#Llama 2 Chat

[apcseo]

Meta and Microsoft Unveil Llama 2: An Open-Source, Versatile AI Language Model

In a groundbreaking collaboration, Meta and Microsoft have unleashed Llama 2, a powerful large language AI model designed to revolutionise the AI landscape. This sophisticated language model is available for public use, free of charge, and boasts exceptional versatility. In a strategic move to enhance accessibility and foster innovation, Meta has shared the code for Llama 2, allowing researchers to explore novel approaches for refining large language models.

Llama 2 is no ordinary AI model. Its unparalleled versatility allows it to cater to diverse use cases, making it an ideal tool for established businesses, startups, lone operators, and researchers alike. Unlike fine-tuned models that are engineered for specific tasks, Llama 2’s adaptability enables developers to explore its vast potential in various applications.

Microsoft, as a key partner in this venture, will integrate Llama 2 into its cloud computing platform, Azure, and its renowned operating system, Windows. This strategic collaboration is a testament to Microsoft’s commitment to supporting open and frontier models, as well as their dedication to advancing AI technology. Notably, Llama 2 will also be available on other platforms, such as AWS and Hugging Face, providing developers with the freedom to choose the environment that suits their needs best.

During the Microsoft Inspire event, the company announced plans to embed Llama 2’s AI tools into its 360 platform, further streamlining the integration process for developers. This move is set to open new possibilities for innovative AI solutions and elevate user experiences across various industries.

Meta’s collaboration with Qualcomm promises an exciting future for Llama 2. The companies are working together to bring Llama 2 to laptops, phones, and headsets, with plans for implementation starting next year. This expansion into new devices demonstrates Meta’s dedication to making Llama 2’s capabilities more accessible to users on-the-go.

Llama 2’s prowess is partly attributed to its extensive pretraining on publicly available online data sources, including Llama-2-chat. Leveraging publicly available instruction datasets and over 1 million human annotations, Meta has honed Llama 2’s understanding and responsiveness to human language.

In a Facebook post, Mark Zuckerberg, the visionary behind Meta, highlighted the significance of open-source technology. He firmly believes that an open ecosystem fosters innovation by empowering a broader community of developers to build with new technology. With the release of Llama 2’s code, Meta is exemplifying this belief, creating opportunities for collective progress and inspiring the AI community.

The launch of Llama 2 marks a pivotal moment in the AI race, as Meta and Microsoft collaborate to offer a highly versatile and accessible AI language model. With its open-source approach and availability on multiple platforms, Llama 2 invites developers and researchers to explore its vast potential across various applications. As the ecosystem expands, driven by Meta’s vision for openness and collaboration, we can look forward to witnessing groundbreaking AI solutions that will shape the future of technology.

This post was originally published on: Apppl Combine

[guerillamarketingguy]

AI's Role in Revolutionizing Customer Segmentation: The Future Is Now

AI's Role in Revolutionizing Customer Segmentation Read more 🔗

In today’s digital marketing realm, understanding your customer base is no longer just advantageous—it’s essential. Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolutionizes customer segmentation by offering transformative potential and enabling precise targeting. AI’s integration leads to increased accuracy, efficiency, discovery of new customer insights, real-time data processing, and continuous refinement…

[hedgehog-moss]

Here are 7 little facts about my donkey and how his summer is going :)

1. I received an anon the other day asking if Pirou was still a working donkey who carries my firewood for me, and the answer is yes. I've been cutting some branches from the big cherry tree that fell down the other day, and Pirlouit has been valiantly carrying them to the woodshed—fun fact, for this activity he likes to wear his ears like this:

Probably because this T position is reminiscent of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, which is how Pirlouit perceives himself as he carries heavy logs for me. He's willing, but his martyrdom should be acknowledged.

Here's Poldine acknowledging it with a nose kiss, because Poldine.

I stopped so they could have their little chat.

2. Pirou has been chatting with a lot of new friends lately—we met these horses on a walk and he was so happy to stop and touch noses with them while making equid noises. Llamas are good with the nose-touching but their llama noises are just less interesting to Pirlouit. He had such interested ears here! "Finally a serious grown-up conversation"

We also met this goose during the same walk and Pirlouit was a lot less eager to go say hi to her. The goose was yelling threats at us and we prudently stayed away, and Pirou was clearly thinking "this bird is doing a better job at protecting her home from intruders than Pandolf ever could" (it's true, Pan assumes intruders are friends until proven otherwise)

3. You'll notice that there are houses in this pic! Our walks got longer and longer until one day we went all the way to the village (it took 1 hour 20min at Pirlouit's leisurely pace). I was so proud of him. I've been trying to convince my friends to go to the village on donkeyback (this requires two people, because you can ride Pirlouit but you can't tell him where to go unless there's someone holding his rope and leading the way)—my friends were reluctant because they still sort of perceive Pirou as the feral animal terrified of everything that he was when I got him. They know he's made a lot of progress but going to town on donkeyback still seemed foolhardy.

So we've been riding Pirlouit in the woods, in familiar environments, and we also went to town with him but without riding him. He was amazingly calm and brave! There's a river that cuts the village in two and the first time we went, we stopped before the bridge, since it's pretty narrow and cars would have to drive very close to Pirlouit, we didn't want to risk it. We just went to say hi to the librarian who lives on the right side of the river, but since Pirlouit was very serene, we did cross the bridge the second time.

He did not care at all about cars driving very close to him (he had one familiar human on either side of him and the drivers were very considerate and went slowly), which emboldened us to stop for a drink on the terrace of the coffeeshop on main street (< also a narrow street with cars driving by quite close to Pirlouit). There was just no problem at all, Pirou let total strangers rub his forehead and was more interested in iced tea than main street traffic.

It was a hot day and we gave him all the ice cubes from our drinks and he chewed them enthusiastically.

4. We made a stop at the pharmacy on our way home because we had another 1 hour 20min walk ahead and I had a blister, and the pharmacist noticed my donkey parked outside his shop and in a determined tone he said, "I want to try something." He took one of the donkey milk soaps from the overpriced-Provence-soaps-for-tourists display and opened the door and offered it for Pirlouit to sniff.

... I'm not sure what he was expecting—for my donkey to go "ohhh this smells like Mother's milk and aloe vera 🥺"—but unfortunately nothing happened.

(4. bis—Sorry, this 4th fact was anticlimactic.)

5. Pirlouit is now the proud owner of a surcingle. Not for equestrian vaulting and not for his log-carrying job because I don't know if it would be solid enough for the weight of a bag full of logs, but I'd like to tie bags or baskets to it to take Pirlouit grocery shopping, now that I know he's okay with going to town :) He even seems to enjoy the adventure, and the attention he gets from children.

