Hi everyone,
I completed the "Free Activity of the Day" in toefl go and scored 4/5. However, when I asked ChatGPT to evaluate my essay using the official TOEFL writing rubric (https://www.ets.org/pdfs/toefl/toefl-ibt-writing-rubrics.pdf), it gave me a score of 3/5.
I would appreciate it if someone could rate my essay and provide feedback on how I can improve my score to 5/5, and also how would you rate it? with a 4 or a 3? :(
Thank you!
There are a lot of debates on whether it's an important part of child's education to take them on field trips or not. As far as I am concerned, taking child's to field trips can make them feel more independent giving them the security to do more things on their own. For example, I remember that on primary school I went on a camp to a forest. At that time I was afraid of darkness and about not sleeping on my parent's bed, but in that trip, I noticed that all my classmates where able to sleep by it's own, so when I came back home I never slept with my parents again.
I understand both Kelly and Paul's opinion concerning the topic and I would like to agree with Paul because field trips help kids to know new things that can change their futures. Moreover, as it happened to Paul, they can find their interests in live.
So, I definitively believe field trips are a crucial part of child's education.
https://preview.redd.it/x3fctdhtya1d1.png?width=1804&format=png&auto=webp&s=195c60775decaef1de888bef2612e94b5e639444

I am leaving the hobby and moving, so I am selling my entire collection of Iron Warriors as well as other miscellaneous chaos models.
Selling total Iron Warriors army as a whole, I am not splitting this lot. I have spent countless hours building and meticulously painting this army over multiple years and want it to go to someone who will appreciate it rather than a dealer to be parted out. I have put the NOS value next to each item for reference only.
Total Army-https://imgur.com/gallery/5PPoEhP Timestamp-https://imgur.com/gallery/JzpNxA2
ARMOR Venomcrawlers- 2- 35$/each https://imgur.com/gallery/gJSkUNl
Decimator Daemon Engine w/soul burners- 2- 100$ https://imgur.com/gallery/ERusyej
Domitar-Ferrum Class Battle-Automata (Iron Circle)- FW- 107$ https://imgur.com/gallery/VHBZLrr
Defiler (Custom scorpion style kitbash with armor from a Gears of War Locust soldier)-76$ https://imgur.com/gallery/iodv0hS
Terrex Termite Assault Drill -FW- $107
Knight Desecrator (Laser Destructor & Reaper Chainsword)-200$
Venerable Dreadnoughts- 2 (changeable weapons)-51$/each https://imgur.com/gallery/glRhUs4
Rhino-$47 https://imgur.com/gallery/v8Umw4x
Deimos Whirlwind Scorpius-FW-100$ https://imgur.com/gallery/gYCddS5
Predator- 65$ https://imgur.com/gallery/wR76r7S
UNITS Legionaries (Bolter)- 21 https://imgur.com/gallery/mhuSsMF
Legionaries (Chainsword)- 8 https://imgur.com/gallery/yaxP0hg
Legionaries (Special Weapons)- 9 5$/each https://imgur.com/gallery/L0v3mke
Obliterators- 5- 35$/each https://imgur.com/gallery/kUmHLIG
Havocs- 6 -10$/each https://imgur.com/gallery/mbYHV8a
Terminators -14 (9 Combi-Plasma, 5 other weapon profiles)-10$ each https://imgur.com/gallery/Ph6VGk4
Dark Vengeance Cultists, OOP- 37- 3$/each https://imgur.com/gallery/dtxPDWG
Possessed- 2 (old models)-12$/each https://imgur.com/gallery/Q0LYor8
CHARACTERS https://imgur.com/gallery/GkBZ3ff
Abaddon-60$
Dark Apostle +2 minions -30$
Master of Possession-40$
Lord Kranon The Relentless-20$
Sorcerer in Terminator Armor (Staff, Combi- Melta)-30$
Lord in Terminator Armor (Chainfist, Combi-Melta)-30$
Warpsmith-35$
Lord Discordants-3 (one kitbashed custom. 1 baleflamer, 2 autocannon)-75$ each https://imgur.com/gallery/Hpna7Tr
+Oop 2015 IW FW Decals -$70 (missing decals are on models in this army) https://imgur.com/gallery/S7xTcDT
TOTAL VALUE for NOS models = $2294
I would value this army at at least $2500 because the paint/basing job is well done and there are many custom models. However, I would consider selling it for considerably less if it goes to a collector who will appreciate all the hard work that has went into this army. Send me a reasonable offer, I may be open to trades for non-Warhammer items, open to hearing things. This is crossposted on multiple platforms.
I will give the painting and basing recipe to the buyer. Painted with all Citadel paints and sealed with Mr. Super Clear matte finish.
All models and are authentic GW and/or Forge World excluding a single Chosen model that has a 3D printed torso and legs.
Other Items For Sale (Selling Individually, shipping not included unless buying multiple things)
CHAOS -1 Decimator- unfinished paint job w/ single soul burner petard)-60$ https://imgur.com/gallery/6xgQaCc
-11 Thousand Sons Rubric Marines w/ warp flamers- Kitbashed customized marines, 3rd party heads-$55 https://imgur.com/gallery/X5mgVTo
-10 Chosen- customized and primed- $75 https://imgur.com/gallery/HedL54G
-4 Nightlords Raptors- Custom kitbashed, 3rd party heads- primed- $30 https://imgur.com/gallery/M0lKuSE

• 7 Plague Marines- Build and well painted, a unfinished + extra 3rd party shoulders- $35 https://imgur.com/gallery/x5uiH7c

-5 Legionaries- primed- $15 for all https://imgur.com/gallery/psqeruT
Praetor Chaos Conversion- Master of Executions - Horus Heresy - primed-$old https://imgur.com/gallery/XQxq5MU

• 1 Havoc w/ Reaper Chain Cannon- built, unpainted -$7 https://imgur.com/gallery/iLgj7eA

-1 Defiler- poorly painted, disassembled- 35$ https://imgur.com/gallery/yyBYtLV

• Fabius Bile's Surgeon Acolyte- unpainted -$8 https://imgur.com/gallery/NNSDK4A
  
• 1 Random "Emperor's Children"? Marine w/ plasma gun- sold https://imgur.com/gallery/g1RtMOF
  

-1 Random Deathwatch (Blood Angels) Captain w/ plasma pistol, storm shield and Relic power sword- unfinished paint- FREE https://imgur.com/gallery/SiuujRd
-Leviathan Dreadnought Claw- Magnetized- $old https://imgur.com/gallery/UTaRX4X
-1 Loyalist Venerable Dreadnought- no arms- mediocre paint job- $old https://imgur.com/gallery/pQoaoK7
BLACK TEMPLARS -Marshal- NOS- $old https://imgur.com/gallery/LKKsuZ7
3D MODELS -Keeper of Secrets proxy-3D printed, unfinished paint job- $10 https://imgur.com/gallery/7hDzLUu
-Daemonettes proxies x8- 3D printed- Oversized, very high quality resin- FREE https://imgur.com/gallery/EZUXxlZ
3D Printed Noise Marines- for kitbashing-FREE https://imgur.com/gallery/olUxelu
3D Printed Chaos Kriegers- Traitor Guard- FREE https://imgur.com/gallery/MOCqozY
Miscellaneous Sprues https://imgur.com/gallery/MmVsWkS Rubric Marine Pieces Gene Stealer Pieces Necron Vehicle Pieces

Karma - https://www.reddit.com/MiniSwapKarma/s/DnfgG3V39H
Photos - https://imgur.com/a/PCmxOad

• Looking to clear out some extra minis and projects that I’ll honestly never get around to finishing
• Not looking to split the lots at this time
• Everything in various stages of sub assembly, built, primed, or painted. Refer to pics
• feel free to send a chat or ask for better pics
• The only trades I’m looking for are The new Stompa Boyz box, Stompa nos, Killa Kans, Deff dread, or Morkanaut. +PayPal

• 1x Sentinel (includes all gun options)
• 20x new Cadian infantry
• 1x Heavy weapons team
• 1x Minka Lesk as Usula Creed proxy
• $70 shipped for the lot

• 1x NiB Chaos Wardogs - $75 shipped
• 1x Abaddon the Despoiler - $35 shipped
• 1x Chaos Land raider - $70 shipped
• 3x Custodes jetbikes - $25 Shipped
• 10x Khorne Bloodletters - $30 shipped

• 1x Angron
• 1x Kharn the Betrayer
• 1x Master of Executions
• 1x Lord Invocatus
• 1x Lord on Juggernaut
• 20x Jakhals
• 20x Khorne Berserkers
• 2x Chaos Rhinos
• 12x (Exalted) Eightbound

• 1x Magnus the Red
• 1x Infernal Master
• 2x Exalted Sorcerer
• 1x exalted Sorcerer on disc
• 20x Rubric Marines
• 20x Tzaangors
• 3x Tzaangor Enlightened
• 10x Scarrab Occult Terminators

My supervisor literally never even gave me a midterm assessment like they are supposed to for the program, and my first 3 (of 6) individual observation grades were very mediocre to the point where I was pretty sure I was on track to just barely pass student teaching with a C...
...but I finally got my final assessment today (as well as the last three observation scores at the same time, but not the midterm assessment, which I guess my supervisor is just never filling out lol) and I'm not entirely sure how the rubric scores correlate to grades (our handbook requires a certain number of "proficients" for certain grades, but is unclear about various things including how "in between" scores on the rubric are handled, and whether B+s and A-s even exist) but I definitely got at least a B, which I was not expecting at all, given the sheer extent of lack of guidance and how generally mediocre i am at everything!
Feels kinda crazy, I initially started an accelerated program for teaching certification back in 2018 (failed out of it quickly due to the first summer requiring 7 or 8 classes all over that one summer, which was just way too much for me) and was repeatedly told that if we didn't get an A in student teaching, our chances of getting a job were basically screwed, but now with all the teacher shortage stuff, my new program's folks are all like "don't worry about it at all, you can definitely get work these days with a B". I'm literally a history certification, got so used to hearing that it was basically the hardest subject to get a job in, but now my state officially considers history at my grade level for certification to be a shortage area, something I figured would never happen even with the talk in the past couple years about broader labor shortages and teacher shortages
And I screwed up my edtpa due to not having enough time due to my whole life kinda lighting on fire, but my way less than half-assed submission (which I only did when I did because the program requires it for student teaching completion) was still enough to get a quite respectable score on the two sections I actually completed, so for my resubmission I could do worse on my remaining section than I did on the other two and still pass (literally just need an 8/25, I could get 2 1s and still pass as long as the other 3 parts are just a 2) and my remaining section seems like one of the easier ones to do and I actually have some free time to devote to it now so I have no doubt that I'll at least do about as good as I did on the other two and will pass with some margin for error too
It feels amazing that I've made it this far, and that things have worked out and I have an end close in sight. Probably not great for the profession as a whole that they're scraping the bottom of the barrel to make people like me into teachers (our program instructors have all been like "it's a harder time than ever to be a teacher, so many people will hate you and disrespect you, some of you will probably quickly leave teaching" while a bunch of us nontraditionals are like "we get to have a job that pays above the minimum wage? And actually has benefits? And is personally fulfilling? And won't destroy our bodies by the time we are middle age? Holy shit I've hit the jackpot!"). But I made it. I've actually done it

Attributes

Character attributes suck, and your game sucks because you're stuck on them:

S

D

C

I

W

C

It's 2024. Let's put down the keyboard, take a step back, and think.
Your mission, if you choose to accept it: design, write and publish\* a tabletop roleplaying game*\* for 2+ players by July 1st. Any genre, any setting, any length, art, AI art, no art, layout or no layout whatever.
The only stipulation is this:
The only attributes you can have in your game are the five senses: Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste and Touch. You don't have to use all five, but you can't introduce any additional attributes. The attributes must have some actual mechanical/systematic function in your game but I don't care how you use them.
A long-form RPG will get bonus points over a short-form/one-page RPG, but a one-page RPG will get more points than a long RPG that isn't about anything.
* Publish meaning anything from a reddit post to a website to a PDF to an actual printed game, free or for sale. The only rubric is that it's gotta be made available to the public somehow so Someone Who Is Not You could access, read and run/play the game.
* Game, not system. I want to see games that have a point. I don't want to see another method for figuring our if a sword did damage to a goblin or not.
Oh and just one more thing, just like you don't comment on posts in Albuquerque, don't feel like you have to comment on this post. It's okay to just not like something, privately.

