Imports - lesson plans

Hi! I’m 26m and from Scotland, UK. I’m pretty chilled out and happy to talk about/listen to just about everything. Looking to meet new people and hopefully make some new friends 🙂
As for my hobbies - I am a MASSIVE horror fan and I love everything creepy/scary
I watch/play football to keep fit, big fan of older music and I like gaming whenever I have the spare time, always looking for game recommendations and people to play with.
I love being outside, finding places to explore and most importantly spending time with my dog (always happy to share pet photos too!) 🐶
I also have a lot of tattoos and love to see other people’s work, I’m always looking for new ideas and I love seeing what other people have so feel free to show me what you have!
Send me a DM with a bit about yourself if you like, happy to move to other platforms too if it’s easier as the chat feature/notifications on Reddit rarely seem to work 🙂

Hi! I’m 26m and from Scotland, UK. I’m pretty chilled out and happy to talk about/listen to just about everything. Looking to meet new people and hopefully make some new friends 🙂
As for my hobbies - I am a MASSIVE horror fan and I love everything creepy/scary
I watch/play football to keep fit, big fan of older music and I like gaming whenever I have the spare time, always looking for game recommendations and people to play with.
I love being outside, finding places to explore and most importantly spending time with my dog (always happy to share pet photos too!) 🐶
I also have a lot of tattoos and love to see other people’s work, I’m always looking for new ideas and I love seeing what other people have so feel free to show me what you have!
Send me a DM with a bit about yourself if you like, happy to move to other platforms too if it’s easier as the chat feature/notifications on Reddit rarely seem to work 🙂

Hi! I’m 26m and from Scotland, UK. I’m pretty chilled out and happy to talk about/listen to just about everything. Looking to meet new people and hopefully make some new friends 🙂
As for my hobbies - I am a MASSIVE horror fan and I love everything creepy/scary
I watch/play football to keep fit, big fan of older music and I like gaming whenever I have the spare time, always looking for game recommendations and people to play with.
I love being outside, finding places to explore and most importantly spending time with my dog (always happy to share pet photos too!) 🐶
I also have a lot of tattoos and love to see other people’s work, I’m always looking for new ideas and I love seeing what other people have so feel free to show me what you have!
Send me a DM with a bit about yourself if you like, happy to move to other platforms too if it’s easier as the chat feature/notifications on Reddit rarely seem to work 🙂

Hi! I’m 26m and from Scotland, UK. I’m pretty chilled out and happy to talk about/listen to just about everything. Looking to meet new people and hopefully make some new friends 🙂
As for my hobbies - I am a MASSIVE horror fan and I love everything creepy/scary
I watch/play football to keep fit, big fan of older music and I like gaming whenever I have the spare time, always looking for game recommendations and people to play with.
I love being outside, finding places to explore and most importantly spending time with my dog (always happy to share pet photos too!) 🐶
I also have a lot of tattoos and love to see other people’s work, I’m always looking for new ideas and I love seeing what other people have so feel free to show me what you have!
Send me a DM with a bit about yourself if you like, happy to move to other platforms too if it’s easier as the chat feature/notifications on Reddit rarely seem to work 🙂

Hi! I’m 26m and from Scotland, UK. I’m pretty chilled out and happy to talk about/listen to just about everything. Looking to meet new people and hopefully make some new friends 🙂
As for my hobbies - I am a MASSIVE horror fan and I love everything creepy/scary
I watch/play football to keep fit, big fan of older music and I like gaming whenever I have the spare time, always looking for game recommendations and people to play with.
I love being outside, finding places to explore and most importantly spending time with my dog (always happy to share pet photos too!) 🐶
I also have a lot of tattoos and love to see other people’s work, I’m always looking for new ideas and I love seeing what other people have so feel free to show me what you have!
Send me a DM with a bit about yourself if you like, happy to move to other platforms too if it’s easier as the chat feature/notifications on Reddit rarely seem to work 🙂

Hi! I’m 26m and from Scotland, UK. I’m pretty chilled out and happy to talk about/listen to just about everything. Looking to meet new people and hopefully make some new friends 🙂
As for my hobbies - I am a MASSIVE horror fan and I love everything creepy/scary
I watch/play football to keep fit, big fan of older music and I like gaming whenever I have the spare time, always looking for game recommendations and people to play with.
I love being outside, finding places to explore and most importantly spending time with my dog (always happy to share pet photos too!) 🐶
I also have a lot of tattoos and love to see other people’s work, I’m always looking for new ideas and I love seeing what other people have so feel free to show me what you have!
Send me a DM with a bit about yourself if you like, happy to move to other platforms too if it’s easier as the chat feature/notifications on Reddit rarely seem to work 🙂

