I'm looking to buy a defender, ideally 9mm, ideally with stainless slide, and I'm trying to sort out the different models of the Colt Defender that are actually stainless, and if the 9mm stainless can actually be found for purchase (ideally new)?
I *think* the I'm looking for a O7002D. I believe this the 9mm variant of the O7000XE that i mention below, but i'm having trouble verifying my assumptions. gundata.org implies this is true stainless slide with brushed finish. I can see references of this elsewhere as well, such as southmountainfirearms.com. I also believe this is aluminum frame, possibly cerakoted.
Current models are O7800XE (9mm) and O7802XE (.45ACP). On Colt's website both have the "MK IV/Series 80 and 90 Pistols" owners manual. These appear to be blued barrels and black cerakote frames (are these aluminum or polymer?). No stainless in the current models as far as I can tell.
You can find O7000XE (.45ACP) on gunbroker.com that have stainless slide, and "stainless" frame. These must be a slightly older model? Is the frame actually stainless, or polymealuminum cerakoted? This model is a .45, but i cant seem to find a 9mm?
Is the O7002D what i'm actually looking for (9mm, stainless slide, aluminum frame cerakoted)? Are these available new like the O7000XE? or is there potentially a different model/part number I should be searching for?
i've been searching GunAccessoriesForSale, and will post there, but want to make sure I post a WTB what i actually want? (feel free to DM me if anyone knows if there is a (reputable) dealer that has one in stock)

Please note: I've mentioned some products and brands here just because I use them regularly in my work. Nothing has been received for their references in this article.

This is a simplified step-by-step guide to help dog owners understand the steps towards allergy diagnosis and management. Unless the logic behind the steps are communicated properly by the vet, I understand that the process may appear slow, frustrating and not always clear. It is important to keep a good dialogue with the vet throughout the process and not to expect a quick-fix after the first consultation.
Also note that each case is handled differently based on many factors such as the owner's financial limitations, country-specific norms and the veterinarians habits and experiences. Please note that this is just an example on how I myself approach allergic dogs. Other veterinarians may have completely different routines that works for them.
Common presentation:
Allergies typically begin to develop in dogs between the ages of 1 and 3 years old and usually present with one or more of the following symptoms:

• Itching and/or skin redness.
• Licking of legs and paws.
• Recurrent ear issues.
• Anal gland issues/butt scooping.
• Gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea and gas.

There are plenty of differential diagnoses for each of these symptoms. For the sake of simplicity we must assume other conditions have already been ruled out, otherwise I would probably have to write a small book.
1: Anti-Parasitic treatment
Even if I strongly suspect allergies, I usually always start out an allergy consultations by ruling out parasitic infestations. A skin scraping can be performed and investigated under the microscope, but a negative skin scrape does not rule out parasites; it only rules out parasites at that small patch of skin where the sample was taken. It's a simple and cheap treatment, so if the issue happens to be parasitic it will save the owner a lot of time and money. If the symptoms are severe, I provide anti-itching drugs for a few days while the trial anti-parasitic treatment has time to work.
(Hypothyroidism can also cause allergy-like symptoms and should be ruled out (blood test) before initiating a full allergy investigation.)
2: Hypoallergenic diet trial:
If the symptoms are still present after anti-parasitic treatment course, I start the dog on a prescription Allergy diet for 8 weeks. We use Royal Canin Anallergenic since it's the most extensively hydrolyzed diet available. Hydrolyzed diets contain proteins that have been chemically 'chopped' into tiny subunits, so small that the pet's immune system cannot recognize them as allergens. Since they are not recognized by the immune system they will elicit no allergic reactions. During the food trial it is important that the dog ONLY eats the prescribed diet and avoids everything else, including treats and human foods. If the dog is severely affected I will provide anti-itching medicines for a few weeks at the start of the food trial, but it is important that the medicines do not mask the effect of the food change for us to know what actually worked.
If the symptoms disappear after the 8 week allergy trial diet, then great, we may conclude that food is the cause of the pet's allergies. I will then usually do elimination diets to figure out what types of food the dog actually tolerates. Some dogs may have to remain on prescription allergy diets for the rest of their lives. Some vets perform a food challenge test (Back to the diet they reacted on previously) after symptoms have cleared to check for recurrence as a way to confirm their diagnosis.
FOOD ALLERGY BLOOD TEST: These tests are somewhat controversial as they are NOT tools for diagnosis or identifying specific food allergens. However, they can be useful during a food trial in determining what protein sources the dog is less likely to have an allergic reaction to.
3. Environmental allergy screening + trial treatment.
If the allergy symptoms are still present after 8 weeks of prescription allergy diet, the cause of the allergy is more likely to be environmental (or both). At this point I usually recommend doing a blood test screening or panel against specific environmental allergens, such as pollen or mites. I always offer to do the blood test during step 2, but many clients prefer to go stepwise.
While waiting for the blood results I usually initiate treatment with Cytopoint injections. Depending on the severity I might add Apoquel short term for relief as it is very quick-acting and effective drug. For very severe cases corticosteroids might be required. I prefer Cytopoint for long term use over Apoquel and (especially) glucocorticoids due to having a more specific mechanism of action, while the alternatives are more broad-acting immuno-suppressive drugs. However, each patient responds differently - Finding the ideal treatment is usually a case of trial and error and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Sometimes a combination is required.
NOTE: Neither Cytopoint or Apoquel cure allergies. They provide relief to the pet by blocking some of the symptom's pathways. However they are still very important medicines for improving the quality of lives for thousands of pets with allergies.
\ Cytopoint: Injections lasting 4-8 weeks.*
\ Apoquel: Daily tablet or chewable.*
4. Immunotherapy:
Immunotherapy is the closest we currently get to 'curing' environmental allergies. Please note that immunotherapy has nothing to do with food allergies which can only be managed nutrionally.
The results from the blood panel previously mentioned can be used to create a custom solution containing the most important allergens specific to the dog. The solution is injected or given orally in gradually increasing concentrations. This procedure desensitizes the immune system to said allergens, alleviating the symptoms over time.
It is worth noting that approximately 50% of patients will respond excellent to immunotherapy treatment, 25% will have good response, and 25% will not respond at all. Immunotherapy is no immediate relief and it may take months before any effect is observed. Concurrent treatment is usually necessary for symptom relief. Glucocorticoids should not be administered during immunotherapy as it will considerably decrease the success rate.
Additional (environmental) allergy management tips:

• Regular baths: For pets with environmental allergies, regular washing will remove allergens from the fur and may alleviate symptoms. Bedding, blankets etc in daily use should also be cleaned regularly.
• Allergen-neutralizing spray (such as Allergone): These products bind to proteins inactivating their effectiveness as allergens, preventing them from becoming airborne indoors and making them easier to clean. Allergone can be sprayed anywhere (beds, couches, blankets, carpets etc.) and is long lasting.
• Symptom Tracking: For seasonal allergies, symptom tracking can be very valuable. If you learn what months of the year the allergy starts, treatment can be initiated beforehand as a preventive measure. Preventing seasonal flair-ups will potentially save you veterinary expenses and your pet a lot of suffering.

