#Functional and Testing System Market

[ruined-strawb-cakes-in-arcane]

Shimmer thoughts - Analysis on Shimmer Purpose > Creation > Variants

♡˚ crediting people from twitter who helped me so much with this : @omniscient_she @ethnicallymoral @hartbrekprince @Darkroastdreams

Purpose

Initial goals of Shimmer ⤷create a substance that could provide strength and power ⤷Become a superior medicinal-healing drug

Later goals of Shimmer as the story progress: ⤷permanently enhance the human body and mind

Creation:

Shimmer was created by Singed using glowing purple flowers and biological experiments, including a rare regenerative creature named Rio. ● Flower ⤷Observed to grow in a cave and seen to be growing in Silco/Singed’s hideout in the canary as per S1E1 (could be the cold, dark, damp nature of the location) ⤷combustive when it comes to contact with fire

● Rio ⤷a unique, rare creature that possesses remarkable regenerative abilities (ArcaneWiki) Singed stated the following about Rio: S1E6 mark: 39:28 - “she’s a rare mutation I cultivated” S1E6 mark 31:52 - “The mutation must survive”

There’s no concrete evidence if Shimmer is made solely from either Rio or the flower, only that they are alluded to as the base foundations of the drug. Singed, with the help of young Viktor, was initially feeding Rio the flowers which may be the cause of mutation, therefore Rio is technically “man made” and not an organically occurring mutation. 

Still with the tubes tied to Rio glowing with the same purple essence of the flowers on the later part of the show, we can infer that Shimmer may be made by glowing flowers passing through Rio’s DNA system. 

“Shimmer could have been made by passing nectar (or a form of transformed sap) from the flowers through Rio's organs. Through the organ's natural processing (stomachs digest, kidneys remove waste and extra liquid, livers produce bile and pancreas store insulin...) the sap turns into shimmer. Or at least a proto-shimmer that is then refined by Singed  Perhaps also the Waverider microbiome within their body contains specific bacteria that break down the proteins and such contained within the flower in a different way. So it's not only the mechanical function of the organs but also the chemical function of the microbiome”

Naïa, First Chancellor's Archivist @omniscient_she

Variants:

As revealed by Singed he developed Shimmer variants, some of which are more advanced than others.v. ArcaneWiki

The existence of different variants and purity levels (even expiration) as per @Darkroastdreams thread could mean Shimmer divided as:

Variant A - For productions and distribution

Street Shimmer • Who uses it: Silco’s foot soldiers, goons, thug enforcers. • Effects: Enhances strength, pain tolerance, durability, tissue regeneration, possibly nervous system repair, resuscitation from near-death cases (makes you a walking tank) • Side effects: . Short-term: Mutations, temporary growth in size, cognitive degeneration, and aggression. Long-term: Highly addictive; physical deformities such as large tumors protruding from the skin; progressive degeneration of skin and muscle tissue. • Distribution: Mass-produced. Cheap. Dangerous. This is the version running Zaun’s black market economy.

Chembaron-grade • Who uses it: Sevika, Silco, Silco’s inner circle, possibly Singed’s own test subjects. • Effects: Similar to street shimmer, but targeted—such as enhancing strength, regeneration, durability—without major side effects (e.g., physical mutation). • Upgrades: Combined with technology (e.g., Sevika’s arm) or delivered via implants to ensure the user receives the proper dosage. • Side effects: Still risky, but shows longer-term integration.

Quoting from thread : “There are likely different purities of shimmer available for purchase on the streets of Zaun, with the highest purity coming directly from Singed (such as the type used by Silco and to revive Jinx as well as what Viktor was most likely given) and lower purities sold on the street as an illegal drug.”

DarkroastDepresso @Darkroastdreams

Note : The testing phase from S1A1 looks more like Street Shimmer as it caused Dekard to physically change, if a several drops caused physical and increased aggression to a rat then application must be equal to body weight of the user? several drop: rat/1 bottle: teenage human. We can then reason that when Caitlyn used Street Shimmer on Vi, the single drop administered was a low enough dose to mitigate the usual side effects.

Variant B - Singed’s personal research, produced personally on his lab

Prototype • Who uses it: Jinx, speculated: Singed and Warwick during his hibernation phase. • Effects: altered physiology, strength, longevity, total body mutation, heightened senses. • Thoughts : we can speculate that Jinx is the first successful human test when Singed was trying to resuscitate her.

“This appears to be a mix of variants that made Jinx the most successful experiment, preserving her through near-death resuscitation while incorporating a controlled combat strain. It aligns with Singed’s goal of reviving his daughter in a stable, powerful form. The idea that she “became Shimmer” suggests a perfected biological mutation: a proof of concept for a sentient, controllable Shimmer being without the side effects seen in Warwick.”

@ethnicallymoral 

Beta (used to combine with Hextech) • Who uses it: Viktor and speculated: Warwick during his hibernation phase. • Effects: Catalyst, longevity, pain suppression, durability, tissue regeneration, possibly nervous system repair • Goal: sustain Viktor's life to continue his research, by accelerating assisting a fusion of Shimmer and Hextech

Apex shimmer • most advanced and potent form of Shimmer—refined beyond the unstable • Who uses it: Singed and Warwick • Effects: Physical enhancement (boosts strength, speed, and resilience), life preservation (slows or halts degeneration), biological evolution. • Used for: stabilizing Warwick enough to be able to awaken him, slows degeneration by using it on Oriana and Singed • Risk: Unknown however it seems to only be suitable for individuals with strong willpower, intellect, or specific biological conditions.

Variants structure provided and assisted by @ethnicallymoral // els 

< END PERSONAL THINK THOUGHT AFTER THIS >

Is a drop enough to mutate only Silco’s eye? 

Unsure, we can speculate that he must have had other side effects aside from his eye. I’m inclined to believe that Silco must have had other changes in his body, which could be his lungs being able to withstand a greenhouse filled with a leaking tank of the Grey. Not only is Silco a heavy smoker but he also worked in the mines infested with the Grey, which could have caused long term lung damage, but we never see Silco cough nor does he exhibit any lung issues. 

Also, we first have to know what variant he had been dozing on and if he switched to the purified healing variant once Singed is able to concoct other variations of Shimmer.  

Have we ever thought of the possibility that silco is the first human test of Singed due to the nature of his injuries? I have.

Does it affect Silco’s cum quality? I.e. taste, potency, color A: Because Silco seems to have been using the Variant A - street shimmer from s1A1 and could have been using it since the prototype version we can guess that there maybe changes to his body, if not externally like his eye then internally. We can also see Silco's tear as violet in here.

2. Does it help with his bedroom performance (Physical endurance during sex AND Shorter refractory period) Again Again there maybe changes to his body if not externally like his eye then internally. Despite his age, injuries and past history (starvation, exposure to the Gray) we can see Silco crashout as him having exhibiting strength, this could point out that : Yes, Silco does have stamina No proof in regards to refractory period

3. Does Shimmer give him erectile dysfunction? Given that one of shimmer's main goal and coveted effects are tissue regeneration, possibly nervous system repair, AKA HEALING AND SLOWING/HALTING DEGENERATION and Silco's long term use, then we can reason that he has no erectile dysfunction

[voxisdaddy]

C/TW: NSFW, Vox being a down bad simp

Currently imagining Vox x Famous!Reader. Like Fizzarolli famous. Whatever it is they’re known for, Vox is a simp. A huge, pathetic, sad little simp. Maybe you know who he is but don’t really give a fuck. He’s just another dude with a shit ton of money, yippee. Well it’s with that money that he buys one of your sex dolls-some new merchandise that your boss insisted on getting manufactured. Oh he knows it’s sad. He’s heard of the hellborns going wild for that Fizzarolli guy in the lust ring. He’s pretty sure he’s even seen the market for the Fizzarolli sex dolls. He spat out his coffee at that-how fucking sad! How desperate do you have to be to actually buy one of those things—?! Vox bought one of you, same day delivery, as soon as they launched. He felt that guilt and shame swell in his chest and it weighed heavy. That did nothing to settle the pleasant tightness in his pants though. Fuck he couldn’t wait for it to get here. He even canceled everything he had planned that day, telling Valentino and Velvette that he’s feeling sick and needs to do some heavy system cleaning. Then when it gets here that night—oh.my.satan. He’s lost track of how many times he’s cummed but he’s still as hard as a rock. He topped for… idk how many rounds but when he felt tired that’s when he decided to test out how functional this thing was—like could it take some sort of charge? Oh yes it can, Vox repeats to himself as the (Y/n)-Erotica-Botica (shit product name btw) rides him until he’s crying and desperately trying to find the remote to turn you off but the bot is just oh so distracting.

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime,where do Cybertronians that have animal auto modes or non vehicles auto modes fall in the Functionism cast system?

Dear Form Factionalist,

Unfortunately, most ‘bots with animal forms fell quite outside the bounds of Functionism! Following the disappearance of “Onyx Prime” from Cybertron at the end of the First Cybertronian Civil War, those beast-formers who had already not left the planet wound up largely excluded from the Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy, disparaged as little more than “throwbacks” from a primitive age. Initially, most beast-formers simply rejected Nova Prime’s burgeoning society and left to continue their life in the wilderness as they always had—hunting turbofoxes, foraging for natural energon deposits, and marking their territories. Elders who had lived through the reign of the Primes passed down traditional knowledge to younger ‘bots, who raised cairns and mounds to memorialize an era of peace and prosperity they’d never known.

With the passage of time, however, Cybertronian society continued to urbanize, pushing these last holdouts into smaller and smaller tracts of untamed land. When it became clear that these hardliners would not surrender their territory, Nominus Prime and the Senate passed legislation that would formally recognize a number of beast-form genera into the growing Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy—a legislative tactic that quite annoyed the Functionist Council!

Unfortunately, most beast-formers occupied a very low rank on the Functionist hierarchy. Within the bounds of “polite society”, the best that most beast-formers could hope for was a job at one of Cybertron’s many research and development firms, where beast-formers would be regularly used as test subjects for new surgical techniques, various addictive drinks, or new forms of electronic paint. A few, such as Krok, deliberately removed their transformation cogs and joined the Militant Monoform Movement in an attempt to distance themselves from their origins.

However, other beast-formers found lucrative jobs in Cybertron’s criminal underworld—some, like Scorponok, became frightening enforcers. Others operated black-market relinquishment clinics, catering to those rare Cybertronians who wanted to experience the forbidden thrill of experiencing life as a cybercat or lupinoid.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The New Yorker :: @NewYorker [An advance look at Barry Blitt’s “Left to Their Own Devices,” the cover for next week’s issue.]

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 28, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Mar 29, 2025

“Another wipeout walloped Wall Street Friday,” Stan Choe of the Associated Press wrote today. The S&P 500 had one of its worst days in two years, dropping 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 715 points, losing 1.7% of its value. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.7%. On Tuesday, news dropped that the administration’s blanket firings and wildly shifting tariff policies have dropped consumer confidence to a low it has not hit since January 2021. Today’s stock market tumble started after the Commerce Department released data showing that consumer prices are rising faster than economists expected.

AIG chief international economist James Knightley said: “We are moving in the wrong direction and the concern is that tariffs threaten higher prices, which means the inflation prints are going to remain hot.” Business leaders like lower interest rates, which reduce borrowing costs and make it cheaper to finance business initiatives, but with rising inflation, the Federal Reserve will be less likely to cut interest rates.

Makena Kelly of Wired reported today that billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is planning to move the computer system of the Social Security Administration (SSA) off the old programming language it uses, COBOL, to a new system. In 2017, the SSA estimated that such a migration would take about five years. DOGE is planning for the migration to take just a few months, using artificial intelligence to complete the change.

