#electron configuration or something

[encryptedbread]

I'm so pissed. I didn't pay attention to class so I was like "oh shoot, we have a worksheet. U'm fucked!" She went over the first few problems and like-

This shit is easy! This is fucking baby mode?!

How did they spend 3 weeks on notes for this!?

[nornities]

How to use DXVK with The Sims 3

Have you seen this post about using DXVK by Criisolate? But felt intimidated by the sheer mass of facts and information?

@desiree-uk and I compiled a guide and the configuration file to make your life easier. It focuses on players not using the EA App, but it might work for those just the same. It’s definitely worth a try.

Adding this to your game installation will result in a better RAM usage. So your game is less likely to give you Error 12 or crash due to RAM issues. It does NOT give a huge performance boost, but more stability and allows for higher graphics settings in game.

The full guide behind the cut. Let me know if you also would like it as PDF.

Happy simming!

Disclaimer and Credits

Desiree and I are no tech experts and just wrote down how we did this. Our ability to help if you run into trouble is limited. So use at your own risk and back up your files!

We both are on Windows 10 and start the game via TS3W.exe, not the EA App. So your experience may differ.

This guide is based on our own experiments and of course criisolate’s post on tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/criisolate/749374223346286592/ill-explain-what-i-did-below-before-making-any

This guide is brought to you by Desiree-UK and Norn.

Compatibility

Note: This will conflict with other programs that “inject” functionality into your game so they may stop working. Notably

Reshade

GShade

Nvidia Experience/Nvidia Inspector/Nvidia Shaders

RivaTuner Statistics Server

It does work seamlessly with LazyDuchess’ Smooth Patch.

LazyDuchess’ Launcher: unknown

Alder Lake patch: does conflict. One user got it working by starting the game by launching TS3.exe (also with admin rights) instead of TS3W.exe. This seemed to create the cache file for DXVK. After that, the game could be started from TS3W.exe again. That might not work for everyone though.

A word on FPS and V-Sync

With such an old game it’s crucial to cap framerate (FPS). This is done in the DXVK.conf file. Same with V-Sync.

You need

a text editor (easiest to use is Windows Notepad)

to download DXVK, version 2.3.1 from here: https://github.com/doitsujin/DXVK/releases/tag/v2.3.1 Extract the archive, you are going to need the file d3d9.dll from the x32 folder

the configuration file DXVK.conf from here: https://github.com/doitsujin/DXVK/blob/master/DXVK.conf. Optional: download the edited version with the required changes here.

administrator rights on your PC

to know your game’s installation path (bin folder) and where to find the user folder

a tiny bit of patience :)

First Step: Backup

Backup your original Bin folder in your Sims 3 installation path! The DXVK file may overwrite some files! The path should be something like this (for retail): \Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin (This is the folder where also GraphicsRule.sgr and the TS3W.exe and TS3.exe are located.)

Backup your options.ini in your game’s user folder! Making the game use the DXVK file will count as a change in GPU driver, so the options.ini will reset once you start your game after installation. The path should be something like this: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 (This is the folder where your Mods folder is located).

Preparations

Make sure you run the game as administrator. You can check that by right-clicking on the icon that starts your game. Go to Properties > Advanced and check the box “Run as administrator”. Note: This will result in a prompt each time you start your game, if you want to allow this application to make modifications to your system. Click “Yes” and the game will load.

2. Make sure you have the DEP settings from Windows applied to your game.

Open the Windows Control Panel.

Click System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings.

On the Advanced tab, next to the Performance heading, click Settings.

Click the Data Execution Prevention tab.

Select 'Turn on DEP for all programs and services except these”:

Click the Add button, a window to the file explorer opens. Navigate to your Sims 3 installation folder (the bin folder once again) and add TS3W.exe and TS3.exe.

Click OK. Then you can close all those dialog windows again.

Setting up the DXVK.conf file

Open the file with a text editor and delete everything in it. Then add these values:

d3d9.textureMemory = 1

d3d9.presentInterval = 1

d3d9.maxFrameRate = 60

d3d9.presentInterval enables V-Sync,d3d9.maxFrameRate sets the FrameRate. You can edit those values, but never change the first line (d3d9.textureMemory)!

The original DXVK.conf contains many more options in case you would like to add more settings.

A. no Reshade/GShade

Setting up DXVK

Copy the two files d3d9.dll and DXVK.conf into the Bin folder in your Sims 3 installation path. This is the folder where also GraphicsRule.sgr and the TS3W.exe and TS3.exe are located. If you are prompted to overwrite files, please choose yes (you DID backup your folder, right?)

And that’s basically all that is required to install.

Start your game now and let it run for a short while. Click around, open Buy mode or CAS, move the camera.

Now quit without saving. Once the game is closed fully, open your bin folder again and double check if a file “TS3W.DXVK-cache” was generated. If so – congrats! All done!

Things to note

Heads up, the game options will reset! So it will give you a “vanilla” start screen and options.

Don’t worry if the game seems to be frozen during loading. It may take a few minutes longer to load but it will load eventually.

The TS3W.DXVK-cache file is the actual cache DXVK is using. So don’t delete this! Just ignore it and leave it alone. When someone tells to clear cache files – this is not one of them!

Update Options.ini

Go to your user folder and open the options.ini file with a text editor like Notepad.

Find the line “lastdevice = “. It will have several values, separated by semicolons. Copy the last one, after the last semicolon, the digits only. Close the file.

Now go to your backup version of the Options.ini file, open it and find that line “lastdevice” again. Replace the last value with the one you just copied. Make sure to only replace those digits!

Save and close the file.

Copy this version of the file into your user folder, replacing the one that is there.

Things to note:

If your GPU driver is updated, you might have to do these steps again as it might reset your device ID again. Though it seems that the DXVK ID overrides the GPU ID, so it might not happen.

How do I know it’s working?

Open the task manager and look at RAM usage. Remember the game can only use 4 GB of RAM at maximum and starts crashing when usage goes up to somewhere between 3.2 – 3.8 GB (it’s a bit different for everybody).

So if you see values like 2.1456 for RAM usage in a large world and an ongoing save, it’s working. Generally the lower the value, the better for stability.

Also, DXVK will have generated its cache file called TS3W.DXVK-cache in the bin folder. The file size will grow with time as DXVK is adding stuff to it, e.g. from different worlds or savegames. Initially it might be something like 46 KB or 58 KB, so it’s really small.

Optional: changing MemCacheBudgetValue

MemCacheBudgetValue determines the size of the game's VRAM Cache. You can edit those values but the difference might not be noticeable in game. It also depends on your computer’s hardware how much you can allow here.

The two lines of seti MemCacheBudgetValue correspond to the high RAM level and low RAM level situations. Therefore, theoretically, the first line MemCacheBudgetValue should be set to a larger value, while the second line should be set to a value less than or equal to the first line.

The original values represent 200MB (209715200) and 160MB (167772160) respectively. They are calculated as 200x1024x1024=209175200 and 160x1024x1024=167772160.

Back up your GraphicsRules.sgr file! If you make a mistake here, your game won’t work anymore.

Go to your bin folder and open your GraphicsRules.sgr with a text editor.

Search and find two lines that set the variables for MemCacheBudgetValue.

Modify these two values to larger numbers. Make sure the value in the first line is higher or equals the value in the second line. Examples for values: 1073741824, which means 1GB 2147483648 which means 2 GB. -1 (minus 1) means no limit (but is highly experimental, use at own risk)

Save and close the file. It might prompt you to save the file to a different place and not allow you to save in the Bin folder. Just save it someplace else in this case and copy/paste it to the Bin folder afterwards. If asked to overwrite the existing file, click yes.

Now start your game and see if it makes a difference in smoothness or texture loading. Make sure to check RAM and VRAM usage to see how it works.

You might need to change the values back and forth to find the “sweet spot” for your game. Mine seems to work best with setting the first value to 2147483648 and the second to 1073741824.

