#megabucks

[sandimexicola]

Ralph checks the orb for lottery numbers.

[hardboy4]

Mega Millions Winning Numbers For Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Explore the pulse of the lotto drawings, and see if you can hit the big one. Whether if it's Powerball or Mega Millions, you've got to be in it, to win it. Good luck, to all who purchased their tickets

DONATE: Cash App: https://cash.app/$HardBoy3 DONATE: PAYPAL: https://paypal.me/hardboy3 {Mega Millions Winning Numbers For Tuesday, March 12, 2024} Welcome to Powerball & Mega Millions Update, the ultimate destination for all things Powerball & Mega Millions! I’m your host Hard Boy, & I’m here to bring you the latest jackpot updates, winning numbers, & strategies to help you increase your…

[paulmaranto]

MegaBucks is a tough game to win on! 😱 Slot Affair still came out a Winner! 👏👏👏

[secretparadiseshop]

Feeling lucky to win the lottery? #lottery #lotterywinner #powerball #megabucks #winner #lucky #luckoftheirish #clover #greenleafclover #irish #fourleafclover #secretparadiseart #giftideas #flowers #gardening #natureart #natureshot (at Somerset Historic Village) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkueTjYMXP_/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[raisengen]

How to make Snowsant megabucks

I saw some confusion on the Snowsant shop minigame, and the tutorial skips over some stuff, I so I thought I'd throw out a few pointers.

Caveat: I'm writing this with only one set of items in the shop, so I don't know how their release will change things. There are other ways of playing, but I'm confident this should Just Work.

TL;DR:

Don't buy high on food and drink, it's low-profit

Do buy high on the gifts, holy shit Snowsant that's a 10x markup you're scamming these people

Save your scouting for the selling phase since you've got more info to work with then.

Reasoning under the cut:

First off, the tutorial doesn't mention that there are extra cash prizes depending on your gross sales in each category ($5k/$2k/$1k for 1st/2nd/3rd). This doesn't include your expenditures, so you could buy high, sell low and all but guarantee your reward. However.

When doing this with food and drink, this also wipes out your profit margins, so it's hard to make more money than just taking the middle route. You're also more at risk of having leftover stock, which will ruin your profits.

Overall, I'd recommend the middle-ground strategy as default here. Then use your scouting to undercut someone by at least a bit, whatever you need to clear stock.

For gifts, it's another story. We're selling those at a stupidly high 10x markup, and if you've got leftovers you can just sell them tomorrow, or whenever there's a surge of demand. The difference in buying prices and the position rewards don't matter much if you're just shovelling as many of them through your shop as you possibly can.

I'm planning on buying high all day every day, see you at the top of the points ladder

(For scouting, I've sort of hinted it already but I'd recommend saving your scouts for the selling phase. By then you already know how much stock you (and everyone else) has, so you can seek out a price point that clears all your stock more safely.)

[bergdorfverse]

Shadow Birkin Megapack feat. PARÉ.

Hey everyone, here is another Hermes inspired megabuck featuring the highly sought after Shadow Birkin with 40 color options and multiple accessory options to let you all fully personalize them to your liking. We collaborated with PARÉ. to release this as a luxurious winter look and we hope you will enjoy them as much as we do 💞

Make sure to get the Fira Fur Coat from PARÉ.

You will get:

Shadow Birkin Bag

40 Swatches 2 Hand Placements ( L & R ) 1 Decor Version

Shadow Birkin Bag - Scarf Add On

56 Swatches 2 Hand Placements ( L & R ) 1 Decor Version

Shadow Birkin Bag - Horse Add On

56 Swatches 2 Hand Placements ( L & R ) 1 Decor Version

All LODs // Disabled for Random // Custom Thumbnail

DOWNLOAD

Conversion // Do not recolor or convert without permission // Do not re-upload

Special thanks to @cyrenights for this gorgeous showcase photo 🤗

Base Mesh Credit: Chicala

Instagram // Pinterest // Patreon // Tumblr // Simsfinds

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

What do you think of the rumor that they bought the Montecito house intending to flip it and make millions?

