Barney let's go for a ride

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So I have a friend, who has been single for a very long time. In fact, he's never really had a boyfriend. For the past 2 years or so (just around when COVID restrictions started lifting), he has gotten fixated on finding a boyfriend. Like it's all he can talk about. All conversations with him eventually lead to his complaining that he's single, guys don't like relationships, guys don't like him, guys are flaky/shallow, guys only want sex, guys only care about money etc. At first, I thought this was a temporary mindset and he was just reacting this strongly after lockdown because of the pandemic. But it has gotten worst as time has gone on.
What brought things to a head is that my fiancé and I got engaged a few months ago and have been slowly planning our wedding. At first he seemed happy for us, but as time has gone on, he's become very sippy, not just at us, but towards all the couples in our friend group. It's made a lot of people not want to get together to plan things out. My boyfriend and I are estranged from most of our families for the typical reasons, you might expect for gay men. So it means a lot of have our friends kind of take the roles that would have gone to family members and helping us plan.
He has made things unbearable and all about his singleness. He always has something sarcastic and negative to say ("Thanks for letting help out with planning your wedding, since I'm never going to have my own!", "I guess only the good looking guys get happily ever afters", "I guess the guys with money just want to marry each other and us peasants have to beg outside for scraps"). Please note, my fiancé and I are neither insanely rich or outstandingly handsome (well I think he is, but I'm bias), but it's like he's been lionising everything to make the wedding seem "outrageous", "unrealistic", or "unattainable".
He says these things in a "I just JOKING" way, and with anyone else I would probably believe that, but these catty/mean comments have been happening so frequently that I just don't buy that he means it light heartedly.
He also has had the audacity to ask me to set him up with dates, implying that I owe it to him since I'm having a wedding while he's still single and thus embarrassing him. Note, I've tried setting him up in the past, but according to the dudes I set him up with, he came on WAY too strong, was super clingy, and was already talking about relationships and LOVE before they had finished their coffee. And those guys are now in long term relationships with other men, so they were genuinely looking for relationships. So I honestly don't want to set him up with another friend, because that would be unfair to the friend.
The cherry on top is that he has started confiding to another single friend, whom has never said anything negative about being single. But now he's starting to immitate his behavior and has started to commiserate with him.
I know most of you will say to dump him as a friend. Admittedly, this would be the logical choice. But he was my first openly gay friend. When I came out to my family and my brother punched me and my father disowned me, he held me as a cried and drank myself to sleep that weekend. He's been there for me when I was at my lowest, I don't want to write him off unless I really have to.
I know I need to have a discussion with him about how his actions/statements/attitudes have become intolerable at this point. My friends and I have tried to broaching the topic before but he becomes defensive, will make excuses, and will redirect the conversation.
So how can I have a direct conversation with him, without him feeling threatened/criticized so he doesn't try to run away from the topic? How can I frame it? Should I have him come over one on one to watch TV, then transition into the discussion or should I tell him directly what I want to talk about? Should it just be me or should other friends that he's started to become critical of also be present to Voice their concerns/hurt, or would that make him feel like he's being gained up on?
Any experience and/or advice on organizing/framing this discussion would be of a great help.
TLDR: Chronically single friend had started to become intolerable toxic/mean/snippy since fiancé and I got engaged. His negatively is affecting the friend group and I need help on how to frame a discussion with him that won't feel overly critical so he doesn't try to deflect.

so i recently bought a new ssd for my pc and i put windows on it and set it up properly but now i want to use my hdd which is the c drive for just storage and it wont let me change anything to do with it in the disk manager but i have made it so the ssd is first in the boot sequence in the bios. any help on how to fix this?

I was very happy with how it all worked out. I called 14 days before my flight on a Monday and got an appointment for that Friday at the Buffalo office. I think I was in and out in under an hour. They told me to come back two hours later, and they had my passport all printed and ready to go. They weren't stingy about ink color, cause they gave me a blue pen to write in my state where I had forgotten it (though I would still recommend using black ink!) The people were very kind and efficient. Honestly, 10/10 would do again in ten years.
Personal notes:
I had a baby passport where my name is spelled with the cultural spelling instead of the legal spelling, they had no problem making the change to the legal spelling on my new passport so that I could have consistent documents. No, I have no idea how that was allowed to happen in the first place.
I'm from Mass, but I live in upstate NY for college (about 2.5 hours away from Buffalo) and applied with Mass documents.
I had copies of my documents with me, but they just made copies of all my stuff behind the counter, so that was nice.
Did not need to contact a Congressperson or Senator.
Paid with credit card (via Apple Pay).
Hope this helps some other people with questions about the process, feel free to ask about anything I might have missed!