I never considered myself to be smart, but I never thought I was stupid. As Artemis and I left Athena's oasis, I couldn't help but ponder the enormity of what had just happened. My mind was beginning to clear up and reflection set in as I followed Artemis through solid objects, down rabbit holes, through fire, sleet, and bodies of water.
The fire didn't burn me.
The cold didn't freeze me.
The water didn't drown me.
To think that my stupid human brain caused me to err in judgement to such a degree that I would step into the domain of godhood where I didn't belong... all because I was horny. I cringed the thought away. Yes, it was the hottest thing that had ever happened to me, but the way Athena looked at me; it sent chills down my spine. There would surely be consequences for this, but Artemis had clammed up completely, and wasn't answering my questions.
"Artemis?" I whined. "Hey... I'm sorry. I didn't know this would happen."
She stopped in the middle of the woods. We stood surrounded by a captive audience of oak trees; it was eerily silent. She turned and cast me a long look before walking into one of the larger oaks. I sighed and followed her through it. On the other side, we were back in Thyra under a familiar violet menagerie of stars and planets. She had stopped, finally, sitting down and leaning back.
I stepped in front of her. "Artemis? What, umm... Whatcha doing?"
"Waiting," she said plainly.
I looked around at the desolate canyon.
"... Waiting for what?"
"Judgement," she sighed. "This will be the first place Father will look for me when he hears the news."
"Father?"
"You may know him as Zeus."
A little bit of sweat gathered around my temples. He was the main guy. Like the biggest name in Greek myth. Everyone knows Zeus. But judgement... what was about to happen?
"I thought we were going to go hunt some beast in the Underworld or something." I looked down at my rifle and ran my hand along the length of the barrel. "I was scared at first, but now I want to see what a weapon kissed by Hephaestus can do."
I scoffed. I didn't know where that kind of verbiage came from. Kissed by Hepheastus? What was I, a poet all of the sudden? When I looked up, she looked sick. Her face was sagging and her eyes were lifeless. She leaned back and laid flat on the ground, her arms and legs outstretched as though she were dead.
"I too was eager to hunt," she said in a forlorn tone. "But that was before, in my miserable judgement, I welcomed you into divinity."
That was the first time she'd confirmed it with her own lips and it struck me for the first time that this was truly happening. The weight of it fell on my shoulders and did my level best to suppress it down. I didn't want to think about the implications just yet.
"I thought it was just a blessing," I said, sitting down next to her. "I didn't know there was a limit..."
"Athena tried to pry you from my breast, but you were stuck to it like a stubborn babe. You refused to listen."
"I didn't even realize it!" I defended myself. "Why couldn't you have just blessed me in a different way? Why did it have to be so weird?"
"Each god and goddess may bestow blessings, but for each it is different, and tied to their domain," she answered. "I am the goddess of the hunt, but also of nature, childcare, and birth. My blessing is bestowed as such that reflects my divine purpose." She cast me an annoyed glance, "You are the one who has decided it is weird."
I set the rifle down in front of me and leaned forward, thinking carefully. I didn't want to dig my hole any deeper with Artemis. I didn't need her mad at me too. "I'm sorry," I said finally. "But on earth it's kind of a sexual thing."
"Your species is perverse," she said, closing her eyes. "Am I to blame for that too?"
"No!" I said quickly. "I'm not blaming you for a damn thing, but-"
"The blame lies with me entirely," she cut me off. "I brought you here. I took you to Athena's Oasis. I fed you the milk of the gods with my own breast. Who else is to blame but me? My father will certainly say as much when he finds us."
I swallowed. I didn't know what to do. I was in over my head; way out of my depth to such a degree that I wondered if maybe it was just a good idea to keep quiet and sit still. But I had one question that was burning behind my eyes.
"What's going to happen to you?" I asked.
She opened her eyes and stared at the sky as she contemplated. "... I suppose I'll be reduced to my base components and be remade a more capable daughter. They call it rebirthing."
"Artemis," I said softly. "That sounds like dying."
"There is no death," she refuted. "Only rebirth. I will be remade."
"Yeah, it still sounds like death to me," I pressed.
"It's the closest thing to death that goddess can experience," came a familiar voice from behind me. I turned to see Apollo walking slowly toward us. "Sister, sister," he chanted. "What have you done this time?"
I wasn't overwhelmed by his beauty this time, but I still felt my chest tighten. It was the same feeling as seeing an ex from a long time ago in a public space like the mall or the grocery store. A flutter of something that once was there, but nothing substantial.
"Word will spread," Artemis said, her voice cracking. "And when Father has discovered what I have done, he will do what is right, I am certain of it."
"Will he?" Apollo asked. "Because Father has never been one to overreact, yes?" His tone carried the faintest hint of sarcasm.
Artemis didn't respond.
"I can't help but feel responsible for all of this," I said, getting to my feet. "I'll accept full responsibility."
"That will not be up to you," Artemis said, sitting up and hugging her knees.
"You may assume all the responsibility you like," said Apollo, turning to face me. "But there is not a single god or goddess on Mount Olympus that will accept that. You were a simple-minded human when you erred. It is what your kind does. Would you curse an acorn for falling from a tree?"
"I get it, I get it," I rolled my eyes. "But it's not fair. Artemis didn't know I would fuck up the way I did. She doesn't deserve to die!"
"Make no mistake," Apollo said sternly. "It will not just be her, but Athena and Hephaestus for participating in this little charade." He turned his eyes toward the cracked canyon floor and sighed. "... And of course, I as well."
"No!" Artemis was on her feet.
"I will be punished for failing to alert Father to your wily machinations," he looked up at her. "I turned a blind eye. And I did it while Brian was still a human."
Artemis held his gaze for a second before turning and looking at me. "... The Fates," she whispered.
"The Fates?" I looked between the two of them. "What's going on?"
"Father will speak with the Fates," Artemis said as though in a panic, returning her attention to her brother. "They know all that is and all that will be."
"For humans," Apollo clarified, turning to me. "The Fates have no knowledge concerning the gods and goddesses. But everything that transpired around you while you were human will be a part of their knowledge."
"So Zeus will talk to them..." I began to put it together. "And you'll have no plausible deniability. They'll have seen you interacting with me here."
"Hephaestus and Athena as well," Apollo nodded. "None of us can deny what we've done here." He looked at his sister and scowled. "Because we trusted in her to know what she was doing."
This was a mess. A complete disaster of my own making. I was such an idiot. I should have known better than to trespass against the gods. For had I known that Artemis would pay such a price, I would have never chased such an audacious undertaking. I held one hand to my head and felt that same nausea that had overtaken me back at the oasis. My inner dialogue was changing. I was thinking in a voice that wasn't really my own. I could feel myself slowly changing somehow.
"Forgive me," Artemis said to her brother.
"He may," came another voice to her left. In the blink of an eye, a newcomer had manifested. "But I will not. I trusted you to know better, Artemis."
After only a moment, I recognized him. It was Hephaestus, but human-sized and not all glowy and scary. He also bore a nasty scar across the right side of his face. I hadn't noticed it in the shadowy forge, but it was distracting. He stared daggers at Artemis, his strong arms folded across his chest.
Artemis buried her face in her hands. "I did not mean to risk you all alongside me," she sobbed. "I am so ashamed."
"As well you should be," Apollo spoke furiously. "Father already detests Hephaestus. He will be rebirthed as well."
"He detests me," Hepheastus, turned to Apollo, "Because I dared to suggest he was wrong about something. Though, if you ask me, the old man has hated me from the moment he laid eyes on me."
"Stop, stop, stop," I lifted my hands. "Just... let's just think about this for a second. Why do we have to wait around for Zeus to find out?" I asked. "We could just, y'know, get out of here. Nobody has to be killed over this, we can just leave, can't we? He doesn't know anything yet!"
"You imbecile," Apollo seethed, putting his face inches from mine. "You know nothing about anything. Keep your moronic human notions to yourself for so long as they persist within you."
That broke my heart. I wrestled with the emotions that roiled within me. I took a step back and inhaled, holding the tears back. I wasn't going to cry. I was a grown-ass man. So why did I feel like a toddler in time-out?
"Actually," came a new voice from behind Artemis. We turned to see Athena caressing her chin thoughtfully. "While his primal human instincts compell him to flee... in this case, it might not be the worst idea."
"You've hit your head, yes?" Apollo asked. "You would take a human's side? So much for a goddess of wisdom. Take your council elswehere."
"Mind your manners, Brother," Artemis spoke up. "That is Athena you are addressing. You will hear her speak."
We all stood in a moment of tense silence. Athena began to pace around the gathered gods, patiently choosing her words before she spoke them.
"Father has had a hot temper as of the last few hundred years," she began. "Don't act like you all haven't been weary of him; that you haven't shared whispers of concern with your siblings."
Everyone turned their eyes away from her, as though unwilling to accept it. But I could tell from the expressions on their faces that she was telling the truth. Something was going on with Zeus, it seemed, but what? Why were his kids so afraid of him?
"He has been rebirthing gods and goddesses for small offenses as of late," Athena went on. "I, for one, have been living in fear of his ire for some time now. He is not the same as he once was."
"Do not speak ill of Father," Artemis came to Zeus's defense. "He is facing difficulties!"
"That is..." Apollo trailed off. "A hefty accusation," he said finally, staring the goddess down.
Athena stared back with equal ferocity. "Then why, Apollo, did you keep your sister's little venture to yourself?"
He remained quiet. I didn't know the gods bickered like this. I always assumed they were some big happy family just living in paradise, but it seemed like there was at least some degree of treachery afoot.
Afoot?
I winced.
"Your silence says it all," Athena smirked before turning serious. "What little empathy Father once possessed is gone. We can all wait around to be rebirthed to Father's liking," she passed her eyes over us. "Or we can flee. The worst thing that can happen to us is rebirth either way."
"I have yearned to leave his gaze for eons now," said Hephaestus. "I will join in an escape effort."
"There would be little effort required," Apollo announced. "There has never been an attempt to leave the pantheon. It would likely be as simple as walking through an open doorway. But this discussion is traitorous; blasphemers, each and every one of you."
"I will run with Athena," Artemis announced.
"Sister!" Apollo scolded.
"Athena is more than my sister, she is my best friend," Artemis balled her fists. "If it were anyone else who suggested it, I may not have listened. But Athena's wise words have guided me through great trials."
"I am with them," Hephaestus said to Apollo. "You can stay here with the accident," he eyed me angrily.
Artemis looked as though she wanted to come to my defense, but ultimately said nothing.
Another arrow through my heart.
"Hephaestus," I began my sentence without anywhere for it to go. "I... I might not be..." I flailed. Suddenly, I had a question. "Wait," I pointed at him. "Why can I understand you now?"
"Because, dear Brian," Athena answered for him, walking up to me and placing a hand against my forehead. "You are a god now. It doesn't matter whether Hephaestus likes it or not, you are divinity born of mankind."
"Well," I glanced around without moving my head. "What am I the god of?"
"She is checking," Apollo said. "Be quiet while she divinates your domains."
I felt a tingling sensation around my forehead. It tickled, and I couldn't help but giggle a little. It made Artemis smile and my heart soared.
"You are..." Athena spoke, closing her eyes, her concentration tightening. "The god of indulgence and isolation," she announced, opening her eyes and smiling at me. She removed her hand and stepped back, leaving me in a stunned silence.
"Did you just call me fat and lonely?" I blurted out.
Athena lifted her hand to her mouth and dimples manifested on her cheeks. Artemis did the same, but couldn't stifle her laughter. Apollo snickered and turned his head. I stood there with my mouth wide open as Hephaestus began to chuckle to himself. But he didn't look happy about it. He would smile and laugh before scowling it away, and then start laughing again as though he were being tickled while in a terrible mood. The others adopted an expression not dissimilar to mine and stared at the god of the forge.
"I can't stop," Hephaestus managed between breathy laughter.
"By the stars," Athena murmured. "I don't believe I've ever seen Hephaestus laugh."
"Nobody has," Apollo said in equal wonderment.
"That is your sense of humor?" Artemis asked, aghast. "It is so... childish! So unexpected!"
"I have no sense of humor!" Hephaestus barked, finally getting his laughter under control. "He did something to me!"
"I didn't do anything!" I threw my arms up.
"Perhaps," Athena smiled at me. "He also holds the domain of humor. I didn't search for it."
"Great," I said angrily. "I'm 'Hilarious', the fat and ugly Greek god of comedy, I love it."
Hephaestus exploded in a renewed fit of laughter, once more prompting the others to laugh again. I stood there in the center of it and frowned.
"Can we get out of here now?" I shouted.
They laughed harder.
This sucked.
Writing Prompt Submitted by u/blablador-2001