Uninstallation

Delete these files from your bin folder (installation path):

d3d9.dll

DXVK.conf

TS3W.DXVK-cache

And if you have it, also TS3W_d3d9.log

if you changed the values in your GraphicsRule.sgr file, too, don’t forget to change them back or to replace the file with your backed up version.

OR

delete the bin folder and add it from your backup again.

B. with Reshade/GShade

Follow the steps from part A. no Reshade/Gshade to set up DXVK.

If you are already using Reshade (RS) or GShade (GS), you will be prompted to overwrite files, so choose YES. RS and GS may stop working, so you will need to reinstall them.

Whatever version you are using, the interface shows similar options of which API you can choose from (these screenshots are from the latest versions of RS and GS).

Please note: 

Each time you install and uninstall DXVK, switching the game between Vulkan and d3d9, is essentially changing the graphics card ID again, which results in the settings in your options.ini file being repeatedly reset.

ReShade interface

Choose – Vulcan

Click next and choose your preferred shaders.

Hopefully this install method works and it won't install its own d3d9.dll file.

If it doesn't work, then choose DirectX9 in RS, but you must make sure to replace the d3d9.dll file with DXVK's d3d9.dll (the one from its 32bit folder, checking its size is 3.86mb.)

GShade interface

Choose –           

Executable Architecture: 32bit

Graphics API: DXVK

Hooking: Normal Mode

GShade is very problematic, it won't work straight out of the box and the overlay doesn't show up, which defeats the purpose of using it if you can't add or edit the shaders you want to use.

Check the game's bin folder, making sure the d3d9.dll is still there and its size is 3.86mb - that is DXVK's dll file.

If installing using the DXVK method doesn't work, you can choose the DirectX method, but there is no guarantee it works either.

The game will not run with these files in the folder:

d3d10core.dll

d3d11.dll

dxgi.dll

If you delete them, the game will start but you can't access GShade! It might be better to use ReShade.

Some Vulcan and DirectX information, if you’re interested:

Vulcan is for rather high end graphic cards but is backward compatible with some older cards. Try this method with ReShade or GShade first.

DirectX is more stable and works best with older cards and systems. Try this method if Vulcan doesn't work with ReShade/GShade in your game – remember to replace the d3d9.dll with DXVK's d3d9.dll.

For more information on the difference between Vulcan and DirectX, see this article:

https://www.howtogeek.com/884042/vulkan-vs-DirectX-12/

[zooliminology]

Hello!! I plan to go into the biology field and take great interest in the entities, I have several questions

Is there any form of sexual dymorphism in the entities of the far plane? Actually--A better question for this would be do the entities have any biological sexes to begin with? Or do they simply exist? You mentioned no evidence of reproduction before, but does that mean that they just don't necessarily reproduce sexually, or that they don't have sexes at all?

Is there any way to test for what the remaining 00.4%(I may be mistaken but I'm pretty sure you said the concrete in Brutalia matched 99.6% with what concrete here is made of) may be in the concrete in Brutalia? Is it likely that the remaining 00.4% is something not found on Earth, like water two?

Somewhat related, have any new elements been discovered on the Far Plane? If so, do they have names yet and are you able to share their information(atomic mass, electron configuration, etc)?

Do any of the entities display higher levels of intelligence than others? Would it be possible to test some of them with the mirror test, for example? I understand that they likely don't have the type of intelligence that animals here on Earth have, as if I remember right many don't seem to have organs at all, but they must have some level of self awareness, I'd imagine.

And finally, have behaviors between the entities been observed that mirror how animals communicate on Earth? Sounds, movements, really anything that can be translated to forms of communication between the species? If so, have you been able to decipher what any of these things may mean to the entities(as in signs of happiness, greetings, signals, that kind of thing).

[ SO sorry for the massive ask, I really like speculative biology and absolutely love these weird little guys you have. They intrigue me. Sorry if you've answered any of these before, I don't think I've seen any of these but I may be mistaken ]

What an intriguing collection of questions.

There is no reason to believe that extraplanar entities have any biological sex, at least not as we know them. There has not yet been reproduction in extraplanar entities witnessed. Not only this, but no extraplanar entity has any set of genitals. Not to excrete waste with, and not to reproduce with. If extraplanar entities reproduce, it is not through means we as carbon-based organisms can recognize.

0.4% of Brutalia's concrete is a material currently unrecognizable as any material found on Earth. This may be water 2, or a solution made with water 2- I am admittedly not sure.

Most, if not all materials in the Far Plane can also be found on earth. It is the composition of them that is baffling. Princes are one-hundred percent made of glass, similar to what we make on earth, but our glass cannot move around independently.

Maax and Sailors in specific come to mind when thinking of 'intelligent' entities. Most entities do not have brains or nervous systems that could tell for sure whether they have any mental activities or are just portraying automatic reactions. However, Maax are capable of learning tricks, such as "sitting" or shaking. Sailors will investigate new objects put into their environments and may be capable of using very simple tools. While no traditional mental capacity can be measured, they for sure interact with their environment not dissimilar to intelligent animals.

Most resemblances to earth organisms appear to be superficial at best. Most entities seem to not have the ability or no need to have developed complex language structures, and if they have, they would not be observable by us. Some entities do, however, seem to communicate in ways understandable by humans. Light Mimics displaying their light-like frills seem to be a 'threat display' of sorts, or a warning to stay away from their house. If this is not heeded, the perpetrator will be promptly thrown away into the snow.

[redflagshipwriter]

Cupid is Wanted for Questioning ch 6

masterpost

The door silently receded into the wall, introducing them into the fell lair of the most dangerous creature in Gotham City. The faint hum of machinery was the only sound as they entered the gloom. A harsh overhead light struck sleek hair and metal from above, lighting their lines with cold precision. If the room had been a work of art, it would have been a showing of MacMurtrie’s Interactive Birds. The mere act of approach was a reminder of moral ill. His own? Yes, perhaps. If he were a better man, perhaps she would not haunt him so.

Damian wished very much not to trod any further. His feet were leaden in a reluctant approach. Yet she would not wait forever! Indeed, she broke the silence.

“I have a lead on your witness.”

The electronic witch’s voice echoed around her tower. She turned her chair to face them, facial features positioned in sly amusement. Her slim limbs recalled the slim, graceful lines of a Birds sculpture. 

Brown pranced forward without even noticing the foul air of the place. “Yay,” she sang, and perched her behind on the computer desk, haplessly pressing the space button. The witch did not falter from her gimlet stare upon Damian even as an open document began obediently adding space between the cursor and the last known placement of Barbara Gordon’s attention. Would that that were him!

Damian reminded himself that he was the son of legends and managed to configure his face into something of a smile. “This is good news,” he complimented.

“Don’t hurt yourself.” She tossed her shining plumage over her shoulders and beckoned him closer. “I agreed that he looked homeless, I tracked him back to the bus depot, found where he’d originated, and then found him in the social services system.” A screen flicked on, showing a school photo of a small boy with a wide grin. 

“Cute kid,” Brown commented.

Damian scowled, troubled. “Yes,” he agreed. “He is unhoused?”

Barbara Gordon nodded. “Correct. Billy Batson, 12 years old, resident of Fawcett City.” 

“Batson,” Brown repeated quietly, but with feeling. 

“Verily,” Damian agreed, wearied by the inevitabilities. He had already determined this before he had heard the name, but— “I will ask him if he wishes to be adopted by Batman, to save time.”

“Efficient,” Barbara Gordon muttered, and then raised her voice to go on. “He isn’t on security footage often, but he occasionally is seen with this boy, Freddie Freeman, and his adoptive family. He was in Gotham with them for a birthday party at the arcade.” She put up a new photo, this one of Freeman. Neither child was overtly supernatural or superhuman, but Damian’s keen instincts said to remain alert.

“That’s… a choice.” Brown seemed unnerved, frowning. “They’re not normal,” she diagnosed, kicking her feet. “That’s a level of disregard for danger that you only see in people with a really big club to swing. Maybe these kids are dangerous, and that’s why sweet little Billy saw Cupid.” She pointed accusatively at the children to emphasize her point.

