#Password Developer Tool

[amalgamasreal]

Updated Personal Infosec Post

Been awhile since I've had one of these posts part deus: but I figure with all that's going on in the world it's time to make another one and get some stuff out there for people. A lot of the information I'm going to go over you can find here:

https://www.privacyguides.org/en/tools/

So if you'd like to just click the link and ignore the rest of the post that's fine, I strongly recommend checking out the Privacy Guides. Browsers: There's a number to go with but for this post going forward I'm going to recommend Firefox. I know that the Privacy Guides lists Brave and Safari as possible options but Brave is Chrome based now and Safari has ties to Apple. Mullvad is also an option but that's for your more experienced users so I'll leave that up to them to work out. Browser Extensions:

uBlock Origin: content blocker that blocks ads, trackers, and fingerprinting scripts. Notable for being the only ad blocker that still works on Youtube.

Privacy Badger: Content blocker that specifically blocks trackers and fingerprinting scripts. This one will catch things that uBlock doesn't catch but does not work for ads.

Facebook Container: "but I don't have facebook" you might say. Doesn't matter, Meta/Facebook still has trackers out there in EVERYTHING and this containerizes them off away from everything else.

Bitwarden: Password vaulting software, don't trust the password saving features of your browsers, this has multiple layers of security to prevent your passwords from being stolen.

ClearURLs: Allows you to copy and paste URL's without any trackers attached to them.

VPN: Note: VPN software doesn't make you anonymous, no matter what your favorite youtuber tells you, but it does make it harder for your data to be tracked and it makes it less open for whatever public network you're presently connected to.

Mozilla VPN: If you get the annual subscription it's ~$60/year and it comes with an extension that you can install into Firefox.

Mullvad VPN: Is a fast and inexpensive VPN with a serious focus on transparency and security. They have been in operation since 2009. Mullvad is based in Sweden and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for payment methods that allow it.

Email Provider: Note: By now you've probably realized that Gmail, Outlook, and basically all of the major "free" e-mail service providers are scraping your e-mail data to use for ad data. There are more secure services that can get you away from that but if you'd like the same storage levels you have on Gmail/Ol utlook.com you'll need to pay.

Tuta: Secure, end-to-end encrypted, been around a very long time, and offers a free option up to 1gb.

Mailbox.org: Is an email service with a focus on being secure, ad-free, and privately powered by 100% eco-friendly energy. They have been in operation since 2014. Mailbox.org is based in Berlin, Germany. Accounts start with up to 2GB storage, which can be upgraded as needed.

Email Client:

Thunderbird: a free, open-source, cross-platform email, newsgroup, news feed, and chat (XMPP, IRC, Matrix) client developed by the Thunderbird community, and previously by the Mozilla Foundation.

FairMail (Android Only): minimal, open-source email app which uses open standards (IMAP, SMTP, OpenPGP), has several out of the box privacy features, and minimizes data and battery usage.

Cloud Storage:

Tresorit: Encrypted cloud storage owned by the national postal service of Switzerland. Received MULTIPLE awards for their security stats.

Peergos: decentralized and open-source, allows for you to set up your own cloud storage, but will require a certain level of expertise.

Microsoft Office Replacements:

LibreOffice: free and open-source, updates regularly, and has the majority of the same functions as base level Microsoft Office.

OnlyOffice: cloud-based, free

FreeOffice: Personal licenses are free, probably the closest to a fully office suite replacement.

Chat Clients: Note: As you've heard SMS and even WhatsApp and some other popular chat clients are basically open season right now. These are a couple of options to replace those. Note2: Signal has had some reports of security flaws, the service it was built on was originally built for the US Government, and it is based within the CONUS thus is susceptible to US subpoenas. Take that as you will.

Signal: Provides IM and calling securely and encrypted, has multiple layers of data hardening to prevent intrusion and exfil of data.

Molly (Android OS only): Alternative client to Signal. Routes communications through the TOR Network.

Briar: Encrypted IM client that connects to other clients through the TOR Network, can also chat via wifi or bluetooth.

SimpleX: Truly anonymous account creation, fully encrypted end to end, available for Android and iOS.

Now for the last bit, I know that the majority of people are on Windows or macOS, but if you can get on Linux I would strongly recommend it. pop_OS, Ubuntu, and Mint are super easy distros to use and install. They all have very easy to follow instructions on how to install them on your PC and if you'd like to just test them out all you need is a thumb drive to boot off of to run in demo mode. For more secure distributions for the more advanced users the options are: Whonix, Tails (Live USB only), and Qubes OS.

On a personal note I use Arch Linux, but I WOULD NOT recommend this be anyone's first distro as it requires at least a base level understanding of Linux and liberal use of the Arch Linux Wiki. If you game through Steam their Proton emulator in compatibility mode works wonders, I'm presently playing a major studio game that released in 2024 with no Linux support on it and once I got my drivers installed it's looked great. There are some learning curves to get around, but the benefit of the Linux community is that there's always people out there willing to help. I hope some of this information helps you and look out for yourself, it's starting to look scarier than normal out there.

[existentialterror]

ARG notes: ZampanioSim

Okay, a work this metafictional and also that (I think) responds to audience interaction is going to need a high-caliber gimmick. Hang on.

...

Alright. Hey guys, catfishAnabasis (Light) here, taking a moment out of my surprisingly busy day tell you about a weird thing on the internet.

ZampanioSim is an intricate and brainbending ARG. It takes direct inspiration from Homestuck, The Magnus Archives, and House of Leaves, as well as the creator (JR, jadedResearcher/justifiedRecursion)'s previous canon of Homestuck fan-work and games. A major theme is "unreality".

HERE IS YOUR TRAILHEAD.

Feel free to ignore the rest of the writeup and check it out now.

I know very little about JR's other work, right now. However, among my many INTERESTS, I am something of a TMA ENJOYER and an AMATEUR INTERNET INVESTIGATOR, and if I were in a HOUSE I like to think I could LEAVE it pretty easily.

So, yeah. I figured I'd just describe my experience of this rabbithole and maybe you'll want to check it out too. I'm sure this will only scratch the surface.

ZampanioSim is structured as a nested labyrinth. In the same way that:

Homestuck is a webcomic framed as an interactive adventure game about an account of kids playing a video game (Sgrub) that doesn't exist, and

House of Leaves is a novel framed as a found scholarly discussion about a documentary (The Navidson Record) that doesn't exist about a house that doesn't exist,

ZampanioSim is a game-based ARG framed as an attempt to simulate a game (Zampanio) that doesn't exist based on a found FAQ of the game (that only sort of exists).

More concretely, ZampanioSim features a lot of nested browser games, as well as audio, narrative, an actual audience-interactive narrative game (the way Homestuck was originally), external websites, and more.

The starting point is, of course, the House:

ZampanioSim takes full advantage of the browser as medium. There is content accessible via the address bar, developer tools, cookies (I think), the developer console, and probably more that I haven't realized.

Like, to give you a sense of the kind of rabbithole we're dealing with: Here's a map I made of the House outset page today:

...And I say today because the House does change over time. Today (a friday) when I clicked on the EastEast route, for instance, I was greeted by this grotesquely distorted version of Rebecca Black's "Friday":

Okay, let's talk about what we have going on in the House map, starting from the doors and working out. (I've given some of these my own names for clarity.)

North

The Classpect Menu Game:

This, I think, is the main titular "ZampanioSim". It's the part that's intended to recreate the experience of a supposed old computer game, but by and large, you only experience the menu screen, not the rest of the gameplay. You can select attributes (based on Homestuck's Classpecting system + the Magnus Archives fears) gain points and select skills and (depending on your seed) eventually "beat the game". It's glitchy, it's a hellscape, there's an entity or two in the menu system that are trying to talk to you. It's great fun. Contains links to a rabbithole (which you can plug passwords into for more secrets) and + some secrets to you in the credits.

