#big data event

[obimaulartfire]

October 26th- "Seduction" for the @sithobiwanevent

Mini-fic connected to this piece under the Read More tag! I had so much fun with this prompt, hehehe

Maul walked down the neon-lit streets of Coruscant, out of the Jedi Temple. The mission he just finished had been hard, but successful.

His clone commander offered to take him out in celebration, but Maul turned him down. He wasn’t the social type; he preferred to do things on his own terms.

Besides, he felt…it, again.

“It” was a presence that had been following him like a shadow for the past few years.

It felt like fire and ice at once; cool, prickly fury mixed with a warm affection. At least, that was what the Force told him.

“It” never hurt him. In fact, it was often a comfort when he felt completely alone in the world, whether that was in the Temple, out in the street, or off-world. When he was sorrowful, overwhelmed, or angry, it was nearby like a cold pillow on a hot night. But it felt stronger than usual today, like it was about to smother him.

Therefore, he couldn’t risk anyone else getting in the way. Today was the day he would find the source.

He walked down the street, keeping his sixth sense open and his eyes over his shoulder. There were so many people here; any one of them could be the source of the Force presence. Frustrated, he grumbled to himself as he walked towards no destination in particular. But then, he remembered that the presence only made itself known when he was alone.

He chided himself. Was he really about to put himself in danger for the sake of his curiosity?

This is stupid. He was a Jedi. If anything came at him, he was more than certain that he could win in a fight.

While he thought, his feet took him down the back streets, towards a part of town that he knew would have no one in it at this time of night. He got there, found an open alleyway and walked in. And he waited.

He felt the presence, but couldn’t see anyone. Of course. He’d never seen the source of the presence, so it was unlikely that they would simply reveal themselves immediately.

He grit his teeth and gathered up his courage.

“Come out. I know you’re there.” he said, trying to hide the slight shake in his voice.

There was no answer. Until there was.

“You’re calling for me? What a surprise.” said an elegant, icy voice.

Maul spun around, and his hearts dropped in his chest. He recognized the face that appeared before him immediately.

Ten years ago on Naboo, his master was killed by none other than the man before him. He was older now, had grown out a beard and his hair, but otherwise looked exactly the same. His yellow eyes glowed faintly in the darkness, silhouette outlined by the multicolored lights around him. Maul didn’t know his name, but he did know him, and always would. It was impossible to forget the one who stole your loved ones.

Despite this, he radiated the exact same presence. That same Force signature he felt when he was alone in the Jedi Temple in the middle of the night. Now, instead of it being a background hum, it wrapped around his mind and threatened to crush him with its force.

Somehow, it was still comforting.

“You…” Maul started.

The man interrupted.

“Don’t you know it’s dangerous to walk alone at night? You could get hurt.” he said with an outpouring of protective affection, and walked closer.

Maul instinctively backed away, towards an alley.

“Why? But you- I killed you. I thought-”

His eyes darted to the man’s right arm and leg. They were advanced prosthetics now, but made almost no noise as he strode forward. Maul had cut those off. He remembered pushing this man down the reactor shaft, so why was he alive? Why was he here?

Maul made a soft grunt when he turned and his back hit the wall. The man came closer to him, and leaned over; their height difference becoming apparent.

“Your questions have easy answers.” he said, though Maul had asked no questions. It was like he knew what he was thinking.

He opened his prosthetic hand, and took Maul’s hand in it; a gesture of reverence.

Maul flinched at how cold the metal was, but did not pull away.

“The simple answer is that you killed me, and I came back.” he said, lacing his fingers with Maul’s. “I’ve been obsessed with you ever since you cut me down on Naboo. You’re the only person who has ever defeated me, undone me. I should hate you for it, but instead I find you… fascinating.”

Maul swallowed thickly, his hearts pounding in his chest. He’d never had anyone be interested in him before, not to this degree. It was intoxicating, and it drew him closer.

His mouth moved, looking for words to say. They came out jumbled and choppy.

“So all this time. When I was alone, and I was sad, and I felt a presence. That- that was you?” 

The man raised his prosthetic arm, and pinned Maul’s arm against the wall.

Without thinking, Maul wrapped his fingers around the metallic ones, to ground himself.

The man leaned closer, his warm breath brushing Maul’s lips.

“Does that disturb you, my dear?”

Maul stared up into glowing, yellow eyes. It was very strange. Though this whole situation should scare him, Maul found himself incredibly calmed, almost hypnotized by the man in front of him. He didn’t want him to go.

“No.” he replied, and meant it.

“I’m glad.”

Before he knew it, Maul was kissing him. He lost himself in the moment of finally coming face-to-face with the presence that, in some way, kept him sane for the past few years.

