B1Ch1 pg. ٢(2) and ٣ (3): How are you? What is Your Name?
(In a popular pdf version the page numbers are 24 and 25)
Video lesson
Please Practice

1. Greeting
2. Telling your name
3. Asking a man his name in second person.
4. Asking a woman her name in second person.
5. Asking a man how he is doing using the second person
6. Asking a woman how she is doing using the second person
7. Answering the above questions
8. Replying that you are well and praising Allah (swt).

Try to do each one at least 10 times everyday this week. Remember, you are to reply to each other. Not create one comment that shows your entire effort.
Bonus points for using Arabic text; please use diacritic marks for words that show gender.
Remember to double check if you are saying the words correctly.

I buy and hold with conviction, I don't gamble i work with my community
most important thing is consistency with everyone, keep coming in guys and never give up, i'm here working reddit kendu stuff, same with x, i support on different websites that's linked, i give it my all on support as much as i can here, i hope you guys remember this important lesson no matter what kind of sucess in life you get, you have to never give up and keep going with consistency until you get there, and this is what we're going to do here as a group/family we're going to take us to the moon, the moment you give up in life, you can never reach it because you've gone away from trying to get there, we're doing the opposite of that, we're going to make it together legends 👍 ~ khalifa
original quote from a japanese video i saw awhile ago - https://youtu.be/aHKmo5MOy5g?t=1088
Remember the work you do today will not be felt immediately. You are releasing sub atomic energy into the web that will combust like a bomb when the time comes ~ Kevin Finnerty
if everyone of us got this cheat code we are going to hit 40b+ 50b+ marketcap easy ~ khalifa
Just want to tell everyone that I love y’all, this isn’t just one more money thirsty without value bunch of meme coin pumpers, there is real commitment and passion being built here by high quality individuals who bond together to change their fate. If there is something that roaring kitty taught us is that if we all come together as one group of dedicated and working individuals we can change our fate and get back at the exploiting elite who’s been and keeps abusing us in all aspects. All it takes is a pure coin and a strong sense of community and dedication and we will all come together and repeat GME and Shiba. ~ Sam sin
This is a very different culture than other memecoins this cycle. When the inevitable consolidations are happening, there is an instinct to think we need to change strategy, because other projects do that and have a need for the immediacy. We're super healthy as a project. Just trust the process. If we work, it will come. We have the alpha, we have the growing numbers, we will continue to grow with or without any particular person or group of people. ~ switch $kendu

i feel like the world is dead set against me going to her concert because why is lunch all over my dads recommended now literally i’ve been paranoid all day about this because yesterday night he suggested that we watch the mv and i PANICKED i was like no no no and then told him to go to sleep or go back to watching his house tour video or whatever he was watching and i panic every time he takes out his phone or leaves the room because i feel like he’s going to go watch it in secret and then he showed me his apple music and it was in his suggested songs because he’s been playing the billie eilish essential playlist because of me which is nice but it’s probably gonna get me in trouble now and they’ll know that i know it because i’ve been singing it for ages now except i just picked out certain lyrics to sing and both of them would know this because 1 i kept repeating them and 2 last week i’d repeated “and i left it under “claire” around 12 times in a row and i guess they got sick of it because they both started attacking the lyrics saying they didn’t make sense and even my 10yr old brother joined in. so they would defo recognise the lyrics. i also feel like the way i act around it is also a dead giveaway because my entire attitude changes when the song is brought up. also i asked my dad what song he would claim based off the title and he said lunch and i laughed because i thought it was funny but it’s not funny anymore. i already acted a bit like this before because bbn is on the essential playlist so whenever i hear my dad playing billie i would go snatch his phone and handpick the songs because “i know the best billie songs” but i don’t think it was that obvious. he also said “imagine if the entire family became billie fans” and i was just like 🙂 mmm would be nice…” and i was playing lamour for him and he said we should play lunch and i was like NO and i opened t in front of him once and the first video was of lunch and i turned my phone off IMMEDIATELY atp i think he’s already watched it and is just doing this to torment me. i showed him an edit of it with different music and thought i was done for the day and stopped stressing but he came back from his walk and i showed him some pictures from it and then he told me he wanted to show me something funny so i nodded excpecting it to be a very unfunny twitter post but it was actually the lunch mv in his recommended on yt and said “this must be a sign-“ but i didn’t let him finish i just sprinted for it like my pe teacher would love me if i ran like that in lesson. this was literally a few minutes ago and he’s calling me i’m gonna cry. this is all my fault because i suggested we watch one of her videos together because i was trying to explain the wtpo mv and he said “is it to represent how she’s swallowing up all the black ppl” so i said i would show it him so that he can understand it. part of me thinks he might not care because he actually offered to get me and my sister meg tickets but he’s kind of homophobic like he was questioning the “you could be my wife” line in the diner and i was trying to explain wildflower to him and he said “is she lesbian” while pulling a face and i said no and i wasn’t lying because she isn’t but my dad doesn’t even know that reneé rapp is gay and he called her blasphemous the other day for saying that Beyoncé is the greatest gift to mankind because jesus is. i half felt like saying “did jesus sing crazy in love?” but i didn’t want to start that early in the morning especially after i told him to turn off the morning prayer and go pray in church but i’m going off topic now. anyway i’ve probably got to go downstairs now so wish me luck

Hello fellow tutor aspirees, side hustlers, academic extraordinaires. I’m here to give you the scoop on the various tutoring platforms, how their services work, tutoring requirements, the types of students on each platform, and of course - how much you get paid for your time.
A little about me. I’ve tutored for a few months now on the following platforms: Varsity Tutors, Wyzant, and SuperProf. I’ve had a number of students on each platform, and it’s safe to say I’ve definitely realized the pros and cons of each one.
Wyzant
Money Info: You set your hourly rate. Wyzant takes 25% of it. If you set your rate to $20/hr you get paid $15/hr.
The Requirements: Each subject you tutor you have to take a 10–20 question multiple choice test on it. The test will be beginner to intermediate questions on the subject you’ve chosen. You only have one chance to pass the test.
The Pros:

• You set your own rate
• Tutors and students can freely schedule meetings on their own, rather than have someone assign you
• The user interface is better(mobile app, messaging system, teaching platform, etc)
• Students can largely vary(this can be a con too). You will get a wider range of students, who can be adults with various full time jobs.

The Cons:

• You are charged 25% of your hourly rate
• It’s very hard to get started as a new tutor. There are tons of tutors with a lot of reviews already.
• There are scammers(be cautious of people asking you to communicate off the platform)

Final Verdict
Wyzant is an easy to use platform that takes a while to build a student base. You’ll have to apply and reach out to students a lot at first before you start getting more consistent jobs. This can take a few months, so consider this before you start. The 25% fee is high, but certainly not unreasonable compared to other platforms.
Varsity Tutors
Money Info: Unless you’re tutoring GRE or LSATs, the flat rate is $15/hr, regardless of the subject. GRE and LSAT tutors make $28/hr. Varsity Tutors charges their students $50 - $75/hr.
Requirements: Most subjects do not require a test, however you do need to send in a video interview of yourself, mostly to confirm that you can speak eloquently.
The Pros:

• You are assigned students after declaring interest, so you can get started tutoring within a few days.
• Students are screened so you’ll mostly get students more prepared for lessons.

The Cons:

• A large amount of tutors will only make $15/hr, whereas they charge $50 - $75/hr per student. This can be a huge cut, and limit on pay, especially if you’re teaching harder subjects like programming, sciences, higher level math.
• The user interface is not as great. Basic functionality is there, but the overall platform is not aesthetic.
• You are legally not allowed to take students off the platform.

Final Verdict
Varsity Tutors definitely has the lowest pay amongst all the platforms. $15/hr to teach is what you can make at some retail jobs in the US. The platform can be better if you need to start making money immediately, or if you live in a country where the cost of living is lower. The amount you are paid is better for people who are teaching subjects that aren’t too difficult.
SuperProf
Money Info: You set your own rate, SuperProf takes 10%. The caveat, SuperProf charges students $39 a month to use the platform.
Pros:

• For tutors, SuperProf takes the least amount from your pay compared to other platforms.
• Students are generally more prepared because they are paying $39 a month to use the platform.
• The user interface is also pretty good.
• You can set your own cancellation policies

Cons:

• There are less students because of the monthly subscription fee.
• It’s very hard to get started as a new tutor. There are tons of tutors with a lot of reviews already.
• You have to teach your first two lessons free.

