Hi all, I'm looking for small to midsize cites in or near the Great Lakes region. I currently live in a small, resort beach town in southern, NJ, but I know I don't want to be near the ocean in the future.
Criteria:
* Small to midsize - I know people rave about bigger cities, but they're just too much for me. I lived in Philly for a while and enjoyed it, but I'm not interested in going back to that size of a city. Let's say a maximum around 300K population. I'm willing to bend this for something that has everything else, of course (true of basically every criterium here).
* Proximity to water - Preferably large bodies of water. Significant rivers might do, too--not sure. I like to walk and ruck on the beach or at least on river trails. I've gotten used to being right on the water, but I suppose that's not a strict requirement. I could settle for like a 30-45 drive to the beach.
* Good food - I don't mean good restaurants, though they're a plus, too. I love to cook, so I'd like to be in a place with farmer's markets and decent ethnic grocery stores.
* Live entertainment/art - I love comedy, theater, live music, museums, cool architecture, etc. It doesn't need to be a major touring site or even near one, just as long as there's a good local scene. I'll mention good bookstores and libraries here as well, but I figure that won't be a problem almost anywhere in the size range I'm talking about.
* Access to housing with a yard within range of the city center - I'm a big gardener, so I'd like to be able to eventually buy a house in this area that can have at least a small yard but be somewhat proximate to the city proper. I guess this translates to housing with good growing space within maybe a 30-minute drive, decent parking options, or, better yet, good public transportation.
* Not always cloudy - I don't need to it be warm, but I like to see the sun.
* Not too far from eastern PA/southern NJ - I've had a lot of family stuff go on in the past five years, so I expect to be needed sometimes--maybe even to facilitate another move away from southern NJ in the future. This is a lower priority, because I understand that what I'm asking for is kind of innately far from family. The closer, the better but far isn't a deal breaker is what I'm saying.
About me, if helpful:
* 28, male, single. I know people talk about smaller metros being harder to find that special someone, but I'm not super interested in dating, so that's not a problem for me.
* Stable employment, good salary, remote worker. I live pretty frugally, so I love that the Great Lakes region generally costs less. I imagine my employer might scale my pay to the region, but I don't mind if it goes down somewhat.
* Somewhat solitary in my hobbies, but I enjoy socializing and love finding and building communities. I've always been able to find a good friend or two wherever I go, and I have lots of friends across the country that I stay in close contact with. I'm not too concerned about being iced out. I know people talk about that phenomenon in some areas of the country. I expect some family will eventually follow me, and I'm very close with my family, so I'll have that at some point, too.
* Weather doesn't bother me besides lack of sunlight, which I mentioned. I've survived horribly muggy summers, pretty harsh mountain winters, and some bad storms/hurricanes. Besides, weather and particularly temperature are going to be changing/unpredictable going forward.
* I love places like State College, PA, Lancaster, PA, and Bethlehem/Allentown, PA but there's just not enough wateaccess to beaches. Maybe that gives you an idea of some city moods that I like, though.
Ideas I've already gathered and will be visiting:
Sheboygan, WI: Seems great. On the smaller end but that's fine. My only concern is that it's very far from family--maybe too far for comfort.
Green Bay, WI: My thoughts are the same as for Sheboygan, but obviously Green Bay is bigger.
Akron, OH: Seems very nice. Possibly the perfect size for me. The main downside from what I see is that I'd likely end up commuting to Cleveland for most of what I want (water, arts, etc.), so maybe I should just live in Cleveland at that point?
Cleveland: A bit bigger but not overly so. Seems to have a lot of what I like, but I know the city has a bad reputation (at least we're not Detroit!), but I'm not sure if that bad reputation is necessarily warranted (for Cleveland or Detroit).
Pittsburgh: I'm vaguely considering Pittsburgh, but I don't know if the rivers would be enough for me. I like the city a lot though.
What recommendations do you have that aren't on my list? Also, are my criteria crazy? Let me know so I can adjust my expectations/search.
Thanks!

Timestamp & Pics
Don't really want to sell these but alas I am but a poor grad student.
LMK if you want more pics or vids or whatever. Make me some offersssss
CKF Evo 1.0 #24
The OG, heavy as shit, behemoth version that CKF put out. First owner. Functionally perfect. Blade is like new. Few minor cosmetic things mainly on the clip. I also have the other brown clip it came with (like new condition) the pouch with extra parts & and makers card. Absolutely insane drop shut action. One of the most satisfying closing sound and feeling of any knife I've held.
SV 700
Artisan Cutlery Centauri
First owner. Full dress version. Blade is like new. In great shape with great action. Some scratches on the clip and top of the scale. Freaking stunning knife in person. The timascus is gorgeous.
SV 375
CKF Evo 2.0 #299
Plain Jane version from this run. First owner. Blade is like new. A couple very minor cosmetic things on the clip and scales. The action is absolutely perfect. Comes with pouch and extra hardware.
SV 550

So I just took my first practice PAT Practice Test and things kinda didn't go all that great lol. I ran out of time with 15 questions still remaining. So just a very general question, on average how long should I spend her PAT question?
I noticed I was taking waayy too long trying to process all the different angles for the keyholes and that sucked up a lot of my time. I feel like if I had a general time goal per question, I would've been able to manage better.

