Audiophiles are basically LARPing and after spending enough time around this hobby I am convinced half of you know it and the other half are too financially committed to ever admit it. I am not talking about some dude who buys a decent headphone or IEM, figures out what sound he likes and then listens to music. That guy is normal. I mean the motherfuckers with nine thousand dollars of equipment spread across a desk who have not listened to an album from beginning to end in six months because they keep replaying the same twenty seven seconds of some jazz recording trying to determine if the fucking ride cymbal gained body after changing USB cables.
I swear to god you go to something like CanJam and after a few hours you start feeling like you are covered in snake oil and semen. Everybody is standing around describing sound like they can taste it in the air. This amplifier is creamy. That DAC is organic. This cable has better liquidity. This headphone has chocolate mids. What the fuck are you people eating the equipment now. I thought we were listening to music. Some woman inhales into a studio microphone and five guys simultaneously lean forward like archaeologists just uncovered Atlantis and one of them goes "listen to the air around her voice." Brother there are six hundred people in this convention hall and somebody behind you just opened a bag of Doritos. You are not hearing the recording studio's spiritual energy.
That is the part that makes me insane because yes obviously audio gear can sound different. Nobody said every headphone is identical. Some shit has better separation, some has better bass extension, some has garbage treble, some makes vocals sound like they are coming through a fucking paper towel tube, we know this. Then everybody gets bored discussing the obvious stuff and just keeps walking deeper into the forest until some man is telling me his ethernet switch gave the piano more authority. His ethernet switch. The thing moving packets. Apparently TCP IP has timbre now.
Cables are where I know the hobby has suffered some sort of collective brain injury. Two competent copper cables and suddenly everybody becomes a wine critic with synesthesia. Blacker background, improved note density, more holographic placement, organic decay, greater emotional texture. No motherfucker. You bought jewelry. Nice jewelry too sometimes, I like nice cables, cool braid, nice connectors, feels good in your hand, matches the IEM, fantastic. That is enough of a reason to buy it. You do not need to tell me the drummer moved three feet left because your new cable contains enough silver to kill Dracula.
And power cables, holy shit. If the final six feet between your amplifier and the wall outlet transformed your bass authority I have awful news about the rest of the electrical grid. Your boutique cable is plugged into drywall. Behind that drywall is ordinary Romex that was installed by a guy named Craig in 2009 while thinking about whether Taco Bell still had the volcano menu. It goes to a breaker panel full of shit from Home Depot and somewhere along the way your refrigerator, microwave, PC and probably a twelve dollar phone charger are hanging off the same infrastructure. But yes I am sure the last six feet is where the sound became three dimensional.
Burn in is another fucking religion. "My driver really opened up after 200 hours." You listened to it for a week, Dave. Your brain adapted to it. This is what brains do. We have known this forever. But somehow saying that is insulting while claiming your microscopic diaphragm completed a training montage overnight is considered serious audio science. Psychoacoustics is always real until it becomes inconvenient too. Audiophiles love psychoacoustics when explaining imaging or masking or why perception is complicated, but the second expectation bias might explain why their new two thousand dollar purchase sounded better immediately, suddenly blind testing is flawed, volume matching ruins the experience, measurements cannot capture musicality and science does not understand emotion.
Of course the expensive thing sounded better. You read fifteen reviews before it arrived telling you exactly what to listen for, stared at graphs for three nights, watched six YouTubers call the treble effortless, unboxed the thing like it contained the bones of Christ and then heard effortless treble. Incredible. Nobody could have predicted this.
Frequency response graphs have become astrology for dudes with soldering irons. Somebody posts a graph and within thirty seconds the comments have already decided how emotionally distant the singer sounds. "See that rise around three kilohertz?" Fuck, that explains my childhood. People look at the graph before hearing the thing and then spend the entire listening session trying to locate the fucking graph with their ears. God forbid somebody releases a cheap IEM that sounds really good either. Some Chinese company drops a one hundred fifty dollar set with good tuning, good drivers, a nice case, twenty tips, detachable cables and an anime girl on the box and within fifteen minutes a guy with a thirty eight hundred dollar custom monitor crawls out of the fucking floorboards to explain how it lacks organic liquidity and microdynamic nuance. Organic liquidity. IT PLAYS FUCKING MUSIC, GANDALF. That phrase alone should get your Head Fi account suspended for a week.
What actually gets me though is how many people are embarrassed to admit they just like expensive toys. Thats probably the least insane part. Big machined aluminum DAC with a huge weighted knob? Fuck yea, I get it. Tube amp glowing on the desk at night? Looks sick. Ridiculous braided cable with titanium connectors? Cool, enjoy it. Five thousand dollar flagship because you wanted the flagship and had the money? Whatever man, your money. But apparently saying "I wanted it because it is cool" is psychologically impossible, so instead we need a forty paragraph technical explanation for why replacing one transparent DAC with another transparent DAC caused previously hidden emotional information to emerge from the recording. You wanted the shiny box. It is okay. Nobody is coming to take your audiophile license. Except apparently that answer is not serious enough so we get "greater tonal density." Greater tonal density sounds like something a wizard says before casting a spell.
The further you go into this hobby the more you realize some people are not actually music fans anymore. They are equipment fans and music is the test signal they use to operate the equipment. They have fifteen tracks they know contain the sacred cymbal hit, the bass sweep, the female breath, the imaging trick, the tiny chair squeak at 2 minutes 11 seconds and thats all they listen to whenever they buy something. They do not put on an album, they inspect it. They do not hear the singer getting emotional, they hear upper mid energy. They do not hear a drummer going fucking nuts, they hear transient performance. They do not discover music anymore, they discover flaws in mastering. You managed to turn listening to music into running Cinebench.
Then you walk around talking like mastering engineers because you own a DAC. You are sitting in a spare bedroom. Your chair came from Staples. There is laundry behind you. Your DAC is sitting on top of an IKEA desk next to a half empty Monster can and you are arguing with another adult about whether a fuse changed the depth of the soundstage. You are not at Abbey Road. Nobody hired you. Nobody is waiting on your notes. And the worst part is how fucking defensive everyone gets when somebody points any of this out because deep down you know exactly what happened. You bought luxury goods, wrapped an identity around them and now criticism of the product feels like criticism of your hearing, intelligence and financial decisions all at once.
So now the eight hundred dollar cable cannot just be pretty, it has to sound better. The three thousand dollar DAC cannot just be beautifully built, it has to reveal things cheaper equipment physically cannot. The power conditioner cannot just organize the desk, it has to unlock bass. The ethernet switch cannot just work, it has to improve imaging. Every purchase requires lore because admitting "I bought this because I wanted expensive shit" apparently causes some kind of spiritual injury. Medieval LARPers put on armor, run around a field and hit each other with foam swords and everybody goes home understanding exactly what happened. Audiophiles put on five thousand dollar headphones, listen to a woman breathe and start describing the moisture content of the fucking air.
At least the guys with foam swords know they are pretending.
EDIT: 9/23/2026
A lot of people have become extremely interested in whether this post is “AI generated.” I think that question is more interesting than either answer.
What counts? Spellcheck? An editor? Asking a machine to organize a thought? Asking it to phrase something differently? How much credit does the machine get before we start pretending it bought the gear, went to the shows and developed the grievances too?
At what point does ChatGPT become an author?
I don’t know. I’m not particularly interested in solving that argument for you.
You can probably prompt a model right now and get the substance of this post. Audiophile snake oil isn’t classified information, but try getting *this*.
I’m 38. I’ve been screwing around with audio for roughly twenty years.
Twenty years of buying things, loving things, regretting things, learning terminology, changing my mind, meeting people, going to shows, arguing about equipment, finding gear that genuinely amazed me and eventually watching parts of the hobby disappear so far up their own ass that TCP/IP acquired timbre.
So if you want to spend your evening furious about whether a machine touched the words, you are free to do that. Everybody else seems to be having a pretty good time.
And since the moderators were kind enough to change the original flair to “AI Generated,” there is one last thing I should probably mention. In Japanese, 愛, ai, means love. Maybe that is a little corny, but after twenty years in this hobby I can live with it. You do not spend that long buying gear, arguing about gear, figuring out what you like, changing your mind about it, meeting people who love the same stupid thing you do and eventually getting angry enough to write all of this unless there was some love underneath it in the first place.
So call it AI generated if you want. I know what generated it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/1wmvb0d/i_have_to_get_something_off_my_chest_after_years/So I've been sitting on this for a while and, even though I am terrified, I figured it's time to just put it out there. Roast me, ask questions, tell me I'm an idiot. I can delete this post later and crawl back into my introverted hole. 😅
**TLDR:** I'm autistic and need you to sign up and give me money to test hundreds of suppressors so you can see all the data on a cool website that isn't full of "blast field" engineer language that none of us can understand, but also isn't "I shot them side-by-side and this one here sounds better this week" either. TIA **(See what it looks like here:** [https://www.silentrics.com/](https://www.silentrics.com/)**)**
I've got the -tism (so I am awkward, but highly focused). I hate confrontation and have put a lot into this so I am hoping that it brings value and is something people want and will contribute to building.
I've been collecting suppressors since 2013. I have over 300 at this point. And if you've been buying suppressors for any length of time, you already know the problem I'm about to describe.
When you're trying to actually decide which suppressor to buy, your options are basically: trust a single reviewer you watched on YouTube (who 99% of the time got the suppressor for free in exchange for a cameo), dig through scattered forum posts that contradict each other, try to scour PEW only to find that it it hasn't been tested, or lean on results that are funded by the same companies whose cans are being tested.
Every day we see posts of "which suppressor should I buy?" or "which \[caliber\] suppressor is best?" Rarely does anyone do the logical thing by asking a follow up question: "what are you using it for?" or "what are your top 3 criteria for 'best'?" Reddit is definitely better than Facebook Groups at this.
**Answers are usually "buy the \_\_\_\_\_\_!":**
**1)** the only suppressor that person has and no one cares to follow it up with "what other suppressors do you have to compare it to?"
**2)** the one that gets the most YouTube or Instagram hype (flavor of the week)
**3)** a recommendation based on a different metric than what the poster is asking for: "RC2!" (good for clones and decent at flash reduction - terrible for sound suppression), "Sonicore!" (because they are cheap and that person shoots less than 10 rounds a year), "Scythe" (because they are a hunter that wants lightweight, but care nothing about durability and the numerous reports of baffle welds yeeting the front of the suppressor downrange), "Otter Creek \_\_\_\_\_\_\_!" (because die-hard OCL fans are abundant), etc.
None of that is anyone's fault exactly — it's just how things grew. The gap is that there's no real independent, consumer-funded source where the data is the product, not the relationship with a manufacturer.
There's also a data problem. Most testing that DOES exist focuses on one or two metrics — usually just a dB number — and calls it a day. That tells you almost nothing about how a can actually behaves across other categories that matter in specific use-cases: hunters want light, short, and good value; precision shooters want no degradation in accuracy and less recoil; home owners looking for a defense gun may prioritize flash suppression, sound suppression, and durability; plinkers just want it to be silly quiet and have no blowback for enjoyable range sessions.
A single number can't capture any of that.
A few years ago I offered to just fund independent testing myself through an existing platform; got turned down. And that was kind of the spark — if nobody's going to build the "Consumer Reports for suppressors," I'll build it myself.
So I have been working on it ever since then: acquiring suppressors, buying hosts, setting up a private test range, going through the loopholes of getting extremely expensive equipment that meets and exceeds what others have used, building a website (no **NOT** built by AI slop over a weekend - bleh) that is easy to navigate and understand without being a wall of text written in engineering-speak, and creating calculations to rank suppressors for more than just sound; creating metrics for flash, recoil, heat, weight, durability, back pressure, and more.
**What it has become is SilenTrics: Silencer meTrics.**
It's a consumer-funded, manufacturer-independent testing and review platform. Every suppressor tested is acquired retail, same as you'd buy it. I test outdoors in free-field and repeatable conditions at my own range, not in an environment that doesn't reflect real use.
Right now the database queue sits at 300+ suppressors across every major caliber class, scored across 21 categories — sound (measured at four separate mic positions, not just one), gas dynamics, thermal, accuracy, physical specs, durability, and value, all weighted differently depending on whether you're using it for hunting, home defense, recreation, or duty/military.
**A couple things I want to be up front about, because they matter to me:**
This isn't going to be a flashy YouTube channel with a guy yelling into a GoPro. It's a data platform. I'm not chasing views, I'm building a database. I may not even have a YouTube channel at all.
The equipment behind it isn't hobbyist gear. I'm running a 4-channel, high-speed DAQ system paired with precision measurement-grade microphones in a fixed array — this is REQUIRED for high-level, accurate testing; I'm not using a cheap consumer sound meter from Amazon.
My baseline methodology starts from MIL-STD-1474 and then goes well beyond its requirements in many aspects. When the data is the entire product, the instrumentation has to be right.
I have spent **MONTHS** programming the data acquisition software to ensure that the outputs are accurate, precise, and useful to the end-user.
**One thing I want to be clear on:** this is about giving you better metrics to make a buying decision, not about telling you what's "safe." I'm not qualified to make hearing-safety or blast-hazard determinations and that's not what this platform is trying to do. I know "hearing safe" gets thrown around in this space — that's just not my lane here. The data is there to help you compare suppressors, not to certify anything about your health or safety.
I have bought several suppressors that I thought were good or that someone else said were good that ended up being a huge disappointment. I am hoping to help others avoid the same thing.
I've already had several manufacturers reach out offering to send me suppressors directly for testing. I've turned every one of them down.
The second I start taking free product from the companies I'm reviewing, the whole "independent" part of this stops meaning anything. Every unit tested gets bought retail, same as you would buy it.
Consumer Reports has remained independent for 90 years by buying the products they test anonymously at retail then testing them with set protocols and methodology. They publish those reviews in an easy-to-consume format. And people trust their reviews. That's the idea I am bringing to the suppressor industry.
**Why "what's the best suppressor" is the wrong question:**
Is the RC2 the best? Best at what? Is the Mask HD the best .22 can, or is it the B&T Tiger? Best by what metric — sound, weight, durability, price? Should you even be running a .30 cal can on 5.56 in the first place? And then you've got the hype cycle — a Tisha, a Rhodie 6, a Fireteam556 — is half the buzz real performance and half just internet momentum **OR** does the performance justify the hype?
None of that is a knock on any of those products or the people behind them. It's just that "best" without context is a meaningless word and right now most of the buying decisions in this space get made off hype, forum consensus, manufacturer-funded testing, manufacturer-driven testing, or a single influencer's opinion rather than consistent, comparable data.
That's the actual gap. SilenTrics isn't here to settle drama or crown a single winner (although we WILL have "Best of" tags on our results) — it's here so you can look at the same 21 categories across 300+ suppressors and decide what "best" means for your specific focus or use-case.
And with the tax stamp elimination as of this year, a lot more people have entered (and will continue to enter) this market for the first time with zero context on what actually matters. That makes independent, plain-English data more important than it's ever been. And if suppressors become over-the-counter purchases (**PLEASE!**), they will need quick, accurate, easy-to-read data from which to make informed decisions.
**Why it needs the community, not just me:**
This only works if it's actually funded by the people using the data instead of the companies making the product. That's the whole point — no ad money, no manufacturer influence, no incentive to be "nice" in a review.
That means membership support is what keeps the testing rig running, keeps new suppressors coming in, and keeps the whole thing honest. Yes I am charging for this: suppressors alone have cost me over $250k. There IS a free option with limited data to match what is currently out there. But the paid monthly options are what will keep things going.
Either this will get support and change how suppressor purchasing decisions are made...or I will go bankrupt for going all-in on setting it all up.
I'm not trying to replace anyone's opinion or the forums — I just want there to finally be a real, data-backed, independent option in the mix.
Feel free to ask me anything about the methodology, the equipment, the database, whatever — happy to nerd out on it.
**Since this is member-focused and member-driven:** join the subReddit and Facebook Group and start up some conversations. There will also be member-only groups for higher level discussions and early access to what I am testing.
Test results will be released 3 hosts at a time with 15-30 suppressors tested **PER** host. I ain't interested in releasing one result a week and I'm not doing 400 in a weekend either. Results will be published once every month or two (again, 3 hosts at a time - 42 hosts currently planned).
Site will be **LIVE** within the next few weeks.
You can check out the features and some teaser screenshots of the platform here. Enter your info if you want to be notified the second it's live: [https://www.silentrics.com/](https://www.silentrics.com/)
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1wtsy1s**I am not The OOP, OOP is u/Top_Manufacturer_620**
**My (30 F) spouse (35 M) has been acting incredibly strange. Do I need to help him or do I need to escape?**
**Originally posted to r/relationship_advice and OOP's own page**
[BoRU 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/s/5jCVpgbNRB) **Posted by u/swtogirl**
[BoRU 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/s/ZM6BAnA6HU) **Posted by u/swtogirl**
[BoRU 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/s/xPWSCOXhbA)
**TRIGGER WARNING:** >!Physical and verbal abuse, mental health crises!<
**MOOD SPOILER:** >!Dark and stressful!<
[Original Post](https://www.reddit.com/r/relationship_advice/s/JzSTLoae8H) **July 14, 2024**
Sorry about formatting, I’m on mobile and I’m really shaken up as I write this.
My (30F) spouse (35M) has been experiencing behaviour that has only become increasingly concerning. In the past two months now, he has been talking about things that he claims are happening but he’s never mentioned before.
As some background info, when his behaviour first starting getting concerning, I managed to convince him to go the hospital to get checked out for his mental health. He wasn’t even seen by a doctor and he was told he just needs to take a certain medicine to help him sleep. The issue is he also smokes weed so this medicine does not mix well with that. He won’t quit smoking. We also have two very young kids.
Back to the weird recent behaviour, he claims he had an old email with an inheritance that got hacked and he needs access to it. I tried helping him get on it but he hasn’t used it in literally the 12 years we’ve been together, I only knew of its existence previously when I helped him switch his Facebook login and that was an email attached. Another example is that he believes everyone is talking about him to me and everyone else, I mean literally everyone else. He thinks there’s some sort big thing planned to hurt him or do something horrible to him soon and that we’re all on it.
On a few other separate occasions he’s asked about a “show” that “we’re on” and asked how much money I’m being paid to keep a secret. He also thinks I’m having secret phone calls and that I’ve apparently left the room to accept these calls, which then results in me coming back crying about something I’ve apparently discussed on the phone.
Whenever I try to explain to him that none of this is happening, he fights back saying that I’m just lying to him and to tell him the truth. That I need to tell him the truth or something bad is going to happen.
It’s gotten so bad, he ended up getting fired from his job because he was barely showing up. He kept going to the cop station to make a report instead of going to work. After he got fired there was some sort of tense situation where they ended up calling a wellness check for him, because they were afraid he’s going to come back and hurt someone. The cops showed up while I was also home and he said he wouldn’t hurt someone, he only acts in defense.
In the recent weeks, he’s gone from screaming at me demanding answers to just not talking to me at all. At this point I’d rather he just not interact with me.
The reason I’m writing this is because of what happened today. It was a nice day out and I asked if he would come with me for a walk with our kids, to which he agreed to. He barely spoke a word to me or the kids on this walk, and when we came across a playground, I asked if we should take the kids there for a few minutes of play. He then got upset at me for suggesting it and said I always control everything and I’m the “queen of the decisions”. I didn’t even tell him we were doing that, I just asked. When I mentioned this he just said “do whatever you want, like always”, so I figured why not. So I played with the kids at the playground and he did his own thing. Someone left a couple various balls there and he was throwing them around. He then picked up the football and threw it in my direction, it flew past me a couple feet from me. I asked why he did that and he said “why are you upset, it didn’t hit you” to which I responded “well what if it did?” He then said “if I wanted it to hit you in the head I would have thrown it that way”. Then he started on a rant about how he’s going through the same thing with everyone lying to him. After which he sat down in the corner of the park and was doing literally nothing.
I was getting upset, so I packed up the kids and started walking to leave the park. I said to him “we’re going home” and started walking away. Apparently he tried to yell out to us but ended up taking a different way home than we did. He told me this when he met me on the street when we were almost home, saying that “next time I want to be an idiot and walk away maybe stop and listen for him calling out”. I didn’t hear him but honestly he could have easily caught up to us.
I was getting more and more upset and said I wanted to go for a drive to get coffee and he said fine. I said I wanted to take the kids and he asked why. Then I said fine, you stay home with them and he said no they can go with you and started putting them in the car. I got in the car, and he got in the passenger seat, to which I asked him if he’s coming with. He said yes and to drive. I told him I didn’t want him coming with because he’s being mean and he said he could be a lot meaner. As I started driving away he kept going off on the usual BS he’s been talking about lately and I told him I don’t want to hear it, he started screaming at me to keep driving and shut the fuck up. I stopped the car and told him to get out and he made a motion like he was going to punch me but punched his hand in front of my face. At this point I started crying and yelling at him to get out and he yelled back no just drive. I then said I should just drive him to the police station for that and he said he would choke me unconscious before we even got there. I was crying even more at this point and said I don’t want to be with him anymore and I want him out, he said no. He continued to be a dick for the rest of the car ride, where I pleaded with him to not treat me this way, especially in front of our children. It’s not fair to them, or to me. He said to not bring them into this. I said how couldn’t I, they are literally in the car!
Anyway after I drove us home, he asked how long I’ve been waiting to break up with him and who I’m replacing him with. I told him I haven’t been and there’s no one else, which of course he doesn’t believe. When he got inside he even taunted me saying “I should take you to the cop station” in a girly voice.
He’s outside smoking and I’m inside with the kids writing this. Of course I’m shook up currently but I don’t know what to do. We only have the one vehicle which is in both our names, the place we rent is actually my moms so we don’t have a lease but we both have our addresses attached to this place on our licenses. He wasn’t always like this, literally only the past couple months his behaviour has been this bad. I miss the person he used to be, I miss that he would spend time with me, with the kids, but he spends all his time by himself now. I don’t know if he’s going through some sort of manic episode or what’s triggering this change in behaviour but I really don’t know what to do.
Is there something differently I can do to help him? Every time he talks to me about whatever “situation” he doesn’t accept any answer I say and also won’t accept if I say nothing.
EDIT: I just wanted to update and let you all know we are safe. I’m sorry for not saying anything sooner. I’m a bit overwhelmed with how popular this post got and will give an actual update later.
