Has anyone else had this happen? It's taken this package longer to get to us from inside our own city than it did to get from Texas to Michigan...
Driver ran ahead of schedule on the original delivery date, which is fine and happens occasionally so whatever - we came home from work that afternoon to a blank pickup slip with no information on it whatsoever. No notice of which Access Point our item will dropped off at, nothing. I stop by the shipping center that normally handles our stuff that same afternoon and I'm told that I can't get my package from the driver (he's still in the parking lot at this point) and will have to wait until the next day. Again, whatever.
Next day comes, and still no delivery. My wife made a visit to the Access Point and the employee (third party shipping partner) said that the driver had already been there that day to drop off the previous day's missed deliveries. Several boxes, none of them ours, and tracking still reads that it's out for delivery by end of day. We then spend the entire afternoon on the phone trying to get ahold of an actual person to figure out why the driver never handed our item off. We were assured that "your item will be delivered to the Access Point by 7pm there's evening. I've called and spoken with both the driver of your truck and my manager to confirm this." It's now 7:30, our package has been scanned to an unknown local location (presumably the local hub), and our drop off point closed at 6pm. Beyond livid at this point.
As of this morning (5/17) we're stuck at another "Departed from facility" tag from 9pm last night and unsure of whether we're actually going to receive a rather expensive package that should have been here two days ago..
TLDR - Spent entirely too much money for an item and shipping and got nothing but literal hours of run around from "customer service". Is someone trying to steal my package or are they seriously just that incompetent?

As someone who worked in prevention of sexual violence for the catholic church in Germany, let me tell you, what the fucking catholic church (at least in Germany) has, what leftist spaces usually miss: Institutionalised concepts of child protection and protection against sexual violence in general.
I know, it is harder, when you can't decree those things, one of the wonderful aspects of leftist spaces is their freedom of association, their anonymity and their openness to all. But as leftists, we should be able to accept, that this is important to protect children. And perpetrators look for spaces where they have the ability to enter the lives of children with little (enforced) rules on the contact.
But here could be a way, to institutionalise protection of children as a grassroots effort:
(1) General accord on the principal: Talk about it in a general assembly of your organisation/group, depending on your level of formal institutions, that might be an organised body, or just the people that are in the space at that time. Your aim is to get to stage 2, a risk analysis of your space.
Picking a situation where many people are there raises the option that people will reject the idea, but it is worth it, since you will need a lot of acceptance in the group for what you are doing. Think beforehand about the dangers, talk about it, as a measure to support the open nature of the movement and the group.
You will get backlash. People will deny that it could happen in your group, they will bring personal arguments (we know and trust each other), political arguments (this will sow discord, distract us from the mission), they will deflect (it's the priest diddling kids [yeah, that was very common within the church itself]). Be patient with those people. Have answers, to the obvious questions, be honest if you don't have them, but be forceful, that you want to look into those questions, within your risk analysis. Note them down for the risk analysis.
Even if your group doesn't need consent from all to reach a decision, look for it. If you got a tiny number of stragglers and your group works on majority based principle, this is okay in the end, but look for broad support and keep in contact with the people that didn't support this.
Then have a volunteer comittee put together for the risk analysis. The group/general assembly should consent over the members of the comitee, motivate the people that were against it, but came around, to participate, you will need them for the hard part.
(2) Training for the group: Find an expert. Someone with experience in the field, that will
(a) give you some basic training, like at least 6 hours. This is a must for the committee working on the risk analysis, but should be open to all.
(b) has materials about this, and
(c) can look over your work in the end and may have ideas what you missed.
This will cost money, so have an idea how to raise it. It is often hard for leftist spaces to raise money, but it is dangerous, doing it without someone who had at least done this before. I volunteer to be an expert, but only in Germany, and even I would want my train ticket paid for, and some free food.
(3) The risk analysis: You go through your availability spaces with a fine comb, ask questions like the following questions, and more, if you can think of more. For every question you go through subgroups, rooms, days, even time slots:
(a) Which group might be vulnerable to sexual violence? Where and when are children (anyone under 18) present.
(b) Where do adults spend time alone with children?
(c) Are there hierarchies or power imbalances that would obfuscate reporting of sexual violence?
(d) Do children stay overnight and sleep on the premises?
(e) In which situation are children without supervision?
(f) To whom could children report sexual misconduct to make a difference and do the children know the person?
(g) Are children informed about their rights?
(h) Is there transparency about adults in your group convicted of or even charged with crimes against the sexual self-determination minors?
(i) Are there information about sexual violence against children, its prevention and steps to take when witnessing it available and broadly understood in your group?
Answer those questions with all parties involved, don't quizz them, ask the questions together. Be open about what you do, but also have understanding with people that feel attacked. It can feel like an attack, so be prepared to explain over and over again, but also to the people the person is most likely to talk about it.
Now think how committed perpetrators could use those situations. Don't craft them too much, just think how a perpetrator might use the situations you found.
(4) Writing guidelines: After you did the risk analysis, your committee should draft a report, with
(a) The risks you found in (3) (b) The way you came to the risks (c) What you think your group should change to do better
Important: Never attack anyone personally, it I'd important, to keep the whole process blameless. We'll, except child predators, they can fuck off.
(5) The hard part. Convince the general asselmby/group as a whole, that your conclusions are valid, and that you should make rules about them, together. Don't give them a prepared draft, if they don't want one, but have them in your mind. Draft them together, this will take time, but it is worth it. Come to a consensus, even if it means softening some rules, ypu thought of, as lomg as the rule does help to mitigate the risk.
(6) Now the hardest part: Living and reviewing the rules. The group must not only accept the rules, they must live them. You shouldn't be the enforcer of the rules, the community must become it. They have to take them to heart and live by them. After some time, maybe 6 months, maybe a year, review and revise the rules:
(a) Are there any we ignore? Why do we ignore it? Can we craft better rules?
(b) Do we think our rules mitigate the original risks?
(c) Are there new risks, that we forgot the first time around, or did new risks arise in the meantime?
(d) Could we simplify some rules?
Keeping that alive is the hardest part.
If you have questions or concerns, please contact me. And I'm sorry for the horrible grammar, English is my second language, and it is nor easy, writing about a thing in English, I have only thought about in german until know.

