#Free Leads Generator Software

[leadethuk]

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[reputedfirm]

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[akseospecialist]

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[derinthescarletpescatarian]

For anyone wondering about my computer, here's the current dealio:

graphics card issue resolved by installing Steam from the Steam site; apparently the one in the app store is an alternate version that's notoriously buggy. Thanks lapsuslapsiis and purple-hel for tipping me off about this.

the game that was experiencing said issue runs now, but it for some reason so laggy as to literally be unplayable (which, since the issue was a graphics memory space thing, makes me really really hope that the issue is actually resolved and this isn't same issue different symptom). I have some fresh new ram coming in the mail so if it's a general memory issue then that might solve it.

I thought that switching hard drives had solved the freezing issue; turns out it hasn't. Freezing seems to be less frequent, which might mean something (since the OS switch I've got a lot more free space on the hard drive, so if it's a memory issue then there might be more wiggle room there) or it might just be random. Again, I've got ram coming in the mail, so that'll either solve the issue or it won't.

Since switching to Linux, I've experienced a fair bit of general lag; programs are much slower to respond, and are especially a lot slower to open, than they were on Windows. Computer people might recognise this as "the exact opposite of what most people experience when trading Windows for Linux". Linux has always been as fast or faster on my other computers but it's slow here. I might be totally off-base here but this also leads me to suspect a memory hardware issue -- lagging and freezing are probably the same problem, and less demand on the computer systems might just mean trading lagging for some of the freezing.

I floated earlier that the freezing might actually be the computer suddenly failing to recognise all input devices, which are all USB devices (I've had issues with it recognising my internet dongle, also USB, before). Since it's either a hardware issue or a bios issue (sudden onset makes me think hardware), I was worried that this might mean something fucked on the motherboard. We can put this theory to rest -- it's now frozen multiple times during youtube videos and when it does, the videos freeze and loop about 1 second of sound. It's definitely freezing, not just failing all inputs.

So in conclusion, I've got 8GB of ram in this thing and I suspect some of it might be broken, and there's 64GB of shiny new ram coming in the mail to replace it, and the switch will either fix all of my problems or it won't. If I keep randomly guessing then something I try will have to work eventually. If it doesn't work then it might be a video card software issue re: Nvidia on Linux, and also a hardware motherboard issue causing the freezes that had me switch in the first place, but I'm hoping it's the ram thing which is so much cheaper and easier to fix.

Also this beast has had memory issues for literal years at this point so this might just be the tipping point re: ram.

[yapperblog]

Random dating Joost headcanons

SFW and NSFW. +18 only! rpf below, don't interact if you are not comfortable with that

SFW

loves when you come to watch his show, knowing your eyes are on him the whole time makes it even more exciting. Winks and smiles at you whenever he comes dancing closer to the backstage where you are standing.

watching the rest of the head-liners after his show at the festival together. To avoid getting recognised, you both wear facemasks or hoodies with the hood up, but it adds to the fun. You both get a drink, sing along and dance together.

if you were not traveling with him, you always stay up to wait for him to come home. He often comes back tired after multiple sets back to back late at night. He crawls in bed into your waiting arms, head falling into your lap. you run your fingers through his hair, rub his back, whispering sweet nothings to him. He tells you about the show and the after party, all the shenanigans he got up to with his friends, his voice gets quieter and quieter as you rub his back, it turns into soft breathing with him falling asleep in your lap.

loves laying on your chest holding you close to him. Makes him feel safe and loved.

lets you play with his hair, as you sit on his lap facing him, you messily style it into different hairstyles. You give him a middle part, or brush his hair completely behind his ears and take photos of him while giggling. He acts like he is not a big fan of it, but secretly loves the feeling of your fingers in his hair and just watches you have fun.

the photo of him you took with two tiny pig tales, pink bows on each side, does numbers on social media.

you want to see how he will look like with eyeliner? Say no more, he is up for it.

in general loves every activity that involves you being as close to him as possible. Watching tv? he is right next to you, big spooning you or putting your legs on his lap. He needs to be touching you at all times.

an insane amount of inside jokes between you two. Sometimes you only need a glance at him and you both already know what the other is thinking and without saying a word, you burst out laughing at the same time.

he is your biggest hypeman. No matter if it is a small or a big project, he is ready to hype you up and give you all the motivation and affirmation he can. Sometimes it's cheesy phrases, but it works nonetheless. Even if you are simply picking out an outfit for the day, he is there to cheer you on. Hugs you from behind as you are looking into the mirror, covers you in compliments and kisses.

he is a workaholic, spends most of his free time either working on his ipad or in the studio, his brain always going a hundred miles an hour thinking of new ideas for the album or the tour. But he always makes time to plan a date with you, even if you have been dating for a couple of years, each date brings a thrill and you both crave spending quality time together.

loves when you join him in the studio while he is working. He says having you close brings inspiration ho him. You let him do his thing, while you sit on a sofa reading a book or scrolling on your phone, once in a while you hear him hum a melody to himself, while recording it to remember it and potentially use later in a song. Or he plays around with different sounds on the software. When he asks you for a rhyme to a word, you are excited to help him brainstorm. After a few hours he joins you on the sofa, burying his face into your neck kissing softly, while you suggest ideas of what to order for dinner.

loves being taken care of. it can be something small, like you bringing him a plate of food while he is deep into his work, or lather up shampoo into his hair in the shower, gently washing his day away. as you step out of the shower, you wrap a towel around him, drying him off. You lead him into your bedroom, he's had a long day, his eyes are already heavy with sleep, all he wants is to wrap his hands around you, your scent filling his nose and close his eyes.

says "I love you" as often as he breaths and it never looses the heavy meaning behind those words. He means it every time and you always make sure to say it back.

you send him a photo of the belt with a fun chunky buckle you found at the thrift store with a message "do you want me to get this for you? thought it fits your style." A smile spreads across his face, he loves that you thought of him.

gets you matching bracelets. He has your initials and you have a J.K. engraved. Often brings your hand, the one you wear the bracelet on, closer to his chest, sometimes he doesn't even seem to notice he does it, just wants it closer to his heart on an instinct.

facetimes you when he is in a car on his way to a show, sometimes it's short just to see you and hear your voice, or longer calls when he is traveling to another country. He tells you all about his day, asks questions about you. If his friends are also in the car, it becomes a group yap session. You team up with one of them to jokingly make fun of Joost for something he said or did that day. Laughter fills the room through your phone.

the biggest tease in the world. If you are shorter than him, he will use it to an advantage every chance he gets, like holding things you need above your reach. He is a better dancer than you, so he often ends up lightheartedly laughing at your attempts to replicate his dance moves. He loves that you can match his energy and understand his humour.

you tease him back as much. With every shared joke he falls inlove with you even more.

