6 Yale Young Global Scholars: summer program done by Yale (do not do it thinking it will increase your chances of admissions at Yale. I got rejected.)
#7 Harvard Global Scholar Internship Program: Built business models. Very enriching 5-week experience.
#8 Internship at an IT company of my city: repaired all the POS of supermarkets in my city
#9 Family responsibilities: My parents often travel so I had to look after my siblings most of the time.
#10 Tutoring: tutored igcse students, and ibdp1 students
Awards/Honors
List all awards and honors submitted on your application.
My counselor, maths teacher, and economics teacher did my LORs and we all have very good relationships. I never had the opportunity to read them so I donโt know what they turned out to be but I guess they were good so I would say 8+/10
Interviews
Acceptances :
Waitlists:
submitted by laikasspam24 to collegeresults [link] [comments]
- Gender: Female
- Race/Ethnicity: African (from Cameroon)
- Residence: Douala, Cameroon
- Income Bracket: 40k+ (low-income I guess?)
- Type of School: International private IB School
- Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): No
Academics
- GPA (UW/W): My school doesnโt do GPA so I literally have no idea but given my perfect scores in all my IB courses I guess itโs a 4.0 ?
- Rank (or percentile): No rank in my school
- # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: IB Diploma Program
- Senior Year Course Load: Full IB Diploma (6 IB courses + CAS + TOK + EE)
List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.
- SAT I: 1470 superscore (690RW, 780M)
- AP/IB: 7 in all my IB Subjects
- Predicted IB Grade: 45/45
List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc. (A/N: my ECs were nothing extraordinary or recognized nationally or internationally)
#1 Little Mx Social: IG page created to help people suffering from social anxiety after the pandemic, 300+ followers.
#2 Student Govt President: mentioned all the things I implemented as president, zero-tolerance bullying policy, art fairs, cultural events at school
#3 Cooking club: 4 hours per week, a great opportunity for students to showcase their cultures and learn from othersโ cultures through cooking. It was really fun and we had over 50 participants.
#4 Open Heart Charity: Charity created by my friends and I (we spent a lot of time working on it), raised over 100k cfa in fundraising and over 300 material donations
#5 Tennis: been playing since I was 4, won best junior player years ago
#6 Yale Young Global Scholars: summer program done by Yale (do not do it thinking it will increase your chances of admissions at Yale. I got rejected.)
#7 Harvard Global Scholar Internship Program: Built business models. Very enriching 5-week experience.
#8 Internship at an IT company of my city: repaired all the POS of supermarkets in my city
#9 Family responsibilities: My parents often travel so I had to look after my siblings most of the time.
#10 Tutoring: tutored igcse students, and ibdp1 students
Awards/Honors
List all awards and honors submitted on your application.
- Student Leadership Award: given to the student in school that demonstrates astounding leadership skills
- IGCSE Distinction
- Most Outstanding Student in school
My counselor, maths teacher, and economics teacher did my LORs and we all have very good relationships. I never had the opportunity to read them so I donโt know what they turned out to be but I guess they were good so I would say 8+/10
Interviews
- Upenn (10/10): The interviewer and I discussed even more than the allocated time. He was an intl student too, did IB, and I name-dropped a club at Penn in which he coincidentally took part so we really saw that we had a lot in common. Great experience.
- Dartmouth (-/10): Interviewer ghosted me so there was no interview.
- UC Essays (7/10): Truth be told I wrote my UC essays on the same day with no one but my friends proofreading them.
- Common App Essay (9/10): My Common App essay on the other hand was proofread by my counselor and a LOT of my relatives. I spent relatively 8-10 hours in total perfecting it. Briefly hooked the reader by mentioning my wide family lineage (grandpa had 132 kids, Iโm a child from a polygamous family). I intertwined this fact with the bullying I received in middle school and high school due to my background and my good grades. Ended up with the success story of creating a zero-tolerance bullying policy in my school, IG page against social anxiety, and being willing to help anyone that comes my way.
- Supplemental essays (8.5/10): I think that on average I was very creative with my responses and always found a way to incorporate a new/different aspect of my character in each essay.
Acceptances :
- UC Berkeley (no aid since Iโm intl) (RD)
- The Wharton School at Penn (full tuition aid) (RD)
- Columbia (received a likely so I knew I had high chances of admission, John jay scholar, 43k aid per year but 53k still left to pay) (RD)
- University of Miami (full tuition aid + foote fellows honors) (RD)
- University of Denver (42k per year) (RD)
- Seattle University (30.5k per year + honors) (RD)
- Temple University (21.5k per year + honors) (EA)
Waitlists:
- Hamilton College (RD)
- Oberlin College (RD)
- St. Olaf (RD)
- Harvard (deferred REA then rejected)
- Yale (RD)
- Cornell (RD)Dartmouth (RD)
- Stanford (RD)
- Northeastern (RD)
- Northwestern (RD)
- BU (RD)
- Vanderbilt (RD)
- I would recommend using Collegevine to review your essays. You will find some really cool and nice people that will give accurate feedback rather than paying thousands of dollars to experts and maybe end up rejected.
- These admissions taught me that college admissions also include luck because what where the odds of me getting such finaid and acceptances when I did most of my college apps alone and depressed after my Harvard deferral? Anyways best of luck to the class of 2028.
- The journey will be excruciating and demanding but please have an appropriate amount of safeties, targets, and reaches to finish this journey with at least one uni.
- My SAT score wasnโt that great but I still managed to land 2 ivies (and a likely) so I would really emphasize on being well-rounded and having a pertaining story. Your application needs to have a theme and paint a clear image of who you are as a person.
2023.04.01 11:21 WEGONBURNURHOUSE EVERYONE ROBLOX WARRIOR CATS IS HACKED
 | submitted by WEGONBURNURHOUSE to WarriorCats [link] [comments] |
2023.04.01 10:56 NerveMoney4597 what happened to the game?
Haven't played in a very long time, I've played the basic version for 150 hours according to the counter. Stopped playing after they added stealth helicopters which broke the balance of the game. What's happening? the introduction of classes broke the game even more, now you can not use hacking RAO and AA against helicopters. Immortal cheater helicopters have become even more imbalanced. Why is every game on the same map? how to play base maps? in the basic version which played great, the maps changed every battle, the weather effects like tornadoes were cool. Why did they break the game by adding so much rubbish like classes and stealth helicopter. This is not sarcasm. I bought the game, I liked it, I played a lot of hours and would play more. But the game was broken by bad updates.
submitted by NerveMoney4597 to battlefield2042 [link] [comments]
2023.04.01 10:12 Philip19967 Ultimate High Tide DD
Below is the latest in-depth and summary DD from High Tide (a leading retail-focused cannabis company with bricks-and-mortar as well as global e-commerce assets. The Company is the largest non-franchised cannabis retail chain in Canada, with 151 current locations spanning British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario) which I hope will be appreciated and shared.
What I find important to note is the following:
High Tide is valued at approximately 120 million CAD market cap with double-digit annual growth and quarterly reduced expenses, in an ultra-competitive market, a constant increase in gross margins and a turnover of over 450 million annually. The company trades at 0.5 times the salesโฆ These few lines, in addition to the in-depth and exhaustive dd, should make us reflect on the true value of the company and not on what the market values โโit now.
Earnings are expected after markets close tomorrow, enjoy reading :)
HIGH TIDE
ticker -- NASDAQ:HITI / TSXV:HITI
GLOBAL CANNABIS (brick&mortar & e-commerce) EMPIRE
๐ฅฆTHC
โ๏ธ CBD
๐ถ Accessories
๐ Data
๐ง Kiosks
๐ฑ Seeds
๐จ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ธ ๐ฌ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช
INVESTOR PRESENTATION: https://hightideinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/High-Tide-Investor-Presentation-Mar-21-2023.pdf [Updated march 2023]
Latest Earnings -> https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-reports-second-consecutive-quarter-of-record-revenue-and-adjusted-ebitda-118-million-and-5-5-million-respectively/
SOURCE STORY Snapshot: CEO and Raj Grover started the company that became High Tide with $50,000 and a vision. With never more than $30 million in the bank, Raj strategically transformed one store into today's 151-store, multi-vertical, growth rate of over $400 million in '23.
When they were only 8mln 4 years ago!
Wisely borrowing pages directly from dominant retail companies' playbooks of: COST COST: Club Membership = Low Prices = Loyalty = Market Share
STARBUCKS SBUX: dollar is selling the coffee, not growing the beans
High Tide's strategy is unique and farsighted, given the number of companies currently competing with themselves and the market saturation which increasingly reduces margins, but this does not affect High Tide.
#1 IN ๐จ๐ฆ REVENUE FROM CANNABIS
High Tide Named Canada's Top Revenue Generating Cannabis Company [11/30/22]. https://www.forbes.com/sites/benjaminadams/2022/11/30/high-tide-named-canadas-top-revenue-generating-cannabis-company/?sh=384eced66033
CAPITAL MARKETS Highlights: the current share price is $1.20 USD, it is at a P/S multiple of 0.5 because the market capitalization is $160 million (USDcad) and the execution rate is $CAd 450 million (2023) . LOW FLOAT: Only ~55 million float = rapid upward movement in share price. Institutions, ETFs (MJ, THCX, YOLO, MJXL)
GLOBAL ๐ฅฆ THC + โ๏ธ CBD + ๐ถ ACCESSORIES STRATEGY
High Tide owns & operates a portfolio of cannabis-related businesses in several verticals:
๐ฅฆ THC
ยท www.CannaCabana.com -- 151 stores are #1 in ๐จ๐ฆCanada selling THC, CBD, & Accessories.
{Same Store Sales up 46% Y/Y. Gaining 1% national Market Share per quarter since launching the discount club biz model late 2021. See "Q3 RE RECAP" below for more info.}
โ๏ธ CBD
ยท www.NuLeafNaturals.com & www.FabCBD.com -- Top CBD brands in the ๐บ๐ธUSA with 70%+ margins
ยท www.BlessedCBD.co.uk -- the #1 CBD brand in the ๐ฌ๐ง UK -- is now delivering to ๐ฉ๐ช Germany & ๐บ๐ธ USA, and soon to France & Italy.
๐ถ ACCESSORIES High Tide owns 3 of the top 5 global ๐ US CA GB DE FR IT๐
Accessory eCommerce businesses, and a 4th in the top 10:
ยท www.GrassCity.com
ยท www.SmokeCartel.com
ยท www.DailyHighClub.com
ยท www.DankStop.com'23-'24 EXPANSION PLANS
CANADIAN -- B&M "Canna Cabana" STORES -- THC, CBD and accessories:
2021: 105 (goals achieved!)
2022: 150 (goals achieved!)
2023: 200
USA -- Accessories e-commerce: At over $30 million, it's always possible that High Tide will pick up one more accessories e-commerce business to add to the other four.
GERMANY -- THC, CBD and accessories: already planning to establish a presence in Germany pending US decision/reschedule. Leading Canadian Cannabis Retailer To Open German 'High Street' Shops For Adult Use [12/10/22] -- https://businesscann.com/leading-canadian-cannabis-retailer-to-establish-german-adult-use - high-street-shops/
USA -- THC: Globally, High Tide has 3,000,000 High Lifetime Value (LTV) customers in its database (2.4 million in the USA) who have purchased accessories (pipes, bongs, vaporizers, dab rigs, etc.) -- segmented by country and US state.
Raj said, "We've had conversations with multiple US groups about a potential acquisition." Considering all factors (inflation, rising interest rates, falling stock market prices, cannabis sector, access to capital, etc.) it is likely that High Tide will have a 2nd mover advantage for US M&As at attractively low multiples, reaffirmed that they intend to become a top 5 US MSO.
INFORMATIVE VIDEOS & ARTICLES
High Tide Recaps Key Milestones of 2022 [12/30/22] -- https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-recaps-key-milestones-of-2022/
High Tide CEO On M&A, New Products And 3 Factors Holding The Cannabis Stock Back [12/22/22] -- https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cannabis/22/12/29959300/high-tide-ceo-on-m-a-new-products-and-3-factors-holding-the-cannabis-stock-back
How High Tide Became the โCostco of Cannabisโ [11/23/22] -- https://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/news/how-high-tide-became-the-costco-of-cannabis-canna-cabana/
Q3 2022 ER RECAP [reported 9/14]
https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-reports-third-quarter-2022-financial-results-featuring-a-98-increase-in-revenue-and-tenth-straight-quarter-of-positive-adjusted-ebitda/
A) Q3 ER showed continued growth in same store sales and 1% in market share every quarter! The discount club concept launched in late 2021 continues to drive sales & loyalty.
ยท Revenue $95.4MM - up 98% Y/Y -- 18% seq
ยท SSS (aka Same store sales) up 46% Y/Y -- 18% seq
ยท Adj EBITDA $4.2MM - up 176% Y/Y -- 77% seq
ยท Revenue now on $450+MM run rate.
๐ Graph of High Tide's National Market Share growth by quarter (since launching the discount club biz model) -- https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FlO4PLiXgAQbY4e?format=jpg&name=small
๐ Graph of High Tide's revenue growth -- https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FkhCCy-X0AMy8pg?format=png&name=small
B) NDF: $19M in Non-Dilutive Financing alleviates any cash concerns at industry leading <9% interest rates. https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-closes-19-million-non-dilutive-credit-facility-with-connectfirst-credit-union/
C) Cabana Elite monetization : Raj going to start to monetize the membership by EOY. Profits go straight to the bottom line. 900k members now. Example: if 20% of 1M members (200k) subscribe at $5/month ($60/year), that's an extra $12M in profit!
High Tide Launches Exclusive Paid Membership Program: โCabana Eliteโ [11/29/22] -- https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-launches-exclusive-paid-membership-program-cabana-elite/
DISCOUNT CLUB BIZ MODEL [launched 12/20/21. paid Cabana Elite membership launched 11/29/22]
Launched 10/20/21 with 245K members. Currently 900K+ members as of EOY '22! https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-becomes-north-americas-first-cannabis-discount-club-retailer-with-over-245000-members/.
This was a DATA DRIVEN decision based on successful pilot programs
Membership in this loyalty program is FREE. Every person who walks into a Canna Cabana sees a high cost for non-members, and a discounted cost for members. When they realize signing up for FREE with their email address and phone # (SMS) makes them a MEMBER of the CABANA CLUB, they will do so in order to save money on that purchase and future purchases.
Stores are stocked w/ HIGH MARGIN products like consumption accessories, CBD, and house brands of shatter & gummies & prerolls -- with other form factors later.
Market Share and Same Store Sales growth are WAY up (see Q3 ER recap above) Q over Q while the other retailers (& USA MSOs btw) are seeing declines.
MEANING OF THE ACQUISITION OF NULEAF NATURALS [acquired on 11/22/21]https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-continues-expansion-into-global-cbd-market-with-acquisition-of-colorado-based-nuleaf-naturals/ Headquartered in Denver CO, NuLeaf Naturals is one of the leading CBD brands in the United States in terms of CBD blend research and intellectual property, rapid growth, and industry-leading margins. $16 million of the ~$20 million in revenue is directed to the consumer, but the expanding deal with Sprouts will allow for B&M's wider retail distribution. It is notable that their facility is cGMP certified. It can generate up to 60,000 vegan soft-gels per hour, or 25% of their activity. FabCBD production, co-packing and shipping were moved to the facility to save costs through operational efficiency. NULEAF comes with a cGMP certified manufacturing facility in Denver CO, USA, state of the art in CBD and other cannabinoids
๐ง KIOSK (FASTENDR) [launched 5/1/22]
https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-to-acquire-fastendr-retail-kiosk-and-smart-locker-technology-through-acquisition-of-bud-room-inc/. {Launched 5/1/22. Currently 175 Fastendr kiosks are operational in 120 Canna Cabana stores as of EOY '22}
The Discount Club model is causing long lines out the door. Taking a page from major retailers in other industries, this allows customers to order online or at a kiosk and collect from a "smart" locker. For those customers who know what they want and don't need budtender guidance, this is a handy convenience. Very few dispensaries in the world have this experience. Also mentioned in the PR is a desire to license this technology to other dispensaries and industries which could turn into another revenue stream. Delivery will be made available to all locations permitted by law but this offers a fast, convenient and quick way to ordecollect. It also cuts the dollars spent on budtenders by keeping the lines moving.
+ ๐ฟ SEEDS [Launched 12/13/22]
https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-enters-new-vertical-in-the-united-states-with-launch-of-cannabis-seeds/
Selling seeds is another high-margin revenue stream growing HITI's $3 million global customer database of High Lifetime Value users!
COMMANDING ECOMM RETAILER MULTIPLES
High Margin Private Label THC and FabCBD.com / BlessedCBD / NuLeaf, one of the main reasons High Tide is expected to be profitable later in 2023. When high tide...
A) Sells most accessories and CBD worldwide.
B) Owns multiple businesses in the US.
C) Sells data, kiosks and cannabis seeds
D) Selling their private label (think Kirkland) edible THC, vape and flower brands. E) Supplies supplies to dispensaries in multiple states.
