Credit to u/SpacePaladin15 for the NOP Universe.
Hey, I hope everyone's doing well!
Today we return to the namesake of this fic, an actual lesson about animals. This one focuses on Koalas! One of Australia's most recognisable critters. I hope you enjoy.
It's hardly worth mentioning, seeing as I'm an infrequent poster at the best of times, but I'll not have another chapter out for a few weeks due to limited free time and devoting most of my writing time to an upcoming ficnapping. Be sure to look out for that!
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Memory transcription subject: Rysel, Venlil Environmental Researcher
Date [Standardised human time]: 8th September 2136
“Koalas!”
Bernard’s energised voice boomed through the air as the classroom's monitor flickered into life, images of this paws lecture topic popping up one after the other until the entire screen was filled with a collage of furry quadrupeds.
Squee! I’ll never get tired of this, it’s all so cool!
As usual the sight of something new stirred immediate discussion, hushed murmurs swelling into vibrant discourse in little more than a heartbeat. Most of the class swiftly huddled together into small herds to bounce ideas around while the rest opted to stick to the solace of their own thoughts as they took in the display.
I’d be quite happy in either situation, though seeing as Sandi had already sunk into deep concentration and Kailo had peeled off to talk with Ennerif and Solenk, it seemed the decision had been made for me on this occasion. Wasting no more time on idle inspection of the people around me, I focused my full attention forward, eager to form first impressions before the lesson began in earnest.
Now then, time to make some educated guesses. What traits does this animal have? I wonder if I’ll get any right this paw?
Professional assumptions went paw-in-paw with the lectures, examining and coming up with hypotheses about the specimens was only natural. Recently however, I’d started to make a little game of it to make things even more interesting than usual. A veritable bonfire of ideas had been set ablaze within me, fueled by my newfound knowledge of Earthen wildlife. Every flash and spark of the flame was a fresh theory I could try to apply to the lectures. It was an invigorating exercise that further stoked my unceasing wonderment.
So far I’d only done this once during the previous class and, to my disappointment, I’d not done too well.
I was right when I guessed that chickens were omnivores, but wrong in my assumption that they could fly. And that red thing on their head, the um… what was it called? The comb! Yes, the comb. I thought that was to attract mates, but it regulates body heat instead. It’s fascinating. Oh! Stars damn it I’m rambling!
I bapped my tail against my leg, the soft thud being just enough to snap me back from my runaway thoughts before I went completely wall-eyed. I was becoming more and more accustomed to getting lost in my own head while remaining conscious of the fact; it was happening so frequently now that it was pretty much impossible not to. Now I was able to pull myself back to the world around me without having to rely on someone else shaking me out of it. Most of the time anyway.
Sandi still keeps an eye on me, and Kailo even decided to help out once without being too snide about it. Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, Koalas.
Glancing at the furred animals, two things immediately stood out. Firstly, their eyes were in a more central position on their face. And second, all the images showed them being on or close to trees. There were other noteworthy observations of course, such as the Koala’s prominent nose and rounded features, but they fell to the wayside as I honed in on these points first.
Hmmm… ok. I already know to discount the idea that they’re predators just from eye position, so let’s get that thought out of here. Maybe omnivorous? Herbivore? Agh no, I can’t just guess that for the sake of guessing, that’s the same problem! Hrm, it’s tough making these assumptions now that everything I thought I knew has been turned on its head.
Nevermind, I’ll focus on the other thing. All the trees make me think they’re arboreal, that seems to be a reasonable assumption. I wonder what else they-
Clearing his throat, Bernard broke my concentration, his call for attention silencing the murmuring conversation and redirecting everyone's focus to the lecturer's podium.
His gaze panned across the room as he waited for everyone to settle, a beaming smile lighting up his face, “As ever I’m delighted to see you all get so into the subject matter from the get go. I’m looking forward to hearing what you were discussing should you wish to share. For now though, how about we get started, hm?”
A chorus of merry bleats rang out from across the audience, ears and tails flicking happily in agreement. Bernard's grin grew in tandem with the class's fervour, clasping his hands together enthusiastically as he launched into the lesson, “Excellent! Then let’s get started.”
The pictures on screen dissolved away until only one remained, enlarging to cover the entire monitor with the fluffy grey face of a Koala peacefully reclining in the crook of a tree.
“Ah, there we are,” Bernard’s baritone timbre drifted through the room as he looked up at the image, his own tone reflecting the relaxed attitude of the animal on screen, “He looks so comfortable doesn’t he? Perfectly at peace with the world, not too surprising considering they sleep almost 20 hours a day. A full paw!”
A wave of beeps and gasps rippled through the herd, punctuated by a single yawn-dressed comment from Rova, “A full paw? Hwuuu… jealous.”
Her drowsy remark elicited several whistling giggles from the herd, Bernard's own jovial chortle joining them as he turned to face her, “Late evening Rova?”
I twisted a little in my seat, panning an eye in Rova’s direction just in time to see her bleary eyes bulge open and her ears shoot up, now intensely aware of the fact she hadn’t been as quiet as she thought she had.
Sitting up abruptly, she hastily tapped down errant tufts of wool that’d flared in surprise as she composed herself, though her nervousness at becoming the centre of the class's attention was still plain for all to hear, “Uh- I um… achem, a little bit yes, um- …sorry. Lokki dragged me out to a movie viewing in the rec centre. It went on pretty late.”
A melodramatic bray from the other side of the room drew everyone's ears away from Rova to the now aghast Lokki, paw splayed across his chest in faux indignation, “Dragged you? Well excuse me for trying to broaden your horizons with human movies. That’ll be the list time I- …Ahaaaa…”
Lokki’s theatrics were cut short by a heavy yawn of his own, a swell of whistling laughter rolling through the herd as vibrant bloom lit up his snout, a sight that elicited a particularly amused bleat from Rova.
Turning away from the duo I looked back at Bernard, pleased to see that he was chuckling along with us. Behaviour like Lokki’s would never have been tolerated in my school and university days but, in stark contrast, Bernard revelled in it, the liveliness of his students fueling his own bombastic style of teaching. It was a pleasant change of pace having a teacher who let us all be ourselves in class; provided we weren’t too disruptive to the lesson plan.
Speaking of which.
His laughter still rumbling through the air, Bernard clapped his hands to pull everyone's focus back to him, “Ok, ok, let’s get back to it then shall we? Rova. Lokki. Hopefully the two of you can stay awake long enough until you can grab yourselves a coffee.”
As the class settled down and the last few giggling beeps petered out, Benard pointed a hand to the screen, “So, the Koala. Let’s start simple shall we? They are herbivorous marsupials native to the eastern and southern coasts of Australia. Easily recognised the world over, they are a well known and beloved symbol of their homeland, along with other animals such as the Kangaroo and the Emu. The former of which you might remember from one of our earlier lectures.”
Indeed I did remember, along with how angry Bernard had gotten after some speh-head had derided the Yotul after he explained how he held specific disdain for such attitudes.
Uuuggghh… I never want to see him angry again. So chilling.
I shook my ears in an effort to dismiss the unpleasant memory, panning my eyes back to the monitor to try and distract myself by inspecting the Koala’s physical appearance once more. Thankfully, by some Star's blessed intervention, Bernard had the exact same idea.
“Koala’s are rather squat in stature, ranging around sixty to eighty-five centimetres in length and weighing little more than fifteen to sixteen kilograms at their full size. As you can see, the fur of this fellow before you is a lovely silvery grey, but their fur can also sport a chocolaty brown hue as well. Arguably the most distinctive part of their appearance is their head, being rather large for their body size and having rounded ears, a large nose, and a pair of small eyes. These are often brown but variations do occur.”
It didn’t slip past my notice that Bernard didn’t bother to point out that the Koala’s eyes were forward facing. I didn’t think he’d simply forgotten, so perhaps he just felt it wasn’t necessary given that he’d already stated it was herbivorous. Either way, no one stuck up a paw or tail to question him.
“Now this will hardly be surprising considering how long they sleep, but Koala’s are largely sedentary and it’s rather easy to see why when you have a look into the contents of their diet.”
With the press of a button the Koala on screen was replaced by images of vibrant green vegetation. Soaring trees and flowering shrubbery weaved together across landscape framed pictures pulled admiring trills from the herd, the diversity of the plant life being shown standing as a reminder that it wasn’t only animal life that flourished on Earth.
After giving everyone the chance to take in the picturesque scenes, Bernard casually hammered that point home, “This is eucalyptus or, more accurately, a choice selection of more than 700 plants belonging to the eucalyptus genus, though the Koala itself favours 30 of them in particular.”
700!? Stars…
Realising that my ears had drooped in my momentary awe, I twisted them back to tune into the lesson, only for them to splay out in shock at the next words to come out of Bernard's mouth.
“The leaves of these plants are the primary food source of the Koala and there are a couple things worth mentioning when talking about these plants. For starters they do not have much nutritional or caloric value, leading to the Koala’s low-energy lifestyle. Additionally, they contain toxic compounds.”
A shiver instantly ran through the herd, ears flicking rapidly in confusion and alarm followed by a few quizzical whispers. It didn’t take long for someone to decide to give a proper voice to the murmuring.
“Excuse me Doctor. Did we hear that right? Their diet is made up of toxic flora?” Vlek’s grumbling incredulity cut through the herd's mutterings with ease. Until Kailo’s recent change of heart, the fifty something rotation old blonde Venlil had been a close second in terms of scepticism. Mercifully his rebuttals had always been relevant questions as opposed to ranting diatribes, so he at least remained on topic if nothing else.
Bernard nodded in confirmation, smiling back at Vlek while absentmindedly twirling the end of his moustache, “You heard me right, they do indeed consume plants that are toxic. Just not to them.”
Any worry or uncertainty still clinging to the herd was swept away by the provision of the glaringly obvious answer, leaving me chuckling inwardly at the oversight.
Ah of course! The plant might be poisonous but they’ll have evolved to deal with that. Stars… I’m so used to expecting the unexpected with Earth that I didn’t even consider the simplest solution.
“I see, thank you Doctor,” Vlek replied, a tinge of interest still audible in his tone, “I assume they’ve developed some adaptation to become immune to the harmful effects?”
The question immediately evoked a smirk from our teacher, but he hurriedly suppressed it while bobbing his head, “They have indeed. There are several factors that aid in their digestion of eucalyptus leaves without succumbing to the plant's baleful properties. The first is a part of the intestinal tract called the cecum. It contains a microbiome that allows the Koala to digest the eucalyptus. Coupled with this is an enzyme in the Koala’s liver that helps them break down the toxins. They are also capable of sniffing out the plants with the least amount of toxins, ensuring that they ingest as little as possible.”
Pausing for a breath Bernard looked back at the screen before turning to face us, another grin curling at the edges of his mouth as he continued with his explanation, “This is mostly for adult Koala’s, because while their young also possess these same adaptations, they don’t just go straight to munching through foliage right after being born. No, they need a little help making that jump and getting a stomach full of all that good gut bacteria. It’s nothing bad, but those of a sensitive stomach may wish to prepare themselves for this next part.”
Bernard’s assurances did little to assuage the concern that his warning had foisted upon us. Having been exposed to so much of the weirdness Earth had to offer everyone always ended up on edge whenever Bernard gave advice like this, even if he did say it in jest.
What strange nonsense thing do Koala pups do then? Judging by the way he’s acting it probably isn’t something as simple as drinking milk from the mother. Hmmm…
“So,” Bernard began, snapping us from our pensive stupor, “Young Koala’s, known as joeys, have a gestation period of thirty-five days on average, which is approximately forty-two paws. Once born they travel from the birth canal to a pouch in their mother so that they can continue to develop and grow. In the pouch the joey finds and latches onto one of two teats and these provide the newborn with a steady stream of nourishing milk. It spends the next six to seven months growing in the pouch, its eyes, ears, and fur all developing as time goes on.”
Okay, interesting. But this is exactly how I thought it’d go. What’s different?
The unexpected normalcy of the Koala’s birth and growth cycle had calmed everyone's nerves, only to be replaced with an air of suspicion as we waited with rapt attention for Bernard to drop the other claw and upend our expectations like he always did.
Not wanting to keep us in further suspense he forged ahead, the tempo of his voice picking up as the smile started to crease his face once more, “Now to make the switch from milk to eucalyptus, the mother also feeds the joey a substance called pap. It comes from the cecum I mentioned earlier, and contains all the gut bacteria required to help the young Koala in making the switch to eucalyptus.”
He stopped and looked around, searching us for a reaction to what I felt was a rather bland statement of fact. What was it he was saying without actually saying? Koala pups drink milk to mature and then include this pap substance so that they can start eating plants. I don’t see what-
The cecum is part of the intestine.
I blinked.
I blinked again, the intrusive interruption scouring my brain clean of any other thought bar the one it’d just implanted itself in the forefront of my mind.
Oh stars. They-
“They eat their own poop!?”
The shocked bleat shattered the peace of the room to reveal that most if not all of us had come to the same tail curling conclusion. As the hall filled with unrestrained vocalisations of disgust, an ‘Ugh’ over here and a ‘Blegh’ over there, Bernard’s own bellowing laughter joined the throng of voices.
“Ha! Everytime! Each and every time. Clearly it doesn’t matter if my students are Human or Venlil. Whenever someone learns about the Koala’s dietary development the reaction is the same!”
Pleased with himself beyond reason, Bernard chuckled away while the rest of us grappled with this ghastly reality. While there were plenty of animals that feasted on things that ranged from simply unappealing all the way to the stomach churningly grotesque, I’d never heard of an animal that actively consumed the excrement of its own species. Benefits aside, the prospect of having to do that to survive to adulthood sent a shiver of revulsion down my spine.
Ewww… Stars, I hope I forget this feeling by 2nd meal. They’re serving sturen and magamroot stew later. I was really looking forward to it.
With the herds mood beginning to temper Bernard tapped the podiums controls, removing the verdant collage of eucalyptus to display several similar yet distinct environments, still chortling merrily to himself in the process, “Ok then, with that little foray into their diet complete, why don’t we look at their habitat in more detail? As you might imagine given their diet and arboreal nature, Koala’s live in forested regions, and can be found in tropical and temperate zones. About a century ago they were classed as a vulnerable species, however efforts were made to turn this around and increase their numbers. Sadly the largest factor in their decline was human activity, as the fertile lands that gave rise to their bountiful forests were coveted farm land for our settlements.”
It was strange to hear Bernard so matter of factly admit to humanity's negative impacts on other species. He’d alluded to such things in the past but always with an air of caution, carefully pawing the line between honestly answering a question while not painting humanity as uncaring and destructive. AKA, the ‘predators’ we’d all initially expected them to be.
