#production server setup

[clownsaint]

I'll be making a Patreon discord server soon! (open to former members as well, strictly 18+) If you're interested, consider joining below and i'll send invites when everything's setup. This is a great way to support me and see the live production of my indie pilot. https://www.patreon.com/saint1

[writeblood]

HL Modern No-Magic AU - Trio Setup

The other day, I was wildly hallucinating a modern AU oneshot, but it depends on a lot of ideas that I haven't talked about at all. So here they are!

This is in the same universe as my 'What type of tumblr user Hogwarts Legacy characters would be' post.

Hogwarts is a very small university in Scotland that barely anyone has heard of. It’s no Cambridge or Oxford in terms of general populace renown, but as if by magic every single graduate of that school has gone on to be wildly successful. Many legacy families absolutely hate the fact that Hogwarts will admit non-legacy students from lower class backgrounds, but its admissions process is a mystery to all but the highest ranked faculty. There’s no website link or process for potential students to apply. It just sends out acceptance letters.

There are four dormitories students are assigned to. Placement is roughly based off of majors but sometimes students get placed in different dorms depending on rooms filled.

Everyone is in the same year.

Ominis & Sebastian

They went to different secondary schools but met each other online through a Discord server centred around learning musical instruments.

Sebastian’s guitar riff was so bad after he really talked up his skills that Ominis, who rarely interacts in the server, sent a 45 second voice memo roasting the shit out of it.

(Is this foreshadowing for a ‘What HL characters are like as Discord users'?? maybe)

They share a dorm room together and Ominis is the ‘messy’ one because he brought entirely too much stuff and is used to having a much larger bedroom. Everything is organised; he just intrudes on Sebastian’s space. Sebastian allows it on the condition he gets to borrow Ominis’s top of the line technology (headphones, keyboards, recording equipment).

Ominis Gaunt

Magic as an aid is now replaced with technology and…

His near-sentient wand is now an actually sentient guide dog. Dobermans are good guide dogs and are the breed of dog to choose their own master, which is another connection to wands. His doberman also doubles as a protection dog.

When he was young, there was an Incident in which his dog bit someone and the dog had to be put down, which upset Ominis a lot

The Gaunt family, on top of being the usual British gentry, are known for breeding very capable dogs. There’s rumours that they breed dogs to fight…

His family still sucks

His parents are extremely absent and his older brother is certifiably diagnosed with a personality disorder, not that anything is done about his sociopathic tendencies besides covering them up.

When they were children, Marvolo once agitated the aggressive dogs and locked Ominis in a pen with them and that’s how Ominis got those scars.

Marvolo actually got sent to one of those teen reform schools when he did something bad to a politician’s son, but the abusive experience there fucked him up even more.

Because religion is in my story (Shadow Consumes the Sun), I’m transferring that over. The Gaunts are catholic (irish heritage) and despite Ominis now being distant from the church, he has all that catholic guilt and religious trauma

Aunt Noctua is alive because I like having living female characters instead of dead ones whose purpose is to move the plot along

Interests

For Ominis’s secondary education he went to a school for the visually impaired. Those schools tend to heavily push music and he stuck with it.

He’s studying music production. To the common people, music producers are hardly known (a few exceptions being Jack Antonoff, Benny Blanco, Trent Reznor). However within the music industry, they are a vital part of the creation process.

Loves his mechanical keyboards. Brought 3 of them to Hogwarts. Click clack clicky clack clack

Sadly had to leave his extensive vinyl collect back at his parents’ house

Sebastian Sallow

He’s a reddit user and the only playboy thing about him is that his longest romantic relationship lasted 3 months

That makes me sound like I hate him but listen, he’s just a popular nerd. Sebastian’s version of a party is a group study session that devolves into taking shots for every wrong flashcard answer

He's on a scholarship. During freshman year he also had a job to help pay for expenses + Anne, but was too burnt out to continue into second year. His friendship with Garreth was a major help to how he survived finals on 4 hours of sleep

Due to his odd hours, he once was up late in the library and the staff forgot he was still there when they locked up for the night

Tried to spend all his weekends driving back down to Feldcroft to visit a chronically ill Anne, but Anne was like ‘you need to live your life for me, you bloody loser’ and so he only visits once a month

In secondary school, he and his mates tried to start a scottish punk band! They were never commercially successful!

Anesidora Fig

The main character of Shadow Consumes the Sun

True, authentic niece to Eleazar and Miriam Fig. Her immediate family is alive, she just doesn’t like talking to them. She's cousins with Livia Malfoy.

Intended to go to University of London, but her uncle's connections came through and now she's at Hogwarts.

The way she starts interacting with Ominis is that they share a gen ed history class and she drags him into a plot to get the professor fired

Professor Binns still sucks as a history professor and Anesidora wants his ass replaced with someone competent. Binns, however, has tenure and the only way he can get terminated is through a strong justifiable cause… like not providing accommodations to disabled students

Binns is old as hell and still writes on a chalkboard. He has never provided accommodation to Ominis. (Ominis doesn’t care because Binns teaches directly from the book anyways.) But it’s enough that Binns gets replaced.

Once a competent History professor enters the stage, Ominis is like ‘well now I’m failing history. You better help me get through this class, Fig’. They officially become history class study buddies but this quickly turns into them hanging out with a history textbook in the general vicinity.

Studies and Majors

Anesidora -> history and information science in order to gain a masters and become an archivist

Sebastian -> biomedical science with the hopes he finds a cure for his sister

Ominis -> business (family wishes) and music

Poppy -> environmental science

Natsai -> criminology.

Imelda -> physics and physical education

Amit -> astronomy and physics

Garreth -> chemistry and wants to become a pharmacist. Has a side hustle as an ‘unlicensed pharmacist’.

