Source: https://www.bungie.net/en/News/Article/49971
This week at Bungie, Hawkmoon, next-gen, and the Dawning, oh my!
OK, so it’s been another action-packed week with updates to the game and news about the future, so let’s just get into it. We started off on Tuesday with an early morning dev update on the state of rewards in the game. We wanted to share some of the plans to improve rewards as well as a few other exciting things coming up. The whole update is definitely worth a read, but I stole some bullets:

• In Season 13, we’re adding six new Legendary weapons to our ritual activities, two each for strikes, Gambit, and Crucible.
• In addition to the weapons above, Nightfall strikes are getting three unique weapons, with The Palindrome, The Swarm, and Shadow Price all making their Destiny 2 debuts. If you’re brave enough to take on Grandmaster Nightfalls, you will be also able to earn Adept versions of these weapons.
• Transmog will be coming with Season 14. More details to come. (See work-in-progress mock-ups!)
• DDoS protection for Destiny 2 players on all consoles will be coming in Season 13.
• The Vault of Glass raid returns in Year 4.
• Crossplay is coming in 2021.
• Two strikes (Fallen S.A.B.E.R. and Devil’s Lair) are coming to Destiny 2 in Season 13.
• Legendary and Master Lost Sector rotation will be expanded to include the Lost Sectors on the Moon in Season 13, and there will be new three new pieces of Exotic armor to chase.

That very same day, Update 3.0.1 went live with several important fixes as well as next-gen enhancements for consoles so you can experience the beauty of Destiny 2 with moar frames and moar FOV! We wrote up an article that covers these new enhancements in detail as well as the new ability to pick up bounties from the Companion App and the return of the Prophecy dungeon.
This week also saw the return of Hawkmoon. The highly sought-after Exotic Hand Cannon makes its debut into Destiny 2 with a reworked perk that no longer relies on RNG but still packs a punch. Season Pass owners can now visit Spider to set off on the quest to claim their Hawkmoon.
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The Dawning

This very merry morning we shared a peek at this year’s Dawning event that kicks off next week!
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Eva Levante is coming to town! She has new cookie recipes and new gifts for all the good Guardians... even if they did adopt Darkness powers.
But I digress. Check out our Dawning page for a quick look at what the event has to offer this year. The Tower is going to be all dressed up again, and we’re putting the Griswold touch on the decorations.
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Everyone knows the best gifts vaporize your enemies. Glacioclasm is a new Legendary Fusion Rifle being introduced during this event with random rolls available so each one you open is special. Plus - Glacioclasm is just fun to say. Try saying it without smiling, I dare you! I double-dog dare you. Anyway, here is a preview of the weapon.
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As you are flying around delivering baked goods you will need a new ship to spread cheer in style. Eva has a new Exotic ship that you will be able to upgrade throughout the event to change its look. You will be able to customize the engine streams, different spawn effects, and unlock a new animated shader unique to the ship!
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Eva has also set up a fun new celebration for this year's Dawning that involves even more gifts... for you! As the community generates Dawning Spirit by completing activities you will be able to progress a special community pursuit with your cookie skills and then find new gifts waiting for you under the tree. The big glowy one, you can’t miss it. We don’t want to spoil all the surprises but you may find some upgrade materials in these gifts.
There will also be some fun stuff at the Eververse store as well. All of the new items added to the store will be available at some point for Bright Dust with the exception of the Glee Barrage and Merry Maker weapon ornaments and Happy Trails finisher which will be available for Silver. Here is a preview of a few of the Sparrows, Ghost Shells, and a ship that are sure to get you in the spirit.
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Super Smash Warlock Melee

Shortly after launch, we put out a hotfix to reel in Stasis a bit. When we made these changes we wanted them to have as much efficacy as possible and that meant using broad strokes to cover a lot of ground. This led to us hitting Penumbral Blast's range harder than many players felt was necessary. Upon review and hearing the feedback we felt that while Penumbral Blast's range needed to come in - there is room to push it back out and have it feel more consistent when hitting targets at range. Here is a preview of patch notes coming in a hotfix next week.

Penumbral Blast:

• Projectile range increased by 37%
• Minimum distance to cast ranged melee reduced by 32%.
  
  • This allows you to throw the ranged melee closer to targets.

One... Million... Dollars

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You have been absolutely crushing it raising money to support the Bungie Foundation and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. As of this writing you have raised 1,036,555 so far and you still have until December 13 to donate to a cause that benefits sick kids across the country. If you haven’t donated yet, there are some great prize incentives listed here for donating.
Speaking of incentives, now that we have hit $1 million we are going to start releasing Destiny lore readings by the following special guests for every $50,000 donation milestone we hit!

• Giacomo Gianniotti: Dr. Andrew DeLuca, Grey’s Anatomy
• Morla Gorrondona: Eris Morn, Destiny 2
• Erika Ishii: Ana Bray, Destiny 2
• Peter Jessop: Guardian/Exo Male, Destiny 2
• Neil Kaplan: Dominus Ghaul, Destiny 2
• Nyambi Nyambi: Jay Dipersia, The Good Fight
• Brandon O'Neill: Uldren Sov, Destiny 2
• Moira Quirk: Emissary/The Exo StrangeOrin, Destiny 2
• Zehra Fazal: Guardian, Destiny 2

Thank you to everyone who has donated or volunteered to help raise money through streams and other incentives. It’s always amazing what this community can do when it comes together. Finish strong!

