Hi all, I've been on this mini journey on purchasing a new monitor. For background my main uses of my PC are games (Grand Strategy and RPGs are my favs) and programming and I'll be upgrading from a vg27aq, I also have an Nvidia card. I've decided against OLED as I hate the idea of burn-in after a short period of time, I like things I buy to last. I have decided on Ultrawides as I believe the horizontal space would be a boon in both the games I play and in coding. I have narrowed my choices down to the R45w-30, XR343CKP, and the 45GR65DC-B.
R45w-30:
Pros:
170hz
5120 x 1440 while also 45in (better PPI than 49in versions)
KVM for possible second computeserver (less important since putty exists)
HDMI 2.1
3 USB 3.2
Cons:
Most expensive of lineup ($759USD after student discount)
Not many reviews and mostly unseen online
8 bit color (Haven't experience 10 bit though, not sure if it's a issue honestly, for the price I think it should be 10 bit)
VA panel
XR343CKP:
Pros:
180hz
cheapest ($500 no discounts)
2 USB 3.1
KVM
IPS
Most reviews of screens I'm comparing
Cons:
Smallest of the 3
Unsure of picture quality compared to the others, could be the worst
Unsure of Gsync compatibility, some reviews say yes, some say no
8 bit color (Haven't experience 10 bit though, not sure if it's a issue honestly, for the price I think it should be 10 bit)
45GR65DC-B:
Pros:
200hz
5120 x 1440 while also 45in (better PPI than 49in versions)
2 USB 3.0
HDMI 2.1
10 bit
$641 after savings and tax
Cons:
Not many reviews and mostly unseen online
No kvm
VA panel
I appreciate anyone's help or suggestions, thanks!

https://discord.com/invite/MprcpVRy
Server name: Verda Vente RP (18+ RPvP)
Map: Savage Wilds
Style: PVE/RP/PVP Server Location: USA Direct Connect: 216.52.25.102:7783 RP Format: Text Based Max Level: 70 Slots: 60
Welcome to the Isle of Verda Vente!
Verda Vente is an RP server with a focus on storytelling and Mechanical PvP to drive conflict designed to allow our players to create tales of their own throughout the time they spend playing, and with players on all day there is always someone to visit or fight at your hearts content. With PvP, PvE, and RP options everyone has something they can do and relax! Just to show, here are a few...

PvP

~14~ Unique Races that come with their own specialized set of perks and bonuses that make each one a strong contender in our lore and in the game itself. We have: Humans Elves Dwarves Goblins Orcs Aquatics Beast-Kin Dragon-Kin Devil-Kin Fae Celestials Cursed Undead Cursed Vampires And Cursed Werebeasts!
~8~ classes that provide the bonuses needed for each character combination of Race ad Class to excel in what they do. We have: Fighters Rogues Magi Clerics Druids (With Shapeshifts) Rangers Paladins Warlocks
-Raiding opportunities with no restrictions on the use of Trebuchets, bombs, magic, and thrall use with building destruction a hard yes! Raiding times are between 6pm CST Friday, and 12am CST Monday
-Offline Raid protection so you can sleep well knowing that your buildings wont vanish overnight -A thieving system designed for Rogues to have their own spotlight outside of being quick and quiet! -Simple and easy to understand PvP rules that make ticketing far less common and less of a hassle!

PvE

Unique Dungeons scattered throughout the world that can be explored or fought for prizes you cannot get anywhere else. This includes a massive cavern known as the Underdark, and a Hell Dungeon meant for even the most geared groups to have a healthy challenge. Events hosted almost every day by me! Meant to drop rare loot you would be missing otherwise! World Bosses that takes full clans to remove from their perch! High Build counts at 1000 building pieces and 300 placeables per person so even the builders who don't enjoy PvP have room to breathe and relax with their game. High thrall counts at 6 fighting thralls and 1 mount per person that ensure your base is always guarded against the new purge system.
Our modlist was voted on by players at the start of each season, and we have a channel dedicated specifically to mod requests from our players! As examples, we have: -Indrid's custom races and classes -SvS Extended and SvS 2 -Emberlight -Highmane's Arsenal -Ancient Civilization -Ancient Sorcery -Less Building replacements -Shani's Stuff -Devious Desires -And many more high end character customization mods!
-We also have other systems in place to allow players to have the things other servers either don't allow or don't enforce, like: Kingdoms! With a King, Lord, and Heir ranking you and your clan can claim entire regions and set laws in place that are not only RP enforced but Admin enforced as well!
-Lore that is always growing at player request, so your character can have their names plastered in the server history for all time! A clear cut rules list for our moderators and admins, so players can always see what is accepted and expected from them!
With our community the stories have been great, the combat fantastic, and the memories better than the rest. Our server is geared for high end custom characters and buildings, and has delivered. Come and join, make your stories heard, and spend time in a world where we reward people not for dollhousing, but for RP'ing and interacting with others. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3036155384

