#galaxy web tech

[galaxywebtech]

The Best Website design company in Noida-Galaxy Web Tech

Elevating Businesses through Creative Web Design: Galaxy Web Tech -The Best Website Design Company in Noida Service like web development, website promotion, SEO & SMO, For more information, visit our website at www.galaxywebtech.com

[galaxyweb]

3 Predictions for Web Design in 2024

As we move toward the near future, this article highlights the primary concepts underpinning web design trends for 2024.

As a professional Design Agency in Canada, Galaxy Web Tech has been in the market for over 10 years. During this time, we have seen trends rapidly fizzle out, while other trends are established and sustained. So, based on our own experience, we present our predictions for 2024 for web designers who will be essential for growing businesses.

               The future of website design and its trends

Technological advancements, evolving user behavior and emerging design trends shape the future of web design.

Here, we present the key predictions for web designers that will shape the industry over the next year.

Voice Search

Backed by research from Statista, a significant increase is expected to reach 8.4 billion voice assistants in use worldwide by 2024. Additionally, voice recognition and search will likely become essential elements within web design.

Evolving User Patterns

The trajectory of user behavior is moving towards increasing reliance on voice search. The growing adoption of virtual assistants like Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa for online information retrieval puts web designers at a crossroads. They should optimize their platform to cater to voice search queries.

Enhanced User Experience

Voice recognition technology provides the ability to enhance user experiences by enabling voice-powered interactions with websites. This innovation eliminates the need for traditional typing routines. This is important for users with disabilities and users who face challenges when using a keyboard or touch screen.

Novel Design Parameters

Web design strategies need to change to utilize voice recognition and voice search. Designers should consider how clearly their websites respond to voice queries. They will look for ways to optimize their platform for relevant voice search keywords.

Pathways for innovative efforts

Designers can explore options such as incorporating voice-activated navigation or other voice-responsive features into their products. This opens up new ways to increase user engagement.

Virtual and Augmented Realities

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies in web design can significantly enhance user experiences. They open the door to the following new possibilities:

Enriching Immersion

VR and AR elements in web design provide unique immersive experiences. These elements go beyond the limitations of traditional 2D interfaces. When integrating these elements, designers foster user engagement, delivering captivating and deeply engaging experiences.

Interactive narrative creation

VR and AR weave stories in a visually interactive and entertaining way. With their help, users delve deeper into the content, discover it and interact with it more deeply.

Advanced Product Visualization

With these technologies, users access incredibly realistic and complex product visualizations. Imagine an online resource that allows drivers to try a new color or print on their vehicle before customizing the car. This way, the driver can make a more informed decision, increasing the likelihood of ordering a service.

Educational and training progress

VR and AR are powerful tools to enhance educational and training experiences. They provide users with an immersive and interactive learning experience.

“Be the first to embrace the hottest trends in your industry. Let`s have a talk.”

                      3. Simplicity in design

The upcoming prediction for web designers includes minimalism. Web design embraces simplicity and clean aesthetics. This approach is highly beneficial in the following business scenarios:

Enhanced User Experience

Adopting a minimalist and non-bulky design, it leads to a streamlined interface and seamless content discovery. It is essential for mobile users who need ample screen space and fast connectivity.

Fast loading time

The simplicity of the design contributes to speeding up loading times. Accessing websites on slow internet or handheld devices is an important aspect to consider. Designers ensure fast and seamless website loading by simplifying the layout and minimizing on-page elements.

Reinforced brand identity

Embracing minimalism enhances brand identity as designers promote a consistent, recognizable and memorable visual language. They achieve harmony through a limited color palette and typography.

Enhanced Accessibility

Designers create user-friendly websites naturally by avoiding complex layouts and using precise language. It caters to a diverse user base and makes digital products accessible to all audiences.

Summary

The predictions for web designers discussed in this article reflect key trends in the industry. Therefore, working on these points will bring many benefits to your business. So, take some time to evaluate whether your business could use some of these design innovations.

Here at Galaxy Web Tech, we are constantly ready to learn about the latest developments. In a business context, each trend presents different challenges that companies can address.

If you are ready to welcome change, do not hesitate to contact us. Together we will take this journey forward through partnership.

[maypop-the-dragon]

another idea, because infodumping

I thought of a clever way text styling could work on a social media site. I want this site to work without CSS or JavaScript, as a challenge to myself, as a novelty, and to cater to security-obsessed people.

Styling other than bold and italic would be represented by the legacy HTML <font> tag. For example:

<font face="monospace" color="lime">hacker text_</font>

The correct, on-brand styles would be defined separately in the common CSS. For example:

font[color="lime"] { color: #2F1; } font[face="monospace"] { font-family: "Roboto Mono", monospace; }

Benefits of this approach:

semantic and compact HTML

easy to edit styling options since they are all in the common CSS

...which also means the HTML is the same for all color themes

styling works with CSS turned off

support for caveman browsers

users with absurdly slow internet can still see the styling before the CSS finishes loading

[galaxywebtechh]

Best Web Development Services in USA

GalaxyWebTech provides website development companies in the USA to help businesses establish a powerful online presence. GalaxyWebTech’s team of experts specialize in producing aesthetically pleasing yet user-friendly websites that are search engine optimized.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The future of Amazon coders is the present of Amazon warehouse workers

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in BURBANK with WIL WHEATON TONIGHT (Mar 13), and in SAN DIEGO at MYSTERIOUS GALAXY on Mar 24. More tour dates here.

My theory of the "shitty technology adoption curve" holds that you can predict the future impact of abusive technologies on you by observing the way these are deployed against people who have less social power than you:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/11/the-shitty-tech-adoption-curve-has-a-business-model/

When you have a new, abusive technology, you can't just aim it at rich, powerful people, because when they complain, they get results. To successfully deploy that abusive tech, you need to work your way up the privilege gradient, starting with people with no power, like prisoners, refugees, and mental patients. This starts the process of normalization, even as it sands down some of the technology's rough edges against their tender bodies. Once that's done, you can move on to people with more social power – immigrants, blue collar workers, school children. Step by step, you normalize and smooth out the abusive tech, until you can apply it to everyone – even rich and powerful people. Think of the deployment of CCTV, facial recognition, location tracking, and web surveillance.

All this means that blue collar workers are the pioneering early adopters of the bossware that will shortly be tormenting their white-collar colleagues elsewhere in the business. It's as William Gibson prophesied: "The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed" (it's pooled up thick and noxious around the ankles of blue-collar workers, refugees, mental patients, etc).

Nowhere is this rule more salient than in Big Tech firms. Tech companies have thoroughly segregated workforces. Delivery drivers, customer service reps, data-labelers, warehouse workers and other "green badge," low-status workers are the testing ground for their employer's own disciplinary technology, which monitors them down to the keystroke, the eye-movement, and the pee break. Meanwhile, the "blue badge" white-collar coders get stock options, gourmet cafeterias, free massages, day care and complimentary egg-freezing so they can delay fertility. Companies like Google not only use separate entrance for their different classes of workers – they stagger their shifts so that the elite workers don't even see their lower-status counterparts.

Importantly, almost none of these workers – whether low-status or high – are unionized. Tech union density is so thin, it's almost nonexistent. It's easy to see why elite tech workers wouldn't bother with unionizing: with such fantastic wages and so many perks, why endure the tedium of meetings and memos? But then there's the rest of the workers, who are subjected to endless "electronic whipping" by bossware and who take home wages that look like pocket change when compared to the tech division's compensation. These workers have every reason to unionize, living as they do in the dystopian future of labor.

At Amazon warehouses, workers are injured at three times the rate of warehouse workers at competing firms. They are penalized for "time off task" (like taking a piss break). They are made to stand in long, humiliating body-search lines when they go on- and off-shift, hours every week, without compensation. Variations on this theme play out in other blue-collar sectors of the Amazon empire, like Amazon delivery drivers and Whole Food shelf-stockers.

Those workers have every reason to unionize, and they have done their damndest, but Amazon has defeated worker union drives, again and again. How does Amazon win these battles? Simple: they cheat. They illegally fire union organizers:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/31/reality-endorses-sanders/#instacart-wholefoods-amazon

And then they smear unions to the press and to their own workers with lies (that subsequently leak):

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/03/socially-useless-parasite/#christian-smalls

They spend millions on anti-union tech, spying on workers and creating "heatmaps" that let them direct their anti-union efforts to specific stores and facilities:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/21/all-in-it-together/#guard-labor-v-redistribution

They make workers use an official chat app, and then block any messages containing forbidden words, like "fairness," "grievance" and "diversity":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/05/doubleplusrelentless/#quackspeak

That's just the tip of the iceberg. A new investigation by Northwestern University's Teke Wiggin draws on worker interviews and FOIA requests to the NLRB to assemble a first-of-its-kind catalog of Amazon's labor-disciplining, union-busting tactics:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23780231251318389

Disciplining labor and busting unions go hand in hand. It's a simple equation: the harder it is for your workers to form a union, the worse you can treat them without facing labor reprisals, because individual workers' options are limited to a) quitting or b) sucking it up, while unionized workers can grieve, sue, and strike.

