#Lift Engineering

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Twisted T-Bug, 2025. The British off-road specialists have created a restomod Volkswagen Beetle in the style of the Baja Beetles of the 60s and 70s. Modifications include new LED headlamps, raised heavy-duty suspension, increased engine power (still only 80hp) and upgraded interior trim. There's no indication yet of how much the T-Bug will cost

[frenchoniontf2]

DO YOU GUYS FW FRED CONAGHER?!?!

HE LOOKS AWESOME!!! RAHHHHHH!!!! pls give him lots of love and kisses ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ MWAHMWHAMWAHMWAH

[soundleer]

Would Tunner act if someone take Jevin from him?

(can you draw it...)

i imagine that regardless of what reason that person took jevin for, tunner won't hesitate to take action especially if jevin was expressing subtle discomfort.

though at most, i like to think tunner will just carry jevin and relocate somewhere else together. he'll just make firm warnings and only blast someone between their eyes as a last resort

he doesn't take that kindly :))

[skyriderwednesday]

Rusty is maybe just a little bit short for this configuration of a celebratory hug...

But anyway they won a race together yayyyyyyy

[melchinafan]

SKILL UNLOCKED, KNITTING ABILITY LEVELED UP

So I've been knitting a fair bit as of late, all sorts of shenanigans and funky little things and a thousand fancy plans. Only some stuff finished thus far, but a fair bit of learning new building blocks going on.

And in a fit of pique while trying to get some ridiculously tiny dense pointy picots out of a purlwise cable cast on base, being mad that my normal purling (wrapping the yarn counter-clockwise) made the yarn have to cross SO FAR to get back up to the needle, I just...crossed the yarn up clockwise instead, and it was so much better. Distracted from the picot situation by how well it worked, I wondered why it's not the norm, did a quick search, and...

Found I had accidentally stumbled upon combination knitting? Which (for flat stockinette and the like) involves purling clockwise, and then knitting through the back loop to untwist those stitches. And it has FIXED my purl tension! The left side of my flat stockinette no longer gains a giant, sad loop! (Hell, I think that selvedge might even be neater than the right side now.) And I still don't necessarily like knitting ribbing, or how it looks vs. other, funkier options. But a quick test of normal vs. combination ribs side-by-side? Hot damn, that combo rib looks GOOD.

...Now, to get back to seeing if I can wrangle those picots to do what I want, without resorting to smaller needles...

[athenasdragon]

In thinking about how the Dragon Age games have changed since Origins, I’ve been thinking about genre conventions and the inspirations for the series.

Dragon Age: Origins is very very heavily lifted from Dungeons & Dragons, and my impression is that this is because Baldur’s Gate was a big inspiration. I think it’s especially obvious when you open up your character profile. Like that is straight up a d&d character sheet. You can map the d&d classes onto the DA:O subclasses too (e.g. some of the warrior subclasses are champion [classic fighter], templar [paladin], and berserker [barbarian]). The heavy focus on tactics and the top-down combat option also evoke TTRPGs to me.

And of course, because we’re existing in the genre tradition here, we have a lot drawn from the Lord of the Rings as well. Darkspawn/Orcs are an unambiguously evil species that exists just to cause destruction! Humans are the predominant species, but we have nature-connected elves and subterranean dwarves! Our story takes place in among the ruins of a past civilization that existed in a distant age! We’ve got themes of history and faith and a little fellowship going on a journey to defeat an evil dragon.

So with that in mind, we have a pretty straight up and down medieval-inspired dark fantasy. It follows so closely in this tradition that we even see the writers struggling to break out of molds that they explicitly set out to avoid—for example, certain gender politics.

I really think the character who starts to break that is Varric. Not only is he a well-known author (requires not just widespread printing but widespread literacy and reading for fun—now we’re talking much more recent history in our world) but he’s writing (Kirkwall-flavored) hard-boiled detective fiction, which is explicitly an American* post-WWI tradition. This is a genre that explores the gritty reality of life in cities, interpersonal and systemic violence, and often positions a lone morally grey hero in small-scale opposition to those larger forces. Kirkwall (and DA2) isn’t a bad place to add that flavor.

