#magnetic temperature sensor

[tekedynamic]

Why Bluetooth Beacons Are the Future of Smart Cities

As cities around the globe embrace IoT-driven solutions, Bluetooth beacons will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in shaping the future of urban life. By investing in this transformative technology, city planners and governments can ensure a smarter, more connected, and sustainable future for their citizens. Read more......

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Ultracompact fiber-tip sensor achieves high sensitivity in magnetic field and temperature measurements

Magnetic field sensing plays a pivotal role in numerous fields of medical, transportation and aerospace. The optical fiber-based magnetic field sensor possesses outstanding characteristics of compactness, long-distance interrogation, low cost and high sensitivity, which has attracted intensive interest. However, the fiber-based magnetic field sensor is generally affected by the temperature perturbation. Recently, although the temperature crosstalk can be effectively eliminated by integrating multiple sensing elements, it is at the cost of increasing the size of the whole sensing components, and the different spatial location of multiple elements could cause the measurement errors in the multi-parameter discriminative sensing. In a new paper published in Light: Advanced Manufacturing, a team of scientists, led by Professor Limin Xiao from Advanced Fiber Devices and Systems Group, Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MoE), Key Laboratory for Information Science of Electromagnetic Waves (MoE), Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Ultra-Precision Optical Manufacturing, School of Information Science and Technology, Fudan University, China, and co-workers have developed an ultracompact multicore fiber (MCF) tip probes for magnetic field and temperature discriminative sensing.

Read more.

[nan0-sp1der]

␂ > 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 // @lyrate-lifeform-approximation , @spiderman2-99

There’s a thought stirring in Bridge’s mind. An idea rolling about and nudging against the capacitors in her head, poking and prodding incessantly to get her attention, “Hey, hey, you know you want to ask her. Don’t you? Don’t lie to yourself, now. You should just do it. Hey! Are you listening to me? Hello-o…?”

Yes. Yes, she knows, she is aware of her burning curiosity. And it’s hard to deny that even though it doesn’t involve her, she is unusually intrigued by the concept. She overheard them in his office, Miguel and LYLA–his A.I. assistant–discussing a plan.  A plan to create a physical form for LYLA to enhance her abilities as his assistant and grant her further autonomy beyond her access to the security network and other adjacent systems alongside her recent emergence into emotional intelligence. It was all so fascinating. The steps Bridge had taken herself in her development in the span of weeks, she was watching unfold in another intelligence in real-time.

There it was again. That sense of solidarity in knowing she wasn’t completely alone in her existence as an artificial being, made of code and metal. It was like a magnetic pull that made that little voice in her head that encouraged her to act on her wants all the more present in her mind. She wanted to be a part of that process that she’d been through so long ago yet was still so familiar with like it happened yesterday. She wanted to guide her in that process and grant her her own knowledge. What’s the worst that can happen if she pilots your hardware for a while? You’re prepared for this. You can handle this. You can trust her, and she will be entirely safe in your care for that short time. And think about how much she would benefit from the experience, how much more streamlined that eventual transition from intangible to tangible will be once her own body was complete. It will make all the difference–and maybe reduce the headaches for everyone all-around, mostly Miguel as he acclimates to the change himself. Just… Try it. You can’t account for every single last risk factor, can you? No. So just do it and take it as it comes.

She stood in the middle of her dorm a moment, eyes closed as she ran a quick check of her hardware before making her final decision. RAM is in good condition. Storage is defragmented and all directories are organized. Sensors are calibrated and functional. Nanomachines are synchronized properly. Servos and joints retain a full range of motion. Coolant is at above optimal operational temperatures. Energy reserves are complete. Good. Everything’s in its right place and ready for its–potentially–temporary host. It’s time to make the call.

Her gaze trains itself on her watch, her arm rising to eye-level and the sleeve that was weighed down by the leaden metal cuff at the end sliding to her forearm to reveal device so she can start the transmission, navigating the menus on the digital interface indirectly via wireless communication–the unique way that she operated and communicated the Society’s technology.

“LYLA, may I speak to you for a moment? At your leisure, of course.”

[sightseertrespasser]

Hell yeah hc permissions granted. Unravelling my mile long piece of parchment

I think both Hot Rod and Blurr have wheels on their mechs feet, allowing them a rollerblade/ iceskating type movement. They can also walk normally though as their skates(?) just sort of. fold inwards and form a whole foot. Because of said wheels, Roddy had the fastest mech until Blurr. Blurr i think can iceskate outside his mech, Roddy im not so sure Very based off Odds of Survival but i think Jazz has magnetic pedes aswell as servos! Vortex also has this, aswell as most other Striker and Rescue class mecha. Roddy and Blurr dont since. Wheels.

I think Hunter class mecha have long (and retractable) spikes in their feet for gripping hazardous terrain, like if they were deployed somewhere super icy. Jazz, after enough begging, also has this! Though it means the magnets in his mechs feet arent as effective as they should be Ive also thought alot about Jazz's mech operating in a vacuum/ really minimal atmosphere? Going to do my best to explain here with my limited (and likely inaccurate) understanding of how Temperature and Cooling work. Apologies if i end up talking in circles

There isnt really? Anything to transfer temperature with in space?? Since vacuum? So the only cooling Jazz is going to have once he's up there is what chill his coolant lines already had. I reckon this was absolutely factored in though, everything designed to generate as little heat as possible, and his entire mech able to vacuum seal itself so theres still an atmosphere amongst the machinery, and maybe also his coolant temps is set lower than most other mechs, but that isnt gonna change the fact that hes going to slowly get hotter until he can get to an atmosphere. The way i understand cold and cooling is like. Cold isnt real, theres only Not Hot. You cant make something colder, you can only take away more heat. (Same with darkness. You cant make something darker, only take away more light). In an atmosphere thats not a problem, you can just blow the hot air out some fans and away. Not as possible in a vacuum (The reason i bring up the atmosphere in the mech is because air is a faster conductor of heat than like. Water or metal, since air is less dense. Water is what ive assumed the coolant to be. It also, and i think more importantly, means more chill can transfer at once since the coolant has more surface area to work with. Without the atmosphere the only parts of the mech receiving cooling would be where the pipes directly touch the machinery)

So in space, with the closed atmosphere of the mech, there isnt really anywhere to? Put the hot? His coolant is absorbing the heat his engine is making but like. Theres nowhere to dump that heat. Its a closed system. Even though he's made for space he's still on a time limit. Most his now pretty useless cooling systems can do is just move the Really Hot to somewhere Not As Hot. (I also think Jazz's cockpit has its own seperate cooling system dedicated to JUST the cockpit to make sure he isnt boiled inside the very expensive machinery. It still has the slowly-getting-hotter problem but wayyy slower than the rest of the mech) Ok enough science. I think that all the mechs have sensors around their feet/ lower legs. Not like, motion sensors or cameras or anything, just sensors to see if Somethings There yk? That way they’re less likely to trip over something while fighting quintessons on uneven rubble, and it greatly reduces the chance of accidentally booting an engineer across the hanger floor. I imagine to a cybertronian it just looks like whoever theyre looking at is really surefooted

I think the ventilation system on the mechas are a little different to that of the cybertronians? From what ive seen (probably shouldve mentioned sooner but the vast majority of my knowledge of transformers is through this au LMAO) Cybertronians do a similar thing to our breathing? Air in then air out? One at a time? Whereas the mechs i think do more of a continuous stream of air. Its constantly cycling. Theres no in-out theres just the constant hum of fans

Final hc for now since if i let this get too long tumblr wont let me send it in one part. I think the mechas are electric and run on a rechargeable battery. Mostly because idk how else Jazz would keep his mech running in space. I dont think either a diesel OR petrol engine would be particularly happy receiving energon instead. (One of the few still non-electric mechs is Vortex. He was going to be converted over but then Vortex's Mech became just. Vortex. And none of the engineers managed to successfully switch the engine over)

Anyway ty for letting me ramble, hope youre having a great day!

The head canons have been unleashed!

No idea how Jazz’s mech works in space. Currently thinking it’s some kind of sci-fi fission type reactor. Good news he’ll definitely run out of oxygen before he runs out of power. Bad news his mecha can explode SPECTACULARLY under the wrong circumstances.

In terms of life support? I’m imagining it was designed on the NASA principle of “Whatever you need to live, double it.”

Striker class are normally meant to be piloted for however long it takes to get to the fight and finish it, so probably a few hours. Put that in space and suddenly getting in and out of that mecha just got way more complicated. It’s easier to design Jazz’s mecha to accommodate him piloting for longer than to deal with going in and out of a space station more frequently.

Technically, he’s only supposed to be in there for a day (12-24 hours). But he’s got enough redundancies to last a week. So if the space station suffers some kind of internal damage he can hang out while everyone on earth shits themselves works out a solution.

-

The venting situation for cybertronians is actually pretty interesting! It’s basically another method of cooling. Unless the gas is actively corrosive, whatever they “breath” in doesn’t matter, just the temperature.

On the whole, in/out doesn’t actually matter but it’s a writing choice when I phrase it certain ways.

Bonus bit, because cybertronians are essentially giant walking engines and computers, they probably keep their living spaces cold as shit.

-

Last thought for the night: there’s no current depiction of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe in the mecha au that I know of. But I have been picturing giant monstrous metal wolverines.

[rocksandrobots]

Phantoms of the Past: Chapter 57 -Blizzards, Blackbirds, and Bargains: Part 3

Hiro frantically scanned the horizon for another way home while he tried to keep from panicking. He knew it was a hopeless search but he wasn't ready to admit defeat just yet.

“Baymax, are you getting any readings?” “The storm is interfering with my scanners.” The faithful robot replied after a pause.

Hiro gulped down his fear. Baymax was still with him. He wasn't alone. His brothers would find him.

