Writing Contest

1st Place: In This Corner of the World: Agency, The Past, and The Paths We Did Not Choose by VelaryonAu

2nd Place: Gunslinger Girl and Confronting the Posthuman by paukshop

3rd Place: Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Eternal by baquea

Videos

1st Place: Heavenly Delusion: Body Horror, Gender, & Transformation by thedman1954

2nd Place: Blue Reflection Ray ( I Want to Change!) by thegajumaru

3rd Place: Grief in To your Eternity by paukshop

• Be consistent: I know that emergencies can happen and sometimes life throws a curve ball. Those happen to me too but if it does, I expect you to let me know ASAP when you know that you are not going to be able to join for the session. The general rule in my table is that as long as we have four people playing, we will continue with the game.
• Cinematics: I like to inject some cinematic in the game and I will let you know when there is a cinematic. This happens usually at the end of the session to show you what happens somewhere else where your characters are not necessarily present.
• Campaign may have mature themes: I like to run narrative games and they usually lean towards a more serious tone and while there are moments of lightheartedness, it's not what I am going for this campaign. This is not a campaign for joke characters or happy-go-lucky characters. I will NOT include SA or intense torture roleplaying in my games and there is no tolerance for that. These will be discussed more during the session 0!
• Be attentive during the sessions: During the session, I would like you to feel that you want to be there so I do put a lot of time into prepping the sessions with maps, NPCs, music, etc. So as a player, all I require from you is to know the basic rules, how your character works, and just generally be respectful towards everyone on the table!
• Don't be a dick: Don't rage quit if the dice don't go your way or if you do something in the game that can result in a bad consequence to your character and then it happens. No PvP, unless both agree to it and it needs to have a good reason! Just be respectful and be able to communicate and I am sure we will get along very well!
• There is always a possibility of death: We are here to make an awesome collaborative story together that we can look back to years later with fondness! This however doesn't mean that I am going to pull my punches in combat so that's why I roll in the open. If the dice decide that it's time for your character, then that's how it's going to be. Of course, sometimes there is something that can save you but those are rare. Also, I am not going to go out of my way to kill you and I will make sure that you always know what kinda situations your characters are going to.
• Have a good mic and connection: Having a good mic is important because most of us use headphones so if your audio quality is so bad that it makes our ears bleed then that would be a dealbreaker :D. Bad mics can also negatively just impact the flow of the game if they keep cutting out!

• Write "One Piece is real" in the final questions so I know that you read this far ;)
• Ability scores are determined using point buy with 28 points or a standard array.
• Death saves are rolled in secret
• We are starting from level 2
• Criticals are maxed damage + die rolls
• If you go down, you get a wound up to a maximum of 3 when you get up again. On your third one, if you fall, you die

• Identify
• Detect Thoughts
• Locate object
• Zone of Truth
• Remove curse
• Goodberry
• Silvery Barbs
• Geas
• Legend lore

• Twilight cleric
• Eloquence bard
• Peace cleric

• Be consistent: I know that emergencies can happen and sometimes life throws a curve ball. Those happen to me too but if it does, I expect you to let me know ASAP when you know that you are not going to be able to join for the session. The general rule in my table is that as long as we have four people playing, we will continue with the game.
• Cinematics: I like to inject some cinematic in the game and I will let you know when there is a cinematic. This happens usually at the end of the session to show you what happens somewhere else where your characters are not necessarily present.
• Campaign may have mature themes: I like to run narrative games and they usually lean towards a more serious tone and while there are moments of lightheartedness, it's not what I am going for this campaign. This is not a campaign for joke characters or happy-go-lucky characters. I will NOT include SA or intense torture roleplaying in my games and there is no tolerance for that. These will be discussed more during the session 0!
• Be attentive during the sessions: During the session, I would like you to feel that you want to be there so I do put a lot of time into prepping the sessions with maps, NPCs, music, etc. So as a player, all I require from you is to know the basic rules, how your character works, and just generally be respectful towards everyone on the table!
• Don't be a dick: Don't rage quit if the dice don't go your way or if you do something in the game that can result in a bad consequence to your character and then it happens. No PvP, unless both agree to it and it needs to have a good reason! Just be respectful and be able to communicate and I am sure we will get along very well!
• There is always a possibility of death: We are here to make an awesome collaborative story together that we can look back to years later with fondness! This however doesn't mean that I am going to pull my punches in combat so that's why I roll in the open. If the dice decide that it's time for your character, then that's how it's going to be. Of course, sometimes there is something that can save you but those are rare. Also, I am not going to go out of my way to kill you and I will make sure that you always know what kinda situations your characters are going to.
• Have a good mic and connection: Having a good mic is important because most of us use headphones so if your audio quality is so bad that it makes our ears bleed then that would be a dealbreaker :D. Bad mics can also negatively just impact the flow of the game if they keep cutting out!