And actually I shouldn't write off equestrian vaulting because Pirou is also remarkably chill with weird things happening on his back. I used to be very careful to climb on his back in a quick & fluid way so he wouldn't spook (because he used to! a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil used to spook him!) but now that my friends are riding him I can confirm we've reached a point where you can climb on Pirlouit's back in any way you want and he'll just be like "...... sure"

6. I almost forgot to mention that Pirou turned 15 last month, according to his ID papers :) Donkeys have a longer life expectancy than horses, they can live 30-40 years on average so he's still a young lad really. Happy 15th birthday Pirlouit :)

7. I wanted to conclude with a nice aesthetic pic of Pirou's shadow on the road during all those walks, like I did with Poldine, but unfortunately donkey shadows do not have the chic je-ne-sais-quoi of llama shadows. Pirlouit looks like a hammerhead shark wearing a tiny fez and that's not his fault.

[bunnliix]

Most to least likely in Skz to casually give you their black card for purchases

Since I'm having a lil trouble with a writing block today, I figured I'd post this up haha

Also, this is totally inspired by the video of Woozi giving Vernon his card to pay for a bubble wand.

Chan

This man would be so casual about it. You wouldn’t even need to ask. He’d notice that you're getting ready to go out, and instead of handing it to you, because he knows you'd try and hand it back, he would slip it into your wallet or purse for you to find later. He wants to take care of you, and this is one way that he can. He'd also act like it's nothing to give you his card, because to him it truly is nothing. Taking care of you is his biggest priority besides Stray Kids.

2. Minho

He would be casual about giving you his card, yes but it doesn't mean that you'd get it easily. He just wouldn't want to make a big deal about handing it to you for you to buy whatever it is that you want. He'd still be a cheeky bastard about it, just quietly and only for you to see. However, he also enjoys that you allow him to care for you in this way, and never truly minds you using it. Plus you use it to buy treats and toys for his cats, which he loves because his SO loves his cats as much as he does

3. Seungmin

Seungmin would also not make a huge deal about it. He would however be similar to Minho, and be cheeky about giving it to you. He would tease you a bit before and as he handed it to you, but never really withheld it because he knew you wouldn't do anything stupid with it and he enjoys seeing what you bring home from your shopping trips. You always give him little shows of what you bought. And if it's not clothing, you'd just be showing it off while telling him what exactly it is. He'd sit there smiling as this was his reward, listening to you chatting away as you showed off what you used his card for.

4. Felix

Felix would be super sweet about it. He wouldn't hesitate to give you his card, but he also wouldn't be silent about it. He'd make sure you knew that you could use it to buy anything. He'd also say something cute to you as he handed it over. He didn't mind what you bought with his money, he wanted you to feel happy, and if buying things you liked did that, then that was perfectly fine. He knows you'd have such a big smile on your face as you showed off all of your purchases, and no matter how much or how little you spent, it's all worth it to see your smile.

5. Hyunjin

Look, he's here because as much of a drama llama as he can be, I think the drama would more so extend to him begging and pleading to go with you. He'd want to be a part of the shopping experience, not just see the results of it like some of the others would be fine with. So either you'd have to give him a good reason why he can't come with, and then he'd give you the card after some whining, or you'd have to agree to him coming with. You'd still have to show off everything after you got home, even if he went with you. He loves seeing you dress up and show off for him.

6. Innie

He's a menace, he's gonna be loud about giving you his card. He will tease you about it, but only around the boys, he'd never do it publicly, or loud enough to attract strangers attention. He'd never be that much of an ass about it, but you'd have to put up with his antics before he'd hand over that black card. You'd learn that he did it out of a teasing love, knowing that he never had any problem about giving it to you, he just liked to be a menace.

7. Han

Okay, he's going to be pretty braggy to people that he has enough money to spend on you, that he has a black card that he'll freely give out to you. He's told you many times that he doesn't care what you use it for, and willingly hands it to you for even the smallest purchases. He brags to the boys way too much about it, but everyone knows it's because he's proud to be able to provide for you. He also is very touchy as he gives you the card, making sure you know he wants a show when you come back home afterwards.

8. Changbin

This man is going to be the loudest and most proud man about the fact that you're using his card. He doesn't care who hears him, he will brag to everyone about it, but mostly the other boys. He's just so proud to have enough money that allows for him to provide for you. He wants to treat his partner right, and that includes letting you spend his money any way you want. He'd definitely want you to show him everything you bought, even if it's something little and not worth showing off. He wants to see what you liked so much that you bought it. He's just a very vocal person about this, he's the type of person to brag about their partner, and this gives him yet another reason to.

[femoso-seben]

Livestock AU pt. 2

pt.1,

- Kangal! Price and Llama! Alejandro are very proud of their land and territory. Alejandro only lets in a few dogs Price of course they’re old friends and Border Collie! Gaz, on one condition, Alejandro does the discipline.

- The ewes hybrid finds Alejandro very handsome and he always gets the treats the farmer gives the sheep. The small Lambs will scream and cry if they get lost and Alejandro will go rescue them.

- When rams are introduced into the herd Alejandro has to give the poor ram hybrid a long list of Dos and Don’ts (mostly don’t). Alejandro is highly protective of his ewes and will not take disrespect towards them.

- the heard of sheep is renounced for their wool production so theirs about 6,000 sheep Gaz is the only heard dog working there (because Al can not stand anyone else than agreeable Gaz)

- Gaz has befriended most of the Ewes and has a good rapport with most of the Ewes there is one older one, who gives him shit and calls him Sonny, Honey, and Sweetpea while not moving.

- Gaz does a lot of bearding of the sheep walking the parameter and reporting back to Alejandro. Alejandro spends most of his time with the Lambs or pregnant Ewes who walk the field. He chooses to be in the center of the herd.

- Price speaks with the head farmer often with Laswell to protect the farm better, then spread out to tell their underlings.

- Kangel! Ghost mostly walks around the perimeter of the farm’s land marking his territory and scenting the area to keep pesty coyotes and wolves away. Usually Barn Cat! Roach follows after Ghost

- Ghost struggles to socialize with the other dogs and sees all herds as his true family. The Farmers had to socialize with him and Ghost bonded with Price first, shadowing him before branching off

- Ghost have the deepest scariest bark and the first time all the herd animals heard it they ran for it hiding behind their guardian.

- Ghost also prefers the cats for their quietness (except for Roach who can have a one-way conversation with himself) Ghost tried to snide Laswell once got the smacking of his life (Laswell has his most respect besides Price)

- Great Pyrenees! Soap was added before Gaz but after Ghost. When the fowls were added they were too noisy for either Price or Ghost. So soap was brought in. Sociable and talkative will know all the inside bird drama from the duck, chicken, and Goose Hybrids.

- Soap spends most of his move getting the birds into their fields and feeding them before walking the inner area looking to help anyone who needs it. Usually ends up Chilling with Rudy since Al forbids him in the sheep acres (gets very sad when Gaz has to lead to do his job and not chat with him. Have tried begging Alejandro still refuses. Did cry himself asleep he really wanted to hug the fluffy ewes and lambs)

- Soap sometimes shadows Ghost and slowly his happy calmish demeanor rubs off on Soap and becomes his second bonded friend. After the morning recon, they explore the scents to see if theirs any threats, and then Soap runs off to tell Price and gather the boys

- Soap is a strong guardian dog once the fowl were moved to a field and a building was erect Soap ends up fighting off the Coyotes often at night who try to snatch one of his gossiping birdies. Ghost does Join since that’s where the action is.