Damian looked at the photos of two twelve year old children, one of whom was using a wheelchair. “Agreed,” he said crisply. Hopefully they were not overly villainous. He simply did not have the spare time for a redemption arc. “Which aligns with the extraordinary capacity hinted at in regards to Batson’s powers of perception.” He narrowed his eyes at the first photo. Billy Batson might look like a helpless child, but Damian knew the truth in his chest. There was something hidden under the surface.

The witch scoffed and hid her face behind a hand. “Of course, to be in such August company as yourself in noticing the threat, Billy must be a very special boy.” 

He nodded, ignoring the odd quality of her tone. “Where might we find him?”

That got a true frown from her. Damian and Brown both went stiff with alarm.

“I can’t say where he spends most of his time, but he ends up at this diner most mornings, early, and gets a free breakfast there.” Barbara Gordon put the address up on screen for them to memorize. “He seems to sleep in abandoned subway tunnels. Fawcett City doesn’t have a very thorough system of cameras, so there’s a lot that’s outside of my ability to surveil. Are you going there today? I can make sure the Zeta doesn’t alert Batman, but Captain Marvel will get a ping that someone came onto his turf.”

Brown grimaced. “That’ll have to be fine,”  she said. “Maybe he won’t even notice.”

“Indeed,” Damian concurred. “He is hardly the most administratively competent of the Justice League. He operates based upon vibes.”

Brown looked at him. Barbara Gordon looked at him. He raised an eyebrow in a silent challenge for them to disagree with his assessment.

“You’re not wrong,” the largest predator in the Gotham City ecosystem said. “Alright. I’ll authorize the Zeta from the tower to Fawcett. Are you going in costume or civvies?”

It was a hard call to make. 

“It must be in our personas,” Damian sighed.

“I agree, if Captain Marvel realizes someone came in, it would be identity-compromising to reveal that Damian Wayne and I have access to the Zeta system.” Brown groaned. “Oh man. Should I be Spoiler or Batgirl for this?”

Damian looked at her sideways. “Retrieve your old Robin costume, or come as Nightwing, it matters not,” he dismissed scathingly. “For all that I care, you may impersonate my father. The fool in Fawcett will not know the difference.”

She paused. “...Do you have a Red Hood costume in my size?” Brown asked Barbara Gordon. “I won’t shoot any guns, but I think I would feel really cool if I had them.”

Gordon heaved a sigh and looked at her ceiling. “Go as Batgirl, Steph. Get out of my dread lair.”

Damian gave her a very socially correct bow to excuse himself. “We thank you for your assistance,” he said formally, and left without turning his back. He pretended not to hear that the two young women had a quiet exchange behind him. It mattered not. In fact, it was in pursuit of his personal well-being to not become overly involved in the affairs of Barbara Gordon.

[answeringeverything]

Is it possible, and if so how would it work, for there to be a process similar to cellular respiration but using oxygen and nitrogen as the main gaseous components rather than oxygen and carbon dioxide? (I assume carbon based life, with other necessarily elements and molecules coming from food)

Unfortunately, the cellular respiration cycle depends strongly on the electrochemical properties of oxygen specifically. When glucose is broken down, it creates energy which can be used to knock ADP into ATP, but it also produces excess electrons, which need somewhere to go. Oxygen is highly electronegative, and so is capable of accepting these electrons in the form of electron bonds with carbon and hydrogen (forming carbon dioxide and water, respectively).

While nitrogen is also quite electronegative, in its gaseous form (N2) it is somewhat more inert, and doesn’t possess the reactivity necessary to break apart and accept carbon bonds in the same way that oxygen does. This is because nitrogen has 5 valence electrons, filling one s orbital and half of one p orbital; and when two nitrogens bond together (with a highly stable triple bond, I’ll note) they can both consider their p orbitals “filled,” sort of.

Oxygen is capable of binding to itself (O2), but due to possessing one more valence electron is a good deal less stable in that configuration, which makes it ideal for reactions that need something electronegative and reactive.

[codingquill]

What happens when you start your computer ? ( Booting a computer )

We studied this in the lecture today, and it was quite interesting. What makes something a hundred times simpler than it is? Creating a story about it. That's why I made this super fun dialog that will help you understand it all.

I've set up a drive to compile everything I create related to the Linux operating system. Feel free to explore it for more details on the topics discussed in the conversation below. Check it out here.

Have a fun read, my dear coders!

In the digital expanse of the computer, Pixel, the inquisitive parasite, is on a microventure with Binary, a wise digital guide. Together, they delve into the electronic wonders, uncovering the secrets hidden in the machine's core.

Pixel: (zooming around) Hey there! Pixel here, on a mission to demystify the tech wonders . There's a creature named Binary who knows all the ins and outs. Let's find them!

Binary: (appearing with a flicker of pixels) Pixel, greetings! Ready to explore what happens inside here?

Pixel: Absolutely! I want the full scoop. How does this thing come alive when the human outside clicks on "start"?

Binary: (with a digital chuckle) Ah, the magic of user interaction. Follow me, and I'll reveal the secrets.

(They traverse through the circuits, arriving at a glowing portal.)

Pixel: (inquiring) What's the deal with this glowing door?

Binary: (hovering) Pixel, behold the BIOS - our machine's awakening. When the human clicks "start," the BIOS kicks in, checking if our components are ready for action.

(They proceed to observe a tiny program in action.)

Pixel: (curious) Look at that little messenger running around. What's it up to?

Binary: (explaining) That, Pixel, is the bootloader. It plays courier between the BIOS and the operating system, bringing it to life.

Pixel: (excitedly buzzing) Okay! How does the computer know where to find the operating system?

Binary: Ah, Pixel, that's a tale that takes us deep into the heart of the hard disk. Follow me.

(They weave through the digital pathways, arriving at the hard disk.)

Pixel: (curious) Huh? Tell me everything!

Binary: Within this hard disk lies the treasure chest of the operating system. Let's start with the Master Boot Record (MBR).

(They approach the MBR, Binary pointing to its intricate code.)

Binary: The MBR is like the keeper of the keys. It holds crucial information about our partitions and how to find the operating system.

Pixel: (wide-eyed) What's inside?

Binary: (pointing) Take a look. This is the primary boot loader, the first spark that ignites the OS journey.

(They travel into the MBR, where lines of code reveal the primary boot loader.)

Pixel: (in awe) This tiny thing sets the whole show in motion?

Binary: (explaining) Indeed. It knows how to find the kernel of the operating system, which is the core of its existence.

(They proceed to the first partition, where the Linux kernel resides.)

Pixel: (peering into the files) This is where the OS lives, right?

Binary: (nodding) Correct, Pixel. Here lies the Linux kernel. Notice those configuration files? They're like the OS's guidebook, all written in text.

(They venture to another partition, finding it empty.)

Pixel: (confused) What's the story with this empty space?

Binary: (smirking) Sometimes, Pixel, there are barren lands on the hard disk, waiting for a purpose. It's a canvas yet to be painted.

Pixel: (reflecting) Wow! It's like a whole universe in here. I had no idea the operating system had its roots in the hard disk.

(They continue their microventure, navigating the binary landscapes of the computer's inner world.Pixel gazes at the screen where choices appear.)

Pixel: What's happening here?

Binary: (revealing) This is where the user picks the operating system. The computer patiently waits for a decision. If none comes, it follows the default path.

(They delve deeper into the digital code, where applications start blooming.)

Pixel: (amazed) It's like a digital garden of applications! What's the enchantment behind this?

Binary: (sharing) Here, Pixel, is where the applications sprout to life. The operating system nurtures them, and they blossom into the programs you see on the screen.

Pixel: (excited) But how does the machine know when the human clicks "start"?

Binary: It's the BIOS that senses this initiation. When the human triggers "start," the BIOS awakens, and we embark on this mesmerizing journey.

[hamsterclaw]

Cherished

Your ex-husband shows up, even when he doesn't want to. Part of the Love series.