Good evening Healthcare_anon members
I believe we are at the midpoint of the multi series DD on the paper:
Rooke-Ley H, Brown E, Grumbach K, Hoffman A, Ryan A, Roy V, Grogan C, Appelbaum E, Lipschutz D. Medicare Advantage and Vertical Consolidation in Health Care. American Economic Liberties Project, April 2024. Available: https://www.economicliberties.us/our-work/medicare-advantage-and-vertical-consolidation-in-health-care/#, accessed 05/19/24 (for this subreddit post).
Today's discussion will be centered around page 23-31. I will be collaborating with u/ Fabulous-airport-273 on the remainder of the paper, as I believe we should address the topic in a collaborative fashion after this midpoint. If you like, you may review the previous DD in the following links:
https://new.reddit.com/Healthcare_Anon/comments/1culz57/medicare_advantage_capitation_model_prio
https://new.reddit.com/Healthcare_Anon/comments/1cw50xp/vertical_integration_of_the_healthcare_insurance/
https://new.reddit.com/Healthcare_Anon/comments/1cwsavi/vertical_integration_of_the_healthcare_insurance/
I was thinking on also discussing Aetna and Humana within the model as well, however in the interest of time and effort, I may have to revisit those 2 creatures at a later time - not because they are particularly difficult, but that it would be a similar rehash of UNH and BHG. The minutiae of improper population model care and investment made by CVS/Aetna and Humana is in my personal belief the reason why their MCR exploded, and perhaps inadequate preparation for CMS V28 blend adjustment also played a role. Even though CVS/Aetna has an adequate service sector, Humana does not, and we may see further margin divergence of these 2 behemoths.
Without further digression, let us begin:
Vertical consolidation - what is currently happening
"Consolidation allows these vertical conglomerates to use capitated payment structures in ways that drive profits without creating value. As noted above, corporate consolidation in health care has existed for decades, largely driven by hospitals. The primary result: hospitals can negotiate higher prices in the commercial market, cut labor costs and demand more of clinicians, and exploit various loopholes in the fee-for-service Medicare system. In addition, private equity (PE) rollups in health care have risen dramatically over the decades, also exploiting fee-for-service reimbursement and threatening patient care."
We have certainly seen the damage from PE acquisition on practices, especially in emergency medicine, which I previously alluded to in: https://new.reddit.com/Healthcare_Anon/comments/1c0bi4u/the_healthcare_workforce_staffing_crisis_a/. The damage to physician morale is especially acute during this consolidation process.
We are also seeing widespread practice buyouts in the PCP arena now:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/08/health/primary-care-doctors-consolidation.html
https://www.beckersasc.com/asc-transactions-and-valuation-issues/optum-s-multibillion-dollar-acquisition-spree-3-deals-to-know.html
https://www.hcinnovationgroup.com/finance-revenue-cycle/mergers-acquisitions/news/55000097/steward-health-care-plans-to-sell-physician-network-to-optum
https://radiologybusiness.com/topics/healthcare-management/healthcare-economics/unitedhealth-earns-emergency-order-buy-radiology-provider-placed-crisis-due-change-cyberattack
The last one from Corvallis is a particularly spicy acquisition - the change healthcare cyberattack created a cash flow crunch within Corvallis, creating the impetus for Corvallis to then sell itself to Optum. If I were to use cruder terminology, the analogy is this: Optum/Change groomed Corvallis to be dependent on its "service", and once Corvallis is dependent on Optum/Change, Optum/Change then "convinced" Corvallis that Corvallis needs to sell its body (clinics) to Optum for the couple to stay together after Optum/Change failed in its basic "pimp" duty on protecting the groomed subject. Absolutely disgusting analogy, and I hope it brings the message across - what Optum did was absolutely abhorrent and should have paid Corvallis interest and damages, but instead gets to steal the Damsel-in-distress. Who said pimping doesn't pay?
"Today, as policy moves away from fee-for-service, analogous patterns of corporate consolidation are emerging under capitation-based financing. While vertical conglomerates promise clinical integration, familiar harms are emerging, such as the push toward “productivity” medicine and the replacement or supplementation of physicians with less expensive advanced practice providers."
Ok, I am not sure if that last part was absolutely necessary. Advanced Practice Providers (APP) are Physician Assistants (PA), Advanced Nurse Practitioners (APRN), or in the case of Anesthesia, CRNA (Certified Nurse Anesthetist) who work under a supervision of an overall Medical Doctor (MD) for the practice. In the current labor shortage, there are not enough physicians to make up for lack of physician help. I would rather work with our APP colleagues on creating a more equitable platform, and this paper is not helping the cause in this manner. Vertical integration can bring plenty of harm, but having APP being part of the Team is NOT a problem. In fact, I have worked with many APP who are wonderful healthcare colleagues and we all want the same thing: equitable treatment of our patients in the most humane, effective, and medically appropriate way possible.
I. Gaming capitated benchmarks:
"Vertical conglomerates in capitation-based models are keen on controlling primary care physicians, who are essential for inflating risk-adjustment payments and quality bonuses. In MA alone, gaming of risk adjustment is responsible for at least $23 billion in annual overpayments to insurers, while quality payments amount to another $10 billion in subsidization without demonstrated value. In addition to increasing costs, the preoccupation with risk-coding and box-checking wastes scarce time with patients and contributes to dissatisfaction among clinicians."
Remember my CMS DD a month ago? If not, I will submit those links again:
https://new.reddit.com/Healthcare_Anon/comments/1c1n3tf/cms_finalizes_payment_updates_for_2025_medicare/
https://new.reddit.com/Healthcare_Anon/comments/1c1yg8q/cms_finalizes_payment_updates_for_2025_medicare/
We on the field AND CMS knows this is happening. In fact, CMS is attempting to stop this practice by the rollout of CMS V28 AND the April 1 2024 Contract Year 2025 Medicare Advantage and Part D Final Rule (CMS-4205-F). What CMS is attempting to do is to decrease the capitated payments on risk adjustment and quality bonus payments to elongate the Medicare Trust Fund depletion runway, which hopefully also will force the MA companies to take care of patients. As was seen in our 24Q1 DD, companies will instead retrench, retreat, and cut benefits instead. this indicate a potential market failure of the capitated model payment. We should readdress this point in a future post.
***"***The centrality of data in diagnosis coding puts vertical conglomerates in the driver’s seat. It helps contextualize UnitedHealth’s recent $13 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare, the nation’s largest billing clearinghouse, which, according to the Department of Justice, would give UnitedHealth a near monopoly (94% market share) over the clearinghouse market. Through the prism of risk coding, as well as other financial strategies discussed below, the business case was obvious: acquiring Change gives UnitedHealth visibility into the claims, diagnosis codes, and provider IDs of tens of millions of patients"
With the Change Cyberattack in February 2024, UNH unleashed the biggest cybersecurity threat on our patients' medical history in this nation's history, all because someone forgot 2 factor authentication on a whole server worth of data. Good job United. We thank you for proving the ineptitude of private enterprises. We no longer get to just make fun of the National Health System in UK for ineptitude, or that only government agencies suck, but a private enterprise that is a small nation state with a profit margin higher than the NSA's yearly budget can't figure out 2FA.
