Jeff W Thomas

Clash of Clans - Week 3-6

2014-05-30T15:03:00.004-06:00

I haven't done very well in posting my week to week progress, but here is screenshots over the last 4 weeks.

Town Hall 5 base and design

Start of Town Hall 6

Profile update

First time I saw this. When you are getting attacked, the lady says you can't enter your base.

First time I maxed out my gold to 1M.

"Barching" FTW. This is a raid composition of Barbarians and Archers getting loot. This is the easiest way to raid because of the gains vs the expense. You can keep your trophies up and get 50% on most bases.

I'm done at Town Hall 6 researching in the Laboratory.

Right before Town Hall 7, my final moments at Town Hall 6.

I just barely hit Town Hall 7.

Town Hall 7 after the first 2 hours of being done.

Clash of Clans - Week 2 Progress

2014-05-10T11:50:00.001-06:00

These are screenies from my week 2 in Clash of Clans. I have a TownHall Level 5 and am working on upgrading my base. I learned this week that "Obstacles" (trees, mushrooms, etc.) grow back like every 8 hours. The stones, rocks and such are only removed once.

Attack strategy is pretty much Archers, Goblins, and Barbarians. I wait til I need resources or a few hours earlier. I attack easy bases that are stacked for 100-200k in resources. Gold is easy to spend, walls and other defenses. Elixir doesn't seem to have easy ways of spending it. You can store it in the Barracks using Wall Breakers when your Army Camps are full. With my 3 barracks this saves appx 100k Elixir in Troop Queuing.

Recipe for Homemade Bread

2014-04-30T23:02:00.001-06:00

1 1/2 cup of Hot Water
1 cup of Milk
4 teaspoons of Active Dry Yeast
3 tablespoons of Sugar

Mix the above ingredients and let the Yeast proof for 10-15 minutes.

Add to the mixture the following:
1 1/2 teaspoon of Salt
3 tablespoons of Vegetable Oil
6-6 1/2 cups of Flour

Let the dough Knead for 8 minutes in a stand mixer.

Let raise, covered, for 25 minutes. Punch down. Let raise again for 25 minutes. Punch down. This helps build the gluten and makes the crumb of the bread better.

Shape dough. I put mine into bread pans. Let raise again.

Trick - Put a pan of water in a warm oven to create a proofer. Turn the oven on for 1 minute or less. Put the bread in here - the steam doesn't let the dough harden on the outside.

Take dough out of oven before it is over-proofed. About 10-14 minutes is all.

Set oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. While oven heats up, the bread will finish proofing.

Bake bread for appx 28 minutes.

This website helped me understand more about bread:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/lessons/yourfirstloaf

Clash of Clans - 1 Week in Results

2014-04-28T20:01:00.001-06:00

This is my Base Layout. It is Townhall Level 4. I have all buildings and walls built. I keep on leveling them. One thing that I notice is that you can get a lot of resources and have both of your builders stuck on long projects. Seems to be a good game...but the day plus build times are a drag and we're not even half way there.

Here are a couple results of some good raids. I have done good raids and bad raids. These capture the low count of troops and a good pull of resources.

From those raids, here is my Achievements showing the amount of Gold and Elixir I've pulled in after the first week. A little over 800k Gold and more than 700k Elixir. Best strategy, that I've seen so far, is to just find another player that has been AFK and hope for a weak base. I don't even have Air Ballons, yet, I'm upgrading by Barracks for that now.

Barbarian DPS Reaper of Souls (ROS) Gear Guide

2014-04-04T11:18:00.002-06:00

Head - Strength, Attack Speed, Critical Hit Chance

Shoulders - Strength, Vitality, All Resist, +Life

Neck - Strength, Critical Hit Damage, Critical Hit Chance, Damage Modifier

Hands - Strength, Critical Hit Damage, Critical Hit Chance, Attack Speed

Chest - Strength, Vitality, All Resist, 3 Sockets

Wrists - Strength, Vitality, Critical Hit Chance, Elemental Damage Modifier

Rings - Strength, Critical Hit Damage, Critical Hit Chance, Attack Speed

Waist - Strength, Vitality, All Resist

Main Hand / Off Hand - Strength, Socket, Vitality, Attack Speed

Feet - Strength, Vitality, All Resist, Movement Speed

Legs - Strength, Vitality, All Resist, 2 Sockets

Forgiving Oneself

2014-03-14T21:19:00.002-06:00

BY ELDER D. CHAD RICHARDSON

Area Seventy North America Southwest Area

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2007/03/forgiving-oneself?lang=eng

Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!

Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer.

Blessed to open the last dispensation,

Kings shall extol him, and nations revere.

Praise to his mem'ry, he died as a martyr;

Honored and blest be his ever great name!

Long shall his blood, which was shed by assassins,

Plead unto heav'n while the earth lauds his fame.

Great is his glory and endless his priesthood.

Ever and ever the keys he will hold.

Faithful and true, he will enter his kingdom,

Crowned in the midst of the prophets of old.

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven;

Earth must atone for the blood of that man.

Wake up the world for the conflict of justice.

Millions shall know "Brother Joseph" again.

During the trials of Missouri, W. W. Phelps was reprimanded for misuse of Church funds and selling lands contrary to counsel. As a result, he became very bitter in Far West and turned against the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Saints. Along with other apostates, W. W. Phelps was involved in an affidavit against the Prophet issued in Richmond, Missouri, in November 1838. After Governor Lilburn W. Boggs’s extermination order, the Saints were driven from Missouri, while the Prophet and his associates were imprisoned for months in the terrible winter dungeon of Liberty Jail.

By 1840 W. W. Phelps had experienced a profound change of heart and wrote to the Prophet pleading for forgiveness. In response, Joseph’s letter concluded with the couplet “Come on, dear brother, since the war is past, / For friends at first, are friends again at last.” 1 The Prophet Joseph freely forgave Brother Phelps and took him back into full fellowship.

When Brother Phelps learned that Joseph and Hyrum had been killed by a mob, he was devastated. With great power and inspiration, he expressed his own feelings and those of the entire Church as he penned the hymn “Praise to the Man.”

How could Brother Phelps speak of traitors and tyrants fighting the Prophet when he himself had been one? Immediately I realized not only that Brother Phelps was no longer a traitor but also that he must have come to no longer see himself as one. The genuine, complete love and trust he received from Brother Joseph helped make it possible for him not only to forgive himself but also to erase his image of himself as a traitor.

We Must Forgive All

Unfortunately, many Latter-day Saints today continue to carry the burden of past sins because they refuse to forgive themselves. President Howard W. Hunter (1907–95) observed: “It has always struck me as being sad that those among us who would not think of reprimanding our neighbor, much less a total stranger, for mistakes that have been made or weaknesses that might be evident, will nevertheless be cruel and unforgiving to themselves. When the scriptures say to judge righteously, that means with fairness and compassion and charity. That’s how we must judge ourselves. We need to be patient and forgiving of ourselves, just as we must be patient and forgiving of others.” 3

Apparently, many individuals do not understand the importance of self-forgiveness in the process of repentance. The Lord, however, makes no exceptions when He declares, “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men” (D&C 64:10; emphasis added). This includes forgiving ourselves.

Without doubt, Satan uses this refusal to forgive ourselves as a means of enslaving us by turning past sins into addictions. He tempts some, for example, to believe that if they make themselves suffer enough, they will not return to the sin. This often leads, however, to self-loathing or self-abuse.

Satan tempts others to judge themselves harshly and to believe they don’t deserve to be forgiven, even when the Lord is willing to forgive them. Such individuals continue to dwell on their transgressions and mistakes, remembering the details and thus increasing the danger of repeating them. According to President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Preoccupation with unworthy behavior can lead to unworthy behavior.” 4

People trapped in this cycle of sin, self-condemnation, and further sin, tend to become discouraged. Satan also uses discouragement to create addictions. A discouraged individual will be tempted to stop trying or to seek solace in more sin. In contrast, the Savior beckons us forward with the promise that we can become free from the chains of sin as we fully repent and forgive ourselves.

Sorrow for Sin

Sorrow always follows the recognition of sin. The destructive form of this sorrow, which often manifests itself as self-condemnation, is related to what the Apostle Paul called “sorrow of the world,” which “worketh death.” In contrast, he described a positive form of sorrow, “godly sorrow,” which “worketh repentance to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10). A main difference between these two forms of sorrow is their source. Worldly sorrow is promoted by Satan. It is the sorrow of being caught, of not being able to continue sinning, or of turning against oneself with self-loathing or disdain.

Godly sorrow, on the other hand, is sorrow given as a gift from God to those who are willing to receive it. Godly sorrow leads us to a full recognition of the magnitude of our sins but with the knowledge that we can become free of them. It leads us to fully recognize the wrongs we have committed without giving in to the temptation to see ourselves as worthless or beyond God’s love.