Experts have expressed concern. Dan Hon, who runs a technology strategy company that helps the government modernize its services, told Kelly: “If you weren’t worried about a whole bunch of people not getting benefits or getting the wrong benefits, or getting the wrong entitlements, or having to wait ages, then sure go ahead.” More than 65 million Americans currently receive Social Security benefits. Today Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) recorded himself calling the SSA and being told by a recording that the wait times were more than two hours and that he should call back. And then the system hung up on him.

Musk told the Fox News Channel today that he plans to step down from DOGE in May, apparently at the end of the 130-day cap for the “special government employee” designation that enables him to avoid financial disclosures. In February, White House staffers suggested Musk would stay despite the limit.

Today the State Department told Congress it is shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) altogether by July 1. Whatever agency functions the administration approves will move into the State Department. Founded by President John F. Kennedy and enjoying bipartisan support, USAID administers programs for global health, disaster relief, long-term economic development, education, environmental protection, and democracy. It is widely perceived to be a key element of U.S. “soft power.”

USAID was created by Congress, and its funds are appropriated by Congress. Congress and the courts have established that the executive branch—the branch of government overseen by the president—cannot kill an agency Congress has created and cannot withhold appropriations Congress has made. The authors of Project 2025 want to challenge that principle and consolidate government power in the hands of the president. It appears they have chosen USAID as the test case.

As Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shatters science and health agencies, the nation’s top vaccine regulator, Dr. Peter Marks, submitted his resignation today after being given the choice to resign or be fired. Dan Diamond of the Washington Post noted that Marks has been at the Food and Drug Administration since 2012 and has been at the head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research since 2016.

In his resignation letter, Diamond says, Marks expressed his deep concern over the ongoing measles outbreak in the Southwest—now more than 450 cases—and warned that the outbreak “reminds us of what happens when confidence in well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined.” Marks said that although he was willing to work with Kennedy on his plan to review vaccine safety, “it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

On Tuesday, news broke that Kennedy has tapped anti-vaccine activist David Geier to lead a study looking to link autism to vaccines, although that alleged link has been heavily studied and thoroughly debunked. Infectious disease journalist Helen Branswell notes that Geier does not have a medical degree and was disciplined in Maryland for practicing medicine without a license.

British investigative journalist Brian Deer, who has written about the hoax that vaccines cause autism, told Branswell: “If you want an independent source,… [you] wouldn’t go to somebody with no qualifications and a long track record of impropriety and incompetence.” But, he said, “[i]f you wanted to get in anybody off the street who would come up with the result that Kennedy would like to see, this would be your man.”

Tara Copp of the Associated Press reported today that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has done some targeted staffing, too. His younger brother Phil Hegseth is traveling to the Indo-Pacific with the secretary in his role at the Pentagon as a liaison and senior advisor to the Department of Homeland Security. Hegseth also employed his brother when he ran the nonprofit Concerned Veterans for America, where the younger Hegseth’s salary was $108,000 for his media work. Copp notes that a 1967 law “prohibits government officials from hiring, promoting or recommending relatives to any civilian position over which they exercise control.”

Hegseth and his colleagues are still in the hot seat for uploading the military’s attack plans against the Houthis in Yemen to Signal, an unsecure commercially available messaging app. Yesterday, Nancy A. Youssef, Alexander Ward, and Michael R. Gordon of the Wall Street Journal reported that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz identified a Houthi missile expert whose identity Israel had provided from a human source in Yemen, angering Israeli officials.

Americans, especially those with ties to the military, aren’t happy either. Military, the leading news website for service members, veterans, and their families, titled a story about the scandal “‘Different spanks for different ranks’: Hegseth’s Signal scandal would put regular troops in the brig.” Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt of the New York Times reported that the story had “angered and bewildered” fighter pilots, who say “they can no longer be certain that the Pentagon is focused on their safety when they strap into cockpits.”

At a raucous town hall held today by Republican representative Victoria Spartz (R-IN), the crowd booed Spartz loudly when she said she would not call for the resignations of Waltz, Hegseth, and the rest of the people on the group chat.

All the mayhem created by the administration has created enough backlash that the White House appears concerned about upcoming special elections on April 1. One is for the seat in Florida’s District 6 that Waltz vacated when he became national security advisor. In 2024, Trump won that district by 30 points, and Republicans considered their candidate, state senator Randy Fine, whom Trump has strongly endorsed, to be such a shoo-in that he barely campaigned. His website features pictures of him with Trump but has only bullet points to explain his stand on issues.

Democrat Josh Weil, a middle-school math teacher who has outraised Fine by almost 10 to one, is polling within the margin of error for a victory in a contest where even a 10- to 15-point loss would show a dramatic collapse in Republican support. Weil has tied Fine to Musk’s unpopular DOGE and to the president, as well as to cuts to Social Security and Medicaid.

Trump is now personally campaigning for Fine and for the Republican candidate to fill the seat vacated by former representative Matt Gaetz in Florida District 1. There, Democratic candidate Gay Valimont is running against Republican Jimmy Patronis in a district that elected Trump with about 68% of the vote. Like Fine, Patronis is strongly backed by Trump and wants more cuts to the federal government; Gay is a former state leader for Moms Demand Action and focuses on healthcare and veterans’ services. She has criticized DOGE’s cuts to VA hospitals. Like Weil, she has significantly outraised her opponent.

Republicans are concerned enough about holding the seats that billionaire Elon Musk, who poured more than $291 million into the 2024 election to help Republicans, has begun to contribute to Republicans in Florida. On Tuesday he spent more than $10,000 apiece for texting services for the Florida candidates.

Musk has contributed far more than that—more than $20 million—to the April 1 election for a ten-year seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Trump loyalist Brad Schimel is running against circuit court judge Susan Crawford in a contest that has national significance. Wisconsin is evenly split between the parties, but when Republicans control the legislature and the supreme court, they suppress voting and heavily gerrymander the state in their favor. When liberals hold the majority on the court, they ease election rules and uphold fair maps. Currently, the state gerrymander gives Republicans 75% of the state’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives although voting in 2024 was virtually dead even. The makeup of the court could well determine the congressional districts of Wisconsin through 2041, through the redistricting that will take place after the 2030 census.

Musk has told voters that if Crawford wins, “then the Democrats will attempt to redraw the districts and cause Wisconsin to lose two Republican seats.” Not only has Musk said he is going to Wisconsin to speak before the election, but also he is handing out checks to voters who sign a petition against “activist judges,” a suggestion that it would not be fair to unskew the Republican gerrymander. Last night, Musk advertised a contest that would award two voters a million dollars each, with the condition that the winners had to have already voted.

This morning, Wisconsin Democrats issued a press release noting that Musk had “committed a blatant felony,” directly violating the Wisconsin law that prohibits offering anyone anything worth more than $1 to get them to “vote or refrain from voting.” Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler said that if Schimel “does not immediately call on Musk to end this criminal activity, we can only assume he is complicit.”

Musk deleted the tweet and then, eliminating the language that said people had to have voted, posted that he would give the checks to spokespeople for his petition. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul sued to stop Musk “from any further promotion of the million-dollar gifts” and “from making any payments to Wisconsin electors to vote.” “The Wisconsin Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that elections in Wisconsin are safe, secure, free, and fair,” Kaul said in a statement. “We are aware of the offer recently posted by Elon Musk to award a million dollars to two people at an event in Wisconsin this weekend. Based on our understanding of applicable Wisconsin law, we intend to take legal action today to seek a court order to stop this from happening.”

MeidasTouch reposted Musk’s offer to “personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote” and noted: “No matter what side of the aisle you are on, you should be appalled that a billionaire thinks he has the right to buy elections like this.” Former chair of the Ohio Democratic Party David Pepper posted: “Have some pride, America. We are so much better than this guy thinks we are.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[suzukiblu]

WIP excerpt: “Match is technically also a Luthor”. (( chrono || non-chrono ))

Match slants his eyes back to Luthor, who still just looks indulgently amused and does not seem inclined to correct his . . . whatever Lena is. She called him “Father”, but since Luthor’s also referred to himself as both Superboy’s and his father, that isn’t necessarily trustworthy intel. 

Also, if nothing else, Lena clearly doesn’t know his assignment or understand his purpose here any better than he does, so that also implies her to be a poor source of intel. 

“Am I her replacement bodyguard?” he asks Luthor skeptically, because admitting he doesn’t know something is better than making a mistake. 

Probably. 

“Right now, you’re her babysitter,” Luthor replies dryly, then pauses and amends, “Or she’s yours. I’m still unclear on your capacity for long-term independent function, to be honest, and I wouldn’t trust the opinions of the idiots who plagiarized you even if I had bothered to read them. We’ll fit in some independent cognitive tests at some point this week, I suppose.” 

“. . . ‘cognitive’ tests,” Match repeats blankly. “Cognitive” is the last thing the Agenda ever cared about testing him on, because he isn’t supposed to be–he isn’t thinking about anything. Obviously. 

Physical tests would make sense. Combat assessments, physical readings, DNA scans; that kind of thing. 

. . . then again, he supposes Luthor already knows everything that’s in his DNA, doesn’t he. 

Assuming the Agenda “plagiarized” him well enough, anyway. 

“To start, yes,” Luthor says. “For now, if anything goes wrong, the security system will alert me. Don’t let her eat too much sugar. Or eat too much sugar yourself.” 

“. . . I have no idea what ‘too much’ sugar is for either of our metabolisms,” Match says. 

“I’m sure you can google something,” Luthor says, giving him a wry look. 

“I have no idea what that is either,” Match says. He doesn’t like admitting not knowing things, for obvious reasons, but also there is no possible way that Lex Luthor can’t pronounce “googol” correctly, and also he can’t imagine how a googol would even be relevant to whatever the hell Luthor is saying anyway. 

“Hm,” Luthor says, his eyes narrowing slightly. Match does not let his hackles raise. “I should’ve murdered more people in that lab, apparently.” 

“Google Search is a web-based service operated by the American multinational corporation Google LLC as the most popular search engine globally and most-visited website in the world,” Lena informs him promptly, ineffectively pulling at his hands again and using her full weight in a entirely fruitless attempt to get him to move. “It has a share of ninety-two percent of the search engine market and its parent company’s current net worth is valued at 1.97 trillion dollars.” 

. . . that seems like something that should’ve been covered in his uploads, yes, Match thinks, eyeing her warily. Assuming she’s actually correct, anyway, which–again, she’s been a poor source of intel so far. 

. . . is that even normal information for a kindergarten-aged child to have, either way? Especially one who’s not even intelligent enough to realize how futile trying to drag a telekinetic metaweapon twice her size around without any enhancements of her own is? Match has no idea.

[osakanone]

Hi, I'm Osaka

I'm a hobbyist designer, and I research esoteric concepts on the periphery of mecha to find new views nobody else is writing about. I also am obsesed with trying to push the genre forwards.

I also took up programming to build a game faster than ACFA, more airborne than Ace Combat, and more "art of the blade" than Zone of the Enders 2 by studying mecha games through the lens of published declassified military grade airwar and psywar human factors engineering and psychology concepts.

I want to make this game about mechposting and the trans experience, but I need your help: not money, but to speak with you about mecha.

The writing is simultaniously equal parts thesis to microfic a lot of the time, so your milage may vary.

Scroll through the mess below and find what suits you best.

Please.

Mecha Theory Writing

A comprehensive explanation of the evolutionary path from conventional ground and air vehicles, including a comprehensive outline of a functioning control-design based on the inceptor/software model seen in unmanned drones and 5th gen aircraft, complete with explanations.

The evolution of the walking thing called “mecha"  (original)

Chapter 0: Establishing terminology & Concepts Part 1: Defining "the mechaness" of something: the 8 principles of mecha Part 2: Feisability: Mecha aren't realistic, but not for the reason you think

Chapter 1: How does "mecha" come into existence/why would you want one? Part 1: An evolution from ground vehicles of today Part 2: Skating, to walking, to running, to flight Part 3: “Why transform in the vacuum of space?”