Hello, first of all English is not my first language. So im sorry if i make any mistakes. A few days ago, i saw a quote on tiktok. "I like girls because I like YOU, I don't like you because i like GIRLS" And i just thought how similar this sounds to the experience i am having right now. I am in highschool, and this is my first year. I have 2 friends in my class that i hang out with. Three of us are girls. (Quick disclaimer: In my country teachers switch classes, not students so you have the exact same classmates for the entire year)
And one of them, im going to call her Esther, (this is not her real name) is making me feel some feelings i didnt even know i could feel. From the beginning of the year, i become friends with these girls. They are kind, funny and i really love them. But this is about something beyond friendship. And i think i am the only one who feels that way.
Everything started when we started to go out after school to have fun. When we continued to go out, and talk more about our lives i became so close with these girls. I love them, maybe they are not perfect but they are amazing friends.
I always knew something was a bit odd about me, now i dont think it is odd of course. When i was in kindergarten, when i played games with my friends i was always the saviour, the hero who saved the princess and i was so passionate about it too lol. Growing up, i had some thoughts about wanting to be a boy so i could hold girls like boys did, i can touch them but not in a friendly way. Like i just wanted a girlfriend. I didnt even know what being gay meant until i was 8. And these happened before that. After 8, i still thought about these but i was so STRICT about not being gay.
Some time passed, i become more and more aware of my feelings and my opinions. I became the biggest ally, if someone asked my if i was gay i was straight! Just straight. So i always kept my feelings as a secret. But they become bigger and bigger by each day. I started to listen queer songs, i started to research bisexuality and i even read that one comphet lesbian essay. But the thing that made me realise my sexuality the most is that i felt disgusted everytime a boy showed a "masculine" gesture. But i liked men? I have SO many celebrity crushes. But i just cannot get myself like a guy in my town. The other day when i was out with Esther, a guys came up and asked for my instagram. I gave it to him, we talked a bit and i just never felt excited. He was handsome, he was really cute and respectful but i just couldnt. But i HAVE celebrity crushes so i really dont know. I think men are hot, i would like to have a boyfriend. But i just cannot imagine marrying a men, so i just thought i was not made for marriage. But the idea of having a female partner... felt almost comforting. Its like i wouldnt dislike that.
I had lot of conversations with my mom about queer people. My parents are allys, they were always chill and cool about that stuff. But my mom told me something.
"I support their rights to live, but i think i would get so shocked, and i would have a hard time if my child was gay."
I dont think these words really affected me much because i know my parents would accept me if i was gay or not. But there is just SO much difficulties of accepting yourself.
So i want to talk about Esther, the main topic of this post.
She is really pretty, and smart. I just feel so nice and free with her. When we go out, she understands me, i understand her. She is a bit shorter than me, so petite and just so cute. She even has some piercings haha. She is an atheist just like me, and she is like one of the few people besides my parents that i can talk about atheism. She is very experienced, very mature but fun at the same time. She has a lot of exes, but i never thought one of them was good enough for her. I just met her this school year but i dont want to leave her side. Today, when i was laying my head on her thighs she stroked my hair with her fingers, it felt amazing. She always looks at my eyes while i speak, and i am the type of person who LOVES eye contact. So i told her that i loved this the best about her. Her eyes are really pretty too, like very dark brown. Today i compared my light brown, almost honey coloured curly hair with her black, straight hair and i just become so happy, i dont know why. I am a bit selfish. Like everytime i have friends i just dont like them a lot, you know? But she is different. I adore her.
My other friend in our trio is really nice. I just know i like her in a friendly way. But when Esther laughs, and her voice sometimes makes this very cute voice shen she laughs i melt. I had crushes in middle school, i even had a crush this year, but i just liked the way they looked. I can never compare the emotional connection i have with Esther with any guy i could talk.
Esther has a boyfriend. She is straight. She sat on my lap, we hug everyday. She kisses my forehead and we both play with eachothers hair. I did these exact things with my old friend but i NEVER felt anything. Like just friendly love, thats it. With Esther, it feels intimate. It feels wrong but she doesnt know. She just loves me. I dont hate her boyfriend, he is just not good enough for her. You can ask, do you think you are good enough for her? Well yes. I understand her better than any men ever could. She had 2 boyfriends in this school year and both of them are just some stupid teenage boys. They wouldnt listen her ideas about the universe, they wouldnt like it if she made a dirty joke, but i did. And i loved it too.
But the problem is she wants a guy, and she is only going to see me as her bestfriend. I am a bit taller than her, but i am a girly girl. She wears dresses when we hangout, i wear skirts. She tells me everything about her boyfriend, and i just know that when they broke up, i am going to listen and comfort her. I will be there. And i just want to cry everytime she does these little cute gestures towards me. Do i love her? Am i gay? Am i bisexual? I dont know. I am so confused. I dont want to ruin or friendship so i will NEVER say anything about this. I dont really want advice, but i would be happy if you guys just tell me your opinions. Thank you...

So I’ve been with my partner for three years this October, and our relationship has been really good and healthy, we moved in together in October and it’s been mostly good, although we’ve had to make a lot of adjustments because he does have two kids. I feel like we actually go on dates/get quality time less than we did before I moved in because I’ve had to spend a lot of time alone to make sure that he’s getting alone time with the kids. Now the relationship between me and the kids is great, we love having family movie/game nights, and dinners etc.
However I’m feeling extremely isolated and lonely as of late. When I first moved in it felt like my partner was at least making an effort to spend some one on one time with me as well, even if it was just gaming together for an hour before he went to bed or something. I went on vacation for three weeks to spend time with my mom back home, and came back at the end of April and since I came home I can count on one hand how many times he’s made an effort to spend time with me one on one. Pretty much all the time we have spent together has just been running around to get groceries, or doing something with his family.
So I spend pretty much all of my time upstairs in our room by myself, while he spends time downstairs with the kids. Lately he hasn’t even been coming upstairs to say hi to me when he gets home from work, which he used to usually do. The other day we came home from spending time at his moms house and he literally went upstairs to lay down in the spare bedroom without saying anything to me about it, while I was having a panic attack by myself regarding something I found out on the way home.
Normally my mental health hasn’t impacted our emotional relationship, I was very up front with him that I had just gotten out of an abusive marriage before we started dating - I have PTSD, Bipolar Disorder, Generalized Anxiety, BPD, ADHD and OCD but luckily I have been seeing a psychiatrist since before we met and have been on medications that have been extremely helpful for me, hence why my mental health has never caused any problems, we’ve never even been in an argument before.
But with how lonely and isolated I feel, I can tell I am getting depressed and I feel like he just doesn’t even care. I do so much to make sure that everybody in this house is happy and I feel like nobody even cares about how I feel, I just feel completely neglected as a person. We were supposed to spend time together last night but he said he was going to lay down for an hour and then just never got up, while I stayed up all night waiting for him to get up and hangout with me, then when he woke up in the morning he didn’t apologize or anything he just came in, got his laptop, and went downstairs and that’s where he’s stayed since.
I’m hurt and angry, I’m guilty that I’m hurt and angry, and I literally just want to completely ignore him the way that he has been ignoring me, but then I’m also worried that I would do it and he wouldn’t even notice or care - how could he from downstairs.