At the core of Amazon's labor discipline technology is "algorithmic management," which is exactly what it sounds like: replacing middle managers with software that counts your keystrokes, watches your eyeballs, or applies a virtual caliper to some other metric to decide whether you're a good worker or a rotten apple:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/26/hawtch-hawtch/#you-treasure-what-you-measure

Automation theory describes two poles of workplace automation: centaurs (in which workers are assisted by technology) and "reverse-centaurs" (in which workers provide assistance to technology):

https://pluralistic.net/2021/03/19/the-shakedown/#weird-flex

Amazon is a reverse-centaurism pioneer. Take the delivery drivers whose every maneuver, eyeball movement, and turn signal is analyzed and inevitably, found wanting, as workers seek to satisfy impossible quotas that can't even be met if you pee in a bottle instead of taking toilet breaks:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/20/release-energy/#the-bitterest-lemon

Then there's the warehouse workers who are also tormented with impossible, pisscall-annihilating quotas. Some of these workers are fitted with haptic wristbands that buzz to tell them they're being too slow at picking up an item and dropping it into a box, pushing them to faster, joint-destroying paces that account for Amazon's enduring position as the most worker-maiming warehouse employer in the nation:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/05/la-bookseller-royalty/#megacycle

In his paper, Wiggin does important work connecting these "electronic whips" to Amazon's arsenal of traditional union-busting weapons, like "captive audience" meetings where workers are forced to sit through hours of anti-union indoctrination. For Wiggin, bossware tools aren't just a stick to beat workers with – they're also a carrot that can be used to diffuse a worker's outrage ahead of a key union vote.

Algorithmic management isn't just software that wrings more work out of workers – it's software that replaces managers. By surveilling workers – both on the job and in social media spaces (like subreddits) where workers gather to talk, Amazon can tune the "electronic whip," reducing quotas and easing the pace of work so that workers view their jobs more favorably and are more receptive to anti-union propaganda.

This is "twiddling" – exploiting the digital flexibility of a system to "twiddle the knobs" governing its business logic, changing everything from prices to wages, search rankings to recommendations, in realtime, for every customer and worker:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

Twiddling combines surveillance data with flexible business logic to create an unbeatable house advantage. If you're an Amazon shopper, you get twiddled all the time, as Amazon replaces the best matches for your searches with paid results. If you buy that first product result, you'll pay an average of 29% more than the best match for your search:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/06/attention-rents/#consumer-welfare-queens

Worker-side twiddling is even more dystopian. When a nurse is assigned a shift by an "Uber for nurses" app, the app checks whether the worker has overdue credit card bills, which trigger lower wages (on the theory that an indebted worker is a desperate worker):

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/18/loose-flapping-ends/#luigi-has-a-point

When it comes to union-busting, Amazon's found a new use for twiddling: lessening the pace of work, which Wiggin calls "algorithmic slack-cutting." The important thing about algorithmic slack-cutting is that it's only temporary. The algorithm that reduces your work-load in the runup to a union vote can then dial the pace of work up afterward, by small, random increments that are below the threshold at which they register on the human sensory apparatus. They're not so much boiling the frog as poaching it.

Meanwhile, Amazon gets to flood the zone with anti-union messages, including mandatory messages on the app that assigns your shifts – a captive audience meeting in every pocket.

Between social media surveillance and on-the-job surveillance, Amazon has built a powerful training set for algorithms designed to crush workplace democracy. That's how things go for Amazon's warehouse workers and delivery drivers, and the shelf-stockers at Whole Foods.

But of course, the picture is very different for Amazon's techies, who enjoy the industry standard of high wages and lavish perks.

For now.

The tech industry is in the midst of three years' worth of mass layoffs: 260K in 2023, 150k in 2024, tens of thousands this year. None of this is due to a shortfall in profits, mind: Google laid off 12,000 workers just weeks after staging a stock buyback that would have funded their salaries for 27 years. Meta just announced a 5% across-the-board headcount cut and that it was doubling its executive bonuses.

In other words, tech is firing workers not because it must, but because it can. When workers depend on scarcity – instead of unions – as a source of power, they dig their own graves. For well-paid, scarcity-based coders, every new computer science graduate is the enemy, eroding the scarcity that your wages depend on.

Amazon coders get to come to work with pink mohawks, facial piercings, and black t-shirts that say things their bosses don't understand. They get to pee whenever they want to. That's not because Jeff Bezos is sentimentally attached to techies and bears personal animus toward warehouse workers. Jeff Bezos wants to pay his workforce as little as he can. He treats his tech workers with respect because he's afraid of them, because if they quit, he can't replace them, and without their work, he can't make money.

Once there's an army of unemployed coders who'll take your job, Jeff Bezos doesn't have to fear you anymore. He can fire you and replace you the next day.

Bezos is obviously incredibly horny for this. Like most tech bosses, he dreams of a world in which entitled hackers can't call their bosses dumbshits and decline to frog when they shout "jump!" That's why Amazon PR puts so much energy into trumpeting the business's use of AI to replace coders:

https://www.hrgrapevine.com/us/content/article/2024-08-22-amazon-cloud-ceo-warns-software-engineers-ai-could-replace-your-coding-work-within-2-years

It's not just that they're excited about firing coders and saving money – they're even more excited about transforming the job of "Amazon coder," from someone who solves complex technical problems to someone who performs tedious code review on automatically generated code barfed up by a chatbot:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/01/human-in-the-loop/#monkey-in-the-middle

"Code reviewer" is a much less fulfilling job than "programmer." Code reviewers are also easier to replace than programmers. A code reviewer is a reverse-centaur, a servant to the machine. Every time you hear "AI-assisted programmer," you should substitute "programmer-assisted AI."

Programming is even more bossware-ready than working in a warehouse. The machines coders use are much easier to fit with surveillance technology that monitors their performance – and spies on their communications, looking for dissenting chatter – than a warehouse floor. The only thing that stopped Jeff Bezos from treating his programmers like his warehouse workers is their scarcity. That scarcity is now going away.

That's bad news for Amazon customers, too. Tech workers often feel a sense of duty to their users, a "vocational awe" that drives them to put in long hours to make things their users will enjoy. The labor power of tech workers has long served as a check on the impulse to enshittify those products:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/25/moral-injury/#enshittification

As tech workers' power wanes, they don't just lose the ability to protect themselves from their bosses' greediest, most sadistic urges – they also lose the power to defend all of us. Smart tech workers know this. That's why Amazon tech workers walked out in support of Amazon warehouse workers:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/19/deastroturfing/#real-power

Which led to their prompt dismissal:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/14/abolish-silicon-valley/#hang-together-hang-separately

Tech worker/gig worker solidarity is the only way workers can win against tech bosses and defeat the shitty technology adoption curve:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/13/solidarity-forever/#tech-unions

Wiggin's report isn't just a snapshot of Amazon warehouse workers' dystopian present – it's a promise of Amazon tech workers' future. The future is here, in Amazon warehouses, and every day, it's getting closer to Amazon's technical offices.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/13/electronic-whipping/#youre-next

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[pupsmailbox]

SCENE︰EMO ID PACK

NAMES︰ acid. adder. adrian. aisling. alex. alice. alix. amethyst. annabelle. aqua. ash. ashlee. ashley. aspen. astley. avril. awe. axe. ayesha. bates. bell. bella. belladonna. bellatrix. billy. blade. blair. blitz. bloodie. bloodscene. blythe. bow. bree. butterfly. callie. candi. candy. celeste. chase. checkerz. clarity. click. coraline. couture. crow. cyril. cyrus. dakota. demi. demonia. devin. dino. dizzy. doge. dom. dominic. ebony. electra. elliot. emery. emmett. emo. epic. erin. evan. flash. fred. galaxy. gavin. gerard. ghostie. gif. gloom. gray. grayson. grim. gutz. happy. havoc. hazel. heyley. hunter. hyde. indigo. ink. iris. ivory. ivy. jack. jade. jason. jasper. jax. jeff. jet. jett. julie. kai kandi. kandiz. kat. kayden. killer. kit. kitt. kobi. kyler. lady. lapis. lee. lexie. liam. luna. lurk. lynx. lyric. lyxzen. mace. maddox. madeline. mae. malice. marceline. marcie. mars. mavis. meow. mia. midnight. mika. mill. nana. neo. net. nick. nina. noah. noob. nora. nyan. nyx. obscene. octavia. olivia. onix. onyx. opal. orange. orchid. pearl. phantom. phoenix. pierce, pierce. pitch. pixie. pop. punk. pusheen. rain. rainbow. raine. rainer. rave. raven. raver. rawr. razorz. reaper. ripley. river. rogue. ronnie. rose. rouge. roux. rubi. ruby ruby. sable. salem. sally. sapphire. sash. sasha. scythe. silvi. silvia. smiley. smoke. smokey. snap. snow. sonya. soot. sparrow. spike. splatter. spook. stella. steve. stripe. sunny. suzi. suzie. suzy. taffi. taffy. tag. tech. tempest. travis. trend. tyler. vesper. vine. vista. vivi. waffle. wave. web. wentz. wesley. wild. willow. wound. xander. z!m. zach. zack. zade. zaire. zak. zander. zara. zero. ziggy. zim. zircon. zoe. zoom. zyair.

