#save everything else to external backup

[bleaksqueak]

Lmao help me

Chapter 3 isn’t THAT long, but it IS long. The folder is bloated due to backup duplicates and web-ready versions but dmkdfdkjdfkjf

[griefabyss69]

can i ask how you installed linux on your laptop? ive been thinking about doing it for a while but dont really know what i need to do to prep for it

I'm just a beginner too so I totally understand how confusing it all seems but it's not too bad if you take your time! This is going to be as quick as possible, and I'm going to assume you're choosing the Linux Mint version of Linux because it's a widely accepted opinion that it's the best for people new to this OS. (You can always add another version of Linux or change to it later on once you've had success with this!)

Note: You'll need a USB stick with at least 4GB on it, and you will want to have it dedicated to the Linux install

Back everything up! How you do this is up to you. I did it by saving anything important to an External HD (I already have a clean install of windows on a CD). If you don't have a clean install of your current OS, you can burn a restore point to a CD or DVD, or put it on a USB stick. Note: You'll be able to access all of your files on your current harddrive even after partitioning and booting on Linux! So you don't need to make two copies or transfer things over. If you have an account for your browser, sync your tabs/passwords/history/etc for a muuuuch smoother transition! Linux comes with Firefox already installed, so if you don't currently use it but want to make the change, you can port your bookmarks in from Chrome.

Get information about your system: You'll want to know your current OS (mine was Windows 7), what graphics card you have, how much RAM (memory) your computer has, and what kind of booting your system does (BIOS or UEFI), and of course, how much space on your harddrive there is. Note: I use "harddrive" to mean wherever you're installing your OS, some people install it on an external HD, or an SSD and run it from there.

Pick which distribution of Linux to install: While you can install whichever one you want, Linux Mint is the safest bet for someone new to Linux - if your computer can run a Windows or Mac OS, it can run the version of Linux Mint called Cinnamon. And that's the one that's the most user friendly. It's a great way to learn how to use the Terminal (like command prompts on Windows) in a low stress way because you still have the User Interface. It also has a robust community with plenty of information/resources out there! Super helpful. If your computer doesn't have enough space (though Cinnamon does not take up much at all, I think people say something around 165GB for Linux Mint Cinnamon), Mate is smaller and XCFE is the smallest, though they are less beginner friendly.

Decide how you want to install it: Here is an installation guide I used to get Linux Mint. Some of it I had to read a few times and only really understood once I did it, but with my backups I did it without fear. I recommend doing a Dual Boot system if you have the space, partitioning your hard drive is not nearly as complicated as I thought it'd be and also it's good for if Linux doesn't have a version for some programs you like to use. Here's another installation guide, though I think it only focuses on going from Windows to Linux. It has some great tips for post-installation though if you're not going from Windows. It also assumes you didn't pre-partition your harddrive. I partitioned mine before installation so I used the "Something Else" option when it asked me which type of install I wanted. There are instructions on that in the first installation guide! P.s. - If you're on Windows 7, the recommended USB writer program isn't available for you. I used USBImager!

Wrap up any loose ends and do web searches for anything you're not sure of. Bring things up on your phone for reference while you're mid-install. NOTE: When you boot your computer from the USB Stick with Linux Mint on it (I'm assuming other varieties of Linux too?), you have the option to try it out without installing it. Then while you're trying it out if you're ready to install it, there's an icon on the desktop you click. If you don't install it, none of your settings or anything will save and the next time you boot from the USB stick it'll be a fresh version of Linux.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/ There are mountains of information in here! And plenty of them are helpful for beginners. https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/p/first-mint-cinnamon.html This is helpful too!!! The whole site is.

If you don't like how something looks/feels/works, there's probably a system setting for it. Do a Timeshift snapshot when you first install Linux, then one after you've spent time setting everything up! That way you're covered. After you do that second Timeshift you can start looking for programs to install if you'd like! Definitely look up tutorials/etc on that.

Okay I hope this was enough to get your started and cover a lot of bases! Remember to have patience, re-read stuff, take breaks if you're confused, and that like a million people use Linux Mint successfully so once you get through the hard part (pre-install and installing) it's pretty smooth sailing.

Let me know if you have anymore questions!

[greatideas-badwriter]

Worth The Risk-Chapter 17/Finale

Mature content warning!

Externally, Sasuke was angry and quiet as he, Itachi, and Hidan drove to the address Kakashi gave them, but internally, all alarms sounded at full volume, ‘What if he’s already hurt her? What if they’re not even there? What if that prick’s skipped town with her? What if-’ 

“Yahiko said the others are on their way, but they’re about fifteen minutes out,” Itachi said, “We should wait for backup, just to be safe.” 

Hidan argued alongside Sasuke, the silver-haired man’s voice louder, “Like hell, we’re waiting! It’s just one little cuck.” He hit the younger brother’s shoulder from where he sat in the back seat, Itachi driving, “I’ll kick his ass, and you save your pet. What else is there to plan?” 

It took everything in Sasuke not to correct his foul-mouthed friend for incorrectly referring to Sakura. He refrained because he couldn’t let on that he genuinely cared for her and intended to help her escape if it turned out this Naruto person had already shared the incriminating photos. 

Instead, he nodded.

Itachi glanced at his younger brother with a knowing, warning look but said nothing. ‘He wants me to calm down and act rationally, but he knows better by now. When it comes to Sakura, all thoughts leave the chat.’ 

The Uchiha gangster accepted that he’d fallen hard for the pink-haired girl when he realized she hadn’t seen the blonde man behind his back. His heart nearly stopped in his chest due to the panic. More than anything, Sasuke Uchiha was pissed off to the core at the pinkette. 

‘Why didn’t she fuckin’ tell me? Did she think I’d just off her then and there? Surely not. When I find her dumbass….’ His thoughts trailed off as he recalled the many times she’d freaked out thinking she was being followed, and all of the Akatsuki members, him included, told her she was wrong because nothing was found. ‘Even if I didn’t say it to her face, I called her crazy, but she was right all along.’ 

“We’re here,” Itachi interrupted Sasuke’s inner monologue, “I still think we should wait for the others.” 

All three looked ahead to see a small blue house with a red car parked out front. Outwardly, the place seemed empty, but they were going to thoroughly verify that. 

“Nah, fuck that,” Hidan said, opening the door before the car could come to a complete stop. Sasuke followed suit, one hand already wrapping around the gun's grip tucked into the back of his pants. He pointed to the back of the house, and his partner nodded, rushing to search for the back entrance. 

‘Count to ten, then go.’ The younger Uchiha told himself that, but his body acted independently. 

Kicking the front door beside the handle, Sasuke pulled his gun out and pointed it ahead as he entered the house. Dark eyes darted around for any signs of life, only to find none. The sound of Hidan busting down the other door came, as did his footsteps. They met in the kitchen halfway through the house and shared a look. 

The duo moved in tandem with a silent nod toward the hallway where multiple doors awaited. Door one led to a bedroom; empty. Door two led to a spare room full of storage bins; no Sakura. Door three was all that remained. Before they could open it, shouts came from outside. 

They shared a look before hurrying outside to see Itachi had tackled their target to the ground and was in the process of gagging him so he’d stop yelling and drawing attention. When the man’s blue eyes locked onto Sasuke’s, they narrowed confidently, an amused sound leaving his mouth, though muffled. 

‘I’ll kill him.’ 

Sasuke stepped toward him, fingers tightening around his weapon, but Hidan pulled him back, “The fuck are you doing? Go back inside and keep looking. We can handle this.” 

The Uchiha man shared a look with his elder brother before nodding, “Don’t kill him. I want a turn.” 

Then, he reentered the house and rushed to the final door. A dark, sinking feeling met his gut when it led to a dark basement. Even after turning the light on, it was hard to see. Though Naruto had been subdued outside, Sasuke raised his weapon in case the blonde had unknown allies. 

‘It looks like a damn horror story down here.’ 

Once he reached the ground, the man’s gaze shot to every corner of the large basement, only to lock on a white door that was open just a crack, ‘Naruto must’ve heard us and rushed out.’ 

Sasuke prayed for the woman to be behind the door as he slowly crept his way over. His heartbeat pounded loudly in his ears as he nudged the door open further, only to stop completely when he saw Sakura. 

‘Is she…?’ 

The only thing in the small room was a small bed and a camera on a tripod. Pink hair was wild and tangled as she lay there unconsciously. She was naked, blood and bruises dusting a hefty percentage of her bare skin. Ripped clothing was on the floor near the bed. 

“Sakura….” Sasuke could barely get her name out as he gave the outside basement one last glance before coming to kneel at the bedside. She didn’t stir in any way. 

