#jeep components

[trailforged]

Jeep Adventure Begins with Heim Joints - Trail Forged

Trail Forged Embark on thrilling Jeep adventures with Heim Joints, the key to enhanced performance, durability, and control.

[trialforged]

Trail Forged - Specialized Jeep Components

Elevate your Jeep's performance with Trail Forged specialized jeep components. Engineered for off-road mastery, our products redefine your trailblazing experience.

[fortec4x4]

5 Reasons Why You Should Consider Upgrading Your Jeep’s Steering System

One of the main reasons to upgrade the steering components in your jeep is to improve handling. The steering system directly affects how your Jeep responds to your input, whether on or off the road. If you’re off-roading or driving on rough terrain, a poor steering system can make it harder to maintain control of your vehicle.

[deerspherestudios]

GOOOODDDD i played the demo for mushroom oasis

and holy shit im so excited for more,, im rattling the bars of my cage

(i mean this might be spoilery for one part but idc rambling anyways)

that one choice where it vanishes because mychael chooses for us??? SO FUCKING COOL! literally went "oh thats a neat color- WAIT A SEC!"

i love the art style. the storyline. (i named my cat Jeep) i love every little bit oh my god

Aaa thank you so much!! It genuinely rejoices me seeing new people react to the game (shoutout to people who comment on itchio game pages beloved I rarely respond on itchio but know I read them and love you all <3!!)

I'm rattling bars of my own rn, due to some life circumstances progress is slow (matters concerning my PC and the fact I'm working on moving out this week!) ,,, but queue is revived so people have something to check in on at least!!

I'm still so happy with how I implemented that bit; I didn't want him to just turn the screen pink throughout the whole game and call it a day, but the idea that he can take your choices away in a visual novel where choices are a key component just did something for me hehe!

[seat-safety-switch]

Don't you hate it in science fiction when the protagonist knows exactly how something works, right down to the theory and components? That pulls me right out of the story. I don't know how a garage door opener works, you probably don't either, so I wouldn't spend four paragraphs explaining it to a hot alien chick I just met. I'd be too busy asking her if she has Craigslist on her phone.

I can absolutely understand why authors want to do this, though. When you're writing a novel, the blank page is terrifying. You fill it with what you know, and if you've been studying "cool spaceships," it turns out that will be top of mind for a little while until you discover a Wikipedia article about a new kind of gravity. The same thing happens at parties. If you ask me about the weather, the conversation will inevitably degenerate into a discussion of exactly when you need to start looking for oversized crankshaft bearings and what kinds of semi-truck batteries are the right size to steal for use in a car. It's detail you don't need, in other words, but that I have in large quantities.

What's the solution for this? Knowing nothing at all. Studies have shown that the less you know, the happier you are. Doing these studies made the scientists involved sadder, which is basically a peer-review if you ask me. The less you know about a subject, the more easily you can let the plot take over. For instance, I don't have a really solid idea of where on the map Egypt is, but if you asked me to throw together a novel about it, it would probably be a pretty good banger until the halfway mark where they find an old Jeep that doesn't run and the next two hundred pages are a regurgitation of the Haynes manual's wiring diagram section. Come to think of it, that would be an amazing book.

So in conclusion, try to know less tomorrow than you know today. Go out there and forget a whole bunch of stuff. Head to your local public library and rub your face on the books until the ideas come back out of your brain and embed themselves inside the pages, where they belong. And then get back home, grab your 1977 Royal Sahara typewriter, which is really a rebadged Triumph-Adler, and re-lube the strike hammer elbow to get rid of that weird little squeak in the spaceb – oh no, it's happening again. I gotta get to the library.

[hold-fast-and-rise]

Understanding Your Jeep Wrangler's Suspension System

The suspension system is a crucial component of your Jeep Wrangler, responsible for providing a smooth ride, handling, and stability. It absorbs shocks and vibrations from the road, ensuring a comfortable driving experience.

Key Components:

* Shock Absorbers: Dampen the oscillations of the suspension system, preventing excessive bouncing.

* Springs: Store and release energy to absorb shocks.

* Control Arms: Connect the wheels to the chassis, providing lateral stability.

* Sway Bars: Reduce body roll during cornering.

* Tie Rods: Connect the steering wheel to the front wheels.

* Drag Link: Connects the steering gear to the tie rod.

* Pitman Arm: Connects the steering gear to the drag link.

* Track Bar: Helps maintain vehicle alignment and prevents excessive wheel movement.

How it Works:

When you drive over a bump, the suspension system absorbs the impact. The springs compress, storing energy, while the shock absorbers dampen the movement. The control arms and sway bars work together to maintain vehicle stability and prevent excessive body roll.

Importance of Maintenance:

Regular maintenance is essential for the proper functioning of your Jeep Wrangler's suspension system. This includes:

* Inspecting components: Check for signs of wear, damage, or leaks.

* Replacing worn parts: Replace parts as needed to ensure optimal performance.

* Wheel alignment: Maintain proper wheel alignment for better handling and tire life.

By understanding the components and functions of your Jeep Wrangler's suspension system, you can better appreciate its importance and take steps to ensure its proper maintenance.

[jamieroyjamieroy]

I should be writing my other fics but I had to write this! More smut

Hands of desire

Evan arrives home and sees Tommy working on his jeep. The hood is up and Tommy is bent over looking into the engine oblivious to his arrival. Tommy is wearing some oil stained shorts and nothing else, his sexy muscles rippling as he moves his hands expertly over the different components. Evan can’t resist dropping his bag, walking over to Tommy and pressing himself against Tommy’s back, wrapping his arms tightly around Tommy’s abdomen so he doesn’t hinder his movements.