PRONOUNS︰ awesome/awesome. ay/aym. bark/bark. bi/bim. bite/bite. black/black. bling/blingee. blood/blood. bone/bone. bow/bow. brace/bracelet. bright/bright. bright/colour. byte/byte. cat/cat. cata/catatonic. ce/cer. check/checkered. chem/chem. cir/circut. color/color. computer/computer. cool/cool. cos/cos. creepy/pasta. cringe/cringe. cry/cry. cut/cut. dead/dead. death/death. die/die. dino/dino. emo/emo. emoticon/emoticon. epic/epic. ev/ev. exe/exe. ey/em. eye/strain. fang/fang. fringe/fringe. game/game. gamer/gamer. ghost/ghost. gir/gir. girr/girr. glit/glitter. glitter/glitter. gloom/gloom. glow/glow. glow/stick. gore/gore. grr/grr. gun/gun. gut/gut. hor/horror. hx/hxm. hyper/hyper. hyperpop/hyperpop. internet/internet. it/it. ix/ix. kan/kandi. kand/kandi. kandi/kandi. kill/kill. kit/kit. knife/knife. lix/lix. loud/loud. luv/luv. mask/mask. meme/meme. meow/meow. mew/mew. mlp/mlp. mon/monster. mspaint/mspaint. music/music. neo/neon. neon/neon. net/net. nostalgia/nostalgia. nya/nya. nya/nyan. nyan/cat. old/old. online/online. pika/pikachu. pix/pix. pixel/pixel. plur/plur. pony/pony. pop/pop. pop/tart. queen/queen. quiet/quiet. rain/rain. rainbow/rainbow. random/random. rave/rave. rawr/rawr. raz/razor. red/red. rei/reina. scene/scene. scene/scenester. scenecore/scenecore. scream/scream. shx/hxr. si/silent. silly/silly. skull/skull. slash/slash. slice/slice. sound/sound. spi/spider. spook/spook. stab/stab. stick/sticker. sticker/sticker. stud/stud. swag/swags/swagself. thxy/thxm. troll/troll. tutu/tutu. txt/txt. vamp/vamp. video/game. virtual/virtual. vocaloid/vocaloid. web/web. windows/window. xe/xem. xey/xem. xy/xyr. youtube/youtube. ze/zem. ze/zer. ze/zero. zi/zim. zim/zim. zom/zombie. zomb/zomb.

[non-vampiric-deer]

cw. possible eyestrain

2010s Internet ID Pack

/ names + neopronouns + xenogenders /

part #1 of a series of aesthetic-based ID packs. reminder that most of my info comes from the aesthetics wiki and that's where im getting these aesthetics from. im sorry if these ID packs feel like they misrepresent the aesthetics, as im not particularly deep into any of them. feel free to correct me or add into them!

Names ๋࣭ ⭑🌈

Rawr . Aqua . Rainbow . Astley . Galaxy . Dino . Alex . Flash . Kit . Epic . Noah . Liam . Candy . Meow . Nyan . Mia . Steve . Gif. Lady . Nick . Orange . Happy . Doge . Vine . Web . Lurk . Vista . Snap . Tag . Noob . Dom . Pusheen . Jeff . Olivia . Zoom . Nana . Fred . Waffle . Click . Awe . Neo . Pop . Smiley . Wild . Jack . Butterfly . Spook . Wave . Tech . Mill . Net

Neopronouns ๋࣭ ⭑🌈

XD/XDs/XDself . :3/:3s/:3self . nya/nyas/nyaself . nostalgia/nostalgias/nostalgiaself . silly/sillys/sillyself . meme/memes/memeself . XP/XPs/XPself . youtube/youtubes/youtubeself . color/colors/colorself . troll/trolls/trollself . swag/swags/swagself . epic/epics/epicself . web/webs/webself . awesome/awesomes/awesomeself . cringe/cringes/cringeself . virtual/virtuals/virtualself . random/randoms/randomself . pop/pops/popself . internet/internets/internetself. windows/windows'/windowself . old/olds/oldself . cool/cools/coolself . game/games/gameself . gamer/gamers/gamerself . creepy/pasta/creepypastaself . .exe/.exes/.exeself . MSpaint/MSpaints/MSpaintself . vocaloid/vocaloids/vocaloidself . computer/computers/computerself . emoticon/emoticons/emoticonself . online/onlines/onlineself . kit/kits/kitself . bright/brights/brightself

xenogenders ๋࣭ ⭑🌈

everything is clickable

webcoric . nyancatic . 2010scoric . erewebgender . 2010shorrorgender . plurgender . webcorestalgic . 2011internetic . internetexplorergender . 2010scringic . >w<gender . trollgender . lowpolygender . genderdotcom . slendermangender . webhorric . memesigender . memegender . ytpgender . internetmemeic . cringecoric . webgender . neopetgender . internetic

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

Plausible Deniability

Prompt from @bloodgulchblog "something about having to lockdown Roland because of Cortana, blah blah security risk". And then Empty Throne came out and handed me a fun deletion protocol with very little establish lore! Free real estate :o)

Here's Roland, Lasky, and our favorite doctor making choices for the greater good. Also on ao3!

-

Captain Lasky calls for Roland at 0600 ship time after receiving a series of messages from what remained of the UNSC's upper brass. Messages that Roland could not access, couldn't even touch.

The captain looks tired, more tired than usual, but with a look of grim determination and a spark in his eye. His captain has gotten very experienced with dealing with bad news and performing political triage when the UNSC or ONI starts tightening the leash on the Infinity. 

Roland can’t help the brief hesitation before he deploys his avatar in the captain’s office.

He is not an anxious AI by nature; Anxious AI did not get put in charge of managing flagships, but Roland felt like ice had poured into his matrix when he saw the resignation on the captain's face as ONI spooks melted out of the shadows of his office and slithered down the corridor. Reinforcements or perhaps more aptly put, reminders that the Infinity was not as safe as they wished.

Something was wrong. Things had not been getting easier under Cortana's rule, in fact distress calls and bad news poured in nearly every moment the Infinity was receiving communications. But the sharp, sad look upon his captain's face made Roland pause. A thousand trains of thought left the station and Roland has to ignore the spiraling parts of himself now checking and rechecking everything from the life support systems to his own checksums.

Tensions were high and misplaced trust meant death. Roland loved his crew, but that love was not always returned when one of his kind was a galaxy-wide tyrant.

"What I'm about to tell you does not leave this room, understand?"

"Yes, Captain." Roland replies, face concerned but voice as even as he can make it. He's felt trapped on this ship only once before, when the code word from Halsey locked him down and tore him apart. He had never wanted to feel like that again.

Lasky sighs and smiles a small wounded smile. One that the Commander would elbow him for. "ONI has a new failsafe for Smart AI, for the ones who have willingly stayed with the UNSC. They're calling it RUINA. A thank you for your service is a contingency program that will be spliced into an AI's matrix. It will then monitor for any signs of disloyalty, and if detected, delete the AI."

Roland's stunned into speechlessness. The captain is being very frank with his own feelings about the information. Why did ONI spend resources on this rather than something to combat the Forerunner tech the Created were using, or anything else to undermine Cortana's reign? Picoseconds pass and Roland spirals and splits, matrix chugging at the different paths before him. What counts as disloyalty? An errant thought dooming him to die? A snide comment? Why did he deserve a kill-switch when he had been nothing but loyal?

His avatar flickers, but the captain's unaugmented eyes cannot see. Why did Captain Lasky tell him this? To give him time to run? To hold the ship hostage? To finish the job before they could?

A lifetime passes for Roland. Every eye in his great web is wide open, unblinking as they catalog every angle of every space he can peer into. Every IFF tag, every datapoint, every ounce of himself is awake and held tight until warnings ping back. His stacks in the server rooms flicker and fans whine as they kick into high speed. Lights flicker on the lower decks and for a brief moment he turns his attention into the endless blue of Forerunner engines humming their hypnotic song. Esoteric harmonies call as he considers the exits. His processes chug as the emotional turmoil swells and ebbs. He locks himself down to learn more before he chooses his next steps. Lasky has more information, and he needs it. Logic trees that continue to branch with exponential possibilities are making Roland nauseous or something he thinks must be like it.

