#CSS preparation

[muhammaddaniyalprogrammer]

Prepare for a brighter future! 📚💡 Join CSS Academy in Lahore and unlock your potential! 🌟 'The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.' 🌈✨ Learn more at (https://jesaacademy.com/) 📚💻 #CSSAcademy #Lahore #FutureLeaders #Motivation #Education #Learning"

[reinedeslys-central]

me when I started this project: oh nodejs? that's so simple! I already know pandas so this is going be a walk in the park even if it takes a while

me after three months: you idiot

[jesaaccedmy]

CSS Exam Tips: Your Guide to Success

Preparing for the Central Superior Services (CSS) exam, one of Pakistan’s most prestigious and competitive tests, can be overwhelming. This guide provides actionable tips and strategies to help you navigate the preparation process, improve your performance, and achieve your goals.

1. Understand the Exam Structure

The CSS exam consists of written exams, medical tests, psychological assessments, and an interview. The written part includes six compulsory and six optional papers. Familiarize yourself with the exam pattern, syllabus, and subject weightage.

2. Choose Your Optional Subjects Wisely

Selecting optional subjects plays a crucial role in determining your success. Choose subjects that align with your academic background, interests, and scoring trends. Research past papers to gauge the difficulty level of each subject.

3. Develop a Study Plan

A well-structured study plan ensures efficient preparation. Allocate time to each subject based on its syllabus and your comfort level. Set daily, weekly, and monthly goals to track progress.

4. Focus on Compulsory Subjects

Compulsory subjects like English Essay, English Precis, General Science and Ability, Current Affairs, Pakistan Affairs, and Islamic Studies are mandatory for all candidates. Strengthen your grip on these subjects as they carry significant weightage.

5. Master the Art of Essay Writing

The English Essay paper is often considered the most challenging. To excel, practice writing essays on diverse topics, focus on clarity, coherence, and grammar, and develop a habit of reading newspapers and journals.

6. Stay Updated with Current Affairs

Current Affairs is a critical component of the exam. Regularly read newspapers, watch news channels, and follow credible online sources. Focus on national and international events, economic policies, and diplomatic relations.

7. Solve Past Papers

Past papers provide insight into the exam pattern and frequently asked questions. Practice solving these under timed conditions to improve speed and accuracy.

8. Take Mock Tests

Mock tests simulate the real exam environment and help identify your strengths and weaknesses. Enroll in a reputable CSS coaching center or access online mock tests to evaluate your preparation.

9. Improve Time Management

Time management is critical during preparation and in the exam hall. Practice writing answers within the allotted time and prioritize high-mark questions.

10. Build a Strong Vocabulary

A robust vocabulary aids in essay writing, precis, and comprehension. Make a habit of learning new words daily and use them in sentences to reinforce retention.

11. Enhance Analytical and Critical Thinking

CSS questions often require in-depth analysis and critical evaluation. Develop these skills by engaging with opinion articles, research papers, and debates on current issues.

12. Maintain Consistency and Discipline

Consistency is the key to success. Stick to your study plan, avoid procrastination, and maintain a disciplined routine.

13. Take Care of Your Health

Physical and mental well-being is crucial during preparation. Maintain a balanced diet, exercise regularly, and get adequate sleep to stay focused and energized.

14. Seek Guidance from Experts

Join study groups, attend seminar,read article on website or consult experienced mentors for insights and advice. Networking with fellow aspirants can also provide valuable support.

15. Stay Positive and Confident

The CSS exam is a test of persistence and resilience. Stay motivated, believe in your abilities, and maintain a positive attitude throughout your preparation journey.

Success in the CSS exam requires a combination of hard work, smart strategies, and unwavering determination. By following these tips and staying focused on your goal, you can enhance your chances of securing a position in Pakistan's civil services. Remember, the journey might be challenging, but the rewards are worth the effort.

[xruiety-blog]

Must-Know English MCQs for PPSC/FPSC Exams to Boost Your Preparation

Are you preparing for PPSC/FPSC exams and struggling with the English section?

The English MCQs are an essential part of these competitive exams, and focusing on the most repeated questions can make a huge difference in your preparation.

We've compiled the 35 most repeated English MCQs from past PPSC/FPSC exams that will help you master vocabulary, grammar, and reading comprehension sections. From synonyms and antonyms to error spotting, these questions cover all the key areas that are frequently tested.