Omnia Protocol is a decentralized infrastructure protocol for securely accessing the blockchain, so that no single point of failure will ever disrupt blockchain applications or wallets integrating with it. At the same time, it allows anyone to earn rewards by hosting and maintaining a node on a specific blockchain.
Omnia has a strong focus on privacy which gives you untraceable access to the blockchain.
How is Omnia better?
Mixnets are not a novel approach when it comes to building an anonymous overlay network. For example, Tor is leveraging a low-latency mix network to provide a 3-hop circuit that is designed to better protect privacy than a single-node VPN solution. However, this approach has one major fallback - does not obfuscate traffic patterns, which eventually leads to revealing the user's identity as relevant academic research activity has already proved (XZ21, LGMG17, MS17, CMMV17, RNZL17, BZN08, SZ12).
One of our technical objectives at Omnia is to leverage all our academic and security research knowledge to augment mixnets with state of the art methods for timing obfuscation and decoy traffic injection to guarantee the utmost privacy.
Another technical objective is to enhance the existing centralized directory authority used for routing in mixnets to a consensus based approach in order to mitigate the single point of failure in case of directory corruption.
By carefully designing the integration between blockchain nodes and privacy relayers with customer-centricity in mind, Omnia provides competitive incentives that have compounding effects to the entire ecosystem.
Omnia's competitive advantage consists in our ability to identify, extract and integrate value from state of the art research results, thus being able to drive the marginal costs close to zero when it comes to accessing the blockchain.
We are confident that in a not so distant future, Omnia will be the natural choice for accessing any blockchain in a trustworthy and failproof manner, regardless of the network.
We want to be an inspiration to the blockchain ecosystem, by pushing the envelope beyond its existing limitations so that others can innovate beside us.
Security
Privacy is key, but not sufficient. That's why it's important to also ensure that nodes deliver the performance they signed-up for and don't act malicious.
A node verification protocol will assure that node owners do not act maliciously or against the user's interest. By staking an amount of OMNIA tokens, proportional with the blockchain requests that is actively serving, a node provider risks its stake being slashed in case of misbehavior. Therefore, by causing higher self-damage than the potential gain, any attack is economically unfeasible.
Official website: https://omniatech.io/

