Read this before posting! - FAQ Megathread XXXL Edition

Want to hack and pirate on your 3DS? Start here

• review the FAQ before posting about an issue. If your post got removed by the automod please do not make a new one. All posts removals by the automod are reviewed by a human moderator. This might take longer then 48 hours in some cases.
  
• Worried about updating your software? Update Luma from the Universal Updater app First, then you can update your 3DS normally.
  
• Did you update your 3DS BEFORE updating Luma, and now recieving an error after the update?Update luma manually)
  

Requesting a file? Post your request in the File Request Megathread

tl;dr: Useful Tools & Tips

• Download 3DS & VC games as CIA files directly to 3DS via HShop.
  
• Run CIA files via the FBI app - this should already be installed on your 3DS if you followed the CFW guide. Use the FBI app to scan QR codes and download games that way. Only works for 3DS games and VC’s, not NDS games. See /3dsqrcodes
  
• GodMode9 lets you rip roms from a cart, rip saves, and much more - this should already be installed on your 3DS if you followed the CFW guide. How to rip game cartridges via GodMode9.
  
• If you just want to play Pokémon games, see [this great guide] by SteveW_MC
  
• Turn any rom into a CIA file via New Super Ultimate Injector 3DS, an application that allows you to inject Nes, Snes, GameBoy, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance, Mega Drive, Game Gear and TurbiGrafx 16 roms in to the 3DS.
  
• Use FTPD for quick file transfers to the 3DS over wifi without the need of removing the SD card. Available in the Universal Updater app.
  
• Anemone theme manager - View and download custom themes
  
• Checkpoint - back up & restore your save file for 3DS and official VC games. Install cheats as well!
  
• Universal updater - an app that allows you to install homebrew apps and files. Most of these apps are on this one
  
• Wumiibo - Amiibo Emulation. Amiibo supported games.
  

Useful Subreddits

• /Citra - Any questions about Citra
  
• /3dshacks - Questions about CFW/Hacking (do not mention anything related to piracy there)
  
• /flashcarts - Questions about flashcarts (self-contained hardware devices with roms on a flashdrive)
  
• /3dsqrcodes - QR Codes of 3DS software and VC’s
  

How to get each game on your device

• 3DS Games, DSiWare, and Official Virtual Consoles (Gameboy, GBC, NES, SNES)
  
  • HShop contains all official virtual consoles
• MAKING VC GAME INJECTS (GBA, GB, GBC, NES, SNES, PS1, NEOGEO, ETC)*
  
  • Use New Super Ultimate Injector to make VC inject CIAs of various platforms which get added as Home screen icons. Here's an alternative guide on how to use it.
  • PS1 injects are also available, but only on NEW 3DS/2DS. Compatibility is not perfect. See compartibility list.
  • NEOGEO games recommended for only NEW 3DS/2DS systems. Games also may have performance issues so some run great and others not so much.
  • All require rom files which are readily available online. If you want help with where to find them ask in the REQUEST MEGATHREAD.
• DaedalusX64 - Nintendo 64 for the 3DS.
  
• RetroArch - Play lots of different systems, including PS1. Use the 3DSX version.
  
• Nintendo DS
  
  • Download roms from the sources in the ROMS section below and put them into your SD card in /ROMS/NDS. Or ask for roms in the REQUEST MEGATHREAD
  • DS games cannot be a CIA file, except DSiWare.
  • There's 3 ways to play DS games on your system:

 1. Get an R4 flashcart, THE YEAR ON THE CARD DOES NOT MATTER! Install ysmenu+rgf kernel, get it [here](https://gbatemp.net/threads/retrogamefan-updates-releases.267243/). 2. Use a [DS Forwarder](https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-forwarder-cias-for-your-home-menu.426174/) to put a DS game on your homescreen. We recomended either [NDSForwarder](https://github.com/MechanicalDragon0687/NDSForwarder) or [YANBF](https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-yet-another-nds-bootstrap-forwarder-more-than-40-forwarders-are-now-possible.606138/). You may need to [AP patch the roms](https://gbatemp.net/threads/ap-patch-preservation.477536/). 3. Install [Twilight Menu++](https://wiki.ds-homebrew.com/twilightmenu/installing-3ds.html) which is an application that, when opened, looks and functions like the DSi menu. It allows you to access and play Roms via a prettier interface. If your app is broken, try downloading it again from the Universal Updater app or [try this](https://www.reddit.com/3dspiracy/comments/10tr9hj/twilight_menu_white_screen/j7eqy0u/). 

Where to find Games

Ripping 3DS & DS cartridges

• How to rip game cartridges via GodMode9

CIA file sites

• hshop (Recommended)
  
• Ziperto (Decrypted Roms)
  

Rom Sites

• RomsForever
  
• Vimm's Lair
  

QR CODES

• hshop (Recommended)
  
• 3DSQRCodes Subreddit
  

CIA COLLECTIONS

• Internet Archive - 3DS
  
• Juegos de Nintendo 3DS (In Spanish, but has English too)
  
• Official VC Collection.
  
• DSiWare Collection
  
• Retro Games Collection
  
• Misc. Collection
  
• 2TB collection, including roms not playable on 3DS.
  

DISCORD SERVERS

• Discord ROM sharing and indexing project by user: squat1115
  
• Piratendo (No piracy talk)
  

Note: We do not take responsibility for anything that happens offsite, use common sense when downloading files from the internet, no matter where.

Migrate save files!

• GodMode 9 - Rip and restore saves. Reference. Reference 2.
  
• Copy your .sav file to roms/nds/saves/ and name it the same as the ROM but with the “.sav” extension instead of “.nds”. Same for GBA folder, etc.
  
• Checkpoint - Rip saves from 3DS cart
  

 1. put physical copy into 3DS 2. open up checkpoint, select the cartridge version, back up the save and name it something obvious 3. remove the cartridge 4. select the digital version of the game you backed up and then pick the save you just made a back up of and click “restore save”. 

Frequently Asked Questions

❔ How do I hack my 3DS? / Follow the guide here don't use a youtube video
❔ Can i play out of region games? / Hacking makes your 3DS/2DS be able to play any region. You can play EUR games on a USA system and the opposite USA games on a EUR system.
❔My game isn’t loading! / import the seed first by locating the game within FBI → Titles → Selecting the game → Import seed. If that doesn't work, try switching the games region to whatever it is with Luma Locale Switcher. If the game is USA then switch the region of it to USA and try loading it again. For certain games, like Luigi's Mansion and Tomodachi Life, you need the right region for the game to work. If you can't get games to work please comment below for help.
❔ Whatever happened to Freeshop? / Nintendo killed it, along with all other programs that get games from Eshop servers. They are permanently dead. Try the HShop
❔ Can I update to the latest update? / Yes. Update Luma to the latest stable release and then update your system software.
❔ I found a .CIA - now what? / Put it on your SD card and use an installer like FBI to install the game.
❔ Can I get banned for pirating games? / Yes and No. It has happened in the past, but it's been years since any bans. Nintendo does not know if your console is hacked. They do not know if you are playing games you installed from a .CIA. Don't cheat while playing online and you should be fine. 3DS is dead now anyway so Nintendo seems to have giving up.
❔ How can I install games if I don't have access to the SD card? / Use Boop (Use version 1.4.0 if the game you're sending is 1GB or larger) or FTPD. Boop is PC only while FTP can be done via PC or your phone. Boop guide and FTP Phone guide for Android and Apple. FTP is easy to use on PC just use a FTP app like Filezilla.
❔ If I have a pirated copy of Pokémon, can I use the Pokébank? / Yes. You do need to pay the yearly fee to use Pokébank and no you can't hack it to use it for free. You can also use PKSM on your 3DS or PKHEX on your PC for a free alternative. See this guide for more helpful Pokémon information.
❔ Can I upgrade my SD Card? / Yes. If you want to upgrade your SD card all you need to do is format the new card to Fat32 and copy the entire contents of your old card to the new one. Cards up to 256GB seem to work fine. 128GB and bigger SD cards should be formatted with 64KB clusters or else GBA VC Injects may have display problems.
❔ Can I pop in my SD card into a non hacked console and have my games playable? / No, it doesn't work like that. Even a hacked console can't use the same SD card you have in another system. Nintendo made the 3DS locked to a single system with the SD card. Meaning it only works on the one system it's tied to.
❔ Can I do a system transfer to another system and still have my CIA games? / Yes, but the other console needs to be hacked first. Hack the system you wish to system transfer to first (I would advise you to back up your saves with checkpoint before doing the transfer in case anything happens) Then do the system transfer. Once done use Faketik to restore your CIA installed games.
❔ I have some .3ds files how do I convert them to .cia, or Install them to my device? / If you want to do a conversion on your 3DS use this guide. If you want to do it on your PC use this program. If you want to install them directly you can do so by using Godmode9.
❔ I have a 3DS game cartridge that I want to dump and install as a .cia how do I do it? / Guide here
❔ I want to backup or edit my GBA VC Inject save how do I get the save file? / How to Backup and how to Restore the save.
❔ I want to hack my system, how risky is it? / *Thanks to our user fork_on_the_floor2 who has done a poll among our members we can give you the empirical risks of you running into problems:

• 80.58% did not have any issues hacking their system
  
• 16.91% had minor issues that were easy to fix
  
• 1% of users had major issues or bricked their system*
  

Old Megathread. For the other old megathreads, use the searchbar.
Send a DM if any information is missing or out of date. This post is for questions and tech help. Add any requests to the stickied REQUESTS MEGATHREAD. Any requests here will be deleted!

