Bulletin board ideas for seniors

Lately I'm really frustrated at J1 for a while. I've been sticking it out because of the good schedule and benefits. However, ee've been chronically understaffed and now even moreso. I got a promotion last year and a raise this year but we all got a bonus that was practically nothing and even less after taxes. its the lowest bonus I've ever gotten (20% what i got last year). I want a J2 so I can pay off some medical debt faster and fil up my savings, but i've been frustrated with the job search of trying to replace J1 with a job in cybersecurity. Just looking for ideas of where I should pivot.
for context, I'm a senior help desk admin i work 4/5 days from home one in office. the in office day is when I have meetings. I do have phone calls but not a high volume most of the time I'm working tickets throughout the day. I'm working on a security cert at the moment (security plus). Should I look for J2/J3 to be sys admin or more of a cloud position? I really like this subreddit and how helpful your sugesstions are. Thanks.

I've been fully licensed for 2.5 years. For nearly 2 of those years, I was still getting free weekly supervision/consultation with a senior therapist as that was just something my last job offered all therapists. I'm now realizing this is pretty unusual. I'm now in a new job with very little oversight of staff therapists. There's a lot of freedom to practice as you chose, which is nice, but little opportunity to consult with colleagues and managers because everyone is so busy. I miss having a regular time to chat about cases and get feedback. I find myself talking so much about work in my personal therapy which takes away from other issues I'd rather be talking about. I'd love to be a part of a regular therapist consultation group but it is hard to find groups at times that work for me. I'm considering paying for an outside supervisor and would love to hear people's experiences with this. Is it weird to want/need this as a licensed therapist?
I'm also trying to develop my own habits for monitoring my performance. We already do therapeutic alliance surveys after every session at my job but I don't get much valuable feedback from those-- clts just speed through them and mostly say everything is great. I'm thinking of keeping a running log of my own informal self-assessments of sessions-- maybe updating it at the end of each day and then looking for themes over time, reviewing it on some regular basis and making plans to improve where needed. I'd love to hear other ideas-- ways of staying on top of your game that are easy to implement and keep up.

I have an idea with prototypes, CAD models. As a senior in mechanical engineering money is tight for college kids haha. Patent attorneys are expensive, does anyone know the process behind getting grants?, different types of grants?,how do they determine how much money they give you?, what are the terms and conditions to a grant?
Thanks all.

I am currently in the USA. MS CS at GSU, and it has been 9 months. If you are already in the USA, you can skip to the last paragraph. If not you I suggest you read from the beginning.
I have seen a lot of students posting things, like, I just finished my +2, bachelors, and I want to go to USA. Kun consultancy jaam, yo kasari garam, tyo kasari garam, in reddit and in facebook, and I reply to a lot of students in the facebook.
From my experience, USA apply garna ra aauna ko lagi consultancy ko help chaidaina. 2-3 ta kura ma guide garne senior vayo vane sabai le self apply garna sakxa jasto lagxa. Masters ra Phd ma aaune le ta consultancy gako maile thaha payekai xaina, even +2 paxi aune haru le pani thorai research ra thorai guidance payo vane afai apply garera aauna sakxa. I have had this thought of creating a website that provides all the helpful materials to the students who are trying to prepare for the USA. It will have things like:

1. gre/ielts/toefl.. study materials
2. lor and sop samples.
3. A tool that could help them short list the universities.
4. Interview experience of others.
5. Tutorial videos on variety of things, like, how to fill out the college application, how to approach the professors for assistantships/scholarships, and things as such.

I have already started working on it myself and have got the first feature work perfectly. The users can share the study materials with each other. My concern is, is this idea really applicable? It concerns me, because I have seen a lot of students who dont want to take any responsibility themselves, and strictly seek consultancy's advice. If this website becomes live someday with all the features that I have mentioned, will you, as a student accept it instead of going to consultancy? What do you think of this concept?
My other concern is, to implement 3rd feature (i.e to create a tool that could help the students short list the universities). It will require a lot of data. Those students who are already in the USA, how possible is it for them to give the data (no personal data). The data it requires is, what you studied in Nepal, what were your test scores, what universities you got accepted into, for what courses, and do you have any scholarship there? I am not doing this for any profit and if I create the website, its services will be free of use for all. If you are already in the USA I need your thoughts on this.

My gpu hdmi port isn't displaying but my motherboard hdmi port is. I went into bios and turned on hybrid graphics and restarted still plugged into the motherboard hdmi port and after getting to the login screen I restarted and switched ports back to my gpu hdmi port and now it displays but I gotta plug into the motherboard board get to login restart and switch ports for my gpu port to work.
All I did was shutdown last night before bed turned on this morning to this problem and no idea how to fix it to not have to go through extra steps to get the gpu display port to work
Any suggestions are welcome

Hi, not sure if this is the best place, but I am setting up 4 ceiling speakers in a game room in our finished basement. They are not powered and must be connected to a power amp.
I prewired for these to be handled by a Yamaha a4a in an adjacent room (the theater room) as a second zone.
What I want is to be able to use a laptop in the gaming room to wirelessly send ambient music, sound effects or directional sound during gameplay (board games, DnD etc).
I have not found a clear solution to this (I mistakenly thought Bluetooth could handle more than 2 channel sound).
The only thing I have found so far is wireless HDMI, but I am not 100% clear if that even supports 4/5.1 wirelessly.
In the absence of a wireless solution, another idea is to run a second set of speaker wires in the ceiling to a dedicated amp in the game room itself, and connect wired HDMI from laptop to the amp. This isn't ideal but I am not sure what other options I have.
There is sortof a time constraint with the second option as I am adding wood beams into the room soon and could hide the wiring inside :)
Any ideas or a better place to ask this?

