#rocket framework

[agiledock]

Efficient Website Development with Rust Programming

Learn how rust programming language enhances website development, ensuring efficiency and security with insights into the rocket framework's contributions. Discover how Rust and the rocket framework collaborate to create secure and scalable applications. Check out: https://bit.ly/3Rk5ZjK

[duckapus]

Papa Meowth: Other than Squirtle, does Maria catch any other Pokémon that Ash catches in canon? If you don't want to go through the whole series at once (completely understandable) then just Kanto will do.

Yeah there's a few of Ash's canon Pokemon that Maria gets instead of him.

Maria gets: Squirtle Half the Tauros herd (this also frees them up to each get two other Pokemon in the Safari Zone since they actually have spare 'Balls) Lapras Cyndaquil Phanpy Snivy Sewaddle Roggenrola (the reason I'm giving her so many of Ash's Unova Team is that after the Absolute Mess that is Sinnoh the two of them decided to switch who does the gym challenge and who tags along and provides snarky commentary for the next region. Also just because he gets a lot of Pokemon in Unova) Then Ash gets his full teams in Kalos and Alola (since those teams were so small to begin with) and I haven't figured out anything for Journeys)

Technically she also gets a Pidove, but it's a different Pidove from Ash's and he still gets his Pidove. Her's is male, so they'll at least be visually distinct when they're fully evolved even if Ash and Maria revel a bit in the confusion that comes from both of them having the same Pokemon and refusing to use nicknames.

Also, Primeape ends up with Team Rocket because Maria got a Clefairy that loves martial arts as her first catch who handed Primeape his recently-nonexistent tail and he basically forced "The Angry Red Human" to catch him since he immediately clocked that Team Rocket does basically nothing but follow the main group around and were therefore his best shot at a rematch.

(might post a mostly full list of at least everyone's Kanto catches at some point. Seriously I've got teams fully planned out through Unova and partially-but-subject-to-change for Kalos and Alola (though for Movie Reasons Johto is when certain catches start being major spoilers. assuming I decide to start caring about spoilers))

[sonofsin]

oh my god I'm gonna fucking cry actually

[mysticstronomy]

IS IT POSSIBLE TO STOP TIME??

Blog#437

Wednesday, September 18th, 2024.

Welcome back,

If you've ever watched an ice cube melt or stirred creamer into a pool of black coffee, you've witnessed a fundamental truth about the universe: The "arrow of time" always marches forward.

Time flows from past to future. What we call the present is a never-ending series of inflection points, where the collection of events that have already happened (the past) meets the collection of events that have yet to happen (the future). And while time doesn’t ever stop, it can slow down.

Einstein’s theory of special relativity gave us a completely new way to view the cosmos. Prior to Einstein, we had movement through space, and we had passage through time. Special relativity unties those theories into a single, unified framework called spacetime. In this new framework, it’s impossible to move through space or time separately; instead, every object in the universe is constantly moving through both simultaneously.

This means that it’s (theoretically) possible to slow down your progression into the future. The faster you move in space, the slower you move in time. So if you jump on a rocket ship and accelerate yourself to 99% of the speed of light, you’ll travel through time about 7 times slower than stationary observers. (Actually reaching that velocity, however, is another matter entirely.)

There’s a caveat here, though: You will never experience this time dilation yourself — your heart will beat at the same rate; your hairs will grey after the same amount of time; and your wristwatch will tick at the same speed as always.

But outside observers looking in will see you move and live in slow motion, seven times slower than they are.

It sounds like a contradiction, but this is what puts the relative in the special theory of relativity: Our perceptions of distance and time depend on our perspective, and no two observers are ever guaranteed to agree.

Relativity allows you to (again, theoretically) skip forward into the future, as well. If you travel fast enough, what may only be a handful of years to you can translate to hundreds, thousands, or even millions of years for everybody else.

By the time you came back to the Earth, it, or the people inhabiting it, could be completely unrecognizable — a major conceit in (spoiler alert) sci-fi films like Planet of the Apes and Interstellar.

Still, no matter what, you can’t stop time, because it's not possible to travel at 100% the speed of light. You’ll always move a tiny fraction below that ultimate speed limit, and so you’ll always experience at least some progression of time.

As for time ending, as far as we can tell time will have no end in the future. Our universe is expanding every day, and it appears that it will continue to do so for eternity. The future is wide open, and there will always be another tomorrow. Sure, in the far far future, all the stuff in our universe will be spread out to incomprehensibly thin dust, but time still won’t come to an end.

However, by the same token, it appears as if time does have a beginning. Our universe is expanding, which means that in the past it was smaller. In the distant past, billions of years ago, it was much smaller. In the extremely distant past, around 13.77 billion years ago, our universe was the size of a peach.

Beyond that point, all of our physics knowledge says that the universe started out in such a tiny space that it was a singularity, a point of infinite density. Strictly speaking, that’s also a point where time and space originate, meaning that time has an endpoint in our own past.

Nonetheless, our knowledge of the extremely early universe is rather hazy; we don’t really know what’s going on in those earliest moments, so we can’t say much about it with anything resembling confidence.

Originally published on https://www.discovermagazine.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, September 21st, 2024)

"WHAT HAPPENS TO A HUMAN BODY IN SPACE??"

[barilleon]

Rockets Underground - A Pokemon Fan RPG

This is a framework for Blades in the Dark where you play Team Rocket Grunts in Goldenrod City. If you want something sillier and simpler than vanilla blades, and also Pokemon, check it out!

This is a culmination of many, many years of fanfiction, role play, game design, and just generally being a Pokemaniac for most of my life. I hope people have fun with it -- because I sure did!

Read It Here!

Rockets Underground has one of my favorite ttrpg rules I've ever written from a simulationist perspective. The Battle Roll is how you use your (weak, standard-issue) Pokemon to fight. It's a less forgiving Fortune Roll:

Playtesters either got it or they didn't. Some were like, "I want to be able to actually use my Pokemon battle!" And I was like, "That's not this game! Have you ever seen a grunt win a pokemon battle before?"

If you play it, please tell me how it went!!

[traincat]

Did you say you were working on an Ultimate Johnny/Peter fic? I can’t remember if that was real or if I dreamed it.

It's 50% an Ultimate Johnny/Peter fic, in that Johnny is Ultimate Johnny and Peter is from a 616-adjacent AU of my own creation. (Nothing against Ultimate Peter particularly, it's just that the story I wanted to write with this fic worked better with a Peter with a different background.)

(I did also recently post 13.5k of unfinished Ultimate JohnnyBobby fic over here, and it has background unrequited Ultimate Spideytorch.)

I've had this idea for ages, wrote a couple thousand words, scrapped it for a few years. Threw it out there as a WIP I was willing to post but then backed out because when I looked at it again it turns out I actually do really want to write it.

The basic premise is this: When Secret Wars (2015)'s incursions destroyed the Marvel multiverse, and after Franklin and the Molecule Man start putting them back together, Franklin stumbles upon the Ultimate version of his uncle and, instead of removing him from existence or restoring his old universe, he sends him to another universe instead, hoping he'll be happier there.

This universe is very similar to 616 canon re: around just after Peter graduates college and enters grad school, but with a few key differences. The biggest departure is that Harry is Peter's dead college love instead of Gwen. (I love to play mix and match with the college fivesome in general ngl but I think Harry lends himself to a roleswap with Gwen particularly well.) Another difference is that I wanted to pull from Bullet Points, which is a miniseries in which, among other things, the rocket launch fails, and Reed is the only survivor, leading him to a Nick Fury-esque role. So Johnny knows who Peter is, but Peter has no framework for Johnny.