***"***As with risk adjustment, vertical conglomerates can inflate quality scores with greater control of clinicians. They can, for example, game medication adherence quality measures by pushing providers to put their patients on 90-day refills, mail-order prescriptions, and automatic refills, even if patients never take the medications. Similarly, they can discourage or prohibit clinicians from giving samples to patients and allowing them to use lower- cost alternatives. Further, Star Ratings and other quality programs require significant administrative efforts, placing small practices at a disadvantage."
I do take exception to the samples argument. Look, we just got out of the VERY SHADY stuff happening in the 90s with MD offices taking a HUGE backhand deal when giving out samples, I don't really want to see that stuff back in vogue again. Do you know how frustrating it was for a patient to say they are on a med that is from their doctor's office, they got it for free, and they must have it as an inpatient, when they don't even have it on the medication fill list or on the electronic medical record database? Who do I trust?
II. PATIENT STEERING AND “CAPTIVE” REVENUE:
This section is the reason why I did UNH and BHG as a DD - to pave the way for the discussion on this section. If you haven't read it, please see:
https://new.reddit.com/Healthcare_Anon/comments/1cw50xp/vertical_integration_of_the_healthcare_insurance/
https://new.reddit.com/Healthcare_Anon/comments/1cwsavi/vertical_integration_of_the_healthcare_insurance/
"UnitedHealth is increasingly relying on this captive revenue—or “intercompany eliminations”—with its growth of its provider subsidiary, Optum. UnitedHealth has increased intercompany eliminations by over 80% in five years, reaching $108 billion in 2022. It now sends over 25% of its medical claim revenue to its own subsidiaries. Its market presence shows why: UnitedHealth exists in 87% of insurance markets, only rivaled by Humana at 90%. 130 Further, UnitedHealth has over 50% share in more than 140 MA markets."
OK even though this paper is quoting another paper, my 10K/10Q analysis does match what this paper said, except it isn't 25%. Its 37.7% now. WHOA!
"These captive revenue strategies enable regulatory arbitrage. Medical Loss Ratios (MLRs) were established in the Affordable Care Act to cap insurance administrative costs and profits and to ensure that a minimum percentage of capitation payments and private insurance premiums were spent on medical care. However, insurance companies can circumvent this regulation by paying themselves, directing above-market payments and end-of-year bonuses to their own sister subsidiaries. This is referred to as “transfer pricing” and has been best documented with PBMs. For example, UnitedHealth can evade the MLR requirement by paying higher-than-cost fees to its Optum PBM, booking that fee as a medical cost. The same is possible with medical providers: insurers can increase fees to their sister primary care or post-acute providers to conceal profits as costs and to therefore evade the MLR constraint."
Is this how UNH continues to have high profits, and how the impact of CMS V28 somehow did not threaten UNH and Elevance the same way as Humana and CVS/Aetna? I think they may be onto something...
"In addition to increasing profits, steering squeezes independent providers and other competitors. In the prescription drug space, the gaming of medication adherence, explained above, diverts business away from unaffiliated pharmacies while gaming quality metrics. As another example, vertical conglomerates that own PBMs can devise formularies and copays that funnel patients to their own pharmacies, squeezing independent pharmacies. The proliferation of “specialty” pharmacies embeds these anti-competitive practices.".
Personal anecdote: I know of independent pharmacies who CANNOT compete anymore due to high PBM requirements, "clawback" penalties, quality metrics that is impossible to achieve, and "out of network" processing fees, that these pharmacies either have to be shut down, or acquired. "Specialty Pharmacies" are basically pharmacies who carry high dollar cost items that may have more stringent FDA counseling requirements, but because now the Marketplace is littered with PBM funnels, most independent pharmacies cannot "enter the foot in the door" of the PBM requirements. Guess who does though? Optum Rx!
"Vertical consolidation in the post-acute setting presents similar steering risks. MA insurers have increasingly been under scrutiny for limiting or denying care through narrow networks, “ghost networks,” and onerous prior authorization. Recent reporting revealed that UnitedHealth and Humana are using artificial intelligence with their conveners, specifically NaviHealth, to drive “clinical” prior authorization decisions and override clinical judgment."
I think I've beaten this dead horse many times already.
"Another way to steer patients in post-acute care is to effectively bring the prior authorization function “in house.” By directly employing physicians, the risk-bearing entity can cut costs by prohibiting or discouraging clinicians from authorizing expensive care. In a 2020 whistleblower lawsuit reported by The Prospect, Maxwell Ollivant, a UnitedHealth-employed nurse practitioner in a nursing home, alleged that his supervisor denied requests to transfer UnitedHealth-MA patients with exacerbations to the hospital. This, Ollivant alleged, was consistent with UnitedHealth’s compensation structure, which gave bonuses to their clinicians who kept patients in the nursing home and out of the hospitals."
Well holy shit Batman, that is more degenerate than a WSB 0-5DTE put taken on a Thursday afternoon.
III. PATIENT “FLIPPING” AND ENROLLMENT ARBITRAGE
" In MA, favorable selection is responsible for another 11%-14% of overspending, or as much as $56 billion annually. Selecting enrollees also allows insurers in MA to game county benchmark bonuses, which excessively rewards insurers with patients in areas of low Medicare spending, to the tune of another roughly $10 billion in excess MA payments. As vertical conglomerates increasingly own physicians and operate in ACOs, similar risks of selection may arise."
CMS is acutely aware of this gaming, however their model hasn't exactly been able to pinpoint how to address this yet. This was discussed in the CMS Final rule comments section.
"More direct than marketing, provider acquisitions allow conglomerates to “flip” patients into MA plans or ACOs by coordinating efforts with sister provider subsidiaries. Conglomerates can initiate the flipping strategy by using some of the steering tactics discussed above. In a recent lawsuit, UnitedHealth was accused of terminating contracts with unaffiliated physicians in order to force the patients to establish care at nearby Optum practices. In another suit, UnitedHealth, with 50% of the MA and commercial insurance markets, allegedly attempted to force the sale of local practices to Optum. UnitedHealth was accused of cutting insurance reimbursement and steering members away from the target practice, and as a condition of insurance contracting, forcing the target practice to give UnitedHealth the first right of refusal upon sale.
I inivite our physician colleagues to comment on this section. I have personally heard of such anecdotes, but further validation is always helpful and will also increase our membership engagement on such complicated subjects
And we now reach the end of page 31. This paper is extremely dense, and required basically a multi-layer DD on top of it to corroborate and create discussion points on the topic discussion.
We hope you enjoyed this half of the mini-series, and we hope to bring you the 2nd part of the mini-series soon as a collaborative post.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this. I hope this provides you with a better perspective on a glimpse of the landscape that I am personally aware. Please submit your comments below on your thoughts
Sincerely
Moocao
​