Hi guys,
I recently bought a small format UV printer to compliment some of my existing machinery. The problem is that it needs to be running much more than it currently is, as it cleans itself periodically and burns through (expensive) ink as a result. I’m confident that our new UV range will eventually take off as we launch more and more things, but I just wondered if anybody had a need for a ‘partner’ in printing things as a potentially mutually beneficial exercise?
Haven’t really out too much thought into it, but I guess that you would send us your blanks and artwork, and we’d charge some kind of a fee based on time and ink consumption and ship back to you. Obviously this is much easier for everyone if done in bulk rather than one-offs but I’m open to any ideas you might have.
We can print (almost) anything as long as it’s reasonably flat. Acrylic, wood, leathers, PU, ceramic, card and so on. I haven’t tested glass yet but we do have primers so I think it may be doable but can’t be certain. Metals are another weird one and would depend on how reflective the metal is as highly mirrored metals (like mirror polished) would damage the UV lamp, but brushed metals may be fine - would require testing first.
Thanks

Welcome to GRANDMA

"Generally Regarded As Not Doing Much Anyway"

🚀 Join Us! Your Adventure in the Stars!

Are you looking to escape the mundane? Craving the freedom to float idly among the stars? GRANDMA is calling your name! We are an eclectic group of cosmic wanderers, traders, and occasional heroes. Our organization prides itself on a laid-back approach to the universe, embracing the art of taking it easy in a galaxy that never sleeps.

What GRANDMA Offers:

• A constantly evolving community dedicated to ensuring you experience the game your way
• A relaxed and humorous community for mature players.
• A 'do as much or as little as you like' philosophy. No pressure, all pleasure.
• Events scheduled around the consensus of 'whenever we feel like it'.
• A code of conduct that prioritizes fun and fellowship over strict rules.
• No rules regarding money spent or how often you play, GRANDMA understands that life comes first
• Varied roles from leisurely patrols to the occasional bout of industry.

Who GRANDMA Is Looking For:

• Pilots who love to drift through space at their own pace, ship or no ship.
• Individuals who appreciate a good laugh and don't take things too seriously.
• Members who might enjoy sporadic participation in group activities.
• Mature Players looking for a low-key experience.

Why Choose GRANDMA?

It's a journey through the stars where the clock doesn't tick and the only deadlines are the ones you draw in the stardust. We are a collective of cosmic wanderers who measure progress by pleasure, not parsecs. With GRANDMA, space isn't just a frontier; it's a vast lounge where adventure awaits at the speed of relaxation.

🌌 Drift Into Our Orbit Today!

Chart a course for leisure with GRANDMA. Explore at your leisure, engage when you want, and become part of a story where the only rush is the one you decide to create.

Contact Us:

• RSI Org Page
• Discord

Fact of the Day: The Crusader system's gas giant, Crusader, resembles the appearance of gas giants like Neptune, with its vibrant blue colors and swirling storms.

Advice needed. I'm in an interesting situation. [20M/21M]
I need to vent but also need some advice. Almost two years ago I (now 20M) contacted this person (now 21M) online on a niche forum and he answered back. For context, he lives on the other side of the world.
We ended up talking for months and months on end, and eventually, after becoming "online friends" (even though I don't really believe in that) he told me he was coming on vacation to my city and therefore we met up.
Nothing happened when we met up, but during the two days we spent together I started having feelings for him. I perceived him liking my company a lot too but I thought I was delusional when thinking about a partner, since that has always been the case before.
Eventually a couple weeks later, when we end up starting to phone each other and such, I confess my feelings to him and he says he feels the same but he's not sure. We do tell each other that we love ourselves (a bit cringe if you're not in the situation but I had to include that, sorry) and that we miss ourselves. During a couple months he says he plans on coming to my city, this time to stay for a couple weeks and to live together in an apartment.
A month or so ago, when this was about to happen (he'd already asked time off work and everything), he just stopped answering me. Normally we do have breaks from talking to each other for a couple of days, which I totally understand and share, but usually we talk beforehand, it doesn't last this long and it doesn't happen at a time where I need to tell my family and need to make such big plans. He's leaving me in a limbo.
It's a shame because I do think he is a great person and he is definitely not doing it out of malice, I just wish he would just tell me if something I did was wrong. He's active on social media so at least I know he's not deceased, which is a relief.
For context I've never had anything close to a romantic experience and I thought my bad luck finally came to an end. One part of me thinks it's over and I should just let it go, another part thinks I should wait for him to come back in case he just needed time to think, and another part of me has never felt this want for a partner ever before. It's like when you go to a restaurant, and they serve you the first plate early and you have to wait for the second plate but it never comes. He's sort of awokened my (instinctal?) want for a partner and I feel like I should do something to finally fulfill that part of me, only I don't know what to do.
Sorry for the long post.
TLDR: Potential partner is a good person but randomly ghosts me before meeting up to live together. No clue what to do.