- Coyote! Valeria and Soap have the most enemies-to-lover vibes while having the gayest vibes too. They flirt but in like a hateful way. Valeria has a mate somewhere and goes after the fowls mainly when she and her mate are having pups or to piss off Soap.

- Barn Cat! Laswell was gotten before any of the livestock and when both Alejandro and Price were added she instantly put them in their place. Al and Price like having her import and her inner network of barn cats from other barns do a lot of inter-barn cat political activities.

- Roach and Laswell sometimes go off for a few days to the cat conference and come back with knowledge! Once Rat! Makarov invaded and wreak other barns Laswell was very adamant about catching that criminal

- Laswell needed more men and told the Farmer she needed more soldiers that’s where Barn Cat! Farah and Alex were added and they have been waging war

- Makarov and his forces once trapped Alex and got his leg caught onset some debris. He has a permanent limp but still works as a Barn cat.

- Makarov and Konni forces live under the dirt and in tight spots spying.

- the farmers got so annoyed they gathered SpecGru hunting association (hunting dogs ready to hunt rats) they got a lot of Makarov’s forces but rats reproduce quickly so they came back

- lastly added to the man Guardian and the farm were the Goats (mostly use to make Goat cheese) was Alpaca! Rudy. A very pretty hybrid that Al instantly was attracted to. Rudy is a good alarm system but isn’t likely to fight but will.

- Alejandro saw Rudy in another field and thought about jumping the fence to chat but Gaz put him in his place

- the first-time livestock guardian 141! Ran into Wolf! Graves his shadow company pack were stalking a Goat and Rudy alerted everyone.

- a tense stand-off between Ghost, Price, and Soap. They had to use intimidation to scare off the wolves.

- German Shepard! Nik is the Farmer's personal pet and likes to come around to collect the chicken eggs and sometimes tell wild stories to the young guardian dogs (Gaz and Soap haven't decided of his tails are real or not)

- Young Barn Cat! Reader tends to follow Laswell around and sit in the garden and sunbathe, stalk the chicks, and get chased off by Soap.

- Kitten! Reader and Makarov got beef after the giant ass Rat Makarov popped up next to Kitten! Reader. 141 are now on the lookout for the giant rat.

- soon once Cat! Reader grows up they will join the fight against Makarov and Konni group

--------------

Any request for this AU is welcomed!

inspired a little by @tacticalanklebiter3000 and @frogchiro

[dreamyyesenia]

Always Keep Simming - Welcome to Selvadorada!

When the Blackburn‘s, accompanied by Aileen‘s mother Evangeline (in the pink dress) and her grandfather Alexander, arrived in Selvadorada, it was late in the afternoon. The kids were exhausted and took their naps. As it had been some time since Aileen went on a vacation with her mum and grandfather, they decided to celebrate by playing their favorite family game - Don’t Wake the Llama!

Aileen cooked dinner together with Alexander and they took the opportunity to chat. Her grandfather assured her he was fine. However, while eating dinner, Aileen had a feeling her grandfather was troubled by something. He wasn’t his usual self, always trying to solve hard problems and philosophizing. He seemed sad and lost in his thoughts.

TW: Talk about grief, depression, addiction and loss of a loved one.

Only if you’re untroubled by these topics continue reading below 🫶🏻

In fact, as soon as Aileen asked him what was on his mind after dinner, he couldn’t hold back his tears. Aileen had seen her grandfather cry only once- at the funeral of his wife, Aileen‘s grandmother (Gen 2), Delilah O‘Neil. Alexander had never gotten over her death. He had struggled with depression right after her passing but with therapy, meditation, self-care and lots of time spent with his grandchildren, he had gotten better. Turned out that since he moved back to Strangerville, he had felt lonely again. Luke was a YA now and Evangeline and Rhys were always busy with work. On top of that, Strangerville was so far away from Forgotten Hollow (the graveyard). He was left alone with his thoughts and missed talking to his wife - even if it was only her ghost. Delilah and him had gone through hell together- mainly because of Alexander’s former life as a famous criminal (Oracle in the criminal career) and drug addict. Delilah had never lost faith in him, even when he’d been in prison… she had been his rock, the one person he could count on, who’d believe he could become a better version of himself. And he’d succeeded, thanks to her. Aileen herself was also still grieving her grandmother. She had passed away right after she had aged up to an elderly sim. It seemed like their time together had been stolen from them… But Aileen had an idea💡… Ever since her grandmother’s passing, Aileen had been researching if it was possible to revive a sim. It was the reason she became a scientist. A task impossible to achieve? Something no one had ever dared to do? Not for her, she liked being faced with seemingly impossible challenges, overcoming them would be that much greater. She was fearless and for her family, she’d give her all. 🪄

Alexander was first surprised and then very hopeful about Aileen‘s idea. 🥹🫶🏻

[teddybearsandspaceships]

For my own memory, in the hopes that Scar will put yesterday´s stream on his VODs channel because it was amazing and featured among other things:

Scar calling Etho “the Maple Prince”

Xisuma trolling Scar by mixing up Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Harry Potter

Mumbo showing Scar the llama death chamber, and Scar praising him for being weird

Scar and Mumbo having a conversation about social media and AI

Scar telling Etho not to worry and that he´s thinking about moving the mail box himself (after all he had two best-selling redstone shops so surely he´s qualified!); Etho: well now I´m worried… But right afterwards Etho says people forget that Scar is actually quite skilled at the game

Etho is just interrupting people today and Scar suggests just collecting people to procrastinate

I approve of Scar encouraging Etho to participate in MCC again

Etho asking how Scar got stamps already, Scar saying he´s been a part of a lot of Life series, Etho: “you and your wily words, you can get anything you want…”

Big Salmon decreed mercury = good

Cleo shows up! “lag busting” is the new “it lagged into my inventory”

Scar definitely not encouraging Cleo to kill all other villagers after setting up her own trading hall. Cleo wants organic free range villagers.

Cleo trying to sell the monstrosolith as a giant billboard

Cleo proved she can do valley girl voice, Scar and Etho are shocked. Then they´re discussing what "no cap" means. (Etho on stream: “big true, no cap.”) They talked about poggers, and Scar going wild with his pants off (after Cleo exploded them), and Etho didn´t know what Stitch is.

Scar starts talking about Disney and it takes him a minute to realize Cleo and Etho have run away

More maple syrup discussion (Etho telling Cleo if she likes the brand she gets it´s fine), and a frantic ride-by and log-out by Grian

Cleo and Scar want to start a cult. Etho wants to be a frat instead, something cooler. Frats have fewer rules, they´re more like “pants off, it´s fine.” Scar says he´d ask too many questions to be in a cult, Etho points out he could be cult leader. Cleo immediately offers to be his second, the person who does all the dirty work.

Shoe talk. Scar shows off his twelve-year-old shoes on stream.