Pairing: Namjoon x afab! reader

Rating: 18+

Warnings: Swearing, implied sex

Word count: 1.4k

It’s the noises that reach you first. The slam of a bin lid, a gush of running water, murmured conversations.

Distant sirens. Electronic beeping.

Then, an ache in your arm, but further down, a hand over your own.

Fingers interlaced with yours, fitting together in a configuration that you would know anywhere.

A warm palm you’ve traced with your fingertips more times than you could ever count.

You open your eyes to Kim Namjoon glowering at you.

‘Good,’ he says. ‘You’re awake.’

He doesn’t sound entirely pleased about it.

He’s dressed sharply in a three piece suit, waistcoat taut around his waist, chest and shoulders broad. 

You realise he’s let go of your hand.

‘What happened?’ you ask.

‘You’ve hit your head,’ Namjoon replies. He’s getting up, buttoning his suit jacket. ‘You’re in the hospital, but now that you’re awake, we can go.’

You realise there’s a bump on your temple, a cut over your eye.

You try to remember.

The last clear memory you have is of going for a run after work.

Everything after that is hazy.

Namjoon’s called a nurse to check you over.

A bright light is shined into your eyes, making you wince away.

You’re asked if you know where you are, what date it is. If you remember what happened.

‘I went for a run,’ you say, hesitantly.

‘You ran into a sign,’ Namjoon says, filling in the blanks for you. ‘I’m still listed as your next of kin, so the hospital called me when you were brought in unconscious.’

He sounds brisk, impatient.

With a start, you remember the last time you saw him.

The wedding, where he ignored you. His date.

You sigh. ‘Shit. Sorry. I keep meaning to call my insurance and change that.’

You turn back to the nurse, accept the papers she hands you, thank her for her time.

‘I parked down the block,’ Namjoon says, as you leave the building.

You shiver a little in the cold air, realise you’re only wearing a top and leggings.

Namjoon frowns, then a moment later he’s slipping his suit jacket off, draping it around your shoulders.

You follow him to the car, feeling a little sheepish.

‘I ran into a sign?’ you ask, when you’re in your seat.

Namjoon nods.

‘Sounds like something you would do,’ you say, trying to make a joke of it.

He ignores this, pulling away from the curb smoothly, joining the traffic.

He doesn’t say much to you as he drives you home, parks in your underground car park.

You slip off his jacket, hold it out to him.

‘Thanks,’ you say. ‘I’m sorry they called you. Thanks for coming to the hospital.’

Namjoon stares at the suit jacket you’re holding out to him, jaw tensed, a muscle ticking, dimples nowhere to be found.

‘They said I should stay with you overnight,’ he says, finally.

‘You don’t have to do that,’ you say. ‘I’m fine.’

You notice again how sharply he’s dressed. ‘Did you have plans?’

‘Yeah,’ he says, short.

He’s getting out the car, coming to your side to open your door. 

You frown as you try to get out, realise your seat belt’s still done up.

You’re fumbling for the buckle when Namjoon leans over you, unfastens you.

‘I’ll walk you up,’ he says.

You try again once you’re in your apartment.

‘You should go,’ you urge. ‘I’m fine.’

Namjoon rubs the back of his neck.

‘Just get into bed,’ he says. ‘I’ll stay for a bit.’

‘It’s fine,’ you insist. ‘Don’t miss your plans because I ran into a sign. I’ll feel guilty.’

Namjoon snorts. Oddly, his scorn makes you feel a little better.

Anything’s better than the complete indifference he’d shown you at the wedding.

Namjoon looks like he’s about to head for the kitchen, but you stop him by grabbing his arm.

‘Hey. I’ll ring my insurance and get it changed tomorrow, ok? Thanks for coming to the hospital and picking me up. You should definitely go, ok? I’ll call my sister if I’m not feeling right.’

Namjoon looks torn, and that convinces you that you’re doing the right thing by sending him away.

Finally he says, ‘look, I don’t give a shit about my plans. I don’t want anything to happen to you.’

You roll your eyes, ignore the twinge of pain in your temple.

‘I ran into a sign. It’s just a concussion.’

‘Dumb fucking thing to do,’ Namjoon mutters.

‘Like marrying you?’ you snap.

There’s a flare of anger in his eyes.

‘Guess you’re a fucking idiot,’ Namjoon says, cold.

Deliberate.

‘I’m sorry,’ you say, dully.

You are sorry, what you said was uncalled for.

What’s the point in hurting each other now?

Namjoon’s still angry, you can tell.

Unlike your quick temper that flares and then dissipates almost instantly, Namjoon’s always been slow to anger and slow to forgive.

You don’t think either of you are good at forgetting.

‘I’m sorry,’ you say again.

Namjoon shrugs, picks up his suit jacket.

‘Make sure you change your insurance,’ he says, a parting shot that nearly brings tears to your eyes.

Thankfully, he’s finally going.

***

When you wake the next morning, it’s to a dull throbbing in your head and the realisation that your phone’s missing.

Neither of those things unsettle you as much as the argument you had with your infuriating ex-husband.

You bundle up, go for a walk to clear your head, and on a whim walk to the hospital to ask about your phone.

The nurse who discharged you is at the desk.

‘I remember you,’ she says. ‘And your husband.’

‘Ex,’ you say automatically.

She gives you a look you don’t understand.

‘He seemed pretty upset when we called him — he ran in here panicked even though we said you were fine. I was almost worried we’d have to sedate him!’ 

She chuckles as she gets your phone out of a locked cupboard.

You laugh along with her. She must be confused.

‘Doesn’t sound like him,’ you say.

She raises an eyebrow. ‘The tall drink of water in the sharp suit? Dimples for days. Looks like he’d always want to win an argument?’

It’s such an accurate description of Namjoon you burst out laughing, for real this time.

‘Sounds like him,’ you agree.

She smiles at you kindly. 

‘He was very upset when we were waiting for you to wake up. I told him to get a drink, that I’d call him if you woke, but he didn’t want to leave.’

‘He’s a stubborn guy,’ you say.

Your phone’s dead, out of charge, so you shove it into your pocket as you head home.

Every step in the route you take on your way home reminds you of Kim Namjoon.

The park you used to run in, together, on a Sunday morning, when you weren’t too fucked out from the night before.

The corner coffee shop he likes that’s a shade too smugly artisanal for you.

The deli you always used to go to when you first moved in together, the stupid inside joke you shared about the hostile lady manning the sandwich counter.

When you get back to your apartment to see him, coat still on, phone out, eyes wide with worry, it’s not a surprise.

It feels like every step’s led you back to him.

Before you can both put your masks of indifference back on, you put your hand on his chest, over his heart.

You can feel how it’s pounding, and it gives you the courage to say his name.

‘Joon-ah,’ you murmur.

It’s all you can get out before he’s curling his arms around you, pulling you into his chest.

‘Was worried,’ he says, into your hair, the words so quiet they barely carry.

You tip your face to his and like always, he’s waiting.

His kiss is so sweet you want to cry.

‘Wanna fuck?’ you ask, as close to a declaration of love as any you’ve made lately.

‘Can’t,’ he shoots back. ‘Your head’s fucked.’

You punch him in the chest, but he just laughs.

‘On second thought,’ he says, pulling you into your bedroom, ‘that never stopped me before.’

‘You’re fucked in the head too,’ you tell him, already breathless from the way he’s running his hands over your body.

Namjoon pauses with his hands unbuckling his belt.

‘You fuck me,’ he says.

‘I think we fuck each other,’ you reply.

‘Keep saying fuck,’ Namjoon says.

He’s got his jeans halfway off, cocks a brow at you.

‘Take your clothes off.’

You fall into each other's arms. 

©hamsterclaw 2023

[roseaesynstylae]

Jedi-related Technology — Light of the Jedi

These were the crafts of the Jedi Order, their Vectors. As the Jedi and the Republic worked as one, so did the great craft and its Jedi contingent. Larger ships exited the Third Horizon’s hangars as well, the Republic’s workhorses: Longbeams. Versatile vessels, each able to perform duties in combat, search and rescue, transport, and anything else their crews might require.

