Hello, how are you?
I’m trying to create a page with the description of a magical item from D&D 5e in my database. This item has a table of random effects. I’m thinking of including the item description and the table on the same page, with one column for the effect number and another column for the random effects.
I got a bit ambitious and thought about adding a button that would automatically choose a random effect from the table and display its description.
Is there any way to make this work? Does anyone know of a formula or tool that could help me complete my design?

So, I made the mistake of not training our boy, Ozzie, bathtime routine when he was a puppy. He's had baths, but only because he NEEDED them and he was too small to do anything about it. (Deep bathtub)
Now, despite being well brushed and having his nails clipped, he is a DUSTY boy. So dusty that it falls off him when I pat his fur. This is not good. He cannot be on the couch like this. He loves the couch and is already highly emotional. He would whine if our elderly chihuahua was allowed up and not him, it'd simply break his little heart.
Currently? He absolutely HATES water, even when it looks like it simply falls off his coat. I think it's mostly the sound thats scaring him, because on his own terms? He's fine with just SLEEPING out in the rain and snow right next to his doggy door that he could go in at any time he would wish.
It's not that I haven't TRIED to get him in the bath. But he's a little bit more muscular than most shepherds because of the fact he's mixed. His body is a rectangle with muscles at his chest, trained especially by my father who, as a grown nearly 6 foot man, wrestles with him regularly.
However, none of us can lift him. Especially not my 5'1 100lb ass. Brute force is a no-go. And, because my dad also trained him that being pushed, snacked in the face, and corralled in anyway is just another form of rough-housing fun-play, trying to pick him up or pull him in there will likely register as a game. (he's a dad, so he thought that if an intruder got in and tried to hit him, it wouldn't be a problem if he absolutely loved it and thought of it as play! And he absolutely loves trying to tackle my dad, and gets kinda disappointed when he's too gentle, so half points?)
He is, however, EXTREMELY food motivated, and I was able to use a pot of leftover macaroni and cheese (he ran out of his favorite treats) to get him to sit and stay in the bathtub, but as he showed down on his treat that I commanded him to eat slowly, I got too hasty, and turned on the water to fill my cup. I have never seen him so conflicted. He looked at the pot, looked back, looked at the pot and jumped out with such force that I knew that if he could speak, he would be giving me a harsh "fuck you!" For tricking him.
Now my dog is dirty, AND so is my bathtub.
The only alternative i can think of is to wait for the hot summer months where he's panting to try and hose-bath him. But that would be quite a few days where he isn't allowed on the couch, and would only be a bandaid and not a real solution.
So, as my family is out of town and I am 1v1 with the sweetest, most food-loving dummy ever, I would love some tips, tricks, and advice! How did you train your buddies? Did you use force? Was it a multiple day-training battle?
Things I won't try (because there's always that one guy) •mean words in a mean tone of voice (he's sensitive) (and I mean ACTUAL mean words, not command-tone) •showing him 'whose boss' (Not a solution) •picking him up •scaring him! I want to try and make bathtime register as fun, the same way my dad did the same for physical stuff. He's a big, sensitive lover, and I don't want his stinkiness to end up putting a bar in our relationship. He's a good boy, especially for a 1yo!

Hi everyone,
I've decided to share some tips for college essays that helped me get to the university I wanted. Even though it is not one of the most famous colleges, I've always wanted to study there. Maybe these tips will help you make your dream come true as well.

Find your "Wow" factor

Colleges have seen their fair share of volunteer trips and sports trophies. You need to dig deep. Was there a quirky hobby you mastered? An unexpected challenge you faced? If you have a question: “How to write a college essay?” - the answer is to use this chance to show them the unique qualities that make you the person you are.

Be specific

Essays are about storytelling, not just listing accomplishments. Instead of saying you're a hard worker, use vivid details to showcase your work ethic in action. Let the reader experience your story and draw their own conclusions about your qualities. Therefore, give them all the necessary information to draw the conclusion you want them to draw.

Authenticity is your goal

Don't try to be someone you're not. Admissions officers can sniff out inauthenticity a mile away (according to the experience of my friends, and I've read this in many articles about writing college essays). Your unique perspective is what makes your essay stand out.

What did you learn?

Every experience has a lesson. What did you gain from your unique story? Did it teach you resilience, creativity, or the importance of teamwork? Help the admissions officers see how this experience will shape you in college.

Revise and then revise again

First drafts are rarely masterpieces. Read your essay aloud and ruthlessly cut unnecessary details. Proofread meticulously, and then proofread again. A typo-free essay shows you pay attention to detail. Use services like Essayshark to edit and proofread your essay faster. You can hire a qualified writer there who will help you structure your narrative and make sure it's free of mistakes and plagiarism. They usually deliver orders very fast, so you will not have to wait for a long time.
I hope some of you will find my college essay advice helpful. Maybe I will also share my thoughts on how to start a college essay in the next post.

In the beginning of my relationship with this man, I was told he was still in love with his ex, and with proof shown, I knew it and decided to turn a blind eye. So furthermore I ended up getting pregnant by him at 3 months of being together, oh and the whole 9 months I was getting mentally abused, real trauma that I will never have another kid ever again, (mentally abused by him and his family, VERY HORRIBLE PEOPLE, I am in so much pain mentally still due to them, but if you ask me truly, I would say I would like to have had the pregnancy I deserved. Idk how I am alive, I wanted to leave this world a very long time ago because of everything that i went through. He never respected me, he never will if I am being honest. However, I HAVE KNOWN ALWAYS FOR 5 YEARS HE IS STILL IN LOVE WITH HER. He even told me NO to telling his family to unfollow her off social media, I am so dumb dude. Like seriously. She was ALWAYS commenting on his family's stuff, and even till this day I don't speak to his family because they can't take his ex off social media. Literally rather be fighting with his girlfriends, kids mother, than his ex girlfriend, make it make sense lol. Anyway, so to make it even weirder, I went to see someone, they told me my boyfriend has seen her and meet up with her and spoken to her, at coffee shops, not just once, then I go on reddit, and i swear my gut fell to my stomach when I see a post of someone saying exactly what's going on in my life and that he meets her at a coffee shop and loves her, etc, (I'm like dude, that's my boyfriend maybe on another reddit page cause this is too much), anyway, I know he loves his ex, I know he's seen her, I know he's cheated on me, why hasn't he just left me? why can't he admit ? he is never going to propose to me, if not he wouldve a long time ago, like ? At the end of the day we have a kid, why is he making me want to hate him so much?

BLUF: How do Putrid Blightlords line up size-wise with the new 28mm-base Mandrakes from Kill Team Nightmare?
Hi folks, let me first give you a bit of background. Ages ago I made a Death Guard Daemon Prince using Yndrasta as a base. My rough concept for her was that this was a priestess of Isha who had been in communion with her goddess when Nurgle spirited her away, and so rather than being claimed by Slaanesh she was indelibly corrupted by Nurgle. I recently came into possession of a 9th edition DG codex where I discovered that it has a path for a normal model to become a daemon prince. So now I have the idea of kitbashing the Dominion Knight-Arcanum with Noxious Blightbringer parts to represent this character's pre-ascension form for use in an upcoming Crusade my wife and I ware working on.
But if I'm going to run her as a Blightbringer or a Chaos Lord, she needs a Plague Marine squad, right? And I was thinking of using Putrid Blightkings as the base to make her exalted cultists stand apart from your typical transhumans. Around the same time, I learned that some Mandrakes have been aligned with Nurgle in the past and I also thought about making her squad as corrupted Mandrakes. Of course, I'd need to get 28-32mm adapters so I could still run them as Mandrakes in Kill Team, but there are resources for that.
So having laid out the background, here is my question: are Putrid Blightkings similar enough in size to kitbash with Mandrake parts in a way that won't be terribly obviously out of proportion? The Blightkings box apparently comes with 11 torsos, so one box should theoretically be enough to bash together a full squad of 10 (or at least a 'sacred 7' squad assuming some of the torsos just don't fit right), but I figured I'd ask the community for input before I drop the $60.