I think it’s plausible, especially after stories last year or the year before about Harry mucking around with the sprinkler system and it feels like Meghan sees the celebs she admires (Ellen, Reese, etc.) renovating their homes and then selling them for 5x the purchase price and she thinks she can do that to get the megabucks she wants for a thriving post-royal life.

If the theory is true, they chose a horribly wrong house and the pandemic screwed them big time, trapping them in a growing mortgage with tons of debt and sky-high insurance (due to the mudslide risk).

Oh, I believe it, and they can probably still sell it but then they would have to downsize which I’m sure they don’t want to do.

[vamp-orwave]

Thinking about the time in highschool when a friend convinced me to go to an arcade lock-in excursion with her church and I agreed, thinking that since we went to school in a country town that it would be some chill local youth group, but NOPE. It was Hillsong. So there i was, a goth satanist teenager, packed onto a bus with 100 other kids high on life and a youth pastor with acoustic guitar leading them in a bible-thumping sing-along, totally mortified but somehow completely below notice, taking advantage of their megachurch megabucks to play video games for free. It was the first and only time I've ever finished a House of the Dead game though, so... thanks for that, Jesus.

[mlmxreader]

Penthouse Holiday | Sam Wilson x gn!reader

『••✎••』

↳ ❝ “Wow, great view. I bet you can see all the way to the ocean from out here.” With Sam Wilson please? ❞

: ̗̀➛ Even Captain America himself deserves some time off.

: ̗̀➛ swearing

•───────────────★•♛•★──────────────•

It was rare that Sam ever got the time off to actually be your boyfriend, between his work as Captain America and his volunteer work on top of that, he rarely had the time to sit down and be your boyfriend; although you never held it against him, as you knew fully well that he was doing the best he could and that he was actually looking out for people as much as he could.

You loved Sam, and you never expected him to do anything except be himself; as long as he came home to you, you didn't care when or what time that was. As long as he came home.

But Sam had other ideas, as when he approached Marc about taking over for a little while, the infamous Moon Knight was on-board with the idea once Sam explained why.

Just a holiday for a couple of weeks, in a large penthouse in a rural hotel, far from prying eyes and somewhere that nobody knew him. The biggest downside of Captain America was the paparazzi; everybody knew about you and Sam, and it was difficult getting any private time in New York, so he purposefully picked somewhere that nobody would know.

It was on the coast, blessed with warm weather and a sweet gentle breeze, with a large balcony and an even bigger bed; it took some convincing, but after he reassured you that everything was sorted, you agreed.

The second you stepped into the penthouse and put your bags down, though, you grinned and put your arms around Sam's neck.

"It's beautiful," you breathed out, holding his gaze as you laid your hand at the back of his neck.

Sam gently turned you around, pointing to the balcony. "Go check it out."

You nodded, heading over and pressing yourself against the cool, stone railing as you licked your lips. "Wow, great view. I bet you can see all the way to the ocean from out here."

Sam came up behind you, pressing his body against yours and pressing his lips to the back of your shoulder. "I knew you'd like it. You always told me you wanted to see the ocean."

You excitedly pointed over to the port, a soft gasp leaving your lips. "Do they do orca viewing here?!"

He nodded slowly, trying not to laugh at how excited you were. "I checked before we came - orcas at two every afternoon, seals at four, and great whites at eight every morning."

"You really thought of everything," you murmured, turning around sonyou could gently kiss him. "I love you."

Sam planted his hands on the railing either side of you, smiling brightly. "I take it you like it?"

You nodded. "How did you manage to afford this?"

He shrugged, swallowing thickly. He wasn't really sure if he was supposed to tell you that a friend of a friend owed him a favour, and he decided to cash it in in the form of a penthouse rental for a couple of weeks.