Peter, having intentionally isolated himself from pretty much everyone in the wake of Harry's death, follows what looks like a falling star, and finds Johnny. I did want to play with a whole "two other worlds" thing, literally, with Johnny in a whole new universe that might be kinder to him -- and with a Peter who might look back at him -- and Peter, isolating himself in his grief, needing someone warm and bright to break him out of his self-imposed isolation.

The problem is that I like the concept but what I had written for it needs to be ripped up by the carpet. Full remodel. So right now I'm working on some other fic, including another Spideytorch fic, and I'm just kind of reassessing and building out a bigger outline for this one.

I'm probably ripping all of this up and rewriting it but a couple of snips under the cut.

Then he saw the scars. The top set was half hidden by the robe’s hem, perfectly circular. There was another set a few inches beneath. Peter couldn’t figure out what would make scars like those, but they were definitely scars, relatively new and shiny.

“Peter?” Johnny said.

Peter looked up, guilty, but Johnny hadn’t seemed to notice the staring. He was still scrubbing at his own hair, gaze on the floor.

“Can I borrow something to sleep in?” he asked.

Harry had used to wear his clothes to bed. He’d liked how it made him feel, he’d said. Safe, he’d said. “It smells like you,” he’d said, tossing Peter that grin over his shoulder.

(...)

Peter sighed, tipping his head back. “Would you believe he came from another universe?”

“There’s not a lot I won’t believe,” Felicia said. “But I’ll admit it was a shock when I came in through your window and there was a man restocking your sad excuse for a fridge. The fire show was a neat surprise, too.”

“He lit up?” Peter said, surprised.

“A little. He’s very protective of you,” Felicia purred. Her tone of voice was light; her gaze was an accusation.

“It’s not like that,” Peter said.

“He’s in your kitchen, making you dinner,” Felicia said. “He’s wearing your clothes. It looks a whole lot like that, lover.”

“He fell from another universe into this one, Felicia, he doesn’t exactly have a full wardrobe,” Peter said.

“He’s in your home,” Felicia said, dropping the pretense. Her tone was cutting. “That doesn’t happen. You don’t do that.”

It was the opposite problem, with Felicia. For once it was her, not him. He could be with Felicia for an afternoon, for a night. Any longer and her bad luck powers would start tripping him up.

The look on her face told him she was thinking the same thing.

“He knew me in his home universe,” Peter said, drumming his fingers restlessly on fire escape railing. “He hasn’t said it yet, but I’m pretty sure I died on him.”

Felicia’s face fell.

“Oh, Peter,” she said. “You can’t feel guilty over something like that.”

“No, 'Licia,” he said. “It pretty much turns out that I can.”

[escape-music1432]

Prologue lll

(MCU!Adam Warlock x Ex-Avenger!Reader)

Next | Previous | Beginning

Description: I live for angst, and this is going to be just a short few parts where reader rejects Adam's advances but slowly finds themselves being hit with the realization that they do indeed harbor feelings; although, not as strongly, but they were beginning to grow.

Warnings: mentions of canonical deaths, canonical violence, swearing, reader fell for Steve Rogers, alcohol consumption, kidnapping,(more will be added accordingly)

Word count: 1,735

If you're reading this then... the description is clickbait cuz it doesn't happen till way later in this short ahh story I'm writing.

Follows the mcu timeline so keep up!

However, I’d like to inform you that this is very much simplified and is based around vol.3 of Guardians of The Galaxy as well as Endgame, a small brief moment of Love and Thunder and the Holiday Special.

Enjoy and pls don't come for me, I'm just having fun and simping for this golden mf :)

At first Nowhere seemed like a good start, once you stepped off the ship you got to stretch your legs and have more than enough leg room for more movement, but once you walked past the loading bay out into the large open area full of buildings and rundown markets, that's when you realized everything was falling apart. 

Nowhere wasn't always such a depressing place according to the Guardians, it was full of markets and many bad and horrible things that were very unethical, the night life was the best according to Rocket.

Now it was a run-down place, the scars of Thanos still etched into the walls when you arrived.

There were plenty of people to occupy the limited number of homes, homes they had built themselves with the remaining rumble.

It was nothing compared to what you had witnessed before, the many planets on your adventures felt like nothing compared to this place. They were lucky most of the framework was still attached and so on, but that didn't make it any less mournful at the loss of so many homes for these people, and their families. It hurt you just thinking about it.

Some things could not be brought back, that was the hard truth but the least you could do was lend a helping hand to the remaining people here in Nowhere.

It didn't take long to bring everyone together, to bring people from planets, people who have lost things not only to Thanos but war, their rights, refugees anyone and everyone was welcome to Nowhere as long as they help you all rebuild this new society.

It was poetic, how easily people clung onto Nowhere like a beacon for hope, that not only were things simple but peaceful. Not a day goes by where you didn't regret staying in such a place that was turning out so beautiful.

Now that each of you owned this somewhat of a planet. The mining brought in a good amount of income, but you couldn't spend it on superficial things like you did living on the ship, you needed to spend it on materials, things needed to rebuild a crumbling place.

Nebula hooked you at her side, helping rebuild and fixing many things across Nowhere. Quill, and Groot helped Cosmo recruit people into Nowhere. While Drax and Mantis did most of the decorating, Drax complaining that he could do just as much as you, if not more.

After a while Nowhere was turning into a thriving city, hopping from many different planets for supplies and people to join along your ever-growing society. Nothing ever dwindled in your hope for a better place.

It took over two years before things started to look up, buildings were patched up and the population was thriving. Of course, there were plenty of hiccups along the way but now that things were running just as smoothly as they can get, you had a day off just lounging around.

Kraglin was talking about a familiar holiday, a holiday that you absolutely adored on Earth, Christmas, Xmas, a day of holiday cheer. You listened intently to the sad ending of the story, of how Quill tried to include such a major earth custom into his time with Yondu and the Ravengers.

You couldn't deny that you felt a little pain in your heart and a sting at your eyes at the mentions of not experiencing a Christmas after that.

You couldn't relate more; however, Christmas may have been your favorite holiday, but it never felt the same since you lost your parents. The Avengers may have been happy to spend money, especially Tony just to brag, but you couldn't deny it never felt like anything more than a work party whenever they included you. Masking such a sadness was heartbreaking as you watched them celebrate and laugh together, you wished you enjoyed it rather than taking it for granted.

You hummed along with Nebula as she disagreed to the whole idea of anyone thinking of doing this holiday nonsense and instead went right back to work. You followed alongside her as she went to overlook construction on the buildings and homes being built.

You watched from afar as music played in the square, a bit of holiday cheer in the lyrics that you couldn't help but to hum along to. You couldn't believe just how much Quill filled their minds with Earth customs and knowledge. But as time went on listening to the lyrics, you could tell things were definitely not as what Quill told everyone around him. They twisted his words into such a hilariously catchy song that had you loving joining the Guardians.

The day went on with nothing special besides downing half a bottle of wine in the canteen, or the alien version of wine. You didn't really care what it was, it still brought a flame to your stomach, hazed your vision together and tickled your tongue with the bitter taste of berries.

The thoughts of Christmas with the Avengers came back to your mind, the feeling of that loss and sadness itched away at the back of your throat as tears were threatening to spill down your cheeks.

