#How Ram Coolers Work

[ramcoolers]

Innovative Features of Ram Coolers: What Sets Us Apart

In the scorching summer heat, finding an effective cooling solution is essential. Ram Coolers have emerged as a leading name in the industry, offering a range of innovative Ram coolers that stand out for their exceptional performance and unique features. In this blog post, we will explore the innovative features of Ram Coolers, delve into what makes them the best choice for consumers, and highlight the benefits and technology behind these advanced cooling systems. Whether you are looking for the best coolers for hot weather or the latest in cooler technology, Ram Coolers have you covered.

Introduction to Ram Coolers

Ram Coolers have been at the forefront of the cooling industry, known for their innovative Ram coolers that combine cutting-edge technology with user-friendly designs. With a commitment to quality and performance, Ram Coolers have revolutionized how people stay cool during the hottest months.

Why Ram Coolers Are the Best

When it comes to cooling solutions, Ram Coolers stand out for several reasons:

Innovative Cooling Solutions: Ram Coolers use advanced cooling technology that ensures efficient and effective cooling.

Durability: Built to last, Ram Coolers are designed with high-quality materials that can withstand the test of time.

Energy Efficiency: These coolers are designed to consume less power while delivering optimal cooling performance.

Affordability: Despite their advanced features, Ram Coolers are available at competitive prices, making them accessible to a wide range of consumers.

Unique Innovative Features of Ram Coolers

One of the primary reasons Ram Coolers are highly regarded is their unique and innovative features. Here are some of the standout features that set Ram Coolers apart:

1. Honeycomb Cooling Pads

The use of honeycomb cooling pads in Ram Coolers ensures maximum cooling efficiency. These pads are designed to retain water for a longer period, enhancing the cooling process.

2. Powerful Air Throw

With a powerful air throw, Ram Coolers can cool large spaces effectively. This feature makes them ideal for both residential and commercial use.

3. Variable Speed Settings

Ram Coolers come with multiple speed settings, allowing users to customize the cooling according to their preferences and needs.

4. Water Level Indicator

The water level indicator in Ram Coolers helps users keep track of the water level, ensuring uninterrupted cooling.

5. Ice Chamber

For an extra burst of cool air, Ram Coolers feature an ice chamber where you can add ice cubes to enhance the cooling effect.

6. Remote Control Operation

Many Ram Coolers come with remote control operation, providing convenience and ease of use.

7. Automatic Swing

The automatic swing feature ensures even distribution of cool air across the room, enhancing comfort.

8. Anti-Bacterial Tank

The anti-bacterial tank in Ram Coolers prevents the growth of bacteria, ensuring clean and healthy air.

9. Portability

Ram Coolers are designed to be portable, making it easy to move them from one room to another as needed.

10. Low Maintenance

These coolers are designed for low maintenance, making them easy to clean and maintain.

Advanced Cooling Technology

Ram Coolers incorporate advanced cooling systems that set them apart from other brands. The innovative Ram cooling technology ensures efficient cooling with minimal power consumption. Here’s a closer look at the technology behind Ram Coolers:

Inverter Technology: This technology helps in reducing energy consumption while maintaining optimal cooling performance.

Eco-Friendly Refrigerants: Ram Coolers use eco-friendly refrigerants that do not harm the environment.

Advanced Air Filtration: Equipped with advanced air filtration systems, Ram Coolers ensure that the air you breathe is clean and fresh.

Smart Sensors: Smart sensors in Ram Coolers help adjust the cooling based on the room temperature, ensuring consistent comfort.

Benefits of Ram Coolers

Choosing Ram Coolers comes with numerous benefits:

Energy Savings: With energy-efficient designs, Ram Coolers help in reducing electricity bills.

Enhanced Comfort: The powerful cooling capabilities of Ram Coolers ensure that you stay comfortable even in extreme heat.

Healthier Air: Advanced filtration systems ensure that the air circulated by Ram Coolers is free from pollutants and allergens.

Versatility: Ram Coolers are suitable for various settings, from homes and offices to commercial spaces.

Cost-Effective: Despite their advanced features, Ram Coolers are priced competitively, offering great value for money.

Ram Coolers for Different Needs

Ram Coolers offer a wide range of products catering to different needs and preferences. Whether you are looking for a cooler for your home, office, or a larger commercial space, Ram Coolers have a solution for you. Here are some popular categories:

Residential Coolers: Designed for home use, these coolers are perfect for bedrooms, living rooms, and patios.

Commercial Coolers: Ideal for offices, shops, and large commercial spaces, these coolers provide powerful cooling to keep everyone comfortable.

Industrial Coolers: Built for industrial settings, these coolers are robust and capable of cooling large areas efficiently.

Portable Coolers: Easy to move and highly efficient, portable coolers are perfect for those who need flexibility in their cooling solutions.

Customer Reviews and Testimonials

Customers have consistently praised Ram Coolers for their performance and reliability. Here are some testimonials from satisfied users:

Ishwar Hedau: “Ram Coolers have been a lifesaver during the summer. The powerful cooling and low energy consumption make them the best choice for my home.“

Aniket Bhandarkar: “I love the advanced features of Ram Coolers, especially the remote control and automatic swing. It makes staying cool so convenient. Must say it is worth Buying.“

Kunal Mendhe: “ I highly recommend Ram Coolers in Nagpur for their excellent products and exceptional customer service. If you’re looking for reliable and efficient cooling solutions, Ram Coolers is the place to go! “

Binod Lakhotia:  ” As a shop owner, I needed a reliable cooling solution for my store. Ram Coolers have exceeded my expectations with their powerful performance and durability .“

FAQs about Ram Coolers

Q1: What makes Ram Coolers stand out from other coolers?

A1: Ram Coolers stand out due to their innovative cooling solutions, advanced technology, and unique features like honeycomb cooling pads, variable speed settings, and remote control operation.

Q2: How does the honeycomb cooling pad work?

A2: The honeycomb cooling pad retains water for a longer period, enhancing the cooling process by allowing more water to evaporate, thus providing more efficient cooling.

Q3: Are Ram Coolers energy efficient?

A3: Yes, RAM coolers are designed to be energy efficient, helping you save on electricity bills while enjoying optimal cooling performance.

Q4: Can RAM coolers be used in commercial settings?

A4: Absolutely. Ram Coolers offers models specifically designed for commercial and industrial settings, providing powerful cooling for large spaces.

Q5: Where can I buy Ram Coolers?

A5: You can purchase Ram Coolers from their official website at Ram Coolers, as well as from various authorized dealers and retail outlets.

⊗ Also Read: Seasonal Cooling Tips: How to Stay Cool During the Hottest Months

Conclusion

Ram Coolers are undoubtedly among the best coolers available today, thanks to their innovative features, advanced technology, and commitment to quality. Whether you need a cooler for your home, office, or commercial space, Ram Coolers offer a range of options that cater to different needs and preferences. By choosing Ram Coolers, you are investing in a reliable, efficient, and cost-effective cooling solution. For more information and to explore their range of products, visit Ram Coolers.

>>> Contact us today for any queries!

[randygrim]

Was thinking abt how stretchmarks would work for worker drones, so here is a compilation of my thoughts

Also i figured out the circut stretchmarks below :3

What if the robotic tissue stuff is lined with circutry thats flexible, so when you get visible stretchmarks its because the outter rubber is stretched thin so you can see the circuts underneath

These circuts act as the nervous system and circulatory system.

The gpu would be in the head acting as eyes and visual cortex, the psu in the chest acting as a heart, the motherboard running down the back acting as a spine, multiple coolers throughout the body acting as sweat glands.

Most of the items i just listed are stored in the areas of the body we expect (mostly the torso) but i think that the brain analogues, cpu, storage, and ram, would also be stored in the torso. These cant be places in the limbs or head because we see the extremities being replaced without any issue.

Also cuz we see nori runnung around in her core willy nilly, im thinking that the psu, cpu, ram, and partial storage are all placed in the core.

Not all the storage cuz noris memory was partially fucked with after the collapse, while her core was intact. So some storage since core nori has at the very least a short term memory, but the main storage is in the torso outside the core since her long term memory got fucked.

Ummm thanks for reading my rambles! I think im done talking abt those specifics.

I mainly made this cuz im fat and have a connective tissue disorder, so i have LOTS of stretchmarks. And i wanted to see if i could figure out how to make them robot >:3.

Also i like thinking abt shit too much.

Also also, so much fuckin credit to @melissa-titanium for doing the V drawing. Its very very VERY awesome and was the reason i started thinkin abt this shit in the first place

[ourloveiselectrifying]

Hi...!

I saw your game update post and I have to ask, how did you make the character custom thing? I'm a noob in creating games, so honestly the amount of options you've got there terrifed me! It's awesome but the work... Nevermind, would it be possible for you to do a tutorial? Or at least give some tips, or maybe suggest a person who explains stuff like that? I would be very, very thankful 🙈

Btw, amazing job, you're talented ;)

Hello! :3

I don't normally do these on the blog because it's not Kevin/OLiE, if you want to join the OLiE discord server you're welcome to and if you're stuck on someting me or another dev might be able to help out!

But- a small tutorial!

It's just tons of variables and condition switches within condition switches, this is most of them for the customiser! :3

This is the hair colour button. It's action is to increase the "haircolour2" variables number! there are 30 different hair colours. I don't want the button's action to let the variable go past 30 so that's why there's the If statement, which sets the variable back to 1 and then it can go back up to 30 again. ("If(haircolour2 > 29")

the "at customiserbutton" is a transform so I don't have to make a hover/idle image and it's 29392394X cooler than having an image change on hover, there's a very simple guide on doing a transform at the bottom of this ask :3

This is one of the condition switches for a hairstyle, you can display something different for each variable. This condition switch changes the secondary colour for the first straight and short hairstyle. The hair is is uncoloured/greyscale. The image is the same but theres a transform applied to each variable number (" matrixcolor=TintMatrix("#212121")) ") This changes the grey uncoloured hair to like black! The #numbers are a hex/html colour code and you can goog "html colour picker" and goog will give you one. :3

This is a composite. It's like layers in an art program, the first is the bottom and the last is the top layer. For the hair there's three layers, the bottom colour, the second colour, and the line art! The first set of numbers is the size of the image/canvas. The other sets of numbers next to each layer determines the placement of the layer. I've got it set to (0, 0) the first number moves it left/right and the second is up/down, I wanted it to be exactly where I saved it in my art program so I've not increased/decreased the numbers.

that composite then went into a condition switch for each hairlength (hairstyle)! Theres one of these for each hair texture too, then a whole set for the hair on the back of the head, and another set for a few that needed middle layers (parts of the hair behind the head and infront of the body.