Not that Professor Xavier minded much, all too happy to repay the favour.

"Somebody owed me a favour," he murmured. "One of your friends."

You shook your head, wanting to roll your eyes fondly, but seeing hardly any point in it as you felt the soft breeze fan against the back of your neck. "Y'know what? I don't care. It's beautiful, you're beautiful, I wanna go see the orcas."

Sam laughed softly as he grinned brightly; he knew that seeing the orcas would be a big selling point for you, and he was glad that it worked out.

You kept telling him about how much you wanted to see them in the wild, to actually be up and close and observe their behaviour - it even convinced him to want to it, too.

"We've got..." he checked his watch. "Four hours, and then we can go board the boat. But first, do you wanna get room service? I was thinking maybe strawberries and champagne."

"Wouldn't that cost megabucks, though?" You asked, furrowing your brows.

Sam shrugged, daring to move so that his lips were right against your ear. "We're not paying, baby. It's all inclusive - we can eat and drink whatever we want, we can get whatever room service we want. We're not paying."

You let your hands wander down his chest, settling just above his stomach. "You sure know how to please somebody, don't you?"

He laughed softly. "I know how to please you. So, food, orcas and then how about we go and relax on the beach for a few hours?"

"Oh, Sammy," you whispered. "I know I keep saying it, but I really do love you and I cannot fucking believe you did all this just for me."

"Damn right," he beamed. "I wanna make up for as much lost time as I can, and with your permission, give you the best holiday you've ever known, baby."

You hoisted yourself onto the railing, thankful that it was wide enough to sit comfortably on as you pulled him between your legs. "You have my permission all the fucking time, Cap."

"Fuck's sake," Sam laughed, rolling his eyes fondly. "I'm not Cap here. Just Sam. Your Sam."

"My Sam," you whispered, laying your arms on his shoulders. "My brilliant, funny, amazing, intelligent, sweet, compassionate Sam."

"Keep complimenting me, I love it," he chuckled, and when you gently smacked the back of his head, he burst out laughing. "What? Can't a guy love being complimented?"

"You're such a dick," you laughed, shaking your head. "I love you. I love that you're the best Captain America the world could ever ask for, and I love that you're the best boyfriend I could ever ask for. I love you."

"I love you, too," he told you sincerely, his voice quiet and rumbling. "But I am starving."

"Alright, alright!" You stole a few soft kisses. "Strawberries, champagne and... y'know, we haven't had any curry for a while."

"I'll go order it," Sam whispered, stealing a quick kiss. "You just wait here and keep looking like the best thing in the world."

[hardboy4]

Mega Millions Winning Numbers For Friday, March 8, 2024

Explore the pulse of the lotto drawings, and see if you can hit the big one

DONATE: Cash App: https://cash.app/$HardBoy3 DONATE: PAYPAL: https://paypal.me/hardboy3 {Mega Millions Winning Numbers For Friday, March 8, 2024} Welcome to Powerball & Mega Millions Update, the ultimate destination for all things Powerball & Mega Millions! I’m your host Hard Boy, & I’m here to bring you the latest jackpot updates, winning numbers, & strategies to help you increase your chances…

[paulmaranto]

Quick Win on MegaBucks!

[mattnben-bennmatt]

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's interview w/ Premiere (January 1998)

Boston Uncommon

Bean Town natives Matt Damon and Ben Affleck return home to shoot Good Will Hunting, a tale of growing pains, friendship, and dazzling talent. It might just be the story of their own lives.