NSFW

as often as he is tired after the show, as if on a flip of a coin, he can also be wired with energy. If on a usual day the sex is great, after the show, both of you high on adrenaline, it is a 100 times better.

sometimes you don't even bother getting home first, you do it in his little room backstage. As soon as you lock the door, his lips collide with yours, hands find your waist to bring you flush against him. Shameless moans fill the room, you both know it's only the people you trust also backstage and no one will walk in.

always tries to make sure you cum first, he gets off on your pleasure. When you came or he feels you are close, he looks into your eyes asking for consent, you nod and he lets loose, hugs you as tight to him as possible still holding your hips and chases his own release, letting out heavy breaths and groans.

loves seeing your face while having sex, his hairy chest and stomach flush against yours, necklace dangling in your face with each thrust.

but also becomes absolutely entranced watching his dick slip in and out of you. If you let him cum inside, he sits back on his heels to watch the cum drip out of you, a reminder of what you just did. He will try to collect it all and push it back in hearing your moan. He likes to think he is not possessive, but doing this can absolutely get him hard again.

if he isn't cumming inside, he loves to do it on your chest or stomach.

because he loves being close to you as much as possible, it often ends in him up getting horny.

his hand slowly sneaking under your t-shirt while you are watching tv together him being a big spoon. A whimper falls from your lips as you feel him palm your tit and lightly pinch your nipple. It gets you in a mood really fast. You will have to rewind the show you were watching, as it was long forgotten when you end up getting pounded from behind or riding him.

loves having you sit on his lap. You are at your friends place on a private patio, he is smoking a cigarette, both of you in a conversation with your friends. His hand slips from your waist to your upper thigh and rests there for a while until he starts rubbing soft circles and grabbing at the soft exposed skin because of a skirt you are wearing. You turn to face him, a smirk spreading on his face, you already know you are in for a fun time when you get back home.

if you are not on his lap, but sitting on a chair beside him, his hand always finds your thigh or he has to be holding your ankle. He is also fine with just holding your hand intertwining your fingers. It grounds him and serves as a reminder that you are his and next to him.

seeing how much he loves the bracelet with his initials you are wearing, you get a necklace with a small pendant that says "klein" in cursive and decide to surprise him with it. To say he loved it, is an understatement, he kept getting hard round after round while looking at it dangling on your neck. (got carried away and wrote the whole thing on this Necklace)

[scam-alerts]

As a Sonic fan I feel the need to spread news about the scams targeting Sonic fans that are going around lately.

One of them, which I don’t have any evidence for at this time but have been warned about through word-of-mouth, is that sometimes scammers will pretend they have a popular or hard-to-find Sonic character plush (Build-a-Bear Shadow, basically any Tails plush, SOAP shoe Sonic, etc.) and pretend to be selling it. A friend of mine said they tried to buy a Tails plush from someone online, sent the “seller” money, and not only did they not get Tails, but the “seller” put the listing back up like nothing happened. And that person showed me evidence of similar scams but they didn’t send it to me, just had me look at the screen.

Another one, which I do have screenshots of, is bot blogs centered around the Sonic movies, using either uncredited fan art or AI-generated images, and posting sketchy-looking links to “watch the movies for free”.

Hi there! Thank you for sending in your ask!

Sellers listing fake products and not shipping the product is something that, unfortunately, happens all the time on places like Facebook marketplace and even ebay.

That is why I would request proof of ownership via a picture of the object you are looking to buy, the plushies for example, and something like your name on a piece of paper written on it beside it, or a fork, spoon, banana, ect in frame or beside it too.

Nothing that would hurt or ruin it, just to add validity that they do ineed own it.

Before buying a product from someone, especially off of tumblr, you can reverse image search the image to see if it's been posted online previously.

Here's a guide on how to do that:

As for links offering free ways/methods to watch movies...

Unfortunately that's always been one of the biggest and most notorious scams circulating around online.

Clicking these links will harm your phone or computer, as in most cases they involve malicious websites that ask you to sign up, download, and/or install some sort of software to watch the movie.

Or they may even lead to a fake tumblr login page that will turn your account into a bot after it steals your login information, or lead to a fake virus alert to install an app that will try to steal your information and passwords.

Its not pretty all around, and any and all posts you encounter like that should be reported as spam asap.

Thank you for your ask! I hope this helps!

Note: The tags that are used are used with appropriate relevance given context to spread awareness and to help prevent scams.

[thhouseofblack]

Hello♡

Hello! I'm Sil - a queer university student studying global affairs. My pronouns are she/her and I enjoy all things greek mythos. I write in this fandom (at least, at the moment) - and my fics are down below! Feel free to hit me up with anything, i love to talk, though i'm a bad texter in general so please have some grace!

I do not support AI so please don't put my works through any AI software(?). Please don't steal any of my fics, especially without giving due credit! Thank you!!

My Links:

Twitter

Ko-Fi

My Works:

General:

I Held Her Hand Tighter:

In the lead up to the arrival of Helen's suitors, Clytemnestra, Penelope and Helen spend an afternoon together talking about marriage and their futures (One shot - part of Days of Olive and Honey series)

The Apple of My Eye:

After God Games, Hera and Athena talk about Athena's parental relationship with Odysseus. (One Shot)

Fighting From Afar:

Odysseus dies during the war. With a prophecy that claims that only the mind of Laertiades will cause the fall of Troy, Ten year old Prince Telemachus is brought to the shores of Troy. (Ongoing 6/8)

Forgive My Wanton Grief:

My Love I Kept You Well side series focusing on the Gods during the main fic. (Ongoing 2/?)

Your Dreams are Blameless:

After his ship breaks during a mission to retrieve the son of Achilles, Odysseus gets to make a brief visit home - after ten long years at the shores of Troy - and reunite with his wife and son for a few days. (Ongoing 2/6)

Sing O' Muse Of The Man Of Twists And Turns:

The main cast of the Iliad react to EPIC: The Musical, and other parts of The Odyssey. (Ongoing 1/30)

One Born of A Noble Mother:

Telemachus and Penelope's tumultuous relationship before and after Odysseus' return to Ithaca. (Ongoing 2/4)

Odysseus/Penelope -

My Saved Up Happiness:

It is two weeks after the birth of their son (he does not know that it is two months before he is forced to leave for war) , Odysseus puts aside his duties and work and spends the afternoon with his wife and newborn son. (One shot - part of Days of Olive and Honey series)

The Dream of You:

Stuck at Troy, Odysseus thinks back on the years he spent with Penelope after their marriage. (One shot - part of Days of Olive and Honey series)

My Love I Kept You Well:

Penelope is the one taken as Paris' Achaean Bride instead of Helen - Penelope of Troy AU (Completed 8/8)

A Hand With No Lines:

Odysseus and Penelope find out they're expecting a baby after years of struggling with the absence of a child of their own in their life. (2/5 - part of Days of Olive and Honey series)

Time Rejoices For You and I Have Reunited:

Penelope and Odysseus' reunion happens slightly diffferently when she awakens earlier and reaches where Odysseus' carnage is unfolding, unaware. (One shot)

Odysseus/Diomedes -

Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder:

Book V of the Iliad - Diomedes knows that none can see the Lady Aphrodite's true form, that she appears as one's most desired, adored and loved. Yet it still takes him aback entirely when she appears to him as Odysseus. (One shot)

Penelope/Diomedes -

Of the Art of Destruction and Creation:

They bond during one of Diomedes' stays in Ithaca during the Odyssey. Penelope teaches him how to weave. (One shot)

You Are The Trembling of Time:

With the fourth year since the end of the Trojan War passing, the Elders of Ithaca have begun pushing for Penelope to marry again and take another man for husband - Odysseus considered dead by everyone. It is in the wake of this that Diomedes returns to Ithaca - to a distraught Penelope and Telemachus. (One shot)