His voice, his words snapped you out of it. That silky smooth voice eating away at your very being.

"What are you doing all alone over here? Is something wrong?"

Steve worried so much about your wellbeing, it came to no surprise he was the only one that didn't face the wrath of your short temper.

He easily got you to come join the others, it was a night you realized that there were small feelings developing for the captain. Even as every laughed together you and him had your own small conversations of nothing important, just life outside of the Avengers, hobbies and everything between. Not a moment went by where there was a prolonged silence, a smidge of awkwardness, it was like time itself didn't exist beside you two in that moment.

Steve poured you another glass of the red velvety wine that pared well with the smaller pieces of steak on your plate. He was the main reason you enjoyed wine so much, maybe it was the way the alcohol went lower than your stomach at every glance and gentle nudge of your shoulders.

That night wasn't just a friendly get together, it was a key moment in time that blossomed a new kind of friendship between you and him.

When the night was coming to an end and everyone had slowly disappeared into their own rooms, it was just you and Steve sitting together at the table laughing at some of your childhood stories. In the moment of comfortable silence that followed a song he seemed to enjoy began to play. He swayed slightly to the beat and the harmonizing of vocals and instruments that you couldn't believe he was dancing to.

"Do you know how to dance?"

It was such a simple question that had you immediately shaking your head, explaining that you don't dance.

When he held you within his arms as softly as the song that played, a few too many drinks ate away at any senses you both had. In that moment, just inches from his face as you looked into his beautiful ocean blue eyes, that moment would be embedded into every fiber of your being for years to come.

You wish you took the chance, just to have your lips on his just for a sliver of a second, but life always has a way with reminded you just where you stand in its ongoing tricks and betrayals.

Just as quick as he pulled you in not only a few minutes before did he release his hold on you quickly, he apologized, and his next words made your heart sink, and your words catch in your throat.

"Peggy and I were supposed to dance just like that all those years ago..."

The rest of his word fell on deaf ears.

Reality was a bitch.

The giggling and squeal from the entryway of the canteen snapped you from your thoughts. You wiped away the tears that spilled out like a waterfall. You ignored the urge to scream for her to get out; to leave you to wallow in your own self-pity but you reframed from that. The excitement and joy riddled across her very being was like a breath of fresh air you didn't know you needed.

When Mantis and Drax returned with someone you vaguely recognized, it was like getting slapped in the face with just how many details Quill left out of his stories of movies from Earth, but you so desperately wanted to see the look on his face when he opened up his very large present.

Hanging the lights and Holiday decorations weren't the most difficult part, it was keeping your emotions in check as you waited patiently with everyone else as they hid in the alleyways, waiting for Quill to appear.

When you seen his childlike expression at the beautiful lights and decoration, you couldn't help but push your feelings aside and enjoy the moment. You couldn't let the past eat away at you when you were the happiest you've been in years with people you can gladly call family.

You couldn't deny you found the whole ordeal very funny as Groot wheeled out his present much to Quill's dismay as he looked to you in betrayal at letting them put Kevin Bacon in a cardboard box, but as the night went on things were looking up. The celebration of Christmas definitely had you 6 shots deep and the rest of the bottle of wine in your grasp at the end of the night. Giggling and laugh while you and Drax danced along to music.

It took some time, but you eventually got Nebula to join as you swung her around. She was as stiff as a board but the twitch at the corner of her lips had you knowing you looked ridiculous, and she was somewhat enjoying herself.

Steve and the Avengers long forgotten from your mind, as Nebula finally broke into a full-blown smile while you and Quill danced together to an oldie song that had you both tripping over yourselves.

This is what home felt like and you wouldn't trade it for the world.

[jewishvitya]

Hi, I stumbled upon your political posts (and then Yuri, you might get me to watch it now) and I find your perspective fascinating. Maybe it's because I grew up with rather a lot of exposure to Palestinians and various peace movements, but your experience is alien to me, and I am really thankful to be able to read it.

I would like to ask, what do you define as Zionism? As the last month taught me that no two people define this term the same. For me it is the ability for the Jewish people to control our own life in a land that we are bound to, and that has no contradiction with the Palestinian doing the same on this land, that they are bound to it as well. No pressure to answer, just pure curiosity.

And if I may offer some hope for our future? On the fourth day of the war, someone who helps in one of the donation centres for the displaced Israelis ask in the group chat if there is a way to pass the extra clothing and equipment to the people of Gaza. In the past two month I got invites for over a dozes or meeting between Israelis and Palestinians, meetings were both sides shared their sorrows and hopes. When an acquaintance was raising money to help a Bedouin family whose house was hit by a rocket, he has to tell people to stop donating. People in my surrounding have been talking about the day after, building plans so they could help build a better place for both people. A long-fought battle in the courts was won, and a group of settlers were ordered to evacuate Palestinian land. Activists have been going to assist in the olive harvests in the West Bank, despite it all.

There is hope for us here.

Hi! Thank you! If you do watch YOI I hope you enjoy it lol.

I know my experience is not very common. Even other Israelis get shocked by the depth of the hatred and the indoctrination sometimes. I try to emphasize that it comes from the most extremist community we have, because I have no idea what the schooling looks like in other areas.

And sure, I'll try to explain, and maybe also why I choose to label myself as anti-zionist.

I don't know that I can give you a dictionary definition, because I define zionism mainly by what it did in practice - the colonizing of Palestine. And when I say colonizing, I'm not making claims about indigeniety or lack of it. I'm defining it through our tactics and our actions. Especially because early in the movement they openly used colonialist frameworks.

Some of the softer definitions of zionism, things like our right to self determination, our right to seek safety - these aren't things I'm against. And I understand that within zionism there were other proposed ideas that weren't necessarily meant to end up with an ethnostate, resulting in ethnic cleansing. So I know zionism is more complicated than what we see in Israel. But what we see now is the reality people are living as the outcome.

If we came here and said "we've been longing to go back here for such a long time, we suffered so much abuse, we want to live alongside you in our shared homeland, can we find a way to ensure our safety and yours" - this would have been a different conversation. Still complicated, because mass immigration is complicated, but different.

In reality, we destroyed communities to manufacture an ethnic majority. Tore a whole society apart and shattered it, spread it all over the world. We killed and expelled and traumatized. I called it the cycle of abuse on the scale of nations - taking horrors we suffered and inflicting them on others. So given the practical results of the zionist movement, I can't treat those softer definitions as the "true" definitions that people should go by.

I keep thinking about Jewish refugees being given the homes of Palestinians with meals still on the table. Because of course we have a right to food and shelter, but not at their expense. And I know you agree with me on this.

When I say I oppose zionism, that's generally because I'm talking about the reality, the impact the movement had on human lives, not an idealized version we might imagine or a philosophy someone wrote about that never came to be.

For me, if I want to talk about our safety in our ancestral homeland and detach it from the horrors committed by Israel, zionism isn't the right framework. And after all the destruction we caused the land to conquer and colonize it, if I want to talk about our connection to it, I think zionism shouldn't be the word I'm using.

There's also an aspect of, by insisting on defining zionism through a nicer idea rather than harm done to real people, I see it as taking away a language that oppressed people are using to talk about their oppression.

I hope that makes sense.

I really want us to find a different way to work towards safety, without it being at the expense of another group of people.

