#flight controller setup

[olivergisttv]

How to Build a DIY Drone Using Open-Source Software

Building a DIY drone using open-source software is an exciting project that allows you to learn about drone technology while customizing your own flying machine. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started:   1. Choose the Right Drone Frame The first step in building a DIY drone is selecting a frame that suits your needs. The frame holds all the components of the drone together. There are…

[doodlepede]

how to train your dragon is literally a perfectly written movie, i can literally only think of one nitpick, being: if Toothless is trapped in that cove, how was he able to escape in order to save Hiccup from the Monstrous Nightmare during the final test? So he could climb out but not fly out? How is that being trapped? answer: desperation makes you try harder. absolute nitpick

but for real, its just set up and pay off all the way through.

Setup?: Toothless can't control his flight without Hiccup's fluke. Payoff: When the fluke burns up, Toothless cant turn hard enough to dodge the Red Death's tail club.

Payoff?: Toothless ignited the Red Death's fammable gas, setting it on fire from the inside. Setup: the gas is introduced and explained several times, and Toothless literally does this trick to a Terrible Terror who tried to steal his fish, except you didnt think that was set up because it was a visual gag meant to reinforce dragon's true nature as animals rather than monsters.

Setup: After "Test Drive", Toothless makes a small fireblast, singeing Hiccup's face, leading to the setup about being not so fireproof on the inside. Payoff: Toothless protects Hiccup from the firey explosion caused by the Red Death's impact. yeah bitch that's a payoff too and you didn't even know it

Setup: "Our parent's war is about to become ours; figure out which side you're on" Payoff: the teenagers end the war the parents started, saving them all in the process. they figured out which side they were on! the side of peace!

Setup: "Unholy offspring of lightning and death itself" Payoff: Toothless' sound design, like, in general. and the visual during the final battle, when they lead the Red Death into the clouds and blast it with Toothless' bolts, it looks like lightning flashing. i just. needed to call attention to that

[virtualgirladvance]

What is your dream computer setup?

Internal hardware is just whatever is current and whatever but monitors and inputs tho I have opinions on

Wide curved main display

Two vertical displays either side

Two landscape displays on top

Split keyboard

Flight controllers always present on the sides

Hitbox in the middle

That surrounded view with a mecha cockpit vibe

[usafphantom2]

Eagle bait there was a friendly and sometimes not so friendly competition between fighter pilots and SR-71 pilots. The fighter pilots didn’t like it at all that their airplane was not as fast as the reconnaissance airplane the SR 71

SR-71 pilot Dave Peters adds some interesting and hilarious details.

‘One of the interesting discoveries from those missions, especially the Eagle Bait, was that they couldn’t even find us when everything was shut down and we told them exactly where we were.

It was then realized that the F-15 had a speed gate on their radar at 1500 kts.

We were casually warping along from 1850 to 2000. So, for them, we didn’t exist. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

We flew them fairly regularly from about 82 and they were still doing them after I retired in 86. We flew the Eagle Bait with the F-15s and Tomcat Chase with the F-14s. The 14s could find us but they couldn’t do anything until we modified and gave them times, route of flight, speed and altitude beforehand so they could have a pre-planned setup. The 15s didn’t do that well for quite some time. Another mission we flew that was interesting was to come in over the California coast at speed and altitude to give the air traffic controllers an idea of what they would see on a space shuttle approach.

‘There was some animosity at first with both the Eagles and the Tomcats because they kept accusing us of not showing up. Because we were on the same frequency with them and could listen to all the bitching because we didn’t show up. They got a little huffy because nobody told them we weren’t coming.’

But of course, the SR 71s were there they just couldn’t see them.

Thank you Dave Peters SR 71 pilot.

Rest in peace Dave,

Linda Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

[warpweftandwar]

For years I have only even lurked on social media. Reddit, Instagram, Facebook and TickTok. I never had desires beyond watching, though the ADHD rejection sensitivity also came into play. Imagining someone arguing with me, mocking me, or simply recognizing my presence would set off my fight or flight response.

Six months ago I met a Syrian man, Ahmed, who was broadcasting a TikTok live. He lived in a camp for people who had lost their homes during the war and spent his days on TikTok giving out food to the hungry children of the camp, while soliciting donations for future meals.

Initially believing this to be a scam, I took to Google, only to find a BBC article discussing this exact situation: Syrians displaced from the homes during the war, no humanitarian aid, no employment opportunities, but working with a TikTok middle man who gave them phones to broadcast from. TikTok supported this unofficial program because, for every monetary gift the creator received, TikTok kept 70% of the donation, releasing only 30% to the account holder. Great money making deal for TikTok!

Now, I can feel you rolling your eyes in disbelief at my naivety. If I heard someone else telling this story, I’d react the same way. Over time, Ahmed and I became good friends. We speak every day, share our family stories, check in on each other, and learn about the cultural differences in our lives. After 6 months of these conversations, speaking with his family and fact checking their experiences in the war (city, dates of displacement, locating their former home on Google maps) I trust these people completely.

These people have fully accepted me into their life, and I consider them true family. Let me tell you who they are…

Ahmed is 29 years old. He is who I first saw on the broadcast. He has a wife and 2 children. He lives in a large tent, hot in the summer, cold in the winter. They have a small portable gas stove, a wood stove during the winter (which burns hazelnut shells as fuel) and frequently cook their meals outside over open fire, as this is a cheaper alternative to gas for the stove.

He lives next to his younger brother, Bassam, who is also married and expecting a baby boy soon. They all have the same tent setup, each with their own wood stove, but sharing the cooking supplies and other living essentials.

Ahmed and Bassam both live next to their parents, 2 teenage brothers and 1 teenage sister. They also have 3 sisters who have married and live in other camps with their husbands’ family.