Perhaps his comfort in making such admissions was a reflection of the class's comfort with him, for no one so much as batted an ear. Even Kailo, who I would’ve expected to jump at the chance to use this as a prime example of predatory danger, only flicked an ear in stern yet silent concern.
A cough from Bernard drew my attention back, a new picture on screen that showed a forest from a bird's-eye view. Drawn across the image were around a dozen ringed areas, some bordering one another while others overlapped to some degree. It took me a moment, but I soon recognised that what I was looking at was a map, the rings representing what I assumed to be territories. And it didn’t take much effort to guess who each one belonged to.
“From habitats we move onto behaviours, so let’s start with territories. Koala’s are solitary animals. Yes, despite being herbivores. Considering they’re only awake for roughly four hours of the day I can hardly blame them. Lots to do and not a lot of time to do it. Jokes aside, once they mature they are quite independent, carving out a little slice of land for themselves, as displayed in this example, called a Home Range. That is not to say they go it alone and leave everything else behind however. Rather, as shown in the map behind me, they live in their own space while still being part of a larger social group.”
With another press of his pad the picture was updated to show one of two symbols in each segment, along with a key to the side of the map displayed in helpful Venlang. A quick glance told me that the symbols were representing whether the territory belonged to a male or female of the species.
“As you can see there is quite a bit of overlap between different Koala’s territories. It is in these areas that most of the socialising takes place between neighbours. The trees in these locations represent the few areas where intrusion across territories is acceptable for the sake of social interaction. Outside of that the Koala’s stick to their own territories for the most part, with the exceptions of Koala’s who are passing through, attempting to become part of the social group themselves, or dominant males who sometimes go off into another Koala’s range. But how do they know where one range begins and another range ends you might ask? Well, this brings us onto the next part of the lecture. How do Koala’s communicate?”
Wiping away the map from the monitor, Bernard loaded up a video of a Koala sitting in a tree and pressed play. Head held high, the Koala’s body shook as it belted out a reverberating call into the wilderness that could only be described as a garbled combination of a car engine failing to turn over mixed with the hiccups of someone with a particularly sore throat.
That’s how they sound? Oof that must be rough on the lungs.
I clearly wasn’t the only one to share such a thought, because I clocked Sandi tracing a paw along her neck as the noise went on, ears fluttering in discomfort at the noise.
Bernard himself cleared his own throat as the video came to an end, minimising it and replacing it with another image of a tree with a Koala rubbing up against the bark, “I think they’ve got me beat on who’s got the deeper voice!”
His joke garnered several amused beeps, a rare reaction that caused a beaming smile to shine across his face at lighting speed, “Oh you’re too kind. I’ll be here all week. Now where were we? Oh yes! Communication. As you’ve just heard, Koala’s are capable of loud low pitched bellows that can carry over vast distances. These express everything from ‘Hello I’m over here’ to ‘This is my turf, stay away’. Bellowing is more common in the males than the females, opting for shouting matches as opposed to outright fights when it comes to asserting dominance. Other vocal expressions include grunts, wails, and snarls if they’re acting particularly angsty. Mother and joey pairs also communicate through gentle clicking, squeaking, and murmuring sounds. And there’s one more thing worth mentioning. Something they have in common with Humans and Venlil when it comes to emoting.”
Really? They do something we do?
Curious, I pressed myself against the desk, straining as close as I could to once more scrutinise the Koala’s features. Not a lot stood out to me at first, the grey marsupial not sharing many similarities with a Venlil that I could identify.
Ok think. We show emotion with our ears, tails, and our wool on occasion. They don’t have tails so it’s obviously not that. Wool standing on end is more a reaction than a conscious expression. So it must be the ears then.
To my quiet satisfaction, my hunch was soon validated by Bernard, “As well as their vocalisations, Koala’s are very emotive through their facial features. Just like humans, they use their mouths and lips to show how they feel, but these tend more towards the aggressive side of the scale than what you might see on a human. Regarding yourselves however, Koala’s utilise their ears in tandem with their mouth movements when showing strong emotion.”
I was delighted to hear that my assumption was correct, a little happy flick twisting out through my tail and bapping against my chair with a muted thump against the plastic.
Hehe yes! Got one right!
“Now then, we are getting close to lunchtime so I’ll finish this segment off with something I think you’ll find particularly interesting. Diplomacy.”
Perplexed mutterings followed in the wake of the bizarre inclusion to the lecture, my own thoughts being dominated by bewilderment as I tried and failed to make sense of how the two could possibly be related.
Why would Koala’s, or any animal for that matter, be linked to diplomacy? Hmmm...
I could understand dispatching exterminators to deal with a predator issue as a show of goodwill, that at least includes animals, but Humans aren’t like that so I think I can safely scratch that off the list.
Maybe the humans who live in that region benefited from Koala’s in some way. Could they have gotten something from them? But what?
Hopefully not what the pups get from their mothers.
Agh no! Begone awful intrusive thoughts. Blegh! I don’t need that in my head.
As I wrestled with the short-lived revulsion inflicted upon me by my Star's damned subconscious, Bernard placed a new image on screen, one that was decidedly different from all that had preceded it.
On screen were more than a couple dozen pictures of humans. Some were pictured alone while others congregated in large groups while cameras surrounded them from all angles. Across all the images, I noted two common themes. First of all, a solid majority of the humans were wearing formal wear similar to what I’d seen worn by UN representatives on TV. If the gaggle of journalists in the background of the photos didn’t already confirm my suspicions, then it was this similarity which made me conclude they were all people of some importance. Likely politicians judging from context clues.
Secondly, each of the individuals was interacting with a Koala in some form. Some cradled one against their chests while others were feeding it eucalyptus leaves or pellets of some kind. One of the assumed politicians had become an impromptu bed for a snoozing bundle of fur, a gleeful smile spread across their face as they lovingly gazed down at the sleeping Koala in their lap.
As I continued to stare at the assorted photos something clicked into place, a sudden spark flickering into life. A burgeoning light of comprehension that flared and swelled with every wide-eyed breath I took. Some things still escaped me, things I hoped would soon be explained, but in staring at all of the humans happy smiling faces, I was struck with an instant of pure understanding.
If someone, say a Nevok for instance, offered to gift me a creature that was common to them but which might exotic and breathtaking to a Venlil, how could my feelings not be swayed? How could I walk away from that encounter and not have grown closer to them as a result?
“Koala diplomacy,” Bernard waved his hand up at the monitor, a slight reverence in his tone, “My favourite kind of soft power diplomacy. Where political leaders take photo ops with Koala’s and, on occasion, the Australian government loans Koala’s to other nations for a time to bolster positive relations. It certainly helps that Koala’s are a beloved animal worldwide, drawing large crowds and revenue for countries fortunate enough to host the adorable critters.”
The truly alien concept predictably sparked instant discussion in the herd, two polar opposite schools of thought swiftly cementing themselves as the most popular opinions. Simultaneously, I heard one voice trill excitedly while another scoffed at what they clearly saw as a ridiculous and offensive notion.
“Squee! That’d be so cool! I’d love to get the chance to see a Liri from Coila. Remember the Rainbow Boa? Think of that shimmering effect and colour but put it on a bird! Ah! I’ve only heard their song on video. It’d be a treat to hear it in person!”
Ooo! I’ve read about them! I’d love to get up close to one.
“Loaning. As if animals are property to be hoarded and traded? Pugh! Another predatory trait the humans don’t want to acknowledge for what it is.”
Ugh, typical. Jump right to the worst possible option.
However, despite my dismissal of their disparaging fumings, an uncomfortable thought pressed upon my mind. While it was plain to see how much humans cared for the Koala, it didn’t change the fact that humans did keep animals as property just as the scornful herd member had said.
This begged a rather important, disquieting question. Aside from keeping some animals as cattle, a stomach tightening minefield I had no desire to step a claw onto right now, how else did humans keep other creatures. And how did they treat them?
Before I was fully conscious of doing it my paw was in the air, the question primed on my tongue.
Noticing my elevated paw Bernard pointed at me, smiling warmly, “Yes Rysel? What’s on your mind?”
Sorry Bernard. I hope this one’s not too awkward for you to answer.
Flicking my ear in appreciation, and waiting for everyone to settle enough so that I could be heard, I voiced my concerns as neutrally as possible, “Thank you Doctor. I uh, just had a thought. We know that humans keep certain animals for… particular reasons, and we know why. From how you’ve spoken about Koala’s I think it's fair to say that the same cannot be said for them. However, this makes me wonder, what other reasons do humans have for keeping animals and how do you treat them?”
A flash of surprise blinked across Bernard's eyes but vanished so quickly that it felt like I’d imagined it. Had he not expected such a question? Maybe he was just shocked that it’d been me who’d ended up asking it?
Stars, am I so predictable that no one expects me to ask difficult questions?
Unfortunately, a quick glance at my deskmates seemed to prove that to be the case, as both Sandi and Kailo were looking at me with differing degrees of astonishment flapping in their ears.
Well speh.
“A very good point Rysel, certainly one that’s worth raising. Yet another example of you all anticipating what I have to say before I can bring it up myself.” Bernard tapped the podium, switching off the monitor before returning his focus to me, “We won’t be needing that. I’ve nothing prepared that I can show you and we’re heading to lunch in a few minutes anyway. Still, that’s plenty of time to give you a bit of an answer.”
A bit? What does he mean just a bit?
Made even more curious by Bernard's preempted admission that he wasn’t going to fully answer my query, I dialled both my ears on him, fixing him with an inquisitive stare as he started to explain with a tone that was noticeably more nonchalant than any of his previous explanations.
“So, animals in captivity for reasons other than what you already know. Honestly I would love to delve into other reasons regarding why we keep animals. However, I have a lesson plan in the works that I hope to share with you all in the not too distant future. Some of it touches upon this very topic and I’d quite like to bundle it all together. That said, I can tell you how animals in captivity are treated. In short, the answer is very well. There are a mountain of laws both on private and public interests that govern the standards and ethical treatment of animals, and breaches of these laws are quite severe even for relatively minor infractions.”
While I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed by the vague answer to what was really the bulk of my question, I was at least satisfied by Bernard’s assurances that animals in captivity, such as the Koala, were well looked after. Considering the barely subdued grumbling coming from some corners of the audience it was clear that several of the herd didn’t believe Bernard outright, but I trusted him to be honest. Additionally, the mention of an upcoming lecture focused on humans keeping animals caused quite the buzz.
I felt a mix of excitement and trepidation at exploring the topic further. He’d pretty much confirmed we wouldn’t be talking about cattle farms, for which I was relieved, but that still left a huge amount of uncertainty in what was to come.
Humans keeping animals as cattle was a forgone conclusion. As horrifying as that reality was, it was one I could understand from a detached and strictly clinical point of view. Being predators they ate meat and therefore they kept cattle. But the concept of keeping animals for any other reason baffled me.
What could be the purpose? The diplomacy thing makes sense now that I have context, but what other reasons could they have.
The class's discussions were interrupted by the recognisable ring of the break bell, the shift in attention eliciting a change in conversation from confused hypotheses to peppy conversation on how everyone was planning to spend their break and what they had in mind for 2nd meal.
“Well I can see everyone’s excited for lunch, and who am I to disappoint,” chuckling Bernard waved us all up from our seats, pocketing his pad from the podium and heading to open the classroom door for us, “Enjoy your break, get a good rest along with a hearty meal, and I’ll see you all back here at the usual time.”
As everyone else filed out I stayed behind, waving at Sandi and Kailo as they left, and pawing over to Bernard once he and I were the only ones left in the room.
Ears folded down and with an apologetic tinge in my voice I greeted him as I sidled up to him, “Hey Bernard, I uh… sorry if that last question was unexpected.”
Chortling in reply, Bernard waved a hand through the air in a sign I’d come to understand meant ‘not a problem’.
“No need to apologise Rysel. It was a good question and most certainly not a problem.”
Heh, called it.
I sighed, allowing tension I didn’t realise I’d been holding to relax itself from my shoulders, “Phew, that’s a relief. I’m glad. I’m curious to hear what this new lesson is you’ve got in store for us by the way.”
Bernard wagged a finger at me, throwing up his eyebrows in mock amazement, “Oh are you now? Well I’m afraid you’ll have to remain curious for the time being. It’s going to be quite the surprise if all goes to plan. But…”
He trailed off, glancing at me before looking to the door like he was making sure no one else was around.
Wait, is he going to tell me? Oh please yes let me know now!
Stopping myself from jumping on the spot in excited anticipation, and trying my damndest to stop my tail from wagging in equal measure, I stared up at Bernard as he stewed in his thoughts before turning back to face me.
“I can’t tell you the specifics, but I’m working with Alejandro and Tolim to get something together. A trip that’s not a trip as it were. And when it happens, I’m going to need a few of the more accepting members of the class to lend me a hand. I’m hoping you and a couple others will be able to help with that?”
A trip that’s not a trip? What does that mean? Agh who cares about that right now! Bernard’s relying on me to help out!
Still trying not to keep myself from bouncing around with pup like glee I swished my tail and nodded my head in joint agreement, happy to help with whatever Bernard had in store for us, “Of course! Anything you need I’ll be there to lend a paw. You can count on me!”
A broad warm smile lit up Bernard's face, a hand patting me on the shoulder in appreciation, “Thank you Rysel. I knew I could rely on you but it still warms my heart to hear it. And, as thanks for this and for the many times you’ve shown your support, the surprise includes a little something special I think you’d appreciate the most.”
If my earlier enthusiasm had been at a nine, then the implication of a supposed gift sent it rocketing all the way to a hundred in a heartbeat.
“Wait… WHAT!? What do you mean? What are you doing?”
As impossible as it seemed, Bernard's grin grew even wider as I almost lost myself in wool shaking exhilaration, “Call it my own form of Koala diplomacy. But I’m afraid that’s all I can say for now. Wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise even for you!”
“Oh you ass!” Whistling jovially I bapped my tail against Bernard’s leg in fake indignation, evoking a barking bellowing laugh from the man himself.
Still laughing, the two of us departed the class and made for the canteen, my rumbling stomach leading me on while my mind spun with fantastical thoughts as to what Bernard had prepared for us.
And what specifically he had in store for me.

