For those who took additional courses for credit after your master's to advance on the salary scale at your CC, will you share what kinds of courses/programs/continuing education opportunities you chose? For a variety of reasons I'm not interested in earning a doctoral degree in my field or an EdD. Perhaps it is common for faculty to choose options like these, but this doesn't seem to happen often at my CC. I'd like to find options that work best with the time and money I have. To my knowledge, undergraduate courses may count toward advancement. I hope to speak more with colleagues at my CC about this, but I think I'd find input about this from here valuable too.

You are. I am too. Here's why.
Okay, caught up? Rufas's Fury is a 720rpm Auto Rifle, something of a niche archetype. In 2022 we got a best case scenario example of the weapon type in Quicksilver Storm which is laregly agreed to be a decent, if unremarkable weapon. 720's exist in between SMGs and Auto Rifles and imo this is by far the strongest contender we've seen to date boasting better base stats than that Sweet Sorrow, having a stronger perk pool and being able to benefit from Adept Mods and the soon to be released Adept 2.0 system allowing us to fine tune the weapon choose every Range perk.
Primarily this weapon positions itself in the meta as a longer range slightly slower The Immortal. The Immortal caps out at 24.7m with an ideal set of perks and an Adept Rufas's Fury can go all the way to 29.7m or a still excellent 28m with a crafted version. In addition we can take advantage of Enhanced Target Lock to achieve that 0.75s ttk (which is the same ttk as Agressive SMGs) even if you're just blasting people in the body for half of your shots. I will note that I have no idea how Enhcanced Target Lock performs and I'd be interested if anyone has data on this, in particular if it offers a meaningful bonus over the regular perk at the first two tiers of activation.
At any rate if you were one of the unlucky ones who didn't manage get get your god roll The Immortal, Rufas's Fury is something that you should at least consider given that it is a craftable weapon from one of the easiest raids we've seen. Happy hunting guardians.

What is the best order to pursue the game's modes in? (Assuming you want full completion).

Hi everyone! My dog fell has broke some toes. He’s in a splint! He is a 7 year old yorkie who is neutered. He weighs 8 pounds. He is pretty relaxed and sleeps and plays a bit, has never been super active. He gets excited to see me and runs to me and loves to cuddle his mama. Since he broke his toes (03/07) he has continued to been the same pup, still tries to run to me and jump on me. Is mad he can’t climb on the bed. He doesn’t seem to be in pain but I give him his 1/2 a pill of vetprofen every day until I run out, just in case he is. I have recieved mixed opinions on if I should do surgery or not. He had a follow up on 03/15 and they said they recommend surgery, and I contacted a vet teaching hospital and they said they would not recommend surgery since he is a small dog, and just recommended splinting it. They said this surgery is challenging and could still cause his foot to not heal correctly.
I’m torn because I want to do what is best for him, but I’m worried that the surgery will just cause him pain and still not fix the problem. The surgery is expensive, but that is not my concern. I just want to do what’s best for him!

So my gf just ended (actually 2 days ago) our 15 months relationship. It is my first post ever and i am basicly never making them anywhere (my social media everywhere arę empty) but i feel so alone right now, somehow typing this feels right. Anyways IT IS SO SO SO HARD. It is my 3rd attempt in the "relationships" and i thought it will be my ever lasting love but oh boy i was mistaken. To make it worse there few things that truly makes it worse.
Issue one At some point in my life i was constantly changing where i live and it made my introvert self just go deeper in it. Now i feel like i am not going to trust anymore, anyone. 3rd time i decide to open myself and my heart (i got some issues and childhood problems and it takes rly hard time to talk about them) and it is 3rd time i am dumped. I feel like a biggest fool i could possibly be.
Issue two I always had a dream and literally fueled myself with the belief, that at some point i will be loved. When i was, everything i was doing was almost perfect. Regardless due to this problem with getting to know new people i honestly don t know where i am going to find somebody new. I literally have no idea where to find love. You might say i can t find and love and IT WILL FIND ME, but rly? I am a male, i would say 5/10 at his best not fat not skinny, casual regular. I don t think i ll get any attention from anybody.
Issue three It took month. All of a sudden, just like pulling out uno reverse card, she said she is not comfortable. I was like (in my mind WTF) but kept cool and asked why and what for etc. Came to conclusion she is not certain if she just accepted being my girlfriend as she didn t want to refuse to me when i asked her to be mine. I was like, yeah, you didn t want to say no cuz you liked me. But then she said is will make her decision at her next family gathering with her favourite aunt and cousin. So for a month i was trying my best to be Perfect in every way. I was constantly persuading her. Even came to the point where she had arguments till she saw me cuz she just felt right in my arms. So i was confident in myself. I even organized small picnic and stuff to celebrate her decision cuz still nothing seemed wrong to me, not a thing. The time Has come. I am under her door, she comes out and i tried to kiss her but she moved away do i kissed her on the forehead. Then she said very clearly, firmly and short. This is over. I am not changing my mind, i am not going with u, it is the end. I went to the bench and sat there for an hour or so (bench was somewhere else) trying to at least accept the fact od what happened cuz i still don t know how could this happened.
Issue four I don t feel so well. I mean, i usually felt heartbroken and some warmth of memories after breakup, but now. This is the literal void and constant crying, uncontrolable crying. I don t even feel bad for myself. I just think that i am destined to be alone in this world. Acceptance and suffering without feeling bad about it. Like if somehow it is just the way i am supposed to be.
I feel whole lot better now after typing it. Well maybe not better. Rather not as sad as i was 10 minutes ago. Thanks for reading if you read. Sorry for any mistakes in typing, i am not good at it.

hello :)
getting straight to the point, i'd like to find "my person". i'm a go with the flow kind of person, and i don't like it when things are forced. i'd like to start off as friends and take it from there. i ask that you're close to my age, so in between 28-37. ideally i'd like to meet someone in the eastern time zone, but it's not a deal breaker. my goal in the end is to eventually meet up.
a little about myself: i'm 30, korean, libra, intj. i used to work as a chef and now i'm a manager at a bakery. i'd describe myself as quiet, extroverted introvert, artistic, independent and easygoing. once i get comfortable then my sassy and sarcastic nature starts to show. i love to laugh, and i gravitate towards people that have a (dark) sense of humor and doesn't take things too seriously. i'm a curious person, and i really enjoy getting to know somebody - their favorites, hobbies, dislikes, goals, pet peeves.
physically, i'm 5'4, chest length blonde balayage hair, dark brown eyes, average body. i like to think my legs are my best feature. i'd describe my fashion as sexy overall, both casually and dressed up. i like to take care and pamper myself.
my current favorite things are: gaming (i play on PC only atm), lifting/kickboxing, all things horror. i have other hobbies that i dabble in time to time, and other activities that i'd like to get into, but i won't bore you with that yet :).
if any of this has interested you yet, send a chat! i also prefer chat over DMs, it's easier for me. tell me either your ideal date or perfect day! hope to hear from you soon :).