Spreading Update Cheer

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We had another deployment this week which means our player support specialists were watching closely and tracking any issues that popped up.
This is their report.

CONNECTION AND SERVER ISSUES

Since Update 3.0.1.1 on December 8, we’ve been investigating various connection issues, including the following error codes: PRUNE, and WEASEL. The BEE, CACAO, CENTIPEDE, and CHICKEN error codes have since been resolved.

TRIALS OF OSIRIS REWARD SCHEDULE

Trials of Osiris is expected to return on December 18. Due to the delay of launching Trials, a few changes were made to the reward schedule: During the first four weeks, the Flawless chest will drop an Adept Weapon. The fifth week will drop an armor piece, with subsequent weeks switching the rewards back and forth between Adept weapons and armor as previously mentioned here. Adept weapon mods will drop each week.

PS4 FRIENDS LIST UPDATE

Since the launch of Beyond Light, we’ve been investigating an issue for PlayStation 4 players who could only see a small number of their friends online in their Roster. We discovered this issue only affected those with more than 100 friends in their Roster. This issue has been resolved, but after further testing we discovered another issue affecting how online friends are displayed. That issue will be fixed on December 14 in Hotfix 3.0.1.2.

XBOX SERIES X|S FREEZING ISSUE

While unlikely, it’s possible that Destiny 2 may freeze up when signing out of an Xbox Live profile while inside the game. We recommend quitting out of the Destiny 2 app first before signing out. If the game does freeze, players can press the Xbox Guide button on their controller, select Destiny 2, and then select Quit. This issue will be fixed on December 14 in Hotfix 3.0.1.2.

VESPER OF RADIUS UPDATE

Last Friday, we disabled Vesper of Radius due to it being possible to cast a Rift while falling off a ledge which, when combined with Stasis, could result in a quick lethal combo to opposing players in Crucible. Rift energy wasn’t being used, so it was possible to repeat again right after execution. This issue will be fixed on December 17 in Hotfix 3.0.1.3.

SPOILS OF CONQUEST

We’re investigating an issue where players can put their Spoils of Conquest raid currency in their vault, resulting in it disappearing. While we continue our investigation, players should refrain from putting Spoils of Conquest in their vault.

NEXT-GEN UPDATES

Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 players who are migrating from Xbox One and PlayStation 4, respectively, will need to download the full-size version of Destiny 2 to get all of the benefits of our next-gen update. For more information, please read our TWAB from December 3.
PlayStation 4 players upgrading to PlayStation 5 may need to highlight Destiny 2 on the PlayStation 5 home screen or PlayStation 5 Store, click the three dots menu, and select the PlayStation 5 Upgrade download. Click here for more information.

Along with our next-gen updates, we discovered that some player settings on PC were transferred to players’ console accounts if they are Cross Saved. Until we can implement a fix, console players experiencing FPS or screen-tearing issues can go into their game’s Settings > Video, and choose “Reset to Default” to resolve these issues.

KNOWN ISSUES

While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help Forum:

• We’re investigating reports that cross-gen matchmaking sometimes doesn’t work.
• FPS issues on PC. Please help us determine the cause by posting your information in this thread.
• PlayStation Remote Play reverts controller remapping and may not function at all.
• Deafening Whisper doesn’t trigger the Abyssal Extractors perk on Nezarec’s Sin Exotic helmet.
• Nezarec’s Sin Exotic helmet no longer triggers for five seconds after the second kill and all buff kills are now 2.5 seconds. This is intentional, but we failed to call it out in the patch notes for Update 3.0.0.1. The “original” functionality was a bug that applied 2.5 seconds twice for each subsequent kill.
• Necrotic Grip doesn’t give melee energy on corrupted combatant kills. This is intentional, and the Exotic will be updated to remove the text mentioning this.
• Necrotic Grip doesn’t poison combatants when a ranged melee attack breaks their shield from full.
• Honed for Speed and Ascendant Champion Triumphs don't unlock when completing the Keep of Honed Edges Ascendant Challenge.
• Toland doesn’t appear in the Shattered Ruins Ascendant Challenge.
• Surrounded perk buff does not linger when using Surrounded Spec mod.
• True Prophecy has been removed from world loot pool. This is intentional.
• The Shotgun Dexterity arm mod shown in legs category in Collections.
• The Line in the Sand weapon model has random protrusion when held.
• The Unrelenting weapon perk isn’t functional.
• Lost Lament quest sometimes needs to be abandoned and reacquired to continue.
• Thunderlord is currently missing its scope.
• The Ahamkara Bones may not spawn in the Agonarch Abyss Ascendant Challenge.

For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, players can review our Known Issues article. Players who observe other issues should report them to our #Help forum.

On Demand

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Welcome to yet another exciting edition of Movie of the Week. This is your time to shine as we share a few of our favorite community created videos we come across during the week. Here are picks for this week.
Movie of the Week: Turtles in their Teens.
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Movie of the Week: We can build bridges...
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As always, our winners are taking home a special emblem. If you won, congrats! Just please make sure you put a link to your Bungie.net profile in the description of your video.