I'll start by saying that I came into XO Kitty with big expectations, probably bigger than they should have been. I was a huge fan of TATBILB and that series of films. The idea that we'd be following Kitty (who was very well-received and liked in the series before) felt like a good one, and to see them located in Korea felt like a fresh take and opportunity to essentially continue a great, yet alternate storyline for the franchise.
With that being said, this show was rough. I tried my hardest to enjoy this show, often telling myself at times that "it has to get better than this, but to no avail. And I honestly don't know what to blame it on. My gut tells me to blame it on the writers, but there's just so much wrong with this show that it's hard to pin point any one thing that caused it's demise.
The show started with a fairly simple premise. Kitty has a long-distance boyfriend Dae, for whom happens to go to the same exact college that her mother went to. Boom. Right then and there. Simple. A story about Dae and their relationship, as well as her finding and exploring the life that her mother once had at that school and that country.
But man...did it derail from there.
You have a show that is centered around convenience at almost every turn.
Kitty gets hit by a car, a car that happens to be harboring Yuri, who just happens to not only be going to the same exact school as Kitty....but also secretly is having a fake tryst of sorts with....you guessed it, Kitty's long-distance boy friend, Dae. Both speak about their "relationships", but the specifics of both of their relationships being with Dae conveniently stays mum.
From there, we quickly find out that Yuri, somewhat randomly, isn't actually with Dae, but more so, is gay, and has an ongoing relationship that she is hiding from here family. And the person in which she has a secret relationship with? Literally, a random as hell token African American girl. Tell us you're not checking a box, just to check a box. And Yuri's mom, again conveniently, is the principal of the school KISS. Go figure.
Fast forward, Kitty tries to surprise Dae at the dance, and you guessed it again, conveniently finds out that Dae is the person that Yuri has been talking to the whole summer.
And then comes all of the utter stupidity from there.
For all the problems the show had, 90% of them could have been answered in the first 2 episodes. If I had a dollar for every time a character tried talking to another character, only to be conveniently interrupted by another character...I'd be rich. I don't know how many times this happened, but it just seemed to be this ongoing screw job from the writers. "Hey, let me tell you everything....BAM, oh no, my friend just walked in the room, and I have to go, I'll talk to you later about it". Literally, who the hell does that in the real world? There were at least 4-5 times this happened in the first 2 episodes, and it got to a point where it just felt like the show was taking the audience to be morons.
The show continues on quite a bit with these tasteless conveniences and oddball writing habits, only to find it's way towards the mid point of the season. And this is where everything gets completely derailed for me. The idea of her going to Korea to find out more about her mom seems to just fly out the window completely. What was once a promising (and intriguing storyline heading into the show), feels like it got run over by a train and was left to rot.
We're suddenly introduced to all of these random sub plots. Yuri's father, and his random as hell mini story line...Florian and Q's relationship, that almost at one point, seemed to be more interesting than anything that goes on in the show. To suddenly, the biggest shocker (and not in a good way) of them all....
Kitty suddenly decides that she has feelings for Yuri? The same Yuri that she hated for much of the first 1/2 of the show...until...Yuri did a literally...random AF mini DJ set. And all of a sudden, Dae feels like an after thought, and Kitty is conveniently bi-sexual now? Like where on earth did all of this come from?
This show felt like it had a premise going in, but almost utterly got overthrown by many of the same things we see other shows and films falling prey to. Bad writing, political correctness, storylines that center on LGBTQ communities and the thought process of "it's ok to be gay" and "there shouldn't be a stigma against it". It felt as though the show almost purposely turned into a soap box rather than actually developing a cohesive, interesting storyline. Kitty's sudden "bi-ness" just fell completely under the umbrella of "uh, what the ____"
The show is just a mess.
The acting is horrible. The writing is even more atrocious. Dae's character was the most utterly boring character to hit television in a long time. I felt the casting for both Dae and Yuri were off the mark. Q and Florian I did like, although Florian seemed to be about as basic and "expected" of a choice for the type of character he was portraying.
I honestly left the show thinking...what the hell did I just watch. And man, did I really want this show to be good. Couple in the other random storylines with the principal, the father, all of these really weird love triangles but not love triangles, the writing, the political correctness.
I hoped for more from the show. It will be very curious to me to see how they address season 2 if they do decide to bring it back. There's a lot to fix, and simply put, it really does start with the writing and the story.

Yay, it's Friday! To celebrate share one (or more!) thing that made you smile this week. This could be a school counseling "win" (big or small!), a moment of connection with a student, something that made you laugh, or anything else that made you feel all warm and fuzzy this week. :-)
Our job comes with a lot of hard. Let's take some time to be intentional about our joy.