Rookwood & The Plot

Rookwood has a company that does business with the government. His business is extremely bad for the environment and he polluted the water in Hogwarts Valley. Anne has a chronic illness because of this pollution.

The common people suspect that the Ashwinder Company does dump waste into the environment but they have neither the proof of them doing it nor the scientific evidence to link illnesses to the pollution. There’s also no effective cure to the illnesses.

There’s no goblins because jfc the real world counterpart to a Harry Potter goblin is… yikes

Locations

The thing about living in an old castle of a school is that no one changes the locks. Passed down through his family, Ominis has the key to a disused seminar room that he calls the Undercroft

Quidditch pitch is now the football (soccer) pitch

Congratulations if you read the entirety of this post. I have ideas on what modern outfits they would wear. I might make a post on that later.

[officialcreepypastareheated]

Hello, Creepypasta Reheated community! I hope you're all doing well ♡

Today I bring an update on the series that I hope you'll all take with an open mind and heart.

The comics are being put on pause.

Now I know a large portion of you were looking forward to them so let me explain the situation in full.

When I decided to make the stories into comics it was during a time in my life when I had all the free time I could ever want or need and also in a deep financial struggle while living with someone who was financially, and generally, irresponsible. The choice of making comics was out of a need for income and I had plenty of people who were also unemployed at the time willing to help me with that.

Unfortunately, a large majority of that team and valuable members either backed out due to personal life situations or because our friendships had broken apart. This left the team down to four. One reviewer, two artist who slowly had their roles shrunk to simple page framers, and then myself who was doing everything else.

Despite how small the team was then I was still motivated to work on the entire thing myself if need be... and then I finally moved out of my toxic situation and found employment. Unfortunately, this led to comic production being put on a full halt with me barely finding the time or energy to work on it.

So, yeah, that's what happened.

I really do wish I could keep on dedicating my life to making this comic dream a reality but it's just not possible with the current setup I have. For now, I will be dedicating my time and work to the stories I have planned to write out.

My hopes are to grow this community further and have some of you lovely folks join my team until we have enough people to get back to comic work.

If you are interested in joining the team, join my server and get the verified 18+ role and we'll do an interview. Know that, as of now, this is unpaid volunteer work. If things go well and I can get some good merch sales I will pay what I can for what you contribute.

An NDA will also have to be signed hence the 18+ requirement.

One last thing.

I'd feel bad if I left y'all with nothing so I'll later be posting what I have had done for the Jeff Harrison comic.

I'l also be putting a list here of those I currently have planned to write stories for.

Jason The Toymaker

Candypop

Puppeteer

Nina, Jane, and Leo all in one.

Bloody Painter (In Production)

There may be more added down the line but this is the current list.

I'll also reveal the name for the first story.

The Most Vibrant Red Ink

ok thx BAIIII!!!! :3

[squapejuice]

Sports star Phobia has formally ended their sponsorship partnership with the company producing a certain high-demand but low-supply energy drink. This came to light when a fan, watching their stream of Skyruin on Itch where they use the alias Icehowl (a nod to their former Arcadion identity), noticed the lack of advertisement on their screen and the lack of energy drink pyramid in the background of their setup, a source of frequent gags. “It had nothing to do with the company, and no, it doesn’t mean they’re going bankrupt.” They clarified as their partner, LovecoreArtz on 9tube, struggles to take down the Lindblum enemies with nought but an unupgraded knife courtesy of the challenge imposed upon her by Phobia. “It’s entirely for personal reasons. As a company and a partner they’ve been lovely and if you enjoy their product, definitely still go ahead and use it when the supply comes back. But I’m no longer promoting energy drinks or supplements of any kind. Everyone can overindulge, and that’s exactly what I was doing.” This has sparked some speculation on the star athlete’s health, but they assured their chatters that there’s nothing to worry about. “If it’s ever something to worry about, you’ll know.”

Some silly out of context nonsense I made for the Leynode 9 RP server (Based around Solution 9 RP!)

[heart-ghost-studyblr]

This week was a productive one. I've been studying microservices to better understand distributed systems. At the bus company where I work, we use a monolithic system—an old-school setup style with MySQL, PHP, some Java applications, localhost server and a mix of other technologies. However, we've recently started implementing some features that require scalability, and this book has been instrumental in helping me understand the various scenarios involved.

In the first chapters, I've gained a clearer understanding of monolithic systems and the considerations for transitioning to a distributed system, including the pros and cons.

I've also been studying Java and Apache Kafka for event-driven architecture, a topic that has captured my full attention. In this case, the Confluent training platform offers excellent test labs, and I've been running numerous tests there. Additionally, I have my own Kafka cluster set up using Docker for most configurations.

With all that said, I've decided to update this blog weekly since daily updates it's not gonna work.

[plumadot]

build anything interesting on the server lately ? :3

i recently built a big underground bamboo farm :D felt very productive for the server mhm. the only thing that's actually visible of it is this little shack :')

(i first built the design in my creative test world gkfjdkgj please don't mind all the mess i was testing bamboo farm setups too)

[wayfire-official]

Next semester we'll have to do a project of our own choosing and I've already got a couple of ideas for things I could do.

1. A music player app using the ampache protocol. There's already one app on fdroid called "power ampache 2" which is pretty alright tho I don't like the UI that much and I would instead make it more similar to "metro" which is the player I'm currently still using. The prof I'm going try to do that for has already shown interest in media playback solutions before so he'll probably like it, and it's also something I just want for myself.

2. Making a Linux distro with a wayfire config. I've previously stated my intent of making a pretty extensive config before, and things like styling and 3d modelling for the cube skybox would also be pretty interesting from a media production standpoint, so I could probably also do that with a media professor, or another prof that has modules about usability and UI design.

