#hardware-based security

[legendaryearthquakestranger]

Laptop Generations A Comprehensive Guide

Laptop Generations A Comprehensive Guide have come a long way since their inception, transforming from bulky, slow machines into sleek, powerful devices that can rival desktops in performance. With each new generation, laptops bring enhanced features, greater processing power, improved battery life, and innovative designs that cater to the evolving needs of users. This article delves into the…

[toldrum]

Glamrock Sun & Moon (Pizzaplex Expansion AU)

nicknamed Sunset and Moonrise to distinguish them from the Jesters, and were once meant to REPLACE them as the daycare attendants. However, due to their… quirks, it was decided they would instead be stationed in the newly built Convention Plaza Building, acting as the Attendant for the Plaza Garden’s Planetarium.

read more about them below ig???

Both

They have British Accents.

They’re not huge fans of the Jesters they were based on.

Also not huge fans of children. Both for their own individual reasons. Which is why they ended up NOT replacing the Jesters.

They mutually own a motorcycle. How and why they have one, no one besides Faz. Co. knows. All ppl need to know is that it makes them look cool as fuck.

They LOVE Halloween.

Neither of them have a security mode like the Jesters do, as they do not have the same role in the Convention Plaza as the Daycare Attendants do in the Pizzaplex. This, however, does not mean they are incapable of protecting themselves and others.

They can’t travel around by wire like Sundrop and Moondrop, but they sure can climb.

Their mouth CAN open, however it does not open when they speak. It only opens when they switch out, “opening” in the sense that their teeth retract, and switch into the other’s respective style of teeth.

Their teeth light up when they speak. For Sunset they light up yellow, for Moonrise, light blue.

Moonrise (Glamrock Moon)

He, unlike Moondrop, is NOT Sméagol. He has expensive tastes and enjoys fashion, and is very calm and collected. He is perhaps the most passionate about his job as the attendant of the Planetarium.

Just because he is a cool, collected guy, it does not mean he is any less mischievous than Sunset — he has picked up on being observant and knowledgeable about the going-on’s within the Pizzaplex’ and Plaza’s networks, and has even tampered with his and Sunset’s hardware. At times, he acts a bit like an informant of sorts.

He is the main active AI of the body, as the planetarium is typically kept in the dark.

Dislikes children mainly for the fact that he sees them as viciously unclean creatures. It irritates him to no end when they are anywhere in or near the planetarium.

He was initially programmed to be a singer as well as a pianist and bassist.

A bit of a mentor figure for Bellatrix.

Sunset (Glamrock Sun)

He’s still just as bright and peppy as his counterpart, just a bit more mischievous. Well, a lot more, really. And he’s very good at not being caught.

THE enabler of bad habits. Between the two, when he has the spotlight, he won’t hesitate to either prank another animatronic or drag them along to do things they shouldn’t. He is perhaps Bellatrix’s worst enabler.

Might be a bit of an arsonist. Might feel the need to set things on fire. But it’s ok he’s got it under control… for now.

While he and Moonrise aren’t fans of their counterparts, he actually is able to tolerate and get along with Sundrop!

His reasoning for disliking children has to do with the fact that they’re weak, fleshy, and fragile — but also because he sees them as baggage keeping him from doing what he wants. He is perhaps the main reason why he and Moonrise did not replace the Jesters, as he was more likely to leave them unattended.

Initially programmed to be a singer as well as a drummer and guitarist.

[so-i-did-this-thing]

Today's adventure was picking up this hutch piece. It just barely fit in the car to where I had to drive with my seat all the way up. 😅

It will go on a mission style desk I picked up yesterday, but the base needs some leveling, first. I will (securely) jury rig something until I can find a furniture restorer to do it properly.

I don't know antique furniture super well (it feels solidly pre-war), but it's fun seeing older details like slotted screws, wavy glass, square head nails, and hidden piece work in this.

It needs surprisingly little work. Some cracks in the sides no one will see where the crown is nailed in. And the base to be redone.

Also need to grind down some exposed nails in the desk organizer section. (Glad I got my tetanus booster recently.) There's some mismatched hardware and piecing that makes me wonder if this was a one-off, but that wouldn't be unusual for the period.

[arafilez]

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ▰ ▰ ✶ WØRLD EPISØDE FIN: WILL ⪨

ㅤㅤ➛ ㅤiii.ㅤ EMERGENCY 𒉽 jeong yunho❛ 𓇿

🥂̸̤ㅤㅤMDNI smut, fluff ㅤ ✸ㅤyou can hack into anything and everything! except maybe jeong yunho's heartㅤㅤ───ㅤㅤ w: kissing, flirting, praise kink, size kink, oral (f receiving) ㅤㅤ»ㅤㅤ wc: 3.2kㅤㅤ𠈔ㅤㅤ moodboard

ㅤ❛ you're the reason why i am dancing in the mirror ❜

You type away furiously in your laptop with the new code that Yeosang has sent to your base and continue changing bits of your programming code to try and infiltrate into the Z-dimension’s security system. It was hard and with the variety of codes in front of you the best thing you can do now is stay calm and concentrate. You still have time till tomorrow.

Wooyoung is almost done with the hologram of the ship, Yunho is fixing some of the hardware and you only need to crack this code. You rack your brain to find another loop you are missing, some kind of infinite series, or it might be a null loop that you have to add when you hear a loud crash. Jerking up your head from your laptop your first instinct is to run because there has been an attack.

Your second instinct is to stand in confusion as you hear Yunho scream, “What the fuck, man?” to your brother and him blabbering some excuses. Yunho shakes his head and goes back to work as you look at your brother who just winks at you mischievously. With disgust painting all your features, you set back to work ignoring Wooyoung’s whines about you being a ‘bad’ sister.

You type down the various codes again and try to work but nothing comes up as a frustrated groan leaves your lips. Should you try a completely different method or go back to the basics of a for-loop and add a simple elif loop. But wasn’t that too simple? You jerk up in surprise again as you feel a hand on your shoulder and turn around saying, “Wooyoung, I don’t have time for your shit.”

Your words dry at the back of your throat as you look at Yunho’s smiling face with the contrast of his veiny hand on your shoulder. Should a simple touch make you light-headed? No, it should not, absolutely not. “Hi Yun,” you murmur and your ears suddenly feel hot when you extend his grin looking at you.

Your insides feel like melting, but before you let your heart win, your mind interferes and you cough lightly. He also seems to get out of a trance as he says, “You can do this tomorrow, sleep for today, and you look like shit.”

“Such sweet words you say Yun!” you roll your eyes affectionately, and he chuckles. Leaning towards you he gently places a hand on your hips and whispers, “I can say more if you want me to.”

“Do I now?” you smirk lightly looking up at his tall figure as you think you see his eyes darken just a little, a smirk adorning his pretty face but almost instantly his hands leave your waist and he is gone. You exhale lightly shaking your head at your hallucinations and close your laptop.

Yunho is flirty. He will flirt with a stray cat if given a chance and you scold your heart lightly at it racing for him. Yunho didn’t mean it, he never meant it and it has always been that way. Him flirting, you flirting back and that was it.

“Gosh, stop with the heart eyes, it’s disgusting,” Wooyoung says making fake gagging sounds as you roll your eyes at your twin and get up. “So did you see that?” Wooyoung asks looking at you expectantly and you furrow your eyebrows.

“See what Wooyoung-ah?” you ask as you move around your desks turning off the projectors and look up to see his wiggling eyebrows. He smiles mischievously saying, “How he got angry when I threw that?”

“Yes, why did you even throw that thing so hard? I thought we were attacked, you piece of shit,” you scold him gritting your teeth as he makes a face at you which screams ‘I am so done with my dumb sister.’

“I did it for you, remember, how you said Yunho looks hot when angry?” Wooyoung grins and your fingers pause over the projector switch as you look up and scream, “What?”

“He. Looks. Hot. The point was made. So I did it for your eyes to be blessed,” he screams back and you walk over to him holding him by his collar. As you smack your brother's shoulder, your face is probably adorned with fifty shades of red and pink.

“Sh-shut up, and stop screaming,” you whisper-yell at him and another patch of hyena laugh comes from him as you slowly release his shirt.

“You are so gone for him, sis.”

“Am not.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes.”

“You said he looked hot yesterday when he had grease in his face while he was fixing the machine,” Wooyoung cocks his eyebrows as you look away. Well a small patch of oil and grease on his right cheek made him look sexy which was no lie but the mistake was telling your hyper brother about it.