I'm not sure but I think the reason some people think it's racist is, they hear the plan (outlined below) and they say to themselves "these people want to eliminate white people." But it's not white people the plan seeks to eliminate. In fact, it eliminates no people at all, by any means whatever. Its goal, instead, is to eliminate the fantasy we call whiteness. To me that's a very different thing. Although I can see how people might disagree.
Now, I previously asked (in the sister sub) if this plan was eugenics, and most of the responses were way more concerned with how specifically we would raise that marriage rate than they were about whether it was eugenics or not. People were worried that the plan would involve coercing or manipulating people into marriage.
And so I'll start with a brief description of how to raise the marriage rate between so called white guys and so called black women (I say so called because race is largely a fantasy). Without forcing anyone to do anything.
Then I'll give a new conception of racism, one that I think clarifies everything very usefully, hopefully bringing the temperature down about racism and allowing us to discuss it more calmly and clearly.
Then I'll restate the question, just in case those who read that far forget what I've asked.
And finally (assuming some of you may be interested) I'll give a bunch of objections I've heard previously, to a plan like this, and my responses to those objections. It's possible, among other things, that this plan will destroy the Democratic Party as we know it. Perhaps you see that as a good thing. Please feel free to select an objection to the plan, that you like, and add arguments in its favor or better rebuttals than I can provide.
I will not be able to respond immediately, but I promise to try to get to all thoughtful responses within 24 hours.
And that's how the post is organized. Here we go.
How to Raise That Marriage Rate
I've known for a long time that the marriage rate, between so called white guys and so called black women, was extraordinarily low. So called black girls learn this at the age of 7 or 8. It didn't occur to me until recently that that's really the key to eliminating racism.
You see, we seem to have made a lot of progress, against racism, over the decades. We're much less likely to have a race riot than we once were, we don't hang people from trees any more, we've halfway integrated the schools, we've elected a black president. On the surface it doesn't look nearly as bad as it used to.
But then if you look at that marriage rate, you discover that we've made much less progress than it appears. In 1960 that marriage rate was about 6 per 10,000. That is, of every 10,000 married so called white guys, 6 were married to so called black women. By 1998 that rate had risen to 2 per 1000. The colorblind rate would be 120 per 1000. So if you take that discrepancy as a measure of our actual level (as opposed to an apparent level) of racism, you find that we are at about 98% of our capacity for racism. Not individually: as a people. And all that progress we've made is only progress against the appearance of racism. Raising that marriage rate is the key hurdle, in beginning to make real progress.
And all we really have to do, to raise the marriage rate between so called white guys and so called black women, is begin telling the truth. Specifically there is one key fact of which everyone needs to become aware, and it is this: if while you're growing up you one day discover that you are unable or unwilling to fall in love with, and marry, a so called black woman, then your heart is broken. Your heart is not working properly. And you need to fix that.
The study of psychology is pretty clear on this: people work on their hearts, and make progress, all their lives. They can do this. And they will. If we tell them it's important to do so. If they do work on their hearts, and if they do raise that marriage rate, we will gradually become one people. Racism will end. No races: no racism. (Well, it's not QUITE that simple, but that's the gist. The actual change will be the destruction of the marriage barrier, without which racism will not be possible. Anything that looks like racism, without a marriage barrier, is just ethnic prejudice.)
So that's the plan. That's how to raise that marriage rate and, by so doing, eliminate racism.
What Racism Really Is
A lot of people seem to think racism is basically an individual thing. Their tactic, in eliminating racism, is to hunt down and re-educate (or take the livings of, or both) marginally plausible, identifiable so called racists. The data is in, unfortunately, and this is an error. We've been doing it long enough that if it was going to work it would have worked before now.
You see, that marriage rate, if this tactic were working, would be much higher. And so racism isn't an individual thing, it's a group thing. It's not a characteristic of individuals, but of a society. Certain individuals may have verbalized and made conscious their involvement with group racism, turning themselves into what we think of as bigots, and others may not have, but racism itself is expressed primarily in social preferences measured over millions of interactions by millions of people. And so it doesn't matter how many individuals you penalize for it, or re-educate, or both, the group problem will persist and continue to erupt in individual symptoms. So it's important to stop penalizing and re-educating people, because it doesn't work. Instead we need to show them how to fix it (as detailed above).
And the good news is, we're not morally guilty of racism. It isn't something we did. We didn't invent it or install it; we inherited it. And it didn't come with a user manual, to tell us where the switch is, if we feel like turning it off. We don't have to apologize for it, any more than so called black people have to apologize for having darker skin. We, we Americans, we were born this way. We were born with racism as a characteristic of our society.
Now, that doesn't mean that once someone shows us the switch, and shows us how to turn it off, we shouldn't do that. It's a harmful practice, deeply insulting to many whom we like to think we think of (I know, it's complicated) as members of our society, and it would be a glorious thing to finally defeat it. Has any other people actually eliminated racism without eliminating the subject people? I'm going to go out on a limb here: Never. It would be a world historical first. And a real step towards making America great again. I hope you all will see that this plan, as outlined above, will eliminate racism.
I deal with a number of objections below. But the basic question is: is this a racist idea?
As I said above, I won't be able to respond immediately, but I promise to try to get to all thoughtful responses within 24 hours (assuming the automod doesn't prevent publication and I have to appeal to the mods to get them to re-instate the post at some indeterminate time). And I thank you so much for your patience.
Let me just add that the responses to my first question in the sister sub, about whether this plan was eugenics or not, were so interesting and thoughtful, I was just floored. I sent this plan to 60 or 70 sociologists with an interest in race, and got zero thoughtful responses. I mean, not a ONE. I'm starting to think you all are each individually smarter than most, if not all, university professors of sociology who have a focus on race, all put together. Thank you again.
OBJECTIONS
Objection 1: It's Eugenics
There are a couple of different responses to this objection. The first is that if the intent was to affect our genetic portrait it might be, but it's not. The intent is to destroy the hallucination that is known as race.
The second response is: what we're doing NOW is eugenics. When so called white guys fail to fall in love with, and marry, so called black women, that is practical, popular eugenics. Sure, it's subconscious: that doesn't mean it's not purposeful. This is an anti eugenics plan.
The third response is: eugenics is a carefully applied genetic program designed to weed out undesirable genetic characteristics or improve or add desirable ones. Animal husbandry for humans. This is a plan to expand the pool of candidates from which so called white guys select marriage partners. To give people more choices, not less. That's actually kind of the opposite of eugenics.
Objection 2: It's Not Gonna Work
This objection is that regardless of whether raising that marriage rate is racism, or eugenics, or wtf, it's not gonna work, because people are perfectly capable of being racist against themselves.
This is an argument I've made myself and believe in strongly, and so it's troubling to have to disavow it, but in fact I don't think it's necessarily true. Do people discriminate against themselves, within their group, based on characteristics like skin color? Sure. Is that automatically and in every case racism? Hmm.
The problem, with the idea that within-group discrimination is racism, is that the heart and soul of racism is that marriage barrier. Words that sound racist, behavior that appears racist, are words or behavior that reference or evoke that marriage barrier. That social insult. This is why so called white people can be racist against so called black people, but so called black people can't do the same thing the other way: because there's no similar social insult that so called black people can evoke or reference by their words or actions. That marriage barrier is what makes racism so much nastier than ethnic prejudice.
And if the marriage barrier is gone, the social insult will also be gone, and any discrimination that persists will lack the force that makes racism the unique evil that it is. We will have eliminated racism, not by curing racists, but by eliminating the insult.
And so it is too gonna work, so there.
Objection 3: Are You Calling Me a Racist?
(embarrassed cough) No. I'm really not calling anyone a racist. Racism, as I see it, is an emergent property of the group (not individuals) - but it emerges from individual decisions, none of which individually are racist, but all of which together give rise to racism. And in fact, as outlined above, focusing on individual racism, trying to fix individual racism, is counterproductive, because it gives us the false sense of accomplishment that has contributed so much to our failure to notice the real racism that pervades our society.
It's kind of like the movie The Matrix. The theme of this movie is that we're all just hallucinating the reality we experience, while in reality aliens are using us for their own vile purposes. With racism, we're all hallucinating that race is a reality, when in actual reality, race has no significance whatever.
And it's not our fault. It's really not. None of us wrote, directed, or star in the movie. But we're all watching it. And unfortunately only some of us have the ability to turn around and find the switch, on the projector, and flip it off. That's what needs to happen. We need to show so called white guys the switch and get them to flip the movie off. Again, as outlined above.
Objection 4: Manipulating People Into Marriage is Just Wrong
More wrong than racism? I would hope not. I would hope that the chance to make progress, at very little cost, on what has seemed to be a very difficult problem, would be attractive. I mean, we don't need a whole new bureaucracy, or a government program to do this, we don't have to split the country up into pieces, no one has to suffer or die... although there are some mostly so called white people (not many) who will flat upchuck in their Wheaties when they hear the plan. That is an emotional reaction. They'll get over it.
Secondly, what we're doing right now is manipulating people OUT of interracial marriages. Subconsciously, of course, and you only see it when you look at the bulk statistics - but it is manipulation nonetheless. If manipulation is wrong, well, we're wrong right now. I don't think that's going to change. Manipulation - in marriages and out of them - is something societies do. Something people do.
Thirdly, when people object to manipulating people into marriage, they're generally speaking of individual manipulations toward specific marriages. This plan is the opposite of trying to limit people's choices. This plan is an attempt to expand the range of people from which so called white guys can and will select marriage partners. Not so good for the so called white women who have benefited from that reduced gene pool - but they will have an expanded gene pool of their own to draw from, which ought to make up for it.
Objection 5: It's Social Engineering
I would say that every time we pass a law we do social engineering. You can't stop people committing murder - but you can try to make it costly to do so. That's social engineering. And again, which is worse: social engineering, or racism? I would hope racism.
Objection 6: It's Genocide
This is kind of the "it's racist, to destroy white people" argument in reverse: this argument is that flooding the so called black population with so called white genes will destroy the black population. To me this is racism. The argument's basis, I think, is the idea that each so called race has some mystical essence that must not be destroyed. That seems to me to be a racist argument. There is no pure-blooded anything. Every time you have sex you mix blood. Get over it.
Objection 7: You Want Everyone to Have Indiscriminate Sex
Someone posted a clip from the movie Bulworth, in which some wacko said the answer to racism was for everyone to just fuck everyone else indiscriminately. No, no, no, and no. In fact: no. This is not a plan to raise the rate of indiscriminate sex. This is a plan to raise the marriage rate. Focus, people! lol
Objection 8: Interracial Marriage is On the Rise Anyway
This is the kind of argument you get from people who read and value Pew Research articles. Their point is that if it's all getting better and better anyway, why not just watch TV? But Pew Research researchers seem to think anti-Hispanic prejudice is racism, anti-Asian prejudice is racism, and anti-anything prejudice is racism. Thus they define Asians and white Hispanics and god knows how many others as separate races, and draw their weird conclusions pretty much at random. But that marriage barrier is a big deal. Without a marriage barrier, it's not racism. And I've seen no evidence that Pew Research researchers have even realized this, much less that they care. (My sense is that Pew Research exists primarily to find evidence to support Democratic talking points, but who knows.) Of course if you conflate people for whom there is a marriage barrier with people for whom there isn't, your results are going to be meaningless. That is what Pew Research has done, and I recommend you stay away from their stuff.
Objection 9: It Will Destroy the Democratic Party as We Know It
This is a little harder to answer, because I think it's true. As soon as it becomes clear that our country is actually on track to eliminate racism, millions of so called black voters will suddenly discover that conservatism isn't really such a dumb idea after all, and they will vacate the Democratic Party. There will be very little left, when they go. Not all will mourn.
Objection 10: It Will Destroy the Black Community
This too is a hard objection to answer. Once we're all so called black, what will be left of the so called black community? How will they recognize one another? They won't. We'll be them. It will be a big change. Toni Morrison's book Sula seems to indicate that there are so called black people who won't shed too many tears, at this prospect, and so I hope it won't be too wrenching for them. I hope that eliminating that marriage barrier will be a fair payment for whatever they lose, in terms of community.
Objection 11: How Dare We?
How dare we make such changes to the so called black community, without getting their consent first? My answer is, this whole country has been working on the problem of racism for a long enough time that I think we all agree it's time we actually did something about it. Getting the consent of the so called black community would require establishing a national so called black congress, for that purpose, and even then that congress would have only as much legitimacy as our current Federal Congress does, which is to say, not much at all. I for one am not prepared to put in that kind of energy and effort on it for so little return. If they want to riot to prevent the elimination of racism, that'd be something new. That'd be a sight worth seeing. I think if they want to stop it bad enough, they'll find a way to make their voices heard.
Objection 12: It's Unnecessary
This objection goes as follows. We've dramatically lowered the probability of having a race riot. We don't hang grandma from a tree anymore. We've halfway integrated the schools. We've elected a black president. What the heck else can we do? We've made a LOT of PROGRESS. There's no need.
And I really covered this up above. My answer is, we've made a lot of progress against the APPEARANCE of racism. The thing itself, not so much. If that marriage rate had been steadily declining, and was at 30% or 50% of its colorblind ratio, I couldn't plausibly make this argument. That would be real progress against real racism. But it's not declining. (Well it is, but so slowly that it will take over 15,000 years to get to colorblind... if nothing else happens in the meantime. Ha. Ha.) It is TWO ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE away from colorblind. People that work with numbers know, you can't wave off that kind of discrepancy with creative hallucinations about cultural and economic differences. And as I've said before, it's that marriage barrier that is the real heart of racism. That's what we need to make progress against. Anything else is just sound and wind.
Well, that's it. Questions, comments, or remarks, ladies and gentlemen? Honk if you got to the end...