I came across the problem where I am releasing changes on daily basis, but as a solo developer, i do not have time to implement some kind of release notes system in existing clients applications plus to write them manually, and considering using 3rd party platforms is not working on different clients, so I came up to this solution.
Upon creating PR to my `master` branch, I would write release notes in description of the PR.
Example: - implemented new feature 1 - fixed bug with something - fixed other bug
And mark that PR with label `release`
Since this is fast thing to do, only thing left was to create fast way to implement it, and in doing so I created solution as NPM package so I can reuse it in all my react projects.
Implementation is pretty simple as:
And that is it.
This is now rendering simple list of items, where each item represents one PR meeting above filter (label & base branch)
https://preview.redd.it/8mqyupsugu0d1.png?width=2547&format=png&auto=webp&s=e5e988ed965a06ea7ccf54aee36bc5359895ad14
I am sharing this here so maybe some of you find this helpful and use this package to speed up his delivering process.
Feel free to fork and improve it (I see a lot of space for it, however will not do it for now) and I will gladly merge improvements.
Note: Currently it is fetching only last 30 PRs, and from those pick the ones meeting filter so that is kinda buggy, but I will fix it in a few days, for now it is good enough for me, to show my client last few release notes.
Package name: ls-release-log

Hello, I am the developer of Archean, which just released on Steam today, in Early Access.
Archean is an immersive Engineering Sandbox and Space Sim. The game is set on Earth, 3 billion years in the past, in the Archean eon.
This is a challenging sandbox that can be played solo or multiplayer with dedicated servers. It also happens to be a full scale Space Sim but it doesn't force you to do space stuff.
This game (and custom engine) is developed by a single programmer (myself) in a small team of two.
This project is my baby, I've been working on it for more than 13 years, starting over many times, until the technology got to where it needed to actually make it happen.
It's priced at USD 19.99 but there is a 25% discount at the moment for the release!
NOTE: You require an NVIDIA RTX graphics card to be able to play it. It won't run on a GTX or an AMD gpu.
Current Features

• Engineering / build sandbox
• Resource gathering and crafting
• Solo or Multiplayer with dedicated servers
• Open World with full size Earth and Moon
• Space Sim with orbital mechanics
• Aerodynamics simulation
• In-game coding with the XenonCode language
• Workshop integration
• Creative and Adventure modes
• Fully ray-traced graphics

Future Updates

• Survival mode
• Vehicle destruction and PVP
• Pressurization system
• Full scale solar system (with all the planets and moons)
• Weather system
• LOTS more content
• SDK for modders

Immersive Engineering Sandbox

We offer a very advanced, high precision build and engineering system with small resizable blocks from 25 cm to 4 meters. In this game, you have to connect components with actual cables/pipes for power, data and fluids. Build in-game live in an immersive way, not in an editor. Code your own logic in virtual computers, using pure code or a node-based visual programming system.

XenonCode

We have developed a new programming language designed to be easy to learn and optimal for in-game virtual computers. The game has a built-in cooperative editor with syntax highlighting and multi-cursor support, as well as a node-based visual editor to facilitate scripting.

Adventure Mode

In this mode, you begin with nothing in your backpack. You have to gather resources and craft everything you need. You start by hand, picking up rocks, build mining rigs, build automated machines and so on. Some resources are underwater, some are at the highest mountain peaks. It's up to you to build vehicles that can get there. The ultimate goal is to reach the Moon.

Native Ray-Tracing

Our innovative renderer is fully ray-traced with a great performance. This is not a eye-candy, it's actually a necessary feature for this game to even exist, because of its dynamic nature. Since the content will be mostly user-created and it's set to be moddable out-of-the-box, we cannot afford any artist-driven baked lighting, and with the full scale aspects with customizable solar system, we need the sun(s) lighting to be completely dynamic based on the real-time scenario, instead of tweaking shadow maps and reflection probes manually like other games do. The entire scene is rendered in a single ray-tracing pass with many recursive light bounces. This allows for realistic hard shadows, perfectly reflective mirrors and physically correct refractions. Just make sure you have an NVIDIA RTX graphics card and you're good to go.

Space Sim

The final goal of this game is to be a Full Scale Space Sim with the entire solar system. At the moment we have the Earth and the Moon, Orbital Mechanics and Re-Entry effects based on velocity. There is no artificial speed limit, so you can actually orbit realistically at 8 km/s. You can also dock with your friend's ship while in orbit, if you're good.
We have great plans for this game, and we swear by our 5 commandments:

1. Thou shall obey physics

It's NOT arcade-style and we do not underestimate our players. You must understand science or be willing to learn some physics. The game features realistic 6-dof space physics without any artificial speed limit. As far as we know, it's the only multiplayer space sim where you can dock with your friend's space station while in space at Full Orbital Velocity. This game is NOT meant to be a dogfight-style space shooter because that would not be practical with realistic physics.

2. Thou shall not see "Loading..."

Seamless transitions, no loading screens, EVER! From ground to orbit to another planet... it's all seamless. The game also happens to "load" pretty much instantly... For reference, in our Quadcopter video, the recording started BEFORE the game's executable was launched.

3. Thou shall not hit a wall

No fake boundaries. No skyboxes. No predefined paths. IT's a true Open World game, and it's all full scale. If you see a mountain, it's not a texture... You can just walk there and climb it if you have the courage... But I would just build a Rover or some kind of aircraft to get there faster. The moon that you see from the surface of Earth is the actual moon's terrain that you will land on, if you manage to build a good enough rocket, that is. The stars you see are individually rendered points in 3D space. It's not a skybox. But let's be honest you won't ever be able to reach another star.

4. Thou shall not be Thee

Immersive, first person controls and no cutscenes. There will NEVER be a point where the player loses control of their avatar to a cutscene or to some long animation. This game will keep a focus on First Person Immersion. Even though there is a 3rd person view available, it's mostly for taking screenshots, the game is not meant to be played this way.