Thank you for the advice and comments as well. I will mention a couple things —
* we are not in the US
* where we are, marijuana is legal, so my spouse does get it from government run dispensaries. I don’t think there’s a chance his stuff gets laced aside from the fact he mixes cigarettes with it.
* a lot of people mentioned meth. There is just no way. He doesn’t go anywhere random, he doesn’t talk to people outside of our household (aside from the few times he would go to the police station). I have his location on his phone so I can see where he goes when he leaves.
**RELEVANT COMMENTS**
**ynattirb_xo**
>I just wanna say, I was that terrified kid in the back seat. Absolutely traumatizing. My mom always came up with an excuse as to why we couldn’t leave the house or leave dad. Made me suffer for many years of my life and I’m 28 years old trying to deal with the trauma it has given me. Please stop making excuses and leave. Get OUT for the kids. My mom never did and it truly has ruined my mental health.
**~**
**CoraCricket**
> Wow this is way more urgent than everyone seems to be acting. Are you able to sneak yourself and your kids out right now while he's smoking? You could start by going to the police station and telling them what's going on, they should hopefully be able to connect you to resources for families fleeing domestic abuse. If you have someone you can stay with, then that makes it easier but either way do not spend another night in that house with him and definitely don't let your kids around him unsupervised.
>
> If you can't sneak out I would call 911, tell them what just happened and about his threats, and that you need to get out but that you are afraid for you and your children's safety. They are not always the most helpful but something needs to happen. At least then if he comes back in and tries to do something to you you'll be in the phone with them and they can send someone then. Might be a good strategy while your leaving too if you're worried he might catch you.
>
> It sounds like he's having some kind of psychological break, the paranoia and being convinced everyone is part of some conspiracy against him is not abnormal there. But he has clearly told you that he is a danger to you so you need to worry about that first, get yourself and your kids to safety and figure the rest out after that. Once it's time to deal with him and his situation, depending on where you are, getting him involuntarily detained for psychiatric treatment requires proving he's a danger to himself or others, so at least you can show how he's threatened you. But worry about that after you and your kids are safely away from him.
**~**
**daddy_tywin**
> Heavy cannabis use can trigger the onset of schizophrenia in people who are already susceptible. Your H is right about the age where this tends to happen in men. I am not a doctor but I really think this is a mental health emergency, either due to a drug interaction, drug use itself, or because he is rapidly developing a psychotic disorder.
>
> You need to see a mental health professional, NOT the ER, and describe all of this behavior to them including the frequency of his marijuana use.
**OOP**
>>That’s the thing, he saw a crisis nurse at the hospital and a therapist/social worker there, and I felt like the only thing they tried to do was get him to take a specific medication. I think it’s called quetiapine or something. But anyway, I don’t think he is regularly taking it and if he is he definitely shouldn’t be mixing it with smoking weed.
**daddy_tywin**
>>>That’s the generic for seroquel, which is actually an antipsychotic medication used for schizophrenia and bipolar I episodes. That makes way more sense to be prescribed than a sleeping pill. You’re right though he needs to be taking it as RX’d (bottle should have the dosing on it). I looked up the drug interactions and the ones listed are moderate and mostly physical although generally people with any kind of psychotic disorder I think are not supposed to use marijuana.
[Update](https://www.reddit.com/r/relationship_advice/s/MN8Dx4Qt8L) **July 20, 2024 (6 days later)**
Hello, first of all thank you all for the comments, messages, etc. on my previous post. Obviously it got a bit too much to keep up with responding but I just want to say I really appreciate the help. A TL;DR at the bottom.
To give an update, I left the house the night I made the post, but went back home the following day. I wanted to be able to collect some sort of evidence I could use, because my spouse has been really good at downplaying his symptoms to any authority figure. I want to mention that I had been present at most doctor and hospital visits prior, so I know what they did recommend for him. I felt at the time that they did not give him enough help for the crisis he was obviously going through.
Anyway, continuing on, the couple days after the Sunday post, he did not really engage in much conversation with me or our children. Every time he entered the room, I set my phone to record. I did not get anything until Thursday, when he finally started talking to me again. He was questioning who I have been talking to about him and who has been trying to sabotage his life. Obviously I denied everything, because there is no one talking to me about him (aside from this Reddit post, which he didn’t know about). This started to anger him, which included him yelling at me and saying if anyone is talking to me about him, to bring him to the house so he can “take care of them himself”.
I tried to not to engage any more. This made him more upset, as he was continuing to demand answers from me. He would then say “oh I want to hit you” or “don’t make me slap you” when I was either not answering or just saying I didn’t know what he was talking about. I got this on recording. After he ended up walking away and leaving the room, I took the kids to bed, locked us in our room and tried to sleep.
The following morning, he insisted on driving me to work. I told him I wanted the car, to which he disagreed with me and said he needed it. After dropping out kids off, he started going off on me about how I am stupidity, dumb, a bitch, etc. for keeping his “inheritance” (again something he is clearly having delusions about) from him. I tried to disengage completely, keeping myself to far side of the passenger seat, which caused him to grab me by the back of my neck and pull me closer to him, where he told me to listen to him. I obviously reacted to this and was super upset, telling him to please focus on driving and not touch me again.
After he drove me to work, the last thing I said to him as he was still going off on me with the car window open, was “you desperately need help”. Once I got in, I called my boss and let her know what happened. She came in, cancelled her appointments for the day, and took me to the police station.
We made a report, although the sergeant we initially spoke to seemed to be against us making a report (he kept saying he will be homeless if I report him, like he’s the victim in this scenario). I told him my safety and the kids safety should be more important, and he brought in a different officer to make the statement with me. Once I completed that statement, they let me know to stay away from the house as they were going to arrest him, and will call once he’s out of the house.
About 5 hours later, he was arrested. Apparently he was very compliant, and with all the information I provided, they actually took him to the hospital, and he is currently on a 30 day psychiatric hold. He will be going to court at some point for uttering threats and assault, but seeing how he doesn’t have a criminal record, I’m sure it will just end up being a slap on the wrist.
So as of now, I am home, safe with the children, and we are getting our locks changed. I will also most likely get a protection order, but in an ideal world, he gets better and that’s not necessary. I guess we will see in the future.
I want to again thank every one for their comments and assistance. A lot of you made some excellent points, and although I know some of my decisions probably seemed like dumb ones, I was trying to figure out the best solution logistically for us. Any other future updates will be on my profile.
TL;DR: he was arrested yesterday and put on a psych hold. I’m okay physically but not emotionally.
**RELEVANT COMMENTS**
**sikonat**
> I swear to god fuck the police and that sergeant trying to talk you out of it, gee I really wonder why she doesn’t go to the police. What a mystery.
>
> Good luck OP
**~**
**saturatedregulated**
> I dealt with something similar, but thankfully not with a romantic partner and we shared no assets or children. It was terrifying, and I still am affected by it daily.
>
> My friend ended up being diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder (paranoid schizophrenia). He did really well on meds. Actually, so well that he stopped believing he had an issue and stopped taking the meds. His latest bout of mania legitimately scared me and I had to remove myself.
>
> Your husband is starting a very long road, and a lot of mentally ill people struggle with keeping straight down that long road. I'm not saying you should remove him from your life, but I am saying you have the best chance of healing and raising unaffected adults if you do remove him. Your love for him and the family you've built cannot sustain mental illness, and love is not all you need. Sometimes it becomes way bigger than you and the kindest thing you can do is bow out.
>
> I'm really sorry you're all in this situation.
**~**
**shame-the-devil**:
> Paranoid schizophrenia runs in my family. The problem with your husband is that he’s already become more violent, and it will likely get worse if you let him return to the home. I have seen family members get better on medication, only to make the decision to stop medicating bc they no longer believed they were ill. Over. And over and over. I have also seen them act normally in front of others, which made it difficult to even get them help in the first place.
>
> One of my family members attempted to murder their caregivers. They almost succeeded.
>
> Another attempted to murder a person they thought was real, but who was actually a hallucination.
>
> You are not safe. Your children are not safe. And you are not taking this seriously enough.
**~**
**RaiseIreSetFires**
> I'm very proud of you for taking the first step towards a new healthy life for your kids and yourself. To continue on this path you need to quit hoping for the best and start preparing for the worst. It's a long road but, you've shown the intelligence and fortitude to successfully see this through.
>
> That being said, I'm going to have to stress to you that he's not going to "get better" in 30 days.
>
> Get that restraining order ASAP. One reason is he will be served while in custody, instead of you having to track him down to serve him. Second reason, they look at how quickly you do these things when he goes to court for the charge. It shows you are actually going to follow through and the seriousness of your situation. Third reason is he is more likely to be charged for DV and threats. Fourth reason is it will usually make custody and separation move faster.
>
> This is one of those situations where shit in one hand and hope he miraculously becomes mentally healthy in 30 days in the other, which fills up quicker?
>
>Good luck and don't stray from your path to safety and happiness.
**OOP**
>> Thank you, it’s definitely wishful thinking that he will get the treatment needed to go back to normal. I don’t want to think of this as the end of our relationship but at the same time I don’t know if he would want to be back with me since I got him detained.
>>
>> Right now the only thing I’m thinking about are the kids.
**~**
**noonecaresat805**
>Make sure as soon as the protection order is in place to let the school know that he isn’t allowed to take the kids out. Find a theraphy place for you and the kids and have them help you explain to them that it’s not safe to talk to dad at the moment. That way he won’t try to get his revenge through them. And good for you. And your right him ending up homeless is not your concern.
**OOP**
>>They are toddlers, so a bit too young to understand. Their daycare is aware as well.
**noonecaresat805**
>>>I work in a daycare and unless we have a restraining order on paper of the other parent shows up we have to release their child to them. There’s nothing we can do. And children are smarter than you give them credit for. Just because they can’t say everything doesn’t mean they don’t notice everything
**~**
**emmaa5382**:
>I think something to note is to keep a close eye on your kids in their early 20s and teach them the signs. It could be hereditary but with enough foreknowledge can be caught early and treated
[Update 2](https://www.reddit.com/u/Top_Manufacturer_620/s/K4F9n0fZ2j) **Nov 21, 2024 (4 months later)**
I don’t know if anyone will even see this.
It’s been awhile since I updated. I still get messages asking how I am and to update again. I apologize in the delay, but I’ve been a bit deterred from making another post due to coming across a TikTok video of one of those AI voices reading my post over a Minecraft video. If one of those channels decides to post this one, please don’t. But if you do anyway, blah blah blah blah blah, we can’t make our own unique content.
Anyway, onto the actual update:
My spouse is doing a lot better. He received the treatment he needed in the psych ward of the hospital, gets a shot every so often instead of taking pills, and only smokes cigarettes now. He’s back to his normal self, engages in conversation with myself and our children like he did before this crazy shit happened, has a job, and honestly, is being a better partner overall. It took a lot of time for me to feel like I could trust him again, but we’ve taken a lot of time to work on things and get back to how we should be.
I know a lot of people wanted me to leave and never look back. But you have to realize how he acted in my initial post was nothing like how he is as a person. Obviously he had some sort of weird psychosis happening, which could have been a result of a high intake of marijuana, plus a couple added stressors. I don’t want to go into too many details because it will give away where we are, but basically something traumatic happened under 10 years ago that happened again a month before he started acting strange. It was one of those types of events that forces you out of your home for undetermined amount of time. Anyway, that’s all the detail I want to go into that. Obviously he was affected by it more than I thought, because when this event happened, I was the one having a difficult time and he was my rock. But after we were able to go back home and have some normalcy, that’s when things started changing for him.
It started with him randomly needing to gain access into an old email, to thinking he was being recorded all the time like he was on the Truman show or something, to thinking that everyone (including me) was out to get him. This is when the threats of violence started happening.
I was obviously in disbelief because in the entire time we’ve been together, nothing like this has ever happened. I never once felt like I was unsafe. I never felt scared. Until the threats continued to come, and he started to escalate.
After he made excellent progress in the hospital and I had many reassuring conversations with the psychiatrist, I allowed him to come home when he was discharged. It was so hard not having him around, I cried all the time, our kids really missed their dad, and he really missed us. He needed to get help, and I’m so thankful I was able to find an effective solution.
This will most likely be my last update. I don’t really think I’ll need to add any other details, but again, I just want to thank everyone for their messages and comments, even the ones who called me an idiot lol.
**RELEVANT COMMENTS**
**Creepy_Addict**
> I only wanted you to leave if he refused to get help. He got the help he needed and seems to be back to his normal self.
>
> Just keep an eye out for any changes in behavior.
**~**
**Comprehensive_Yak359**
> This is a great update. I hope things continue to go well. Do not forget to take care of yourself and your mental health. What you went through must have been so scary. Wish your family all the best.
[Update 3](https://www.reddit.com/u/Top_Manufacturer_620/s/j3jktuEkTY) **Sept 20, 2025 (10 months after last update)**
Another update
Hello all,
It’s been almost a year since my last update. To keep things short, shit hit the fan this year. He didn’t take the medications he was supposed to, reverted into another major psychosis episode which ended in him attempting to strangle me after I disputed his delusions. He was removed from the home and there’s a protective order against him for myself and the kids. This happened earlier this year. My kids and I are safe, and haven’t heard from him since.
Don’t be like me. Don’t trust that someone will get better or attempt to work on their horrible mental health when they haven’t proven to be reliable in other parts in their life. Don’t try to fix someone who can’t be fixed, or rather, just don’t try to fix people.
Thanks everyone for their comments, whether they were good or bad. Shout out to BORU community that will eat me alive after reading my update.
**NEW UPDATE**
[One more update](https://www.reddit.com/u/Top_Manufacturer_620/s/QPfibIC4uF) **Apr 21, 2026 (7 months after last update)**
Hello all,
Not sure if anyone would even care or be following my story at all at this point. Maybe it’s just nice to talk into the void of the internet.
Anywho…
It’s been almost a year since my ex assaulted me, and almost four months since he’s had any sighting or online presence. He was supposed to appear in court earlier this month for the assault and other related breaches, but did not show up. The officers speculate that he skipped town, however I truly don’t know how he would manage to do that. As far as I know, he didn’t have a job or a home, and anyone that he is “friends” with would be vulnerable, unhoused individuals like himself. All of this to say, I don’t even know if he’s alive anymore.
After my protective order expired, he reached out essentially asking to hook up, which I did not entertain. The last time I heard from him was on our oldest child’s birthday, not to ask to see them or wish them a happy birthday, but to call me a “manipulative cunt”. From there, it’s been radio silence.
To this day, I still do not understand what happened, but with therapy I’m realizing that the majority of his behaviors were not normal or okay. He was incredibly paranoid of other people, very controlling and insecure about myself and my activities, and was completely comfortable with threatening violence to anyone and anything for the smallest inconveniences. Did he act on the majority of those threats? No. But for the most part, I also wondered if he was just trying to scare me.
Our oldest child still gets sad whenever they bring him up, and the youngest will ask about his whereabouts, but aside from that, seems the fine with his absence. They both are doing great without him. The next step is to file for full custody, however I don’t know what I’ll be able to accomplish without being able to serve him. Is this something I can apply for on the basis that I’ve been the primary and only caregiver for almost a year? I don’t want him to affect any decision making process for them.
On a positive personal side, I have begun seeing someone new. It’s very different than what I’m used to with my ex. When you don’t have to spend all your time managing someone else’s emotions, you can feel lost. They are fantastic with me and my children really enjoy their presence.
Rereading the original posts have been a weird experience. I was a completely different person back then, and I had no idea I could ever get him out of my life.
Maybe another update will happen if he’s ever found. Maybe this is the last update. I hope you (the reader) have a fantastic day and I thank you for reading my ramblings.
**THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP**
**DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7**
https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/1u65sdq/my_30_f_spouse_35_m_has_been_acting_incredibly/# EDIT/UPDATE:
# New post and research at [https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1rtd51g/update\_i\_pulled\_irs\_filings\_for\_the\_org\_that/](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1rtd51g/update_i_pulled_irs_filings_for_the_org_that/)
# Website: [https://tboteproject.com](https://tboteproject.com)
Support Findings: [https://tboteproject.com/donate/](https://tboteproject.com/donate/)
# Repository: [https://tboteproject.com/git/hekate/attestation-findings](https://tboteproject.com/git/hekate/attestation-findings)
I've been pulling public records on the wave of "age verification" bills moving through US state legislatures. IRS 990 filings, Senate lobbying disclosures, state ethics databases, campaign finance records, corporate registries, WHOIS lookups, Wayback Machine archives. What started as curiosity about who was pushing these bills turned into documenting a coordinated influence operation that, from a privacy standpoint, is building surveillance infrastructure at the operating system level while the company behind it faces zero new requirements for its own platforms.
I want to be clear about what this is and isn't. I am not the author of [the earlier r/linux post by aaronsb](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1rmhxk1/i_pulled_the_actual_bill_text_from_5_state_age/) and I'm not affiliated with them. I titled this to draw attention on this subreddit because the privacy implications go well beyond Linux. Every source cited here is a public record.
# What the bills actually require you to hand over
Most reporting on these bills says something vague like "age checks at device setup." The statutory language is more specific and more invasive than that.
California AB-1043, signed October 2025 and effective January 1, 2027, defines "Operating system provider" under Section 1798.500(g) as "a person or entity that develops, licenses, or controls the operating system software on a computer, mobile device, or any other general purpose computing device."
Every OS provider must then: provide an interface at account setup collecting a birth date or age, and expose a real-time API that broadcasts the user's age bracket (under 13, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18+) to any application running on the system.
Read that again. Every app on your device gets to query a system-level API that returns your age bracket in real time. This isn't age verification at the point of accessing restricted content. This is a persistent age-broadcasting service baked into the operating system itself, queryable by every installed application.
Colorado SB26-051 (passed the Senate 28-7, now in the House) copies the same definitions in the same order, same penalty structure ($2,500 per child for negligent violations, $7,500 for intentional ones), same exemptions. The template is the ICMEC "Digital Age Assurance Act," and it's been introduced or is pending in Illinois (three separate bills), New York, Kansas, South Carolina, Ohio, Georgia, Florida, and at the federal level.
New York's S8102A goes further. It requires device manufacturers to perform "commercially reasonable and technically feasible age assurance" at device activation and explicitly bans self-reporting. The AG picks the approved methods. That means biometric age estimation or government ID verification before you can use a device you purchased.
Exemptions in all of these bills cover broadband ISPs, telecom services, and physical products. None contain any exemption for open-source software, non-commercial projects, or privacy-preserving verification methods.
The status right now:
|State|Bill|Status|
|:-|:-|:-|
|CA|AB-1043|Enacted, effective Jan 1, 2027|
|CO|SB26-051|Passed Senate, in House committee|
|LA|HB-570|Enacted, effective July 1, 2026|
|UT|SB-142|Enacted, first in nation|
|TX|SB-2420|Enjoined by federal judge|
|NY|S8102A|Pending|
|IL|HB-3304, HB-4140, SB-2037|Pending|
|Federal|KOSA, ASAA|Pending|
# The privacy architecture these bills create
What's concerning about these bills is they don't just verify age once. They create persistent identity layer inside the operating system that applications can query at will. The commercial age verification vendors who would provide this infrastructure (Yoti, Veriff, Jumio) charge $0.10 to $2.00 per check, require proprietary SDKs, demand API keys tied to commercial accounts, and operate cloud-only with no self-hosted option. Your age verification data goes to a third-party cloud service. Every time.
Compare this to what the EU built. The EU Digital Identity Wallet under eIDAS 2.0 has a reference implementation published under Apache 2.0/EUPL and uses selective disclosure credentials. A user can prove they fall within an age bracket without handing over their date of birth. The EU's Digital Services Act puts age verification obligations on **Very Large Online Platforms** (45M+ monthly users), not on operating systems. FOSS projects that don't act as intermediary services are explicitly outside scope. Micro and small enterprises get additional exemptions.
**The EU approach is not without its own problems**. The reference code is *open*, but the operational system is not self-hostable. You cannot run your own trusted identity provider. The wallet apps require Google Play Services or the iOS equivalent, which locks out users of privacy-focused Android distributions like GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, and LineageOS. Device attestation requirements effectively ban rooted or jailbroken devices. The zero-knowledge proof privacy guarantees only hold if you trust that credential issuers and verifiers are not colluding to correlate your activity. ZKP is a cryptographic mechanism, not a trust architecture, and it cannot solve the problem of collusion between parties in the chain.
Even with those caveats, the architectural gap between the two approaches is wide. The EU model does not create a persistent age-broadcasting API at the OS level. It does not mandate commercial vendors. It does not force biometric data into a third-party cloud on every check. The US bills assume every operating system is built by a corporation with the infrastructure and revenue to absorb these costs. The EU started from the opposite assumption and built accordingly.
|EU approach|US bills|
|:-|:-|
|Who's regulated|Platforms with 45M+ users|
|FOSS exemption|Yes, five separate mechanisms|
|Verification method|Open-source wallet, zero-knowledge proofs|
|Cost to non-commercial projects|$0|
|Privacy architecture|Selective disclosure, privacy by design|
|Works offline|Yes|
# Who wrote the legislation
This is where it gets interesting. Rep. Kim Carver (R-Bossier City), the sponsor of Louisiana's HB-570, publicly confirmed that a Meta lobbyist brought the legislative language directly to her. The bill as drafted required only app stores (Apple, Google) to verify user ages. It did not require social media platforms to do anything.
Meta deployed 12 lobbyists across 9 confirmed firms for this single bill, paying at least $324,992 (described as a "very conservative estimate"). The confirmed firms include Pelican State Partners (who also lobby for Roblox, letting Meta frame this as "broad industry support" rather than one company's project), Adams and Reese LLP (the #1 ranked Louisiana government affairs firm), and State Capitol Solutions.
Nicole Lopez, Meta's Director of Global Litigation Strategy for Youth, testified at the House Commerce Committee in support. She also testified in South Dakota for a similar bill. She's Meta's national point person for these laws.
HB-570 passed unanimously at every stage: House 99-0, Senate 39-0. So why did Meta need 12 lobbyists? Because the votes were never the concern. The lobbyists were there to control the text and block amendments.
The key amendment battle came from Senator Jay Morris, who expanded the bill to include app developers alongside app stores after Google's senior director of government affairs publicly questioned why "Mark Zuckerberg is so keen on passing these bills." When Morris introduced his amendment, Meta went silent. The conference committee compromise maintained dual responsibility but kept the primary burden on app stores, which is what Meta wanted from the start.