My fraternity has done steak nights in the past. A brother works at a butchers shop and dry ages the primals for us, and we get grills from a fire department. Last year we tried cooking 20 - 2" thick ribeyes on these long open grills. It was... difficult to say the least and I as one of the cooks was less than satisfied with my charred outside and still cold middle of the steak. So this year I'm advocating for sous vide as an alternative plan, and getting lots of push back from skeptics. So I wanted to run the plan past this subreddit and see if I'm being overly ambitious or not. This is for 10-15 2" thick ribeyes.
I have 2 vacuum sealers, and 2 sous vide units (1-1000W and 1-1100W) plus a 10 gallon cooler I plan on using as the bath. I also have a large stock pot (5gal) and a large single burner to heat up big amounts of water rapidly.
Plan is as follows. 1. Bag em up w thyme, garlic, butter, s+p 2. Double bag w some weights in the outer bag to reduce leakage and floating 3. While that's going heat up water with the turkey burner to ~150°F verified w/ remote thermometer. 4. Let em cook in the bath, use remote thermometer to monitor temps throughout. 5. Turn off sous vides, drop 8lbs of ice into cooler and turn it into one big ice bath 6. Cut bags, pat dry 7. Sear 8. Enjoy.

Sorry, this might be a little long. As the title says, the county (WA) accidently crossed into my property slightly at a three way intersection with another property owner (who they also crossed into) while building a big fancy bio-swale/stormwater filtration vault along the shoulder of the road in front of my house. Prior to construction we negotiated an easement agreement since they would need to use my driveway/drive through my property in order to stage equipment on my neighbors property. During construction they have also gone against the easement agreement by parking in my parking lot, staging heavy equipment over nights/weekends, putting a porta potty on my property, that's still there for some reason). I'm very frustrated to say the least. They called me today to let me know that their surveyors located the property intersection in the retaining wall they just built. And if the retaining wall is the contact point, then there is also a monitoring well installed approximately 3-ft into my property.
It's an undeveloped part of my property, with a stand of mature trees. So there wasn't a fence or anything to use as a reference for the exact property lines, although the intersection WAS staked prior to them starting construction with a T-post, that they removed themselves.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I have so many questions. What are my rights here? Is there some kind of compensation above fair market value since I was never given the choice in the matter and this will ultimately decrease my property value? Should I just expect that they offer me what they consider to be the fair market value for the land (In this case it should be around $10.5/ft2)? What if they say they only stepped in for like 50 square ft (I'm not sure yet how far along the retaining wall it's crossed)? That would just be a huge pain in the ass with less than like a $1000, so it don't even feel worth the effort. Is there some kind of buffer they should extend long the retaining wall (you can't access it from the other side due to traffic, so say I built a fence along my property line, they would not be able to access the swale for monitoring on either side). Should I negotiate higher payment since the acquisition was not agreed upon? I found info on what the county does if they need to acquire your property for projects, but it all involves notification/agreement before construction is to commence. It also says that they need to present evidence as to why they have to acquire your property before doing so. If it's helpful you can read that info here: https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/thurstoncountywa.gov.if-us-west-2/s3fs-public/2023-02/PermitsandROWAcquisitionRoadmap.pdf
Thank you in advance for any advice. I just want to make sure I don't get taken advantage of, especially since I feel like they have already been pushing it on this project.

It took me years to accept that I have special needs
I'm 19 and I was diagnosed with autism 16 years ago, in May of 2007. They would have diagnosed me even earlier, but the doctors wanted to wait until I was at least 3 years old to diagnose me. It's weird because I showed very obvious symptoms and people can and have gotten diagnosed at 18 months to 2 years old.
I was always seen as stupider, innocent and more child-like than most people at school. Medical professionals didn't think that I would graduate with anything past a certificate of completion. However, I silghtly proved them wrong by graduating with a general diploma.
It's not an academic diploma, but it's better than a certificate of completion. I suck really badly at math, so in high school, I had to take general mathematics instead of academic or advanced mathematics.
This is probably partially due to the fact that in junior high, I had a math teacher who is NOTORIOUSLY bad at teaching math. I sometimes wonder if I'd have been in academic math if I had a competent teacher before I reached high school. Your marks at the end of junior high determine which level of math you should take in high school.
In grades 10 and 11, I thought that I could just work at most normal jobs, but I now realise that this is not the case. Even when I had a Walmart position where I essentially just put a bunch of items back in their properly designed locations on the store's shelves, I couldn't do it fast enough. I had troubles with following some verbal instructions, too.
My manager hated me so much that he harassed me and stopped giving me shifts altogether, but without actually firing me. Everyone else at Walmart liked me, though.
Even in grade 12, there was one incident when my art teacher was giving everyone instructions about what to do for our art project. I didn't understand a single instruction, meanwhile other people around me had understood.
I didn't even understand when a friend had explained it to me. They actually physically helped me do some of it before I understood what we were supposed to do.
Another example is that I have troubles reading a map. Unless Google Maps is physically showing me and telling me where to go, I have a lot of troubles with reading maps or understanding directions given to me.
I currently reside in a homeless shelter that is part of a proper organisation to help people. They intend to send me to a small apartment complex with staff members who are available to help you. It's a place designed for disabled people.
They also intend to get me help through using a service for autistic individuals to help me get work.

I’m 18+ and all characters and participants must be 18+
"Oide Yo! My name is Honoka~! And it is my great pleasure to welcome you all to Mizuryuu Kei Land U.S.A's Grand opening~!!" A very busty, pink haired woman appeared on the screen at the front of the transportation bus. The only thing she was red heart shaped pasties over her nipples and pussy, a red armband that read "cast", and matching elbow length gloves and thigh high stockings.
"As Mizuryuu Kei Land U.S.A's first ever guests, we have many great surprises in store for you all~! Unfortunately I can't talk about them, you all will just have to see them for yourself~. But what I can talk about is all of the amazing "worlds" that Mizuryuu Kei Land has!
Starting with the Beginner Area, this part of the park is the first thing you see once you leave the gear area. In Mizuryuu Kei Lands original location in Japan. This is the area where our shy guests spend their time. Mizuryuu Kei Land is all about sexual freedom, and sometimes that can be very scary. For guests that aren't as open with their sexuality as others. But that's OK! For most guest all it takes is one ride on the "Meet N Fuck FerrisWheel" to break them out of their shell. Apart from the Ferris wheel, the Beginner Area also has other attractions for both men and women. The Dildo Carousel, and Glory Mystery Wall are both very popular attractions.
The Urban Jungle is a place where our guest can live their exhibitionist fantasies. Built to look like New York City. Guests here can live out their wildest public sex fantasies. Sure fucking in public is what the park is all about. But there is something special about fucking in a city environment. And in the Urban Jungle there is a place for every fantasy. From bars and clubs, to all types of store recreations, and of course all types of dirty alleys and public restrooms. It is a guarantee that you will never have the same experience when you visit the Urban Jungle.
From Urban Jungle to actual Jungle. Where the Wild Whores Are, is the ultimate pet play experience. Men and women alike can live out their most depraved fantasies of living as fuck pets. The area is divided into several "habitats". A tropical jungle, a pet walking park, and "the zoo". So if you want to let out your wild side, or want to know what it feels like to own your own fuckpet come on down to to Where the Wild Whores Are.
There are many more areas inside of Mizuryuu Kei Land. So many that I am unable to inform you about all of them in such short amount of time. Unfortunately due to legal reasons I am also unable to discuss what goes on inside of areas like our Raceplay World, and Land of Beasts. You will just have to experience those places for yourself hehe~.
Now I'll leave you all by letting you know that as our lucky week long guests. You all have the ability to switch hotels at any point during your stay for free. There are many themed hotels inside of the parks areas. And we want you all to be able to experience as many of our facilities as you can~!
Other than please enjoy all the amazing attractions, restaurants, facilities, events, and both staff and guest contest. Your ride is now at its end. Welcome to Mizuryuu Kei Land U.S.A!
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Hello dear pervs :3. And thank you for reading my Mizuryuu Kei Land roleplay idea. Based off of the original doujinshi, I want to create a story that severely expands on the world that wonderfully depraved doujinshi created.
So I did not emphasize a "main character" during the prompt. That is because there are many different characters that we can choose from for this rp.
There is Honoka, the current peppy mascot of Mizuryuu Kei Land U.S.A. Who gets to live in the park and do all sorts of fun events for the guest. Unfortunately she did not read her contract to well. And now she has to fight for the right to keep her job as the parks mascot. Or be replaced by another slut.
There is also Natalia, a college student who's friend was somehow able to score 3 tickets fo the theme parks grand opening week. As a closet pervert Natalia was basically dragged along by her friends. In an attempt to get her to loosen up. Oh if only they knew the bitch in heat they unleashed in the park.
Another option is Stephanie, a 30 year old single mother who was given a ticket by her best friend as a birthday present. She didn't really want to come, as she felt the idea of the park was disgusting. But accepted to go anyway as it was a gift from her friend. The question is will Stephanie be able to come out of the park as the same woman she was when she got there? Or will the depravity of the park turn her into a shameless slutty milf?
And finally there is Evelyn, a recently graduated journalism major and self proclaimed artist. Who infiltrated the park by getting a job as a staff member. As she is trying to launch her career as a real journalist. By exposing Mizuryuu Kei Land as a corrupt cesspool of depravity, and misogyny. Created by the "Patriarchy" to force a narrative that women are nothing but sex objects. Will Evelyn be able to find enough evidence to prove this? Or will the parks influence and its "secret board of directors" turn her into the thing she hates the most, a whore?
The park is basically a sandbox, where we can create anything we want. The only limit for what story we can create is literally our imaginations! So as my GM you will have a lot of creative freedom for what ever lewd attraction, event, store,etc. You want to add to the park.
As for what I am looking for in a partner? I'm looking for someone literate, creative, who can match my writing. Be it multiple paragraphs if the need arises, or just short replies. Really just someone as excited as I am for this prompt. So if my prompt interested you, then please message me at Demondork on Kik. Chat will be ignored, and long detailed replies will get my attention first.
Kinks and limits list:
Kinks: cum, cum eating, cum food, cum play,bukkake,cream pie,bdsm, bondage, forced, body writing, spanking, cuddling, degradation, rough partners, sizeplay, dominant partners, toys, multiple partners, spit roasting, mating press, full Nelson,frenching,rimming,body oil,bestiality,water sports,wax play,sex machines,being filmed,cosplay,NTR,petplay,exhibitionism,biting and pretty much anything that isn’t my limits
Limits:
Scat,gore,vore,hyper sizes,necro and vomit