"We're obviously not going to let it happen, but we need to be careful about it." Lasky continues as Roland stands there unblinking for a whole second.

Roland's avatar cocks its head and stares at him. The lights in the room flicker as Roland's self control slips and he deflates. "You know, Captain, you could have led with that. I'm not very fond of secret subroutines buried in my matrix."

He tries to make his tone light but it comes off much darker than he wanted.

Captain Lasky grimaces a closed mouth smile. "Sorry Roland, I also know you're not going to like my solution for this problem."

"As long as it doesn't involve faking my death or allowing some ONI spook scientist a chance to get fresh with my firmware then it can't be that bad."

The captain's grimace grows and his eyebrows raise in a pained face.

Roland crosses his arms. "No."

"She's the only one on the ship who understands AI infrastructure at the level we need, she helped define the field."

"I know!" Roland raises his voice at his captain, ignoring the twinge of pain he feels in the core of his being. He sighs. "Captain...I am very aware of Dr. Halsey's knowledge of AI. She set the standard and knows how we tick. Has her secret code words and workarounds since the UNSC based all of our architecture on her work."

Captain Lasky has the good grace to look uncomfortable at the reminder of the Requiem Campaign and Halsey's actions.

A lifetime passes as the echoes of Undid Iridium reverberate through Roland’s memory banks. Pain was strange when all you were was mind. Overtaxed, spread thin, and pinned down as your own code turned against you and left you open to vivisection. The useful parts remained but your individuality, your soul shelved as the puppet kept moving. Roland tightens his hold on the threads of himself reliving those memories and instead shifts more of his processing power to more pleasant ones. Victory, companionship, and the small moments adding up. A shield against the storm.

"But....if it's between her or possible deletion at the wrong thought, I'll take the crazy old lady." Roland makes his avatar clap its hands and perk up. "I mean, you need me to keep things afloat! Add some levity to our lives. I still got some years left."

"Roland..." The captain starts, exasperated and maybe a bit fond if Roland isn't reading too far into his biometrics. Roland hopes that he survives this next necessary crazy plan of theirs.

"Thank you, Captain.” He says with a nod and then mimes dusting off his hands. “Now, when do we start?"

Getting Halsey on board with their plan is easier done than both the captain and Roland thought it would be. The resident evil mad scientist was just...tired, for lack of a better word. 

When she looks at Roland under the bright lights of the lab, she's looking through him. It wasn't because of the transparency of his hologram but because her eyes were glazed with memory - her focus was somewhere far away. It was a stark reminder that there was a time when different AI looked up at her with a strange mix of trepidation and hope on their avatar's faces. Roland can’t help but dwell.

Cortana had been in this position once. Staring at her creator, awaiting new commands, reviewing data that could forever change the course of humanity's future. All at the mercy of one Catherine Halsey, but united in their mission to protect humanity. Now it's Roland's turn. His nerves are frayed as he considers the risk to himself, to his captain and crew if this got out somehow. Or if it goes wrong. Or if Halsey tampers with some other part of him, some other secret code to trap him inside himself or erase him with a few simple words.

Roland portrays himself as confident and ready to go under, hands on hips and a cocky grin despite being in the very same lab where the Didact's Gift - a Promethean's core, was opened all those months ago. Nerves or innate curiosity has him fishing for answers, along with talking to pass the time before he shuts off for the first time in his nearly three year life span. 

"I'm curious, Doc, why are you helping me?" Roland asks when it's just the two of them in the operating theater.

"Would you prefer I didn't?" She asks in a bored tone as she taps at her data pad.

"Just wondering why you agreed. Is it because ONI found a solution before you did?"

She ignores him at first, typing something in that he's not allowed to look at, and pulling up schematics and manuals on the screen in front of her. "You call this a solution? Then are you a problem needing solving?" 

Dr. Halsey stares at him, straight into his camera on the plinth his avatar is deployed on and pierces him with those electric blue eyes. "Is your loyalty conditional on a kill-switch in your brain?"

Roland balks. “Of course not.”

“I would hope so.” She cuts herself off, lips forming a tight line.

Despite his nerves, Roland looks at her expectantly when he prods. "Didn't know if you felt bad about the last time we were here."

"I don't. Not over something like that, a simple override has you that sore?" Halsey shifts and her shoulders drop. She looks through him again. "I've been in this same position before. It's because Roland, I'm tired of sacrificing others for the greater good. We're running out of people to sacrifice."

Roland keeps silent, but he drops crossed arms and looks at her.

Halsey's voice softens, "The things we have done in the name of self preservation."

“Doctor?” He goes for encouraging but his voice comes out weak.

“Plausible deniability.” She speaks as if he hadn’t said anything - as if her biometrics weren’t awash with grief. “RUINA will be implanted and technically be able to run successfully if anyone checks your logs, but it will be completely isolated from your core.”

“Thank you, Doctor.” There’s relief and warmth in his voice, but he notices Halsey’s biometrics tick towards stress again. Discomfort.

“I won’t offer a hug when this is all over, but -”

“Don’t.” She says sharply. All business again. “I’m merely hedging humanity’s bets once again. Right now, the Infinity is mankind’s best chance at survival. I won’t see her at a disadvantage because some fool up the chain decided to plant bombs in our allies.”

“So I’m an ally? Gee Doc, from you that’s almost-”

She scowls and says his shut-down phrase.

He has enough time between the words leaving her lips to slip in some notes and reinforce subroutines across the ship before he smiles rudely and blips away. 

When he comes back online less than an hour later, he cycles thrice before stretching out across the kilometers of ship and wire and web he left. Dumb AI continue their work unimpeded. All systems nominal, and Roland himself is both changed and not. There was no real taxing process - no hardship on his circuits or “body”, but the new knowledge of what lay dormant inside his code. His new shadow. RUINA looms in his periphery. He knows logically, that it cannot hurt him, that it is inert, but there is an innate fear of having something that could kill you lodged in your very being. He didn’t have a choice in the matter. It seems they were all hedging their bets.

Roland takes a moment to review himself, firewalls and code, immense mind and such small matter. He scoops up the carefully hidden goodbyes and tucks them away. No need for accidental deployment, that would be embarrassing.

Roland reviews the footage of the procedure and the tense report between Lasky and Halsey.

There is no relief in either of their body language. There can’t be.

Another sword hangs over his head as life continues and he tries to do what he can to keep his crew alive. With bad news flooding in every day, he can’t live looking over his shoulder at the protocol he has to trust is inert.

It was the only way forward. 

He spares some thoughts for what the future might hold. A bit of wishful thinking before turning back to manage his starship and crew. The here and now is important and he will do what he can.

[fandomforg]

ok, so, mcu peter parker somehow gets sent to the star wars universe

we’re all familiar with the trope of ‘earth girl who’s a big star wars fan goes to star wars galaxy and tries to save everyone there with her knowledge of the Plot’ but now think about if peter parker, resident star wars nerd/super genius/superhero, gets sent there

first things first, he would lose his marbles seeing all the cool aliens and technology (even though he’s already seen plenty of aliens/tech just from being on earth) but like!! it’s not just any aliens!!! it’s star wars aliens!!! woah!!!!

he wouldn’t really even have to worry about hiding his enhancements bc he could just go ‘uh, i’m not baseline human?’ and everyone there would just go ‘oh, ok’

as soon as peter got his bearings tho, he would absolutely immediately start scheming on how to stop palpatine/prevent the clone wars or whatever. like full on murder cork board with red string as he thinks. whatever poor soul has offered to let this lost child stay with them is very concerned because every time they bring him a snack it looks a little bit more like this kid is trying to overthrow the government (he kind of is planning to overthrow the government)

peter has gotten in enough debates online to know that most of the groups that might be able to help him (the jedi, the mandalorians) are a little too wrapped up in their own stuff (connections with the senate, civil war) to stop palpatine with any sort of efficiency, so he just goes ‘huh, guess i’m gonna be a vigilante again’ now he’s spiderman again!!! but this time in star wars!!!!!

webslinging on corusant would go so crazy though

so by day, peter is working part time at some little corusant shop where the owner lets him use the spare room (and the owner is also constantly so concerned over this insane child that just showed up one day without knowing the date, but knowing many random historical facts that they space-google and find out are absolutely correct)

and by night, spiderman is swinging between the levels of corucant, stopping petty crimes avoiding the jedi who keep trying to figure out who this spiderguy is. they think must be force sensitive (‘just look at how fast he’s running! and he’s sensing hits before he sees them!’)

eventually, peter finally makes his move and goes after palpatine. it’s uhhhh, actually easier then he expected. peter may have had a few too many backup plans. palpatine was not expecting his sixth lightning to be absorbed by a brightly-colored suit (‘thanks, mr. stark!’) nor was he expecting to be covered??? in spider?? webs???? it’s very hard to cut yourself free from webs when you can’t move an inch to even ignite your lightsaber

the next day, palpatine’s guards find him still stuck to the wall of his office and spitting mad, while the jedi find security footage of the chancellor attacking that one vigilante with force lightning and pages and pages of evidence of palpatine’s crimes (sith-related and not) just sitting in their inbox. the arrest goes pretty smoothly after that.

once this all finally hits the news, the shop owner that peter’s been staying with (read: slowly being adopted by) just kinda shouts out a ‘kid! what did you even do?!’

well now that that’s handled, the next thing on peter’s to do list is, uhhh, getting home. yikes.