It’s new (mini) set time and time for warlock, druid or rogue to break the game again. This time, Druid got left behind.
While glare is the new big kid on the block, the deck is preying on a meta that had a 35% of renathal decks before the miniset, and as that number go down and to a new equilibrium, i expect the deck will stabilize around a reasonable power level (i wouldn’t mind crystallizer to get deleted though so we can finally play questless glare like our Lord intended). Meanwhile, the meta shifts around make for a lot of decks becoming suddendly playable. Handbuff paladin, more reach based aggro and ice block decks even with a worse wincon than warp since tech is very hard to play in a glare meta. So anyway, after tuning some glare lists (strictly questless) i started trying some other things. This is my first attempt at a deck that has a decent position in the new meta Secret Arcane Hunter, also known as Custom Warlock 2:
2 x Arcane Shot 2 x Costumed Singer 2 x Ricochet Shot 2 x Shimmer Shot 2 x Trinket Tracker 2 x Bargain Bin 2 x Hidden Meaning 2 x Mad Scientist 2 x Silvermoon Farstrider 2 x ZOMBEES!!! 2 x Celestial Shot 1 x Cloaked Huntress 1 x Halduron Brightwing 2 x Eversong Portal 1 x Rinling Rifle 1 x Beastalker Tavish 2 x Starstrung Bow
No code cause i can’t copy it atm (i’m on my work pc, for my lawyer, this is a joke). The idea behind the deck is pretty simple: Early game play some minions, get some secrets up, and then lategame finish with buffed reach + bow. This deck can work because of an ok glare matchup (especially the more aggro 30 versions) and because it farm one of the popular glare counters (sorc mage, at least until they play performers and then you cri ev3rytime ). Some card choiches explanation: The arcane package without conjuring arrow: i don’t think we need the extra draw in this format, especially turn 6+. You get your secrets pretty consistently between singer and scientist, and then your secrets draw your bows and extra cards. This package has two purposes: it is reach vs glare and slower decks, and it’s board control vs aggro. It’s in fact the only way you win the aggro matchup, by getting early farstriders/haldurons into portal/ricochet. The secret package: the secrets i’m playing here are imho by far the best 6 you can play. You can tell they’re good because it’s not a warcrime to spend mana on them. Turn 2 bees contest a lot of aggro plays, turn 2 meaning is often a 3 drop with charge, and turn 2 bin is swindle without the combo requirement (don’t play it on 2 though, always tempo king). 6 secrets, 2 Singers and 2 Scientist feel perfect as a package. It’s good enough to make your bow cheap later on, it doesn’t dilute ur draw with too many secrets early on and both the tutors are acceptable as tempo plays as well (revert singer cowards). Rinling Rifle: the third weapon to improve bin, as well to discount your bows and get additional utility. I’ve liked it quite a bit. Tavish: generally good against a lot of things, plus gives you secrets. No Product 9: this feels instinctively a tad too slow to me. On turn 5 you may have easily only triggered a single secret, more often two, and two secrets that your opponent know of plus a 4/4 doesn’t look like premium to me. It would be much more interesting in a reno shell, where you get to the lategame more consistently and as such this could be a huge bomb, but in an aggro shell? Doubt. I’d rather play a single Huntress over it as the three-drop slot is a thin.
The mulligan: In general always keep the 1 drops into a curve, don’t keep secrets or cards that cost 4+ (rare exception, being on coin and having triple secret/double secret and singer + huntress is prob a keep). Keep farstrider vs aggro and try to toss everything into arcane spells (trinker tracker also ok obviously) to clear their early boards. What does it work against: - Glare is ok. Good reach. This matchup get worse the higher you go up on ladder. Quad digit glare is free. Triple digit is favored. Double digit is even-ish. High legend is unfavored but who cares. - Slow-ish decks are mostly ok. - Combo mages and druids (there are some dorian combos around) are usually free with the secrets combined with the pressure. What it does not work against: - Aggro me dood. These matchup are about early arcane package (farstrider into ricochet/eversong) to prevent snowballing and then hopefully you can race them. You can’t really stabilize here, they’re bad and drifter is ur worst enemy. - Huhunter. They usually kill a bit faster than you do. This is bad-ish, not terrible. - Handbuff pally with lot of heal. Healing is cheat! Bad healing! Bad! Sit down!
I’ve climbed pretty consistently with this but again can’t check stats as i’m on the move and i play only on phone. It has been feeling good and it’s something a bit different than what i’ve been playing lately. Hope you guys don’t play hearthstone and go outside this weekend.