Inquisition starts to feel more 20th century to me as well. We’ve got international espionage and geopolitics. We’ve got anxieties of a dramatic apocalypse brought about by man’s hubris. We’ve got, effectively, some variety of civil rights movement for both elves and mages.

What really got me thinking about this is that Neve and Lucanis feel like they’re some the same genre to me: the jaded, brilliant, but somewhat poorly-upkept big city detective and the heir-apparent of a powerful mafia family caught up by a betrayal both feel very interwar noir imo. Emmrich’s look is also SO 1930s. I can only speak for myself but I think that’s where a lot of the change in “vibe” can be traced.

It feels to me like Varric’s narration of the series has tugged the story itself into the genre he exists in.

Anyway, whether you wish the series stayed more straight up and down sword and sorcery or like the direction it chose to establish itself, I think it’s interesting to think about!

* I might ramble about how deeply North American the geography of Thedas is another time lol

[wolfram-but-art]

[I take your engineer.

Well, try to. Since he is a fully grown 5'7 man and I am 5'3. I don't get very far with him.]

if you were to just ask to hang out, i'm sure this would've gone a lot easier, but whatever you wanna do

[lululovesprongs]

why kys when you can just watch f1 and reach the same results🤩🤩🤩🤩

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Porsche 911 Safari Sportsman Package, 2022,  by Russell Built Fabrications. An off-road conversion kit for 964 series 911 models that provides 10” of wheel travel, 2” of lengthened wheelbase, raised ground clearance and a widened track. The kit pays homage to the Porsche's participation in the Safari Rallies of the 1970s and uses Russell Built's NORRA Baja 500 class winning off road suspension

[lonestarflight]

"Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser full-scale engineering test article has been readied for shipment to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California for phase two of the flight test campaign that will be conducted later in 2016 in coordination with Edwards Air Force Base. Dream Chaser program upgrades and initial hardware testing were completed at the Louisville, Colorado spacecraft assembly facility, and within the next several weeks, the same Dream Chaser vehicle that conducted the company’s flight test in 2013 will arrive at Armstrong. SNC and Armstrong will begin a series of pre-flight ground evaluations to verify and validate the vehicle’s system and subsystem designs. After successful completion of all ground testing, Dream Chaser will begin its phase two free-flight test. These activities are being conducted through the company’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capabilities Space Act Agreement with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program."

Date: July 28, 2016

NASA ID: KSC-20160728-PH_SNC01_0001

[tokyoliftbracket]

Engine Eberhardt [wiki page]

Original Shadows player for the Lift

Joined active play in s14

Was traded back and forth with the Steaks several times

Inky Rutledge [wiki page]

Original player for the Magic

Played for the Lift s18-21

[quatregats]

Nothing worse than reading about something and thinking "Hornblower would probably be fascinated by this" like why am I in his head get me out of here

[wonderfulworlddownthere]

The Falkirk Wheel, Falkirk, Scotland

[ficandkaboodle]

Ghost Does Mardi Gras: Them Other Funny Fellas, Part 1: Nihil

Nihil: Krewe of Tucks

Okay so Tucks is a different kind of funny from the crude satire of Vieux and d’Etat. For one, they have a signature throw. The throw is plungers:

For another, they do have a king and the king’s float has a throne. This is the throne:

I mean. It was named after a now defunct college bar its student founders went to after failing to become white flambeaux carriers (it was a thing of the time, now anyone can do it). I don’t know what you’re expecting.

The frat house party boy lifestyle fits Nihil regardless as to whether you’re picturing him in his youth or him as he is now (???): He likes the absurdity and the attention. Similar to Bacchus, they’ve had celebrity kings in the past such as Eugene Levy and John Candy. They’ve even had past riders and Grand Marshals include the Blues Brothers and Spike Lee respectively.

Compares to some other krewes, Tucks feels way more laidback, opening their ball up to the public to pay by admission. Plus, they’re encouraged to dress in costume or dress casual, so that’s neat.

Honestly, there’s not much to say here because Tucks is Tucks: What you see is what you get, and what you see is a funny great time screaming at somebody to toss you that fancy-looking toilet brush.

If he’s not partaking in Animal House on Parade, though, then Old Man Nihil is probably taking it easy…in his motorized easy chair!

