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    1. Nominate for "Movie of the Week" in May - Cannes Film Festival

      The Cannes Film Festival is in May and I thought we should find four movies related to Cannes to watch in May. Maybe a bit of a risk since it isn't exactly full of well known mainstream movies,...

      The Cannes Film Festival is in May and I thought we should find four movies related to Cannes to watch in May. Maybe a bit of a risk since it isn't exactly full of well known mainstream movies, but I promise there is more to choose from than French arthouse movies. The criteria is simple, the movie must have been presented at the Cannes Film Festival at some point.

      On the official website you can browse through all movies that has been in competition over the years. To narrow it down there is a list of all the Palme d’Or winners or more broadly every movie that have won any award at Cannes

      Rules

      • Have been in the official program on the Cannes Film Festival in any year
      • Not one we have done before
      • Only one nomination per user
      • Please only nominate if you intent to participate
      • Upvote the post(s) with a nomination you would like to be picked for discussion next month
      • Please state the title of the movie clearly on the first line, and add any additional general comments in the next paragraph to keep voting simple

      In case of ties in the number of votes, random.org will decide. Voting closes Sunday.

      1 vote
    2. Midweek Movie Free Talk

      Warning: this post may contain spoilers

      Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

      Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

      2 votes
    3. How to make this a fun djinn fight for relatively new players? (Bryan: Stay out, I know you're out there)

      I'm working on a new boss fight for a 5-person level 8 party of fairly new people. I wanted to give them something completely different, so I figured a fight on a small 20x20 circular rooftop with...

      I'm working on a new boss fight for a 5-person level 8 party of fairly new people. I wanted to give them something completely different, so I figured a fight on a small 20x20 circular rooftop with a stealthy djinn might be fun. I'd love to hear thoughts on how to make this a good time. My main idea is to force the party to figure out creative ways to find the djinn, since they don't have any way to see invisible creatures in their normal set of abilities. Things like throwing sand in the air, or holding ropes between each other to detect the silent wind motion as he moves around. Stuff that is more flavorful than a normal straight fight.

      I'll also be throwing players off the roof, forcing them to make agility saves to grab hold of ropes that are on the edge of the building, then strength checks to pull themselves back up. Have some moderate injuries occur if they roll badly. What suggestions would you have for me to make this a fun fight?



      Izel, Guardian Djinn

      Large Elemental (Air), Lawful Neutral


      • Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
      • Hit Points 152 (16d10 + 64)
      • Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft.

      STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
      18 (+4) 22 (+6) 18 (+4) 16 (+3) 20 (+5) 18 (+4)

      • Saving Throws Dex +10, Con +8, Wis +9, Cha +8
      • Skills Insight +9, Perception +9, Stealth +10
      • Damage Resistances lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
      • Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion
      • Senses truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 19
      • Languages Auran, Common
      • Challenge 12 (8,400 XP)

      Elemental Demise. If the djinni dies, its body disintegrates into a warm breeze, leaving behind only equipment the djinni was wearing or carrying.

      Innate Spellcasting. The djinni's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 16, +8 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:



      At will:

      Mage Armor: You touch a willing creature who isn’t wearing armor, and a protective magical force surrounds it until the spell ends. The target’s base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier. The spell ends if the target dons armor or if you dismiss the spell as an action.

      Greater Invisibility: (Concentration) You or a creature you touch becomes invisible until the spell ends. Anything the target is wearing or carrying is invisible as long as it is on the target’s person. The target can attack or cast spells without becoming visible.


      3/day each:
      > Wind Wall: Requires concentration. You create a wall of strong wind on the ground at a point you can see within range. The wall is up to 50 feet long, 15 feet high, and 1 foot thick, or a ringed wall up to 20 feet in diameter, 15 feet high, and 1 foot thick. It lasts for the duration, blocking arrows, smaller creatures, gases, and fog.
      > Lightning Bolt: You release a bolt of lightning that arcs toward a target you can see within range. A line of electricity 100 feet long and 5 feet wide blasts out from you in a direction you choose. Each creature in the line must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking 8d6 lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

      Actions

      Multiattack. The djinni makes two scimitar attacks.

      Wind Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8 + 6) slashing damage plus 5 (1d10) lightning damage.

      Windforce Blade (Enhanced Multiattack). If Izel hits a target with both attacks during his Multiattack, the target is pushed 10 feet away from him.

      Whirlwind (1/Day). As an action, Izel transforms into a whirlwind for one turn, moving in a straight line up to 60 feet. Any creature in the path of the whirlwind must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 18 (3d12) bludgeoning damage and is thrown 15 feet in a random direction and knocked prone. On a successful save, the creature takes half damage and is not thrown or knocked prone.

      Legendary Actions

      Izel can take legendary actions, choosing from the options below.

      Wind Push. After every enemy's turn, Izel rolls a D20; on a 13 or higher, he uses the wind to move one enemy within 60 feet of him. The target must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be pushed 15 feet in any direction Izel chooses and knocked prone.

      Wind Buffet. Izel creates a small burst of intense wind around himself. Each creature within 10 feet of Izel must succeed on a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw or take 17 (3d10) bludgeoning damage and be pushed 10 feet away from him. Using Wind Buffet breaks Izel’s concentration and ends his turn.