(While mostly the aspects seem to add flavor to the menu options, there's a special class called "Waste". This appears in neither TMA nor Homestuck, but comes from a fan or meta-joke that Andrew Hussie and Toby Fox, the writer and a major composer for Homestuck, are classpected* as the "Waste of Space" and "Waste of Time". By telling it you're a "Waste"you're more likely to get weird glitches and new options in your Classpect Menu game run - there's a fun recurring element in some of these games about the game changing depending on who you tell it is playing. I learned about the Waste trick from JR's youtube channel. Also, setting your birthday as Halloween might also do something.)

I have no idea if the different iterations of games here are substantially different. I haven't checked. There's a lot going on. "There's a lot going on" is a good summary of ZampanioSim overall.

*( Uh, classpecting is this in-Homestuck personality system where game players are a [Role] of [Element].)

Eyedlr: Eyedol Games is the company that supposedly made the original game Zampanio. Eyedlr is their spambot-filled tumblr clone, which also has secrets in it. (Actually, just assume everything has secrets out.)

East

The House Exploration game: It has the same setup screen as the Classpect Menu game, but this one drops you into a game with visuals: An infinite(?) procedural house you navigate with imagery derived from your choices.

Peewee's exploration game: When it's not blasting Rebecca Black's Friday But Weird into your ears, the EastEast route is another procedural infinite(?) maze, except that you type directions to Peewee, a snake guy with goggles who also moves around on his own. This one also introduces named characters we learn more about elsewhere.

Bathroom text: Procredural bathroom maze, unless it's just some text telling you to take a break. ZampanioSim really likes telling you to take breaks and hydrate, so that you can better appreciate and spread Zampanio.

Absolutely not. Also, I'm a busy woman. I have to finish this writing summary first.

South

The Train Game: a game - notably not a maze - where JR walks down a series of train corridors and monologues to you about the game and the "reality" behind it.

The mazecrawler game: You tell a little guy how to navigate an infinite(?) maze - and if you choose right and open up your browser's Console menu, you can learn a great deal more about

West

The only West route is AdventureSimWest, which is an actual text narrative game where readers submit commands that the author incorporates into updates - just like early Homestuck. It's still going. The logs are extensive but it's mostly about the antics of a new employee at Eyedol Games, which is stuck in a time loop.

Other

Then there's some other scattered clickable text -

The truth about alt: An exchange between two shapeshifters.

A transcript: A dialogue between two people who apparently work for Eyedol Games.

The lower left leads you to an apparently rotating selection of other Zampanio-related games. I particularly liked NagaGirlfriend.

None of this is even the stuff you can reach this page exclusively through the Console menu.

And much more

And there's a lot of stuff that's NOT branching directly off of the house. There's other things you find buried in links or by searching - a discord and a wiki that both straddle the line between in-character and -out, Archive of Our Own content, a youtube channel, the Eyedol website...

Is there a "story" to ZampanioSim?

Yes.

Like I said, there's a lot I haven't seen yet. But what's going on is something like this:

JR is attempting to recreate this game, Zampanio, of course, and tap into its fanbase. The game Zampanio is an infectious meme. Eyedol Games is a transdimensional company that is perhaps both trying to spread the meme and contain it, by removing its spores, e.g. the Zampanio FAQ - the thing that inspired JR to make ZampanioSim - from the internet.

Various parts of the game recognize that they are fictional and may identify you the reader/player as "Observers".

There are a few recurring characters who have gotten swept up into the meme, either working for Eyedol or trapped in ZampanioSim or both, and have followed it from variant to transdimensional variant.

(this is an image from homestuck. it's a reference.)

Japes aside, this is a brain-bending, very cool, and completely ludicrous unfiction project which I believe is made mostly by one person with an unparalleled hand for web sorcery, whimsy, and vibes. The vibes are so good.

The host website, Farrago Fiction (which AFAICT is a multi-person project), hosts a number of often-homestuck-inspired weird games and simulators.

I know ZampanioSim is now a few years old and is still actively updating. Consider checking it out.

2024-08-24 edit: Part 2!

[pawborough]

Beta Expectations and Our Development Goals

Hi everyone! This document serves as an outline for starting expectations when beginning Closed Beta. 

Things to remember as we move into Closed Beta are: 

Cursing is allowed! We’ve dialed back our filters quite a bit, but absolutely no innuendo or sexual content. Details are outlined in our TOS.

In this beginning, the application feels closer to the Alpha state than it does the full game. It is in a mid-development limbo, which is why we are stressing that it is the Closed Beta state. Our biggest milestones have been backend technical foundations that have taken significant time. If the game were a cake, we have finished baking the base, which is what we’re starting the testing for. We’ll be making aggressive updates throughout the next few months of the test, which will introduce the “frosting,” and advance general playability. We plan to roll out new mechanics every month. You will find a list below of what these goals are.

Temper your starting expectations, but get excited for how much we’re going to continuously develop and update!

We will not be moving into Open Beta until we feel the game is close to done. Think of Closed Beta as phase 1, and Open Beta as phase 2.

Things will break the moment you try them. This is normal and expected. Always report!

Because of this, things won’t be very fun yet. But as we roll out improvements and new things, users will get to give live feedback on what they want to see and how things feel.

Early Access will be less smooth than full Closed Beta as we detect the kinks of letting more people in en masse. It’s the nature of early launching. Brace yourselves!

In the same vein, several aspects are temporary. Topher takes the place of icons in the queue, and compromises we’ve made for early economic simulation (example: a placeholder merchant to simulate the Processing mechanic) will be barren. NPCs are sketches, UI colors may be temporary, and UI banners are sketches.

Any and all prices of items or features are temporary or subject to change. Things like the price of kit rolling or accessory items will be tooled.

All updates and communications with testers will be posted publicly instead of through email. Eventually, we’ll use the site forums, but not until we can guarantee no more content wipes, and we’ve developed the sticky system on the User Dashboard.

Everything in this test, minus your username, password, account ID, and purchases is temporary. Your account content will be erased at some point in time, and when it is your Kickstarter and Alpha reward codes will be re-activated for use.

If anything is broken about your code, please report! We’ll fix it!

Any premium purchases you make will be restored upon wipes, and exist in this state as a means to support us moreso than to stimulate longterm collecting. By purchasing any currency, you’re helping us develop! But please do not feel pressured!

Bundles will be added come the full Closed Beta.

Pelt submissions are open for user testing, but you’ll have to re-submit upon any wipes.

When you complete registration (entering your DOB and confirming agreement to the TOS), your founder and follower IDs will be reserved, so you can take your time going over the details.

These starting cats will be wiped completely, and when Open Beta begins, follower and founder IDs will be totally up for grabs again upon first-come first-serve login and confirmation.

We’ll be around to grind for the next two weeks. Then, in two weeks, there will be a bit of a lull as our developers take a breather and regroup, and we’ll be back in March. We’re making this plan known so it doesn’t look like an abandonment or nervous silence. We’re simply planning rest and pacing ahead of time!

We’ll be sending out periodic surveys to get honest criticism and check how the economy is feeling.

The first survey is ready and waiting for your input! This survey focuses specifically on the economy, and can be filled out once per day. Please do not feel pressured to do so every day, but we encourage you to respond as many times as possible. Your input is immeasurably valuable for the fine-tuning of our economy, and guaranteeing the long-term enjoyability of the site. Please find the survey here.

With over 700 items on this site, we may have missed necessary data entry for some as we learn the ins and outs of our own program. Always report and we’ll fix it!

Some accessories are in the re-coloring queue, and if so will have their recolors seeded into the economy as we finish them.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. We’re ready to hit the ground running, but it will be a long journey. We’re excited to embark on it together!

Here is a list of things available from the get-go (hopefully useable, if not they will be!):

Cooking and Crafting

Daily Duties

Flea Market and Merchants 

Breeding

Dress up and general cat customization

Beta retirement (bare bones)

Cat relationships and cross-cat gift giving

Archetype discovery (we are adding new ones as you play!)

Forum posting and custom board creation (image hosting!)