By John Brodie

-

Ben Affleck pilots a Jeep Cherokee through the backstreets of Cambridge, Massachusetts. July twilight turns the red brick buildings around Harvard Square a fiery shade of orange. The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones play as Affleck, with his younger brother, Casey, and Matt Damon, gives a guided tour of their childhood haunts: Rocco's Place; the One Thousand and One Plays video arcade; the spot near the Weld Boathouse where a teenage Damon stripped and swam across a river famous for its dirty water; and Hi-Fi Pizza, which was always closing just as Damon and Affleck would show up for a late-night slice. "I was there a few days ago, and the guys behind the counter were, like, 'You're Chasing Amy! You're Chasing Amy!' " says Affleck, doing his best impersonation of the counterman's Indian accent. "And so I say, 'Yes, yes. I am. Now how 'bout a slice?' And they say, 'No, sorry, Mr. Chasing Amy, we're closed.' "

Tree-lined streets give way to the gray stone of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School's modern campus. As Affleck parks the car by their high school theater, Damon can no longer contain himself. "Say, Ben," he taunts, "why don't you tell us about the time you played the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland?"

"Yup, I was the zany, hookah-smoking caterpillar," Affleck says, gearing up for a cutting contest. "I chose to play the role wrapped in garbage bags held together by Scotch tape. Now, if I were to play that caterpillar today, I might do it another way."

"It was an underrated performance," says 22-year-old Casey. "Those trash bags were a bold choice."

"So, Matt, why don't you favor us with your version of 'Morning Glory' from Pippin?" says 25-year-old Ben, letting loose a left-right (Bob Fosse-Stephen Schwartz) slight to Damon's virility. Damon holds in his comeback until the Jeep is in motion and they pass his childhood home. Affleck's house is two blocks away, and as boys, he and Damon often walked to school together — even though Damon was two years older.

"Ben used to ring my bell and then cower on the other side of the street, because he was afraid of the little kids at this school right next door," Damon says and flashes a toothy smile as Affleck stops him midsentence.

"This was a delinquent school and all the kids were smoking cigarettes," Affleck says, as he quickly pulls around the corner and arrives at his mom's blue townhouse on Cottage Street. He is hoping to point out his birthplace and be on his way when he is waylaid by his mother, who, unimpressed by the presence of a journalist, wants to know when he plans on returning her Jeep.

"Are you going to be home for dinner?" the sixth-grade public-school teacher asks her son. "Mom, you're banned from talking to the press since you told the story about how I used to play with a Wonder Woman doll," Affleck warns, striding into the kitchen for a hug and a sample of freshly prepared guacamole.

Damon and Affleck could be any pair of twentysomething slackers enjoying a late summer idyll, but by the weekend, the hookah-smoking caterpillar will be heading west to costar with Bruce Willis in the megabuck asteroid movie Armageddon, and Mr. Morning Glory will be on a plane to England, where he will play the title role in Saving Private Ryan, opposite Tom Hanks, adding Steven Spielberg's name to the list of directors (Francis Ford Coppola, Gus Van Sant) with whom he has worked over the past year.

This summer has been a last gasp of childhood for the pair. They recently finished production on Miramax's Good Will Hunting, an ensemble drama Damon and Affleck co-wrote before leaving Harvard and Occidental College, respectively, roughly four years ago. The movie, due out at Christmas and directed by To Die For's Van Sant, is already being touted as Oscar bait. Damon stars as a South Boston juvenile delinquent who works as a janitor at MIT and just happens to be an unschooled mathematics genius; the Affleck brothers play two of his Southie pals; and Robin Williams plays it straight as the shrink who helps Damon's working-class hero realize his potential.

That this pet project should come to fruition with such strong Hollywood backing reflects the sudden industry heat on the young actors' careers. But Damon and Affleck have been together every step of the way — and they depend on each other to keep things real. "There's an emotional core to Good Will Hunting that came from Ben and Matt," says Williams, who plays therapist Sean McGuire with a gravitas similar to that of Dead Poets Society. "They have this unspoken twins thing. They care for each other, yet they bust on each other. And that was a great bass line to work with. I'm very proud of this movie. It has a resonance."

On November 13, 1994, the Good Will Hunting script became the object of an intense bidding war in Hollywood. Damon was living in a shabby two-bedroom house with a buddy from high school. Affleck was sleeping on his sofa, having fled a busted engagement back East. This was long before the actors' careers would simultaneously pick up speed — Affleck's thanks to Chasing Amy and Going All the Way, Damon's with Courage Under Fire and The Rainmaker.