F) PARTNER WITH STATE OPERATORS TO GIVE THEM ACCESS TO SELL THC TO THEIR HIGH VALUE CANNABIS CONSUMERS OVER 3 MILLION LIVES ...still only considered a Canadian cannabis retailer?
submitted by Philip19967 to Pennystock [link] [comments]
What I find important to note is the following:
High Tide is valued at approximately 120 million CAD market cap with double-digit annual growth and quarterly reduced expenses, in an ultra-competitive market, a constant increase in gross margins and a turnover of over 450 million annually. The company trades at 0.5 times the salesโฆ These few lines, in addition to the in-depth and exhaustive dd, should make us reflect on the true value of the company and not on what the market values โโit now.
Earnings are expected after markets close tomorrow, enjoy reading :)
HIGH TIDE
ticker -- NASDAQ:HITI / TSXV:HITI
GLOBAL CANNABIS (brick&mortar & e-commerce) EMPIRE
๐ฅฆTHC
โ๏ธ CBD
๐ถ Accessories
๐ Data
๐ง Kiosks
๐ฑ Seeds
๐จ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ธ ๐ฌ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช
INVESTOR PRESENTATION: https://hightideinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/High-Tide-Investor-Presentation-Mar-21-2023.pdf [Updated march 2023]
Latest Earnings -> https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-reports-second-consecutive-quarter-of-record-revenue-and-adjusted-ebitda-118-million-and-5-5-million-respectively/
SOURCE STORY Snapshot: CEO and Raj Grover started the company that became High Tide with $50,000 and a vision. With never more than $30 million in the bank, Raj strategically transformed one store into today's 151-store, multi-vertical, growth rate of over $400 million in '23.
When they were only 8mln 4 years ago!
Wisely borrowing pages directly from dominant retail companies' playbooks of: COST COST: Club Membership = Low Prices = Loyalty = Market Share
STARBUCKS SBUX: dollar is selling the coffee, not growing the beans
High Tide's strategy is unique and farsighted, given the number of companies currently competing with themselves and the market saturation which increasingly reduces margins, but this does not affect High Tide.
#1 IN ๐จ๐ฆ REVENUE FROM CANNABIS
High Tide Named Canada's Top Revenue Generating Cannabis Company [11/30/22]. https://www.forbes.com/sites/benjaminadams/2022/11/30/high-tide-named-canadas-top-revenue-generating-cannabis-company/?sh=384eced66033
CAPITAL MARKETS Highlights: the current share price is $1.20 USD, it is at a P/S multiple of 0.5 because the market capitalization is $160 million (USDcad) and the execution rate is $CAd 450 million (2023) . LOW FLOAT: Only ~55 million float = rapid upward movement in share price. Institutions, ETFs (MJ, THCX, YOLO, MJXL)
GLOBAL ๐ฅฆ THC + โ๏ธ CBD + ๐ถ ACCESSORIES STRATEGY
High Tide owns & operates a portfolio of cannabis-related businesses in several verticals:
๐ฅฆ THC
ยท www.CannaCabana.com -- 151 stores are #1 in ๐จ๐ฆCanada selling THC, CBD, & Accessories.
{Same Store Sales up 46% Y/Y. Gaining 1% national Market Share per quarter since launching the discount club biz model late 2021. See "Q3 RE RECAP" below for more info.}
โ๏ธ CBD
ยท www.NuLeafNaturals.com & www.FabCBD.com -- Top CBD brands in the ๐บ๐ธUSA with 70%+ margins
ยท www.BlessedCBD.co.uk -- the #1 CBD brand in the ๐ฌ๐ง UK -- is now delivering to ๐ฉ๐ช Germany & ๐บ๐ธ USA, and soon to France & Italy.
๐ถ ACCESSORIES High Tide owns 3 of the top 5 global ๐ US CA GB DE FR IT๐
Accessory eCommerce businesses, and a 4th in the top 10:
ยท www.GrassCity.com
ยท www.SmokeCartel.com
ยท www.DailyHighClub.com
ยท www.DankStop.com'23-'24 EXPANSION PLANS
CANADIAN -- B&M "Canna Cabana" STORES -- THC, CBD and accessories:
2021: 105 (goals achieved!)
2022: 150 (goals achieved!)
2023: 200
USA -- Accessories e-commerce: At over $30 million, it's always possible that High Tide will pick up one more accessories e-commerce business to add to the other four.
GERMANY -- THC, CBD and accessories: already planning to establish a presence in Germany pending US decision/reschedule. Leading Canadian Cannabis Retailer To Open German 'High Street' Shops For Adult Use [12/10/22] -- https://businesscann.com/leading-canadian-cannabis-retailer-to-establish-german-adult-use - high-street-shops/
USA -- THC: Globally, High Tide has 3,000,000 High Lifetime Value (LTV) customers in its database (2.4 million in the USA) who have purchased accessories (pipes, bongs, vaporizers, dab rigs, etc.) -- segmented by country and US state.
Raj said, "We've had conversations with multiple US groups about a potential acquisition." Considering all factors (inflation, rising interest rates, falling stock market prices, cannabis sector, access to capital, etc.) it is likely that High Tide will have a 2nd mover advantage for US M&As at attractively low multiples, reaffirmed that they intend to become a top 5 US MSO.
INFORMATIVE VIDEOS & ARTICLES
High Tide Recaps Key Milestones of 2022 [12/30/22] -- https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-recaps-key-milestones-of-2022/
High Tide CEO On M&A, New Products And 3 Factors Holding The Cannabis Stock Back [12/22/22] -- https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cannabis/22/12/29959300/high-tide-ceo-on-m-a-new-products-and-3-factors-holding-the-cannabis-stock-back
How High Tide Became the โCostco of Cannabisโ [11/23/22] -- https://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/news/how-high-tide-became-the-costco-of-cannabis-canna-cabana/
Q3 2022 ER RECAP [reported 9/14]
https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-reports-third-quarter-2022-financial-results-featuring-a-98-increase-in-revenue-and-tenth-straight-quarter-of-positive-adjusted-ebitda/
A) Q3 ER showed continued growth in same store sales and 1% in market share every quarter! The discount club concept launched in late 2021 continues to drive sales & loyalty.
ยท Revenue $95.4MM - up 98% Y/Y -- 18% seq
ยท SSS (aka Same store sales) up 46% Y/Y -- 18% seq
ยท Adj EBITDA $4.2MM - up 176% Y/Y -- 77% seq
ยท Revenue now on $450+MM run rate.
๐ Graph of High Tide's National Market Share growth by quarter (since launching the discount club biz model) -- https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FlO4PLiXgAQbY4e?format=jpg&name=small
๐ Graph of High Tide's revenue growth -- https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FkhCCy-X0AMy8pg?format=png&name=small
B) NDF: $19M in Non-Dilutive Financing alleviates any cash concerns at industry leading <9% interest rates. https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-closes-19-million-non-dilutive-credit-facility-with-connectfirst-credit-union/
C) Cabana Elite monetization : Raj going to start to monetize the membership by EOY. Profits go straight to the bottom line. 900k members now. Example: if 20% of 1M members (200k) subscribe at $5/month ($60/year), that's an extra $12M in profit!
High Tide Launches Exclusive Paid Membership Program: โCabana Eliteโ [11/29/22] -- https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-launches-exclusive-paid-membership-program-cabana-elite/
DISCOUNT CLUB BIZ MODEL [launched 12/20/21. paid Cabana Elite membership launched 11/29/22]
Launched 10/20/21 with 245K members. Currently 900K+ members as of EOY '22! https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-becomes-north-americas-first-cannabis-discount-club-retailer-with-over-245000-members/.
This was a DATA DRIVEN decision based on successful pilot programs
Membership in this loyalty program is FREE. Every person who walks into a Canna Cabana sees a high cost for non-members, and a discounted cost for members. When they realize signing up for FREE with their email address and phone # (SMS) makes them a MEMBER of the CABANA CLUB, they will do so in order to save money on that purchase and future purchases.
Stores are stocked w/ HIGH MARGIN products like consumption accessories, CBD, and house brands of shatter & gummies & prerolls -- with other form factors later.
Market Share and Same Store Sales growth are WAY up (see Q3 ER recap above) Q over Q while the other retailers (& USA MSOs btw) are seeing declines.
MEANING OF THE ACQUISITION OF NULEAF NATURALS [acquired on 11/22/21]https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-continues-expansion-into-global-cbd-market-with-acquisition-of-colorado-based-nuleaf-naturals/ Headquartered in Denver CO, NuLeaf Naturals is one of the leading CBD brands in the United States in terms of CBD blend research and intellectual property, rapid growth, and industry-leading margins. $16 million of the ~$20 million in revenue is directed to the consumer, but the expanding deal with Sprouts will allow for B&M's wider retail distribution. It is notable that their facility is cGMP certified. It can generate up to 60,000 vegan soft-gels per hour, or 25% of their activity. FabCBD production, co-packing and shipping were moved to the facility to save costs through operational efficiency. NULEAF comes with a cGMP certified manufacturing facility in Denver CO, USA, state of the art in CBD and other cannabinoids
๐ง KIOSK (FASTENDR) [launched 5/1/22]
https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-to-acquire-fastendr-retail-kiosk-and-smart-locker-technology-through-acquisition-of-bud-room-inc/. {Launched 5/1/22. Currently 175 Fastendr kiosks are operational in 120 Canna Cabana stores as of EOY '22}
The Discount Club model is causing long lines out the door. Taking a page from major retailers in other industries, this allows customers to order online or at a kiosk and collect from a "smart" locker. For those customers who know what they want and don't need budtender guidance, this is a handy convenience. Very few dispensaries in the world have this experience. Also mentioned in the PR is a desire to license this technology to other dispensaries and industries which could turn into another revenue stream. Delivery will be made available to all locations permitted by law but this offers a fast, convenient and quick way to ordecollect. It also cuts the dollars spent on budtenders by keeping the lines moving.
+ ๐ฟ SEEDS [Launched 12/13/22]
https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-enters-new-vertical-in-the-united-states-with-launch-of-cannabis-seeds/
Selling seeds is another high-margin revenue stream growing HITI's $3 million global customer database of High Lifetime Value users!
COMMANDING ECOMM RETAILER MULTIPLES
High Margin Private Label THC and FabCBD.com / BlessedCBD / NuLeaf, one of the main reasons High Tide is expected to be profitable later in 2023. When high tide...
A) Sells most accessories and CBD worldwide.
B) Owns multiple businesses in the US.
C) Sells data, kiosks and cannabis seeds
D) Selling their private label (think Kirkland) edible THC, vape and flower brands. E) Supplies supplies to dispensaries in multiple states.
F) PARTNER WITH STATE OPERATORS TO GIVE THEM ACCESS TO SELL THC TO THEIR HIGH VALUE CANNABIS CONSUMERS OVER 3 MILLION LIVES ...still only considered a Canadian cannabis retailer?
2023.04.01 10:10 Philip19967 ultimate High Tide DD
Below is the latest in-depth and summary DD from High Tide (a leading retail-focused cannabis company with bricks-and-mortar as well as global e-commerce assets. The Company is the largest non-franchised cannabis retail chain in Canada, with 151 current locations spanning British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario) which I hope will be appreciated and shared.
What I find important to note is the following:
High Tide is valued at approximately 120 million CAD market cap with double-digit annual growth and quarterly reduced expenses, in an ultra-competitive market, a constant increase in gross margins and a turnover of over 450 million annually. The company trades at 0.5 times the salesโฆ These few lines, in addition to the in-depth and exhaustive dd, should make us reflect on the true value of the company and not on what the market values โโit now.
Earnings are expected after markets close tomorrow, enjoy reading :)
HIGH TIDE
ticker -- NASDAQ:HITI / TSXV:HITI
GLOBAL CANNABIS (brick&mortar & e-commerce) EMPIRE
๐ฅฆTHC
โ๏ธ CBD
๐ถ Accessories
๐ Data
๐ง Kiosks
๐ฑ Seeds
๐จ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ธ ๐ฌ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช
INVESTOR PRESENTATION: https://hightideinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/High-Tide-Investor-Presentation-Mar-21-2023.pdf [Updated march 2023]
Latest Earnings -> https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-reports-second-consecutive-quarter-of-record-revenue-and-adjusted-ebitda-118-million-and-5-5-million-respectively/
SOURCE STORY Snapshot: CEO and Raj Grover started the company that became High Tide with $50,000 and a vision. With never more than $30 million in the bank, Raj strategically transformed one store into today's 151-store, multi-vertical, growth rate of over $400 million in '23.
When they were only 8mln 4 years ago!
Wisely borrowing pages directly from dominant retail companies' playbooks of: COST COST: Club Membership = Low Prices = Loyalty = Market Share
STARBUCKS SBUX: dollar is selling the coffee, not growing the beans
High Tide's strategy is unique and farsighted, given the number of companies currently competing with themselves and the market saturation which increasingly reduces margins, but this does not affect High Tide.
#1 IN ๐จ๐ฆ REVENUE FROM CANNABIS
High Tide Named Canada's Top Revenue Generating Cannabis Company [11/30/22]. https://www.forbes.com/sites/benjaminadams/2022/11/30/high-tide-named-canadas-top-revenue-generating-cannabis-company/?sh=384eced66033
CAPITAL MARKETS Highlights: the current share price is $1.20 USD, it is at a P/S multiple of 0.5 because the market capitalization is $160 million (USDcad) and the execution rate is $CAd 450 million (2023) . LOW FLOAT: Only ~55 million float = rapid upward movement in share price. Institutions, ETFs (MJ, THCX, YOLO, MJXL)
GLOBAL ๐ฅฆ THC + โ๏ธ CBD + ๐ถ ACCESSORIES STRATEGY
High Tide owns & operates a portfolio of cannabis-related businesses in several verticals:
๐ฅฆ THC
ยท www.CannaCabana.com -- 151 stores are #1 in ๐จ๐ฆCanada selling THC, CBD, & Accessories.
{Same Store Sales up 46% Y/Y. Gaining 1% national Market Share per quarter since launching the discount club biz model late 2021. See "Q3 RE RECAP" below for more info.}
โ๏ธ CBD
ยท www.NuLeafNaturals.com & www.FabCBD.com -- Top CBD brands in the ๐บ๐ธUSA with 70%+ margins
ยท www.BlessedCBD.co.uk -- the #1 CBD brand in the ๐ฌ๐ง UK -- is now delivering to ๐ฉ๐ช Germany & ๐บ๐ธ USA, and soon to France & Italy.
๐ถ ACCESSORIES High Tide owns 3 of the top 5 global ๐ US CA GB DE FR IT๐
Accessory eCommerce businesses, and a 4th in the top 10:
ยท www.GrassCity.com
ยท www.SmokeCartel.com
ยท www.DailyHighClub.com
ยท www.DankStop.com'23-'24 EXPANSION PLANS
CANADIAN -- B&M "Canna Cabana" STORES -- THC, CBD and accessories:
2021: 105 (goals achieved!)
2022: 150 (goals achieved!)
2023: 200
USA -- Accessories e-commerce: At over $30 million, it's always possible that High Tide will pick up one more accessories e-commerce business to add to the other four.
GERMANY -- THC, CBD and accessories: already planning to establish a presence in Germany pending US decision/reschedule. Leading Canadian Cannabis Retailer To Open German 'High Street' Shops For Adult Use [12/10/22] -- https://businesscann.com/leading-canadian-cannabis-retailer-to-establish-german-adult-use - high-street-shops/
USA -- THC: Globally, High Tide has 3,000,000 High Lifetime Value (LTV) customers in its database (2.4 million in the USA) who have purchased accessories (pipes, bongs, vaporizers, dab rigs, etc.) -- segmented by country and US state.
Raj said, "We've had conversations with multiple US groups about a potential acquisition." Considering all factors (inflation, rising interest rates, falling stock market prices, cannabis sector, access to capital, etc.) it is likely that High Tide will have a 2nd mover advantage for US M&As at attractively low multiples, reaffirmed that they intend to become a top 5 US MSO.
INFORMATIVE VIDEOS & ARTICLES
High Tide Recaps Key Milestones of 2022 [12/30/22] -- https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-recaps-key-milestones-of-2022/
High Tide CEO On M&A, New Products And 3 Factors Holding The Cannabis Stock Back [12/22/22] -- https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cannabis/22/12/29959300/high-tide-ceo-on-m-a-new-products-and-3-factors-holding-the-cannabis-stock-back
How High Tide Became the โCostco of Cannabisโ [11/23/22] -- https://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/news/how-high-tide-became-the-costco-of-cannabis-canna-cabana/
Q3 2022 ER RECAP [reported 9/14]
https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-reports-third-quarter-2022-financial-results-featuring-a-98-increase-in-revenue-and-tenth-straight-quarter-of-positive-adjusted-ebitda/
A) Q3 ER showed continued growth in same store sales and 1% in market share every quarter! The discount club concept launched in late 2021 continues to drive sales & loyalty.
ยท Revenue $95.4MM - up 98% Y/Y -- 18% seq
ยท SSS (aka Same store sales) up 46% Y/Y -- 18% seq
ยท Adj EBITDA $4.2MM - up 176% Y/Y -- 77% seq
ยท Revenue now on $450+MM run rate.