He tucked his gun back into his jeans before carefully rolling her onto her back, repeating her name more firmly. Blood dirtied the corner of the woman’s mouth, originating from the busted lip she was sporting. Dark purple, almost black bruises encircled her wrists, waist, and hips. 

The Uchiha man’s rage was barely contained; the only thing stopping him from going outside to brutally murder Naruto with his bare hands was that Sakura obviously was not okay. He didn’t need a doctor to confirm she’d been raped. It was evident by the blood on her thighs. 

Sakura still didn’t respond, her head lulling lifelessly to the side as he gently shook her. Tears welled in his eyes as he shakily felt her neck for a pulse, squeezing them closed when he found it and confirmed she was alive. 

‘Why isn’t she waking up?’ 

He looked around, momentarily pausing on the camera before realizing nothing confided her to the bed. When he pulled the girl’s hands into his own and inspected her arms, he confirmed his suspicion. Something had been injected to keep her submissive. 

It was all registering slowly in Sasuke’s mind, but his bewildered state was interrupted by Itachi’s panicked voice coming from the doorway, “Oh, God, is she alive?” 

Sasuke looked up at his brother with teary eyes as he came to kneel at his side. His mouth opened, but no words came out, so he nodded. 

Itachi quickly realized his little brother was in shock and rose, “Get something to cover her up so we can move her. I’ll grab the camera.” 

Snapping out of it, Sasuke fumbled to remove his coat, maneuvered the unconscious woman to wear it, and zipped it up so her body wasn’t visible to the world. 

The elder brother picked up the woman’s torn clothes, careful not to leave any evidence that could be quickly removed, before nodding toward the door, “Let’s go. There’s a chance one of the neighbors heard that guy yelling earlier. The police could be on their way.” 

Unable to speak, he obeyed by carefully picking Sakura up. Her head fell slack as though she wasn’t alive at all, making him more concerned even though he knew she wasn’t dead. 

As the pair left the house, Hidan came to help them get her in the car before joining the others in the backup van where Naruto had been tied up. Itachi spoke on the phone while pulling away from the curb as though they were being chased, “Tell Zetsu we’re on our way. It’s worse than we expected.” 

In the better lighting, Sasuke’s brow furrowed. He sat in the backseat, still holding Sakura, so when they arrived, all he’d have to do was slide out and hurry inside. 

Not a single part of him was angry with her at this point. How could he be when she looked like this? ‘I don’t care anymore, just don’t fuckin’ die, or I’ll never forgive you,’ he thought as though the woman could hear. 

Upon arriving at the house, Sasuke carried her down into the basement, where she’d never been granted access. It was where Zetsu’s makeshift hospital was located if it could even be considered that. The green-haired man gestured for him to lay her down on the one and only bed, not hesitating to unzip the coat and begin inspecting her body. 

His low, monotone voice asked, “Tell me everything you know.” 

Sasuke answered, feeling like he was watching the scene in the third person, “He shot her up with something. She’s not responding.” Everything else was obvious to him, so it definitely was to someone at least decently skilled in first aid. 

A ruckus was heard near the stairs, and the Uchiha turned to see Hidan, Itachi, and Tobi shoving Naruto forward. Then Sasuke’s rage was boiling like magma. They pushed him to the ground when they noticed the Uchiha approaching. 

Itachi pulled the camera from his back pocket, mumbling, “I’ll get this to Zetsu.” Hidan’s glare was on the blonde man trying to get free on the floor, while Tobi was looking toward where their ally was hooking Sakura up to an IV with concern on his features. 

“You're gonna fuckin' pay for this,” Sasuke growled, grabbing Naruto’s bound hands and dragging him off toward the soundproofed room where they kept those likely to scream.

~

One moment, Sakura was weakly trying to pull her arm from Naruto’s grasp as he attempted to stick her with a syringe, and the next, her eyes crept open to an unfamiliar ceiling. Her thoughts were muddled, and her body felt numb and full of clouds. When she blinked, the process was slow. 

‘Naruto drugged me so he could move me to a different location, didn’t he?’ 

The tiny hope that she’d somehow find a way to escape evaporated. They didn’t leave that awful room from the moment they arrived at his rental. By the time the blonde man was satisfied he’d properly taught her a lesson, Sakura was in hysterics and too panicked to correct her breathing. At the same time, she’d been too weak to even stand. The woman had fought her ex-boyfriend with all she had for hours, though it proved fruitless. 

‘Why did I do that? Wouldn’t it be best to let him kill me now so I don’t have to go through that anymore?’ 

Dazed green eyes filled with hopeless tears that overflowed to slowly run down the sides of her face and into the long pink hair on the pillow. Sakura desperately wanted to have someone she could imagine rescuing her or giving her a reason to live, but after cutting Sasuke, her parents, and all her old friends out of her life, no one remained. 

‘I’m pathetic.’ 

The sensation of teeth gnawing at her heart made it hard to inhale, not that she was trying all that hard. If she suffocated and died, she’d be grateful not to have seen Naruto’s face again. 

Even if she somehow escapes him again, he’ll just hunt her down once more. It’ll never end, and Sakura didn’t have it in her to fight any longer. 

‘I’m tired. I want to rest. I want-!’ 

It felt like lifting a twenty-pound weight, but Sakura raised a hand to cover her mouth and muffle her weak sobs. Pretty green eyes were wide with fright as she worried her tormentor would hear and realize she’d woken. 

‘Why am I trying so hard to live? There’s nothing to live for!’ Sakura thought that, but it didn’t change her sense of self-preservation.

Trembling in panic, the woman turned her head to look around, not recognizing the large room. When her gaze landed on the form of a man sitting at a nearby desk with his arms crossed and his head resting atop them as he appeared to sleep, the pulse in her veins blared in her ears. 

‘He’s asleep. If I’m quick and quiet, I may be able to sneak away.’ 

Her vision was unsteady and blurry, likely due to the drugs being sent through the IV in her other arm. 

Careful not to move too suddenly or make noise, she tore the tape and needle from her skin, sitting up and letting her bare feet touch the concrete ground. A thin, pastel blue bathrobe covered her body, much too big for her petite frame and doing little to buffer the cold air. 

With as much focus as possible, Sakura kept her gaze on the sleeping man across the room as she stood, swaying slightly and placing a hand on the foot of the bed to stop herself from falling. 

Tears fell faster as she choked on a gasp when the man suddenly snored, tricking her into thinking he was awake for a millisecond. 

Muffling her weak sobs with one hand, a sense of urgency swept over the woman. She sacrificed some caution for the courage to move. Almost immediately, she lost balance in her drugged state and stumbled, bending to catch herself with one hand before pushing herself upright again. 

Bandages covered a few of her fingers and spots on her arms and legs, but she paid them no mind as she fumbled down the dark hallway at the room's exit. Even with her free hand on the wall for balance, she stumbled and tripped in panic. Pink hair flowed around her shoulders, falling into her face because there was no time to fix it. 

At the end of the hallway, she saw what looked like a staircase in her blurry, wavering vision, and hope dared to rise in her chest. Then, it disappeared just as swiftly when she heard her name called from the room she’d fled. 

‘Fuck, he’s coming! Run! Hurry or he’ll kill you!’ 

In a state of desperation, Sakura’s balance worsened, but so did her will to escape and live, so she didn’t let it stop her and kept moving no matter how many times she stumbled until she finally reaching the foot of the stairs. 

“Sakura, stop!” 

Her hand left her mouth as she tripped up the stairs, using both of them to crawl frantically up the steps toward the door at the top. Sobs fell loudly from her lips, tears blurring her already dangerously poor vision. 

Nearing the top, the woman heard footsteps on the stairs behind her. She grabbed the handle and turned it, only for her other wrist to be caught. With every ounce of energy possible, Sakura pulled her limb from the man, only to fall to the ground when it slid from his grasp, the door flying open due to the weight. Scrambling away, she shoved off the floor with her hands to get herself upright and began running again, only to be tackled by the man chasing her. 

‘I’m dead.’ 

Every ounce of bravery left Sakura, then, and she curled into as much of a ball with the man attempting to pin her arms to the ground and trembled in fright, crying softly while awaiting retaliation for the escape attempt. 

“Someone get me a syringe of….” 

“Tell him she’s….” 

In her hysteria, Sakura could only comprehend parts of Naruto’s sentences as he remained hovering over her, just one hand pressing against her shoulder to keep her down as she lay on her side with her arms wrapped defensively around herself. She couldn’t even bear to open her eyes, keeping them squeezed shut because she didn’t want the last thing she saw before dying to be Naruto’s god-awful face. 

The pressure holding her down disappeared a minute later, but the woman didn’t move because it was probably a trick. She was dizzy, weak, and terrified. 

“Sakura, hey. It’s alright.” 