3. A website offering "PowerPoint karaoke". It's an improv game where you're given a presentation you've never seen before and you have to improvise as you go along. Presentations are usually purpose-made to be funny and have some setups for jokes. Offerings are currently pretty sparse and some cost money to even access. I would make them with reveal.js and of course under some sort of copyleft licence that opens up not just the content of the presentations but also whatever server I'd make that handles the selection of presentations and stuff.

4. A selection of hosted Webservices. I've found blahaj.land and I would probably create something similar to that. It would include concepts of UI design, software security, and system administration

[stuarttechnologybob]

What types of issues does technical support handle?

Technical Support Services

Technical Supporting services serve a vital role and prospect, by keeping businesses and organizations running efficiently & active by resolving their IT-related problems and issues. From minor glitches to major disruptions errors, technical support teams and professional experts help to ensure that systems remain up and running while in use, allowing the users to stay productive and alert. But what exactly do they handle? Let's take a closer look at what to look for and they assist with.

Hardware and Device Issues:

Technical supporting teams and professional experts assist with problems related to desktops, laptops, printers, scanners, and other hardware. As this includes and consists of deliverables fixing hardware failures, replacing parts, configuring devices, and troubleshooting connectivity or performance issues. Whether it's a malfunctioning keyboard or a slow-loading workstation, Technical Support is there to help.

Software Installation and Troubleshooting:

From installing and implementing the applications to resolving and assisting the software errors and glitches, technical Support guides various software-related and applications concerns and points at a time. They help and assist with updating programs, fixing bugs, assuring the overall compatibility within the operating systems, and restoring the performance if an app crashes or freezes.

Network and Connectivity Problems:

A strong network and support is the backbone of modern businesses and companies. Technical Supporting officials handle and maintain the internet issues, router configuration, VPN access, slow connection speeds, and network outages. Whether it's a minor or impactful Wi-Fi issue or a more significant server connectivity problem, the support team works to restore communication quickly.

Email and Communication Tools:

Email downtime can affect the business continuity and its proceedings. The technical supporting team manages email configuration, syncing errors, spam filters, and login issues and errors across multiple devices and platforms, including Outlook and Gmail. They also handle collaboration tools like Teams, Slack, or Zoom when they don't function as expected.

Security & Access Management:

Working professionals play an essential role in managing the IT security measures and operating parameters. While they also assist to reset passwords settings, also help to manage the user accounts, set up two-factor authentication, and address down the ongoing suspicious activity.

Personalized Help and Guidance:

From onboarding and completing setup for the new users to answering tech-related questions, technical Support assures that employees use systems efficiently. Their goal is to minimize downtime and boost productivity. Companies like Suma Soft, IBM, Cyntexa, and Cignex offer dependable technical support services tailored to your specific business needs. Their expertise helps resolve issues faster and keeps your systems up and running at all times.

[itsclydebitches]

for all that it's very clear RWBY took influence from a lot of anime, the writers sure don't seem to have learned much of anything from it. i'm watching the redub of the classic sailor moon anime right now, and it's insane to me how much better this thirty-year-old anime packed with filler was at things like character arcs and believably redeeming villains and having a main character that is at once childish and yet a great leader who, when the chips are down, could talk some of the worst evils in the universe down from their plans.

if anyone could talk salem out of her plans for world annihilation by just being able to love her, it's usagi tsukino.

Right? Man, I'd pay for a high-budget, animated version of that crossover lol.

That's one of the big arguments of the Why RWBY is Disappointing vid though, using Cowboy Beebop as an example, if I remember correctly. There's no doubt that RWBY has been influenced by a number of classic series, but deliberately mimicking something that worked in another show doesn't guarantee success, particularly if you don't understand why it worked in the first place. I'm constantly emphasizing that stories are whole products made up of a thousand smaller pieces, like a puzzle or a patchwork quilt, and simply slapping one piece down because it looks good in another story isn't enough. You have to carefully build everything around that piece so that it fits into the unified whole. Continuity, world building, characterization, setup... RWBY is very good at throwing out those "cool" moments, but it does none of the work ahead of time (or, just as often, after the fact) to make those moments satisfying outside of the initial adrenaline rush of watching.

Plus, RWBY is over-crowded nowadays. Characters, mysteries, real world issues, and those "cool" ideas have populated like bunnies until, I think, it's easy for a lot of fans to just get swept up in the spectacle of it all. The simpler your story is, the less there is to hide behind, which is why I think a lot of manga like Sailor Moon still rings true 30+ years later. If you do right by your core concepts and prove to the reader (often subconsciously) that your storytelling skills are strong, it will resonate even after new generations have different expectations in their media, or these ideas have become "cliche" in wake of that initial popularity. If we go with a food comparison (always my favorite lol) Sailor Moon makes me think of something like good home cooking. Looking at it now it's simple, it's straightforward, it has some technical flaws, but the comparatively low number of ingredients have all been treated stunningly well and there is an insane amount of love poured into the dish. Meanwhile, later seasons of RWBY feel like a semi-successful restaurant serving a special so long it took the server a week to fully memorize it, rattling off an absurd number of ingredients and fancy techniques used until you're not even sure what the dish is supposed to be anymore. Some diners go, "Wow, what an amazing, clearly high-end dish! And they've included this super rare ingredient which means it must be good." Meanwhile, others are going, "... Honestly, that sounds like Too Much. I'd have preferred a simple, well-done pasta." And all the while the restaurant—which is pretty big and popular now, garnering a lot of critical attention—is trying to pass this complicated, fancy-for-the-sake-of-fancy dish off as the product of a humble, mom-and-pop establishment. No, you used to serve that kind of food: simple, technically flawed in a lot of ways, but with so much love poured into the dish that most diners didn't care. Now people suspect that your chefs are miserable and we definitely know they're overworked, so even if that insane dish would have tasted great to certain pallets, it was doomed before it even left the kitchen.