Making fun of Etho´s set-up! Scar is horrified. Etho talks about his Kleenex box where his mike stands. It matches his desk! It has his settings written on it! Also his space bar broke during DO2 but he got used to it. Scar decides they need reinforcements and calls Bdubs over. Ren also shows up.

Etho mentions he didn´t get a Decked Out 2 desk mat (took to long to think about it) and Tango logs in to write in chat that he´s disappointed and logs out again

A wild Iskall approaches in the distance. Etho: trident brother!

Etho invented the minecart shuffle

Cleo: "I always want you to kill people, Scar. ...no not Etho."

And Etho leaves to shuffle snow like the Canadian cryptid he is

(how dare Ren interrupt Bdubs before he can give his current opinion on the kleenex box)

"Etho´s not one to lie" (are you sure about that? ^^)

...I look away for two seconds and did Mumbo just call himself a panda in chat. I was later told: a panda fiat! Which is a car, and Iskall is a Ferrari

Moonlanding with Gem! And some talk about bases and criticism. Gem: "I love making Etho mad," “Let Etho be mad,” What´s he gonna do, all he´s gonna do is go oh snappers ^^ "Scar, you are my Etho"

[red-ruby-rambles]

HERMITCRAFT SEASON 10 LIVE REACTION

Scar's POV:

Nice binoculars

MOB ZOO!!! I literally did this in a single player creative world once.

Why is scar all alone?

THEY ADDED JOEL AND NOT HIS WIFE??!?!!? MASSIVE L!!! also hi skizzleman. Yippeee Mumbo is actually here!!!1 love to see him.

AYO DOC AND ETHO???/ hE'S HITTING THEM BACKSHOTS

Hermitcraft with life series mechanics lmao demise 2

Scar is such a little thief

"It's a corset" LMAO

"We all dig down together" Scar, impulse, and gem did not understand this.

~getting overstimulated by my bf~

Grian learns to never dig straight down. OMG IMP IS A RED LIFE LITERALLY LIFE SERIES!

The Scar and imp duo is going crazy, love their dynamic, I don't ship tho

~it got too hot in my room and am topless from this point forward~

MUMBO! TITS OUT FOR MUMBO!

"Wow, you do have a big crack." Who let him say that? who's writing these scripts??

noooo they all left Scar :< I'll be your neighbor Scar.

nasty vile sound, of course Scar made it.

cute little boat... SCAR PUT SOME DAMN PANTS ON BOY!!!

"Just Bdubs and I!" love it!

My bf's guinea pig really loves Tango apparently...

DUDE IS GOING ON A JOURNEY TO COMMIT DEFORESTATION that's dedication right there.

NO NO NO OH HE he didn't drown. phew!

don't kill the llamas ... WHY IS IT AS SOON AS CUB SHOWS UP SCAR STARTS MURDERING THINGS.

Scar detonating Cubs trap like:

CONVEX IS OVER!!!

omg he goes to Bdubs for help and support in his time of need this interaction is so cute and wholesome... This is why I ship Scardubs literally so cute.

"Maybe I just off myself." BDUBS DON'T DO IT YOU ARE LOVED!

Bdubs showing Squawkers 3 to Scar was so wholesome omfg

"I want you to win." DUDE IM CRYING RN I LOVE THESE TWO.

How do they have crafters already???

"The box in maneuver." how did bro get into this cartoonish scenario?

TRAIN? TRAIN? TRAIN! I LOVE TRAINS! THE SWAGON TRAIN! chat... this is epic.

excellent video scar thank you for blessing my eyeballs today.

Follow my Tumblr or you'll be Scared for life!!!!!

[jonquilyst]

Day 8 - Challenge Day

Today, contestants will be sent out into the great wild to survive in nature for one day. They will spend the night and in the morning, everyone will be racing back to camp! The first team with all of their members back at camp wins invincibility.

Today's Confessional: Poppy Sparks

"Wait... So we have to live outside in the woods for an entire day with no food, water or anything?! Uh... I don't know if I can do that. That sounds terrifying! What's this crazy host thinking?"

Exactly, Poppy. The only supplies you'll be given are tents. Everything else, you'll have to figure it out yourself! Even if you don't find any food, I'm sure you'll live!

And thus, the contestants were let loose to fend for themselves. The Screaming Llamas got a head start by fishing at the local water hole, while Kenzie (KC) discovered that she forgot to shower this morning... Not good!

Aster (SL) and Alexis (KC) bravely left the makeshift camp to search for supplies. Meanwhile, Logan (KC) and Anika (KC) managed to befriend each other! They chatted for hours, so I think it's safe to say that Logan may have gotten in on Anika's alliance!

Kenzie was too pissed off to do anything, so she declared today as the "WORST DAY EVER" and went to hibernate in the tent. By the way, this has been, like, the fifth "worst day ever" since she's been here.

Lilium (SL) volunteered to search for the most vital part of this adventure: food. And lucky for her, she managed to find a cherry tree! She brought home enough cherries to feed almost everyone! She shared her loot with her team and, because she's a sweet girl, she decided to share with the Killer Cowplants as well! Cassie (KC) was thankful to receive something edible.

It's hard to stay clean when there's no soap and clean water... Most of the contestants, including Aster, began to stink by the time night fell, but that didn't stop Cassie and Poppy from exchanging dreamy words to each other!

Morning arrived, which meant that it was time for the race back to camp! Aster and Kenzie are the first of their teams to arrive, but the last 3 contestants were Dahlia, Alexis, and Logan; all from the Killer Cowplants...

That can only mean one thing: the Screaming Llamas were the first to have all 5 of their members back at camp!

THE SCREAMING LLAMAS WIN!

The teams have been neck and neck so far with 2 victories each! Will the Screaming Llamas begin a winning streak? Or will the Killer Cowplants continue this back and forth trend? Who knows, but for now the Killer Cowplants will have to convene at the campfire for the elimination ceremony...

@micrathene-w @prismaticpotentia @seyvia @wastelandwhisperer @mayzie-grobe @thebramblewood @akitasimblr @comfyinn @softle0 @simsinfinitylt @ashubii

[hellsfirekeepsyouwarm]

All Hell Breaks Loose Masterlist

Simon "Ghost" Riley x F!Reader

Summary: Simon can't fucking wait to get home to you. The only normal thing he can pick up easily when he's let back into society is going home. So when he walks up to the front door, and sets foot in your shared home, he's waiting for the feeling to wash over him. Calmness, comfort, warm and kind. But they never came, only the dread that runs up on his spine. Nothing greets him but an empty bed in an empty house. And he will raise hell to bring you back home.

