Hi all,
Anyone who has done AF5 got any prep tips? How many weeks study did you do/is it worth doing any work pre case study release?
Feel my exam technique is already good given this is my last AF exam before chartered and I’ve passed the others first time.

Was tempted to make a video to show more than tell and still might, but things are still very, very early and always subject to change.
My previous Japanese language study is obviously giving me a big head start. Knew this would be the case when I went to Taiwan a couple of times and could recognize more than a few words which really helped me get around. Obviously pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar would be radically different, but I was also aware of that. The unknown traditional Hanzi (focusing on that since it's easier given my Japanese study background) will not be the main problem, just the tones and pronunciation and thousands of words using those Hanzi.
Also, I have the benefit of going in with a set plan based on my own experience learning (and re-learning) Japanese using self-study tools: Anki, text analyzers, browser plug-ins, audio books, pop-up dictionaries, etc.
Current plan is as follows: Do the first 90 lessons of the older Pimsleur Mandarin course with serious supplementation:

• Anki - I'm using a transcript (complete for Mandarin I Lessons 1 - 30) and webpage with vocabulary and starting dialogue for all 90 lessons to generate the cards. They'll have English, PinYin, Simplified and Traditional for both the vocabulary and an example sentence. The cards will be two per word - PinYin word/sentence (audio recognition, but I'm not bothering with actual audio for Pimsleur), and English word/Clozed traditional hanzi sentence (production where preferably the English word would instead be an image/Chinese definition).
  
• Trimsleur - My term for taking Pimsleur lessons and removing the English prompts and long pauses with two second pauses. For a 30 minute lesson, I have a 10 minute pure Chinese audio that's also comprehensible. Meant for comprehensible audio immersion (and repeating/shadowing).
  
• ACHTT - stands for "All Chinese Half The Time" which is my term for Ken Cannon's suggestion to watch every episode of a show in Japanese twice: once w/ English subs for the comprehension, then once more w/ Chinese subs or no subs for the immersion. I take it one step further by ripping the audio with a program uses the subtitles to remove long non-spoken portions (CIA or compressed immersion audio).
  

So current plan just for the 90 Pimsleur lessons is:

1. Review due Anki. For these, I have strict fail and soft fail rules for each card type. "Audio" cards (PinYin word/sentence) I have to know which hanzi are used and the meaning of the word - this is a strict fail. The soft fail (I hit "hard" UNLESS the spacing will be over 6 months) is the stroke order of the hanzi and meaning of the example sentence. The Clozed Delete card I also have know the Mandarin word, it's hanzi, and it's tone for the strict fail. The stroke order and meaning/reading of the clozed deleted Mandarin sentence is a soft fail.
   
2. Do the Pimsleur lesson with the transcript (in part I at least). Pause to initially answer the English prompt then play and repeat the Chinese phrase. When the new word is introduced, go to it's Anki card to add pronunciation notes (the transcript has a few pages of charts for this) along with HanziHero as needed for Hanzi meanings and notes (super important for Hanzi that are new to me). Now, Pimsleur is normally a 30 minute lesson, but doing it this way makes it last about an hour or so.
   
3. Activate the new vocabulary in Anki (custom study option) and see how much is remembered. I set cards to long learning time (1m 10m 1440m 3600m) with graduation done at 1 week. This is also great because Pimsleur cannot tell if I remembered anything or not and balance accordingly. Anki can.
   
4. Watch one episode of Peppa Pig Mandarin at 75% speed with English sub, then rewatch with traditional Chinese subs. Peppa Pig is slowed down because the normal episodes are sped up on purpose in most languages. Any other show I would likely leave at original speed.
   
5. Update my comprehensible immersion audio playlist. It'd be 4 copies of today's Trimsleur lesson, 3 copies of yesterday, 2 copies of two days ago, and 1 copy of three days ago (so Lesson 8 x4, Lesson 7 x3, Lesson 6 x2, Lesson 5 x1). In addition, it'd be the last four days of Peppa Pig ripped audio. This is about two hours of audio in total. I then play these on random, and the most recent lessons are played more often.
   