Hi all! I, as many others have been buzzing about the CSM codex, and was eager to jump into some test games. Following these I've run into a.... bit of an issue that I was hoping some of you may be able to resolve.
So, like everyone and their mother I started with the Renegade Raiders detachment for testing.
On paper it seems incredible:

• Assault makes everything more mobile
• Advance and Charge / AoC on the cheap makes everyone but my opponent happy
• The extra AP / strategems against objectives are great damage boosts and synergise well with Legionnaires and Rubric Marines

And it's this last point that caused the snag. Picture this scenario:
I am playing a CSM list loaded to the gills with Rhinos, Abaddon, Lords, Legionnaires, whatever. I'm brimming with power. Anything that touches an objective will be *ANNILIHATED*. I'm confident, I'm brave. I start playing against a local Ork / Space Marine / Necron player, and I make a crucial mistake: I tell them what my detachment does.
At which point my hypothetical opponent proceeds to hold the objectives with nothing but Rhinos / Trucks / Infiltrators, while all the dangerous things I would actually want / NEED some help killing never goes near them.
At this point, to my mind I'm left with two options:
Option 1 is I hunt down my opponents scoring units, ignoring the damage dealers, thus forcing them to commit real units to objectives. This has the advantage of unlocking my abilities against the real units next turn, but the disadvantage of relying on being able to wipe ALL scoring units in one go, and leaving my opponents damage units free to wipe me off the face of the galaxy.
Option 2 is I ignore my opponents scoring units and go straight for the throat of the Thunderwolf Cav / Meganobs threatening to kill me, hoping that the baseline CSM datasheets are good enough to get the job done. This has the advantage of potentially neutralising the opponents threats, but the disadvantage of not working ever.
Can someone please help me see what I'm not seeing? Every content creator on YouTube keeps repeating "well if they're not on the objective, they're not playing the game" at which point I'm close to losing my mind because of the above scenario.
HELP.

Russian forces are making a push, animal testing ramps up for H5N1, and over 365 days of temperature records…
Last Week in Collapse: May 5-11, 2024
This is Last Week in Collapse, a weekly newsletter compiling some of the most important, timely, useful, soul-crushing, ironic, stunning, exhausting, or otherwise must-see/can’t-look-away moments in Collapse.
This is the 124th newsletter. You can find the April 28-May 4 edition here if you missed it last week. You can also receive these posts (with images) every Sunday in your email inbox with Substack.
——————————
Earth experienced its largest CO2 concentration increase over a 12-month period, scientists say, from March 2023-2024. It was a jump of 4.7ppm more of carbon dioxide, blamed on deforestation, fossil fuels, and El Niño. Experts are saying that El Niño has peaked, and will transition to La Niña within a few months. La Niña lasts about 1-3 years, and it generally cools the Pacific Ocean, and brings more rain to India & Bangladesh, among other changes. Earth also experienced its greatest atmospheric moisture for the month of April.
Venezuela has lost its last glacier, the Humboldt, which was reclassified into an “ice field.” It is the first modern nation to lose all its glaciers. Scientists believe Indonesia, Mexico, and Slovenia are next in line to see the extinction of their glaciers. Colombia is also rapidly losing its remaining 6 glaciers.
Wildfires in Chile have killed about a hundred people, and injured & displaced thousands. Flooding in Afghanistan. And climate change is ruining cotton crops, and livestock, in Chad. Plus, flooding struck the DRC, overflowing rivers and latrines—affecting some 500,000 people. And some climatologists think we have been underestimating how much climate change is driving greater rainfall & flooding; the worst is yet to come.
The first week of May saw so many temperature records broken; some are claiming that it might be the “most record breaking month in climatic history”—until June, that is. Earth has been seeing 13 months of monthly records being broken for global sea surface temperatures. Literally 365 days of record-breaking ocean temperatures.
A study in PNAS examined North Pacific “warm blob” heat waves from 2010-2020, and concluded that China’s reduction in aerosols, which cleaned the air but also removed the sun-reflective particles, incidentally probably caused marine heat waves which killed fish and resulted in algae blooms.
Bees are having difficulty acclimatizing their nests to rising temperatures. The dugong, while still rarely seen in parts of the world, has been declared extinct inside China, having gone 24 years without a known sighting. In Florida, the suburbification of land under development is pushing the Florida panther closer to extinction; some 100 panthers remain in the sunshine state.
Siberia’s Batagaika crater—I prefer its alternative title, “megaslump”—is expanding by about 1M cubic meters, every year. Scientists naturally blame the rapid permafrost melting on climate change.
A cruise ship entered New York City with an endangered 44 ft {13.4m} dead sea whale stuck on its bow (front). Investigators are looking into whether it was already dead when the ship hit it. A study in Conservation Letters looked at the 100 largest Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)—which cover 7.3% of all ocean area—and found that almost 60% of this area is not in range of meeting the 2030 preservation goals.
Part of India broke May records already; the Maldives, too. Eastern Ukraine ended a far warmer & wetter April than usual. And a heat wave in Mexico scorched previous May temperature records across 10 cities, as well as small regional blackouts. North America felt its all-time hottest May temperature...
——————————
AstraZeneca is pulling its COVID vaccine from the EU over a rare blood clooting side effect. Nevertheless, some experts claim that vaccine saved over 6M lives. Whatever U.S. CDC data on COVID is still available points to “a small rise” in cases later this summer, mostly from the growing KP.2 “FLiRT” variant.
COVID patients and immunocompromised individuals are still using lots of healthcare resources, and the rise of resistant superbugs is developing alarmingly fast. According to the article, “It only takes about a year on average for bacteria to grow resistant to treatment, when they used to take 21 years to evolve back in the 1960s.”
Engineers and medical professionals remain concerned about nanoplastics, between 1-1,000 nanometers wide. One grain of sand is about 500,000 nanometers, and one strand of DNA is about 2.5 nanometers. A single wavelength of light ranges from 400-700 nanometers.
South Africa’s water shortage is projected to worsen through at least 2025. Nairobi’s water shortage continues, despite the city’s dams being filled with floodwater. Costa Rica is facing a Drought so bad it’s rationing electricity. Mexico City—the second-most-populous city (by metro area: 21.8M; São Paolo is #1, at 22M) in North America— is seeing more than 20% of freshwater sources exhausted, and rationing is not enough. It’s almost like we’re living at unsustainable levels of consumption…
As Latin America warms (and suffers flooding), disease is becoming more common—as well as heat stroke & serious hunger. Benin is refusing Niger the permission to use its port to export oil, as a result of a border dispute.
A paywalled study in Nature Water tested a new method for removing PFAS foam particles in water, with “near-complete destruction of PFAS in various water samples contaminated by the foams.” The process involves “ultra-violet (UV) light, sulfite, and a process called electrochemical oxidation” and does not require heat or high pressure. The number of U.S. states phasing out PFAS is growing.
As forcible repatriations of thousands of Afghans continue, millions of Afghans are suffering from lack of humanitarian aid—aggravated by recent deadly flash floods in the beleaguered, landlocked, failed state.
Yeasty superfungus Candida Auris infections were detected in 77 cases in Germany last year, authorities say. Candida Auris was only identified 15 years ago, but its three separate genetic variants (each on a different continent) have stealthily and stubbornly grown to pose a stealth threat to humankind. It is incredibly resistant to antifungal drugs, and it survives at higher temperatures than most other fungi. The WHO has listed it on a shortlist of top fungal pathogen dangers.
3 cats died from H5N1 in the United States last week. Some health professionals are getting more worried about a future H5N1 jump to become human-to-human transmissible, and claim that we are not ready as a species. Experts say we are not doing enough testing, and may already be in the prologue of a much more devastating pandemic. Scientists still say it is unlikely that a strain will make the critical mutation necessary, but the similarities between human and cow (and other mammal) flu receptors present potential complications.
The world is supposedly being divided into three general trade blocs: U.S., China, and the non-aligned states. For better or worse, globalization is crumbling, and governments are imposing tariffs, attempting to reshore industries, and restructure debt & credit flows. What will happen when the people, long-trained to expect high returns, find their profits wanting?
——————————
Two camps for internally displaced people near Goma, DRC were bombed, killing 12+ and injuring 20+. The perpetrators and their motives are unclear.
Rising crime. Drinking water. Closing the Darien Gap. These were the issues propelling Panama’s president-elect to a victory last Sunday. The arrival of rain is also improving conditions on the Drought-choken Panama Canal, expected to return to normal for at least a month or two.
A wave of Chinese espionage, much of it several years old, is sweeping Europe. Of particular concern is a hack of British military personnel information uncovered on Tuesday—which China denies. Similar espionage against the U.S. has reportedly cost the economy hundreds of billions per year.
Kenya’s mission to stabilize Haiti is inching forward slowly. The Pentagon has ordered its 1,000 troops to leave Niger. At least one Saudi villager was killed to make room for The Line, and reports claim Saudi forces have been given the green light to clear other people who get in the way of the development. Germany’s Defence Ministry is seriously considering recommending conscription for its 18-year olds later this summer.
Displacement in Myanmar has spiked over the past six months—and now counts 3M+ people since the February 2021 coup which sparked more open resistance.
Tunisia ejected ~400 migrants into Libya. Kazakhstan is expelling Tajik migrants in far-ranging sweeps. In Lebanon, vigilante attacks against Syrians have become more common. Mauritania is conducting military drills along part of its border with Mali, after reports emerged of Malian soldiers attacking border settlements.
In Sudan, over 200 witnesses corroborated reports of a massacre last June, where RSF insurgents piled up and shot” at least 17 people, most of whom were children. A lengthy report from Human Rights Watch, complete with timelines, testimony, war crimes, and other horrors from Sudan is over 150 pages. I did not have the fortitude to skim much of it.
A Hamas attack on Sunday, which killed 4 Israeli soldiers, reportedly pushed the Rafah invasion ahead of schedule. The IDF took over the Egypt-Gaza border, and is scaling up operations in southern Gaza. In response, the U.S. paused arms transfers to Israel. Any chance of a ceasefire, if there was ever really a credible chance, will have to wait. Diarrhea is soaring in Gaza, due in large part to a critical water shortage, caused by the destruction of wastewater treatment plants, the damage to water infrastructure, and large-scale displacement. A new evacuation order has commanded over 1M people in Gaza to leave before a more comprehensive invasion of Rafah begins.
A day after President Putin was inaugurated for his fifth term, he ordered a wide strike at Ukrainian infrastructure across seven oblasts. Most of the missiles and drones were shot down. And another plot to assassinate Zelenskyy was foiled. Lithuania is considering sending military trainers into Ukraine. Putin announced that Russian forces would target Western soldiers deployed in Ukraine, and begin drills simulating nuclear weapons if Britain’s involvement grows. Already, Belarus conducted a military drill with missiles & planes capable of using nukes.
In addition to extending Ukraine’s mobilization by another 90 days, the government has also allowing some convicts to fight on the battlefield in exchange for reduced sentences. Poland is allegedly considering repatriating thousands of draft-eligible Ukrainian men, and Germany is emphasizing the need for Ukrainian refugees to work.
Japan is boosting investment in a hypersonic missile interceptor project with the United States. A large-scale Russian offensive has begun across the front-lines, particularly around Kharkiv. And Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is beginning talk of a “genocide” in Moldova, which could provide the pretext for another special military operation in Transnistria—and perhaps beyond.
——————————
Things to watch out for next week include:
↠ The IDMC is releasing their 2024 report on Internally Displaced People (IDPs) on Tuesday, with estimates for total figures by nation & region.
Select comments/threads from the subreddit last week suggest:
-High temperatures are going to ruin food—and a lot of people’s health. This thread about the contamination of bánh mi in Vietnam sheds some light on the interconnectivity of our problems. Add in some heat wave-induced power outages, loose government regulation, and hospital problems, and you can imagine how this slow-moving disaster can cripple a community.
-“Microforests” may help mitigate some of the effects of ecosystem collapse and desertification—as well as boosting your property value, judging by this thread and its comments.
-One Collapsenik published a free ebook & audiobook satirizing American Collapse—and I’m not just linking because this newsletter was apparently a source of Doom inspiration. If you write an 80,000 word novel about Collapse, featuring some 300 references, I’ll share it too. Maybe one day I’ll have the time to write one…
Got any feedback, questions, comments, complaints, upvotes, movie recommendations, good off-grid land deals, locust broth, etc.? Check out the Last Week in Collapse SubStack if you don’t want to check collapse every Sunday, you can receive this newsletter sent to your (or someone else’s) email inbox every weekend. What did I forget this week?