Green eyes shot open, her breath catching in her throat when she recognized the voice that’d spoken calmingly as not Naruto’s. As slow as the setting sun, Sakura came out of her ball and sat up with one arm holding her weight as she lifted her gaze to the source of the sound. 

Dark eyes, focused with concern. 

Black hair, cute and messy from its owner having been asleep. 

‘It’s not….It’s not Naruto.’ 

The gorgeous man crouched before her and carefully offered his hand, not making any sudden moves so as not to scare her as he whispered, “You’re alright. No one’s gonna hurt you.” 

Shaking almost violently, Sakura glanced between the hand and his face a few times before hesitantly laying hers in it. Long fingers gently wrapped around her smaller hand. 

It was like the warmth cleared the clouds in her mind, and she realized who was trying to soothe her fear, “...Sasuke…?” 

He nodded, lips turning into the slightest hint of a smirk as he tilted his head and offered his other hand, “You know I won't let anyone hurt you, right?” 

Sakura unsteadily maneuvered herself onto her knees to give him her other hand without falling to the floor again. The man held it as lightly as the other for a moment before furrowing his brow, “C’mere, Babe. You don’t need to worry anymore. I’ve got you.” 

When he cautiously pulled to guide the trembling woman closer, she finally relented and allowed him to pull her into his arms. Then, it was like his words were law. Sakura knew the strong man holding her so tightly wouldn’t hurt her. Still slightly shaking, she buried her face in his shoulder, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt as she cried. 

~

Sasuke waved off Zetsu and Itachi, who were approaching with an emergency sedative. The trembling woman in his arms wasn’t going to freak out again. He recognized the severe relief in her eyes. Sakura knew she wasn’t in danger anymore. 

Careful not to jostle her too much, the man maneuvered her in his arms so he could pick her up. 

Itachi woke him from a dead sleep moments ago, saying she’d woken up and was trying to run away. His first thought was that she hated him for how he’d abandoned her, and that’s why she was fleeing, so she wouldn’t have to see his face again. Upon seeing her shaking like a leaf on the ground, though, he realized she had no idea where she was or who she was with. 

“Are you taking her upstairs?” Zetsu asked. Itachi also awaited a response with an attentive face. 

Sasuke nodded, keeping his voice low to not startle Sakura, “Back to bed.”

In his room, the man’s calm demeanor threatened to fall because he wasn’t sure what to say or do now that they were alone. ‘Is she okay? She was out for over twenty-four hours.’ He carefully lay her on the bed, only for her arms to tighten around his shoulders. 

That now-familiar warmth met his chest when she whispered, “Thank you. I-I’m sorry.” 

A warm hum left his chest as he laid down with her, pulling the blankets over them with one hand, ‘What she means is ‘Please don’t go’.’ 

“I told you to take advantage of me anytime, didn’t I?” 

Sakura pulled back, moving her hands to his chest. It was apparent by the cloudy, unfocused look in her eye that she was still affected by the drugs from the IV, but she was conscious enough to speak coherently, “What happened?” 

Sasuke’s teeth gritted as he recalled the bloody mess he’d left that blonde bastard in before bed last night. ‘He’s not dead yet. There’s no way I’ll let him off that easy.’ It wasn’t on purpose, but he’d caught a glimpse of the computer while Zetsu reviewed the footage on the camera. The green-haired man only watched it to verify the nature of Sakura’s injuries, but the Uchiha wanted to catch fire to the world from just the two seconds he saw. 

‘I’ll make him beg me to kill him.’ 

Honestly, Sasuke was considering finding someone willing to do to Naruto what he’d done to Sakura just so he’d know what it felt like, but he hadn’t decided yet if he wanted to stoop that low.

Deciding not to worry the traumatized woman in his arms further, he said, “All you need to know is that he won’t ever bother you again.” 

Sakura searched his face for a moment before she breathed out as though the words would harm her if she didn’t get them out, “I only went with him because-” “I know, Sakura.” 

“...Can you promise me something?” 

The man nodded, curious. 

That pretty blush met her cheeks, but the topic was too serious to pay it much mind. She averted her gaze to his chest, voice quieter than before, “Don’t treat me differently because of this. I’m still me. We’re still the same-” 

He pressed his lips into her hair, pulling her closer to his chest, “I can’t completely agree.” 

Sakura made a slight sound of unease but said nothing. 

Rolling his eyes at how cheesy he was being, Sasuke mumbled, “We weren’t dating before.” 

The woman pulled back with wide eyes, “D-Dating?” 

He snickered, joking, “You’re not even gonna give me a damn chance, at least? Harsh.” 

She tried not to smile but failed, shaking her head and hiding her face in his shirt again, “...I didn’t say that. It’s just risky because, um, well, you know.” 

Sasuke scoffed, “I’ll leave Oto and Akatsuki if that’s what it takes for you to say yes.” 

‘I said it. I guess now she knows.’ The man didn’t let it show, but he was nervous. If she rejected him, he’d be distraught. 

“Do you really mean that?” Sakura’s grip on his shirt tightened as she waited for his response. 

He closed his eyes, running his fingers through her soft, pink hair while mimicking her earlier remark, “It’s risky, but I think it’s worth it.” 

She remained silent for a long time before slowly wrapping an arm around him and speaking at a barely audible volume, “Let’s stay here. Together. At least for now.” 

Sasuke was so surprised that he smiled, actually smiled, not the cocky fake one he always uses.

~~The End~~

Hope you enjoyed my first-ever attempt at fanfiction! Please let me know if you have any advice/pointers. My ears and eyes are open for creative criticism!

[dreamcatcher-roulette]

I've had your post up in a separate tab for ages, but life 😮‍💨😅

Just wanted to say I appreciate the in-depth response about RAID (and cosmic rays!) and especially the S.M.A.R.T. article - it'll come in handy as I'm quite complacent 😅 about my personal backups (I think my music files have the most "redundancy" via iPods 🤡)

*I dunno if you'll find it interesting, but the OP's schadenfreude in this Reddit post was amusing to me, at least 😅

https://www.reddit.com/r/Netsuite/s/Bxu6bFnrkS

But tbh, even for the outage referenced, 🤡 I would've been more angsty about the potential hours! of productivity lost (i.e. bc users getting anxious about deadlines, etc.) rather than the potential that our data pre-incident would be corrupted or lost.

Anyways, in any case! Thank you for sharing your tangents! I hope you're doing well!

Ahh what a great honour to be a long standing open tab. Funnily enough I started drafting this yesterday and got distracted from it as well. My original response to how I’m doing was going to be “semi patiently waiting for the Dreamcatcher comeback announcement” but since then we got Fromm messages saying probably not until at least June (noooooo) and now I'm also neck deep in ACC, much to my dismay. I have nothing intelligent to say about batteries, they’re complete mysteries to me as well, but they sure do exist. Unfortunately.

Anyway! I do have things to say about backups. Below the cut 😉

The thing about backups is that you can definitely get way deeper than you need to, I think it’s mostly important to be aware and comfortable with your level of risk. The majority of people don’t hold too much irreplaceable data on their personal computers, and the data that does come under that category often fits within free or cheap tiers of cloud backup providers. Before I had my current setup I used to take a less structured approach to backups. I sorted my data into three categories:

Replaceable, which encompasses things like applications and games which can be re-downloaded from the internet (and, if the original download source were no longer available, this would not be a huge deal);

Irreplaceable but not catastrophic, which encompasses things like game saves, half finished software projects, screenshots I've taken etc; and

Irreplaceable and catastrophic, which encompasses things like legal documents but also select few items from category 2 I'm just very personally attached to.

Category 1 items I had on a single hard drive, category 2 items I copied over selectively to a second every now and then when I got struck with a particularly large wave of paranoia, and category 3 items I did the same but with the additional step of scattering them through various cloud providers as well. Now that I have an actual redundant drive setup in a server I have Kopia running on my personal computer to periodically back up everything that isn’t on my SSD, but I still rely on those external cloud providers for offsite backups.

It’s important to note my setup is ultimately designed with hardware reliability engineering in mind but those aren’t the only factors at play when thinking about backups, especially for enterprises. That Reddit thread is hilarious and I can see exactly where both sides are coming from, it’s a common enough disagreement between people of different departments. Senior software engineers tend to be paranoid old bastards who loathe to trust anyone else's code, which is in direct opposition to so many “software as a service” business models these days. But from a business perspective it makes complete sense to always have your own copy of the data as well, even if it isn’t the copy being used. It’s not just loss of productivity (although I agree that’s the most likely extent of any service down time) but often there are legal obligations on keeping records of certain types of work, and, while I’m pretty sure a company could win a court battle to absolve itself of responsibility in the event of a trusted third party being the one to drop the ball, that’s not the kind of argument you even want to risk getting into when there’s such a simple extra safeguard that could be put in place.