“Hey baby, how was your shift?” Tommy asks trying to stand up but the weight of Evan draped against him prevents much movement.

“Fairly standard shift, no fatalities. I’m so glad to be home though, I’ve missed you” Evan replies rubbing his face into the crook of Tommy’s neck.

“I missed you too baby, let me finish up so I don’t get you all dirty” Tommy says, heart fluttering at Evan calling his place home.

“That’s ok you keep working, I’ll just hang here” Evan says not moving away “Tommy you are so good at this, thank you for offering to do it”

“Of course, you know I’m always happy to do these things for you. It helps me unwind after shift” Tommy realises Evan has no plans to move away so he may as well finish what he is doing, besides he is enjoying the weight at his back and the hardness against his ass. Evan can’t help it, watching Tommy moving his hands so efficiently is turning him on. He knows how good Tommy is with his hands in other areas too. Evan has come to understand that Tommy’s love language is acts of service but Evan wants to repay him anyway. So he stands up but keeps himself pressed firmly against Tommy’s legs. He starts at Tommy’s shoulders and runs his hands down Tommy’s warm back

Read more here

[mariacallous]

Let’s be upfront here: US cars haven’t been cheap for a long time. The average price of a new car in the US is close to $50,000, up some $5,000 from two decades ago, even adjusted for inflation. The reasons are manifold: Vehicles have gotten more complicated—and expensive—to manufacture, the Covid-19 pandemic bent global auto supply chains out of shape, and Detroit automakers put the brakes on relatively more affordable passengers cars in the past decade in favor of higher-margin (and more in-demand) trucks and SUVs.

But auto tariffs applied by the Trump administration this week—and another set of parts tariffs set to kick in next month—may effectively put a stake in the American affordable car, experts say, by driving up prices by thousands of dollars.

Among the biggest losers will likely be the country’s most price-sensitive buyers, for whom a higher sticker price means waiting to trade in their old car. The moves may also put pressure on used-auto markets, too, as those former new-car buyers help ratchet up demand.

At the end of March, 27 US vehicles had an average transaction price of under $30,000, according to data collected by Cox Automotive; seven of those are discontinued and just selling down remaining cars. About half of the models left over will be subject to the tariffs because they’re assembled outside the United States. Apply an extra $6,000 or so to each of those vehicles’ prices—what the firm estimates the tariffs will cost per auto—and only five remain: the Hyundai Venue, the Kia Soul, the Nissan Sentra, the Chevrolet Trax, and the Nissan Versa (which is being discontinued this year).

Victims could include the popular Hyundai Kona (built in South Korea), Jeep’s least expensive SUV, the Compass (Mexico), and the base model Ford Maverick truck (Mexico). General Motors’ had a hit on its hands last year with the Chevrolet Trax, which starts at $21,000. But the car is assembled in South Korea—and so could get more expensive.

The calculations will get even more complicated next month, when the Trump administration says it will begin to apply a tariff on imported auto parts as well. Even popular affordable models assembled in the US—such as the Subaru Crosstrek, manufactured in Indiana, or the Honda Civic, built in Ohio—contain components from outside the US.

Some affordable models could disappear altogether, says Erin Keating, an executive analyst at Cox Automotive. “The American consumer, we like our things big, customized, special, and cheap,” she says. “It’s going to be pretty hard to manage.” The days of the $20,000 car are all but over, and the days of the $30,000 one might be, too.

Buyers may be on the verge of an enforced crash course not on where automakers base their headquarters—Toyota and Honda, Japan; Volkswagen and Audi, Germany—but where they build individual cars. It might behoove bargain hunters to know, for example, that the $23,000 Toyota Corolla is built in Mississippi, that the $45,000 electric Volkswagen ID.4 comes out of Tennessee, and that the $25,000 Honda Civic is put together in Indiana.

But it’s not yet clear how the automakers will pass on new tariffs to consumers. Some will absorb part of the costs or expect their suppliers or dealers to do so. Some may shift money around to keep their entry-level models afloat, to make sure they’re still getting price-sensitive buyers in the door, maybe by raising prices on all models to subsidize the tariffed ones. Others might simply tack tariff costs onto sticker prices. Volkswagen has reportedly told US dealers that it will add a new import fee to its vehicles built outside the US. Others might abandon their affordable segments.

In the US, where smaller and often more affordable vehicles sell in smaller volumes, automakers may find it hard to justify keeping some models around. It’s a flywheel, where fewer sales lead to fewer economies of scale—and so more expensive per-car costs on parts, manufacturing, and tooling, says Ivan Drury, the director of Insights at Edmunds. For more affordable vehicles especially, “every dollar has to be justified,” he says.

Tariffs come at an unfortunate moment for car buyers, many of whom sat out the sky-high prices of the pandemic and the high interest rates that followed. “They were just beginning to come back,” says Drury. “People were thinking, ‘Maybe it’s finally time.’” Those desperate for new wheels might instead now turn to the used-car market, which is already supply constrained because automakers didn’t pump out as many vehicles during the pandemic years.

Regardless of what kind of car buyers are looking for, analysts say the tariffs make one thing very clear. “We’re predicting that all vehicles will rise in cost,” says Keating.