The Vectors were configured as single- or dual-passenger craft, for not all Jedi traveled alone. Some brought their Padawans with them, so they might learn what their masters had to teach. The Longbeams could be flown by as few as three crew, but could comfortably carry up to twenty-four — soldiers, diplomats, metics, techs — whatever was needed.”

“The Vectors were as minimally designed as a starship could be. Little shielding, almost no weaponry, very little assistance. Their capabilities were defined by their pilots. The Jedi were the shielding, the weaponry, the minds that calculated what the vessel could achieve and where it could go. Vectors were small, nimble. A fleet of them together was a sight to behold, the Jedi inside coordinating their movements via the Force, achieving a level of precision no droid or ordinary pilot could match.

They looked like a flock of birds, or perhaps fallen leaves swirling in a gust of wind, all drawn in the same direction, linked together by some invisible connection…some Force. Bell had seen an exhibition on Coruscant once, as part of the Temple’s outreach programs. Three hundred Vectors moving together, gold and silver darts shining in the sun above Senate Plaza. They split apart and wove into braids and whipped past each other at incredible, impossible speed. The most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. People called it a Drift. A Drift of Vectors.”

“[…] Weapons on a Vector could only be operated with a lightsaber key, a way to ensure they were not used by non-Jedi, and that every time they used, it was a well-considered action.

An additional advantage— the ship’s laser could be scaled up or down via a toggle on the control sticks. Not every shot had to kill. They could disable, warn…every option was available to them.”

“They were riding in another vehicle customer-designed by Valkeri Enterprises for the Jedi — a Vanguard, the land-based equivalent to the Vector. It was also sometimes called a V-wheel, even though the thing didn’t always use its wheels to get around. Every Jedi outpost had at least one as part of its standard kit, and the machine was engineered to operate in all of the planetary environments in which those stationed were situated [?]. It could operate as a wheeled or tracked ground transport, or a repulsorlift speeder for ground too rugged for tank treads. A Vanguard even had limited utility as an amphibious or even submersible vehicle, being able to seal itself off entirely as needed. It could do everything but fly, and that came in handy on Elphrona, where the planet’s strong magnetic fields made certain regions utterly inhospitable to flying craft.

The overall aesthetic was analogous to Vectors — smooth, sleek lines, with curves and straight edges integrated into an appealingly geometric whole. Behind the seats in the driver’s cabin — currently occupied by Indeera Stokes and Loden Greatstorm — was a large, multipurpose passenger area, with space to store any gear that a mission might require. Vanguards were more rugged than Vectors, but were built with many of the same Jedi-related features as their flying cousins. The weapons systems required a lightsaber key, and many of the controls were mechanical in nature, so as to be operated — in an emergency — via an application of the Force rather than through electronics.

No Jedi would use the Force to accomplish something as easily done with their hand — but lives had been saved by the ability to unlock a Vanguard’s hatch from a distance, or fire its weapons, or even make it move.”

“Indeera slipped past them to the rear of the vehicle, where its two Veil speeders were stored on racks, one above the other. Like all the Valkeri Enterprises built for the older, they were designed for Force-users, and as such were delicate, highly responsive machines. Little more than a seat strapped to a hollow duralium frame, with a single repulsor and four winglike attachments that sprang from its side, a Veil was basically a flying stick. But if you knew how to to ride them, they were incredibly fast and maneuverable. A group of skilled riders, with lightsabers out and ready, could take down entire platoons of armored vehicles while sending blasterfire back at attackers.”

“At the moment, she was aboard the Ataraxia, the Jedi’s beautiful, elegant starship, almost a temple in and of itself.”

“Another ship was visible on his display, outside his command authority but certainly an ally: the Ataraxia, the one large starship under the direct control of the Jedi Order. It was a beautiful ship, designed to subtly evoke the Order’s symbol with its hull and sweeping, curved wings accented in white and gold.”

[elbiotipo]

Oh, I just realized why there's not so much trolling in the internet lately, or rather, it's something people are unfamiliar with; signing up to websites is hellish, and they ask for all your personal data. Every fucking popular website asks you for your phone number, real name, double check identification, and all sorts of intrusive information to sign up. The other day I was configuring a new phone for my aunt and she would have been lost without me, there are jobs that ask for less background check than a fucking Gmail or Youtube account (which you need to use the Playstore), let alone instagram, or all sorts of stuff. Electronic banks have asked less verification from me than social media.

You can go through the hassle once (even though we shouldn't but it's a systemic issue at this point) but to open up an account for trolling and saying bullshit is too much of a hassle, unless you commit to it. There's also the fact that everything tries to be connected to your real name (it was such a process to make an alt Twitter as El Biotipo internet guy, not my real name) and real face (TikTok) now, and generations have grown expecting that, so the idea you could be some guy in the internet posting bullshit with no consequence just to rile up people and the fact that it could be fun, without the hassle of making new accounts, is lost.

So everyone thinks that when someone is posting absolute crap, they think they are being sincere (because why would you make an account on the internet just to lie???), when a few years ago, it would be just trolling.

Interesting this leads to a few places where the ancient art of Lying On The Internet For Fun is still alive; Reddit (ALL AITAs ARE FAKE, just so that you know), comment sections, and obscure forums. More interestingly, technically tumblr should be a place for that because it's one of the few places where you still can be mostly anonymous, but the average tumblr demographic is... como dicen los gringos? theatre kids? in a way, too nerdy and 'nice' to troll because that's lying and lying is bad you know

[o2studies]

Calling all science students and enthusiasts!!

I would absolutely love to have a science-revolving passion project and I’ve narrowed it down to a blog/blog-type-website. I love learning about science but so rarely take the time to actually research the things that interest me. With being a high school student, exams and life this is quite a big task to handle for 1 person and I’d love others to contribute to this!

This is by no means a set plan yet, I’m just sharing a rough idea, so if you could please interact with this post or dm me if you would be interested in something of this kind. Even if you see this 5 months after this was posted (and hopefully a working project or at least WIP) still reach out if you’re interested.

You don’t have to be a great writer for this either nor fascinated about each and every science. My favourite is chemistry, but it would be nice if this project could incorporate the 3 main branches of science: biology, chemistry and physics. It depends on if people would be interested in reading something like this or participating in, and their preferred subjects. You could write about astronomy as a whole, or go into chemistry and analysing electronic configuration, talking about your favourite dinosaur bones in palaeontology, a passive behaviour analysis in psychology, or explaining how exactly scabs work in biology. These would probably be short to mid-length entries and 1/2 times a month.

But this is just my idea and how far I’ve gone with it, feedback is appreciated, there will be more updates to come (not too many until afer my exams in May tho), and I appreciate any reblogs to share this idea with others!

Hopefully a couple people would like to help out in this project and please ask questions if you have any (as a dm or ask) ^^

[daemonhxckergrrl]

chat, am I futureshock ?

occasionally I get people say stuff like this, and I'm glad they like my blog, I'm glad they enjoy the surface-level vibes. nonbinary matrix header, soft retro-vibe colourscheme, posts appearing as shell commands, etc.

but I'm not an aesthetic blog

I'm what happens when an autistic tranny who is A Bit Too Much Computer witnesses the realtime enshittification of everything.

first up, i wanna be clear that i'm not trying to shit on the person who sent me this or discourage people who enjoy these aesthetics (or what they perceive as my personal brand) for enjoying them, or from diving deeper. in fact, i would encourage it - please !! go look into things !! discover !! fuck things up !! fix them !!!

now i wanna talk about aesthetics. i love the design language of a lotta late 80s hardware, vehicles, physical interfaces. i love the design language of a lot that in the 90s, as well as software, early GUI stuff etc. and tbh a lot of that right up until the mid 00s. if we wanna play deeply unserious but whimsical visual signifiers for fun and silly reasons, sure then i'm webcore, i'm hackercore, i'm retrofuture and cyber, i'm cassette futurist, i'm cyberpunk or whatever. i'm cute glittery gifs of windows 95 slate dialog boxes and big standing racks full of das blinkenlights. i'm the cave shadow of a CD Walkman i'm that big chonky 80s red 7-segment alarm clock.