At that same Senate hearing, Morris directly questioned DCA Executive Director Casey Stefanski about who funds her organization. She reportedly deflected, said she "wasn't comfortable answering," then under continued pressure admitted tech companies provide funding but refused to name them.
# The advocacy group that doesn't legally exist
The Digital Childhood Alliance presents itself as a coalition of 50+ conservative child safety organizations (later inflated to 140+, though only six have ever been publicly named). It has been testifying in favor of these bills across states. Here is what public records show about its legal status:
I searched all four regional extracts of the IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File (eo1 through eo4.csv), which cover every tax-exempt organization registered in the United States. DCA is not there. No EIN exists for this organization.
I also searched for incorporation records in Colorado, DC, Delaware, and Virginia, plus OpenCorporates (200M+ companies), ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, GuideStar, and Charity Navigator. No incorporation record exists in any of them.
DCA's domain was registered December 18, 2024 through GoDaddy with privacy protection and a four-year registration. The website was live and fully formed one day later: professional design, statistics, testimonials from Heritage Foundation and NCOSE staff, ASAA talking points already loaded. This is not a grassroots launch. This is a staging deployment of a pre-built site. 77 days later, Utah SB-142 became the first ASAA law signed in the country.
DCA processes donations through For Good (formerly Network for Good, EIN 68-0480736), which is a Donor Advised Fund. For Good explicitly states in its documentation that it serves "501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations." DCA claims 501(c)(4) status. DCA is classified as a "Project" (ID 258136) in the For Good system, not as a standalone nonprofit. I searched all 59,736 For Good grant recipients across five years, roughly $1.73 billion in disbursements. Zero grants to DCA, DCI, NCOSE, or any related entity. The donation page appears to be cosmetic.
Bloomberg reporters exposed Meta as a DCA funder in July 2025. The Deseret News detailed the arrangement in December 2025. No version of the website, across 100+ Wayback Machine snapshots, has ever disclosed funding sources. Every blog post and testimony targets Apple and Google. Meta is never mentioned or criticized.
DCA's leadership traces directly to NCOSE (National Center on Sexual Exploitation):
Casey Stefanski, Executive Director, spent 10 years at NCOSE as Senior Director of Global Partnerships. Unusually, she never appears on any NCOSE 990 filing as an officer, key employee, or among the five highest-compensated staff. A senior director title at a $5.4M organization for a decade with no 990 appearance suggests either below-threshold compensation, an inflated title, or something else about the arrangement.
Dawn Hawkins, DCA's Chair, simultaneously serves as CEO of NCOSE.
John Read, DCA's Senior Policy Advisor, spent 30 years at the DOJ Antitrust Division investigating app stores and Big Tech.
NCOSE's own 501(c)(4) structure turns out to be complicated. Tracing Schedule R filings across four years reveals that NCOSE created "NCOSE Action" (EIN 86-2458921) as a c4 in 2021, reclassified it from c4 to c3 in 2022, then created an entirely new c4 called "Institute for Public Policy" (EIN 88-1180705) in 2023 with the same address and the same principal officer (Marcel van der Watt). By 2024 the original entity had disappeared from Schedule R entirely.
Despite NCOSE's website describing NCOSEAction as "created by NCOSE," and Schedule R listing the Institute as a "controlled organization," all 19 transaction indicators between NCOSE and the Institute are marked "No." No grants, no shared employees, no shared facilities, no reimbursements. Zero reported transactions between a parent and its own controlled c4 while staff move freely between them. Concurrently, NCOSE's lobbying spending tripled from $78,000 to $204,000, coinciding with DCA's launch and the ASAA legislative push.
$70M+ in super PACs, deliberately fragmented
Meta poured over $70 million into state-level super PACs and structured every one to avoid the FEC's centralized, searchable database:
|Entity|Meta's contribution|Type|Notable detail|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|ATEP|$45M|Bipartisan 527 PAC|Co-led by Hilltop Public Solutions|
|META California|$20M|State PAC|Chaired by Brian Rice, Meta VP of Public Policy|
|California Leads|$5M|State PAC|Union-partnered|
|Forge the Future|Downstream from ATEP|State PAC (TX)|Policy priorities mirror ASAA language|
|Making Our Tomorrow|Downstream from ATEP|State PAC (IL)|Also chaired by Brian Rice|
By registering every PAC at the state level rather than federally, Meta scatters filings across dozens of state ethics commission databases with different formats, different disclosure timelines, and no centralized search. Each filing is technically public. Aggregating them into a coherent picture requires manually querying each state. This is structural opacity by fragmentation.
Forge the Future's stated policy priorities include: "Empowering parents with oversight of children's online activities across devices and digital environments." That is functionally identical to the ASAA framing.
Of 20 Meta-backed candidates across Texas and North Carolina primaries, 19 won (Washington Post, March 12, 2026).
# The firm that bridges both tracks
This is the finding that connects two things I'd been tracking separately.
Hilltop Public Solutions, a Democratic consulting firm, shows up in three distinct contexts:
1. Co-leads ATEP, Meta's $45M bipartisan super PAC
2. Involved in DCA's messaging coordination, per investigative reporting
3. Connected to Forge the Future, the downstream Texas PAC with ASAA-aligned policy priorities
This makes Hilltop the first confirmed entity bridging Meta's political spending operation and the DCA advocacy campaign. The firm helping Meta elect "tech-friendly" state legislators also coordinates messaging for the nominally independent grassroots organization pushing those legislators to pass ASAA.
# The dark money network
Meta's Colorado lobbying runs through Headwaters Strategies, paid $338,500 since 2019, with monthly payments jumping from roughly $5K/month to $14K-$30K/month starting July 2023 as state-level age verification bills accelerated.
Headwaters co-founder Adam Eichberg simultaneously serves as a registered Meta lobbyist in Colorado, as Chair of the Board of the New Venture Fund (the flagship entity of the Arabella Advisors network, $669M revenue), and as founding board member of the Windward Fund (another Arabella entity, $311M revenue). The Arabella network operates four entities from the same building at 1828 L Street NW, Washington DC, with combined annual revenue exceeding $1.3 billion. NVF transfers $121.3M per year to the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501(c)(4) with no donor disclosure requirements.
I parsed the IRS Form 990 Schedule I filings across all five Arabella entities. That's 4,433 grants totaling approximately $2.0 billion. I searched for every child safety, age verification, and tech policy organization I could identify. Zero matches. The Schedule I grant pathway is definitively ruled out. If Meta money flows through this network, it would have to travel via fiscal sponsorship, consulting fees, or non-grant payments, which are inherently less transparent.
The Eichberg connection matters not because it proves a pipeline, but because the person receiving Meta's lobbying payments chairs the governance structure of the largest anonymous-donor-funded advocacy network in US politics. That structural overlap is documented regardless of whether money moves through it.
# The company that benefits
Meta's own Horizon OS (powering Quest VR headsets) already has Meta Account age verification, a Get Age Category API, Family Center parental controls, Quest Store age ratings, and default minor account protections. I scored Horizon OS at 83% compliance readiness with these mandates.
Meta is not opposing these bills. In Colorado, I pulled lobbying records from the Secretary of State's SODA API and found Meta's four registered lobbyists on SB26-051 listed in a "Monitoring" position. Not amending, not opposing. Watching.
On every social media regulation bill in Colorado, Meta takes an "Amending" position, actively fighting changes. Across 117 lobbying records on 22 bills:
* Bills regulating social media: Meta position is "Amending" (fighting)
* The one bill putting the burden on OS providers: Meta position is "Monitoring" (watching)
Meta fights bills that regulate Meta. Meta watches bills that regulate everyone else.
In California, Meta spent over $1 million on state lobbying in the first three quarters of 2025 and publicly supported AB-1043, breaking ranks with its own trade associations (TechNet and Chamber of Progress both opposed it). Meta supported a bill that creates surveillance infrastructure at the OS level while leaving social media platforms untouched.
Meta's LD-2 filings with the Senate explicitly list H.R. 3149/S. 1586, the App Store Accountability Act, as a lobbied bill. The filing narrative includes "protecting children, bullying prevention and online safety; youth safety and federal parental approval; youth restrictions on social media." In the same filing, Meta also lobbies on KOSA and COPPA 2.0, which would regulate Meta directly. Meta supports the bill that burdens its competitors and lobbies to weaken the bills that burden itself. Both positions appear in the same quarterly disclosure.
# The privacy questions
I've tried to present findings here, not conclusions. But from a privacy standpoint:
Why does the company that profits from collecting user data draft legislation requiring every operating system to collect age data and broadcast it to every installed application via a system-level API?
Why do these bills mandate commercial age verification vendors (Yoti, Veriff, Jumio) whose business model is collecting biometric data, while the EU's equivalent uses open-source zero-knowledge proofs that reveal nothing beyond "over 18"?
Why is there no data minimization requirement in any of these bills for the age verification data itself? AB-1043 creates a persistent age signal API. Who governs what happens to the data flowing through it?
Why does Meta fund an advocacy group with no legal existence in the IRS system to push legislation that creates new data collection infrastructure at a layer below Meta's own products, while Meta faces zero new requirements?
Why does the company whose lobbyist drafted one of these bills write it to specifically exclude social media platforms from the age verification mandate?
If the goal is child safety, why regulate the operating system, which has no direct contact with children, instead of the social media platforms where the documented harm occurs?
# What you can do
If you're in CO, IL, or NY, these bills are still in committee. Comment on the record. System76's CEO met with the Colorado bill's sponsor on March 9 and the sponsor suggested excluding open-source software. The conversation is happening now.
Contact the EFF, FSF, and Software Freedom Conservancy with the specific statutory language and compliance gap numbers. They need to know these definitions cover volunteer-maintained software with no exemption.
Read the actual bill text. CA AB-1043 is searchable on leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. CO SB26-051 is on leg.colorado.gov. The definitions are what matter, not the news summaries.
If you maintain software that could be classified as an "operating system provider" under these definitions, start thinking about your response now. CA AB-1043 takes effect January 1, 2027. Louisiana HB-570 takes effect July 1, 2026.
# Sources (all public records)
**Bill text:** CA AB-1043 (Chapter 675, leginfo.legislature.ca.gov), CO SB26-051 (leg.colorado.gov), LA HB-570 Act 481 of 2025 (legis.la.gov), NY S8102A (nysenate.gov), TX SB-2420, UT SB-142 (le.utah.gov)
**Federal lobbying:** OpenSecrets Meta profile (opensecrets.org, client ID D000033563), Senate LDA filing UUID b73445ed-15e5-42e7-a1e8-aeb224755267
**Colorado lobbying:** CO Secretary of State SODA API (data.colorado.gov, datasets vp65-spyn, dxfk-9ifj, df5p-p6jt)
**Louisiana lobbying:** LA Board of Ethics, F Minus database (fminus.org/clients/pelican-state-partners-llc/, fminus.org/clients/meta-platforms-inc/)
**California lobbying:** CalAccess (cal-access.sos.ca.gov), Bloomberg Government
**Super PACs:** Forge the Future (texasforgefuturepac.com), Texas Ethics Commission, Illinois State Board of Elections, Politico (Feb 2, 2026), Washington Post (Mar 12, 2026)
**DCA records:** WHOIS/RDAP (rdap.org), Wayback Machine CDX API (100+ snapshots), IRS EO BMF (eo1-eo4.csv), OpenCorporates, ProPublica, GuideStar
**NCOSE:** IRS Form 990 FY2020-FY2024 including Schedule R; NCOSEAction/Institute for Public Policy (EIN 88-1180705); original NCOSE Action (EIN 86-2458921) via Schedule R history
**For Good/Network for Good:** [forgood.org](http://forgood.org), DCA donation page source (targetable\_type=Project, targetable\_id=258136), For Good 990s via ProPublica (EIN 68-0480736, 59,736 recipients searched)
**IRS 990 filings:** ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: NVF (EIN 20-5806345), STF 2024 (sixteenthirtyfund.org), DCI (EIN 39-3684798), Windward, Hopewell, North Fund, NCOSE (EIN 13-2608326), ConnectSafely (EIN 47-3168168)
**Campaign finance:** CO TRACER bulk data (tracer.sos.colorado.gov), FollowTheMoney.org, FEC API (Meta PAC C00502906)
**Reporting:** Bloomberg (July 2025), Deseret News (Dec 2025), The Center Square, ACT | The App Association, Dome Politics, Pluribus News, [Nola.com](http://Nola.com), Privacy Daily
**EU framework:** EUR-Lex (Digital Services Act, eIDAS 2.0 Regulation), EUDIW GitHub repository, T-Scy consortium
**Technical:** freedesktop.org, GNOME/KDE documentation, Meta developer docs (developer.meta.com/horizon)
# Full dataset, OSINT tasklist, and all processed findings are published with sources embedded in each file: [github.com/upper-up/meta-lobbying-and-other-findings](https://github.com/upper-up/meta-lobbying-and-other-findings)
This is an ongoing investigation. Pending: Texas Ethics Commission records for Forge the Future expenditure recipients, NCOSEAction's first 990 filing, IRS Form 8872 for ATEP, and FOIA responses from Colorado and Louisiana. If you have access to lobbying data from states I haven't covered (IL, NY, UT, GA), I'd appreciate a heads up.
I am not claiming Meta wrote every one of these bills. Louisiana is confirmed by the sponsor; the others use a shared ICMEC template. I am not claiming there is a direct Arabella-to-DCA funding pipeline; I checked $2 billion in grants and found no evidence. I am not claiming child safety isn't a legitimate concern. What I am documenting is: the company whose lobbyist drafted HB-570 wrote it to exclude its own platforms; the advocacy group pushing these bills nationally has no legal existence and is confirmed funded by Meta; the same consulting firm bridges Meta's super PAC and DCA's messaging; none of these bills exempt open-source or non-commercial software while the EU equivalent does; and the mandatory age-signal API creates persistent surveillance infrastructure at the OS level with no data minimization requirements. The records are above. Draw your own conclusions.
This section documents what happened when this investigation was posted to Reddit, and provides context on Meta's documented history of using astroturfing, coordinated reporting, and platform manipulation to suppress unfavorable content.
# What happened
The original version of this investigation was posted to r/linux, where it was mass reported and pulled down pending moderator review **(150 upvotes, roughly 15k views before being pulled down some 40 minutes after being posted)**
The content that was suppressed names Meta lobbying firms, traces documented payments, cites Senate LD-2 filings, and links to IRS records. It identifies Hilltop Public Solutions as the first confirmed entity bridging Meta's $45M super PAC and the DCA astroturf campaign. This is the kind of content that a well-resourced actor would have reason to suppress.
I cannot prove the mass reports were coordinated rather than organic. That is the point of the tactic: Reddit's infrastructure makes it impossible to distinguish genuine community objections from manufactured ones, and it rewards the behavior either way by automatically removing the content.
# Meta has done this before
In March 2022, the Washington Post reported that Meta hired Targeted Victory, one of the largest Republican consulting firms in the country, to run a nationwide astroturfing campaign against TikTok. Internal emails obtained by the Post showed the campaign:
* Placed op-eds and letters to the editor in regional news outlets across the country, none of which disclosed the connection to Meta or Targeted Victory
* Promoted stories about dangerous TikTok "trends" that had actually originated on Facebook
* Pushed local politicians and political reporters to frame TikTok as a threat to children
* In an internal email, a campaign director wrote that the "dream would be to get stories with headlines like 'From dances to danger: how TikTok has become the most harmful social media space for kids'"
Meta's spokesman defended the campaign by saying "all platforms should face a level of scrutiny consistent with their growing success." Meta did not deny hiring the firm or directing the campaign. The story was confirmed by the Washington Post, Fortune, Variety, CBS News, Engadget, Tortoise Media, the Boston Globe, and Techdirt, among others.
This is not speculation about what Meta might do. This is what Meta has been publicly documented doing: hiring firms to plant stories, manufacture public concern about competitors using child safety as the framing, and conceal the corporate origin of the messaging. The Targeted Victory campaign and the DCA campaign use the same playbook: fund an outside entity to push messaging that serves Meta's commercial interests while hiding Meta's involvement.
# Reddit's bot and astroturfing problem is structural
Research published in Nature (Scientific Reports) documented coordinated political astroturfing patterns across platforms including Reddit. A separate study found that at least 15% of content in surveyed subreddits was posted by corporate trolls or bot accounts designed to manipulate public opinion.
Since June 2025, bot networks have been systematically exploiting Reddit and Meta's own moderation systems through mass reporting. Thousands of legitimate Facebook groups were deleted after coordinated bot reports triggered automated enforcement. The same mass-reporting tactic works on Reddit: a small number of accounts can file reports, trigger automated removal, and flag the poster's account for site-wide spam filtering, all without engaging with the content.
Venture-backed firms like Doublespeed now offer astroturfing-as-a-service across Reddit, TikTok, and Instagram, operating physical phone farms to bypass platform detection. The infrastructure for suppressing content through coordinated inauthentic behavior is commercially available.
# What this means for this investigation
Meta spent $26.3 million on federal lobbying in 2025 and deployed 86+ lobbyists across 45 states. It funded a nationally active advocacy group (DCA) with no legal existence in the IRS system. It hired Hilltop Public Solutions to simultaneously run its $45M super PAC and coordinate DCA's messaging. It previously hired Targeted Victory to run a covert astroturfing campaign against TikTok using child safety as the narrative frame.
This investigation documents all of that with primary sources. A post containing those findings was mass reported on Reddit within hours and suppressed site-wide by automated systems. Whether the reports were organic or coordinated, the outcome is the same: the content was removed from the platform where Meta has both the motive and the documented capability to suppress it.
The research is published in a git repository with every source embedded. It does not depend on Reddit's infrastructure to survive.
# Sources
* Washington Post, "Facebook paid Republican strategy firm to malign TikTok" (March 30, 2022): [https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/30/facebook-tiktok-targeted-victory/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/30/facebook-tiktok-targeted-victory/)
* Fortune, "Meta paid a Republican consulting firm to turn the public against TikTok" (March 31, 2022): [https://fortune.com/2022/03/31/facebook-meta-paid-republican-consulting-firm-targeted-victory-turn-public-opinion-against-tiktok/](https://fortune.com/2022/03/31/facebook-meta-paid-republican-consulting-firm-targeted-victory-turn-public-opinion-against-tiktok/)
* Variety, "Facebook Parent Company Defends Its PR Campaign to Portray TikTok as Threat to American Children" (March 31, 2022): [https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/meta-facebook-tiktok-pr-campaign-1235218866/](https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/meta-facebook-tiktok-pr-campaign-1235218866/)
* Techdirt, "Facebook-Hired PR Firm Coordinated Anti-TikTok Campaign To Spread Bogus Moral Panics" (March 31, 2022): [https://www.techdirt.com/2022/03/31/facebook-hired-pr-firm-coordinated-anti-tiktok-campaign-to-spread-bogus-moral-panics/](https://www.techdirt.com/2022/03/31/facebook-hired-pr-firm-coordinated-anti-tiktok-campaign-to-spread-bogus-moral-panics/)
* Tortoise Media, "Meta 'astroturfed' TikTok" (April 5, 2022): [https://www.tortoisemedia.com/2022/04/05/meta-astroturfed-tiktok](https://www.tortoisemedia.com/2022/04/05/meta-astroturfed-tiktok)
* CBS News, "Report: Facebook Hired PR Firm To Smear TikTok": [https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/report-facebook-hired-pr-firm-to-smear-tiktok/](https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/report-facebook-hired-pr-firm-to-smear-tiktok/)
* Engadget, "Meta reportedly paid political consultants to smear TikTok": [https://www.engadget.com/meta-targeted-victory-tiktok-smear-campaign-133139892.html](https://www.engadget.com/meta-targeted-victory-tiktok-smear-campaign-133139892.html)
* Boston Globe, "Facebook paid GOP firm to malign TikTok, internal e-mails reveal" (March 30, 2022): [https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/03/30/business/facebook-paid-gop-firm-malign-tiktok-internal-e-mails-reveal/](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/03/30/business/facebook-paid-gop-firm-malign-tiktok-internal-e-mails-reveal/)
* Georgetown Free Speech Project, "Facebook hires GOP consulting firm to smear rival TikTok": [https://freespeechproject.georgetown.edu/tracker-entries/facebook-hires-gop-consulting-firm-in-dc-area-to-smear-rival-tiktok/](https://freespeechproject.georgetown.edu/tracker-entries/facebook-hires-gop-consulting-firm-in-dc-area-to-smear-rival-tiktok/)
* Nature Scientific Reports, "Coordination patterns reveal online political astroturfing across the world" (2022): [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-08404-9](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-08404-9)
* Medium/HR News, "Study: At Least 15% of All Reddit Content is Corporate Trolls": [https://medium.com/@hrnews1/study-at-least-15-of-all-reddit-content-is-corporate-trolls-trying-to-manipulate-public-opinion-49cb302c26a5](https://medium.com/@hrnews1/study-at-least-15-of-all-reddit-content-is-corporate-trolls-trying-to-manipulate-public-opinion-49cb302c26a5)
* TechCrunch, "Facebook Group admins complain of mass bans" (June 24, 2025): [https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/24/facebook-group-admins-complain-of-mass-bans-meta-says-its-fixing-the-problem/](https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/24/facebook-group-admins-complain-of-mass-bans-meta-says-its-fixing-the-problem/)
* YNet News, "Public opinion for sale: The new startup causing a storm" (Doublespeed): [https://www.ynetnews.com/tech-and-digital/article/hyraenbmzx](https://www.ynetnews.com/tech-and-digital/article/hyraenbmzx)
* Meta Transparency Center, "Inauthentic Behavior" policy: [https://transparency.meta.com/policies/community-standards/inauthentic-behavior/](https://transparency.meta.com/policies/community-standards/inauthentic-behavior/)
* The Hacker News, "Meta Disrupts Influence Ops Targeting Romania, Azerbaijan, and Taiwan" (May 2025): [https://thehackernews.com/2025/05/meta-disrupts-influence-ops-targeting.html](https://thehackernews.com/2025/05/meta-disrupts-influence-ops-targeting.html)
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1rshc1f/i_traced_2_billion_in_nonprofit_grants_and_45/Hey guys,
This is Alex from NOODL. I made a post here a year ago about opening my instant ramen shop, and I wanted to give you an update along with some interesting facts about what happened and how we're doing.