      Lair Actions

      • At the start of each turn, roll a D20. On a 10 or higher, all creatures on the battlefield are pushed 5 feet in a random direction determined by a d8 roll. This unpredictable movement simulates the chaotic nature of the winds that Izel commands.
      5 votes
    4. Looking for help scraping and deleting a Reddit account

      I have a couple of old Reddit accounts I’d like to delete as fully as possible. However one of them dates back to my teenage years and it’s some of the only writings I have from that time. Any...

      I have a couple of old Reddit accounts I’d like to delete as fully as possible. However one of them dates back to my teenage years and it’s some of the only writings I have from that time. Any recommendations on good simple ways to scrape all the comments off of it and save them? Then what’s the best way to completely erase a Reddit footprint these days?

      Looking for as simple a solution as possible, I’m not tech illiterate by any means but it’s also not a real strong suit for me.

      12 votes
    5. TV Tuesdays Free Talk

      Warning: this post may contain spoilers

      Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

      Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

      6 votes
    6. I grew up in Michigan but currently live in Georgia. My GF and I are looking at buying a house, and both states have first time home buyer incentives, but they're income based.

      So we make about $100,000 combined, I make just shy of 70K and she makes about 30K. Both states have programs for first time homebuyers, but our incomes together prohibit us from qualifying,...

      So we make about $100,000 combined, I make just shy of 70K and she makes about 30K.

      Both states have programs for first time homebuyers, but our incomes together prohibit us from qualifying, whereas separately we both qualify.

      Would it be considered fraud if I were to apply for one as myself, get the house in my name, but we both pay on it? I can't find anything on either page about it, but obviously we are not legally married.

      9 votes
    7. I just installed a DNS based firewall (I think) for the first time in my life. Help me understand which addresses to block.

      For context: I'm a tech noob when it comes to cyber-security stuff in particular, and anything network related in general. My devices are a MacBook Pro and an iPhone. Before anyone cringes at...
      For context: I'm a tech noob when it comes to cyber-security stuff in particular, and anything network related in general. My devices are a MacBook Pro and an iPhone. Before anyone cringes at this, I buy all my Apple stuff second hand to dodge the brand premium. There, I hope that gives me some credibility in the eyes of all the techies around here. :D

      For years I was more or less relying on Apple to do a decent job automatically when it comes to security, and granted, I haven't had any serious issues (that I know of). Some time ago it was brought to my attention that I'm most likely getting tracked even if I tick all the opt-out boxes on my device and browser settings. I hastily installed an open source app on my phone that prevents trackers and ad servers form connecting to it based on a list of addresses that the app provides. There was a long log of blocked domains already the next day. I made a mental note that I should probably look for something to do the same for my laptop, and then forgot about it, until last night.

      When I went to check that log again on my phone, I found out that the app hadn't been functional in a while. A quick online search revealed that they aren't as open source as they claim to be, nor very reliable, so I embarked on a quest to find something else to do the job - this time for both devices.

      I have managed to install and configure something called NextDNS on both of my devices and most browsers, even though the documentation seems to be made with more tech-savvy people in mind. So far so good. I turned on all the available blocklists, but a lot of strange looking (to me) traffic is still getting through. I'm assuming some of it is benign, but how do I evaluate which addresses I should block or not? I'll list some examples below.

      init.ess.apple.com
      init-p01md.apple.com
      bag.itunes.apple.com
      gsp-ssl.ls.apple.com
      gspe35-ssl.ls.apple.com
      pki-goog.l.google.com
      For these, the service offers the following information: 'Provides advertising or advertising-related services such as data collection, behavioral analysis or retargeting.' Sounds like something I wouldn't want to enable. When it comes to the iTunes one, I don't use iTunes and don't even have it installed (don't ask how I managed to get rid of it - it took several days worth of trial and error..). One of these, pki-goog.l.google.com is listed as 'dangerously prevalent (tracks 21.23% of web traffic)'.

      Then again, the same general description is sometimes given to addresses that seem legit, such as:
      time.apple.com
      weather-data.apple.com

      Some are indecipherable to me and don't come with any sort of description:
      fp2e7a.wpc.phicdn.net
      init.ess.g.aaplimg.com
      get-bx.g.aaplimg.com
      ocsp2.g.aaplimg.com
      ocsp.pki.goog

      Some descriptions are kind of vague:
      a2047.dscapi9.akamai.net
      apis.apple.map.fastly.net
      'Content delivery network that delivers resources for different site utilities and usually for many different customers.'

      Some seem to be doing tasks that are definitely wanted:
      ocsp.digicert.com
      'Digicert Trust Seal - Includes tag managers, privacy notices, and technologies that are critical to the functionality of a website.'

      Then there's an Amazon Web Service, go-updater-1830831421.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com, listed as very prevalent (tracks 5.5% of web traffic) that has been contacting my phone even though I haven't done any shopping or product related searches. What is this and should I block it?

      And so on and so on. Is there any logic to these that I can follow? I tried google searching some to no avail.

      9 votes