Axstrom's Notes

1. The list is here: big jump list
2. The draw (1-5548) is 877, 1520, 4754, 5265, 1478
   1. Drawing 5 so there are backups in case of issues, but the jumper gets to choose among 4
   2. 877 is Earth Final Conflict - A TV show whewre aliens come and uplift Earth but have a hidden agenda
   3. 1520 is Investiture of the Gods - A fantasy tale in Zhou Dynasty
   4. 4754 is Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep - a Disney mashup videogame
   5. 5265 is The Fountain - A film about contuinity across time, grief, death, and growth
   6. Jumper chooses The Fountain
      1. Jump Doc
      2. Reddit discussion
   7. Jumper buys access to The Biosphere Supplement
      1. Supplement Doc

Build Notes

1. Drawbacks - None - Part of the point is that you can't have everything
2. Companions - None - This is the journey of an individual soul
3. Origin
   1. Past: Noble - setting the stage for grander thigns
   2. Present: Inventor - striving for progress
   3. Future: Witness - seeing what has become of the world
4. Perks
   1. Noble Thought - free for Noble, stay connected to the people who are affected by your actions
   2. Noble Deed - free for Noble, your actions have greater impact and are remembered and recorded
   3. Inventor's Vision - free for inventor, studying a problem gives increasing insight in how to improve it
   4. Inventor's Intent - free for inventor, your creations are harder to misuse
   5. Improved POV - free for witness, observe / remember events from multiple perspectives
   6. Bystander - free for witness, events can unfold around you leaving you unharmed
   7. All Together Now - merge all your past origins into a complex mind
   8. 500 Years of Practice (Teaching) - mastery beyond mastery of the chosen skill
   9. Soothing Presence - calm strong emotions and suffering
   10. Absolution - If someone genuinely repents, you can allow them to move
5. Items
   1. Meditation Garden - self-explanatory warehouse attachment
   2. Biosphere - Full purchase activates the Biosphere Supplement
   3. Tree of Life Sapling - Grows six immortality fruits per decade, which can (over very long time) grow more trees

