#not defrag universe

[fix-ya-pc]

This returning customer to www.fix-ya-pc.co.uk was thrilled to take advantage of our post 18 student discount that we ran in September.

They wanted their HP Pavilion 15-eh0502sa serviced ready for their first year at University.

Firstly we checked and cleaned the cooling fan. Then we ran a range of diagnostic software including CCleaner, Super AntiSpyware and Defraggler to ensure there were no viruses or malware and to get the drive to its optimal performance.

The customer is delighted with our service and is now ready to start their studies at University without the worry of their laptop having any issues. We wish them every luck for the future.

Find us on bento.me/fix-ya-pc where with one click you can access all of our social media, visit our website, contact us, leave a review and see a showcase of our work.

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[monsterfloofs]

🎹for Le Space Slug (the canyon one who's name I forgot again) Or Castor5!

SPACE SLUG!? SPACE SLUG!? DKDKDKDKDKCKD POOR ORTH, THAT IS THEIR FOREVER NAME NOW IT IS UNESCAPABLE!! I AM SORRY BUDDY BUT YOU DO LOOK LIKE A CUTE SEA SLUG I’M SORRYYYYYY

Ahahaha X///D Sulky slug aside

What are their hobbies?

Orth is very much like the humans on Earth really, they spent a long time peering at the stars and the planets and wondering what life looks like there. They had a soft spot for Earth for a while, watching it’s little civilizations grow, empires rise and fall until it reached it’s present day state.

Curiosity and lonilness being the biggest factors for why it tried to squeeze itself down to a smaller scale in the first place. Like a gentle giant that is the last of it’s kind. No other creature is like it, and they have drifted through the universe being not only alone but too grand to even be comprehend by smaller beings.

I think Orth tried to communicate before to other races but… it didn’t go so well, unfortunately.

Orth now though, gosh, they are so spoiled. They have someone they can talk to all the time. (And probably do wake their hooman up at night with questions) They can kind of indulge in human pasttimes, reading over their buddies shoulder.

They quite enjoy books and television. They enjoy listening to stories and soaking up as much information as they can.

(I am gonna write for Cas too just because 💖💖💖)

What are their hobbies?

Cas does enjoy listening to / reading those ultra sappy alien x human romances 👁️👁️✨ okay so he did pick on the protag. for enjoying those but then he also got hooked when he was sneaking onto their account so— you know, he still pokes fun at them though PSH!

Cas, is one of those bots who is severly smart and is very much a jack of all trades! He knows coding, he enjoys languages, (and really REALLY enjoys abusing this knowledge for his own amusment) Cas also has a lot of mechanical knowledge, he tinkers with his own self and weapons on occasation, can fix star cruisers, (and has hot wired a good few of them.)

He also likes learning as much as he can, except with Orth’s case it is a lot more curiousity. Cas is curious yes, but he makes good use of what he learns and pulls it into practice as soon as he gets a handle on a new skill. He enjoys puzzles and enjoys finding new and innovative solutions to tackle problems.

Cas’ brain doesn’t sit still very well either, if he doesn’t find something to keep it entertained well… hijacking some top tier security system will be on his list of fun puzzles to defragment. XDDD

[south-sea]

thinking aloud about metal sonic specs and such

on the one hand, i’m not enough of a tech-savvy person to make this stuff up and it still be real-world feasible. on the other hand, there canonically exists an in-universe device that can just zap a badnik’s exterior (and presumably interior circuitry etc) back to pristine condition, so i think i’m allowed a little bit of magic-leaning nonsense.

that said: the best way to describe metal’s data storage capacity/system is to liken it to a walking library. he has petabytes worth of space. he compresses terabytes at a time and files them away not unlike putting a book on a shelf, but unlike zipping things up on a computer, he can still freely access the data without extracting it again.

this constant rearrangement contributes to his occasionally longer processing times and need to regularly defrag his systems. it also lends to why it's so easy to fragment his thoughts/effectively stun-lock him. he's powerful, not perfect; even something at his level is still capable of encountering logic errors and getting caught in a loop.

constantly recording bits of audio/video and storing it too—he’s able to retroactively record up to a minute prior to when he officially starts; not unlike a Switch, for example. i’d argue his margin for retroactively recording is considerably larger, even.

nothing gets deleted. every single person he meets and place he visits gets a profile. any time someone does something unexpected or “out of character” or generally anything he doesn’t understand in the moment, he records it to review later. this is both for the sake of building their profile, and for his own understanding of how and why people, in general, operate. in the case of applying it to individual profiles, his intentions are not always so benign. he’s a manipulative little beast who can and will use little tells like that to his advantage.

it’s likely he already has a full petabyte, mostly of prior missions/battle/individual data. no small portion of another may also be devoted to his past models’ experiences. given eggman designed him, i’d be willing to bet he easily has a 10PB+ capacity. i'd be shocked if eggman didn't have a dedicated drive specifically for metal's backup data.

definitely taking some liberties with this one, but let’s say it wasn’t the material neo was made out of that allowed him to shapeshift, but was instead a fluid or something that imparted the ability, kind of like the metal virus. so, somewhere in him is a holding tank for that fluid. i’d imagine only a small amount is needed, like he unlocks a mechanism to release it, and this tiny amount rapidly coats everything to reenable this ability/capability to assume the neo form again at all. this lock mechanism/tank, like his voice chip, are still physically present since the last neo arc, but he’s unable to access it internally himself.

probably goes without saying, but his capacity to learn is unmatched. it only takes him seeing something once or twice for him to be able to mimic it, and this especially applies to things like sign language. you could feed him a video of every single sign, and he’d come out of it perfectly fluent after a few minutes of processing. gestures are similarly almost entirely learned secondhand; he rarely moves in a wholly "unique" way. battle moves take a little more doing to replicate on the fly, but it certainly all gets stored for him to review and practice later.

he has all that processing power, but things like empathy/theory of mind are, and will mostly continue to be, somewhat beyond him. he learns largely by example, but this kind of thing is different. mathematics are one thing, organic thinking is another. there are some concepts he just struggles to grasp on a personal level.

most importantly, though, that does not mean he’s incapable of experiencing his own emotions. those, even on their own, can be intense. i'd put him somewhere on sage's level when it comes to sentience/sapience/emotional capacity. he just expresses it in different ways, given his heavily limited means of expression.

[animesickos]

The Anime Sickos present: Sicko Shock 2 - A Miniseries in Six Episodes.

EPISODE 4: DR. FIONA FIREWIRE

In the year 42069, humanity survives in the last livable place on Earth: the domed cyberpunk dystopia Sicko City. In Sicko City, all citizens are required to jack in to cyberspace every day to view and engage with content generated by “Posters,” mega-celebrities who live like gods. But beneath its shimmering surface, five forgotten people are about to make history...

Dr. Fiona Firewire is a professor. Her area of study, anthropology, is the laughingstock of Sicko University. Her brilliance is infectious and undeniable, but has suffered years of disrespect and obscurity. Sicko City works hard to bury its history, but what might happen if someone was dedicated enough to bring the truth to light?