5: Thou shall make sense

Everything has a realistic purpose based on science. Nothing should be fake, and in-game technologies must be at least plausible with some math behind it. This means that there is no such thing as magical artificial gravity. There are only two ways to have gravity in your spaceship when you're in space:

• Constant Acceleration: Players inside an accelerating ship do feel gravity realistically, and there is no artificial sublight speed limit as opposed to most (if not all) other multiplayer space sims.
• Centrifugal Forces: Yes you can also build a rotating station and you will have realistic "gravity" sensation like you would expect.

Also, there will be no Faster Than Light space travel. The math for a plausible Warp Drive would not allow that, but will let you multiply your acceleration quite a bit, in a way that you can travel up to 99% the speed of light.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2941660/Archean/
I sincerely hope you'll enjoy this game a lot, as I did developing it and will keep enjoying working on it for years to come.

High-Z

Guitars are high impedance (high-Z) which mean 10,000+ Ohms. Everything else is not. This means whatever you plug a guitar into must be able to accept high-Z, so read the manual for the device. Some audio equipment has a high-Z switch that must be enabled when you plug in a guitar.
Equipment, like guitar pedals and guitar amplifiers are designed for high-Z on its input. If you want to plug a non-high-Z device, like a synthesizer, into one of these devices, you will need a reamp box. However, some guitar pedals accept both high-Z and low-Z on their input, in this case you can plug a synthesizer directly to the pedal without the need for a reamp box. Read the owner's manual for the pedal.
You can plug the output of a guitar pedal into a high-Z device like a guitar amp or another pedal, or even into a low-Z device like a mixer. That's because most modern guitar pedals support both high- and low- Z on their outputs.
Most modern audio equipment automatically adjusts for the different ohms and voltages of various equipment that you plug in, which means you don't have to match ohms unless you are attaching amplifiers to passive speakers.

Audio signal level

There are several different strengths of audio signal: very low-level microphone (0.001 volt), instrument level (0.1 volt), consumer line level (0.3 volt), and pro line level (1+ volt). Most modern equipment, such as mixers, are designed to automatically recognize and adjust for the signal level that they are receiving. Which means you don't have to worry about it unless your device has knobs and buttons specifically for the different levels. If your device does not have specific settings for levels, then you can plug anything in. Furthermore, mismatching levels is not the end of the world, and in many cases won't have any discernible impact.
The headphone jack on audio equipment such as synthesizers is less than 4 volts which means it is the equivalent of a line level signal and therefore can be used just like the mono and stereo output jacks. In other words you can plug an instrument cable from the headphone jack into your effects pedals and mixers.
Some keyboards have a weaker signal compared to others. You don't need to do anything special, just run it into a DI box and from there to the mixer and turn up the gain.

Gain and Preamp

The function of the preamp is the same as that of the gain/trim. Its purpose is to match the input voltage. Many devices with a preamp will automatically disengage the preamp if the input signal is strong enough to where it is not needed. Which means you can plug anything into a preamp. However some preamps are only designed for microphone level, so read the manual to confirm the behavior.
Setting the gain/trim is one of the most important things to do because it ensures the cleanest, strongest possible signal. To set the gain, start from 0 and turn it up until it starts to register the signal. It will start to flash when this happens.

DI box

Instrument cables are unbalanced 1/4" TS cables. Connect these to your guitars, keyboards, and pedals.
A DI box is designed to convert a high- or low-Z instrument or line level signal into a balanced low-Z signal transmitted on an XLR cable. There's a couple advantages to using a DI box plus XLR cable for the final run to the soundboard:

• the balanced signal eliminates noise
• the XLR cable carries twice the signal and therefore is louder than the 1/4" TS cable

General Guidelines

1. Connect XLR cables directly from the microphones to the Mic preamp on the soundboard
2. Use a DI box with XLR cables to connect synthesizers to the soundboard
3. Use a DI box with XLR cables to connect the Line (Through) Outs of Guitar and Bass Amps to the soundboard

• if the device right before the mixer has high impedance, click the high impedance switch on the mixer. Matching impedances is not super critical but could slightly improve the sound and voltage
• if the device right before the mixer has a extremely low voltage like a microphone (a few thousandths of a volt = -50 dbu), or a guitar or bass going directly to the mixer, it needs to go into the preamp on the mixer
• if the device right before the mixer has a consumer voltage of -10dbu then it can be plugged directly into the mixer. You do not need any other equipment (eg. Radial J+4 is unnecessary)
• if the device right before the mixer has a pro voltage +4dbV then it can be plugged directly into the mixer
• any line level device can be plugged into a DI box and from there into the mic preamp and/or XLR inputs on the mixer.

Ground Loop Hum

Ground loop hum happens when you have devices connected to different grounds that are separated by a distance because there is a small voltage potential across the distance and when this potential is amplified it becomes hum. To fix it plug all devices into the same outlet. This will fix most ground hum problems. There is no danger of overloading the circuit, see my Power post for a discussion of this. Additionally feel free to use the Ground Lift button that is available on certain audio devices like DI boxes - this makes sure the reference line for the audio signal isn't tied to earth. Also make sure the high-Z switch is disabled for devices that are not high-Z. Additionally try to use shielded equipment whose shield is grounded to earth.
For details: https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/understanding-solving-ground-loops

Hi everyone, I have been working hard for nearly half a year to bring Glato AI to life, and it's time to let it out into the wild and see what y'all think!
​
The story behind Glato AI is very personal:
​
❌ I REALLY struggled with video content creation for my last product, AI Anywhere.
It's either super time-consuming or very expensive to hire video creators.
Since I'm a bootstrapped founder, I had to DIY my videos🤦‍♀️
Over time, I found that this was not sustainable. That's when the idea for Glato AI struck! What if we could use AI to automate the whole video creation process?
​
With Glato AI, I hope to free up a ton of time for business owners and marketers like myself. I wish I had this years ago.
​
Here's how Glato AI works:
✅ Generate video scripts with our AI model trained on winning ads and viral trends
✅ Use digital clones of real creators to make engaging UGC-styled ads
✅ Automatically add b-roll, captions, and visual effects
✅ All you need to input is your product link - so simple🤘
​
In my opinion, this is way better than traditional video creation methods:
1️⃣ No need to hire creators or spend time creating content manually
2️⃣ Expressive, trendy videos that resonate with your audience
3️⃣ Now you can create personalized videos at scale and A/B test them for optimal performance
​
I seriously hope Glato AI hits the spot for other busy founders and marketers. It's already been a game-changer for me :)
🐱 We are launching on ProductHunt today and PLEASE upvote us 🥺 https://www.producthunt.com/posts/glato-ai-beta 🥺 Thank you so much for your support!
Also check out Glato AI at https://glato.ai and create your two FREE video ads! Can't wait to see what you are you going to create!