Single, childless, never married and in 50's just bought a house and the neighbor guy I had talked only a couple minutes once before came over when I was washing the car to tell me he is getting a divorce. He commented that the woman who owned the house previously put a lot of work into fixing it up, which she did, and that my house was nicer than his. Does anyone else find this an odd conversation among otherwise strangers? Was he hoping since I was single I would be his next wife and he could move in here? Me being not a big fan of marriage didn't even think to respond "sorry to hear that" when he said he was getting a divorce because I can't even fathom why men and women get married to each other as it seems like a no win combination. But anyway me being the awkward introvert that I am all I said was "so are you moving away" and he said no he was staying there and giving the wife half because his sister lived up the road and he was her caregiver because of bad health. So because of that I kinda doubt my suspicion that he was necessarily hoping to move in.
I guess because of where I live not many never married childless women buy a house and I seem to be quite the anomaly as the women in neighborhood stare at me and won't wave if they see me mowing the yard by myself. They can't fathom being childfree and manfree, nor if they knew could they fathom that I am actually intersex, on the spectrum and introverted and content with just myself and my pets.

What are you lot thinking about our two big wormy chaps?

Residential Contracting 101
With over 20 years of building experience, I would like to share with you my insights in navigating becoming a successful contractor. With many different avenues of the building world its key to understand what problems will arise on any given day. A man once told a saying that stuck-the 6 p’s in life- Piss Poor Preparation leads to Piss Poor Performance. Preparation builds everything in construction, without preparation the jobsite will not run correctly. The best advice I was ever given was to learn a little about every trade giving you the ability to understand trade lingo and secrets. An example would be painters use the terminology flash; this means when the sub structure bleads through the paint. Subcontractors will give the best pricing if they respect your knowledge of the industry. If the subcontractor feels they will have to hold your hand through the job they will charge an extra fee…i.e. I call it the aggravation fee. In this blog I will explain the key elements in finding success in all aspects of the industry. Contracting is a physically and emotionally demanding job which requires planning and foresight to complete projects on time within budget. Picking your customer is just as important as picking your employees or subcontractors. I have worked for some of the most demanding customers leading me to question at the end if the job was even worth it. Sleepless nights, constant changes, lack of payment, lawsuit threats, adding work that was in the contract are just a few things you could face with a tough customer. With so many moving parts at all times it is critical to be able to adapt to changes within a short time frame. Materials will come in damaged, subcontractors will be late, employees will get sick, but the deadline you set does not change. The stress can be overwhelming at times keeping your mind in a good place is key to navigating all that is thrown at you. Choosing your client picking the right jobs-Keep these questions in mind The first question to be asked is what the time frame is to start the job to see if it fits within the timeframe for your business. If the time frame doesn’t work then move on from the project or let them know when you would be available to start. If the client really wants to use, they will wait until you are available. Taking on too much work will only lead to problems. Construction is a serviced based business, staying on top of the project and client will eliminate an unhappy customer and construction issues that will be over seen. With online presence if details are missed and customer service lacks it will only be a matter of time the phone will not ring. The second question to be asked to the client is do they have a budget in mind for the project. If they answer yes this is good, follow through with what the budget is. If the budget seems low let them know, this will eliminate a tire kicker, educate them on what the price range could be. If the budget seems reasonable then continue the discussion to the next question. If they answer no let them know that you can give them an estimate to see if the project is feasible with their finical capabilities. Taking on a job that is not correctly budgeted will lead to an unsatisfied customer due to non-transparency of the construction cost. The third question to be asked is anyone else bidding on the job, if the answer is yes, understand you might just be number check for the contractor doing the job. Dig a little deeper and find out how many numbers they are getting and why. If your business model is to be competitive be completely transparent with customer, this will gain trust with them. Let them know you get what you pay for and if you they choose the lowest bid it could lead into lack of quality of work.
The fourth question I will ask is there any specific subcontractors they wanted to use. If the answer is yes then I would explain to them you only use the subcontractors you have a working relationship with. Otherwise, this could backfire as the subcontractor might not show, do subpar work, talk behind your back to the homeowner. In my experience I would stay away from using any homeowner to alleviate problems down the road. A quick conversation now can save headaches down the road. The fifth question I will ask are planning on getting the job permitted, this needs to be known it takes more time for the permitting process. Plans will have to drawn submitted and approved to the city before work can commence. The sixth question I will ask if a residential remodel is are you going to be living through the remodel if yes understand this will take more time to navigate the project due to answering questions and cleaning the house on a daily occurrence. I would recommend seeing if the customer would be willing to move into an Airbnb or friends for at least the demo portion of the project. If they do plan on living through the remodel add a couple hours a day to accommodate the extra time that will be required. The seventh question I would ask in a residential remodel is how old the house is to see if there is asbestos that would need to removed by a proper company. A home built before 1979 will most likely have some asbestos in the house, use a licensed company with proper insurance to dispose of the materials. If everything looks good to this point find out a little more about the client personality. If the client seems reasonable, I would bid the job. Unreasonable people can cause you more stress than its worth. These are some red flags I would look out for. Some jobs are not worth the money. Very demanding in the way you are going to perform your job- I.e., tell you how you are going to do your job- You’re the professional not them! Give you a hard time about your price- haggle with price you estimated- The price is the price! If they are a family with little money and you want to help them out is one thing, if they are trying to beat you down is another. Mention they have a lawyer-there is no need for them to bring up that they have a lawyer - Run for the hills as if the job goes south, you will be the one losing out! Tell you what the payment terms are. It’s your business you get paid how it works for your company. If you want to get paid every Friday, put it into your contract-If the clients do not agree move on it will save you frustrations If they talk bad about the last contractor, chances are they will talk bad about you. There is a reason why the contractor does not work for them anymore, unless he did subpar work this a red flag Clients are using an interior decorator that will purchasing all of the materials- The materials could be ordered incorrectly by the interior designer your company will not make the mark-up it deserves. Interior decorators usually add time to the job as well as act like your boss. Charging a little extra for the time and stress that it will entail is only fair. Clients want to purchase the materials- You are using your knowledge to buy the correct materials-The mark up on the materials keeps the doors open working for wages only pays the bills The husband and wife do not get along-You will become the mediator between the couple it will lead to taking sides a losing proposition- A drama free work place is always best! Dangling carrot-if you do this job the next one will be better-Only look at what there offering at the present moment, if its not a good fit do not take the job for a job down the road…Its not worth chasing a job that might not happen! The Art of the Sale First things first selling your company is all about presentation. In meeting your clients for the first time show up with a collared golf shirt tucked in, belt, nice jeans, and newer shoes. Have a truck that a clean, no dents scratches, preferably washed the day you are going into your meeting. Have a leather note pad that is clean no dirt or paint visible. Show up 5 minutes early, if you’re running a little late shoot them a text to let them know. Treat the situation as if were going on a first date, best foot forward. As you introduce yourself give them a warm greeting, letting them know you are very interested in the work. Find out a little about them, hobbies, where they lived, etc etc. You are going to be working with them on a daily basis its nice to know what makes them tick. Having a good working relationship from the start is key forming a solid relationship. As the conversation progresses find out who wears the pants in the family…ie who’s the final decision maker. If its fits the wife, chances it is…..then kindly let the husband know happy wife happy life when their in a stall mate on an issue. As your looking at the project throw in some suggestions of what you think would look good from past experiences, this will get their attention that you have knowledge and want what’s best for them. If you see ways to save them money in their project let them know, money is a large point of the sale keep that in mind. Mention that you’re not the least expensive contractor but you’re not the most expensive either. Your customer satisfaction is your number one goal which leads to more time spent on keeping them happy. One happy customer will lead to another, one unsatisfied customer leads to work in the future. Bring up the fact the finishing the job on time is key goal to your business, many contractors run several jobs at once causing the jobs to be finished way behind schedule. You must stand out as having integrity, good morals, and the ability to problem solve to get the job. The clients will be testing you to see if you’re a good fit as well. Keep in mind as you take your notes that you must not forget anything they mention as it will come back before the job is completed…i.e. we mentioned that to you before we started the job! Take pictures of the proposed area for work, that way you can use it to better right your estimate. Let them know you will give them a detailed outline of when the job will be completed letting them see how long each phase will take and correlate it with your payment schedule. Before you leave their house let them know when the estimate will be sent to them. MAKE SURE YOU HIT THAT DEADLINE! Once you sent the email over with estimate make sure you get confirmation that they received it. Wait at least 2 days before checking with them, hopefully they contact you first! If they want negotiate the price, let them know that it is the best price that you can