Chapter 2: Cockpit & Software Design Control Theory Part 4: On Mecha Control Theory: Considerations Part 4a: On Mecha Control Theory II: OKAWARA Part 4b: On Mecha Control Theory III: TOMINO  Part 4c: On Mecha Control Theory III: NAGANO

The World of Armored Core

An exploration of the world of Armored Core, using research into real phenomenon and engineering systems to infer how the world may itself function

Kojima particle physics (part 1): What are they? Kojima particle physics (part 2): The Human Consequences NEXT cockpit design (part 1): AMS and Lynx NEXT Cockpit Design (Part 2): G-force Tolerance Technocrat is SpaceX, and the legacy of Musk’s father (lmao) I am a 4th gen douchebag, and I love it (love-letter to ACFA) 4th gen shitpost: white gopnik

How To Domesticate Your Pilot

A husbandry guide for handlers, consisting of opinions and thoughts from various trainers and operators, as well as pilots. Includes practices, procedures, articles, stories and snippets.

I'm currently testing the waters with snippets and will likely be posting it out of order. I am extremely hungry for any and all possible feedback

If anybody knows the original source of the image of the eyes (which I first saw in a youtube ad) I'd love to know. I very much would like to commission them.

Inspired by mechposting

Chapter 3: Do not Abuse Your Wolves (Psychological patterning) Part 1: Action patterning (Initial Phases) Part 2: Action Patterning (Risks) Part 3: Once upon a mechanism

On mecha design: My personal thoughts on the assemblies of shape, form in the context of motion, action and function 1. Does anybody else have physical characteristics they find the most appealing? 2. Thoughts on self-altering dynamic form, and proportion designs 3. Shoji Kawamori and Armored Core: designers hallucinate, but do they hallucinate too? 4. Why is Gundam Gquuuuux called Gundam Gquuuuux?

Mechsploitation thoughts

#Mechposting

My personal thoughts on piloting culture, and mechanical design

1. The eroticism of the machine: Megastructures 2. Beyond pilebunker: The Grind-blade and the legacy of Overweapons 3. FLAT/Touchscreens are an act of hate: I will teach you love 4. You do not need to pick between a big hammer or daggers if you are a robot 5. O'Socks combat mix (tw: substance abuse) 6. Team dynamics, addiction, conflicts of interest and marketing 7. Commuication is hard, and mecha feet are cool 8. Morrigan Aensland is mecha and you cannot change my mind 9. re: Last Exile is not dieselpunk; its post-steampunk deleuzian dreams 10. Mecha PMC promotion is back, in pog form 11. Bodies, corporeal schema, and the body language of pilots 12. The blessing of the hounds; main system engaging combat mode 13. Exotic doctrine: Grappling & Booster-fu // torsion, aspect and control 14. Osaka, why do you always want to talk about ACFA? 15. You walk, so they can run

# Miscposting: Immacullate vibe-topia Pilot, for you: Love. Love. The sound of the ideal cockpit Left Hand/Right hand [gone]-- Mechposting vibes soundwall 🇸​​🇮​​🇨​​🇰​​🇧​​🇪​​🇦​​🇹​​🇸​ ​🇹​​🇴​ ​🇸​​🇪​​🇪​​🇰​ ​🇦​​🇳​​🇩​ ​🇩​​🇪​​🇸​​🇹​​🇷​​🇴​​🇾​ ​🇹​​🇴​: A #mechposting playlist [ongoing] Cicatrix: A writing playlist Sounds for violence: Mecha games vs FPS games

# Pilotcore: Dress & attire 1. Attire concept (includes #mechposting patch list) 2. Crew attire for things other than piloting a giant robot 3. Singleton over-jacket 4. Radios, straps and whips 5. Wearable keyboard for pilots 6. What color should a flight-suit be? (#AskOsaka from @siveine)

The Learning Tree

Reading this will help you grow as a person, or ask questions

"I experience depression as a failure of resource allocation systems" Adult social skills 101, because the world broke our ability to understand eachother Mental health: Things I wish I knew in my teens, my 20's or even my early 30's ​Sex-positivity, associations, critical thinking & deradicalization Crossing the hrt libido event horizon without libido heat-death by making biscuits Fool!: Your nostalgia isn't real: Your past has been stolen from you! Why Linux diehards are morons, and so is everybody else too On the ecology of slurs and the evolution of language Individualism can mean many things. The three fetishes of the human condition The real meaning of "you will not be an anime girl, you'll be your mom"

Nothing, but content for contented malcontents

Insightful, but stupid.

The collapse of the anime ecology's biodiversity Cycles of Nostalgia: Nobody is going to be nostalgic for Corporate Memphis Europe doesn't teach the Odyssey: Americentricism's fetishism is already its downfall Feeling used: The eternal disappointment of the Sawano Drop Lame? Bitch please: Clubbing deserves to go extinct every pmdd transmasc is that badass hot painting of satan crying The reviewer made a major error The Maid's Paradox Bread real

The horrors

Robo ComBAT: Cactus Jaque (original)

The Fear

Concerning plunges into the ne plus ultra culture of tomorrow

Humbert complex: When people prefer what they imagine to what's really there White Diamond, fascism, projection, ego, how Steven Universe botched its end. Sandwich names: the internet sucks now and smartphones are to blame! Gatekeeping is weird and knowledge-checks are arbitrary nonsense "The internet feels gross now", a trajectory of human events Providing feedback is also a skill and not everybody has it. AI isn't evil but it does embolden the worst people economics is just twitter brain for worth Do you?

My actual projects:

Art (I'm kind of private about my output and don't post often, sorry)

Pixelart: A very silly computer design that makes me smile idk

Games:

Project Force: 6dof aerodynamic high speed robot action [ongoing] Inspired by Armored Core For Answer, Freespace 2, Zone of the Enders 2 & Ace Combat 3, this game aims to merge their elements into a high speed mech sim.

e: yeesh this pinned post is getting kinda huge, I should break it into sub-pages or something so nobody can ever see any of it lol

[wh0refornikolailantsov]

Compass Of Pirates - Nikolai Lantsov

Summary: Nikolai is given a compass that he was told would solve all his problems, and yet he cannot figure out why it doesn't seem to work. Yes, I am merging with Pirates Of The Caribbean because I fucking can.

Content Warnings: No Beta/Proof Reading.

Nikolai Taglist: @hauntedenthusiasttragedy

The brass points across the centre of the compass are centred by a sundial, which as far as Sturmhond can tell is the most functional part of the compass. He holds the compass in the clutch of his palm, staring at the red arrow as it gently swings between two points, neither of which are north. He had picked it up from someone in one of the markets in the last port they docked in. It was this rocky, mountainous island, just off the northern coast of the mainland. The name of the port escapes the captains mind, but it was some fishing port with a name not unlike a weapon of some kind. But that isn't really important, what is important is the illusion of help this compass had been acquired under. "It will bring you to what you most desire," they had said, "the compass never leads you wrong." He had been dubious but nevertheless he has hope he isn't sure he has a right to, and yet he was finding the outcome very disappointing.

"This thing doesn't even point north," Sturmhond says, staring again at the compass in his hand. Mal shrugs, offering out his open hand.

"May I?" he asks. He hands it over, without pause and the dial spins to quickly into a new direction the moment it touches Mal's palm. Mal watches the dial and follows it's direction. He knows exactly what the privateer has observed, that this compass does not point north, but instead it is now pointing at Alina, who is leaning over the edge of the ship, staring at the way the waves are breaking onto the boats side, creating the white foam of sea spray and she is smiling like she has never seen the ocean before. "Oh, Sturmhond," Mal says, "it points north alright," he chuckles, "true north."

The Captain frowns. "True north?" he questions, staring the tracker down. "What kind of navigational system are you working on Oretsev?"

"The only one that hasn't ever lead me wrong," he hands the compass back to Sturmhond and the moment it enters his hand it changes direction back to where it had been previously pointing. Mal taps the fabric of his shirt, directly over his heart. "I told Alina about true north once, she asked me what scared me most, and I told her I get the most scared when I am lost, but I don't really get lost. Yet, getting lost happens even if you know where you are sometimes. So I told her about cardinal north and true north."

"Cardinal north is a direction on a map," Sturmhond says. Mal nods, not letting his eyes leave the Sun Summoner. "So, as for true north?"

"True north is home," Mal says, sounding more like a poet than a tracker, "it is where you feel safe and loved."

"Miss Starkov is your truth north," Sturmhond says with a nod. Mal doesn't even need to respond to that. "So you think this compass points to what exactly?"

"Whatever you most desire, that's what the translation says on the side isn't it?" Mal says, finally looking at him. "You did see that, didn't you? Since you're always six steps ahead of everything, and ever so flawless Captain?"

He is too eager to test the theory to even care about Mal's teasing of him. He just thanks him absentmindedly and follows the compass forward. "Don't walk off the edge of the ship," Mal calls after him, "or do..."

He spends a good while walking the length of the decking, trying to figure out why the dial spins into a change of direction, seemingly without link. "Maybe you don't know what you want," Mal teases, observing him.

"Doesn't this interest you?" Sturmhond asks, running a hand through his tousled hair.

Mal shrugs. "What use is a compass what would be pointing right beside me all of the time?" he asks. "Besides my heart always brings me back to her."

"You're good with your words when it suits you, aren't you?" Tamar asks, coming to stand beside Mal, bored of her card game and far more interested in whatever it is that has gotten the Captain all pacing and flustered. "Still staring at the broken compass?"

"It's not broken," Mal says, "it's just not helpful."

"A compass's only purpose is to point north, and it doesn't, so it's broken," Tamar argues.

"It's a heart compass, not a compass," Mal says. The Heartrender laughs.

"Those are legend," she says, taking some walnuts from her pocket to snack on. She offers him one and he shakes his head to dismiss the offer.

"Wasn't the Stag legend too?" Mal retorts. Tamar gives him a shrug.

"That means nothing of all legend," is her response, but she keeps watching Sturmhond.

"It doesn't even make sense," he says finally holding the compass up and above his head to see how the dial moves. "It's not pointing to anything, I thought it might've been pointing to Ravka but I was wrong."

"You're suggesting your truest love is a country?" Mal asks, "what kind of excessive patriotism is that?"

"You're not patriotic?" Tamar asks, her tone littered with laughter.

"No," he admits, not feeling pulled down by the admission, "I came here for Alina. She's my flag, my nation, she is the one thing I remain loyal to."

Tamar's question was to sway Mal from paying too much attention to the captains words, but he doesn't throw her a look of gratitude, instead he returns to his fixation on the compass, as it spins to point towards the ships bow. Some of the crew start to appear on deck, changing placement as the time passes, and Tolya walks beside you, as you tell him something out of their earshot.

He takes his eyes off the compass, staring directly at you, forgetting what his original intentions had been, he offers you a smile and you grin back, all teeth and cheer. Even after the days at sea nothing seemed to sway your mood.

Tamar elbows Mal in the side and before her can take issue with it, she nods his attention to Sturmhond, who has lost interest in the compass altogether in your presence.

"Got it working yet?" you ask, coming closer to the three of them Tolya by your side.

"Think it might be a lost cause," the privateer admits, holding the compass down and to his side, as if to hide it's direction from those around you.

"Come on, Captain, plenty have said that about broken things, but often you just need time or the right pair of hands," you say, "show me?"

He hesitates and Mal and Tamar share a look, a look that spreads into matching grins. "Oh, he is not as smart as he gives himself credit for," Mal says in hushed words.

"Most of the time he is, but any heart can get blind sighted, and when the heart is blind, the mind can fog," Tamar says, voice equally low.

You look at him and he is smiling at you like you're a sunrise, like he is seeing you for the first time, and you wonder how he always manages to look at you like this. Look at you in a way that makes your head spin and your stomach twist. You know Sturmhond, and you know the man can flirt like second nature, that no one you've yet to meet have been susceptible to his charms, so you try not to let go to your head. But that's not easy when he looks at you like he has just discovered what love is for the very first time.