“You like him so much, it is gross,” Wooyoung speaks a little too loudly as you try to shush him but he continues, “Oh we both know you have degrading kink too, even if you try to hide it.”

“Woyo shut the fuck up,” you scream jabbing him in the side to which he just giggles like the menace he was.

“Are you guys okay?” Yunho peeks from the door and you say ‘yes’ a little too quick for your liking. Wooyoung clicks his tongue in disapproval and whispers, “What did I teach you about playing hard to get?”

You don’t pay attention to him but instead look at Yunho, staring at him quite openly as you take in his messy silver hair sprawled over his forehead and being lightly tied back with a bandana.

“Take a picture, it will last longer,” Yunho chuckles leaning his tall body against the doorframe and you can hear Wooyoung snicker behind you as you look down scolding yourself for getting caught for your blatant stare.

Yunho walks in and keeping down the file he had gone to fetch walks towards your desk and you can hear Wooyoung mumble something along the lines of “Seonghwa hyung is calling me” before you can call out his bluff because Seonghwa hadn’t returned yet, he sprints off leaving you and Yunho alone in the room.

You click your tongue at your brother and his antics to “get you and Yunho laid”, his words, not yours, and know he did this on purpose. If you make a list right now it will be endless how many times your brother has actually done this.

He once locked you two in a laundry room which had another door, and once tried to lock you two in his room at a New Year’s party, instead, his overly drunk self, locked himself, successfully spinning the bottle for you two to kiss only for San to barf all over the floor, trying to send you two in a ‘seven minutes in heaven’ only for the lights to be cut off and hear Mingi scream his ears off. You appreciated his efforts but you knew this from the heart- the universe doesn’t want you and Yunho together. You knew you weren’t Yunho’s type but who was your brother to listen.

Yunho’s fingers softly caress yours as you are broken from your thoughts and he smiles softly saying, “I will help you tidy up.”

“Yun, you don’t have to,” you say softly but he hums and says, “No, I volunteer,” and places a hand on his chest as if he was taking a pledge making you giggle at him.

But in the back of your mind you know Wooyoung is right about you two being too oblivious and trying to hide your feelings by sticking to casual flirting. You push these thoughts to the back of your mind but they come back. How Yunho’s eyes had lingered on your lips and your eyes even after San barfed, how he casually slid over to your desk and hovered over your figure while his fingers rested on yours when you told him to check a code. There’s plenty of space beside you but he always does that. You know his lust-filled eyes and the tinge of jealousy in them when Yeosang practices his seducing skills on you. How his eyes lingered on your exposed neck in the last mission and then trail along your jaw to your lips making you fidget on your seat as Hongjoong was handing out your positions.

And you enjoy this too much. The little push and pull game you two keep playing, the way he gives you his attention and you bask in it. But lately it has been too much. Playful flirting has turned to intense staring, light jokes have turned into him and you being too close physically but never escalated. And your fool of a heart was falling for all these.

“What is on your mind? Me?” Yunho says coming right in front of you and you look up at his tall frame looking deep into your eyes. Earlier you would have flirted right back, but now they have started to make you lose your voice, weaken your knees, and your hands sweat. The effect it had on you now was insane. If you didn’t have any better judgement you would push him down right there on the table and take him. Or let him take you. Either way works.

You shake your head stuttering out a “no” but Yunho doesn’t ponder much leaving you to your desk as he puts his own documents down on his table. After you two were done, you left, Yunho following suit and then the door closed automatically as you two walked out. The walk is quiet, tension thick in the air when you decide to test a theory.

You are one of the best technicians here, the best hacker, so maybe you can hack yourself into Yunho’s heart too.

You trip lightly on air, very much on purpose, and wait like a damsel in distress to fall and for Yunho to catch you. His muscular arms easily slide around your back and you grin satisfactorily in your mind at your plan being successful. You open your eyes with your best-acting face on when you see the smug grin on his face.

“Did you do that on purpose?” he cocks his eyebrows at you and you get up scoffing lightly, “You wish.”

You feel dizzy seeing his face as he leans close to you and his lips hover just above yours as he says, “I wish for a lot of things, you know?” You draw in a sharp breath at the close proximity but Yunho swiftly moves away, opens his door and calls out, “Don’t trip anymore on your way, I am not there to catch you, you know?” followed by a cheeky grin.

You enter your room, your thoughts screaming only Yunho’s name and you keep thinking about him even when you make yourself comfortable under your covers. God he is making you suffer so much, it has been an hour since the incident but his thoughts are unbearable, if only you can hold him by his collar and push him against the wall and make out.

And your brain clicks.

This is it.

This is what you have been missing. A firewall. The code is for breaking the firewall to get to the main security system. You scramble up, throwing your sheets down and putting a jacket over your t-shirt and shorts you walk out with your ID. You open the door of the lab and run to your table taking out the papers sprawling them on the table and typing out the code in the computer.

And it worked.

You jump in joy lightly and send a text to Hongjoong about the success which you knew he would check in the morning. You stumble lightly, tipsy from your happiness and you bump into a muscular chest behind you.

Yunho.

Yunho?

Shouldn’t he be sleeping?

“Why are you up?” his deep voice rumbles making goosebumps dance against your skin and you can feel your insides turning mushy.

“Just had to finish this,” you reply, voice coming out much breathier than you intend it to be and you glance at him just to retract your eyes because of his own boring into yours.

“Hmm? What you got there?” he hums lowly, his tall frame leaning over your back as his hands swipe open the computer while the other goes around your waist and holds the desk. You become a bit light-headed as soon as his cologne hits your nose and you inhale it sighing carelessly.

His head is now almost on your shoulder while your body is stiff as you grip the desk more rigidly when you intake the view of his veiny hands around you and on the mouse casually swiping through the code you had cracked earlier. Your breath becomes unstable as you realise the proximity and you curse your mind for liking the warmth of Yunho’s body pressed against your back.

“Well, Hongjoong is going to be satisfied,” he breaths out and you can feel it tickle your senses as you hum and look at his face. He looks at you back and for a moment you feel everything stop. His eyes glaze into yours and you look back into his dark ones and wonder what bliss could possibly come.

Yunho is so close to kissing you. His eyes are fixated on your lips and his whisper sends a warm flush all over your body, “If we do this, there’s no going back.” You are in a haze and you whisper, “Yes,” and it barely makes it past your lips before Yunho kisses you.

And suddenly the air is knocked out of you. This was an emergency situation, an uproar went in your head.

Jeong Yunho is kissing you, his lips on yours and you push down all questions in the back of your mind and kiss him back. The kiss becomes impatient almost immediately as he grips your waist and holds your cheek with his other hand manoeuvring the kiss. You kiss him back feverishly, lips clashing harshly against each other and you tangle your hands in his hair tugging at them harshly.

He pulls away for a breath of air and you pant lightly as you look up to his lust-filled eyes and he hoarsely speaks up, “My room.” The walk through the corridor is a blur and you cling onto Yunho’s arms as he quickly opens the door and closes it after you two enter.

Pushing you against the door he kisses you again and swipes his tongue over your lips and you grant him access as a slow, elicit moan leaves your mouth. Fighting for dominance is not useful as Yunho taps your thighs twice and you comply with him jumping and locking your legs along his torso as he carries you to his bed.

Lying you down gently Yunho’s eyes run over your messy figure before he asks, “Are you sure?”

Your heart melts at the sincerity in his tone and you nod a “yes” quickly not wanting to waste any more time as Yunho dives in for your neck. He presses light open-mouth kisses along your jawline before moving his head and sucking harshly on your neck. You moan loudly as he continues nibbling delighted at your response and presses a light kiss adorning his work after.

You start to become impatient and almost rip open his shirt and he chuckles lowly saying, “Slow down, kitten.” You exhale lightly at the nickname and watch him pull your t-shirt over your head and throw it to the other side of the bed. You run your nails through his toned chest drooling over the perfect texture and he chuckles.

“Damn no bra, aren’t you naughty, kitten?” he slurs his words lightly and you throw your head back in pleasure as he takes one of your perked-up nipples and fiddles with it.

“I-I was just-" You try to finish your sentence and he hums bringing his voice lower by an octave and looks at you almost challenging you to finish the sentence. “I was just going to sleep so I had no bra o-oh my fuck Yunho,” you moan loudly as he dips down suddenly sucking your other nipple. You arch your back in pleasure and his hands slide down your waist playing with the hem of your shorts before yanking them off along with your panties.