[praxcrown5]

Cars Headcanon: Vehicle Growth and Development

*note: this Headcanon is for civilian-class vehicles, only. The process is slightly different for carrier and combat class vehicles...as is the siring process.*

Following the events of the Factory Wars (1819-1864, Cycle 9), most newborn, sapient vehicles are manufactured in factories. The long and the short of things is that vehicles actually do "grow up," after they are manufactured, and have distinct phases of development between infancy and adulthood.

*I used Doc as an example...because it gave me an excuse to draw him as an adorable babeh.*

A vehicle wanting to procreate must go through the siring process with a partner of the opposite gender (see my post on reproduction). Recently, some factories (Chrysler, Jeep, Chevrolet, Stellantis, and Mazda) have allowed people to petition them directly if they are unable to create a flame due to injury, manufacturing defect and/or sexual orientation.

Once a flame is sired, the female carrier will begin receiving internal notifications with instructions on what factory they'll need to report to. If she can't get to the factory right away, she can maintain the flame for three weeks by doubling her food intake. After this time, the energy is reabsorbed, and she'll have to go through the siring process if she wants to try again.

No one outside of a factory knows how a newborn is actually manufactured. In conversations with an angel at the Hudson Motor Car Factory, Doc's mother and grandfather learn that there are at least two processes involved beyond the initial "harvesting" (the operation that extracts the flame from the female's body): "grafting" and "nurturing." The time between harvesting and being introduced to the family is, on average, three and a half days…though it can take as long as seven if the flame splits, resulting in twins.

A newborn is always the same make as their factory of origin, and the type of vehicle created is dependent on the vehicles involved in the siring process. If both parents are one type of vehicle (a car, for example), the child will be that type of vehicle. If the parents are two, different types of vehicle (a car and a plane, for example), the resulting child has a 50% chance of being one or the other. Gender is random. Twins are always the same gender and model.

When newly manufactured, a vehicle begins life with a simple, two-cycle engine and are capable of self-locomotion. The moment a child emerges from the factory, they memorize their parents UV patterns, and the sound of their parent's voices on the way home initiates their natal learning software. By the end of their first day, the newborn can speak in complete sentences and will spend every waking moment asking questions and generally absorbing as much information as their budding minds can handle. This period of hyper information gathering, known as the Infant Period, lasts until the child's third birthday…and the dreaded First Appetency Phase.

In preparation for their most intense growth spurt, the child develops an insatiable appetite for metal, especially objects made of iron, copper and lead. And…much to the horror of those around them, they're not picky about where the metal comes from. Non-sapient machines, road markers, pipes, unattended parts, steel bridge supports, power poles, tools, cooking utensils…really anything that the child can stuff into their crop whole or tear apart with their incredibly strong teeth is fair game. It's not uncommon for children, during the height of the phase, to attempt to eat their parents and/or siblings. They do not attend school during this phase for obvious safety reasons.

The excess metals are stored within the child's body, melding with existing metals in the frame, engine, and mechanical components. The infant eventually becomes so dense and heavy that they can't move; eleven hours later the spurt begins. The child's body metals "slacken," taking on a texture similar to the metals around and inside the mouth. Stored metals from the Appetency Phase are re-mobilized, and the child's body begins to slowly grow. It's a painful period fraught with danger, and many parents don't leave their children unattended for even a minute.

Manufacturing defects (misshapen wheels, bent frames, UV blindness, etc) manifest during this growth spurt. Many can be corrected, especially with modern technology…but some cannot.

After two weeks, the growth spurt runs its course and the infant vehicle matures into an adolescent. They are now about half the size of an adult with a four cycle engine. Adolescents are much more mobile than infants, and this is the age when they really began to interact with the world around them. They are still insanely curious and learning rapidly, and this is when most parents start teaching them a trade…or at the very least the life skills that they'll need to survive on their own.

Almost immediately after their seventh birthday, the adolescent enters their Second Appetency Phase…though by this point, they tend to have enough self-control that they're not eating their family out of literal house and home. This time around, they crave rarer metals, like titanium, palladium, and magnesium, and they're taking in almost triple the amount of food as an adult. The slackening phase of this spurt is more dangerous than the first due to the fact that the child's engine is powerful enough to allow mobility, despite the increase in weight. Most families opt to keep their children confined to the house until the spurt runs its course, as even a minor fender-bender during this time can be lethal.

After two weeks, the adolescent matures into a young-adult. They are now about 75% the size of an adult, with a significantly more powerful engine and a greater capacity for strategic problem-solving, deductive reasoning, and information processing. They are strong enough to work and participate in competitive sports, though there is mounting evidence that overtaxing the body and engine too much during this phase can cause developmental issues during their 11th year growth spurt.

Upon reaching their eleventh birthday, a vehicle experiences their Third, and final, Appetency Phase. While they still need extra metal in their diet (copper and aluminum, especially) they find themselves craving organic materials like peat, kerogen, coal and, oddly enough, crab meat. The final growth spurt takes three weeks…but once a vehicle's body metals harden, they are considered an adult, socially and legally. They can drink, get married, live independent of their parents, own property, run for public office, and work full-time somewhere other than a family-owned business.

Probably the most important physical change is the development of reproductive hardware. The ability to hook up with another vehicle for pleasure usually drives the first two or three years of adulthood as a vehicle figures out, not only out how their own hardware works, but what preferences they have in terms of sexuality, foreplay, and hook up configurations. Because there's an extra step involved in actually siring a child, accidental children aren't really a thing, and most vehicles (in the modern era) don't even think about parenthood until their late twenties/early thirties.

