#Advantages of Wired Network

[zuzuelectricbugaloo]

Color Spectrum Duo Origins Part 3: Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)

Part 1/Part 2

Rating: Teen

Romantic Relationships: None

Cw: Killer's Soul is literally broken at the end

Synopsis: The Fool tarot card — Upright: innocence, new beginnings, free spirit. The Fool tarot card — Reversed: recklessness, taken advantage of, inconsideration 

Or, the consequences of Color and Killer’s fateful meeting

Word Count: 2, 582

“Ow,” Color winces. His carpals flex, blunt distals sinking into cold metal as his grip on the table tightened. 

“Take a deep, slow breath,” Delta offers. His prosthetic’s claws are gentle, soothing, stroking the back of Color’s palm.

“I’m sorry,” Epic apologizes. Remorse coats his sympathetic tone like a blanket of snow on a bed of roses. His hands are still over Color’s bared back, the appendages hovering over his twelfth ribs. “Relax as much as you can.” Despite Color’s answering surly glare towards Epic, there was no real heat behind his piercing gaze. He closes his eye, focusing on the internal voices of his kids as they offer him comfort in the only way they can. Flashes of a serene forest in midsummer, a piano’s melody, a trickling stream, the sensation of a warm hug.

“I’m trying,” Color snaps, shuddering with a sharp intake of breath, cursing under his breath as Epic’s hands make contact with his scapulae. “You’re freezing.”

The complaint is taken in stride, yet guilt stirs in Color’s nonexistent gut as Epic’s eye flashes (it’s well-disguised, but Color caught the brief flicker of hurt with his concentrated stare), then settles into its previous sheepish expression. 

“Sorry.” 

Color wants to apologize, but Epic moves on, urging Color to straighten his spine to ease the tension gathering in his joints. “Relax Lulu, I need only a minute and you’ll be good to go.” 

Delta paused his caresses to curl his claws under Color’s palm. He gives it a light squeeze, the metal talons warm with Bravery gently surging in its wiring.

“You’re doing great, Color,” Epic murmured, watching as Color’s flames flickered. “Just a minute and we can get your shirt back on and get you nice and toasty.” His hands hover, not quite touching his bones but close enough that Color’s ribs tingled with their presence. 

Epic’s voice is a sharp contrast to his magic. It’s a rich, gentle rumble, honeyed with affection that melts in his acoustic meatus. Warming his bones and unconsciously easing the tension trapped in his claws as they relax, uncurling and no longer digging into the table. 

“Ready?”

Color nods, steeling himself, but even with the mental preparation he still winces, shuddering whole-bodied when Epic’s gelid hands press onto his scapula and front of his ribs, right where the cannibal’s weapon had pierced him. 

He squeezes down on Delta’s hand and leans forward to rest his skull in the crook of Epic’s shoulder for comfort, trying to hold back his squirming as shivers travel down his spine as the cold shoots through him alongside Epic’s intent.

Color can’t truly begrudge Epic for his glacial touch. Epic’s magic is unfortunately cold, a consequence of his Eye and Void-metamorphosed mana. His body aches, and he has to force himself to hear and feel his kids’ reassurances — that it’s not the real Void, they’re okay — and focuses on Epic’s intent and not the biting cold wracking his frame. And Epic wouldn’t subject them to his magic on a whim; unfortunately, Delta can’t heal him. The cannibal’s lingering Intent festering in Color’s leys was too potent and vile in its loathing for Delta’s magic to combat. Normal healing wouldn’t work on Color, either, not when his Stats are bafflingly zero and not even the best healer’s mana could coax his body to heal. Yet with no HP to spare he’s alive, somehow. 

An undead vessel; a graveyard of little souls whose times had come too soon

Epic’s mana seeks out the rot, his Eye piercing Color’s Soul as he pulls through the foreign Code contaminating Color’s mana network. Gaze set, his carpals move, working in tandem with his ambient magic as it removes the intruding code before it can continue to eat at and deteriorate Color’s magic mainframe any further. 

Color won’t stop shivering, trembling against Epic as his claw clutches at the back of his coat. His other claw squeezes Delta’s hand tight; it’s so cold it burns, every breath labored as ice seems to flood his very marrow.

His firelights hover in his peripheral. Their incorporeal forms flutter as soft hazy lights as they offer comfort, voices overlapping until he thanks them, gently urging them to quiet down a bit. 

Then, as soon as it’s removed, it’s gone. Minor fractures seal themselves up as codes are nudged back into their proper place. The persistent itching that had plagued him since his unfortunate encounter lifted, and Color sags in relief, groaning softly into Epic’s coat as he’s blissfully relieved of his ailment. 

As soon as he’s done Epic lets go, gently pulling back to hand Color his sweater and stepping back as he gratefully puts it on. Delta pats his back and lets his hand go after giving it one last squeeze. “All done.” Delta grins. “Feel better?” “Yeah. Thanks Epic.” Color swings his leg to hit Epic’s thigh. “Anyti—bruh why’d you kick me??”

“That’s for sending me to an AU with a cannibal in it.”

“I said I was sorry.” Epic pouted, rubbing the spot Color had kicked. 

“And now you’re forgiven.” Color simpers.

“How was I supposed to know a cannibal would be there?” Epic mutters, sulking. “Been there plenty of times with Criss-Cross and we didn’t run into any bloodthirsty critters.”

“As much fun as it is to pick on Epic,” Delta smirks, ignoring Epic’s responding ‘Hey!’ and Color’s chuckle, Delta’s smile falls to something serious. “What happened? Why’d whatever they do to you hurt you so badly?”

Color shrugs helplessly. “I dunno. At first it felt like harmful Intent. Been there, done that. But then there was something else about it, I felt like I was on fire — shut up.” Color glares at their pointed expressions. “I mean actual fire; it felt like I got a burn from the Core itself or something.”

Epic’s Eye watches Color, darting across his flames and chest before Epic closes his scarred socket, humming in thought. “Your Code was contaminated by Determination.”

Disbelieving, Color and Delta gape at Epic. 

“Really?” “Yeah. It’s like Cross’s, actually. Similar to, but not exactly like his.” Epic explained. “Similar, in that traces of the code reflected a skeleton monster’s base binary loops, but,” he continued, flexing his digits as he gestures aimlessly, wisps of violet magic sparking and fizzing to illustrate his point. “Different, where Cross’s code is a moderately symbiotic blend of Determination and a skeleton monster, the code I saw trying to devour Color’s code was corroded.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”  Delta asks.

Epic shakes his head. “Not where it counts. Cross’s body has learned to live with its Determination: think of the DT as a transplant and after some time, both the DT and Cross became acclimated to one another. Not too much of either, if one becomes more than the other it eventually balances itself out in a self-regulating system. That?” Epic gestured to Color’s now healed injury. “That is a risk barometer with the lever thrown waaaaay off the extreme danger zone. Determination is exothermic by nature, but this DT strain had so many overflow errors in its Code that I half-believe the infecter was a Woshua or some other fountain based monster with all that Determination pouring out o’ them.” “I don’t understand,” Color interjects, “How does their weird DT or whatever have to do with everything?” “Whoever jammed that into ya? If their main code was supposed to be a skeleton and the DT’s got no regulation?” Epic’s features twisted in sympathy. “They’re a walking time bomb. It’s only a matter of time before there’s nothing left for the DT to corrode. You’re lucky you’re as durable as y’are Color. Most people wouldn’t be, well...” His complexion settles to something unreadable, gaze distant. “Hmm.” “A walking Determination amalgamate — ” “Hybrid,” Epic corrects. 

Delta rolls his eyes. “— Hybrid, being in a peaceful AU that was previously saved by the Stars and sanctioned by Core and cannibalizing the inhabitants makes no sense. They can’t have been there originally.” 

Color’s flames curl as he thinks, mimicking the flickers in his eye as he recalls the stranger, an image of voided eyes staring back at him like it was seared into his nonexistent mind. 

He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about those eyes, how empty they’d looked…

“Epic’s right, it did look like some kind of skeleton, but,” he winces, the recollection of the way they’d flung their neck so far to the side it sends a visceral shudder down his spine, now. “The way they moved, the sounds they made, it was unnatural. Like they were a puppet on strings, their body flinging itself about.” 

He remembers the fight, how he barely managed to escape, the familiar curling of guilt deep in his nonexistent gut when he recalls how he’d shot their Soul.       

“Their Soul was so weird, it didn’t look anything like a soul at first. I thought it was a light projection attack, like the kind whimsuns or knight knights can do. ‘Cause at first it was this spinning target with red and white rings — ” “Wait wait, back up,” Delta interrupted hurriedly. “Their Soul looked like a red and white target?!” Cautiously, Color nods. “Yeah?” “Their face. No eyelights? Black comes out their eyes?” Delta tapped one of the stained scars below his socket. “Looks kinda like my stains?” “Yeah.” “And you mentioned they attacked you with knives, right?” Color nods again. “Knives, and I think a sword or some shit was what stabbed me — ” SLAM! Both Epic and Color jolt, startled by the intense ringing resounding through the air after Delta slammed his gauntlets onto the table. “Sonnuvabi — Killer hurt you!”

Color blinks in confusion as Epic makes a small, thoughtful sound. “Killer?” Color watches cautiously, his eye tracking Delta as he paces in front of them. “Who’s Killer?”

Delta’s eyelights are blazing saffron flames as he scoffs. “Nightmare’s right hand. He’s a sick, genocidal bastard who gets off on the misery he and his boss inflict on the multiverse. The fact you saw him in what was an AU protected by the Stars matches up with Core’s warnings of Nightmare — Dream’s brother,” Delta quickly adds after seeing Color’s confused look, “a being of negativity who wants to plunge the rest of the multiverse into darkness — and after employing Killer, the two have been terrorizing, or worse, destroying, AUs since.”

Delta abruptly hugs Color, squeezing him tight. “I’m so glad you got out okay, kaibigan!” Delta pulls back, resentment for the subject of conversation clashing with the concern he holds for his friend. “Dream said that if he and Ink weren’t so formidable and resilient when Killer attacked them, they’d be dust.”

“Cross mentioned fighting someone named ‘Killer’ when he used to be part of the Stars,” Epic recalls. “That they got lucky and escaped because Killer slipped up, Cross used that distraction to rip his arm off so they could get away.” Delta sighs wistfully. “Lucky bastard.” “Ya got perfectly fine cyberpunk limbs Sunny D, ya don’t need to steal someone else’s.” While Epic chuckles from his own joke, Delta rolls his eyes. “Oh ha ha, you’re sooo funny.”