[easylaunchpad]

Build a Full Email System in .NET with DotLiquid Templates (Already Done in EasyLaunchpad)

When you’re building a SaaS or admin-based web application, email isn’t optional — it’s essential. Whether you’re sending account verifications, password resets, notifications, or subscription updates, a robust email system is key to a complete product experience.

But let’s be honest: setting up a professional email system in .NET can be painful and time-consuming.

That’s why EasyLaunchpad includes a pre-integrated, customizable email engine powered by DotLiquid templates, ready for both transactional and system-generated emails. No extra configuration, no third-party code bloat — just plug it in and go.

In this post, we’ll show you what makes the EasyLaunchpad email system unique, how DotLiquid enables flexibility, and how you can customize or scale it to match your growing app.

💡 Why Email Still Matters

Email remains one of the most direct and effective ways to communicate with users. It plays a vital role in:

User authentication (activation, password reset)

Transactional updates (payment confirmations, receipts)

System notifications (errors, alerts, job status)

Marketing communications (newsletters, upsells)

Yet, building this from scratch in .NET involves SMTP setup, formatting logic, HTML templating, queuing, retries, and admin tools. That’s at least 1–2 weeks of development time — before you even get to the fun part.

EasyLaunchpad solves all of this upfront.

⚙️ What’s Prebuilt in EasyLaunchpad’s Email Engine?

Here’s what you get out of the box:

Feature and Description

✅ SMTP Integration- Preconfigured SMTP setup with credentials stored securely via appsettings.json

✅ DotLiquid Templating- Use tokenized, editable HTML templates to personalize messages

✅ Queued Email Dispatch- Background jobs via Hangfire ensure reliability and retry logic

✅ Admin Panel for Email Settings- Change SMTP settings and test emails without touching code

✅ Modular Email Service- Plug-and-play email logic for any future email types

✨ What Is DotLiquid?

DotLiquid is a secure, open-source .NET templating system inspired by Shopify’s Liquid engine.

It allows you to use placeholders inside your HTML emails such as:

<p>Hello {{ user.Name }},</p>

<p>Your payment of {{ amount }} was received.</p>

This means you don’t have to concatenate strings or hardcode variables into messy inline HTML.

It’s:

Clean and safe (prevents code injection)

Readable for marketers and non-devs

Flexible for developers who want power without complexity

📁 Where Email Templates Live

EasyLaunchpad keeps templates organized in a Templates/Emails/ folder.

Each email type is represented as a .liquid file:

- RegistrationConfirmation.liquid

- PasswordReset.liquid

- PaymentSuccess.liquid

- CustomAlert.liquid

These are loaded dynamically, so you can update content or design without redeploying your app.

🛠 How Emails Are Sent

The process is seamless:

You call the EmailService from anywhere in your codebase:

await _emailService.SendAsync(“PasswordReset”, user.Email, dataModel);

2. EasyLaunchpad loads the corresponding template from the folder.

3. DotLiquid parses and injects dynamic variables from your model.

4. Serilog logs the transaction, and the message is queued via Hangfire.

5. SMTP sends the message, with retry logic if delivery fails.

Background Jobs with Hangfire

Rather than sending emails in real-time (which can slow requests), EasyLaunchpad uses Hangfire to queue and retry delivery in the background.

This provides:

✅ Better UX (non-blocking response time)

✅ Resilience (automatic retries)

✅ Logs (you can track when and why emails fail)

🧪 Admin Control for Testing & Updates

Inside the admin panel, you get:

An editable SMTP section

Fields for server, port, SSL, credentials

A test-email button for real-time delivery validation

This means your support or ops team can change mail servers or fix credentials without needing developer intervention.

🧩 Use Cases Covered Out of the Box

Email Type and the Purpose

Account Confirmation- New user activation

Password Reset- Secure link to reset passwords

Subscription Receipt- Payment confirmation with plan details

Alert Notifications- Admin alerts for system jobs or errors

Custom Templates:

✍️ How to Add Your Own Email Template

Let’s say you want to add a welcome email after signup.

Step 1: Create Template

Add a file: Templates/Emails/WelcomeNewUser.liquid

<h1>Welcome, {{ user.Name }}!</h1>

<p>Thanks for joining our platform.</p>

Step 2: Call the EmailService

await _emailService.SendAsync(“WelcomeNewUser”, user.Email, new { user });

Done. No controller bloat. No HTML tangled in your C# code.

�� Logging Email Activity

Every email is tracked via Serilog:

{

“Timestamp”: “2024–07–12T14:15:02Z”,

“Level”: “Information”,

“Message”: “Password reset email sent to user@example.com”,

“Template”: “PasswordReset”

}

You can:

Review logs via file or dashboard

Filter by template name, user, or result

Extend logs to include custom metadata (like IP or request ID)

🔌 SMTP Setup Made Simple

In appsettings.json, configure:

“EmailSettings”: {

“Host”: “smtp.yourdomain.com”,

“Port”: 587,

“Username”: “noreply@yourdomain.com”,

“Password”: “your-secure-password”,

“EnableSsl”: true,

“FromName”: “Your App”,

“FromEmail”: “noreply@yourdomain.com”

}

And you’re good to go.

🔐 Is It Secure?

Yes. Credentials are stored securely in environment config files, never hardcoded in source. The system:

Sanitizes user input

Escapes template values

Avoids direct HTML injection

Plus, DotLiquid prevents logic execution (no dangerous eval() or inline C#).