Is it better to do it from scratch or if you can’t would it be better to hire someone to do it for you. But then most of the people who ask for their sites to be checked and looked upon here are typically on those prebuilt templates using them to help build your e-commerce store. Which is better, any experience or opinions?

My dad (63, M) has worked for this company for 25+ years. We live in Texas. About 2 weeks ago, my dad had an altercation with a coworker (20s, F). We'll call her Jane. For context, my dad was the assistant store manager, and Jane was one of his subordinates.
The altercation started when my dad and Jane were meant to be unloading and putting away freight from a truck. A bit more context, my dad had back and neck surgery a couple years before, and is not supposed to be lifting anything over 50+ lbs, but he does it anyway because he's a stubborn man who has always put his job before his health. Anyway, Jane, instead of helping my dad, was sitting in the back, where the truck was, messing around on her phone. Jane had been written up numerous times before for being on her phone, and was warned by my dad and their store manager, Pete, to stop that behavior in the past. When my dad saw Jane on her phone instead of helping, he told her to put her phone away. Jane proceeded to get up and walk out of the backroom and towards the front of the store.
My dad kept to his work with the truck for about 15 min when he noticed Jane hadn't come back yet, and so he went to go look for her. He was passing by Pete's office when he saw her sitting down inside, still on her phone, with Pete on a call at his desk. My dad asked why she was in there and still on her phone, and she responded that she needed to get something done. My dad reminded her that she should not be on her phone, and that she had already been warned to put it away. Jane started to raise her voice at my dad saying he needed to "get tf out of my face, or else!" Keep in mind, my dad was standing at the doorway of the office, probably about 10ft away from her. He was not in her face. My dad, raising his voice back at her, replied "or what?" He did not step towards her at all, but he was admittedly getting frustrated with her.
Before he could react, Jane got up, closed the distance between them, and punched my dad in the face, busting his lip and causing him to bleed. At this point, Pete hurriedly hung up the phone and placed himself in between my dad and Jane, asking my dad to walk away, which he did. To cut an already long story short, my dad was sent home for the day. And Jane was placed on paid suspension pending an HR investigation, while my dad continued working his normal hours. Today, nearly 2 weeks later, my dad was called into a meeting with HR and was terminated. We don't know if Jane was terminated, no do we have a reason as to why my dad was terminated.
Can anyone please give advice? I know Texas is an "at will" state, but this feels discriminatory considering my dad's age and how close he was to retirement. He had openly disclosed he was wanting to retire next year (2025). This all just seems so unfair to him. It doesn't feel like he did anything wrong.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Somehow the options now available under "Mod Tools" in my subreddit are now far fewer than I used to be able to access when I first set up the group. When I click on "Mod Tools," all I get is a "Queue" page. The options along the left-hand menu are: "Exit Mod Tools / Queues / Try the New Queue / Modmail / Scheduled Posts / User Management / Rule and Removal Reasons / User Flair / Content Controls / Mod Log".
There is no way to access any other features. For example, I used to be able to change the group appearance and one Reddit help page says I should be able to see a "Safety" option. How do I access these now?