My assessment of the risks of my own backup solution of course has a MUCH lower threshold for striking out controls based on cost. I'm a hobbyist after all, this whole thing does not generate money it only takes it. Most notably I don’t have any full offsite backups, which leaves me vulnerable to near total data loss in the unlikely event of a house fire or someone breaking in and just picking up and leaving with the whole lot. The problem with defending against either of these scenarios with a “proper” 3-2-1 backup strategy is that the first server already cost me enough, I don’t want to go investing almost the same amount into a second one to stick somewhere else! And paying any cloud provider to host terabytes is no friendlier on the wallet.

There’s also the issue of airgaps, which is something enterprises need to think about but I do not have any desire to entertain. If a bad actor were to infiltrate my network in such a way that gave them root access to the server hosting all my data I would have no ability to restore from a ransomware attack. Of course this scenario is very unlikely, I’m already doing a lot to mitigate the risk of a cyber attack because running my services securely doesn’t incur additional costs (just additional time, which does mean I haven’t implemented everything possible, just enough to be comfortable there are no glaring holes), but it’s still something I am conscious of when running something which is exposed (in a small way) to the internet. Cybersecurity is also a whole separate but interesting topic that I’m by no means an expert in but enjoy putting into practise (unlike BATTERIES. God. What is wrong with electrical engineers (I say this with love, I work with many of them)).

In conclusion, coming back to how this relates to my dreamcatcher images blog, you can rest assured that my collection of rare recordings is about as safe as my collection of rare albums is, in that, barring a large scale disaster, they should be safe as long as I want to keep them. Which is hopefully going to be a very long time indeed, because I don’t just enjoy the process I also enjoy the content I’m preserving. But the average person probably doesn’t need to put the same level of effort into archiving — Google and Microsoft’s cloud services have much more redundancy than a home setup could ever achieve and can hold all the essentials (like the backup of the Minecraft server on which you met your oldest friends, for example).

[kittycatcrackhead]

i'm genuinely considering switching to linux

i'm still using windows 10 rn, and i don't think i can upgrade to 11 because i need to enable tpm 2.0. i don't even fucking know what that is lol

on a more serious note, i genuinely want to learn everything that i can about linux, and computers in general before i ditch windows 10 (whether it'll be for linux or windows 11, only time will tell)

I really don't want that goddamn spyware that windows 11 has, and ik you have to go thru powershell to disable it. i'm good enough with computer stuff for that yet.

my dad works in IT, and he could probably do all of the important stuff, buuuuuuuuuut i don't want him touching my pc because i've got stuff on here that would make my parents very disappointed in me (just nsfw drawings that i keep on here as a backup in case my ipad dies)

even if i somehow have to lose everything on this pc when i switch, it doesn't bother me too bad, since all that i have that's worth saving is some pictures i took with my canon, and didn't save anywhere else, and those can easily be saved to a thumb drive. I've got some shows n stuff that i need to save to an external device anyways lol

most of what i do is online, and can be accessed through various accounts. i have some indie games that i've downloaded, but those can probably be transferred to thumb drive as well, since they're not very big. as much as i love video games, i don't play very many on my pc.

anyways there's my long-ass ramble about pc stuff that i don't know jack shit about lmao

[inaliakitsune]

~2025 New Year Update!~

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Starting off this new year with a somewhat big update! Unfortunately, not all of it is good news....

Commissions Open for TFCon LA '25 

10 slots open

If you're interested in a commission for convention pick up, then please head over to the commissions page to snag your slot!~

These will only be open before the con. No at con commissions will be taken this year outside of digital commissions.

Store Status

Due to the issue with my artwork (its still being worked on, please continue reading the next section for more.) things are slow. The Etsy shop is open but the Ko-Fi shop will remain closed until after TFCon LA '25 as of now. If that changes then I will let you all know!

If you'd like to pick up your Etsy order at TFCon LA '25 then be sure to enter the following coupon code at checkout: TFCONLA25

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheKitsunesKafe

Art Update

Due to unfortunate circumstances, I have been set back a ton. Something happened on 1/1/25 that caused my external hard drive to do a reformat, causing all of the files to be deleted. I did not catch it in time and everything was wiped. Both of the places where backup files should have been were empty and I'm not sure why. I spent all of the 1st and all of the 2nd trying to recover anything that I could. Its been a long process and everything is currently still gone outside of a few random files here and there.

I have lost personal artwork (literally everything back to 2019), commissions and gifts from people that I'm not sure I have saved anywhere else, zines i purchased, personal photos and so much more. I am going to try to use a program to recover as many files as possible over the next little while but its slow and not guaranteed. 

What does that mean from here on out? I have to remake everything merch wise. Anything previously ordered through my manus is safe and I can still order it from them while I work on recovering/redoing everything. I will have to go through and find/save all of my full pieces and just be content that I have them and not the editable files. I also have to search for everything else I had saved as commissions/gifts, zines, fanfics on A03 (if their creators didn't delete the fics) and more....

With TFCon La '25 coming up, I'm currently prioritizing getting new merch made for that. I will be working as quickly as I can to redo the Terran Peekers so I can hopefully get those out to you all rather soon whether as pre-orders or at the convention and in the shop immediately afterwards. I have a large line of merch I'm making for the con. I also have to restart on all of my advertisement graphics for the convention which is going to be rather time consuming. I will be trying to work on owed art in between and will be reaching out to people who have commissioned me that I havent finished things for but anything I started on is gone, I have to completely restart if I didnt finish and get the final pieces to you already...Again, all of this is going to be extremely time consuming.....

The merch club is changing. I was playing with this idea anyways but in order to now correct things after the external drive wipe, I have to. There will be a post here, on Ko‑fi and on the same that correspond with the merch club when I have something written up and ready to go. Rewards for members here/on the main Ko‑fi page might also be changing but I want to see what all I can get figured out elsewhere before I resort to messing with that. 

Rewards are in the works for the Kickstarter! I'm waiting for the prototypes to be colored and will be posting an update on the Kickstarter page here soon hopefully. 

I might be quiet most days between my current depression over everything in regards to this and still not having my job fixed but I will be around. If you need me please send me a DM or an email at inaliasart@gmail.com

Thank you all for your continued support! It truly means the world to me that you've stuck around this long!~ <3

[kaoarika]

Hoping it's my last "migration data is a nightmare" day entry, but... I'm SOOOOO CLOSE! SO CLOSE.

I also hope I don't have to put those files into the new laptop (yet) and leave them in the USBs for the close future... unless I finally get the external disk asap. It does pain me dumping everything here that is not "essential" to my work flow, and all that. Like, I know the "migration mode" laptop still works to a T, and basically it's also like a "backup" of sorts that eases and saves me two or three steps to get EVERYTHING (10 years of stuff) unless smth fails *knocking on wood for this to not happen* and I have to repeat the entire process.

I am glad I'm almost at the end line, but man I wouldn't be kidding in saying that it still feels somewhat bittersweet, I think? I don't know how is going to be that laptop's behavior as I unplug the charger and don't turn it off for days... I DO know it is a little erratic and forces me to restart it because it fails to recognize that the battery is no more and tells me it "is charging" when it's not (I know this especially when I am forced to unplug and carry the laptop out of the house, and if I unplug it and plug it immediately, this tend to happen? I dunno how to explain it much better in English). So, there's that, I guess.

I seriously didn't want to go through this, but I tend to procrastinate things and this is one of those that I would have been doing if I didn't have that couple of jumpscares, I feel.

This, however, has given me some downsides. I feel that I have been on automatic mode the last few days, regardless of sleeping well for a couple of days. This has drained me so much. I get ppl will not get me and my stubborness about all of this, but it's accompanied with a sinking feeling that doesn't leave me alone for a while. I still think it's related to some kind of trauma baggage.

