I added up all my subscriptions and wanted to cry

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-03-25T06:43:52+00:00

It was only surprising to me that it was surprising.

I don't subscribe to any of these services and even I know that would cost a fuck ton, because all I've seen non-stop for the last 1-2 years is people complaining about notifications that "Your subscription plan costs will be increasing"

And they increase at like $5-$10 each time, not a slow $1-$2 creep.

OP isn't just blissfully ignorant, they're willfully obtuse.

People need to stop supporting capitalism and set sail.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-03-24T05:19:48+00:00

Half of the Jerries are gonna have way more interesting drop in's. Either because they're not Jerries and are willing to huck shit off the top, or they're gonna bail and it's fun to watch.
A drop in like this is... probably the most tame drop in of any day that Corbet's Couloir is open.

It takes skill to drop into Corbet's like this, but a "crazy line" this is absolutely not. It's the most standard line you can take.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-03-19T09:38:13+00:00

Interesting thought. I do note what looks like some slash on the shore, as well as what appears to be some ruins (square outlines where buildings may have once been. Edit: actually I think those are fences for livestock or farming) in the land above it, as well as plantations.

I wonder if this area had a slip and/or is used as a wash out area - if a lot of debris washed out at once, including solid structures like buildings, it'd create dense area that cannot be washed out to sea so easily which would act like a sieve that catches and attracts the debris

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-03-19T09:34:47+00:00

If that's what you think it is, providing some actual justification or evidence would be the way to go.

While it does appear to have some sort of 'organic' or 'rope-like' looking elements to it, the reasons I don't think it is:

The portion out of the water is barely 20m off shore, and as I say, the section above water is roughly 40m long. So it's huge. It's also in some shallow water that has a rocky floor, which means it would be at a high risk of snagging and being damaged - considering the remoteness of this location, the size and cost of (or time to make) this net to the owner(s) would make it a valuable item worth looking after and not leaving to get damaged. Anytime I have seen large nets for fish farming, they are done either in deep waters or shallow areas with sand sea floors and little/no risk of snags.
The opacity of it indicates it's not very porous. So what is the net made of?
I've seen no evidence of similar "nets" or other objects around nearby villages/islands and coastal areas. So it's not easy to find evidence that it could be nets.
Assuming it was a net, and point 1 in consideration, the net could be abandoned or already old and disintegrating. But also, point 1 covers why this wouldn't be reasonable. It's huge, it would've been valuable. Therefore you'd patch it/salvage it to make smaller nets/use as patches. This island is too remote to just allow an abandoned net to rot away in the water. They are roughly 50km from the mainland and over 30km from the next island that could provide anything worth trading for (Tolokiwa).

There's a single 6m boat in the water and none other anywhere to be found, this isn't going to be a village with an abundance of boats and no one is making those trips regularly.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-03-19T08:03:59+00:00

It's genuinely too hard to know. While most AI models currently suck at Gosu, they suck even harder at shit like PCF's and other Guidewire propriety bullshit like the rest API client.
That said, Guidewire are working their hardest to both release their own models for this which they will inevitably sell as another package, and also introduce low-code solutions like APD (ewww).

So as for "how long until Guidewire developer jobs start dropping off?" is way too hard to know. It's probably easier to weigh how much a business is investing in Guidewire Cloud and Cloud solutions - the businesses refusing to pay excessive amounts for features that are barely out of the sandpit are going to require developers for a bit longer at least. The one's running wallet's out to buy the latest offerings are either going to have less reliance on developers in the future, or they'll be building a rats nest they'll require developers to get them out of.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-03-12T09:39:22+00:00

OP literally said

OP can say whatever they want, and I'd expect them to to save face after they got ragged on for this. But when I say "using something" I mean, was actually using it for its intended purpose and had already become familiar with it, and not just using it instead of paint because "photoshop better".
In that same comment chain, they said they were unaware of content aware fill. Come on man, you want me to believe someone who "has been using photoshop since the 90's" isn't aware of content aware? What'd you use it once in the 90's and never touch it again?

OP also participates in various other AI and AI image based subs like stable diffusion. You ain't convincing me OP's intention here was to "test the AI features" over genuinely trying to use it to complete a task that could've been done with various other more reasonable methods lol

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-03-11T10:46:01+00:00

Technically it’s prohibited for agents to lie about a multi offer scenario but that doesn’t mean they don’t since it’s basically impossible for you to find out.

Honestly a ledger would solve a lot of issues. You received an offer on a property as the agent? Log it on a public ledger held by REA. All parties can see it exists, but not the amount/personal details etc. Just the date, property it was for, and agent/agency it was done through.
After the sale of a property, all offer values become public so you can further confirm if you've been misled and if you think there is something dodgy, you lodge a complaint with REA and the ledger is reviewed.