And thank you for that last paragraph. I definitely have hope. It's hard, seeing videos of our soldiers being so gleeful about the destruction. I lost a friend of over ten years because of the callous and cruel things he said over the past couple of months, and I can't bring myself to repeat them. But I know that better things are possible, and I'm glad we're building towards them. I'm terrified that our government won't let us move in that direction, but we're going to push there anyway.

[girlactionfigure]

🟧 AFTER YOM KIPPUR - Updates from Israel  

THANKS - special thanks to our valiant soldiers who spent their Yom Kippur keeping us safe instead of with their families or in synagogue.  Our prayers are in their merit.

⭕SUICIDE DRONES from HEZBOLLAH hit HERTZILYA on Yom Kippur night, hitting a NURSING HOME.  1 intercepted, 1 got through.  1 injury.

⭕HEAVY ROCKET BARRAGES across the north, hitting Haifa, Acco, Karmiel, Safed, Rosh Pina, and towns throughout the north over Yom Kippur.  3 people were slightly injured by a rocket falling in the Western Galilee and 12 were slightly injured on the way to a protected area.

⭕ROCKETS FROM GAZA on Yom Kippur, to southern Ashkelon.  No casualties, and the IDF continues a policy of forced evac of source areas of fire.

▪️YOM KIPPUR - medics treated 286 fainted, dehydrated or felt ill due to the fast, and took 146 women in labor to the hospitals, one who gave birth in the ambulance.

▪️A HERO SOLDIER HAS FALLEN.. in battle in Gaza before Yom Kippur.. Ittai Fogel, 22, from Yakir.  May his family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and may G-d avenge his blood!

❗️On Yom Kippur the IDF had 1 serious injury in battle in Gaza, no others casualties.

♦️IDF airstrikes on 280 targets throughout the holiday, in Lebanon and Gaza.

♦️IDF forces eliminated 50 terrorists in face-to-face encounters and directed air force strikes, and destroyed more than 200 Hezbollah terrorist targets from the air and with artillery.

♦️IDF created a small border buffer into SYRIA, in the Alonei Habashan - Kwdana area.

🔹The Christian sectors in Lebanon are in talks to form a political alliance against the Hezbollah.

🔹Yemeni defense minister says an operation against the Houthi Rebels is "imminent”.

🔹Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi calls for Chapter VII of the UN Charter to be invoked to “force Israel to comply with international law and immediately end all its illegal wars” in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.  This framework allows the UN Security Council to impose sanctions or in extreme cases even military force to guard against threats to peace.

▪️Nicaragua announced the severance of relations with Israel "due to the attacks on the Palestinian lands".

▪️Speaker of the Iranian parliament arrived in Beirut and toured the area, leaving later in the day to Turkey.  This is the 2nd Iranian commercial-diplomatic flight to break the Israeli air ban.

Part 2

⚠️ CHANGES IN DEFENSIVE GUIDELINES, MILITARY ZONES DECLARED IN NORTHERN ISRAEL

⚠️ Following a situational assessment, starting today at 20:00, changes will be made to the Home Front Command’s defensive guidelines. In southern and northern Golan, except for certain communities in the Emek HaYarden Regional Council, the activity scale will move from Limited Activity to Partial Activity, allowing educational activities subject to Northern Command's guidelines. In Daliyat al-Karmel and Isfiya in the Carmel area, the activity scale will shift from Partial Activity to Full Activity, with restrictions on gatherings of over 2,000 people. The rest of the country's guidelines remain unchanged. It is crucial to follow official Home Front Command channels and check updates on the National Emergency Portal and Home Front Command app.

🟥 As of 20:00 today, Zar'it, Shomera, Shtula, Netu'a, and Even Menachem in northern Israel will be declared a closed military zone. Entry to this area will be prohibited for security reasons.

🔷 For the first time in the Middle East war, the US intends to deploy its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) anti-ballistic air defense system in Israel to prepare for a potential Iranian attack. This system is designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles, providing a high level of protection.

◾The US has also announced new sanctions on Iran's oil sector in response to Tehran’s missile attack on Israel.

[agiledock]

Mastering Rust Web Development With Agiledock

Discover the unparalleled performance and security of Rust programming language in website development. This resource delves into the intricacies of web development with Rust, leveraging the cutting-edge Rocket framework. Whether you're a seasoned developer or just starting out, unleash the full potential of Rust for building next-gen web applications

[triangle-strategy-notes]

Decimal Concept Art

Decimal's concept art (a whole 4 pages)! Translation notes and image ids under the cut.

Translation notes:

The Japanese word for "doll" that's used for Decimal could also be translated as "puppet" (which is the same word that was often used to describe the Hierophant). I went with doll because Decimal's a little less puppet-looking, but "puppet" or even "automaton" would probably have also worked.

The name "Gwilym" was a little bit of a guess. "Appling" is one I'm more sure about because I found someone who had online translated the name from Japanese to English, but I couldn't find any direct translation for ゴアメル (Goameru/Goamelu), so I just looked for a similar name that belonged to a dragon. If someone who's played the Bravely series has more accurate info, feel free to leave a comment and let me know.

"This is what we privately call 'playing fast and loose with the design framework'" was a weird one. The first part was something along the lines of "So-called" or "this is called", and the second part was "secret" or "hidden" or "concealed", the third part was "amusement" or "play" or "game", and the fourth part was like "frame(work)" or "zone" or "slot" (generally referring to an area within a set of boundaries). There were a lot of different ways to interpret this, like maybe he was referring to Decimal itself as a "secret playerbox/toybox" or possibly referring to the creative process for Decimal as "a place to secretly play around with the rules". In the end I just tried to put in something that made sense contextually to me.

"Metal bands" was literally something more like "metal chocks" or "metal wedges". I changed it to "bands" for clarity.

The text didn't initially have the explanation for the different types of clay figurines, I added those in for context. The initial translation looked like "I like clay figurines, clay figurines, and golems," so I felt like being more specific was necessary.

The word I translated as "analytical/analyzing" is literally 見極め, which means ascertainment, or as a verb, "to ascertain; to make sure of; to determine; to probe; to get to the bottom (of something)". I went with "analyzing" because "ascertaining" sounded a little awkward, though it admittedly loses out on some of the original meaning.

"Haywire" from "Haywire Mode" is a word that primarily seems to mean something along the lines of "reckless" or "rampage", but it also had another meaning of "runaway" as in a "runaway rocket" (i.e. an engineering project that becomes out of control). I went with "haywire" which leans more toward the second meaning, but (I hope) still retains the "reckless" vibes.

"Gotta love cost-effective manufacturing" was literally something more like "Love keeping costs low".

"Wind-up toy" was literally "self-propelled toy".

"External calculator bag" could have also been translated as "external computer bag".

Image ids:

[id: Four pages of concept art from the Triangle Strategy artbook centered around Decimal. The first page has a colored and uncolored version of its canon portrait, as well as a designer's note that reads, "The barrel robot Decimal is a character that we were aiming to make into a mascot, like 'Appling' from Bravely Second or 'Gwilym the Dragon' from Bravely Default II. I hope it becomes a character that everyone will love! (Ikushima Naoki)" and another that reads, "This is what we privately call 'playing fast and loose with the design framework'. Although it was difficult for Mr. Ikushima, he tackled it with great enthusiasm. (Asano Tomoya)".