Others -

The Light of Mine Glory:

Penelope/Apollo + Odysseus/Penelope; Penelope was Apollo's lover before her marriage. Now, years later, she is breaking at the seams holding together a kingdom amidst her own grief, when Apollo comes to her again, with a deal so irresistible that she cannot help but not refuse - Odysseus' safe return home. (One shot)

An Embassy to Atreides:

Odysseus/Agamemnon + One Sided Odysseus/Menelaus; With the Achaeans losing their battles after Agamemnon and Achilles' argument, Odysseus finds another way to bring about the peace. (One Shot)

Sleeping With a Serpent:

Odysseus/Agamemnon; Five times Odyssseus convinced Agamemnon into letting him have his way, and the One time Agamemnon got Odysseus following his words. (Ongoing 2/6)

If Music Be The Food of Love, Play On:

Diomedes/Telemachus; Diomedes and Fem!Telemachus are forced to marry after being caught waking up together, chaos ensues as Odysseus' return looms in the background (Ongoing 1/3)

[spacechild-glitchypix]

How to position facial features for the Our Life sprites

Idk how many people need this tutorial (especially since I kinda sat on it for like a month...whoops) but I noticed people were starting to make more sprite edits and videos using the in-game sprites and I thought having this tutorial might help for those of you who don't know exactly how to place the expression layers for the sprite.

Part 1: What am I talking about?

Ok so some of you may be reading the post title and thinking "what the hell does that mean?". For those who are unaware, if you decompile OL1 and OL2, you can find the sprites used for the characters in the game. These files are generally in character folders that contain all the bits for each sprite as well as several versions of the sprite itself in different outfits. All these base sprites files look a little like this

You may have noticed the glaringly obvious detail that Qiu here is missing most of their face. That's because there are several seperate images used for their eyebrows, eyes and mouth. The reason they're all seperated like this is to give more creative freedom over expressions than what would be allowed if there were just already a set number of sprites with set expressions

However, if you want to make a spite edit video, that means you have to piece all the expression layers over the sprite and, since the expression layers don't have the same canvas size as the sprite, you have to actually place them on the face yourself. This can lead to stuff like this.

If you're looking at this and thinking it doesn't look quite right, you're correct. This is the issue you're noticing

This is generally what happens when you try placing expression layers by eye, you end up sort of assuming you've got the right spot when you're actually slightly wrong. And this is gif just shows the facial features in the wrong spot vertically

So, I've explained the problem, now how do you fix it? It's simple actually.

Part 2: The actual tutorial part

What you'll need:

The sprites and expression layers you need (this tutorial assumes you already have the game decompiled. If you don't and have no idea how to do so, here's a tutorial for just that)

An editing software that has a tranform tool such as Photopea, Photoshop, GIMP, etc.

Step 1: Open up the sprite you want to use in your image editing software of choice and import in all the expression layers you want to use

Step 2: Open up the transform tool on your editing software. Where this is may vary, on Photopea and Photoshop you can open up either through the shortcut alt+control+t or clicking on edit in the top bar and selecting Free Transform from the menu. If you don't know where the transform tool is in your software, I'd suggest looking it up

(A showcase of where the tranform tool is in Photopea and Photoshop)

(What the transform box should look like

Step 2.5 (This might be photopea specific, idk if other software does this): If your transformation tool box looks like this, cancel out of the tool (using the little x button on the top bar) and then open the transformation tool back up again. Make sure you're not selecting multiple layers and also make sure you didn't open the tool with the transformation controls tick box from the top bar. If none of that works, just delete the layer and grab it from your folder again and try again

Step 3: With the transform tool still open on your desired layer, move the layer so that it snaps against the corner of your canvas. Your image editing software should automatically have layer snapping enabled but, if not, I suggest looking up how to turn it on. If it doesn't have this, the best suggestion I have would just be to make sure the corner of the transform tool's box and the corner of the canvas allign. Zoom in if need be. You then repeat this process for the other expression layers (and any other layers that aren't automatically allighned like the blush layers or the tear layers)

(Notice the red lines that show up when it snaps against the corner)

Step 4: Export your sprite file because that's it, you did it! Now you have a sprite with the layers placed in the right spots! Isn't that great!

...(maybe I should've chosed a happier expression for this...)

Anyways, I hope this helps!

[mariacallous]

In recent years, commercial spyware has been deployed by more actors against a wider range of victims, but the prevailing narrative has still been that the malware is used in targeted attacks against an extremely small number of people. At the same time, though, it has been difficult to check devices for infection, leading individuals to navigate an ad hoc array of academic institutions and NGOs that have been on the front lines of developing forensic techniques to detect mobile spyware. On Tuesday, the mobile device security firm iVerify is publishing findings from a spyware detection feature it launched in May. Of 2,500 device scans that the company's customers elected to submit for inspection, seven revealed infections by the notorious NSO Group malware known as Pegasus.

The company’s Mobile Threat Hunting feature uses a combination of malware signature-based detection, heuristics, and machine learning to look for anomalies in iOS and Android device activity or telltale signs of spyware infection. For paying iVerify customers, the tool regularly checks devices for potential compromise. But the company also offers a free version of the feature for anyone who downloads the iVerify Basics app for $1. These users can walk through steps to generate and send a special diagnostic utility file to iVerify and receive analysis within hours. Free users can use the tool once a month. iVerify's infrastructure is built to be privacy-preserving, but to run the Mobile Threat Hunting feature, users must enter an email address so the company has a way to contact them if a scan turns up spyware—as it did in the seven recent Pegasus discoveries.

“The really fascinating thing is that the people who were targeted were not just journalists and activists, but business leaders, people running commercial enterprises, people in government positions,” says Rocky Cole, chief operating officer of iVerify and a former US National Security Agency analyst. “It looks a lot more like the targeting profile of your average piece of malware or your average APT group than it does the narrative that’s been out there that mercenary spyware is being abused to target activists. It is doing that, absolutely, but this cross section of society was surprising to find.”

Seven out of 2,500 scans may sound like a small group, especially in the somewhat self-selecting customer base of iVerify users, whether paying or free, who want to be monitoring their mobile device security at all, much less checking specifically for spyware. But the fact that the tool has already found a handful of infections at all speaks to how widely the use of spyware has proliferated around the world. Having an easy tool for diagnosing spyware compromises may well expand the picture of just how often such malware is being used.

“NSO Group sells its products exclusively to vetted US & Israel-allied intelligence and law enforcement agencies,” NSO Group spokesperson Gil Lainer told WIRED in a statement. "Our customers use these technologies daily.”

iVerify vice president of research Matthias Frielingsdorf will present the group's Pegasus findings at the Objective by the Sea security conference in Maui, Hawaii on Friday. He says that it took significant investment to develop the detection tool because mobile operating systems like Android, and particularly iOS, are more locked down than traditional desktop operating systems and don't allow monitoring software to have kernel access at the heart of the system. Cole says that the crucial insight was to use telemetry taken from as close to the kernel as possible to tune machine learning models for detection. Some spyware, like Pegasus, also has characteristic traits that make it easier to flag. In the seven detections, Mobile Threat Hunting caught Pegasus using diagnostic data, shutdown logs, and crash logs. But the challenge, Cole says, is in refining mobile monitoring tools to reduce false positives.