As they banter, Color stares at the floor, his thoughts circling like polaroid snapshots. Repeating the same images over and over of that desecrated forest, the cannibal, his barely-made escape, all with his friends’ voices echoing in his mind about the “Killer” that had chased him.

Voided eyes stare into his Soul, reflecting the emptiness and resignation he’d felt so long ago within the Void

“I���ve heard about Nightmare,” Color's gaze moves from the ground and up, flickering from Epic to Delta, interrupting their banter as he wonders aloud. “But Dream is a guardian, right? So wouldn’t Nightmare be one too? Why would Nightmare hire someone to do his dirty work for him?”

“Don’t know, don't care.” Delta bluntly states, protectively curling his prosthetic digits around Color’s hand to hold him tight. “All we do know is they’re both bad news, and if you’re ever anywhere near either of them, get the hell out of dodge.”

Color’s frown deepens, feeling like he’s missing something important, but nods, grateful to have some clarity after everything. “Okay.”

His kids flutter in his mind’s eye like polychromatic fireflies. They feel the same as him, like they’re missing something important, too, but they follow Color in his trust for Delta and Epic, and settle for now, brushing their individual feelings aside to settle themselves in the far-out depths of Color’s mind. 

“I should alert Core.” Delta lets go of Color’s hand to resume his pacing. “Going after an AU that the Stars and Core are guarding is bold, even for them.” Epic hums. “I’m wondering why they didn’t see it coming. Kiddo’s near omniscient.” “Could be another blind spot for them. Or maybe Nightmare’s being sporadic. Can’t predict the unpredictable, right?”

“Maybe. I should tell Cross, too. He’d wanna know — ” Color’s thoughts drift off again, images replaying the same film. It’s always soothing to hear his friends’ voices, to feel their presence, to be reminded that he is not alone. He tries to keep up with their conversation, wants to revisit their plans for the day.

But he can’t stop thinking of ebony eyes, the weight of their stare carrying nothing and everything…

.

.

.

Endure. Persist. Survive.

*You are filled with DETERMINATION 

It can’t see.

It growls, snapping its jaws and whistling, clicking its tongue through the tar that drowns it. Midnight rivers flood, drowning all sound apart from the rushing fluid that gushes out of its body. 

Endure. Persist. Survive.

*You are filled with DETERMINATION

Its claws and legs have gone numb, melting away in a mess of dust, Determination, and its boiled insides. No matter how much it tears at the rot, more viscous tar floods out. 

Terror. Instinct. Pain. Survive

End the Pain End the Pain End the Pain End the Pain End the Pain 

End the Pain Survive End the Pain End the Pain End the Pain End the Pain 

End the Pain End the Pain End the Pain SURVIVE END THE PAIN END THE PAIN 

END THE PAIN END THE PAIN END THE PAIN END THE PAIN SURVIVE END THE PAIN END THE PAIN END THE PAIN END THE PAIN 

END THE PAIN END THE PAIN END THE PAIN END THE PAIN END THE PAIN END THE PAIN END THE PAIN END THE PAIN 

IT WILL NOT DIE IT WILL SURVIVE IT WILL NOT DIE IT WILL SURVIVE IT WILL NOT DIE IT WILL SURVIVE IT WILL NOT DIE IT WILL SURVIVE IT WILL NOT DIE IT WILL SURVIVE IT WILL NOT DIE 

IT WILL SURVIVE IT WILL NOT DIE IT WILL SURVIVE IT WILL NOT DIE IT WILL SURVIVE IT WILL NOT DIE IT WILL SURVIVE 

*You Are Filled With DETERMI—

SCHLICK

Its maw parts in a soundless scream, gurgling on midnight flooding out its eyes, its mouth, its orifices.

A long, put out sigh. “I’ve warned you before, mutt.” The voice is layered in false sincerity, as if this was a true inconvenience on his part. “If you come back so broken that even I can’t fix you,” the tentacle thickens, widening the hole it perforated in the Soul further and further. Spools of crimson and ivory unwind and thrash, ringing in time to its body’s convulsions within the snow.

“Oh well. It seems I need to upgrade to another, less untamed model.” 

The Soul threads snapped.

*You are filled with —

[thegildedbee]

Calm/Hobby: May 7 & 8 Prompts from @calaisreno

As his Air Baltic flight from Oslo begins its descent into Tallinn, Sherlock stares distractedly out the window at the thinning layer of clouds, and pushes back at the whisper of bleakness that it it is the Estonian coastline coming into view, not the South East shores of England. He girds himself with stoicism as he feels a tendril of melancholy begin to unfurl at the fact that Sherlock Holmes no longer exists, now that Herr Lukas Sigerson has taken his place.

He knows that this new identity will only be the first of many.

Sigerson has brown eyes, and wears dark brown tortoiseshell glasses; his dark hair is beginning to have a salt and pepper cast to it, his lower face is covered by stubble. His loose-limbed gait is relaxed, and there's a remnant of a tendency to stutter when he speaks. Hidden from view are the still-healing cracked ribs on the right side of his torso, the damaged ligaments of his right knee, and the fact that the ossicular chain within his right ear bears traces of having been successfully reconstructed, the surgical repair restoring the hearing he had lost after the trauma to his skull. 

When Sherlock had been ready to leave the UK to begin to grapple with Moriarty’s extant remains -- the people and infrastructure and schemes dispersed across the globe -- it had been hard to determine what to do first and where and why. Of the three assassins in London on the day of his fall, the one assigned to Mrs. Hudson – a thuggish fellow more noteworthy for his brawn than any brains – had been rolled up by Mycroft’s people even before Sherlock had been delivered to the morgue. The one assigned to Lestrade had been somewhat harder to ferret out, but as Sherlock began piecing together what details he could collect during his recuperation, he had determined that he was a functionary who had infiltrated the Met – and the resolution of that criminal had also been left to Mycroftian minions. 

But John’s sniper was of a different cast altogether, an experienced professional who had made no mistakes and vanished like vapor. Sherlock believed that individual had been more than a freelance hire -– Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade had been brought into the mix of those in danger of losing their lives because every action of Moriarty’s was as theatrical and excessive as it was insane: ransoming John’s life had always been the true motive. John’s sniper would have been especially close to Moriarty, and likely a member of the upper echelon of his criminal syndicate. Sherlock suspected that acquiring the information that would allow him to destroy this person was going to be an exceedingly difficult proposition.

He needed information, and Sherlock had finally decided that the place to begin was with Estonia, the tiny nation that had regained its independence from Soviet occupation in 1991, and that had chosen to bypass the encumbering drag of the impoverished infrastructure bequeathed from the Soviets, by abandoning it. Estonia had instead risked its future by constructing an economy based on the latest digital technologies, leapfrogging more advanced nations as it became a cyber-powered incubator of innovation, and one of the most wired countries in the world. Sherlock had no doubt that Moriarty would have been intent on turning this transformation to his own advantage; he would have found the opportunity irresistible.

Moriarty’s claim to have a code that could take over any computer was false, but even so Sherlock suspected that this fabulation pointed at something all too real: investments by Moriarity in the dark web, and in the recruitment of cadres of hackers to be manipulated into hijacking computer networks. In April and May of 2007, Estonia had been besieged for three weeks by waves of cyberattacks that had crippled its digital public and private sectors, from government entities such as the foreign and defense ministries, to banks, corporate enterprises, and media outlets. Estonia had traced the attacks to actors within Moldova’s breakaway state of Transnistria, a long narrow geographic entity bordering Ukraine that displayed the Soviet Communist hammer-and-sickle on its flag and coat of arms. Sherlock suspected that these cyberterrorist actors were performing roles under Moriarty’s direction, and that he would find information from within Estonia that would point to the far-flung nodes of his enemy’s wretched empire. 

With their impending arrival in Tallinn, the melancholy that had emerged begins to become more deeply rooted, and Sherlock’s mind's eye paints pictures of what lies in the deep of the sea passage below, and across the sea miles beyond Britain’s and Europe’s contours – fragments of exploded ordnance littering the ocean floor, where bodies entombed in submarines and battleships are testament to the destructive capabilities of bands of people bent on glory and riches and domination.

His meandering thoughts catch hold of a memory in the viewing room of his mind palace, the one that records the evenings when John had chosen a film to share as they sat propped up together on the sofa in the darkness. It focused on the US Army Air Force unit that flew missions from East Anglia in World War II, and the appointment of a new commanding officer tasked with reversing the underperformance of the bombing teams. 

He had been riveted by the harsh speech the uncompromising commander delivers to the group of pilots, who simmer with resentment at his theory that part of their problems lie with their playing it safe. He tells them that while fear is to be expected, the only choice they have is to stop worrying about the fear, and about themselves. He can still feel the chill of premonition when he heard the figure on the screen bite out his message: “We’re in a war – a shooting war. We’ve got to fight. And some of us have got to die." But it was the follow-on command that is engraved in his mind beyond the memory palace, visible in the shadow of all else he is thinking about: "Stop making plans. Forget about going home. Consider yourselves already dead. After that, it won’t be so tough.” And so, too, was his bombing run a flight into the unknown, against unseen enemies, the actions of a self-created ghost who must reckon that he truly inhabits the underworld from this point on.

Sherlock closes his eyes and continues work on the new spaces that he has been constructing in his mind palace, an effort that never fails to bring him calm, even when other emotions are in play. These new rooms are cloisters and refectories based on the architecture of a thirteenth-century monastery, in deference to Tallinn’s remarkable preservation of the medieval city within its precincts, and he has reserved this adjacent building for whatever part Eastern Europe will play in his sojourns. It is complicated artistry, and he is the last one to rise and exit the airplane.

As Herr Sigerson makes his way toward the front of the compact airport, he adjusts the rucksack on his shoulder, and tugs the bottom of his jumper to straighten it. As a standard issue Norwegian, he is, of course, kitted out in knitted wool, although the garment he wears is only a single hue; the vividly colored patterns favored by so many of the inhabitants of his improvised homeland hurt both his eyesight and his sense of fashion. Sherlock smiles at the thought that John would be amused, were he to see his couture, and consider it revenge for Sherlock’s hobby of “inadvertently” wreaking havoc on the least attractive of John’s jumpers.