๐ Graph of High Tide's National Market Share growth by quarter (since launching the discount club biz model) -- https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FlO4PLiXgAQbY4e?format=jpg&name=small
๐ Graph of High Tide's revenue growth -- https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FkhCCy-X0AMy8pg?format=png&name=small
B) NDF: $19M in Non-Dilutive Financing alleviates any cash concerns at industry leading <9% interest rates. https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-closes-19-million-non-dilutive-credit-facility-with-connectfirst-credit-union/
C) Cabana Elite monetization : Raj going to start to monetize the membership by EOY. Profits go straight to the bottom line. 900k members now. Example: if 20% of 1M members (200k) subscribe at $5/month ($60/year), that's an extra $12M in profit!
High Tide Launches Exclusive Paid Membership Program: โCabana Eliteโ [11/29/22] -- https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-launches-exclusive-paid-membership-program-cabana-elite/
DISCOUNT CLUB BIZ MODEL [launched 12/20/21. paid Cabana Elite membership launched 11/29/22]
Launched 10/20/21 with 245K members. Currently 900K+ members as of EOY '22! https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-becomes-north-americas-first-cannabis-discount-club-retailer-with-over-245000-members/.
This was a DATA DRIVEN decision based on successful pilot programs
Membership in this loyalty program is FREE. Every person who walks into a Canna Cabana sees a high cost for non-members, and a discounted cost for members. When they realize signing up for FREE with their email address and phone # (SMS) makes them a MEMBER of the CABANA CLUB, they will do so in order to save money on that purchase and future purchases.
Stores are stocked w/ HIGH MARGIN products like consumption accessories, CBD, and house brands of shatter & gummies & prerolls -- with other form factors later.
Market Share and Same Store Sales growth are WAY up (see Q3 ER recap above) Q over Q while the other retailers (& USA MSOs btw) are seeing declines.
MEANING OF THE ACQUISITION OF NULEAF NATURALS [acquired on 11/22/21]https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-continues-expansion-into-global-cbd-market-with-acquisition-of-colorado-based-nuleaf-naturals/ Headquartered in Denver CO, NuLeaf Naturals is one of the leading CBD brands in the United States in terms of CBD blend research and intellectual property, rapid growth, and industry-leading margins. $16 million of the ~$20 million in revenue is directed to the consumer, but the expanding deal with Sprouts will allow for B&M's wider retail distribution. It is notable that their facility is cGMP certified. It can generate up to 60,000 vegan soft-gels per hour, or 25% of their activity. FabCBD production, co-packing and shipping were moved to the facility to save costs through operational efficiency. NULEAF comes with a cGMP certified manufacturing facility in Denver CO, USA, state of the art in CBD and other cannabinoids
๐ง KIOSK (FASTENDR) [launched 5/1/22]
https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-to-acquire-fastendr-retail-kiosk-and-smart-locker-technology-through-acquisition-of-bud-room-inc/. {Launched 5/1/22. Currently 175 Fastendr kiosks are operational in 120 Canna Cabana stores as of EOY '22}
The Discount Club model is causing long lines out the door. Taking a page from major retailers in other industries, this allows customers to order online or at a kiosk and collect from a "smart" locker. For those customers who know what they want and don't need budtender guidance, this is a handy convenience. Very few dispensaries in the world have this experience. Also mentioned in the PR is a desire to license this technology to other dispensaries and industries which could turn into another revenue stream. Delivery will be made available to all locations permitted by law but this offers a fast, convenient and quick way to ordecollect. It also cuts the dollars spent on budtenders by keeping the lines moving.
+ ๐ฟ SEEDS [Launched 12/13/22]
https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-enters-new-vertical-in-the-united-states-with-launch-of-cannabis-seeds/
Selling seeds is another high-margin revenue stream growing HITI's $3 million global customer database of High Lifetime Value users!
COMMANDING ECOMM RETAILER MULTIPLES
High Margin Private Label THC and FabCBD.com / BlessedCBD / NuLeaf, one of the main reasons High Tide is expected to be profitable later in 2023. When high tide...
A) Sells most accessories and CBD worldwide.
B) Owns multiple businesses in the US.
C) Sells data, kiosks and cannabis seeds
D) Selling their private label (think Kirkland) edible THC, vape and flower brands. E) Supplies supplies to dispensaries in multiple states.
F) PARTNER WITH STATE OPERATORS TO GIVE THEM ACCESS TO SELL THC TO THEIR HIGH VALUE CANNABIS CONSUMERS OVER 3 MILLION LIVES ...still only considered a Canadian cannabis retailer?
submitted by Philip19967 to investingforbeginners [link] [comments]
What I find important to note is the following:
High Tide is valued at approximately 120 million CAD market cap with double-digit annual growth and quarterly reduced expenses, in an ultra-competitive market, a constant increase in gross margins and a turnover of over 450 million annually. The company trades at 0.5 times the salesโฆ These few lines, in addition to the in-depth and exhaustive dd, should make us reflect on the true value of the company and not on what the market values โโit now.
Earnings are expected after markets close tomorrow, enjoy reading :)
HIGH TIDE
ticker -- NASDAQ:HITI / TSXV:HITI
GLOBAL CANNABIS (brick&mortar & e-commerce) EMPIRE
๐ฅฆTHC
โ๏ธ CBD
๐ถ Accessories
๐ Data
๐ง Kiosks
๐ฑ Seeds
๐จ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ธ ๐ฌ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช
INVESTOR PRESENTATION: https://hightideinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/High-Tide-Investor-Presentation-Mar-21-2023.pdf [Updated march 2023]
Latest Earnings -> https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-reports-second-consecutive-quarter-of-record-revenue-and-adjusted-ebitda-118-million-and-5-5-million-respectively/
SOURCE STORY Snapshot: CEO and Raj Grover started the company that became High Tide with $50,000 and a vision. With never more than $30 million in the bank, Raj strategically transformed one store into today's 151-store, multi-vertical, growth rate of over $400 million in '23.
When they were only 8mln 4 years ago!
Wisely borrowing pages directly from dominant retail companies' playbooks of: COST COST: Club Membership = Low Prices = Loyalty = Market Share
STARBUCKS SBUX: dollar is selling the coffee, not growing the beans
High Tide's strategy is unique and farsighted, given the number of companies currently competing with themselves and the market saturation which increasingly reduces margins, but this does not affect High Tide.
#1 IN ๐จ๐ฆ REVENUE FROM CANNABIS
High Tide Named Canada's Top Revenue Generating Cannabis Company [11/30/22]. https://www.forbes.com/sites/benjaminadams/2022/11/30/high-tide-named-canadas-top-revenue-generating-cannabis-company/?sh=384eced66033
CAPITAL MARKETS Highlights: the current share price is $1.20 USD, it is at a P/S multiple of 0.5 because the market capitalization is $160 million (USDcad) and the execution rate is $CAd 450 million (2023) . LOW FLOAT: Only ~55 million float = rapid upward movement in share price. Institutions, ETFs (MJ, THCX, YOLO, MJXL)
GLOBAL ๐ฅฆ THC + โ๏ธ CBD + ๐ถ ACCESSORIES STRATEGY
High Tide owns & operates a portfolio of cannabis-related businesses in several verticals:
๐ฅฆ THC
ยท www.CannaCabana.com -- 151 stores are #1 in ๐จ๐ฆCanada selling THC, CBD, & Accessories.
{Same Store Sales up 46% Y/Y. Gaining 1% national Market Share per quarter since launching the discount club biz model late 2021. See "Q3 RE RECAP" below for more info.}
โ๏ธ CBD
ยท www.NuLeafNaturals.com & www.FabCBD.com -- Top CBD brands in the ๐บ๐ธUSA with 70%+ margins
ยท www.BlessedCBD.co.uk -- the #1 CBD brand in the ๐ฌ๐ง UK -- is now delivering to ๐ฉ๐ช Germany & ๐บ๐ธ USA, and soon to France & Italy.
๐ถ ACCESSORIES High Tide owns 3 of the top 5 global ๐ US CA GB DE FR IT๐
Accessory eCommerce businesses, and a 4th in the top 10:
ยท www.GrassCity.com
ยท www.SmokeCartel.com
ยท www.DailyHighClub.com
ยท www.DankStop.com'23-'24 EXPANSION PLANS
CANADIAN -- B&M "Canna Cabana" STORES -- THC, CBD and accessories:
2021: 105 (goals achieved!)
2022: 150 (goals achieved!)
2023: 200
USA -- Accessories e-commerce: At over $30 million, it's always possible that High Tide will pick up one more accessories e-commerce business to add to the other four.
GERMANY -- THC, CBD and accessories: already planning to establish a presence in Germany pending US decision/reschedule. Leading Canadian Cannabis Retailer To Open German 'High Street' Shops For Adult Use [12/10/22] -- https://businesscann.com/leading-canadian-cannabis-retailer-to-establish-german-adult-use - high-street-shops/
USA -- THC: Globally, High Tide has 3,000,000 High Lifetime Value (LTV) customers in its database (2.4 million in the USA) who have purchased accessories (pipes, bongs, vaporizers, dab rigs, etc.) -- segmented by country and US state.
Raj said, "We've had conversations with multiple US groups about a potential acquisition." Considering all factors (inflation, rising interest rates, falling stock market prices, cannabis sector, access to capital, etc.) it is likely that High Tide will have a 2nd mover advantage for US M&As at attractively low multiples, reaffirmed that they intend to become a top 5 US MSO.
INFORMATIVE VIDEOS & ARTICLES
High Tide Recaps Key Milestones of 2022 [12/30/22] -- https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-recaps-key-milestones-of-2022/
High Tide CEO On M&A, New Products And 3 Factors Holding The Cannabis Stock Back [12/22/22] -- https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cannabis/22/12/29959300/high-tide-ceo-on-m-a-new-products-and-3-factors-holding-the-cannabis-stock-back
How High Tide Became the โCostco of Cannabisโ [11/23/22] -- https://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/news/how-high-tide-became-the-costco-of-cannabis-canna-cabana/
Q3 2022 ER RECAP [reported 9/14]
https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-reports-third-quarter-2022-financial-results-featuring-a-98-increase-in-revenue-and-tenth-straight-quarter-of-positive-adjusted-ebitda/
A) Q3 ER showed continued growth in same store sales and 1% in market share every quarter! The discount club concept launched in late 2021 continues to drive sales & loyalty.
ยท Revenue $95.4MM - up 98% Y/Y -- 18% seq
ยท SSS (aka Same store sales) up 46% Y/Y -- 18% seq
ยท Adj EBITDA $4.2MM - up 176% Y/Y -- 77% seq
ยท Revenue now on $450+MM run rate.
๐ Graph of High Tide's National Market Share growth by quarter (since launching the discount club biz model) -- https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FlO4PLiXgAQbY4e?format=jpg&name=small
๐ Graph of High Tide's revenue growth -- https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FkhCCy-X0AMy8pg?format=png&name=small
B) NDF: $19M in Non-Dilutive Financing alleviates any cash concerns at industry leading <9% interest rates. https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-closes-19-million-non-dilutive-credit-facility-with-connectfirst-credit-union/
C) Cabana Elite monetization : Raj going to start to monetize the membership by EOY. Profits go straight to the bottom line. 900k members now. Example: if 20% of 1M members (200k) subscribe at $5/month ($60/year), that's an extra $12M in profit!
High Tide Launches Exclusive Paid Membership Program: โCabana Eliteโ [11/29/22] -- https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-launches-exclusive-paid-membership-program-cabana-elite/
DISCOUNT CLUB BIZ MODEL [launched 12/20/21. paid Cabana Elite membership launched 11/29/22]
Launched 10/20/21 with 245K members. Currently 900K+ members as of EOY '22! https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-becomes-north-americas-first-cannabis-discount-club-retailer-with-over-245000-members/.
This was a DATA DRIVEN decision based on successful pilot programs
Membership in this loyalty program is FREE. Every person who walks into a Canna Cabana sees a high cost for non-members, and a discounted cost for members. When they realize signing up for FREE with their email address and phone # (SMS) makes them a MEMBER of the CABANA CLUB, they will do so in order to save money on that purchase and future purchases.
Stores are stocked w/ HIGH MARGIN products like consumption accessories, CBD, and house brands of shatter & gummies & prerolls -- with other form factors later.
Market Share and Same Store Sales growth are WAY up (see Q3 ER recap above) Q over Q while the other retailers (& USA MSOs btw) are seeing declines.
MEANING OF THE ACQUISITION OF NULEAF NATURALS [acquired on 11/22/21]https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-continues-expansion-into-global-cbd-market-with-acquisition-of-colorado-based-nuleaf-naturals/ Headquartered in Denver CO, NuLeaf Naturals is one of the leading CBD brands in the United States in terms of CBD blend research and intellectual property, rapid growth, and industry-leading margins. $16 million of the ~$20 million in revenue is directed to the consumer, but the expanding deal with Sprouts will allow for B&M's wider retail distribution. It is notable that their facility is cGMP certified. It can generate up to 60,000 vegan soft-gels per hour, or 25% of their activity. FabCBD production, co-packing and shipping were moved to the facility to save costs through operational efficiency. NULEAF comes with a cGMP certified manufacturing facility in Denver CO, USA, state of the art in CBD and other cannabinoids
๐ง KIOSK (FASTENDR) [launched 5/1/22]
https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-to-acquire-fastendr-retail-kiosk-and-smart-locker-technology-through-acquisition-of-bud-room-inc/. {Launched 5/1/22. Currently 175 Fastendr kiosks are operational in 120 Canna Cabana stores as of EOY '22}
The Discount Club model is causing long lines out the door. Taking a page from major retailers in other industries, this allows customers to order online or at a kiosk and collect from a "smart" locker. For those customers who know what they want and don't need budtender guidance, this is a handy convenience. Very few dispensaries in the world have this experience. Also mentioned in the PR is a desire to license this technology to other dispensaries and industries which could turn into another revenue stream. Delivery will be made available to all locations permitted by law but this offers a fast, convenient and quick way to ordecollect. It also cuts the dollars spent on budtenders by keeping the lines moving.
+ ๐ฟ SEEDS [Launched 12/13/22]
https://hightideinc.com/high-tide-enters-new-vertical-in-the-united-states-with-launch-of-cannabis-seeds/
Selling seeds is another high-margin revenue stream growing HITI's $3 million global customer database of High Lifetime Value users!
COMMANDING ECOMM RETAILER MULTIPLES
High Margin Private Label THC and FabCBD.com / BlessedCBD / NuLeaf, one of the main reasons High Tide is expected to be profitable later in 2023. When high tide...
A) Sells most accessories and CBD worldwide.
B) Owns multiple businesses in the US.
C) Sells data, kiosks and cannabis seeds
D) Selling their private label (think Kirkland) edible THC, vape and flower brands. E) Supplies supplies to dispensaries in multiple states.
F) PARTNER WITH STATE OPERATORS TO GIVE THEM ACCESS TO SELL THC TO THEIR HIGH VALUE CANNABIS CONSUMERS OVER 3 MILLION LIVES ...still only considered a Canadian cannabis retailer?
2023.04.01 10:04 pettymisdemeanor Big storm, downed trees, need a little adviceโฆ
Hello! I live in MN and the weather events of the last 24 hours have meant a huge blizzard for all of us. Got off work late to find a very large section of a tree in my backyard had fallen off, hit the wooden fence and broken in two pieces with one very large section in my yard and one very large section in my neighbors yard. Power lines are pulled down between them and draped on the fence but still working as our house hasnโt lost power. There is a shit ton of snow and ice in the ground and obviously tree crews arenโt going to suiting up to chop up a few large branches anytime soon. Weโre in contact with our utility about downed lines, the storm is still raging, our neighbor is super chill so no worries there. Iโm just trying to figure out the order of operations here in terms of who to hit up about what. I was planning on starting a claim with my homeownerโs insurance for the fence damage. Any sage wisdom out there? Iโm a first time homeowner.
submitted by pettymisdemeanor to homeowners [link] [comments]
2023.04.01 09:53 GlitterBeach Weather, jobs, road-trip
I have to be up in a few hours to get ready for an annual road trip. I need to dump my brain somewhere.
Last words my husband said to me before going to bed: Donโt stay up too late because I want us to have a good trip tomorrow.
Currently itโs 2:32AM
Iโm in the south-east. The weather is about an hour away and of course Iโve been watching it since midnight because Iโm terrified of tornadoes.
Iโve sat here zoned out on the tv, Iโve researched job openings at funeral homes, Iโve read about becoming a CNA, Iโve been browsing my local obituaries to see if I know anyone. Usually I do. Itโs a small town. Iโm also so darn hungry. And my hair is tickling my face.
Iโm newly diagnosed 38/F as of a week ago and not on meds yet.
I have never had a desire to work in a funeral home, yet I was so invested in searching for an opening. Major respect to those who work in that line of work! I donโt think I could handle it as I would be joining the families and crying and hugging them.
Iโve job hopped half my life through healthcare. I donโt stay anywhere long. I love the line of work, itโs just that my ADHD keeps me so frazzled all the time.
