This is a long one, read if you please. I’m at a loss of what to do.
Backstory. We have four large dogs, two pitties and two German shepherd mixes. Pitties are kenneled when we leave because they can be jerks, but my other two roam the house.
We have a catio that my husband built into our downstairs window, so that our cats can be outside and enjoy the air while being contained and safe. This window stays open about 90% of the time when it’s nice outside, and closed if it’s cold or raining.
I came home from work a few weeks ago to see a post about 3 feet from the catio, directed into our open window (it was on my neighbors property, so no violation there). I initially thought it was a camera, but it was an ultrasonic dog bark deterrent.
My pitties don’t bark while they’re in their kennels, and my two others typically don’t bark unless someone is at the door or on the porch. We have cameras on every shared space in our home, and outside as well. So I know when they’re barking. We also play brown noise at the max volume on our Alexa devices to deter them from barking even further as it drowns out most outdoor noises.
Here’s where the issue comes in, the people who live across the street from my neighbor that put up the dog bark deterrent, have 9 cocker spaniels. These dogs bark at all hours. I woke up at 5:15 to get ready for work, and they were already barking. When I left for work at 6:10, they were STILL barking without a pause.
My husband said something to our neighbor about it, because those deterrents can make dogs more aggressive, especially if they can’t get away from it and it’s going off almost continuously. She moved it back about 15-20 feet, and it disappeared for a while, but I came home yesterday and it was outside again. Still just further back.
So this deterrent is going off every single time these cocker spaniels are losing their minds barking, and it’s directed into my house where my dogs can’t get away from it.
My husband offered to take our dogs over one at a time to meet her, because she says that she is afraid of them. She refused. My dogs would not hurt a fly. When I’m outside walking my shepherd mixes, she’ll wave and say hi and talk to me. If I have the pitties outside for a walk, she immediately goes inside or ignores me.
A few weeks ago, I saw my pitties going crazy on her side of the fence. She was watering her flowers, and the back splash was coming into our fence. They LOVE water and were chasing the water droplets like they do when we have the hose out. We have a 5ft high chain link fence with privacy inserts that block about 75% of view. She sprayed them both in the face. They were soaked. She claims they were “attacking the fence” when they were just running up and down chasing the water. I saw it happen.
I just am at a loss of what to do here. My brain says go over in the middle of the night and take the batteries out of the thing, or replace the batteries with dead batteries, but then I’d be on her property, etc.
I just texted her this morning and told her that her deterrent is going off every single time the neighbors dogs are barking, and she has yet to respond.
Sidenote: You can tell when it’s going off because there’s a red light on it that flashes.

Free Throw
emo punk
Similar Artists
Nashville emo-punk outfit Free Throw established themselves in the mid-2010s with a rugged but deeply melodic sound. On albums like 2017's Bear Your Mind and 2021's Piecing It Together, the quintet expanded on their energetic sound while building a significant national fan base.
Free Throw formed in 2012 and quickly become a fixture of Nashville's D.I.Y. circuit of basement and house shows. Early EPs Free Throw and Lavender Town revealed a band with a strong melodic sense and a gritty catharsis that eventually earned them a spot on Count Your Lucky Stars' label roster. The five-piece lineup of Cory Castro (vocals, guitar), Jake Hughes (guitar, vocals), Lawrence Warner (guitar), Justin Castro (bass), and Zach Hall (drums) made their label debut with These Days Are Gone, the band's first LP. The album saw them break into the national touring scene, as they racked up shows with Sorority Noise, Tiny Moving Parts, and other like-minded bands. With Kevin Garcia replacing Hall on drums, they entered the studio with producer Brett Romnes (I Am the Avalanche, Sorority Noise) and recorded their follow-up LP.
Released in May 2017, Bear Your Mind was Free Throw's first release for New York label Triple Crown Records. A 2018 EP, Missing Pieces, offered reworked acoustic version of several tracks from Bear Your Mind as well as a cover of the Chance the Rapper cut "Same Drugs." Free Throw later returned to full-electric form on 2019's What's Past Is Prologue, followed two years later by their fourth album Piecing It Together.
Official Website
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Studio Albums
Those Days Are Gone (2014)
Bear Your Mind (2017)
What's Past Is Prologue (2019)
Piecing It Together (2021)
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Hello everyone I need help please. I started watching porn when I was nine years old and it escalated quickly in 2020. I’m 20 now ever since the quarantine happened and my puberty hit hard I’m always horny like 24/7 I just need help with this because first time I watched transgender porn when it was 2018 I didn’t like it that much I was so disgusted by it but then in 2019 I watched it again and again but not as frequently as now I mean I am 100% sure that I’m straight I don’t like men I don’t know if there’s something about transgender porn maybe it’s from the dopamine rush I don’t know, but I need really help because every time I think that I am like a sissy you know, and everything I have these thoughts that my penis is small, maybe because I’m a virgin.. I never lost my virginity ever. I am waiting to get married. I have a girlfriend I want to marry her. What should I do? every time when I cum after watching these types of porn I feel disgusted and I feel like I’m ashamed of myself. I really hate it. It’s like a cycle now every time I watch then I stop then I watch then I stop. It’s like a continuous cycle that never ends. I keep watching and when I ejaculate I’m disgusted by it and I’m disgusted of my thoughts I’m so angry right now I don’t know what to do. I have tried going with no point for 30 days and I felt like my brain went back to normal little bit, for ruining me it’s ruining us men… I even fucked myself in the ass. I didn’t feel really good after that I was disgusted i was like What the fuck am I doing? I don’t know, but the only thing that I know is that I’m not into men i just think porn just brainwashed my mind, im 100% into girls and always get horny by them, i just wish i could have sex to replace all this masturbating… in the past three days i hit new records in masturbating, I masturbated 7 times the day after 11 times the day after 8!!! THIS IS FUCKING TIRING!!