There is no room in godly sorrow for self-contempt. Those who refuse to forgive themselves thus bear a double burden of sin, for not only do they carry the sin itself, but they also add to it the sin of self-condemnation and refusing to forgive. Indeed, refusal to forgive is cited in the scriptures as “the greater sin” (D&C 64:9).

We Are Not Alone

Over the years, as I have counseled with members and missionaries, I have found that many wonderful, otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints find it difficult to forgive themselves, even after being told that they must do so. Some have deep-seated patterns of anger and impatience with themselves that are hard to change.

Fortunately, we are not alone. The Savior, through His Atonement, can help us not only to remove the sins but also to forgive ourselves. To receive His help, we need to ask for it. And we need to be willing, given all our mortal limitations and weaknesses, to do all that we can do (see 2 Nephi 25:23).

President Packer taught:

“Save for the exception of the very few who defect to perdition, there is no habit, no addiction, no rebellion, no transgression, no apostasy, no crime exempted from the promise of complete forgiveness. That is the promise of the Atonement of Christ. …

“… Do not give up if at first you fail. … Do not give up. That brilliant morning will come.” 5

Love is a necessary precursor to being able to forgive oneself. As we develop an overpowering love of and gratitude for Jesus for His willingness to forgive us, we earnestly desire to come unto Him—to study His life and teachings and act upon them so that we become more like Him. As we do that, our own capacity to love grows to the point that we can indeed love and forgive ourselves and others.

Forgetting

Forgetting is part of forgiving. But forgiving oneself involves a special kind of forgetting. We don’t forget the sin and its effects; rather, the memory ceases to be part of how we see ourselves. For example, when Alma had been forgiven of his sins, he said, “I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more” (Alma 36:19). The fact that he could describe his repentance to his son Helaman showed that a memory was still there. But through Christ’s Atonement and forgiveness, that memory lost its edge of guilt and self-recrimination.

We must keep sin in its proper perspective. Satan would convince us that we are defined by our sins. He would have had the repentant W. W. Phelps see himself always as a traitor. He would convince someone who has stolen that he is and always will be a thief.

The Savior, in contrast, would have us understand that we have sins that need to be cleansed, but we are much more than those stains. If I spill ketchup on my shirt, I have a stain. Perhaps it is right in front where everyone can see it. But while I have a stain, I am not the stain. I need to recognize that there is a good deal of my shirt that is clean and white. I believe that God sees the white shirt—the goodness in His children—and offers, through Christ, to remove the stains. If we obsess about the stain, however, it will become who we are in our minds and then in our actions.

Forgiveness Does Not Mean Excusing Sin

Forgiving a sin does not mean excusing it. When we forgive a sin, we neither say it is OK nor that payment will not be required. Rather, forgiveness allows us to turn both the final judgment of guilt and the full payment of the debt over to the Lord. The Lord tells us in Doctrine and Covenants 64:11, “Ye ought to say in your hearts—let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds.” Further, in Doctrine and Covenants 82:23, He says, “Leave judgment alone with me, for it is mine and I will repay.”

When we sin or make mistakes, our Heavenly Father wants us to quickly resume our journey home with a new and even stronger grip on the iron rod. The repentance of Alma the Younger illustrates this principle of moving on. A “wicked and an idolatrous man” (Mosiah 27:8), he was brought to a realization of his sins, repented, and experienced a mighty change of heart (see Mosiah 27:11–37). He chose to take the strait and narrow path, filling his mind and his life with good works rather than remaining at the side of the road worrying about his past transgressions. He didn’t have time for that. And neither do we.

The Savior Is Key

When we turn to our Savior, He can heal us not only of the sin but also of the self-recrimination and the constant mental replaying of our sins or obsessing over them. We must turn the sins and the guilt over to the Savior in a process of complete repentance. For serious sins we will need the help of a bishop or another appropriate priesthood leader to complete our repentance. We then must let the Savior judge whether we or He must make final payment for the sin. Finally, we will need the Savior’s help to feel self-acceptance rather than self-contempt.

With the Lord’s help, we will experience a change in how we see ourselves. I believe this is the wonderful change that happened to Brother Phelps. Because of his repentance and his willingness to forgive himself, he was no longer a traitor. He was able to accomplish many great spiritual and civic works following the Prophet’s death. I believe his accomplishments would have been highly unlikely had he not, with the help of the Prophet and the Lord, fully forgiven himself.

I end with the chorus to Praise to the Man:

Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!

Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.

Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;

Death cannot conquer the hero again.

8 Week Challenge Again!

2014-03-10T10:18:00.001-06:00

8 Week Challenge Again!

Last year, between July and September, I did the 8 Week Challenge with my wife, her sisters, and friends. I won the weight loss portion and was only a few points from taking the points portion. In total I lost 19 pounds, woo hoo!

The 8 Week Challenge is a version of the Six Sister's Diet/Health Challenge. They like to use the words "Health Challenge," but don't kid yourself it is a diet. The great thing about this diet is it helps you do good things.

The most important are the Food Journal, the Working Out, and Eating Fruits/Veggies. The other items help, but aren't as important I feel.

Well today, I start the challenge again. We are going to try the same system, but do the weight loss portion based on the Percentage lost, not the straight pounds lost and maintained. There is a smaller pool of people competing this time, but I hope to do well and lose some weight.

Here is a link to the PDF for the challenge.
http://media.sixsistersstuff.com/uploads/2013/07/8-Week-Challenge-Revised.pdf

Diablo 3 Patch 2.0 Released

2014-02-25T16:42:00.001-07:00

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/12671560/

PATCH 2.0.1 NOW AVAILABLE

Nevalistis 2/25/2014 149

Diablo III patch 2.0.1 is currently available for download in the Americas. Check out the full patch notes below to learn all about the latest changes.

Important: Please note that you will not be prompted to download patch 2.0.1 until the patch is live in your home region. If you are logging in from a European or Asian client, you will need to wait for this patch to release in that region before it can be installed. Additionally, if your home region is in the Americas, you will be unable to log into Europe or Asia using Global Play after patch 2.0.1 is live until those regions have also patched.

Diablo III Patch 2.0.1 - v.2.0.1.22044

The latest client patch notes can be found here.
Visit our Bug Report forum for a list of known issues.

General
Bosses
Classes
Crafting and Artisans
Difficulty
Events
- Cursed Chests
- Infernal Machines
Itemization
Monsters
Paragon
Social Features
- Clans
- Communities
User Interface

GENERAL

Pools of Reflection have been added to the game
- Pools of Reflection provide a 25% bonus to experience
- This bonus persists until you reach a set amount of bonus experience (equal to approximately 10% of the current amount of Paragon experience needed to reach the next Paragon level) or your character dies
- Gathering additional Pools of Reflection bonuses increases the amount of total experience bonus a character can receive until character death, stacking up to 10 times
- This experience bonus persists on logout
Nephalem Glory has been added to the game
- Occasionally during battle, monsters will drop Power Globes when damaged or killed
- Power Globes grant the Nephalem Glory buff, which causes players to deal additional damage in the form of golden lightning bolts and increases their movement speed for a short time
- This buff can stack up to three times
New hero stats have been added to the game
- These include Toughness, Healing, Splash Damage, Cooldown Reduction, and Resource Cost Reduction
- Life Steal has been redesigned and is now less effective at higher character levels
  - At level 60, Life Steal is reduced to 10% effectiveness
Players now have the ability to resurrect in multiple places when they die in Normal (non-Hardcore) games
- You may choose to either resurrect at your body, in town, or at the last checkpoint you encountered
- Players may not resurrect at their body during a Boss encounter
- Players may only resurrect at their body a maximum of three times in a row
Player hit boxes have been adjusted to more closely represent character models
- Both male and female models of the same class share the same size hit box
Followers now automatically level with characters
Quests now occasionally grant item rewards when completed during the leveling process
Gold can no longer be traded
Graphics engine has been updated to support reflections
- Reflections can be turned on in the Options > Video menu
- Note: This setting is not recommended for players running minimum system specifications

BOSSES

Many bosses have had their mechanics revisted and retuned
- The following bosses have received the largest changes to their encounters:
  - Maghda
  - Siegebreaker
  - Azmodan
  - Iskatu
- In addition, the enrage timers for the following Bosses will only be enabled in Torment I and above:
  - The Butcher
  - Zoltun Kulle
  - Belial
  - Ghom
  - Siegebreaker
  - Rakanoth

CLASSES

All classes have undergone significant revision. Additional details and patch notes will be available in the near future. In the meantime, we encourage you to log in and explore the new changes for yourself!