🚀 Why It Matters for SaaS Builders

Here’s why the prebuilt email engine in EasyLaunchpad gives you a head start:

Benefit:

What You Save

✅ Time

1–2 weeks of setup and testing

✅ Complexity

No manual SMTP config, retry logic, or template rendering

✅ User Experience

Reliable, branded communication that builds trust

✅ Scalability

Queue emails and add templates as your app grows

✅ Control

Update templates and SMTP settings from the admin panel

🧠 Final Thoughts

Email may not be glamorous, but it’s one of the most critical parts of your SaaS app — and EasyLaunchpad treats it as a first-class citizen.

With DotLiquid templating, SMTP integration, background processing, and logging baked in, you’re ready to handle everything from user onboarding to transactional alerts from day one.

So, why should you waste time building an email system when you can use EasyLaunchpad and start shipping your actual product?

👉 Try the prebuilt email engine inside EasyLaunchpad today at 🔗 https://easylaunchpad.com

[dudeimjustagirll]

Chapter 5: Fault in the System:

The warehouse smelled like rust and sweat and leftover takeout someone forgot to throw out.

You sat with your back against one of the metal support beams, knees pulled to your chest, armor powered down for once. It left you in the bodysuit layer, which didn’t do much against the chill. But you didn’t really feel it anyway.

Too quiet.

No hum of the hologram projectors. No clatter from the weight room, or the distant echo of Conner pacing. No music leaking under the door from M’gann’s kitchen experiments. No faint, warm blue glow of your lab setup. Just cold fluorescent lights and the warehouse's awful draft, and the sharp, hollow grief where your home used to be.

Your home was gone.

Gone like the rest of your things—the pictures, your toolkit, your first distillation set. Gone like the spot in the basement where you’d set up the holograms that honored the ones you lost. Gone like the place you felt safest.

The suit, normally silent when powered down, pinged softly in your mind.

" Mental health deviation noted. Elevated cortisol. Initiating wellness protocol. "

You ignored it.

" Lack of response acknowledged. Emotional distress detected. Consider seeking comfort contact. "

Your hands curled into the fabric at your knees. You didn't want comfort. You wanted your room back. Your space. Some kind of assurance that you’d be safe and sound. 

Your mom had called, worried. Said you could come home, just for a bit, just to rest. But you hadn’t said yes. Because that wasn’t home anymore, either.

And Artemis—

God, Artemis. Just thinking about her hurt.

" Heart rate spike detected, " your suit murmured. " Do not suppress grief. "

You swallowed hard. The lump in your throat burned. That was it. She was really gone, wasn’t she?

A soft shuffle of boots drew your attention. You didn’t look up, but you knew who it was. You’d know that gait anywhere.

"I figured I'd find you here," Nightwing said gently.

You didn’t answer. Not right away.

He sat down beside you without another word, folding his legs under him, not quite touching, but close enough that the warmth from him broke through the chill.

"Warehouse smells like dude," you said finally, voice rough.

He huffed a laugh. "Yeah. I'll file a complaint."

You didn’t smile, but you didn’t flinch, either. That felt like a win.

For a few minutes, neither of you spoke. He didn’t push. Just sat with you in the silence, like he always did. Like he knew what to say by not saying anything at all.

Finally, your voice came, quiet. "I was going to rebuild the holograms. The Cave might be gone, but their memories aren’t"

He nodded slowly. "You still can. Just... might look a little different now."

Your throat tightened. You blinked hard, jaw set. "I don’t even have backups. Everything was on the Mount servers. I was gonna update them this weekend. Change some colors to be more accurate."

That ache bloomed again, sharp and deep, and this time, you felt the heat pricking your eyes. You pressed your forehead to your knees.

Nightwing reached over and gently rested his hand against your back. Warm. Steady.

You didn’t mean to fall apart. But the moment he touched you, everything snapped. A sob tore its way out of your chest, raw and too loud in the empty warehouse.

He shifted closer, pulling you into his arms without hesitation. You buried your face in his shoulder and cried, full-body and aching. He held you like he wasn’t going anywhere, one hand curled protectively around the back of your head.

" Increased tear production. This is acceptable, " your suit whispered awkwardly. You hiccuped out a breath between sobs that might’ve been a laugh.

Nightwing didn’t say anything for a long time. Just let you fall apart. Let you mourn. Let you feel it.

He wanted so badly to tell you Artemis was okay. That this wasn’t like before. Not like Jason. He remembered what it was like, the shattering silence after the funeral, the way it had felt like the world had gone quiet and cruel.

That mission haunted him. It had gone south fast—intel was wrong, backup was late, and everything unraveled before he could fix it. He’d taken a hit, broken his leg bad enough that the bone splintered. He could barely move. He had to watch it happen. Jason had still been fighting, still doing what he was trained to do. He hadn’t seen it coming.

Dick was immobilized, stuck behind cover, the pain in his leg white-hot and blinding. He could hear the comms go dead, one by one. The panic, the blood, the sound of Jason’s breathing fading. That guilt never left him.

His time in recovery after that was hell. Alone in his apartment, casted up, unable to lead, to move, to do anything. Tim tried to visit. So did Barbara. But it was you who always came by with a quiet presence, no pressure. You didn’t ask him to talk. You didn’t need him to be okay. You just sat there, sometimes with your suit on standby, sometimes in your university hoodie, just there.

You offered to take over for him. Told him he could rest, and you’d step up. And you did. You held the Team together during the roughest period they’d had in years. You were softer with the younger ones, firmer with the veterans, and kind with him—even when he didn’t deserve it.

But Jason was your friend, too. Not just the annoying little brother of your boyfriend. You’d bickered, sure, and you’d once elbowed him off the couch during a movie night for chewing too loud. But you liked him. You believed in him. And you grieved him deeply.

Now, watching you sit in this god-awful warehouse, quiet and still with your suit powered down, it was like watching that grief all over again. You were doing what he had done—shutting down. Not letting it show. And he hated it.

So he sat beside you and said nothing. Just offered you the same quiet you’d once given him. Hoping it was enough.