Hello
I've had a bad year phone wise, and am hoping to buy a phone that lives longer than 6 months, this time around...
I live in India, and I've lost two phones to falls/breakages/water damage in the last year.
So I'm looking for a replacement, and as usual I'm finding myself drawn to the flagships for all the wrong reasons. So I thought I'd put out my requirements and see if there's a phone for me.
So the requirements I'm not going to compromise on: 1. Amoled screen 2. Ip68 (at least with an adequate cover).
In terms of priorities: 1. I'd like it to last, build quality and support wise. My last phone was into its 4th year before my run of bad luck, and that was a flagship (this was the s9), hence the draw for those

1. The smaller the screen, the better. Also lighter. I don't travel so much that I can't charge frequently, as long as its not too slow (and most current phones aren't) so I don't really need the massive batteries that everyone seems to be hefting
   
2. Glitch-free. I hate bloatware, and I don't like laggy interfaces. I don't play games and i don't need a great camera (apart from listening to podcasts, I use my phone to browse, check mail and Twitter and reddit. I don't really need a camera beyond for zoom). So I see the ram as future-proofing rather than a current need.
   

So how realistic are these requirements? Right now I can't see a phone that fits, but my current replacement phone is on its last legs so I need to get something asap.
Please help

I have a Thinkpad T460s for which I have a few issues.

1. I have a Google Fi SIM card that I installed in the T460s' SIM tray and then learned that the T460s doesn't ship with a modem.
2. One of the batteries (I'm not sure which, it's bat1 when I use tlp-stat) doesn't work / doesn't charge at all.
3. The charger port is an older style, I don't know what it's called. This isn't a deal-breaker but it would be great if it was usb-c.

Given these, should I buy and install a wwan modem and replace the battery in my current T460s or upgrade to a new Thinkpad that ships with a modem that will work with my SIM, has new factory batteries, and has the usb-c charger port? If I should upgrade, given the above requirements, which model should I upgrade to? I will likely buy on ebay to save some money but working with my SIM card, long battery life, and usb-c charger port are requirements for a new laptop.
Thanks.

REPLACE ALL CAPITAL TEXT WITH YOUR SPECIFIC REQUEST AND NEEDS

Price Range: Around $100 Canadian
Purpose: EDC Key chain Light
Battery Type & Quantity: Replaceable is ideal.
Size: Small, car key fob size'ish
Type: Key chain / Handheld
Main Use: Walking my dog at night, finding stuff under furniture.
Switch Type: Not to particular, i like the idea of twist switch for simplicity and harder to accidentally turn on
Long-time lurker here. I had the Nitecore Tiki for about a year until the battery gave out. I've been considering a few options, such as the Royvon Aurora A1, Angels Eyes E1, Olight iMorse, and I also like the Lumintop Nano, although its shape isn't pocket-friendly. Another option I've looked into is the Nitecore TINI2, but given my previous battery issue with Nitecore, I'm not entirely convinced.
If the price is low enough, I could overlook not having a replaceable battery.

Battery replacement for S10+ gonna cost around 47 dollar (in Indonesia, which is a bit expensive). Or third party battery replacement for 25 dollar. Another option is trade-in to A54 for 220 dollar, (my s10+ valued for 180 dollar)

Yesterday I bought myself an RX570 to replace my failed GT710 (bad fan - this is relevant later). Quite an upgrade. If I could get it working, that is. My 710 is detected with no issues - I'm using it right now. Thermals are horrific obviously, but other than that it's working fine. However, if I plug my 570 into the motherboard (Foxconn H61MXT1/F2/-S/-V), I get no display out. In fact, it's not detected at all, as my iGPU gets display out when it is plugged in. . Windows doesn't detect at at all in Device Manager either. Yes, GPU priority is set to PEG/IGD in BIOS. PCI/IGD does nothing, either. I know that my PCI-E slot is working, as my GT710 is funtional.
570's fans spin, RGB lights up. Yes, the power connector is properly seated. Yes, it's plugged in all the way. Yes, the card is known working. I've already done a CMOS battery reset, etc.
According to some online research, a near-identical issue on a similar motherboard and GPU was resolved with a BIOS update. I'm still running the factory BIOS, as I can't find a BIOS online for this board. I can, however, find a bios for the H61MX. It is aesthetically identical, and the sticker on my motherboard actually identifies it as an 'H61MX V2.0'. It's identified in Bios as the H61MXT1/F2/-S/-V, as I said above. Would the H61MX bios work? Suspect not.