Hello! I recently downloaded MCO and a few other combat related mods, I followed all the instructions on the website, and thought to have everything in order. However, as long as I have MCO checked in MO2, the game will crash before my save is even loaded, nor can I start a new game. Where as when de-activated, the game loads, it just has no animations with my character T-posing. Please help, I've spent hours trying to fix it and I cannot figure it out. I have attached the crash log below
https://pastebin.com/RrePBLQN

I am a novice in python but was struggling to stick to one of the courses because of the old ADHD. It’s also part of the reason why I’ve put on a bit of weight over the last 5-10 years and so I thought I would make my first project something that will help with fitness.
I’ve installed the myfitnesspal library, and have followed their ‘how to’ guides for getting some of the info out of MFP, however it’s just returning blank arrays instead of any of the food I’ve logged. I’m not getting any errors, but it’s just not populated with anything.
Anyone had any experience with it and might be able to help me out? I’ve scoured the wiki, the github page, and the internet in general but haven’t found anything that is applicable yet.

It will be a lot easier for people to help you if you provide the following in your post:

1. What are you trying to do?

Be as specific as you can. Don't just say "I'm trying to create a game". Add details and context. Narrow down the problem as much as you can. What part were you using? Is it a Script, a LocalScript, some other element? Where is it placed? Did you change any default properties?

1. What did you expect to happen?

What was your intention when implementing your soultion. What was the expected behavior or result.

1. What actually happened?

Describe the unexpected result or behavior. Was there an error? Did a part not work? Did nothing happen at all?

1. Provide evidence.

Screenshots, script excerpts and output logs help immensely to determine what the problem is.

Good morning, All!
got a funky one that's been ongoing for a bit, would be grateful for any pointers or help on this one!
SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER is giving the following errors

• ConfigMgr failed to connect to SUSDB and could not delete obselete updates
• ConfigMgr failed to connect to SUSDB and could not add custom indexes
  • You can see below where i turned on those 2 checkboxes again...

https://preview.redd.it/yjyeyabn1u1d1.png?width=1808&format=png&auto=webp&s=3b8c6d6759d22ee234536a0b6b5a2eeab0053465
if i open up the SUP properties and turn off the bottom 2 maint tasks, there are no more erorrs with that specific component.
https://preview.redd.it/t6pmtmdp1u1d1.png?width=635&format=png&auto=webp&s=986a70e48f6538c9d6a50a275d7faf0daa952149
I went through and performed a manual cleanup on the SUSDB, which did remove 30k updates
https://preview.redd.it/s3eesxar2u1d1.png?width=764&format=png&auto=webp&s=1d034dd25f8da426d7d99a4dd02ce23ccef779ba
Flipped those 2 checkboxes back on under maintenance and that's when the error popped up again.... Rebooted the WSUS box, and forced a sync from SCCM, error came back
went to the management point and looked at Wsyncmgr.log and does show a few errors when trying to connect to the SQL/WSUS box

• Indexing Failed. Could not connect to SUSDB. SqlException thrown while connect to SUSDB in Server: SQL/WSUS BOX. Error Message: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)
• Sql Exeception was thrown while attempting to delete obselete updates. Error Message: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server) SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:43 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
  
• I can ping the SQL/WSUS box
  
• my main management point PC is an admin on the SQL/WSUS box
  

Here is the full Wsynclog
sync: Starting SMS database synchronization SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:47:09 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
requested localization languages: en SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:47:09 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
Syncing updates arrived after 05/21/2024 12:46:50 SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:47:09 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
Requested categories: Company=Patch My PC, Company=Patch My PC, Product=Blah Blah Blah lots of stuff)
STATMSG: ID=6717 SEV=E LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER" SYS=Management-Point-Server.Domain SITE=SCCM-Sitename PID=4884 TID=13748 GMTDATE=Tue May 21 19:48:09.036 2024 ISTR0="" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0 LE=0X0 SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:48:09 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
Indexing Failed. Could not connect to SUSDB. SqlException thrown while connect to SUSDB in Server: SCCM-SitenameSQL-WSUS-Server.Domain. Error Message: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server) SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:48:09 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
STATMSG: ID=6717 SEV=E LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER" SYS=Management-Point-Server.Domain SITE=SCCM-Sitename PID=4884 TID=13748 GMTDATE=Tue May 21 19:49:08.379 2024 ISTR0="" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0 LE=0X0 SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:49:08 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
Indexing Failed. Could not connect to SUSDB. SqlException thrown while connect to SUSDB in Server: SCCM-SitenameSQL-WSUS-Server.Domain. Error Message: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server) SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:49:08 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
Done Indexing SUSDB. Custom indexes were created if they didn't exist previously. SCCM-SitenameSQL-WSUS-Server.Domain SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:49:08 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
sync: SMS performing cleanup SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:49:08 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
Cleanup processed 1084 total updates and declined 0 SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:49:29 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
Done Declining updates in WSUS Server SCCM-SitenameSQL-WSUS-Server.Domain SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:49:29 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
Starting Deletion of ObseleteUpdates SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:49:29 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
STATMSG: ID=6719 SEV=E LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER" SYS=Management-Point-Server.Domain SITE=SCCM-Sitename PID=4884 TID=13748 GMTDATE=Tue May 21 19:50:28.434 2024 ISTR0="" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0 LE=0X0 SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:28 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
Could not Delete Obselete Updates because ConfigManager could not connect to SUSDB: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server) UpdateServer: SCCM-SitenameSQL-WSUS-Server.Domain SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:28 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
Sql Exeception was thrown while attempting to delete obselete updates. Error Message: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server) SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:43 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
0 update(s) were deleted from SUSDB in Server: \\.\pipe\MICROSOFT##WID\tsql\query Database: SUSDB SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:43 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
Deletion Completed SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:43 PM 13748 (0x35B4)
Set content version of update source {EFCD7126-2DA5-4E15-830F-880A0266C41D} for site SCCM-Sitename to 17628 SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:44 PM 10012 (0x271C)
Resetting MaxInstall RunTime for Cumulative updates. SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:44 PM 10012 (0x271C)
STATMSG: ID=6702 SEV=I LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER" SYS=Management-Point-Server.Domain SITE=SCCM-Sitename PID=4884 TID=10012 GMTDATE=Tue May 21 19:50:44.569 2024 ISTR0="" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0 LE=0X0 SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:44 PM 10012 (0x271C)
Sync succeeded. Setting sync alert to canceled state on site SCCM-Sitename SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:44 PM 10012 (0x271C)
No changes made to the SMS database, content version remains 17628 SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:44 PM 10012 (0x271C)
Sync time: 0d00h06m05s SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:44 PM 10012 (0x271C)
Skipping Delete Expired Update relations since this is not a scheduled sync. SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:44 PM 10012 (0x271C)
Inbox source is local on Management-Point-Server.Domain SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER 5/21/2024 12:50:44 PM 10012 (0x271C)

• EDIT -

also, just to make sure, SCCM will take care of all approvals, correct? just noticed this and is a bit concerning.
https://preview.redd.it/6aenusqoau1d1.png?width=1032&format=png&auto=webp&s=376b5ef26b12c1a11251090b1a80bb11c49bb0ed

Hello Everyone,
So I am starting a private practice, and would love your help in ensuring I have the proper forms/documentation for my intakes. I have searched around and believe I have what I need, but I always appreciate more insight and info.
To give some context, I am currently virtual only, and I am utilizing Alma, accepting insurance and private pay.
I am looking at various EHRs, with Simple Practice seemingly the most popular, but have also experimented with Sessions Health and Therapy Notes. It's hard to say which works best for me, but I may go with Simple Practice, as I feel it may be better to scale down and pay more up front, than find myself lacking. That said, I'm open to suggestions and tips/info on either using it or others.
My current forms are:

• Email/Text Consent
• Telehealth Consent
• Informed Consent for Assessments and Treatment
• Notice of Privacy Policies
• Client Financial Responsibility Agreement
• Practice Policies
• Release of Information (RoI's)
• Credit Card Authorization Form
• Good Faith Estimate

Are there any others I may be missing? Anything I need to make sure of are in those that others might miss or might not be in a typical template?
Any help would be appreciated!