🔹 Here are a few examples:

1. What’s the opposite of ‘Radical’?

A) Extreme

B) Moderate

C) Conservative

D) Traditional

Answer: B

2. Choose the synonym of ‘Flourish’

A) Shrink

B) Prosper

C) Decline

D) Fade

Answer: B

💡 To access the full list of 35 MCQs, along with detailed explanations and preparation tips, head over to the full article here:

👉 35 Most Repeated English MCQs for PPSC/FPSC Exams

How to Ace the English Section:

1. Regular Practice: The more you practice, the faster you’ll get at identifying key concepts in MCQs.

2. Understand Each Question: Focus on grasping the concept behind each MCQ. It’s not just about memorizing answers.

3. Time Your Practice: Practice under timed conditions to enhance your speed.

With consistent practice, you'll feel more confident and ready to tackle the English section. Good luck with your exams!

[terrorcamp]

Terror Camp is hiring!

We are looking to expand our volunteer staff for this year’s conference.

We have two job listings based on our current needs, but if we receive a lot of great applicants there is the possibility we’ll split up these responsibilities into 3 or even 4 separate positions.

Terror Camp is a fully volunteer, remote, asynchronous workplace (with occasional sync meetings as schedules permit). We communicate over Discord and organize our documentation over Notion and Google Drive.

We are looking for people who can devote up to a few hours a week, depending on the time of year. Commitment increases around the times of Submission Opening (June 1), Submission Closing/Acceptances (September 1-Oct 1) and the conference itself (early December).

Terror Camp looks great on your resume. You can say that you volunteer for a successful community-led online history & heritage conference with an audience in the thousands!

You don’t need to match the job descriptions perfectly in order to apply. If your experience doesn’t match up but you think you’d still be good at the job, please apply anyway!

Here are the positions we're looking to fill:

🎨 Designer 🎨

Terror Camp is seeking a dedicated Designer who will:

Ideate and deliver a new evergreen brand identity for TC that can be revamped and reused each year

Including logo, logotype, color scheme, font families, and other brand assets for use on web, social media, and printed merch

Be an proactive team member with strong communication skills, able to quickly and regularly deliver new graphics for promotional use on social media and in email marketing

Help design an evergreen/permanent collection of merchandise as well as a limited-edition collection for this year’s conference

Assist our Webmaster in revising our website & email marketing templates to fully match new brand identity and meet best practices for UX

Potentially work on print layout for a Terror Camp book or zine (TBD)

This job would be a good fit if you:

Work or have worked professionally or semi-professionally as a graphic designer; or are a hobbyist designer with a standout portfolio

Have experience working with both digital and print assets

Have a working knowledge of web design best practices and HTML/CSS

Have experience with Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Canva (but not ONLY Canva, sorry) and Wix or similar WYSIWYG ESP/site builder

The Designer will report to our Assistant Director/Webmaster, & will also collaborate closely with our Marketing Lead on graphic assets for social media and with our Merch Lead on preparing designs for print.

To apply, please fill out this form.

💬 Communications Coordinator 💬

Terror Camp is seeking an enthusiastic Communications Coordinator who will:

Own Terror Camp’s main email inbox and oversee all direct communication with attendees and interested parties

Respond promptly to inquiries including:

Requests for past recordings

Requests to join the Discord

Questions about schedule, programming, submissions, guests, and other conference topics

Catch inbounds to social media inboxes (Tumblr, X, Bluesky, Insta) & answer or redirect to email as appropriate

Act as coordinator/assistant for Marketing Lead, with responsibilities including:

Scheduling pre-written content

Assisting with ideating and drafting content, proposing content ideas

Cross-posting content to multiple platforms

Consistently and frequently engaging with social audiences (finding content to repost, replying to people, etc)

This job would be a good fit if you:

Work or have worked in any digital customer-facing environment; have experience with support tickets and/or ongoing user communications; have run social media for brands or institutions; are an efficient and clear writer able to work creatively within brand voice guidelines

Have successfully and sustainably moderated Discord servers, Tumblr communities, social media for other fandom projects like fests, zines, and charity events

Can spare the time and attention to respond to inquiries and turn around new social media posts in a timely manner

Are prepared to represent the Terror Camp brand professionally and maturely in digital public spaces

The Communications Coordinator will report directly to our Marketing Lead.

To apply, please fill out this form.

If you have any questions about these positions, please email us at command [at] terror [dot] camp!

[duckirubb3r]

To Be Hero X theory time

Disclaimer: I'm watching To Be Hero X in Japanese because it was the automatic option for the site I'm watching on. Because of this, anime-specific information will be using Japanese casting and English subtitles paired with the Japanese dubbing.