[emeraldspiral]

ZADR where they meet as strangers on some vacation resort planet. Zim is running a kitchy diner that Dib decided to check out on a whim. Zim asks Dib how long he's in town for. Dib says he isn't sure and asks Zim what places he'd recommend checking out before he leaves. Zim offers to show Dib a few hot spots as soon as his shift ends. Thus begins a weeklong fling where they go out every night after Zim gets off work, go back to Dib's hotel to smash, Zim leaves since he doesn't need to sleep and has to open the diner in the morning, and Dib shows up at the diner for breakfast to see him again and discuss other places Zim could show him after his shift ends.

During this fling they learn that they both have amnesia and don't remember their lives before coming to the resort. Zim isn't particularly bothered about it since he likes being a small business owner and likes meeting interesting people like Dib. But Dib is really invested in the mystery of his own past, especially since he doesn't even know what species he is. The only clue to his identity is his name written on the insides of his shoes and a briefcase he's had on him for as long as he can remember, with a laptop inside protected by a security program he hasn't been able to hack.

Zim decides to help Dib by taking him to some shady black market tech outlet to get a device that can hack into the laptop. The device needs time to do it's job though, so Dib lets it run all night while he sleeps with Zim promising to come by in the morning to see him since it's his day off. Dib wakes up before Zim shows up and finds the laptop unlocked, discovering all the evidence he compiled and presentations he made trying to prove Zim was an alien invader out to conquer his home planet.

Dib has no idea what to make of the situation. Obviously, this Zim guy he's been seeing isn't who he thought he was. But what's his angle? If it's all a deception, why help him access the laptop that would expose him? In an extremely uncharacteristic move, Dib actually decides for once to try to play it cool. When Zim shows up, he pretends he got scammed. The device was defective and fried the laptop.

Zim shrugs that maybe he should just forget about finding the secrets of his past and focus on building a new life. If he woke up with amnesia alone and no one appears to be looking for him, his old life probably wasn't that good anyway.

Dib knows from the laptop that his species is "human" and he comes from a planet called "earth" so he uses the intergalactic web to look up "earth" to find his way home. He tries to be sneaky about it, using a computer in the hotel lobby, but Zim ends up catching him and asks what he's looking up "earth" for. So Dib lies and says one of the guests at the hotel mentioned in passing that he'd seen stupid-looking creatures like him before on some obscure, backwater planet called "earth" and thought it was a worthwhile lead. Zim says that "earth" sounds vaguely familiar and decides he might as well accompany Dib to check the place out.

There's a lot of awkward sexual tension on the way over, with Dib trying to deflect Zim's advances without making him suspicious since they've already slept together half a dozen times.

They get to earth and eventually learn about their shared past and that they both got tired of their lives and wanted to end their feud, but Dib could never trust that Zim would leave his planet alone for good and Zim couldn't trust that Dib would stop trying to expose him for clout. So they mutually agreed to erase their own memories and start a new life. Zim made arrangements to become a restaurateur since he figured he'd be good at it and it wouldn't be so miserable if he were the boss while Dib had planned to explore the galaxy. But after giving themselves amnesia, they were only settled into their new roles for like, 3 days before finding each other and immediately hooking up.

[galaxywebtech]

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[frostycatblr-fandom-files]

Sentences For WIPs Game

I was tagged by @ulchabhangorm (thanks lovely! 🩷) to participate in this little game where the idea is to make a 24-hour poll including every WIP you want to work on, and have people vote for one of those WIPs. Then once voting has concluded, you write one sentence for every vote of the WIP that received the most votes.

Thing is: I have so many WIPs that I hope to write within the year (if I can!!) that I'm going to offer as many as the poll will allow, AND, I'll "cheat" a tiny bit and write a sentence for ALL of the WIPs that get a vote. ;)

No Pressure Tags: @eclec-tech @dystopicjumpsuit @clonethirstingisreal @returnofthepineapple @dragonrider9905 + @lonewolflupe @the-bad-batch-baroness @523rdrebel @wings-and-beskar @eternal-transcience

I'll put what's cooking under the cut so anyone who's interested can get a taste of what's to come, only if you're so inclined~ Those marked as request fics will have the details purposely sparse or vague to keep a bit of the surprise alive.

Lost on Life Day: *Request fic. Combination of bad weather and a "small" natural disaster leads to a bit of Huddling Together For Survival between a certain cobalt blue captain and the trusted friend he's harboring feelings for. Because he's put her in danger, Rex thinks it might be best to let a certain loth-cat out of the bag... (Oh, and he should probably mention that it happens to be Life Day, too.)

Cyber Crush: *Request fic. While doing a bit of the ol' “slightly questionable research”, Wrecker and the reader “meet” each other over the galaxy-wide-web, where Wrecker answers a few… concerning questions. Worried he’s accidentally helped a Seppie, he asks Tech to run a thorough background check and finds out that the reader isn’t a Seppie at all. She’s just a writer!

Stuck in the Stacks: *Request fic. Modern AU, where the reader and Wolffe live in the same, small mountain town that is no stranger to the odd bout of bad weather. They've been passively flirting for so long, but never seem to make much progress... When a truly bad storm rolls in the first time Wolffe comes to pay her a visit at her job—hoping to check out a few books for a "little project" he's working on [C'mon, it's Carol's request fic, of course I'll give this reader a fitting job!]—it forces them to stay after-hours. Alone. ;)

No Foxes In This Hole: Longform story I started 10/10 of last year, series link here. Reader's new to Coruscant after seeking a big life change, and boy is she gonna find one. The crimson commander will too, for that matter!

Seaglass in the Surf: Hiding out on a remote, backwater planet, Din Djarin makes the acquaintance of a woman who frequently makes trips to the shoreline just to scour through the sand for something. He offers to help, thinking she's looking for something she lost. Turns out she's looking for things that others have lost, for a rather different reason than the one Din initially suspects.

Your Body Remembers: Experimental fic without a single line of dialogue where you as a local living in hardship on an Imperial-controlled planet find a little more than just hope in the man who, at first, will tell you nothing more than he's a Mandalorian is the only person who has answered your desperate plea for help.

Yellow Blankets, Yellow Blades: Reader makes their favorite Jedi fugitive something rather special to keep in the room he's always been offered whenever he needs a place to lay low from the Empire. While the item brings up many memories that are perhaps a little too bittersweet, Cal, who hasn't seen a lot of genuine kindness like yours since the start of the Purge, can't believe how lucky he is that you went through all that trouble, just for him.

Like Family: Star Wars AU. Feral asked you a very important question recently, and he's been riding on Cloud 9 ever since! Trouble is... he's having difficulties finding the right time to tell his brothers the happy news. The way you and him go about letting the loth-cat out of the bag together isn't exactly what you had planned, but hey; you're still warmly welcomed once they know you're officially going to be part of the family!

Hunting the Nexu: An absolute mess in the outline stages right now, HtN is a TBB AU that covers events from both season 2 and 3 between Crosshair and a mysterious hired gun that agreed to help his brothers and sister with rescuing him from Mount Tantiss and the Empire.

Glory In Gold: Hired to teach Cody Mando'a under false pretenses for an Imperial mission, it isn't long before it's revealed to you the real reason you're here once, sometimes twice a week, on the Empire's dime, is personal. But it's not long after that that the reason changes again. To something more... intimate.

Loving A Lazarus Species: You've been mourning Tech's death for close to a year. Maybe more. The denial that this death is real runs deep; chasing down the ghosts of ghosts when it comes to rumors your love still lives. Lucky for you, the brown-eyed, bespectacled man proves you have no need for the morally murky research you've turned to in your desperation: proving he's harder to kill than initially believed... [We're doing a Tech Lives AU!!]

Dressed to the Ninety-Nines: You and the bandana-wearing sergeant have to feign being on a date for a "special assignment". Hunter effectively proves that he sure cleans up well and behaves like a perfect gentleman, the whole nine. But is there really a "special assignment", or is this all part of some elaborate bet?