But, when the man pulled away, Maul looked at his face again and remembered who he was looking at. This was his master’s murderer. And yet despite himself, he couldn’t pull away.

“This… this is wrong.” he said, his sense finally coming back to him.

He shouldn’t feel safe around this man. He should run. He should pull out his lightsaber and finish the job he started years ago. So why? Why didn’t he pull away?

“Is it, now?” he replied, conversationally.

“Of course it is. You killed my master. I shouldn’t be here, I shouldn’t be doing this.” he said.

I shouldn’t want this. He thought.

“And yet, here you are.” he said, with a light chuckle. His breath tickled, and his beard brushed against his cheek.

Maul found himself kissing him again. One hand was pinned to the wall, but the other grabbed at the bow on his back, pushing him closer. Force, what was wrong with him?

The kiss ended too soon. His master’s murderer pushed away from him, ever so gently, and looked into his eyes.

“Come away with me, Maul. I could teach you so much.”

Maul swallowed and nodded his head.

At this point, it wasn’t even a question.

He took his hand, and pushed down his own self-loathing for saying ‘yes.’

[affairsmastery]

A sudden blackout risk looms over America’s power grid as massive data centers consume energy at an alarming rate. In Virginia’s Data Center Alley, home to 200+ data hubs, 60 facilities abruptly disconnected last summer, causing a surge in excess electricity. This unexpected shift forced grid operators to scramble, averting potential cascading power outages.

With data demand tripling in the last decade—and poised to triple again—energy regulators now face a new grid vulnerability: large-scale, unannounced data center shutdowns. As AI and crypto mining expand, experts warn that our power infrastructure isn’t ready for this growing challenge.

[mimikyufriend]

no nuance option allowed

[wipbigbang]

WIP BIG BANG SIGN-UPS ARE LIVE!

The 2024 round of WIP Big Bang is now open for sign-ups! Any fandom is welcome, as long as the fic is 500 completed so far and will be at least 7,500 words upon its finishing. Signing up is easy: just fill out the form linked below after you read the FAQ and take a look at the schedule.

[iliveinprocrasti-nationn]

i think the taylor swift tour could be studied as one of the biggest if not the biggest superspreader event of 2023

[jcmarchi]

Odyssey’s AI model transforms video into interactive worlds

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/odysseys-ai-model-transforms-video-into-interactive-worlds/

Odyssey’s AI model transforms video into interactive worlds

London-based AI lab Odyssey has launched a research preview of a model transforming video into interactive worlds. Initially focusing on world models for film and game production, the Odyssey team has stumbled onto potentially a completely new entertainment medium.

The interactive video generated by Odyssey’s AI model responds to inputs in real-time. You can interact with it using your keyboard, phone, controller, or eventually even voice commands. The folks at Odyssey are billing it as an “early version of the Holodeck.”

The underlying AI can generate realistic-looking video frames every 40 milliseconds. That means when you press a button or make a gesture, the video responds almost instantly—creating the illusion that you’re actually influencing this digital world.

“The experience today feels like exploring a glitchy dream—raw, unstable, but undeniably new,” according to Odyssey. We’re not talking about polished, AAA-game quality visuals here, at least not yet.

Not your standard video tech

Let’s get a bit technical for a moment. What makes this AI-generated interactive video tech different from, say, a standard video game or CGI? It all comes down to something Odyssey calls a “world model.”

Unlike traditional video models that generate entire clips in one go, world models work frame-by-frame to predict what should come next based on the current state and any user inputs. It’s similar to how large language models predict the next word in a sequence, but infinitely more complex because we’re talking about high-resolution video frames rather than words.

“A world model is, at its core, an action-conditioned dynamics model,” as Odyssey puts it. Each time you interact, the model takes the current state, your action, and the history of what’s happened, then generates the next video frame accordingly.

The result is something that feels more organic and unpredictable than a traditional game. There’s no pre-programmed logic saying “if a player does X, then Y happens”—instead, the AI is making its best guess at what should happen next based on what it’s learned from watching countless videos.

Odyssey tackles historic challenges with AI-generated video

Building something like this isn’t exactly a walk in the park. One of the biggest hurdles with AI-generated interactive video is keeping it stable over time. When you’re generating each frame based on previous ones, small errors can compound quickly (a phenomenon AI researchers call “drift.”)

To tackle this, Odyssey has used what they term a “narrow distribution model”—essentially pre-training their AI on general video footage, then fine-tuning it on a smaller set of environments. This trade-off means less variety but better stability so everything doesn’t become a bizarre mess.

The company says they’re already making “fast progress” on their next-gen model, which apparently shows “a richer range of pixels, dynamics, and actions.”