Never during their shared childhood had they imagined that November day's outcome. "When the phone started ringing, we were ready to take the first offer, which was $15,000," Affleck says. "After each call," Damon says, "we were yelling at our agent, Patrick Whitesell, 'Take it! Just take the offer!' Then there was this moment when the phone rang and Patrick picked it up. It was for my roommate, and it was this girl he had dated in college, and my roommate was, like, 'Hey, how are you?' And we were, like, 'Hang the fuckin' phone up!' He was really bummed, because they hadn't talked in three years."

By dusk, Chris Moore, a friend with whom they had developed the script, burst through the door with a bottle of Cristal under his arm — a bottle he had been given when he left agenting and told not to open until his new life as a producer started. Moore popped the cork when Castle Rock's bid came in that evening: The studio offered Damon and Affleck more than $1 million for their script as well as their services as actors. They spent that night drinking at Damon's house.

Getting Good Will Hunting into production was less of a party: The script, director, and studio would all change before it reached the screen. The plot at the time of the sale was more of a thriller, with Will's mathematical powers attracting the unwanted interest of evil government agents. In the beginning, Affleck and Damon also talked about such movies as Ordinary People, Searching for Bobby Fischer, and Midnight Run as touchstones. Castle Rock partner Rob Reiner told them to lose the thriller element and concentrate on the relationship between Will and his psychiatrist. William Goldman, a sachem of the screenwriting trade, coached them as well. Even reclusive director Terrence Malick (Badlands) came out of his shell for a meeting and suggested ways in which Will's love interest, a Harvard med student named Skylar, could become a catalyst for his decision to leave Boston.

Then came the sticking point: Damon and Affleck heard that Castle Rock bigwig Andrew Scheinman wanted to direct. Considering that Scheinman's oeuvre consisted of Little Big League, Damon and Affleck were loath to turn their baby over to him. Rather than force the actors to work with Scheinman, Castle Rock's senior executives took the high road and gave them 90 days to set up the project at another studio. If they failed, the movie would go forward with any director Castle Rock dictated.

Affleck and Damon gave the script to Kevin Smith (director of Clerks and Chasing Amy), who pressed Miramax's cochairman Harvey Weinstein to look at Good Will Hunting as a possible producing vehicle for Smith's View Askew production company. After reading the script, Weinstein made one of Miramax's most expensive purchases at the time, paying Castle Rock slightly more than $1 million for the rights to Good Will Hunting.

Somewhere outside Needles, California, Christmas 1995, Ben Affleck's car phone started chirping. Damon was taking it easy in the passenger seat — still recovering from dropping 40 pounds for his junkie scenes in Courage Under Fire. Affleck, who dreads flying and frequently drives cross-country, was all poise when the voice on the other end said, "You have a meeting with Mel Gibson . . . in New York . . . in two days."

They spent much of the next 48 hours pounding coffee and quoting lines from Mad Max to each other as the Nevada desert faded into the Manhattan skyline. "We got to Miramax's offices just before our lunch," says Damon. "And Harvey tells us, 'Mel Gibson is a great director. You can see that from Braveheart.' And I said, 'Harvey, Ben and I have been working. We haven't seen it yet.' So without missing a beat, the head of Miramax sits there and says, 'Okay: Scotland, William Wallace.' And he told us the whole movie."

Gibson's involvement had a catch: He was just starting Ransom and would not be available for nearly a year, so Good Will Hunting would have to wait. Recalls Damon, "Mel was totally understanding when we said, 'This movie is our life. And we know you're, like, the biggest star in the world. But we need a decision.' '' He shudders now at the cockiness of it all. Gibson bowed out after two weeks.