It Belongs in a Museum

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Moving pictures aren’t the only thing we like to highlight in the community. All forms of stationary art are welcome too, and we have a special emblem to give to every artist we highlight. Here are the pieces that caught our eye this week.
Art of the Week: Titan’s Best Friend

friendship ended with guillotine now lament is my titan's best friend #Destiny2 #DestinyArt pic.twitter.com/1dwhxcJBeb
— MOREBIRD (@morebirb) December 9, 2020

Art of the Week: Crow and Glint

Crow and Glint (now in color!) from #Destiny2 #destinythegame #DestinyArt pic.twitter.com/PbraDiCLYl
— ilayas (@ilayas_11) December 7, 2020

Art of the Week: Yin & Yang

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A post shared by 3D Art / Gameart 🎨 (@ohlac3d)

Tag your creation with #DestinyArt on whatever platform you like to post your art on to help us find it easier. Twitter, Instagram, and our Creations page are our favorite spots to scroll through the community's talent. If you win, please reply to your winning post with your Bungie.net profile link so we can get you your emblem!
This is going to be the last TWAB of the year. Don’t worry, we’re not all going on a big hiatus at once. We will still be around. This is the time of year where many of us like to take some time away from work to be recharged and enjoy the cold wet darkness of the PNW at home with the fam. I mean, we were at home already, but now we’re not talking to our computers all day. We’ve made sure that the feedback is still flowing, and that you have the latest info on ongoing issues and anything new that pops up. The Dawning isn’t the only thing starting next week, we also have raid challenges going live for Deep Stone Crypt so keep an eye out for that.
It’s been a wild year. It’s almost hard to remember what it was like to be in the studio at this point. Depending on how everything shakes out it will be nice to get back there sometime next year. Until then, we will keep plugging away from our offices, living rooms, garages, patios, and other random rooms around our homes. We still have a lot of work to do. We shared some of our short-term plans with you this week, and there is a whole lot more coming in 2021 as well. See you next year!
<3 Cozmo

Subsistence type

The Chaɥazoʋ are primarily agrarian, however this does not prevent a smaller secondary pastoral subsistence method within the culture, allowing for a more balanced diet than purely the native crops found in the region. Along the coast and by the Ñüxüt river, some of the Chaɥazoʋ even have a tertiary maritime subsistence method, fishing the river and the seas in small canoes.

Tech Statement

Starting tech level: 2

Domesticated Plants:

Foodstuffs

Bell & Chilli Pepper - Used in cooking, and while there are no cultivars or cross-pollination techniques yet, the sweeter bell peppers and spicier chilli peppers are more valued. Gourd - Gourds are baked with their skin on, before the top is cut off and flavours added, before the top is cut off then the now tender flesh is mashed with flavourings, before being eaten from inside the gourd in a meal known as ‘thoxi’. Their use outside of this meal is limited, therefore their popularity is much lower than some of the other foods available. Quinoa - Used as a cereal grain in making tortilla style flatbreads, as well as being boiled and served as a side dish for curries. Common Bean - Used as a side dish for grilled fish and meats, however also used as an ingredient in curries and stews. Tomato - Used as a base for curries and stews, along with shallots, as well as being juiced and drunk. Citrus - Their rind is used as a thickener in (jam), and their juice used as a spice. They are sometimes eaten after being drenched with sugarcane juice, however otherwise they are considered too sour to eat on their own. Passionfruit - A favourite fruit of the Chaɥazoʋ, the passionfruit is used as a flavouring in (jam), eaten on its own and added to juice to impart a tart, slightly sour flavour. Chilean Strawberry - Used in (jam), as it makes a very desirable consistency, in addition to being eaten raw as a fruit. (onionlike allium species) - Used as a very versatile bulb, as a base for curries, stews, as well as roasted and eaten on their own.

Cultivated/Harvested Plants:

Utility

Bamboo - Used in creating bamboo rafts by coastal and riverside villages. Lignum vitae - Used to create axe handles, oars, shields and in other applications where a strong wood is required. Tabebuia rosea - Used as a wood to build houses, as it is fast growing and strong. Cotton - Used for making clothes and tapestries.

Foodstuffs

Cacao - Used in making a drink which is drunk in the evening before going to sleep, which consists of tobacco, vanilla and cacao infused into llama milk. It can also be used in food dishes. Tobacco - Tobacco is used in the aforementioned drink, as well as occasionally as a spice in other foods. Sugarcane - The juice of the sugarcane is used along with other foodstuffs & drugs to create a sweet, sticky, viscous liquid, which is then used in ceremonies and as a recreational drug. Culantro - Used as a spice in curries and similar dishes. Coconut - The timber is used in construction, the milk is drunk and the flesh is used in cooking. The coir is also used for fibre. Kichwa Amaranth - Used in similar ways to quinoa, but to a lesser extent. Sweet Potato - Used in similar ways to the regular potato, however it is seen as a low quality tuber, therefore only those who cannot afford to buy regular potatoes eat it. Yam - Yet another tuber used for tuber things, such as being in stews and being eaten generally, however it is seen to be a poor man’s potato in a similar way to the sweet potato. Peanut - The peanut is used in the creation of sauces for curries, as well as being eaten as a snack when ground and stuffed into chillies. Lima Bean - The lima bean is eaten similarly to the common bean, however is more commonly found as an ingredient in curries than served on its own. Custard Apple - Eaten directly as a fruit, or juiced to create a drink. Guanabana - Eaten directly as a fruit, or juiced to create a drink. Cashew - The most valued part of a cashew tree is the nut, which is seen as a great nut, so great that other nuts are just a bit shitty. Cashew nuts are also occasionally pressed to extract the ‘milk’, which is then used for drinking and cooking. The cashew apple is also eaten as a fruit and fermented into a wine.