Icing on top of the cake: I CANNOT WORK RIGHT NOW AND I KNOW THIS. I have a teenage daughter who requires ALLLLLLL of my attention at the moment and thatโs why I had to quit my last job at the hospital. So why the heck am I up looking for jobs when I need to be sleeping!!!!!
Still, here I sit with my eyes burning and listening to the thunder in the distance, with my dog next to me having the occasional nightmare, looking up jobs I know I donโt want and even if I did, I canโt have them.
WHY AM I LIKE THIS!!!!
This is all new to me and Iโm feeling like the walls are caving in because it all makes sense to me now. Iโve been through so many meds for disorders I never had. Just to name a few: Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder. Iโm still on a crap ton of meds that I want off of, but canโt. The withdrawals are terrible. I donโt even need them!
It was ADHD all along and not a soul thought to test me. ๐ฅฒ๐ซ Thanks, my first psychiatrist who went through a midlife crisis when I was under her care and got a divorce and skipped down on her patients. You ruined most of my life. Years I wonโt get back because I donโt remember the first 3 years of my daughters life due to the Bipolar meds you had me on.
submitted by GlitterBeach to adhdwomen [link] [comments]
Last words my husband said to me before going to bed: Donโt stay up too late because I want us to have a good trip tomorrow.
Currently itโs 2:32AM
Iโm in the south-east. The weather is about an hour away and of course Iโve been watching it since midnight because Iโm terrified of tornadoes.
Iโve sat here zoned out on the tv, Iโve researched job openings at funeral homes, Iโve read about becoming a CNA, Iโve been browsing my local obituaries to see if I know anyone. Usually I do. Itโs a small town. Iโm also so darn hungry. And my hair is tickling my face.
Iโm newly diagnosed 38/F as of a week ago and not on meds yet.
I have never had a desire to work in a funeral home, yet I was so invested in searching for an opening. Major respect to those who work in that line of work! I donโt think I could handle it as I would be joining the families and crying and hugging them.
Iโve job hopped half my life through healthcare. I donโt stay anywhere long. I love the line of work, itโs just that my ADHD keeps me so frazzled all the time.
Icing on top of the cake: I CANNOT WORK RIGHT NOW AND I KNOW THIS. I have a teenage daughter who requires ALLLLLLL of my attention at the moment and thatโs why I had to quit my last job at the hospital. So why the heck am I up looking for jobs when I need to be sleeping!!!!!
Still, here I sit with my eyes burning and listening to the thunder in the distance, with my dog next to me having the occasional nightmare, looking up jobs I know I donโt want and even if I did, I canโt have them.
WHY AM I LIKE THIS!!!!
This is all new to me and Iโm feeling like the walls are caving in because it all makes sense to me now. Iโve been through so many meds for disorders I never had. Just to name a few: Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder. Iโm still on a crap ton of meds that I want off of, but canโt. The withdrawals are terrible. I donโt even need them!
It was ADHD all along and not a soul thought to test me. ๐ฅฒ๐ซ Thanks, my first psychiatrist who went through a midlife crisis when I was under her care and got a divorce and skipped down on her patients. You ruined most of my life. Years I wonโt get back because I donโt remember the first 3 years of my daughters life due to the Bipolar meds you had me on.
2023.04.01 09:45 kristopherunicorn PT Contract Shift Supervisor WANTED
JOB OPPORTUNITY in DENVER, DU area (University / Evans): PakMail PT Contract Shift Supervisor
Seeking: Fun energetic, outgoing customer service driven part time employee to work at a mom & pop post office shop Fridayโs 10am-6pm & Saturdayโs 10am-4pm. Paid Training is 2 hours to start, 12 PM-2 PM or 2 PM -4 PM Mon-Fri until management feels youโre proficient enough to handle the store on your own.
Location: PakMail, Denver 2443 S University BLVD, Denver, CO 80210
Pay: $17.50/hour is the starting contract base pay
Job Description: Greet customers, Drivers, Mailbox customers, assist with selecting destinations for customers and quoting prices accordingly. Maintain the shredding of documents (sometimes confidential) to be saved for Saturdays.
Qualifications: Would prefer if you a minimum of 1-2 years of customer service experience but not required. A basic understanding of windows, MacBook iOS, excel, printer and shredding trouble-shooting steps would be preferred. Cash handling experience is required. This is a physical, sometimes fast-paced position that involves lifting, lowering and sliding packages that typically weigh 25 - 35 lbs. and may weigh up to 70 lbs.
Please respond to this post with expressing your interest and favorite film and why. Thank you in advance for expressing interest.
submitted by kristopherunicorn to denverjobs [link] [comments]
Seeking: Fun energetic, outgoing customer service driven part time employee to work at a mom & pop post office shop Fridayโs 10am-6pm & Saturdayโs 10am-4pm. Paid Training is 2 hours to start, 12 PM-2 PM or 2 PM -4 PM Mon-Fri until management feels youโre proficient enough to handle the store on your own.
Location: PakMail, Denver 2443 S University BLVD, Denver, CO 80210
Pay: $17.50/hour is the starting contract base pay
Job Description: Greet customers, Drivers, Mailbox customers, assist with selecting destinations for customers and quoting prices accordingly. Maintain the shredding of documents (sometimes confidential) to be saved for Saturdays.
Qualifications: Would prefer if you a minimum of 1-2 years of customer service experience but not required. A basic understanding of windows, MacBook iOS, excel, printer and shredding trouble-shooting steps would be preferred. Cash handling experience is required. This is a physical, sometimes fast-paced position that involves lifting, lowering and sliding packages that typically weigh 25 - 35 lbs. and may weigh up to 70 lbs.
Please respond to this post with expressing your interest and favorite film and why. Thank you in advance for expressing interest.
2023.04.01 09:38 BuyWonderful My sister, Ava.
It was raining when she came. Dark skies had threatened a downpour all day, claps of thunder intermittent but the rain itself had held off until nightfall, until after we had gotten home, tucked into pj's and sheltered from the storm.
Hearing the door chime didn't surprise me, but it should have. My home is not central to anything. You need to travel dirt tracks and winding roads. Unless you know where you're going, I'm very hard to find. I wasn't expecting anyone, but still I rose from where I'd been sitting on the couch, trying to unwind after a long day. I wasn't psychic or anything, but I had a peculiar feeling all day that something wasn't right and hearing the knocking had cemented that for me.
She was dressed in a green sundress, sandals, a very strange sight considering the weather. And as the wind and rain danced violently around her, whipping her long, wet, dark hair around in every which direction, she simply looked possessed, like a crazy person. But still, I didn't flinch. Instead I opened the door, taking a step back to allow her inside. She glared at me as she stepped inside, dripping water onto the wooden floorboards, and making squelching noises with every step she took. "I'm not here to play games, Thomas. Where is he? Where is my son?"
For a moment, I'd had hope. Despite how she had arrived, despite the look in her eyes. I took a long breath, trying to compose myself, to keep my voice from breaking as I told her the news she had never been able to accept. "Ava, your son's gone, he's in heaven now. You.. You killed him."
The rage in her eyes broke me, sending shivers down my neck. She screamed like a wild animal caught in a trap, running to find the first thing she could grab hold of - my glass coffee table - and lift it and throw it as hard, and as far as she could against the wall. We were silent, breathless, as we listened to the glass shatter into a million pieces.
I'd never been close to my sister. She had been born years after me, after my mother had passed away and dad remarried, I was 15 when Ava came into the world. I remember holding her awkwardly, feeling something between love and contempt for this scrunched up, pink skinned and blue eyed little human.
I was moved out, living my own life by the time she learnt to ride a bike, by the time she started school. I saw them occasionally, holidays like Christmas and we would make awkward conversation over the phone on birthdays, but as time passed it was like they all were strangers to me, we had nothing in common, my dad and my step mum were busy with teenager Ava, and I was busy trying to start a family of my own. Life just got busy, I guess.
When I got the phone call saying dad and my step mum had been killed in a car crash, I was devastated. I kicked myself for not spending more time with them, and then my thoughts went to my sister, to Ava, 16 years old and now, all alone. I got on the phone and told her I was on my way to her, ready to help my little sister in any way I could. I realised I was about to become a guardian of a teenage girl who I basically knew nothing about, a teenage girl who was grieving the death of the only family she had ever known.
I needn't have been so rush in my decision to jump in the car, by the time I arrived it was clear that Ava was basically fine. It had been less than 24 hours since her parents death, but she was sipping on a daiquiri by the pool when I arrived. I cried to her and she held my hand in cold disdain. I never saw a tear.
It was only a mere few weeks later that I got another call, this time from a worried neighbor. The police tape cautioned off the childhood house I grew up in, a dozen or so officers roamed the yard and trailed in and out of the house, bringing out bags marked as 'Evidence'.
I wasn't sure what was going on. I knew dad and my step mum had been killed in a car accident, I wasn't sure if it was protocol to search the home of a deceased accident victim, I had no idea. So when I eventually saw little Ava sat in the back of one of the patrol cars, my heart dropped into my stomach.
I went over to the car to talk to her. To ask her what the heck was going on, but before I can get a word out, a beefy officer is standing between me and the car, his arm outstretched in a stop signal. "Sorry, I just wanted to talk to my sister. This is my parents house and -" The cop looked incredulous, shaking his head slowly then quicker with every word I spoke. He didn't respond to me in anyway once I finished talking, just started me in the eyes as he took his walkie talkie off his belt, and spoke into it. He asked for his boss, Stat.
I'm lead into a cop car myself. Although I'm not arrested, or cuffed, I still feel anxious getting inside. I wonder how scared Ava must be, and the thought makes me mad. Why the hell are they interviewing us in the back of a damn cop car? I fired my question at the Sargent and the cop in the front seat, and watched as they passed a look between themselves.
"I'm sorry no one's explained the situation to you, sir. Your sister isn't being interviewed. She has been arrested, and once the boys have finished up with the evidece bags, she'll be heading down to lock up. She is being charger with murder, so if you have a lawyer, how will probably be the time to get in contact." "Mm-murder? What are you talking about? I was told my parents had been killed in a car accident and now you're telling me my little sister had something to do with their death?"
"Sorry, sir. I should have been more clear. You're correct, your father and his wife were killed in a motor vichele aciident. This is relating to something... Ah, someone else, entirely. Now I need to ask you a few questions while we've got you here, if we aren't done by the time the others are ready to leave, we can continue this down at the station. That okay?" I nod numbly, not taking in what they're saying. The first question he asks me, is if I knew my 16 year old sister had been pregnant. I look out the window and catch Ava's eye. She smiles and waves at me, and even though I feel sick to the stomach, I plaster on a fake smile and wave back, as well.
Now, in this moment, I make Ava tea. She has showered, now warm and dressed in one of my old dressing towns. She cries as she sips the tea, saying she's sorry she's sorry she's sorry. She didn't do it. She didn't do it. She didn't do it. I give her a look of comfort and tell her it's okay, it's all going to be okay. She eats the lemon biscuit I brought out with the tea, between mouthfulls she tells me about living in the psychiatric ward, about how the people there scared her and the medicine she took made her feel sleepy and dull.
She asks me if she can stay here for a while, and I tell her of course she can. She's my little sister and I love her, no matter what. I tuck her into the spare bed, telling her things we be better in the morning, but she's already snoring by the time I finish my sentance. I close the door, sliding the lock behind me. As I prepare the evenings snack, I am feeling relived. I knew Ava wouldn't be having a great time in that place, but whenever I called up to see how she was going, she would only ever say things were fine, opting to always end our conversation before the allocated time was up.
I could hear the sadness in her voice, the desperation to get out, and it broke me. I would offer to come visit, bring her anything she felt like but she said with the contraband ban, there was no point. She never felt like having a visitor, refusing my requests and when I asked the nurses about it, they told me she spent most of her time staring off into space, they couldn't force her to accept visits, and that was that.
She would be out when she turned 23, after serving the 7 year sentence for the manslaughter of her newborn. Everyone said she was lucky to not get jail, but after hearing her voice in the psychiatric ward, I wasn't so sure I agreed.
Now she's here, out of that awful place. I'm going to really take care of her, something I should have done all those years ago. I'm her big brother after all, and it's up to me to make sure she's looked after. I go down stairs, this time carefully carrying a tray, with warm milk and few of the infamous lemon biscuits.
Karl is sitting up cross legged in his race car bed, concentration vivid on his little face as he plays a game on his Xbox. A moment later he let's out a little whoop, and I can't help but to smile at his excitement. "Kicking everyone's butts still, I see." Karl laughs at my comment, blushing but pleased. I can tell he's chuffed, and it makes me happy seeing his genuine joy.
I place the tray on his desk, and sit next to him to watch him play for a while. He offers me the controller and asks if I want to have a turn? I shake my head, and thank him, telling him its time for this old man to be getting to bed. He grins at me when I call myself an old man, and shakes his head laughing as he calls me silly.
"Milk and biscuits here when you're ready. Remember, lights out in an hour. I love you, son." "Okay, thanks dad. I love you, too."
As I walk out of his room, I ponder for a moment, wondering and hoping it wasnt, if it was possible he had heard any of that commotion upstairs, but eyes still glued to the screen, Karl seemed as happy as ever and basically impervious to anything apart from the car racing game he was playing.
It was me who'd asked her to babysit. Begged her, really. Told her how much Jennie and I had been fighting, how hard the baby was on our relationship. She said she really wanted to help her big brother out and she even said it would be a welcome distraction from the finals she was studying for. No mention of the parents she had recently lost.
She told me she felt a bit nervous about it all, but she felt it would be good for her, as well. I agreed. We organised a time for an evening a night away, and that was that, my plan was in motion. Done all over HiddentextApp of course, so there was no trace of our conversation.
It was all the rage with the kids these days, according to Google, so when I suggested it to my sister, she hadn't batted an eyelid. I knew she had been having trouble sleeping, and honestly, for the both of us, it seemed like the easiest way.
There would be no one to blame, it would be a simple, cruel act of nature that no one would even consider questioning. She could of said it was an accident, and everyone would have believed her. I didn't think she would do what she did. I asked her if she was still okay to babysit, feigning guilt and worry, and she had nodded. Our fathers and her mother's death had not seemed to greatly affect her. She seemed bored of talk of them. "A distraction would be great." I thanked her with a close, tight hug, and told her I'd brewed her some green tea and made a batch of an old recipe my mum used to make me while I was growing up, lemon biscuits.
Once Ava was settled on my couch, Netflix on the tv, with her snacks and mug of green tea. She had baby monitor on hand so she was ready to hear the cries that would never come. I expected silence when I got home. I expected Ava, sleeping peacefully, still on the couch where she had first sat down.
But she wasn't. And the house was not silent, instead the sound of an electric saw penetrated the halls. Maybe the shock of losing both parents, perhaps she felt bad for the fact they were out on the roads that night, they would have been safely tucked up in their bed if it had not been for their teenage daughter needing to be picked up. I don't know, seeing the baby like that.. Well, I guess that honestly would've broken anyone's soul.
At the start, I tried to explain to her, calmly and using soft voices, but she was beyond contemplating my words. It was as if what I was saying to her, she just simply could not comprehend. I tried to stop her, honestly I did, but she was a force that could not be reckoned with and truly, Ava had basically already finished when I arrived home.
The walls were painted red. My hacksaw now lay disgauardrd to one side of Ava, who was just as red as the walls. I didn't notice the noise had ceased. All I could hear was the hammering of my own heart in my chest. She cradled something white and rubbery to her chest, blood making it slippery to keep hold of, and once I realised what it was, I'm throwing up and crying and screaming as well.
When I catch my breath I ask what the fuck she has done and she tells me it's her son, her son, her son. She loves him. She loves him to pieces and she's never going to leave him. She was fixing him. Fixing him. Fixing him. She laughs and smiles. I take her home, with what's left of the baby wrapped up in a towel. She holds the towel as we drive, singing to it, cooing.
The scene is stuck in my memory, a picture I have tried hard to forget, but it greets me every time I close my eyes. I sit in the car and watch as she cradles the bundle in one arm, still singing softly to it, and let's her self inside my empty, parentless childhood home.
Now she is back, and this time she is a threat to my family. To my son, who can never ever know what this woman has done. She's still sleeping when I go back into the spare bedroom.
I am not surprised, because I did give her enough sleeping pills in her green tea to knock out a grown man. But, I had no choice really. If only she stayed away..I sigh to myself as I place the pillow over the top of her head. She could have started her life all over again. But no, she couldn't. As a good big brother, it was my responsibility to help her, in whatever way that meant.
I knew she would never accept that her son was dead or that she had been the one to kill and dismember him. I knew her life would be a constant battle of heart break and pain. I was doing her a favor. And keeping my family safe, as well.
It's almost daylight when I return home. I am straight into the shower, dressing quickly for my day before I head into the kitchen and get started on Karl's favorite breakfast - banana pancakes with maple bacon on the side.
He beams as I pass him his plate and thanks me for being the best daddy in the whole world. It's always the moments like this that I feel a pang of guilt. I wonder if his brother would have the same opinion, had he still been around. In my mind I picture the two of them, identical twins, sat side by side with me at the table.