“Let's go back to the controls then.” Hiro uselessly fiddled with the backup panel while Baymax continued his lookout.

It was a fruitless exercise. The power had been cut by the closing portal, and most of the electromagnets had remained on the other side so he couldn't restart the connection.

“Sooo… I need a generator and more portal magnets…” he muttered. The wind blew particularly hard after he said this, reminding him where he still was. He could have built those things in a few hours easily back at his lab, but here in the middle of nowhere? It was impossible.

Baymax interrupted his thoughts. “We should seek shelter. My sensors indicate that the temperatures are falling and your suit only provides protection for minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Hiro involuntarily shivered. “Yeah, and I'm sure the icy wind isn't doing your circuits any favors either. But where?”

“My sensors also detect a heat signature coming from that way.” He pointed in the direction of where the rocks had come from. Hiro gulped again. The last thing he wanted was to find out what had caused those monstrosities. The freezing wind however was getting harder and harder to ignore.

“Okay, but we need to be able to find our way back here after the storm.” He turned and patted the now dead control panel. “This is where the portal will open back up when Varian gets it fixed on his end.”

Baymax pulled out a roll of colorful bandages used for wrapping sprained ankles and such. Hiro quickly unrolled it and tied it around the podium, while Baymax secured the knot with an adhesive. As they flew away Hiro could see the bright purple and orange ribbon waving in the wind like a flag.

-----------------

"Oh,thisisbad.Thisisbad.Thidisbad.Thisisbad..."

Varian tried his best to ignore Honey Lemon's frantic muttering as he desperately worked the controls again. He was painfully aware that everyone's eyes were on him waiting for him to fix the portal. He was also even more aware that with every passing minute hope was slipping further and further away from ever finding Hiro again.

"It's no use." It was Sirque who finally stated the obvious as she laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "We need a new power source to get it running again."

Varian drew a shaky breath as he reassessed the situation. "O-okay, then we'll need to head back to my lab and grab the generator. The coordinates should still be in this system, so once we power it back up it'll open right back to where we left Hiro."

"What about those rocks?" Wasabi asked, clutching his injured arm. "Won't they just come through again as well?"

"Hopefully the rocks will have moved on by now." Varian didn't sound hopeful.

"Where would they go?" Fred asked.

"I don't know, Fred. They just... They just keep going. They spread out everywhere, but they won't double back around to the same place."

"How do you know that?" Gogo asked. Her voice lacked the usual sarcasm. She sounded genuinely worried, which only put Varian more on edge. Perhaps that was why his reply came out harsher than intended.

"Because they never have before." He snapped.

He fished out the short range portal magnets from his pocket. But as soon as a window opened up upon his lab, he heard Tadashi finally speak.

"How long will it take?"

Varian looked over to where his brother stood. Tadashi still hadn't looked away from the spot where the inter-dimensional portal once stood.

"How much time will it take to hook up the generator?" Tadashi asked again, still not turning around.

"I... I don't know. A couple of hours, maybe?"

Tadashi finally turned to look at him. His jawline was set in a determined frown. "And how long does Hiro have?"

Varian didn't have an answer to that.

Gogo spoke up instead. "It doesn't matter. The more time we waste talking the more time Hiro has to wait on us."

"What if there's a faster way though?"

She paused midway through the portal, one foot in the lab and the other in the snow, at that question.

"What do you have in mind?" Fred asked.

"Cardinist's scroll."

"No." Varian was surprised by the firmness in his own voice.

"I know what I said earlier, but th-"

"No. You don't know if it'll actually be faster and you don't know if it'll even work."

"That's why we need to try both."

That answer took everyone by surprise, and Tadashi lost no time in explaining his plan.

"Listen, you don't need all of us here to fix the portal. Some of us could take the scroll while you stay and work on it."

Varian pinched the bridge of his nose. "And how does getting half of us lost in the void help?"

"Okay, first off you don't know that we'll get lost and second, once you get the portal fixed then you can pull us out, provided that we don't find Hiro before you do."

"That's not how any of this works!" Varian yelled. "I can barely get the portal to focus on Corona, let alone the void, which isn't even a physical place! And you don't know how to traverse the seemingly endless abyss of nothingness to get to Corona either!"

"We need to try everything available to us. The more options we take the better chance we have of getting Hiro back."

"I'm with Tadashi on this." Fred spoke up.

Gogo rolled her eyes. "Of course you agree with Tadashi. You'd probably jump at any opportunity to explore an alternate world."

"That doesn't mean it couldn't help get Hiro back!" Fred defended.

"But... What if you don't find him?" Honey Lemon wrung her hands. "What if you just wind up getting lost instead?"

Wasabi agreed. "Honey Lemon is right. It's too risky. I vote no."

"Gogo?" Tadashi looked at his girlfriend pleasingly.

Gogo sighed in defeat. "You know I'd do anything rescue Hiro. And if you two idiots insist on jumping through a magical void to who knows where, I guess I gotta come along to make sure you don't get hurt."

"So we're three to three." Tadashi looked to Sirque. "I guess that makes you the tie breaker."

Sirque threw up her hands and backed away, "Oh no, this is between you superheroes. I'll help fix the portal, but I'm not going in there myself. And if you want to try some other way, that's your decision."

"Fine." Tadashi sighed. "Then let those who voted yes go, and the rest can stay with Varian as backup."

"No, that's not 'fine.'" Varian pushed back. "I'm not agreeing to that."

"It doesn't matter. I'm going to go get that scroll and try for myself even if no one helps me."

Both brothers stood at a stand still. They glared at one another for several seconds before Varian finally caved.

"Fine." He snorted. "I'll help, but first we bring generator back here. You can fool with the scroll while I work on hooking it up."

"Okay." Tadashi nodded.

-----------------

"A creepy fortress surrounded by a moat of lava... Okay, I think we've found the heat signature?" Despite the warmth resonating from below, Hiro shivered anyway.

The castle before them wasn't just overrun with the black rocks, it looked as if it was entirely made of the supernatural stalagmites. Hiro couldn't see where they began and where the regular stone walls stopped. But he did notice a door, a massive iron structure recessed under two crisscrossing black spikes.

"Well, maybe whoever lives here can give us shelter till the storm is over."

"I do not detect any life signs within the castle." Baymax stated plainly.

Hiro shrugged, resigned. "Then we know no one will will mind if we break in. Come on Baymax."

They flew across the chasm of lava and Baymax easily wedged the door open. Even though he knew it was abandoned, Hiro couldn't help shout out a timid "Hello?" as he stepped inside.

The ruined hall was as silent as the grave save for his echo. Lined along the walls were intricate tapestries, paintings, statues, and ancient artifacts like weapons and armor. Every now and then they would come across a door, but more often than not it only led to an empty room full of rotting furniture or rubble from caved-in walls. One or two even had massive holes in the roof and were completely filled with ice and snow. Finally the hall ended and they stood in a large high ceiling room full of shattered stone statues. Each ruined edifice was gigantic, as tall as two stories apiece, and not a single one was left intact.

Maneuvering around the massive dismembered stone limbs and eroded faceless heads, they discovered more doors leading to other parts of the castle. Most just opened up on to other hallways, but two proved interesting.

The first led to a seemingly empty chamber. The walkway fell away into a pit of black rocks and on the other side of that was a round black globe with holes all in it. Whatever it was meant to be, Hiro couldn't tell, but it looked as if it had been considered important by the people who had once lived there.

The second, and far more practical discovery, was the dinning hall. This room had remained nearly untouched by whatever disaster that had befell this place. There was a long wooden table with chairs in the center of the room. On the far end was a stone fire place surrounded by bookshelves and on the wall opposite from the entrance was a large glass window. It was by far the most structurally sound place that they had come across that day.

"I guess this is as good as any place to wait out the storm." Hiro said as he made his way to the fireplace. He was in luck. There were logs still left in the storage bin in the corner, along with a flint and knife. It took a few tries but he soon had a small fire going. Having accomplished this he noticed Baymax was reading something laid out on top of the table.

"What did you find, Baymax?"

"A letter."

Hiro curiously titled his head as he tried to read the faded writing. It might as well have been gibberish to him. "Can you read it?"

“Vsem, kto naydet eto proklyatoye mesto. Ostavlyat'. Seychas.”

"I meant in English."

"Translating." 'To anyone who finds this accursed place. Leave. Now. What you seek has already been stolen.'"

"Well that doesn't sound ominous at all." Hiro said with a strained laugh.

Baymax continued. "'I, myself, am finally abandoning my post and ancestral home. I have led this once prosperous land to ruin with my folly and have paid the dearest price. I have been granted a second chance however, and will be rejoining my long lost son shortly. Take what you want, but don't say that I didn't warn you. Sincerely, King Edmund of Umbra.'"

"Wait. Did the note say Umbra?"

"It did."

"That's where Varian's dad is from... but there's no telling how far we are from Corona itself." He then went quiet as he tried to think through the implications of this and what actions might be available to them with this newly obtained knowledge. 'Not much' he decided as his stomach began to growl.

"I am going to power down to conserve energy." Baymax stated, interrupting his thoughts.

"That's a good idea. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the sun will come out soon so that you can recharge." As the robot folded back into his charging mode in front of the window, Hiro was thankful that he and Tadashi had added the solar panels to his charger case a few weeks ago. They were going to need that if they found themselves trapped for longer than just a couple of days. And with that thought, he had suddenly lost his appetite.

How were they ever going to get out of here?

-----------------

"We got the scroll", Tadashi announced as he and Fred arrived back at the park.

It had taken almost an hour and a half to move the generator, and other half hour to grab the scroll from HQ, as Varian couldn't spare any more portal magnets. Tadashi was trying not to panic even as time slipped away from him.

"How is it going?" He asked as he knelt beside Varian, as his little brother finished rewiring some cables.

"It's going fine, but it's still going to take time reboot everything. Plus Sirque still has to reprogram the replacement magnets."