So I've had a solo private server going for a while now and have been experimenting around with the damage value sliders in the server setting and had set the spell damage multiplier to 3. Now I have 123 spell damage, which is good. I like that. However, when I set the physical damage slider to 3 it stays at 77. The weapon damage says it's +101 instead of +65.7 but the actual stat on my character remains 77. And my actual damage output on enemies is still 65
What can I do to make it match the spell damage?

Anyone with multiple collectrons notice their camp can't be placed? Says blocked even on a private server. The camp was fine yesterday, hot patch maybe?

G,day everyone
So about 12 months ago i did everything to make my house as smart as i could that was worth doing. With google home.
One issue i keep having is devices like google mini will just disconnect from the network and wont re connected even after a reboot, i have to reboot the router and the mini to restore it, but geez its annoying having one device not connected i can be in another room with its own mini and the one that isn't working goes of its head again.
But my reason for this post is i bought about 18 Lenovo smart bulbs for the whole house, all top of the line colour changing one's, Now one has blown its connected to wifi but no lights on. Tried everything to reset it but failed. One bulb isn't the end of the world. But when i tried to buy a new one i couldn't find any one that sold them. So i called Lenovo tech support and they said yes they no longer make smart home products, so i would be unable to buy another one of any kind. Very helpful Lenovo, they did say if i sent it back i would get a refund but that does not help me. And i also had the issue of my Samsung fold 5 would not open the lenovo app, would just say there is a bug in the software and closing it. I think that because their old shitty app hasn't been updated in years that it now doesn't support new devices. So i had to get my old shitty tablet just to remove the device from the app. But then when i tried the app on the tablet it kept saying server is busy try again later, took me about 10 goes before i could get in once, just to remove that one light. And i can no longer control the app or settings on my new phone.
So i bought a Tp link bulb to replace it and a cool little ptz camera they also made and both claim to work with google home.
After unlinking the lenovo app to remove just one device i added the new TP link light bulb and it works ok now but the colour temps are different, its bright white is different to the Lenovo light next to it. So I've got different colour lights now next to each other, so that's a pain, or start replacing them all with TP link bulbs.
The camera connects to the google home app ok but when you go to view the camera or do anything with it, you just get a notification that you cannot view or control the camera in google home, has to be a separate software or has to be display screen like chromecast or a nest device. Is it really that hard for google to show me whats going on within the app? All the other cameras work on with google like the doorbell camera why cant it show another camera.
Sorry rant over.
TLDR: Lenovo have stopped making smart products so tough luck if you need something replaced, and TP link stuff doesn't work well with google home.

Day 43. Only 16 active alliances are left.
I am in a top alliance and the VS is getting harder as people get bored and leave. There are also people who consistently score poorly in VS. I have sent private messages kindly offering if they need assistance but only three replied (they score better now).
There's a part of me thinking that merging will easily win us the VS plus the gifts of whales and dolphins are also good for the joiners. Another part thinks that if more alliances can participate in Desert Battle, the stronger the overall power of the server will be (Blueprints). I don't like losing so I don't wanna choose the 3rd option which is "Let it be"
Which is a good direction to push for? Or are there other good pathways?

