The tensions with Opposing Empire have gone beyond mere mutual enmity. This is a conflict of economies, ideologies, and clandestine efforts, fought across our empires in the hearts and minds of our citizens. With some carelessness, or perhaps deliberate actions, it could quickly become a full-fledged military conflict.
^{(Note: this is a sneak peak into a larger Diplomacy DLC concept I am designing. Also disclaimer: I am not a game designer, I intentionally did not provide numbers, just ideas! Feel free to suggest or criticize.})
When two empires are Rivals a while, both sides will have the option to escalate the Rivalry into a Cold War, which costs Influence. If either side does this, a Situation that is shared and progressed by both sides is created. This situation is intended to provide more RP and mechanical freedom for empires to either diplomatically mend relations, prepare a leadup to war, or perhaps make gains without resorting to warfare.
Cold Wars, like many situations currently in the game, operate on a line between two endpoints, representing the tensions between the two empires: Reconciliation (-100) to War (100).
By default, the Situation will start at 0 and remain stagnant in the middle. Both sides will have access to four Approaches which have different bonuses and effects on the Situation:

• Seek De-Escalation: costs Unity to upkeep. Increases Opinion of the opposing empire, and progresses the Situation towards Reconciliation. (Our simmering conflict with Opposing Empire must be reconsidered. We will extend diplomatic tendrils in hopes of reducing tensions and reconciling our two empires.)
• Maintain Status Quo: costs no upkeep, has no effect. (The current friction with Opposing Empire works to our advantage. We will focus on our own affairs.)
• Clandestine Effort: costs low Energy Creds to upkeep. Moderately decreases the cost of running Spy Operations in the target empire and slightly increases their effectiveness. Slowly progresses the Situation towards War. (We have no desire for a large scale armed conflict with Opposing Empire at this time- instead, we will use... other methods to improve our position.)
• Prepare for Hostilities: costs more Energy Creds to upkeep. Increases Military Ship and Defense Platform build speed, and more quickly progresses the Situation towards War. (We have had enough of the thinly veiled hostilities with Opposing Empire. War is inevitable- and we will lay the groundwork for victory!)

Progress: there are also other factors which will influence the progress of this situation:

• Either side being Militarist or Xenophobe will add base progress towards War, increased if Fanatic.
• Insults will bump the scale towards War.
• Military buildup/border friction, as well as the currently existing Conduct Fleet Exercises event, will move the scale towards War.
• The opinion of either side decreasing further (ex. Harm Relations) will move the scale towards War- this also means a 3rd party could use Spy operations, like the existing Diplomatic Incident or Smear Campaign, to push the outbreak of hostilities!
• New Cassus Belli gained by either side against the other will push the scale towards War- for example, taking a Civic that grants CB, or becoming a Hegemon. So will Declaring War on a Vassal or Ally (provided this doesn't immediately pull the empire in).
• HOWEVER:
• Either side being Pacifist or Xenophile will add base progress towards Reconciliation, increased if Fanatic.
• Cassus Belli becoming invalid will push the scale towards Reconciliation- for example, Impose Ideology becomes invalid if the target adopts matching Ethics.
• Improving Relations by any means will move the scale towards Reconciliation. Eventually, Embassies and other Diplomatic actions can end the Cold War.
• De-Escalation can be traded under Actions- normally, Rival AI empires will never be willing to trade, but an exception can be made here, to for example allow one side to Trade systems, resources, etc as concessions in exchange for X progress towards De-Escalation. The AI may offer such deals if Inferior or Pathetic, and may request concessions to reduce tensions if Superior or Overwhelming.

Events: as with most Situations, the Cold War could feature various events for RP and mechanical purposes. Here are some examples I thought up:

• Fraternization with the Enemy (either empire is some degree of Spiritualist, Xenophile or Pacifist): Despite the tensions with Opposing Empire, news reports and viral videos have recently been circulating of groups of both Our Species and Their Species activists united in song and demonstration on multiple planets. Apparently, these individuals seek an end to the hostility between our empires.
  • [Support these noble and righteous souls.] - bumps the scale towards Reconciliation. Gain temporary Ethics attraction for the corresponding Ethic.
  • [Ignore these misguided fools.] - situation does not change. Gain temporary Happiness debuff for pops of the the responsible Ethic.
  • (Militarist, Xenophobe, or Authoritarian) - [Arrest as many of the wicked traitors as we can identify!] - costs Influence, bumps the scale towards War. Gain temporary Ethics attraction for the Ethic you used to take this choice.
• Arms Race Breakthrough (is currently using the Prepare for Hostilities approach, increased chance if Materialist or Technocracy): Amidst the large-scale preparations for possible conflict with Opposing Empire, a small team of scientists has independently developed a new military technology and presented it to our government for use.
  • [Excellent.] - bumps the scale towards War, and gain a low-mid tier military tech that was not yet researched. If no valid options, gain some Engineering research instead.
• Pro-War Rally (has any Xenophobe or Militarist leader): Recently, in front of massive crowds on Planet Name, Leader Name delivered a rousing speech extolling the glorious virtues of Our Empire and denouncing the horrific threat presented by Opposing Empire. It would seem many have been swept up in this pro-war fervor and are demanding action from our government. However, foreign emissaries and more moderate elements have cautioned against supporting such explosive, radical rhetoric.
  • [We stand with Leader Name! To war!] - bumps the scale towards War, changes our approach to Prepare for Hostilities if it isn't already, and gain Unity and temporary Ethics Attraction to Leader Name's Ethics. BUT reduces the Opinion of Opposing Empire and any empires Cordial or friendlier to them.
  • [Heads must be kept cool, and Leader Name must be reprimanded.] - costs Influence, but the situation does not change.

And now, for the conclusions of the situation:
Reconciliation Finisher (or if empires somehow become overlord/vassal or allies via external circumstances)
Both Empires get the Event: De-Escalation Successful
In a significant diplomatic achievement, the heated tensions with Opposing Empire have been comprehensively defused! Perhaps this will pave the way for friendlier relations and better days ahead.
If the Situation reaches Reconciliation, the Cold War and Rivalry will immediately be ended, with all their bonuses and effects. Both empires will gain a moderate lump sum of Influence and Unity, as well as a small burst of increased Opinion for each other.

• [That was a close one.] - default option, overwritten by others if applicable
• (Pacifist or Xenophile) [A glorious day!] - the rewards are increased
• (Militarist or Xenophobe) [Disappointing.] - the rewards are decreased

War Finisher (or if empires are pulled in by other factors)
Both Empires get the Event: Cold War Turns Hot
The heated tensions with Opposing Empire have ignited! Negotiations have broken down, and fierce border skirmishes have erupted. The truth is now undeniable: we are at war.
If the Situation reaches War, the Cold War and Rivalry will transform into an actual, normal war. Both empires will gain a small lump sum of Influence and Unity and will have a window to pick from their available Cassus Belli and call in allies before the battle begins.

• [To battle stations!] - default option, overwritten by others if applicable
• (Pacifist or Xenophile) [Well, we tried...] - the rewards are decreased
• (Militarist or Xenophobe) [Long have we waited for this moment!] - the rewards are increased

And that's all I've got for you all today. Thanks for reading and please send any suggestions or feedback! Here's a bonus: a new achievement based on the irl Soviet Colonel who may have saved the world
Legacy of S'tann Pet'rovv: De-Escalate a Cold War after tensions had at one point reached 95 or higher.

Hello fellow redditors,
I am looking to name my cat! She is mostly grey with white parts and has a white „scar“ across her face. I intended to name her Skadi, the goddess of hunters, but would love to give her a second name such as „Skadi Snurrelson“.
I was thinking of the Norse words for ash, sky (because she is grey and white), snow etc, but couldn’t come up with anything cool so far!