Sherlock's half-zip pullover is a dark navy blue with a beautiful sheen, and it is not completely devoid of decoration – it is just that the design is woven into the single color, slightly raised, subdued in its visibility. On the back is the Norse symbol of the vegvisir, which was said to allow its possessor to always find the right path, no matter how turbulent the environment might be. Next to the wayfinding icon is a letter from the ancient runic alphabet said to summon good luck. No doubt John would also be amused at the fact that his relentlessly rational friend is carrying these mystical totems on his body. Although, perhaps not, were he to know of the future toward which Sherlock has now committed himself. ........................................................ @calaisreno @totallysilvergirl @friday411 @peanitbear @original-welovethebeekeeper rest of the @s in the tags, which will work for communication purposes, I hope? just say the word if you want to be untagged or tagged xoxoxo

[ratwithhands]

1 - Diantha security detail comic

2 + 3 - Emmet's UDF uniform vs Kalosian Guard uniform

4 - Lore/Background comic

Hooo boy ok so this idea has been simmering on the backburner for a while now. So Legends Z-A had its trailer released a few days back and I figured I'd make something around it. I know logically it's going to be a game set in the past but I found myself wanting to work on something more futuristic/sci-fi which is why we have our little Cyber Emmet here.

There's a lot of different things to mention so I'm just gonna break them down by the images.

1:

Diantha is attending a conference/ceremony where she will be discussing the plans for the urbanization of Kalos with the assistance of neighbouring tech giant and long time trade partner Unova. As a sign of goodwill, the Unovan Defense Force sent several people to either work as security or to help organize and prepare the ceremony. Among the list of people is Emmet, who was recently "working with" the UDF, and who is going to serve as Diantha's bodyguard for the event

Emmet's uniform was made by a mix of Unovan and Kalosian designers. It's meant to mimic the shapes while still keeping aspects of his Unovan uniform (mainly the collar, cuffs, and silver trim). He is carrying a handgun from his UDF uniform, however due to the public nature of the event, he is using his charge pistol instead of his wired pistol. He's also using a different face shield, using a silver one as opposed to his black one, since it better matches the uniform he's wearing for the event

Diantha's fur coat still has the angel wing shape. This isn't lore relevant I just couldn't fit the full thing onto the panel but it's definitely there

2 + 3:

Emmet uses a wired pistol (left side holster) and a charge pistol (right side holster). Both are standard issue firearms used by the UDF, however charge pistols are more common thanks to them being easy to hold and carry. A wired pistol connects to a battery pack of some kind to fire at a greater speed, whereas a charge pistol will generate its own power but take longer to fire and load. Emmet's wired pistol connects to the battery network that powers his body, allowing him to take advantage of his fast reflexes by using his faster weapon

Emmet doesn't get anything to wear for his Unovan uniform! Part of the contract he signed for his cybernetics states that he can't cover the prostheses unless it could lead to a breach in confidentiality (such as going to a foreign region or appearing in public outside of work reasons) since he's meant to effectively advertise the quality and construction of the body built for him. Of course he refuses to go outside completely naked to fight so the UDF got him a cropped version of his coat and shoes so he can have some more cover

The face shield is meant more for form than function. Technically the only purpose they serve is to cover his face when he's out on patrol, though it can also act as a screen to show him information about what he's seeing (kind of like an AR headset). He could technically get the screen function though cornea implants but he's not doing that + he wants the anonymity provided by the shield

Sections of the body can split open or be removed. The front abdominal panel can do both due to the different processing mechanisms inside needing easy access for repair/maintenance. Limbs can be swapped for different prostheses provided they have a compatible socket

The sockets in Emmet's back can be used to power other weapons/devices if he has a compatible cable. Emmet was given a bag of different attachments and cables to hook into his back so he can power a range of things from phones to laser rifles

He has removable skin. Any shot of him with the black body is the body without skin. In situations where he could possibly have skin showing or he is required to wear something that shows more skin, he'll have material rolled over the sections of his body that will be visible so they look more normal

4:

Emmet got run over by a train ♥ long story short is that he went to rescue a passenger who had fallen off the platform and miscalculated how much time he had before the train pulled in. Once he got stabilized in the hospital afterwards, he only has around 30% of his original body intact, along with some sections they were able to somewhat repair but required new hardware being installed in order to return their function. Anything under the waist and a large portion of his arms were crushed beyond repair and as such, he's been connected to different machine to mimic the functions of his organs

The UDF (in a rather scummy play) contacted Emmet for business, asking him to sign a contract that would ensure he would live by letting them test their confidential new tech on him. He is the only ethical candidate they have for testing such prostheses so to get him to agree, they offer to cover the cost of everything relating to his health and work, as well as paying him a salary for the trouble. Since the only other options are "die slowly" or "lose all self sufficiency and go bankrupt living in hospital", he agrees, and so begins his second job as a living experiment and tool for the UDF

I think that's the most I've written for one post yikes. This isn't even everything but I'll cut it here because my hands are not pleased with me typing.

I still have a lot to think about for this concept, mostly what kind of work Emmet will do while overseas in Kalos and whether something dangerous enough will happen to warrant him using his body for what it was made for. That might be funny, only two settings and they're "I love macarons :)" and bloodshed.

Anyways hope you guys enjoyed this dump, feel free to ask on anything (it helps me write too ^^). See you later and have a nice day!

[askgildaseniors]

Discover the joy of RV living with your furry friends by your side! In this video, we explore the freedom of camping by the water in beautiful Baja California, Mexico. As Florida natives, we love the sunshine, sand, and saltwater, and so do our dogs. Join us for a fun-filled water day where we take advantage of the amazing features of the Halo Collar.

Key Highlights: •Seamless Outdoor Adventures: The Halo Collar allows us to set up virtual fences anywhere, even extending into the water. Our dogs can swim and play freely without any worries.

•Waterproof & Durable: With an IP67 Waterproof Rating, the Halo Collar can be safely submerged up to 3 feet (0.3 meters) deep, making it perfect for water-loving pets.

•Easy Virtual Fence Setup: Instantly create virtual fences using the Halo Collar app. No wires, no terrain limitations—just peace of mind knowing your dog is protected.

•Ultimate Mobility: Take your dog to the beach, campground, dog park, or anywhere in the world. The Halo Collar auto-connects to the best available cell network, ensuring your pet's safety.

Experience the ultimate freedom of RV living with the Halo Collar and make every day a beautiful adventure for you and your dogs.

🐶UNRIVALED FEATURES!🐶 CHECK OUT THE GAME-CHANGING FEATS OF THE NEW HALO COLLAR 3:

✅ New PrecisionGPS(™) Technology ✅ New Active GPS Antenna ✅ 24-hour Battery Life ✅ Auto-connect to Any Cellular Network Worldwide ✅ New Perfect Fit System ✅ Magnetic Charging Port ✅ New Colors: Orchid and Sunburst

CHAPTERS: 00:00: RV Lifestyle and Camping Preferences and Locations 00:33: Using the Halo Collar for Dogs 01:08: Enjoying Water Activities 01:45: Paddle Boarding with Dogs 02:03: Water Fun Continues and Improvement in Dog's Swimming Skills

[quartz-components]

DB9 connector is a widely used electrical connector. Recognizable by its distinctive D-shaped metal shell and 9-pin configuration, the DB9 connector has been a staple in electronics for decades, especially for serial communication.

What Is a DB9 Connector?

The DB9 connector features a D-shaped shell to ensure proper orientation when connecting. The 9 pins (or sockets in female versions) are arranged in two rows, with 5 pins on the top and 4 on the bottom. This compact design is suitable for low-profile applications.

The connector comes in two main types:

DB9 Male Connector: Have pins and are typically used on cables.

DB9 Female Connector: Have sockets and are often found on equipment or devices.

Key Features of DB9 Connectors

Durable Construction: The metal shell provides mechanical strength and shields against electromagnetic interference (EMI).

Compact Design: Ideal for devices where space is limited.

Versatile Applications: Commonly used for RS-232 serial communication, connecting peripherals like mice, keyboards, and modems.

Customization: Can support different pin configurations and wiring for varied uses.

Common Applications of DB9 Connectors

Serial Communication: Widely used in RS-232 interfaces to connect computers, printers, and industrial equipment.

Automation and Control Systems: Frequently seen in programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and industrial machines.

Networking Equipment: Used in switches, routers, and legacy systems.

Testing and Prototyping: Found in diagnostic and development tools for electronics.

DB9 Pinout Diagram

Here’s a standard pinout for a DB9 connector used in RS-232 communication:

Advantages of DB9 Connectors

Reliable Connection: Secure locking mechanism ensures a stable link.

Broad Compatibility: Works with many legacy and modern devices.

Easy Maintenance: Simple design allows for straightforward repairs or replacements.

[mariacallous]

Europe’s most famous privacy activist, Max Schrems, landed another blow against Meta today after the EU’s top court ruled the tech giant cannot exploit users’ public statements about their sexual orientation for online advertising.

Since 2014, Schrems has complained of seeing advertising on Meta platforms targeting his sexual orientation. Schrems claims, based on data he obtained from the company, that advertisers using Meta can deduce his sexuality from proxies, such as his app logins or website visits. Meta denies it showed Schrems personalized ads based on his off-Facebook data, and the company has long said it excludes any sensitive data it detects from its advertising operations.

The case started with Schrems challenging whether this practice violated Europe’s GDPR privacy law. But it took an unexpected turn when a judge in his home country of Austria ruled Meta was entitled to use his sexuality data for advertising because he had spoken about it publicly during an event in Vienna. The Austrian Supreme Court then referred the case to the EU’s top court in 2021.

Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) finally ruled that a person’s sexual orientation cannot be used for advertising, even if that person speaks publicly about being gay.

“Meta Platforms Ireland collects the personal data of Facebook users, including Mr. Schrems, concerning those users’ activities both on and outside that social network,” the court said. “With the data available to it, Meta Platforms Ireland is also able to identify Mr. Schrems’ interest in sensitive topics, such as sexual orientation, which enables it to direct targeted advertising at him.”

The fact that Schrems had spoken publicly about his sexual identity does not authorize any platform to process related data to offer him personalized advertising, the court added.

“Now we know that if you're on a public stage, that doesn't necessarily mean that you agree to this personal data being processed,” says Schrems, founder of the Austrian privacy group NOYB. He believes only a handful of Facebook users will have the same issue. “It's a really, really niche problem.”