• Write "One Piece is real" in the final questions so I know that you read this far ;)
• Ability scores are determined using point buy with 28 points or a standard array.
• Death saves are rolled in secret
• We are starting from level 2
• Criticals are maxed damage + die rolls
• If you go down, you get a wound up to a maximum of 3 when you get up again. On your third one, if you fall, you die

• Identify
• Detect Thoughts
• Locate object
• Zone of Truth
• Remove curse
• Goodberry
• Silvery Barbs
• Geas
• Legend lore

• Twilight cleric
• Eloquence bard
• Peace cleric

Commenters raised potential technical challenges to effective implementation of the proposed requirement. For example, Honda was concerned about AEB and radar sensor limitations when operating at high speeds—mainly the complex interdependency between speed and the distance and accuracy at which objects must be detected to be avoided (or even to mitigate a crash). Honda noted that higher speeds mean that objects will need to be detected at greater distances, and at greater distances there is less image resolution, greater positional error, and greater impact from things like roadway geometry. Honda and Porsche stated that requiring braking to occur at unrestricted high speeds leads to misidentification of objects and increases false positive activations. Honda further asserted that camera resolution is limited by the pixel count on the image capture chip and that at longer distances, the number of pixels for an object will be reduced, resulting in blur that makes it difficult to detect objects (the blur can be further exacerbated by the designed focal length of the lens). Further, Honda stated that a higher resolution can be achieved only through new sensor hardware that would require further developmental work as well as more processing power, including a change of imaging processing electronic control unit (ECU). Honda stated that for camera-radar fusion systems, small errors in the fusion algorithm are amplified at higher speeds (due to the longer distances) and could compromise the system's performance. Additionally, according to Honda, these reductions in sensor accuracy significantly increase the risk of misidentification of potential objects and may lead to excessive false positive activations, potentially creating negative safety consequences. This could include situations where the system mistakenly recognizes the same lane as the adjacent lane or roadway objects as other vehicles. Other commenters also raised concerns about the potential for false activations caused by the need for AEB to operate at very high speeds. For example, Volkswagen commented that false activation becomes more of a risk as speeds increase, and that these risks are not controllable, as defined in ISO 26262. Commenters raised concerns about whether braking was the most appropriate avoidance maneuver in high-speed scenarios. Honda was concerned that AEB activation might interfere with other technologies such as the Automatic Emergency Steering. Mitsubishi, and Toyota echoed the Alliance’s concern that in some situations AEB activation while traveling at high speed may induce unstable vehicle dynamics. Mitsubishi stated that these situations may occur due to unfavorable interactions with road surface conditions, road curvature, or for other unpredictable reasons. Mitsubishi thought that such activation could also lead to unexpected outcomes for a vehicle following the subject vehicle.
...Commenters suggested a number of different solutions to resolve their concerns. Most requested that the all-speeds requirement be removed. Alternatively, Honda and others (as noted earlier) asked that NHTSA establish a maximum speed at which AEB detection performance is assessed according to an established test procedure. Volkswagen asked that NHTSA exclude activation against vulnerable road users at high speeds, believing it would decrease false positive rates significantly. Volkswagen thought this could be justified as pedestrians would not be expected on the roads with these higher speeds. p.59-
The Alliance, Honda, NADA, Porsche, and Volkswagen suggested that the agency should allow manual deactivation to mitigate consumer dissatisfaction. Honda and NADA also stated that not allowing deactivation may lead to substantially higher false positive rates, while AAA stated that allowing for automatic or manual deactivation could increase consumer acceptance and minimize the perception that the systems are overbearing. NADA also stated that AEB false positives are a significant source of consumer complaints about AEB systems and that only 59 percent of respondents to a Consumer Reports survey indicated that they were satisfied with their AEB systems ...
NHTSA is not persuaded by comments that suggest that not permitting deactivation would lead to substantially higher false positive rates. NHTSA recognizes that AEB false positives are a source of consumer complaints, but NHTSA does not believe AEB deactivation is the solution to the engineering challenges manufacturers with lower performing systems might face in meeting this rule’s requirements.
p. 92-95