On the second page there's another uncolored portrait of Decimal with different parts labeled, notably that the clockwork key on top of its head is made of aged brass (with the caption "Does the barrel turn it on its own!?"), the majority of its body is made of wood, and the metal joints and accents are made of "black-ish metal". There's a note that specifically asks the game artists to make sure the black metal bands around the barrel have high-contrast white highlights. Another small drawing shows a tankard merch design based off of Decimal. Some close ups of its hands show that the majority of them are wood, but the fingertips are metal. The bottom of Decimal's barrel is shown, and it's shown that its feet retract into its body during "standby mode", and the soles become part of the bottom of the barrel. Another diagram shows that the back of Decimal's hands cover the hole left behind by the shoulders when the arms are retracted. An illustrator's note at the bottom reads, "Now that I think about it, ever since I was a child I've liked dogū (clay figurines from the late Jōmon period), haniwa (hollow unglazed terracotta figures from the Kofun period), and golems, all of which have a simple, vacant 'huh, I wonder what they're thinking' kind of look. That might have unconsciously been reflected in my work…… it feels that way, at least. (Naoki Ikushima)".

On the third page, there are different iterations on Decimal's design, titled, "Analytical Doll (with Haywire Mode) Rough Draft". Some bullet points read, "Doll" and "Explore appropriate shapes that convey the ability to analyze". There's a collection of robots with large lens "eyes" that are labeled "Analyzing". The next collection of sketches are labeled "Adding charm while pondering the meaning of existence" and "Toy Knight". The sketches show a small nutcracker-esque doll with a wind-up key on the top. There are captions that read, "Originally a wind-up toy" and "Knight Automaton (Mechanical Puppet)". In one of the sketches the knight toy has a spyglass, labeled, "Analyzing Mode", and in another sketch it has a sword, labeled "Haywire Mode." The next collection of sketches feature a robot that resembles a maid, labeled, "Considering the role it plays and why it was made as a self-propelled system" and "Mechanical Serving Doll (Maid Robot)". Like the knight toy, it has a drawing where it's using a pair of binoculars, labeled, "Analyzing Mode", and another where it has red eyes and claws, labeled, "Haywire Mode." Next to the haywire drawing is the note, "As a waiter or maid, the ability to analyze was necessary to support and serve the master. The "haywire" function was an intensification of some of the functions for emergencies." The bottom portion of the page has many different sketches of vaguely computer-looking devices, labeled, "Collection of rough sketches for an arithmetic doll". At the bottom there are two illustrator's notes. One reads, "Initially I was given the theme of 'a doll that can analyze', and from that point on I was excited and started drawing. I also liked the 'Toy Knight' type on the top left of the page! (Naoki Ikushima)". The second reads, "This was us trying to find out how far we can deviate from the norm. (Tomoya Asano)".

On the fourth page, there are drawings that are more finalized rough drafts of Decimal's design. It's titled, "Analytical Arithmetic Doll - Design Proposal". At the top there's a note that reads, "A barrel-shaped doll that would fit in with a traveling merchant's wares". There are several drawings grouped together labeled "Basic Form", including a drawing of Decimal with a typewriter that folds out of its body which is labeled, "Keys on body for arithmetic". There are many sound effects to the effect of "click clack" around it. Another drawing of Decimal using a spyglass that folds out of its head is labeled "Analyzing" and has a slide whistle and "PLONK" sound effect, as well as a note that reads, "Uses scanner on head for analyzing". A drawing of Decimal with an arrow pointed to its foot reads, "The bottom of the barrel is a foot" (as opposed to a wheel which is used further down on the page). A cartoony drawing of Decimal going going berserk with flaming eyes and its body extended is labeled, "Haywire." Next to it is a drawing of Decimal with its arms and legs retracted, labeled "Standby Mode". There is also a short man who's placing a hat on Decimal's head, labeled "With the old man..." and "Receiving a hat". A section titled "Basic Ability Proposal" shows another earlier prototype Decimal with a pair of telescopic goggles than can be pulled down over its eyes, as well as a drawing of Decimal performing with a guitar in front of a crowd, with a peddler behind it laughing and saying "Bring customers to the market!" Another section titled "Barrel Idea Brainstorming" has a version of Decimal called "Crowd-Puller Costume Version" where it has a wheel instead of feet, the key is placed on the back, and in some drawings it has a calculator bag, a waistcoat, and a hat. There is a closeup of the wheel that shows that the wheel housing is a horseshoe. Another small drawing shows that Decimal's different segments should slide in the direction of whatever way it's headed. The last section shows a "Low-cost version" of Decimal which looks similar to its canon form. There are notes that read, "Gotta love cost-effective manufacturing!"; "Since the parts are separate, you can move them just by sliding"; "If you're going to rotate a turning key, it's more cost-effective to put it on top."; and "Equipped with built-in electronics". At the bottom are two more illustrator's notes. The first reads, "And here you can see, the barrel-shaped robot was the one where I went "yes, this is it!" In terms of the setting, it was a prototype of a movable doll, so it was supposed to represent the stage of experimentation when it finally moved after repeated tests using the various materials that were available. The appearance based on barrels, which are easily available in medieval cities, was an attempt to express "developing technology" that was not yet complete, but was charming. (Ikushima Naoki)" and "You know, I think it's appropriate that design and function be considered two of a set. (Asano Tomoya)" /end id]

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

From Mosaic Magazine:

How Mistaken Beliefs Led to Oct. 7 -

• The frame of mind that animated the defunct peace process continues to inform Israeli, American, and European political, administrative, and military actions. This is because the peace process is a conceptual framework rooted in a particular worldview.

• At the tactical level, Israel assumed a defensive, rather than offensive, military posture reliant on technological superiority. Like the rest of the West, Israel believed that its technological advantage was a sufficient deterrent. A "small, smart army" would therefore suffice because technology had made large ground wars obsolete. But our enemies were not deterred by our superior technology. They adapted to it and used low tech to subvert it.

• Israel's first choice was negotiations that would establish an agreed-upon border between two nation-states, tired of wars and determined to move toward cooperative coexistence. But peace was not forthcoming, when in 2000, then-prime minister Ehud Barak offered Yasir Arafat all the Israeli public could stomach and then some, only to be turned down and rewarded with the Second Intifada.

• So Israelis chose unilateral partition from Gaza with the 2005 disengagement. It was a trial-run for Palestinian statehood, based on the hope that the Palestinians would come around and realize, after tasting political independence and economic opportunities, the folly of endless war.

• The trial failed almost immediately. Rockets kept raining on Israel's towns after the disengagement and, in 2007, Hamas violently eliminated the PLO in Gaza, establishing a terror quasi-state. A regular, unending influx of international aid rendered economic development unnecessary. Aid flowed in because Israeli intelligence believed a higher standard of living would help pacify the Strip.

• Israel imagined the Palestinian national movement in the image of ours. We assumed that national self-determination was its goal and that Palestinians would seize the opportunity to assume political independence so they could build their political and economic future. But nation-building was never on their agenda. We would have understood this if we had studied their political culture seriously, instead of assuming they share ours.

• It was folly to imagine that of all Arab peoples, the Palestinians would prove the exception that would produce a stable nation-state. The principal grievance of the Palestinian cause is not the absence of a desired nation-state but the existence of another one.

• We also projected our own misconceptions of human nature onto the Palestinians. Contemporary Western elites assume that we all want a decent job, food on the table, and a safe environment to raise our children. But when we conceive of all life in these materialistic terms, we lose the ability to imagine the human capacity for evil.

Encouraged by assumptions from America and Europe, Israelis failed to believe in their neighbors' sinister intentions.