The other downside is that I haven't done much besides, maybe, watching videos and other stuff. It really drains my energy to do other things (and avoiding to do something in the other laptop at the moment I was transferring stuff is pain)... and even so. I want to slowly come back to everything I was planning to do since last week :')

But then I am finding a couple of other overwhelming stuff: installing the Intuos driver, installing FireAlpaca and my long-desired-attempt for CSP (and that one license I bought some time ago... I remember reading back then that yeah, the license is supposed to work as I "own it" and "bought it"... but never installed it in the first place 😬😬... it's been five years |D). And I dunno how W11 will react to all of this :))) I'm lucky this laptop has some warranty if something DOES happen... but I will not give in to put a not-so-legal version of W11 (or below that), you get me? dfdkfkdsfdflkl, I really hope nothing else happens... 😭😭😭

(The CSP situation is that, with all of their changes to a new subscription, I'm not even sure how that works? I remember reading WAAAAY when they were introducing these changes, there wasn't going to be much of a problem... but... well... did I ever mention smth about "I bought it in sale, yet for sooooome stupid reason from my side, I paid the ENTIRE price of it, and I couldn't ask for a refund of one of these because my bank and the company that sells the CSP license were each other passing the ball as hot potato? :))))"

[techtired]

How to Replace a Dell Hard Drive Seamlessly with DiscTech

When it comes to IT, what they say is true: a failing hard drive is the last thing you want. Whether you’re an IT professional or someone who knows their way around laptops, you must know how to deal with these situations. In this article, we will teach you everything about replacing your Dell laptop hard drive so that you can be prepared and ensure that your system keeps running smoothly. We will cover everything from identifying signs of failure to selecting the most appropriate replacement, steps involved in the actual replacement process, and tips on avoiding common mistakes made during this process. We shall also introduce you to the range of Dell replacement drives by DiscTech and their benefits. Signs of Failure for a Dell Hard Drive Identifying early when a hard disk fails can save one from losing data and experiencing system downtime. Here are some things that could signal that your Dell Hard Drive may be doomed: Unusual Noises If your Dell laptop begins generating clicking or grinding sounds, it might mean its deathbed has arrived already. These noises usually occur due to mechanical problems within the drive; hence, they should not be taken lightly. Frequent Freezing and Crashes This is another strong indication that something could be wrong with either part or whole of the storage device attached to any laptop system – not only Dells but also other brands. When such happens, even after ensuring enough RAM space plus clean OS installation, it’s time to consider replacing their hard disk drive (HDD). S.M.A.R.T Errors S.M.A.R.T stands for Self-Monitoring Analysis Reporting Technology, which every modern-day Dell PC comes equipped with, among other things, being responsible for notifying users of potential failures on their respective drives once detected, thereby allowing them to back up data immediately while preparing themselves mentally and financially, towards purchasing new storage media. So, if you receive this error message at any point, don’t waste even a minute, but act fast by backing everything up as soon as possible. Steps to Replacing a Dell Laptop Hard Drive If followed correctly, replacing the Dell Hard Drive is straightforward, just like taking candy from a baby, provided one follows these steps religiously: Backup your data Before you begin the replacement, ensure all your important files have been backed up onto an external drive or cloud storage. This should be done before anything else so that no relevant information gets lost forever in changing drives. Tools you need To change Dell hard disks, use the following items: Small Phillips screwdriver Anti-static wrist strap (to protect against static damage) Replacement hard disk drive Perform replacement instructions. Turn Off and Unplug Your Laptop: Ensure it’s entirely powered off, then unplug from any power source. Remove Battery: Take out the battery for safety purposes, especially when working on delicate components found inside laptops or electronic gadgets, which can easily get damaged by electric current flow if not appropriately handled during repairs or maintenance tasks. Accessing HDD Compartment: Most models have compartments at the bottom side near the rear end portion, where air vents are usually positioned; therefore, the cover is unscrewed to gain full access into the HDD bay area. Take Out Old Disk: Carefully disconnect and then pull out the old hard disk from its slot since it may be firmly held in place with screws or other retaining clips depending upon the design used by the manufacturer when making the particular model being serviced at hand right now. Insert New Drive: Firmly push the new replacement into space until a snug fit is achieved between connectors contacts both sides where they meet each other securely, ensuring good electrical contact is established between host system board controller interface SATA power connector pins plus data transfer cable plug terminals located within the vicinity of this newly installed unit. Reassemble the laptop: screw the compartment cover back on, reinsert the battery, and plug in the laptop. Then, power on the laptop once everything is done. SSD vs. HDD Decide between a Solid State Drive (SSD) and a Hard Disk Drive (HDD). SSDs are faster and more reliable but can be expensive. HDDs offer storage for less money but are slower and more prone to mechanical failures. Storage Capacity Select the amount of storage space you need to complete your work. If you handle big files or apps, go for higher-capacity drives. Tips for Successful Dell Hard Drive Replacement Here are some tips that will make the replacement process easier: Handle with care. Hard drives can be easily damaged when mishandled, so treat them gently. Ground yourself with an anti-static wrist strap to prevent static electricity from damaging the drive. Follow the manufacturer's guidelines. Always replace the hard drive according to the manufacturer's instructions. Refer to your Dell laptop manual for specific directions on how-to. Test the new drive. When you’re through installing it, power up your laptop with the new drive inside it, then check if the system recognizes it and works properly, too. Install the operating system and restore backed-up data. Common Mistakes to Avoid During a Dell Hard Drive Replacement Skipping Data Backup Never skip the data backup step, as this can lead to losing all information stored in laptop memory, including essential files or documents. Using the Wrong Tools Using the wrong tools could damage either the laptop parts themselves or even the whole device altogether, thus rendering it useless continually; therefore, ensure that before beginning any procedure, always have proper screwdriver sizes along with anti-static equipment handy just in case needed during repairs, etcetera. Ignoring static precautions You should not ignore static precautions since failing so could expose brand new hard disk drives to electric charges, thereby damaging them beyond repairability; instead, utilize anti-static wrist straps whenever necessary, together with working areas covered by non-conductive materials such as wood, etcetera, while handling delicate electronics like laptop, which are sensitive towards ESD events occurring nearby their components, etcetera. Benefits of Using DiscTech for Your Dell Hard Drive Replacement DiscTech offers several advantages over other service providers when it comes to Dell hard drive replacement: Wide Selection of Drives Customers can choose from a wide array of Dell replacement hard drives provided by DiscTech, including SSDs and HDDs; therefore, one can always find something that suits their needs in terms of specifications plus cost. Quality Assurance All DiscTech drives undergo thorough checking to ensure they meet quality standards within the industry, thus making them more reliable than those not subjected to such processes before being sold into the market. DiscTech’s Range of Dell Replacement Hard Drives For exact instructions on installation, please refer to the previous section about replacing a hard drive on a Dell laptop. If you have any problems, the support team at DiscTech is here to assist you. Enjoy your system that has been upgraded. Once installed, this new hard drive will increase the performance and dependability of your laptop by providing faster speeds, more storage space, and a smoother computing experience overall. Conclusion Replacing a Dell Laptop's Hard Drive with proper guidance and tools is achievable. Follow all the steps in this tutorial for a successful replacement process and enjoy a new, efficient hard disk drive (HDD). Many different high-quality replacements are available from DiscTech for various needs with Dell products. Their knowledgeable staff and reliable items will give you confidence when upgrading systems like these. Do you want better performance out of your Dell laptop? Then check out some replacement HDDs made specifically by DiscTech today so that everything runs as smoothly as possible. Read the full article

[lickoutyourbrains]

The past five years worth of my art files, writing, videos and everything else I've been saving is possibly gone forever.

My hard-drive has fully killed itself and I cannot find my external backup drive since it wasn't unpacked after we moved a few months ago.

The computer repair people said they're going to try their best to recover my files but I'm in an anxious spiral right now so much could be fucking GONE.

[ragana62]

And importantly: Don’t wait until it’s too late to build these backups. The internet is wonderful, everything at your fingertips in an instant, and we all like to joke about how nothing gets erased from the internet. Censorship is the magic eraser.

So if there are fics or art you love and don’t want to lose, download them and make your own digital library (external hard drives are your friends if you can get one!), take up binding if you can afford it for physical copies, save them! If there are creators you love, friends you only have on the internet, GET MULTIPLE FORMS OF CONTACT FOR THEM (email, PO Boxes for snail mail, phone numbers, discords, whatever you’ve got) and make plans for how to stay in touch!

Punk ethos is your friend here, so strap on your ass kicking boots and get to walking. Build your communities and build them escape routes. GET HARD COPIES OF MEDIA YOU CARE ABOUT (People have been saying this since streaming started purging content but it’s true here too, even things like Dropbox/drive are online which means at some point if this continues they too could be subject to being targeted so get a million little flash drives or an external hard drive or take full advantage of your local library’s printer, or whatever else you can).

THIS APPLIES TO INFORMATION TOO. They’re not just coming for fanfic and queer art, they’re coming for ALL OF IT, so make your new library a nonfiction section as well. So maybe you don’t need that list of phone numbers for reproductive rights groups that will help people travel out of state safely to access care right now but if you think someday you might know someone who would, write them down! Maybe you don’t need to know how to safely bind your own chest or what good protocol for safely participating in different kink is, but if you think you might someday know someone who will now’s the time to collect that information somewhere that isn’t just your bookmarks! Or the contact info for your local ACLU office/known lawyers in the community who will help if you get arrested at a protest/local immigration rights lawyers who speak multiple languages/local doctors who will perform sterilization procedures and under what circumstances if birth control becomes inaccessible in your state/anyone else important to know that have already been vetted by the community as safe to work with! Or literally EVERYTHING good and important to know just in case! They might not always stay the same forever, but at least it’s a start, and maybe they’ll know who to add to your list as well.