Hi yes hello these are the Laissez Boys, hittin’ the streets in their motorized recliners. You can’t tell me that sleepy fucker wouldn’t love the absolute shit out of this. (You also can’t tell me he won’t have it shipped back to the Ministry so he can Tokyo Drift in the hallways in it. Sister is sick of his shit. She does eventually give in and sit on his lap for a cruise to the cafeteria, though.)

[healpimp]

ive dreamed the bothosters coming back with even worse bots twice now and every time i woke up like slightly annoyed before realizing some of the bigger bothosters and cheaters have been banned and every effort theyve made has been foiled by Valve and theyve yet to reverse engineer whatever it is Valve is using to gut them with and i start looking like this

[themalhambird]

so I made this post, @celebrimbor-apologist made these fantastic tags:

#Just#I could imagine Sauron as a khan-esque guy#He's angry at the federation#He hides in plain sight#Manipulates mansplains manslaughters his way through it#While he's on the ship#Adar sees right through him because#Hes been with the capitalist assholes who fucked up his uruks#But by that time Adar is still kinda new on the ship so he isn't as trusted#That's what makes it all the more tragic that sauron gets along well with Celebrimbor#Because Adar and him got along well#Please no Tyelpe dying here please#But dramatic “we were all fooled” scene in sickbay pls#ALSO#Navigations Officer Camnir#Vorohil at the weapons console

and, well. My hand slipped...

Without any discussion amongst themselves, the other senior officers have fallen into pattern, keeping vigil at Celebrimbor’s side in the medbay in shifts. It feels important that somebody is there when he wakes up, and well. The Lindon has spent the better part of a month in enemy control, dead in space, with engineering and the bridge both sealed off, life support functions cutting in and out and explosions buffeting the ship at random moments. The medical officers have their hands full. 

“Ga…lad..riel?”

It’s been three days. It’s early- or late, depending on perspective- and it’s Galadriel’s turn on Celebrimbor-Watch. She had been just about half way to sleep herself. Now, she snaps awake– a bright smile splitting her face at the sight of Celebrimbor’s sharp, bright eyes.  “Hello you.”

“Did…it work..? The transporter?” 

“It worked.” 

Celebrimbor exhales with relief, eyes shutting for a moment. The grief and distress on his face eases briefly, and then his eyes fly wide open once more. He sits up, moving as though he intends to swing out of the bed and start running. “The warp drive. The core, it’s going- the system wasn’t made to handle- she’s going to blow-”

“No, no- Celebrimbor, you fixed it.” Galadriel grabs his arms and holds him steady, noting in the back of her mind how he flinches and whimpers at the contact but not wanting to let go until she’s sure he’s not going to do himself further injury by trying to get up. “Remember,” she says, fixing her steady eyes on his. “Remember? You rigged up a transporter beam and blasted Sauron off the ship. You got control back to the bridge and dropped the shields cutting engineering off. Adar came down– just him, in case the air was too toxic, the deck too unstable or dark for anybody else. Adar found you, and you told him about the transporter, and the threat to the warp drive. You fixed it together, and then you collapsed. Adar carried you from engineering to the medbay, and you’ve been here for three days.”

“Three days?” Celebrimbor repeats. Slowly, he lets Galadriel sink him back down against the pillows. The first officer nods. 

“Three days,” she confirms. “You’re doing well, and the Lindon-” she pauses. Frankly, the Lindon is a mess. Whatever Sauron was trying to achieve, the engine deck has been well and truly cannibalised. So bad is it that the engineers- having secured life support, and repaired any immediately threatening damage, are reluctant to touch anything else until Celebrimbor is able to take a look first. Gil-galad has sent distress signals not only on Star Fleet channels, but on Vulcan, Klingon- even Ferengi frequencies. In an uncharacteristic display of temper and bloodlust Elrond has declared that if they ever manage to figure out what random coordinates Celebrimbor sent Sauron to, he’s going to pull the Maia’s guts out and rearrange them and see how he likes it. “The Lindon is stable,” she says, “and in no immediate danger.”