CRAFTING AND ARTISANS

Crafting has received several quality of life changes
- Crafting materials have been condensed into two item level tiers: 1-60 and 60-70
  - This change is to reduce the amount of stash space consumed by crafting materials and simply older crafting recipes
  - All crafting materials currently in character inventories and stash have been converted accordingly
- All crafted items will now roll with stats appropriate to the character crafting them, using the Loot 2.0 Smart Drop system
  - Please note that items designed to roll specific stats, such as the Archon Armor patterns, are exempt from this system
- Items purchased from vendors are now flagged as such, and cannot be salvaged

DIFFICULTY

The difficulty system has been completely revised
- Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno modes have been removed
- Difficulty is now dynamic and monsters will level up with your characters
- There are now five difficulty settings to choose from: Normal, Hard, Expert, Master, and Torment (1-6)
  - Normal, Hard, and Expert are immediately available
  - Master unlocks upon completing Act IV
  - Torment unlocks upon reaching level 60
  - Torment level also includes a difficulty slider, offering an additional six adjustments with increasing rewards and more powerful monsters
  - Each level offers new bonuses and rewards, visible in the difficulty selection menu
- You can now lower your difficulty setting in-game
  - However, increasing your difficulty still requires exiting your current game
  - This option is disabled in Hardcore mode
- To account for these changes, monster density has been adjusted across all Acts

EVENTS

Cursed Objects
- Chests and Shrines around Sanctuary now have a chance to be cursed, starting an event once they are inspected
- Like other events, completing a Cursed Chest or Shrine provides a small gold and experience reward, as well as either a Radiant Chest or a random Shrine buff
- These events offer a variety of challenges, including endless monster waves and timed events
Infernal Machines
- Torment level difficulty is now required to use Infernal Machines

ITEMIZATION (LOOT 2.0)

Itemization has undergone a major overhaul:
- Legendary and Set items are now Bind on Account
  - Players in multiplayer games may trade Legendaries and Set Items they find with others who were present for the drop for up to 2 hours after the item is acquired
- The Smart Drop system has been implemented
  - All items that drop have a chance to roll as "Smart Loot"
  - Smart Loot items roll intelligently based on the character being played (example: A Wizard is more likely to find items with Intelligence or bonuses to Wizard skills than a Barbarian)
  - Class specific items will no longer roll stats inappropriate to their class (example: Intelligence will no longer appear on Mighty Weapons or Belts)
- New item affixes have been added to the game
  - This include Splash Damage, Cooldown Reduction, Resource Cost Reduction, +% damage to Physical damage skills, and specific Class Skill Bonuses
- Item properties have been separated into two categories: Primary and Secondary
  - Primary Stats include: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Vitality, Critical Hit Damage, Critical Hit Chance, Attack Speed, Life per Second, Armor, +% Life, Bonus Damage to Elites, Bleed Damage, All Resistance, Sockets, and all new affixes listed above
  - Secondary Stats include: Gold Find, Thorns, Bonus Experience per Monster Kill, Chance for (Fear, Stun, Blind, Freeze, Chill, Slow, Immobilize and Knockback), Ignore Durability Loss, Bonus Healing to Health Globes and Potions, Bonus Pickup Radius, Single Resist, Life After Kill, and Level Requirement Reduction
  - This is to prevent stats that directly and indirectly increase character power from competing with one another
- Stat ranges on items have been narrowed significantly (example: instead of an item having a stat range of 1-200 Strength, its range might now be something like 140-200)
- Legendary powers now roll in a range, instead of a static amount
  - Example: The Legendary Spirit Stone “The Laws of Seph” has the legendary affix “Using Blinding Flash restores [75-100] spirit”
- Players can now view the stat ranges of items by pressing and holding CTRL while an item's tooltip is open
- All Legendary items have been reworked with one or all of the above points in mind
- Potions have been condensed to a single type; they now provide 60% of your total health when consumed
  - All Potions currently in character inventories or stashes will be converted to the new Potion type

MONSTERS

Monster affixes have been revisited and retuned
- Arcane Enchanted
  - Spawn effect now shows which direction it will start rotating
- Desecrator
  - Damage now begins low, but quickly ramps up to its maximum damage
- Frozen
  - Increased the number of Frozen crystals spawned by monsters with this affix
  - Frozen no longer increases how many crystals are spawned based on the number of players in the game
  - Frozen crystals now deal area of effect damage over time to players as they build up to their explosion
- Jailer
  - Now does a small amount of damage when applied to the player
- Vortex
  - Now does a small amount of damage when applied to the player
- Mortar
  - Now has an outer impact area that does less damage than the center of impact
  - Now detonates if they vertically hit a wall
- Plagued
  - Monsters with this affix now sometimes drop a pool under players as well as under themselves
- Reflects Damage
  - No longer reflects a portion of incoming damage
  - Now reflects a fixed amount of damage per attack
- Elite and Champion monsters now have five new possible affixes
  - Frozen Pulse: A shard of ice follows targets around before freezing in place and pulsing cold damage in a small area
  - Orbiter: A nexus of electrical energy appears, surrounded by additional balls of lightning that orbit in a large area
  - Poison Enchanted: Summons globules of poison matter that spread in a cross pattern, dealing damage to those caught in their wake
  - Thunderstorm: A powerful bolt of lightning strikes the ground, emanating a small wave of electrical energy
  - Wormhole: A pair of portals appears, dealing damage as it tears unfortunate targets from their location and transports them elsewhere
Monster density has been revisited
- Density has been retuned around the new difficulty system
- Elite and Champion packs can now spawn in a larger variation of pack sizes
Wasp projectiles can now be dodged and blocked

PARAGON (PARAGON 2.0)

The Paragon leveling system has been completely revamped
- There is no longer a cap on the number of Paragon levels a player can gain
- Paragon levels are now account-wide and shared across all characters
  - Note that Paragon levels are tracked independently between Hardcore and Normal modes
- Players no longer gain static bonuses upon achieving Paragon Levels and bonuses currently earned by players have been removed
- Players now earn Paragon points each level to spend in one of four separate categories: Core, Offense, Defense, and Utility
  - Players with existing Paragon levels have been granted the appropriate number of points to distribute amongst these categories
- With these changes in mind, the Paragon leveling curve has been updated
- Note that all Paragon experience earned across all characters prior to this patch has been totaled and recalculated into your new account-wide Paragon level
  - Paragon points can be allocated by clicking the Paragon button in the Character Paper Doll and Inventory screen (Default Hotkey C)

SOCIAL FEATURES

Clans and Communities have been added to the game
- Clans
  - Anyone may create a Clan, and doing so gives access to the Clan window (default hotkey N)
  - Joining or creating a clan displays your clan tag next to your name
  - Clan members can view the Members Roster, a private chat channel, and a News & Info tab for Clan affairs and information in the Clan window
  - Clans support up to 120 members and require an invitation to join
  - Players may only be a member of one Clan at a time
- Communities
  - Anyone may create a Community, and can view their Community details in the Social tab (default hotkey SHIFT + O)
  - Community members have access to their Members Roster, a dedicated chat channel, and a News & Info tab for sharing stories and Community information
  - Players may join any number of Communities they wish
  - Communities do not have a membership limit; however, if the number of members exceeds 100, only Officers and above will be displayed in the Members Roster
  - Communities can be designated as Private or Public; Private Communities require invitation to join
  - Communities are organized by categories, including but not limited to Classes, Regional, and Game Type

USER INTERFACE

Several quality of life changes have been applied to the User Interface
- The Difficulty and Game Creation menus have been completely redone
- The in-game Menu has been revised
- The waypoint list has been replaced with a waypoint map
- Skill tooltips now show damage type if Advanced Tooltips are enabled
- Several new social options have been added to support Clans and Communities
  - These can be accessed in the Options > Gameplay menu
- New chat colors associated with Clans and Communities have been added
- There is now an option to enable icons for dropped items instead of text
  - This can be enabled in the Options > Gameplay menu
- There is now an option to automatically skip all cut scenes
  - This can be enabled in the Options > Gameplay menu
- Item labels for Gold piles are no longer displayed
  - This is to reduce visual clutter; values are still displayed when gold is picked up

New Layout with a Static Home Page on Blogger

2014-01-28T11:12:00.003-07:00

Today, I was looking at different ways to change my blog. I came across a nice article on how to make a custom static home page in blogger. Here is the link:
http://www.bloggertipspro.com/2012/06/creating-blogger-static-home-page.html

I already had something to this so all I had to do was make minor adjustments. I changed up the Home tab and Resume tab. Now my tabs are the About Me and Resume tab is the home page and the My Blog links to my blog. I rather like this change and am glad that it was so easy to setup.

If you follow along in this tutorial / walk-through, most people should be able to complete it. He has nice pictures and description of what to do. I don't know the outcome for SEO or how this will apply to that.

How to fix Chrome being redirected to "payload.gosidekick.net"

2014-01-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

Remove the iheartradio extension.

Steps to remove extensions:
1) Click the Chrome Menu ( 3 dashes to the right of the Address bar.)
2) Go to Setting, a tab will open
3) Go to Extensions
4) Find the iheartradio app
5) Click the garbage can next to the app in order to remove it

If you are still experiencing these things, you can reset Chrome back to it's original settings.