Austin Community College District (ACC) honors our students' incredible achievements at the upcoming Spring 2024 Commencement. More than 3,000 students were invited to walk the stage at 4 p.m. Friday, May 17, at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.
The ceremony will also be livestreamed. To honor graduates, the college launched an online message board for the community to share a message to celebrate the achievements.
Hear from the students:
“As a first-generation and nontraditional student, I am proud to graduate this semester with my Associate of Science degree in General Studies with Honors. During my final year at Austin Community College, I unexpectedly found myself unhoused and facing great personal obstacles. When I was at my most vulnerable and uncertain, ACC helped me to find peace and stability in my accomplishments and the path that I had built for my future. If you are uncertain or even have no idea what you want to pursue, ACC is the right place for you, because students are given the time, space, and resources needed for self discovery.” — Theodore Courtois, ACC General Studies Graduate
“There are many reasons why you may think you shouldn't or couldn't enroll in college, but do it anyway. Do it scared. At ACC there is a feeling like an essential part of a large family. There is so much support from students and teachers alike. It's inspiring to be in a place where everyone means business, yet in the most casual and inviting way.” – Shelia Jones, ACC Real Estate Graduate
“Being a nurse has been my dream since high school. My passion for health and wellness and the drive to care for others is what motivated me to pursue this career. I am so happy to finally be taking the next step in making my dream come true, and I am grateful for the education I received at ACC. My schooling was made possible by Capital IDEA. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity Capital IDEA provided me and encourage anyone pursuing nursing or other degrees they cover to look into joining their organization!” – Lorenzo Celli-Vargas, ACC Professional Nursing Graduate
“It feels surreal—a moment worth the late nights and hard work I put myself through for four years! It's an opening to a new beginning that's incredibly exciting, filled with new adventures and an abundance of knowledge to come! Early College High School isn't the easiest, but it will be the most impactful, allowing you to grow and mature in a way that prepares you for life and the times ahead with resilience! Seize the opportunity and find your true self.” – Sapphire Hunter, ACC Early College High School Graduate
For more information, visit austincc.edu/commencement

Hoping for someone to point me in the right direction with snowboard sales! I’m 32 and recently get back into snowboarding after not going for about 12 years. I ended up going 6 times this year but the snowboard I have from highschool is beat, stiff and heavy with rusty bindings. Idk what my skill level is but I surf shortboards about 3-5 times a week so I’m pretty comfortable on my feet. I like to push speed on black/ double blacks (southern California though), I’m working on 180s and landing/riding switch, and like to try to boost on side hits. I’m generally w/e about park and powder, but will hit jumps sometimes.
I’m 5’9 and 158 lbs, and I have no idea what board length means or does. I don’t really understand what flex I want either and was trying to get buttering worked on next season. Any suggestions for example models, and recommendations for length and flex would help.

ok so I don't wanna rain on ur parade but I feel that as a senior I should tell yall this
your 10th marks don't matter
whether you got 81 85 90 95
no one cares , I promise you
right now you're either rly happy or rly sad but in a few months irrespective of what stream you chose none of this will matter because 11th will drain the crap out of you and then 12th will make you question your entire existence and if you're in any science stream or preparing for exams other than boards - it's gonna be 10x worse
people who got ok marks in 10th can become toppers and people who topped 10th might fail
celebrate for like a week more then forget abt them ❤️ 11th and 12th is nothing like 10th
(p.s if you got rly crap marks they might matter 🤡 )

Are there any "coaches", advisors or high level , senior engineers, perhaps CTO/CIO/CISO or even CPO on here to whom one might speak for career advise? Mostly career coaching seems to be an american thing... Or is the presumption wrong? And the "good ones" are way to expensive... Or, how to find affordable ones?
There's not many people with whom a person like me could relate. (I've been even a manager, worked on a couple of distributed/global projects, worked remotely and hybrid, etc. Have some certifications and keep educating myself. Sometimes I have no desire to be a manager.)
Long story short, it's hard to get into a senior position, without knowing what needs to be added into a resume, how to portray mid/senior skills, etc.? And if all information makes sense... (It does to me)
And, which companies to even apply to, how to find them, of course good companies with good benefits.
Is there any website of all MSPs across a geographical region? It seems to be really hard to get into Microsoft, Dell or Cisco directly... The partner portals have some information. Building an AI assistant, to get much of such data, is also time consuming. Speaking about europe/emea timezoned, preferably more flexible and remote oriented than with a mentality of always being in an office, whilst all work is being done remote. Did this change? Are certain companies more lean nowadays?
What about flexible work as a fractional or contract worker? Is this becoming the new norm? Shall we all open companies, be self employed? In Europe this might be hard, depending on country... How are other people tackling this? Happy to hear any good ideas on horizontal or vertical move for progression. This topic is to brainstorm... And if someone does want to speak (virtual coffee, name price), DM is available.
Last but not least ... Do we really need to know people inside companies to get a job? Shouldn't expertise, ROI, KPIs matter more? Just another thought that is bothersome.