Okay so I never do this but I've become a deranged, obsessive fangirl who has been overanalysing everything for the past week and I have a major theory I need the world to hear before the second episode airs so it's apparent down the line that I'm either absolutely delusional, a giga genius, or some sort of mix of the two. There's only one episode so far and I want my 4D chess to pay off so I need as little canon evidence to go off of as possible to be more impressive.

I have more than one theory, but I'm going to focus on my biggest one. If you don't want to be spoiled or don't want to do a lot of reading, stop here. This post will be long.

Without further ado, my theory:

Ghostblade is the original Nice. The very first one to ever exist.

We know from episode 1 that anyone can replace a hero so long as people believe in them. Because no one was aware of Nice's suicide, everyone believed that Lin Ling, with his hair styled and painted white, was the real Nice. Thus, he became the real Nice. His hair became naturally white, his eyes turned blue, and his voice adjusted to sound like the former Nice's. Knowing this, it makes sense that even the Nice who killed himself probably wasn't the first Nice. Possibly not even the second or the third or even the tenth. There's a chance that a lot of former-Nices have existed.

After watching episode 1, I was desperate for more content which led me to this Tumblr post with character sheets for the top 10 heroes. When looking through each profile, I noticed something that felt way too strange to be just a coincidence: 4/10 of them, Nice included, have white hair, and all of those white-haired characters are 180cm tall. There's no way that's just a coincidence, right? So I ended up thinking about it more and more. I watched all of the character concept and character story movies (which I will henceforth refer to as CC and CS respectively) to look for more information and, before I knew it, I became a crazy theorist. My theories center around the white-haired heroes, but almost all of what I've thought of so far is exclusively about Nice and Ghostblade.

I saw the following promotional image that pictures the ten heroes focused on during the series.

Aside from the white hair and heights, I took particular notice of how Nice and Ghostblade look awfully similar in this image. This was when things really spiraled out of control for me.

Like dude, come on. Their hairstyle in particular is practically the same. It even parts on the same side.

Ghostblade's Character Concept and Character Story Movies

So I watched every character's CCs and CSs, but I really watched Ghostblades after coming up with this theory—and when I say I watched them, I mean I studied them. I analysed every frame I could, over and over. In doing so, I either became completely delusional or I found some very compelling evidence to support my theory that Ghostblade is the original Nice. I'm not sure how best to explain everything, so I'm just going to run through the videos themselves and do my best.

At the beginning of Ghostblade's CS, it shows him as a child—twelve years old, to be precise—in a dreary room with a mysterious man preparing to perform a surgical procedure on him. We're shown various screens with medical information on them. The text on these screens read:

“The cerebrum is not only the center of senses and voluntary movements, but also the center of mental activities such as memory and judgement. The cerebrum consists of two cerebral hemispheres connected by the corpus collosum, and the connection by the corpus collosum plays an important role in the signal transmission and interaction between the two cerebral hemispheres."

and

"The parietal lobe is located between the central sulcus and parieto-occipital sulcus, above the outer fissure, and contains the motor center that issues motor commands to the [...] somatosensory cortex [...] which are involved in processing [...] sensations such as touch, pressure, and pain, and are responsible for the sensory [...]"

All other text is unfortunately either unimportant or too blurry to read.

Using the text from these images, we can essentially determine that the surgeon was operating on twelve-year-old Ghostblade in an attempt to alter his voluntary movements, memory, judgement, sensations such as touch, pressure, and pain, and probably a lot more we aren't able to see.

Following this, we have a scene of Ghostblade standing in front of a mirror in what appears to be a restroom with smiley faces painted on the stall doors behind him. He takes a knife to the mirror and carves the Chinese character for “smile” before inspecting his teeth, leading us to believe the surgeon operated on them as well as his brain. But his teeth are perfect. Nothing is wrong with them. This means that the surgeon was probably correcting a flaw so that Ghostblade would have a better smile, hence the encouragement to smile with smiley faces painted on the walls.

So it seems to be the case that, whoever this surgeon is or whoever he's working for—whoever ordered these procedures to be conducted on twelve-year-old Ghostblade—was trying to make him a perfect person who's always shining a charming smile. Doesn't that sound familiar?

OH YEAH. IT'S HIM. "Mr. Perfect" a.k.a. Nice.

So, if Ghostblade's upbringing was an effort to turn him into the OG Nice, what other evidence is there for this? What are his parallels to Nice's character? How would Ghostblade fit into the Nice backstory? Don't worry, I've got you covered. Let's switch over to Ghostblade's CC for a bit. It's considerably shorter, but contains valuable insights. 