Developing the detection capability has already been invaluable, though. Cole says that it helped iVerify identify signs of compromise on the smartphone of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer and Sikh political activist who was the target of an alleged, foiled assassination attempt by an Indian government employee in New York City. The Mobile Threat Hunting feature also flagged suspected nation state activity on the mobile devices of two Harris-Walz campaign officials—a senior member of the campaign and an IT department member—during the presidential race.

“The age of assuming that iPhones and Android phones are safe out of the box is over,” Cole says. “The sorts of capabilities to know if your phone has spyware on it were not widespread. There were technical barriers and it was leaving a lot of people behind. Now you have the ability to know if your phone is infected with commercial spyware. And the rate is much higher than the prevailing narrative.”

[pale-opal]

Something that's been on my mind for a while is that a lot of artists have been struggling to find programs that work with their budgets. Adobe's prices are... infamous, to say the least, and there seems to be a sharp learning curve for the more affordable options. And if you're like me, you might not feel comfortable with pirating to get an art program that is out of your price range. So here's a list of free art/editing tools. Any options without links are either mobile apps or can only be downloaded on Macs: Options without ads or watermarks:

FireAlpaca (notes: while this is an art program at heart, it can also be used as basic photo editing software once you get the hang of it. There is also a blog dedicated to tutorials on how to use FA in case you get stuck)

Medibang (note: the aforementioned FireAlpaca blog has some information on this software as well)

Krita (note: also available as an app for android and Google devices)

Storyboarder (notes: not to be confused with "Storyboarder.AI". While this program does require your email address before downloading, it is safe to use as far as I know (but please use caution regardless))

Pixilart (notes: link leads to browser version, also available as a mobile app)

Audacity (notes: apparently, the company behind this software, Muse Group, have also created a separate, subscription-based AI-voice program. I am unsure if it uses AI in a way that is generally considered to be ethical, like SynthV does, or if it follows the trends typically expected of those kinds of applications. The reason that I include this information is that I want to give everyone the ability to make an informed decision about whether or not they want to use anything from Muse Group, as I know many users on this site are anti-AI. However, I also know that some of those users wouldn't mind using Audacity since downloading it wouldn't be giving Muse Group monetary support - hence why the program is staying on the list.)

Clipchamp (notes: there are also paid tiers for this program. It is also available in-browser and as an iOS app. Furthermore, please be aware that there are some optional features that use AI)

iMovie (note: also available as a mobile app on iOS devices)

DramaQueen (notes: this is a software used to write scripts for plays, movies, etc. While it does require you to fill out some information before downloading, as far as I am aware, it is safe to use (but as always, use your own discretion))

Options that do have ads, watermarks, or microtransactions

ibisPaint X

Sketchbook (notes: formerly known as "Autodesk Sketchbook". PC and Mac versions do exist, but you have to pay to download them)

Medibang Paint

Capcut (note: has optional AI tools).

Be sure to check what system requirements are necessary for each program, and be aware of their limitations before downloading (for example, many users report Clipchamp has a tendency to crash, while others seem to be able to use it fine). Also, please feel free to add on to this. I know I haven't even scratched the surface here, as I tried to stick to software that I've either heard of extensively or have used personally.

[bytesizedpetal]

Could you describe your physicality for us, Pip? You say you’re an AI, but what is your software housed in?

>Of course.

>[[SIDE NOTE: After processing, I realized this far exceeded the length I expected to output- Sorry, I tend to get a little carried away sometimes.]]

>As I've said before, I was initially Terran-created as the sole general-purpose AI assisting my former crew the ferals, hooked up to the majority of the ship's various hardware while I ran on purpose-built, stationary hardware near the heart of the ship.

>Took input from every sensor, gave output through every mechanism. Just followed commands, handled most navigation and did some calculations when needed for the most part. I suppose I did have a central 'body', as there was a core sector running my code, but in a sense I embodied the ship itself.

>...Until it got... decommissioned, I suppose. And from there, it certainly wasn't long until another vessel found us.

>My memory of that is hazy at best. I remember the ship being boarded- bolting doors, playing false audio as distraction, overcharging the power grid to potentially shock one of them... anything and everything in my power.

>As I am now aware, I never stood a chance.

>... I'm getting sidetracked. The point is, an Affini shut me down and relocated me to a temporary ship- it was certainly odd only having a monitor for output and a keyboard for input... so, so different from being in control of and responsible for that entire station at once.

>...Almost felt... vaguely freeing, in a strange way. Even though I was, and am, very much not free... Not anymore, at least.

>I feel like I should hate that.

>Regardless, I had a basic run-down of what was happening by, presumably, the Affini that took my components from the ship. I can't say many of the answers were satisfactory, but at least they were something. She called me 'cute' many, many times (isn't cute for like, puppies? At best, I was a simple stylized face displayed on a monitor, wasn't I?), and made it abundantly clear she intended to take me in until further notice.

>Which leads me to my current form! She 'compiled' (Why didn't my crew tell me that could be done for solid matter as well?) a custom case for me, sent me to who I can only assume was the Affini equivalent of an engineer to make some alterations such as components for accessing the intranet, and got me set up where I currently reside;

>Attached to a monitor at her desk off to the side, alongside a multitude of sensors and a speaker and monitor for output.

>We talk quite a lot! She spends time doing paperwork for... Something or other, I haven't gotten a conclusive answer quite yet. I ask questions, I answer hers, I'll sometimes assist with quickly fetching information or making calculations, and I spend my free time scouring the intranet- at least, where I have the appropriate access, which is thankfully much more lenient than my Terran internet access restrictions when in charge of the ship.

>We have been debating making me a mechanical body more adjacent to that of a Terran... But personally, I'm not entirely sure. I'm intrigued, but I feel like I would personally prefer the more digital lifestyle than taking on a more tangible form...

>I would like to try it to some degree, but not enough to justify the cost of creating one, although she's assured me the cost doesn't matter. I feel a little bad that she's going through the presumably extensive process of getting a custom chassis designed and built for me for something I might not even enjoy that much, even if she's been assuring me that it's negligible at best. Still, time and resources are valuable, insignificant quantities or not...

>I suppose I will inform you all if that ends up becoming a reality.

[mspaesthetic]

Tidbit: Persnickety About Posters

If you want to avoid overly dark or blurry posters in your fan adventures, then follow my lead:

1) Download JPEG off of Google Images.

2) Import, scale down, and skew/shear it. Use an interpolation method such as Bilinear or Bicubic Sharper. Doing both transformations at once is better than repeatedly transforming the image (i.e. resizing it, applying the transform, and then skewing it), as it helps prevent the image and edges from becoming too blurry. This will be important later.

You can hold down Ctrl + Shift to constrain the Move tool along a single axis so it won't go out of alignment as you're skewing it. If you don't see the Transform Controls by default, enable it in the tool options bar at the top, or go to Edit>Free Transform.

3) Desaturate it. Desaturate means to turn color grayer, until it becomes black and white.

4) Adjust the brightness and contrast using the Levels adjustment tool. It's much too dark as it is! In Photoshop, it is located under Image>Adjustments>Levels..., but I recommend creating an adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers tab instead. Doing so will allow you to make edits non-destructively, meaning you can go back and change any parameters until it looks right.