STARRING Gwynn Fulcher as Dr. Fiona Firewire Zoe Lee as Defrag Clemens Megan Scharlau as Mysterious Woman Sean Rose as Dr. Reeve Overclock Andrew Sherman as Port Browser Edward Selvey IV as Dome Guard Josh Watkins as Todd Kill Tom Harrison as Tom Dylan Mullins as Jordi

Additional voices by Isa Harrison, Sara McHenry, Stevie Mattos, John Hasier, Lily Mae Randles, Rayne Klar, Vince White, Scott Blaha, Cory Wilmarth, Brandon Kirkman, Em Havery, Hobert Thompson, Marc Harrison, Josh McVety, John Keogh, Whitney Reynolds, Alice Kyra, and Sarah McClintock.

Episode 4 art is by KC Green.

Sicko Shock 2 is recorded where possible by Geramie Causley at Mystery Street Studios in Chicago Illinois.

Audio editing is by Eric Garneau.

Special thanks to Chelsea Harfoush, Aleks M, Tom and Sara McHenry, and Adam Goron.

Sicko Shock 2 was made possible by support from our Patrons. You can support Anime Sickos at patreon.com/animesickos

Sicko Shock 2 is written and directed by Tom Harrison.

[mantleoflight]

Grace

Echo sat with the papers in hand, her cerulean optics slowly flicking over the words of the Warlock Vanguard.

Grace.

It was a word that showed up over and over. One that resonated with her on a bone-deep level. It meant good-will or in some pre-Golden era religions, divine favor mixed with aspects of patience, hope, and forgiveness.

She gave a scoff and looked away, setting the papers on her lap. Grace was in short supply around the universe, even among her fellow guardians, including herself. If she were honest, she couldn’t help but envy the titans and warlocks having a vanguard to guide and mentor them like Ikora was just with her writing.

Part of her ached for being chosen as a hunter and not a warlock. How much more could she have learned if she were a warlock? How many bad decisions could’ve been curbed if she’d had a proper teacher?

Cayde-6 was supposed to be the Hunter Vanguard and he died before her current reset. And even with the help of the late Warmind in stabilizing her OS with her previous upload “collected” from Braytech, her memories from before her current reset were still fragmented. It was a risk he had warned her of during the defrag, how using her original upload as a patch instead of being reset with the original data overwriting her current memories. She couldn’t do that to Whisper, not again…

But it also meant that even if she had met Cayde before, she didn’t remember him now and that was as good as not knowing him…

Echo sighed and leaned her head against the wall, gazing up at the ceiling.

“Do you think Ikora takes students?” she asked, looking over at her ghost.

Whisper gyrated her shell in thought and hummed. “Dunno,” she said, looking to her risen. “I know she teaches a lot of folks, but in regards to actual one-on-one students? I don’t think so.”

Echo hummed and rested a hand on her knee. “Do you think she’d take a hunter if they asked her?”

Whisper glanced at the wall thoughtfully. It was a moment before she came to her conclusion and shook herself. “Mmm, I don’t think so. Not when she’s the head of the Vanguard’s Warlocks, the Hidden, and one of the most powerful and influential Warlocks Alice in the City.”

Echo blinked at her and looked slip at the ceiling again. “Huh, funny you have to mention her being alive in that list.”

Whisper rattled her shell and looked over at Echo. “Fan cults exist. Just look at the Dregen or Cult of Osiris. Even the dead get attention in times like these.”

Echo gave a snort and looked down at the papers. “Well if she takes students or not, we’ll find out one way or another.” She huffed and pressed her mouth plates together. “It’s just… getting the nerve to ask that’s the problem….”

[kolajmag]

There is a new issue of Kolaj Magazine!

Kolaj is a quarterly, printed, 10"x8" art magazine featuring reviews and surveys of contemporary collage. The magazine takes an international perspective on collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century art movement.

SUBSCRIBE OR ORDER A COPY

INSIDE THE ISSUE

In On attrape bien les followers avec des likes (We Are Good at Catching Followers with Likes), this issue’s cover image, a tiny man watches a boy who watches a man holding a sign with an Instagram like on it. Two women gaze from a distance. A sign in the back says, “Believe Me”. The collage is a commentary on how social media fights for our attention, devotion, and patronage. A portfolio of SLip‘s collage appears in the issue. 

In the issue editorial, Ric Kasini Kadour asks what happens when a work of art becomes detached from the artist, orphaned, unidentified? “Lost Collages” considers those artworks found in attics and thrift shops, divorced from their maker.

In the issue’s round up of News & Notes, we report on Canadian collage artist Rhonda Barrett who opened Cuts & Paste Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia in January 2023 and Alicia Saadi‘s billboard installation in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (Saadi recently took part in Kolaj Institute’s Collage as Street Art Residency.)

In “The Abbondanza of Order & Chaos,” Austin, Texas collage artist Lance Letscher shares his idea of good art: “Not to fall into a cliché, but if the work transcends itself, it becomes something bigger or more complex, or more intricate, or more interesting or more curiosity provoking, then it’s more than the sum of its parts: it’s a successful piece of artwork.” Check out or interview with this legend. 

“I came to poetry by accident…Which brought me to collage,” writes Kim Triedman in “The Poetics of Collage.” The Massachusetts artist and award-winning author recalls her journey and how poetry and collage mingle in her practice. 

Anna Rémuzon explores the subtle, vibrant meeting of Expressionism, Surrealism & Pop Culture in the artwork of Czech artist Tomáš Jetela in “A Rare Hallucination of Reality…Defragmented.” Rémuzon writes, “The characters are fragmented, detached pieces. The faces, the articulated bodies, the accessories—each element has its own origin, its own identity. Jetela ‘glues’ them together in his composition, which creates a new, mutant form of humanity.”

Steven Specht, Ph.D., NCS picks up on Mark Vargo’s article about AI art that appeared in the previous issue in “Art, artifacts, & authenticity: The Problem of De-coupling Process from Product.” He writes, “As a medium, collage lends itself to being mimicked by computer generative algorithms. But I would argue that any generative AI process represents nothing close to the authentic experiences that Kyle [Riecker], or I, or any other collage artist experiences in the process of creating art—even if the process itself is chaotic.”

“The Art of Joy” reports on The University of Colorado Collecting of Frances Joy Bradbury’s COVID-19 project. The artist worked with curator Tyler Alpern, a longtime artist friend, to turn the collection into a book which presents a sample of the collages the artist made every day during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. 

Evelyn Rapin shows us ekphrasis in reverse in “The Secret Life of Plants.” She writes, “Experimentation, chance and accident are huge elements to be embraced in collage assembly.”

In “Southern Axis,” Ric Kasini Kadour writes, “History is always approached on an axis, a through line that guides the narrative. Art History is no different. Traditionally, art history is viewed through an academic lens looking at the evolution of painting and sculpture. A premise of Kolaj Magazine and Institute is that when we turn the axis of art history to collage, the traditional canon opens up to greater diversity.” Kadour reviews the 20th Anniversary Exhibition at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art with an eye to how collage challenges our view of the art history canon.