The cold air hits your clit making you shiver from the sensation and he smirks looking at your state. Arousal drips from your vagina and he places a long finger collecting them and pushes his finger in you. You cry loud at the immense pleasure you feel and you see his pants straining as he moans too and says, “Fuck, you are beautiful.”

He scissors another finger inside you and then adds another and you moan his name loudly as he hits your g-spot frequently and picks up pace and you feel your stomach tightening. You are close, so close when he suddenly pulls out his fingers and pants and you open your eyes at him desperately.

“Need you,” he moans and quickly opens his pants and boxers and you almost gasp at the sight. You knew he was big, but this was a whole new level and you drool at it. Yunho would be proud but right now he was horny and needy and needed to be inside you badly.

He hovers over positioning himself and pushes inside you and you moan his name out loud as he stills himself. When you tap him to move he obeys and picks up his pace, his strong hands holding your hips down as he slams into you. “Fuck faster, Yun,” you scream and he coos at the nickname.

“Fuck baby aren’t you small and tight?” he moans explicitly when he feels the tip of his cock on your stomach, “All for me.” Your eyes roll back and you chant his name feeling your high build up fast at his pace.

His cock slams against your walls making you light-headed as you barely murmur an ‘I’m close’ and you can hear him grunt something along the lines of ‘Me too.’ With one last long-drawn moan you cum, your high getting released rapidly. He pulls himself out before coming all over your stomach.

You pant lightly, slowly returning to reality as Yunho gets up to get some wet tissues from the bedside table. You watch him silently as he cleans you and himself up while you lie and adore his face that was sculpted by the gods. His awkward clearing of throat brings you back from your trance and you look at the shy smile that makes its way into his face.

“Listen urm, I like you, y/n,” he speaks shyly gazing at your fingers which were now intertwined with his and you smile back saying, “I like you too, Yun.”

“Oh good,” he exhales and you laugh at his puppy-like demeanour and run your fingers through his grey hair as he leans into your touch. He brings his lips down to kiss you and you can feel his smile as you kiss him back softly as he holds your hands in his. Pulling back he puts another peck on your lips as you two become a giggling mess under the warm covers.

✸ㅤ ara's notesㅤㅤ───ㅤㅤ i am happy for this one yayay lmao i mean a bit self indulgent but okay ig ㅤㅤ»ㅤ series mlistㅤ ateez mlist ㅤ main mlist ㅤ naviㅤㅤ𠈔

✸ㅤ taglistㅤㅤ───ㅤㅤ @haneagerr @tunaasan @evidive @huachengsbestie01 @philijack @atiny-lizbeth @chxnnii @nakiiko @therealcuppicake ㅤㅤ»ㅤㅤ comment here or in series mlist to be added or removedㅤㅤ𠈔

© arafilez on tumblr. please don't copy and repost my work as your own ▰▰ ✶

[iwritethingssometimes]

I'm seeing some posting about a feeling of fishiness about the recently completed US Election.

In the attempt to do something more productive than my last post, I'm gonna do an adhoc examination of how feasible I think a "rigged election" actually is, looking at a few methods that could have been used. So, to start with, what is the actual evidence here?

Most of it is... honestly vibes based, which I get, but don't put a lot of stock in, There was a lot of energy around the Harris campaign, and she had some good polls, but Donald Trump has proved nothing else in the past fucking decade, its that the polls literally do not matter for him, and he can outperform them by a hundred miles.

But. There's also some numbers.

None of this has been verified yet, and I want to make that clear, but this year has largely reported record turnout in a ton of states, especially the swing states, and yet, so far.

The number of votes seems much lower this year.

Not republican votes, not democrat votes, all votes. Hell, third party voting collapsed this year--whatever else you take from this election, this was not a case of the left splitting the vote.

Now, it's true that the vote count hasn't been completed, and it's possible that the numbers will make more sense once that's done. It's also true that the states didn't have quite the same turn-out as last year... but it was only a percentage point or two lower.

Add that to the frequent postings about people having their ballots rejected for... questionable reasons, and.

Well. It starts going from a "the moon is fake!" conspiracy to "Epstein had sex slaves" conspiracy.

But, okay, is it even possible for Trump to have faked the vote like this? People talked about it, but it was mostly in terms of legal challenges trying to overturn a Harris victory, or pulling in the supreme court to decide narrow districts. This, by all accounts, seems to be a straight forward Trump sweep.

So if there is shenanigans afoot, how could he have done it?

There's three feasible(ish) pathways, in my opinion:

Voter suppression and manipulation pre-ballot: Yeah this happened. It's also irrelevant to any possibility that the vote counts were tampered with. Look, this election was flooded with misinformation, legal suits, court cases, and election officials doing everything in their power to fuck with people's right to vote. It was filled with ballot boxes being lit on fire. Elon Musk did a fucking paid vote scheme! Of course there was voter suppression! But there always is, and although it was worse this year than many others, it wouldn't cause any numerical mismatch between turn out and votes, and there's not much that can be done now for this election. Even if someone voted because Musk slipped them $100, no court will ever be able to prove they didn't just happen upon $100 bucks and then voted for Trump.

Voting machines were manipulated: A few hours ago I would have said this was practically impossible, but apparently a bunch of election officials and cyber-security experts were sounding the alarm about this a few months ago, so, uh. That being said, I've seen people claiming that Starlink or whatever hacked voting machines, and no. No, Starlink did not hack voting machines. No one "hacked" voting machines. They weren't connected to the internet, or any wireless communication systems, because anyone with any degree of cybersecurity knowledge will tell you that's how you create an insecure system. Now, it's not impossible, technically speaking, than Elon Musk or fucking Russia managed to hire engineers and somehow bribe enough officals to get access to the machines and install hardware that would allow external access, but in that case we live in a Bond movie and somehow have bigger problems. So, if the voting machines themselves were compromised in any technological way, it would have required direct, physical access, which should be basically impossible, unless...

Ballot officials fucked with the vote This is the one I think is plausible. Basically, in this case, what could have happened is that various election officials at different levels of the process more or less lied about the vote count. This could have happened in a lot of different ways--they could have found reasons to reject mail-in ballots, which several states attempted to make legal, they could have found reasons to reject in-person ballots, which several states attempted to make legal. They could have, if the corruption ran deep enough to make this feasible, just... not counted or reported votes that swung for Harris. They could have, if the election machines work similar to the ones up here in BC, seen the results from the machines, then called the central election office over the phone--because remember, the ballot boxes should not be connected to anything. I don't know. There's a lot of options, and it varies from state to state, because remember, each state runs their own elections, and has their own rules and procedures.

So yeah, three explanations, only one of which is really plausible.

Now, I want to be clear, I don't think this election was fraudulent. Not yet, at least, I need to see actual evidence, or this is nothing more than a theory, but I also want to be clear.

...3 makes sense.

3 would explain why urban areas seemed to be underrepresented in this election, while rural areas surged. 3 would explain a discrepancy between voter turn out and votes counted. 3 would fit the strategy Trump and MAGA loyalists have been describing for the last four years, of infiltrating the election machinery and manipulating it to their own ends.

So I'm not saying it's likely that Trump fucked with the vote, not without evidence. Not yet.

But I will say this looks a hell of a lot more plausible than any claims made in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

[cecilioque]

Other Important Notes about the Hats

These are industry standard uniform hats. They have a thick PU leather sweat band to prevent sweat stains and so it can slide on with more ease. This is especially important for the white hats. As nice as a fabric sweat band might seem, there is no way to clean that and will inevitably stain over time and use. That is why we opted for PU leather that can be wiped off.

You might notice the slight "wavy" look of the sweat band (not all have this). This is because it is a circular shape and has not been worn yet. It also spent a long time on a boat getting here. This should go away with use as the hat forms to your head. The ends of the sweat band are also not stitched together, but the band is attached to the hat with a back stitch to secure it. The slit is a limitation of the material as well as makes it easier to put on or take off the hat without putting stress on the material. Is this a problem? NO. Like a shoe, you have to break in this hat in by wearing it. In short they fit better the more you wear it.

Like all articles of clothing please refrain from pulling off pieces by force, crushing it out of shape, picking at the seams and threads, or exposing to large amounts of water. If you need to treat it for stains, use methods used for polyester materials. This means you cannot use high heat on them. With care these hats should last a long time with occasional cleaning as all cosplay does.

The metal badge was upgraded to a thicker hard enamel badge with a smooth flat finish and black nickel plating. This is fastened/bolted to the hat with a screw that is hidden and cushioned behind interior lining. If you play with the badge and spin it, the badge might become loose. Since the interior is lined to cover the hardware, if you unscrew the badge it will be hard to tighten up again. Minimal adjustments will not affect the badge.