Then each of these hairlength condition switches went into another

and finally these hairtex condition switches went to the the displayed image/character/composite!

I fucked up the placement of the eyebrows and the entire character, so that's why the placement for each layer is -15, and the eyebows are 1! Didn't have open everything in my art program and move it! :3

The amount of switches and variables for this was insane and actually managed to lag the game. So I don't know if I can say I'd recomend my stupid way of doing a customiser until I can figure out how to let Renpy/OLiE have some more crumbs of ram to preload the hundreds of images for the customiser Sdkfskdfjl

Have a tip! Add this to the end of every single condition switch!

( "True", "gui/playericon/nothing.png", )

Make it an image that's easy to recognise mines the players thoughts icon. It will display when your variable is set to something your condition switch doesn't have a displayable for (for example if my hair colour variable somehow went over 30) instead of just crashing your game and giving a confusing error code or none at all.

Another is if your game is crashing when you make the condition switch/composite, make sure you've put a capital C and S, ConditionSwitch and Composite, I've made tons of these and still forget a " , " and capitalisation all the time.

Don't get discouraged because your game keeps thowing out errors/crashes that's just how it be, take a few deep breaths and have a break before looking over your code again! :3

I hope some of this was useful lol, and I wish you good luck on your project!!! 🍀🍀🍀

[violentkeysmashing]

Man i love working with hardware.

Gave my main PC bravo a clean today, took em outside and blew all the dust out her radiators with the air compressor and cleaned out her case.

Gave her a fresh bit of cable management and insalled a CD drive i was meant to install a while ago.

Fuck optical media <3

After all that clean i gave her annother wipe down and took off her cooler to re-paste the CPU.

So now she is all clean, her thermals look great and im pleased with todays work on her.

Gotta make sure you give your computer a good clean and some love after you abuse them. Especially when you set them up with positive airflow to maximise cooling at the cost of becoming a dust collector.

Overall Bravo had a good clean today, and i've eveb taken some good time to fix how her insides looked, had to be very carefull while doing that, since i dont want electrostaic to mess with her parts so i had to set her up on my desk and take all her panles off to get a good poke arround inside.

All good even dowm to the PSUs management, gonna be a hell of a lot easier to maintain her in the future.

Specs below \/ \/

-= Bravo - 2

+ AMD Ryzen 9 12c24t CPU with a base clock of 3.7GHz

+ 32GB corsair vengange RAM (Ik its the wrong ammount im stupid and will fix it soon)

+ Sapphire RX 6700 XT 12GB (love this card)

+ MAG B550 motherboard

+ 1TB WD Black SSD

+ 1TB samsung SATA SSD (870 evo)

+ 2TB Segate HDD

@arch-official @debian-official - if you guys wanna see :3

[fereldanwench]

Hi! I'm not sure if you've answered this question or not or if I missed it in your pinned post. I've been dying to mod Cyberpunk for forever, and have finally decided to give it a try. I am very intimidated by the whole ordeal because I know cyberpunk has so many spec requirements (I play on console) and was wondering if you had recommendations? I'm looking to buy a PC to start my modding and visual photography journey but don't know where to start. I've scoured reddit for recommendations but keep getting mixed signals.

I've watched you slowly create your digital portfolio for Valerie over the last couple years and have just been in utter awe of your work. I've looked up to you for a while and want to follow in your footsteps.

Thank you for your time! ☺️💖

Hey there! Thank you so much for the sweet words!

You didn't miss anything, so no worries! I don't think I've ever shared my PC specs in one place. Currently I have:

Motherboard: MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk MAX

Processor: i7-14700K (with a Cooler Master liquid cooler, I forget the exact model)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR5 64GB

GPU: Geforce RTX 3070 Ti

SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 2TB

NZXT H710i ATX tower case (I think this exact model is discontinued, but I'm a fan of NZXT cases in general--They're very roomy, have good airflow, and have good cable management features)

I've built and maintained my own PCs for about a decade now, and I remember when I first made the switch from console to PC, a lot of the conventional advice I got from more seasoned PC gamers was "Build your own rig, it's cheaper, and it's not that hard." I wasn't fully convinced, though, and I did just get a pre-built gaming PC from some random company on Amazon. If you have the money and you're really intimidated at the idea of building your own, there's nothing wrong with going this route.

Once I had my pre-built, I started with upgrading individual components one at a time. Installing a new GPU, for instance, is pretty easy and fool-proof. Installing a new CPU is a little trickier, especially with all the conflicting advice on how much thermal paste to use (I've always done the grain of rice/pea-sized method and my temperatures on multiple CPUs have always been fine). Installing a new power supply unit can be overwhelming when it comes to making sure you've plugged everything in correctly. Installing a new motherboard is not too far off from building a whole new thing.

And building/maintaining a PC is pretty easy once you get past the initial intimidation. There are so many video tutorials on YouTube to explain the basics--I think I referred to Linus Tech Tip videos back in the day (which might be cringe to suggest now, idk), but you search "how to build a gaming PC" and you'll get a ton of good results back. Also, PCPartPicker is a very helpful website in crosschecking all your desired components to make sure they'll play nicely with each other.

The other big piece of advice I'd offer on building a PC is not to drive yourself crazy reading too many reviews on components. Don't go in totally blind--Still look at Reddit, Amazon reviews, NewEgg, etc. to get an idea of the product and potential issues, but be discerning. Like if you check Amazon reviews and see a common issue mentioned in multiple reviews, take note of that, but if you see one or two complaints about something random, it's probably a fluke. Either a one-off manufacturing error or (more likely, honestly) user error.

You'll probably also see a lot of debates about Intel/NVIDIA vs AMD when it comes to processors and graphics cards--I started with Intel and NVIDIA so I've really just stuck with them out of familiarity, but I think the conventional wisdom these days is that AMD processors will give you more bang for your buck when it comes to gaming.

If you do go the NVIDIA route, I've personally always found it worth the extra money to go with a Ti model of their cards--I feel like it gives me at least another year or two without starting to really feel the GPU bottleneck. I was able to play Mass Effect Andromeda on mostly high settings with my 780 Ti in 2017, and I actually started playing Cyberpunk on my 1080 Ti in 2021--I think most of my settings were on high without any notable performance issues.

Now you probably couldn't get away with that post-Phantom Liberty/update 2.0 since the game did get a lot more demanding with those updates. However, my biggest piece of advice to anyone who wants to get into PC gaming with a heavy emphasis on virtual photography is that you do not need the absolute top-of-the-line hardware to take good shots. For Cyberpunk, I think shooting for a build that lands somewhere along the lines of the minimum-to-recommended ray-tracing requirements will do you just fine.

I don't remember all my current game settings off the top of my head, but I can tell you that I have never bothered with path-tracing, my ray-tracing settings range from medium to high, and I don't natively run the game at 4K. I do hotsample to 4K when I do VP, and I do notice a difference between a 1080 and a 4K shot, but I personally don't feel like being able to constantly run it at 4K is necessary for me right now since I still only have a 1080p monitor. If I'm going to be shooting in Dogtown, which is very demanding, I'll also cap my FPS to 30 for a little extra stability.

(Also, and hopefully this doesn't muddy the waters too much, but I feel like it's worth pointing out that you could have the absolute best of the best hardware and still run into crashes and glitches for random shit that might require advanced troubleshooting--My husband had a better build than I did when he started playing CP77, but he kept running into crashes because of some weird audio driver issue that had to do with his sound system. I just recently upgraded my CPU, RAM, and motherboard, and I was going nuts over the winter because my game somehow became less stable. It turned out the main culprit was Windows 11 has shitty Bluetooth settings.)

But in my opinion, I think getting good shots is less about hardware and more about 1) learning to use the tools available to you (e.g. in-game lighting tools, Reshade, and post-editing in programs like Lightroom or even free apps like Snapsneed) and 2) learning the basics of real-life photography (or visual art in general), particularly when it comes to lighting, color, and composition.

I don't rely on Reshade too much because I try to minimize the amount of menus I have to futz with in-game, but I do think DOF and/or long exposure shaders are excellent for getting cleaner shots. I also like ambient fog shaders to help create more cohesive color in a shot. However, I put most of my focus on lighting and post-editing. I did talk a little bit about my methods for both in this post--It is from 2023 and my style has evolved some since then (like I mention desaturating greens in Lightroom, but I've actually been loving bold green lately and I've been cranking that shit up), but I think it still has some useful advice for anyone starting out.

For a more recent comparison of how much my Lightroom and Photoshop work affects the final product, here is a recent shot I took of Goro.

The left image is the raw shot out of the game--It has some Reshade effects (most notably the IGCS DOF), and I manually set the lighting for this scene. To do this, I set the time in-game to give me a golden hour affect (usually early morning or early evening depending on your location) so the base was very warm and orange, then I dropped the exposure and essentially "rebuilt" the lighting with AMM and CharLi lights to make Goro pop and add some more color, notably green and blue, into the scene.

And the right image is that same shot but after I did some color correcting/enhancement, sharpening, etc. in Lightroom and clip-editing and texture work in Photoshop.

Okay, this was long as hell so I'm gonna end it here, haha. If you have any more questions about anything specific here, feel free to ask! I know it can be really overwhelming and I threw a lot at ya. <333

[jenroses]

When i built my first PC, I'd done a few upgrades, but Youtube did not exist yet so there were not endless videos of "This is how you build a PC". It was fiddly and fussy and i barked my knuckles and I did something temporarily terrifying but it worked out okay and I built my PC. Then prices on bare bones dropped precipitously so for a while I was just buying barebones and upgrading them. It was cheaper that way.