Running all this fancy AI tech in real-time isn’t cheap. Currently, the infrastructure powering this experience costs between £0.80-£1.60 (1-2) per user-hour, relying on clusters of H100 GPUs scattered across the US and EU.

That might sound expensive for streaming video, but it’s remarkably cheap compared to producing traditional game or film content. And Odyssey expects these costs to tumble further as models become more efficient.

Interactive video: The next storytelling medium?

Throughout history, new technologies have given birth to new forms of storytelling—from cave paintings to books, photography, radio, film, and video games. Odyssey believes AI-generated interactive video is the next step in this evolution.

If they’re right, we might be looking at the prototype of something that will transform entertainment, education, advertising, and more. Imagine training videos where you can practice the skills being taught, or travel experiences where you can explore destinations from your sofa.

The research preview available now is obviously just a small step towards this vision and more of a proof of concept than a finished product. However, it’s an intriguing glimpse at what might be possible when AI-generated worlds become interactive playgrounds rather than just passive experiences.

You can give the research preview a try here.

See also: Telegram and xAI forge Grok AI deal

Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Intelligent Automation Conference, BlockX, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.

Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

[batsplat]

Lin Jarvis does a great interview on the paddock pass podcast, and he talks about getting Jorge Lorenzo as well as vaguely saying that they tried to get Casey but it didn’t work out

yeah, loved that interview! love lin jarvis! and yeah that's the thing... somebody somewhere isn't telling the truth because it's just... tough to piece together what jorge, casey and jarvis have said (plus supplementary reporting from the time AND the timeline of the valentino/f1 flirtations) and come away with an internally consistent narrative. for instance, I do think jarvis isn't like... lying when he said the f1 rumours prompted the succession planning, but also. valentino had confirmed he was staying in motogp by the time jarvis says they signed jorge, so it is a bit disingenuous to make it sound like they only did it because of the f1 thing. nothing wrong with it! succession planning is a good idea and the valentino/jorge pairing was a bit of a headache but ultimately a big W for yamaha! but still, jarvis is over-egging the 'didn't expect valentino to still be there' angle

I think we can be pretty confident that valentino didn't want casey in his team (which, a win for talent spotting) and was willing to express this opinion to yamaha - and we also know that paddock gossip held valentino had blocked the move. I think we can also be pretty confident that in mid 2006, gun to his head, valentino would have preferred casey over jorge as a teammate. first off, in mid 2006 I kinda feel like you bet on jorge's ultimate talent over casey's? idk maybe valentino's talent spotting REALLY came through for him here, but casey does look like a very fast crasher and jorge (well on his way to a first 250cc title) has more hype surrounding him. secondly, valentino was just more kindly disposed towards casey As A Guy than jorge - with jorge you do feel that, any competitive calculus aside, valentino went 'oh god not him'. keeping that in mind... tbh. I reckon yamaha played casey and possibly valentino too

the one time we have actual record of valentino not being too keen on casey in his team was when at sachsenring that year he made a remark along the lines of that it'd be better for casey to stay at honda. which, yes, you'd think would add credence to the 'valentino blocked casey' theory... but if anything, it's the other way round - because lin jarvis says they signed jorge in jarvis' hotel room at laguna 2006, which he remembers because jorge wasn't racing there (only premier class raced at laguna). that's the very next race after sachsenring. it doesn't really make sense for valentino to simultaneously have so much power within yamaha that he could block casey one race and fail to block jorge the next. according to jorge, they signed at motegi 2006, which is a bit later but also not... that much

casey deliberately implied that valentino blocked him at least once and possibly twice from joining yamaha. he said that ''''''somebody inside yamaha''''''''' *wink wink nudge nudge wink nudge* didn't want him there - and was bad-mouthing him to accomplish it. now, listen, this may be true, no evidence either way. we also know from reporting from the time that rumours about casey being in trouble for next year popped up in august 2006 (aka right after laguna). according to news reports, after having been turned down by yamaha, casey was demanding more money than honda was willing to give... and it threatened to leave casey without a seat. interestingly, casey alleges in his autobiography that he was told yamaha was saying he was demanding vast amounts of money from them - which casey denies. from contemporary news articles, casey was in danger of losing that lcr seat to dovi (who ended up only joining motogp in 2008), though casey makes no mention of his lcr seat being in trouble in his autobiography (but has more recently said he was left without a ride, more on that in a moment). there's also reporting he asked for a lot of money from DUCATI. at which point.... well, idk man

who knows how much money he was demanding! who knows if that was a sticking point with one, two or even three factories! or who knows if it was rumours that were deliberately spread to fuck him over. the one thing we can take from this is that valentino can't have been responsible for all these rumours (or, I mean I suppose he could have, but I'm unconvinced he had a vendetta against casey in 2006)

this is what casey has said recent-ish on the topic:

which... yeah, idk. the scapegoat sounds like he's talking more about the 2005 negotiations collapsing than 2006, though I guess the phrasing isn't super conclusive either way. maybe it was a tech3 rider for 2006 who casey thought he was being 'scapegoated' for... maybe not! I still kinda suspect it makes the most sense that they stringed casey along while they were trying to lock jorge down - jorge dates the start of negotiations around march of 2006. (here's a bit of trivia I truly have no idea what to do with: according to jorge's biography, valentino's lawyer was a friend of his manager's dani amatriain and gave them the in at yamaha. now, you may think this makes it sound like valentino did prefer jorge, but the biography ALSO directly refers to the story that valentino blocked casey and discusses the widely held paddock impression that valentino didn't want jorge at yamaha. so. idk man.) we know jorge was in talks with other manufacturers - so it makes sense to either a) have a fallback option and/or b) have another promising talent to try and decrease how much jorge's asking for. in summary: they were definitely negotiating with both casey and jorge at the same time. if valentino's sachsenring comments are anything to go by, then the negotiations with casey were still going on at that point - and if jarvis' comments are to be believed, they went for jorge at laguna. reporting from the time confirms that negotiations with casey had concluded in august. casey makes it sound like they essentially ghosted him

(while it is technically possible they wanted casey as a placeholder in 2007 for jorge in 2008.... that feels quite a lot of hassle, to shake up the team for a kid you're going to bin anyway in a year - and edwards' performances weren't offensively bad enough to warrant that. it's a possibility but not a likely one imo)

so................. uh. again, I don't really know, but is it possible that valentino just chose a spectacularly poor time to suggest casey sticks with honda - and that flamed rumours that valentino had successfully blocked casey? you certainly wouldn't be able to blame casey for drawing that conclusion. maybe valentino really DID actively work to keep casey away from yamaha, but is it that likely he was successful? if so, surely yamaha's heart was set on jorge anyway. idk, for narrative purposes I do like that valentino already had his eye set on casey by mid 2006 and apparently had more faith in his potential than the actual manufacturers did. it's cute! compelling. and I believe that bit! I just don't think any politicking valentino may have done had much effect on yamaha's choice - and it's easy to read too much into the sachsenring comment. maybe this just ended up being awfully convenient for yamaha, where they kinda fucked about with two young talents and then by the end of it both of them thought valentino was responsible. but also. I don't know, that's just my best guess based on the evidence I have, maybe valentino really was involved. idk. that's where we're at

[fandom]

It’s Tumblr’s 2024 Year in Review!

Hello, Tumblr. Welcome to your Year in Review. Grab a slice of hear-me-out cake and some tea or other beverage of choice, and settle in for another year’s worth of sweet, sweet data—brought to you by the folks behind your weekly Fandometrics lists.

How does it work, you ask? Well, each year, we collect and categorize data from every post you made, each search, all the tags you used, and each and every like and reblog—to see what you yelled about the most. Lists are grouped by topic using 365 days of data between October 21, 2023, and October 20, 2024. Rankings are based on volume of appearance—not sentiment, importantly—so you might see list entries you Do Not Like that Tumblr as a whole has been vocal about Not Liking this year. We don’t tend to include on-platform events, so while you all booped and BOOped each other to distraction, that won’t show up here. Those joys are simply unquantifiable.

But what can you expect to find? It’s been quite a year. Alongside supporting each other through and discussing world turbulences, you rallied around the things that bring you joy. You polled the heck out of pretty much everything and anything you could think of and created more fanart and fan fic than we could wave a moderately shaped wizard hat at. It's also been another huge year for fictional characters—arguably the best characters out there—so this Year in Review, you’ll find new and returned rankings of fictional characters from movies, video games, TV shows, and anime & manga. And finally, we've made the lists longer, which means you'll have more chance of seeing some of your more niche fandoms reflected in them this year.

That's all for now! And so, without further ado and absolutely no gilding of lilies, thank you for another Big Year on Tumblr, Tumblr. Please enjoy your Year in Review.

Top 24 of 2024 Ships TV Shows TV Shows Fictional Characters Movies Movies Fictional Characters Celebs Books Anime & Manga Anime & Manga Fictional Characters Video Games Video Games Fictional Characters Web Series Web Celebs Musical Acts The 'Blrs

[emile-hides]

Just learned Ash Hat Pikachu were redistributed in Pokemon Sword/Shield in 2020 and I completely missed it. I don't think I'll ever emotionally recover from this.

[lets-steal-an-archive]

"As of midnight on Sunday, June 15, we have data from about 40% of No Kings Day events held yesterday, accounting for over 2.6m attendees. According to our back-of-the-envelope math, that puts total attendance somewhere in the 4-6 million people range. That means roughly 1.2-1.8% of the U.S. population attended a No Kings Day event somewhere in the country yesterday."

