My father in law casts a big shadow. He is very successful and has run his own architecture firm for the last 40 years. He is taking our whole family to Hawaii to celebrate his 70th birthday. He is paying for everything and this is not the first time he sent us all on a family vacation. I feel like I should get him a 70th birthday gift but after hours of brainstorming and online shopping everything feels lame and underwhelming. I know he is an architect, he loves vintage porches. He used to race cars. He likes classic rock. He loves the beach and designed a beach house where him and my MIL hang out on weekends. He golfs. The problem is the dude has everything. Like seriously everything. I want to show him my appreciation for everything he’s done for us but can’t think of a good 70th birthday gift that doesn’t feel trite and lame.

Anyone recently fly from the east coast to Hawaii? I’m flying from Philly to San Fran to Honolulu soon and the longest flight I’ve ever done was 4 hours. Besides the 13 hour total time each way, I’m nervous about being on a really big plane and over the ocean the whole way. I’m mostly scared at takeoff and landing (mostly just takeoff) and then any turbulence of course.
So if anyone has done this flight could tell me what it’s like and how it’s not much scarier than flying from like, Philly to Denver, it would be helpful!
I did buy that fear of flying book but haven’t read it yet.
Anyway would really like to start looking forward to going to Hawaii rather than dreading the flight! Bc I’m not excited at all, just thinking about the airplane :(

Since DE came out Arabia generations with the African theme used Acacia trees. But in January 2020, with update 34699 the following change was made:
​

Acacia forests have been replaced by palm/dragon forests on the following maps:
Arabia
..... [many other maps]

​
I don't understand why. Dragon Trees might be beautiful in real life because of their rarity, but in the game, imo, they look kind of... ugly. They also look really out of place along rhinos, zebras and elephants, considering Dragon Trees can only be found in the island of Socotra.
Acacias, on the other hand, while not a type of tree unique only to Africa, is completely appropiate for these kind of maps. And they also look better. I think they should get back to be the type of tress for african ambienced Arabias again.
​
What do you think?

Just came back from a trip to Ocean City, Maryland and surrounding area to play too much mini golf. Over 3 days, my wife and I did 10 courses and I wanted to do a quick write up.
TL:DR - Lost Treasure was the best in OC. Embers Island also fantastic. Look for coupons.
How we rated:
All courses were 18 holes, some locations had 2 courses on 1 property, each being rated independently. No Old Pro, we did most of those last time and prioritized newer (to us) courses.
We rated each course in 4 categories on a scale of 1 to 5, to create an average course score. This included:
A) Hole design/sport element/competition
B) Landscaping/beauty
C) Theme elements/narrative/immersion
D) Course enjoyability (Shade, location/geography, quality of setup and supplies, ease to walk through, clean/neat/no debris on the greens, employees care, passion seen throughout the course, etc.)
Our scores:
Viking Golf: 3, 3, 4, 4 = avg 3.5. Very well kept, refurbished pretty recently. Fun, unique theme, clearly a lot of whimsy and love went into making this course. Employes care and it shows. Good holes. Looking retro but well kept. Unusual theme, would go out of my way to play again.
Nick's Down Under (Australia): 3, 1, 2, 1 = avg 1.75. Pretty terrible. Very hard walk to through (lots of changes in step heights without clear indication, no clear paths, we joked it was full of "ankle breakers"). Worn, broken props and elements, bad hole design, no good landscaping. Just bad, so many flaws. This an old course without retro charm.
Buccaneers Booty (?) - Game World: 2, 3, 3, 4 = avg 3.0. Very nice course, looking a little rough though. Some of the big themetic elements need some TLC. A landscapist needs a day or 2 to spruce it up. Even in its rougher state, a very fun course to play. Clubs were very worn and sticky (?).
Lost Treasure - Diamond Course: 4, 4, 5, 5 = avg 4.5. Excellent course, lots of love. Gorgeous course to play and take in. Diamond better than Gold. Fun animatronics and design. So clean and neat, the staff deeply care and it shows. Great clubs. Employees were great! Very satisfying plunks when getting the balls into the holes.
Lost Treasure - Gold Course: 3, 4, 5, 4 = avg 4.0. Another excellent course, a step below Diamond. More challenging holes. See Diamond above.
Embers Island - Pirates Course: 5, 4, 4, 4 = avg 4.25. Excellent course, Pirates is better than Volcano. Cannonball effects not working, but per an employee, they should be fixed later June 2023. Great clubs. Employees also great!
Embers Island - Volcano Course: 4, 4, 4, 4 = avg 4.0. Excellent. Holes were well designed. Wish the fire and smoke effects on the volcano were working again. Animatronics not all working, probably due to sheer age but not due to staff neglect necessarily. Coupons online?
Nick's Maui: 2, 3, 3, 3 = avg 2.75. This course replaced the original Maui Mini Golf, very sad. All that gorgeous tropical landscaping and fun holes have been replaced with a shadow of its former glory. They kept some of the original theme elements, like the iconic sign. Holes are easy. Shallow hole issues. Why flags in each of the holes? Trash on on the ground. Lots of holes in ones, which suggests the hole design was too easy or straightforward. Nick has coupons.
Nick's Beachball: 3, 2, 3, 3 = avg 2.75. Fun if easy. Nice big umbrellas for shade. Nick uses cheap, plastic holes that are much too shallow. We had multiple instances where the balls popped out of the hole. That should never happen. Like other Nicks, each hole had flags in each hole. The ball would bounce back due to the flag staff in the way.
Nick's Dino & Mining Co.: 3, 2, 3, 4 = avg 3. Animatronics rough, most clearly damaged and no longer moving. Theme confusing? (Mining and dinos?!) Some holes were challenging, but clearly from a lack of thoughtful design. Flaws throughout but the best Nicks of the 4 we played. Nick needs to stop storing supplies in plain sight, looks crummy. Blue water at all Nicks just reminds me of toilet water. Balls and clubs more worn, like all Nicks.