Hi! I’m 26m and from Scotland, UK. I’m pretty chilled out and happy to talk about/listen to just about everything. Looking to meet new people and hopefully make some new friends 🙂
As for my hobbies - I am a MASSIVE horror fan and I love everything creepy/scary
I watch/play football to keep fit, big fan of older music and I like gaming whenever I have the spare time, always looking for game recommendations and people to play with.
I love being outside, finding places to explore and most importantly spending time with my dog (always happy to share pet photos too!) 🐶
I also have a lot of tattoos and love to see other people’s work, I’m always looking for new ideas and I love seeing what other people have so feel free to show me what you have!
Send me a DM with a bit about yourself if you like, happy to move to other platforms too if it’s easier as the chat feature/notifications on Reddit rarely seem to work 🙂

I'm a relatively experienced player thinking about venturing into making my first real homebrew character and I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on it. Is the concept viable? As a dm, is it something you'd consider allowing in your game? Any tips on ways to make it more mechanically viable?
The idea is this:

• The consciousness of a human trapped in the body of a normal house cat. Whether this is via a curse, reincarnation, a spell - the method isn't important, as long as it's permanent.
  
• The character's simplified long term goal will be to gain access to the True Reincarnation spell and get their body back.
  
• Preferably wizard or rogue.
  
• The ability to speak Common.
  
• Not a tabaxi.
  
• Tiny or small size.
  

When reading mock drafts, Hornets are always the team that stumps me. I haven’t seen much or know much about the situation in Charlotte.
Brandon Miller is seemingly the obvious cornerstone currently. Miller is a big wing which doesn’t really restrict team-building in any meaningful way. After that, a lot of question marks I’d love to hear opinions.
Lemelo Ball - still part of the long term franchise plans? Are Miles Bridges or Mark Williams serious building blocks? Who else is part of the long-term plan? How do you order the players in terms of relative importance?
Normally you don’t care so much about team fit and just draft BPA in the Hornets spot. But the 24 class does not offer any clarity into BPA, so the right selection possibly hinges more on fit than ordinary.
If BM is the only player locked in for the future, then the Hornets could draft anybody. But if Lamelo and/or Mark Williams and/or others are still rated highly by the front office, you might want to consider more complimentary players.