Cat profile CSS boxes

User profile CSS boxes

Storage and stash functionality for item organization

Bank functionality for currency storage

User customization settings (icon selection, pronoun and slogan editing, Borough swapping, username swapping)

Crest application

Beta guild play (basic errands)

Multiplayer guilds

Incense and metamorphic functionality

Pelt submissions (the refined pelt rules are a work in progress, because for this chaotic testing phase we’d like everyone to go nuts and have some fun! The only steadfast rules are no gore, copyrighted materials, religious iconography, or sexual content!)

Friend requests and adding friends

Premium shop (intended for user support, benefits are bare for at least the next week or so while we focus on user bug reports)

Now without further ado… here is what we’ll be working on in the coming months, in order of general priority! Open Beta will not happen until we finish this list.

Replacing frontend assets with final renders.

Updating item cards to reflect dynamic button displays depending on the page in which the card is being viewed.

User report system for all user-ran content.

Wardrobe functionality; full sandbox dress up available to any visitor.

Infrastructure for sharing sandbox creations in comments and forum posts; text language like :catID: to paste an image link of a cat.

User to user DM functionality.

User to user private trading.

Item database and lore encyclopedia.

Processing functionality + dye system. For now, recolors are seeded in a temporary merchant.

Visual faunapedia record for fauna studying (including unlockable lore.)

Adding a slew of archetypes. Dedicated archetype collection page with user featured display.

Sitewide search functionality of all user content.

Aesthetic updates to comments + addition of comments onto cat pages.

Splitting the Undercoat into two patterns: Dilute (dynamically lightened) and Standard.

Adding a white patch selector into the creator and founder designer.

Dashboard refinement + forum news widget and stickies.

Splitting cooking and crafting to bring back Winnipeg and keep the mechanics more organized.

Farming.

Much of it has been started already, and we’ll continue to share our progress. We plan to stay in Closed Beta likely over the summer, but it will be as long as these developments take.

And then we will move into Open Beta! Where we can focus on the following:

User notebook entries (blog posts.)

Forum board updates to better accommodate posting

Sitewide tagging and filtering.

Cross-account breeding.

Dedicated Guild refinement and updates.

Achievement system.

Referral system.

Team features like a team hoard, team notes, and shared scenes.

Refinement of any feature feedback we get :) 

And from there… it’s full launch, baby! 

Again, a marathon, not a sprint. This list may seem long and arduous, but we’ll continue visual content updates (patterns, breeds, etc.) throughout the length of development.

Let’s get crackin’, catfolk!

[darkmaga-returns]

Internet censorship tactics are happening on a grand scale in secrecy. The establishment is scrubbing internet achieves across numerous platforms in an attempt to reframe public opinion and ultimately rewrite history.

Archive.org has been tracking websites since 1994, but recently, it has stopped collecting data in real-time. The website stopped archiving on October 8, 2024, with a curious explanation: Archive.org faced a Denial of Service attack (DDOS) that nearly wiped it out. Who would be targeting such a service?

The platform released the following message:Last week, along with a DDOS attack and exposure of patron email addresses and encrypted passwords, the Internet Archive’s website javascript was defaced, leading us to bring the site down to access and improve our security. The stored data of the Internet Archive is safe and we are working on resuming services safely. This new reality requires heightened attention to cyber security and we are responding. We apologize for the impact of these library services being unavailable.

A librarian for the organization said that they expect the service to be restored but was unable to provide details. “While the Wayback Machine has been in read-only mode, web crawling and archiving have continued. Those materials will be available via the Wayback Machine as services are secured.” This means that individual websites may scrub content from their site without any third-party having the ability to capture it.

Now, this is not a one-off issue. Good cache just so happened to cease service shortly after Archive.org was hacked. The service would provide users with a cached version of the website they were viewing. Google offered no explanation. It’s Google – they have the server capacity to continue this service.

The items that have not been scrubbed from the internet have been hidden by Big Tech. Joe Rogan’s viral interview with Donald Trump secured over 34 million views. Yet, Google and YouTube have altered their search engines to make the video difficult to find. Rogan was forced to post the full three-hour interview on X, one of the final frontier of free speech

AI search tools have been corrupted. Alexa, owned by Amazon, once provided a view count for various websites and services. Alexa was not originally the in-home device that we are familiar with as the company was developed independently and purchased by Amazon in 1999. Amazon coincidentally named its in-home tool “Alexa” in 2014. The company quietly removed the web ranking tool in 2022 with no explanation.

I do not offer ad space on this website as I do not want to be beholden to any third parties. We keep our services open and archive our content for future use. There is a reason that Big Tech is suddenly masking the internet while leaving no trace. They say history belongs to the victors. The establishment will ensure that they have the final say in how our stories are told to future generations.

[mari-beau]

Hi! Is ellipsus worth using and is it free? I keep seeing it pop up from time to time and I’m curious

I've been using it instead of Google Docs for like six months I think. And I always have it open in my browser, or use it on my phone, daily tbh.

It's built by people who are anti-AI and pro-fandom, with fan writing in mind, actually. It's very much focused on features for collaborative writing, but I don't cowrite and still find that it does everything I need.

Notable features:

Syncing across multiple devices. I had been using Google Docs for years because a major feature I need is to be able to access my writing from multiple different devices and locations. Ellipsus does this. And has gotten better (sometimes had problem of it not syncing on my phone and then when I opened on my laptop, it wouldn't update until I opened on my phone and forced a sync; but this has happened less frequently and it mostly autosyncs)

Drafts feature. My style of writing, I just don't do drafts that need to be separated out (I don't ever change large chunks of a work that I need to save the original). I think this is helpful for collaborative work. I actually use the drafts for my Outlines and Notes, so I have a quick link right there to access them, and they're kept within the document.

Writing Interface. It's pretty simple in style, which is actually good for writing. They do have a tool bar that you can leave up or hidden, with various formatting options, and an "outline" like Google Docs does (just put a header font in there and shows up on the outline and you have a quick link to jump around)

Cafe Mode I think they officially call it "focus mode" or something but it's a little coffee cup symbol so I think of it as that. This will make just the writing interface take up your whole screen for "distraction-free" writing. I don't use this, as I've been writing in word processors forever and it doesn't bother me to have the features/menus visible.

Timer I think it has a timer you can set. Again, I don't use this.

Collaborative Writing. I don't use this feature, but it looks very similar to how Google Docs sharing works with inviting/giving access to others.

Log-In. It will remember and keep you logged in on a device, but apparently only for set amount of time (unsure how long, as it seems to have random variation). But it is annoying that you can't just log-in with a password; it sends a code to your email. (I won't get into how I am so sick of "multi-factor" verification bs).

Reliability. So far it has never been "down". I do download a backup sometimes (they have several options for quickdownload of a document and are working on more) just out of paranoia.

It's free. But I can't say whether the creators will eventually go to a subscription model or something to cover the expense of the servers and other work (could probably check the "Support" section for any discussion of it - which is also pretty active as they look to develop features users are requesting, etc.)

TL;DR It's free and I do recommend it.

[easylaunchpad]

Build a Full Email System in .NET with DotLiquid Templates (Already Done in EasyLaunchpad)

When you’re building a SaaS or admin-based web application, email isn’t optional — it’s essential. Whether you’re sending account verifications, password resets, notifications, or subscription updates, a robust email system is key to a complete product experience.

But let’s be honest: setting up a professional email system in .NET can be painful and time-consuming.

That’s why EasyLaunchpad includes a pre-integrated, customizable email engine powered by DotLiquid templates, ready for both transactional and system-generated emails. No extra configuration, no third-party code bloat — just plug it in and go.

In this post, we’ll show you what makes the EasyLaunchpad email system unique, how DotLiquid enables flexibility, and how you can customize or scale it to match your growing app.