Photo Source: Protests Big

[victusinveritas]

From Rebecca Solnit:

We the people.

We won the battle of showing up, the battle of caring, the battle of what the values of this country should be. Millions showed up--a million in Boston alone, people in many European cities (and one Irish Trump golf course), people in small towns and big cities, red states and blue (except they're all shades of purple), huge turnouts in many places. I was in transit home from book tour in Europe (and I could've only attended one if I had been here), but the sense I get from all the posts and reports is of good-humored, positive, energized massive crowds of people who found that the basics they had in common--the underlying meanings in No Kings--were plenty to come together, and so they did.

The Crowd Counting Consortium is very carefully methodical so we don't have their numbers and won't for a while but if it was a million in Boston and huge in NY, L.A., and Chicago, and so many smaller communities showed up strongly, it was BIG. It's a reminder that the administration can militarize and attack as they have in Los Angeles but they cannot control the entire population, and a significant percent of that population basically just said they don't plan to be subjugated, intimidated, or suppressed. The right of the people peaceably to assemble was beautifully exercised across the land.

The Parade to Please the President didn't please him that much, being poorly organized and poorly attended and full of, some say, intentionally lackluster performances, soldiers marching or rather stumbling and shuffling like prisoners, and at one point they played an instrumental of Creedence Clearwater's Fortunate Son:

Some folks are born made to wave the flag

Ooh, they're red, white and blue

And when the band plays "Hail to the Chief"

Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord

It ain't me, it ain't me

I ain't no senator's son, son

It ain't me, it ain't me

I ain't no fortunate one, no

G Elliott Morris

‪@gelliottmorris.com‬

Based on crowd-sourced records of No Kings Day event turnout, and extrapolating for the cities where we don't have data yet, it looks like roughly 4-6 million people protested Trump across the U.S. yesterday. That's nearly 2% of the U.S. pop!

Mobilized anti-Trump resistance is exceeding 2017 levels

https://bsky.app/profile/gelliottmorris.com/post/3lrnddl7bro2n

‪theodora30.bsky.social‬

‪@theodora30.bsky.social‬

· 4m

Just tuned in to CNN talking about the “thousands” — not tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, never mind millions — who turned out yesterday to protest Trump. I had already seen the pictures of protests around the country so I knew they were way off. This is how the media weakens democracy.

And yes, jetlag means I'm posting VERY early."

---

[wipbigbang]

The final round of art claims is open at @wipbigbang! We have all sorts of great stories left in multiple fandoms, and we'd love any type of fanart for them: traditional art, digital art, fanmixes, moodboards, fic covers/chapter headers...any kind of art you can imagine!

The synopses are located at https://wipbigbang.dreamwidth.org/173272.html

The form is located at https://forms.gle/yyxkCxyXJopMTyUs8.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

#105

Title: Begin to Hope

Pairing/Characters: Beverly Crusher/Deanna Troi, Geordi La Forge/Data

Rating Explicit | E

Warnings/Tags: Chooses not to use Warnings

Sex Work, BDSM, Implied/Referenced Abuse

Summary: Las Vegas, Nevada, 1994. A real-world AU wherein Doctor Crusher grows closer to a local prositute by the name of Troi while attending a medical conference.

[eikotheblue]

How do you *accidentally* make a programming language?

Oh, it's easy! You make a randomizer for a game, because you're doing any% development, you set up the seed file format such that each line of the file defines an event listener for a value change of an uberstate (which is an entry of the game's built-in serialization system for arbitrary data that should persiste when saved).

You do this because it's a fast hack that lets you trigger pickup grants on item finds, since each item find always will correspond with an uberstate change. This works great! You smile happily and move on.

There's a small but dedicated subgroup of users who like using your randomizer as a canvas! They make what are called "plandomizer seeds" ("plandos" for short), which are seed files that have been hand-written specifically to give anyone playing them a specific curated set of experiences, instead of something random. These have a long history in your community, in part because you threw them a few bones when developing your last randomizer, and they are eager to see what they can do in this brave new world.

A thing they pick up on quickly is that there are uberstates for lots more things than just item finds! They can make it so that you find double jump when you break a specific wall, or even when you go into an area for the first time and the big splash text plays. Everyone agrees that this is neat.

It is in large part for the plando authors' sake that you allow multiple line entries for the same uberstate that specify different actions - you have the actions run in order. This was a feature that was hacked into the last randomizer you built later, so you're glad to be supporting it at a lower level. They love it! It lets them put multiple items at individual locations. You smile and move on.