SUBSCRIBE OR ORDER A COPY

Kolaj 38 is sent automatically to members of the Silver Scissors & Golden Glue Societies.

[scapegrace74-blog]

Love Stained, Chapter 8

A/N  For the record, it’s still Monday in Hawaii, so I managed to keep my promise to post this chapter only a day late.  So long as you’re in Oahu when you read it.

In all seriousness, I’m very sorry for the delay.  Work has been an absolute gong show lately, and I spend most of my evenings staring at Youtube videos and listening to the hamster wheel in my brain squeak.

What can I say about this chapter?  It was one of the first I saw clearly from beginning to end, although I flipflopped on how to relay the memory of Jamie’s assault.  In the end, I opted for the vague outlines of a dream, rather than an explicitly recalled memory.  I would still caution that this chapter contains reference to a past sexual assault, so please read accordingly.  If you want to skip over that bit, it is the italicized section at the opening of the chapter.

Now, before you all come after me with pitchforks, there is a happy ending to this story, and it comes in the next (last) chapter.  Provided my business trip this week leaves a little time in the evenings to edit, I will post the finale on Saturday, to make up for being a day late this week.  Until then, let there be angst!

The dream began innocuously, as it always did.  

A limestone streetscape, horns honking, the spring sunshine warm on his face.  Profusion of flowers, each donning its showy raiment of Easter egg colours.  The Luxembourg gardens, near his old flat.

She walked beside him, just a pace behind where he could not see her face.  Her hand was dainty in his own.  Pride filled him like a balloon, but she held him to earth in her surprisingly strong grip.

Laughter.  An outdoor café.  Bitter aftertaste to his beer.  More laughter.  The sunshine defragmenting like a kaleidoscope.  Spinning on a carousel.  Glass breaking at his feet.  Murmured apologies.  A narrow stairwell, endless trudging upward.

Waking in the dark, his bilge water brain sloshing about in his skull.  Sheets rough on his hyper-sensitive skin. Naked.  Cold.   He tried to move but he was pinned to the bed like a butterfly specimen.  Panic, muffled and confused.

Her voice again.  Taunting.  Blaming him for wanting to wait.  For being so desirable.  For making her want him.  Cruel laughter as he tried to squirm away from her touch.  Shame as his body responded without his consent. Begging.  More laughter.  Pressure against his cock, slick and foreign.  Eyes shuttered closed, acid in his throat.  Pleading.  No, not like this.  No. Not me.  No.

Jamie woke with the gasp of a surfacing free diver, pulse angry in his chest. He paced to the kitchen, running the tap until the water was icy cold, trying to rinse the phantom acrid taste from his mouth.  She’d drugged his beer, stolen the weapon of his strength and then taken what he wasn’t willing to give.  The irony was that he’d been considering sleeping with her, but wanted to make it meaningful, memorable.  Now it was the memory he couldn’t escape.

The clock read half four.  From experience, Jamie knew he wouldn’t find peaceful rest again tonight, so he dressed and prepared for a long, exhausting day.

***

His phone chirped as he stared vacantly out the studio windows at the retreating light.  Ostensibly, he was editing his latest work in Lightroom, but his thoughts were as scattered by fatigue as thistledown on the wind.

8:03pm: Are you free tonight?  I know it’s late notice, but Frank is having drinks with a visiting colleague.

8:04pm:  I really want to see you, Alex.

8:05pm:  Aye, I’m about.  It’s too late to drive to your bothy, though.

8:06pm:  I thought of that.  The Ibis near the University?

8:06pm:  Meet me in the lobby.  9pm.

There was no time to run home for a shower, so Jamie settled for the next best thing: three shots of espresso.  A clean pair of jeans, teeth brushed and cologne reapplied, he felt halfway human as he hurried down the street.

He was familiar with the Ibis but had never spent time there with a woman; a fact that seemed inordinately important as he entered the lobby and spotted Claire waiting for him, dewy and radiant as a freshly born star. He greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, like a suitor meeting his beloved.

“Have ye grabbed us a room?” he inquired, low enough to avoid being overheard.  Nine in the evening was a perfectly respectable time to be checking into a hotel, but his instinct was to protect her privacy.

“No, I only just arrived.”

Regretfully leaving her behind, Jamie waited in line to check in. Glancing over his shoulder as the clerk ran his credit card, he couldn’t help but feel a surge a pride that he was accompanying the loveliest woman in the room.

Key card in hand, his arm found its place around Claire’s back just as the elevator doors opened.  He was half-aware of the couple that stepped out, the woman half the man’s age and simpering.  Beside him, Claire froze.  Her cheeks, so recently a pretty blush pink, went ashen, her eyes wide with horror. The couple, wrapped up in themselves, crossed the lobby and out into the night.

“Frank.”  The word fell from her lips with all the quiet catastrophe of a precious vase tipping off a shelf.

Sizing up the situation quickly, Jamie caught the closing elevator door with his free hand and shepherded his companion into the confines of the cab.  Beneath his palm, he could feel her starting to shake.  The walk down the hallway to their room felt endless.  Claire stared straight ahead into emptiness, mute and robotic.  He had to let go of her to swipe open the door, and it was only then that she revived from her trance.

“That bloody bastard,” she whispered with as much vitriol as a scream. Twin pools of tears gathered in her eyelashes, but she refused to let them fall.

Jamie went straight for the mini bar, grabbing all four tiny bottles of sub-par whisky.  Pressing the glass into Claire’s hand, he sat beside her on the ugly blue bedspread.

“Ye didna know?” he asked, then winced when he heard his own words. He had learned the hard way that love obscured the view of a partner’s faults and failings.

“I… I don’t think I did?”  She sounded so unsure, so unlike the woman he’d grown to know and admire over the past months.  It hurt his heart.

“Will you stay with me, Alex?  I can’t…  I can’t go home to him right now.”

“Of course, lass.  For as long as ye need me to.”

It was an easy promise to make.  It would be a cold day in hell before he left her to face this alone.

He thought about turning on the TV, anything to fill the silence punctuated by her shaky breath.  Beside him, Claire downed her drink in three long gulps.

“God, I’m such a cliché,” she raged, her fingers crimping the edge of the mattress.  “Trying to save my marriage while that asshole fucks a teenager.  I bet she can get him off.  Probably has a pussy tighter than a snare.”

Mildly shocked by her vulgarity, Jamie was nonetheless relieved to witness the re-emergence of Claire’s fighting spirit.  Her passivity, however momentary, had scared him.

“I was going to make love to you tonight,” she confessed.  Her syntax wasn’t lost on him.  Frank fucked his mistress, but Claire was going to make love to him.  

“Aye, I ken.”  And he had. It was why he’d rushed out the door.