So these are the instructions to write the program:
In this program, you will create a personal organizer. You will ask the user for the name of an event, the year it is happening, along with the month and day it is happening. If the user incorrectly enters one of those values, they are prompted to re-enter the information until it is correct. The user can do this for as many events as they have. After the user has entered all of the events, the whole list of events (along with their date) should be output to the user. It may sound simple, but there is a lot that goes into making this program! One of the best ways to do this is with parallel arrays: one for the eventName, eventMonth, eventDay and eventYear. This allows you to easily add and output all of the details of an event. There is some very helpful starter code already provided in your programming environment, but in order to build the full program, follow the steps and instructions below very carefully. Benchmarks In the MAIN portion of your program, four arrays are already created: eventName: to store the event name eventMonth: to store the event month eventDay: to store the event day eventYear: to store the event year
addEvent Let's first edit the addEvent() function - there are no parameters necessary. Notice that the addEvent() function is already defined right above the MAIN portion of your program. Inside of the addEvent() function, do the following: Prompt the user for the event name (entered as a string), and event year (entered as an integer). Prompt the user for the event month (entered as an integer) Then, call the function validateMonth(parameter1) which takes one parameter - the month that the user entered. This function should return a number from 1 - 12 and replace the month value that the user originally entered. validateMonth Now, work inside of the validateMonth() function. Notice that this function is already defined at the top of the starter code, but is commented out. Inside of the validateMonth() function, check to see if the value of the parameter is valid (1 - 12). If it is an invalid number, prompt the user to enter a new month. Continue doing this until a valid month is entered (hint: use a while loop). Then return this value. Back in the addEvent() function, prompt the user for an integer input for the day, then call the function validateDay(parameter1, parameter2, parameter3) which takes three parameters - the month, the day, and the year the user entered, in that order. This function should return a number from 1 - 31 and replace the day value that the user originally entered. validateDay Now, work inside of the validateDay() function. Notice that this function is already defined at the top of the starter code, but is commented out. Inside of the validateDay() function, first work out the number of days in the month represented by the first parameter (28, 29, 30 or 31). Remember! September, April, June and November only have 30 days, February has 28 or 29 days, and the rest of the months have 31 days. Your code should check that the day entered by the user actually exists in the month they entered. For example entering 31 as the day and 6 as the month (June) is not valid. Remember! During a leap year, February has 29 days. A leap year happens once every four years. In your code, you can check for a leap year using math: If the year entered by the user is divisible by 4, but not divisible by 100, it is a leap year. If the year is divisible by 4, and divisible by 100, check that it is also divisible by 400. If so, it is a leap year. Example: 2016 is divisible by 4, but not 100. 2016 was a leap year. Example: 2000 is divisible by 4, 100, and 400. 2000 was a leap year. Example: 1900 is divisible by 4 and 100, but is not divisible by 400. 1900 was not a leap year. After you've written code to find the number of days in the month, check that the day entered is a valid date in that month (between 1 and the number of days inclusive). If it is an invalid number, prompt the user to enter a new day. Continue doing this until a valid day is entered, then return this value. Finally, back in the addEvent() function, append the values entered by the user to their corresponding arrays in the MAIN portion of the program. Append the event name entered by the user, the month (re-entered if what the user originally entered was invalid), the day (re-entered if what the user originally entered was invalid), and the year. Test your program. At this point, it should work for entering one event. Entering Multiple Events Back in the MAIN portion of the program, we need to allow the user to enter in multiple events. After the original call of addEvent(), we need to prompt the user, “Do you want to enter another event? NO to stop: “ Remember that this is a string prompt. Using a while loop, if the user does not enter NO, call addEvent() to allow the user to enter another event. Remember to prompt the user one more time “Do you want to enter another event? NO to stop: “ Test your program again. You should now be able to enter multiple events until you type NO. Outside of the while loop, call the final function printEvents(), which takes no parameters. Notice that this function is already defined in your starter code, but is commented out. Inside of the printEvents() function, print all of the events that the user has entered. In this output, your program should adjust the month to be the name of the month, not the number that was originally entered by the user and stored in the eventMonth array. To do this you will need to have a for loop that cycles through all of the values in the arrays and use some kind of technique to replace the number of the month with the month name. Once you have code to change the integer value of the month to the name of the month, printEvents() should output the events in the format shown in the sample run below.
Sample Run 1 What is the event: Birthday What is the year: 2020 What is the month (number): 8 What is the date: 6 Do you want to enter another date? NO to stop: Yes What is the event: Hour of Code What is the year: 2019 What is the month (number): 12 What is the date: 5 Do you want to enter another date? NO to stop: NO ******************** List of Events ******************** Birthday Date: August 6, 2020 Hour of Code Date: December 5, 2019 Sample Run 2 What is the event: Math Exam What is the year: 2017 What is the month (number): 1 What is the date: 38 Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: 28 Do you want to enter another date? NO to stop: Yes What is the event: Birthday Party What is the year: 2018 What is the month (number): 16 Invalid month. Please enter value from 1-12: 0 Invalid month. Please enter value from 1-12: 6 What is the date: 22 Do you want to enter another date? NO to stop: NO ******************** List of Events ******************** Math Exam Date: January 28, 2017 Birthday Party Date: June 22, 2018
​
This is the code I have:
# Check for and adjust month input if necessary def validateMonth(m): if m>=1 and m <=12: return m else: m = int(input("Invalid month. Please enter value from 1-12: ")) validateMonth(m)
# Check if a given year is a leap year # Returns 1 if it is a leap year, 0 otherwise def leap_year(year): if year % 400 == 0: return 1 elif year % 100 == 0: return 0 elif year % 4 == 0: return 1 else: return 0
# Check for and adjust day input if necessary def validateDay(m, d, y): if m == 1: while 1 <= d and d <= 31: return d else: d = int(input("Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: ")) elif m == 2: if leap_year(y) == 1: if 1 <= d and d <= 29: return d else: d = int(input("Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: ")) validateDay(m, d, y) if leap_year(y) == 0: if 1 <= d and d <= 28: return d else: d = int(input("Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: ")) validateDay(month, day, year) elif m == 3: if 1 <= d and d <= 31: return d else: d = int(input("Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: ")) validateDay(m, d, y) elif m == 4: if 1 <= d and d <= 30: return d else: d = int(input("Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: ")) validateDay(m, d, y) elif m == 5: if 1 <= d and d <= 31: return d else: d = int(input("Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: ")) validateDay(m, d, y) elif m == 6: if 1 <= d and d <= 30: return d else: d = int(input("Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: ")) validateDay(m, d, y) elif m == 7: if 1 <= d and d <= 31: return d else: d = int(input("Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: ")) validateDay(m, d, y) elif m == 8: if 1 <= d and d <= 31: return d else: d = int(input("Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: ")) validateDay(m, d, y) elif m == 9: if 1 <= d and d <= 30: return d else: d = int(input("Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: ")) validateDay(m, d, y) elif m == 10: if 1 <= d and d <= 31: return d else: d = int(input("Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: ")) validateDay(m, d, y) elif m == 11: if 1 <= d and d <= 30: return d else: d = int(input("Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: ")) validateDay(m, d, y) elif m == 12: if 1 <= d and d <= 31: return d else: d = int(input("Invalid day. Please enter value from 1-31: ")) validateDay(m, d, y)
# This function is used to print all events to the user in the format # Event # Date: Month Day, Year def printEvents(): y = input("Do you want to enter another date? NO to stop: ") while y != "NO": addEvent() y = input("Do you want to enter another date? NO to stop: ") else: for x in range (len(eventName)): Month = ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "september", "October", "November", "December"] month = Month[eventMonth[x] - 1] print(eventName[x]) print("Date: " + month + " " + str(eventDay[x]) + ", " + str(eventYear[x]))
# This function is used to prompt, adjust, and # append values to the 4 parallel lists def append(event, y, m, d): eventName.append(event) eventMonth.append(m) eventDay.append(d) eventYear.append(y)
# Prompt the user for the event details def addEvent(): e = input("What is the event: ") year = int(input("What is the year: ")) month = int(input("What is the month (number): ")) month = validateMonth(month) day = int(input("What is the date: ")) day = validateDay(month, day, year) append(e, year, month, day)
#*********** MAIN ********** eventName = [] eventMonth = [] eventDay = [] eventYear = [] addEvent()
# Prompt the user to see if they want to enter more events
printEvents()
This is also what the grader on the assignment returns when ran:
Traceback (most recent call last): File "./prog.py", line 152, in File "./prog.py", line 117, in printEvents TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for -: 'NoneType' and 'int' Traceback (most recent call last): File "./prog.py", line 152, in File "./prog.py", line 112, in printEvents File "./prog.py", line 135, in addEvent ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: 'yes'
I have been stuck on this code for quite some time and I need a little help with what I should do. Any info is appreciated. Thanks!