The comprehensible audio is played a lot of the time passively in the background. I can be doing anything else and not notice, but it'll be there whenever I do take a aural snack (pay attention to what's being played). I DO NOT want to repeat the major mistake in my early Japanese study of playing incomprehensible Japanese audio (rips of TV shows I watched) near 24/7. Found out that comprehensible that frequently refreshed is key to training your brain to follow along without thinking as well as repeat without effort.
Again, I'm only on lesson 8 with a handful of vocabulary words under my belt. Still, I can read aloud all eight of the introductory dialogues in traditional Mandarin. I'm also noticing the words as they pop up in Peppa Pig.
Gonna hate moving on to Pimsleur Mandarin part II as there's no transcript. However, there are websites that'll transcribe the Trimsleur audio (and maybe even the Pimsleur if I wanted) which'll simplify doing the lessons like I'm doing now.
After Pimsleur, I plan to do deep dive study methods (read subtitles along with Chinese subs, pausing only to look up meaning of unknown words and phrases), then after 10 hours of reading (at beginning stages this might be only 1 hour of actual Chinese audio) use subs with MorphMan in Anki to get 100 most common words that are within my learned vocab range. All that means is if I know 1,500 words then MorphMan will only look for new words from 3,000 most common that's also the most common in the read material stopping at 100 new words if that before starting reading up again.
Hopefully this all makes sense. Like with Japanese, I'll freely share whatever resources I can and answer whatever questions people have (if I have time). Obviously I'm in the beginning stages so maybe don't expect much.

First and foremost, I'd like to preface this post by mentioning the fact that I am biased considering that I'll be attending uOttawa Software Engineering this fall.
Competitiveness: Now, for starters, uOttawa SE has been getting more and competitive for years now. This year, it's reached a cutoff average of 97% for Ontario students, a little wild to think about. Now, let me explain why this is significant: A cutoff average of 97% means that the uOttawa admissions team was able to fill the 167 person Software Engineering cohort with people that have an average of 97%+. That being said, a program has to be strong to attract this many qualified students.
CO-OP: One of the biggest factors for why uOttawa Software Engineering has gotten so competitive is their very strong CO-OP program. Software Engineering specifically is the only program in Canada, other than Waterloo's, to have CO-OP after the 1st year of study. Why is this significant? Well because you will be a much more attractive candidate for CO-OPs in your second year considering that you would have already completed 4 months of related work experience. It's also very likely that you'll be able to land a CO-OP after first year considering that modern engineering in the summer of 2023 boasted an 80% placement rate compared to waterloo's 40% (in some programs). Now although we all know how good waterloo's CO-OP is in employer quality, you can't deny the uOttawa's CO-OP's stability. Btw, these statistics are all after the tech market's downturn, uOttawa and Waterloo both previously had a 97% CO-OP placement rate. Additionally, uOttawa's CO-OP has very strong connections in the Kanata Tech hub, the biggest tech park in Canada, with plentiful employers such as Amazon, IBM, Ford, Ericsson, Blackberry, Blackberry QNX, Cisco, Huawei, Morgan Stanley, Nokia, RBC, and many more, recruiting from uOttawa's CO-OP. uOttawa also boasts the 2nd highest paid CO-OP (on average) in Canada after only Waterloo.
Ressources: uOttawa has recently seen an upturn in the amount of ressources it provides for it's SE/CS students, they've recently collaborated with IBM to bring the uOttawa IBM Cyber Range to the school. This is all solidifying it's industry relations and making them a strong candidate for future relationships. uOttawa also runs two major hackathons: uOttaHack and Hack the Hill. These hackathons are the biggest in the city, and they're sponsored by Amazon, Google, Adobe, Microsoft and other companies with local offices in Kanata such as IBM, Blackberry, Ford, etc... There is also the Software Engineering Students Association (SESA) that organizes a multitude of software engineering related events. All of these ressources, along with uOttawa's CO-OP make SE/CS graduates some of the most employable in Canada.
To conclude, uOttawa's outlook in the field is looking very good, and I'd strongly recommend you to consider the program if you're debating it. For future applicants, I really hope these minimum averages stabilize or something because I genuinely don't understand how ya'll are gonna be able to get in. Good luck to you all, and thanks for reading.

Is it usual for participants of a study to buy the medication being tested in the study? Though "plant based medicine" makes me think this is a vitamin study for some company? Western Sydney University is one of the partners and has approved the study. I just don't know what the incentive is to take part of you have to buy it yourself?