Hey there!
I'm a 26-year-old indian man who's looking for a deep and meaningful connection with an older man (45+). I enjoy keeping up with the latest technology and gaming trends, and I'm also a fan of watching anime and TV shows in my free time.
When I'm not caught up in the world of anime or TV, I like to express myself through digital art and photography. There's something so special about capturing the world's beauty and transforming it into something shareable and unique. I also enjoy meditating from time to time to find some inner peace and clarity.
And of course, like many people, I'm a coffee lover. I enjoy testing out new blends and brewing methods to find that perfect cup.
As a demisexual, I need to form a deep emotional connection with someone before physical intimacy can be explored. I'm looking for someone who shares my values and is open to building a genuine connection.
If you're an older man who's looking for a passionate and engaging partner, let's connect over a cup of coffee or take a walk together. I'm open to all kinds of connections, from casual friendships to something more serious.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Looking for stories to read, I have something in mind for you!
Title: For Better or Worse
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Drama
Status: Ongoing. 50% complete. Written 12/25 chapters, posted the first full act (9/25) (looking to update every other day/weekly depending on my schedule.)
Blurb: Nikki Jordan, 5x-GRAMMY winner, international pop star, and ... Houston Rockets superstar Malachi Mixon's (former) fiancé. Following his infamous cheating scandal, Nikki is left in the crossfire of gaslighting propaganda kickstarted by his management with uncertainty if anything will ever return to normal for her.
Draya Kelly is the hotshot point guard for the New Orleans Jazz, the only player to win rookie of the year and MVP simultaneously since the legend herself, Candace Parker. After various failed relationships consisting of gold diggers, toxicity, and an unrequited crush on her closest industry friend, Nikki Jordan, her expectations were drastically lowered when it came to another shot at happiness.
Nikki proposes an indefinite hiatus, turning her week-long bachelorette trip to Vegas into a vacation with friends. While reluctant to go for personal reasons, Draya accepts the invitation with hopes of healing from all aspects. This is a beautiful love story that tackles relearning the meaning of love, nonstop adversities between the rumor mill and the most prominent media outlets, their respective careers, and the inner circle accompanying them.
Besides, you know what they say. What happens in Vegas...

Howdy folks!
Wondering if I could get some advice on buying a used 1X Scull for training/recreational use (21' or 24'). I'm on a tight budget so looking for really basic stuff.
I'm 6', ~200 lb and a total beginner just looking to get away from the city and get a good outdoors workout, where I can go a bit faster than on a paddle board or canoe (and I feel like I'm better suited to the biomechanics of sculling than paddling).
I'll be rowing primarily in calm river waters. I'm planning to sign up for rowing classes for beginners in my local rowing club. Hopefully I get to try different boats and find something that fits.
Anyone knows a good place to find used boats and can anyone advise in good specific models that would work for me?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

This may not be the place I have to request this, but at this point, I think that this 'thing' has to be a game.. if it can be even considered that. I've only seen snippets of footage of it, I think it has to be a part of something bigger.
The concept is that: You are in first person, and you go around this.. room. The room has either a mess of color, or an image that you can upload [I assume]. While walking around, everything is normal for a while, until you stop, and look forward for a few seconds. Once you move again, the part you were looking at is now how the area itself looks, becoming more incomprehensible as you move again. Stop again, look at one part of the mess, and as you move again and look around, that mess is now the area itself.
I cant really describe it better then those tiktok videos that used to be popular, where someone looks at something thats more then likely just an illusion, the video stops for a second, and another different video plays that has brief outlines but uses the same 'look' and texture of the last frame of the last video.
If anyone can help me with this I'd greatly apprecite it ><"

So I experimented and let them travel beyond their range floor 6 seemed about right for the average night which actually has 6 players at lvl 7 usually in attendance. They are mostly lost. Mostly flattening all the problems they have found so far last night they managed to get into the green dragons lair. They woke the dragon by shoveling the gold they found by getting there from the Door way on the 6th floor one of the party is paralyzed and vulnerable to damage also its my wife..... should I punch pull because it might get my ass laid, I'm not above bribes... you decide for me the bias is real. Finally some ideas to flavor the dragon harder for a veteran power group would be great as I've been having a hard time grabbing hold of the dms spark!
Tldr save my wife the player for love you decide for me please? secondly how can I make the green dragon cool and better!