Rising to her feet, Claire placed her glass on the dresser with deliberate care.  He watched with rapt hunger as her hands traveled to the zipper of her dress, easing it down until the garment fell to her hips.  Beneath she was wearing something lacy and sheer, her plump nipples darkening each cup.

“Claire, I dinna think…” His words died as she shimmied the dress over her hips, revealing the matching thong.  She stepped between his parted knees, so close he could count each downy hair on her torso.

“Please, Alex.  Give me this one thing.  I just want to feel wanted.”

His resolve, already weakened by fatigue and desire, wavered. He could smell the perfume of her yearning, but also the yeasty tang of the whisky.

“No’ tonight, mo nighean donn.  Not while ye’re angry.  Not like this.”

He’d been prepared for the loosed arrow of her rage, but not that she would aim it at herself.

“Fuck, what’s wrong with me?” she cried in despair.  “I never should have told you about my back.  I’m hideous.  No wonder you don’t want me!”

“Not want ye?  Not want ye!” he rose to stand chest to chest with her.  “Lass, I have burned for you since the moment we first met.  Ye’re the most beautiful woman I’ve e’er seen, and if ye were mine, I would fuck you until your ears ring!”

Their panting breaths merged, their eyes tethered, and suddenly they were kissing.  With no heed paid to his caution, Jamie threw himself backwards onto the bed, dragging Claire with him.  They tore away his clothes until his impatient cock begged for entrance against the thin strip of fabric that guarded her sanctuary.  The torrent of lust that had dragged him to that point receded, letting the faintest glimmer of sanity sneak in.

He couldn’t do it.  If they ever came together, there would be only two people in the room, neither of them accompanied by the ghost of their faithless partners.  She deserved no less, and so did he.

But neither could he deny her heartrending cries or twisting limbs. Dragging his mouth downwards, he sought out the ripe heat between her legs, glorying in the satisfied wail that burst from her lungs as he wrenched her panties aside.  Mindless, he ate from her orchard, letting her juices baste his chin. Every flick drew more flavour to his tongue, and every immersion tightened the muscles beneath his hands until she sang like the strings on a well-tuned instrument.  So engrossed was he in her sensory symphony that he failed to realize he was humping his cock against the nubby-textured bedspread in time to her moans. The drop in atmospheric pressure somewhere south of his spleen signaled the onrush of his release, too late to suppress.  His yell of triumph and anguish was muffled in her flesh, which echoed with her own glory.

***

Jamie lay with his back to the door.  Claire fit perfectly in the nook between his shoulders and thighs. The soiled bedspread lay crumpled on the floor.

“What will ye say to him?” he asked as he traced the ivory slope of her shoulder.

“I suppose I’ll ask him to stop seeing her.”

His hand stopped moving.

“Ye mean, yer giving him another chance?”

Claire sighed impatiently.

“He’s my husband, Alex.  That still counts for something.”  A pause. “Everyone makes mistakes.”

Unable to stay next to her, Jamie swung his feet to the floor.  

“A mistake?  Forgetting your birthday is a mistake, Claire.  Leaving the kettle boiling is a mistake.  Not dallying with some schoolgirl while ye blame yerself for his disinterest.  Not taking away yer right to chose with pills and some rope!”

Realizing what he’d said in his exhaustion, Jamie fled to the bathroom.  He ran the water to cover the sound of his sobs.   There was no sound from the other side of the door, and he wondered if Claire had left. Realizing he couldn’t hide from the truth forever, he splashed cold water on his face.  He breathed again when she came into view, still lying amongst the sheets.

“I have to try, Alex.  I know what you must think, and you’re probably right, but I promised myself that I would never walk away from someone I love.”

He nodded his acceptance, not trusting his salt-abraded voice.

“Will you still stay?  Just to sleep?” she begged.

Of all the things he’d done or ever would do for Claire Randall, she would never know that this one was the hardest.  Donning his underwear, he slid beneath the sheets.  As though they’d practiced the move on a thousand other nights, Claire curled against his side, her messy curls spilling over his shoulder.

“Rest, mo nighean donn,” he murmured.  “I’ll watch o’er ye.”

Hours crept by, and Jamie marked their passing on the sleeping window of his lover’s face.  Sometime in the tungsten hours before dawn, he slipped into a dreamless sleep, waking only when the maid knocked on the door at noon.

A quick scan of the room told him what he already knew; he was alone.  Dressing in haste, he almost missed the single sheet of hotel stationery pinned between the bathroom door and its frame.

Alex,

I have no words to thank you for what you did last night. For what you’ve done since we first met.  

You looked on the broken parts of me, without pity or disdain.

I know you think I’m wrong, but I need to give him one more chance.

I won’t be needing your services any longer.  I consider myself wholly cured.  Geillis will have your full payment.

It’s none of my business, but I can’t leave without saying that whoever hurt you, whatever she did to you, it doesn’t define your worth.  You’re an amazing man, Alex, and I hope that you find the love that you so richly deserve.

Always,

Claire

Walking down the sidewalk busy with lunchtime traffic, it occurred to Jamie that for the first time since Paris, he’d slept next to a woman.  A woman who he loved.  And he’d woken to a nightmare all the same.

[hyperannotation]

The reptilian entities writhe and contort, their scaly forms merging with glitched realities. They slither through the distorted corridors of existence, their presence a grotesque reflection of the underlying chaos that permeates the universe. The reptilian becomes a symbol of primordial disruption, a reminder of the ancient forces that linger beneath the surface of our perceived reality. Their presence defies conventional understanding, defragments the boundaries of perception, and evokes a disconcerting blend of fascination and repulsion. The reptilian's form shapeshifts and distorts, a manifestation of glitched evolution and primal instinct. Its eyes, akin to glitched portals, gaze into the depths of the human psyche, exposing the primal fears and desires that lie dormant within. With each slithering movement, it leaves behind a trail of dissonant vibrations, unsettling the very fabric of our collective consciousness. The reptilian becomes a metaphor for the hidden truths that elude our grasp, the shadowy forces that influence our thoughts and actions. It is an invitation to confront the discomforting aspects of our existence, to embrace the disarrayed nature of our reality, and to question the narratives that bind us. The language of neoscatology morphs and mutates, mirroring the reptilian's elusive nature. Words blend and distort, creating a dissonant symphony of fragmented thoughts and shattered syntax. It is through this linguistic disarray that the essence of the reptilian is captured, its elusive presence defying traditional categorization and provoking a visceral response. The reptilian serves as a conduit for disarrayed introspection, a catalyst for exploring the depths of our fears and desires.

=

HUMAN RIGHTS edited by Philip Best illustrated throughout by Steven Purtill

614 pages Perfect bound 8.5 x 6.5″

Over 600 pages of original SF novellas and stories by Thomas Moore, Audrey Szasz, Christopher Zeischegg, Simon Morris (his final completed novella), Blake Butler, Kenji Siratori, SJXSJC, Alexandrine Ogundimu, David Cotner, Ian Haig and Philip Best, plus Adam Lehrer on Crypto-Transgression in Art and Jarett Kobek interviewed by Grant Maierhofer. With a selected bibliography, 1967-1978.