I enjoy spending time with my girlfriend but the thing is she seems to be jumping head over heels in this relationship. I am not personally comfortable with meeting her whole family yet. I have only known her for a bit and every time I want to not hangout with her or her family she gets really upset. I told her upfront that I like my personal space and seeing her once or twice a week works best for me.
Cut to the past week where we have hungout almost everyday and i have had no freedom to do my hobbies i enjoyed doing before. Now on my only day off of the week she wants me to go to her step-sisters wedding and meet her whole family. I feel like if i straight up tell her no she will cry for days and be miserable for a whole week.
My question is mainly is there a good way to have a discussion with her about being less dependent on me without it making me sound like idc about her? I hate seeing her upset but at this point im scared to tell her no to my simple request because she acts like her world is falling apart.

Hi all,
Please be kind, as it's my first post here 🙂
I've been looking into the Actuarial Science profession for a few months now. My country's Actuarial Professional Body is the IFoA, so I've been spending time, looking throughout the website, gathering information, etc.
I've currently embarked on a degree at the Open University, studying a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics & Statistics, in the hope this will help with any future ventures. The only thing is this will take me another 6 years to complete, meaning I will be 40 when I graduate.
I know for most Actuary jobs, for those new to the profession, then you usually require to have graduated your degree, with the expectation that you've at least taken a couple of Actuarial exams, to show your commitment to the profession.
I have, however, seen that you can get into the profession as a school leaver, in which case you are normally expected to have GCSE Maths and A-Level Maths, or equivalent, which I will have around summer next year. After achieving this, along with my maths skills being up to A-Level standard, I was going to start studying towards the first couple of IFoA exams.
Does anyone have any advice for me, that could help getting my foot in the door, or help in general with kick-starting this career, which doesn't involve waiting until I'm 40? Of course, I'm fully aware that my chances will be diminished until I've completed my degree, and it may not happen until then; but, I would rather do everything I can now, as always good to be prepared.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Best wishes,
Michael

Terri Warren just got back to me to say that my WB came back negative for HSV1/2.
My IgG was 2.37, and I started to develop symptoms that I took pictures of and posted on a throwaway with many people from various subs saying it was herpes. Terri did comment that the symptoms were pretty atypical, but I was pretty set that it was a true positive.
I won't go back into too much detail about the process as there's already a handful of posts that explain the steps.
I've been "living" with herpes for a while and took the blot as closure, so that I could move forward. I'm honestly a bit surprised that she said they came back negative and I still feel conflicted.
I was living a life with herpes, disclosing, keeping my body in shape and pursing to live my best life. That still exists herpes or not. This community has been great in educating myself and challenging the stigma.
Even tho I'm negative, I would without a doubt still choose to date and sleep with a lady if she disclosed her status to me. Had you asked me that three months ago before I tested positive, I would've said absolutely not.
The experience, education, and having to disclose made me realize how bullshit the stigma is.
You guys are a solid community and I'll still hang around you all to continue getting educated.

This is a collection of short stories that have something to do with current events. Enjoy.
2023-03-20