💡 Why Email Still Matters

Email remains one of the most direct and effective ways to communicate with users. It plays a vital role in:

User authentication (activation, password reset)

Transactional updates (payment confirmations, receipts)

System notifications (errors, alerts, job status)

Marketing communications (newsletters, upsells)

Yet, building this from scratch in .NET involves SMTP setup, formatting logic, HTML templating, queuing, retries, and admin tools. That’s at least 1–2 weeks of development time — before you even get to the fun part.

EasyLaunchpad solves all of this upfront.

⚙️ What’s Prebuilt in EasyLaunchpad’s Email Engine?

Here’s what you get out of the box:

Feature and Description

✅ SMTP Integration- Preconfigured SMTP setup with credentials stored securely via appsettings.json

✅ DotLiquid Templating- Use tokenized, editable HTML templates to personalize messages

✅ Queued Email Dispatch- Background jobs via Hangfire ensure reliability and retry logic

✅ Admin Panel for Email Settings- Change SMTP settings and test emails without touching code

✅ Modular Email Service- Plug-and-play email logic for any future email types

✨ What Is DotLiquid?

DotLiquid is a secure, open-source .NET templating system inspired by Shopify’s Liquid engine.

It allows you to use placeholders inside your HTML emails such as:

<p>Hello {{ user.Name }},</p>

<p>Your payment of {{ amount }} was received.</p>

This means you don’t have to concatenate strings or hardcode variables into messy inline HTML.

It’s:

Clean and safe (prevents code injection)

Readable for marketers and non-devs

Flexible for developers who want power without complexity

📁 Where Email Templates Live

EasyLaunchpad keeps templates organized in a Templates/Emails/ folder.

Each email type is represented as a .liquid file:

- RegistrationConfirmation.liquid

- PasswordReset.liquid

- PaymentSuccess.liquid

- CustomAlert.liquid

These are loaded dynamically, so you can update content or design without redeploying your app.

🛠 How Emails Are Sent

The process is seamless:

You call the EmailService from anywhere in your codebase:

await _emailService.SendAsync(“PasswordReset”, user.Email, dataModel);

2. EasyLaunchpad loads the corresponding template from the folder.

3. DotLiquid parses and injects dynamic variables from your model.

4. Serilog logs the transaction, and the message is queued via Hangfire.

5. SMTP sends the message, with retry logic if delivery fails.

Background Jobs with Hangfire

Rather than sending emails in real-time (which can slow requests), EasyLaunchpad uses Hangfire to queue and retry delivery in the background.

This provides:

✅ Better UX (non-blocking response time)

✅ Resilience (automatic retries)

✅ Logs (you can track when and why emails fail)

🧪 Admin Control for Testing & Updates

Inside the admin panel, you get:

An editable SMTP section

Fields for server, port, SSL, credentials

A test-email button for real-time delivery validation

This means your support or ops team can change mail servers or fix credentials without needing developer intervention.

🧩 Use Cases Covered Out of the Box

Email Type and the Purpose

Account Confirmation- New user activation

Password Reset- Secure link to reset passwords

Subscription Receipt- Payment confirmation with plan details

Alert Notifications- Admin alerts for system jobs or errors

Custom Templates:

✍️ How to Add Your Own Email Template

Let’s say you want to add a welcome email after signup.

Step 1: Create Template

Add a file: Templates/Emails/WelcomeNewUser.liquid

<h1>Welcome, {{ user.Name }}!</h1>

<p>Thanks for joining our platform.</p>

Step 2: Call the EmailService

await _emailService.SendAsync(“WelcomeNewUser”, user.Email, new { user });

Done. No controller bloat. No HTML tangled in your C# code.

📊 Logging Email Activity

Every email is tracked via Serilog:

{

“Timestamp”: “2024–07–12T14:15:02Z”,

“Level”: “Information”,

“Message”: “Password reset email sent to user@example.com”,

“Template”: “PasswordReset”

}

You can:

Review logs via file or dashboard

Filter by template name, user, or result

Extend logs to include custom metadata (like IP or request ID)

🔌 SMTP Setup Made Simple

In appsettings.json, configure:

“EmailSettings”: {

“Host”: “smtp.yourdomain.com”,

“Port”: 587,

“Username”: “noreply@yourdomain.com”,

“Password”: “your-secure-password”,

“EnableSsl”: true,

“FromName”: “Your App”,

“FromEmail”: “noreply@yourdomain.com”

}

And you’re good to go.

🔐 Is It Secure?

Yes. Credentials are stored securely in environment config files, never hardcoded in source. The system:

Sanitizes user input

Escapes template values

Avoids direct HTML injection

Plus, DotLiquid prevents logic execution (no dangerous eval() or inline C#).

🚀 Why It Matters for SaaS Builders

Here’s why the prebuilt email engine in EasyLaunchpad gives you a head start:

Benefit:

What You Save

✅ Time

1–2 weeks of setup and testing

✅ Complexity

No manual SMTP config, retry logic, or template rendering

✅ User Experience

Reliable, branded communication that builds trust

✅ Scalability

Queue emails and add templates as your app grows

✅ Control

Update templates and SMTP settings from the admin panel

🧠 Final Thoughts

Email may not be glamorous, but it’s one of the most critical parts of your SaaS app — and EasyLaunchpad treats it as a first-class citizen.

With DotLiquid templating, SMTP integration, background processing, and logging baked in, you’re ready to handle everything from user onboarding to transactional alerts from day one.

So, why should you waste time building an email system when you can use EasyLaunchpad and start shipping your actual product?

👉 Try the prebuilt email engine inside EasyLaunchpad today at 🔗 https://easylaunchpad.com

[simplythetest]

I Hate Authentication

I wake up one morning, and my kids want to watch something on a streaming service. I go to that service on my television, and find the service has logged me out. Groggy, grumpy, and unsure of the password since it uses my partner's account and email, I think "I hate authentication".

I start my day of work, noticing there's a meeting that's been added right at the beginning of the day. It seems urgent; my boss organized it. I try to open up the meeting the video conference app, and it requires Google Authentication, which in turn requires my Google password, which I keep in a password manager, which also requires a password. As I fumble around multiple apps and in turn end up late to this meeting, I think "I hate authentication".

As part of my work as a software developer, I research how to use a service's public API. I find exactly the endpoint I need, and even find some documented examples that line up with my use case. I am elated, until I notice that the API requires some kind of token in order to access it. As I enter my second hour of research to find what and where these tokens are, I think "I hate authentication".

Late in the work day, I want to login to a tool I use at work, when it prompts me. "Password expired. Please update your old password with a new one". No other information is provided. As I notice I might be late for my train, I think "I hate authentication".

At the end of a long day, I want to sit and enjoy a movie I've been looking forward to. I remember I still can't login to that streaming service from earlier, and my partner is out for the evening. As I crack open my beer, with a mixture of sadness and anger, I think "I hate authentication".

[andorerso]

Rebelcaptain Whumptober: Day 6

for the prompt recording (warnings: recorded torture, nothing too graphic)

When Cassian’s tracker was turned off, Jyn could tell something was very wrong.

Let it be known, she was against this from the start. When one of their agents discovered an underground crime syndicate called the Glorious Dawn before going MIA soon after, it fell to Cassian to find out more. It wasn’t an extraction mission; Agent Varga was presumed to be dead. But what little he’d disclosed about the Glorious Dawn before his disappearance was unsettling enough to warrant a thorough investigation.

Kidnapping people to be tortured for show. Broadcasting their death-struggle over the holonet. Letting viewers bid and choose what happens to those poor souls — and if that wasn’t horrific enough, large parts of that money went into the Empire’s pocket to fund their weapons and tech development. Bad news all around. An operation that needed to be stopped. Jyn understood that.

She also understood the horrible fate that had more than likely befallen Agent Varga, and she was damned if she let it happen to Cassian.

She couldn’t shake the ominous feeling that churned in her stomach on the whole journey to this small, backwater planet, but she dismissed it — tried to dismiss it as natural. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for her to worry about Cassian’s safety on a mission; it’s just what happened when you loved someone. Perfectly normal for her to be antsy. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was somehow different. Dangerous. Foreboding.

