u/pellyjelly

Testing this setup for when friends come over.
Connected to monitor via hdmi, sound via Bluetooth speaker. Using Knulli as OS, playing PS1 castlevania SOTN. Still new to this game but I love that it will be a long journey ahead. When solo playing I’m enjoying mostly PS1 and GBA games on this.
Anyone has any recommendations for games that would be fun for a party of 4 friends? I have 8bitdo sn30 pro x 4 controllers. Should be easy to grasp and fun to play for short amounts of time. Thanks in advance!

I was playing it with my dad this morning to test out the concept. The core idea is inspired by magnetic chess/Kluster (the game where you place magnets inside a string boundary and the first person to empty their hand wins).

The fun part about the stone (bidasar marble) is that it’s packed with natural dark streaks of iron and hematite. Because of the geology, the board itself has an invisible magnetic topography. Some spots pull heavily on the magnets, while others are dead zones.
This completely changes the gameplay and adds a really fun, organic strategy:

You can map out the iron-heavy veins and use them to stabilize your magnetic spheres safely.

If you miscalculate the board's natural pull, one collision can trigger a massive release of stored energy, causing a chaotic chain reaction that snaps a bunch of balls together (which you then have to add to your pile!). Endgame is when strategy matters a lot and placement of balls can mean either setting up for a finishing move or helping your opponent win.

My original master plan was to use this 6x6 tile to build a custom Los Alamos chess set (a fast, bishop-less chess variant played on a smaller grid). But before I even started carving the custom pieces, I realized this magnetic variant is an incredibly fun, low-brainpower game on its own.

Im intending to build it into a teak base so it sits on my table and functions perfectly as a coaster when not in use but I can whip out the magnets and call for a fun quick game too.

Would love to hear what you guys think of the concept!

I have a piece of desert iron wood 15x2.5cm and some Bidasar marble tiles which I felt colours come together quite nicely. Does anyone have any ideas what I could craft/make with this pairing? Thank you!!

Before anyone jumps on the fact that there are no filter etc, note that this is an opae ula tank so they actually thrive on neglect.
Just started this tank few months ago and happy to see it’s doing well so far. Looking forward to more shrimp babies.

Got this cute little rectangle nano tank with my mum 2 years ago and dumped in my coral and sea fan and about 5 shrimps. It has since multiplied and become very active. Gives me something to look at while taking a dump.

Hi all, I bought this purslane in nursery in Singapore labelled purslane assorted and I was wondering if it’s edible. I know some purslane are edible and healthy even, but not sure if that is applicable for all species and variety. I guess what I want to know is the species of this purslane plant. Thank you!

I know to many this is a great score - one that would probably take years of dedicated practice to achieve for a non-native speaker. However, please note that as someone who has been using English as my main language for almost 30 years now, it's only natural that I'd expect nothing less than 8.0 for all components. Unfortunately I was disappointed when I received my results.

The reason why I'm upset is because I am trying to apply for a Permanent Residence and was aiming to get the minimum requirement of band 8.0 for all sections as that gives the maximum "English proficiency points". I am happy with the results in the other components but quite frustrated at the same time that I missed out by just that 0.5 points for speaking.

Ranting time:

Like who even talks about a piece of technology they would like to own for 2 minutes straight?! I also felt like the speaking format just penalises someone who doesn't like to yap much irl. It's painful to have to talk about something with nothing substantial to add but have to carry on just cause that's how the test is. Following questions (part 3) also felt unnecessarily rigid where I hardly had a chance to get to what I was trying to say before I was cut off midway and made me sound like I couldn't answer a question properly. Upon reflection, I thought perhaps I was beating around the bush too much and ending up unable to get to a conclusion before getting stopped. But it's just how I talk, I'd like to cover some bases first before giving my opinion and not just jump into "yes, absolutely. Technology is great" kind of answers. I'm also guessing it could be due to the way we were trained back in school to be critical in our response, but I felt this test penalises that sort of philosophical argumentative speech. Feel free to disagree. I'm just salty and want to air my grievances lol.

I saw that many redditors have successful EOR outcomes and I've just applied for mine to be reassessed (fingers crossed!). Otherwise I have no choice but to retake that component.

TIP:
Despite only getting an 8.0, I'd say a tip I would give for writing is to keep it simple and clear. I've only practiced writing 30 minutes before the test (while taking a dump!) and asked chatgpt to give me advice and I guess this framework could work for others too:

I think the most challenging part of writing is Part 2. I've spent about 40minutes for Part 2 and I found that keeping to a 4 paragraph structure helps keep things clear for markers but also yourself so you can quickly check through the content and build upon what you've written.

1 - Mini introduction with clear Thesis statement,

2- Point A with an example and linking back to agree or disagree

3- Point B (usually the flip side of the argument),

4- Conclusion (something along the lines of "it's a balance / both sides need to be managed with care / it's A but also B etc).

What I've done is to first write out the 4 paragraphs in about 10-15 minutes with a clear response that answers the question (doesn't have to be expressed super fluently). Afterwards, I'd go back to check for mistakes and see if there are better ways to express something (idiomatic expressions, paraphrased vocabulary, removing unnecessary statements if they don't add to the argument).

Frequent visitor in my kitchen and I just let him (or her) be. Hope he’s eating the flies and mosquitoes! From Singapore btw. I believe he came from my potted plants when we moved house. Patterns on its body is looking pretty and more special than the typical beige house geckos.

From Singapore, these ants popped up out of a sudden on my vine. It seems to be making nests out of leaves, anyone knows what species they are and if they’re good to keep around?