Late 2005/Early 2006 E90 325i, 160k miles, professionally maintained since I purchased 5 years ago.
Currently have an issue with alarm battery failing, causing drain on main battery, to be rectified in about a week's time. The drain from this and an old, weak, main battery was causing DME to reset and cause other issues. I had (old) main battery replaced a couple of weeks ago (when alarm issue identified), and had new rear brakes fitted last month.
My current issue(s).
1) Possibly ~10% reduction in fuel economy (34 mpg down to 31 ish) since brakes were changed.
2) ABS warning light appearing (so no ABS), remains active until car is stopped, light can then disappear on restarting to drive, and associated with Fault codes 5DC1 and 5DC4 (sometimes only 1 of these): both Right rear brake sensor. I know these can be affected by corrosion to drive shaft reluctor rings: I am wondering if the brake replacement might have triggered something [am even speculating they are binding a little: not massively obvious in the drive, but might explain the economy change].
3) [and the reason for asking here]:
I seem to be getting surges of power from the engine without my applying extra right-foot: these happen apparently randomly, but I think often immediately precede the ABS warning coming on. Not happened very many times, but disconcerting, to the extent I'm not keen to drive until it's sorted. Would feel better if I understood underlying issue.
Could this be a response to the failing/erratic rear sensor, or related to the battery drain from alarm. Other suggestions appreciated.

Recently been on the lookout for a replacement to my T450s, as it's performance and battery life is subpar at this point. I stumbled on a used X1 Carbon on Facebook marketplace here in Denmark. i7 8550, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB with Windows 11 installed for (equivalent to) 350 USD, which to me sounds like a good deal.
There are no 7 dollar T480 here in Denmark (lol), a T480 usually go for a similar price as this one, 290 USD is the best I've found a decent looking T480 for.
Overall I want a good, solid replacement for my T450s for the next many years to come. Is this a good deal? Anything I should consider that I might have overlooked? Is it better to send a little extra on a newer generation of the X1 carbon?

I have a Sundance Mckinley ~ 2019. I have an FL1 error even w/ the filter out. No airlock. Looking for the flow sensor but it is not visible. I see a black wire running from the controls into a PVC pipe embedded in the spray foam on the right. I suspect that is the wire for the pressure switch. The side where the wire runs is against the house so I was hoping to confirm that I'm correct before I pull the tubs away from the house to access/replace it.

I have a 4 year old Rav4 hybrid that has been tried and true. I can currently sell it for about $3k less than I paid for it in 2019, so incredibly low cost of ownership.
I’ve been getting the itch for something a bit more fun to drive, a bit more luxurious perhaps. My commute is quite short (4 miles) and I probably drive 200 miles per week max. My hobbies have me on rough and jeep roads relatively regularly, so SUV or something higher ground clearance preferred, but probably get away with something a bit less than what I currently have.
The short commute has me thinking EV or PHEV, but maybe just a powerful luxury SUV? Budget is $50k max, preferably $40-45kish.
I’m considering, but am not tied to:
18-22 X3 M40i (some type of warranty added on)
18-22 X3 PHEV
23 Mazda CX-50 Turbo
23 Tesla MYLR
Any thing obvious I am missing or should consider?