First, before the Reddit post, I was very stressed. I was hoping that in the first few weeks the foot traffic alone would give us a lot of business, but boy, was I wrong. Only a handful of people were coming in every day. We were making $30-60 per day for the first few weeks — people just didn't really understand the concept. This is the first business I've ever started. I'm 35, my background is IT/cybersecurity, but I also worked in retail for a very well-known company in Quebec. I had picked up some tricks and ideas from working there, but getting people through the door was something I didn't know how to do.
Anyway, here's what happened in the first year. We started getting some regulars — the power of word of mouth is incredibly important. So far we're still rocking a perfect 5-star review average. Why? Well, we just treat our customers like friends. We recommend which ramen (we've tried them all) and which toppings, we don't really push anything, and we don't try to upsell at every step. We interact and we're friendly. I'm pretty introverted, but I like those 10-15 minutes of "being friends." We've built up new regulars and now we see them once a week. That's a side of retail I hadn't really seen before.
While building our regular base, we had a "BIG" influencer come in and make a video, and that changed everything. It sent us so, so much traffic during the winter. He made two videos about us — it was insane, but also a real test of the store's limits. It's been more than eight months now and we're still getting people from those videos. That helped a lot.
We've been optimizing: phasing out things people don't like, adding new toppings, and we now offer ice cream and slushies (Mango and Sakura Guava). My partners and I have slowed down a bit because we're very, very tired — we all work other jobs while operating this shop. It's not easy, but we're making it work. So many times I wanted to sell the whole thing or just close down out of exhaustion. The level of commitment and energy it takes to open and operate a retail store in a very specialized market is... hard.
Anyway, we're still up and running! Our sales have been going up, and we've introduced so many people to instant ramen — for many of them it was their first time ever, from young kids to very old people. We've convinced some people that not all instant ramen is pure trash; there are some very good ones. None of them are particularly healthy, but it's not radioactive food like some thought.
Some fun facts about what we learned during the year:
* We thought our demographic would be teens/students and nearby workers, but no! Our biggest demographic seems to be kids between 8 and 13 coming in with their parents.
* There are fewer "hyper spicy" fans than we expected, so we had to dial down our spicy ramen and keep things at a more general, not-too-spicy level.
* We had to switch from raw eggs to hard-boiled eggs because people were creating a fire hazard.
* A lot of people forget to stir their food while it's cooking, so we have to remind them constantly (we need to work on our signage).
* Snacks aren't very popular, so we now keep more sweet stuff for the after-lunch crowd.
* Pouch drinks are a big hit! People actually get excited about them. I thought they'd be a gimmick or a fad, but they're still loving them (Café Béné Bluelemon is very popular).
* People who come in are very willing to try something new. Most of them don't recognize any of our brands except for the few popular ones.
* Some people are very frugal, others build very expensive bowls, but our average bowl runs between $12 and $15.
And here are some fun facts about our sales:
Best-selling stir-fry of all time: Buldak Carbonara (no surprise)
Best-selling soup of all time: Shin Black (with Shin Gold very close behind)
Second best-selling stir-fry: Nongshim Beef Bulgogi (I really love it)
Second best-selling soup: Nongshim Miso Clay Pot (also vegan!)
The biggest single bowl ever sold to one person: two Cung Dinh Kool Pho packs, 3 chicken (50g each), 2 bok choy (40g each), 1 hard-boiled egg, 1 mushroom (30g), 1 edamame (50g), and 1 tofu (40g).
Most popular combinations by demographic:
Teens: Buldak Carbo + mozzarella
Kids: The Ramen Way Fans Chicken + corn
"I don't know what I want": Shin Black + beef + bok choy
"Adult being dragged along by their kid": Shin + Beef + bok choy + corn
So what's next? We're planning to do catering eventuall we need more money to buy the equipment, but we want to do corporate events, weddings (as the late-night snack!), conventions and birthday parties. We think it could be fun! Hopefully this year we'll be profitable so I can start paying my two partners, who have been with me on this adventure since the start. Without them I would have failed 100%, no question. I love them both very much for all the hard work they've put into this.
If you have any questions, shoot. AMA!
EDIT1 : Here our social media, if you can help us by following us if you want: [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/noodlmtl/)
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1uzzo4b**My coworker won’t stop complaining about my tattoos**
**Originally posted to Ask A Manager**
**TRIGGER WARNING:** >!Hostile work environment, body shaming, verbal abuse!<
**MOOD SPOILER:** >!shocking but ultimately positive!<
[Original Post](https://www.askamanager.org/2019/06/coworker-complains-about-my-tattoos-sabotaged-by-another-hotels-manager-and-more.html) **June 3, 2019**
I started a new job in December; Carol started in February. We work for a small company, with six of us in production. We’re not customer-facing in any way. Carol was fine with me until the weather warmed up and I wore short sleeves, at which point she discovered that I have tattoos. She took me aside that same day to tell me how unprofessional she thought I was for having them. I pointed out that workplace norms are changing in general, and that our particular workplace doesn’t care. It didn’t matter, they were unprofessional, and that was that. (For reference, we’re both women in our 50’s — Carol is actually eight months younger than I am. I’m not the only one with ink, but I am the only woman, and the shipping guys are in another building, so she probably doesn’t realize that both of them do too.)
Since then she has spoken to me repeatedly about them, and when I refused to engage (I started with a briskly cheerful “So you’ve said — I disagree,” then “You’ve said, and I’m not talking about this anymore,” and am now just ignoring her muttering) she’s taken to talking to herself about it. She’s also has gone to three of coworkers to complain about them. Those ladies are all senior to us, but beyond keeping an eye on the production schedule, they are not supervisory in any way. We think she’d like me to cover them, but she knows she doesn’t have the standing to say that, and I don’t have any reason to. They’re not offensive — one set is flowers, the other is a geometric-ish paisley, and nobody here cares.
I’m dreading summer; this is an elderly building and poorly air-conditioned, and I’m told tank tops and shorts are the norm. She’s going to be really wound out when she figures out the gauntlets she dislikes so much are actually full sleeves. (Plus the edges of a few others that will show.)
Our HR person is very part time, and mostly for onboarding/benefit type things. I can go to our owner, who I think would be responsive, but his feels like something I should be able to handle on my own, and so far I’m having no luck. Can you provide any advice on a one-last-try script at shutting her down on the topic? Or should I just go straight to BossLady?
[Update](https://www.askamanager.org/2019/06/update-coworker-complains-about-my-tattoos.html) **June 27, 2019 (3 weeks later)**
So, the situation with Carol has been resolved. I actually spoke to her the same day you posted my letter; I ran into her in the break room and she started in again. I interrupted her and said, “That’s enough. I have asked you politely and now I’m telling you – stop commenting on my tattoos. They don’t come off, I’m not going to cover them, and they’re not against the rules here. Your obsession with my skin is really weird, and I don’t appreciate it. This is the last conversation I intend to have with you about this.”
She was pretty taken aback that *I* thought *she* was being weird, but i didn’t give her a chance to keep going, I just went back to work. She didn’t speak to (or about) me for the rest of the week. By the next week she had settled on stilted pass-the-salt style conversation, but only if it was a group thing; she still wouldn’t speak to me personally. Since we don’t work on the same projects, this didn’t have any impact on my workflow, so I was ok with chilly silence. It beat the nagging, for sure!
Then we went onsite to do an installation. We were warned that it would be hot and cramped, and to dress in layers we could shed. Of course, the inevitable happened. Carol and I ended up on different teams, and when we met for the mid-morning team swap, most of us were down to a tank top, me included. Carol got one good look and flipped out. She berated me about my lack of professionalism “in someone else’s workplace”, and caused enough of a ruckus that Jane came to see what was going on. Carol went off on Jane about my “continued and blatant” lack of professionalism, but Jane shut her down pretty sharply. The teams were reshuffled as planned, and Carol got put on Jane’s team. Apparently she took that as an invitation to keep going, and asked Jane why she hired me, and then why she tolerated me. (Jane’s answer: “I hired her for her skill, not her skin.” Jane may be my new favorite boss!) Then she accused *Jane* of a lack of professionalism for doing so.
About an hour after the team swap, Joe (the other owner) came in the company car with the HR lady (on her day off!) and took Carol back to the workshop. She apparently stewed all the way back (or read the handwriting on the wall), and when they got back, she got out of the car, declared that she couldn’t continue to work for such an unprofessional organization, that she had her own reputation to look after, even if we didn’t care about ours, got in her car, and left. That was the last we’ve seen of her, although there has been a scathing review posted to Glassdoor since then.
The next day, Jane had individual meetings with all of us, and the day after that a workroom staff meeting. We (myself and the three senior ladies that Carol had gone to to complain) were chastised for letting it go as far as it did without giving Jane a heads up, even if it was a ‘this is a thing but I’m handling it’ warning. The senior most coworker pointed out that none of them really had any power to do anything, and that has now changed. There is now a designated ‘workroom supervisor’, and an end of the week ‘how are things?’ check-in between that person and Jane.
The workroom is a much calmer place now, and interviews for Carol’s replacement start next week. Also, a formal tattoo/piercings/hair color policy is being added to our employee handbook; basically, anything goes as long as it’s safe to have around machinery and not offensive. All in all, it’s been a learning experience – for all of us, I think.
Thanks for your advice – I really appreciated the framework for my response to Carol.
**THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP**
**DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7**
https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/1qo4gui/my_coworker_wont_stop_complaining_about_my_tattoos/THE WORLD:
▸ Hundreds of interiors. I asked about the old 700 interiors rumour and didn't get a specific number, but hundreds was confirmed.
▸ Safehouse interactivity is extensive. I watched Rob eat an apple and then throw the core in the bin. He shaved at the bathroom mirror. Hair can be cut shorter at home but not grown.
▸ There's a zoo.
▸ Drive thrus are in.
▸ At one point in development you had to buy groceries. They cut it as a step too far, but you can still buy snacks and drinks. Rob bought the six pack Jason is holding in Trailer 2.
▸ Fast travel: bus stops, train stations, trams, taxis, and RydeMe, the Uber equivalent.
▸ Scooter Bros lets you call your personal vehicle to you. That was never possible in GTA 5 single player.
▸ Phone apps seen: BuckMe, RydeMe, Scooter Bros, WhatUp, Waink, a fitness app, and Snapmatic.
▸ Social media is fully implemented. NPCs post, and for some posts you can travel to that location and find the event actually unfolding in real time.
▸ Greet and antagonise is back, usable on any NPC.
▸ No Rockstar Editor at the time I saw it. There is a photo mode.
▸ Streamer mode exists. A toggle to disable copyrighted music. I asked specifically and they showed me where it sits in the menu.
▸ No radio wheel. You scroll stations one at a time. There's a separate on demand tab with podcasts.
▸ The TV system is far more built out than GTA 5's. Rockstar hired outside animators to produce in game shows.
▸ Mission waypoints are pink. Custom waypoints are cyan.
▸ The map is twice the size of GTA 5's and three times RDR2's playable area. Vice City alone is twice Los Santos, and Vice City with its surrounding built up area is roughly eleven times the built up area around Los Santos.
▸ It's pronounced Leonida. Lee-Oh-Nigh-Da
\- Rob and the team told me that if you see someone walking their dog and the dog does its business, you can wait for the owner to pick it up in a bag, hit them so they drop it, then pick the bag up yourself and throw it at people. That is the level they are going to.
POLICE & HEAT:
▸ Police no longer appear on the minimap at all. This was deliberate, and Focus is the intended replacement. It reveals police through walls.
▸ Rob: "It can be harder, but it's fun. Depending on the wanted level, you have to think more. You can't just play the game and avoid the little vision cones anymore. This time, you have to use focus."
▸ Someone has to actually witness and report a crime for police to respond. Rob said that happens by phone, by triggering an alarm during a robbery, or by stealing a vehicle with a tracker that reports itself.
▸ New system layered under the wanted stars called Heat.
▸ Rob: "We wanted to get past that thing we used to have where you could lose the cops instantaneously and then they forget about you instantly. And we wanted them to have a bit more persistent memory."
▸ Heat indicators sit below the stars and show exactly what police know about you. CCTV footage, that you're operating as a couple, your outfits, your appearance, your weapons, your vehicle.
▸ Each indicator can be addressed separately. Destroy the footage, split Jason and Lucia up, change outfits at your vehicle, mask up before the crime, stash the weapon you were seen with.
▸ Splitting up as a couple can drop a star on its own.
▸ Solid white stars mean police have direct line of sight on you. That's when you need to break away.
▸ Flashing white means you've broken line of sight and are actively losing them.
▸ Hollow stars mean an alarm went off but police have no description of you at all. In the Extended Look, Lucia rides straight past cops with hollow stars and flips them off. Nothing happens.
▸ Red stars mean you've technically lost them but you're still inside the search zone. They don't know where you are, but they know who they're looking for.
▸ The search zone renders on the minimap as a red area, with a larger, lighter red ring outside it. Clearing both is the cleanest escape.
▸ At the highest wanted level, police search map wide instead of by radius.
▸ Fail a store robbery and they'll set up a perimeter around the shop in case you come back. I watched this happen.
▸ Every police vehicle has a shotgun or assault rifle in the boot, and often body armour. You can loot them mid shootout, which makes them a genuine early game weapon source.
▸ During a shootout on Vice Beach, NPCs who were too close to escape safely crouched and hid behind cop cars, walls and benches rather than running. That is not GTA 5 behaviour.
▸ All cop cars carry trackers, so escaping in one is nearly impossible.
I watched Rob attempt a store robbery and fail it, narrating his decisions the whole way. He knocked the clerk down without killing her, spotted the CCTV and destroyed the footage, realised someone had already called it in, hunted for a safe code he couldn't find, and walked away empty handed. His summary afterwards is the clearest picture of how this game actually plays:
"Sometimes it's about cutting your losses. I took the mask off. I destroyed the footage. We're essentially fine. But if I stayed in there, the cops would have come in. There they are. They're setting up a perimeter around the shop. That really plays on your mind. You're gambling. If they come in, am I going to shoot them? Is it going to affect my criminal profile? Do I care? Don't I?"
VEHICLES:
▸ Hijacking a car with a driver now triggers a quick time event to pull them out. If there's a passenger, they'll fight to wrestle you out too.
▸ Parked cars give you a loud option and a quiet one. Smash the window, or use a slim jim.
▸ Smashing sets off the alarm, and if the car has security, police can be alerted.
▸ Vehicles are stratified by security level. Rob: "You don't need anything to hotwire, but not all vehicles can be hotwired. We've added some stratification to the vehicles. Some vehicles need a key cloner to start. You can smash the window and get in, but you can't start it without the key cloner. If you have a key cloner, you can also use it to get in and start the vehicle without setting off the alarm."
▸ Theft tools unlock through fence work rather than being available from the start. Rob: "Throughout the world, as we do things for them, we unlock things. A lot of the things you're seeing me use here, like the slim jim, has been unlocked by the point I am here in flow."
▸ There's a scanning app on the phone called Waink.
▸ Scan a car before touching it and it shows security level, which tool you'll need, tracker tier, cost to register it as yours, and resale value.
▸ Rob, showing me an expensive car: "This vehicle has an alarm on it and a standard tracker."
▸ Tracker removal requires fence progression. I watched Rob steal a car he wanted to keep and be unable to register it, because he hadn't unlocked that ability yet.
▸ Higher tier trackers have a speed mechanic. Drive fast and they stay quiet. Slow down and they start beeping. Stay slow too long and they ping your position to police.
▸ Mod shops all have specialities. Rob: "All the mod shops have different specialties, and there's a lot of mod shops. Almost all of them will do basic things, but no one mod shop does everything. Just like every hair salon has standard styles, and then they have signature styles that are unique only to them."
▸ Pay'n'Sprays are back and deliberately simple. Repair and respray into a handful of basic colours. They exist to shed the vehicle heat indicator, not to customise.
▸ Rob: "Car fences and Pay'n'Sprays are not necessarily available at the start of the game. Some of this stuff unlocks over time because of the way the narrative unfolds."
▸ You cannot buy safehouses. You can buy garages.
▸ Rob: "I can have as many personal vehicles as I have storage spaces in garages that I buy. So you could buy a storage garage for a few thousand bucks, steal a $50,000 car, and stash it there, and it'll be safe even though it's not yours until you have the means to register it and make it yours."
▸ Safehouses unlock through story progression instead. They aren't permanent fixtures, because Jason and Lucia are on the run and it wouldn't make sense for them to own property police can knock on.
▸ Fuel is real. Gas stations also repair your vehicle.
▸ Refuelling is a short hold R2 sequence, around ten seconds.
▸ They knew it would be divisive.
▸ Fuel only really bites if you grab a random car mid getaway without checking it.
▸ Driving has been rebuilt from scratch. Rob: "Only in the best way possible. The team has worked hard to maintain some of the best parts of the weightiness and feel of GTA 4, but have the accessibility of GTA 5. It has all been built up from scratch on this hardware, and they have much more control tuning drivetrain, tires, suspension, steering. All of that is getting applied to the physics model."
▸ Rob: "The driving's been completely rebuilt from the ground up. All of the cars are very different, very different feel. You can reach much higher top speeds in the fast ones. Powerful rear-wheel drive cars feel great. Muscle cars and things like that, you do have to be a little bit more careful on the throttle with some of them. Also, traffic density is crazy compared to previous games. Also, the roads are narrower than GTA 5, so you've got to maybe try and drive a little better because you're just squeezing through sometimes. The vehicle team has gone bananas on this one."
▸ Taking a supercar off road is genuinely difficult now. Right car for the right job.
▸ Duffel bag storage scales with the vehicle. Bikes carry none beyond what you're holding, cars a couple, vans and trucks considerably more. Your getaway vehicle is now a real decision.
▸ Vehicle recovery runs through Scooter Bros. Rob: "You can always get your own vehicle back through Scooter Brothers for not too much money. If you left it when the cops are after you and they know it was your vehicle, they stick around it. So you can either try and sneak back and steal it from under them, or if you leave it too long, they'll impound it and it'll cost more to get it out, or you'll have to steal it back from the impound."
▸ Shooting tyres is properly effective. Cars flip and lose control rather than shrugging it off.
▸ Crash cams trigger on major collisions. Toggleable.
▸ Handbrake has moved to X on PlayStation, because L1 and R1 are now shooting while driving.
▸ Every vehicle has a weapon crate.
▸ The vehicle menu tab lets you drop a convertible roof, open the trunk and so on.
CRIMINAL PROFILE:
▸ It's not the RDR2 honour system and it isn't a morality meter.
▸ Several named states, running from Professional down through increasingly violent ones to Psycho.
▸ Below those is a further state where the icon visibly cracks and shatters. That's irreversible for the playthrough.
▸ It isn't there to punish you. My read was that Rockstar steps back if you clearly don't want the system. Notifications can also be turned off entirely.
▸ Part of the reasoning came from RDR2, where you could kill hundreds of people and then greet and pet your way back to sainthood before Chapter 6.
▸ There's no bar. It's states, not a slider.
▸ Jason and Lucia have completely separate Criminal Profiles. You can run one as a professional and the other as a psycho in the same playthrough.
▸ Visible bottom right during play, and in a dedicated Jason and Lucia menu tab that also shows their character models and relationship status.
▸ Rob on whether it affects the story: "It may, depending on how you play. There's no right or wrong way to play the game, just a bit more choice. Now, how do you want to play this game if your actions may have some impact on things? You can still cause as much chaos as you want if that's what you want to do."
▸ I pushed on whether this fundamentally changes what GTA is. He disagreed: "I don't think it changes what GTA is. It changes what it can be for people who want to engage with it that way. You still have as much freedom as you had before. Now you can just do more, and you have more choice in terms of how you approach situations."
▸ On raising it: "Restraint. Control. So doing a robbery and controlling the people, the situation, not killing or injuring anyone unless you have to. Essentially just doing what you need to do and not being excessive. If someone crosses you and you have to deal with them, you were just doing what you needed to do, if you care about that sort of thing. If you don't want to play that way though, that's fine as well."
▸ I asked what he was most proud of that people might not notice on day one: "The way the whole thing works together. We've got a lot of very complicated systems working in an interconnected way. You can forget that it's a game that's been designed to try and work this way. I think it sort of allows you to roleplay as heavily or as lightly as you want to. The idea that you have a fair amount of choice now in terms of the way you can approach situations, you can still cause as much carnage as you can imagine. How does it make you feel if it has an impact on certain things? Do you still want to do it? Do you want to do it more? Do you want to do it less? Do you care at all? It's up to you and what matters to you."
RELATIONSHIPS:
▸ Same design as Criminal Profile. No bar, no live meter. Rob described it as stages or states you can be in rather than a number moving up and down.
▸ Dates are entirely dynamic. Rob: "The system is dynamic, so you sort of make your own dates. It's however you want to spend time. Some people want to go to the zoo and look at animals, or go kayaking, or walk down the beach together. You can do all of these things dynamically when you're just hanging out."
▸ No fixed date structure like San Andreas or GTA 4.
▸ Both characters can text each other, including saying goodnight. Holding hands is an interaction.
▸ The gym doubles as a date if you go together.
MONEY & ROBBERIES:
▸ Three money types. Bank balance is safe and managed through BuckMe, a Cash App parody. Cash on hand is lost on death. Duffel bag loot is worthless until fenced.
▸ You cannot deposit cash from your phone. You have to physically go to an ATM.
▸ Several tiers of robbery, scaling from local stores up through jewellery stores and banks to compounds and full heists. Armoured vans around the map as well.
▸ Low tier stores don't blip on the map. Higher tiers can appear with an estimated payout you can hover over before committing.
▸ Rob on discovery: "People may approach you and ask a favour and give you a tip in return. Someone you meet during the story may tip you off. Sometimes you may be led to them by something that happens while you're out and about in the world, and so you learn about them emergently. We'll tell you the possibility for a bank. We've got smaller payday loan places that you can hit. And these are just the places we point out. The little gas stations and stuff are not even on here. So this is a big part of the game, and then the story is woven through it."
▸ Rob: "You can try and rob any store that you walk into, not just money-making opportunities that are blipped on the map. There are lots and lots of compounds that you find out about either through the flow, or tips from people you meet, or just by stumbling across them. And you can go and hit them for drugs or cash, and then you take it to a fence. You can do these robberies by yourself or you can do them together. Making money this way off mission is an important part of the game."