Jump Notes

1. I wake up in my room in the warehouse apartments, after shutting myself in without even checking the Benefactor's Lounge the night before
   1. I'm still lingering on the frustration of not cracking the riddle of Allabar, and not being able to solve the problem permanently
   2. But there's no going back, so I commit to facing forward for the rest of the week, and head to the Benefactor room
      1. Once again, there are four envelopes with me, and my big chart of jumps up on the wall, like something from a Kindergarten classroom
      2. As I affix a sticker saying "The Fountain (2006)" to the big chart, a small round outline appears next to it: "Biosphere Supplement available"
   3. On my way to call a team meeting, I catch a surprise outside the apartments
      1. Three of our bard graduates are slowly exploring the area
   4. At the team meeting, I announce my intention to go solo on the next jump
      1. The decision isn't popular, but most of them have waited while I've done gauntlets before, so it's not a big shock
   5. We set up the entertainment room to watch the movie, even though I don't expect that meta knowledge will be much help
      1. For the first time, we don't all fit in the Entertainment room
      2. By count, there are eleven of us (me and ten companions), the Halflings are now up to fifteen after two recent births, and we have nine new bards with us, so we set up a second showing in the evening
   6. Finally, before heading in to the jump, I make one last check of the Benefactor's office to see if there's more information on the biosphere supplement, but though my note has been removed, there is no response, and nothing on the tablet
2. I awake from a deep sleep in a luxurious bed, it is early morning and the sun is still rising
   1. I can feel the absence of my abilities; I am reduced below even bodymod, to the level of a baseline middle-aged man in a world with primitive medicine
      1. Nevertheless, I can feel a gift reaching back in time to me - and as I accept it, I am calmed, no longer distressed by what I have lost
   2. In this time, I have duties, both in the mundane sense of the tasks those around me expect me to perform, as well as a greater sense in which I must try to make this world better
   3. My new gift becomes invaluable in due time
      1. All manner of petitioners and officers come to me with grievances, and each of them are a storm of emotions - no one comes before their Count to declare how satisfied they are with things
      2. In short time, word of my wisdom spreads, and my council is sought by King Ferdinand
   4. I lobby my King with an eye to improving the lives of all involved
      1. It is the lives of ordinary Spaniards that are the measure of his ability as a King, not the mass of his treasury
      2. Colonialism brings with it dangers beyond the obvious, and responsibilities for ages to come
      3. Allowing the priests to destroy artifacts of other cultures does not increase our glory, but diminishes it
   5. Despite my ability to make my case clearly and seemingly overcome all objections, my guidance is rarely heeded when I leave the room
   6. And before long, it seems I have made enemies of those who stand to gain by plundering the New World
      1. They do not discuss the matter with me, or make their displeasure known by facing me down in violence
      2. But as the breath leaves my lungs over dinner, my last thought is that I have been poisoned by a coward
3. I awake from a fitful sleep in a large bed, my wife still asleep beside me despite the chirping of my alarm clock
   1. My first throught is of the date - It is September 7, 1999 - the first day of fall semester
      1. This will not be my first time teaching CS 101, but this time will be different, I can feel the power in my body, my mind, and my soul
   2. I arrive at my office early, of course, and make sure everything is in order - the syllabus handouts are ready, my slides are in order and proof-read, and my TAs have confirmed their preparedness
      1. The lecure hall is large - so many students sign up for CS 101 without any prior programming knowledge, just to see what it's like, or convinced that they will be a natural
      2. As the students file in, they sparsely occupy the massive auditorium, afraid to sit near people they don't know, not fully understanding that for the vast majority of them, this is their first class on campus, their first opportunity to get to know eachother
      3. I exhort them to move towards the front so they can hear and see better, and a few oblige
      4. The first lecture flows like a breeze, the students hanging on my words as I understand what each one needs to hear to understand what the rest of this semester will hold
   3. By semester's end, the students and TAs are in awe, the CS department chair has asked for my materials and told me that spring registrations for CS102 are higher than ever, both of the student papers have run articles praising my class, and the dean of Arts and Sciences has interceded to clear my spring schedule to prioritize my research work on the condition that I teach 101 again next year
      1. I appreciate my grad students and TAs, but I don't have a real family in this life, so I head into the warehouse for winter break
4. I awaken rested and enthusiastic on a beautiful spring day
   1. It is graduation day for the first group of freshman I taught after coming to this jump, nearly four years ago
      1. They have come so far, and I'm fortunate that some of the best have continued to work with me, and three of them will be graduate students working under me starting in the fall
   2. It is also the first day of human trials for the drug, a new anti-inflammatory
      1. We were hoping it would treat chronic inflammatory diseases, but early testing suggests that it may significantly reduce hay fever, which would be great if we can mass produce it cheaply
   3. My reputation at the school has skyrocketed thanks to the combination of my groundbreaking research plus my teaching perks ensuring high instructor reviews as well as students learning and retaining more
      1. My tenure process has been fast-tracked, since the dean is rightly concerned about losing me to another institution
5. I awaken slowly, and awkwardly, as if from a coma, as a cocktail of drugs is released into my body, still restrained on my cryobed
   1. Our vessel, the Cyllene, is essentially a large asteroid with a hole carved in the middle, stuffed with propellent, equipment, supplies, expansive aquaponics facilities, and a relatively tiny living area
      1. Cyllene was said to have nursed and protected Hermes, as this vessel must nurture and protect us, the first observers, and hopefully, colonists,
   2. As my body and mind resume normal function over the course of 90 minutes, I get a slow trickle of updates on the status of the Cyllene and our mission
      1. The mission clock says it's 202 years since we left Earth, but thanks to time dilation, Earth has experienced 221
      2. Computer Block 5 (of 8) is currently undergoing automated reconstruction as the block with the highest error correction rate at the time the last automated reconstruction completed
      3. 1575 individuals are currently in cryosleep, and 25 (including me) are active, all sufficiently healthy
      4. I am still Dr. John Axstrom, revered teacher and groundbreaking computational pharmacologist, but my consciousness seems to have jumped forward a few hundred years, skipping past the development of miracle cures, life extension medications, and cryogenic preservation of humans
   3. As I realign with my memories and identity, I remember why I'm here
      1. If colonization proceeds, the coming generations are going to need exceptional teachers if they are to learn their place in the universe, and I'm one of the best there ever was
      2. Our mission is expected to take about 750 years from departure to arrival, and though the vast majority of that time is spent in cryosleep, we take shifts being "awake" to ensure systems are functioning and keep eachother mentally and physically healthy
   4. Since the monitoring systems will throw a fit if I straight up disappear from the vessel, I take a long ride out to the external "observation" check, out of the range of most of the sensor systems
      1. There's not really much to observe in deep space - it's like the night sky, as the ancients saw it with no light pollution, but from a different perspective
      2. Here I quickly form a stunt double duplicate, hand over my electronics, and duck into the warehouse
