#PIPE RACKING SYSTEM

[little-p-eng-engineering]

Little P.Eng. Engineering: Pioneering Material Handling Facilities & Building Designs in Canada & US

The industries of today rely heavily on efficient material handling to maintain profitability, safety, and operational effectiveness. Little P.Eng. Engineering has carved a niche for itself in the design of material handling facilities and buildings across the vast terrains of Canada and the USA, addressing the unique challenges of each region and industry.

Material Handling – The Backbone of Modern Industries

Material handling facilities, be they storage, transport, or processing centers, form the linchpin around which modern industries revolve. From the unloading of raw materials to the shipping of finished goods, a streamlined material handling system significantly impacts a company's bottom line, safety record, and environmental footprint.

Little P.Eng. Engineering's Portfolio: A Deep Dive

Wagon / Truck Loading:

Role: Efficiently loading materials onto wagons or trucks for transport.

Little P.Eng. Approach: Designs that accommodate varied load sizes and types, ensuring quick loading while minimizing spillage and waste.

Wagon Unloading / Tripper:

Role: Unloading goods from wagons with precision and speed.

Little P.Eng. Insight: Systems that cater to different wagon designs and materials, using advanced mechanisms to prevent damage during unloading.

Rapid Train Load-Out Station:

Role: Fast-paced loading of trains, a crucial component in industries like mining.

Little P.Eng. Vision: Integration of automated systems to boost loading speeds, decrease wait times, and enhance safety.

Storage Pits:

Role: Holding areas for materials before processing or transport.

Little P.Eng.'s Precision: Designs that factor in material type, preventing contamination, and ensuring easy retrieval.

Tanks and Reservoirs:

Role: Storage for liquids or gases, be it water, oil, or chemicals.

Little P.Eng. Mastery: Focus on material compatibility, safety features, and maximizing storage space.

Pressure Vessels and Bullets:

Role: Storing gases or liquids at high pressures.

Little P.Eng.'s Craft: Adherence to stringent safety norms, designs that handle extreme conditions, and longevity.

Process Piping:

Role: Transport liquids or gases within facilities.

Little P.Eng.'s Expertise: Efficient layouts to minimize material travel, selection of durable materials, and designs that facilitate easy maintenance.

Pipe Racks:

Role: Hold multiple pipes, often seen in large industrial setups.

Little P.Eng. Specialty: Modular designs that can be expanded as needed, ensuring stability and safety.

Steel Structures:

Role: The skeleton for many industrial buildings, warehouses, and more.

Little P.Eng.'s Touch: Emphasis on durability, load-bearing capacities, and resistance to environmental factors.

Understanding the North American Challenge

Spanning two massive countries with diverse climates, terrains, and industrial needs, North America presents a unique set of challenges. Be it the cold of Canadian winters or the heat of American deserts, Little P.Eng. Engineering's designs consistently rise to the occasion. They prioritize sustainability, recognizing both countries' commitment to reducing industrial carbon footprints.

Conclusion

As industries across North America continue to grow and evolve, so does the demand for efficient, safe, and sustainable material handling facilities. Little P.Eng. Engineering, with its deep understanding of regional and industrial intricacies, positions itself as the go-to solution provider.

Read more:

Transforming the Landscape of Bulk Material Management through Structural and Mechanical Design

Tags:

Little P.Eng. Engineering

Structural design

Mechanical design

Modular design

Material handling facilities

Wagon loading

Truck loading systems

Wagon unloading mechanisms

Rapid train load-out stations

Storage pits

Industrial tanks

Reservoirs design

Pressure vessels

Industrial bullets

Process piping systems

Pipe racks

Steel structures

Industrial solutions Canada

Material handling USA

Sustainable industrial design

Tripper systems

Automated loading systems

North American industry challenges

Industrial safety norms

Industrial storage solutions

Liquid storage engineering

Gas storage facilities

Material transport systems

Durable material handling facilities

Bulk Material Handling & Processing

Engineering Services

Structural Engineering Consultancy

Located in Calgary, Alberta; Vancouver, BC; Toronto, Ontario; Edmonton, Alberta; Houston Texas; Torrance, California; El Segundo, CA; Manhattan Beach, CA; Concord, CA; We offer our engineering consultancy services across Canada and United States. Meena Rezkallah.

[norrisjpg]

── ☆ tea talks & torn paper

════════════════════════

series: my kind of woman, LN⁴

content: swearing, max & pietra being adorable, soft lando, relationship advice, torn pages, unspoken feelings and a little bit of tension

pairing: lando norris x fem!oc

rora's thoughts: hi everyone, ever so sorry i went quiet on you all! i was having a bit of an unmotivated era and literally gave up on life itself! but, i've had a mental reset and i'm ready to get back at writing again. so, i really hope you enjoy this one, and welcome to the world of my kind of woman!

════════════════════════

LILY’S FRIDAY AFTERNOON wasn’t supposed to look like this. 

her small suitcase had been packed, outfits meticulously chosen, and nervous system prepared for a full-on media blitz at the book launch she’d been anticipating for weeks. but, when the publishing company had abruptly postponed the event due to some sort of logistical complication, lily had found herself with an unclaimed weekend and a non-refundable train ticket to oxford.

“so, you’re sure you don’t want to reschedule this book launch thing?” the brit piped up from the couch. 

“it’s not reschedulable, you knob.” lily rolled her eyes as she placed her once-packed shoes back on the rack. “the whole thing was canned.”

“what a shame,” pietra teased, walking over to the couch and flopping down next to her boyfriend. “i was really looking forward to my saturday night voice notes about how some sweaty guy grabbed your ass.”

“thankyou p.” the younger fewtrell gave her a deadpan look.

“so welcome.” the girl grinned.

“the offer to come with me and p is still there,” max said breezily. “if you want it, of course. it’ll be fun, he has like ten spare rooms, and you haven’t seen him in ages.”

“you’re not giving me much time to think about this.” she frowned, zipping the suitcase back up.

“because i know you, el.” her brother replied. “you’ll just be in your flat all weekend, reading something sappy and avoiding socialisation – or god forbid, you spend it with harry.”

“hey, leave harry out of this – and maybe i like being a recluse.”

“oh, we’re going golfing too, so pack some golf-friendly clothes.” he pointed out, trying to think of any other things she should know. “and lando has a hot-tub, and a sauna, and a gym… actually just pack for everything.”

“does he even know i’m coming?” she asked, still contemplating whether she should just bale on her not-certain plans already.

“he’s lando, he’d probably forget even if i did tell him.” max shrugged casually, earning a hand to the shoulder from pietra.

“lily, it’ll be fine. lando likes you, you like lando. it’s not like he’s going to make you sleep on the driveway – so you’re not uninvited, just a… nice surprise.”

“okay, i’ll come, when are we leaving?” lily sighed, wheeling her case toward her bedroom. 

max checked his watch, “in thirty.” 

• • • •

THE BACKSEATS of max’s audi were surprisingly spacious, allowing lily to stretch her legs out across the seats, and lean on the pillow she’d brought with her. the spine of her latest read was pressed against her knee, a good girl’s guide to murder printed neatly in black and red on a white background. she’d been meaning to read it for years now, but she’d never quite gotten around to opening the front page – so this was a good excuse, an hours drive to get stuck in.

invested in the teenager’s journey, she had neglected to notice that max had indicated down a tree-lined driveway, and that lando’s surrey pad had come into view – sleek, modern lines softened by ivy-covered walls and warm yellow lights pouring from the interior. 

lando and lily had known each other since they were fifteen, meeting at one of max’s karting races. he’d been awkward and geeky, gushing over engine types and tyre wear, but always sweet and polite with her, if a little nervous sometimes. but the last time she’d seen him was almost a year ago. he’d filled out (obviously, formula 1 drivers aren’t exactly stick-like), and he was charming, making her laugh with well-polished wit and the same immature humour she’d grown to love in their childhood. he’d been effortlessly kind, gentle, sweet in an undemanding way that didn’t make her feel like she had to perform. 