[ Notice: Not my article. Link: https://4womaninthewilderness.blogspot.com/2012/08/i-am-only-permitted-100-blogs-from-this.html ]
Hi pearl. My name is Xxxx, and I've been raised as jw being my religion, although im not baptized. I'm 23 now, but as a child, my siblings and I felt very uncomfortable going to the hall we had been attending bc the elders and their families really shunned us out. They also said things to make me really question their "advice". My father absued my mom as long as I been alive, when they were together. My mom went to the elders asking for advice, and they told her she needed to stay with him, that first gave me a disstaste. I hate never put down the jw faith. I believe it is the right one, but I recently been told about someone having issues in the hall, and the elders have a secret book, we are supposed to trust the elders, but now I feel like they are corrupt with this secret book...I also heard they are now comparing themselves to moses, to me it sounds like they lost their mind, so my question is, how am I supposed to think of the elders? Am I being judgemental? And how can they now compare themselves to moses? Everyone can talk to god, but god doesn't talk talk to people, like he did to moses. Im just so confused, and my brain is just so confused. thanks
Hello Xxxxx, Thank you for writing me and giving me the opportunity to offer you some thoughts that may help. I am going to put many scriptures in this answer. The scriptures are what contain the best part of your answer.
One of the first things you say is, "I felt very uncomfortable going to the hall we had been attending bc the elders and their families really shunned us out." If I am not mistaken, this sounds like those in the center of the Congregation felt superior in their righteousness, to the point of disobeying the Law of the Christ, which is Love (John13:34,35). Since this is the identifying mark of True Christians; this behavior toward your family, even as young children (Matt.18:2,6), indicates that these ones are not genuine imitators of Jehovah and Jesus (1John4:8; John15:13,14; 1Cor.11:1; Matt.7:12).
Next, you express that the past advice the elders gave your mom, to stay with your abusive father, was NOT wise and loving (James3:17). This advice was consistent with the elders' general faith in their own opinion. Rather than basing their advice solidly on scripture, these men think more of themselves than is necessary, ruining lives based upon their ignorance, lack of compassion, and self-assuming stature (the false idea that they are appointed by Holy Spirit and are therefore, infallible in authority) (Rom.12:3; 2Cor.11:12,13,14,15). (see http://pearl-whowasthetwelfthapostle.blogspot.com/ )
Their pride fills their hearts, and overflows into the unscriptural direction which they expect to be followed. Many have, (including myself) experienced irreversible damage to their own spirituality, and/or that of their family members (Matt.7:15). God's Word alone is described as perfectly equipping us to set things straight (2Tim.3:16). Those who are not guided by it, nor use it exclusively to aid others, are condemned by God (1Tim.6:3). The bad results of insisting on their human "wisdom" and pride, has been made apparent in the lives of hundreds of thousands (Matt.7:26,27; 2Tim.4:3,4).
Next you say that you have never criticized the faith of JW's. You say you believe it to be the right one. But what does the Bible say about that? John17:17 says that God's Word alone, is truth. It says that EVERY MAN may be found a liar (Rom.3:4) in what they believe and teach from themselves. Jehovah's definition of His "Witnesses", is found at Isa.43:10,11,12; 1Pet.2:9. There it shows that those whom JEHOVAH calls His Witnesses, are the CHOSEN Anointed, NOT the 8 Million non-anointed who have taken the title for themselves. In order to learn according to SPIRIT and Truth (John4:24), we must turn to those anointed proving faithful, regardless of whether or not they have worldly power, prominence, great works, or riches (Matt.7:21,22,23; 2Thess.2:9,10). This is NOT the sign which Jesus gave about those proving faithful (Matt.7:16,17,18,19,20). Jesus described the prophets at the end, as trees. Their fruit are the teachings they offer others, to feed them spiritually. Jesus told us we must examine these trees in light of scripture, to determine if they are fine or rotten. The rotten fruit should be rejected, and the fine prophets and their fruit, received (Matt.10:40,41; 25:40). Jesus knew how important it is for us to be able to clearly discern the true from the false, so he gave us many scriptures about this ...to enable us to discern this. Here is an article which gives many of those scriptures: pearl-finetrees.blogspot.com
Please do not assume who the faithful providers of true food are, but make good use of Jesus' words of advice, which are found in that article (Matt.7:24,25). He also warned us that the false unfaithful anointed would have "powerful signs and portents" so effective, that it would even mislead some of the Chosen Ones (Matt.24:24). Regarding the "secret book". There are many secret things about the elders. They also receive secret letters which are filed in each congregation. These filed letters are also destroyed on command by the Organization. Pioneers also have an exclusive book given to them when they attend "Pioneer School". These things are not for the benefit of all J.W.'s, but are held out as a distinction for those in full subjection to the arrangements of man (John5:44; Mark7:13).
We need not concern ourselves with whatever unclean hidden things are causing class distinctions (James2:4). As long as we are followers of Christ and the Bible, we are safe from whatever corruption men may create and enforce (Matt.7:24; Psalm119:105). If you subject yourself to the authority of men, you are actually disobeying the Bible (Gal.1:10; Eph.6:6; Psalm146:3). Only Jehovah should be our God, whom we obey, worship and follow (Exo.20:5; Rev.4:11). All glory should go to Him and His Son(Rev.1:5,6). Anyone who is faithful will not ask anything more of us (Rev.19:10; 22:8,9). It is not the elder's secret book which has corrupted them, it is the leaving of God's Book, the Bible (Rom.1:21,22,23).
It is the Governing Body which has compared their position to the seat of Moses. The Scribes and Pharisees also put themselves in that seat (Matt.23:2). Yet according to the Bible, the position of Moses will not be filled by ANY anointed, until the anointed are glorified, resurrected and ruling in the Kingdom (Matt.17:3; Mark9:2,3,4,7; 2Pet.1:17,18, Rev.14:1). To prematurely claim that authority now, is to go ahead of Christ and Jehovah, and is a lie (1Cor.15:50; 4:8).
Your last questions are: "how am I supposed to think of the elders? Am I being judgemental? And how can they now compare themselves to moses? Everyone can talk to god, but god doesn't talk talk to people, like he did to moses. Im just so confused".
Xxxxx, we were never supposed to worship men, nor an organization. While the scriptures do speak of those who are setting an example for us (Heb.13:7), and those anointed who will have to render an account for how they cared for Christ's sheep (Acts20:28; Heb.13:17); the Bible never directs us to serve men (Exo.20:5). Rather, it directs men of God, to serve others (Matt.23:11; Phil.2:4). To serve men as if they stand in for Jehovah, is a trap and a snare (Jer.10:23; Ec.8:9; Rev.22:9). Once we put blind faith in men, we become victims of Satan, whether we do this because of Nationalism, Patriotism, or Religion (1John5:19; 2Cor.11:15; Rev.6:16; 18:23). Worshiping God in Spirit and Truth (John4:24) is a direct devotion to God and his Word (1John5:3; Deut.6:5,15; John17:17; John14:17; 16:13; 1John2:20,27). Christ is the only mediator between God and men (1Tim.2:5). The Bible does not mention, nor make room for an organization (Rev.8:8). Faithful men and women who guide us completely by means of the Bible (not men's doctrines Matt.15:9) can be given our consideration, support, and relative honor (1Tim.5:17; 2Cor.8:3,4; Heb.6:10; Rom.16:1,2), but not our worship and obeisance. NO MEN can rightly be considered our salvation (Isa.43:11; Ps.49:7; Psalm146:3). Those things belong to God and Christ alone (Rev.7:10).
Regarding prayer, Jehovah does hear your prayers (Psalm65:2) But He only answers those prayers if they come from a heart with the right motive (2Chron.16:9; Mark12:29,30) and make request according to the will of God (1John5:14). If you yourself are seeking to love and serve Jehovah your God alone (and not men or an organization), He will show His strength in your behalf, and answer your prayer.
The Bible tells us that the faithful anointed also have access to God through prayer. Jesus told them that whatever they ask, they will be given (John14:13,14). This assumes that what they ask is according to the Will of Jehovah (1John5:14,15). That will is that all sorts of men be saved (1Tim.2:3,4). This includes you. How are you to be saved? Through baptism (1Pet.3:21). Not a baptism into an organization, but a baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt.28:19); and a life which follows the teachings of Christ (Matt.28:20; John14:6) not the doctrines of men (Matt.15:9; 1Tim.6:3,5).

