"This was supposed to be our time," I groused as the concierge coordinator left our cabin. Inanna shook her head slowly and patted her lap. I sat on the bed next to her and leaned over, resting my head on her thighs. I always loved this, especially because she would inevitably- Oh god.... Oh yeah, that's it...
The fingers running through my hair, gently rubbing my scalp were hypnotic. The tension immediately drained out of me and my whole body went limp. It sounds kind of weird, doesn't it? I mean, I'm married to the former goddess of sex, a woman whose sexual appetite could not be described without the use of the words 'insatiable' and 'bizarre'. I mean, it would be a struggle to not use the term 'sexual body horror-esque' as well. When I say she's imaginative, I mean imaginative. And yet for all the times she's turned off gravity, induced orgasms in organs that have no business having orgasms (liver orgasms are a trip, but heart orgasms are mind-blowing), growing new organs in random places on her body or doing any or all of those things to me, this was the thing she did that melted me.
Every time. Man, I could fall asleep right now, regardless of the stress the coordinator had re-introduced to my life. I've fallen asleep like this many times before, in fact.
"It's not so bad," she purred. "All you have to do is give a talk. You've done that many times before."
I sighed. I wasn't able to work up any indignation like this, but as long as she kept her fingers from the spots behind my ears, I could still think.
"And sign a bunch of autographs and pose for pictures," I said. "And the talk will be to a bunch of fans, not academics and students. It's a totally different crowd."
"It's really not that different," she said as she found the spots behind my ears and melted my brain.
"The whole thing will take two hours," she said while I was completely helpless. It was totally unfair. I couldn't even protest that it would raise my profile and result in the whole cruise being peppered with people asking for more autographs and wanting to take pictures and buy us drinks.
I sighed again. God, this felt so good...
At some point, one hand wandered off my head and dug into my pants. The hand that continued to rub my head and the sheer familiarity of her fondling me kept me locked in my fugue state as she got me unbuttoned. By the time her scalp-massaging hand slipped away, I was ready to do anything she wanted.
So that's what we did.
----
I'd already agreed to do it, mind. I had just been griping about it when Inanna suckered me with her wily hands, and then her wily hoohah. Yes, I said 'wily hoohah', and if you knew Inanna as well as I did, you'd know that not only does it have a mind of its own, it's a devious and cunning creature that we should all pray remains on the side of good.
I can't really blame the coordinator, either. The cruise Inanna and I had booked just so happened to have a Legend of Jimmy fan convention of sorts happening, which we had somehow overlooked. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if her hoohah was aware, and simply kept quiet about it, knowing that I'd require a lot of 'comforting' after exposing myself to that much attention.
When the coordinator discovered that the couple on whose lives the show was based was on the cruise, we'd had our middle-grade accommodations bumped up to the top tier, and been given the gold-star concierge service, as well as a free pass to eat at any of the restaurants aboard ship and free admission to countless activities taking place. And then, once that was done, the coordinator oh-so-politely asked if I'd be willing to give a little talk, do a little autograph signing and otherwise schmooze the crowd.
Much to my chagrin, I agreed.
So here I was, sweating under a bunch of stage lights, behind a podium, having recited my hastily-prepared speech about the importance of understanding cultural context when dealing with supernatural entities and specific magics, answering questions that mostly pertained to the show, and often got incredibly personal.
"Is anal your wife's favorite?" a young man asked. I rolled my eyes. "Next question."
A respectable looking young lady in a sweater raised her hand and the usher with the mic held it up to her.
"If she's not into anal... I am," she said with a sly smile. I sighed deeply and prayed for the strength to continue.
"I have plenty of anal sex," I said. "Thank you for the offer, but my sex life is really something I'd rather keep a personal matter." I glanced over at Inanna, occupying one of the chairs on the stage. She was whispering to the host and pointing at the young lady. A naive person might assume she was asking to have her expelled after disrupting the Q&A by making what was obviously a joking offer.
But I knew she was making sure she got the young lady's number. Because Inanna.
The usher found a muscular young man with a serious burn scar on his neck. Probably a veteran, I thought, noting the way he moved as he stood.
"Did the CIA teach you how to fight, or are you a vet, or did you learn it elsewhere?"
I pointed at him. This was a much better question.
"Umm, the Agency doesn't really expect its field agents to do a lot of fighting. I did have a week-long training course on pistol shooting and light tactical stuff, but the biggest takeaway from that was that I should save any gun I was carrying for emergencies and always do what my protection agents' tell me to.
"One of my protective agents was, at the time, Inspector Johnson, currently one of our investigators at the DCM Group. That was how we met. He taught me a lot, actually.
"Most of what I know was acquired through magical means. My wife constructed a type of avatar known as a homoculus. It's an avatar that is a sort of messenger being. In this case, the message was all of the magically-collected knowledge in the world about combat. Martial arts, strategy, tactics, etc. Not a whole lot of specific military knowledge, mind, just the direct fighting stuff.
"Now, with all that being said, the single most important thing I know about combat, I learned from Inspector Johnson. And that was two things. The first is specific to combat, and that is that you can't win a fight if you're not an... An asshole."
The crowd laughed. I waited for it to die down.
"That sounds pretty wrong, I know, but it's true. Aggression is the single most important factor in a fight. All things being equal, the more aggressive fighter will always win. And aggression can make up for a lot of other failings, in a pinch. Size, strength, training... Aggression is the real key. And as we all know, the most aggressive people are inevitably assholes. So if you want to be able to defeat a dangerous enemy, you've got to be a bit of an asshole yourself.
"The second thing was probably the single most valuable lesson I ever learned in my entire life. And that is that courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to act in the face of fear. In fact, if you're not afraid, you can't be brave. Every act of bravery, throughout history, was performed by someone who was scared to death.
"I'm not going to lie to you; the first time I found myself in a fight, I peed my pants." The crowd tittered. "No joke, I literally peed my pants. More than once. I cried, too. I panicked. Inspector Johnson was there with me, and I was sooo jealous of how cool he was at the time. It was his actions that got us free of our bonds, and gave us the ability to summon help. After, I remember asking him how he kept from being scared, and I remember his exact words. 'I didn't,' he said.
"He told me that he was scared out of his mind, the same as me. The only difference was that he's been scared like that before. He got used to it. He knew that there were things he could do to mitigate the threat, so he did those things, even though he was still terrified. And as I found myself in more and more dangerous situations, I quickly realized what that meant. It's okay to be afraid. You just gotta be afraid and working."
The crowd erupted into applause as I finished. I blushed, because I hadn't planned on that becoming a rousing anecdote, but I'd take it. The host rose and walked to the podium, waiting for the cheering to stop before speaking.
"That's all the time we have for the Q&A, but Mister and Missus Williams will be available to sign autographs and take photos in the lounge in five minutes. Thank you all for coming out, and let's have a big round of applause for our guests!"
The crowd erupted again, this time even louder. Inanna and I waved to them as we walked off the stage, heading for the crew passageway between the backstage and the lounge. We were about halfway there when the ship lurched suddenly to one side and the sounds of screaming and crashing filled the air.