The Uneven Divide - Part 3

(Part 1 and 2 in first post of Collection)
“I see a city on a disk. Though all the powers of the world would like to watch it fall, it won’t. I look at it floating above it all. Above There’s political turmoil. Beyond the grip of local markets, this city spins around the globe. You make your business everyone’s, and in turn, everyone profits from your presence.”
I see a land so cold,” I continued. “That it smokes as if it’s on fire. Like the Mother Sphere pulls you up, the frost brings your people together. This inseparable unity warms each building by your people’s sheer attraction for the Lands of Over-There. What us foreigners see as a frigid barren disk of ill fortuity, where people live barred up inside out of necessity, it’s instead a fortress from anything cold, which hosts every fervent hearted opportunity.”
The lock beeped. The door crept open. She kicked her feet off. A skinny man with both our ages walked in. He was wearing a three-piece suit. This wasn’t uncommon, as each layer made the heating bill less hard to look at. His name and the chain on his matte black visitor’s badge were contrasted with gold.
They spoke in their language.
He said something like hi, how are you, what are you doing here?
She answered something along the lines of hi, I’m doing great, in a meeting, you?
He went on saying precisely “I’m doing twice well”—which is an interesting expression meaning; I was already doing well, but from the moment you asked about me, I started doing twice as well—then I think he said he was also here for a meeting, and “who is he?”
She told him my name, then his name to me. Whom I will refer to as Gotnaym of Over-There.
He greeted me, I presented myself with a customary nod. Which could’ve been considered curt in our culture.
Then it got too wordy for me to understand. They switched languages as he walked over to extend his hand.
Mid-shake, he said in perfect speech, “She tells me your consultancy in There is no circus. I might have some questions later, my son is investing abroad.”
Then he laughed. I tried my hardest to make my confusion pass off as surprise, all while making sure not to loosen my grip nor lose the tempo of the motion, as I smiled in what I hoped to have looked like an agreeing pose.
“He’s not interested in any clown ventures I hope, Mr. Gotnaym,” I said. “I’d be out of my league if he were.”
“That’s exactly why I’d hire you,” he explained. “Thankfully, we’re a line of miners, Mr. Consultant. Hard-working people, who bring along like-minded experts. There are no full-time artists on these disks, I’m afraid.”
I was ready to let go but he wasn’t as willing.
“It’s always a fine moment to meet someone glad to buy into their family,” I concluded. “But I might not be the right hire for advice on how you ought to spend your own money. I don’t know if she's told you my line of work?”
This made him laugh some more. He was still shaking my hand.
“She has, yes!” He looked at her after placing his free hand on my shoulder side. She was completely motionless. “Funny man,” he said in his mother tongue.
“Don’t let me interrupt you, Mr. Consultant. Please continue while we wait,” he said, finally releasing his grip to grab a seat by the backrest.
“While we wait?” I asked him.
“I just is inform,” she said. “Next meeting is push to soon. Temporary lockdown here. Please continuing, Mr. Consultant. You no leaving now.”
“Emergency?” I read in their eyes the impending dread they covered up with an interest in listening only, so they wouldn’t have to think.
“Gladly,” I said. “I guess I’ll find out soon. Thank you for giving me this time out of your day.” She had some relief mixed in with her emotions. The rest of her micro-expressions were of a combination I’ve never noticed twice. It was too particular to recreate in writing or in a film.
“Mr. Consultant talking how city infrastructure be one with immigration,” she explained. “I asking what he see in city.”
“Where was I?” I asked me.
“You were reporting how the cold brings us people together,” he told me.
Wondering if their door wasn’t soundproofed had flooded my head with blood, which drew along this fresh thought frenzy and the terrible idea that anyone could’ve heard us earlier.
“Right,” I said to start hushing my blushing. “The problem. Your city is nothing more than a cold flatland sprinkled with tall boxes where folks come and freeze to death. That’s what they see from below, down in There. When I booked my ticket, my friends argued about who would get what if I didn’t make it back.”
The suitedman sat down.
“To outsiders, to the frigid ones, these lands get people to ratify off on an early will. I mean—I signed a waiver just for the elevator ride… Too many who travel to your disks don’t come back home. Most get working visas. The deal is: you spend four months a year here, and that pays for six of vacation. The smart ones, like I’m sure your son is, do five years to invest in There’s Venus coin traps. Then they sit back and never visit again. They risk their days for the money. Not for your city, not for the people here. They say they come to live out the rest of their lives at the mines. Then if they’re lucky enough not to get shipped home as a popsicle, they go to their folk waving their phat wads of cash in the hands with the least fingers lost to the frostbite.”
“I asked the locals last night. Why would you sell everything for this? Leave your families, abandon your lifestyles—What pulled you in? They all gave me the same answer. The same one I have. The first time I came here, it only took me two days. Two days to fall in love.”
“You maybe fall in loving after no long enough, Mr. Consultant,” she said.
“Are you telling me you don’t feel the same?”
“I think,” Gotnaym interjected. Then he paused. Sort of like cutting someone off on the freeway only to slow down right after.
“I think what my colleague is trying to express here … is that all of this sounds a bit too poetic.”
He looked at her to see if she’d agree. Which, she did.
“I also think we’re both happy you really are loving the experience here, Mr. Consultant. But it takes more than feelings to move to a place like this. The ones who do immigrate are steadily emigrating in larger numbers. The workforce won’t meet the upcoming demand. We start terraforming the east perimeter straight after the election next quarter. That’s a projected two years to find enough workers, build and house multiple villages. Provided the right candidate wins.”
At that moment, I was glad to have mistakenly not skipped our philosophy professor’s class on The Ethics of Language. I got my dates mixed up and thought it was a mandatory attendance lab. She explained how Over-There’s main export was subject to ethical scrutiny. They extracted such a lucrative resource, that they could afford to import all else. From food to people. Two entirely different things, that they’d fail to source locally in any useful quantity. Therein laid the dilemma. Their dialect had evolved so as to not differentiate between workers or wheat in regard to imports. As for commodities in business, they began treating both as such on paper. Written words have real-world applications. That same export was also what their disk was made of. One giant mother-cluster of concentrated minerals.
“How long is a mine active on these disks?” I asked.
“About a half lifetime depending on the weather. You’re looking at the investment of the century, my Frozen-Nozen. Literally.”
This suddenly explained why I so easily passed off as a consultant. At least, that’s what I was thinking then. They were probably ready to pay everyone and their kids to get as many opinions on this as possible. I can’t believe I used to give mine out for free.
“Frozen-Nozen?” I asked.
“It’s a term for those who aren’t afraid of a bit of outdoor labour,” he said.
“I see. Couldn’t you just advertise that fact in There?” I pitched.
“I don’t get it.” He mimed a billboard with his hands. “Come up to Over-There, and freeze your nose off for a living wage.”
“That’s not what I meant, but really, why not? People are nomadic opportunists. They’ll move and let the frost nip at their nose if you promise them a round fiddy years of job stability. If they become permanent residents.”
“No one plans on spending fiddy years in a work village, Mr. Consultant. They’re built as temporary housing. They share a shower per unit.”
“Isn’t that an issue? People need a good quality of entertainment to stay someplace so dull when they can glance at other options. They’ll want something they can’t get anywhere else. Couple that with the appeal of privacy. Your child population levels are dropping? Intimacy widely increases from zero to one shower per household. I’d start hiring full-time artists to get some inspiration flowing. Let couples make their own entertainment. Get some comfier architecture. They'll make babies. Or get your engineers to make leisure versions of your military rovers. With enough room for two. Watch them hit wild speeds in the east bumpy lands around their camps.”
“How much would that cost?” He asked. To my relief, he then immediately reconsidered. “No, these plans are staying under permafrost. We want to attract workers, not activists.”
I must’ve looked confused.
“Much leaving people, because activist come Over-There and saying mine is kill nature. Much tourism satire is Come visit before disk is all holes,” she quoted.
“If it’s really destroying the ecosystems then I’m afraid there isn’t much—”
“What ecosystem?” He interrupted. “Nothing but people live here, Mr. Consultant. And we only cover 15% of our whole island. Most of us are all in this city. The claims are false.”
“Then why do enough of both your people and mine believe these activists?” I insisted. “Who I’ve never heard of, so they must all be online. Is complaining just something to do? How does that affect where people live?”
“Emotion of being … more purposeful than normal people,” she said. “Important maybe to many action people. But also, wireless community There having very addictivity.”
“Adictivity?” I asked. “I mean—or, what do you mean by addiction?”
She explained how our wireless communications in There were designed to get individuals to react before thinking.
Anyone reading this today won’t understand the complexity of the issue, so I’ll try to translate the way people like your great-great-grandparents used to communicate. I suggest you ask them about it if they’ve opted for resurrection therapy.
We had these sorts of primitive portable screens that were usually carried around in pockets. Pockets were these holes in our clothes that would hold stuff. When we mostly owned material items, we needed a method of having those things at our disposition. And because we only have two biological hands, most would prefer to walk about with lighter objects in all kinds of pouches. From books to babies, bags of fabrics were significant to us.
The most important pouch was the pocket. That’s the place where people put stuff they wanted to hold closest to their person. That’s because not having them nearby caused an immediate sense of emergency. Their money, their analog keys, their smokables (non digital drug consumable), the time of one day divided into 86,400 different times… Most would also keep their touch screens in their pockets.
We’d communicate through a revolutionary medium termed, “social media.” If you’re not familiar with the term, it’s because presently, that’s our only form of expression left. So we just call it talking.