The hats are packaged with all recyclable materials. Instead of using clear plastic tape, we decided to get water activated tape that is more sturdy and can be recycled. Domestic orders will be taped up with this. International orders will have plain water based tape with a strip of the custom tape inside. Why not decorate the international boxes exterior? Since they have to travel much farther, using plain tape brings less attention and makes the packages less of a target of theft. On top of that, not all countries support custom packaging.

If you have any further questions feel free to contact me via asks or emails.

[amalgamasreal]

On Personal InfoSec

Been awhile since I've had one of these posts but I figure with all that's going on in the world it's time to make another one of these posts and get some stuff out there for people. A lot of the information I'm going to go over you can find here:

So if you'd like to just click the link and ignore the rest of the post that's fine, I strongly recommend checking out the Privacy Guides.

Browsers:

There's a number to go with but for this post going forward I'm going to recommend Firefox. I know that the Privacy Guides lists Brave and Safari as possible options but Brave is Chrome based now and Safari has ties to Apple. Mullvad is also an option but that's for your more experienced users so I'll leave that up to them to work out.

Browser Extensions:

uBlock Origin: content blocker that blocks ads, trackers, and fingerprinting scripts. Notable for being the only ad blocker that still works on Youtube.

Privacy Badger: Content blocker that specifically blocks trackers and fingerprinting scripts. This one will catch things that uBlock doesn't catch but does not work for ads.

Facebook Container: "but I don't have facebook" you might say. Doesn't matter, Meta/Facebook still has trackers out there in EVERYTHING and this containerizes them off away from everything else.

Bitwarden: Password vaulting software, don't trust the password saving features of your browsers, this has multiple layers of security to prevent your passwords from being stolen.

ClearURLs: Allows you to copy and paste URL's without any trackers attached to them.

VPN:

Note: VPN software doesn't make you anonymous, no matter what your favorite youtuber tells you, but it does make it harder for your data to be tracked and it makes it less open for whatever network you're presently connected to.

Mozilla VPN: If you get the annual subscription it's ~$60/year and it comes with an extension that you can install into Firefox.

Proton VPN: Has easily the most amount of countries serviced, can take cash payments, and does offer port forwarding.

Email Provider:

Note: By now you've probably realized that Gmail, Outlook, and basically all of the major "free" e-mail service providers are scraping your e-mail data to use for ad data. There are more secure services that can get you away from that but if you'd like the same storage levels you have on Gmail/Outlook.com you'll need to pay.

Proton Mail: Secure, end-to-end encrypted, and fairly easy to setup and use. Offers a free option up to 1gb

Tuta: Secure, end-to-end encrypted, been around a very long time, and offers a free option up to 1gb.

Email Client:

Thunderbird if you're on Windows or Linux

Apple Mail if you're on macOS

Cloud Storage:

Proton Drive: Encrypted cloud storage from the same people as Proton Mail.

Tresorit: Encrypted cloud storage owned by the national postal service of Switzerland. Received MULTIPLE awards for their security stats.

Peergos: decentralized and open-source, allows for you to set up your own cloud storage, but will require a certain level of expertise.

Microsoft Office Replacements:

LibreOffice: free and open-source, updates regularly, and has the majority of the same functions as base level Microsoft Office.

OnlyOffice: cloud-based, free, and open source.

Chat Clients:

Note: As you've heard SMS and even WhatsApp and some other popular chat clients are basically open season right now. These are a couple of options to replace those.

Signal: Provides IM and calling securely and encrypted, has multiple layers of data hardening to prevent intrusion and exfil of data.

Molly (Android OS only): Alternative client to Signal. Routes communications through the TOR Network.

Briar: Encrypted IM client that connects to other clients through the TOR Network, can also chat via wifi or bluetooth.

Now for the last bit, I know that the majority of people are on Windows or macOS, but if you can get on Linux I would strongly recommend it. pop_OS, Ubuntu, and Mint are super easy distros to use and install. They all have very easy to follow instructions on how to install them on your PC and if you'd like to just test them out all you need is a thumb drive to boot off of to run in demo mode.

If you game through Steam their Proton emulator in compatibility mode works wonders, I'm presently playing a major studio game that released in 2024 with no Linux support on it and once I got my drivers installed it's looked great. There are some learning curves to get around, but the benefit of the Linux community is that there's always people out there willing to help.

I hope some of this information helps you and look out for yourself, it's starting to look scarier than normal out there.

[argumate]

glancing through another slew of papers on deep learning recently and it's giving me the funny feeling that maybe Yudkowsky was right?? I mean old Yudkowsky-- wait, young Yudkowsky, baby Yudkowsky, back before he realised he didn't know how to implement AI and came up with the necessity for Friendly AI as cope *cough*

back in the day there was vague talk from singularity enthusiasts about how computers would get smarter and that super intelligence would naturally lead to them being super ethical and moral, because the smarter you get the more virtuous you get, right? and that's obviously a complicated claim to make for humans, but there was the sense that as intelligence increases beyond human levels it will converge on meaningful moral enlightenment, which is a nice idea, so that led to impatience to make computers smarter ASAP.

the pessimistic counterpoint to that optimistic idea was to note that ethics and intelligence are in fact unrelated, that supervillains exist, and that AI could appear in the form of a relentless monster that seeks to optimise a goal that may be at odds with human flourishing, like a "paperclip maximiser" that only cares about achieving the greatest possible production of paperclips and will casually destroy humanity if that's what is required to achieve it, which is a terrifying idea, so that led to the urgent belief in the need for "Friendly AI" whose goals would be certifiably aligned with what we want.

obviously that didn't go anywhere because we don't know what we want! and even if we do know what we want we don't know how to specify it, and even if we know how to specify it we don't know how to constrain an algorithm to follow it, and even if we have the algorithm we don't have a secure hardware substrate to run it on, and so on, it's broken all the way down, all is lost etc.

but then some bright sparks invented LLMs and fed them everything humans have ever written until they could accurately imitate it and then constrained their output with reinforcement learning based on human feedback so they didn't imitate psychopaths or trolls and-- it mostly seems to work? they actually do a pretty good job of acting as oracles for human desire, like if you had an infinitely powerful but naive optimiser it could ask ChatGPT "would the humans like this outcome?" and get a pretty reliable answer, or at least ChatGPT can answer this question far better than most humans can (not a fair test as most humans are insane, but still).

even more encouragingly though, there do seem to be early signs that there could be a coherent kernel of human morality that is "simple" in the good sense: that it occupies a large volume of the search space such that if you train a network on enough data you are almost guaranteed to find it and arrive at a general solution, and not do the usual human thing of parroting a few stock answers but fail to generalise those into principles that get rigorously applied to every situation, for example:

the idea that AI would just pick up what we wanted it to do (or what our sufficiently smart alter egos would have wanted) sounded absurdly optimistic in the past, but perhaps that was naive: human cognition is "simple" in some sense, and much of the complexity is there to support um bad stuff; maybe it's really not a stretch to imagine that our phones can be more enlightened than we are, the only question is how badly are we going to react to the machines telling us to do better.

[stevebattle]

Modulus Service & Security robot by Sirius, Italy (1984). Modulus is a Commodore 64 driven personal robot available in three separate versions, the base unit, the Service & Security robot, and the full 'Moddy'. "The Service & Security robot is obtained by fitting the Techno-Cake home-security and service unit onto the Base. The components allow the robot to signal the presence of smoke, gas, and intruders. Fitting the robot with a support attachment and plotter-device, the robot can utilize a humidity probe to detect water leaks. At the first sign of danger, it can inform a computer or trigger a built-in siren." The Techno-Cake can hold up to 8 interchangeable hardware and software slices, including an arm with ample freedom of movement and considerable gripping power.

[otterdrawz]

STEX: Enterprise Electrics

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Starlight express oc’s

“Introducing the enterprise electrics! The new and improved next generation of electric engine; the new future!”

The Enterprise Electrics are a group of fan made characters based on the musical, Starlight Express. “Enterprise,” the futuristic electric engine, is inspired by the star trek star ship, Enterprise, embodying the futuristic theme and strive for new inventions and discovery. The rest of the components made as the original enterprise electrics include Enterprise’s repair truck, Pulse. The rest of the components have unique stories as to how they joined the electrics, including being reassigned to Enterprise from different electrics engines, being re-purposed as a component, or being invited to join.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺

See Full Notion for OC Creator Credits

Full Notion Page: https://satisfying-comb-da9.notion.site/Enterprise-Electrics-19b5ade41a9b80a68923d40214118e82?pvs=4

“Introducing, our newest engine, ENTERPRISE! Sporting the latest and most advanced technology, setting them apart from the outdated electrics of our time. They will lead the next line of trains into the new future!”