This is third version of an FAQ first posted several years ago by u/watts52 . The second version, posted by u/brassage is here. The primary changes have been to update links that have changed or are no longer active, and to add a few more resources and recent threads on the existing topics. Primary credit goes to u/watts52, the original poster.
This FAQ covers many common topics discussed on foreignservice . All answers have been pulled from public sources and without any information covered by NDA. Error reports, additions, and clarifications welcome in the comments. (Last update 11 May 2024)

Foreign Service Super FAQ

1. How do I become a diplomat? How do I work in the foreign service? The best place to learn about this is in the Careers Section of the State Department website. Start here.
2. What are the differences among FSO, FSS, LNA, CF, CS, and EFM?

• Here is an excellent general overview. {HT: zzonkmiles}
• FSO - Foreign service officers are generalists who serve, usually abroad, in one of five different "cones" (career tracks). Learn more.
• FSS - Foreign service specialists "provide important technical, management, healthcare, or administrative services" at overseas posts Learn more.
• LNA - Limited Non-Career Appointments are opportunities ranging from 15 to 60 months in a handful of specialized areas. Learn more.
• CF - Consular fellows (a subset of LNAs) work alongside FSOs and primarily "adjudicate visas for foreign nationals." Learn more.
• CS - The civil service is a part of the State Department, but is not considered part of the foreign service. Most civil service jobs are based in DC, and this sub typically does not deal with issues related to the civil service. Learn more.
• EFM - Eligible Family members - these are family members (typically spouses) of FSOs or FSSs who work for the State Department at the same post as the FSO or FSS. EFM jobs are not always available and sometimes subject to hiring freezes.

1. Is the Foreign Service the same thing as the State Department? No, the State Department consists of the foreign service (employees who are typically overseas) and the civil service (all other employees who are typically serving in DC). In addition, the term "foreign service" may also include:

• the US Foreign Commercial Service in the Commerce department.
• the US Foreign Agricultural Service
• the US Agency for Global Media (formerly the Broadcasting Board of Governors)
• the US Agency for International Development (USAID)

1. Where can I find answers to nearly any question I might have about getting in to the foreign service?

• This foreignservice sub (search archives)
• The FSOT Yahoo Group (search archives)
• The FSOA Yahoo Group (search archives) No longer in service. If anyone has an updated option, please comment, and I'll edit the post.
• Read the selection process brochure.
• The official State Department FAQ
• For FSS Applicants, the Foreign Service Specialist Careers Yahoo Group {HT: kaiserjoeicem}

1. Why should I consider the foreign service? Why not?

• Various reasons for joining.
• Here is a thread mostly involving reasons against joining.
• An FSO's reasons for leaving the foreign service. A more recent thread on why some former FS personnel resigned.
• Pros and Cons of the Foreign Service lifestyle.
• Pleasant surprises and biggest disappointments about life in the Foreign Service.
• Misconceptions about life in the Foreign Service.

FSO Career Tracks / Cones

1. Which cone is the best fit for me? Take the Career Track Quiz to find out. It's really important for you to pick a track that you have a passion for.
2. What are the differences among the cones? How do I choose a cone?

• Read summaries & detailed job descriptions of all the cones.
• Watch employee video interviews covering all different parts of the State Department, including all different FSO cones.
• Read these threads about job duties in each of the cones: Consular, Economic, Management, Political, Public Diplomacy
• A Day in the Life Series - Some of these are pretty tongue-in-cheek, but still insightful in their own ways.
  • Political Officer
  • Consular Officer
  • CONS - American Citizen Services
  • Economic Officer
  • ECON - Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Officer
  • Management Officer
  • Management - General Services Officer
  • Public Diplomacy - Press Officer
  • Diplomatic Security Special Agent
  • Diplomatic Security - Security Engineering Officer
  • Office Management Specialist

1. Which cone gives me the best chance of getting in? Which cones are hiring the most people right now? It depends on your background and your own desires and motivations, and it depends on the needs of the service. Even if we could tell you which cones are hiring the most people now, the hiring process can take one to three years and things may be different by the time you are eligible to receive a job offer. Do not make the mistake of choosing a cone based on what you think your "chances" are. Too many people make this mistake. If you choose a cone this way, you will probably find yourself in a job you dislike, and you'll have wasted a lot of time and energy "getting in" and you'll be looking for a way to be "getting out." Further discussion here...
2. Can I change cones? Would it be a good idea to come in as a Consular Officer and later switch to a Political Officer? In theory it's possible to change cones. In practice, it's difficult to do so, and you shouldn't plan on it. Some discussion here.
3. Can I choose one cone and then simply do out-of-cone work? Maybe, but that's a silly game to play and it's likely counterproductive to your other career and non-career goals. If you are really interested in one cone, choose that one when you apply. Too many applicants attempt to game the system by choosing an "easy" cone with some scheme to actually end up switching to or working in a different cone, but experienced FSOs on this sub have stated repeatedly that such schemes never really work out. That said, there is a lot of variety in foreign service work. Pick a cone that is of interest to you, and you will have plenty of opportunities to serve in different roles. More thoughts here and here.
4. I have a terrific idea for how to game the cone system that is not listed here. No, you don't. Somebody has already tried it and ended up being sad. Please don't try to game the system - it won't work the way you're hoping it will. Instead, just choose a cone based on your interests, talents, abilities, and passions, and work from there. You'll be happier and more successful in the long run.

Posts, Assignments, and Worldwide Availability

1. How do post assignments work?

• A great overview of 1st and 2nd tour bidding, post assignments, and language training
• First tour assignment thoughts
• First & Second tour bidding and More information, and more here.
• Second tour bidding
• Entry Level Office Management Specialist Bidding
• Bidding for third tour and beyond
• More mid-level bidding

1. I have an interest in working in country X or at least in a certain region of the world. How can I do that in the foreign service? During your first two tours, you're "directed" meaning you have a restricted list of places you might end up. Beyond that, you'll be responsible for finding your own assignments. It would not be uncommon for someone to develop regional expertise over time, but regional expertise doesn't mean you'd be bouncing between Paris and Geneva for the rest of your career. It's also easier to specialize in bigger countries or regions like the PRC or former Soviet Union than it is to specialize in smaller countries or niche sub-regions like Austria or the Gulf. Further discussion
2. I have a terrific idea for how to game the assignment system that is not listed here. No, you don't. Somebody has already tried it and ended up being sad. Please don't try to game the system - it won't work the way you're hoping it will. Instead, just be prepared to be "worldwide available" and understand that might mean Paris or Bangui, Caracas or Tashkent, Wellington or Bamako, Tijuana or Toronto. If you are not comfortable with that type of availability, this is not the career for you.
3. What are the popular or unpopular posts? It depends on the person, on the people you work with at a given post, and on environmental factors, among other things. A lot of people come in imagining they'd love working in a western European capital city only to find the cost of living, culture of the post, personality of their direct supervisor, commute to the office, or some other factor makes life less fun than it would've been if they'd simply visited that same city on vacation. Posts in other parts of the world such as sub-Saharan Africa or central Asia may have tighter-knit expat communities or post culture or better housing options or other benefits that make them more desirable for some people. One person's best post might be another person's worst. Many people on this sub have indicated that they've hated posts they expected to love and loved posts they expected to hate. One frequently mentioned bit of advice on this sub is not to think of Foreign Service posts as you would think of vacation destinations. Here is a good discussion of this topic. And here is a longer discussion of various posts that current or aspiring FSOs either like or don't like for various reasons.
4. Where can I learn about what life is like at different posts? Try reading these real post reports.

Hiring process

1. Why does the hiring process seem so opaque/confusing/mysterious/complicated? It's not really opaque, as State tells you exactly what they're looking for in candidates and provides study materials and resources for preparing for each stage. That said, a lot of candidates seem to feel frustrated or confused by the process for a variety of reasons. These may include:

• The process is long and does not offer immediate gratification. You should plan to move forward with life as usual and work through the foreign service hiring process in the background. There is simply a lot of waiting involved.
• Many candidates, surprisingly, seem not to follow directions and are then confused when they don't pass a certain stage of the process. By way of example, the instructions from the QEP about how to write personal narratives include the instruction, "Simple lists of accomplishments, recaps of candidates' resumes...are not effective." But one person did exactly this in the Leadership Skills essay and did not pass. This is not to say there are no other problems with this candidate's PNs, but if you make sure to follow each stage's instructions exactly, the process (and your results) won't seem so confusing.
• Many candidates, young and old, mistakenly assume that their work/life/school experience makes them more than qualified for an entry-level FSO role. In actuality, successful candidates translate that experience into the six precepts and thirteen dimensions during the QEP and FSOA stages, respectively.

1. How can I improve my chances of passing?

• FSOT - Be well-read on a diverse set of subjects, take the State Department reading list seriously, practice good test taking skills, know your English grammar perfectly, and be able to write in a clear and concise manner.
• QEP - Follow the directions exactly. Answer the questions exactly as written. Do not list your resume in bullet points. Do tell relevant (and verifiably true) stories. Have diverse life and work experiences that map easily to the job description of the cone you've selected and to the precept described in the essay prompt.
• FSOA - Practice, practice, practice ahead of time. Use the former Yahoo Group Files. Be relaxed and composed. Make every action and every word you use roll up into one or more of the 11 dimensions. Come across as someone that other people would want to work with. Smile. Oh, and practice.
• Security clearance - Before you get to the security clearance stage, make sure you've buttoned up everything you can think of, from past stupid behavior to credit reports to tax filings. Consider running a cheap background check on yourself. When filling out your SF-86, disclose everything. Don't make anything a surprise. When you meet with your investigator, disclose everything relevant to the questions and the time frames included. Make sure you understand what they're looking for and be proactive about bringing troublesome/questionable points to the investigator's attention.
• For all stages - read the instructions and do exactly what they are asking you to do, no more and no less. Do not try to guess what the examiners want to hear. They are telling you exactly what they want each time - whether it's demonstration of general knowledge and English expertise, clear and concise writing, demonstration of the six precepts, or demonstration of the thirteen dimensions. Whichever stage you're working through, assume that you're being graded according to a rubric that matches exactly to the instructions you're given.

1. Approximately what percentage of people pass each of the stages? No one outside State really knows exactly, and numbers can vary from year to year, depending on hiring projections, but based on various reports (example) and conjecture here are some approximate guesses. Feel free to disagree.

• Total number of people who take the FSOT in a given year: 17000, give or take. (Although in 2017, State reportedthe number had dropped to just 9519. This lower number, though, does not mean one's "chances" are any better or any worse this year.) Note that while these numbers are expressed as numerical percentages, they should not be interpreted as probabilities.
• FSOT - No longer pass/fail
• QEP - This can vary greatly based on the needs of the service by cone, the total number of applicants, and various other factors.
• FSOA - Approximately 40-50% pass
• Clearances, suitability & receiving an offer before timing off the register: 60-80%. Very few people are denied a security clearance (though getting the clearance may take a long time). More commonly, the people that pass the FSOA but do not become FSOs are those with low FSOA scores who time off the register after 18 months or those who choose to cancel their candidacy for one reason or another. Historically, about 2-3% of FSOT takers ended up as FSOs eventually.

1. How long will it take me to get through the process? Assuming everything goes perfectly, at least a year but possibly much longer. For example: if you take the FSOT today, it will be a couple of months before you get your results. You'll have three weeks to submit your essays to the QEP and then another couple months of waiting. You'll then have to schedule your oral assessment (another 2-4 month wait) and if you pass that, you'll enter the medical and security clearance stage which will take at least 6 months in most cases, but possibly much longer. (Yes, there are anectodal exceptions to all of the above.) You'll then go through final suitability review, which will take anywhere from a week to several months and only at that point will you be on the register. You will then have to wait for hiring to be authorized and to receive an offer. You'll be on the register for 18 months, and if you don't get an offer during that window of time, your candidacy will end. If an offer doesn't come through (or if you fail any of the steps of the process), you'll have to start over by taking the FSOT again the next time you're eligible. So if you take the FSOT today, the best case scenario would be for you to be joining the foreign service a little over a year from now, but a more likely scenario is that you'll be working through this process and doing a lot of waiting for a couple of years or more. Use the time productively - there's no benefit to sitting around and stressing over the what-ifs of State Department hiring.
2. How can I use my time productively?