The CJEU also ruled today Meta has to limit the data it uses for advertising more broadly, essentially setting ground rules for how the GDPR should be enforced. Europe’s privacy law means personal data should not be “aggregated, analyzed, and processed for the purposes of targeted advertising without restriction as to time and without distinction as to type of data,” the court said in a statement.

“It's really important to set ground rules,” says Katharina Raabe-Stuppnig, the lawyer representing Schrems. “There are some companies who think they can just disregard them and get a competitive advantage from this behavior.”

Meta said it was waiting for the CJEU’s judgment to be published in full. “Meta takes privacy very seriously and has invested over 5 billion Euros to embed privacy at the heart of all of our products,” Meta spokesperson Matt Pollard told WIRED. “Everyone using Facebook has access to a wide range of settings and tools that allow people to manage how we use their information."

Schrems has been a prolific campaigner against Meta since a legal challenge he made resulted in a surprise 2015 ruling invalidating a transatlantic data transfer system over concerns US spies could use it to access EU data. His organization has since filed legal complaints against Meta’s pay-for-privacy subscription model and the company’s plans to use Europeans’ data to train its AI.

“It's major for the whole online advertisement space. But for Meta, it's just another one in the long list of violations they have,” says Schrems, of this latest ruling. “The walls are closing in.”

[entailglobal]

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Radiant Enterprises, a trusted name in electrical insulation technology, is leading the charge in developing innovative low tension insulators for trolley buses and small conductor rails.  As an experienced epoxy insulator manufacturer and a globally recognized low tension insulators exporter and supplier in USA, Russia and beyond, Radiant is redefining standards for modern transit infrastructure.

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The growing trend toward electrified public transportation requires components that can perform flawlessly under continuous load, vibration, and varied weather conditions.  This is where advanced low tension insulator solutions make all the difference.

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[justinspoliticalcorner]

Taylor Lorenz at Substack:

We need to know who is funding the creator economy

Yesterday, a federal indictment revealed that a Tennessee media company working with right-wing influencers including Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Lauren Southern, was receiving significant funding from the Russian state-sponsored network RT to push Russian disinformation. The indictment is absolutely wild and WIRED has a great rundown on the details, including how the propaganda efforts worked. The case serves as the latest high profile example of how “independent media” on the right is anything but independent, and underscores the need for more transparency around funding models in the creator economy. It also shows how disinformation efforts have increasingly focused on penetrating U.S. media through content creators, and how lucrative being a pawn in these schemes can be. While right wing content creators position themselves as scrappy upstarts, leaning into anti-establishment and populist brand positioning, they frequently accept money from far right interest groups, extremist billionaires, and even foreign actors.  Tenet Media received nearly $10 million, distributed out across a network of YouTubers and podcasters. As part of the disinformation campaign, Tenet Media influencers published hundreds of videos on social media that promoted Kremlin talking points. The videos were shared across platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok, reaching tens of millions of viewers.

[...] The far right recognized the opportunities in personality-driven media decades ago. After boosting talk radio stars in the 80s and 90s, when social media proliferated, they began to invest heavily in news influencers who seamlessly blend entertainment, news commentary, and far right political messaging into YouTube videos, Instagram memes, podcasts and more. 

[...]

Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire has been heavily funded by wealthy Republican donors, including the Wilks brothers, Texas-based billionaires known for their oil and fracking fortune. Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, has benefited from significant funding from conservative mega donors including the Koch network.  When right wing creators began getting deplatformed more frequently on mainstream social media apps in the second half of the 2010s, an entire ecosystem of alternative platforms aimed at helping extremist influencers monetize and amass audiences, cropped up. Rumble, a video sharing platform similar to YouTube backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, began paying far right influencers and anti vaxx content creators hundreds of thousands of dollars to create content on its platform in 2021. Locals, a newsletter platform owned by Rumble, allows influencers to monetize through newsletters in a similar way to Substack. DLive, a right wing Twitch competitor, allowed influencers storming the Capitol building on January 6th, to make thousands of dollars off their live streams. Kick and Cozy.tv, two other right wing live streaming platforms, permit nearly any far right extremist the ability to create content and start earning money. And X, under Musk, has paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to right wing influencer accounts.

The robust financial backing the right wing content creator ecosystem enjoys, allows extremists the ability to fund professional production teams, social media ad buys, and marketing initiatives that give them a competitive advantage online. In contrast, progressive creators are left to rely on meager donations and crowdfunding efforts to sustain their work. This financial imbalance has made it nearly impossible for left-wing content creators to match the reach or production quality of their right-wing counterparts. Already, several Russia-backed Tenet Media influencers, including Benny Johnson and Tim Pool, have been doing damage control. They've publicly stated that they had no idea about the origins of the money and claimed that they were merely unwitting victims who were misled by the company. 

Right-wing media influencers like Nick Sortor (even though he wasn’t named in the indictment), Benny Johnson, and Tim Pool aren’t “independent media” in any way.

[stephensmithuk]

Some important context for this novel

CW: Blackface.

When this book came out in 1903, Britannia had very much ruled the waves for close to 90 years; for much of that time the Royal Navy was more powerful than any other two navies combined. It controlled the global sea routes, with bases at key locations on them. Like Gibraltar, Malta, Aden and Singapore.

Said navy was rather scattered, but it could be hopefully be recalled and reinforced quickly enough to stop any invasion by smashing through an enemy fleet, cutting off any landed troops.

In addition, we also had major communication advantages through a global network of undersea telegraph wires; the successors of these form much of the backbone of the modern Internet.

However, we were a group of islands with a growing population - and reliant on food imports to feed them.

Britain - and England before 1707 - had long sort of pursued a "balance of power" policy with regards to mainland Europe. By selecting allies carefully, it aimed to stop one power from dominating the Continent and then turning on us. This was known as "splendid isolation" in the 19th century; Britain only intervened in European wars when it was in our interests to do so. We had decided to avoid forming any permanent alliances that would drag us into a war.

The one notable exception to this would be the 1839 Treaty of London, where we promised to protect Belgium's independence against any invader. That was also in our interests; Belgium having ports on the North Sea close to SE England.

Not counting the 1688 Glorious Revolution, Britain had not been successfully invaded since 1066.

The British Army had engaged in a number of wars, some quite big, but those had been colonial affairs and there had been no real threat to the British mainland.

Germany had unified in 1871, in the process whooping Denmark, Austria and France in three wars. The last saw France cede the key industrial area of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, meaning that the latter had forces on both sides of the Rhine.

Germany had come rather late to the empire game as a result; it had grabbed the third-biggest chunk of Africa in the scramble for colonies, including what is now Namibia where they committed a genocide against two native peoples.

Germany was now seeking to make itself a world power. In particular, it felt that if it created a big enough navy, it would be able to obtain concessions from Britain without going to war. It would not be able to beat them in a naval fight, but it figured if it could inflict a lot of damage in one, the British would decide it wasn't worth the risk.

Hence they started building battleships.

This rather alarmed many in the British political sphere, who saw this as a threat to our naval supremacy, our commerce and ultimately our state.

Because of the threat of Germany, we were in the process of resolving disputes with our long-term rivals France, culminating in the 1904 Entente Cordiale.

As a final amusing note, in 1910, a group of pranksters, including Virginia Woolf, dressed up in blackface and Abyssinian costumes, pretended to be foreign royals... and gained access to HMS Dreadnought, pride of the Royal Navy.

[zoyalannister]

Gracetopher week 2024

Day 2: Christopher lives

@gracetopher-week

Read on Ao3

Thanks both to Tatiana’s terrible aim and Anna's quick decision-making, Christopher survived the battle against Belial. Five years later, he and Grace are working on a revolutionary invention that could change the lives of Shadowhunters forever. 1034 words.

Grace put down the stele and admired her job. The adamas forearm was a true work of art: it looked like an average man’s arm, even though it was made from the Shadowhunters’ very own angelic material, which allowed one to see the inner paths of copper wires that stretched all the way to the fingers.

All the junctions sported screws to allow movement; all over the arm, runes such as Opening, Closing, and Rotation provided the necessary magic to tie it all off. In theory, the electrical impulses from the wires had to activate each one of the runes at a time so that the hand, the wrist, and the arm would work exactly like their natural counterparts.

It was the best thing she and Christopher had ever invented, the perfect combination of angelic magic and mundane science.

It was hard, though, not to think about the circumstance that had rendered such an invention necessary.

Five years ago, Tatiana had hit Christopher in the forearm with a poisoned knife. Most likely, her intent had been to hit him at the shoulder, where the powerful venom would have spread at an alarming speed, but since she’d never held a weapon in her life… arm it was.

But, despite Tatiana’s terrible aim, the poison could have still made its way to Christopher’s heart if it hadn’t been for Anna’s quick thinking: she hadn’t hesitated a moment to cut off her brother’s arm to prevent the liquid from spreading. 

Since then, Christopher had learned to live without his right arm, with Grace’s and his family’s help, but she’d always seen him lost in his thoughts—more than usual, that was. He wasn’t exactly sad when he hugged her only with one arm, or when  he tried to grab something with his missing hand on instinct, or when he couldn’t lift anything that required using both hands—but Grace saw that expression, and she knew it meant Christopher’s mind was working. 

“What are you thinking about?” she’d asked him one day. 

He'd leaned over and kissed her. By then, they’d already started dating, but hadn’t made it official to everyone yet.

His violet eyes had sparkled with the burning passion for science she now knew so well. “I have a crazy idea.”

“Fire Messages were a crazy idea, and they made us win the war,” she’d replied. “I’m all up for your crazy ideas.”

They’d spent almost a whole year studying all the anatomy books they could put their hands on, and had planned the design for the next six months before starting to work on it. 

How Gabriel and Cecily had managed to persuade Charlotte Fairchild that they needed this much adamas, how the former Consul had been able to move all her strings to get them the material, was a mystery Grace didn’t want to sort out.

Since the moment they’d gotten the adamas, they’d worked like crazy, shaping and modeling the arm, careful to reproduce the neural network (or the closest thing they could have) with copper wires. 

Grace had done most of the practical work, due to the advantage of having two hands, with Christopher supervising and intervening when she was in difficulty.

And now, their revolutionary invention was ready.

“I think it’s time to test it,” Christopher said. 

Grace looked at him. He had a short beard covering his cheeks and chin, due to prioritizing the lab work over shaving, and he looked even more beautiful to her.

Grace reached out to give him a soft kiss on the lips. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “I’m sure of our work.”