He holds out the compass out and you look at it, not reaching to take it from his hands, you move around to his perspective for the dial to swing back in your direction. You lean around him, to get a better look and then stare out at the ocean. But he just watches you, not as much are daring to confirm what he suspects by glancing to the compass.

You move back in front of him, and the dial points to you, and you turn your head to look at the big blue expanse behind. "Compass doesn't know north that's for sure," you say, giving him a wild smile and a shrug. "But I guess it's no better than most of us in that."

"It doesn't know north," he agrees, shoving the compass back in his pocket, "but it seems to know things I should have before now."

"Hmm?" you ask, turning back to him from the waves.

"Nothing, now, tell me, what was so funny?"

[aamputation]

Villain's Day Off

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When their favorite minion Aubrey had pointed out the surprisingly empty day on the calendar after reviewing the month’s planned Villainous Events, they’d decided it was well past due to take some time for themself. It felt wrong to ignore all their professionally-inclined projects to instead focus on other things—personal things! Heavens! Their work ethic is crying—but it was also an exciting prospect. A free day in their usually packed schedule is a rare blessing, and they’re not going to squander it. 

Aubrey had been thrilled when they’d announced their decision to take the day off, so to speak, but when the favorite minion realized the Boss had planned to simply spend their elusive spare time in the lab on a personal project, rather than say, taking a well deserved break at a spa or something relaxing of that nature? Well. Needless to say, Aubrey was driven to tears of despair; practically chewing on the hem of the uniform.

Oh well. 

Villains make people cry, don’t they? 

Guess that’s something. 

Their day off starts in the lab, tinkering around with their prosthetic arm. It’s actually great fun when not being frantically pieced together with slapdash engineering: duct-tape, shoddy soldering, and a prayer. Having the time to improve upon the already sleek design is not something they’ve often been able to do. The tech that makes up their prosthetic is beyond what’s available on the global market, and certainly not FDA approved in any capacity since they’d done the grafting themself—not having access to human testing means they’d had to be the test subject—and the anchors are secured tightly through their skin into the scapula and clavicle. Nano-electrical technology threads into the surrounding muscle fibers and fascia, allowing a connection between the machinery and their nervous system. Being able to disconnect the apparatus from the base anchors to repair the actual prosthesis as needed was critical to the design, but it meant the actual installation procedure would be experimental at best and suicidal at worst. It had been excruciating and left horrendous scarring around the entire shoulder joint, but it was worth every agonizing second in the end.

The nanobots that they’d had to program and inject after grafting the anchor base was a secondary project, but an exceptional addition. The nanobots are what allow internal improvements around the anchor’s base without requiring them to surgically dig out all the deep tissue intrinsic makeup. They also act as monitors for active issues without requiring external diagnostics to be run weekly, avoiding hours hooked up to machines for maintenance scans. Additionally, and blessedly, they function as a secret weapon of sorts; nobody expects the Villain to heal so quickly—so capable of being throttled by the Hero and still managing to stand up again. They may not be physically strong, (barring the mechanics of their prosthetic, of course) but their endurance knows no bounds. 

Their lips quirk up into a crooked grin as they stare down into the internal wiring of their prosthesis. All the minute details wrapped up in an impenetrable metal sheath is a work of art in their eyes, even if no one but they will ever see such beauty. Their toolkit sends off sparks that reflect in the lenses of their goggles as they modify the reaction time of the finger flexion. Dexterity is no laughing matter, after all.

They love their lab; it’s one of their favorite areas of the Lair they’ve built over the past six years they’ve been active as a Villain. It’s not the innermost scientific sanctum, instead one of the more outer sectors of the Lair. There are two halves: divided down the center into medical and mechanical. The Villain is currently perched in one of the metal work stools in the mechanical section, although they’ll migrate back and forth as they test the functionality of the prosthesis’ improvements over the course of the day. There are already a few scorch marks decorating the hem of the left sleeve of their long lab coat, the empty right sleeve knotted off and pulled out of the way as they work. Thankfully, they’re ambidextrous, otherwise they’d never have been able to continue their work after losing their arm eight years ago. 

They woke this morning with the sun, energized and moving through their morning ablutions with a contentment they haven’t had in quite some time. Despite getting an early start with all the excitement thrumming in their veins, their zeal hasn’t faded even though it’s well past noon and quickly approaching dinnertime. The Villain hums under their breath as they tinker away, floating gleefully in their little bubble of mechanical fulfillment, drifting in a place where everything is tranquil and perfect, untouchable and impossible to damage—

—but the shattering of one of the mirrored external windows immediately disabuses that notion.

The Villain pauses where they’re hunched over their prosthetic, blinking behind the dark lenses of their safety goggles before straightening up and setting down their tool. They slowly turn to face the direction of the shattered window, pushing their goggles up onto their forehead almost robotically to reveal their unquestionably unimpressed, deadpan expression.

“I have a front door, you know.”

The Hero straightens from what is undoubtedly supposed to be a dramatic, flashy landing pose, gesturing sharply at the Villain with a furious expression—as though this idiot hasn’t just broken about three separate laws barging into the Villain’s private property like this…

“Villain! The Authority knows you’re behind today’s slew of robberies, so surrender quietly and I won’t rough you up too badly when I take you in!”

The Villain blinks slowly as one brow raises higher with each word out of the Hero’s mouth. They shut their eyes with an exasperated sigh, deflating and pinching the bridge of their nose. What sort of nonsense–!

“Aubrey!” they call loudly, knowing their favorite minion is doubtlessly within earshot.

“Yes, Boss?!” barrelling through the doorway like a bat out of hell, Aubrey freezes at the sight of their unexpected guest.

“W-Who-oaah, shit, h-hey, Hero!!” Aubrey stammers nervously, eyes like dinner plates and clutching that ever-present tablet-clipboard close to the chest. It’s only a matter of seconds before the absolute mess of shattered glass strewn across the floor of the Lab sends poor Aubrey into despair and wrathful fury all over again. “W-What have you done to the window?!”

“The Hero has decided to eschew doorways, Aubrey. For some godforsaken reason it seems I am being blamed for some asinine, puerile incidents—robberies of all things—that have occurred today. I am, for once, completely innocent of these claims as my schedule can attest. As such, relay my schedule for the day to the Hero, if you would please, Aubrey,” they command, gesturing lazily and pulling their goggles back down over their eyes as they get back to work on their prosthetic. They pause, raising their chin to add:

“Oh, and put in a work order for the window.”

“Of course, Boss!” Aubrey chirps, perking up immediately from the despair spiral.

“... you’re serious?” 

The Villain pauses their soldering, peering up at the flabbergasted face of the Hero, staring gobsmacked amidst the minefield of broken glass. Their eyebrow raises upwards again.

“Deadly.”

“Boss has a very comprehensive schedule, Hero, and don’t you forget it! Today is a rare free day, so Boss hasn’t had anything planned, see? Oh, wait—I should show you the redacted version, haha, can’t show any big plans to the enemy! One sec, let me pull that up��”

The Villain returns their attention to their project halfway through Aubrey’s explanation, certain that their most competent minion is no doubt flawlessly using that thorough schedule on their tablet-clipboard to defend their alibi. The Villain quickly loses themself back in their work, finding the presence of the Hero in their Lab irrelevant to the task at hand; it’s not like they’re currently working on anything that could be thwarted, after all, and they severely doubt that the Hero has any sort of engineering or mechanical knowledge that could allow for sabotage of their prosthetic. With zero threat, the Villain feels perfectly safe letting Aubrey rip the Hero a new one, letting the brightly-colored do-gooder poke around while they work. 

They’re in the middle of testing a circuit to check how quickly the upgraded lock-pick kit tucked into one of the fingertips springs into activation when they sense a presence hovering at their side. They continue working as they address said presence.

“Can I assist you in some way, Hero? Surely you’re convinced I had nothing to do with your paltry robberies as proof dictates I’ve been in my lab all day, after all.”

“Ah,” the Hero sounds surprisingly sheepish and out of the corner of their eye they can see the way the Hero rubs the back of a reddish-orange hair-covered neck. It’s a… cute gesture. 

Hm. That’s a new thought.

“Yeah, I uh. I’m sorry about your window… I can um. Pay you back for it, if you send me the invoice?”

“I am perfectly capable of paying for my own repairs, Hero.”

“No, I-I’m well aware, Villain, god, I’m just trying to be nice!”

The Villain hums, amused at the frustration and embarrassment coloring the Hero’s voice, their left hand pausing where it’s in the process of retrofitting the external protective plating of the prosthetic so they can reattach and test it with its new improvements.

“I am fairly unfamiliar with the concept, forgive me.”

“... I don’t know whether to be saddened by that statement or to just feel disgusted by it.”

A tiny smirk flits across the Villain’s lips at the disgruntled Hero, entertained by the clearly irritated responses they’re managing to elicit. Perhaps they should consider teasing their Hero more often if these are the types of reactions they get from such behavior.

“Perhaps you ought to examine that dichotomy more closely at a later date, Hero. If you’ll excuse me,” they push past their Hero, prosthetic in hand as they walk over to the medical side of the Lab. They hook themself up to the simple monitoring system—blood pressure, blood oxygen, EEG, EKG—before reattaching the prosthetic and resolutely ignoring the steadfast shadow the Hero is proving to be.

They run through their standard tests while monitoring their vital signs, recording everything in their encrypted files. They attempt some specialized movements next, noting down successes and failures—thankfully the successes vastly outweigh the failures—and by the end of the trials, the Villain determines the upgrades safe for continued use. A quick rotation of the prosthetic in the base elicits a jolt as the nano-electrical anchors re-establish a few musculoskeletal connections, their nervous system lighting up like early Christmas decorations. A soft hiss escapes from between their clenched teeth as they massage the muscles around the anchor base.

“I-I didn’t realize it was an actual prosthetic,” the Hero speaks quietly, tone serious.

“Hm? What sort of assumptions were you making, then?” the Villain replies, more out of general politeness than actual interest; they don’t want to hear platitudes, least of all from The Hero.

There have been far too many comments over the years about their disability and quite frankly they’re sick of it. Past Heroes they’ve gone up against as a fledgling Villain have said things to them like “oh, I’d have been easier on you if I’d known you were crippled” or “I didn’t realize you had it so bad, you must be suffering” and other variations along those two lines of thought. It’s exhausting to be reduced to a limitation when it’s obvious that it doesn’t actually define who the Villain is in any way shape or form. Bad enough that their family started to write them off as a loss when their arm had been destroyed after being caught in the crossfire of that one fight years ago; they don’t need their adversaries not taking them seriously just because of a few measly missing pounds of flesh and bone.

“I–Well, I thought you’d made like, an exoskeleton or something,” the tone sounds embarrassed, and the Villain risks a glance at their Hero and is surprised to see a rather fetching flush decorating those rounded, yet defined cheekbones, “or-or that maybe you were just really dedicated to an aesthetic or something.”

The Villain snorts, charmed by the Hero’s naive interpretation of such an obvious disability, “No, certainly nothing so fanciful. But I applaud you for an interesting take.”

The Hero smiles: a quiet, soft, bashful thing that makes the Villain’s chest feel like it’s full of effervescence, warm and overflowing.

“I’m actually really impressed you’re so strong even with such a–an injury? I, I don’t actually know why you don’t have a right arm—you could have been born without it, I suppose!” The Hero bites at a slightly chapped, plush lower lip, awkwardness settling over a once-vibrant and energetic form into stillness.

The Villain sighs, “Your first assumption was correct, yes. It was an injury. And no, I will not tell you about it.”

The Hero brightens, a broad grin stretching across a soft face, and the Villain immediately feels as though the universe has righted itself. It’s a feeling that definitely needs to be re-assessed at a later date because it’s not something they’ve ever experienced before.