Opinions are cool. I like all the albums. The trendy album tier posts are so weakly relative imo. 8 album is dope. This whole community is a nom de guerre just a bunch of screen names- grist for the mill. Enjoy incubus

masterwork items are losing their special names. why? please keep the special names, they are really cool. the tech already exists and all riot has to do is to come up with new interesting names, which is not that hard.
p.s. if you don't know what I'm talking about, see this

This story was written and emailed to me by an anonymous source. And it’s one of the craziest most bizarre stories I’ve ever read. Ever! 😆 Enjoy the read. It’s long and ridiculously wild. ☘️ Also, in advance, no one can use this story. These stories are written and emailed to me for me to turn into a Video Narrative for my YouTube & TikTok channels. But I would like to share their tales as reading material as well. Thank you for understanding.
I hope you enjoy. 🫶
Story by - “Alex” & “Shane”
Okay so…
I went on vacation to Ireland with my brother last year. And had the most wildest experience of my life there.
Or should I say, we both had the most…wildest experience.
But More so me. And to Tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ll ever go back again after what happened.
As a matter of fact, no, I won’t go back.
So, it’s a Sunday night and it was pretty much our last day of vacationing.
My older brother Shane, wanted to go out… And I’m quoting him - “let’s get fuckin wasted tonight!”
So… We’re on vacation right? Why not? We had rented an Airbnb for the week, we had a rental car - we had a great week so far and we were having…
A proper vacation.
He was already dressed up and ready to go. I wanted to take a quick shower and shave so I told him to head out and I’d call him when I was ready for him to pick me up.
He says cool. He leaves, and I jump in the shower. He’s the one that knows the hot spots in Ireland better than I do. I mean, this was my first time ever coming here. So…
I take a shower, shave, and I get dressed. As I’m about to call my brother, the front door to our Airbnb opens up.
And Its my brother with two bad ass Irish women! They both jump on the couch and they’re laughing their asses off and my brother is just standing there looking at me with a sly grin on his face.
He looks over at the ladies and says - “Give me a minute please” walks over to me, puts his arm over my shoulder and walks me to the bathroom. He then whips out a bag of mushrooms and smiles. Ya know… The psychedelic kind.
I look down at the bag and I shake my head.
He says to me - “come on bro. We got two hotties out there who are trippin and they want to party. Don’t be a flake. This is our last night. Let’s make it special.”
I don’t like disappointing my brother but I was kind of hesitant.
I opened the bathroom door and take a look at these gorgeous women who were both sitting upright now and both looking at me as I opened the door. Both smiling. I smiled back. Closed the door… I looked at my brother and said - “Alright dood fuck it! Let’s do it!”
He gives me a huge hug, kisses me on the forehead, pours me a handful of shrooms and does the same for himself.
We both looked at each other to see who would go first. He counted to three and down the hatch they went. But they were the most unpleasant tasting mushrooms I’ve ever eaten in my life. They were disgusting.
I ran to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of juice because I was having a hard time chewing these nasty things.
But my brother Shane? No, he’s a pro. You give that guy a barrel of hay and he’ll eat it faster than a horse. The guy can eat anything.
40 minutes go by and I’m still straight as a pin. However, my brother on the other hand? He’s already trippin.
I think he had already taken some beforehand.
But in the next 10 minutes… These shrooms hit me like a ton of bricks! It was like this intense wave of cool and hot went completely through my body.
And I’ve taken mushrooms quite a few times but have never felt anything like this before. It was so sudden!
And I feel fantastic!
The next hour went by so fast because we were having so much fun! And these Irish girls? Man… I had the sexiest one! A beautiful Redhead by the name of Katrina.
She was kind of short though. About 5’1” maybe? But good things come in small packages, right? Well, not really. And you’ll know why soon enough.
I don’t recall anything else that happened for the rest of the night after my brother left with the other girl. And before I continue with the rest of the story. My brother’s name is really not Shane. And the redhead girl I was with is not named Katrina.
You see I had to make up these names to protect me and my brother. Because what happened during the rest of the night? I don’t remember. But also, I’ll never forget either.
Okay so, let's get back to the story…
I do remember my brother leaving with… Let's just call her Gloria, Katrina’s friend? And me and Katrina, the redhead, stood behind. I do remember us making out in the bathroom together, but…Everything else after that? There’s nothing there. Nothing. I don’t recall anything from that point forward no matter how badly I try to remember.
This is what my brother told me he witnessed as he arrived back at the Airbnb five hours later with Gloria.
And until this day, I still don’t want to believe this happened. But according to my brother…
It truly did happen.
My brother is going to write this part of the story because he’s the one that has this locked in his memory for life. And for the sake of the story, my name will be Alex.
Here is my brother Shane’s point of view - his perspective on what he witnessed that crazy night. Wow man… This is so fucking nuts. So buckle up and be prepared. I understand you don’t know who I am, but I swear, I’m not a bad person. Okay.

• “Shane’s” story on what he witnessed.

Yeah so, I guess I’m Shane now. Unreal…
Okay. Here we go. Meat and potatoes.
We arrive back at the Airbnb and I see Alex outside in the front of the house wearing only socks and he’s running around on top of the grass like an animal yanking out handfuls of grass from underneath him.
I look at Gloria and we’re both baffled at what we just saw.
First thing I said was - “Oh yeah! This dood is off his rocker right about now - as I parked the car.
We both hop out of the car and walk up to the front door. I slide the key into the door, it unlocks, but there’s a chair behind the door and it’s tipped over blocking the entry way and only leaving enough space for a crack. We both awkwardly look at one another and as I’m about to call out for my brother, I hear someone sprinting towards the door and bang!
The fuckin idiot shuts the door on us.
I then knock on the door softly because It’s almost 1 in the morning as I don’t want to make too much noise. God only knows what this kid has been doing since me and Gloria left.
After I knock on the door a few times, I hear the chair getting pushed to the side and my brother slightly opens the door. I take a peek inside, and his nose is broken, lips are bubbled up and his left eye is completely shut, black and blue and swollen.
He then drops to his knees, and begins crying but no sound is coming out of him! You know… Like when you get smacked by your parents when you’re a kid and it shocks the soul of you? Yeah, that kind of cry.
I don’t react to what he’s doing to not scare the shit out of Gloria, because she’s right beside me. So I push the door open and tell Gloria to hang on a second and shut the door and lock it.
I pick his busted ass up and sit him on the couch. I look around the house and it’s in complete shambles. Our clothes are everywhere, there’s food all over the fuckin walls. It was chaotic. And my brother is now sitting up breathing frantically.
I ask him - “what in the fuck happened?”
He looks at me. Face looking like he got into a boxing match with Rocky Marciano and whispers to me.
“Dood… There’s a leprechaun in the bathroom.”
“A fuckin what now?” - I said with the most bewildered look on my face. I mean I must have… I wish I would have taken a picture of my face at that very moment. I should have taken pictures of everything so this idiot could see the havoc he wreaked on that night.
My imbecile brother continues - “I’m telling you. There’s a fuckin leprechaun in the fuckin bathroom and this little lucky charms motherfucker won’t tell me where he hid the gold!”
“A leprechaun in the bathroom. What the fuck happened to you?” I said as I felt my blood beginning to boil.
The Imbecile then says - “Don’t worry. Don’t worry! I hogtied that little bitch and stuffed my underwear in its mouth. It’s in the bathtub. But don’t go in there. Don’t go in there. This thing fucked me up!”
And now I can hear someone fumbling in the bathroom moaning very softly. I looked at my brother and said - “What in the fuck did you do Alex?”
He replies - “I’m telling you. It’s a fucking leprechaun.”
“Okay. Okay.” - I said. “Stay right here and just, don’t move. Don’t do anything. Just keep still.
His eyes were so huge and dilated. He was so fuckin high. He had heartbeat pulses pumping from the top of his head.
I rushed back over to the front door and told Gloria that my brother got into a fight with a couple of guys at a pub while me and her were out and that her friend Katrina left because she got scared. She told me that was the first time she met that girl tonight so she really didn’t care and shrugged it off. Which was a huge relief to me. I told her thank you for a wonderful night. She understood. W said our goodbyes. I shut the door. And now… What the fuck is in the bathroom? Or better yet, who, is in the bathroom? Because let’s face it. This motherfucker did not find and fight with a leprechaun tonight. No way. There’s just no fuckin way.
I rush over to the bathroom and my brother leaps at my legs, and he’s holding onto me for dear life, begging me!
He says - “Please don’t untie it! It’s got magical powers! PLEASE!!!
Now, at this very moment? I am sort of hesitant about opening the bathroom door. But I snap out of it and open it. What the fuck. A leprechaun? No, I don’t think so.
I open the door…
“Holy shit.” - I said while covering my hands with my mouth. The floor was smeared in blood as if someone was dragged, leading to the huge cast iron tub. Smeared bloody handprints were all over the tub. And now I hear the faint moan coming from the tub. My legs are shaking and feel like they’re ready to give out on me. I was scared shitless.
“What did my brother do? Who is in that bathtub? I pray to God Katrina isn’t in there right now.” - I said to myself completely freaked out.
I slowly walk up to the bathtub…
And sure enough, there is a hogtied person lying in it with my brother's underwear stuffed in their mouth with a ripped t-shirt tied around their head and mouth, but… It’s not Katrina.
It’s a little person. You know, a dwarf? And… He’s literally dressed up in a leprechaun costume…
And how, on God's green earth did he end up here?
He has no idea I’m standing above him. I reach down to begin untying him but he begins squirming and screaming. I told him to relax and that I was here to help him.
And then My imbecile brother Alex, rushes into the bathroom and tackles me down. Stands up and begins shouting at this poor bastard hogtied in the tub - “Tell me where it is you greedy little fuck! Tell me!!!
I jumped to my feet and slapped my brother back to his childhood. Grabbed him by the throat, tripped him and threw him to the ground and said - “are you fuckin crazy? Do you want to go to prison for kidnapping? What in the fuck is the matter with you? You dumb fuck!!”
He then looks up at me with this pessimistic look on his face and says - “It’s a fucking leprechaun dood. A leprechaun.”
I was absolutely dumbfounded and furious at this point. I have this stranger in my Airbnb rental, hogtied and gagged and squirming and screaming and my brother thinks that he’s a leprechaun…
I can’t make this shit up.
He was so fucking high on those mushrooms. He was absolutely convinced that this man was a leprechaun. So… I had to play the game.
It was the only way to help this poor son of a bitch that my brother had kidnapped and hogtied in our Airbnb rental.
I calmly whispered and told him to please leave the bathroom so I could interrogate the leprechaun and find out where he was hiding the pot of gold.
My brother slowly stood up to his feet, face busted up, his cock and balls all shriveled and tight, looked at the man dressed up as a leprechaun, smiled at him with an evil grin and just, walked away…
And as he walked away, I told him to go and please put some clothes on, lay down in bed, and that I would handle the leprechaun. That I, would find out where the gold was hidden…
And that’s all I’m saying. I’m giving the computer back to my dumbass of a brother to finish off whatever else he wants to write.

