▲ 8 r/litrpg

Looking for good litrpg books

So I've been kind of all over the map. DCC was fun, but jesus it made me want to listen to My Chemical Romance and never use chat GPT again, which honestly might've been for the best anyway. I've been reading all the skills. I actually like the system, the plot, and the progression, but they're pretty short books and it seems like there's miles to go with a book per year, so it's driving me a bit crazy. There are far-fetched scenarios occasionally, but they grow as the power of the character grows. My ultimate favorites are the ripple system, but by the end of Emperor's End, I just lost it. I won't spoil it, but it got a bit absurd, and The Wandering Inn. I'd still probably be reading TWI if the narrator hadn't changed.

I started reading the Primal Hunter, and maybe it gets better; I'm at chapter 12. The writing seems to struggle, the whole Jake Jacob thing and the descriptions are tough for me to work through. I'm hoping it gets better.

So, questions are: Does Primal Hunter get better, and either way, I would appreciate any recommendations. Thanks,

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u/sorressean — 5 days ago
▲ 5 r/diet

Trying to create meal plans for busy days plus absurd heat

Hi all, I live in the US and do a lot of desk work (both jobs are desk based and remote). I have a treadmill I'm walking on, but I'm also really trying to eat more healthy. I need high protein, low carb.

Because I struggle with mental health/time, and because the earth hates us and is currently trying to roast humans, cooking huge meals is probably not super likely. I am thinking of things like chicken breast with pan cooked broccoli, cottage cheese for breakfasts, boiled eggs, protein drinks. Does anyone have some quick healthy meals I can rotate through that will be low-ish effort but high protein? Thanks,

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u/sorressean — 5 days ago
▲ 11 r/modular

favorite programmable eurorack modules?

Hi, I'm struggling in some cases to find multi-utility modules for eurorack that will do what I want. I am blind and am not entirely sure if the o_c will be accessible. I'd much rather just buy some smaller modules that I can easily program? C++ or Python but preferably c++ just for speed. I know that there are the daisy systems, but they were sold out when I looked. I'd prefer a platform I can just flash and go, like the versio. (Versios are amazing for audio, but a lot of what I want are utility based. Clocking, etc).

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u/sorressean — 14 days ago
▲ 4 r/debian

Updated Debian, raid lvm issues

Hi all, I'm not entirely sure what data to share that would be useful, but maybe someone ran into this. I updated today from debian 12 to debian 13. I previously had a raid5 setup using lvm at /dev/vg_raid5/lv_raid5. When I mount this in fstab and reboot, lvscan /dev/sda and lvscan /dev/sdc hold everything up on boot according to the journal. Udev is also waiting to settle which takes about 2.5 minutes. The end result is that /dev/vg_raid5 doesn't exist in rescue mode. Has anyone encountered this? Smartmontools shows all the harddrives are healthy (and this wasn't an issue prior to the upgrade). I'm totally lost at this point. Any ideas would be really appreciated. Thanks,

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u/sorressean — 1 month ago

Tips for playing bastl pizza?

I'm not sure if I'm struggling with the buttons (I'm blind and can't tell how to get them in the right settings/go back to defaults), but I've heard some incredible bastl pizza demos especially in FM, but haven't managed to get much out of this thing, especially in terms of modulation. Any tips/ideas? Any patch suggestions (text/not pictures) I can run with to start doing something with this? I really want to have fun with FM synth. I use a Voltera and Metron for sequencing and have a third Voltera on the way just for more specific volt sequencing and have an Acid Rain Maestro as well, so I can modulate.

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u/sorressean — 1 month ago
▲ 160 r/Denver

Letter from Xcel energy president

To our valued customers,

Colorado is growing fast – and so is the demand for energy. As more families and businesses call our state home, and as energy plays a bigger role in daily life for vehicles, heating, and technology, we're investing to make sure the electricity and natural gas you rely on keeps up.