Now, that's not to say there aren't risks involved with casual hookups. Vehicles are immune to most of the organic viruses left over from the Great Dying and The Return, but they can be susceptible to digital viruses…and the easiest way for a virus to transfer between vehicles is during physical intimacy. Outbreaks can occur suddenly and spread rapidly, devastating populations…and even disrupting the factories, themselves. Cycle 8, for example, was rocked by a powerful, almost sapient, computer virus…and the resultant hardware crashes wiped out 60% of all bio-mechanical life on the planet, necessitating a full recall.

In 1900 (Cycle 9), the global, average life expectancy of a vehicle was 32 years. By 2017 this had more than doubled to 65 years. Advances in bio-mechanics, public health, automation, safety standards, and a more robust biosphere have led to decreases in mortality, for all age groups, in much of the world. Part obsolescence, usually caused by political infighting between factories, is the major limiting factor to longevity, though the advent of 3D printing is helping to counteract it.

[cutekittenlady]

Trains, Planes, and Autobots

Summary Fic Part 7

[Previous] [Next]

Everyone is gathered outside the Maltos residence just as the sun is starting to go down.

Bumblebee complains about the late start, but Alex calms him as he loads the last of the groups equipment into Bee's trunk. He points out that while while Cybertronias may not need to sleep in the same way humans do, Breakdown will inevitably have to stop to re-energize and hunt for Energon eventually.

Thrash points out that on the other hand Alex has to eat and sleep and so they'll be stopping just as much.

However Hashtag cuts in on both of them and tells them that Breakdown won't have the benefit of Hashtags wi-fi abilities. Telling the group that she already knows which highway exit Breakdown, Swindle, and Hardtop have taken due to "Cons not believing in red lights". (Red light cameras took pictures of them). She directs Bee and the others what direction to start in, but warns she'll only be able to track them via that method.

Schloder gives Alex an energon reader and recommends he try and use it to track the three.

Thrash questions how hard its actually going to be to track down a racecar, an armored buggy, and a jeep all driving together.

Dot says it may be harder than he thinks and takes the opportunity to remind Thrash to use the holographic tech he'd been given.

Thrash goes into his alt mode and tries the projection out; producing the illusion of his motorcycle having a human rider. Nightshade acknowledges that it may be difficult for them to remain out of sight, but Optimus tells them to just fly high enough to be out of sight during the day. Their owl like alt modes ability to fly silently and even see at night will be vital in helping Bumblebee stay on top of things as they try and track Breakdown.

Nightshade promises to do their best.

With that the group says their goodbyes, and Bumblebee, Alex, Thrash, and Nightshade all hit the road.

Ratchet quietly asks Optimus if he thinks the Terrans can handle the recon mission to which Optimus proudly tells him that they've handled big things already and have come out on top. Besides the remaining autobots on Earth remain scattered across the globe and mobilizing them together would take time they dont have. He also reveals that he had included the Terrans on their channels. So if the group ends up in trouble they know they can contact them for aid.

Ratchet isn't entirely convinced but opts to accept Optimus' judgement.

Dorothy directs everyone back into the dugout for one final review of things before they (she and the kids) turn in to rest for the night before beginning fresh in the morning.

In the dugout, Schloder stands in front of a white board with various pictures placed on it with magnets. Some of them clearly hand drawn.

He marches back and forth in front of the board with Dottie standing to one side and says that they must review the "subjects of interest thus far."

He starts with Subject #1; Breakdown. A decepticon scout. Known to be one of the components of the combiner Menasor, being the combiners right leg. After the war he became a fugitive along with the rest of Decepticons and, evidently, took to participating in races all over the globe under false identities. Most recently he has accessed the database they brought back from the old GHOST headquarters for "unknown purposes". Was previously thought to suffer from a "paranoid disposition" but seems to have dropped it in recent years.

Twitch irritably says they already know about Breakdown.

Schloder just says they have to start somewhere. And besides it'd be good to keep him in mind as any information they get about him could help with the rest. Adding that Breakdown, as far as he knows, had an affinity for taking on race cars as alt modes.

Megatron elaborates that Breakdown, at one time, was able to produce a vibration that shut down non-sentient machines. Which is where he earned his name. However, he lost the ability after suffering grievous bodily harm during the war.

He pauses and tells them that in spite of his association with the stunticons he tended to be fairly reliable and competent, and Megatron had trusted him with vital positions more than once.

Optimus points out that they're not talking about Breakdowns qualifications at the moment which Megatron just frowns at.

Schloder moves on to Subject #2; Dragstrip. A yellow bot known to take on a dragster, rather than a regular car, as her alt mode. She is dangerously competitive and will do anything, absolutely anything, to squeeze out whatever she perceives as a victory for herself. Her constant attempts to slip into races and cause mayhem resulted in routine energon checks being enforced in drag races all over America. She makes up Menasors right arm.

Megatron dourly says Dragstrip once tried to challenge the Seekers to a race and tried to tear off one of NovaStorms wings to make it "fair".

Subject #3; Dead End. Yet another vehicular bot. He formed Menasors left arm. Is thought to largely be the Stunticons strategic center.

Megatron says he always had trouble finding bots willing to go on patrol with Dead End. His dour nihilism tended to get on the other decepticons nerves. It got so bad that only the other stunticons were willing to go on missions with him.

Noting Dead Ends red alt mode, Optimus asks Jawbreaker if Dead End is the bot he saw Breakdown looking up. It's possibly he may have simply looked up Dead End twice.

Jawbreaker looks at Dead Ends picture and says that hes not. It was someone else.