• Learn a language to improve your register position
• Engage in meaningful work to improve your demonstration of the 11 dimensions.
• Start another candidacy in parallel. In most cases, you are allowed to take the FSOT once per year, so take it every time you have the opportunity.
• Take this advice.

1. What if I fail one of the stages? Then you are human and you've had an experience not unlike ~98% of applicants each year. If you're interested in the foreign service, try again. Some people have taken the test more than ten times and many of today's FSO's were hired on subsequent tries because they persisted and improved themselves each time.
2. Is there a hiring freeze? Should I wait to apply until after things return to normal? Whether there is a hiring freeze in effect or not doesn't matter. As one person said, "It'll take a long time from test to diplomat, so I don't think the temporal minutia will really matter by the time we're on the register." If you're interested in the Foreign Service, go take the test and get the process started. It's free. Worst case, you fail and you'll take the test another time (which is what you would've done if you had tried to wait out the hiring freeze). But it might be that you succeed and find yourself well-positioned on the register in time for the next big round of hiring.
3. Is there going to be an A-100 soon? Will [cone] spots be available? How should I interpret the remarks of [important person]? Are they really only going to hire [number] of people this year? I can't deal with the stress! Why are they making me put my life on hold? Why won't they extend my time on the register? How many people will retire/resign/take an early buyout this year? How many Rangel/Pickering fellows are there and what percentage of the jobs will they take? What is the status of [funding legislation in congress]? Does [random thing I read in the news] mean we should expect to see a new A-100 now? Why does FSI have training classes on their schedule if no invites have gone out yet? etc. As an exasperated someone humorously posted on another forum, "Seriously chill. Even if you were provided this information, which isn’t likely, it has no effect on whether there are spots left for you. Enough with trying to predict what happens this year. Wait it out like any job interview."

FSOT - The Foreign Service officer Test

1. What is the difference between the FSWE and the FSOT? The FSOT is the Foreign Service Officer Test. Its predecessor was the FSWE, the Foreign Service Written Exam, and is no longer administered. You can sign up to take the FSOT here.
2. What are my chances of passing? There is no way to know without trying. If you're interested, take the test and see how you do. People on this sub won't be able to tell you how you're likely to do, and if you try and fail and then try again, you may find that you perform better and pass the second (or third or fourth) time around. Remember: taking the test is free. (You only have to pay if you sign up and then fail to take the test.) So you have nothing to lose - get out there and give it a go.
3. How can I prepare?

• Take the practice test.
• Read the Suggested Reading List.
• Set your expectations that this process will take a long time. If you are just now getting ready to take the FSOT, chances are you will not be a new FSO next year at this time. Most people will not successfully become FSO's on their first try. But that doesn't mean you should give up! You will try, you will try again. You will need to maintain a positive attitude. You will need to be patient. Don't make Foreign Service your Plan A. Move on with life while you are working your way through the foreign service hiring process.

1. Where can I find more information about the FSOT? Try the FSOT Frequently Asked Questions on the Pearson site. (Pearson is currently the company that administers the FSOT and some of the subsequent steps of the hiring process.)

QEP - The Qualifications Evaluation Panel

1. What is the difference between the QEP and the PN's or the PNQ's? People use these acronyms to talk about the same part of the process, even though they mean different things. The QEP is the Qualifications Evaluation Panel, and its job is to evaluate, based on a set of short essays, the likelihood that someone who passed the FSOT will also pass the FSOA. FSOT passers write one essay (a "personal narrative" or "PN") for each of six prompts (each a "personal narrative question" or "PNQ").
2. When will I know if I made it to the QEP? You will get an email from Pearson a few weeks after the close of the FSOT testing window. Your results will also appear in your online account with Pearson. When you are notified that you made it to the QEP, you will have approximately three weeks to write your essays and submit them through the Pearson interface.

FSOA - The Foreign Service Oral Assessment

1. Where is the FSOA held? As of May 2024, it is now held virtually, over the course of two days.
2. When will I know if I made it to the FSOA? You will get an email from Pearson a few weeks after you submit your personal narratives to the QEP. Your results will also appear in your online account with Pearson. When you are notified that you made it to the FSOA, you will have the opportunity to schedule your FSOA date through the Pearson interface.
3. How can I prepare?

• The FSOA evaluates your demonstration of the 11 dimensions. Know them inside and out.
• Take advantage of the old Yahoo Group FSOA files.
• Contact your Diplomat in Residence, as many of them hold FSOA info sessions.

Clearances

1. What is the process for getting my security clearance?
   1. After you pass the FSOA, you will receive a packet of information describing how this process works. Basically, within 30 days you will fill out a lengthy questionnaire electronically on the e-QIP system. (Read e-QIP FAQs here.)
   2. The e-QIP is the electronic version of the "SF-86," a standard PDF/printable form with essentially the same questions. Although not necessary, some have recommended using a printed SF-86 form to collect all of your responses to the e-QIP and then transcribe them into the electronic system when you are ready. (The e-QIP system does allow you to save and return to work again later.) Start early: many have reported that tracking down all their foreign contacts or previous addresses has taken a long time.
   3. You will wait for a period of time (say between a few days and a few months) and then you will be contacted by an investigator from Diplomatic Security. You will set up an interview with him or her. The investigator will let you know if additional information is required; you can speed up the process by disclosing everything up front. Don't try to hide the negatives; be up front and transparent.
2. Will X affect my ability to get a clearance? It depends. Here are the guidelines.
3. What percentage of applicants are denied a security clearance? Only about 0.1% of initial cases, per the 2015 ODNI report. However the report notes State may discontinue security processing due to automatic disqualifiers found during a suitability review before the case reaches the security clearance adjudication phase. These cases are cancelled by Human Resources before security clearance determinations are rendered and are not, therefore, categorized as security clearance denials. {HT: Christabel34}

Register

1. Where can I find the shadow registers? How can I be added? What is my position on the register? Contact the volunteer maintaining the shadow register for your career track or specialty

Languages

1. Do I have to know a foreign language to be in the foreign service? No, but if you do know a language well, you will receive bonus points and may be hired before a similarly-qualified candidate without language ability. Also, every new FSO must learn a language within the first few years of service. You are on so-called "language probation" until you have passed the appropriate language exam. FSI will provide the language training for any language-designated position in which you are to serve.
2. How do language bonus points work? When you pass the FSOA, you will have a score, usually between about 5.3 and 6, though scores can be as high as 7. You will be ranked by score against other people in your cone, and the higher scores will be hired first. So if you have the highest score for your cone. The only way to improve your score (unless you are a veteran) is to pass a language test. Most languages will get you an additional .17 points if you can demonstrate a "general professional proficiency" on the Interagency Language Roundtable Scale. For examples of the level of proficiency you would need, watch these videos. Harder languages that are in higher demand by the State Department can get you either .25 or .38 points. A list of languages for which State offers bonus points is here. And this thread has some excellent advice on languages.
3. If I speak language X, will I get sent to a post where that language is needed? Not necessarily, unless you received language bonus points for a super critical needs language. In that latter case, you can expect to serve in a position designated for that language at least twice in your career. The super critical needs languages are listed in the bottom table on this page. But if you come in with a fluency in, say, Spanish (which is not a super critical needs language), there is no guarantee that you'll be sent to a Spanish-speaking post.

Life & Work in the Foreign Service

1. What is it like to find out what your next post will be? Read many flag day stories here.
2. How does pay work? How is my salary calculated? What allowances do I get? Read this excellent Foreign Service Officer Salary Guide. You can also look up information about various posts, but be advised that the data on this site is not necessarily official and may be out of date.
3. Will I be required to serve in an unaccompanied post? You are "worldwide available," so in theory it can happen. In practice, there are a lot of people who volunteer to serve in unaccompanied posts for various reasons, and it would be unlikely that you would be forced to serve in one if you didn't want to.
4. What is it like to be LGBT in the foreign service? Review GLIFAA's website and resources, read read real post reports, which have a specific section for LGBT info, by post and these threads - LGBT, Foreign Commercial Service LGBT, same sex marriage, Robyn McCutcheon's book about her career Foreign Service, including as the first trans FSO.

Will it help/hurt my chances if...

1. ...I have a graduate degree from a really good school with a high GPA or I have no degree at all? No, it really doesn't matter.
2. ...I did drugs or committed a crime or did something stupid a long time ago? It could hurt you, but it really depends on what you did, how you dealt with the problem, and what you've been doing since then. Go ahead and apply.
3. ...I did drugs or committed a crime or did something stupid recently? It could hurt you, and if you're continuing to show poor judgment in life, it's going to be next to impossible for you to join the foreign service. However, no one on this sub will be able to tell you definitively what your outcome is likely to be. Fix whatever it is and try again. You won't know if or how this will affect your candidacy unless you try.
4. ...I have dual citizenship? Your clearances will take longer, but it's not a deal breaker. Read details here.
5. **...I have a foreign-born spouse or I have many contacts overseas or I have lived overseas for a long time?**Same answer: your clearances will take longer, but it's not a deal breaker. Read details here and here.

Miscellaneous

1. What happens after I receive my Orientation offer? Orientation 101 is the initial training class you take when you officially start work in the foreign service. Congratulations! It is a time of a lot of changes. Here is a description of what happens.
2. How can I become an Ambassador? You probably won't become an ambassador, and it's not worth the brain cycles to try to plan for it. But even if you have the right set of skills, knowledge, and luck through a career spanning many decades and you end up as an ambassador, you will still have spent far more time as a rank-and-file career employee than as an ambassador. So make sure you are interested, first and foremost, in the job and lifestyle of a foreign service officer, which is where you will spend the entirety of your career.
3. I am outraged over what the President / Secretary / someone else in power just said / did! Nothing wrong with feeling outrage, but what you do with that feeling may matter. And while you may dissent through the appropriate (private) channel, no matter who is in power and no matter who you voted for, your duty as a foreign service officer is to publicly advance the interests of the U.S. As a simplistic example, take a look at who came in first or second in the presidential elections going back ~20 years. Any of them could've been your boss (with small differences in electoral returns for the runners-up, of course): B. Clinton, Dole, Bush, Gore, Kerry, McCain, Obama, Romney, H. Clinton, Trump. Those individuals hold a pretty diverse set of policy views, and the next twenty years of presidential elections will probably result in a similarly diverse list. So if you want to be in the foreign service, think of your job as representing the U.S. regardless of who is in power. If you can see yourself representing the U.S. when person A is in power but not when person B is in power, this may not be the best career for you in the long run.

Additional Resources

• Department of State Careers
• Global Community Liaison Office
• American Foreign Service Association (AFSA)
  • Foreign Service Journal
  • AFSA's Foreign Service Statistics page
  • Foreign Service by the Numbers
• Tales from a Small Planet
• Path to Foreign Service
• American Diplomat podcast
• Modern American Diplomacy podcast

Hey miniswap! I've got some spring cleaning to do in the Warhammer department today featuring some Tzeentch flavored goodies!
Images: https://imgur.com/a/TEvNr7A
What I have:
30 Rubric marines (10 built, 10 partially built, 10 NOS, all bits are accounted for)
3 Exalted sorcerers of Tzeentch (built)
Magnus the red (built)
5 Scarab occult terminators (built)
1 Sorceror lord in terminator armor (built)
1 Ahriman (built on foot, but I still have his disc on a different base)
1 Infernal master (built
1 start collecting daemons of tzeentch (flamers and screamers built, rest NOS)
2 blue horror boxes (NIB)
2 Tzaangor enlightened boxes (NIB)
1 Tzaangor shaman (NIB)
30 Tzaangors (1 built, rest NOS/NIB)
thousand sons index cards set.
Ideally I would like to sell this as a lot, but I am willing to part it out if someone only wants all of the Thousand sons, or only wants all of the Disciples of Tzeentch. Thats as much as I'm willing to part at this time.
I'd like to sell the lot at $1000 with shipping included in the price, Please feel free to PM offers, and we can figure out the pricing if you are wanting just the 1k sons or DoT halves of the lot. Thank you!