A lot of the venues I play at are small enough to warrant a kick mic and nothing else. That being said, these house engineers (if you can even call them that) have no idea what they’re doing.
It might just be that they don’t have a mix board capable of any processing but i often get a pretty shit kick sound live when using one mic, usually half way inside the port hole.
For reference, I use a 20” kick with an Evans EMAD Heavyweight batter with the small ring, and an evans emad reso (it’s got a small emad ring around the port hole). Then i’ve got a small towel placed in a U touching the batter head and a sweater in the middle slightly touching the reso. I like to keep my batter side relatively low with the reso tuned a little higher and mostly undampened.
You would think with all that dampening, the drum would be pretty dead but no. Live, I still get that “boong” sound and for the music i play which involves some double bass, it’s pretty annoying especially if the kick is high in the mix.
Should I just completely deaden the reso so i’m getting no resonance? Tune down the reso? Open to anything really.

I was reinvigorated to go back to the torture chamber with my [[Saruman of Many Colors]] brawl deck, since I had the idea that plot cards could help me trigger Saruman the turn I play him on 6 Mana. The art is so good and the card sounds so cool that I just want to make it work. And ya, the deck is definitely better now and I've actually triggered his ability way more often with the plot mechanic, but there's still the issue of needing to have first milled something not just useful, but generically useful on the current board state when I'm tapped out and have to cast it immediately.
And then I realized... wait I'm jumping through hoops with milling the opponent and plotting and discounting my spells to try and double spell at big value (remember you can only steal something as expensive as your second spell) when I realized that this is just WAY worse Grenzo.
He triggers etb without having to do anything, never whiffs, requires no set up, doesn't have to use the card right away, doesn't have to have heisted the card himself to play it free and doesn't have any limitation on spell mana value. Both Saruman and Grenzo are limited to once per turn.
Grenzo is the same mana value, 1 fewer colors and has a bigger body. Saruman's ward ability is nice tbf, but it sounds much better than it is. It has never felt like it stopped my opponent from killing it and he rarely stays on the board.
So, maybe they were playing it super safe with Saruman, and maybe the difficulties actually making Saruman good due to your opponents cards not necessarily being useful for you and the set up being too hard are what they had in mind when designing heist.... But damn what a difference.
Even 7 mana bolas doesn't get any kind of selection... I've watched opponents roll into useless garbage with his + many times. I'm just dreading a Planeswalker with a +1 "heist opponents library"..

Hi Everyone, I'm just looking for some advice or a new direction as I have been applying for jobs for over a year now and haven't gotten a single interview.
I have a BS in Organization Administration and 6 years of experience in Human Resources in state public service (6 years with the same "company" and 4 promotions). I am looking into getting a masters degree but I am not sure what I should do, my goal is to work remotely and make over 100k.
Right now, I am having trouble breaking into the private sector to make more money and move up to management for the salary I am looking for. I thought maybe a career change could be good if it meant reaching my goals, I just don't want all of my current education and experience to be a waste of time. I can't find anything that supports these goals without having to take a major pay cut in addition to losing my great government benefits and seniority as a lot of entry level positions pay half of what I currently make. I also can't take any internships that would interfere with my job as I obviously cannot go without a paycheck as an adult in this economy.
I have been looking around at masters programs for Engineering Management, IT, Architecture, etc. but all related careers would require years of experience that would put me back at entry level. I'm just wondering if there is something I can do with my current qualifications or pursuing a related MS that will get me where I want to be?
I am at the point in my HR career that I am ready for management but the opportunities are sparse in the public sector and they aren't flexible with remote options; it seems no one in private business is willing to take a chance on my related experience. I just want to note that I have been doing everything I can to my keep resume up to par, speaking with recruiters, keeping my linkedin up to date, etc. so I don't think that is the issue. I have been using a variety of reputable job posting sites and I have not applied to a single job that I am not completely qualified for or anything that I am too over qualified for.
I guess I'm just looking for some ideas to get me fully remote and making more money. Since I am no longer early in my career, the smaller salary isn't worth it since I don't need to work for experience anymore. I am not against going back to school or changing careers, I just don't want to have to work another 6 years at the bottom while pursuing another expensive degree.
Thank you for any insight, suggestions, and feedback!