Final Verdict
SuperProf is very similar to Wyzant in that students and tutors can openly communicate and set up time with each other. The 10% fee is lower than the other platforms. But because it’s already hard to get started as a new tutor, and there are less students on the platform, it’s one of the harder platforms to build a student base.
Additional Notes
While all these platforms have their pros and cons. You can always consider tutoring independently. You do not need any licenses or business registration for tutoring in most places. Once you get a student base through Wyzant or SuperProf, you can take them off-platform and teach independently. The best part? You keep the money you work hard for.
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The 3 basic parameters of hashtag #Valzubiriagenda:

1. We artists and everyone else can write and self-publish art- and artist-related books: memoirs, biographies, art books and art catalogs. Books are forever. Pamphlets and brochures are not books.
2. We announce a schedule of increasing prices of our art pieces, which includes quantities (scarcity numbers) per price point and overall (the total quantity of art pieces we might ever make). This helps art traders, art investors and art collectors speculate or even stop speculating and instead join a community of investors working together to hopefully skyrocket to the higher announced prices in a shorter span of time.
3. We can use the NFT world, because NFTs provide the tracking (who owns what) and trading.

We can also not be involved with NFTs. Stores and individuals can help sell art using online presence and our catalogs in the stores. If this trends, or once this trends, even expensive art can be sold by neighboring businesses, without exclusivity. Commission systems do not have to be standardized. Art investors can produce their own catalogs to leave at the cafés. Even the cafés can produce their own catalogs.
Valzubiriagenda NFTs
NFTs only came about a few years ago. But I had been working on this since the 1990s. I wrote a book, Valzubiriagenda, along with fellow artist Silverio Perez, and released it in 2018 (Amazon and elsewhere), tackling everything related to #1 & #2. We'll come up with #3 in a later book/ memoi marketing book.
Any artist, including tangible artists can release 10,000 NFTs if the artist chooses to do so. For tangible artists, the NFT first becomes an Art Commission Contract for sight unseen, yet-to-be made art. Once the art is made, the NFT becomes proof of ownership that the actual, tangible art is theirs.
Warehousing our tangible art
Another related idea is that the tangible art may be warehoused by the artist so that the NFT traders continue to trade. This means that even 10-ton 10-foot tall sculptures can be owned and traded by anyone without worrying about shipping, reshipping, scratches, smudges, parts breaking off, etc. The newness of the pieces remain because they are stored by the artist, source, gallery, etc. The art piece gets shipped to the art collector, the ultimate owner.
An artist who makes ceramic coffee mugs - smaller art pieces, can release 10,000 NFTs with a schedule of increasing prices so that NFT traders can trade immediately. The 10,000 coffee mugs can get damaged, so as they are made, they continue to be stored by the artist, until the time when art collectors decide to have the art pieces shipped to them.
Why only now?
I decided to write as many book-length memoirs as I can before I came out to promote this.
I'm an artist and an author. Both need time to "master." I would not even fully use "master" on myself, because there's always something new, even to my own art, my own writing and publishing.

I am now claiming that I'm the visual artist who has produced the most artist memoirs in the world. I have 5 on Amazon. I count Valzubiriagenda as both a marketing book and a memoir-of-sorts, because it has a lot of my own life lessons on writing and publishing. I would not care to contest my claim of having the most memoirs. I will release 5 more over the next 3 years.