I'm an altar server at my church, and have been for several years. Over time, I've encountered several different types of people, some nice, some not so nice, but this one takes the cake.
First Encounter: (Mid-summer, 2015) I'm enjoying a nice evening out, relaxing at a local casino, sitting at the sportsbook deli counter, watching baseball. I hear a voice to my right say "How's Dagwood?" (obviously not real name). I figure since I'm in a deli, it's someone asking about the sandwich of that name. Then, I get tapped on the shoulder, and there's a lady standing there. She asks, "You work at St. Anonymous church, right?" Well, no, I'm just an altar server, but whatever. She proceeds to clarify that she's inquiring about our associate pastor, Father "Dagwood." She hasn't seen him in several weeks, and wants to know if he's okay. He was on vacation. This was announced. I reassure her of his okayness, in fact I had even seen him earlier that day. She thanks me, moves on. Off-putting, due to her not calling him Father at first, but overall not too bad. If only it had remained that way.
Second Encounter: (Fall, 2015) I'm enjoying a nice evening out, at the same local casino. This time I'm in the restroom, fixing my hair, which had gotten messed up a little. I'm not really paying attention to the other women in the restroom (I never really do). Suddenly, I hear the same question again, "You work at St. Anonymous, right?" Well, no, I'm just an altar server... She proceeds to ask my about the "old gentleman in the wheelchair" that attends the Mass I serve. That would be our founding pastor. She insists no, not the "Old Father," the other gentleman in the wheelchair. Spoiler: There is none. The only other regular at that time in a wheelchair is decidedly female, comes with her husband. The woman is insistent, there is another man in a wheelchair, his daughter is the young minister with the long brown hair. I'm just "not recalling, and will know who she's talking about when I see him." Not only is there no other man in a wheelchair, there is no young female minster with long brown hair. Just for giggles, I double-check with our coordinator that following weekend, ask if there's ever been a minister whose father was in a wheelchair. Nope. Never. Overall, this encounter was slightly more annoying, but again, not too bad in the scope of things. If only it had ended here.
Third Encounter: (March, 2016) My mom and I go out for a lovely St. Patrick's Day buffet dinner. On the way home, she suggests stopping off for some grocery shopping. We're strolling through the store, and as we're about to turn onto the next aisle, the same woman from before is coming off that aisle. She instantly recognizes me, and starts gushing. Then, she notices my shirt. It's a skull wearing a green Irish tam, surrounded by snakes in various shades of green. The woman switches from the happy gushing to having a mild meltdown over the shirt. It's "evil", it's "Satan", "snakes & skulls mean the devil". She says I shouldn't wear it. Well, I figure she wouldn't know if I ever intend to wear it again or not, so I try shrugging off her mini-rant, and move on, but she stops me, and continues to insist I shouldn't wear the shirt. "You should take it off!" My brain finally processes that she expects me to take the shirt off, right then & there in the middle of the store, and either finish shopping in my bra, or at the very least make my way to the exit, then drive home in only my bra. I know some women are comfortable doing things like that, but I'm not one of them. My mother tries reassuring the woman, telling her it represents St. Patrick expelling the snakes from Ireland. The woman is not convinced, and it visually disappointed that I will not remove the shirt on the spot. She finally walks away, shaking her head, and continuing to advise me to get rid of the shirt. By this encounter, I'm certainly wishing I lived on a different planet from this woman. Unfortunately, the story does not quite end here.
Fourth Encounter: (Summer, 2022) I'm sitting in the room where we get ready for Mass, talking with one of the ministers. We get there early to set up, and it was still just us at this point. Suddenly, a woman appears in the doorway. Since it's been over 6 years at this point, and the lady had gone gray, I didn't recognize her at first. We ask her if we can help her with anything, and she suddenly walks right in (you're not supposed to do that, there's a very large sign on the door stating AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY). She stands in front of where we're sitting, and starts telling me I shouldn't wear shorts, because "Father's human." Doesn't specify which priest she's worried about (we have 2 assigned currently), just keeps repeating that I shouldn't be wearing shorts because "Father's human." I try explaining that, being summer, and we live in the desert, I wear shorts because the robes I have to wear are very hot, and if I wear pants, I will get sick from overheating (been there, done that, multiple times, almost passed out during a livestream once). In fact, just 3 weeks prior, I wore pants because the weather was stormy, and I started feeling woozy during Mass. However, before I can get more than 3 words out, the woman just asserts again that I shouldn't wear the shorts. She even starts gesturing to my reflection in the mirror (rather than actually to me), trying to get the minister to see where she's coming from. However, the minister is on my side, and also tries explaining that I'll overheat if I wear pants under the robes, but she also gets cut off with "Yes, but, Father's human." We try pointing out that due to how early I get there, I'm always robed up before the priest even gets there, so he never sees me in the shorts, but she won't hear it. Then, there's the icing on the cake. She says that she'd been meaning to "remind me" of this for several weeks, but kept forgetting, until "Jesus & Mary spoke to her last night, reminding her to remind me." That Father's human. Good to know. I often worry that the priest celebrating Mass is a robot, or an extraterrestrial. Anywho, she goes on like this for a good five minutes, before finally walking out, clearly under the impression that I'm agreeing with her not to wear shorts anymore, even though I've done nothing but reaffirm that as long as the weather is hot, I'll be wearing shorts. When I went out to light the candles, I saw she was sitting in the front row, on the left side. I joked with the minister that when I get up there at the beginning of Mass, I should hike the robe up, and sit with my legs in full view. (I didn't). It wasn't until later that I realized it was the same woman from before, the same temperament, the same demeanor, the same voice quality, etc. It had been long enough I'd almost forgotten her, but this episode brought it all back.
I haven't encountered her again since, but I keep an eye out for her. I'll do my best to avoid her. And continuing wearing shorts in the summer. Oh, and I proudly wear my Irish Skull shirt every St. Patrick's Day.

I was running wireguard with no issue on a separate computer just earlier this week. That computer took a dump on me so I'm running it on my main computer now and for some reason when i make the connection my speeds are insanely slow. I didn't have that issue on my other pc.
My current server and client config
Server:

[Interface] Address = 192.168.65.1/24 PostUp = iptables -A FORWARD -i %i -j ACCEPT PostUp = iptables -A FORWARD -o %i -j ACCEPT PostUp = iptables -A FORWARD -i %i -j ACCEPT; iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE PostDown = iptables -D FORWARD -i %i -j ACCEPT PostDown = iptables -D FORWARD -o %i -j ACCEPT PostDown = iptables -D FORWARD -i %i -j ACCEPT; iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE; ListenPort = 51820 PrivateKey = server_private_key [Peer] PublicKey = client_public_key AllowedIPs = 192.165.65.10/32 

Client:

[Interface] PrivateKey = client_private_key Address = 192.168.65.10/24 [Peer] PublicKey = server_public_key AllowedIPs = 0.0.0.0/0 Endpoint = public_ip:51820 

I have forwarding enabled and port 51820 opened where it matters. I'm not sure what could be holding me back on this computer

Join our Rust & Runescape Private Servers - 1000+ Players in our Discord - Lookup SnowRSPS on Google - Custom RSPS & Rust PC/Console Community Servers - Open 24/7 - Daily Holiday Events - Best Oldschool RSPS in 2024 - Free Starter Kit

Hi All,
I currently have a TV room where everything goes through a PC (HDMI out to TV, out from TV via toslink to miniDSP crossover, then to Amplifie Speakers.
For music I use media monkey since I've sorted everything in folders on main server (a lot of old CD rips with no metadata).
I would like to add bluetooth speakers to another room (bar) and would like to find a way to have them sync with my main setup (so extend the sound).
I can always get some KEF LSX II speakers and hook them to a DLNA server, but not sure how to sync everything.
Not sure I can do this? Is it possible?
Thanks,
Pete