Fun fact: in 1402, both words were banned if put together. For all generations coming after the criminalization of social media, to try and curb the addiction, so we could gain control over the technocratic overlords of the virtual space. Clearly, that didn’t work, but I won’t bore you with the details in this format for much longer.
To quickly finish this history lesson then, we nicknamed those screens “phones.” They were these physical things that you’d feel right on your skin. And you had to push around to type words or record either your organic image or sounds, or disproportionately more often, those of a cat. A real cat. They aren’t a digital invention! Then you’d post those representations in places called “the Internet.” The Internet would be referred to as the world today.
Humans had to mind-travel via their phones to access the world before. And they’d navigate through it by utilizing their biological hands like a bunch of Neanderthals. On Social Media in the Internet realm, other people would have to move their fingers around their screen to come look at what you posted. Can you imagine? It’s like if today, someone had to do something to hear you.
They would then react to what they saw. Kind of how people used to communicate what they thought through their body language. The only difference was that in the Old World, a public would react to a speaker on stage, and everyone went on their way afterwards. No longer under the influential energy of a cheering or booing crowd, they could think about the message. On the Internet, it would stay up, and we could keep reacting to it. Even years after something was said. The public reaction would get louder and louder and it was like it never stopped to calm down and reflect. Excitement is not a friend of thought.
As people posted more and more, they did less and less of anything else. The goal of the communication was only to react. Always as fast as possible. People started doing activities only so they could post. They lost the enjoyment of doing for the sake of doing. Everything became a reason to get a reaction out of others. Everyone became amateur stage performers. Professionals had to be trained in that regard. They had to learn how to handle themselves when their work would become a series of reactions to trigger a chain of reactions. The users of primitive Social Media never stood a chance.
It’s what she explained during our impromptu board meeting that afternoon. It’s what changed the way I saw the world as well. I watched as her theory turned out to be sufficiently accurate, and I caught myself wondering for a moment if she hadn’t had something to do with the unravelling of the events.
If you’re Neanderthal enough to remember the sound of genuine vocal chords, I invite you to imagine how she expressed it all to me in her riveting broken accent. It’s why I wrote it how she said it.
The year is 1282 again. It’s cold, the exit doors are locked down, I have an actual phone in my physical pocket…
She asked me to see mine. A ritual at the time. So I showed her. She didn’t look impressed, so I asked her to show me hers. It was nice. Real nice. So nice in fact, that I started feeling a bit shy and ended up subtly putting mine away as she explained.
“People addicted to making posting. More posting, more liking, more emotion of purposeful existing. But so many content, so much other people also looking for … valid of purposeful life, because now, day no with phone is like food no with taste. Is boring. Why eat? Why do anything? But problem happen when truth is people wanting. Because goal of social media is react, react, react. Chain reaction like nuclear. Have be fast. Social media not receive, think, maybe react if wise. Social media no survive this way, very boring if not in-person meeting for exchange serious ideas. No win Internet point for taking time, finding truth, telling people wrong too. No good feeling also, if thinking, no posting, no outside influence saying yes you living and you be valid person. So no react, no valid existence.”
She paused. We both glanced at one another to confirm what we had already decided. Neither of us were going to interrupt her train of ideas. I was impressed. Not by what she was saying, though. It wasn’t anything we didn’t know. It was more that she could almost speak our language when she carried herself in her flow.
“People define value by number of attention they getting. They getting attention by posting posting posting, reacting reacting reacting, and no thinking thinking then maybe posting after long. Thinking bad for business if business is price of reacting. Business need people pushing button not after long. Social media Model is job of push button. Worker build city, push button too you thinking. But building infrastructure, opportunity, thinking involved more than even writer, Mr. Consultant. Bad thinking kill in building city.”
It took me a second to break character. Then I remembered who I really was. Eventually I realized she had just insulted me. I gave a warm chuckle. This disrupted Gotnaym’s attention. She went on.
“Influencer is job of push button to getting more people pushing button before thinking. Influencer is good if follower push button with no thinking. Even in war business, reacting not always best strategy. Pushing … gun button?”
“Trigger,” he helped.
“Pushing trigger no thinking is not same like pushing trigger because quick thinking. Influencer like is … study with school only to becoming teacher after. But only attaining knowledge in reacting more. Not attaining quick thinking. Not same. This worrying functionary like Mr. Fore Gotnaym, because how control crowd online that only goal is react react react, no thinking? On Internet, better no thinking. More reacting, more people see their reacting first and reacting to it so more people also get reacting, more people only agree for attention, and more message get famous. More message famous, no worry if true, more people believe. More people believe, less people believe when truth happen. Look at phone, Mr. Consultant.”
I took it out of my pocket.
“Make posting,” she said. “I showing you.”
The suitedman visibly refrained himself from stopping me. I was two days behind on checking in with my Internet experiment, so I did what she asked. When I connected to Social Media, my feed was filled with alerts on posts. Something about disinformation and people fighting over the truth of the universe and if it was really the end for us. The media application wasn’t this agitated two days ago. Warnings on misinformation were mostly centred around past events, never regarding upcoming ones from what I had seen before.
“Is this why we’re in a lockdown?” I asked.
“Yes…” she reacted.
“So why does it say that it’s all a fabrication?”
The room fell dead quiet. Her bottom lip quivered and she turned around to burst in muffled sobs. She just broke down. It was surreal. The man stood up to whisper something. She nodded with her head down, so he walked towards me. Then past me and to the windows, making sure I followed him by spinning in my chair. My back ended up facing her.
“Under different circumstances, you wouldn’t be locked down with us, Mr. Tourist,” he said.
Uh-oh, I thought. This culture seemed to have developed a taste for cleverly employing names.
“But there’s no use in locking you up for espionage either, it looks like your people are willing to let you rot anyway.”
“What’s going on?” I asked. She sniffled and told us I could turn around now.
“Don’t worry kid. You’re either the best spy I’ve met and you can die with dignity, or you’re the worst ever, and you’re worth more to us as living propaganda if we make it out of this,” he said, patting my shoulder as he walked by.
“I didn’t get your answer,” I mumbled as I turned around. Then I understood that he was trying to make her laugh.
“Either you’re the best,” he repeated. “Because I haven’t heard even a single high-school rumour about you. Or you’re the worst, because you were really a shit consultant just then.”
She drew in a chopped breath, which she released in a soft chuckle of relief. I thought maybe this was a prank. But then why was she crying?
I asked her what was going on. She nodded at him and he told me he wasn’t joking. They really considered that I was a spy from There. This theory didn’t hold any water in the end. The umbrella company under which the most popular international platforms operated, had somehow been convinced to place a warning on the forecast of a natural disaster headed for the disks. The corporation happened to have all their servers in There’s jurisdiction. All the privately owned media companies followed suit just to try and survive.
Gotnaym explained how anyone with any scientific authority who had attempted to voice their doubts had immediately been shadowbanned. They injected their profiles with a fake number of views and likes, and used bots to make it look like there were people engaging with their content. As far as the whole globe was convinced, as far as the citizens of Over-There were concerned, this admonition had been discredited a month before the announcement of the disaster. The United OV Body sent out an emergency text message, an even more primitive form of communication, confirming the threat to their civilians, but it was in vain. The videos debunking the warning had timestamps dating too far back. And the Internet had already decided that it was all a hoax. Eighteen world leading scientists, all saying it was propaganda. The people in this city didn’t believe they were about to die.
How could I have missed this? Especially if I had checked everything everywhere online before buying my ticket?
Like a kid again, it slipped out.
“Why?”
He rubbed his thumb and two fingers together. Money.
“Environmental warfare is not a crime, Mr. Tourist. And you seem to be collateral damage to them.”
They showed me a video of myself reassuring the world that I was okay, and that no one on this disk believed any of the disinformation propagated by the unhinged astronomers. That Over-There’s authorities were perfectly aware that it was all a hoax. It was dated two hours before I set foot on the disk. On the plus side, I never did get over a hundred million views before. To most of the world, I was a hero, here to bring down the anti-science disinformation machine. They were looking at an AI-generated video of me. They even got my voice right. My family had liked my video. My dad had sent me a message saying he was proud.
I looked up and plunged my eyes in her frightened face. It stripped me forever of any good feelings. In one hour, I felt the lifelong dissatisfaction of a hard drug addict. That day, I lost my faith in reality. To this day, I cannot enjoy anything. Not after what happened. I feel too guilty.
“Shouldn’t technological warfare be a crime, though?” I said.
“You could call a stick with a pointy rock on its end a technological advancement.”
It was becoming trickier to think straight. How can you? When you’re about to take a final blow, and there’s nowhere to run, no strength to block. It was like getting pre-concussed.
“How long until it happens?”
“It might not. We’re waiting on people to show up here and determine if it can be avoided. So try to think of something else in the meantime,” he said.
We said nothing.
“There is one thing neither of you can avoid, though… So you might as well make your peace with it now,” he added.
“What it is?” She asked.
“Mr. Tourist is about to meet your father.” He said. Then he looked at me. “Or is it Mr. Consultant to him?”