▸ Safes need codes, and there are multiple ways to get them. You can search the room, or a fence can text you one directly. I watched that happen.
▸ The store Rob tried to rob had a back room covered wall to wall in feet pics, including the computer screen he needed the password from. Watching a Rockstar developer hunt for a safe code in that room is going to stay with me.
▸ Store clerks, security and civilians can try to be a hero and physically intervene. I saw this several times.
▸ Every store plays differently. Some have back doors, some don't, some have cameras, some have safes.
▸ Fences are specialised by loot type. Drugs, jewellery, cars, and others. They unlock as the story progresses, so early on you may have no way to move high value goods at all.
▸ Money gates the story. Rob: "There are also spots where we actually slow down the flow or stop the flow until you hit certain cash goals that they need for certain things. You have to do some of this. We're trying to balance that for people that just want the story, but sometimes the story needs a minute to breathe, for events to settle down or to open up some new contacts in terms of connecting with the characters and the story. If that's what you like to do, you'll really get out what you put in with this one."
▸ Rob directly acknowledged the GTA 5 problem of finishing the story with tens of millions and nothing meaningful to spend it on.
▸ You can register stolen street cars as personal vehicles for a fee, but not high end ones at the start.
GUNPLAY & WEAPONS:
▸ Auto aim is gone as a default. Rob: "A little bit of stickiness but leaning more on a free aim feel. All tuneable in options. But definitely less of a default lock on aim than previous games. With the combat focus, where you can slow it down, it's very controllable, but without having enemies on the radar and the mini-map, and without having the auto-aim as default, you can balance the combat a lot in a way that feels better."
▸ Enemies in general aren't on the minimap, not just police. I haven't seen this covered elsewhere.
▸ Focus slows time and highlights weak points. Red for lethal, yellow for non lethal. On vehicles it marks the engine block, gas tank and tyres.
▸ Hit markers are white for a hit, yellow for incapacitated, red for a kill.
▸ Rob on the yellow marker: "That yellow X means she is down, she's not getting back up. She's not a threat. I don't have to kill her if I don't want to."
▸ The screen border flashes yellow when you knock someone out in melee, so the feedback isn't only inside Focus.
▸ Two concealed handguns, always. Two long guns is possible, but you can't stow both.
▸ Rob: "You can't put both on your back. One goes in your off hand, one on your back if you want to carry two. People will react to you if you are rolling around like that."
▸ On storage: "You can store the long guns you are carrying in any vehicle you want, but only your personal vehicle carries your entire selected loadout. A temporary vehicle is not persistent though."
▸ NPCs react in tiers. Rob: "It depends. The reactions are much more nuanced than before. So, if you've got a long gun on your back, you should be fine. If you've got one in your hand, people don't like it, and they react and start moving away from you. The more guns you carry and the way you carry them matters. If cops see you they will give you a warning. If you hold a long arm in both hands as though you are ready to fire it, things begin to escalate."
▸ I watched this myself. Jason walked past a group with a two handed weapon lowered. Nobody screamed or scattered. They quietly started walking away, then jogged once they were out of his line of sight.
▸ On why it changed, Rob: "Yeah, you know what, we don't feel that works any longer at this resolution, with the behavioural sophistication we need from our population now. In GTA 5 you can pull out a shotgun from nowhere in front of people and they don't react. That doesn't work here."
▸ Aim at someone and, in Rob's words, "they'll freak out and run, or pull their own concealed weapons on me."
▸ Weapons have real weight now. I watched a rifle shootout on Shore Drive and Rob was tap firing constantly. You can't hold the trigger and stay accurate the way you could in GTA 5.
▸ Jason and Lucia can hand weapons to each other. Physically walk up and pass a gun across.
▸ Pistol fire rate is unlocked. Tap as fast as you can pull.
▸ Kill cams, RDR2 and Max Payne style. Toggleable.
▸ Quick weapon swapping is in.
MOVEMENT:
▸ Cover stays on R1. Rob: "Cover is still on R1, but the crouch is pretty effective as well. I like crouch because you can still strafe. We've got a good quick swap now for guns."
▸ Crouch is a separate state from cover. Prone doesn't appear to be in.
▸ Shoulder switching returns from RDR2.
SIDE ACTIVITIES:
▸ All of it is optional. You can finish the entire game without setting foot in a gym. Engage and you get modest boosts to health, stamina and focus.
▸ You buy a membership at the gym's front desk. There are vending machines near the change rooms with a long item list.
▸ Rob bought Lucia a protein shake for a temporary stamina and strength boost so she could push more reps.
▸ Each completed exercise fills the workout ring by a third. Complete the ring and you get a timed health or strength boost.
▸ Equipment I saw: treadmill, punching bag, squats, lat pulldowns, bench press, deadlifts.
▸ Rob on how lifting feels: "The way this weight lifting mechanic feels pretty good, it's consistent across a lot of exercises as well. So, it's L2 R2 to go up and down. It's sensitive, so you pull it down, then you let it go, deadlifts you want to drop fast. But the stamina is going down as I'm doing this, so it's a little bit of a balance to get through your set before stamina drains. That's why you want to have an energy drink or coffee to buff your stamina before you start."
▸ Bring your partner and you get a two for one. Rob: "Your partner will go and workout while you workout, so it's like an emergent date."
▸ Cardio raises overall stamina. Strength work raises health.
▸ Fishing is as deep as RDR2 but catch and release. Rob: "You can't take the fish with you because it didn't fit this game."
▸ On the split between them, Rob: "Fishing is for fun and some narrative, collectible, challenge stuff. Hunting is for money and it's through a character that knows Jason."
▸ Your body changes. Rob: "You get heavy if you eat too much, but you have to actually go eat quite a bit. You will lose muscle if you have a lot and you stop maintaining it."
▸ Sleep is tracked. Rob: "It will say whether you're well rested or not. That will have some effect on regens of certain attributes. We track lots of things, all this good stuff."
▸ Also confirmed: basketball, pool, mini golf, backyard wrestling, a proper walkable shooting range. Basketball is aim, hold R2, time the shot.
▸ Swimming has its own lung capacity bar. The stamina bar visibly swaps to it as you enter water.
https://www.reddit.com/r/GTA6/comments/1w7ow99/my_entire_gta_6_preview_summarized/**I am not The OOP, OOP is u/Top_Manufacturer_620**
**My (30 F) spouse (35 M) has been acting incredibly strange. Do I need to help him or do I need to escape?**
**Originally posted to r/relationship_advice and OOP's own page**
[BoRU 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/s/5jCVpgbNRB) **Posted by u/swtogirl**
[BoRU 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/s/ZM6BAnA6HU) **Posted by u/swtogirl**
**TRIGGER WARNING:** >!Physical and verbal abuse, mental health crises!<
**MOOD SPOILER:** >!Dark and stressful!<
[Original Post](https://www.reddit.com/r/relationship_advice/s/JzSTLoae8H) **July 14, 2024**
Sorry about formatting, I’m on mobile and I’m really shaken up as I write this.
My (30F) spouse (35M) has been experiencing behaviour that has only become increasingly concerning. In the past two months now, he has been talking about things that he claims are happening but he’s never mentioned before.
As some background info, when his behaviour first starting getting concerning, I managed to convince him to go the hospital to get checked out for his mental health. He wasn’t even seen by a doctor and he was told he just needs to take a certain medicine to help him sleep. The issue is he also smokes weed so this medicine does not mix well with that. He won’t quit smoking. We also have two very young kids.
Back to the weird recent behaviour, he claims he had an old email with an inheritance that got hacked and he needs access to it. I tried helping him get on it but he hasn’t used it in literally the 12 years we’ve been together, I only knew of its existence previously when I helped him switch his Facebook login and that was an email attached. Another example is that he believes everyone is talking about him to me and everyone else, I mean literally everyone else. He thinks there’s some sort big thing planned to hurt him or do something horrible to him soon and that we’re all on it.
On a few other separate occasions he’s asked about a “show” that “we’re on” and asked how much money I’m being paid to keep a secret. He also thinks I’m having secret phone calls and that I’ve apparently left the room to accept these calls, which then results in me coming back crying about something I’ve apparently discussed on the phone.
Whenever I try to explain to him that none of this is happening, he fights back saying that I’m just lying to him and to tell him the truth. That I need to tell him the truth or something bad is going to happen.
It’s gotten so bad, he ended up getting fired from his job because he was barely showing up. He kept going to the cop station to make a report instead of going to work. After he got fired there was some sort of tense situation where they ended up calling a wellness check for him, because they were afraid he’s going to come back and hurt someone. The cops showed up while I was also home and he said he wouldn’t hurt someone, he only acts in defense.
In the recent weeks, he’s gone from screaming at me demanding answers to just not talking to me at all. At this point I’d rather he just not interact with me.
The reason I’m writing this is because of what happened today. It was a nice day out and I asked if he would come with me for a walk with our kids, to which he agreed to. He barely spoke a word to me or the kids on this walk, and when we came across a playground, I asked if we should take the kids there for a few minutes of play. He then got upset at me for suggesting it and said I always control everything and I’m the “queen of the decisions”. I didn’t even tell him we were doing that, I just asked. When I mentioned this he just said “do whatever you want, like always”, so I figured why not. So I played with the kids at the playground and he did his own thing. Someone left a couple various balls there and he was throwing them around. He then picked up the football and threw it in my direction, it flew past me a couple feet from me. I asked why he did that and he said “why are you upset, it didn’t hit you” to which I responded “well what if it did?” He then said “if I wanted it to hit you in the head I would have thrown it that way”. Then he started on a rant about how he’s going through the same thing with everyone lying to him. After which he sat down in the corner of the park and was doing literally nothing.
I was getting upset, so I packed up the kids and started walking to leave the park. I said to him “we’re going home” and started walking away. Apparently he tried to yell out to us but ended up taking a different way home than we did. He told me this when he met me on the street when we were almost home, saying that “next time I want to be an idiot and walk away maybe stop and listen for him calling out”. I didn’t hear him but honestly he could have easily caught up to us.
I was getting more and more upset and said I wanted to go for a drive to get coffee and he said fine. I said I wanted to take the kids and he asked why. Then I said fine, you stay home with them and he said no they can go with you and started putting them in the car. I got in the car, and he got in the passenger seat, to which I asked him if he’s coming with. He said yes and to drive. I told him I didn’t want him coming with because he’s being mean and he said he could be a lot meaner. As I started driving away he kept going off on the usual BS he’s been talking about lately and I told him I don’t want to hear it, he started screaming at me to keep driving and shut the fuck up. I stopped the car and told him to get out and he made a motion like he was going to punch me but punched his hand in front of my face. At this point I started crying and yelling at him to get out and he yelled back no just drive. I then said I should just drive him to the police station for that and he said he would choke me unconscious before we even got there. I was crying even more at this point and said I don’t want to be with him anymore and I want him out, he said no. He continued to be a dick for the rest of the car ride, where I pleaded with him to not treat me this way, especially in front of our children. It’s not fair to them, or to me. He said to not bring them into this. I said how couldn’t I, they are literally in the car!
Anyway after I drove us home, he asked how long I’ve been waiting to break up with him and who I’m replacing him with. I told him I haven’t been and there’s no one else, which of course he doesn’t believe. When he got inside he even taunted me saying “I should take you to the cop station” in a girly voice.
He’s outside smoking and I’m inside with the kids writing this. Of course I’m shook up currently but I don’t know what to do. We only have the one vehicle which is in both our names, the place we rent is actually my moms so we don’t have a lease but we both have our addresses attached to this place on our licenses. He wasn’t always like this, literally only the past couple months his behaviour has been this bad. I miss the person he used to be, I miss that he would spend time with me, with the kids, but he spends all his time by himself now. I don’t know if he’s going through some sort of manic episode or what’s triggering this change in behaviour but I really don’t know what to do.
Is there something differently I can do to help him? Every time he talks to me about whatever “situation” he doesn’t accept any answer I say and also won’t accept if I say nothing.
EDIT: I just wanted to update and let you all know we are safe. I’m sorry for not saying anything sooner. I’m a bit overwhelmed with how popular this post got and will give an actual update later.
Thank you for the advice and comments as well. I will mention a couple things —
* we are not in the US
* where we are, marijuana is legal, so my spouse does get it from government run dispensaries. I don’t think there’s a chance his stuff gets laced aside from the fact he mixes cigarettes with it.
* a lot of people mentioned meth. There is just no way. He doesn’t go anywhere random, he doesn’t talk to people outside of our household (aside from the few times he would go to the police station). I have his location on his phone so I can see where he goes when he leaves.
**RELEVANT COMMENTS**
**ynattirb_xo**
>I just wanna say, I was that terrified kid in the back seat. Absolutely traumatizing. My mom always came up with an excuse as to why we couldn’t leave the house or leave dad. Made me suffer for many years of my life and I’m 28 years old trying to deal with the trauma it has given me. Please stop making excuses and leave. Get OUT for the kids. My mom never did and it truly has ruined my mental health.
**~**
**CoraCricket**
> Wow this is way more urgent than everyone seems to be acting. Are you able to sneak yourself and your kids out right now while he's smoking? You could start by going to the police station and telling them what's going on, they should hopefully be able to connect you to resources for families fleeing domestic abuse. If you have someone you can stay with, then that makes it easier but either way do not spend another night in that house with him and definitely don't let your kids around him unsupervised.
>
> If you can't sneak out I would call 911, tell them what just happened and about his threats, and that you need to get out but that you are afraid for you and your children's safety. They are not always the most helpful but something needs to happen. At least then if he comes back in and tries to do something to you you'll be in the phone with them and they can send someone then. Might be a good strategy while your leaving too if you're worried he might catch you.
>
> It sounds like he's having some kind of psychological break, the paranoia and being convinced everyone is part of some conspiracy against him is not abnormal there. But he has clearly told you that he is a danger to you so you need to worry about that first, get yourself and your kids to safety and figure the rest out after that. Once it's time to deal with him and his situation, depending on where you are, getting him involuntarily detained for psychiatric treatment requires proving he's a danger to himself or others, so at least you can show how he's threatened you. But worry about that after you and your kids are safely away from him.
**~**
**daddy_tywin**
> Heavy cannabis use can trigger the onset of schizophrenia in people who are already susceptible. Your H is right about the age where this tends to happen in men. I am not a doctor but I really think this is a mental health emergency, either due to a drug interaction, drug use itself, or because he is rapidly developing a psychotic disorder.
>
> You need to see a mental health professional, NOT the ER, and describe all of this behavior to them including the frequency of his marijuana use.
**OOP**
>>That’s the thing, he saw a crisis nurse at the hospital and a therapist/social worker there, and I felt like the only thing they tried to do was get him to take a specific medication. I think it’s called quetiapine or something. But anyway, I don’t think he is regularly taking it and if he is he definitely shouldn’t be mixing it with smoking weed.
**daddy_tywin**
>>>That’s the generic for seroquel, which is actually an antipsychotic medication used for schizophrenia and bipolar I episodes. That makes way more sense to be prescribed than a sleeping pill. You’re right though he needs to be taking it as RX’d (bottle should have the dosing on it). I looked up the drug interactions and the ones listed are moderate and mostly physical although generally people with any kind of psychotic disorder I think are not supposed to use marijuana.
[Update](https://www.reddit.com/r/relationship_advice/s/MN8Dx4Qt8L) **July 20, 2024 (6 days later)**
Hello, first of all thank you all for the comments, messages, etc. on my previous post. Obviously it got a bit too much to keep up with responding but I just want to say I really appreciate the help. A TL;DR at the bottom.
To give an update, I left the house the night I made the post, but went back home the following day. I wanted to be able to collect some sort of evidence I could use, because my spouse has been really good at downplaying his symptoms to any authority figure. I want to mention that I had been present at most doctor and hospital visits prior, so I know what they did recommend for him. I felt at the time that they did not give him enough help for the crisis he was obviously going through.
Anyway, continuing on, the couple days after the Sunday post, he did not really engage in much conversation with me or our children. Every time he entered the room, I set my phone to record. I did not get anything until Thursday, when he finally started talking to me again. He was questioning who I have been talking to about him and who has been trying to sabotage his life. Obviously I denied everything, because there is no one talking to me about him (aside from this Reddit post, which he didn’t know about). This started to anger him, which included him yelling at me and saying if anyone is talking to me about him, to bring him to the house so he can “take care of them himself”.
I tried to not to engage any more. This made him more upset, as he was continuing to demand answers from me. He would then say “oh I want to hit you” or “don’t make me slap you” when I was either not answering or just saying I didn’t know what he was talking about. I got this on recording. After he ended up walking away and leaving the room, I took the kids to bed, locked us in our room and tried to sleep.
The following morning, he insisted on driving me to work. I told him I wanted the car, to which he disagreed with me and said he needed it. After dropping out kids off, he started going off on me about how I am stupidity, dumb, a bitch, etc. for keeping his “inheritance” (again something he is clearly having delusions about) from him. I tried to disengage completely, keeping myself to far side of the passenger seat, which caused him to grab me by the back of my neck and pull me closer to him, where he told me to listen to him. I obviously reacted to this and was super upset, telling him to please focus on driving and not touch me again.
After he drove me to work, the last thing I said to him as he was still going off on me with the car window open, was “you desperately need help”. Once I got in, I called my boss and let her know what happened. She came in, cancelled her appointments for the day, and took me to the police station.
We made a report, although the sergeant we initially spoke to seemed to be against us making a report (he kept saying he will be homeless if I report him, like he’s the victim in this scenario). I told him my safety and the kids safety should be more important, and he brought in a different officer to make the statement with me. Once I completed that statement, they let me know to stay away from the house as they were going to arrest him, and will call once he’s out of the house.
About 5 hours later, he was arrested. Apparently he was very compliant, and with all the information I provided, they actually took him to the hospital, and he is currently on a 30 day psychiatric hold. He will be going to court at some point for uttering threats and assault, but seeing how he doesn’t have a criminal record, I’m sure it will just end up being a slap on the wrist.
So as of now, I am home, safe with the children, and we are getting our locks changed. I will also most likely get a protection order, but in an ideal world, he gets better and that’s not necessary. I guess we will see in the future.
I want to again thank every one for their comments and assistance. A lot of you made some excellent points, and although I know some of my decisions probably seemed like dumb ones, I was trying to figure out the best solution logistically for us. Any other future updates will be on my profile.
TL;DR: he was arrested yesterday and put on a psych hold. I’m okay physically but not emotionally.
**RELEVANT COMMENTS**
**sikonat**
> I swear to god fuck the police and that sergeant trying to talk you out of it, gee I really wonder why she doesn’t go to the police. What a mystery.
>
> Good luck OP
**~**
**saturatedregulated**
> I dealt with something similar, but thankfully not with a romantic partner and we shared no assets or children. It was terrifying, and I still am affected by it daily.
>
> My friend ended up being diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder (paranoid schizophrenia). He did really well on meds. Actually, so well that he stopped believing he had an issue and stopped taking the meds. His latest bout of mania legitimately scared me and I had to remove myself.
>
> Your husband is starting a very long road, and a lot of mentally ill people struggle with keeping straight down that long road. I'm not saying you should remove him from your life, but I am saying you have the best chance of healing and raising unaffected adults if you do remove him. Your love for him and the family you've built cannot sustain mental illness, and love is not all you need. Sometimes it becomes way bigger than you and the kindest thing you can do is bow out.
>
> I'm really sorry you're all in this situation.
**~**
**shame-the-devil**:
> Paranoid schizophrenia runs in my family. The problem with your husband is that he’s already become more violent, and it will likely get worse if you let him return to the home. I have seen family members get better on medication, only to make the decision to stop medicating bc they no longer believed they were ill. Over. And over and over. I have also seen them act normally in front of others, which made it difficult to even get them help in the first place.
>
> One of my family members attempted to murder their caregivers. They almost succeeded.
>
> Another attempted to murder a person they thought was real, but who was actually a hallucination.
>
> You are not safe. Your children are not safe. And you are not taking this seriously enough.
**~**
**RaiseIreSetFires**
> I'm very proud of you for taking the first step towards a new healthy life for your kids and yourself. To continue on this path you need to quit hoping for the best and start preparing for the worst. It's a long road but, you've shown the intelligence and fortitude to successfully see this through.
>
> That being said, I'm going to have to stress to you that he's not going to "get better" in 30 days.
>
> Get that restraining order ASAP. One reason is he will be served while in custody, instead of you having to track him down to serve him. Second reason, they look at how quickly you do these things when he goes to court for the charge. It shows you are actually going to follow through and the seriousness of your situation. Third reason is he is more likely to be charged for DV and threats. Fourth reason is it will usually make custody and separation move faster.
>
> This is one of those situations where shit in one hand and hope he miraculously becomes mentally healthy in 30 days in the other, which fills up quicker?
>
>Good luck and don't stray from your path to safety and happiness.
**OOP**
>> Thank you, it’s definitely wishful thinking that he will get the treatment needed to go back to normal. I don’t want to think of this as the end of our relationship but at the same time I don’t know if he would want to be back with me since I got him detained.
>>
>> Right now the only thing I’m thinking about are the kids.
**~**
**noonecaresat805**
>Make sure as soon as the protection order is in place to let the school know that he isn’t allowed to take the kids out. Find a theraphy place for you and the kids and have them help you explain to them that it’s not safe to talk to dad at the moment. That way he won’t try to get his revenge through them. And good for you. And your right him ending up homeless is not your concern.
**OOP**
>>They are toddlers, so a bit too young to understand. Their daycare is aware as well.
**noonecaresat805**
>>>I work in a daycare and unless we have a restraining order on paper of the other parent shows up we have to release their child to them. There’s nothing we can do. And children are smarter than you give them credit for. Just because they can’t say everything doesn’t mean they don’t notice everything
**~**
**emmaa5382**:
>I think something to note is to keep a close eye on your kids in their early 20s and teach them the signs. It could be hereditary but with enough foreknowledge can be caught early and treated
[Update 2](https://www.reddit.com/u/Top_Manufacturer_620/s/K4F9n0fZ2j) **Nov 21, 2024 (4 months later)**
I don’t know if anyone will even see this.