PRICE IS $3500 (Less than half of what steam account is worth)
These are just the games in my library. I have lots of dlc and in game purchases. If you have a question about a specific game or anything else just dm me
Aimlabs AirMech Among Us Apex Construct Apex Legends ARK: Survival Ascended ARK: Survival Evolved ARK: Survival Of The Fittest Awesomenauts Banana Shooter Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition Batman: Arkham City GOTY Batman™: Arkham Knight BattleBit Remastered Blade & Sorcery Blood and Bacon Bloons TD 6 Boring Man - Online Tactical Stickman C Brawlhalla Call of Duty® Chivalry 2 Combat Tested Conqueror's Blade Contractors Showdown Contractors VR Core Keeper Cortex Command Counter-Strike 2 Crossout Cyberpunk 2077 DAVE THE DIVER DAYZ DayL CAYZ DayZ Experimental Deadside Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The H Destiny 2 Devil May Cry 5 Dishonored DOOM Eternall DRAGON BALL FighterZ DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2 Drunken Wrestlers 2 Duck Game Dying Light Dying Light 2: Reloaded Edition ELDEN RING Emily is Away Enshrouded The Escapists 2 Factorio Fall Guys Fallout 4 Fallout 76 Fallout 76 Public Test Server Fallout: New Vegas Fallout Shelter FC3 Far Cry® 3 5 Far Cry 5 THE FINALS Fistful of Frags For Honor For Honor - Public Test For The King Formicide fpsVR FreeStyleFootball Full Metal Furies Galactic Junk League Gang Beasts Garry's Mod Gauntlet™ Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT Gladio Mori Playtest Going Medieval Goose Goose Duck Gorilla Tag Grand Theft Auto V Gray Zone Warfare GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE Half-Life: Alyx Halo Infinite Halo: The Master Chief Collection Happy Wars HAWKED Issue #2 Playtest HELLDIVERS™ 2 Hellish Quart Heroes & Generals Hero's Hour Human Fall Flat Hunger Dungeon Hunt: Showdown Hunt: Showdown (Test Server) IdeOn - The Idle RPG Infestation: The New Z Insurgency: Sandstorm Insurgency: Sandstorm Community Test The Jackbox Party Pack 3 The Lab Last Man Standing Left 4 Dead 2 Lethal Company Lost Ark LuckCatchers Manor Lords Marvel Rivals Playtest Marvel's Avengers - The Definitive Editic Marvel's Avengers Beta Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel's Spider-Man RemasteredMechWarrior Online Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™ MORDHAU Mortal Kombat 1 Mortal Kombat 11 Muck Murder Miners MY HERO ULTRA RUMBLE NARAKA: BLADEPOINT NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STI NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKEF NBA 2K23 No Man's Sky Omega Strikers Operator Ori and the Blind Forest Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Editic OUTRIDERS Outward OVR Advanced Settings Oxygen Not Included Paladins Paladins - Public Test Palworld P.A.M.E.L.A. Party Animals Passpartout: The Starving Artist Pavlov VR PAYDAY 2 Phasmophobia Pixel Gun 3D: PC Edition PlanetSide 2 PlanetSide 2 - Test Pogostuck: Rage With Your Friends Project Winter Project Zomboid PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS PUBG: Experimental Server PUBG: Test Server Pummel Party Raft Ravenfield Ready or Not Rec Room Red Dead Redemption 2 - Update Queue Remnant: From the Ashes Resident Evil 5 Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality RIFT RimWorld Ring of Elysium Risk of Rain 2 Robocraft Rocket League ROUNDS Rust Rust - Staging Branch Satisfactory SCP: Secret Laboratory Scrap Mechanic Secret Neighbor Beta Shotgun Farmers The Sims™ 4 Slappyball Slime Rancher SMITE SMITE - Public Test Sons Of The Forest Source Filmmaker Space Engineers Space Hulk: Deathwing Space Hulk: Deathwing - Enhanced Editi Splitgate SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikir Sprint Vector STAND OUT Star Trek: Bridge Crew Star Trek Online STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ Il STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy STAR WARS™: Squadrons STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™ Starbound Starbound - Unstable Stardew Valley Stellaris Stick Fight: The Game Street Fighter™ 6 Subnautica Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Super Animal Royale Super Crate Box Tactical Craft Online Teeworlds Terraria theHunter: Call of the Wild™ Time of Dragons Titanfall® 2 tModLoader Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege - Test S Toribash Totally Accurate Battlegrounds Trove Ultimate Chicken Horse UNO Unrailed! Unturned V Rising Valheim Vampire Survivors Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt VRChat VTuber Maker Wallpaper Engine War Thunder Warface: Clutch Warframe Warhammer: Vermintide 2 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt World of Soccer World of Tanks World of Tanks Blitz World of Warships Your Only Move Is HUSTLE Zero Caliber VR

Hello, Let me preface by saying I'm a bit of a noob. I currently have my unRaid set up on a mini ITX build. I have two 8TB WD Red drives, one set as parity, and a 256GB m.2 ssd as my cache. The motherboard I am using is a Gigabyte A520I AC (AMD Ryzen AM4/Mini-ITX which only has 1 PCIe slot which I would like to use with a GPU for hardware accelartion. The case is a Thermaltake Core V1 SPCC Mini ITX Cube which only has two 3.5in drive bays. I need to expand my storage soon and I was wonder if just attaching a NAS to the unRaid server is possible to expand my storage? My primary concern is to expand storage for my Media.

First / Patreon (Read 5 Chapters Ahead)