In response to the NPRM, the IIHS, the Advocates, NTSB, AAA, Adasky, and Luminar, expressed support for the full collision avoidance (i.e., no-contact) requirement in all proposed AEB tests. IIHS stated that their evaluations of existing AEB systems indicated that some current systems are completely avoiding collisions at the highest speeds IIHS has tested, which is 70 km/h. Advocates stated that the vehicles are tested under nearly ideal conditions and, by requiring a no-contact condition for success, the benefits of the system will be stronger under less-than-ideal conditions in the real world. NTSB and AAA stated that the no-contact requirement is consistent with the need for safety, and potentially necessary to ensure test repeatability. Luminar stated that they were concerned that regulating some degree of contact in these scenarios presents significant concerns for test efficiency, integrity and cost related to compliance. Luminar stated that the no-contact performance is within the capability of existing technology. Several commenters, including the Alliance, Honda, FCA, Nissan, Volkswagen, SEMA, and MEMA stated that the proposed no-contact requirement in lead vehicle AEB tests is not practicable at the proposed test speeds. Many of these commenters suggested a hybrid approach of collision avoidance at lower speeds and speed reduction at higher speeds. Multiple commenters stated that the proposed test speeds will require earlier intervention by AEB systems to meet the “no-contact” requirement, which they state will cause various unintended consequences, such as false positives due to test speeds or AEB intervention at a time where evasive steering may still be possible. p. 101-
Many commenters stated that the expectation of no contact in the real world is not practical. The Alliance stated that while the research indicated that certain vehicles performed better under certain test conditions, the number of tests run, particularly at higher speeds, is insufficient to make any reliable determination as to the repeatability and reproducibility of testing and that the agency ran only one test per vehicle at each of the different speed ranges in each scenario. Many commenters also observed that no vehicle was found to have met all the proposed requirements ... Further, Honda stated that to meet the proposed higher speed no-contact requirements, current systems would be forced to provide braking intervention with significantly reduced recognition reliability and that current AEB systems would need to be completely redesigned. Bosch stated that its testing shows that when the speed reaches approximately 75 km/h, there are reproducibility challenges with multi-sensor fusion of the object in time to initiate AEB and avoid the obstruction, and considerations should be made on how these requirements align with current functional safety requirements. p. 102-
NHTSA does not expect that false activation would occur for well-designed systems. NHTSA recognizes that false activation could occur when an AEB system has low accuracy and reliability. As mentioned previously, we agree with Luminar and other commentors that no contact performance is within the capability of existing technology. For example, Honda asserted that an AEB system will likely intervene improperly when the road in front of a subject vehicle is curved to the left and there is a vehicle parked on the right side of the road that causes no risk of collision. If the subject vehicle is equipped with sufficient technology to detect the shape of the road ahead, the AEB system would not improperly activate based on the mere fact that a parked vehicle appeared in the middle of AEB’s field of view. There are manners in which an algorithm can assess the shape of the road. The system will also be continuously receiving more data as the vehicle gets closer. p. 109-
Another technical option is having redundant systems as suggested in the Alliance’s comment. Regardless of whatever technical solution manufacturers choose, NHTSA does not believe that it should lower performance to match that of poor performers. Rather, manufacturers with poorly performing vehicles should strive to resolve their systems’ deficiencies so that they can perform as well as the market’s better or best performing vehicles. Additionally, while this rule imposes performance requirements for AEB systems, it does not specify how manufacturers must meet the requirements. The agency is providing maximum flexibility to manufacturers in designing AEB system for their vehicles. NHTSA recognizes that different manufacturers have different economic and practical realities that face their businesses. NHTSA principal concern is with the safety outcome and not the path that a manufacturer chooses to take to get to the required outcome. Given the various technical options, selecting technology for their AEB systems and setting the level of accuracy and reliability are at the manufacturers’ discretion. At the same time, the manufacturers should be responsible for any safety-related defects in their vehicle products, in this case potential false positive activations. Therefore, we expect that vehicle and equipment manufacturers will mitigate and resolve any product defect issues including potential false activation in their AEB systems. NHTSA will continue to monitor complaints on AEB systems from the public, including those involving false activations, and will evaluate the risks they present. p. 110-

What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games or programs you will be using.

• Looking to move all my gaming to PC. Willing to upgrade my monitors to get closer to 1440 gaming and higher if within my budget. Games I currently play and will be playing include RDR2, Cyberpunk, Baulders Gate 3, Ready or Not, GTA RP.

What is your maximum budget before rebates/shipping/taxes?