"What the hell was that?" I gasped as I bounced off the wall -excuse me, bulkhead- and grabbed Inanna's arm to held steady her.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Ever since she'd been murdered literally hundreds of times by Sarisa in order to produce the energies she needed for her plan to save the Sixteenth World, Inanna had been having a lot of difficulty pulling magical energy. She had been steadily training herself ever since, slowly increasing the amount of power she had access to. But the process was a long one.
During that long process, she'd been forced to work with tiny amounts of magic to get stuff done, much like a human wizard would. The end result was that her sensitivity to magic had grown by leaps and bounds. She might not be able to hurl around earth-shattering energies willy nilly any more, but there was nobody I knew, human, god or otherwise, who was as magically perceptive as she was.
"Something big and ancient is here," she said. "A creature."
"Great, another monster crossed over," I grumbled.
"This one didn't cross over, Jerry," she said. "This one is native to this world," she was staring off into space, feeling the creature rather than seeing it.
"It's definitely a fully material being. I feel like it's been to the spirit world, but it's from the material world. I don't think it's from this specific material world, though."
"Crap," I muttered. This was arguably worse than a spirit creature. Those, at least, generally had some kind of weakness. Be it a certain emotion, some variety of magic or some substance or material, spirit creatures almost inevitably had some kind of kryptonite. And I only say 'almost' because I can't be a hundred percent sure. Every single variety that I knew about had such a weakness. But a material being from another of the material worlds would be a flesh and blood creature that had evolved to fill its niche. And evolution is a heartless trainer, accepting no weakness.
The ship jolted again and a fresh round of screaming ensued. There was a definite direction to the screaming, coming from the direction we were heading in, so we began to run.
We came out into the lounge to find people packing themselves in. I grabbed a random person by the shoulder. "What did you see?" I demanded.
"I don't know, man! The ship started jerking, and I saw this shadow and I just grabbed my wife and we ran inside!"
"Stay here," I told him. I moved on, pushing through the crowds to the door. It was hard going, with everyone trying to get inside. Eventually, I got completely stopped by the press of bodies, and I looked up, to see if I could fly above them. The ceiling was too low, of course. If I did that, I'd be flinging people around with the force of my magic, which would get someone hurt. Crap.
"MAKE A FUCKING HOLE!!" Inanna roared.
People jerked in surprise at the volume of the shout, carrying even above the crying and screaming all around us. They quickly moved further into the room, clearing a path for us to the doors.
"Thank you," I said as she took advantage of the extra room to walk beside me instead of behind me. She smiled sweetly and goosed my butt as we moved through the doors, out onto the deck.
Tentacles rose into the air around the ship. People were still about, mostly running for the doors to get inside. I realized, looking at the grandiose size of those tentacles, that it wouldn't do any good. This ship was huge, one of the largest cruise ships on the ocean. It was over a thousand feet long and a quarter of a million tons in volume. There were over four thousand guests on board, and until now, I'd never seen a dense crowd. Wait times for everything were reasonable.
Yet, judging by the size of those tentacles, I worried about the ship sinking.
Inanna pulled up short as she saw it.
"Motherfucker...." she said, then turned to me.
"Jerry, I hope your magical muscles are nice and swole, because we need to start teleporting people to safety right fucking now."
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's a kraken," she said.
"I figured as much, but there's no way we can evacuate this ship in time. I could maybe teleport them a hundred at a time, but even assuming it only takes three minutes to get a hundred people to link hands, that's two hours to get just the passengers. It'll be another forty five minutes for the crew. Whatever this thing is gonna do to the ship, it'll be over by then."
She shook her head. "You don't understand, Jerry. Krakens are mostly legendary in this world. They're not native here, and have only come over through the occasional rift that pops up way down at pressure depth. Most of what you know is complete BS. This is how they hunt. Wales and dolphins are their primary food, but they evolved on a world where humans had large ships full of people sailing the seas twenty thousand years ago, and they've adapted."
The ship jerked again as I watched a massive tentacle wrap completely around it and began to tighten down.
"It's going to break the ship, and then its going to come after the lifeboats. That's its strategy here."
"Crap," I muttered. "You have any ideas?"
"I've never even heard of a ship that survived a kraken attack, Jerry. Ninety percent of the people on board won't, either, and that's the best case. Worst case, everybody dies."
My mind raced. The first thing that occurred to me was the trick I'd used to kill the primordials. But honestly, the primordials were probably smaller than the kraken, and its body was underwater. If I hit the surface of the ocean at those speeds, it would be like a bomb going off. I'd likely just break the ship even quicker.
"I think it's too dangerous for you to do the human bullet thing," she said, her thoughts echoing mine.
"Right," I said. "So, we've got to figure out a way to drive it off. Make it think that it's not worth going after this ship, right?"
"I mean, if you can think of something that might do that, and not destroy the ship, yeah."
I wracked my brain for ideas. Fire was an obvious choice, but the beast's size ruled that out. If I made enough fire to hurt it, I'd damage the ship and probably kill a bunch of people. I watched another tentacle curl around and tighten onto the ship. With the two that had been in place when we got out, that made four. We were running out of time.
"Shit," I swore, using up one of my limited supply for the month. "Baby, I don't know what to do."
"Start teleporting," she said. "We'll save as many as we can."
I winced. Leaving people to die was something I wasn't willing to accept until the last second. Of course, the longer I waited to take that route, the more people I'd have to leave to die. This was the worst sort of calculus I'd ever done, and I always hated math.
I immediately pictured the panic that would happen when I started teleporting people and the rest realized I wouldn't be able to get everyone. It would be chaos.
A younger couple made their way from one of the edges of the ship, heading for the lounge. As they passed us, they stopped.
"You're Jerry and Ishtar Williams, right?" the woman asked.
"Inanna," I said. "Ishtar is the character," I said.
"Right, sorry. Do you know what this thing is?"
Inanna answered for me. "It's a kraken. A real one."
"Why is it attacking the ship?" the man asked.
"It's hunting," I said. Inanna nodded. "It's going to break the ship, then go after the people in the lifeboats," she added.
"Holy shit," the woman gasped. "Can you stop it?"
"Trying to figure out how, right now."
"Can we help?" the man asked. I turned to them. "I don't think so, no."
I kept trying to think as Inanna approached them, realizing I wouldn't get any planning done while answering their questions.
I needed something that would drive the best off, or kill it quickly. Honestly, even if I could blink my eyes and stop its heart, which I didn't think I could, but would try as a backup plan, I think the bulk of the creature might drag the ship under. We needed to get it to let go of the ship. Which went back to what I'd just been thinking, about driving it off.
We needed to hurt it. But I didn't know how to do that without killing people on the ship.
"Shit," I said again. "I don't know how to drive it off without killing people on the ship."
"What do you mean?" the woman asked.
"Everything I can do that would cause it significant enough pain to rethink attacking us would also damage the ship. And I don't dare kill it with its tentacles wrapped around the ship like this, it'll pull us under."
Inanna rounded on me, and I could see she'd had an idea. "What?!" I asked.
"Oh Jerry," she said with a malicious gleam in her eyes. "You're gonna hate this."