AKA: Ain’t Nothing but a Horndog
–
Private Owens let out another tired sigh as he sat there, his head held in his hands. After the incident with Petra, he’d been forcibly confined to his room, pending further disciplinary action. It didn’t take a genius to figure out exactly how he was going to be disciplined; at best, he figured he’d be getting a court martial. At worst, they’d probably just throw him out the airlock or something.
Harsh, to be sure, but if he’d actually succeeded in inadvertently costing humanity their spot as a central player on the galactic stage, then no punishment was truly out of the question. Hell, Major Barnes had talked about having him drawn and quartered, and if he truly had fucked up that monumentally bad, then it wasn’t even out of the question.
“Way to go, idiot…” Owens muttered to himself. “All this because you couldn’t stay away from the booze or keep it in your pants for a night…”
He let out yet another sigh of despondency, bringing a hand up to brush through his auburn-colored hair. He’d just had it cut short, which was a good thing, because it meant that he’d actually look presentable at his soon-to-be funeral.
Assuming Major Barnes let him keep his head, of course.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, the door to his quarters opened. Owens looked up, and was not surprised to see Major Barnes and Captain Johnson standing there. Somehow, they looked even more imposing than usual, which was odd given that Major Barnes was from Texas and built like the bulls he used to ride, while Captain Johnson was a former MMA fighter.
That was to say that if there were any two people the higher-ups would have sent to beat him to death with their bare hands, it’d be these two, to say nothing of the fact that they’d probably outright requested it given what he’d done.
Assuming they weren’t about to lead him to Captain Ulfur or something, of course. Couldn’t exactly discount that as a possibility, either.
“Alright, on your feet,” Major Barnes announced.
Private Owens blinked. “Sir?”
“I said, on your feet. Are you going to make me repeat myself again?”
“N-no, Sir.” Owens scrambled to his feet. He stood there at attention, doing his best not to start sweating bullets as Major Barnes leaned in to examine him, one hand on his chin.
“Hm…”
“Sir?”
The two of them locked eyes, Barnes’ set of brown staring into Owens’ green. And despite his best efforts, Owens couldn’t help but begin sweating then and there. Captain Johnson shifted a bit out of the corner of his eye, but Owens didn’t dare look over to him; experience had taught him that, much like a T-Rex, the Major’s vision was based on movement. This wasn’t to imply that he could only see things when they moved, but rather that moving was a good way to draw attention to oneself, in the same way that the squeaky wheel tended to get the grease.
To put it simply: predators enjoy it greatly when their prey tries to struggle. And at this moment in time, Owens was nothing if not the juiciest piece of prey available to his commanding officers on the whole station.
The seconds ticked by. Owens dared not count them, both because he didn’t want to press his luck and because he dreaded finding out how short eternity actually was. Finally, after those few agonizingly slow seconds passed, Major Barnes took a step back and let his hand fall from his chin, then clasped his arms behind his back.
“You have no idea how fucking lucky you are, Marine.”
Owens stiffened. “Sir?”
Major Barnes let out a tired sigh, then turned to Captain Johnson. “Smoking is still banned on this station, right?”
“It is outside of the dedicated smoking zones,” Johnson replied. “It upsets the Vuks’ sense of smell.”
“Damn… what about drinking?”
“Allowable outside of working hours, but I’d like to remind you that alcohol is what got us into this mess in the first place.”
“Ah, yes.” Major Barnes turned back towards Owens, his eyes narrowing. “Now, Private – perhaps you’d care to answer a question for me?”
“O-of course, Sir,” Owens stammered out.
“What in the hell made you think Jack Daniels was your friend?”
Owens felt a chill go down his spine. “Uh, Sir?”
“Stop phrasing my title like a question, please. Answer the question.”
Owens hesitated. Thankfully, Captain Johnson came to his rescue.
“Actually, if I remember right, the bartender said he was ordering Captain Morgan and tequila.”
Barnes let out a low whistle. “Damn, for real? What were you thinking, Private? You know rum and tequila don’t mix.”
“Apparently, he hasn’t heard how racist Captain Morgan is – everyone knows the Captain hates Mexicans.”
“U-um…” Private Owens said. “...Is this you both smoking me out?”
“Of course not, Private,” Major Barnes instantly replied. “After all, we’re not in a smoking area, remember?”
Private Owens wasn’t sure if the Major was trying to be dangerously sarcastic or if that was a genuine attempt at levity. In either case, he thought it best to stay silent. Finally, after a few more seconds had passed, Major Barnes shook his head.
“I mentioned earlier that you were lucky,” he said. “Hell, you’re probably the luckiest man alive. Possibly the luckiest man in history. Do you know why that is?”
“Because I’m not dead yet?”
“Partially, but no. No, you’re the luckiest man alive because, in spite of you making a drunken ass of yourself and banging their head diplomat, the Vuk voted to allow us into the Council, after all.”
Private Owens couldn’t help but sputter in surprise at that news. He took a moment to recover, then turned back towards the Major, surprise etched across his face. “You’re serious?” After a moment, he added, “Sir?”
“Oh, I’m very serious,” Major Barnes confirmed with a nod. “See how lucky you are, Private? Not only did you get laid, but you also somehow didn’t completely fuck everything up for our entire species, which means that I very unfortunately don’t get to space you.”
Private Owens hesitated. Next to him, Captain Johnson crossed his arms. “Breathe, Private. You look like you’re about to pass out.”
Owens did as he was told, sucking in a deep breath of air before exhaling it. Once he had taken a breath to calm himself, he opened his eyes again, once more staring at Major Barnes.
“So, if you don’t mind me asking, Sir… what happens now?”
“Good question,” Barnes replied. “Well, given that you might have actually done all of humanity a huge solid by sleeping with Petra, there’s not really much I can do to actually punish you. I mean, I could, but that’d reflect pretty badly on me, and if there’s one thing I care about, it’s my service record.”
“Immaculate service record,” Captain Johnson amended. “Downright radiant, really.”
“Exactly. And it’d really suck to mar it by having to write a young Marine for something like this, especially since it’s very possible that the only reason Petra voted yes was because the sex was so good.”
Private Barnes flushed red. “U-um… thanks, Sir. I think.”
“Don’t be so modest, Private – you know women talk. Well, word’s apparently gotten around, and now a fair few of the Vuk women are very curious about how the human mouth works. But that’s neither here nor there; the point is, we’re at a bit of an impasse. I can’t exactly smoke you for this, even though I really want to. But at the same time, I can’t just let you off the hook, either.”
“So… what do you plan to do with me, Sir?”