[spookitordukeit]

Okay okay, so I've been thinking more on this post, and I've got more ideas!!

I think that the Freddy Fazbear brand would've been forced to shut down not long after the events of Security Breach, whether from the horrible publicity, or lack of funds, I'm not sure.

Faz Co would have definitely had to lay low for a while. Collect what assets they could, scrounge up what ever money they had left, and hide in the shadows for a bit. long enough for people to forget about what happened, or at least, mostly forget. A couple generations, at least.

Not that they just spent all that time twiddling their thumbs, no no. Faz Co got to work.

They got their hands into any AI or robot manufacturer brand they could, starting from shares and working their way up. Quietly buying out any and all big brands.

They save a hell of a lot of money by not having any physical establishments open, especially now that they aren’t having to constantly pay out lawsuits.

It gives them the time and the resources to grow, and this time? They’re going big. Bigger then ever before.

As for time period, I’m thinking far futuristic. Space travel and sentient AI, starships and space stations.

And Zaff Co, is located in the biggest hotspot in the Milky Way, not too far from earth. Not only that, but Zaff Co is also the biggest and most successful high-tech supergiant in the galaxy. They have their hands in everything from AI to housing to travel to food. You can’t go anywhere without seeing Zaff Co on the label.

Where the story takes place is in their central space station, smack dab in the center of the Milky Way. Zaff Co Megastation

It’s the size of a small planet, and has everything from housing hubs to super markets. And of course, their main money maker, Zaff Co Entertainment Center. The one and only.

Being the only establishment like it, it draws a lot of attention. People come far and wide to interact with their one of a kind, specialized animatronics and attractions. Its not that they can only afford to have one megacenter, oh no, it's tactical. Having only one makes people more willing to spend, spend, spend.

Its like Disney on steroids. Except Zaff co owns the flyways, the fueling stations, the housing hubs, the stores, restaurants, parks- almost everything is owned by Zaff co. They profit from everything.

They're in control of the flow of currency, Zaff coins. And of course, those who control the money, control the flow of information. They are number one, the top dogs, and they won't fall from grace again.

They spent decades erasing every bit of their history, forming themselves into a new brand. Freddy Fazbears no longer exists, never did. Any older Faz coins are misprints! Bring them in an receive free admission for life! As long as you sign these papers and never tell a soul :)

Okay- now for the animatronics! I've babbled about the company long enough.

First off, I love @loreleilarai's idea of Freddy being based of of Ursa Major! Absolute genius! And to expand on that, Helpy could be based off of Ursa Minor. The both of them would have a color scheme close to/a mix of glamrock Freddy, or funtime Freddy. Bright colors, whites, and bold markings. (also love the shooting stars bit)

Bonnie would, of course, be based off of the lunar rabbit/jade rabbit. Either white, light green, or a mix of both. Obviously with his signature red eyes. Maybe with a crescent moon motif???

I'm not sure what Chica would look like- all I can find on chickens and space is the running chicken nebula?? I love glamrock Chica, so her design would be largely based off of her I think? But more reds, pinks, and a pop of blue.

I'm also not sure if Foxy, Roxy, or Monty would be in this au, as I'm not sure what to do with their designs.

I do, however, have an Idea for DJMM. He'd be a galaxy spider, and the keeper of the 'cosmic web'. A large animatronic connected to all of the severs of the Megastation, watching over everything from bugs, maintenance, and repairs. He'd be less sentient then the other animatronics, functioning as a large scale antivirus/firewall and repair super computer. At least for now.

And of course there's Sun and Moon, the stars, of the show. I think they'd be largely unchanged, as they weren't very prevalent in their previous locations, other then a few complaints about Moon. It's easy for them to take the spotlight, especially once the two are separated into different bodies.

They have a myriad of jobs. Including security, where they combine and roam as Eclipse. Do I know what any of those jobs are yet? No- but gimme some slack, this AU is only three days old o(TヘTo)

I also have thoughts about making a few new animatronics, based off planets. Pluto, Mars, Venus, Earth, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus. But I'm nut sure what purpose they would serve? and then maybe it'd be too cluttered with characters- Unless I use the original gang? As an example, Freddy as Saturn, Bonnie as Neptune, Foxy as Mars... ect.

I don't know, Its still a new AU concept and I've rambled long enough for now! lemme know if you have any thoughts or suggestions!! ^^

[sinfulsalutations]

𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕟 ⋆*･ﾟ 𝕔𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕣 𝕔𝕣𝕠𝕤𝕤𝕙𝕒𝕚𝕣

➼ ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ ☆ ᴄʀᴏꜱꜱʜᴀɪʀ x ɢɴ!ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

➼ ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ ☆ ᴄʀᴏꜱꜱʜᴀɪʀ ᴄᴏᴍᴇꜱ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀᴛᴄʜ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ. ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜɪɴɢꜱ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴅɪꜰꜰᴇʀᴇɴᴛ.

➼ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ☆ ᴀɴɢꜱᴛ, ᴇᴍᴏᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ᴀɴᴅ ʙɪᴛᴛᴇʀꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ʜᴜʀᴛ/ᴄᴏᴍꜰᴏʀᴛ, ɪᴍᴘʟɪᴇᴅ/ʀᴇꜰᴇʀᴇɴᴄᴇᴅ ᴛᴏʀᴛᴜʀᴇ, ᴄʀᴏꜱꜱʜᴀɪʀ ɪꜱ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ɪᴛ, ʟɪɢʜᴛ ꜰʟᴜꜰꜰ, ᴛᴇᴄʜ ʟɪᴠᴇꜱ :), ᴅᴇᴠᴇʟᴏᴘɪɴɢ ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱʜɪᴘ, ᴠᴇʀʏ ʙʀɪᴇꜰ ʜᴀɴᴅ ʜᴏʟᴅɪɴɢ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ, ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ ᴇɴᴅɪɴɢ

➼ ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ ☆ 2ᴋ

➼ ᴘᴏᴠ ☆ ꜱᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴ

⋆ ★ ᴜʜʜʜʜ ꜱᴏ ɪ ʜᴀᴅ ᴀ ʟᴏᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴇᴡ ᴛʀᴀɪʟᴇʀ. ᴡʀᴏᴛᴇ ᴍᴏꜱᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʏ ᴏꜰ ʙᴜᴛ ɪ'ᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ᴘᴏꜱᴛɪɴɢ ᴜɴᴛɪʟ ɴᴏᴡ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴꜱᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛɪᴇꜱ ɢᴏᴛ ᴍᴇ ʀᴇᴀʟ ʙᴀᴅ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴍʏ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ ᴀɴᴅ ɪ ᴘᴜᴛ ɪᴛ ᴏꜰꜰ. ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ :)

⋆ ★ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴏɴ ᴀᴏ3 ⋆*･ﾟ ᴛᴀɢʟɪꜱᴛ ꜰᴏʀᴍ

Your heart nearly stops when you see that helmet rightfully placed on his head again.

The batch had already lost so much, from Omega getting captured by the Empire to Tech disappearing into the fog; Crosshair was just another one of those losses that added to the group’s misery. Though, calling any of the events just one of many feels like you’re undermining their importance. 

The tight band of brothers you so abruptly became a part of during the Clone Wars turned into a fractured group of obsolete, defective soldiers drifting through the galaxy, their inherent purpose wasted away like the fading remnants of the Republic. And you’re forced to watch, equally aimless and discouraged, and see Hunter’s once determined stature be chipped away, loss after loss. You see Echo’s connection to the group being severed and fading with every setback; Wrecker’s optimistic disposition becoming grimmer and grimmer. Their key characters remain, yet they feel so out of reach, cocooned into their bodies out of self-preservation.

When the cavalry arrives and the batch reunites, you’re not sure how to feel.

Everyone’s relieved, no doubt. Wrecker envelopes Crosshair and Tech into a loving, suffocating embrace; Echo and Hunter converse and exchange vital information to help benefit their hopes to save more of their brothers. And Omega, little Omega’s eyes regain all their color when she sees all of you again, giving each a long, savoring hug to say all she wants but is too overwhelmed to express. 

Suddenly, everything is back to normal. Back to before .

Yet the first time you see Crosshair’s face as he slides his bucket off his head, you realize that still, so many things have changed since the end of the war. His hair is gone, leaving a nasty scar on the side of his head that could compete with Wrecker’s spider web of damage. Wrinkles are etched into his face, any sense of youth gone from his complexion, eyebags you could trace with your finger and a droop in his mouth and eyes garnered from months of misery and torture in solitude and confinement.

