#i could include it now and make that pointer relevant in the boss

[luv-again]

boy i have hardly written a word and i'm already in a frenzy over whether to include rings as a functional item in this fic rather than a gameplay mechanic

[kaen-ace-of-diamonds]

Walking Space Heater

Word Count: 2700+ (oneshot) 

[AO3]

Genre: Fluff/Hurt/Comfort

Characters: Cinder Fall, Neopolitan, Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black

Pairing: Cinder Fall/Neopolitan

Summary: Written (late) for Day 4 of @spice-cream-week 2021, “There Was Only One Bed.”

With the heat of both her Semblance and the Maiden powers, Cinder's body is much warmer than the average person's. So long as she's still by her side, Neo intends to take full advantage of that.

~0~

This is definitely a step down from the Haven dorms. Neo’s thumbs moved lightning-fast over the keyboard of her Scroll. Don’t they have ANY concept of personal space here? 

She could say something about Roman’s excessive use of emojis. But looking at his messages, she could hear his laughter clearly in her head, and she had no problem with that.

wtm? you got stuck with a shitty roommate? I’ll come and get her for you idgaf

That elicited the breathy noises that were the closest Neo got to laughter. Truthfully, she probably wouldn’t have minded sharing a room much in and of itself. It might even have been fun to mess with Emerald and Mercury in their own space. 

But no, she’d ended up with the only one that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

Cinder Fall was calm, collected, and incredibly competent. Neo didn’t necessarily dislike her. She thought that they got along fairly well, in fact. But that didn’t mean that she trusted her.

Roman was content to stay in the dark about what exactly her ultimate design was beyond Beacon’s destruction, having already accepted the fact that they would be overwhelmed by it. It still gnawed at Neo, though. Thus far her only clues had been the couple private calls that Cinder had taken, and the way Haven’s headmaster cringed like a kicked puppy whenever he caught sight of her. 

Sure, the man was jumpy enough in general, but Cinder — or, more accurately, whatever force had moved Cinder to the Academies — made him cower. Even Neo’s most devilish smile couldn’t do that.

She’s...not bad. She definitely likes me more than she likes you.

Now, did that really require five laughing emojis after I can live with that lol?

And

Neo’s thumb hovered over the screen. For the first time in several minutes, she glanced up from where she was curled up tightly on the covers of her bed. 

Cinder was perfectly at ease on her own bed, leaning back against a stack of pillows with her Scroll open in front of her face. Still rifling through the records of all the Academy students, no doubt. Casting her great and bloody show, for which every little thing had to be perfect. It wasn’t enough that she was sending Emerald and Mercury out to run recon and collect as many relevant details about their players as possible. No, she had to study up herself for hours on end.

Neo was willing to play her own part, but it all seemed very boring to her. Certainly her interim leader could use a break. She returned her attention for one moment more to her Scroll:

I think she would be fun to play with.

Ignoring the several question marks sent in reply, Neo pocketed her Scroll and slipped off her bed. Moving soundlessly was one of the first skills she had ever had to master, and she still considered it her most important. 

Cinder was still too engrossed in her research to notice as she crept across the carpet and climbed onto the other bed. Or maybe she just didn’t care enough to acknowledge her. She certainly didn’t look surprised when Neo’s head poked through the hole between her arms and her Scroll.

“Oh,” she said, smirking, in a tone that she might use with a stray cat that had come up to her in the street. “Hello there. Looking for some entertainment?”

Neo gave her her best strawberry-ice-cream smile, and scooted closer. From the meager rations of physical contact she meted out to Emerald, she wasn’t sure how much Cinder liked being touched, so she proceeded with care, little by little. It seemed to be acceptable: she stayed very still, but allowed Neo to settle down on her chest, resting her head against her shoulder.

“Or are you just lonely?”

Neo hummed thoughtfully, letting herself relax: not all the way, but just enough. This was nicer than she had expected, she had to admit. Cinder was dressed like she had been in the first round of the Vytal Festival: sleeveless jacket, long pants, and sarashi. Neo’s cheek rested mostly on bare skin, and though of course she had seen Cinder’s Semblance before (as well as the flames that didn’t quite seem to fit with it), it was much warmer than she had thought it would feel. Softer, too, with the scents of wood smoke and spicy perfume clinging to it.

“Well?”

Neo rolled lazily over onto her back, looking up at Cinder’s Scroll to see what she had been so busy scrutinizing. Hm. Several pictures of that Mistrali girl from the cereal commercials, accompanied by a passage about her Semblance which had been highlighted in a few places. There was one more tab open with an acronym on it, but that was it. 

Nothing that could tell Neo anything about their situation that she hadn’t already guessed at. And what was more, absolutely nothing that could be more interesting to her temporary partner than her.

Clearly, Cinder could use a lesson on how to properly spend an evening. Dastardly planning, which seemed to be her only form of recreation, just wasn’t going to cut it. 

So Neo helpfully reached up, laid her hands over Cinder’s, and pushed the Scroll shut for her. She put her pointer finger to the outside of her nose; her new teammates might not be picking up Valerian Sign Language particularly well, but she hoped the long, exaggerated twist away from her face coupled with a dramatic sigh got the message across equally well: Cinder, I am bored to tears.

Cinder tilted her head, puzzled but smiling. She slipped her Scroll into her pocket and wrapped an arm around Neo’s waist. 

“Well, in that case, I’d be happy to give you some attention.”

Neo made as pleased a sound as she could muster up, and snuggled up to Cinder, as close as she could get. It might have been dark and cool outside, but she felt as if she were napping on a sunbeam. Rolling over to lay her head on Cinder’s chest, she could imagine that there was a powerfully burning fire inside it in place of a beating heart, whose heat was palpable, just beneath the skin. 

She tried to look more sweetly smug than actually impressed, but gods, she had never felt anything like this. 

Cinder held her tightly in both arms now, fingertips scratching lightly between her shoulder blades, and Neo nearly purred. Years of pulling back bowstrings had turned those arms wiry and oh so strong. All at once, she completely understood why Emerald was always trying to earn one of these rare hugs.

And speaking of which...

Neo wasn’t sure how long she spent in the lap of luxury, only that she felt like she might actually fall asleep in it, as toasty warm as it was. Cinder had switched from rubbing her back to stroking and playing with her hair, which, in her experience with other people, was a welcome first. But she was jolted back to full awareness when their dorm room door slammed angrily open.

Blinking, Neo lifted her head. She caught the lingering scents of jungle juice and sweat incoming, before she saw Emerald stalking inside, barely hanging onto her last scrap of patience. Mercury stumbled in after her, wearing a huge grin and mirrored shades that Neo was fairly certain did not belong to him.

Cinder smirked. “I was wondering when you two would be back. How did it go?”

Emerald forced a halfway convincing smile for her leader. “It was...interesting. Though not quite as informative as I was h—”

The smile froze on her face when she turned to look directly at Cinder, and saw Neo lounging in her lap like a spoiled cat. 

Neo smirked, and signed, Party fun? With the reputation Vytal Festival house parties had, hopefully Emerald had gotten some attention as well.

“Oh, it was great!” Mercury shrugged off his jacket and pitched it into his and Emerald’s room, littering their carpet with brownie crumbs. “We saw a lot of everybody, didn’t we, Emmy?”

While Emerald tried to take a cue from Cinder and set him on fire with her eyes, Cinder herself just closed her Scroll with a soft laugh. 

“Well, you can tell us all about it in the morning. We should all get some rest now.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You got it, boss...”

Neo watched them slink into their room, where muffled bickering started up as soon as the door closed, but did not move until she felt a gentle pat on her thigh. 

“You too, dear. Go on.”

Though she made a show of huffing about it, Neo got up off Cinder’s bed and went back across the room. 

Her own bed felt cold and uninviting now. Catching up on the several missed texts from Roman (including but not limited to what do you mean by that lmao, hey Neo dont leave me out of the loop :), Neo tf are you doing to her O_o, NEO) did make her smile, but as she drifted off to sleep, she couldn’t help but wish that she didn’t have to return to being alone just yet.

~0~

This was not at all the solution to that problem that she had envisioned, but Neo knew very well how to deal with whatever life threw at her.

She had never been to Atlas, and while she had to roll her eyes at its decadence, she couldn’t say she hated the place. Cinder, on the other hand, never answered outright when Neo tried to ask if she had ever been here before, but every bitter hiss from her about Atlas elites that had not been asked for gave her a general idea. It had taken them a while to find a vacant apartment to squat in, especially considering that there was an entire chunk of the city that Cinder refused to even go near. 

But now here they were, and it was empty around them and quiet outside. The blackout curtains shielded them from the city lights. In pitch darkness the two of them were curled up together in the place’s one bed.

Cinder had initially balked at the idea of sharing it, insisting that Neo take an extra blanket and find somewhere else to curl up. So barky with her orders these days, and so on edge, too. Neo was beginning to wonder how she had ever thought of this woman as calm and collected.

In any case, she didn’t see what her once-again partner’s problem was. She had invited Neo into her bed with her before, hadn’t she? Maybe not to sleep, but still. And she was far from squeamish; she wouldn’t make a fuss about the scarring and empty eye socket on full display. As such, she ignored the demand, and simply undressed, got under the covers, and gestured for Cinder to join her. 