Steps to reset Chrome:
1) Click the Chrome Menu ( 3 dashes to the right of the Address bar.)
2) Go to Setting, a tab will open
3) Click at the very bottom "Show advanced settings..."
4) Find "Reset browser settings"

INTENSE At Home Cardio Workout Designed to Burn Fat Fast!

2013-07-30T20:27:00.001-06:00

INTENSE At Home Cardio Workout Designed to Burn Fat Fast!

Monday/Wednesday/Friday

Tips: Perform each circuit 3 total times. For example, 3 x 1 minute walking push ups/1 minute jumping jacks/ 1 minute plank/30 second rest. You would perform 1 minute of walking push ups, immediately followed by 1 minute of jumping jacks, immediately followed by a 1 minute plank, then rest for 30 seconds. After the rest is up, you repeat exactly what you did above, two more times total.

Warm up Circuit: 3 x 1 minute Running in Place/1 minute Clapping Jacks/15 second rest

Cardio Explosion Circuit: 3 x 1 minute Tuck Jumps/1 minute Toe Touchers/1 minute Squat Twists/30 second rest

Power Cardio Circuit: 3 x 1 Walking Push ups/1 minute Up/Down Planks/2 minutes Lunge Kicks/30 second rest

Speed Cardio Circuit: 3 x 30 second Burpees/2 minutes  Speed Squats/1 minute Mountain Climbers/ 45 second rest

Cardio Explosion Circuit:  3 x 1 minute Tuck Jumps/1 minute Toe Touchers/1 minute Squat Twists/30 second rest

Speed Cardio Circuit: 3 x 2 minute  Side Shuffles/1 minute Running Zombies/30 seconds High Knees

Tuesday/Thursday

Warm up Circuit: 3 x 1 minute Jumping Jacks/1 minute Standing Twist Crunch/15 second rest

Power Cardio Circuit: 3 x 1 minute Spider Planks/1 minute Horizontal Jacks/1 minute (30 seconds per leg) Single-legged Squat Jumps/30 second rest

Speed Cardio Circuit: 3 x 1 minute Squat Jacks/1 minute Butt Kickers/1 minute Broadway Shuffle/30 second rest

Cardio Explosion Circuit: 3 x 2 minutes Line Jumps/1 minute Jumping Lunges/1 minute Kick Outs/45 second rest

Ab Work: 3 x 100 flutter kicks/40 reverse crunches/1 minute plank/rest 45 seconds

Detroit Files for Bankruptcy --> A Lesson in Governance

2013-07-22T10:46:00.000-06:00

GOVERNMENT

HOW DID ONE OF AMERICA’S GREAT CITIES CRASH? SOME CRAZY FACTS ABOUT DETROIT

Jul. 22, 2013 11:14am Mike Opelka

Based on last week’s bankruptcy filing, Detroit is in dire straits. And according to comments from Governor Rick Snyder, the problem is not tough to see.

Consider some of the brutal facts about Detroit compiled by the Economic Collapse Blog:

Unemployment in the city is almost triple what it was in 2000, and currently sits at 16.3% – more than double the national average of 7.6%.

Image: Detroit Free Press

If you call a cop almost anywhere in America, the wait is an average of 11 minutes. In the Motor City, you’ll wait almost an hour (58 min average response time).
Almost 80,000 homes sit abandoned — many have been vandalized or are being used by a host various drug addicts.
In the first three months of 2013, it was estimated that as many as 40% of the city’s street lights were not working.

Once the 4th largest city in America, Detroit is now down 63%. Since 1950, more people have left Detroit than currently live there. To be specific, at one point Detroit had 1.8 million people — today, the estimate is around 700,000. To wrap your head around that fact, consider that more than 1.1 million people left Detroit. In other words, the entire population of Dallas would have to get up and move away, leaving a ghost town.

Why did the people leave? Jobs. In 1950, Detroit was a manufacturing machine and employed nearly 300,000 people. Today, that number is closer to 25,000.

Image: Zero Hedge

As a consequence of losing both huge numbers of manufacturing jobs and people, Detroit has spent the past six decades heading towards the fiscal issues that forced the city to file for bankruptcy protection.

And think about this: Murder rates are higher than normal in the city and Detroit regularly finds itself atop or near the top of the list of “America’s most dangerous cities.”

There’s more, lots more in the file of disturbing facts about Detroit. Review these nuggets:

Of the remaining population, one report says almost of Detroiters are “functionally illiterate.”
The city owes money to more than 100,000 creditors.
One estimate says the city’s unfunded liabilities now approach $20 billion or 25,000 per remaining resident.
The city has an unsustainable ratio of workers to retirees (who are owed some very generous benefits for decades) – approximately 10,000 workers and 20,000 retirees.
The murder rate is 11 times higher than in NYC, and violent crime happens in the city at a level more than five times the national average.

Why didn’t we see this coming?

Well, some people did. In 2011, financial analyst Meredith Whitney predicted much of the meltdown – and was criticized for it.

And in 2009, Steven Crowder showed what life was like on the streets of the once-proud city.

To see more of the 25 facts about Detroit, visit the Economic Collapse Blog.

Follow Mike Opelka on Twitter – @stuntbrain

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/22/detroit-how-did-one-of-americas-great-cities-crash/

Jeff Thomas Personal Bio

2013-06-29T10:56:00.000-06:00

Today, I added My Profile to the blog and also wrote a Personal Bio. I thought about "Me in 30 Seconds" and other ways to introduce myself. There is obviously more to a person than a 75 word description. Here is the short of what to do.

List your name, your profession, your interests, your family and anything else that can capture you in 4-5 sentences in no more than 2 paragraphs. This is the opportunity to describe what you do, not bullet point it. This isn't exactly how I work - I was referenced yesterday as the "bullet point man." After about a half-hour of research and thinking of myself this is what I put together:

Jeff Thomas is a Business Systems Analyst at Ceridian from Salt Lake City, Utah. He is currently working in the Healthcare Benefits Administration configuring client's open enrollment.
In his spare time, Jeff spends time playing with his family - a loving wife and 3 children, following politics, learning new hobbies, and playing video games. You can contact me at Twitter below or at Jeff.WThomas@gmail.com.

Other steps for the Jeff Thomas SEO Project.
I have changed my post title to be the webpage title.
I have change the H2 to wrap around the post title as well.

Add 10 Years to Your Life

2013-06-22T09:47:00.000-06:00

The 4 Quests by Jane McGonigal which is now on Netflix under the following:

TEDTalks: Life Hack: "Jane McGonigal: The Game That Can Give You 10 Extra Years of Life"

1) Pick one --> Walk 3 steps or raise your hands above your head
+1 Physical Resilience

2) Pick one --> Snap your fingers exactly 50 times or count backwards from 100 by 7 (100, 93, 86...)
+1 Mental Resilience

3) Pick one --> If inside look outside a window, if outside look inside a window. Or look up a YouTube or Google image of your favorite baby animal.
+1 Emotional Resilience

4) Pick one --> Shake someone's hand for 6 seconds or Send someone a quick thank you by text, email, Facebook, or twitter.
+1 Social Resilience

Regularly boosting these 4 resiliences will expand your life span by +10 years.

Post Title to be the Page Title and Author

2013-06-20T18:44:00.001-06:00

Today, I looked up a way to change how the Title of your blog to first show the Post Title instead of the Blog Title.

Blogger SEO help

Also, I changed my profile of the Author from Jeff to Jeff Thomas. Both of these things should help with the SEO Project.

Blogger: Keywords Are Labels

2013-06-18T11:44:00.000-06:00

Doing some research, I just learned that using Blogger for my Jeff Thomas SEO Project that the Keywords are actually called Labels.

This will help out with this project. I am going to start Labeling all my efforts for this with it.

I feel like I should change the header information around. I want the H2 to be the Post Title instead of the date. Then have the H3 as the Date/Time of the post. This may require more work/skill than where I currently am. But I'll look into it later.

Jeff Thomas SEO Project

2013-06-18T00:46:00.001-06:00

I have been thinking for some time that I need to market myself a little better. I just did a Google search on "Jeff Thomas" and I didn't find myself listed in any of the top 34 pages. Sure you can search other terms but I want to concentrate on "Jeff Thomas" specifically.

My goal is to have this blog on page 1 of Google in 6 months using the search "Jeff Thomas". Starting now.

Some measures that will need to be done. Updating this blog both the posts and also possibly the name, description, etc. Researching methods to increase my ranking.

More to come....

First Steps:
Add a Meta-Description.
Jeff W Thomas a Business Analyst, Political Junkie, Gamer, and Most Importantly Family Man!
This was done using Blogger's Settings > Search Preferences under the section Meta tags.

Here are the Header information for this particular theme.
H1 - This is the Blog Title - "Jeff W Thomas"
H2 - These are the dates and the side bar headers
H3 - This is the Title for each Post
H4 - This is the for the Comment section

Update Twitter to the right.