Would Rory had liked maple bacon? I ruffle Karl's hair as he finishes eating, telling him he better get a move on if he doesnt want to miss his bus again, and he laughs and goes to get dressed for school. Before he left, he flashed me a grin and crinkled his green eyes with happiness. I think of last night, of Ava, those same green eyes staring up at me in panic when she woke up, managing to push the pillow off her.
She glared at me, opening her mouth to scream, or maybe ask me why, but I placed the pillow back in place and leaned down before she could speak. Her eyes were open when I eventually took the pillow off again, this time the green eyes were bloodshot and vacant,staring at nothing. The exact same eyes I had seen on Rory when I walked into the twins bedroom to check on him. He was blue, his eyes that blazed green were open, unblinking. I stared at him for a long time, until Karl's crys woke me up, brought me back to reality. I took Karl down for his bottle, placing a blanket on his brother, who was cold to the touch. I knew it was too late. I knew it didn't matter anymore. But to me, it would always matter.
I was a good dad, really I was. I had wanted to be a dad for so long, that when I heard my baby sister was pregnant at 15 years old, I felt sick with anger and disappointed. But my dad and step mum had pleaded for me to take the babies, to raise them. Ava didn't want them, she wanted to get rid of them, but it was too late in the pregnancy.
They told me Ava had her whole life ahead of her. They told me I could have what I had always wanted, to be a dad. We didn't have to tell anyone. It would be a family secret. Just better for everyone that way, my dad had said. So I agreed.
I had never wanted to hurt Ava. I had given her sleeping pills so she wouldn't go searching for her son. So she could simply fall asleep, and I'd come home later that evening, and together we would discover the absolute heart breaking news that baby Rory had passed away in his sleep. Which is what had happened, just a few hours before.
She had questioned why their would only be one baby to look after, but when I explained that Karl had been a bit under the weather and we wanted to keep a close eye on him, she didn't give it another thought. She never even asked why Jennie wasn't around, given we were supposedly heading off for a mini getaway sans one child.
I hadn't told anyone we'd separated, after she decided having kids just wasn't for her. I felt guilty, but not too guilty. Ava had given the babies away without another thought, not even bothering to check in on them or ask how they were growing. I didn't think it would truly affect her so much. And so.. Badly.
But in a fucked up way, it all worked out in the end, I guess.
Karl was safe then, because the girl that was his mother had truly lost her mind and she was kept away in a place she couldn't reach him, even thought it seemed as if she had completely forgotten of his existence, I always had the idea in my head that she would one day remember there had been two bright green eyed boys, not just the one.
And what if she wanted her other son back, as well? I've kept him safe, unlike I was able to do for his brother. And I wasn't about to start letting someone mess with the sweet natured and gentle boy I'd raised.
I saw things in Ava that made me realise I had never known her, only knew what I thought she was, what I wanted to her to be, the sweet, sweet little sister. Instead, my sibling had been a devil in disguise. As we leave the house, ready to make our trekk to the school bus stop, I glance at the window at the fresh mound of dirt thats waiting to be spread when I get back.
Karl notices it, and asks if he can plant some roses there when he gets home. I tell him that's a wonderful idea, wondering if and how he could possibly know that flowers were Ava's favorite flower.
I shake the idea from my head, and together we walk down the dirt roads, hand in hand.
submitted by BuyWonderful to nosleep [link] [comments]
Hearing the door chime didn't surprise me, but it should have. My home is not central to anything. You need to travel dirt tracks and winding roads. Unless you know where you're going, I'm very hard to find. I wasn't expecting anyone, but still I rose from where I'd been sitting on the couch, trying to unwind after a long day. I wasn't psychic or anything, but I had a peculiar feeling all day that something wasn't right and hearing the knocking had cemented that for me.
She was dressed in a green sundress, sandals, a very strange sight considering the weather. And as the wind and rain danced violently around her, whipping her long, wet, dark hair around in every which direction, she simply looked possessed, like a crazy person. But still, I didn't flinch. Instead I opened the door, taking a step back to allow her inside. She glared at me as she stepped inside, dripping water onto the wooden floorboards, and making squelching noises with every step she took. "I'm not here to play games, Thomas. Where is he? Where is my son?"
For a moment, I'd had hope. Despite how she had arrived, despite the look in her eyes. I took a long breath, trying to compose myself, to keep my voice from breaking as I told her the news she had never been able to accept. "Ava, your son's gone, he's in heaven now. You.. You killed him."
The rage in her eyes broke me, sending shivers down my neck. She screamed like a wild animal caught in a trap, running to find the first thing she could grab hold of - my glass coffee table - and lift it and throw it as hard, and as far as she could against the wall. We were silent, breathless, as we listened to the glass shatter into a million pieces.
I'd never been close to my sister. She had been born years after me, after my mother had passed away and dad remarried, I was 15 when Ava came into the world. I remember holding her awkwardly, feeling something between love and contempt for this scrunched up, pink skinned and blue eyed little human.
I was moved out, living my own life by the time she learnt to ride a bike, by the time she started school. I saw them occasionally, holidays like Christmas and we would make awkward conversation over the phone on birthdays, but as time passed it was like they all were strangers to me, we had nothing in common, my dad and my step mum were busy with teenager Ava, and I was busy trying to start a family of my own. Life just got busy, I guess.
When I got the phone call saying dad and my step mum had been killed in a car crash, I was devastated. I kicked myself for not spending more time with them, and then my thoughts went to my sister, to Ava, 16 years old and now, all alone. I got on the phone and told her I was on my way to her, ready to help my little sister in any way I could. I realised I was about to become a guardian of a teenage girl who I basically knew nothing about, a teenage girl who was grieving the death of the only family she had ever known.
I needn't have been so rush in my decision to jump in the car, by the time I arrived it was clear that Ava was basically fine. It had been less than 24 hours since her parents death, but she was sipping on a daiquiri by the pool when I arrived. I cried to her and she held my hand in cold disdain. I never saw a tear.
It was only a mere few weeks later that I got another call, this time from a worried neighbor. The police tape cautioned off the childhood house I grew up in, a dozen or so officers roamed the yard and trailed in and out of the house, bringing out bags marked as 'Evidence'.
I wasn't sure what was going on. I knew dad and my step mum had been killed in a car accident, I wasn't sure if it was protocol to search the home of a deceased accident victim, I had no idea. So when I eventually saw little Ava sat in the back of one of the patrol cars, my heart dropped into my stomach.
I went over to the car to talk to her. To ask her what the heck was going on, but before I can get a word out, a beefy officer is standing between me and the car, his arm outstretched in a stop signal. "Sorry, I just wanted to talk to my sister. This is my parents house and -" The cop looked incredulous, shaking his head slowly then quicker with every word I spoke. He didn't respond to me in anyway once I finished talking, just started me in the eyes as he took his walkie talkie off his belt, and spoke into it. He asked for his boss, Stat.
I'm lead into a cop car myself. Although I'm not arrested, or cuffed, I still feel anxious getting inside. I wonder how scared Ava must be, and the thought makes me mad. Why the hell are they interviewing us in the back of a damn cop car? I fired my question at the Sargent and the cop in the front seat, and watched as they passed a look between themselves.
"I'm sorry no one's explained the situation to you, sir. Your sister isn't being interviewed. She has been arrested, and once the boys have finished up with the evidece bags, she'll be heading down to lock up. She is being charger with murder, so if you have a lawyer, how will probably be the time to get in contact." "Mm-murder? What are you talking about? I was told my parents had been killed in a car accident and now you're telling me my little sister had something to do with their death?"
"Sorry, sir. I should have been more clear. You're correct, your father and his wife were killed in a motor vichele aciident. This is relating to something... Ah, someone else, entirely. Now I need to ask you a few questions while we've got you here, if we aren't done by the time the others are ready to leave, we can continue this down at the station. That okay?" I nod numbly, not taking in what they're saying. The first question he asks me, is if I knew my 16 year old sister had been pregnant. I look out the window and catch Ava's eye. She smiles and waves at me, and even though I feel sick to the stomach, I plaster on a fake smile and wave back, as well.
Now, in this moment, I make Ava tea. She has showered, now warm and dressed in one of my old dressing towns. She cries as she sips the tea, saying she's sorry she's sorry she's sorry. She didn't do it. She didn't do it. She didn't do it. I give her a look of comfort and tell her it's okay, it's all going to be okay. She eats the lemon biscuit I brought out with the tea, between mouthfulls she tells me about living in the psychiatric ward, about how the people there scared her and the medicine she took made her feel sleepy and dull.
She asks me if she can stay here for a while, and I tell her of course she can. She's my little sister and I love her, no matter what. I tuck her into the spare bed, telling her things we be better in the morning, but she's already snoring by the time I finish my sentance. I close the door, sliding the lock behind me. As I prepare the evenings snack, I am feeling relived. I knew Ava wouldn't be having a great time in that place, but whenever I called up to see how she was going, she would only ever say things were fine, opting to always end our conversation before the allocated time was up.
I could hear the sadness in her voice, the desperation to get out, and it broke me. I would offer to come visit, bring her anything she felt like but she said with the contraband ban, there was no point. She never felt like having a visitor, refusing my requests and when I asked the nurses about it, they told me she spent most of her time staring off into space, they couldn't force her to accept visits, and that was that.
She would be out when she turned 23, after serving the 7 year sentence for the manslaughter of her newborn. Everyone said she was lucky to not get jail, but after hearing her voice in the psychiatric ward, I wasn't so sure I agreed.
Now she's here, out of that awful place. I'm going to really take care of her, something I should have done all those years ago. I'm her big brother after all, and it's up to me to make sure she's looked after. I go down stairs, this time carefully carrying a tray, with warm milk and few of the infamous lemon biscuits.
Karl is sitting up cross legged in his race car bed, concentration vivid on his little face as he plays a game on his Xbox. A moment later he let's out a little whoop, and I can't help but to smile at his excitement. "Kicking everyone's butts still, I see." Karl laughs at my comment, blushing but pleased. I can tell he's chuffed, and it makes me happy seeing his genuine joy.
I place the tray on his desk, and sit next to him to watch him play for a while. He offers me the controller and asks if I want to have a turn? I shake my head, and thank him, telling him its time for this old man to be getting to bed. He grins at me when I call myself an old man, and shakes his head laughing as he calls me silly.
"Milk and biscuits here when you're ready. Remember, lights out in an hour. I love you, son." "Okay, thanks dad. I love you, too."
As I walk out of his room, I ponder for a moment, wondering and hoping it wasnt, if it was possible he had heard any of that commotion upstairs, but eyes still glued to the screen, Karl seemed as happy as ever and basically impervious to anything apart from the car racing game he was playing.
It was me who'd asked her to babysit. Begged her, really. Told her how much Jennie and I had been fighting, how hard the baby was on our relationship. She said she really wanted to help her big brother out and she even said it would be a welcome distraction from the finals she was studying for. No mention of the parents she had recently lost.
She told me she felt a bit nervous about it all, but she felt it would be good for her, as well. I agreed. We organised a time for an evening a night away, and that was that, my plan was in motion. Done all over HiddentextApp of course, so there was no trace of our conversation.
It was all the rage with the kids these days, according to Google, so when I suggested it to my sister, she hadn't batted an eyelid. I knew she had been having trouble sleeping, and honestly, for the both of us, it seemed like the easiest way.
There would be no one to blame, it would be a simple, cruel act of nature that no one would even consider questioning. She could of said it was an accident, and everyone would have believed her. I didn't think she would do what she did. I asked her if she was still okay to babysit, feigning guilt and worry, and she had nodded. Our fathers and her mother's death had not seemed to greatly affect her. She seemed bored of talk of them. "A distraction would be great." I thanked her with a close, tight hug, and told her I'd brewed her some green tea and made a batch of an old recipe my mum used to make me while I was growing up, lemon biscuits.
Once Ava was settled on my couch, Netflix on the tv, with her snacks and mug of green tea. She had baby monitor on hand so she was ready to hear the cries that would never come. I expected silence when I got home. I expected Ava, sleeping peacefully, still on the couch where she had first sat down.
But she wasn't. And the house was not silent, instead the sound of an electric saw penetrated the halls. Maybe the shock of losing both parents, perhaps she felt bad for the fact they were out on the roads that night, they would have been safely tucked up in their bed if it had not been for their teenage daughter needing to be picked up. I don't know, seeing the baby like that.. Well, I guess that honestly would've broken anyone's soul.
At the start, I tried to explain to her, calmly and using soft voices, but she was beyond contemplating my words. It was as if what I was saying to her, she just simply could not comprehend. I tried to stop her, honestly I did, but she was a force that could not be reckoned with and truly, Ava had basically already finished when I arrived home.
The walls were painted red. My hacksaw now lay disgauardrd to one side of Ava, who was just as red as the walls. I didn't notice the noise had ceased. All I could hear was the hammering of my own heart in my chest. She cradled something white and rubbery to her chest, blood making it slippery to keep hold of, and once I realised what it was, I'm throwing up and crying and screaming as well.
When I catch my breath I ask what the fuck she has done and she tells me it's her son, her son, her son. She loves him. She loves him to pieces and she's never going to leave him. She was fixing him. Fixing him. Fixing him. She laughs and smiles. I take her home, with what's left of the baby wrapped up in a towel. She holds the towel as we drive, singing to it, cooing.
The scene is stuck in my memory, a picture I have tried hard to forget, but it greets me every time I close my eyes. I sit in the car and watch as she cradles the bundle in one arm, still singing softly to it, and let's her self inside my empty, parentless childhood home.
Now she is back, and this time she is a threat to my family. To my son, who can never ever know what this woman has done. She's still sleeping when I go back into the spare bedroom.
I am not surprised, because I did give her enough sleeping pills in her green tea to knock out a grown man. But, I had no choice really. If only she stayed away..I sigh to myself as I place the pillow over the top of her head. She could have started her life all over again. But no, she couldn't. As a good big brother, it was my responsibility to help her, in whatever way that meant.
I knew she would never accept that her son was dead or that she had been the one to kill and dismember him. I knew her life would be a constant battle of heart break and pain. I was doing her a favor. And keeping my family safe, as well.
It's almost daylight when I return home. I am straight into the shower, dressing quickly for my day before I head into the kitchen and get started on Karl's favorite breakfast - banana pancakes with maple bacon on the side.
He beams as I pass him his plate and thanks me for being the best daddy in the whole world. It's always the moments like this that I feel a pang of guilt. I wonder if his brother would have the same opinion, had he still been around. In my mind I picture the two of them, identical twins, sat side by side with me at the table.
Would Rory had liked maple bacon? I ruffle Karl's hair as he finishes eating, telling him he better get a move on if he doesnt want to miss his bus again, and he laughs and goes to get dressed for school. Before he left, he flashed me a grin and crinkled his green eyes with happiness. I think of last night, of Ava, those same green eyes staring up at me in panic when she woke up, managing to push the pillow off her.
She glared at me, opening her mouth to scream, or maybe ask me why, but I placed the pillow back in place and leaned down before she could speak. Her eyes were open when I eventually took the pillow off again, this time the green eyes were bloodshot and vacant,staring at nothing. The exact same eyes I had seen on Rory when I walked into the twins bedroom to check on him. He was blue, his eyes that blazed green were open, unblinking. I stared at him for a long time, until Karl's crys woke me up, brought me back to reality. I took Karl down for his bottle, placing a blanket on his brother, who was cold to the touch. I knew it was too late. I knew it didn't matter anymore. But to me, it would always matter.
I was a good dad, really I was. I had wanted to be a dad for so long, that when I heard my baby sister was pregnant at 15 years old, I felt sick with anger and disappointed. But my dad and step mum had pleaded for me to take the babies, to raise them. Ava didn't want them, she wanted to get rid of them, but it was too late in the pregnancy.
They told me Ava had her whole life ahead of her. They told me I could have what I had always wanted, to be a dad. We didn't have to tell anyone. It would be a family secret. Just better for everyone that way, my dad had said. So I agreed.
I had never wanted to hurt Ava. I had given her sleeping pills so she wouldn't go searching for her son. So she could simply fall asleep, and I'd come home later that evening, and together we would discover the absolute heart breaking news that baby Rory had passed away in his sleep. Which is what had happened, just a few hours before.
She had questioned why their would only be one baby to look after, but when I explained that Karl had been a bit under the weather and we wanted to keep a close eye on him, she didn't give it another thought. She never even asked why Jennie wasn't around, given we were supposedly heading off for a mini getaway sans one child.
I hadn't told anyone we'd separated, after she decided having kids just wasn't for her. I felt guilty, but not too guilty. Ava had given the babies away without another thought, not even bothering to check in on them or ask how they were growing. I didn't think it would truly affect her so much. And so.. Badly.
But in a fucked up way, it all worked out in the end, I guess.
Karl was safe then, because the girl that was his mother had truly lost her mind and she was kept away in a place she couldn't reach him, even thought it seemed as if she had completely forgotten of his existence, I always had the idea in my head that she would one day remember there had been two bright green eyed boys, not just the one.
And what if she wanted her other son back, as well? I've kept him safe, unlike I was able to do for his brother. And I wasn't about to start letting someone mess with the sweet natured and gentle boy I'd raised.