I use IMPORTXML a lot and got tired of digging around a website to find the right Xpath so I made a bookmarklet to simplify the process.
This bookmarklet will generate an =importXML formula and copy it to the clipboard. Then all you need to do is ctrl+v into an empty Google Sheet cell.
If you click on the bookmarklet with nothing selected, you can use the mouse to hover over the element you want to scrape. Clicking on the element will copy the formula to your clipboard.
You can also highlight the content and then click the bookmarklet which will directly generate the formula and copy it to the clipboard.
To make the bookmarklet simply copy the javascript code below into the URL section of a bookmark:

javascript:(function() { let hoverElement, highlightDiv, messageDiv, backgroundDiv, coffeeDiv, cancelScript; function getXPath(element) { if (element.id !== '') { return '//*[@id=\'' + element.id.replace(/'/g, "\\'") + '\']'; } if (element === document.body) { return '/' + element.tagName.toLowerCase(); } let ix = 0; let siblings = element.parentNode.childNodes; for (let i = 0; i < siblings.length; i++) { let sibling = siblings[i]; if (sibling === element) { return getXPath(element.parentNode) + '/' + element.tagName.toLowerCase() + '[' + (ix + 1) + ']'; } if (sibling.nodeType === 1 && sibling.tagName === element.tagName) { ix++; } } } function getSelectedXPath() { let selection = window.getSelection(); if (selection.rangeCount > 0) { let range = selection.getRangeAt(0); let container = range.commonAncestorContainer; if (container.nodeType !== 1) { container = container.parentNode; } return getXPath(container); } return null; } function copyFormulaToClipboard(formula) { let dummy = document.createElement("textarea"); document.body.appendChild(dummy); dummy.value = formula; dummy.select(); document.execCommand("copy"); document.body.removeChild(dummy); showMessage("Formula copied to clipboard: " + formula); } function showMessage(text) { messageDiv = document.createElement("div"); messageDiv.textContent = text; messageDiv.style.position = "fixed"; messageDiv.style.top = "25px"; messageDiv.style.left = "50%"; messageDiv.style.transform = "translateX(-50%)"; messageDiv.style.fontSize = "24pt"; messageDiv.style.color = "#cc3333"; messageDiv.style.fontFamily = "'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace"; messageDiv.style.fontWeight = "bold"; messageDiv.style.zIndex = "9999"; messageDiv.style.opacity = "0"; messageDiv.style.transition = "opacity 0.5s"; messageDiv.style.textShadow = "0.5px 0.5px 2px rgb(50, 25, 25)"; document.body.appendChild(messageDiv); let messageRect = messageDiv.getBoundingClientRect(); backgroundDiv = document.createElement("div"); backgroundDiv.style.position = "fixed"; backgroundDiv.style.top = %60${messageRect.top - 15}px%60; backgroundDiv.style.left = "50%"; backgroundDiv.style.transform = "translateX(-50%)"; backgroundDiv.style.width = %60${messageRect.width + 30}px%60; backgroundDiv.style.height = %60${messageRect.height + 30}px%60; backgroundDiv.style.backgroundColor = "rgba(100, 100, 100, 0.3)"; backgroundDiv.style.borderRadius = "15px"; backgroundDiv.style.backdropFilter = "blur(5px)"; backgroundDiv.style.zIndex = "9998"; backgroundDiv.style.opacity = "0"; backgroundDiv.style.transition = "opacity 0.5s"; document.body.appendChild(backgroundDiv); coffeeDiv = document.createElement("div"); coffeeDiv.style.position = "fixed"; coffeeDiv.style.fontFamily = "'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace"; coffeeDiv.style.fontSize = "6pt"; coffeeDiv.style.top = "10px"; coffeeDiv.style.right = "10px"; coffeeDiv.style.zIndex = "9999"; coffeeDiv.style.cursor = "pointer"; coffeeDiv.style.opacity = "0"; coffeeDiv.style.transition = "opacity 0.5s"; coffeeDiv.innerHTML = %60 
  