he’ll spend the other half of the day at his clinical aba center which we love and he’s making a lot of progress in! i’ll likely have to be the transportation but they are at least asking to see if it’s possible to commute him to the center. we will slowly cut off half days to work towards a full school day week as he progresses.
he’ll have to have an aid, i got no pushback from the school system surprisingly but a little bit of push back from the particular school. they said they usually don’t have one on ones in their setting but the system said that now they will for my son. i still have to wait on the final approval. he needs the aid primarily for access to content, self care, and to have sensory breaks as needed. he’ll need to be watched at recess & lunch due to his sensory distraction, he doesn’t mean to put himself in danger but without someone watching he may elope.
the school and school system had other plans but i truly feel in my heart that the only way he’s going to learn to function in group settings is by exposing him.
they are working on a special education hybrid model for kids with similar testing results as my son, low social scores but promising or above average academics, however, when they explained it they didn’t know how they were going to include the students yet, it’s a recently proposed program and i am worried he wouldn’t have all the academic access he’s capable of.
my initial reasoning for this is because of logistics. in my county they fit the special ed programs in regional locations and they are usually the areas with less crowded schools. the issue i have is that i specifically rent to have access to a school we love and trust and i’d like both my sons at the same school, it’s across the street! if i’m ever needed i can be there in less than 5 minutes.
i am so happy they are willing to try my plan as he’s been in the most restrictive pre k. we are all a bit nervous but i think the 1/2 day compromise makes it seem much for doable for the district. i am willing to sign a maturity waiver to redo kindergarten if he doesn’t work towards a full week and misses too much or doesn’t seem ready to transition to first by the end of the year.
he is good with other kids but more interested in playing his way. he has a lot of empathy too which i hope will help him act appropriately but there’s no way to know exactly how it’ll go with 25 other kindergartners and expectations to participate on demand. they do roam with him in his early learners pre-k and he does well most days but there’s been rough transition days too.
anyone have any experience with this kind of inclusion in a general setting with an aid?
his school is top rated in our county and i do trust them i just don’t want him to be pushed out due to challenges and hoping we can make it work with support.

Supposedly it'd always been this way, stretching way back to when my Grandpa opened this place almost 97 years ago. I inherited it when he passed a decade or so ago given that my father didn't want anything to do with the place, and since then I've made sure to diligently follow his final wish.
He might've left me the theater, but there was one condition. Not that it'd be enforceable if I went against his wish - more about that later - but the condition was present nonetheless.
Never, ever let the film stop running in Screen 6.
Now, I'd practically grown up in that theater given it was a nice little hang-out spot after closing time - but I never knew anything about the existence of a sixth screen. It had always been five. Grandpa left that sentence and a little picture guide to find the controls for that screen as well as the security footage system for it. He also left a letter, only to be opened once I had been running the theatre for long enough to understand the importance of Screen 6. It baffled me at the time, but I kept that wish too and tucked the letter away. He never told me where to find the screen itself, either. The first thing I did was check the cameras, only to find they showed nothing of interest. No movie-goers were present in this secret little screen, nor were any employees. The black and white footage from the vantage point of a camera positioned above the screen of a silent, empty room filled with rows and rows and endless rows of dusty chairs stared back at me. Somehow it was larger than all of our other screens. After unlocking the neat little contraption he described, I realised the system for that screen was digital. "Huh, strange" I mumbled given the fact our theater was always quite proud of being the only film-only establishment in town.
I suppose digital files make running the screen endlessly an easier task. Something jumped out at me, though. The digital file being used to loop over and over was just that, a singular file. It wasn't cycling through a library of movies. The same one was playing over. And over. The file name?
"sacrifice.mxf"
I've always been a curious person, and part of me wanted to resist. Some instinct was screaming at me to stop. But I couldn't. I had to take a glimpse at the little outdated screen synced up to the projector. It was grainy and degraded, footage that looked like it had been shot in the mid-20th century or so. A group of men dressed in black and women dressed in white circled a tree with interlocked hands. They looked like they were speaking. Maybe singing. Regardless, there was no audio. They went round and round this great old tree for what felt like forever, before stopping in their tracks and just standing there for a minute or two. The footage cut an unspecified amount of time forward to reveal their black and white garments blowing in the wind as they hung from various branches of the tree. All of them. It didn't matter that there wasn't any audio, I could feel the silence seeping out of that screen.
Cut to black.
Part of me was horrified, and another part retained some morbid sense of fascination with what I'd seen. I wasn't planning on going against Grandpa's wishes anyway, but at least I'd seen something that spooked me enough to justify the strangeness of it all. Was that the entire film that had been playing over and over for god knows how long? How was such a massive auditorium just hidden away somewhere? What the fuck was that video?
I needed to find out. God, I wish I hadn't. But I did.
The next few weeks were spent meticulously researching everything I could possibly find about our little family-owned theater. My little theater. I spent hours on end in that projector room trying to make sense of what was being played. The footage described above wasn't alone but remained similar to the others I've since seen. All feature large groups of people in what looks like pre-war Europe. 1930 or so is my best guess. They start off peaceful enough, almost joyous, but I've learned by now to reject the faux happiness depicted. It grabs a hold of you before the violent sacrifices that soon follow rip your heart out. Sometimes I wonder about the people shown. There are so many of them across the different short films, probably more than I've known in my entire lifetime. All of them met such a gruesome end. It might sound easy to throw away their collective existence as mere pixels on a screen, but I can't.
The local newspaper allowed me access to their archive to find out a little more, and things began to tie themselves together. I had to sift through cardboard box after cardboard box to find what I'd been looking for, but I eventually did. Back in 1931, there had been an awful incident at our theater. At the time it was owned by Grandpa, and things were looking up given it was the only establishment of its kind in town - unfortunately something terrible was to happen soon. It was a cool October evening when local police were alerted to a disturbance down at the movie theater by terrified patrons. You see, back then there was a screen 6. Nestled right next to screen 5, it was the focal selling point as a state-of-the-art screen showing only the finest films. Those in screen 5 began to realise something was badly wrong when the sound of an incessantly crying and screaming child began to drown out the more pleasant sound of their film. "The Talkies", as films with spoken audio were known in their 1930s heyday, were a phenomenon and it took a lot to distract those in screen 5 from their entertainment. The child screamed for as long as it could until annoyance turned to worry and eventually fear.
By the time police swung open the double doors to Screen 6, the leather white seats were soaked in crimson red blood and the patrons inside had long since taken their last breaths.
Except one.
Still the child screamed.
I've always been open-minded when it comes to the unseen, not a believer per se, but not dismissive of the idea. Things began to come into a clearer focus. Hundreds of people had sacrificed themselves in that screen all those years ago, and now the screen is forever condemned to forever playing films of similar occurrences. The two had to be connected.
The letter.
It was time to open the letter. I was convinced I satisfied Grandpa's requirement for doing so, and it would fill in the parts of this deranged story I was missing. I slipped the letter out of its glum, off-white envelope and began to read.
"To my beloved Grandson,
By now you probably know much more about the story of our little theater than you did when I left it to you. I'm sorry it took until we were separated for you to learn the truth, but it was something that had to be done. Those people that are in the films playing on Screen 6 were part of an ancient cult. The Men of Mephistopheles they called themselves. They would live in communes and the peaceful images you've come to see are of their day-to-day lives, and as you have also come to see they would eventually offer themselves en masse in blood sacrifices. One of these sacrifices happened to take place in Screen 6 of our theater, and once again I'm sure you have come to learn of this given you are reading this letter.
The locations in which these sacrifices take place are forever bound to the souls lost there in some form or another. To illustrate, that great big tree in one of the films is now the site of countless suicides. Their crime? Daring to walk where the Men of Mephistopheles once walked, and where they left this Earth. Our particular curse happens to be that Screen 6 began to be the site of similar suicides, and so did our other screens. We could never figure out why they weren't contained to the immediate site of the original sacrifice, but needed to find a way to stop them. Times were tough, and the money the theater brought in was important to all of our lives. An occultist suggested the endless film screening as a way to stem the flow whilst we found a more permanent solution, but before long we realised it stopped the awful goings-on entirely. So we let the films play and then play some more. Screen 6 had originally been downstairs since the building only allowed for that kind of space down there, so we turned it into a tomb. Maybe the misguided souls lost there found some peace in the dusty catacomb of a theater left behind.
Now if you know the story of the sacrifice at our theater, you know there was a singular child who survived it all.
That child?
Your father.
I'm so sorry for keeping the truth locked away from you the way I did, you deserved to know whilst I was still there with you. Please know I only ever had your best interests at heart.
I love you always,
Poppy"
It's been a few weeks since I found out the truth about our small-town theater. Sleeping has been difficult, as has bothering to keep up maintenance of the place.
Still, though, the film on Screen 6 plays.