“i still feel weird showing up unannounced.” lily mumbled as she closed her book and carefully placed it into her bag. 

“as my wonderful girlfriend said, just a delightful surprise.” max quoted pietra, shutting the driver’s side door. 

she grumbled something in response, walking around toward the boot of the audi, intending on hauling her suitcase out of the vehicle – but it was short-lived, because the subject of her worries stepped out of the front door with a wide grin on his face.

“hey lovebirds.” lando chimed, skipping down the front steps like the child he was – and not quite noticing the other girl stood behind the car. 

the driver gave the pair a quick hug, “how was your drive?”

“lily wouldn’t stop stressing out about the fact that you didn’t know she was coming.” max blurted, making his sister poke her head out from the rear of the audi.

“hi lando.” she waved with a small, sheepish smile. 

if he wasn’t already smiling, he was practically beaming now. lando’s features softened and lit up at the same time, and he laughed softly, quickly heading toward her. 

“hi lala.” the mclaren driver said quietly, casually embracing the girl as if he’d been waiting for this day – his hoodie smelled like cedarwood and lemon, and it assaulted her senses like a homely candle. “how’ve you been?”

“i’ve been good, thankyou.” she smiled. “you?”

“never better,” lando nodded, gaze flitting over her features as he spoke. “let me get your stuff.”

“it’s okay–” she was cut off by lando easily picking her bag up. “thankyou. you’re sure you don’t mind me crashing here for the weekend?”

“are you kidding?” the brit laughed, “you’ve just improved the guestlist.”

pietra looked at max, raising her eyebrows in that same way she always did, earning an eye roll from her boyfriend. the couple (code for max) grabbed their bags, and then the two of them headed into the house. 

“come on, you can pick your room.” lando nodded, reaching up and closing the boot, before gesturing for her to follow him into the large building.

inside, the house was as chaotic as she’d remembered, but in a more, subtle, i’m an adult now, way. the shoe-shelf by the door was dishevelled to say the least – all of his most-used shoes were on there, just randomised and not in pairs at all. her shoes actually looked out of place, paired neatly and placed next to the strangely organised rack. there were a few pillows on the bottom of the staircase, with an untouched basket of clean washing next to the bannister.

pietra was flopped on the couch like it was her own, with max complaining about having no space and trying to find something to watch on the ridiculously large tv.

“so why’d you end up coming?” lando asked as he carried lily’s suitcase up the stairs. “not that i’m unhappy you’re here.”

“the book launch i was going to got cancelled.” she explained with a shrug of her shoulders. “i wasn’t really looking forward to it anyway. they sent me an early release, didn’t bother to read it.”

“brutal.” the driver laughed, glancing back at her briefly.

“honestly?” lily continued. “i wasn’t in the mood to be charming to strangers.”

“and you are now?” lando queried as they entered the spare room next to his. 

“you’re not a stranger, and define charming.” she laughed.

“exactly what you’re doing now.” he replied coolly, his gaze trained on her for a little too long.

“lando, why do you have four tubs of peanut butter and no bread?” max yelled up the stairs. 

“they substituted my nutella and i forgot about bread.” lando groaned, turning to shout.

“still the same.” she chuckled.

“i’m evolving, slowly.”

“i noticed,” she teased. “you used to live on toast and protein bars.”

“bagels and protein shakes now, i’ve upgraded. very adult.”

“impressive.”

their eyes locked again, and for a second, the faint noise of max and pietra chatting downstairs faded to silence. it was the kind of moment lily had always brushed past before – innocent enough to ignore, but heavy enough to remember. she looked away first, thanking him for carrying her bags and letting her stay.

“you’re always welcome here, lala.”

• • • •

BY TEN O’CLOCK, max was flat out on the sofa after a debate about which premier league team had the best looking players, and pietra had rolled her eyes at her boyfriend so many times she was sure they were going to get stuck there. pietra retired to the other guest bedroom, and lando bidded the younger fewtrell goodnight, before she herself slipped away to her room, the soft click of the door punctuating the quietness of the house.

she wasn’t tired.

restless was a better way to describe her demeanour, the kind of restlessness that came from a long day of travel, too many not quite finished thoughts, and the underlying buzz of something unspoken. maybe it was lando’s nostalgic warmth, maybe it was the glance she caught between max and pietra when lando greeted her, as if they knew something lily didn’t.

she wouldn’t call what happened sleep, moreso closing her eyes for a couple hours and pretending too. so, at five o’clock in the morning, the pull of alertness won, dragging her out of bed and quietly downstairs to the kitchen. 

she padded down the stairs in her hoodie and shorts, expecting silence – but the kitchen light was on, but dimmed.

pietra sat at the counter, sipping from a ceramic mug, her body angled toward the sliding glass doors. outside, the early morning sky stretched wide and pale, clouds tinged with gold and papaya.

“oh, morning.” lily grumbled, not sure if she was pleasantly surprised by the lack of solitude or not. “how come you’re up?”

“not really that tired.” pietra shrugged, sighing softly as she sipped more of her coffee. “how are you and harry doing?”

“yeah, we’re okay, i guess.” lily said, sounding slightly unamused. “we’re just casual, you know?”

“you deserve something that isn’t casual.” she responded. “and look i know it might be a bit random to you, but have you considered lando?”

she laughed, quiet and a little shook. “lando? no way, he’s max’s best mate.”

“but he’s so sweet to you, not like he is with anyone else.”

“he’s nice to everyone.” she brushed it off, like she always did.

“you’re allowed to like someone who’s good for you, you know? no matter who they are.”

she was about to reply, consider pietra’s suggestion, when the pad of heavier footsteps interrupted her train of thought. “oh, good morning.” lando yawned.

“morning lan.” lily smiled, the nickname slipping off of her tongue. 

“morning lando.” pietra replied, glancing at the man. 

he was in the navy quadrant hoodie, looking too soft to be real, hood pulled up and curls sticking out everywhere. on his legs were a light grey pair of shorts, with some matching navy socks on his feet. he looked pliant, adorable even. 

the three of them sat in comfortable silence, lando knowingly sliding a hot cup of tea, with two sugars and a splash of milk, over to lily wordlessly, earning an appreciative smile from her. he hopped up onto the counter next to her, watching the sunrise with the two girls. lily watched a bird land on the balcony fence, wings sharp against the morning blush – admiring the way it could freely come and go whenever it wanted.

“you remembered,” lily smiled after swallowing a mouthful of the warm beverage. “my tea, that is.”

“i have a good memory.” the driver smiled, gently nudging her shoulder with his own. “two sugars with an obscenely small amount of milk.”

she laughed, quiet and real, glancing at him and noticing the faint traces of sleep on his face, in the forms of shallow lines and dishevelled eyelashes. his curls looked ridiculously soft, and when he ruffled them after taking his hood down, she briefly appreciated the beauty of his new hair. 

the way he leaned a little closer to her when she smiled didn’t go unnoticed, instead reluctantly swept away from her mind like the rest of the thoughts he brought with him.

• • • •

LATER THAT AFTERNOON, lily was sat on a deck chair on the patio, nearing the end of the first book in the trilogy. she was so deep into the plotline that she didn’t notice lando creeping up behind her until it was too late. 

when his hands squeezed her shoulders abruptly, she slammed the book shut and pulled on one of the pages near the end – tearing the paper almost clean out. she quietly noticed, he didn’t.

“lando!” she groaned, gently thumping him on the head with the paperback. 

“you ready for my cooking, miss fewtrell?” he asked, hands still on her shoulders, softly holding and rubbing his thumbs over them now. 

“call the fire brigade now.”

“hey! that was one time.” he laughed, resting his chin on top of her head and looking down at her book. “what’cha reading?”

“something you’re clearly too illiterate to read the title of.” she deadpanned, putting the book under her chair and going to get up.

he laughed, genuine and real, for the first time in a while. “so rude – i’ll make you sleep on the drive.”