This is about the MBA in BA from BITS Pilani. Not related to BITSOM. I would say BITS Pilani is on par with some Baby IIMs.
There are 2 avenues for placement, the Placecom and the Practice school.
Placecom ->The usual student placecom that exists in every college, assisted by the BITS Pilani Placement Unit. Placements for SIP were average at best, no idea how the placements are going to be.
Practice school divison -> Run by the institute, not related to placecom in any way.
Practice school division assigns 6-month internships to every MBA student, WITHOUT Interviews, as a part of the 4th semester.( Yes, this program operates semester wise )
Stipends are minimum 40k per month, maximum 60k per month. This year, students were assigned HSBC, Maybank, UBS, Phonepe, Flipkart, Rakuten, MPL. The roles offered were IB intern, PM interns, Analyst interns. These are assigned on the basis of CGPA.( This is in addition to the placement that you might get from the placecom ) The chances of getting the PPO from these places are wholly dependent on the student's performence.
The fee for the 2 year MBA in BA is also approx 3 lakh per semester, thats 12 lakh for 2 years, including hostel, mess etc.
The batch size is 75, the only con is the quality of the batch. Our seniors had it easy, as Engineering degree was a compulsory requirement. But now even 3 year degrees are eligible.

Kbd is one of our oldest pieces of content in the game, dating back to 2002. In OSRS, kbd has been almost entirely unchanged since then, with the occasional drop table shuffle here or there.There's also a 2-for-1 with what I'm proposing, which should make Barrows armour pricier. I propose a way to "enrage" kbd, and access a new fight, with new mechanics, new drops and a quest to unlock the ability to do this. The quest will focus on the dragonkin rehashing old experiments, finally focusing on grafting the corrupted barrows metal onto kbd's scales, creating the King Barrow Dragon.
Kbd+ should sit at the higher end of mid-tier content, alongside Vorkath, Zulrah and Hydra, and provide comparable gp/h. Kbd fight - 3 phases, one for each head remaining until dead. Kbd will exclusively attack with 2 of the 3 combat styles during the fight, switching combination based on the phase. He will also use coloured firebreath relating to the phase he's in. White, green, blue.
Phase 1 - Ice head. Ranged/magic. Kbd will periodically freeze the player in place, where they will have to spam-click the floor to break out, hespori-esque. Kbd will also breathe into the air and freeze the cavern above him, causing stalactites to form. He then stomps and causes these to fall on random tiles in the boss room. When KBD stomps, if the player is on an adjacent tile to KBD, they will be knocked back and stunned just long enough to not be able to move away from the dropping stalactites. These stalactites will leave puddles of water on the floor. These will not fade away until the end of the fight. Kbd will only perform this mechanic once per fight.
Phase 2 - poison head. Melee/ranged - will constantly move within melee range of the player. Kbd will spit pools of poison on the floor over the course of the fight. Standing on these pools will deal 3-6 tick damage with poison resistance, 5-10 without. These will not fade away until the end of the fight. Kbd will tail swipe the player, with a chat-box notification saying "The King Black Dragon readies its tail"If the player does not move out of melee range of the KBD, the swipe will knock the player back 4 tiles, taking typeless melee damage, between 20-40. If they are knocked into a wall, the player will be stunned for 2 seconds.
Phase 3 - lightning head - Melee/Magic - kbd will remain stationary, only meleeing if the player is in melee range.Kbd will periodically shoot bolts of lightning at the player, dealing magic damage. If the player is stood on or adjacent to one of the pools when this bolt hits, the lightning will jump to the pool and detonate it, dealing typeless damage to the player. Fight will end when this phase is over.
Drops: Kbd should be focused on dropping low to mid level ores and herbs in large quantities, to be attractive to Ironman accounts, as well as dragon armour items, weapons, and runite pieces. The total drops from these should roughly equate to 1.5m/hr in drop value. Uncommonly, KBD should drop a Wightsteel Icon. This is an untradeable item that will attach to barrows armour, making them untradeable but giving them a small stat improvement across the board, as well as a dark-purple trim to the armour. This armour should have worse stats than Torva, but sit firmly above the original barrows pieces. Rarely, KBD should drop a Wightsteel Claw. Also untradeable, this will attach to the barrows weapons, giving them a dark purple glow and darkening the metal components of the weapons. This will also make the weapons untradeable, but they will still degrade. They will only be rechargeable by adding Wightsteel Scrap to the weapon. Whilst providing no stat bonuses, they will provide a boost to the armour's set effect, *only* if the full set of upgraded barrows armour is worn. *Wightsteel Scrap can be created by the player by destroying barrows armour on an anvil with 80 smithing. It should be tradeable. Kbd should also drop this rarely. My hope is that we can use KBD to fill an equipment gap in the game between Bandos (60m) and Torva (700m~), between Ahrim's and Ancients, and Karil's and Masori, focusing on higher defence rather than increasing dps. It also provides an opportunity to add utility to the armour sets, such as a full ahrim's set reducing melee stats with successful magic damage, karil's reducing magic damage dealt and Torag's dealing more damage to targets based on their % defence level reduction, although these are massive changes. The entire suggestion is subject to massive testing, but imo it's a good idea to make both Barrows more profitable and add another high-mid boss for players. (Wightsteel icons could also change the appearance of King Black Prince, since the pet grind is the only content that matters).
I hope you enjoyed reading this idea :)

Hey everyone, first time posting here.
33yo, male. I've been bouldering indoors for about three years now and I've noticed a few specific things that don't get talked about much. Here are some questions I've been pondering:

1. I'm looking to push myself more with limit bouldering above my current grade. Currently, I tend to stick to boulders around my flash grade on reset days, work on my project grade during sessions, and only tackle boulders above my limit grade once I've cleared everything else. Should I be focusing more on trying climbs that are way above my level?
   