Over time, you add more action types besides just item grants! Printing out messages to your players is a great one for plando authors, and is again a feature you had last time. At some point you add a bunch for interacting with player health and energy, because it'd be easy. An action that teleports the player to a specific place. An action that equips a skill to the player's active skill bar. An action that removes a skill or ability.

Then, you get the brilliant idea that it'd be great if actions could modify uberstates directly. Uberstates control lots of things! What if breaking door 1 caused door 2 to break, so you didn't have to open both up at once? What if breaking door 2 caused door 1 to respawn, and vice versa, so you could only go through 1 at a time? Wouldn't that be wonderful? You test this change in some simple cases, and deploy it without expecting people to do too much with it.

Your plando authors quickly realize that when actions modify uberstates, the changes they make can trigger other actions, as long as there are lines in their files that listen for those. This excites them, and seems basically fine to you, though you do as an afterthought add an optional parameter to your uberstate modification action that can be used to suppress the uberstate change detector, since some cases don't actually want that behavior.

(At some point during all of this, the plando authors start hunting through the base game and cataloging unused uberstates, to be used as arbitrary variables for their nefarious purposes. You weren't expecting that! Rather than making them hunt down and use a bunch of random uberstates for data storage, you sigh and add a bunch of explicitly-unused ones for them to play with instead.)

Then, your most arcane plando magician posts a guide on how to use the existing systems to set up control flow. It leverages the fact that setting an uberstate to a value it already has does not trigger the event listener for that uberstate, so execution can branch based on whether or not a state has been set to a specific value or not!

Filled with a confused mixture of pride and fear, you decide that maybe you should provide some kind of native control flow structure that isn't that? And because you're doing a lot of this development underslept and a bit past your personal Balmer peak, the first idea that you have and implement is conditional stops, which are actions that halt processing of a multiple-action-chain if an uberstate is [less than, equal to, greater than] a given value.

The next day, you realize that your seed specification format now can, while executing an action chain, read from memory, write to memory, branch based on what it finds in memory, and loop. It can simulate a turing machine, using the uberstates as tape. You set out to create a format by which your seed generator could talk to your client mod, and have ended up with a turing complete programming language. You laugh, and laugh, and laugh.

[refulgences]

She just barely manages to block an attack from a Latcher, but the impact sends her skidding backwards across a large difference. When she tries to stand again, her body screams in protest and she drops back down to her knee.

The enemy, of course, uses this as the perfect opportunity to strike again. Ryne lowers her head and braces for impact again, arms shakily rising to try and block --

Only for the blow to never come.

Her head snaps up in surprise, and she's greeted with a familiar face. One she met during the festival.

"Break?!"

@schleckermaul

[ms-demeanor]

thoughts on using library computers to disguise your digital footprint? because if the machine gets wiped when you log out, and the library doesn't keep detailed records of what machine you were using when, then all someone else would have is IP data unconnected to a person and also mixed in with whatever else folks were doing on the library computers

The machine absolutely does not get wiped when you log out and there's very little chance that a library computer will let you fire up Tor. You're better off using a traffic anonymizer than you are trying to use public computers to cover your tracks. The IP address IS the big risk here.

Libraries are generally really good about protecting their patrons' privacy and I respect the hell out of them for that but computers log everything that you do and can be subpoenaed as evidence even if the library wants to protect user privacy.

Also, I love libraries but you should treat every public computer you come across like it has a keylogger installed on it because it might. Your city could have an overzealous city council that has more control than it should over the library board and has taken it upon themselves to add covenanteyes to the library computers. Your library crew could be fantastic but less tech-savvy than is ideal and may not realize it if malware is installed on one of the machines. The library may clear browser history twice a day but the ISP still has a record of where you went and what time you went there. Somebody could have literally plugged a keylogger into a USB port on the back of the machine.

The point of a traffic anonymizer is it hides where the traffic originated; each node knows where the previous hop came from and where the next hop went, but not what came BEFORE the previous hop or what happened after, or how long the chain was, so there is no way to tell if a message originated in the US or Brazil or Vietnam or Sweden. Sending traffic from a library does the opposite of this, and very clearly says "the person who sent this message did so from this geographic area; they sent messages from these five libraries so we know they're probably within X distance of these libraries" which is a hell of a lot easier to look for than "I can't even say what continent these messages originated from."