Medicinal

Coca - Used ceremonially and medicinally to heal altitude sickness, headaches and as protection against evils. Guarana - The seeds of the guarana plant are used to prepare a drink which is taken before the night of lunar eclipses to allow the Chaɥazoʋ to stay awake all night while remaining level-headed when compared to Coca, or at other times when they need to stay alert while tired. Psychotria viridis - The psychoactive properties of this plant are valued greatly, and it is one of the ingredients in the sweet (jam) made with the sugarcane juice. Banisteriopsis caapi - Another psychoactive plant which is used in the making of the (jam).

Foraged Plants:

Utility

Hoopvine - The purple dyes of this vine allows for the creation of coloured tapestries, and the fibres extracted from the vines are used in thatch roofing and in making fishing baskets, which are placed in fast flowing rivers. Annatto - Used as a dye for both food, tapestries and skin.

Foodstuffs

Various Nuts - The Guiana chestnut and brazil nut are tree nuts which are harvested for use in cooking, however as a non cultivated tree the prices of these nuts are fairly high compared to the rather commonly available peanut, and so only the upper classes can afford them.

Medicinal

Eucalyptus - The leaves and seeds of the eucalyptus are burnt in temples for their scent, and it is the belief that maintaining pleasantness inside the temples will keep the gods content. The leaves are also burnt to cure illnesses.

Domesticated Animals:

Chaɥazoʋ Striped Dog - The Chaɥazoʋ striped dog is a dog used mainly for protection and company on expeditions away from towns and villages. Llama - The llama is used for pretty much everything – milk, fur, meat, beast-of-burden-ing, etc. They have a special role in the culture and are revered as a gift from the gods across the territories, making their meat fairly valuable compared to other animals. Chicken & Duck - These birds are farmed in enclosures and eaten in great quantities, greater than both llama and peccary put together.

Irrigation Techniques:

Cloud Irrigation - Areas where fogs frequently occur are prioritised for farming, as the fog serves as a constant but not extreme flow of water to the plant. Canal Irrigation - In the far Southwest, some Chaɥaz people have dug trenches from the lake to supply their farms, as the lowland nature makes cloud irrigation impossible.

Building style:

The Chaɥazoʋ live in houses with wooden frames infilled with large stones and a basic form of mortar, which have thatched rooves made from hoopvine.

Other Techs

Advanced annealing: The Chaɥaz use advanced annealing to make copper pots for cooking, for arrowheads and for a vast array of other purposes. Bamboo boats: Fishing boats made of bamboo lashed together with seating, used on calm waters. Juice extraction: Chaɥaz people are pretty good at getting juice out of things, such as citrus, guanabana and sugarcane. This is achieved using smooth grinding tools which pulp the fruit and extract the juice into a pot below. Hallucinojams: This is the real deal, a shitty version of jam “flavoured” with hallucinogens, highly concentrated coca extract and caffeine.

RP

[A few hundred years ago]
For thousands of years, no matter who you ask in any of the Chayaz cultures, the world is controlled by the spirits. Or at least, this was the case until recently. Rumours travelled throughout villages of a man making his way through the lands, spreading heresy to all he encountered. Few knew who he was, or what his motives were behind this quest, only that he showed no signs of stopping, and that the people unbelievably seemed to accept his message, denouncing their affiliation of years to the spirits and pledging their allegiance to the new gods.
He had started out in the West, towards the homeland of the Yradhīmi, gradually making his way out towards the East and the South, bringing the gods with him as he travelled. This led some to accuse him of attempting to infiltrate the historic way of the Chaɥazoʋ with some sort of foreign nonsense, or even as not being Chayaz at all, which led some to fear him – any influence by the primitive lowlanders would do nothing but wrong for the Chayaz people, bringing decay and ruin to their world, matching the rainless lands out to the east…
The man, however, was not Yradhīmi, and in fact despised these accusations. He himself affirmed on multiple occasions that he was not sent by lowlanders, but instead had been visited by a messenger of the gods, who had come to inform him of the true spirits of the world – the gods. People would listen intently as he told his story, drawing out whole villages from their houses and having them sit fireside for hours, only leaving to restock the fuel and keep the fire going.
The story he would tell is as follows: In the beginning, there was only ocean, until the mother island emerged drawn into one and held together by the gods Uthe and Athe – the gods of light and dark. No matter how far up you swam, you would never reach the top – the ocean was truly endless.
The 2 gods continued in this way for several eternities, however over this time, their attention began to falter, allowing the ocean to morph into the form of fish and weeds. Realising what they had done, and how the endless world they once inhabited alone was now expanding, the two gods were fearful of the consequences. Rather than attempt kill the fish, the two gods instead decided to try and escape the ocean into a fresh and clean environment where they could continue to live out their days in peace, however they could not agree on what direction to go.
Uthe, the god of light, demanded that they go upwards, to attempt to find a void to fill above the ocean, whereas Athe, the god of dark, demanded that they go down, below the ocean.
Arguing ensured for several days, at which point the two gods simply decided to split up once and for all, Uthe would go up and Athe would go down. At first, the idea seemed to work, however the further apart the two got, the harder they found swimming to be – in fact, they sometimes seemed to be going backwards, despite swimming forward.
As the pair grew horrendously tired, they gave up on swimming, at which point they were whisked backwards, lurching back towards each other. Upon collision, there was a great explosion, and the gods were finally allowed to separate, most of Uthe found its way up to the heavens, with most of Athe finding their way into the Earth, however the explosion had been so vigourous that parts of Athe had been dragged up to the heavens, with parts of Uthe being dragged down into the earth. To this day, Athe and Uthe are not together, and still attempt to reunite, parts of Uthe erupting from the earth as magma and flying up into the sky, and the rains that fall from the sky being Athe returning to the Earth.