   5. The warehouse clock confirms my suspicions - I'm nearly seven years into the jump
      1. Since it looks like this isn't going to take nearly 1000 years, the team hasn't been going full-stasis mode
      2. The bards have been poring over J-Borg's personal library as well as the impressive collection of the warehouse media room
      3. But the reason I came is the Tablet of the Free - I'm stuck on a large but still confined deep-space vessel until my scheduled return to cryosleep - how is that supposed to entertain the boss?
      4. After confirming nothing interesting is in the warehouse, I head back to the observation deck, and stash the portable door I've been using back into hammer-space before re-merging with my stunt double, and taking the long trip back to the living area
6. I wake up to an unfamiliar synthetic beep - apparently the Cyllene's version of a doorbell
   1. When I open the door, one of my crewmates tells me that our directional antennas have picked up some unusual RF activity that seems to be coming from our destination system, and they want me (as the on-shift programmer) to help the astronomer, comms, and operations staff to help make sense of it, and ensure we're not about to get nuked by a magnetar or something
   2. Initial findings were sparse and inconclusive - just occasional pulses of a signal that must have been very strong and highly directional at the time of transmission, to reach us so far away
   3. But I had access to diagnostic tools that the astrophysicists and comms staff didn't, for all their training and equipment: a series of perks specifically for teasing out the needles of relevance from the haystack of noise
      1. And as I looked at what we were seeing, and what we weren't, the answer became clear: these radio bursts looked just like a primitive form of RADAR
      2. At first my colleagues on the Cyllene were skeptical, but the evidence kept mounting, with 4 additional series of "pings" being detected in the next six weeks
   4. With the spectre of extraterrestrial intelligence hanging over the Cyllene, our XO followed protocol, and ordered the full complement to be wakened from cryosleep to assist in the work to come
   5. Within six months, we had fabricated and installed a much larger purpose-built directional antenna array on the surface of our asteroid hull, and reports of different signals were coming in almost daily
      1. We needed all the extra hands, even our mining and terraforming experts were lending a hand with signal analysis and attempts to form patterns
      2. The whole crew felt the urgency and wondered at the situation - temporally, it would mean that their early experiments with RADAR and initial RF broadcasts would have happened at about the same time as humans did those things on earth, and if they developed at the same rate as us (a big if), they would likely be more advanced when we arrivedd than humans were when we left (and thus the technology of our vessel), and would almost certainly see us coming
   6. The coming months flew past, each bringing further confirmation of suspicious, but with it frustration, as we had been unable to extract a coherent signal - the broadcasts we could pick up didn't appear to be using either amplitude or frequency modulation
      1. More than once I brought signal samples to the warehouse team, but they were just as stumped as us
      2. Even more "esoteric" means didn't work - we tried every variation of "Tongues" and "Comprehend Language" spells on printed, audioized, and even engraved versions of the RF signals we caught, but they all failed and the representations seemed full of too many discontinuities
   7. I could feel my new Inventor's Vision working on the task of how to decode these signals, and about two years after the first pulse was detected, I had my breakthrough
      1. The signals didn't represent continuous audio (like human radio) or even piece-by-piece visuals (like rasterized video), but something of each, and a little weirder
      2. They were composed of many (from seven to three hundred, and not consistent at all) micro-audio clips
      3. It was like making an ultra-low bitrate recordding of the voice of every singer in a chorus individually, and transmitting fifty milliseconds of one, then fifty milliseconds of the next, and so one, in serial, and then starting back again with the first voice
      4. We couldn't figure out why they did this, but once I was able to identify the break points between each "voice", I could layer them on top of eachother to make a composite audio version
      5. And that composite audio could be played, and was a viable candidate for magic translation
   8. The entire vessel went wild when I demonstrated the isolation and recombination of the signals to produce audio
      1. The sound of the thing was somewhat like the sound of multiple birds, frogs, and crickets in a forest, in very brief clips
      2. Of course, I didn't reveal that I had access to magic translation - I figured the comms and signals staff (and the one cryptographer) should have to earn their pay
   9. The remaining year and a half was spent in intense research, for them, while I mostly slacked off and tried to make conversation with the people doing important work on this front, since my actual mission here was to "observe" as humans of this universe underwent a sort of assymmetrical first contact
7. I awaken in my weird little pod bed in my weird little capsule room for the last time, perfectly aware of the remaining hours in this jump
   1. After the initial excitement died down, the majority of the colonists were put back into cryosleep, with only the decoding specialists and those "on shift" like me staying active
      1. There has been a lot of anxiety around the Cyllene for the last few months - we are clearly a colony ship and the intelligent inhabitants of that system probably do not want to be colonized, and may well be easily capable of destroying us
      2. There were discussions about trying to reverse course and head back to Earth, but we could do that any time, and the closer we get, the more information we can gather about the system and its inhabitants
   2. It would be cruel to try to skim supplies from this vessel even if there were something I wanted aboard, so I just wait my time out, helping where I can and secretly translating any communications we receive when time permits
      1. So far it has all been rather uninspiring, which makes me even more curious what kind of species would develop radio technology but not transmit any fiction or speeches or poetry
   3. When it's almost time, I once again make the long trek out to the Cyllene's observation deck alone, and split off a Stunt Double, who can at least stay here for a month, while I slip into the warehouse
      1. When I enter, J-Borg greets me and informs me of a message at the Benefactor's lounge
      2. The note on the door says "Supplement Pending - please attend as soon as possible", so I go in to check it out
      3. With the choices all locked in, the door unlocks and I head out to meet with the team
   4. With the memories of my time in Spain finally restored, I realize how I had been trying to communicate with myself all along, but failing
      1. The need for calm communcation and education will never end - among our closest neighbors or with a civilization 300 light years away
   5. We have the traditional group dinner in the commons, and discuss what's going on
      1. The team did end up spending most of the time in stasis, and the formerly-newborn halflings are a little over a year now biologically, learning to speak and walk
      2. When I mention the Biosphere supplement and how I wasn't allowed to consult them, they naturally asked when it would apply, but it hadn't even occurred to me that there were now definitely too many of us to wait out warehouse changes in the entrance hall, so I checked with the central control
   6. Afterward, no one was complaining when the doors finally unlocked and we were able to leave the commons hall, only to find that the door led to an outdoor path with a natural-looking sunset on the horizon
      1. I didn't want to spoil the whole setup yet, so I said we could tour in the morning, and turned off a number of the facilities and systems for the night, to give me some time to understand what options were available before letting my companions go wild with them
      2. Fortunately, the obvious items like the tree of life and factory complex were on other islands, that would be difficult to reach without the transport disks running
   7. And then I went to sleep again, wondering what the next awakening had in store for me