Hello there, and thank you for reading. I have a brand new gaming PC with a 4080 supe7800x 3d ,and have been playing with absolutely no issues. wonderful performance, and temps are amazing with my current setup. However, after bringing my pc over to my dining room table to inspect a fan, I wanted to see a display while it was still there basically didnt want to shutdown the pc by full seven second reset, so wanted display to turn it off regularly. Before I brought my monitor over to do this,I had what seems now as a bad idea to bring my laptop over, connect the hdmi port to my gpu/pc and to my laptop to see if I could get a display that way. Once I realized immiedtaly that this didnt work, and I finished with my monitor and re-set it up at my desk (carefully carried it over extremely delicately, didnt bump or move it aggressively in the SLIGHTEST). Now,while gaming and other things I think, there have been issues. I solved the first one, which was it saying my graphics card was disabled in device manager as it wasnt working properly to it. I simply used DDU to uninstall old drivers and reinstall the latest which helped a ton. However, it just shut down my pc while gaming and set my pc fans in a loud flutter, and im not sure why!

chapters 1&2
chapter 3
chapter 4
chapter 5
chapter 6
chapter 7
chapter 8
chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
The lecture was supposed to be on Rationality 101, apparently not for Newcomers only. Serene was there to have her back but G was having a hard time focusing.
The boring black uniform more fitting for a hotel receptionist defaced the godlike beauty standing in front of a huge screen. Gentry couldn’t believe her eyes: this was the man she had her hands on a little while ago?
No, it couldn’t be.
It had been just an avatar, too perfect in its unblemished visage, too pure for this world. Yet the man whose face she remembered as if it was etched on the back of her eyelids, who she’d been constantly thinking about, who her hands itched to snatch, was standing right there, in the flesh.
Back in the dreamy simulated world she caught herself thinking that a trim waist like this couldn’t anatomically work on a human, yet here he was: a towering spread of fit shoulders perfectly balanced above the flexible whip of his midsection. The light-grey eyes that betrayed every movement of his pupils were as real as the ones that reflected the mock moon during her test. Below them lay the sharp slope of the cheekbones one could cut themselves on.
The only thing a bit different, apart from the outfit choice, was the young god’s hair. In the simulation, it was flowing and probably too long to be practical. This person’s mane was much shorter and fell down his neck in a neat ponytail, tastefully tamed with a single hairpin.
She had to get her hands on this treasure.
He was making last minute preparations for the lecture, looking through the papers on the desk, dark strands framing his face, light grey eyes sharp in careful concentration.
Professor Q, huh.
He said this was his name, and so did the note on the lecture hall door.
She was sure it was the man who had melted in her arms making the most delicious sounds a male throat could produce.
Had he recognised her?
Unlikely.
At the time of the simulation session, she didn’t have a camera that could pick up her facial features but just to be on the safe side, she decided to go by “G” in his class. There were bound to be lots of people with a name starting with a G, right? What would be the odds it was this particular newcomer that Q had tested that would end up in his class?
The man finally lifted his eyes at the audience and a gentle smile momentarily graced his features before disappearing as if he didn’t see someone he’d expected to.
The holoboard on the wall behind him obediently lit up following his nonchalant gesture. Gentry found it annoying that one needed a pair of special glasses to see all the augmented reality stuff and really navigate the city but again, with Sereen’s help she had more or less gotten used to it in the couple of days she had to deal with the necessities like settling down, getting food and finding her way around Ashtapada.
Still, could they use a piece of chalk or, at least, a marker to write on the board? No need to show off your Fully Automated Luxury Space Communism tech just to write a couple of notes on the board!
On second thought, high-tech-crazy or not, if this city brought up men like this one, she would definitely do her best to stay here to… reap the benefits!
They took a desk next to a huge clear floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the winter garden.
“Professor Q seems a little distracted today,” Sereen said, swiftly tapping a couple of buttons on G’s wrist to show her how to confirm that she was attending the lecture. “He’s usually much more chatty and friendly. I wonder what got into him.”
“Is he?” Gentry responded with an artificial air of indifference. “I just hope he’s more open to a discussion than that Poe guy.”
“He is! And Professor Poe isn’t that bad,” Sereen reprimanded before chuckling a little — since his little secret became known to students, he became known as Holopoe. “Just wait and see, it’s gonna be a blast. Q’s lectures are always very engaging.”
It proved to be utter bullshit.
After fiddling with the symbols on the interactive screen for ten minutes into the class, students getting more and more agitated behind his back, the lecturer seemed to give up. Turning back to the audience, he absentmindedly nodded to a couple of people in the lecture hall and sighed with a painfully fake smile.
“For today’s class, we are going to need to read a certain extract from a book,” he said, tone apologetic for some reason, but it solidified G’s conviction that she already knew this person. “I’ve just sent it to each of your wristcomms. We’ll have some quiet time and read it by ourselves, alright?”
“Reading from the comm?” Sereen mumbled to herself. “Couldn’t he just print them out?”
The rest of the students’ grumbles showed that they shared her disappointment. Q could only hopelessly smile again before returning to his work on the board.
Reading from the little semi-transparent screens was indeed torture. Quickly giving up on trying to awkwardly use gestures for scrolling through the text, she looked out of the window to entertain herself with the garden outside. From the modest height they were sitting at, the people below were quite discernible, partly hidden by the greenery, spread here and there in small groups and pairs. Gentry longed to be there, too. What was the use of being here with the most attractive person in the whole world if the only thing she could see was his back?
Well, the back didn’t look half bad, if she was honest, and what was below also pleased the eye.
But still. It would soon bore even the most easily entertained.
Her gaze fell to a small clearing where a lone male figure was sitting, writing something in a notebook. By the looks of it, the notebook was a real paper-made thing without the bells and whistles usual for Ashtapada. The next thing G noticed was a pair of slender legs, barefoot, stretched to dip the toes into the clear water of the artificial stream.
God bless the urban designers of this place!
The figure lifted the head and in an inconceivably graceful motion, swung the long blond bangs away from the face.
G straightened her back. Was it... Ok, maybe Q was the most handsome man she’d seen in her life but this... This was the younger boy she’d noticed a couple of days back, the one in a plaid skirt, shamelessly flirting with everyone within reach. Today, he wasn’t wearing one but the blue jeans hugging his thighs, rolled up almost to the knees, presented a picture just as tantalizing. Even with the hair was a completely different colour, even though the half-up, half-down style kept his face hidden, she was absolutely certain it was the same person.
Just you wait, young beauty, as soon as this “lecture” was over, your princess in shining armour was coming to pick you up!
Suddenly snapping out of the dull weariness, she turned on the auglasses S helped her obtain earlier and tapped away on her comm screen.
What a chance to give the local text sharing feature a go!
“The garden is pretty, but with a blossom like you, it is truly breathtaking. I wonder if anyone has picked this sweet flower or if anyone dares to,” she typed a cheesy note and folded the message into a neat 3D figurine of an origami paper crane with her fingers in the air.
Was S watching? Screw it, even if she was, she couldn’t read the message with her glasses off, right?
Carefully aiming the device at the lone figure, she launched the crane downwards, and it fluttered like a weightless butterfly in spirals, through the glass and right into the young man’s lap, not disturbing the notebook pages. He started at first at the intrusion but then turned his own glasses on and unfolded the message. A shy smile appeared on his plump lips, and he looked flattered, turning his head around to see if the sender was in sight. Catching no one, he typed something below the initial message and deftly folded it back into a crane that, to G’s surprise, flew directly at her, in uneven spirals along the wall. The man traced it with a smile, propping himself back on his arms, his whole slim body and face on full display now.
God, was he good-looking.
Easily passing the physical border of the glass again, the crane crashed into Gentry’s wristcomm, dutifully delivering the message and betraying her tactical position at the same time. An amused kind of surprise showed on the young man’s face and he waved at her to show that she had been exposed. She waved back, trying to look nonchalant but probably failing miserably.
Very smooth, G, way to go.
The message read, “Is a flower only good for looking at? Not this one.”
Oooh, this boy was playing with fire!
“Hey, G,” Sereen nudged. “Have you finished reading?”
“Mm? Oh, yeah.” Gentry lied easily. She had skimmed the first couple of paragraphs and was sure she’d be able to come up with something if asked.
“Done everybody?” the deep gentle voice called from the holoboard and G’s attention snapped back to the dignified face.
The class murmured affirmatively.
“I’m sorry today’s lecture isn’t as fun as usual,” he admitted. “I must say I’m still unsure how to approach such complex topic as this one. But with your help, I hope we’ll figure it out.”
Everyone seemed to perk up.
“You just read an extract on paradoxes,” Q went on. “And you might be wondering why we are raising a philosophical topic on a rational thinking course.”
“There you go,” Sereen whispered. “He’s back to normal!”
G humphed. This did seem interesting. Was it a good idea to read the extract after all?
Q continued, “In the text, you might have encountered the definition of a paradox. Would anyone explain it with their own words?”
A raised hand and the lecturer’s nod brought some courageous soul to their feet.
“It’s when you start with the correct premises, use consistent logic but wind up with an impossible conclusion,” they said. “There are three types: falsidical, veridical and antimony-type, which are...”
“Correct,” Q smiled and nodded the person back down. It was a smile worth starting a thousand wars over.
“Now there’s a reason why I asked you to read about them. Why do you think people have been fascinated with paradoxes for such a long time?”
S raised her hand and received a kind invitation.
“I might be wrong,” she said. “But it seems that they point at the limitations of our thinking, things that seem rational but in fact aren’t. We feel that with our all-conquering logic we can solve any puzzle but it’s not always the case. Right?”
“This is very insightful,” the teacher confirmed. “It is believed by many that what’s rational is true and therefore what rationality cannot explain must be false.”
“I definitely know someone who would die on that hill,” Gentry grumbled under her breath.
“I’m sorry?” Q asked. “Is there something you wanted to add... sorry, I don’t know your name?”
Still half mad with professor Poe, Gentry stood up. “It’s G, I’m a Newcomer. I was saying how a human mind can fool itself into thinking it knows what it looks at as long as it makes sense. But in reality, it’s not there, like the sky.”
That was the only thing she remembered from that last lecture! She felt the tips of her ears heat up but the kind and considering look on Q’s face showed her gamble paid off.
“These are very insightful observations, G, why don’t we try exploring them together?” — he waived her to sit down and turned back to the class — “Five minutes to discuss how paradoxes might reveal the weaknesses of rational thinking. Send your answers to the board when you’re done.”
“Whoa, daring as usual,” Sereen smiled. “I knew you’d enjoy his class.”
“Now, consider these two questions,” Q said to another student who stood up at his hand wave. “If an unstoppable force meets an indestructible object, what is going to happen?”
The person seemed to contemplate it for a while and the teacher didn’t rush him.
“Isn’t it one of those which are impossible to solve because the existence of the one automatically disproves the existence of the other?”
Q nodded, “Correct. The second one about the barber in a small town is of the same sort. Sereen?”
S stood up too, “The one that shaves all and only men that don’t shave themselves?”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “At first, a premise like this seems perfectly reasonable, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” S responded, somewhat rashly. “But it’s clear that a barber like this cannot exist.”
“Wait, really?” Gentry whispered as Q nodded in satisfaction and urged her friend to go on.
“Yes, if we ask ourselves if this barber shaves himself. If he doesn’t, then he is part of the group which he does shave that do not shave themselves, but if he is in this group, then he does shave himself which makes it impossible for him to be this barber by definition.”
While the rest of the class was catching up with the logic, Q’s smile got only wider, more inviting.
“What does it tell us about the nature of the premise then?” he asked.
“That although it seems that it sounds logical on the surface, it is in fact nonsense and we don’t even need to hear the rest of the riddle to discard it completely,” S concluded.
The man chuckled.
“Well, I wouldn’t be that brash, to be honest, but on balance, you’re right,” he said. “If you stay after the lecture, I might recommend a couple of books on the topic. Your Newcomer friend is welcome to stay, too.”
G put up the best of the aloof fronts, “I’d be happy to, Professor.”
“Q is fine,” he smiled again and went on addressing the rest of the class that immediately exploded into a heated discussion.
***
“Basically, what I think we’re supposed to learn from this,” S concluded after a while, standing up so that everyone could hear her. “Is that before applying rationality, we have to make sure that all the premises we are dealing with are in fact realistic. Otherwise, there is no way rational thinking will help us.”
“Excellently put, as always,” Q applauded. “I’d love to see if everyone agrees or has something else to add to the discussion but our time is up. Feel free to write me a letter with your reflections on the topic.”
As interesting as the class was, the urge to leave the premises as soon as the teacher dismissed everyone seemed to be universal and applicable even to the Ashtapadans.
“I have to go now,” Sereen said. “Text you later, ok?” And with a reciprocal nod to Q, disappeared in the doors, joining the rest of the students.
Sadly, she couldn’t recall what they were talking about after the lecture, nor what titles Professor recommended for some home reading. She just hoped she didn’t make a fool of herself.
What Gentry did remember though was that after Q left as well and she came up to the panoramic window, Sereen and the mysterious flower boy were leaving the garden together. And it was hard not to notice that her new friend took off her wristcomm before they took off, and hid it in the tall grass.