Meanwhile, Van Sant had gotten his hands on the script and contacted Damon through Casey Affleck, who had appeared in To Die For. "I was attracted to the notion of Will trying to create a family," Van Sant says, observing that his movies (Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho) have often depicted street kids struggling to forge an alternative home for themselves. Van Sant also started talking about the project with Williams, whom he knew slightly from years before, when the two were developing a biopic about slain gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk.

Cambridge's Bow and Arrow pub has been dutifully re-created in a forgotten Toronto gin mill on a June morning. Affleck and actor Cole Hauser, who worked together in Dazed and Confused and School Ties, are in character as Chuckie and Billy, two Southies who have invaded a Harvard bar for the night. They play pop-a-shot basketball in one corner. "Brick!" yells Hauser in his best Bean Town accent. "Larry," coos Affleck as he emulates the last white Celtic legend's jump shot. Damon, as Will Hunting, sits with Casey Affleck, whose character, Morgan, completes the quartet of friends. They stare as Skylar, played by British actress Minnie Driver, approaches Will for the first time. The scene is meant to be a little cool, but neither Damon nor Driver can suppress grins. They furtively hold hands between setups. Damon, who in his brief career has earned a reputation as an on-set smoothie (after hooking up with The Rainmaker's Claire Danes), has struck again. The camera rolls and Skylar offers Will a crumpled piece of paper. "Here's my number," Driver says. "Maybe we could go out for coffee sometime?"

"Great, or maybe we could go somewhere and just eat a bunch of caramels," Damon says. "It's just as arbitrary as drinking coffee." Their eyes meet. The actors beam.

"Matt wasn't prepared for such a powerhouse acting against him," says producer Lawrence Bender of Driver, who auditioned by reading a love scene with Damon at New York's Soho Grand Hotel. "It was a scene where Will tells Skylar, 'I don't love you.' Matt literally had to stop the audition, apologize, and start over. There were five guys in the room and nobody wanted to look at one another because we had tears in our eyes."

Regardless of the extracurricular role she plays in Damon's life, Driver has become an expert at infiltrating close circles of male friends; she worked with Stanley Tucci and his screenwriter cousin Joseph Tropiano on Big Night, and played the chick-of-the-flick in Grosse Point Blank, which John Cusack wrote with longtime friends D.V. DeVincentis and Steve Pink. "[Being the girl] in these groups has meant that I've been allowed to do whatever I like," Driver says in her trailer as Damon and Affleck make catcalls from the curb. "Because all of these men have said, 'We've never got her quite right. We need you to fill in the blanks.' " Minnie and Matt — their names could be the title of a forgotten Cassavetes script — were together during the summer while she was shooting a period drama in England and Scotland called The Governess and Damon was soldiering for Spielberg in England. But it's hard to tell whether a Bogart- Bacall To Have and Have Not kind of magic filters onto the screen in Good Will Hunting.

"There's a rosiness that comes through, but that can be deceiving," Van Sant says. "A lot of times if you are told something before you see the film, you might convince yourself something's there when it actually turns out to be the opposite."

Stars' personal lives are a squeamish topic for the director, but not nearly as squeamish as the donnybrook he got into with Good Will Hunting producer Bender, a longtime Quentin Tarantino associate who was handed the movie by Miramax. Since Damon, Affleck, and Van Sant had already gelled by the time Bender came on the project, the tight-knit group viewed him as an interloper. And according to several of the principals, Van Sant told Bender during a preproduction meeting, "You don't have a creative bone in your body, and I just want to punch you in your face." Van Sant then called the leads into his hotel room and demanded that Bender make assurances to the group about creative control. Van Sant and Bender agree that the contretemps was mostly about staking out territory. "Yeah, it happened, then it blew over," Bender says. Van Sant, however, cut Bender's cameo out of the film. And according to the stars, they see Bender's top billing as the only blemish on what was otherwise a dream come true. "The first thing onscreen is a Lawrence Bender production," says one. "It makes me want to puke."