Notes on the Fountain Jump Doc

1. Honestly this doc has been on my to-try list since I saw it - I really enjoyed the movie and gladly rewatched it again when it came up in my random draw.
2. The author took some liberties with the source material, which makes sense because of how focused on Thomas the story is, and the extensions largely make sense
3. There were a few confusing things in the jump, such as how you get essences and what powers you bring with you into each phase of the jump, but a close reading makes them clear enough
4. The jump has a few really standout purchase
   1. the inventor's intention is the answer to a lot of concers that "do-gooder" jumpers are likely to have in their careers
   2. the full tree of life is an amazing item - the ability to grant perfect health and immunity to aging within a regrowing item solves a lot of problems
   3. 500 years of practice is amazing if you have a particular skill or art in mind - literally centuries better than the "10 years of practice" equivalents that you find din many other jumps, and has a lot of potential to synergize with other perks that scale off your skill in a particular area
   4. Biosphere is super cool if you want your fiat-backed warehouse to grow into something more
   5. The Dagger of the Path is a great example of a conceptual weapon, and something I probably would have picked up if I had a bunch more points
5. How you're supposed to interleave the three eras is a little unclear, and maybe I'm not a creative enough author to pull it off. I don't believe SJ Chan ever got around to writing a fictionalized account of jumping to it, unfortunately
   1. If anyone else has done a good jump fiction of this jump, please let me know
6. Overall absolutely a fantastic jump. Obviously a great option for anyone who likes the movie or wants to solve one of the specific problems available
   1. I'd especially recommend it for an early-chain jumper because of the generally low danger level and great variety of rewards

Notes on the Biosphere Supplement Doc

1. I knew this was something I wanted to pick up when I first read the fountain jumpdoc several months ago
2. I use the "Personal Reality" warehouse which was co-authored by SJ Chan, and this supplement feels perfectly tailored to supplement that
3. There are lots of good pickups for people with various interests, or those who just want to keep their options open
   1. Observation Deck seems like the real must-have since a lot of the other buys are controllable through it
4. The structure of the biosphere was a little confusing at first - I thought that there was an island, a void around the island, and a hard shell, and wasn't sure why you'd want to increase the shell thickness, but further reading cleared that up
5. On the whole, a good pick up, especially considering it only cost 400 CP in the jump, and normally buying warehouse upgrades with CP has a very unfavorable conversion, but in this case, the biosphere purchases all seemed cheaper than they ought to be.