Buy me a coffee
 
 %60; coffeeDiv.addEventListener('click', function(event) { event.stopPropagation(); window.open('https://account.venmo.com/pay?recipients=oddmedium', '_blank'); }); document.body.appendChild(coffeeDiv); setTimeout(() => { messageDiv.style.opacity = "1"; backgroundDiv.style.opacity = "1"; coffeeDiv.style.opacity = "1"; }, 0); setTimeout(() => { messageDiv.style.opacity = "0"; backgroundDiv.style.opacity = "0"; if (!cancelScript) { setTimeout(() => { document.body.removeChild(messageDiv); document.body.removeChild(backgroundDiv); }, 500); } }, 3500); } function removeEventListeners() { document.removeEventListener("mousemove", onMouseMove); document.removeEventListener("click", onClick, true); document.removeEventListener("keydown", onKeyDown); } function onMouseMove(event) { if (cancelScript) return; let target = event.target; if (target !== hoverElement && !coffeeDiv.contains(target) && target !== messageDiv && target !== backgroundDiv) { hoverElement = target; let rect = hoverElement.getBoundingClientRect(); highlightDiv.style.width = rect.width + "px"; highlightDiv.style.height = rect.height + "px"; highlightDiv.style.left = rect.left + window.scrollX + "px"; highlightDiv.style.top = rect.top + window.scrollY + "px"; } } function onClick(event) { if (cancelScript) return; if (!coffeeDiv.contains(event.target)) { event.preventDefault(); event.stopImmediatePropagation(); if (hoverElement) { let xpath = getXPath(hoverElement).replace(/"/g, "'"); let url = window.location.href; let formula = %60=importxml("${url}", "${xpath}")%60; copyFormulaToClipboard(formula); document.body.removeChild(highlightDiv); removeCoffeeAndHighlight(); } } } function onKeyDown(event) { if (event.key === "Escape") { cancelScript = true; if (highlightDiv) { document.body.removeChild(highlightDiv); } fadeOutCoffeeAndHighlight(); } } function removeCoffeeAndHighlight() { setTimeout(() => { if (coffeeDiv) { coffeeDiv.style.opacity = "0"; setTimeout(() => { document.body.removeChild(coffeeDiv); }, 500); } removeEventListeners(); }, 0); } function fadeOutCoffeeAndHighlight() { if (coffeeDiv) { coffeeDiv.style.opacity = "0"; setTimeout(() => { document.body.removeChild(coffeeDiv); }, 500); } removeEventListeners(); } function initializeSelectionTool() { hoverElement = null; highlightDiv = document.createElement("div"); highlightDiv.style.position = "absolute"; highlightDiv.style.border = "2px solid red"; highlightDiv.style.background = "rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.1)"; highlightDiv.style.pointerEvents = "none"; document.body.appendChild(highlightDiv); cancelScript = false; document.addEventListener("mousemove", onMouseMove); document.addEventListener("click", onClick, true); document.addEventListener("keydown", onKeyDown); showMessage("Hover over elements to highlight. Click to copy XPath."); } let xpath = getSelectedXPath(); if (xpath) { let url = window.location.href; let formula = %60=importxml("${url}", "${xpath}")%60; copyFormulaToClipboard(formula); } else { initializeSelectionTool(); }})(); 