I saw things in Ava that made me realise I had never known her, only knew what I thought she was, what I wanted to her to be, the sweet, sweet little sister. Instead, my sibling had been a devil in disguise. As we leave the house, ready to make our trekk to the school bus stop, I glance at the window at the fresh mound of dirt thats waiting to be spread when I get back.
Karl notices it, and asks if he can plant some roses there when he gets home. I tell him that's a wonderful idea, wondering if and how he could possibly know that flowers were Ava's favorite flower.
I shake the idea from my head, and together we walk down the dirt roads, hand in hand.
2023.04.01 09:02 KhaosUproar Dayz pc deerisle pve/pvp uk server
Welcome to to UK Task force where we have a pve/pvp dayz pc server based on the deerisle mapโฆ Here at UKTF we have an awesome community that is growing every dayโฆ We host weekly pvp and pve eventsโฆ the server is a no raid server so you donโt have to worry about those late nights spent defending your base and can concentrate on whatever you like doing in game weather thatโs pvp or just wondering around the map looting all you can find or wasting away hours and money in our gambling den all with the knowledge your prize possession are safe locked away in your baseโฆ we have lots of different vehicles to chose from to help you on those long looting sessionsโฆ this server is brand new so get your friends and come and join this awesome new community and help it grow
https://discord.gg/UvNjw54ZTq
submitted by KhaosUproar to DayZServers [link] [comments]
https://discord.gg/UvNjw54ZTq
2023.04.01 09:01 agathor86 Soggy Boy
The description says I can moan about the weather.
I rode from Ely to Woking last night in the pissing rain and my waterproofs only lasted 1 hour.
Is there anything better than nikwax tech wash and nikwax waterproofing? I have textile jack and trousers.
I understand I'll get wet when riding but the rain yesterday was awful. There were parts of the ride that I had to stop because it was coming down so hard.
Also annoyed that my helmet AGV K5 leaks like a motherfucker in the rain. Made the pin lock visor totally useless after 1.5 hours.
Can't wait for sunny weather.
submitted by agathor86 to MotoUK [link] [comments]
I rode from Ely to Woking last night in the pissing rain and my waterproofs only lasted 1 hour.
Is there anything better than nikwax tech wash and nikwax waterproofing? I have textile jack and trousers.
I understand I'll get wet when riding but the rain yesterday was awful. There were parts of the ride that I had to stop because it was coming down so hard.
Also annoyed that my helmet AGV K5 leaks like a motherfucker in the rain. Made the pin lock visor totally useless after 1.5 hours.
Can't wait for sunny weather.
2023.04.01 08:38 Unable-Lion7819 Random guy in the windy weather in shaking houseโฆ [chat]
Itโs windy ๐ฌ๏ธ outside,โฆ. Super windy that I can hear the noises house makes at this hour. Itโs 1:30a and im trying to sleep but itโs hard with all the wind. I was supposed to go out today but cancelled plans because of severe weather here, hoping to find someone to chat a bit before I doze off
submitted by Unable-Lion7819 to MakeNewFriendsHere [link] [comments]
2023.04.01 08:38 MussleGeeYem My 11 Year Long Samsung Galaxy And 12 Year Long iPhone Ownership Experience Story: Here Are Things The Galaxy Does Better Than My iPhone
Introduction
I have been using Samsung Galaxy devices for 11 years, with my first Android/Samsung Galaxy device being the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (got the Galaxy Nexus in January of 2012) and with me currently daily driving the S22 Ultra (since May 2022).I have been using iPhones for more than 12 years, with my first iPhone being the iPhone 4 (got the iPhone 4 in December of 2010) and with me currently daily driving the iPhone 14 Pro Max (since September 2022) and the iPhone SE (2020) as a secondary iPhone for iOS development (since March 2022).
Here is my daily driver history:
Android:
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus (bought in January 2012, traded the phone in October 2013)
- Samsung Galaxy Note3 (bought in October 2013, traded the phone in October 2014)
- Samsung Galaxy Note4 (bought in October 2014, traded the phone in September 2015)
- Samsung Galaxy Note5 (bought in September 2015, sold to my cousin's son (16M) in August 2016)
- Samsung Galaxy Note7 (bought in August 2016, recalled in October 2016)
- Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (bought in October 2016, sold to my cousin's husband (40M) in April 2017 after he broke his iPhone 6 Plus)
- Samsung Galaxy S8+ (bought in April 2017, sold to my cousin's son in Vietnam (29M) in April 2018)
- Samsung Galaxy S9+ (bought in April 2018, sold to my cousin's husband (40M) in March 2019, with him giving me his S7 Edge)
- Samsung Galaxy S10+ (bought in March 2019, gave to my sister (21F) in March 2020 via mail, making the A50 as her secondary phone)
- Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra (bought in March 2020, traded the phone in February 2021)
- Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (bought in February 2021, gave to my sister (21F) in May 2022 via mail due to her cracking her S10+ with the front suffering some cracks, got the S10+ back)
- Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (bought in May 2022, still using it now)
- iPhone 4 (bought in December 2010, sold to Vietnam's used market in October 2011)
- iPhone 4S (bought in October 2011, traded the phone in September 2012)
- iPhone 5 (bought in September 2012 right after moving to the US, sold to my cousin (53F) in September 2013)
- iPhone 5S (bought in September 2013, sold to my cousin (39F) in September 2014)
- iPhone 6 (bought in September 2014, sold the phone on eBay in September 2015)
- iPhone 6S (bought in September 2015, sold to my cousin's daughter (17F) in October 2016)
- iPhone 7 Plus (bought in September 2016, sold the phone on eBay in November 2017)
- iPhone X (bought in November 2018, sold to my cousin's husband (55M) in September 2018)
- iPhone XS Max (bought in September 2018, sold to my cousin's husband (55M) in October 2019 with him giving me his iPhone X to help use that towards my iPhone 11 Pro Max)
- iPhone 11 Pro Max (bought in October 2019, sold to my cousin (53F) in November 2020 with her giving me her iPhone 7 Plus to use as a spare device)
- iPhone 12 Pro Max (bought in November 2020, device started breaking down, so I traded the phone in December 2021, initially planned to keep it for longer)
- iPhone 13 Pro Max (bought in December 2021, sold to my cousin (53F) in September 2022 after complaints that her iPhone 11 Pro Max is breaking down, with her giving me her iPhone 11 Pro Max)
- iPhone 14 Pro Max (bought in September 2022, still using it now)
- iPhone 5 (September 2015-November 2017): my cousin's husband (55M) upgraded from an iPhone 6 to a Galaxy S6 Edge+ and decided to give his iPhone 6 to my cousin (53F) due to him preferring Android over iOS (he kept the S6 Edge+ until May 2020 when he bought the S20+ and then he gave his S6 Edge+ to me in May 2020 via mail, but between 2017-2020, this acted as his 2nd phone as he was daily driving the iPhone X/XS Max mentioned above)
- iPhone 6S (November 2017-November 2020): my cousin's daughter (17F) upgraded from the 6S to the 7 Plus, along with both her parents (55M, 53F) not only due to the family switching from T-mobile to Verizon but also due to her cracking my old iPhone 6S, which caused her parents not only to replace the screen but also the battery)
- iPhone 7 Plus (November 2020-March 2022): my cousin (53F) received my iPhone 11 Pro Max, but since the iPhone 6S fell off my bike mount a month before, it cracked, and since the battery is so horrendous on the 6S, my cousin (53F) decided to give me her iPhone 7 Plus and I decided to take the 6S to the Apple Store in Cambridge MA to recycle it
- iPhone SE (2020) (since March 2022): Even though my cousin, and later I took very good care of the iPhone 7 Plus, the phone started breaking down on several fronts: the silent switch, charging port pins, and even battery started to die hard, and plus, since the phone is getting unsupported, I started deciding on the iPhone SE. After finding out the iPhone SE 3 was $429 and finding out I could get a prepaid iPhone SE 2 on AT&T for $150 ($50 plan+$15 activation fee but I cancelled auto pay immediately after buying the phone), I got the brand-new SE 2 instead. Nowadays, the battery started to fall apart (even though the battery is currently at 93% capacity) and even though this phone is not in a beta, there are a lot of bugs even on 16.3.1 (I am thinking of updating to 16.4 tonight)
Things my Samsung Galaxy does better than my iPhone
There are many things that Samsung Galaxy phones and other Android phones do better than iPhones, including the fact that on Android:- notifications are not cluttered in the lock-screen unlike on iOS
- Android is more customisable than iOS and Android is an open-source mobile operating system
- Many new features such as reverse wireless charging, in screen fingerprints, foldable phones, 5G, triple camera setup, phablet size phones,
- there is a real back button on Android
- No need to use iTunes; you could just transfer music and photos/videos between your computer and phone without the hassle of iTunes
- Some Samsung Galaxy phones (S1-S20 excluding the S6/Note5) have microSD and older Samsung Galaxy phones have removable batteries
- Some Samsung Galaxy phones in certain markets have dual sim support, but since e-SIM was introduced, first with the Pixel 2, and later with the iPhone XS, dual sim is less of an advantage
- There are a lot of options, including the M/J series for budget conscious buyers, the A series for the average folk in many countries, the S/Note series for power-users, business users for extra productivity (mostly the Note series) and phone enthusiasts (like me), and the Z series for certain business users for extra productivity and for Flexers
- On my Samsung Galaxy devices, I could share the Wi-Fi password to other phones using the QR code; on iPhones, I could only share the Wi-Fi connection with other iPhones
- Samsung Galaxy devices support split screen view and pop up view, but these two features are restricted to the iPad, and iPhones only support picture in picture video
- iPhone batteries start to massively degrade after a new iPhone and iOS version comes out
My iPhone 12 Pro Max (I got rid of it in December of 2021 after it accidentally fell out from my nightstand drawer and the back cracked a month before) started seeing its battery fail sometime in September 2021, when the 13 Pro Max came out. Say I leave the house at 10:00 and were to return home at 19:00. By 17:00, with medium usage + hotspot, the iPhone's battery would have depleted to around 20 percent. Plus, my iPhones typically consume more battery if devices are connected to hotspot than my Samsung Galaxies are.
Also, I did receive the Galaxy S7 Edge (2019), Samsung Galaxy S9+ (earlier this month as my cousin's husband upgraded to the S23+), and the Samsung Galaxy S10+ (last year), and given that I would sell these phones on the second hand market, I would test the phones for a week or two to see the phone's condition before assessing it and selling it on the second hand market. What I found is that even though the S10+ cracked and therefore, I donated it rather than sold it, all three phones seem to have solid battery, considering their ages. The S7 Edge with its 3600 mAh battery under heavy use after 3 years would go about for 6-8 hours before needing a recharge, and my S9+ would go about for around 5-6 hours as well before hitting down to 20% of battery (that is after 5 years and given the fact my cousin's husband is a power user), and even though the S10 cracked, it would go for 8-10 hours under heavy usage before draining to around 20%. I also got back my Note5 from 2015 once my cousin's son upgraded to my cousin (50M)'s S8 Active in 2019 once my cousin upgraded to the Note10+, and even on that phone, the battery is still very good considering its age and its 3000 mAh size, doing around 4-6 hours going down from 100-20.
- My Samsung devices have proven more reliable as a whole than many of my iPhones
Fun fact, my cousin (28M) switched from the iPhone 7 Plus to the Samsung Galaxy S10+ in March of 2019 and is now currently using a Galaxy S23 Ultra. From his 4-year long experience using just the Galaxy S10+ (he bought the ceramic colour with 512GB of storage and currently his father is using the S10+), even though he is a power user with him customising the phone with themes, being a heavy user, and having cracked his S10+ last year, the phone was still extremely reliable, working fully as intended, apart from the battery, which has been shortened to 6 hours of heavy usage before dying.
My iPhones however, were not so bright. Even though pre-2015 iPhones are mostly reliable during my time using it, since the 6S, there have been some phones which have showed issues here and there, sometimes within the first year of ownership. As for the iPhone 6S, it is basically only the battery, which has been extremely bad after a year and the fact it would sometimes shut off at 30% during cold weather.
Starting with the iPhone 7 Plus however, and there started to be a lot of problems. Even though my iPhone 7 Plus didn't show any problems during my ownership, even though my cousin took good care of the 7 Plus, when I got her 7 Plus in November of 2020 (she got the phone brand new at Verizon in November 2017), the silent switch started to wear down and get stuck, meaning it is hard to turn on silent switch, the charging port pins started to wear, making it very hard to charge the phone or connect the phone to the computer, and the battery started to struggle real hard.
Starting with the iPhone XS Max and there started to be real struggles. Even though I didn't see any problems with either the iPhone XS Max and 11 Pro Max during my ownership and took good care of these two phones, when these two phones got passed to their second owners, problems started to arise. For the XS Max, in May of 2020, it got bricked, and it wouldn't turn on even if he plugged it in the charging cable or through iTunes, and my cousin's husband had to bring it to service, and that got him to purchase an S20+ given he prefers Android over iOS, and after fixing the XS Max, he gave it to his daughter (17F), who is his only child. For the 11 Pro Max however, the phone's battery drained fast and my cousin always had to rely on the charger, and plus, there are issues of connecting Bluetooth devices as well as with calls and volume whilst connected to Bluetooth devices, and my cousin always complained about these issues and even though I did attempt to fix, the issues didn't get resolved (I am tech savvy by the way, so I could get through a lot of issues, such as reset my bricked iPad using iTunes, etc.).
And now onto my iPad Pro 9.7. I bought the iPad in June of 2016, and even though I used it mostly for watching YouTube videos, Udemy and edX courses, the iPad started having a bricking issue in November of 2017. What happened was that I was charging and overnight, the iPad just shut itself off and never powered on again. I tried connecting it to iTunes and even though iTunes could recognise the device, whenever I reset it, errors keep on popping up and it is impossible to reset. I tried bringing it to the Apple Store, but they couldn't reset it either and they suggested that I replace the iPad Pro 9.7 with an iPad Mini 4 for $300. Then, I started taking matters into my own hands and finally resetted the iPad Pro successfully after multiple attempts in January of 2018. Four months later (in May 2018), the iPad bricked again, and I had to do the same process, and it took until August of 2018 after at least 5-10 tries for it to work again. And then in August 2020, whilst charging overnight, the iPad turned off and I thought it was toast. Turned out it was, as after countless times diagnosing the issues on iTunes, the iPad would keep on bricking after multiple reset attempts and after more than 2 years. Then, there was a miracle. In November of 2022, I finally got my iPad working again and I felt like I was very lucky, because I thought that the iPad was bricked forever and wouldn't go back on, ever.
Then, finally, it is my iPhone 12 Pro Max. I bought the phone on 20 November 2020, and by mid-September 2021, things started to go south for this phone. The top speaker started to fail and even though I cleaned it, the speaker was so muffled that I could barely hear anything from the top speaker. I brought it to the Apple Store and they said it is a digitiser issue and they couldn't even clean it for me, and around that same time, the touchscreen started to act up. With a lot of ghost touches, it started to become very hard to use the iPhone (and keep in mind, I have never replaced the screen since I never cracked the front screen). In October 2021, the phone started to have lose cellular signal when I enter the MBTA train and still didn't recognise cellular signal for minutes after I exited the MBTA and was at least a mile from that station on my bike, but luckily, resetting network settings did fix the issue with the cellular signal however. By the time the phone accidentally fell to the ground and the back did suffer some cracks in November, I started to give up on the iPhone 12 Pro Max and in December, I upgraded to the 13 Pro Max.
Even though my Galaxy Buds and my cousin (28M)'s Galaxy Buds did not show any issues (he bought the Galaxy Buds in March 2019 and after heavy usage, it still held up very well and he even gave it to his father), all 4 of my AirPods, even the AirPods Pro 2, have shown issues here and there. My first AirPods (January 2017-July 2018) basically stopped working, and hence, I bought another pair of AirPods in July 2018 and used it until February 2022, when I dropped it in the toilet. Even though I was using the 2nd pair of AirPods half the time (July 2018-January 2020, December 2020-April 2021, November 2021-February 2022), by late 2021, the AirPods started showing major problems. First off, the battery drains so fast even indoors that it only lasted about an hour. Then, once I am outside, the right side would disconnect after only 5 minutes of usage and the left side would keep soldering on. Once it fell to the toilet, it was game over (however, I still kept the AirPods, it is just in the nightstand sitting there, and I did clean it as well). I bought the AirPods 2 in February 2022, and after 2 months, at least once every week or two, the right side would discharge, even in the case (the case is clean by the way), until it went out of battery. I tried resetting the case and putting the case to charge again, but to no avail, and it took several reset attempts for it to return to normal. The same exact scenario happened to the AirPods Pro 2, which I got in October as my cousin wanted to gift me the AirPods Pro 2, in exchange for my AirPods 2. Except that sometimes, my iPhone 14 Pro Max couldn't even connect to the AirPods Pro 2 or even recognise it.