I just finished my graduation (BCA) , and I don't know what to choose next. Choice 1 : Do Mca from a tier 2 or tier 3 college in pune. I scored 87 percentile in maharashtra CET, which Is not alot considering top college have cutoff of 99 or 95 percentile. What i fear is that I would be wasting 2 years since most of these college doesn't provide any good placements (as far as I know, which Is not much). Choice 2 : Take a drop year to prepare for entrances exam like Nimcet. Choice 3 : Just start learning and applying on my own. I was learning js before my exam started and I'm planning to learn node next. I am aware that finding job on your own is much harder than on campus placements which Is why I'm so confused about what to do next. I could learn and apply while doing my PG, but should i be doing my PG from any college? Please help me make the right choice by giving your opinion or insight based on your experience. This seems like the most important decision I have made till now.

I bought a Syntakt for myself around Christmas and it has entirely changed the way I approach music creation (hardware be software). Now that I have a good understanding of it, I’m looking to add polyphony to the setup.
I’ve found myself doing a deep dive on the Prophet line up and am fairly sure that’s the route I’m going to go but I have a few questions before I pull the trigger.
Is the P5 Keyboard really worth the extra $1350 CAD? I’ve heard nothing but good things about the feel of the keybed and of course you get that iconic look but $1350 could go a long way towards other gear, namely whatever midi controller I wanted
Why does the 8 voice Rev 2 keyboard add $350 to the price but the 16 voice keyboard adds $800?
Why is a P6 module $500 cheaper than a P5 module but the keyboards are the same price, despite one less octave on a P6?
Would a nice controller + module be a better choice anyways if I plan to own more synths down the road? I certainly don’t have an infinite amount of space
I know a it’s all about personal preference and the prices just kinda are what they are but looking to see if someone has better insight into it all. Thanks in advance

