Hello all, obviously don't expect you to read them all, but could you please confirm if this is a suitable list to revise to ensure I pass the Drive Stakeholder Value test? Questions in lowercase and answers in CAPS. Thanks!
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An organization is negotiating and agreeing with the service levels for a social media site. Which is an example of a measure of utility that should be included in the service level agreement? THE NUMBER OF PHOTO FORMATS SUPPORTED FOR UPLOAD.
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Most of the attention is given to how the subject affects the listener, what emotions it evokes, and how it compares with individual preconceptions. What is an example of? INTERNAL LISTENING.
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A consumer organization is making significant changes to the technologies used by its employees, and is discussing those changes with its service provider. How can the service provider BEST demonstrate the capability to meet the needs of the consumer organization? ENSURE THERE ARE ADEQUATE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS TO SUPPORT THE CUSTOMERS CHANGES.
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What is an attribute of a strategic partnership? CREATE BARRIERS TO EXIT THE RELATIONSHIP.
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A service provider is collecting requirements for a cloud-based document storage service. Which is an example of a utility requirement for this service? THE SERVICE WILL DISPLAY A LIST OF ITEMS UPLOADED BY THE USER.
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An organization maintains processes that support many different services. It needs to share information about how the processes support services with a wide range of stakeholders. What practice will MOST help them to share this information? SERVICE DESK.
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Services that have to be configured or customized to fulfil the needs of the service consumer. Which Relationship does this situation describe? COOPERATIVE RELATIONSHIP.
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In the context of the ‘five principles of service design thinking’, which principle includes using “physical evidence or artefacts” to “trigger the memory of positive service moments? EVIDENCING.
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An organization is agreeing service target for a new service. The objective of the service is to “process sales orders successfully and quickly, while conforming to relevant legislation”. Which is a warranty measure associated with this objective? THE NUMBER OF SCREEN UPDATES THAT EXCEED 2 SECONDS.
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A service consumer organization has recently started to use a service provided by an external service provider. The service consumer organization would like to maintain a good relationship with the service provider. Which is an example of how they can encourage a positive service mindset for service consumption? REGULAR MEETINGS WITH SERVICE DESK STAFF TO RAISE AWARENESS OF ONGOING SERVICE ISSUES.
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Organization has a policy that users will be billed for incidents resulting from an error that users caused. The policy is to bill the user for a minimum of 1 hour charge. After listening to the dissatisfied user who has caused an error, a service desk agent is confident that the incident can be resolved within a min. the agent decided not to mention the policy and later reported the contact to the supervisor. Which TWO things that the supervisor should take? ANSWER: Encourage the agent to escalate this type of situation in future / Explain the reason for the policy & why it should be followed.
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A development team has received several sets of requirements for a new software application that share a similar priority. They wish to use the “weighted shortest job first” method to decide which job to develop first. They have calculated a development time for each job and a cost of delay that takes into account service impact, urgency and risk. Which should they do first? COST OF DELAY = 200. DEVELOPMENT TIME = 10.
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Which is an example of onboarding activities performed by a service consumer? OPTIMIZE VALUE STREAM TO MAXIMIZE VALUE FOR USING NEW SERVICE.
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An internal IT organization offers face-to-face support at a drop-in support centre. They need to maximize the use of support staff as the demand often exceeds the capacity. What is the BEST way to smooth the demand? CHARGE USERS EACH TIME THEY USE THE SUPPORT SERVICE AND INCREASE THE PRICE FOR TIMES THAT ARE TYPICALLY BUSY.
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Managing the user experience across all channels, touchpoints, and service interactions. What is an example of? OMNICHANNEL.
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A service provider has built a 'cooperative relationship' with a customer. Which activity are they MOST LIKELY to use to validate the services that are provided? JOINT SERVICE REVIEWS OF ACHIEVEMENTS OF SERVICE TARGETS.
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In a cooperative relationship to validate whether the service meets the service target, a joint effort is required from both the service provider and service consumer to review the service level target.
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Which concept refers to any event where a service consumer or potential service consumer has an encounter with the service provider and/or its products and resources? TOUCHPOINT.
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Which example shows that the service provider is building trust with the customer in a partnership relationship? DEMONSTRATE CAPABILITY TO ENABLE CONSUMER DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION.
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What is an attribute of a strategic partnership? TRUST NEEDS TO BE DEVELOPED.
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MoSCoW prioritization, also known as the MoSCoW method or MoSCoW analysis, is a popular prioritization technique for managing requirements. The acronym MoSCoW represents four categories of initiatives: must-have, should-have, could-have, and won't-have, or will not have right now.
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A modular application is an application that is divided into a set of loosely coupled functional units (named modules) that can be integrated into a larger application.
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An internal IT service provider does not have all the skills needed to create and deliver a new service, but could develop them with enough time. There are many external service providers who can provide this service. Which approach should the organization follow to decide if they should use the internal service provider or to source the service externally? START BY REVIEWING ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES FOR SOURCING SERVICES, THEN IDENTIFY THE MOST IMPORTANT CRITERIA FOR SELECTING A SERVICE PROVIDER, AND USE A 'DECIISON MATRIX' TO COMPARE SERVICE PROVIDERS.
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What is an attribute of a basic relationship? COSTS ARE USUALLY TRANSPARENT, BUT VALUE MAY BE HIDDEN.
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Resource constraints have slowed an organization’s efforts to expand into new markets. Which practice would recommend eliminating products and services that are not enabling value, so that the required resources can be made available? PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT.
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Different types of service relationships require different approaches to assessing mutual readiness. Which of the following statements is CORRECT? REDINESS TO COLLABORATE IS CRUCIAL FOR A PARTNERSHIP RELATIONSHIP.
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An organization is using a “decision matrix” to create a shortlist of potential service providers. They have defined tangible assessment criteria and they have identified how well each service provider meets each criterion. What should they do next? COMPARE THE SERVICE PROVIDERS BASED ON HOW IMPORTANT EACH ASSESSMENT CRITERION IS.
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Which charging mechanism is based on a break-even or cost recovery model? COST.
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Service is provided without the service provider and the user being in physical proximity. For example, a user may communicate with the service provider through texting. What is an example of? TECHNOLOGY-MEDIATED.
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An organization provides an online portal that its employees can use to learn about and request standard services. Which practice would ensure that users can easily find information on the portal and that the information is kept up-to-date? SERVICE CATALOGUE MANAGEMENT.
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Number and percentage of transactions where users used the interface help. This is a Metric associated with which Experience criteria? EMOTIONAL CRITERIA.
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Focus is on the other person, not much attention is paid to the outside world. What is an example of? FOCUSED LISTENING.
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Practice. Success. Factor. (PSF) “A complex functional component of a practice that is required for the practice to fulfil its purpose.”. Formerly Critical Success Factors.
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A measure that either directly or indirectly indicates the situation or level of a specific aspect of service value. What is an example of? SERVICE VALUE INDICATOR.
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An IT service provider is carrying out an internal assessment, to identify opportunities to develop and improve their services. They have reviewed workflows and activities, the capabilities of their workforce, and supplier contracts. Which area do they also need to consider? INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY.
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Which TWO are activities of marketing in marketspace? 1. Giving presentation in conference 2. Advertising on social media 3. Launching a series of podcast 4. Hold a breakfast seminar. TWO AND THREE.
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Which co-creates value between SERVICE PROVIDER and SERVICE CONSUMER? SERVICE INTERACTION.
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Which concept is concerned with assess user skills and the available range of support actions before implementing self-service? SHIFT-LEFT.
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A team is evaluating commercial software products in an effort to improve communication and collaboration within the team. The members of the team cannot agree on the process that they should use to evaluate the products. Which step should the team complete LAST? DEFINITE REQUIREMENTS FOR CONFIGURING THE PRODUCT.
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An organization with many cross-functional teams is going to start using a new modular application to manage many different aspects of their business, including finance, HR, sales and other capabilities. What is the BEST way to plan and deliver user training? CREATE A SEPERATE TRAINING COURSE FOR EACH USER ROLE OR PERSONA, SO THAT THE TRAINING IS RELEVANT TO THE USERS.
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A customer has been using an organization’s service for many years. The customer has indicated that the service is no longer meeting their objectives. How can the service provider BEST determine if the original value proposition is still valid? BY CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY MADE ABOVE THE SERVICE.
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Which activity does a service provider carry out as part of the “explore” step of the customer journey? PROVIDING MARKETING MATERIAL TO POTENTIAL FUTURE CUSTOMERS.
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Where the vendor provides all services as well as the service integration and management function. What is an example of? SINGLE SUPPLIER.
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Identify the missing words in the following sentence. A [?] is a justification for the expenditure of organizational resources, providing information about costs, benefits, options, risks, and issues. BUSINESS CASE.
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Which approach is concerned when a user requests a service on a service portal, downloads an application, calls a service desk? PULL APPROACH.
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Service design thinking is an effective way of tackling problem-solving. Since the core of the method is to explore, prototype, and gather feedback from real users, it is a good example of value-driven, data-driven, and user-centred service design. It encourages users to define value and is a method that continuously gathers feedback on what is and is not working”.
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An organization has signed a contract to outsource its service desk function to a supplier. The organization wants to ensure that its customers and users will receive a seamless support service. Which activity would MOST help the organization at this stage? INTEGRATING SUPPLIER ACTIVITIES INTO THE ORGANIZATIONS VALUE STREAMS.
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Where the organization manages all vendors and coordinates the service integration and management function itself. What is an example of? RETAINED ORGANIZATION.
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What is an attribute of a Cost plus? THE MARK-UP (%) CAN EITHER BE SET BY THE SERVICE PROVIDER TO MATCH RETURNS ON OTHER INVESTMENTS.
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A piece of functionality described in a way that could be developed in a single sprint. What is an example of? USER STORIES.
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Which is a holistic method to conceptualize value-driven, data-drive services? DESIGN THINKING.
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What is the BEST indicator of mutual readiness in basic relationship? SATISFACTORY PAST PERFORMANCE.
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The line of internal interaction: This separates the employees in contact from those who do not directly support interactions with customers and users”.
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Which describes a value-drive approach to service design? AN INTERATIVE APPROACH BASED ON FREQUENT FEEDBACK, CONTINUAL EXPERIMENTATION, AND LEARNING TO ENSURE VALUE CO-CREATION.
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SERVICE PROVIDER has improved its users' engagement channel by adding a self-service portal to reduce the demand of telephone support. However, the service desk still receives many calls. How can it be solved? CREATE AN ONLINE TUTORIAL TO TRAIN HOW TO USE THE SERVICE PORTAL.
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Which concept is concerned with activities and resources within a service relationship that are visible to both the service provider and the service consumer? BAND OF VISIBILITY
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A service provider designs and delivers a portfolio of shopping websites that must comply with retail website regulations. The websites should also support the service provider’s reputation for high-quality applications that are easy to use. The service provider wants to assess the value provided by the websites. Which is the BEST set of measurement criteria for comparing services in the portfolio? USER SATISFACTION WITH WEB INTERFACES; NUMBERS AND IMPACT OF REGULATORY NON-COMPLIANCE.
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Which line separates the employees in contact from those who do not directly support interactions with customers and users? LINE OF INTERNAL INTERACTION.
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A customer is retiring a service and has terminated the contract for the service with the service provider. The service provider will continue to deliver other services to the customer. Which activity should the service provider include in the plans to offboard the service? IDENTIFYING AND MAKING REQUESTS FOR OUTSTANDING PAYMENTS FOR THE SERVICE.
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Services based on service offerings and products that have been planned and built in accordance with requirements specified by the customer. Which Relationship does this situation describe? PARTNERSHIP.
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“Service interaction: A reciprocal action between a service provider and a service consumer that co-creates value”.
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INVEST stands for Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Sized-Appropriately, Testable.
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A PESTLE analysis studies the key external factors (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal and Environmental) that influence an organisation.
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Band of visibility: Activities and resources within a service relationship that are visible to both the service provider and the service consumer.
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In a partnership, the service provider and the service consumer may act as one organization coordinating activities across a great range of functions and processes
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A cost-plus contract is an agreement to reimburse a company for expenses incurred plus a specific amount of profit, usually stated as a percentage of the contract's full price.
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Cost Plus: “The mark-up (%) can either be set by the service provider to match returns on other investments or allocated by the service provider to meet strategic business needs”
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In building trust in service basic relationship, the customer will “check past performance of service provider”
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Which describes a value-drive approach to service design? AN ITERATIVE APPROACH BASED ON FREQUENT FEEDBACK CONTINUAL EXPERIMENTATION AND LEARNING TO ENSURE VALUE CO-CREATION
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Value-driven and data-driven service design implies an iterative approach based on frequent feedback, continual experimentation, and learning to ensure value co-creation in each step of the design process”.
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Retained organization as service integration and management: Where the retained organization manages all vendors and coordinates the service integration and management function itself”.
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Value stream: a series of steps an organization undertakes to create and deliver products and services to customers.
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Single supplier: “Where the vendor provides all services as well as service integration and management function”.
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Pull is when service actions are initiated by users. “This is a case the user requests a service on a service portal, download an application, call a service desk etc.”
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Business case: A justification for the expenditure of organizational resources, providing information about costs, benefits, options, risks, and issues.
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A sprint is a set period of time during which specific work has to be completed and made ready for review.
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A user story is a way of describing functionality required by the stakeholders, so that the piece of functionality could be developed in a single sprint.
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Which is an example of a user story? A HOMEWORKER CAN CONNECT TO THE COPRORATE NETWORK TO SUBMIT AN EXPENSE CLAIM.
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With the shift-left approach, work or service support is moved closer to the user. One of the key challenges in adopting a shift-left approach is users not having the relevant skills to use the technology tools.
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Marketspace is defined by all the possible channels made available on the Internet.
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What is a challenge when onboarding individual consumers? INDIVIDUAL OPINIONS DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE NEEDS OF A LARGER CONSUMER GROUP.
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Which is a valid description of the priorities when using agile development methods? WORKING PRODUCTS OVER COMPREHENSIVE DOCUMENTATION.
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Which is a technique for identifying customers that have common demands? MARKET SEGMENTATION.
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Which concept is concerned with a workload profile of one or more business activities? PATTERN OF BUSINESS ACTIVITY.
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When a user is not happy with how their query is being handled by a service provider, what would help to improve the user’s loyalty and trust? DEMONSTRATING EMPATHY.
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A collection of related user stories that represent a whole area of functionality or a capability that a product or service owner is interested in? USER STORIES.
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Which technique allows a service provider to target a customer with specific needs and desires? MARKET SEGMENTATION.
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Organization has introduced a new service, and feedback from users indicates that their expectation is not being met. The organization wants to ensure that subsequent revisions adequately reflect the user’s requirements. What is the BEST approach to go about this? DEFINE MINIMUM VALUE PRODUCT AND DEMO TO COLLECT THE REQUIREMENT.
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An organization wants to provide its employees with a limited set of self-services via an online portal. A requirement is that when employees log into the portal, they see only those services that are applicable to their status in the organization and that they have the authority to access. The organization also wants to provide employees with the ability to adjust the layout of the portal. Which service provisioning approach should this organization use? TAILORED.
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A service provider has recently released an upgrade to its payroll service. The service provider had told the customer that the upgrade would include functionality to copy information from various other HR systems, to reduce the amount of manual data entry. However, this statement was not documented at the time and the proposed functionality was not included in the design. Which practice includes activities which could have helped to avoid this situation? BUSINESS ANALYSIS.
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A bank provides an online banking service to external users. The bank measures the functional and non-functional aspects of the service in several ways and is meeting its targets. However, user satisfaction with the service is not as high as the bank would like it to be. Which is the BEST example of an additional aspect of the service that the bank should measure? THE NUMBER OF TIMES A TRANSACTION IS STARTED BUT NOT COMPLETED.
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An investment bank has outsourced its customer care helpline. It is keen to introduce experience metrics into its Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with the service provider for the helpline. It has asked for a re-negotiation of the existing SLA. Which is the BEST example of an experience metric that can be included in the SLA? CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH THE HELPLINE.
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An organization is undergoing a digital transformation and is conducting a strategic analysis of its customers’ needs. The organization uses agile methods to manage its digital products and a more traditional waterfall approach to manage its legacy systems. The organization is also considering introducing new products and services. Which is the BEST way for this organization to undertake this analysis? DEVELOP MODELS THAT HELP ANALYSTS PERFORM TASKS THAT ARE APPROPRIATE FOR GIVEN CONTEXT.
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User satisfaction with web interfaces, number and impact of regulatory non-compliances are good measurement criteria in comparing services in the portfolio.
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“Many experience metrics are related to the service interface performance, others may indicate user satisfaction with either interface, or the service in general”.
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“The line of internal interaction: This separates the employees in contact from those who do not directly support interactions with customers and users”.
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Retained organization as service integration and management: Where the retained organization manages all vendors and coordinates the service integration and management function itself”
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SERVICE PROVIDER has improved its users' engagement channel by adding a self-service portal to reduce the demand of telephone support. However, the service desk still receives many calls. How can it be solved? CREATE ONLINE TUTORIAL TO TRAIN HOW OT USE THE SERVICE PORTAL.
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The attribute of a Cost Plus: “The mark-up (%) can either be set by the service provider to match returns on other investments or allocated by the service provider to meet strategic business needs”
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User stories: “A piece of functionality described in a way that could be developed in a single sprint”
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service design thinking is an effective way of tackling problem-solving. Since the core of the method is to explore, prototype, and gather feedback from real users, it is a good example of value-driven, data-driven, and user-centred service design. It encourages users to define value and is a method that continuously gathers feedback on what is and is not working”.
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Pull is when service actions are initiated by users.
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An organization is deciding whether to develop a new service internally or source the service from an external service provider. A key aim is to ensure the new service would be compatible with the organization’s existing services. Which would the organization consider FIRST when making this decision? THE ORGANIZATIONS SOURCING STRATEGY AND GOVERNMANCE MODEL.