Final Fantasy is one of the biggest(if not the biggest) RPG franchises out there. As an anthology series, the games each hold a different world, every single numbered installment, as well as a different story. The patterns that connect the stories are there in order to keep a Final Fantasy game a Final Fantasy game. They’ve been able to make these games feel consistent in their approach for about 10 installments, with the titles after 10 being more on the subversion side. Now that Final Fantasy 7 is getting a remake “trilogy”, this subversion has become a complete deconstruction of what made the series well loved. The new people in charge of the IP seemed to have lost the magic, resulting in the series becoming a hollow husk of its former self.
With so many RPG Maker people wanting to recapture the magic, as well as Square Enix itself, this brings up the question: what exactly is a Final Fantasy plot?
In the 80s, Final Fantasy was conceived as a response to TTRPG games like Dungeon and Dragons and computer RPG games like Wizardry, with Dragon’s Quest being an influence and sharing the same influences itself. These fantasy game influences created a lot of the gameplay, with the story coming from what came prior in the form of Tolkienesque stories. To further the chain of influence, these Tolkienesque stories were inspired by Arthurian romance and mythology, holding a big focus on how alchemy approached the combination of mythologies to express a monomyth. Carl Jung helped popularize the monomyth, along with Joseph Campbell, which would later establish the media usage of the hero’s journey. When Lord of the Rings came out, the prevention of the world ending by the usage of a MacGuffin became a staple in heroic fantasy storytelling.
Final Fantasy began with nameless characters of unknown origins, having you play as the 4 warriors of light. 4 warriors were picked to represent the 4 elements, the 4 corners of the world, with 4 monsters of the elements acting as their main form of opposition as they head to the final boss. Fire, water, air, and earth were treated as vulnerable crystals that must be restored, bringing order back to a chaotic world, with the final boss being Chaos itself, to end the game with a peaceful kingdom. Rather than a single ring to rule them all, the MacGuffins in FF1 are instead key items, each one unlocking a new location to move the story forward. The world map is entirely used, from land to sea to air, forcing a journey process across different areas as these heroes attempt to fix the world.
The gameplay focuses on classes, with each class serving a different party purpose, forcing the player to pick different types for easier results. Each class was given a different outfit, easy to tell the difference between their roles, with each one symbolically having a different personality. It’s not that they had a personality in the game where they never speak, but rather the roles they hold grant them different paths on how they got there. For example, the fighter would have to become physically stronger and knighted to become a knight, while the thief would have to sneak around and learn black magic to become a ninja. In fact, having more thieves in your team was a way to make the game harder, because of their lower HP.
This combination of classes and a quest to save the world changed upon the second installment, where characters were finally given names and backstories. Due to this held history, their hometown was presented as the catalyst for the story to begin, being saved by a princess this time as they start a rebellion against an evil Emperor. Sounds familiar? This is where Star Wars comes in more full, acting as an inspiration for the science fantasy elements that come in during the later half of this game and the first one. The final location of a floating island could be considered part of Star War’s Cloud City, but it can also be tied to the more Japanese inspiration of Castle in the Sky.
Studio Ghibli, the “Japanese Disney”, came out with this movie a year prior to Final Fantasy 1’s release. In this movie, steampunk retrofuturism was inspired by science romanticism books of the 1800s, while its castle in the sky was inspired by the floating island in the satirical novel Gulliver's Travels (1726). All of these are still directly inspired by both the hero’s journey of alchemical study (through Star Wars) and mythological journeys(with floating islands being found in Homer’s Odyssey). The steampunk style continued into later titles, allowing the usage of swords with the combination of robots to make sense to the player. This also reinforces a romantic approach to storytelling, as Arthurian romance and scientific romance are combined into a mythological premise concerning the end of the world and heroes who go out to save it with MacGuffins.
Two creatures that would play important roles for the heroes were both made by the same designer: Koichi Ishii. The Chocobo would be used as a giant bird that you ride like a horse, while the Moogle was meant to be a spiritual assistant that has a pom-pom growing out of its head, symbolically declaring itself as your personal cheerleader. The cat-like body of the Moogle, as well as its infinite source of magical assistance, could easily be traced back to the 60s blue cat named Doraemon. While the cute Moogle was based on a culturally significant source (as well as the kami of Japanese folklore), the chocobo turned itself into one by becoming a cute form of transportation, both allowing the game to become more appealing to kids and animal lovers. These additions allowed the traveling merchants of the game, as well as the trusty galliform, to serve more of a story purpose when their significant locations are visited.