Subject #4; Wildrider. DO NOT APPROACH ALONE. He is dangerous and known to deliberately cause destruction wherever he goes. Some of the biggest road accidents recorded in the past forty years had Wildrider identified as the central cause. He was Menasors left leg.

Megatron admits he doesnt have much to add. Mostly they just pointed Wildrider in whatever direction the enemy was and hoped for the best.

Subject $5; MotorMaster. The leader of the stunticons. He makes up the central component of Menasor. Was known to use his alt mode, a large truck, to barrel through obstacles to make a path for the other stunticons to move in. Notably he had a tendency to gun for Optimus.

Optimus quietly mutters that he still doesnt understand what MotorMasters problem with him was.

Megatron says that he thinks it was a "truck thing" and asks Optimus not to take it too personally. Though he grows serious when he admits that MotorMasters bullheaded violence caused Megatron to be forced to put him in stasis before he left the decepticons.

Twitch asks why he had to do that.

Megatron explained that when Motormaster learned the Stunticons were being disbanded he became so violent that Megatron had to subdue him. He very nearly killed their CMO in the rampage.

He still has no idea if MotorMaster is still in stasis or not. He hadn't seen him on the battlefield after he'd defected leading him to assume Shockwave and the others had left him there.

Schloder clears his throat and admits he actually kinda sorta might have some news about that?

With everyone looking at him Schloder admits that after Mandroids defeat he found some, ah, abandoned messages from another GHOST facility elsewhere in the country. They had, evidently, found Motormasters stasis pod and had awakened him. They'd managed to keep him imprisoned, but a month or two before the mandroid incident he'd someone managed to escape.

Dorothy quickly asks where all the others are.

Schloder tells her that Wildrider and Dragstrip had been imprisoned too. Keyword had.

"You're telling me that right now there's a group of Decepticon road hogs driving around free who can come together to turn into a giant lunatic?!" Dorothy asks.

Schloder stops. Thinks. And confirms that, yes, that is the case.

Ratchet says that this is dire. If Breakdown was working at Motormasters direction, he may have just gotten a lead on the locations of all the other stunticons. If the group comes back together, Menasor will likely make a return.

Jawbreaker nervously says that that cant be all bad, right? After all the autobots presumably defeated him during the war, right? right?!

Optimus confirms that the autbots did indeed have their own combiner teams that helped to combat forces like Menasor.

Jawbreaker sighs in relief.

BUT, optimus finishes, not only are some of the autobots in question scattered across the globe, but many of the team members were left behind on cybertron when the space bridge was destroyed.

Essentially, if their theory about the stunticons coming back together to form Menasor is correct, there is no one readily available to beat him.

Twitch asks if Menasor is as terrible as all that, but is met with silence. She says that if thats the case then they HAVE to stop it.

Dorothy calms Twitch telling her they don't know for certain that thats what Breakdowns aim was.

Shloder adds that regardless, he'll try to scramble what few former GHOST personnel remain to try and dig through information to try and get the last known locations of all the stunticons, or at bare minimum, a hint as to where they each might be located.

Besides that they still have to discuss where Subject #6; "The red guy" fits into all this. As the last search Breakdown did, and the only one he attempted to do in secret, "the red guy" might just be key to figuring out what they're planning. They don't know what connection "the red guy" might have to Breakdown, what alt mode they might have, or even whether they're an autobot or decepticon. However they lucked out as Jawbreaker got a look at the file and can, therefore, potentially identify the person he saw.

Hashtag hypes Jawbreaker up and talks about how they'll have to organize a lineup of "perps" for him to identify. Jawbreaker is not enthusiastic only managing a small "yay".

Optimus says this might be a much more dire situation than they thought. He asks Schloder to provide information on the stunticons last known locations so that he, Megatron, Dorothy, and Twitch can find them and find out what they know and neutralize them if they have to. Meanwhile Ratchet will remain behind to help hashtag, Mo, and Robbie help Jawbreaker try and identify which bot Breakdown looked up using the collected database they got from the GHOST base.

He also asks that Agent Schloder to stay on hand to help with identification.

With that they've done all they can and have to will wait until dawn to get started.

Out on the road, Bumblebees group travels mostly in silence. The silence is broken by Alex who asks if anyone would be interested in listening to his travel playlist.

[robodino93]

Happy Halloween (early as 💩, I know)! For Halloween, I wanted to do something nice. At first, this illustration was meant to be one of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but I think it’s now an Allosaurus (it’s missing a third finger and the arms aren’t long enough, I think).

Underneath, I would like to write a mini story.

It was a dark and stormy night, and you were driving down a road in Costa Rica. You were here for a much needed vacation from the hell that was work. Seven to nine hours a day, five days a week, it was tiring and you have been exhausted for weeks at a time. But just a week ago, you got a vacation pass from your boss, and you gleefully accepted the pass and took a flight down to Costa Rica.

Unfortunately, a storm had arrived one day during your vacation, as you were staying at a beach a few miles from the town you were staying in, a town you don’t remember at the top of your head. But, the name is on the map you have on the dashboard of the rental Jeep. The speed limit is 50 mph on the signs you see every few minutes, but you’re going 60. You don’t mind it really, since you’re used to being above the speed limit back at home.

As you’re thinking about home, you notice a fork in the road and slow down to read the signs. One goes east, and the other goes south. You take the map off your dashboard and read its components. The map you used to get to the beach is an expansion of a larger map of Costa Rica. You notice to the left of Costa Rica in the middle of the ocean, is a map of five islands. The names of the islands include Isla Nubar and Isla Sorna, and those make you remember about some incidents that occurred in an island in the Central American area.