This extended family has all lived in this camp for around 8 years now. They fled their home in the midst of a battle between the Syrian regime and rebel militias who each wanted to control the area, integral to the success of either side. They saw nightmarish scenes as they ran; bodies of the dead and injured all around them. They took nothing with them as they ran. Ahmed says, “We escaped with only our souls.”

For 6 months I’ve been sending Ahmed and his family money every 2 weeks, through Western Union, since TikTok takes an excessive amount. Western Union and PayPal don‘t allow direct transfer to anyone in Syria due to the US sanctions, however there is a community of generous people in Turkey who will pickup the transferred money and meet with Ahmed to give him cash. And yes, I have confirmed that he receives the money every time.

Ahmed used to make some relatively decent money on his TikTok videos, however overtime the algorithm changed. It started banning his accounts, or simply hiding them from viewers. Donations dwindled down to nearly nothing and he can no longer feed the children of the camp, or his own family.

The money I send provides breathing room for survival, though not to a level of comfort. Food is meager, usually a breakfast off bread, olive oil and za’atar. Lunch is a larger meal of soup and bread, and dinner is sometimes, often, skipped. Meat of any kind is a rare treat, usually lamb or chicken. Eggplant, tomatoes, bread, fava beans, lentils, rice, pickles, and fresh mild green peppers.

So, welcome to my family! I hope you’ll stick around to hear more about them, their lives, and the challenges they face in a war ravaged country.

[kawaiijohn]

My computer set up is now in my room so I should be able to write for the first time since June

I have. So many ideas in my brain girl help

For context my previous setup was in the basement with 0 natural light and I would have to go up two flights of stairs to use the bathroom as someone with bad joints, fainting issues, and poor bladder control (woo dysautonomia), so just needing to take a break was impossible for me.

Which is why I haven't updated a single fuckin fic since June.

I wanna write again.

[acellcalledparadise]

That building gear thing sounds sick?? pls tell more??

Oh you saw that?? Yeah I'd be happy to talk about that AU!

I've had people tell me that parts of the setup remind them of things from the show Dungeon Meshi, I'm not fully caught up with it (just finished the anime) so I don't really know exactly how much they are similar but it's certainly a fun thing to note.

The setting of this AU is pretty similar to canon Crusades (at least for the first part) except for the addition of these "building Gears". In the AU they are referred to as "Dungeon Gears", the name coming from their labyrinthian interiors. (originally I had them be called "Incubators" based more on their purpose but after being told about the show parallels I liked the other name for them more.) These things are particularly nasty to deal with, and because of that the Order has specialized groups within its ranks that are designed to deal with these Gears if they are to pop up. (Characters like Sol and Ky can be found in these groups).

I'll separate stuff with a read more so this doesn't get too long

Allow me to go over all of the (known) information on Dungeon Gears:

These Gears are massive, with the smallest recorded being around the size of a house while the bigger ones are more modern-day skyscrapers in size.

There's no consistent "style" between Gears of this type. You could find all manner of architectural styles expressed with these things (although usually, individual Gears will stick to the same smaller amount of "aesthetic"), they can even contain various flora or other features found in nature. Some can be found burrowing deep into the earth, similar to their namesakes, others are capable of movement, dragging themselves across the earth (think: Howl's Moving Castle) to who knows what destination, some are even capable of flight. Most of those ones will simply float in place, like a monument to behold. The way the Order sees it, there's no real way to "classify" the appearance of these things given how much they can vary and instead use other features to classify something as this type of Gear.

One such feature is how both the interior and exteriors of these Gears are constantly shifting. While inside one of these Gears the halls you traverse shift almost as fastly as you can explore them. Exploring these things is a nightmare, worst case you could find that the path you were following leads to a dead end, only to then find out the way back had sealed shut as you had gone through it and without a new path randomly opening or the proper tools you are left to a fate of either starving (or more likely running out of oxygen) in your little pocket or being crushed to death as the Gear finishes filling in the hole you thought was a tunnel.

The other major feature used to classify these Gears (and probably their true purpose amongst Gears as a whole), is their ability to produce other Gears. Dungeons essentially act as spawning grounds for Gears of other types. Typically a Dungeon is capable of producing only one type of Gear, with no known link between the aesthetic of a Dungeon and the type of Gear it produces. These Gears will start showing up once the Dungeon grows big enough to start producing them (more on that later), and thus why Dungeons are a huge problem. The longer a Dungeon is left alone the more Gears it will produce and that spells a lot of problems when you're in a 100-year war with Gears as a whole.

Gears within the Dungeon seem to all be linked to a mini hivemind similar to the great one all Gears operate under as a whole. After leaving its native Dungeon, Gears get incorporated into the greater Justice command line but while inside the Dungeon Gears seem to receive directions from the Dungeon itself, it is believed that Dungeon Gear themselves while capable of controlling their "own" Gears are still under Justice's orders.

One of the biggest mysteries the Order is trying to find out is how exactly Dungeons are made. As mentioned earlier Dungeon Gears continuously "grow" with no known size cap (not like the order would want to keep one around to test anyway), but their origins are a complete mystery. What is known is that they are capable of "spawning" anywhere, without warning. They grow pretty rapidly reaching a size that's able to start producing Gears within hours, coupled with the ability to just "appear" in even human-populated areas makes this mystery high on the Order's solving list (if that makes any sense lol).

The one silver lining with all of this is that these Gears are still killable. Deep within a Dungeon at the presumed center of it, you can find what's known as "the Heart Room". This room unlike anywhere else within the Dungeon does not change and hosts the "Heart" of the Dungeon. The Heart has no distinct shape to it, it has a lot of "Veins" sticking out from it (these Veins can actually be found embedded into the walls all throughout the Dungeon. They carry this black sludge that would probably be considered the Dungeon's "blood" and is extremely hazardous to human health.) and it "beats" just like a regular heart would (although pulsates might be a more apt term). While called the Heart it also serves as the brain of the Dungeon (or at least no other organ that could be a brain has been found) once destroyed (the one doing so must be careful to avoid getting any "blood" on them) the Dungeon begins to rapidly fall apart. With it's life cut off it no longer changes but that doesn't make the rush to escape any safer. Getting out is usually a mad dash to who knows where praying that you'll find an exit before the Dungeon collapses on top of you, most of the other Gears within doing the same.