• Maximum budget can push $1500 but if I can stay under that would be great.

When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.

• Willing to get started ASAP if possible.

What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ToweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc)

• New monitor. Always willing to buy better mouse and keyboard but not necessary. If I need to upgrade my tower that is fine. If I can reuse my current tower even better.

Which country (and state/province) will you be purchasing the parts in? If you're in US, do you have access to a Microcenter location?

• US and have access to Microcenter

If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? Brands and models are appreciated.

• I will list my current build here and if I can reuse any of it I would love to.
• Motherboard- Gigabyte B450M DS3H

Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line? CPU and/or GPU?

• Not knowledgeable in overclocking.

Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)

• Definitely could use more space. I feel my C drive always fills up when playing games.

Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-towefull-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

• My current case is Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case

Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference?

• Already have Windows

Extra info or particulars:

WordPress

1. Flexibility and Customization: WordPress is incredibly versatile. With thousands of themes and plugins available, you can customize your site to fit almost any need, from blogs and portfolios to e-commerce stores and membership sites.
2. Large Community and Support: Being one of the most popular CMS platforms, WordPress has a vast community. This means plenty of tutorials, forums, and third-party support to help you solve any issues you might encounter.
3. SEO-Friendly: WordPress is built with SEO in mind. Plugins like Yoast SEO make it easy to optimize your content and improve your site’s search engine rankings.
4. Cost-Effective: WordPress itself is free, and many themes and plugins are available at no cost. Even with premium options, it’s generally more affordable than many other platforms.

1. Learning Curve: While powerful, WordPress can be daunting for beginners. Understanding how to effectively use themes, plugins, and manage updates requires some learning.
2. Maintenance: Regular updates and maintenance are essential to keep your site secure and running smoothly. This can be time-consuming, especially if you’re managing multiple sites.
3. Performance: Depending on your theme and plugins, WordPress sites can sometimes suffer from performance issues. Optimizing for speed and performance often requires additional effort.

Webflow

1. Design Freedom: Webflow offers a visual, drag-and-drop interface that allows for precise control over the design. It’s great for designers who want to create visually stunning websites without writing code.
2. Built-In Hosting: Webflow includes fast and secure hosting as part of its service. This eliminates the need to find and manage a separate hosting provider.
3. No Plugins Required: Many features that require plugins in WordPress are built directly into Webflow. This can simplify the development process and reduce potential security vulnerabilities.
4. CMS Capabilities: Webflow’s CMS is user-friendly and flexible, allowing you to create custom content structures that can be easily managed by clients.

1. Cost: Webflow’s pricing can be higher compared to WordPress, especially for larger projects or e-commerce sites. While it offers a lot of value, the cost might be a consideration for budget-conscious projects.
2. Learning Curve: While Webflow’s interface is intuitive for designers, it still has a learning curve, particularly for those not familiar with web design principles.
3. Limited Community: While growing, Webflow’s community and support resources are not as extensive as WordPress's. Finding specific solutions or custom integrations might be more challenging.

Conclusion

• Be consistent: I know that emergencies can happen and sometimes life throws a curve ball. Those happen to me too but if it does, I expect you to let me know ASAP when you know that you are not going to be able to join for the session. The general rule in my table is that as long as we have four people playing, we will continue with the game.
• Cinematics: I like to inject some cinematic in the game and I will let you know when there is a cinematic. This happens usually at the end of the session to show you what happens somewhere else where your characters are not necessarily present.
• Campaign may have mature themes: I like to run narrative games and they usually lean towards a more serious tone and while there are moments of lightheartedness, it's not what I am going for this campaign. This is not a campaign for joke characters or happy-go-lucky characters. I will NOT include SA or intense torture roleplaying in my games and there is no tolerance for that. These will be discussed more during the session 0!
• Be attentive during the sessions: During the session, I would like you to feel that you want to be there so I do put a lot of time into prepping the sessions with maps, NPCs, music, etc. So as a player, all I require from you is to know the basic rules, how your character works, and just generally be respectful towards everyone on the table!
• Don't be a dick: Don't rage quit if the dice don't go your way or if you do something in the game that can result in a bad consequence to your character and then it happens. No PvP, unless both agree to it and it needs to have a good reason! Just be respectful and be able to communicate and I am sure we will get along very well!
• There is always a possibility of death: We are here to make an awesome collaborative story together that we can look back to years later with fondness! This however doesn't mean that I am going to pull my punches in combat so that's why I roll in the open. If the dice decide that it's time for your character, then that's how it's going to be. Of course, sometimes there is something that can save you but those are rare. Also, I am not going to go out of my way to kill you and I will make sure that you always know what kinda situations your characters are going to.
• Have a good mic and connection: Having a good mic is important because most of us use headphones so if your audio quality is so bad that it makes our ears bleed then that would be a dealbreaker :D. Bad mics can also negatively just impact the flow of the game if they keep cutting out!