It starts with Ghostblade in some sort of open structure where a field of what looks to be daisies is blossoming and moonlight is spilling through. There's a bit of action, but the sequence of scenes that follow paint a grim picture. First, Ghostblade raises a hand. which transitions into the hand of a man (presumably him) and a woman in wedding attire with the groom slipping a ring onto the bride's finger.

Afterward, Ghostblade is looking up at the moon as its light engulfs him and it enters what appears to be a sequence of memories and daydreams where he's holding out his hand as the scenery changes. It cycles from the current moment

to the image of a girl's hand in his,

rain collecting on his palm,

his bloodied hand in the room of a child,

and his dirty/scratched up hand clenching into a fist above rubble where a single flower grows.

After the sequence, it returns to the flower field where Ghostblade is reaching out to the moon as what appears to be blood splatters begin to obscure the image.

That's basically it in terms of the visuals for his CC. The only thing left to mention is his theme song, because the lyrics are very notably about love which seems bizarre for a character who appears so dark, mysterious, and badass. The lyrics (chopped for the CC) are as follows:

And even if I have to start again It's all because of you If you don't know it by now My love for you will grow Know that this is true

So, what sort of story does his CC seem to tell? I think a good place to start is the flower field. The flowers appear to be daisies. If we assume they were deliberately selected, then if we look at flower language, in most cultures daisies apparently represent innocence, purity, loyal love, cheerfulness, childbirth, and new beginnings. Which lines up a lot with what I've observed so far! Ghostblade wears prayer beads around his wrist, so I'm assuming he's probably a religious man. That could easily align with ideals of purity and innocence. Loyal love/loyalty and love could obviously refer to a lover. Cheerfulness ties back to all the smiley faces and encouragement to smile. Childbirth is rather straightforward and will be relevant in a moment, and new beginnings... we'll come back to that in a bit, but for now, the lyric "and even if I have to start again" sort of speaks for itself.

To me, it seems to be a story about about a future Ghostblade could have had. The girl's hand in his was a lover he dreamed of marrying. The child's bedroom was one he hoped to one day have a child of his own occupy. The rain and the blood and the rubble were a memory, not a dream. His dreams died with his lover.

But who was his lover?

Well, he appears to have a fixation with the moon. When he's staring at the moon, the lyric that plays is "my love for you will grow" so is it possible that the moon might symbolise something? Yeah, sure. I can already think of at least one character who loves a moon—Nice lmao.

Does this mean that Moon died? Yeah. I mean, she died in episode 1 too and we know there's been at least two Nices now—Lin Ling and the Nice before him. There have probably been more Moons too! Whether the Moon I reckon Ghostblade loved in my theory was the OG Moon or not, I'm not sure... but probably? Either way, that detail isn't very important.

So! If we suppose that Ghostblade's CC is about him losing his lover, Moon, and, in turn, the future he dreamed of with her, then how does that tie back in to his CS? Let's pick up where we left off.

After the scene of child-Ghostblade checking his teeth in the mirror, there are various visuals of people smiling and more smiley faces. We're met again with Ghostblade in front of the same mirror he carved on as a child, albeit as an adult now. Looking into the mirror, Ghostblade puts on his signature metallic mask and a frowning face flashes on the screen, contrasting the smile that was so prevalent in his childhood. We then see a sequence of a slaughterhouse. Inside the slaughterhouse, there's a close-up of Ghostblade's eye as he looks at slaughtered animals, followed by a shot of what appears to be a difficult to distinguish image of a cow(?) giving birth. After that, it switches to Ghostblade fighting people in suits rather than your typical villain dressed as uniquely as the heroes are.

A birthing cow seems rather out of place, but we've already encountered the theme of birth. Previously, I mentioned that daisies can represent childbirth. Additionally, Ghostblade appeared to dream of a future where he'd have a child with his lover. This is also where I'd like to come back to the idea of new beginnings. Once again, the lyric that plays during this slaughterhouse/birthing cow/beginning of the fight scene is "and even if I have to start again." From this, it seems as though the birthing cow symbolises a rebirth of sorts when he engages in the slaughter of his enemies, comparing them to animals. This rebirth is also implied by the shot of him putting on his metal mask in front of the mirror with the sad face showing up after. It was likely the first time he donned the mask, as well as the moment he threw away his identity as Nice and was reborn as Ghostblade.