Ranked in order:
1 Lost Treasure - Diamond, 4.5
2 Ember Island - Pirates, 4.25
3 Lost Treasure - Gold, 4.0 (tied for 3)
3 Ember Island - Volcano, 4.0 (tied for 3)
4 Viking, 3.5
5 Buccaneers, 3.0 (tied for 5)
5 Nick's Dino and Mining, 3.0 (tied for 5)
6 Nick's Beachball, 2.75 (tied for 6)
6 Nick's Maui, 2.75 (tied for 6)
7 Nick's Outback, 1.75
Hope this write up is helpful! There are some great mini golf courses in Ocean City and its well worth the trip to go play them.

Looking to go to a beach at the end of June/early July. It'll be me, my husband, and our 4 year old. We've gone to Ocean City, MD a few times (before having our daughter) and it's always so crowded, so many advertisements on boats on the water, loud, not the best crowd, etc. Just in general, not a big fan. I'm looking at hotels and the availability based on our budget ($1K for a 4 night stay) is limiting. I wanted to do Rehoboth/Bethany, but properties are all $300+ a night. We want somewhere quieter and more family friendly.
I found a property on Fenwick Island, it's a bit smaller for the same price as OC ones, except it has no kitchen. I guess my question is-- is Fenwick all that different from OC? Should I book the more comfortable room in OC which has a full kitchen (would make such a difference in cost and eating out), or should we get a standard room that only has a fridge+microwave on Fenwick Island?