BARTER! Get help to write, photograph art and publish your books!
Anyone can hire 11 ghostwriters for 11 memoirs. If you can make art, but you cannot write, then barter your forever art with those who can help you produce forever books.
I don't feel the pressure of writing and publishing because I feel my focus should be on art students and art experts who would study my art and my books 100 years from now. Don't expect relatives and friends to read your books.
I call myself the Dollman
For my NFTs, I am proposing to make dioramas - my original, costumed, bejeweled porcelain dolls in backdrops that will also have precious metals and gemstones. This way I can incorporate precious metals and gemstones in my work, to make sure that people perceive my art as expensive, just in case I myself don't become "famous" - there's no need to get world famous. We are artists and all we need to do is to satisfy the art niche.
Use your laptop now!
I will encourage you to start writing your book-length memoir. Write, Edit and then Self-publish it. Get help. Why wait a hundred years for someone to write about you when all you need is a laptop and a nearby coffee shop.
Don't start counting chickens before the eggs hatch. I have encountered a lot of would-be writers who immediately see themselves as bestselling. world famous assets to society. Two even wanted me to sign NDAs (Nondisclosure agreements), because they did not want me to steal their book ideas.
Here's a suggestion. I would not personally do it. From one manuscript can come 2 books: The Original Draft (unedited, with misspellings, considered to be an art piece, scanned pages(?) of your handwritten original effort), and The Final Edition (edited).
PROVENANCE!
Another way to enhance our investability, tradability and collectability is PROVENANCE - how art ownership proceeds through time. The way this can be done is also through publishing books. Everyone can write their memoirs, biographies, art books and art catalogs, including traders, investors and art collectors. In effect, we artists can continue to be included or mentioned in even more books, without any additional effort by us.
You as an investor, reseller, trader, art collector should be able to publish a catalog with 250 works by 250 different artists, but they need to agree to this right from the start - it's your money, you should require them to follow your version of the hashtag #valzubiriagenda parameters, which preferably should include permission for you to publish their art. Why would you track down 250 artists later?
No exclusive contracts
If you're a café, you can call for artists, and come up with a book with for example, 30 artists, with a chapter devoted to each artist's profile and images of the artist's art.
You can distribute your catalogs to businesses and individuals near and far and online.
The book Valzubiriagenda even cites that funeral homes and janitors closets can sell art, with or without exclusivity. Airline catalogs can include million dollar art pieces. Car manufacturers, showrooms and even car repair shops can sell art as well. Everyone should be able to do this, anywhere in the world, especially not just because of the pandemic, but right now, we are in really bad economies.
What's with the name #Valzubiriagenda
I was into conspiracy theories in 2018, and this term, "The Mandela Effect," was popular. I had read many times that an artist coined the term, but I had to research online, for her name, many times, before remembering it. I'm not good at remembering names. It took me a year and a half to finally tell you that Fiona Broome coined "The Mandela Effect."
I also thought I might have to research trademarks and copyrights just to come up with a generic name. So I decided on "Valzubiriagenda." I was not really sure at first, but I decided to use it as the title for my book (with co-authoartist Silverio Perez) so that there would be no turning back and I can move on.
Am I a FUTURIST?
Someone I recently met this May 2022 just called me a futurist.
In the 1990s, I proposed to a pension fund that they can raise billions of dollars, especially for emergencies, or as needed, or out of desperation, if the pension fund purchases a quantity of art from an artist who not only has a current, reasonable price, but an announced future price that the artist wants to reach.
That future price would obviously be higher than the current price. The art commission contract for multiple art pieces can be taken to the fund's financial lender for a loan. The higher future price can be used for financing purposes.
The pension fund's treasurer, a publicly elected official, said this idea might work, but we had to keep this a secret and discuss this some more, because other pension funds might copy and do this prematurely. This idea had to come from the two of us. The treasurer needed his votes and I needed credentials.
Added into the pot was my idea that I, as the artist, will also write one book-length artist memoir. This was and still is a strong factor, because the leadership and marketing books I had read then mentioned a strong tip. If you want to advance in your field, write a full-length book that is related to the field.
Unfortunately, the elected official, the treasurer of the pension fund, who was also a friend, passed away - he was old and had ailments. At that point in time, I cannot just approach another pension fund treasurer to share this idea with.
I realized I had to write a few memoirs. I needed to set an example for other artists, so I needed to write more than one memoir. Then I felt I should also make ready another book - the how-to of what I'm up to. I wrote Valzubiriagenda, which was a memoir of sorts. I knew how long it would take me to write a book, so I had to make sure I can also consider this book a memoir.
In 2008, I imagined that someone like Bernie Madoff, or a fund like Lehman Brothers, would be desperate enough to use this to save themselves and their companies. I was not ready. I had only written 1 manuscript for a memoir.
In 2012, I released Dollman the Musical, A Memoir of an Artist as a Dollmaker. Once again, I was not ready because writing it depressed me a little, and I knew I had to write more.
In 2014, I released 3 memoirs, and re-released Dollman the Musical. Besides releasing regular books, I released special editions of the 4 books, which had a "Special Secret Insert for Bankers," which explains my ideas of an announced schedule of exponentially increasing prices, to satisfy investors, and the publication of artist memoirs, to satisfy art collectors.
In 2014, I also issued out a press release. Google "Can Billion Dollar Artist Save Investors and World Economy Valentino Zubiri PRWeb August 19 2014" and you will see the press release.
What I did was stake a claim on my ideas. I did not promote my books and the press release. I just wanted them to stay online, like a sleeping giant or a dormant volcano. I even designed 3 of the book covers to look like indie books from the 1980s. I was planting the seeds, thinking they will eventually grow and bear fruit in the future.
In 2015, I was interviewed by Richard Syrett, about one of my memoirs, Hocus Pocus Lately. This book is my memoir with paranormal stories. I could have pursued promoting my paranormal stories, but I wanted to be known first as a visual artist and memoirist, so I allowed myself one interview related to Hocus Pocus Lately. Richard Syrett has(had?) his own syndicated radio show, The Conspiracy Show with Richard Syrett, about the paranormal. He also guest hosts on Coast to Coast AM, another internationally syndicated show about the paranormal.
In 2018, I released Valzubiriagenda (co-authored by artist Silverio Perez, a fellow artist). Finally, this book is "the how-to of what I'm to."
I'm going to end this with some strangeness. In 1986, a lady at a religious gathering went into a trance and left a good number of messages. Supposedly, anyone who got into a trance would have messages, but once the trance was over, the person would not remember what was said.
I was not part of the group, but the lady turned her head to face me. She "foretold" that whatever I would decide to do in the future, it will take time, but it will be the right thing. This is one of my stories in one of my memoirs, Hocus Pocus Lately.
The Tulipmania of 1634-37
I discovered that there was this incident of rare tulips becoming collectible during the Dutch Golden Age. There were tulips so rare and so well-desired that their prices equaled to that of a house. You can read more about this online (Wikipedia) or watch a few YouTube videos about it.
Here is the most useful idea that I gleaned from the Tulipmania. The tulip bulbs remained safe inside nurseries. The traders were carrying the deeds of ownership to the tulip bulbs.
Then NFTs came to the forefront
I started learning PHP, an HTML scripting language, and MySQL, the database that PHP can connect to in the background, in 1999, when there were only 3 books about PHP and MySQL at the bookstores.
By 2014, I was trying to figure out how to make the "ledger," or database that can be used to update ownership and who can be contacted. If we are trading art, then the art ownership should be updated.
Then NFTs came about. This can be used as our ledger. Everyone can immediately trade NFTs of future, yet-to-be made art pieces, especially because it takes time to make tangible art.
NFTs actually went a step ahead, by allowing digital art to be traded.
The only setback with NFTs, in my opinion, is that it still lacks a commission system for resellers and representatives.
For example, if a café wants to represent me, then they can promote me at their café and on their online pages. If I make one piece of art that will be exclusively represented by a gallery, then that commission will be different and more specific. As ownership is transferred, the subsequent owners should be able to reset the commission. We should also have the option of giving commissions to hundreds of representatives at one time with different percentages if need be.
The recent crypto crash
Lately, we have observed that NFTs and cryptocurrencies have been behaving like the stock market and other markets. They have been fluctuating.
I believe that it is time for a trend which discourages fluctuation of prices.
I have also seen YouTube videos where social influencers are encouraging us to be on the lookout for exponentially profitable ventures, because we have all seen this happen with the exponential increase of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Let's see if #Valzubiriagenda trends
We can announce present and future art prices. The galleries won't do this (yet?) because they follow a more traditional approach to the business of art.
We have a choice of using incrementally or exponentially increasing prices. We still reserve the right to change things in the future, so everyone should know to follow the latest update.
If this trends, if you as an artist simply announces that you will write an artist memoir, or that you will include the future works in future art books, you might have more art traders, investors and collectors approaching you.
Get your pen, paper and calculator
Imagine yourself as an artist, where you are right now. Let's just say you still do not have a book about yourself and your art yet. Imagine now that you have a memoir out there. Don't you think it makes sense to charge more than what you are charging now? Writing and publishing books is just the beginning. I'm just standardizing this approach. The books also say to do other related projects. In my case, getting Dollman the Musical onstage is one idea. You will have other related projects, but the publication of memoirs, biographies, art books and art catalogs will help all of us.
You can also imagine that a law firm that has meeting rooms, with someone who wants to form a local #valzubiriagenda group, can have meetings. A local café can do the same. Local photographers for your art, writers, editors, book designers, proofreaders and others can join in.
I suggest have printed books to share. 15 copies of your memoir or art books will be better than an e-reader or laptop or your phone to show. These gadgets can be stolen, sabotaged, broken, have coffee spilled on them, etc. 15 printed books means simultaneously showing to 15 people. You can even give them away to potential resellers, investors, traders and collectors.
When it rains, it pours, as in the days of Noah
There's a saying, "When it rains, it pours." There is a negative interpretation and a positive interpretation.
Negative: When trouble comes, they cascade to even more.
Positive: When opportunity comes knocking, more follow suit. We can assume that if one gets our art because of #valzubiriagenda, more want to do it now, because of the rising prices, and FOMO - fear of missing out. What will they lose if they miss the boat?
As I have said earlier, if the #valzubiriagenda trends, if you announce a future memoir or art catalog, you might have an increase of investors, traders and art collectors who would want to check you out. You might encourage more sales. Just remember to write and publish that memoir and art catalog.
There's this saying, "As in the days of Noah." Imagine Noah, building his ark, with members of his own family, putting all his time and effort into it. Noah was a nice guy. I'm sure every once in a while a neighbor offered him coffee, or chai latte, or whatever refreshing drink they might have back then.
Here's the lesson to be learned. Just because they offered him some type of bubble tea drink, or coca cola, they still didn't make it to the ark. Rubbing shoulders with actors does not make you an actor. I have told my artist friends to write their memoirs. They told me that once they see me succeed, after all these many years of seeing my seemingly useless efforts, then they will write their memoirs and follow the road that I had paved for them.
Good luck to them, but if I were you, act now, get my art or make art. Support the 5-year old artist whose parent promised to release a comprehensive art catalog. If you get that 5-year old's art, and mine, I would be honored to be in the same art catalog that you will produce. I'm already successful at that point. You have gotten the mission just right.
I have already claimed to have written the most book-length artist memoirs in the world. Dethrone that claim. Barter. Use ghostwriters. Success to me means facing God one day and saying, I wrote my memoirs and left the world a legacy of books and art. I will not tell God, smiling and proudly, that I encouraged a run for my art by announcing a schedule of exponentially increasing prices that reached 9 figures. I'm sure God knows we had fun.

JOIN THIS GROUP

If you want to try out #valzubiriagenda, in any capacity, join this group. Let others know about this group as well.
If you are an artist, you can let everyone know here that you will produce your memoir, art catalogs, etc. It's okay if you don't know how to go about publishing yet, I will discuss this. Please be honorable enough to produce what you promise to produce.
If you want to meet fellow artists, investors, resellers, etc., join us here.
If you are a book writer, editor, proofreader; if you can photograph art pieces; if you are a book designer, etc., join us here. Let us know if you charge, barter for art, or both.
If you have your own tips and knowledge to share, join us here.
If you have underaged artists you are managing (parents, etc.) join us here.
Join this group if you want to sell works. Post your works. You web links. I'm sure I will.
You can announce meetings in your area. You might have meeting rooms, a café, restaurant, etc. where people can meet. In the future, you can have the regular show and tell, where books can be shown and shared.
​
Thanks for reading. Please let me know if I need to edit some parts. Please share and join this group. - Valentino Zubiri, Dollman, Artist, Memoirist
Underaged artists are welcome here, so please be mindful of your language. We cannot post your adult-oriented art pieces, but you can direct us to a separate page or community. There will be limits to your posts, and there will be adult-oriented art that we cannot allow to be posted.
Thanks for reading. Please let me know if I need to edit some parts. Please share and join this group. - Valentino Zubiri, Dollman, artist & memoirist

I just passed my Security+ an hour ago completing the trifecta. I'm doing it as part of my degree program through WGU. I started at the very end of December, I had some events in between like some camping trips and a cruise. I passed all 4 exams on the first try with the following scores:
A+ 1101: 752 (1 month) A+ 1102: 772 (1 month) N+ N10-008: 768 (6 weeks) S+ SY0-701: 788 (1 month)
My background, basic IT knowledge, have built some gaming computers, have an A.S. in Computer Science and another in Programming. These helped a little but I can assure you these degrees didn't actually give me that much foundational knowledge compared to what was on these exams.
I had the exact same routine for all four exams. I started by reading through the Certmaster Learn program, doing all of the end of lesson activities including practice questions, flash cards, labs and PBQs. At the end I took the practice exam. I then did the entire Certmaster Practice program and took the practice exam at the end. I see people complain about Certmaster, but I found that I learned more from these programs than anywhere else and the knowledge was more geared towards what I found on the exams. I did get all of the Certmaster material for free through WGU. It was admittedly a slog reading through it all, and definitely was more information than necessary, but I feel like it helped the most build my knowledge.
After Certmaster, I watched the Messer videos on YouTube at 1.5x speed. I didn't take notes, it was mostly repeated info already learned from Certmaster with a little knew info but mostly repetition helping to memorize the material.
After that I did the Jason Dion videos on Udemy (except the 1102, those videos were WAY too long for what the material was and felt unnecessary). After watching the videos, I completed the practice exam at the end of the videos as well as the other 6 practice exams on Udemy (there are two sets of practice exams for the SY0-701, so 12 total, and set #2 I found to be WAY better than set #1). I do have free access to all Udemy programs through WGU.
That's it. I retook a couple of the practice exams here or there, watched an extra YouTube video here and there (especially Messer's 7 second subnetting, that helped IMMENSELY with the N+ exam). I didn't do flash cards or notes or quizlets or anything else. This was good enough to pass all 4 exams with decent scores. Now I'm off to a well earned term break for the next two months!