After some indignant spluttering, Cinder threw up her hands and stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. She didn’t come out until Neo had turned the lights off and laid there long enough that she might reasonably have fallen asleep. Even then, she slipped in quietly, gingerly, and stuck close to the edge of the bed. 

Now, that just would not do. Atlas was much too cold for that kind of nonsense. 

Neo rolled over under the blankets, feeling just as bold as last time, but exercising even more care, Cinder being so volatile lately. She went out of her way to be heard, so it wouldn’t startle Cinder to be touched. She knew her bedmate was awake: though she lay very still, her breathing was nowhere near relaxed enough for her to be asleep. 

Cinder didn’t jump when she felt Neo wrap her arms around her waist, but she did go still as a statue.

“Neo,” she growled, low in her throat, “what are you doing? I’m not in the mood for—”

Neo nuzzled her bare shoulder in a way she hoped was reassuring, as she pressed up against her back. Fortunately for her, Cinder’s new arm was tightly bandaged up for the night, so she didn’t have to risk touching the awful thing. Only human skin, just as fiery warm as before. Even the wood smoke smell remained. 

As had happened so often since the Fall of Beacon, Neo caught herself writing a text to Roman in her head, wryly telling him that he was right, she shouldn’t have thought so hard about where Cinder’s flames came from, because she would never in a million years have hit on the right answer.

She gave her head a shake, and resisted the urge to glance back at the bowler hat perched neatly on a bedpost. If she started thinking too hard about that, she would never get to sleep either. There would be time, when the sun came up, to consider some more whether the woman in her arms was the key to her revenge, or its target all along. 

Right now, the darkness was peaceful and the blankets thick and soft around them, and the heat of their bodies grew more soporific every moment. Comfort was a rarity in both of their lives. They ought to savor it whenever it came their way. 

Cinder let out a long, exasperated huff, clearly not sharing the opinion. 

“Couldn’t you just hug a pillow?” she grumbled. But there was no bite in her voice. 

Neo smiled against her skin, entwining her legs with Cinder’s. Now, she would have said, were her hands not occupied, where would be the fun in that?

“...Fine. Just don’t think you’re going to make this a regular thing.”

Oh, she absolutely was, so long as they were staying in the coldest part of the world and she was in the company of a walking space heater. 

As such, Neo ignored the question and snuggled closer. She was trying her best to communicate “calm down and go to sleep” through body language alone, so to feel Cinder slowly but surely relaxing in her arms, eventually going limp, was deeply gratifying. Almost fascinating.

From nights spent in the Beacon dorm room and Mistrali inns, Neo already knew that Cinder talked in her sleep. Most of what she said was sluggish and toneless as well as nonsensical, but sometimes it was a series of fierce snaps or pained moans. It came as no surprise to Neo that when, just as she was starting to doze off herself, she was woken back up by her partner’s twitching and yelping. 

“No...don’t take...I’m...!”

Neo sighed drowsily, and tightened her embrace, humming as soothingly as she could. Her inability to speak never really bothered her, but there were times like this when it didn’t exactly help her, either. At least she could keep Cinder from thrashing around and hurting one of them: if that arm decided to act up while its host was in distress, she had zero faith in the bandages to hold those claws back.

It’s okay, she thought, hoping that somehow it would get across, just relax, you’re all right...

Nightmares never lasted forever. Neo had woken with her stomach still in free fall from enough dreams of plummeting wildly through a Grimm-infested sky to know that. Still, she hoped that her attempts at calming had helped this one pass quickly. Cinder’s mumbling devolved into moans, then to frantic whimpers, then finally to something close to the restful breathing that Neo had almost fallen asleep to before.

Neo took a deep breath of her own. She was too tired to smile, but leaned in to press a kiss to the back of Cinder’s neck, the ends of her short hair tickling her nose. To her surprise, she felt a burn scar here, too: thin and faded, but winding around her neck like garrote wire. Somehow she didn't think that Ruby had done this. But she certainly wasn't going to ask who had. They weren't going to discuss any part of this in the morning.

So she kissed her neck once more, soft and just a bit more sincere, before closing her eyes again.

Good night.

[enfys-squees]

Job Hunting Advice from a Xennial for New College Grads

Hey there. I’ve been reading some posts from folx who are understandably TERRIFIED and CONFUSED because job hunting is exactly The Worst. I have some pointers to make it less sucky, as someone who’s been through it a number of times in the past 20 years, mostly using online tools (while Gen Xers and Baby Boomers yelled at me to just “hit the pavement”), and who has also been responsible for interviewing and hiring people. I’ll add to this as I think of more stuff. Mostly this is stuff career counselors don’t tell people and I’ve had to figure out on my own.

Where To Find Jobs 1: The Internet

Anymore, job hunting largely, but not exclusively, happens online. I’ve had some really good luck applying for jobs directly through a company’s website and through LinkedIn in recent years. Sites that are intended to be huge job boards for all types of jobs tend to be quagmires, and, in my experience, are kind of a waste of time. BUT there are some specific job boards, like Idealist for nonprofit jobs, and Dice for tech jobs, that tend to be useful, or at least do a nice job connecting you with recruiters.

Where to Find Jobs 2: Recruiters

Recruiters are a mixed bag. They get paid to help find people for jobs, and usually they’re looking for folx with more than a few years’ experience. Some recruiters are tasked with trying to fill jobs that are terrible, so a lot of what they do is try to sweet-talk people into jobs with horrible pay and benefits. But then there are some that can be super helpful in finding you a job that’s a really good fit for you. Your mileage may vary. If you happen to meet a recruiter at an event, it’s worth staying in touch with them, but don’t put all your eggs in that basket. If a recruiter finds you a position, it’s a bonus, but put most of your job-hunting energy elsewhere.

Where to Find Jobs 3: Networking

So many career guidance folx will tell you “network! that’s where all the jobs are!” and they’re correct, but they never tell you fucking HOW to do that. So here’s how.

1. NETWORKING EVENTS: Google something like, “career fair” or “networking event” or “happy hour” plus your particular interest/skill set and location. So, like, “Librarian happy hour North Dakota” or something. Keep the location broad - you may have to travel a bit to find one, depending where you’re located. You can also broaden your search terms to things like “nonprofit” or “government” or “healthcare.” Check for these events on Meetup and Facebook. There may also be groups in your area that meet regularly that you could join. 

2. INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWS: Is there a particular company you want to work for? Cool. Is there someone there (or at a similar company) doing a job that looks a lot like what you want to do, if not now, but in 5-10 years? Stellar. Find that person’s contact info (may require a bit of research - again, Google-fu, but try not to be stalkery) and send them an email like, “Hi, I just graduated from XYZ and I’m really interested in getting into FIELD. Would you be willing to have coffee/Skype with me sometime in the next month and tell me about your career journey?” People love to tell their stories. Prepare some questions to ask them, like “How did you get started?” “What was the most important thing you learned early in your career?” “What advice would you give somebody who is just starting out in this field?” etc. and then listen. You can tell them a little bit about where you’re at, but generally this meeting should be focused on THEM. After you meet with them, send a followup thank you, and set up calendar reminders every couple of months to tell them hi, maybe share an article related to your field, something to keep you in their brain so that if they have a job opening, hey, they know someone who’s interested. Being a known quantity makes a lot of difference.

Resume Tips

1. Include a section called “Skills” and list every bit of software you are comfortable with. (Pro tip: Microsoft Excel is really, really useful in a lot of jobs. If you don’t know how to use it, find an online course to learn it and put it on your resume. Seriously.) Also good things to include would be if you had to do any accounting/budget management for a job, etc.

2. When writing about your previous jobs, focus on what you accomplished, rather than what you were responsible for. Are there ways that place is/was better off with you there? Did you improve anything? Write about it, with an action word at the start of each bullet point. Something like, “Increased daily sales by 10% over 2 years” or “Ensured tips were correctly distributed among staff” or “Praised for punctuality and dedication.” ANYTHING that shows you, specifically, were good at that thing. You do not have to list every single thing you were responsible for in that job. Unless it’s relevant to the job you’re applying for, don’t bother including it.

3. Ask colleagues/former bosses for letters of recommendation that you can use, then pull quotes from them and put them on your resume in little quote boxes. (This is a good space-filler, but it also shows you’re pleasant to work with.)

4. Put skills and experience at the top; education at the bottom.

5. Bold key words related to the type job you’re seeking. HR reps spend an average of 30 seconds looking at a resume, and they don’t usually understand the job itself but have been given key words to look for. (Hint: Those words are usually in the job description.) Make your resume easy to scan. Think bullets, think bolded phrases, think section headers, think two-column as opposed to one-column.

6. For fuck’s sake, proofread. Have a friend proofread. Read it out loud. Do not misspell shit or use bad/inconsistent grammar.

Cover Letter Tips

1. Your cover letter is your chance to express yourself, especially if you are looking for a job in a creative field. Mix up the formatting. Add colorful headers. Throw in a photo of yourself. 