This post contains spoilers for Priory of the Orange Tree (notably, the romantic interest of one of the lead characters, though this becomes fairly obvious in the first third of the book, and a few events from throughout the book that relate to the barriers that relationship faces)
This weekend I finished reading Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon for my LGBTQ+ Bingo Card. While I picked it because of the dragons for the mythical beasts square, it’s also been mentioned as a good option for the Queernorm Square by many, and I was curious what that would look like in and Epic High Fantasy story, since I more often see this in more urban settings (Rook and Rose comes to mind).
What comes below are not a review of the book, but instead my rambling thoughts on whether or not this book is a Queernorm story.
What is a Queernorm Story?:
It’s probably best to start with a working definition. According to this year’s bingo card … “A book set in a world where queerness is normalized, accepted, and prevalent within communities. Characters are not othered, ostracized, or particularly remarkable in any way for their queerness”
I should also note that, as someone completing an LGBTQ+ card, and who reads a good amount of queer speculative fiction, I am perhaps a more rigorous set of standards for this than most. I also want to stress that queernorm =/= good and the reverse =/= bad. Non Queernorm Stories are just as important and wonderful. This conversation exists mostly in the context of the 2023 bingo contest and my own desire to overanalyze things.
What is Priory of the Orange Tree?
In short, this book is an Epic Fantasy story where four disparate protagonists try to stop the Nameless One from rising, and the Nameless One is a giant western style dragon. The characters come from a variety of cultures, which encompass many analogues from around the globe (notably, there are two types of dragons, Eastern and Western, which largely map onto how Eastern and Western cultures on our earth have depicted dragons). Goodreads has more information. eastern continent)
Queernorm Elements:
To start with, half of the four viewpoint characters are homosexual. Ead is a mage warrior secretly protecting a western foreign queen while living at her court, and Niclays is an exiled alchemist from said court now living in a tiny island town off the eastern continent. Ead’s romance is a major plot point in the book, and Niclay’s relationship with his deceased lover is a major part of his character. This prevalent queer rep in main characters is key to the argument that Priory is a queernorm book, especially since there’s no dramatic coming out, or need to comment on the fact that they’re gay at all. It’s treated like any other relationship in the book is. There are a few minor queer characters, mostly mentioned in passing, which is a part of a well realized queernorm world (and really any world where its mentioned people are married if we’re being honest)
There’s a lot of work put into pushing for world building elements that are queernorm in nature. Most notably, the world uses the term ‘companion’ instead of husband or wife, which is a clear attempt to make the world a more queer friendly place, since there is no distinction between different types of companionships/marriages.
These fairly major elements really lend strength to the argument that this is a Queernorm story, though the lack of any trans or gender diverse characters that I’m aware of is perhaps the only major obvious knock against it (and this shifts in the second book from what I’ve seen)
Where Things Start to Fall Apart
While I was reading, there was this nagging voice in my head that kept picking at this question of whether it was a queernorm book, in part because it was an element I was excited about. And I kept running into little things that bugged me.
To begin with, both of the main queer relationships were forbidden for unrelated reasons. The first is fairly straightforward: Niclays’ lover was already married to a woman, though he painted a positive relationship with her (and their children), even after his lover died. You see, the religion of the northern countries in the West (where both queer relationships spent most of their time occurring) have strict monogamous rules, and it doesn’t seem like divorce is an option.
This already provides systemic barriers for poly folks, but led to some more insidious forms of discrimination. You see, Niclay’s lover got engaged when the man was two years old for political reasons. In fact, all mentioned arranged marriages were between a man and a woman (although it is entirely possible that homosexual arranged marriages occurred as well, I can’t comment on what isn’t there). This, when combined with the strict religious monogamy laws, lead to queer people being forced into heterosexual relationships against their will in a systemic fashion.
The second forbidden relationship is between Ead and the Queen of Inys. For context, Inys is a Queendom, whose queens uncannily produce only one child: always a girl, and always with a very similar appearance. Sabran has long resisted marriage, but is forced to marry a man to produce an heir and cement of a political alliance. A lot of my above issues come into play here as well, but there’s a larger problem facing the queernorm label here. As a religion (and country) the need to produce heirs in a monogamous relationship forces any first son/daughter to be heterosexual, and it feels like a glaring oversight that an otherwise LGBTQ+ friendly world can’t figure this out. Heck, bloodline succession at all seems like a strike against queernorm stories without evidence that adoption is an acceptable alternative for queer couples.
To be fair, this storyline is actually engaged with in a meaningful way, as Sabran’s struggles with the expectations placed on her and her eventual daughter are a centerpiece to one storyline. It’s presented mostly through a feminist lens however, and doesn’t particularly consider its ramifications in terms of queerness. This isn’t a bad thing, because it was engaged with in critical a way that the problems facing Niclays’ relationship wasn’t. The discussion/struggle around Sabran’s limited options was one of my preferred parts of the books.
So no, I cannot in good conscience label Priory of the Orange Tree a queernorm book. It is certainly an LGBTQ+ book that seeks to reclaim space for us in the epic fantasy space where most queer authors have avoided treading, and not every book featuring LGBTQ+ themes should be queernorm. Discussion and engagement with struggle and hardship is important, and it’s okay that many queer folk refuse to read those book in favor of queernorm stories - and vice versa.
However, I definitely can’t recommend this for the Queernorm square of bingo, and I do wish that Shannon had considered the implications of arranged marriages on an otherwise LGBTQ+ friendly world, because it really feels like the culture should have this figured out based on the way they handle other queer topics.
TLDR: Priory is not a queernorm book. Lots of good representation of queer love, albeit forbidden for reasons other than LGBTQ+ identity. A culture of heterosexual arranged marriages made before children are born/have developed romantic/sexual preferences marginalizes queer folks in tangible ways in the book, and doesn’t leave room for those whose identities shift over time.

