#agile development documentation

[perfectdocumentation]

In the world of software development, Agile methodologies have become a go-to framework for teams seeking flexibility, collaboration, and faster delivery. While Agile values working software and customer collaboration over traditional documentation-heavy processes, the need for effective documentation is still crucial to ensure that teams stay aligned and deliver high-quality products. Agile software development documentation is not about overburdening the process with excessive paperwork, but instead ensuring that key information is captured efficiently and can be easily accessed by the team.

[flowrocket2025]

https://flowrocket.com/finance

[artsninspo]

006 | Richmond Inc.

「 ✦ full library & archive ✦ 」

「 ✦ aaron pierre & characters library ✦ 」

⇚ 005

♠ summary: Thrust into leadership, Lorence battles pressure, secrecy, and an enigmatic boss—until his unexpected attentiveness causes things to heat up more than expected ☕.

♠ pairing: Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre - Rebel Ridge) X Lorence Cole (Black Fem OC)

♠ word-count: ~2.6K

⌖ - Richmond Inc. HQ

The new demands of my position are both a gift and a curse as I’m required to expand my knowledge base and think as a leader. There’s an element of freedom that I've been robbed of in this new position. There’s no time for fresh ideas and innovation in the same way there's no freedom to make mistakes. There’s no one to ask to review the work I have - I'm the final step in the pecking order before the other’s at my level look and ultimately Richmond’s eyes scan over it. I’d be lying if I said the thought doesn’t unnerve me. Dissatisfaction on his face and the scolding that will undoubtedly follow is a nagging inevitability. I’ve sat through so many briefings that I miss doing the work. This week has been an overwhelming barrage of discourse, planning and preparation. We’ve gone over logistics and transportation which is my specialty. Monaco is a logistical and transportation nightmare but I’ve taken all the necessary notes to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. Which includes sending one of my best agents there in person to scope out the scene and get the necessary measurements and blueprints. It’s my first major assignment and with my budget sky’s the limit. Consulting for the organization responsible for the formula one race's security is not something I ever considered in the realm of possibility; so I make the most of it. I add to my list of tasks and lock the documents before going over my new operating budgets. I still have money to spend but until my best guy is back I can’t be sure where the resources will be best allocated. I’m researching local charities in the area when Richmond appears in the doorway. It’s his first time stopping by all week and I can’t say I’ve missed the light eyed giant. 

“Sir” I stand.

“Cole, I’ve received preliminary drafts from all the other teams. Is there something you require assistance with?” He asks, leaning in the doorway. He’s in a white knitted sweater today looking too casual for a man like him. 

“I thought we had another week” I respond, disregarding how his arms fill out the otherwise cuddly, cozy ensemble, transforming it into something different altogether.

“I like to look over things by the project’s midpoint,” he explains, folding his arms.

“Well, I’m new and I didn’t know that” I swallow daring to meet his eyes.

“We can go over what you have for now,” Richmond says entering my office. I straighten, hating his presence and proximity. With Richmond it isn't walking on eggshells, it's like walking on glass barefoot. I stand walking over to the table and pressing the projector button. I unencrypted my files and show him what I’ve been working on. He watches attentively, his eyes scanning through the details projected in front of him.

“They’re color coded by threat level” he says perceptively interpreting the markings I have on the 3D map model of the area the races will take place in. 

“Yeah, it determines what will work in terms of an emergency exits.” I state, explaining my process.

“So you don’t only look at routes?” He asks.

“No, when I develop my plans I consider routes, danger, closures, alternate routes and transportation that is as discreet as possible while being resilient and agile” I explain and he nods zooming in on my tablet.

“You’re looking for places to land helicopters? Possible counter sniper positions.” He says interpreting my work in seconds. Impressive isn’t the word. Nothing is explicitly stated there’s just circles, dots, x’s and stars in a variety of colours.

“Yeah” I nod and he looks from the tablet back to me, with a ghost of a smirk on his lips, only for it to be gone as soon as it appears.

“You’re doing Jameson work for him.” He comments.

“I understand why our teams are separate but I think all aspects should inform each other” I swallow and his expression hardens.

“That’s not your job. It’s to take direction. No one should be fully informed of the other's actions in case of leaks. Your team needs to be agile. Keep your work to yourself” he orders going back to his military facade.

“With all the testing you still don’t trust us?” I ask and he scowls. His jaw sets before clicking as he clenches  it. 

“It’s not about trust. It’s about what a person gives away during torture. How can I protect my team from that? The rules are in place for a reason. Adhere to them” he orders again but his eyes are more sensitive. If I were a psychiatrist I could diagnose his paranoia and mood swings but as a civilian I table my judgement.

“The non patronizing way to say that is;  follow protocol Cole” I quip before he gets carried away and it ends poorly.

“I don’t care if you don’t like my delivery. At least you’ll be alive not to like it” he comments standing. I can't help the sharp look I send his way. If he were anyone else I wouldn’t put up with it. “Good work” he says finally but somehow the praise falls flat.

“Have you lost a lot of people?” I ask and the tension in his shoulders answers the question in an instant. His expression sobers. 

“I’ve seen a lot of death,” he nods. I look him over before nodding. It at least explains his incessant over preparation and commitment to structure, secrecy and preventative measures.

“I’m sorry,” seems the only appropriate response.

“You won’t have to be if you follow protocol. Your safety equipment needs to be fitted before we go wheels up, go see Cassandra. I’m scheduling you for some extra hand to hand” he says adding more to my plate.

“I don’t have time for extra hand to hand, I’m behind” I tell him pointing to the projections.

“No you’re not” he swallows. “You’ll fry your brain if you continue staring at blueprints. Movement will serve you more than sitting at your desk” he says parroting what I’ve heard from Jameson. I wonder if it's advice Jameson has commandeered from the Boss.

“Okay” I concede. RIchmond seems surprised by my concession but he nods, slipping his hands into the pockets of his trousers. Cassandra appears in the doorway and I let out a relieved breath.

“I hope you’re being nice.” she says, looking him over. Richmond doesn’t dignify her with a response. “Are you finished or can I steal Cole - her safety second skins are in” Cassandra says.

“We’re done and I have ten minutes” he says looking at his watch. I go along with them walking to his office suite instead of asking questions. Two suits wait in a box in his conference room. One is my perfect nude shade, it nearly looks like mesh but it's made of something stronger. It’s fully opaque and when I hold it up I frown wondering what in the T’Challa Black Panther, Richmond has paid for me to wear.

I raise a brow. “What’s this for?” 

“Protection, no burns, cuts or bullets can pierce it. A safety precaution” Cassandra responds.

“Try it on,” Richmond says, stepping out of the room.

“Please!” Cassandra scowls at him as she closes the door. I hold it up again and wonder what else money can buy. I head into the ensuite and I undress quickly. I step into the unitard that fits almost like a second skin. I manage the nearly invisible zipper at my side and look in the mirror. I look remarkably naked and tense up when I see shaded contouring that could pass for real hips and ass.

“Need help?” I hear Cassandra ask from outside.

“Uhh?” I respond and she giggles.

“That’s exactly how I felt - can we come in?” she asks.

“I guess” I responded, not quite sure. I remind myself I’m not naked as I leave the bathroom and re-enter the conference room as they come in. Cassandra’s eyes scan me.

“Toes are wonky” she says to Richmond whose eyes are glued to my body. 

“The suit is wonky” he comments with eyes on my breasts. “May I touch you?” he asks without making eye contact.