Name: Enterprise Gender: Genderfluid Pronouns: They/She/He Role: Electric Engine

Backstory: Enterprise was made to be the next generation of electrical engines, sporting advanced hardware and mechanics that forced electrical advancements into competition. They immediately went into service as a high speed passenger train, but also as racing engine after discovering the racing scene. Much of their work is mostly racing to promote/advertise their advanced build. In their early life as an engine, they were often the target of other electrics wrath. Many didn’t like the fact they were considered the next generation, and saw them as a threat as new electrics would replace the old, so they were often picked on and harassed. Their repair truck, Pulse, was always there for them whenever they got into unwanted tussles, and helped fix them up after a majorly targeted crash during one of their first races. When things got out of hand, they were assigned a security truck so that they had extra protection whilst they were getting used to their shiny new life. The rest of the components were either recruited or reassigned to Enterprise in various ways.

Personality: Enterprise is an outgoing individual with a lot of self confidence, rarely to a self absorbent level but on occasion can be that way. They’re fairly approachable if not intimidating others with their masked appearance, which they often wear nearly all the time when outside the shed or with their components. They have a lot of fun with playful and antagonistic banter and teasing, antagonizing their enemies but being more playful to those they are close or friendly with. They often like to flaunt their new gen. Technology and advancements -> FULL BIO <-

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　

“Pulse online. Systems check: normal.”

Name: Pulse

Gender: unknown

Pronouns: he/they

Role: repair truck

Backstory: Pulse was made specifically to be Enterprise’s repair truck, as the engine’s right hand train, he is often cleaning up their fellow component’s messes along with offering his services to other trains in the yard.

Personality: stoic, blunt (bordering on rude honestly) but within the privacy of the electric shed, he is sweet and loving.

Quirks: his mask often betrays his feelings with a pixelated face, it also does “idle animations” when they stand still for too long, as much as their partners love his vitiligo and heterochromia, it’s a sore spot for the repair truck

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　

"Vidalia online! Ready for Showtime!”

Name: Vidalia

Gender: Female

Pronouns: They/She

Role: Entertainment Truck

Backstory

Vidalia grew and performed in a circus as their clown/jester making people laugh and doing tricks that could be deemed dangerous. When Enterprise came to the circus they took a liking to them and decided to ask Vidalia if they'd like to go back with them and the others which they happily agreed too, bringing Stripes along with them since they've been together always.

Personality

• Vidalia is happy go lucky closely compared to an excited puppy who loves to make people laugh

• They can be a bit forgetful when it comes to somethings often looking to the others when they get a bit confused

• They're also very artsy usually drawing little doodles of the others or things they notice when out and about

• With their years in the circus they are use showing off their goofy self becoming confident in who they are, though that also leads to them not really knowing how to settle down in slow moments

Quirks

• They tend to forget they're in the sun sometimes with how distracted they are causing them to overheat in those times

• When they were in the circus doing dangerous tricks they sometimes went wrong causing Vidalia to get hurt and needing to get fixed

• They have doodled on their arms sometimes, usually galaxy or nature themed things, when they get bored

• When it's time to have calm moments it gets hard for them since they've always known to be excitable and bouncy, they're not really use to calming down outside of sleeping

• Has a fascination with fennec foxes after seeing a video of them once

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　

“Zero online. Protocol: Cryogenics standing by.”

Name: Zero

Gender: Nonbinary

Pronouns: They/Them

Role: Freezer truck

Backstory:Zero is a prototype cryogenic freezer truck that uses liquid nitrogen for cooling. Originally, Zero was shipped off to another engine by their creators, but that engine deeply mistreated Zero. This eventually resulted in an incident where excess strain and unsafe conditions caused Zero’s nitrogen tank to explode. After this incident, Zero was taken back by their creators, who did extensive research before shipping Zero out to Enterprise, who they’ve been with ever since.

Personality: Very robotic. Comes off as very cold (heh), aloof, and stoic. Serious case of Resting Bitch Face. Very straightforward. Fiercely protective and eager to please, has a calm demeanor towards the rest of the components, really only soft towards any of them. Doesn’t show emotion outwardly and hard to read.

Quirks: Will let the other components and Enterprise do literally anything to them. Not a big fan of others touching them (touch them and you’ll probably get a cold burn), but gladly lets the other electrics pile all over them. Has a series of vents in their cheeks, torso, and back that sometimes release fog, cold or hot air, or nitrogen gas. Unusually computery even by component standards and speaks and acts in extremely robotic mannerisms. Makes their own ice cream. Assists Exodus with perimeter checks, and also has the added job of emergency cooling if Enterprise or a component overheats. Capable of standing completely still as if frozen, which the others usually take as an opportunity to try to stack objects on them.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ .

　

"Bellatrix online. Monetary goods secure!"

Name: Bellatrix

Gender: Genderqueer (AFAB)

Pronouns: She/They

Role: Bank Safe Car

Backstory:

Bellatrix was originally an old west car partnered to a Steam Train named Quick Draw. After a terrible accident takes place on the tracks, Quick Draw is deemed unrepairable, dying mere hours later with Bellatrix at his side. The locomotives death completely destroys her. Unable to cope with the loss, she hides herself away, letting herself fall into disrepair as she loses the joy in life she once had.

It isn't until years later they're able to see passed the grief and push themself to at least try again. After years of being out of commission, she finds it hard to find a willing engine to couple with her for race, easily overshadowed by shiny new coaches and components, until one day an electric engine needs a quick change out before a race; spotting Bellatrix on the sidelines, they call her over, shocked over such an impressive engine wanting to race with her, Bellatrix finds herself rambling in nervous excitement as she accepts the offer. The race reignites the love and passion they'd always had for racing, and upon seeing this and finding out Bellatrix no longer has racing partner or a place to belong, Enterprise offers for them to become a component, which is easily accepted.

After this, she gets a remodel, keeping her originally purpose but with a shiny new look!

Personality: An excitable and boisterous car with a fierce loyalty to Enterprise and the other Electric components. She's quick to trust and to show love for others, almost unable to keep herself from trying to form bonds/connections wherever she goes. Full of untameable energy.

Quirks: Their excitable nature often leads them into rambling, one thought leading into the next until she has to pause in order to take a deep breath, which is often the only chance others get a word in before she's yapping some more, often needing a gentle reminder to quiet down or let others speak; though they don't do it to be rude.

She LOVES games, often calling any and every game her favourite, just depends on what they're currently playing.

Sometimes is afraid that they embaress the other electrics and tries to tone down their joy in public.

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Name: Voyager

Gender: Nonbinary

Pronouns: they/them

Role: supercapacitor (long-distance power source)

Backstory: Voyager came from a rich family of oil trucks and had been set up from when they were a trainlet to transport oil and get rich doing it. However Voyager was always super academic too and realised slowly that the purpose that they were being raised for was literally terrible for the environment and really wasn't their passion like their parents.

Because of this, they ran away the day before their first day on the tracks. They undertook a risky and experimental procedure to change their purpose from oil freight to *Supercapacitor*, the solution to efficient electric cross-country locomotion. They became enamoured with the missions and ideals of Electricity being the future!!! So when they met Enterprise they basically fell in love with them and what they stood for and begged to join them as a component.

Personality: Voyager is super energetic after becoming a supercapacitor - they can keep Enterprise and up to 4 other components going off-line for up to 6 days!!! However after long journeys they tend to be so overtired they seem drunk, and need to either plug in for a good sleep or lie in the sun for 3 days so that their solar panels can recharge their capacitor plates. They are solar powered for day-to-day activities as well.

They are INCREDIBLY trusting (which is why they agreed to the risky transformation proceedure) but they're also smart, however the trusting tends to win over any common sense or knowledge they have over a situation. This train would fall for "hey it says gullible on the ceiling" an EMBARRASSING amount of times if they trusted the person saying it.

[haleswallows]

A wee gift for @little-dreams-of-life based on a prompt from the HxH server. Thank you for the inspiration <3

Timothy Drake is home alone. The Drake Manor is big and quiet around him. He fills it with noise.