Hi!
After many hours of answering questions from friends and members of the community, i decided to make this post to shine some light on how, when, and where get access to this game.
P.S: Im not a staff member from ABI, and English is my second lenguage so bear with me
There are three ways to get access to ABI:

1. Pre-register in the official page, this is how I got my beta key first day. This method 99% is not longer working, you had to be there before the beta launch. If you got lucky this way, you will receive an email "Arena Breakout: Infinite Beta Qualification Guaranteed - Download NOW!"
2. Giveaway key: you win one from the Discord, Twitter, etc events. This method is the most unlikely because they give away a very little amount of keys this way. Anyway, if you got one this way, go to the official page, create an account if you dont have one, and link the key. Access will be granted to you via mail the next business day.
3. Twitch Drops: if you are reading this, chances are you are waiting for another event, or already participated but are a little bit loss. If you got a key this way, and you see the key in the format NEWKEY-00000-NOSTEAM, congratulations you will be granted access via mail the next business day.

Keys are account linked for twitch drops, so it cant be shared (and people selling them in the official discord have been baned).
To this day 14/05/2024 there has been 3 Twitch Drops events. Im sure there will be more. And as the devs said:

Please remember that each player can only claim the beta access reward from Twitch Drops once. If you have already completed the drops task during the first two round event, you will be able to claim the Key directly on the event page. If you have not completed the task, your progress will be reset in the events.

If you got any doubts if your account has been granted access or not, you can verify this in the home page, there is a "BETA qualification check" link in the bottom center of the screen (do this after you get the verification mail. Accounts are not instantly activated after a twitch event).
Lastly, the devs have a "Beta Test Guidebook" where they explains with better detail all this. But for some reason no one reads that.
Official Page
Official Discord
Official X
Official Facebook
Official Youtube
EDIT: added some links
Good luck to all, see you at Kamona.

Unless you are at the point where YouTube pays your bills and feeds you, then you need to stop looking at that analytics tab. Especially the real-time one, which is just there to make you mad. Even if you do pay your bills with YouTube, stop looking at it.
The only things you can control on YouTube are your effort, the time you put in, and the topics you cover. The only way to grow your channel is to make stuff people want to watch, and you can see what gets views in the videos tab.
Also, stop worrying about "I published a video and it got fewer views than I wanted" because guess what. YouTube isn't a one-and-done system. They recommend me stuff from 5-10 years ago like they are brand new.
Why? I don't know, but I watch the stuff as if it's brand new all the time. Your videos do not have an expiration date on them unless it's topical stuff like news and politics.
Just make evergreen content. Think of your channel as you planting a forest. It takes time. You can't make the trees go faster. Some will grow faster for whatever reason, but not all of them will.
There are plenty of people in this sub who will tell you that they put out a video a year ago that did nothing. Got maybe 10 views, then they woke up one morning and it had 10,000 for no reason. They changed nothing, they did no updates, they just left it alone and it just blew up.
So here's what I suggest instead of checking analytics constantly.

1. Make videos you want to make BUT also make videos that people want to watch. Find something you and your audience both like and make that.
   
2. Whatever they do enjoy watching from you make more of that. See how AVGN is the biggest thing on that channel and all the non-AVGN stuff gets next to nothing. You need an "anchor" series. Something that is the main attraction and make lots of it. You will eventually change out the attractions though, but once you strike oil and get a ton of views on one, start grinding that topic until the audience gets bored then find another thing to drill.
   
3. Keep a day job regardless or start your own business. You can't rely on YouTube for $ unless you are in the top 1%. There are so many channels that I used to envy until I saw their analytics and realized they had a spike at some point now their stuff is barely paying the bills even with 100k+ subs (see most gaming channels for proof).
   
4. Treat YouTube as a hobby that is PASSIVE income. You can leave YouTube at any point to do other stuff or just take a break and it will keep generating money off your back catalog. This is PASSIVE income so just think of it as one of your many buckets that you use to make money every month not the main bucket because once again the algorithm is a cruel mistress and she's incredibly unreliable month to month. You don't have to work at McDonald's or Walmart but think of it as passive investment that can lead to active investments like ETFs or HYSA or whatever you wanna do to make more on the money YT gives you passively.
   
5. If you are an evergreen channel here's the best tip I can give you. Figure out a schedule you want to keep. I am doing once a week for the anchor series. Make a ton of that content, just grind it out without losing quality. Spend like a couple of weeks, maybe a month really putting your face to the grindstone and then schedule it out for MONTHS ahead. This gives you the ability to walk away, do other projects, or have a safety net in case you get sick for a month like I did in March and wasn't able to speak for an entire month & nobody knew anything different.
   

Hope this helped.

Book Your Free Consultation Today! > Discord @ shelbion

About Me

My name is Shelbion and I've been an avid League of Legends player for over a decade. In Season 4, I reached Challenger for the first time and even considered pursuing a professional career. However, after much reflection, I decided to pursue other challenges within the game.
Some of my notable achievements as a player include:

• Reaching Challenger on multiple positions.
• Participating and winning in numerous SR and 1v1 tournaments.
• Playing for various teams(Amateur and Semi-Professional).

Coaching

With over 7.000 hours of coaching experience, I fall into the category of one of the most experienced individuals in the field. My experience, passion, and ability to identify your flaws and tailor each session to your needs make me stand out as a Coach.
I've studied the techniques of renowned coaches, such as LS, MagiFelix, and others, and I've developed my unique coaching approach. So far, my approach has helped countless individuals, and over 20 teams advance their competitive play, across 5 different continents, including members of various College and University eSport Teams.
Some of my notable achievements include:

• Assisting a Diamond 2 player reach Challenger in just five weeks.
• Helping a Silver 2 player climb to Platinum in three weeks.
• Guiding a Diamond 3 player to Grandmaster in six weeks.

I am dedicated to continuously honing my skills and providing the best coaching experience possible to all of my clients, regardless of their rank or location.

Subscription Based Coaching

• One Individual Session (Monthly)
• Group Sessions (Weekly) x2
• Priority Coaching - Price: 99.99 > 49.99$.

Verifications & Certifications

• Certified IFOEC (International Federation of eSport Coaches) Educator & Coach.
• Certified EHPI (eSports Health & Performance) Professional.
• University of Irvine eSport Specialization
• Verified Coachify & Metafy Partner.

Community

In addition to my experience as a Player, I am also the Founder of Noxus Coaching - a rapidly growing, educational community on Discord. Our community is a great place to find new friends to play with, have a good time, and most importantly, improve your skills.
We hold various events on a weekly basis, including 1v1 & 5v5 tournaments, meme contests, and more. There are plenty of rewards to be won, including free coaching sessions with me. To join our community, visit https://discord.gg/RHW9BMxRd5 and message me upon joining to receive your role.

Podcast

• Podcast Appearance > https://youtu.be/4jn4FXOaOlE?si=98POLUJdJeSNnbiW

How Does it Work?