And that, for the most part, is the setting of this universe. It is believed that Justice herself is one of these types of Gear but if so her Dungeon has yet to be found. I do have an actual plot for this au too :) I didn't post it here for length reasons but if interested I'd be happy to talk more about it.

[alexandriaisburning]

+006: The Xbox Adaptive Controller is for everyone

Addendums, Archives and Appendecies is extra, off topic writing in addition to the regular CANON FIRE entries. You can support more writing like this on Patreon.

Of the several mass market options for accessibility controllers, the Xbox Adaptive controller easily leads the pack. The initial package doesn’t include much, but in exchange it packs a huge host of features, expansive remapping software and compatibility with more devices than any competitor. Alongside a dedicated accessibility development team, it’s easy to see that Microsoft has real investment in gaming accessibility. 

It’s those same features that make the Xbox Adaptive Controller a fantastic device for everyone.  Marketing and coverage of the XAC has focused on the disability angle, but there’s been little talk or curiosity about how the damn thing works, and the absolutely tremendous features of this unassuming package. If you’re like me, and have any DIY spirit, or love the bespoke controls of arcade games, the XAC should have your attention.

The Xbox Adaptive Controller is designed similar to other adaptive setups, using standard 3.5mm TRS/TRRS headphone jacks to connect external controls. One of the least documented features of this system is exactly how many options there are for switches, outside the officially branded ones. The TRS connections enable the XAC to use not only dedicated accessibility switches, but any switch that uses TRS jacks. This includes several accessories for the 8bitdo Lite SE 2.4ghz, the 8bitdo Keyboard, or even something like sustain pedals used for synthesizers. There’s also a small industry dedicated to creating accessibility switches, and if you’re handy you can even create your own out of generic switches like pushbuttons, knobs, and flick switches. 

The XAC’s headliner feature--the one that sold me on the device, and puts it above all the rest--is the ability to plug in USB controllers. One either side of the XAC are USB ports, each which maps to one half of a standard Xbox controller, allowing you to access the left stick, right stick, face buttons and triggers by plugging in two devices to combine them into a single unit. Any HID gamepad can be plugged in, though you’ll need to experiment to see which ones are recognized, and which inputs are available to be remapped, since the XAC will only recognize a select number of them. 

A costly series of individual switches can be replaced by a single controller, offering multiple inputs and alternative analog solutions such as sliders, trackpads, handheld joysticks or flight sticks. 

As an example, I built a mech cockpit setup for Armored Core by using two flight sticks and a set of pedals. Each flight stick controlled one analog stick, with the triggers and thumb buttons used to control the arm and shoulder weapons, and pedals controlling the ascent and boost functions. The two large buttons on the XAC itself acted as the scan and repair functions, two important, but auxiliary functions. 

I’ve also personally tested a few 8bitdo Switch controllers, as well as arcade sticks, which were able to be paired with the XAC as well. 

A big advantage of the XAC is that by doing this through hardware, you can store multiple control profiles on the device itself, then migrate the setup between multiple devices, including other systems. Through the use of a controller converter, I’ve been personally able to use the XAC on multiple generations of Playstations and the Switch. All without the need to use software remapping.

If playing on the Xbox or Windows, however, you do get access to Xbox Assist--formerly Copilot--which allows you to pair the XAC with additional controllers, once again being read a single unit. This allows another player to assist in activating other buttons, or use one controller as the primary device, while complimenting it with buttons on your other controller. 

I’ve used this to combine my controller with my pedal set, handling stick clicks with pedals, allowing me to sprint and melee but stepping on a switch. You could also use something like the Xbox Adaptive Joystick, and handheld joystick in the style of the Wii nunchuk, to control the primary movement, while resting another controller on a flat surface and pressing the buttons. 

It’s worth noting that Xbox Assist isn’t restricted only to the XAC, and can be used with various other Xbox controllers, including the Adaptive Joystick, 8bitdo Lite SE, or just two standard controllers. 

These options give a huge amount of flexibility to the controller, allowing you to mix and match what parts of a modern control setup work for you. Modern controllers have mostly agreed on a standard for button layouts and shapes, but at the cost of the more unorthodox options and ideas that made controllers part of the game or console experience. 

The XAC gives you ways to interface with the same games, with remapping software that makes up for the often underwhelming options built into the consoles themselves. Buttons can even be remapped on the fly by physically plugging and unplugging cords into ports, allowing you to experiment with different setups quickly. It’s totally analog, and has the same satisfaction as manually rewiring devices and circuits. 

Modern controllers are designed to be invisible. To meld into the background and allow experienced players to not think about how they control their characters. But when that doesn’t match someone’s ability or experience, the opposite can happen, turning a controller into something that fights against you. The same features that allow disabled people the flexibility to build a solution that works for them also gives everyone the option to change the way we interface with games, and build something new. 

For interested parties, I've collected more info on the XAC below:

[quirkwizard]

Do you think a Quirk based on the Super Forms from Sonic The Hedgehog could work? By that I mean a quirk that confers some abilities in its “low energy” state but after taking time to stock energy up to a certain threshold can temporarily get a huge boost to its performance? Since super forms most recognizably confer flight and damage by ramming into things, I was thinking it’s some levitation/propulsion quirk that can build something up for a huge temporary boost to speed & protection.

I'm confused about having a lower power mode. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of it being a super mode? Why not just have it be a short lived super mode-esque power up that the user can't apply that often?