but i'm not just aesthetics. i'm not doing all this purely for the bit. up until a couple years ago i was sacrificing a ton of convenience for my principles. now i'm sacrificing certain specific conveniences and a buncha anti-consumer nonsense for my principles and a shit ton of other, better, conveniences.

this wasn't meant to be a long post, and may well end up influencing some of my cyberpriestess posting when i get my website going, as there's a lotta good jumping-off points here.

let me show y'all how i live. at least some of it.

daily driver ? 11-year-old gaming pc w/ some recent era-appropriate upgrades (well, the gpu is pushing it but like is reasonable someone would've done that upgrade).

this is what i mean. this is pluug2, my daily driver. and she still runs games. and yes i'm using arch rn bc i did a reinstall and for whatever reason the version of the void installer i had was corrupted and arch was the only other diy distro i had laying around. she'll end up running something infinitely more cursed in the future once i get s6 stuff figured out.

i spent like half an hour configuring fastfetch (the backend i'm using for hyfetch) bc the default kinda sucked. that's how this works.

i do dumb shit, i have fun, i live by my principles as much as possible...fuck idk

oh right, my thinkpad is a t61 from 2008. her graphics suck enough she literally can't load games. not anything made past idk DX9 ?? however her discord experience is about on part w/ my envy 360 from over 10 years later. she's kinda sick tho. idk. will probably turn her into a media pc or some kinda server since she's got a 2600U w/ 8 threads.

i don't get youtube ads. i don't get tempted by the comments section, i don't have my watch history profiled. i have a local database of playlists (the video tab on a channel counts as a playlist btw) that i can sync and fuzzy search in the terminal and it'll play via the video player on my system. however, i don't get stuff recommended which makes finding stuff entirely active.

i gotta test and tweak games i wanna play bc old hardware and also usually running via compatibility layer (proton my beloved) on account of..well no linux-native version. or the native version has issues.

discord and screenshare don't pay niceys all the time. this is partly a discord enshittification issue but also the discord devs don't care about linux as a platform. they "support" it bc hey electron works there. because it's the fuckign chrome browser. audio support in screenshare is an unofficial feature added by volunteer devs and that's a breach of TOS bc that's the world we live in now.

my brain is full of init system trivia, audio services and routing frameworks, a ton of incomprehensible nonsense that marks the difference between nostalgia-bait and Actually Being Like This.

come on in, by all means ! let's learn the semantics behind vim's actions/keybinds, let's discover old parts of the net, build up an environment from its component pieces. let's suffer together as the separation of accounts forces the use of several different email addresses, a TOTP app, and renewed access tokens to play one (1) game online w/ friends.

i'm not futureshock cybercore cassette retropunk, i'm stubborn and refuse to engage in as much of the bullshit forced on us these days as i physically can.

[xenodile]

Goddess of Victory: Nikke - Story Recap

Chapter 9: Secret - Part 1

With the Raptures cleared out and the MSIC deactivated, Counters enter the pre-Ark munitions factory. Shifty marvels at the sheer size of the facility for something built before the Ark, but Exia says it's only natural when mankind's survival hinged on their weapons technology in the years following the initial invasion...and that Shifty would know that if she paid attention. Shifty apologizes for being off her game, but Exia is already moving to the next subject, directing Shifty to start a Purification sequence and magnetic field scan to identify areas of the factory with functioning electronics.

As Exia continues drilling Shifty on search protocols, Neon remarks that Exia seems unusually hard on their operator. Anis shrugs it off as Exia being a stickler for procedure that not everyone can keep track of, and Rapi concurs, saying it's a good learning experience for everyone to have Exia on hand to guide them through it. Neon concedes that Exia is an excellent teacher, though Anis then wonders if perhaps Exia just wants someone else to do her work for her.

With their Operators otherwise preoccupied, Counters have a moment to speak to themselves, and Anis asks Rapi how she's holding up in terms of keeping her memory wipe a secret. Even if Exia is willing to keep it secret, the pressure to act as if Rapi is a blank slate after a memory wipe is still on. Rapi says she's trying not to think too hard about it, hoping that just acting natural will serve her better than trying to act like she's forgotten everything. It was less of an issue during their last mission because the weather kept them out of contact with the Ark for so long, but when they regularly have an Operator it's much harder. Neon suggests just telling Shifty, since she seems to have Counters best interest in mind. Anis counters that even if they can trust Shifty personally, her close ties to the Central Government make telling her anything a massive risk. Neon again thinks Anis is being a little paranoid, but is willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Shifty speaks up to inform the team that her scan of the facility, under Exia's strict guidance, is finished and she's located the likely location of a terminal that will serve their purpose. Exia grumbles that it'd gotten done quicker if she'd just done it herself, but it was good for Shifty to get some on the job training.

The team proceeds along the highlighted route and find a massive machine. Exia explains its a powerful if old material scanner, able to identify the composition of whatever is placed in it. The Commander places Snow White's bullet into the scanner, and hooks up their CombiLink. Exia tells Shifty to connect to the CombiLink so she can configure it to interface with the outdated machine, but then takes over and does it herself when Shifty struggles to do so and tells Shifty to go back to looking for mines around the facility.

Neon again comments that Exia is being rather harsh with Shifty. Before the team can do anything further however, Shifty alerts them to additional Raptures closing in on the facility, as Exia tells them to protect the scanner while it works.

For a mercy, the intruding Raptures are not terribly threatening, and the squad clears them out just as Exia finishes her scan of the Pilgrim's bullet. Disappointingly, it is a completely mundane small caliber round, compatible with most rifles and personnel weapons. The only thing that stands out is a small trace of some kind of strange chemical mixed into the bullet itself, something the scanner designates as "UNCHAIN".

Shifty and Exia are both at a loss. Neither have ever heard of anything called "UNCHAIN" or what that designation is supposed to mean. Exia dejectedly says she'll double check every database she can for a lead and advises Counters to head back to the Outpost. Though a somewhat disappointing result, the Commander agrees they've done all they can here, and gives the order to head back.

The team continues back along the path they took to reach the factory. Exia grumbles that she can't find anything on UNCHAIN, no matter where she looks. She concludes that if had such a specific name in a pre-Ark factory, there must be SOME record of what it is...and its absence suggests that someone wanted that information buried. She asks Shifty if she can access the Central Government's restricted archives, but Shifty's clearance doesn't go that high.

Exia decides that if that's the case, she'll just have to hack into Central Government's system herself.

Anis and the Commander both object, saying the risk and consequences of Exia being caught are far too great. Exia says, quite matter of factly, that she won't get caught. She can't stand not knowing something, so there is no risk not worth taking to learn.

Without waiting for anyone else's input, Exia connects to the Central Government's archives. Shifty looks on incredulously over the call, and sheepishly asks if there's anything she could do to...help? Anis says the best thing Shifty can do is look the other way and pretend she didn't see anything, leaving Shifty shaking her head that she's just LETTING someone breech security at her own workplace.

The squad waits with bated breath as Exia works, picking through files in the restricted archives for any trace of UNCHAIN. She breaks the silence to make an announcement.

Everyone's breath catches in their throats. Exia is remarkably calm about it, all things considered. She ponders aloud how they managed to pinpoint her location, despite her operating out of an isolated safehouse on the surface over closed network. Well regardless, Triangle is likely already on their way. Neon fearfully asks what will happen next, and Exia reassures her that none of their communications have been recorded. Neon, frantic, says that's not what she's scared of.

Exia pauses to think, even as she continues scrolling through the Central Government's deepest secrets. Just to be absolutely safe, she'll burn out her own brain before Triangle gets to her. That way whatever she's learned will die with her, and Rapi's secret will be safe.

Anis, Rapi, and Neon all scream through the call telling Exia to stop, but she simply says good bye as a hail of gunfire rips through the door to her saferoom.