Battery replacement gonna cost around 47 dollar (in Indonesia, which is a bit expensive). Or third party battery replacement for 25 dollar. Another option is trade-in for 220 dollar, (my s10 plus valued for 180 dollar)

“The shield that defends needs a sword by its side”
- Mech Core Pilot's Motto.
----
Churk was going to die.
He was going to die, and his brood left behind were going to be enslaved.
He was going to die, and with him his race’s history, achievements and technology would also die out.
They would all be turned into the organic robots his enemy used to power its military might.
Churk’s people were known as the Algeen’s. The Algeen’s were frog-like people, they had four arms and two legs, with large hands and feet. Fiercely intelligent, obscenely democratic, unbelievably green.
Their whole population got an equal vote on any measure of policy or governmental decision, a slow and ponderous system, but one which worked. Once they had gracefully colonized over a thousand planets. Then the Tide came and generations later, on their battered and bruised Homeworld, they were making their final stand. One world left of the most civilized civilization.
The Tide were slavers, but they had been at it for millennia now. Absorbing, enslaving, and breeding thousands of species and races. Making them all part of a homogeneous whole. No one outside of the Tide themselves knew who the original species was, and maybe no one in the Tide knew either. It was possible that they still existed, at the very top of the slavery food chain, being served by those they considered lesser and treated horribly. But it was equally possible that a slave lead rebellion had seen fit to absorb them as they had been absorbed. An ouroboros of cultural erasure and brutal labour camps.
Five hundred metres from Churk’s position, stood the product of those labour camps. Two Tide mech’s which were currently powering towards him and his squad, Churk had little delusions about how effective his semi-fortified engineer’s depo was going to be in protecting their lives. Suddenly his neural link lit up with new high priority information, he was not to engage the enemy, reinforcements were on their way.
While he was glad he didn’t have to engage the enemy (as the ordinance he had at his disposal would have been ineffective against the heavy armour of the Tide machines) the order didn’t make any sense, and so he queried it.
“Reinforcements? What reinforcements? Who’s left?” He responded. As there was no one currently available to respond to his query the over-stretched AI superintendent replied in as basic and succinct method as possible.
“An orbital drop-pod enroute. Contents: One mech. Mech rating: Classified. Mech model: Classified. Mech origin: Classified. Pilot: Anna ‘Sustain’ Finand. Species: Human.” Rattled off the AI in his head.
A mind-numbing list containing more questions than answers. Human? The Algeen’s had included as many species as possible in their attempts to create a force equal to that of the Tide’s, but as far as he knew all of them apart from the Roc’s had been wiped out. He hadn’t heard of humanity before, and how the hell had they managed to get orbital assets in position? The battle for their home world’s skies had been lost months ago. Most importantly, how the hell was one mech going to win against two Tide models?
The Tide had a clear technological advantage over the Algeen’s, most prominently displayed in any of the many mech battles which had taken place throughout the war, whether that be on the ground or in the void. The Tide’s powerplants were three times as efficient as Algeen models, and their anti-gravity/ inertia damping technology was twice as efficient. This allowed the Tide’s mechs to pack on armour and energy shields, creating hulking tanks which moved as easily as the Algeen’s mechs but had a one to four advantage in a fair fight.
A massive crash signalled to Churk that he was about to get his answers, and he eagerly peered into the dust cloud that had formed around the human mech, waiting to see the sort of beast which had come to his (and indeed his entire species) aid. Hope flared ever so briefly, only to be crushed when a familiar silhouette appeared: That of an Algeen mech.
The rounded, purple armour. The gleaming blue sensor nodes. The dome like head. The large feet. Algeen through and through, maybe even an older design from mid-way through the war. One that prioritised speed over armour, a costly mistake. There were however a few differences:
For one, the mech had been heavily modified. Additional armour had been removed from the torso and right arm. A weird cage-like attachment had been crudely added to the front of the mech's thighs and shins. The mech still had its energy shield, but it was now held in the left hand instead of being permanently attached to the mech's chest.
The shoulder armour had been replaced with a series of tubes which looked rather spikey when grouped together, some sort of smoke or grenade launchers perhaps?
Its only armament was a single sword in its right hand. This was particular. For one, it was the only item on the mech that was clearly neither Algeen nor was it of the Tide. It was a dull grey blade, looking more like an oversized cleaver then a sword. Its handle was unadorned and had not even been painted to separate its likeness from that of the rest of the blade. The entire thing was made of one single piece of metal, and while Churk did not know it at that very moment, it had been simply pressed into shape.
Its edge was barely sharp enough to cut, leaving the entire weapon closer to a bat them a knife. By Algeen and Tide standards it was brutally crude. Utterly remorseless in its hatred for elegant craftsmanship. It was a pipe bomb in comparison to a hand grenade. But like a pipe bomb: it was lethal.
Churk watched with equal parts dread and (what he felt to be) misplaced hope as the Algeen mech charged its superior counterparts.
He didn’t know it at the time, but he would speak of the following battle for many years to come.
The human mech launched towards the Tide machines; dust flaring underneath it’s artificially lightened footsteps. It’s strategic removal of armour had made the machine’s already impressive performance even more pronounced, and while its speed surprised the two Tide operators, it did little to unnerve them.
These two operators had seen enough fighting to know one Algeen machine was of little concern, and its missing armour only further reinforced their confidence.
They must have pulled that thing straight out of a repair bay. Thought the pilot of the foremost Tide mech.