• Back to “Alex”

Pretty outlandish right? I know. I know. You must think that I’m bat shit crazy huh? Okay so, to make the rest of this long story short, my brother Shane never told me what he did with the poor guy I hogtied and, well… i don’t remember how this guy came to be in my possession. I really don’t.
The only thing my brother Shane told me was that he ungagged him, untied him, and that he was extremely pissed off. And that he had compensated him for his troubles.
Man, I felt so horrible. I felt so horrible…
What I do remember though is waking up that following afternoon with my face all fucked up. Dehydrated with a tremendous splitting headache. I had no clue as to why I looked and felt the way I did. It was terrifying.
All of our luggage was packed and my brother was just sitting there, legs crossed and his arms folded.
Hey man… Take it from me. Don’t do fuckin drugs.
Regards, “Alex” & “Shane”
Disclaimer- This story may not be used for anything other than reading, sharing your thoughts and enjoying it. It is now protected by the United States Library of Congress/Copyright Office. Thank you. ☘️

So I kind of just never legally changed my name, but I usually go by Lily or Lilith to people I meet that aren't the government or my bank. First name that I ever thought of, and now it's time to actually make a decision.
Some thoughts on these names would be cool, I sort of want it to be compatible with a gothy/edgelord style, but obviously I'm not going to call myself something dumb and inherently edgy, just something that wouldn't hurt that aesthetic.
My birth period: early-mid 2000s
Lily Lilith Madeline Bella (I really like this one, but idk) or Bell Jane Elizabeth

Hey guys! I am sure some of you might know me. I made a post about 4-5 days ago about wanting to join Vought and I expressed my wish to work with Homelander, and then I was reached out by the other Ashley and now I've been hired as an intern. Today was my 4th day working at VoughtHQ.
To recap, I am 17 and my superpowers are testicle inflation (I can't control this one for some reason, idk but it started a while ago and they've gotten kinda big rn, the doctors said that a different name for this superpower is tumor apparently but idk), and SIMP (super intense minecraft powers).
Today Homelander seemed really pissed, I am not sure why but he was. Anyway, apparently Soldier Boy the greatest hero of the time before whatever time it is rn has been seen walking around in the city? I am not sure if that's true but that's so cool!!!!
Do you think Soldier Boy might have something to do with Homelander's bad mood?
Oh and if someone's wondering, no I didn't see Homelander drink his magic potion from the nursing bottle again.

These are the rules for the sub, if you don't read this and post something that ends up getting removed, this is why.

1. Story openly paints a community in a negative light, for example, an openly Anti-LGBTQ story, Anti-religion, etc
   
2. Politics that CANNOT be seen as funny, this sub is here to make people laugh, not to spread your ideology, look at the goddamn name.
   
3. Moving away from what you can and can't post, don't be a dickhead to others, seriously, it's not cool to be a bigot
   
4. THE STORIES MUST BE VERIFIABLE, NO BS
   

For starters, this should be applicable to anyone who has the misfortune of owning anything by NordicTrack that has the ifit app installed. Ultimately, these are all powered by slightly different variants of the same android control board. So similar even, that if you crack open any of them, the boards have the same shape, mount points and locations of all the primary components and connectors. They all have the same design flaw.
All that being said, I've fixed a bike and two treadmill boards so far by re-flowing them. The problem wasn't the screen. It wasn't an issue of the board not getting power, etc. The issue was cold solder joints.
One of them had to be reflowed twice, but...again, I've got a pretty good track record going, and am now convinced that these are just cheaply made "not even half as good as an Amazon Fire" tablets with cold solder joints. If you don't know what a cold solder joint is, it's simply areas on the board where the board was not heated enough during production, resulting in poor joints that crack and fail overtime. It would be kind of like if all the important nerves in your nervous system just started breaking. You'd stop working too. Fortunately, there's usually ways to fix this on circuit boards.
If you have a multi-meter, you can poke the 12v power header into the tablet to confirm that it's getting 11 to 13v power. If it is (and assuming it's also getting 2 amps then), you're probably looking at cold solder joints. If you don't have a multi-meter, but you're mechanically inclined, you can pick one up for under $10 USD. Takes about 10 minutes to learn how to use on on Youtube. If you want to test if it's a screen issue....well, short of visible, physical damage, screens *and* the touch overlays don't just die at the same time. So even if the screen was totally failed, the touch overlay should still let you poke around if you know exactly where to click to make *something* happen. (You could also hook the screen up to a laptop if you have a large format screen with a 30 pin connector, but that seems overkill when, overwhelmingly, it's likely cold solder joints on the PCB in the tablet)
Also, it's worth nothing that cold solder joints don't always result in being dead in the water right away. While I would try *everything* else from a software perspective first to fix instability issues, constant crashing and reboots, completely frozen screens, inability to fully boot, or error messages preventing boot can all be related to this, too. For my own treadmill, it started with freezing after a couple workouts, and quickly (over a day) progressed to a boot loop where it never would fully load. For kicks, I let it torture itself and when I came back the next day, it was completely dead.
Anyway, fixing this is pretty much the same as what everyone used to do to XBOX 360's that had the red ring of death...cook the PCB until the solider melts again, but also try not to cook it so far that the components on the board literally burn and become unusable again.
Also, it's worth noting that if you're lucky enough to still be under warranty, you should pursue that first. And don't discredit looking at what credit card you bought your machine with, if you're the original owner. Some credit cards double warranties, so that 2 year warranty on the tablet could very well be turned into a four year warranty by your credit card company. This is actually a surprisingly common, but not well known, benefit of major cards.
To get started, unplug the unit from the wall. The last thing you need is to end up electrocuting yourself or blowing something out on your machine because power was still being applied to it.
Ok, so onto the actual repair.....to do this, you'll need to unplug the four cables going into the back of the tablet. On some machines, like my 9.5s, you might have to take a back cover off the whole unit to actually reach the back of the tablet, and its connectors. Once that's taken care of, you'll need to take out the (likely) 3 screws on each side that hold the tablet mount into the upper assembly that the tablet itself is mounted in. From here, the tablet should be freely removable from the unit.
Now you need to undo the screws in the back of the tablet to separate it from the touchscreen front. Warning: There are delicate ribbon cables going from the screen in front, to the board in the tablet. Damage one of them, and you may as well just buy a new tablet for the few hundred bucks NordicTrack will shake you down for.
Once you've exposed the board, you should be able to pull out the wire connectors and flip the pressure fit levers on the ribbon cable connectors for the tablet to remove the camera and touchscreen ribbon cables. Note that the wifi antenna is also relatively delicate, and should be pulled as upward as possible. You also need to be careful when reinstalling it, or you can crush the connector, and then....either you're good at incredibly small soldering by hand, or again, you're buying a new tablet with half the power and build quality of the cheapest Amazon Fire at quadruple the price.
Next, remove the screws securing the board to the inside of the tablet, and you should be able to freely remove it with ease. Now comes the Really delicate part.