Hi Everyone
I finished an IT degree in 2023 and I just started my first IT job 3 months ago. It doesn't pay well, and I have debt from some unemployed spurts over the last 12 months. But overall I'm in a good career place.
I stayed with my family for most of school, but moved out in 2022 and have been renting a room from a guy I met on Reddit for 2 years. Its cheep, college student type housing, not very fancy. But the guy is trustworthy, stable, reasonable and easy to get along with. I rent a bedroom and the homeowner has the top floor of the house.
Anyway my roommate just got an amazing job where is managing services on a state level, meaning he will have to move to the State Capitol in July. I have 2 options.

1. Take over house, rent a year long lease and try to get 1 or 2 college student roommates. The overall cost is about $1800/month.
2. Move into my own apartment, rent is around $700 (I work in a very poor neighborhood) Cover bills myself, and deal with a property management company.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both.
Option 1 Pros: I trust the guy, I have known him for 2 years and I know his family. The house I'm living in will eventually appreciate a lot due to its proximity to a college stadium, and the owner is conflict adverse. So he is incentivized to just keep a stable tenant in as long as possible, meaning rent hikes or sellouts are low probability. This is likely the cheaper option, as I should be able to get each of the college students to pay $650.
Option 2 Cons: I have to deal with 1-2 college students. We live next to a prestigious university, and If I'm lucky I can get some stable, boring international grad students who just want to study all day. But everyone knows bringing in college kids is rolling the dice.
Option 2 Pros: Independence and simplicity, no roommates, shorter commute to my job (on the side of town opposite the university.)
Option 2 Cons: I have to deal with a for-profit corporation being my landlord. I'm scared of annual rent increases. The People charge a $30 application fee and a $50 lease fee. I haven't played the rental game in a while, but right off the bat that makes me nervous. I also don't really know how much electricity/wateInternet will cost. Where as I know the exact amount at the other house. Also, The neighborhood is a bit wild.

Hello Nepal,
I’m currently working on my master's thesis and need your help! If you’re employed in an IT company, I’d greatly appreciate if you can participate in a survey for my research.
My thesis focuses on studying the association between organizational trust and job involvement, and your input will be invaluable in providing real-world insights. The survey is anonymous, and your responses will be kept strictly confidential.
If you're interested in contributing, please comment or leave a message.

Hi, I'm trying to create an LP model based on the below question. My current answer is below.
https://preview.redd.it/5p4vxyn2as1d1.png?width=684&format=png&auto=webp&s=e19249cf4a3cbb1f905c3b395d9f64a9babbc293
Current Answer A = x, B = y Minimize Z= 5x+15y
Constraints 6x+4y≥5 4x+8y≥5 2x+7y≤6 x+y≥150 x≥0 y≥0
I'm not sure if I've done my constraints wrong or am interpreting the graph incorrectly. My understanding is the customer requires at least 150L so the feasible and optimal region would be on the right of the purple line, but the Lime content can only be 6 so it needs to be to the left of the green line? so I've made a mistake somewhere. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.
https://preview.redd.it/hgzryo2cas1d1.png?width=1278&format=png&auto=webp&s=b52ad58eb0a9d34c9ae0a8b020531d7d8cb8e8e7

I'm looking for a framework that will produce python libraries that can consume my pydantic-typed FastAPI endpoints in both sync and async contexts.
Generate Clients - FastAPI links to OpenAPI Generator, which apparently has a python generator: Documentation for the python Generator OpenAPI Generator, but the documentation looks kind of sparse. Can someone link me to a tutorial about how to use it for FastAPI / Pydantic? Note, it also links to Speakeasy, which looks great if you work for a fortune 50 company or something; pricing is expensive.
I've also seen a few discussion threads in FastAPI about this, for example Client with the same awesomeness? · Issue #85 · tiangolo/fastapi

Does anyone know a library that can consume a swagger file and provide nice interface for interacting with the API (something similar what suds did for SOAP) ? I'm particularly after auto-generated Pydantic definitions of swagger request/response objects. I think u/dmontagu 's fastapi_client and @koxudaxi 's datamodel-code-generator ...

It looks like fastapi_client is abandonware, and datamodel-code-generator looks cool but AFAICT it's not generating a python client but some client data models. Not sure what the use case is there, if you start out using pydantic with fastapi.

I have a more mild case of HG (hard to believe but that’s what I’m told). I’m nauseous all day but I only actually vomit between 5-10x a day. I started getting IVs at home through one of those mobile IV companies. It costs 200-300 per visit depending on which one I choose (Zofran/vitamins/just fluids). So far I have gotten two consecutive days without vomiting and I feel like I have won the lottery! I know I can do this at the hospital under insurance but it’s quicker and much more pleasant doing it from home.
For anyone with a PICC line, do you recommend it? Or is it really uncomfortable to have that in all day everyday?