We will schedule an initial Interview during which we can discuss your goals and I can provide a more detailed explanation of my coaching services. This interview will typically last for 3-5 minutes.
The First Session is designed to assess your current level of gameplay and identify areas for improvement. After conducting an analysis, I will create a Personalized Coaching Plan tailored to your specific needs. This plan will outline a series of sessions designed to maximize your improvement.
The Coaching Plan may include various session types, such as:

• Theory sessions: These sessions will cover key concepts such as wave management, vision, decision making, and more.
• Practical sessions: These sessions will either be VOD reviews or live games, and will be used to put theoretical knowledge into practice and analyze gameplay.
• Reviews: These sessions will occur periodically and will be used as checkpoints to track your progress and identify any additional areas for improvement.

All sessions will be personalized and created specifically for each student's needs. By following this plan, you can feel confident that you are taking the most effective steps to achieve your goals.

Personalized Support (Available 24/7)

In addition to the structured coaching sessions, I offer personalized support to my clients on a 24/7 basis. Whether you have a specific question or just want to debrief after a tough game, I am always available to help. Simply message me and I will respond as quickly as possible.

AvailabilityPricesPayments

I am able to cover any server and any timezone! Rates for both Private and Team coaching are negotiable. We will easily get the sessions to fit your budget and your needs.
Payments are usually done through PayPal, however other forms of Payment such as Direct Transfer can be discussed.

Contact

Main form of contact is Discord on which you can find me at shelbion (Or Shelbion#8832)
Feel free to message me either on Discord or through a Direct Message on Reddit and I will come back to you as quickly as possible.

European business owner here. I'm trying to fit together a plan for myself that would make me work on my business (8 - 10h /day), study (~1h / day) and workout (~2-3h/day). I usually work out at least every other day (swimming) and with all the hassle of getting into the pool and coming back home it's about 2 hours.
I used to:

• wake up at 5
• study ~30 minutes
• work till 2 - 4pm
• work out till ~6pm

All that 6 days a week.
Unfortunately, the unregularity of my tasks for my business completely brutalized my schedule, frequently I'd finish work at 8pm and didn't work out, or got so tired I'd wake up at 7. Eventually, I went recently for a two week vacation abroad and when I came back, I've come to a realisation that the progress is not proportional to the stress and depression that this way of life brings. I kinda "gave up" and worked only 8-9h/day for a week and felt happy, but I need to get back to sport and studying. I've been a work-a-holic for the last 10 years and I'd like to hear some advice how to schedule properly and not ruin my life simultaneously. Any tips?

Pitch
Recruiting 4 Sorcerers (Magic not from entity or study) Only;

• Willing to deeply homebrew characters
• Three sessions -> Campaign for good fit
• Su@12p-4p EST

Thou were not born of thy own choosing
Whence you grieve, cry, or laugh
Tis as if you bring tragedy, rain or sunlight
Unexplained happenings follow you
And if anyone knows what you really are
They will kill you ..
Hide yourself, and silence your heart
Hunters seek those like you for in this world
.. You are monsters
Our story begins with the plights of your characters and how they were able to overcome them .. Or how they were succumbed to
You discover the nature of your afflictions .. And now you must survive
The world hunts sorcerers like dogs hunt confused and lost birds
But if a lost bird lives long enough to be found. It may spread it's wings and fly
Good luck
Introduction
Hello, my name is Inkh-Su (인수). I have been roleplaying since 2009 and started playing D&D 2018. I am hoping that you will be interested in my homebrew world of Myhrr. It is a work of consistent passion. I have passed 50 pages of content and have handcrafted over 30 explorable cities, tile-by-tile.
Myhrr is a living world developed by the DM, and a story lead by the players.
I prefer players who want to emotionally invest in NPCs, their party members, and their own characters. My aim is to naturally draw characters together into an interweaving story of relationships, action, and heroism.
My five main inspirations are The Books of Magic, Berserk, Merlin, Odin Sphere & The Last Unicorn.
I adhere to rules that maximize your exploration and sense of curiosity. I don't try to predict players, I just adapt to their actions. I study player strengths & weaknesses to spotlight them and write a balanced story. Depending on backstory, I grant geographical, social, and historical information.
Much of the world is a medieval, war-torn, feudalist place that has just found a respite from war. Power wavers with uncertainty, under the constant threat that war will return. Nobles attempt to secure peace alongside bloodstained battlegrounds. Royalty seizes power by sword, flame, accusation and subterfuge.
Whilst the faith in currency is unshaken, Trade is unstable. Promises are rare. The hunt of witches, warlocks, wizards and druids is ceaseless in a war against the unholy forces of magic and devilry.
Myhrr is plagued with economic inequality and xenophobia. Whilst half-orcs, tieflings, and goblins are capable of citizenship they are treated as second class citizens. Faced with the constant truths of their loathsome origins, demonic history, and biological differences they find little respite among other races.
Where half/elves are constantly bombarded with opportunity, these marginalized races find none.
Dungeons in the world are difficult to find. One requires research of the hundreds of books in the world, or a quick tongue and a fast blade, to take such information. Yet there are riches, power, and secrets hidden away behind the abominations of the deep and the traps that lay within. Those who seek answers in the hidden places of the world are at true risk of death or worse.
Think fast or die, traps don't wait and neither do monsters.
The core of every event lies a mystery. A quandary of history, social intrigue and chasing after evidence. Ancient secrets, political dealings, and criminal ones. The world's history is extensive but only a player who wishes to know the lore of the world will discover it.
One of the things I'm proud of in my game are its people. I've been roleplaying for over a decade and believe that every NPC will have more depth than any player will care about. Ingrained into the world and its culture; they have fears, desires and interact with an intelligence befitting of their environment.
Magic comes with a constant emotional and social contract. Only four classes are considered magical. Sorcerer, Druid, Warlock, and Wizard. All other classes use non-magical flavored versions of their spells. Each class uses magic uniquely, yet none of it is as reliable as sword or bow. Magic, no matter it's origin, has a will of its own.
Most cultures believe sorcery, druidry, and wizardry to be witchcraft.
Sorcerers do not have control over their innate power without having control over their own hearts. Druids must build a true relationship with nature and balance. Warlocks are required to debate and negotiate with cruel devils. Wizards are mysterious and grow in power as they follow a path of wonder.
The world has several holidays and I'd love to watch your character celebrate too.
Finally, the game is played with a flowing system of time. Time moves regardless of what your character is or isn't doing. Players who act quickly, describe their actions, act their dialogue and invest their hearts will quickly find themselves escaping the arm of mere RAW rules and mechanics.
I am rewarded by players who will sit after a game and theorize about NPCs, History and Intentions and have plans on how they want to act on the world. Reactive players are alright, but players who develop a judgment and work to act on that judgment are rewarded.
I am also rewarded by characters who act on and with emotionality to NPCs and with each other. My favorite moments are listening to the building moment of character clashes and support when they make discoveries that reveal pieces of themselves and each other.
World:

• Five Deities are confirmed fact
• One gold crown can buy a farm
• Literacy is rare and valuable
• Magic is feared, for it is fearful
• Xenophobia is alive and strong
• Guilty until proven popular is justice
• Evil is real, Orcs, Warlocks and Devils are Evil
• Printing Press is not yet invented

Game:

• Low Fantasy, a medieval setting with few magical elements
• Start Lv1
• LGBTQQIP2SAA friendly
• Session 0 required
• 4hr minimum sessions
• Available Races: Human, Elf, Half-Elf, Dwarf, Half-Dwarf, Dragonborn, Half-Orc, Halfling, Tiefling, Kenku, Goblin, Leonin, Minotaur
• Available Classes: Sorcerer
• VTT: Web-based
• Required: Chrome/Firefox + Discord + DNDBeyond + Microphone + Headphones
• Schedule: Su@12p-4p EST
• Game Start: As players are ready
• DM calls DCs && Open rolls

Table Culture:

• Roleplay & immersion heavy
• Mature, supportive & collaborative play is required to join

If you're interested:
Send me a chat with

• Age / Pronouns / Timezone
• A general character personality & motivation pitch
• An activity your character would initiate with a party
• In your opinion, what makes a good/bad playeDM
• What is your opinion of Magic in a setting where it’s demonized ?
• What does Magic mean to you ?
• Describe when you’ve connected with another party member
• Describe an example of environmental creative problem solving
• Does your character create ? If so, how are they creative ?
• What emotional state does your character often find themselves ?
• Discord handle

Looking forward to hearing from you : ]

I posted a few days with steps for finding purpose at our age group. It had a LOT of great responses and follow up suggestions (plus a few batshit accusations/observations, that's Reddit for you).
I made a TikTok today about life design. I grew up with 90% of my family being drug addicts or in jail. I moved 16 times by the time I was 17, I failed out of high school and college. I moved out at 17 and moved out of state by 19. I had to figure it out on my own. Life is a challenging teacher.
Today I have a PhD, live in my dream apt with floor to ceiling windows, own two companies, and havent had a boss in 8 years. I wrote 12 books and have complete time freedom. I'm not Scrooge Mcduck rich, but comfortable.
Here is how to create the life you want:
Remember one core philosophy: You control your education, fitness level, relationship status, income, job, and where you live. ALL of these can be adjusted. At ANY age.
Most miserable people don't practice self leadership.
They get up and are reactive vs proactive. They have given up on a vision of who they could be.
Never stop dreaming (ex: Willy Wonka, tap into creativity)
Today I woke up at 430am, after I type this out, Ill be at the gym by 630am. Ill then go run, and start my work day at home by around 8:15am. Ill issue a press release for a Hollywood actor in Cobra Kai, create some PR content, and do some media pitches for clients. I'm going to sign up for a free PR cert online that will take 4 days, then Ill go to a business meetup tonight to catch up with friends.
Just by living like this, I tap into 5/6 of the areas above. This is how growth happens.
If you feel unfulfilled in life, here is how to design better: Health/Fitness
Eat more greens, exercise or walk 3x a week, journal or sketch for mental health, get outside more
Relationships
Reduce time on the dating apps, use Meetup.com to find events in your area, make a friend list and actively rotate and support your friend group
Education
Sign up for local classes or take free online courses at MIT/Harvard/Coursera
Income Create a course, write an Ebook, start a paid membership site, teach workshops, do consulting, write a paperback, create an event, develop a skill online and sell it. The internet gives you access to the world. Use it.
Job
I created my dream job. I had ZERO experience and none of my degrees are in my field. Once you nail down what you LOVE doing, you can create a business model around it. If you have a desired career and want to work for someone, Monster.com, placement agencies, and Linkedin is a great way to find it. Don't work for money, work for satisfaction.
I hope this resonates with many of you. Life design is not nearly as hard as people think. Doing the work takes effort, but over time you can live MUCH, MUCH better by simple planning.
Got tips for life improvement? Share below~! Got complaints or criticisms? Share them with your dog.

Intended to get a grad degree immediately after graduating, but I had a parent suddenly die during college and it became financially impossible to take on more debt for school. I am currently looking for a job with a degree in International Studies. I have two internships I did my junior year of college in political research and outreach. I have a senior thesis as well for my program. I also worked several part-time jobs throughout college, which were just service positions, but experience nonetheless. I have a decent GPA from a Top 100 university (not great prestige but not awful, reasonably respected in the region). I've never been either unemployed or not in school for more than a couple months.
I cannot for the life of me find a job, and with the loss of income from my parent passing, it's become really difficult to make ends meet. I need to help my disabled mom and am stressed beyond belief. I currently work a part-time job as a docent at a museum and the wage/hours are fucking terrible. I can't find a full-time job or a second part-time job. I've literally been rejected from ice cream shops and hosting jobs (even using a paired down resume with only my service experience.)
I've had my resume and cover letter reviewed by both my university career center and AI. I don't have significant gaps in my resume. I apply to around 5-6 jobs every week since I graduated in August (assuming I can find relevant positions). So I've probably sent out around a couple hundred or more at this point and have only heard back from ~20 (mostly rejections). I've had around 5 interviews, one for a paralegal position where the interviewer ROLLED their eyes at me (he was asking a non-technical question). I genuinely don't think my interview skills are that poor. Nothing special, just not obviously bad. That experience actually made me think that hiring managers were evil. :(
Is it just me or the market? I really want to go back to school and do an MS in risk management (dream career is in global risk) but I literally can't afford it or afford more debt. I'm interested in doing certs to bolster my resume, but even spending $100 on a cert course is a big investment at the moment. Not sure how to move forward but something's gotta change asap because I'm barely keeping my head above water.
My partner is in a similar position. He has a grad degree from a Top 20 school (for his field) with ample connections. He's getting interviews at impressive firms (like making it to interview round 2/3 at Jane Street). He's struggling to find employment. We graduated around the same time.
I don't think either of us are dummies or crash-outs. WTF can we do?

Hello!
I would like to create a private Steam page for a project to test my multiplayer integration and to make it easier for my friends to update the project on Steam, instead of asking for a new build, each time I make some updates.
Now I have 2 questions:
I haven't created a legal company yet and would upload the game in my name. Can I easily change this, as soon as the project is ready to be shown to the public and I have officially founded my game studio?
And do you have any idea how the Steam algorithm would react to this? For example, if I would now create my Steam page privately, test the game for 2/3 months and then make it public, could this lead to the Steam algorithm interpreting that my game has not received any wishlists for 2/3 months and therefore classifies the game as being "worse" and does not promote it like other games that have just been made public on Steam?
Thank you and have a nice day!

Whether you’re from Pru Life UK, Sun Life, FWD, etc., I hope you’ll take the time to read this post. This feedback didn’t make it to management, kasi feedback was personally taken masyado in this industry.
Please don’t only focus on the achievers of your branch; check on those struggling Financial Advisors/Agents as well. They need your help the most.
Some of the training and advice are already outdated, making me question if we are truly worthy of being called “Financial Advisors,” or if our worth is measured solely by achievements and sales. It is painful to see some dedicated FAs who have been in the industry for years yet resigned because the system changed.
Encouraging agents to always attend training, to always show up, and to achieve a certain amount of sales—how about the unit and branch managers? Are they also showing up and attending training as well?
If we have high expectations for our agents, we should also uphold high standards for the managers. Show that you also deserve the title you have and the commissions that you’re receiving.
Most of all, show that you care. Show that you care not just about the agents' production. We’re not cows; we’re humans.
Before you check on your agent's production, check nyo muna yung sistema nyo, check nyo muna leadership nyo.
I know na hindi naman lahat ng branch is ganito, pero I know na madami. I’ve been in the industry for 5 years and I’ve witnessed some major transitions.
Lastly,in to all Financial Advisors/Insurance Agents, you’re doing well. Walang mali sa’yo. Most likely, you’re just in the wrong branch or environment. Magpatuloy ka lang.
Need to just let it off my chest, soon we’ll be heard.