Hey everyone! Sharing my experience and the warning signs I missed in case it helps someone else here.
I matched with a "girl" on Thursday. Very cute and very very talkative. I don't remember if it was a verified account. Going to be more careful about that going forward but I doubt they would have had trouble verifying. We messaged all day, she invited me to chat on Instagram, we had like a 2 hour phone conversation and they sent me videos in response to the things we were talking about. They sent me pictures of them holding their "cousin's baby." They had clearly hired a model working with them.
The conversation turned to "what do you like in bed" and was mostly through voice notes at that point. They kept mentioning how they had a very high sex drive and they were the opposite of vanilla, asking me what my fetishes were etc. Luckily I'm a gentleman so I didn't mention anything compromising or embarrassing.
The next day they were asking random questions like "what's your favorite line from a movie" and "what's your favorite song," and asking if I would treat them like a princess if we met, mentioning how they like fancy jewelry and stuff.
Last night they gave up, and pretended to get mad because there was a lull in the conversation for an hour. They blocked me all over, which seemed weird so I went back through our chats and I realized what was going on. The whole thing took place over about 48 hours.
I kinda lucked out here not giving up anything of value and learned an important lesson about setting boundaries and trusting my gut when flags come up. Part of me was like "this feels like a scam," but the fact that they were sending me custom videos and I'd talked to a human for 2 hours made me not sure.
Here's the warning signs to look out for 🚨:

• immediately moves conversation off hinge to another platform
• excuses about why they can't meet up
• hyper bonding over a short time period
• overly sexual conversations, with a focus on fetishes, non-vanilla sex etc.
• guilting you for short pauses in the conversation
• aggressive bullying flirting
• asking for assurances that you're prioritizing them over work, friends and family
• sparse social media accounts (there were only 6 photos on the Instagram account. I know, I should have caught that -_-)

Even posting this is going to open myself up to reddit scammers (be careful commenting, they'll probably go after you too), but I think it's important to spread awareness and get some good out of the experience. Hope this helps someone and be safe out there! Online dating is the worst...

Hello. I had previous experience working with VFX. I worked as a freelancer and edited budget music videos in Premiere Pro and AE. After a long pause in work, I discovered a more professional program in which they work on serious projects, as you already understood - this is Nuke. I've been studying Nuke for about three months, every day I take different courses, lessons from YouTube, etc. and I know that my level is now very low for anything serious, but nevertheless, every day I try to find at least some kind of work as a compositor in Nuke for a beginner. I'm looking for at least just an internship to work in a team, completely free, just for the sake of experience and development of my professional skills, but damn, what's going on? When I search online, I only find a bunch of courses and some old job vacancies that have already expired. Only occasionally on the websites of VFX studios do I see vacancies that they require at least a Mid or even Senior Compositor. Nobody needs newcomers at all now? And, if you know, can you advise where it is better to post your work for viewing, or to look for acquaintances in this industry?

Played Rust for a bit, moved on and played Hunt Showdown, then played Sons of the forest. Started seeing Dayz videos on youtube and tried playing being completely lost.
It seems like every Dayz youtube video is trying to copy Willjum from Rust (story and monologue) so a ton of newbies like me get nothing from them. Like playing solo, they skip to full kit lol.
Took the slow approach and joined official low pop / dead servers.. learned in Rust that high pop tends to favor groups/clans. Googled how to make stone knife, take hours before I even find one. Now I just spawn, check sheds and move on because a blunt weapon = kill zombies quicker = possible food.
My first chicken kill was with a crowbar, lesson learned you get less meat! Just today I spawned in with a previous survivor and heard flies.. dead guy that had okay items and an unknown can of food (guess he didnt know).
Kind of weird that the game phases you out of existence when you exit. Or having no map (I think its a design flaw when you play a game and use or need 3rd party maps/mods) So new players will join, die, be lost for their first 50 hours until they start recognizing or again, googling dayz map..

AA played A Lesson Never Learned 8 times in 2016 with Denis, but I can’t find any footage of the entire performance on YouTube. Best thing I found was a 30 seconds video mid-performance.
Anyone out there has any full video of them performing the song with Denis?