Jyn resolved to bite her tongue and keep her thoughts to herself. Cassian was an intelligence officer, and he didn’t need her to baby him. He was a far cry from a novice; that’s why Draven had chosen him. Because he was the best for the job. And he certainly wouldn’t have resigned from the mission regardless. Jyn didn’t think he’d ever told the rebellion no (Galen Erso and Scarif notwithstanding.) He’d happily carve out his own heart from his chest and serve it to the figureheads of the Alliance on a platter if that’s what was required of him. She’d only make it worse if she expressed her fears.

Because someone had to do it.

But why did that someonealways have to be him?

With mounting resentment towards Draven, towards the rebellion, towards this entire fucking operation, Jyn sent him off with a kiss and a plea to stay safe. She’d wanted, so badly, to ask him to check in as often as he could, but knew it would be too risky. He’d give sign of life when it was possible without compromising himself. And she’ll wait until he returned, or…

Well.

Jyn was just back-up, only to intervene if something went wrong.

Something like his tracker getting disabled a few weeks into their assignment.

The first thing she did was pull up that forsaken holosite on her datapad where they broadcasted their sick little game to their bloodthirsty audience. The site was strictly exclusive and carefully hidden on the holonet, not something you could stumble upon by accident — or at all. The password changed every week, but Cassian had forwarded the latest one in his last encrypted transmission two days ago. Which meant Jyn had access.

A part of her wished she didn’t. Because for the first time since they arrived, a new show had been announced.

An image of Cassian strapped to a chair greeted her. He was unconscious, his head lolling forward and his hair shielding his face from view. The buttons on his shirt were undone, sweaty skin and dark wisps of hair peeking out from underneath. But he seemed unharmed. For now.

Various tools and gadgets and syringes lay scattered on an equipment table next to him, and the words under the feed read “Show starts in two hours! Place your bid now!”

Jyn nearly threw her datapad at the wall, wanting to hurl.

Two hours. Two hours was all she had to find him before…

She squeezed her eyes shut and breathed in deeply. Tried to push down the fear and panic rising from the core of her, threatening to overtake her executive functions. She needed to keep her head clear. Stay alert. Figure out an action plan. But all she saw behind her eyelids was Cassian’s figure strapped to that chair, helpless and vulnerable, and the comments she read under the feed. Asking for him to be drugged, to be beaten, to be hurt.

It started out tame, as it always did, but the worse ones… The ones she couldn’t even speak.

A wounded sound rattled in her chest, her entire body shaking so bad she nearly dropped the datapad. She didn’t need a weapon, she would slaughter them all with her bare hands.

She just needed a location.

And she knew where to start. Agent Varga’s contact on the planet had to have known something. Jyn would make him talk, whatever it cost.

Opening her eyes, she ran her finger across Cassian’s figure on the screen and tried to summon all the strength she possessed even as she felt like crumbling to the floor. She couldn’t lose her composure now; he needed her.

“I’ll find you,” she whispered, a promise he wouldn’t hear. “If it’s the last thing I do.”

xxx

Agent Varga’s contact was a Rodian male who was proving to be rather unwilling to talk when asked nicely.

And Jyn had tried. To ask nicely. But time was limited. She wouldn’t leave Cassian to be cut apart piece by piece like a slab of meat.

So if violence was the only language the Glorious Dawn understood…

The Rodian squirmed in the chair she’d tied him to, blood dripping down his face from a large gash on his forehead.

“Tell me where he is,” Jyn said again.

“They know who is,” the Rodian spat, ignoring her question. “A spy for the rebellion. They’ll make it slow. Your man is coming home in tiny boxes.”

He laughed, loud and gleeful, and Jyn clenched her fists as she tried to control her rage. He was egging her on. Trying to get a reaction.

She had to be in control here, even if all she really wanted to do was beat his face to a pulp.

“If they know who he is,” Jyn said through gritted teeth, every word an effort, “then they know an intelligence agent is not the ideal target. They’re trained to withstand pain.”

The Rodian laughed harder, something almost maniac in his tone.

“What’s so fucking funny?”

“You’re mistaken. That makes him more interesting. Makes it fun to see how far we can push him before he cracks.” His mouth curled into a wicked grin. “The other agent cracked easier than we thought. Maybe this one will be more resilient.”

Jyn punched him, foregoing her batons this time. The idea of beating him to a pulp was looking more and more appealing by the second.

“Where is the base?” she snarled, no more room for the illusion of patience.

The Rodian spat a mouthful of green blood at her feet, but this seedy little motel room was so dirty, it hardly made a difference. “They’ll kill me if I tell you.”

“I will kill you.”

“I’m more scared of them.”

Her lips curled into a sharp, threatening smile. He had no idea what she was capable of. But he’d find out.

“Big mistake.”

xxx

Jyn twirled the bloody blade in her hand as she watched the last rays of the sun cast the landscape in a pinkish hue. She was losing time. The show would start soon, and Cassian would not survive the night.

He might hold out for a while, but she didn’t want to take the risk. Didn’t want to let anyone touch even a hair on his head.

Behind her, the Rodian was coughing and gasping for air around the blood in his mouth. She had to slow down before he actually died on her.

“So? Still nothing?” Her voice was coldly detached. She’d shut down, stopped feeling anything about twenty minutes ago. The only thing that still sparked a flicker of emotion was the thought of Cassian. Her partner. Her love. Her home.

If she didn’t find him soon…

“It’s too bad you’re a rebel bitch,” the Rodian wheezed, “you’re good at this. You’d fit right in with us. Not so different after all, huh?”

A cheap shot. Jyn let it roll off her like water.

“Don’t deflect. Where’s the base?”

“How much time can you waste on me? The show starts soon, and they’ll tear him to tiny pieces. Varga squealed like a little pig, you know. I wonder what sounds your man will make when they’re digging in his guts. I can get you VIP seats if you want.”

He laughed, though it was a strained sound. No longer so confident; a dying man grasping at his last semblance of control. Jyn tuned it out, her gaze trained on her datapad which lit up with a notification. A signal.

Heart hammering in her throat, she watched the pulsing red dot on the map. Hope flared in her chest, tentative but persistent. Cassian’s tracker. They turned it back on.

Which meant it was a trap. She wasn’t stupid. They were baiting her. But she had to go.

It was her only lead; and regardless… It might as well have been guaranteed death.

She’d always come for him.

“You’re right,” Jyn said, cutting off the Rodian mid-sentence. She had no idea what he’d been saying, but with a flourish, she turned and fired a blaster bolt between his eyes. “I don’t need you anymore.”

xxx

It took her less than fifteen minutes to arrive at the location where Cassian’s tracker had pinged outside the city limits. An abandoned imperial compound greeted her, imposing with its high walls and tall towers.

Jyn hopped off the speeder she stole and listened. Something was off.

No guards posted at the entrance. No movement from the yard. No sounds from inside. Only the wind whistled through the trees, raising the hairs on the back of her neck.

Ghosts were the only thing frequenting this building now.

But there was one window, on the third floor, where light streamed outside into the brisk, darkening evening. Jyn eyed it warily, that feeling of wrongness only expanding. The light seemed to almost beckon her, — come closer, come see — but she couldn’t shake the thought that this whole thing was off. The tracker being activated, the absence of living beings anywhere, that single light spilling from the window…

Jyn swallowed, shook her head. There was no time to waste. Blaster in hand, she made it inside the yard, more and more unnerved by the lack of resistance she found.

Trap, trap, trap, her mind screamed, but she ignored it and kept going. Cassian needed her. Her brain latched onto the thought of him, lending her strength and ignoring everything else.

She was furious enough to put up a good fight if they did ambush her. Let them try, let them fucking see what the daughter of Saw Gerrera was capable of.

She, too, was more than ready to give them a show.

More silence greeted her inside the compound. Jyn crept through the quiet halls, eyes flicking in every direction, but no one was hiding in the shadows, no one was trying to stab her in the back. Her footsteps were almost soundless as she made her way up the stairs towards the room where she saw the light. So close now. But as she reached the second-floor landing, muted sounds interrupted the eerie silence.