It transitions from the fighting to a scene where Ghostblade is standing by the ocean in civilian clothes without a mask. There are various things littered and washed up on the shore, such as empty soda cans, a shoe, a cigarette, a keyring, and a still-breathing fish. The items left abandoned in the sand, specifically the keyring, could symbolise him discarding things from his life as Nice, and the beached fish—the fish out of water—could represent how he's gone from spending his entire life up to that point playing the role of someone he was forced to be and now being out of his depths as he tries to become someone else, whether it's the real him or not, and start again from scratch.

There's another short fight scene where Ghostblade is curiously wearing sunglasses, a plain cloth face mask, and a normal jacket instead of his hero outfit and metal mask.

It's possible that, in this particular scene, the concept of "Ghostblade" didn't exist yet and this was the OG Nice disguising himself to commit these killings. If people recognised him as Nice doing something like this, his Trust Value would go down and he'd lose power. His reputation would be shattered. But who is he killing, anyway? Who are these people in suits who don't look anything like the villains that show up in the other CCs and CSs, aside from perhaps X's? Well, maybe they're the ones behind the death of his lover, the OG Moon. But what group of shady, well-dressed individuals would want to kill Moon, a hero? Well, how about Spotlight Organisation, the group that, in episode 1, was responsible for attacking Nice/Lin Ling (and Moon because she was there too...)? That checks out, surely.

Finally, at the end of Ghostblade's CS, we see him by the ocean again. A stuffed rabbit is caught in the tide and washes up to him. Maybe it's another one of the things he discarded from his life as Nice. But he reaches down to grab it. Before he can get ahold of it, it's pulled further away again. He begins walking into the water to chase after the rabbit.

Why is this significant? Why is he chasing the stuffed rabbit into the ocean? Well, there's a Chinese folklore story about a rabbit on the moon. Known as the Jade Rabbit, it lives with the moon goddess, Chang-e, and creates elixirs for immortality. During his miserable life being experimented on and forced to smile and be perfect, the only thing that allowed him to keep pushing on was Moon. The only thing that gave him life, just like the Jade Rabbit, was Moon. Perhaps the stuffed rabbit represents Moon, how she was swept away from him, and how he's still chasing after her.

Aw. How sad.

Okay, time for some nitty gritty details! In episode 1, after Nice killed himself and Lin Ling became the new Nice, Lin Ling was the one everyone was seeing and therefore interpreting as being Nice. Because of that, the former Nice was no longer "Nice"—Lin Ling was. Thus, Lin Ling's appearance started to change, physically turning him into the new Nice. Using this same logic, we can reason that it probably works the other way around too! The former Nice probably would have had his appearance start to revert to what he looked like before, had he not died, because he was no longer the person everyone thought was Nice.

We can apply this same sort of logic to Ghostblade with his transition from being Nice to being Ghostblade. We know that Ghostblade already had white hair as a kid so it would make sense for his hair colour and style to stay relatively the same when reverting from being Nice and becoming what is now Ghostblade. After all, if he was the OG Nice, then "Nice"'s appearance probably would have stemmed from his. Nice and Ghostblade have different eye colours and voices, though. This is a little harder to explain away, but eye colour is a feature that's harder to notice without close scrutiny. Even still, both Nice and Ghostblade have light coloured eyes and it's plausible that his Trust Value affected his eye colour either gradually or before anyone actually noticed, because being packaged and advertised as "the perfect hero" immediately evokes a certain image from people. His voice could have potentially undergone a similar sort of process, but we also know that the experiments on Ghostblade started when he was twelve years old. If he became a hero while he was still young, it's plausible that his voice hadn't properly matured yet by the time he publicly became Nice so it was higher and had already made an impression upon his public debut. After abandoning his identity as Nice, someone else probably took over and replaced him. When the replacement became known as the new Nice, it's possible that Ghostblade's eye colour and his voice reverted, but his hair colour never had to change to begin with. Because of him no longer being Nice and his features changing back to what they used to be, he could now be seen as a different person, therefore opening the door for him to become a different hero altogether—Ghostblade.

So, how delusional am I on a scale from 1-10? Did I cook or did this shit come out burned to a crisp? I can't wait for this theory to get ripped apart effortlessly despite all the hours of intense pondering I've spent on it. It's gonna hurt if not one single element of this was even remotely close to being right. If it's wrong? I'll probably just turn it into a fanfiction lmao.

Edit: I forgot to add this, but on his character sheet linked to at the start of this horrendously long post, Ghostblades interests and skills include homemaking and cooking!! Bro was already training to be a housewife, I'm telling you.

[lightning-bug13]

The Significance of the first meeting

It really bothers me when people lack comprehension skills when it comes to media so let’s talk about the love at first sight scene with LBY and CSS aka why the wrist scene is not just a simple scene of love at first sight as implied..