I just want to say before I start rating the classes that everyone is different in a way, some people find some classes easier than others and I just want to give a rating that reflects on what I think was hardest classes I’ve taken to ones where I think were the easiest. This can give you a general understanding of what you can expect from the class. I’ll also be sharing what professors I’ve had and rate the class on a scale from 1-10 in terms of difficulty and list the from the hardest to the easiest. I’ll also list when I took the class (fall 23 or spring 24), credits hours, core class or not, and say whether it a full semester class or half a semester class.
Alright here are my rankings:

1. Civil engineering 274 (Statics), core class, 3 credits, full semester, fall 23, professor: Harntaro Wibowo. Difficulty: 9.5/10 All I can say is listen to the rumors about this class. When I was in CE 160 everyone was saying that statics is going to be the hardest class you’ll ever take at ISU, even the TA’s were telling us that. I have always been optimistic and never really thought of it until I took the class. I mean what can I say, first 80% of your grade are the exams and the other 20 is homework, Top-hat etc. Second the material of this class especially in the beginning is kind of hard to keep up with as everything builds up with each other but you do get used to it. When I tell you that you can’t fuck up one exam you really can’t, it’s almost impossible to get a good grade if you fuck up one of them. You’ll have 3 midterms and 1 final, 4 questions on each exam and 90 minutes. The exams are not impossible to solve obviously but they do try to trick you by for example finding the mass instead of weight, unit conversions, and complex wording. Pros about this class is platoons are really helpful for this class (TA’s giving out examples and showing you how to solve them, once per week for 50 min) and if you do go to all of the platoons you do get 2% extra on your final grade. Also SI was helpful as she did give out a lot of examples from previous exams and would recommend going to them. Wibowo wasn’t a bad professor he does recommend printing out the practice example sets before each class because that’s what he goes over the whole class period but I wouldn’t say he is the best at all in terms of 1 on 1 conversations. Also the graders of this class in my opinion are kind of harsh when grading your exams, they can deduct you up to like 5 points for wrong units or wrong answers which I found ridiculous. Overall be prepared for this class, get up to date with 3D related material,Fy,Fx, and moment equations, and a lot of trigonometry.
   
2. Civil Engineering 206 (Engineering economic analysis and professional issues in civil engineering), core class, 3 credits, full semester, spring 24, professor: Jon Matthews Rouse, difficulty: 8.7/10 If you told me back when I was applying for this class at the end of fall that CE 206 was going to be hard as fuck I would’ve laughed at you, but holy fuck it is. Firstly I want to get this out of the way, I wanna say that some classes are hard not because the material is hard but because the professor makes it hard. CE 206 falls into that category where the material is basically high school maths with plugging and chugging numbers into formulas but holy fuck does Matt make it ridiculously hard in his exams. Matt is a great guy and an excellent professor (top 5 coolest professors I’ve ever met), gives dad vibes when you meet him, but he is no joke in his exams. Some of his questions are ridiculous where he really tries to trip you up with the wording and his work out problems are really long and tedious. He also admitted that he does plug numbers into a calculator to see where students might trip up (like squaring your answer when you’re supposed to multiply) and puts the number as one of the multiple choices. He also doesn’t post anything on canvas at all which I found ridiculous since the first page of each exam is solving true and false questions, full in the blank, definitions, etc..Oh yeah you only got 55 minutes for the midterm exams, which I found hard to even see how you could ever finish both the midterm exams (especially the second one) on time. His second exam was so bad, 60-70% failed the exam, and had to curve it by 10%. The homework’s weren’t bad but his graders are really tough graders, I mean I never got a full mark on any of the homework’s and I had 13 homework sets. No wonder why this class is the 5th dropped class at ISU, it’s literally impossible to finish both midterm exams on time, graders for the homework are tough, and no room for extra credit (beside doing only extra credit homework but still).
   
3. Engineering mechanics 324 (mechanics of material), core class, 3 credits, full semester, spring 24, professer: Oleg Zarechnyy, difficultly: 7.7/10 The content in this class is arguably way harder than what you take in statics but when it comes to grading and overall the class structure, this class is not bad. If you take it with Oleg (great professor) his method of teaching is TBL (team base learning) and the class structure is to watch the lecture videos before attending the class, as what you do in class is 2 top-hat questions on the material you watched at home. He also recommends to do the homework before each lecture but I never did and it was fine. The team you are with the whole semester are picked at random and you sit in the same place during the semester. The top hat questions aren’t tricky but if you did not watch the videos you won’t get the answers right. Each question is about 25 min, the first 12 min you do it alone, then the remaining 13 min you discuss your answers with your teammates and submit them together. You do also submit your answers when you do it alone. Exams are easier than statics exams by a mile, I mean some of the questions they give you the moment of inertia, sometime they give you the forces, etc… basically all the calculations that you might trip up they will give you. The formula sheet is essential to this class, so understand where everything is. There are 3 midterm exams, 3 questions, and 90 min (30 min avg each question), very doable. They never try and trick in any of the questions like in statics and it’s pretty straight forward. The final will have 4 questions but you got 120 min so again doable. You have also 3 homework’s each week due Monday, Tuesday, and Friday on Willyplus. Overall a very doable class (class avg on each exam was about 75-80%) and shouldn’t be hard to pass.
   
4. Deferential equations 266 (differential equations), not a core class, 3 credits, half a semester, spring 24, Professor: Domenico D’Alessandro, difficulty: 7/10 Out of the math classes I’ve taken so far at ISU, Calc1, calc2, and Def eq 266, I would say that def eq is definitely the easiest out of the 3 I have taken. This class is supervised by the one and only Steve butler so I already knew it wasn’t going to be batshit hard like the calc department but don’t think it’s a walk in the park type of class. For me this class is all about proving that a certain problem is right by proving it with a set of equations. What I like about this class is 3 things, first and most importantly is that the exams are fair not ridiculously hard like the calc exams but not easy to the point where you didn’t have to study, second you could theoretically not attend a single lecture like I did 99% of the time and just go to the quiz review (more on that in a moment) and try and understand what they are talking about (which wasn’t hard to comprehend) and do well enough on the quizzes to be ready for the exams, and thirdly there’s a fucking formula sheet thank god. If it wasn’t for the formula sheet I promise you this class would be 10x harder cause you do need a lot of equations for this class. Exam wise there will be 2 for 266, 6 questions each, and 75 minutes, which I think is fair considering some questions are really easy and fast to solve and some do take time but I wouldn’t say it’s like a 20 minute question more like 7-8 minute question. For me quizzes were the best as like in calculus you have a weekly quiz 25 min, 2 random questions from the practice quiz you have to solve, and as I said if you go the quiz review and understand what is happening it’s Literally a free 10/10. Exams are 60%, quizzes are 25%, Homework are 12% (you only need to do 3 questions form the sample set to get full credit), and the remaining 3% is basically free points if you do the weekly review where it asks how are doing in class, recommendations, etc. overall very doable class with a lot of chances to get a good grade as he does drop your lowest 2 exam questions, 1 quiz, and 4 homework sets. I can’t tell you if the professor is solid or not as I rarely went to class besides doing the quizzes but from what I gathered he is ok.
   
5. Statistics 305 (Engineering statistics), not a core class, 3 credits, full semester, spring 24, instructor: Troy Meyers, difficultly: 6.7/10 This is the exact reverse of CE 206, the content here is hard, in my personal opinion, but Troy makes his exams really easy. First off I wanna say that Troy is one the funniest professors I’ve ever met, he tells us cool and funny stories, he really wants you to succeed in this class by helping and asking questions, and he really is passionate about statistics. The material is hard but his exams are literally the example material he posts on canvas along with of the homework questions. I mean if you can memorize the practice material on canvas you’ll be just fine as most of the time he doesn’t even change the numbers in the exam (keeps it the same). The first 2 exams were really easy, the third exam I failed it just because I stoped going to lecture and didn’t even go to the exam, but the avg was really high just don’t be a dumbass like me, the final is recycled material from the 3 midterms along with questions from post 3rd exam. The homework is really easy if you understand what you are doing. Honestly this class could be hard if you don’t take it with Troy. Oh yeah DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS ONLINE! I heard they make the online sections of this class ridiculously hard, just take it with Troy he teaches like 7 sections of this class, so you should find more than enough seats to be in his sections.
   
6. Chemistry 167 L (chemistry 167 lab), not a core class, 1 credit, full semester, fall 23, Instructor: Krishna Suresh, difficulty:6.2/10 This class for 1 credit is absolutely bullshit. Firstly the “professor” for this class is named Sarah Pistolesi but you never actually meet her or even talk to her ever, even if you tried to send an email she will never respond. So what you have is a post graduate instructor and about 15 other students in a laboratory doing chemistry. What I was hoping for this class is to do dope ass chemistry experiments and overall have a chill and easy time but nope this class is the literal definition of aids. You do about 13 experiments throughout the semester and I would classify 1 experiment as cool and rest absolutely ass, you have to do a fat ass report on your experiment, and you also have 3 in class experiment exams throughout the semester, you have a pre lab quiz, post lab quiz, and post lab EXAM each fucking week (all online though). I mean all that for 1 credits is insane and they weren’t easy quizzes or exams nah they were the ones where you actually had to read the lab manual thoroughly and do the labs precisely to do well on them. The pain in ass really was the lab reports, some of my lab reports were like 8-13 pages long as they ask you a shit ton of questions about the experiment you did that week along with a review on what you did, you had to make graphs from excel, and solve stoichiometric questions which as I said before is insane for a 1 credit class. I mean I put more effort into this class than fucking Calc 1 and that’s not even a joke. Now the instructor (Krishna Suresh) is really cool though and does understand our pain for this class I mean this was her first time teaching this class and was astonished by the amount of work you had to put for 1 credit. She did her best and did sometimes allow us to go early because for some reason there is no fucking chairs to sit on and the lab was 3 hours long so you had to stand up to 3 hours straight with no breaks at all. Smh that class was a joke on god and unless you are a chem major you aren’t going to get an A on this class, also some of the questions were ridiculously hard to solve unless you know chemistry for real for real.
   
7. Speech com (Speech communication), not a core class, 3 credits, full semester, fall 23, Professor: Michael Wettengel, difficulty: 5/10 Out of all the classes on this list this class is the dullest class I’ve taken so far. In fact it’s so dull I can’t even tell you how the grades were distributed because he goes off by points, and not by percentage but what I can tell about this class is that you have to put effort into your speeches. In this class you will have 3 major speeches, 3 or 4 mini speeches, lots of homework, and in class activities. For your mini speeches all you have to do is write a speech 2-4 min long on a index card-s and read it to your fellow classmates, obviously it’s not that straightforward as you need to come up with the plot and stuff but that wasn’t bad. For the major speeches you had to make a PowerPoint for your first two speeches along with references and research to prove on what you are taking about and obviously a rehearsed speech you have to prepare and present to the class. You got a lot of homework you have to do but honestly they were just stepping blocks for the presentation and speech you were going to give for your major speeches so it wasn’t bad. Finally the in class activities weren’t bad but they were silly especially at the beginning. Oh yeah for this class you have attend as there is attendance points and also for the in class activities you had basically each class. The main speeches were an informative, persuasive, and special occasion. The first one (informative) was in my opinion the most annoying one as you had to do a lot of research for your topic along with pictures, slides, references, etc. The second (persuasive) was actually not bad as you would want to keep the same topic from the informative one and just persuaded on why your topic is important. For the third one (special occasion) it was the easiest as no research was needed and you can really talk about anything you want. For the first two speeches you had to get your topic approved by the professor but the third one you don’t have to as long as you and another class mate aren’t talking about the same topic. Michael wasn’t a bad professor at all, he actually made the class quit fun it was just the material and over overall speech com is boring. He is a tough grader though and does take the speeches seriously and will deduct points accordingly to the speeches rubric. Honestly the only reason I give this class a 5/10 in difficulty is the amount of effort you have to for this class and not because the material is hard.
   