“Well, then yeah! I’m definitely impressed you’re as strong as you are despite such an injury—in spite of it? Or maybe even because of it,” the Hero says, suddenly thoughtful, “I don’t know you well enough to figure either way, I guess.” 

The Hero scrubs a hand through bright hair, ruffling the already disheveled strands, “Y’know, and quite frankly I’d be worried if I did know you well enough! What kind of Hero gets to know their Villain like that?”

The Hero’s laughter feels like a hug while the use of a possessive before the Villain’s title makes them feel decidedly short of breath.

The Villain wants to keep the Hero, to possess their Hero entirely, and keep their Hero all for themself. 

Forever.

… bit not good, that.

“Hm. Wouldn’t mind being someone’s anything,” they muse quietly and mostly to themself, flexing their right fist and making note with a pleased smile that all the joints move smoothly against one another without any abrasion or noise. They almost miss the soft choking noise that comes from their Hero standing beside them. They tear their eyes from the prosthetic, glancing down at the shorter Hero, only to marvel at the obvious surprise, longing, and the deep, dark blush painting those softer, rounded cheekbones.

Unable to resist a little playful bullying, they reach out,—slowly enough that their Hero could move away if so desired—grasping their Hero’s chin gently in their prosthetic grip. The action elicits a soft gasp from between plush, red-bitten lips.

“Tell you what, my darling Hero,” they drawl, voice low and rich, eyes lidded and locked onto the wide ones belonging to the stunned, flustered prey in their gentle grasp, “I for one have surprisingly enjoyed your company outside of our, hm, working hours, so to speak.”

The Hero’s swallow is audible and the lazy smirk that pulls at the Villain’s lips feels so right. “If you have any interest in perhaps continuing this, ah… parley if you will—feel free to come back next week. I’m sure I can have Aubrey get my thoroughly redacted schedule to you somehow. I have plenty of resources at my disposal, after all, and well… evil never sleeps, now, does it..?”

Their voice has dropped into a rumbling purr by the end of their short monologue, the Hero’s breathing rapid and pulse like a frantic hummingbird’s wing-beats against the sensors in their prosthetic’s fingertips. Gently, they let go of the Hero’s chin, a soft brush against flushed skin seeming to act as a jolt to the Hero’s system, causing the blushing fool to throw every ounce of bodyweight backwards. The bumbling Hero stumbles wide-eyed against tables and lab equipment in the mad dash to get to the door without turning around, fleeing as fast as possible.

The Villain watches their Hero run from their oh-so-tender clutches, buoyed with the knowledge that without a doubt they’ve succeeded in accomplishing something they’d never considered possible before.

They’ve caught the attention of Their Hero: not with cunning, or power, or violence, even. But with conversation and a hint of flirting!

What a fascinating new development.

They can’t wait to see what comes of it.

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My designs for Villain and Hero found [ here ]

shout out to adornedwithlight for the reblog banner & barbed wire divider

[commodorez]

Do you have a favourite rotary telephone?

Excellent question!

Yes, I have a favorite:

The Northern Electric Pyramid phone from about 1935. I had this on my desk at my old job, tied into the telephone system. Its distinctive ring made it really easy to discern if I was the one being called instead of my coworkers. The chrome dial and the area code indicate that this unit came from Canada.

Coming in second place is my Northern Telecom 500-style set with official Commodore branding -- also from Canada. These were sold with VICMODEMs in a special bundle exclusively in the Canadian market. The VICMODEM requires that you detach the cord from the handset, plug it directly into the modem, then dial for the computer.

Problem is that you can't do that here, because the handset cord is permanently attached! Solution? The little white adapter box called the VIC 1605. Very hard to find, but I found one.

Coming in third place would be the Contempra from Northern Electric/Telecom from 1967 (why do these keep being Canadian?). Beautiful colors, angles. Great phone, but sadly I don't have one. Atleast not one like this... NT made these into lineman's test sets (commonly called butt sets because they hang on a lineman's belt by their butt/you use them to butt-in to a call when testing things).

I bought one and turned it into the NT2017 Rotary Cellphone, a real working 2G cellular telephone. It's got an Adafruit Fona board inside with an Atmel 32U4 microcontroller, a little screen, and zero ability to send/receive text messages. It didn't work very well, but it was really fun to build and use before it broke. Construction was very fragile, and my code running it was hot garbage. Since the discontinuation of 2G cell service, it's just decorative at this point.

The last one of my favorites is one I certainly don't have: a late 19th century Skeleton Telephone from Ericsson. Technically not a rotary phone, but it does have a crank that you rotate!

These are expensive, really hard to find, and obviously rather difficult to use without having an operator to ring up when you turn the crank. However, they are stunningly beautiful, and all of the functionality is on display arranged in such a way to accentuate the elegance of its industrial design.

How about you? Do you have a favorite rotary phone?

[sngl-led-auto-lights]

Why Have Vehicle Headlights Gotten So Bright in Recent Years?

The increasing brightness of vehicle headlights is driven by advancements in lighting technology, evolving safety standards, and shifts in automotive design trends. Here’s a detailed breakdown of the key factors:

​​1. Technological Advancements in Lighting​​ • Shift to LED and Laser Systems:

Modern vehicles increasingly use LED (Light Emitting Diode) and laser headlights, which produce significantly brighter and whiter light compared to traditional halogen or HID (High-Intensity Discharge) bulbs. LEDs are up to three times brighter than halogens while consuming less energy . Laser technology, though less common, offers even greater intensity and precision, illuminating farther distances with minimal power usage . • Example: LED headlights emit "blue light," which the human eye perceives as harsher than the "yellow light" of halogens, contributing to the perception of increased brightness .

• Adaptive and Smart Features:

Innovations like Adaptive Driving Beams (ADB) and matrix LED systems adjust beam patterns dynamically based on road conditions, vehicle speed, and surrounding traffic. These systems maximize illumination without blinding other drivers, allowing automakers to safely increase brightness .

​​2. Safety Regulations and Ratings​​ • Stringent Safety Standards:

Organizations like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) now rate vehicles based on headlight performance, pushing manufacturers to improve illumination. For example, a "good" IIHS rating requires headlights to illuminate at least 325 feet ahead—a standard that incentivizes brighter systems . • Compliance with these standards often requires advanced technologies like HID or LED lights, which outperform older halogen systems .

• Global Regulatory Pressure:

Regulations in regions like the EU and U.S. mandate better nighttime visibility to reduce accidents. This has accelerated the adoption of high-performance lighting systems .

​​3. Vehicle Design Trends​​ • Rise of SUVs and Taller Vehicles:

The growing popularity of SUVs and trucks—which sit higher off the ground—means headlights are mounted at elevated positions. This increases the likelihood of glare for drivers of lower vehicles, even if the brightness itself hasn’t changed . • SUVs now account for nearly 46% of global vehicle sales, amplifying this issue .

• Aesthetic and Functional Integration:

LEDs and lasers allow sleeker, more customizable designs (e.g., slim light strips or intricate patterns), which automakers use to enhance brand identity. Brighter lights are often marketed as a premium safety feature .

​​4. Human Factors and Perception​​ • Aging Drivers and Eye Sensitivity:

Older drivers, who represent a growing demographic, are more susceptible to glare due to age-related eye conditions like cataracts. While brighter lights improve visibility for the driver, they can disproportionately affect oncoming traffic .

• Misalignment and Poor Maintenance:

Even advanced headlights can cause glare if improperly aligned. Studies show that many vehicles fail roadworthiness tests due to incorrectly aimed beams, exacerbating brightness issues .

​​5. Environmental and Efficiency Demands​​ • Energy Efficiency:

LEDs and lasers consume less power than halogens, reducing strain on vehicle electrical systems and improving fuel efficiency—a critical factor as automakers prioritize sustainability .

​​Key Takeaways​​ • Brightness vs. Safety Trade-off: While brighter headlights enhance driver visibility, they risk blinding others. Solutions like adaptive beams and stricter alignment regulations aim to balance these concerns .

• Future Trends: Emerging technologies like Digital Light Systems (e.g., Mercedes' DIGITAL LIGHT) project dynamic patterns onto roads, further optimizing illumination without excess glare .

For drivers struggling with glare, tips include using anti-reflective coatings on mirrors, cleaning windshields regularly, and opting for night-driving glasses .

[mariacallous]

The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are about to take a historic energy security step on February 9, when they will synchronize their former Soviet electricity systems with the Continental Europe Network (CEN). This will conclude the final chapter of Russia’s involvement in the energy sectors of these frontline European Union (EU) and NATO member states. But the Baltic states and their NATO allies must now work to secure this hard-won energy independence from Russia’s ongoing hybrid attacks on critical energy infrastructure. 

Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have faced a wide array of Russian coercive energy policy measures arising from their historical dependence on Russian energy supplies and Soviet-era energy infrastructure. These measures included a total economic and energy blockade of Lithuania in 1990 in response to its independence movement, a prompt shutdown of an oil pipeline after Lithuania declined to sell its crude oil refinery to a Russian company in 2006, and long-term politically motivated gas pricing for the Baltics, to name just a few well-known cases. 

Having faced the destructive impacts of Russia’s weaponization of energy, the Baltic states have become leaders among European nations in severing ties with Russia’s energy supplies over the past decade. The installation of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Klaipėda, Lithuania’s seaport, in late 2014 marked a significant step in this direction. It opened the Baltic gas markets to global LNG suppliers, including those from the United States. This alternative gas supply route enabled the Baltic states to ban all Russian gas imports, both piped and LNG, just two months into Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. The Baltic states became the first European countries to take such a principled stance, and they are among those advocating for the rest of the EU members to follow suit by implementing a blanket ban on Russian LNG.  

Flipping the switch

The timely diversification of oil and electricity supply routes also allowed the Baltics to stop importing these energy sources from Russia. In terms of electricity, the Baltic states use the interconnectors Estlink 1 and Estlink 2 between Estonia and Finland, Nordbalt between Lithuania and Sweden, and LitPol Link between Lithuania and Poland for power exchanges with Europe. However, the Baltic states’ early market-level integration with their EU neighbors did not mean the immediate end of Russia’s involvement in the their electricity sectors on the system control level.

These are the last days that the Baltic states’ power grids remain a part of the Russian-controlled Integrated Power System/United Power System (IPS/UPS) grid. This effectively means that a dispatch in Moscow is still responsible for maintaining electric frequency stability in the Baltic states—bringing all the risks that such a dependency on Moscow entails. Ukraine and Moldova performed a test desynchronization from the IPS/UPS grid concurrently with the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, immediately asking for an emergency synchronization with the European grid, which was granted. Lithuania was aware of the potential need to perform an emergency synchronization, too, and thus had prepared its power grid to function in an isolated mode if needed. On February 8, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia will decouple from the Russian-controlled grid and conduct a joint isolated operation test before joining the European grid on February 9.

The planning for the Baltic synchronization with the European grid began as early as 2007, but—due to multiple project phases involving political, regulatory, and infrastructural components in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland—it has only now been finalized. The project was co-financed by the EU, which has allocated more than €1.2 billion from its Connecting Europe Facility. For the EU, the project is as important as it is for the Baltic states: only with Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia connected to the European grid can the EU achieve its goal of a fully integrated European energy market, in which all uncontrolled third-party impacts on its member states are eliminated.

Securing critical infrastructure

Although Russia will no longer exert direct influence over the energy supply and system control of the Baltic states, Moscow may now focus on targeting their critical energy, communications, and data infrastructure. Since October 2023, at least eleven cables running under the Baltic Sea have been damaged. This includes the underwater Balticconnector gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland; communications cables linking Finland, Germany, Sweden, and Lithuania; and the Estlink 2 power cable between Estonia and Finland. A data cable between Latvia and Sweden has been damaged as recently as January 26. The Lithuanian government is responding with increased military involvement in protecting critical seaborne energy infrastructure under the Baltic Sea amid an attempted sabotage of the NordBalt power cable that connects it to Sweden.