2. Any tips for practicing coordination, comp-style, and slab boulders when my gym doesn't have many of those routes?
   
3. How can I improve my technique for high foot manteling moves, when you need to sit on your foot and wrist/shoulder? I always find these uncomfortable.
   
4. Any advice for managing skin when working on slopers or volumes? When to stop? When to burn?
   
5. When is it a good idea to revisit a hard boulder problem that I've already sent, especially if I feel like I could improve on my beta or technique?
   
6. I really enjoy training on the board, doing it twice a week alternating with sessions on the moonboard. Should I prioritize this style of training for a while, or should I balance it with other styles? I feel some frustration in both cases. Getting better on the moonboard would be nice, but others styles are lovely too.
   
7. How do you deal with changes in difficulty level set by the route setters? It seems like every month or so there's a shift, which can be confusing. Do you just adapt and focus on what challenges you, or do you find it affects your training consistency?
   
8. I've been considering joining the strongest group at the gym once a week and following their lead, even if it means attempting climbs that are beyond my current ability. If that group disperses, I'd move on to another. While this approach exposes me to new challenges and beta, I find it somewhat distracting and notice I rest less. Any thoughts or advice on this approach?
   

Feel free to answer any or none of these questions. Cheers!

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GLOSSARY This links to a post on the free section of my Patreon. Note: "Book 1" is chapters 1-59, "Book 2" is chapters 60-133, "Book 3", is 134-193, "Book 4" is CH 194-(ongoing)
Fuyuko, Derek, and Shizoku spent most of a day dealing with their accumulated gains and preparing for their first day of exploration. Shizoku spent a fair amount of that evening's time communing with Bip, her slime familiar. She needed to adjust what spells she had at the ready for dealing with a wetlands environment.
While she was studying her grimoire, Derek and Fuyuko were preparing more physical means of dealing with the wetlands. Most of their work had been dealt with by trading the boat for three pairs of proper swamp boots, but the footwear needed a little adjusting and resizing for each of them.
The over boots were a combination of different techniques for dealing with different sorts of mud, with the base being a raised wooden sole that 'winged' out to resist sinking further into soft mud that was deeper than the ridges raised the sole. These were attached to oiled leather over boots that were useful for wading. The wooden soles were detachable for prolonged wading where they would provide a hindrance.
Derek could reshape the wooden portion to match their feet exactly, and reshape metal fittings if needed, but leather and cloth needed manual adjustment. Given how long they were planning on using these for, it was important to make them fit as perfectly as possible to prevent blisters and sores, even with their normal footwear underneath the boots.
They began their exploration by using the mapping tools they had won in the library to learn the layout of the swamp near the town. It didn't take them long to realize that some of the islands moved very slowly, and Derek was able to use his elemental talents to investigate, leading to the disturbing realization that under the right conditions, mud could have currents and flows.
Shizoku's magic wasn't quite as effective as she would have liked, for most of it was designed to work in other environments. Magic designed to hide your tracks and traces didn't prevent you from making them in the first place, and so did not keep you from sinking into mud. She did have a spell designed to make traversal through any terrain safe and easy, but it didn't last very long and was best reserved for crossing smaller sections of really bad terrain.
Spells used for manipulating and altering plants could also provide small bridges, but these were limited by the strength of the nearby plants. Generally speaking, they were better for clearing plants out of the way.
These difficulties were inspiring ideas of future spells to research, but that required more time than just the little bit of rest they got each day.
Derek's powers were more consistent and easier to use repeatedly or for long periods, but the effects tended to not be as dramatic as the witch's spells. He could make the mud firmer or softer to a degree, but he couldn't create a solid path out of flowing silt for even a few minutes.
Fuyuko found that her long limbs and greater strength allowed her to move easier through the swamp then her friends could, just by virtue of being able to apply more force and leverage. This was why she was leading the way, Derek found it difficult to monitor the details of the mud around them while also working to firm it up constantly, and it was easiest for Fuyuko to cope with any sudden changes that Derek wasn't able to compensate for.
Their outward journey each day was mostly limited by Derek's stamina, and when he was approaching his limits they would use a combination of their maps and Shizoku's divination magics to find the best route back. Such spells required some precision in defining a destination, so they were not very useful when you didn't have a concrete destination in mind.
Because the trio were taking their time to be thorough and to explore all possibilities, it didn't take long for them to begin finding all the bounties that the swamp held in store for them. Shizoku was able to find plants with medical and alchemical uses, though she had to consult the tomes that she had stored in Bip's memories as wetland plants were not very familiar to her. Once she had identified any specific plant, she could give it to Fuyuko as a sample and the luponi could use her better senses to find more of that plant.
Fuyuko also caught the scent of some mud that was strangely familiar, and after she and Derek dug out some of the intensely colored clay, Shizoku was able to recognize it was a valuable type of clay used for making prized teapots and other pottery. This explained why the scent had been familiar to Fuyuko, as Kazue had been excited to introduce her to Cimbu and the fourteen-year-old had been fascinated by the ability to make the little clay dragon spit water without any magic involved and sometimes made some tea just to have an excuse to play with the tea pet and make him spit. Well, once she'd been shown how; tea wasn't something she'd had much experience with before.
Claiming the clay was more problematic. However much they might be able to claim in their explorations and bring back to town, there were only so many other explorers they could trade with as everyone had a limit to how much stuff they could physically haul out. In the end they decided on a single large sack of clay that would be stored in Fuyuko's spatially expanded backpack.
Derek did most of the work of 'mining' the clay, during which they made another discovery: Opals. There weren't an outrageous number of them, but they were decent-sized and high quality. These became a higher priority target than the clay itself, though they kept that too.
The teens didn't forget the lessons they'd been given about the previous level and wanted to fish here too. However, the water was murky in the places it was deep enough to possibly have fish, making it more difficult to know where the fish were.
It was only after they talked with people back at the town that they learned about fish traps, and set about making those. Specifically, eel traps. The eels were prized for both their skin and their flesh. Their skin was both durable and supple and came in a wide variety of colors and patterns, and their flesh was sweeter than most varieties found out in the world. As soon as they learned how to make and set eel traps, those were added to their routine during their explorations.