“who would keep your ego in check then?” lily shook her head, furrowing her eyebrows with a teasing laugh.

a couple hours later, the group were full and max was pretty sure he had chronic indigestion from trying to see how many chips he could eat in thirty seconds. 

lando was out on the deck, making sure he hadn’t left anything out there, when he spotted the white and red book underneath a patio chair. en-route back to the house, the driver flicked through a few pages, his gaze immediately landing on the ripped page near the back – and he quickly realised that he was at fault for it. he didn’t say anything when he handed the book back to her, not yet.

• • • •

MONDAY MORNING came around too quickly, and lando left before the other three did, having to head out early to japan early for some media stuff. he’d hugged her, longer than he did the other two, even whispered a sweet ‘see you soon, lala’ in her ear as he’d pulled away.

she wasn’t actually sure when he’d done it, she’d been with him practically the entire weekend. but when she’d returned to the room she was staying in, with the intention of packing up her stuff – there was a neatly wrapped and strangely-shaped package on the foot of the double bed, clad in brown paper with a small white bow on the top left corner. 

‘sorry about the book. and sorry i didn’t scare max instead. had some help from p too - L’

lily stood there for a few minutes after unwrapping the entire holly jackson series, heart swelling, and the scent of the perfume she’d been wanting but could get curling around her like a spritzed embrace.

outside the window, the wind brushed the trees.

and somewhere deep in her soul, something had begun to change.

════════════════════════

taglist: @verogonewild @tvdtw4ever @shawnscurlz @f1fantasys @hescrush @stonesylove @irisesinthegarden @unfuckwitabella @mayax2o07 @curlylando

i do not give permission for my works to be re-written, re-published, or published on any other platform.

© norrisjpg 2025

[xmads-omensx]

Pairing: sugar daddy!Noah X Reader

CW: protective Noah, Noah is bad at feelings, unwanted flirting

Tags: @shayeanna-ashlie @alwaysfightforwhoyouare @supersquirrel1996 @tosoundlessdarkistare @bloody-spades @klutzy-kay24 @heyyoplayer @lacy1986  @dominuslunae @collidewiththesav @kenjipepsi1 @follow-me-down-to-wonderland @chey-h @thisbicc @fadingangelwisp @overmydeadbodysblog @illmakeyousaywow @dsireland86 @missduffsblog  @littlebear423 @blade-dressed-in-red @rumoured-whispers @dontwantthemoney @eclipseeetop @xxkittenkissesxx @theanarchymuse95 @blackveilomens @lilgarbitch @lil-garbitch @concretejunglefm @museonfilm @death-ofpeace-ofmind @xxkatsatwatwafflexx @kissestomyomens @flowery-mess @athenexe @anything-more-than-human @oobleoob @dollieomens @astronoids @pipidoll

You met online through the sugar daddy service you had stumbled across after your friend drunkenly dared you to get one.

Money had been tight so you’d only been able to pay rent.

Your friend pulled up the website for “sugarbabiesinneed” after giggling over the idea for what felt like forever.

You’d selected Noah completely randomly since you’d just been swiping mindlessly.

Then when you looked at the matches profile in the morning, with your head pounding, you were almost intimidated by the match.

His jawline was one of the first things you noticed, your eyes trailing to the tattoos on his neck.

He was handsome.

Almost impossibly so.

He had sent you a simple message of “I’d like to take you for dinner to get to know you and what you want out of this arrangement.” To which you agreed hesitantly.

At dinner, he had been polite and caring, not pressuring you to do anything you didn’t want to.

He made it clear that this wasn’t a romantic relationship, merely financial.

Noah liked to treat his sugar babies to lavish meals, expensive holidays and so much clothes that he had to buy you a whole new wardrobe.

You were his only sugar baby.

He hated dividing his attention.

After eight months of this arrangement, you had fallen into a routine of going on a shopping spree when he returned from tour in Australia.

You had your arm looped through his has you both carried an obnoxious amount of bags.

It felt nice, not having to look at the price tags of anything you picked up.

But it was still hard to get used to.

After years of carefully budgeting every single thing in your life, this was defiantly a shock to the system.

But Noah had assured you that this was what he wanted.

He wanted nothing more than to buy you things and make you happy.

There was nothing sexual or romantic about this arrangement, just Noah getting some sort of strange kick out of seeing you smile as you looked at the expensive, pretty dresses on the racks.

You walked through the shopping mall, Noah filling you in on some of his favourite stories from tour.

He didn’t tell you anything about his band. Just that he was in a band.

You didn’t know the name, the members names, what Noah did in the bad. Just that he was in one.

He liked that divide between his life in the band and his life as your sugar daddy.

Part of you wanted more, but you knew that was a pipe dream.

Noah had explained to you on that very first dinner that you had together that this ‘relationship’ was strictly for him to buy you things and for you to let him. Nothing else.

No romance.

No sex.

No relationship.

No feelings.

And that had begun to make your heart sink.

On this particular day, Noah had taken you shopping and was lagging behind you carrying the bags and looking at some trainers, whilst you browsed through some jackets you had your eye on.

That’s when it happened.

“Need any help gorgeous?” A deep voice asked.

You looked up to see the sales associate looking at you with a smirk.

“No, I’m good thanks.” You replied kindly and politely.

“You look like you need help.” He said, his voice lowering as he stepped closer.

“I’m good.” You responded, voice firmer but still trying to be polite. “

“You sure beautiful?” He said, adding a seductive tone to his voice.

“She said she’s good.” Noah’s voice sent relief coursing through your body.

“Leave my girl alone man.” The sales associate replied, clearly trying to make Noah back off.

You fought like hell to hold back a giggle as you looked between the two men.

“You mean my girl?” Noah replied, an eyebrow raising in a sarcastic expression, wrapping his arm around your shoulder.

The sales associate stuttered to speak but instead rushed off into the back of the store.

“Your girl huh?” You asked in a mocking tone.

“Shut up you know you’re mine.” He scoffed, face blushing red.

“Yours how?” You asked, you knew exactly what he was getting at but you wanted him to say it.

“You’re just… mine okay?” He stuttered, turning his head to look away from you.

“Oh just checking because obviously you’re my sugar daddy and nothing more… right?” You taunted.

“I want you to be my girlfriend. Okay? Happy now?” He hurried, face turning bright red.

You laughed happily.

“I’d love that.” You relied.

“Really?”

“Yeah of course.”

Noah nodded proudly before taking the jacket you were holding from you.

“I’m still buying you everything baby.” He said.

You linked your arm with his as you made your way to the checkout.

You couldn’t remember the last time you felt this happy.

[simdertalia]

🎵 ACNH Music Stuff Set - Part 1 🎵

My lovely patrons wanted to have this set split into 2 parts so that some of it could be posted today, so here it is!

Sims 4, base game compatible (Piano is functional & requires City Living, as it uses the keyboard as its base). 48 items 💗

Always suggested: bb.objects ON, it makes placing items much easier. For further placement tweaking, check out the TOOL mod.