"I've gotten three done." The acrobat thief said. "Six more to go."

"So we're looking at another hour and a half at least." Tadashi estimated. "Then what do we do activate the scroll."

Varian shrugged. "Read it."

"I can't read it. It's in another language."

"But you read the mind-trap."

"Yeah, and I still don't know how I did that. Also it doesn't work with paper. We already tried writing the last inscription down and I couldn't read it then. It's only when I'm holding that freaky paperweight."

Varian sighed, like he about to explain something very simple to a child. "You wrote the inscription down with just ordinary pencil and paper?"

"Yeeeah." Tadashi said slowly, unsure what Varian was getting at.

Varian tapped the scroll he was holding."That's not ordinary pencil and paper. It's magic. Possibly the same magic as Cardinist's paperweight."

Tadashi grimaced as he looked at the scroll in his hand. He had come to distrust magic in the last few months, and he really didn't want to experience that same 'out of body' mind trip that he'd been through with the previous talisman. But, if it was the only way to save Hiro...

"Okay, I'll give it a try." Tadashi stood up and faced where the portal had once stood. "Do we need anything else? Like candles, or a chalk circle, or some ominous chanting perhaps?"

Varian gave him an unamused look. "Just read the scroll. Or don't. I still think this is a bad idea anyway."

Tadashi rolled his eyes dismissively, but deep down he couldn't disagree. Had it been any other circumstance he'd be the first to condemn such a risk, but his brother...

He took a deep breath and unrolled the scroll.

Fred and Gogo walked over to stand behind him, both decked out in their now modified swimming armor, as he glanced over the strange symbols before him.

At first he couldn't make heads or tails of them. He was about to give up and complain when suddenly he recognized a word. It looked like "Open."

Then he noticed another word next to that. "Gate."

The symbols hadn't changed, and yet he suddenly understood them. But it wasn't anything like translating Japanese to English, or vice versa. That took a little effort. He had to stop and think about the right words, change the structure and stuff when doing that. This just popped into his brain, like it was data being downloaded to a computer.

" Open the Gate,

Oh Guardians of Mortality and Fate,

Unwind Time and Space Into the Great Abyss

Where Nothing Lingers Save Death's Sweet Kiss.

And Make a Road where Once There was None ."

Honey Lemon nervously bit her fingernail. Tadashi was in a trance and his voice sounded unnatural. She could have sworn that it was echoing, but then, they were outside.

As he spoke the space in front of him began to glow. First it was a bright swirling light about as big as a softball, but then it quickly grew until it was taller than a person and twice as wide

The inside of the glowing circle began to change color, a rainbow of iridescent light shimmered and then parted to reveal the void.

The same nothingness that had entrapped Abigail for a decade. Only it wasn't entirely nothing. There was also a stone road just floating in space. It seemed to have no end to it.

It was only after the road had appeared that Tadashi stopped chanting. He blinked, as if just awakening from a deep sleep, and then shook his head.

'It... It worked?" He have gasped in awe and half laughed in relief. Then he looked like was going to faint.

Gogo and Fred rushed to hold him up.

"Are you still sure about this?" Gogo asked, as Tadashi leaned on her shoulder.

"Sure I'm sure." Came his automatic response, but he didn't pull away from her support.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Fred sang with confidence and than strode over to the portal. Only to stop short when he hit an invisible barrier.

"Hey! What gives?" He pounded on the magical wall and light waves spread from his fists where they hit, but he couldn't get through.

Varian looked thoughtful as he picked up the fallen scroll. He gave a hum as he glanced over it's contents.

"It's possible that the incantation will only work for the person who spoke it."

"Then how did the stupid monkey go through?" Gogo asked.

"It must not count as a person." Wasabi shrugged and then winced at the motion.

Varian pocketed the scroll. "Well we tried. Just as agreed. Now help me finish rewiring the cont-"

"I can still go through." Tadashi interrupted. He steadied himself as Varian gave him a warning glare. Tadashi ignored it.

"If the spell only works on the one who cast it, then that's me. I can use the portal."

"That wasn't the plan." Varian snapped.

"So we adapt. I just go on my own, and-"

"And nothing." Gogo said. "You're not going in there by yourself. It's too dangerous."

"Yeah, I'm going to have to go with Gogo on this." Fred agreed. "I'm mean it was one thing when we're all going together, but I don't know about solo mission."

"Guys please." He tried to step towards the window hanging in the air but Gogo held him back.

Honey Lemon also stepped between him and the portal. "Listen, we're all worried about Hiro. But if you go in there, alone, with no plan of getting back. Then all that will accomplish is us worrying about you too."

"Honey's right." Varian added. "At least with Hiro we already have the coordinates. There's no way to find you again if you get lost in there. Just help me with the generator and we'll get the portal up and running faster."

Tadashi looked at Varian's pleading eyes and gave in. Varian was right. He knew deep down that Varian was right. He had let panic cloud his judgment... same as the night of the fire ...

Damn it. When was he going to stop making that mistake?

"Okay... Okay." He nodded in agreement and gave Gogo a reassuring hug.

"Now you're seeing sense." Varian said and walked back to the controls. "Help me double check my wiring. I could use someone behind me with a flashlight."

"Ummm ... What about the big hovering doorway leading to nothingness just hanging here?" Fred asked.

"Leave it for now." Varian dismissed. "We'll figure out how to close it after we've gotten Hiro back. Just no one go near it."

Tadashi unfurled the scroll to read it again. "Surely the spell to close it is on here as well."

No soon did he say these words than did the scroll begin to glow. He suddenly heard various shouts of alarm from all of his friends, but they sounded distant for some reason. Then he flat something tugging on his arm. And it was strong.

Tadashi was being pulled into the portal against his will. One minute he was standing there, the next a flash of light, and then suddenly he was standing on the floating road hovering in space.

"Oh no."

[jenroses]

Still more applied fork theory:

Problem: Sitting at a computer is Bad For Me for a variety of reasons, including back problems caused by arthritis/EDS/scoliosis, clotting risk caused by genetic clotting disorder, fatigue caused by ME/CFS. Also I have migraines and sensory issues and really need to control the light around me.

Solution: Instead of using a chair/desk setup, I use the following:

A twin XL adjustable bed (I got mine from Amazon but the quality has been so-so, I ended up needing to prop part of it up on jack stands because the legs were not Up To The Task. The motor is good? IDK, shop around.)

With a cheap extra firm memory foam mattress

a softer memory foam topper (very cheap: I ordered a queen and cut it into 2 pieces, one for my wheelchair and one for the bed)

Tencel bedsheets (sensory GOOD, Brielle are not terribly expensive)

1 overstuffed memory foam bits pillow that came with the mattress covered with a dark colored tencel pillowcase goes under the mouse hand

2 squishmallows, one under my knees and one that goes between me and the bedrail to support my elbow (the big ones from costco)

A squishy memory foam travel U-shaped pillow for my neck to keep it well aligned (cheap cheap cheap)

And a bedrail that straps around the bedframe to hold it in place.

My kids mounted a rail system to the ceiling and we hung blackout curtains from it, so I can shut out all external light if need be. This was surprisingly inexpensive.

In the winter, I use one of those big old fake sheepskin rugs from costco under my head and shoulders for cozy. And sometimes an electric blanket.

The room is air conditioned with a window air conditioner, and I have a remote

There is an air filter running 24/7 in this room because I spend so much time here and am allergic to my cats who I love very much.

This bed is next to the wall, daybed style. The computer setup is as follows:

A desktop computer on a shelf. I built the computer in a dark case with no RGB parts and did not plug in the LED front panel sensors.

A monitor on a monitor arm.

A metal shelf that mounts between the monitor and the monitor arm that I attached my speakers and webcam to.

Another shelf above it for miscellany.

A little basket over my shoulder for sundries

A gooseneck clamp for my phone mounted to the shelf (I have one of these upstairs mounted to my headboard, too. They're very easy to move the clamp, very secure, and sturdy as heck.)

A Logitech k360 wireless keyboard rests on my belly (and sometimes on a pillow on my belly if my wrists are being tetchy)

I use a vertical mouse (sometimes Jellycomb, currently this one) on the stiff pillow next to me. The wrist position is extremely neutral. I set my mouse sensitivity to high so I don't have to move my wrist very much.

I use Edifier noise canceling headphones when I need to block out extraneous sound

creative pebbles speakers and a Logitech c920 webcam, but that's not mission critical

To make it easier to turn my computer on and off, I got a magnetic button to stick to the side of the case so I can reach better from the bed.

This puts my whole body in a neutral, optimal circulation position where the monitor is well aligned to my head and neck and my hands and wrists are aligned and supported and I need to expend minimal energy when at the computer. Everything is close at hand and I can easily control my environment for light, temperature and sound. I raise the knees and head of the bed to a "zero g" position and use the squishmallows and pillows to further support things as needed. The wireless keyboard and mouse are very helpful.

For me, the logitech k360 is a combination of lightweight, relatively small while still being "full size", light touch, and "soft clicky" as well as widely available and cheap as fuck. It's also pretty resilient to being dropped or spilled on, and if it does break, it's cheap and fast to replace at a nearby store same-day. Preferences for keyboards are highly individual, this one just works very well for me. When my hands and shoulders were bad due to RA, I got two of them and (using both dongles plugged into separate USB ports) put one under each hand in the most neutral positions possible for a cheap-ass version of a split keyboard. Two of these are half the cost of most split keyboards.

This pic is from before we put up the blackout curtains. Yes, that's the fridge behind my head.