Hi everyone, I have been working hard for nearly half a year to bring Glato AI to life, and it's time to let it out into the wild and see what y'all think!
​
The story behind Glato AI is very personal:
​
❌ I REALLY struggled with video content creation for my last product, AI Anywhere.
It's either super time-consuming or very expensive to hire video creators.
Since I'm a bootstrapped founder, I had to DIY my videos🤦‍♀️
Over time, I found that this was not sustainable. That's when the idea for Glato AI struck! What if we could use AI to automate the whole video creation process?
​
With Glato AI, I hope to free up a ton of time for business owners and marketers like myself. I wish I had this years ago.
​
Here's how Glato AI works:
✅ Generate video scripts with our AI model trained on winning ads and viral trends
✅ Use digital clones of real creators to make engaging UGC-styled ads
✅ Automatically add b-roll, captions, and visual effects
✅ All you need to input is your product link - so simple🤘
​
In my opinion, this is way better than traditional video creation methods:
1️⃣ No need to hire creators or spend time creating content manually
2️⃣ Expressive, trendy videos that resonate with your audience
3️⃣ Now you can create personalized videos at scale and A/B test them for optimal performance
​
I seriously hope Glato AI hits the spot for other busy founders and marketers. It's already been a game-changer for me :)
🐱 We are launching on ProductHunt today and PLEASE upvote us 🥺 https://www.producthunt.com/posts/glato-ai-beta 🥺 Thank you so much for your support!
Also check out Glato AI at https://glato.ai and create your two FREE video ads! Can't wait to see what you are you going to create!

Hello, I am the developer of Archean, which just released on Steam today, in Early Access. I've been sent here by u/RMuldoun to make a detailed post about this new game for you guys :)
Archean is an immersive Engineering Sandbox and Space Sim. The game is set on Earth, 3 billion years in the past, in the Archean eon.
This is a challenging sandbox that can be played solo or multiplayer with dedicated servers. It also happens to be a full scale Space Sim but it doesn't force you to do space stuff.
This game (and custom engine) is developed by a single programmer (myself) in a small team of two.
This project is my baby, I've been working on it for more than 13 years, starting over many times, until the technology got to where it needed to actually make it happen.
It's priced at USD 19.99 but there is a 25% discount at the moment for the release!
NOTE: You require an NVIDIA RTX graphics card to be able to play it. It won't run on a GTX or an AMD gpu.
Current Features

• Engineering / build sandbox
• Resource gathering and crafting
• Solo or Multiplayer with dedicated servers
• Open World with full size Earth and Moon
• Space Sim with orbital mechanics
• Aerodynamics simulation
• In-game coding with the XenonCode language
• Workshop integration
• Creative and Adventure modes
• Fully ray-traced graphics

Future Updates

• Survival mode
• Vehicle destruction and PVP
• Pressurization system
• Full scale solar system (with all the planets and moons)
• Weather system
• LOTS more content
• SDK for modders

Immersive Engineering Sandbox

We offer a very advanced, high precision build and engineering system with small resizable blocks from 25 cm to 4 meters. In this game, you have to connect components with actual cables/pipes for power, data and fluids. Build in-game live in an immersive way, not in an editor. Code your own logic in virtual computers, using pure code or a node-based visual programming system.

XenonCode

We have developed a new programming language designed to be easy to learn and optimal for in-game virtual computers. The game has a built-in cooperative editor with syntax highlighting and multi-cursor support, as well as a node-based visual editor to facilitate scripting.

Adventure Mode

In this mode, you begin with nothing in your backpack. You have to gather resources and craft everything you need. You start by hand, picking up rocks, build mining rigs, build automated machines and so on. Some resources are underwater, some are at the highest mountain peaks. It's up to you to build vehicles that can get there. The ultimate goal is to reach the Moon.

Native Ray-Tracing

Our innovative renderer is fully ray-traced with a great performance. This is not a eye-candy, it's actually a necessary feature for this game to even exist, because of its dynamic nature. Since the content will be mostly user-created and it's set to be moddable out-of-the-box, we cannot afford any artist-driven baked lighting, and with the full scale aspects with customizable solar system, we need the sun(s) lighting to be completely dynamic based on the real-time scenario, instead of tweaking shadow maps and reflection probes manually like other games do. The entire scene is rendered in a single ray-tracing pass with many recursive light bounces. This allows for realistic hard shadows, perfectly reflective mirrors and physically correct refractions. Just make sure you have an NVIDIA RTX graphics card and you're good to go.

Space Sim

The final goal of this game is to be a Full Scale Space Sim with the entire solar system. At the moment we have the Earth and the Moon, Orbital Mechanics and Re-Entry effects based on velocity. There is no artificial speed limit, so you can actually orbit realistically at 8 km/s. You can also dock with your friend's ship while in orbit, if you're good.
We have great plans for this game, and we swear by our 5 commandments:

1. Thou shall obey physics

It's NOT arcade-style and we do not underestimate our players. You must understand science or be willing to learn some physics. The game features realistic 6-dof space physics without any artificial speed limit. As far as we know, it's the only multiplayer space sim where you can dock with your friend's space station while in space at Full Orbital Velocity. This game is NOT meant to be a dogfight-style space shooter because that would not be practical with realistic physics.

2. Thou shall not see "Loading..."

Seamless transitions, no loading screens, EVER! From ground to orbit to another planet... it's all seamless. The game also happens to "load" pretty much instantly... For reference, in our Quadcopter video, the recording started BEFORE the game's executable was launched.

3. Thou shall not hit a wall

No fake boundaries. No skyboxes. No predefined paths. IT's a true Open World game, and it's all full scale. If you see a mountain, it's not a texture... You can just walk there and climb it if you have the courage... But I would just build a Rover or some kind of aircraft to get there faster. The moon that you see from the surface of Earth is the actual moon's terrain that you will land on, if you manage to build a good enough rocket, that is. The stars you see are individually rendered points in 3D space. It's not a skybox. But let's be honest you won't ever be able to reach another star.

4. Thou shall not be Thee

Immersive, first person controls and no cutscenes. There will NEVER be a point where the player loses control of their avatar to a cutscene or to some long animation. This game will keep a focus on First Person Immersion. Even though there is a 3rd person view available, it's mostly for taking screenshots, the game is not meant to be played this way.

5: Thou shall make sense

Everything has a realistic purpose based on science. Nothing should be fake, and in-game technologies must be at least plausible with some math behind it. This means that there is no such thing as magical artificial gravity. There are only two ways to have gravity in your spaceship when you're in space:

• Constant Acceleration: Players inside an accelerating ship do feel gravity realistically, and there is no artificial sublight speed limit as opposed to most (if not all) other multiplayer space sims.
• Centrifugal Forces: Yes you can also build a rotating station and you will have realistic "gravity" sensation like you would expect.

Also, there will be no Faster Than Light space travel. The math for a plausible Warp Drive would not allow that, but will let you multiply your acceleration quite a bit, in a way that you can travel up to 99% the speed of light.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2941660/Archean/
I sincerely hope you'll enjoy this game a lot, as I did developing it and will keep enjoying working on it for years to come.