Christmas Message to Poland Warsaw Missionaries and Families

2012-12-17T20:16:00.001-07:00

At this Christmas season, we feel a real need to tell each one of you--missionaries, spouses and children--how well we remember you, how much we love you and how thankful we are that we could serve with you among the Poles. Those were special days which we will always cherish. And you missionaries were the best part. We hope you will share with your children your mission experiences and testimonies so that they will develop their own faith, find happiness and peace in life and carry on this magnificent work.
Last Monday we were in the Salt Lake Temple attending the sealing for Brother Mariusz Redzikowski and his bride, Jonelle. Some of you may remember him. He tried to teach Sister Tobler and me Polish before we arrived in Poland, but as all of you will remember, was not completely successful. We have felt gratitude and attachment to him ever since. The sealing, with its spirit, was a beautiful and moving reminder to us of what is important in life. Three former Poland Warsaw mission presidents and wives--Whipple, Tobler, Lewis--were there. We talked about our wonderful missionaries.
A decade or more later, we still pray for you. We know that our Heavenly Father lives in His Heaven and knows and loves each one of us. We feel love and gratitude to the Lord Jesus Christ for His pure life, His teachings and example and His infinite atonement that will bring all of us back together again, if that is what we want and we live for it. We can hardly believe how blessed we are in being members of His Church and enjoying all of the blessings that come with it. We love and sustain the prophets of God, past and present, and thank them for their legacy of faith and faithfulness to us. Every blessing we have received--and more--we wish for you.
Those of you who are good at math will know that Sister Tobler and I are getting older. I am 76 and she will be 75 on Christmas Day, hence, the name, Carol Joy. Our health is pretty good; we can't complain. Our life is enriched daily by four loving children and spouses, 17 grandchildren (16 living) and now three great grandchildren, a boy and identical twin girls. As my father-in-law used to say, "Had we known the joy of grandchildren, we would have had them first."
May the Lord bless each one of you with the real blessings of Christ and the Christmas season--peace, contentment, love, joy and a desire to serve the Master by serving His children.
Wesolych Swiat and may the Lord bless you.
Love,
Prez. i Siostra Tobler

Mists of Panderia - World of Warcraft Screensaver

2012-10-06T23:49:00.001-06:00

mists-of-pandaria-1920x1080.jpg (1920×1080)

5.2 and 5.3 Frost DK macro
/castsequence [mod] Raise Dead; reset=target Howling Blast,Plague Strike,null
/castsequence [combat] reset=0.3 0,0,0,0,0,Plague Leech
/castsequence reset=0.3 0,0,0,0,Frost Strike
/castsequence reset=0.3 0,0,0,Obliterate
/castsequence reset=0.3 0,0,Soul Reaper
/castsequence reset=0.3 0,Horn of Winter
/castsequence reset=5/target Howling Blast,Plague Strike
/cast [combat] Pillar of Frost
/cast [combat] Empower Rune Weapon
/startattack

DIY antennas: Build your own DTV antenna!

2012-09-09T18:37:00.001-06:00

DIY antennas: Build your own DTV antenna!

http://cdn.makezine.com/make/television/04/DTVAntennaFINAL.pdf

Diablo 3 Monk Gear Guide by Modz

2012-08-08T23:56:00.001-06:00

DatModz

F.A.Q

How do your Giveaways work? When do they occur?

I do my giveaways randomly and they will always follow this format, "I am going to pick a number between 1-99, you get to guess this number! You get only 1 guess, the closest guess to the number I wrote down wins the giveaway! In order to qualify you must be a follower of the stream and on US servers! Don't guess yet, I will tell you when I wrote down the number!", LET THE BEST MAN OR WOMAN WIN!

What website do you use to calculate your dps/upgrades

I use TheAsianGamer Damage Calculator , I find it to be the most accurate and you can save your profiles.

What are your stat priorities on gear?

For each slot I focus on:

Weapons: (Mainhand)- High DPS(Damage Range) so you want a slow weapon ie. Mace, Spear, Axe with a Socket, Critical Hit Damage, Dexterity, Vitality, (Offhand) - High DPS(with a fast weapon) 200+ Dexterity, as close to 100% critical hit damage, Socket and Vitality

Helm : Dexterity, Critical Hit Chance, Resistances, Socket , Life %, FoT Skill Modifier

Shoulders :Dexterity, Vitality, Resistances, Life %, +Armor

Chest : Dexterity, Vitality, 3 sockets, Resistances, +Armor

Pants : Dexterity, Vitality, 2 sockets, Resistances, + armor

Belt: Dexterity, Vitality, Resistances, Armor or Life %, Pick-up Radius

Gloves: Dexterity, Vitality, Resistances, Attack Speed, Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage

Boots: Dexterity, Vitality, Movement Speed, Resistances, +Armor

Bracers: Dexterity, Vitality, Critical Hit Chance, Resistances, Reduced Damage from Melee

Rings: Dexterity, Vitality, Resistances, Attack Speed, Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage

Amulet: Dexterity, Vitality, Life after kill, Resistances, Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage, Attack Speed

What are the max damage modifier values for each of these slots?

Criticial Hit Chance Values:

Gloves, up to 10%

Amulets, up to 8.5%

Bracers, up to 6%

Helms, up to 6%

Rings, up to 4.5%

Critical Hit Damage Values

Weapons, up to 100%, Emeralds add another 100% Max, if the weapon has a socket

Amulets, up to 65%

Gloves, up to 50%

Rings, up to 34%

Attack Speed Values:

Weapons, up to 11%

Amulets, up to 9%

Gloves, up to 9%

Spec: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aSYXgk!aXU!accbYa

Witch Doctor Inferno Guide

2012-06-24T07:05:00.001-06:00

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5912812016

Heleon

I've recently been shown an incredibly overpowered witch doctor build that can be used to solo virtually everything in the game with minimal gear required.

The set up is: Acid Cloud--->Acid Rain

Grasp of the Dead--->Groping Eels

Spirit Walk--->Jaunt

Horrify--->Frightening Aspect

Big Bad Voodoo--->Rain Dance

Gargantuan--->Big Stinker

Passives: Jungle Fortitude, Vision Quest, Spirit Vessel.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ZTUXiQ!ZUV!ZYaYaZ

Basic this build revolves around spamming Acid cloud while stacking life on hit, defense, and chance to freeze.

Every time your acid cloud ticks it has a chance to proc the % chance to freeze effect, therefore, when you spam it, the freeze proc is constantly going off as long as you have a decent set which means mobs are permanently frozen in place if you set it up correctly, elite mobs can literally do nothing, same thing with bosses.

And because each tick procs life on hit with a decent LoH amount you will be able to sit in any affix and basically tank it because you will be getting healed for something like 40-60k per second.

If set up correctly you can stand next to inferno diablo and simply perma freeze him, preventing from using any ability or even transitioning phases.

This build works even better if you have multiple which doctors in the party.

Sorry I have no vid at the moment but try it for yourselves:) you won't do a ton of damage but you can literally clear any content in the game as all mobs including elite packs and bosses will be permanently stunned by your freeze on hit proc, so all you have to worry about is affixes which you simply tank with standard defense stats combined with life on hit constantly proccing from your acid cloud.

Enjoy :D

Peli: How to solo inferno as a Monk from experience

2012-06-15T16:43:00.001-06:00

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5825482987

Hi all, I've seen a lot of complaining about monks in Inferno and people complaining that melee in general is not viable. I just wanted to inspire the community to believe that you don't need to be a full time player or real money spender to get through inferno. All you need is the ability to itemize, budget your income well, and pick the skills that fit your play style best.

I wanted to write a guide describing how I got through Inferno (Diablo and all). The build I used, the game changing items I bought, and general gear selection strategies. I also wanted to toss in some general auction house strategies that you may find helpful.

Key Concepts
Getting the most out of your primary
Sweeping wind = Free Dps
More spirit than you can shake a stick at
Mitigating damage through mobility and well timed invulnerability as well as resistance
Maximizing dps time and countering burst through use of cc, mobility, and invulnerability.

Skill Selection and explanation
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aYgiTh!ZXU!acYZYa

This is the build I used from Act I on. I'm convinced that it truly is the best build out there.

My League of Legends partner and I came up with it and named it:
"The build of answers" because it effectively counters every gimmicky fight in this game along with nearly every combination of affixes that elites can throw at you.

The best part of it is that the build can be used to kite or to stick on to ranged targets.
This makes it great if you are hunting down a treasure goblin or ranged elite or if you are kiting a pack of fire chainers.

I'll now go through each skill and explain it's uses:

Fists of Lightening: Thunderclap

Who would of thought that the very first primary with the very first rune would be what I'd stick with all the way through? Well...I did. The primary is literally the most broken thing monks have going for them. The skill does more damage per second than any other primary, while providing great mobility, while damaging in AoE, while CCing everything in AoE, while generating more spirit than any other primary. And...it proc's life on hit twice in AoE per attack. You can also jump over projectiles and damaging magic affects with the teleport and not take damage.