You figure that Isla Nublar and Sorna were the islands that the incidents took place at. But, putting the interesting fact aside, you look at the small map and you see the town you’re staying at, because you had circled it in red with a Sharpie before going to the beach. The town is on the road that goes east, so you put the map back and take the road east.

You continue down the road for several minutes, without anything changing really. The rain pattered against the windshield, and the whippers went back and forth, making a squeaking noise. The yellow lights of the Jeep illuminate about three or four yards of the asphalt road ahead, with its yellow stripes reflecting the light, making the path visible a further few yards than the range of the lights.

But, as you start to see the lights of the town, a sudden black shape crosses the road, startling you into an abrupt stop, launching your face into the steering wheel. You take a moment to readjust yourself, noticing your nose is bleeding. You reach for the napkins in the glovebox. That’s when you look outside the passenger window, and see something.

You quickly figure out it must’ve been what came in front of the Jeep. You first see the yellow eyes of the animal. Maybe it’s a jaguar or something like that. You get a little worried, but you figure that it might just go away. But it keeps staring at you. You completely forget about the napkins in the glovebox as you stare at the creature. The creature is starting to look more visible as your eyes adjust to the darkness. You start to realize that it’s bigger than you thought it was. It looks like it’s bigger than the Jeep, which makes you even more nervous. The lights from the Jeep start to bring the creature into view.

The animal is as big as you feared, and it’s a very dark green, but not dark enough to blend with the foliage of the jungle. It appears to actually be standing in its hind legs, with arms that seemed to be equipped with claws. It also has scaly skin, and there are large shapes going along its back all the way to its tail, a blackish color. But, as you keep looking at it, it almost looks like a dark purple. It also has a tan underside, marked by these splotches. They cover the creature’s arms, feet, and face. You can’t tell if the splotches are marks of dirt or mud, so you start to look closer. But as you start to focus more on the splotches, you realize that they’re red. A dark red. Almost like it’s blood. As you look at the spreading splotches, you start to wonder, are they part of the animal’s color pallet, or did it just finish a meal. And then, you realize that it looks like a dinosaur.

You quickly try to find your camera to take a picture, but when you return to the window, it’s gone. You look around in the Jeep at the road and the two sides of the jungle. You make some last looks around, and you figure it went away, like you thought it would at first. You put your camera back in your backpack, and take one of the napkins in the glovebox and wipe your nose. After you’re done, you finish the drive to the town.

Strangely though, it seems everybody is awake and wandering around town. Some are moving quite fast, for it being nighttime. There’s a woman on her porch crying and balling tears down here cheeks. The man next to the woman heads back into the house. You wonder what happened as you pull up to the hotel. You gather your stuff and start heading indoors, but then you notice the man that went inside is coming back out with sheets of paper. He hands them to other people, and they start rushing towards power poles, and started taping and nailing the papers to the poles. You decide to go look at the nearest paper and see what it says.

The sign reads:

Missing: Eduardo Chavez Age 5 Went missing during the night. Family heard loud bang and boy’s screaming as he was taken into the jungle. Immediate help wanted. Possibly injured. Large bird like footprints found near the house.

As you finish reading the text, you come to a realization that shocks you and fills you with fear.

The creature you saw in the road had eaten the child.

[trailforged]

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[summery-captain]

AuDHD traits Dirk Gently Displays - S1E5: Very Erectus

- You may follow the google docs file I'm writing everything down in, also! If you haven't read them yet, links to the first four episodes:

S1E1 - Horizons / S1E2 - Lost and Found / S1E3 - Rogue Wall Enthusiasts / S1E4 - Watkin

Click read more to read the analysis of the fifth episode! Tagging: @clockworkcheetah @urlocallesbiab @generalized-incompetence @amber-angel @goatygoat @frenchfriedgiraffe

> In the scene in the dinner, after they start driving to go look for the 'treasure' based on the map, Todd starts insisting that Dirk has a power and he immediately deflects and shuts down, avoiding eye contact completely, looking around. > The second Todd says "It's you. It's something about you", he goes "I'm not psychic, drop it." - of course this enters the parallel of the whole show being about the holistics having their ties to the universe in different ways, but I've had moments where people know I'm autistic and they start insisting on either me being actually "normal" and it being a superpower, trying to single me or sus me out, and I react similarly to Dirk in this scene > "No!! We are having this conversation", discomfort, "Here, let's do an experiment" EXTREME discomfort - sometimes you're just existing and people want a) an explanation of your whole life and b) for you to prove to be what you say you are > "Look, I can't explain it, ok? I learned a long time ago things don't always make sense the way people want them to" - AuDhd to its barest components– > "You're going to have to accept that too. To. Too. To. Too? Two?" - very common to lose a bit of sense of words both in autism (overwhelmed) and plus ADHD having the common comorbidity of dyslexia 

> Trading the Corvette for the beat down jeep, and when Todd goes "???" he says "It's just a rental!" - he makes decisions and when people express concern assumes it's based on something else, even if it doesn't make sense. So he just says it. I usually know for a fact I won't figure out what they're ACTUALLY judging me for - general inaptitude to read between the lines or figure out social situations 

> Martin tells Amanda, about Dirk, "He's got gourmet panic!" - he just like us, he just like us fr 

> "Don't start with the zen master thing, ok? It worked out a lot better before I figured out you were a mess, too" - people tend to assume we're more put together than they are because we showcase emotions differently 

> When Todd says he's gonna give up on digging, he just goes "Wouldn't this be just one more thing you walked away from, though" - not the sincerautistic murder-- Sometimes I also blurt out things and accidentally read people to filth without fully realizing. 