I’m not trying to fearmonger, but this isn’t good and this is just the start. So brace for impact and get ready to go back to the basics if you have to. Hopefully we won’t, but if we do, it’s better to be prepared. And if you’re in my network and want to make sure we don’t lose touch, my DMs are open and I’m happy to make sure we’ve got options!

If KOSA passes

Or if any other form of censorship (there are many in the works!) ever succeeds at stepping in to impede our ability to communicate online:

We have to make plans.

Now, I dunno who'll even see this post. The few followers I have are TRON fans (who despite the fantasy we live in, tend to have realistically dismal views IRL about Disney and the various corporate uses of software).

And this fandom, on average, is pretty tech-savvy. It's where I've encountered the most people under 20 years old who actually know how to use a desktop or laptop computer.

So, if there's any hope for what I'm thinking about, this is prolly a good place to start with it.

(As with all my posts, I encourage reblogging and containment-breaching.)

(Gifs are clips from TRON 1982, mainly the "deleted love scene," from the DVD extras.)

Anyway.

Current society has moved online communication much too far onto major social media sites for my comfort. Whoever you communicate with over the internet, chances are you do it through a service owned by a big company: Tumblr, Twitter, Discord, Telegram, Facebook, whatever. Even TikTok (shudder).

These sites, despite their many flaws, can provide experiences that are valuable and hard to get otherwise. And once all your friends are on one site, you can't just leave and stay in touch with them all, not unless they all go the same place. It's easy to see why it's hard to abandon any social media platform.

But a backup plan is important. Because, as we've seen over and over, social media sites can't be relied on. They change their policies suddenly, without good reason-- and are inconsistent, even discriminatory, about enforcing those policies.

If they're funded by ads, the advertisers are their main customers, and your posts are the product. Their goal is that the posts most valuable to the advertisers get seen by people the advertisers consider desirable customers.

Helping you communicate-- making your posts get seen by the people you want to communicate with-- is optional to them.

Not to mention that the whole business model of an ad-funded website is generally unsustainable. Many of these sites are operating at a loss, relying on shareholders in a fragile bubble, doomed to fail soon just from lack of real profit.

And the more restrictions --like KOSA-- that the law puts on freedom of online speech, the likelier they are to go down or just become unusable. Every rule a site is required to follow is another strain on its resources, and most of them are already failing badly at even enforcing their own self-imposed rules.

If we want any control over our continued ability to stay in touch with our online friends-- we need to have a backup plan. Maybe it'll be simple at first, a bare-bones system we cobble together-- but it's gotta be something that will work. For a while at least.

There are lots of really good posts about ways to build your own website, using a service like Neocities. I VERY MUCH recommend learning this skill-- learning to make websites of the very simplest, most stable, glitch-resistant type, made of html pages-- which you can upload to a host while you store backups on your home computer. If you value the writing and art that you put online, this is probably the safest you can keep it.

But that's for making your own creative work public.

As for communicating with others-- for example, receiving and answering other people's comments on your work-- that gets more complex. I personally haven't found it worthwhile to troubleshoot the problems that come with having a system that allows visitors to comment publicly on my website.

But what we do still have-- and likely will for a long time-- is email.

Those of us who came of age before social media's current hold... well, we might take this for granted. Email was the first form of online contact we ever encountered… and thus it can seem to us like the most ordinary, the most boring.

But in the current world, it is a rare and precious thing to find a method of communicating that doesn't require everyone in the chat to be signed on with the same corporation.

Email is, as of now, still perfectly legal-- as much as social media companies have been trying to herd the populace away from it. I'm sure there are other ways to share thoughts online that are not bound by laws. But I am not going to go into that here.

Email service is provided by law-abiding companies, which will comply with subpoenas if law enforcement thinks you are emailing about doing illegal things. So, email is not a surefire way to be safe, if laws become dystopian enough to threaten your freedom to talk about your own life and identity.

But it's safer than posting on a public social media page.

For now.

Email is beautifully decentralized. You can get an email address many different ways-- some reliant on a company like Gmail, others hosted on your own domain. And different people, with all different types of email addresses, hosted in all different ways-- can all communicate together by the same method.

Of course any of these people, individually, can lose their email address for some reason or other, and have to get a new one. But as long as they still know the email addresses of their contacts, they can reconnect and recover from that loss. The structure of a group linked by email is reliant not on a single company-- but on the group itself, the friends you can actually count on.

This is why I am trying to promote the idea of forming email lists, as a backup plan to give people a way to stay in touch as mainstream social media sites prove to be unsustainable.

I'm envisioning a simple system of sending emails to several addresses at once, and making each reply visible to everyone in the chat by using "reply all" (or, if desired, editing the To field to reply to only some).

If enough people get used to using email in this way, it could fill most of the needs met by any other group chat or forum …without depending on a centralized social media company that's taking dystopian measures to try and make the business profitable.

So here are some thoughts about how I personally imagine it could work.

(Feel free to comment and bring up any thoughts I haven't addressed, or suggestions to customize how specific groups could set it up. This is meant as more of a starting point for brainstorming than a catch-all solution.)

As I see it, here are the basics of what you and your friends would each need to start out:

An email address. Any kind, hosted anywhere. You should use a dedicated email account just for this group, one that you do NOT use for other communication. Being in this group will result in things you don't want happening to your main email address-- like getting a TON of email, one for every post and reply. Or someone could get your email address that you really don't want any contact with. Use a burner email account (one that you can easily replace) and change it if needed.

The knowledge of how to "REPLY ALL" in your email. This will be necessary in order to add a comment that everyone in the group can see.

The knowledge of how to EDIT THE "TO" FIELD in your email, and remove addresses from the list of all recipients. This will be necessary if you want to CHANGE WHICH PEOPLE in the group can see your comment.

The knowledge of how to FILTER WORDS in your email. This will be necessary if a topic comes up that you don't want to see any mentions of.

The knowledge of how to BLOCK PEOPLE in your email. This will be very important. If someone joins this email group who you do not want to interact with, it will be up to you to BLOCK them so that you do NOT see their messages. (If they are bad enough to evade the block with multiple burner accounts, that's what you have a burner account for. Change it, and share the new one only with those you trust not to give it to them.)

Every person in the group will be effectively a "moderator" of the group, able to remove people from it by cutting their email addresses out of the "To" field. Members will all have equal "moderator" privileges, each able to tailor the group to their own needs.

This means the group may naturally split, over time, into other groups, each one removing some people and adding others. Some will overlap, some won't. This is good! This is, in my opinion, what online interaction SHOULD be like! There should be MANY groups like this!

In this way, we can keep online discussion alive, no matter WHAT happens to any of the social media websites.

If the dystopia got bad enough to shut down email, we could even continue with postal mail and photocopies, like they did in the days of print-zine fanfiction.

If it looks like the dystopia is gonna come for postal mail too, we'll use the connection we have to preserve whatever contacts we can with people who live near us.

Not saying it's GONNA get that bad. But these steps of preparation are good no matter exactly what kind of bad stuff happens.

As long as some organized form of communication still exists, we'll have a place where it's at least a little safer to be your true self…

to plan events and meetups…

and maybe even activities a little too risque to make the final cut of a 1982 Disney movie.

They're trying to censor us. We want a Free System. So we're gonna fight back.

For the Users. Not the corporations.

Peace out, programs. <3

[spearxwind]

Okay seriously do you have any tips on how to free up computer space? It feels like a constant struggle 😩

OKAY BIG DISCLAIMER I AM NOT!! TECH SAVVY! Please take what i say with a grain of salt Im just out here looking at forums and hoping for the best 🙏🙏🙏

Honestly, it's pretty hard. Generally I have an external memory where i store backups of my old stuff but for the most part i try to keep all my files on my laptop, so i keep the hefty files and everything in my :D/ section since its beefier, but ofc I need certain things on the SSD like games and stuff so they can run properly.

I pretty much just learned everything today, i went into the file explorer for hours hitting 'properties' on all the folders to see which ones were taking up space and which ones weren't, ended up deleting and moving around a bunch of stuff (i had a reference folder on my desktop that i thought wasnt too big and it was 9GB of images.......... woof)

While poking around on threads I also discovered this other app that creates an image of whatever drive you need it to make, and displays every file as a square of proportional size, so you can actually figure out what the fuck is taking up all of ur space https://windirstat.net/

OH AND ALSO, if you right click on the drive youre trying to clear, and hit properties, itll bring up a special properties window with a little circle diagram that tells you how much is being used, and right next to it is a 'disk clean up' button that helped me get rid of a bunch of phantom space. apparently, windows saves previous versions and certain files that just take up huge gigs of space.

another thing that was taking up space for me was the paging file, a necessary system file ofc, but that for some reason was taking up a whopping 18 fucking gigabites. I got that one fixed using this explanation, but also take this with a grain of salt bc i am not a computer expert! idk how reducing this file could impact ur machine (i just did it cause the recommended was way smaller than what id allocated. like... thats a little ridiculous i think.)