8. Civil engineering 170 (Graphics for civil engineers), core class, 2 credits, full semester, fall 23, professor: Stuart Nielsen, difficulty 4.25/10 What made this class instantly easier than the rest of the civil engineering classes is that the class is online and even if it wasn’t I think it would easier than the other civil engineering classes. Firstly no exams in this class which is already great, secondly it’s easy to follow up in this class meaning you don’t have to watch the lecture videos multiple time to understand what’s happening you can watch it once and easily see what he is talking about. There are 12 homework sets, and 2 projects that’s it. The homework sets are: first 2 weeks you do sketches, 2D, and 3D drawings with building objects. You also learn how to draw thing on a side view, top view, etc in 2D and 3D. The next 5 weeks you will use AutoCAD learning how to use it and using its tools, a bit surveying, etc.., then 1 week to do the final project on AutoCAD which is literally what you did on the app for the last 5 weeks compressed into a final project. The the next 5 weeks you do Revit which was actually really fun in my opinion, you learn how to design and build a building on Revit, floor plans, put objects, sceneries, etc…, and then 1 week to the final project which was basically to build a house with a few requirements. Honestly this class is really easy and I would say the hardest thing about this class was the AutoCAD final project was a bit tricky but once you get used to AutoCAD it’s only honestly cake. Revit is in my opinion easy and simple to understand, its tools are not complex and the rendering on the app is great. Stuart is a great guy and although you don’t really meet him he does put a lot of effort into his videos and does respond to emails.
   
9. History 202 (Introduction to western civilization), not a core class, 3 credits, half a semester, spring 24, professor: John Monroe, difficulty: 3.6/10 I never thought I would enjoy learning about history and this class did not disappoint. It’s a fun class to learn about European history (Napoleon, French Revolution, WW2) and John’s videos are fun to watch. It does get boring sometimes but that’s when some of the history was boring but I wouldn’t say I slept or anything like that. You do quizzes weekly but honestly if you do watch the lecture videos then you shouldn’t have any problems. You might not take an A on this class as some of the questions are detailed (you need to read the questions carefully) but you will definitely enjoy the class.
   
10. Anthropology 230 (globalization, and the human condition), not a core class, 3 credits, half a semester, fall 23, professor: Sedi Azirani, difficulty: 2.8/10 Im going to make this short and simple, watch the lecture videos, do the weekly quizzes, do a essay every 2 weeks, review the course for the final exam, take the final exam and you’ll get an easy A. The only tricky part about this class is the essays as you have to watch a video (usually there will be 2 to choose from) get a reference source and write an essay about the video topic. Quizzes are easy if you watch the videos and look at the slides, and the final exam is easy if you review the material. Honestly an easy A.
    
11. English 250 (written, oral, visual, and electronic composition), not a core class, 3 credits, full semester, fall 23, professor: Paul Kimumwe, difficulty: 1/10 If you have taken any english class from ISU you should know that they are an easy A. I put literally 0 effort into this class and still got a 98% on it. You literally do 4 or 5 major essays of your liking as long as you follow their simple requirements and you do 1 power point slide towards the end of the semester explaining your future plans with your degree and I would say thats about it. I mean the only way to fail this class is literally not to submit anything but you really do need a free A from time to time to boost your gpa and luckily this class is a requirement for any degree you take here.
    

Final thoughts:
This year, I tried to get out of the way the bullishit classes like my SSH electives, and the easy classes so I can get to the good stuff in the future without a annoying and unnecessary class that I’m forced to take that literally isn’t a engineering class, so I would say that this year was a smooth sailing but probably won’t be next year as I’m going to take some tough ass classes. I hope I have given y’all some insight to these classes if y’all ever gonna take them especially for future Civil engineers.

By now I'm sure we've all heard the news about the upcoming price increase. Every time this happens, there is a lot of heated discussion about the cost of 40k as a game and hobby. After today's post, I became curious about how the price of 40k has changed over time in relation to general CPI inflation (the % change to the price of a general basket of goods and services in a given country). Here's what I found and what it seems to indicate.
DATA TABLE LINKED HERE Direct if you want to bypass the imgur interface
TLDR: What the Data Seems to Say

• Most kits I was able to source data for showed price increases below (often far below) the cumulative rate of inflation over the years.
  
• The exceptions, where price increases outpaced cumulative inflation, seemed to hit large units (Wraithknight, Trygon, Hemlock) the hardest. There are a few exceptions to this pattern (the Farseer, Tactical Marines). I wonder if they just realized that, since people often only buy one of these units they can psychologically justify a higher price for them? Hard to say for sure.
  
• GW seems to try to keep "core" infantry kits as close to the $50/$60 marks as they can, rather than raising them further to match inflation. Their unwillingness to go above $60 with the 1ksons Rubrics/Terminators/Sorcerers from 8 years ago stood out to me. I'd guess that they do this to keep the entry point into an army lower, so they can then make their money on character models and more expensive centerpieces.
  
• GW seems to use the release of new sculpts as an opportunity to break psychological price barriers (see the Genestealer jump over the $50 mark with the new kit). This has happened with other units as well, I'm sure you can name a few.
  

So, is GW Price Gouging?

• GW's Net Income EXPLODED in 2017 and the years to follow (https://stockanalysis.com/quote/lon/GAW/financials/cash-flow-statement/). 2017 was the launch of 8th edition 40k, and 3 years after former CEO Tom Kirby left the company. While we have seen price increases, they don't appear to have exceeded the rate of inflation across the broader economy (at least for a typical army with a variety of unit types)
  
• GW's annual reports show that, since 2017, they have grown their number of retail stores worldwide. Yet those retails stores make up a smaller percentage of total sales in 2024 than in 2017 (and no, online isn't picking up the slack). The biggest growth area is sales through 3rd party retailers. This suggests a massive growth of sales through local game stores, outstripping the (substantial) growth GW has seen with its own storefronts and online store.
  
• Subreddit stats and google trends all show an explosion of interest in 40k starting roughly in 2018-2019 and continuing at a very high rate up through today.
  
• All of this together seems to imply that GW is managing to grow their profits by greatly expanding their customer base and by raising prices to "chase" inflation as much as they can without pushing past it on aggregate (with a few exceptions on a model by model basis) to avoid breaking psychological pricing barriers for customers. In the future I may attempt to recreate the cost of realistic army lists at different points in the game's history to see how much the cost of playing has really grown over the years.
  

Reading the Chart
The "Price" column lists the MSRP of the unit in the stated year (bolded). You'll then see the current MSRP from the GW web store for that same kit or equivalent, and the % increase in the MSRP between the two prices (highlighted GREEN if it undershot inflation, YELLOW if it matched it, and RED if it overshot inflation). To the right of that is cumulative inflation in the relevant country (mostly US CPI data, but some BoE data) from the year of the original price sample up until today, 2024. I list the source and some notes further right. I will provide the source links below in this post.
Limits of this Data

• This data does not reflect how many models you needed to play the game in any given year. Army sizes ebb and flow across editions. In 6th/7th, for example, it was far more common for people to play 1850 games simply because 2000 points was too unwieldy. You had to put down a lot more STUFF for some armies to reach 2000 (remember 35 point rhinos? remember FREE rhinos?!)
  
• Some armies will always be relatively cheaper to buy/play due to the required number of units (see: Custodes). This data can't really capture that.
  
• 40k was already an expensive hobby 10 years ago, so the fact that price increases may be undershooting inflation doesn't mean it's cheap by any means!
  

Where I got my Data
40k "news" blogs like Spikeybits and Bell of Lost Souls post pricing information about new releases frequently, and have been doing so for a decade at least. I was able to find a variety of articles from as early as 2013 with data for models that exist in the game to this day. I also found an archived Livejournal where some guy attempts to do some price analysis on iconic units much further back than that, and I picked out the prices of kits that still exist today.
HERE IS A LINK TO A PICTURE WITH THE URLS OF MY SOURCES, I CANNOT LINK SPIKEYBITS OR BOLS HERE IT SEEMS
Mods, if the above image is still a rules issue let me know and I will remove it. I just want my sources to be accessible.
Thanks for reading!