These Tide mechs represented a standard advanced scouting group, consisting of one heavy, ranged mech and one light, melee machine. As scouts these mechs would only engage when they had the advantage. But on Algeen Prime, there wasn’t a single Tide scout group that didn’t have the advantage. How the two would operate was simple, the light mech would push out to the front and engage any oncoming mechs, closing quickly to force the enemy into a melee fight. Meanwhile the ranged mech would perform counter-battery and point defence operations: shooting down oncoming missiles and retaliating in kind with its own.
Tide mechs wanted a melee. They always wanted a melee.
Churk didn’t know why exactly. For while it was true that the Tide saw a distinct advantage over Algeens in melee combat, many of their mech units would choose to engage in a melee fight even when they could have as easily dispatched their enemies from afar. Maybe they just found it fun? For the Algeen race it was obvious that the Tide mech operators had been trained extensively on sword combat, even before this war had taken place, and no Algeen could win against a Tide in a fair fight.
As the war progressed the Algeen’s had tried to level the playing field in this aspect, bringing in veterans to teach new operators how to properly utilise a blade. But the icy fact was that swordsmanship had died out long ago in Algeen society (for what modern, enlightened society could possibly keep such a thing alive?) and could not be resurrected in a timely matter. At least, not on the sort of scale they needed if they were to compete against the Tide.
Of course, neither an Algeen nor a Tide Thrall had seen a human wield a blade before. Human swordplay techniques had been forged in the flames of thousands of battles; and like a candle lit from that flame, had been preserved generation after generation. No one had expected that the fires which forged such skill would ever be relit, but it was on Algeen Prime that one small candle found the sort of kindling its ancient creators could not have even imagined.
The Algeen and the Tide machine finally met on the field of battle, with the Tide’s long-range support not having fired a single shot. The Tide machine used its superior power output to slash its sword down, the piloting hoping to knock the sword from the human mech’s clearly loose grip.
It was a surprise to all when the human mech flicked its blade up to deflect the blow, keeping its grip loose as it did so, letting the momentum of the blade do the necessary dirty work. Had a human been deflecting a blow like this, doing so would have reduced the amount of force (and hence, energy) necessary to block the blow. Allowing the fighter to keep their strength up, to persist in the melee for far longer than a less skilled counterpart.
On a mech muscle fatigue was less of a concern. However not resisting the full force of the blow vastly reduced strain on the framework, motors, and anti-gravity pods of the machine. In a long battle the kind of strain that comes from blocking each and every blow can destroy a mech far more thoroughly than even the most devastating sword or missile strike.
Furthermore, deflecting the strike had another key advantage: It positioned the Human's blade for a slashing follow up. Like a snake striking the human's blade leap for the Tide mech, a potent mixture of surprise and heavy armour preventing the operator from recovering in time: The Human's blade connected with a stunning yet well aimed ferocity. The blow exploited the gap in the Tide mech's armour at the armpit. A well-known weakness which the Algeen were rarely able to exploit.
The blade cut deep, severing several of the thick black cables which sent power down the opposing mech's arm. Like cutting into a ligament, the Tide Mechs right arm (sword included) slumped down, as the antigravity modules cut out due to lack of power and its motors struggled to lift the now considerably heavier arm. Completely blindsided by the ferocious attack and now lacking an effective sword arm, the Tide pilot responded in sudden desperation: twisting his mech at its hips, the pilot slammed his own weak and heavily armoured arm into the Algeen mech which had wounded it so.
This may have seen the Tide mech retake the initiative in battle, and with it the advantage. But the Tide pilot wasn't facing an Algeen pilot, and the human who had been training for this mission for the past three years saw the wild attack coming from a galaxy away.
Ducking before the Tide mech even began its twist, the human pilot successfully dodged the incoming attack. Only instead of leaving it there she followed up the movement by striking the upper thigh of the Tide mech with the pommel of her sword.
The ball joint located there had been studied by human engineers who, it must be stated, had a better grasp on how to break things then their Algeen counterparts: the joint shattered under the force of the well-placed blow and the stresses the wild swing with an overloaded arm had placed on the machine.
Churk couldn't believe his eyes as the machine crumpled into an awkward heap: with just two well placed blows the mech pilot had managed to take down a significantly better equipped target. His men behind him cheered, but he didn't. The friendly mech wasn't out of the woods yet, and there was still a lot of ground to clear between the fallen melee mech, and its ranged counterpart.
Churk could scarcely breathe as the Tide ranged mech readied itself for a missile salvo. A single Tide missile was capable of wiping out the Algeen mech, but they never fired a single missile. Churk clenched his teeth tight as his men stopped cheering and looked on with horror as smoke began streaking over the battlefield, signalling the death that was currently barrelling for their only hope.
Inside the outmatched Algeen mech however, the human pilot only smiled.
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Sorry my if my questions sound dumb it's my first time buying a gaming laptop
I'm planning to buy an Asus TUF f15 FX506 gaming laptop from a local retailer. The model there has 16GB of RAM and 3 cell li-ion battery which I will assume is a 48wh (the site is so vague and I'm away rn so can't visit store)
a) is the 16GB in both slots as 2x8GB or just in one of them? Is it usually divided? Or does it depend on the retailer?
b) can the 48wh be upgraded to 90wh? If yes, does it void the warranty? I also remember hearing something about unable to get an HDD when upgrading to the 90wh though I'm not quite sure of this information is correct for my model. There's supposedly 2 SSD slots anyway right?
Also, is it bad/dangerous if I were to do the upgrades myself? I've obviously never done this before so is it better to have someone experienced do it? I mean like, what's the risk or potentially bad thing that might happen if I attempt to do it myself? Like replacing battery, ram or SSD?
TIA!!