Yes I don't have a info page yet get of my mf back.

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Date: 2013-01-27
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Questions	Answers
What's the most disgusting thing that has ever happened during manufacturing?	I remember an employee sneezing into a chocolate mixing tank. 3,000 lb @ $3.20/lb gone. Draining, cleaning, disenfecting, and Rabbi Koshering was another 28 hours.
Are you serious about the Rabbi Koshering, I am amazed that kind of practice would still be used today. In an assembly line/mass production based system I would think that sort of thing takes a back seat to speed and efficiency.	Dead serious. To obtain Rabbinical Seal of approval, we follow their guidelines. The biggest reason is the Jewish market share.
I assume you took it out of his paycheck?	Of course not. He came to us. We installed a sneeze guard at every operator area where he may come into contact with product.
How often is Koshering done?	We deal with Paerve aspects so whenever we go from dairy to nondairy.
If/when something like this happens, is there ever pressure above to keep it quiet and carry on like nothing happened? And, I am so so glad you chucked it away! What happened to the person who sneezed? ... @ ~$288,000 ($100 per another answer you wrote about gross sales per production line) and $9600 in raw ingredients, it is a heck of a lot of money to lose (or was it just the $9600 of raw ingredients/no need to shut down a production line?)	$9,600. The production was moved to the weekend so no labor loss. Overhead loss was probably about $4,500.
What's your opinion on this practice? We have to pay a rabi to come "bless" our factory once a year, seems very close to an extortion racket.	Absolutely. The market share isn't worth it IMHO. They come in, say you need this insignia on your product or we tell everyone to avoid it. To get the insignia, you have to.pay us X amount, which is then spread to all customers. I try to buy as much non-Kosher as possible.
When the Rabbi comes in, does he actually do any checking of the equipment or is it really just a formality? Is there actually any service provided by paying a Rabbi to come in?	We are actually under daily rabbinical supervision because of the protein line being NonKosher due to the type of protein used. They are there to ensure there is no cross contamination.
Many people with food allergies (e.g. dairy, shellfish, etc) and other dietary restrictions rely on kosher symbols too.	Today I learned...I honestly didn't know that.
It's that idea of "we'll tell everyone to avoid it", it's what makes me think of it as extortion, is it worth it?	I am told that 8% of the sales are from those who only eat Kosher. This makes it worth it financially.
As a kosher consumer, I really appreciate being able to tell if I can eat something or not. Why boycott something that's simply helpful to a portion of the US population?	I believe it was just a ripoff.
Funniest moment on the job?	We have a tank that feeds a tempering unit, then pipes over the chocolate to the molder. An employee was "pigging out the line". This is where they put a rubber plug in one end of the pipe and drive it through using air pressure. The other side was not opened. An employee went to open it when the pig gut stuck and chocolate exploded on him and the wall had a clear silhouette of him. Funniest thing I ever saw.
What was the temperature?	Probably around 110.
What is your favorite candy? Do you have knowledge about candy that would probably shock the average consumer? What candy do you dislike? And if you had to eat a food (fully paid for and prepared) for an entire week, what would you choose, and why?	The most shocking thing to me was the concern for allergens. If we run a product that contains peanuts and switch to one that does not, the line is down for an extremely detailed clean for 8-12 hours. In comparison, I worked at a beverage company where changeovers were 20 minutes, tops.
This is intriguing to me. I work at a grocery store and people often won't buy items that are made in a facility that processes something they are allergic to. What is the cleaning process like? Is it thorough enough that someone with a mild allergy shouldn't be concerned?	Every part machine, part, belt that came into direct contact with the product and everything that contacted those contact surfaces get washed. All bins are color coded for allergens and replaced. Before a line is restarted, the quality department does 4 allergen protein swabs up and down the line. The line is not restarted unless all four show no trace of allergens.
Is that level of cleaning fairly standard in the industry?	I believe so. Now whether the standards are followed is a guess. SQF and BRC certified products will have followed this.
I wish I knew which company you worked for. I have to be really careful with gluten in candy (celiac disease, very sensitive) and after I got glutened by a Snickers bar I can hardly trust any candy without it being certified gluten free. Have you ever had certified gluten free chocolate? It's no Snickers, let me tell you.	No. The coatings for our fruit and nut lines are certified gluten free, but our chocolate is not.
Did I grow up or did every candybar I used to eat shrink by about 20-30% in the past decade?	Our candy bars are sold based on weight. Instead of increasing price, many companies have opted to reduce size. Our bars remain the same, but we have had to increase prices. Continuous improvement has reduced those increases.
How costly would it be for the company if the factory stopped production for say 1 minute?	Each production line loses approximately $11 in overhead and labor for every minute down and about $135 in gross sales.
how much has the process been improved in the 18 years you've been there? as in:what has changed, what has stayed the same, how many more candy can you produce now compared to then, etc...	I've been with the company for 5 of my 18 years. The biggest improvements we made involved increasing the speeds of the line and increasing the yield. If we throw away the product for one minute of production, that is $115 in raw materials alone, making yield our most crucial Key Performance Indicator.
Do you pay the Oompa-Loompas?	Would it surprise you if my first name is William?
You're dodging the question...	I do not sign any checks for Oompa Loompas.