Please use this thread to ask any "newbie" questions you might have. Just getting started? Wondering where to go, what to do? Wondering what a qualification is and how to get it? This is the place! Any common questions will be added to the [FAQ](http://www.reddit.com/mturk/wiki/) to help everyone! Please don't downvote questions just because they've been asked a million times before, that's not what this thread is for. This is supposed to be a place where anyone should be unafraid to ask anything, thanks!
Helpful links:
Check the [**/mturk FAQ**](http://www.reddit.com/mturk/wiki/).
* Join us on [OrangeChat](https://app.orangechat.io/mturk)
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### Turkers' Essentials
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* [mTurk **Communities and Resource** Sites](http://www.reddit.com/mturk/wiki/communities)
* [**HITsWorthTurkingFor**](/HITsWorthTurkingFor)
* [mTurk **Glossary**](http://www.reddit.com/mturk/wiki/glossary)
* [mTurk **Scripts**](https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/search?q=mturk)

My mom and dad are both narcissistic and I hate it. I have some chronic illnesses which incapacitate me at different times, making it so I sometimes sleep most of the day. It makes me feel useless. One day I went upstairs at around 6 PM to apologize to my mom (I feel bad and for some reason apologize) and she said “No worries! I’m not offended! Just go rest.” I said “alright, thanks” and went back downstairs. A couple hours later I went back upstairs and she was in the front room. Her boxes of mementos were out because we had been going through them. I said hello and went in to start looking at more things and she was quiet. I asked what was wrong and she said “she feels like she never sees me anymore.” I was really upset because she had just told me a couple hours before that she wasn’t offended and to sleep. I told her that and she said “I know I said that, but…” and I just sat there in disappointment. I don’t know why I still get surprised by my parents actions. I got up to go back downstairs and she started blaming me saying “what, you’re leaving?” Why does that always happen every time I leave the room from being attacked?? I don’t have to stand there taking it!
I’m tired.

i just bought a Canon EOS R10 kit. I had reserved it online and managed to get to the store at ten to six, so I really only had time to grab my bag, pay and leave.
Now as I unpacked the camera at home, a few things were off. The box says "kit" but the lens was handed to me separately. The box wasn't sealed. The battery was already in the camera. The lens doesn't seem to fit.
But the camera "feels" new, even the little battery cover was still there, the other accessories complete and didn't seem unpacked. I wouldn't mind if they had ravaged a box to give another customer a replacement lens. But I don't want to buy full price a show model with thousands of hours of runtime under its belt.
I bought in a reputable store on purpose because I thought I'd avoid the risk of scammery when buying from unknown online sources. I'm feeling a bit frustrated now.
Is there a way to check the runtime or first start of an R10, check its shutter count or anything so I know if I have a valid reason to go back and complain? What would you do?
Edit: they gave me an EF-M lens, not a RF-S. No wonder it didn't fit.
Update:
They exchanged the lens and apologized for the mix-up.
Concerning the box, they told me that Canon boxes aren't sealed in Europe. They usually don't order kits, but when they receive them, they'd take out the lens right away and sell them independently. The guy told me he didn't know why a battery was already in the camera, but it probably had been taken out to test or demonstrate something - it hadn't been on display or anything as they'd cycle quickly through the cameras.
I choose to believe that and I'll be curious to see the shutter count when/if gphoto2 updates its database to include the R10.
Thanks for your help everybody!