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

HI guys we are looking for some nice players who want to join us and contribute in our clan
1.We donate whenever we can and Help each other
2.we give friendly challenges to improve and learn new strategies
3.war is your choice if in war then use both attack but we prefer you to war only if your heroes are on upgrade then you can opt out of war
5.we are friendly and talkative too
6.we play all events
7.Max clan games
8.640+ raid medals
9.Gold 3 in cwl confirm ,right now silver 1.
10.All are welcomed✌️ Check our clan once https://link.clashofclans.com/en?action=OpenClanProfile&tag=2LU2QPPVU

Six months ago I met a really nice guy. At first it was just bating, but we kept hooking up over and over and we became closer. He's kind, interesting, absolutely gorgeous and I've never been so sexually compatible with someone.
Then he had to ask me out... but I reluctantly declined for three reasons:

1. I'm still in a somewhat unhealthy co-dependent friendship with my somewhat clingy ex, which I've been working with a therapist to sort out. I tried dating before whilst in this situation, and I ended up very depressed for 2 years. I am scared to go back there.
2. Also I want to move to Quebec to learn French, which I've wanted to do for 10 years - don't want to be held back anymore by attachments.
3. Finally, life wise, there might not be enough compatibility. A lot of our interests don't align, so long term I worry we'd run out of things to talk about. And, not to sound judgmental, but he lives at home with his parents and is still launching his career. I'm already 10 years into mine.

Anyway, of course he was disappointed. We hooked up a few more times as friends, but of course, he moved on started dating another sexy guy. I'm just sad, even though it was my choice. I guess it's the first time I felt something deep for another guy, it hurts. Why does life have to have such inconvenient timing? I'm not ready. Will I ever meet someone as good as this? (Such a selfish way of thinking I know). I hate being this out of control of my own emotions.

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader to Boost.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface. This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.

What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at ModCoord- but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

Is the 2023 ryzen 7 rtx 4050 a good choice? I am an MBA student I'll be using it for classes Excel, PowerPoint, SPSS, R Studio and Python. I play primarily GTA 5, Age of Empires 2 and Valorant. I also plan on playing Red Dead Redemption 2. Will it be enough for me? I need it to be durable for 3 years. Will it last that long? Can I upgrade the storage, RAM and Wifi card?