Something I've (34M) struggled with recently is the the balance between meeting/accepting someone where they are at and having the grace to allow each other to rebuild and grow, versus having certain standards met upfront.
I've been dating someone (31F) for just over a year, and I've made a point of taking things slowly to allow ourselves the space to grow as individuals. We both came out of long term relationships prior to meeting; I moved back to a city where I have roots after living away with an ex, and she moved here from another country with a long term partner who she subsequently decided to break up with. I don't think she had much time between that break up and dating, so I definitely thought it was important to take it slowly, partially for my own benefit too while I was re-settling. Our relationship has been very much "take it slow, get to know each other, enjoy each others' company".
She's pretty, intelligent and we generally have a good time together. She accepts me for who I am and there has never been any drama. However recently it's concerned me that what I've initially assumed as side-effects of "figuring things out" are actually genuine personality traits that might cause problems, and it's tricky to spot the difference. She often comes across as a bit passive when making decisions, and perhaps isn't as passionate or enthusiastic about things as I'd like. She also has a fairly small network here, and I worry about the future support required if building a family (both of our parents live out of the country). However I do get that it's hard work to move into a new phase in life, and it's okay to not know exactly what you are doing with life right now. She isn't needy or dependent on me, so that's not really the issue, in fact she seems quite content - it's just I'm maybe not feeling as inspired and challenged as I'd like, you know?
I suppose what I'm wondering is how can you tell the difference between a temporary result of life circumstances and an inherent personality trait? Is she just temporarily unable to flourish? How can you be sure you don't sleepwalk into something, but also that you don't throw away something good due to impatience? I'm very aware this is also a "me" thing.
Has anyone related to this? Is this just a case of giving it more time to try and work towards a place where we are both satisfied, or does it sound like an emerging long-term incompatibility?

So I'm studying HR right now and just met someone whose husband started a company that is rapidly expanding. She's been the HR department alone since it started and is now looking to take on an "intern" (basically I'd be volunteering but gaining experience which I don't mind). One of the problems she mentioned having was taking contract/hrly employee time sheets and having to manually input all necessary info to her accountant who would then pay them out. Because the sheets the employees fill out have HIPAA protected information she cannot just hand it straight in. I feel like there has to be a simple solution for this no?

I wasn't able to post this on spectrum for some reason so I'm sending it here! (Might be too long?) Maybe someone sees it, maybe not? But at-least I've posted my thoughts :)
Since SC is moving into a phase where more focus is going to actual gameplay loops, I think now's the time to give ideas and feedback on what directions this should take. I've had a growing concern the last 2 years or so that the type of gameplay that CIG is moving towards won't hold up in the long run. We can have the most advanced game ever, but if the essential game loops consist of "fly to marker X, shoot or deliver something, fly to next marker" this game simply will not be enjoyable in the long run for most players.
Instead I think CIG should focus on what makes their game great, the sandbox experience! How many of us have jumped into the PTU only to spend hours experimenting with what ship fits in what, or how we can use different systems in unexpected ways?
So here's my open letter with ideas from a long time backer!

Quantum jumps

QT jumps should have the potential to be dangerous, and possibly even damage your ship, but once a jump is performed it leaves behind a trace that others can use to easier calculate a safe jump. The more people that use the same QT point, the safer it gets.
There should also be specific areas that can boost QT jumps in different ways (or make them more dangerous).

Bounty hunters

Since QT jumps leave traces, these could be scanned for ship ID codes, satellites could also help players pinpoint where a specific ship ID has been and how often they've been there. This would be used to find locations that the target is at often as if playing hot or cold. When in a "warm area" with lots of trace of the target, the hunter could then land and visit different locations and talk to NPCs for the last bit.

Exploration

Explorers could help out scanning for interesting locations in space, and good QT spots, but the most important part of this to make it fun for everyone would be procedural generation. Exploration simply won't be as fun if you can only find shipwrecks or prebuilt places.
So this is a big one, but the only true solution I see here would be procedurally generated systems. Random wormholes could show up that leads to random generated systems (these would of course not have the same fidelity as built ones, but wouldn't need cities or NPCs for the most parts).
When exploring such a system there could be a time limit until the wormhole closes again, or you could spend resources to stabilize it, you would also have to rely on crafting to actually survive in systems with potential dangers such as solar storms (that might force you to land in the safety of an atmosphere) or weather systems.