It’s been awhile since I updated. I still get messages asking how I am and to update again. I apologize in the delay, but I’ve been a bit deterred from making another post due to coming across a TikTok video of one of those AI voices reading my post over a Minecraft video. If one of those channels decides to post this one, please don’t. But if you do anyway, blah blah blah blah blah, we can’t make our own unique content.
Anyway, onto the actual update:
My spouse is doing a lot better. He received the treatment he needed in the psych ward of the hospital, gets a shot every so often instead of taking pills, and only smokes cigarettes now. He’s back to his normal self, engages in conversation with myself and our children like he did before this crazy shit happened, has a job, and honestly, is being a better partner overall. It took a lot of time for me to feel like I could trust him again, but we’ve taken a lot of time to work on things and get back to how we should be.
I know a lot of people wanted me to leave and never look back. But you have to realize how he acted in my initial post was nothing like how he is as a person. Obviously he had some sort of weird psychosis happening, which could have been a result of a high intake of marijuana, plus a couple added stressors. I don’t want to go into too many details because it will give away where we are, but basically something traumatic happened under 10 years ago that happened again a month before he started acting strange. It was one of those types of events that forces you out of your home for undetermined amount of time. Anyway, that’s all the detail I want to go into that. Obviously he was affected by it more than I thought, because when this event happened, I was the one having a difficult time and he was my rock. But after we were able to go back home and have some normalcy, that’s when things started changing for him.
It started with him randomly needing to gain access into an old email, to thinking he was being recorded all the time like he was on the Truman show or something, to thinking that everyone (including me) was out to get him. This is when the threats of violence started happening.
I was obviously in disbelief because in the entire time we’ve been together, nothing like this has ever happened. I never once felt like I was unsafe. I never felt scared. Until the threats continued to come, and he started to escalate.
After he made excellent progress in the hospital and I had many reassuring conversations with the psychiatrist, I allowed him to come home when he was discharged. It was so hard not having him around, I cried all the time, our kids really missed their dad, and he really missed us. He needed to get help, and I’m so thankful I was able to find an effective solution.
This will most likely be my last update. I don’t really think I’ll need to add any other details, but again, I just want to thank everyone for their messages and comments, even the ones who called me an idiot lol.
**RELEVANT COMMENTS**
**Creepy_Addict**
> I only wanted you to leave if he refused to get help. He got the help he needed and seems to be back to his normal self.
>
> Just keep an eye out for any changes in behavior.
**~**
**Comprehensive_Yak359**
> This is a great update. I hope things continue to go well. Do not forget to take care of yourself and your mental health. What you went through must have been so scary. Wish your family all the best.
**NEW UPDATE**
[Update 3](https://www.reddit.com/u/Top_Manufacturer_620/s/j3jktuEkTY) **Sept 20, 2025 (10 months after last update)**
Another update
Hello all,
It’s been almost a year since my last update. To keep things short, shit hit the fan this year. He didn’t take the medications he was supposed to, reverted into another major psychosis episode which ended in him attempting to strangle me after I disputed his delusions. He was removed from the home and there’s a protective order against him for myself and the kids. This happened earlier this year. My kids and I are safe, and haven’t heard from him since.
Don’t be like me. Don’t trust that someone will get better or attempt to work on their horrible mental health when they haven’t proven to be reliable in other parts in their life. Don’t try to fix someone who can’t be fixed, or rather, just don’t try to fix people.
Thanks everyone for their comments, whether they were good or bad. Shout out to BORU community that will eat me alive after reading my update.
**THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP**
**DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7**
https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/1ns6y80/my_30_f_spouse_35_m_has_been_acting_incredibly/**Game Title**: STAR WARS: GALACTIC RACER
**Platforms**:
* PlayStation 5 (October 6, 2026)
* XBOX Series X | S (October 6, 2026)
* PC (October 6, 2026)
**Trailers:**
* [Star Wars: Galactic Racer™ - Official Reveal Trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiavNl4qxWY)
* [Star Wars: Galactic Racer™ - Official Gameplay Trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MtgIoToa7I)
**Developer**: Fuse Games
**Reviews aggregates:**
# [OpenCritic: 88 Average - 97% Critics Recommend](https://opencritic.com/game/20501/star-wars-galactic-racer)
# [Metacritic: 90 / 100](https://www.metacritic.com/game/star-wars-galactic-racer/)
**Some Reviews:**
[GamingTrend - Lyra Moreno](https://gamingtrend.com/reviews/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 100 / 100
>Star Wars: Galactic Racer exceeded my expectations to the highest degree and provides a dream combination of Star Wars Podracing and Burnout. With an engaging Campaign Mode, an interesting usage of Podracers, plenty of characters to meet and interact with, tons of customization, cross-platform multiplayer, and beautiful visuals and music; this game is everything I could have hoped for and more! Star Wars: Galactic Racer did more than bring racing back to the Galaxy, it made me believe there’s nothing faster or more dangerous than Podracing.
[Giant Bomb](https://opencritic.com/outlet/132/giant-bomb) \- [Jeff Grubb](https://opencritic.com/critic/1047/jeff-grubb) \- 5 / 5
>Star Wars: Galactic Racer is everything I hoped it would be. Fuse built a campaign that keeps giving me reasons to master the tracks, then made the racing feel good enough that I wanted to. And for my fellow Episode I Racer lovers: Galactic Racer’s marketing has kept the podracers in the background, but don’t let that fool you. By the time I was done with the campaign, I found myself happy and whispering one thing to myself: Now this is podracing.
[Radio Times - Belle Law](https://www.radiotimes.com/technology/gaming/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 5 / 5
>Star Wars: Galactic Racer is not only one of the best racing games I have played all year, but after playing the campaign the full way through, it just might be one of my favourite racing games of all time.
[VGC - Jordan Middler](https://www.videogameschronicle.com/review/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 5 / 5
>Star Wars: Galactic Racer absolutely nails what it is trying to do. It is a high-octane racer that's endless fun to play, and it looks fantastic. This would have been a great game with a standard single-player mode, but what is here is inventive and engaging. I'd have loved a few silly classic characters and another planet or two, but this is a game I'll return to for a long time.
[IGN Deustschland - Von Manuel Fritsch](https://de.ign.com/star-wars-galactic-racer/156125/star-wars-galactic-racer-im-test-burnout-dna-mit-roguelite-boost) \- 10 / 10
>For me, Star Wars: Galactic Racer has become the perfect arcade racing game experience that leaves nothing to be desired. The sense of speed is the best it’s been since the first WipeOut, and it not only looks stunning, but sounds and plays that way, too. Even if you’re not a huge Star Wars fan, you should check out this game if only for its fresh roguelite ideas and the gripping campaign mode, which completely reinvents and revitalizes the sci-fi racing genre in turbo-boost mode.
[Collider - Hannah Hunt](https://collider.com/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 9.5 / 10
>Ultimately, *Star Wars: Galactic Racer* delivers the kind of racing I enjoy most. With superb handling and spectacular crashes, *Galactic Racer* captures the thrill of arcade racing at its best. The Boonta Eve classic gave me the nostalgic thrill I wanted, while the overall racing gave me a reason to love this game beyond that connection. My arcade memories are still special, but *Galactic Racer* is the one I’d choose to play now.
[Cinelinx - Jordan Maison](https://www.cinelinx.com/games/reviews-games/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 9.5 / 10
>Star Wars: Galactic Racer manages exceed all expectations and deliver on the decades awaited return of racing to the galaxy far, far away. Between gorgeous visuals, and thoughtful, highly addictive gameplay this is something both Star Wars fans and racing fans in general will have a blast with. There's a lot to love and it can only get better with time and growth.
[VICE - Brent Koepp](https://www.vice.com/en/article/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 9.3 / 10
>*Star Wars: Galactic Racer* takes the arcadey fun of *Episode I: Racer* and turns it into a cinematic racing adventure. Its gorgeous planets and thrilling tracks capture the magic of the *Star Wars* universe, while its addictive roguelike structure makes even a failed tournament run feel like another excuse to jump back in.
[GameSpot - Jordan Ramée](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/i-cannot-believe-silly-star-wars-racing-roguelite-is-one-of-my-favorite-games-in-2026/) \- 9 / 10
>Playing Galactic Racer reminds me of my favorite parts of the most recent Forza Horizon games: the first 10 minutes. That initial drive sequence that introduces the new setting, gets you acclimated to the gameplay basics, and moves you from one track to another to let you play around with different vehicles in a bunch of different environments is so fun. It’s all about hearing the roar of the crowd and the excitement in the announcer’s voice, not needing to rely on the rewind mechanic, and just feeling the rush and exhilarating joy of going really, really fast in a cool vehicle as the world around you becomes a blur. Galactic Racer is those absolutely perfect 10 minutes expanded into a full game. Every moment feels joyfully fast. Every decision carries the weight of tension. And every run is a rewarding chance to learn, improve, tinker, and adapt, whether it ends in success or failure. I can’t wait to keep playing what’s been my favorite racing game in years.
[Push Square - Sammy Barker](https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps5/star-wars-galactic-racer) \- 9 / 10
>Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a thoughtfully designed triumph. The excellent handling and eye-popping presentation would be enough to recommend the game alone, but I also love its buildcrafting aspects and roguelite campaign. With a breathtaking sense of speed and planets that demand you think differently about your approach, this is one of the better racing games available on the PS5. I think the release could be a little quicker at getting you behind the wheel, and of course more planets would always be appreciated. But minor nitpicks aside, I really can’t recommend this highly enough.
[Metro - Adam Starkey](https://metro.co.uk/2026/10/02/star-wars-galactic-racer-review-podracing-paradise-29673415/) \- 9 / 10
>Galactic Racer could have been a cheap nostalgia play, targeted at millennials who have hazy memories of the podracing game on the Nintendo 64. Instead, Fuse Games has over delivered on almost every front. The racing is electric, the surprises consistent, and it’s wrapped in a smartly designed run-based structure which has rarely worked before in the genre. The bar isn’t high when it comes to the best Star Wars racing game, but with Galactic Racer, it’s cleared a generational peak for sci-fi racers at large.
[DayOne - Győző "FairyEmpire" Baki](https://playday.one/2026/10/02/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 9 / 10.0
>*Fuse Games*‘ **Star Wars Galactic Racer** is bold, spectacular, and offers incredibly satisfying gameplay chops in single player and multiplayer alike. It’s high difficulty and relentless intensity might scare some casual Star Wars fans who just want some spectacle, but if you’re looking for a killer track-based arcade racer, you’ve found it. The force is strong with this one.
[Analog Stick Gaming - Jordan Andow](https://www.analogstickgaming.com/game-reviews/star-wars-galactic-racer) \- 9 / 10
>...None of those issues change the fact that the actual racing is exceptional. The different vehicles feel genuinely distinct, progression constantly gives you something new to chase, and the roguelike structure creates an addictive loop that makes it incredibly difficult to stop after just one more race. Star Wars: Galactic Racer may have nearly disappeared beneath a packed release schedule for me, but now that I have played it, I can already tell it is going to remain installed for a very long time, in a galaxy far, far away..
[Insider-Gaming - Josh Challies](https://insider-gaming.com/reviews/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 9 / 10
>Galactic Racer is a near-perfect game that significantly shakes up a racing genre that has become somewhat stale, and I truly believe it could mark the start of the next generation for the genre, in a similar way that the likes of Forza Horizon led to the open-world focus that currently dominates the racing scene.
[PowerUp! - Adam Mathew](https://powerup-gaming.com/star-wars-galactic-racer-review-ps5-pro-pod-tier-racing/) \- 9 / 10
>*Episode I Racer* gave padawan-gamer-me the thrill of blasting across Tatooine with Sebulba trying to road rash everyone at 700 kilometres an hour. *Galactic Racer* takes that same childhood obsession, bolts on a considerably more sophisticated racing system and then asks me to make a bunch of increasingly bad decisions at even higher velocities. Naturally, I said yes to this. I really think you ought to as well.
[TheSixthAxis - Dom Leighton](https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2026/10/02/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 9 / 10
>Star Wars Galactic Racer is the best arcade racer in years. It mixes compelling racing action, an addictive progression system, and excellent world building while stringing a narrative through it all. It’s very fast, and very dangerous. It’s also very, very good.
[Worth Playing - Chris 'Atom' DeAngelus](https://worthplaying.com/article/2026/10/2/reviews/151133-ps5-review-star-wars-galactic-racer/) \- 9 / 10.0
>*Star Wars: Galactic Racer* is pretty much everything it should be. Threading the needle between next-gen *Burnout* and Star Wars-themed racer, it 's frantic, fun and incredibly enjoyable to play. The arcade-style action is a pure delight, and the run-based nature of the campaign gives it a ton of replay value, even if you don 't intend to dip your toes into the multiplayer. If you're looking for a next-gen *Episode 1 Racer*, this is exactly what you 're hoping for.
[NoisyPixel - Colin Buchanan](https://noisypixel.net/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 9 / 10
>Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a thrilling blend of high-speed arcade racing, vehicular combat, and roguelike progression that makes excellent use of the Star Wars universe. Its varied builds, satisfying risk-reward structure, strong presentation, and surprisingly engaging story keep each run exciting, while extensive customization and polished performance round out an impressive debut. Some tracks can become repetitive over time, and the multiplayer experience remains untested, but Galactic Racer still stands out as both a fantastic racing game and a rewarding treat for Star Wars fans.
[Shacknews - Lucas White](https://www.shacknews.com/article/150888/star-wars-galactic-racer-review-score) \- 9 / 10
>Even when it was pissing me off, Star Wars: Galactic Racer made me feel alive. Every gravity-breaking boost, every panic-inducing malfunction, every slow-motion, Burnout-style wreck, was thrilling in a way I haven’t often experienced. It almost feels like playing Wizardry with cars, pushing ahead and feeding on the rush of risking life and limb, each deadly opportunity for a shortcut or risky boost like kicking open a door and knowing what’s behind it could wipe your party, but doing it anyway. I had some mixed feelings about the campaign’s roguelike structure, but ultimately the way that structure built upon and enhanced the risk-savoring and thrill-seeking intensity made it fit like a thematic glove. I can feel myself coming back to this over and over just for the vibes any time I feel like I need a little shock to my system to get my blood pumping.
[WayTooManyGames - Leo Faria](https://waytoomany.games/2026/10/02/review-star-wars-galactic-racer/) \- 9 / 10
>I honestly have little to complain about. This is exactly the kind of racing game I’ve been salivating for the past decade or two. *Star Wars: Galactic Racer* manages to convey the feel of the classic *Episode I: Racer* game, as well as *Burnout*, with improved physics, a somewhat engaging story, a ludicrous amount of content, brutal but rewarding difficulty curve, and a roguelite campaign which won me over in an instant. More than just a game for fans, or an admittedly nostaglic trip down memory lane, this is a must-have for racing enthusiasts, and one of the most pleasant surprises of the year.
[Final Weapon - Kelvin Rios](https://finalweapon.net/2026/10/02/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 9 / 10
>Star Wars: Galactic Racer is one of the strongest racing games to release in the past few years. While it stumbles a bit in the story due to its weak villain, it more than makes up for it with charming side characters, both new and old. From fantastic in-depth customization to the jaw-dropping visuals and music and incredibly strong gameplay, this is easily the new gold standard for Star Wars racers.
[The Outerhaven Productions - Scott Adams](https://www.theouterhaven.net/star-wars-galactic-racer-review-this-is-where-the-fun-begins/) \- 4.5 / 5
>*STAR WARS: Galactic Racer* is an addictive, fun time. Racing is fast, and it makes races thrilling. The computer AI is super aggressive, and it adds a lot to the explosive nature of racing in a Galactic League. It shows a different side to Sebulba that I found very refreshing. My only complaint is how it handles the smaller plot moments, with many of them being missable. It also ends with a lot of the story not actually finished. Which did frustrate a bit. The gameplay, though, is the point of the game, and it is fantastic. This is an extraordinary racing game, and it feels amazing to play. It has my favorite feel for drifting in any racing game I have ever played, so I don’t mind coming back to this title now and again. If you are a racing game fan, you owe it to yourself to play this game.
[MonsterVine - Spencer Legacy](https://monstervine.com/2026/10/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 4.5 / 5
>Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a fantastic racing game that perfectly captures the breakneck speed of the source material’s iconic vehicles. The story and abundance of modes make for a unique racing experience, and though a couple of small rough edges exist in how it’s presented, this is a brilliant title that had me frequently jolting to the edge of my seat. Whether you like Star Wars, racing games, or both, there’s lots here for you to sink your teeth into.
[TechRadar - Demi Williams](https://www.techradar.com/gaming/star-wars-galactic-racer-review) \- 4.5 / 5
>Fuse Games' *Star Wars: Galactic Racer* isn't what I anticipated. A fun Star Wars racing game that lets you take part in a series of high-octane relays across the galaxy? Sounds great; you had me at "Star Wars." But a heart-pounding roguelike sweat-fest that had me squeezing my DualSense wireless controller in a death grip and yelling at my monitor as Kestar Bool once again beat me in the final race by the skin of my teeth? Not what I was expecting!
[COGconnected - Jaz Sagoo](https://cogconnected.com/review/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 87 / 100
>Star Wars: Galactic Racer is the best racing game in the franchise’s history. Each contest is a tense ride to the finish, requiring you to use everything in your arsenal to overcome your competitors. The sense of speed is exhilarating, especially as you navigate the tight environments and race across the stunning landscapes. While it can be challenging, reaching the top spot feels earned. With its excellent campaign mode, this is a thrilling return to the world of podracing that delivers an exhilarating racing experience from start to finish.
[Game Informer - Wesley LeBlanc](https://gameinformer.com/review/star-wars-galactic-racer/very-fast-very-dangerous-and-very-good) \- 8.5 / 10
>Twenty hours later, with the campaign behind me and plenty more time sunk into the other offerings, there’s still so much Galactic Racer left. I spent 45 minutes on one track yesterday not for the gold medal, which I already had, but for the chance to beat a fellow reviewer’s time on the leaderboard, and I don’t regret a minute. Galactic Racer is a Star Wars game, and that might be enough for some, but not for me. Fortunately, it’s an even better racing game, one filled to the brim with courses, vehicle builds, and characters that keep me coming back to the track for one more race.
[DualShockers - Linda Güster](https://www.dualshockers.com/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 8.5 / 10
>Which brings us to the question: who is this for? Well, in my humble opinion… literally anyone. It sits one step above fun racers like Mario Kart, but a step below a commitment like iRacing. Some backstories will elude you if you aren't a fan, but as far as I could verify, the game does a great job of capturing a realistic feel from the original stories. If you're intrigued by the idea of a racing Roguelite, this is for you, whether you're a veteran or brand new to racing. Just be warned that it isn't easy, and if the thought of starting over from the beginning whilst being violently trash-talked fills you with dread, it may not be your game.
[Destructoid - Andrej Barovic](https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 8.5 / 10
>Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash. Star Wars: Galactic Racer daringly meshes two very different genres into one, pairing roguelite elements with the usual racer formula. The results are nothing short of fascinating, and the combination has probably created what seems to be the most replayable racing game to date. However, the roguelite side can often lead to a unnecessary frustration, and considering the game's overall problems with visibility and balance, we're looking at a very rough diamond.
[Empire - Harry Stainer](https://www.empireonline.com/gaming/reviews/star-wars-galactic-racer/) \- 4 / 5
>In the end, though, *Galactic Racer* is everything you could want from a *Star Wars* racer, taking both the galaxy far, far away and its identity as a proper racing game very seriously. The best such titles have you itching to come back the second you put down the controller and, while you may occasionally want to throw yours as Sebulba leaves you in his dust (unsurprisingly, he’s a dirty cheat!) there’s never much doubt you’ll be back again to start a new run and do it all over again. Podracing, it turns out, really is very, very cool.
[Slant Magazine - Aaron Riccio](https://www.slantmagazine.com/games/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 4 / 5
>You see it on Crait, as you figure out how to zigzag over salt flats, kicking up red dust that slows your opponents. You see it on Ando Prime, as you learn to account for the 40% loss in handling that occurs each time you miss a defrosting station and have to speed along in a half-frozen vehicle. You see it in the desert of Jakku, as you chart the best path through the shaded ruins of Star Destroyers so that your systems don’t overheat. You see it on Sentinel I’s acid-choked gutters, as you learn how to efficiently deploy your tools to prevent your vehicle from locking up. Above all, you see it in the game’s best invention, a Ramjet that massively speeds you up, but at the risk of explosion should you forget to pay attention to its heat gauge. Racing is a game of margins, and *Galactic Racer* is perpetually pushing things to the absolute limit.
[GamesRadar - Will Sawyer](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/racing/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 4 / 5
>Star Wars: Galactic Racer feels like a proud rebel when compared to the current racing game landscape. It forgoes deep simulation mechanics, vast car selections, even larger open worlds, and live-service guff in favor of frenetic racing that feels fantastic, an honest to goodness story that fits perfectly into the Star Wars canon, and some proper friction. That all means it oozes character, expertly modernizing the arcade racing of the 2000s for 2026 and putting risk and reward at the forefront, which is what racing is all about. And as Fuse Games' debut, it's bordering on a perfect start.
[The Daily Telegraph - Samuel Clench](https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/technology/home-entertainment/star-wars-galactic-racer-review-now-this-at-last-is-podracing-again/news-story/e4eebb80260c58a9c4d149d7ab8431dc) \- 4 / 5
>...All my above quibbles with this game are mere annoyances, rather than dealbreakers, because the gameplay itself is so strong. It’s not easy to make racing feel so fast, as though you’re really travelling at hundreds of kilometres an hour, while also ensuring it’s accessible enough for pretty much any player to enjoy, regardless of skill level.
[IGN - Luke Reilly](https://www.ign.com/articles/star-wars-galactic-racer-review) \- 8 / 10
>Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a fabulous looking and frantically fast anti-grav racer that impressively goes further than just taking the decades-old Star Wars Racer games and giving them a 4K facelift. With a range of satisfyingly customisable vehicle classes beyond podracers, a world outside the racing you can soak in and explore in third-person, and an interesting roguelite-adjacent structure that injects a considerable degree of risk into the action, Galactic Racer is a fresh and accomplished blend of Lucas lore with the destructive spirit of arcade racing icons like Burnout and MotorStorm. Its run-based campaign can grow unavoidably tedious over long stints because of its heavy reliance on repeatedly revisiting the same slim selection of planets, and its lack of splitscreen is disappointing considering its roots run back to consoles regarded as the kings of same-couch chaos. But Galactic Racer is an otherwise confident debut from developer Fuse Games, and one that has successfully lit the afterburners on a long-dormant slice of the Star Wars universe.