I'm a 26-year-old professional with prior work experience as a sales rep at T-Mobile for four years. Seeking a new challenge, I enrolled in a boot camp that focused on IT and cybersecurity. While the boot camp didn't provide me with the strongest fundamentals, it did help me secure an internship as a cybersecurity architect with an airline.
During my internship, I faced the challenge of having little assigned work from my manager, which led me to seek opportunities with different managers. I had the chance to work with data, assist in decommissioning an old VPN, and contribute to SSDL reviews. I also took engineering classes, although they didn't prove to be particularly helpful in terms of learning.
Following the internship, my manager offered me a role as a data center engineer, which I am grateful for. However, I haven't gained much knowledge in this position apart from tasks like fixing DIMs, running cables, and understanding infrastructure. My ultimate goal is to work in cybersecurity, and I even obtained the CompTIA Security+ certification.
Recently, I attempted to apply for a SOC analyst role, but the hiring manager advised me to study a bit more and perhaps revisit the opportunity in three months. Now, I have been offered a help desk position with a salary of $55k, whereas I am currently earning $60k as a data center engineer. I am torn between accepting the help desk position to potentially break into cybersecurity or staying in my current role.
I would appreciate any advice or insights you could offer regarding the following questions:

1. Could a SOC analyst role be a beneficial step towards transitioning into cybersecurity, or would starting at the help desk be a more suitable path?
2. Given my desire to work in cybersecurity, should I consider accepting the help desk position with a lower salary or continue gaining experience in my current data center engineer role?
3. Is it worth waiting for the SOC analyst opportunity in three months, or should I explore other options?

Thank you in advance for your guidance and support!

I’ll gladly make you a banner, panel set (25 panels total), or name logo for free! Either for YouTube or Twitch, your choice. Everything you need to know is on this Google form I created so if you’re interested, fill out the basic info about what you want done and I’ll get started! The form doesn’t collect any personal info besides your email which I need to send the finished product.
The form has everything you need to know, usage rights, roughly how long it’ll take, a link to my portfolio, a link to my Etsy shop, etc.
I’ve worked with creators of all sizes and have 5 star reviews on Etsy. Looking to build my portfolio a bit more so I decided to do some free commissioned work for the time being.

canadaleft has been on maintenance mode for the last year, but with news of Reddit's new changes (details below) it seems it might be good to do something. Any thoughts?
the best route is probs to go dark in solidarity and refer folks to the below?

• https://www.hexbear.net (formerly r chapo with a canadian community https://www.hexbear.net/c/canada)
• Lemmy.ml (not directly linking yet as they're struggling with capacity and requesting folx use other instances like https://lemmygrad.ml - a marxist/marxist-leninist instance)
• any others?

there's some stuff in the works to get the sub more active again, but no eta until irl stuff calms a bit for the mod team. of course any and all questions/concerns/criticism appreciated; apologies in advance for delayed response - everything will be read 🙏

June 12 Details

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
A recent Reddit policy change will result in most (if not all) third-party mobile apps to cease functioning. Apps such as Apollo, Reddit is Fun, Narwhal, BaconReader, etc. will have to pay exorbitant prices to remain functional starting on July 1, 2023. The app developers have already come out and said they will be unable to do so.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing or accessing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite, the use of the old.reddit.com browser interface, and folks with accessibility requirements such as those who are visually impaired.
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.

What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at at /ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

There’s a really good amazon reviewer of history books that I want to save a copy of all of his reviews, especially because Amazon tends to delete reviews now and then by different reviewers (for some reason I don’t know). And this guy has a lot of reviews that I have to scroll down, click, and copy and paste. Would take too much time and heat up my computer cpu.