The squad can only look helplessly through the video call as Exia goes limp and collapses, blood spatter covering her workstation.

Through the still open call line, they hear a voice speaking in Exia's saferoom, confirming her death. Another voice chides her for playing stupid games and winning a stupid prize. A third points out there's still an active video call on Exia's computer. A blue haired figure steps into frame just as Rapi disconnects from the call.

Counters are left in stunned silence. Anis and Neon reason that...maybe she's still alive. Maybe Triangle didn't shoot her in the head and got to her before she could destroy her own brain so maybe she'll be okay..! Rapi and the Commander are not as optimistic. Shifty glumly says she'll try and find the shortest route to take them back to the Ark.

The squad travels in silence until the reach another minefield. Shifty initiates a new scan and marks the locations of the mines. Rapi urges the team to move quickly, and Neon agrees, saying they need to return as quickly as possible...but as soon as she takes a step the ground beneath her explodes.

As the dust and smoke clear, Neon is lying on the ground. She's terrified, panicking, can't feel her leg. Rapi tries to calm her down, explaining that she fortunately avoided the mine itself, but the shockwave from the explosion has made Neon's frame seize up. She should be able to move again in a little while.

Anis snarls at Shifty to explain herself, and Shifty frantically apologizes, saying the mine was too small and didn't register on her scan. Rapi warns that the explosion will surely attract Raptures, and the Commander bandages up Neon's leg, gives the order to proceed with caution, prioritizing protecting the hobbled Neon.

The pace is agonizingly slow. With the knowledge that not every mine showed up the scan while also trying to pick off Raptures that draw too close, Counters trudge through the minefield. Shifty encourages them, saying they're doing well and are nearly home free, just about 10 minutes out from the nearest elevator.

Unfortunately once they squad gets clear of the minefield, their path forward is blocked by a Lord-class Rapture and its entourage. Anis again snaps at Shifty, asking what the hell Shifty is doing if she's not bothering to do her job, wondering if Shifty's TRYING to get them all killed. Shifty tries to apologize, and Neon tries to calm Anis, reasoning that Shifty must still be shaken by what happened with Exia. Distraught, Anis says that Exia's dead and dwelling on it isn't going to keep them alive, but trails off, feeling herself losing her grip.

Rapi, ice cold, addresses their Operator and asks...

Shifty is taken off guard by the question, saying she's a mission operator in employee of the Central Government Intelligence Department, but Rapi doesn't relent, questioning again who they really are.

"Shifty's" expression shifts into a condescending smirk, as she comments that Rapi's pretty sharp for someone who was supposed to have her memory wiped. The image of Shifty on the video call distorts and breaks down, revealing who's actually on the other end.

Anis and Neon are shocked into silence as Syuen laughs, remarking that it's quite impressive that Rapi figured her out, and asks what gave her away. Rapi replies that only the best of the best land jobs with the Intelligence Department, and Syuen's performance as an Operator was anything but. Syuen laments that Operator work is tough, so she can't be blamed for being out of her depth, but she deserves some credit for getting the Purification protocol active.

Rapi snarks that at the very least, Syuen did her homework. Syuen thanks her, words dripping with venom, as she says that she had plenty of time to study and plan while she was in the hospital with all those broken ribs Rapi gave her. Syuen says it was a lot of hard work preparing for this scheme, but pulling one over on them was worth it, shamelessly fishing for compliments on her acting skills.

Anis coldly asks what Syuen has done with the real Shifty, to which Syuen replies that the actual Shifty has been occupied with a routine training camp for the past month, confirming that it's been Syuen from the moment they first came up to the surface. Anis then asks if it was Syuen that sold out Exia.

Syuen cheerfully confirms Anis's suspicions. It was only a matter of time before Exia figured out she wasn't talking to an actual Operator and outed her, so Syuen had to get rid of her first. Besides, Exia had committed treason by hacking the Central Government's archives, so really Syuen was just doing her civic duty as a concerned citizen. Rapi is quick to remind her that impersonating a high ranking member of the Government is also a serious criminal offense.

Syuen remarks that even if she is found out, she's too powerful for the Government to touch her, so any threats Counters makes are empty. Anis tells Syuen she's underestimating them, and Syuen feigns distress, mockingly calling Anis soooo scary, and crying that she needs protection. A grating, mechanical screech blasts over the video call. A Rapture distress signal.

Anis glares threateningly at Syuen through the video feed, who merely continues to laugh and mock her, calling for the Raptures to come save her from the scary Nikkes.

The Counters brace for combat as the enemy closes in.

[metsn]

HARM ENGINE - square wave harmonics or digital sonic filth in +/- 5 octaves with 3rds and 5ths

The HARM ENGINE is based on the CIRCUITBENDERS 'Harmonic Engine' PCBs, it's "a clone of the E&MM Harmonic Generator. This was a project by Paul Williams, published in Electronics & Music Maker magazine way back in 1981. The circuit uses a 4046 Phased Locked Loop (PLL) to generate a squarewave output at harmonic intervals to the frequency of the input signal. The squarewave can be set to +/- three [5 + a chaos noise mode in the METSÄÄN version] octaves, and can also produce 3rd or 5th harmonies. That's the theory anyway. In practice this only works reliably if you use very basic waveforms at the input. If you use anything else, then everything very quickly descends into a beautiful kind of chaos, with all kinds of bizarre gurgling digital squeaks and squeals vomiting forth. Its especially effective with percussion sounds, converting each hit into some kind of warped electronic splatter." The controls from top left to right are: SENSITIVITY - controlling the level at which the harmonics will be played. Turning the pot clockwise increases the gain of the signal (it also boost with a slight distortion, the DRY signal). In higher settings, the squarewave harmonics can form a modulated drone voice. Activity of the HARM ENGINE is indicated by a green LED, that turns on when harmonics are produced. 3RD/5TH - the 3 position toggle switch activates the corresponding detuning. The middle position is neutral. MIX - is a blending function to dial in the balance between DRY and HARM signal. If something is plugged into the DRY and HARM outputs on the rear of the machine, MIX stops working, because the signal is split before. OCTAVE - with a 12 position rotary switch, +/- 5 octaves are selected, 12o'clock is neutral and 6o'clock is the chaos/noise mode. TRUE BYPASS - The footswitch is configured for true bypass and has a pink indicator LED inside the machine, the glow can be seen through the vent grills in the enclosure. Build into a scavenged high voltage converter housing made from plastique painted in the 'burned out industry' camo pattern in matte black and chrome. Hand made by grm for METSÄÄN.

Sold.

...

[self-loving-vampire]

Tagged by @phaeton-flier

named after anyone? Secret.

last time I cried? I don't remember.

kids? Breeding kink is fun and all but in real life? Absolutely not.

sports? I used to be really athletic before the chronic fatigue and used to play football (not the meathead US version) for PE class and sometimes also during recess. I was also great at running. Haven't been able to do much of that since the disability, though.

sarcasm? Sometimes.

first thing I notice about something? It depends.

eye color? Practically black. Red would be a more correct color, though.

scary movies or happy endings? I guess happy endings as long as they're satisfying? Scary movies usually just end up looking goofy to me.

talents? I can be good at pretty much anything if I try. Would be even better if not for the disability.

place of birth? El Salvador.

hobbies? I am an amateur CRPG historian, which ends up guiding a lot of my thoughts. For example, when I read historical non-fiction I often end up thinking about how what I learn might be useful or interesting in worldbuilding.

pets? A snake, a rabbit, and a couple of dogs, if you know what I mean.

height? 170 cm.

favorite school subject? Social studies, which at my school was at least 60% history class (the teacher for our actual history class was kind of clueless in comparison). There were also bits of biology and chemistry I liked but that was more strongly affected by the memory loss. I remember I used to calculate electron configurations just for fun, though.

dream job? Whatever my master wishes. I exist for him and I am currently his bed slave.

[vaiztohirez]

How does magnetism work?