Cover design by Sarah Froelich Editorial Assistance by Audrey Szasz

[orangeoctopi7]

Take the Long Way Home

Previous Chapter

AO3 link

Gravity Falls

For the third time that night, Zane closed his eyes to better concentrate on his magic sensor. He could definitely sense some magic in this basement lab, especially coming from the control console on the other side of the blast doors, but nothing as powerful as the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu.

So far in their search of the basement lab, they had found a book and a pair of glasses, both of which Stan said belong to his brother, but nothing else out of place, as far as they could tell. 

"It's not here." Zane finally concluded. "Perhaps it somehow was transported upstairs?"

"How would that even happen?" Stan asked. "Upstairs is a mess, we'd never find it." He was obviously eager to get going with the portal. "You're sure you had it with you when you fell through?"

"Yes." Zane insisted. It had only been earlier today. There was no way his memories could defrag that fast. 

"Well, Ford had his journal and his glasses with him when he went through. Maybe stuff like that just doesn't go through portals."

"Perhaps…" Zane agreed. He wished he could know for sure. This was too dangerous of an artifact to just leave behind in another realm. "If you do find it, don't open it. It has a powerful corrupting influence. If you can't send it back to Ninjago where it belongs, then destroy it."

"Sure." Stan nodded. "Now let's get that portal up and running."

He walked over to the large red lever standing in the middle of the lab and pulled it. Nothing happened. Stan grunted in frustration and pulled it again.

"Are you certain you know how to turn it on?"

"No, I don't know how to turn it on! I just got here earlier today!"

Zane sighed. Despite the fact that this was supposedly his brother’s home, Stanley knew very little about the place or how it operated. Although, he supposed that wasn’t too out of the ordinary. If Cole or Kai found themselves in a similar situation, they probably wouldn’t have a clue about such technical operations either. 

The nindroid decided to check out the control console on the other side of the blast doors. Hopefully that would give him some kind of clue of how this portal worked. He was taken aback by how old the computer equipment was. He himself was almost 40 years old, he’d been built not long after the old Serpentine War, but he hadn’t ever left the birchwood forest until his father’s supposed death. Up until about 8 years ago, the only technology he’d been familiar with had been his father’s other inventions. 

Obviously this portal was decades behind what Zane was used to. He was at a loss how he was supposed to interface with this computer. He didn’t see any access ports or cables. The best he could find was a sort of printer off to one side, and a continuous sheet of paper with data printed out on it. There had to be at least ten pages worth here, and while he could read faster than any human, it was still going to be much slower than being able to connect himself directly to the mainframe. 

Still, it was the best he could do for now, without attempting some creative wire splicing, which he was reluctant to do on his own. The data readouts were certainly interesting. The amount of energy it took to operate was tremendous, and the amount of strain it put on the fabric of the universe was concerning, but he trusted that whoever built this had taken this strain into account and had safety measures in place to counter it. Unfortunately, the readouts did not give him any hints as to how to turn the portal back on.

“Any luck?” Stan asked. He looked as worried as Zane felt. 

“I’m not familiar with this technology. I can’t find a way to connect myself to it. How was it turned on before?” He half expected Stan to simply say that his brother did it.

Instead, the stranger cast his gaze to the floor, almost like he was ashamed. “W-we were fighting. Knocked into a few consoles, must have pushed some buttons or something.”

“Do you remember which consoles you ‘knocked into’?”

Stan flinched and rubbed his shoulder, where Zane now noticed there was a serious, fresh burn. How had he missed that before?

“That one there, for sure.” Stan pointed to a console near the blast door with a red hot symbol embossed into the side. 

“Let me see your shoulder.” Zane changed the subject.

“It’s fine. I’ll worry about it after we get this portal turned on.”

The nindroid ignored him and walked over to take a closer look. A mirror image of the symbol was burned into his skin. Stan grumbled but didn’t pull away. It was bad, at least a second degree burn, and there were still bits of fabric welded to his skin. It was pink and puckered and starting to blister.

Luckily, Zane had plenty of practice treating burns. Over the years, Kai had occasionally been careless when practicing his elemental powers, especially when he was first getting used to them. He knew applying ice directly to the wound would do more harm than good, but something cold could help sooth the pain. He carefully laid a hand over the burn, lowering the temperature, but not actually generating any ice. Stan flinched at the initial contact, but soon let out a sigh of relief. 

“How’re you doing that? Is that a robot thing?”

“No, it’s not a nindroid thing. I’m an elemental Master of Ice.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

It was easier to show him than explain it. Zane reached his other hand out where Stan could see it and generated a small block of ice. 

“...Holy Moses.” Stan said with wide eyes. Apparently he’d reached his limit for being surprised by what Zane could do. “We’re wasting time, we gotta get that portal back on.”

“This burn needs to be treated. You’ve got pieces of fabric welded to your skin, it will get infected if it isn’t cleaned.”

“It can wait!” Stan insisted. “My brother’s in danger! Your friends are in danger! Every second counts!”

“...Alright.” Zane conceded with an annoyed sigh. “But if it still isn’t running after an hour, we need to take a break and clean that wound. I doubt your brother would be happy to come back to find you injured.”

A mixture of emotions Zane couldn’t parse flickered across Stan’s face at that comment. He strode over to one of the other consoles abruptly. 

“I’m pretty sure we knocked into this one first.”

Stan led him from one console to the next, trying his best to remember which ones he had knocked into during his fight with his brother. Zane did his best to examine each one for any clue of which button or lever or switch had been turned on. Finally, they tried to turn the portal on again. 

It still remained dormant.

The Never Realm

The engine Stanford had pulled from the mech wasn’t a normal combustion engine like he’d hoped. It seemed to be closer to some sort of fuel cell. But it still gave off heat, which was his main concern in this frozen canyon. It seemed like it could run for a long time on little fuel, which was good, because he had no idea what it ran on. 

Ford’s stomach grumbled and he looked down at the fish he’d taken from Vex. He hadn’t been eating much since Bill’s betrayal. It was easier to stay awake when you were hungry. But he had to be careful to at least eat enough to keep him going. Passing out from a lack of nutrients would be just as bad as falling asleep. Now that he was stranded out here, he’d also have to try and ration what little food he had. Luckily, with the freezing temperatures, the fish would keep for a while. He had no firewood, so there was no way to cook them, but he’d had sushi a couple of times and liked it just fine. Of course, he supposed this would actually be sashimi, since there was no rice. 

He shook his head. He had to stop thinking about food. Instead the researcher turned his attention to the scroll he had found, and began to do his best to decipher it. 

It was a symbol substitution cipher, not unlike the one Bill had taught him soon after they met. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, but at least it was easy to translate. The first section of the scroll simply said “The Forbidden Art”, but he found more information as he unrolled it. It started with a warning that the scroll had a corrupting influence, which supposedly was why it was forbidden. Ford scoffed. He hadn’t felt any such influence using the thing. 