Hi everyone, me and my friends have been working hard for nearly half a year to bring Glato AI to life, and it's time to let it out into the wild and see what y'all think!
The story behind Glato AI is very personal:
❌ I REALLY struggled with video content creation for my last product, AI Anywhere. It's either super time-consuming or very expensive to hire video creators. Since I'm a bootstrapped founder, I had to DIY my videos🤦‍♀️ Over time, I found that this was not sustainable. That's when the idea for Glato AI struck! What if we could use AI to automate the whole video creation process?
With Glato AI, I hope to free up a ton of time for business owners and marketers like myself. I wish I had this years ago.
Here's how Glato AI works: ✅ Generate video scripts with our AI model trained on winning ads and viral trends ✅ Use digital clones of real creators to make engaging UGC-styled ads ✅ Automatically add b-roll, captions, and visual effects ✅ All you need to input is your product link - so simple🤘
In my opinion, this is way better than traditional video creation methods: 1️⃣ No need to hire creators or spend time creating content manually 2️⃣ Expressive, trendy videos that resonate with your audience 3️⃣ Now you can create personalized videos at scale and A/B test them for optimal performance
I seriously hope Glato AI hits the spot for other busy founders and marketers. It's already been a game-changer for me :) 🐱 We are launching on ProductHunt today and PLEASE upvote us 🥺 https://www.producthunt.com/posts/glato-ai-beta 🥺 Thank you so much for your support! Also ceck out Glato AI at https://glato.ai and create your two FREE video ads! Can't wait to see what you are you going to create!

Hi everyone, me and my friends have been working hard for nearly half a year to bring Glato AI to life, and it's time to let it out into the wild and see what y'all think!
The story behind Glato AI is very personal:
❌ I REALLY struggled with video content creation for my last product, AI Anywhere.
It's either super time-consuming or very expensive to hire video creators.
Since I'm a bootstrapped founder, I had to DIY my videos🤦‍♀️
Over time, I found that this was not sustainable. That's when the idea for Glato AI struck! What if we could use AI to automate the whole video creation process?
With Glato AI, I hope to free up a ton of time for business owners and marketers like myself. I wish I had this years ago.
Here's how Glato AI works:
✅ Generate video scripts with our AI model trained on winning ads and viral trends
✅ Use digital clones of real creators to make engaging UGC-styled ads
✅ Automatically add b-roll, captions, and visual effects
✅ All you need to input is your product link - so simple🤘
In my opinion, this is way better than traditional video creation methods:
1️⃣ No need to hire creators or spend time creating content manually
2️⃣ Expressive, trendy videos that resonate with your audience
3️⃣ Now you can create personalized videos at scale and A/B test them for optimal performance
I seriously hope Glato AI hits the spot for other busy founders and marketers. It's already been a game-changer for me :)
🐱 We are launching on ProductHunt today and PLEASE upvote us 🥺 https://www.producthunt.com/posts/glato-ai-beta 🥺 Thank you so much for your support!
Also check out Glato AI at https://glato.ai and create your two FREE video ads! Can't wait to see what you are you going to create!

Is the Owners Club (OC) worth the money? Yes it is and if I go next year I will get an OC pass again, but this review will hopefully help you decide if the OC would be worth it to you.
Amenities

• Alcohol
  • I was surprised that the liquor available was not of the bottom shelf variety. Some of the liquor they had included Markers Mark 46, Knob Creek, Stoli Elit, and Don Julio to name a few. There was more of a selection, but I did not pay enough attention. Beer was of your standard variety.
• Water
  • This may not be an amenity to some, but I remember seeing long lines of people waiting at the water stations and was glad I did not have to wait in the OC to get a bottle whenever I needed or wanted one.
• Bathrooms
  • Air conditioned which was very nice than having to sweat it out in the porta potty if you had to go #2. Bathrooms also had free body spray (Axe and another brand) if you were feeling a bit ripe from sweating it out on the hotter days.
• Shade/Cooling Down
  • Plenty of areas to relax and cool down whether you wanted to go inside the AC tent or find a spot outside.
• Sunscreen
  • Free sunscreen available. I am not sure if this was offered everywhere.
• Food
  • Okay selection of hot and cold food. Wings, mac n cheese bites, pulled pork sliders, yogurt parfait, chips, pretzel bites, vegetable egg rolls., fruit cups. Portions were small, but there was no limit as to how much you could take or at least no one spoke to me about taking too much.
• View of Mainstage
  • Solid view of the main stage even though it was a bit far away. I am only 5'5" so the elevated view was worth it to me. I need to get fairly close to the stage for a good view.
• Festival Entrance
  • OC had their own entrance/exit which never had a line and was located on the turn 4 side of the track which was the same side where my hotel was located.

Downsides

• Walking to the OC
  • I walked about 20k steps a day within the festival going back and forth from stages to the OC to take advantage of the amenities above.
    • I had heard the VIP areas honored the OC wristband for free drinks but I didn't hear about it until the last day and never checked. If that was true, then I fucked up and could have saved time and steps.
• Seats for Headliners
  • At the end of some days I just wanted to sit and watch the headliner but seats went quick. There was still plenty of standing room, but sometimes you just want/need to sit.

Overall Analysis
The OC is worth it, but you need to think about what you value the most at the festival, outside of the music, and if you will get your moneys worth. For me, I drank about $250+ of festival priced alcohol a day. The alcohol alone was worth it for me and everything else were bonuses on top. I still spent about $400 outside of the OC on food, alcohol, and merch, but tried to take as much advantage of the OC as possible.
If you have the residual income, do the OC. If you are going to struggle to pay your bills because you are paying for the OC, exercise financial responsibility and don't get the OC. There will be other festivals and treat yourself when you are financially able to.
I think I covered everything but if you have questions, please ask and I will do my best to respond.
​