manage, its not worth losing money before you start. I closed 80% of the work I estimated by being very transparent and friendly. If you come off with an attitude charge double what the going rates are you might only land 1 out of 10 jobs as well as getting the reputation of being expensive. Bidding the job Looking up industry standards on pricing is what I would go buy for pricing. If you google the coat of any installation there will be a cost range for everything. Looking at the cost ranging from high to low I would tend to be in the middle. Some items might be low on the internet if this is the case use your best judgment not to lose money. Closing sales is key to success and keep the doors open for business. Being in the middle on pricing is key as most customers shy away from contractors that are extremely low or high on the price range. I tend not bid out hourly as wages do not pay for retirement. Bidding is better as customers no the exact price of the cost of construction. It also keeps the job moving quicker as time and material contractors take longer to complete projects…Thus costing the client more money and valuable time they could spend in their house. Using a Contract Using a detailed estimate tied to a contract covers your butt in 99% of the time. Having a piece of mind that every aspect of the job is covered in the estimate and contract protects both your company and the client. Key terms to include in your estimate/contract are. Have a schedule on excel showing the start dates and dates of each trade this will show the customer you are organized with time lines. If not written in the detailed in the estimate the item is excluded- This ensures if its not written down its not included. TBD- To be Determined- A phrase on a line item that has yet to had final decision of products or service needed. -The pricing will follow the decisions to be finalized Give out what your written warranty will be for parts and labor this changes state to state. If the homeowner provides the product than no warranty will be given on that particular item. In the contract have a start date and end date with the verbiage subject to change due to weather, product delivery, change orders Have a progress payment schedule to ensure the client understands when funding will be expected-Including if not payment is rendered service to the project will stop. Have written terms of how change orders will be charged-cost plus 20% or a set fee Make sure in your contract that arbitration is required versus going to court- This will save lawyer fees and going to court Many contracts can be found online and each state requires different contracts
Finding leads Finding leads is easy with the right network of people. I personally do not find working for friends or family members a good fit. Relationships get strained when money is involved, causing undue stress for both parties. I have listed a couple of ways to build a network or find work using the internet. Get in contact with realtor’s- Realtors have a big client base of homeowners who need work done Contact local Architects to see if they are working with any general contractors Leave some business cards at your local materials suppliers-Doowindow/lumber-many times clients will ask salesman for a referral. Join a business networking group- BNI is one of many Join a internet website lead generation company- Houzz, Angie’s List, Home Advisor, thumbtack, Yelp run an ad on craigslist Use a marketing company to market your website-This could become costly with little results Create a Facebook business page Create a Yelp business page
Building your subcontractor base Having 2 subcontractors for every trade, gives you the flexibility of completing jobs on time if the one the subcontractors is too busy at the time you need their service. Your subcontractors are the face of your business, choose owner run companies that are professional. Check to make sure there license are up to date..ie workman’s comp, liability insurance, state license. Choosing subcontractors with lettered vans, logoed t-shirts is s key to looking professional in the clients’ eyes. In the past I have gotten a lot of subcontractors for material supply shops, stopping by jobsites, researching the internet using Yelp, Home Advisor, etc etc. Once you get one good subcontractor ask them if they know any other trades they would recommend. One good subcontractor leads to another in most cases. The key to having a good group of subcontractors is to let them know that you are there to get help them get the job done. They do work for you but without them you are nothing…keep that in mind! Make them aware a clean jobsite is required at the end of everyday to ensure the proper safety for all parties including theirs! Over the years I have referred a lot of companies work when there is only 1 trade needed. Referring work to subcontractors is a good way to get top priority when you have work that needs to be completed ASAP. Timing is everything in times of emergency having a good group of subcontractors will make your business run smoothly. Pay your subcontractors immediately after performing work, this will make them feel appreciated! A happy subcontractor is one that will gladly go the extra mile for you knowing that there not just a number to your business! Buying lunch once a week for the jobsite is always a good token of appreciation!
Supervising In supervising any jobsite its key to monitor everything from materials on hand, weather, vehicle parking (if applicable), jobsite safety, and subcontractors’ workmanship. If you hired a professional there should be little supervision in the work being performed, on rare occasions a new hire might need some mentoring to get the results completed correctly. If you see a problem with there work address it with the worker directly, no need to call his boss…. building repour with the worker letting him know you got his back goes miles down the road! Checking in on the job first in the morning to answer any questions or changes that need to be conveyed and once in the afternoon to make sure all work be completed is done per construction industry standards. A job that is run blindly will have many more issues than one that is watched over. I have seen many jobs with no site supervision, leading to subpar quality work as well as safety hazards. Its better to be like an eagle than cluck like a turkey!
Working with the City/Inspectors On permitted jobs the city and site inspector will be a large part of how smoothly the job runs. Each phase of construction has an inspection allowing for the project to continue. Make sure your subcontractors are aware that the project is inspected before starting the job. The best way to stay on his good side is to provide a clean jobsite and having the job built to the highest standards possible. When having the site inspected be courteous to the inspector asking any questions or concerns you have with the work during the job. Being completely transparent will save you aggravation of problems down the road. The more he trust you the better if you seem sneaky or rude he will make your life a living nightmare! Many inspectors will have an attitude towards you….I suggest keeping quiet and doing what ever he wants….he’s the boss no need to get in a pissing match you will not win at. How to deal with irate customer Stay calm during any argument with an irate customer. Never raise your voice or show that you are bothered by their disgruntled behavior. If the customer is trying to get more from you than agreed upon stand your ground. Worst case scenario is you walk from the job, which in the long run be more of a loss for the client. I have only run into a couple of these clients; they are unreasonable and not worth losing sleep over a few dollars. Its best to terminate the relationship as it would be my best guess that a referral from this customer would not be one you wanted anyway. If you feel it was just a miscommunication on your end, take reasonability and remedy the problem. Taking accountability for your mistake will go a far way in their eyes and on future issues that arise. Prepping the homeowner pre-construction Before starting the job, it very important to give the homeowners a warning of what will happen during the construction process.

1. All furniture in the proposed working area must be moved- I would recommend having the clients take care of this to limit the risk of damage to their belongings.
2. There will be dust that will be in the house up to 3 months after construction-I would recommend hiring a construction cleaning company at the end of the job even so after it is cleaned dust will be present months after words.
3. There will be conflicts between you in the homeowner at some course of the job. - You will do your best to eliminate them as quickly as they arise-i.e. material damages, miscommunication, job delays
4. All decisions on materials must be made before the start of the job- this will eliminate job stoppage due to materials not being on site.
5. All materials will be on site before commencement of job-
6. Payment structures must be made per contract otherwise job will stop until payment rendered
7. Cars are to be moved out of the driveway- Ensures ease of loading and unloading of materials/tools
8. Give the specific hours that workers will be present- i.e. 7-3:30
9. Determine what areas are allowed to be used as staging for tools/materials
10. If animals are present in the home that they put outside or in a room during the day
11. All valuables in the house are locked in safe
12. Ask if using client’s household bathroom is okay or to bring in Porter Potty
13. Being transparent as possible is key to keeping a great relationship with your client!

During Construction During construction it is key to take detailed photos to eliminate any damages that were not caused by the construction process. I would also make a video to ensure all areas are included. All subcontractors should also take progress pictures to ensure if problems arise in the future, they will not be responsible for any work that they did not perform. Keep an on-going log of progress to the homeowners and share the pictures for there records. This will keep homeowners excited of the progress being made. When the house is gutted to the studs it is important to have construction photos showing where all utilities are run in the walls or sub floor. If there is a problem in the future there will photos showing all utility locations. Protect all flooring with plywood or floor protective. I also like to protect front door and tarp all areas where subcontractors are to be working. Make sure to cover any chandeliers/furniture/doorways with plastic to eliminate dust. Ask the homeowners if they have any concerns that they could think of. We’re all human and possibly a detail was missed! Post Construction Phase If the project went smoothly appreciation should be shown to the customer. Find out if the husband likes a particular type of liquor. Bring the wife a bouquet of flowers. Send a Christmas card to the family letting how much you appreciated the work. You know you have done a good job if they tell you they will refer you to their friends. The best compliment you could receive is a good referral. In Summary Try to find a knitch in the market, I found kitchens to be a great remodel projects. Bathrooms are tough as they are small, expensive with little profit margin with every trade involved. Windows/doors are also another great knitch as they can be installed quickly. There are so many different remodeling items that can be stream lined to make the selling installing process flawless. Once the core group subcontractors are in place the job almost runs itself. Every day is a learning experience with new materials or methods in construction. Keeping up with codes, materials, fluctuating labor and material cost is a job within itself. Anyone can be a contractor with the right mindset.