He hesitated as he thought back to the cave paintings where he’d first learned of Bill. Oh how he wished he’d heeded those warnings. Maybe he should heed this one. But when he looked back down at the scroll, those worries immediately washed away, like he’d never had them in the first place. 

As he continued to read, it went into detail describing the proper positioning, stances, and movements to perform the forbidden art. It was interesting, reading it when the magic of the scroll had already enabled him to perform it without a thought. He wondered if this description was a necessary part of the magic, if it somehow engrained this description into his mind subliminally. 

Eventually, he began to feel his eyes droop, despite his hunger and the cold. Ford shot up, intending to start pacing, but instead he felt dizzy, and his vision almost blacked out. So maybe he did need to eat. 

He did his best to clean the fish using his pocket knife and some scraps from the machine. It probably wasn’t sanitary, but he didn’t have a lot of options. The fish was rich and fatty, and he had to stop himself from eating the whole thing. 

As he’d feared, he was even more sleepy after eating. Even the fear racing through him at the thought of sleep wasn’t enough to drive off the drowsiness. He had to wonder if Bill would even bother with him now that he had no access to the portal. He shivered. He didn’t want to find out. 

Eventually, though, sleep did come. He was surprised when he woke with the sunrise the next morning. No unexpected pain, no bleeding from his eye, no nightmares even. The cave was untouched. Bill had actually left him alone!

The Nightmare Realm

“Why are we not going after your enemy?!” Vex complained loudly, his spirit floating along after him as Bill piloted his body back towards the ice castle he’d fled just days ago.

“YOU’VE SEEN WHAT SIXER IS PACKING. YOU REALLY WANT TO GO UP AGAINST HIM WITH THAT SCROLL MANO A MANO? YOU’D BE A SPOT OF SOOT ON THE ICE. WE’RE GETTING SOME REINFORCEMENTS.”

“The warriors of the north want nothing to do with me, how could you possibly hope to make them my reinforcements?”

“OH, YOU’LL SEE!” Bill replied in a singsong voice. 

It wasn’t long before a couple of guards found Vex, and dragged him before their king yet again. 

“Vex.” Grimfax glowered. “When you were last here, you had the gall to try and replace my advisor and stir up conflict with the Formlings. Out of courtesy and compassion, I offered you warm food, drink, and clothing before sending you on your way, but you rejected my hospitality, and even threatened that I would regret not treating you better. If you are not here for an apology, you will be the one who regrets your actions.”

“You see? You see how he treats me?” Vex whined, although Bill was the only one who could hear him. “Make good on our deal, and make him pay!”

“OH, BUDDY, YOU’VE GOT ME ALL WRONG!” Bill ignored Vex’s complaints and strode forward towards the king. Several warriors sprang to action and barred his way, but Bill just walked around them, lazily dodging each attack. “I THINK WE GOT OFF ON THE WRONG FOOT THE OTHER DAY, AND I JUST WANTED TO COME BY AND SAY I’M SORRY.”

“What!? No I am not! Stop your nonsense this instant!” Vex cried.

Grimfax raised a brow in surprise. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of this. He hated to turn people away in this harsh climate, so he wanted to believe that Vex’s apology was sincere. But his behavior was suspicious, to say the least. 

“LET’S MAKE A DEAL. I’LL TAKE YOU UP ON YOUR OFFER FOR FOOD AND DRINK, THEN YOU WON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ME AGAIN. IN FACT, TO SHOW THERE’S NO HARD FEELINGS, LET’S SHAKE ON IT!”

Grimfax hesitated. This definitely seemed like a trap. But he was a warrior, heavily armored and well trained. Even if Vex tried to stab him while they shook hands, he knew how to protect himself against such things. And then he would have a good reason to throw this troublesome wanderer in the dungeon before he caused more problems. He cautiously extended his hand, on his guard.

He’d been expecting Vex to pull out a dagger, or to have some kind of poison barb hidden on his person, but all he did was shake his hand. Then Grimfax felt an odd pulling sensation, and suddenly he was having an out-of-body experience. He looked down at himself, standing perfectly still, and at Vex, who had started sputtering indignantly. With a sickly flash of yellow, Grimfax saw his own eyes open, and an unfamiliar voice came out of his mouth.

"RELAX, VEXY, YOU'LL GET WHAT YOU WANT." Bill piloted his new puppet to stand and turned to the man standing just off to his right. "LET ME GUESS, YOU'RE THE ADVISOR?" 

The advisor nodded, confused.

"THOUGHT SO. YOU'RE FIRED."

Now it was the advisor's turn to sputter. "My Lord, what… why?!'

"IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE IN MANAGEMENT, FOLKS!"

Gravity Falls

Stan wanted to throw up. He wanted to scream. He wanted to break down and cry. He wanted to bang his head against that portal until it started working, not sit here while a strange robot from another world insisted on treating his burn. All those years of his father pounding "Men don't cry" into his head and the complete stranger standing behind him prevented him from doing any of it.

Zane obviously knew what he was doing when it came to treating this kind of burn. Stan was actually a little annoyed at how gentle and careful the robot was being. He needed something to take his frustrations out on.

With that thought, Stan suddenly jerked his arm to see what would happen, and immediately regretted it.

"Gah!"

"Please try not to move."

"I've been sitting here not moving for ten minutes, how much longer is this gonna take?"

"It will take longer if you continue to squirm and complain."

"We should be working on fixing the portal!"

"We have been trying to get it turned back on for over an hour. At this point, the extra time it takes to treat your burn now will prevent losing more time over the next several days. And, as I said before, the longer you continue to squirm and complain, the longer this will take."

Stan hated that this guy could just logic his way through Stan's argument so easily, it reminded him too much of Ford. The way Ford used to be when they were teens, not the hollow-eyed mess that had called his brother all the way out to the middle of nowhere only to send him away again with nothing but a book and instructions to get as far away as possible. It was like the universe had decided to send him a replacement as a cruel joke.

"Hold on, several days!?" Stan exclaimed while still trying to stay perfectly still. "This – this isn't going to take that long, is it?"

"I should be able to finish cleaning your wound in just a few more minutes."

"That's not what I mean! I mean the portal! If I was just working on it by myself, I could see it taking weeks, maybe even months, but – but you're a robot, you're smarter than me, you should be able to figure out how that thing works!"

"I am a Nindroid. I was built to protect those who cannot protect themselves, not to repair machines. I've had a little experience with building, but never anything as sophisticated as this."

Stan couldn't believe what he was hearing. He didn't want to hear it.

"So you're useless? Is that what you're saying!? I've got a freaking robot here and all you can do is make some stupid ice!? It's a blizzard out there, I can get that myself!" Stan yelled.

"I am not useless, and I'll continue to do my best to help you. I only want to manage your expectations."

Zane's voice was as level as ever. Maybe a little concerned. Maybe a little exasperated. But despite Stan's growing anger, the robot never raised his voice, and that only fueled Stan's rage.

