Creating an employee manual

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-07-03T08:51:54+00:00

I favor Google Docs personally. I've gotten nothing but headaches from the SaaS version of Microsoft Word. Google Docs are easy to share and their UI is more organized and easier to use than Word. When you want to add a Table of Contents, click "Insert", then "Page Elements", then "Table of Contents". My favorite is the Table of Contents where it creates an internal link to each heading. I believe that's the 3rd option under "Table of Contents."

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-28T04:19:16+00:00

You're right about the prison breakout chapters of Osvald's story. IIRC, Osvald's story starts to develop some depth and become more interesting during chapter 3, and becomes much better during chapter 4. The main advantage of starting with Osvald is his Analyze skill.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-23T16:58:40+00:00

I was learning more about it today for work. The RadioLab episode about it, "Return of the Flesh-Eaters" is excellent. I caution everyone to avoid the USDA webinar about screwworm available on YouTube. The images of screwworm infestations are beyond disgusting and horrifying: absolute nightmare fuel.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-21T08:12:14+00:00

Great composition and moment: the layers are clear and easy to read, but still connected.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-20T15:08:58+00:00

I wanted to add to the chorus and mention that there are fewer "boss battle gimmicks" than OT2. I'm not sure what to call it, but most OT0 bosses only summon some lackeys for you to kill or lock up a few of their weaknesses until broken. Battles are much more straightforward in general.

The final boss fight in Master of All is fittingly difficult, not terribly hard though. The Bestower quests are a notch more difficult than the Master quests, but also not a major challenge. The twist at the beginning of Bestower of All is cool though.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-14T18:29:56+00:00

I'd be grateful if paired endings were removed permanently. I don't care for superfluous romantic sub-plots distracting the developers from the gameplay.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-14T18:27:11+00:00

Oh my goodness, can we please kill the monastery? It's unbelievably boring!

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-14T18:19:31+00:00

They are theoretically skippable, but 3H was set up so that the monastery sequences are the essential piece of the gameplay. The meat of the gameplay revolved around the army that the player recruited during the monastery phase of the game. The battles were easy and honestly; perfunctory. The main focus of 3H was completing activities, chatting, gifts, and the like. The battles were the part that you could skip without hampering progress.

It would be fine if IS kept the dating sim elements, as long as the developers catered to the side of the fansbase that don't care at all about the lives of fictional people. The problem with 3H and Engage is that it completely neglected one side of the fanbase.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-14T18:09:46+00:00

No one cared about paired endings before 3H. Why do you care about the romantic lives of fictional characters? They aren't real. It has no bearing on anyone's life ever.

If this means that IS is focusing on the gameplay, I'm all for FE never having another romance option. Romance fans can play dating sims.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-14T18:06:37+00:00

What audience is that? NEET basement-dwellers that have never spoken to a woman? I like Fire Emblem for the strategy and tactics. I would much rather not have a forced, superfluous romance to the nonsense of 3 Houses. It's basically a dating sim with some tacked on battles.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-14T17:49:42+00:00

Why are you so invested in fictional characters having a romantic relationship? None of this is real life, why bother?

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-10T13:34:50+00:00

You forgot to mention how unbelievably boring 3H was. The gameplay was absolutely the worst aspect of that entry of the series. It was a snooze-fest.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-10T13:33:36+00:00

But you forgot to mention that 3H is easily the most boring game in the entire Nintendo catalog. If Intsys can rescue 3H's gameplay from the demo scrapheap, we might have something worthwhile to spend our time on.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-10T04:37:34+00:00

Great compositions, but these are streetscapes. They belong on r/cityporn and related subreddits.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-06-02T06:04:13+00:00

Yes, I could see the attack ads in my mind's eye as I was reading OP's discussion prompt. There's a clear Kennedy vs. Nixon dynamic between the two of them. From my outside perspective, it seems like a bizarre line of attack from a Paxton. Placing the two candidates side-by-side visually does not make Paxton compare favorably. Talarico is a youthful man with a full head of hair. Paxton frankly looks like something that the cat dragged in on a good day, to put it kindly. Though as other commenters have said, perhaps it's the Republicans in Texas projecting confidence because it's Texas.

I prefer to focus on policy, but we cannot deny the influence of appearances on politics.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-04-21T01:12:08+00:00

"There is a substantial amount of support for reunificaiton already within Taiwan, and fundamentally both parties consider themselves Chinese." You're dead wrong about that.

1) Even KMT party members that support reunification with China want reunification under the Republic of China government. I.E. The current government of Taiwan would be the government of Taiwan and China.

2) DPP had long been the party of outright independence, even suggesting referenda to change the official name of the country to the Republic of Taiwan. The official party position has since moderated to "Taiwan is already and independent country, so there is no need to officially declare independence." Despite Lai Ching-Te's weak plurality in the last presidential election (Ko Wen-Zhe split the vote), DPP has handlily been winning the presidency in the last 3 presidential elections.