We did not take seriously their theology of hate, their deep-seated racism, and the depth of their barbaric sadism.

[pushing500]

✨Gracie's Rimworld Modlist✨

(For the Mechanitor's Message run)

Here are all my current mods in order. Once again it’s all hand-typed because I am a bit rubbish at computer stuff and don’t know how to export modlists. Enjoy!! xoxo

Prepatcher (required for one or more of the other mods to work)

Harmony (I think this is just for performance)

Vanilla Backgrounds Expanded (this is just cool for loading screens etc.)

[CAT] Show Hair With Hats or Hide All Hats (so my colonists can show off their beautiful hair)

HugsLib (I think this is just for performance)

Camera + (better for taking screenshots)

Character Editor (so I can start with customised colonists)

Vanilla Expanded Framework (so all the Vanilla Expanded mods work)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Props and Decor (adds fancy props and decor)

Geological Landforms (for fun map generation)

Pathfinding Framework (a framework for pathfinding)

ANDH - Animal Nuzzling Detects Horrors (animals can detect metalhorrors when they nuzzle your colonists)

[GMT] Trading Spot (those darn traders always track dirt on my floors)

[KV] Impassable Map Maker (in case I feel like settling on an impassable tile)

[NL] Facial Animation - WIP (they look so cute with their lil’ faces!!)

[SBV] Recreational Drum Use (drum go bang boom, brain get happy)

[T] Moor Floors 1.4 (more floors)

[XND] Proper Shotguns (Continued) (makes shotguns work better so Security Chief Ratchet and Deputy Rocket the militors can be extra kickass)

Llama's Proper Shotgun Patches (some patches for the previous mod)

Adjustable Archonexus Quest Continued (no way Mechi is losing all his research!)

A Dog Said… Animal Prosthetics (animal bionics wooo)

Dubs Bad Hygiene (bathrooms cool)

Allow Tool (makes life so much easier)

[ATW] House Decor (more decorations for the house)

Biomes! Core (framework for Biomes! mods)

Biomes! Fossils (dinosaur museum go brrrr)

Biomes! Islands (tropical paradise, here we come!)

Allies are Helpful (so that our friends, few as they may be, will actually be useful)

Alpha Biomes (adds cool new biomes)

Alpha Memes (new ideology memes)

Alpha Mythology (adds cool new mythological animals)

Alpha Prefabs (cool prefabricated buildings)

Alpha Props - Parks and Gardens (adds props for parks and gardens)

Anima Animals Combined (Continued) (cool anima animals)

Animal Controls (animals can have food restrictions, etc.)

Better Mods Mismatch Window (to see which of my mods is fucked up THIS time 🙄)

Ebbbs (cute black blobby creatures)

Horse Breeds - Skin Variations (in case we feel the need to become cowboys with a varied herd of horses)

Biome Transitions (so your biomes transition)

Childhood Backstories (so your children can have backstories)

Clocks (every house needs a grandfather clock)

Colors (personally I prefer “colours”, but we can’t all be right)

Det’s Xenotypes - Avaloi (colourful drunk coral-people!!)

Det’s Xenotypes - Bogleg (alien mafia)

Doors Expanded (expands on the doors)

Dormitories (Not Barracks) (they shouldn’t be that upset about sharing a room)

Dress Patients (Continued) (put clothes on the patients)

Enhanced Beliefs (expands on the ideology system a bit)

Erin’s Baldur’s Gate 3 Hairs (need more hair)

Erin’s Cottage Collection (cutesy furniture)

Erin’s Decorations (cute decorations)

Erin’s Hairstyles - Redux (mmmmmore hair!!)

Extra Alerts (handy-dandy extra popups)

Floordrawings (those kids are so artistic)

GloomyFurniture (cutsey furniture)

Gloomy Furniture Fix (fixes something idk)

Gradient Hair (gradient hair)

Hard Times: Hair and Beards (more hair and beard styles)

Haul to Stack (you think they could figure that out themselves, but no. They need a mod)

Hospitality (warcrime-themed hotel chain let’s goooo)

Human Butchery 2.0 (just in case)

Human Leather Floor (👀)

Interaction Bubbles (to see what dey sayin’)

Kinky Bodystrap (I will not elaborate)

Lights Out (conserve electricity, save the planet)

Megafauna (biiiig pets)

Minify Everything (if I wanna carry a whole wall I damn well will)

More Descriptive Words and Names (exactly what it says on the tin)

More Faction Interaction (Continued) (more faction interaction)

More Persona Traits (to make Persona Weapons more interesting)

More Religious Origins (adds some more religious origins for ideology)

More Thrumbos (Continued) (mmmmore thrumbos)

More Thrumbos (Retextured) (just makes them look a bit better)

More Vanilla Biomes (more vanilla biomes)

negative traits (they can’t all be good)

Non-Binary Gender (adds a non-binary option)

Offworlders - The Biliog (swamp people)

Optimization: Meats - C# Edition (all meat is raw meat)

Pawn Name Variety (variety in pawn names)

Pick Up and Haul (pick it up and haul it)

Prisoners Don’t Have Keys (why would they??)

Random Research (it looked amusing)

Reel’s Facial Animation Textures (face stuff)

Replace Stuff (to build walls on top of other walls etc.)

RimPy Mod Manager Database (just for insurance)

Rimsenal - Hair pack (hair)

Rimsenal Hair Retextured (more hair stuff)

RimTraits - General Traits (more traits)

River’s Tribal Shoes (tribal shoes)

Romance on the Rim (awww, so romantic <3)

Roo’s HD Dreadlock Hairstyles (dreads)

Roo’s HD Glasses Hairstyles (glasses)

Roo’s HD Hairstyles (hairy)

Roo’s HD Royalty Hairstyles (fancy hair)

RPG Style Inventory Revamped (inventory is easier to use)

RT Fuse (I don’t like zzzt events)

Sand Castles (for funsies)

Simple sidearms (always be prepared!)

Smutty Fanfiction (👀)

Snap Out! (for mental breaks)

Standalone Hot Spring (why have geothermal power when you can have a nice hot bath instead?)

Stylized Slave Collars and Headgear (to fit the theme)

The Vanity Project - Beards (more beards)

The Vanity Project - Female Hair (for the gals)

The Vanity Project - Male Hair (for the guys)

Trait and Backstory Icons (icons for traits and backstories)

Toddlers (smol bean people)

Upscaled - Won hair_men (hair)

Upscaled - Won hair_women (hair)

Vanilla Achievements Expanded (makes me feel successful)

Vanilla Animals Expanded (adds fun new animals)

Vanilla Animals Expanded - Endangered (adds endangered animals)

Vanilla Animals Expanded - Royal Animals (adds fancy animals)

Vanilla Animals Expanded - Waste Animals (edgy dystopian animals)

Vanilla Apparel Expanded (new clothes)

Vanilla Apparel Expanded - Accessories (new accessories)

Vanilla Armour Expanded (more armour)

Vanilla Backstories Expanded (more backstories)

Vanilla Brewing Expanded (alcohol woooo)

Vanilla Base Generation Expanded (generates cool bases)

Vanilla Brewing Expanded - Coffee and Tea (to feed our caffeine addiction)

Vanilla Cooking Expanded (fun food)

Vanilla Cooking Expanded - Stews (everybody loves a good stew)

Vanilla Fishing Expanded (such a relaxing pastime)

Vanilla Fishing Expanded - Fishing Treasures AddOn (you can fish up cool stuff, like wood)

Vanilla Cooking Expanded - Sushi (we have to do something with all those fish)

Vanilla Events Expanded (can never have too many events)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Ancients (scary ancient people)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Empire (makes the empire more interesting)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Mechanoids (we couldn’t have a mechanitor run without them)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Settlers (yeehaw)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Tribal (I like having tribal friends)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded (more furniture)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Architect Module (new structure stuff)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Art Module (fancy art and decorations to make)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Farming (we love growing food)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Medical Module (to make the most kickass hospital)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Power (mechanitor has to power their mechs somehow)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Production (cool manufacturing stuff)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Security (you can never be too careful)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Spacer Module (a mechanitor’s dream)

Vanilla Hair Expanded (always need more hair)

Vanilla Hair Retextured (make it look snazzy)

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Dryads (for sprucing up gauranlen tree stuff)

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Hats and Rags (to dress properly)

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Icons and Symbols (to customise ideologies as much as possible)

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Relics and Artifacts (cube…?)