Heavy panting. A struggle. Something creaked.

Then, a cry of pain.

Jyn picked up her steps, no longer caring if someone heard her. There was only one objective hanging in front of her: find Cassian. Get to him before he was hurt. Protect him. The urge overshadowed everything else.

Perhaps that’s why she didn’t realize what was happening until she pushed the door open with her blaster.

The room was empty.

Jyn’s blaster slowly lowered as she stared at the scene before her with a sinking feeling in her stomach. Only a single holoprojector stood in the middle of the room, showcasing a sight she never wanted to see. Next to it, a forgotten tracker lying in the dirt.

It wasn’t a trap. It was a distraction.

Cassian was awake now, still strapped down in that chair, his chest rising and falling with quick, shallow breaths. The world tilted around her, her legs trembling, but Jyn couldn’t take her eyes off him. Unable to stop seeing what they were doing to him. One of his fingers was trapped in a vice, and a masked man wearing dark robes was in the process of tightening the tool.

Jyn stood, rooted to the spot, unable to move or breathe or think. It felt like it was happening to someone else. She stood until she heard the crunching of bones, the tearing of skin, and another pained shout tore free from Cassian’s mouth.

With an angry scream, Jyn kicked the holoprojector, sending it flying against the wall. The image cut off, and dead silence followed.

Time had run out.

“You fuckers!” she yelled before crumbling to the ground, all her strength gone. She’d failed. She didn’t find him in time, and now he was… Now he was…

Shivers wracked her body, the image of Cassian’s hand in that vice burned into her mind. That would be far from the worst of it, she knew. They were just getting started. The Rodian wasn’t kidding when he said they’d tear him apart bit by bit.

She’ll burn this fucking city to the ground —

Lightheaded, Jyn buried her head in her hands and allowed herself to weep. Though it hadn’t been her who was taken, who was tortured, she felt like her hand was in that vice too, crushed under its cruel grip. Paralyzing fear weighed down her limbs, making it impossible to think straight. For a wild second, she thought she might throw up, but she pushed the bile down, her fingernails digging into her own leg as she tried to find some sort of anchor to hold onto. Something to ground her. Anything.

She’d give anything —

Her thoughts spiraled.

She had to find him. She had to. It wasn’t too late, she could still — she could still save him, she could still bring him home and make sure he was safe, make sure he recovered, make sure nobody ever hurt him again. She had to find him. She had to.

Jyn lifted her head, taking deep shuddering breaths to get her pulse under control. Back to business, no time to fall apart. Get yourself together. She wiped away her tears, her hand coming back smudged from her eyeliner. Her heart rate slowed, a little bit. She needed a plan.

As appealing as it was to burn down the city, it wouldn’t help much. She couldn’t go knocking on door to door either, and the Rodian was dead.

It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. She didn’t have time to find anyone else associated with the group; let alone capture and interrogate them. But she had access to the live feed, though her stomach revolted at the idea of bringing it back up. Maybe she could get some clues from the show… Maybe she could pose as a bidder? Try to wrangle something, anything from the comments?

As her brain whirled with ideas, each one more desperate than the other, something else on the ground caught her eye.

Next to the tracker lay something small… Something purple.

With a frown, Jyn stood and examined it closer. It was a flower. She picked it up, turning it in her hand. A pang of familiarity washed over her as she stared at the purple petals with pink streaks. She’d seen that flower before.

Varga’s last transmission. Made from a room in a brothel downtown. The flowers on the wall behind him. Morning glory, it was called. The whole place was decked out in them.

Morning glory… The Glorious Dawn?

Jyn crushed the petal in her hand, determination hardening her features. Cassian had left her a clue, and she knew where he was.

She was coming.

[mehdidehnabi]

How to Remove or Disable YouTube on Samsung Devices

If you're looking to remove the YouTube app from your Samsung device, it's important to note that YouTube is often a pre-installed system app, which means it cannot be completely uninstalled through standard methods. However, there are several approaches you can take to disable or remove it from your device.

1. Disable the YouTube App

Disabling the app prevents it from running and removes it from your app drawer.

Open Settings.

Navigate to Apps.

Scroll down and select YouTube.

Tap on Disable.

Confirm by tapping Disable again.

While in the YouTube app settings, tap on Storage.

Select Clear Data and Clear Cache.

This method doesn't uninstall the app but prevents it from running and frees up storage space.

2. Remove YouTube Using ADB (Advanced Users)

For a more permanent solution, you can use Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to uninstall the app. This method requires a computer and some technical knowledge.

Steps:

Enable Developer Options on Your Phone:

Go to Settings > About phone.

Tap on Build number seven times to activate Developer Mode.

Return to Settings and access Developer options.

Enable USB debugging.

Set Up ADB on Your Computer:

Download and install the Minimal ADB and Fastboot tool.

Connect Your Phone to the Computer:

Use a USB cable to connect your device.

When prompted on your phone, allow USB debugging.

Uninstall YouTube via ADB:

Open the ADB command interface on your computer.

Enter the following command to list connected devices: nginxCopyEditadb devices

Once your device is recognized, enter: cssCopyEditadb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.google.android.youtube

This command removes the YouTube app for the current user. Note that this method doesn't delete the app from the system partition, so a factory reset might restore it.

3. Remove Your YouTube Account

If your goal is to disassociate your account from the YouTube app:

Open the YouTube app.

Tap on your profile icon in the top right corner.

Select Manage your Google Account.

Navigate to the Data & privacy tab.

Scroll down and tap on Delete a Google service.

Enter your password when prompted.

Next to YouTube, click the trash bin icon.

Follow the on-screen instructions to permanently delete your YouTube account.

Be aware that this action will delete all your YouTube data, including playlists, subscriptions, and history.

⚠️ Important Considerations

System Apps: YouTube is often a system app on Samsung devices, meaning it can't be fully uninstalled without rooting your device.

Rooting Risks: Rooting can void your warranty and may lead to security vulnerabilities. Proceed with caution.

Alternative Solutions: If you want to limit YouTube usage without removing it, consider setting up Parental Controls or using Digital Wellbeing features to restrict access.

By following these methods, you can effectively remove or disable the YouTube app on your Samsung device, depending on your needs and technical comfort level.

[ethanswgstblog]

Blog Post #10 4/24

How have post-9/11 surveillance policies have reshaped the American understanding of privacy and liberty?

Christian Parenti argues that by defining invasive state monitoring as an everyday part of daily life, the post-9/11 surveillance regime drastically changed American privacy and eventually destroyed democratic values. He believes that rather than establishing an entirely new system, the cultural reaction to 9/11 expedited and validated already-existing surveillance infrastructures. He argues that the USA Patriot Act "liberalized the legal environment in which federal cops will be gathering and processing the routine informational detritus of the digital age," which is the clearest example of this. Parenti cautions that such surveillance undermines the public's expectations of civil liberties and promotes compliance over liberty, particularly when it is disguised in security or patriotic rhetoric. He claims that this results in a changed populace that is less defensive of personal freedoms and more reliant on authority.

What can be learned about the fuzziness of the lines separating criminal activity and protest coordination in the digital age from the arrests of Michael Wallschlaeger and Elliott Madison?

Police are increasingly seeing digital communication as a criminal tool rather than an outlet for protected speech, as seen by the arrests of Elliott Madison and Michael Wallschlaeger during the G20 summit demonstrations. Even though the tweets were publicly available and resembled real-time reporting, their coordination efforts using Twitter to communicate protester movements and police activity were construed as criminal conduct under ambiguous provisions like "criminal use of a communication facility" and "hindering apprehension." When somebody takes into account their following FBI operation and the application of infrequently used statutes such as the federal anti-riot statute which attorney Martin Stolar described as an effort to "criminalize dissent" and prosecute "thought crime" this blurring of boundaries becomes particularly concerning. This instance highlights the state's increasing concern with decentralized, digitally empowered activism and shows how old protest strategies are being reframed as dangers when magnified by technology.