By the time we hit Final Fantasy 6, the classes are changed from choosing outfits to become character locked. At this point, the characters themselves are the class, with more classes collected as more characters are collected along the way. Their backstories come with their discovery, allowing their hometowns to become different locations across the map, and their relationships growing into pre-game histories and future romances. The summoner, a special type of mage, is treated as the most important type of character, due to their control of creatures that are based on our polytheistic gods and some mythological characters. Their role is to serve as a humorous deus ex machina, a reference to how plays would use a god of mythology to interfere with a story and set things right when the writer usually wrote themselves into a corner.
The roles of characters each become a repetition of this setup from 6, causing several key plot points to occur. The main “leader” is a young male who holds a bladed weapon, in the form of a sword or dagger. This is the “Luke Skywalker” of the group who is aided by an older magician or mentor who shows him the ropes. Along the way, they find a “princess” with access to ancient powers who is able to lead them to the MacGuffin that will save the world. From the beginning, they are opposed by a “black knight” who is the shadow of the leader, with an emperor antagonist that is overshadowed by this black knight, leading to the final showdown that is fought in several stages.
Three stages are utilized to represent the destruction of the antagonist’s body, mind, and spirit. Their presence throughout the story is in the form of stages, acting as spiritual checkpoints for the heroic leader to confront their shadow. Once the evil “emperor” is defeated, the shadow's presence brings in the apocalypse that threatens the world, as well as their symbolic four horsemen. Across the journey of the main party, they unlock the 4 forms of transportation: earth(main map), water(boat), air (airship), and fire (combustion vehicle/chocobo). Each quest unlocks the next quest with the next ability to access it, whether it’s a key item or a form of this transportation.
Each game comes with about 10 hours of storylines, making up about a fifth of total gameplay for an average playthrough. This sounds like a lot, but when split up by the 5 point story structure, this gives about 2 hours per point. When we realize there are an average of 70 locations per game, we can feel overwhelmed by the amount of locations to visit. Thankfully, only a small handful are actual story locations and the majority are battle locations for gameplay. The trick to figuring out their location planning is all in the types of locations they go through.
Locations are split into two types: 1. Hub 2. Dungeon
Hubs come in: 1. Small merchant 2. Rest stop(usually a save point) 3. Village (people but no shops) 4. Town (people and shops) 5. City (people, shops, side quests) 6. Castle (people, shops, main quests)
The dungeons come in the variety of: 1. Grassy 2. Desert 3. Snowy 4. Mountain 5. underwater 6. Cave 7. Forest 8. Haunted House 9. Laboratory 10. Castle 11. Space/unknown
When we view it in this way, those 70 locations get split into 35 each, with about 4- 5 hubs for each type and 3 - 4 dungeons of each type. With how each game needs a main hub as the kingdom, the emperor’s tower, the shadow’s fortress, a hometown(plus dungeon) for each side character, 3 to 4 main islands, and remakes of locations caused by running themes(like the gardens in 8), the tall order becomes far more shorter than presumed. The gathering of the side characters make up the bulk of act 2, which include: 1. A driver of the airship 2. An unconventional “mancer” 3. A gag character 4. One who betrays the empire (sometimes comes as an NPC or temporary character) 5. Secret characters 6. A tragic character (seeks revenge on the empire) 7. A dragoon (or sniper in the case of FF8
These character types can be combined in any way, but the goal is to include them for a full experience.
As for villains, the typical boss will be based on a particular weakness to a single(or theme based) type of attack. Reoccurring “Team Rocket” style battles will act as another form of story checkpoint, with these goons being a creature like Ultros or a trio like The Turks. In the final dungeon, a boss rush will either summon a lot of previous bosses to take you on at a higher level, or introduce a cast of new bosses that are to be fought at different layers. The defeat of a boss is meant to be the ending of a quest and the expansion into the next quest area until the game is over, with optional bosses causing neither of these(hence the name “optional”). The normal enemies of the area are (supposed) to train the player for the encounter with the boss of that same area.
Final Fantasy followed this simple formula for about 10 installments until the PS2 era started to make it shaky and then Final Fantasy 12 removed the doomsday weapon. 13 removed the male lead and any coherent recollection of a main antagonist. Once we got to 15, the doomsday weapon was back but now the summonings are treated like main characters. The remake of 7 flips everything on its head as it tries to force Midgar to be a world of its own, not realizing that the journey requires the player to leave the castle and get on an airship within the same game. As time goes on, the romanticism of its origins will be lost and it will just be building over itself without understanding where any of the structure comes from, because each installment comes with more deconstruction.
Final Fantasy started as romantic mythology, tied together with the fairy tale magic of Disney and Studio Ghibli. Everything about it is supposed to be cute, aimed at kids, hits hard enough to make an adult cry, and blessed by the presence of consistency. We don’t need the games to be more realistic, we need them to be more enjoyable. But hopefully, with this guide, you will be able to make your own Final Fantasy one day. You will make it better, make it proper, and it will certainly not be the final time we see it.