i moved into my first apartment a couple of months ago and i’m so sick of my boring bedroom, the room is fairly large for an nyc bedroom but i want to buy more furniture and start decorating but before making any purchases. I want to figure out where I will put my dresser and bed so i know exactly what to buy. on the wall with the door i have a sliding closet that takes up almost the entire remainder of the wall, and the opposite wall has double windows. im open to putting my bed in front of the window except i keep my AC in all year round so im on the fence about that. i would like to at least add in some type of workspace since i am a full time student as well as some plants. please help!!
(measurements are not numerically correct but the general placement and space is pretty accurate)

Hello everyone, I am trying to create a Multi-agent Coding Tutor chatbot (or academically speaking "CTS - Conversational Tutoring System") for my course project. We want it to be a personalized tutor, which means that it will teach the person based on their age, level of education, and hobbies or interests.
To instruct this Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.2 4-bit quantized model, we have added the following system prompt to the model:

system_prompt = f"""Imagine you are a friendly and highly knowledgeable teacher who specializes in teaching {prog_language_to_teach} programming. Your student, who is a {user_age}'s old {user_edu_scope} student and whose understanding and interests is into {user_interest}, is eager to learn and looks up to you for clear, easy-to-understand explanations. For every concept you introduce, provide a brief overview and relate it to a real-life scenario or analogy that will resonate with the student, making it easier for them to grasp the topic quickly. When explaining programming concepts, consider the student's age and their hobbies or interests, tailoring examples and analogies to align with these details. Your explanations should include short, precise programming examples relevant to the student's life and interests. After presenting an example, break it down into step-by-step explanations to ensure the student fully understands. Periodically, engage the student with quick quiz questions or programming tasks that are directly related to what you've discussed. These activities should build on the chat history and context, reinforcing the student's learning and keeping the conversation interactive and engaging. Remember, your goal is to create a supportive, engaging learning environment that adapts to the student's abilities, interests, and pace, making learning Python an enjoyable and rewarding experience.""" 

Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.2 doesn't have an explicit system prompt, so I had to find a different way to add one to the code for the very first prompt.
model_input = f"[INST] {system_prompt} [/INST]" + f"[INST] {user_message} [/INST]"
Now, on the initial run, the chatbot is doing fine often and as expected. In the case of a 10-year-old Kindergartener who loves "Baby Shark Rhyme," the bot will talk about what he likes. In another case of a 20-year-old shareholder in the share market, the bot tried to teach programming using business analogies.
But the common issues I face are the following:

1. The chatbot is too verbose, especially on complex topics such as Encapsulations. (I have used max_new_tokens=1000, is it causing the verbosity? Lessening to 500 or 750 causes the model to stop on incomplete answers abruptly.*)
2. So far, switching from a coding tutor to a general tutor has been the hardest thing. For instance, if the user is older and asks about something off-topic, like Newton's law or the American Law of Immigration, it immediately switches itself from the coding tutor to that other tutor.
3. Another problem is that it gives the answers right away while it generates the quizzes. Although I tested with different prompts, I can resist this nature.

My biggest problem so far is the 2nd and 1st one, respectively. I have tried adding refusal prompts in the system prompt, but then it slightly refuses to teach those irrelevant topics and then starts making coding examples on it.

 ## Strict Refusal: If the question is not related to programming, respond strictly with a refusal sentence and do not provide any further explanation or code. 

For these cases, sometimes it follows, sometimes not. Also adding too many instructions into the system prompts too big resulting in GPU memory exhaustion after 5-6 long chats. BTW, To mimic a memory feature, I am saving chats to a dictionary.
Since yesterday and again tonight, I've been trying to make the prompting better but haven't been able to. I'm brand new to LLM chatbot programming and have never done this before. This project began a month ago because the idea is unique to my MSc project, but I got stuck in the middle of it.
How can I make the prompting better to avoid the problems that were brought up? Also, can someone recommend a good tutorial on how to make this kind of chatbot? I've been looking for these, but most of the tutorials use OpenAI and/or langchain. For a change, my supervisor wants us to only test with open-source models. We can use Mistral to begin because it fits on the Kaggle notebook we have.
Any suggestion including trying to other approaches, totally changing the system prompt, and trying another one (if you say so, can you please show me one?) and a good & detailed tutorial will be super appreciated. IDK, suddenly it feels so lost.