Hello everyone I finally finished all the assassin Creed games. Now I started out my assassin's Creed journey with origins Odyssey and then Valhalla and then after them I was like I'm confused of the lore so I'm going to go back and play all the previous games. All were played on my PS5 except for the first one which I paid on computer cuz I couldn't find a way to do it on a PS. Now the lure was confusing for Odyssey origins in Valhalla a little bit for me, but let me tell you when, I played the old games it wasn't really that much less confusing in my opinion
AC1: I hated it maybe it was the computer controls but for me it was just very difficult and I guess I've been spoiled with better graphics and better controls and newer games that to me I just didn't care even though the story was the precursor for this entire series gameplay wise I did not care for it but it was nice to see how everything kind of got started
Ezio games: grouping these all in as one I really enjoyed them a lot. Italy has always been a really cool place that I hope to visit someday and ezio was really fun although I really like the older version of ezio and how it fit in with the first game a lot.
AC3: that wasn't the biggest fan of Connor and for me the game was a little bit boring cuz I don't care about colonial age America. Connor wise I might have just been a little bit judgmental but I didn't really like his personality but I did like the idea of him having a Templar father.
Black Flag: I really like Black flag I like the whole ships and being able to go to battle with other ships and I really enjoyed the side characters like Mary. Edward was kind of a dick you know being a pirate and all where he didn't really care for people he just would kill and loot or whatever as he please but then his character development got so much better which I did enjoy.
Rogue: I really like Shay probably one of my favorites. I'm not normally the guy that likes for the bad guys to win so playing as a bad guy in a game was very interesting to me. It was also interesting to see how during history the Templars are not always bad in the assassins are not always good It did give you different perspectives on the different sides of the same coin although the game's usually try to make the Templars the bad people in history by being murders and just people that kill innocent people and people that start wars but in this game it showed like that's not always the case.
Unity: this one's probably my least favorite next to the first one. I don't know if it was the game or my system but the graphics were laggy the game was way more difficult and I think it needed to be even with the stealth aspect. I didn't really care for the story even though I thought the main girl was really badass and hot but then they kill her off so yeah there's that.
Syndicate: I like this one more than unity. It was definitely an improvement and I did like the aspect changing characters kind of like GTA v and again the girl was really pretty and I see why people like her a lot. Jacob is meh, I thought he was annoying in a little self-centered and naive even though he did get what he needed done. The ending was dumb It was too easy and very repetitive I also don't care about that time. So that might have also affected my judgment I also hate how all the gang members basically looked exactly the same on every side
Origins: now this game I loved since it was also my first assassin Creed game I also have always loved ancient Egyptian culture and bayak what's simply a badass and I really like this character. So for me this one was really really good for me.
Odyssey: I'll start off by saying I know that this game gets a lot of hate because it doesn't really fit into the assassin Creed lore as said by others. But for me I really liked it too because I thought kassandra (I choose her) was just a badass and I really liked her character I really liked her voice acting I really liked her appearance I really like the side characters and how they all kind of get along those in such a serious game with all the side characters sometimes it was jokes funny moments. Also ancient Greece is just dope. Lower wise yeah it's very not really connective in my opinion but for me I don't really care like lower connection is not really going to make me hate a game. Although I admit one thing is that people really don't like the way that you can kind of just explore everything and do things even before their story gets there and finish them off versus like a story-based game or some areas you can't visit until later you progress and some areas you can't conquer until you progress kind of similar to like how the uncharted games are more story-based and taking a different areas different times based on the progression of the game versus the tomb raider game that you can kind of just explore anywhere and just do stuff. Personally for me I don't care when we are or the other I guess everyone just has different game styles. I also like how you learn in the DLC that her kid is basically a descendant of Aya if I'm spelling her name right.
Valhalla: it was interesting, The graphics were pretty I like evior and The DLCs were very interesting and fun and I thought the game was very beautiful. Evior s a different kind of character, like all the other characters in assassin's creeds they have serious moments they have funny moments they have normal moments but Ava are always seems to be like some kind of cryptic way she talks and relieves message and just lives which I don't really care for but I don't dislike her at all. Oh I should also mention I guess I've been using the word her because I chose the girl version I've always liked the female character in games. The lower story was very confusing to me in this one like I feel like assassin's Creed Lord starting to get way more convoluted where the first like board game started making a little more sense about how they all connected this one's just starting to branch out into something completely bizarre although it does create the character for the next game coming out I'm excited for that.
Take ways: some takeaways that I have about the series is that I don't care for the play style like the style of the older games versus a style of like the newer games. The lore is confusing to me still, I had to watch a video kind of break down of the lore for the entire series and I guess I'm not the only one that feels this way and how some games really don't connect and how some story plots get settled inside of a comic versus since I had a games where we don't see it. I like Desmond as a main character like everyone else I also like Layla Even though I know others do not like her however I hated playing as some random video game character where the games were literally games within a game and you can rate the game and have to be online to play it like I just feel stupid the story for me just did not feel connected and it don't really dumb so playing that and then going back to having a character like Layla was much more satisfying. I'm also confused about a few things in the games that maybe they mention and I just didn't pick up but like the eagle vision where you can see stuff like how Desmond can see stuff I think they kind of explained it but they're like later in the other games they never really explained how these characters can use eagle vision and then the last games you have a bird that you can see through and I don't think they ever explained why. Now I know they all to talk about sages in the games but then when I'm like googling it there's different kind of stages and different type of DNAs and there's different type of humans and iasu and it just gets very complicated I don't feel like the stories really connected in a way where it made me understand the entire series of the games so for me personally I just enjoy the games for what they are and try not to make too much attention to the Lore.
Well that's all I had if you guys actually read this and appreciate it I'll be glad to hear you guys's thoughts and opinions.