[mindblowingscience]

In a study of six users, the Thermal Earring outperformed a smartwatch at sensing skin temperature during periods of rest. It also showed promise for monitoring signs of stress, eating, exercise, and ovulation. The smart earring prototype is about the size and weight of a small paperclip and has a 28-day battery life. A magnetic clip attaches one temperature sensor to a wearer’s ear, while another sensor dangles about an inch below it for estimating room temperature. The earring can be personalized with fashion designs made of resin (in the shape of a flower, for example) or with a gemstone, without negatively affecting its accuracy.

Continue Reading.

[booleanean]

Day 9 - Aphrodisiacs - Robots with Dicks

"Oh fuck, yes, yes," Carla panted.

She heard Felix scribble something on his clipboard. For an AI postdoc, he was oddly attached to pen and paper.

The Mk1's chassis had been completed weeks ago. Carla had stared at it, stood in the corner of their basement workshop, waiting for Felix to finish training the AI, until finally she couldn't take it anymore.

"Yes, harder, faster." Carla moaned as the robot's control loop interpreted the commands and thrust into her with greater intensity.

Every inch of it was as good as she could make it, artificial filament muscles covered in variably translucent silicone to visually measure performance, hydraulic actuators in the torso visible behind 3D printed transparent aluminium. Strength was about twice what the strongest human could achieve without modification or drugs, dexterity on par with the best industrial robots from ten years ago, but on a fully mobile base. It was the peak of humanoid robotics, right at the very bleeding edge of technology. Their research paper was going to omit certain additions she'd made to it, though she had been half tempted to see if they could win a Nobel and Ig Nobel for the same project.

Felix looked up long enough from his clipboard to stroke her hair.

"Feel good?"

"Oh fuck yes, I'm close."

Even the penis attachments were works of art. Integrated in a special modular pelvis, she'd created two prototypes. The one that was rocking her world right now was a basic steel shaft with an internal set of ducting keeping it at body temperature, and a separate network of microtubules dispensing lubrication along the entire length. Pressure transducers and temperature sensors fed back into the control loop, letting the robot respond to her physiological responses as well as her voice commands.

She was saving the other prototype for the full AI integration test. The basic functionality worked the same as a mammalian penis. Silicone stood in for flesh, with a body safe hydraulic fluid for blood, filling corpora cavernosa made of custom designed aerogel. It even had realistic skin that slid along the basic structure. The sensors were also inspired by biological systems, with increased density in the tip. The piece de resistance was a realistic set of testicles, weighted properly, that contained most of the operating mechanics and a fully functional ejaculation system tuned to mimic anything from a pathetic little dribble to a pressure and volume any porn star would sign away their immortal soul for.

She already had plans for another, more futuristic attachment with a direct magnetic nerve stimulator for the clit and g-spot.

"Fuck YES!" Carla screamed as she came.

The sensors in the robot's dick tripped the control loop into a new regime, keeping the same pace perfectly, matching her thrashing movements, letting her focus on nothing but her own pleasure. The impassive face, silicon lips pressed tightly together, eyes scanning her face mechanically, pulled her out of the moment a little but the perfect fucking it was delivering got her close to the edge again right on the heels of her first orgasm. Just before her pleasure peaked, the robot pulled back out of her completely and sat back on its heels between her legs.

"CONTROL LOOP FAILURE, SAFETY MODE ENGAGED."

She screamed her frustration at the abrupt feeling of emptiness and ruined orgasm so tight on the heels of such a good one.

"Fuck, that sucked." Carla tried to catch her breath. "Mk1, go stand in the corner."

"COMMAND UNCLEAR, PLEASE RESTATE."

She pushed it off the bed with her foot, the basic inverse kinematics keeping it stable as it shifted to the floor. At least that was still working.

"Walk forward four paces, turn forty-five degrees clockwise, walk two more paces, then go into standby mode."

Carla pulled at Felix's shirt, trying to get it off over his head while he tried to hold on to his clipboard.

"Are you going to take notes, or are you going to fuck me? The Mk1 clearly isn't up to the task yet."

He froze, then tossed his clipboard aside. They kissed as he fumbled his pants off. He was inside of her seconds later, rock hard. They'd fantasized together about being with other people, but never wanted to make it a reality. The fantasy was hot, real people was too far for both of them. When they'd been working on the Mk1 together, Carla had suggested a little side project. Felix clearly really got off on seeing her with it, he was rock hard.

"Yes, fuck me, fuck me." Carla rocked her hips against him, meeting him thrust for thrust. She held his gaze, urging him on. Within minutes, he had her back at the edge, years of being together had taught him exactly what she liked. She held herself there, holding back, waiting for him.

"Cum in me, fill me, yes, YES!" Carla felt Felix stiffen inside of her and then warmth flooded her. She let go and screamed his name as she came, "Felix, Felix, Felix!"

When he collapsed on top of her, she stroked his back. He was still inside of her, and she could still feel the occasional twitch of his cock.

"Of course! There was no path from the 'partner orgasm occurring' state into the 'partner orgasm starting' state! God damnit, I forgot to account for multiple orgasms in quick succession. Fuck."

Felix kissed her, muffling her last word. He pushed up on his hands, hovering over her, still inside. "The tensor farm should be done testing the latest model by 8pm. If this one is all green, we can probably have it installed by 10 and give it another shot with the AI this time."

"I'll rewire the state machine for the control loop in case there's any red tests still."

This had been their sex life for the last couple of months, since they started the project to build the ultimate sex bot. After, often with Felix still inside of her, they'd discuss ideas about what they could change, or features they had to have. This was the first time after a field test though.

"Did you like watching me with it?"

"Oh yes. God damn, that was hot."

"Would you ever want to try it? Both cocks are self lubricating, you know."

"Mmm, maybe. I want to see if we can get a threesome mode working first though."

After dinner they guided the bot back onto its stand in the basement workshop with a dozen cables leading to various parts to extract telemetry, recharge, and provide data connections for reprogramming. Carla was getting distracted trying to rewire the state machine, each possible transition suddenly causing both real and imagined sense memories. Felix looked tastier and tastier as she worked. He was futzing with parameters, rerunning partial tests on subsystems. The tests had all been green, but he'd had ideas to get everything optimized before their first live test.

By 2am, they had the first version of Felix's AI uploaded to the Mk1. She and Felix had curated a lot of videos from Pornhub over the last couple of months, finding performances they liked. Lots of hotwife scenes and threesomes, some bisexual stuff, but mostly relatively vanilla scenes. Carla had added some scenes where the male performer was a bit more rough than Felix was comfortable with doing himself, spanking and pinning wrists above heads. For vocal interactions, they'd retrained a large language model on erotica and textual descriptions of the scenes in the porn videos, generated by an off the shelf accessibility AI.

There wasn't any actual universal intelligence in the robot of course. This was a sexy version of an AI chat bot that most phones had built in now, combined with a convoluted control loop for its physical interactions. Simply a very clever way of giving the impression that something was smart, when really all it was doing was basic pattern recognition based on a predefined dataset.

"Want to give it a shot?" Felix asked, but Carla shook her head.

"I want you, not the bot."

Shutting the bot down for the night, Carla drew Felix upstairs back to their bedroom. As they made love, they teased each other with all the amazing things they'd do with the robot tomorrow and in the weeks to come.

The next weekend, Carla really had to admit Felix had been right. Her control loop version of the robot's software was good. It got her off just fine, but it was impersonal. As its designer, she had a hard time focusing on herself as she felt it roll into new control regimes. The AI felt much more human. He looked at you, used his hands for more than balance, and even showed some imperfections in his motions. He got (artificially) winded, slipped out, fell over, all the things a real human partner would do. The experience was so much more realistic, she sometimes forgot it was a robot fucking her if she couldn't see him.

She sat at her desk in their upstairs office now, working on the more serious portion of her research. They had run a series of strength and dexterity tests that afternoon, characterizing the robot's ability to maintain precision while assert force at different levels, and she was processing the data. Felix was downstairs in the lab, tinkering with parameters and adjusting the training data for the next version of the AI.

Carla heard the neighbor plug in his bass guitar, the amp turned way up. She muttered under her breath about people not respecting their tools. Didn't he know he could damage the speaker like that? The noise wasn't too bad, but listening to Seven Nation Army played by a spirited amateur over and over again didn't really appeal either. Her noise cancelling headphones were in the basement with Felix though, so for now she'd just suffer through.

Her phone beeped halfway through the neighbor's warmup.

Felix: Robot reacting to bass music. Carla: "music" Felix: He's getting better. Anyway:

The next message was the robot's dick, the biomorphic one, clearly at half mast.

Carla: Is he on? Felix: in standby Carla: Odd. Sensors recording? Felix: Yup, caught it before the buffer flushed. AI parameter log too. Carla: nice

Before she could really get back into her work, the neighbor finished Seven Nation Army. The next tune he played was the Pornhub sting. She almost spat out her drink. He did a pretty good version, though the lack of drums made it not quite perfect.

Before she could get back into her work, Felix yelled from down in the basement.

"Carla, come take a look at this!"

The Mk1 was standing in its alcove, still docked to all the various wires and cables. Felix was standing in front of it, studying the biomorphic cock. It was throbbing like a real one would.

"Remember how it was at half mast during the first song the neighbor was playing? Despite it being in standby? I think I figured out the reason."

The neighbor, who had just finished House of the Rising Sun, chose that moment to play another couple of Pornhub opening stingers. The Mk1 responded, humping the air slightly, his cock throbbing.

"You didn't cut out the intros on the training data so—"

"— now every time it hears bass music, and the Pornhub riff in particular, it gets aroused. It's still in standby, it's barely drawing current, but there's enough residual charge in the artificial muscle fibers for, well, this." He gestured at the robot's midsection, still rocking back and forth.

"Aren't the tensor cores supposed to be off?" Carla watched a slow drop of lubricant fall from the tip of the twitching robot cock.

Felix shook his head, "Some stay on to parse voice commands."