How does the Data Detox Kit empower individuals to take control of their digital privacy and well-being?

By offering consumers simple, achievable steps to reduce their digital footprint, improve online privacy, and develop healthy digital habits, the Data Detox Kit encourages users. The kit enables people to think critically about their online behavior and make wise decisions by simplifying difficult subjects like data monitoring, algorithmic bias, and information security into doable everyday tasks. The Data Detox Kit is a useful manual for recovering control in an increasingly monitored digital environment, whether that means changing app permissions, creating stronger passwords, or reevaluating how personal information is shared.

How does the article "How Your Twitter Account Could Land You in Jail" highlight the tension between digital activism and state surveillance?

By demonstrating how platforms like Twitter, which were once praised for facilitating democratic upheavals overseas, are now being used to criminalize dissent domestically, the study highlights the growing conflict between digital activism and governmental monitoring. The arrest of Elliott Madison for tweeting updates during the G20 protests serves as an example of how law enforcement views real-time, public communication that is utilized to assist with protest planning as illegal. The allegations are an attempt to link protest coordination to criminal intent, Madison's attorney pointed out, cautioning that "essentially it's prosecution for a thought crime." This framing highlights the vulnerable position of activists who use digital platforms: they run the risk of being viewed as threats to public order rather than as involved citizens.

Parenti, C. (2003). Fear as Institution: 9/11 and Surveillance Triumphant. In The Soft Cage. Basic Books.

Power, M. (2010). How your Twitter account could land you in jail. Mother Jones. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/police-twitter-riots-social-media-activists/

Tech, T.. Data Detox Kit. https://datadetoxkit.org/ 

[60seccyberbrief]

Burp Suite

This week I wanted to cover a powerful tool that assists in web application security. Burp Suite is a well-known tool developed by PortSwigger. Burp Suite is an integrated platform used to test web application security by using a variety of different features it provides.  One of these features Burp Suite has is an intercepting proxy that allows you to inspect and modify traffic between the browser and the server at each step. Scanner allows you to automatically detect certain vulnerabilities like SQL injection and cross-site scripting. Intruder automates custom attacks to test certain security parameters, generally passwords. Repeater allows for manual modification and replaying of edited requests for more in-depth testing.

All in all Burp Suite provides a simplified way and process for identifying and discovering vulnerabilities. It has a very user-friendly interface that assists in applying all the different features and makes it easy to learn. It also allows for user consummation that allows users to create custom rules and integrate third-party extensions. It is one of the most renowned tools in cyber security and brings an active and engaging community along with it. Burp Suite I is something I highly recommend to those striving to develop their cyber security skills to get their hands on. Not only will you become more proficient in the tool itself, but it will also teach you about how web applications and servers work.

Source:

[skaruresonic]

It was probably mentioned already, but I find hard to reconcile Eggman taking Maria's death personally with him stomping his foot in the Egg Memo because his relatives cared more about the dead ill girl than him.

Much like with Frontiers and his "dear daughter", I can't subscribe to the notion that he only makes it all about himself because you can obviously hear his voice as he speaks and he sounds genuinely somber, not flippant as he would sound if he really was only pissy that a relative of his was targeted. But even assuming that he was... it's still caring about her, even as a symbol? If the narrative is still "Eggman was jealous of a dead girl" (and I'm using "was" and not "is" generously), the short could have mentioned it as a gag, or better yet... make him simply not comment at all about his feelings. It's not relevant. Who is he trying to impress, the audience? Is Eggman trying to appear more sympathetic to us?

Funny how he doesn't even mention, let alone elaborate on his thoughts on Gerald's execution, hm? Even though Gerald going insane after Maria's death is kiiiiiind of important for Shadow? Guess not many people feel bad for the old man :P

Yeah, I've watched the Shadow 101 video three times now and unfortunately I cannot read anything but sadness in his voice when he speaks of Maria and how he still "takes that personally." Frankly, he sounds angrier that Shadow defied him.

---

or better yet... make him simply not comment at all about his feelings.

Just like he did in SA2, ShTH, and Battle. :v

You would think that if Eggman really was speaking from a place of tribalism over the good Robotnik name, he'd rant at least a little about the injustice of Gerald's death, seeing how he created the ultimate life form and GUN repaid his contributions to society with hot lead.

Unlike Maria, on whom Eggman says exactly jack and shit in SA2 except to mention her name as the password to Gerald's computer, the Professor actually does figure into his personal thoughts, if only in an atavistic way.

I don't even know what it is about Maria that he cares about enough to take her death personally. He didn't know her. She wasn't a scientist like Gerald, nor a potentially powerful ally like Shadow, nor even a """useful""" tool in his schemes like Sage. Eggman might as well say he took the Commander's ARK-related trauma personally.

...Unless he's implying that the same brand of obsession that made his relatives speak glowingly of her even after her death also got to him as well, and he's just too tsundere to notice? Or that Sage has made him reconsider Maria in a new light? Or something? Is he just getting soft in his old age?

---

It's not relevant. Who is he trying to impress, the audience? Is Eggman trying to appear more sympathetic to us?

I was thinking about it last night when I realized this is the same flavor as Tails' "I've been wildly inconsistent." Like, instead of making sense as something the character would say or think given the circumstances, it's something the character is being forced to say.

Eggman has no reason to think about Maria, except that he has to mention her as a matter of due course because this is a video recounting Shadow's history. And of course, because he mentioned Maria in Frontiers, gotta allude to that sweet sweet Character Development(tm) to prove our games aren't inconsistent like everyone's always saying. Eggman wangsted about her in Frontiers and he's continuing the trend here. omfg so deep, much continuity, many character development, wow.

Never mind how it made little sense for Eggman to mention Maria in Frontiers, either, except to draw spurious parallels to Sage. "I never knew her" then why do you care? Why do you keep bringing it up? Why don't you mention how your "mad genius" grandfather got riddled with bullet holes?

---

The footage begins to become incongruent with the narration starting at 2:01. People who haven't played the games may glean an inaccurate idea of what happened in them. "Black Doom wanted a champion" - Black Doom says he wants all SEVEN Chaos Emeralds to begin the "prosperity ritual" like SEVEN hundred times in the game (in all caps because that's how it's written out every time lol) and he has no more use for Shadow after summoning the Black Comet into the Earth's atmosphere.

If he wanted a champion, he would not have paralyzed Shadow alongside the others and tried feeding him to his grubs.

Gerald promised Black Doom the seven Chaos Emeralds in exchange for help on finishing Project Shadow. He didn't exactly promise Shadow himself.

Black Doom simply assumed Shadow would side with him because he knew about his past. It doesn't actually matter how Shadow obtains the Emeralds, since BD simply yoinks them in the Last Story.

I also noticed how Eggman complains that Shadow "crushed his armies" instead of helping him conquer the world, meanwhile the footage shows Prison Island blowing up. Someone who has not played SA2 may mistakenly assume Prison Island is actually an Eggman base.

[techronixz]

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[go-learn-esperanto]

So, I've been wanting to switch over to Firefox but I haven't because I'm just straight up kinda lazy, but with all this talk of KOSA and with Firefox apparently being one of the KOSA-safe browsers, (I have no way of confirming this, just what I've heard) I wanna switch over just to be safe.

The thing is, how much new stuff to I have to download in order to replace Chrome with Firefox? Ik it's not owned by Google, and I've got stuff like Google-owned apps like Maps on my phone so do I have to make a thousand different changes in order to effectively switch to Firefox? Or just download Firefox, make the switch and I'm good?

Hello!

Well, Firefox is just a browser. What that means is that if you want you can still use the Google apps on your phone. They aren't connected to chrome so if you remove chrome they won't stop working. You can also, if you really want, delete those apps but sign in on the browser, in your case Firefox, and you'll be able to use your Gmail and Google Maps but on your browser instead of having a specific app for that. You decide what's most convenient to you. I personally still use those apps, but if want to be extra secure and don't want to have Google tracking too much stuff about you you can choose to only use the browser.