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Sophian Style (fancy~)

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Splits and Schisms (reminds me of Wookshys)

Vanilla Nutrient Paste Expanded (hell yeah nutrient paste)

Vanilla Outposts Expanded (we can form outposts if we like)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Android (it would be cool to have androids hanging out with our mechanitor…)

ReGrowth: Core (I like the retextures)

ReGrowth: Tropical (more fun stuff)

ReGrowth: Aspen (new biomes)

ReGrowth: Boiling (new biomes again)

Vanilla Plants Expanded (yummy foodstuffs)

Tilled Soil (heehoo farm)

Vanilla Persona Weapons Expanded (make the persona weapons more personable)

Vanilla Plants Expanded - More Plants (even MORE farm)

Vanilla Plants Expanded - Mushrooms (I should do a dirtmole colony someday)

Vanilla Plants Expanded - Succulents (they’re cute)

Vanilla Psycasts Expanded (I love ‘em)

Alpha Animals (one of my favourite mods)

Vanilla Genetics Expanded (genetics stuff)

Vanilla Genetics Expanded - More Lab Stuff (more lab stuff)

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Memes and Structures (more customisation)

Alpha Genes (Makes for fun people to draw)

Alpha Mechs (Mechs for the Mechanitor!! Skulls for the- oh, wait, no)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Archon (basically githyanki)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Custom Icons (to make your own xenotypes that much more distinct)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Fungoid (zombies go brrrr)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Genie (how many wishes do I get?)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Highmate (the perfect partner!)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Hussar (nobody will ever be as good as Henry…)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Lycanthrope (do we need a werewolf boyfriend?🍍)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Phytokin (tree people my beloved)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Pigskin (is there a teacup pig variant?)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Sanguophage (vampires go brrrr)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Saurid (lizard people to control the government)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Waster (pollution people)

Facial Animations Xenotype Compatibility (to help smooth out the face stuff)

Vanilla Skills Expanded (makes learning more interesting)

Vanilla Skin Tone Genes (inheritable skin tones)

Vanilla Social Interactions Expanded (more interactions to draw)

Vanilla Textures Expanded (expands the vanilla textures)

Vanilla Textures Expanded - [NL] Facial Animation (makes the facial animation more vanilla and less anime)

Vanilla Textures Expanded - Variations (so things don’t look too same-y)

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Anima Theme (for funsies)

Vanilla Trading Expanded (expands the trading)

Vanilla Traits Expanded (more traits!)

[DN] Bundle of Traits (one of my favourite trait mods <3)

Vehicle Framework (a framework for vehicles)

Vanilla Vehicles Expanded (more vehicles)

Vanilla Vehicles Expanded - Tier 3 (even MORE vehicles)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded (to spice up the combat)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Coilguns (adds coilguns)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Grenades (expands on grenades)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Heavy Weapons (more heavy weapons)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Laser (laser weapons)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Makeshift (for when you gotta make do)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Non-Lethal (for interrogations and organ harvesting)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Quickdraw (to draw quickly)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Frontier (yeehaw)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Tribal (they deserve some variety too)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Pirates (arrr me hearties!)

VPG Garden Resources (if I wanna grow uranium I will)

Vanilla Psycasts Expanded - Puppeteer (mind control, oooh!)

VVE - Deconstructable Vehicle Junk (so we can make old cars new!)

War Crimes Expanded 2 Core (Updated) (just in case)

What's That Mod (so I know what the mod is)

While You’re Up (PUAH) (more hauling revamps)

Won Hair Men Retextured (hairy hairy)

Won Hair Women Retextured (more hairy hairy)

Xeva’s Rimhair (hair)

Xeva’s Rimhair Retextured (hair)

Yet Another Hair Mod (I don't have too many, shhhh!)

ATH ‘s Retexture Female Apparel (looks like fun to draw!)

ATH’s Style Female Dresses (fun to draw)

HousekeeperAssistanceCat (the best mod)

Facial Animations Xenotype Compatibility (to make the cute faces more compatible with different xenotypes)

[FSF] Complex Jobs (Legacy Version) (makes job prioritizing easier)

Nice Short Female Hairs (okay maybe I have a problem with hair mods 😅)

Pointless Surgeries (it looked funny)

Rational Romance 2 (Continued) (I don't think Mechi is the romantic type but just in case)

Rim of Madness - Bones (it seems to fit the void-studying aspect)

ReGrowth: Retextures (fixes ReGrowth textures or something idk)

Urn Retexture and Variation (we needed different urns in case)

[LYN] HD Corporate and Hedonist Apparel (makes some of the Vanilla Expanded clothes HD)

Alpha Vehicles - Early Cars (Mechi should have cool vintage cars)

Det's Xenotypes - Venators (if I can't have T'au I'll have a different ranged xenotype)

Det's Xenotypes - Stoneborn (dwarf go brrrrr)

ReGrowth: Wastelands (biomes~)

ReGrowth: Tundra (bioomes~)

ReGrowth: Swamp (biooomes~)

ReGrowth: Temperate (bioooomes~)

ReGrowth: Boreal (biooooomes~)

Do Recreation When Idle (makes pawns do recreational activities when they're not doing anything else)

Ponpeco Furnitures : Kids' Room (cute furniture in case we, I don't know, acquire a little girl along the way)

Roo's HD Accessory Hairstyles (I JUST NEED MORE HAIR TO DRAW)

Roo's Minotaur Xenotype (we have pig people and dog people and lizard people and I WANT COW PEOPLE DAMMIT)

Roo's Minotaur Xenotype Expanded (just a lil' extra somethin'-somethin' for flavour)

Roo's Birthmarks and Blemishes (fun 👏 to 👏 draw 👏)

Roo's Faun Xenotype (I can live out my Narnia dreams...)

Roo's Satyr Xenotype (need more xenotypes)

Roo's Satyr and Faun Xenotypes Expanded (just a lil' extra somethin'-somethin' for flavour)

Roo's Tattoos - Starter Pack (mmmmmore tattoos!!!)

Use Resurrector Mech Serum On Rotten or Skeleton People (on the off chance we have a sibling who's been buried for too long to be resurrected with a serum otherwise 👀)

Share Rooms [LWM] (on the off chance we have royal twins who don't want to share a room, but I want them to share a room. A mod explicitly written for this run, and I could not be more delighted ❤️❤️❤️)

[rocket-enjoyer]

You know what really grinds my gears?

Working with people who don't understand how a neural computer works.