> He puts clues together and recognizes patterns then blurts it out, classic AuDHD style

 > "(...) I think life is like that too, just an endless series of room with puzzles and eventually one of them kills you" / "That's dark and depressing" - my fellow AuDHD ambassador just drops bombs and doesn't even realize 

> "What is it?" / "A thing" - stating the obvious shouldn't be as funny as it is but it never gets old 

> "You brought the cat?" / "Of course I did" - just. Very cute honestly but also, I too make decisions without fully realizing what it would entail, like bringing a kitten around with you while digging shit up 

> Todd starts venting to him and he's like. Confused - but yet again he tries his very best to support him, saying "When I look behind me, I can't see ahead of me" / "Are you saying dwelling on my past is holding me back?" / "No. I mean I literally can't see what's back there when I'm looking forward" - general literal thinking

> "You know what I was thinking about? When I was staring down at the barrel of that gun?" "...bullets?" - literal thinking part 321 electric boogaloo

> “Everything is connected. But only I can see it… I’m not.. Psychic. But I am something” yeah. Autistic-

> “The hunches don’t help me, ever” - we tend to figure stuff out based on our general understanding of them, trying to consciously clock things others don’t have to think twice about, but the same is true in reverse, where things that may seem impossible for neurotypicals to figure out, we see immediately. Although we may know these things, we’re usually not taken seriously enough or don’t have the bandwidth to actually prevent some things from happening to us or around us.

> “I don’t have any friends, I am always surrounded by bizarre and frightening states of disaster, and I am always alone” - sad part hours, but it’s unfortunately true: we’re always overwhelmed, surrounded by input we can’t filter out, and it is extremely hard to make and maintain friends. But Dirk has found his people and so will all of us, eventually!!

> When Todd says “And Dirk? I am your friend.” - immediate hope, bright red eyes, furrowed eyebrows, then IMMEDIATELY he schools his expression out to nonchalant, so yet again his big reactions don’t push people around him away (both true for Dirk and in our general experience, having had to tone yourself down your whole life does NUMBERS on you)

[nsokolow]

Transformers One: Charoite

Chapter Twenty

"Are you two okay?" Optimus asked as he worked B's gag off.

"Yeah, we're okay!" B declared the moment his mouth was free. "Charoite's propellers cut through my cuffs and the ties on her wings! I didn't know propellers could be that sharp!"

"That's great!" Optimus turned to Jazz. "Jazz, cut the rest of their ties."

As Jazz worked on Charoite's ties, she saw the rest of the Autobots taking defensive stances while the flying Decepticons landed, the ground-based ones coming closer.

In his tank mode, Megatron sped up to the scene. He de-transformed and stood in front of Optimus, breathing heavily, his fists clenched. "We're not done with them yet, Prime, unless you hand Cybertron over to me."

"Not a chance, D-Megatron." Optimus lowered his axe. "I'm giving you a chance to walk away and let us take our friends back to Iacon."

Charoite's spark sunk. No way was he going to walk away.

Megatron smirked and looked back at his army. "Sorry, everybody. Looks like we're going to have to take over Cybertron the hard way."

Charoite saw Jazz cut through the last of B's bindings before the Decepticons charged the Autobots.

"Oh, it's on!" B laughed before he extended his knives out of his hands and slid his yellow battle mask over his face, a visor over the eyes.

Charoite slid her own purple battle mask on, which also had a visor. "Wait! You couldn't have cut through the cuffs?"

"I tried but the-" B sliced both his hands across a bot and made him stumble, "-cuffs neutralized them!"

You'll pay for humiliating me!" Starscream yelled and rushed to Charoite. He lifted a foot, blasted a flame in her face and kicked her.

Charoite stumbled to get back up and screamed in his face, purple and blue circles of light projecting from her mouth.

"Ahhh! Why?" Starscream covered his audible as a few nearby Decepticons the same.

Charoite, not having used her sonic scream in a long time, crossed her arms and smirked. "Huh, maybe my name should be Starscream instead!"

"Wow! That was really cool!" Charoite heard B declare.

Charoite would have mourned the loss of her second triumphant moment of the day, we're it not for the other Decepticons charging towards her and the Autobots.

After a few minutes, Charoite and the Autobots had the majority of the Decepticons incapacitated. Charoite was so frightened and frantic during the fight that she didn't notice this until Megatron yelled for the Decepticons to retreat.

The Decepticons sauntered away from the scene, some limping.

Charoite dropped to her knees and sighed. "It's over."

"B?" Optimus asked.

"Holy Primus! B!" Elita shouted.

Charoite turned around and saw B lying on the ground. She ran up to him as the Autobots crowded around him.

B had his hands around his throat as he trembled.

"B! What's wrong?" Charoite touched his shoulder.

B slowly removed his shaking hands from his throat and revealed a hole, sparks flying, oil leaking out.

"His vocal component is damaged!" Optimus said quickly, "We need to take him to medical Bay right now!" Optimus transformed into a truck.

Elita picked B up and laid him down on Optimus' back area. "It's okay, B. Lie on your back, and jeep your hands pressed against your throat; you don't want to lose too much oil."

B nodded as he squinted.

Charoite sat next to B and laid a hand on his hands. It was the least she could do. She started to wonder if this was, in the end, her fault.