Grace helped him to put the adamas arm on and fit it over his stump, to which Christopher reacted with a pained noise and a flinch.

She froze.

“Are you alright?”

Christopher nodded. “Yes, it was just a moment. I feel fine now.”

Grace caressed the back of his hand—his real hand—and then fixed the arm with a leather strip. 

Christopher lifted the arm without any apparent problems. The weight was supposed to be similar to the regular limb of a twenty-one year old man, and she was glad to see that he could move it without any problem.

“I’m going to try to slowly rotate the wrist,” he said.

Grace grabbed her notebook and a pen to write down the results of the tests. The speed of torsion, the angle, the time of response…

If there was any torsion at all.

As soon as she was ready, Christopher’s eyes focused, and Grace almost screamed in excitement as she saw the Rotation rune on the wrist lighting up and the arm slowly turning on itself. 

“We’re doing it!” he yelled, sharing her same excitement.

Many questions were on her mind; despite the joy, they still needed data. “How was the time response?”

“Maybe one second, it almost felt like moving my other arm.”

Grace tried to contain her enthusiasm and focused on her notes. She wrote down everything, then told Christopher, “Are you ready for something more complex?”

He nodded. 

Christopher stared intensely at his new adamas arm, and several Closing runes on the knuckles shone as he closed the hand into a fist. 

“Oh, Raziel,” she whispered. “Open it.”

Christopher did it without hesitation, opening and closing his fist with ease. It was the best result they could hope for, and Grace eagerly wrote it down.

“Another test?” he prompted.

Grace grabbed a pencil and held it out to him. “Take it.”

Christopher moved his arm and grabbed the pencil, but it snapped in his grip.

“Sorry,” he said, slightly embarrassed. “I don’t feel the touch and I didn’t realize I was holding it too tight.” Grace kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t worry, this result is already extraordinary. We can change the lives of all the Shadowhunters who lost a limb fighting demons.”

Christopher looked at her and asked, “Will you tell me if I hold you too tight and hurt you?”

“Of course, why—”

For the first time, Christopher held her hips with both hands and kissed her deeply.

Their invention needed improvement, but they had time for that. Just like they had time for the rest of their lives.

Together.

[mmkin]

Shameless Wily simping fun... also, the next chapter of Forever Clockwork is done faster than I anticipated, so here's the link on AO3, the chapter is also included under the cut.

Content warning - None (some flirting, but teen safe/SFW)

(Yes, these are the scrubs described in the fic, my first time ever drawing scrubs. I obviously need more practice, but it was still a hoot to draw)

III

o0o0o0o

(Wily’s POV)

Wily glanced down at the tablet, occasionally tapping the screen as he looked at the design and schematics of the robot that was on the table before him.

Robots these days were designed with fail-safes or automatic shutdowns that were triggered by certain behaviors. For example, a maid-bot might not be able to go more than a designated amount of meters from a house before it receives a warning signal, and if it ignores said warning, it would power down automatically.

Another feature that was typical for a robot was a GPS, in case the robot was stolen. Robots could also be shut down with voice, wireless, or radio commands. Robots, especially ones programmed with AI, were pricey investments, and thus needed safeguards so that humans could protect their property.

The GPS had already been disabled by Shademan before the robot was taken out of the amusement park it had been built for. However, the brightly-colored robot remained inactive, having powered down shortly after it went beyond the borders of the park. Not surprising, really, and the mad scientist was prepared for that.

He set the tablet down and leaned over the robot, lifting the panel off its back with little effort. A network of complex circuitry met his eyes, but it did not intimidate him the least as he examined it, making mental notes about what to upgrade or change.

That was one thing he'd always found fascinating about technology. It was ever-changing and improving, and he could learn and benefit from it. With each line, his robots became better and stronger, and with everything he learned, he could go back and upgrade some of his older Numbers to increase their efficiency or power., or in this case, take other people's robots and give them his modifications. Any robot could be improved on. Unfortunately, the same could be said about Megaman, but eh. Dr. Light and the blue robot were pushed out of his mind as he focused on his current task.

Wily lifted the helmet off the robot, revealing the circuitry located within its head. With deft hand movements that spoke of long experience in this particular process, the doctor hooked up wires to certain parts of the circuitry that made up the robot's mind and personality. This was a precaution he took every time he significantly modified or upgraded a Robot Master. Once the memory was backed up in his computer, he got to work, removing the GPS, the power override, and other devices that this 'bot's creators had installed to impede its freedom.

It took a bit of time to figure out what sort of weapon to give the robot. However, looking at the long, flexible arms of this robot gave him the idea to use their unique qualities to this robot's advantage. He did these robots a great service by maximizing their potential. Too bad the world could not see that. Such was the lot of a mad genius...

o0o0o0o

A Decade Ago, 200X

The first series of Robot Masters was already well underway. DLWN-003 through 005 were just about done, and 006-008 were all more than halfway through. Albert was rather proud of himself, but then who wouldn't be? He and Thomas had come a long way since their university days, and so had technology. When the first AI robot had been created by the two of them, it was very limited in its capabilities and most people did not see the use or benefit of their work. But then, look at the first automobile or the first computer. If people had thrown up their arms and not wished to work more on these inventions, then who knows where the world would be today?

“To a job well done, Albert," Thomas said as he raised his mug of coffee. Albert grinned and raised his own before he glanced at the television screen. Their work had brought them much recognition, and soon, would bring them an award. They had already won several for their work in the field of robotics, but the Technology Award was almost basically the Noble Prize of Science.

The head of the council, a middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair, rose from his seat. He had won last year's award and had also replaced the former leader of the council when he retired.

“As history shows, man has been very creative in his use of technology, and seeking ways to advance it. We are very fortunate to live in a new century, and not just that, but a new millennium. Man has been able to utilize technology in the last century that would have been unthinkable in the entire course of human history.”

“Get on with it," Albert muttered before he took another swig of his coffee. He had disliked Dr. Cooper upon meeting him, finding the other scientist to be a blowhard at times. To receive his award from this man... feh.

“This year's Technology Award goes to someone who is known as the father of robotics.” Father? Albert frowned at that as Dr. Cooper continued, "And without him, robotics would probably still belong in the realm of science fiction. I am pleased to announce that this year, Thomas Light is the winner of the Technology Award!"

Albert and his partner stared at the television for several moments, waiting for Dr. Cooper to realize his mistake, or for someone else to correct him on his omission. There was a round of polite applause from the other members before Dr. Cooper announced that he would fly to Light Labs and present Light with the award himself.

“What the...!” He rose to his feet, glaring at the screen, his knuckles white as his mug slightly shook.

“Albert, I am sure it was an honest mistake, I will explain it to him. You deserve that award as much as I do, and we both know it.” Thomas put his hand on his partner's arm to calm him.

o0o0o0o

Now

The mad scientist wiped his brow after he adjusted the tightness of the coils that he had added to the robot's flexible arms. When he took robots created by someone else, he preferred to keep the external design changes to a minimum and work with the robot instead of against it. It had taken him some time to decide how to optimally weaponize the clown-themed robot, but studying the arms had given him a sudden burst of inspiration.

He had retrofitted the insides of the arms with flexible Tesla coils, enabling the production of electricity and the ability to use it as a weapon. His work on DWN-060 was almost complete. The previously installed safeguards and controls that enabled this robot's original creators or owners to control him had all been removed. His memory had been uploaded to the new brain and installed within the head cavity.

He sat back on his stool, basking in the glow of a job well done. He still enjoyed building his robots and challenging himself with new designs, like he was doing now for DWN-057, but there was a perverse sort of pleasure in stealing the robots of others and giving them freedom and his enhancements. Now, only if it were as easy to enhance the human body... He grinned to himself dryly as he stretched, feeling his old bones creak a bit as he did so.

o0o0o0o

(You)

You set the weapon down, running your finger lightly along one of its planes and looking at the three green blades, having followed Wily's blueprint and putting the pieces together. It was easy to get lost in the work, and doubtless, that was partly from starting a new job and doing something that was a challenge.

But oh, how your back aches from being hunched over the project. So you back away from the table, stretching out your arms and legs as you pace the large room, where several other tables sit with various projects including a new Robot Master. You wander over to it, slowly circling it as you study his work. Most of it is assembled already, though a casual observer would see several pieces missing or incomplete.

It's over seven feet tall and near it is a red facepiece with a long, pointed nose. Much of one arm was missing, and you blink when you realize the weapon you'd just been working on was intended to be part of that arm. So now, apparently, officially you helped to build a Wily Number? You lean in, finding the number that identifies it as DWN-057.

Well, now you’re curious to see your work in action. You smirk to yourself and startle when you turn around and see Shadow Man. You wonder if he’s ever startled Wily the same way.

“Forgive me for startling you,” the ninja-bot says as he bows his head.

“No harm done. Is there a problem?” you ask.

“Nothing at all. How goes your task?”

“Almost done. I just needed to stretch out.”

“Father is almost done with his work, and he says you can stop and clean up. Dinner will be in half an hour.”

“Oh, cool. Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course. What is it?”

“I'm curious... you have free will, right? You're free to do as you want go where you please, unless I assume wrong.”

“No, you are correct.”

“You have your own... hobbies, interests, predilections? Did these come about on their own?”

“Yes. That is how it is for all of us. Father designs us with different tasks and occupations in mind, as you can see by our bodies, but as far as personalities go, we develop our own. Not all of us were created by him but are loyal to him.”

“Why do you serve Wily, then? You are a powerful robot and could do nearly anything you wanted.”

He looks at you curiously for a moment, thinking quietly for nearly a minute before speaking.

“Because we love him, and we believe in his cause. He wants to make robots equal to humans, not slaves. He wants to blur that line, the line between human and machine to the point where we can't be treated like objects. We have souls, we have feelings, others can't see that, can't hear it, or won't try to understand us.” he said quietly, his words baring a conviction more convincing than any human you’d heard in a long time.

“When I first met him, we talked about the possibility of robots having souls. This was right before the first line of Masters came out, mind you. Everyone around me, except for Albert and Thomas, of course, thought that a robot could never have a soul. People scoffed at the idea. But Mega Man came along and… A lot has happened since then.”

“That is true. We are loyal to him because he cares for us. If we get damaged, he takes the time to repair and upgrade us instead of discarding us. We are his sons, whether he built us himself or rescued us.”

It’s heartwarming to hear a robot speak so passionately, and you stare at him quietly. He takes your silence as skepticism and adds, “You can choose to believe me or not, but I am confident in the truth. Many condemn his actions, simply because they don't understand him or us. He stands against the world. And we stand with him.”