docker run -d --gpus=all \` -v "d:/exposed\_to\_dockeollama:/root/.ollama" \` -p 11667:11434 \` --name ollama1 ollama/ollama 

docker run -d --gpus=all \` -p 11669:11434 \` --name ollama3 ollama/ollama 

import time from ollama import Client import subprocess as sp import os from multiprocessing.pool import ThreadPool # Configuration MODEL = 'llama3' PROMPT = 'Llamas are members of my family.' ENDPOINTS = ['http://localhost:11434', 'http://localhost:11667', 'http://localhost:11669'] def unload_model(endpoint): client = Client(host=endpoint) client.chat(model=MODEL, keep_alive=0) # Test function def time_embedding_call(endpoint, include_model_response=False): client = Client(host=endpoint) start = time.time() resp = client.embeddings(model=MODEL, prompt=PROMPT) end = time.time() unload_model(endpoint) res = {'endpoint':endpoint, 'start':start, 'end':end, 'duration': end - start} if include_model_response: res['response'] = resp return res def get_gpu_memory(): command = "nvidia-smi --query-gpu=memory.used --format=csv" res = int(sp.check_output(command).split()[2]) return res def test_call(endpoint, seconds=1): pool = ThreadPool(processes=1) async_result = pool.apply_async(time_embedding_call, kwds={'endpoint':endpoint}) memory_used = [] while not async_result.ready(): time.sleep(seconds) memory_used.append({'time':time.time(), 'memory_used':get_gpu_memory()}) res = async_result.get() res['memory_used'] = memory_used res['memory_used_df'] = pd.DataFrame(memory_used).assign(time = lambda x: x.time - res['start']) return res def test_all_endpoints(endpoints): res = [] for e in endpoints: print(f'Testing {e}') res.append(test_call(e, 1)) return res RESULTS = test_all_endpoints(ENDPOINTS) 

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import seaborn as sns def construct_mem_usage(res): dfs = [] for r in res: dfs.append(r['memory_used_df'].assign(endpoint = lambda x: r['endpoint'])) return dfs df = pd.concat(construct_mem_usage(RESULTS)) fig, axs = plt.subplots(ncols=2, figsize=(15,6)) sns.lineplot(data=df, x='time', y='memory_used', hue='endpoint', ax=axs[0]) axs[0].set(ylim=(0), xlim=(0, df.time.max() * 1.1)) sns.lineplot(data=df.query('time < 15'), x='time', y='memory_used', hue='endpoint', ax=axs[1]) axs[1].set(ylim=(0)) 

Hi everyone!
Context: I'm new here. I like good coffee though I'm no expert. I recently got the Breville Smart Grinder Pro and some Breville accessories and now i am looking to add a nicer espresso machine from Breville i have some 54 mm bottomless baskets so i really need it to be a Breville machine. Currently i have a cheaper machine that makes espresso, but its pressurized and not very good.
I've now spent some time researching the new setup. Now I want to pick a new espresso machine... I've read tons of reviews and forum entries, yet contrary to my initial expectation, I'm posting here as I haven't been able to solve my dilemma.
My non-negotiable needs: - fast startup -- that leaves out boilers, as I understand they need at least 10 minutes of pre-heating. I want to get to the kitchen and make a quick espresso NOW when I feel like it during the day. - controlled budget, max 500 dollars - must be decent at milk frothing, but I don't do that often, the espresso quality is much more important - in that regard, temperature stability etc. is important; even though I'm still a newbie, I don't want to change the machine again in 2 months when it becomes limiting
My negotiable needs: - I'd like a pressure gauge to get a better feel of what I'm doing - controlling the temperature manually would be great (feels like this is out of my budget) - setting, or at least seeing the brewing time without having to launch a timer on my phone, would be useful - the smaller the countertop footprint, the better; the new setup is going to take up more space than the previous, and the kitchen is not very big - easy to maintain and somewhat durable would be good
What I have in mind: I've heard the Sage/Breville Duo Temp Pro gets recommended a lot, and is well within budget. It's also getting negative reviews for low temperature. The infuser seems similar but with pressure gauge, but I can't get it anywhere.
I've found out more recently about the Bambino Plus, which has a lot of great reviews. That one seems better than the Duo Temp Pro in: milk frothing, heat-up time, footprint. But it comes only with pressurized filters, and buying extras is currently difficult, as they're out of stock. I also don't know if there are any aspects where the Duo Temp Pro might be better than the smaller Bambino Plus.
I've focused a lot on Breville because it seems to be a strong player in this budget/quality range. But I'm open to other things as long as they match the other criteria and have some proven track record.
What are your thoughts? Please help this newbie out!