- Hotspot doesn't always work on my iPhones, but always does on my Galaxy
For my iPhone 14 Pro Max and previous iPhones (iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 12 Pro Max, etc), personal hotspot is very buggy. My Samsung connects just fine to the iPhone hotspot, but my iPhones don't. To preserve the battery, after several minutes, the iPhone SE would get disconnected from the iPhone 14 Pro Max hotspot (which is acceptable), but it gets worse. Even if I am currently streaming Apple Music on my iPhone SE with the screen on as well, the iPhone would disconnect from the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and it is very hard to connect it to hotspot. Sometimes, the iPhone SE would say 'Unable to join network' and others, it said 'Personal Hotspot Failure', which would force me to restart both the iPhone SE and 14 Pro Max. Now the Remote Hotspot Failure started happening since I got the 11 Pro Max in 2019, and at the time, my 16:9 phone was the iPhone 6S, and even then, there were hotspot failure problems. I restarted the 11 Pro Max, but the hotspot failure would return after a week or two. Even after resetting network settings in 2021 right before my 13 Pro Max because my iPhone 12 Pro Max would lose cellular connectivity even after I exited the MBTA tunnel and I am outside a mile from the MBTA station, once I got my 13 Pro Max, the remote hotspot failure still appears. My Samsung Galaxy over the years connects to the iPhone hotspot without any issues, and would stay connected even if I am not using the phone until I basically turn off hotspot on my iPhone.
Now due to the fact connecting my iPhone SE to the iPhone hotspot is so bad, I would typically use the Samsung hotspot as a backup (keep in mind my iPhone plan gives unlimited hotspot whilst Metro only gives 5 GB). Both iPhones connect to the Samsung hotspot flawlessly, without any issues.
- On my Samsung Galaxy phones, I can disable Wi-Fi using the Quick Settings (swipe down) menu, but for iPhones, it is less consistent
- Connecting to Bluetooth devices is better on my Samsung Galaxy phones than my iPhones
- Apple Pay sometimes doesn't work on my iPhone
Yesterday, I was at the MBTA station, and I was attempting to pay for the Monthly pass. Ironically, even though the reader did work, the iPhone 14 Pro Max kept on saying 'Hold near Reader', and even though I held it near the mobile payment reader for 10-15 seconds, it still didn't do anything. Fed up, after the second time, I repaid the MBTA ticket and used my S22 Ultra and the payment did go through. However, at the restaurant around 1 hour later, even though I didn't restart the iPhone, Apple Pay finally worked again as I was able to pay my meal using Apple Pay.
- Automatic updates are better on my Galaxies than my iPhones
- Wi-Fi is far better on my Samsung Galaxy/Android phones than my iPhones, iPads, or Macs
Fun fact: the Galaxy S21 Ultra was the first phone to offer Wi-Fi 6E and not even the iPhone 14 Pro Max supports this feature
Then in July 2022, during a flight from Dallas back to Boston, my iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone SE 2 would fail to connect to JetBlue's Wi-Fi network several times and if connected, the Wi-Fi was painfully slow and near unusable whilst my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra connected to JetBlue's Wi-Fi network just fine and worked as expected, with websites loading reasonably quick, just like at my university with the S21 Ultra.
- USB C lasts longer than lightning connector
TL;DR: Even though there are many benefits to owning an iPhone over an Android device, based on my user experience, after over 11 years of using various Samsung Galaxy phones, two Samsung Galaxy Tabs, and one Galaxy Bud and after over 12 years of using various iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and AirPods, I could safely assure that there are a lot of benefits to using Samsung and Android products over iPhones, namely due to the fact that notifications, customisation, features, options, Wi-Fi, multitasking, batteries, hotspot, Bluetooth, mobile payment, etc., are better on Samsung and Android products than on iPhones, based on my user experience.
2023.04.01 08:31 MussleGeeYem My 11 Year Long Samsung Galaxy Ownership Experience Story: Here Are Things The Galaxy Does Better Than My iPhone
Introduction
I have been using Samsung Galaxy devices for 11 years, with my first Android/Samsung Galaxy device being the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (got the Galaxy Nexus in January of 2012) and with me currently daily driving the S22 Ultra (since May 2022).I have been using iPhones for more than 12 years, with my first iPhone being the iPhone 4 (got the iPhone 4 in December of 2010) and with me currently daily driving the iPhone 14 Pro Max (since September 2022) and the iPhone SE (2020) as a secondary iPhone for iOS development (since March 2022).
Here is my daily driver history:
Android:
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus (bought in January 2012, traded the phone in October 2013)
- Samsung Galaxy Note3 (bought in October 2013, traded the phone in October 2014)
- Samsung Galaxy Note4 (bought in October 2014, traded the phone in September 2015)
- Samsung Galaxy Note5 (bought in September 2015, sold to my cousin's son (16M) in August 2016)
- Samsung Galaxy Note7 (bought in August 2016, recalled in October 2016)
- Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (bought in October 2016, sold to my cousin's husband (40M) in April 2017 after he broke his iPhone 6 Plus)
- Samsung Galaxy S8+ (bought in April 2017, sold to my cousin's son in Vietnam (29M) in April 2018)
- Samsung Galaxy S9+ (bought in April 2018, sold to my cousin's husband (40M) in March 2019, with him giving me his S7 Edge)
- Samsung Galaxy S10+ (bought in March 2019, gave to my sister (21F) in March 2020 via mail, making the A50 as her secondary phone)
- Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra (bought in March 2020, traded the phone in February 2021)
- Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (bought in February 2021, gave to my sister (21F) in May 2022 via mail due to her cracking her S10+ with the front suffering some cracks, got the S10+ back)
- Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (bought in May 2022, still using it now)
- iPhone 4 (bought in December 2010, sold to Vietnam's used market in October 2011)
- iPhone 4S (bought in October 2011, traded the phone in September 2012)
- iPhone 5 (bought in September 2012 right after moving to the US, sold to my cousin (53F) in September 2013)
- iPhone 5S (bought in September 2013, sold to my cousin (39F) in September 2014)
- iPhone 6 (bought in September 2014, sold the phone on eBay in September 2015)
- iPhone 6S (bought in September 2015, sold to my cousin's daughter (17F) in October 2016)
- iPhone 7 Plus (bought in September 2016, sold the phone on eBay in November 2017)
- iPhone X (bought in November 2018, sold to my cousin's husband (55M) in September 2018)
- iPhone XS Max (bought in September 2018, sold to my cousin's husband (55M) in October 2019 with him giving me his iPhone X to help use that towards my iPhone 11 Pro Max)
- iPhone 11 Pro Max (bought in October 2019, sold to my cousin (53F) in November 2020 with her giving me her iPhone 7 Plus to use as a spare device)
- iPhone 12 Pro Max (bought in November 2020, device started breaking down, so I traded the phone in December 2021, initially planned to keep it for longer)
- iPhone 13 Pro Max (bought in December 2021, sold to my cousin (53F) in September 2022 after complaints that her iPhone 11 Pro Max is breaking down, with her giving me her iPhone 11 Pro Max)
- iPhone 14 Pro Max (bought in September 2022, still using it now)
- iPhone 5 (September 2015-November 2017): my cousin's husband (55M) upgraded from an iPhone 6 to a Galaxy S6 Edge+ and decided to give his iPhone 6 to my cousin (53F) due to him preferring Android over iOS (he kept the S6 Edge+ until May 2020 when he bought the S20+ and then he gave his S6 Edge+ to me in May 2020 via mail, but between 2017-2020, this acted as his 2nd phone as he was daily driving the iPhone X/XS Max mentioned above)
- iPhone 6S (November 2017-November 2020): my cousin's daughter (17F) upgraded from the 6S to the 7 Plus, along with both her parents (55M, 53F) not only due to the family switching from T-mobile to Verizon but also due to her cracking my old iPhone 6S, which caused her parents not only to replace the screen but also the battery)
- iPhone 7 Plus (November 2020-March 2022): my cousin (53F) received my iPhone 11 Pro Max, but since the iPhone 6S fell off my bike mount a month before, it cracked, and since the battery is so horrendous on the 6S, my cousin (53F) decided to give me her iPhone 7 Plus and I decided to take the 6S to the Apple Store in Cambridge MA to recycle it
- iPhone SE (2020) (since March 2022): Even though my cousin, and later I took very good care of the iPhone 7 Plus, the phone started breaking down on several fronts: the silent switch, charging port pins, and even battery started to die hard, and plus, since the phone is getting unsupported, I started deciding on the iPhone SE. After finding out the iPhone SE 3 was $429 and finding out I could get a prepaid iPhone SE 2 on AT&T for $150 ($50 plan+$15 activation fee but I cancelled auto pay immediately after buying the phone), I got the brand-new SE 2 instead. Nowadays, the battery started to fall apart (even though the battery is currently at 93% capacity) and even though this phone is not in a beta, there are a lot of bugs even on 16.3.1 (I am thinking of updating to 16.4 tonight)
Things my Samsung Galaxy does better than my iPhone
There are many things that Samsung Galaxy phones and other Android phones do better than iPhones, including the fact that on Android:- notifications are not cluttered in the lock-screen unlike on iOS
- Android is more customisable than iOS and Android is an open-source mobile operating system
- Many new features such as reverse wireless charging, in screen fingerprints, foldable phones, 5G, triple camera setup, phablet size phones,
- there is a real back button on Android
- No need to use iTunes; you could just transfer music and photos/videos between your computer and phone without the hassle of iTunes
- Some Samsung Galaxy phones (S1-S20 excluding the S6/Note5) have microSD and older Samsung Galaxy phones have removable batteries
- Some Samsung Galaxy phones in certain markets have dual sim support, but since e-SIM was introduced, first with the Pixel 2, and later with the iPhone XS, dual sim is less of an advantage
- There are a lot of options, including the M/J series for budget conscious buyers, the A series for the average folk in many countries, the S/Note series for power-users, business users for extra productivity (mostly the Note series) and phone enthusiasts (like me), and the Z series for certain business users for extra productivity and for Flexers
- On my Samsung Galaxy devices, I could share the Wi-Fi password to other phones using the QR code; on iPhones, I could only share the Wi-Fi connection with other iPhones
- Samsung Galaxy devices support split screen view and pop up view, but these two features are restricted to the iPad, and iPhones only support picture in picture video
However, there are many lesser-known things that my Samsung Galaxy phones do better than my iPhones (based on my experience over the past 11 years), and some might be controversial:
- iPhone batteries start to massively degrade after a new iPhone and iOS version comes out
My iPhone 12 Pro Max (I got rid of it in December of 2021 after it accidentally fell out from my nightstand drawer and the back cracked a month before) started seeing its battery fail sometime in September 2021, when the 13 Pro Max came out. Say I leave the house at 10:00 and were to return home at 19:00. By 17:00, with medium usage + hotspot, the iPhone's battery would have depleted to around 20 percent. Plus, my iPhones typically consume more battery if devices are connected to hotspot than my Samsung Galaxies are.
Also, I did receive the Galaxy S7 Edge (2019), Samsung Galaxy S9+ (earlier this month as my cousin's husband upgraded to the S23+), and the Samsung Galaxy S10+ (last year), and given that I would sell these phones on the second hand market, I would test the phones for a week or two to see the phone's condition before assessing it and selling it on the second hand market. What I found is that even though the S10+ cracked and therefore, I donated it rather than sold it, all three phones seem to have solid battery, considering their ages. The S7 Edge with its 3600 mAh battery under heavy use after 3 years would go about for 6-8 hours before needing a recharge, and my S9+ would go about for around 5-6 hours as well before hitting down to 20% of battery (that is after 5 years and given the fact my cousin's husband is a power user), and even though the S10 cracked, it would go for 8-10 hours under heavy usage before draining to around 20%. I also got back my Note5 from 2015 once my cousin's son upgraded to my cousin (50M)'s S8 Active in 2019 once my cousin upgraded to the Note10+, and even on that phone, the battery is still very good considering its age and its 3000 mAh size, doing around 4-6 hours going down from 100-20.
- My Samsung devices have proven more reliable as a whole than many of my iPhones
Fun fact, my cousin (28M) switched from the iPhone 7 Plus to the Samsung Galaxy S10+ in March of 2019 and is now currently using a Galaxy S23 Ultra. From his 4-year long experience using just the Galaxy S10+ (he bought the ceramic colour with 512GB of storage and currently his father is using the S10+), even though he is a power user with him customising the phone with themes, being a heavy user, and having cracked his S10+ last year, the phone was still extremely reliable, working fully as intended, apart from the battery, which has been shortened to 6 hours of heavy usage before dying.
My iPhones however, were not so bright. Even though pre-2015 iPhones are mostly reliable during my time using it, since the 6S, there have been some phones which have showed issues here and there, sometimes within the first year of ownership. As for the iPhone 6S, it is basically only the battery, which has been extremely bad after a year and the fact it would sometimes shut off at 30% during cold weather.
Starting with the iPhone 7 Plus however, and there started to be a lot of problems. Even though my iPhone 7 Plus didn't show any problems during my ownership, even though my cousin took good care of the 7 Plus, when I got her 7 Plus in November of 2020 (she got the phone brand new at Verizon in November 2017), the silent switch started to wear down and get stuck, meaning it is hard to turn on silent switch, the charging port pins started to wear, making it very hard to charge the phone or connect the phone to the computer, and the battery started to struggle real hard.
Starting with the iPhone XS Max and there started to be real struggles. Even though I didn't see any problems with either the iPhone XS Max and 11 Pro Max during my ownership and took good care of these two phones, when these two phones got passed to their second owners, problems started to arise. For the XS Max, in May of 2020, it got bricked, and it wouldn't turn on even if he plugged it in the charging cable or through iTunes, and my cousin's husband had to bring it to service, and that got him to purchase an S20+ given he prefers Android over iOS, and after fixing the XS Max, he gave it to his daughter (17F), who is his only child. For the 11 Pro Max however, the phone's battery drained fast and my cousin always had to rely on the charger, and plus, there are issues of connecting Bluetooth devices as well as with calls and volume whilst connected to Bluetooth devices, and my cousin always complained about these issues and even though I did attempt to fix, the issues didn't get resolved (I am tech savvy by the way, so I could get through a lot of issues, such as reset my bricked iPad using iTunes, etc.).
And now onto my iPad Pro 9.7. I bought the iPad in June of 2016, and even though I used it mostly for watching YouTube videos, Udemy and edX courses, the iPad started having a bricking issue in November of 2017. What happened was that I was charging and overnight, the iPad just shut itself off and never powered on again. I tried connecting it to iTunes and even though iTunes could recognise the device, whenever I reset it, errors keep on popping up and it is impossible to reset. I tried bringing it to the Apple Store, but they couldn't reset it either and they suggested that I replace the iPad Pro 9.7 with an iPad Mini 4 for $300. Then, I started taking matters into my own hands and finally resetted the iPad Pro successfully after multiple attempts in January of 2018. Four months later (in May 2018), the iPad bricked again, and I had to do the same process, and it took until August of 2018 after at least 5-10 tries for it to work again. And then in August 2020, whilst charging overnight, the iPad turned off and I thought it was toast. Turned out it was, as after countless times diagnosing the issues on iTunes, the iPad would keep on bricking after multiple reset attempts and after more than 2 years. Then, there was a miracle. In November of 2022, I finally got my iPad working again and I felt like I was very lucky, because I thought that the iPad was bricked forever and wouldn't go back on, ever.
Then, finally, it is my iPhone 12 Pro Max. I bought the phone on 20 November 2020, and by mid-September 2021, things started to go south for this phone. The top speaker started to fail and even though I cleaned it, the speaker was so muffled that I could barely hear anything from the top speaker. I brought it to the Apple Store and they said it is a digitiser issue and they couldn't even clean it for me, and around that same time, the touchscreen started to act up. With a lot of ghost touches, it started to become very hard to use the iPhone (and keep in mind, I have never replaced the screen since I never cracked the front screen). In October 2021, the phone started to have lose cellular signal when I enter the MBTA train and still didn't recognise cellular signal for minutes after I exited the MBTA and was at least a mile from that station on my bike, but luckily, resetting network settings did fix the issue with the cellular signal however. By the time the phone accidentally fell to the ground and the back did suffer some cracks in November, I started to give up on the iPhone 12 Pro Max and in December, I upgraded to the 13 Pro Max.
Even though my Galaxy Buds and my cousin (28M)'s Galaxy Buds did not show any issues (he bought the Galaxy Buds in March 2019 and after heavy usage, it still held up very well and he even gave it to his father), all 4 of my AirPods, even the AirPods Pro 2, have shown issues here and there. My first AirPods (January 2017-July 2018) basically stopped working, and hence, I bought another pair of AirPods in July 2018 and used it until February 2022, when I dropped it in the toilet. Even though I was using the 2nd pair of AirPods half the time (July 2018-January 2020, December 2020-April 2021, November 2021-February 2022), by late 2021, the AirPods started showing major problems. First off, the battery drains so fast even indoors that it only lasted about an hour. Then, once I am outside, the right side would disconnect after only 5 minutes of usage and the left side would keep soldering on. Once it fell to the toilet, it was game over (however, I still kept the AirPods, it is just in the nightstand sitting there, and I did clean it as well). I bought the AirPods 2 in February 2022, and after 2 months, at least once every week or two, the right side would discharge, even in the case (the case is clean by the way), until it went out of battery. I tried resetting the case and putting the case to charge again, but to no avail, and it took several reset attempts for it to return to normal. The same exact scenario happened to the AirPods Pro 2, which I got in October as my cousin wanted to gift me the AirPods Pro 2, in exchange for my AirPods 2. Except that sometimes, my iPhone 14 Pro Max couldn't even connect to the AirPods Pro 2 or even recognise it.