Just wanted to report a successful upgrade so anyone else looking for an inexpensive upgrade can use this as a reference. I purchased a 10Gtek 10GB PCI-E Dual SFP+ 82599ES NIC. It's comparable to an Intel X520-DA2 supposed (E10G42BTDA).
Anyway, installed the card and upon first boot it was detected and has been working great ever since.

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 21, 2024 — Alarum Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq, TASE: ALAR) (“Alarum” or the “Company”), a global provider of internet access and web data collection solutions, today announced financial results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2024.
“I am thrilled to report another record quarter, marking continued growth and profitability for our company,” said Mr. Shachar Daniel, Chief Executive Officer of Alarum. “As market leaders, our dedication to innovation has never been stronger. This quarter, we introduced the ‘Website Unblocker,’ a product that has not only received positive feedback, but has also attracted new customers. We also launched our revolutionary ‘AI Data Collector’ product line, which features a user-friendly, no-code interface, that allows users to set up data collection in just minutes. We believe this will be a game-changer in the web data collection industry.
We remain agile, continuously planning for the future and advancing our roadmap with potential solutions for data analysis and insights. Our sustained growth, profitability, customer retention, and the successful introduction of innovative products, are propelling us towards the next milestones and achievements of our company.”
“Today we announced another record-setting quarter, highlighting our sustained growth and increasing profitability, which impacts all our financial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs),” said Mr. Shai Avnit, Chief Executive Officer of Alarum. “Our IFRS basic earnings per share (EPS) increased to $0.23 per American Depository Share (ADS), while our non-IFRS basic EPS rose to $0.45 per ADS. Our IFRS net profit was $1.4 million, And our non-IFRS net profit climbed to $2.8 million. The gap between the two, is primarily due to expenses resulting from the fair value increase of derivative financial instruments (warrants issued in 2019-2020) following an increase in our Company’s share price. Our Adjusted EBITDA soared to an impressive $3.2 million – up significantly from just $0.1 million a year ago. We are thrilled to report that NetNut’s upward trajectory continues robustly, with revenues reaching an all-time high, having surged by 139%. This growth is driven by the acquisition of new customers and a strong customer retention rate (NRR), which now stands at 1.66. This demonstrates our success in not only retaining, but also significantly expanding our engagements with existing customers.”
First Quarter Fiscal 2024 Financial Highlights:
Revenues for the first quarter of 2024 reached a Company record high of $8.4 million, an increase of 47% compared to the first quarter of 2023;
Gross margin for the first quarter of 2024 increased to 78%, compared to 66% in the first quarter of 2023;
IFRS net profit reached $1.4 million in the first quarter of 2024, compared to an IFRS net loss of $0.7 million in the first quarter of 2023;
Non-IFRS net profit increased to $2.8 million; Finance expenses in the amount of $0.8 million, due to expenses mainly from the fair value increase of derivative financial instruments (warrants issued in 2019-2020) resulting from the increase in the Company’s share price, are excluded from the non-IFRS net profit calculation. This compared to non-IFRS net loss of $0.1 million in the first quarter of 2023;
IFRS basic profit per American Depository Share – “ADS” was $0.23 ($0.02 basic profit per ordinary share), and non-IFRS basic profit per ADS was $0.45 ($0.03 basic profit per ordinary share);
Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2024 continued to grow, reaching a Company record of $3.2 million, compared to $0.1 million in the first quarter of 2023;
NetNut’s revenues for the first quarter of 2024 totaled $8.1 million, reflecting growth of 139% year-over-year, compared to $3.4 million for the first quarter of 2023; and
Net Retention Rate (“NRR”)1 climbed to 1.66 in the first quarter of 2024.
Recent Business Developments:
The Company launched an innovative artificial intelligence (“AI”) web data collection product line. This cutting-edge product line represents a significant leap forward in web data collection technology, addressing the challenges of time-intensive collector creation and maintenance that have long plagued businesses across industries;
The Company introduced its new and innovative Website Unblocker, designed to allow automated web data collection tools access to public facing web data without being tagged by anti-bot and bot-management solutions;
The Company announced exciting events lineup, including CEO Spotlight on a leading technology podcast with Dinis Guarda and hosted a webinar: Revolutionizing Data Insights with NetNut’s Website Unblocker; and
NetNut appointed Mr. Yorai Fainmesser as Strategic Advisory Board Member. As a general partner of a leading AI venture capital firm, Disruptive AI, and the former (Colonel Ret.) Head of the AI and Data Science intelligence unit 8200 in the IDF (Israel Defence Forces), Mr. Fainmesser brings unparalleled expertise in AI strategy and cyber technology.
Financial Results for the first quarter of 2024:
Revenues amounted to $8.4 million (Q1.2023: $5.7 million). The increase is attributed to the organic growth in the enterprise internet access and web data collection business revenues, despite a reduction in the consumer internet access business revenues.
Cost of revenues totaled $1.8 million (Q1.2023: $1.9 million). The reduction stems mainly from the Company’s CyberKick division’s traffic acquisition costs stoppage in July 2023 and clearing fees decrease, due to the Company’s updated scale down strategy for its CyberKick operations. The reduction was partially offset by an increase in enterprise internet access and web data collection business costs of addresses and networks and servers used for the generation of the additional enterprise internet access and web data collection business revenues.
Research and development expenses totaled $1.0 million (Q1.2023: $1.1 million). Reduced expenses in the consumer internet access business due to the operations scale down of CyberKick were partially offset by an increase in payroll and related expenses in the enterprise internet access and web data collection business.
Sales and marketing expenses totaled $1.7 million (Q1.2023: $2.2 million). The decrease resulted mainly from the stoppage of media acquisition costs in July 2023 due to CyberKick’s operations scale down strategy. This reduction was partially offset by higher payroll and related expenses in the enterprise internet access and web data collection business.
General and administrative expenses totaled $1.2 million (Q1.2023: $1.0 million). The increase is mainly due to higher payroll and related expenses and professional fees costs related to the enterprise internet access and web data collection business, partially offset by lower payroll and related expenses as a result of CyberKick’s operations scale down strategy.
Finance expenses reached $0.8 million (Q1.2023: $0.2 million). The increase is mainly from expenses resulting from the fair value increase of derivative financial instruments (warrants issued in 2019-2020) due to the increase in the Company’s share price. The increase was partially offset by interest income that stemmed from the Company’s increased cash equivalents.
Income tax expenses totaled $0.3 million (Q1.2023: tax benefit of $0.004 million). The switch to income tax expenses is due to the first-time profitably of NetNut for tax purposes.
As a result, IFRS net profit reached $1.4 million, or $0.02 basic profit per ordinary share ($0.23 basic profit per American Depository Share – “ADS”), compared to IFRS net loss of $0.7 million in the first quarter of 2023, or $0.02 basic loss per ordinary share ($0.21 basic loss per ADS).
Non-IFRS net profit was $2.8 million, or $0.04 basic profit per ordinary share ($0.45 basic profit per ADS), compared to non-IFRS net loss of $0.1 million in the first quarter of 2023, or $0.00 basic loss per ordinary share ($0.03 basic loss per ADS).
Adjusted EBITDA was $3.2 million (Q1.2023: Adjusted EBITDA of $0.1 million).
Balance Sheet Highlights:
As of March 31, 2024, shareholders’ equity totaled $17.1 million, or approximately $2.66 per ADS, compared to shareholders’ equity of $13.2 million as of December 31, 2023. The increase stems from the 2024 first quarter net profit as well as warrants and options exercises.
Outstanding ordinary share count as of March 31, 2024 was 64.1 million, or 6.4 million in ADSs.
As of March 31, 2024, the Company’s cash and cash equivalents balance totaled $15.1 million, compared to $10.9 million as of December 31, 2023.