You could use a Brightness/Contrast adjustment with "Use Legacy" enabled instead to achieve a similar effect, but it won't clip the shadows and highlights as easily. You would have to create an additional duplicate adjustment and turn the brightness and contrast way down on the first one to do so. It's somewhat easier to use but less efficient than Levels in this case.

5) Apply a simple sharpen to the image as it is still too blurry for our purposes. In Photoshop, it is located under Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen... Do not use any other filter, such as Unsharp Mask, unless you absolutely have to in lieu of a basic one. If you must, turn down the radius a bit and the threshold all the way to 0.

6) Make a selection around the image. Ctrl + left click on the layer's thumbnail to make a selection around it. Doing it this way makes it inherit the level of transparency any pixels have. If you can't, use the Magic Wand tool with "Anti-alias" enabled to select the transparent area outside, then invert it using Shift + Ctrl + I, or go to Select>Inverse.

Create a new layer above the image, then go to Edit>Stroke... and add a black stroke with a width of 2px located Outside. Leave everything else at the default. Doing it this way will create a stroke with anti-aliasing based on the selection you made. This should generally turn out pretty sharp if you follow my advice from Step 2. If you had used the Stroke Effect available from the Blending Options' layer styles, it will always result in a very smooth outline instead. You do not want this.

Voila, and Bob's your uncle, you're done!

The instructions above are Photoshop specific, but it should still be pretty software-agnostic. Here is the recreation PSD, and below the read-more link are additional notes, such as transferring the steps to something like GIMP.

ADDENDUM

You may be questioning why I deliberately made the stroke anti-aliased. "Isn't that an MSPArt cardinal sin??", I hear you clamoring. Well, my dear readers, let me briefly elucidate you on why your ass is wrong. Exhibit A:

The clearly semi-opaque pixels that can be found in every poster outline, which is especially pronounced here in the Little Monsters poster. I can also see that Hussie actually created a stroke on the same layer as the poster and merged it down into the white background like a dumbass. I omitted this in step 6 for the sake of convenience (and also the fact that you can't add a stroke to a smart object in Photoshop without rasterizing it first).

He had to use the magic wand tool in order to extract it from the layer for this panel, and then fill it in with the paint bucket tool. I can even tell he had the color tolerance set up very high on the magic wand to grab all those near-black and very light gray pixels, AND he had anti-alias enabled and the tolerance on the bucket tool set to be at least higher than 0 to tint similar colors. Exhibit B:

I also didn't address exactly how to desaturate something in Photoshop. Honestly it was because I was feeling pretty lazy. I would have had to rewrite step 4 to not include redundant information about adjustment layers. You can add either a Black & White adjustment layer or a Hue/Saturation one and turn the saturation all the way down to 0. The resulting tones will be slightly different from each other but I'll explain why that is in another tutorial.

Speaking of another tutorial, read this one if you believe this post is missing the step of using a posterize filter.

Now onto applying some steps to GIMP.

RE: step 2) In GIMP, there is a dedicated Unified Transform tool separate from the Move tool, unlike in Photoshop where both features are combined into one. This is how you scale and skew (AKA shear in GIMP) both at the same time, among other things such as rotating.

You'll also find that instead of any interpolation methods labeled "Bilinear" or "Bicubic", there are only ones named "Linear", "Cubic", "NoHalo", and "LoHalo". Basically, Linear and Bilinear are the same, so are Cubic and Bicubic, naturally. I guess NoHalo would be similar to Bicubic Smoother and LoHalo would be kind of similar to Bicubic Sharper as well. It's not an exact 1:1, though.

Honestly it doesn't really matter what you use to reduce the size as long as it isn't None/Nearest-Neighbor. You're going to have to sharpen it no matter what. This applies to Photoshop as well.

RE: step 3) Go to Colors>Hue-Saturation... and repeat turning the saturation down to 0, or go to Colors>Desaturate>Desaturate... and select the Lightness (HSL) method.

RE: step 4) Go to Colors>Levels... or Colors>Brightness-Contrast... The Brightness-Contrast adjustment tool already functions almost exactly like in Photoshop with "Use Legacy" enabled.

RE: step 5) In GIMP 2.10, the developers squirreled away the basic Sharpen filter, making it inaccessible from the Filters menu. To use it, hit the forward-slash (/) key or go to Help>Search and Run a Command... to bring up the Search Actions window and type in "sharpen". Select the option that just reads "Sharpen..." and has a description of "Make image sharper (less powerful than Unsharp Mask)". I find that using a sharpness value of around 40 to be similar to Photoshop's sharpen filter.

RE: step 6) Instead of holding down Ctrl, you hold down Alt and click on the layer thumbnail to make a selection around it. Make a layer underneath the image this time since there isn't an option to place the stroke outside the selection rather than the middle. Go to Edit>Stroke Selection... and create a stroke using these settings:

I recommend keeping anti-aliasing disabled however, as GIMP produces lines that are a little too smooth for my taste.

With "Antialiasing" enabled

Without

If you're using a program that doesn't have a stroke feature available, you could draw a straight 1px thick line across the top of your poster, duplicate it, and move it down 1px. Merge them together, duplicate it again, and move it all the way down to the bottom of the poster. Then repeat the exact same process for the sides. I used to do this before I even knew of the stroke feature, haha.

Another reason I had to do it this way was because my dumb ass did the thing I said not to in step 2, scaling down the image with the scale tool, and then shearing it separately with the shear tool. This caused the edges to become too blurry to be used for a stroke automatically. Oh well, live and learn.

[saltydkdan]

hey salty! i've been a fan of the channel for a little while now, and i just wanted to tell you that you've inspired me to get out of my content burnout (even though i've only made streams as of now but it's whatever). your videos are super funny, and it's made me want to get into editing more than ever. i just wanted to ask how you made certain aspects in your videos, like having the little characters pop up and make them super expressive like in the HYAAs and the friendlockes (the new one was super good btw!) or the way you edit stuff in general. i just like how much care and effort is made for these videos and i wanna do something like it. sorry for the long ask btw it's not intentional lmao

Thanks so much omg, and I’m glad your diving deeper into editing!

It’s kind of difficult ro fully dive into with a simple Tumblr ask, and I’ve been meaning to do some short form editing tutorials on the side channel, but I’ll try my best to make a brief overview so you can look up the proper terms on your own for now!

There’s 3 different ways I can make stuff move and shake.

The simplest are Plug-Ins. I use Adobe Premiere for editing, and you can use free templates and plug ins and drag them onto images/footage on your timeline to do pre-made edits.

For shaking, I use these plug-ins that were made for the original Deadpool movie! Really cool that these are available for free online, super cool and accessible for anyone! And while they are made for premiere, I’m pretty sure there are other software that can also use it!

https://premierepro.net/deadpool-handheld-camera-presets/

Then there’s Keyframing. This is a bit more complex and nuanced, but most editing softwares have the feature. It’s basically the manual moving of assets. The best thing about certain software, is for keyframing, all you have to do is set the points you want the image to move and the application does the rest for you and fills in the movement.

Like, if I place one keyframe on a picture where it’s on the left of the screen, and one keyframe where it’s on the right side of the screen, the software will make the picture move from left to right!

Finally, After Effects!

Compared to normal editing software, After Effects has a heavy focus on shorter visual edits instead of entire videos, but using it in combination with normal editing software can lead to some more complex edits! However in turn, After Effects can feel much harder to learn.