Energy demand in Colorado is projected to increase 5% by 2029 – the equivalent of adding a city the size of Littleton to our system. At the same time, we must upgrade the power grid and maintain 24,000 miles of natural gas lines to withstand extreme weather, reduce wildfire risk, and operate the cleanest systems possible. We’re committed to doing this with a strong focus on keeping bills as low as possible.

Xcel Energy has proudly served Colorado for more than 150 years, and we are unwavering in our commitment to deliver safe, reliable and affordable energy for generations to come. We are also mindful that the rising cost of living, including energy prices, is a real concern for Coloradans. We want to share steps we are taking to strengthen the service you receive and support the region’s economic growth while lessening the impact of rate increases.

Investing to Serve You Better

To deliver on your expectations, we plan to invest $17.6 billion over the next five years to upgrade and modernize the energy infrastructure that serves you, so we can continue delivering some of the best service reliability in the country. The plan will:

Strengthen the electric grid to better protect against storms, wildfires, and cyber threats;
Invest to keep our natural gas system safe and dependable;
Improve your service with technology to better meet your daily needs, along with expanded energy efficiency, renewable energy choices and conservation programs;
Expand clean energy to keep your rates competitive while reducing emissions and ensuring sustainable power today and tomorrow; and
Support Colorado’s economy by creating local jobs, attracting new business and helping maintain property values.

Keeping Bills as Low as Possible

We know the price of energy matters – especially as the cost of living continues to rise. We want to be upfront with you: the rate cases we recently submitted to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission will result in bill increases to fund these essential infrastructure improvements. Depending on the amount of the increase approved by the Commission, the average residential customer who receives both electric and natural gas service could see a total bill increase of up to 10.5% per month, starting late this year.

Our average residential electric bill is 27% below the Colorado state average and 39% below the national average. Even with the proposed increases, customer bills will remain well below state and national averages. Our Colorado customers spend approximately 1% of their household income on electricity – the lowest “share of wallet” in the entire country. That’s something we strive every day to maintain, and with our proposed increase, that share of wallet would remain at or below 1.2%.

We don’t take this lightly and have taken action to manage energy costs for customers by:

Passing fuel savings directly to you: Since 2017, our investment in Colorado wind energy has saved customers $1.3 billion in avoided fuel costs and tax credits. We pass every penny of those savings directly to you.
Making our operations more efficient: We have kept our operating costs below the rate of inflation for over a decade and are continually making improvements to be more efficient.
Expanding energy assistance programs: For customers who may need assistance paying their bills, we’ve expanded these programs to make enrollment easier, cap household energy costs and minimize service disconnections. We’ve proposed to further support these programs through a $10 million contribution financed entirely by Xcel Energy.

If you need help with your bill, we are always willing to work with you. Please call us at 800-895-4999 or visit xcelenergy.com/EnergyAssistance to learn about payment assistance options or to set up payment arrangements. We’re here to help.

Wildfire Aware, Wildfire Prepared

We take seriously our responsibility to help protect our communities amid growing wildfire risk in Colorado and across the country. That’s why our plan includes investing nearly $2 billion in wildfire mitigation and response efforts through 2027.

This work is well underway. Across the state, you'll see our teams inspecting and replacing thousands of power poles, managing vegetation near power lines, and installing nearly 150 AI-enabled cameras that detect smoke and fire in real time.

Safeguarding our customers and communities is our highest priority. During periods of extreme wildfire risk, we may need to implement Public Safety Power Shutoffs and will work to notify affected customers as soon as we can. We are also taking steps to reduce the duration and number of customers impacted by power shutoffs. We’re accomplishing this by adding more devices to the grid that allow us to target smaller areas in these shutoffs, and we’ll put more lines underground in higher-risk areas.

Our Approach to Data Centers

As AI gains momentum around the country, we’re preparing for evolving demands and emerging technologies. The arrival of large-scale data centers – key for powering the digital economy – will require even greater amounts of energy. These facilities create jobs and bring economic opportunities to Colorado, but our existing customers should not subsidize their growth.