Set contains: -Amp (large, medium & practice sizes, functional music players, can be stacked) | 8 swatches each | 1202 poly each -Analog Reel 1 & 2 | 3 swatches each | 372 & 714 poly -Book Stand | 4 swatches | 1176 poly -Cello | 3 swatches | 1205 poly -Clarinet | 1 swatch | 1078 poly -Clarinet on Stand | 1 swatch | 1200 poly -Drum Set | 10 swatches | 2398 poly -Effects Rack | 10 swatches | 1222 poly -Floor Monitor (functional music player, can be stacked) | 1 swatch | 1191 poly -Guitar Bag | 5 swatches | 412 poly -Headphones | 11 swatches | 1172 poly -Headphones (wireless) | 11 swatches | 866 poly -Marimba | 1 swatch | 2352 poly -Metronome 1 & 2 (clicker out and in) | 5 swatches | 1168 poly -Mix Master Table Decluttered | 10 swatches | 314 poly -Ocarina | 2 swatches | 514 poly -Pan Flute | 1 swatch | 1042 poly -PA System for Floor (functional music player) | 1 swatch | 826 poly -Pedal Board | 3 swatches for body, 3 swatches with "light on" 6 swatches total | 1202 poly -Percussion Mallet | 1 swatch | 258 poly -Phonograph (functional music player) | 2 swatches | 1092 poly -Piano Bench Seat (is a chair) | 10 swatches | 1214 poly -Piano: Upright (functional, requires City Living) | 2 swatches | 2176 poly -Portable Record Player (functional music player) | 7 swatches | 1217 poly -Record Box | 16 swatches | 1146 poly -Sampler | 8 swatches | 820 poly -Sax: Alto & Tenor (2 items) | 1 swatch each | 1062 poly -Sax: Alto & Tenor on Stand | 1 swatch each | 1184 poly -Sign Dueling Pianos | 6 swatches | 222 poly -Snare Drum | 4 swatches | 706 poly -Snare Drum on Stand | 4 swatches | 1202 poly each -Stool (seat) | 4 swatches | 1072 poly -Tambourine (table & wall decor, 2 items) | 1 swatch each | 602 poly -Thumb Piano | 5 swatches | 1190 poly -Timpani | 4 swatches | 2394 poly -Timpani Single 1 | 4 swatches | 1270 poly -Timpani Single 2 | 4 swatches | 1124 poly -Tools | 2 swatches | 1200 poly -Trumpet | 2 swatches | 1094 poly -Trumpet on Stand | 2 swatches | 1192 poly -Wooden Fish | 3 swatches | 942 poly

Type “acnh music" into the search query in build mode to find quickly. You can always find items like this, just begin typing  the title and it will appear.

As always, please let me know if you have any issues!

📁 Download all or pick & choose (SFS, No Ads): HERE

📁 Alt Mega Download (still no ads): HERE

📁 Download on Patreon

Will be public on June 1st, 2024 💗Midnight CET

Happy Simming! ✨ Some of my sets are early access. If you like my work, please consider supporting me (all support helps me with managing my chronic pain/illness):

★ Patreon  🎉 ❤️ |★ Ko-Fi  ☕️  ❤️ ★ Instagram📷

Thank you for reblogging ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

@sssvitlanz  @maxismatchccworld @mmoutfitters  @coffee-cc-finds  @itsjessicaccfinds  @gamommypeach  @stargazer-sims-finds  @khelga68  @suricringe  @vaporwavesims  @mystictrance15 @moonglitchccfinds @xlost-in-wonderlandx @jbthedisabledvet

Other Instrument Downloads & Related: -Theramin -Gong & Bamboo Drum -Ukulele -Harp -Festivale Drum -Pipe Organ -Street Organ -PA System on Stand -Radios

-Music Tag

The rest of my CC

[sims4t2bb]

Update - May

Here's what we've updated in April and May. We've got a big to-do list for things to cover in June, as creators have been hard at work, so please bear with us as we're busy in real life, too!

Added a great amount of non-Base Game door and window conversions by @platinumaspiration and @lordcrumps across many different packs.

— Base Game

Buy Mode

BodyCrunch Pro Home Gym System, PowerFit Multitrainer Exercise Machine, and The Rack conversions by ePSYlord have been added.

Crisponix Splendid, Icebox of Steel by Krampft Industries, and IceBOX Vintage Refrigerator conversions by @platinumaspiration have been added.

The Fun-Fun Inflatable Set, Part One, and The Fun-Fun Inflatable Set, Part Two conversions by @deatherella have been added.

Country Cottage Dining Chair, Cephalopod Barstool with Back Support, and Bunker Be Bright Wall Light conversions by @jinxxsims have been added.

Build Mode

Spiral Parquet and Retro Edwardian Tile conversions by @lordcrumps have been added.

Deco

Milk Cartons (Bella Goth, Emit Relevart, Ginny, Pit Beast, Skip Broke, and Some Sneaky Sim) conversions by @lordcrumps have been added.

— Expansion Packs

Get Together

Debug Bollard conversion by @pixelasher has been added.

City Living

Picturesque Keramikos, Ported Boundery, and debug Utility Box and Wall Pipes conversions by @pixelasher have been added.

Cats & Dogs

The Saint's Anchor and Carpeted Conifers Cat Tree Deluxe conversions by @jinxxsims have been added.

Get Famous

Name in Lights Marquee and Name in Lights Theatre Sign conversions by @jacky93sims have been added.

Stool of Decadence conversion by @jinxxsims has been added.

Island Living

Montane Slatted Doors, The Bug Kahuna Sliding Doors, The Cudgel 7 Sliding Door, The ‘Put A Screen On It’ Screen Door, Windy Whale Sliding Doors, Bermuda Triangle Double Arch, Bewitching Wicker Counter, Shelflessness Skiihaw Recycling, The Islander Trellis, The ‘Look No Further’ Dresser, and more conversions by @jacky93sims have been added.

Discover University

Triple Chim-Chimney conversion by @jacky93sims has been added.

Banners of Cheer and Lone-1 Floor Banner conversions by @pixelasher have been added.

Alpha Kappa Banner Bud and Alpha Kappa Banner Set conversions by @cozy-sims have been added.

Snowy Escape

The Fridges of Komorebi County conversion by @platinumaspiration has been added.

Cottage Living

Deep Thoughts Door, Fox Knocker Door, Quintessential Cottage Door, Pining for Winter, Gossip No More Door, Bae Bay Window, Bagatha Chrisptea's Literary Window, Bliss Fo Eyes A Poetical Window, Double Window for Double Blessings, Storybook Cotta Window, and more conversions by @jacky93sims have been added.

Conversions of all windows by @lordcrumps and @platinumaspiration have been added.

Old King Kool - by The Icebox Corp and ReFridgeAdeezer by Re FrostyFridge Corporation conversions by @platinumaspiration have been added.

High School Years

Learning with the Stars, Wall Mounted Pom Pom, Graduation Photo Op, Lunch Special Cafeteria Station, and ThrifTea Bubble Tea Counter conversions by @jacky93sims have been added.

Mini Gem Chandelier conversion by @jinxxsims has been added.

Growing Together

Dining is Groovy! v.2 by Kindermade, Sit Crooked, Talk Straight Barstool conversions by @jinxxsims have been added.

Live Laugh Well Loved Lamp, Attention Worthy Floor Mirror, and Attention Worthy Wall Mirror conversions by @jacky93sims have been added.

For Rent

Debug Tree Guard conversion by @pixelasher has been added.

Businesses and Hobbies

The filterable page is now available!

A link to the filterable page in the pinned post has been added.

Conversions by @platinumaspiration and @lordcrumps have been added.

Drippy Bunny Sculpture, Tat-a-Scribble Set, Luminous Leaf, and Fairly Fair Fence with Fairy Lights conversions by @jinxxsims have been added.

Paint on Me! Wallpaper conversion by @morepopcorn has been added.

— Game Packs

Outdoor Retreat

Conversions of all items by @lordcrumps have been added.

Spa Day

Doc Sweets Luke-Warm Mini Dispenser conversion by @platinumaspiration has been added.

Vampires

Protruding Frieze conversion by @lordcrumps has been added.

Parenthood

Recolors of Board Meeting by @jinxxsims have been added.

Realm of Magic

30 Day Glimmerbrook Fridge, Astral Window, Banished Soul Window, Divine Porthole Window, Spellcaster's Delight Window, Waning Moon Window, and Window of Opportunity conversions by @platinumaspiration have been added.

My Wedding Stories

Exotic Elegant Lamp and Lone Candle In The Hall conversions by @jacky93sims have been added.

— Stuff Packs

Cool Kitchen

They Might Be Giants and Taste of Umami Spice Rack conversions by @jinxxsims have been added.