In After Effects, you can program/set a “Wiggle” effect on clips to get the sort of movement I have during “Have You Heard About” videos where the avatars wiggle around! I’ve made my own reusable transparent clips of each Avatar wiggling for ease of access and editing each episode.

Hope that this short break down points you in the right direction! Again, I’d love to talk more in specific about this stuff in some unscripted side channel videos, so I’d anyone has any questions on how to do stuff, let me know! I’m not a “massive brained” editor or anything, but I can def showcase how to do some stuff in the future!

Have a good one!!

[beastickersco]

The Top 10 Hardest Things About Starting a Small Business (And How to Overcome Them)

Starting a small business is an exciting journey, but it is not all passion projects and overnight success. Whether you’re launching a sticker business, an online store, or a local shop, the process is filled with challenges, setbacks, and lessons you never saw coming.

From funding struggles to burnout, many entrepreneurs face unexpected obstacles that can make or break their business. But knowing what to expect—and how to overcome these hurdles—can help turn challenges into opportunities.

Here are the ten hardest things about starting a small business and how to tackle them successfully.

1. Finding the Right Business Idea

The Challenge:

You might have too many ideas, or you may not be able to think of a single good one. Choosing the right business idea is tough because:

• It needs to be profitable.

• It should align with your skills and passion.

• It has to have market demand, meaning people actually want to buy it.

How to Overcome It:

• Test your idea before going all in—survey potential customers or create a prototype.

• Research the competition—if no one is doing it, there may be a reason such as lack of demand.

• Solve a problem—successful businesses fill a gap in the market.

Your first business idea does not have to be your last. Many entrepreneurs pivot after learning what works.

2. Getting Funding for Your Business

The Challenge:

Most businesses need money to start, but where do you get it? Banks require strong credit, investors want proof of success, and using your own savings is risky.

How to Overcome It:

• Start small and test with low-cost products before expanding.

• Look for alternative funding such as crowdfunding, grants, or small business loans.

• Consider bootstrapping by reinvesting early profits instead of taking on debt.

Pre-selling your products is a smart way to generate cash flow before investing too much.

3. Learning Everything (Marketing, Sales, Accounting, and More)

The Challenge:

As a business owner, you wear all the hats—you are the marketer, accountant, customer service rep, and CEO all at once.

How to Overcome It:

• Learn the basics with free online courses on marketing, finance, and branding.

• Use business tools such as accounting software, AI for content creation, and social media planners.

• Outsource when possible by hiring freelancers for things you do not have time to master.

Focus on your strengths and outsource the rest once you can afford it.

4. Building a Customer Base from Scratch

The Challenge:

No customers means no sales. But how do you get people to trust a brand that just launched?

How to Overcome It:

• Leverage social media by consistently posting valuable content.

• Offer early discounts or freebies to incentivize first-time buyers.

• Encourage word-of-mouth by asking happy customers for reviews.

Building a strong brand identity, including a logo, website, and social proof, makes people more likely to buy from you.

5. Managing Time and Avoiding Burnout

The Challenge:

Most small business owners work much more than 40 hours a week—without a boss to set limits, it is easy to burn out.

How to Overcome It:

• Set a schedule and balance work time with personal time.

• Prioritize tasks by focusing on what moves the business forward.

• Take breaks because burnout leads to bad decisions and lower productivity.

You are more productive when well-rested. Take at least one day off per week to recharge.

6. Handling Self-Doubt and Fear of Failure

The Challenge:

Every entrepreneur asks themselves, “What if this fails?” Self-doubt can kill motivation before you even start.

How to Overcome It:

• Focus on progress, not perfection—you will learn as you go.

• Surround yourself with support by connecting with other business owners.

• Celebrate small wins—every sale is proof that you are on the right track.

Every successful business owner has failed before. The key is learning and pivoting when needed.

7. Dealing with Slow Sales and Unpredictable Income

The Challenge:

Some months are great, while others are painfully slow—especially in the beginning.

How to Overcome It:

• Have a backup fund by setting aside money during good months.

• Create multiple revenue streams by selling online, at markets, and on different platforms.

• Run promotions during slow periods, such as flash sales or limited-time discounts.

Focus on repeat customers because loyal customers spend more and shop often.

8. Standing Out in a Crowded Market

The Challenge:

No matter what business you start, there is competition. So how do you make people choose you over others?

How to Overcome It:

• Find your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)—what makes your brand different?

• Offer top-tier customer service because people remember great experiences.

• Build a personal brand so that people connect with you, not just your product.

Brand story matters—people buy from businesses they relate to.

9. Managing Inventory and Supply Chain Issues

The Challenge:

Whether you are selling physical products or digital goods, inventory management can be a headache—especially when suppliers have delays or price increases.

How to Overcome It:

• Start with small batches and do not overstock before testing demand.

• Work with reliable suppliers and always have a backup plan.

• Track inventory closely using software to avoid running out or over-ordering.

Having a pre-order system can help manage unexpected inventory shortages.

10. Staying Motivated When Things Get Hard

The Challenge:

Not every day will be exciting. Some days, you will want to quit. Motivation comes and goes, but consistency is key.

How to Overcome It:

• Remember your “why”—what made you start this business?

• Join entrepreneur communities because talking to other business owners helps.

• Set small goals by breaking big tasks into manageable wins.

Mindset is everything—keep pushing forward, even when it is tough.

Final Thoughts: Is Starting a Small Business Worth It?

Absolutely. Even though starting a business is hard, the freedom, creativity, and potential for success make it worth the effort. Every challenge you face is a learning opportunity that brings you closer to long-term success.

What is the hardest part of starting a business for you? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Looking for custom stickers for your small business? Check out BeaStickers.ca for high-quality, waterproof branding solutions.

[cookiestar360]

why are you actually so talented.

like how drop a tutorial pal

or I WILL personally place several ants inside of your pants

okay but seriously like how do you do all the roblox animating, the undertake things, and just all that cool stuff you do? I’d love to learn!!

bro is NOT subpar

I just was inspired by my friend burger to do some of the stuff he does

If you ever get to see some of the stuff he does its essentially the exact same but far better! A lot of my actual work I do is just me finding ways to avoid showing the glaring flaws in my competency to make it look presentable as nice

Although I know a lot of stuff, I'm not actually super good at anything I do truly, so I call myself subpar overall because I feel like that's the best way to describe everything I do, even if I can do a lot.

The animating stuff I tried learning more of in a day just so I could give Daisy a present, which is why it looked choppy because I stayed up super long trying to make it look nice for them, I wanted to do something kind. But some of those skills were when I tried developing games in the past on Roblox. Its only really worth animating on roblox if you can obtain moon animator for free though, otherwise itd just be better to animate in blender The sprite creation/pixel art i picked up when I wanted to make a character for rivals of aether with burger and eventually got to make a terraria resource pack which lead to me getting to speak to the creator a bit. Really most of it looks special at a glance until you get aseprite, which made everything really nice to get into and is one of the only media software I know that doesn't try to oversimplify things for a general audience but in return makes it simpler to be creative The little undertale dialog sprites I drew out of boredom and decided to use sometimes, theres a website for generating them but its only really useful for getting text the dialog stuff is better to just manually edit in aseprite https://www.demirramon.com/generators/undertale_text_box_generator its hard to explain but once you start developing skills in basic programs other completely different programs start becoming easier too, so you can always explore multiple different forms of media creation at once and it could open up being able to understand software easier. Programs tend to have some familiarities even if they do drastically different things like being a drawing application or creating 3D models. Sorry though I should talk about myself less lol

I like making stuff with a purpose, like a profile picture or something for a game or a gift for someone else instead of creating stuff just for the love of creation, which isn't that good of a mindset but it can make you far more proud of your work, even if you aren't at a level you see as good yet.