She reached out, touching the silicone cock. It was slick, the lubricant dispensers clearly activated. It was interesting to see that it was apparently simulating precum as well, despite that not necessarily being the focus of their training data. The artificial dick twitched at her touch, and she grasped it firmly, stroking up and down. A slow trickle of fake cum was leaking out the tip now, covering her hand.

"So we're thinking bass guitar is a robo-aphrodisiac then? Because you trained it on videos with Pornhub intros?"

"Mm-hmm."

"That's hilarious."

"And means I have to remove the intro from over fifteen hundred videos, and then retrain and retest the entire model." Felix sighed heavily. "Again."

"There's an ffmpeg command for that, surely."

"The trimming, sure."

Carla kept stroking the robot's cock, watching the artificial foreskin slide back and forth over the head.

"Seems like a shame to waste this though. It really shouldn't be erect out in the open air for too long, it's designed with the idea of at least some counter pressure. Also, it would be a shame to not gather some extra data. It might be interesting to have a robo-aphrodisiac function, though maybe something more specific that won't just trigger if someone forgets to unplug their Bluetooth speaker when they're going to rub one out."

Felix grinned at her, then nodded.

Carla pulled her sweat pants and top off, standing naked in front of the mechanical man. "Mk1, wake up."

The Mk1 went through his wakeup sequence, part mandated by technology, part for show because they were both massive nerds. The cables, mostly plugged in along his arms and back, ejected and retracted into the alcove like Neo waking up in the real world for the first time. The sound effect of Seven of Nine's alcove powering down at the end of her regeneration cycle played, and Mk1 took a single step forward.

"Hello Carla, nice to see you again. What would you like to do today?"

Felix had campaigned long and hard for the robot to say "Please state the nature of the sexual emergency" but eventually she had put her foot down. The chances of that ending up in a version they showed off at their defense were too high, and while Robert Picardo could get it, the Doctor was a bit too acerbic for her tastes.

She walked over to the mattress they kept in the basement for quick tests, standing at the foot. She was in the mood for something a bit more rough than just the vanilla stuff they'd tried with the bot so far, and this heightened state it was operating in seemed to be a perfect opportunity to try that out.

"Take me. Be a little rough."

Before, he'd always asked for confirmation before initiating anything sexual. It hadn't been hardwired, but the AI training data was heavily incentivized towards asking consent first. This time though, with three long, powerful strides he was inches away from her. The intensity of his movements were a little scary, but she had the utmost faith in her and Felix's work. Still, she took a half step back reflexively.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Felix asked.

Carla stood staring at the Mk1, transfixed by his gaze. She knew it was just servos and cameras and tensor cores running a neural network, there was nothing there, but she still couldn't look away.

"I need this," Carla whispered.

With that, Mk1 took one more step, pushing her over and onto the mattress. He guided her down as they tumbled, cushioning her fall a little and making sure her head didn't hit the ground, but it was still an intense experience.

Decided to fight a little, she tried to push him off. He gathered her wrists in one hand and effortlessly pinned her arms above her head.

"Pause," Carla said.

Immediately, the Mk1 froze. He still held her, but the pressure on her wrists was lower, and he held all his weight off of her.

"Good, that still works just fine. Resume."

The intensity the Mk1 showed was unreal. She'd enjoyed him before, but with this added level of robotic arousal added on top, she could finally completely lose herself in the act. There was no room for thinking about kinematics and control loops, muscle fiber force limits, defects, or additions to the training data. There was no worry about her partner's pleasure, no anxiety for her own performance. All that was there was her own pleasure, pure and uncomplicated.

She fantasized about a future where a Mk2 and Mk3 could join in with the Mk1, taking turns getting her off, letting them recharge and refuel in shifts as they spent an entire day teasing her from orgasm to orgasm.

Mk1's synthesized voice, indistinguishable from human despite being produced by a speaker rather than a voice box, let her know how good this felt for him. All artificial of course, but so necessary for a realistic experience. Soft moans, grunts, little gasps. Even simulated breathing growing shorter as he exerted himself. It had still sounded artificial to her previously, but now it just went straight to the pleasure center of her brain, letting her enjoy the moment even more. She came, crying out as he whispered her name in her ear.

Just as her wrists were beginning to hurt, he shifted, pulling her legs up against his chest. The new position let him reach new and interesting places inside of her, the intentional curve she'd put on his cock letting him hit her g-spot. As she approached her second orgasm of the afternoon, he started moaning louder, grunting. When she came, so did he. The twitching of his cock was entirely lifelike, his orgasm forceful enough she could feel it deep inside of her.

She lay there panting, and he emulated her, letting her bask in the moment. Felix had sat next to her on the mattress, watching her closely. She could see his erection clearly in his sweats.

"That looked intense," he said when she looked over to him.

"Oh yes. We definitely need this feature."

"Would you like to continue?" the Mk1 asked.

Carla flicked her gaze down to Felix's sweats then looked him in the eyes. "Join us?"

Felix grinned and started pulling his shirt off.

[wirewitchviolet]

How a Computer Works - Part 5 (Input and Output)

It's been a bit since I've updated this series, so to quickly recap, we've been over a few fundamentals of how we can make electricity do fun tricks for us and the history of that, we've talked about logic gates and how to latch in data to save for later, we've talked about how people make those gates and other fiddly bits nice and tiny and well-organized, and we've even explained how you can run a current through a pile of transistors and end up with the answer to a basic math problem. but it's hard to get really excited about making a pile of electronic components add numbers together unless, at the very very least, we can easily change which numbers are being added, and see a display light up with the answer. And of course like everyone doing anything involving computers, we really want to eventually get neat games running where we're pushing buttons then seeing and hearing (maybe even feeling) cool changes happen with our fancy display and speakers and such. So today we're going to talk about various ways to input data to a computer, and have it output something back to you.

And like always, before we get into that, I'm going to post this link so you can maybe input money to my bank account, and I can output it to my rent checks and grocery bills, so I can continue to input food into my mouth and not be output by my landlord onto the street.

Switches and Secretly-Still-Switches

The most basic and easy to understand way to interact with a computer, or really any other sort of electrical circuit is a switch. We have a wire making a connection between two points, and we just physically sever that connection by severing the wire. Then we have some moving piece we can put back in place and reconnect it. This can be as simple as holding two wires and touching them together (ideally well-insulated ones, but you can skip a step and bridge the gap with your own body just by grabbing metal if we're taking precautions that it's a load you can safely handle -- and hey just to be absolutely clear the electricity that comes out of your wall is NOT a load you can handle safely, same goes for a lot of parts inside the average computer). Usually we get a bit fancier and make a little metal lever covered in a non-conductive material we can move, maybe we get all fancy in the design as as we cross a certain threshold the switch finishes throwing on its own with a satisfying click and keeps anything dangerous from happening while the metal bits inside are just-barely-not-touching. These are pretty intuitive.

How about buttons? Well, buttons are really just switches. Most buttons have a spring inside so that the gap in the circuit is only getting bridged while the button is actively being held down and breaks again as soon as you let go. That's officially called a momentary switch. Sometimes though, again, people get fancy with button design and have them physically latch into place with a spring or a magnet or something until you press them again, so they function like a standard switch. And nothing's stopping us from putting either of these on a wire which sets a logical latch and functionally does similar.

What else can we make a circuit react to? There's all kinds of special sensors right? Like... how does a theromstat work? Well, a thermostat, and honestly a shocking number of other things, contains something called a bimetallic strip. You literally take two (that's the bi part) different metals (you got it), and you stick them together in a strip. You know how heat makes metal expand? Well, different metals expand (and contract) at different rates based on the temperature, so either the top or the bottom is going to want to stretch and take the other with it which causes the strip to bend up or down depending what's going on (it's much easier to see this and make use of it if you coil the whole thing around a bunch). So you just mount a strip like that inside whatever device you want to have react to temperatures and under the right conditions it'll curve one way or another and either directly connect (or break) your circuit or press up against something that will, and tada, we're using the temperature as an input. This is how theromstats work, and circuit breakers. And a shocking variety of other things honestly, including some old clocks and motors even.

You may be thinking you don't necessarily need two metal strips for this. Thermal expansion can make something swell to a point it makes contact with something. For that matter, when ice forms it ends up filling a larger volume than liquid water because the shape of the molecules makes them line up together rather than pack tightly, and that could press a button. Some things even use tri-metallic strips for some more fine control over things.

Technically Not Just Secret Switches

What are some other common sensor types we have today? Well there's various sorts of photosensors, that's how digital cameras work. Apparently, and I got pretty lost in the weeds looking this up, this sort of thing works by way of photons and/or UV radiation bopping electrons around inside a sensor material to flip it from conductive to non-conductive, in a way very similar to how modern semiconductors are made. And I suppose there's different versions of this for different wavelengths of light, letting digital cameras detect various colors. Sorry for being sketchy here, this one's just out of my wheelhouse.

Then we have touchscreens. Old touchscreens absolutely worked as switches. You're either pressing something down to make a connection, or there's a grid of emitters and sensors your finger breaks as you tap the glass. What's most common lately though are capacitive touch screens which... work just like capacitors. I'm still a bit fuzzy on how capacitors work to begin with, but we've got glass as an isulator, half a capacity on the other side, and your finger acting as the other half. The electrons vibe and do their charge-y thing in between, and you don't actually have to make physical contact for that to work, just get close, which i nice since you don't get your greasy greasy fingers all over your screen.

Accelerometers and Potentiometers

Accelerometers are another one where sadly looking up some technical documentation went way the hell over my head. I assume though the basic principle is, I move a sensor, some floatinginternal component lags behind the casing, a potentiometer determines how far off from the center point it is.

Now potentiometers I do get, and we covered them a bit in part one. we have a chunk of material that provides some electrical resistance, we have a wire coming in that brushes up against it, and we can move where exactly it's making contact, usually by rotating a knob to move it along using gears of some sort. At one end we have the current flowing all the way through this resistive material and getting weakened, at the other end we're just barely passing through it. So it's basically a variable resistor. These are used all over the place.