Nintendo, or at least the Zelda team have a track record at this point for how they like to do DLC for their games, and additional content for games they remake.
I think the Zelda team like to use DLC as an opportunity to expand on popular mechanics, or otherwise expand an aspect of the game the fans like. This approach both fulfills something fans liked or wanted more of, while not saddling the team with a massively ambitious project. For the most part they try and build on some previously existing mechanic. They clearly keep an eye on what the community says after their games release to inform some of these decisions. I think this definitely explains trial of the sword and the Champions ballad.
They generally reuse assets and mechanics, and include assets that had been created during development but didn't make it into the game. This isn't a dig at them, nor is I meant to mean I think Nintendo didn't put effort into them. I think this is a fine way to make DLC as long as it leads to a quality result, but I do think this is generally how the Zelda team as done DLC so far. Both of BOTW's were pretty great imo. Trial of the sword was very well designed and while Champions ballad was more muddled, i thought it's constituent parts, the shrines and the plateau challenge were well executed for the most part.
Here's some examples of what I'm talking about:

• The Cave of Shadows dungeon for TPHD

Fans of TP lamented that the Wolf Link ability was cool but was in practice usually hamstrung in its scope of gameplay by the need to return to human form. The Cave of Shadows created an entire dungeon around this ability, with the idea of providing a fun challenge that was focussed on using the full potential of the abilities.

• Trial of the Sword

After the release of Botw, people expressed that they thought the combat of the game was some of the best in the series, and they loved the early game progression of having to scavenge for food and weapons. People also liked Eventide island. So Nintendo created a sequence of combat microchallenges that mimicked this progression system

• Champions Ballad

People liked the microdungeons, but wished they were longer and were generally disappointed with the length and design of the divine beasts. Champions ballad gave us four, longer shrines and one more big dungeon. It also gave a bunch of rewards that were not ground breaking, but expanded the customizability of links house a little bit and a cool new way of getting around. The master cycle was an idea and an asset that had been hanging around during development but didn't make it into the game.
So based on all of this, I'd like to start a conversation of what kind of things Nintendo might be looking to do with a future DLC. Below I'll make a few predictions but these are only informed by my experience with the game, and the generally schema for how I think they'll make the DLC I outlined above.
Maybe a Trial or the Sword style challenge series based on creating contraptions with Ultra hand?
A new, large dungeon, likely with more traditional mechanics, using art assets from the shrines. Possibly as a sky island.
Expanded house construction system, with unlockable and new rooms, possibly addressing some of the current frustrations people have with it.
A Boss Rush challenge, like Skyward Sword's
Some new Zonai components.
A rideable version of the beast from the first trailer. (not likely imo, though would be cool, and as some have pointed out, it's kinda in the game but small)
A new large sky island chain consisting of a sequence of traversal puzzles, maybe leading to the dungeon mentioned above
What do you think they'll do for TOTK's DLC?

