^(HEADLINES)

^EDITORIAL

^TRADE

^DRILLS

^DOMESTIC

^FINANCE

^ORDERS

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HEADLINES: EMPIRE IMAGE OF THE YEAR VOTING BEGINS. FIRST ELIMINATIONS.

ASPERMONT, WESTERLANDS - A wonderful start for Empire Image of the Year 2018 with the first votes coming in last week, eliminating the first sets and will be moving on to the next round.

Alright let’s hurry up with the next round and then the final rounds so we can concentrate on something else.

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EDITORIAL - When a Man gets a Raise

Irishkaiser - Recently two UTC members have gotten a raise, me being one of them… I then began to ask myself would I act any different if I had increased amount of income? Would it be for better or worse? How does money really affect people?

Well the first thing I began to notice was my willingness to pay more for things with little regard for their actual base price. In my recent trips to business-savvy countries were bargaining was an appreciated skill, I have noticed that I tend to give away much higher now than I was able to in the past. An example being a product I wanted to buy costed about 58RMB, which I bought at 40RMB. Now I know I could have easily gotten them to go for 35 Yuan and if I’m really adamant, I could reach the best value of at least 25-30 Yuan.

I knew this. My mind knew this. My experience told me in my bones that I could have gotten a better deal but I didn’t. Willingly and knowingly.

A country like China aren’t the norm, I never give out tips but I have told them to keep the change. This was most shocking to me because I knew that the Chinese were willing to give out the exact amount and it wouldn’t bother them a bit. I was willing to pay more for the convenience and something that became increasingly valuable to someone who is financially secure - time. I didn’t want to waste time bargaining and just moving on so I can enjoy all that the Northeast of China has to offer and not be bogged down by the time it takes to conduct business. In periods where we had freetime, my niggardly nature did show and I found myself comparing water bottle prices - judging each and every one for best value.

My father who is of course better off than me by a long fucking shot, instead just picked whatever’s on the shelf for the price differences in between water brands did not seem to bother him at all. In fact, he was looking more so for water types(distilled, mineral, fresh), and didn’t give a damn as to how much they cost. Except for fucking Fiji water. That was noticeably off the charts. Fuck Fiji Water.

Then there was the issue of acquiring transport. I was about to haggle with a taxi driver until my father took out a hundred yuan and the taxi driver instantly was like “OH, COO SURE”. I questioned my father and criticized him at how he gave up so easily and how this enables scammers to target foreigners, but he countered:

“It would take too much time and this way we get to go back safely. It’s alright, we have the money. Why not use it?”

Then I realized once again that we were paying for convenience because time to us became far more valuable than the currency itself, plus he’s only in this world for a little while longer(but then with advanced modern medicine probably still long) and it would rather be cruel of me to subject part of his late years to arguing with taxi drivers on the streets at night. In the words of Napoleon the Great: “Lost ground and lost material, these I can regain, but lost time? Never!”

I then interviewed a friend who had gotten a significant raise in his pay… Well not really a raise since he went for a new job and got a better payscale there. I asked him how the new money has affected him…

All he said was that at a certain point, money stopped buying him happiness… Also he got that from some other guy… And he actually just said he could buy the alcohol he likes now without breaking his own bank… Plus, something about confidently applying for a credit card or whatever.

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TRADE - US MineZ Trade Run

The Directory proudly announces that it has delivered

2 Iron Armor Sets

1 Iron Sword

1 Infinity Bow

in exchange for

1 Buttons

1 Golden Apple

Late Trade Run due to the fact that I had to catch a flight and work late twice. Also got into a contact with the Asian and European markets again… Language barrier was a problem, of course.

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TRADE - Common Market Trade

The Directory proudly announces that it has witnessed the following goods circulated.

Meteor Rain

Binding Bow

Iron Armor

Glowstone

Flash Grenades

Infinity Bows

Diamond Swords

Lone Sword

Battle Inventories EXPORT models

Golden Apples

Bandages

MIRKU PREASE

Food

QI LAI. QI LAI. QI LAI

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TRADE - US MineZ Trade

The Directory proudly announces that it has delivered in two trade runs

1 Battle Inventory Export Model

1 Diamond Sword

2 Grenades

1 Iron Armor Set

in exchange for

1 Button

Buncha food

I had extra to give away generously so why not.

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PvP Drill 145th Mass PvP Event - Back to Work

So that new event/mission I was planning was incredibly delayed. Thanks, Universe. Anyway, the only thing I made a real fight for was the trade run. Maybe next week..?

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DOMESTIC - UTC PLEDGES GOLD ARMOR PIECES AND CAKES FOR COMMONWEALTH GAMES

1st Place Gold Armor Pieces.

2nd Place Diamond Swords

3rd Place Like tons of cake, I guess…

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FINANCE - BRACING FOR CORRECTIONS

With the rapid surge in inflated value, it’s only a matter of time before THE RIGHTEOUS HAND OF THE FREE MARKETS SMASHES AND CORRECTS EVERYTHING. But so far a good week.

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FINANCE - YEARLY BUDGET FOR UTC CLEARED

We’re granted about 200USD a year to pay for the servers as that was the only thing in the report… Eh… This is Congress.

**ORDERS:**

1) NO TRADE RUN NEXT WEEK

2) NEW MISSION/EVENT NEXT WEEK. WE’RE CONCENTRATING ON THAT INSTEAD.

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^(THE [?] EMPIRE,THE COMPANY’S OFFICIAL NEWS SOURCE AND PROPAGANDA TOOL. AW YEAH)