Hi all, long read ahead, tldr below. I hope I am posting it in the right sub, felt like the story is fitting. If now, let me know pls.
Last year I switched to a team which is split between US and EU, in a company with base in EU. The team lead being in US west coast. To describe it shortly, I am switching teams again in a couple of months because this team and especially the lead is just a toxic working environment… (I explain below)
Part 1. Some major red flags. 1. The team lead doesn’t know anything about our operational work, not even enough to be able to estimate how much time a project can take, they just throw in random timelines. 2. We never did retrospective of our work, every weekly team meeting is repeating the same status as last 3 months with team lead saying how “important it is” and throwing senior management names on how it is important for them. Basically, no strategy, no planning, just “keep doing what you are doing, cause you know, very important”. And then the team lead is asking the status needed for this one top manager on Friday 30th of December and 5:30 pm… 3. To the point of mentioning top management: the team lead emphasised several times in our 1x1, how they and this too manager are going 20 years back and that they chat every day almost (okay???? Why is this information important?) 4. There is no personal growth discussions, the team lead is avoiding them actively. Or saying “we can’t talk about this before you worked here for 1 year”. The part-time colleague that I will tell more about later asked for a reference. Team lead found an excuse not to give one, due to time constraints (wtf) 5. Every attempt to discuss career growth leads to discussions of current “very important tasks” and the top management names that are “so looking forward for it to be delivered” 6. the team did not do any visible progress in the last 8 months, before an experienced colleague in EU came back from parental leave. Actually we did more progress in a month after they came back then all those months before combined, which were under „the ruling“ of our US team lead 7. As soon as this colleague got back, the team lead announced “reorganisation” and basically gave his responsibilities to this colleague and stopped attending team meetings. 8. I spoke up to my team lead that I need support on the project I am doing (in a way of getting another colleague on board with some things), because it is a lot of work-streams across several teams and it is getting hard to manage them all plus do the operational things. The response I got was “no you are the responsible person and it is your job to do, and why are you complaining, let me tell you my issues”. They then processed with telling me how a) they got such a young team (most of us are indeed 25-35 y.o) and they did not expect that and b) how I “let them down” (direct quote) by not taking more work and responsibility especially the stuff of the person who left on parental leave (and who is 3 levels higher then me, also in pay). This was the response on “the project I am on is getting difficult to manage alone, can we get someone partially on board with it”. 9. Well, two weeks after that conversation I got a sick leave due to burn out cause I couldn’t deal with this anymore (love working in EU). And the team lead literally asked me to return from the sick leave for knowledge transfer (which I was asking for earlier!!!) and the other colleague to come back from parental leave earlier to take it over. Like wtf, is it really normal to not have any work boundaries in the US? 10. The whole team culture is currently “I don’t know and I do not care if it is even slightly beyond my direct responsibility”. And if someone is assigned something beyond their current project they will annoy everyone with all the irrelevant questions, until it gets just forgotten because no one is also feeling responsible to answer those questions. Basically “not my circus not my monkeys” but on extreme level. For example, there are literally 2/10 people on the team that I could discuss some work and actually trust them to get it done without constant pushing/reminding. For me it is really an unhealthy environment. Especially, we are not 18 y o part timers behind fast food counter (no offence to the workers there, full respect, this is for comparison only), people have high degrees and even PhDs. Like I would except higher level of responsibility and commitment. 11. The other day, a colleague called for a team review of a project just to share the knowledge and also get a “third opinion”. 4/10 people came, of those only 2 (including the presenter) actually looked through a doc provided in advance to understand the topic. The colleague was really demotivated and I can’t blame them tbh… this is the team culture, or the lack of it.
Part 2 on the recruitment is in comments
Conclusion:
So freaking happy to be leaving this environment. I am even glad that the part-timer is forced to find a new team/job. Because wow do I not wish anyone to end up here. Like okay, maybe if you are the person who cares only to be payed, without any promotion goals, and you don’t care what you do at work (no judgment), then fine, you probably feel ok there. But I am just not that type of person, I do value money, but I also want to see where my 40 hours are going into, except for presenting my team lead to top management in a better light.
People from US, working in startups/corporates, I would be happy to hear your opinion. Maybe it is totally normal and just a culture clash with how I am used to treat my work. Please share, I am curious
TLDR: major red flags at work (EU based international company), mostly due to US team lead and the management style. A bit of a rant here as I am done with this bs, and switching teams soon, but curious to hear if anyone had similar experience. And if you had also issues with the team with different working culture and how it went.
All the best!

mamsir help me decide!!!
13.8k - ePerformax basic pay during training (was not told about my account yet)

• Meal and Transportation Allowance (MATA) – P100/day = 3k/month (?)
• 10% night differential if you train between 10pm and 6am
• A prepaid mobile phone credit of P100/month (SIM card and total applicable load amount will be credited when you transition to the program you qualify for)
• HMO coverage for yourself that’s worth P45,000

after training:

• Base pay of up to P17,000/month
• Meal and Transportation Allowance (MATA) – P150/day
• Attendance bonus of up to P3,000
• Performance bonus of up to P10,000
• HMO (medical) coverage for yourself that’s worth P135,000

​
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18k - Teleperformance package (AT&T - telco account)

• 20% night differential
• idk about their other benefits

​
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. I did not disclose this during the interview, but i want to continue my study this August. I heard ePerformax accept part-time workers, true ba?
2. I've heard a lot of negative reviews about Teleperformance.
3. June 12 na yung start sa ePerformax . I just finished my medical exam sa TP's, so I'm still waiting for the result and the start of training.

This is Chinese based Company…and we all know about Chinese Companies and there scumbag antics and really the country as a whole can’t stand on its own two feet. They are know for stealing Intellectual property!!Wake up people!!! You’ve been told since you were a kid…if its to good to be true it probably is!! This company cares about one thing and one thing only and that’s obtaining your information. People are so blonded by the prices that they overlook the obvious. The products are crap and the customer service is horrible just read any reviews. Why do you think that is…it’s because they already have your information. So they could careless how shitty their product is or how poor their customer service is…it’s because they’ve already gained what they needed… YOUR INFORMATION….so why would they care….they have what they need from you so that they can to sell it to other companies or to do other nefarious things with bc thats all they care about…WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!

Hi all, If I’m planning a thematic/content analysis of TikTok videos - where I analyze the first 100 posts resulting from a certain hashtag, would I need ethics committee approval? Considering that these posts are public, I would think not as it sort of fits within review territory (where you don’t need ethics for systematic reviews). Any thoughts?

After a fairly unanimous sentiment on the previous post about this, this Subreddit will be going private June 12-14. Don't Let Reddit Kill 3rd Party Apps!
What's going on?
A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader to Boost.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface. This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.
What's the plan?
On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at ModCoord- but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

How does this impact FoodLosAngeles?
Even if you only use the official Reddit app and/or "New Reddit" on desktop, this change still impacts all of us. FoodLosAngeles uses bots to assist in moderating the sub and, while simple moderation bots are spared in this policy change, this may just be the next step towards ending that as well.
We believe that people who wish to use this subreddit in the way that's most accessible to them. There are users who are short sighted or even completely blind who cannot use the reddit mobile app to browse Reddit and require the use of third party apps. It's unfair for them to have to suffer.
We hope this gets the message across to Reddit. I love this sub and the community you all make up here and Reddit makes it happen. The money vultures at the top probably won't listen but hey, we might as well use the voice we have to speak up (or remain silent in this case) when it's right to do so.
Thank you for reading!