“Ok” I respond unsure if no is even an option and he stands behind me pulling the material taut until I can feel it on my chest and stomach like a corset. When I look behind he hes standing with a handful of the suit.

“That’s how it should fit” he tells Cassandra, sparing a look her way. The suit feels completely different with this kind of tension. He grapes lower, gathering the same amount of fabric in the small of my back. I feel like a doll in his care as he manhandles the suit. It’s oddly erotic, or maybe it’s been too long since a man has had his hands on me. He goes to do the same around my hips but there’s no stretch left. 

“Can you see if there’s any give?” he asks as if he hasn't already probably made at least five HR violations. I oblige finding some give.

“Hold it like that” Richmond demands and I wonder if he’s this bossy in bed. Girl, get your head out of the gutter!

“Cassandra test its resistance” he says and Cassandra comes over with some sort of scanner gun reading all over my body noting weak points with a red marker as well as what needs to be removed. 

“The suit has to fit like a glove, it’s most effective when the fibres are extended to their limit they interlock creating … well armour.” she explains.

“What if I have to pee?” I ask being practical.

“You’ll get a zipper once everything else fits seamlessly” Cassandra explains. It’s another level of overkill.

“Does everyone wear these?” I ask.

“They aren't required for smaller scale events, I always wear mine for the big ones” she explains. Richmond is still staring at me and it makes me feel naked, the proximity, the physical toughness, the attention. My body hums like a starving stomach craving sustenance. I’m gonna need to see a therapist for sure, I think looking away from him and back to Cassandra who clears her throat.

“Mr. Richmond, you have a call in two” she says to him and he nods, peeling his eyes from my ass. 

“Ensure it fits perfectly...Please” He says, taking one last look at me. He looks at Cassandra who nods with a smirk on her lips before leaving.

“I’m gonna go change” I announce heading into the restroom. When I get out I hand her the suit.

“Is he always so hands on?” I ask, a little unnerved.

“Hands on… he was with me but he was a lot less attentive and there was a lot more back and forth bickering until he pulled it so tight I couldn't breathe comfortably.” she discloses amused.

“I’m pretty sure that’s wrong of him” I remark.

“Terry’s like family - he’d never actually hurt me and lord knows he could” she huffs sitting on the conference table. Her disposition makes me think of them like siblings opposed to coworkers. The most toxic workplaces have the ‘family titles’ it's definitely a red flag.

“So how was your first week?’ she beams crossing her legs but my mind is on how it felt to be constricted in his hold and hugged by the suit.

“I’ve only considered quitting right now” I smile and she laughs.

“I came to your office because I was sure there was going to be fireworks. Terry was too but with how at ease he was I'd say you’re doing amazing on your first assignment. What was his feedback? I can help you decode its meaning to stay on his good side.” she smiles and I’m excited until I realize there was none.

“He just told me to stick to the protocol and that I did a good job. Oh and he prescribed extra hand to hand” I explain and her eyes light. Her smile widens like a Cheshire cat and she shakes her head.

“He’s setting me up to fail isn't he?” I ask, afraid of some humiliation ritual test.

Cassandra shakes her head. “No Lorence, it means you're keeping him up at night. He must think you're one of the best”

“I don’t copy.” I confess.

“The best agents are all the same Lorence and they never leave their people behind when shit hits the fan. He doesn't think you’ll be tripped up by the plans so he’s preparing you for the people.” she explains.

“Do I have anyone but him to fear?” I ask.

“No, that’s how I know you’re keeping him up. The guys that we’d need to fear see us as menu options - they don't know we’re trained to kick their ass and so they never have security with them. They’re easy to outsmart before things get ‘hand to hand’” Cassandra explains and it’s consistent with training. I get a reverie of the intensity in Richmonds eyes as he held the extra fabric of my suit taut, again. I never put much stock in her words before.

“I think you're wrong. Richmond doesnt look like he needs help attracting women. I’m sure you’ve had to shoo away your fare share.” I respond.

“Are you kidding?! He’s a work-a-holic. I've only seen him flirt for better access. His indiscretions are kept from me if they exist” she comments. “Come on, let's go shopping for after hours  in Monaco - I have a few party invites with an open plus one slot.” she winks and it sounds like a good way to relax and enjoy the rest of the day. Retail therapy is still therapy after all.

Cassandra and I end up in the heart of the city in stores with names that English speakers need tutorials to pronounce. Cassandra can sell salt to a snail because she convinces me to indulge in whims that are unfamiliar and then she swipes the company card stating outfits while on vacation are somehow a business expense. Paranoia makes me set aside the amounts in case it’s some test or something the Boss intends to scream at me for later. But for the rest of the night from shopping all the way to my night routine I’m a little uneasy. Terry Richmond’s ability to rattle me is unmatched. Whether in anger or cloaked kindness. The intensity of his expression is imprinted in my mind. 

I lay awake in bed slightly amused by the irony of Cassandra’s words. At least if they’re true I’m keeping him from sleeping too. It feels like some consolation for all he’s put me through. Maybe my haywire feelings are the result of something akin to Stockholm syndrome. The result of that stupid test. His gaze comes back to me again and the attention held within them. My body heats as recognition clicks into place, its reaction starts to make sense. After years of feeling unnerved and unsure I’ve read the first real emotions from him. There was real sincerity in his eyes. No resentment or animosity. Maybe hints of more complicated emotions but at its core it seemed to be pure preoccupation with my safety.

My body seems to settle at my brain's recognition of the day's events. The anxious energy leaves my body and I settle when it becomes clear to me that before all else my boss wants me to be okay. Before I take my last conscious thought, I promise to move forward with Richmond with that at the forefront of my brain.

authors note: what are you doing if you're Lorence and the boss gets all close and touchy feely? Fight, freeze, call HR - I have to know! Let me know what you think in a comment or reblog 🖤 if you enjoyed things heating up dont forget to comment, reblog and like!

007 ⇛

click here to ✮ join taglist ✮ and be notified when new updates drop.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Women pulling Lever on a Drilling Machine, 1978 Lee, Howl & Company Ltd., Tipton, Staffordshire, England photograph by Nick Hedges image credit: Nick Hedges Photography

* * * *

Tim Boudreau 

About the whole DOGE-will-rewrite Social Security's COBOL code in some new language thing, since this is a subject I have a whole lot of expertise in, a few anecdotes and thoughts.

Some time in the early 2000s I was doing some work with the real-time Java team at Sun, and there was a huge defense contractor with a peculiar query: Could we document how much memory an instance of every object type in the JDK uses? And could we guarantee that that number would never change, and definitely never grow, in any future Java version?

I remember discussing this with a few colleagues in a pub after work, and talking it through, and we all arrived at the conclusion that the only appropriate answer to this question as "Hell no." and that it was actually kind of idiotic.

Say you've written the code, in Java 5 or whatever, that launches nuclear missiles. You've tested it thoroughly, it's been reviewed six ways to Sunday because you do that with code like this (or you really, really, really should). It launches missiles and it works.

A new version of Java comes out. Do you upgrade? No, of course you don't upgrade. It works. Upgrading buys you nothing but risk. Why on earth would you? Because you could blow up the world 10 milliseconds sooner after someone pushes the button?

It launches fucking missiles. Of COURSE you don't do that.

There is zero reason to ever do that, and to anyone managing such a project who's a grownup, that's obvious. You don't fuck with things that work just to be one of the cool kids. Especially not when the thing that works is life-or-death (well, in this case, just death).