Location: Defense Line Husky, Datsot-3

POV: Motsotaer, Malgeir Federation Planetary Defense Force (Rank: Pack Member)
The shrieking whistle of incoming artillery shell was among the most terrifying noises known to living beings.
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew. Boom. Boom. Boom.
But it meant you were still alive.
Pack Member Motsotaer wondered if the poor pups in the forward trenches heard them coming as the enemy high explosive pounded into their lines.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
One of their anti-aircraft concrete bunkers took a direct hit; its roof collapsed on itself with a loud crumble.
Grass Eater artillery was voluminous, destructive, but scariest of all, it was incredibly precise. Their intelligence assets in orbit knew all, saw all. Their kill chains were short. Once they saw you, they would call it in, and the remainder of your life was measured in minutes and seconds.
There was nothing vegetarian about the efficient and bloodthirsty way the long-eared Grass Eaters fought, and the numerous intelligent predator species they’d exterminated on their way to Datsot… some of those tales gave even Motsotaer nightmares.
The defenders of Datsot had no choice. No choice but to defend their homes against the psychotic enemies pounding their lines to bits. And the ones who remained had learned the hard lessons of war, either through experience earned by blood or via the process of not-so-natural selection.
Motsotaer clutched his rifle against his chest as he laid in his own shallow hole, eyes closed. If the end was going to come for him, there was nothing else he could do but huddle in his freshly-dug grave.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The blasts continued walking across the defense lines, undoubtedly killing scores of his comrades. But he accompanied each shockwave with a sigh of relief; they let him know that he was still alive. Still breathing.
One final rumble. And then there was silence across the battlefield.
Motsotaer waited a minute before he peeked out — another lesson that smart defenders of Datsot had discovered the hard way. A couple brave medics were already on the move, their shouts left and right, pulling bodies and the groaning injured alike out of the rubble aftermath of the shelling.
With a grunt, he pulled himself out of his hole, rushing towards the neighboring anti-air bunker. The concrete roof had collapsed, but he could still hear cries from the dark. He squeezed through the cluttered entrance.
It was a mess on the inside. The lights were all gone. Scattered sandbags. It smelled like blood and death, and he pushed aside the still body of a Head Pack Leader he only knew of, only to find the corpse of yet another Pack Member, her limbs sprawled in an unnatural position.
“Anyone still alive in here?” he asked in the dark as his eyes adjusted. “Hello?”
There were a series of loud coughs. “I’m here. I’m here.”
“Pack Leader Nidvid!” he shouted as he recognized the familiar shrill voice. “Keep talking! Where are you?”
“Here. I’m here. Help me up.”
As she continued to cough, he had the sense to fish a flashlight out of his pocket, fumbling around until he found the on button. As the light activated, he could see Nidvid half-buried in the dirt, her lower limbs trapped beneath some sand from the broken sandbags.
“Pack Leader!” He got onto his front paws and started digging. “Are you injured?”
“I don’t think so,” she shook her head in the dim lighting as she experimentally wriggled her legs. “Here, I think I’m loose. Help me up.”
Motsotaer grasped her under her arms, and with a heavy grunt, pulled her out of the dirt.
“Whew,” she said, checking her body again for wounds. Nidvid looked around at the other bodies splayed in the bunker. “Oh no… Head Pack Leader…”
“That was a close one. I can’t believe you lived through that!”
“Yeah, me neither… Wait a second,” Nidvid said as she began rummaging through a pile of rubble near the Head Pack Leader’s body. “The radio…”
“What are you looking for?” he asked as he aimed his flashlight towards where she was looking.
“Oh no, no, no…” her voice trailed off as she picked up the device she’d been looking for. “Our hardline communicator…” It was clearly broken from the strike, its shell perforated with a hundred holes and its connection to the landline severed. In disgust, Nidvid threw it back to the ground.
“What uh— what did you need that for?” Motsotaer asked. “Were we supposed to tell them we were being attacked?”
“No… It was— before the strike, we got a high priority order.”
“A high priority order?”
Nidvid recalled, “There’s a special platoon in our salient… We were supposed to get an important message to them!”
“Special platoon?” Motsotaer asked. “Are you okay, Nidvid?”
“Yes, yes,” the Pack leader replied, visibly distraught. “They only had a physical line to us because they’re supposed to be keeping in the dark. Emissions control or something like that so they can activate the flying machine swarm in time. They said this was life and death and our whole defense line hinges on it!”
“Emissions control? Flying machines? Pack Leader, we should get you to a medic,” he said skeptically.
“No! Motsotaer, this is important. We need to get the message to them now. They’re only a couple kilometers south from our position. If we run over to their position now, it might not yet be—”
He looked up at her face in alarm. “Run to another position? Outside the trench line?”
“Yes! We have to go!” she said, as she peeked out of the concrete bunker towards the barren zone ahead of the trenches. “Now! Before they start their offensive.”
Motsotaer began to protest, “But that’s no creature’s land. If we get spotted by their troops, we’ll be hunted down by the Grass Eaters ships in orbit…”
She was insistent, “Pack Member Motsotaer, get it together. We still have a job to do. Are you with me or are you going to sit here and die like a coward to the long-ears?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, straightening up. Death or not, he was no coward. “I mean… I’m with you.”
“Good. Then let’s go.”
With a grunt, she leapt out of the trenches and jogged south, keeping to the defensive side of it for the modicum of cover it provided, and Motsotaer quickly followed. As they sprinted away from the tattered defenses, they ran into a thick tree line that hopefully provided them with some concealment from the Grass Eater ships above.
After a couple more minutes of running in the forest, Motsotaer started to tire and pant. He weighed his burning lung and how embarrassed he’d be if he complained. Luckily for his ego, Nidvid gestured for them to stop after another minute and tossed him her canteen. “Take a break before we get going.”
He chugged as much water as he could in a single swig, and returned the canteen to Nidvid. He gasped out, “How much further, Pack Leader?”
“About one more kilometer south,” she said, aiming her snout up at the treetops. “I recognize the smell of this area.”
“What’s this even about? The message… what was it?”
Nidvid exercised her limbs. “That Grass Eater artillery strike… it was to prepare for their offensive on our lines. They’ve gathered an armored division on the other side of that,” she pointed out into the barren fields beyond the trees. “We have an hour at most before they roll over us.”
“An armored division?!” Motsotaer squeaked. The enemy’s Longclaws — their armored vehicles — were legendary. They could kill from kilometers away. And their thick shells protected them against all but the most powerful artillery in the Federation’s arsenal. He’d never seen one of them personally. If he had, he suspected he wouldn’t be alive to tell anyone about it. “What can we do against a Grass Eater armored division?”
“That’s why we have to get to the special platoon,” Nidvid replied. She pointed in the southern direction, “You ready? Let’s go.”
They galloped for a few more minutes. Motsotaer’s limbs tired and his breaths shallowed as his lung burnt. As he was contemplating whether to ask for another break, Nidvid pointed at a shape in the distance. “There, that’s their position!”
He squinted at it. It was not easy to see, but buried in the tree line was what looked like a bunch of out-of-place branches and leaves over a small vehicle. Buoyed by the anticipation of the end of the marathon, he managed to keep up with Nidvid’s pace.
As they approached, there was a loud shout.
“Hi-yah! Stop!”
They halted their steps and looked for the source of the voice.
“Not one more paw step, deserter! This is a restricted area! Turn around or you’ll be shot!”
Motsotaer looked up at the voice hidden up in the branches. After a moment, with some help from his nose, he found the yeller. It was a short, stout middle-aged male with strange-looking green and brown paint smeared all over his fur and face. He had a rifle aimed squarely at the duo.
“Don’t shoot!” Nidvid yelled back. “We’re runners. We’ve got an important message! For your platoon commander.”
The male in the tree looked suspiciously at them as he leapt down. He lowered his rifle, but didn’t seem any less on guard. “A message?”
“Yes, we’ve got an urgent message for Special Platoon Commander Graunsa. Take us to him right now!”
He sized the two of them up. After a moment, he said slowly, “I am Graunsa. Why are you here, and what is the message?”
Nidvid recovered some of her breath and explained, “The Grass Eaters hit us hard with an artillery strike. Our Head Pack Leader is dead. Our landline is gone. We ran all the way over from our lines north of you.”
Graunsa nodded and gestured for her to continue.
“The Grass Eater armored offensive is about to start. They’re moving into position and ready to go, and there’s a special message embedded—”
“Wait a second,” Graunsa interrupted. “Give me the special message exactly, without omission or your own interpretations.”
“Yes, Platoon Commander,” Nidvid nodded. “The message is: bunny water carriers are in play, red-five-zero-eight; come out of the dark and introduce yourself. Authorization is three-three-greyhound.”
Graunsa looked thoughtful for a moment as he pondered it.
“What does the message mean?” Motsotaer whispered at Nidvid.
“I have no idea,” she shrugged, whispering back. “The Head Pack Leader just told me to memorize it.”
The platoon commander seemed to have made up his mind. “Alright, that seems legitimate. Thanks for the message.” He turned around to leave.
Motsotaer shouted behind him, “Wait, what are we supposed to do now?”
Graunsa turned around. “I don’t know. I’m not your commanding officer.” He paused for a moment. “I wouldn’t recommend going back to your lines though. Might not be there when you get back…”
“What?!”
“You can’t just leave us! Where else are we supposed to go?” Nidvid asked.
Graunsa seemed to contemplate the question for a few heartbeats and sighed, “You said you’re from the position up north?”
“Yup,” they replied in unison.
“And you’re a spotter, Pack Member?” he asked, looking at the rank and position patch on Motsotaer’s chest.
“Yes.”
Graunsa relented. “Fine. We might find a use for you. Get into the bunker… before the Grass Eaters in orbit see us dawdling out here.”
“What? Where?”
The officer pointed at a patch of dark green leaves on the forest floor. As they approached it, he grasped a latch and lifted it to reveal a ladder. The three of them descended into the darkness and Graunsa secured it behind them. With a quiet swoosh, a lamp mounted on the wall lit up to reveal a small hallway leading to a heavy-looking door.