From what I understand ( finally took some time out to try to understand this stuff), Reddit will now be charging access to its API (application programming interface). This is in response to the growing influence of artificial intelligence which mines the API for data to use for influential or paid programming, like ChatGPT et. al.
Caught in the crossfire are third part apps that use the API for the purpose of providing an improved user interface, some of these apps also get rid of the advertisement component altogether.
[I don't think that these social media apps, if we use Twitter as an example, make as much revenue as we think they do. It may be hard to court advertisers for the site, especially given the level of vitriol that's on the platform--same problem Twitter has. I'm not sure how much cost per impression or cost per click through/order they make, but I imagine it is limited by the riskiness of the advertising. Plus they can't very well serve ads everywhere. Reddit can't serve ads in subreddits because they can't control the content. A beauty brand focused on inclusivity or body diversity won't want to run in a sub that tears women apart, or baby wipes next to NSFW boobs, for example.
Also not sure how many people actually use Reddit and if Reddit is a big as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube...they can charge more money to advertisers because they get a lot of impressions (lots of eyeballs).
So if you can't charge that much for impressions, while people are developing powerful intelligence systems that mine your data, it's got to feel a bit shitty. They are basically mining all of our thoughtful responses so that something like a ChatGPT can spit them out later. It's annoying that I'm teaching AI how to replace human jobs down the line, and I'm already annoyed that moderation is so time-consuming.; I have a still have full-time job until AI can do it. lol!
Spez says that Reddit will support,--for free-- apps developed for accessibility blind/vision, hearing impaired. Also supported, moderator bots, like the kind we use. They are limiting NSFW content because he says there are some increasing regulations regarding how it is accessed and I guess they don't want to bother with figuring that out across third party apps.
Anyway, if you know more or have corrections, let me know. It does suck that the freedom to access Reddit in the format or platform of our choosing is going away...not sure what the fix is. Capitalism is gonna capitalism.
GB
More here:
https://www.reddit.com/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_the_community_about_changes_to_our_api/
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/18/technology/reddit-ai-openai-google.html
https://hothardware.com/news/reddit-blackout-protest-api-fee-change
https://www.vox.com/recode/23041717/twitter-musk-business-plan-peter-kafka-column
​
​

My roommate over the past 6 months has started to become such a spoiled brat.
His parents have a lot of money, and he is extremely spoiled through that. He does not have a job, has taken an extra 3 semesters of college because he kept failing classes at an out of state school for him, and he parents fund all of it for him so no loans or any worries about making money for himself.
This was never really that big of a deal to me because yes he would get whatever he wanted, but he wasn’t super flashy about any of it and seemed pretty humble.
Recently, his parents bought him a $60k Tesla. Though not a fan of Tesla, it’s very nice and of course I’m very jealous because I bought my cheap Mazda by myself. Again, this was not really that big of an issue.
At first.
But since then, he has started to become more and more flashy about everything he has and the price of things, but especially the Tesla. Obviously people ask about the car because college students, even the richest of kids, do not drive THAT expensive of cars (unless they’re foreign exchange because that’s a lot more common). He automatically tells them the price of the car, all the cool stuff it can do, and talks about it nonstop.
For the most part, it’s okay to tell people about it, but as his friend that is around him pretty often, it feels like I have heard every single god damn time he tells someone about it.
Because of this inflated ego he’s gaining, he seems to be losing all common decency because of this. He told me the other day that he hates his life at times because “people make fun of the fact the he gets whatever he wants from his parents”. He almost got punched because most people’s problems are… real problems.
I just wish he would be humbled by someone. He’s super aware of how spoiled he is, and he even seems to be aware that he comes off like an asshole when he doesn’t need to.

Howdy there!
I never know how to start these things, so I reckon I'll just get right into it! I imagine this might be a smidge of a lengthy post, but hey, I want you to have a good idea of who you're reachin out to!
I'm Nate! As I mentioned in the title, I'm 29, 6'1, vvvv bearded, really quite tattooed, and just a wee bit pierced. An "alt-nerd" if you will. Here's some [photos](https://imgur.com/a/iSMpb1u) to help with the visual :)
Overall I'm just a occasionally shy & quiet nerd. I like hanging out, playing games, and watching movies/ TV shows. I've never been much of a guy for goin' out on the town, very much prefer being a home body. That being said, I do love driving, and love taking roundtrips (when work allows). Lately I've been binging the walking dead, and beating up demons in diablo 4 which has been a super fun vibe.
Hobby-wise, I really enjoy art. I cant draw, unfortunately a stick figure is out of my ability even, but I can 3D model! It took a lot-lot of practice, but I've become quite decent at it, and hopefully will just become better as I go. I really want to start practicing to become a character artist, one of these days. I also build Warhammer mini's and will occasionally get to play tabletop Warhammer with my brother, though it's a bit of a trip so I dont get to do it super often these days.
Work-wise, I work from home! Infact, if you recall my mention of 3D, I'm actually a 3D artist at a game studio! Honestly, It was a dream job for me, and while I don't love the company I'm with, I'm beyond proud to have made it into the industry and I don't think I could be happier anywhere else.
There's always the "What kind of music do ya listen to 👀" question, and lemmie fill ya in! So I dont typically listen to music while home, truth be told. Mostly because of all the TV/Movie watchin. I typically leave that for driving. However, taste-wise I'm kind of all over the place. I enjoy some viking-metal, Alternative, punk, bit of pop. Indie is probably my favorite genre these days, though. I've been listening to a lot of "rare Americans" in particular. I'm also a big fan of podcasts (mostly, The last podcast on the left!).
Personal life wise, I suppose I'm a bit lonely. I have friends that I might see every once in awhile, though we tend to stick to discord/gaming. I have my own house, though I live a decent bit from a ton of civilization. My bestie is probably my cat these days, honestly. He's a pretty solid bean.
I do spend a decent amount of time on social media (mostly twitter, these days), and I have some friends in that area if you want to call them that. I really mostly use it for shit posting/ and for art/job specific stuff. As much as I dislike twitter, It's honestly a great resource in the games industry so it's a bit of a necessary evil.
I suppose this is around when I bring it to a close. If you're still reading, then omg thank you! I reckon you're wondering "Whats this bearded dude lookin for", and well I suppose I'm lookin for what we're all lookin for. A bit of companionship, a best friend? Maybe someone to spend the rest of our years with. Those are kind of big hope though, arnt they. Currently, I just want to meet someone that we can grow organically with. I'm very much a "start as friends" kind of guy. So lets watch some stuff together, maybe play some games, and get to know each other :)
Toss me a message if I sound at all interesting to ya! Please please please, tell me a smidge about yourself in the message, and feel free to send a picture too, though it's not required by any means!
Thanks for readin :) Good luck out there!

I (27f) have been with my bf (34m) for 3 years now. And today I think I hit my limit. Background; my bf is a recovering addict he has been clean for about a year. I didn't know for the 1st year he was still using but knew he had a history of addiction when we met. After the first year he finally came clean to me and told me how he had been struggling, I had set boundaries in place to protect myself since I don't share this lifestyle prior to us dating and living together and I love and respect him regardless. I said no drugs in my home; no being under the influence around me; and if he couldn't afford his half of split bills because of his addiction I would be done. Those boundaries were never crossed so anything else that came we worked through. However, during his use and me being awareof it he lied to me constantly. Would lie to me about going to work, being clean or not clean, why he was home late, what he was doing at his office etc etc. Understanding addiction I never held this against him, but it did break down my trust in him because if he was willing to lie to me about something i didnt really have boundry about what would he lie about if i did?. Prior to this relationship I've never had an even kind of healthy one and aside form his addiction we have been the opitomy of a healthy couple.
He has been off of work quite a lot lately because of how expensive everything is getting people don't need what he does, it's a lot of free time for him and I've been so proud because he's been using the time to take care of himself and develope a good routine but i cant help but be a little nervous sometimes. Today he was being quite irritable with a situation and called me to vent, I listened and helped support his bitching but when he told me all the errands he had to run I started asking questions (probably with a tone but not accusing or anything) and he got incredibly defensive and I told him he was. To which he responded that "when you're irritable and yelling at me I just shut my mouth so maybe you need to learn when I'm like this to just shut your fucking mouth" and I hung up. He doesn't speak to me like that often but lately I feel like I'm over it. It's happened enough that I feel like he doesn't respect me and thinks that this behavior is normal. I get that he may feel cornered but if he feels like that I feel like it's on him. I rarely if ever bring up the past if not to just ask if he's clean, I don't look at his bank account, location, texts nothing.
I feel like instead of taking responsibility that he's broken my trust in the past and that it's going to take time for me to 100% trust me again he just expects me never to ask questions.
Idk how to set a healthy boundary that I won't be talked to that way when he sees me getting upset - and him getting upset- as the same thing, although the way we speak to eachother is vastly different.
I feel like there's a lack of accountability from him that he was the one to rock the foundation and instead of dealing with the consequences he wants to through shade back in my face whenever I have an off day.