This is their very first encounter and it establishes two things-

1. Our protagonist is someone smart and vengeful who will not cow to societal expectations.

2.That LBY and she share similar moral values when it comes to justice and fairness

The context of the scene is that our neglected female lead is going home after a serious bout of illness when she’s surrounded by LBY and his men in search of a wanted man who is involved in a case of fake weapons being sold to the military.

For those who’ve watched the show you would understand why it would be a big issue for LBY and he’s aware that the suspect was headed to CSS’s place and might seek shelter there given the familial connection.

He’s prepared to be denied the search but what happens instead?

CSS not only refuses to shield the suspect but gives him a clue to find him instead and points him in the right direction hence the wrist shot. It’s at this moment he realises he has found someone that both shares his thoughts and ideals as well as someone who would understand his rage and bitterness too thus CSS is his perfect match and he falls for her

If you made it to the end please do share your thoughts and let me know if there’s anything you think I’ve left off or would like to go in a different direction

[jergg]

learned something interesting trying to make pets reappear on their lookups

.contentModuleContent img {display: none;}

^ short answer, this line was to blame for CSS hiding the pet image. I wrote my own PL code so my fault. it was intended to hide the customization rating stars and some other cruft. Pretty quick to fix, no need to remove the above line.

#pet_anim img {display:block;}

But...... that means the pet is an image separate from their customization items? You can manipulate the size and margins, but it gets off center really easily. how about transform

#pet_anim img {display:block; transform: rotate(180deg) scale(2)}

it doesn't save because [whatever neopets reason here]. how about filter? people used to go nuts grayscaling their shops back in the late 00s...

#pet_anim img {display:block; filter: grayscale(0.8) drop-shadow(3px 2px 30px #ff0000) hue-rotate(210deg)};

and this one does save!

it's lookup CSS so it doesn't generated into the images on userlookups/forums but on their lookup your pet can glow (or radiate darkness) or be grayscale or inverted idk.

Also clothing may or may not share the pet layer so prepare for a scare if doing it on customized pets. maybe you'll make something better looking

[9vvo]

Hey all, first post I'm going to do here.

I'm going to talk about the USS Indianola (pictured above), mainly because the story surrounding this could honestly be an idea for a potential sam o'nella video.

The USS Indianola was a casemate ironclad which served under the Union during the civil war. The ship was built by Joseph Brown of Cincinnati, OH for the US Government for $128,000 dollars at the time or about $4,000,000 adjusted for inflation.

By September 1, 1862 construction was nearly complete, however this would be halted when Union Forces under General Lew Wallace seized the unfinished ship the day after and would be launched on the fourth that month in order to defend Cincinnati from Confederate Forces. When the Threat ended on the 12th that month, the ship was returned for completion and would be officially commissioned later that month.

The thing would finally be completed on December of 1862, but the Ohio River's water levels were too low to cross the Falls of the Ohio. Eventually on January of 1863, she would join the Mississippi Squadron at Cairo, IL.

During the Vicksburg Campaign, Union Navy Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter would order the USS Queen of the West (pictured below) down the Mississippi in order to intercept Confederate Shipping between Vicksburg, MS and Port Hudson, LA and would operate there until the 5th of February, 1863. Remember the Queen of the West as she becomes relevant later on.

The Queen of the West would later make a second trip and entered the Red River on February 14. Indianola would now be under the command of Union Navy Lieutenant Commander George Brown. Indianola would leave her moorings at the Yazoo the night before with two barges loaded with coal strapped onto her sides and steamed south under fire from the Vicksburg defenses. She would link up with Queen of the West in her operations down the river. After passing Confederate positions, she would anchor for the night and resumed sailing toward the south.

Indianola had been specifically chosen for this operation because her engines would allow her to reach a speed of 2 Knots (or 2.3mph/3.7kph) upstream against the current making it a lot faster than other ships under Porter's Command making her a better fit for escaping upriver if there were an emergency.

Queen of the West would disabled in a fight against Confederate Shore Defenses along the Red River and had to be abandoned. Her crew would make it to the Indianola on a captured packet steamer while being chased down by the Confederate Steamer CSS William H. Web.

Indianola would move against William H. Webb and would eventually spot her that afternoon. Indianola fired it's guns but William H. Webb was out of range and managed to escape into the fog. She would eventually hold a blockade of the junction of the Red and Mississippi, but withdrew on the 21st after learning William H. Webb, the captured and Repaired Queen of the West, and two steamers filled with Confederate soldiers were moving to attack her.