Laundry Day

Model T Clothesline, Green Clean Washing Machine, Fyre Dryer, Feelin' Fabric Hamper, Laundrymaid Clothing Hamper, Wicker Whims Hamper, and debug Clothing Pile conversions by @lamare-sims have been added.

— Kits

Courtyard Oasis

Conversions of all items by @lordcrumps have been added.

Cozy Kitsch

Conversions of all items (sans different wall lengths) by @platinumaspiration have been added.

Secret Sanctuary

The filterable page is now available!

A link to the filterable page in the pinned post has been added.

Conversions by all kit items by @lordcrumps have been added.

Chateaux Charm Fireplace conversion by @jinxxsims has been added.

Comfy Gamer

The filterable page is now available!

A link to the filterable page in the pinned post has been added.

Comfy Gaming Computer and "Beam me up, Blarffy!" Novelty Lamp conversions by @jacky93sims have been added.

Sims Forever! Collectible Art Prints conversion on a ts2 mesh by @selenaq13 has been added.

Conversions of all kit items by @lordcrumps and springsims have been added.

Casanova Cave

The filterable page is now available!

A link to the filterable page in the pinned post has been added.

Designer Wall Prints by Valor Visuals conversion on a ts2 mesh by @selenaq13 has been added.

Conversions of all kit items by @lordcrumps have been added.

High Stakes Table, The Zenith Wall Unit, and Titan Screen 5000 conversions by @jinxxsims have been added.

Refined Living Room

The filterable page is now available!

A link to the filterable page in the pinned post has been added.

Conversions of all kit items by @lordcrumps have been added.

Sleek Bathroom

The filterable page is now available!

A link to the filterable page in the pinned post has been added.

Kitchen Clutter

The filterable page is now available!

Added functional conversion of the Fresh Finds Grocery Bag by @grilledcheese-aspiration

Added Culinary Caddy by @amethystfenix

Restoration Workshop

The filterable page is now available!

[agathathesorceress]

Dr. House, the patient needs expansion tanks, pressure relief valves, flow control, branch vent, downspout, soil stacks, or waste stacks, or fire protection equipment: smoke detectors, sprinklers, flow detectors, dry pipe valve, O.S. & Y. Gate valve, water motor alarm, visual annunciation devices, hose rack and hose reel whether a 2 1/2” or 1 1/2” valve, foam systems, gaseous suppression systems; nor any sign of daisy-chain wiring or star wiring or electrical metallic tubing (EMT), rigid conduit, wireways, bus ducts, underfloor ducts,

[3liza]

anime club, dude, just rep your work we like a super-sayan stuffed in a checkered shirt all you motherfuckers wanna try and test the verse? listen up -- here them players that'll get ya hurt GLOMP ME! yo, i'm chillin' here with mah friendses got that driftwood chain and transition lenses straight shinin', ya'll, forehead gots to gleam all them TLO cats call me 'oxyclean' well, i'm Baby Fillipe, girls call me "Surprise" cuz when I'm layin' pipe, lasers come outta my eyes known to flip like Freeza when i'm enraged got a level 20 half-orc fire mage Mr. Casual Khakis -- Sweaters-From-Moms got a rap attack that blasts cats better than bombs i'm all history and learnin', not them sports n' crap check out my basement! i'm workin' on a torture rack! (in a deep voice ala that annoying fucker from jurassic 5) Big Red in the back with so much soul Make snacks and operate the remote control Ya'll ain't gotta hate on the way I roll If you wanna pick the movie, just vote in the poll ay yo - fuck the system; The Man is ghey gonna smoke five blunts and watch anime Skeez, the TLO hook-up, ya'll bitches jock me Keep it locked down, slangin' that wet n' pocky step back, boys, i roll with the TLO so think twice 'fore you roll up and say hello Margaret, ya'll, my steez keep 'em duckin' for cover deviantart style -- animes fuckin' each other call me Celph-Satisfyde, i'm the mastermind mix up your manga titles and your ass is mine frontin' on me? that's a crime when i'm in the room with bitches, yo, it's sexual harassment time FRANKLIN -- here i come, devastatin' the track drankin' a forty, got a dozen shorties waitin' in back hey, ya'll! there's some empty seats near da TV i got a six of Dew, ya'll can watch Akira with me (beatbox solo) PHOOOM doom PHWAAAACK ka (heee-uh hee-uh) PHWAAACK eeeeer-wicka-a-a-ANIME CLUB who the heck are these people? haven't asked 'em yet i guess i joined an anime club by accident i'ma slide out the door 'fore these dudes assume they're legit cuz there's a real asian in the room yeah, nine mc's and one dj we be gettin' down with no delay fuck you, mom and dad, we're here to say:

japan is better than the USA

[quackity1999]

[ ✉️ MAINTENANCE REPORT? THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO FIX

From: the blood on your hands.

To: whom it may concern.

CC: ? It's for your eyes only, please.

Attachment: s? are we still doing that, Mr. President? You've let go, no? ]

Hello, Mr. President! It's been a long time coming. Sand erodes and snow melts, you know better than anyone. The boys cracked open some beers and they're doing great, unrepentant and so detached from the fact that we're all just rotting corpses slogging drinks and boiling under the sun to hammer out your Paradise Lost on a cold tundra. We're all dying with laughter in our throats. We're all choking on your desiccated dreams. We're itching for a new procurement request for another six-pack case of breaking our backs dry for a cause that remembers us as nothing but words on an E-Mail.

Now, without further ado:

We tried seeing the forest for the trees. It's a long way down. Cleared up some of the trees around for a mass grave. You won't notice the smell, promise. If you need the wood, it's being dealt by Lost and Found; we're too worthless to end up there, but the trees were something. They were alive. What does that say about us?

The usual guy called in sick again. He has called in sick for a month now. He's not answering our texts. He's getting a reprimanding letter. Have you checked the rotting stink coming from his apartment? Did you ever learn his name? Did you ever learn the Supervisor's name? Have you checked the mix of alcohol and putrefaction seeping through the carpets? Do you see the crowd for the corpses? Have you seen how rotten all of this is?

A request to violently break into E23's door to deal with reports of an incredibly unpleasant and dreadfully grieve-full odour has been passed to Mr. Purpled. A request to violently break you has not been accepted. A request for you to break us to add to the foundations have been passed on and accepted the moment we sent it.

Did a regular maintenance on the Needle's foundations and found the bones you buried to prop the Babelian tower where it should have never found footing. It's crumbling, rotten. There's not enough procurement requests to keep the skeletons in your closet.

It would be beneficial for us to do a thorough decimation of ourselves before you do it through your sheer shortsightedness. We're all doomed the moment we were under your thumb. The boys should've seen it coming. The boys miss their families. We've decided upon a system of killing the tenth with pipe wrenches and hammering what's left onto the cork-board. Mr. Slimecicle has always loved supporting us. We did love him, and we'll miss him, too.

That's aplenty, for sure a mouthful, but there's no rest for the wicked.

God save us all, [Error: Unknown variable. Please contact your system administrator.]

[ and the email glitches out.

but not before quackity's met with that horrid, choking, sinking sensation that racks his frame — yes, there's blood on his hands, and nobody is truly alive within a city of wandering souls, and he's staring at the blank screen like it'll save him from the wrath of god's most beaten angels--

he scrambles to light another cigar. distraction, distraction, distraction. ]

[ratasum]

So pipe dream housing scenario now that we know we're getting homesteads, I wanna do a community question type thing:

[justforbooks]

The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad by Simon Parkin

This fascinating history of Nikolai Vavilov and the staff at his plant institute tells a story of almost unbelievable self-sacrifice while under siege during the second world war

Is there any human endeavour as heroic or under-appreciated as plant collecting? When in 1921, at the age of 33, Nikolai Vavilov arrived in Petrograd (now St Petersburg) to take charge of the bureau of applied botany and plant breeding, he found a city racked by hunger. War followed by civil conflict had crippled Russia’s food production and distribution systems – a situation compounded by the seizure of peasants’ grain stores by the Bolsheviks – and Petrograd, once the cradle of the Russian empire, had been transformed into a graveyard. Walking along Nevsky Prospekt, Vavilov was appalled to see starving citizens queueing for mouldy bread. “Westward the sun is dropping,” observed the poet Anna Akhmatova, “and already death is chalking the doors with crosses.”