“I believe you,” you reply.

For lunch, there are deluxe sandwiches with a tasty ingredient you had almost forgotten the taste of. You haven’t had one of these since… Fuck, really, you ask yourself as you smell the tantalizing scent of the hot ingredients in the sandwich, finding yourself on a cruise down memory lane. Amazing what little details he remembers. You'd always figured he was much more focused on his work, like the stereotypical male who forgets the details while his partner is the one who remembers all the little things. But he'd remembered your favorite colors. And you two had talked about science fiction in the past, and he remembered the particular titles you mentioned as your favorites.

Wait, he’s not your partner. He’s your mentor and boss. You look at the table, where the sandwiches sit, waiting to be enjoyed.

“When was the last time you had one of these?” he asked, gesturing to the sandwiches. The smell envelops you in a pleasant memory.

“That would be when you informed me I was getting an A for the semester,” comes your reply.

He blinked. “Really?”

“I'd never had that type of sandwich until you made me one, either," you admit as you take one of the stools and sit down. You take a bite of your sandwich, letting the taste of well-seasoned ingredients explode in your mouth. Yeah, that's some good stuff. You remember when you'd shared this in his lab, it was your final semester and not long before Wily went rogue. Since you spent a fair amount of time in his lab, sometimes he provided you with food. One day, it'd been these sandwiches, ordered from some nearby local place. They'd been pretty damn good. He sits across the table from you and starts on his food, and the two of you munch away contentedly.

He’s not made any overt moves. Most talk is about either work or the hobbies you share. He’s been a gentleman, and you’re happy about that, but a bit let down. There’s an occasional teasing or snarky comment, and you wonder if you’re just being impatient, or oblivious, or something. You’ve dated a few times, but nothing ever panned out in the long run. What might dating Wily be like? Would that make things awkward, or would it turn out to be a meeting of both minds and bodies?

“So how was your day? I trust you had no problems in the lab.” you hear him say.

“Everything was just fine, thank you. I had all the things I needed and I'm almost done with DWN-057's arm.”

“Since you were able to identify who you were making the weapon for, I take it you looked at the rest of him. What did you think?”

“I am impressed," you admit, seeing the flicker of pleasure in his eyes at her admission. "You've come a long way since the DLWN Numbers. I'm almost jealous of you."

He sat back, a smug grin on his face. “Jealous? Why would that be?”

“You have your lab and army of robots to bring you all the materials you need. You're pretty much free to do as you please, you don't have the constraints that law-abiding scientists have to deal with."

He let out a pleased laugh at that. “Living on the wrong side of the law has its benefits.”

“As I can see.” You wave a hand to indicate your surroundings, “I know Dr. Light isn't too proud of what he had to do to get funding to build his lab.”

Wily nodded. Light Labs was a huge undertaking, and to get funding for that, Thomas Light and his partner had taken several contracts with the military. He had been compensated well for his work, but you and Wily knew that it weighed heavily on Light that his genius had been used in war machines. He tried to ease his conscience by building robots designed to help humanity, but that part of his past still haunted him.

“Sometimes you do what you have to. It was not pleasant for Thomas, but it benefited him in the long run," he replied.

You nod slowly. You could easily understand the time and effort it took to build Rock and his sister. What was harder to grasp – at least for the layman – was how much funds it took to not only build these two but the funds needed just for the research into AI and advanced robotics. Dr. Light had also grown attached to his first Robot Master, known initially as Blues before he became Proto Man.

“I guess you felt like you had to leave Light Labs and do...”

“I did," he replied in all seriousness.

“It was a pretty damned ballsy move.”

He grinned widely at that, wiggling his eyebrows. “You're right, it was. But dreams are not accomplished by the meek.”

“Ha. I suppose not.”

“What are your dreams?” he asked. You glance at him, and he continues. “You didn't study robotics just so you could build robots for other people. What do you hope to accomplish?”

You’re not sure. It’d be pretty cool to design your own Robot Master. Cybernetics was also another interest to you, as its current applications were relatively limited due to the barrier between machine and flesh. You have another idea milling around, but despite your time with Wily, you’re hesitant to share your idea with one of the world’s most wanted criminals. You regard him with a thoughtful frown.

“What if I gave you time and space for your research?" he asks. Your eyes widen as you struggle to control your reaction. He grins at you, knowing he has your interest.

“Come now. I'm giving you the chance to get to work on your dream. I can provide you with the materials you need. And you've seen for yourself that there's plenty of space. So if there's an idea rolling around in that pretty little head of yours, I don't doubt it's a good one."

Well. You’re not immune to a well-placed stroke of the ego, are you?

“I remember you talking back then about how nice it would be to be able to upgrade a human body like you could for a robot…" Back then, it was an impossible dream, but as robotics advanced and cybernetics had a few promising developments, it seemed more possible that in the future, the two might become integrated. Possibly cybernetic organs, or a whole new body. You saw how sophisticated robotics has become since its inception. Hell, look at how cell phones were back then, compared to the smartphones of today.

You’d made notes, run test programs, and the like but you’d never had the chance or space to test it out fully.

“You didn't spend all that time just working on other people's projects, did you?” you hear him ask. You quickly look back at him.

“How come you didn't ask me to work for you back then?” you ask.

“I was just starting out. I was new at the villain thing and I didn't want to get you in trouble or risk you being harmed," he said calmly. "I respect you too much for that, and, I'd be a shitty teacher and mentor if I let a student get hurt."

“Hmph.” You give him a brief nod to show you accept his answer.

“As you can see, I am very well-established. I know what I'm doing now, and I can keep you safe. And let you work on your research. Course, I would need to know what you wanted to do…”

“Well…” You lean back, crossing your arms, appraising him. Can you trust him?

“What is it?” he asked, interest all too obvious in his tone.

“I did get a lot of work done. But it's mainly notes and research along with designs. Without a lab of my own, I could only do so much in the way of a physical product."

“I assume you have enough notes and research to start work immediately.”

“I do."

“I would be disappointed if you didn't," he commented. You smirk back at him.

“You seem to have a lot of faith in me even though I haven't made a big name of myself like Mikhail Cossack or Noelle Lalinde."

“I saw your potential in college, and there's nothing wrong with avoiding the limelight. You get more done when you’re not prancing in front of the cameras or trying to be careful to not piss people off.”

You throw your head back and laugh at that before you sober up, thinking about your research and what Wily could do if he got his hands on it. It’s not weaponry, but could enhance existing weapons. You’ve seen the remains of the Stardroids he managed to salvage and wonder what you might learn if he allowed you to examine the alien technology. You grin, deciding to try a bit of a Wily maneuver.

“I’ll tell you about my project, but I want to examine the Stardroid parts you have,” you offer.

“Think you can make a deal with me?” he asks with a grin. You calmly nod. “I’ll take it, at least this once.” He extends his hand for a shake, and you don’t hesitate to grab it. His hands feel like what you’d expect – bony but muscular. It’s also pleasingly warm and dry, and a thrill passes through your body at the contact, because thus far, Wily has given you space.

As you expect, there is quite a bit to learn from the Stardroids, and you see a couple of practical possibilities emerging from the Stardroids’ unique abilities. And while you’re looking at them, he explains how he’d already used some of the technology to improve Shadow Man, giving him Saturn’s teleporting ability so that the ninja-bot was able to teleport you safely to Wily’s lab – something that wasn’t supposed to be possible for organic matter because of its difference from data (which was why advanced robots like Mega Man could teleport, but not humans or animals)

You've been wondering about that since you came here. "That's fucking genius," you say in response to that. He grins knowingly and you're pretty sure he's puffing out his chest a little.

It was still a huge drain on Shadow Man, so he had to use that ability sparingly, Wily explains. Still, that sort of feat shows you that others are possible, including your own.

“One must be prepared to adapt. I am always willing to learn more, and there is plenty to learn from the Stardroids." He sounded like he had in the old days when he was giving a lecture. You notice he's standing close to you. Not indecently so, but as a fellow scientist examining the same thing as you. You decide to test the waters a bit and move closer to him, your shoulders just touching. He does not move away. You stay where you are, and so does he when the two of you are looking at the part, examining it under magnifying lenses, and listening to the observations he'd made. He points your attention to something and you feel his hand on your back, touching lightly. You have to remember to breathe and keep your hand steady because holy fuck, your pulse has picked up so quickly that you're almost dizzy.

You didn't realize that being here, in close quarters to him, was causing tension to build up. He used to be your teacher and mentor, now he's your boss. You don't want to jeopardize this relationship, but fuck, he's such a silver fox, and at this point, you're 99.9 percent certain he has… something for you. After all, hadn’t he remembered these little details about you?

So you take a deep breath and relax, letting him keep his hand right where it is as you lean to get a better look at what he’s pointing out. You chat a little over it before you stand back up, and he pulls his hand away.

“So there you have it. You can have access to this lab anytime, but first…” He raises his eyebrows. You take a deep breath, wondering what he’ll think of it.

“You could call it a self-repair matrix, I suppose. You know how cybernetics as a technology is still limited because flesh and machine don't exactly mesh well." There are limited examples, to be sure. Cochlear implants, robotic hands, pacemakers, and the like. Technology has come a long way, but the bridge between flesh and robotics is still a ways off. "It's a healing system for a robot meant to stimulate what a human does to heal themselves. It's more for internal technology, but I don't see why it can't also apply externally, with enough time and development. And hopefully, that can also help with meshing with a human body more efficiently."

“I knew you had to be cooking up something good, and I am intrigued.” His smile is enthusiastic.

“The issue with the program is that it has to be customized for each robot. Kind of like DNA. Each Robot Master is unique, so the program would have to have its specs added to it before installation. Once installed, the robot would need less maintenance than before, and some of the damage could be repaired by the program. It also helps to preserve memories, should the brain itself become somehow damaged."

“I like it. I definitely like it.” He tugs his mustache thoughtfully as he stares at you, and you regard him with a modest but pleased smile.“You will need a Robot Master to test it on and make sure it works.”

“It does. At least, when I tested it.”

He raised his eyebrow. “How? On one of the robots you built for others?”

“No way! But I did test it on my computer and a discarded robot brain. They were successful, and I anticipate the same results for a robot of Master-level, but it would take longer to make one matrix since there's more data to integrate into it."

“I look forward to seeing you build it. Let me know what you need.”