2. Your goal in the resume is to show you’re qualified; your goal in the cover letter is to reinforce that but also to show why you’d be a good fit for the company and why you want to work for them specifically. Make sure you answer those questions in there, but keep it brief.

Interview Tips

1. Did you know you’re allowed to bring notes to an interview? You totally can.

2. Preparing for a job interview is like preparing to be interviewed for a press conference. You want to make sure you’re clear on your talking points. Think about, and write down, the top 3 or 5 reasons they should hire you for the job, and if you get stuck during the interview, go back to those.

3. If you want extra-special awesomeness points, you can use my secret weapon: the “Why I’m Awesome Sheet.” I created this when I was first job hunting and it has gotten me offers DURING THE INTERVIEW because people were so impressed by it. All you do is you take the job description, break it into bullet points of what they’re looking for, then put 1-2 bullets beneath each one of how YOU fit that thing they’re looking for. This is great for a few reasons:

You’re demonstrating that you’re proactive and willing to go the extra mile to get this job, doing work that wasn’t asked for.

You’ve saved the interviewer the work of matching up the stuff on your resume with the job description, and therefore made their life easier.

It will help you better remember why you’re a good choice for the job during the interview, which will make you appear more confident.

If they ask you the dreaded “Why should I hire you?” question, you just HAND THEM THIS SHEET.

4. Don’t forget to send a thank-you note after the interview to each person who was at the interview. Email is fine.

5. Do not stop looking for work just because you’ve scheduled an interview. Keep several irons in the fire and try to apply for a new job every day if you can.

6. Remember to smile, especially in a phone interview. I know that seems weird, but smiling on the phone makes you sound engaged and positive.

Patience

This may not seem obvious, but people hiring for jobs have a TON of other work they’re responsible for. They are often very slow to follow-up because filling the position is not their #1 or even their #10 priority, most of the time. Expect that it could take several months to hear back on an initial resume & cover letter submission. Expect that it could take a couple of weeks or more to hear back after an interview. Expect it can take several days to get a response to a question via email. This is common. Try not to sweat it. You can follow up to ask where the process is after you’ve interviewed, but don’t do that too often or too quickly. Wait about a week after you’d expect to hear back. 

That said, if they contact you for follow-up, respond as quickly as possible. Don’t let it sit in your inbox for more than 1 day. Seriously. Be professional and careful in how you respond, proofread, etc. but do not let it linger.

Finally, unfortunately, sometimes you will not hear back if you were not selected for a job. Sometimes your resume will go into a black hole, because a lot of companies are terrible to applicants and don’t inform them of status at all. Try not to sweat that either. 

[svtegg]

manager jeon (나의 아저씨 au)

a au heavily based on/inspired by the my ajusshi drama. its my absolute favorite drama and i really recomend it! anyway,,, its been a while since ive written anything so im a little rusty,,,please be kind heheh. let me know if you would like me to continue this heheh

2,1k words (warning: includes spoilers, and bad writing)

spoiler warning for the drama My Ajusshi/ 나의 아저씨! this fic is literally based on the plot of that drama and the characters are very (almost too much) inspired by lee jian and park donghoon

jeon wonwoo lived a completely ordinary life, worked an ordinary job at an ordinary company, did ordinary things and lived in an ordinary apartment. he should be happy. he had a wife, a son and a job that played well. he lived close to his family and he still hung out with his childhood friends every sunday to play soccer.

but jeon wonwoo felt like he was slowly dying. in his ordinary life, everything was out of the ordinary. nothing seemed right anymore, and he couldn’t figure out what was the cause. maybe he was just starting to get old.

a choir of “good morning mr. jeon!” erupted from the small office section he managed, the workers there already settling into their desk chairs and logging into their cubicle computers. he greeted the workroom, just like ordinary and made his way into the open section of 4 desks across the hallway from the rest of the workers. “did you see the game yesterday, seungkwan? your team lost again.” soonyoung, one of his three assistant managers teased. his managing team consisted of himself, the manager and head of his section of the company, his second in command, kim mingyu, and his two assistants boo seungkwan and kwon soonyoung. together the four of them formed the managing team of the 3rd security inspection section.

wonwoo hung his heavy winter coat over the back of his chair and placed his briefcase on his desk. “well your team haven’t even won a game yet this season so if i where you, i wouldn’t bite over more than i could chew, you punk.” seungkwan fired back at his college. this was another ordinary day, seungkwan and soonyoung bickering and teasing each other as usual, and jihoon already nose deep in a project only five minutes into the workday. wonwoo sighed as he pulled himself up to his desk, the plastic wheels on his chair squeaking against the newly washed floors. “manager jeon, you have a phone call! i’ll transfer it!” the office assistant yelled from across the hall, wonwoo looked up at the woman and gave her a curt nod to let her know he heard her.

“yes?” wonwoo mumbled into the phone. “i have the applications for the temporary position ready, manager. just come down to logistics and pick one out and i’ll send out the emails.” the personnel manager cheerily spoke into the other end of the line. “i’ll be right down.”

the elevator dinged obnoxiously, rousing wonwoo from his thoughtless daydream. the doors slid apart and forced the male to come face to face with his boss. the younger man staring back at him from outside the confines of the elevator met his eyes, and wonwoo stared back blankly. the older men surrounding the boss, the other directors of the company gave wonwoo some dissatisfied looks as he slipped past them. “director.” he mumbled, bowing his head at his younger colleague and former classmate. the flock of older men dressed in suits filed into the waiting elevator, the small talk picking up as wonwoo moved further away from them. “the ceo may be younger than mr. jeon but he should still bow to his boss, where are his manners?”. the ceo’s personal assistant and director of wonwoo’s department hissed, his spiteful voice carrying through the tile hallway. wonwoo sighed as he heard the elevator door close.

“here’s the resumes, manager.” the loud personnel manager said, the small boardroom making the mans voice seem even louder than it was over the phone. “I personally like this one, very good credentials.” he commented, pointing to the resume with the girl who looked the most traditionally pretty. she had a good education, and relevant work experience for the position. wonwoo scanned the four other papers presented in front of him. ‘y/n y/l/n.’ he read, the picture to accompany the resume a grainy and slightly dark photo of a younger, tired looking girl. ‘hobby: running. special talent: running.’ his eyes scanned the rest of the paper. “this one.” wonwoo stated lowly, letting his hand rest on the edge of the paper, his pointer finger right under the word running. he met eyes with the man across the table, his eyes wide with surprise. “what? why her? she didn’t even finish high school!” the older man erupts, his eyes darting quickly between the paper and jeon wonwoo, his boss.

wonwoo calmly retracted his hand, digging his hands into the pockets of his dark blue suit pants as he straightened out his back and looked at the confused male in front of him. “here,” wonwoo gestured, quickly turning the paper and sliding it over the table for the elder man to see what had caught his eyes. “hobby: running.” he continued, his voice still low and calm as he returned the hand he had used to push the paper across the wooden surface to his pocket. “it’s different.” he chuckled. wonwoo slowly turned around to leave the small glass surrounded room, his shoes dragging a little against the carpeted floor. “she doesn’t even have an education! hey!” the older man yelled after him as he opened the door and began walking back to his section. “hey!”. wonwoo just kept walking, his hands still buried in his pockets. “well just remember you chose her! don’t come to me complaining when she’s fired after two weeks!” the personnel manager shouted after wonwoo, holding up the resume and shaking it slightly in frustration. the hall echoed the slow steps of the man, his back disappearing into the sliding doors of the elevator that would take him back up to the 17th floor where he worked.

“the new temp is kinda weird.” seungkwan commented, his eyes fixed on the newly hired worker across the hall from the section of desks he sat at. mingyu looked up from a folder of blueprints, while soonyoung snorted in response, his eyes barely peeking above the edge of his huge computerscreen. the girl worked quietly as the men looked her over. she was wearing a sweater probably two sizes too big and skinny jeans paired with a pair of dirty and worn chucks that where probably white at some point but now resembled a light shade of dusty gray. “she gives me sort of a mysterious vibe.” mingyu mused, the folder on his desk pressing down a few buttons on his keyboard which then prompted a few dissatisfied sounds to erupt from the laptop. “I heard younghee say that she saw her on the underground the day after she started, like 3 weeks ago. she didn’t even say hello or anything, and she wasn’t dressed for the weather either.” soonyoung whispered at his coworkers, seungkwan gasping a little as he too recalled the floor secretary’s story. “quit staring. get back to work, you’re not getting paid to act like creeps.” wonwoo’s heavy steps roused the three men out of their trance. the manager flopped down onto his office chair, his desk ajar from the group of three in front of him having been littered with documents and papers from various companies. there was a neatly placed stack of mail on the side of his desk, and as the man noticed this he glanced over at the worker who put them there.

y/n y/l/n. the worker he had hired almost a month ago. she didn’t do a lot around the office. well, she did what she was supposed to, but wonwoo had never spoken to her or seen her outside the workplace. the younger girl looked frail and tiny but she had a though and cold aura to her, almost as if she weren’t as young as she looked, like she knew all the secrets in the world. she had busied herself with watering the plants around the office, and wonwoo let himself observe the girl for a moment before he sat down at the desk he sat at every day. y/n sorted and printed receipts from various purchases made by the company and the workers, sorted and delivered mail to the rest of the officeworkers’ desks as well as printing and filing important documents in the huge cabinets by the inspectors office. she was unsually quiet, never speaking to anyone unless needed. wonwoo turned on his computer, opening the e-mail application on his desktop before taking a quick glance back at the girl. she sat, glue stick in hand as she quickly pasted the various receipts onto a piece of paper.