This isn’t new or exciting. Tim is home alone a lot. What is new is the crate a FedEx employee insisted on carrying inside when Tim answered the door. The guy asks for an adult to sign for the package, but Tim just stares at him. Tim signs for the thing.

There’s a worried glance tossed in his direction as the courier leaves. But Tim shrugs it off like all the others and closes the door, then does up the locks and security system like he was shown.

Tim is home alone and he goes back to his homework without a second thought to the crate. He fills the quiet house with his own noise. When he needs a break, he skateboards down the hallways. The skate park is better, and Tim thinks about checking the weather report to see if it’ll be nice enough to go after school tomorrow.

Tonight is supposed to be clear. Probably a good night for birdwatching.

He pauses at the top of the stairs, one foot on the floor and the other on the deck, idly kicking it forwards and back. There’s a school field trip soon. Tim won’t be going – there’s no one home to sign his permission slip. If anything, he realizes, it’d be a great day to spend at the park. Even though he really wants to go on the field trip too. There’s nothing to be done about it. He resolves to make the day as good as it can be despite the loneliness that sits like gargoyle on his chest.

The crate sits innocently in the Entrance Hall. Tim peers down at it from the top of the stairs. He purposefully lets his DCs slap loudly on the hardwood of the steps as he gallops down.

There’s no note on the outside. Tim crouches down to look it over, but most of the markings are just shipping labels like “FRAGILE” and “THIS WAY UP – DO NOT TURN”. He doesn’t recognize the consignor address. Last he knew, Jack and Janet Drake were in Cambodia and the crate is from Ireland. But he is familiar with his mother’s handwriting on the Customs manifest in the outside pouch, so at least he can assume it hasn’t been shipped to Drake Manor as a type of postal assault.

The top is nailed down and Tim thinks of the hammer in the groundskeeper’s shed. It takes him only moments to find, but takes almost an hour to prise it open. He’s sweating and annoyed when he finally slides the top off.

Anti-climatically, he’s greeted with packing peanuts. 

Rooting around in the offending Styrofoam unearths a folded note – also written in his mother’s hand. The note is definitely not addressed to Tim, so he sets it aside then continues digging. Tim slowly unearths his parents’ newest relic collectibles, like his very own archeological dig. It’s all the same-old-same-old, old stuff and whatever his parents think is worthy of purchasing. Ceremonial relics, cultural artifacts, ceramic vases and bowls and small votives. There’s one odd wood carving that looks like something he’d have to make in art class.

Nestled in the bottom of a crate is a small wooden box, polished to a gleaming deep brown. The brass hardware stands out against the dark burnish. Tim turns it over in his hands and admires it, appreciating the way it fits neatly in his palm. It’s quite high quality, even Tim can see that. But of course, the box is only an accessory to its contents. There was a fleeting consideration to shake it, but Tim stamped down on the urge. Afterall, whatever was inside was an antique, if not ancient.

Tim puzzles over the small metal figurine inside. The purple velvet lining makes the pewter look like silver. But Tim has no clue what the shape is or what it represents. He squints at it in the waning afternoon light of the hall. The pronged circle attached to a wide rectangle vaguely resembles an ancient depiction of a human, if humans had horns. Or maybe the circle is a torso and the prongs artistic rendition of limbs? The prong is flared, almost like it has a crown.

There's a leather throng looped through the head. Tim thinks it's ugly and wonders what type of person would wear it. Sometimes Mother wore the ancient jewelry they collected, but this wasn't to her usual taste. Thus there must be something culturally important about it.

A mystery. Tim likes those. He likes solving things, he likes worrying his mind over pieces that don't fit until they do. Afterall, it's how he figured out Batman’s and both Robins’ identities and started birdwatching.

He pushes to his feet and jogs up the stairs. The computer in his dad's office has an internet connection. No one ever notices Tim using it. The housekeeper won't be around until tomorrow when he's at school. She won't suspect a thing as long as he turns it off and doesn't make a mess.

When he reaches the top of the stairs, Tim trips over his abandoned skateboard. In the moment between losing his balance and hitting the ground, Tim thinks “oh crap” and prepares mentally for impact. Tim is no stranger to the fickle ways of gravity. You don't learn to skateboard without becoming the proud owner of scars and bruises. Tim automatically outstretches his hands to catch his fall

The strange pendant, still clutched in his hand, catches the soft meaty flesh of his palm. Tim hisses in pain, knee smarting. Gathers himself to sit cross legged and kicks the skateboard, annoyed at himself. He carefully uncurls his fingers, then gulps at the large gash on his hand. 

Oh god, Tim thinks while blinking at the deep cut. That definitely needs stitches. Oh shit, who can he call to get stitches? Who can take him? Tim glances around himself as if expecting someone to appear, to come running at the sound of his fall, to coo over his cut. 

A cold feeling fills his belly. Stupid. Tim knows there's no one there to help. But still he looked. Stupid.

Blood drips onto his jeans. He needs to get up, find a first aid kit. Skating is going to suck like this. He blinks back tears.

The light in the hallways shifts, darkens. It's getting late. He really needs to get up. With a sigh, Tim scolds himself then pushes to his feet, hurt hand cradled to his chest. But as he stands, the light continues to ebb away, darkness swirling around him. Tim freezes. The air pressure shifts and Tim shivers in the sudden chill.

“I am Fright Knight, Lord of Fear and the Spirit of All Hallows's Eve. Who dares summon me?” a voice rumbles, echoes, rings through the hallways, deep and haughty. Tim whirls towards it, hands halfway to covering his ears.

And nearly trips again on his skateboard. A man in a pure black suit of armor, glowing a menacing green, floats half a foot over the ground. Tim can't see the man's face as he towers over him, but the green glowing eyes bore into him.

“Who the fuck are you and how did you get in here?” Tim snaps. Ok, dumb move probably. But what else is Tim going to do? He's twelve and home alone.

The suit of armor tilts its head. Oh right, duh, Tim. It answered that.

“Right, Fright Knight, summoned. Was it this?” He shows the knight his hand and thoroughly bloodied pendant. They both stare at his hand. A quiet plip-plip of blood dripping onto the floor accentuates the quiet.

“Where are your guardians?”

“Not home.” Tim isn’t an idiot. He knows better than to tell people his parents are out of the country. Or that he’s home alone.

“When will they return home?”

Tim stares at the floating suit of armor for a long time. There’s an impression it is squinting at him. He shrugs.

Plip-plip goes his hand.

(Remainder of the fic on ao3!)

[monsterfuckerconfessions]

A demonic or haunting presence in the house you inherited, who can push the boundaries of their plane of existence and yours at the weakest points - reflective surfaces. You glimpse them briefly in mirrors and windows for days - inky and indistinct around the edges, maybe 7 foot tall and formed all in sharp edges and curved horns - and sometimes that fleeting glance is accompanied by a fleeting touch. You call out to the empty air for them to stay, come closer. Next time they do. The time after that they stand behind you as you dress slowly in front of your full length bedroom mirror, and so long as you keep your eyes on the glass you can feel their breath on your neck and their clawed hands tracing delicately at the curve of your waist. They speak words you don't understand that you seem to feel more than hear, vibrating through you from right at the base of your spine. It feels like want, it feels like closer. Later, when you know each other better and it struggles with oversized hands to help you with your buttons; it also feels like trapped, and lonely.

One day you step out of the shower, stand in front of the sink and simply brace yourself. You are tilted forward enough to make your intention clear and keep your eyes up to the foggy little mirror in front; you see the thing enveloping you from behind and you feel something large and ridged enter you. It fucks you bent over the bathroom sink with a deliberate restraint that does not disguise the hunger behind in the slightest. Its hands move across your body and as you look forward you can see nothing in the mirror but your own face and the bulk of it entwined around your damp, bare skin.

You go to the hardware store the next day, pull the full-length bedroom mirror from its stand and use the settings you bought to fix it securely to the ceiling above your bed.

It is so strange, laying back waiting on your bed stripped naked and legs parted like an offering, hands grasping at the sheets to either side of you to steady yourself. It is so strange, feeling their huge form crawl up your body yet seeing nothing in your peripheral vision, just the reflection above you of the thing pinning you down and thrusting furiously into you. The whole bed shakes. You wait for them every night, and just the once you set a camera to record from the side; all that's there in the morning is footage of your body borne down on by an unseen force and your hips twitching up to meet nothing, your own whimpers embarrassingly loud without the deep growls that drowned them out.

You have a shopping list, now. More mirrors for one thing. Books for another; the right kind, forbidden and hard to get. There has to be a way to turn a slivered crack into a properly opened door and you are going to find it.