Be it some mass ratio optimizing payload engineer, a logistics officer frustrated with the difficulties caused by our team's solutions or just our boss looking for reasons to fire us because they thought our initial cost estimate was "unrealistically high" and are now sorely disappointed at reality, these people are miserable to deal with. On the surface, their complaints make sense; we are seemingly doing a much worse job than everyone else is and anything we come up with creates lots of problems for them. Satisfying all their demands, however, is impossible. With this post I intend to educate my audience on

Neural Computers 101

so that my blog's engineer-heavy audience may understand the inevitable troubles those in my field seemingly summon out of thin air and so that you people will hopefully not bother us quite as much anymore.

First of all, neural matter is extremely resource heavy. Not by mass, mind you; a BNC of 2 kilograms requires only a few dozen grams of whatever standardized or specialized mix of sustenance is preferred in a single martian day. (I'm not going to bother converting that.) The inconvenient part is the sheer variety in the things they need and the waste products they create.

This is just a shortened list, but already it causes problems. If you want to create a self contained system to avoid having to refuel constantly, you will need a lot of mass and a lot of complexity. This is what a typical sustenance diagram for such a system looks like:

(Keep in mind, this diagram doesn't even have electricity drawn in.)

Typically these systems are even more complicated, with redundancies and extra steps. In any case, this is complicated, energy expensive and a nightmare to maintenance crew. I mean, just keeping the bacterial microbiome alive is a lot of effort!

Second of all, neural matter is extremely vulnerable. Most power plant and rocket designers just round away all temperature changes less than 100 K, but neural matter will outright die if its temperature is just a few kelvin off of the typical value. The same goes for a lot of other things - you'll need some serious temperature regulation, shock absorption, radiation shielding (damn it I wish we had access to the same stuff as those madmen in the JMR) and on top of all of that, you need to consider mental instability!

That last one is kind of the biggest pain in the ass for these things - we need to give them a damn game to play whenever they don't have any real work to deal with or they degrade and start to go insane. (Don't worry, I'm not stupid, I know these things aren't actually sentient, I'm just saying that to illustrate the way they work.) It can't even be the same game - you need to design one based on what the NC is designed to do! (Game is a misleading term by the way; it's not like a traditional video game. No graphics - just a set of variables, functions and parameters on a simple circuit board that the NC can influence.)

And lastly, neural computers are complicated. Dear Olympus are they complicated. There are so so many ways to build them, and the process of deriving which one to use is extremely difficult. You can't blame the NC team for an inappropriate computer if the damn specifications keep changing every week!

There's the always-on, calculation-heavy, simple and slow Pennington circuits, the iconic Gobbs cycle (Bloody love that thing!), the Anesuki thinknet and its derivatives, the Klenowicz for those insane venusians and so so many more frameworks for both ANCs and BNCs. Oh yeah, by the way, the acronyms ANC and BNC actually don't stand for Advanced and Basic Neural Computer respectively. They stand for Type A Neural Computer and Type B Neural Computer. It comes from that revolutionary paper written by Anesuki.

[nikproxima]

Horizon Lore Post

One of the biggest elements of in space industry isn't water hauling - that's been pretty well automated, its pharma manufacturing and growth of agricultural products. With the great Climate Upheval at the end of the 21st Century, many found it crucial to start developing advanced systems for genetic modification for plants, biologically grown pharmaceuticals, and even some livestock. Notably, Tank Farming became a quick and easy way for companies to spin up business, supporting the burgeoning space colonies being established along space elevators, at asteroid stations and in their own independent space station facilities. With chemical rocket stages on their way out, scrap material and even full stages were largely pulled from transfer orbits or even interplanetary space and turned into full fledged habitats, stripped of their internal fittings and cobbled together into ramshackle "Pioneer-Farms." Most of these were hydroponics based, relying on microgravity to help support fragile plants and other systems. Some, notably those built from larger spacecraft, were rotated around a central axis or mounted to retractable tether systems to help support operations in variable gravity. With the advent of the Climate-Victory-Compact, a multilateral framework for geoengineering undertaken on Earth in the early 2100s, the PSSA largely relegated farming and other systems back to Earth to help establish a stronger economic base. In the outer Solar System, however, Tank Farming remains a strong component of industry for the ICM - who are reliant on domestic foodstuffs given strict tariffs imparted by the Earth-Luna government.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Report analyzes long history of NASA support for commercial space

NASA published a new report on Thursday highlighting 17 agency mechanisms that have directly and indirectly supported the development and growth of the U.S. commercial space sector for the benefit of humanity.

The report, titled "Enabling America on the Space Frontier: The Evolution of NASA's Commercial Space Development Toolkit," is available on the agency's website.

"This is the most extensive and comprehensive historical analysis produced by NASA on how it has contributed to commercial space development over the decades," said Alex MacDonald, NASA chief economist. "These efforts have given NASA regular access to space with companies, such as SpaceX and Rocket Lab, modernizing our communications infrastructure, and even led to the first private lunar lander thanks to Intuitive Machines.

"With commercial space growth accelerating, this report can help agency leaders and stakeholders assess the numerous mechanisms that the agency uses to support this growth, both now and in the future."

Throughout its history, NASA has supported the development of the commercial space sector, not only leading the way in areas such as satellite communications, launch, and remote sensing, but also developing new contract and operational models to encourage commercial participation and growth.

In the last three decades, NASA has seen the results of these efforts with commercial partners able to contribute more to missions across NASA domains, and increasingly innovative agency-led efforts to engage, nurture, and integrate these capabilities. These capabilities support the agency's mission needs, and have seen a dramatic rise in importance, according to the report.

NASA has nurtured technology, companies, people, and ideas in the commercial space sector, contributing to the U.S. and global economies, across four distinct periods in the agency's history:

1915–1960: NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), and NASA's pre-Apollo years.

1961–1980: Apollo era.

1981–2010: Space shuttle era.

2011–present: Post-shuttle commercial era.

Each of these time periods are defined by dominant technologies, programs, or economic trends further detailed in the report.

Though some of these mechanisms are relatively recent, others have been used throughout the history of NASA and NACA, leading to some overlap. The 17 mechanisms are as follows:

Contracts and Partnership Agreements

Research and Technology Development (R&TD)

Dissemination of Research and Scientific Data

Education and Workforce Development

Workforce External Engagement and Mobility

Technology Transfer

Technical Support

Enabling Infrastructure

Launch

Direct In-Space Support

Standards and Regulatory Framework Support

Public Engagement

Industry Engagement

Venture Capital Engagement

Market Stimulation Funding

Economic Analysis and Due Diligence Capabilities

Narrative Encouragement

NASA supports commercial space development in everything from spaceflight to supply chains. Small satellite capabilities have inspired a new generation of space start-ups, while new, smaller rockets, as well as new programs are just starting. Examples include CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services), commercial low Earth orbit destinations, human landing systems, commercial development of NASA spacesuits, and lunar terrain vehicles. The report also details many indirect ways the agency has contributed to the vibrance of commercial space, from economic analyses to student engagement.

The agency's use of commercial capabilities has progressed from being the exception to the default method for many of its missions. The current post-shuttle era of NASA-supported commercial space development has seen a level of technical development comparable to the Apollo era's Space Race. Deploying the 17 commercial space development mechanisms in the future is part of NASA's mission to continue encouraging commercial space activities.

IMAGE: The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov approaches the International Space Station as it orbited 261 miles above Ontario, Canada, near James Bay. Credit: NASA