- Hotspot doesn't always work on my iPhones, but always does on my Galaxy
For my iPhone 14 Pro Max and previous iPhones (iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 12 Pro Max, etc), personal hotspot is very buggy. My Samsung connects just fine to the iPhone hotspot, but my iPhones don't. To preserve the battery, after several minutes, the iPhone SE would get disconnected from the iPhone 14 Pro Max hotspot (which is acceptable), but it gets worse. Even if I am currently streaming Apple Music on my iPhone SE with the screen on as well, the iPhone would disconnect from the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and it is very hard to connect it to hotspot. Sometimes, the iPhone SE would say 'Unable to join network' and others, it said 'Personal Hotspot Failure', which would force me to restart both the iPhone SE and 14 Pro Max. Now the Remote Hotspot Failure started happening since I got the 11 Pro Max in 2019, and at the time, my 16:9 phone was the iPhone 6S, and even then, there were hotspot failure problems. I restarted the 11 Pro Max, but the hotspot failure would return after a week or two. Even after resetting network settings in 2021 right before my 13 Pro Max because my iPhone 12 Pro Max would lose cellular connectivity even after I exited the MBTA tunnel and I am outside a mile from the MBTA station, once I got my 13 Pro Max, the remote hotspot failure still appears. My Samsung Galaxy over the years connects to the iPhone hotspot without any issues, and would stay connected even if I am not using the phone until I basically turn off hotspot on my iPhone.
Now due to the fact connecting my iPhone SE to the iPhone hotspot is so bad, I would typically use the Samsung hotspot as a backup (keep in mind my iPhone plan gives unlimited hotspot whilst Metro only gives 5 GB). Both iPhones connect to the Samsung hotspot flawlessly, without any issues.
- On my Samsung Galaxy phones, I can disable Wi-Fi using the Quick Settings (swipe down) menu, but for iPhones, it is less consistent
- Connecting to Bluetooth devices is better on my Samsung Galaxy phones than my iPhones
- Apple Pay sometimes doesn't work on my iPhone
Yesterday, I was at the MBTA station, and I was attempting to pay for the Monthly pass. Ironically, even though the reader did work, the iPhone 14 Pro Max kept on saying 'Hold near Reader', and even though I held it near the mobile payment reader for 10-15 seconds, it still didn't do anything. Fed up, after the second time, I repaid the MBTA ticket and used my S22 Ultra and the payment did go through. However, at the restaurant around 1 hour later, even though I didn't restart the iPhone, Apple Pay finally worked again as I was able to pay my meal using Apple Pay.
- Automatic updates are better on my Galaxies than my iPhones
- Wi-Fi is far better on my Samsung Galaxy/Android phones than my iPhones, iPads, or Macs
Fun fact: the Galaxy S21 Ultra was the first phone to offer Wi-Fi 6E and not even the iPhone 14 Pro Max supports this feature
Then in July 2022, during a flight from Dallas back to Boston, my iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone SE 2 would fail to connect to JetBlue's Wi-Fi network several times and if connected, the Wi-Fi was painfully slow and near unusable whilst my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra connected to JetBlue's Wi-Fi network just fine and worked as expected, with websites loading reasonably quick, just like at my university with the S21 Ultra.
- USB C lasts longer than lightning connector
TL;DR: Even though there are many benefits to owning an iPhone over an Android device, based on my user experience, after over 11 years of using various Samsung Galaxy phones, two Samsung Galaxy Tabs, and one Galaxy Bud and after over 12 years of using various iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and AirPods, I could safely assure that there are a lot of benefits to using Samsung and Android products over iPhones, namely due to the fact that notifications, customisation, features, options, Wi-Fi, multitasking, batteries, hotspot, Bluetooth, mobile payment, etc., are better on Samsung and Android products than on iPhones, based on my user experience.
2023.04.01 07:52 Ar3th3yg0n3y3t I live near Peoria IL why does it sa that there is a risk for severe weather when it's already past and how long does this threat last?
 | submitted by Ar3th3yg0n3y3t to weather [link] [comments] |
2023.04.01 07:44 Maxim_Sherstobitov ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ก๐ฒ๐ ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐?
 | A survey I ran 2-3 weeks ago, with Mint Design digital marketing business, shows that worries run deep about the economy followed by interest rates, customer demand, input costs, and then labour availability. submitted by Maxim_Sherstobitov to NZXStockMarket [link] [comments] Worries are minor regarding cyber threats and the NZ dollar in terms of it being either too high or too low. The lack of worry about the NZ currency is one of the distinguishing features of this latest period of economic challenge. ***CHART-1: With spiraling inflation and the pandemic driving more consumers to shop online, you might have thought that second hand shopping would be pretty popular in the United States. But as data from Statistaโs Consumer Insights survey shows, most Americans would still rather buy new, with nearly half of all shoppers saying that they had not bought a single second hand item in the past year.*** https://preview.redd.it/1xak0sepn7ra1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1c64dbf10b02a9fcca87a9972097837772203116 Often in the past when hard times come along they are preceded by a surge in the NZ dollar to over-valued levels as the Reserve Bank raises interest rates. Those actions by our central bank have been undertaken, but at the same time interest rates have also been pushed aggressively higher in many other countries in order to fight unusually high inflation. At around 62 US cents, the Kiwi dollar is down from 70 cents a year ago and 67 cents when the pandemic started early in 2020. This is good for our exporters but it doesn't mean that our farming sector is thriving. Not only are farmers having to deal with often very challenging weather conditions but input costs have been rising strongly just as they have been for all other sectors. Getting staff is also a major problem and figuring out how to quickly address climate change issues without substantial disruption to production levels is a large concern. The outlook for our economy and the rest of the world has become slightly worse recently as a result of the disturbances in the banking sector in the United States and to a lesser degree in Europe. It is impossible to know how much banks will pull back on their willingness to lend because of new concerns about nervous depositors. But thankfully, at the time of writing on Tuesday, there were signs of things calming down in the United States. There is good and bad news in that. The good news is that we are not facing another global financial crisis. The bad news is that the absence of a major hit to business and consumer confidence means central banks will still need to raise their interest rates beyond current levels in order to get inflation down. ***MAP: The researchers that also hail from the World Bank, Harvard University and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy identified 22 countries that were bailed out by Chinese loans when they ran into liquidity problems between 2000 and 2021.*** https://preview.redd.it/19e8tbzwn7ra1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=87db4470b9ef425805567352e4a38f4823dfd85e If you and I were truly scared by events overseas, then cutbacks in our spending would reduce inflationary pressures without interest rates having to go any higher. Interest rates matter to the business sector but more because of the impact on customer willingness to spend rather than their own debt. Whereas 42% of businesses in my survey said that they are concerned about the general level of interest rates, only 12% said that they are concerned about their business debt levels. This is not a period of economic challenge characterised by major pressure on business cash flows from high financing rates. In my survey I not only ask businesses what they are concerned about but where they intend devoting extra spending in the coming year. Top of the list is strategy development and that is likely because many current business models are heavily reliant upon staff numbers which can no longer be achieved or sustained. Something has to change and businesses are willing to spend money to figure out what that might mean. The area in which businesses say they will spend least extra money is inventory levels. That makes sense. Demand is weak in many sectors so businesses want to get their stocks down. It makes sense also that only 2% of businesses say they will spend money on acquiring competitors. But the third weakest area of spending is on new plant and machinery. That is concerning because in a world where the quantities of labour businesses have got used to are simply no longer available there is no alternative other then to boost productivity through labour-saving technologies. Hopefully when the economic outlook gets better businesses will increase spending in this area. But for now, this absence of productivity enhancing expenditure at a time of rapidly rising wage and labour related costs means profitability in the small and medium enterprise sector in New Zealand in particular is going to be fairly severely squeezed all through this year into 2024. Source: oneroof .co .nz / Tony Alexander ***CHART-2: Artificial intelligence in some shape or form has been a part of everyday life for years, but the meteoric rise of ChatGPT and the resulting aggressive development pace of conversational and generative AI models is, for the first time ever, putting the underlying technology into the hands of the general public.*** https://preview.redd.it/o4tfyfpyn7ra1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=349162eed1f199db75aa1cc1a7742b1d79f329c8 ***CHART-3: For the first time, more electricity was generated from renewable sources in the U.S. over the course of one year than from coal. In 2022, renewable energy sources created more than 900 terawatt-hours of electric power in the country compared to a little over 800 that came from coal.*** https://preview.redd.it/4zoe6emzn7ra1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b7c63d2dd9f2b423df87d4d937ecb159531dfa5 |
2023.04.01 07:28 Noy2222 Everything is Fine; No News Today
WASHINGTON, D.C.โIn a stunning and unprecedented turn of events, sources confirmed today that everything in the world is absolutely fine, and there is no news to report. The global population awoke this morning to discover that every issue, problem, and crisis had miraculously resolved itself overnight, leaving humanity in a state of serene tranquility.
"This is truly a historic day," said a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Calm Affairs. "For the first time in recorded history, we have absolutely nothing to worry about. No wars, no scandals, no natural disasters. It's just... calm."
The lack of news was felt across all industries, with journalists around the world scrambling to find somethingโanythingโto write about. One newspaper in Ohio resorted to publishing an entire edition dedicated to photos of puppies playing in the park. The headline read, "Puppies Frolic. That's It. That's the News."
Economists and financial experts were equally baffled, reporting that the stock market had entered a period of unrelenting stability. "It's just a straight line," said one Wall Street trader, staring at a graph of stock prices. "I've never seen anything like it. I think I might take up gardening or something."
Social media platforms saw a sharp decline in activity as users found themselves with nothing to rant or argue about. Twitter, once a hotbed of discourse and debate, became a peaceful virtual oasis filled with heartwarming stories of human kindness and videos of baby animals.
Even meteorologists were left scratching their heads as weather patterns around the world stabilized into a perpetual state of mild and pleasant conditions. "It's 72 degrees and sunny everywhere on Earth," reported a weather anchor during the evening news. "I mean, literally everywhere. I don't even know how that's possible."
Meanwhile, politicians in every country were seen taking extended lunch breaks and enjoying leisurely strolls through the park, reveling in the newfound harmony that had enveloped the world.
The United Nations, which typically convenes to address global conflicts and humanitarian crises, held an emergency session to discuss how to spend their newfound free time. A unanimous vote was cast in favor of hosting a worldwide pizza party, with extra toppings for everyone.
As humanity collectively basks in the warm glow of universal contentment, experts are optimistic that this trend will continue indefinitely.
"We expect tomorrow to be much like today," said the spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Calm Affairs. "Everything will be fine. No news to report. Just take a deep breath and enjoy the moment."
At press time, a gentle breeze was blowing through the trees, and somewhere in the distance, a bird was singing.
alt:
NEW YORKโIn an unprecedented and highly unusual turn of events, citizens across the nation awoke today to a world that seemed to have been touched by an angel of serenity, as news outlets reported that, quite simply, everything is fine. "No news today, folks. Absolutely nothing happened," announced a visibly relaxed newscaster, sipping a cup of coffee while lounging on the studio couch.
The complete absence of news, experts explain, appears to have been caused by a series of non-events, such as "people generally getting along," "the weather being mild and unremarkable," and "politicians deciding not to do anything rash or controversial." Confounded journalists scrambled to find anything even remotely newsworthy, but their efforts were thwarted by an overwhelming sense of calm and contentment that had settled over the world like a cozy blanket.
"I thought I had a lead on a possible traffic jam, but it turns out everyone just decided to carpool today," said a befuddled reporter at the scene of a strangely peaceful intersection. "I've never seen anything like it. Even the pigeons are getting along."
In a stunning show of solidarity, rival news networks came together for a joint press conference, where they announced in unison that there is, in fact, no news to report. "We tried to dig up some scandals, but it turns out everyone's being pretty honest today," explained one anchor, shrugging. "We even tried to stir up some celebrity drama, but all we found was a heartwarming story about an actor adopting a stray dog. It's just not news."
In response to the lack of news, media outlets have resorted to airing footage of kittens playing, peaceful nature scenes, and heartwarming stories of everyday heroes who didn't really do anything extraordinary today, but who deserve some recognition anyway. "We've got 24 hours to fill, folks, so get ready for some wholesome content," announced a news anchor as she queued up a video of a baby giggling.
Meanwhile, the internet was abuzz with citizens expressing their delight at the absence of distressing headlines. "Everything is fine? That's the best news I've heard all year!" exclaimed one Twitter user, while another posted, "No news is good news, am I right?"
At press time, news outlets were considering making "No News Day" an annual tradition, though many were skeptical that such a miraculous day could ever happen again. For now, citizens are encouraged to enjoy this rare moment of tranquility, and perhaps even step outside and take a deep breath of fresh air, because who knows what tomorrow will bring.
submitted by Noy2222 to theartificialonion [link] [comments]
"This is truly a historic day," said a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Calm Affairs. "For the first time in recorded history, we have absolutely nothing to worry about. No wars, no scandals, no natural disasters. It's just... calm."
The lack of news was felt across all industries, with journalists around the world scrambling to find somethingโanythingโto write about. One newspaper in Ohio resorted to publishing an entire edition dedicated to photos of puppies playing in the park. The headline read, "Puppies Frolic. That's It. That's the News."
Economists and financial experts were equally baffled, reporting that the stock market had entered a period of unrelenting stability. "It's just a straight line," said one Wall Street trader, staring at a graph of stock prices. "I've never seen anything like it. I think I might take up gardening or something."
Social media platforms saw a sharp decline in activity as users found themselves with nothing to rant or argue about. Twitter, once a hotbed of discourse and debate, became a peaceful virtual oasis filled with heartwarming stories of human kindness and videos of baby animals.
Even meteorologists were left scratching their heads as weather patterns around the world stabilized into a perpetual state of mild and pleasant conditions. "It's 72 degrees and sunny everywhere on Earth," reported a weather anchor during the evening news. "I mean, literally everywhere. I don't even know how that's possible."
Meanwhile, politicians in every country were seen taking extended lunch breaks and enjoying leisurely strolls through the park, reveling in the newfound harmony that had enveloped the world.
The United Nations, which typically convenes to address global conflicts and humanitarian crises, held an emergency session to discuss how to spend their newfound free time. A unanimous vote was cast in favor of hosting a worldwide pizza party, with extra toppings for everyone.
As humanity collectively basks in the warm glow of universal contentment, experts are optimistic that this trend will continue indefinitely.
"We expect tomorrow to be much like today," said the spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Calm Affairs. "Everything will be fine. No news to report. Just take a deep breath and enjoy the moment."
At press time, a gentle breeze was blowing through the trees, and somewhere in the distance, a bird was singing.
NEW YORKโIn an unprecedented and highly unusual turn of events, citizens across the nation awoke today to a world that seemed to have been touched by an angel of serenity, as news outlets reported that, quite simply, everything is fine. "No news today, folks. Absolutely nothing happened," announced a visibly relaxed newscaster, sipping a cup of coffee while lounging on the studio couch.
The complete absence of news, experts explain, appears to have been caused by a series of non-events, such as "people generally getting along," "the weather being mild and unremarkable," and "politicians deciding not to do anything rash or controversial." Confounded journalists scrambled to find anything even remotely newsworthy, but their efforts were thwarted by an overwhelming sense of calm and contentment that had settled over the world like a cozy blanket.
"I thought I had a lead on a possible traffic jam, but it turns out everyone just decided to carpool today," said a befuddled reporter at the scene of a strangely peaceful intersection. "I've never seen anything like it. Even the pigeons are getting along."
In a stunning show of solidarity, rival news networks came together for a joint press conference, where they announced in unison that there is, in fact, no news to report. "We tried to dig up some scandals, but it turns out everyone's being pretty honest today," explained one anchor, shrugging. "We even tried to stir up some celebrity drama, but all we found was a heartwarming story about an actor adopting a stray dog. It's just not news."
In response to the lack of news, media outlets have resorted to airing footage of kittens playing, peaceful nature scenes, and heartwarming stories of everyday heroes who didn't really do anything extraordinary today, but who deserve some recognition anyway. "We've got 24 hours to fill, folks, so get ready for some wholesome content," announced a news anchor as she queued up a video of a baby giggling.
Meanwhile, the internet was abuzz with citizens expressing their delight at the absence of distressing headlines. "Everything is fine? That's the best news I've heard all year!" exclaimed one Twitter user, while another posted, "No news is good news, am I right?"
At press time, news outlets were considering making "No News Day" an annual tradition, though many were skeptical that such a miraculous day could ever happen again. For now, citizens are encouraged to enjoy this rare moment of tranquility, and perhaps even step outside and take a deep breath of fresh air, because who knows what tomorrow will bring.