THE ACTUAL FIX ITSELF

Ideally, you would be doing this in a precision controlled re-flow oven with a profile that walks the board through exact temperature changes....but you can get 90% of the way there, and have pretty excellent chances of fixing your board, nontheless. You just need an oven and a thermometer you can read from inside the oven.
Before prepping the board to go in the oven, remove the large metal RF shield covering the back of the board. Not the one that's postage stamps sized, but the one that's about the much larger one, about the size of two human thumbs. You can discard this - it's an RF shield and honestly it does nothing but trap heat that really shouldn't be trapped, in my opinion.
Using the "toaster oven method" to reflow a PCB, you will want to make a few loose (not very compacted) foil balls. Set them on a plate in a way where you can press the board into them, connectors side facing up. You should have the board be as level as possible - re-flowing a board at an angle can make the chips fall out of alignment, and then you pretty much have a dead, now-un-repairable board.
Once the board is level, put a thermometer you can read on the plate with the board and pop it in the oven. Set the oven to bake at 230C (About 445F) and once the oven has actually reached this temperature, count off two minutes. That is how long you want to let the board bake before you remove it. You don't have to be exact with this, but don't leave it in for only a minute and don't forget about it and come back after it's been cooking for 5 or 10 minutes. Try to be within a few seconds of that 2 minute mark. And the temperature gauge on the plate is so you can know that it really is within a few degrees of 230F. The temp gauge on stoves often lies, and if the board is below 220 it won't really re-flow, and above 240 you run the risk of cooking it to death.
Anyway, the final, and arguably most delicate part, is removing the board. You want to be as gentle as possible. No bumps, no jerky motions, and setting it down with great care once it's out of the oven. Also, set it down *away* from the oven so that the board can cool off faster. Don't put it in the fridge or anything, but let it sit undisturbed for about 15 minutes before trying to do anything with it. After that amount of time, it should be cool enough to touch. Once all of this is done, screw the board back into the tablet shell, but ONLY put the screws in along the two sides that have connectors coming out of them. This means you should have three of the four corners screwed down, and one or two additional screws along those two sides. Leave the fourth corner undone since it gives the board some wiggle room without constant straining & flexing. (The best option would be making silicone bushings to mount the tablet board to, much like portable had drives have, but that's just me trying to get as much life out of my tablet & treadmill as I can).
Now, reattach all the connectors. My preferred order for ease is: Camera cable, microphone cable, touch screen cable, wifi antenna, display cable (the largest flat ribbon cable in there). Then close up the two halves of the tablet, pop a couple screws in the corners, and reattach the four external cables to the tablet. Don't bother screwing it all back in yet because we're just testing to make sure it works at this point. You should be able to lay the tablet down, plug the machine in, and have the tablet power up. It should respond to touch and work just like it used to. If it works again, congrats! Now unplug it once more and finish reinstalling the tablet, plastic pieces, and screws.
If it didn't work, there's no harm in trying to reflow the board again. In fact, if the issue happens again later on, you can just try reflowing the board once more. That said, there's only so many times you can re-melt the solder holding everything together before the board will just plain out be toast. Usually it's somewhere around 3 or 4 times, but you could be unlucky and have 0 or 1, or be incredibly lucky and get away with it a dozen times over many more years of life from your machine, if you even need to.
All that being said, if anyone needs help with this, just reply here. I'm not on Reddit often anymore, but I'll try to get back to you within a week, and I'm much more responsive once we've started on a conversation.
Again, to date, I've fixed three NordicTrack devices doing this, and many MANY other PCBs in similar fashion. What's alarming to me here is that the units I've fixed all have usage times of under 100 hours for the machines. Honestly, I'm amazed this hasn't come up yet and that NordicTrack hasn't been litigated into free replacements like Apple and Microsoft have from similar mass failures out of warranty due to poor build quality. (Xbox 360, iPhone battery & back glass issues, etc...) I'm even more amazed that they'll sell the tablet for most models, but *not* the PCB....though, I guess that just goes to show that whatever lowest-bidder factory cranked these out for them, NordicTrack as a company has never even seen component level parts like that - just finished tablets, so it's not even something they *can* offer their ~~hostages~~ customers.
OH! And final word of advice! Put your units on a smart outlet that turns off after whatever the max time you use your equipment would be! Not only will it prolong the equipment life, but it actually makes it easier to use! For example, instead of waiting for the treadmill to wake up, I just say "Alexa, turn on the treadmill" and by the time I'm at it, it's happily waiting for me to click my name and go. And then if I forget to turn it off, the smart plug is programmed to shut it down after 2 hours anyway, so it won't be sitting there idly chewing away at the new life ~~breathed~~ baked into it.
If you want to make sure the temp if your oven is hot enough, but not going to fry something, try taking an old remote that you know works but that you don't care about. Disassemble it, reflow it, and make sure it still works when you put it all back together again. Now do it again and see if, once it reached temp in the oven, you can scrape parts off the board with relative ease. This will destroy the remote, but it's a good way to get comfortable with baking boards.
Anyway, that's about all. I wish I'd though to record videos of this process, but I hope this guide is enough to get most people back in business. And if you've already been through swapping the whole tablet and have a dead one you'd like to donate to seeing if my theory continues to hold true, I'd be happy to pay shipping to get it from you, or have you pay shipping if you want me to just take a crack at fixing it and sending it back to you.
If you're already skilled in these areas, it should take about 20 minutes to do, excluding actual bake and cooling time. If you're totally new at this but you can follow instructions with care and precision, you can probably have it done in under 2 hours. And hey - short of burning or electrocuting yourself (again, unplug before working on the equipment!) ....if you already have a dead board, the only thing you really have to lose by trying this is some of your time. =)

Since maybe 3 months ago i started seeing minor things in shadows like eyes, and hearing people i know say my name when i know they didnt. over the last week it has really gotten worse, i see shadow people moving in my peripheral vision, and ive been hearing scary stuff like footsteps when no-one is around, and the bell in my kitchen going off 3 times in a row randomly even though i live alone and i checked-no one else is in my house. I also just heard my phone notification sound even though i didnt get a notification and have silent mode on. i have a unique sound too. idk what this is, im getting fine sleep so idk whats going on any advice would be cool 👍