Hello!
TL;DR - Trying to make my own Pokémon Hack game (completely new story and region), and looking for some resources/tutorials/tools/anything I can get my hands on, and looking for tips and tricks to making a new region and maps.
The long version:
I want to create my own ROM hack, but have a few questions that I can’t exactly google to find the answers. I’ve already looked into the pokeemerald decomp (and pokeemerald-extended), and have found some tutorials there, but not ones that I’m looking for yet.
The biggest one I have is creating a new region map. I have messed around with Porymap, which has an option to mess with the regional map, but… let’s just say that it’s tedious and limited. So I was wondering what everyone else was using/doing to create their own new regions. What tools and resources did you guys find to make your own regions? Could I use Advanced Map, and how would that affect the decomp?
Another question, that I have found a few answers for, is adding in new features (ie extended Pokédex to incorporate other generations as well). A few that I have looked into, I can’t seem to find exactly are:

- Pokémon walking behind player. I did find a few posts and videos, but no actual code. And I wasn’t sure if I could include all the Pokémon that I wanted (gen 1-4, plus a few extras here and there) - Character customization. I haven’t looked into this as much, but I haven’t really seen much about in forums/tutorials that I have come across already. And, kind of going along with this is creating a new opening script (not the opening scene before starting a new game, but when you start a new game and Professor Birch speaks to you.) 

And lastly, I’m just looking for the best place to get tilesets and how to add them into my project. I saw one post saying DeviantArt, but I guess I don’t know what to do with what I find. (I’m also looking for tilesets that match the vibe of HG/SS)
Honestly, just any sort of help would be amazing! I do want to compile all the resources and tools I used to create a tutorial of my own, more like a documentation of my process, in hopes that it helps others down the line. I’ll also try to keep you guys posted on my progress with the game too!
Thank you all for your help!

Hi there,
I wanted to take the time to write out a detailed explanation as to why some people might be hesitant donating to charitable organizations and why I personally would be in the 5% of people who would not follow Ludwig's recommendation of donating to Creators for Palestine. I'm also not here to be antagonistic towards others who donated but merely offer my perspective and decision making process as someone who has gathered knowledge about economics as well as psychology due to curiosity, specifically when it comes to the potential for corruption and ensuring money spent is used towards the goals a charitable organization is expressing.
I also wanted to thank Ludwig for his respectful acknowledgement of the fact that not everyone would be prepared to donate like he did. I don't like how he's been treated for doing that and perhaps offering my point of view in detail will give some weight to that perspective and get people to empathize with both my position and his intent to validate others who see things differently.
World economics is something I became curious and interested in due to the 2008 financial collapse. It seemed mindboggling to me that various trusted institutions would engage in manipulative behavior on such a massive scale, something that many documentaries have covered as well as the movie The Big Short.
My interest did not stop there. A lesser publicized story regarding the HSBC also manifested between then and now that shares insights into how our modern economy operates and how that manipulative behavior, which has yet to be criminalized and legislated against, is leading to funding organizations who are harming the public at large.
There have been little amendments to accountability as a whole and charities, are also entities that are financial institutions that can be used for illicit purposes as they exist in this very space that lacks proper oversight and regulations due to what is permitted on the global economic stage which is the hiding of assets and the effortlessness of creating corporate entities out of thin air. We've seen evidence of this being reported as well when it comes to charitable organizations claiming they're doing something for a cause, only to funnel that money towards harmful and exploitative actors.
Basically, if you have the capital, you can set up a meeting with a law firm, assign a signatory, or even hire one through them and whatever happens with that account, is going to be completely untraceable and outside of public scrutiny. One of the reasons we now have this information is due to the tireless work of the ICIJ and their release of the Paradise Papers as well as other investigative works they undertook regarding the offshore economy.
Because of this, for me, a charitable organization needs to have an established record and a history of demonstrable humanitarian support, in order for me to sign up with them. Things like food banks for example, will have a long history of providing a population food. In fact, one of the best things you can do is give them money as they will be more effective when it comes to meeting demands vs having a surplus that is perishable and can expire.
When one looks at the PCRF, one can see that it was established in 1991. That means there's a longstanding record of their operations and effectiveness. However, when one looks at that record, one is met with some startling discoveries.
One such discovery is that its operational budget for 2021 was 13.7 million, which is money that didn't get to the children of Palestine. It took in 21.7 million, which means that only 7.3 million dollars of that money was supposedly provided to relief efforts. That's like 33%.
Then you have the instance of the US Treasury deciding to freeze its assets on suspicion that it was funneling money to Hamas, which we've seen in the current economic climate and through history, is a very real threat. And that's just the tip of the iceberg as you can see on the page that I linked.
Lets say for the sake of argument that these concerns are unfounded though and that the operational costs in 2021 were justified due to the challenges of getting aid to that area of the world and that the US Treasury was engaging in a complete witch hunt and everything else has some sort of reasonable explanation.
Why, would one require a fourth party, through Tiltify, in order to then give money to the PCRF? It does not make any logical sense whatsoever to me, especially when they are actively taking a cut of charitable donations as well. The PCRF has its own website with a fully functional donation page, why involve a fourth party in that donation chain?
Another thing I look at, are the people who are leading these charitable organizations.
Michael Wasserman, the founder of Tiltify, his educational background? Is in music. All of a sudden, after embarking into the field he went to school for, this guy makes a drastic career change, launching himself into the field of philanthropy and business. That seems odd to me.
All of these reasons combined are why when someone recommends that I donate to a charity that has shown the potential for corruptive practices, my response is along the lines of no thank you. It's not because I do not empathize with the events taking place in Palestine but it comes from a place of wanting that money to get to the people in need.
When it comes to the psychology at play Dr Ramani is an expert on narcissism and she estimates that about 1 in 6 people are narcissists.
These are individuals who have no empathy to speak of. They know right from wrong but ultimately, people are just things for them to manipulate and control. More often than not, these are the people who find themselves in positions of power and control because they spend a lifetime practicing the art of manipulation and deception so they can obtain these positions by any and all means necessary.
They would have absolutely no problems using an event like what's happening in Gaza in order to gather money for themselves with the illusion of helping others and using people's empathy against them who are looking to donate to a good cause. In fact, they think they're entitled to it.
Narcissists will often do this thing called breadcrumbing where they will give a breadcrumb to someone who is starving either literally or emotionally, in order to give the perception that they are doing something when in reality it's a manipulative self-serving behavior. This would also manifest in a business because we're hierarchical creatures, their presence would lead to them having ultimate power and control over that company, its environment and a business' behaviour would reflect the personality type of that leader.
Empaths, their antithesis? Would be the ones who would take the dollars received and ensure victims get the lions share whilst keeping operational costs down.
Mirjana Spoljaric Egger strikes me as such an individual. An empath. She actually went to Gaza to see and understand the environment she was tasking herself and the organization she represents to help survivors of a historical genocidal attack from Israel at the command of Netanyahu. It seems far more probable to me that funding the International Committee of the Red Cross will achieve the goal of providing relief to survivors in desperate need.
These are the reasons why I take great care choosing what charitable organization to engage with and promote and I think it's perfectly reasonable to do so.
I'm grateful that there are people like Ludwig who respects that however I still felt a need to justify this position due to recent events that made me feel like I was doing something wrong because he was made to feel like he was doing something wrong for simply acknowledging people like me.
And it felt kinda shitty to be honest.