I have 500 fuel and want to know the value over it. I’m hoping to get a fixer or any good commando weapon in return. Please let me know! I’m new to the trading community.

3 things before I start with the story First, english is not my first language and I haven't practiced in a long time. Second, I have avoidant attachment, which it's a important thing in this story. Third, the main characters are the girl, who I'll call morgana, obviously fake name, my brother, that is also friends with her, and me(19)
Long story short, she's a friend from my brother's college, and I met her one day that I went with my brother to some hang out/reunion, I only wanted free drinks tbh lol, but my brother insisted that she had similar interests and that he saw us being friends. This happened on december of two years ago I think.
We bonded, and so we exchanged phone numbers. She was a lot more outgoing than me, and made some plan for us to go out, as an introverted person, who lost a lot of friends because of the quarantine, (they didn't die, just we were too anxious and depressed to talk lol) this was a new experience for me.
As the time went by, there were some instances in which I did disappear for a while, but nonetheless we were really good friends. On october last year, we made other plans to go out to watch a movie, Plans which she cancelled in the morning of the day we were supposed to go out, I really wasn't mad. On halloween, her friend group, including my brother, were having a party, apparently her parents didn't let her go to this so she was free, so I thought it would be a good chance to hang out, first, I ask her if she wanted to go to the cinema, but she refused bc the movie was gonna take to long and she didn't want to go to her house that late, so finally we decided to watch some scary videos while chatting on discord. After that she kinda started to ghost me for some hours until late in the night when she just told me "I'm going some place else"(she also send me some gifts and said nice thing, but the important part is that she just cancelled the plan only by saying that she was going somewhere else).
This time I did get angry, and send her some messages telling her that she made me feel like her backup plan, which up to a certain point I do think it's true. But because I was bored and needed someone to talk to, I kinda just started talking to her again and downplayed what she did.
The last time she cancelled a plan she did compromise to was on december of the same year, in which I was in a work related thing close to her house, so I just asked her meet up some place close, she accepted but told me that she was cleaning and as soon as she finishes she is going to tell me. 4 hours passed and she just tell me that she ended cleaning late and that she was sorry, but was going to go with her sister to eat or something, once again I wasn't mad.
After that I have to be honest and say that I did hold some resentment torwards her, that and the fact that I was pretty busy studying, just made my avoidant attachment worst and so we just kinda talked once or twice per month (which being honest sometimes happened before this but not as often). After that I just tried to go back to when the friendship was really good, but I still hold some resentment torwards her and she just kept rejecting everytime I proposed to hang out, I know this sound like I don't know how to take the hint, but, in my defense, she was constantly saying that she wanted to hang out with me, obviously she never tried to make plans, and everytime I did she just rejected them.
The breaking point was on february of this year, I bought her some valentine gifts as a friendship thing, I happened to go close to her house twice because a relative lives in the same area, so I asked her those two times to go to her house just to give her the gifts, it goes without saying, I got rejected again.
That last time I asked was on march I think, just to give an idea of how much time I held to those shitty gifts I bought, because she refused to just lend me hand them to her. So, she kinda picked up the vibe that she was making me feel like, or I think my brother told her because I did say to him how I was about to just stop talking to her if she kept on doing the same thing. So she tried to make some plans to make up for it, which honestly I would have accepted, but something in my mind just felt wrong, and I just couldn't make the resentment magically go away just because after like 6 months she decided that she should stop rejecting hanging out with me, or at least stop pretending she wanted to.
So I confronted her, being fully honest I was kind of hurtful, I did say one comment that was only to make her feel bad, I told her about her valentine gifts and how I was going to eat the chocolate and if the plushie hasn't been given to her in a week I was probably going to throw it in the garbage, and I blocked her, which apparently was what hurt her the most, because of some personal things that I wasn't aware of. I did unblocked her some time after that only to apologize for saying those things, and clarify that I only blocked her because I needed time to think and not feel the need to talk to her.
Basically, everybody thinks I'm the asshole because of my avoidant attachment how that has ruined some of my previous friendships.
TLDR: I ended the relationship with a friend because she kept rejecting every time I ask her to meet, and everybody thinks I'm the asshole because I have avoidant attachment

Edit for clarity: I love indies, that’s where pretty much all of my gaming resides these days because that’s where all the cool, amazing shit is happening. But I just want fun, goofy games with a budget again, in a way that echoes genuine happiness and not corporate greed
This may seem like an odd thought, with new releases trending towards a distilled, “just the gameplay” model compared to the $60 full-package releases of before, but I’m talking about things that break the 4th wall, let you peek behind the curtain, and remind you that you are in fact playing a video game created by somebody.
I miss easter eggs, cheat codes, mini-games, galleries, wild unlockables, etc. I miss all the things that established a connection between developer and player, a cheeky mutual nod in agreement that we’re both gonna take a pause from the “serious” stuff and have a little fun.
Nowadays there is no distinction, all the wackiness is on full display in every micro transaction you can fit in your wallet, or is completely non-existent so as to not detract from the experience.
Gimme an achievement for running over just a few too many people in GTA, gimme a goofy costume for completing a level in an inhumane time, just give me SOMETHING that shows that someone actually enjoyed making this game, without completely derailing the entire thing altogether (usually into a soulless cashgrab)
Now I get why things are like this: the industry has gotten too big for its own good, and the medium is either treated as a glorified storefront or an artistic statement, either one needing to appease shareholders. But please, video games are supposed to be fun, let them be fun for fun’s sake
Side-discussion: Bring back ARCADE-Y GAMES!!! Why is NFS the only big-name arcade style racer on the market now? Where’s all the the goofy sports games like NBA Street and Mario 3-on-3 (that game was fire btw)? Where’s my 3D fighters that care more about crazy characters and ring-outs than making the EVO roster?