Last year, a couple of games came out that I really wanted to play but my 8 year old laptop, which was making a yeomanlike effort with most games, was just flat out not in spec anymore. So I started to research. Looked at Linus Tech Tips, then JaysTwoCents, then Gamer's Nexus, Paul's hardware, Hardware unboxed... LTT had a great "this is how you do it and this is what each part is supposed to sound like going in, yes the crunching noise here is okay, no your board won't die if you get a little regular thermal paste on it, very reassuring. I watched a lot of build videos, and finally, after a couple of months, I ordered parts.

Infodump under the cut

Now, picking parts is COMPLEX and HARD and FINICKY and it changes all the time. You can be an expert builder, take a couple years off and ignore buiding for a while, and come back and like, all the parts are different! Which parts are good deals has changed! But the fundamentals haven't really changed all THAT much, even since my first build. It's still motherboard, processor, cooler, RAM, storage, power supply, internet device, basically... but gone are IDE and even SATA is now pretty archaic. In 2024, your RAM will look pretty similar but the hard drive is a dinosaur and your storage is now basically a high tech stick of gum. Prices are wild, too. You can build a passable computer which can play most games for about $600 with new parts, or you can spent $4000 to get get the absolute tippy toppy "best" parts, and the parts being actively used and recommend and sold right now cover about FOUR YEARS of product development. This is NUTS. Most of the systems I've built fall in the cheap-to-middling range.

They're all competent at most games, though my mother is annoyed that she's having trouble getting Civ2 up and running on Windows 11 in 2024. I do fine with Alpha Centuari from GOG, but no, that's not good enough. (I like Alpha Centauri about 1000% better than Civ2, but when you've got a game, you've got a game, I guess.)

So where to start?

Look at the Youtubes of the folks I mentioned up top, and look for their "Top X of ___" videos. Most of them will ALSO include still-on-the-market for previous year stuff! This is great!

Think about what you need and what you're doing on your system. Unless you are doing competitive gaming and are made of money, you do not need the top of the line anything. It's not necessary and most people can't make use of it unless they're doing high powered stuff for money. In which case you probably know what you need already. Most people will be fine gaming at 1440p (2k monitor) or 1080p. Unless you have a giant fancy monitor already, the pricing sweet spot is probably expecting to spend about $140-150 for a 2k, 27 inch monitor. If your monitor is at normal monitor distance from your face, larger than that is not going to be easy to adapt to. You can get 1080p monitors for cheaper, but any larger than 24-27 inches, 1080p starts to look weird, so really 1440 is kind of ideal for the kind of computer you plan on using for the next 5-10 years. I don't go for refresh rates lower than 120hz at this point, but higher than 180 is not going to be noticeable for MOST people. The monitor i recently bought for $140-ish was a 180hz refresh rate 2k curved monitor (1440p.)

Once you know what kind of monitor you're aiming for, you can get a sense from those review videos of which cards will get you to the frame rate you want. Look for the games you want to play, and people comparing them at high/ultra settings, and look at the FPS that various cards offer. Keep in mind that there's a huge amount of technology aimed at boosting fps, and the upsampling is pretty good now. Nvidea cards are stupid expensive and have the majority of market share. I don't bother with them. The cards I've bought in the past 2 years include (all AMD): (Upgrading a very old system, AMD RX 6400, 4gb graphics card.) AMD RX 6650XT for two people on very tight budgets. AMD RX 6750XT for a mid-range system. RX6800 for two pretty good systems last year. RX7600XT for a casual gamer on a newer system. RX 7800XT for the fanciest system for the most avid gamer in the family. In 2024, I strongly advise going for a card which is at least 12 gb but preferably 16gb of VRAM. More than that is not yet really necessary for most systems at 1440p. The video card is the single most expensive component in most systems. I tend to build to the graphics card, but it is reasonable to set a budget, get the most reasonable parts you can afford for the rest of the computer and spend as much as you have left on the video card. 8gb cards are not likely to give optimal results long term, and since I build computers for people who hate changing computers, the only reason I would go with a smaller-than 12gb card is for someone who just doesn't game much and is unlikely to start playing the kinds of games that need it.

Then there's the processor side of things. Until Intel screwed the pooch this year, most of what we were putting together, parts-list-wise in my family were systems which had intel processors and AMD graphics cards, because that was the sweet spot for us price-to-performance wise. But if you have an Intel 13th or 14th gen processor, you need to update your bios, and we're still not 100% confident in them, as a community. There were a LOT of bad processors the past two years. Also, AMD came out with a bunch of reasonably priced kickass gaming processors, and those will be best for people whose primary purpose is gaming. The processors we've leaned on the most heavily include: Intel 12400 and 12600 processors and Intel 13600 processors. But recently, knowing I was about to build a FAST gaming PC, I knew I needed to get an AMD X3d processor, and my purchasing timing happened to correlate with the 9800X3d dropping, and I managed to order one... but the ship date was in JANUARY. And it's a Christmas present. And Trump is talking about tariffs, which WILL send prices through the roof. So I decided to build another computer, and ordered parts for it. So in order to get onto the platform that 9800x3d processor will need, I picked another processor which uses the same motherboard and got that, too. And then ordered inexpensive versions of that motherboard and other parts, and whatdyaknow, I'm building two computers. But the principal is pretty sound: If you need to build cost effectively, get a lower end processor for the motherboard of the processor you ultimately want, and upgrade later when prices drop. So all those Intel 12600 systems could, later, upgrade to a 14900k and get a huge performance boost if needed. On AMD, they tend to stick with a given motherboard ecosystem for a VERY long time, so people who bought AMD years ago can now upgrade to a perfectly capable 5800x3d and be fine, but AMD is now in the 9000s, and getting a 7000 series processor is on the same board as a 9000 series, so most of the time that's the best deal, EXCEPT for a 7800x3d which is almost as expensive as the 9800x3d for reasons.

Other parts are simpler. RAM: 32 gb is the sweet spot, DDR5 prices have come down okay. Most games can't and won't use more than 20 or so gb, but many will use over the 16gb that used to be the standard rec. You can, however, get 16gb and upgrade RAM in a few years.

Storage: Optimum for gaming is probably your operating system on a 500 gb C drive ssd, your games on a 1, 2 or 4 terabyte SSD. New builds will use a M.2 2280 ssd, and they fluctuate somewhat in price, but the performance boost of ANY NVME drive is going to be worth it over SATA or a hard disk. If you are just wanting to upgrade, upgrading to a SSD and increasing your ram will give a new lease on life to old computers and make them feel a whole lot more functional. If you have an open PCIE slot, you can get an adaptor board to allow you to install an M.2 drive even on an older system.

pcpartpicker.com will let you make build lists and tell you if there are incompatibilities but it isn't perfect at sourcing RAM for the correct processor family. It will also help you find best current pricing, but isn't always accurate.

newegg has a pc builder function which is helpful but only if you buy all your stuff there. If you live close to a microcenter, you'll want to go there and shop their combo deals.

All the builder tools will give you a rough estimate of how much power you'll need. I go a bit over, but unless you're doing a stupid expensive build, you will be unlikely to need more than 850w for a gaming system and 600w for a "regular" system for someone who doesn't do much gaming. That allows a fair amount of headroom for upgrades, since power supplies often last the longest.

Cases are very subjective, but I've done a lot of building in Fractal G Focus cases, which are cheap, big enough for most parts and not the most convenient to build in. I dearly love the Lian Li Lancool 216 which I just built in for the first time, but it's big. REALLY nice cable routing though. Worth it just for the complete lack of barked knuckles, and the fact that you don't need to install like any extra fans beyond whatever your cooling solution is, and it's under $100. Which case you get might depend a lot on aesthetics or space considerations. Like, I paid extra NOT to have a glass side because I don't want extra lights around me, at all. My kid's has a lot of rainbow RBG. Hubby's has a glass side but minimal to no lighting.

Cooling solutions... for any higher end systems for heavy duty users (i.e. gaming a LOT with newer games, doing a lot of computationally heavy 3d modeling or whatever) I like using an aio watercooler. These can be easier to install even than air coolers now, as long as you do a little homework, and the ones I've bought were all under $100. Most users will do fine air cooling, and Gamer's Nexus has some dandy charts on gamersnexus.net that will help you figure out which coolers to use. (Hint, most of them are pretty good!) And for case fans, if you need extra, Arctic has 3-5 packs for super cheap.

But ultimately, if your computer is functioning okay for you, or just needs some upgrades and maintenance, you probably don't need to upgrade. Laptops are a whole 'nother ballgame completely. And you know how I built this system to play a couple of new games?

I ended up mostly playing my old favorites with better graphic settings. LOL.

No regrets, the system is SUPER functional and will last me years and if anything breaks I can fix it. And since then, I've helped two people buy parts, upgraded two computers and built systems for four other people and helped others put together parts list or figure out which laptop would be right for them. And the old computers? Are not ewaste yet, because the build process will allow a lot of moving around of parts to improve the old systems which can then be handed down to other family members. Even my old laptop went on to find use with another family member.

[robotslenderman]

Agonising over computer parts bc Arkay is almost five now and normally at that mark it's time for me to build a new computer. but I'm going to uni next year so I'm going to need that money. so I'm sharing Arkay's specs with other computer builders and they're pretty unanimous that if I had to upgrade ONE PART it'd have to be the motherboard, but because of how parts work that means I'd also need to buy a new CPU, a new cooler and new RAM, and I need more storage ANYWAY but the motherboard they recommended doesn't have enough connection ports for me to just toss a new hard drive on the list so I'd need to buy an SSD and a hard drive big enough to fit everything already on it plus extra space, and at this point I'm four fifths through building an entire new computer anyway and it's two grand, but if I reduce that budget I end up with parts that are actually a DOWNgrade on what I already have, and aaaauuugh

I've decided I'm just going to keep using Arkay until he flat out dies and worry about it then.

[sea-side-scribbles]

Solas wakes up in the strange new world of his own making and it terrifies him. Ridden with guilt, he joins the Inquisition and begins his lonely research in order to correct his mistake.

He doesn’t expect to find consolation in the presence of a human who wields ancient elven magic without knowing it. Who is way too gentle for an elgar’thanelan, but doesn’t know that either.