What is so secretive about a confectionary company that we can ask you almost anything? What are you hiding???	I just can't mention the name or customers.
Do you (employees) get delicious kick backs? My Uncle worked for a major cigarette company for 30+ years and while he never smoked was given cartons of smokes which he gave away and filled a closet with throughout the years.	We do have employee bars that are defective which are given away. The defects range from not enough inclusion (bar supposed to have 12% peanut may have only 9%) to not being enrobed correctly.
Have you ever caught an employee intentionally disrobing his bar?	No.
How much better is a snicker bar right off the line?	I can't speak for Snickers, but that's the only way I eat a candy bar anymore.
So you guys make Skor at this factory if infact that is your favorite candy bar o.0.	We don't make Skor. Wish we did.
Is your name Lucky?	No.
What's the inside buzz about posting calorie contents on the outside of packages? From what I understand, the industry decided to do this to avoid regulation--have consumers responded positively? Are companies afraid of a coming health conscious effort?	Yes, our biggest fear is the health activists, but then we also need to change our paradigms and adapt. We now have one line dedicated to protein bars and two others dedicated to fruit and nut based bars.
Has a TV Show such as Unwrapped ever filmed in your factory?	There is no eating on the production floor, but I have no issues with a bar being taken from the line to the break room.
Do you get to eat anything off the line? I'm sure if you did you would be sick of sweets by now.	No television has ever been at our plant.
It's nice knowing your relaxed with employees taking the odd chocolate bar for lunch. Strict rules just ruin morale	Our rules are strict. What ruins morale is not knowing the reasons for those strict rules.
People often remark, "It's all made at the same factory anyway." when talking about cheaper home brand alternatives etc. Do you know this to be in anyway true?	False. The same company sometimes, but different manufacturers. A lot of the production that a larger company considers too much changeover time, allergen concerns, Sugar Free, etc...gets moved to a smaller copacker to produce.
	Now these smaller copackers may make a cheap chocolate bar, turn around and do Ghiradelli the very next shift.
1) Why did did you get promoted?	I got promoted because of influence. When people say it's who you know, they are partially right. Bosses hate jerks. Make it a joy for them to approach you rather than have them think talking to you is a necessity.
6) can you alter the product mix on a line? Such as Change settings/ machinery to produce something different. 8) does the product taste like unicorn rainbows hot off the line?	Our product is mixed before it hits the line, so the rest of the settings are standardized. There are ranges an employee may work within before needing to get maintenance involved.
	8 never tried unicorn rainbows
Can you describe (in as much detail as you're able) the general properties of the chocolate that coats most non-chocolate-core candy bars? It seems to be a chocolate quite unlike what you'd find in a majority-chocolate bar. Is it chosen for melt resistance, ability to hold form, or what?	First thing depends on the coating. Some are chocolate, some are chocolate flavor coatings.
	The biggest thing we look for is the temper. This doesn't affect the flavor, except psychologically. The temper melts down the crystals which then reform on the outside, making chocolate have a crystal skin. Badly tempered bars don't shine and bend, don't break. Coatings are used because the tempering process is eliminated.
I'm an engineer in a chocolate factory here in the UK, given your products...I'd say we work for competing companies. Question is, in the US who is king in a factory; engineering, quality, safety or supply chain?	Unfortunately, supply chain...easily.
Interesting to hear, I'd say quality control over here, though I find the biggest arguments I have are with supply chain.	QC may have been the case 5 years ago, but as we got our processes under control and shipping charges raised considerably, Supply Chain is now our King.
Have you ever witnessed any form of disruption or manipulation to your products by employees?	No. Not one time. I believe the employee engagement processes we have in place allowing our employees self autonomy and mastery at their positions in addition to a profit sharing program eliminate this issue.
This sold me... you guys rock. I want to work there now =)	Link to www.youtube.com
What's your story for successfully climbing the ladder that well?	Reading and then utilizing what I read. The single most important book anyone in any field could ever use is How to Make Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
Why not bite?	Personal preference.
Is your real name William Wonka and if it isn't, would you change it to William Wonka for charity? (Redditors get ready to reach into those pockets). Just saying, it would be a MASSIVE publicity stunt for your company. Bet the papers would love it, nudge nudge.	Wife said absolutely not.
Would you consider another wife that would say absolutely yes?	No. I've had this one for years.
Does your wife hate charity? Is that it? She hates charity?	Who is Charity?
Do you ever get any dead animals (bugs, rat bits, etc) in candy and the whole batch has to be thrown away?	That hasn't happened yet. We did get a batch of honey we use on a bar that had bees in it once, but that was disposed of before we used it.
Snickers seemed more chocolatey back in the 90s, now it kind of just tastes like sugar and caramel and nougat. Who's responsible for this??	I can't confirm Snickers formula, but a bar we run similar to Snickers is 35g of core and 10g of chocolate. I would think they use a similar one.
In relation to the original question you commented on, what other odd things might slip through the production line? I remember seeing quite a few posts with bags of Doritos containing nothing but a huge nugget of spice powder. Anything happen like that with confections?	Not really. We just had a Cherry Almond Chocolate bar sent back lacking Almonds and had to recall two pallets of it. Thats about the worst of it.