On entering the bureau, Vavilov was even more dismayed to find the heating pipes had burst and the storage units containing nearly 14,000 varieties of wheat, barley, oat and rye collected by his predecessor had been eaten by famished staff. It was, recorded a member of Vavilov’s team, “a picture of almost complete destruction”.

Yet by 1940, Vavilov had secured new premises in a former tsarist palace in the centre of the city and had amassed the largest collection of seeds in the world. It was a collection brimming with “latent life”, writes Simon Parkin in his riveting account of Vavilov’s plant institute, “a Noah’s Ark of plant matter”. Once cultivated and harvested, the seeds contained sufficient genetic material to feed not only the citizens of Leningrad, as the city had been renamed following Lenin’s death in 1924, but the entire population of the Soviet Union. In the process, Vavilov, a tireless polyglot, would become the most celebrated botanist in the world, feted by scientists from Edinburgh to New York. All the more extraordinary, then, that today he is all but forgotten, a victim of the Soviet state’s desire to erase memories of the siege and the millions who perished in the Nazi onslaught.

Karl Marx wrote that “history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”. The tragedy is that having amassed a collection with the potential to banish famine, Vavilov was arrested on the eve of war and branded “an enemy of the people”. In this, he appears to have been a victim of a bitter struggle with the peasant-agronomist Trofim Lysenko, who had rejected Mendelian genetics for Lamarckism – the idea that plants and other organisms acquire superior traits from their environments rather than from inherited genetic material. Lysenko believed that through a combination of agronomical knowhow and political will, these traits could be passed down to future generations – a theory that Stalin found appealing.

The result was that when in July 1941, the Soviet authorities began fortifying Leningrad in preparation for the German siege and evacuated precious artworks from the Hermitage, Vavilov’s collection was ignored, though whether this was deliberate or a bureaucratic oversight, Parkin cannot say. What he shows, brilliantly, is how the farce of the seeds’ non-evacuation nearly ended in a second tragedy as Vavilov’s colleagues fought to preserve the collection from raids by starving citizens and their own gnawing hunger. Incredibly, of the 250,000 seeds that Vavilov had amassed at the outbreak of war, the majority survived and by 1967, 100m acres of Russian agricultural land had been planted with material from the institute’s collection. Not only that, but wheat collected by Vavilov in Spain, Japan, Italy and Argentina was crossbred to create high-yielding winter varieties, while potatoes from Bolivia were used to breed hybrids resistant to disease. Today, 90% of the seeds and planted crops in the institute’s collection are found in no other in the world.

Writing in 1737, Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, observed: “When I consider the melancholy fate of so many of botany’s votaries, I am tempted to ask whether men are in their right mind who so desperately risk life and everything else through the love of collecting’ plants.” Imprisoned for the duration of the war, Vavilov would never return to his beloved institute and died of hunger in 1943 at a prison in western Russia. Afterwards, ashamed of their persecution of the world-renowned botanist, the authorities destroyed Vavilov’s case file and did their best to discourage journalists from writing about his achievements. The result was that it was not until the late 1970s that Vavilov’s story and the fate of his employees became more widely known. Even so, Parkin’s is the first book to have been published on the subject outside Russia.

To recreate the story, the author has drawn on the institute’s archives and the diaries and letters of the two-dozen staff to whom it fell to guard the collection during the near-900-day siege, one of the longest of any city in history. In the process, he restores Vavilov and his scientific colleagues to their rightful places in the pantheon of Soviet heroes. But perhaps Parkin’s biggest achievement is to explain how the botanists who sat out the siege resisted the temptation to consume the collection. Instead, he details how they defended the seed bank from looters and braved German bombs to plant potatoes at a field station on the perimeter of the city, thereby ensuring they would produce new tubers that could be stored and preserved for the following year.

In the process, 19 staff died, most of them of starvation while surrounded by containers that could have saved their lives. In this they were guided by the conviction that many of the samples were irreplaceable because of the loss of natural habitats from which they had been collected and that they could contain unrecognised genetic qualities. Their resolve was also a product of their loyalty to Vavilov and their belief in the importance of the scientific endeavour. As one survivor told Parkin: “It was impossible to eat [the collection], for what was involved was the cause of your life, the cause of your comrades’ lives.” Astonishingly, this resolve held despite an explicit order from Moscow to “spare nothing” to save the lives of their fellow citizens.

Although Parkin has done a remarkable job of resurrecting the story of this “forbidden garden”, he admits to frustration that his efforts “could not transport me to the white-hot centre of the story”. It is a frustration this reader shares. Despite a wealth of information about the siege, the thoughts, feelings and cravings of Vavilov’s staff remain tantalisingly out of reach. Instead, Parkin ends on a deflationary note, admitting he has no answer to the question of whether in opting to sacrifice the lives of people in the present for the benefit of future generations, the botanists made the correct moral choice.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[blueiscoool]

Eight Mummies and Pre-Inca Artifacts Discovered in Peru

Peruvian gas workers made an astonishing discovery beneath the ancient streets of Lima this week — uncovering eight mummies and a number of Pre-Inca artifacts.

“We are recovering those leaves of the lost history of Lima that is just hidden under the tracks and streets,” said Jesus Bahamonde, an archaeologist with Calidda, the company that distributes natural gas to the 10 million residents of Peru’s capital city.

Since the company began expanding its gas line system nearly two decades ago, they’ve racked up more than 1,900 archeological finds — including mummies, pottery, and textiles, Bahamonde said.

In the most recent discovery, the eight mummified males were found bundled up in the trench, wrapped in cotton cloth and tied with ropes braided from vines. Workers found the bodies about a foot below the ground.

Archeologists with the gas company believe the men belonged to a pre-Inca culture called Ichma, which formed around A.D. 1100 and flourished in the valleys around Lima until it was absorbed into the Inca Empire in the late 15th century.

Roberto Quispe, an archeologist who worked in the trench, sad the mummified bodies are likely two adults and six minors.

Lima, now an urban economic hub, has been occupied by humans for more than 10,000 years, from the Pre-Incan cultures to the Spanish conquistadors who claimed the land in the 16th century.

Many archeological finds have proven to be from more recent times.

In 2018, Quispe and other archaeologists working in the La Flor neighborhood found wooden coffins holding three Chinese immigrants buried in the 19th century.

The bodies were found alongside opium pipes, hand-rolled cigarettes, shoes, Chinese playing cards, a Peruvian silver coin minted in 1898 and a certificate of completion of employment contract, written and Spanish and dated 1875.

The eight mummies were found amidst braised chicken restaurants and a road that leads to Peru’s only nuclear power station.

“When the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century they found an entire population living in the three valleys that today occupy Lima … what we have is a kind of historical continuation,” Bahamonde said.

Most of the archaeological sites uncovered by Calidda have been burial sites discovered on flat ground, Bahamonde said.

Aso scattered throughout the urbanized city are more than 400 larger archeological sites, known in the indigenous Quechua language as “huacas,” which are sacred adobe constructions typically found on hilltops.

By Patrick Reilly.