Halloo just wanted to share my reconsideration experience in uplb for those who are going to try out for the reconsideration process.. or maybe you have general questions on what my exp was like. take note, my experience was pre-pandemic, I am now a graduate of the university.
UP has always been my dream school, so I was really disappointed when I was not able to get in. Thankfully, I learned about the reconsideration process (my first choice campus at the time was UPD and 2nd choice was UPLB). First choice and 2nd choice were both some type of engg (which I also applied again in the same order in my reconsideration application, since only 2 choices were allowed to be chosen).
Okay so first step was to complete the waitlist application form and fill up the details. I submitted that then waited for the announcement on the next steps. So for both my 1st and 2nd choice, an interview was necessary... so yeah I had to go on campus to attend these interviews (take note some courses do not need an interview for the process and the basis for selection may only be the UPG rating).
Now for the interview experience. Suggestion would be to come early, since applicants that were interviewed were by number system. Also! Since both my degree choices required interviews, while lining up for my initial interview in deg program choice 1... I also got a number from the interview queue for deg program choice 2 hehe just to save time.
A lot of people were interviewing for my first choice degree and i forgot my exact number, but I was interviewed almost by lunch time or a bit after. So the interview was a panel interview composed on 5 professors who asked me questions typically these are the ones I recall
(trying to make it as general as possible for privacy, for details you can PM!)

1. Introduce yourself and why this course - I brought up my personal journey and experiences on why I choice choice 1 deg program and what made me choose it as my first choice
   
2. What do I know about this degree program
   
3. They ask you why you chose UPLB as a campus
   
4. They asked me about my speciality for that deg program (since there were minor choices) and WHY
   
5. My future career plans and aspiraiton
   
6. If I had a support system or family nearby (my hometown is quite far, and just came here just for the interview cuz I can't let UP go hays)
   
7. Hobbies, general interests (culture fit question)
   
8. UGHHH DID NOT EXPECT THIS AND TOTALLY BOMBED THIS PART (they asked me to solve a physics problem and solve it haha -- something I was totally not prepared for at the time). Looking back, it was a simple problem of identifying forces of an object, drawing, and quick mental maths. But hey, at that time, my physics knowledge was not that great.
   

Honestly, after the interview, I thought I did really well because the panelists told me UPLB is great and has lots of extra curricular activities for me to get immersed into... They also told me about the dorm options and etc. Lol, was expecting to get in (but I guess bombing the physics question took a hit on my chances :')) AHHH GOT IN MY 2ND CHOICE PROGRAM THOUGH. Disclosure: At that time I did not even prepare for the interview of the 2nd choice deg program and honestly did not want to attend anymore, cuz I already felt confident about my 1st interview. But my mom told me that I might as well attend the interview since we were there already...and there was still time. Lol, so I went (and honestly now looking back, thank you heavens that I took a chance on this interview).
The questions were kind of the same, I of course just changed the experiences I mentioned to align with my interest to the degree program.
OKAY SO HAHA DREAM UNIV OR DREAM COURSE?
I chose to select my dream univ over my dream course. I got accepted in my choice 2 deg program (which I never thought I would consider honestly) I was really hesitant to pursue this degree program actually, since I just shaded this option as a "as long as I shaded something" option. My parents were the reason that I chose to continue with this course, because of the free tuition and well it's UP.
Through the years did I develop a profound passion for my course... honestly not really, especially with the pandemic. But I made up with my lack of interest by joining orgs, doing internships and the like. It was through these experiences wherein I really got to appreciate the practical applications of my degree program more. I also thought of shifting, but at the end of the day, once you graduate, well the world is your oyster and you can work in whatever field you want to work in (even though it's not directly related to the degree program you graduated in - I'll write about this more in the future). From my experience, what's more important is that you graduate with a degree.
Anyway, good luck to prospective isko's and iska's who are going to undergo the recon process! hehe it's a tough journey, and even though i got accepted, i still felt this intense impostor feeling if i really deserve to get in the university. but hey, don't feel that way alright? our path in getting in UP may not have been smooth, but once you are in, it's an even playing field. just keep on going! padayon!