The damage was caused by vessels dragging their anchors on the Baltic Sea’s seabed. Investigations into the circumstances of the damage are still ongoing, but the rapid increase in such incidents and the vessels involved—mostly Russia’s “shadow fleet” oil tankers—raise concerns that the damage was intentional. As a response, NATO has stepped up its presence in the Baltic Sea by launching a new military patrol mission called Baltic Sentry. This mission involves deploying frigates, maritime patrol aircraft, and naval drones to enhance the ability of littoral states to respond to destabilizing acts on their critical infrastructure. The Alliance has also established a Critical Undersea Infrastructure Network to enhance information-sharing and situational awareness and a dedicated Maritime Centre for the Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure within NATO’s Maritime Command in Northwood, United Kingdom. 

Crucial first steps have also been made to increase the protection level of the onshore LitPol Link interconnector between Lithuania and Poland, through which the Baltics are synchronizing with the European grid. Lithuania’s Public Security Service has taken over the protection of several LitPol Link sites from a private security company that had previously been assigned this role. The Baltic states and Poland, fully aware of Russia’s hybrid activities in the region, have also urged the EU to provide financial support for enhancing current security measures for the LitPol Link and other critical energy infrastructure in the region. 

It’s a start, but more needs to be done, particularly in the case of Lithuania. With vital interconnectors—LitPol Link in energy and Rail Baltica in transport and military logistics—passing through the country, Lithuania is emerging as a crucial gateway connecting continental Europe to the Baltics, the Nordic region, and even the Arctic.

All these interconnections traverse the narrow land corridor between Lithuania and Poland, known as the Suwałki Gap. This notorious area borders Belarus to the east and Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave to the west.

Russia could attempt to isolate the Baltics from the rest of Europe by obstructing the Suwałki Gap from these territories. Thus, beyond the punctual tactics of strengthening the security of the LitPol Link and, later, the planned additional onshore electricity interconnector between Lithuania and Poland that is reportedly set to run along the Rail Baltica tracks, an approach of a comprehensive protection regime for this vulnerable border area is needed. An increased NATO military presence in Lithuania and regional measures, such as installing the Baltic Defense Line along the Baltic states’ borders with mainland Russia, its Kaliningrad region, and Belarus, are important steps toward a solution.

With the Baltic power systems soon operating in harmony with those in continental Europe, the regional security agenda shifts from concerns over the security of energy supply to the protection of critical energy infrastructure. The Baltic nations and their allies should further enhance their proactive efforts to deter sabotage and secure this strategically vital region.

[lynns-bonkle-blog]

Metru Nui Archives data log 35494: Cordak Blaster Prototype

Log author: Chief Archivist Etoku

I am prefacing this data log with a reminder to the Kehrex Weapons Company that the Archives is not seeking a corporate sponsor, and that any attempts to convince us, or any other Metruan organisation, to convert to your philosophy of "capitalism" will not succeed, no matter how many "rare" prototype weapons you send us (if you wanted us to believe they were rare, you shouldn't have sent so many).

With that out of the way, let's talk about what our... magnanimous would-be benefactors thought was worth shipping all the way from Xia, starting with a bit of preamble about the history of Cordak Blasters.

The Cordak Blaster is a rotary-barrel, muzzle-loaded missile launcher, and one of the most widely used vehicle-mounted weapons in the universe, though beings with enough strength (or under other conditions that make things lighter such as being underwater or within the radius of a Toa of Gravity's powers) can also carry them as handheld weapons.

The Blasters work by using a reciprocating motor to drive a pump that pushes compressed air into the top barrel, propelling the missile (or "mini-rocket", as they are commonly known) forwards, while also triggering a mechanism that rotates the barrels through 60°, readying the next shot. Meanwhile, the missile's inbuilt propulsion system activates, and it travels in a roughly straight line before usually hitting its mark. This process takes such a short time that Cordak Blasters can fire rapidly, though their low ammunition capacity can be an issue.

As you can guess from its… unusual firing method, the Cordak Blaster was first conceptualised by the Vortixx of Xia during their industrial revolution. They were sold to military commanders and rulers on other islands, most of whom proceeded to resell theirs elsewhere.

The ammunition is surprisingly stable, and can be safely stored upon a being's armour with little to no fear of detonation. It's also worth noting that any object with a similar diameter to the barrels of a Cordak Blaster can also be fired by one, though it won't go far without any additional propulsion.

Along with the standard version, there's also a much larger variant, the "Nui Cordak", designed for mounting on warships and other large vehicles, and a smaller, cheaper variant known as the Firework Revolver, which is said to have been developed in collaboration with the legendary Nynrah Ghosts (though this could just be a fabrication for marketing purposes).

The weapon's name is derived from the Toa Cordak, a Toa Team who are most well-known for being disintegrated by Zyglak, to the point that, according to my more... outgoing colleagues, the word "Cordak" has come to be used as a colloquial synonym for desolation. Prior to the unfortunate demise of the Toa Cordak, they were referred to as simply "Revolving Blasters", and you can tell the age of a Cordak Blaster by whether the name on the side is prefaced with the word "Cordak".

Now then, let's get onto the topic at hand. This prototype Cordak Blaster looks and functions vastly differently than the final version.

To start with the least notable change, the pumping mechanism is an external unit, connected via thick, translucent hoses to the back of the weapon. The hoses would presumably have been a major weak-point, and the pump is about as large and as heavy as a regular Cordak Blaster.

But where things get interesting are with the weapon itself, as well as its ammunition. Rather than a rotary design that allows for rapid firing, the prototype Blaster instead uses a gravity-fed loading system, drawing from a box-magazine that clips onto the top, and fires from a single, rather bulky barrel.

The overall form-factor, air-pump aside, is much smaller, built into a gauntlet that is sized for most classes of Toa. The Matoran over in the Weapons Testing complex managed to get it to work by attaching it to an ancient artificial Toa arm from the Level 2 Prosthetics & Implants gallery, then controlling the arm using a machine that Archivists Nuparu and Mavrah designed for this exact purpose.

What this testing showed was how the prototype missiles worked; painted entirely yellow, they were cylindrical, rather than the thin, flared shape and red colouration of the final missile designs, and seemed to be made out of solid metallic protodermis. Rather than exploding on impact, they instead functioned similarly to traditional projectile weapons such as Kanoka, impacting the target with a large amount of physical force; all but one of the targets that the weapons-testers had set up were destroyed by the Blaster, with the remaining one gained a large dent in its torso-piece when the aiming system of the testing arm glitched.

Since Kehrex provided us with a hundred crates of ammunition (each crate contains seven magazines, for a total of exactly two-thousand eight-hundred projectiles) and twenty Blasters, I got the weapon testers to try loading the prototype projectiles into the final design and vice-versa, and the results were. Interesting.

Test 1 resulted in the projectiles loudly falling to the testing-chamber floor, due to the lack of additional propulsion. Rather disappointing, but to be expected. However, Test 2 was far more interesting; while the Blaster itself was damaged, the rockets fired as standard, albeit with a far higher initial launch velocity. I requested that the damaged blaster be put on display next to the intact versions, with an explanation of what happened to it, and that only one of the intact blasters be displayed; the rest will go into storage, along with the remaining ammunition.

Personally I believe these will be quite popular with visitors, though I doubt this will cause Kehrex to cease their attempts at buying our attention.

Artifact information:

Categories: Inanimate, Weapon

Current location: Level 3, Weapons gallery.

End of log.

Addendum by Surgical Director Gogot: Hey boss you should of just asked me what toa types it fits. You're office is literally like five doors from the dissection lab. For the record, its only compatible with the arm structures of class-2 toa, as they are the ones who were active during the creation of this weapon.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Congressional Democratics need to be bolder, louder, and more disruptive!

March 4, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

In a rational world that operates according to time-tested principles of economics and politics, the Trump-Musk rampage should generate negative consequences in the financial and electoral markets. In a rational world, politicians would heed negative feedback and modify their behavior accordingly.

Since there is no evidence to suggest that Trump or Musk are capable of modifying their behavior in response to any feedback, the more likely outcome is that voters will modify their behavior to punish the Republican Party for letting the hounds of hell loose on a booming American economy and a functional federal government.

Strong evidence suggests that the financial markets are preparing for a significant contraction in the economy, a.k.a., a “recession.” In GOP-speak, “recession” means “the end times are upon us.” Republicans spend their time out of power constantly claiming that booming Democratic economies are evidence that a recession is just around the corner. On the other hand, Republicans spend their time in power creating nearly instantaneous recessions—which is what Trump's cuts and tariffs appear to be doing. See Fortune Magazine, US economy has suddenly been thrown into reverse.

Per Fortune,

The Atlanta Fed’s GDP tracker now indicates that the economy is headed for a 1.5% contraction in the first quarter, after showing 2.3% growth just days earlier. That also marks a sharp reversal from the fourth quarter, when GDP expanded by 2.3%. Several economic indicators have been raising alarms as consumers and businesses brace for Trump tariffs and federal job cuts.

As Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo explains in his editor’s blog entitled, Ominous Economic Data, the 1.5% contraction reference in the Fortune article is old news. The Fed has re-revised its projection downward to negative 2.8% growth for the quarter. Per Marshall,

The Atlanta Fed has again lowered its projection for first quarter 2025 GDP. It had been predicting growth of 2.3%. At the end of last week that was revised to 1.5% contraction and this morning they were again down-revised 2.8% contraction, or in other words 2.8% negative growth. To be clear these aren’t final or official stats. We’re only two-thirds of the way through the quarter. They are a prediction based on current indicators

The double-whammy downward revisions come on the eve of 25% sanctions on Canada and Mexico that will go into effect on March 4, 2025. See NYTimes, No last-minute deal for Canada and Mexico to avoid tariffs, Trump says.

Marshall notes that the downward pressure created by threatened tariffs is being exacerbated by “extreme economic uncertainty” depressing consumer confidence and purchasing behavior. Random, arbitrary job cuts that ripple through the economy tend to depress consumer confidence in their future prospects.

The attempt to slash government spending is so alarming to consumers that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says that the Trump administration will change the way it estimates GDP—by removing government spending! Candidly, I have no view on whether government spending should be included in the calculation of GDP. But I do know that changing how GDP is calculated to remove government spending as you are slashing government spending is like changing the scoring system in the middle of a baseball game. It stinks.

[I note that people who do know what they are talking about believe that government spending should be included in GDP. See Neil Irwin in Axios, Why government spending counts in GDP, as Trump admin mulls exclusion.]

As I write this edition of the newsletter on Monday evening in London, the S&P and Dow indices have fallen 500 and 600 points, respectively, for the day—the biggest loss this year. There is no hint that Trump will suddenly reverse course on dozens of economic policies to spur growth. Instead, it appears that Trump is hell-bent on turning the US economy into a kleptocracy like Russia.

For example, the US Treasury will end regulations that seek to prevent (or punish) US taxpayers who use shell companies to conceal taxable income. See ABC News, Treasury ends enforcement of database meant to stop shell company formation. Per ABC,

The U.S. Treasury Department announced it will not enforce a Biden-era small business rule intended to curb money laundering and shell company formation.

Trump is shutting down anti-money laundering regulations at the same time DOJ has announced that it will not enforce legislation that prohibits US businesses from engaging in foreign bribery.

Those worrisome actions must be viewed in the context of Trump's announcement that the United States will establish a cryptocurrency reserve—a move that will effectively grant government financial backing to cryptocurrencies that are (a) subject to wild volatility and (b) used to finance international criminal enterprises. The largest beneficiaries of a US crypto reserve will be current holders of cryptocurrencies (including Trump), many of whom are international criminals, tax cheats, assassins for hire, drug cartels, and smugglers.