[embroidery-pro]

Your Comprehensive Guide to Successful Sewing

Guide to Successful Sewing

Whether you're a beginner just starting your sewing journey or an experienced seamstress looking to refine your skills, the Guidelines offer a wealth of knowledge to help you succeed in your sewing projects. This comprehensive collection of educational articles covers all aspects of sewing, from basic techniques to advanced methods. Exploring the Guidelines The Guidelines are organized into various categories, each focusing on different aspects of sewing. Let's take a closer look at what you can find:     1 - Sewing Tools   Basic Tools   Sewing Tools   More Sewing Tools   Mats for Rotary Cutters   Rotary Mat Q&A   Scissors and Shears   Rotary Cutters   Measuring Tools   Marking Tools   Tube Turners Part 1   Tube Turners Part 2 2 - Equipment   Setting Up a Sewing Room   Sewing Machine Basics   Buying a Sewing Machine   Pressing Equipment   Ironing Boards   Sergers   Presses & Home Pressing Systems   Serger Stitches   Computerized Sewing Machines 3 - Understanding Patterns   Pattern Markings Part 1   Pattern Markings Part 2 4 - Fabric   The Right Fabric   Preparing to Sew - Fabric and Pattern Preparation   Cotton   Identifying Fibers & Fabrics   Denim - More Than Just Jeans   Napped Fabrics   Unconventional Fabric Sources   Straightening Fabric Grain   Sewing with Knits   Working with Napped Fabrics   Wool   Slick Tricks: Laminated Fabrics and Vinyls   Sewing with Handwovens   Identifying Plaids   Sewing with Minkee-like Fabrics 5 -Linings & Interfacings   Interfacing 101 6 - Notions   Button, Button   Pins   Invisible Thread   Elastic - the Notion that Gives   Selecting Snaps   Bindings & Tapes   Using Bias Tape   Rick Rack 7 - Home Dec   Bed Coverings   Drapery Types   Table Treatments: Tablecloths   Table Treatments: Placemats, Napkins and Runners   Decorating with Quilts 8 - Home Dec How To   Pillows   Fabric Napkins   Covering a Lampshade with Fabric   Making Rod Pocket Curtains   Tab Top Curtains   Making a Shower Curtain   Covering a Bench Top   Tassels 9 - Quilting   Quilting Tools   Quilting Terms   Notions for Quilters   Pre-Cut Quilting Fabrics   Quilting Rulers   Quilting Designs   Making Bias and Bias Binding   Binding a Quilt   Prairie Points   Yo-Yos   Seminole Piecing

10 -  Fashion/Apparel

  Body Types   Clothing Care and Repair 11 - General How-To   Pressing Pants   Simple Seaming Techniques   Seam Finishes Part 1   Fold-Down Casings   Simple Hems   Staystitching   Easing, Gathering & Shirring   Working with Fold-over Elastic   Applied Casings   Twin-Needle Sewing   Seam Finishes Part 2   Ruffles   Working with Stripes   Piping   Princess Seams   Flat Fell Seams   Bound and Hong Kong Seam Finishes   Beading Part 1   Beading Part 2 12 - Garment How-To   Attaching Buttons   Easy Waistband Casings   Centered Zipper   Button Loops   Covered Buttons   Understitching   Dart Basics   Topstitching   Shirt Collar Pointers   Read the full article

[numilani]

Tech Person™️ titles explained for writers

Nobody would write a plumber who fixes people’s washing machine, or an architect who checks for termites. Just because a plumber works on pipes doesn’t mean they know about every machine that uses water, and just because an architect builds buildings doesn’t mean they know the intricacies of maintaining them. That’s not their job.

Yet often times, I see TV shows and books that portray anyone who works on computers as someone who knows everything there is to know about anything that has a circuit board. Sadly, as much as most of us wish that was the case (we tend to be naturally curious), techies are often highly specialized.

To remedy this, I’m going to make a brief, broad, and slightly over-generalized list of common tech positions you might encounter. This is not conclusive, it’s just to help loosely guide you to the type of tech person who can best fit your niche. This also should come in handy if you need tech help in real life too - rather than getting bounced around between “tech people”, you can ask for the specific person/role that handles your problem. To illustrate, I’m going to use the concept of saving a document and how each role would be involved.

IT Technician / Helpdesk

The front lines of tech. Often just starting to learn the ropes, these folks often don’t know much yet beyond a preset list of requests. Even if they’re more experienced and actually DO know the answer, they probably aren’t allowed to fix any unusual problems themselves, either due to regulations or their own access to systems being limited.

If you can’t even get to the save button, because you forgot your login password and need it reset, you should talk to an IT technician.

Network Engineer

These folks handle more than the title suggests. It has less to do with connecting you to the internet (IT technicians can probably help if you can’t get online) and more to do with securing the network you’re on. They regulate access control, making sure you can get to what you need, and others can’t snoop on your private stuff. These are the people TV shows put in rooms full of rack-mounted equipment with a monstrous amount of cables.

If you need to save a file to a folder you don’t have access to(in a business/corporate setting), you should probably submit a ticket to a network engineer.

Front-End Developer

Front-end devs are the ones who write the pretty user interfaces for the programs you use. They’re the ones who put the buttons where they need to go, make them colorful and pretty, and then wire them up to the code bits that do the things you want. They often also work with a graphic designer (possibly called a front-end designer) who does the actual artistic things that then get wired up.

If you can’t click the save button because it disappeared, or because it’s half-way hanging off the screen, or you can’t tell what button is the save button because the buttons lost their icons, that’s a front-end developer thing.

Back-end Developer

These guys write all the weird, esoteric code spells that make stuff Just Work ™️. When you see people in movies with screens full of green text and they’re typing furiously, then they walk out 2 days later with a Monster in one hand and declare that they just created sentient software, that’s a back-end dev.

If you clicked the save button and nothing happened, or the file you saved yesterday opened as garbage today, that’s a back-end dev’s problem.

(Do be aware, you probably won’t interact with developers directly very often - usually the help desk people direct your issue to whomever they think can solve the problem. But, if you wonder why your back-end dev gets annoyed when people call him asking to change the color of a button…this is why)

BONUS 1: Hacker (derogatory)

This is what Hollywood loves to portray all techies as - guys wearing fedoras sitting in dark rooms with 14 monitors being asked to hack the CIA, typing furiously and then ominously declaring “I’m in” after about 5 minutes of screen time.

These people exist, sort of, but the term “hacker” is a stupid name for them. That term within tech circles, is usually reserved for something else. A better term would be “cybersecurity specialist” if they’re a good guy, or “cyber criminal” if they’re a bad guy.

Also, it doesn’t take 5 minutes. It NEVER takes 5 minutes. 5 days, maybe. 5 weeks more likely. The only thing a “hacker” is gonna do in 5 minutes is fetch data from a system they were already sitting in.

These guys, when they occasionally actually exist, are the ones who will steal your data as soon as you click the save button and then sell it online, causing you to get endless spam calls and ruining your credit score.

BONUS 2: Hacker (complimentary)

Real “hackers” are what in a fantasy setting might be known as an tinker, or maybe an artificer - someone who likes to fiddle with things, break them and put them together into something new, someone who loves the craft in all its forms. These folks are often interdisciplinary and defy the specializations I just listed above - they probably know a little bit about everything. Not necessarily enough to fix your problem, but enough to get curious about why the save button gets so many complaints, disappear for a month, and come back with an overblown solution that fixes the problem you listed, the three problems they found other people talking about online, and the dozen or so issues they found on their own as they were working.

Hope this helps!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

NYT: Racked by rain and enraptured by a QAnon-infused "miracle cure" called "medbeds"

Eli Saslow at NYT:

The company was co-founded in 2020 by Warren Armour, a conservative with no media experience who runs a flooring company in Tennessee, but Michael admired the Patriot Party News slogan when he first saw it shared on Facebook last year: “If you hate mainstream media, you are going to love us!” Michael started watching the site’s daily videos about election fraud and vaccine pseudoscience, some of which have now been viewed more than a million times. He signed up for the company’s social media platform and paid $8.99 a month to join the audio channel, which functions like an old ham radio and promised him the chance to “meet comrades in our battle for the soul of America.”