The ascent to educational entrepreneurship is a path not often taken lightly. The pillars of play school establishment are grounded in fostering the foundation of future innovators, creators, and leaders. For those who venture into the world of educational franchise, success is rooted in a rare blend of vision, execution, and pedagogy that resonates beyond the classroom. Makoons Preschool is a beacon of exemplary success in this domain, where each franchisee’s tale is a testament to the brand’s ethos and individual pursuit of excellence.
Here, we shine a light on the journeys of Makoons Kids School franchise owners. Their narrative underscores the essence of educational investment and community building. For entrepreneurs looking to make a meaningful foray into the preschool sector, these insights offer a compass, guiding you to chart a course toward your aspirations.

Empowering Entrepreneurs in Education

Entrepreneurship in education is a distinctive pursuit, woven from threads of aspiration and societal impact. Makoons Preschool has championed this cause by empowering individuals to build not just a business, but a sanctuary of learning and personal development.

The Vision that Sparks a Venture

The collective experience of over a decade in setting up bespoke nurseries tailored for each child’s unique identity is the foundational stone of the Makoons legacy. A visionary approach, catering to holistic growth through a comprehensive curriculum, has been pivotal in stirring entrepreneurship in education.

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At the heart of Makoons philosophy lies the belief that the role of education extends beyond mere instruction; it is the catalyst for intelligence development. This mindset has permeated the venture strategies of its franchise owners, igniting a spirit of continuous learning and adaptation in the often-stagnant realm of play school education.
The trajectory of success for small franchise businesses in India is vividly illustrated through the expanding network of Makoons Preschool, a testament to how localized businesses can thrive on a national scale through dedication and an evolved educational ethos.

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Teaching is a communal enterprise, and Makoons franchisees understand the importance of fostering a familial environment within their establishments. The tactile and emotional investments in community building have been fundamental in the replication of the brand’s core values in each franchise.

Music, Art, and the Masters of Tomorrow

Makoons pupils are not just children; they are the composers of their operas, the artists of their exhibits, and the budding scholars ready to thread their tapestries of knowledge. The curriculum instills a fine blend of the arts with science, technology, literacy, and numeracy, ensuring a holistic developmental experience.

The Prep School Push

Success is often measured in the milestones achieved, and for Makoons alumni, that translates to a seamless transition into primary education. The playschool serves as a preparatory ground for the rigors of formal schooling, ensuring that the children maintain their love for learning as they become responsible members of a broader social fabric.

A Spectrum of Supportive Staff

In the orchestration of a successful play school, it is the staff that sets the tempo. The dedicated team behind the Makoons franchisees forms the bedrock of the institution, offering a nurturing environment that is second only to a parent’s care.

Knowledge, Dedication, and Enthusiasm

The staff at Makoons are not just educators; they are mentors, guardians, and confidants. Their mastery of the curriculum is exceeded only by the warmth and love they provide, creating a harmonious environment that encourages each child’s self-confidence and introspective exploration.

Gateway to Growth and Responsibility

The staff’s pedagogical competence extends to more than just academics; they are sculptors of character, guiding the youngsters to realize their full potential while instilling the values of compassion and social responsibility.

The Franchise Investment and Future Prospects

Investing in a Makoons franchise is akin to sowing the seeds of a perennial plant — a venture that promises longevity and stability. The low preschool franchise cost in India, coupled with a robust support system from Makoons, makes it an enticing proposition for budding entrepreneurs in the education sector.

Play School Franchise Cost

The initial investment for a Makoons Kids School Franchise is designed to be accessible, ensuring a democratic entry point for individuals with varied financial capacities. The brand’s commitment to quality remains unassailable, with the relatively small outlay promising a high return on investment.
With an investment range of 10 to 15 lakhs, becoming a part of the Makoons Play School franchise family is both an attainable and wise decision for aspiring educational entrepreneurs, offering a balanced pathway to enter the rewarding realm of preschool education.

Support and Sustainability

Every step of the way, Makoons supports its franchisees with operational guidelines, marketing assistance, and continuous curriculum updates. This support system is designed to ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of the franchised establishments, thereby securing the future of the investment in the competitive educational landscape.

The Roadmap to Your Preschool Franchise

For those looking to venture into the world of play school franchises, Makoons stands as a model to emulate. It is an institution that not only imparts knowledge to its young charges but also enriches the lives of its franchise owners, equipping them with the tools to succeed in a field that is as challenging as it is rewarding.

Envisioning Success in Education

Success in education franchise is not merely a statistic or a balance sheet figure; it is the collective attainment of milestones that reflect measurable impact and transformation. With Makoons, these successes are not just a dream but a tangible outcome that is replicated across each of its franchises.

Joining the Makoons Family

Becoming a part of the Makoons family signifies a commitment to the educational ethos and a partnership poised for growth. As you consider the prospect of owning a Makoons Play School franchise in India, you are not just investing in a business venture; you are initiating a ripple effect of positive change that spans generations.
With a legacy underpinned by passion, compassion, and purpose, the franchisees of Makoons Play School have etched their stories in the annals of educational entrepreneurship. Their achievements are a beacon for those who dare to dream and an invitation to join a community that thrives on the principles of learning, leading, and legacy-building in the dynamic world of preschool education.
For more information on how you can be a part of the Makoons family, visit our website or connect with us to explore the possibilities of educational entrepreneurship that await you. Make your entrepreneurial story not just about your success, but the futures you help shape through the power of quality education.

I think my mom has Se, Ni, and Te.... however, two people on my previous post believed she was xSFJ (but didn’t elaborate why). What do you guys think? Please explain why you think yes or no.
NEED TO BE PRODUCTIVE + BUSY

• Absolutely cannot relax without doing something productive first, even on the weekends.
• Once told my cousin (who worked 5 days a week 7am-5pm) that she should look for part time shifts on the weekend since she has all that free time. I legit thought she was insane for believing that.
• I often don't tell my mom when I have an off day because otherwise she would expect me to still be productive otherwise.

NEED TO BE THE BEST VERSION OF HERSELF

• Always keeps an eye out on how she can self-improve and be better. Be it aesthetically, financially, lifestyle-wise, health-wise, etc. She especially pushes it on to me. This also includes education and career, always pushing me to aim for better positions and get more degrees.
• Her favorite topic is finances. Always wants to know how she can live comfortably now and later. But this also causes her lots of anxiety.

UNSOLICITED ADVICE IN STEAMROLL KIND OF WAY

• She's very quick to help give advice to someone, but it's often unsolicited and also quite forceful. Instead of suggesting it gently, her wording is more like "you should do this, then tell them that, you have to also do this or else it'll cause you trouble." She means well, I just don't think it's appreciated or welcome
• Also does not realize that her advice is unsolicited. Which is ironic because she expects emotional support and sometimes lashes out at me if I just give advice, yet she does the same and doesn't realize.
• Really reminds me of Leslie Knope from Parks and Rec for this trait.

DEFINITELY JUST KNOWS THINGS

• Showed my mom this korean tv show, Fantastic Duo, where several contestants perform together and the artist of the song picks one to sing a duet with. Within legit 5 seconds of it starting, my mom pointed to one contestant and said "seems like she'll get picked" and she was right. I was shocked. I showed her another clip and she also immediately pinpointed the right person.
• When I asked her how she knows, she said she always has been able to know things like this without explanation. According to her, it just comes to her suddenly.