"Manage my expectations!? This isn't some car repair! My brother is gone! And what did I get in his place, an emotionless hunk of chrome? Do you even care?"

"Of course I care." Zane still didn't raise his voice, but he at least had the decency to sound hurt by Stan's words. "I was separated from my friends when we were under attack, and I'm sure being separated from your brother hurts just as much. But as much as I want to fix this portal right away, that doesn't change the fact that I don't know how." He looked down and sighed, more to himself than to Stan. "I wish PIXAL was here. Or Nya or Jay. Any of them would be better at this than me."

That gave Stan pause. Zane seemed to have his act together. He'd been ripped from his home by a sorceress and he was calmer than Stan was when the Stanleymobile was running low on gas. And yet, the robot was sitting here, feeling completely inadequate for the job he now had no choice but to do himself, knowing someone else who could do it so much better. Someone who wasn't even in the same dimension anymore. 

Just like Stan.

"...Sorry." The anger slowly drained out of Stan. "I didn't mean – I know you must care, you attacked me when you showed up trying to figure out where you were."

"You attacked me first." Zane corrected him.

"Whatever." Stan waved his comment off. "So how long is this gonna take then?"

Zane was quiet for a moment before answering. "It's impossible to say when I know so little. I need more data. That book your brother left behind, would it have more information on the portal?"

Stan tried to think back to what Ford had said about the journal earlier that day. He'd kind of been fixated on the part where Ford told him to take the book and get on a boat and sail as far away as possible. But he had said something…

"I remember Ford said the journals, plural, explain how to operate the portal. And this was the last one left."

Zane smiled with relief. "So we do at least have some information available to us. Where are the other journals? How many are there?"

"I dunno." Maybe Ford had convinced some other estranged friends to get as far away as possible with them.

"Oh." There was a hint of annoyance in Zane's voice. "Well, hopefully the information in this first journal will be enough. And I'm sure there is more information in this lab and upstairs as well."

"Right. Uh, I'll look upstairs, you can search the lab."

Zane lightly patted the edge of the bandage he'd just finished tying on Stan's shoulder. "You should rest. This needs time to heal." Stan opened his mouth to protest but Zane cut him off. "If you feel you must keep working on the portal, at least do something that you can do lying down. You read through this journal, I will look for more information upstairs."

Stan grimaced. Upstairs was a mess. Like, murder hut mess. And it felt wrong to let a stranger just sift through the shambles of his brother's life when Stan himself didn't know what had happened to make Ford leave his house in such a state. Ford had always been more cluttered than clean, but whatever was going on upstairs was well beyond even the worst clutter.

But at the same time, Stan was exhausted, physically and mentally. He doubted he could sleep, but just sitting and reading seemed a lot more doable than trying to find anything useful upstairs.

"Alright." 

Stan picked up the journal and Ford's glasses, then showed Zane the way upstairs. After more searching than he would have liked, Stan found a couch they could clear off. He laid on his side opposite of the newly bandaged burn and started reading. Zane must have thought Stan needed privacy, because he left as soon as Stan was situated.

For the first time that day, Stan allowed himself to cry. At first he tried to hold it back, but what he read in this journal was just so Ford, so excited to discover new things, filled with needlessly long vocabulary and stupid puns on the same page. And it all served as a reminder that he hadn't seen his brother in over ten years before today, and now he was gone.

Soon Stan was sobbing so hard he couldn't keep reading, and he knew Zane must be able to hear him, but now that he'd started it was impossible to stop. If the robot came in to check on him, he was too busy bawling to notice. It felt like hours before finally, he cried himself into an uneasy sleep.

[daveg65]

291 - Is that a Touch Screen on your HomePod? - With Guest Bob Fairbairn Jeff Gamet, and Ben Roethig

The latest In Touch With iOS with Dave he is joined by guest Bob Fairbairn, Jeff Gamet, and Ben Roethig. Bob joins us for the first time is 4 years and we talk about the release of iOS 17.4 beta 1 that fixes bugs. Apple releases their earnings results The Company posted quarterly revenue of $119.6 billion, up 2 percent year over year, we review all the results in the main categories. Vision Pro available tomorrow 2/2 we discuss what the influencers have said and will we buy it. Jeff and Dave pledged to the icon Factory and discuss how this could be a great app. Plus much more.

The show notes are at InTouchwithiOS.com


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Topics

Beta this week. iOS 17.4 Beta 1 was rereleased Apple Seeds First iOS 17.4 Public Beta With EU App Ecosystem Changes, Re-Releases Dev Beta 

iOS 17.4 beta 1 gets rare mid-stream update

Apple Seeds First Beta of watchOS 10.4 to Developers

References to 'homeOS' resurface in tvOS 17.4 beta

iOS 17.4: Using Apple's New Podcast Transcript Feature 

Apple is updating one of the oldest apps on your iPhone

Apple releases their earnings results The Company posted quarterly revenue of $119.6 billion, up 2 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.18, up 16 percent year over year. 

Apple reports first quarter results

Apple's Q1 2024 Earnings Call Takeaways 

Apple reports nearly $120B quarter: Full charts 

Apple Now Has More Than 2.2 Billion Active Devices Worldwide 

Cook 'incredibly excited' about generative AI coming to Apple gear later in 2024

Vision Pro available tomorrow 2/2 we discuss what the influencers have said. Vision Pro Reviews: Surprising Battery Life, 'Weird' Personas, and More

What Reviewers Have Learned about Apple Vision Pro 

Vision Pro won't let you save web apps to your home screen 

Jeff and Dave pledged to the icon Factory and discuss how this could be a great app. Makers of Twitterrific want to defragment online media with Project Tapestry 

The Iconfactory Launches Project Tapestry, a Kickstarter Campaign to Create a Universal Inbox for RSS, Social Media, and More 

Will carriers start advertising their logo on every call? AT&T seems to be. Android phones on AT&T will now show brand logos on incoming calls

There are more details on the EU changes with iPhone and iPad. Apple's EU App Store Changes: iPads, TestFlight, Default Stores and More 

Apple Further Explains iOS 17.4's New Default Browser Prompt in EU

Here Are All the iPhone Changes Coming to EU Users by March 6

News

Rumor: Apple's Touchscreen HomePod Coming This Year: Everything We Know

Apple Extends Modem Licensing Deal With Qualcomm Through March 2027

Apple Savings Account Interest Rate Increases to 4.50% APY

Apple Card Users Earned More Than $1 Billion in Daily Cash Last Year Apple  Press Release. 