Blinding Flash: Faith in the Light

This skill is exceptional at providing burst damage, while also opening up an opportunity to freely deal damage. The Faith in the Light rune will proc twice for each Fists of Lightning strike and works off the AoE component to clear a crowd in no time or provide exception burst damage against a single target.

Blinding Flash also is great for interruption, especially against bosses. "Oh you wanted to do your signature move Diablo? NOT TODAY!" It makes Hammer Lords and other monsters with big swings very manageable.

Serenity: Ascension

I've always run ascension over PR. It's just plain better. The extra second of invulnerability will provide you the ability to make more attacks to gain more life and will out weigh the heal once you have a decent amount of life on hit while effectively dealing more damage. The cd also begins refreshing upon activation. Longer duration means a shorter CD.

Sweeping Wind: Blade Storm

This skill makes it possible for a monk with 20k dps to out damage a DH or Wizard with 4 times the damage on their paper doll. It's steady, reliable, free dps in AoE. While kiting mobs I constantly burn them with this skill. It's a necessary part of an inferno monk's kit IMO. It also will constantly apply and refresh resolve even while CC'd.

Seven Sided Strike: Sustained Attack

This skill is the most under-rated skill in the monk's kit. I've used it since I unlocked it and it's allowed me to win. It's a cleanse, heal, aggro shed, burst dps, ranged dps, invulnerability skill all wrapped into one.

The most obvious benefit is the invulnerability. You can avoid an arcane sentry, molten explosion/frozen explosion, a big swing, or a projectile by timing the skill well. With some life on hit (or spirit spent) it also will give you a decent heal. The damage it deals is phenomenal against a single target or a target that is hovering over an area that can't be accessed (or on the other side of a wall). Monsters also forget you exist and go chasing after your Merc (or mystic ally if you run one) which is very handy if you get yourself surrounded.
The ability is also great for keeping your 3 stack of sweeping wind and giving the enemy elites a poke at range.

I enjoy sustained attack because it provides me with the tool more often. With a 7 second shorter cd I can alternate between this and serenity to enjoy cc immunity/burst damage immunity every 5 seconds over the course of an extended fight. That strategy counters almost every boss in this game and many elites!

Mantra of Evasion: Hard Target

This mantra is excellent to keep your armor on par with your resistance. Right now, self buffed, I'm enjoying 72.80% mitigation from armor and 72.84% from resistance. It closes that gap between your resistances and armor nicely and makes grabbing dex with seize the initiative more rewarding.

The mantra itself is also really amazing. It gives me about 10% more dodge passively and an additional 9% or so when I activate it to give me a 54% chance to dodge in a pinch. That's huge against melee elites as you can use the active on this mantra to avoid damage spikes between cds. This is way way more useful than the pathetic life regen of MoH with time of need, especially since it has a broken active atm (Blizz plz fix).

One with Everything: Mandatory! Stacking a single resistance is a cheap and effective way to get a lot of stats for not a lot of gold. Getting 40+ of the same resist on each piece is not expensive but is very very effective and even more cost effective.

Seize the initiative: This skill scales with you. Upon entering inferno, chances are that its not going to be as good for you as Transcendence. Upon achieving 1000 dex you should consider switching Transcendence out for Seize as it will effectively decrease incoming damage by 25% at that point.

Resolve: This ability is the tried and true passive that I've used since normal mode. At no point should it ever be replaced unless you are rolling a Dw/ 2-hander glass cannon spec. At low levels, it vastly out performs Seize and at high levels it vastly out performs transcendence. So it always has a spot in your build.

Itemizing your Monk

First off, every so often, go to the AH and don't buy anything. Instead go to the sell tab and look at each piece of gear. Honestly question each piece's strength and try and replace the weakest link.

IT IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE:

1) Keep your weapon up to date (dps / attack speed is all that matters)
2) Keep your Amulet up to date (600 life on hit amulets out perform EVERYTHING! and they are vastly less expensive than IAS amulets. (It doesn't even need other stats tbh.))
3) Keep your Shield up to date (It is huge to keep your armor value up to par, AND to have a shield with a good block percentage AND amount)
4) If those 3 pieces are sitting nicely, then upgrade your weakest slot.

What to look for in a weapon:

First off, base attack speed. Monks should really only be using daggers and fist weapons unless they find something with 25% IAS on it. You don't want to use anything with an attack rate under 1.4. Ideally, you want something with an attack rate over 1.6.

DON'T WASTE YOUR GOLD ON LoH WEAPONS! The reason these are so over priced is because the people buying them are guys that have Diablo on farm and have tons of gold for upgrades. It's a huge distraction for anyone progressing and a huge waste of gold.

You can get plenty enough LoH using your ring and amulet slots. Again,
DO NOT SACRIFICE DPS FOR LoH!

Jewelry:

Get a 600 LoH amulet. The is the most affordable slot to get lots of LoH. If you can find one with good other stats and your stacked resist, all the better. Don't waste 12 million on a poorly rolled Blackthorne's Medal!!!

You can find very reasonably priced rings with other stats and 250+ LoH on AH. I'd recommend finding rings with your stacked resist + LoH (dex is expensive in this slot and IAS is way way expensive [but really good if you can find it]).

Armor:

Try to get stuff with 40+ resist of your stacked resist. It's cheap and effective!
Also look for all resist, dex, and if possible vit or %life
However! The amount of each is more important than having all of them. People will try to charge you 10 million for a piece with 100 dex and 100 vit on it. But will only charge you 3 million for a piece with the same stats but 200 vit or 200 dex on it. Keep an eye on these things!
I have 4 dedicated "HP" slots with minimal dex and the rest of my gear has no HP on it at all but tons of dex.
AND I SAVED TONS OF MONEY DOING IT THAT WAY!

Some things to look for when building gear:

A socket and % damage for your primary on your helm. The rest of the stats don't have to be anything special but these two are really powerful! I have 9% bonus damage to FoL and 15% extra hp on my helm, some resist and minimal dex and vit +armor for my helm. I spent 900k on it and I couldn't find an upgrade for 10 mill...

Movement speed on boots: I run 12% MS on some sage's seekers that I picked up for under a million. Move speed is so so effective for kiting, dodging things manually, and keeping your dps in time high.

Attack speed on gloves: This is a very easy way to get lots of dps for not a huge cost.

Block and crit on shield: block is a given. Crit on gloves will cost you millions with a high amount of dex and IAS. But it goes for a fraction of the cost on shields since DH don't run shields. It's a great way to improve your dps!

Here is the compendium done by Unleashed. Use it!
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5573705891

When itemizing the following things are most important (in corresponding order):

1) Life on Hit: Since your weapon won't have this, you have 3 slots to work with. Use all three of them to get your LoH above 1k.
2) IAS: An expensive little stat, best picked up on your weapon and gloves. Rings with both LoH and IAS are over costed, avoid them unless you find a reasonably priced gem. Keep your attack's per second around or above 2.
3) The resist you are stacking: Cheap and effective. It's the central focus across your armor slots!
4) Dex: Armor, dodge chance, and Damage. What's not to love?
5) Resist all: (int/9 counts) valuable in large doses in combination with 40+ of the resist you are stacking to get that resist all stat up there.
6) Armor: (strength counts) Dex is the best source of armor but +armor and high base armor is beneficial.
6) Vitality/%life: Use both in combination for max effect. Look for a few items with massive amounts of HP plus your stacked resist. Get your health pool over 28k and focus on your resistances. Anything that can 1 shot you with high resists and armor at this hp pool is slow enough or predictable enough to avoid. High resists and low hp means inflated value of LoH, healing (potions), and block values, which is exactly what we are going for.

Another fun and useful stat to consider:

Chance on hit to CC. These items make bosses a joke. The best one is freeze (on belt) as it works literally on every mob in the game (including treasure goblins). Stun, and blind are also good. "Hey Diablo, chill out!" Each auto attack with FoL has 2 chances to proc one of these if using a thunderclap rune and it works with the AoE. Don't sacrifice large amounts of other stats to get theses, but when given the option, get them (totally worth it!).

So here's all my little secrets that I've been hoarding until I placed Diablo on his back.

For reference here were the stats I had the first time I knocked out Diablo.

1200 LoH
2.04 Attack per second
18,300 damage (on paper doll)
29,000 hp
730 resist all
7,100 armor (buffed 20% hard target)
43% chance to dodge (buffed)
23% chance to block
4.7% chance to stun
2.1% chance to blind
2.3% chance to freeze

Feel free to ask any questions and comment. I'll keep an eye on this thread.