Another case: In the mid 2000s I trained some developers at Boeing. They had all this Fortran materials analysis code from the 70s - really fussy stuff, so you could do calculations like, if you have a sheet of composite material that is 2mm of this grade of aluminum bonded to that variety of fiberglass with this type of resin, and you drill a 1/2" hole in it, what is the effect on the strength of that airplane wing part when this amount of torque is applied at this angle. Really fussy, hard-to-do but when-it's-right-it's-right-forever stuff.

They were taking a very sane, smart approach to it: Leave the Fortran code as-is - it works, don't fuck with it - just build a nice, friendly graphical UI in Java on top of it that *calls* the code as-is.

We are used to broken software. The public has been trained to expect low quality as a fact of life - and the industry is rife with "agile" methodologies *designed* to churn out crappy software, because crappy guarantees a permanent ongoing revenue stream. It's an article of faith that everything is buggy (and if it isn't, we've got a process or two to sell you that will make it that way).

It's ironic. Every other form of engineering involves moving parts and things that wear and decay and break. Software has no moving parts. Done well, it should need *vastly* less maintenance than your car or the bridges it drives on. Software can actually be *finished* - it is heresy to say it, but given a well-defined problem, it is possible to actually *solve* it and move on, and not need to babysit or revisit it. In fact, most of our modern technological world is possible because of such solved problems. But we're trained to ignore that.

Yeah, COBOL is really long-in-the-tooth, and few people on earth want to code in it. But they have a working system with decades invested in addressing bugs and corner-cases.

Rewriting stuff - especially things that are life-and-death - in a fit of pique, or because of an emotional reaction to the technology used, or because you want to use the toys all the cool kids use - is idiotic. It's immaturity on display to the world.

Doing it with AI that's going to read COBOL code and churn something out in another language - so now you have code no human has read, written and understands - is simply insane. And the best software translators plus AI out there, is going to get things wrong - grievously wrong. And the odds of anyone figuring out what or where before it leads to disaster are low, never mind tracing that back to the original code and figuring out what that was supposed to do.

They probably should find their way off COBOL simply because people who know it and want to endure using it are hard to find and expensive. But you do that gradually, walling off parts of the system that work already and calling them from your language-du-jour, not building any new parts of the system in COBOL, and when you do need to make a change in one of those walled off sections, you migrate just that part.

We're basically talking about something like replacing the engine of a plane while it's flying. Now, do you do that a part-at-a-time with the ability to put back any piece where the new version fails? Or does it sound like a fine idea to vaporize the existing engine and beam in an object which a next-word-prediction software *says* is a contraption that does all the things the old engine did, and hope you don't crash?

The people involved in this have ZERO technical judgement.

[night-raven-tattler]

I need just one thing...

Summary: You're having a hard time and need a bit of a positive push. Your friends are ready to support you.

Characters: Ruggie, Vil, Ortho, Grim and GN!Reader (separate, platonic)

Warnings: sewing needles (Ruggie's part), food (Vil cooks), mentions of signs of distress (Ortho's part)

By opening the document, you agree to Mx Tattly's terms of source confidentiality.

-ˋˏ’✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Ruggie's laughter could be heard from the furthest corners of the campus, and he was too agile for you to catch him and cover his mouth

You were already embarassed, yet he had the audacity to put salt on the wound

It all started when you discovered a wide tear on your uniform jacket sleeve, only after walking around with it for the whole day

It was the only uniform jacket you had, so you panicked at the prospect of having to fix it or walk around without it

And you didn't have Leona's apathy or Kalim's status to walk around without a full uniform

So fixing it was your only real option

Problem was... you didn't know how to sew

You went to your jack of all trades friend, Ruggie, for some help, but he laughed in your face

"Wow, none of the people here know how to fend for themselves, not even you! Shyehehehe...!"

So you sat next to him, hiding the tear on your uniform and blushing from embarrassement until Ruggie managed to calm down

Ruggie wiped a few tears from his eyes and reached his hand to you

"Alright, hand it over. Limited time offer!"

Hesitantly, you took the jacket off and handed it to Ruggie, who pulled out of his pocket a small box with sewing supplies

"Spelldrive pracitices get really nasty sometimes, you have no idea how many fixes and patches my P.E. uniform has. Shyehehe!"

He expertly pulled some black thread through a needle and went to work

"You gotta use a thicker needle for this uniform, the material is super thick and a small one will barely be able to get through it."

Ruggie sew the tear and, after making sure it wouldn't fall apart, he handed you the uniform to admire his handiwork

You had to hand it to Ruggie: his work was durable and hardly noticeable, you wouldn't be able to tell there was a tear in the first place

"Thank you Ruggie! What do I owe you?"

Hearing your question, Ruggie feigned contemplation by rubbing his chin for a few seconds before he just shrugged

"Nah, you just owe me a favor for now. Shyehehehe!"

You accepted Ruggie's price and walked away in higher spirits that before

Who knows, maybe you'll just owe him a back massage after a day of being pulled through the wringer by Leona, shyehehe!

『••✎••』

The other Pomefiore students were giving awestruck looks and flabbergasted gasps to their housewarden as they watched him cut up some vegetables, carefully yet slowly

It was almost as if, to some, the idea of Vil getting his hands dirty was inconceivable

Vil couldn't be bothered by the shock of his students, however

If he were honest, he was actually quite insulted at their indignation

"Have you never seen anyone perform a basic life skill? If you have nothing productive to say, leave."

And, with a few words, he shooed away the students from the Pomefiore kitchen

Vil took a mental note to have a dorm meeting later that day and redefine his students' definition of beauty...

He recognised the beauty of his friendship with you and the trust you've developed with each other

And he recognised the beauty in the vulnerability you showed him not too long ago

His search eventually lead him to your dorm, where he found you trying to manage a nasty cold all by yourself

Vil dropped by your dorm to check up on you; he didn't see you around campus, and your friends said they haven't seen you all day either

You were caught in the rain the other day, and you couldn't change into dry clothes right away, so you were nerfed soon enough

Vil was not the nicest person out there, but he was kind, and you knew that

But you still were surprised when he asked what you needed, and not if you needed anything

And you also knew that if you tried to argue with him and deny his help, he'd dig his heels in and nurse you back to health all by himself

"...Just some soup. I miss my family's homemade soup..."

He wasn't the best cook, but he knew the basics, which were enough

And so he let you rest while he went back to his dorm to prepare the best soup he could

Fortunately for him, he bumped into Epel in the kitchen, who recommended him a few recipes from his grandma and gave him some pointers before running to his spelldrive practice

Vil chopped the vegetables from Epel's recipe and put them in the boiling water, gradually adjusting the food to your tastes

In no time, the soup was done, so he put some into a container and headed straight to you

Vil recognised the beauty in many things, especially when it came to you two

And currently, he couldn't deny how beautiful your genuine smile was as you sat comfortable in bed and slowly sipped his offering, one spoonful at a time

All while you listened to him talk about his experience with cooking and that new potion study he's been waiting all day to share with you

『••✎••』

The moment Ortho's eyes fell onto you, his scanners told him how bad your day was

You had low levels of energy, hydration and focus

On top of that, your uniform had its knees dirty and a small rip on a sleeve

At least you had no physical injuries

However, you made it your personal mission for the day to talk to as few people as you could; not even your best friends were with you

Ortho figured he'd approach you during your shared potionology lesson you were about to have in the botanical gardens

But you never showed up for the lesson

No one knew where you were, they only saw you enter the building

So Ortho decided to skip class for the first time of his short student life and look for you

It wasn't too hard for him to do so, and soon enough he detected your presence behind a few bushes in the subtropical zone

...he also detected the muffled sound of sobs, paired with an increase of distress and elevated blood pressure

He silently approached the bushes

And you raised your head at the sound of his jets

You quickly wiped some of your tears, putting a wobbly yet sincere smile

"Hello, Reader!"