Regardless, I think there is something in the concept here, but it could use some work. For starters, while I think that the "weak Qurik with sudden surge of power" could be interesting, I'm not sure it works with that setup. Because I think having the repulsion affect is too good to have a constant affect. Even if it's something minor, like floating around off the ground at high speeds and pushing people back, that's still a really useful ability. Something like this works better if it's a minor utility that's related to the super mode, like what I did with "Invigor". And if all that user needs to do is charge up and use that energy, I don't think it holds the Quirk back enough to make it. I would suggest going with another kind of dynamic, one based around the charging up enough before being able to properly use it. That and having some definitive method to charge it. Something fun you could do is have it based around momentum, the user pushes themselves faster and faster the more they move, but has issues moving and controlling themselves at high speed. And when that momentum dies, so does their power, and it requires them to build it back up, kind of like how Super Sonic worked in the older versions.

[torchiiko]

played some pokepark 1 for my sisters birthday !! its Beem a while since ive played pokepark 2 but i feeel like they Improved the controls in that one. attacking with A is so awkward!! dash attacks are like the main way to attack unless you can level up your range enough to not get hit while trying to use thunderbolt

its super interesting to see whats changed between games since im playing them in reverse order! the attractions being all over is neat. BIG fan of being able to play as your friends in attractions i think thats super fun!!obstacle courses are new to pokepark 2 it seems, bc the eeveelutions just have you play chase to befriend them in 1. items also didnt rlly exist. im glad they added some more variety to befriending pokemon in pokepark 2 bc playing chase, hide & seek, or battling Alll the time is. Repetitive. also i cant tell if the motion controls for pelippers attraction just Suck or if its smth to do with our setup bc i remember flight of fancy in 2 being better

[five-rivers]

Life's Great Lie 16

AO3

Sand swirled on the flight deck. 

“I thought I told you not to do that while I’m driving!” snapped Jazz.

“It’s an emergency.”

Jazz twisted to look at Tucker.  “What, did something go wrong with--?”

“No, that’s all fine.  This, though?”  He pointed at the alien-spewing portal.  “This is an emergency.  Backup’s still got a ways to go before they reach the portal.  I came to scout things out.”

“How long is ‘a ways?’” asked Sam. 

“I don’t know.  You know how distances can get in there.  Maybe fifteen minutes?  I can pull a couple of people over with me at a time, like with Thor here, but—”

“Thor came with you?” interrupted Jazz. 

“Yeah, he’s—What the heck, how did he do that?  He’s huge.”

“Never mind that,” said Sam.  “Are you okay to keep using the staff like that?”

“I’m fine.  I’ve been managing my jerkish urges by being low-key kind of a jerk to Valerie.”

“That doesn’t sound like managing them at all, actually.”

“I’m fine.”

He didn’t sound fine.  But then, who was?  Not Jazz. 

“How’s the shield setup going?” continued Tucker, not giving Jazz a chance to dispute his statement. 

“Not great,” said Sam.  “Romanov got ahold of one of those bikes and we’re trying to get the generators set up on nearby buildings, but—” She summarized the rest of the technical problems (explosions, enemy forces, skyscraper roofs being really far apart) with a shrug. 

It really was too bad that Loki’s portal was so far up, and that they didn’t dare bring the Ops Center closer.  Then, they could have tried to encircle the portal with the Ops Center shield. 

But the blimp was not a match for space whales.  Or whatever those things actually were.  And they were still unclear on what forces Loki had in the building. 

Apart from Danny, who, really, was more than capable of drilling a hole through an unshielded Ops Center.

“How can I—Oh, heck.  He isn’t.”

“Isn’t what?” asked Jazz, trying to see what Tucker was so upset about.  She leaned forward and flinched as a gust of hot, sandy air scraped along the back of her neck.  “I hate that.”

“There!” said Sam, pointing. 

There was someone new on the roof of Stark Tower.  Two someones.  Thor, and now Tucker. 

“Oh, no, they’re both idiots,” said Jazz.  Her dramatic, tension-filled reunion with a mind-controlled family member could wait.  Why couldn’t Thor’s?

One of the computer banks beeped.  “We have incoming,” said Sam.  “Ten o’clock.”

“I see them,” said Jazz, spotting the small formation.  But the Ops Center didn’t have any power to spare.  All it had was going into the portal and the shields. 

“Should I go out?” asked Sam. 

“No way,” said Jazz.

“I have a bazooka.  And a jetpack.”

“That’s not—”

Something small and narrow arced upward into the lead glider, then exploded.   

“Oh, yeah,” said Sam.  “I’d forgotten about arrow boy.”

.

“Loki!  Turn off the Tesseract or I’ll destroy it!”

“Brother!” exclaimed Loki.  “Come, drink with me!  For the dawn of a new and more balanced age!”

Danny did not like that emphasis on balanced.  It sounded like something out of someone else’s mouth.   And Loki had said it, or something like it, before, to Iron Man, hadn’t he?  But Danny had other concerns at the moment.  “Hey,” he said, by way of greeting.  “So, before we start, is he drunk enough to be actually impaired?  He keeps telling me Asgardians are different and all, but I’m not super clear if he’s actually an Asgardian, like, species-wise, culturally, obviously, I mean.  Is he drunk?”

“What?” asked Thor. 

“Look, I haven’t slept in…  I just haven’t.  So.  Words.  Forget them.”  He pointed at Loki.  “Drunk?”

“I’m not drunk,” said Loki.  “I am merely showing Thor some hospitality.”

Thor scowled at them and turned his hammer on the Tesseract.  Naturally, it bounced off the shield, and Thor flew backward several meters. 

“Should I have warned him?” asked Danny.  He was sort of annoyed that Thor hadn’t at least answered the question about alcohol. 

“It wouldn’t have made any difference,” said Loki, draining another shot of alcohol.  “He never listens to me when I tell him things, anyway.”