Hi everyone. This is my first Reddit post, so please pardon if I am using some wrong format.
I want to learn about Fine Tuning LLMs such as LLama-2, Gemma models, Llama-3. I have read plenty of medium articles and have been exposed to plenty of new topics such as LoRA, QLoRA, PEFT, etc. I have tried my best to understand them. But while implementing the code by following along the medium articles, I sometimes come across numerous parameters that are initialized without explanation which is overwhelming sometimes. I have also been exposed to Unsloth. I want to know where can I begin from. Should I begin with understanding how to fine-tune small models such as BERT, T5, etc using PyTorch and Transformers library? If you would like to provide some roadmap it would be really helpful. Thank you for your time.
I am attaching an example of the code I struggled to understand. How does one know which parameters are supposed to be used and which not?

model_name = "NousResearch/Llama-2-7b-chat-hf" dataset_name = "mlabonne/guanaco-llama2-1k" new_model = "Llama-2-7b-chat-finetune" # QLoRA parameters lora_r = 64 lora_alpha = 16 lora_dropout = 0.1 #bitsandbytes parameters #activate 4-bit precision base model loading use_4bit = True #compute dtype for 4-bit base models bnb_4bit_compute_dtype = "float16" #quantization type fp4 or nf4 bnb_4bit_quant_type = "nf4" #activate nested quantization for 4 bit base models use_nested_quant = False #training parameters #output dir output_dir = "./results" #no. of training epochs num_train_epochs = 1 fp16 = False bf16 = False per_device_train_batch_size = 4 per_device_eval_batch_size = 4 gradient_accumulation_steps = 1 gradient_checkpointing = True max_grad_norm = 0.3 learning_rate = 2e-4 weight_decay = 0.001 optim = "paged_adamw_32bit" lr_scheduler_type = "cosine" max_steps = -1 warmup_ratio = 0.03 group_by_length = True save_steps = 0 logging_steps = 25 # SFT Parameters # Maximum sequence length to use max_seq_length = None # Pack multiple short examples in the same input sequence to increase efficiency packing = False # Load the entire model on the GPU 0 device_map = {"": 0} # Load dataset (you can process it here) dataset = load_dataset(dataset_name, split="train") # Load tokenizer and model with QLoRA configuration compute_dtype = getattr(torch, bnb_4bit_compute_dtype) bnb_config = BitsAndBytesConfig( load_in_4bit=use_4bit, bnb_4bit_quant_type=bnb_4bit_quant_type, bnb_4bit_compute_dtype=compute_dtype, bnb_4bit_use_double_quant=use_nested_quant, ) # Check GPU compatibility with bfloat16 if compute_dtype == torch.float16 and use_4bit: major, _ = torch.cuda.get_device_capability() if major >= 8: print("=" * 80) print("Your GPU supports bfloat16: accelerate training with bf16=True") print("=" * 80) # Load base model model = AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained( model_name, quantization_config=bnb_config, device_map=device_map ) model.config.use_cache = False model.config.pretraining_tp = 1 # Load LLaMA tokenizer tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(model_name, trust_remote_code=True) tokenizer.pad_token = tokenizer.eos_token tokenizer.padding_side = "right" # Fix weird overflow issue with fp16 training # Load LoRA configuration peft_config = LoraConfig( lora_alpha=lora_alpha, lora_dropout=lora_dropout, r=lora_r, bias="none", task_type="CAUSAL_LM", ) # Set training parameters training_arguments = TrainingArguments( output_dir=output_dir, num_train_epochs=num_train_epochs, per_device_train_batch_size=per_device_train_batch_size, gradient_accumulation_steps=gradient_accumulation_steps, optim=optim, save_steps=save_steps, logging_steps=logging_steps, learning_rate=learning_rate, weight_decay=weight_decay, fp16=fp16, bf16=bf16, max_grad_norm=max_grad_norm, max_steps=max_steps, warmup_ratio=warmup_ratio, group_by_length=group_by_length, lr_scheduler_type=lr_scheduler_type, report_to="tensorboard" ) # Set supervised fine-tuning parameters trainer = SFTTrainer( model=model, train_dataset=dataset, peft_config=peft_config, dataset_text_field="text", max_seq_length=max_seq_length, tokenizer=tokenizer, args=training_arguments, packing=packing, ) # Train model trainer.train() 

I don’t know what else to do honestly so I figured I might as well come on here and talk about it. I have always had a difficult relationship with my mother. She is a pathological liar and a bit narcissistic. She does mean things like threaten to call the cops when I fell on her leg when I was 12 then will deny it ever happened and call me horrible for making her sound crazy. I’ve tried over the years to have some sort of relationship with her but we aren’t really close. On to the main story I talked to my mom on how her actions affect me and how therapy could really help her she agreed and had been going to therapy. Her therapist advised her to relax more so she went on a cruise. After she came back she began acting weird and started immediately wanting a divorce after my dad asked her for money for the house payment. She had never acted like this before and I had my suspicions that someone was pushing her to do this. I knew the log in to her facebook so I logged in and checked her messages to see what was up. What I found was worse than I thought she had apparently met some guy on the cruise and had been flirting and had at least layed her head on his shoulder and massaged his shoulders on that cruise. Now that she got attention from a guy on a cruise she now is telling her friends that she deserves to be happy and wants to date. She’s now demanding that her and my dad divorce and sell the house so she can move out and be happy. I’ve tried expressing my concerns about moving out when my job and school are here, but she just keeps saying how she needs to put herself first and if I want nothing to do with her there is nothing she can do to change my mind. Me and my sister are both over 18 we are living at home to save money while going to college. I just feel so heartbroken watching her facebook and seeing her insult me to her mom and her friend and laughing about it. It hurts so much to see those messages of her taking pleasure in us being afraid of moving. I just don’t want to move but both their names are on the house and the state I live in is a no fault state. To Whoever reads this thanks for listening cause I just don’t know what to do.

Hello, my case is going through the CTA Complaint Process and I've received a reply from Air Canada, and I'm looking for guidance on next steps for my reply. I will need help quickly as I have until TONIGHT (May 21) to respond. I tried posting to the Air Passenger Rights FB group but my post never got approved.
Flight AC933 from CUN to YVR, 2024-01-08. Original departure time was 18:25 and actual departure was at 21:30. They didn't provide meal vouchers after the 2 hour delay mark, and the pilot came out to announce the reason of the delay but not over the intercom, so we all had to crowd around the gates to hear--apparently it was not a safety issue but still needed to be addressed. Proper communication methods were also not provided--the airport's free WIFI was only restricted to certain messaging apps. Are we still entitled to the $400 compensation?
Airline response is below in attachments: basically citing unforeseen maintenance issue and weather for the delay. This is contradictory of what the pilot mentioned, citing that it was "not a safety issue". Also, they mentioned that I cannot exercise the rights of other passengers who were involved (i.e. my family members)? Isn't that BS since CTA tells us that we can file on behalf of other adults specifically on their website?
Air Canada Response
Attached evidence of flight delay
What are my next steps? Thanks!
EDIT: Below is the full text of what I submitted to CTA:

Our flight from CUN Airport to YVR Airport was delayed for 3 hours--original departure time was 18:25 and we departed at 21:30. As per Canadian Air Passenger Protection Regulations, we are entitled to $400 for an arrival delay of between 3-6 hours. Furthermore, disruption to the flight departure time was not clearly communicated at the gate at CUN Airport. After learning our flight was delayed past 20:00 local time, there was a moment after in which the pilot came out to discuss the possibility of a lengthier delay to 22:00, but this announcement was not made over the intercom to let all the passengers know--rather people had to crowd around the gate to hear what was going on. New communication was not made available rapidly; delay notices were not visible at the boarding gates as well. Furthermore, meal vouchers were not voluntarily offered by the airline members; rather passengers who knew their APPR rights had to go up to the gate desk and request a meal voucher to be given. Because boarding was confirmed to start within 20-30 minutes, they did not allow additional meal vouchers to be handed out; it was not reasonable in offering complementary snacks on the plane and continued to charge customers for additional snacks on the menu. Access to means of communication such as wifi were also not provided; passengers were only provided access to the free airport wifi, which limited access to 30 minutes at a time and only worked for certain messaging apps. Therefore, Air Canada failed to provide assistance to passengers after they had waited more than 2 hours after the original departure time.