hours passed and the day seemed to go on as usual, the phone ringing every once in a while and e-mails slowly disappearing from the unread basket as the man typed out reply after reply. by lunchtime wonwoo and his team of assistants where reviewing an application for a security inspection to rebuild a larger building in handong when the department secretary, min younghee, called for him. “manager jeon! there’s a package delivery coming up to your desk in a minute!” she yelled out from across the room, the phone tucked in between her chin and her shoulder. wonwoo reacted quickly, moving over from the huddle of men surrounded around the application and blueprints for the building in discussion. he could hear the elevator ding over the monotone whitenoise filling the office. a deliveryman, one of those express deliverymen who drive around on motorcycles and take scandalously much in payment, walked into the open office space with a motorcycle helmet on his head. “jeon wonwoo?” he called out, secretary younghee jumped to her feet and pointed the man towards her manager.

jeon wonwoo was stood by his desk, a little confused tweak of his eyebrows flashing over his tired face before he quickly signed the paper the stranger asked him to and took the big brown envelope that was handed to him. and just like that the helmet clad man was gone again and wonwoo was stood with a blank expression and a heavy brown paper envelope in his hand with his name scribbled into the edge with black marker. it wasn’t unusual to get deliveries, he noted, but no return address and no e-mail or phone calls from any of his business partners that they had sent him anything. which wonwoo noted as a little strange. despite this he sat down at his desk. his desk had always been stood slightly away from soonyoung, mingyu and seungkwan’s to keep himself out of their constant bickering but also to get some space to do manager things such as writing out hours and payments for his staff. the rest of the office could barley see his desk so he didn’t bother to double check if anyone where watching him as he slowly peeled the sticky flap of the envelope back and pulled out the content.

he jumped slightly in his chair, his eyebrows almost disappearing into his hairline before he looked up to see if anyone had noticed his unusual reaction to the mail he had received. in his hand laid a stack of fresh 50,000 won notes, and a small piece of a yellow post it that read “make sure you get it done. thanks”. he took another unsure glance up before trying to discreetly put the envelope into one of his desk drawers. as the drawer quietly slammed closed, he let out a relieved sigh. he would report the money to the inspector after hours, or maybe tomorrow. and maybe, just maybe he would check how much had been sent in that envelope. just because that’s vital information of course. the man, still tense from the shock and still feeling the rush of the unexpected bribery money, straightened his back and looked over to the men still huddled together a couple meters in front of his desk. they seemed to still be completely oblivious. good. wonwoo turned to assess the rest of the office when his eyes met a unfamiliar pair staring back at him. the only desk that had direct view to his was the temp desk. the temp he had hired was staring right into his eyes, her face expressionless and cold. he couldn’t seem to look away from her intense stare either. it felt like a lifetime had passed when wonwoo clared his throat and looked over at his computer awkwardly. he could still feel y/n’s stare on him as he pointlessly scrolled through all his read e-mails. he would report the money tomorrow. first he had to figure out why someone would try to frame him for bribery. he was an honest man, so honest in fact that he would report this. but tomorrow. or maybe in two days.

[gamemastermusings]

Follower Musing: Narrative Description, Part 1 - General Principles

@invizagoth

Thanks for requesting the topic!

So you’ve made an intriguing plot, designed characters, and have this detailed, beautiful picture in your head of your world and what is happening. And then, you remember...

And then you may have questions such as:

How can I enhance my narrative descriptions for my players? This would include how they look, describing their actions in and out of combat, and scenes in the story.

I gave this some thought, and I think before we break down specific stuff for each area, we should talk about general principles for narration and description.

1) You don’t need to describe every small detail. While you may want to highlight certain details, it’s great to let your players use their imagination with the details you have given them. Before the movies came out, I’m sure many people had their own ideas of what Harry Potter looked like. Now, everyone universally imagined him having a bolt-shaped scar on his forehead (which was an important detail relevant to the plot), but I’m sure we did not all envision a young Daniel Radcliffe. Notice I said need - some groups may actually want fuller descriptions, in which case tailor it to their tastes.

2) You need to alternate between describing less and describing more, because when you DO elaborate people will pay attention. People may think that high-quality narration means elaborate descriptions at every point in the game. However, I disagree, especially in the context of tabletop when you have to think about how much time you are taking out of the game, and also away from the player, when describing something to them. If I describe every 5-foot square that the player advances in a dim room of a dungeon, it will end up sounding redundant. However, the contrast is what makes your description (and your overall narration) shine. Once you hit a change, really bring home the description and it will be a major highlight.

“Having made through the 6th floor of this dreary, dark dungeon, with gray and crumbling walls, you are astounded as you enter the next room. The room itself is basked in a golden hue, and as you slowly open the door, your eyes are treated to a feast like no other. The walls are lined with gossamer curtains, that trail to a carpet that feels like silk on the soles of your feet. A large statue of D’wyn, the Elven Matriarch, overbears a varnished wooden dining table. It is awash with a variety of delicacies that you have not seen for a long while, as your journey has been long. The grapes are plentiful and they glisten, engorged with sweetness as if the juice were to burst out of them. A deep red, charred slab of meat is served on a glass plate at every seat, its smell permeating the air, inviting you in. For an adventurer like you, this room is not a dungeon. It is paradise.”

3) In general, make your description of the event or thing proportional to its importance. I have discussed this to some degree in the last two tips, but I really wanted to drive it home. Having a good contrast between what seems regular and mundane, and what isn’t, allows you to highlight both. For example, during a mass combat, you may have a general description for the chaos:

“You look around you and your eyes cannot find a single place of respite. Soldiers and goblins clash with swords and shields, the sounds echoing a cruel cacophony throughout the cave.”

But when the players’ big boss comes in: “The Eastern wall erupts in an amazing crash, with the deep rumbling of Abzug, Abzug, Abzug. A horrific figure emerges, towering over you and your fellow adventurers. His skin is coarse and grotesque, with scars upon scars from numerous battles. Some of them are hidden by the spiked pauldrons and guards on his person. But, proudly displayed for all to see are the severed,horrified heads of many Elven villagers, their expressions immortalized as they were made to take their last breath by this beast. His thick torso is guarded in spikes, which extends to his arms. He wields a massive spiked mace, easily the size of one of you, which he manages to swing with only one hand. He foams at the mouth, his lips unable to contain his crooked teeth. His mithril face mask hides the full extent of deep scars. You can only stare in awe as he roars, baring his fangs, and defeats three of your comrades with only one swing of his mace. Abzug is here.”

The opposite of this advice (i.e. giving less detail even though important) can be useful when you are trying to make it a detail that the player needs to notice or may require a Perception or related check as it bears influence on the outcome. “Heather smiles as she walks next to you. Laughing, she reaches up to fix her hair. You see it glisten briefly in the light.”

In this case, it could be a challenge for the player. What if she’s a thief? They may roll and find out more about what exactly is glistening.

4) Use more than one sense! Smell, sound, taste, touch. Even though we are trying to have our players see everything, part of role-playing is experiencing everything too. So, instead of discussing how delicious the bread looks, talk about: “The smell of the fresh bread is warm, inviting and immediately puts you at ease.” “As you put the bread into your mouth, you notice its initial saltiness, but as you chew through its soft centre, the sweetness subtly swells at the back of your tongue.” “You hear a sounds of strain and tension as you pull the chewy, doughy bread apart, but as the pieces separate the sound dissipates into the air.” “The bread feels rough on the outside as you pick it up from the basket. Giving it a squeeze, you notice its’ soft centre as it compresses easily in your hand. As you cut the bread, you notice flakes from the crust coming onto your hand, warming it.”

5) Use your voice and intonation.

With reference to the previous examples in this post:

I cannot sell how sumptuous and welcome that room with the feast is unless I add an element of excitement, of fulfillment, of hunger to my voice. I need to echo how the players may be feeling/how I am intending them to feel with what is presented before them.

The Abzug intro needs to be dark and menacing, with a component of fear and dread as I narrate. This enhances your description by setting the tone and enhances the vocabulary you choose to describe what is happening.

6) Read and watch! Continue to read posts like this one, read books by your favourite authors and notice how they describe scenes. Also, think of a movie where you actually noticed how well the camera was used to the capture the scene. Go back and watch it, and ask why? This can help with your description. We’ll talk about applying cinematic ideas and approaches to description in each part to come, as they have unique applications in describing people, places, combat and non-combat actions.

On the next part of this Follower Musing, we’re going to discuss tips on describing characters (PCs and NPCs). In later parts we’ll discuss combat and also describing a scene or major story event.

Thanks @invizagoth again for the suggestion! I really love taking suggestions and requests from my readers, so if you have any comments, additional pointers to add, or other topics you’d like to talk about send me a message or reply!