Boom. Just like that, your employer has essentially offered you a blank check. You pause as you realize that some of your supplies are likely going to be stolen.

If there was a better real-life example of ‘making a deal with the devil’ than what you had just gotten into, you’d be hard-pressed to imagine it.

“You look worried, Y/n. Is something the matter?" he asks. You huff softly, looking down at the table with the Stardroid parts illuminated under lights and magnifying lenses. So far, you haven't mentioned anything about the legal ramifications. And you hadn't done anything illegal so far. You weren't stealing things, taking over locales and terrorizing the locals, or shaking down governments for money.

Nah, you were just working for a mad scientist who did do all of these things, and technically, you could be considered an accomplice for assisting in the construction of a Robot Master. Now, if you asked for it, he’d steal for you.

You place your hands on your hips as you study your boss (and object of your desire) and decide to be honest.

“We both know what's going on here is illegal. You do not need to fear me snitching on you. And I am grateful for this opportunity, believe me. It's… exciting, and thrilling. I'm having a ton of fun here." You see his eyes light up at that, and you continue, "But I can't help but wonder if I made a deal with the devil."

At that, his grin becomes devilish indeed. “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven!”

[jaspavca]

Professional TV Installation and Setup Services

In today’s entertainment-driven world, having a high-quality television setup can greatly enhance your viewing experience. Whether you’re upgrading to a state-of-the-art smart TV or setting up a new home theater system, professional TV installation and setup services ensure that you get the most out of your investment. Jasp Audio And Video, these services go beyond just mounting your TV on the wall—they encompass a comprehensive approach to achieving optimal performance and aesthetic integration within your living space.

The Importance of Professional Installation

While it may be tempting to tackle TV installation as a DIY project, professional services offer significant advantages. Trained technicians bring expertise and experience to the job, ensuring that your TV is installed correctly and safely. This includes not only mounting the TV securely but also managing cables and connections to avoid clutter and potential hazards.

Custom Mounting Solutions

One of the primary aspects of professional TV installation is choosing the right mounting solution. Technicians can assess your space and recommend the best type of mount—whether it’s a fixed, tilting, or full-motion mount—based on your viewing preferences and room layout. Fixed mounts keep the TV close to the wall, which is ideal for a sleek, modern look, while tilting mounts allow you to adjust the angle for optimal viewing. Full-motion mounts offer the flexibility to swivel and extend the TV, making them perfect for rooms where the viewing angle may change frequently.

Cable Management

A clean and organized setup is essential for both aesthetics and functionality. Professional installers handle cable management with precision, concealing wires and cables within the wall or using cable covers to ensure a tidy appearance. This not only improves the visual appeal of your space but also reduces the risk of accidents and damage to cables.

Optimal Placement and Calibration

Proper placement of your TV is crucial for an immersive viewing experience. Technicians assess factors such as viewing distance, room lighting, and the layout of your furniture to position your TV at the perfect height and angle. Additionally, they perform calibration to adjust settings such as brightness, contrast, and color to ensure that the picture quality is as sharp and vibrant as possible. This process enhances your viewing experience, making sure you get the most out of your TV’s capabilities.

Integration with Home Entertainment Systems

Professional TV installation often involves integrating your TV with other home entertainment components. This may include connecting to a sound system, Blu-ray players, gaming consoles, and streaming devices. Technicians ensure that all devices are connected properly and configured to work seamlessly together. They can also help with setting up smart features, such as connecting your TV to your home network for streaming services and app functionality.

Testing and User Training

After the installation is complete, professionals test the entire setup to ensure that everything is functioning correctly. This includes checking connections, ensuring that the remote control works properly, and verifying that all devices are communicating as expected. Additionally, technicians provide training on how to use the TV and its features, including setting up favorite channels, using smart apps, and navigating settings. This training helps you maximize the potential of your new TV and avoids frustration with unfamiliar technology.

Ongoing Support and Maintenance

Some professional TV installation services offer ongoing support and maintenance options. This can be particularly useful if you encounter issues or need to make adjustments in the future. Whether it’s troubleshooting problems, updating software, or relocating your TV setup, having access to expert assistance ensures that your entertainment system remains in top condition.

Conclusion

Professional TV installation and setup services offer a comprehensive solution for optimizing your home entertainment experience. From expert mounting and cable management to precise calibration and seamless integration with other devices, these services ensure that your TV not only looks great but performs at its best. By entrusting your installation to professionals, you can enjoy a hassle-free setup and take full advantage of your TV’s features, enhancing your overall viewing pleasure and ensuring a sleek, functional, and enjoyable home entertainment environment.

Contact Us

(760) 315-7015

jasp_av@outlook.com

PO Box 3910,

Ramona, CA, 92065

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[infodailyblog]

Do you know about All Access Technologies 402-699-2575?

Exploring the Versatility of All Access Technologies 402-699-2575: A Comprehensive Overview

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, accessibility and connectivity are paramount. From seamless communication to efficient information dissemination, businesses and individuals alike rely on innovative solutions to stay connected and productive. Among the myriad of companies catering to these needs, one name stands out: All Access Technologies. With their commitment to excellence and a wide array of services, All Access Technologies has become a trusted partner for individuals and organizations seeking reliable connectivity solutions.

The All Access Advantage

At the forefront of All Access Technologies' offerings is their dedication to providing comprehensive solutions tailored to their clients' needs. Whether it's establishing robust communication networks or implementing cutting-edge security measures, All Access Technologies excels in delivering results that exceed expectations.

Their suite of services encompasses various domains, including:

1. Telecommunication Solutions: All Access Technologies specializes in providing telecommunication services that enable seamless connectivity. From voice communication to high-speed internet access, their solutions are designed to keep individuals and businesses connected, regardless of their location.

2. Network Infrastructure: With expertise in network design and implementation, All Access Technologies helps clients build scalable and resilient network infrastructures. Whether it's deploying wired or wireless networks, their solutions are geared towards optimizing performance and ensuring reliability.

3. Security Solutions: In an era where cybersecurity threats are prevalent, All Access Technologies offers robust security solutions to safeguard data and privacy. From firewall protection to intrusion detection systems, their comprehensive approach to security mitigates risks and protects against cyber threats.

4. Unified Communications: All Access Technologies empowers organizations with unified communications solutions that streamline collaboration and enhance productivity. By integrating voice, video, and messaging platforms, they enable seamless communication across multiple channels, fostering efficiency and agility.

Customer-Centric Approach

What sets All Access Technologies apart is their unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction. From initial consultation to ongoing support, they prioritize client needs every step of the way. Their team of experienced professionals works closely with clients to understand their requirements and devise tailored solutions that align with their objectives.

Moreover, All Access Technologies places a premium on reliability and responsiveness. With a dedicated support team available round-the-clock, clients can rest assured that assistance is always within reach. Whether it's troubleshooting technical issues or providing guidance on system optimization, their prompt and efficient support ensures minimal disruption to operations.

Driving Innovation Forward

Innovation lies at the heart of All Access Technologies' ethos. Continuously staying abreast of emerging technologies and industry trends, they strive to deliver cutting-edge solutions that empower their clients to thrive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. By embracing innovation, All Access Technologies remains at the forefront of technological advancements, driving progress and transformation across industries.

Conclusion

In an age where connectivity is indispensable, All Access Technologies emerges as a beacon of excellence, offering comprehensive solutions that empower individuals and organizations to navigate the complexities of the digital realm with confidence. Through their commitment to innovation, reliability, and customer satisfaction, they continue to redefine the boundaries of technological possibility, enriching lives and shaping the future of connectivity.

For those seeking unparalleled access to transformative technology solutions, All Access Technologies stands ready to deliver, bridging the gap between vision and reality in an interconnected world.

Click given link to read more information:

[imperialchem]

Powering the Future of Railways: A Comprehensive Guide to Connectors for Railway Traction

In the context of global advancements towards sustainable and efficient transportation alternatives, there is a notable resurgence in the prominence of railways.  The utilisation of railways as a primary means of transportation for both passengers and freight is on the rise, mostly due to the advantageous environmental attributes and cost-efficiency associated with this method of transport.  The complex technology that drives modern railway systems is crucial for their performance, with a key element being the connectors employed for railway propulsion.  Reliability you can depend upon.  Elevate your railway systems with premium railway traction connectors manufactured and supplied by Radiant Enterprises - one of the distinguished Railway Traction Connectors manufacturers in India!

This thorough guide aims to provide an in-depth analysis of railway traction connectors, examining their importance, various types, advantages, and potential prospects in the future.  A comprehensive grasp of these connectors is imperative for individuals engaged in the railway sector, as they assume a crucial function in propelling the advancement of trains and cultivating an environmentally friendly transportation infrastructure.

The Importance of Railway Traction Connectors:

This thorough guide aims to provide an in-depth analysis of railway traction connectors, examining their importance, various types, advantages, and potential prospects in the future.  A comprehensive grasp of these connectors is imperative for individuals engaged in the railway sector, as they assume a crucial function in propelling the advancement of trains and cultivating an environmentally friendly transportation infrastructure.

Types of Railway Traction Connectors:

·         Pantographs:

Pantographs represent the prevailing form of connectors employed in electric trains.  The pantographs, located on the train's roof, establish a connection with the overhead wires, facilitating the transfer of electrical power to the train.  Contemporary pantographs are outfitted with advanced sensors and control systems, enabling them to adjust to fluctuating voltage levels and maintain a consistent power provision.

·      Third Rail Collectors:

The utilisation of a third rail as a power source is observed in certain railway systems, where trains derive electrical energy from an additional rail positioned adjacent to the tracks.  Third-rail collectors are dynamic connectors that establish an electrical connection by sliding and making contact with the third rail.  This approach is commonly observed in specific urban transport networks owing to its straightforwardness and economical nature.

Benefits of Advanced Railway Traction Connectors:

·         Enhanced Efficiency:

Contemporary connections utilised in railway traction systems are engineered with the objective of minimising power losses during gearbox, hence leading to enhanced energy efficiency.  The achievement of efficient power transmission results in a decrease in energy consumption and a reduction in operating expenses for railway operators.

·         Reliability and Safety:

The utilisation of premium materials and cutting-edge engineering in the production of connectors guarantees a dependable and secure electrical linkage, hence enhancing reliability and safety.  This improves the dependability and security of railway operations, hence mitigating the likelihood of power disruptions and incidents.