I posted last week about a Tacoma that I wanted, but could not find the time to go see.
Pulled the trigger at 23K list price / 26K out the door. 2016 Limited 4x4 - 135K miles with no rust. It also included (most) of the TRD options added from the factory. Mag Gray w/ Brown leather interior. 4th Florida owner with great records.
Dealer would not budge on price (it was under KBB) so I worked out a loan I was content with. Negotiations were friendly, but I continually reminded them how much I was trusting them to buy a truck that I’d never seen. They pushed extremely hard for a warranty, but I’m not a moron so I passed.
Unfortunately, I learned that their return policy was for “dealer credit” - which is essentially worthless to me. If they sold me a bad truck, why would I return? I knew I’d be stuck with this truck no matter what.
I asked that they start the deal off with a good faith gesture, and bring the truck to home. They reluctantly agreed. (100 mile drive)
I signed the final papers in my driveway and took her for a test drive yesterday.
Mechanically, the truck is fantastic. Drives flawlessly! Thrilled that it runs like new. Phew.
The interior is an 8/10. Plenty of tiny scratches and scuffs you’d expect on an 8 year old truck. No big deal. 135K miles isn’t nothing.
Then there’s the exterior… eh. I was underwhelmed. Here are my gripes, that were either never mentioned, or couldn’t be clearly seen in photos.
All 4 door handles are chipping, bad. They all need to be removed and wrapped, or repainted. No idea how these were not more obvious in photos.
Tonneau cover is completely baked by the sun, and almost worthless. The rubber seals at the tri-fold seams are melted and crusty. Touching it leaves roofing tar on your hands. It’s a 75lb piece of garbage.
The exterior badges were plasti-dipped… maybe 3 years ago? They’re clearly peeling and need to be redone.
Multiple interior LED lights are out. Only 1 overhead light works. Most others all have dead bulbs. (Possible fuse issue but haven’t checked.)
One tag light is burned out.
Mismatched tire brands. Goodyear on the left, Kumho on the right.
No floor mats. Literally… bare carpet. This was covered by paper dealer mats in the photos.
To be fair, if these are the worst of my problems, I made out like a bandit. I’m mostly annoyed at the lack of “due diligence” from the dealer. These are not hard fixes or even deal breakers… it’s just a stack of annoying problems that are now my problems.
Swapping bulbs, tossing the tonneau cover, wrapping the handles, and ordering some floor mats on Amazon will set me back a couple hundreds bucks, max. But it’ll end up being a day’s worth of work, and I most certainly could have had the dealer do all of these things if I was there in person. BUT. I wasn’t, and that’s on me. Lesson learned.
Ultimately still feels like a good buy. Not optimal, but I did not get screwed.
TLDR: Mechanically sound. Complaints are all minor. Door handles need paint, interior lights are out, tonneau cover is busted, and floor mats were missing. If I went in person, I could have easily negotiated these fixes. But because I bought remotely, I have to eat the inconveniences. I did not get screwed by any means; just slightly annoyed. Ultimately worth it.

I have a 2014 a4 and the water pump when out last week. I went and got that replaced at a reputable shop, along with the thermostat and the belt that drives those components. I also decided to do the serpentine belt just for assurance. They found that my timing chain has stretched about 6.5 degrees. The timing chain(s) have not jumped any teeth yet. I have about 87K miles on the car. I enjoy this car and I am planning on getting the timing chain replaced, but I don’t have the money yet to do so.
I know that I need to get it replaced sooner rather than later. What is the urgency of this issue? And has anyone ran their timing chain over 7 degrees of stretch? I was hoping this problem would come along closer to the 110K mark, as that is when the owners manual recommends to replace the chain at.
Also, while they are inside the engine doing the timing chain, is there anything else that some folks on here would recommend? I was thinking of doing a walnut blast to clean to the intake ports and valves.

Let me start with my experience.. I have tons of it.. But i have had a problem recently.
I did not pay close enough attention to my companies website, because i was too busy with clients websites / SEO.
We got infected with tons of malware pages, and didnt catch it fast enough.. Finally we only have 2-3 malware infected pages indexed.. slowly crawling and recognizng.. We did get a warning in search console, we submitted that it was fixed and they approved it saying nothign is wrong.
Recently I found my yoast seo plugin was not updated, and it was giving an error when G crawled it.. I fixed that yesterday, but my blog posts are not getting indexed.
Also, the blog page has been indexed a long time, but google didnt pick up on that contnet (which is good content)...
I cannot get some content indexed or even crawled, even though i manually requested a crawl 24 hours ago.. Knowing G crawls very quickly.
I am very lost here.. Are they just delaying crawl because ive probably hit my quota/limits of crawls for the last couple few months.... as some have alluded to in the past.
This is very odd to me, ive never had this issue with getting pages indexed in 15 years.. I have no idea what else to do here.

Hey War Thunder SIM community,
My squadron has been flying War Thunder in SIM mode for a bit over a year now and recently started experimenting with manual engine controls (MEC) and little prop pitching too.
I'm curious to know if any of you are using MEC or prop pitching and what your experiences have been.
We'd noticed in a top SIM player's stream that he was using MEC and thought to check it out. For now, we've focused MEC on radiator, gears (SUPERCHARGER), and pitch. There may be more MEC options to consider than this
Benefits of Manual Engine Controls

• Greater Control: Allows for fine-tuning of engine settings to optimize performance in various flight conditions.
• Enhanced Performance: Can squeeze out extra power and efficiency, potentially giving you an edge in dogfights or long-range engagements.
• Realism: Adds an extra layer of immersion, simulating the complexities faced by real-life pilots.

Challenges of Manual Engine Controls

• Steep Learning Curve: Requires a good understanding of aerodynamics and engine mechanics, which can be daunting for newcomers.
• Increased Workload: Managing multiple engine parameters in the heat of battle can be overwhelming and may distract from situational awareness.
• Risk of Engine Damage: Incorrect settings can lead to overheating or engine failure, putting you at a disadvantage.

Benefits of Using Prop Pitch

• Simplified Management: Easy to operate, especially in combat situations where focus is crucial.
• Reliability: Reduces the risk of engine damage due to improper settings, allowing for more consistent performance.

Challenges of Using Prop Pitch

• Limited Customization: Could result in suboptimal performance in certain scenarios.

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts and experiences with manual engine controls.
Do you find the benefits outweigh the challenges? How has it impacted your gameplay? Share your tips, tricks, and any specific plane advice you have for fellow pilots considering making the switch!
Looking forward to your insights!
Happy flying, Ox

I’ve been doing baseball glove restoration for the last few years, and want to lean more into sewing repairs, linehandstall replacements etc.
I’ve been using a manual cobbler machine from Amazon for the limited sewing repairs I’ve undertaken.
Thinking of buying a Techsew machine or similar. Should I buy a cylinder arm machine or a post bed machine?
I’d love to buy a used machine but have not been able to find anything in my area since I started looking about 6 months ago.
My thoughts:
Cylinder arm - cheaper with larger thickness allowed
Post Bed - more expensive to get same thickness of material vs cylinder arm - tighter corners, more “agility”… is this true?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Whether we sell at $10, $100, or a $1,000, it is up to us. Wall Street hedge funds borrowed 95% of this company’s existing stock and then sold it in the market, assuming that the price will drop so they could then purchase it back at a reduced price to return the shares to the rightful owner while keeping the price difference as profit. This is what “Shorting” means. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for us, we caught it. Now as long as we stick together and not sell, the sky is the limit. They will panic and try to buy all the shares back at once which will squeeze the price and shoot it upwards (this is called a short squeeze). They must buy it all back! They MUST! We have the power. We dictate the terms. We like this stock, that’s why we invest in it. This is not market manipulation but market appreciation Do not sell! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Let’s make history together! These financial institutions charge us up to 29.99% interest on our purchases even though we bail them out when they fail. They perceive us as worthless peasants. We will show them our unified strength! We will beat them with their own rules! $FFIE

Anybody know what the estimated going rate is on a gun metal grey, with black leather seats, '14 Passat TDI SE? It has a manual transmission and around 146K miles. I'm the second owner.