Their travels throughout the swamp also brought them to many of the scattered 'monster homes' throughout the swamp, including the time that Fuyuko nearly stepped on a kobold enjoying a nice relaxing mud bath. It was a shock for all three of them as none knew about the relatively recent acquisition of the small, scaled race.
Shizoku was fine with the kobold after she got over her shock, but she did less well when they met the crabbit, who was so kind as to sing for them. Not that any of them found the sight of the interior of the 'mouth' to be less than disturbing, but the effect on the little kitsune was profound as she tightened her lips into a forced smile despite the panic showing clearly in the lines and tension around her eyes. She did well enough to keep her reaction under control that the inhabitants chose to ignore it rather than call her out on it, which would have knocked down their standing in the witch's evaluation.
After about a week, they decided that their mapping and exploration of the swamp was about as good as it was going to get. It was time to approach the witch's hut that they'd avoided previously. The Fairy Witch was in a strange, almost manic mood and the trio quickly found out she was obsessed with creating new musical sounds.
"Alright kids," Carmilla said, "you want to pass my swamp? You have to help me out here. Look, the bards I've gotten my hands on have been great and all, even pretty damn creative. But I think I need something from people who don't know as much about music. Here's my workshop, I don't care if it's a new instrument or a new way of playing an old instrument, a different sort of harmony, or whatever. Gimme something new, and you can use anything you want here, the good stuff is in another building. Bah, this lot." She glared at a group of distant figures. "They're boring, won't even respond to me flirting with them, and not a musical bone in their bodies. Well, time to play the part. Have fun in there, but I don't really want to see you again until you got something for me."
The only one of them with any musical training at all was Shizoku, but it had never been something she'd pursued on her own. That left them somewhat aimlessly poking around the workshop and messing around with instruments they found, many of which were obviously experiments that were only finished enough to test.
That did eventually prove to be enough for inspiration. A large lute was laying on top of a narrow table, and Derek frowned thoughtfully at it. "I think I remember seeing something once that looked a little like that, but smaller. Like, it had a long board with a bunch of strings, way more than the lute, but the strings were on the top sort of like the lute, and it had a folding stand so that it sat on the ground. The lady who played it was set up in the square and taking tips, I guess to help pay her way? I don't know where she was traveling to or from, I only saw her once. I remember it being nice, but I don't remember what it sounded like exactly."
That was enough to start the ball rolling. "I think I know that one," Shizoku said, "Gran Gran has one tucked away. I don't think I've seen her play it though. Hmm. Well, she wants something new to her, and I don't think it's portable enough that most people are going to lug one down here, so maybe we can do that. I don't know how to tune without a tuning fork. Wait, Fuyuko, you have sharp ears, think you can figure out proper notes and a scale? "
Fuyuko looked at her blankly. "Um? I don't know, what does it involve?"
Shizoku gave her a quick rundown of how notes relate to each other with harmonies and gave an example by singing a few notes that were close to each other. "So like that, but cleaner. Only, we are supposed to be creative, and I know that there are different scales." She chewed on the idea for a little while more, thinking out loud while the others asked questions.
They agreed that the first step was going to be having a sounding box for the body, once Shizoku explained that was how the instrument amplified sound. Though that meant figuring out the size. Derek suggested that he try to make it as big as Carmilla could play. She wasn't as tall as Fuyuko, but she was pretty tall and had long arms and fingers.
The table seemed like a perfect frame to start with, even if they were going to destroy it, and the three of them set about scavenging the other instruments for parts. They snacked on strips of dried eel when they needed to take a break, and by evening they had a crude sound box built into what had once been the table. Even with Derek's wood-shaping skills, they were having trouble getting the salvaged parts to fit smoothly together into a single box with enough resonance.
Udup, the witch's shadow drake familiar, came out to check on them, and after getting a report on their progress offered to fetch them some food if they wanted to camp out here instead of trekking to town and back. The teens agreed that was the better idea, and it allowed them to tinker with ideas until they turned in for the night.
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Ok, I don't have enough time to fully talk about this, but I just had an idea about Caine's origin, which I will entirely hold onto until proven otherwise. But, so that I don't forget about it, I'm posting it on here.
So, I ultimately think that, when we do see Caine's origin, it will be a direct modern parallel to the Cain and Abel story, as I feel like that in of itself could have so much potential - with Caine and his brother "Abil" being the owners and faces of a company who, in the 90s, decides to create a revolutionary form of digital reality that would become the Circus as we know it.
Caine would be in charge if growing and programming it like a farmer growing his crops, meanwhile Abil would be in charge of leading the company like a shepard leading a flock. However, as a result of this arrangement, Abil would receive much of the praise and credit from the board of directors.
So, out of jealousy and for not being given any of the credit, Caine would confront Abil and ultimately kill him after a dispute. However, in an attempt to cover it up, the Board of Directors would forcibly trap Caine inside of his own creation, then shutting down the project and, from then on, using the Amazing Digital Circus as a place where they'd trap unsavory employees or people against the company, meanwhile Caine and Abil were declared as accidental deaths with their younger brother Seth later being appointed as the new face of the company by the board, much like how Seth in Abrahamic Faith was suspected of being sent by God as a replacement for Abel.
(For those who don't know, in Abrahamic faith, Seth is the third son of Adam and Eve and was suspected by Eve as being a replacement for Abel sent by God)
It'd make sense for Pomni to have been part of the company at some point, given her reaction to seeing the desk with a computer while running through where the exit door lead. Also, given Caine's expertise in programming and power within the realm, it would make sense if he atleast lead in creating it. Plus, in the pilot, at one point we see the company logo for "C & A", which could very well stand for Caine and Abel (or Abil), which could hint at not just Abel's existence but also that Caine could have at one point been in charge of the company that created the Digital Circus. This would also help explain Cain's fixation of being seen like a ringmastegod (I mean, he literally constructed a world where he's worshipped in episode 2), him trying to compensate for how little praise he was given before killing Abil and being trapped in the Digital Circus.
But tell me, what are your thoughts?
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Hello everyone. My husband and I have an 11 year old Jack Russell/Rat Terrier mix who has developed severe noise phobia/anxiety in the past few years. He has always been an anxious dog and he has struggled with separation anxiety ever since I got him (10 years ago).