[maritzaerwin]

How to Ask Your Boss for a Personal Reference Letter

What can be more awkward than needing to ask your boss for a personal reference letter to help you land a new job, amiright?

But fret not, it’s not an unusual thing to do. Plus, we did some legwork for you already. In this post, you’ll learn:

What is a personal reference letter and when do you need one

What to include in a personal reference letter

How to ask for a reference and when to do so

Let’s jump in!

What is a Personal Reference Letter?

The name is a bit of a giveaway. A personal reference letter (also known as the character reference letter) highlights your personal qualities and traits, rather than speaks of your professional abilities like a letter of recommendation does.

Since a character reference letter describes you as a person, they are usually written by someone you’ve interacted with rather closely.  For instance, a seagull manager who wasn’t really involved in managing you (though they should have) obviously will struggle to write an objective letter.  So rather than asking the most superior person you know within ‘the command chain’, go to a person who has worked with you the most and really knows you as a person.

When Do I Need a Character Reference Letter?

A character reference letter is nice-to-have, but it’s not an obligatory document that you should submit along with your cover letter and resume (unless you are specifically asked to provide one).

Treat this letter as an extra asset that you can use to persuade someone to hire you. In general, character reference letters can give you an advantage in the following case:

If you are changing careers and want to draw the attention away from your lack of industry experience

Fresh graduates and high schoolers can submit a personal reference letter to showcase their seriousness and motivation

If you don’t have glowing professional references or lack some of the required skills for the job

Some federal jobs may require you to provide a character reference letter, among other documents.

Non-profit work and volunteering positions also often assume providing personal references rather than a traditional resume.

Use your personal references to strategically switch the HRs attention towards your personality and great interpersonal skills. After all, hard skills can be taught over time. But finding the right cultural fit and personality type is much harder. In fact, as one study found, 9 in 10 recruiters passed on a candidate due to their lack of cultural fit. Moreover, 84% of the study participants said that they view cultural fit as a primary decisive factor for hiring. So yup, those personal reference letters can make a difference!

What to Include in a Personal Reference Letter?

So how do you make sure that someone writes you an impactful personal reference letter? Easy! You provide them with a quick personal reference letter sample, plus some pointers on what information they should highlight.

Here are several important elements of a great personal reference letter:

An introductory statement, explaining the relationship between you and the referee and how long you have known each other.

The body, highlighting two or three specific traits that you possess, backed by relevant examples.

A concluding paragraph with the referee contact information and professional sign off.

Short Personal Reference Letter Example

Dear Mr. Smith,

I’d like to recommend Eliza Milford as a new nanny to your household. Over the past three years, she has become a dear member of our household thanks to her extraordinary communication abilities, empathy, and excellent language teaching skills. Unfortunately, due to relocation, we are forced to let her go.

Eliza is friendly, diligent, and has strong tutoring abilities. She has helped our younger daughter raise her proficiency levels in French from basic level (A1) to intermediate (B2) in a year and a half. Her teaching style is friendly, and her overall personality and charisma made both of our kids very attached to her within the first several months of employment. Honesty, discreteness, and politeness are other key qualities that I’d like to remark on. 

Based on our experience together, I’m certain that Eliza can become an asset to your household too. 

Sincerely,

Dafna Ginko  Phone:  714-123-4567

How Do I Ask For A Personal Reference Letter?

Asking for a reference can feel uncomfortable. After all, you are asking for a big favor, plus disclose your plans to quit soon. Asking a superior can get even more daunting. So it’s best to approach the matter very tactfully.

Here are several quick tips to help you out here:

Secure a one-to-one appointment with the person you’d like to ask for a reference

Don’t beat around the bush. Speak clearly and calmly with confidence about your ‘ask’.

Explain the reason why you want a personal reference letter and a rough timeline for when you will need the letter to be in hand.

Flattery and appreciation can usually help mellow things about. So try something like this:

“I am applying for a job with XYZ and know that a personal reference letter from you will carry a lot of weight in helping me to secure the role. Since you have been my [manager/superior/mentor] for a long while now, you are in a good position to be able to highlight my personal strengths so I would appreciate it if you could write a personal reference letter for me”.

If you are asking your direct boss, rather than a colleague or a mentor, for such a letter, you should also mind the timing. After all, you don’t want to catch them off guard with your decision to leave, neither you’d want to pick this conversation just too early (aka when your chances for getting that job are too slim). And this brings us to the next point…

When Is It A Good Time To Ask For A Personal Reference?

Most superiors won’t have an issue with writing you a personal reference letter if you have good working relationships with them.

A big no-no, however, is trying to mislead your boss into writing a personal reference without them knowing your intent for using it. If you need one for a volunteering position, say so. If you are seeking a new job, but don’t want your boss to know just yet, it’s best to ask a colleague or someone else in the company to author your letter.

In any case, plan ahead. Give the other party enough time to prepare and write the letter. Springing your request on them just a couple of days before you need to submit the letter to your potential new employer may result in a sharp refusal.

If you are in the position at work where you know that you will want to leave the company within the next six months to a year, then approach your boss with your request with as much notice as you feel is workable. By giving your boss some padding time, they will have the time available to be able to sit and reflect on your performance so that they can draw up an honest review for your letter.

Asking for a personal reference with plenty of notice also allows your boss to look at sorting out a suitable replacement for you without having to rush the recruitment process.

Your boss may ask you why you want to leave, so the last thing you want to do here is to moan about your job or highlight any negative issues you have with the company. Try not to go down the path where your talk turns into a complaining session. Instead, keep the conversation focused on how much you have grown while you have been in your role.

To help your boss pen a positive personal reference letter that is going to help you in securing your next job, take the opportunity to remind them of all your good work and achievements. Make some notes about specific projects or outcomes that were particularly successful that you had a major hand in.

Good luck with your next career move! Remember that once you land your new job, you will need to write a good resignation letter that doesn’t burn any bridges and keeps your communication lines open with your old contacts!

This post has been originally published on February 18, 2019 and has been extensively revised and updated on June 22, 2020.

The post How to Ask Your Boss for a Personal Reference Letter appeared first on Freesumes.com.

How to Ask Your Boss for a Personal Reference Letter published first on https://skillsireweb.tumblr.com/

[genelmag]

Updated Crash Course to Playing World of Warcraft

Whether you're new to World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth or are returning for World of Warcraft Classic after a long hiatus, this crash course will help you survive.

There are dozens of forums, websites and Youtube videos dedicated to World of Warcraft. And yet, most of them don't answer some very simple questions. Oftentimes, you're forced to sift through tons of data not relevant to what you're looking for, having to listen to someone explain something horribly. And don't get me started on the craptacularly (that's my word), hideous music in the background. Here's where Ge'NeL comes to the rescue! We've created this WoW guide to answer recurring questions asked in the Women of Warcraft Facebook group and all across the internet world....of Warcraft.

WHERE TO START

First things first, you have to decide which type of realm is best for you: player versus player (pvp), player versus environment or role playing versus player.

PvP is exactly how it sounds. It's faction player against opposing faction player in addition to NPCs. Outside of major cities, the potential to be killed by another player is pretty high. Some people even find joy in terrorizing low level areas. While it may be annoying, it comes with the territory.

PvE realms are relegated to environmental gameplay. While pvp is still an option on pve realms, it requires being in a battleground or arena or turning pvp settings on.

RPvP is a bit different. It's role-playing! You interact with other players as if you are an NPC or you can create a background for your character. Almost anything goes, including ERP (erotic role-playing). If that's what you're into (not gonna knock it--you do you, boo-boo) then you can get started in Goldshire.

Which faction is better? Horde or Alliance?

Before someone attempts to fill your head with nonsense, let's get this out of the way first. One faction is not better than the other. They banded together for different reasons. That being said, different races have special abilities based on their race. You can click on the particular race then the "More Info" button below the races to see which abilities they have.

After you've decided which faction, race and class you want to play.

MAKING FRIENDS

Some people are content to play WoW alone. And that's okay. Some people enjoy solitude and want to play at their own pace. WoW, in itself, is a very social game where many objectives require playing with others. It really does help to have a friend or two to quest with. But making friends in Azeroth isn't always easy.

Join a guild. Joining a guild is the fastest way to meet new people. Talk in guild chat and gauge how people communicate with each other. Do not assume everyone's humor is the same as yours. Not everyone fancies dark humor. Needless to say, your first interaction with someone shouldn't be "Sup bitch" or anything of the like that shouldn't be the first thing you say to someone. Also, remember that a lot gets lost in translation via text communications. So be mindful of how you communicate with others and also how they communicate with you.

Create your own guild. By creating your own guild you can create the type of environment that you want to be a part of. Invite people you've interacted with who you feel would fit into the virtual home you've created.

Enter random dungeons and battlegrounds. Not only is doing dungeons and BGs a good way to learn to play your class better, but also a pretty decent way of meeting other players. And if you're good, it's likely people will give you kudos and want to play with you again.