Let us say that you go to a library to log in to your protonmail account and email a journalist a link to a file that you've saved in cryptpad. You have the link written down so you don't have to go to a secondary site and you just go sit down directly at the computer and log in to protonmail and fire off your email to the journalist. The email is encrypted, so you know the contents of the email are safe. Let's say the browser history gets automatically wiped every time you close it, and you close it as soon as you stand up and walk away. Here's the incriminating information that generated:

IP address where you accessed your protonmail account

Your protonmail email address, the journalist's address, the time you sent the email, the subject line of the email

And here are the people who can be subpoenaed to share some or all of that information with the government:

The Library's ISP

The Library, who may not carefully track users but who do have event logs on the computers and traffic logs on the firewall

Protonmail

IF you only ever logged in to your protonmail account from that ISP one time, and if you've never logged in to your protonmail account anywhere that is close to your house or your job, you may be fine. But if you logged in to your protonmail on your personal cellphone at work so that you could send photos of documents to yourself, there's some data tying that account to a local IP address. If you set up the protonmail account on a whim at a coffee shop, there's some data tying that account to a local IP address. If you get an email back from the journalist and go to another local library to open it, there's some data tying that account to another local IP address.

And that gets narrowed down very quickly. "Who has access to these sensitive and leak-worthy documents through working at this entity who also lives within a 100 mile radius of these three login locations? Is it 50 people? Is it 5 people? Of the 15 people who have access to these sensitive and leak-worthy documents who work at this entity and live within 100 miles of the three login locations, who is likely to be doing the leaking? Do we fire them all? Do we interview them? Do we compare IP addresses that they've used to log in to work remotely and find that two of them have logged in at the coffee shop? Of those two, one has facebook selfies in a maga hat and the other has a less visible online presence. Let's check their traffic history. Did they check tumblr on a lunch break? Maybe once or twice? Maybe a few times? Sure seems like they are pretty dead-set against the administration. Let's double-check the access logs for this information. Let's review security footage. Let's install the monitoring on their workstation."

The thing is, they're not going to catch you leaking and then track down all the data you left behind to confirm it; they're going to see a leak and get a bunch of digital footprints and use that to narrow down suspect pools. They already know that access to the data is limited and will be reviewing prior access and carefully monitoring future access. You are already in their suspect pool by already being one of the people with known access to the data. Adding an IP address that is geographically close to you, even if it isn't your home IP address, to that is not going to make it *harder* to find you, it can only make it easier.

So just use Tor. You're safer using an anonymizer, which you likely can't do on a library computer. Create the leak email address when you're in a Tor browser, and only EVER access that email account from Tor.

Also I don't mean to jump on you about this, but between the post I've got about why you shouldn't use your work computer to torrent and the safer leaking practices post it's clear that people really don't understand what information they're leaving behind when they use computers and the internet, or how it can be a risk to them.

Accessing burner accounts from a clear IP address means that they're not burner accounts anymore, they're burned.

[itsnesss]

Hey babe, I have a little request if you’re open to it !!

Could you maybe write something Kimi Antonelli x fem!reader where she’s still in high school and doesn’t come from money at all? Like she feels super out of place in his world — all the hotels, race weekends, the fancy people, and she kind of feels like she’s not “enough.”

But he’s just… soft. Gentle. The kind of guy who makes her feel safe, like she does belong, even when everything feels overwhelming.

I’d love something comforting, maybe with a tiny bit of angst because… identity crisis hits hard sometimes.I just feel like we don’t get enough of that dynamic. Golden boy driver and the girl who still takes the bus to school. No pressure at all! But if it ever inspires you… I will cry. In the best way.

Thank you so much if you do fill my request and of course I understand if you don’t. Have a lovely day!

𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 | kimi antonelli × fem!reader

summary | feeling out of place in his world is constant, the stares, the luxury, the silent judgment. still, his hand finds yours, his presence steady and soft

warnings | angst (insecurity, identity crisis), emotional vulnerability, a sense of feeling out of place, soft romance

word count | 1.2 k

🖇 more ka12 🖇 f1 masterlist

Sometimes it feels like Kimi’s world shines too brightly.

And not in a romantic way, not like “his smile lights up the room.” No. It’s real shine.

Lights, cameras, watches that cost more than your house, impossible cars, and people who walk like the ground belongs to them.

You don’t come from that.

You come from broken alarms, crowded public transport, running not to be late. From counting coins, from saying “no, thanks” when invited to things you can’t afford. From that kind of life.

And yet… here you are.

In a hospitality lounge full of people who look like they walked out of magazines, with their designer sunglasses and conversations that revolve around sponsorships, race strategies, and private jets. And you, sitting in a corner, staring at your phone like you’ve got something going on.

The screen is black. No signal. No messages. No escape.

You pretend you’re fine.

You say it’s all cool. That you’re used to it. That you’re enjoying the experience. But inside… inside you feel tiny. Invisible. Like you snuck into a party you were never invited to.

“Are you okay?”

His voice is soft. Calm. Like him.

You look up. There he is. Kimi. Standing in front of you with that unshakeable calm. He looks at you like he actually wants to know the truth. Like he really cares.