Solas, for his part, doesn’t know how to stay away.

Dorian wonders if the mysterious elf just enjoys playing with a Tevinter. He wouldn’t expect anything else.

_____________________

Chapter 1- 13 | Right after uthenera, Solas is found by a Dalish clan. This goes well until it doesn’t. (Basically my excuse for world building and hilarious misunderstandings.)

Chapter 14 | Solas joins the Inquisition.

Chapter 20 | Dorian appears in Haven.

Chapter 66

There was a way too long, eerie moment, when the battering ram rolled slowly forward, pushed through the sand by sweating, heavily armoured soldiers. It manoeuvred around the rocks with no sound but the creaking of strained wood and the heavy breathing of tired lungs. Ladders waited, prepared to enter the high battlements of Adamant. All the while, the fortress towered over them even from far away. Its long, black shadow swallowed them, albeit providing a nice breath of fresh air.

Dorian and his companions were chosen as Ellana's bodyguards. He walked behind her with Madame de Fer and Solas, staff raised. All mages sustained a barrier to protect the army. They were thousands of people, ready to give their life for this cause. Dorian' eyes should've been adjusted to the view, but it was still dazzling. He had never been a soldier and surely didn't think of becoming one. Fighting in such a large mass with barely any overview of what was happening. Being certain that many of them wouldn't make it. He preferred the small party they usually were. They could protect each other. Certainly, he would have to give his life for the Inquisitor, should the occasion appear. This however, felt more familiar.

No other soul was there, just them. A large army alone in the desert, as if going for a stroll. He exchanged glances with his fellow mages, both not known for showing much emotion in their faces. But he caught the dimples forming on their brows.

Dorian pictured the fortress abandoned, except for the torn bodies of the poor fools that didn't survive the binding. Piles of such corpses, actually. And the idea that all their efforts came too late.

The figure that appeared in the distance was a relief. It grew out of the sand. Its glow gave it away. Dorian still had to squint at it.

It was a hunched thing, bobbing up and down as if it waited. Then, it sank down again and slithered into their direction. A little bulk in the ground. Soon, more such bulks came along, as if the sand was moving. Rage demons, Dorian thought, feeding off the heat.

Then everything happened quickly. The first waves of fire hit their barrier, roaring and hissing, while the archers got ready to fight back. More creatures appeared all around them. Demons didn't need walking, after all. They popped up and disappeared as they pleased. Despair demons floated above their heads, threatening the barrier with frozen projectiles.

The sky darkened with hostile arrows when the battlements of Adamant weren't so empty any longer. Cullen barked orders, their trebuchets fired, sending the first explosive missiles in the enemy's direction. The mages began to chant incantations while Ellana lifted her hand that started to glow brighter. Muttering the spell, Dorian couldn't imagine how it felt, having a whole army channel their power into her body alone.

With a bloodcurdling cry, she released a blast of energy that ran right through Dorian's veins. Suddenly, he felt lighter, cooler and his mana prickled under his skin. He stretched, laughing in relief. Only Sera mumbled curses, while releasing arrow after arrow into the demons. The mages simultaneously focused healing spells at Ellana. The plan had worked out, and now she pressed her hand to her chest, bent over. The sight choked his laughter. How often could she do this for them?, he worried. Sacrificing herself for the cause? Solas hurried to her, taking her hand. That was all Dorian saw before the enemies demanded attention.

He was surprised by his instincts that kicked in. His body felt as if a blockade finally broke. With the new power, he whirled his staff over his head, burning hotter than the sand under his feet, giving despair a real reason to whine.

Inch by inch, the army neared the fortress. Cullen's voice was carried over the field. Not every soldier could stay behind the barrier. The demons became many, a dark horde of buzzing insects, constantly changing formation. They picked people up, hacked into their flesh, let blood spray their comrades. Dorian's adrenaline kept his blood from freezing at the sight.

Giant pride demons stalked the edges of the barrier, tearing into every poor sod that stuck a limb outside. But boosted by Ellana's mark, the soldiers were resilient, and every bleeding demon corpse lifted Dorian's spirits. His orders were clear. To stay with Ellana and follow her into the fortress once it opened. There was the tiny hope that Commander Clarel could be swayed by hearing the truth. Blackwall had been especially fond of that plan.

The Warden and Varric had been unexpected company for Dorian until the lineup had separated them, putting Blackwall in front of the Inquisitor with Cassandra and Bull, and Varric behind her. It had begun with Varric giving him a wink and a "Ready to do wonders again, Sparkler?" Blackwall hadn't been far away, strangely insistent to stay by his side despite his bickering. It had turned out they considered each other a sort of miracle working party in the Inquisition. And in an odd way, they had motivated Dorian. Although the miracle had most likely been Ellana's doing.

Now fighting the horde, he caught a glimpse of his comrades from time to time. And Solas was close, thankfully protected under the barrier, fighting as if he had been waiting for this his entire life. Strong and proud despite everything. Dorian liked to imagine that some of that was his own doing. He knew that their sweetness had kept him warm in the cold desert nights.

His mood really took a turn when the army reached the Warden's mages. Witnessing them shook Dorian more than the demons. There were hundreds of them, who once had been people. Now they looked absent-minded, with glowing eyes, moving like puppets on strings. They had a barrier, but their main focus lay on controlling the demons. Fiona shouted over the humming and zapping of spells. Dorian understood, taking down the barrier was the quickest way to end this. And to slaughtering all those people... Rage filled him, because why did these idiots always end the same way? Why was it always Blood Magic and demons that had to be the solution for everything? It never worked out!

Then his attention was drawn back to the demons above him that needed to be brought down. Ellana's mark had recovered. He saw her opening a rift that sucked in multiple wraiths at once. He felt a little dizzy after that. Considering everything that happened here, the veil must've looked like Fereldan cheese by now. His thoughts wandered back to Solas, made him check on him with a short glance. They would protect each other, but the Herald was their priority. Dorian understood this logically, but he couldn't see himself abandoning him.

An ear-shattering sound almost swept him off his feet. The battering ram finally knocked at Adamant's gate while the trebuchets ground off the walls and tore into the archers on the battlements. Then the ladders were lifted. Soldiers climbed, struggled, fell. Dorian wasn't sure who's side was falling. The screams sounded all the same. He was just pulling the sharp end of his staff out of a twitching demon body, when the gate gave in. He almost didn't hear it, his ears still rang. He only noticed the narrow gap the deformed doors had created. Inquisition soldiers felled whoever came out, their quickly moving blades were really everything Dorian could see.

“The gate is open!”, Ellana shouted shortly after. “Follow me!” They didn't lose any time, working their way through a group of rage demons and Warden mages. “Stop this madness!”, Blackwall tried to reason with them. Perhaps not so convincing while covered in blood of their brethren. “We aren't your enemies!” He grabbed one of them by the arms and shook him. The man punched him away with the pummel of his sword, nothing but disgust in his face. Bull was there to catch his comrade. “Don't think he believes you.” The hostile Warden met Ellana's arcane blade and so this conversation was over.

Ellana gasped, full of blood, wiping her hair back. “And those are the honourable Grey Wardens”, she spat. “Even us Dalish respected them.” “They believe they're ending the blight”, Blackwall urged. “Please, it's not too late for them.” Stroud came through the gate, with features distorted in a grim expression. “Good, the path is clear”, he stated. “Hawke is helping out on the battlements. Too many demons up there, we can't get a foothold.” Ellana gave him a firm nod. “Then we get there and take care of them.” So they had a new goal.

Just then Dorian realized, they were finally inside. And alive. All of them. Rubble lay everywhere around them. Corpses, too. Whatever flammable material in the yard was on fire. But they still stood.

With Stroud by their side, they went through an archway, deeper into the building. They encountered a small group of Wardens that was surprised by their arrival. They didn't seem to be in their right senses, not only because of their plan, but because they weren't much aware of their surroundings. The breaking of their gate should've summoned them all to the entrance, but this little group hadn't moved. They really focalized everything they had on the demons. Too bad for them.

Behind another gate, a fight was already going on between mages, their demons and the other Wardens, surprisingly enough. Voices pleaded. Someone shouted: “Stay back! We will not be sacrificed for some insane ritual!” “Finally someone gets it”, Varric muttered into Bianca. “Spare every Warden you can”, Ellana decided, making Blackwall smile amidst the mess. The Inquisition made quite the entrance and together with the other Wardens, the mages were quickly defeated. Their new Warden friends, however, weren't so trustful. “Keep your distance!”, the same man shouted at Ellana, holding the tip of his blade towards her.

Stroud planted himself in front of him, ignoring the weapon. “Warden Chernoff, we are not enemies.” Chernoff, seemingly the leader of these deserters, ducked, but with defiance in his eyes. “Why should I trust you, Stroud? You're a traitor to the Wardens! Clarel called for your death!” “Don’t be a fool!”, Blackwall boomed, causing the man to wince. “Clarel is out of her senses if she thinks she's stopping the blight with this! We’re not demanding your surrender. Just fall back and let us deal with her!” Chernoff grew more insecure, but withstood. “She said you're here to destroy us...” “She destroys you all by herself”, Ellana pointed out. “We have to stop her. If you keep out of this, we won't harm you.” The combined voices of reason tamed the man. “Alright”, he backtracked. “My men will stay back. We want no part in this. Deal with Clarel if you must.”

Meeting somewhat sensible Wardens raised Dorian's spirits while they ventured deeper into the fortress. The staircase inside was completely empty, to his surprise. Nobody counted on their intrusion. Having Ellana's mark on their side truly did wonders.

The battlements weren't quite so peaceful. Their own explosive missiles flew over their heads, setting everything flammable on fire. Soldiers ran back and forth, either defending or entering the fortress. A man fell dead right to their feet. A giant rage demon kept their soldiers occupied. Dorian recognized it was a stronger variant that had been well-fed by the ongoing battle. “We must hurry!”, Solas shouted suddenly. He had been quiet the entire time. “Our forces cannot stand against the demons for long!” “Naturally. Soldiers get tired, demons not so much”, Dorian answered, rather to converse with him than anything else. Cassandra, Blackwall, Ellana and Bull began to slice into it, gasping when the heat singed their skin. Solas' and Vivienne's ice came like a fresh summer rain.