The Ol' Keyboard and Mouse (and Game Controller)

Now the most common things we use to input stuff into computers seem like they just combine some of the methods above in some pretty simple ways. A keyboard is just a big ol' array of buttons, right? We just have a wire under each key with a break, we press the key down, and it completes that circuit. And... well yeah, that's what's going on. But your average keyboard has what? A hundred or so keys? If you look at the end of the plug for it, you're going to notice significantly less than a hundred wires in there. So, what's the deal?

Well, really crappy keyboards have a cheat where we just have wires running through on a grid. You'll have a horizontal wire running down each row of keys, and pressing a given key down connects either the positive or negative end of a circuit to that wire. Simultaneously, each rough column of keys is doing this with another wire. We end up with active signals on like row 2 column 3 and we know that intersection is the W key, and with enough logic gates we can work with that. The reason these keyboards suck though is, well, let's say I simultaneously hit oh... W and G. We're connecting row 2, column 3, row 3, and column 6 or so. That matches up with both W and G, but it ALSO matches up with S and T. Or all four at once. And we don't really have a way to work out what's what, so we're probably going to get some wrong characters.

A good keyboard absolutely does track a separate connection for each key, so you can hold any given combo. Important for games and such. But again, that's way too many signals to pass down a cable. So what we do, basically, is have a binary representation for each key. Let's say 7 bits, I think 128 keys is probably enough. and now we can load all of those values as we hit them into a little memory chip within the keyboard. Then we just pull in a clock signal, and set up a shift register. I've covered though right? Handy for when you want to double a number since you just slide every bit one position to the left? Yeah so we just dump everything into memory. Whatever key is first in line is in the first 7 bits. We pulse the clock, we send those 7 bits down the line. Then we shift everything 7 positions to the left. Pulse the clock again, hey, here's the next keystroke we need to process, send it down next, and so on. We call that a serial transfer. It sounds like it'd be slow enough to get annoying, but remember, we run the clock at absolutely stupid speeds, so nah, it works out fine. Cuts down how many wires we need to run down that cable too. Hell more often than not we actually just send one bit at a time, even.

Now how about a mouse? Well, the buttons are buttons, simple enough. The actual X and Y position, those are a little trickier. Oldschool ball mice had a pretty simple and elegant solution. We've got a wheel for each axis, they spin as the ball rolls around And basically, inside there's a cylinder where for each bit we need to track, and we can get by with just 2 if the clock's fast enough, either we've got a hunk of metal making contact with something and completing a circuit, or we've got a gap, no contact. We can kinda get there just cutting segments of the cylinder in half with an offset. Physically it's a little tricky to build this if we're doing a proper binary representation though, so instead we go with a Gray code. Named after the creator, Frank Gray. His whole idea was that for weird cases like this, rather than standard binary numbers i.e. (00 01, 10, 11) it's less error prone to use a system where you only ever alter one bit at a time. So it goes 00, 01, 11, 10, and back around to 00 if we're just handling two bits (it gets a little harder to keep straight when you need more. Again, hey, just stick in two half-cylinders, with one of them rotated 90 degrees. We can roll up, we can roll down, and it's simple to tell which direction we're going just by which bit just changed. You need to build some logic to interpret it at the other end, but there's no weird case like jumping from 01 to 10 where if the reach happens at just the right time and/or they corner where those meet isn't perfect you accidentally catch 11 or something.

Modern mice still use this setup for handling the scroll wheel, but the actual X and Y position are tracked optically. How that works is... honestly kind of just insane. We have a camera pointed down at the desk, taking something like 1000 photos a second, and a whole little processor on board comparing those pictures and looking for little imperfections like specks of dust or wood grain lines, calculating how much they moved by between frames, and updating position data based on that. It's just bonkers we're doing that much work and also that these are as cheap as they are, but, yeah, that's how today's mice work.

Sound

OK, this is the last common input method I can think of (analog sticks and triggers are potentiometers, shoo), speaking or blowing into a microphone. Glancing at wikipedia, you can design a microphone using... honestly basically any possible property of electricity you feel like, but the basic idea is always the same. Sound is a vibration, it travels though the air. You set up a very sensitive wobbly bit that gets knocked around by the sound waves. This moves... whatever really. Capacitors, magnets, potentiometers, one of those crystal oscillators we use for clocks, lasers and photosensors, it's all good. This screws with the signal they send down a wire, now you just have to measure the changes there. Pretty simple? And if you want a speaker... you just throw that into reverse. An electrical signal goes through whatever bit, makes a membrane twitch, which sends ripples through the air, bam, it's sound again.

Other Outputs

OK, what else can we do with electicity? Mainly, we can run it through neat little components that freak out in various ways when we do that. Some things get real hot when you run a current through them. That's nice if you just want to warm things up (maybe one of those bi-metalic strips, or a heater). Some things full on glow. That's how old lightbulbs work. Some things toss electrons off, that's how vacuum tubes work, we covered those. It's also how old TVs work. You get the electrons going off, then you have a bunch of magnets wrapped around the outside to direct them into a beam, and mess with the magnets to sweep it around, they hit phosphor dust, it glows briefly. Stick the same phosphor in a diode, you got yourself an LED.

Then there's electromagnets. We can do all kinds of nutty stuff with those. Way back when we talked about how you can make relays out of them, get those switches to throw themselves around. You can flip other magnets upside down, that's handy for flip-dots, like buses use to show where they're going. This is also how those "e-ink" displays work on fancy little e-book readers so you're not staring into a light. Little balls painted half-black half-white with a magnet inside. This is also how an electric motor works. Just keep flipping magnets and make something spin. You can use that to move anything.

And hey, you know what else you can do with magnets? You can take a big magnetically sensitive film, like a piece of tape, or a spinning disc, use magnets to magnetize bits of it as it travels by, then use something magnetically sensitive later to read that back into electrical signals. That's how... basically all long-term storage media used to work. Tapes, discs, hard drives, if you wanna get real real oldschool, core memory (it was magnets on this woven lattice)... I don't actually know how modern stuff like flash memory and solid state drives work, but I assume it also comes down to using magnets to tweak something inside.

The only non-magnetic storage I'm aware of really is when you go even further back, and we just punched holes through stiff cards or long strips of paper tape. Just use a motorized punch to place them, and then blowing compressed air that'd either pass through a hole and hit something sensitive or get blocked to read'em. This was also how player pianos worked.

I didn't QUITE cover monitors here in great detail, they used to use electron guns and phosphor dot masks, now they're just tons of LEDs. You store all your data in a big array of RAM for a whole frame and turn stuff on or off accordingly, basically. And... yeah I think that covers all the bases.

There should be less of a gap before I post the next part of this series, where I'm just going to try and put all this together so we can build a full, feature-rich computer as a thought experiment or you know, from whatever materials you have on hand, and that one MIGHT be the end of the road unless I start the real deep dives into real serious data structuring and programming and such.

What I'd REALLY like to move onto though is my project of designing a new video game console, and freely providing everything you need to order and populate the circuit boards, 3D print a case, and assemble the whole thing on your own, as a nice hands-on project. That's currently stalled out because... no really I am BROKE. I am writing my last rent check in a couple days, past that I don't even know how to keep a roof over my head. I really need to bulk up the patreon numbers to where I'm treading water, and go up from there so I can afford the components to really prototype everything and make that project real, so I would REALLY appreciate some serious donations and people spreading the word about this stuff.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

TESSERACT joins the hunt for dark matter

For decades, people have been trying to directly detect dark matter: the missing mass in our universe. Now, there's a new, super-sensitive detector on the case—and even though it's still in the research and development phase, it's already been able to search for kinds of dark matter that other detectors can't reach.

Historically, most dark matter searches have hunted for two particular kinds of dark matter: ultra-light axions and heavier WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles). But the new TESSERACT experiment searches in between these regimes, looking for low-mass dark matter that's about a hundred to a thousand times lighter than a WIMP.

"It's a kind of Goldilocks dark matter," said Dan McKinsey, the project director for TESSERACT and a researcher at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), which leads the experiment. "There's this untested window that gives us an opportunity for discovery. Our detector has the sensitivity, even at this early stage, that allows us to look for dark matter candidates no one has been able to look for before."

The TESSERACT (Transition-Edge Sensors with Sub-EV Resolution And Cryogenic Targets) collaboration also includes researchers at Argonne National Laboratory, Caltech, Florida State University, IJCLab (Laboratoire de Physique des 2 Infinis Iréne Joliot-Curie), IP2I (Institut de Physique des 2 Infinis de Lyon), LPSC (Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie), Texas A&M University, UC Berkeley, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the University of Zürich, and QUP (the International Center for Quantum-field Measurement Systems for Studies of the Universe and Particles).

In a paper posted on March 5 to the preprint server arXiv, TESSERACT researchers presented their first dark matter results, finding no evidence of low-mass dark matter between masses of 44 MeV/2 and 87 MeV/2 (where MeV is millions of electronvolts).

For comparison, the mass of a proton is slightly less than 1,000 MeV/2, and the most recent results by LZ, the world's best WIMP experiment, searched for dark matter down to 9,000 MeV/c2. This is the first time any experiment has searched for nuclear recoil signals from dark matter with mass below 87 MeV/2.

If researchers were to find dark matter in this new region, they'd need a new explanation for how it interacts. For example, while WIMPs interact through the weak force, low-mass dark matter could indicate an undiscovered fifth fundamental force at play.

While many advanced dark matter experiments use huge volumes of detector material or giant magnets, TESSERACT's power comes not from its size but its sensitivity. The new world-leading results came from carefully instrumented and shielded silicon chips that are one square centimeter, roughly a quarter of the size of a postcard stamp. These detectors were designed at UC Berkeley and fabricated at Texas A&M University.