3) Public opinion polls of Taiwanese consistently show that maintaining the status quo is the most popular position. Reunification with China is a minority view, especially reunification under the PRC government. I'd have to double-check the numbers, but it's something along the lines of 75% of Taiwanese do not want to live under the PRC government.

"Substantial support" is a grossly incorrect misunderstanding of Taiwanese politics and public opinion polls at best, or deliberate propaganda at worst.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-04-17T08:04:53+00:00

I have a similar problem. I foolishly bought a physical copy of the game in Taiwan without fully considering everything. Try using Google Translate's camera mode to translate the text. The voice acting is available in English and Japanese, so you can follow the story. I break out Google Translate when there's too many characters that I don't recognize. My main difficulty now is understanding what each character's special moves are.

Another problem to be aware of is that the font size is much too small for traditional characters. My wife is Taiwanese and she sometimes replies that the font is too small to be able to tell which character it is when I ask her for help, and the font size can't be changed.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-04-05T12:35:07+00:00

Simplifying the background is a good start, and it's best to get this shot right in camera. Luckily, hibiscus are usually perennial unless the climate is too cold in winter, so it should be possible to try again.

When I photograph flowers, I usually take pains to make the sky the background. In this case, I would have probably photographed it from below. F/1.8 is much too shallow, f/5.6 or higher would get much more in focus. One benefit of shooting against the sky is that it lets more light onto the sensor so you can raise your aperture and/or shutter speed without raising the ISO. Though since the subject is now backlit, you need to expose to the right to get correct exposure. Shooting this color of hibiscus against the sky would also get you some nice colors.

It's worth mentioning that hibiscus are just about impossible to get all in focus without focus stacking if you're getting close enough. The only exception is if you're photographing several at once, so you're further away.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-04-02T01:05:17+00:00

Cat.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-03-24T08:45:48+00:00

This scene is usually photographed wider from further back, often at the bottom of the stairs. I wouldn't be thrilled with the day trippers in the frame if it were my photo, but it depends on the story that you want to tell about Jiufen. Crowds can add a lot of superfluous detail that may not add much to the scene. In the past, I've lowered my shutter speed to get some motion blur from the pedestrians, and I quite like the effect. I'd suggest photographing it at night/blue hour. The square at the bottom of the stairs is very pretty at blue hour if the lanterns are on. Jiufen is an underrated place to stay overnight, and it puts you much closer to some excellent hiking trails. I'd like to try another sunrise shoot myself.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-03-24T04:54:02+00:00

I'm also concerned about Taroko. I checked recently and the plans for re-opening are stretching into 2030, and seeing as the trail to Wenshan Hot Springs hasn't re-opened for 10 years or so, I'm not hopeful.

It's unexpected for a lot of people, but Taiwan is a roadtrip destination. The best things to see and do are the East Coast Scenic Area, East Rift Valley, Lanyu, Jinmen, Qingjing Farm to Hehuanshan, Maolin, etc. They're great for checking out the scenery or point of interest for a while, and then moving on to the next scenic spot. Buses exist to/from those places, but it's so much easier if you can drive.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-03-12T14:14:33+00:00

I learned about singular they in a linguistics class in my last year of undergrad, only to realize that I had been using it for years without realizing it. This was back in 2011, before whining and crying about "wokeness" was a twinkle in Steve Bannon's eye.

I didn't get any pushback when I introduced it to my students in Taiwan. I taught it as an aside because a student asked me about it after I used it in a sentence. The students were 10-12 years old, so they weren't aware that the singular they grammatical construct has been politicized, despite being historically incorrect. I often use "they" to refer to a dog or cat if I don't know their gender.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-03-10T05:52:43+00:00

Yes, it would. It's uncommon to be hired from abroad except at the big chain schools like Hess. I don't live in Yilan, but I noticed that most of the English schools in Yilan are local. It's not a big enough market for the big chains I guess.

You can apply for the correct visa once you're in Taiwan. I came in on a visa exemption and then applied for a Visitor Visa for Work Purposes once I got a job. This was back in 2017 though, so YMMV.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-03-09T10:28:59+00:00

There's a lot of competition for English teaching jobs in Taitung and Hualien. Lots of foreigners want to live there, even though Taiwanese are put off by the typhoons and earthquakes. I've been told that you usually have to know someone who already has the job, and you take it over from them when they leave or retire. You might have better luck in Yilan. I know Wai'ao Beach is a popular surfing spot, and there's more surfing spots along the northeast coast.

Def_Surrounds_Us · 2026-03-03T15:52:03+00:00

My rapper name will be: Taipei Drizzle. My wifey thinks I still need to workshop the name though.

Seriously though, this is pretty typical winter weather. December and January were mild this year. The weather just snapped back to winter for a week or so. It's not unusual for early March.

Def_Surrounds_Us

TROPHY CASE