• Write "One Piece is real" in the final questions so I know that you read this far ;)
• Ability scores are determined using point buy with 28 points or a standard array.
• Death saves are rolled in secret
• We are starting from level 2
• Criticals are maxed damage + die rolls
• If you go down, you get a wound up to a maximum of 3 when you get up again. On your third one, if you fall, you die

• Identify
• Detect Thoughts
• Locate object
• Zone of Truth
• Remove curse
• Goodberry
• Silvery Barbs
• Geas
• Legend lore

• Twilight cleric
• Eloquence bard
• Peace cleric

• Be consistent: I know that emergencies can happen and sometimes life throws a curve ball. Those happen to me too but if it does, I expect you to let me know ASAP when you know that you are not going to be able to join for the session. The general rule in my table is that as long as we have four people playing, we will continue with the game.
• Cinematics: I like to inject some cinematic in the game and I will let you know when there is a cinematic. This happens usually at the end of the session to show you what happens somewhere else where your characters are not necessarily present.
• Campaign may have mature themes: I like to run narrative games and they usually lean towards a more serious tone and while there are moments of lightheartedness, it's not what I am going for this campaign. This is not a campaign for joke characters or happy-go-lucky characters. I will NOT include SA or intense torture roleplaying in my games and there is no tolerance for that. These will be discussed more during the session 0!
• Be attentive during the sessions: During the session, I would like you to feel that you want to be there so I do put a lot of time into prepping the sessions with maps, NPCs, music, etc. So as a player, all I require from you is to know the basic rules, how your character works, and just generally be respectful towards everyone on the table!
• Don't be a dick: Don't rage quit if the dice don't go your way or if you do something in the game that can result in a bad consequence to your character and then it happens. No PvP, unless both agree to it and it needs to have a good reason! Just be respectful and be able to communicate and I am sure we will get along very well!
• There is always a possibility of death: We are here to make an awesome collaborative story together that we can look back to years later with fondness! This however doesn't mean that I am going to pull my punches in combat so that's why I roll in the open. If the dice decide that it's time for your character, then that's how it's going to be. Of course, sometimes there is something that can save you but those are rare. Also, I am not going to go out of my way to kill you and I will make sure that you always know what kinda situations your characters are going to.
• Have a good mic and connection: Having a good mic is important because most of us use headphones so if your audio quality is so bad that it makes our ears bleed then that would be a dealbreaker :D. Bad mics can also negatively just impact the flow of the game if they keep cutting out!

• Write "One Piece is real" in the final questions so I know that you read this far ;)
• Ability scores are determined using point buy with 28 points or a standard array.
• Death saves are rolled in secret
• We are starting from level 2
• Criticals are maxed damage + die rolls
• If you go down, you get a wound up to a maximum of 3 when you get up again. On your third one, if you fall, you die

• Identify
• Detect Thoughts
• Locate object
• Zone of Truth
• Remove curse
• Goodberry
• Silvery Barbs
• Geas
• Legend lore

• Twilight cleric
• Eloquence bard
• Peace cleric

• Video editing primarily. As of now I don't do anything overly complex or requiring a lot of processing power, but would like to branch more in to that after obtaining a PC that can actually handle that sort of thing.

• Want to keep it as close to $1,200 as possible, but willing to go up to $1,500

• ASAP, within the next week ideally.

• Tower

• US, Indiana. Yes, I have access to a Microcenter

• currently already own a Acer Nitro 27" WQHD 2560 x 1440 1500R Curved PC Gaming Monitor, a RK ROYAL KLUDGE RK68 Keyboard, A wired mouse I've had for a long time (unsure of brand)

• No overclocking

• Large amount of storage, but honestly I'm completely new to this, would listen to any recommendations of what I would want to have in an editing PC

• I like the Lian Li Dynamic Evo from what I have seen. Would prefer a build with it, but understand it is a bit pricier than other PC cases. If you can fit it in a build, great. If not, I'd be willing to cut it out for a more economically feasible case though. I do like RGB so would be interested in that as well

• No need to factor Windows in

• Not anything I can think of, but open to recommendations