"Hi, Ortho..."

Ortho sat himself next to you and, before you could think of ways to deal with the slightly awkward silence, he spoke first

"You are in distress."

You couldn't help but chuckle at his bluntness, especially since his assessment was, as always, correct

"...Yeah, kinda."

He knew he should've looked up how to comfort you, it was unlike him to not use the readily available search engine he was built with already

And yet, he found himself saying words he's never spoken before

"Offering comfort is an appropriate response for someone in distress. How do you want me to offer it?"

He waited patiently for you to wipe your tears and give him your answer

"Just a hug..."

Your shaky voice carried your plea, and Ortho was faced with what he could only describe as surprise

Ortho was not in the appropriate gear to fulfill your request

His "body" was hard and cold, the worst for the task you gave him

But he never left tasks unfinished, so he hugged you as tightly as he thought was humanly acceptable

And you held him just as tightly, if not more, as the dam broke and you cried your tears

Ortho hesitated before he started playing calming music from his speakers as he hugged you just a little bit tighter

『••✎••』

It was that time of the week when Grim walked to you on his back paws with a comb in between his free paws, ordering you to brush his fur

Usually you were more than willing to accept the job: ever since you've been living together and participating in Grim's maintenance, his fur became shiny, smooth and blissfully soft

It was part of why he started to enjoy the routine, and even kept track of it

But that day, it was... just not a good time

You just had a long day, and as much as you would've loved to do nothing but brush Grim, you had no energy left in your body

"Sorry, Grim. I really can't. Tomorrow?"

You didn't even change out of your uniform, you just plopped onto bed and laid there, fully expecting Grin's usual complains

But you heard nothing but the sound of metal touching wood

Your were barely awake when you felt the mattress sink into the bed slightly, followed by a few small feet climbing on your back

...and claws sinking into your jacket comfortingly as a certain someone was kneading into you

A small purr started rumbling from above you, and you started drifting off...

You woke up in the middle of the night

You tried to get up, but you had something heavy on your back

After rolling it off you, you realised it was Grim

You smiled towards him and pet him, and he curled into himself, sighing contentedly

You changed into your pyjamas and set up an earlier alarm so you could brush Grim's fur in the morning before crawling back into your bed and falling back asleep

『••✎••』

[ryuu242]

SKHR — "SCHNEE EULE" —

Strategische Kampftaktiker Hilfe Replika

(Strategies Combat-Tactician Help Replika — "Snow Owl")

Type: Generation 5 Combat Tactician

Frame: Biomechanical Frame ,Polyethylene , Bullet-Resistant Armor Plating

They're the same as the common EULR unit but slightly heavier due to their equipment upgrade

Model Development:

SKHR (Strategische-Kampftaktiker Hilfe Replika), (Strategic Combat-Tactician Assistance Replika 'Snowy Owl') or Schnee-Eule, are Generation 5 specialized units developed by the Eusan Nation. These units were built based on the common Eule, enhancing their capabilities for battlefield deployment and combat support. SKHR being deployed at Rotfront specifically

The SKHR "Schneeeule" Replika was developed as a specialized response to the shortcomings of earlier EULR units in high-conflict zones. While EULRs excelled at domestic and logistical tasks, they were ill-suited for combat or tactical operations. To fill this gap, the SKHR model was created, combining the light, agile frame of an EULR with upgraded combat and tactical support capabilities.

Its neural pattern was derived from a Rotfront gestalt known for sharp analytical skills, leadership capabilities, and a deep sense of loyalty. However, its origins also carry emotional vulnerabilities, as the neural donor experienced trauma related to abandonment and survivor’s guilt, which heavily influences the unit’s Persona. The SKHR is equipped to function as both a frontline combat unit and a support specialist, assisting in battlefield triage, supply coordination, and tactical planning.

SKHR units tend to exhibit quiet, contemplative behavior when not engaged in tasks. They often exhibit subtle nesting tendencies, organizing their quarters in meticulous ways that reflect their desire for control and order in the middle of chaos.

Combat Attributes

SKHR units occupy a unique position in the command chain, bridging the gap between strategic planning and frontline combat. Deployed as field tacticians, they operate under the direct supervision of senior officers but are granted considerable autonomy during missions.

Battlefield coordinator, ensuring troop efficiency and survival. Support unit for wounded soldiers and logistical supply management.

Exceptional analytical skills for quick tactical decision-making. Adept at both mid-range combat and first aid procedures.

Although not as heavily armored as other common frontline combat models, making them vulnerable to sustained fire along with their emotional tendencies can sometimes impair their objectivity in high-stress situations. A common strategy is pairing them closely with a younger STAR or STCR unit

Equipment

Schnee-Eule units are optimized for the rigors of the battlefield, equipped with Biomechanical Frame ,Polyethylene Shell, Bullet-Resistant Armor Plating and Sophisticated-Sensor Arrays to navigate and engage in dynamic environments.

Beak Mask that is fixed to the frame, deploys automatically in combat mode to enhance targeting, filter toxins, and provide night vision.

Repair Spray, Autoinjector and multiple Repair Patch Stored in thigh pouches

Submachine Gun Lightweight weapon suited to the unit’s mobility and mid-range combat role.

Known Issues

「Replika Known Issues」

CLASSIFIED INFORMATION - Commander Eyes Only

Previous experience with these Replika models has given us insight into irregularities in their behavior that stem from the original neural patterns used for these units. Due to the sensitive nature of this information, this document should be destroyed after reading.

SKHR units may form strong attachments to specific personnel or units, which can lead to emotional instability if those individuals are lost in combat.

Their neural pattern predisposes them to survivor’s guilt, especially if they perceive themselves as failing to protect others.If left in prolonged isolation or repeatedly exposed to high-casualty scenarios, SKHR units may experience accelerated Persona degradation, resulting in erratic or self-sacrificing behavior.

[td-brick]

I talked about this a while ago (I think) but it annoys me when people use the stupid "well if the roles were revered/if Sierra was a guy you wouldn't defend her" strawman when talking about Sierra and her relationship to Cody as if Sierra as a character would even exist if she was a guy. Her writing and how she acts is entirely driven by misogyny and the people who wrote her seeing women as more neurotic or whatever than men. And this document (which is really good and you should read) goes more in depth about how a lot of her writing and her being depicted as eager/perverted is racist as well but. yeah. And you can recognize this about her without "defending" her or whatever. Yeah she was creepy and weird but MANY other characters in td are and they don't have nearly as much discourse surrounding them as she does.

Anyways I digress... going off my first point I feel like people forget how much misogyny (and racism in sierra's case, what with her being a woc) affects how characters are perceived and written in things. Sierra's character would not be what it was if she was a white guy. You can write flawed female characters who might have traits similar to sierra without being misogynistic and its actually bad if all your female characters are 100% perfect angels because that's misogynistic in its own right. but like there are still stereotypes you have to be aware of and if someone is misogynistic and writing a female character their misogyny will show through in her writing, like sierra. Watching world tour/all stars it feels like they're not giving her any of her own charm or positive traits, it's only attached to other characters (namely cody) and when she exists on her own (barely) she's just doing stuff to make you hate her.