Major Barnes cracked a wide, wicked-looking grin. A chill went down Owens’ spine at the sight of it.
“Why, it’s simple, Private,” Barnes began, “in this situation, I think it only fitting that I throw you to the wolves… or, in this case, the devil dogs.”
Owens didn’t even have time to beg for mercy before Captain Johnson grabbed him and muscled him out the door, over to the barracks where the rest of his platoon was staying.
–
It wasn’t a surprise to Owens when they opened the door to the barracks and roughly shoved him inside, then closed it back up and locked it. He scrabbled at the door in vain for a moment before pausing and turning around.
His entire platoon was there, because of course they were.
Owens froze at the sight of them. Getting smoked by the Major and the Captain was bad enough, but that was nothing compared to the absolute fucking firestorm that was headed his way from the rest of the platoon. Slowly, he raised a hand.
“Uh, hey, guys,” he offered.
For a moment, nobody said or did anything. It was deathly silent in the barracks. But then, it happened.
Someone started the slow clap.
It began as just one person, but rapidly grew to two, and then three, and then all of a sudden, they were all doing it. And as they clapped, they were shouting at him, or rather, they were chanting – one simple word, which ordinarily wouldn’t have had much meaning, but with the way they were saying it, Owens just knew it was going to haunt him until he was discharged.
And that word was…
“Horn-Dog! Horn-Dog! Horn-Dog!”
Owens cringed as the word reached his ears. Unfortunately, that did nothing to actually block it out, and it only got worse when everyone in the platoon came up, still chanting, and took turns slapping him on the back.
And, naturally, the questions followed shortly thereafter.
“What was it like?”
“Was it as good as she’s making it sound?”
“Are you really that good with your tongue?”
“What’s it like being an actual furry?”
“Guys!” Owens finally blurted out, having had enough. “Look, I’ve… I’ve had a bit of a long day, you know? So can I at least take a seat before you start bombarding me with questions?”
The platoon fell silent at that. Owens breathed a sigh of relief, then began to stride through them; they parted like the Red Sea as he walked.
“Carefully,” one of them said, “he’s a hero.”
Owens flipped that guy off without even looking back. Finally, he reached his bunk and took a seat on it, then breathed a sigh of relief.
And the moment he was settled, the platoon was surrounding him once more, eager for him to answer their questions. Owens took a breath.
“Let me get one thing perfectly straight,” he said, “I don’t kiss and tell.”
“Dude, come the fuck on,” one of the men, Corporal Ramirez, protested. “You realize that she’s been telling her people about it, right?”
“For real, man,” Sergeant Douglas agreed with a nod. “Some of the Vuk females have been eye-fucking us ever since.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m serious. Apparently, that tongue do be putting in the work.”
Owens’ brow furrowed. “That’s nasty, dude.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? You did it, not me! I’m just reporting some of the shit that’s been happening ever since you fucking gave Lassie the ol’ in-out.”
“First of all, don’t talk about her that way,” Owens warned. “I get that you’re just joking, but she’s still a diplomat, as well as the reason we’re even having this conversation right now. And not in that way!” He hurriedly added when he saw several of the men about to say something. “She was the deciding vote. If it weren’t for her coming through for us, we’d have been fucked.”
Corporal Ramirez hesitated, but only for a moment. “I mean-”
“Dude, don’t.”
“I’m just saying-”
“I am seriously begging you not to say it.”
Ramirez paused, but eventually, his baser instincts won out. “...She definitely did come through for us, and at least one of us was definitely fucked.”
Owens closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath before opening them again. “...Just for that, I’m not gonna tell you all what it was like.”
“Dude, come on,” Sergeant Douglas protested. “You’re really gonna do us like this? You’re gonna just fucking Captain Kirk it up and then refuse to talk about it?”
“Yes, I-” Owens paused. “...Captain Kirk?”
“Yeah.”
“Really?”
“Hey, you’re the first human to actually fuck an alien, at least as far as anyone knows. It fits.”
“No, no, I’m not complaining, it’s just… I can’t be Shepard?”
“The fuck you talking about? You’re no Shepherd, that’s for sure.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because you couldn’t keep the wolf away.” Owens glared at him and Douglas just rolled his eyes. “Come on, Horndog, you’re just teeing these things up for me at this point. I can go all night.”
“Shame he couldn’t,” Ramirez added. “Or did he only stop because he got caught?”
“That’s a fair question, actually. Horndog, be honest – if you hadn’t been caught, would there have been another round?”
“How many rounds were there, anyway?” one of the other Marines asked.
“Do you think she’d have wanted breakfast afterwards?” another added. “Makes me wonder… do you think the Vuk prefer waffles, or pancakes?”
“I dunno, man. They seem pretty partial to creampies, if you ask me.”
“Guys!” Owens shouted, cutting them all off. He grit his teeth for a moment, but then let out another exhale. “...It probably goes without saying, but I am very, very, ridiculously tired right now. I’m very thirsty and I haven’t had anything to eat in a long-ass time.”
Ramirez opened his mouth to say something.
“Ramirez, if you say what I know you’re going to say, I will seriously fucking Code Red you by myself.”
Ramirez closed his mouth and said nothing.
Owens let out yet another exhale. “Look, fellas – let me just get some sleep, and then I’ll tell you as much as I can about it without it being disrespectful to her. Okay?”
“Sure, man, whatever you say,” Douglas offered.
“Thanks, guys.”
With that, Owens laid down in his bunk and closed his eyes, doing his best to enjoy the silence.
It lasted for all of five seconds before someone broke it.
“So, was this technically bestiality?”
Owens threw a blind punch, and just like that, the entire barracks erupted into chaos.

Special thanks to my good friend and co-writer, Ickbard, for the help with writing this story.

I'm rebuilding my home studio after a move, and I'm wondering whether an online double-conversion UPS like an Eaton 9SX would be a better choice for audio applications than an Eaton 5P despite the significant increase in cost.
I'd be running my M2 Pro Mac mini along with a Yamaha DM3 mixing console and support equipment (monitors, synths, Juniper EX2200C switch, etc) from the UPS along with a PowerEdge R430 server (peak draw 200W on the server) for a total of around 700W.
Would the 5P be fine, or would I have fewer issues with audio noise with the 9P?
(To clarify, I'm talking about noise in the audio signal from power-related issues, not noise produced by the UPS itself.)

I am playing with friends on a private server but i want to reset my character due to me already beating the game, that way i can go at there pace instead. My question is if i can reset my character progress so that i can play with them fairly.

is it private server better for getting more gems or not?

If I take over a workbench in a private server, then leave the world and rejoin, will I keep the workbench?