·         Reduced Maintenance:

Connector designs that are more advanced sometimes possess self-cleaning capabilities, hence aiding in the prevention of the accumulation of dirt, debris, and ice on the contact surfaces.  The implementation of this self-cleaning technology results in a reduction in maintenance demands and a decrease in downtime, hence enhancing operational availability.

·         Sustainability:

The utilisation of electric trains, which are fueled by renewable energy sources, plays a substantial role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and addressing the issue of climate change.  The utilisation of high-quality traction connectors is of paramount importance in expediting the acceptance and implementation of sustainable transportation systems.

The Future of Railway Traction Connectors:

The ongoing progress of technology will inevitably lead to the further development of railway traction connectors.  Transform railway electrification with the advanced Railway Traction Connectors supplied by Radiant Enterprises.  Request a sample today!

·         Smart Connectivity:

The integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 has led to the expectation that railway traction connectors will contain intelligent functionalities.  The utilisation of real-time data monitoring and analytics has the potential to facilitate predictive maintenance, hence enhancing the efficiency and durability of the connectors.

·         Lightweight and Durable Materials:

The field of material science has the potential to facilitate the creation of connector materials that possess both lightweight properties and exceptional durability.  This may potentially result in a reduction in the overall weight of trains, hence enhancing their energy efficiency.

·         High-Speed Rail:

The global demand for high-speed rail networks is experiencing a notable increase.  In order to facilitate the operation of faster trains while ensuring safety and efficiency, future traction connectors will be required to accommodate elevated levels of voltage and current.

·         Wireless Charging:

Wireless charging technology is now being investigated by researchers as a potential solution for trains.  Potential future connectors have the potential to integrate wireless charging capabilities, hence obviating the necessity for direct physical contact between the train and the power source.

Final Thoughts:

The railway industry is positioned to assume a crucial role in influencing the trajectory of sustainable transport in the future.  In order to realise this vision, the utilisation of modern technology, such as railway traction connectors, will play a pivotal role.  As we progress, allocating resources towards research and development in order to create inventive and dependable connector solutions will not only propel the future of railway systems but also make a significant contribution towards a more environmentally friendly and efficient global landscape.  The ongoing advancement of connector technology holds promise for the development of a more environmentally sustainable and interconnected railway system that will benefit future generations.  Explore the optimal solution for your railway projects.  Explore a diverse range of railway traction connectors offered by Radiant Enterprises - one of the trusted Railway Traction Connectors manufacturers in India!

[fibermarts]

Advantages of a 12-core fiber optic cable

A 12 Fiber Cable is a type of optical cable that has 12 separate strands or cores of optical fibers enclosed in a protective jacket. Each core may carry a distinct communication signal, allowing numerous data streams to be delivered concurrently.

Fiber optic cables are composed of tiny strands of glass or plastic fibers that transport data via light pulses. These cables provide various advantages over regular copper cables, such as increased bandwidth, quicker data transmission rates, and greater transmission distances.

The 12-core design is a common choice for fiber optic cables because it strikes an appropriate balance between capacity and cost.

It supports the transmission of numerous signals, making it ideal for applications requiring large data capacity, such as telecommunications networks, data centers, and internet service providers.

In recent years, there has been an increase in demand for larger-capacity fiber optic connections to meet contemporary technology's expanding data requirements. As a result, manufacturers have created cables with even greater core counts, such as 24, 48, or 96 cores. These higher-core-count cables are commonly employed in large-scale data centers and high-capacity backbone networks.

Furthermore, advances in fiber optic technology have resulted in the development of cables with superior performance characteristics, such as faster data transfer speeds and lower signal loss. These advances have expanded the potential of 12 Fiber Pigtail, making them a dependable and effective alternative for a variety of applications.

Advantages of a 12-core fiber optic cable

Increased capacity: This cable has 12 separate fibers, which gives more data transmission capacity than cables with fewer cores. It enables the simultaneous transmission of several signals, resulting in better network flexibility and scalability.

Fiber optic lines provide greater data transfer speeds than standard copper wires. The 12-core architecture adds to this advantage, allowing for high-speed data transmission across great distances.

Improved Reliability: Fiber optic connections are less susceptible to electromagnetic interference and signal loss, resulting in more stable data transfer. The 12-core architecture provides redundancy, guaranteeing that if one or more fibers fail, the network may still function with the remaining fibers.

Future-proofing: The 12 Fiber Cable allows for future extension and technical developments. It enables future updates and the incorporation of new services without requiring significant infrastructure expenditures.

Next: What Is Passive Optical Networking (PON) and How Does It Revolutionize Broadband Connectivity?

[mariacallous]

At the height of the US trade war with Japan in the 1980s, Congress established a nationwide network of organizations to advise small American manufacturers on how to survive and grow in what was then a particularly difficult environment. Decades later, there is now at least one Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center in all 50 states, and they continue to provide taxpayer-subsidized consulting to thousands of businesses, including makers of ovens, printers, tortillas, and dog food.

But on Tuesday, shortly before the president announced sweeping tariffs on global imports, Trump administration officials informed members of Congress that it was withholding funding for some MEP centers because their work no longer aligns with government priorities.

The Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which administers the program to help manufacturers, emailed lawmakers to say that it would not be paying out nearly $12.9 million that had been due overall this week to MEP centers in 10 states, according to Democratic staff of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology who spoke on on the condition of anonymity.

“The department is reprioritizing its programmatic activities to ensure that the US secures its position as a leader in critical and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum,” according to the email seen by WIRED. “As such NIST has determined that these cooperative agreements are no longer aligned with the priorities of the department and NIST.”

The Democratic congressional aides and heads of MEP centers in multiple states believe that abandoning support for the program runs counter to Trump’s long-standing goals of boosting domestic manufacturing and winning the ongoing trade war with China. While the president has demonstrated a preference for punitive measures such as tariffs over subsidies to increase American manufacturing capacity, his defunding of the centers could leave US small businesses without the support they need to take advantage of such policies, advocates for the MEP program say.

“These efforts directly align with the president’s goals to strengthen domestic manufacturing and re-shore production,” says Jennifer Sinsabaugh, CEO of New Mexico MEP.

Project 2025, a proposed road map for the current Trump administration authored by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, had called for eliminating federal subsidies for the manufacturing program and letting the private sector “more properly” carry out its business advisory services. But as of Wednesday, the Department of Commerce and NIST had not announced a plan to privatize it or shared how the withheld funds would be repurposed.

NIST did not respond to a request for comment. The manufacturing program is one of a number of NIST initiatives that the Commerce Department has moved to scale back or eliminate in recent weeks as Trump and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency work to dismantle a whole range of long-standing agencies and programs run by the US federal government.

Perhaps anticipating that DOGE might be coming for the program, NIST added a graphic to the top of its MEP webpage in February highlighting how it contributes to the US economy, according to screenshots from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

NIST spends under $200 million annually on the MEP program, with most of the money passed on to states and Puerto Rico in batches of payments. The congressional aides tell WIRED that they expect all remaining centers will lose their funding over the next year or so, as their next checks come due.

Depending on the state, centers are operated by universities, government agencies, or independent nonprofits. States also help pay for the MEP program, but the congressional aides believe it would be difficult in many states—especially smaller ones—to make up for the loss of federal funding.

Carrie Hines, president and CEO of the American Small Manufacturers Coalition, which represents all of the state help centers, says businesses pay market rates for the personalized consulting they offer. “This is not a handout,” she says. Traditional consulting firms may not be able to assist these small businesses or even exist in some regions, she adds. “We fill that unique void of technical assistance, with boots on the factory floor,” Hines says.

Wyoming’s help center, known as Manufacturing Works, was among the organizations that on Tuesday did not receive some $700,000 in funding it had been expecting from NIST. The other states affected include Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, and North Dakota. “Those 10 centers were blindsided,” Hines says.

Jodie Mjoen, CEO and president of North Dakota’s MEP center Impact Dakota, says he’s begun working with partners on finding new ways to support its 21 current projects across 93 manufacturers. These companies, according to Mjoen, are trying to contend with tariffs and other regulations, deploy more AI and automation, and introduce new skills to their employees. “This is what it’s all about,” he says. “Implementing innovative emerging technology solutions” and keeping the “US manufacturing supply chain thriving and expanding.”

Sinsabaugh of New Mexico MEP says the cuts “will have real and lasting negative impacts on the manufacturing ecosystem, both in our state and nationally.”

Officials for centers in the other states did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

US representative Sarah McBride, a Democrat from Delaware who also sits on the science committee, tells WIRED that “Trump is ripping opportunity away from Delaware’s working families, and I’ll fight with everything I have to reverse this reckless and cruel decision.”

Case studies published by NIST and state partners show that advisers associated with the help centers have walked businesses through how to adopt cybersecurity measures and build more resilient factory lines, or simply get executive teams to align on company priorities. Popular brands featured on NIST’s website that say they have benefited from the help centers include Dot’s, a maker of pretzel snacks owned by Hershey, and Purina, a dog food division of Nestlé.

The help centers also link businesses to other resources. In the case of Pertech Industries, a Riverton, Wyoming-based manufacturer of specialized printers that struggled to find workers skilled at soldering, the local MEP office connected it to a training company that later started offering a soldering program. The office helped the training firm pay for it with state funding. Pertech did not respond to a request for comment.

MEP’s work is not without alleged faults. Last year, the Department of Commerce’s Office of Inspector General accused NIST of poor oversight of a survey program it uses to estimate the benefits of the consulting services. After reviewing about $7.3 billion of the $18.8 billion in new and retained sales that NIST claimed from MEP work nationwide in a recent year, the inspector general found that $3.5 billion of the sample came from unreliable data.

In 2023, the inspector general flagged NIST for its alleged inadequate oversight of spending by state centers. It called for NIST to limit salaries for officials at state centers and better manage conflicts of interest in cases where board members of state centers also run companies that do business with them. NIST disputed the allegations in both the 2023 and 2024 investigations, but told the inspector general that new policies and processes would be considered.

An employee at one local center on the East Coast who knows the survey process well acknowledges that the data collection has some flaws. But even after removing some questionable results, the data shows that the MEP system is generating a sizable return on investment, according to the employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. They say many startups would not be able to afford the training, certification, and policy drafting programs their center provides without government subsidization.

“It isn’t a perfect system,” the East Coast employee says, “but having access to dedicated staff that are experienced in navigating challenges small companies are facing, sometimes for the first time, can be the difference between that company shutting down or continuing to grow.”