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm surprised nobody has made a mod that adds a the stuff from education edition to regular java Minecraft yet
I mean it sounds boring but there was a lot of cool stuff with education edition and imagine all the other cool stuff you could add not being shackled by needing to actually teach children
New villager that sells the items
The little helper Golam could still be used either with still coding with scratch or something else
Drugs and bombs, you could do a lot with adding chemical stuff without the restraint of needing to actually teach children
I imagine a good name for it would be "LEARN to play"

I was watching this video by youtuber Wallieb26, and at the 8:28 mark, he plays a song over a photo montage. I think its a really cool song, but he didn't give any credits for it, so does anyone know what the songs called? I already tried things like Shazam and Autotag.info, no luck. I looked through the comments to see if someone named the song, no luck. I tried typing the lyrics into Google, also no luck. Let me know if you have any ideas, thanks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDil7yKT3fQ&list=PLj80Vffq0bHIcaKwhQ_WJHlaDCX3T3wAQ&index=9

Hi all,
I'm in a dispute with Three and could really use some external help to make sure my argument in the dispute is watertight.
Context:
I ordered some broadband from Three around 2 months ago, the router was delivered to a neighbour in my block of flats. It was "signed for" under my name and a proof of delivery photograph featuring a headless woman was the evidence. All the doors and carpets in my building look the same so there was no distinguishing features to give an indication of who it was.
I asked around the neighbours over the next few days and everyone said they hadn't received a parcel. I also sent a letter around giving whoever had the parcel an ultimatum to leave it in front of my door before I opened an investigation and no one came forward - so clearly someone was lying.
I contacted Three about this and they said they'd look into it, a week later they said they looked into it and the device was confirmed delivered - to which I said that it was delivered ot the wrong address - their reply was that there was GPS evidence, to which I replied that the GPS evidence could represent any one of the 25 flats in this building and that the photographic evidence of someone recieving the parcel was someone who was not me.
I offered to give further evidnce, via proof of signature, a picture of myself to show that it was not me who had signed for the parcel which Three refused to accept reiterating that their position was that the parcel had been delivered.
At this point I escalated the case to the Ombudsman.
After closing heir internal complaint Three then began to aggressively pursue payment from me, despite me contacting them numerous times to tell them that the issue is with the Ombudsman and I wouldn't be paying for anything as the contract terms hadn't been met.
Three's argument:
Now in the Ombudsman investigation Three's claims are:

• The GPS info and delivery photo is evidence that confirms that the router was delivered
• None of the neighbours have said they have the device
• This needs to be disputed with DPD directly for them to complete an investigation with the driver
• I am liable for paying for the service until I can give evidence that the device was not received -They've confirmed that there's no useage on the device or the mobile number

My counter argument:
My counter argument would be:

• Three has a responsibility as the sender to ensure the goods I undertook a contract for were delivered, any issues between DPD and Three before the item was delivered to me have nothing to do with me and are a seperate issue between Three and DPD, which Three is currently using as an excuse to not fulfill the contract.
• Three has repeatedly refused to give any avenue to prove that the individual represented in the claimed photographic evidence is not me, including any photographs of myself and my signature
• The notion of "giving evidence that the device has not been recieved" does not make any sense as I'm being asked to prove a negative - what could this evidence even look like if the device is not in my possession? The only evidence is already possesed by Three, which is an image of the device being delivered to someone who clearly isn't me, and they've confirmed that the device hasn't been used, neither has the mobile number.
• Three has repeatedly harrassed me for payments and given complaint updates on my account, even if I had wanted to manage the payments or read these notes I wouldn't be able to as to log into the Three customer portal one needs the mobile number of the account, which I don't have.
• I cannot identify any possible motive that Three could think I have. If I had any intentions of cancelling the contract after recieving the device, I could have done so within the cooling off period, but I called Three about the undelivered item well before this period ended. The device itself has little to no monetary value and is useless without a Three broadband contract which Three themselves have confirmed has not been made use of. -I've repeatedly given Three the opportunity to remedy the situation to no avail
• The terms and conditions state that Three is responsible for supplying me the equipment, which they have failed to do so, hence holding me liable whilst failing to uphold their own terms makes no sense.

Seamstress
'We bring these boons as a peace offering, on behalf of our warlord: Alish Groza.' - Light bearing hive knight, to the drifter.
Perks: Corkscrew barrel + High caliber rounds + Ripcord Explosive + Heavy Grip + catalyst: vorpal weapon
Unique: Ripcord explosive: Enemies suffering from attachment will explode for 100% bullet damage with an AOE of 3m, if they move beyond 8m from the initial target, if they are already beyond 8m the explosion is only applied to the initial target.
In game description: Ripcord Explosive: Bound enemies can only move a short distance from the previously pierced enemy, or else they suffer a small explosion, from the strand matter embedded within them.
Intrinsic: Through, and through: Rounds pierce enemy combatants, up to 4 times, dealing 100/75/50/25% to each respective enemy hit. Enemies hit by a round that has pierced an enemy become bound¹ to the initial target by a strand thread. Piercing rounds are hitscan, and do not have a limited range; they are still effected by the weapons damage falloff, as if fired from the previously pierced targets position.

1. Bound is the name of the weapons effect, this links them to the previous target for 5 seconds.

In game description: Through, and through: Fires caseless taken ammunition that carries strand needles. The rounds have a secondary charge that activates upon entry, allowing for the refined strand needles to pierce multiple targets. Each target beyond the initial target becomes bound to the target before them.
Stats (Base + Catalyst): Strand Impact: 75 Range: 65 Handling: 20 + 5 Reload speed: 50 RPM: 180 + 10 Mag: 12 + 3 Zoom: 14 Recoil direction: 96
Lore:
Given to the drifter by a clan of hive as trade for peace, and assistance via allowing them to partake in gambit, in order to feed there hive warlord: Alish Groza, the seamstress is a powerful hand cannon. Alish Groza appears to be attempting to take a place amongst the hive pantheon on the side of Eris, and the traveler. Naming her hive the repentant. This weapon was created by a Hive light bearer who was allowed to partake in the gambit, this particular one being a recreation hand crafted by Groza herself, for the drifter as a favor to one of his gaurdian friends.
Alish Groza readily admits that partaking in the gambit is in order to gain tithes, however, even she knows that it cant last forever if she wishes her clan, and power to expand.
It appears to be a hive magic imbued, or altered malfeasance though little is left recognizable.
Side notes: may need some tuning, but I think this would make an awesome strand exotic hand cannon. Im kinda iffy on lore as Im a returning player, plus it wasnt really the intent of making this concept, rather it was to make a cool strand hand cannon.

got the phone 3 days ago. updated to hyperos 1.0.8 first thing and immediately factory reset. phone got warm while setting up and some more after (like a few hours). after that, cool all the time.
uninstalled useless apps but didn't dive into through debloating as I didn't feel any need for it. also disabled ads and some notifications but that's it.
I rarely play games... I usually use my phones for daily tasks and I can say I am very happy with smoothness and speed of this phone.
now the battery. I really don't know where all the fuss is coming from. battery is superb for me. I've read a lot of "terrible idle drain" topics about this phone but I didn't experience anything like it. according to accubattery my idle drain is 0.2%/h. at nights after a 7 hour sleep battery only loses 1-1.5% charge when I check in the morning. how is this considered as bad? btw everything is turned on; AOD, finger print circle etc.
haven't checked SoT yet and I doubt I can check it since I don't use phone that much. I prefer computer for most of the daily tasks. still, battery life is superb for my usage. btw accubattery says 11.1%/h when the phone is being used (screen on) maybe that would give some idea.
IMHO the reason some of you are getting bad battery life is due to force uninstalling system apps in the name of debloating and ruining some processes in the background.
edit: I have the 8gb/256gb version. whenever I check more than 4gb of ram is free. 12gb is absolutely not needed for a daily user.