Pirates

With the more defined QT lanes, pirates would have an easier time finding common travel routes for merchants where they could get a location to sit and wait for victims. But the larger lanes would have more security, and the best merchants would use more secret lanes with QT boosts that pirates would also want to find.
Players would want to keep these secret as if more people know about these lanes, more merchants/pirates would flock there and its value would decrease.

Merchants

Much like pirates it would be a game of constantly finding new stable QT lanes that are safe and quick, the QT boosts could be temporary (lets say that an area gives a boost for maybe a week or so), and after they expire a new one would have to be found.

Mercenaries

The QT lanes would also help here, and scanning ships for ID codes that can be marked as stolen. Traveling these lanes and getting interdicted would also simply give them free targets to shoot down, and more danger for pirates hanging out at the same place.

Mechanics

Apply the same systems that ships are getting to landing zones, a mechanic could start working for a company in their distribution centers, fixing them after battles and restoring things that intruders have broken (like if an intruder has turned off the lights, or locked down a door). If you don't have markers and specific quests other than "fix the light", a good mechanic would have to have some knowledge about a certain locations systems, while a novice mechanic could do simpler tasks or work as an apprentice where someone says what to do (and gives markers to the player, a sort of "hey you! Go here and replace this thing so the lights start working").
A mechanic with lots of experience would get offered jobs at larger locations and eventually cities or maybe navy NPC ships in dry dock. They would also be able to do it alone without NPC assistance for more money.

Guilds and factions

The factions could sell some or all of the above data that their members hand in for rewards (another explorer loop) and the better the data, only the higher members would have access to it.

Radio stations

LOTS of streamers love SC, why not give them an in-game platform? (and something to do during QT for everyone else). Imagine the radio stations of GTA but live with people broadcasting things in game.
A gameplay loop would be to build broadcast towers in each system (on land you have to acquire) and maintaining them. We already have technology to send video streams during calls in game, why not let the reliant mako some purpose in game?
You could broadcast races, or just host a news show about the lore stuff.

Ship systems

These are in a really good state already, but try not to create a game loop with the systems you have, simply make them work together and see what players do with them.
If fire depends on oxygen and invaders jump onboard, let us increase the oxygen in one room for a fun explosion when they fire weapons for instance, or increase pressures to dangerous amounts for anyone without a helmet!

Animals

Some people have already lured animals onto their ships, so give us cages (simple boxes with doors we can open and close) and some form of lures like food?
These could be used simply to trap and keep creatures, or to drop the cages into enemy camps and remote unlock them! (could also be used to trap other players and NPCs?).

No-fly zones and anti pad rammers

Give us a max speed limit in some areas, this would help beginners that are landing as they have to take it slow, and pad ramming etc. would be harder as turrets could shoot down players a lot easier.
This could be done via mastermodes or some sort of "tractor beam field" thing that slows items in its area (would not exist at all stations).

Crashed ships

This is already being worked on, this is just a reminder of how great of a feature this would be, and that it should not be forgotten!
The idea that ships shot down in orbit crash to the surface and generate crash sites that in time can become dwellings is just incredible for sandbox type gameplay.
The idea is simply give us fun tools, that aren't 100% designed for only one profession or use case, but things that we can experiment with. A lot of these stated above have been described for only one profession, but like the mechanic role above, a good pirate would know how to turn off certain systems or hack into things to download maps and schematics that the mechanic also uses in day to day work (or maybe even simply kidnap a poor mechanic that already has insider info?).
And please move away from nav markers as much as possible!
Those are my thoughts, hope someone reads this and adds some ideas of their own!

I have a full time job in computer networking field.
To make my portfolio better I was thinking of doing some specific projects related to BGP configuration and putting it on a website.
These include but not limited to BGP configuration examples on Cisco Webpages. I also found one BGP design and implementation by Randy Zhang and Micah Bartell which has case studies related to BGP.
Link to the book: https://dl.icdst.org/pdfs/files3/2d54aa7d1daedde735d434ea152c1074.pdf
Do you think doing this is more helpful or pursuing a certification is more helpful ? If certification then which one ?