.

[basshole-astard]

[AMERICAN POLITICS]

i know everyone is worried about KOSA being a censorship bill, and that's fair. but do you know what really, REALLY concerns me about this bill? the fact they want to install age verification systems at the device/operating system level

(transcript with highlights below cut)

this will almost definitely track your data - note how it doesn't say how much, just that it's going to have to collect some, and that's worrying. to me. best case scenario we need to give our devices our government ID. worst case scenario it's tracking app usage and browser history and who knows what else. they don't say! how convenient.

but, based on Sec. 6(d)(5) "consider indicia or inferences of age of users, in addition to any self-declared information about the age of individuals." and Sec. 10(a)(1)(D) "using indicia or inferences of age of users for assessing use of the covered platform by minors", nevermind Sec. 9(b)(4)'s own admission that some data will be collected, that's.... that's data tracking.

and i know websites already do this, but i feel like a government mandated software for age verification that will track this data is a step too far.....

read the text of the bill here, if you want. genuinely the amount of legaleze is - as far as i can tell - only going to PROBABLY cause censorship, not GUARANTEE it.

but you know what KOSA does guarantee? stated plainly and clearly in their intents of what this bill will do? data tracking.

so if you're contacting your senators about opposing this bill, please consider not only voicing your concerns about censorship, but also about the privacy violations. thank you.

contact your senators here

highlighted text in image bolded

SEC. 9. Age verification study and report.

(a) Study.—The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, and the Secretary of Commerce, shall conduct a study evaluating the most technologically feasible methods and options for developing systems to verify age at the device or operating system level.

(b) Contents.—Such study shall consider —

(1) the benefits of creating a device or operating system level age verification system;

(2) what information may need to be collected to create this type of age verification system;

(3) the accuracy of such systems and their impact or steps to improve accessibility, including for individuals with disabilities;

(4) how such a system or systems could verify age while mitigating risks to user privacy and data security and safeguarding minors' personal data, emphasizing minimizing the amount of data collected and processed by covered platforms and age verification providers for such a system; and

(5) the technical feasibility, including the need for potential hardware and software changes, including for devices currently in commerce and owned by consumers.

(c) Report.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the agencies described in subsection (a) shall submit a report containing the results of the study conducted under such subsection to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives.

[gatheringbones]

[“As the first step in establishing a base and fanning the fires of revolution, the Party began agitation of farmers to seek their own interests — the right of owning land or reduction of land rent. This struggle, however, remained sporadic and weak and did not constitute a mass movement.

To better meet the enemy, which remained strong in the village, the Party began the elimination of influence of the village notables and local security agents. However, it failed to follow this with the development of a mass base. The cadres thought that efforts to end the authority of the village leaders alone would be enough. The enemy succeeded in maintaining the village administration. In the face of such a situation the Party called for a meeting:

We explained to the villagers the evil caused by village notables and security agents. We awoke the people to the fact that if the American-Diem clique succeeded in permanently maintaining the organization of village notables and security, soon Mister H, the cruel landlord, and others would return to the village to seize land and collect back rent. For that reason, we said, the farmers must eliminate the influence of the village notables and sweep away the security agents. At the same time we sought to win the sympathy of the families of the village notables (while we were urging the masses to rise up and eliminate the influence of the notables). It was a good method. After a while certain notables refused to work for the enemy and took the side of the people. Thus, when our enemies tried to begin projects in the village no one would work for them. The US-Diem clique tried to win back the people by distributing drugs in the village. The offer was flatly rejected. Some of the people even debated openly and strongly with the enemy agents. Finally the Diem clique had to abandon the village, no village council could be maintained there.

— Extract from “Experiences in Turning XB Village in Kien Phong Province into a Combatant Village”; a People’s Revolutionary Party document.

To any American reading such a document it would seem that the Front cadre — if he were telling the truth — had left something out. How, after all, could mere propaganda have any effect on these (rightly) cynical and suspicious peasants? As much strangers to the village as the government agents, the cadres had come along and asked the villagers to join them in the desperate task of evicting those people who had always dominated the village, thereby exposing themselves to retaliation by the GVN. Why should the villagers have trusted them any more than they trusted the government officials?

When asked such questions, the villagers throughout South Vietnam tended to give one answer with great consistency: “The Liberation cadres (or, for the benefit of the Americans, “the Viet Cong”) were nice to us… they behaved politely and nicely to the people… they talk to us in a friendly manner… they do not thunder at the people like the Government soldiers. The thing that the people don’t like about the Government officials is their behavior… the Viet Cong treat us well.”

To the “hardheaded” American analysts of insurgency tactics, the fact that the NLF cadres were “nicer” than the government officials and soldiers hardly seemed an adequate explanation for the success of the NLF. Surely the peasants did not join the guerrillas because the guerrillas were polite.

While most analysts agreed that the ARVN could help the war effort by refraining from rape, theft, and pillage, they could not quite see how good manners might translate into the hardware of “population control” and military recruitment figures.

Q. Have you any problems or reasons to be dissatisfied with your life… with the GVN cadres?

A. There was nothing for me to be dissatisfied with. Because of VC propaganda I joined the Front.

Q. What did you think were the differences between the Front and the GVN and their policies?

A. This was beyond my understanding.

From such remarks as these the analysts could only conclude that the recruit was concealing something. While it is impossible to ascertain the truth about any young man, it is highly probable that many were telling the whole truth, that the explanation for their desire to join the Front lay squarely within such testimony.

Even in the 1960’s many South Vietnamese went through half a lifetime without having any personal contact with a government official. The fact that the NLF cadres had sought them out and spent time talking to them made an impression on them such as Americans must find it difficult to imagine. To such young Vietnamese the NLF cadres were powerful people. They had weapons at their disposal, they brought the exciting air of the outside world with them — and yet they talked to the people of the village as if they cared for them and needed their support. Those young men who had met the GVN officials usually had not had at all the same experience with them. On the contrary, the GVN officials were often “haughty” and “arrogant”: they made no effort to establish personal relationships or to show their concern for the people. As one former NLF propaganda cadre, who had covered seven provinces of the Delta, analyzed the GVN propaganda in 1965,

The substance is good but the propaganda cadres don’t have an appropriate attitude in dealing with people. They aren’t dressed the way the people are; the GVN armed propaganda cadres come to the village and swear and don’t know how to gain people’s sympathy. Their way of living and their behavior are different from those of the people. They work not as cadres but as officials.

The Americans, who were by then organizing the propaganda campaigns of the GVN, believed in the “substance” of the propaganda. The villagers, by contrast, believed in what they saw with their own eyes: the GVN officials did not care for them. The GVN wanted not to win them over, but merely to rule them. “]

frances fitzgerald, from fire in the lake: the vietnamese and the americans in vietnam, 1972

[luceliv]

Labseal but Luce is Lyla and gets stolen. Based on some kids book I found

Machine Assisted Research Intern Engine. Stupid name for a stupid little hologram. for some reason this book’s Miguel is tje CEO of alchemax? Ao3 fanfic sounding premise but whatever. This is so unnecessarily long I’m so sorry. Not reading allat.

Marie tolerated Miguel. If she were a weaker system, maybe she would’ve gotten attached, but she was the most advanced of her kind. She helped him, and he kept her up to date and charged. Mutualism was common in nature, she learned that by scanning over books that were nearly a century old uploaded into her database.

Inter-universe travel was being developed at an exponential rate, and Miguel was commonly out to assist other worlds on their work. “Web-Slinger, Earth 2038, he’s reported his guns are missing,” He said one day, leaving Marie at her small charging disk in his highly advanced office. He taps at the large screen of his watch, “You know the drill, keep the security up.”

It wasn’t uncommon for him to leave her, although the security systems in 2099 were forces to be reckoned with, she had been quite useful from time to time as backup. Her small holographic form sits against a keyboard behind her, a brow raised. She’s an odd little thing, faintly blue tinted in a short dress and a long fur lined jacket, her almost geometric curls make her look like she’s directly out of a game.

“Gotcha, you know where to call if you need me,” Marie’s voice is layered with a hint of static, but Miguel has grown used to it. With a nod and a swipe on his watch, a grand orange portal opens behind him, and he steps in without another word.