BLUF: This is actually a big deal, even if you don't use third-party apps or old.reddit. Many moderators and power users (including myself) use them almost exclusively. Third-party apps are also essential for redditors with accessibility needs and the tools created by third-party developers indirectly support much of the content and community growth that has made reddit what it is. We would much rather keep the subs open and running while reddit reverses its plans -- going dark is the most visible form of protest we have available.
Dear /studentloans and /PSLF community:
Moderators of many subs across reddit -- big, medium, and small -- will be "going dark" (setting the subs to private and making them inaccessible to read or post) starting on June 12th. /studentloans and /PSLF will be joining them.
This is not a decision we take lightly -- we recognize the value of these subs as a hub for advice and discussion of important topics that more than 300,000 of you have found helpful during your respective student loan journeys. We have never before taken these subs down in protest and we only do so now because we believe the changes that reddit is planning to make will threaten the long-term health of the community itself. We're going dark temporarily to hopefully prevent a permanent deterioration and death of the community.

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced it intends to raise the price to make calls to the API from being free to a level that will kill every third-party mobile app on reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader to the app I've used for years to post and moderate on-the-go, Sync.
Even if you're not a mobile user or don't use any of those apps, this is another step toward killing ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite, Toolbox, Pushshift-enabled tools, and the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface. Again, even if you don't use these tools yourself, the moderators of this sub do and they are essential for our work. The same is true of the mod teams in many, many other communities and that's why we're all speaking out now.
The latest figures reddit has released show that 3 out of every 5 mod actions across the site are done on Old Reddit, even after years of stagnant development for the interface. Why? Because it's still better for moderating with the help of third-party tools. The same is true for the third-party mobile apps -- they remain so popular and beloved because, for many people, they are better than reddit's immature and bloated official app. (Which itself started as a third-party app that was bought by reddit.) And aside from direct use, many moderators (including us) depend on tools and bots only available outside the official app to keep our communities on-topic and spam-free.
The reddit you see and enjoy today stands on the shoulders of years of work by third-party developers, many of whom are also fans of the site, saw an unmet need, and wrote a program/script/app to meet it. Third-party apps and tools are essential for redditors who need accessible interfaces. For example, the /blind community is joining the protest because reddit's official app lacks accessibility features that vision-impaired redditors have enjoyed from third-party apps for years. (Reddit knows that this change will effectively excommunicate blind users from mobile reddit and is pressing forward anyway.)

What's the plan?

In response to this situation, the moderators of /StudentLoans and /PSLF are joining forces with other subreddit communities and their respective mod teams in a coordinated effort. We believe that unity is essential in driving change and advocating for the rights of app developers, moderators, and the overall user experience. To amplify our message and demonstrate the strength of our concerns, /StudentLoans and /PSLF will be participating in a temporary blackout starting on June 12th, lasting for 48 hours.
During this blackout period, the subreddits will be set to private, rendering them inaccessible to all users. This collective action is intended to raise awareness and urge Reddit to reconsider the recent API changes. Our primary goal is to initiate a productive dialogue with reddit, leading to a reversal of the detrimental modifications before they are implemented.
We understand that this blackout will cause temporary inconvenience to our community and, for that, we apologize. However, we firmly believe that this short-term disruption will bring long-term benefits for every user. By standing together with other subreddit communities, we hope to send a clear message to reddit and foster a meaningful conversation about the future of its API policies. This isn't something we do lightly; we are taking this action because we love this service, have devoted thousands of volunteer hours into moderating and curating the community into what it has become, and we truly believe this API change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.

What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site. Message reddit. [Email Reddit](mailto:[email protected]) or submit a support request ticket to communicate your opposition to their proposed modifications. Comment in relevant threads on /reddit, such as this one. If you've tried the official iOS or Android app, leave an honest review and also review your favorite third-party app while you're at it. And sign your username in support to this post.
   
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy, get your cat involved! Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join /ModCoord and /Save3rdPartyApps (but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail).
   
3. Boycott and spread the word...to reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th -- instead, take to your favorite non-reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
   
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable, and law-abiding as possible.
   

We appreciate your understanding, support, and active participation in this important endeavor. It is through the strength and dedication of our community that we can strive for a better Reddit experience for everyone involved.
Thank you,
horsebycommittee and ANGR1ST

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader to Boost.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface. This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.