SOMETIMES SEEMS UNSURE WHAT TO THINK

• My mom has strong opinions and beliefs, and often cannot be swayed. A little stubborn. BUT there are times where it seems like she doesn’t have a strong opinion (or one at all), and then if I express leaning one way she will strongly agree with me and take on that belief.
• Not out of insecurity or “just because”, but it feels like she was on the fence with no strong opinion and then once seeing points made that she isn’t against, she will strongly agree and believe in it.

VERY ANXIOUS ABOUT THE FUTURE

• This might be an excessive amount for a function, but she's constantly anxious and she very easily spirals. She'll be fine one moment, then if I bring something up, she'll immediately spiral and won't stop ruminating about it even though I said it's fine and not a big deal.
• Also constantly worries abut making the wrong decision. Even if she made the right decision, she'll sometimes be like "What if we chose the other decision?" The reasoning for this seems to be more that she's considering too many perspectives and cannot decide what the overall right choice is.
• My perspective of her anxiety is that nothing can get her out of the muck. If I give her objective reasoning, it only temporarily relieves it and I can see it. She'll firmly say "yes you're right" with relief, but you can tell she still only says it tentatively compared to her usual self.
• Continuously repeats topics and points over and over within one conversation. Or she'll say ABC, then we move on, then a short bit later we come back to the conversation and she'll repeat ABC even if I provided moral support and logical reasoning to try to relieve her thoughts. Her repetitive points on her pain points go nowhere and is also never solved.

FIERY, AMBITIOUS PERSON

• Always been hot-headed and fiery, both in temper and passion. She has this aggression in her to want to get things done. Very Type A kind of person.
• The kind of person to thrive off of negative feedback so she can be like "I'll fucking show you"
• Constantly comparing herself to others like "oh this person has good traits, I should be like that too" or "this person's trait is bad, I know now to not be like that."
• The kind of person to say "there are no stupid questions" but then you ask one and she'll say "use your fucking head, what a stupid question"

RARELY SEES HERSELF IN THE WRONG, BUT EVENTUALLY SELF-REFLECTS

• Self-explanatory, but she very rarely sees herself as wrong. She is stubborn and will hold steadfast to her opinions and beliefs in the moment. I don't think I've ever heard her apologize, and especially not admit she was wrong in the moment unless there's concrete proof.
• That said, if you give her time to brood about it, she'll come around and admit you have a point. She still won't apologize, but she'll say it in a "I get it, objectively it's right" kind of way.
• E.g., she got PISSED at me a couple years ago for not making a big deal on mother's day. Then some months later, she and I were talking and she said "I even told the friend that we have to be understanding of our own actions. I got mad at Gorgo about not celebrating mother's day once, but then I later realized I can't blame her. We never celebrate holidays and I don't do anything big for her birthday either, so why should I have expected her to celebrate mother's day?"
• It was like an indirect admittance through an irrelevant conversation she had, something she never brought up with me.

CARES TOO MUCH WHAT OTHERS THINK

• Yes to what society thinks, but I mean this mostly with personal relationships. If she has to make a decision that benefits some people and not the others, she worries way too much how the unfavored people in the group will be impacted.
• One time we ordered custom clothing from a store, and we weren't very happy with the end result. The tip amount was up to us, so I stood firm on a certain amount. My mom objectively sided with me, but emotionally wondered if we should give more because even though the result wasn't good, the store owner still went through all that trouble.
• I feel like this goes hand in hand with her anxiety.

USED TO BE SPONTANEOUS AS HELL WHEN YOUNGER

• My mom has all these wild stories of her when she was younger. She'd be traveling across the country with her friends by train, then randomly she'd get off at a stop and be like "okay I'll see you guys back at home! I actually wanna get off here" shocking her friends. And this was pre-cell phone times too. My mom today cannot fathom how she never got kidnapped or something.
• Once, she got tuberculosis and had to be hospitalized for some days. Once she was discharged, she went straight to the salon, got her hair done, and went to the club to dance lol
• Definitely was the leader of her friend group and everyone always relied on her for fun and plans
• She no longer is like this. Could be due to growing up, could also be due to the after effects of depression she had a few years ago. More of a homebody now.

KEEN EYE FOR AESTHETICS

• I've always believed that if my mom led her ideal life, she'd be an interior designer. She has an eye for things, and I don't know how to describe it.
• One time, we were figuring out what to do with this blank spot in my room. We fiddled around for a bit, then she had an idea, went downstairs, hauled up the large ottoman we had and placed it there. Looked great immediately and has been there ever since!
• I don't remember this, but she has told me how everyone would compliment the outfits she'd pick out for me, or the younger girls at work would compliment my mom on her outfits. And genuine compliments, not fake ones, as she says.

MISC.

• Not into fantasy/sci-fi. You will never catch her watching that genre. She likes political movies, action, based on true stories, spicy romance.
• Not into deep talk. Very much talks about strictly relationships/people, productivity/how to be your best self either internally or externally, etc.
• Very spiritual and religious (buddhism).

Will answer any questions you may have. Thank you!!

Welcome to Reading The Big Book of Cyberpunk!
Each week we (u/FarragutCircle and u/fanny_bertram) will be reading 5-ish stories from Jared Shurin’s The Big Book of Cyberpunk, which includes a curated selection of cyberpunk stories written from 1950 to 2022! We’ll include synopses of the stories along with links to any legally available online versions we can find. Feel free to read along with us or just stop by and hear our thoughts about some cyberpunk stories to decide if any of them sound interesting to you.
Every once in a while, we reach out to people who have more insight, due to being fans of the author or have some additional context for the story. (Or we just tricked them into it.) So please welcome u/Kopratic who will be sharing their thoughts on "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick!
Section 4: Challenge
In our fourth and penultimate section, editor Jared Shurin highlights how cyberpunk looks at technology that creates harm when put into practice, and later cites Marshall McLuhan about artists as challengers. (Shurin really seems to like this McLuhan guy.) Amusingly there’s a footnote where he mentions litrpg in passing, though he says there’s no litrpg in this anthology)
“We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick (published 1966; also available in his collection Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick)
Quail’s desire to go to Mars leads him to a memory-implant company so he can remember going to Mars, but complications and revelations and twists ensue, hilariously.

• Special Guest Kopratic: So this guy really wants to go to Mars, but it’s pretty dang expensive. Fortunately, what’s not as expensive is paying a company to trick him into thinking he’s been to Mars by implanting false memories into his mind. Unfortunately, things go wrong, and before he writes up a scathing Yelp review, he gets his money back, his wife leaving him, and his life falling apart.
• It’s a story I’ve read before. Not this exact, specific story, but the bones of it. Virtually visiting another time or place. It’s never real, but they tend to beg the question: Do memories create reality? Maybe this particular story was one that inspired, even if indirectly, the others. Maybe it’s a trope that had been used before, and the author was just putting his own spin on it like the ones that came after.
• I did like it. I thought that it was annoying how the secretary was described as being topless in practically every scene she was in. It went from, “Oh in this society that’s a normal thing, and body paint is a sort of fashion item” to “...we get it.” It was a minor part of the story at least.
• The twists were pretty good, too. There’s a moment where you start to question things alongside the protagonist. Maybe the false memories did work. He’s not supposed to know they’re fake, but he does. But he also has things that can’t possibly be explained by ways of “implanted memories.” Or maybe they can. Even until the very end, the story keeps you guessing. It did a good job of keeping the tension alive.
• In a sense, the story asks the question, “What is reality?” and fits in nicely as an entry into the realm of cyberpunk.
  