I'll divide this into parts so it's easy to read. Also, I don't think you should take my ramblings at face value. Hell there isn't a single human who knows the entire truth. It's impossible to pinpoint what went down on earth - perhaps only God knows that.
Tartaria:
It existed in central Asia, between Iran and India allegedly. Indian and Chinese texts confirm that BUT they don't speak of a thriving class A civilization. The Class A civilizations before the East India Company fuckery were India and China. Ever hear the term mogul being thrown in the English lexicon? India and China were brimming with gold, wealth and trade - like at least 70% of world GDP happened here. There is plenty of material in Delhi in the national archives - I have spent like 12 years there - the Indian government has done a really bad fucking job digitizing them - a lot of the shit is in Sanskrit, Urdu and Tamil. I'm Tamil by the way. The Bagwad Gita in Sanskrit says a lot more than the shit that British translators put out. You're not reading the same book - the same can be said about the Septuagint v Vulgate. I think the King James Bible did us dirty - I learnt Latin in catholic school in India and yeah, the KJV and Vulgate are like reading 2 different books.
The God of the Bible:
Does Jesus ever name Yahweh? He does not. He always mentions the father. I don't think who he calls Father is Yahweh or El or whatever. I have come to believe the God of Genesis is not the same God as the Old Testament progresses. It's a collection of books. As a Catholic, I have begun to completely ignore the OT. Everything you need - love, advice, acceptance and redemption comes out of the mouth of Jesus - and if you believe in the Trinity which I do, he is the manifestation of the father.
This is also a belief held by many catholic clergy but they fear heresy more than anything. Another reason why Jerome, Aquinas, Francis of Assissi pore over Jesus' words and only make slight references to Ezekiel or Elijah or Samuel.
Atlantis:
This one is huge. Atlantis has been made a joke. It's been laughed out of mainstream history as a myth while the fucking elites have always been on the hunt for Atlantean artifacts, the tuai stones, the Akashic records etc., and also Atlantean craft which helped them navigate the world - the Piri Reis map was most likely from the Akashic records or some Atlantean docs left behind which had exact maps of Antarctica and the Americas. It's believed that the Atlanteans left knowledge in various parts of the world - one rumored to be under the Sphinx, coz they knew the flood was coming and they wanted posterity to find and use their tech.
Hitler was obsessed with finding out about Atlantean artifacts. The psychic witches in the Thule, Vril and Ahnenerbe societies claimed to have established contact with ETs or past Atlanteans. All claims - this is another rabbit hole folks - if you go down this hole, it establishes that the Germans already broke away and are living outside the earth - aka they were inter-galactic. The Nacht Waffen or whatever is another rabbit hole that's seriously scary and is mentally exhausting.
The Elites and their worship of Baal/Moloch:
The OT formally forbids sacrifices to Baal and Moloch. Then why do you find references to Moloch in wikileaks where Hill wants to offer a chicken (code word for young minor male) to Moloch. Why the inverted cross? Why the black mass? Why the very mention of Jesus triggers them? Why are they into Baphomet, the goat headed demon in Charlie's new portrait?
The elites are not stupid. This is your biggest clue that there is some truth to Jesus, redemption, salvation and it's not total kookoo.
A priest once told me the elites (including the vatican) "KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD". Many have told me this and they won't go further. What I have pieced together is that God is a form of energy that is related to dark matter, dark energy - and that's why there is good and evil, like ying and yang. And that a figurehead like Jesus is the manifestation of God the good to take humanity to a higher level of consciousness. The elites have aligned themselves with the dark side, all their rituals are Luciferian and are an inversion of Good. Why? Are they not afraid of consequences? This is what I am still looking for. What deal have they made with the dark forces? There are Satanists inside the Vatican. They engage in the black mass and in the honor of Lucifer the light bringer.
I still don't have a solid answer on the draw to Satanism. Their rituals are detailed and ceremonial. Like the cremation of care in Bohemian grove.
The Annunakis:
The theory is that they came to earth to terraform the homo erectus who was the dominant creature living here. It's pretty much the plot of the movie Prometheus. I am studying this one, but there is a lot of BS on the internet regarding the annunakis. If you listen to Billy Carson, he will speak as though this is established fact when 99% of scholars dismiss the book (which I wonder why)