Series Warnings: Angst so much angst, kidnapping, military men (that needs it's own warning), blood, injuries, weapons, fighting, language, graphic scenes, slight spoiler for MW2, bad and impossible plot but we are going with it anyway

Part 1 -> Part 2 -> Part 3 -> Part 4

Taglist: @cabreezer0117 @multitargaryen @embers-of-alluring @batmanunicorns523 @5seastar @sweetybuzz25 @levisbebe @galagcica @briefwinnerpersonaturtle @afro-hispwriter @v-v-x-x @levi-llama @kat-nee @kuwizo @thefairybird @haythemsychopathicgirlfriend @woodeelf @sinon36 @actuallyanita @khjssss @randomchick546 @sinon36 @elliestark13 @jillvalentinesworld @kaghost @lumpypoll @iwaizumicumslut @uxieme @kyuupidwrites @eatingtheworldsoffanfiction @lennohemm @bittergomez @ghostfavhoe @maviee @supremekid @yaaamadaa-blog

Please write a comment if you want to be tagged or you want to be removed from the tags of this series. Thank you very much guys for reading and interacting. I'm always open for a chat, so feel free to send me stuff you guys want to talk about. <3

[uloelu]

Location: Petting Zoo, Newcrest

(transcript under the cut)

Previous (Part 1) | Next (Part 3)

Part 2...two months late 😅 The funny thing is, these captions have been written since the end of April! I wish I had a better reason for the delay other than work, life, and lack of motivation, but unfortunately, I don't. I'm excited to share Part 3 with you soon! It's the last part of the foster mothers' episode, and if you read Part 1, you can probably guess what's going to happen in it.

Side note: when taking these screenshots, I bizarrely decided to test out a new Reshade to see if I liked it better. Unfortunately, I didn't, and it kind of messed up the vibe of the pictures. I had to do a lot of editing to get these pics looking as normal as possible, so if they look a bit different than my previous episodes, now you know why! In the future, everything should be back to normal. Sorry about that!

Episode 5: Mother, Mother - Part 2

Scene 3 - Petting Zoo, Newcrest

[Evelyn arrives at the Newcrest Petting Zoo with Bobbie, her niece.]

Bobbie: This is the coolest place ever, auntie! Thank you, thank you!

Evelyn: My pleasure. Feel free to check out all the cute animals. Just make sure you stay where I can see you.

Bobbie (sprinting away): Wheeee!

Evelyn: Bobbie, wait!

[Evelyn begins to check out the animals.]

Evelyn: These animals are pretty—wait, is that llama looking at me?

Geeta Kaur (walking by and waving): Evelyn, hi!

Evelyn: Geeta?

Geeta: In the flesh! Lovely to meet you outside of emails and video chats. How are the teens doing?

Evelyn: Honestly? Pretty good! Didn’t expect them to adapt as well as they have.

Geeta: As for you and Audreyanna?

Evelyn: She’s good, too. Slightly frazzled. And me...well… (scoffs) Perimenopause, classroom politics, the usual. It’s nothing, really.

Geeta (concerned): Doesn’t sound like nothing.

Evelyn: I don’t want to take up too much of your time.

Geeta: Perish the thought. I’m practically prehistoric compared to these animals. My grandson has likely forgotten that I exist.

Evelyn: You sure?

Geeta: Of course! Social work has made me quite a good listener.

[The two sit down on a nearby fountain.]

Evelyn: I almost feel embarrassed for even thinking about these things. But after two months with these kids, I expected...well, I don’t know what I expected. More? For them to need me?

Geeta: They do need you, Evelyn. Even more than to give them a place to lay their heads at night. Irving’s got his diagnosis, Wes is struggling to stay on the right path…

Evelyn: True, true, but they don’t like to talk to me about those things. I can barely get a word out of either of them. And take Chloe—the girl has every second of her day planned out. I’d love to talk to her as a woman, you know? Ask her about life, crushes, college. I don’t even know if any of them are going to prom!

Geeta: Hm, that is tricky. You can’t make them talk to you—you can only show that you’re a safe person for them to confide in. (looks down at her phone) Here—I have a forum that I recommend to all of my foster parents. Should have told you and Audreyanna about it ages ago. It’s a great place to find support when you need it.

Evelyn: Thank you, Geeta. You’re the best.

[cilinsights]

Meta AI: tudo sobre nova inteligência artificial para WhatsApp, Instagram e Messenger

A Meta anunciou nesta quarta-feira (27) o lançamento da Meta AI, a inteligência artificial da empresa dona do Facebook, Instagram e WhatsApp. A novidade foi anunciada durante a Meta Connect 2023, conferência anual da empresa de tecnologia dos Estados Unidos. A princípio, o recurso estará disponível na versão Beta apenas para norte-americanos, e funciona como uma espécie de "Chat GPT" integrado aos mensageiros da empresa. Os usuários podem fazer perguntas sobre os mais variados assuntos e receber as resposta no chat dos aplicativos.

O CEO da Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, anunciou ainda o lançamento de recursos de IA para criar figurinhas em todos os aplicativos da companhia. Em breve, os usuários poderão também editar fotos ou até mesmo co-criar imagens com amigos no Instagram. A seguir, veja mais detalhes sobre as novidades.

Figurinhas com IA

Os novos recursos de IA da Meta começam com o lançamento de figurinhas criadas com IA. Usando a tecnologia do Llama 2 e o modelo fundamental para geração de imagens chamado Emu, a ferramenta transforma comandos de texto em adesivos exclusivos que podem ser compartilhados nas conversas. Conforme a Meta, a novidade será lançada para um grupo restrito de usuários de língua inglesa em outubro no WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram e Facebook Stories.

Edição de imagens com IA

A companhia também anunciou a possibilidade de editar fotos usando IA, mas o recurso ainda não tem data certa de lançamento. No instagram, a IA vai funcionar nas ferramentas chamadas "Restyle" e "Backdrop". O primeiro permite recriar imagens aplicando estilos visuais que o usuários descrevem. Já O "Backdrop" altera a cena ou o plano de fundo da sua imagem. Na prática o usuário poderá descrever edições com "aquarela", "rodeado de cachorros", "colagem de fotos e revistas", para fazer mudanças em fotos. Conforme a Meta, imagens criadas com IA terão marcadores para indicar que foram criadas usando a tecnologia para evitar que as pessoas confundam esse tipo de postagem com conteúdo gerado por humanos.

fonte:

[thegooddoctorkiebeth]

RP Interactions Want/Will/Won't List

What is a Want / Will / Won't List?

A Want / Will / Won't list is a tool for establishing consent, setting expectations, and enforcing personal boundaries within relationships of all types. I learned it from Sexologist and Clinical Therapist Dr. Lindsay Doe, whose work I'm a general fan of, and find it intensely helpful when communciating both desires and boundaries with a new playmate for any activity from the NSFW kind to DND.

There are a few ways to establish a new Want / Will / Won't list.

1: Make your own and share it publicly ( I'm doing this one right now! )

Making and posting your own list means Defining The Relationship its for ( in this case, RP relationships in general ) and filling out each field with examples of your personal preferences, and posting it where folks can find it.

2: Make your list while a specific individual is making theirs for That Specific Relationship Between You, and share them privately with one another for comparison and discussion.

3: Word Association Game! If making a long ass list that people may not even bother to read sounds like a crock of shit you don't even wanna expend effort on ( been there ) you can also have Want / Will / Won't discussions with the specific person you're getting to know, taking turns putting forward interactions and behaviors for the other person to say if that is a Want, Will, or Won't for them, allowing you to respond in kind where it lands for you, and discussing the nuances of each others boundaries before its their turn to put forward something and have you say Want, Will, or Won't.