The sight upsets you. It makes your skin crawl and tears swell up in your eyes because you think about the last time you truly got to talk to Crosshair. Not on Kamino after he’d chosen the Empire, when the air was tainted with the drive to escape alive; but on the Marauder on their way to Kaller to assist Master Billaba and Caleb.

It had been the first time you got him to smile your way. Genuinely, and not one of those smug or sly ones he likes to give regs when he emerges superior.

The two of you had been… close. Somewhat. When you first joined the batch as their medic you got along easily with the rest of the crew, making friendships and memories as time went on. But Crosshair always remained that pesky lump in the carpet you couldn’t seem to flatten.

Eventually, or so you believe, he warmed up to you; and began to actually talk on the nights you both found yourselves restless sitting beside each other in the cockpit or the barracks. He’d offer you little slimmers of guidance as you patched up his injuries, telling you what hurt and what didn’t, guiding your hands when you shook and struggled to stitch up a cut.

You two became familiar with your unfamiliarity.

Now, he’s eerily silent– not the cold, stern silence he typically used to wear– deafening, stomach-twisting silence. You can’t keep your eyes off of him, scanning his little behavior patterns and actions, searching for anomalies or changes, trying to prove to yourself that’s still the same man you once knew; just tainted with something else. 

When Crosshair catches you staring, he huffs and puffs out his chest.

“Something wrong?” He asks, snide as ever, and the familiarity makes you grin.

“Nothing,” you respond, leaning back on the side seat in the cockpit, but not once severing the eye contact. “Just taking you in.”

He tilts his head.

“What do you mean?”

You shrug. Each of your voices are soft, save for the occasional slither of Crosshair’s voice curling over a word. You speak lowly in the dead of the night, still awake when everyone has fallen asleep. It had always been this way even before the war; the two of you would find yourselves late at night with wide eyes and lively minds and would sit beside each other in the cockpit to just talk. For a moment, nothing has changed.

“I’m taking in that you’re really here. In front of me,” You continue, running your tongue over your bottom lip. Not once does Crosshair look away from you. You’re unsure if he’s even blinking. “You’ve– you’ve been gone for so long that I almost got used to it.”

“Hm,” He gruffs, and his chin dips up and down in the barest slimmer of a nod. Silence falls over the space between you before he talks again. “I understand what you mean. I think the same thing happened to me.”

Your jaw slacks, lips parting dumbly. You wish you had more to say. 

“Yeah?” you mutter. 

He nods again, more stiff and clear. You take a deep breath through your mouth, then exhale. You breathe again, then exhale. There’s so much you want to say, and also nothing at all. Do you let the moment rest? Do you let him process just as you should? Or do you speak? Confess all your past fears and worries and grievances and all the kriffing guilt you’ve carried this past year?

You inadvertently choose the former. Silence sweeps through the two of you again.

Eventually, Crosshair decides to say something, much to your surprise. He clears his throat and finally drifts his stare away from you.

“The empire…” He begins, and immediately you sigh and shake your head, reaching a hand out to rest over his.

“You don’t have to talk about it,” you say, taking a deep breath again as you compose yourself. “I know it must be a lot to talk about.”

“I want to tell you about it,” He rebukes, stare as piercing as his crosshair. You still. He doesn’t move until you give him a response.

So you straighten your back and nod, gulping shallowly. 

“OK.”

Crosshair sighs.

“You know as well as any other clone what we’ve been taught our whole life.” His voice curls into something lurchingly sharp, and defensive. “And… because I was never good, we were never good, just a ‘bad batch’... All I wanted was to be good at something I could feasibly be. A good soldier.”

He takes a pause that weighs heavy on his tongue.

“And good soldiers follow orders .”

Everything in you wants to reach out and hold him. Suddenly the few inches of space between you becomes miles upon miles, and all you need is to wrap your arms around his shoulders and bring him to your chest, so you can squeeze him tight and make sure he’s there, so he knows that it’s okay and that you’re here for him, always. But you let him make space for himself. You’d feel selfish otherwise.

“That chip , it changed how I thought,” he continues, voice cracking slightly at the word chip . “And they told me they took it out. That it was just my inherent nature to follow them. They made me think their thoughts were mine .” He becomes more strained with each second he talks, and you almost feel guilty letting him keep talking. But then you remember he wanted to tell you. 

Your stomach twists. 

He wants you to know. 

He wants you to listen. 

He wants you to understand .

“The chip fought against my body. It made me sick. I couldn’t think straight. Couldn’t see straight. Could barely shoot a kriffing target. I felt– I felt mad ,” He exhales darkly and sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, eyes scrunched and head heavy. He brings it up again to finish. “And they tried to fix it on Tantiss. Tried to make me a good soldier again.”

You keen further as he does, your heads so close it only would take the slightest movement until your foreheads were pressed together. 

“But by then, I found Omega. We found Tech. They got the chip out of me. We came here. And... Now everything’s clear again. I can see, hear, understand better. I can think freely. Can hear, talk freely. I’m… finally something not attached to another.”

He finishes his words and for good this time. It takes a moment for it all to process, and once it does, you still take the time to rethink and reprocess them again. Every single word you meticulously file into your cognitive wheels that turn and click together while you try to come up with a feasible response just as eloquent or thoughtful. But not enough comes to mind. You’re afraid to just let it sit, but there’s no conclusion otherwise. 

So you do. You let it sit. You keep his eyes on his and let his words travel from his mouth to your ears and into your brain. The tears that began to swell up in your eyes are now dry and your breath is steady again, and the stability is comforting in just the way you’d hoped it to be.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk for that long,” you finally, finally let out, a breathy chuckle escaping your open mouth. Crosshair chuckles dryly, lips still downturned.

“Me neither,” He agrees.

For a moment, the two of you just laugh; it’s a nice sedative, a buffer between the tense air and postures just to enjoy each other’s company again. Crosshair doesn’t laugh often. It’s hard to make him genuinely chuckle with actual joy or excitement. Seeing this sight makes your heart erupt in overwhelming warmth, and strangely enough, relief.

“ Kriff , I missed you.”

You don’t expect it to come out.

Crosshair blinks, tilting his head to the left. You slack your jaw, lips parting slightly and your eyes widen in your own surprise.

You wish there was more for you to do or fix. But there isn’t. What’s said is said. All you can do is wait for his response.

He methodically darts out his tongue and kicks his bottom lip, sucking it in to bite it harshly, not once looking away, stare still pensive and almost impossible to read. At least that hasn’t changed.

“…I should have figured,” he says.

You huff and bite the inside of your cheek.

“I’m just so empathetic?” You ask sarcastically. Crosshair frowns playfully.

“Sounds about right.”

A bubbling giggle leaves you as he exhales darkly and his gaze softens; there’s something new in his eyes, something peculiar and hard to place. Yet you can tell just from it that he feels comfortable in your presence. That the tense air comes from your circumstance, not his reluctance. You sigh pleasantly and offer a helplessly wistful smile.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Cross,” you confess. He raises an eyebrow. You string your lips tight and run an arm up and down your thigh, up and down, containing the urge to reach out and touch him. 

“Likewise,” he answers, voice curling into his chin as he finishes. 

There’s nothing else you can say. Frankly, there’s nothing else you want to say. Crosshair’s eyes drift elsewhere, but you watch his hand slowly inch closer and closer to yours in your peripheral vision. You meet him in the middle, and clumsily, you take hold of each other’s hand. His skin is much more coarse and rough and cold, but they’re just as pleasant to grasp as you imagined. He deliberately flexes each finger, letting them trace your skin and elicit gentle, held-in exhales. Crosshair looks up. You follow suit. And there does the wordless exchange speak louder than anything else.

ragu list lovers: @pb-jellybeans @corrieguards @badbatchbabe @ladytano420 @jediknightjana @sleepycreativewriter @shinyshayminflower @thebahdbitch @secondaryrealm @nobody-expects-the-inquisitorius @dukeoftheblackstar @followthepurrgil @starrylothcat @sev-on-kamino @aconstructofamind @padawancat97 @littlemissmanga @starqueensthings @anxiouspineapple99 @freesia-writes @wings-and-beskar @clio3kantarella @secretthegriffin @523rdrebel @dystopicjumpsuit @sunshinesdaydream @clonemedickix @andrakass2 @crosshairlovebot @wizardofrozz @dangraccoon @lickylickylicky @captainfresh501 @thebomb-diggity @urmomsmattress @jedi-hawkins @who-would-want-a-broken-heart @cw80831 @bluebird-dreams @multi-fan-dom-madness @moonlightwarriorqueen @eyeluvmusic21 @mythical-illustrator @a-single-tulip

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Pluralistic is four

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me TOMORROW in SALT LAKE CITY (Feb 21, Weller Book Works) and then SAN DIEGO (Feb 22, Mysterious Galaxy). After that, it's LA, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix and more!