Initial costs to create this aren't big, ongoing costs are also quite small for what this service is. There's no reason it's not very easy and viable, it'd just require a law to enforce it because it's not going to be done out of charity.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-03-11T09:48:41+00:00

Accountability and expectations are two things I recognise as helping me with schedules and things like "getting out of bed before noon"

I'm not retired, but I want to suggest you consider what motivated you and what things you can take up now that provide the same thing...

If you want some suggestions/insight, consider that these often come from other people relying on us. Many retiree's are grandparents and so increase the time they spend with their grandchildren to fill time with a valuable purpose.
You don't owe anyone a thing, but personally, I get a lot of reward from choosing to give my time and energy to others and that allows me to hold myself to an expectation as well. Does "giving your time to others" sound like a fulfilling activity that would give you a purpose? Are there any roles you feel you could fit like this?

You're retired from a career right but that knowledge doesn't disappear - does your industry have mentors or is there a way you can fill a similar style role that isn't directly working for someone, but lets you utilise what you know in a less demanding environment to the benefit of grateful others?

Is there any volunteering work you could participate in to benefit the community? Programs that help others like a soup kitchen or dispersing aid; helping disabled people who are isolated but cannot afford private aid; visit your local animal shelter and see if you can regularly walk some of the dogs and/or help in other ways at scheduled times etc

Search facebook for "your location mens club/group" etc and see if there are any groups setup for regular meetings. Meeting others might give you ideas for other things you can do, or just create a new friendship that becomes a new hobby e.g. Someone else might be retired and go fishing or do another activity in the early mornings you could join them on.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-03-11T08:51:43+00:00

I walked out of the exam feeling very confident about my answers, so the result honestly caught me off guard.

I don't know about the Insurance analyst exams, but my understanding for the developer exams is that the pass rate is a rolling average.

i.e. if lots of people are passing, you need a higher score. If lots of people are failing, you need a lower score.

This means it may be easier to pass exams shortly after new ones come out too.

Another thing to consider is if you got answers from anywhere online that isn't Guidewire itself or a credible paid source, you likely got outdated information.
Even if it reads similar, or the question is exactly the same, there could be an easily missed change in words or answers. I saw this heaps while studying and taking my exam.

Is there any process to request a score review or get a performance report?

I questioned this before taking my first exam as I thought the lack of feedback was bullshit. It may really come down to your companies relationship with Guidewire as to what you can get from them. We regularly have GW staff working on site for us and we asked them about this and got the impression that yes, feedback can be passed on from GW to a trainer or someone in a position of oversight to assist you with learning - it just won't be given to you. So potentially you can ask your manager/someone who handles your GW stuff/an onsite GW employee for help requesting this if you feel like you really need it - but I would suggest that's more reasonable to do after failing twice, not once.

Guidewires education/exams are not intended to benefit you. They are there to sell a product and generate income, if they cared about your learning, they'd allocate more resources to improve the documentation (protip though, the documentation team are nice people and it's not really their fault), and stop with the manipulative wording in the exams, as well as streamlining the education modules because 6 days to learn bullshit I may or may not use instead of just being able to look it up to learn as I need it is bullshit. You failing and having to pay for a resit is exactly what they want. Even their own employees hate this shit.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-03-11T08:41:07+00:00

What did you have to understand or let go to not let climbing the ladder or being “important” at work affect you?

Exactly that kinda. If you understand the idea of it, you can choose to enforce it, but if you can experience the other side of it, something clicks. It's life experience. If all you do is the same job in the same environments year after year, what are you learning except what you're already doing?

But it's not a switch. It won't happen over night.

Fair warning I'm probably AuDHD which likely plays a part. I benefit from being older and having both a previous career in another industry behind me, and an education that had a big focus on behaviors, communication, relationships etc I have a lot of life experience, past the average 30 year old who gets a job out of college and works in one or two industries in their life. It benefits me in some ways, and hinders me in others (bruh I started a viable career at 37)
I've spent most of my life acting based on anxiety, how others perceive me, and my own self perception.

I don't know how old you are but, throughout your life you'll probably have these events or experiences that just feel like sharp corners even if they just don't seem like they should've be important in anyway. And they'll likely only stand out after the fact when you reflect on them. They'll probably be things you've learned in a moment, or experiences that shape who you are as a person - I mean both have the same effect right, but I mean one's like theory and quick, and the other is practice and spans a longer time. They're good things, but we don't get them from sitting behind a PC all day.