We first noticed in back in 2020 when I started working from home full time. It started gradually, with him getting upset when I would get a notification on my phone while on a phone call. We assumed this was because a lot of times it was someone texting to say they had dropped something off and he grew to associate that noise with someone being at our apartment door. The noise my phone makes is high pitched and only happens when I am on a call and I get a text message. We have never been able to figure out how to change it and even after I got a new phone from the same manufacturer the same noise was used.
We moved late in 2020 and over the course of the following years we began to notice more and more noises that our dog was becoming scared of. There is a high pitched ding that is used in a lot of shows that was the first major culprit we noticed. It's commonly used as a scene transition or when a character has an idea. Once we identified this new noise we made an effort to switch what we were watching whenever it happened to help our dog calm down.
It progressed again from here in the past year or so. Now even hearing an elevator ding in shows and movies will set him off. The list of shows and movies we can watch has been drastically reduced. You would be amazed how many shows occasionally have SOMETHING that makes a high pitched/electronic/chime noise. Even if we change the show he will be so on edge and upset for the rest of the evening that there is nothing we can do but sit in complete silence. We have to take him outside just to turn the air purifier off to clean it because it beeps when you turn it off/on. We had to download an app to control our ceiling fan because the remote makes a beeping sound when we turn it off/on.
To give some context on what we are seeing when he gets upset: physically flinching when he hears the noise, urinating inside, panting, pacing, shaking (INTENSELY), chewing, barking, trying to hide (anywhere and everywhere - including places where he has almost gotten himself hurt), whimpering, trying to get away from us (on walks or when we were sitting together) and complete refusal to eat. We have offered him all of his favorite treats and bought new ones to try and bribe him with but he is so upset he won't do more than sniff them.
Just this morning we discovered a new problem sound. We got him a little doorbell to push to tell us when he wants to go outside. We just have a ring doorbell so he isn't reactive to the classic doorbell chime and this one came with a wide variety of sounds to try. He is smart as can be and we know he will figure this out without a problem, but as soon as he heard the sound effects (and we tried all of them) he started to get upset. I was able to bribe him with hot dogs for a few minutes to try and convince it was okay, but even with the volume on its lowest setting we only got about 5 minutes of positive reinforcement before he was done and went to hide in our cat's litter box.
Things we have tried:
Vet Visit - Our vet did senior blood work that came back looking great! He was also given a basic exam and there was nothing our vet identified as a potential problem. She did suggest that his hearing could be changing and as such new noises could be starting to be a lot more upsetting to him.
CBD - At the encouragement of our vet. This was completely ineffective even after several days at the max dose for his size. No improvement whatsoever in his reaction to the noise.
Gabapentin - He is currently taking this twice a day at a low starting dose that our vet prescribed. We are waiting on a call back from our vet about getting him a higher dose because the low dose isn't helping much. We have noticed a little bit of improvement but overall he is still just as reactive. The other issue with this is that sometimes he hears something that upsets him in the morning/evening before we have given him his meds and then he won't even consider eating his pill no matter what delicious treat it is wrapped up in.
Crate - He is crate trained and goes in his crate happily (especially because he always gets a treat for going in). We have tried having him go upstairs in his crate which is as far from the living room as possible but even then if he hears the noise he will go ballistic in his crate. It's to the point we are scared he will hurt himself trying to get out of it. (Have not been able to try this in combination with calming drugs yet)
Thundershirt - This barely helps. It's one that in conjunction with the gabapentin we feel like there was a slighter faster calm down time after hearing one of the bad sounds. He was still upset and shiver shaking but he definitely wasn't as bad as we have seen him in the past
Positive Reinforcement - We can't find a volume low enough that he can tolerate the sound. We are big believers in positive reinforcement but no matter how soft the sound is he gets very upset and will refuse to take a treat. (Have not been able to try this in combination with calming drugs yet)
Physical Restraint - We realize this probably wasn't the best route but early on, and occasionally still when we are desperate to just finish a movie or episode before turning the TV off for the night, we will hold him and make him stay on the couch. Once he gets up to start pacing he has to be watched to keep him from messing with litter boxes, hiding somewhere unsafe, peeing inside, and being destructive so we can't really just keep watching. Weirdly sometimes this helps but most of the time as soon as we let him go he starts shaking and freaking out.
Combining the noise with something he likes - We have tried playing the noise on very low volume while on a walk. He actually tried to get out of his harness in response to some sounds but we did find a couple that were only mildly upsetting and he tolerated. The REALLY bad noises though were off limits regardless of volume. (Have not been able to try this in combination with calming drugs yet)
We love our little guy but we can't live like this and we don't want him to live with this much fear. I'm not proud of it but I will admit we have yelled at him more lately because we are so frustrated with the situation. We always feel terrible for raising our voices but it's really hard when we never feel like we can relax because he is always so on edge. It's not that we have yelled every time or anything like that but it's happened a couple times in the past week. We really need help figuring out what to do because we feel like we are going crazy.
Things we are adding to the plan:
Clicker training - I did this with him after I first adopted him at about a year old. He responded well to it but it didn't stick as part of our training since it didn't feel necessary. I'm hoping if I can help him form a really positive association with the clicker it may be enough to counteract the bad noises.
Ear coverings - We ordered a couple of different ear protecting options for him to try out. He tolerated me putting them on him this morning but it wasn't enough to counteract the bad doorbell device. These are the two we got him: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CM6SKTPY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 and https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B0I5Z2O?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
Additional calming aids - We consulted with a trainer a long time ago about some general anxiety issues and they recommended trying these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGV8L7L2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details so we ordered some and will be starting them today. We also ordered these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077MDJ58Y?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1 which our dog promptly determined were disgusting and he won't eat them.