Humans are not the fastest, not the strongest, not the most durable, or even the smartest race. They do not proliferate quickly, live very venerably, or evolve rapidly at will. They variously track higher on all of those scales, certainly making them one of the most formidable species among the stars, but none of that is what makes them the most terrifying predators in the known universe.
As humans would put it, the six sensory groups are touch, taste, sight, smell, hearing, and place. There are many many more specific senses of course, but each is a subset of one of those, such as a sense of temperature being part of touch, or the sense of motion being part of place. There is however a seventh sense that all humans possess and only humans possess: Precognition.
Several thousand cycles ago, a ship of the Tlygot was investigating the human home world long before they came to be and found many species of similar build to modern humans proliferating across the planet. They were all variations of the same evolutionary line, but not quite sentient. Seeing potential to corral them into a docile, slave race they collected a few specimens to see which genetic variations had the most desirable traits and began experimenting with the Terran genome.
They wanted a race capable enough to complete nearly any task they might be assigned, but not innately intelligent enough to defy their masters. They removed genetic markers for dangerous traits like claws and fangs, and then crippled their infants to prevent escapees from becoming invasive to the local environments wherever they may be. As fits the Tlygot reputation, it was masterful bioengineering, but there was a single flaw. One of the newly spawned hominids possessed a genetic mutation that seemingly gave them the ability to predict future events. This was not immediately apparent to the Tlygot, and all evidence had been written off simply as savantism. As such, the Tlygot release the first humans to their homeworld to reproduce and eventually become a valuable source of labor amongst the galaxy once they’d reached significant enough numbers to collect.
Following their standard procedure for such ventures, the Tlygot left the world under the eye of an AI meant only to alert them of anything that might spoil their investment. A few hundred cycles later they were alerted that the planet had begun to show signs of civilization which should never have occurred. Assuming another race had missed, or more likely ignored, their claim to the planet, they returned with a small task force of assault craft should they need to deal with them aggressively. Instead they found that their creations had spread across the globe and advanced far faster than even the most intelligent known sentients would have in that time. Still primitive and restricted to simple wood and stone, but a dangerous development nonetheless.
As per galactic treatise, no species may subjugate or enslave another without formal declaration of war, requiring witnesses from at least three non-party races. As an uncontacted race would have no representation, the war could not be approved by the Assembly. This was a problem for the Tlygot because, before bioengineering, the various species of the world had been pre-sentient; therefore outside jurisdiction of the treatise. A clearly sentient species however could not be enslaved, and furthermore, resource rights to the entire local cluster would be lost.
Attempting to hide their mistake before it was made known to the wider galaxy, the Tlygot had their assault craft divert an asteroid to strike the planet in an attempt to wipe the slate clean. The impact caused massive climate change across the biosphere that decimated the populations of all life on the planet, but unexpectedly enough humans survived to not only replenish their numbers, but allow them to advance further still. The Tlygot tried again by setting off a super volcano, and both again, watching the evidence each time they returned and witnessed as the humans somehow managed to predict what decisions would lead to another advancement. Even lacking the Tlygot's own genetic memory traits, they passed their knowledge on to subsequent generations despite the crippling of their young. It was in the young that they found the truth of their mistake.
Lacking the physical ability necessary to survive in any capacity for the first several cycles, the species had adapted to continue development of the brain far beyond infancy. Particularly the enlarged frontal cortex. This has been well documented to be the origin of sentience, or at least its equivalent in other species. All sentient species in the galaxy evolved as predators due to the increased need for the brain to predict the actions of its prey and prepare the appropriate reaction. This would eventually lead to planning and reasoning and the building blocks of sentience. Humans have a frontal cortex so highly developed that what most species would take rotations to calculate and predict, they can often do off handed in moments. While most species could not develop any feasible ranged weapons of war until the development of advanced mathematics, humans could sling stones at avion prey while in motion and predicted where large beasts would flee over long distances, all before they had even invented clothing.
For the Tlygot, the species they had created was beginning to become too expensive to hide and while resetting a biosphere was doable without being noticed on the galactic stage, destroying one would be troubling to say the least; but better to lose a single planet than the entire cluster. The Tlygot with their final attempt decided to crash a comet into the planet's moon on a path that would then in turn cause the moon to collide with the planet. Gravity tugs were dispatched to gradually curve the comet into a collision course to better avoid any unexpected witnesses. As if by cosmic coincidence, the new path accidentally converged with a major hyper lane and an antimatter fuel ship collided with it, destroying both of them along with many more; and slingshotting the situation to the forefront of the galaxy's awareness.
The debacle immediately cost the Tlygot much more than they would have ever lost had they simply openly admitted to everything from the start. The Tlygot were immediately sanctioned and the entire sector of space around the Human homeworld was quarantined while the Galactic Assembly reviewed the records turned over by the Tlygot. The ruling against them for the destruction of the fuel ship and cascading damage to everything within 500 stellar units along the hyperlane was damning. They were forced to inevitably sell themselves into indentured servitude to pay off the debt that could never be repaid.
While the Assembly prioritized matters of blame and repayment, the matter of the fledgling sapients at the center of the events was entirely overlooked. After all, new sapients blinked in and out of existence frequently, and few ever advanced far enough to even be worth contacting. Those that did, took millions of cycles to stumble into electricity let alone any form of communication that could be interpreted into galactic common. They had expected to have ages to come back to the small world, after they settled the financial matters first. The quarantine enacted after the hyperlane disaster had left their corner of the galaxy practically uninhabited and untouched, and with the cloud of antimatter blocking the hyperlane, it stayed that way until the Assembly ordered a proper clean up.
By the time the Tlygot’s sentence was carried out, the Galactic Assembly found themselves facing an entirely different monster than had ever been expected. The humans had advanced. They had advanced into a thriving interstellar civilization. Not just one civilization either, but several independent states of their own. Their ability to predict possible futures inevitably gave way to the means of creating said futures. While every sentient race was capable of planning and devising new means of accomplishing goals, they did so out of immediate need or convenience. None did so with the foresight of humanity.
The disastrous antimatter explosion that ravaged the hyperlane and facilitated the human’s isolation didn’t go undetected by them. Their primitive detection systems registered the energy release and caught their attention like lightning to an iron rod. The whole of humanity suddenly became aware that they were not only not alone, but that they had been in the direct path of imminent destruction. They leapt forward into the stars with all their intuition, which they had mistaken for imagination and ingenuity.
They imagined reviving the reassembled dead with lightning and manufactured their medicine into defibrillation and artificial organs. They imagined being able to fly like insects and avians and navigated their means of transit to hypersonic jet propulsion. They imagined statues that could think and function autonomously and fabricated their machinations into robotics and cybernetics. They imagined harnessing the power of stars and delineated the secrets of fusion power. They imagined faster than light travel and illuminated their physics to the warping of space and time. They imagined instantaneous communication and compiled quantum mechanics into the creation of an ansible.
It was the humans who made first contact with the Galactic Assembly, much to the shock of every other sapient race. Humanity had used its time to not only advance to a level of technology almost on par with the Assembly, but had predicted where and how to communicate with them once the cleanup of the hyperlane was underway. As far as the rest of the galaxy was concerned, a new galactic power emerged from the aether overnight. A power that proved proficiency in nearly everything they came in contact with. Anything humans didn’t know, they quickly figured out; and anything they couldn’t do, they quickly made something to do it for them.
In physical ability they were certainly not the strongest or the fastest, they didn’t have the most powerful weapons and armor, and there were ships far larger and more advanced; but all of that counts for little in combat if your opponent knows what you are going to do before you do. Even more so if your opponent is the one who planned for you to do it. Their ability to predict what others might do and what events might unfold was so ingrained in their society that their most simple spawnling games involve divining where their opponents might hide from a predator.
By adolescence most were already so proficient in prediction that they played dozens of advanced simulations that follow various sets of goals and restrictions involving everything from combat and commerce to technological development and social engineering. They even bestowed the title of Grand Master to those so proficient in their clairvoyance that their greatest competition wasn’t each other, but advanced artificial intelligences that could calculate every possible move faster than their own minds.
Humans were the most cunning diplomats and merchants because they could guess how far to negotiate before settling any deal. Humans made the best security forces because before danger they always felt their hair “stand up”. Humans seemingly avoided disasters and created miracles seemingly on a whim based on nothing more than a “gut feeling”. Humans navigated the ins and outs of societal norms and taboos simply by feeling “the vibe”. Even works of art or ability they themselves deemed masterful were often attributed to simply being “in the zone”.
In the span of only a few Human centuries, the new galactic standard of time, humanity had seemingly conquered all of known space simply by existing. They may have been products of the Tlygot’s less than savory business practices, but even they were freed by their creation as the humans saw no need to enslave what could be just as easily guided to a better future.
A future of their own design.