“Yes,” you reply quietly. “Just… checking if my sister messaged me.”

A lie. You have no data. But you’re not about to tell him you’re on the verge of crying in front of all these people. That you feel so out of place it’s hard to breathe.

Kimi doesn’t say anything. He just sits beside you, without invading, without pressing. He doesn’t try to fill the silence with empty words. He just is.

“You’re shaking,” he murmurs.

Before you can say anything, he slips off his team jacket and puts it over your shoulders. It’s big, soft, with that scent that’s so him it makes you dizzy. You want to tell him it’s okay, that you’re fine… but you’re not.

So you let yourself sink into it.

And for a second, everything else fades. The noise, the stares, the world.

It’s just you, Kimi’s jacket, and the warmth of someone who doesn’t ask you to fit in, just to be there.

He doesn’t talk. You don’t either.

Eventually, the hospitality is quieter. The loud laughs fade, and the expensive suits vanish down the halls. Most people have gone off to team dinners or events you’d never be invited to directly. Kimi offered to go, of course. But you could tell by his tone he wasn’t obligated. And you just wanted silence.

So he stayed. With you.

Now you’re walking through the hotel hallways. He’s beside you, hands in his pockets, like nothing around him could touch him. But you… you’re a knot inside.

You don’t talk much. Neither does he. But somehow, it’s always been enough.

Until it isn’t.

You’re about to step into the elevator when your eyes fill with tears. You don’t even know why now, why here, but something just breaks.

Kimi turns to look at you, but he says nothing. Just watches, attentively. Like he senses the storm even if the first drop hasn’t fallen.

“I feel like I don’t belong here,” you whisper, unable to stop yourself. “Not in this hotel. Not in your races. Not in your life.”

You didn’t plan to say it. It just… came out.

“I still take the bus to school,” you go on, your voice shaking. “I’ve worn the same sneakers for three years. I have no idea how a VIP paddock works or how I’m supposed to act. Everyone here knows how to move, how to talk, how to dress. I’m just trying not to look like an idiot.”

Tears roll hot down your cheeks. You wish you could stop them, but at the same time… why bother?

“And I like being with you, Kimi. A lot. But sometimes I wonder if I’m just ruining something. If I’m just… a burden in the middle of all this.”

He listens in silence. Not a single interruption. No weird faces. No laughter. No trying to downplay what you feel. He just waits.

The elevator hasn’t even been called.

He takes a step toward you. Then another. And hugs you. Tightly. Wordlessly.

And in his arms, you feel something you didn’t realize you needed so badly: safety.

“You’re not a burden,” he says softly, against your hair. “You’re the only one who makes me feel like none of this matters so much.”

You hold on to him, not saying anything. Because you don’t know how to explain what it’s like to be you in this world. Because you don’t understand how someone like him can make all that hurt less.

But he does.

He does.

You don’t know how long you stay there, wrapped in his arms by the elevator. Maybe seconds, maybe a lifetime. But when he finally pulls back just a bit, it’s only to really look at you.

“Do you want to go up?” he asks, in that soft tone that seems to calm everything.

You nod.

You don’t talk much on the way to the room, but he stays close. His hand brushes yours now and then, no rush. Like he knows you need that contact to stay together.

When you arrive, he opens the door with his key and steps aside so you can go in first. It’s one of those massive suites you only see in photos. Everything elegant, minimal, spotless. But what strikes you most is that it smells like *him*.

And that, somehow, makes you feel safe.

“Do you want anything? Water? A hot shower?” he asks, closing the door.

“I just want to… be here a while,” you whisper.

He nods and hands you one of his t-shirts, like he already knows you prefer something comfy. Then he sits at the edge of the bed and waits. Doesn’t rush. Doesn’t stare at you like you’re weak. Just gives you space.

When you come out of the bathroom wearing his shirt, you feel lighter. Like the water and the silence gave a piece of yourself back.

Kimi’s already lying down, leaning against the headboard, TV on without sound. He’s not watching anything. He’s just waiting.

You crawl in next to him, and he lifts the blanket without a word. You slip under it, and he wraps his arm around you, pulling you to his chest. Your head fits perfectly under his chin. His breathing is calm. Steady.

“You don’t have to be like them, you know?” he murmurs after a while. “I like who you are. Not because of what you have or don’t have. Because of how you see the world. How you see me.”

You bite your lip, eyes tight shut, as if that could stop more tears.

“But your world… it’s so different.”

“And that’s why I want you to stay you,” he answers right away. “Because my world sometimes needs someone like you to pull it out of the bubble. Someone real.”

You nestle closer. He holds you gently, as if silently promising to protect you from everything that makes you feel small.

“And if I never fit in?” you whisper.

“Then I’ll make room until you do.”