I’m 21M and left my hometown in Ewa Beach, Hawaii when I was about 13 yrs old, due to my parent’s job on the mainland. I haven’t been back since then, meaning it’s been almost 9 years now.
Growing up, I used to be severely homesick and the thought of going back was often the only thing that helped get me thru middle school. In high school, I just drifted and let life take me wherever but still somewhat hoped to move back one day. By the time I got to college tho, I figured this kind of thing wasn’t good for me and that I should just try to move on. SOOO much time has passed now after all. Everyone I knew then either moved off the island or moved on with life anyways too. I’ve tried so hard to do the same in college by focusing on school, myself, and shit. However, I still feel like I’m drifting and moving through life with no purpose.
In all the time I spent on the mainland tho, I can say without a doubt that I have never felt I belonged here. I thought by some time I would have felt some sort of connection here. I’ve made friends and experienced many things I would not have on the island, but somehow I know I still I don’t consider this place my home in my heart. The only place I ever felt I truly belonged was in my hometown. I don’t think this will ever change considering it’s been almost a decade now.
Here’s something interesting tho, my sister actually went on a trip with her boyfriend back to my hometown. She showed me all the pictures, experiences she had, and many places we have not visited then. I couldn’t stop the thought of wanting to move back, I feel it sparked a fire in me again. I want to experience everything I couldn’t experience then because I was a kid. I want to meet more people from the island and make new memories there. I want to experience having a sense of belonging again. I miss that feeling so freaking much.
Is this bad though? A lot has probably changed. I don’t know anyone there anymore. I would be starting over from scratch and I may not find that sense of belonging. I can’t stop to think that maybe I’m too obsessed with the idea of going back. I don’t know what to think anymore.

Hello! Two of my friends and I are currently looking for another player for a homebrew campaign I've been running. We play every other weekend on Sunday or Saturday (usually Sunday) at 2pm EDT on Discord. We plan our next session at the end of every session. Sessions usually last ~4 hours. We are an all-queer group. New players are welcome.

About the Party

My name is Gavin and my pronouns are they/them and I'm the DM. I'm fairly new at DMing, but I've been playing DnD for over 2 years now. I'm a big rules nerd but I tend to favor the Rule of Cool.
Players:

• River (they/them) plays Harry Cox (he/they), a copper dragonborn rangefighter multiclass who uses a heavy crossbow and excels at tracking and hunting monsters.
• Helene (she/they) plays Ariax Dapperling (he/they), an aasimar wild magic sorcerer who gets his powers from the spores of a giant divine mushroom located near his hometown and enjoys crafting weird potions/poisons.

Don't worry about party balance. If the party is struggling with healing, there's health potions for that. If the party is struggling with doing enough damage, there's magic weapons for that. Play whatever kind of character will be fun for you :)

About the Campaign

We are playing in a homebrew world I made with its own pantheon of gods. The world, Oberron, is roughly split into different city-states. You can find a google doc with info about the gods here. There is a lore channel in the discord with maps for the world and more lore. I continue to worldbuild as the campaign goes on.

Lately, in the world of Oberron, monsters have been popping up all over the planet, terrorizing the inhabitants of the world. Where are these monsters coming from and how will the world defend itself from their onslaught?
A copper dragonborn from Kangto set off on a journey hunting these strange creatures after one of them ravaged his hometown. On his journey, he came across a village that had been terrorized by chicken-like creatures who could turn people into stone. He and a local tracked the creatures to a cave and, with some help, exterminated them and some strange hamsters they were with. Upon searching the cave the party found books written in sylvan detailing transmutation experiments and a map of the world with three glowing dots of red light, one of which was right at the spot they stood, and they watched as the dot marking the cave faded and disappeared.
They are now on a mission traveling to these spots and fighting new monsters, battling strange new creatures and, sometimes, fairies.
Will you join our heroes and protect the people of this world?