The theme of this build is to bring out the feel of a Vulcan Command Fleet ship. From what I could tell, they used sci ships as the workhorses of their fleet, the traditional place of cruisers. So I wanted to basically use one of the vulcan themed sci ships in as cruiser-like a role as I could get it... while still acting like a sci ship.
I decided that that was going to involve drawing aggro, and handling having that aggro. I hesitate to label this a tank, because I have no intention of actually running any content with it that actually needs a tank. I don't usually inflict my theme builds on groups attempting elite content. So this is more of a "keep the PUG alive" style of tank, than anything you'd ever find in a DPS race HSE run.
Essentially this is a plasma-based DEWsci ship, with a threat and survival theme. The build makes quite a few off-meta choices, like the decision to use embassy sci consoles for their threat generating abilities, rather than the more traditional research station consoles that could boost my exotic and ctrlx stats much better.
Highly Specialized and the Research Lab Scientist Doffs help mitigate the lack of stat-boosting consoles. And Precision Multitargetting does a lot better than I thought it would at making up for the small number of Tac boff slots, by letting me use the subsystem targeting abilities native to all sci ships in order to have access to FAW while using my tac slots for other things.
Overall it's not perfect by any means, and has plenty of room for improvement, even keeping to my theme. Especially in the personal traits, where eventually I would like to add Boilmer to improve the cooldown situation. Inspiring Leadership and psychological warfare to further improve the ship's epg and ctrlx stats. Menacing and Enlightened would be pretty perfect for the ship. And maybe Fulcrum Shift, Fragment of AI Tech, and/or Cyclic Power Capacitors could all benefit this ship quite a lot more than what I have now.
I'm also planning on replacing the 3 fleet dranuur dual beam banks with something else. Right now I've got an internal debate on just normal [ctrd] focused ones or crafted [over] ones for fun. The dranur proc, like all procs, just doesn't do much, so despite being fine for the theme, I can replace it with something more interesting without feeling bad at all.

Captain Details

Captain Name	Arora
Captain Career	Engineering
Captain Faction	Starfleet
Captain Race	Vulcan
Primary Specialization	Intelligence
Secondary Specialization	Strategist

Space Skill Tree

Rank	Engineering		Science		Tactical
Lieutenant			Improved Shield Restoration	Advanced Shield Capacity	Advanced Energy Weapon Training
Lt. Commander	Improved Electro-Plasma System Flow	Advanced Impulse Expertise	Improved Control Expertise	Improved Drain Expertise	Advanced Targeting Expertise
	Full Impulse Energy Shunt		Control Amplification	Drain Infection
Commander				Shield Hardness	Advanced Weapon Amplification	Advanced Weapon Specialization
Captain			Advanced Exotic Particle Generator	Advanced Long Range Targeting Sensors	Advanced Hull Penetration	Shield Weakening
Admiral		Engineering Readiness		Scientific Readiness	Coordination Protocols	Tactical Readiness
					Defensive Coordination
					Offensive Coordination
0 Points Left	7		19		20

Space Skill Unlocks

Purchases	Engineering	Science	Tactical
2	Emergency Power to Shields III	Engineering Team III	Directed Energy Modulation III
5	Battery Expertise	Sector Space Travel Speed	Threat Control
7	Emergency Power to Engines III	Auxiliary Power to the Emergency Battery III	Eject Warp Plasma III
10		Maximum Shield Capacity	Projectile Critical Chance
12		Auxiliary Power to Structural Integrity Field III	Boarding Parties III
15		Starship Perception	Energy Critical Chance
17		Auxiliary Power to Inertial Dampers III	Aceton Beam III
20			Accuracy

Ship Loadout: Sh'vhal Temporal Science Spearhead

Slot	Item
Fore Weapon 1	Advanced Piezo-Plasma Beam Array
Fore Weapon 2	Advanced Fleet Dual Plasma Beam Bank
Fore Weapon 3	Advanced Fleet Dual Plasma Beam Bank
Fore Weapon 4	Advanced Fleet Dual Plasma Beam Bank
Aft Weapon 1	Omni-Directional Plasma Beam Array
Aft Weapon 2	Plasmatic Biomatter Auto-Turret
Aft Weapon 3	Altamid Modified Plasma Omni
Deflector	[Elite Fleet Intervention Protomatter Deflector Array ]() Mk XV [ColCrit][CtrlX]x2[EPG][Sh/HullCap] Epic
Secondary Deflector	Deteriorating Secondary Deflector Mk XV [+Chance][CtrlX][EPG/ShdHeal][EPG][ProjDmg] Epic
Impulse Engines	[Prevailing Fortified Impulse Engines ]() Mk XV [Spd] Ultra Rare
Warp Core	Revolutionary Warp Core Mk XV [A->W][ACap][EPS] Epic
Shields	[Revolutionary Covariant Shield Array ]() Mk XV [Cap]x3[Cp/Rg][Reg] Epic
Devices	Red Matter Capacitor
	Kobyashi Maru Transponder
	Deuterium Surplus
	Reactive Armor Catalyst
3 Engineering Consoles	Altamid Modified Swarm Processor Mk XV Epic
	Console - Zero-Point Energy Conduit Mk XV Epic
	Console - Universal - Hull Image Refractors Epic
4 Science Consoles	Console - Universal - Piezo-Electric Focuser Mk XV Ultra Rare
	Console - Science - Plasma-Generating Weapon Signature Amplifier Mk XV Ultra Rare
	Console - Science - Plasma-Generating Weapon Signature Amplifier Mk XV Ultra Rare
	Console - Science - Plasma-Generating Weapon Signature Amplifier Mk XV Epic
4 Tactical Consoles	Console - Tactical - Energetic Protomatter Matrix Infuser Mk XV Epic
	Console - Tactical - Energetic Protomatter Matrix Infuser Mk XV Epic
	Console - Tactical - Energetic Protomatter Matrix Infuser Mk XV Epic
	Console - Tactical - Energetic Protomatter Matrix Infuser Mk XV Epic
T6-X Universal Console	Console - Tactical - Fek'ihri Torment Engine Mk XV Epic