After giving up on using short videos to promote our video podcast almost 2 months ago, I decided to instead double down on YouTube as a distribution channel. Since then, we’ve seen a 30% increase in subs last month, thanks to our efforts to improve video quality, particularly the thumbnails.
As the YouTube guru Ali Abdaal points out, the 3 most important parts of a video that noobs like myself often overlook are:

• thumbnail
• title
• the first 30 seconds of the video

Out of the three, thumbnail is the most intimidating because I can't draw a stick figure to save my life. But anyways, here are the four stages of our thumbnail redesign journey and what I’ve learned along the way:
The v0
We’ve actually been on YouTube since our podcast’s inception three years ago. We used our publishing platform's auto-repurposing feature, as you can imagine, it’s pretty basic - just an audio track with a static image of our logo.
screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/BcNyhaW
The v1
After a hiatus, about a year ago we started recording the podcast in video mode instead of audio-only. At this point, we started using custom thumbnails based on the guest’s picture - still looks like a potato but moving in the right direction.
screenshot: https://imgur.com/zLR77js
Around this time we needed to use a background remover - after trying a few different options, I’ve found this site to have the best value - free, no size limit and good enough results: https://img-cut.aishoot.co/cut)
The prettier v1
After our podcast's rebrand, we introduced a new color palette that's easier on the eyes. We also stole an idea from our friends at metacastapp, adding headshots from our recording sessions to make the thumbnail more lively. However, as my co-host Ronak pointed out, our videos still looked like a presentation deck from college. 😂😂🤡
screenshot: https://imgur.com/xd0sK4S
At this stage, Canva was a nice tool to get comfortable with for quickly iterating on these
Today
After deciding to take YouTube more seriously, we researched what fancy podcasters in our niche (software engineering/tech) do. Surprisingly, many well-known podcasts with hundreds of episodes haven't made a serious effort on YouTube, resulting in meager view counts.
After broadening my search, I discovered two channels that excel at adapting podcasts to YouTube:

• Diary of a CEO
• Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal

Their styles differ, but it was clear what we needed to change.

• Guests' faces need to be much larger
• Text should have much bigger fonts and be aligned to one side
• Font style should be readable, not just fun (while we didn’t have comic sans 🤡, it was tough to read)
• Quotes in thumbnails shouldn't repeat the title (a lost opportunity for a second hook)
• For SEO in the description, instead of spammy hashtags, use very fine grained chapters to both help viewers jump around and improve SEO (DOAC videos have up to 40 chapters for a 2 hour video 😱 but I think this is very smart)

screenshot: https://imgur.com/8KFkReH
I ended up building two small tools to speed up this process:

• “interesting frame picker”: now that we use image of the guest from the actual recording, I needed to find frames of the video that had interesting facial expressions but not blurry. This sometimes took up to 15 mins to create, traversing the video a few frames at a time. So I created a small tool that loops through frames of the video while applying an open source facial-emotion-detector and a blurriness threshold to extract good candidates
• segment generator: to generate the fine grained chapters, I made a LLM prompt to extract the starting timestamp, chapter title and an interesting quote for context as a draft for me to edit.

hope this helps fellow beginners and if you have pro-tips i'd love to hear them :D

About Us: We are a weekly sports podcast that thrives on the camaraderie of sports discussions. Our show isn’t just limited to sports; we dive into pop culture, entertainment, sex, and life in general. With a solid following and several years of experience, we are now looking to take our show to the next level with consistent, quality content.
Position: Podcast ProduceContent CreatoCo-host
Role Overview: We are seeking an energetic, quick-witted, and humorous individual to join our team. This is a paid position, although it's important to note that the original two hosts are not receiving compensation for their contributions at this time. The goal is to invest in the show’s growth, which will eventually lead to increased remuneration for this role.
Starting Remuneration: This is not a free work gig
Responsibilities: Keep the show on track and ensure a smooth flow of content. Develop engaging segments and creative content ideas. Book guests to add variety and depth to our discussions. Bring a fresh perspective and dynamic energy to the podcast.
Qualifications: Female, aged 22-35 - our target audience is males in this demographic. Strong interest in sports; being an athlete, especially in hockey, is a significant bonus. Quick-witted, energetic, and with a great sense of humor. Organized and capable of managing multiple tasks to ensure the show’s consistency and quality. Why Join Us: Be part of a growing podcast with a loyal listener base. Opportunity to shape the direction and content of the show. Potential for increased remuneration as the show grows.
If you are interested, please send me a message to discuss the show in greater detail. We look forward to hearing from you!