Don't beg for gold. If there's one thing worse than gold sellers spamming trade chat, it's gold beggars. They are annoying. We know that newcomers need gold. But it's frustrating that people put a lot of time and effort into their characters to make gold, save up for repairs, etc. just for someone to come in and start off with "Hi. Can I have a few gold to guy a piece of gear from the Auction House?" No, bruh. I feel for you, but you have to make it the way most of us did. This guide will show you how to do that, too!

DUNGEON ETIQUETTE

Azeroth has enough bad apples to go around. There will always be abominable twats who think that hiding behind a computer screen gives them a free pass to treat others like total crap, waste people's time, pick on others because of their playstyle, etc. This guide is to help you to not be one of those guys or gals. Here are a few do's and don'ts to help make Azeroth a better world--of warcraft.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. If you're new or it's been a while, speak up. "Hey guys! This is my first time here. Anything I should know about this boss?" People generally appreciate when someone can ask for help.

Be open to constructive criticism. It's not easy being told or made to feel as if you suck. Some people seriously do not have tact when talking to others. That's still no reason for anyone to treat you or anyone else like crap. But do try to be open to advice from those who do try to help you by sharing a few pointers or tips.

Don't need on every item that drops. In addition to your race-based special abilities, the character creation page also tells you which type of armor your class wears. For example: You're a druid in a dungeon with five other blokes. A piece of cloth drops. The priest wears cloth. You need on the item because you might be able to wear it. Don't do that! Druid's primary armor is leather. Priest's primary armor is cloth. Be courteous and ask if they need it before hitting need. Another example: You're a big, strong warrior in a dungeon. An intellect trinket drops. You hit need. WRONG! Warrior's primary stat is strength. Warriors do not need intellect for anything whatsoever.

Do try to have patience for other players. Healers need mana. Tanks sometimes like to wait on their cooldowns or certain abilities before pulling. Someone's kid may decide to play Whack-A-Mole with mommy or daddy's keyboard. Someone's cat may decide that their keyboard is now their bed. Stuff happens. Life happens. Be patient. It will be okay. I promise.

HOW TO MAKE WoW GOLD

Being new to WoW or making a new toon on a new server and not having enough money to repair your gear, buy gear or buy supplies really sucks. Wowhead has an excellent Gold Making Guide. There are so many ways to make gold. Here are a few ways to ensure you stack your paper (gold) quickly.

Loot everything. Yes, loot everything, even the grey items. Vendor them. The copper and silver add up.

Sell green (common) armor on the AH. It doesn't matter how low the item level of the gear is, it will likely sell on the auction house. Dirtydianna and Thickyvicky have found some amazing, low level green items for transmogs.

Choose a gathering profession. Leather, ore and herbs always sell on the auction house. Always.

Collect cloth. Cloth is yet another big seller on the auction house. Especially low-level cloth. In Retail WoW, Netherweave cloth continues to be the biggest seller on the AH, probably because Netherweave bags are easy to make and they sell very well, especially to low level players looking for more than the 4, 6 and 8 slot bags that they get while questing.

WARNING: purchasing gold from third-party sites is against Blizzard’s Terms of Service and, when they do shutdown the company selling gold, if your account is among their list of clients, your account will be permanently banned. Do not fall prey to the little level 1 characters offering to sell you World of Warcraft gold for cheap.

NOTE: As it stands, you cannot sell a WoW token on the Classic Auction House.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT ADDONS: THE BASICS

Addons are not for everyone. Some people prefer to play with just the game UI and that is perfectly okay. But some of us use addons to enhance game play and in-game experiences. Here are a few basic addons, if you are interested, that may help you navigate your way through Azeroth.

First, download the Twitch Desktop App. It's all encompassing since they partnered with Curse to include addons. On the Twitch app, click Mods to take you where you want to go. Then select World of Warcraft to take you to addons for WoW. Clicking on the name of an addon will give you detailed information about what that addon does.

HandyNotes for questing is amazing!

BigWigs or Deadly Boss Mods for when you decide to venture into dungeons and raids.

Decursive is particularly helpful in dungeons, raids and battlegrounds. It's a mouseover addon that allows you to quickly removes harmful magic, poisons and diseases from your party or raid members if your class has the ability to remove them.

Details! Damage Meter, Recount or Skada damage meters. These are very handy to help keep track of damage, healing, absorbs, deaths and other actions. Details not only displays the damage and healing stats from your party or raid, but also functions as a way to help you improve your game play. For example, as a healer, both you and another player have the same specialization, similar gear and item level, but he/she is putting out more HPS than you. A number of things could factor into why your heals are lower. With Details, you can mouseover that person's name and it will show you what their top heals are. The same with damage.

Was this guide helpful? Comment here, on our Ge'NeL fanpage or by tweeting us at @genelmag! And don't forget to share!

[assignmentsolutions4me]

Ethical Analysis of Project Management Assignment Question | Ethics

Business Report Providing an Ethical Analysis of a Project Management Case Study

Submission

Submit your report at the Assessment section of Moodle. Refer to the Course Description for information regarding late assignments, extensions, special consideration, and plagiarism. Note that all academic regulations can be accessed via the university’s website especially statutes 5.3 and 6.1

Learning Outcomes

This assessment task relates to the following learning outcomes:

K1. Research and discuss underpinning theories of ethical philosophy and apply these in to a range of scenarios in an IT workplace environment.

K2. Interpret the principles of the Australian Computer Society Code of Ethics and synthesize them into daily IT practice.

S2. Utilise professional presentation and communication approaches in a range of IT workplace settings.

A1. Construct written and verbal arguments in a variety of formats on the evolving nature of ethical norms relating to new technologies.

V3. Value ethical decision making approaches when working as an IT professional.

Wayne Davidson is a software engineer in the aerospace division of Occidental Engineering, a large engineering firm. For the past two years he has been working as a test engineer for Operation Safe Skies, a project to build a prototype of the next generation air traffic control system, under contract with the U.S. Federal Aviation Agency.

The company had bid very aggressively for the original contract. In fact they had bid less than it would take to do the work properly. They felt that was the only way they could beat their competitors, who were just as hungry for the work. Because of their somewhat shaky financial position, the company was not willing to take a loss on the project, so the project has been underfunded and understaffed. Nevertheless those working on the project have made a heroic effort, working eighteen hour days seven days a week to meet the deadline, because they know how much it means to the company, not to mention their own jobs.

A version of the prototype has been completed and turned over to Wayne for testing. He has run extensive simulations on it and found that it works as it should except for one little problem. When there are too many aircraft in the system, it will sometimes lose track of one or more of them. The "forgotten" aircraft will simply disappear from the screen, there will be no trace of it anywhere, and it will be ignored by all of the collision avoidance and other safety tests. The software designers are confident that they can fix the problem, but it will take a month or more to do the redesign, coding and testing.

Wayne meets with his boss, Deborah Shepherd, the project manager, to discuss the implications. She tells him that extension of the project by a month is impossible. The contract requires that the company deliver a fully certified, working version of the software in three days for system integration and test.

They consider whether they can do a quick patch to the software before turning it over, but Wayne adamantly refuses to release any code that has not been tested thoroughly.  "Then we'll have to deliver the software as is," Deborah says. "I can't jeopardize this project or the jobs of my people by missing that deadline." "We can't do that!" exclaims Wayne. "That's like delivering a car with defective brakes." (Adapted from McFarland, M. An Ethics Case Study and Commentary. Retrieved on 4/8/2015.

Task

Prepare a business report of about 1500 words that gives an ethical analysis of the issues raised in the case study.  In particular (at least), include in the report responses to the following sub-tasks:

Provide a defence, on ethical grounds, for the decision to bid for the contract with a figure below the estimated costs;

Identify the potential consequences to the project client of accepting this aggressive bid;

Who else suffers or is at risk of suffering as a result of this aggressive bid being accepted?

What duties is the project manager aware of, 3 days before project delivery is due?

What duties is the test engineer aware of, 3 days before project delivery is due?The ACS Code of Professional Conduct extends the meaning of the six ethical values with requirements that contribute to observing the values. Examine the code and identify requirements (using value numbers 1-6 and a requirement letter) that are relevant to this case study. Explain for each requirement identified how it should be applied in this case study.

Deborah and Wayne are attempting to resolve the ethical dilemma that they have. Having completed your ethical analysis provide advice as to how they should proceed, summarizing your reasons.

Resources

The description of the six values is amplified in the ACS Code of Professional  Examples that can be used to illustrate points made in the essay can be found in 33 case studies (each with pointers to the six ACS values) in the ACS Code of Professional Conduct Case Studies at:  At least three additional resources should be used in the preparation of your report.

Standards Required

The structure of the business report should be as described in the source 

The introduction section should clearly indicate the issues being discussed and provides an overview of how it is intended to address these issues.

The body section of the report should contain an evaluation of the ACS values against each of the philosophical theories in turn. The discussion should show an analysis of research undertaken that is synthesised with your own ideas.Writing should be validated with concepts from other people’s work. Gather these references from various sources such as the Internet, assigned text books and readings etc.

The conclusion should be in your own words and should summarise your findings from the body.

All uses of source material (including paraphrasing) should be acknowledged with both in-text citations and corresponding entries in the reference list.  APA format is to be used.Refer to the APA citation style in the General guide to referencing 

Adhere to academic writing standards such as correct grammar and spelling. Demonstrate signposting in your writing.