What do you do when it's a defect like that? Remelt and put the almonds back in? Or let everyone in the factory help themselves to them, until nobody ever wants to taste cherry chocolate ever again?	Remelt and add almonds. Problems with this is maintaining a correct temper.
Favorite Candy?	Skor, easily.
Have you frozen them and eaten them that way? If not, you're missing out.	Yes, I always end of with a toffee bar.
How often do the workers steal candy and what happens if they get caught?	The two immediately firable no questions asked rules are gossiping and stealing. Yes, both have happened.
	Gossiping we consider to be complaining to people who can't fix the issue you are complaining about.
I can understand firing someone for stealing but the gossiping rules seem overly harsh and kinda contradicting to the companies view on employees being a valued asset.	Attitude is huge. Every employee is told the gossiping policy and what we define gossiping as. This actually is a relief for all the employees as negative words are rarely said.
What happens if manager X doesn't properly address the problem? Can't mention the problem to a fellow employee? That actually sounds like an anti-union tactic, to be quite honest.	We have an open door policy. If your first supervisor did not fix the problem, advance it to the next level. Why is this anti union?
Can you share the policy?	"Any employee complaining to other employees who are unable to rectify the complaint may be subject to immediate termination upon the discretion of management."
Because employees ought to be able to grumble to one another. What constitutes gossip exactly?	Employees can grumble...to those that can fix the issue.
Do you ever get tired of candy?	I get tired of the smell of chocolate. One does not simply get tired of candy.
What are your thoughts on Watermelon Stretchy and Tangy Laffy Taffy, the kind with edible seeds? Edit: Are there any out of production snacks/candies that you miss?	I have no experience with those. Our company does chocolate molding, sheeting, and extrusion processes.
Specifically, which confection items does your facility make? Also, how many of each do you produce each day?	We produce about 200,000 of chocolate bars per day, 600,000 bars of our fruit and nut based bars and about 250,000 protein bars.
Really astonishing you make so many more "healthy" bars. Does that reflect the industry in general or just your plant?	Just our plant, but I think it will be a growing trend that Hershey and Mars will lead in at some point.
Glad to see you followed up on my AMA suggestion! Figured it would be well-recieved. :) I'd like to know about the general proportions of product over the years - no specifics necessary, just general trends. Has your plant always done protein bars as part of their production, or is that a more recent thing? What kind of shifts in production or demand have there been over the years?	We had 4 lines where we did three molding lines and 1 fruit and nut line. Over the course of five years, we took a molding line out, added another fruit and nut and added a protein bar line. I cant say for sure, but I think this will be a trend for most confection companies.
Why do kids love the taste of cinnamon toast crunch? and why is twix so damn good?	I know one thing we do is try to get to a certain weight in all our bars yet keep pricing constant. I'm sure Twix does the same so to make up for the light and cheap cookie core, I would bet they use a higher quality chocolate.
Where can i get that cookie core to munch on at home	Not a clue
How does one manufacture a shiny, rounded chocolate like a chocolate covered almond? They don't show lines as they would if moulded, and there is no flat spot as they would if dipped and cooled on a surface. Are they tumbled?	The product goes through a mesh belt with a waterfall of chocolate raining down. As it continues, the excess chocolate gets blow off and the chocolate hardens around it.
If I have you co-pack 100k of 2oz brownies with horizontal preprinted wrap and I'm paying for the ingredients, how much should I expect to pay per piece for your compacting services?	I would expect to see your costs to be appx $.12 per bar. This is assuming they get packed into 1.5lb displays and cased as 6/12s.
Do most copackers offer nitrogen injection vacuum packing or is that too much of a specialty process?	We have experimented with nitrogen vacuum sealed wrapping, but it is not a service we currently offer.
To your knowledge, how often is a given recipe (for something like a Snicker's bar) notably changed, and for what purpose generally? Are the occasional differences in taste just a product of my imagination?	The specifications of our bars are reviewed and tweaked twice a year based on ingredient pricing for newer products, but the consistency is always more important in keeping a popular brand popular.
Does your business card say "Candyman" on it?	No, but I did change the first name from Bill to Willy.
How much do you make?	With bonuses I grossed 55k.
An analyst programmer (someone with a 4 year bachelor's degree and 3 years XP) grosses $65k a year in Florida, and that's on the low end. You are a manager, ask for a raise man :)	My boss takes care of me.
You are underpaid for the food industry. By 20 to 40%	I am overpaid for my education level.
How much of it is automated and how much manual labor is there? Is the machinery customs built or off the shelf?	The machines for the most part are stock then custom fitted to our needs.
	Labor is higher as a lot of bars are handpacked into displays and cups into trays, but automation is coming in the future to our plant.
Do your workers steal a lot?	We've fired two people for theft since I have been there. One was not product related.
I got this vision of an employee trying to smuggle out blocks of raw chocolate in his trousers. I laughed.	Not raw. Processed.
Why is some chocolate much, much cheaper than others? What accounts for the difference in quality--ingredients/production?	One is cacao content. Two is fat % in the cream/milk used.
I can't believe this hasn't been asked yet: Are you the favorite house for Halloween?	In the neighborhood, yes.
Great AMAA, but I have to ask. Proof?	I will need to provide some tomorrow when I get back to work.