Optimus drove off with the two in the back, leading the Autobots back to Iacon City.

The mostly quiet state of the Iacon Medical Bay didn't do anything to ease Charoite's fear and guilt. She, along with Optimus, Elita, Jazz, and Arcee, sat silently in the waiting room as B was in the Emergency Wing. Charoite could barely look at the bots around her; she sat far away from them. She told Megatron she would spy for him, then...didn't. How stupid she was to think that he would just leave her alone if she pretended to be too dumb to be a good spy! Worse yet, maybe she knew deep down it wouldn't work, but just hoped it would so she wouldn't have to confront the possibility that Megatron would do something horrible.

A green femme with a red cross-like symbol on her white chest entered the room.

Charoite, along with the other bots, sprang up from their chairs.

"Are you all here for B-127?" The femme asked.

"Yes," Optimus answered.

The femme took a gentle step forward. "We were able to seal his throat back together, but unfortunately, the damage to his vocal component is too severe for it to be immediately fixable. He's been rendered unable to speak."

"No!" Charoite grabbed her head and sat back down.

Elita shut her eyes and sighed.

"What do you mean by 'immediately fixable?'" Optimus asked.

"You see," replied the nurse, "B-127 needs to have his vocal component replaced, and one that calibrates with his system. The good, albeit morbid news, is that there are plenty of donor vocal components, among other parts, available at our hospital and in many other hospitals in Cybertron. The bad news is that a procedure as rare and delicate as this one is going to always cost a fortune. Adding to the damage to his wires, I would estimate about fifty-thousand shanix."

"What?" Everybody exclaimed at once.

"Wait! Optimus!" Charoite ran up to him. "I don't wanna pry, but don't you have a lot of money, being the ruler of Cybertron and all that?"

"Well, it just happened not too long ago, Charoite, and our government is still being rebuilt." Optimus, still in shock, stared at the floor, "I don't even have ten thousand! We...we can save for it, but who knows how long that'll take? I don't think any of us former miners have much left from when we mined; we all were just about living pay day to pay day!"

"I'll give everything I can!" Charoite offered, "Working with Sentinel paid well, and I have a little bit of money saved from when I worked as a store clerk. I was going to save up my money to buy my own place, but this is way more important. I'll also see if I can get my old job back. I've been scared to, because I don't know how my old boss is going to react, but-"

Optimus put a hand on Charoite's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Anyhow..." the nurse began, "...he should be waking up from the anesthetic. He'll be ready to be taken home in a few minutes. If any of you can transform into something that can carry him, I'd advise you to carry him home, just to be on the safe side."

Optimus raised a hand a gave a solemn nod.

A few minutes later, the same nurse emerged with another, both supporting a weakened B on both sides. He had a jagged line around his throat where it was welded shut. A small smile spread across his lips, his eyes on the verge of tears.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Sean Durns

The United States has given copious security assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). In September 2022, the U.S. State Department called the aid “a key component of U.S. Lebanon policy” that “strengthens Lebanon’s sovereignty, secures its borders, counters internal threats and disrupts terrorist facilitation.” This, of course, is an absurdity. The precise opposite is true.

As Tony Badran, a Tablet magazine columnist and longtime analyst of Lebanese affairs observed, “Hezbollah, in fact, is Lebanon.” The terrorist group controls the Levantine state’s borders and ports of entry. Michel Aoun, the last president of Lebanon and commander-in-chief of its armed forces, has declared that Hezbollah’s growing arsenal “is not in contradiction with the state.” As the saying goes: who holds the gun holds the power. And in Lebanon, Hezbollah wields both.

In August 2021, a senior U.S. State Department official testified that the U.S. funded, trained and equipped the LAF to ensure that “they serve as an institutional counterweight to Hezbollah.” But as counterterrorist analyst David Kilcullen noted in a 2022 FDD monograph, an examination of the LAF’s performance since 2006 finds that the period of enhanced U.S. security assistance coincides with “a significant increase in Hezbollah’s influence.” Kilcullen argues that “crisis driven thinking” has dominated U.S. strategy toward Lebanon. It is also fair to lay the charge of naiveté. Washington may have bankrolled the LAF in the hopes that it will serve as a counterweight, but the nation’s armed forces have even colluded with the terror group.

As one Israeli official told the Times of Israel in 2018: “We see them working together, traveling in the same jeeps. Sometimes we see Hezbollah soldiers in LAF vests.” There are numerous other reports of Lebanon’s armed forces assisting Hezbollah. The LAF, it seems, is taking America for a ride. 

Indeed, Lebanon has utterly and completely failed to enforce U.N. Security Council resolutions that remain the basis for U.S. and international support.

After the 2006 War between Israel and Hezbollah, the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 1701 which ordered that the area south of the Litani River be made “free of any armed personnel, assets, and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon and [and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNFIL]. But this manifestly has not happened. 

Instead, as the ret. Israeli Gen. Assaf Orion noted in a January 2024 report for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Hezbollah has spent the intervening years building up its capabilities and flagrantly violating the resolution. In fact, Hezbollah’s very existence in Lebanon also violates UN Security Resolution 1559 which, like 1701, calls for Hezbollah to be disarmed.

Washington, however, has failed to recognize these realities. The U.S., France, and others have recently floated plans that would rely on the LAF and UNFIL to take a greater role in southern Lebanon. Yet more of the same is not the answer. The United States must acknowledge reality: its Lebanon policy is failing. And the dire consequences are coming into view.