The party is currently level 4 and I plan on level-ups happening every 3 or 4 sessions. I plan on the campaign lasting until around level 15. I like to play in worlds with a lot of magic, so it will be common for NPCs to have at least some low-level magical abilities and magic items won't be super rare. I also like to make homebrew magic items specifically tailored for my players. We are using theater of the mind for our sessions. There is potential for inter-planar travel in this campaign as well as venturing into the underdark if that's something that interests you. There is a new monster every session or two, with an overarching villain that will become more obvious as the campaign goes on, and this will eventually lead to an epic ending to the campaign. If you've ever seen Supernatural, this campaign's structure is similar to that (though not intentionally lol).
This campaign setting is free of homophobia, racism, transphobia, misogyny, etc. I have no interest in playing these things, tension and conflict comes from other places. There will be no pvp without enthusiastic consent from all parties (including stealing from other PCs). I also have a consent-in-gaming form for you to fill out if you end up joining our group.

Next Session

Our next session is on Sunday, June 11th, at 2pm EDT. I am hoping to have our new player join that session for a Pride one-shot to meet the party and get a chance to play with the group before continuing the main campaign. This should give you a few weeks to build your character for the main campaign.
For the one-shot, make a level 11 character that is part of the wedding party of two brides. You can choose 1 rare magic item and 1 uncommon magic item (or you could choose items of lower rarity).

Building Your Character

When you build your character you have access to all official content and, with permission, any homebrew or UA content. I also have things I've homebrewed that are available, including a race of mushroom people called the boletarii and four sorcerer subclasses I'm currently working on. The sorcerer subclasses are meant to be for descendants of four of the five original gods in my world. They are fire/sun, knowledge/sky, earth/forge, and watechaos. Stats will be rolled in Discord by the usual 4d6 drop the lowest method. If your stat total is below 75, then you can re-roll if you want. HP will also be rolled on Discord. You also can modify your racial ability modifiers to be a +2 in one stat and a +1 in another, or a +1 in three different stats, like WOTC's recently released races. You can choose one uncommon magical item or we can work together to homebrew one for your character.

Homerules

• You can cast more than one leveled spell in a turn (e.g. if you use your action to cast fireball, you can still use your bonus action to cast misty step)
• A spell scroll can be used by anybody no matter their class
• Death saving throws will be made for all NPCs and most villains (at least humanoid ones)

Are You Interested?

Fill out this google form if you're interested in joining.
If you have any questions please leave a comment or send me a message :)

Hello all. Any comments on this busy itinerary appreciated.
Active family of 5 ages 17 to 55 with our own rental vehicle. We like to hike and be active. We will likely not get back to Ireland again. I realize this is a busy schedule with several packed days. Any comments appreciated. We usually like a day or two at the end so we don't get home exhausted.
July 15 arrive Dublin from US at 10:30am Drive to Killarney.....May stop at Waterford Crystal and Blarney Castle. Yes we will be tired. 3 nights in Killarney lodging
July 16 and 17 Killarney area July 16 Killarney National Park, Possible trip to Dingle, catch up on sleep July 17 Ring of Kerry and skellig ring
July 18 Leave early towards the Cliffs of Moher 2 hours at Cliffs of Moher Drive to Galway and stay near there for the night
July 19 Ferry from Rosaveel to Inishmore Aran Island Spent 3-5 hours on the island; rent bikes Drive to somewhere near Clifden for the night
July 20 Enjoy Connemara area; possibly 4 hour hike Drive to Westport and lodge for the night
July 21 Enjoy Achill Island for first 2/3 of the day Drive 4 hours to Derry for nights lodging
July 22 Big day but think can do it Start at 7:30 am with drive to Giants Causeway 1.5 hours at Causeway Drive 1.5 hours to Belfast 1.5 hours at Titanic Museum Drive 2.25 hours to Dublin Lodging 3 nights in Dublin
July 23 and 24 in Dublin near downtown Take in sights, possible day trip to Kilkenny or Wicklow moutains The Book of Kells, Trinity College, EPIC museum, St Stephen's Green Relax for a moment or two
July 25 Leave Dublin airport
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What would you add or subtract or make sure you see in some of the locations above?
If u/scorchio77 has any comments too. I would welcome them.
Thank you kindly in advance!!
Have a great day!