Wellesley High grads told: “You’re not special” | The Swellesley Report

2012-06-08T06:57:00.001-06:00

Wellesley High grads told: “You’re not special” | The Swellesley Report

By BBROWN | Published: JUNE 5, 2012
We’d been hearing good things over the weekend about Wellesley High School English teacher David McCullough, Jr.’s faculty speech to the Class of 2012 last Friday. Here it is, in its entirety, courtesy of Mr. McCullough:
Dr. Wong, Dr. Keough, Mrs. Novogroski, Ms. Curran, members of the board of education, family and friends of the graduates, ladies and gentlemen of the Wellesley High School class of 2012, for the privilege of speaking to you this afternoon, I am honored and grateful. Thank you.
            So here we are… commencement… life’s great forward-looking ceremony. (And don’t say, “What about weddings?” Weddings are one-sided and insufficiently effective. Weddings are bride-centric pageantry. Other than conceding to a list of unreasonable demands, the groom just stands there. No stately, hey-everybody-look-at-me procession. No being given away. No identity-changing pronouncement. And can you imagine a television show dedicated to watching guys try on tuxedos? Their fathers sitting there misty-eyed with joy and disbelief, their brothers lurking in the corner muttering with envy. Left to men, weddings would be, after limits-testing procrastination, spontaneous, almost inadvertent… during halftime… on the way to the refrigerator. And then there’s the frequency of failure: statistics tell us half of you will get divorced. A winning percentage like that’ll get you last place in the American League East. The Baltimore Orioles do better than weddings.)
            But this ceremony… commencement… a commencement works every time. From this day forward… truly… in sickness and in health, through financial fiascos, through midlife crises and passably attractive sales reps at trade shows in Cincinnati, through diminishing tolerance for annoyingness, through every difference, irreconcilable and otherwise, you will stay forever graduated from high school, you and your diploma as one, ‘til death do you part.
            No, commencement is life’s great ceremonial beginning, with its own attendant and highly appropriate symbolism. Fitting, for example, for this auspicious rite of passage, is where we find ourselves this afternoon, the venue. Normally, I avoid clichés like the plague, wouldn’t touch them with a ten-foot pole, but here we are on a literal level playing field. That matters. That says something. And your ceremonial costume… shapeless, uniform, one-size-fits-all. Whether male or female, tall or short, scholar or slacker, spray-tanned prom queen or intergalactic X-Box assassin, each of you is dressed, you’ll notice, exactly the same. And your diploma… but for your name, exactly the same.
            All of this is as it should be, because none of you is special.
            You are not special. You are not exceptional.
            Contrary to what your u9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you… you’re nothing special.
            Yes, you’ve been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped. Yes, capable adults with other things to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wiped your mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you, tutored you, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you, consoled you and encouraged you again. You’ve been nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored. You’ve been feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie. Yes, you have. And, certainly, we’ve been to your games, your plays, your recitals, your science fairs. Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet. Why, maybe you’ve even had your picture in the Townsman! [Editor’s upgrade: Or The Swellesley Report!] And now you’ve conquered high school… and, indisputably, here we all have gathered for you, the pride and joy of this fine community, the first to emerge from that magnificent new building…
            But do not get the idea you’re anything special. Because you’re not.
            The empirical evidence is everywhere, numbers even an English teacher can’t ignore. Newton, Natick, Nee… I am allowed to say Needham, yes? …that has to be two thousand high school graduates right there, give or take, and that’s just the neighborhood Ns. Across the country no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating about now from more than 37,000 high schools. That’s 37,000 valedictorians… 37,000 class presidents… 92,000 harmonizing altos… 340,000 swaggering jocks… 2,185,967 pairs of Uggs. But why limit ourselves to high school? After all, you’re leaving it. So think about this: even if you’re one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion that means there are nearly 7,000 people just like you. Imagine standing somewhere over there on Washington Street on Marathon Monday and watching sixty-eight hundred yous go running by. And consider for a moment the bigger picture: your planet, I’ll remind you, is not the center of its solar system, your solar system is not the center of its galaxy, your galaxy is not the center of the universe. In fact, astrophysicists assure us the universe has no center; therefore, you cannot be it. Neither can Donald Trump… which someone should tell him… although that hair is quite a phenomenon.
            “But, Dave,” you cry, “Walt Whitman tells me I’m my own version of perfection! Epictetus tells me I have the spark of Zeus!” And I don’t disagree. So that makes 6.8 billion examples of perfection, 6.8 billion sparks of Zeus. You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless. In our unspoken but not so subtle Darwinian competition with one another–which springs, I think, from our fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality — we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement. We have come to see them as the point — and we’re happy to compromise standards, or ignore reality, if we suspect that’s the quickest way, or only way, to have something to put on the mantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something with which to leverage ourselves into a better spot on the social totem pole. No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it… Now it’s “So what does this get me?” As a consequence, we cheapen worthy endeavors, and building a Guatemalan medical clinic becomes more about the application to Bowdoin than the well-being of Guatemalans. It’s an epidemic — and in its way, not even dear old Wellesley High is immune… one of the best of the 37,000 nationwide, Wellesley High School… where good is no longer good enough, where a B is the new C, and the midlevel curriculum is called Advanced College Placement. And I hope you caught me when I said “one of the best.” I said “one of the best” so we can feel better about ourselves, so we can bask in a little easy distinction, however vague and unverifiable, and count ourselves among the elite, whoever they might be, and enjoy a perceived leg up on the perceived competition. But the phrase defies logic. By definition there can be only one best. You’re it or you’re not.
            If you’ve learned anything in your years here I hope it’s that education should be for, rather than material advantage, the exhilaration of learning. You’ve learned, too, I hope, as Sophocles assured us, that wisdom is the chief element of happiness. (Second is ice cream… just an fyi) I also hope you’ve learned enough to recognize how little you know… how little you know now… at the moment… for today is just the beginning. It’s where you go from here that matters.
            As you commence, then, and before you scatter to the winds, I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance. Don’t bother with work you don’t believe in any more than you would a spouse you’re not crazy about, lest you too find yourself on the wrong side of a Baltimore Orioles comparison. Resist the easy comforts of complacency, the specious glitter of materialism, the narcotic paralysis of self-satisfaction. Be worthy of your advantages. And read… read all the time… read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life. Develop and protect a moral sensibility and demonstrate the character to apply it. Dream big. Work hard. Think for yourself. Love everything you love, everyone you love, with all your might. And do so, please, with a sense of urgency, for every tick of the clock subtracts from fewer and fewer; and as surely as there are commencements there are cessations, and you’ll be in no condition to enjoy the ceremony attendant to that eventuality no matter how delightful the afternoon.
            The fulfilling life, the distinctive life, the relevant life, is an achievement, not something that will fall into your lap because you’re a nice person or mommy ordered it from the caterer. You’ll note the founding fathers took pains to secure your inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness–quite an active verb, “pursuit”–which leaves, I should think, little time for lying around watching parrots rollerskate on Youtube. The first President Roosevelt, the old rough rider, advocated the strenuous life. Mr. Thoreau wanted to drive life into a corner, to live deep and suck out all the marrow. The poet Mary Oliver tells us to row, row into the swirl and roil. Locally, someone… I forget who… from time to time encourages young scholars to carpe the heck out of the diem. The point is the same: get busy, have at it. Don’t wait for inspiration or passion to find you. Get up, get out, explore, find it yourself, and grab hold with both hands. (Now, before you dash off and get your YOLO tattoo, let me point out the illogic of that trendy little expression–because you can and should live not merely once, but every day of your life. Rather than You Only Live Once, it should be You Live Only Once… but because YLOO doesn’t have the same ring, we shrug and decide it doesn’t matter.)
            None of this day-seizing, though, this YLOOing, should be interpreted as license for self-indulgence. Like accolades ought to be, the fulfilled life is a consequence, a gratifying byproduct. It’s what happens when you’re thinking about more important things. Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you. Go to Paris to be in Paris, not to cross it off your list and congratulate yourself for being worldly. Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others, the rest of the 6.8 billion–and those who will follow them. And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special.
            Because everyone is.
            Congratulations. Good luck. Make for yourselves, please, for your sake and for ours, extraordinary lives.
                                                                                    David McCullough

Inferno Monk Guide - Forums - Diablo III

2012-06-02T08:45:00.001-06:00

Inferno Monk Guide - Forums - Diablo III
by tongxinglian #637

A few days ago I managed to solo all of Inferno and since then I have been getting spammed with with questions from fellow monk friends. Thus, I have decided to make a brief guide to help other monks through inferno.

Part 1-Resists Resists are the key to any monk build as most of you know. Melee in general have an extreme disadvantage right now because skilled ranged classes can kite all day and don't need near the amount of resist we do. To put things into perspective, I had almost 1200 resist to all when soloing Diablo. Which leads to my next topic-how monks should gear and spec to maximize their resistance.

The key to resistances as a monk is using the passive One of Everything. This passive will allow you to get your resistances fairly high. The passive allows all your resistances to be equal to your highest one. Thus when gearing to abuse this passive, try to pick one element you want to stack (probably easiest if you pick the element you are already highest with) and look for gear that has resistance to that element on it and resist to all elements. So for instance, if fire resistance is your highest, if you get gear with 50 resistance to fire and 50 resistance to all elements, you are actually adding 100 resistance to all elements. As you can see for yourself, abusing this can really add up.