TL;DR: This sub is going to be switched into private mode on the 12th of June. That means nobody will be able to see it, comment or post. We are doing this in protest of Reddit's recent plans to kill third-party apps which will have wide-ranging effects on all users.
What's going on?
A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.
What's the plan?
On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
2. Spread the word. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favourite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

So I’m brand new to Diablo. I borrowed my brother’s copy of 3 a few months ago but didn’t play it that much Earlier today I was out and near a GameStop and I decided to take the dive and buy a copy of Diablo IV, as I was watching reviews for it earlier in the day and thought it looked really interesting I gotta say, that was one the best decisions I’ve ever made. This game is absolutely amazing and I’m really upset with myself for not getting into Diablo sooner I don’t really have anyone to rave about this to so I decided to do it here with fellow fans of this game Very very very happy to be here

Hello Parents!!

As many of you might be aware by now, Reddit is doing a Reddit and making wide, sweeping changes that will effectively kill the third-party app segment. As such there has been a growing movement of subreddits big and large planning on going dark and shuttering their communities for possibly an open-ended period of time.
Normally, the Mod team at parenting has taken the approach that our community stays open during times when other communities are closing to make sure that there's still a place to reach out.
That being said though, these changes and this coordinated action is a bit different, as it will fundamentally change how many of our users access Reddit in the first place: their phones! If the users are going to be forced off their app of choice and end up quitting Reddit, then there will be no community to cater to.
That's why we want to put this to a community poll: Should parenting join the growing number of communities to shut their doors to protest the API changes?
In the comments below, you can also voice your opinion in case you can't or don't want to use the built-in voting. Also if you want, tell us how you most frequently access Reddit!
And now, some copy-pasted content to describe a bit more of the situation in case you haven't seen one of the dozens of similarly-themed posts this last week!

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at /ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible. This includes not harassing moderators of subreddits who have chosen not to take part: no one likes a missionary, a used-car salesman, or a flame warrior.

View Poll

I’ll try to keep this short:
I’m a US citizen making a Japanese will to cover assets in Japan only. I’m sure that it’s OK to do that so I’m begging you guys, please let’s not get sidetracked into the question of whether I can or can’t have a Japanese will.
I want to leave assets to the “surviving legal issue” (at the time of my death) of a friend. I’ve had my will professionally translated and I’ve carefully reviewed the translation myself.
Here’s the issue. The Japanese notary is telling me that I can’t leave assets to “surviving legal issue” (at the time of my death). The reason given is that I must provide the names and addresses of beneficiaries. But what about children that have not yet been born (as of the writing of the will)? Is it *actually illegal* to bequeath assets to such (future) persons?
Gotta say, something doesn’t pass the smell test here. I'm getting the feeling that I’m coming up against the “I’ve never seen this before so it must be wrong” mentality. Maybe I’m wrong. Any wisdom?