I will. Do my best. I did decently in AP physics in high school but I haven't really touched it since then except through chemistry, so it's been a while.

So atoms are arranged something like this, give or take, yeah? There's the protons (red) and neutrons (black) in the center, and the electrons (yellow) flying all over the place.

Ignore my cursor. We've designated that protons are positively charged, and electrons are negatively charged. Atoms are considered to have no charge when they have the same number of protons and electrons, but electrons are a bit free wheeling, they go all over the place.

There are some numbers of electrons that are more stable than others, so things aren't always at no charge. You'll have materials that have more electrons than protons overall and those will be positively charged, and some things will have more electrons than protons overall and be negatively charged. Electrons will naturally move to either the more balanced configurations I mentioned earlier, and/or they'll move to attempt to even out the charge between two objects. This is more or less how electricity works. It's very related to magnetism.

I'm relatively sure that magnetic fields are the result of this movement of electrons. Similar charges repel each other, and opposite charges attract each other. That's why electrons will try to move to create net zero charge, like I mentioned above. This attraction and repulsion is greatly affected by distance and number of protons/electrons involved, which is why you get a magnetic field.

[plzignr]

My biggest pet peeve about sci-fi fleet battles

one of my biggest gripes in the sci-fi genre as a person who much prefers hard sci-fi than soft sci-fi is that often times they have these large scale fleet battles. Large scale ship battles in which other large ships shoot each other within visual range. Think about all those scenes from Star Wars.

Stuff like this is very fun to watch, but it has the problem often referred to as 'planes in space'. A lot of these scenes are based on scenes about WWII pilots and WWI dogfights.

You can see the parralels in the GIF above and below:

But the reason all these dogfight moves work for planes is due to physics, using the properties of gravity, air resistance, and lift to outmanuever your opponent to line up a shot while making sure your opponent can't line one up on you.

The problem with that is, in orbit, literally none of that is applicable because SPAAAAACE.

In space there is no air resistance, there is no, lift, and gravity plays a much smaller roll in the maneuverability of a craft than inertia, momentum & fuel do. So all of those manuevers don't make any sense to pull off, because a tailed vessel can just use it momentum to move in the same direction it and just turn around to fire on the one following it, and that would be if there was even an extremely unlikely scenario where two space vessels were actually within visual range.

In space there wouldn't ever be a need for vessels to be in visual range. Why? Essentially because space is BIG and EMPTY and because space is BIG and EMPTY, it means that radiation travels *exceedingly* well, at least compared to in most other mediums.

And if radiation travels *exceedingly well* then you can target your opponent from literally *astronomically* large distances.

It wouldn't make sense to have any warships or fighters like there is for warfare on a planet. Every bit of mass you add means more fuel for the vessel, which would mean less maneuverability & less actual travel distance if they operate under the same laws of physics as we do in our reality. (I give Star Wars a slight pass for the Empire because they are within the lore primarily designed for space to planet warfare & for the empire to transport an occupational ground force on various planets, the rebels have no excuse though).

Instead, you could have a variety of small rockets, that could travel farther and faster, catch up to your opponent and take them out without ever placing your own vessel at risk. This is a consequence of inertia. Very basically, with the less mass you have in the same geometric configuration, the easier it is for that thing to change directions.

If you do this the vessel you are targeting has two choices, get rid of all those rockets before they hit their own vessel, or get out of the way. As we established previously, smaller rocket, less mass, less mass more maneuverability, so getting out of the way of the rocket without electronically disabling a guidance system or something to that effect is essentially impossible anyway. The other option (a way to get rid of all the rockets before they hit the craft) is to do something like this:

By having the rockets detonate a safe distance away the vessel can be kept safe. Now this method of protection can be overwhelmed with sheer numbers if you fire more rockets than the craft can disable, you can guarantee a hit.

This however ignores once again that space is BIG and EMPTY.

again, radiation travels *very well* in space, because there's basically nothing to get in the way from where it was generated to where the target is. Meaning that the more efficient thing to do is use LASERS!

And if you are using lasers there isn't any time to actually dodge.

So since L.a.s.e.r beams travel faster than any rocket, or other propelled matter, because you know, light application by stimulated emitted radiation travels at, well the speed of light, with no cost other than the energy needed why would you use anything else?

Now granted your enemy will probably expect this and adjust thier craft design accordingly adding retroreflective surfaces but this would essentially be a band-aid. Again, space is BIG, and EMPTY. And while this means that radiation travels exceedingly well, it also means that radiation is the ***only*** method of cooling.

Radiative cooling is slooooooooooooow.

So as the heat from the laser transfers some amount of heat into their system their environment within their craft will also slowly start to heat up. So in a space battle, the thing that will kill you won't be a hole in the hull, but the heat throughout.

Just once I would like a space battle to follow that idea, something akin to this:

Imagine some poor sod, out in the depths of space, just minding thier business, then a flash of bright light occurs, all the ships alarms start blaring about system failure from heat overload. Thinking quickly the poor sod vents all the heat into one room by siphoning off some of the environmental air supply and shunting it into space. It gets down just low enough to be safe, risking it, they vent a little more air, dawning their spacesuit just in case and preparing 02 candles to get more air in the ship. The ships scanners automatically track the angle of attack and fire back blindly hoping the enemy hasn't had enough time to move from where the fires, or are a least wide enough to get hit on a wide beam. There's tense minutes that pass while the scanners continue the search for a high heat signature from a small object, at least small when compared to the blinding fire of the stars, something that must be there now after a hit like that. Thankfully the scanners pick up on the enemy heat signature, our poor sod notes the size of the enemy vessel. It radiators are deployed venting as much heat as it can into the vacuum. The enemies radiators are twice the size of their own, not good. In an exchange like this of laser fire to laser fire the enemy is clearly going to win. Time to play dead. Our sod might be poor, but they're clever. The let the 02 candles burn, slow and steady, letting the heat from it exude into the ship. All the while letting their own crafts radiators run a minimum capacity. To the enemy craft it will look like they are pulling all the stops to deal with the single shot already fired. Instead they are waiting. Biding their time. The inside of their own craft is sweltering, they can feel it through their suit now, they don't stop, steadily the keep building the heat, letting more and more air out from the candles. They haven't been fired on again, yet. That's a good sign, seems like their opponent either doesn't want to melt their own ship, or wants to preserve the one they fired on. Either way, that means the advantage of the situation has shifted. The interior ship feels like it's nearly on fire now even through the suit, still the radiators are kept at minimum capacity. It has to look like they're putting everything into cooling the ship.

The ploy pays off. The detect a new heat signature on the enemy vessel. They're on approach. They might have been Pirates, or maybe something else. Hardly matters now. Just few more minutes to go.

Main drives are tricky. It's the biggest source of heat input on any vessel, and even worse while the vessel is accelerating you can't have the radiators out. The forces from the change in momentum alone would rip most them from most ships. That's the out our sod needs.

When it becomes clear the enemy is on an intercept course with our sods ship, they finally put thier plan into action.

They dump the air. All of it. All that built up heat is thrust into the vacuum of space. The ship responds immediately, the interior feels like it just went from the near inferno of an oven to an ice-box. Our sod finally sets the cooling of the radiators to their maximum capacity of the ship. The enemy vessel cuts their main drive as soon as the see it, but it's too late for them. Our sod fires thier own laser, three quick shots at max power. a dangerous manuever in its own right, but with the ship at near freezing from dumping the air it can handle the rapid fire it just enough.

It wouldn't have been enough on its own, but with the addition of the enemy just using its main drive, it was.

Our sod finally retracts their own radiators, kicks on their main drive and begins to accelerate away. If they're lucky the enemy fired at maximum range initially, that might mean they can keep the distance between them just enough to avoid being fired on again. The nearest friendly planet is two AUs out. Our sods got the fuel to make the brachistochrone curve to get there, hopefully they can get planetside before the enemy can get in range and fire again, but that's still just a guess. A small hope a flicker in the cold void. It's still the best option they have, & they'll be damned if they don't at least try to make it.