Is CCTV Worth It?
The Benefits of CCTV Systems
CCTV systems are a valuable tool for businesses and homeowners alike. They can help to deter crime, monitor activity, and provide evidence in the event of a crime.
Does CCTV Deter Crime?
One of the most obvious benefits of CCTV is the associated ability to deter crime. Studies have shown that criminals are less likely to target businesses or homes that are equipped with CCTV cameras, as such, businesses equipped with CCTV have been proven to experience less instances such as burglary and vandalism compared to those without.
CCTV Monitoring
Another benefit of utilising CCTV systems can be monitoring activity at businesses and homes. The perks of such include enabling the ability to keep an eye on customers, visitors, employees and any activity on the premises (given the correct legislation is followed). It can also be used to monitor for vandalism or theft.
CCTV Footage As Evidence
In the event of a crime, CCTV footage can provide valuable evidence to the police. The pictures captured on CCTV, as long as clear, once submitted to the relevant authorities can help to identify suspects, track their movements, and build a case when necessary.
Does CCTV Reduce Insurance?
Some insurance companies may offer discounts on premiums to businesses and homeowners that have CCTV systems, through exploring different options you may be able to see which insurance companies provide these offers and how substantial they are. This is because CCTV systems can be attributed to the other features of this article including deterrent of crime, monitoring of premises and in some instances, the ability for the pictures captured to be used in the form of evidence.
How Much Does CCTV Cost?
CCTV systems are now more affordable than ever whilst maintaining the ability to install a product of good quality without breaking the bank. There are a variety of systems available to suit all budgets and needs.
Conclusion
CCTV systems offer a number of benefits for businesses and homeowners; they can help to deter crime, monitor activity, provide evidence in the event of a crime, and reduce insurance premiums. If you are looking for a way to protect your property, a CCTV system is a wise investment.
Here are some additional tips for choosing the right CCTV system for your needs:

• Consider the size and location of your property. You will need to choose a system with enough cameras to cover all areas of your property.
• Choose a system with high-quality cameras. The cameras should be able to record clear images in low-light conditions.
• Choose a system with remote viewing capabilities. This will allow you to monitor your property from anywhere in the world.
• Choose a system with a good warranty. This will protect you in case of any problems with the system.

Hey guys,
Apologies for writing in English, my Greek isn't that great :)
So, I'm renting this apartment on a 4 month contract that looks legit (it has the length properly written, it has the tax number of the company that is renting it and mine), and so far I've always made payments (by bank transfer) but never received any official tax invoice from them.
The landlord said this is not a thing in Greece and that the most he can do is write me a random paper confirming I paid the rent.
Is this true or is he just not paying taxes? And if that's the case where/who can I report this to?
I couldn't find much information online about this.
Thanks!

Howdy Folks,
I come bearing good news!
We're excited to announce the release of a new experimental branch for Manor Lords, version 0.7.965. This experimental update brings significant gameplay changes and numerous improvements.
Important Notice: Before you switch to the new beta version of the game, it's absolutely crucial that you back up your save files. Failing to do so could result in the potential loss of your progress. The new strings are not localized yet and stability hasn't yet been thoroughly tested. Some balancing changes are still experimental.
To access your saves on Steam for Manor Lords.

1. Press Win + E
2. Paste %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ManorLords\Saved\SaveGames into the search bar.

To discuss this build, please join the official Discord server https://discord.gg/manorlords. You'll find a channel for discussing the ongoing pre_release branch.
You can read Slavic Magic's full Steam announcement here.

How to Access the Experimental Branch:

1. Open Steam
2. Right-click on Manor Lords in your library
3. Select Properties
4. Navigate to the BETAS tab
5. Enter the password: veryNiceBasket
6. Select "pre_release" from the "Beta participation" dropdown
7. Wait for the game to update (restart Steam if needed)
8. Launch the game

Full Changelog for Version 0.7.960 -> 0.7.965

What's inside:
This update focuses primarily on balancing and bugfixes. Key changes include:

• Militia Squads: You can now hire 6 militia squads even if you already have a retinue and mercenaries employed. Future builds will connect this cap to the Lord's rank.
• Sheep Breeding: The sheepbreeding development branch has been capped, and sheep no longer spawn exponentially.
• Fields, Harvests, and Fertility: Significant improvements have been made to field overlays, crop prediction, and ox and worker behavior for enhanced accuracy and optimization.
• Barter and Trading: Numerous fixes implemented; on-foot traders can now carry 5 items per trip.
• King's Tax and Trade Route Costs: These have been toned down from the levels introduced in version 0.7.960.
• Loserville Bug: Fixed the "Loserville" mercenary bug.
• Marketplace Distribution: Improvements made to the distribution within the marketplace.
• Experimental Feature: Added a "Allow market stall setup" toggle to prevent workers/inhabitants of certain buildings from setting up market stalls.
• Construction Reserve: You can now set a construction reserve for buildings using planks for crafting, like the Joiner's shop.