Ever since Nidalee’s VO update, I’ve had a bit of a thought regarding champion popularity, the reason being is if this were only a few years back I get the impression there would be more discussion and/or hype even though Nid’s popularity was in a fair bit of decline then as well.
So the question I’d like to ask this Reddit is: What champions do you feel that were once popular that no longer are? And would it be possible for them to be popular once more?
Please note that what people might consider populaunpopular can be very subjective for that reason I don’t strictly think there’s a wrong opinion here, especially when in game and out of game popularity can be two different things.
Since Nidalee was the champ that gave me this idea, I’ll start off with her, my breakdown might be very long because I had a long time to think about this and hopefully, I don’t accidentally write an essay.
I’ll be going through The Rise, The fall and The future of Nidalee in my post.

The Rise of Nidalee

Pre rework Nidlee

Q, Flash. Best champ in the game.
Jokes aside, I heard Nidalee was an absolute terror on the rift before her rework this was a bit before my time playing league so I unfortunately never got to actually play Nidalee in this state, but I’m aware she was rather popular and somewhat toxic on the rift.
Even after the rework Nidalee was still rather popular and still played for many years after this, she’s a very fun champion despite the high mechanical skill required to play her.

Nidalees large amount of skins released early on

This is probably one of the biggest examples I can think of in terms of Nidalees popularity.
From Nidalee’s full release back In late 2009 to early 2013, Nidalee had received six skins, each skin released (With the exception being Headhunter as it was over a year between it and Bewitching) had released not even 12 months between each other, which by today's standards is crazy.
You don’t get that many skins unless the champion is rather popular. Even when there were significantly less champions in the game. Nidalee currently has thirteen skins in the game with one of those being the DWG skin an impressive feat for a champion that isn’t so popular anymore.

The Fanart of Nid throughout 2010 to 2016

The amount of fanart Nidalee got throughout the early 2010s was crazy, people that weren’t even fans of league or really familiar with league were drawing fan art of her and these days unless that character is someone like Ahri, that doesn’t really happen much.
Additionally, any sort of art contest that Riot ran during the early 2010s you can be sure you’ll see many Nidalee’s within that contest.
The reason I believe that Nidalee was so popular to make fan art of is simply because of her design it’s very simple, doesn’t have a lot of specific details even then you don’t need to be completely accurate as you can still make it look like Nidalee, as long as you’re good at human anatomy you can make a good Nidalee.
There’s also the fact that Nidalee happens to be a rather attractive woman wearing very little clothing, that might also have something to do with why she was so popular.
Unfortunately, most of the fanart of Nidalee from this era is stuck on DevientArt, a site not many people really use anymore and, in a way, kinda feels like a bit of the league fandom that has been lost to time as a result.

The Downfall

Merchandise and Nidalee within LoL media

Or lack thereof, recent years Nidalee hasn’t gotten much merchandise, I did try to research and it indeed does seem like Nidalee did get some collectable statues made of her both official and unofficial but considering what I’m about to mention in ‘Changing Society Taboos’ I doubt we’ll see much more of her. I did find a [Head Hunter]( s-l500.jpg (500×500) (ebayimg.com) ) Nidalee statue but I’m unsure if it’s actually official or not.
The only official merchandise you can obtain of Nidalee these days is a [Nidalee poster](Nidalee Posters Riot Games Store) from the League website and I’m pretty sure I can get that for cheaper from unofficial storefronts.
And forgive me if I’m wrong, this is the first time I’ve really tried to look into League media, but I haven’t really found much of Nidalee being shown, I did find she made a short appearance during [The Worlds 2015 video](https://youtube.com/watch?v=8Dlyp6wkM6c&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE&t=196), but not much else beyond that I could really find.

The Jungle role and Nidalees role within it

The Jungle role I feel is one of the most stressful and flamed roles in the game, given that this is the only place that Nidalee is viable this no doubt had effects over her popularity over the years.
Especially when Nidalee is a champ that requires high mechanical skill and you don’t necessarily always get rewarded for it. There are better champions for Jungle that are easier to play and will cause you less stress.
Because Nids not great at the moment you might even get flamed by your teammates for attempting to pick her.
This years recent jungle changes don’t seem to help Nidalee much at all, although a recent patch that has somewhat buffed counter jungling has helped her a bit but it’s uncertain if this will truly help her in the long term.
There is some good news at least, she does at least see significant play in ARAM, probably helps that people just walk into Nids Spears on that game mode for some reason. You’re also not going to get flamed for picking her here, which is pretty nice I guess.

Nidalee in Pro play

I don’t want to try and speak for pros on what they believe is or isn’t strong but considering nearly every team that has tried to pull out the Nid has lost their games this year, I’m pretty confident in her not being good there either at the moment.
Then there was last year with [DK vs Gen G](https://youtube.com/live/MYvIILz646c?si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE&t=17558), where despite Canyon massively gapping Peanut as Nid and the team getting all 15 tower plates they still lost the game. That does not mean it’s impossible to win with her, it just means there are better champs to pick.