[Xbox Achievements - Josh Wise](https://www.xboxachievements.com/game/star-wars-galactic-racer/review/) \- 80%
>If there is a disposability to *Galactic Racer* – a sense of getting in, blowing through a couple of races, and getting out – that is in keeping with the theme. These are pilots without a place, hastening after a purpose and prepared to go up in smoke. The game doesn’t keep you rapt, like the best anti-gravity racers. *WipEout* sucks you into its world but keeps you at a remove; it punishes you with pitch control and yaw, the feeling of turning *on air*, and you yearn to know more, as Pax says, of the lives lived in the sidelines. It conspires with music and art to enthrall you for the long haul. *Star Wars: Galactic Racer*, on the other hand, is happy to grant you a glorious spectacle. You watch the movie backdrops reel by, your opponents go out in a blaze, and think, Well, look where we are now.
[ScreenRant - James Lynch](https://screenrant.com/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 8 / 10
>*Star Wars: Galactic Racer* succeeds because, on a moment-to-moment basis, it can elicit a huge range of emotions from the player. It also feels exceptionally fast, and it's just about as close as you'll ever feel to actually having some control over the Force, or sharing the gifts of a character like Anakin. If that isn't what we're looking for from any *Star Wars* game, then I don't know what is.
[HardcoreGamer - Kevin Dunsmore](https://hardcoregamer.com/review-star-wars-galactic-racer/) \- 8 / 10
>*The Phantom Menace* made it clear that racing belongs in Star Wars. It's unfortunate that it's taken nearly two decades to get another racing game set in the galaxy far, far away, but Fuse Games has made things right. *Star Wars: Galactic Racer* is the fast and furious racer Star Wars has long deserved. It's stuffed full of fun content, whether you want to hop into fun Scenarios, participate in some quick races or hop into multiplayer. The runs-based campaign is a neat concept that ultimately doesn't work due to lackluster and unrewarding progression and a lack of variety in racing tracks, nor is the story all that inspiring. It's a format that works well in multiplayer, not so much for the campaign. Most importantly, however, is that Fuse Games gets racing right. The speed, the ferocity, the beauty of the tracks blurring around you as you go faster, and the wrecks speeders become upon impact, all make for a fun gameplay experience that's as exhilarating to play as it is to watch. *Star Wars: Galactic Racer* captures the fast and the furious, delivering the need for speed missing from Star Wars for a long time.
[AltChar - Tahmid Shibab](https://www.altchar.com/reviews/star-wars-galactic-racer-review-aF7di1r76cgr) \- 8 / 10
>In a nutshell, Galactic Racer is a well-designed arcade racer that's tightly built with an excellent single-player structure that rewards players focusing on repeat runs. Additionally, the multiplayer adds another layer of reward for players who are actually fans of the podracing culture in Star Wars. I would recommend Galactic Racer to almost every Star Wars fan to experience high-stakes racing just like we saw Anakin do at the beginning of the prequel trilogy.
[Sirus Gaming - Lexuzze Tablante](https://sirusgaming.com/star-wars-galactic-racer-review/) \- 8 / 10
>Star Wars: Galactic Racer, at its core, is an amazingly well-designed Star Wars racing game. Despite its limitations and flaws, there was never a moment when its high-speed, high-stakes races became dull. Its tracks are impressively designed, capturing the look and feel of each location in the Star Wars universe, while the runs-based structure makes every race feel like there’s something at stake.
[TechRaptor - Tyler Chancey](https://techraptor.net/gaming/reviews/star-wars-galactic-racer-review-lightspeed-burnout) \- 7.5 / 10
>There is a lot to like in Star Wars: Galactic Racer. Fuse Studios' experience with breakneck speed and tactile gameplay has led to a game packed with fantastic bursts of fun. But its experimental blending of a racing underdog story with rocky roguelike progression left me tilting my head more than cheering for more.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1wvsmlk/star_wars_galactic_racer_review_thread/**1 year, 1 month, 5 days ago** I posted [ASTS the space trade will cum](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/1k3o8au/asts_dd_the_space_trade_will_cum/). The six word title told you that the thematic trade around the space sector will materialize and that $ASTS was the public pure-play. The stock was $20 that Monday and it closed this Friday at $105. Seems like the space trade came and most wsb commenters were wrong (hard to believe). To quantify this I have compiled the money hating commenters to publicly shame them at the bottom of this post. If you wish to avoid the same fate all you need to do is read, buy, and hold. Space is *still* undervalued and will re-rate higher(er) in the lead up to the SpaceX IPO.
https://preview.redd.it/lf8bav830c3h1.png?width=477&format=png&auto=webp&s=12d3ce43dc252150171a920cdf0438d523f05ef8
Now that the street suddenly cares about space we can quickly compile what they don't understand about ASTS (yet). I know that none of you can read outside of a title of a post but if you were paying attention you would know that SpaceX just filed its S-1 prior to their IPO. As the Patagonia vests pour over it this weekend and try to make some money Tuesday they will likely come across ASTS and see **the white space the name still has**. You can do the same but with less Claude credits by reading this thread.
For those new to the story you can read [my DD](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/1k3o8au/asts_dd_the_space_trade_will_cum/) but in short: ASTS is designing, building, and operating the largest satellites in Low Earth Orbit designed to provide broadband connectivity to **every cell phone on earth.**
# TL;DR (it's okay to admit you can't pay attention for long spans of time)
* **SpaceX S-1 shows where the money is.** Launch is a commodity; profit is in Starlink-style satellite connectivity. SpaceX is going public at a \~$2T valuation. $ASTS is THE public pure-play leading into the IPO.
* **SpaceX names ASTS as a competitor** in their own risk factors. The biggest space company on Earth named ASTS.
* **$740B Starlink Mobile TAM** quantified by SpaceX themselves. This is a huge market and ASTS is positioned to dominate it.
* **Constellation ramp**: ASTS is set to have 45 sats in orbit by EOY. The next 3 are launching in June — *via SpaceX*. Yes, SpaceX is launching their named competitor's satellites. Imagine that. More batches are rolling out soon and will show the street that production is up to scale.
* **Defense / Golden Dome**: the same hardware as the commercial sats does space-based radar. Already in use. DoD scaling it. **2026 government revenue will be a "big contributor"** per the last earnings call. The street still doesn't understand this capability. The company knows where *every* cell phone on earth is located. What is that worth?
* **FCC SCS commercial authority granted**. For years the bears (and wsb commenters below) yelled "Elon owns Trump and the FCC. ASTS will never get approval" — wrong.
* **Spectrum**: ASTS holds an 80 year lease of 45 MHz of **L-band** spectrum for the US. **SpaceX just paid EchoStar $17B for 50 MHz** of AWS-4 / H-Block - that's the public comp. Apply that comp to the Ligado L-band ASTS controls and sum-of-parts gets you to half of the current market cap on spectrum alone.
* **US telco JV**: ASTS already has Verizon and AT&T. T / VZ / TMUS are forming a Direct-to-Device JV to keep Starlink out; SpaceX is being [locked out and blindsided](https://x.com/Gwynne_Shotwell/status/2055000810883346754). When TMUS exclusivity rolls off, ASTS owns the satellite layer of the entire US mobile industry.
* **Big tech is circling**: Meta has visited ASTS and is working on WhatsApp connectivity. The question is when Zuckerberg realizes Meta missed the biggest trend after AI and buys a stake in ASTS.
# 1. SpaceX's S-1 Is My Bull Case
Source: [SpaceX S-1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026036936/spaceexplorationtechnologi.htm)
What the market hasn't priced: **Launch is a commodity. Money is in connectivity.** SpaceX's entire pitch is that the value driver isn't rockets — it's Starlink. They are IPO'ing on the back of the satellite-to-consumer connectivity business (with Grok so Elon can get out of some bags). **ASTS is the only public pure-play for a vertically integrated satellite manufacturer.** ASTS also isn't burdened by an AI Chatbot that puts women in bikinis. What is the only public comp worth against the massive SpaceX valuation? More than what ASTS trades at today, I figure.
We can break out the segment margins. From the S-1:
|Segment|FY25 Revenue|FY25 Adj EBITDA|EBITDA margin|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Launch|$4,086M|$653M|16%|
|**Starlink**|**$11,387M**|**$7,168M**|**63%**|
|AI|$3,201M|($1,237M)|negative|
**63% EBITDA margins.** Larger than the rocket business that gets all the press. Launch is a 16%-margin commodity. AI is still in the cash-burning $8 burrito and $20 uber anywhere stage of the business.
https://preview.redd.it/i87jlx440c3h1.jpg?width=889&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aa6bcf80306306601b52a4b466d198ae56530146
**SpaceX puts a number on the TAM.** Direct from the filing:
>"There were eight billion mobile connected devices globally. … We estimate the Starlink Mobile market opportunity to be **$740 billion** … weighted average monthly mobile ARPU of $8 per user."
This is the market ASTS sells into too. ASTS currently has *more and better* global MNO partnerships than SpaceX.
**SpaceX lists ASTS as a competitor in the risk factor section:**
>"Our Starlink Mobile offering competes with other satellite-to-mobile satellite operators including, among others, **AST SpaceMobile**, Lynk, Globalstar and Skylo."
When the largest space company in the world flags you by name in their IPO risk factors, that is not bearish.
[You can track SPCX](https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/trade/xyz:SPCX) and its assumed open price via hyperliquid. Multiply the price shown by the float of 11,870,000,000 shares its currently priced at 2.45 Trillion dollars. With a T. Why own that when you can just own ASTS?
**I'm not making a judgment on the SpaceX IPO valuation** but if it goes live anywhere near where it is presumed to open then every single public space stock needs to re-rate. They will.
**Bonus**: a chunk of recent sales in ASTS is SpaceX investors hedging their private SPCX exposure. That hedge collapses the moment they can offload SpaceX post-IPO (thank your 401k for them).
# 2. Production Ramp Is Real And Accelerating
* **45 satellites in orbit by end of 2026.**
* **Next 3 satellites launch in June via SpaceX.** Once production for the next batch is proven (timeline weeks) we will see a slew of new satellites leaving the facility and entering orbit. A constant string of news over the next 6 months will keep momentum on the stock and the company in headlines as the space sector re-rates.
The build-out is happening at the factory level. See the [production in action](https://x.com/AST_SpaceMobile/status/2052850412685041733?s=20).
# 3. Golden Dome And The Defense Rerate
I caught [flak](https://reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/1k3o8au/asts_dd_the_space_trade_will_cum/mo600i8/) the last time I wrote about Golden Dome. People can stop now. Direct from the last earnings call:
>"Remember, we're currently deploying the largest ever phased arrays in low earth orbit, and that gives us really an unprecedented capability to go to regular, small, low-profile handsets as well as do radar capabilities. And when you look at the backdrop of awards and budgets over the last 3 to 6 months, there's been a real strong uptick as expected in the Space Force budget and in allocations related to Golden Dome."
>"RFPs are being issued, awards are being made for key elements of Golden Dome that will relate to us, things that you see that are space-based radar and others. So this is a really big moment for us. You're going to see some revenue coming in through U.S. government that's going to be a big contributor to our 2026 revenue."
And on the defense capability itself, from CEO Abel Avellan:
>"I will not be able to describe it on this forum, but basically, it is a non-communication capability that uses the same hardware that we use on our commercial satellites. And that's been in use today."
Translation: the largest phased arrays ever flown in LEO double as space-based radar. The DoD is **already using it** and is scaling it materially. 2026 government revenue is going to be a needle-mover.
When this stock rerates from "communications stock" to "communications AND defense stock," the multiple is not where it is today.
# 4. FCC SCS Approval — Bears Got Embarrassed
For a year the bear case was "Elon controls Trump and the FCC, ASTS will never get commercial authority." That ended in April 2026:
* [FCC commercial SCS authorization](https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-391A1.pdf)
* [Business Wire release](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260422147378/en/FCC-Grants-AST-SpaceMobile-Commercial-Authority-to-Deliver-Direct-to-Device-Cellular-Broadband-from-Space-Advancing-Nationwide-Resilient-Cellular-Broadband-Connectivity-in-the-United-States)
ASTS has commercial SCS authority. ASTS will continue to gain approvals. The bear case died. What is the value of owning guaranteed parking in space for the largest satellites in low earth orbit? Probably a few bucks.
# 5. Spectrum Stack Alone Is Worth Most Of The Market Cap
ASTS holds **Ligado L-band spectrum** for the US — a strategic, scarce, mid-band asset built for satellite-to-mobile.
SpaceX just paid EchoStar **$17 billion for 50 MHz** of AWS-4 and H-Block to compete in the satellite-to-mobile arena:
>"On September 7, 2025, the Company entered into a License Purchase Agreement … with EchoStar Corporation for total consideration of **$17,000 million** … to purchase EchoStar's rights and licenses related to an aggregate of **50 MHz of spectrum** in frequency ranges 2000–2020, 2180–2200, 1915–1920 and 1995–2000 (the AWS-4 and H-Block Licenses)."
That's the comp. **The biggest, most sophisticated buyer in the sector just paid $17B for 50 MHz to do what ASTS already has spectrum for.** Apply that price-per-MHz against ASTS's Ligado L-band position and sum-of-parts on the spectrum stack alone covers a large fraction of the current ASTS enterprise value. I actually laid this out in the original writeup before the Echostar purchase and was proven right again. Weird.
# 6. US Telco JV — SpaceX Just Got Locked Out, ASTS Is The Replacement
State of play in the US:
* **ASTS has Verizon and AT&T.** Two of the big three already exclusively partnered for the service over a number of years.
* **T-Mobile is exclusive to SpaceX/Starlink — and that exclusivity ends in \~4 months.**
* **The big three are forming a Direct-to-Device JV** explicitly to keep Starlink from disintermediating them. SpaceX is being locked out.
The SpaceX side noticed. Gwynne Shotwell's reaction:
* [Gwynne Shotwell (SpaceX President & COO) on the JV blindside](https://x.com/Gwynne_Shotwell/status/2055000810883346754)
* [ASTS commends the proposed DtD JV](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260513491108/en/AST-SpaceMobile-Commends-Proposed-Direct-to-Device-Joint-Venture-by-U.S.-Mobile-Network-Operators)
When the TMUS exclusivity rolls off and the JV stands up, **ASTS becomes the satellite layer for the entire US mobile industry**. SpaceX gets pushed to enterprise / consumer-direct only on US soil. The carriers — who have the customers, the billing relationships, and the spectrum — back the partner who doesn't compete with them. That partner is ASTS.
What is owning the satellite layer of the US mobile industry's defense against Starlink worth? Significantly more than current EV. Do you think the market will realize that the company already has the same in progress in Europe with [Satellite Connect Europe](https://www.satelliteconnecteurope.com/)?
# 7. Big Tech Is Going To Wake Up
Meta has visited ASTS and is working with ASTS on WhatsApp satellite connectivity: [LinkedIn post from Vinod Samarawickrama (industry insider)](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/vinod-samarawickrama-767bb273_space-satellites-satellites-activity-7446904451719876608-Fflu/).
https://preview.redd.it/i7t5dhi50c3h1.jpg?width=346&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5b59186e19cfe77fb28c376fcf38699b6a44080
Zuckerberg knows that mobile is where the money is ([look at Facebook before their iOS app](https://magazine.wharton.upenn.edu/digital/the-pivotal-tale-from-facebooks-history/)) and he will want to gain exposure to the connectivity layer for every existing cell phone on earth. What is connecting every cell phone on earth worth?
https://preview.redd.it/r2i2md560c3h1.jpg?width=896&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ab4ea6997bebe4e601f33fea1659390e1158a09d
# 8. Launch Supply
[FAA cleared Blue Origin to launch](https://x.com/blueorigin/status/2057927826393944480). Launch supply is no longer a single-vendor SpaceX bottleneck. ASTS has launch agreements with Blue Origin, SpaceX, and (after last earnings call) United Launch Alliance. Being a buyer of launch (instead of a provider of) is bullish. (Launch is a commodity remember?) As prices drop the company who can put the most mass in orbit stands to benefit. That is ASTS.
# 9. Space Based Data Centers are Real
[Bezos did an interview with CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/20/bezos-blue-origin-space-data-centers.html) and told us that space based data centers are a reality. Elon has said that satellites need [100kW of energy](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spacex-hiring-turn-elon-musks-104101470.html) to be feasible replacements. Starlink V2 satellites are currently \~28kW according to [Google's research for the effort](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2511.19468). Guess who has the largest satellites in low earth orbit TODAY that have more than 100kW of power? ASTS.
https://preview.redd.it/vl9ac6e70c3h1.png?width=798&format=png&auto=webp&s=163f7ec33d6e924a618e779856df396558a6c71f
I know people here love to shit on AI and futurism. I think its worth considering that maybe the people putting the most shit in space might actually know what's possible rather than some redditor who has AI derangement syndrome. AI Data Centers will happen and ASTS patents and knowledge launching huge satellites into LEO will play a part. I'm sure of it.
The SpaceX S1 has a section titled *We Believe Orbital AI Can Accelerate Time to Power and Reduce Token Costs.* The logical jump to ASTS is going to be simple enough for the street to understand. Maybe you should think about it too.
# 10. "But The PE Ratio…"
Someone will load this thread and post "lol no earnings" "only 14.7M in revenue lol" "omg price to sales." Its a growth stock, understand the growth potential of the company to understand its valuation. Get your mom to read this to you slowly:
You don't value an under-construction oil pipeline at zero because it hasn't shipped a barrel yet. You value the infrastructure for what it will produce when it is built. ASTS is a *GLOBAL UTILITY* building the satellite layer connecting every cell phone on earth. **The buildout is funded. The contracts are signed. The regulatory approval is done. The launches are scheduled.** Here is what the street sees for future growth of the company:
https://preview.redd.it/kih97ie80c3h1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c3f4a24edb0a4976c86d622150deec23746b72ce
The PE ratio starts to matter when the constellation is built. Until then you are trading the buildout. The buildout is happening on schedule and **into the hottest cycle for space of all time.** The setup is insane.
# 11. Want to Learn More about ASTS?
# [Read this](https://www.kookreport.com/post/ast-spacemobile-asts-the-mobile-satellite-cellular-network-monopoly-please-find-my-final-comp).
# Position (the number is bigger than last time)
https://preview.redd.it/0tuhzy890c3h1.png?width=975&format=png&auto=webp&s=9e1aee4ec13fc0ffa3afd846a0c0f7126be3180d
*Posting this obviously leads to a sell off at some point* (as has every one of the posts I've made) but **I've held through it all and will continue to do so**. The trend is up and to the right. Remember chat: In order to make a 100x you need to hold after a 10x.
# Look at these idiots
https://preview.redd.it/07zsmhga0c3h1.jpg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c3bf55cb5c7b57687f3c3beeb2cdc43fbb8cb12c
Everyone (I think) who told me I was wrong is on the list below. We will revisit this post in the same way I'm sure. Catch ya next year. I needed to make the links distilled since having too many links got the post removed by reddit. So it's a build your own perma-link scenario. Think of how fun it will be for you! I couldn't tag every user based on the same. If the user deletes the content its saved via artic-shift, no worries.