• RTK / Wireless Performance (Winner - Luba) - This was without a doubt the biggest surprise for me. I thought I had a simple yard after setting up the Luba. I put the RTK antenna in the attic, set up the base station, mapped out the yard and was done. The Husq EPOS on the other hand performed 10x worse than the Luba. Same house, same attic, but the EPOS system would not lock onto the satellites. After an hour of fiddling, I moved the RTK antenna out of the attic and mounted it on a pole in my yard. The performance is still terrible, while mapping out my back yard even within 50' of the RTK station, the signal only shows 73%, and I spent hours having to drive the Husq 450X to the middle of the yard to get a signal then rushing back to the last waypoint to try to finish mapping. It took about 4hrs to map 0.5 acres. That was just the beginning of my problems though. It now likes to sit for up to an hour in one spot for some reason even though the app says it has a good EPOS signal. No idea if this is a hardware problem or a software problem but hopefully it can be fixed via software update. If this keeps up, I may have to set more no go areas and mow those areas with my lawn mower.....not a good thing.
• RTK App Feeback (Winner Luba) - The Luba 2 is great about showing you all of the satellite information; co-viewing, RTK satellites, and Luba 2 satellites. The 450X is the opposite, all you get to see is if EPOS is working or not with no way to troubleshoot it except to keep driving the mower around until it is fixed.
• Hardware Build Quality (Winner Luba) - The Luba 2 feels much sturdier and better built than the 450X. Also, the Luba 2 includes an RTK mounting pole whereas the 450X does not. The 450X EPOS is an older design and it does not appear that Husqvarna updated anything other than add an RTK module to their existing product line while doubling the price.
• App Useability (Winner - 450X) - The Husq mower app while not perfect is much better than the Lubas. Mapping is more intuitive; I like the way they used waypoints which is more accurate and more familiar than driving the mower from place to place without clearly defining points. The mowing pattern selection is much more intuitive as well and adding a mowing angle to a work area is perfectly done by simply dragging two dots until the line overlay matches the look you want. I do like Luba's way of showing the amount of work remaining/completed via shaded areas vs the eyesore redlines that Husqvarna uses. As previously mentioned though, the biggest shortcoming is that you can't do any satellite troubleshooting in the Husq app. With the Husq app you can also pause mapping and pick back up where you left off, you can save multiple mowing profiles (i.e. winter vs summer), and you can pause any mowing task, go do something else, then restart the mowing task instead of fiddling with percentages like in the Luba 2's app.
• Lawn Damage - (Winner - 450X) - The Husq 450X EPOS hands down causes less lawn damage than the Luba. No more crop circles, no damage in front of the charging station, it is a real joy to watch it turn on a dime with no endless grinding itself into the dirt. The Luba 2 got stuck all the time at the ends of rows, bases of trees, etc. as it tried to turn around in the soft dirt. It also killed untold numbers of seedlings which I will probably need to overseed.
• Mowing Speed - (Winner - 450X) - The Luba 2 has multiple mowing speeds that you can pick but if you are like me, you have no idea what is too fast or what is slower than necessary. The Husq has no mowing speed options but if you watch it, it automatically slows down on thicker patches of grass and speeds up on recently mowed patches. This not only gets the yard done faster while extending the battery life, it also makes the setup simpler.
• Mowing Height - (Winner - 450X) - The Luba 2 lets you set the height and so does the 450X, the nice thing about the Luba is that it gives you the exact height in inches (or cm) vs the 450X where you have to do you own math to figure out what 1 or 2 or 3 mean in inches or cm. The reason why the 450X still wins for me though is because it is much faster at adjusting the height when it needs to. The Luba 2 bogged down a lot and ground itself into the ground when the blade was too low for the terrain. The 450X seems to adjust its blades in real time and never seems to stop and get stuck on bumps even with the blade set at 1".
• Connectivity - (Winner 450X) - The Husq 450X EPOS includes 10yrs of LTE data and also includes Bluetooth connectivity. The Luba 2 relies on wireless and Bluetooth and if you want LTE you have to buy your own SIM and data plan. Many times the Luba 2 would grind itself into the ground then just turn off. I would then need to go hunt for it in the yard, turn it on, connect via Bluetooth, move it out of the hole it had dug, then wait for it to get a satellite fix before I could get it to do anything. The 450X with LTE is always accessible until the battery dies. With the improvements in connectivity, the anti-theft features are also much better.
• Audible Beeps (Winner 450X) - This was a big problem for me with the Luba 2. It beeps all the time (when its adjusting the cutting height, returning to the charging station, searching for a satellite signal, starting a mowing job, on the charging station, leaving the charging station, etc, etc.). The charging station is right outside of my bedroom window so I had to start running it in the daytime just to keep from being woken up. The 450X EPOS does not do any of that, it shows everything via the app and the status LED on the top, no endless beeps.
• Perimeter Mowing Logic (Winner 450X) - I never understood why the Luba 2 put so much emphasis on perimeter laps, to me it's just the first row to be mowed, apparently the 450X EOPS thinks so too and treats it as such. The perimeter was being badly chewed up by the Luba 2 since it is the least level areas of my yard, the 450X EPOS just mows it without fuss and no digging in and getting stuck at the base of my fences.
• Battery Replacement (Winner 450X) - the 450X EPOS battery can be replaced in about 10min and they are readily available from a dealer, eBay, and others. The Luba 2's battery replacement story is still very murky to me.
• Blade Performance (Winner 450X EPOS) - The Husq automowers spin both clockwise and counterclockwise after every recharge, this means that you do not have to flip the razors over every xx number of hours. The Luba 2 does not have this feature.