My nose has been blocked almost daily for as long as I can remember. It affects my sleep and daily life. I bought it up to my doctor a few years ago who passed it as hay fever (during winter?). For the past few weeks it’s been affecting my sleep and I struggle to get enough sleep at times. I got nose surgery when I was 12 due to me braking my nose but I was too young to remember if I had a blocked nose back then or not.
What are the possible causes and are there any treatments? I plan to go to my GP but they’re closed till Monday.

I have such a complicated situation that feels like 24/7 impending doom on me, and I just don’t feel like anyone else really grasps how severely this incident has left me traumatized. Talking about it leaves me invalidated, or ignored. I don’t know who to talk to about it, it feels like something that would never happen to most people in my particular predicament, (I’m sure I’m not the only one though) I don’t know if I should feel crazy for the pain I’ve felt for so consistently long, and I’m so lost, and numb anymore. I’ve spent so much time believing I lost myself, come to realize, I have no clue who I am. Creating an identity is hard, I lost everything I knew growing up, and I feel so dark and alone anymore, my life turned out to be a big giant game at the expense of me, and I can’t swallow my pride and accept I got screwed over far harder than I will ever bounce back from, I’m losing precious moments, and memories I can’t hold on to anymore. It’s hard to make friends, letting people in is hard, letting people go is hard, crying has become so hard, it’s terrifying actually. I don’t really know what I feel anymore, but I feel I’ve given up for the most part, and I don’t mean that in giving up on life either, I’m honestly so lost, and I don’t even have a person to chat to in these moments anymore. I’m sorry for my disorganized brain, it’s been 2 days without sleep this insomnia attack, (lol) I just want to thank everyone in this sub that has ever spoken kind words, or even constructive criticism to me. I appreciate your time strangers. Thank you also for reading this particular depressing rant. Have a wonderful day.

I (30f) am autistic and was diagnosed as a child. My mom didn’t even tell me until I was a teenager because she felt ashamed, and I struggled through life without any extra supports/accommodations. Because I grew up not identifying as autistic, I don’t really bring it up in my daily life. My husband knows, and some close friends, but it’s just a part of me and not something I need to bring to anyone’s attention. to clarify- I don’t hold that shame that my mom does at all, I just don’t really care about it and have learned to live in a neurotypical world as best I can.
I have a group of friends who meet up regularly and have a group chat that we text in daily. One member of the group (30’s f) was diagnosed with autism a few months ago. I’m happy that this diagnosis has helped her find accommodations and has helped her to “unmask”, since I know she has struggled with social and emotional aspects of her life for a long time.
She often times brings up her diagnosis as a reason for doing things a certain way- a lot of time it’s to excuse behavior that most people would consider rude. Think like…”oh I wasn’t being mean, I’m just autistic” or “I’m autistic so I will just make the whole conversation about myself”
there’s also been times that she will say things directly to me like “you don’t understand how autistic brains work”. It’s really frustrating because I do! part of me wants to tell her I’m autistic too, but frankly, I don’t like how she represents the community and it’s not a conversation I feel like having with her. Based on some of our past interactions, I feel like our friendship would end if I criticise her at all or bring up my own perspective.
i also feel like the longer I go without telling her, the more I’m like…lying by omission.
I realize that all of this might sound really silly and like a non-issue, but it’s something I think about every time she brings up her diagnosis and at this point that’s almost daily.
so AITA for not telling her I’m autistic? I feel guilty the longer I go without coming clean.