Oh and last but not least. Spotify was also taking up like 10 gigabytes on my machine inexplicably so I poked around some more threads and changed where the data was stored so that it was no longer on my ssd. So technically i didnt free space with that i just moved it somewhere else. but it works!

Thats all I can think of rn, I also just deleted a bunch of folders that had stayed behind after uninstalling apps by poking around hidden folders, I do NOT recommend deleting folders unless u know what it is you're deleting for sure

But yeah its all like... just a lot of random files everywhere. eventually it all really adds up.

[julieplanteofficial]

Tips to survive university

To give you a bit of context, I have an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science and I’m currently doing a master’s degree in Human Resources Management (you can visit my profile if you want to know more about that!).

Throughout my years of study, there were bumps on the road and it wasn’t always easy. So I thought I could share some of the things that helped my through them and allowed me to reach my goals.

1. Buying an external drive

If you’ve visited my profile, you know I use a macbook air to study. I have had the same laptop since I started university. I love it and wouldn’t change a thing. However, I learnt the hard way that you should always have a backup of your laptop somewhere.

Little story time: my laptop crashed on the first day of second year (undergrad). I went to the apple store near my place the next day (the earliest appointment available) and my software was « broken » and my laptop basically had forgotten how to turn on. To fix it, we’d need to wipe it out. The apple employee told me to get an external drive, and he’d try to save as much as he could before wiping it out. Although he couldn’t save everything, I was happy with what was left and that I didn’t have to buy a new laptop. I was also thankful that it was only the first day of the year, or else, I would have lost all my notes and work.

So from that moment on, I constantly have my external drive plugged in my laptop with time machine going on. I haven’t run into an issue with my laptop since, but it has saved me from starting word documents from scratch when they would become corrupted and such.

2. Meal prepping

As a student, I always worked (and still do) while doing to school. That leaves you with little to no time on your hands to do house chores, which included cooking.

Who has time (or the motivation let’s be honest) to cook a full meal while in uni? But eating and eating WELL is important while studying. You have to give your body and brain what it needs to retain the information and focus.

So the best way I found to do that was to meal prep. I’d always make sure that when I DID take the time to make some good food, I’d make enough to last me for several days.

However, if you are like me and don’t like to be eating the same thing several times in a row, I recommend you buy a freezer (on top of the one connected to your fridge). Freezing all your meal prepping allows you to choose from a variety of meals everyday, without having to make them.

3. Sleeping

And I cannot stress it enough. I have always made sure to get a full night of sleep before an exam and most days. Sleep builts memory, so it is an important step in studying. 

Of course, I’m not saying I have never pulled an all-nighter (we’ve all been last minute on writing an assignment). But when it comes to reviewing material or even going to class (where you learn the material for the first time), I always saw sleeping as a study method. 

4. Buying a massive scarf

That may seem odd at first, but let me finish. You know these massive scarfs. that are almost like a big blanket? Yes, that’s what I’m talking about. 

If you study on campus, you have probably made the same observation as I have: it is COLD there. No matter the building, floor, time of the day. It is freezing there. So by having one of those scarfs, you can actually use it to cover yourself and stay warm. It is much easier to focus on studying when you can finally stop thinking about how cold you are. 

You could also carry around an extra sweater in your backpack, but if you have a small backpack and don’t have enough room for it, and you don’t necessarily want to be wearing it all day long, that’s when a scarf comes in handy. 

5. Coming ready to study 

If you study on campus, you probably trekked to get there (if you aren’t one of the lucky ones living is residence). This also applies if you are waiting on campus in between two classes. 

It is unfortunate when you finally get to studying and realize that you are cold (see tip number 4 for that), tired (see tip number 3 for that) and hungry. You will be wasting a lot of your study time if you have to go all the way back home because of one of those three things. 

Depending on your financial situation, study near your favourite food place on campus if you plan on buying something to eat later. That way, you won’t have to pack up all of your stuff to go buy your food, and then have to unpack it again. If you can afford to eat out, bring a meal (see tip number 2 for that) and find the buildings with microwaves on campus. Find a study spot near them. 

I would also like to remind you to bring your chargers with you! Don’t get to campus and realize you only have 20% of battery left on your laptop. Same goes if you study an on iPad. I’d also suggest you bring your phone charger. Of course, if your phone is out of battery, it won’t distract you. But you know yourself, it might actually distract you MORE to think about the fact that your phone is out of battery. 

In a sense, this last tip could also have been named: 

Buying a big enough backpack. 

It might not be as pretty or fashionable as a smaller one, but it will definitely be of more help in the end. 

[whump-a-la-mode]

Nemesis - Part 3

This part is a little more plot heavy, but I added in some nice Whumpy bits too! I hope you guys enjoy, and thanks everyone for their suggestions!

Also, the next part of this may be a bit late, as I’m planning for my next piece to be the continuation of Villainsicle!

CW//Mentions of law enforcement, mentions of therapy/treatments, restraints, medical abuse, begging, screaming, forced sedation, needles, blood

Open the door.

It would be so simple. The entrance was constructed of little more than wood and a flimsy lock. Even someone without the benefit of powers could break it. And, based on what Hero had seen so far of this place, it may not have even been locked.

Just open it.

Open the door, and they could sleep again.

Open the stupid door.

But...

Hero’s hands clenched into fists, their gaze moving upwards, fixing upon the metal plaque upon the door.

‘43′

Beyond the simple plank of wood, their nemesis was laying. Suffering. Trapped in their own mind.

They could open the door, just twist the knob, and save them. In any other time, any other instance, it was what they would have done. They knew the way the others spoke of them, joked about them. Saying they’d jump off a bridge, even if their friends hadn’t done it first. They couldn’t control their impulses. That was what Leader always wrote, in the reports. Impulsive. Reckless.

That’s what they were. Reckless.

But that was back when it didn’t matter. That was back when the only one in danger was them. Hero. Now that Villain was part of the equation?

They had to think. They had to be smart.

Hero bit their tongue with enough force that the taste of bloody iron washed over their taste buds.

They didn’t open the door.

Around the corner, a doctor in blue scrubs furrowed their brow, and dipped away to make a phone call.

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“If I’m being completely honest, Hero, I wasn’t expecting you to contact me again.”

Hacker spoke with their head down, sheepish, as though a child apologizing for breaking a toy.

Again, the two sat in the same diner: It was busy, but crowded enough that they could simply blend into the lunch rush without fuss. To avoid questions, the both of them had ordered an appetizer, though neither of them had much of an appetite to speak of.

“You weren’t? Why’s that?”

“I mean...” They leaned back in their seat, pressing their spine against the padded booth seat back. “I didn’t think you’d care? That sounds kind of rude now that I’m saying it out loud but... The stuff I was showing you, I assumed you were already aware of it.”

“You thought I knew the way Villain was being treated?”

“Kind of? That’s the kind of stuff they tell you, right?”

“Eh...” Hero dropped their gaze. “Not really. That’s not our business. We catch the crook, what happens to them after isn’t really our focus.”

Hacker frowned.

“It’s not?”

“No.”

“So you didn’t know?”

“Not at all. I knew they were at that facility but... I thought it was fine. I thought Villain was fine.”

“Maybe I should have told you sooner, then.”

“You knew?”

“Well.” There came the embarrassment once more, their cheeks flushing. “For the scale of your organization, your cybersecurity is a little... lacking. Everything from that rehab facility, it’s stored on an off-site backup. Their on-site security is decent, but once it goes through that external data channel, it’s caught right in my net.”

“Is that right?”

“Don’t tell anyone, please?”

“Trust me, I wasn’t planning on it. I have much bigger problems than low level hackers.”

“Hey!”

“That’s not to say you’re a low-level hacker.”

“That’s better. Then, if you’re not here to like, arrest me-”

“That’s what you thought I was doing?”

“Kinda. If that’s not what you want, what do you want?”

“I want to know more.”

Hero had made the decision upon planning this meeting that they were not to tell Hacker about their visit to the facility. Despite the aid they had already offered, it was hard to trust someone who admitted to criminality with such nonchalance. And, besides, Hero was almost certain that their superiors wouldn’t be happy to know about their distraction.

“More?”

“You’ve been watching them for a while, right? I want to know more. Everything about Villain, everything about the whole place. How much do you know?”

“A lot. I have a considerable amount of files, though I have no way of knowing how many more there are that I don’t have. How many they keep on-site.”

“But you have information?”