Graunsa knocked on it twice. He turned around and looked at Motsotaer and Nidvid. “What you’re about to see in here is of the highest secrecy level of the Malgeir Federation. If you tell anyone what you see in here, you will be executed for treason. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Platoon Commander.”
“Swear it, on your honor.”
“We swear,” they replied in unison, their voices infused with growing excitement.
“Good enough for me.”
The heavy steel door swung open, showing a room that was vastly different from what its primitive exterior suggested. It resembled a command center far more than a field base, and Motsotaer felt a blast of cold air conditioning in his face as he passed the door threshold.
At the front, a main screen showed a map of the defensive lines in the sector. Facing it, two rows of sleek, new computer screens lit up the dark. Their operators worked busily at their controls, and only a couple faces looked their way in mild interest as they entered.
“What is this—” Motsotaer started to ask. Nidvid grasped his shoulder and shushed him.
Graunsa cleared his throat. Several faces looked towards him in anticipation. “Platoon, we just got the message. Activate the FTL handshake and authenticate us in the network.”
“Yes, sir.” A young-looking communication officer near the front operated a few controls on her console. “I’ve got the advisors on the line.”
Motsotaer read his nametag: Gassin. She was a Gamma Leader, much higher ranked than he, but she looked not a day over twenty. He noted that many of the people in the room sported high-ranking insignias despite their apparent youth.
“On screen,” Graunsa ordered.
A communication window appeared on the main screen, streaming video of someone in a jet-black EVA suit.
Motsotaer stiffened. It was obvious that the subject was alien; at around 1.7 or 1.8 meters, it was far too tall for being a Malgeir. Too small for a Granti. And from the side profile of the suit, it didn’t bulge nearly enough for the tails that the Malgeir’s Schpriss neighbors were known for. A strange new species of aliens.
From the blackened visor, it was obvious that whoever that was… it was the reason for all this tight secrecy.
“Special Platoon Commander Graunsa,” it transmitted in perfect Malgeirish. The alien was either a trained-from-birth Federation Channel One newscaster with a perfectly inoffensive accent, or its translator was far better than anything the Malgeir themselves had invented. “This call is encrypted, but the enemy Znosians in orbit are trying to find your location from the signals, so we’ll have to make it as quick as we can. Have your defensive lines completed your preparations?”
Graunsa stepped up to address the screen directly, “Yes, advisor. Our fire support platoon is ready for tasking.”
“Excellent. Transmitting the first batch of targets in your sector now.”
A series of symbols scrolled onto the screen, showing a number of coordinates.
“We’re getting the enemy positions now,” Gassin exclaimed.
Graunsa turned to her and nodded his appreciation, “Sixteen armored targets. Weapons free.”
“Yes, sir. Programming the sequence.”
A camera on the main screen activated, remotely showing a small hole with some machinery in it dug a few hundred meters away just at the edge of the tree line.
“Launching flying machine swarm!”
As Motsotaer watched, a thicket of metal erupted from the hole in a blur, roaring into the sky.
The main screen was replaced by a four-by-four of windows of black and white images. It took him a couple seconds to realize that he was looking at the battlefield from above. The Malgeir had rotary wing, airplanes, and jet — some were even armed, but they were usually much bigger. And their air assets had been grounded since the early days of the battle for Datsot when the enemy took the orbits.
Not these tiny devices though.
He focused on one of the sixteen windows.
The ground sped past below the camera’s vision, tree line after tree line, the flying machine seemed to know where it was going by itself: Motsotaer looked at the other occupants in the room. None of them seemed to be directly controlling it.
He stiffened.
Is this controlled by a thinking machine?
“We’re getting in range of the target coordinates, Platoon Commander,” Gassin updated the room a few minutes later.
As if on cue, the flying machines flew higher, and the trees on the ground grew smaller, as if further away. Until…
“Targets identified!” Gassin reported with excitement in her voice.
As an infantry spotter, Motsotaer had been trained — barely — to identify enemy armored vehicles. As in, he’d been given a cheatsheet containing the silhouettes of the different types of vehicles the enemy drove. But even he couldn’t tell at this distance what the white-hot smudges on the screen were.
The machine had no such issues though.
Several red boxes materialized on the screen, clearly marking several enemy vehicles in the thermal imagery and adorning them with detailed information.
The one Motsotaer was watching said:
Hostile vehicle, Longclaw MK4 (top armor: ~25mm), 4.2 km.
No hostile EW detected.
Without additional prompting, the flying machines raced in towards their targets, each recognizing a different one as its final destination. Afraid to blink, Motsotaer stared intently at one of the video streams.
A new line of text appeared at the top of the screen:
ETA 20 seconds.
It counted down the seconds, number by number.
The enemy Longclaw got larger and larger until… the screen went black, replaced by static. As he looked around, the other windows were similarly replaced with static one-by-one.
Motsotaer frowned, wondering where the videos had gone.
Then, it hit him. The flying machines were on one-way trips.
The sixteen windows disappeared, and another one appeared, showing the enemy assembly area from a much higher perspective. And instead of the vehicles he expected, he counted sixteen burning wrecks, the black smoke from their flames reaching up into the sky in columns.
“Targets destroyed, Commander,” Gassin said. Several of the officers in the room looked at each other excitedly, but their celebration was muted.
Graunsa nodded. “Call our advisors again.”
The alien appeared on the screen again. “Excellent work, Platoon Commander. We’re assessing the lines and getting the second batch of targets to you now.”
“Understood.”
As the new target coordinates scrolled onto the main screen, Gassin didn’t need additional prompting, “Launching flying machines!”
Another sixteen of them flashed out from the pre-dug position. Another sixteen windows appeared on the screen, replacing the odd-looking aliens’ video.
“Wait a minute,” the aliens’ voice cut into the quiet hum of the control room’s operation. “Switch back to the high-altitude drone. Something’s happening.”
The main screen’s image was replaced by the previous camera looking down at enemy lines. There was a flurry of activity in the enemy base area. Numerous dots representing the ground troops moved to-and-fro. And worryingly, the red squares that surrounded enemy armor began appearing en masse as enemy Longclaws drove out of their covered positions into the open.
Dozens of them.
Then, hundreds. And more appeared every second.
“What’s going on?” Graunsa asked, his voice reflecting Motsotaer’s worry.
The alien took a minute to get back to him, its black helmeted face filling up the screen again. “They’re attacking. They don’t know what hit them in the last strike. But they must have realized that they’re not safe in their assembly area, and they’re doing the only thing they can… We estimate they’ll get to your first lines in thirty minutes.”
“Can we stop them?” Graunsa asked. “We can—”
The alien looked directly into the video. “Not sixteen drones at a time. And if you launch the whole swarm at once, it’ll reflect enough signal for them to sniff out where you are with their counter-battery radars and take you out from orbit.”
Graunsa swallowed. “That’s— that’s— The machines can fly themselves without us, right?”
The alien didn’t say anything for a few heartbeats. “Theoretically, yes. But even if you evacuate your position now, your people won’t get out of range from the orbital strike they’ll call in.”
“I understand. Feed us the enemy targets.”
“Delta Leader, we can’t ask you to—”
“I said, feed us the enemy targets,” Graunsa insisted.
Quietly, hundreds of coordinate pairs filed onto the main screen. Graunsa looked at the faces of the young officers under his command. Dozens of them. He turned around to look at his two guests. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“It’s the right choice,” Nidvid replied, shrugging.
Motsotaer nodded at him.
“I know,” Graunsa said, turning back to the main screen. “Just doesn’t make it any easier.”
“Sir, we’re ready to launch,” Gassin reported.
“Weapons free. Release everything.”
“Yes, sir.”
The ground shook and rumbled, hundreds of flying machines leaving their canisters for the sky. They were close enough to hear the outgoing buzzing as the munitions launched. This time, more and more windows filled up the screen with the visuals of the outgoing flying machines — hundreds of them, and Motsotaer was surprised that the computers could even handle it all.
The visage of the alien returned to their screen. It said calmly, “Enemy orbital launch spotted. Multiple launches. High yield. Missiles incoming to your location, ETA twelve minutes.”
“Understood, advisor.”
POV: Slurskoch, Znosian Dominion Marines (Rank: Five Whiskers)
“Scramble! Scramble! Scramble!”
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.
“What’s going on?” Longclaw Commander Slurskoch sat up in his turret cupola as the sirens rang loud through the hull.
“We’re under artillery attack!” his Controller yelled back at him through the roaring startup sequence of the turbine anti-grav engines. “The Lesser Predators… they’ve got some kind of new weapon! Took out a whole battalion’s worth of Longclaws in the 194!”
“But we’re not ready!” his Driver complained. “Our artillery is supposed to pound them for another hour before we—”
Slurskoch shook his head as he checked the friendly force tracker on his screen. “Doesn’t matter! If they’ve got some new weapon, we can’t sit still while we get pounded to bits by whatever they have. We gotta get out there. Hurry it up!”
It took them another two minutes to fully warm up the engines, and with a roar, the Longclaw burst out of its camouflaged emplacement, kicking up a curtain of dirt in front of it.
“Let’s go! Go! Go!” Slurskoch yelled as his lagging Longclaw joined the armored formation already on the move.
The Controller spoke with one of her ears in the radio, “Their artillery just launched… something at us. We’ve pinpointed their location, and orbital support is on its way.”
His Gunner whooped twice, and Slurskoch nodded silently in agreement. That’d flatten those carnivorous abominations where they stood. He drew a few symbols and circles on the digital battlemap as the Longclaws drove toward the enemy lines. “Gunner, watch those potential trench lines in front of us,” he instructed. “Their anti-armor may not look scary on paper, but their infantry can always get a lucky hit in.”
Slurskoch was taught in training that it was better to overestimate the enemy than underestimate them. Luckily, the predators usually fell below expectations, which was why the Dominion controlled the orbits of Datsot now and not them.