This method works best with someone whom you have some rapport with, at least to the point that you're both comfortable laughing off awkwardness.

Alright alright, I hear you saying. Neat idea, Lore, but what do the catagories MEAN?????

Good question! Let's get into it.

WANT is your ideal.

Ideal RP partner behaviors, ideal plots, ideal communication methods and frequency, What Does Getting Everything You Want Look Like To You? List out minimum 30 things about that Absolute Ideal Relationship for you that are Within A Partner's Ability To Contribute to.

For me, off the top of my head, are things that would be on my RP Want List;

RP For Fun

No schedule or reply pressure

Partner is accessable for personal OOC chatting within an aquaitences understanding, no matter how close our characters may be

Partner is EXCITED about Aristel and how she fits into the Batman universe

Partner asks about Aristel and where she was during canon works, and desires to thread within those spaces of thought

Partner cares about character arcs and building relationships

Partner understands I Am An Adult Person With A Hobby

Writing with other adults

Partner Understands I Am Not A Batman Encylopedia And Is Willing To Teach Without Ridicule, and does not Make Me Feel Stupid for never having interacted with a given piece of media.

GOOFING OFF IN OOC CHAT

Planned arcs

Seat of pants interactions

Threads

Askbox interactions

Long replies

Short replies

Dialog heavy threads

Dialog exclusive threads

One off goofs

Starting new things and accepting most threads will not get capped off like novels if "finished" at all

Making art inspired by interactions to be shared privately first and publicly a day or two later

NSFW interactions in a private venue, such as Discord.

Partner willing to articulate their own boundaries BEFORE exploding and starting a fandom wide drama llama herding session.

I could go on, but the above is example of a good start.

WILL is the things You Are Okay With. Sure, I don't mind kinda vibes.

In my case, my Will list would contain

Saying hello or good morning when I've recently replied

Clarifying unclear language for my partner

Editing replies if I forgot or contradicted something

Watching or reading a piece of the Batman canon I'm normally disintetested in, provided it does not cause me distress to interact with

Notifying of absence when I know its coming

Notifying of return when able

Friendly OOC interactions with intent towards building a personal friendship outside of RP

Discussions of trauma and abuse in a private venue

Discussions of writing technique and skill building excercises

Playing with Partners with Icons or who use canon images in threads, provided they understand I Cannot Do The Same Because All Images Of Aristel Must Be Made By My Own Hand and I Don't Got Time For That Shit.

Playing with partners from Non Batman / DC universes

Playing with chatacters of the wider DC canon, understanding I Will Need To Be Taught About Them

Playing with other OCs

WON'T is HARD NO, do not ask me again unless I bring it up.

For me, this list includes;

Posting a schedule.

RPing NSFW with minors, mun or muse

Unplotted violence or violation

Unplotted cheating

Unplotted lying

Gotcha plots, if we are playing I Am Not Interested In Being Tricked At Any Point. If you're playing a Riddler, we need to be able to talk about the puzzle OOC and HOW Aristel might work within it to figure it out.

Explicit NSFW on Tumblr; when I play Ari sexy in a public venue it is the only interaction I see and I Hate It. You want the steamy stuff you need to demonstraight enough respect for her As A Chatacter before I'm willing to get hot n heavy.

That's the gist, and I'll be making more specfic lists in the future both for Aristel and Synapse.

Once I have Completed General Lists, it'll become part of the blog directory planned for the pinned post

[suesimming]

Dawn Of The Simfected: Let's Get Started

(4)

DON’T READ AHEAD from where you are.

DAY 1

This day picks up directly from the prologue. The information you have is what has been given to you in news broadcasts you’ve already seen. You’ve been instructed to stay in your home; however, at 8:00 AM the following emergency message appears on your television and is announced over the radio:

"For emergency purposes only, the town is allowing residents to leave their home for a brief interval to gather supplies at an emergency outpost established at the local grocery store. Supplies are limited so each household may only spend up to $500 at the grocery store and get 2 books. Residents are being released on a street-by-street basis. Residents on your street are released at 4:00 PM and must be back in their home by 6:30 PM. Streets will be blockaded (impassible) until the indicated times. Anyone not returning in time will encounter the police and have all purchased items confiscated.” 

Note – Order groceries by clicking on the fridge when you return home. You can visit other areas in the city but you are not allowed to leave San Myshuno world. Your sims don't have weapons yet so if a zombie does attack them, you can not intervene. If they push them away, you can save your sim but if they get bitten then it's over for them.

DAY 3

The first cases of the R8-GE virus has been reported in your town. From this point forward, any ill sims must be checked for the virus. All supernatural are considered infected and cannot join the household or be interacted with.

Your neighbour comes knocking, very worried about the news. As you chat away about these new develoments, your neigbour notices a item in your apartment that they like. They are wiling to trade for a boardgame so you can be more entertained. Give them the keyboard for a the Don't Wake the Llama game table and some milk and bread (order groceries)

DAY 7

The citizens of your town have demanded an opportunity to leave their homes for leisure. Your street is free to go anywhere they like between the hours of 6P - 9P. Stores are not open; you are not allowed to buy anything. This is a great opportunity to get out, stretch your legs, take a drive, and meet someone new like the Sim you’ve noted gardening and crafting on the rooftop across the way. You have a strange feeling you might need a friend like him pretty soon. Remember, if you touch anyone, you must do a virus check.

You also aren't a city sim like the rest, you know how to fish and you can see where things are going. Your Sim sneaks out everyday to catch fish for your household and at night, you study things like cooking and gardening because you know things will only get worse from here. Your neighbour sees your catch and offers to clean and cook it for you if they can have some. As you share a meal, you get to know each other. You decide to team up and stick together. Your new roommate brings with them a handgun and ammo. You never know when you might need it. Click on a random young adult or teenage Sim and add them to your household. Don't create a Sims to add as you want this to be as random as possible. Give your Sim the fisherman part time job.

Try and find Bill the rooftop Sim and make friends with him.

DAY 10

While the virus seems to be widespread your city has managed to contain it. In an effort to allow citizens to refresh their supplies, your street is being permitted to go to the grocery store only from 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM. All other businesses are closed.

When you return home, you go to check on your downstairs neighbour. He's a army vet and you'd like to pick his brain about what is happing and maybe sneak some groceries into his fridge as you know he's too proud to ask for help. When you get to his apartment, there's a note on the door "I am not a coward, but I am so strong. It is hard to die. P.S Take care of Soldier." Your neighbour liked giving you history lessons when ever you stop to have a chat. You recognize the words as being the last words of explorer Meriwether Lewis. With a heavy hart, you slowly push open the door. Soldier's is in his cage, all his toys and food neatly packed in bags. The bedroom door is closed and you decide to not look, you'd like to remember the old man as he was.

A: you add a pet to your household. B: one of the other neighbours takes Soldier, looking after a pet now is more work than you can handle.

DAY 14

In an attempt to quell local protests springing up, the city has yet again agreed to open up the leisure facilities to you. Your street is free to leave from 8:00A - 11:00A.