He wanted to ease the weight on your shoulders. To make it okay. But the one thing that could lighten your load—the truth about Artemis—was the one thing he couldn’t tell you.

It wasn’t his secret to tell. And he couldn’t give you that hope. Not yet. Not like this.

He should’ve seen it coming. That thought looped on repeat in his mind, like a broken record he couldn’t stop playing. The explosion. The breach. The destruction of the Cave. It was all part of a plan that had too many moving pieces—too many risks. He was the one who signed off on it. Coordinated the deception. Accepted the losses. He told himself that if it meant saving lives, exposing The Light, bringing everything into the open… it would be worth it. He’d accounted for this part, but hated it nonetheless—the human fallout. The grief. The pieces of you that had been shattered alongside the foundation of your home.

And Artemis.

He saw the devastation in your eyes every time someone so much as mentioned her name. You weren’t talking about her anymore. Not even to ask questions. Not even in passing. The last time he heard her name in your voice, it was a whisper to yourself, like you were trying to hold onto the echo of a friend already gone. And he couldn’t bear it.

You had always been the one to speak up for the team’s grief. He remembered seeing you bent over your workspace, illuminated by soft blue light, lips pursed in concentration as you adjusted a light projection of Tula’s face so her expression was just right. You never let their memories fade.

Now you were grieving one of your best friends, and he couldn’t tell you the truth.

He told himself it was to protect the mission. To protect Artemis. But maybe, deep down, a small, selfish part of him wanted to ease your grief. To bring back your spark, the way it used to be before everything got so heavy. Maybe he wanted forgiveness—not from you, but from himself. For Jason. For Mount Justice. For all of it.

He thought he could carry it all. But sitting there, watching your shoulders shake as you cried into his chest, he realized maybe he couldn’t. Not really.

He’d gone to M’gann earlier that day, unsure how to bring it up—how to ask you to leave behind the only home you'd had since moving in two years ago. He told her what he wanted: to build something new with you, together. A place where your armor wouldn’t hum against concrete walls. Where you could fall asleep in a real bed, not just whatever was left of the bunks.

M’gann had just rolled her eyes fondly and said, “If you don’t ask her soon, I will. But maybe don’t offer your apartment. It’s basically an outhouse.”

"I’ve been thinking," he said after a moment. "And M’gann’s not around to stop me from being a coward, so I’m just gonna say it."

You lifted your head, brows drawn together.

He looked right at you, soft and serious and a little nervous. "Move in with me. We’ll find a new place. Together. Doesn’t have to be the warehouse, or my apartment—hell, it could be a treehouse if that’s what you want. Just... something that’s ours."

You blinked.

"You don’t have to decide now," he added quickly. "But I figured, if you were thinking about going back to Star, or moving in with your parents—"

"Renting in Star is actual hell," you muttered.

He smiled. "Exactly. So… think about it?"

You stared at him. Your throat was tight again, but this time, it wasn’t all grief.

"...A treehouse?" you managed.

"Fully insulated. With a skylight."

Your laugh was watery, but it was real. He gave you that smile—the one just for you—and bumped your shoulder with his.

"Let’s make something new," he said, quietly. "Someplace better. Someplace safe."

You leaned into him, finally, and let your eyes close. Maybe your home was gone. But maybe… maybe you could build another.

[mariacallous]

Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency has deployed a proprietary chatbot called GSAi to 1,500 federal workers at the General Services Administration, WIRED has confirmed. The move to automate tasks previously done by humans comes as DOGE continues its purge of the federal workforce.

GSAi is meant to support “general” tasks, similar to commercial tools like ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude. It is tailored in a way that makes it safe for government use, a GSA worker tells WIRED. The DOGE team hopes to eventually use it to analyze contract and procurement data, WIRED previously reported.

“What is the larger strategy here? Is it giving everyone AI and then that legitimizes more layoffs?” asks a prominent AI expert who asked not to be named as they do not want to speak publicly on projects related to DOGE or the government. “That wouldn’t surprise me.”

In February, DOGE tested the chatbot in a pilot with 150 users within GSA. It hopes to eventually deploy the product across the entire agency, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The chatbot has been in development for several months, but new DOGE-affiliated agency leadership has greatly accelerated its deployment timeline, sources say.

Federal employees can now interact with GSAi on an interface similar to ChatGPT. The default model is Claude Haiku 3.5, but users can also choose to use Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 and Meta LLaMa 3.2, depending on the task.

“How can I use the AI-powered chat?” reads an internal memo about the product. “The options are endless, and it will continue to improve as new information is added. You can: draft emails, create talking points, summarize text, write code.”

The memo also includes a warning: “Do not type or paste federal nonpublic information (such as work products, emails, photos, videos, audio, and conversations that are meant to be pre-decisional or internal to GSA) as well as personally identifiable information as inputs.” Another memo instructs people not to enter controlled unclassified information.

The memo instructs employees on how to write an effective prompt. Under a column titled “ineffective prompts,” one line reads: “show newsletter ideas.” The effective version of the prompt reads: “I’m planning a newsletter about sustainable architecture. Suggest 10 engaging topics related to eco-friendly architecture, renewable energy, and reducing carbon footprint.”

“It’s about as good as an intern,” says one employee who has used the product. “Generic and guessable answers.”

The Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services have both recently considered using a GSA chatbot internally and in their outward-facing contact centers, according to documents viewed by WIRED. It is not known whether that chatbot would be GSAi. Elsewhere in the government, the United States Army is using a generative AI tool called CamoGPT to identify and remove references to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility from training materials, WIRED previously reported.