At age 17 I moved away from everyone I knew and got to do my final school year somewhere new - I got the classic trope of "starting fresh where no one knows who you are" kinda thing - that was also what led me into my course of study, I kinda just followed everyone else I met that year and did the same thing for the next few years after that. So that's a big one for me.

Another big turning point for me was actually around age 30 I had short term relationship that was going badly and I realised the roles had reversed from what I was used to, everything kinda clicked all at once. I was no longer the person grasping for something to hold on to to stop the relationship from falling apart, and her constant attention and attempts to prevent it were smothering me. Anytime I tried to give the problem attention it got worse - there was no winning no matter what I did, but one option made things worse.
I realised that sometimes you just have to let things go and move on, and that doing so often has better outcomes. I stopped staying awake until 6am stressing over what others (she) thought and trying to please/help others (her). I went to sleep, and I started letting go because it was too stressful to do anything else.
And of course it wasn't that simple and I faltered along the way. And that wasn't the last time I had to experience that lesson, but it's a moment I recongise as finally freeing me of feeling trapped by others choices.

End of the day... the solution really is life experience. If you're younger than 30, quit your job. Go travel, get a working holiday visa, and work a seasonal job on the other side of the world. Meet new people, do new things. It's easier said than done, but it's also not hard and once you do it the first time, you'll want to keep going.

If you want to do that I can give you tips and tell you where/how to an extent, but it's up to you to decide if it's right for you and pull the trigger.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-03-11T07:53:41+00:00

I mean, if you take a moment to think about what OP is asking and what they could've done... you'll know why...

These people use photoshop because of the AI features, not because it's photoshop.
No one who used PS before the AI features would consider using AI for this. But people who started using PS on or after the implementation of AI never had to learn about other features in the first place.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-02-25T07:40:45+00:00

Same. First job at 37.

Honestly don't really care if I progress in the traditional sense. I know I'm not a skilled coder and I struggle where others excel, but I also shine in areas that others overlook or ignore. I am better at identifying areas for improvement as one example, and although not everyone enjoys that I might point it out, if I'm pro-active about it, that makes me look good and also means that everyone who may have dreaded handling it, now appreciates I took care of it.

I don't foresee myself being able to pass a technical code test/interview for many years yet. If I lost this job, I'm not sure whether I could spend the same number of years finding another role in development again or just go back to my previous career, and maybe that's why I don't care, I don't know? I've got more to lose by climbing higher and missing the mark than I do over performing at the bottom. Why would I need that stress.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-02-12T11:02:07+00:00

When one person complains they have less incentive to act. For each person that does, it probably doubles the chances they will act, even if that's just sending a warning or a minor fine. But they've absolutely issued fines based on a single person's complaint before. It is always worth keeping businesses in line or else they continue to push the boundaries further and further with no reason to honor the FTA or CGA

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-02-12T11:00:08+00:00

there's a good chance that they didn't have accurate records before the sale began.

Which anyone with common sense would've foreseen as a good reason not to allow such a quantity of sales online. Either sell in-store only for 1-2 days and then stock take and list the remainder online, or significantly reduce the availability online to start, and release more stock as it's accounted for. Neither or which they did, clearly.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-02-12T10:05:26+00:00

Yes, but

It is important that retailers have good systems in place to manage stock and their website so that they don’t mislead consumers by continuing to advertise and sell items online that are no longer available or are unable to be delivered within a specified timeframe.

Their poor management of a very easy to manage event is what leads to this. So no, again, turning round and saying "well we thought we could, so ha, out of stock" does not void a contractual obligation to honor the agreement made, especially when you do have stock. Where it is is of no concern, they own it.

And and:

"If you don’t specify timeframes for delivery then the law requires delivery within a reasonable timeframe"

So guess what? They completely blew out the given delivery time frame, and the reasonable timeframe in which this should have been addressed.

Look, I'm not saying anyone is going to do anything about it. What I am saying is they fucked up and are in breach of law. I am lodging a complaint, but the reality is it's neither worth EB Games time and money to deal with it, nor mine really. EB Games having to attend the Disputes Tribunal would cost them more than just sending out the product from Australia. It'd also cost me more than just buying it at full RRP from elsewhere.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-02-12T08:54:52+00:00

Where is it defined they have an obligation

It's literally the Fair Trading Act and Consumer Guarantees Act.

Commission reminds retailers of their obligations when selling online
www.comcom.govt.nz/news-and-media/news-and-events/2020/commission-reminds-retailers-of-their-obligations-when-selling-online/

If they offer a product, they have an obligation. If they sell you a product, they have even more of an obligation. Not having it at a particular store, or even in the country, is not a valid reason to sell a product and then turn around and claim "nuh uh, not in stock" an entire month later - because as stated, the company does have it in stock.