“Oh. That is…that is good.” Celebrimbor’s eyes drift closed again. Federation medicine had vanquished whatever burns, cuts, and bruises naturally rapid Feonorian healing hadn’t already taken care of (and it worries everyone that Celebrimbor both had wounds old enough that they should have already healed themselves- and that the true extent of how badly hurt their friend has been injured in the last month is, as of yet, unclear). Nevertheless,  the Engineer’s captivity- and, Galadriel supposes, his ordeal in the run up to it, the period where there had been a growing concern that he was experiencing a psychological breakdown- has left him gaunt- visibly ashen and exhausted. He swallows, and seems to be steeling himself for something. When he speaks again, he doesn’t open his eyes, and though he seems to be doing his best to lie very, very still, there’s a faint tremor in his fingers. 

“Galadriel?”

“Yes?”

“Will you…will you please tell Captain Gil-galad that I…am ready to be escorted to the brig at…his pleasure? I will…co-operate fully. With a court martial. Whatever charges he wishes to bring, I’ll not contest them.” he turns his face toward her and when his eyes open again, they are brimming with tears. “If he will see me, I should like to apologize. I neither expect nor deserve forgiveness, but even so, I am sorry. For my foolishness. For not..being strong enough…” A tear spills down , dripping onto the bridge of his nose. Galadriel’s own eyes prickle. 

“Celebrimbor.” She moves her hand to just above his, and when he doesn’t draw away, gently takes it. His fingers are colder than they should be. “Of course Gil-galad will see you- but because you are his friend and he is concerned, not because he is angry. There is no question of a Court Martial- you saved the ship-”

“After I endangered it in the first place-”

“After your attempts at warning of the danger were ignored-”

“The danger that was all my fault-”

“Control of the ship was seized by a hostile alien force who manipulated and coerced you into doing its’ bidding,” Galadriel says. “Celebrimbor, we all thought Annatar was who he claimed to be. That you saw through it at all…well. You remember when he was with us as Halbrand. And I nearly punched Gil-galad in the face?”

Celebrimbor frowns. “...You did punch Gil-galad in the face. And then Gil-galad punched you back. You both ended up rolling around on the floor, pulling each other’s hair.”

“Not according to any of the official logs,” Galadriel says archly “According to the official logs, we only nearly came to blows.  Only you, Gil-galad, and I know different-”

“Elrond knows.”

“Elrond knows everything, Elrond doesn’t count.”

They lapse into silence for a while. It’s not uncomfortable. “The point is,” Galadriel says at last. “If he hadn’t left us when he did, the first time, I don’t know that he wouldn’t have persuaded me to mutiny. And it took us weeks of going back over everything when we found out he wasn’t who he had claimed, piercing it all together, that we even realised he had been manipulating us. And then, when we were explicitly watching for him…he did it all over again. We were all fooled. Alright, Adar was suspicious,” she acknowledges, a little begrudgingly. “But all that meant was that Annatar- Sauron- persuaded me to lock out his access to the bridge. To be fair, I’m still not sure how he had access in the first place-”

The tips of Celebrimbor’s ears turn pink. “That- ah. That may have been me. A flux coil blew in one of the helm’s navigation controls during the party for Disa and Durin’s anniversary. It was a downshift, no one was on the bridge, and everyone else was having such fun, I didn’t want to drag them away to spend half an hour standing about watching me in case I somehow managed to give myself a plasma–shock doing repairs so routine I could manage in the dark standing backward and with one hand tied behind my back. And, well, I got distracted by- that doesn’t matter- and I forgot to revoke it, and no one seemed to mind his coming and going as he pleased until…well. Until Annatar.”

“The point is- and maybe don’t tell anyone else you gave a non-Federation civilian you met when he abducted you the security clearance to get onto the bridge,” Galdriel interjects into her own sentence, the image of an external investigation into this whole mess suddenly flashing before her eyes. “The point is, we were all fooled, Celebrimbor. Twice over.” she squeezes his hand. “You have nothing to blame yourself for, no apologies you need to make.”

“Nevertheless,” Celebrimbor says. He gives her hand a hesitant squeeze in return. “I will make them. Will you tell the Captain I wish to see him, when it’s convenient?”

“I’ll tell him you’re awake, and he’ll come straight down.” Galadriel stands, leaning forward to drop a gentle kiss on his forehead on her way up. “I’d better fetch you a doctor, to, just to give you another look over now you’re awake.” She lets go of his hand, but lingers long enough to give him a last smile. “It’s good to see you, my friend. It is so very good to see you.”