I remember getting them as a kid in class and it was scary. told a teacher and my folks but they thought I was making it up cause it does sound fictional , and there was no information on it or other people reporting it so it’s cool this is actual thing that has a name now. Didn’t happen all through highschool and a couple years later, but now it happens a couple times a year and I try to just continue to do whatever I’m doing at the time and it’s hard . I got it at work once and I had no idea if I was doing motions at normal speed . Even just walking I walked my normal pace but it felt like I was zooming so I tried to compensate for it and I it felt like I was holding my steps back . Talking is fine it actually helps break it sometimes.
Both times I got it today I was focusing on one specific thing like zoned out on it . Once cleaning my truck and the other playing video games. I like to kinda think it’s cool and try to just live in it and observe it as it happens then to try to fight it and get stressed about it .
I also have hemochromatosis which is when you have too much iron in your blood and is 1 in 300 to 500 so interested if anyone else has it here.

Update: Seems it's very private, but leaving this here for those also wondering :)
The name says it's local, and my understanding is you are basically creating a little server and then connecting to your own server via your browser, so it's all 100% local.
This is further confirmed by the fact if I connect ST to OpenRouter it won't work, unless I turn off my firewall, but localhost does work, proving beyond sensible doubt that localhost doesn't transmit anything anywhere outside.
Cool. But let's not be so sensible and ask anyway - how is anything I put on my BROWSER, which is my app for connecting to the Internet, not, you know, connected to the Internet?
It's literally sitting there, right there, as a tab next to all those other tabs that ARE connected to the internet, not even in incognito mode, but somehow this one tab is like Secret Squirrel and super private and secure?
Asking for a nervous friend :)

Hey! I have been through it for the last couple of weeks trying to figure this out like many others. I reached out to xfinity tech support multiple times on all ends and was always given incorrect information. They couldn't seem to understand that the bands need to be on their own individual isolated channels, not supported up thru 2.4-6 G. On their end, they're not seeing that the bands are not individual like we see it in our Xfinity app. I think some of the confusion is that on the consumer side we don't know that band steering is being used, and we would like to have control over our own functionality rather than xfinity automating everything so we cannot change our settings. Or the devices should just be compatible. There is *no longer* a separate "NETWORK NAME - 2.4G / NETWORK NAME - 5G" different login setting. It's all the same network name and password you setup. Anyway, most of the advice I have seen in all the forums asking the same question was also not helpful to solve the issue. But! I figured out how to fix this finally and everything is up and running. I also had trouble during my initial gateway setup after starting service where the app was not working at all and the connection setup always failed. It was ultimately because the error notification kept saying "must use WPA3 password." I told the customer service specialist multiple times but they were going to send someone out because it wasn't working. The problem was that the security mode for the password type was not set correctly in the settings. I had to select WPA3 Personal Only, then I could proceed to change my password and continue with the setup to finally allow me to login and connect to the internet service/network and not just the router. If you're having issues during setup with your new service where your gateway modem is working and connected but you can't connect to the internet -- go into your app settings and make sure that the security mode you selected for login to your network is the one your device requires you to use (WPA2 or WPA3). I think this is because my devices are newer 2019+ apple and require the newer protocols. I'm going to try to make a video to explain it at some point to show. The problem with the smart devices that require the 2.4G band is a similar issue. (The problem isn't unique to Google Nest devices. It can be any 2.4G WPA2 device, like a Dyson smart device, a Ring door cam, Smart TV, etc). There are a few different steps you have to take:

1. go to your xfinity app and do the following: wifi > wifi details > edit wifi settings > security mode: WPA3 - Personal Transition (NOT PERSONAL ONLY). This is necessary because the older smart devices that require the 2.4G IPv6 protocol will also require a WPA2 security protocol and cannot "see" or find WPA3 networks. When you select transition mode you allow the network and device to automatically communicate with one another based on which one they use, either WPA2 or WPA3. If it is set to WPA3 Only, then the WPA2 devices will not connect, and if set to WPA2 only, the WPA3 devices will not connect. Note that there is a toggle function that says "split bands" -- THIS DOES NOT WORK. It will automatically undo itself no matter how many times you toggle it on and select save. Don't worry about it.
   
2. login to a web browser and type in 10.0.0.1 (from your home network. not remotely)
   
3. under username and password type: username:admin / password: password. This is universal at first. Next you will change your password to whatever you want it to be. The username will always remain "admin." Note: the login is NOT your xfinity login info or your network login info.
   
4. Select: connection > wifi . You will now see a page with the individual bands: 2.4G, 5G, and 6G. Select "edit" next to the 5G band and toggle "disable" > save settings. Do the same to disable the 6G band.
   
5. Next go to: connection > status. You will notice that your 2.4 G band is now the only one "active" and the other two are disabled. You will also see that your security mode was changed to "WPA3 Personal transition" mode. You will notice an indicator count for what devices are connected to what band.
   
6. Select the "firewall" dropdown from the lefthand menu. Select "IPv4" and change this security setting to "minimum security low." Save settings. Now select "IPv6" and change this setting to "custom." Make sure that no additional "Block _" boxes are checked. Save settings.
   

Now you should be able to find your network on your device and connect the device to wifi to finish your setup process! For me, I had to reset the Google Nest Smoke Detector following the reset settings. I also uninstalled the Google Nest app. I turned my phone off and back on. I reinstalled the Nest app. I did not have to uninstall and reinstall the Dyson app. My iPhone and Macbook automatically still joined the network no problem because the login info is the same due to the band steering. I just got a notification on my Macbook saying that the WPA3 protocol was changed and said ok. For my Dyson hot and cool air filter I was able to pair the device and the network finally showed up. I followed the settings in the app and now that the network knows the "MAC address of the device" it is stored in the network's memory and they can find and communicate with each other now. Same with the Google Nest. If it doesn't work right away just try another time and it should work.

Important: the reason they automatically merge the bands and steer them is because the 2.4G is more unstable. This is true. You might notice that the connectivity will drop out occasionally for the devices which could explain why it might take another try to finish your setup. Don't worry about it. It will reconnect on it's own.

Now that your smart devices are connected and setup is finished, and your network knows their MAC addresses, you can revert all the changes you made to your network settings to go back to full functionality (2.4G-6 and increase your firewall security standards back up to your desired level. You just follow the reverse order of what you just did. Keep the 2.4G as is of course, but select: "5G > edit" and toggle enable on. Do the same for 6G. Now all your bands are turned back on and you have full access again. Go back to "firewall" and change the IPV4 and IPV6 settings. You will see on the top menu bar in the right that your security is back to "medium."

Go back to "connection > status." You will notice that all your bands are now active. You can see the device count for how many devices are connected and to which band they are connected. This may drop in and out so don't worry if you don't see the correct total. Sometimes the nest will drop out but it will reconnect itself on it's own in a few minutes. You can verify this on your phone by: Going to the Nest app and seeing that your "Protect" or whatever device you setup is good. You can go to the Dyson app and see that it is connected and get your status updates. You can also go to the xfinity app and see what devices are connected to your network as you usually would. Again, this might drop in and out with the Google nest. But! all your settings are restored and all your devices are now fully functioning and connected to your network :) You also might get notifications from xfinity on your iPhone once the devices are finally successfully paired to your network. Cool!

Important note: you can also use the 10.0.0.1 admin tool to manually add a device's MAC address if, for some reason, you still can't get things to work. I thankfully didn't have to do this because I figured out the solution, but it was going to be my next attempt. Thankfully, the Dyson has the MAC address for the device printed on the inside of the device. However, Google Nest unfortunately does not do this and you have to already be connected in to the app to view the system info. However, you could do a workaround for that by taking your device someplace else and using their wifi (as long as it is 2.4 WPA2 IPV6) to connect and setup the device in the app in order to find the MAC address for the device in the settings in the Nest app. Then you can take the device back home to your network, reset, and try to manually add the MAC address now that you found it (hopefully you took a screenshot or something :) ) Thankfully I didn't have to do this either, but it also would have been my next attempt.