“That might be because you’re sort of unhinged.”

“Oh, yes, so unlike SHIELD and Fury, using an infant as a soldier.”

A gust of sand blew over the roof, revealing Tucker. 

“Oh, hi, Tuck!” said Danny, waving.  “Here all by yourself?”

Tucker looked up, red flashing behind his glasses as he wobbled.  “A son of Ra never walks alone.  Wadjet rests upon my brow, Nekhbet shelters me with her wings.”

Oh, that didn’t sound good. 

“Finally,” said Loki.  “Someone who can give me a decent fight.”  He threw the glass aside and walked forward, only to be stopped by Thor. 

“No, brother,” said Thor.  “If you fight, you fight with me.”

“Well, sounds like it’s just you and me, then,” said Danny, pleasantly unsure about his odds against Tucker given their respective current states.  Ice crackled under his feet even as the air grew dry and desert-like.  To their side, Loki and Thor fought with more traditional means. 

Captain America and Black Widow zoomed by the tower on a stolen chitauri glider.  Both Danny and Loki noticed at the same time and turned to fire – Danny hoping Tucker would take advantage of the distraction, Loki for who knew what, considering he was still in the middle of a rather nasty sibling brawl, complete with hair pulling on both ends.

Thor tackled Loki and the bolt from the scepter missed.  Danny’s ectoblast didn’t.

.

It was only a slight graze, one that barely made the chitauri bike shudder, but it must have gone through something important, because although they weren’t in freefall, Steve and Natasha soon found themselves in a steep spiral.

Steve prepared to grab Natasha and jump.  Bleeding off even a little momentum meant a lot in these situations. 

But before they got close enough to the ground to do so, sand blasted up, buoying them up with enough force for Natasha to get more control and set them on the street in one piece even as individual grains of sand scored lines in their protective gear and sometimes their skin.  The sandstorm died down, revealing a street full of enemies, Stark Tower looming high above them, and other bikes hurtling towards the ground and exploding into fireballs.  The sandstorm had, apparently, been too much for them.  The street itself was, and there was no good way to say this, brutally shredded.  Not a single window on the block still had glass in it.  Was that where all the sand had come from?

The portal disgorged another huge creature, flanked by fliers.  Steve could spot what looked like hundreds of soldiers on it, made tiny by distance. 

“Well, plan A is screwed,” said Natasha, as they prepared to fight.  “What now?”

Steve touched his communicator – the Fenton Phone – then turned to slam a chitauri soldier into the ground.  He tossed the weapon to Natasha.  “Fentons,” he said, “we’ve been shot down.  Can you make a shield around the portals with the generators we’ve already dropped?”

“No can do, Cap!” shouted Jack Fenton.  “Any shield we could make right now would miss it by a mile!  Geometry’s all wrong!”

Steve looked up the tower again, casually deflecting an energy blast from one of the Chitauri.

“What’re you thinking?” asked Natasha. 

“What if we got some of the generators up on top of Stark Tower?”

“That might work,” said Maddie Fenton.  “We’re going to have to do some very fast and dirty math to get everything working, but I think it might work…”

There were screams – civilians – down the street, and Steve’s whole body twitched towards them.

“Give me the generators,” said Natasha, acquiring another weapon as her first one seemed to run out of charge.  “You go.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.  Given how big Stark Tower is, and how many people Loki probably had, sneaking through that place is more my thing, anyway.”

“And I can give you some tips!” said Stark, who had, of course, been listening in.

“Alright,” said Steve, already planning on how best to organize a civilian retreat.  He tossed the pack of shield generators to Natasha, who caught them easily. 

“Don’t die!” she said. 

“Don’t plan on it!”

.

Tucker jerked his staff sideways with a gasp, and that was enough of an opening for Danny.  He stepped forward, smoothly, winter in his wake, sliding past the not-quite-real vulture and snake that had faded into being around Tucker. 

Duulaman had given Danny a lot of trouble the first time around, throwing constructs in his path and warping reality as he saw fit.  But there was a lot to be said about experience. 

He grabbed Tucker’s wrist and squeezed.  The snake sunk its teeth into Danny’s shoulder.  They all hissed.  Danny looked into Tucker’s red eyes, and wondered if the color of his eyes was just as jarring to Tucker. 

Then, the red flared brighter and Tucker—

Tucker dropped the scepter.  The red in his eyes vanished immediately. 

“No, no, no, I can’t do that,” said Tucker, whose skin had taken on a clammy, sickly cast.  “No, nope, not doing that, oh my gosh—”

Danny grabbed the scepter and tossed it over the edge of the building.  Which was… okay, that could have gone better.  

“Sorry,” said Danny.

“Crap,” said Tucker, but he wasn’t a threat any longer, so Danny let him go.  He had his orders. 

Protect Loki. 

“Loki!” shouted Thor, even as Danny pushed him away and called up a shield.  “Look at this! Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?”

“It’s too late,” said Loki, voice cracking.  “It’s too late to stop it.  Any of it.”

“The army isn’t ours,” reminded Danny, helpfully, looking back.  He could see the knife between Loki’s fingers. 

The sounds of battle seemed to swell.  The shadow of one of the huge space whales passed overhead. 

“Get me out of here,” whispered Loki.

“Got it,” said Danny, and he pulled them both off the side of the building. 

.

Tucker didn’t know how much more of this his heart could take.  First, Captain America and Black Widow going down, then the sudden fear that he’d killed them with that glass sandstorm, then Danny getting the scepter from him and tossing it off the roof, and now Danny and Loki were skydiving without parachutes.

Please let them not have pancaked on the ground.  He knew Danny could tap his flight a little, even in human form, but there was still that fear.

“Call back your staff!” called Thor.  “We must go!”