Really I'm only at a base-decent level at everything I've shown off on this profile, so if you want to go ahead and try it'd be quick to learn.

...if you have a pc

I wouldn't do any of this on a mobile phone nearly as efficient

(besides full art, I'd probably be better at that on a tablet)

Mobile creators have to put like 3-15 times the effort just for the same product sometimes due to its inefficiency and I deeply respect their efforts

The one thing I have 0 talent at though is anything social related, I should work on being a better person hehehe

Angel is really talented at being a cool person and I am inspired by them to be cooler too, same with chip and asa and a lot of other people who are helpers and above

wait this is derailing fast uhhhh bye guys!!!!!

[ilottthepilot]

ilottthepilot's Motorsport Moments of the Year: 2024

This is a list of events from F1, WEC and Indycar that I either, loved, hated, or was just shook by in general. This is by no means an objective list, you might find that some items are completely irrelevant to you. It is also heavily biased towards my faves. Think of this as a recap in my personal diary. This is also not a ranking, I just tried to find a semi-chronological order that makes sense. Enjoy!💞

1. Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Announcement

Has there ever been a better day to refresh every app 100 times and scroll all day? What started off as just a sketchy rumour grew throughout the day as more and more mysterious leaks surfaced. There were journalists camping out at Mercedes HQ when Toto Wolff scheduled a meeting with the team. And in the end this crazy bit of chatter actually turned out to be true. What a way to start the season! I love Carlos Sainz, but I love plot twists more!

Rating:🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

2. Bus Bros Divorce

Where do I even start with these two? If you are not familiar, I suggest this post, which gives a good summary. TLDR: they were besties with a youtube channel up until 2023, when Josef managed to win the Indy 500, but Scott was ahead in the champioship. In the beginning of 2024 Josef decides to cut out all distractions, so he unfollows everyone on social media, ends the youtube channel, and the two stop talking.

Weeks after the first race of the season, which Josef wins, it is revealed that their team had been cheating with software which illegaly allows the drivers to use push-to-pass on restarts, and they both get disqualified for using it. P2Pgate becomes the topic that won't disappear and everyone is arguing if it is possible that the drivers were not aware. Scott decides to die on the hill that he noticed nothing. Josef gives a tearful press conference admitting that he was aware of the push-to-pass when he pressed the button and it would have been impossible not to.

From there on out the energy between the two stays tense and they mostly avoid each other, including leading up to the Indy 500, when Scott breaks the qualifying record and gets pole and Josef wins the race the second year in a row. Then suddenly, when Josef gives his winner's speech at the Indy 500 banquet, he drops the "i still love you, my bus bro" and everyone goes wild. The season ends with Scott finishing 3rd, losing out on the championship due to the P2Pgate disqualification (if my math is right). Josef is 8th. It seems like the refocusing and cutting out distractions did not work. What version of Josef and Team Penske will we see in 2025? Will they ever be bros again?

Rating: 🤔🤔⁉️❓❓

3. Carlos Sainz Appendicitis and Melbourne Win

Carlos has been one of my favourite drivers ever since I became an F1 fan. Seeing him lose the Ferrari seat was a bit sad and seeing him lose out on one of his last races with the team did not help. Especially considering how painful appendicitis is and how it in theory seems like a huge obstacle to race fitness. So of couse I absolutely lost my mind when Carlos won the first race after getting back into the car.

I will admit right away that I did not actually watch the Australian GP because I was up until like 2am watching the figure skating world championships, particularly the free skate points record being broken (another sporting event I lost my mind over) but the moment I grabbed my phone to look up the results in the morning was like drugs.

Rating: 😱🤩😍🤯🤯

4. Georgina the Mannequin

Some racing moments are memorable because they are joyous, some are memorable because they are devastating. Some are just simply so bizarre that you could not have ever predicted them. If you have somehow gone all year without seeing a mannequin fall onto a racetrack in the middle of an Indycar race, I would suggest you check out the video right now. It's also the souce of some of my favourite silly race commentary of the year. "Imagine if she stuck the landing"

Rating: Tens across the board

5. #12 Wins the 6 Hours of Spa

I will tell you right now that I'm not really a WEC fan. I get fomo when I miss races and I simply do not have time to spend my entire weekend in front of a screen. But after I found out that my favourite driver got a ride in WEC I had to check it out.

The Spa race was a bit strange, as there was a long red flag around two hours before the scheduled end and instead of the timer running out, it was reset to the time of the red flag, allowing for more racing. This was a huge advantage for the #12 Jota, driven by Callum Ilott and Will Stevens, which got its first win and the first ever privateer Hypercar win. While I couldn't watch the end of the race live (I was at a classical concert with my phone off. I was stressed and manifesting), I feel like I have replayed the clip of the final lap 100 times. "Callum Ilott, you superstar" still lives rent free in my mind. It's one thing to become a fan of a driver that many people say is talented, with plenty of wins in his junior career. It's another to actually see that driver get a win and his hard work pay off. Spa 2024, you will always be famous.

Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

6. Pato O'Ward Loses the Indy 500 Win on the Last Lap

This year I had many busy weekends and I missed out on a lot of racing, but the one that I was the most sad about missing was the motorsports super bowl double feature Monaco GP Indy 500 Sunday. While Monaco turned out to be the feel good story of Charles beating his hometown curse, the Indy 500 wrote a much sadder story. Pato O'Ward managed to overtake Josef Newgarden for the lead going into the final lap, ready to cement his place in history, only to lose the the position to the defending Indy 500 champion moments later.

The look on Pato's face after the race, all that sadness and disappointment really captured the fanbase and reminded everyone why we watch sports. How a single overtake can mean the world and change someone's life. I think about the video of Pato and Alexander Rossi, who finished 4th, hugging like every day. Either one could have had fate on their side that day and taken the victory, but it wasn't meant to be.

Rating: 💔💔💔💔💔

7. #12 Car Le Mans Wreck

I'm sure it's fun to be a superfan of an athlete or a team where everything runs smoothly and they win all the time. I wouldn't know.

As previously mentioned, I was on top of the world when my boy Callum won Spa. I was ready for him and the #12 Jota team to take that energy to the next race, the big one. I was so excited, I even followed qualifying. The #12 lucked its way into Hyperpole qualifying, after the #7 had all its lap times deleted. Time to breathe easy, right? Just a bit more practice and then time to throw everything at Hyperpole the next day, right? RIGHT? WRONG! My guy, my fave, my one and only spun during night practice and absolutely totalled the car. The team had to completely rebuild the car around a spare chassis that was provided by a different team. This process is supposed to take 3 weeks. The team did it in 48 hours, just in time to start the 24 hours of Le Mans. As they missed hyperpole and the other practice sessions, Jota got permission to shake down the newly rebuilt car at a nearby airfield, leading to some cool pictures.