The soldiers' gratitude was somewhat of a plaster on their wounds, then they pressed on, taking out one archer after the other. Dorian's blood pounded in his veins as he called for the spirits in the area. There were at least hundreds, attracted by the corpses, the demons and the battle. The veil was irritated, constantly stretched and ripped apart. He knew he couldn't do this very often in here. He didn't see Solas wield much fade matter either. But their soldiers needed their help.

On the other side of the battlements, he recognised the thorny shape of a pride demon. Also, he heard the Champion of Kirkwall utter his disgust about Blood Mages. “Hawke!”, Varric gave back and the man began to work his way towards them, daggers swirling in the air. There wasn't much time to talk since they had to dodge the electric whip that swept the floor and every soul that wasn't careful. Ellana opened a rift directly behind it, tearing at its energy.

“Inquisitor, always a pleasure.” Hawke bowed exaggeratedly when they had time to catch their breath. “Hawke, good to see you”, she gave back, sounding sincerely relieved. “Any sight of Clarel yet?” “Not on this side of the battlements. She must be further east, together with a host of mages and demons. Sounds like she's having fun.” “Oh, finally more of those”, Varric commented. Ellana turned serious again. “Then let's clear the battlements for good and stop her.” “Sounds great.”

After a while, it seemed like those battlements were endless. They surpassed Skyhold easily. A pride demon was their reward on the other side, laughing at their approach. When this monstrosity finally crumbled into shards, they had to continue with shades. Dorian panted now. Ellana's spell was certainly wearing out. Then off through a door, into another yard and a second door. This truly was a maze.

At last, they came to witness a show. A Warden, supposedly Commander Clarel, sliced a man's throat. A greasy mage spotted the new spectators. “Stop them!”, he ordered. “We must complete the ritual!” Ellana held her party up with one hand, then approached the merry group of insane Wardens. “Clarel! If you complete that ritual, you're playing into Erimond's hands!” Her voice echoed from the walls. The greasy man, supposedly Erimond, only had a sneer for her. “And what does that mean? Fighting the blight? Keeping the world safe from darkspawn? A game that everyone wins. And yes, the ritual requires blood sacrifice. Hate me for that if you must, but do not hate the Wardens for doing their duty.” So that was the evil magister from Tevinter. A disgrace, truly. Someone had to give this man a conditioner.

“We make the sacrifices no one else will”, Clarel agreed with him. “Our warriors die proudly for a world that will never thank them!” “And then your Tevinter ally binds the mages to Corypheus!”, Stroud brought the news. Finally, there was doubt creeping into Clarel's demeanour. “Corypheus? But he's dead.” “These people would do anything to shake your confidence, Clarel”, the magister whispered into her ear like a demon on her shoulder. She silenced, struggling with her doubts for what felt like an eternity. Everyone hung on her lips. “Bring it through”, was her decision.

Dorian's attention went to the mages. They pulled at a rift, so it seemed. Green energy surrounded them, bolts sprayed from their hands. On the other side, all he could make out were way too many eyes. What were they trying to bring through?

“Please, I have seen more than my share of blood magic, it's never worth the cost!”, Hawke didn't seem to want to know, either. “I trained half of you myself! Do not make me kill you to stop this madness!”, Stroud urged them. Erimond ignored them, of course. “Be ready with the ritual, Clarel. This demon is truly worthy of your strength.”

“This can't be happening”, Blackwall muttered, shaken more by this than by the demon behind the veil. Ellana turned to him. “Then say it, Warden Blackwall.” So he stepped forward and let it all out: “You don’t know me, but you may have heard my name. Like you, I’ve given my life to the Grey Wardens. The first time I put on this armour, I felt like I belonged, like I was part of something honourable, something with a purpose. I know how good that feels. How safe. But fighting and dying here today won’t stop the Blight. If you want to stop the Blight, kill that bastard up there! His master is the living embodiment of its corruption!” That was straight to the point. Dorian would congratulate him for the impromptu speech if such celebrations wouldn't have been tasteless in this situation.

The Wardens looked stricken as well. They turned their heads to their Commander and her doubts were plain on her face. Yet the demon next to her didn't give up. “Clarel, we've come so far. You're the only one who can do this.” “Perhaps we could test the truth of these charges, to avoid more bloodshed”, she offered. At last, some reason. Tevinter's disgrace wasn't pleased. He left her side. “Or perhaps I should bring a more reliable ally.” His staff hit the ground. One. Two. Three. “My master thought you might come here, Inquisitor! He sent me this to welcome you!” A second later, Dorian heard the familiar shriek and the flapping of massive wings.

Corypheus' dragon entered Adamant, smashing statues off the walls with its body alone until it landed on a tower. This display convinced Clarel completely. Erimond had turned his back towards her, admiring the beast. She attacked him from behind. He slumped to the ground without resistance, truly a disgrace. Then she aimed spells at the dragon. Unimpressed, it sent a wave of red lyrium her way. Or whatever it was the thing spat. Clarel dodged it, then she finally gave the long awaited order: “Help the Inquisitor!”

Now, everything had changed. The Wardens were their allies, as hoped, but the goal was to keep the dragon from killing everyone. Which had always worked so wonderfully. And the mages remained under control, summoning demons and being an overall pest. “How do we get out of here?”, Varric shouted. “Clarel went that way”, Dorian pointed up a row of stairs. “Care to wager whether she enjoyed meeting her new god?” Nobody did, as expected.

On the battlements again, they came just in time to witness the thing stick its ugly head through the arcades and filling the air with its disgusting red breath. It sounded like shattering glass as it hit the walls. And them. Blackwall, Cassandra and Bull got the most of it, cussing and tearing off sizzling pieces of armour. Solas worked a healing spell on them and they said they were ready to move on. This had been close. Without a roof over their heads, they had to constantly dodge the dragon's breath.

They found Clarel out in the open, without protection, dealing with Erimond. It looked like she was winning. She knocked him to the ground as she had done before. But the dragon didn't have it this time. It snatched her from the ground and shook her like a dog would a squeaky toy. Dorian could barely look at it. When it threw her away, he was sure to see a pile of mush and bones. But the woman was still in one piece, landing at their feet. The dragon's giant fangs now pointed at them.

Clarel crawled forward, alive by Maker's will alone. The dragon's claws avoided her by inches. Bolts began to flash around her hand. When she was right under it, she rolled on to her back and released a blast of electricity into the beast's belly. The outburst knocked every single person in close proximity off their feet. The entire structure collapsed. Shrieking and lashing out, the dragon's heavy body slipped, unable to hold itself up. It tumbled into the chasm.

Dorian was still gaping at the scene when he noticed the building gave in right under him. He struggled up and moved as fast as he could. But Ellana stood closest to the chasm and the ground cracked in front of her, threatening to take her with it. He darted backwards, but Solas was closer, catching her arm. Then he struggled as well. Dorian's heart almost stopped at the sight. Seconds later, he was at their side, grabbing Solas' hand to pull them up. The blighted ground didn't hold out for him either, as if the Maker's blessing had run out for today. His blood pumped, his mana was exhausted and he felt the mark's spell lose it's grip. The chasm grew, the darkness ready to swallow them whole. He looked into Solas' eyes, lips parting for a silent apology. A tight hand caught his arm then and he stared into the black eyes of Cassandra Pentaghast. “Move!”, she shouted. So he did.

With a last burst of adrenaline, he climbed up the rubble. It felt wonderful, to hold his friends and believing in the Maker's blessing. A large stone tile came to spoil the fun. It rammed into Cassandra, she flew against him, her head hitting him harder than her armour, and he landed right in Solas' arms.

His stomach felt strange in free fall. One last wave of protest overcame him. They've been so close to saving the world. Pictures of the blighted future appeared in his mind. That was what would happen now, with nobody to turn back time. Alexius' crumbled face sneered. 'I told you so.' But Solas held him still. It wasn't a bad way to die. Perhaps that was all that mattered.

[icarusthelunarguard]

This Week’s Horrible-Scopes

It’s time for this week’s Horrible-Scopes! So for those of you that know your Astrological Signs, cool! If not, just pick one, roll a D12, or just make it up as you go along. It really doesn’t matter. Better yet! Check out “Heart of the Game, Fredonia” - they can sell you those D12’s with the symbols on them! Get in contact with them on Facebook, shipping to the U.S. only, and tell them “Shujin Tribble” sentcha. “Hail, Hail, Fredonia!” Home of the Blue Devil!

These ‘Scopes are due to release just in time for the first week of March, so we’re paying special HAPPY BIRTHDAY… to My Computer - “BOX”! Now, yes. Box’s actual birthday is hard to nail down since, you know, it was a pre-built HP machine sold through “Worst Try”, and parts of it have been replaced over the years, but it’s still chuggin’ along! So with a nod to Markiplier’s reliance on The Ship of Theseus, let’s enjoy memories of 2013.

Aries 

You get to start us off with realizing that BOX is Twelve Years Old! Not quite untested but not yet a teenager. There’s been some growing pains over the years, but at least it’s unlearned many of the things it was taught at birth, like running Windows 8! These days it’s mainly Ubuntu Linux and Windows 10, and with what it’s lacking in hardware that’s about as far as Windows will progress for it. So This Week… For those about to Age Out of Windows 10’s security umbrella who have no upgrade path beyond it, now’s the time to consider making a Linux Bootable Thumb Drive and testing out everything with it. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Taurus 

From its storage to its brain, BOX went from being a 6-Core computer to an 8-Core, which most folks would say is a great upgrade. But the problem is it was an AMD “FX” chip. For those not in the know, these chips were, shall we say, ”Inelegant”. Think of going to the grocery store, but in a fuel-sucking muscle car instead of a more conservative hybrid. So This Week… The best time of year for you is the winter. Your core body temperature is naturally high, so it’ll be good to cool down naturally. As for the CPU, it won’t matter. The stock cooler sucks anyway.