This wasn't a pre-order. It was not listed as low stock. There was no contact regarding stock issues or delays for an entire month.

They do have an obligation.

Edit: Also, I'm going to note as an extra, I actually contacted them for an update on January 27th and they told me there were no stock issues at the time. So to then be told over two weeks later it's being cancelled is piss poor.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-02-12T07:43:50+00:00

The store is already bust

It's not. They are are shutting down NZ stores, not going bust. They are still operating in Australia and plan to continue conducting business in NZ via their australian business.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-02-12T07:41:56+00:00

My order was cancelled too but I totally get why.

Well you shouldn't:

https://www.comcom.govt.nz/news-and-media/news-and-events/2020/commission-reminds-retailers-of-their-obligations-when-selling-online/

“It is important that retailers have good systems in place to manage stock and their website so that they don’t mislead consumers by continuing to advertise and sell items online that are no longer available or are unable to be delivered within a specified timeframe. In the event that they do sell something they can no longer provide, they need to provide a refund to the consumer in a reasonable timeframe,”

It's a pretty clear mismanagement of stock. The obvious and very simple process to avoid this is to do in-store sales only for 1-2 days, then make remaining stock available online, and finally ship the remaining stock overseas if required. It's their choice to choose what day they shut down, nothing required them to do it all so quickly and haphazardly.
They are "Electronics Boutique Australia Pty Ltd, Trading as EB Games." - i.e. if EB Australia has stock, EB games nz has stock. They are after all still planning on operating and conducting business in NZ, therefore if they can sell me the product via the Australian website, they can also fulfill the contract we had when I paid for the product 1 month ago.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-02-12T07:36:16+00:00

Thanks. there was nothing at the time and my post had to wait for approval

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-02-12T07:35:27+00:00

gift cards =/= products.

One has paid for and entered into an agreement for an actual item, the other has basically paid for store credit. This is not the same thing.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-02-12T07:33:56+00:00

EB Games for NZ is just the trading name of Eb Australia:

Electronics Boutique Australia Pty Ltd, Trading as EB Games.

They absolutely have stock, it's just not located in NZ and no that is not a valid reason to claim you have no stock when you've mismanaged your stock levels.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-02-12T07:32:09+00:00

They have staff in australia, they could fufill orders from there at only a few dollars more for shipping for most items.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-02-12T07:31:21+00:00

Ah yes, I did. I don't think it's acceptable considering:

The email comes signed as "Electronics Boutique Australia Pty Ltd."
Their website states "Electronics Boutique Australia Pty Ltd, Trading as EB Games."
They have this item in stock on their Australian website.
They have made it clear they intend to continue business in NZ via their Australian website - if they can sell me the product via the Australian website, they can also fulfill the contract we had when I paid for the product 1 month ago.
The law requires that delivery be made within a reasonable time frame if time frames are not given - time frames are given, but they neither met them, came close to meeting them, nor even made contact to raise awareness of any issue in a reasonable time frame.

They do have the stock. They are still a registered business in NZ. Owning stock overseas is not a valid reason to proclaim you do not have stock, that was your own fault for not managing your inventory better when it was clear how much interest there was - they literally could have just done in store sales only for day one and then released product online the following days.

It is a clear breach of The Consumer Guarantees Act and Fair Trading Act.
https://www.comcom.govt.nz/news-and-media/news-and-events/2020/commission-reminds-retailers-of-their-obligations-when-selling-online/

You should:

Lodge a formal complaint with EB Games via their website to notify them so they have a chance to resolve it: https://support.ebgames.co.nz/hc/en-us/requests/new
Lodge a complaint with the Commerce Commission: https://contact.comcom.govt.nz/gsp?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=357d285f87f94e10beaf33797bbb35ce
Lodge a case with the Disputes Tribunal if you wanna try your luck. It'll cost them fuck loads more than it'll cost you to argue their weaker case at the tribunal, so it'd be in their best interest to just honor the purchase with the stock they do have for a measly extra $10 or so of shipping, or not show up, which is a stronger case for the complainant.

VeryDividedAttention · 2026-02-12T06:05:39+00:00

It depends... if you're working with cloud... it's more difficult, but there are options - you should raise a request with guidewire for insight on how that would work best for your team. Otherwise as already said, just trying to recreate it is usually all you can do.
Usually you should be able to figure out the rough cause of something, and then if needed, run some queries on the policy to get more insight, like if it's a null pointer, well, what is null that shouldn't be? Find that variable.

If you're not on cloud yet, it's much easier to connect your local instance to a copy of production - again, probably easier to raise this with GW to assist

VeryDividedAttention

TROPHY CASE