[From ASTS DD: the space trade will cum](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/1k3o8au/asts_dd_the_space_trade_will_cum/)
|Name|Comment|to recreate add |
|:-|:-|:-|
|rudyallan|They already been thru several rug pulls. He needs newbie to enter the rug pulls.|/mo4e4f1/|
|rudyallan|when the regards get an indoctrination. They become ''super Fanboys''. They become ready for the ultimate rug pull.|/mo4eqbd/|
|rudyallan|they claim that Blue Origin will launch all their satellites..But Blue Origin have many many problems also|/mo4vuqg/|
|rudyallan|Stock brutally Gaped and Beaten.|/moahop9/|
|cbusoh66|They need 150+ satellites, they got 4 up, and they're way behind Starlink and Apple going their own wag, and they just diluted and will continue to dilute because they need more than $2 billion, at the very least. And there's no market for satellite service, the TAM for actual paying customers is tiny, Abel is blowing smoke up your asses...|/mo3wj5a/|
|cbusoh66|They sent 4 fucking satellites up last year and they just got delayed to send the next batch (sans ASICs) until July at the earliest, how long have they been sitting on their "17" now? They are way behind on everything, as it's their habit, and they need to send hundreds up, good luck with that, they will end up having to dilute again and again, and again.|/mo3zlph/|
|cbusoh66|All B.S., they will never turn a profit before the end of the decade and they will dilute to death. ASTS will see single digits sometimes this year.|/mo3t58f/|
|Rocketeer006|So here's what happened. ASTS just delayed their next launch which doesn't look to great, so some dumb hedge fund came here to try and pump it with the stupidest post I've ever seen on WSB.|/mo4fu02/|
|Rocketeer006|Of fuck off, no you didn't. You're probably a pump bot just like OP|/mo4fyb3/|
|Rocketeer006|Didn't this company just delay their next launch? They are falling more and more behind unfortunately|/mo4fkoj/|
|c4chokes|How much are you in the hole?? I don't think we can dig you out 😂😂😂|/mo5xmuq/|
|c4chokes|Why are you stumping for this company??|/mo6fjqu/|
|Hefty\_External\_1212|you're gambling with literally your savings account for health-related expenses? you're a degenerate and I hope your calls keep bleeding|/mo9qduk/|
|Hefty\_External\_1212|what a massively transparent cope lmao|/mo9qb0l/|
|Hungrymon111|Yes you do, since you posted this for random people to buy in and pump your bags. Once recession starts really rolling this stock will drop/slow bleed to at least -70%. Momentum's already fading.|/mo8wf5g/|
|Hungrymon111|Not even 5m in revenues, burning 500M(!!!) and has 7.5B market cap LOL. Good luck, I will not touch this with a 100 meter stick|/mo8ujku/|
|ku8475|Couple issues off the bat I see: -These sats work like cell towers in the sky. From my quick research they are looking at about 160ish SATs for the constellation. So assuming the capacity is roughly 2k-5k we are looking at a generous 850k global simultaneous users when the all sats are up…|/mo4o5x7/|
|ku8475|Spoken like a true MBA, good luck.|/mo66o7v/|
|last-shower-cry-was|Price to sales and EV to sales is over 100.|/mo4dsaf/|
|last-shower-cry-was|Great! All it has to do is double revenue every year for 5 years, demonstrate high margins, and it's grown into its current valuation. I can find tons of stocks growing 30% at a P/S of under 1.5. Oops sorry I forgot this is a casino. My bad.|/mo4ez6c/|
|Maritime88-|Did you mention the delay? Or the requirement for more capital raises?|/mo5dtob/|
|Maritime88-|If you guys aren't selling with both hands , ask yourself why when it's $2 again. More capital raises are required.|/mo5doh5/|
|SkatesUp|Nope. It's the same shit regurgitated every time. Stock gets pumped on some mumbo jumbo news and falls back each time...|/moc9mg3/|
|SkatesUp|The pumpers are starting to panic - the blind them with science tactic isn't working anymore. Glad I got out when I did.|/mocccaq/|
|7fingersDeep|You bunch of fucking morons. The comms are for terrestrial commercial users. Holy fuck. This is not for weapons systems or for missile warning and tracking. I love getting downvoted by people who put their money into a stock when they literally have no fucking idea about the business or technology.|/mo600i8/|
|AchyBreaker|Excuse me sir I came here to lose money on stocks not to read entire books|/mo3noma/|
|Aggressive-Ad3286|Still a shit company and even shittier stock, no matter how many times you shills try to pump it.|/mof0rjq/|
|Aranthos-Faroth|I've been on WSB a long time. This is the longest post I've ever seen here. Puts.|/mo3mos2/|
|AxDeath|The first thing I read says "These kinds of companies normally fail", so I think I know everything I need to know|/mo3tzod/|
|bnh1978|TL;DR Puts on OP's wife.|/mo3p0bc/|
|Cash50911|This convinced me not to buy.... Your comparison about cell phone connectivity uses decade old tech. There are many other things that are just inaccurate or purely speculative. You provided a great narrative but no financials to back up how the company can execute the narrative.|/mo3xl2p/|
|chosunwon|OP please show loss porn for today's -12% day. we must know|/moaos0k/|
|Designer-Composer820|Down 11.5% after this post. Welcome to Wendy's.|/mobiwcq/|
|DLD1123|Space isn't real. Puts.|/mo5umc2/|
|domthebomb83|This aged like fine milk|/mo9ilmj/|
|ElectricalGene6146|Got it, puts, thanks!|/mo3xhr0/|
|FabricationLife|Puts on this garbage because this post is so long is literally has to be cope|/mo5u0ze/|
|Fancy-Jackfruit8578|We need to ask Reddit to reduce to 10 character limit to avoid this phd thesisimg|/mo3ovzr/|
|Father\_of\_Lies666|Brother, not all satellite companies have failed. Just most. If you don't think SIRI, T, and VZ are satellite companies, you're wrong.|/mo3os3d/|
|Federal-Hearing-7270|Don't expect the stock to go up 100% in a week when market cap is on its way to 10 billion and there is no revenue yet. There are too many whiners at the subreddit chat of this stock and there is no need for more|/mo4qhc0/|
|figlu|Will be cheaper when stock market crashes|/mo5vhvi/|
|fltpath|You failed in your analysis, as it does not address the single point failure in the entire system...the required ground based system, which has to be connected to the cell phone provider network. No ground based system...no connection.|/mo4dx8a/|
|frosty765|Lol anyway puts, as they again delayed launch…. Buy around 20, sell 24+ worked for months…|/mo4bjdd/|
|Go\_With\_The\_Fleaux|Right. I'm waiting until right till we get close to expiration and exiting the trade. Don't really care what happens to the stock after that.|/mo6642b/|
|GoLoco511|We don't want a more comprehensive write up man|/mo3yikt/|
|GVtt3rSLVT|I couldn't read all that during one shift of work. Especially about a boring stock|/mo651de/|
|Hot-You-7366|as someone who covered Satellites industry at a bank, your missing that satellite service sucks ass. Cant get it indoors, even leaves on trees fuck it up. Its terrible compared to cell towers and wifi. So... yea|/mo9yjhw/|
|iannoyyou101|Going long on any stock in this market lmao|/mo5ukqp/|
|IcestormsEd|If you need all that to sell us an idea, you are hiding something. But puts it is.|/mo3m38t/|
|Invest\_and\_ballout|Took me 5 days to read that post. Now I'm going to short the stock|/mo3qatm/|
|JackFourj4|what is their cash position right now, how long till positive cashflow? I like their business but not fond of hopping on hype trains in this climate, might wait it out a bit till the tariff war is over|/mo8jcl6/|
|Jelopuddinpop|Not OP, but 2 reasons... 1) they're trying to contribute to the community instead of just leeching others' iddas, and 2) they hold a significant position and are trying to drum up exit liquidity.|/mo5d9wt/|
|justbrowse2018|It's up 1000% in a calendar year bro. That seems unsustainable.|/mo40xug/|
|MajikoiA3When|No TLDR? Puts it is.|/mo3lxhe/|
|Mother\_\_\_Night|They face competition that has large, insurmountable cost advantages and absurd levels of regulatory influence. Puts.|/mo3sl5m/|
|Ok-Big-4585|its in a short setup atm unless breakout|/mo7rbxd/|
|Ok-Caregiver-1689|Holy shit I ain't reading that, I'll just buy some puts.|/mo3kayp/|
|Ok-Resist8342|Oh, I'm one of those Asts sub Reddit morons, don't you worry about that.|/mo4bhln/|
|Pepepopowa|Bro they are already dead, stock kicking|/mo6ieol/|
|perivascularspaces|You forgot Mango Pres killing the US role in the World and the opposition not even trying to defend it, driving all of your DD into the dirt.|/mo3pldw/|
|ProgrammaticallyHip|Yes, they are safer in a recession. But ASTS is down 11% in a month and VZ/T/AMT were down 6.5, 5.5% and 5% at one point respectively during this recent volatility... And ASTS would likely get crushed.|/mo42x4r/|
|PuzzleheadedSound407|This guy knows more about the company than the CEO and board combined.. So, puts.|/mo6ouhq/|
|sev3791|With all the satellites crowding space already, believe it or not puts 👇|/mo5kyqm/|
|shadow\_p|This is a really cool report. I read the whole thing. But I'm still not buying. I don't want to hold your bag.|/mo48nfz/|
|skyfox437|Read? My attention span stopped at the pictures.|/mo46aql/|
|Southern\_Cap\_816|ASTS has no customer base and the tech is not proven. One launch error and the sell-off begins. Summer is a good time for launch failures.|/mo3ul0m/|
|steffur|What happens if SpaceX says we won't fly ASTS satellites anymore. Then...?|/mo3vzrm/|
|Strive--|I feel like potential ASTS stock traders are still sifting through this post's coke-driven multi volume keyboard burner of a post, so they haven't had the time to pump and dump the stock, so it sits idle.|/mpn9zr7/|
|The\_NiNTARi|Isn't ASTS reliant on SpaceX to launch these satellites? I'd for see that as a major issue|/mo4ou8v/|
|thelundyy|Longest and most useless post of all time award! Congrats!|/mo3lax7/|
|TonyStarks81|Love the company, hate the current economic climate. Went all cash weeks ago and sold my ASTS that I bought at $10. I will join back in at some point, but right now I don't think anyone would be shocked if this trade war caused more significant bleeding across the market…|/mo44fm8/|
|WallStWarlock|What's the catalyst. Needs catalyst|/mr0p1lb/|
[From Conviction or mental illness, you decide (ASTS)](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/1ewg3t9/conviction_or_mental_illness_you_decide_asts/)
|Name|Comment|to recreate add |
|:-|:-|:-|
|jay\_i\_am|Sir! i know how PUMP AND DUMP works lol|/lj2o92l/|
|jay\_i\_am|Calm down son! You're very triggered. What sort of life do you live that you have to CON people? Just to make some money. I mean, it's one thing that you made your money (if you actually did). Who knows? this might just be a paper trade. But, to think that you are actually 'helping people' is beyond delusional…|/lj2ta9i/|
|jay\_i\_am|I suspect this post is set up to now DUMP ASTS. Trapping a lot of newbies into buying ASTS while this guy (who probably works for some big hedge fund) dumps these shares. CLASSIC PUMP AND DUMP|/lj2gx4a/|
|fazellehunter|when you are crying in the shower again, ya tool|/ljg8gnj/|
|fazellehunter|i'd buy a put option on your portfolio|/lj3rxqk/|
|JayMurdock|Trust me when you lose 80% of these gains, it will be your life story...|/liyfpcd/|
|JayMurdock|Mental illness for sure, you don't have an exit plan since you held this long and will be a bag holder when this ultimately explodes. We've entered obscene wildly overvalued territory, the end is coming and it will decimate you all.|/liyfbtf/|
|21APE21|Funny, I follow wallstreetbets on Reddit and discord and never heard of anyone betting on $ASTS. Fuck you and everyone else who bank off of this|/lj10zef/|
|\_\_\_TychoBrahe|Its been over bought on the daily for the past week almost, EPS off by 188% revenue off by 80%, stock rockets like 50% You: its still got room Oh boy…puts gunna look tasty|/liyeydq/|
|anonuemus|just remember to sell when it is low again|/lj04qoc/|
|Any\_Anything\_316|did you get sliced in half this morning?|/lj1lexk/|
|Apart-Consequence881|More like overbought for 3 months. It's been rallying insanely for 3 months.|/lj0jx1c/|
|arbyman85|If you don't sell and up back at $3 definitely as regarded as the ceo who kept his word and didn't do share offering when it made sense on runup. When it becomes apparent a CEO is a dumbass, institutions jump shit fast.|/liz25uq/|
|BarnacleHistorical70|You just won the lottery. Time to cash out and get the fk out of the market or start learning the fundamentals|/liyz1tk/|
|Big-Professor3578|Nice now take some of that off the table before 18k happens|/lj1pz4r/|
|Comfortable-Spell-75|It will end in tears. img|/liyqm8i/|
|darktidelegend|Mental illness It has no infrastructure No greater funding No real contracts No ability to service Just an idea and one publicized satellite launch This is exactly the same pump and dump as virgin galactic and they actually have the ability to execute|/liyu2fa/|
|Deep-Values-Thinking|Will be awaiting your loss porn|/lj0g6gh/|
|DistantGalaxy-1991|Seriously though, you should take 250K of that, put it in something extremely boring and fairly risk free like a mutual fund or 2, and do not let yourself trade with it, ever. You have to recognize that NOBODY gets this kind of success because of skill, it's luck. So congrats for the luck. But if you think you're 'figured out how to do it', you will lost it all before too long.|/lizqm0b/|
|Dontknowgoat|Congrats remember to take profit don't be greedy. 😉|/lj12c8s/|
|Dstrongest|Less than losing it all or most .|/lj3az0u/|
|EatYourMeats|Starlink is launching multiple satellites this month. Their entire business is reliant on starlink. Plus how much money is really available from overarching coverage? Especially when spacex is much better funded and equipped to provide the service? I took out puts yesterday on ASTS. This is euphoria that's short-lived. Yes I'm a gay bear.|/lj1f7tl/|
|Elegant-Isopod-4549|I knew I should have shorted this when I see it on wsb|/lj1p7bi/|
|Emergency-Eye-2165|Good enough to screenshot…|/liz1iyk/|
|expandyourbrain|Seems like a good time to finally get out bud.|/liznyh3/|
|FaceClown|Post again once you lose it all!|/lizd4aj/|
|Far-Outcome-8170|One thing I've learnt about this sub is that when a ticker gets constantly pushed over several days, it's time to load up on puts.|/lizgf2r/|
|Fun\_Audience5220|Set trailing stop loss weekly No revenue yet.|/lizin1w/|
|Hopeful-Power9021|What goes up must go down 😃|/liyylt6/|
|Jaded\_Frosting7770|Wife's a walking red flag|/lj0dunc/|
|JefferyTheQuaxly|Congrats man, in b4 it goes back down to 20k.|/lj1wemc/|
|Kwerby|Does regarded count as a mental illness?|/lizg2rd/|
|lewdacris916|HAVE YOU SOLD YET?? IF YOU DONT CASH OUT THEN YES 100% MENTAL|/liyikwf/|
|lukeehassel|Feels like virgin galactic to me|/lj2hkgo/|
|maikaubay|Good enough to screenshot ...|/lj1e3dm/|
|MakaveliTheDon831|Please tell me you cash out.|/liywncx/|
|ManBearPig\_1983|Twas a legit question. I just looked it up. It's BS that you can only report $3k in losses|/liz1tnb/|
|mat\_the\_wyale\_stein|Take 100k off. Sell some covered calls and live the American dream. Put a down payment in a 2 bedroom home in the hood with no picket fence.|/lizi8kt/|
|Neat\_Custard5289|i was told invest ASTS, i was told money make big green. where green. sad.|/lj1mxwv/|
|No\_Day\_9464|You should definitely sell, that's already life changing money.|/lj2pk3a/|
|P\_A\_N\_C\_H\_O\_\_|Have you sold? That would answer your question...|/lj01kx7/|
|pinochetlospatos|At least get your initial investment out....|/liyz6fu/|
|RaisinPutrid4423|When should we short asts|/lizaitp/|
|skankhunt1983|Is it too late to get in? Feels like a pump and dump!!|/liyt1d7/|
|SlipstreamSteve|Mental illness with degenerate gambling.|/lizapa2/|
|stargazer\_me|Sell I had same n lost it all on one stock|/liyi6v1/|
|talentsmart|It's only mental illness if you don't take some chips off the table before you find out whether or not Elon chooses to blow up that rocket before those satellites deploy.|/liyxvuw/|
|TheInfiniteBRAIN|As they say: "Bulls make money, bears make money, but pigs get slaughtered."|/liyjslv/|
|TrueNorthCoin|Take the money and run|/liywifi/|
[From DD: ASTS, a binary bet with deep space value](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/o0czbg/dd_asts_a_binary_bet_with_deep_space_value/)
|Name|Comment|to recreate add |
|:-|:-|:-|
|fuk\_normies|Pump and dump This place has become a cesspool|/h1upffq/|
|idoescompooters|Lol no. This will end up like Iridium Part 1 in 1999. Instead, you should invest in Iridium Part 2 (Iridium NEXT), who actually has side business taking care of the debt (Aireon) in the meantime while they get military contracts for their polar orbits and proprietary waveforms.|/h201inx/|
|my5cent|My concern is irdm already has satilites and in some videos they plan to do something similar.|/hbr51ea/|
|TheSlipperiestSlope|Bought this shit and immediately lost 5%. Pump and dump bullshit.|/h29ux15/|
https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/1tnimoe/asts_the_space_trade_came_now_its_time_for_post/Trusted by Apple, Meta, LEGO & 200+ brands. Award-winning creative tech studio building AI-powered XR experiences for enterprise. Get a free consultation.
https://yordstudio.com/Retailr Smart Mirror offers an innovative AI-powered solution for virtual try-ons. Enhance customer engagement and provide a personalized shopping experience.
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https://mirroh.ai/retail/FFFACE creates AI & AR mirrors for retail, events, storefronts, OOH, beauty, fashion, FMCG, luxury, and interactive brand experiences.
https://ffface.me/armirror/Though the brand gained traction, ... fashion retail: poor trial room turnover, indecision at point of sale, and size or color mismatches. These challenges laid the foundation for Dharpan.ai. “Fashion is emotional. People want to see themselves in a style before committing. But traditional trial rooms are outdated. We wanted to solve that,” he explains. Dharpan’s breakthrough came in 2023 when it launched its first smart mirror installations with brands ...
https://yourstory.com/2025/05/dharpanais-smart-mirrors-are-changing-how-india-shopsHow smart mirrors in 2026 combine fitness feedback, beauty diagnostics, virtual try-on, touchless interaction, and tighter privacy expectations · Smart mirrors in 2026 are a narrower category than the old "mirror as the next phone" pitch suggested. Most people still do not want a large always-on ...
https://yenra.com/ai-tech/smart-mirrors/Retail smart mirror interactive display that turns in-store traffic into engagement, product discovery, and measurable performance—ideal for retailers, travel retail, pop-ups, and campaigns, with fast deployment and real-time analytics.
https://loook.ai/products/retail-smart-mirror/Spacecraft
Spacecraft model
Pandora CODA telescope concept
Fully integrated Pandora spacecraft. Visible are star trackers (center), multilayer insulation blankets (white), the end of the telescope (top), and the solar panel (right) in its launch configuration.
Observatory and instruments
Pandora's payload is built around an all-aluminum Cassegrain telescope with a 45 cm (18 in) aperture and a baffle to reduce stray light. [ 2 ] A beam-splitting mirror sends visible light to a photometer while directing near-infrared light to a spectrograph, allowing both measurements to be taken at the same time. [ 5 ]
Pandora's visible wavelength channel measures brightness changes from about 0.38-0.75 μm, while the near-infrared channel collects spectra from about 0.87-1.63 μm. [ 5 ] The near-infrared detector is a Teledyne HAWAII-2RG sensor originally built as a flight spare for the James Webb Space Telescope Near Infrared Camera ( NIRCam ). [ 2 ] For stable infrared measurements, the detector is cooled to below 110 K (−163 °C; −262 °F) using a cryocooler and thermal-control system. [ 5 ]
Partners and operations centers
The payload is developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and partners, and the spacecraft bus is supplied by Blue Canyon Technologies . [ 9 ] NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center provided the infrared detector and detector electronics. [ 9 ] The University of Arizona is responsible for mission operations, [ 10 ] while NASA's Ames Research Center leads data processing, archiving, and distribution. [ 9 ]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora_(spacecraft)Yudor Technology
About Yudor Technology
Yudor Technology System Co., Ltd. is a Taiwan‐based surveillance equipment manufacturer specializing in CCTV and IP cameras, including advanced outdoor, panoramic, and AI‐capable models compatible with ONVIF and modern network standards. Founded in the 1990s, it supplies security solutions such as IP cameras, NVRs, and intelligent video analytics features to global markets.
Featured white papers
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https://www.sourcesecurity.com/companies/yudor-technology.htmlThis is an AR mirror set-up used in a couple of U.S. locations (New York Times Square and Chicago State Street) for the retailer JD Sports, which sells guess what.
Virtual try-on mirrors have been around for ages, and have improved by leaps and bounds in terms of the way they work and look. This solution is from a New York/Cyprus company called Zero10 for a solution that pairs a try-on display with a big LED video wall that flanks the try-on piece and
In the recent ZERO10 partnership with JD Sports, customers can virtually try on designs from the exclusive Need it Now collection, where select items are available for online purchase only.
Engaging with the AR Mirror enables customers to pick up the item available for try-on, start a purchase initiation process and be directed to the JD Sports website to complete the purchase of the original physical piece.
You are currently viewing a placeholder content from Default. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
Extroverts probably like the stage/performance aspect of this – trying on clothes and posing in the middle of a store as shoppers mill around. But I wonder what the percentage of shoppers is that would steer clear because they’re a little or a lot more introverted. I have heard of these kinds of units being tried in change rooms, but that’s a big investment for something most shoppers won’t ever know is even there.
https://www.sixteen-nine.net/2023/08/04/jd-sports-pairs-ar-virtual-try-on-solution-with-big-video-wall-in-two-us-storesYourMirror ‑ AI TryOn and Chat
Featured images gallery
YourMirror TryOn adds a virtual fitting room to your product pages. Customers upload a photo and see themselves wearing your products, driving confidence and client acquisition. We built our AI models in-house. Your customers' photos are processed on our servers, no 3rd parties involved. Within the same App, you can also access a Chat Assistant that knows your catalogue inside out, and PLM tools to see how your shop is performing versus competitors.
YourMirror TryOn adds a virtual fitting room to your product pages. Customers upload a photo and see themselves wearing your products, driving confidence and client acquisition. We built our AI models in-house. Your customers' photos are processed on our servers, no 3rd parties involved. Within the same App, you can also access a Chat Assistant that knows your catalogue inside out, and PLM tools to see how your shop is performing versus competitors. more
Virtual try-on lets customers see products on themselves using their own photos
https://apps.shopify.com/yourmirror-tryon?surface_intra_position=1&surface_type=partners&surface_version=simplifiedMICRO Information Management System
The MICRO Information Management System was the first-large scale set-theoretic database management system to be used in production.[1] Its major underpinnings and algorithms were based on the Set-Theoretic Data Structure (STDS) model developed by D. L. Childs of the University of Michigan's CONCOMP (Conversational Use of Computers) Project.[2][3][4] MICRO featured a natural language interface which allowed non-programmers to use the system.[5][6]
Implementation of MICRO began in 1970 as part of the Labor Market Information System (LMIS) project at the University of Michigan's Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations (ILIR). Dr. Malcolm S. Cohen was Director of the LMIS Project and was the principal innovator and designer of the original MICRO Retrieval System.[7] Carol Easthope and Jack Guskin were the principal programmers. D.L. Childs, Vice President of Set Theoretic Information Systems (STIS) Corporation, provided continuing guidance in the use of the Set-Therotical Data Structure (STDS) model and software by MICRO. Funding came from the Office of Manpower Administration within the U.S. Department of Labor.[5] MICRO was first used for the study of large social science data bases referred to as micro data; hence the name. Organizations such as the US Department of Labor, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and researchers from the University of Alberta, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and Durham University used MICRO to manage very large scale databases until 1998.
https://wiki.edunitas.com/IT/en/114-10/MICRO-Information-Management-System_11455_eduNitas.htmlIR Touch Screen Makeup Mirror , Tempered Glass Smart Mirror Monitor
Creative Touch Screen Smart Mirror Capacitive Touch Sensing 16 . 7M Color Depth
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Payment Terms L/C, T/T, Western Union, MoneyGram Supply Ability 5000PCS/per month
Delivery Time Within 25 days after order upon payment receiving Packaging Details Ply-wood Box,foam in the Carton Box/ Honeycomb Box
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Pixel Pitch 0.2(H)mm*0.6(V)mm Viewing Angle 178/178,178/178
Resolution 1366*768 Sensing Type Capacitive Touch
Panel Type a-Si TFT-LCD Warranty 12 Months
Brand Name YODA Model Number Y185LSM-A01
Certification CE,ROHS,FC Place of Origin Guangdong
High Light touch screen makeup mirror ,interactive smart mirror
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