We are a family of 4 with two young kids, a toddler who’s nearing 3 years old and an infant who is 9 months old. We visited Japan in May of 2023 for 18 nights. We stayed in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, and took day trips to Nara and Kobe.
Some people might call us crazy for taking an international trip with two small children. But my wife and I, who were avid travelers before we had kids, hadn’t been out of the country since 2019 due to 1) having kids and 2) Covid. We were itching for a trip, so we took the chance. Were there some crazy times? Of course. Was it worth it? Definitely.
I did a lot of research and prep before the trip, but there are always surprises that come up when you have kids. I’ll try to share some of the lessons I learned on the trip.
—Flights—
This was our first time on an airplane with the kids. I was a bit worried beforehand and in retrospect the flights were the worst parts of the trip. The main advice I’d give is do as much as you can to make your flight more tolerable, which no doubt means spending more money on tickets and gear. But it’s worth it.
I considered a few different airlines for this trip: ZipAir, Singapore, ANA, and Japan Airlines. JAL was too expensive. ZipAir was interesting because they provide car seats, you don’t have to take your own. We didn’t rent a car in Japan so we didn’t need our own car seats. I was just worried about racking up extra fees on ZipAir. Singapore and ANA were similar, they both provide bassinets and the price was similar. I ended up going with ANA for two reasons: 1) I had flown ANA on a previous trip and been happy with them and 2) they fly to Haneda instead of Narita, which saves you time getting from the airport to your hotel.
We opted for 3 seats and a bassinet. My infant is big for her age so she barely fit in the bassinet (she’s 21 pounds). But we were glad to have it. I had to call in to ANA customer service which had an hour+ wait time to get the bassinet, but other than that it was no trouble.
Which leads me into probably the most important part of flying with kids on a lengthy flight: get your kids to sleep on the plane. The more they sleep the less likely you are to run into a tantrum or meltdown.
To encourage sleeping we did a few things: 1) Take an overnight flight 2) Get a bassinet for our infant 3) Get a JetKids bed box for our toddler. Our ANA flight from LAX left at 5pm, which allowed time for the dinner service to show up before we put our kids to bed. They set the bassinet up right after you get to cruising altitude, so it’s there the majority of the flight. Our infant rejected it at first but eventually fell asleep.
As far as our toddler sleeping, the JetKids worked well. There was a bit of trouble with it staying in place since we had bulkhead seats, but overall I was happy with it as a bed. I absolutely hate the JetKids a piece of luggage though, it’s not easy to lug around and holds nearly nothing. But it helped our toddler stay asleep most of the flight. You don’t necessarily need a JetKids though, other airline seat bed solutions may work just as well. Just bring something that will help your toddler sleep. If we had to do it again, I think I’d prefer having car seats over both the bassinet and JetKids. That’s probably what we’ll do on the next trip.
There were a few unexpected problems we ran into on the flights. On the first flight, our infant got motion sickness and spit up multiple times. She ruined one of my shirts and my wife’s pants. Not to mention my wife got motion sickness as well so I had to do most of the heavy lifting with the kids alone. It was a sleepless and messy flight.
On our flight home, there was a mechanical issue with the plane. They said we were losing oil. So on a Tokyo to Los Angeles flight we somehow ended up landing In Anchorage, Alaska. It goes without saying this was horrible and the flight home from Anchorage on Alaska Airlines was horrible too. But that’s not really relevant to flying to/from Japan so I’ll leave the details out. We won’t be flying with ANA ever again.
To reiterate, do what you can to make your flight easier. Get the non-stop flight. Get the extra seat. This isn’t the area to be frugal.
—Stroller—
So you survived the flight. How do you get your kids around once you’ve landed? We have two kids so we need a twin stroller right? Wrong. Taking a twin stroller to Japan is a huge mistake, don’t do it.
Most guides will tell you to use a carrier, and if you only have one small infant then that’s likely the way to go. But with two kids we used a travel stroller and carrier combo. At first I expected to only use the carrier and carry the stroller around until we needed it, but I quickly realized that carrying the stroller around all day is a huge pain. We have the Cybex Libelle which is small at 13lbs, but 13lbs is still heavy enough that you don’t want to carry it all day.
So our stroller remained deployed basically all the time. My infant sat in the stroller most of the day, until it was my toddler’s nap time. Then the infant went in the carrier and toddler in the stroller to sleep. It worked well for us.
How did we keep the stroller deployed the whole time? Elevators. Lots of elevators. And occasionally carrying it up and down stairs. The availability of elevators depends on where you are. Of the cities we visited, I’d say Tokyo is the best and Kyoto is the worst for elevator availability.
The wide majority of metro and train stations are going to have elevators. It can be hard to find the right entrance to use to find an elevator, but there is always signage and almost always a map. You may need to walk an extra 5 minutes, or wait in line, or get lost, so always give yourself extra time when catching a train if you are using your stroller. We spent a LOT of time looking for elevators on this trip.
We only found two stations our whole trip that had no elevator at all, one was the JR Kobe station and the other was a JR station in Tokyo (I forget which one). When this happened, I picked up the stroller and carried it with our infant in it on the stairs. If our toddler was in it I made her get up and walk, then carried the stroller.
The other problem at metro / train stations with a stroller is the gap between the train and the platform. There’s always either a gap or the train and platform are at different elevations. You don’t have a lot of time to get on / off the train so this was a constant source of anxiety. Once our stroller wheel got stuck in between the train and the platform. It took some effort to pop it out. Another time my toddler stepped in the gap, but luckily I was holding her hand and stopped her from falling in. Always be mindful of the gap when you have kids. It’s probably one of the least safe situations you’ll constantly run into in Japan.
Malls and shopping centers almost always have elevators. You may need to wait a while to get one though. In the malls with 10+ floors, you might need to wait 5 minutes for an elevator. Sometimes they have “priority” elevators for the handicapped and strollers but often times perfectly abled people rudely take up all the space in those elevators.
We thought we would have trouble taking our stroller into restaurants but it was actually much less trouble than expected. There was only one restaurant that flat out turned us away, Sushi Tokyo Ten in Roppongi. Other establishments will usually move a chair so you can put your stroller at the table or counter where the chair was.
So overall the stroller was annoying to use but I don’t think we could have done the trip without it. It was a necessary evil with two young kids.
—Shinkansen—
We used the Shinkansen to get between cities. We had two trips, Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka to Tokyo. We did not bother with the JR Pass, it wasn’t worth it. Mostly because our trips were 8 days apart so we would’ve needed the 14 days pass which wasn’t worth it for two Shinkansen trips.
One thing that caught us off-guard about the Shinkansen is how quickly it leaves a station when it makes a stop. We were expecting to have some time to get on when the train arrived, but it’s basically the same as a Metro stop. You have to get on right away. We made the mistake of buying a reserved seat for a train leaving in less than 15 minutes, without knowing where the elevator was. So we scrambled to get to where we needed to go on the platform and were the last ones on the train. We jumped on the train at the last second, we wanted to get to our specific car from the platform but we weren’t going to make it. It’s a miracle we didn’t lose a piece of luggage or a kid on the way. On the second trip I reserved a seat on a train that was 40 minutes out.
As far as seating we only needed to buy two seats. We would have put our toddler on our lap if needed, but we didn’t need to. Basically, one side of the train has 2 seats and the other 3. If you find a row that has the window seat open on the 3 seat side, then it is very unlikely anyone will sit in the aisle seat if you reserve the window and middle seat. We basically got a free seat for our toddler this way on both trips.
—Baby supplies—
We had more trouble than expected finding baby supplies. A lot of guides online tell you to go to drugstores, and maybe we were going to the wrong drugstores but that wasn’t working out for us. We were distraught until we by chance came across Babies R Us. Yes, the Babies R Us that went out of business in the USA. We happened to be browsing the malls in Odaiba when we came across this gem. It’s a treasure trove of western style baby food and supplies.
Our infant is in the “purée” food stage and we didn’t find any in drugstores. Most of the baby food is juice or rice porridge. Babies R Us has aisles worth of puréed food. It has diapers, wet wipes, formula, nose cleaners, and basically anything else you’d ever want for your baby. We stocked up on everything when we found this place. There are several locations but we went to the Odaiba location in Tokyo and the Harborland location in Kobe.
Another smaller store we found in the mall below Tokyo Skytree is Dadway. They don’t have as much as Babies R Us but we did pick up some purée here.
The other place we picked up diapers and a few others things is Don Quijote, which has locations all over the place. Their baby food collection is basically as limited as drugstores, but it’s fine in a pinch.
—Eating—
I’ve spoken a lot about logistics, but I had one primary reason for going to Japan: to eat tasty food. I had been to Japan once before I had kids and fell in love with the food.