Hi everyone,
Long time listener, first time caller. A joke from calling into radio stations. Despite the dated joke, I am a man in my mids 20s. I was born right before the turn of the century so I got to grow up as the digital age was developing. I knew I was different growing up but I never really knew why until I was about twelve. I remember talking to Child Study professionals from ages 4-12. I got modified assignments, I got put into another room during tests and got extra time. It was only during a routine check up did I learn of my diagnosis. "So how's the Aspergers?" An awkward question that I had no answer to but my mom answered like it was nothing. I asked her on the car ride and that opened Pandora's Box. I started doing more research. I started connecting dots. I was happy I could make sense of why the world didn't seem to make sense through my eyes. The bullying sucked I will admit but I at least I knew why. The almost obsessive interests in Pokemon and Digimon, the tendency to hyperfixate on things, the random repeating of phrases. But my sudden clarity would become a blessing and a curse. Through the trials and tribulations of the American public school system, I slowly became more self-aware of my behavior. Why didn't I fit in quite as easily as others? Sure there are a lot of kids that are awkward and get made fun of for their character quirks that don't have ASD. But I wanted to be accepted. So I slowly took bits and pieces from friends who were in the cooler social circles. I used to laugh at everything, not knowing when a joke started and ended, and got made fun of. So I learned to look for the minor inflections in voices that denotes a laugh. I learned to use my dry manner of speak to my advantage. I copied mannerisms, became hyperaware of my body language. I started masking. I still made social faux pas but it was mitigated. I count myself lucky that I had a large, diverse group of friends I could be myself around. But along the way, I lost sight of who that person truly was. I spent so long with the mask up that I wasn't sure if there was a real person underneath. MAsking your quirks makes you hyperaware, hypervigilant. I developed social anxiety and became self-conscious about how I was being perceived at any given moment. I have since worked on this in therapy and am doing better but it has been a long road.
Growing up, my mom had to facilitate a lot of my friendships until about 5th grade. She wanted to make sure I was developing as much as I could. I was a hyperactive kid who would not shut up about my special interests. Luckily, the friends I made shared those same interests. I had a friend who I knew since kindergarten. We would go to each other's houses all the time. We would gush over Power Rangers. It was a particularly big special interest for me and it was freeing to be able to talk about. Unfortunately, as we grew older, we slowly grew apart. He became more interested in fitting in. He would often say "You are obsessed" and "that stuff is for kids" even though we were 8, 9, 10 years old. The things I was into became frowned upon. So I hid them. I would get made fun of but he never outwardly defend me. I still considered him my best friend. But I think I stopped being his. We are still friends but not as close as we used to be. My outlook on life is very simple and tends to be black and white. If we have a few decent interactions and connect on a single interest, I consider you a friend. Understanding the nuance between acquaintance and friend can be difficult at times. I don't do well with change. The people you think are going to be in your life forever may not be there in a few years. That hurt to learn. Learning that people grow and change into adulthood hurts too. Things aren't the same as they were when you were young. But I still want to just play video games, play with imaginary friends and just hang out like we did 10 years ago. It hurts that people don't share the same thoughts on consistency like me. But Individuals are allowed to be just that, individual. Again, I am lucky enough to have found people that like me for me. I played soccer at the collegiate level and met lifelong friends through it. I was able to find people that accepted me with all of my perceived flaws and quirks. I came to terms with the fickleness of human personality and understood that others are dealing with their own stuff too. Im still anxious but I feel more comfortable in my own skin.
Now, of course, if you expecting to hear something about romantic relationships, we have finally arrived. I just wanted to give some context. Of course, I did overexplain some things but I digress. Growing up, I was a romantic cynic on the outside, and a hopeless romantic on the inside. I always wanted love but yet never understood how to get it. I watched a lot of television and played a lot of games. I am naturally introverted and am often in my own head rather than reality. I used to daydream about being a relationship all the time. I would develop crushes and think I was going to spend my life with the person. Yes even at 8 years old. I would build up the courage and confess my affection through notes or through someone else. But I never really knew the other person. I was falling in love with a idea. I liked the idea of love. Someone who is there for you. To help comfort you when you're sad. They make you happy and you get to kiss all the time. But that way of thinking is selfish. You are taking the other person out the equation and you are constructing a person that will compensate your feelings of loneliness. It's not totally a bad thing. I can be nice to escape from reality from time to time. But at some point, you have to come back. Which sucks. But I learned this the hard way. And sometimes, that's the only way. Women, men or any person you are trying to date have their own thoughts, emotions, wants and needs. You can't expect a blank canvas. As a man, I was lucky to have female friends who could give me a perspective on life as a women. The do and don'ts of courting, be respectful and taking rejection in stride. I started college thinking every thing would be different. I would start dating with this new rubric. I met someone who seem to fit every category. She also played soccer, she was in the same major and I found her attractive (she wore glasses, that's a thing for me). I will say I had a very low threshold for attraction. We were snapchating, talking every day and we became pretty good friends. In retrospect, the relationship was a little one-sided as I was more a person to vent to, but I digress. I was convinced that things were going well. I confessed one night after mustering up all my courage (notice the pattern?). She said maybe. People, if you get a maybe, take it as a NO and try to move on. I latched on that maybe and selfishly thought 'She'll come around, eventually'. I made sure stay respectful. I asked her out a few times but did not a committal response. One night, I had helped her walk a friend home from a party. We ran into some friends of hers and they asked "is that your boooooyfriend", like a child. She responded with an "Ew no" and we moved on. After taking some time, I realized that I needed to exercise some self-respect. I sent a text explaining that I liked being her friend and I did not want to lose that. But I still liked her romatically so i needed time and space to work that out. I had been falling for the surface level things we had in common and we never connected any deeper. I grew from the experience and learned that, for me at least, a relationship should have a basis in friendship. Love your partner, but you should also like your partner too. Also, for all the young men who are attracted to women out there, you can be friends with the other sex without expecting sex or a relationship. As I stated, I benefitted by the different perspectives of the friends I had made. My first relationship ended up being with a women I had made friends with freshmen year of college.
I had a lot of bad luck with romance all throughout my schooling days. Most of it was my fault, given I never really knew the people i had crushes on. In college, it was more out of my control. I used dating apps (every one you could think of) and didn't have much success. I worked on myself and slowly improved my dating profile. I tried the direct approach, giving a personal description that almost exceeded the character count. I wanted to make sure the other person knew as much about me as possible. That didn't seem to work so I tried the witty line. That kinda worked but not by much. I got few matches that didn't go anywhere. I got a date once but the person on the profile didn't really look like it in real life. That and we didn't really have anything in common. I will say I did not deal with that the most mature way (ghosted). Don't do that, I'm not proud of it but live and learn. The next time I asked somebody out, they texted me the morning after at 3 am to tell me they are getting back with their ex and she subsequently tried to set me up with a friend out of pity. I could only laugh. At that point, I decided to give up on love. It wasn't meant for me. I got too many quirks and idiosyncracies. I don't deserve love. I'm just a wast...and the spiral continued. Funny enough, I decided to download Tinder for umpteenth time at the beginning of junior year. I swiped on a friend that I made freshman year who I had been attracted but never acted on it. She had a boyfriend at the time so I just let it go. She, her friends and I were often studying in the same common area and developed a rapport. They were Bio majors so I didn't have any classes in common with them my sophomore year. I would always say hi in passing and stop for small talk here and there but nothing major. I was surprised when she matched with me. It was a surreal feeling. Does someone that I like like me back? This was unprecedented. I felt like I made progress. Maybe people like me can find someone. But I didn't want to get my hopes up. She could have swiped because we knew each other (I don't know what that means either but it's what I thought). Then we talked. and talked some more. And some more. I never asked for advice from friends. I tried to be as authentic as possible. It turns out I am pretty witty over text. I was (and still am) oblivious to signs of attractions, given it had never been reciprocated before. She actually asked me to see a scary movie together. I made a comment about scarying easily and she said I could hold her hand if I get jumpy. Well that is the most obvious sign I could get. Date goes well, We start studying together. I actually initiated a snuggle as we watched a movie. RED ALERT, physical contact with a romantic interest. Wooooo! One day we are hanging out and tells me that her friends had said that they wished that they could find a guy like me back then. That helped my self-esteem immensely. I felt comfortable disclosing my ASD after she asked why I wasn't the party type of person. Too loud, too many smells, too crowded. She was receptive and understanding. I was estatic. I was doing the impossible, in my eyes. I had a lot of firsts in a short amount of time. Specifically, in the physical department. I got my first kiss, and some touchy-feelies of private parts in one night. Things were happening fast. I got asked to define the relationship AFTER my first time. That was a very awkward time to be asked this question. But I wanted to be with her so... yeah. I did everything I could to be a good boyfriend. Be supportive, try to hang out when I can, make time for her and make sure that I try to be the best person I can be. Unfortunately, some things are out of your control. After a month, there had been a bit of distance. I was oblivious to it; I was so focused on being the perfect boyfriend. One day, we were trying to pick something to watch and we couldn't decide on anything. She didn't like anime and I didn't want to watch baking shows. She asked me if something felt off between us. I didn't think so but she did. She essentially told me that she wasn't falling in love with and she didn't think she would. I was blindsided. I accepted it, I couldn't really blame her. I didn't do anything wrong. But those thoughts started to come back. "See, you don't deserve it and you never did", "the other foot was going to drop eventually", "too good to be true", etc. I spiralled. I was a mess for months. I finally got diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I started taking meds. I started therapy. Eventually, I got better and felt ready to try again.
I was a bit jaded butwanted to start putting myself out there, slowly. This time, I chose a combination of witty honesty for my Tinder profile. Something like looking for wholesome connections on Tinder may not be the best, but I am naive. Then I met HER. Oh man, what a looker. And would you believe she messaged me first? She was refreshed by my honesty and thought I was attractive. Woah. Now this is 4 months from when my first relationship ended. I wanted to take things slow. I told myself that I would make sure I truly connected with someone before getting into a relationship. So that's what I did. We talked every day, really getting to know each other. We had similar interests and some different ones. She is brutally honest and straightforward just like me. She is confident and funny, but she had such a capacity for empathy and understanding. They say you should never have your standards too high. I had always felt like mine were, given I spent years in my own head, crafting the perfect person. But, imagine, you meet someone who fits so closely to almost every criteria? We became good friends. I slowly opened up more. That includes complimenting her, believe or not. I tend to come on strong in most situations so I tried to be more reserved. She has such a beautiful smile. Anyway, i digress. I started to realize that I was falling for her. Hard. Not like before though. Like I wake up and think about her. Go to bed and think about her. We started talking over winter break while I was at home. We were long distance but I would come back every other week. Our first date was at....a movie (original I know). I was very nervous because I really liked her, I wanted it to go well..and we were also horny people in their early twenties who may or may not planned to do the deed in the parking lot. Which was not great because again, I was nervous. But things got better. She became my girlfriend. The bad thoughts went away. I fell in love. Let me tell you, it feels great. Plus, lockdown happened towards the beginning of our relationship. So we got to see each other super often. Inseperable. We knew that we would marry each other. We found our person. 4 years later, now its happily ever after. Except life isn't a fairy tale. Nothing to celebrate on my anniversary, no one to see on Valentine's Day. We went on a break in Spetmeber to work on ourselves. We became co-depepndent. She had mental health challenges that I couldn't fix. I couldn't make it better. No matter how hard i tried. We were our own support system. But she was the love of my life and I wasn't going to give up. But then she broke up with me in October. She fell out of love. She called me the next day and changed her mind. She made a mistake. I have a girlfriend again. Two days later, she broke up with me again. She made a mistake in making a mistake. Fast forward a month, her birthday is coming up. I still check up on her story on Insta. It would be the first I missed. I had sent her a letter to get closure. She responded. We talk. Im just happy to hear her voice. two days later, she misses me and wants to come back. I'm happy. My whole outlook changes. I can listen to music again. We plan on spend thanksgiving together. Things are gonna back to normal. I stayed up all night the night before I pick her up from school. I'm too excited. Then the text. "I think Im running away from my problems please don't come". She blocks me again. We talk. If she is going to come back, she wants to come back better. She doesn't want me to wait and if I find somebody else....I stopped her. I only wanted to be with her. I wont wait but I will always keep the door open for her. She is worth it. But I lied. I lied to her but more importantly, I lied to myself. I was telling myself I was getting better. I downloaded apps again. I started working out again. Im moving on. No, I waited. I put my life on hold. Waiting. For just one phone call. One text. I get the love of my life back. Today, I saw a picture of her kissing another guy. She was happy. She was better. He looked like I did when I was with her. I reached out. I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell. But I couldn't. Because love is unconditional. I love her and I always will. But with love comes loss. Love means being happy for her even if it's not with me. Love is not some emotion that makes you want to have sex and kiss. Love is commitment. Love is doing the little things. Love is being there even when you are mad at each other. Love is not standing in the way of your loved ones happiness. Love is hard. Love is not a feeling. I have a hard time with feelings. I can;t understand them half the time. But I know what love is. I had it and I lost it. It's soul crushing and it's not fair. But Love....is knowing when to let go. I hope I can find it again someday. But for now, I have to stop waiting.

Hey guys happy exam season. My friend and I were wondering if you're given a rubric for free response on the AP World exam?? Our teacher always gives us one during practice, but he marks off if we don't hit the specific points. I'm just looking for some clarity, so thank u in advance :)

I'm having a bit of a dilemma, and I could use some advice. Figured I'd post locally first, before expanding out.
I work for a local tech company as an IT Director. We have an intern working for us. She's super bright, picks up on the tech work REALLY well, is good with clients, etc. However, we've been having issues with getting her to respond to emails, find certain things online, etc.
As an evaluation, I asked her to write a 200-500 word whitepaper on an IT related subject. She got it back to me....
She's in her mid 20's and writes at a 7th grade level.
I'm not gonna get into a discussion about the DC public school system, except to say that I am fucking APPALLED that THAT is what passes as an education in our nation's capital. Its abhorrent and pathetic....
That said, I'm about solutions. I want to help her. Can anyone recommend either some in person places that are low cost/free that do adult remedial english? Or if you can recommend a Udemy or Khan Academy course, or even a rubric that I can follow to help tutor her. She's not a dummy or a dolt, but simply has a deficit that needs to be brought up to par. And she's willing to do the work.
Any recommendations (preferably specific) would be most welcome.
Thank you.

This is going to be grossly oversimplified, and I'm sorry for that, but hopefully there's still a meaningful discussion to be had here. In looking at top of the line cameras, the flagships of each brand, it seems to me that there's a target demographic for each, and understanding that demographic will help shed some light on the rest of the brand's lower tier options. Its sort of a peek into the philosophy of the camera designers that result in these beautiful machines. Potentially this also helps newcomers decide where to start looking, as without a bit of guidance the amount of options and specifications to compare can be quite daunting, and thus most end up judging a camera primarily based on megapixel count, which is of course not the best rubric to use in isolation. At the entry level / budget end of the spectrum these lines get a lot more blurry, so I think looking at the high end helps elucidate the differences in approach and overall philosophy.
Anyway, having only cursory knowledge of high end cameras, here's the oversimplified generalizations I've come up with, please feel free to add your own, or disagree and share your arguments otherwise:
~~~~
Sony: professional videographers, marketers
Panasonic Lumix: semi-professional videographers, especially 'run and gun' style
Canon: professional cinematographers and photographers
Black Magic: professional and semi-professional cinematographers
Nikon: professional photojournalists and wildlife photographers
Fuji: amateurs practicing film emulation
Ricoh: amateurs practicing street photography
Leica: semi-professional and amateur photographers
Pentax: amateur photographers
Hasselblad: semi-professional and amateur photographers, focused on medium format
Olympus: semi-professional and amateur wildlife photographers (especially birds)
GoPro: amateur sports videographers
Polaroid: amateur photographers focused on nostalgic images
Kodak: amateur photographers looking for a point and shoot
~~~~
I'm using these terms as such:
Photographer - anyone who produces stills using one or more cameras
Videographer - anyone who uses cameras to produce videos meant for the small screen (e.g. weddings, events, social media), and is more likely to be working solo, or as part of a small team
Cinematographer - anyone who uses cameras to produce footage for the big screen, and is more likely a member of a larger team
Professional - anyone who practices their craft as their sole source of income
Semi-professional - anyone who practices their craft as a source of supplemental income
Amateur - anyone who practices their craft purely for their own enjoyment, and does not rely on it for income
None of these terms are commentary on skill or talent, purely on intent

 
++ Army Roster (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [1,995pts] ++
 
+ Configuration +
 
Battle Size: 2. Strike Force (2000 Point limit)
 
Detachment Choice: Slaves to Darkness
 
Show/Hide Options: Chaos Knights are visible, Khorne Daemons are visible, Legends are visible, Nurgle Daemons are visible, Slaanesh Daemons are visible, Titans are visible, Tzeentch Daemons are visible, Unaligned Forces are visible, Unaligned Fortifications are visible
 