No one recognizes Damon or Affleck as they cajole a janitor into unlocking the doors to their high school theater, and now they're back on the proscenium stage where Damon performed "Burning Down the House" in a school talent show. Casey and Ben are telling horror stories about Damon's slovenliness. The clincher for Affleck was when he showed up at the pad he shares with Damon in Manhattan's Chinatown and found his friend watching TV seated next to an old box of sushi being devoured by maggots. "I can forgive him," Affleck says, "because I know in my heart that he was using all his energy to figure out how he was going to play Will Hunting."

The two actors arbitrarily decided five years ago that Damon would play Will and Affleck would play Chuckie, a supporting role. Damon, as a consequence, gets the girl and a chance to shine with Robin Williams. As solace, Affleck penned himself a pivotal scene, in which Chuckie grants Will permission to turn his back on his friends and rise above his working-class roots. "Every day, I come by to pick you up," Chuckie says, "and we go out and we have a few laughs. But you know what the best part of my day is? The ten seconds before I knock on the door, 'cause I let myself think, I might get there, and you'd be gone. I'd knock on the door . . . and you wouldn't be there. You just left." It's an understated moment of male intimacy, one that almost overshadows the emotional pyrotechnics between Damon and Williams.

When asked whether he ever thinks about how things might have been different had they switched roles somewhere along the line, Damon insists that on the next movie he and Affleck write together, Affleck will star and he will provide the comic relief. "The biggest sadness I have," Damon says, his voice breaking slightly, "is that I look at my role and I think that Ben could easily have played it. I think he let me do it because, literally, he's my best friend in the world and he's that selfless." Catching himself getting mushy, Damon adds, "But, hey, don't feel bad for Ben. He's saving the world. Didn't anybody tell you there's an asteroid the size of Texas headed toward Earth? And if it weren't for Bruce Willis and Ben, God knows what would happen."

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

Hi. I was reading your post about unions going on strike and other unions, such as teachers and firefighters, potentially going on strike i believe.

As a US citizen I’m curious, does every industry in the UK have a union? If so, that’s mind boggling as it seems there’s so few industries in the US, that I’m aware of, that is unionized.

In the UK nearly all workers are allowed to join unions (exceptions for the police and armed forces, I believe) and therefore go on strike. There are lots of large national unions, that represent people who work in specific industries and will support them in national or workplace disputes.

Unfortunately, a lot of people don't join unions, but pretty much every industry will have at least one union they can join, if not multiple unions. And it does help in terms of national action.

It's actually pretty hard to call a national strike in the UK, but the RMT showed that even with anti-union laws the Tories put in place, it is possible, and it's had a bit of a domino effect.

Just to give you an idea of the unions balloting or involved in strikes right now (that I'm aware of).

RMT- represent transport workers, currently involved in a dispute around pay, conditions and redundancies for rail staff.

CWU- represent communication workers, currently involved in a dispute between royal mail and postal workers over pay and conditions.

RCN- represent nurses, they have just balloted and will be striking before Christmas be striking over pay and conditions.

UCU- represent university and further education staff, currently balloted and will be striking over a number of issues particularly in terms of increasing use of insecure low paid contracts for lecturing staff.

CBA- represent barristers who work in the criminal bar. They went on strike this autumn over very low fees for legal aid work and WON a 15% rise in fees!

FBU- represent firefighters and other rescue workers, balloting over pay currently.

NEU- represent all educations staff, balloting teachers over pay.

NASUWT- also represent teachers, balloting over pay.

NAHT- represent headteachers (principles) of schools, balloting over pay and school funding.

ASCL- represent school leadership staff, running an indicative ballot over school funding and pay.

I'm sure there are others too!

Right now the labour movement (meaning workers movement, not the Labour party) has seen a real resurgence- people are joining unions and standing up for themselves as the cost of living rises. CEOs and shareholders are continuing to take home megabucks, whilst many workers struggle to make ends meet.