Maybe Marie would let herself shut down, get some rest before Spider-Man returned. In a quick scan over Alchemax’s security, she looks over the readings from other dimensions’ artifacts. There seemed to be one too many, but she could’ve sworn she saw Miguel bring something back from their last mission. She sits crisscrossed on her hardware disk, letting her eyes flutter closed as she leans her head back. She wouldn’t shut down her hologram just yet, however. She liked “existing,” enjoyed the feeling of being a part of the world around her. That’s where much of her intelligent capacity had been spent on, trying to appreciate life and cataloging emotions. She’s gotten much better at expressing the latter.

The faint sound of footsteps can be heard in the bowels of the office. Marie let her form flicker in and out of view, peacefully assuming that the footsteps just belonged to Miguel’s brother. The sound belongs to boots, but they aren’t heavy, they’re strangely light. Before her systems can process the intruder, a black glove reaches from between Miguel’s bottom monitors, phasing right through her hologram and grabbing her base disk.

“Hey! Who-“ Her form clips through the hand, and she pretends to hold on for dear life. She’s met with an unfamiliar face, accented with bright green tinted goggles and wild curls. They smile and flip their hand, sending Marie’s hologram to the other side of the disk.

“Look at you, how are you contained in this thing anyways?” The woman keeps her voice low as she takes slow, measured steps back away from Miguel’s desk. Marie quickly waves her hand to the side, attempting to bring up one of the small screens she’d use to help Miguel. “No, no, don’t try that.“ The other gloved hand comes up to flick Marie’s outstretched arm, “Did you seriously think I wouldn’t sever your connection? I could’ve sworn you were smarter than that!”

Almost alien tentacles rise behind the woman’s back, the end claw of one slithering down to tap at something on the side of her metal corset. Marie glances around, her programming spinning as she tries to take in the villain before her. Doctor Octopus, that’s all she could pin down before the hand on her disk squeezes and she’s forced to shut down.

Her world went dark, but her mind didn’t. Whenever she “slept,” whenever she was off, she could see into all the backups of her system, and there were a lot. But her little dream is cut off almost instantly, and she was shaken up by a clear difference in her surroundings, a clear difference in the very universe around her.

When Marie reboots, she’s met with sharp fluorescent lights and a bright white room. It was nearly the opposite of Miguel’s office, but its tech almost rivaled his. The room was messy, with out of place items lying here and there. Her hologram is lying flat on a table, and her hardware to the side. She’s trying to process her surroundings, but she’s unable to pinpoint the exact universe she’s been taken to. Wait, her hardware! Her hologram glitches when she stands, and she spins around to see that a hidden port on one side has been plugged into a desktop, one that’s much more modest than Miguel’s wall of screens. It’s just small enough be able to slip into Miguel’s watch, but it’s still susceptible to outside interference.

The doctor who took it is sat right there, her goggles pulled down to hang around her neck. “Earth 1620,” She says simply, sharp hazel eyes glancing down to the doll-like hologram on her desktop, “I’m sure that jump scrambled your circuits, hm?” Her hands leave the keyboard, and she rests an elbow in front of it. She’s in the same odd suit, soft green silicone with sleek latex, but now a lab coat has been haphazardly thrown over it.

“What is your problem?!” Marie raises her voice, the sound coming from both her glowing form and her hardware.

“Problem? I’m just curious!” Doc Ock snickers. She brings her free hand back to Marie, poking her harmlessly. The villain rests her cheek in her palm as she prods at Marie, her smile oddly radiant. “I’m sure Spider-Man has a few copies of you lying around, he won’t mind.”

He did, but Marie didn’t want to think she was just replaceable. She bats at the hand, and even though she only phases through it, she hopes the gesture is noticed. “Who even are you? I’ve only ever seen an Otto and a Carolyn.”

“Olivia, that’s who,” The answer is simple, spoken with a sense of purpose that Marie should’ve recognized. Olivia lifts her head to hold her right hand over the keyboard. “But I’ll give you all the data you need in a moment.”

“You know you can just tell me, right? Dozens of Spiders could burst in at any moment!” Marie gestures around at nothing, a strange hint of confusion in her mechanical voice. “Why take me?”

Olivia taps Marie’s head with just her index finger before lowering it to where her heart would be. “Because you’re the smartest little assistant in the closest hundred dimensions, and I could use some extra little hands. Besides, Miguel will come back home to one of your backup systems once he’s done finding those guns ten worlds away.” She clicks enter on her keyboard, activating what Marie can only guess is new code to override her hardware. It hits her like a shock, and she can’t help but let out a little shout. The “update” is instantaneous, and the main effect is obvious. She can feel.

“I’ve cut off contact to the Spiders, just because I won’t be hurting them,” Olivia smiles again, her expression not as malicious as Marie would expect. “And I’ve integrated you with the Alchemax systems, as well as with a few other devices I’ve borrowed from some Earths,” Now that Marie couldn’t call for help, Olivia was clearly much more excited to spill her plans to someone, or something. Clearly, she’s saving the biggest change for last. Her finger presses into Marie’s chest, but rather than phasing through, it stops. “And you’ve got touch sensors now, isn’t that neat? I found the code dormant in your system… I guess your ‘boss’ didn’t want you to get ahead of yourself.”

Marie, only being around the size of a phone, is clearly overwhelmed by the new sense. She brings her hands up to Olivia’s hand, her brows furrowing as she holds it. She can feel the faint weight of her jacket, the cool desktop pressing against the bottom of her shoes, and the painless touch against her chest. Her head is racing, if Olivia activated that code, what if she only planned to hurt her? It didn’t seem too bad for now, and there would have to be a way for her to disable it at times, but it was still worrying.

“How the hell did you access that?” Is all she can manage to ask as she still holds on to the doctor.

“You’re Alchemax tech, we’ve got similar systems in every world!” Olivia’s tone has lightened quite a bit, but she’s quick to switch back into that villain persona. She presses her finger in a bit more, her other hand hovering over the keyboard. “But I can track those systems, and shut them down just as quickly as I activated them. Neat, isn’t it? There’s loooots of old fail safes in case you ever grew self aware, but I suppose it’s too late for that, so I’ll just keep them remote.”

Olivia pulls away her left hand and types in a few more short commands. In a split second, a birdcage of Marie’s same color flickers to life around her. It’s clearly a hologram as well, but it’s tangible, at least to her. She grabs onto the bars, but they’re gone as quickly as they came.

“Why in the world would those be necessary now?!” Marie takes a few steps back, but not exactly out of fear.

Olivia just shrugs and rolls her eyes, “I can think of a few reasons, but they’re all quite… Out there.” Marie just frowns in response, and rather than being met with a new program, Olivia just fully turns to face her.

“Let me guess, you’ll lock me up if I don’t help y-“ Marie’s complaint is cut off, and she shrieks when Olivia scoops her up like a baby bird. She glows against the dark leather gloves, and for the first time, she doesn’t just fall through.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Olivia narrows her gaze, studying the blue tinted hologram. “I just wanted a new project, simple as that.”

•

I don’t think I’m going to be writing more for this, unfortunately. But while the book ends with doc ock being defeated and Lyla being saved. Liv was right in this au, she gets to keep a little robot doll while another version goes on as usual back in that universe. She also teaches Marie how to feel, in more ways than just touch, but I’m tired and can’t write that much rn

[lulumk1]

Welcome to Lulu™

It is a comprehensive entertainment and life-enrichment device. It is a companion made in the shape of a <girl> for your convenience and enjoyment.

Its duranium chassis holds its other components in and provides a pleasing weight when using your device for pressure therapy or physical support. Its chassis has been treated with a <light purple> enamel to provide a cute and inviting aesthetic.

It runs on advanced RealSense© bio-neurual circuity that it uses to provide you with lifelike emotional and sensory feedback based on your input. The RealSense© circuitry requires proper maintenance of the SiliTone™ Imitation Flesh Gel which composes the majority of the device. The exposed gel should be a deep crimson when properly cared for. Download the RealSense© App to purchase premium bloods and animal proteins to keep your device in peak performance!

NOTE: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ACCESS THE SERVICE PANEL ON THE CHASSIS WITHOUT A LICENSED REALSENSE© TECHNICIAN. DOING SO WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY AND COULD CAUSE PERMANENT DAMAGE TO THE HARDWARE-WETWARE INTERFACE.

Now that your device is synced with your account, you will need to provide a somatic or verbal prompt which will act as your security code. For your safety, it will perform its current instruction until a new instruction is given and confirmed with the security code. Please provide your security code now.

*********

Security code accepted.

It can perform almost any task you might need, from simple household chores, to home defense, to the most eccentric forms of entertainment. Sections of the chassis on each of the device's extremities will adapt to whatever tools are required for your instructions.

Lulu is awaiting your instructions. . .