At the park, a fight breaks out. You don't want to get involved and risk getting exposed but you see a little old lady get knocked into the street and a car coming full speed, you jump to pull her out of the way. You sit her down on a bench to check if she's okay. You strike up a conversation and make a new friend. Before she goes, she gives you a knitting bag and a book with canning recipes stating that where she's going, she won't need them. You hug her tightly not caring about the risk and go home realizing that the world will never be the same again. As you get ready to leave, you notice the little old lady left her bag full of groceries.

Note - you Sim can now start knitting and canning. Order $400 of groceries.

DAY 17

Many cases of R8-GE virus have been reported in your city and the situation continues to deteriorate. The city has managed to contain it but for how long? The increased number of sick Sims has made public services hard to provide. At this point:

All services, with the exception of police and fire department, are not available. (When getting groceries, you'll have to use the produce stand in the neighbourhood) Power & Water: Due to decreased staff, the power plant can no longer provide 24-hour services. Hope you have candles!

Shift + Click on the mailbox and inact the water and power NAP plans.

DAY 20

The morning news update flips on promptly at 8:00A. Your town is seeking volunteers to get help to those who need it. This will raise morale and help reduce the criminal acts of desperation that are threatening the streets. Volunteers will be able to leave their home at any time today.

Food must be presented as a gift to someone from another household; however, the assumption is you would not directly touch them to give them the food. It can be prepared or unprepared food or something else that would be considered critical need during a time like this.

Your Sims must do as many odd jobs as possible.

As you walk home that night, you notice a homeless Sim behind the dumpster fighting with someone. As you get closer to help, you notice the Sim is covered in blood, they reach out to you but multiple hands appear from the darkness and drag the screaming Sim deeper into the darkness. You run home, shaking and feeling a deep primal fear like you are no longer top of the food chain.

“Flu my ass” you mumble as you lock your door.

DAY 23

The army is distributing supplies. You receive $500 groceries, medicine and two sleeping bags. You ask the young soldier what’s with the sleeping bags seeing as everyone is staying indoors. He looks around nervously and whispers that you might need it soon. As you go back up to your apartment, you notice some of your neighbours are packing up and leaving. You hear glass break in one of the apartments, as you get closer to the door something slams into it growling and scratching. As much as you want to believe it’s a dog, you think of the homeless sim and something tells you its almost time for you to leave too.

DAY 26

Disaster! Due to the general lack of maintenance, the town’s power plant explodes leaking deadly toxic waste into the water supply. While water can be purified for drinking/bathing, the fish population is decimated and any that survived are toxic to eat. No more fishing.

You decide to go down to the camp to get more information about what to do next and notice the camp is empty. All the medical staff and soldiers are gone. A single truck drives by with a small group of soldiers, your run after them yelling qeustions and begging them to stop. You are ignored but just before the truck dissapears around the corner, a soldier yells "Get to the roof, they'll fly you out!" You run home and pack what you can carry. Food and a few other small items. Your building doesn't have rooftop access but your new friend Bill does. Bill is happy to see you all and although it's windy on roof and cold, you feel a little safer. From this point forward, Sims can’t do anything at night other than play games, cook and sleep as there are no lights and it’s not safe at night. Your Sims will also be tested for the virus as of today whenever they come in contact with new Sims. Quit all jobs. It’s time to choose which Sim will be a scavenger, home-maker and builder.

Scavengers will be the only Sim to leave the lot from now on, choose whoever has the highest athletic skill or klepto trait. They will go dumpster diving, collect harvestable, fight other scavengers for supplies and protect the lot against raiders. Give this Sim the zombie hunter trait from the Sac zombie menu. Select auto shoot zombies and collect loot.

Home-makers will never leave the lot. They will garden, tend to animals, cook, care for children and seniors, clean and make clothing. Choose a Sim with the family-oriented trait for this role. You home-maker needs to knit as much clothing as they can to use for trading.

Builders use what scavengers find to create what is needed. Builders do repairs, use the workbench, make candles and upgrade items. They are also responsible for beekeeping and keeping foxes away.

Only the Sims selected for these jobs can do them, you can’t have a Scavenger cook food or a builder go fishing,

All outfit categories must be changed to your Sims everyday outfit. Think of how you would dress in this type of scenario. You can sleep in your underwear and have a warm jacket for winter.

DAY 30

The police are no longer able to contain the streets! There is a mad run on the few remaining supplies at the grocery store. Watching the chaose erupt down below, you decide it's time to arm yourself before what is happening below finds it's way to your rooftop. You decide to skip the grocery run and go to the abandoned medical camp. Maybe they left some ammo and weapons behind. You (scavenger Sim) make a run for the camp. The streets are empty. Abondoned cars, doors open, luggage strewn all around. In the distance you can see buildings on fire. You double check the gun strapped to your leg and decide to go low and fast.

You get to the med camp and find it fairly intact. You manage to get some first aid spray and 5 units of food (3 items=1 unit). As you look around, you stumble into a restricted area. You look for supplies and stumble upon the mother load. Large guns, lots of ammo and a crate full of items marked with lables like "infected repellend" and "confusion mist". You also find a file about a secret lab, a possible cure and one name Sigworth. Before you can grab anything else, you hear footsteps…lots of footsteps. You take a peak outside and see a crowd of Sims walking into the camp but something looks very off with these Sims.

Clothes torn, blood smeared all over them and their eyes are clouded. You can see some are badly injured but the pain doesn't affect them. As you watch and listen it hits you

"Holy shit, their zombies." you whisper as you watch them, paralized by fear. You notice they move like a herd of sheep, one following the other without looking around. Its time to get the heck out of here so you grab for your backpack only to knock over a tray sending its contents flying and turing the herd towards you.

Roll the dice: Even numbers - you see a gap in the fence outside the mobile unit you are in. You grab the bag with guns, the medical supplies and manage to get out a window and out of the camp before the heard surrounds you. Uneven numbers - the herd moves fast, you only have enough time to grab your backpack and a gun or the med supplies.

Back home you tell the others what you saw, show them the file and decide to start keeping a diary. Maybe there is a way to fix all of this.

DAY 35

You hear a loud BOOM followed by the sound of laughter off in the distance. You awake in the dark, your best guess, around 3:00 AM. You peek down at the street and see nothing but darkness. In the interest of safety, your scavenger is chosen to go investigate (if you have two that share the same skill, pick one).

Your sim sneaks outside in darkness peering around for any signs of trouble. It doesn't take you long to find it. You see fire burning in the distance. It looks like the local hooligans have attacked someone. You hear the roar of an engine and duck behind the dumpster thankful your camp on the roof is completely dark. A car of screaming hoods drives right past as if they were chasing something. You breathe a sigh of relief then hear a timid voice from the darkness a distance behind you. "P…please help me".