Here’s our commitment: data center developers will pay the full cost of the additional infrastructure and electricity they require. This includes grid upgrades, transmission lines, and power generation capacity. Your rates will not increase to support their operations.

Building Colorado’s Future

To keep your power reliable, we need to build for the future with new infrastructure. We’re working with regulators to accelerate solutions – including bringing more wind, solar, battery storage and natural gas onto the system – to meet our state’s growing needs. Those efforts have resulted in the addition of approximately 4,000 megawatts of new clean energy resources, which is enough to power well over a million customers. In doing so, customers will see savings of approximately $3 billion that otherwise would not have been received because of changes in federal tax laws.

We’re also planning targeted investments in the natural gas system to ensure we can safely continue providing this vital service while laying the groundwork for our vision to be a net-zero energy provider by 2050.

What You Can Expect From Us

We are proud to power Colorado’s homes and businesses and to support the state’s ongoing growth and innovation. Through workforce development and good-paying jobs, local investments, property tax payments, non-profit grants, strategic philanthropy, employee giving programs and volunteerism, we’re focused on making the places where we live and serve stronger.

While the challenges are real, so is our commitment to making energy work better for you, your family and our communities. To learn more about the Xcel Energy’s role in supporting the state, please visit our Colorado Impact Report.

Best,   Robert Kenney President of Xcel Energy – Colorado

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u/sorressean — 2 months ago

Anyone have an Intellijel/Acid Rain contact? UX firmware request

Hi all, I love the quadrax; it's super powerful and the envelope I reach for most of the time. I also love that I can link them so that one envelope trigger off my sequencer can modulate different things, and I've used that for some cool sounds. My problem: I'm blind, and sometimes I hit buttons on accident, or forget what the last state of the Quadrax is, or just get lost in the cycling of LEDs. I know from the manual that you can press the top left and bottom right button to reset all your CV inputs, but what I've been bugging Intellijel about (and received radio silence) is an option to maybe hit the top left and bottom left button to return to a default state. This would make it easier for everyone, because you wouldn't have to cycle/reset things if you wanted, but it would help blind users a lot. If I know that all my envelope channels are in their default state, I will then know that if I press the left button on a channel I can cycle through the modes, and if I press the right button, I can also cycle through modes. Having a starting point makes this exponentially more usable. The same could happen if you press both the left/right button at the same time on a channel to return it to a default state.

This would be huge for me and open up a lot of doors. If someone from Intellijel is here/listening, or you know someone and can nudge them, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Same goes for Acid Rain and their Maestro. While it's really easy to just run through the channels and set all of them to 1/2 note ramp, the smooth and unipolar options aren't so easily reset. I'd love a way to set the whole thing back to defaults, or have a way to make sure that both options are disabled on a specific channel (maybe channel+clock = reset)? This would mean that I could do whatever I felt like in a performance, jam, experimental stage and know that I can always get back to the default state without having to see the lights. It is theoretically possible to just test this and listen based on sound to each channel, but at that point I'm probably giving up and going to order a pizza instead of spending time with modules.

All of these changes make for UX bonuses as well, because it's more shortcuts that can help everyone's workflow, not just those of us with defective eyeballs! Thanks,

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u/sorressean — 2 months ago

Hi, I realize I've posted a few times here and don't want to keep flooding with questions.

First, the easy question: I'm trying to learn how to use the Maestro but the manuals aren't super accessible with a screen reader. I've gone through the Youtube manuals and have all the buttons mapped, but am struggling a bit. I'd really like to use it as an envelope because it's right near my performance controls. So I could ramp-up on a bass line, or ramp down just to change how each note comes in for example. I tried hooking my metron's gate up to the bottom row, then the top row was my CV output to the VCA. That didn't really get me much of a difference in terms of sound, so I'm not sure if I'm dialing in things correctly. I'm holding down track I, then hitting chain, using timings to change the attack of the note, and choosing a waveform. So I'll hit 1/2 and then the ramp-up button for example. At the end I hit chain again and let go of the track button. Is this how this works?