And in and of itself the fact that her character is literally ONLY attached to cody (or cameron in all stars) is misogynistic. She is clearly a really strong person on her own, especially in total drama. like physically she's super strong and agile, she has a good understanding of the contestants already because of watching TWO seasons of the show many times and she probably knows a lot about how the game itself works, etc. Clearly she's also good at finding information about people so she would probably know how to use certain contestants traits to her own gain (to form alliances and otherwise). But for some reason they never really elaborate on that and especially in world tour just attach her at the hip to a random guy who she drags super far through the competition without ever getting any character development of her own and its so UGHHH. And I wouldn't even have a problem with her being a huge fan of Cody in specific (although I do wish they would focus on her being a td superfan as a whole more) if they just handled it better. which they don't. and the shit with Cameron in all stars is just dumb as fuck I'm sorry I don't think I even need to elaborate on that

[fallingskywaterr]

Free pass for you to talk about your lava worm headcanons, I adored the last chapter of your fic XD

I will defend peoples rights to call the long serpent-like lava dwelling creatures whatever they like so long as it has historical reasons! XD

Just wanna state that I recognise that the show calls them lava eels. Onto my headcanon.

Scientists on Atmos may have studied the remains and came to that decision based on other Atmos eels they’ve found. But I 100% believed they did the very real human world thing of looking at stuff from a safe distance and deciding ‘yup, that sure looks like a worm, it long and squiggly’.

Some people were more logical about it, they looked at the jaws that were trying to kill them and sensibly pointed out how those teeth looked just like the jaws of dragons. Wyverns (giant reptiles with two wings, two hind feet and a long tail) were the most common ‘type’ of dragon around, hence why they took so long to go extinct when being actively hunted. Explorers from centuries ago reasonably assumed that the lava serpents were basically the ‘larval’ form. As no one sane went looking for dragons nests (bear in mind this was long before people of Atmos could easily travel betweens terras, having to navigate the wastelands before eventually utilising air balloons and such) they just assumed that lava wyrms were baby wyverns. Over time, civilisations such as Cyclonia that spent a lot of time in close proximity with Lava wyrms were able to document their life cycles, proving once and for all they weren’t related to earthworms or turning into wyverns. That hasn’t stopped people across the Cyclonian empire all colloquially referring to Lava worms/wyrms/eels based on whatever was the more common term. So it’s really not uncommon for people to argue amongst themselves about what to call them.

Over generations, the Cyclonians of the Citadel in particular developed a really close bond with their local lava worms, mostly out of necessity. First it was how to avoid being eaten. Then it was how to avoid having their homes dug out from under them as lava worms burrowed. As their knowledge and technology evolved (and the empire expanded) Cyclonians were able to discover that lava worms were a) more closely related evolutionary-wise to eels b) edible c) trainable to a certain degree. Baby lava worms are by far the most easily handled, not just because they’re small. Their hide is much thinner than an adults thus they’re able to enjoy the sensation of being petted. Once they reach adolescence, it’s more important for a lava worm to regulate their temperature. Heat helps their digestion, so the most successful lava worms spend their puberty in the hottest lava pools eating as much as possible. This is the stage they grow most rapidly, most of the lava worms in the show are in the final stage of puberty. They’re still small enough to be agile, lunging for prey in the air or passing by the edge of the lava pool.

Fully grown lava worms are rarely ever seen, which is what fuelled the beliefs that they turned into Wyverns. In reality, full grown lava worms will burrow away from their favoured lava pools, changing the Wastelands landscapes. No one knows just how big lava worms can become, but Cyclonians have documented what they call ‘Matriarchs’ (assumed to be female back before scientists discovered the creatures had both sets of gender equipment) digging out brand new lava pools by tunnelling deep beneath the wastelands surface. One Matriarch can dig out five Cyclonian battleships worth of dirt/rock in just one day when they’re feeling motivated. Once a nursery is established, the adult lava worm will find a nice submerged lava pool with a crust over the top. With its body below in the lava, the lava worm will peek its head out with its mouth slightly open. Lava on its head cools so the lava worm resembles nothing more than a rocky outcrop with ‘caves’ in the face… prey will wander inside and be eaten. Minimum effort means the lava worm can sustain itself for years or even decades without moving. Cyclonian's are particularly fond of lava worms, once they learned how to more or less coexist, they built a significant amount of their defences around having active lava fields around the Citadel. By encouraging healthy colonies of teenage lava worms, they have an active natural enemy seeking defence mechanism. Outposts around the Citadels perimeter actively monitor the lava pools for increased lava worm activity to alert the Citadel of possible enemies approaching. It’s a leftover policy from back when invading armies attacked on foot. It does help when certain modern insane foes decide to fly their airships through the Wastelands to sneak in through the sewers… in theory. An unintended consequence is that anywhere in Cyclonia where there’s merchandise, there are lava worm plushies and all manner of lava worm/eel/wyrm personalised gifts. You’ll find more lava worm labelled material in western Cyclonia. Eastern Cyclonia favours lava wyrm, while a lot of the Citadel Cyclonians favour the recent ‘accurate’ term of lava eels. With the Citadel being the main capital of the empire however, that’s where you’ll find people arguing over the ‘correct’ term. Everyone knows what they mean, it’s just semantics. There will always be that one asshole who takes it too far.

So yeah, that’s my take on Atmosian lava eel/worm/wyrm discourse. Hope you enjoyed!

[vivicantstudy]

17 Compelling Reasons to Start Learning Mandarin Today!

1. Cultural access: Mandarin opens doors to understanding China’s rich cultural heritage, including literature, philosophy, and art. It’s the key to exploring classical works like Confucian texts and contemporary media without relying on translations.

2. Cognitive benefits: Studies show that learning Mandarin enhances cognitive abilities, such as problem-solving and memory. The complexity of Mandarin characters and tonal distinctions challenges the brain, leading to better mental agility.

3. Future-proofing: As China continues to grow as a global economic powerhouse, being fluent in Mandarin positions you advantageously for future job markets and international business opportunities.

4. Travel convenience: Speaking Mandarin makes traveling in China, Taiwan, and Singapore significantly easier. It helps with navigating public transport, understanding local customs, and accessing services, enhancing your overall travel experience.

5. Business and networking opportunities: With China being home to many of the world’s largest companies, Mandarin can open doors to new business ventures, partnerships, and job opportunities in a wide range of industries.

6. Learn a completely different writing system: Mandarin involves learning thousands of characters, offering a unique cognitive challenge. This skill not only enriches your understanding of the language but also provides insight into Chinese thought processes and cultural nuances.

7. Stand out in the global job market: Fluency in Mandarin is a rare and highly sought-after skill. It can distinguish you from other candidates, making your résumé stand out and potentially leading to higher salary offers and unique career opportunities.

8. Influence of Chinese pop culture: Access China’s booming entertainment industry, including hit movies, music, and television shows. Understanding Mandarin allows you to enjoy these cultural products in their original form, without relying on subtitles or translations.

9. Connect with Chinese heritage: For those with Chinese ancestry or interest, learning Mandarin facilitates a deeper connection with your heritage. It allows you to engage with historical documents and family traditions that are often only accessible in the original language.