In February, a project kicked off between GSA and the Department of Education to bring a chatbot product to DOE for support purposes, according to a source familiar with the initiative. The engineering effort was helmed by DOGE operative Ethan Shaotran. In internal messages obtained by WIRED, GSA engineers discussed creating a public “endpoint”—a specific point of access in their servers—that would allow DOE officials to query an early pre-pilot version of GSAI. One employee called the setup “janky” in a conversation with colleagues. The project was eventually scuttled, according to documents viewed by WIRED.

In a Thursday town hall meeting with staff, Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer who now runs the Technology Transformation Services (TTS), announced that the GSA’s tech branch would shrink by 50 percent over the next few weeks after firing around 90 technologists last week. Shedd plans for the remaining staff to work on more public-facing projects like Login.gov and Cloud.gov, which provide a variety of web infrastructure for other agencies. All other non-statutorily required work will likely be cut, Shedd said.

“We will be a results-oriented and high-performance team,” Shedd said, according to meeting notes viewed by WIRED.

He’s been supportive of AI and automation in the government for quite some time: In early February, Shedd told staff that he planned to make AI a core part of the TTS agenda.

[compareandreview]

​

​​Planning to sell physical or digital products online and want to create a website for it in the FASTEST way?

​​If you're starting your e-commerce journey and feeling overwhelmed by all the platform options—don't worry, you're not alone. Two names dominate the conversation: Shopify and WordPress (with WooCommerce).

​​

​​But which one is truly better for newbies, beginners, and dropshippers looking to launch fast and sell efficiently?

​​Let’s break it down and get straight to the point—especially if you're here to build a business, not fiddle with tech headaches.

​​

​​Shopify: Built for E-Commerce from the Ground Up

​​Shopify is a dedicated e-commerce platform. That means everything from product setup to payments, themes, and shipping is purpose-built for one thing: selling online.

​​ Why Shopify is Great for Beginners

​​Zero Coding Required: Just drag, drop, and start selling. Perfect for people who want results, not tutorials.

​​

​​3-Day Free Trial: You can start today and be up and running in hours. ​​

Sign up for Shopify’s FREE trial with this link -

https://shopify.pxf.io/QjzmOa

​​

​​Fast Setup: No plugins, no server setup, no manual installation. Just sign up and start building.

​​

​​Designed for Dropshipping: Integrates easily with apps like DSers, Zendrop, CJdropshipping, and more.

​​

​​Mobile-Optimized: Your store will look great on any device—without touching a line of code.

​​

​​24/7 Support: Real-time help from actual people when you get stuck.

​​Sign up for a Shopify FREE TRIAL Here at ​​https://shopify.pxf.io/QjzmOa

​​

​​WordPress (WooCommerce): Powerful, But Not Beginner-Friendly

​​WordPress is an amazing platform... if you're building a blog or you’re already experienced with web development. But for e-commerce newbies, it can feel like you're building a house from scratch.

​

​​ Why WordPress Might Be a Struggle for Beginners

​​Complex Setup: You'll need to buy hosting, install WordPress, then install WooCommerce, then configure it all manually.

​​Plugin Overload: Want a feature? You’ll likely need to install a plugin. And another. And another. Then update them constantly.

​​Security Risks: If you don’t stay on top of updates and patches, your site could be vulnerable.

​​Slow Support: There’s no dedicated support team—just forums or your hosting provider.

​​Not Built for E-commerce First: WordPress is a blogging tool at heart.

​​WooCommerce makes it work for selling, but it’s not seamless.

​​

​​

​​So Which One Should You Choose?

​​If you're:

​​A beginner with no coding experience,

​​A dropshipper who wants fast supplier integration,

​​Or just someone who wants to get your first product online this week, not next month...

​​Go with Shopify.

​​It’s clean, easy to use, beginner-friendly, and built to sell. You won’t waste time on tech issues—you’ll spend time building a brand.

​​Pro Tip: You can start with a 3-day free trial and see how easy it is. No risk, no commitment.

​​

​​Sign up for a Shopify FREE TRIAL Here - ​​https://shopify.pxf.io/QjzmOa

​​ Manual Setup

​​Shopify was made for people just like you—dreamers and doers ready to launch something real.

​​Don’t get stuck in tech setup and plugin chaos.

​​

[iptv5connections]

Why IPTV 5 Connections Is the Ultimate Streaming Solution for Families and Power Users

In the age of digital streaming, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) has revolutionized the way we consume entertainment. From sports and movies to international channels and on-demand content, IPTV services offer a wide array of options—often at a fraction of the cost of traditional cable. But if you’re part of a busy household or someone managing multiple devices, a standard subscription might not cut it. That’s where IPTV 5 connections becomes a game-changer.

📺 What Does “IPTV 5 Connections” Mean?

When an IPTV provider offers 5 connections, it means you can stream on five devices simultaneously using a single subscription. Whether it's a Smart TV, smartphone, tablet, PC, or streaming box—everyone in your household can enjoy their favorite content at the same time, without interruptions or extra charges.

Top Benefits of IPTV 5 Connections

1. Perfect for Families

No more fights over the remote. Dad can watch sports in the living room, mom can binge her favorite drama in the bedroom, and the kids can enjoy cartoons on their tablets—all at once.

2. Multi-Room Viewing

Whether you’re in the kitchen or the garage, IPTV with 5 connections allows seamless entertainment access across your entire home setup.

3. Cost-Effective

Instead of buying multiple subscriptions for each user, a single plan with 5 connections saves you money while giving everyone personalized viewing freedom.

4. Ideal for Small Businesses

Running a small sports bar, cafe, or waiting room? IPTV with multi-connection support ensures every screen has engaging content without bandwidth issues or licensing confusion.

🔒 What to Look for in a Reliable IPTV Provider

When searching for an IPTV service that supports 5 connections, consider the following factors:

Server Reliability: Look for providers with 99.9% uptime and fast-loading servers.