Never done a cruise and still a little on the fence and not sure if it's worth the price, but I was looking at the 4 day in July. I was drawn to Virgin mainly for the adult only aspect, but being told by my father who has done a lot of cruises it's more expensive than what he goes on, carnival. I see they include non alcoholic drinks, but of course I want to drink. I don't see any package for that, so guess it's just all out of pocket? They say food is included, but is that just basic options?
Edit: also thought I'd add, are cruises any fun for a person alone? Or am I going to be the odd man out and forced to sit/eat with strangers all the time?

So I am still working on my miraculous ladybug fanfic called one hand, one heart, one sing, one dance that takes place before season 3, I was thinking of for the Halloween party scene that has ladybug, cat noir, Queen bee, Carapace, and Rena rouge protect Sabine, Jagged stone, Penny rolling, Philippe, Clara nightingale, Nadja Chamack, Nora Cesaire, Ondine, Kim, Nathaniel, Rose, Juleka, Aurore, Kagami, and Marc at a Halloween party when the villain attacks, I was thinking of writing a scene where the villain messes with them by having a record player randomly play a song and I was thinking of having it be house without windows by Roy Orbison or Purple people eater by Sheb wolley and I was trying to find a way to make it creepy when I write it just to use it as a way for the villain to sneak up on them so I’m open to any suggestions.
Side note: I mentioned it before in this sub but my villain is a fusion of a ghost and vampire so once again, I’m open for ideas on anyway for them to use the music to mess with the characters.

I have had a long journey with this company, so I will tell the story in a chronological manner.
Jan 23 to Jun 23 - I had very smooth interviews with this company conducted over a few rounds, and all went well. My recruiter told me that the co is willing to offer me the job.
Sep 23 - Still no signs of offer, and the co admitted that there's some operational issue that they are looking to resolve. Hiring will be postponed to 2024.
Now, let's fast forward to 2024 and things are picking up again...
Feb 24 - I had a follow up call with the hiring manager, who told me that the operational issue is on track to be resolved and that they will finalise the hiring process by end of May 2024, and for me to start in Aug 2024.
Apr 24- Had a follow up meeting with the hiring manager, who explained in details about the job scope, the responsibilities, and the operational issue that's being resolved.
Early May 24- Recruiter told me that HR got back, and that they are very happy with me and they wanted to hire me. Talked about monetary terms (not specific, but rough numbers), and I agreed to the terms. HR then proceed to put together a package to be approved by the HQ.
Mid May 2024 (now) - This is where I get slightly nervous. I was told that I should expect an offer this week, and it's already Friday and it's been radio silence. Normally I would have been patient, but I was traumatised by the experience in 2023 where the co had to delay the hiring process. Is this going to happen again?
A few more points to consider:
This is a pretty senior role, where I will be heading up a team
It's a large company with > 50000 employees
It's an European company (do they tend to be slower than US companies?)
I have stayed in contact with all the relevant parties (hiring manager, recruiter) throughout this time, and I don't feel neglected/ignored
I have not resigned, and I am continuing to work at my current company, so no pressure there (but I do want to move)
A few questions from me:
What does it exactly mean when they said the 'package to be approved by the HQ'? What's needed to be done, how long is this process? Are European companies slower in general?
I am still on track (based on what hiring manager said about end May 2024), but why would he told me to expect an offer this week and not deliver it? That's making me uncomfortable.
Is this going to be a replay of last year's delay in hiring? Red flags?
Am I being too impatient? Should I be nervous? How frequent should I follow up?

In the Superfan costume party episode the way they react to Bob Vance truly was the moment it’s completely obvious he’s in the mafia for me. The uncomfortable reaction was so fascinating to watch. Way past the “don’t make me get bob involved” type moments. I mean I have seen the show a million times and always thought it too a bit after I got a little older rewatching or he’s just a shameless promoter. But damn some of these Superfan episodes catch me by surprise more than the Scranton Strangler with how much they like messing with us in these extended scenes.

The Sweet Allure of American Candy: Flavors and Nostalgia
When it comes to the world of confections, American candy holds a special place in the hearts and taste buds of sweet-toothed people around the globe. From the iconic chocolate bars that have become cultural icons to the creative flavor combinations that push the boundaries of candy innovation, American candy is a delightful blend of tradition, imagination, and pure indulgence.
As one of Canada’s premier wholesale candy suppliers and candy distributors, Candyville takes pride in offering a diverse array of American candies that are sure to tantalize your senses and transport you to a world of sweet bliss.