Changing Society Taboos

Sex Appeal is something that has started becoming Taboo in video games and even modern culture over years, the problem is this was a big reason as to why she become so popular to begin with and still is a reason why so many female league champs are so popular. Still Nidalee is probably one of the champions most heavily defined by her sex appeal in the past.
Additionally Nidalee’s skins that change her skin tone have become another societal taboo, as it can be seen as ‘white-washing’ in a few ways.
I really wish I didn’t have to mention Nidalee’s sex appeal as I feel that would overtake all discussion regarding Nidalee but unfortunately it’s both a very important part of her character design and a big reason why she became so popular outside of gameplay. It’s not something you can particularly ignore unfortunately.

Nidalee’s future

I hate to be a downer but I don’t really see a path forward that would in anyway make Nidalee popular again, mainly because of the ‘Changing Society Taboos’ that I mentioned earlier.

Nidalee’s VO change

Despite the VO change, I doubt that those that disliked Nidalee based on her sex appeal to are going to pick her up now, especially when there was no ASU to replace Nidalees more lewd attire and her problems with not getting picked in game seem to have very little to do with her being sexy or not.
I believe the response to the VO change was rather mixed as well and I don’t particularly think it’ll make Nidalee more popular or even less controversial for that matter.
Considering she’s barely been involved in media prior to this point, I doubt she’s going to make much more of an appearance in anything league related.

Any potiential ASU

Considering how long it took us to even get a Skarner rework and even if Nidalee was next in line to get an ASU it would take ages, probably even longer than usual considering they have to make two models for Nidalee, One for her Human form and another for her Cougar form.
The ASU will be rather controversial because given the direction of Nidalee’s VO, a ASU will no change a lot of her skins overall aesthetic, which will definitely make some people mad as again and if the new skins don’t make the skintones all similar to that of base Nidalee that will make another group of people mad.
May some Deity protect whomever has the task of remaking the French Maid Nidalee skin, cause even with Nid’s decline in popularity redoing that skin and potientially less lewd will likely result in a shorter life expectancy.
Speaking of that, since it’s likely any ASU will have Nidalee’s old skins be heavily changed, it could present an issue to players that they’re getting a wildly different skin to the one that they bought. Not that this has stopped Riot in the past but it’s something to think about.

Conclusion

I spent a lot of time than I should’ve trying to explain why I believe Nidalee is not popular anymore. Please give me your opinions on which champions you believe aren’t popular anymore so it doesn’t feel like I wasted my time on nothing.
TLDR: I wrote a post talking about how Nidalee isn’t as popular as she used to be it’s possibly a bit too long and I want to know your opinion on what Champs have become unpopular over the years.

Hello everyone, me and my girlfriend are both 23 and have been dating for 2 years. I would like to start this post by saying that our relationship (outside the bedroom) is incredible. I feel so lucky to have her and appreciate so many things. Which is why being honest with myself sexually is so difficult as I am insanely happy otherwise.
Our relationship started with me always initiating anything sex related every time. I had no problem with this at the time but definitely did notice it early on. She would always be flirty with me on the phone and would send really hot photos to me all the time. It was awesome and I loved initiating sex.
However, as time went on these things slowly went away. I figured it was normal as the early stage excitement went away. After about a year it went from sex twice per day nearly to maybe once every few days. Again, wasn’t a problem for me. Another year goes by and now we have sex maybe once every 2 weeks. Unfortunately, I have noticed this is something that seriously negatively affects me. It’s not just the sex, there is almost no form of attraction being displayed and I feel like we’re just roommates at this points. It’s really hard for me to be a normal boyfriend around her and I have to consciously keep myself in check. I find myself holding sexual resentment because I feel unwanted. It’s pretty exhausting. The hard part is that it doesn’t seem to phase her and she simply doesn’t pick up on it. My brain just says why would I even want to initiate sex if there’s nothing for me to work with or anything being shown towards me?
And to be brutally honest, I am a very good looking man who takes very very good care of himself physically. My efforts and looks feel unappreciated and it kinda hurts.
What is the best way to approach this conversation with my girlfriend? Any advice is welcome. Thanks.

I finished watching both animes, the OVAs, and the movie a few times now, and after reading through a lot Reddit/Quora/Stack Exchange posts, I still have some thoughts and questions I want to address. I've read the VNs shed more light on everything so I'll check those out once I have time.
​
First DMail and Alpha/Beta Divergence
In S;G episode 1, sending the first DMail causes the worldline to shift from a beta worldline to an alpha one, but I still have some confusion about that. For the DMail to cause the shift, my understanding is that there must have been at least one iteration at the very beginning where Kurisu dies for real (not killed by future Okabe), Okabe somehow gets alerted to this (no future Okabe scream to catch his attention), so following sequence of event unfolds:

1. Lecture on time travel happens, Kurisu meets up with her dad and dies for real (presumably killed by her dad)
2. Okabe somehow stumbles upon Kurisu's body, goes outside and sends DMail to the past (b/c Daru was messing with the phone microwave)
3. SERN saves the DMail in their database but don't necessarily check it and/or connect it to Okabe having a working time device right away. At this point, Kurisu's dad is on his way to Russia with Kurisu's paper on time travel
4. Daru attends a talk on time travel (this is very important b/c it's the reason Suzu wants to go to 2010, so she can meet her dad)
5. Some time passes and SERN does connect the DMail to Okabe's lab, raids it, steals the phone microwave, and uses it to develop the first time machine before Russia does (b/c SERN is the closest to having cracked time travel with the jellyman experiments), and takes over the world
6. In the future, Daru develops an imperfect time machine (since SERN has full control over what's required to build a fully functional one). Daru is killed. Suzu is raised by her mom, has never met her dad but learns about him and Okabe. Suzu's mom is also killed, and Suzu joins the resistance at some point.
7. Suzu is given the mission to travel to 1975 to acquire an IBN 5100 and make sure Okabe acquires it in 2010 so Daru can use it to decrypt the SERN database that stores the first DMail, and erase it so that SERN never takes the phone microwave.
8. Suzu travels to 2010 b/c she knows her father attends a talk on time travel and wants to meet him. Due to the time machine being imperfect, her coordinates are off, and she crashes into the roof, thereby causing Kurisu's father's lecture on time travel to get cancelled. Kurisu is alive, and her paper on time travel is never stolen by her father.
9. Suzu also doesn't meet her dad just because by traveling to the past, she's already shifted to a worldline where her Okabe prevents Daru from attending. Presumably she couldn't have predicted this outcome b/c of worldine shifts in general being unpredictable due to the Butterfly Effect.
10. From this point on, in each subsequent worldline/iteration in the Alpha attractor field, Suzu always travels and crashes in 2010, Kurisu always survives and helps the FG lab build a time machine, Mayuri always dies (b/c the universe is cruel), and the future always leads to a SERN dystopia. S;G events unfold.