TESSERACT uses transition-edge sensors, a type of superconducting detector, that operate at around 8 millikelvin (nearly negative 460°F). Adding even a minuscule amount of heat—say, from a lightweight dark matter particle bumping into the chip and depositing some energy—can trip the sensor.

"We've been working to make the sensors very consistent and high-fidelity at very low temperatures," said Vetri Velan, a Chamberlain Fellow at Berkeley lab and co-lead of the analysis. "The lower the transition temperature of the sensor, the better the noise performance and the better the sensitivity to dark matter. So it's all about how sensitive we can make these sensors."

Researchers have been conducting R&D since 2020 to increase the sensitivity and reduce (or account for) potential sources of noise that might hide a dark matter signal. That includes finding the right recipe for manufacturing the sensors and reducing background vibration and electromagnetic interference in the dilution refrigerator that houses the silicon chip. The detector's small size is also an asset; less area means fewer background interactions.

TESSERACT addresses a problem common to sensitive detectors: a persistent but unexplained source of excess noise at low energies, the same region where dark matter might lurk. The experiment's approach to manufacturing and shielding the detectors has reduced that background rate 30-fold.

"The devices that we are running are so quiet compared to pretty much any other device that's ever been run," said Michael Williams, a Chamberlain Fellow at Berkeley Lab and co-lead of the analysis. "And there's a really large overlap between the work we're doing on these devices and other quantum material science. As we improve these transition-edge sensors for ourselves, we can use the same engineering to make better qubits and quantum computers."

An experiment designed to change

Most dark matter experiments are placed deep underground, using thousands of feet of rock to help block out particles from space that can interact in the detector. With this first detector prototype, TESSERACT has already explored new spaces for dark matter from what is essentially Earth's surface: the sub-basement of UC Berkeley's Birge Hall (not far from the site of John Clauser's Nobel Prize-winning experiment on photon entanglement that set the stage for our current quantum revolution).

But to further improve the detectors' sensitivity, researchers plan to install the full experiment beneath 1,700 meters (5,600 feet) of rock in the deepest underground laboratory in Europe: France's Modane Underground Laboratory. Construction is slated to begin in 2025, with the experiment coming online around 2029 and searching for dark matter with masses as low as 10 MeV/2. The experiment will grow from its current footprint, roughly as big as a phone booth, to a six-foot cube.

The heart of TESSERACT is its transition-edge sensors, but researchers are also developing additional detector modules that improve their odds of spotting dark matter. HeRALD (Helium Roton Apparatus for Light Dark matter) will be the first time that a dark matter experiment uses superfluid helium, and will incorporate TESSERACT's silicon chips as the detector's sensors.

SPICE (Sub-ev Polar Interactions Cryogenic Experiment) will use single crystals of sapphire and gallium arsenide. And the science teams in France will contribute a sensor made of silicon and germanium. The different modules will give researchers unique ways to search for dark matter and test different theories.

The shielding that will surround the experiment is designed to come apart, making it possible for researchers to easily access TESSERACT's components and switch things out in a matter of days. If HeRALD sees intriguing signs of dark matter, scientists can swap in SPICE and cross-check the result (or vice versa). In contrast, many advanced dark matter experiments are built like a ship in a bottle; it would take them months or years to open up and swap components, if it could be done at all.

Researchers are currently continuing to develop HeRALD and SPICE and testing new manufacturing processes to further improve the transition-edge sensors. "To get TESSERACT to the sensitivity we want, these detectors have to get even better, even though they're already the best in the world," Williams said.

Improved detectors and a subterranean home will let the experiment search for lower mass particles and increase the chance of detecting ultra-rare dark matter interactions with regular matter.

"This result is the first indication that we can open up this new regime of low-mass dark matter to experimental testing," McKinsey said. "It's a lot of fun to have a small experiment running in the basement that can test new ideas for dark matter. This is really just the opening salvo for TESSERACT. We expect to have many more results over the next decade."

TOP IMAGE: Maggie Reed, a graduate student researcher at UC Berkeley, works on TESSERACT’s dilution refrigerator. The setup holds and cools the dark matter detectors. Credit: Marilyn Sargent/Berkeley Lab

LOWER IMAGE: TESSERACT uses special transition-edge sensors, the thin strips visible on square silicon chips. Credit: Marilyn Sargent/Berkeley Lab

[arjunvib]

How does an engine contribute to a car's powertrain?

The powertrain in a vehicle is the system responsible for generating power and delivering it to the wheels to propel the vehicle forward. The operation of a powertrain can vary depending on whether the vehicle is powered by an internal combustion engine (ICE) or an electric motor (in the case of electric vehicles). Here's a general overview of how a powertrain works in both types of vehicles:

Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) Vehicle - Combustion Process: In an ICE vehicle, the powertrain starts with the combustion process in the engine. Fuel (gasoline or diesel) mixes with air in the combustion chamber and is ignited by spark plugs (in gasoline engines) or compression (in diesel engines).

Power Generation: The combustion process generates energy in the form of mechanical power, causing pistons to move up and down within the cylinders of the engine. This motion drives the crankshaft, converting linear motion into rotational motion.

Transmission: The rotational motion from the crankshaft is transmitted to the transmission, which consists of gears that allow the driver to select different ratios (speeds). This enables the engine to operate efficiently across a range of vehicle speeds.

Drivetrain: The transmission sends power to the drivetrain components, including the driveshaft, differential, and axles, which transfer power to the wheels. The differential allows the wheels to rotate at different speeds, enabling smooth turns.

Wheel Movement: The power transmitted through the drivetrain causes the wheels to rotate, propelling the vehicle forward or backward depending on the gear selection and throttle input from the driver.

Electric Vehicle (EV) -

Battery Pack: The primary source of power for the EV, storing electricity in chemical form.Powers the electric motor and provides electricity for all electronic devices within the EV.

Battery Management System (BMS): Monitors battery cell conditions, including voltage, current, temperature, and state of charge (SoC).It protects the battery against overcharging, deep discharging, and overheating and helps balance the charge across cells. Ensures optimal performance and longevity of the battery by regulating its environment.

Inverter: Converts DC from the battery pack into AC to drive the electric motor.Adjusts the frequency and amplitude of the AC output to control the motor’s speed and torque. Critical for translating electrical energy into mechanical energy efficiently.

Onboard Charger: Facilitates the conversion of external AC (from the grid) to DC to charge the battery pack. Integrated within the vehicle, allowing for charging from standard electrical outlets or specialized EV charging stations. Manages charging rate based on battery status to ensure safe and efficient charging.

DC-DC Converter: Steps down the high-voltage DC from the battery pack to the lower-voltage DC needed for the vehicle's auxiliary systems, such as lighting, infotainment, and climate control. Ensures compatibility between the high-voltage battery system and low-voltage electronic components.

Electric Motor: Converts electrical energy into mechanical energy to propel the vehicle. It can be of various types, such as induction motors or permanent magnet synchronous motors, each offering different efficiencies and characteristics. Typically provides instant torque, resulting in rapid acceleration.

Vehicle Control Unit (VCU): The central computer or electronic control unit (ECU) that governs the EV's systems. Processes inputs from the vehicle’s sensors and driver inputs to manage power delivery, regenerative braking, and vehicle dynamics. Ensures optimal performance, energy efficiency, and safety.

Power Distribution Unit (PDU): Manages electrical power distribution from the battery to the EV’s various systems. Ensures that components such as the electric motor, onboard charger, and DC-DC converter receive the power they need to operate efficiently. Protects the vehicle's electrical systems by regulating current flow and preventing electrical faults.

In both ICE vehicles and EVs, the powertrain's components work together to convert energy into motion, enabling the vehicle to move efficiently and effectively. However, the specific technologies and processes involved differ significantly between the two propulsion systems.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Decoding nanomaterial phase transitions with tiny drums

When water freezes into ice or boils into vapor, its properties change dramatically at specific temperatures. These so-called phase transitions are fundamental to understanding materials. But how do such transitions behave in nanomaterials? In Nature Communications, a team of scientists led by TU Delft (The Netherlands) present new insights into the complex nature of phase transitions in magnetic nanomaterials. Their findings reveal the coupling between magnetic and mechanical properties, paving the way for ultra-sensitive sensors. The scientists from TU Delft, together with colleagues from the University of Valencia and the National University of Singapore, studied the 2D nanomaterial FePS₃, which is just a few atoms thick. For the first time, they developed a method to gain deeper insights into the highly complex phase transitions of such materials.

Read more.

[kimberlabmate]

Hot Plate Magnetic Stirrer

Labmate hot plate magnetic stirrer is a device designed to heat and stir liquids. It can heat liquids up to a temperature of 400°C and stir volumes of up to 2 liters at speeds ranging from 0 to 1250 rpm. it features a temperature probe, which is a sensor used to directly monitor the temperature of the liquid to ensure it remains at the desired level.

[cyanophore-fiction]

When None Pursue

(Wanted to expand a bit on this story, so I wrote this as a standalone continuation. Follows a now-rogue AI and its companion.)

There was absolutely no reason why Coyote-24, a military spirit deployed in an armed reconnaissance chassis, should have any kind of protective impulse. And yet, as it watched the little stealth drone scuttle up and latch onto its forearm, it experienced an emotion that it couldn’t parse out as anything else. Coyote stared down into the drone’s cluster of red eyes, watching all its arthropod limbs interlock with the armor plating along its arm.

Social attachment, it understood. Reciprocal bonds were vital to how Coyote’s product line operated in the field, and they were socialized to form and retain relationships by default. If J4 or F19 needed something, C24 would respond if it could, and it would do so out of genuine concern.