Oh, perfect! Just the crowd that the US should legitimize by establishing a crypto reserve. See Reuters, Trump names cryptocurrencies in strategic reserve, sending prices up. The worst part is that the US will use taxpayer money to enrich criminals across the globe. I am not a crypto currency expert, but this move has disaster written all over it.

Finally, Republicans are realizing that their budget blueprint is a recipe for disaster in 2026. See Axios, Republicans fear their big budget win is actually a 2026 time bomb. The analysis in the Axios article is unsurprising to anyone with a television who has watched a recent Republican town hall. In 100% of those GOP town halls, the constituents are as mad as they have been in decades. And their ire is directed at GOP representatives who are allowing Trump and Musk to destroy the economy to extend a tax cut to billionaires and millionaires.

My point is not to suggest that Democrats can ease up because they have a lock on victory in 2026 and 2028. They do not. Rather, my point is to suggest that the laws of electoral and economic gravity still exist and are beginning to tug on the low-earth orbit of Musk’s ketamine high and Trump's teetering bouffant.

Millions of Americans are and will continue to suffer because of the reckless actions by Trump and Musk. Democrats must be smart and relentless in communicating the root causes of the suffering inflicted by Trump and Musk to voters who abandoned the Democratic ticket in 2024. If we can’t do that with the tragic motherlode of political riches that are being created every day, we do not deserve to win. We are up to the task, but we must be louder, bolder, and more creative in our approach.

“Shut down Tesla” protests are spreading across America

Musk has turned himself into the evil billionaire everyone loves to hate. That is a bad look when you sell cars based on the notion that they are modern, cool, and virtuous. No more. Protesters across America are making the point that Elon Musk is singularly responsible for eviscerating government programs and decimating the ranks of federal workers who help deliver services to the American people and ensure their health, safety, and security.

Jessica Craven of Chop Wood Carry Water describes her experience protesting a Tesla dealership in Westchester, CA. See Chop Wood, Carry Water 3/3 - by Jessica Craven.

Jessica includes a description of the effectiveness of the organic protests:

These protests are working, by the way. The AP reports that “as of Friday, [Tesla stock] has dropped 37% since Inauguration Day, a loss of $550 billion in investor wealth.” GOOD! If you haven’t yet attended a Tesla Takedown event please plan to. You can find one here. We can really, really hurt Musk by tanking this stock. Let’s do it!

In addition to the Tesla protests, brave souls in Vermont protested JD Vance’s ski vacation, during which he apparently intended to celebrate his destruction of the NATO alliance by abandoning Ukraine on live TV. Congrats to the Vermonters who did a great job disrupting Vance’s vacation—a move that undoubtedly punctured Vance’s smug, self-satisfied grin after disrespected a global hero.

Former NATO deputy commander says allies can no longer trust America

For anyone who believes I was hyperbolic in describing the effects of the Friday disgrace in the Oval Office, the former Navy deputy commander of NATO, General Richard Shirreff, said

I think we have to assume, after the events of the last 10 days, that we cannot in any way count on America as an ally.

That is exactly the result that Putin wanted—the dissolution of the NATO alliance by eroding the trust between the parties developed over 80 years of post-war cooperation.

And Trump is doubling down on his attack on Ukraine and cooperation with Russia. Trump is holding talks with senior advisors to discuss canceling military aid promised to Ukraine by the Biden administration but not yet delivered. And Trump has leaked to the press that he will not sign a minerals extraction agreement with Zelensky until the Ukrainian leader apologies to Trump on live TV. (Per Steve Doocy on Fox.)

Ominous silence from the Supreme Court

Chief Justice John Roberts granted an “administrative stay” last week, which allowed Trump to continue withholding USAID payments. The purpose of the stay was to allow the full court to consider Trump's request to stay the decisions of the lower courts that effectively compelled him to comply with the law. To state the obvious, it should not take long for the full Court to decide that the president must comply with congressional statutes that appropriate funds (as permitted by Article I of the Constitution).

The longer the delay in hearing from the Supreme Court, the more likely (I believe) it is that the Court will find a way to say that the president can withhold funds appropriated by Congress. That would be a disgrace equivalent to the decision granting Trump immunity from criminal prosecution.

Concluding Thoughts

[..]

Trump will address Congress on Tuesday. Although the speech is not an official State of the Union Address, it is customary for new presidents to address a joint session of Congress during the first months of a new administration.

Democrats need to be bold, loud, and creatively disruptive—up to and including a mass walk-out. The old rules do not apply and the sooner that Democrats internalize that fact the sooner we can get on with the serious business of using every lever to shut down Trump's unlawful rampage of destruction and betrayal. Let’s hope that our elected leaders rise to the challenge!

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[louroth]

Well, well, well. Would you look at what the cat dragged in. (it's me, Lou!)

The time is here, and oh man, do I have a lot to say! Ever since this post was posted on my personal tumblr, on the fifth of may, I have been working like a machine on all things OUROBOROS. I had originally planned for this to just be a progress report/ announcement on what I will be working on now that I am free of the shackles of work, but, somehow, I managed to finish all bullet points, and more. So, let's get into it!

First off, the title.  Ouroboros becomes all capitalized OUROBOROS. Idk. It's neat. Next!

Art. Whew. I didn't think I could draw like this anymore- drawing has been more of a struggle than writing has been, forever, always- it was something I really strived to become good at, for a time. And I gave up. Only to pick it up again when I started ouro, and ever since I released that pressure, something just clicked and I have been churning out art like never before. I don't know if this is a fluke, a stroke of luck or if all that hard work I once did slaving away with menial art practice… but I'm grateful nonetheless. (A note on official RO art: I lost my ipad pencil somewhere on the lawn, lmao. I haven't been able to get a new one yet, so there is a slight delay here.) I am hoping that I get to make some commissions too, in the near future. Visit the forum to see some works in progress (amongst them, Yor's RO portrait!)

Onto the hellscape that is coding! I have been growing more proficient with CSS and html with the help of the ones that run so that we can walk; I have studied and researched and tested and tinkered until my eyes crossed, finding my way into this medium with the incredible guidance of the giants of whose shoulders I stand on. I will talk about this in detail on a later date. So I think it's finally time to reveal that yes, I am working on a twine version of ouro. I will develop it in tandem with choicescript; the porting over from one to the other isn't the herculean task I thought it would be.

Why am I doing this? Because I need to have a save system. I am continuing to write the whole alpha draft in choicescript in hopes that CoG will announce the ability to have a native save/checkpoint system, but if that doesn’t happen, I can’t publish this story without one. Unfortunately, I am not willing to code in a savesystem in choicescript myself, because this will be a large game, with far too many variables for that to be sustainable. Trust me, no one is more disappointed by that fact than me. If it comes to the point that twine publishing will be what I do, I will set my sights on writing a smaller game for hosted games. 

Now the meatier announcements!

New Socials!

Tumblr: You are looking at it!  This is the new, exclusively OUROBOROS blog where I will share all announcements and sneak-peeks, and future updates. I worked together with the dev of the theme and made it oh, so pretty and functional. Please check out their portfolio here, if you are ever in the market for sprucing up your (desktop version) of tumblr. They were a pleasure to work with. Amongst other things, it has a gorgeous header (again, only if you visit on web and not mobile) where I am showcasing fanart and official art. Go check it out! This month, I am showcasing a truly breathtaking art from KAIRELART, and you can find the full art here, or follow the links in the “FEATURED ARTIST” tab in the top bar.

I hope you enjoy this new haven for OUROBOROS! I will be answering questions once a week (saturday) and ramping up as I adapt to this new schedule, more on that further below.

My old tumblr, honeypeabrain, will revert back to being my personal blog. Feel free to keep following me there, but know that it will be inundated with shitposts, crass humor and the occasional poetry dump and personal post. You’ve been warned!

Discord!

By the good graces, this was ROUGH to set up. Working with discord bots is akin to wrangling code, and it was well and truly, a war. But with the help of many, it is finally all done and ready for anyone to join and talk to me and others about OUROBOROS and anything else between heaven and earth. 

I will also greatly appreciate if any future bugs and feedback are submitted through here, so I can keep easier track of it. Come join us! (18+ ONLY.)

Patreon & Ko-Fi

Yep! Ko-fi is just a place to toss me a coin if you wish to help me towards the goal of new PC parts to make testing easier, or to just show appreciation for those that have it to spare. Patreon however, already has a multitude of posts and will be a hub for exclusive NSFW sidestories that you get to vote on, loredives and extensive sneak peeks, Q&A’s, polls and weekly dev logs. 

Right now, there are only two tiers, but I expect it to grow as my story does. I have many plans, but I am going at a steady pace. 

Amongst tiered content, there is a (free) NSFW story with female MC and Idren to read there right now, if you want to check it out! I am mgoing to post it on tumblr and the adult thread here over the weekend.

NOTE: I stupidly didn't realize that patreon had a review process after I pressed launch, which I did just a few minutes ago. Sigh. I am going to post the short on tumblr and the adult forum thread as soon as I get to it.

It is not mandatory by any means, so if you do choose to support me, you have my eternal gratitude as these places will be the sole source of income for me.

Onto writing:

The best news out of this whole bunch is that I have worked so hard on editing and writing, that in the past month I have all but finished a two chapter update! I have a chunk of about 5-6 thousand words left to write, and I am going to buckle down over the weekend to see it through. I wanted to have it done so badly for today, but I lost three days of writing time last week due to still being weighed down with work. I hope it isn’t too disappointing to have to wait until monday for the demo update! I am going to post a link to an as-I-write updated demo on Patreon and Discord, if you want to see the ugly face of raw wip drafts. Otherwise I will post the demo update here on Monday with a comprehensive post!

And now!  the biggest news is… from now on, I am writing full time!

This is what I have been tossing and turning about every night ever since Easter. It started as a silly idea while talking to some friends and family about how I was looking for a change in career. And then, little by little, that idea whittled down to a plan, carefully carved by my partner and his whispers of a happy future, a finished dream project, and something to be proud of until the day I wither and die. 

Somewhere between then and now, I grasped a tiny sliver of bravery and held on for dear life. 

I quit my job as a teacher, and instead of accepting a cushy office job, I started behaving as if OUROBOROS and writing was my work (for all the moments I could afford). I have researched and tried different methods from week to week, and although I was still tired from work, I felt like I was onto something that could build into a sustainable future. 

I have no doubts that this journey will be bumpy and long, but sometimes all it takes is to take that first step, and do it with determination. It might all crash and burn and fail in a spectacular way, or with a whimper, but then I will know that I have tried. I will know that I gave myself the chance to be who I want to be, work on what means so much to me. 

And that’s it. I think the hardest part of formulating this post (I’ve written about 50 versions of it!) is getting to the point; the kernel of what makes it so special to me. So, in my heart of hearts, what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm gonna give it my all- and while I know the road to having a sustainable career in writing is rough and ever winding, I do know for sure that I am ready for a challenge, to pour my heart and soul into it until the day I rush out of the office screaming IT IS DONE. IT IS DOOOOONE!!! 

If you decide to join me, I will treasure your company like a lantern in the dark. Hand in lovable hand, let’s fucking go.

[misfitwashere]

March 28, 2025

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAR 29 READ IN APP

“Another wipeout walloped Wall Street Friday,” Stan Choe of the Associated Press wrote today. The S&P 500 had one of its worst days in two years, dropping 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 715 points, losing 1.7% of its value. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.7%. On Tuesday, news dropped that the administration’s blanket firings and wildly shifting tariff policies have dropped consumer confidence to a low it has not hit since January 2021. Today’s stock market tumble started after the Commerce Department released data showing that consumer prices are rising faster than economists expected.

AIG chief international economist James Knightley said: “We are moving in the wrong direction and the concern is that tariffs threaten higher prices, which means the inflation prints are going to remain hot.” Business leaders like lower interest rates, which reduce borrowing costs and make it cheaper to finance business initiatives, but with rising inflation, the Federal Reserve will be less likely to cut interest rates.