On some days, Michael listened to the channel for as many as 12 hours, with the audio feed piped directly into his hearing aids to drown out the tedium of his pain. He narrated his daily ranching tasks for the group and sent photos of his crops. Other members responded with recipes, virtual prayers for rain and a steady drumbeat of extremist political ideology that increasingly mirrored his own. In a fracturing country, here was an echo chamber with the power to turn fringe conspiracy theories into widely accepted political dogmas — that the Covid vaccine was poison, the mainstream media was deceitful and the federal government was controlled by a “deep state cabal” that had stolen the 2020 election from former President Donald J. Trump and was now trying to orchestrate his assassination.

[...] Cheryl Chesebro, 61, had known her husband to be a realist for most of his life. Michael had enlisted in the Army at 17 because he couldn’t afford to pay for college and then agreed to jump out of planes for a $2,500 sign-up bonus. But after a total of 42 surgeries on his back, shoulders, ankles and knees, he’d come to distrust the government he’d served. He invested in wind and solar power so his family didn’t have to rely on the U.S. power grid. He bought gold in case the U.S. financial system collapsed and then started collecting shoe boxes full of foreign currency from the Middle East and Africa, believing that it could eventually be as valuable as the U.S. dollar. For the first time in his life, he became consumed by politics and then enamored with Trump, another government skeptic who sometimes spoke in the language of conspiracy theories. The former president had helped popularize lies about Barack Obama’s birthplace, widespread election fraud and the “hoax” of climate change — all of which had become part of the founding DNA of Patriot Party News. [...]

Of all the wild conspiracies he’d discovered on Patriot Party News, the concept of medbeds had initially struck Michael as the most far-fetched, even if it was also among the most popular. Every few days, someone else on the platform shared an illustration of a futuristic-looking chamber, sometimes with a doctored image of Trump superimposed in the foreground. The founder of the site, Armour, sometimes mentioned videos or podcasts about medbeds that had become popular on the far-right corners of Telegram, Discord and Rumble, and Michael clicked on the links, as did millions of others. The videos claimed with no evidence that the U.S. military was already in possession of advanced, or possibly even alien, technology that could cure all disease and extend human life. There were said to be at least three types of medbeds already in existence in secret military tunnels. One, a “holographic medbed,” scanned the body to instantly diagnose and then heal any sickness, no matter how severe. Another bed was able to regenerate personal DNA so people could regrow missing limbs in a few minutes. A third was designed for reverse aging and could rewind people’s bodies to the age and condition of their choosing.

The only holdup, according to the videos, was that a collection of liberal billionaires kept hoarding the technology for themselves. On the Patriot Party News audio feed, people speculated that medbeds wouldn’t be available to the public until Trump was back in control of the White House, at which point everyone would be invited to make appointments for free at a secret underground military base. “We are about to cross that start line into our medbed future,” said an Australian woman who called herself Skye Prince and claimed to be a military expert, in a video shared on Patriot Party News that has been viewed several million times. “We are leaving a life of poverty, ill health, uncertainty, and moving into wealth, abundance, perfect health. You could almost say we are about to be born again.” “Thank God the wait is almost over!” Michael heard someone say on the audio channel in the last days of spring. “Medbeds are finally coming. I hope I can get my mom to the front of the line since she’s Stage 4.”

[...] Instead, there was only repetition — the same medbed fantasies repeated over and over each day on the audio feed until the initial shock wore off within a few weeks and Michael’s skepticism wore down into curiosity and then into the beginnings of hope. He knew from experience that the military was capable of harboring secret, advanced technology. He remembered talking to members of his unit on a satellite phone years before one was made available to the public. “The military always gets the fancy toys way ahead of anyone else, so I suppose it’s plausible,” he said on the audio channel.

He’d already tried and failed to treat his pain by scheduling dozens of appointments each year through his health care with Veterans Affairs. He’d tried fentanyl, Percocet, Vicodin, acupuncture, water therapy, nerve blockers, deep-tissue massage and light therapy. Following his doctors’ advice had resulted in only temporary reprieves, along with dozens of opioid prescriptions and an elective surgery that led to a life-threatening staph infection. “The conventional route hasn’t done me any good,” he said on the channel. “When you’re desperate, you’ll try anything. This whole medbed thing has become personal for me.” It was part of Armour’s strategy when he first started Patriot Party News from his home after the 2020 presidential election: to build an audience by focusing on personal issues such as religion and health. He’d watched other far-right media sites like Victory Channel, The Elijah List and Right Side Broadcasting Network amass millions of subscribers in what Armour called the “Christian, MAGA universe” by mimicking Trump’s tendency to favor emotional appeals over facts.

[...] Several other companies had started producing their own versions of medbeds in the last few years. One company, Tesla BioHealing, had purchased a half-dozen old motels in places like Tampa, Fla., Dubuque, Iowa, and Butler, Pa., and then turned them into “medbed centers,” where each room came equipped with proprietary canisters under the bed that provided what the company called “life force energy.” Other groups were running scams on Facebook and charging $800 for “redemption cards” with a photograph of Trump’s face and a code that they said would provide secret passage into the underground military bases where medbeds were said to be ready for use. Baxter’s company was still in its infancy, and he had sold some of his products to churches, private clubs or millionaires who he said were “invested in longevity.” The medbeds at Andrea’s spa were the first to be available by appointment to the public, and he planned to expand into spas across the United States and Mexico. Andrea had decided to charge $85 an hour for use of the beds, but insurance didn’t cover the experimental treatment, and she didn’t believe in turning anyone away.

The New York Times takes a look at the QAnon obsession with “medbeds”, which are a “miracle cure” rooted in pseudoscience.

[bybrophelia]

@tewwor sent: It's peaceful here. Among a sweet-scented warmth that accents the dying spill of sunset through wide kitchen windows. There's something soft humming in the background — an old Western song that croons of a love lost. Though the words don't hold much sway over him nowadays, there's still an impression of melancholy that guides his movements. From piping hot oven to a stationed cooling rack, he's unable to prevent a quiet sigh from falling. Thumbprint cookies, where the prints are in the shape of a paw. It's a cute idea — one he cannot, and will not, ever take credit for. A handful of chocolate chips just made it into his hands when a lazing hound suddenly perks; ears up and forward, great big head facing the hallway that leads into the living room. "You're just in time," he calls out, not entirely certain of who entered the otherwise empty home. Yet Aki hasn't gone off the rails so the dog must be familiar with the guest. ⇶ Haruo && Nami

The telltale tapping of nails on the floor alerted her. Nami froze midstep; the straps of her shoes were suspended from her finger. Nothing got past the dog, did it? Well . . . at least Haruo had a good security system. Her unoccupied hand was presented to the dog's wet muzzle to allow the customary sniff. Once vetted and satisfied, the redhead felt the damp nose nudge against her palm. "Stamp of approval?" Nami cooed, gently cradling the folds of Aki's face. Into the kitchen she crept, guided by the sweet smell of fresh-baked cookies. Behind her, the pants and padding of the Tosa Inu meant that Aki was in tow. "You know," Nami's fingers fastened to his broad shoulder blades to fix him in place while she slid behind him, "cookies aren't accepted currency." A soft, melodic lilt kited her words. They smelled incredible: the temptation no doubt amplified by her lack of sustenance throughout the day. This enticing aroma only served as a reminder. That . . . and the instant belligerent bellow by her stomach that it triggered. "But! I'll take one—if you're offering."

unprompted 🍊

[mercswercs]

My bed ain't never looked so comfy.

>It's a blurry photo of Merc's bed. Wedged deep into the corner of a cave system, somewhere, is an old metal bed, seemingly made out of poles and pipes, and propped up with wooden shims. A mattress the color of concrete is strapped to this torture rack, sheets rolling over to reveal a single corner, the stripes of the mattress long-since faded away. The mattress and it's cherry-red sheets host a number of different blankets, from large throws to old quilts to tattered (scavenged) comforters, in a big rat's nest on top. The corner of the carved cave-walls hold up a small army of pillows and mangled-looking plushies, which spills like scree onto the slopes of mt. blankie.