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[vrheadsets]

Accessible XR Development After VRTK

As a developer moving from the web and app world into 3D and XR, I’ve had to constantly re-evaluate my platform and tool choices as the industry evolves at tweetstorm velocity. Today’s XR development pipeline is clogged by a glut of proprietary hardware and software APIs and SDKs by competing firms like Oculus, HTC Vive, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Sony and SteamVR — to say nothing of emerging third-party peripherals like Logitech’s VR-tracked keyboard, the new AR-enabling Zed Mini dual-eye camera for the Rift or Vive, or any other industry-disrupting Kickstarters that might’ve sprung up since I started typing this paragraph.

Left to right: a bunch of cool stuff I want.

Each platform’s fine — even technologically stunning, one might argue — with respective strengths, weaknesses and use cases. But the distinctions force XR developers to ask hard questions: Where is the market going? How do I invest my skill-building time? What devices should my app support? What platform can I get a job working on? Developers must be business analysts as much as creative technologists to stay relevant. It’s easy to suffer choice paralysis with such a wide array of options, and easier still to bet on the wrong technology and lose.

Personally, I also face certain technical, logistic and financial realities as an independent XR developer in the Midwest (US), where the industry hasn’t proliferated as it has in major coastal cities. Thankfully, game engines like Unity and Unreal are rapidly democratizing this space. Both engines seek to bridge the gaps between the various XR SDKs, employing thousands of engineers to ensure their software plays nicely with just about any significant third-party API. For example, as I wrote about in August, the Oculus SDK integrates beautifully with Unity and comes equipped with many of the scripts and prefabs needed to quickly prototype, develop and deploy a custom Rift app.

I miss bossing around my hand-modeled #MadeWithBlocks BB-8. Check out my deep dive on this project, The Future of VR Creation Tools.

That’s fantastic, but it’s still non-standard. To port the same Unity app to the HTC Vive or a Windows HMD is non-trivial — not impossible or even terribly difficult, but non-trivial. Maintaining your app for multiple SDKs over the long haul is similarly non-trivial. Non-trivial costs money and time and we’re all short on both.

Instead imagine if XR practitioners had to worry less about betting on the right platform or device and could instead focus on creating unique and compelling experiences, content and UX. The first step down that path was VRTK — but sadly, one of the best tools to combat the VR SDK surplus will soon be hobbled by the loss of its founder.

VRTK: The Open Source Approach

This free, open source Unity toolkit aims to knit together a single workflow for a variety of VR APIs. It comes with the same stock prefabs and scripted mechanics you might find included in any single proprietary SDK, but makes each piece of functionality identical whether deployed to Oculus, SteamVR (read: Vive and, with v3.3.0, Windows HMDs) or Daydream — covering all major VR HMD manufacturers today.

It’s a boon to anyone wanting to dip their toes in the waters of VR development. Think of it: Want to implement teleportation locomotion over a Unity NavMesh? Just drop the component onto your player prefab. Want to test out grab mechanics, or a quick bezier pointer? VRTK’s demo scenes have you covered, and they’ll work easily on a variety of devices. Since it’s open source, you’re also free to dive in and customize the code. Struggling to get a feature working in your own project? Check out this implementation on a varieties of SDKs — not a bad way to grok new XR coding concepts.

Sadly, VRTK’s creator is sunsetting the woefully underfunded project. The UK-based developer TheStoneFox — who until recently was actively seeking contributors, partnerships and support — announced recently that he would will be stepping back from the project post-version 3.3.0. Though VRTK boasts an active Slack community, a growing list of “made with” titles and a recent Kickstarter, TheStoneFox was unable to attract the support necessary to sustain it for the long term.

Now, as the opportunity to contribute to and utilize a premier open-source VR development pipeline expediter will fade going forward, what if anything will replace it?

OpenXR: One API to Rule Them All

The VRTK approach —using Unity scripting to knit together similar mechanics across a spectrum of VR SDKs — is necessary in the current fragmented development landscape, but there are downsides. Some community still has to monitor the various proprietary SDK updates and your end-user VRTK app still has to be mindful of VRTK’s changes over time. In this way, VRTK treated the symptoms of the VR SDK overload, but was not equipped to address the root cause. Enter OpenXR, The Khronos Group’s upcoming industry standard:

The standard, announced December 2016, is being written now and is quickly gaining traction among industry players (with the notable exception of Magic Leap). Instead of forcing developers to grapple with variable propriety SDKs and all the accompanying business consequences, companies will instead tailor their hardware and software to comply with OpenXR’s spec. Khronos, the non-profit responsible for shepherding the Vulkan, OpenGL, OpenGL ES and WebGL standards, is leading the charge. Cue the infographics!

On the left, the problem — on the right, the solution:

Images courtesy of https://www.khronos.org/openxr.

“Each VR device can only run the apps that have been ported to its SDK. The result is high development costs and confused customers — limiting market growth,” reads some fairly accurate marketing copy on their website. “The cross-platform VR standard eliminates industry fragmentation by enabling applications to be written once to run on any VR system, and to access VR devices integrated into those VR systems to be used by applications.”

A working group of industry heavyweights have agreed the standards be extensible to allow for future innovation and should support a range of experiences — anything from a 3-DoF controller all the way to a high-end, room-scale devices.

The only thing missing is a realistic timetable before this standard has an impact on the development community and its day-to-day workflow. Until the market-movers get their act together, we’ll be left scrambling (and patching up VRTK projects, in many cases).

OpenXR supporters: everyone except Magic Leap.

The Cinema of Attractions: Slow Your Reel

But should we so quickly welcome industry standardization while the technology is still so new and full of possibilities? That’s the question asked in a recent Voices of VR podcast by Kent Bye and Rebecca Rouse. The two discussed the early days of cinema — when exploration and experimentation were the status quo — and Rouse drew striking parallels between that era and the current period in XR production and development.

Pure spectacle then and now. Left: a Cinema of Attractions-era still. Right: Chocolate VR.

“[Scholars of early film] came up with this term ‘cinema of attractions’ because they saw an incredible wealth of diversity and kind of range of exuberant experimentation in those early pieces, so they were very hard to sort of clump them together — there was such diversity — but this ‘attraction’ idea was a large enough umbrella, because all of those early pieces are in some way showing off the technology’s capabilities and generate this experience of wonder or amazement for the viewer. And the context in which they were shown is that of attractions, so they were shown at world’s fairs and as a part of vaudeville shows with other kinds of performances and displays.”

 — Rebecca Rouse, assistant professor of communication & media at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Sounds eerily familiar, huh? The whole podcast is well worth a listen, but tldr: while there are obvious consumer and market advantages to XR standards, Rouse argues that perhaps we shouldn’t jump the gun here— not during this era of frenetic, often avant garde XRexperimentation across art, science, cinema and gaming. Looking around the industry, it’s hard to disagree.

EditorXR

One man-eating-the-camera-brilliant new application of XR technology is Unity Labs’ EditorXR. Created by Unity’s far-future R&D team (whose roles often find them working on projects and products five-to-ten years away from consumer adoption), EditorXR offers you an interface to create custom XR Unity scenes entirely within virtual reality.

Oh! And there’s flying, among other superpowers — soar through your scene like Superman or scale the whole thing down to a pinhole. They’ve literally ported the Unity inspector, hierarchy and project windows (again among others) to an increasingly user-friendly VR UI pane on your wrist. With the latest update, you’re able to:

hook into Google’s Poly asset database web API in real-time inside VR

create multiplayer EditorXR sessions for editing Unity scenes with friends and collaborators

run EditorXR with Unity’s primary version 2017.x editor

It’s still new and I’ve encountered bugs, but it’s a foregone conclusion that this tech will become a standard feature of Unity’s scene creation process as XR technology matures and proliferates. Even their alpha and beta efforts evoke the same sense of wonder and possibility that early Cinema of Attractions-era moviegoers must have felt.

For more insight on the design side, check out this deep dive on the future of XR UX design by Unity Lab’s Dylan Urquidi or the Twitter feed of Authoring Tools Group Lead, Timoni West.

ML-Agents

Another experimental Unity project, ML-Agents, explores one of the most promising avenues for the future of XR development, design and UX: machine learning. Using so-called “reinforcement learning” techniques which expressly don’t feed the AI model any sample data or rules for analysis, ML-Agents instead applies simple rewards and punishments (in the form of tiny float values) based on the outcomes to their [usually very narrowly defined set of] behaviors.

Stretched out over hundreds of thousands if not millions of trial-and-error training sessions, the computer experiments with its abilities and forms a model for how to best achieve the desired goal. In this way, your Agents become their own teacher s— you just write the rubric.

The original GitHub commit contained some basic demo scenes and the development community quickly took up the torch from there. Unity’s Alessia Nigretti followed up the original blog with one describing how to integrate ML-Agents into a 2D game. On Twitter, @PunchesBears has been demonstrating similar concepts — and showing that often enough, Agents respond to developers’ carefully calculated reward system in ways they don’t anticipate. Similar to actual gamers, no?