10. Enhance travel experiences in Asia: Mandarin proficiency improves your travel experiences across multiple countries in Asia, where Chinese influence is significant. It helps you interact with locals, understand regional dialects, and fully immerse yourself in diverse cultures.

11. Access to advanced technologies: China leads in fields like artificial intelligence and fintech. Understanding Mandarin gives you direct access to cutting-edge research, innovations, and trends emerging from these technology sectors.

12. Build stronger personal relationships: Learning Mandarin allows you to communicate more effectively with Mandarin-speaking friends, colleagues, and partners. It deepens personal connections and shows respect for their language and culture.

13. Tap into Chinese academic resources: China’s academic sector is growing rapidly. Mandarin proficiency enables you to access a wealth of research, academic journals, and educational materials that are increasingly influential on the global stage.

14. Gain insights into global trends: Understanding Mandarin helps you stay informed about global trends and innovations directly from China. This knowledge is valuable for staying ahead in industries like fashion, technology, and social media.

15. Improve cultural sensitivity: Learning Mandarin enhances your understanding of Chinese social norms and etiquette. This cultural insight is crucial for navigating personal and professional interactions with respect and understanding.

16. Develop long-term cognitive benefits: Mandarin’s unique challenges, such as tone recognition and character memorization, promote long-term cognitive development

These were my favorite reasons why I study Mandarin! I’m loving the journey because it connects me deeply with a new culture and opens doors to Chinese technological innovations. Plus, the challenge of learning Mandarin is boosting my cognitive skills and problem-solving abilities. Thanks for reading up to here!

[akariuta311101]

I-Iguanodon

1. Taxonomic Group: Iguanodon is a genus within the Ornithopoda suborder, classified under the family Iguanodontidae. It is one of the best-known early ornithopods.

2. Size and Weight: Iguanodon was relatively large, measuring up to 10 meters (33 feet) in length and weighing around 4 to 5 metric tons (8,800 to 11,000 pounds).

3. Time Period: This dinosaur lived during the Early Cretaceous period, roughly 140 to 110 million years ago.

4. Location: Fossils of Iguanodon have been discovered in various locations across Europe, particularly in Belgium, as well as parts of North America, Asia, and Africa.

5. Diet: As a herbivore, Iguanodon primarily fed on a variety of plants, using its specialized teeth to grind vegetation. It likely consumed ferns, conifers, and early flowering plants.

6. Distinctive Features: Iguanodon had a robust body structure with a long, stiff tail for balance. One of its most distinctive features was its large thumb spike, which was likely used for defense or foraging. Its hands had three main fingers that could grasp objects, showing a versatile use of its forelimbs.

7. Head Structure: Its skull was elongated with a beak-like structure at the front for cropping plants. The teeth were arranged in a way that allowed it to process food efficiently. The beak was toothless and covered with a keratinous sheath.

8. Movement and Behavior: Iguanodon was capable of both bipedal and quadrupedal movement, relying on its hind legs for speed and its forelimbs for support while feeding. This versatility made it a highly adaptive and agile dinosaur.

9. Initial Discovery: The genus Iguanodon was described by Gideon Mantell in 1825, based on fossils discovered in the Weald Clay of Sussex, England. These discoveries included teeth that Mantell recognized as resembling those of modern iguanas, hence the name “Iguanodon” meaning “iguana tooth.”

10. Skin and Fossil Finds: There are no known skin impressions for Iguanodon, but skeletal remains are abundant and include nearly complete skeletons, parts of the skull, vertebrae, and limb bones. Fossilized footprints have also been found, providing insights into its locomotion. 11. Social Behavior: Evidence suggests that Iguanodon may have lived in herds, as multiple individuals are often found together. This social behavior would have provided protection against predators and facilitated the care of young.

12. Nesting and Reproduction: Specific details about the nesting and reproductive behaviors of Iguanodon are not well-documented. However, it is presumed to have laid eggs, similar to other ornithopods. Fossilized nests of related species suggest that they might have nested in colonies.

13. Cultural Significance: Iguanodon holds a significant place in paleontological history as one of the first dinosaurs to be described. It has provided valuable insights into the evolution and diversity of herbivorous dinosaurs during the Early Cretaceous. Iguanodon has been prominently featured in literature, films, and exhibits, making it one of the most recognizable dinosaurs. Its discovery and subsequent interpretations have played a key role in the development of paleontology as a science.

[sonic-wildfire]

Bosses

Occasionally, Sonic will come across abandoned Badniks that he must defeat in battle in order to progress. During this time, the in-game timer slows down to half-speed (except on hard difficulty, where the timer will continue at regular speed).

Interested in learning more about Sonic Icebound? Visit this document to read up!

Further information on Icebound's bosses below the cut:

E-109 Kappa

(Sketch and description courtesy of stellar.seeker on Discord)

The game’s first boss, encountered right before the player traverses the Transantarctic Mountains. Originally meant for deep-sea resource gathering expeditions in the Antarctic, Eggman's defeat and subsequent disappearance at the end of Forces cut it off from the network. Left to its own devices, the super-Badnik slowly developed sapience, and then went mad from its isolation.

Due to not being as long-abandoned as the others on the continent (known collectively as Scrapniks), it's still in decent shape, but has taken parts from other Badniks to make itself more dangerous. Among the various parts it has taken include a high-powered speaker that emits a high amount of infrasonic noise, which is known to trigger the brain’s fear response. In turn, this exacerbates Sonic's paranoia and weakens his attack strength and accuracy.

E-110 Lambda

(Sketch courtesy of TomtomtheMultitasker7238 on Discord)

The game’s second boss, encountered deep inside a glacier cave system. With a small and nimble build, Lambda relies on stealth and speed to win fights. Part of a group of other Badniks that conducted caving expeditions, Lambda became disoriented in the winding cave system and got lost, unable to find their way out and with no means of reaching Eggman.

It treats anything that moves as a threat but refuses to make the first move. Its elite agility enables it to dodge quick attacks, but Lambda also has little attack strength. Because of this, it prefers to whittle down enemies rather than try to deal large amounts of damage at once. Sonic’s saving grace is the fact the narrower passages of the caves make it more difficult for Lambda to dodge, but the robot will become extremely aggressive very quickly if it is cornered.

E-111 Iota

The game’s third boss, encountered near the summit of Mount Sidley. Iota got its start as a sentient sentry gun, originally meant to guard a prime Eggman base in the Weiss Amphitheater (a two-nautical mile wide caldera on Sidley’s south-central face) below. After the events of Adventure 2 and the resulting political fallout, Eggman left the Sidley-Weiss base to rot in favor of a new base closer to the Ross Ice Shelf. With Iota among those left behind, it refuses to abandon its post and still believes the base to be in active use.

It has a very high attack power and can make quick work of Sonic if the latter is not careful, and has near-perfect accuracy. However, its movement speed is slow and can also decrease its accuracy. Furthermore, it has weak spots in its armor that Sonic can take advantage of by using his speed for quick hits. Its arms wield rocket launchers that it only uses when in extreme peril. It does even more damage than the normal bullet-based weaponry it uses at the cost of a significant decrease in accuracy.

After the fight against E-111 Iota, Sonic’s radio transceiver dies and loses all communication with Tails. It becomes unusable until the game’s final boss; attempts to use it beforehand will return static noise to Sonic.