What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at ModCoord- but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

Don't get me wrong, I adore txt and everything they do but occasionally a lyric will pop up in a song that makes me laugh with the incongruity of the statement.
The 2 that consistently come up for me is the line "you like Tupac, I like Biggie Biggie" from Blue Orangeade.
For me it's an odd choice to make for young teenagers from the other side of the world to bring up a super violent and divisive part of American culture so easily. As if it's the difference between crunchy and smooth peanut butter and the weirdness of it makes me laugh every time.
Also, in Good Boy Gone Bad, I laugh when Yeonjun says "I like 'em bad" for the simple fact that I'm pretty sure he doesn't. 😂
Anything that stands out to you lyric-wise?

I promised to do a writeup about my experience setting up IPv6 on OPNsense (should be insightful for other routers as well).
The 10G service comes with both fixed IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. Setting up IPv4 is simple as a /30 is given which translates in one router IP and one gateway IP. IPv6 is a little bit more complex but not crazy so.
Ziply will give you both a IPv6 router address (::2) and a gateway (::1).
You also get a /56 subnet which needs to be broken down to /64 ones for each LAN network. Could be up to 256 LANs… I asked Ziply to give me the first usable /64 to make it simple.
Here is how to configure it in OPNsense. I replace some of my IPv6 address details with Xs and only show what needs to be changed. All other settings are unchanged.
System-> Settings->General: DNS servers: 2001:506:38::1 2001:506:38::2
(These are the Ziply ones. You can add different or additional ones)
Interfaces -> WAN: IPv6 Configuration Type: Static IPv6 IPv6 address: 2600:XXXX:XXX:5::2/56 IPv6 upstream gateway: 2600:XXXX:XXX:5::1
System -> Gateways: Delete any old gateways that are no longer needed, keep both the IPv4 and IPv6 ones you created.
At this point your router should be able to connect to the internet via IPv6. Test it via SSH shell or GUI by pinging a host of your choice. E.g., ping6 www.google.com
Interfaces -> LAN: IPv6 Configuration Type: Static IPv6 Static IPv6 configuration IPv6 address: 2600:XXXX:XXX:501::/64 (This is the first usable /64)
Services -> DHCPv6 ->LAN: Enable: Checked Range: 2600:XXXX:XXX:501::10 - 2600:XXXX:XXX:501::200 (You can use any that is within the available range displayed.) DNS servers: 2600:XXXX:XXX:501::
Services -> Router Advertisements -> LAN: Router Advertisements: Managed (This allows you to assign a static lease to a client) DNS options -> Use the DNS configurations of the DHCPv6 server: checked
Repeat the steps for any additional LAN networks you may have. Next /64 in my example would be 2600:XXXX:XXX:502::
You should now have a working IPv6 setup and get 10/10 on test-ipv6.com .
Hope this helps.

TLDR: I left a TT job to do the work I dreamed of and now I'm not sure it was the best call:
Sorry for the rant but literally none of my friends understand academia and I need a place to rant...
I was TT at a 2 year school running a program with a budget of around $3,500, which is a fraction of what is typically necessary for programs of that sort. It was a new program at the school, lots of intention to build it up and that is one part of why they brought me in, however after a year it was getting clearer and clearer that there would be no real money or investment into it (everyone likes the idea of the program but funding it is another story) any time soon and if I wanted to keep doing that work any time soone I had to look elsewhere.
At the end of my first year there, a 4-year school with a program that goes way back was looking for a new director, the only thing is the position was lecturing as opposed to TT (this kind of work is "adjunctifying quickly). I was relatively new as a Ph.D. and desperate to do the work I always dreamed of, I was also hopeful that the reputation of the program at this school in particular would mean strong internal support, so when they offered me the position we left the TT job and took over directing a program with about $40,000 instead of $3,500 but now as a lecturer instead of as a tenure track hire.
Fast forward 7 years, the program has done really well (large, balanced budget, regionally and nationally successful, lots of campus presence), I have enjoyed my opportunity to do that work, but at the same time my status in my department is incredibly depressing. I'm treated as a second-rate department member constantly, talked to as though I have not 'earned' tenure yet (even though I was TT when I came...), told major changes will be made to the program I run without consulting me, at the same time the growth and success of the program is completely ignored. It is clear I wont get to teach any of the courses I really want to, instead I do the "dishes" in the department with full slates of identical 100-level courses. On chair I had thought my budget was $2,000 even though it's been close to $40k for over a decade - they were totally punched out.
I have tried hard to get to know my department and convince them I'm in it for the long-haul (they all talk about lecturers like we are here and then gone, which is true because so many of us get fired but not because we don't want to stay and do the work), and they will never acknowledge that my program is integral to our curriculum in ways that justify promotion (even though the program budget itself describes it as integral to the entire curriculum and even though it was a tenure line for nearly 60 years until the late 90s when my predecessor took over - he was ABD so they could not tenure him).
I was able to quit directing the program I always dreamed of, the one I left TT for, because I was driving vans for thousands of miles for free and being ignored, taking on liability with students traveling on the road and in hotels etc, all as a contingent employee. While I was able to keep my job teaching (lucky!) I am starting to feel like my career aspirations are wasted and like my time in academia itself is limited. I have no idea what else I can do.
I don't understand why running a successful program that recruits, retains, and elevates a diversity of students' academic achievements doesn't count for more. Why do faculty who write books nobody will ever read and who never spend any time with students at all (and who have TERRIBLE evals...) get paid far more than I ever will and have power in deciding the future of this program, even though they do not understand it (and don't care to learn about it)? It is a lot of (unpaid) work off my plate to not direct anymore, but I miss the work I loved and watching the program itself (which again is historic) start to dissolve really breaks my heart. The flip side of the "I'm only a lecturer" coin is it is not up to ME to protect that program (it's up to the tenured folks, they continue to remind me, to plan the future of our department), and the union has my back that the work they made me do was EXPLOITATIVE but when you look at the outcomes it's hard not to feel sad.
I don't think I regret my choices, but it is pulling me into a hole and I don't know how to reset my expectations.
Thanks for listening to my rant.