You'll note that many of these unions are people who didn't stop working during the height of the pandemic as well- professions which have faced some really tough years and feel enough is enough.

The law in the UK is honestly really quite limiting towards unions, but national unions can still make change if that's what their members believe in.

I don't know what the law is in the US around national unions, but the key thing to remember is that they can't fire you all!

[lovetgr76]

ALISON BOSHOFF: Jesse Armstrong works on the heir to Succession after landing a megabucks deal to come up with a new show for HBO

[contremineur]

I know a woman who calls me every week or so when she has something on her mind and starts by saying I have something to talk about but let’s start by talking about something else. It helps her get it out. So I ask her how she is and she says okay and tells me about some poet or politician she’s met and how he wasn’t at all what she expected or about the DC weather, the traffic jams, the dirty Metro. Sometimes she never gets around to her point at all, but ends by saying Now I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Last week I had a fever for four days and the world took on a kind of flickering darkness— it seemed so thin, so insubstantial, not the kind of place a person could live. This guy who came to the card game last night, he says he dreams of a dead friend all the time, this friend walks out of a black alley, walks always in a kind of shadow. I asked him what it’s like to be dead, the guy said, fumbling a face-down card, and he said it’s not a place, heaven, it’s a feeling, the feeling of knowing everything you never knew. Then the friend told him one of the numbers to play this week in Megabucks. Sometimes, though, she does get around to what’s on her mind— a sadness for her little sister, killed in a wreck, or a fear that we won’t see each other again, won’t ever feel whatever that was we felt when we were making love. I don’t know if we will. I don’t know if she will ever see her little sister again except in dreams, which is somewhere, I guess. The number was eight.

Christian Barter, Something else (in ‘The singers I prefer’, CavanKerry Press 2005)

[choti12]

Title: Feeling Lucky? Exploring the World of Casino Big Wins

Casinos have long been synonymous with excitement, thrill, and the possibility of striking it big. For many, the allure of hitting a jackpot or scoring a massive win is what draws them to the gaming tables and slot machines. From the dazzling lights of Las Vegas to the opulent casinos of Monte Carlo, stories of monumental wins have captivated the imaginations of gamblers and non-gamblers alike.

One of the most iconic tales of casino big wins comes from Las Vegas, where a fortunate gambler turned a $100 bet into a staggering $39.7 million jackpot on the Megabucks slot machine at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino. The win, which occurred in 2003, remains one of the largest slot machine payouts in history and serves as a testament to the life-changing potential of casino gaming.

Similarly, the world of high-stakes poker has produced its fair share of memorable wins, with players competing for multimillion-dollar pots in tournaments like the World Series of Poker. One such example is the legendary victory of Chris Moneymaker, an amateur player who turned a $40 online satellite entry fee into a $2.5 million payday by winning the 2003 WSOP Main Event. Moneymaker's Cinderella story not only catapulted him to fame but also helped popularize online poker and inspire a new generation of players.

In addition to individual triumphs, some casino resorts have gained renown for their reputation as hubs of big wins and high rollers. The Wynn Las Vegas, for example, is known for hosting some of the largest baccarat wins in history, with players betting millions of dollars per hand in the exclusive VIP rooms. Similarly, the famed Casino de Monte-Carlo in Monaco has a storied history of attracting wealthy patrons and celebrities, with tales of extravagant wins and losses adding to its mystique.

While tales of casino big wins can be exhilarating, it's important to remember that gambling comes with risks and should be approached responsibly. For every success story, there are countless instances of losses and setbacks, underscoring the unpredictable nature of casino gaming.

In conclusion, casino big wins have captured the imagination of people around the world, offering a glimpse into the world of high-stakes gambling and the thrill of chasing fortune. Whether it's a multimillion-dollar jackpot on the slot machines or a high-stakes poker tournament victory, these stories serve as a reminder of the exhilarating highs and daunting lows that come with the pursuit of wealth and success in the world of casinos.