Hey and hi! I previously posted these Character Chats in order to fill the void when the comic was on involuntary hiatus, and I'm pleased to hear that it was received positively and people were asking for more. I couldn't really commit to it once the hiatus was over, since I've got a job and all. But good news, my whole team got laid off! I've got a lot more time on my hands now, so I think I'll keep this series going for a few weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays or so. If anyone complains about me surfing reddit at work during my notice period... well, what are they gonna do, fire me?
Today my giant novely ouija board has selected Prince Aaronev Tarvek Sturmvoraus. Our first Spark, and first main character, but somehow our third Valois out of five picks.
Tarvek is a member of the large and complicated Valois family tree, descended from our pal Andronicus Valois, the Storm King. He is the son of Prince Aaronev Sturmvoraus VI of Sturmhalten and an unknown mother, and the older brother of Anevka Sturmvoraus. He and Anevka share the same grandmother with the von Bliztengaard siblings and Violetta, making them all cousins. The Selnikovs may also be close family members, as their main residence is in Sturmhalten. Tarvek also calls Zulenna a cousin at one point.
The Storm King conspiracy among the Fifty Families was said to be fizzling out in the time before the comic, but the Mongfish family (i.e. Lucrezia) got involved and whipped them all into shape. Besides making most of the Knights of Jove Lucrezia loyalists, part of this involvment was ensuring there was a suitable male heir to the Storm King using Spark sceince, which ended up producing, at minimum, Tarvek and Martellus von Blitzengaard. The degree to which Tarvek's mother was involved and consenting is unknown. While we don't know how much was done, Tarvek is a powerful Spark, physically fit, and quite intelligent, so mission accomplished I suppose (though Tarvek does wear these tiny pince-nez around, so he may have poor vision - nice going, Lucrezia).
We don't have a family tree or anything, so we need to take the story's word that Tarvek's claim for being a direct heir of Andronicus is one of the most direct, if not the strongest overall. Two of the strongest claimants, Tarvek and Martellus, share a grandmother, so presumably their legitimacy is either through her or her late husband. Grandmama is once referred to with the title "Dowager Princess of Sturmhalten", it's possible Aaronev inherited his title as Prince of Sturmhalten by being her son. On the other hand, Tarvek also says that his descent comes down through his mother, so maybe she's Grandmama's child instead? Or it's wrong to trace back things to this set of grandparents after all? The family tree is thrown for another loop when Orotine declares Martellus a third-place heir rather than the commonly assumed second-place, so now who's in second place and how's that guy related to Tarvek's family tree, and... it's at this point I throw up my hands in exasperation.
Tarvek spent some of his early childhood as a political hostage on Castle Wulfenbach, being raised with other hostages by von Pinn. Tarvek recalls this time fondly, and in particular became good friends with Gil, whose identity was still hidden. When the two of them were hunting for secrets, hoping to discover Gil's lineage, they discover a red-herring left by the Baron. While Tarvek didn't buy it and tried to dig further, he got caught. Along with some snitching from Gil, this got him expelled from the Castle. Of course, everyone was spying abord the Castle, and Tarvek was just the only one kicked out. My assumption is that the Baron wasn't worried about Gil's identity being exposed, but didn't approve of Gil getting close with Tarvek for one reason or another and arranged to destroy the friendship.
He spent his remaining childhood in Sturmhalten, where he was wrapped up in family scheming, including Aaronev's schemes with the Other. Besides Aaronev, he also spent time with Anevka and Violetta during this period, and received some Smoke Knight training. He later goes to Paris for his higher education, where he was a good student and made friendships with influential young people like Colette and Neena. He was also involuntarily dragged into Gil's college adventures, where he became, uh, "acquainted" with disreputable characters like Bangladesh Dupree and Zola. He's called back to Sturmhalten after completing his education.
As a young adult, Tarvek's goals are initially to learn all he can from the Other conspiracy in Sturmhalten, destroy them afterwards, use this knowledge to overthrow the Baron, become Storm King, get the Fifty Families under control, and bring peace and prosperity to his new empire. However, Aaronev is in charge in Sturmhalten, and has different ideas. Tarvek detests his father and the Other conspiracy he's involved with, but cooperates with them to stay in their good graces and learn all he can. Tarvek attempts to act as a moderating influence on Aaronev, but Aaronev is too far gone to pull back. Aaronev ends up capturing nearly all the young female Sparks in Europa beneath the Baron's nose, and destroys them utterly trying to implant copies of Lucrezia into their minds, while Tarvek doesn't do much more than watch.
Aaronev eventually subjects his daughter Anevka to the treatment, nearly killing her. The Circus of Adventure happens to be in town, and as an expert on the Muses, Tarvek recognizes Tinka as a van Rijn original when she performs. Tarvek has his men abduct Tinka, and uses her as the basis for building a masterpiece clank which would connect to Anevka's mind and allow her to move and speak while her body was comatose. For what it's worth, he does try to pay the Circus after the fact, but they naturally ran like hell out of town. Tinka is eventually damaged beyond his ability to repair by Aaronev.
After this, he also conspires (or pretends to conspire) with Anevka to use her clank body's voice box to imitate Lucrezia's ability to command revenants, and use that ability to overthrow Aaronev and the Baron. When the Circus comes back to town with Agatha in tow, she's found out as Lucrezia's daughter at a show, with more beans being spilled later when Agatha's drugged with a truth serum. Aaronev tries to throw her in the Lucrezia-machine, but Anevka launches her coup right then, and finalizes her voice box by studying Agatha's own voice. Tarvek, having fallen for Agatha basically immediately, attempts to smuggle Agatha out of town under Anevka's nose, but the Geisters eventually get Lucrezia in her head anyway.
Tarvek, at this point, wants to integrate Agatha into his plan to use Other technology to usurp the Baron, which means keeping her safely at his side. This means both cooperating with Lucrezia to learn from her to begin with and protect Agatha's body, and also sabotaging Agatha's efforts at surrendering herself to the Baron for the greater good. One his deals with Lucrezia is making a clank head imprinted with a Lucrezia copy, designed to fit onto Avenka's clank body. Tarvek lures in Anevka for Lucrezia, and after some back-and-forth betrayals, eventually deactivates Anevka's head and puts her in storage, essentially killing her for the time being. Juggling Agatha, Lucrezia, and now a second Lucrezia proves too much for Tarvek once the Baron's troops arrive in Sturmhalten, and he ends up slashed in the gut, shot, and abandoned in the ensuing chaos.
Tarvek ends up in the Great Hospital in Mechanicsburg, as one of many of the injured from Sturmhalten. Violetta, who had been assigned to Mechanicsburg by Tarvek to keep her out of the proverbial firing line, manages to get him out of custody in the hospital... but inside of Castle Heterodyne instead, which is something of a lateral move. After connecting up with Agatha, Taevek comes down with Hogfarb's Respelendent Immolation, either due to traipsing about Castle Heterodyne of all places while wounded, or, Tarvek speculates, as a poisoning attempt from his own extended family. Gil is recruited to help with curing him, and after extensive bickering, infections, distractions, complications, and one apotheosis, he's back in good health. Tarvek attempts to help fix the Castle, and aid Agatha however he can, including fighting with Lucrezia and Vole, and attempting to strangle Zola. His bickering with Gil during this time mostly puts him on the defensive and has Tarvek trying to justify his actions, but he eventually does has a quiet epiphany.
He eventually gets grabbed by Other in a case of mistaken identity, and his quick analytical skills wind up placing him in charge of the Wulfenbach fleet's grand strategy temporarily - it's at gunpoint, but Boris assesses that he's really doing what's in the best interest of the Empire. He has to scurry off when Klaus comes onto the scene, placing him in a perfect position to recruit the Empire's Vespiary Squad and their weasels when Klaus turns on them. Notably, he risks life and limb rescuing a squad member, who he needs of course, but also Jorgi, who mostly annoys him. He sends the Vespiary Squad to hiding places abroad. As the battle for Mechanicsburg wraps up, Tarvek ends up stabbed with a poisoned dagger by Martellus just before the time-stop.
Post time-skip, Gil dedicates extensive resources towards getting Tarvek out of the time stop. Tarvek isn't able to do much before being kidnapped by the Immortal Library, and then kidnapped by Mister Obsidian on behalf of Grandmama. He does manage to breathe a bit in Paris, before being kidnapped by Mister Obsidian again on behalf of Seffie, to be sent to England. But en route aboard a pirate vessel, he's (shockingly) interrupted by a kidnapping attempt, this time for Grandmama again. Martellus sent assassins after Tarvek to interrupt the interruption, leading to bloody battle between Seffie's pirates, Grandmama's Smoke Knights, Martellus' Knights of the Hunt, and poor Tarvek. After being rescued by Gil, Tarvek flips the script, and he and Bang kidnap Gil instead, changing course to England.
In England, he can finally, you know, not get kidnapped for a bit. He decides to join Agatha in the Royal Society, and despite nearly getting strangled by Higgs, manages to reach Agatha and help work on curing her of Lucrezia, and curing Gil of Klaus. After interminable delays like a undersea cult, briefly seeing beyond time, punching Tweedle, and a revenant attack, they eventually pull it all off.
Later, in the war against the Polar Lords, Tarvek is essentially given the role of Gil's official treacherous vizier. On paper, helping the Empire helps keep him safe to further his own ambitions, but in practice, Tarvek seems more focused on doing good by his friends than anything to do with becoming Storm King.
Whew! And that's the short synopsis!
As a Spark, Tarvek's specialty is masterwork clanks in the van Rijn mold. His Anevka clank maintains full sentience even after any organic parts it was attached to died off, and continues to be used by Lucrezia to devastating effect. He also has a knack for rapid analysis, such as being able to understand the Wulfenbach fleet's strategy with just a glance. It's possible his political aptitude, scheming skills and ability to anticipate people's actions are a byproduct of his spark, but it may also just be the natural result of his upbringing. He is unusually composed for a Spark, and is very rarely seen in the Madness Place, and never for very long.
Beyond the Spark and his cunning, Tarvek also received some Smoke Knight training, making him skilled in martial arts and sleight of hand. That said, he'd prefer not to get in fights, and his first resort use his Spark or guile to get out safely (his second resort is just shooting them, with a gun). He also has a passion for fashion design, particularly lady's fashion.
Besides his conquer-Europa ambitions, Tarvek seems primarily driven to help and protect the people he loves, but his preferred tactics for doing so are often underhanded, or screw over people that he doesn't particularly love. Tarvek is the kind of guy who has to come to the conclusion that mind-control slavery is bad in general, rather than bad for people I know. He does come to that conclusion on his own, so kudos for that, but for a lot of people it's not even something you have to think about. Tarvek is also quick to use "they'd kill me if I tried, I had no choice" as a defense, but never quite understands that there was always a choice available he didn't consider - die trying. That all said, Tarvek is in generally improving his character over time, and wants to do the right thing, both in the "greater good" sense and doing right by other people individually, and finds himself frustrated at himself that he's often failed. I don't want to discuss Tarvek's ethics too much further here, since there's a great deal to talk about and this is supposed to be a discussion thread! Why do I have to do all the work?
Major Relationships:

• Agatha: Tarvek fell for Agatha pretty damn hard, internally logging her as "future bride", and even at his scummiest times in Sturmhalten was trying to act in her best interest, and just ignoring what she actually wanted and also fucking it up anyway. By the time of the Castle arc, Tarvek has mostly thrown away all of his own ambitions in favor of working for Agatha's, even in moments when he feels pretty hopeless about his actual prospects as a suitor. One major advantage in his court is that he's able to actually articulate his feelings like an adult.
  