My players (all 10th level now) rescued an elderly self-described "experimental and theoretical" wizard. At the end of the session, he told them he would be sending them a unique artifact from his research. I had a rather silly idea that this item would take them into a "game show" dimension. The item will come with instructions and tell them to use it immediately. When they use it, I will tell them everything goes black and that they only hear some music faintly playing. The music starts to get louder and, on my phone, I'll queue up the theme to "The Price is Right" on a Bluetooth speaker. They find themselves in an audience with all kind of strange beings. The music stops and they hear each of their names called, " COME ON DOWN!" The announcer ends by welcoming their host - "Zod Zarkar!" A well-dressed Djinn appears with a thin microphone and starts the game.
I'd love to hear some ideas on some fun ways to incorporate D&D themes into The Price is Right. I would like to make it as interactive as possible. I've found a cheap Plinko board and think I can make some of the other games for them to actually play during the session. I don't think I can recreate the Big Wheel but I'm sure I can come up with something with dice. I even want to try to pull off a Showcase Showdown!
Thanks in advance

Are there any "coaches", advisors or high level , senior engineers, perhaps CTO/CIO/CISO or even CPO on here to whom one might speak for career advise? Mostly career coaching seems to be an american thing... Or is the presumption wrong? 🤨🤔 And the "good ones" are way to expensive...
There's not many people with whom a person like me could relate. (I've been even a manager, worked on a couple of distributed/global projects, worked remotely and hybrid, etc.Have some certifications and keep educating myself)🤓🥸
Long story short, it's hard to get into a senior position, without knowing what needs to be added into a resume, how to portray mid/senior skills, etc.? And if all information makes sense... (It does to me) 🤣
And, which companies to even apply to, how to find them, of course good companies with good benefits. 💛
Is there any website of all MSPs across a geographical region? It seems to be really hard to get into Microsoft, Dell or Cisco directly... The partner portals have some information. Building an AI assistant, to get much of such data, is also time consuming. Speaking about europe/emea timezoned, preferably more flexible and remote oriented than with a mentally of always being in an office, whilst all work is being done remote. 😶
What about flexible work as a fractional or contract worker? Is this becoming the new norm? Shall we all open companies, be self employed? In Europe this might be hard, depending on country... How are other people tackling this? Happy to hear any good ideas on horizontal or vertical move for progression. 🙁🫤
Last but not least ... Do we really need to know people inside companies to get a job? Shouldn't expertise, ROI, KPIs matter more? 😤😱