In one of my favorite applications of ML-Agents, the developer Blake Schreurs actually brings a 6-DoF robo-arm Agent trained to seek a moving point in space into virtual reality — with slightly terrifying results once he assigns that moving target to his face.

Imagine someone applying this training model to actual robotics and fat-fingering the wrong key. Or don’t, whatever. 

He’s down for the count! I was immediately reminded of the audiences pouring out of theaters in 1895, afraid they’d be run down by the Lumière brothers’ Arrival of Train at La Ciotat. We’re still in the salad days of both machine learning and XR development compared to where we hope to be 10 or even 50 years from now. In that time, some combination of traditional or procedural AI with these new machine learning approaches will doubtless lead to great developments in gaming and XR at large — or even in the very design process and daily workflow of computing itself.

Rift OS Core 2.0

With Rift’s new Core 2.0 OS, your entire Windows PC is accessible from your right-hand menu button. Being able to view and use your desktop apps, as well as pin windows inside other VR apps, introduces new possibilities for XR workflows (and even for traditional computing workflows) in VR.

While working on my next project, entirely within VR, I can watch Danny Bittman’s great Unity rendering and lighting tutorial on YouTube in a pinned browser while messing with those same settings on my wrist in UnityXR. I can watch @_naam craft original assets in Google Blocks at the same time I do, or I could gather assets from the Poly database and deploy them to my Unity scene in real-time VR, pulling up Visual Studio to code some game logic as I please.

That sounds pretty goddamn metaversal to me — and before long, we likely won’t even need code.

The XR Developer of the Future Is Not a Developer

If XR technology is to go mainstream, the development process must be as efficient and accessible as possible — and likely even open to non-developers through content creation and machine learning applications. Spanning sciences and disciplines, there’s so much more to talk about and speculate over that this piece hasn’t even touched on (next time I’ll examine WebVR and A-Frame as viable XR development pathways). More and more pieces of this accessible, standardized XR development pipeline will fall into place as the immersive computing revolution rolls on, though I’m thankful the XR industry isn’t ready to ditch its Cinema of Attractions ethos quite yet.

from VRFocus http://ift.tt/2Bk9BIP

[genelmag]

Intro to Playing World of Warcraft: A Crash Course

Whether you're new to World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth or are returning for World of Warcraft Classic after a long hiatus, this crash course will help you survive.

There are dozens of forums, websites and Youtube videos dedicated to World of Warcraft. And yet, most of them don't answer some very simple questions. Oftentimes, you're forced to sift through tons of data not relevant to what you're looking for, having to listen to someone explain something horribly. And don't get me started on the craptacularly (that's my word), hideous music in the background. Here's where Ge'NeL comes to the rescue! We've created this WoW guide to answer recurring questions asked in the Women of Warcraft Facebook group and all across the internet world....of Warcraft.

WHERE TO START

First things first, you have to decide which type of realm is best for you: player versus player (pvp), player versus environment or role playing versus player.

PvP is exactly how it sounds. It's faction player against opposing faction player in addition to NPCs. Outside of major cities, the potential to be killed by another player is pretty high. Some people even find joy in terrorizing low level areas. While it may be annoying, it comes with the territory.

PvE realms are relegated to environmental gameplay. While pvp is still an option on pve realms, it requires being in a battleground or arena or turning pvp settings on.

RPvP is a bit different. It's role-playing! You interact with other players as if you are an NPC or you can create a background for your character. Almost anything goes, including ERP (erotic role-playing). If that's what you're into (not gonna knock it--you do you, boo-boo) then you can get started in Goldshire.

Which faction is better? Horde or Alliance?

Before someone attempts to fill your head with nonsense, let's get this out of the way first. One faction is not better than the other. They banded together for different reasons. That being said, different races have special abilities based on their race. You can click on the particular race then the "More Info" button below the races to see which abilities they have.

After you've decided which faction, race and class you want to play.

MAKING FRIENDS

Some people are content to play WoW alone. And that's okay. Some people enjoy solitude and want to play at their own pace. WoW, in itself, is a very social game where many objectives require playing with others. It really does help to have a friend or two to quest with. But making friends in Azeroth isn't always easy.

Join a guild. Joining a guild is the fastest way to meet new people. Talk in guild chat and gauge how people communicate with each other. Do not assume everyone's humor is the same as yours. Not everyone fancies dark humor. Needless to say, your first interaction with someone shouldn't be "Sup bitch" or anything of the like that shouldn't be the first thing you say to someone. Also, remember that a lot gets lost in translation via text communications. So be mindful of how you communicate with others and also how they communicate with you.

Create your own guild. By creating your own guild you can create the type of environment that you want to be a part of. Invite people you've interacted with who you feel would fit into the virtual home you've created.

Enter random dungeons and battlegrounds. Not only is doing dungeons and BGs a good way to learn to play your class better, but also a pretty decent way of meeting other players. And if you're good, it's likely people will give you kudos and want to play with you again.

Don't beg for gold. If there's one thing worse than gold sellers spamming trade chat, it's gold beggars. They are annoying. We know that newcomers need gold. But it's frustrating that people put a lot of time and effort into their characters to make gold, save up for repairs, etc. just for someone to come in and start off with "Hi. Can I have a few gold to guy a piece of gear from the Auction House?" No, bruh. I feel for you, but you have to make it the way most of us did. This guide will show you how to do that, too!

DUNGEON ETIQUETTE

Azeroth has enough bad apples to go around. There will always be abominable twats who think that hiding behind a computer screen gives them a free pass to treat others like total crap, waste people's time, pick on others because of their playstyle, etc. This guide is to help you to not be one of those guys or gals. Here are a few do's and don'ts to help make Azeroth a better world--of warcraft.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. If you're new or it's been a while, speak up. "Hey guys! This is my first time here. Anything I should know about this boss?" People generally appreciate when someone can ask for help.

Be open to constructive criticism. It's not easy being told or made to feel as if you suck. Some people seriously do not have tact when talking to others. That's still no reason for anyone to treat you or anyone else like crap. But do try to be open to advice from those who do try to help you by sharing a few pointers or tips.

Don't need on every item that drops. In addition to your race-based special abilities, the character creation page also tells you which type of armor your class wears. For example: You're a druid in a dungeon with five other blokes. A piece of cloth drops. The priest wears cloth. You need on the item because you might be able to wear it. Don't do that! Druid's primary armor is leather. Priest's primary armor is cloth. Be courteous and ask if they need it before hitting need. Another example: You're a big, strong warrior in a dungeon. An intellect trinket drops. You hit need. WRONG! Warrior's primary stat is strength. Warriors do not need intellect for anything whatsoever.

Do try to have patience for other players. Healers need mana. Tanks sometimes like to wait on their cooldowns or certain abilities before pulling. Someone's kid may decide to play Whack-A-Mole with mommy or daddy's keyboard. Someone's cat may decide that their keyboard is now their bed. Stuff happens. Life happens. Be patient. It will be okay. I promise.

MAKING WoW GOLD

Being new to WoW or making a new toon on a new server and not having enough money to repair your gear, buy gear or buy supplies really sucks. But there are so many ways to make gold. Here are a few ways to ensure you stack your paper (gold) quickly.

Loot everything. Yes, loot everything, even the grey items. Vendor them. The copper and silver add up.

Sell green (common) armor on the AH. It doesn't matter how low the item level of the gear is, it will likely sell on the auction house. Dirtydianna and Thickyvicky have found some amazing, low level green items for transmogs.

Choose a gathering profession. Leather, ore and herbs always sell on the auction house. Always.

Collect cloth. Cloth is yet another big seller on the auction house. Especially low-level cloth. Netherweave cloth continues to be the biggest seller on the AH, probably because Netherweave bags are easy to make and they sell very well, especially to low level players looking for more than the 4, 6 and 8 slot bags that they get while questing.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT ADDONS: THE BASICS

Addons are not for everyone. Some people prefer to play with just the game UI and that is perfectly okay. But some of us use addons to enhance game play and in-game experiences. Here are a few basic addons, if you are interested, that may help you navigate your way through Azeroth.

First, download the Twitch Desktop App. It's all encompassing since they partnered with Curse to include addons. On the Twitch app, click Mods to take you where you want to go. Then select World of Warcraft to take you to addons for WoW. Clicking on the name of an addon will give you detailed information about what that addon does.

HandyNotes for questing is amazing!

BigWigs or Deadly Boss Mods for when you decide to venture into dungeons and raids.

Decursive is particularly helpful in dungeons, raids and battlegrounds. It's a mouseover addon that allows you to quickly removes harmful magic, poisons and diseases from your party or raid members if your class has the ability to remove them.

Details! Damage Meter, Recount or Skada damage meters. These are very handy to help keep track of damage, healing, absorbs, deaths and other actions. Details not only displays the damage and healing stats from your party or raid, but also functions as a way to help you improve your game play. For example, as a healer, both you and another player have the same specialization, similar gear and item level, but he/she is putting out more HPS than you. A number of things could factor into why your heals are lower. With Details, you can mouseover that person's name and it will show you what their top heals are. The same with damage.

Was this guide helpful? Comment here, on our Ge'NeL fanpage or by tweeting us at @genelmag! And don't forget to share!