The next step to maximizing your resistance is using Mantra of Healing with the rune Time of Need. This will boost your resistance by 20%, which can be a very large number as your resistances get higher.

Part 2-Spec The two specs I used for soloing are: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#WYjXgQ!ZYU!ZacYYc http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#bZjXgQ!aYU!aZcYYc The first one is only for if you have your resists at a decent mark. It allows you to be in melee range and take hits. It is meant to reduce the amount of damage you take to a minimum. Please note though, even though we are a melee class, there is no amount of resist I have found that will let you continuously sit in melee range.

You going to have to kite sometimes until your cooldowns come back up. My usual rotation against high level inferno mobs is to open with a blind-> serenity ->breath of heaven (to get your spirit back and heal) ->spam mantra of healing ->repeat. Also make sure to always have your ally up. For bosses this rotation is similar however I tend to save my blind and serenity to stop or avoid boss mechanics. Blind is also great if you need to get your ally back up. The second spec is meant for people who are struggling with resist. This is a kite build. The idea is to have your ally up and use deadly reach to get hits in while running. If mobs get too close, use your lashing tail kick to peel and slow them down. This is also a great spec for most of the bosses in inferno. As you can see I use ally in both builds. I think the ally is crucial because it takes aggro away from you, thus minimizing damage on you. Also the 10% HP boost is pretty nice.

Part 3-Gear The order of stats you should focus on is: 1) Resists 2) Vitality 3) Dexterity 4) Attack Speed I can not stress enough to focus on resists before anything else. When I soloed I only had 12k dps. DPS is not going to keep you alive. Once you have decent stats, my biggest suggestion to you is maximizing attack speed without sacrificing resists. When weapon shopping look for fists or daggers only which have a attack speed bonus on them. This is because the faster you attack, the faster you generate spirit. With an excess of spirit you will always have enough spirit to use your crucial skills when needed and be able to spam mantra of healing. That is pretty much all the tips I have.

The only other tip I have is that in regards to groups, I find that grouping with a barb is very beneficial. Ask him to use his resistance shout. When stacked with your mantra your resistances will get to absurd amount (2k to all resistances is doable). Since both of you will have low dps, ask him to go earthquake (and beserker too if has decent gear). With this combo you can pull whole zones and he can earthquake them down. If you have any questions or would like to add to this guide please feel free to post. Guide Additions

Part 4-Farming Since many of the posts claim that money seems to be an issue, I have decided to add a monk farming section to help. I will show you that it is possible to make 4 mil a day minimum. The first run is for people that are struggling getting into Act 2. You won't make amazing gold but it will be enough to get the gear you need to start farming harder stuff.

1) Select Imprisoned Angel Quest-The Cursed Hold in Act 1.

2) Go to festering woods. There should be packs roaming outside the waypoint, if not locate the two caves. There is one pack per cave. Get 2 Stacks.

3) Once you have 2 stacks go to Halls of Agony Level 2. You should get at least one stack in here while finding the exit.

4) Enter the cursed hold, there should be at least 2 more packs in here which will cap you at 5. Free the prisoners and kill the warden.

5) Locate the butcher and kill any packs on the way.

6) Kill the butcher Note: Doing this run will help you find some upgrades needed for Act 2. However, what you will find is a lot of it is garbage. You will however find resist to all elements gear which is your money maker. Many resist to all gear in Act 1 will sell for 200k minimum. Some rings I have found in there have even gone for a mil+. The next run what I currently do to farm my gold. I average about 4 mil a day doing this run.

The great thing is you don't need amazing gear for this run, just patience. However once gear comes this run can be done in about 30 min.

1) Select the quest Siegebreaker-Kill the Siegebreaker

2) Go to Rakkis Crossing to pick up tyreal. Clear all the mobs to seigebreaker. Most likely you will get a stack. If you see dungeon open called underbridge, go inside.

3)Clear all mobs in the underbridge and look for a chest. Make sure if you see the chest do not open it until you have 5 stacks.

4) Go to the keep depths level 1. As soon as you go to the WP, if you head out of the first room and you enter a giant room with fire, it is likely there is a chest there too. Again, do not open it until you 5 stacks. Proceed to get 2 stacks from level 1.

5) Once you get 2 stacks, port to town, go back to level 1 WP and go to keep depths level 2. Get 2 stacks. If you don't have 5 stacks by now port to town and go to level 3.

6) Go loot all the chests you left.

7) Kill seigebreaker Now the reason why I say you do not need amazing gear for this and just patience...is that with Tyreal he can kill most of the rare packs. You can die, AFK for a few minutes and let him go to work.

Please note, if the mobs are vampiric, shielding, or health link, you need to help him kill them. If you don't have the gear for it either skip them or pull them to the entrance and rez-> serenity->dps repeat....once you get gear you wont have to die at all. And trust me, in the end it is worth the repair bill starting out. The reason why I think act 3 is good, is because you can still get amazing loot from it and eventually the run times become fast. You can get 1h 1.1k dps weps (which are selling for 5 mil+). Many of the blues you get will be 700+ 1h which will sell for around 100k. And last, the resist gear I haven gotten has been as high as 70+ to all elements which with the right stats will sell for a few mil.

Inferno Monk Guide - Forums - Diablo III

1 Breath of Heaven(Great Single or Multi Target Heal)-Circle of Life

2 Serenity(Escape Tool + Great Heal)-Peaceful Repose

3 Inner Sanctuary(Blocking/Escape Tool + Great Heal)-Safe Haven

4 Mantra of Healing(Life Per Second + Increased LPS)-Sustenance

Primary Attack Fist of Thunder(Good for quick in and out attacks + AoE)-Thunderclap

Secondary Attack Sweeping Wind(Good AoE for Kiting)-Bladestorm

Passives

-Sixth Sense(Increased Dodge)

-Seize the Initiative(Increased Armor by 100% Dex)

-Beacon of Ytar(15% Reduction on Cooldowns)

Use a shield, with this build you will have to time CDs correctly and learn to kite properly, it is good for both party and solo play, been using it and have not had any issues, good luck and happy hunting!!

Inferno Monk Guide - Forums - Diablo III

Part 4-Farming Since many of the posts claim that money seems to be an issue, I have decided to add a monk farming section to help. I will show you that it is possible to make 4 mil a day minimum.

The first run is for people that are struggling getting into Act 2. You won't make amazing gold but it will be enough to get the gear you need to start farming harder stuff.

1) Select Imprisoned Angel Quest-The Cursed Hold in Act 1.

2) Go to festering woods. There should be packs roaming outside the waypoint, if not locate the two caves. There is one pack per cave. Get 2 Stacks.

3) Once you have 2 stacks go to Halls of Agony Level 2. You should get at least one stack in here while finding the exit.

4) Enter the cursed hold, there should be at least 2 more packs in here which will cap you at 5. Free the prisoners and kill the warden.

5) Locate the butcher and kill any packs on the way.

6) Kill the butcher Note: Doing this run will help you find some upgrades needed for Act 2. However, what you will find is a lot of it is garbage.

You will however find resist to all elements gear which is your money maker. Many resist to all gear in Act 1 will sell for 200k minimum. Some rings I have found in there have even gone for a mil+. The next run what I currently do to farm my gold. I average about 4 mil a day doing this run. The great thing is you don't need amazing gear for this run, just patience. However once gear comes this run can be done in about 30 min.

1) Select the quest Siegebreaker-Kill the Siegebreaker

2) Go to Rakkis Crossing to pick up tyreal. Clear all the mobs to seigebreaker. Most likely you will get a stack. If you see dungeon open called underbridge, go inside.

3)Clear all mobs in the underbridge and look for a chest. Make sure if you see the chest do not open it until you have 5 stacks.

4) Go to the keep depths level 1. As soon as you go to the WP, if you head out of the first room and you enter a giant room with fire, it is likely there is a chest there too. Again, do not open it until you 5 stacks. Proceed to get 2 stacks from level 1.

5) Once you get 2 stacks, port to town, go back to level 1 WP and go to keep depths level 2. Get 2 stacks. If you don't have 5 stacks by now port to town and go to level 3.

6) Go loot all the chests you left.

7) Kill seigebreaker Now the reason why I say you do not need amazing gear for this and just patience...is that with Tyreal he can kill most of the rare packs. You can die, AFK for a few minutes and let him go to work. Please note, if the mobs are vampiric, shielding, or health link, you need to help him kill them. If you don't have the gear for it either skip them or pull them to the entrance and rez-> serenity->dps repeat....once you get gear you wont have to die at all.

And trust me, in the end it is worth the repair bill starting out. The reason why I think act 3 is good, is because you can still get amazing loot from it and eventually the run times become fast. You can get 1h 1.1k dps weps (which are selling for 5 mil+). Many of the blues you get will be 700+ 1h which will sell for around 100k. And last, the resist gear I haven gotten has been as high as 70+ to all elements which with the right stats will sell for a few mil.

Jeff W Thomas

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Inferno Monk Guide - Forums - Diablo III