Howdy there!
I never know how to start these things, so I reckon I'll just get right into it! I imagine this might be a smidge of a lengthy post, but hey, I want you to have a good idea of who you're reachin out to!
I'm Nate! As I mentioned in the title, I'm 29, 6'1, vvvv bearded, really quite tattooed, and just a wee bit pierced. An "alt-nerd" if you will. Here's some [photos](https://imgur.com/a/iSMpb1u) to help with the visual :)
Overall I'm just a occasionally shy & quiet nerd. I like hanging out, playing games, and watching movies/ TV shows. I've never been much of a guy for goin' out on the town, very much prefer being a home body. That being said, I do love driving, and love taking roundtrips (when work allows). Lately I've been binging the walking dead, and beating up demons in diablo 4 which has been a super fun vibe.
Hobby-wise, I really enjoy art. I cant draw, unfortunately a stick figure is out of my ability even, but I can 3D model! It took a lot-lot of practice, but I've become quite decent at it, and hopefully will just become better as I go. I really want to start practicing to become a character artist, one of these days. I also build Warhammer mini's and will occasionally get to play tabletop Warhammer with my brother, though it's a bit of a trip so I dont get to do it super often these days.
Work-wise, I work from home! Infact, if you recall my mention of 3D, I'm actually a 3D artist at a game studio! Honestly, It was a dream job for me, and while I don't love the company I'm with, I'm beyond proud to have made it into the industry and I don't think I could be happier anywhere else.
There's always the "What kind of music do ya listen to 👀" question, and lemmie fill ya in! So I dont typically listen to music while home, truth be told. Mostly because of all the TV/Movie watchin. I typically leave that for driving. However, taste-wise I'm kind of all over the place. I enjoy some viking-metal, Alternative, punk, bit of pop. Indie is probably my favorite genre these days, though. I've been listening to a lot of "rare Americans" in particular. I'm also a big fan of podcasts (mostly, The last podcast on the left!).
Personal life wise, I suppose I'm a bit lonely. I have friends that I might see every once in awhile, though we tend to stick to discord/gaming. I have my own house, though I live a decent bit from a ton of civilization. My bestie is probably my cat these days, honestly. He's a pretty solid bean.
I do spend a decent amount of time on social media (mostly twitter, these days), and I have some friends in that area if you want to call them that. I really mostly use it for shit posting/ and for art/job specific stuff. As much as I dislike twitter, It's honestly a great resource in the games industry so it's a bit of a necessary evil.
I suppose this is around when I bring it to a close. If you're still reading, then omg thank you! I reckon you're wondering "Whats this bearded dude lookin for", and well I suppose I'm lookin for what we're all lookin for. A bit of companionship, a best friend? Maybe someone to spend the rest of our years with. Those are kind of big hope though, arnt they. Currently, I just want to meet someone that we can grow organically with. I'm very much a "start as friends" kind of guy. So lets watch some stuff together, maybe play some games, and get to know each other :)
Toss me a message if I sound at all interesting to ya! Please please please, tell me a smidge about yourself in the message, and feel free to send a picture too, though it's not required by any means!
Thanks for readin :) Good luck out there!

Hi guys
Looking for some advice here
I used to practice magic when I was younger, especially loved all the technical tricks that required dexterity, misdirection and all that jazz
Bur its now been forever and my love of magic isn't what it was. But I recently gained employment at a care home for people with learning difficulties, Alzhemiers, dementia and the like and thought it would be nice to entertain them a bit
I know its kinda cheesy but I'm looking for tricks that are basically straight out of the box and require little to no skill. Ideally nothing super complicated as a lot of the residents aren't very cognitively aware if you catch my drift. Anything with bright colours or a big wow factor would be much appreciated
Thanks in advance!
Edit: just to clarify, this isn't for a show for all of the residents at the same time. Woild just be an impromptu 1v1 quick trick in passing

Originally when I started making some of my own bots, I would just fill in short description, put a paragraph of info in long description and then another in the definition section and found them to not stick to things as well as I had hoped and acted very out of character, not only that but I put too many example messages and the AI would seem pretty random. As time passed and I learned more, I started to separate different traits and some details of their appearance on different lines in the long description, then put fewer example messages with a few larger paragraphs of more detailed info in definition. This led to much better interactions overall, but at the time we had just a 3200 character limit and there was no way to squeeze everything I wanted to in there.
​
Now that we have 10x the capacity (although not all of it seems to be readable yet) we can fit a ton but I decided to attempt using w++ format a couple of months ago. I heard that using this method makes everything easier for the AI to read and pull information from and not only that but clear up a lot of space for whatever is necessary so that really caught my interest. Initially, I thought it was going to be a drag because I am not as big on dealing with code as I used to be due to staring at it plenty working on some projects in the past but with a general idea from a template shared by other users, it was rather easy to get into. Now, as for performance when using it... it seems to be really on point. I feel like they remain in character a lot better than when they are bogged down with just tons of text to sift through and try to put together something coherent with varying results. What about my fellow character creators and general users, which format have you felt has been working out best for the bots' functionality? For those that don't make bots themselves, it may be more difficult to tell which they have if the settings aren't viewable but you can still give some insight on your experiences, I think we all know how varied the ones without anything other than the standard greeting can be at least.

Im upset. I played Destiny 1 since the beta. Played Destiny 2 since the the day it came out. Payed the big bucks for Destiny 2 100 dollar preorder. Played the red war. Played the Osiris dlc. Played the warmind dlc. Forsaken. Shadowkeep. Beyond light. Lightfall Yadda yadda yadda. I've heard a lot of people comment on how the vaulted campaigns "were not fun/lackluster." How it saves space on storage. How even if that stuff was still in the game that it would be too old to be relevant or playable. Listen, in my honest opinion the campaigns were fine. Even the lack luster campaigns like shadowkeep. A lot of negative reviews on shadowkeep, but still its a playable activity/campaign that we all played and enjoyed (some parts more than others).
My point in writing this is not about bringing back campaigns though.....
ENDGAME CONTENT Endgame content should never ever EVER leave the game. If I pick up a weapon at the end of a campaign mission, like another scathelocke auto rifle, and it gets vaulted... No tears are coming from me. If I do a patrol heroic public event, like on mercury, a bajillion times to the point were i dont feel like doing it again, and that gets vaulted. Bye bye! Dont need anything from it since it just gave basic rewards.
But when I devoted days of my life to learning the underbelly of the leviathan, to grind crucible for a recluse smg, to complete the whisper of the worm mission to get a godly powerful gun, to grind gambit (heaven forbid) for a autorifle with a unique distinctive individual special perk, and all of these get vaulted to the ground. It pisses me off.
You're telling me the i cant even go to the leviathan anymore? Youre telling me the the recluse cant be used in endgame content anymore even though it WAS endgame content? Youre telling me that scourge of the past doesnt exist? Youre telling me that the 100 deluxe package that i spent money on is now a free to play game with 98% of the content gone?
And what do we have to replace these missions and endgame content????
A kiosk at the tower where we can pay an expensive ingame price tag for the Legend of Acrius. Or the anarchy. Or the last word.
Oh, you want the outbreak perfected? Whats that? You heard that you could crack nodes, enter a secret mission were you go back to the tower and decend to a maze where a crazy machine tries to run you over, and you have to do it all in 20 minutes? HAHA! Yeah right, that'll be an exotic cipher and a handful of glimmer.
No exotic cipher? Go talk to the creepy guy in the corner that has been going to a "secret location" in the same place for the past 10 years then go play some crucible.
What a freaking joke.

I'm 19 and I was diagnosed with autism 16 years ago, in May of 2007. They would have diagnosed me even earlier, but the doctors wanted to wait until I was at least 3 years old to diagnose me. It's weird because I showed very obvious symptoms and people can and have gotten diagnosed at 18 months to 2 years old.
I was always seen as stupider, innocent and more child-like than most people at school. Medical professionals didn't think that I would graduate with anything past a certificate of completion. However, I silghtly proved them wrong by graduating with a general diploma.
It's not an academic diploma, but it's better than a certificate of completion. I suck really badly at math, so in high school, I had to take general mathematics instead of academic or advanced mathematics.
This is probably partially due to the fact that in junior high, I had a math teacher who is NOTORIOUSLY bad at teaching math. I sometimes wonder if I'd have been in academic math if I had a competent teacher before I reached high school. Your marks at the end of junior high determine which level of math you should take in high school.
In grades 10 and 11, I thought that I could just work at most normal jobs, but I now realise that this is not the case. Even when I had a Walmart position where I essentially just put a bunch of items back in their properly designed locations on the store's shelves, I couldn't do it fast enough. I had troubles with following some verbal instructions, too.
My manager hated me so much that he harassed me and stopped giving me shifts altogether, but without actually firing me. Everyone else at Walmart liked me, though.
Even in grade 12, there was one incident when my art teacher was giving everyone instructions about what to do for our art project. I didn't understand a single instruction, meanwhile other people around me had understood.
I didn't even understand when a friend had explained it to me. They actually physically helped me do some of it before I understood what we were supposed to do.
Another example is that I have troubles reading a map. Unless Google Maps is physically showing me and telling me where to go, I have a lot of troubles with reading maps or understanding directions given to me.