Nostalgic Flavors: A Trip Down Memory Lane

One of the most endearing qualities of American candy is its ability to evoke a sense of nostalgia. From the comforting crunch of a Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar to the gooey goodness of a Tootsie Roll , these iconic treats have been part of childhood memories for generations across North America. The familiarity of their flavors and packaging is a time capsule that transports us back to simpler times, reminding us of carefree days spent savoring the sweet pleasures of life.
This nostalgic connection is deeply rooted in the shared experiences that many of us have with American candy. Who doesn’t remember the excitement of trick-or-treating on Halloween and sorting through the treasured bounty of miniature chocolate bars, lollipops, and chewy candies? Or the thrill of unwrapping a beloved candy bar during a long road trip or family picnic? These moments are etched into our collective memories, forever intertwining the flavors of American candy with the joys of childhood.

Innovation and Creativity

While American candy excels at preserving beloved classics, it also embraces innovation and creativity with open arms. Candy companies in the United States are constantly pushing the boundaries, introducing bold new flavor combinations and unique textures that tantalize your taste buds. From the tangy rainbow of Skittles to the mind-bending flavors of Jelly Belly jelly beans , American candy makers are not afraid to think outside the box, ensuring that there is always something new and exciting to discover.
This spirit of innovation has given rise to some truly remarkable candies that have captured the imagination of candy lovers worldwide.
Take, for example, the wildly popular Sour Patch Kids , which combine a tart, sour coating with a chewy, sweet interior, creating a flavor explosion that is both surprising and irresistible. Or the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup , which ingeniously marries the rich, creamy taste of peanut butter with velvety milk chocolate, resulting in a harmonious blend of flavors that has become a beloved classic.
Continue Reading…
https://candyville.ca/blogs/news/what-makes-american-candy-special

Apologies if I am breaking any subreddit rules here. I'm trying to identify if SN could be a good fit for us. I'd also be open to anyone who wishes to DM about this topic or give me a demo of their SN setup. I know this subreddit will be biased but I wanted to hear from those who actually work with the product before I talk to any sales reps.
I am one of about a dozen developers on a team that's specialized in the Hyland OnBase WorkView case/document management platform. We've been using it for over a decade and have built a lot of successful client projects with it, but the drawbacks have reached a point where we are looking for a replacement. Ideally the new platform is something that our team of developers can learn and become proficient with relatively quickly. We'd also be open to hiring some people with SN experience, and/or bringing in a professional services group to get us on track.
A typical client project for our team is to build a case management system that a state government office of 25-50 case workers would use to enroll applicants in a program to receive some type of assistance. Case workers would perform a series of checklist and document reviews on the applicants' cases and move their case through a variety of steps from intake to closeout. Third party users may also log in to this system and perform their own reviews of cases. Users might be grouped into teams and can only see cases assigned to their team.
Not all our projects follow this model, it's just become a common one for us. I've only spent a couple hours reading about SN, skimming through some of the videos on their website, so I still need to do more research, but I wanted to lay out some info about our current platform below. I would love to hear feedback from the SN crowd here about how it compares relative to the pros/cons listed below, and anything in particular you love/hate about it, things you wish you knew about it before you started, etc.
The good:

• Easy to build a data model -- intuitive for developers to define classes, fields, relationships between classes, and even extension classes where appropriate.
• Easy to use the screen designer to throw together an interface for users to enter data into your fields (more on this in the "cons" section).
• Easy to create working filters/queues so staff that use the system can track what's pending their review.
• Easy to set up user groups and control who can see what.
• Document management is built-in, easy to import documents and automatically tag them with keywords based on the record/screen they're being uploaded to. Also easy to query for all documents of a certain type, with certain keyword values, uploaded in a custom date range, etc.
• Transaction history on every record makes it easy to audit who changed what and when.
• Document templates -- the ability to generate a Word/PDF document with dynamic text on demand is very useful for clients that need their staff to print and mail letters.
• Ability to write C# code to do anything we want, even if we could do it with a native component. Our client's business logic often becomes so complex (and changes so often) that it's easier to manage with code libraries that fire when buttons are pressed, rather than with the built-in "no code" workflow design steps.
• Ability to build external applications that interface with/manipulate OnBase data using the OnBase DLL. We have some C# console applications that run on Windows Task Scheduler every night, for example "connect to this FTP instance and import whatever files have been imported in the last 24 hours, turn them all into data objects in OnBase, and send us a summary email".

The bad:

• The look and feel of the client is clunky and outdated, looks like it's from the 90s. It's a Windows application. There is a web client but it lacks some key functionality and also has the same outdated look. The screen designer itself is just a bare bones HTML page you can add rows and columns to and drag/drop your fields on it. We've added some CSS to improve it somewhat and I'm sure if we brought in some designers they could push that further, but we shouldn't have to work so hard to make the default product not look bad. And don't bother trying to use it on your phone or tablet.
• Migrating changes from DEV/QA/PROD is a nightmare. Our WorkView instance has apparently reached the level of complexity at which the tool for exporting your data to be imported into another instance simply crashes and doesn't work anymore. Even when it does work on a fresh instance, it's a confusing experience of mapping all the fields and objects between the two environments and making decisions about whether to keep or overwrite each one. It's reached the point where we have no choice but to build in PROD, and test changes with internal users before we modify permissions so that they are visible to all users. Our TEST and DEV instances are therefore always outdated and not useful as a result. You can imagine how painful this has become.
• Performance is slow. We've never gotten a clear answer from our support calls about why it can take 15+ seconds for a record to load. I suspect this product was simply never intended to be pushed to the limits that we seem to have reached after so many years. From what I can tell, most Hyland customers use OnBase for document management/workflow, and if they have any WorkView/case management projects they use a small number of classes, with a small number of fields. We are 100% WorkView. I would guess our instance has 500 classes (tables), 1000 designed screens, 5000 filters/queues, and 2000 buttons that launch C# scripts. It takes 3 minutes for the OnBase studio/designer IDE to finish logging in/loading our instance before we can begin making any changes to it.
• Licensing is expensive and confusing. You can buy concurrent licenses that are shared between all users (expensive) or named licenses (less expensive) that are assigned on a per-user basis. We host a lot of different client projects on our instance, and it's not a good look when we reach the license limit and users start complaining that they can't log in. Our users have no idea what licenses are and shouldn't have to see error messages they don't understand. Of course this is a problem we can solve with more money but I am curious to learn how SN handles this.
• The built in reporting module leaves a lot to be desired. Very limited customization/styling, and no ability to set up a report to be emailed on a schedule. We instead rely on other modules like PowerBI and Tableau.
• I mentioned in the "good" section that we can build external applications in Visual Studio to create/modify OnBase data, but this is really a response to the poor IDE built into OnBase Studio which lacks so many features, it's easier to just import the OnBase DLL into a Visual Studio solution and build it there, so you have access to breakpoint debugging, logging, Nuget packages, etc. If I'm writing code in the platform IDE, it shouldn't be a miserable experience.
• Very limited developer resources. You won't find any resources on Stackoverflow, Reddit, or anywhere public. If you run into a problem, you can check the Hyland Community forums (good luck, the search functionality is broken) or send an email to support. Likely a result of the OnBase product just not being very well known/popular. Makes me a bit jealous of the more well known platforms like Salesforce and... maybe ServiceNow?? It was refreshing to find an active subreddit, at the very least!

Pretty much as the title says. TLDR: my husband sent his mother our address after i explicitly asked him not to. his mom thinks it’s a right to be in our home bc her son lives here. i’m not sure how to proceed.
My MIL is a crack addict and because of this she never had much of a relationship with my husband. He goes through these phases of being done with her and then longing for motherly connection so he falls into her traps.
I had my first child 6 months ago and she hasn’t shown any genuine interest in meeting the baby. The woman doesn’t like me so it doesn’t bother me. But that is my husbands mother at the end of the day so I told him it’s up to him whether or not he wants her to be in our baby’s life. It’ll make him feel good and our daughter is young enough to not remember her grandma if we determine we don’t want her around our baby so it seemed low steaks to me. My only stipulations is that she can not come to our house to see the baby if it ever happens and that if any weird shit that i don’t like starts happening I’m shutting all of it down immediately and that’ll be the end of that. He was okay with that. The main reason I don’t want her to have our address is because of how unpredictable she is. a couple months ago I had to rush from work to stop her from getting arrested. she was at my husbands aunts house stealing her packages and throwing rocks at the windows. the aunt said no to giving her money and that’s what ensued. this is not the first time this has happened either just the first time i’ve witnessed it. My husband refuses to give her money so I figure it’s only a matter of time before we’re next if she has our address.
My husband gets really down about his mom on mother’s day every year. He was begging me all month to take the baby to see his mom. he wanted to take us out for breakfast and i agreed but i never heard anything about it and we went alone to breakfast so i just didn’t say anything.
fast forward to today. we have an open phone policy, i was on his ipad looking through messages to find the text invite to his brothers grad party and i saw he had texted our address to his mom yesterday bc she’ll be nearby this weekend and wants to visit. she felt bad (not very likely) that she flaked on him on mother’s day.
i told him, any weird shit and that’s the end of that and i meant it. so i texted his mom as told her idk what her sons problem is but we agreed that she will not be allowed in or around our home until she builds better rapport with us. she responded “i’m welcome anywhere my son is. one monkey don’t stop the show. I’m the hbic, remember that”
i talked to my husband and he apologized and admitted he dropped the ball. he eventually broke down and just admitted whenever he gets the opportunity to potentially see her he hops to it because he doesn’t know if it’ll be his last opportunity. he can tell i don’t understand his perspective but i have to remember i don’t have a parent that’s an addict so i never know how i would react personally being in this situation. he’s right and that’s what makes this tough. he’s holding hope that seeing the baby will give her a drive to get clean. i empathize for him greatly which is what makes this so conflicting with figuring out how to proceed. i’m angry with him for not listening to the ONE thing i asked of him. but on the other hand it’s not his fault his mom fucked him up to be like this. whenever we get into it with her i just see a sad little boy begging for his moms attention and approval and now having my own child it makes me so angry for him. he deserves more than her but idk how to go about this entire situation in an appropriate manner because it’s not like he’s just a mamas boy or something more simple. the man is traumatized and therapy is working little by little until she interferes again. any advice is welcome please