Gameplay & Balance:

• Capped sheep breeding to 1 new lamb every 10 days max.
• [Experimental] Villagers are only allowed to fetch water from the well nearest their home, except in case of a fire.
• [Experimental] Yield will never increase past 100% growth to keep gameplay intuitive.
• [Experimental] Even at 0% fertility, a tiny yield is still possible.
• [Experimental] Max yield per plant increased from 2 to 4, although the Hunting Grounds policy still reduces it by half.
• [Experimental] Plant yield rate reduced by half to encourage early harvest in emergency modes.
• The militia squad limit is now 6, regardless of retinue or mercenaries employed; future connection to the Lord's rank planned.
• [Experimental] Doubled the fertility regeneration rate on fallow fields and from fertilization.
• [Experimental] Slowed all plant growth by around 30% for balanced gameplay between field and vegetable crops.
• [Experimental] Tree growth rate slowed by around 30% upon player requests for more impactful forest management.
• [Experimental] Archer range increased by 1.5x with damage also increased from 12 to 15.
• [Experimental] Cost of opening new trade routes returned to linear scaling.
• [Experimental] Carrying capacity of on-foot trading post workers increased from 1 to 5.
• [Experimental] Royal tax restructured: No tax for the first 5 years, then 1 Treasury per citizen after 5 years, 2 Treasury per citizen after 10 years, 3 Treasury per citizen after 15 years.
• [Experimental] Adjusted granary and storehouse worker slots to unify to 3 families for lv1 and 6 families for lv2.

Minor Changes:

• Removed optimization where only every nth plant affected the fertility values due to display errors.
• Improved accuracy of fertility overlay colors and crop yield predictions.
• Added missing tooltips to minomajor trades.
• Enabled setting "trade rule" for advanced trades without an established route; items not available will show as NA.
• Reworked the construction reserve system to include various goods like planks.
• Optimized inventory array functions.
• Enabled disallowing certain families or workplaces from setting up market stalls.
• Tuned how "current region" is calculated in the UI for more comfortable building on the edge between two player-owned regions.
• Ensured iron and clay deposits do not generate on steep terrains.
• "MODDED" may now display after the version number to aid bug reporting.

Crash Fixes:

• Fixed a crash related to deleting a building when pathfinding obstacles are being verified.

Bug Fixes:

• Addressed issues with employed traders going to trade points without an open trade route.
• Corrected early movement of farm workers to transport tasks despite available crops.
• Resolved inaccurate predicted yield displays.
• Fixed rotation issues in villagers after dismounting.
• Addressed respect of work area limits by farming oxen.
• Fixed blurry appearance of gilded aventail houndskull helmets in the retinue editor.
• Corrected non-drawing of the forest mask.
• Fixed bandit camps respawning on loading due to unsaved "lastBanditCampSpawnedDay."
• Ensured villagers set up market stalls to sell their produce like vegetables.
• Corrected the wrong apple basket carry animation.
• Fixed wealth transfer issues during barter.
• Ensured bartering traders return the correct number of items based on barter value and carrying capacity.
• Addressed overpacking by bartering traders in their origin region.
• Resolved trading post exports not proceeding after the trader reaches the destination.
• Corrected the distribution of multiple instances of the same good type to a single plot, which left outlying houses undersupplied.
• Fixed crop rotation to fallow causing farmers to harvest invisible itemID_0, which stopped supply dumps from being cleared.
• Addressed issues with villagers staying at homes indefinitely if a bandit camp is spawned, thinking the region is under attack.
• Ensured proper saving of mercenary company arrival regions.
• Stopped granary workers from stealing ale from the tavern.
• Fixed interrupted livestock exports due to sheep herd behavior.
• Ensured livestock trader jobs trigger import tasks when buying livestock from another region.
• Corrected the missing "hunger" popup artwork.
• Fixed a typo in the credits list.

Cosmetics:

• Tuned field dirt UV wiggle to make the huge vegetable gardens less wavy.
• Improved the precision for snapping terraforming meshes like mines or sawpits to the ground.
• Made leaf clumps smaller and disabled the parallax mapping to reduce distortions.
• [WIP] Updated the visit mode character model for the green lady portrait to be female, still in progress.
• Cleaned up combat animations.

Thank you for playing!
Greg Styczeń, Lead Developer, Slavic Magic