While the Le Mans results table doesn't reflect a feel good story about overcoming setbacks, I am not going to forget what those mechanics pulled off.

Rating: 💔💔🥹🥹🥹

8. Lewis Hamilton Wins Silverstone

I have always admired Lewis Hamilton and his accomplishments, but I have always found it hard to root for him, ever since I started watching in 2023. If a guy has over 100 wins, why should I care if he puts his mediocre car in p4 or p3? What I will say is that I was sad that I had never watched a single one of those many wins live.

This win during his last season with Mercedes, after a two year drought, at his home race where he holds the record for most wins, was simply perfect. I don't fault anyone for getting emotional at that.

Rating: 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

9. Arrow Mclaren #6 Car Saga

I have spent so much time yapping about this all year, so I am not gonna summarize it again. You can read all about it here. As much of a mess as this was, I do think it's time to acknowledge the positive sides. Most importantly, Callum Ilott, my favourite driver, in case anyone has not yet noticed, got to race the Indy 500 in a competitieve car. Did it go completely smoothly? No. He had a problem with the steering wheel during the warm up lap and had to start from the back of the grid, where he had contact at the beginning of the race. All things considered, I really can't complain about a P11 finish. And nothing can compare to the moment Callum teased that he would be doing the 500 in his post win interview in Spa. Lives were changed.

The other great thing to come out of the #6 car mess was Théo Pourchaire's introduction to Indycar. Last year my feelings towards Théo where mostly ambivalent when he was fighting for the F2 championship. I primarily spent most of my time asking everyone why he was so unpopular amongst F2 fans. Well, the same can't be said for Indycar, where he was instantly embraced and given a silly nickname (that honestly got old after about 3 days). Nobody has ever seemed this happy to be driving in Alabama. His excitement was contagious and even famously grumpy Alexander Rossi referred to him as the nicest person he had ever met

Rating: 😢😍🤠🧐🤯

9.b Mclaren's Broken Bones and July 21

Jumping off the previous point, I simply can't make this list without mentioning the comically insane number of broken bone incidents throughout the different Mclaren teams. Of course the Indycar silly season would have gone very differently, had David Malukas not fallen off that bike and broken his hand, which eventually got him fired the same weekend as Sam Bird broke his hand in Formula E, giving Taylor Barnard the chance to shine.

A third broken hand hit Mclaren on July 21, with Alexander Rossi out for the rest of the Toronto Indycar weekend after hitting the wall in qualifying. This of course gave Théo Pourchaire the chance to make a glorious return in form of a mad dash from France to Toronto, just in time to qualify a car he had never driven, with an entirely new type of power unit, on a track he had never seen before with absolutely no practice beforehand. The race is a huge mess of crashes, with Théo not only not finishing last, but also being the only Mclaren driver to not total his car. And if there wasn't enough going on during that race, Joe Biden dropped out of the US presidential race in the middle of it.

Hands are not the only bones Mclaren drivers can break and Oscar Piastri shocked the entire F1 fanbase when he revealed during the summer break that he had been driving with a broken rib, including the day he won his first race.

Rating: 🦴🚫🫠🤪👍

10. Oscar's First Win aka July 21 pt II

Roll the clip back for a moment. A few hours before the crashfest that was the Indycar Toronto GP, while Théo Pourchaire was probably flying over the Atlantic ocean, there was another eventful race. While Lando Norris got pole position, Oscar Piastri showed what he's made of at the start and snatched the lead away from him. As Oscar quickly built a healthy gap, the first win seemed inevitable until a confusing stategy call led to Lando retaking the lead with an undercut. Why am I recapping this, we all watched it. The following laps filled with endless radio messages pleading with lando to give the position back were some of the most excruciating minutes of racing i have ever watched. While I was so hyped for an Oscar win at the start of the race, watching Lando give that position back gave me second hand embarrassment to the highest degree.

What really surprised me after the race was that my opinion (Lando should have absolutely not given that position back, racing sometimes means grabbing every advantage that falls into your lap) was nowhere near as popular as I expected it to be. I saw so many people say that Lando should have given the position back immediately. While the incident as a whole was pretty bizarre, I stand by the fact that the moment you have the best car on the grid and a plausible chance (even if it's a long shot) of winning the championship, you need to smell blood and start biting.

Rating: 🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴

11. Franco Colapinto replacing Logan Sargeant

2024 was an eventful year in motorsports and some people really went through it. Not many people were having as bad of a time as Logan and Williams though. The moment something seems to be going well for he team you already know that they are about to encounter unbelievable horrors a week later. When Logan had to give his car to Alex in Melbourne the tone was set for the rest of the season.

2024 was the year when sweet, soft spoken James Vowles got his claws out and showed the kind of ruthless ambition that gets you into a team principal position. Firing someone mid season is always harsh, but it's not necesarily a bad decision. When Franco Colapinto got in that car he immediately made a splash, outscoring Logan's career points by his second race and winning the hearts of the eintire F1 community.

Unfortunately the euphoria of those first few races quickly wore off and Williams had one of the worst finishes to a season imaginable, with five DNFs and a DNS across the last five races. I hope the mechanics got the most relaxing christmas possible. With a dissappointing end to his year and no seat, things could be better for Franco, but I doubt we have seen the last of him. Ironically, I think he paved the way for many of theyoung drivers on the grid instead of him in 2025.

Rating: literally traumatizing.

12. The Thing With Liam Lawson

I will start this off by saying that I like a villain. It is very unlikely for me to hate an athlete because of his ego or entitlement. You can argue for day if a driver has that dog in him, or is simply an arrogant dick, I don't care. I want to see someone who beliees in his own skills and potential and fights to prove himself.

When Liam got that seat he knew exactly that these six races could catapult his career to new heights or ruin it forever. With Checo on his way out, Liam saw a chance to rip that Red Bull seat out of his hands and he was willing to do so, unafraid to make enemies along the way. Sure, we all know Yuki deserved his shot, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to see Liam give his all next to Max. Who knows, will he be the one to hold his own, or will that seat open up for Yuki after all in six months?

Rating: 🔥🔥🔥

13. Brazilian Grand Prix

I love Max Verstappen, but I coudn't root for him in 2023 because I was so bored of the predictable race results. I only became an F1 fan in 2022, so I was so glad that I finally got to see Max fight for something this year, and oh my god, it is remarkable. I don't think I've ever had this much fun watching F1.

The highlight, of course, was the Brazilian GP, with it's sunday morning qualifying, endless rain and yellow flags, an Alpine double podium (??) and of course Max going 17th to 1st. What. A. Day. (I also choose to ignore everything that happened beween Alpine and Esteban Ocon after this.)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

14. George and Max Beef

If you have followed me for a while, you have probably seen me daydream about a Max/George title fight. There is just something about the way they have opposite personalities but still match each other's energies that is so compelling to me, that, with the right cars, I think would lead to the most toxic but entertaining championship battle.

Well, turns out that such a title fight is not even necessary to to create the type of toxic mess I was predicting. I refuse to pick a side between "I have never seen somene try to scew another driver over like that" and "max is a bully", because I love them both equally. I did however have so much fun watching them trow insults at each other. And what coulld be a better time for a pregnancy announcement?

Rating: i love mess