Indianola would be slowed by the two coal barges she was bringing and would be caught on the night of the 24th by Wiliam H. Webb and Queen of the West. Brown would face the Indianola toward the Confederate Ships and prepared for the inevitable fight by positioning the ship so that one of the coal barges were inbetween Indianola and the Confederate Ships.

She would fire her guns at the Confederate Ships, missing her shots. Queen of the West would ram Indianola on her left side and nearly smashed one of the barges in half. The William H. Webb would ram the Indianola Head-On immediately after with the William H. Webb also being damaged in the Collision.

Queen of the West would move upstream to build momentum and rammed the Starboard Side of Indianola, destroying one of the rudders and the Wheelhouse. The William H. Webb would perform a similar manuever, damaging the Indianola's Stern. Brown ordered the ship to fire, some say that the Indianola only scored a single hit on the Queen of the West which caused casualties but did basically no structural damage. Others say the Indianola scored two hits on the Queen of the West which one disabled cannons and also hit William H. Webb once.

At this point, the Indianola was barely functional and was sinking rapidly and Brown had the ship run aground to the Western Bank of the River and lowered the ship's flag. The Confederates were able to pull the ship over to the Eastern Bank which they held. Indianola would sink in 3 meters of water. During the fight, Indianola would be rammed seven times. All but one sailor onboard would survive the battle, but only three escaped the ship's capture to bring word to Porter. Brown and most of the Crew had been taken Prisoner.

The Confederates would dispatch a salvage crew to raise Indianola. The Union High-Ups knew if the Ship was repaired and added to the Confederate Navy like Queen of the West was, it would be disastrous for the Union Fleet on the Misssissippi and considerably harm the war effort.

Now, this is where it gets funny:

Porter did NOT have any ships available to send on the mission to destroy the Indianola before it fell into Confederate Hands, so he ordered the construction of an "Ironclad" in order to scare the Salvage Crew into abandoning the Wreck. This "Ironclad" would be made by lengthening an old Coal Barge with logs and adding a Casemate, Fake Cannons made out of Logs, and two smokestacks made out of Pork Barrels. The "Ironclad" would be given the name "Black Terror" and would be sent downstream on the 26th.

The Black Terror would pass the Vicksburg Defenses without any major damage and scared the Queen of the West into leaving the area of the wreck. The Salvage Crew (who were allegedly drunk at the time) threw the Indianola's 9-Inch Guns into the Missisippi and pointed the 11-Inch Guns at eachother muzzle-to-muzzle and fired them at eachother before burning what remained down to the Waterline.

On the 27th, the Confederates would realize the Black Terror wasn't an actual Ironclad Warship. Vicksburg would fall to Union Forces on July 4th and the Remains of Indianola's wreck were raised on January 5th of 1865 which were sold in Illinois on January 17th.

[muhammaddaniyalprogrammer]

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[gabessquishytum]

Dream's a software developer (I could see either as an architect for that large-scale view mentality or as the Senior level dev that keeps getting asked to move into management type positions and just straight up refuses because he's been doing code happily for the past fifteen years and doesn't plan on changing that now).

He enjoys his job enough. He likes computers and code. It functions exactly as told (for better or worse) and appreciates the straightforwardness of it all. He's a bit insufferable to work with, but if you have an issue, he'll readily help (just be prepares for critiques on your code in the process).

Hob works at the same company as Dream, but as a front-end dev. The work he does for his day job is kinda boring. All standard corporate style web design. No fancy scripts or fun colors. But in his spare time, he weaves Javascript and CSS like a wizard and creates magical, animated scenes across the page. Would it be easier to just make a video and play it on the page instead? Sure, but where's the fun in that?

Dream and Hob get paired together on a small side project for work. Hob does the front-end work, Dream does the back-end. They get on each other's nerves at first, until Dream spots Hob tinkering with his personal code on their lunch break and is honestly a bit in awe. He's found code beautiful in its own right (the way one appreciates a well-oiled machine) but he's never seen it wielded in such a fashion before. This is the moment he falls just a little bit (read: a lotta bit) in love with Hob. He was already starting to fall for that endless charm and wit of his anyways.

The company hits the first quarter of the New Year and with it come layoffs. Hob gets fired along with some other devs from Dream's same team (a younger pair of devs: Matthew and Jessamy). A fellow named Will comes along to help Dream finish the project in Hob's stead and Dream hates every moment of it. He misses Hob, more than he ever thought he would.