Most guides will tell you families should go to family restaurants. Nope. Not happening. We did not go to a single Saizeriya or Bikkuri Donkey. And I definitely did not go through all of this trouble to eat at Denny’s. We went to a total of ZERO family restaurants.
I’m here to tell you there are plenty of good restaurants you can go to with kids. Even with a baby. Even with a baby and a toddler.
I’ll tell you my main approach to finding restaurants that will allow kids to dine with you. Your main tools are: Tablelog, Google Maps, and the individual restaurant websites. Tablelog is a great tool and their “with children” section on the restaurant info page is very accurate. If a restaurant is listed as “Babies are welcome” or “Baby Strollers accepted”, then you can very likely eat there with a baby. If a place does not have such a listing, it isn’t necessarily a no, it’s a maybe. That’s when you need to search Google Maps reviews for “kids”, “children”, “family” to see if anyone mentions the restaurant’s stance on such things. If you can’t find anything on Google Maps, go to the restaurant’s website. If they have an online reservation system, it is likely to list their stance on kids on the reservation page.
I did a lot of research beforehand and pinned all the relevant restaurants on Google Maps. That way, no matter where I was, I could find some good kid tolerant restaurants. I say “kid-tolerant” instead of “kid friendly” because I consider “kid-tolerant” to mean that they let kids in the restaurant, while “kid-friendly” means they have a kid’s menu, high chairs, etc.
We were able to eat at a wide variety of restaurants, from overpriced Michelin starred places to budget Omakase places. There are a lot of restaurants in Japan. If a restaurant doesn’t let you in because you have kids, it’s fine because there’s another similar one that will.
This is a list of good restaurants we ate at with our infant and toddler. These are just the places we made it to, there were plenty more I had on my list we didn’t make it to:
Gion Maruyama, Gion, Kyoto
Sushi Wakon, Four Seasons, Kyoto
The Oak Door, Grand Hyatt, Tokyo
Kobe Plaisir, Kobe
Roku Roku, Grand Hyatt, Tokyo
Daiwa Sushi, Toyosu Market, Tokyo
Inshotei, Ueno Park, Tokyo
Sushidan, Eat Play Works, Tokyo
Nishiya, Shinsaibashi, Osaka
Tonkatsu Wako, JR Isetan, Kyoto
Soju Dining, Tokyo Midtown, Tokyo
Imakatsu, Roppongi, Tokyo
Mizuno, Dotonbori, Osaka
Rokurinsha, Tokyo Station, Tokyo
Tsumigi, Tsukiji, Tokyo
Lots of different food stalls in Tsukiji Market, Tokyo
Other times we ate at conveyor belt sushi places, department store basements, or ramen places. The basements are a good place to get something for everyone. My toddler ate a lot of gyoza and noodles on this trip, she didn’t take a liking to much else. But Ichiran and Ippudo were right down her alley.
Tsukiji market was our go to breakfast place when we stayed in Tokyo. There’s plenty of different choices there and it opens early enough for jet-lagged families.
Overall I had a great time eating. If my toddler is eating she’s usually not having a tantrum, and we tried as best as possible to put our infant to sleep before we went to any higher end restaurants. There were some awkward tantrum moments but for the most part it was fine.
—City by City Report—
Tokyo
We had two different stays in Tokyo, the first after landing in Japan and the second right before departing Japan. We stayed a total of 10 nights in Tokyo, but we wish we had even more.
We could have come to Tokyo alone the whole trip and been perfectly content. It has the best food, the most kid friendly facilities, and there’s plenty to see and do.
Here’s a few choice things we did with the kids:
DisneySea: My toddler loved this one. We’ve been to Disneyland in SoCal but this is completely different. Even I was excited since it’s been a long while since I’ve been to an unexplored Disney park. A lot of people will say DisneySea is for older kids but there were plenty of rides my toddler could get on. It’s a great place for toddlers. A must visit with kids.
Ueno park: We spent a whole day in Ueno Park. There’s a great zoo, a fun Natural History Museum, and good restaurants. We picked up bento boxes from Inshotei and ate them at a picnic table in the zoo. I think this park is also a must do with kids.
One of the city views: you have a few choices here but we went to Tokyo Skytree and Shibuya Sky. Shibuya sky is a little less kid friendly, because they don’t allow strollers on the roof and they have some weird rules about holding your baby on the roof. I think they’re scared of a wind gust pulling your baby off the roof? I like the mall at Tokyo Skytree, and there’s a Rokurinsha there too (very good dipping ramen).
Small Worlds: This is a miniature museum on one of the man-made islands in the bay. It’s a little out of the way, but we made a day out of Toyosu Market, Small Worlds, and Odaiba. My toddler liked this one, the exhibits are interactive and fun to look at. It was better than expected.
Other than that we did a lot of eating and shopping in Tokyo for us adults.
Kyoto
Kyoto was probably our least favorite city to do with kids. In general it’s just hard to get around. There’s a lot of stroller unfriendly places. Streets without sidewalks. Rough cobblestone-like roads. Temples are not stroller friendly. Hills everywhere. Good luck getting to the top of the monkey park with a stroller. It’s definitely a trend in this city.
Maybe if you have older kids it’s fine. But if you have younger than elementary school kids it’s probably skippable. There’s not that many kid friendly activities here either. Temples aren’t interesting for kids. The best kid activity here is probably the Arashiyama Monkey Park. My toddler got a real kick out of feeding the monkeys. Just be aware there is a significant hike to get to the top of the hill where the monkeys are. My toddler is a pretty good walker, she made it all the way without crying or complaining. But I saw some other kids that didn’t fare as well.
The other thing you might try near the monkey park is the Arashiyama bamboo forest. I think it’s one of the most overrated sights in Japan though. It’s just mobbed with tourists all day. It’s not enjoyable with the crowds. I’ve been here twice and I’ve been disappointed both times.
I doubt we will be back to Kyoto any time soon.
Osaka
Osaka was nice. It was a bit refreshing to have many of the Tokyo conveniences again. Elevators everywhere, well paved and flat roads, and plenty of baby rooms.
Osaka is a good base for taking nearby day trips as well. We went to both Kobe and Nara without needing to take the Shinkansen.
The best kid experience in Osaka is the Kaiyukan aquarium. It’s big. The central tank with the whale sharks is impressive. They have lots of different animals from all over the world. It’s bigger and better than any aquarium we have in California.
The one thing I wasn’t prepared for was the lines. You need to pre-book your timed entry tickets online. We didn’t, and ended up getting tickets that were for entry two hours later. And we were there right when they opened. If I go to the aquarium at opening time on a weekday where we are from we can walk right in. Lesson learned.
We stayed in Shinsaibashi and it’s a very walkable area. There’s a covered shopping street that goes all the way down to Dotonbori. Namba is walkable from there. And America-mura is between Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori.
The Daimaru mall in Shinsaibashi is good for kids. There’s a Bornelund in there with a small indoor playground, a Pokémon Center, and good food.
I liked Osaka overall. The only thing I thought was a let down was okonomiyaki.
Nara
Nara was worth the trip. It’s about 45 minutes from Namba on the train, so not too out of the way.
There’s deer all over. Deer that bow to you. In the park, on the sidewalk, in the street. It’s a unique experience you should see at least once.
The deer are rather aggressive when you have food for them. It’s not a place where you want your kids feeding the deer. As soon as you buy the food from the street vendor, they mob you. They try to snatch the food out of your hand. Make sure you watch someone else do it first before deciding to do it yourself. If I let my toddler do it she probably would have been terrified.
The other must see in Nara is Todai-ji. It’s impressive. The giant Buddha is something. This was probably the best temple we saw on this trip, it’s visually stunning. More than anything we saw in Kyoto. I did have to carry the stroller up and down some steps, but there’s not too many.
Kobe
Kobe was great. It exceeded my expectations. The trip from Osaka is easy. We spent a full day there.
We started our one day in Kobe at the Nunobiki Herb Gardens. I wasn’t expecting too much but this place is really nice. It’s big, with lots of different gardens and exhibits to see. There’s great views as well. We took lots of pictures.
There’s a few different places to eat and drink in the gardens as well. We had some sparkling rose at “The Veranda” which had a great view of Kobe. We didn’t eat because we had a lunch reservation down the hill.
There’s a few things to watch out for. This place gets busy, so get there early. There’s no reservations, you just go early and wait in line. When we left at midday the line was massive, so get there when they open.
The herb garden only takes up the top half the hill. At first I thought it extended to the bottom of the hill, but the bottom half of the hill is actually a hiking trail without gardens. So I bought a one way gondola ticket to the top expecting to walk down all the way, but after I realized the garden ended at the middle I bought another ticket to go down (instead of getting the round trip ticket like I should have).
After the gardens we went to eat Kobe beef. Kobe Plaisir was the restaurant I chose, which was both high end and had a kids menu. The beef was great and everyone had a good time.
Afterwards we went to Harborland. It’s a nice area on the harbor that has a big boat you can go out on, and a couple of shopping malls. The Anpanman museum is here too but by the time we got there tickets were sold out for the day. This is also where you can find a Babies R Us.
Our Kobe day was one of the best days of our trip. I’d suggest a day trip here for anyone.
—Closing—
It’s hard to travel with kids this age. No doubt. Everything will take more time and be more expensive than when you used to travel alone. But I do not regret taking this trip at all. As a matter of fact I want to go back right now. My wife loved the trip, and my toddler might even remember it when she grows up. She still talks about feeding the monkeys and how dad ate a “real fish” (A Japanese sweetfish they grilled in front of us at Gion Maruyama). Japan is a great place for a first family trip.