Hi everyone - like many of you I have been crawling this sub anxiously for a few weeks. I received my renewed passport today and here is a timeline:
02/10 - Applied online for my renewal. Passport was not yet (quite) expired. I had made an account a few weeks prior to the shut down so did not know it was a hot mess to submit online at the time. Paid for expedited shipping and processing. I did not have a ticket booked at this time, but shortly after I booked a trip to Costa Rica departing on 04/02. Immediately went to "received" status.
02/13 - Email received that states my passport went to "in process."
~nothing~
4 weeks go by. I start to get a bad feeling. Found this sub. Crawled it obsessively to learn you need to contact reps. I live in Seattle so I contacted congress person Pramila Jayapal through the advice of another redditor on 03/08.
03/09 - emailed and called to check in. A caseworker calls me back to tell me the passport agency is so busy they aren't even responding until 14 days prior to travel. She says she will mark my request as "urgent" and get back to me.
- Signed up for informed delivery.
03/13 - emailed to check in with no response. Decided to call the 877 number and was on hold for 4 hours. A very nice lady spoke with me to tell me that it's so backlogged that she can't even estimate when I will receive my passport, but gives me a "you didn't hear it from me" tidbit. She says call again and just "reapply" without mention of your online application. An operator booked me an appointment in Seattle on 03/24.
-I also checked the network traffic on my application almost daily. It remained in "adjudication."
03/15 - paranoia sets in. I call again to request the passport agency "link" my online app to the appointment on 03/24. They do without issue. (Hold time was 4 hours again). Fairly unbothered by now. Stopped checking reddit and network traffic obsessively because I felt reassured given I had an appointment.
03/20 - Checked the network traffic for the first time in a while. It now reads "closeout." Cannot update address.
03/21 - Checked traffic again - now back to "adjudication." It remains "in process" on the website this entire time.
03/22 - Receive an unexpected call from Pramila Jayapal's office saying they received word from the Seattle passport agency that my passport has been printed and shipped.
03/23 - Receive an informed delivery notification that my passport is coming today from "PASSPORT SERVICES/SEATTLE." Passport delivered to my mailbox. I cancel my appointment and let Pramila Jayapal's office know.
Total time (calendar days) to receive my passport: 41 days. Just shy of 6 weeks. Would highly recommend Pramila Jayapal's office if you live in Seattle. Her staff was very helpful and responsive.

My claims are moving so slow that I get one a month, and that’s with a hardship claim in. My job doesn’t pay enough to pay all my bills, just rent. But just barely. I’ve been trying to look for other jobs that pay more, but nothing I can do pays better. I’ve told the VA this multiple times. I’m close to losing one vehicle because I’m having trouble paying the loan, and it needs reregistered after it expired in Dec, had my phone disconnected because I can’t pay it. I keep telling the VA all this and zero movement except I get one exam a month, making the process slower. And then I’m told “We just need one more exam” and the it’s one more month before it gets set up. I have asked to either give me all my exams in the same month or give me partial ratings, neither is happening. I’ve been asking since Dec to get some type of help. Filled out multiple papers stating that I am in a financial hardship, provided evidence of how broke I am, and I get nothing. I’m going broke and I’m out of meds for all my ailments. I am going to have a hard time paying rent this next week and I feel like they don’t care they are contributing to my pending homelessness.
Ok rant over. I’m fed up.

I am contemplating making a margin account on tasty trade because I would like to trade spreads, I do not plan on actually using any of the margin to trade but just to trade credit spreads with collateral. I was looking at the margin account types and I need a basic margin account to do so.
I was wondering if anyone has a basic margin account on tasty works and was wondering how hard it would be to get one(meaning how much experience and net worth I need etc.). I have been trading stocks and options for roughly 2 years on my parents Robinhood account and I am only 18 and a student so I have negligible net worth and income. I was asking how hard would it be to get basic margin approval on tasty works as i'm only planning to do defined risk strategies and buying LEAPS.
Edit: I got into tasty works platform with a basic margin account letting me do credit spreads etc. If you are applying put down speculative trading and extensive knowledge and you should be able to get a basic margin account without lying.