If this is correct, this implies that one of the major divergence factors is the first DMail and not necessarily Kurisu's death and her time travel paper. SERN can still develop a time machine using just Okabe/Daru's phone microwave. It's just that the very first iteration of the alpha worldline (at least from the perspective of the anime) will eventually lead to subsequent alpha worldlines in which Kurisu is still alive and is the one that develops the time machine instead. We know that Kurisu isn't strictly needed to develop a working time machine b/c Daru is able to do it, albeit with Maho's help, in the beta worldline. Thus, it's not unreasonable to think Daru + Okabe + SERN's research is enough for SERN to create a time machine first even if the Russians have Kurisu's time travel paper.
However, I feel like this is probably incorrect, and this may be one of those cases where Suzuha just always travels to the past, and there's no initial origin point where Kurisu dies, and her father steals her time travel paper. It just never happens the moment the first DMail is sent no matter how many iterations back you try to look.
​
Kurisu's Importance in the Beta Worldline Attractor Field
One thing that gets emphasized is how Kurisu needs to survive to prevent WW3 in the beta worldline, but I don't think that's true, if my reasoning for the previous section is correct. The conditions that lead to WW3 are the following:

1. Kurisu's time travel theory is exposed to the public in some way (be it her father stealing it, someone using Amadeus to recreate it, or something else). This causes a global arms race to create a time machine which escalates into WW3.
2. Okabe never sends the first DMail so SERN never acquires the phone microwave device from the FG lab.

Whether Kurisu lives or dies is irrelevant. In fact, the only real difference between the S;G and beta worldlines besides Kurisu's survival is the survival of the time travel theory which leads to the time machine arms race. If the paper is destroyed, even if Kurisu is dead, the world would effectively be in a pseudo S;G worldline where SERN isn't guaranteed to control the world and WW3 isn't guaranteed to happen. It could even be argued that Kurisu's survival actually increases the chances of WW3 b/c she has the ability to recreate the time travel theory. The reason saving Kurisu is so important is b/c it's Okabe's ideal worldline where both Mayuri and Kurisu are alive, not necessarily b/c it's the ONLY way to prevent a guaranteed dystopian future.
​
Time Travel Mechanics and Reading Steiner
At this point, it's common knowledge that there's only one universe, and there can only be one active worldline. This means there's no multiverse or meeting multiple future/past selves and grandfather paradox shenanigans. My understanding is that every time any time travel happens, be it through sending DMails, sending data, physical time travel or whatever, it causes a worldline change. Sometimes the change is so negligible (e.g. Okabe telling Daru about Faris's strategy in the Rai-Net tournament) that it's effectively the same worldline in every other way, and it doesn't trigger Reading Steiner which means Reading Steiner doesn't trigger in every worldline shift, only ones that are big enough that overwriting the new Okabe's memories would trigger it. Logically, this means there are worldline shifts that even Okabe won't detect, but for all intents and purposes, they're insignificant b/c the Okabe getting overwritten had the exact same (or close enough) memories as the Okabe doing the overwriting, and the worldlines are effectively the same.
But what about traveling to the future? Or when there are multiple instances of the same character from the future/past traveling to the same time. I think traveling to the future must be functionally the same as traveling to the past in causing worldline shifts. We know that worldline shifts must occur each time someone travels to the past so this means two instances of the same character traveling to the same time will never meet each other (e.g. no 3 Okabes on July 28th in 2010). Consider the scenario where Person A has time machine FG203 in the year 2036. Person A uses FG203 to go to 1975. Person A then uses FG203 to go back to 2036, exactly 1 minute before Person A leaves initially leaves for 1975. At this point, if traveling to the future doesn't cause a worldline shift, time paradoxes become possible. Therefore, any kind of time travel, to the past or the future, must cause a worldline shift. This is why Suzu and Daru are both concerned about Suzu time traveling to a point in time she's already time traveled to (e.g. Suzu and Mayuri traveling to 2010 for Operation Arclight). It could cause a significant enough worldline shift that introduces new variables and Butterfly Effects that make the Steins;Gate worldline unattainable. The reason I emphasize significant is b/c, as we've already conjectured, any kind of time travel causes a worldline shift, but not all worldline shifts are big enough to trigger Reading Steiner. You can still shift to a worldline that's only slightly different enough to be effectively the same.
​
Timing of Reading Steiner From Okabe's Perspective
We know that Okabe was ill as a kid which is heavily implied to be due to Reading Steiner activating from a worldline shift, possibly due to Suzuha traveling to 1999 to prevent Y2K. Reading Steiner also activates the moment Okabe sends the first DMail, as opposed to happening on the date it gets sent to in the past. This implies that it must always happen from the perspective of the Okabe from just before the worldline shifts. However, how exactly does the universe determine when exactly the worldline shifts from Okabe's perspective? Here's a thought experiment to illustrate what I mean:

1. The S;G worldline's future is somehow actually worse than both the Alpha and Beta worldlines. Okabe calls Suzu out of retirement for one last job jump. Suzu's mission is to go back to 1999 and prevent Okabe from developing his mad scientist persona, thereby preventing the events in S;G from happening.
2. Suzu travels from 2036 in the previous worldline (in which Okabe is still alive) to 1999 in a new worldline (in which Okabe is also alive). When does Reading Steiner activate from the perspective of Okabe? Does it happen in 2036 or 1999? Or does it happen in both? If it happens in both, would Okabe in 1999 only receive the memories of Okabe up until 1999 from the previous worldline? And, then separately, in 2036, assuming Okabe is also still alive, he would receive the full memories of the previous worldline, right?

In the anime, this is much easier to follow and reconcile b/c we only follow the perspective of one Okabe at a time b/c either there's only one Okabe at that time or the Okabe in any other times that are relevant for the worldline shift are dead (e.g. 2025 in beta worldline).
​
S;G 0 Ending Timeline
Here's my understanding of the timeline.