Gemini 

Let’s talk about that CPU a little bit more, though. What do you do with an old one? You use it to upgrade a different computer, of course! In this case it went to max out someone else’s computer, taking them from four cores to six, freeing up THAT one for a higher purpose yet to be described. So This Week… You really need to remember to take out the recycling. It’s easy - just set it next to the door so you take it with you as you head out for the day. And don’t just forget it in the back seat of your car this time.

Cancer Moon-Child 

We’re getting you something math related that will make very little sense. Computers are binary devices, so they work in multiples of two. And, subsequently, so would RAM as well. So you’d expect it to start with two, four, eight, or even sixteen Gigs of it, and you’d be wrong. It came with TEN Gigs. And before you say, “well maybe it was shared with video”, no - that was its own separate board. So This Week… It’s OK for you to feel off-kilter; it happens. Just take it easy, take it slow, and center yourself before you make any big moves.

Leo 

Remember how we told you about the Wil Wheaton Dice Curse last week? Well we’re using that again to finish the tale of the CPU Swaps. That four-core CPU finally found its way into Icarus’ infamous home server, “Hexadecimal” AKA “The Queen of Chaos”. She was named that because no matter what server OS was attempted to be loaded into it, it failed. It took finally trying Ubuntu Desktop to make it work - which made zero sense because the Desktop and Server versions are basically identical. So This Week… You know what Hex is missing, still? A SCSI (“Skuzzy”) card. Oh, there’s at least one iOmega-Branded one available from Adaptec, but who still uses them anymore?

Virgo 

If we’re going to talk about the computer naming adventure, it seems only fair that we get around to explaining how BOX got its name. Previous computers were named based on other computational gadgets from science fiction - so the laptop Icarus had was named “T-W-1-K-1”, “Tweeky”, from the old Buck Rogers TV series, which the smaller Netbook was “Dr. Theopolis”, the round face-thing Twiki carried around on his chest. So This Week… Go back to 1978 and watch “Jason of Star Command”. There’s one more “W-1-K-1” robot to be found. And he’s CUTE!

Libra

One thing we know you love is music - so it’s almost a given that you’ll get information about BOX’s sound. Normally it’s a given that computers these days have on-board sound and don’t need a specific add-in card to handle it; not like the days of yore. But this machine is weird in many ways, not the least of which is how it makes Old Man Body Sounds when there’s no sound to be playing. If you listen closely to headphones or speakers you can almost hear the motherboard talking to the other parts of the system. So This Week… Turn on Closed Captions for your YouTube surfing and see how that works for you. And if you want a challenge, change it to a different language.

Scorpio 

Ok, ok. We’ll let you in on the secret to BOX’s name. Believe it or not it comes in two flavours, both are factual, both are accurate, and both can be denied when pressed for the other. The mundane answer is because desktop computers are often referred to by the term, “box” - kinda the same way that Cylons and Protogens are sometimes called “toasters”. But the more fun one, and harder to just stumble across, is the character from the 1976 movie “Logan’s Run” named “Box”. It was a cyborg covered in disco-ball mirrors who was tasked with freezing food for a post-apocalyptic Earth. So This Week… There was an episode of Star Trek The Next Generation where they encountered a capsule with people cryogenically frozen from the late 20th century. The ship's name was the “S.S. Birdseye”. Remember to eat your vegetables.

Sagittarius 

You might like to know a little something about the computer that preceded BOX. It was named, “FrankenPuter”, because it was cobbled together from a lot of spare and old parts. And before you think the name was just for fun, the chassis and original parts were literally picked up on the side of the road that someone was throwing away. It worked well enough until the memory controller ate itself, which made BOX a necessity. So This Week… You know how there’s the old adage that The True Treasure Is The Friends We Make Along The Way? Well, FrankenPuter was not a friend and not a treasure. Sometimes you just have to replace the riff-raff you accumulate when you didn’t know what you were doing.

Capricorn 

Being almost done with the boring parts of that computer, it’s time to give you something wild to consider: from the front it almost looks like the Knight Industries Two-Thousand. The cassis is glossy black with silver trim and a bright red bar light across the middle. The only thing missing is any motion in it from side to side. So This Week… There’s a semi-official Universe Canon that says that “Knight Rider” exists in the same universe as “Battlestar Galactica” because of “Battlestar Galactica 1980”! If you want it to be worse in your head, go watch the movie “Megaforce” and watch the motorcycles.

Aquarius 

Instead of giving you boring minutia, we’re treating you to the cake! The best damned ice cream cake you could ask for; home made and not just out of the freezer from Carvel. It’ll take a while to make the ice creams, since we’re doing Vanilla and Coffee Chocolate, but it’ll be worth every drip off your spoon. So This Week… If you have the ability to make your own ice cream, do that. Yes it’s still winter, but why not have a little fun, right?

Pisces  

Well, not only is it the computer’s birthday, apparently somepony VERY close to you is sharing a birthday as well… Basically =YOU=! So Happy Solar-Orbital Natal-Reset Moment to you! The question is - what’s funnier? Turning forty years old… or REFUSING to turn forty? And now you understand why Jack Benny's running gag worked for literal decades! Because everyone’s just a little vain for themselves. So This Week… Cake is wonderful, but how about splurging on excellent quality food for one full day? Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner - and none of them came out of a frozen box. Let’s start with a Western Omelette and add, get this… Extra Bacon! Happy Birthday, my fellow Fish Faces! And thanks for being good to each other.

And THOSE are your Horrible-Scopes for this week! Remember if you liked what you got, we’re obviously not working hard enough at these. BUT! If you want a better or nastier one for your own sign or someone else’s, all you need to do to bribe me is just Let Me Know - or check out the Ko-Fi page ( https://ko-fi.com/icarusthelunarguard )! These will be posted online at the end of each week via Tumblr, Facebook, Ko-Fi, Discord, and BLUESKY.

[where-i-bitch-about-nashville]

how far is too far

to take this old socket 423 motherboard? it’s really only limited by the boot drive speed and the cpu cooling/fans at this point, it’s nearly maxed out

so socket 423 was the oldest Pentium IV stuff, though it may have supported some celeron chips if i’m not mistaken. The fastest cpu was 2.0GHz with 400MHz RD-RAM bus with 256KB of L2 cache.

What I have was someone’s rejected server board from 1999 that I got used in 2000 or 2001 maybe, and this has been its third refresh 😅 but for the slowest most uncommon p4, it is great, it has ATA100 RAID and that can mean using up to 4 drives as one for more speed or redundancy.

it has irda for some infrared data, several old school serial ports, parallel, AGP 4x, and 5 PCI ports.

I had already given it 2GB of ECC RAM, some multiformat DVD burners (one sports DVD-RAM support), a 3.5” floppy, and even a SATA soft RAID PCI card,

but I am questioning now that SSD’s are cheap, whether 4 SSD’s would be faster over 33MHz PCI soft RAID or ATA100 hardware based RAID at the full 100MHz ? maybe this thing would be seriously fast, for what it is

I also learned that AGP 4x was as much real bandwidth as any GPUs of the era ever could saturate since AGP8x didn’t last long before being replaced by PCI-express 2.0 16x slots for most GPUs… So AGP 8x cards work just fine here.

I found a GeForce 7600 GS 512MB model that needed recapped, amd so I havent tried it; then i found an ATi HD 3650 512MB AGP8x GPU to try in the meantime. Originally in 99 or 2000 this box was rocking an ATi All-In-Wonder Rage 128 card, but I foolishly gave it the ATi All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500dv for the greater 64MB vram and a couple firewire 1394a ports. It was a fine card, but analog TV is gone, rendering the tuner useless, and the A/D/A converter quality was actually pretty bad on this card with a lot of extra noise added on anything you plugged in. Once I got a miniDV camcorder I just used its converters foe everything, as it looked so much better!

I also got it with a Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 card, which was super cool at the time, but until I had any 5.1 speakers to use it with, it was pointless versus the nearly-identical 2-channel onboard AC’97 chip, or the other nearly identical AC’97 chip on the Radeon card! I wasnmt even bright enough to disable the onboard audio in the BIOS, at the time so I was always doing some dumb routing and wasting resources on all 3 sound cards

Then I did something even more dumb later on and got a GeForce MX420 card with the same 64MB vRAM but less rendering capability than the Radeon card at the time. (As I understand it now, these were more of a display adapter than a GPU?)

I’ll try to remember to benchmark these options against one another at some point, bc i have a feeling the GPU and boot drive is going to make all the difference in the gaming performance

Beyond all that, the peripheral cards made a big difference too! I added a VIA 1394 card, an NEC USB2.0 card, and a SiS combo USB2.0 and 1394a card. The NEC seemed much more snappy at USB2.0! I also accidentally disabled the system once by plugging the irDA to the i2c SMbus header below it by mistake. So it has i2c support! I may try to learn how to use it and make a PWM fan controller for it! It would be sick to have something read the core temps and apply the PWM slopes for all the fans accordingly.

IF I can do that, i’ll definitely swap CPU fans! I heard some socket 775 coolers can be adapted to fit! I’d love to know if anyone has experience with adapting the two. If all fails, I have a drill press and a smart g/f…. Maybe I’ll post any updates

should I burden this beast with Vista to run DX10??

[consumerofsoup]

re: your episode 6 post, you're so right abidbkvkfn. if Mr. Monologue over here has done so much research there is absolutely no way he doesn't know about at least ONE of the other immortals. I'm going to pretend he doesn't mention them because he thinks he's better than them

funniest way episode 7 can go is if Raven shows up (I was honestly hoping he would back when Elphelt got hit with Essence of Orbital Laser as a callback to when he saved Ram from the exploding Gear in Xrd but alas.) and his mere presence causes Nerville to keel over and everyone gets to live happily ever after <3 and then Raven and Sol make out for 10 minutes. who said that.