My husband and I moved to the Big Island in 2020. 3 months after we arrived, we met Rhino who looks just like my previous dog who died of cancer. We adopted Rhino and he s been the only dog until last year. Oreo, a cute hungry corgi mix showed up on our property and he is now our K9#2. It took Rhino almost a year to get used to having a furry brother and now he has a sister dog (Princess) also. Last November Rhino started having grand mal seizures. Since then he s been very needy, whiny, food driven, and aggressive with Oreo. My husband hates when Rhino whines and he will reprimand him for his behavior. Rhino s brain has been reset and now he acts like a puppy. My husband thinks I love Rhino more than I love him, but my explanation is, Rhino is sick and not himself. And just because I dont agree with the way my husband treats Rhino it does't mean that I love Rhino more. This is when we fight. On bad days he will comment saying he s going to drop Rhino off 100miles away so he cant find home. Not to mention I am 35 weeks pregnant and this has been very stressful for all of us. My husband says obviously I care more for Rhino and he cant live like this. He s even saying things like I need to find a place to live with Rhino...and I am actually considering that. Am I being a dramatic K9 mom?

I've been looking around for mods for the classic Splinter Cell games (SC1, PT, CT). I'm not talking about the VS map editor for Multiplayer, more like custom maps for the single player games to play around in, in a similar manner with DOOM .wad maps. I've already seen those mods for SC1 like in Moddb, like the first person mod and PS2 Cutscenes for PC, but those barely scratch the surface for what I want in modding Splinter Cell. I'm surprised that I haven't seen mods for the Splinter Cell series like custom maps, character skins, etc. Especially when the games are ported to the PC, my silly brain always expects cool mods for a iconic series. Just a big fan of playing the first 3 Splinter Cells, since I returned to playing them 6+ months ago for the first time since I was a kid. Unless I'm under a rock and haven't seen the existence of map mods for single player yet, I'll highly appreciate the heads up.

Yesterday a somewhat frazzled looking man came to the desk and asked me for help. I obliged, and asked what I could do for him. He asked if I had ever heard of a particular hotel. I hadn't, and he explained that he had booked a room there through motels dot com. I asked if he had an address for it, and he did.
He said he'd driven there already, but there was a law office there. I pulled up the address on google maps, and the location showed a building that didn't seem that big. About the same size as a stand alone coffee shop next to it, certainly not big enough for a hotel. Except for perhaps a very small one. However google did list the hotel as being at that address. However two different law offices apparently also occupied the building.
It didn't list any website, and there were no reviews, but there was a phone number. I gave that to him, along with the desk phone to call them, as he didn't have a cell phone. He called, shook his head, and handed me the phone. It was an answering service for a completely different company, not the hotel or either of the law offices there.
At this point he was pretty frustrated, so he decided to stay with us and give motels dot com a call and a piece of his mind. He said he'd paid $122 for two nights there, we were $176 for two nights. This was supposedly a 3 star hotel and we're a 2 star, so that's another red flag.
I was bored, so I decided to look into this mystery hotel a bit more after he left. I realized when I zoomed out on google maps that this "hotel" was located right next to the grocery store that I usually go to, and in fact had gone to both the previous days. There was DEFINITELY not a hotel there, in case that had not become clear. Street view confirmed the same.
He came back a little while to get a receipt. Motels dot com was going to reimburse him for his stay with us, and said the reservation was in error, as the hotel was "no longer in business".
Then my shift was over so I went home. But today I was bored again.
See google had showed pictures that definitely looked to be from hotel rooms. I wanted to investigate that a bit more. Like, obviously they were stolen pics. But what might I be able to find out about where they were from just by looking at the details?
The rooms didn't have any sort of theme, they all looked different, and they didn't look like the brand standard for any brand I knew. Then there was a picture of a corridor and at the end was what looked like an exit sign, except it was definitely not in English. Because of the resolution and distance, I couldn't make out what it said exactly, but it was clear enough that I figured if I ran "exit" through google translate and looked around at the translations I could probably figure out what it was. It was in Vietnamese!
So I flipped through a few more pictures and found one that was labeled "slippers" but was actually a picture from inside a lobby looking outside. Above the front doors was a building number different from the one listed as the address. Which didn't strike me as that interesting initially. A couple pictures later was of a "patio" which was accurate, it just appeared to be a patio somewhere tropical and Asian. I'm going to guess Vietnam.
Scooted down one more picture and it's a shot from outside, including the parking lot and cars. There's no sign on the building that is visible, but the parking spaces are labeled "patient parking only." A few more random hotel room shots. At this point they have more than 13 rooms shown, and the motels dot com listing said they had 13 rooms. Next picture though was a jackpot. It's of a sign that lists all the names of the businesses in the building, and the building number listed on the side is that of the one from above that I saw in the lobby picture.
Also at that point I realized this was the building just a hop skip and a jump down the way from the fake hotel address. They had just lifted some pics from another nearby business for their outside shots. The next hotel room picture had a sex chair in it.
There were more stolen shots from the parking lot, a room that was in Vietnam based on the wall outlet, and more sex chairs. The ones with sex chairs all appeared to be from the same Vietnamese hotel, and a few other pictures looked like different angles of other rooms there were pictures of.
Lastly, the listing is still up on motels dot com. However it does say they are not accepting bookings for that property which is good. I was looking over the amenities, which would be very accommodating if they were real. Check in at 6am, checkout at 12:30. Free full breakfast from 7-12 every day. In one spot it says cash deposit is accepted then in another spot it said cash not accepted at all. Which is just so misleading.
The real mystery here though is that there is one review listed. They gave the hotel a 2/10 on May 27th. How did they manage 2 stars rather than 1?!