• Hilly yard - obviously the Luba 2 is the better of the two with its AWD
• Mature grass/hard ground - if you have a mature yard with hard clay or dirt that can handle the Luba 2's grinding donut turns then I would recommend the Luba 2
• Cost - If cost is your only concern then obviously the Luba 2 is a no brainer
• Trees / Obstructions - If your yard has even a few big trees or big obstructions, at least for now, the Luba 2 will far outperform the 450X EPOS when it comes to RTK performance

• You have a perfectly wide open yard with no trees or other obstructions
• You have a yard with new turf or soft dirt/sand
• Your yard is relatively flat

• RTK / Wireless Performance (Winner - Luba) - This was without a doubt the biggest surprise for me. I thought I had a simple yard after setting up the Luba. I put the RTK antenna in the attic, set up the base station, mapped out the yard and was done. The Husq EPOS on the other hand performed 10x worse than the Luba. Same house, same attic, but the EPOS system would not lock onto the satellites. After an hour of fiddling, I moved the RTK antenna out of the attic and mounted it on a pole in my yard. The performance is still terrible, while mapping out my back yard even within 50' of the RTK station, the signal only shows 73%, and I spent hours having to drive the Husq 450X to the middle of the yard to get a signal then rushing back to the last waypoint to try to finish mapping. It took about 4hrs to map 0.5 acres. That was just the beginning of my problems though. It now likes to sit for up to an hour in one spot for some reason even though the app says it has a good EPOS signal. No idea if this is a hardware problem or a software problem but hopefully it can be fixed via software update. If this keeps up, I may have to set more no go areas and mow those areas with my lawn mower.....not a good thing.
• RTK App Feeback (Winner Luba) - The Luba 2 is great about showing you all of the satellite information; co-viewing, RTK satellites, and Luba 2 satellites. The 450X is the opposite, all you get to see is if EPOS is working or not with no way to troubleshoot it except to keep driving the mower around until it is fixed.
• Hardware Build Quality (Winner Luba) - The Luba 2 feels much sturdier and better built than the 450X. Also, the Luba 2 includes an RTK mounting pole whereas the 450X does not. The 450X EPOS is an older design and it does not appear that Husqvarna updated anything other than add an RTK module to their existing product line while doubling the price.
• App Useability (Winner - 450X) - The Husq mower app while not perfect is much better than the Lubas. Mapping is more intuitive; I like the way they used waypoints which is more accurate and more familiar than driving the mower from place to place without clearly defining points. The mowing pattern selection is much more intuitive as well and adding a mowing angle to a work area is perfectly done by simply dragging two dots until the line overlay matches the look you want. I do like Luba's way of showing the amount of work remaining/completed via shaded areas vs the eyesore redlines that Husqvarna uses. As previously mentioned though, the biggest shortcoming is that you can't do any satellite troubleshooting in the Husq app. With the Husq app you can also pause mapping and pick back up where you left off, you can save multiple mowing profiles (i.e. winter vs summer), and you can pause any mowing task, go do something else, then restart the mowing task instead of fiddling with percentages like in the Luba 2's app.
• Lawn Damage - (Winner - 450X) - The Husq 450X EPOS hands down causes less lawn damage than the Luba. No more crop circles, no damage in front of the charging station, it is a real joy to watch it turn on a dime with no endless grinding itself into the dirt. The Luba 2 got stuck all the time at the ends of rows, bases of trees, etc. as it tried to turn around in the soft dirt. It also killed untold numbers of seedlings which I will probably need to overseed.
• Mowing Speed - (Winner - 450X) - The Luba 2 has multiple mowing speeds that you can pick but if you are like me, you have no idea what is too fast or what is slower than necessary. The Husq has no mowing speed options but if you watch it, it automatically slows down on thicker patches of grass and speeds up on recently mowed patches. This not only gets the yard done faster while extending the battery life, it also makes the setup simpler.
• Mowing Height - (Winner - 450X) - The Luba 2 lets you set the height and so does the 450X, the nice thing about the Luba is that it gives you the exact height in inches (or cm) vs the 450X where you have to do you own math to figure out what 1 or 2 or 3 mean in inches or cm. The reason why the 450X still wins for me though is because it is much faster at adjusting the height when it needs to. The Luba 2 bogged down a lot and ground itself into the ground when the blade was too low for the terrain. The 450X seems to adjust its blades in real time and never seems to stop and get stuck on bumps even with the blade set at 1".
• Connectivity - (Winner 450X) - The Husq 450X EPOS includes 10yrs of LTE data and also includes Bluetooth connectivity. The Luba 2 relies on wireless and Bluetooth and if you want LTE you have to buy your own SIM and data plan. Many times the Luba 2 would grind itself into the ground then just turn off. I would then need to go hunt for it in the yard, turn it on, connect via Bluetooth, move it out of the hole it had dug, then wait for it to get a satellite fix before I could get it to do anything. The 450X with LTE is always accessible until the battery dies. With the improvements in connectivity, the anti-theft features are also much better.
• Audible Beeps (Winner 450X) - This was a big problem for me with the Luba 2. It beeps all the time (when its adjusting the cutting height, returning to the charging station, searching for a satellite signal, starting a mowing job, on the charging station, leaving the charging station, etc, etc.). The charging station is right outside of my bedroom window so I had to start running it in the daytime just to keep from being woken up. The 450X EPOS does not do any of that, it shows everything via the app and the status LED on the top, no endless beeps.
• Perimeter Mowing Logic (Winner 450X) - I never understood why the Luba 2 put so much emphasis on perimeter laps, to me it's just the first row to be mowed, apparently the 450X EOPS thinks so too and treats it as such. The perimeter was being badly chewed up by the Luba 2 since it is the least level areas of my yard, the 450X EPOS just mows it without fuss and no digging in and getting stuck at the base of my fences.
• Battery Replacement (Winner 450X) - the 450X EPOS battery can be replaced in about 10min and they are readily available from a dealer, eBay, and others. The Luba 2's battery replacement story is still very murky to me.
• Blade Performance (Winner 450X EPOS) - The Husq automowers spin both clockwise and counterclockwise after every recharge, this means that you do not have to flip the razors over every xx number of hours. The Luba 2 does not have this feature.