Simulacrum

The game’s final boss, encountered just before Sonic gets to the evacuation site. Simulacrum is not a truly physical being; rather, it is a manifestation of Sonic’s own paranoia and fears of isolation. This boss has two regular phases, taking on a different form in each: one as Tails, one as Knuckles. In these states, Simulacrum will occasionally go semi-visible if the player moves towards them, with their location only denoted by a bright, thin outline of them.

The first three phases consist of guiding Sonic through a vast icy labyrinth with multiple twists and turns. Simulacrum will attempt to misdirect the player by impersonating one of Sonic’s friends depending on which phase the boss is in. Meanwhile, Tails (and later, Knuckles) will attempt to guide the player along the correct path to get out of the labyrinth. Instructions from both Simulacrum and Sonic’s friends are similar but have subtle differences that Sonic will need to decipher in order to choose the correct path. Choosing the wrong path will ultimately steer the player into one of many snow-covered pitfalls.

After the first three phases, Simulacrum will enter a fourth and final phase where they take on the form of the aurora australis (also known as the Southern Lights). Sonic will be sent to the top of a large hill where he will have to outrun a fast-moving avalanche, dodging obstacles in the process. When Sonic emerges from the crevasse, the player will then complete a series of quick-time events to defeat Simulacrum and get to the evacuation site where Tails is waiting (unless the in-game timer runs out before Simulacrum is defeated, in which case a cutscene plays where Sonic will arrive at the evacuation site only to be told by Tails that extreme weather conditions and poor visibility forced them to call off the rescue mission).

@sonic-au-collision

[universe-in-the-void-in-the-cube]

Transformers: Human Ally - Nathan

Nathan Witwicky

Basic Information

Full Name: Nathanial Christopher Witwicky

Nickname: Nathan or Nate

Cybertronian Name: Nightscream

Physical Age: 5

Actual Age: 5

Birthday:  July 4th

Species: Human Mutant / Transformer

Nationality: American

Sex/Gender: Male

Preferred Pronouns: He/Him

Romantic Orientation: N/A

Sexual Orientation: N/A

Religion: (Tentative: an open perspective as a child)

Occupation: Kindergartner

Status: Living

Fandoms: Transformers G1, G.I. Joe, Marvel Universe

Face Claim: (An animated style could be used, perhaps a character similar to young human children from cartoons)

Physical Traits

Eye Color: Green

Hair Color: Black

Height: Approximately 3'4" (average height for a 5-year-old)

Weight: Approximately 40 lbs (average for his age)

Body Build: Slim but healthy for a child

Notable Physical Traits: Slightly shimmering skin, hinting at his Transformer heritage; an innocent and expressive face.

Phobias and Mental State

Phobia: Fear of losing his mother or being separated from his parents

Mental Conditions: None documented; typical child behaviors and responses

Physical Disease: None documented

Personality

Usual Mood/Expression: Cheerful, curious, and occasionally contemplative

Moral Alignment: Chaotic Good (innocently breaks rules for the greater good)

Jung Type: ENFP (Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving)

Enneagram: Type 7 (The Enthusiast) - spontaneous, versatile, and friendly

Four Temperaments: Sanguine (sociable, lively, and playful)

Western Astrological Sign: Cancer (his assumed birthday)

Eastern Astrological Sign: (N/A for the character)

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff (loyal, friendly, and hardworking)

Prominent Traits: Innocent, imaginative, empathetic, curious, and humorous

Miscellaneous

Skills: Drawing, storytelling, making friends easily

Hobbies: Drawing, playing with toys, exploring, asking questions

Element: Water (symbolizing emotions and intuition)

Animal Symbol: Dolphin (playful and social)

Plant Symbol: Sunflower (representing happiness and warmth)

Powers and Abilities

Partial Transformer Abilities: Potential for enhanced resilience and a budding ability to interact with technology in a unique way

Mutant Powers: Ability to intuitively understand and communicate with other beings, both human and Transformer

Stats

Compassion: 8/10

Empathy: 9/10

Creativity: 10/10

Mental Flexibility: 7/10

Passion/Motivation: 9/10

Education: 6/10

Stamina: 8/10

Physical Strength: 4/10

Battle Skill: 1/10 (still a child)

Initiative: 7/10

Agility: 6/10

Restraint: 5/10

Strategy: 3/10 (naive but clever)

Teamwork: 9/10

Multiple Intelligences

Musical-Rhythmic Intelligence: 7/10 (enjoys singing and dancing)

Visual-Spatial Intelligence: 9/10 (excellent at drawing and visualizing concepts)

Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence: 6/10 (communicates well for his age)

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: 5/10 (basic understanding, still developing)

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: 5/10 (active and playful, not overly coordinated)

Interpersonal Intelligence: 8/10 (great with other kids and adults)

Intrapersonal Intelligence: 7/10 (understands his feelings well for a child)

Existential Intelligence: 5/10 (questioning existence, especially regarding dual heritage)

Naturalistic Intelligence: 4/10 (basic curiosity about nature)

Background and Development

Nathan grows up straddling two worlds—the humans and the Transformers. His upbringing is defined by the love of his mutant-human mother and the occasional presence of his Decepticon father, Starscream. He has witnessed the ongoing conflict and has his own unique understanding of the complexities surrounding him. His childhood is enriched by imaginative play and the stories he develops about both races, allowing him to frame his experience.

Goals and Desires

Nathan desires to have a normal childhood while simultaneously wanting his parents to embrace their roles more fully. He dreams of adventures with both his mother and father and often expresses a wish for siblings, showcasing that childhood innocence and desire for belonging.

Conflicts

Internal Conflicts: Nathan occasionally grapples with the question of his identity—how being the son of a Decepticon affects his relationships and future.

External Conflicts: His existence often invites prejudice and confusion from others, sparking situations where he must defend his family and explain his unique background.

Relationships: He has a strong bond with his mother and a budding relationship with his father, often leading to humorous misunderstandings and sweet moments of connection.

Allies and Rivals: Allies include Autobots and fellow student friends; rivals might emerge from the occasional misunderstanding with peers or adults who might not accept his lineage.

Overall Theme

The overall theme of Nathan Witwicky’s character revolves around the innocence of childhood existing amidst conflict. His journey embodies the challenges of identity, acceptance, and the power of love across different worlds. Through his playful spirit and candid nature, Nathan reminds those around him that family bonds can transcend obstacles, and understanding can lead to harmony—even in a universe fraught with war and division.

[erik-even-wordier]

About the whole DOGE-will-rewrite Social Security's COBOL code

Posted to Facebook by Tim Boudreau on March 30, 2025.

About the whole DOGE-will-rewrite Social Security's COBOL code in some new language thing, since this is a subject I have a whole lot of expertise in, a few anecdotes and thoughts.

Some time in the early 2000s I was doing some work with the real-time Java team at Sun, and there was a huge defense contractor with a peculiar query: Could we document how much memory an instance of every object type in the JDK uses? And could we guarantee that that number would never change, and definitely never grow, in any future Java version?

I remember discussing this with a few colleagues in a pub after work, and talking it through, and we all arrived at the conclusion that the only appropriate answer to this question as "Hell no." and that it was actually kind of idiotic.

Say you've written the code, in Java 5 or whatever, that launches nuclear missiles. You've tested it thoroughly, it's been reviewed six ways to Sunday because you do that with code like this (or you really, really, really should). It launches missiles and it works.

A new version of Java comes out. Do you upgrade? No, of course you don't upgrade. It works. Upgrading buys you nothing but risk. Why on earth would you? Because you could blow up the world 10 milliseconds sooner after someone pushes the button?