• Farragut’s thoughts: We’ve read Dick before in Science Fiction. Between that story and this, if I hadn’t read two of his novels already, I would’ve thought Dick was a comedic SF writer because of how funny I’ve found his short fiction so far. I vaguely recall (ha!) having seen the movie Total Recall, but I’m not sure PKD has ever had a faithful adaptation of his works. Anyway, this is just a fun story—not as wild as the film, but just a plain fun examination of memory and reality.
  
• fanny’s thoughts: The editor points out that each filming of Total Recall gets worse and this is correct. I had never read the story and I did like it despite it being a story I have seen before. Dick did a great job of making the reader doubt memories and the reality for the character. There are a lot of careful details throughout the short story that play with this concept and add to the general confusion of what is real. The story is not the most amazing thing, but it is very well done and a bit twisty.
  

“Speed” by Misha (1988)
I think that Speed is looking for Speelyi-427 on behalf of a computer AI called Juno 888, but after that I’m lost.

• Farragut: We’ve read Misha before in Science Fiction. She’s a very cyberpunky type author, but I’ll be darned if I understand half of what’s going on here. There’s data as currency, there’s an all powerful computer named Juno 888 (I think?), there’s a car chase with a barbed-wire tripwire at neck level (ouch), there’s indigenous ghost dancers, and I had a hell of a time connecting the dots. It didn’t help that for the first couple pages I didn’t realize Speed was the character’s name, which made the story even more abstract at first. I absolutely know there’s someone out there who loves the crap out of experimental/transcendental stuff like this, but it wasn’t me.
  
• fanny: I was beyond confused reading this one. For half the story I thought the character was the computer, 888, but then I realized it was Speed. I am not sure that helped though. I feel like this was too experimental for me and it just missed the mark. The good part of this was the trading in data and the trying to steal data, which was an interesting technology application.
  

“Computer Friendly” by Eileen Gunn (1989; also available in her collection Stable Strategies and Others)
Elizabeth and other kids are tested, and while she passes with flying covers, her new friends might lose their lives unless she can figure out a way to help them in a world where the heavily computerized future uses real brains from people and dogs.

• Farragut: Gunn is an oft-nominated writer (including for this story), but ended up winning the 2005 Nebula for “Coming to Terms”. I really loved this bizarre future (she’ll play computer fetch with her dog when he has downtime from managing data traffic), and Elizabeth is an adorable character to follow as she navigates the shocking new revelations about her world. The help she gets from some of the obscure entities on the network is perfect, especially when they realize that their current world is a little too predictable these days. Highly recommended, especially for Elizabeth’s “hacking” methods.
  
• fanny: I loved this story and following Elizabeth through it all. Elizabeth is a fierce, determined little girl who doesn't want anything bad to happen to her friends. She goes to extremes for this and gets help from the weirdest sources within the network system. The net system, entities, and the world are so well thought out and carefully crafted. It felt fully realized which is unusual for me to find in a short story. Absolute loved this one.
  

“I Was a Teenage Genetic Engineer” by Nisi Shawl (1989)
The narrator is imprisoned for her reckless genetic engineering, making new incarnations of old gods.

• Farragut: Shawl is a multiple-award-winning author and has done a lot of work on promoting diversity in SF/F. A very short story (under a thousand words), it’s also got a very mythic and poetic tone to it, like a confession as a parable. Very evocative, with lots of classical allusions.
  
• fanny: Such a short story and such a unique concept. I liked that the main character made the entire Pantheon and unleashed the Greek gods back on the world. I found the description of creating Psyche the best part. This story is a bit experimental, but worked for me.
  

“The Gene Drain” by Lewis Shiner (1989)
A generation ship ends up right back on Earth, with disturbing and amusing differences between the two groups.

• Farragut: Shiner was a member of the Turkey City Writer’s Workshop which is considered a “cradle of cyberpunk”. This story was quite amusing, and you can see the differences between the overly-technological humans on Earth and the extremely weird worshippers of Johnny Carson. The author does a great job of encapsulating all the changes since the ship left in little throwaway lines, and the ending was both disturbing and funny.
  
• fanny: I found the whole premise quite ridiculous, but a nice way to show how too much technology can change society. The worshippers of Johnny Carson return to earth and manage to get a leader who has a bad experience with tech. The extremes he is willing to go to is both realistic and slightly disturbing. The ending is amusing, but it is serious too. I like how Shiner balanced absurdity with real society challenges. But also cult of Carson.
  

That’s it for this week! Check back the same time next week where we’ll be reading and discussing "Deep Eddy" by Bruce Sterling, "The Yuletide Cyberpunk Yarn, or Christmas_Eve-117.DIR" by Victor Pelevin, "Wonderama" by Bef, "comp.basilisk FAQ" by David Langford, and "Spider's Nest" by Myra Çakan.
Also posted on Bochord Online.

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Hi, David here!
Everyone has flaws and imperfections, either physically or personality wise.
Don’t get hung up on things about yourself which may be unalterable.
Don’t always be trying to overtly hide such flaws. The insecurity shown when trying to hide a fault often comes off as being way less attractive than the actual fault itself.
Obsessively trying to hide a fault highlights a person’s insecurity and shows low self-confidence.
In the cases where the fault could potentially have an impact on your performance, it’s often much more effective to directly address the issue upfront, and call out the elephant in the room as it were.
But for the scenarios where the fault is inconsequential, you could choose to address it instead in a more nonchalant manner. If the fault does not matter to you, why should it matter to other people?
You can joke about your flaws, but do not do so in a self-deprecating kind of way. If you joke about yourself in a self-deprecating kind of way, then you are probably hoping that people will laugh with you instead of just at you. And while perhaps funny, this does not make you look attractive.
However, being able to openly joke about yourself in such a way that you are not simply searching for approval from others, shows that you are truly comfortable with who you are.
You can also re-frame a fault as a positive.
Being overly defensive or qualifying oneself let’s someone know that they have successfully accomplished getting under your skin, which may have been their very intention. Completely ignoring such remarks or either responding nonchalantly or with a joke is often a much better response.
There are actually many benefits to having flaws:
When you accept a flaw and remain confident despite it, more attraction and/or respect can be generated than if you lacked the so called flaw altogether.
Especially if the flaw is physical. Internal confidence is a way more attractive than some external superficial flaw.
If the flaw is blatantly obvious, and yet you conduct yourself as if it has no drastic effect on your self-worth, it shows great self-confidence.
Similarly, if others try to actively attack you over a flaw, but you remain nonreactive, confident and well-grounded despite their provocations, you can come off looking even better than before.
Faults can also allow other people to find you more accessible and relatable. People can’t identify and connect well with others who appear perfect.
And finally, learning to overcome certain shortcoming in life is what allows you to build resourcefulness, character and work ethic.
​
BTW, I just finished putting together my dating advice eBook "How to Date Any Girl" version 4.0 and would LOVE to get some honest feedback from you!
I decided to give it away for free for the time being.
​
The eBook is 27 pages long and gives you a practical step-by-step solution to meeting women (15+ years of knowledge put into it).
You can get the eBook by clicking here!
​
This book is the result of going out and socializing with girls for over a decade. I have put in there all the fundamentals I have learned over that time so I would really appreciate all the feedback I could get!!
​
What are your thoughts? Do you have any tips to add?
Let's discuss in the comments :)
Thanks for reading and have a GREAT day!
David Davidson