+ Character +
 
Warpsmith [70pts]: Mark of Slaanesh, Warlord, Warp hammer
 
+ Battleline +
 
Cultist Mob [50pts]: Mark of Nurgle
. Cultist Champion: Bolt pistol and brutal assault weapon
. 6x Cultist w/ cultist firearm and close combat weapon: 6x Close combat weapon, 6x Cultist firearm
. Cultist w/ cultist grenade launcher
. Cultist w/ flamer
. Cultist w/ heavy stubber
 
+ Infantry +
 
Havocs [120pts]: Mark of Nurgle
. Havoc Champion: Meltagun, Power fist
. 4x Havoc w/ lascannon: 4x Havoc lascannon
 
Havocs [120pts]: Mark of Nurgle
. Havoc Champion: Meltagun, Power fist
. 4x Havoc w/ lascannon: 4x Havoc lascannon
 
Possessed [130pts]: Chaos icon, Mark of Slaanesh
. 5x Possessed: 5x Hideous mutations
 
Possessed [130pts]: Chaos icon, Mark of Slaanesh
. 5x Possessed: 5x Hideous mutations
 
Raptors [85pts]: Mark of Chaos Undivided
. 2x Raptor: 2x Astartes chainsword, 2x Bolt pistol
. Raptor Champion: Plasma pistol, Power fist
. 2x Raptor w/ meltagun: 2x Close combat weapon, 2x Meltagun
 
Raptors [85pts]: Mark of Chaos Undivided
. 2x Raptor: 2x Astartes chainsword, 2x Bolt pistol
. Raptor Champion: Plasma pistol, Power fist
. 2x Raptor w/ meltagun: 2x Close combat weapon, 2x Meltagun
 
+ Mounted +
 
Chaos Bikers [75pts]: Chaos icon, Mark of Nurgle
. Biker Champion: Power fist
. Biker w/ meltagun: Astartes chainsword
. Biker w/ meltagun: Astartes chainsword
 
+ Vehicle +
 
Chaos Predator Destructor [130pts]: Combi-bolter, Havoc launcher, Mark of Tzeentch
. 2 heavy bolters
 
Chaos Predator Destructor [130pts]: Combi-bolter, Havoc launcher, Mark of Tzeentch
. 2 heavy bolters
 
Chaos Predator Destructor [130pts]: Combi-bolter, Havoc launcher, Mark of Tzeentch
. 2 heavy bolters
 
Venomcrawler [110pts]: Mark of Tzeentch
 
Venomcrawler [110pts]: Mark of Tzeentch
 
Venomcrawler [110pts]: Mark of Tzeentch
 
+ Allied Units +
 
Kairos Fateweaver [270pts]
 
Pink Horrors [140pts]
. 10x Pink Horror: 10x Coruscating Pink flames, 10x Pink claws
 
++ Total: [1,995pts] ++
 
Created with BattleScribe
Logic: Saving on transport by using raptors Kairos for free overwatch that is only available to CSM via helbrute through double fist or Rubric marines Saving on characters that are pretty fragile Warpsmith lone operative for holding objectives Kairos for indirect fire and overwatch on glass cannons like scourges Dark eldar and hybrids GSC Horrors as a tax on Kairos+ very good damage suckers that can resist hard push by World eaters/space wolves Cultists for meat wall + sticky objectives Bikers for screen Possessed as damage dealers to inv save units Havovs in reserves for taking down backstaged artillery and tanks Venomcrawlers and predators damage dealers cost efficient for their points. Better than forcefield for points.

PUT YOUR REDDIT USERNAME AND YOUR EMAIL AT THE END OF THE PERSONAL STATEMENT. PLEASE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS WITHIN, OR WE CAN'T RETURN YOUR STATEMENT.

This is the official post for personal statement (PS) editing as described through this year's announcement. Please be familiar with the stipulations described in that post. This opportunity is open for the community between May 3rd at midnight EDT (time of posting) and May 9th at 11:59 pm EDT.

You may upload your statements to the anonymous Dropbox link here: https://www.dropbox.com/request/FO6kJoYsV0H6At2GM1Cr
No one else can see it in Dropbox, only the reviewers. Submit a WORD FILE (.doc or .docx, not PDF). PDFs will not be read, reviewed, or edited; similarly, Google Docs will not be accessed. You can de-identify your PS, but you'll need to include your Reddit username and an email at the end of the personal statement to return it to you. Last year, seven statements could never be returned because I didn't have the information to give them back.
Please follow this naming convention for your file so we can keep our notes organized: Year_Month_Day_RedditUserName_DentalPS

Example: If I uploaded on the day of posting, April 10th, it would be: 2023_04_10_Calvith_DentalPS

FAQs:

1. When will you get my statement back to me? We all work full-time. There is no official timeline for our responses. Additionally, it will be as long as last year because each of the three editors will look at your statement, and our hours will differ. Some of us are in dental school; some of us work full-time. You should get your statement back within a reasonable timeframe, either during the week of submission or the week after. If it takes longer, I'm sorry, but this is a free service to many people.
2. How will you review my statement? A combination of approaches. Because there are three different editors, you will see a variety of editing techniques. Expect to see Word comments (many fail to notice these comments, so look for them), inline edits, and assessments via a rubric. The rubric will allow us to qualitatively rank your statement to impress upon you different aspects that need work.
3. Can I submit an incomplete statement and/or resubmit? Please feel free to submit an incomplete statement; we will review it as thoroughly as possible. However, we may choose not to review any subsequent resubmission, incomplete or complete, so choose when you submit carefully.
4. Why should I care what you think? That's the best part: you don't have to. We may be at odds with other advice you've gotten. It's up to you to decide what to submit. Each editor has been accepted to dental school at some point, so we know what has worked for us. We will do our best to offer valuable and constructive feedback.
5. Are you going to steal my PS for yourself? It seems like a joke of a question, but I received it a handful of times last year. We're all accepted to a dental school or dental students; we don't need help getting in. Additionally, any well-written personal statement should be nearly impossible to apply to another individual. That's why they're personal.

Useful Links:

• 2022's Personal Statement Editing Thread
• 2023's Personal Statement Editing Thread

Edit 1, 5/7/24, 11:45 AM EDT: we are making progress through the statements we have received so far. Each takes, on average, 30 minutes. We have 40 statements so far. I'm hoping to be able to return batches by the end of the week, but with the goal of all statements being returned by 5/17/24. Thanks for your patience.
Edit 2, 5/9/24, 10:00 PM EDT: the Dropbox is officially closed. I know it's a couple hours early, but we've had a huge number of statements roll through. Hoping to get them back ASAP.

I'm getting out of the hobby and moving cross country, so I'm selling most of my minis. I'm selling a mostly complete Adeptus Mech army, a complete Sisters of Battle army, a small Drukhari army, a complete Genestealer Cults army, some Slaves to Darkness, and some Slaanesh characters. I won't break up the army lots, as they're already packed up. The lists are for number of models, not units. The Sisters army has some weird numbers, because it was made up from two of the original army boxes plus some regular kits. The Genestealer Cults army has some similarly weird numbers, due to being made from a starter set, regular boxes, and other GW games. Free shipping for US. Everything will be shipped USPS Priority Mail. If you don't want to ship for whatever reason, I'm willing to drive a few hours near Colorado to meet you in a public place.
Lists: Adeptus Mechanicus, https://imgur.com/a/dapfJbB, $500 OBO Onager Dunecrawler NIB x2 Sicarians NIB x5 Onager x1 Skorpius Dunerider x1 Kataphron Breachers x3 Belisaurius Cawl x2 (partial assembly) Serberys Raiders x6 Pteraxii Skystalkers x5 (need to be rebased) Enginseer x1 (I don't have any IG to sell this guy with) Rangers x25 Vanguard x20
Sisters of Battle, https://imgur.com/a/LufbYLX, $1200 OBO Immolator x1 Exorcist x1 Castigator x1 Sister Tariana Palos x1 Hospitaller x2 Triumph of Saint Katherine x1 Old Dialogus x1 New Dialogus x1 Penitent Engines x3 Seraphim x15 Zerphyrim x10 Celestine & Geminae Set x6 models total, 2 trios Arco Flagellants x6 Paragon Warsuits x3 Sister Superior Amelia Novena x1 Celestian Sacresants x5 Canonesses x5 Palatine x1 Sister Dogmata x1 Imagifier x1 Retributors x5 Dominions & Celestinians x9 (unsure where 1 disappeared to) Battle Sisters x60 (includess 1 kitbashed sister superior) Mistress of Repentance & Repentia x3 Mistresses & x17 Repentia
Genestealer Cults, https://imgur.com/a/8FculFz $1500 OBO Leman Russ x3 (1 kitbashed, 1 painted) Chimera x2 (both painted) Goliath Rockgrinder x4 Goliath Truck x3 Sentinel x2 (both painted) Achilles Ridgerunner x3 Atalan Jackals x10 Brood Brothers x30 (primed blue) Neopyhte Hybrids x102 (makes 10 squads, 10 models painted) Aberrants x13 (1 painted) Reductus Sabotuer x1 (painted) Kellermorph x1 (painted) Abominant x1 (painted) Biophagus x1 (1 extra familiar) Jackal Alpha x1 Nexos x1 Locus x1 Sanctus x1 (rifle version) Magus (female) x1 (special base) Clamavus x1 Broodcoven x10 (2 on special bases, 1 patrach has a broken finger) Acolyte Iconward x2 Genestealers x22 Acolyte Hybrids x57 (built to 7th ed. squad rules)
Dark Eldar / Drukhari, https://imgur.com/a/GkjCcq2, $450 OBO Kabalites x20 (Five painted) Scourges x5 Wytches x10 Wracks x5 Haemonculus x1 Talos Pain Engine x1 Reavers x6 Venom x2 (One painted) Succubus x1 Archon x2 Ravager x2 Voidraven Bomber x1
Thousand Sons, https://imgur.com/a/L8mzgrU, $350 OBO Exalted Sorcerers x3 Forgefiend x1 Mutalith Vortex Beast x1 Rubric Marines x10 Scarab Occult Terminators x5 Sorcerer x1 Tzaangor Enlightened x6 Infernal Master x1
Chaos Daemons, https://imgur.com/a/t9LNMay $700 OBO Beast of Nurgle x9 Bloodcrushers x3 Bloodletters x20 Epidemius x1 Exalted Flamer x1 Flamers of Tzeentch x3 Flesh Hounds x10 Great Unclean One x1 Herald of Khorne x1 Herald of Tzeentch on a Burning Chariot x1 Herald of Nurgle x2 Horticulus Slimux x1 Pink Horrors x10 Plaguebearers x10 Screamers of Tzeentch x3 Sloppity Bilepiper x1 Soilpox Scrivener x1
SOLD Chaos Daemons - Slaanesh Characters, https://imgur.com/a/YKmz0eM, $175 OBO Keeper of Secrets x1 The Masque x1 The Contorted Epitome x1 Syll’Esske x1
Slaves to Darkness, https://imgur.com/a/QUujN0f, $50 OBO Darkoath Warqueen x1 (painted) Slaanesh Chaos Warriors x10 (primed, some models painted, models kitbashed with Slaanesh bits)
Assault Centurians, https://imgur.com/a/0Nnmv3l, $40 OBO Assault Centurians x3

Hi all, if you are looking for an editor you have come to the right place! I understand how difficult it is to create your own original manga, and sometimes more so, having someone read and provide feedback to you. I am here to help you improve your manga!
I will provide you with a rubric including these categories: paneling, clarity, dialogue and word bubbles, composition, theme, transitions, character(s), and environment. Each of these categories will be scored and detailed with notes. I understand that this may be your first manga or that you are a beginner artist so I will NOT be focusing on your art style or art skills, but rather your ideas. It is absolutely fine if your story is unfinished, or you do not have a final copy. But I will require you to have at least one chapter storyboarded to be able to make edits.
The first chapter that you submit to me will be free of charge! If you are satisfied with the edits and want to continue with my services, pricing can be negotiated. If you wish to submit a chapter, please do so in a PDF format. This will save space for me and allow me to mark up your manga. Your manga chapter will be revised within a week of submission. Please keep in mind that my notes are just suggestions and that my word is not final whatsoever. This is your project, and I am only here to help guide your story in the direction that you want it to go.
If you are interested, please feel free to DM me and I can provide you with further information. I am looking forward to reading your stories!