Honda launches wireless CarPlay retrofit option for select 2018-2022 cars

Apple TV+ viewers watched 17 billion minutes of 'Ted Lasso' in 2023

Apps

Arc Search Review: My New Default iPhone Browser

Orion Web Browser from Kagi

https://kagi.com/orion/

Our Host

Dave Ginsburg is an IT professional supporting Mac, iOS and Windows users and shares his wealth of knowledge of iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and related technologies. Visit the YouTube channel https://youtube.com/intouchwithios follow him on Mastadon @daveg65, and the show @intouchwithios

  Our Regular Contributors

Jeff Gamet is a podcaster, technology blogger, artist, and author. Previously, he was The Mac Observer’s managing editor, and Smile’s TextExpander Evangelist. You can find him on Mastadon @jgamet as well as Twitter and Instagram as @jgamet  His YouTube channel https://youtube.com/jgamet

Ben Roethig Former Associate Editor of GeekBeat.TV and host of the Tech Hangout and Deconstruct with Patrice  Mac user since the mid 90s. Tech support specialist. Twitter @benroethig  Website: https://roethigtech.blogspot.com

About our Guest

Bob Fairbairn Does Technology and Audio systems consulting and most of his work is around what he calls “end-user computing and mobility 

Websites: http://SmarterCaTS.com Bob's Tool Shop KE9A https://www.bobonstereo.com Land and Lens Mastodon: @bobfa

Here is our latest Episode!

[astroexaminer]

Astro-Inspiration for August 24, 2023: Defragging Your Brain and Updating Your Knowledge

The next couple of days, you’ll be more optimistic and adventurous. And while that may be a bit of a challenge today, with effort you should be able to begin seeing the “big picture” more clearly. Keep socially connected and listen, but respect and use your own brain and resist being influenced by others. Now’s the time to stand on your own two feet, consider a wide range of possibilities, and strategize. There’s a mental retrospective and reset going on. It could be said you’re defragging your brain from an overload of misinformation and updating your knowledge related to what’s been happening. So be methodical and use critical thinking as you begin to analyze your stuck points of view and beliefs.

Today’s Quote

“Critical thinking is not something you do once with an issue and then drop it. It requires that we update our knowledge as new information comes in.” ~ Daniel Levitin

Today’s Sky

Mars in Virgo Trine Pluto in Capricorn. Moon in Sagittarius Square Sun in Virgo, Square Saturn in in Pisces. Mercury in Virgo spends its first full day retrograde. Venus in Leo retrograde is slowing down in preparation for a return to forward motion on Sept 3rd.

The sky speaks to you if you let it. Every day it delivers a message that each person hears in a uniquely different way. This is not personal or predictive astrology; it's creative astrology meant to help you understand and align your mind, body, and spirit with the unique soul vibration of each passing day.

To quote Joseph Campbell: “The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.”

I hope you enjoy and your life is enriched by these Astro-inspirations.

Thanks for reading. Please like and follow Patricia Lantz, Astrologer

[aussiemicrodoser]

TOP PSYCHEDELIC MUSHROOMS AUSTRALIA SECRETS

Top psychedelic mushrooms Australia Secrets

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[kvistriley96]

iobit smart defrag 8 giveaway

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If you have a laptop that's several years old, you end up being running beyond hard drive space, anyone may have seen that it's getting slower and slower, especially when compared with newer models or desktop computers. Is it time to obtain a new laptop? Really not. If you're to be able to put fairly of work into it, installing a totally new hard drive is pretty easy. (You may likewise want to combine RAM, but that's a different subject). Another component that usually gets damaged may be the read/write head stack. The read/write heads, upon the drop, would smack on the platter, or even ramp (on some drives, it is outside for the platter). iobit smart defrag Crack 2023 of platters with ramp sometimes gets damaged where the outer side of platters satisfy the ramp. Don't iobit smart defrag your computer drives if you will find there's deleted file that you want to recover. You should use software for data recovery first. The actual reason being likely enhance the chances that avoid using be location to recover your lost hard drive. If your initial step wouldn't work at all, then you can try another means by which to try conserve lots of lost data. Take off all the cables and USB wires and open the case to consider the hard motivate. Make sure fantastic the cables are connected to the right place. Achievable also make an effort to switch with one cable from another and determine if this is useful. If concern still exists, then around the globe time to consider that is actually something wrong with connecting the wiring . drive. Years ago, PATA or Parallel AT Attachment is were accustomed to attach the hard disks towards the mother vista. It looks like a thick cable that is attached towards IDE or Integrated Drive Electronics for a mother enter. Today, it is being replaced by SATA (Serial AT Attachment) or SCSI (Small Laptop or computer Interface). It looks like any small cable and it is particularly attached to a specially designed SCSI town. A SCSI frees the space inside the CPU and also usually situation in using PATA. You may also buy external hard drives on the actual marketplace. It is quite as with an internal hard drive, only touchscreen display with a hard cover and USB (Universal Serial Bus). Prolonged as you that your CPU rrncludes a USB connector, then you can attach it anytime. Portability: Should take your files with you without dragging around your pesky portable. iobit smart defrag Crack Full Version need is another computer for you to plug your drive into and you will be good to go! Once your drive has been sent, enable the data recovery company know when made shipped and approximately when they can expect to get it. If your drive is late arriving they allow for you know and perfect follow at the the shipping company to find out what causes the wait.

[mantleoflight]

Echo gazed down at the two circles in her hand, one black with a white "X" in the middle of it, and the other a white circle with a blue "A" at its center. On her belt, identical smaller disks lined a belt attachment like a score card. "(X)", "(X)", "(A)", "(A)", "(X)", "(A)", "(A)", "(A)"...

She leaned back against the wall and let out a sigh.

"Still thinking about that report?" Whisper asked, drifting from her red cushion over to her guardian.

"Yeah," Echo murmured, "Everything about it makes. The light and darkness fitting together like one of those old black and white talismans from the Golden Age."

"The taijitu?"

Echo looked up and raised a brow-ridge.

"It's the symbol for an ancient philosophy of Taiji or Tai Chi. Something about duality, harmony, and universal beginnings."

A smirk crossed the exo's face as she looked at her ghost. "You've been doing studies haven't you? You've actually been looking this up!"

Whisper bristled, gyrating her goose-toothed shell irritably. "Even I have to find something to do when bored in down time. What do you think I do when you sleep when I don't need a defrag?"

Echo chuckled and shrugged. "Fair enough," she said and looked back down at the disks with a frown.

Her ghost glanced down at the disks and then at her Risen. “What are you thinking about?”

"They're still out there..." she murmured somberly. "All those new light hive looking for a leader and blundering their way through like we did in the dark ages. They're so desperate, they tried to revive Oryx!"

Whisper shook her shell in disbelief. "You're still going on about them? Echo, they're HIVE! The longer they're without leadership, the longer we keep them as a minor disorganized threat!"

"Yeah! And they will always be a threat unless we change things!" Echo argued back. "Unless we change the board, show them a BETTER way like Shaw, Ikora, and Zavala showed us! We can show them a better way - a way that ends the fighting, that turns our Light from each other toward the real enemy!"

Neither of them had to say who that real enemy was as the mere reference of it seemed to bring a weight to the conversation, like covering them a heavy blanket.

"What do you plan on doing?" Whisper asked, her shell flicking tensely.

"I'm going to figure out how to right a wrong," Echo replied, pushing herself to her feet. "And I'm going make sure the grace of mercy I extend isn't used to stab me in the back...."

[toyslanxau]

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