Also, make sure you keep your password settings that you changed in your xfinity app to WPA3 Transition Mode. It'll stay that way for both 2.4G and 5G. This is important because the devices still need to be able to communicate and can only use WPA2. Also if in the future you have this problem again with another product, like perhaps an older Smart TV, you will already have the WPA2 functionality enabled.

I hope this was helpful! It's 3am but I'm so glad I eventually figured it out on my own!

Hey! I have been through it for the last couple of weeks trying to figure this out like many others. I reached out to xfinity tech support multiple times on all ends and was always given incorrect information. They couldn't seem to understand that the bands need to be on their own individual isolated channels, not supported up thru 2.4-6 G. On their end, they're not seeing that the bands are not individual like we see it in our Xfinity app. I think some of the confusion is that on the consumer side we don't know that band steering is being used, and we would like to have control over our own functionality rather than xfinity automating everything so we cannot change our settings. Or the devices should just be compatible. There is *no longer* a separate "NETWORK NAME - 2.4G / NETWORK NAME - 5G" different login setting. It's all the same network name and password you setup. Anyway, most of the advice I have seen in all the forums asking the same question was also not helpful to solve the issue. But! I figured out how to fix this finally and everything is up and running. I also had trouble during my initial gateway setup after starting service where the app was not working at all and the connection setup always failed. It was ultimately because the error notification kept saying "must use WPA3 password." I told the customer service specialist multiple times but they were going to send someone out because it wasn't working. The problem was that the security mode for the password type was not set correctly in the settings. I had to select WPA3 Personal Only, then I could proceed to change my password and continue with the setup to finally allow me to login and connect to the internet service/network and not just the router. If you're having issues during setup with your new service where your gateway modem is working and connected but you can't connect to the internet -- go into your app settings and make sure that the security mode you selected for login to your network is the one your device requires you to use (WPA2 or WPA3). I think this is because my devices are newer 2019+ apple and require the newer protocols. I'm going to try to make a video to explain it at some point to show. The problem with the smart devices that require the 2.4G band is a similar issue. (The problem isn't unique to Google Nest devices. It can be any 2.4G WPA2 device, like a Dyson smart device, a Ring door cam, Smart TV, etc). There are a few different steps you have to take:

1. go to your xfinity app and do the following: wifi > wifi details > edit wifi settings > security mode: WPA3 - Personal Transition (NOT PERSONAL ONLY). This is necessary because the older smart devices that require the 2.4G IPv6 protocol will also require a WPA2 security protocol and cannot "see" or find WPA3 networks. When you select transition mode you allow the network and device to automatically communicate with one another based on which one they use, either WPA2 or WPA3. If it is set to WPA3 Only, then the WPA2 devices will not connect, and if set to WPA2 only, the WPA3 devices will not connect. Note that there is a toggle function that says "split bands" -- THIS DOES NOT WORK. It will automatically undo itself no matter how many times you toggle it on and select save. Don't worry about it.
   
2. login to a web browser and type in 10.0.0.1 (from your home network. not remotely)
   
3. under username and password type: username:admin / password: password. This is universal at first. Next you will change your password to whatever you want it to be. The username will always remain "admin." Note: the login is NOT your xfinity login info or your network login info.
   
4. Select: connection > wifi . You will now see a page with the individual bands: 2.4G, 5G, and 6G. Select "edit" next to the 5G band and toggle "disable" > save settings. Do the same to disable the 6G band.
   
5. Next go to: connection > status. You will notice that your 2.4 G band is now the only one "active" and the other two are disabled. You will also see that your security mode was changed to "WPA3 Personal transition" mode. You will notice an indicator count for what devices are connected to what band.
   
6. Select the "firewall" dropdown from the lefthand menu. Select "IPv4" and change this security setting to "minimum security low." Save settings. Now select "IPv6" and change this setting to "custom." Make sure that no additional "Block _" boxes are checked. Save settings.
   

Now you should be able to find your network on your device and connect the device to wifi to finish your setup process! For me, I had to reset the Google Nest Smoke Detector following the reset settings. I also uninstalled the Google Nest app. I turned my phone off and back on. I reinstalled the Nest app. I did not have to uninstall and reinstall the Dyson app. My iPhone and Macbook automatically still joined the network no problem because the login info is the same due to the band steering. I just got a notification on my Macbook saying that the WPA3 protocol was changed and said ok. For my Dyson hot and cool air filter I was able to pair the device and the network finally showed up. I followed the settings in the app and now that the network knows the "MAC address of the device" it is stored in the network's memory and they can find and communicate with each other now. Same with the Google Nest. If it doesn't work right away just try another time and it should work.

Important: the reason they automatically merge the bands and steer them is because the 2.4G is more unstable. This is true. You might notice that the connectivity will drop out occasionally for the devices which could explain why it might take another try to finish your setup. Don't worry about it. It will reconnect on it's own.

Now that your smart devices are connected and setup is finished, and your network knows their MAC addresses, you can revert all the changes you made to your network settings to go back to full functionality (2.4G-6 and increase your firewall security standards back up to your desired level. You just follow the reverse order of what you just did. Keep the 2.4G as is of course, but select: "5G > edit" and toggle enable on. Do the same for 6G. Now all your bands are turned back on and you have full access again. Go back to "firewall" and change the IPV4 and IPV6 settings. You will see on the top menu bar in the right that your security is back to "medium."

Go back to "connection > status." You will notice that all your bands are now active. You can see the device count for how many devices are connected and to which band they are connected. This may drop in and out so don't worry if you don't see the correct total. Sometimes the nest will drop out but it will reconnect itself on it's own in a few minutes. You can verify this on your phone by: Going to the Nest app and seeing that your "Protect" or whatever device you setup is good. You can go to the Dyson app and see that it is connected and get your status updates. You can also go to the xfinity app and see what devices are connected to your network as you usually would. Again, this might drop in and out with the Google nest. But! all your settings are restored and all your devices are now fully functioning and connected to your network :) You also might get notifications from xfinity on your iPhone once the devices are finally successfully paired to your network. Cool!

Important note: you can also use the 10.0.0.1 admin tool to manually add a device's MAC address if, for some reason, you still can't get things to work. I thankfully didn't have to do this because I figured out the solution, but it was going to be my next attempt. Thankfully, the Dyson has the MAC address for the device printed on the inside of the device. However, Google Nest unfortunately does not do this and you have to already be connected in to the app to view the system info. However, you could do a workaround for that by taking your device someplace else and using their wifi (as long as it is 2.4 WPA2 IPV6) to connect and setup the device in the app in order to find the MAC address for the device in the settings in the Nest app. Then you can take the device back home to your network, reset, and try to manually add the MAC address now that you found it (hopefully you took a screenshot or something :) ) Thankfully I didn't have to do this either, but it also would have been my next attempt.

Also, make sure you keep your password settings that you changed in your xfinity app to WPA3 Transition Mode. It'll stay that way for both 2.4G and 5G. This is important because the devices still need to be able to communicate and can only use WPA2. Also if in the future you have this problem again with another product, like perhaps an older Smart TV, you will already have the WPA2 functionality enabled.

I hope this was helpful! It's 3am but I'm so glad I eventually figured it out on my own!