Starting on June 12th, and continuing indefinitely until Reddit makes substantial changes to their plans, cookies will be inaccessible to the public. Although we are a small community, I feel it's important to participate in this blackout. Here is more information from /Save3rdPartyApps:

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
   
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at /ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
   
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
   
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible. This includes not harassing moderators of subreddits who have chosen not to take part: no one likes a missionary, a used-car salesman, or a flame warrior.
   

Starting on June 12th, and continuing indefinitely until Reddit makes substantial changes to their plans, paths will be inaccessible to the public. Although we are a small community, I feel it's important to participate in this blackout. Here is more information from /Save3rdPartyApps:

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
   
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at /ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
   
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
   
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible. This includes not harassing moderators of subreddits who have chosen not to take part: no one likes a missionary, a used-car salesman, or a flame warrior.
   

Hey everyone, I booked through Expedia today not realizing my one way flight is with Frontier. It would be my first flight with this airline and after reading the reviews, I am a little worried. I’m flying from SAN to ORF and have a 5 hour layover in Miami. I have tried to cancel, but can’t get ahold of anybody. Expedia has a 24 hour cancellation policy, but with frontier I would have to cancel through them and not third party. How does cancellation work? Is it worth keeping my flight? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

I recently ordered two Pokémon plushies from a seller who had an overall high rating (almost 98%, and also had several 5 star reviews on the specific listing I got my products off of). They took until the last possible day to send, but the package still arrived on time; however, when I opened it, only one of the two plushies i ordered was inside. The plushie was exactly what I ordered and in great condition, but given that one was missing and the tracking said they should’ve shipped together, I’m not sure what to do. I messaged the seller asking if they were sent separately (not sure if this sometimes happens when you buy two different items from the same listing?), but they haven’t read or responded yet, and my confirm receipt window is counting down. I want to give the seller the benefit of the doubt, but I’m not sure if I should just open a dispute ASAP since they won’t look at my messages. I’m unfortunately going on a vacation in two days as well, where I won’t have consistent wifi access, so I’m worried about how time consuming a dispute process may be given that I’ve never had to open one before.
Thank you for any help!