tl;dr Bohol will be going dark together with other subreddits to protest Reddit’s new API pricing.

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
   
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at /ModCoord.
   
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
   
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.
   

Further reading
https://www.reddit.com/Save3rdPartyApps/comments/13yh0jf/dont_let_reddit_kill_3rd_party_apps/
https://www.reddit.com/apolloapp/comments/13ws4w3/had_a_call_with_reddit_to_discuss_pricing_bad/
https://old.reddit.com/ModCoord/comments/1401qw5/incomplete_and_growing_list_of_participating/
https://www.reddit.com/SubredditDrama/comments/1404hwj/mods_of_rblind_reveal_that_removing_3rd_party/
https://www.reddit.com/redditdev/comments/13wsiks/api_update_enterprise_level_tier_for_large_scale/jmolrhn/?context=3
edit: Open Letter regarding API pricing
edit 2: 14 reports on this thread so far, and thanks for the awards! One report read as follows, "Kinda fucked up you mods wouldn't participate in the Covid disinfo blackout but here you are trying to protect your bottom line. pathetic tbh"...just wanted to set the record straight that EarthPorn did participate in the covid misinformation black out a year + ago. Not sure which bottom line you are referring to since mods are unpaid volunteers, but maybe report again or if you have a spine actually modmail to let us know your grievance.

Hello all, let me know if this isn't the right place to post so I can take down. I'm looking for some guidance on email server improvements.
History: Our small software shop was created over 20 years ago delivering SaaS. Most of our customers were using freemail accounts for their business (e.g. [email protected]), and part of our offering was to host their domain and email. This was thrown in as a freebie on the rest of the service. Since then we've grown and have a lot of customers using the mail server. I was hired a few years ago as a developer and like all small shops I took on several roles. The most painful of which is the mail server management.
Setup: Our server is running Debian with Postfix for smtp and Dovecot for imap. There's a number of auxilary services running including fail2ban, postfwd, amavis, spamassassin, clamav, mysql, opendkim, and rainloop. We've also got an in house anti spam filter that aggregates data from spamassasin, clamav, and rbls for a more complete ip blocking tool. We're currently around 250 users, but planning on adding more as our customer base increases. This is hosted on AWS and is costing us around $60/month. We host somewhere around 75 domains, each domain only having a few users.
My problem: The mail server is getting cumbersome due to all the moving parts, and beginning to take more of my time. I've implemented security practices such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and I'm using ParsedMarc to monitor. But I feel like I'm always 2-3 steps behind the rest of the industry. I can't get ahead of any industry best practices until it becomes a problem, and our latest problem was Yahoo putting our email into spam. This didn't come with any warning or error until users started reporting it, the recovery path was the longest I've ever experienced.
My general frustrations with tools I have available are there's no Web Interface/UI to really manage these tools as a group. Every service has a different config, and is integrated in a different way.
So my questions for you are :
1) Is there an email service that supports email hosting at a comparable price? Ditching the email server entirely and moving to something hosted would be great if it's the right price. With the number of users and domains we have, providers like Google, AWS WM, MS, Zoho all charge much more than we're currently paying and the management savings isn't likely to make up the difference.
2) Is there any source I can go to to stay ahead of best practices like SPF, DKIM, etc so I don't get blindsided by random emails getting silently discarded?
3) Is there any industry standard tool I should be using that would replace 1 or more services to improve integration?
4) Any tools to help monitor the mail server? Once in a while, one or our users passwords gets into the wild, and I wake up to see 1000 emails in the outbound postfix queue that are getting rightfully slow walked by the remote servers.
We've grown so organically in the last few years I'm feeling very compelled to get ahead of any issues while I can, so any input from the experts on this sub would be greatly appreciated!