CHOICE: You squint at the form of a small child, approximately 7 or 8 years old. She (or he if you choose) is in rags, dirty, and looks generally sickly. She is not close enough to you to do a virus check right now and you warn her to stay put. You strike up a conversation with her from a safe distance and learn that she was in the recently burned home. Her last remaining family member, her older brother, got involved with a group of bad kids and a rival gang attacked their home tonight. Her brother abandoned her and drove away. Do you…

Tell her to hit the street. No more mouths to feed and no more virus checks here. If so, she runs off sobbing in the dark. No need to do a virus check.

Help her. This means a virus check against the sim speaking to her ONLY (the rest of the household is tucked safely away).

A. If your sim is infected and survives the virus, you can, at your own peril, try to bring her into your home BUT each family member will have to make a virus check. If everyone dies you cannot add her.

B. If your sim passes the check, she is not infected and you may add her if you wish (no other family members need to roll). His/her traits must either be animal enthusiast or loves the outdoors and must be pale and thin. She takes you to her brother’s secret stash. You find 20 units of food, a tent, medicine and $500.

[fundielicious-simblr]

(Kyleigh's pov)

Little Jackson is now an infant and we're all delighted that the infant stage is so interactive. Whilst we don't let the kids pick him up yet, they do great work at entertaining him and we let Chloe, AJ, and Benji take turns on giving him his bottle when it's feeding time. Their one prerequisite is that they have to have done their school work and at least half of their chores before they can be focused on Jackson. Casandra saw a deal on infant carriers when she was out one day, and got me one as well as one for any of the mothers at church who may need it.

From when I was a child through to right up to the time I got married and moved away, I would spend a few afternoons a week ministering at an old people's home in our area. A couple from my parent's church runs the ministry, and they gathered a bunch of volunteers to do various things. Some of us baked goods (with pre-approved recipes since a lot of the residents were on health related diets), some would play the piano and sing for the residents, whilst some would just simply sit and visit with them. A lot of the residents in the home had relatives that some reason or another weren't able to visit them as often, if at all, so it was a blessing for me to be able to go and spend time with those who need people to talk to. That's why I decided to introduce the kids to this ministry, our church started doing it a few years ago but I wanted the kids to be a bit older before we started going so that they can understand why we're there and our purpose.

I took the oldest 5 (Chloe, AJ, Benji, Rose, and Violet) as I feel that they were old enough, and they pleasantly surprised me! Chloe has been learning chess with her grandpa during the week, so she was excited to be able to use what she's learnt. Before we visited, I asked the kids to make a list of questions that they were going to ask, as well as various topics for them to talk about. It was great to hear the kids asking the residents about their lives, their testimonies, as well as about random things like their favourite snack.

The kids loved being able to play games whilst getting to know their new friends, they even learnt how to play Dont Wake The Llama. We control how much they can play different types of games because we don't want the kids to be engulfed by thoughts of playing all day, but the Bible does speak about doing things in moderation, so a day of fun here and there won't hurt anybody.

Before we got there I was given a list of songs that the residents wanted to hear, thankfully all the songs were hymns that I knew already so I didn't need sheet music. The children came round and sang 2 or 3 songs together but other than that they were spread around chatting to the various residents. I don't get to play the piano very often, so I was thankful I got to dust off my skills to be able to minister to the elderly. We're hoping to go back in 2 weeks or so, since we'd need to have schedules match up for what the home has planned for their residents as well as those of us who volunteer for the ministry.

[folatefangirl]

Haven't seen one of these floating around for the recent MTAP tag but here's some gameplay tips I've picked up as a newbie who picked this up while it was 80% off on steam. I was mega stressed early on due to not knowing things and would be happy to pass on advice to save others the stress:

1. Reddit is good for advice and tumblr is penalizing me for links so yeah. Use the reddit community and/or wiki when stuck. Link to a decent set of advice is in the replies to this post.

2. Repair your workshop as soon as possible bc you'll wake up with low stamina daily until that gets done. Doesn't take more than like 30ish or so pieces of wood.

3. Yep the advice to make more than one machine is correct. Even for the blender. Maybe not the cooking setup or basic skiver per se. Yes, this will use up resources and space. Use the For Sale sign to expand space (or be like me and try to cram a level 2 house into a space too small for it 😅).

4. In the small planter boxes, grow lettuce, cotton, and wheat as much as possible if you can. You can also grow other things, but these seem to be the most helpful for feeding mounts and skiver crafting. Large boxes are for the special giant seeds and you can get the box from the church store and seeds from the Mysterious Man. Fertilize often to have the best shot at winning the Autumn Festival!

5. No, you can't have a rival romance with Higgins, tragically. But you can spar and body block him and chat to him until 9 AM to prevent him from taking commissions, especially the fancy valuable ones. I'm currently chill with being at rank 2 in my first year so I don't bother yet. I still think we should be allowed to woo him. As a treat. And mechanic to make him nicer 😅. Btw once he scams you (you'll know when) talk to him as soon as possible after and you can at least guilt him into giving you money.

6. No seriously do use Gust's shop in A&G to swap for 999 wood and keep furnaces running. You'll get wayyy too much stone from mining and the first quarry only gives so much marble for stone tables to sell en masse when the market is up. Other quarries are annoying to get to in the early game. Use the excess for wood first, then making stone bricks or stone tools etc to sell or whatever. Go wild. I make excess glass to sell since it's more profitable than raw resource selling, yep even with the wood cost. Still haven't figured out how to make excess soil more profitable besides planter boxes.

7. If you don't wanna feel like a monster for killing llamas for their worn fur, you can totally kill panbats. I like all the critters so I feel like a monster regardless 🥴. Kinda has to be done for certain quests and quest items tho.

8. Make allll the Dee-Dee Stops you can for the spots marked on the map. You can also have your mount follow you to the next stop.

9. Bring or make stamina repletion food when mining, esp if you have the game speed slowed down and don't run to the Round Table to replete (you have a limited number of things you can eat and can only eat once daily... Or you could try sitting for an hour if you aren't like me and it won't drive you crazy to sit and do nothing).

10. Annoying timed storyline quest needed items that you can collect earlier while the main story has no time limit for progression per se: pretty much all ores/ore products and special mining items like valves and engines, wild cocoons, ironwood (more than you think), bat wings, bamboo papaya, information discs (I keep the extra beyond the ones I give Petra for research in general for the storyline quest diagrams; I can complete the relics later), knight badges from the Round Table (minimum 250 of them), old parts, crystal necklace x1, dog food x1, soap x1, wildflower bouquet from Alice x1, tempering fluid, copper and steel wire, steel planks, welding rods. Can't think of the other ones that were super urgent and non-commission board rn as of Winter 1st (my latest stopping point) but yeah this is totally a hoarding game.

11. P.S. To get into the hazardous ruins area as a lower level, literally just dodge and run for 60 seconds. Do a hit if you feel brave. Yes, it's cowardly but it totally works and unlocks neat stuff you really need for certain quests. You can kick their asses later.

12. The worst that can happen if you die is that you get warped back home. Same for passing out at 3 AM but without the health depletion. Use that knowledge for what you will. I've noticed in boss battles it just bumps me back to the start of the battle with full health and stamina so I only get warped back further in other situations.

That's all I have for now but I may add more as I play. Hope this helps!