(also, as an aside, I know you said Kullervo is your favorite Warframe but do you have any experience with Garuda? I've been playing as Koumei for so long and I haven't gotten used to her yet)

Mr. Monologue is so dumb I want to run him over with a car. does he think he can kill other immortals too?? he's just. so weak in comparison. Slayer is super strong assassin grandpa. if Nerville laid a finger on Sharon, Slayer would kill him. Nagoriyuki is so much cooler and again, stronger no doubt about it. Chaos actually runs Nerville over with his car. Nerville would do a mass kill move on Raven, then he'd be sitting in the nuclear blast zone with a boner. Nerville is horrified and shrivels and dies

I think I'm the one who'd die if Raven shows up (it would have been SOOOO good to hear Elphelt on the phone with Raven adding comments in the background. like he's just there. and no one questions it) because FINALLY. and everyone gets to live happily ever after and Raven and Sol make out for 10 minutes yes yes this is the exact script Daisuke sent me along with his credit card information

ALSO WARFRAME!!!!! Kullervo is my baby. he's my silly war crimes guy. he's the dude. he's getting a deluxe skin and my platinum will go down the drain. that being said I do not have any experience with Garuda because Kullervo was pretty much the second warframe I got and how can you top him??? then I played some others (after you finish the story TEMPLE my love TEMPLE they're so fire literally), but I've heard Garuda's farm is tedious so I haven't gotten around to her (I say after farming Kullervo)???

BUT what I have also heard is Garuda is fantastic!! she's super strong, her abilities are fantastic, and she goes insane with Slash damage, a very solid damage type because its status procs bypass enemy armor over time. her passive ability, which I almost forgot about, basically says kill more things = do more damage up to 100%. very beautiful, very powerful

it is hard to get used to other warframes, but I'd say Garuda is worth the time to learn!! getting the muscle memory for buttons or keyboard binds is also important. I've been playing for almost 9 months wow, and I am still getting that muscle memory down, but it gets easier. I'd highly recommend checking out overframe if you want to get an idea of how people tend to build her (mods are very VERY important). if not, just experiment around!! see what sort of weapons work good with her etc. etc.

[drdeannagrant676]

ALAN GRANT/ (NIECE) READER

Platonic obviously

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The familiar scent of dust and old paper filled Alan Grant's office, a chaotic haven of fossil fragments and well-worn books. He was meticulously brushing sediment from a Triceratops horn, lost in the Cretaceous period, when his phone buzzed with an insistent chirp. He grumbled, setting the brush down with the care one reserves for a priceless artifact.

"Grant," he answered gruffly, not bothering to check the caller ID.

"Uncle Alan! Guess what?" The voice on the other end was bright and brimming with an enthusiasm that instantly made his eyebrows furrow. It was Y/N.

"Y/N? What is it, kiddo? Did you finally find a decent fossil site that hasn't been picked clean by amateurs?" He tried to inject some of his usual dry skepticism, but a sliver of genuine curiosity peeked through.

"Better!" she exclaimed, practically vibrating through the phone line. "I got the internship! The one I told you about?"

Alan racked his brain, sifting through the mental clutter of dinosaur names and geological eras. "Internship? Remind me."

There was a slight pause, a hint of exasperation in Y/N's tone. "Uncle Alan! The one at Jurassic World? The animal behavior one?"

A cold dread seeped into Alan's chest, chasing away the Cretaceous warmth. Jurassic World. The very words tasted like corporate greed and impending disaster. He gripped the phone tighter. "Jurassic World? Y/N, are you serious?"

"Totally serious! They were really impressed with my work on cranial trauma in herbivorous dinosaurs. And guess what department I'm going to be working in?" Her voice bubbled with excitement.

Alan braced himself. He had a bad feeling about this. "Don't tell me... the petting zoo?" He tried for sarcasm, hoping it would somehow lessen the blow.

"No! Even cooler! I'm going to be a Pachycephalosaurus trainer!"

The Triceratops horn he'd been working on suddenly felt like it weighed a ton. A *Pachycephalosaurus* trainer? Those thick-headed battering rams of the Late Cretaceous? His niece, willingly putting herself in the vicinity of creatures whose primary mode of communication seemed to involve concussive force?

"A... a *what*?" he stammered, the image of those dome-skulled dinosaurs colliding with alarming velocity flashing through his mind. "Y/N, do you have any idea what those things *do*? They headbutt each other for fun! Their skulls are like reinforced concrete!"

"Exactly!" Y/n chirped. "Isn't it fascinating? Understanding their behavior, their social dynamics, how they use their cranial domes! It's cutting-edge research, Uncle Alan!"

Alan could feel a headache brewing behind his eyes. "Cutting-edge idiocy, more like! Y/n, those aren't lab rats! They're genetically engineered dinosaurs! And you want to... train them... to... what? Play bumper cars?"

"It's more nuanced than that!" Y/n protested, the enthusiasm in her voice wavering slightly under his barrage of horrified questions. "It's about understanding their natural behaviors and creating a safe environment for them and the park visitors. They have specific needs, Uncle Alan! And someone needs to understand them!"

"And that someone has to be my niece? The one with a perfectly functional skull that I'd prefer to keep that way?" Alan's voice rose with each word. He could practically see the headlines: "Beloved Paleontologist's Niece Suffers Severe Head Trauma in Pachycephalosaurus Training Mishap."

"Uncle Alan, you're being dramatic," Y/n said, a hint of amusement creeping back into her tone. "They have safety protocols. And I know what I'm doing. You always taught me to follow my passion, right? Well, this is it! Ancient creatures, behavior analysis... it's like paleontology, but... live!"

Live and potentially concussing, Alan thought grimly. He ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. "Live is one thing, Y/n. Brain-damaged is another entirely. Promise me you'll wear a helmet. A really, *really* good helmet."

"Of course, Uncle Alan," she said, though he could practically hear the eye-roll through the phone. "They have specialized gear. It'll be fine. You worry too much."

"I worry because the last time I was around genetically engineered dinosaurs, things didn't exactly end with polite tea and crumpets, Y/n!" The memories of Isla Nublar still haunted his sleep.

"This is different!" she insisted. "They've learned from their mistakes. And I'm going to be part of making it better, understanding these amazing animals."

Alan sighed, the fight draining out of him. He knew that stubborn gleam in her eye, even over the phone. It was the same determined glint he saw in the mirror when he unearthed a particularly significant fossil. It was in her blood.

"Just... be careful, Y/n," he said, his voice softer now, tinged with genuine concern. "Those aren't fossils you're dealing with. They bite back. Hard."

"I will, Uncle Alan. I promise. And who knows? Maybe I can even get you a behind-the-scenes tour sometime. You might actually find it... fascinating."

Alan shuddered. "Fascinatingly dangerous, more likely. But... call me. Every day. Let me know you still have all your cognitive functions intact."

"Will do, Uncle Alan. Gotta go! Knucklehead's being a bit of a... well, you know."

The line went dead, leaving Alan staring at the Triceratops horn in his hand. He suddenly felt a profound urge to return to the quiet safety of the Mesozoic, where the biggest threat was a hungry Tyrannosaurus, not a niece with a death wish and a penchant for thick-skulled herbivores. He just hoped Y/n knew what she was getting herself into. And that Jurassic World had invested in some seriously heavy-duty headgear. His niece was brilliant, passionate, and clearly a chip off the old, slightly eccentric block. He just prayed that block wouldn't end up with a permanent dent courtesy of a Pachycephalosaurus.

[ramcoolers]

How to Maximize the Cooling Efficiency of Your Air Cooler

As the summer heat intensifies, finding effective and eco-friendly ways to stay cool becomes a priority for every household. At Ram Coolers, we understand the importance of a reliable air cooler that delivers refreshing, chilled air without breaking the bank. Air coolers are a fantastic alternative to traditional air conditioners, offering energy-efficient and sustainable cooling solutions. However, to get the most out of your air cooler, it’s essential to optimize its performance. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll share expert air cooler maintenance tips, cooling efficiency tips, and air cooler cooling hacks to help you maximize air cooler efficiency and keep your home cool and comfortable all summer long.

Whether you’re a first-time air cooler user or a seasoned owner, this blog will provide actionable advice to improve air cooler performance, troubleshoot common issues, and ensure your cooler runs at its peak. Let’s dive into the best practices to increase air cooler effectiveness and make your summer a breeze with Ram Coolers!

Understanding How Air Coolers Work

Before we explore ways to maximize air cooler efficiency, let’s understand the basics of how an air cooler operates. Unlike air conditioners that use refrigerants, air coolers rely on the natural process of evaporative cooling. Warm air is drawn into the cooler, passed through water-soaked cooling pads, and released as cooler, moist air. This eco-friendly cooling method makes air coolers an excellent choice for those looking to reduce room temperature naturally while keeping energy costs low.

However, the efficiency of an air cooler depends on factors like proper maintenance, placement, ventilation, and water quality. By optimizing these elements, you can significantly improve air cooler performance and enjoy a refreshing indoor environment. Let’s explore the best strategies to achieve this.

Maximize Air Cooler Efficiency with Proper Placement

One of the most critical factors in efficient air cooling is the placement of your air cooler. Air cooler positioning tips can make a significant difference in how effectively your cooler delivers chilled air. Here’s how to position your Ram Cooler for optimal performance:

Place Near an Open Window or Door: Air coolers require a constant supply of fresh air to function effectively. Positioning your cooler near an open window or door ensures proper ventilation, allowing warm air to enter and cool air to circulate. This is especially important in humid climates where airflow is key to increasing air cooler effectiveness.

Avoid Direct Sunlight: Placing your cooler in direct sunlight can heat the unit and reduce its cooling capacity. Choose a shaded spot to maintain optimal performance and extend the air cooler’s life.

Elevate the Cooler: For portable air coolers, elevating the unit slightly (e.g., on a stand) can improve airflow and circulation. Ensure the cooler is stable and secure to avoid accidents.

Keep the Surrounding Area Clear: Avoid placing the cooler in a cramped corner or near furniture that obstructs airflow. A clear space around the cooler enhances air circulation, helping you reduce room temperature naturally.

By following these air cooler positioning tips, you’ll create the ideal environment for your Ram Cooler to deliver powerful cooling, making it one of the best ways to use an air cooler effectively.

Maximize the Cooling Efficiency with Regular Maintenance

To increase air cooler effectiveness, regular maintenance is non-negotiable. A well-maintained air cooler not only performs better but also lasts longer. Here are some essential air cooler maintenance tips to keep your Ram Cooler in top shape:

Clean Air Cooler Filters and Pads Regularly

The cooling pads and filters are the heart of your air cooler. Over time, dust, dirt, and debris can accumulate, obstructing airflow and reducing cooling efficiency. To clean air cooler filters and pads:

Remove and Rinse Pads: At least once a month, remove the cooling pads and rinse them with clean water to remove dirt and debris. If the pads are worn out, replace them to maintain optimal performance.