• Hilly yard - obviously the Luba 2 is the better of the two with its AWD
• Mature grass/hard ground - if you have a mature yard with hard clay or dirt that can handle the Luba 2's grinding donut turns then I would recommend the Luba 2
• Cost - If cost is your only concern then obviously the Luba 2 is a no brainer
• Trees / Obstructions - If your yard has even a few big trees or big obstructions, at least for now, the Luba 2 will far outperform the 450X EPOS when it comes to RTK performance

• You have a perfectly wide open yard with no trees or other obstructions
• You have a yard with new turf or soft dirt/sand
• Your yard is relatively flat

[Desktop Entry] Type=Application Name=mpv Media Player Comment=Play movies and songs Icon=mpv TryExec=kde-inhibit --colorCorrect mpv Exec=kde-inhibit --colorCorrect mpv --player-operation-mode=pseudo-gui -- %U Terminal=false Categories=AudioVideo;Audio;Video;Player;TV; MimeType=application/ogg;application/x-ogg;application/mxf;application/sdp;application/smil;application/x-smil;application/streamingmedia;application/x-streamingmedia;application/vnd.rn-realmedia;application/vnd.rn-realmedia-vbr;audio/aac;audio/x-aac;audio/vnd.dolby.heaac.1;audio/vnd.dolby.heaac.2;audio/aiff;audio/x-aiff;audio/m4a;audio/x-m4a;application/x-extension-m4a;audio/mp1;audio/x-mp1;audio/mp2;audio/x-mp2;audio/mp3;audio/x-mp3;audio/mpeg;audio/mpeg2;audio/mpeg3;audio/mpegurl;audio/x-mpegurl;audio/mpg;audio/x-mpg;audio/rn-mpeg;audio/musepack;audio/x-musepack;audio/ogg;audio/scpls;audio/x-scpls;audio/vnd.rn-realaudio;audio/wav;audio/x-pn-wav;audio/x-pn-windows-pcm;audio/x-realaudio;audio/x-pn-realaudio;audio/x-ms-wma;audio/x-pls;audio/x-wav;video/mpeg;video/x-mpeg2;video/x-mpeg3;video/mp4v-es;video/x-m4v;video/mp4;application/x-extension-mp4;video/divx;video/vnd.divx;video/msvideo;video/x-msvideo;video/ogg;video/quicktime;video/vnd.rn-realvideo;video/x-ms-afs;video/x-ms-asf;audio/x-ms-asf;application/vnd.ms-asf;video/x-ms-wmv;video/x-ms-wmx;video/x-ms-wvxvideo;video/x-avi;video/avi;video/x-flic;video/fli;video/x-flc;video/flv;video/x-flv;video/x-theora;video/x-theora+ogg;video/x-matroska;video/mkv;audio/x-matroska;application/x-matroska;video/webm;audio/webm;audio/vorbis;audio/x-vorbis;audio/x-vorbis+ogg;video/x-ogm;video/x-ogm+ogg;application/x-ogm;application/x-ogm-audio;application/x-ogm-video;application/x-shorten;audio/x-shorten;audio/x-ape;audio/x-wavpack;audio/x-tta;audio/AMR;audio/ac3;audio/eac3;audio/amr-wb;video/mp2t;audio/flac;audio/mp4;application/x-mpegurl;video/vnd.mpegurl;application/vnd.apple.mpegurl;audio/x-pn-au;video/3gp;video/3gpp;video/3gpp2;audio/3gpp;audio/3gpp2;video/dv;audio/dv;audio/opus;audio/vnd.dts;audio/vnd.dts.hd;audio/x-adpcm;application/x-cue;audio/m3u;X-KDE-Protocols=ftp,http,https,mms,rtmp,rtsp,sftp,smb Keywords=mpv;media;player;video;audio;tv; NoDisplay=true 

• "Extended" mag for Hi Point C9 $15
• Glock 17.4 and 19.4 quality threaded barrels, with thread protectors.
• Tru Glow suppressor height night sights for Glock 43, or Smith & Wesson M&P 1.0.
• Gucci Glock 17.4 slide with SRO cut, open to offers and options
• Tru Glow suppressor height night sights for Glock 17.4.
• Sling that would work on a Rugar 10/22 Take down with Magpul Hunter stock.
• Stainless steel extended slide release for Glock 17.4.
• Glock upper parts for same 17.4.
• True love's kiss.