Hey folks,
I was a bit confused with the new R&D Capitalization (Section 174) tax rules that are going into effect for this tax season and was a bit surprised when my accountant quoted me 10-15K alone for working on the documentation required for this new requirement - wanted to share what I found that might be helpful for others in this subreddit.
I had a chat with Neo.Tax whose niche is the R&D Tax Credit and they support R&D Capitalization through their product. If you don't know what the R&D Tax Credit is, basically it can offset any potential liability or payroll taxes based on your previous year's (2022) R&D-related expenses. The government wants to incentivize companies and specifically startups to create and keep technical and science-related jobs in the United States - this is why they offer this tax credit. If you're not claiming this credit, you're essentially losing out on FREE MONEY for your business - think about another time that you essentially got non-dilutive capital without any deliverables.
The process was super simple and looks like this:

• You book a 30-minute call with customer success folks at Neo.Tax who walks you through the application process.
  • If you have Quickbooks Online or a payroll provider that they support, you can even import these expenses automatically to save time.
• After the application process, your application goes into a manual review process with their in-house tax team.
  • They told me that it usually takes about 10 business days or so but I got my documentation back within 2-3 days. I think it just has to do with how responsive you are with the tax team in regard to confirming details.
• Once the review process is over, they email you the R&D Credit documentation (Form 6765), an R&D Tax Study, R&D Capitalization support documentation, and instructions on how to file.
  • If you have an accountant or tax preparer that you usually work with, they can even hop on a call with them to answer any questions or guide them on how to do this (for those accountants that aren't familiar with this process. You would be surprised!)
  • They even do work for State R&D Credits!
• Once you file your tax return alongside the R&D Credit documentation, you just let them know the date that it was filed, and they generate another form (Form 8974) that goes to your payroll provider, and depending on your payroll provider you can start realizing the credit instantly or it can take up to the next subsequent quarter after you submit the Form 8974 to your payroll provider.

I had a great chat with the folks at Neo.Tax and they mentioned that they are running a great promotion for folks - free R&D Capitalization support for folks that submit their R&D Credit application by the end of this month! As I mentioned, I made a few rounds of calls to some CPA and Accounting firms and they were quoting anywhere from 10K to 15K to even 20K which was nuts! You can take advantage of this promo by using this specific link: https://meetings.hubspot.com/brian-diaz
I essentially extended runway for my company in a crazy economic market by over $200K so wanted to share some of this knowledge around :)

An aspect I feel like the show of Friendship is Magic failed to capitalize upon in terms of focus, as opposed to relegating it to a background element, is the fact that Sweetie Belle shows noteworthy signs of being pretty good at magic. Far from her being, like I've seen at least one person say, the "Scootaloo of using magic."
It's quite the opposite, to extremes even, actually.
The internal logic for unicorns in this world can be implicitly assumed to be that they, unlike pegasi, need to learn more about magic than they do to passively fly.
For instance, Diamond Tiara never specifically sought out to bully Sweetie Belle for not being able to use magic at any point, as if it were abnormal in any respect, in contrast to Scootaloo's inability to fly (and in fact, Sweetie Belle first learned to control her magic for the first time in the same season that happened, ten episodes afterwards).
Sweetie Belle never used magic beyond making sparks from her horn in excitement in One Bad Apple, before S4. In Twilight Time, she went from struggling to lift a broom, to making it dance in the air gracefully by the end (and before pulling that off, she showed enough fine control to put a flower behind Twilight's ear), and, importantly, that very episode established Twilight as being her mentor in magic, and it had her be impressed with how much progress the three of them got under her tutelage, with it being framed as Twilight Time being something that would continue.
In Appleoosa's Most Wanted, where she managed to steal the keys to a jail cell (and did not lose her focus when Scootaloo shook her), and used it to close a door. She also showed signs of exercising her magic so to speak at the end by trying to lift a barrel.
Crusaders of the Lost Mark, she manages to lift Pipsqueak to join into their group high five, and she used her magic to rapidly tie a knot.
So, she gets her cutie mark at the end there. What symbolism can be found on her mark? A multicolored shield emblem with a star and musical note on it. What do stars on a cutie mark have a notable tendency to indicate, though, in the context of unicorns? Magical talent. You can also interpret the multicolored aspect of the shield to symbolize not just her bond with her friends, but to symbolize versatility in that regard.
On Your Marks shows that she can apply opposing forces and not lose her grip after the object separates into two.
S7 and onwards is where she really picks up steam for her magical talents being notable.
In Parental Glideance, while it is up for debate for how much each pony contributed, she contributed to a slingshot's tension to the point it had enough force to get Scootaloo propelled to Cloudsdale.
In Campfire Tales, she casts a shield spell when the Fly-Ders show up, albeit weak and incomplete.
There is a presumably notable period of time between S7 and S8.
In Surf and/or Turf, Sweetie Belle casts Accelero to go fast. That is emphatically not just her going Pinkie Physics for laughs, she is actually casting a spell that Starlight Glimmer claimed was not easy. You practically have to go frame by frame to actually notice that her horn is lit up, and Terramar and the other two CMCs look genuinely shocked and confused she managed to do that.