1. S;G 0 Okabe successfully thwarts the rooftop helicopter attacks, allowing Operation Arclight to be carried out.
2. Suzu and Mayuri travel back to 2010 for Operation Arclight, only stay for the minute that other Suzu and Okabe are still in the past to avoid time paradox that would cause a worldline shift, run out of fuel and get stranded in 18000 BC.
3. At this point, even if Mayuri slaps some sense into Okabe after his initial failure to save Kurisu, it doesn't do anything b/c we still don't have the plan for Operation Skuld figured out yet, or do we? I lean towards not yet b/c then the ending in 2025 doesn't make sense to me.
4. Timeline proceeds as normal, leading to beta worldline where WW3 happens, but this time, having been reinvigorated by Mayuri's plea, Okabe spends the next 15 years figuring out all the details for Operation Skuld, realizing that you can "deceive" fate by faking Kurisu's death.
5. The recording we see at the end of episode 23 followed by Okabe undergoing Operation Altair to rescue Suzu and Mayuri in 18000 BC is all actually the previous worldline just before episode 24 in the original S;G anime.
6. Unclear where Suzu and Mayuri go to after this. Okabe 0 presumably stays behind to not risk overwriting present Okabe (or any point up until his death in 2025), though I don't know if the overwriting is that risky so much as just traveling to the future itself being risky since it can cause a significant worldline change. I touch on this more further below.
7. More time passes, as Suzu has to grow up to become future soldier in 2036 (unless we can use Suzu that time traveled back from 18000 BC?) and carry out her missions to acquire an IBN 5100, use it to prevent Y2K in 1999 per the original John Titor timeline at the start of S;G episode 1, and convince Okabe to save Kurisu.
8. This time, it's the final iteration which leads directly to episode 24 in the original S;G anime and everything needed to achieve the S;G worldline is present.

With that said, since we've established that traveling to the past definitely causes a worldline shift, and traveling to the future likely causes a worldline shift to avoid time paradoxes, doesn't this mean that Operation Arclight is somewhat risky? There's no guarantee the worldline shift caused by Suzu and Mayuri traveling back to the future won't change things enough to make the S;G worldline unattainable. Basically any more worldline shifts after Suzu goes back from 2036 to 2010 for the final iteration is risky b/c of the unpredictability of worldline shifts and Butterfly Effects. Or maybe, the power of love and friendship is enough to overcome this? Personally, I fully respect Okabe's decision to save future soldier and best girl.

Hello,
Recently after posting on this sub I have finally made the long-overdue purchase of a new setup. I have tried dismantling a PC once (the pc was ancient, probably purchased around 2006) and it went terribly wrong because I lacked the knowledge.
My new build has an AIO and costs a lot so I definitely want to make sure that everything goes correctly. I could always pay a professional to do this, but I also kind of want to learn how to do it myself.
So I'll need some guidance from you guys about proper setup which includes:

• Any video recommendations on how to install my chosen components/components, in general, would help a lot
• BIOS updates/setup for my ram & other components. I have no idea how to go about this, do I need to update etc?
• Windows debloat - I'm planning on installing a fresh copy of Win11, but I assume it comes with a ton of bloatware and things I will never use that will reduce performance.
• Drivers - I've never actually installed drivers through windows, instead downloaded them separately for each component. What's the best way to go about it?

Notes on the list - the RAM is actually 2x 32 - pcpartpicker doesn't seem to have that option for this model ; I am planning on upgrading the setup to a 4090 in ~3 months.
pc part picker list
Thanks

March madness returns this year with a massive selection of missions to take on. If you're a basketball fan it's time to jump right in and start unlocking your 75 USDT in free bets. Simply bet on the best NCAA match ups and you can get rewarded with free bets equivalent to the amount you wager.
https://sportsbet.io/promotions/2023-03-clubhouse-march-madness-missions

I'm moving to Spain in the coming weeks (can't wait!) and want to scope out the best rewards cards.
I put pretty much everything on my credit card and would like to benefit from that. I'm indifferent if the points are flight-related or not. Just looking for the best return on my spending as possible.

I am in charge of getting our entire environment basically modernized. We have been onprem for however long and are finally switching to Intune and I have the go ahead to pretty much re do all our policies and get everything standardized. It's a blessing.
I've got intune up and running with my test machine and now I'm ready to create some configuration profiles and I'm trying to wrap my head around two ways to do this:
We are a local government with a lot of departments, and sub departments within each department. Let's say we have an Administration, IT, Probation, and Fire department for example sake.

Option 1:

The first option is to create almost like a Tree type infrastructure:

• Countywide Configuration profile
  • Administration
    • HR
    • Finance
  • IT
    • Systems
    • Help Desk
    • Networks
    • Desktop Technicians
  • Probation
    • Supervisors
    • Probation Officer
    • Administrative Assistant
  • Fire
    • Fire Staff
    • Engineer
    • Administrative Assistant

The top level Countywide Configuration is a set group of policies that apply to every single department no matter what. Things like Password requirements, removing ads, setting default browser, etc.
Then I would have a configuration for example the IT department - what everyone in an IT department would generally need. Perhaps certain tools, mmc shortcut, etc.
Then finally for Systems, it would be customized to tools we use, so shortcuts like Hyper-v or VMWare shortcuts, ssh software, etc.
I would target every device for a CountyWide configuration, then target anyone in the IT department OU or create a dynamic group that has anyone with the 'department' as IT would get that configuration, then get a list of all job titles that contain Systems or something like that to filter for each Systems user.
I would go through and do this for every department and sub department.

Option 2:

It's similar to Option 1, but instead of nested trees, I would just have a Systems configuration profile, a Networks profile, etc. Each of these would include everything that the Countywide configuration profile, but just built into that policy.
The reason that seems like it might not work as well, is if we had a huge policy change county-wide, like instead of a minimum 8 character password they pass a rule that it's now 10 characters, I'd have to go into each policy and change each one individually. Which leads me to my next option...

Option 3:

Create section-based policies. Something like a OneDrive Configuration which can configure desktop configurations, etc. Then something maybe like a Password configuration which configures passwords. Maybe Edge configuration policy to manage just Edge.
I'm not a huge fan of this idea, because sometimes every department needs their own stuff sometimes. However, this may work since we are standardizing across the board. I have played with the thought of doing something like that along with each job title configuration, but then again it can get pretty wild.
​
I read an article on the best practices for intune development and configuration profiles and I think Option 1 might work the best, but this is such a huge undertaking and I want to make sure I get the theoretical part down before I start hammering away at these policies.
I've also read if you setup Intune in an incorrect way, it can really slow down the system because of how many policies you need to have syncing and applying. That's why Option 3 doesn't seem efficient, it seems like it would get super cluttered.
Thanks for anyone's inputs!

At our goodwill there are regulars who stand by the entrance of the back storage areas. I know when shopping we should wait for items to be put out on the floor. But at my local, these shoppers, who seem to be there every time I go, loitering and waiting, leer into the boxes and grab stuff before it goes on the shelf. One stands no chance in getting anything nice. It happens with regular staff, managers, anyone. Because these customers are there all day long and have rapport with the staff. The customers take anything they think they can flip. Is this common and what’s a regular shopper’s best strategy to deal with it?