this is the routine i've been running and trying to perfect since april 24. it's based on andy baker's 4-day texas method. the concept of this template is to do one "volume" day and one "intensity" day per week for press, bench, squat and DL. i want to train 5 days a week, but can't train on the weekends. i'm not entirely sure what to do on wednesday, since i don't want to cause excessive fatigue on the main compounds. i know i like doing front squats on that day because i get all kinds of crazy stretches out of it, but i try to intentionally keep it light.
my goal is to continue developing strength on the 4 main compounds, while incorporating more high-volume hypertrophy work. i also want to actively experiment with variations (currently doing RDLs for deadlifts), machines, cables, dumbbells, etc. i am trying to cut, so although i am still tracking progressive overload, i'm not as single-minded about it as i was during the winter.
i want to prioritize my triceps, probably my most underdeveloped muscle group (coming from years of Starting Strength). i do not plan on moving triceps extensions to the front of the workout because i highly value pressing strength; but i do plan on switching to CGBP and moving my hands closer during push-ups to accentuate them. any other form modifications i can do to prioritize the triceps?
what muscle groups are lacking? i suspect there could be more chest work. i did cable flyes in place of incline DBP last week because there was no bench free, and it felt quite good.
for my delt work on Thursday, i'm really not sure what to do here. i have a mild dislike of lateral DB raises, but maybe i'm doing them wrong? i've experimented with bent-over DB flyes to hit the rear delt, which felt good but i'm not sure if it's the most effective exercise, or if i should even be using that slot to focus on rear delt?
i warm up by pushing and pulling the sled slowly for a few minutes, currently with 160lbs loaded. deep lunges for the hips and small steps for the calves, followed by pushing and pulling at about an RPE 6--7 for ten minutes total. i then do a dynamic stretching routine, about 7 minutes; and follow the workout with a static stretching routine, roughly 10--20 minutes. sessions usually last around 2-2.5 hours, which is ideal as i am a pathetic loser with no life.
32m, 200lbs, my estimated training history is about 3 years cumulative over the past 7 years accounting for training like a dumbass, and many extended breaks.
Monday: Upper 1

1. Bench (intensity): 2-3 x 2--5
2. Press (volume): 5 x 5--8
3. Dips: 4 x AMRAP
4. Triceps Pushdown: 3 x 10--15
5. Curls: 3 x 10--15
6. 6a. Decline weighted sit-ups: 3 x AMRAP
7. 6b. Push-ups: 3 x AMRAP

Tuesday: Lower 1

1. Deadlift (intensity): 2--3 x 2--5
2. Squat (volume): 5 x 5--8
3. Chin-ups: 3 x AMRAP
4. Lat pulldowns: 3 x 10--15
5. Back extension: 4 x 10--15
6. 6a. Decline weighted sit-ups: 3 x AMRAP
7. 6b. Push-ups: 3 x AMRAP

Wednesday: power / conditioning / mobility / skill / ???

1. Trap bar shrugs: 3 x 10--15 ?
2. Front squats: 5 x 5 (RPE 6--7) ?
3. Cleans: 5 x 3 ?
4. Calves: 4 x 15--20 ?
5. Farmer Carry: ?? ?
6. Dumbbell pullovers: 4 x 10--15 ?

Thursday: Upper 2

1. Press (intensity): 2--3 x 2--3
2. Bench (volume): 5 x 5--8
3. Incline DBP: 4 x 8--12
4. Delts: 5 x 10--15 ?
5. Overhead triceps extension: 3 x 10--15
6. Curls: 3 x 10--15
7. 7a. Decline weighted sit-ups: 3 x AMRAP
8. 7b. Push-ups: 3 x AMRAP

Friday: Lower 2

1. Squat (intensity): 2--3 x 2--5
2. Deadlift (volume): 3--5 x 5
3. Rows: 5 x 8--12
4. Glute-ham raise: 3 x 8--15
5. 5a. Decline weighted sit-ups: 3 x AMRAP
6. 5b. Push-ups: 3 x AMRAP