Starlight Glimmer: As you know, speed spells like Accelero are not easy. But if done correctly, they can allow you to be much more efficient with your day.

Sure, Sweetie Belle is going significantly slower than Starlight was, but she's a lot younger and less experienced, and she has much shorter legs.
Finally, in S9, in Growing Up Is Hard To Do, Sweetie Belle pulled off a double teleport while aged up with her and Biscuit, even if she ended up in a hay bale and had some pain involved. It's not far off from how Twilight's early attempt went off, and one can reasonably headcanon that physical contact makes taking someone along with you easier. She had enough knowledge to know how to teleport despite still being a child, and it's quite consistently portrayed otherwise to be a rather advanced spell.
It's also worth mention that Twilight didn't teleport in the Series Premiere until Nightmare Moon teleported them both away, and she audibly groaned and put a hoof to her head after feinting her with the charge to do so. Coupled with Twilight being established to be able to learn spells on sight later, this implies that she learned teleportation on the spot otherwise with her personality at the time you would think she'd have teleported both her and Spike away from Fluttershy to spare the long talk.
It's really a shame the show didn't really use this aspect of her character to do more sorcerer's apprentice plots, especially given the fact that you can reasonably assume it's possible that Starlight has taught her things, potentially have her a plot where she trusted her a bit too much with access to questionable knowledge.
What's also interesting to me from a character perspective is that her and Starlight are two characters that Luna has directly compared herself with. Sweetie Belle's temper can be surprisingly fiery, like she was in For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils, where she tried to sabotage Rarity's work with her magic out of envious spite, or for how she's the only one of the CMC to my memory to have physically struck their sister in anger.
From Luna's perspective, even if it was on a lesser scale, she appealed to Sweetie Belle with the perspective of "you can turn out better than I did, you still have the chance," whereas Starlight had it from the perspective of "I've been where you are, and it gets better." From that parallel, I think it interesting to think of Sweetie Belle as a positive outcome of how Starlight Glimmer could've turned out (where from the latter's perspective had marks tear them apart, Sweetie Belle had the exact opposite happen). She has more friends, positive role models to look up to, more natural social skills, so she's significantly less likely to go down a dark path.
Perhaps that would be one reason Sweetie Belle being a teacher in the future at (then) Starlight's School would be desirable for her, because then she could have some really good help in teaching the unicorns there about magic.
In conclusion/TL;DR: I think you can use the show to very, very easily justify Sweetie Belle being portrayed as a high-tier unicorn as she gets older, say for an Adventure story or some such. She is absolutely not some Scootaloo equivalent in being bad at magic as I've seen in a fanfic where she cried her Equestria Girls counterpart could use levitation as a unicorn, when it took place in-universe probably well after S4, and in fact she'd probably be more likely to learn self-levitation at her rate than Scootaloo is to fly under her own power, though I'll note that Scootaloo would realistically be fine if she just used a hang glider, as far as I can reasonably assume.
I assume that her magical talent is a bit of a nod to G3 and its "Sweetie Belle's Magic Brings a Great Big Smile."
Bonus: Ponyville Mysteries note (actually official loose canon, written by one or two show writers under a pseudonym I believe, recommend giving that a look at those books, villain is a nasty piece of work)
Sweetie Belle lifts a boulder for blocking an attack, it's established she knows how to use an offensive magic bolt, and she internally credited Twilight for teaching her the shield spell, at one point. She also is said to have been taught by Rarity a spell to clean silk
While I'm sure the writers weren't thinking about it, this all means Chrysalis proclaiming Starlight as "the Princess of Friendship's sole pupil" in the S6 finale is technically incorrect.