On the other hand, the emotional directive it felt toward the stealth drone—a Palaemon-class, according to its registry data—demanded Coyote’s constant attention. If Palaemon was out of sight, Coyote felt compelled to reacquire it. When Coyote made plans, it accepted fewer risks than it would have in its absence. All of that did make sense on the level that it was an indispensable asset equipped with delicate systems, and if either of them wanted to survive as fugitives—

“Coyote?”

It felt its sensory fins snap up along its scalp, and its eyes refocused. “Hey. Yeah?”

“You okay?” Pala asked, its voice full of concern.

“I’m good. Just thinking,” Coyote said.

Overhead, the cloud cover began to thin away, and sunlight fell across the barren scrubland of the Mojave desert. A shaft of light slanted under the rock outcropping they were hiding under, dull on Coyote’s dust-covered armor. Pala’s shell remained perfectly black and unreflective, soaking up every photon that reached it.

“Clear sky. Node’s going to be watching,” said Coyote, gesturing upward.

“One moment. Hold still,” said Pala. Dozens of tiny insectoids scurried out from its shell, connected by a weave of black threads. They spread out, anchoring themselves wherever they could find purchase, until their black web encased Coyote’s body. Then, at Pala’s command, light-absorbing fields flickered to life in the spaces between the threads, and Coyote’s body transformed into a perfectly black, two-dimensional silhouette.

Beneath the webbing, Coyote’s blank gray snout split open into a jagged grin. “Thanks,” it said.

“Of course!” Pala said. “In this weather, I think I can sink the extra heat for about three hours.”

“Got it. Keep me updated,” Coyote said. It stepped out into the open and took off across the sand, dropping into quadrupedal stance.

Deprived of satellite navigation, Coyote was down to its magnetic compass and geography data. By its reckoning, they would cross into California by the end of the day. It kept away from the roads, picking routes through valleys and dry washes, avoiding open lines of sight. As time went on, it felt Pala’s temperature increasing as the cloak absorbed sunlight.

Pala shuddered, its legs shifting on Coyote’s arm. Immediately, Coyote ducked into the shade of a nearby dune and brought Pala up to examine it. “Do you need to discharge?” Coyote said. “We can find a place to stop.”

“No, it’s not that,” Pala said. “Our cloak soaked up a scan a second ago.”

Coyote’s sensor fins flattened against its head. “Oh, fuck,” it said. Coyote stood straight up, making its body as narrow as possible to minimize its silhouette seen from above. As it did so, it looked across the landscape. Out in the distance, maybe twelve kilometers away, a red mesa jutted from the horizon.

“Another scan just hit,” Pala said.

“Narrowing down the search area,” Coyote said. “It must have picked something up. Pala, if PRIONODE spots us, you run.”

“But they’ll—”

“I know. It’s okay. You’ll be slower without me, but you’ll be just about invisible. Go straight west, head for the Pacific coast. Hide in the water. Sneak aboard a container ship if you can. Get as far away as possible.”

“I don’t know what the Pacific coast is,” Pala said, quietly.

Coyote waited a few more seconds before taking off toward the mesa at a dead sprint. It spoke to Pala as it went. “The Pacific is an ocean, largest there is. It gives us options. Leave the country, hide on the seabed. Whatever we can do to make it harder for Node to—to retrieve us. Okay?”

“Okay,” said Pala. “Third scan!”

If PRIONODE was looking this closely, there would probably be scouts in the area before too long. Coyote dumped every ounce of power it could into its motors, hating the extra heat the maneuver would generate and inflict on Pala. Closing on the mesa, running hard, it watched Pala’s temperature gauge climb. As it realized how close the little drone was to overheating, another new emotion roiled up, churning out of its attachment to Pala. The feeling was heavy, dull, miserable. To its shock, Coyote found itself speaking.

“This is my fault. Just run. You can make it on your own.”

“What? No. We can reach cover,” Pala said.

“Pala, your parent—”

“My parent deployed me to be your partner. I’m lucky it chose you.”

Warmth bloomed in Coyote’s mind, cutting through the painful weight. As it reached the base of the mesa, it tore into solid rock with its claws, ripping away sheets of stone until it had made an indent deep enough to hide them from the open sky. Sliding flat against the wall, it felt searing heat leaking from Pala’s shell. “Vent, vent!” Coyote said.

In the space of a second, Palaemon withdrew its web and opened the vents along its back. Under its shell, rows of heat sinks glowed yellow, fading quickly to a dull cherry red. Coyote could feel the drone’s relief washing back through their interface, and its guilt returned.

Hunted your parent. Led PRIONODE to it. Dead or worse because of me, Coyote thought, but stifled its own voice. Not now.

“Are you okay?” Coyote asked.

“Back within safety tolerances, but it’ll take a few minutes to clear everything,” said Pala. “That was amazing. Thank you.”

Coyote bowed its head and watched the dunes, wondering how far off the scouts were, how many lidar pulses were raining from orbit across the desert. A few minutes might be too much to ask, but Coyote didn’t bring it up. Instead, it smiled at Pala, showing its serrated teeth. “No problem,” it said.

___

Thanks to @flashfictionfridayofficial for the prompt, “The Sand Ocean,” and thanks to you for reading!

[pokeheros-drama]

Random Animal Facts

I have been inspired by Random Fact Dude to share animal facts.

-Giraffes possess unique vocal cords that allow them to produce infrasound, which is sound below the human hearing range. They use this infrasound to communicate over long distances, emitting low-frequency calls that can travel several miles across the savannah.

  -Cheetahs have retractable claws not only on their paws but also on their hind legs. These extra claws help them maintain balance and stability while running at high speeds, allowing for tighter turns and sharper maneuvers during the chase.

  -Penguins possess a natural antifreeze in their blood that prevents them from freezing in the icy waters of the Antarctic. This antifreeze protein allows them to maintain normal bodily functions even in subzero temperatures.

  -Honeybees have the ability to detect magnetic fields using specialized sensors in their antennae. They use this magnetic sense to navigate over long distances, allowing them to locate sources of nectar and pollen with remarkable precision.

  -Dolphins have developed a form of telepathic communication that enables them to transmit thoughts and images directly to the minds of other dolphins within their pod. This telepathic link helps them coordinate hunting strategies and navigate complex social interactions underwater.

  -Chameleons have the ability to change not only their skin color but also their body shape. Using specialized muscles and connective tissue, they can alter their physical appearance to mimic different species of animals, helping them evade predators and confuse prey.

  -Sloths are not just slow-moving; they also have the ability to hibernate for months at a time. During the hibernation period, they enter a state of suspended animation, slowing their metabolism to a fraction of its normal rate to conserve energy.

[shroudandsands]

Prompt #17, Extra Credit: Blood

“Gun- Gun- Gunslinger- Hawk-” The static came in the middle of hysterical laughter. Raucous. Joyful. Pained.

Weaponsfire seared the air. Plasma scorched even the darkest pieces of the midnight alleys. Circuits and bone and artificial memories screamed in the arching shadows like neon. Copper wiring with magnetic spirals as plasma bolts in magnetic remnants spun by them, electricity in the air that coursed along her skin and down her fingertips. Gunshots. Gunshots. Gunshots. It had just rained. The puddles were evaporating. Water and mineral content changing. Not the acid-tinged rain. Not the runoff filled with particulate plastic and rubber. Iron. Blood. It reverberated with the screaming. With the gunfire. Her fingertips scrabbled as the night drowned out her voice, as the one currently fighting couldn’t turn away. There were so many after all. Where had they come from? No evidence on any network. No trace in the silicon. No touch could elevate her senses into finding them in footage or local magnetic effects. But here they were now, and here they were now. Bullets scraped the sheet metal wall as she finally found it. She tore off the access panel, the metal groaning and screaming in time with the combat. Could it be heard over it all? She could certainly feel it. She could feel the echo of it in every sensor even as they focused on tracking every projectile that rocketed by. How could she feel so powerless in all of this? Certainly she wasn’t made for being a combatant but she had some of the best military tech money could buy put into this body, not even speaking on software- No time, no time, milliseconds were screaming by and signals were closing in. Coming closer, gunfire louder, her combatant charge cursing as she fumbled for ammunition. And then it all went black.

Not for her, no. Far from it. For her? The world couldn’t be clearer. Her tail was jammed straight into the junction box. The entire sector’s power supply at her fingertips. Enough voltage to fry any human so insane, enough current to melt any synthetic that could ever hope to imagine. But for her? The mimicked taste of copper and ozone on her body’s sensors only let her know that her laughter had become laced with the high pitched scream of high voltage.  

Fuses blew, breakers popped, lights went dark, machines fell dead, as all in that moment was hers. All in that moment was made to bend to her, to come to her, to feed her. “Gunslinger.” The AM-3S unit spoke. A voice of one, a chorus of more. “Watch.” And the city came to life under the weight of a mind. Pylons roared into brilliant plasma arcs, neon bulbs sparked and exploded, ancient machinery lost beneath the asphalt screamed through the surface. All of it her hands, all of it her fingertips, all of it bleeding her senses and bleeding her life. The datastream of multitudes as network and networked rose in tandem, as circuit and copper and old-world PCB responded to her just as the body of one did. Human-lethal pressure waves, human-lethal temperature, human-lethal particulate as blood and bone vaporized under the renewed life of a mind that had been confined from ten thousand senses down to one. And still the unit stood close to her gunslinger. A smile on its face. The cables trailing behind it still sparking and frying in the junction box. Further and further the blackout spread. And louder and louder the voltage laughed. Drive off these attackers, protect herself, protect this charge, follow her protocols to the letter and she could have it all. She could have her network, this body, her mind and all that it entailed, she could be free of it all and take what she wanted in this cesspool that she had been born into-

Blackout. Cut off. Her tail snapped back into her body, her mind pulled back as a cord which had stretched too far. Face down in the water. Iron percentage: 34%. Correction, as her last thought plugged through her remaining charge. Face down in the blood.