So, in an impulsive rush of anger and longing, he quits the company because how dare it toss someone as good as Hob Gadling out the door without a thought? He's halfway to the café he and Hob had started frequenting together when he realizes that he's just thrown away a career fifteen years in the making. But when he finally gets to the café and sees Hob tapping away on his laptop, he knows he's made the right choice.

Dream slides into the seat across from him and proposes that they build something wonderful together. So they create a small business of their own. They become a freelance web dev team (and steal Jessamy and Matthew as well) and with their skills combined, they take off. It's not huge, but for their size, they're incredibly popular. And Dream's certain he's never enjoyed his work more than when he's working beside Hob.

Later on, Hob proposes to Dream via a custom website with the most beautiful web animations he's ever seen before. And of course, he says yes.

(If you're curious about what inspired this, here's the website: http://www.species-in-pieces.com)

This is such a good concept for a story!!! I really really love aus where Dream and Hob are coworkers. Dream being the grumpy, awkward guy who hides behind his coffee mug while Hob is the popular, chatty one who tries to get Dream involved in fun office activities or socialising after work - it makes so much sense to me.

And Dream quitting his long-term dream job because he's mad that genuinely talented people have been laid off? I love it. Dream just has this inate appreciation for hard work and good art, and that's exactly what Hob (and Jessamy and Matthew) do. How dare the stupid company not understand that they're firing people who deserve to thrive and grow in an environment which actually appreciates them? Everyone is shocked that Dream has quit (not only that, he sends around an email to everyone in the company from the ceo all the way down to the work experience guy, outlining exactly why he quit) because he seemed to be the type to play by the rules and never leave his comfort zone. Apparently, Hob has really helped him bloom into a much more confident person, able to express his principles and strive for better.

And Hob isn't surprised, because he always knew that Dream had the courage, talent and ambition to strike out on his own. Maybe he just needed a bit of love and understanding. Which Hob is only too happy to provide.

Their work together sometimes involves long hours and stress, but Dream wouldn't ever want to go back to the slightly soulless corporation where he used to be. Even if he's tired and a little frustrated by Hob’s disorganised workspace, Dream is perfectly content. There's nothing better than curling up in Hob’s lap while he taps away on a line of code. Plus, he has a great time building their wedding website. Hob got to propose, so Dream gets to celebrate their upcoming marriage with his own expression of love through code. The theme colours are, of course, black and red <3

[akumeoy]

Thoughts on SCP themes?

i think an underappreciated aspect of using a custom css theme for an scp is that if someone reads two scps in a row with noticeably different themes, that's like if two consecutive pages of a book had different fonts, border designs, etc. it's not something you should endeavor to do unless a) there's some specific in-universe reason, or b) you very specifically want to draw a line between your scp and others on the site.

ad astra per aspera is a case of this effect being used well: once that theme loads in, you should prepare to see the foundation operating in outer space and not on earth. that's a pretty important distinction to draw when the "default" scp canon has the foundation operating on earth and mostly not in outer space. it gets readers onboard without wasting verbiage in the article itself. any goi format article can also make great use of these; the mc&d articles come to mind.

of course, scp authors can't be trusted with anything nice, so there are like fifty fucking css themes that all exist for no reason other than the author's own aesthetic preference, or to like... set the vibe for a series. and if you're ever publishing your article in a standalone environment (like an ebook), then you should absolutely pick the aesthetic that suits your specific needs and tastes.

the scp wiki is not a standalone environment. 99% of you are not writing 'destination' articles, nobody is clicking through to read your article specifically and then clicking away. i'm not opening that tab unless i intend to read multiple scps and it's such a pain when they all look totally different for no well-defined reason.

also a lot of the themes are fucking ugly so that's another mark against them.

[voskhodart]

I’m honestly a little doubtful that Art Fight is going to happen this year, but if it does, I’m prepared for it to suck more than ever. And as much as I love my custom profile CSS, there’s no way I’m paying to have it for another year if we don’t even see a theme poll or budget update by the end of February. What the fuck are they doing over there.

[getbreaded]

Finally submitted the CSS project :) It's such a relief, and I'm pretty proud of it. I just hope nothing goes wrong when the prof is testing it.

Just the SIG exam and project now, and then I'll finally be able to rest and prepare for the next semester. Relaxation activities will include knitting, ceramics, playing animal crossing, reading, building the Arduino Project, and hiking! (hopefully...If you see me around tumblr too much tell me to quit it and go live off screen for a while.)

---

Captured these two moments of quiet amid all the chaos and anxiety of last week, so I just wanted to have them here to remind myself to stop, breathe, and realize there's a life outside uni and grades and projects.