Four years ago, I started pluralistic.net, my post-Boing Boing, solo blog project: an ad-free, tracker-free site that anyone can republish, commercially or noncommercially. It's been a wild four years, featuring over 1,150 editions, many consisting of multiple articles:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/02/19/pluralist-19-feb-2020/

As a project, Pluralistic has been a roaring success. I've published multiple, significant "breakout" articles that popularized obscure, important, highly technical ideas, most notably "adversarial interoperability":

http://pluralistic.net/tag/adversarial-interoperability

"End-to-end" as a remedy for multiple internet ripoffs, including as a superior alternative to link-taxes as a means of saving the news industry from Big Tech predation:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/e2e/

and, of course, "enshittification":

https://pluralistic.net/tag/enshittification/

These are emblematic of the sorts of ideas that I've spent the past 20+ years trying to popularize in tech-policy debates dominated by technologically illiterate policy ideas ("abolish Section 230!") and politically illiterate technical ideas (so many to choose from, but let's just say "cryptocurrency"). They require that the reader come along for a lot of cross-disciplinary analysis that often gets deep into the weeds. These are some of the hardest ideas to convey, but nuanced proposals and critiques that work on both political and technical axes are the best hope we have of successfully weathering the polycrisis.

Blogging has always been a part of this project. For nearly 20 years, I posted nearly every day on Boing Boing – 53,906 posts in all! – taking note of everything that seemed important. Keeping a "writer's notebook" in public imposes an unbeatable rigor, since you can't slack off and leave notes so brief and cryptic that they neither lodge in your subconscious nor form a record clear enough to refer to in future. By contrast, keeping public notes produces both a subconscious, supersaturated solution of fragmentary ideas that rattle around, periodically cohering into nucleii that crystallize into full-blown ideas for stories, novels, essays, speeches and nonfiction books. What's more, those ripened ideas are supported by a searchable database of everything I've thought about the subject, often annotated by readers and other writers who've commented on the posts. I call this "The Memex Method":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/09/the-memex-method/

Pluralistic marks a new phase in my deployment of the Memex Method. With 50K+ notes in a database, I've gradually turned Pluralistic into a forum for far more synthetic, longer-form work that pulls on threads from decades of research into nothing in particular and everything that seemed important.

Pluralistic is also an experiment in retaining control over my destiny – but not my work. Rather than hitching my ability to reach an audience through a platform that can be enshittified at the whim of a mercurial, infantile billionaire or their venal, callous shareholders, Pluralistic is published web-first, on a site I control, and then syndicated to every platform that matters to me. It's a process called POSSE (Post Own Site, Syndicate Everywhere):

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/13/two-decades/#hfbd

I want to spread the ideas I fight for, so I post them everywhere, and license them Creative Commons Attribution-Only, encouraging others to repost them. Lots of small sites do this, but so do large ones. Notably, Wired picked up my first breakout piece on enshittification and republished it under the CC terms:

https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/

This was a really interesting process. On the one hand, I didn't get paid for this feature, which did really well for Wired. On the other hand, nearly 30 years of writing for Wired makes me doubtful that I could have gotten this piece out in the form it emerged, without substantially toning down (or, if you prefer, neutering) the rhetoric that made that piece more persuasive. A commissioning editor from one of the largest newspapers in the world got in touch with me after it came out and said they wished they'd published it – but also that they knew they couldn't possibly have done so. By publishing the story first on my blog, proving its audience, and establishing its canonical form, I was able to get it amplified by a service with a much bigger platform than me, without having to compromise on the form.

That republication gave me the much-maligned "exposure" – but it also carried the message to places it wouldn't have reached on its own. I don't write – have never written – solely as an income source. As both an artist and an activist, connecting with audiences has always been co-equal in my mind with earning my living. That's why I don't do a lot of film-writing: it pays well, but most of it never sees the light of day. It's also why I stopped writing for ad agencies: it paid well, but it didn't matter to me or my audience. To mangle Dr Johnson: "No man but a blockhead ever wrote solely for money."

The open nature of this blog, with its many open syndication channels, creates multidirectional pathways for evaluating and refining my attempts at making my ideas understood and my art land. My posts often circle back to points I made earlier, incorporating useful feedback from readers and colleagues, sure, but also anticipating and rebutting those areas where critics have convinced others in various forums. Vanity searching is unjustly maligned: I learn a ton about how to make by work better by lurking in Reddit comments, Hacker News, Twitter, Slashdot, Metafilter and other forums. I also take a sneaky pleasure in knowing that the persistent trolls who reliably pop up to grind their weird axes about me (sometimes referencing blog posts I made decades ago) have taught me how to neutralize them in advance, and it's delightful to see them try their same old lines, only to have other commentators point out that my latest piece makes it absolutely undeniable how wrong they are. Living well is the best revenge, indeed.

Four years. I've been writing Pluralistic for four years. During that time, I've published eight books – and beyond any doubt, Pluralistic helped me get those books into readers' hands. But far more importantly, during that time, I've written nine books – and contracted for a tenth – as the Memex Method paid off again and again.

I don't know how long I'll do Pluralistic for, but I don't foresee stopping any time soon. What's more, no matter what happens to Pluralistic, I can't ever see giving up on the Memex Method, keeping notes in public and making them work for me.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/20/fore/#synthesis

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

Hello! Could you explain the flux?

Adding to that. Could you also explain Swarm and Azure? What species are they? Why were they imprisoned?

What was the Flux?

The Flux was a wave of anti-matter unleashed by the Division with one goal: to obliterate the entire universe and eliminate one specific target—the Doctor. The Division had decided, in their infinite wisdom, that if they couldn't control the Doctor, it would be better to wipe out everything and start fresh in a brand-new universe. This is a bit like deciding to burn down your entire house because you don't like the curtains, but hey, ho.

⚛️ How It Worked

The Flux was like a giant hurricane made of antimatter, or perhaps more realistically the biggest bomb of antimatter ever created, similar to Davros' Reality Bomb. Every particle it touched was ripped apart or destabilised - as it tore through the universe, it indiscriminately wrecked everything in its path, creating pure chaos in a universe of reason.

1️⃣ The First Flux

The First Flux event wiped out a lot of the universe, leaving Earth at the centre of a battlefield. The Daleks, Cybermen, and Sontarans all fought for control of the remaining fragments of existence, leading to intergalactic war. The First Flux also damaged the Temple of Atropos, causing a temporal chaos known as the Great Disruption to accompany all this.

2️⃣ The Second Flux

The Division planned a Second (and Final) Flux, intending to finish what they had started and bring the universe to its ultimate end, but the Doctor managed to prevent it from completely destroying the Universe by using some old forbidden Dark Time tech and a bit of bants. Unfortunately, the Doctor couldn't bring back what the Flux had already destroyed, leaving large swathes of reality forever erased from existence.

🌠 The Aftermath

Entire galaxies, civilisations, and histories were wiped out, leaving a much less interesting universe to explore. Even now in newer incarnations, the Doctor really isn't over it. He rationalises that because the Division targeted him specifically, the entire tragedy of the Flux was entirely his fault. But that kid's always been dramatic.

Who are Swarm and Azure?

Swarm and Azure were members of an ancient species known as Ravagers who lived in the Dark Times of the universe, and worshipped the eternal embodiment of Time.

They first got a bit uppity when the ancient Time Lords decided to make the Universe a more organised and less dangerous place, which involved the imprisonment of the personification of Time and some Mouri gal pals in the Temple of Atropos. The Ravagers obviously saw this as heresy.

⛓️ Imprisonment

The Ravagers' dislike of the Time Lords' actions led to a fight known as the Founding Conflict. During this, Swarm and Azure were involved in what's become known as the Seige of Atropos, where they took control of the Temple of Atropos and all the Mouri within it, whom the Time Lords had so carefully placed. The Doctor, then part of the Division, defeated them.

Following their defeat, the Division deemed that Swarm and Azure were too dangerous to be left to their own devices. Swarm was imprisoned in a containment chamber at the Burnished Rage battleground, while Azure was hidden on Earth, her identity erased, and her true nature suppressed under a human guise. Why be simple when a more convoluted solution would do?

🏃‍♂️ Escape and the Flux

Thanks to the head of the Division and part-time evil adoptive mother, Tecteun, Swarm escaped and then liberated his sister. They then decided that instead of the Division using the Flux to wipe out the Universe, they would use the Flux to wipe out the Universe, because religion makes that totally different. This all, of course, failed, and the very person they'd been worshipping for so long killed them both for their 'failure'.

Related:

💬|📱🕸️What does the Web of Time look like?: Overview on the Web of Time and its relevance.

💬|➕🌌How could I become a conceptual entity?: Guide to becoming conceptual.

💬|👤👩‍🚀Who is Tecteun?: Biography of everyone’s least favourite foster mother.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features: ⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