Firefox will, by the way, give you the option to migrate all of your passwords from Chrome to Firefox. This means you have way less work. You just need to download Firefox, tell it to migrate your passwords from your Chrome (it means you have login with your Google account if I remember correctly), and it will do that for you, meaning you don't have to go and put your passwords to whatever site you use one by one. It's honestly really easy to migrate.

What do you have to understand: a browser is just an app that allows you to use various search tools. You can still use the Google search on Firefox if you want! I usually have DuckDuckGo as my primary search engine but sometimes I switch to Google (the search engine not the company) because I want to have a specific kind of search that DuckDuckGo isn't really managing to do. DuckDuckGo by the way is the search engine that tracks you less. That's why it's usually preferable if you want to not have all your search history being shared with third parties.

These are the standard search engines but you can add more if you want. You can use Yahoo or Wikipedia for example.

What Firefox allows you to do that chrome, on the mobile app, doesn't is to have add-ons, more commonly known as browser extensions. The normal Firefox app doesn't have many add-ons available but it has at least some and the ones that are available are very useful.

They're great for adding extra security protection, or just to have a better experience using the browser.

These are all 17 mobile compatible add-ons. Highly recommended UBlock Origin, Clear URLs and Privacy Badger.

You can technically have more but that will make it so you need to use the Firefox Nightly app instead of the standard Firefox. Firefox Nightly is a developer app and you need a lot of extra hoops if you wanna have extra Add-ons on your phone. To me it's worth it because it means I can have XKit Rewritten, Tumblr's saviour at this point, on my phone which almost makes me want to delete the Tumblr app. However you want to keep things simple so just Firefox will do just fine. No need to complicate things.

In conclusion:

Migrating is easy because you can migrate passwords from a browser to the other, you can still use your Google services on Firefox, add-ons are cool.

[i-expect-you-to-die]

This is the Second of the Two Password Locked Webpages - Handler's Desk!

To get to the password locked part, click on the yellow "here" in the text and it'll take you to the password input. The password is as follows:

whereareyou

Once again, the website has a habit of lagging, so I'll put all the important images under the cut!

^ This is the Handler's desk. You can learn this by going into developer tools and finding the images (what I'm doing to bring these to you), and the png is named "Handler-Desk"!

[playstationvii]

#Playstation7 #framework #BasicArchitecture #RawCode #RawScript #Opensource #DigitalConsole

To build a new gaming console’s digital framework from the ground up, you would need to integrate several programming languages and technologies to manage different aspects of the system. Below is an outline of the code and language choices required for various parts of the framework, focusing on languages like C++, Python, JavaScript, CSS, MySQL, and Perl for different functionalities.

1. System Architecture Design (Low-level)

• Language: C/C++, Assembly

• Purpose: To program the low-level system components such as CPU, GPU, and memory management.

• Example Code (C++) – Low-Level Hardware Interaction:

#include <iostream>

int main() {

// Initialize hardware (simplified example)

std::cout << "Initializing CPU...\n";

// Set up memory management

std::cout << "Allocating memory for GPU...\n";

// Example: Allocating memory for gaming graphics

int* graphicsMemory = new int[1024]; // Allocate 1KB for demo purposes

std::cout << "Memory allocated for GPU graphics rendering.\n";

// Simulate starting the game engine

std::cout << "Starting game engine...\n";

delete[] graphicsMemory; // Clean up

return 0;

}

2. Operating System Development

• Languages: C, C++, Python (for utilities)

• Purpose: Developing the kernel and OS for hardware abstraction and user-space processes.

• Kernel Code Example (C) – Implementing a simple syscall:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <unistd.h>

int main() {

// Example of invoking a custom system call

syscall(0); // System call 0 - usually reserved for read in UNIX-like systems

printf("System call executed\n");

return 0;

}

3. Software Development Kit (SDK)

• Languages: C++, Python (for tooling), Vulkan or DirectX (for graphics APIs)

• Purpose: Provide libraries and tools for developers to create games.

• Example SDK Code (Vulkan API with C++):

#include <vulkan/vulkan.h>

VkInstance instance;

void initVulkan() {

VkApplicationInfo appInfo = {};

appInfo.sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_APPLICATION_INFO;

appInfo.pApplicationName = "GameApp";

appInfo.applicationVersion = VK_MAKE_VERSION(1, 0, 0);

appInfo.pEngineName = "GameEngine";

appInfo.engineVersion = VK_MAKE_VERSION(1, 0, 0);

appInfo.apiVersion = VK_API_VERSION_1_0;

VkInstanceCreateInfo createInfo = {};

createInfo.sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_INSTANCE_CREATE_INFO;

createInfo.pApplicationInfo = &appInfo;

vkCreateInstance(&createInfo, nullptr, &instance);

std::cout << "Vulkan SDK Initialized\n";

}

4. User Interface (UI) Development

• Languages: JavaScript, HTML, CSS (for UI), Python (backend)

• Purpose: Front-end interface design for the user experience and dashboard.

• Example UI Code (HTML/CSS/JavaScript):

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

<title>Console Dashboard</title>

<style>

body { font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-color: #282c34; color: white; }

.menu { display: flex; justify-content: center; margin-top: 50px; }

.menu button { padding: 15px 30px; margin: 10px; background-color: #61dafb; border: none; cursor: pointer; }

</style>

</head>

<body>

<div class="menu">

<button onclick="startGame()">Start Game</button>

<button onclick="openStore()">Store</button>

</div>

<script>

function startGame() {

alert("Starting Game...");

}

function openStore() {

alert("Opening Store...");

}

</script>

</body>

</html>

5. Digital Store Integration

• Languages: Python (backend), MySQL (database), JavaScript (frontend)

• Purpose: A backend system for purchasing and managing digital game licenses.

• Example Backend Code (Python with MySQL):

import mysql.connector

def connect_db():

db = mysql.connector.connect(

host="localhost",

user="admin",

password="password",

database="game_store"

)

return db

def fetch_games():

db = connect_db()

cursor = db.cursor()

cursor.execute("SELECT * FROM games")

games = cursor.fetchall()

for game in games:

print(f"Game ID: {game[0]}, Name: {game[1]}, Price: {game[2]}")

db.close()

fetch_games()

6. Security Framework Implementation

• Languages: C++, Python, Perl (for system scripts)

• Purpose: Ensure data integrity, authentication, and encryption.

• Example Code (Python – Encrypting User Data):

from cryptography.fernet import Fernet

# Generate a key for encryption

key = Fernet.generate_key()

cipher_suite = Fernet(key)

# Encrypt sensitive user information (e.g., account password)

password = b"SuperSecretPassword"

encrypted_password = cipher_suite.encrypt(password)

print(f"Encrypted Password: {encrypted_password}")

# Decrypting the password

decrypted_password = cipher_suite.decrypt(encrypted_password)

print(f"Decrypted Password: {decrypted_password}")

7. Testing and Quality Assurance

• Languages: Python (for automated tests), Jest (for JavaScript testing)

• Purpose: Unit testing, integration testing, and debugging.

• Example Unit Test (Python using unittest):

import unittest

def add(a, b):

return a + b

class TestGameFramework(unittest.TestCase):

def test_add(self):

self.assertEqual(add(10, 20), 30)

if __name__ == '__main__':

unittest.main()

8. Order of Implementation

• Phase 1: Focus on core system architecture (low-level C/C++) and OS development.

• Phase 2: Develop SDK and start building the basic framework for UI and input management.

• Phase 3: Work on backend systems like the digital store and integrate with front-end UI.

• Phase 4: Begin rigorous testing and debugging using automated test suites.

This comprehensive approach gives you a detailed idea of how each component can be built using a combination of these languages and technologies. Each section is modular, allowing teams to work on different aspects of the console simultaneously.

[Pixel Art/Sprites/Buildinodels/VictoriaSecretPixelArtKit #Playstation7 #DearDearestBrands]