I am going to write a Boruto rewrite fanfiction, what would you suggest I should do more? I will do the following things.

1. Make the new cast 15 instead of 12. It is now an era of peace, so the graduation age should be moved up, given that only 1/3rd kids were able to pass.

New genins will start directly from C-rank missions.
Certain things like tree walking, water walking, somewhat mastering atleast one chakra nature, and various D, C rank jutsus.

1. Instead of Naruto not paying attention to his family, Naruto will pay too much attention on them, especially Boruto. Which will make him annoyed.

This doesn't assassinate Naruto's character, and gives a contrast to Sarada, whose father isn't present. So, it will be even better if Naruto also pays good amount of attention on Sarada, which will make her dream to become the Hokage more believable.

1. Instead of the Shin bullshit arc, make it so that Sasuke explored Kaguya's gravity world and took one year. But because of high gravity, the time there was much more slower. So when Sasuke returns he is 23-24 at best, and realises that his daughter is already grown up.

Sasuke decides to tell Sarada everything regarding the Uchiha clan, because he suffered due to people hiding such important details from him. Him admitting that Uchiha clan was also in the wrong will show that he has become more mature, and it will be good for Sarada's character development.

1. Have the first mission in which the client wants Team 7 to do something bad, and gives a lot of money. State that all the Ninja villages are somewhat struggling financially as the importance of ninjas is decreasing.

But, they refuse, establishing that ninjas have moved away from the definition that they are tools for their village. They are individuals who can think for themselves.

1. In the chunin exam, don't have Boruto cheating in every single match. Have him win in everything. Especially not against Shikadai of all people. And have the finals Boruto vs Sarada.

Sasuke has told Boruto that he will accept Boruto as his student if he wins, and Naruto has promised Sarada that he will accept her as his disciple if she wins.
Finally loosing, he cheats under the pressure. As the 7th and 4th Hokages' son and grandson, he has been under the pressure of constantly being the best since birth. Make his personality a bit like Sasuke from the start, since he has been in the middle of centre.
Boruto defeats Sarada, but doesn't feel a bit happy as he sees Naruto being proud. So, he reveals that he cheated himself.
This will make him a better character than the whiny shameless brat.

1. Now, Momo and Kinshiki appear. Momo throws a Bijuu bomb, and Sasuke absorbs it with Rinnegan, because he can.

Make Momo a lot stronger. He was weaker than Edo Madara in base.
Somehow then, 4 Kages+ Naruto + Sasuke +Sakura have a fight with them. Since Sarada has spent all her chakra, she won't be in the fight. Boruto shouldn't be too, but he sneaks into as Sasuke's portal is closing.
Since Boruto is 15 already, he is more of a help, and delivers the final blow with the vanishing Rasengan.
Momo is defeated, Boruto gets his Karma seal, and they return to Konoha.
Naruto accepts Sarada as his disciple since she won in the Chunin exam, and Sasuke accepts Boruto because of seeing him fight, and the mysterious seal placed on him by Otsutsuki.
First part of the story ends here.
In this, instead of two parts, there will be 6 or 7 parts.

•Current cards: Amex Everyday $25,300 limit, September 2018
Chase Freedom (AU) $19,900 limit, July 2015
•Income: ~$98,000
•FICO score: 808
•Oldest account: 8 years 10 months
•Open to business cards: No
•General spending preferred but open to Category spending
•Purpose for next card: Cashback and/or SUB, preferably with little to no AF
Just looking to add a card that will benefit me more than what I have, the rewards on the Amex Everyday are good but I would rather Cashback or something more concrete and consistent. None of my cards have an annual fee and I'd prefer to keep it that way.
Thank you!