His Controller frowned at something in her radio, “They’re saying something about the enemy artillery… The engineers at the base assessed the strike aftermath. There’s something strange in the rubble. The attack was more precise than anything we’d ever seen.”
“What does that mean?” Slurskoch asked in confusion.
“The sensor officer in charge of the assembly area has taken full responsibility. They didn’t see the incoming at all. Higher ups are speculating that the Lesser Predators have a new weapon in their arsenal.”
“The predators made new weapons?” Slurskoch snorted. “Useful ones? That’ll be a first. Well, whatever it is, maybe our Design Bureau will get a good look at it when we finally cleanse this planet of their filth. Make our next battle a little easier when we have to take their home planet.”
His Gunner agreed, “And then, the Prophecy shall be fulfilled.”
A few kilometers into the charge across the open, the Gunner remarked with one eye on her targeting computer, “Looks like even the local winged predators know that there’s about to be a slaughter here.”
The Driver, in his open hatch, looked up at the cloud of them flying over the enemy lines. “Looks like it. A nice juicy feast for them in the coming battle. The irony of the barbaric carnivores being eaten by themselves.”
A few thousand years ago, winged predators would have curdled the blood of any natural-born Znosian. On the original plains of Znos, they were one of the most dangerous threats a lone Znosian faced. Now, that fear had been completely bred out of the gene pool, replaced with contempt for predatory primitivism, the courage to face them in battle, and the drive to exterminate them all.
Curious, Slurskoch stared up into the cloud of winged predators with his Longclaw commander optics. He frowned.
One of them shimmered.
Shimmered.
He zoomed in.
Then, he saw a metallic glint. His whiskers tightened.
“That’s— those aren’t winged predators,” he barely made out in shock. “Incoming!”
“Huh?” his Driver asked, craning his head up to look at the dark shapes in the distance.
“Get inside! Secure the hatch!” Slurskoch shouted at him.
His Driver was not very good at thinking on his own, but he had been bred to follow direct orders without question. He ducked into his seat, quickly securing the hatch above him close with trained claws.
He barely secured the Longclaw as other commanders began yelling out similar instructions on their radios.
“Incoming!” his Controller advised, about ten seconds later than necessary. “Enemy… artillery?!”
“Gunner!” Slurskoch gestured in the general direction of the sky.
“I can’t get a shot on them. They’re too high up!” she screamed back at him.
A trio of air defense vehicles next to him opened up with their six barrels towards the sky, lines of bright tracers stabbing out at the dark swarm. He saw one of the… flying machines hit and fall out of the sky. Then another.
It wasn’t enough.
As Slurskoch’s optics tracked the incoming, he saw them dive. They were fast, and they flew erratic patterns, almost organically, like actual winged beasts. If he hadn’t had that specific fear bred out of his bloodline hundreds of years ago, he would have been frozen in shock. Instead, he yelled out, “Brace! Brace!”
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The world exploded around his Longclaw.
Through his friendly force tracker, Slurskoch watched an entire battalion disappear off the map on his right flank, and two Longclaws in his line of sight brewed up in massive fireballs, throwing their turrets into the sky as their plasma ammunition detonated. One of the anti-air vehicles brewed up next to his, splattering its parts against his hull.
His Driver drove for all he was worth, ducking and weaving in the open field. So did the other Longclaws. Some deployed curtains of smoke in front of them in desperation.
None of it seemed to help.
The shockwaves hit his Longclaw in quick succession, knocking him around the armored cabin and rattling his teeth.
Boom. Boom.
More Longclaws exploded. Many more. They were disappearing off his screen faster than the software could update the signals. He closed his eyes waiting for the end.
It didn’t come.
It was hard for Slurskoch to tell when the last Longclaw near them was hit. His hearing organs must have been damaged some time during the attack. His auditory senses ringed as they returned to normal, recovering when his Controller shook him with a paw on his shoulder. “—Five Whiskers! Five Whiskers!”
“What is it?” he snapped, keeping the quivering out of his voice.
“We’re alone in our company, and I can’t contact the six whiskers! And I’ve been trying to reach battalion without success!”
“Try the regiment commander!” he yelled out against the noise of the anti-grav engine.
“Can’t reach them either!”
“What about division headquarters?!”
“I think division’s gone, sir!”
“What?!”
“Nobody there has been responding. All I’ve got is a seven whiskers in the reserve infantry division behind us! They’re saying they see black smoke in the direction of our division field command!”
“What in the Prophecy? How is that possible?!”
“What do we do, Five Whiskers?”
Slurskoch had been trained for a wide variety of combat scenarios and contingencies, including losing his immediate superiors, losing most of his unit, and losing his communication link to command. But he’d never been trained for all of those combined at once. That was just not something predators were supposed to be able to do to you.
He fell back to the next best thing.
“What’s the combat computer say?” he asked.
His Controller operated the controls on her console, and after half a minute of querying, she replied, reading off the instructions, “Absent orders, continue the attack. Maybe we can push through.”
“What? Did it take our losses into account?” he protested as he checked the battlemap. Of the nearly five hundred Longclaws that had pushed out of the assembly area, only a quarter remained. At most. Some of the signals on the map were flagging themselves as mobility or mission killed.
She shrugged, “It did. That’s what it says.”
He squinted at her screen. That was indeed what it said.
Slurskoch thought for a moment, sighed, and bowed in prayer, “Our lives were forfeited the day we left our hatchling pools.”
The other crew members all did the same, lowering their heads to mutter the familiar mantra.
That ritual out of the way, he drew up to his full height of 1 meter and mustered all the confidence he could into his voice, “Attack! Attack! Attack!”
POV: Graunsa, Malgeir Federation Planetary Defense Force (Rank: Delta Leader)
The command center watched glumly as the hundred or so surviving Grass Eater Longclaws emerged from the wrecks of their comrades and slowly resumed their charge across the open toward the defense lines.
The flying machines had gotten a lot of them. Quite a few disabled too. And they were disorganized from the loss of their command. Yet they still charged. Diminished as their numbers were, they rolled towards the battered defensive lines with psychotic determination.
We’ve failed.
Graunsa sat down heavily into his chair. He brought up his communication console, connecting it to the advisor network.
The alien appeared on the screen, and though he couldn’t see its face, he could hear the sympathy in its translated voice, “You’ve done all you can, Special Platoon Commander.”
“It wasn’t enough,” he said, shaking his ears sadly. “They’re going to break through our line. Our infantry can’t stop them.”
It tilted its head. “I wouldn’t count them out completely, Delta Leader. They might. They might not. But your next defensive line certainly will hold them. The city behind you will be held.”
“Tracking enemy orbit-to-ground. ETA three minutes,” Gassin reported quietly from next to him.
Graunsa sighed. He looked at the alien, “I think I understand your people now, advisor.”
“You… do?”
“Yeah, at first, when we were picked for this mission, I wondered why your people were doing this.”
“Doing this?” the alien asked, seeming confused.
“Helping us. The weapons. The equipment. The training. The targeting. It was all in secret, but you didn’t have to do it. The other species around us didn’t do it. The Schpriss…” Graunsa snorted, “The long-tails can’t even find it in their spines to send us field rations. I thought your species… your people were just generous. Or perhaps you simply enjoyed the craft of war, being so adept at it.”
“Are we… not?”
“Those reasons may be part of it,” he conceded. “But more importantly, I think your people understand one thing the other species don’t… that we might stop the enemy here. Or we might not.”
“We didn’t set you up to fail, if that’s what you think—”
“But the next defensive line certainly will hold them,” Graunsa said, staring the alien in the eye. “You will hold them. Isn’t that right?”
It sighed. “I would be lying if that wasn’t part of the strategic equation. Our star systems are indeed next in line — sometime in the next decade or two, probably — if these bloodthirsty Buns conquered your Federation. That harsh astropolitical realism. But there’s something else too.”
“Is there?”
“Yes,” it nodded its head firmly in a familiar manner. “Yes, there is. We aren’t a particularly long-sighted species, Graunsa. We can plan, yes, but wars are fought by true believers. People don’t sign up to put their lives on the line for a hypothetical, potential invasion of our Republic twenty years in the future. They— we signed up for this because we truly believe what’s happening to your people… it shouldn’t happen to anyone, ever.”
Graunsa looked at the helmeted head for a while, then nodded. “I believe you, advisor.”
“I’m sorry this didn’t pan out, Graunsa. If I could, I’d be down there with you. We’d have made them pay for this.”
Graunsa smiled. “I believe you about that too. Thank you, advisor, whatever your name is.”
“You may call me Kara,” it said simply. A deft snap of its paws — he hadn’t noticed how soft its claws were before — and it released a latch on its helmet with a hiss. Lifting it from its head, it revealed a soft, smooth face without much fur except a bundle of long, brown strands on its scalp tied up in a neat spherical shape. Its hazel forward-facing eyes stared at him with the empathy that only other predators were capable of, filling him with mild relief. “Don’t tell anyone though,” it joked lightly, mirroring his smile back at him.
You’re not as ugly as I thought you’d be. Not nearly.
Graunsa’s grin widened at the thought. He put it out of his mind. “Ah. One last thing, advisor— Kara.”
“Yes?”
His mind drifted to his cubs at home. Perhaps they were still alive. He chose to believe that. “Our people’s clans and packs…”
“We’ll let them know,” she interrupted him softly. “And when the information quarantine is lifted, we’ll let your clans and packs know what you did here — everything.”
“Good. Thank you.”
Gassin sat down next to him, “Delta Leader, enemy missiles incoming. ETA thirty seconds, they’re entering—” She stopped her report and stared at the unmasked alien on his screen with equal parts wonder and sadness.
“Take a closer look, Gassin,” he ordered softly. “That… that is who will avenge us.”
On screen, the alien put its gloved paw up to its temple, forming a stiff triangle with its arm in a recognizable salute. “It was an honor, Graunsa.”
Graunsa returned it crisply, letting a primitive fire shine through his face. “Happy hunting, Kara.”