What are exploits and why are they a problem?

Exploits are malicious actions that hackers, crashers and laggers can use to harm your Minecraft server. Exploits can cause your server to freeze, lag, crash or become vulnerable to other attacks. Some exploits can even corrupt your world data, delete your plugins or bypass your security measures.
Some of the common types of exploits are:

• CustomPayload spam: This is when hackers send custom packets to your server that can overload it or execute commands.
• Big packets exploit: This is when hackers send oversized packets to your server that can crash it or cause memory leaks.
• Crash commands: This is when hackers use commands that can cause errors or crashes on your server, such as /calc, /promote, etc.
• Crash creative items of death: This is when hackers use hacked items in creative mode that can crash your server or other players, such as fireworks, signs, books, containers, etc.
• Packets spam abuse: This is when hackers send a large number of packets to your server that can cause lag or network issues.
• Invalid slot crash in inventories and lecterns: This is when hackers interact with invalid slots in inventories or lecterns that can crash your server or other players.
• Map server lagger: This is when hackers use maps with labels that can lag your server or other players.

How can ExploitFixer help you prevent exploits?

ExploitFixer is a high performance security plugin that protects your Spigot/Paper server from various exploits and crashers. It blocks popular crash clients (Jessica, Jigsaw, YSK, etc.), laggers, crashers and hackers from doing malicious activity with packets thanks to its advanced packet analysis and customizable protection. It also fixes many types of exploits like:

• CustomPayload spam
• Big packets exploit
• Crash commands
• Crash creative items of death
• Packets spam abuse
• Invalid slot crash in inventories and lecterns
• Map server lagger
• Invalid items like Fireworks, Signs, Books, Containers and many other protection methods

ExploitFixer is easy to install and configure. Just drag and drop ExploitFixer.jar into your plugins folder and run it. You can customize many ExploitFixer features in the exploitfixer.yml file. ExploitFixer also has free official and community support on their Discord server.
ExploitFixer is the ultimate solution for a secure and fast Minecraft network. Don’t let exploits ruin your server experience. Try out ExploitFixer today and see the difference for yourself!
Link: https://builtbybit.com/resources/26463/