Player Character

Basic Information

Reddit Account: u/a_dolf_in
Discord Tag: ArcElliott
Name and House: Olivia Redwyne
Age: 26
Cultural Group: Andal
Appearance: Olivia has a very confident aura around her at all times, the result of just being in charge and often being the only competent person for miles around for more than a decade. In typical Redwyne fashion, she has red hair and her eye colour sits somewhere between green and blue (depending on the light). Her hair is long, reaches down to her lower back, and is usually braided in some way to keep it tame. Other than that, she is of average height and has a very hourglass-figure.
Trait: Mariner
Skill(s): Admiral (e), Cunning, Tactician, Malicious
Talent(s): Sommelier, Drawing, Gymnastics
Negative Trait(s): -
Starting Title(s): Grand Admiral of the Arbor
Starting Location: opening feast
Alternate Characters: -

Biography

Olivia was born in the year before the conquest to Osric and Joanna Redwyne, as their second child. In the very next year, Osric would be fatally injured by dragonfire at the Field of Fire, and pass before he could even be brought to a maester. Therefore, the young Redwyne never really knew her father, but both her and her older brother would soon be adopted by their uncles Simon and Lucas, the latter of which their mother Joanna would then marry and have another child with.
It is usually said that every Redwyne is born with a natural inclination towards the sea. For Olivia that turned out to be much stronger than for most others, and was only further reinforced each time one of her uncles took her along on a journey across the Arbor Strait or on some journeys south. What started as jokingly giving her command during a trip once, quickly turned into a lot of surprise for the crew when the then 6-year-old began barking orders as if she had spent four decades at sea. With each journey she was progressively given more and more responsibilities until she eventually commanded her own ship. In that regard she was outpacing her brother Clovis massively.
She was 14 when her brother Clovis, then Lord of the Arbor, ran off to Essos. Within the week she was on board of her ship sailing east in order to find him and bring him home. Unfortunately for her that happened to be precisely when the fighting was going on in the Stepstones, and upon request by Queen Rhaenys she was forced to partake in the fighting first, giving her brother more than enough time to get lost somewhere in the eastern continent.
So, for about four years she sailed from town to town giving chase until she finally caught his trail and chased him down in Qarth, drunk out of his mind, in the courtyard of some local magister. She quickly put him on a ship and sailed back to the Arbor with him.
The following years proved rather uneventful. There was the occasional Ironborn party which came too close to the island for comfort and needed to be met with force. An occasional escort for some trade convoy. Most of the time, however, she spent tending to her family’s lands whenever Clovis again decided to sail to Essos on “business”. Whenever he overstayed, it was her duty to go and fetch him again.

Timeline

Family Tree

· Osric Redwyne, deceased, father
· Joanna Redwyne, 52, mother
o Clovis Redwyne, 31, brother - AC
o Olivia Redwyne, 26 - PC
o Lydia Redwyne, 21, cousin/half-sister
· Simon Redwyne, 55, uncle
· Lucas Redwyne, 52, uncle/step-father???

Supporting Characters

Samuel Bellamy – Master-at-Arms
Henry Avery – Ship Captain

Auxilary Character

Basic Information

Name and House: Clovis Redwyne
Age: 31
Cultural Group: Andal
Appearance: For lack of a better word, Clovis Redwyne looks very polite. He’s got the typical red Redwyne hair and blue eyes, along with soft curves to his face. He’s got a short beard which is just the result of him too often being too lazy to just shave properly. Along with that his cheeks also have a bit of a red tint to them as he is often at least a little inebriated. He is a bit taller than average and surprisingly fit considering his lifestyle, but that stems mostly from him just walking so damn much.
Trait: Numerate
Skill(s): Scrutinous, Broker, Apothecary
Talent(s): Sommelier, Merchant, dodging responsibilities
Negative Trait(s): -
Starting Title(s): Lord of the Arbor
Starting Location: opening feast
Alternate Characters: -

Biography

Clovis was born a few years before the conquest. He was the firstborn and heir of Osric Redwyne so, naturally, the man built up a very close bond with his son. Unfortunately, it did not take long for him to die. And while the young lordling still had a loving mother and two pretty cool uncles, he was still undeniably left with some deep-rooted emotional issues. Putting him in a castle with the largest wine reserves on the continent was never going to end well.
He was a bright kid, skilled with numbers writing, but while his younger sister was out sailing with her uncles, he was in the cellars getting absolutely steaming, shitfaced, three sheets to the wind, plastered, buckled, bollocksed, flutered, scuttered, rotten, tit-faced drunk. Many attempts were made to keep him sane and safe, but somehow, he always managed to get his hands on some wine to self-destruct with. Sometime during all this, someone in the family got the bright idea to arrange a marriage for him, hoping that a wife would somehow make him get his life back on track.
It backfired, and a week before the arranged wedding was to take place, Clovis and some of his friends got on board of a ship and fled Westeros. However, the journey did very soon become a big mess, as none of those present were skilled sailors and managed to get stranded somewhere near Volantis. Surprisingly, it was this event which put his life on A track, not the right track, but A track. He was still a Redwyne, and Wine was still in his blood, both figuratively and literally, so in Essos he found a use for his talents, by becoming a renowned wine merchant. He would travel from Free City to Free City, from vineyard to vineyard, tasting and trying and buying and selling some of the best and most interesting wines there were.
His renown even got him as far as the gates to the jade sea, where he was hired by a magister of Qarth to obtain wine for a feast the man planned to host. It is there that his younger sister eventually found him and brought him back to Westeros to actually be the Lord of the Arbor in more than just name.
With all being said, he was actually rather decent at the job too. Well, liked by his people, competent enough, and crucially, a very skilled wine merchant. A combination of these managed to bring a time of prosperity to the island province.
In the years which followed, he would still frequently travel to Essos but also to major wine-producing areas of Westeros to do the same thing he had done before: taste and try, buy and sell the best and most interesting wines out there.

I know I should be talking with my partner about this but I like to lurk on the internet. So my current predicament needs some background. Roughly two years ago I was in a serious relationship for 7 years and my gf at the time (I’m a male) came out to me as gay and moved across the country not too soon after telling me ( we shared a house together and we weren’t married). I think we ended amicably at the end but it still hurt me. During that time I owned a home and hated my job. All of the above occurred in the summer of 2022. As soon as I quit my job and sold my house I started to an accelerated medical program also in 2022. This is where my issue starts. A girl I know we’ll say her name is “Tamara” asked me to be FWB.
Tamara knew me from the previous job but in process of her moving up in the company she moved to South Carolina. I currently live up north in the US. So she got in contact with me and wanted to come to the place I moved back to, to come and visit. I said sure because we were pretty good friends. (I want to add the medical program I’m in gives me the ability to work anywhere in the US so I can chose where I complete my clinical hours. This comes into play later).
The first visit nothing happened between us. In between visits she asks to be FWB I say yes but tells me it can be messy. I agree. This goes on for a year and a half. Mid way point last year because our relationship was just exclusively FWB we discussed at the beginning that we were free to seek other people out. So I went on few dates. Tamara was not happy with me so I ended up stopping the dates in between her visits. At the point when I stopped the dates I was about to start my clinical rotations and I had an interview for a site coming up. I was unable to get matched in an area near South Carolina which is what Tamara wanted so we could be close. I matched at a place up North an hour from me. So throughout my clinical rotation Tamara has been “gently” encouraging me to move in with her in South Carolina.
I have some concerns about moving because I know the area is saturated for the medical job I have and it’s damn near impossible for new grads to get work. So I press on through the program. 1/3 of the way through. I get a message saying we need to talk. I get a phone call from Tamara saying she has an STD and I should get checked. Needless to say I was not happy. A week later I got checked and had it also. I was beside myself. I knew I was being an idiot and I know people make mistakes but I definitely got checked after our encounters but I digress. After this things seemed to have cooled a little. With news of the STD I told her fuck it I’ll just move down after I graduate but I’m still struggling with the idea of fully committing to moving there because of the struggles I will face. Now currently I have a few weeks left of my program and I want to change my mind about moving down and I know it will break her heart but I was doing what was right for her and not for myself. So would I be the asshole for calling things off and staying put to get work experience?
TLDR: I ended a long term relationship. I got into medical school that allows me to work anywhere in the US. An old co-worker hits me up to hang but we live in different states. We become FWB. I get an STD from our interactions which soured my mood a little. I tell her I will move down to be closer to date but now I want to take it back because I know how hard it will be to get a job where she lives currently and I’m not sure I can commit to the things she wants.
Thanks for reading and sorry for any typos! I am writing this pretty late at night.