“Wh—I don’t know what you can do with your hammer, but I can’t just call back that thing,” said Tucker.  “It’s probably broken into a million pieces on the sidewalk by now!”  And good riddance, honestly.  He could still feel something in the back of his head.  Something nasty. 

“Have you ever tried?  Tools like that tend to return to their rightful owners,” said Thor, taking a few steps towards him.  “I do not pretend to know what you are going through with this ‘past life’ of yours, but you can control it.  Just as Banner controls his anger, or any mage of my people controls the power that flows through them.  And you must.  This city depends on us.”

“Oh, no pressure, then,” said Tucker. 

“Good man.”  Thor patted him on the shoulder and then jumped off the building.  Great!  Great.  It wasn’t like there was any other way for him to get off this roof, what with Loki’s other forces in the building.  He was stuck on the roof alone!

“Ughhhh.”

Or maybe not so alone.  He pulled his emergency lipstick out of his pocket.  Not the best weapon against humans – and he had no idea what it would do to aliens – but it was better than nothing.  And how arrogant had the staff made him, that he didn’t think to get something more robust from the Ops Center before leaving? 

Near the portal device, an old man was sitting up, holding his head.  “Ugh, oh, no.  Oh, no.”  He stared up at the portal in awe and horror. 

“Hey,” said Tucker. 

The man jumped.  “Who’re you?”

“Who’re you?”

They stared at each other for a moment. 

“… are you pointing a tube of lipstick at me?”

He had pretty good eyesight for such an old guy. 

“It’s a deadly laser,” said Tucker.  Well.  It was a laser, and it did have an association with death, via ghosts, so.  It wasn’t like he was lying.  “Are you one of Loki’s people?  Did you help make this?”

“I—Not of my own will.”  The man got to his feet shakily.  “I was—The scepter.  You can’t—You can’t protect against yourself.”

“I know the feeling,” said Tucker.  “You know any way to shut it off?”

The man nodded, slowly.  “Yes.  Yes, we did.”

“You and Danny?”

“All of us.  Loki…  There’s something very wrong with Loki.”

“Cool.  So.  How do we do it?”

“We need Loki’s staff.”

.

After they’d fallen a few stories, Danny flipped them into the building.  Whatever Tucker had done had taken out all the glass, leaving Stark Tower, with its ultra-modern design, missing much of its outer walls.  Loki landed easily, which maybe, maybe supported his position that he wasn’t drunk. 

Maybe. 

He also caught Danny by the arm when he stumbled.

“What’s wrong with you?” he snapped. 

“Uh.  Not sleeping in days.  What’s wrong with you?”

Loki scoffed.  “Hide us,” he ordered. 

Danny turned them invisible.

“So… What now?”

“I should be leading this army,” said Loki, looking out into the city, his eyes slightly unfocused even as Thor swooped down from the roof and back out into battle.  “I should be directing them—They should be hunting down these heroes, not wasting time with humans that aren’t even warriors.”

Danny swallowed.  Loki was right – right both ways, actually.  The way the chitauri were fighting was stupid, but it wasn’t stupid enough.  Fewer people would get hurt if they were focused on people who could take it.  Except…  “You do know it isn’t your army, right?  You do—What happens,” Danny tried, a bit desperately, “when your boss comes through that portal?”

Loki froze.  His breathing went shallow.  “No, no, no,” he said.  “That was not our bargain.  I will deliver the Tesseract and the scepter to him.  He has no reason… no reason…” 

“What did he do to you?” pushed Danny.  If he knew it was something bad, then maybe…

Loki shook his head.  “I need to take command.”  His voice was flat, lifeless. 

“Okay,” said Danny.  “Elevator or stairs?”

Green light flared from above, and they both strode to the edge of the floor to look up. 

.

“We’ve got increased energy influx, kiddos!” said Jack over the Ops Center intercom.  “Get ready to adjust for momentum bleed-off, Jazzypants!”

“Right, right, right,” said Jazz, making sure she had a good grip on the controls.  If this wound up being a thing where they had codenames printed in the newspaper, and hers wound up being Jazzypants, she’d be committing some crimes. 

“Wait, what does he mean momentum bleed-off?” asked Sam, who had noticed what controls Jazz had and was now buckling herself in. 

“Ever notice that you slow down when you go through a portal?”

“Sped up a few times, too.”

“Well, that energy goes somewhere, so—”

The Ops Center lurched, and Jazz steadied it in the air, running the engines just enough to keep them in place.  The anchor was all very well and good, but it had limits, too. 

A familiar figure, smaller than the space whales but, but still huge, with a weapon held in each of her four hands, emerged from the portal, trailing dozens of smaller glowing dots. 

“Yes!” shouted Sam.  “They made it!”

And then the shield cut out. 

“Uh, we might have underestimated the juice the portal would take when actively transmitting.  Just a bit.”

[loverducky]

WAIT CAN I HEAR MORE ABT THE DREAM??? HDJKFGJCFV PLS IT SOUNDS SO FUN!! (only if you wanna share ofc :3)

OF COURSE i love talking about my buckwild dreams i think it’s so funny (it’s gonna be a little scattered because i didn’t write it down as soon as i woke up and instead immediately got on tumblr LMAO. also cause idk how to describe some of the context 💀)

some notes before we start are that my dreams are always a little odd because i always have some level of agency in them by way of some weird form of lucid dreaming. i have a ton of reoccurring dreams that i forget in my daily life but as soon as i’m in the dream i can like. recognize the setup and the expected plot and things i’ve done last time (because the dreams’ plot always starts from the beginning which allows me to make the “correct” choices, as long as i can remember them lmao).