It launches fucking missiles. Of COURSE you don't do that.

There is zero reason to ever do that, and to anyone managing such a project who's a grownup, that's obvious. You don't fuck with things that work just to be one of the cool kids. Especially not when the thing that works is life-or-death (well, in this case, just death).

Another case: In the mid 2000s I trained some developers at Boeing. They had all this Fortran materials analysis code from the 70s - really fussy stuff, so you could do calculations like, if you have a sheet of composite material that is 2mm of this grade of aluminum bonded to that variety of fiberglass with this type of resin, and you drill a 1/2" hole in it, what is the effect on the strength of that airplane wing part when this amount of torque is applied at this angle. Really fussy, hard-to-do but when-it's-right-it's-right-forever stuff.

They were taking a very sane, smart approach to it: Leave the Fortran code as-is - it works, don't fuck with it - just build a nice, friendly graphical UI in Java on top of it that *calls* the code as-is.

We are used to broken software. The public has been trained to expect low quality as a fact of life - and the industry is rife with "agile" methodologies *designed* to churn out crappy software, because crappy guarantees a permanent ongoing revenue stream. It's an article of faith that everything is buggy (and if it isn't, we've got a process or two to sell you that will make it that way).

It's ironic. Every other form of engineering involves moving parts and things that wear and decay and break. Software has no moving parts. Done well, it should need *vastly* less maintenance than your car or the bridges it drives on. Software can actually be *finished* - it is heresy to say it, but given a well-defined problem, it is possible to actually *solve* it and move on, and not need to babysit or revisit it. In fact, most of our modern technological world is possible because of such solved problems. But we're trained to ignore that.

Yeah, COBOL is really long-in-the-tooth, and few people on earth want to code in it. But they have a working system with decades invested in addressing bugs and corner-cases.

Rewriting stuff - especially things that are life-and-death - in a fit of pique, or because of an emotional reaction to the technology used, or because you want to use the toys all the cool kids use - is idiotic. It's immaturity on display to the world.

Doing it with AI that's going to read COBOL code and churn something out in another language - so now you have code no human has read, written and understands - is simply insane. And the best software translators plus AI out there, is going to get things wrong - grievously wrong. And the odds of anyone figuring out what or where before it leads to disaster are low, never mind tracing that back to the original code and figuring out what that was supposed to do.

They probably should find their way off COBOL simply because people who know it and want to endure using it are hard to find and expensive. But you do that gradually, walling off parts of the system that work already and calling them from your language-du-jour, not building any new parts of the system in COBOL, and when you do need to make a change in one of those walled off sections, you migrate just that part.

We're basically talking about something like replacing the engine of a plane while it's flying. Now, do you do that a part-at-a-time with the ability to put back any piece where the new version fails? Or does it sound like a fine idea to vaporize the existing engine and beam in an object which a next-word-prediction software *says* is a contraption that does all the things the old engine did, and hope you don't crash?

The people involved in this have ZERO technical judgement.

[primatechnosynthpop]

I wasn't going to make a post on this because I didn't think I had enough material but here's what I'm thinking for Company agent Neil AU (NKotR × Heroes)

Ryan's family has had powers going back several generations, and many of them tried to use these powers to fight crime. This got the Company's attention and led to some of them being detained. Ryan's had his memory of his superpowered parents wiped, and the Company has decided to give him some chance at a normal life rather than immediately locking him up. However, it's a pretty sure thing he'll eventually manifest powers, so Neil is assigned to keep an eye on him and, if/when he manifests, bring him in.

It's less sure whether Kevin will turn out to have powers, but it is a possibility-- his mother has pyrokinesis, and while he thinks she died in a fire some years ago, she was actually recruited by the Company at around the same time Neil was. On previous missions she's acted as the "one of them" to Neil's "one of us", but not for this assignment, as her son finding out she's alive would blow their cover and they're trying to keep the mind-wiping to a minimum. That said, Neil did have René (that's a Heroes character) wipe Ryan and Kevin's memories of their first meeting, and pretends to have forgotten how/when they met as well, to make it feel less like Neil just Showed Up and appointed himself their friend one day.

The Studio is of course just a front for the Company, running little tests from afar to see how the new kids will act in certain situations. All the supernatural stuff they encounter is real though. I wouldn't take that away from them. And the friendship they develop is ALSO real <3 Jury's still out on the bit where Neil gets arrested though. Anyway...

At some point Neil is assigned to recapture Max, an escaped Level 5 detainee who can phase through walls (hence him being able to get into everyone's house so easily). He knows Max often hangs out around the high school, so he gets René to make his friends temporarily forget how old they are and is like "hey guys let's go to school!" so they'll run into Max, provoking a confrontation. He tampers with Max's car such that plugging the exhaust pipe would cause an explosion, and plays up the "oh no we KILLED him!!" act so Ryan and Kevin won't bother to check whether they did actually kill him. Then he gets René to wipe their minds of how that confrontation ended, drags an unconscious Max out of the flaming car, and hands him over. Another job well done!

After Spooky Manor, the urn supposedly containing Kevin's ashes is a fabrication. While he pretends to put their friend to rest with Ryan, in secret Neil has to perform an autopsy on Kevin to try to figure out whether or not he had the gene that gives you powers. During the autopsy, he removes a wood splinter that had gotten lodged in Kevin's head, and upon removing it Kevin immediately springs back to life. So that answers that question: he's got a power, and it's cellular regeneration! Neil has some complicated feelings about this development-- it's great that his friend is alive, but this means he technically has to bring him in for testing now. Also, he has to make Ryan forget that Kevin died in the first place. The latter he does without too many qualms, but Neil just can't bring himself to do the former... so with help from Kevin's mom, he forges some documents and somehow manages to keep Kevin having powers under the radar from everyone.

And then we come to Ryan's powers, enhanced strength and agility, manifesting. By now Neil has seen the error of his ways and doesn't want the Company getting its hands on his friends, but he can't resist seeing Ryan use his gift to its full potential. He tells Ryan a partial truth about his family, then watches from the shadows and observes for himself how dangerous Ryan really is, weighing his options on how to proceed. By this point his superiors have caught on to his subterfuge and are breathing down his neck, so he crumbles under the pressure and chloroforms Ryan with the intent to bring him in... but he can't go through with it.

Ok full disclosure I don't actually know how things would resolve from there and I especially don't know how to make episode 6 work in this au. But at some point down the line Neil gets completely fed up, comes clean to his friends about everything, and they all fake their deaths in order to get away from the Company, which buys them a few years to just chill before they start attracting media attention with their shenanigans and the higher-ups catch on. Max gets partnered up with brand-new Company recruit Mitch, the "one of us" to his "one of them", and they set out to track those new kids down and eliminate them (but of course don't succeed)

EDIT: Wait actually I do know how episode 6 fits in. Neil pulled some clever scheme to sweep Ryan's powers under the rug but his superiors are very much onto his tricks so they send in Spencer, a telepath, to read their minds and work out what's going on. Neil manages to evade Spencer's telepathy by thinking in a different language, but he's worried when Spencer and Ryan start to bond because Ryan still remembers enough about his vigilante stint to provide incriminating evidence.

Oh also, jumping back a bit, of course Wendy would have been a Company agent too. If you wanna get a little angsty maybe she was actually starting to fall for Kevin but wasn't allowed to get any further involved with him than the Company's script called for. Or she was just playing him the whole time; either works