• Gil: It's been a true roller coaster for these two, from friends to enemies to rivals to allies to secret lovers. It takes a great deal of bonding for their distrust of one another to fall away, and after the time skip Tarvek lists Agatha and Gil (and, by implication, Violetta) as the only people left he really cares about, and the two of them spend a lot more time hugging than you would have expected.
  
• Violetta: Tarvek spent a good deal of his childhood with Violetta, and earnestly tried to protect her. In natural early-Tarvek style, it was by ignoring her wishes and leaving her in the dark, but points for trying. They have a bickering siblings type of relationship, and Violetta is fine trash talking him despite the power imbalance between them. Tarvek is pretty disappointed that he's rebuffed when trying to sincerely express that he's glad she's alive, since she expects childish taunts out of him.
  
• Aaronev: Tarvek really hates Aaronev for all the horrible things he's done, especially for putting Anevka through the machine, and spends about two seconds mourning after he's killed. Tarvek had been play-acting as a loyal son for years, and it's a bit tragic that Aaronev bought his act wholesale - what little interaction we see suggests that Aaronev, scumbag that he is, did really like Tarvek.
  
• Anevka: Tarvek did not take it well when it seemed Anevka was going to die, and went to extreme measures to save her. But Tarvek doesn't assign the same level of personhood to the Anevka clank after the original Anevka dies (he's generally not the best at the whole "clanks are people too" concept), and eventually "kills" her by turning her off and throwing her head in a box, where she probably still remains if Sturmhalten hasn't been razed to the ground.
  
• Lucrezia: While most people hate the Other on a conceptual level, Tarvek has spent enough time with her to really begin to hate her on a personal level. He's aware of her foibles, such as her susceptibility to flattery, and tries to take advantage when he can. His more personal knowledge also makes him better able to detect when Lucrezia is taking over for Agatha than most.
  
• Higgs: Like many, Tarvek cottons on that Higgs has a secret in Castle Heterodyne. Tarvek does try to keep it under his hat and make excuses on his behalf, but can't resist teasing Higgs despite him being incredibly dangerous. Tarvek openly confronting Higgs about his identity later on nearly gets him strangled to death. Despite that, Tarvek and Higgs have formed a good rapport, and have solid mutual respect. He's even one of the people Tarvek pours his heart out to when he thinks Violetta is dead.
  
• Neena: Neena has a bit of a crush on Tarvek, and Tarvek for his part does some light flirting at the ball but otherwise doesn't think about her much at this point. It's an odd match for someone like Tarvek, since Neena is earnest, enthusiastic, and completely lacking in guile. Maybe that's exactly what someone like him needs - stranger things have happened!
  
• Martellus: As two men aiming for the same throne, Martellus and Tarvek are natural enemies. Tarvek obviously dislikes Martellus - and even gets a good punch in - but doesn't take any moves to stop Martellus' forward momentum, and makes no moves towards legitimizing his claim as Storm King beyond not being dead. His strategy may be to just give Martellus enough rope to hang himself with, but it may also show genuine disinterest in this whole Storm King business.
  

There is a felyne in Seliana that takes a log of wood and trims its branches in a very fluid motion.
I can't seem to find said felyne, even though I have seen the wood chopping animation before.
There is a short on YouTube showcasing this exact felyne as well, but I can't find the video either.
Please help me, it's driving me crazy!!!
Edit: I believe the wood chopping happens here: https://imgur.com/a/cKd9Gjv

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If you're looking for a career that offers flexibility, the ability to work from anywhere, and the chance to make a real impact, customer service chat jobs from home are an excellent choice. You’ll gain valuable skills, connect with a global community, and have the freedom to design a work-life balance that suits you.
So, Reddit community, are you ready to take the plunge into the world of customer service chat jobs work from home? This could be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. Set up your home office, get connected, and start making a difference today. The future of work is here, and it's flexible, fulfilling, and just a few clicks away. Let’s make it happen! 🚀
Feel free to share your experiences, tips, and questions in the comments. Let’s support each other on this journey to a more flexible and rewarding career!Transform Your Career with Customer Service Chat Jobs Work from Home! Don't miss out on the chance to redefine your work life. Click below to learn more and start your journey to success today. Discover More and Apply Now!

I used to use Habitica, and kind of dropped off over time. I'd like to re-implement some kind of system but at the moment for habits only. I fully acknowledge I'm not the target audience and this is a me-issue (I never played RPGs) but the design and art in Habitica are unappealing to me and I'd prefer something that basically functions the same as the habits section, but is sleeker or more modern in design, if it's out there. I'm guessing that I'll end up using Habitica again with all of the to-dos and dailies deleted but figured that if an alternative exists, someone here might know about it.
I just want to be able to come up with a list of habits (ideally organized into categories, but I know I may not find that) and have a button that I can click for a sense of satisfaction every time I do them, multiple times per day if needed. I don't want to set a target frequency for these tasks, I don't want a broken streak or any other kind of punishment for missing a day. (The button gradually turning green or red depending on overall frequency is fine.) Ideally I would like both iOS and browsePC format but one or the other would work. I don't want to use Notion unless there's already a cheap or free template that does exactly this with no customization from me.
***
Background, which is unnecessary to the question so feel free to skip (just posting in case it clarifies why I want or don't want certain features): I want to use this as a tool to subvert online shopping urges and other unhealthy coping mechanisms. When I'm feeling frustrated with an area of my life but the prospect of changing it is overwhelming, instead of opening Amazon to shop for the magical product that will allow future me to fix everything, I can open this app and see a menu of tiny tangible actions that will actually help, and instead of putting something in my cart for a sense of control, I complete one action and click a button that records it somehow. These aren't necessarily tasks that need to be done at a certain frequency and some will also be so small that there isn't really a limit to how often they can be done, so trackers that just recur once per day or make you choose a goal frequency are useless for my purposes. I also want it to be more of a feel-good thing and contain no reminders of to-dos or daily tasks that I may not have completed, those can go in other apps.

Hey Redditors! 🌟 Are you tired of the daily grind and looking for a way to earn a living without leaving the comfort of your home? You're in the right place! Let's dive into the world of customer service chat jobs work from home. This is more than just a job—it's a lifestyle change that offers flexibility, control, and the chance to connect with people worldwide. Ready to transform your career? Let’s go!

Apply Now For Live Chat Jobs

Why Customer Service Chat Jobs Work from Home Are a Game Changer
Imagine starting your day with a cup of coffee, wearing your favorite comfy clothes, and logging into your computer to start helping customers solve their problems. No more commuting, no more office politics—just you, your device, and the opportunity to make a difference. Customer service chat jobs from home offer unparalleled convenience and the ability to create a work-life balance that suits you.
My Journey into Customer Service Advisor Live Chat Jobs
I stumbled into the world of customer service advisor live chat jobs almost by accident. Burnt out from the traditional 9-to-5, I was searching for something that would give me more control over my time. That’s when I discovered these remote opportunities. Setting up my home office was an adventure—choosing the perfect chair, ensuring a strong internet connection, and creating a space that felt both professional and personal. The best part? The flexibility to schedule my work around my life, not the other way around.
The Perks of Customer Support Live Chat Jobs
One of the biggest perks of customer support live chat jobs is the ability to work from anywhere. Whether you're in your living room, at a café, or traveling, as long as you have a reliable internet connection, you’re good to go. This mobility is perfect for those who value freedom and want to escape the confines of a traditional office.
The best chat customer service jobs also come with a sense of accomplishment. Each interaction is a chance to help someone, to solve a problem, and to make a customer's day a little brighter. You’re not just providing a service; you’re building relationships and creating positive experiences.
Building a Community While Working Remotely
One of the unexpected joys of customer service chat jobs from home is the community. Even though you're not physically in an office, you’re part of a team. We connect through virtual meetings, share tips and strategies, and celebrate each other's successes. This camaraderie makes the job even more rewarding and helps you stay motivated and engaged.
Skills You’ll Gain from Online Customer Service Chat Jobs from Home
Working in online customer service chat jobs from home helps you develop a unique set of skills. You'll become a master of time management, learn to prioritize tasks efficiently, and develop excellent communication abilities. These skills are not only valuable for your current role but are also highly transferable to any future career paths you might choose.
Tips for Succeeding in Customer Service Chat Jobs from Home
Create a Dedicated Workspace: Having a specific area for work helps you stay focused and separates your work life from your personal life. Stay Organized: Use tools like calendars, task lists, and time management apps to keep track of your duties and deadlines. Keep Learning: The customer service field is always evolving. Stay up-to-date with the latest tools, technologies, and best practices. Communicate Effectively: Clear communication is key in customer support. Be concise, empathetic, and always aim to resolve issues efficiently. Take Breaks: Working from home can sometimes blur the lines between work and rest. Ensure you take regular breaks to recharge and avoid burnout. Why You Should Consider Customer Service Chat Jobs from Home
If you're looking for a career that offers flexibility, the ability to work from anywhere, and the chance to make a real impact, customer service chat jobs from home are an excellent choice. You’ll gain valuable skills, connect with a global community, and have the freedom to design a work-life balance that suits you.
So, Reddit community, are you ready to take the plunge into the world of customer service chat jobs work from home? This could be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. Set up your home office, get connected, and start making a difference today. The future of work is here, and it's flexible, fulfilling, and just a few clicks away. Let’s make it happen! 🚀
Feel free to share your experiences, tips, and questions in the comments. Let’s support each other on this journey to a more flexible and rewarding career!Transform Your Career with Customer Service Chat Jobs Work from Home! Don't miss out on the chance to redefine your work life. Click below to learn more and start your journey to success today. Discover More and Apply Now!