also i say weird form of lucid dreaming because it’s not like. full lucidity? i can’t control the plot entirely or like. change too much or else i’ll wake up. but what i can do is give myself powers (usually flight) or sometimes straight up will stuff to happen (which we will see an example of in this dream, which is below the cut because it got long ;-;)

so the basic premise is that there’s like this big mansion across the street, right, and there’s like this rebellion or something going on cause the people that live inside the mansion are terrible. except the rebellion has spies on the inside that haven’t been heard from in a while. the dream starts with me dicking around with my powers (flight and size manipulation (aka making myself very tiny like a fairy)), but eventually i overhear some rebel plans and decide to help but like. without telling them. (i think in the past i have told them but it leads to all of us getting captured. so.)

the mansion itself is like. the pinnacle of a dream space, i could not describe this place to you if i tried. there’s so many rooms and passageways and stairwells and conscious me does not know how any of it connects, but dream me is fairly familiar with the space by now and so knows for the most part what moves to make to stay hidden. i say for the most part because at one point i alert the members of the household that i’m there by shutting a vent grate at the top of a stairwell (on purpose), but then i go down the stairs too soon because i thought there was a hiding spot (it’s like a spiral staircase and so i turn myself tiny and try to hide in this like. missing brick hole at the bottom of the stairwell that’s next to the door, except i’m glaringly obvious to anyone who looks down and it’s too late to move, so i try to manifest invisibility for me except it doesn’t work </3)

so that guy finds me, scoops me up, and then i black out and when i come to, i’m in weird servant outfit in the mansion’s dining room? i know from experience that a) any mistake i make in this role will be punished accordingly by the. idk what to call her but she was basically like Head Maid? and so i’m constantly very polite to the woman i’m serving (i think she was like. a princess?). she was very nice and she was constantly like “you don’t have to keep asking to do specific things” except i Did or else Bad Things would happen to me.

eventually i escaped that situation and started exploring the mansion again, this time with the ultimate goal of finding those missing rebel people; when i get caught snooping around, i’m confronted by the cruel Head Maid and the matriarch of the mansions’s family. through some bullshittery, i’m able to convince the matriarch that in the competition to Become head maid, the current head maid cheated, and that the role should be assigned to me instead. (in previous renditions of the dream the maid competition was part of it which is how i knew to say that lmao)

this at last grants me the freedom to walk around and find the people i’m looking for in this one section of the attic i think? and this time i manage to actually smuggle the rebels out by using my size changing magic to make them all tiny, and having them crawl into an envelope that also has a letter of an admission of guilt or whatever and hide that in my uniform (i think it was by sheer force of my will that none of them got crushed/died LMAO). and then because i’m head maid i could literally walk to a side part of the mansion and sneak out and return to the rebel base.

the rebel base was like. a small warehouse with a patio, and as soon as the mansion was out of sight the genre of the dream changed LMAO. like we got into the warehouse and i set all the people back to their normal size and all of a sudden it was like a big backyard party (i think it was originally like a celebration of the mansion family’s defeat) where i had to stop the rowdier guests from coming into the warehouse (one guy mooned me which was quite rude)

and then from there the dream started getting weirder until it was like. oh fuck there’s elemental dragons and anime enemies attacking us now, we rebels must fight them, and so that’s where the big multi fandom crossover happened. the people i remember most from that section were a brief mention of you and hiori alongside sora and isagi, but the main focus of my fight was helping lumine genshin impact (who was named lux for some reason? like it was lumine but she was also lux from league of legends???) fight inside the nature dragon against some dude who was like vaguely poison ivy themed who wanted to use her sun/radiant powers to overgrow civilization

and that was around where i woke up LMAO

[overandunderland]

WindWings

An Underland invention.

"Try saying that three times fast .😒" - Gregor, Probably.

Overall concept: an aerodynamic symbiotic sail system for fliers and their riders. Currently in testing mode.

WindWings is a revolutionary sail system designed by an Underland inventor, to harness the power of wind currents in the vast caverns of the Underland. The system aims to reduce the energy expenditure of bats during flight, thereby enhancing their endurance and efficiency. This innovation not only aids in transportation but also in military and scouting operations where prolonged flight is critical.

Design:

The WindWings system consists of lightweight, flexible sails made from durable, breathable fabric sourced from Overland parachute materials. These materials are known for their strength and lightness, ideal for creating minimal drag while maximizing wind capture.

Attachment mechanism:

1. Harness System: Each bat wears a specially designed harness that fits snugly around its body without restricting movement. This harness is made from soft yet sturdy materials to ensure comfort and durability. The harness features attachment points along the spine and sides of the bat.

2. Sail Attachment: The sails are attached to the harness via quick-release clips that allow easy deployment and retraction of the sails. These clips are positioned strategically to distribute the force evenly across the bat's body and prevent discomfort or injury.

3. Control Lines: Thin, strong control lines connect the edges of the sails to the rider’s hands through a lightweight pulley system attached to the harness. This setup allows the rider to adjust the sail's angle and tension in response to changing wind conditions and desired speed or direction.

Functionality: When deployed, the WindWings catch and utilize the wind currents in the Underland's cavernous spaces, aiding the bats in maintaining lift and propelling forward with less flapping, conserving their energy.

The sails can be quickly retracted into a folded position along the harness when not in use or when maneuvering through tighter spaces where wind assistance is impractical.

The system is designed to be aerodynamic, ensuring that even when the sails are not in use, they do not hinder the bat’s natural flying capabilities.

It will require a further intense coordination of training between fliers and humans.

Feel free to add or extrapolate or anything to it. 😅

[usafphantom2]

Eagle bait there was a friendly and sometimes not so friendly competition between fighter pilots and SR-71 pilots. The fighter pilots didn’t like it at all that their airplane was not as fast as the reconnaissance airplane the SR 71

SR-71 pilot Dave Peters adds some interesting and hilarious details.

‘One of the interesting discoveries from those missions, especially the Eagle Bait, was that they couldn’t even find us when everything was shut down and we told them exactly where we were.

It was then realized that the F-15 had a speed gate on their radar at 1500 kts.