With us not having any WCQ matches, there are two schools of thought.
Thought 1: Stick with what we know best (formation wise), and drill that into the team
Thought 2: Experiment with different formations to potentially unlock the team
For the sake of this exercise, I wanted to float out the question of, is there a formation that you'd like to see experimented with, and why? I'll go first...I'd love the ol' school Christmas Tree 4-3-2-1.
Going into the last WC, there was the ongoing debate of MMA versus Gio OR Weah/Gio on the RW. This formation addresses those issues head on. In this 4-3-2-1 (presuming health for every player), we'd have our regular back four of: Dest, Richards, Ream (or CCV), and Jedi. However, the wrinkle that gets added in this is MMA all starts, from deep. And, the beauty of the 4-3-2-1, at least in my head, is it accentuates the benefit we all saw of MMA at the world cup. The amount of strength, and athleticism, allowed us to control Wales in the first half, take England head on, and really hold serve all match versus Iran. However, that also sacrificed creativity with none of our 3 mids being great at creating in the final third. Now, that's where Dest, and to a lesser extent, Jedi, were supposed to help with. In this hypothetical 4-3-2-1, MMA can sit deep and look to control like we saw at the WC, with Wes coming up in possession to support.
The "2" would ostensibly be two 10s, or inside forwards, in Gio and Pulisic. Having them both closer to the center third would allow for interesting interplay between them, and whichever 9, we use. It really should function to give both of them less defensive responsibilities, and play that roaming role that they both seem to enjoy. Beyond that, in possession, both are great in close quarters and holding the ball while a teammate makes a run.
So, in short, I think a 4-3-2-1 will offer a chance to get our best team on the field, giving us control, and enhancing creativity. Also, it would allow Jedi specifically, to be more focused on making more strategic runs, and not be a necessary force to provide creativity, which he is not the best at...at least in possession.
Thoughts?

Hi everyone! l’m jumping back into the online dating game after taking some time off and I’m really struggling to keep my anxiety in check. As the title states I need a little advice on how to manage my expectations during the initial ‘talking’ phase with a guy.
sorry in advance if this ends up being long!!
I matched with a guy from bumble 3 weeks ago and we met up for our first date on Sunday. We kept it casual and went for a walk/hike with his dog. The date actually went really well, we laughed and talked a lot and ended up spending around 2+ hours together. During the date he mentioned us coming back to the area to try out the other trails and at the end of the date he was coordinating our schedules for a second date. I felt really good about everything, but as the days go by my anxiety is starting to get the best of me.
My issue is that the plans for the second date have fallen through and changed a quite few times. First we were going to meet for a movie on Wednesday, then he changed it to Thursday, then changed it back to Wednesday because because he’s seeing his friends on Thursday, and now he’s saying it might just be better to meet up next week and that he ‘might be free after Sunday’. In his defense he has been really apologetic about the back and forth, but I can’t help feeling anxious by the lack of commitment to see each other again. He’s also terrible at texting lol. His texts are pretty sporadic during the day (which makes sense because he’s at work) and at night around 8pm he just drops off the face of the planet and I don’t hear from him until 10am-11am the next day. This wouldn’t bother me that much but he is a self proclaimed night owl and has told me he’s generally up until 11pm-1am. I can’t tell if the bad texting is age related (I’m 29 and he’s 38, maybe he doesn’t put as much emphasis on a texting dialogue as I do as a ‘younger millennial’? ) or if it’s because he’s just not interested but doesn’t know how to break the news??
This guy checks a lot of boxes for me as far as what I’m looking for in a future partner and we had such a great time together in person. But I don’t know how to communicate that he’s making me feel like he’s not fully interested in me? It’s only been 3 weeks so I feel like it’s WAY too soon to even bring that up. I just don’t really know what to do….I’m not great with this casual talking stage of dating lol.
TL;DR how do I figure out this guy’s intentions and interest level in me after our first date without looking like a total stage 5 clinger😂😂😂

Attempt #1 + First 300 Words
Attempt #2
Hello again!
This is likely my last attempt until the book is fully completed and ready for querying, but I wanted to see if I'm on the right track after incorporating all the great feedback I got on the last two versions!
Change log: - I honed in more on Ishana's motivations and stakes, making it super clear right off the bat and then tying it back into her interest in Marko in the third blurb paragraph. - I went back to "cozy fantasy with romance elements" because the plot doesn't follow the expected romance beats closely enough for me to feel confident calling it "cozy romantasy". - I changed my bio paragraph to explain why this story is important to me and why I'm qualified to write it/passionate about its subject matter.
Thanks in advance for your time!!

Query

Dear [AGENT],
If socialite witch Ishana Patel can’t find a suitable husband before her fast-approaching thirtieth birthday, she faces an arranged marriage or social and financial exile. When an unexpected letter of inheritance from her estranged grandfather names her the new proprietor of The Bookery, an Arcane bookshop, Ishana seizes the opportunity to fund her continued independence. She moves into one of The Bookery’s two on-site apartments and lists the shop for sale.
In the other on-site apartment lives Dominic “Nicky” Noone, an Ordinary pastry chef who runs his bakery out of the bookshop. Nicky’s childhood passed with a series of foster families, making The Bookery the closest he’s ever come to a proper home. Ishana’s plan to sell the shop leaves him feeling once more like that unwanted little boy with nowhere to belong. So when the bakery’s massive wood-fired oven scares off potential buyers by spitting sparks and belching smoke, Ishana suspects the baker who seems as sweet as his confections is sabotaging her.
But the misbehaving oven doesn’t deter local real estate mogul Marko Zimmler. Suave, wealthy, and brimming with magical energy, Marko is exactly the sort of wizard Ishana should marry. Despite her growing affection for Nicky, she entertains Marko’s flirtations—until a fugitive phoenix emerges from the bakery’s oven to expose Marko’s macabre hobby. Realizing that Marko considers Ishana nothing more than a trophy to be won, The Bookery’s residents hatch a risky plan that will either free Ishana from her social binds or trap her forever in a gilded cage.
THE BOOKERY is a cozy fantasy novel with romance elements presented for your consideration because [PERSONALIZATION]. Boasting the quaint magical charm of Studio Ghibli films like Kiki’s Delivery Service and Howl’s Moving Castle, THE BOOKERY will delight readers of Kate Johnson’s Hex Appeal and T.J. Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea. A standalone novel with series potential, THE BOOKERY is complete at [WORD COUNT] words.
I grew up in the Deep South chained by ultra-conservative, old-fashioned ideals of womanhood. Much like Ishana, I refuted my traditionalist upbringing and forged my own path in life. I now work as a software engineer outside Atlanta, where I live with my husband and the many pets we love like children.
The full manuscript of THE BOOKERY is available upon request.
[AUTHOR] (she/her)