Finally, I started out with a much larger advantage than most people getting into Eurorack. I've had modules provided through a couple sources based on work I'm doing, plus I flipped all of my audio and guitar gear. Before Eurorack, I was spending time in audio engineering/outboard mixing land. What I was learning is that there are a lot of modules that are LED/menu/LCD based, and some of those were the core of my whole mixing setup. Audio interfaces are notoriously not accessible via the UI, and plugins are hit or miss. I also was diagnosed with CTS, which made it super hard for me to continue playing guitar. I fell into a huge slump where I wasn't doing anything with music, getting mad every time I walked over to that side of the office, or saw my guitars, and decided that I really wanted to get back into music. I ended up flipping all my gear, building up my savings and using the other chunk of it to jump into a really nice studio eurorack setup. I did a ton of research and worked with someone to make sure that the rack was cohesive and made sense. I've started putting all my effort and time into this when I'm not working either of my jobs, but I'm running into walls. Partially due to accessibility (the Maestro question is a good example), and partially just due to the learning curve. I know and understand that this takes time, but I'm also sure that much like when I took guitar lessons, all of my practice compounds when I can jump into a lesson and say "I've done x, how can I get better or improve," and get that unlocked. This helped me optimize my time. The TL/DR is that I'm curious if people offer modular/rack lessons, and if so what that looks like. I haven't used any vacation from either job yet this year and am planning to take a week staycation to read and work with this rack, and would love to feel like I'm making progress at the end.

Thanks!

reddit.com
u/sorressean — 2 months ago

Hi all, First, sorry there is no video attached to this. I'm blind and after a long day of work just wanted to mess with the rack and not try to troubleshoot if the camera was staring up my nose or down my man cleavage!

I feel like I've hit a wall in the last couple days where my stuff is sounding very similar, and I'm not sure where to go or how to start really doing more. I'm trying to create distinct pieces in the system so that I can work on transitions and then do like an actual jam that sounds musical. This doesn't sound all that musical, and I was struggling to find a way to fit the higher pitched reverby delay lead in so it made sense while kind of playing with it.

Here's what my patch looks like: I have 4 metron gates going to VPME.DE QD, which is where the drums are coming from; that is passed through a ruina versio and into the mixer. I'm using the modbap osiris, again handling gates and pitch through the Metron. This is my bass-like sound. The Osiris is going out to a blades clone (ALA Razor) which is running into the mixer. I'm using the Osiris VCA from the metron. The Osiris is being modulated a bit by an envelope coming off of Maths which I'm also running from the same gate of the Metron as a mult. So the track triggers the Osiris VCA and the Maths.

The lead sound is a bit more confusing; I'm running an Acid Rain Supersaw, and that's running down to a SSF Dipole filter. That's running to a VCA, which runs to a Versio Immiter, which runs to the mixer. The Supersaw sound is being triggered by a gate coming from the Metron to Quadrax, which is connected to the CV on the VCA. I'm using the Erica Synths black octo LFO to modulate the left and right side of the dipole. This is how the notes speed up or slow down like they do, because it's giving it a sort of panned effect. For the filter movement on the bass tone, I'm just using a fader to manually move the filter.

If you've managed to read this Robert Jordan novel, I thank you. I'd really appreciate any tips. I'd like to start making actual jam-like tracks or doing more with this. Link below: I just wanted to play with different sounds/adjustments to try to get something new, and was trying to learn how this might fit into any jam. It's super rough/practice only. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/brthv71046l1e7c5ie480/demo.mp3?rlkey=v2t6yuuvvzr9g4nqhfklvzvlk&dl=0

reddit.com
u/sorressean — 2 months ago