We were casually warping along from 1850 to 2000. So, for them, we didn’t exist.

We flew them fairly regularly from about 82 and they were still doing them after I retired in 86. We flew the Eagle Bait with the F-15s and Tomcat Chase with the F-14s. The 14s could find us but they couldn’t do anything until we modified and gave them times, route of flight, speed and altitude beforehand so they could have a pre-planned setup. The 15s didn’t do that well for quite some time. Another mission we flew that was interesting was to come in over the California coast at speed and altitude to give the air traffic controllers an idea of what they would see on a space shuttle approach.

‘There was some animosity at first with both the Eagles and the Tomcats because they kept accusing us of not showing up. Because we were on the same frequency with them and could listen to all the bitching because we didn’t show up. They got a little huffy because nobody told them we weren’t coming.’

But of course, the SR 71s were there they just couldn’t see them.

Thank you Dave Peters SR 71 pilot.

Rest in peace day they died in Sept 2024 he had cancer. He is deeply missed by the SR-71 community and myself.😔

Linda Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

[etanimeclass]

Various Thoughts on Sword Art Online

I’ll be honest this is the show I’ve been least excited to get to in this class.

If I can be even more honest though this game would kick ass if it were real. I’ve got plenty of experience with VR games and something this immersive would be incredible.

I want to compare this system to VR a bit though. Current VR is limited to controlling only your head and hands, games that are built around lateral movement often are built with Joystick controls in mind. Games built around combat are limited greatly by the fact that your legs aren’t tracked at all and cannot be responsibly tracked considering your physical body is still in your living room where you can kick poor bystanders (or a wall).

What I mean to say is that in our current world, VR is already used for training in fields like medicine and sometimes used in military applications. When I first saw full body combat tracking, I thought that this technology would realistically be applied immediately to military training. But now when I think about it, hand-to-hand combat training isn’t exactly expensive like flight training or as potentially fatal as medical training, of which both are adequately simulated without the sci fi full consciousness upload seen here. While the tech may seem revolutionary, I can only foresee it having significant implications for leisure.

While the death game depicted in this show is a fantastical depiction of malicious use of the technology by its creators, were the tech real it would almost certainly be absorbed into our advertising hell.

Klein better not die I love this guy.

I am quite fond of Asuna.

Back to things approaching serious thought, the society formed in the game is amazingly civil. I like to tie this to the players’ identities being revealed. Anonymity breeds nasty behavior, but the flipside of this is that when people are truly together, they’ll be prone to cooperate.

The show has a strong theme of things not being as they seem, such as the setup of a revolutionary video game being turned battle royale, and with Yui’s identity. This show is the horror of escapism turning into a new form of entrapment. In a less violent way this has occurred with the internet. What once was a frontier of personal blogs has become owned and monetized by some of the most powerful companies in existence.

Kirito and Asuna share a cute little nuclear family. Though it’s most certainly not directly propaganda, the depiction of their family is so cute and perfect I view it as pushing the neoliberal family ideals of people as young as Kirito and Asuna raising children for the benefit of society. Shinzo Abe would’ve approved of this anime for sure.

Despite the social context in which it exits, this romance is really cute definitely my favorite part of the show.

[retphienix]

Oh hell yeah that feels rewarding as hell to do every single time :D

Specifically- overcoming a challenge by sitting down and thinking on it for a bit until a breakthrough build comes to mind- THAT never gets old :)

Last night I thought that I could probably overcome Eternity Betsy if I threw my entire build out and tried something else. What I didn't think of then, but I did think of first thing today, was what if I tried something I don't think I've ever done a single time in my playtime of Terraria (modded or not).

Let's actually use a mount lol

So last night my "breakthrough" idea was to try abusing a wizard empowered Spectre enchantment. The idea being that I can avoid dying long enough for the spectre balls to heal me, so I can probably outlast her.

I decided to slap the health regen armor combo on top for some extra wiggle room- I tried using the armor + shiny stone last night with the turtle enchantment to "middling but not good enough" success because for those unaware- part of Eternity mode's rebalance is MEGA nerfing strategies like that lol

In base game (and most mods) you can get some mileage out of using this set + shiny stone and just tanking in place. Eternity makes it so taking damage of any kind MEGA drops your health regen and it sloooooooowly refills to your normal rate.

Maybe you can overcome this rebalance adjustment by abusing like palladium weapons (which get health regen on hit) and slapping the palladium enchantment (same effect) together? But I haven't tested that, in part because using palladium weapons at this point would be a bad idea (and their reach isn't exactly good so their impact on this fight would probably be crap).

ANYWAY.

I slapped on the health regen armors, then I realized that I could probably make a smart accessory slot trade if I crafted the valhalla enchantment and coupled that with the witch mount

The thought being I use the mount as my form of flight, it'll "most likely" be slightly easier to dodge some of the attacks since it's normal flight controls instead of abusing powerful jumps like my normal setup (though in this fight the jumps were performing pretty damn well), but more importantly it'll free up a slot which I can slap Valhalla in to make the mount even more reliable as mobility AND buffing my healing from my potion + the spectre orbs (maybe? I don't actually know but that was part of my thought process).

And the stat buffs- I figured the new slot could be used for a variety of things, but Valhalla would both improve my mobility AND defense AND potentially buff my spectre strategy, so I went with that :)

also it gave me a dash I did not know it did and wish I had noticed because that would have been useful but it's okay lol

It worked- it was MILES easier than last night's attempts. It took 3 tries I think? But it got really close on every try and was mostly me figuring out how I wanted to avoid each attack pattern with the broom instead of my jumps I'm used to.

Sick :D

also I used Terra Blade + xeno staff as main damage stuff, but whatever, mobility and proper accessories were my main build focus

also also I tested if the spectre heal counted for the valhalla enchant "increased healing effect" effect and it does not appear so, worked out anyway :)