Wait, how does labeling not save you from lawsuits? If the company has informed the consumers, any suit like that should be immediately dismissed from court, right? Like, if I'm allergic to eggs and eat a product that is labelled as containing eggs, I can't sue the company that produces it.	Who says you can't? That was the FDA letter to us in a nut shell. The court did throw out the case, but the FDA states proper labeling does not protect you from liability.
How useful is this type of feedback to you, and is there a threshold of consumer complaints that you ignore? eg I would say mine was a medium level issue, and maybe a mishapen bar is minor, and foreign objects is major.	Now, a response stating the corrective action taken to the consumer never dawned on me, but I will be talking to my quality department about doing it today.
As the type of person who will complain about something simply to help the business out, I would hugely appreciate knowing my complaint solved a problem somewhere.	Update, we have instituted this. A response letter specifying the corrective action taken.
Do you have any books or online resources you'd recommend for learning about continuous improvement/lean mfg? Was your shop focused in that direction before you started working there or did you get to see the process change yourself?	The Toyota Way Series is your best bet.
	Lean was a foreign concept here when I started.
How was the transition?	Rough at first. I converted it 5% at a time as I involved every employee (8 different ones each group) into a kaizen every week for 6 months. After this exposure to it, they were pushing for change quicker than I could provide it.
This is really interesting. Thank you. Let me ask you a few things. How much of working for a really big and known corporation influence your purpose? We are a small factory, I saw this video maybe a couple of years ago and with it convinced management to pay enough so money is not an issue and gave people autonomy, we concluded that purpose was already there. We increased the mean time people stay with us from one year to 3. Now it's clear that the problem is purpose. But we do something a lot more purposefully than making chocolate bars and still people leave because, on their own words a lot of times, they have accomplish mastery and there's nothing more to learn, which by itself is ridiculous because I have been in this business for the last 23 years and I still devote a lot of my time everyday to understand it. So my last question is, How do you help your subordinates to find and/or understand the purpose in your job?	Our purpose is to be the best in North America at what we do, period.
	We have a low turnover rate, but those that leave as in your case, should be thanked and encouraged. It is a loss, but they achieved what their personal goals were.
Vegan here - what the hell is the purpose of milk protein or lactose as ingredients in confectionary? Surely it can just be skipped? Thanks for doing this AMA!	There are plenty of non-dairy chocolates out there.
What is the company's position on the fact that most chocolate in the world is produced by child slaves in western Africa? What are they doing to try and alleviate the problem?	I honestly knew nothing about it before this AMAA.
For products that clearly contain peanuts, why does the label say "This product may include peanuts"? Is it on the off chance that candy bar didn't get any nuts?	Never understood that myself.
Now the real question is the right twix left twix thing real?	Yes, the ad is for real.
Are you a fancy chocolate guy? Or cheap chocolate? I like cheap more, like snickers and mars.	Cheap milk, fancy dark.
You seem like a nice guy, but you are asking them to prove it to better themselves to in reality better you in the short term then find another job? There is a integrity issue here.	I believe I pay every employee fairly. If they feel differently, I tell them to get another offer. Usually, I am correct, sometimes I am wrong.
Allen Bradley or siemens?	Siemens, but AB has dominated every place I have worked.
What chocolates and snacks exactly?	Bars, fruit and nut, chocolate, and protein.
Are you gonna be looking for an assembly line engineer or something like that 1.5 years from now?	I can't even predict tomorrow...
On average, how much does it cost to make a single candy bar at your factory?	40g bar would be about $0.38.
How many lame Willy Wonka jokes do you hear in a day?	Not as many as on Reddit.
Do you guys need any process fans or dust collection? I can get you a deal.	Not right now, no.
Why do Chocolate factories smell horrible? I have to walk past the Mars factory in Slough everyday.	Never noticed.
Really? It smells quite nice and sweet at first.. then it gets increasingly sickly and burnt. What do you use to heat the chocolate and other ingredients up?	Most of or tanks have a water jacket around them powerpoint them at a constant 115-120.
Are you ever given extras of candy when the companies make too much?	No.
Does your company employ microbiologists?	No.
So there is no R&D for new product? What about the QA process?	We do our own R&D with a contracted food scientist. All lab work is outsourced. The QC is a department head with a minion on each shift.
To your knowledge, has anyone pooped on the conveyor belt and had their poop turned into a chocolate bar?	No.
Do you approve of the use/abuse of oompa loompa slave labor?	No.
Great AMAA man. One of the more informative 'normal guy' AMAA's I've seen in a while.	I really appreciate that. Thanks so.much.
One of these accidents seems delicious though and the other seems really delicious.	One had nuts, the other didnt...
"This product was manufactured in a facility that also processes peanuts and/or other tree nuts"	Labeling does not save you from lawsuits. The FDA is severely lacking in its regulations on allergens.
I'm way behind the curve, but let me say thank you for doing this AMA. It's one of the most interesting things I've seen on Reddit for a long time.	It's amazing because there are so many positions that actually provide meaningful services that sometimes I feel my position is insignificant.
Why is the same product manufactured differently for different countries. I'm not talking a bit of difference in ingredients and taste but massive.	That I don't know. I would think the sourcing of the ingredients. We imported Belgian chocolate for some products and Mexican Chocolate for others. The formulas are vastly different, though the actually ingredients may be similar.

Last updated: 2013-02-01 10:03 UTC
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