Officer Details

Bridge Officers	Power
Commander Science-Temporal Operative	Entropic Redistribution I
Engineered Soldier (Space)	Chronometric Inversion Field I
	Very Cold in Space III
	Gravity Well III
Lt. Commander Universal-Command	Emergency Power to Shields I
Engineered Soldier (Space)	Auxiliary to Structural I
	Call Emergency Artillery I
Lt. Commander Tactical	Best Served Cold I
Leadership + Superior Space Warfare Specialist	Attack Pattern Beta I
	Kemocite-Laced Weaponry III
Lieutenant Science	Tractor Beam I
Astrophysicist	Photonic Officer I
Ensign Engineering	Emergency Power to Weapons I
Leadership+Tactician

Traits & Duty Officers

Trait	Name	Description
Personal Traits	Accurate	Space Trait. Improves the accuracy of space weapons.
	Automated Rerouting	Chance to receive a Shield Heal when activating any Bridge Officer ability.
	Beam Barrage	Gain Beam Damage when activating Beam skills
	Beam Training	Increases Damage from your [[Beam Weapon
	EPS Manifold Efficiency	Space Trait. When you use Emergency Power to Auxiliary, Emergency Power to Engines, Emergency Power to Shields, or Emergency Power to Weapons, this trait causes all of your other power levels to gain a moderate subsystem boost. When you use any Battery, this trait causes all of your other power levels to gain a large subsystem boost.
	Grace Under Fire	Space Trait. If you take more than 20% of your hitpoints in damage within a 5 second period, the cooldown on [[Ability: Miraculous Repairs
	Operative	Increases Critical Chance and Critical Severity.
	Particle Manipulator	Improved Criticals for Exotic Damage, based on Particle Generators
	Warp Theorist	Space Trait. Improves your Warp Core Potential skill, which increases all power levels of your ship. Also improves Electro-Plasma Systems, which improve power transfer and regeneration rates aboard your ship.
Starship Traits	Digital Compilation	- While this trait is slotted, whenever an enemy of Frigate rank or higher is defeated after receiving [Exotic Damage] from you, they will be transformed into a Digitizer Probe which will chase nearby enemies, dealing Plasma Damage to any that they are near. You may have up to 5 Digitizer Probes active at a time from this Trait. Enermies digitized by this Trait will not Warp Core Breach.
	Emergency Weapon Cycle	- While this starship trait is active, using Emergency Power to Weapons will also reduce weapon power cost and increase your weapon fire rate moderately.
	Highly Specialized	- Game Description: Make the most of your bridge officer specialists! Each time one of their abilities is activated, it will cause all other specialist bridge officer abilities to recharge more quickly, allowing them all to be used more frequently. In addition, you will gain a boost to Starship Hull Repair, Starship Weapon Specialization and Starship Particle Generators skills. This skill buff stacks up to 5 times.
	Improved Gravity Well	- Your Gravity Well anomalies last twice as long, and recharge much faster. Additionally, the primary foe targeted by your Gravity Well activation will have their damage resistance rating reduced for the duration of the anomaly.
	Precision Multi-Targeting	Activating any Subsystem Targeting ability will additionally grant you Fire at Will I and +100 Accuracy Rating for 10 seconds.
	Totally Lost All Control	While your ship is above 80% Shield Capacity, activating a Shield Healing Bridge Officer Ability will redirect a portion of the expended restorative energy and temporarily overclock your starship weapons, granting them a significant boost to both Critical Chance and Critical Severity for a few seconds. This effect can only be triggered once every several seconds.
Space Reputation Traits	Energy Refrequencer	Heals Hull when Dealing Damage
	Precision	Increases your Critical Hit Chance in space combat.
	Chrono-Capacitor Array	Reduces Bridge Officer Recharge Times
	Advanced Targeting Systems	Slightly increases critical severity in space combat.
	Auxiliary Power Configuration - Defense	In space combat you gain a bonus to Maximum Hull HP, Maximum Shield HP, Kinetic Damage Resistance Rating and Energy Damage Resistance Rating that scales based on your Auxiliary Power Level.
Duty Officers	Shield Distribution Officer	[SP] Attack Pattern Beta restores hull when firing
	Armory Officer	[SP] Chance to set a random second subsystem offline when using Subsystem Targeting attacks
	Gravimetric Scientist	[SP] Chance to create an aftershock Gravity Well
	Research Lab Scientist	[SP] Increased Skills from using Ensign Bridge Officer Abilities
	Research Lab Scientist	[SP] Increased Skills from using Lieutenant Bridge Officer Abilities
	Research Lab Scientist	[SP] Increased Skills from using Lt Commander Bridge Officer Abilities
	Research Lab Scientist	[SP] Increased Skills from using Lt Commander Bridge Officer Abilities