Channel Variety: Ensure they offer channels that matter to your audience—sports, movies, news, kids’ content, etc.

Customer Support: Choose a service that offers 24/7 support in case you need assistance.

Device Compatibility: Verify that it works across platforms like Firestick, Android TV, MAG boxes, iOS, and more.

🔥 Best IPTV Services Offering 5 Connections (Examples)

Note: These are hypothetical or commonly known options. Adjust as needed for your real affiliate/product links.

Streamnet TV

IPTV Trends

YeahIPTV

IPTV Gang

All of these providers offer packages with 5+ connections and support full HD/4K streaming with EPG and VOD features.

🎯 Final Thoughts

Choosing an IPTV service with 5 connections isn’t just a luxury—it’s a smart, future-proof solution for modern households and stream-hungry users. Whether you’re a content connoisseur, a busy family, or a business owner, this option guarantees flexibility, affordability, and performance that’s hard to beat.

Looking to upgrade your streaming game? Opt for an IPTV plan with 5 connections and unlock seamless entertainment across all your devices.

[local-glorb-lunatic]

Glorb and AI within art [\\Warning: long\\]

AI art is bad. Simply put, unethical. This we can agree on. It steals from unconsenting and uncredited artists, and the "art" it generates is more than current servers can handle, consuming insane amounts of energy, and harming the environment. Same goes for ai writing and ai music; however, what Glorb makes, isn't ai music.

We tend to forget just how much of Glorb's music is made by him (which is all of it except for the ai voice filter). On the topic of that filter, from everything I've gathered (and I'm no ai professional), it isn't as harmful as "generative" ai. I know generative ai is a company, but I'm using it to refer to ai programs that generate new content. The filter is trained on another person's voice but this wouldn't be any more harmful than any other voice filter, and definently not as bad as generative ai.

However, we still have to consider the fact that the voices the ai is trained on are still unconsenting. I assume most people know about, or at least feasibly could look up the Spongebob voice actors, but there is still the understandably scary act of using someone's voice when they haven't allowed it. Honestly, to me, this in itself isn't that big a deal, because people's likenesses (including voice lines) can/have been used in art: for example, fan animations that use lines from a show or project (sometimes changing the context). The real issue lies in making these people's voices say things that they never said. Ai has already been used for this maliciously, like when people were doing the Mr.Beast scams, with an ai of his voice.

I think, at this point, Glorb songs are very obviously not being sung by the real voice actors, and they would never be in trouble because of what was in a Glorb song. Plus he actively discloses that the songs are parody. This filter is being trained off of their character voices, not their normal voices. But their character voices are still something they cultivated, and still their lively hood. To my knowledge, the Spongebob voice actors have still got plenty of job opportunities, but the same can't always be said for impressionists.

I've seen the argument a lot, that Glorb could've hired people who do Spongebob impressions instead of using ai. While we can't assume Glorb's financial situation from when he first started, we can assume that he's gotten a good amount of money from his songs, now that there are so many that are so popular. I could still see a few reasons why he wouldn't want to do this: 1) Flow is kind of important in rap, and if this was any other kind of non-musical project I'd agree more with this point, but not every impressionist has a good flow or can even rap. Glorb uses a filter, but you still have to sound good for the end product to work. And I can think of a few people, specifically Youtubers, who could do this, but I've still got more reasons. 2) Audio quality is gonna be kind of inconsistent depending on people's audio setups, and that could kind of break the immersion of the songs. 3) I'm not sure if this is right, but I'm pretty sure when your paying people you've gotta use your real name. Working with other people could complicate Glorb keeping his identity private, which we know is important to him. Honestly for good reason. Cause having your identity public on the internet is pretty dangerous. 4) Glorb doing the rapping himself gives him more creative control. We know that Glorb makes a lot of choices to differentiate the rappers of the Krusty Krab Krew, when in a group song, and individually. So I could understand him wanting to continue doing things himself.

Now if these reasons don't work for you, that's okay. I'm not gonna be devastated if you cant get behind ai voice filter Spongebob. But I think its important for us to actively examine criticisms of things we enjoy. I love Glorb songs, but that doesn't immediately mean that Glorb does everything perfectly (or even right). Even more importantly I think it's important to look at the knee-jerk reaction of hating Glorb because he uses ai.

We can't hate ai because it's ai. Learning models are going to be necessary (and already have been necessary) to do important things. I know ai has been used to hurt artists A LOT recently with ai art, but we cant forget Glorb is an artist. That doesn't mean that he is automatically exempt from criticism from other artists, but he's important in the conversation of ai's relationship to art. Can ai be used ethically in art? Is Glorb an example of that?

Personally I think that Glorb's work is ethical. Can it be done without ai? Yes. Does the ai make his work invalid? You tell me.

[salems-studies]

100 Days Of Productivity

9/13/24 • 1/100 Days of Productivity Challenge

🎧 Song of the day: Ache in My Heart by Palaye Royale

📖 Current Reads: Awakening Artemis by Vanessa Chakour

I started the 100-day productivity challenge to challenge myself to finish my self-paced courses! I'm feeling quite optimistic about this, but I'm not always at my 100% so I may fall off occasionally. However, I view productivity as simply sometimes taking your medication and feeding yourself.

I'm not the best at aesthetic photos so you likely won't find them here. You also won't find pretty setups, sometimes you're gonna see clutter and the random can of root beer and ramen at 6am. I am far from perfect but I am trying.

Today's goals (will add an edit later)

Drink water (0/3) Complete at least half of the bio u1 learning guide Start on math notes & questions + a few lesson 1 questions Start on assignment 2.1 english Work on server post Self study french duolingo + take notes Map out sept budget (oops I'm late) Finish setting up bullet journal Tidy up space a bit Complete Habitica tasks

💫Wishing you blessings and abundance💫