Scrub the Water Tank: The water tank can harbor bacteria and algae if not cleaned regularly. Empty the tank and scrub it with a mild detergent weekly to prevent odors and ensure hygienic cooling.

Check Fan Blades: Dust on fan blades can reduce airflow. Gently clean the blades with a damp cloth to keep them spinning smoothly.

Regular cleaning is one of the most effective air cooler cooling hacks to maximize air cooler efficiency and ensure consistent performance throughout the summer.

Maintain Adequate Water Levels

Air coolers rely on water for evaporative cooling, so maintaining the right water level is crucial. A low water level can strain the pump and reduce cooling efficiency. Check the water tank daily and refill it as needed. For an extra boost, use cold water or add ice cubes to the tank (if your Ram Cooler has an ice compartment) to enhance cooling.

Schedule Professional Servicing

While regular cleaning can be done at home, professional servicing ensures all components, such as the pump and motor, are in optimal condition. Schedule a professional check-up at least once a year to extend air cooler life and address potential issues before they escalate.

By incorporating these air cooler maintenance tips, you’ll keep your Ram Cooler running efficiently, delivering cool air even during the hottest days.

Maximize Air Cooler Efficiency with Smart Usage Tips

Beyond maintenance and placement, how you use your air cooler can significantly impact its performance. Here are some cooling efficiency tips and the best ways to use an air cooler to get the most out of your Ram Cooler:

Use Cold Water or Ice

Using cold water or adding ice to the water tank can significantly improve air cooler performance. The colder the water, the more effective the evaporative cooling process. Many Ram Coolers come with dedicated ice compartments for this purpose, making it a simple yet powerful hack to reduce room temperature naturally.

Optimize Ventilation

As mentioned earlier, proper ventilation is key to efficient air cooling. Keep windows or doors slightly open to allow fresh air to flow in and humid air to escape. This prevents moisture buildup and ensures your cooler operates at peak efficiency. In humid climates, consider using a dehumidifier alongside your air cooler to enhance performance.

Use Ceiling Fans for Better Air Circulation

Pairing your air cooler with a ceiling fan can amplify its cooling effect. The fan helps circulate the cool air throughout the room, ensuring even distribution and making your space feel more comfortable. This is one of the simplest summer cooling solutions to increase air cooler effectiveness.

Adjust Speed Settings

Most Ram Coolers come with adjustable speed settings. Use higher speeds during peak heat hours and lower speeds when the temperature drops to save energy and maintain comfort. This smart usage tip aligns with eco-friendly cooling methods that reduce energy consumption.

Run the Cooler Before Peak Heat

Start your air cooler early in the day, before the room gets too hot. Pre-cooling the space allows the cooler to work more efficiently, as it doesn’t have to combat extreme heat. This proactive approach is a cooling efficiency tip that saves energy and enhances comfort.

By adopting these best ways to use an air cooler, you’ll create a cooler, more comfortable environment while keeping energy costs low.

Continue Reading: https://www.ramcoolers.com/maximize-the-cooling-efficiency-of-your-cooler/

[sarahdawnsdesigns]

 Welcome to September!  With the nights just starting to get cooler, it's the perfect time to get a jump start on Winter Knitting (and the dreaded Holiday Gift Knitting, if you do that!)  And, to help you get the jump start on the Winter woolies, this month's Featured Pattern is the Woodland Mittens!

Don't worry, if you don't have the pattern, it's 50% off through the month of September.

Plus, if you finish a pair of mittens by the end of September, (don't worry, WIP's accepted!) you have the chance to win a Gift Card from Knit Picks. (US/Canada only at the moment, sorry!) or 4 patterns of your choice from my web shop!

Other cool stuff to know:

The cable stitch pattern is both charted and written.

The pattern has a large-print version for folks who need it (this version also works with screen-reading tech)

It comes in 4 adult sizes, ranging from a 6.5 inch to a 9 inch hand circumference (16.5 to 23 cm). Thumb length and cuff length are adjustable as well.

It uses 175 - 310 yards (160 to 283 metres) of DK weight or heavy sport-weight yarn

Sample was knit in Baa Ram Ewe's Dovestone DK, which is, sadly discontinued. However, you'll find a good substitution in West Yorkshire Spinners Fleece BFL DK (affiliate link, I get a commission if you make a purchase, don't worry, there's no additional cost to you!)

The pattern is mirrored (so, the left and right hand mittens are different. The cable pattern runs down the back of the hand, while the palm has a reinforced slipped-stitch texture).

If you're a Patron, you can download the pattern here

Anyway, you can find all the details about how to enter the Knit Along on the Pattern Page, and if you've got any questions, please, drop them on this post or in the Ask Box!

[majorbaby]

20 questions for fic writers

thank you so much for the tag @bornforastorm, i loved reading through yours :3 

i will tag @marley-manson / @rescue-ram / @persianflaw / @leonardcohenofficial / @raywritesthings

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 14… will be 15 in under 24 hrs ;)

2. What's your total Ao3 word count? 136,971… just over 100K of which were published this year :D 

3. What fandoms do you write for? MASH at the moment, with no end in sight. I have two ideas for twin peaks but not much motivation to write them, let alone the discipline. 

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? if you really wanna know here’s my ao3 and you can you sort by kudos, i don’t wanna link my fics in other fandoms that are almost 7 years old now… pls… 

5. Do you respond to comments? i used to be quite diligent about doing it but when i was publishing near-daily for kinktober i fell behind because i was literally writing every day. i may still go back to respond to them because i like doing it. 

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? the beejhawk sex pollen fic (heavy dubcon warning)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? i’m realizing that most of traphawk fics are only ‘happy endings’ if you see them as self-contained, which they aren’t really, because even though trapper’s exit isn’t at all relevant, i’m not consciously ‘unwriting’ that. but in-fic probably Goodbye, Farewell and Amen to That because it explicitly states that TrapHawk can handle whatever is thrown at them, which would include whatever happens post-fic. 

8. Do you get hate on fics? for a while i had an anon who submitted vagues about me / my work so like yes, i’ve read a couple vagues seemed they were about my fic but, and i know this sounds like a cop-out but genuinely, i’m kinda flattered by anyone who hates my fic and still manages to read the whole thing and write a public post about how how they didn’t like it? like, what are we??? 

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? i consider myself primarily a smut writer, only incidentally non-smut writer. i write all kinds and can’t wait to diversify more. 

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? my dream fic is a specific crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? yes

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? not recently, but in former fandoms yes. 

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? sort of. it isn’t published. but maybe soon. 

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? traphawk is the ship to me. some things we should be dramatic about: there’s the traphawk that i write and then there’s the traphawk that i live, which only my irl trapper understands 

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? now that i have discovered the margaret longfic i really want to write i’ve officially abandoned my 80K canon-compliant margaret WIP

16. What are your writing strengths? i’m disciplined, i want to improve, i take risks, i’m curious, i’m honest and i welcome strong challenges from the people who edit my work.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? i have some barriers (i’m dyslexic and english is my not my first language) but i could still stand to be much more diligent about grammar and punctuation. beyond that, my prose tends to be flowery and verbose and need to be reined in a lot. i’m trying to get better at on my own but it helps that my OG beta, marley, is kind of my stylistic foil lol (hope she doesn’t mind me saying), she trims a lot of the fat from my work and helps me communicate my ideas better. lastly, sometimes i suffer from being really married to an idea that sounded cooler in my head than it does on paper, and i have a really hard time setting it down.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? i say this as someone who is multilingual - it’s almost never a good idea, especially in fic, if you’re having a main character speak partially in another language for no reason except to note that you, the author, knows that they speak another language. it could maybe make sense for atmosphere, but in that case, just say “they were speaking x language / they said something in x language”. 

i’ll be honest, it annoys me so much that if i see a character in a fic drop a few words in a language other than english and then continue on in english that i will x-out of a fic. there’s got to be some thoughtful in-universe explanation for that e.g. if you’re in Canada, bilingual service agents will say ‘Hello/Bonjour’ to you to indicate that you have an option to speak with them in either language. 

19. First fandom you wrote for? uhhh i honestly don’t remember. i’ve been writing fanfiction since before i was a teenager. first time i published it might’ve been for the legend of zelda. 

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? at the moment it’s cherry bomb! because it was a nice, smutty interlude in traphawk’s relationship and a fic that exists mostly for kink’s sake but still has a distinct vibe, unlike filthysweet which i don’t hate, but imo is unremarkable. CB is 95% style 5% substance and still contains weight somehow. i really hope i can recreate that again. 

[philosophical]

Hello! I really love your PC build. Can you please share it with me? And is it a gaming PC or workstation, or a little bit of both? I am getting my own PC soon, and your's looks so good! I'm curious on how it performs. :D

Thank you! It’s mostly used for gaming, as I do not work from home, but I do also use it for my university coursework (which is primarily just using Microsoft Office Suite programs, Canva, Canvas Student and my digital textbooks via Chrome).

Here is the general list of specs of my PC:

CPU: Intel Core i7-13700F 16

RAM: T-Force 32GB DDR4 3600Mhz

GPU: Zotac GEForce RTX 4070Ti Trinity OC 12GB

Motherboard: MSI MAG B760 Tomahawk WiFi

Storage: 1TB M.2 Nvme SSD + 2GB SSD

Liquid cooler + RGB case fans

It performs very well. I have had no issues playing things like Diablo 4, Fortnite and Hogwarts Legacy on max settings. I think the hottest I’ve seen my GPU get was around 60-65°C? And that was after a few hours at max settings. Otherwise, my CPU, GPU usage and temps are quite low (25-32°C on average) with the CPU, GPU and RAM usage also always being quite low. It’s a pretty high end build in my opinion. Cost about $2500 CAD with taxes and all ($1900 USD) so I mean I should hope it performs pretty fucking well 😂

But yeah, I’ve had zero complaints about it!