Makena Kelly of Wired reported today that billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is planning to move the computer system of the Social Security Administration (SSA) off the old programming language it uses, COBOL, to a new system. In 2017, the SSA estimated that such a migration would take about five years. DOGE is planning for the migration to take just a few months, using artificial intelligence to complete the change.

Experts have expressed concern. Dan Hon, who runs a technology strategy company that helps the government modernize its services, told Kelly: “If you weren’t worried about a whole bunch of people not getting benefits or getting the wrong benefits, or getting the wrong entitlements, or having to wait ages, then sure go ahead.” More than 65 million Americans currently receive Social Security benefits. Today Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) recorded himself calling the SSA and being told by a recording that the wait times were more than two hours and that he should call back. And then the system hung up on him.

Musk told the Fox News Channel today that he plans to step down from DOGE in May, apparently at the end of the 130-day cap for the “special government employee” designation that enables him to avoid financial disclosures. In February, White House staffers suggested Musk would stay despite the limit.

Today the State Department told Congress it is shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) altogether by July 1. Whatever agency functions the administration approves will move into the State Department. Founded by President John F. Kennedy and enjoying bipartisan support, USAID administers programs for global health, disaster relief, long-term economic development, education, environmental protection, and democracy. It is widely perceived to be a key element of U.S. “soft power.”

USAID was created by Congress, and its funds are appropriated by Congress. Congress and the courts have established that the executive branch—the branch of government overseen by the president—cannot kill an agency Congress has created and cannot withhold appropriations Congress has made. The authors of Project 2025 want to challenge that principle and consolidate government power in the hands of the president. It appears they have chosen USAID as the test case.

As Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shatters science and health agencies, the nation’s top vaccine regulator, Dr. Peter Marks, submitted his resignation today after being given the choice to resign or be fired. Dan Diamond of the Washington Post noted that Marks has been at the Food and Drug Administration since 2012 and has been at the head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research since 2016.

In his resignation letter, Diamond says, Marks expressed his deep concern over the ongoing measles outbreak in the Southwest—now more than 450 cases—and warned that the outbreak “reminds us of what happens when confidence in well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined.” Marks said that although he was willing to work with Kennedy on his plan to review vaccine safety, “it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

On Tuesday, news broke that Kennedy has tapped anti-vaccine activist David Geier to lead a study looking to link autism to vaccines, although that alleged link has been heavily studied and thoroughly debunked. Infectious disease journalist Helen Branswell notes that Geier does not have a medical degree and was disciplined in Maryland for practicing medicine without a license.

British investigative journalist Brian Deer, who has written about the hoax that vaccines cause autism, told Branswell: “If you want an independent source,… [you] wouldn’t go to somebody with no qualifications and a long track record of impropriety and incompetence.” But, he said, “[i]f you wanted to get in anybody off the street who would come up with the result that Kennedy would like to see, this would be your man.”

Tara Copp of the Associated Press reported today that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has done some targeted staffing, too. His younger brother Phil Hegseth is traveling to the Indo-Pacific with the secretary in his role at the Pentagon as a liaison and senior advisor to the Department of Homeland Security. Hegseth also employed his brother when he ran the nonprofit Concerned Veterans for America, where the younger Hegseth’s salary was $108,000 for his media work. Copp notes that a 1967 law “prohibits government officials from hiring, promoting or recommending relatives to any civilian position over which they exercise control.”

Hegseth and his colleagues are still in the hot seat for uploading the military’s attack plans against the Houthis in Yemen to Signal, an unsecure commercially available messaging app. Yesterday, Nancy A. Youssef, Alexander Ward, and Michael R. Gordon of the Wall Street Journal reported that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz identified a Houthi missile expert whose identity Israel had provided from a human source in Yemen, angering Israeli officials.

Americans, especially those with ties to the military, aren’t happy either. Military, the leading news website for service members, veterans, and their families, titled a story about the scandal “‘Different spanks for different ranks’: Hegseth’s Signal scandal would put regular troops in the brig.” Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt of the New York Times reported that the story had “angered and bewildered” fighter pilots, who say “they can no longer be certain that the Pentagon is focused on their safety when they strap into cockpits.”

At a raucous town hall held today by Republican representative Victoria Spartz (R-IN), the crowd booed Spartz loudly when she said she would not call for the resignations of Waltz, Hegseth, and the rest of the people on the group chat.

All the mayhem created by the administration has created enough backlash that the White House appears concerned about upcoming special elections on April 1. One is for the seat in Florida’s District 6 that Waltz vacated when he became national security advisor. In 2024, Trump won that district by 30 points, and Republicans considered their candidate, state senator Randy Fine, whom Trump has strongly endorsed, to be such a shoo-in that he barely campaigned. His website features pictures of him with Trump but has only bullet points to explain his stand on issues.

Democrat Josh Weil, a middle-school math teacher who has outraised Fine by almost 10 to one, is polling within the margin of error for a victory in a contest where even a 10- to 15-point loss would show a dramatic collapse in Republican support. Weil has tied Fine to Musk’s unpopular DOGE and to the president, as well as to cuts to Social Security and Medicaid.

Trump is now personally campaigning for Fine and for the Republican candidate to fill the seat vacated by former representative Matt Gaetz in Florida District 1. There, Democratic candidate Gay Valimont is running against Republican Jimmy Patronis in a district that elected Trump with about 68% of the vote. Like Fine, Patronis is strongly backed by Trump and wants more cuts to the federal government; Gay is a former state leader for Moms Demand Action and focuses on healthcare and veterans’ services. She has criticized DOGE’s cuts to VA hospitals. Like Weil, she has significantly outraised her opponent.

Republicans are concerned enough about holding the seats that billionaire Elon Musk, who poured more than $291 million into the 2024 election to help Republicans, has begun to contribute to Republicans in Florida. On Tuesday he spent more than $10,000 apiece for texting services for the Florida candidates.

Musk has contributed far more than that—more than $20 million—to the April 1 election for a ten-year seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Trump loyalist Brad Schimel is running against circuit court judge Susan Crawford in a contest that has national significance. Wisconsin is evenly split between the parties, but when Republicans control the legislature and the supreme court, they suppress voting and heavily gerrymander the state in their favor. When liberals hold the majority on the court, they ease election rules and uphold fair maps. Currently, the state gerrymander gives Republicans 75% of the state’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives although voting in 2024 was virtually dead even. The makeup of the court could well determine the congressional districts of Wisconsin through 2041, through the redistricting that will take place after the 2030 census.

Musk has told voters that if Crawford wins, “then the Democrats will attempt to redraw the districts and cause Wisconsin to lose two Republican seats.” Not only has Musk said he is going to Wisconsin to speak before the election, but also he is handing out checks to voters who sign a petition against “activist judges,” a suggestion that it would not be fair to unskew the Republican gerrymander. Last night, Musk advertised a contest that would award two voters a million dollars each, with the condition that the winners had to have already voted.

This morning, Wisconsin Democrats issued a press release noting that Musk had “committed a blatant felony,” directly violating the Wisconsin law that prohibits offering anyone anything worth more than $1 to get them to “vote or refrain from voting.” Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler said that if Schimel “does not immediately call on Musk to end this criminal activity, we can only assume he is complicit.”

Musk deleted the tweet and then, eliminating the language that said people had to have voted, posted that he would give the checks to spokespeople for his petition. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul sued to stop Musk “from any further promotion of the million-dollar gifts” and “from making any payments to Wisconsin electors to vote.” “The Wisconsin Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that elections in Wisconsin are safe, secure, free, and fair,” Kaul said in a statement. “We are aware of the offer recently posted by Elon Musk to award a million dollars to two people at an event in Wisconsin this weekend. Based on our understanding of applicable Wisconsin law, we intend to take legal action today to seek a court order to stop this from happening.”

MeidasTouch reposted Musk’s offer to “personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote” and noted: “No matter what side of the aisle you are on, you should be appalled that a billionaire thinks he has the right to buy elections like this.” Former chair of the Ohio Democratic Party David Pepper posted: “Have some pride, America. We are so much better than this guy thinks we are.”

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[jacksgreysays]

Hiiii how about a prompt for Further Down Road One, political marriage!Shikasuke, maybe something from an Uchiha's POV on the Shikabane-hime's meteoric rise in power, international acclaim, and political capital? And how it ripples out onto the clan as a whole?

I mean, the point of Road One is that the arranged marriage itself already does SO MUCH to change the trajectory of the Uchiha clan’s fate for the better that, basically, everything else after that is kind of a bonus. The fact that Shikako’s smart and powerful and a good person is NICE, yes, but just being engaged to Sasuke already earned so much approval from the clan as a whole that it’s just kinda… ehhhh…

Although… and this somewhat of a tangent to the prompt… it would be funny if… okay, let me set this up by saying: I don’t necessarily like Itachi as a character. When he was kind of a psychopath and apparently just murdered his entire family to test his power, that was at least a… strength of will or conviction that kind of resonated thematically. Like, what if Will of Fire goes bad kind of thing. Or the pressures of being clan heir, of being pushed too hard and too fast, would lead to a genius of violence snapping and using said violence. Then when it turns out he was given orders to murder his entire family and his one condition was that Sasuke would get to live is like… what the fuck dude. It’s both backtracking to make Itachi weaker as a character and also, somehow, even more of a psychopath in my opinion. And, like, sure, Danzo maybe used Shisui’s Sharingan to unbreakable genjutsu him into it, but I don’t think that really absolves Itachi.

All that being said, theoretically in this kinder world of Road One, we never get to that point. Additionally, there’s less pressure on Itachi to continue to excel SO OVERTLY since the clan isn’t getting isolated and also because Shisui is still there and alive to share the burden.

BUT, I do still… the idea that the Uchiha elders have been wanting one of the clan to become Hokage is something that I hold to be true unless proven otherwise. I do think the clan elders would push more for Itachi to be Hokage—because he is clan heir and so has the pedigree, while Shisui (just as powerful, literally Flee On Sight in the bingo books at such a young age) I think we’ve fandom agreed is an orphan or at least a lesser branch of the Uchiha clan.

Anyway, all of the above leads me to: Shisui and Itachi trying to PR campaign for their sister-in-law Shikako (who WILL be an Uchiha once the marriage actually) to be the new “best candidate” for an Uchiha Hokage. Like, really just them listing off all of her accomplishments to not only the Uchiha elders but the rest of the clan (who, again, already quite like her).

I also think, in this universe, that Shikako would DO SOMETHING about Sora-ku once she feels a little more comfortable making decisions—or, at least, making proposals with attached logistics—for the Uchiha clan. Like. It’s a huge chunk of territory that seems to be an abandoned city. But it’s apparently functional enough to have a community of sorts of black marketeers and a support system. Like, it’s not so out of the way of things that nobody bothers with it, which implies that it could be rejuvenated with the time and resources. I think I read a theory once that it’s because Senju used their skills to desertify the area so there just wasn’t enough food to support a city of that size. BUT, now they’ve got Shikako. And Shikako’s connections. Whether that is the ANY clan alliance or Tenzo/Yamato or upper echelons of Hidden Mist’s administration (Haku is an ice user, yes, but like he and Zabuza wouldn’t throw a squad of Mist nin with water nature to help with irrigation at Shikako’s request for free) or even the literal oasis creating ancient god Gelel.

So, you know, she’s more than proven herself to the world. And with the Sora-ku rejuvenation, already brought a level of prosperity to the Uchiha clan than they could ever imagine. “Shikako for Hokage” is not a hard sell for Shisui and Itachi whatsoever (and also, they do think Sasuke would be so happy as her First Gentleman/trophy husband)

Yeah, that’s kind of all I can think of for this prompt in terms of it being different than how the Nara clan or DoS canon clans for that matter would view her meteoric rise. Hope you enjoyed, anon.