Location: Atlas Naval Command, Luna

POV: “Kara”, Terran Reconnaissance Office
Kara watched solemnly as the green signal blinked off the battlemap. She closed her eyes for a moment in silent prayer for the fallen.
Beep. Beep.
Another light on her console blinked urgently for her attention. Four thousand kilometers from the previous one. The war raged on — day and night — across four continents on the besieged planet. Fifty light years from the Republic, its defenders’ sweat, tears, and blood lined the fields and valleys of the beautiful blue sphere not so different from her own. Tens of millions of them: many who she knew would not see the end of this war.
They didn’t all know it, and some might not have cared, but fifty light years away, someone recorded their names, and someone felt a pang of loss for their sacrifice. In the cold, dark forest of the galaxy, somebody heard their trees fall.
Kara collected her thoughts, adjusted the bun in her hair, and lowered the tinted EVA helmet over her face once more.
She cleared her throat as she glanced at the screen and activated the microphone in her helmet, “Special Platoon Commander Treiriu. This call is encrypted, but the enemy Znosians in orbit are trying to find your location from the signals, so we’ll have to make it as quick as we can. Have your defensive lines completed your preparations?”

Meta

Thanks for reading my story! This is a standalone chapter in my Grass Eaters story, meant to be enjoyable all on its own. If you're interested in more of my writing, please do subscribe to the update waffle bot or check out the rest of the universe in Grass Eaters.
(Grass Eaters posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We are closing in on the end of Book 1.)

Hello! I'm 30 years old and picked up tennis with my husband. You know, for some exercise, fun and spending time together. We only had 2 lessons so far, but our instructor said to me specifically to watch some YT videos on hov to properly do forehand and backhand (backhand is giving me some hard time).
I would really appreciate some recomendations. Thank you ❤️

I want to share a brief story about how I wasted 2 months of my life being recruited into a secretive cult. This cult took place in zoom Bible studies, which was meant to be a course to learn the whole Bible. The course was called parables and secrets of heaven. They often claim to be none denominational but are actually secretly affiliated with the cult. The cult that tried to recruit me is called Shinchonji (New Heaven New Earth) the way to identify you’re in this cult is if they reached you about the four fields, and about the new temple. While you’re actually in the course they have certain lessons. Lesson 1 The Two Kinds Of Spirit. Lesson 2 The Basics Of The Bible. This cult lies to you to seem like a normal group, and through manipulation and strict Bible studies they manage to later convince you of wacky, and obviously cult like doctrine and behavior. I’ve also posted a picture of the zoom Bible study from when I was there. I hope this helps someone and if it does please DM so we can talk further, and I can try to share support and resources.

~UPDATED~
Pentecostal Power of Deliverance
Video Sunday School
284 Weyl Street – Rochester, NY 14621
Overseers and Founders:
Bishop Melvin C. Cross Sr. & Pastor Dr. Beleader D. Cross

Sunday School Lesson May 19, 2024
“The Lamb Worthy of Worship” Revelation 5:6-14
Teacher: Elder Deborah Miller

The entire book of Revelation is full of strange and mysterious images. Imagery that is very unusual and enigmatic or very hard to interpret or understand. And so it is in today’s lesson. The writer of Revelation, who calls himself John, having been exiled to the island of Patmos (rev. 1:9) because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus begins experiencing visions from God. (Sidebar): A vision is more often experienced as an encounter with God; where God imparts special revelations to His prophets or individuals via dreams, or in “dark or mysterious sayings”

Adult learner with performance anxiety, been learning for 2-3 years with fortnightly lessons. I did a student concert today, 40+ people and I was the oldest performer - so many young students and kids who were incredible and just not phased at all by being on stage. I forgot my sheet music but have practiced so so so many hours of this piece and (thought) I knew it by heart but oh boy I just totally blanked and barely made it through to the end. People were so supportive but it was definitely the lowest and most frustrating point in my piano experience so far. So, what wisdom do you wish you’d had starting out? And how do you stop your brain shutting down during performances? Video is a small extract from today, the least butchered part of this performance 😂 Thanks all! ❤️

hi guys, I've been drawing everyday (kind of) since December and I've enjoy every second of it. With regular break I've managed to find a really healthy routine that keeps me really enjoying the time I'm spending learning to draw.
after a month of drawings whatever I saw on Pinterest with poor result I purchased the proko drawing fundamentals course and since then I've always had lesson to see so that I always had exercises and drawing ideas.
after this 5 months I've managed to follow all the lessons, and , although I can keep exercising with the topic I've already seen because exercise is never enough I would also like to spent some time learning new concept and maybe drawing different stuff but I found my self not knowing where to look at.
I would like to found some good (possibly but not limited to ) free resources to learn digital painting and the art fundamentals I haven't yet seen in the course such as (shading,value,composition,texture etc) but I can't found good videos on yt. Can anyone recommend me good resources to learn this topics or even good books to read at? It would really be super helpful to speed up my learning and also to have things to draw because without homework I'm really confused on what to draw.
Also last thing I'm asking for is "how do you guys keep yourself motivated to draw?" how can I keep drawing without having "Homework" assigned? do you have websites to give you ideas or other resources?
thanks everyone helping me out on this! hope you are having a good day!

On one of my lessons, I signalled to overtake a bus. My driving instructor felt very strongly that I shouldn't have signalled saying "why did you just signal to overtake that bus?" To which I answered "so driver behind me knows I'm about to overtake" to which he said "why? Can they not see the bus?" And mentioned that it distracts me from overtaking by signalling. The same for bikes. However, I have seen in many mock test videos on YouTube people signalling to overtake and getting told good signalling and observations for overtaking etc. My mum also told me I should be signalling when overtaking.
In short, should I signal to overtake?

First time writing here, the situation is the following:
I'm attending a 'Coding & AI with Python' course during this semester, which was (theoretically) suited for beginners, and I am one. The first half of the course was actually what I would've expected from a beginner course: every concept was well explained, and it covered every basic and essential topic about coding in Python until dictionaries and OOP. Actually OOP and classes were liquidated in the final 1 or 2 lessons.
Now, the second part of the course focuses, as you may have guessed, on AI, and being able to implement it on Python. We immediately started with how to code the Perceptron/Adaline and then went to Random Forests, k-NN (and other stuff, not in this order) and unsupervised learning. At the end of the lessons we'll have to do a project about choosing a certain dataset and implementing one or two algorithms on it.
That's generally the full picture. The problem is that I feel like I'm missing out some Python knowledge to be able to fully comprehend these kind of algorithms. So here I am, asking you some advice / recommended youtube videos or anything regarding AI for beginners, and how to fill this gap between the two parts of the course.
Thank you!

Hey everyone!
My name is Sam, and I wanted to share something that I’ve been working on with this community. I’m self-taught in JavaScript, and I know firsthand how challenging it can be to learn coding on your own. That’s why I decided to create a YouTube channel dedicated to teaching JavaScript to complete beginners.
On my channel, I will cover everything from the basics to more advanced topics, breaking down complex concepts into easy-to-understand lessons. I currently have 6 tutorial videos and will continue to post daily.
In addition to my YouTube channel, I’ve created a Discord server where you can join and ask me any questions you might have. It’s a space for learning, collaboration, and support.
If you’re just starting out with JavaScript or looking to solidify your understanding, I’d love for you to check out my channel and join our Discord community. Let’s learn and grow together!
Here are the links:
YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@thesamcodes?si=rOlIJOrcvbhaqnwz
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/DTaJrzkW
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need help with anything specific.
Happy coding!
Sam

I'm a building substitute teacher in a Title 1 elementary school. My school has me covering library class for middle school (6, 7, 8 grade) - I focus on digital literacy. These kids are rough. They DO NOT engage with the class. Blank stares, heads down. And that's when they're behaving. It's been a tough time for me.
Each week I introduce the lesson with "This weeks archive..." I'm looking for online digital archives that would be of interest to Latino middle schoolers who are living in poverty. We are in Chicago, so Chicago-centric archives are cool. I need something "gripping."
I've done:
iskur's guide to electronic music archive.org (for the video games - they love video games) chicago film archives national museum of mexican art
I need to plan two more lessons.
Thanks for your help :)