1. CCAs

1. Group Mates

1. Business is ultimately not a technical degree

1. An event calendar regularly updated by NUS Careers, usually has lots of interesting and relevant events, competitions, webinars (if that's your thing): https://nus.edu.sg/cfg/events
2. Grading rubrics to apply for SEP, there is an actual rubrics to secure an SEP, please refer for those wanting to go: https://bba.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/sites/37/2019/07/SEP-Place-Allocation-Grading-System-2018-10.pdf

1. Staff use Azure virtual desktop (very controlled environment)
2. Staff needs to access a cloud app that does not support azure ad sso (or any other sso)
3. Don't want staff to know the password to cloud app
4. Password must be auto-filled when accessing the cloud app, according to which user signs into the Azure virtual desktop

• Register a new enterprise application
• Choose password sso
• Provide login URL
• Capture login fields
• Add users
• Provide credentials (this is the pain part, as have to reset passwords for all users and manually update them. But the good news this is a one-time work)
• Users find the new App from their M365's MyApp portal, double click, then password is filled.
• Browser is disabled from saving passwords

Ecommerce Sales Growth in the UK

• Fastest-growing ecommerce companies in the UK
• Online stores (marketplaces) with the highest net sales
• Important UK ecommerce statistics and facts

Rising Ecommerce Companies in the UK

• Location: Solihull, UK
• Founded Year: 2012
• Founders: Ben Francis and Lewis Morgan
• Latest Funds Raised: $261M

Smol

• Location: London, UK
• Founded Year: 2018
• Founders: Nick Green and Paula Quazi
• Latest Funds Raised: $34M

OnBuy

• Location: London, UK
• Founded Year: 2016
• Founders: Cas Paton
• Latest Funds Raised: £35M

Laced

• Location: London, UK
• Founded Year: 2018
• Founders: Chris Gibbons
• Latest Funds Raised: $12M

Club L London

• Location: Manchester, UK
• Founded Year: 2007
• Founders: Katie Randev

Papier

• Location: London, UK
• Founded Year: 2015
• Founders: Taymoor Atighetchi
• Latest Funds Raised: $50M

Naturewall

• Location: Hull, UK
• Founded Year: 2018
• Founders: Philip Brown

Lyst

• Location: London, UK
• Founded Year: 2010
• Founders: Chris Morton, Devin Hunt, Sebastjan Trepca
• Latest Funds Raised: $85M

Qogita

• Location: London, UK
• Founded Year: 2021
• Founders: Yaniv Toledano and Danny Toledano
• Latest Funds Raised: €80M

Shop Circle

• Location: London, UK
• Founded Year: 2021
• Founders: Gian Maria Gramondi and Luca Cartechini
• Latest Funds Raised: $120M

Top Online Stores (Marketplaces) in the UK

Amazon

• Online Store Launch: 1998

Sainsbury’s

• Online Store Launch: 1999

Tesco

• Online Store Launch: 2000

Asda

• Online Store Launch: 1998

Important Statistics for Ecommerce Companies in the UK

• In 2023, ecommerce companies in the United Kingdom generated a total revenue of $131.5 billion, with projections to rise to $185.37 billion by 2028.
• The UK hosts the most developed ecommerce market in Europe, with nearly 60 million ecommerce users, expected to grow to 62.7 million by 2029.
• In 2023, the ARPU for personal care ecommerce was $114.8 in the UK.
• Amazon leads as the top ecommerce platform in the UK, attracting over 500 million monthly visits as of March 2024.
• On average, online shoppers in the UK spend $126 on desktop purchases compared to $102 on tablets and $86 on mobile phones.
• More than 42% of shoppers in the UK begin their purchase journeys via search engines.
• The average revenue per user (ARPU) in the UK ecommerce market is expected to increase by $577.5 between 2024 and 2029.
• In 2023, the keyword ‘boots’ topped the competitiveness chart in the UK with a score of 94, while ‘sneakers’ and ‘sandals’ scored 70 and 65, respectively.
• With a 21% market share, Shopify is the second leading ecommerce platform in the UK as of 2024.
• The revenue in the UK’s furniture ecommerce market is forecasted to grow by $5.9 billion between 2024 and 2029.

• UK Ecommerce Statistics and Market (2024)
• Top Shopify Stores in the UK

• RB3011UiAS-RM
• CSS326-24G-2S+RM
• hAP AC3

• CCR2004-1G-12S+2XS
• CRS326-24S+2Q+RM
• CRS328-24P-4S+RM
• 4x Access Points

• 4x Proxmox Nodes with CEPH
• 1x Proxmox Backup Server
• 1x Network Attached Storage
• 1x Workstation
• 1x Gaming Rig
• And a lot of IoT sh*t