“I have a lot of junk. Taxes, insurance, quarterly reports, formalities. Prescriptions for mundane crap like, I don’t know, allergies. But, I think I have a few diamonds in the rough. You’re going to have to be more specific than that, though. I do need something to work off of.”

Hero nodded, biting their lip. They hadn’t exactly thought this far ahead.

They were getting Villain out of that so-called rehab facility. They knew that much. But they needed to be smart about it. They needed information. They needed to know how they could get their friend- foe out of that place quickly, safely, and with as little noise as possible.

“The facility.” They began. “How does it work? It’s a relatively small facility housing a relatively large number of dangerous criminals. How do they... help them? They’re not all treated like Villain, right?”

“I don’t think there’s enough drugs on the continent to keep them all like Villain. Their methods of treatment are... unclear. The patient reports indicate what therapies each one is undergoing, but they don’t have names. Just numbers. Codes. Whatever they do in there, they keep it in house. My doctor friends have never heard of any of it, before.”

“Then how do they do it? Drugs?”

“If they have some kind of secret therapy, I don’t know about it. But they do have something else. They call it AMRS.”

“AMRS?”

“The Automatic Magnetic Restraint System. A fancy name for a crude practice. They’re vague about it, of course, but from what I can tell, each resident wears these four ring things. Bracelets, it calls them. One on each wrist, one on each ankle. A single push of a button, and they all link together. Any escape stopped in a second.”

“That seems...”

“Cruel? Yeah. But I guess it could be worse. As far as how the facility operates, though, that’s all I have. It’s not drugs, as far as I can tell. I have those dosage reports for everyone, and those that take medicine seem to do so for genuine medical conditions. Insulin, epilepsy medication, that kind of thing.”

“None of the others are sedated?”

“Not officially.”

“But Villain...”

“I think if they were any more heavily sedated, they’d go right from a temporary sleep to a permanent one.”

“You mean-”

“They’d die, yes. It’s called a euphemism, dumbass.”

“I know that. So, what about Villain, do you have anything else on them?”

“They’ve been kept heavily sedated since they arrived. Regular patient records, they just... don’t have them. No behavior reports, no treatment reports, nothing.”

“I guess they’re not really treating them.”

“Yeah.”

“They’ve really been kept like this, ever since I- Ever since they arrived?”

“As far as I can tell, yes.”

“Then it wasn’t reactionary.”

“What do you mean?”

“They didn’t try to like, blow up the facility, or kill up all the staff, or anything?! They were just knocked out. Locked up. They weren’t even given a chance to be good?”

Hacker lowered their gaze, nodding.

“Why?”

“Are you sure you want-”

“You know why?”

“I’m not certain, but-”

“Show me.”

Hacker startled a bit, but nodded once more, starting up their beast of a laptop and typing for a considerable amount of time. Hero could not help but hold their breath, and when the computer was at last turned to face them, they felt about to pass out.

“Wait.” Hacker spun the computer back. “You need to promise me something, first.”

“What?” Hero hated how desperate they sounded.

“Whatever you do, after you see this... please, just think it through.”

“Okay.”

“Do you promise?”

“I promise.”

“Okay.”

The screen was returned to Hero.

They halfway expected another video feed. A video of Villain, destroying and killing and doing something, anything to deserve their current treatment.

Instead, they were faced with an email. Or, at least, a screenshot of one. Passed through enough computers that the jpeg artifacts had begun to show.

An email from Director to Head Doctor.

The text was simple. Curt. A simple request to destroy a life.

“I am certain that you are aware of the new patient you will be intaking tomorrow. I request that you do not classify them among the other patients. Normal intake procedures will be unnecessary. You need only keep them contained. Alive if you can, dead if you must.

Villain must never see the light of day again. I trust that you will be able to accomplish this.

Thank you-- Do not forget that we will be meeting for lunch next Wednesday.”

Not even a hundred words. That was all it took, to turn a spirited fighter to a vegetable.

“Thank you, Hacker. I think... I think I need to go home.”

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Hero’s parting from the restaurant was sudden enough to make several other patrons look up. Hacker could not help but feel embarrassment well up in their chest. They hated being out in public like this.

They figured, even with the cold food sitting before them, they should be going. Finger on their mouse, they closed the email on the screen, revealing-

Not their desktop.

They had forgotten. They had meant to show Hero and they had forgotten.

Now, the video sat there, waiting. A chipper white arrow informing them that it was ready to play at any time.

They shouldn’t have. Hell, they could have at least waited to go home. But...

Hacker plugged in a set of earbuds, setting the buds themselves in their ears.

They clicked play.

Even on the rather low-quality security camera footage, the crash was loud enough to make Hacker jump. Three lab-coated figures, a mess of limbs and white coats, leapt atop the hospital gown wearing person like a predator after prey.

Villain was not facing the camera, but it made no difference. Their voice made them more than distinctive enough.

“Get the fuck off of me! Get off get off get off!“ The scream was loud enough to break the microphone’s volume filter, turning into a single, mournful screech.

If the labcoats heard, they did not listen. They positioned themselves along their captive’s body-- one holding their legs, one the arms, and one forcing their face to the tile.

“Please!”

The fourth figure wore a different outfit, a pair of blue scrubs, though the camera quality made them appear almost grey. Represented by only a few pixels, the syringe in their hand was none the less distinctive.

“Hold them still, please.” The doctor muttered, kneeling down beside Villain, their hysterical screaming not missing a beat.

“No! No! Please, please don’t do this! I don’t want to go! Please!”

There were no comforting words. Only the satisfied nodding of the head doctor as their needle slipped deftly to a vein and administered its contents.

“What is that, what is that, no no no please!”

A nurse handed down another syringe, and another, and another. The timestamp in the video’s corner dragged on in agonizing slowness as new pinpricks of blood welled up over Villain’s skin.

It took only a few minutes for their screaming to stop. Then their thrashing. Then, they closed their eyes.

It would be a long, long time until they opened them again.

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Of course, home was not a place of rest. Not as much as Hero would have liked it to be. They were not a civilian-- they were not that lucky. They did not have the chance to return home to a soft bed and a loving family.

No. When they went home, they went to work.

It was only past noon when they returned home to the HQ. A time at which the towering building stood largely abandoned, its occupants leaving in droves to flood the nearby restaurants like a locust swarm.

Riding the elevator to the floor containing their quarters, Hero hoped beyond hope that their team, too, had gone out.

But, of course, they had no such luck.

They didn’t even make it to their quarters. No, as soon as the elevator doors opened, their heart sunk.

“I saw you walk in.” Leader’s arms were crossed over their chest, a single eyebrow raised. “Let’s go to my office.”

“I was just about to go back to my dorm-”

“Actually, you were just about to follow my orders and go to my office.”

Hero slumped their shoulders. They didn’t have the energy to fight this, especially since they knew it was a fight they couldn’t win.

Leader’s office was a place they had all visited, though never under good circumstances. It was far too immaculately kept for what it was used for, a solid oak desk standing in a room well decorated with house plants and bookshelves. Leader took their seat, and Hero reluctantly did the same, across from them.

“So,” Leader began--they were not one for formalities. “When exactly when you planning on telling me?”

“If you’re going to yell at me about something, you at least have to tell me what.”

“Teammate told me, yesterday. They found out why you’re getting so distracted.”

Hero dropped their gaze. They weren’t exactly surprised about this. They only hoped Teammate had kept their mouth shut about their plans.

“It’s really nothing.” Hero tried. “I’ll get over it.”

“This anniversary you’re getting so upset over was ten days ago. By the time you get over it, another year will have already passed. So, no. You’re not getting out of it that easily. I need to know what’s gotten you so worked up.”

Hero gripped the arm of their chair.

“I’m worried. That’s all. Worried about Villain. It’s been too long. They’ve been so silent for so long.”

Leader frowned.

“I can personally assure you that Villain is being well taken care of. The rehabbers have more experience than you could imagine.”

“That’s just it! Villain spent so long terrorizing the city, and they’re still here. But they’re so quiet.”

Leader sighed, sitting up straight in their chair.

“This isn’t just a minor distraction. You need to know that. It’s reflecting on your performance, and heavily. Enough that Director has noticed.”

“Director?”

“Yes. They asked me about the situation, and I informed them of your current problem. They stated that, if it really is such a concern to you, they can have Villain moved to another facility. Somewhere farther.”

“No!”

“What? They think it would help, really. Out of sight. Out of mind.”

“No. They need to be here.”

“And why would that be?”

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Thanks so much for reading! Just like last time, there are two options along with every part of this story. Alongside each options is a question, so that you guys can give more specific suggestions if you so wish. The option that receives the most votes will be the choice that our Hero makes!

A.) Leader can help. Tell the truth - Should Hero tell Leader about Director’s role in Villain’s condition?

B.) Leader can also ruin the whole operation. Lie - What should Hero do next?

[tsarisfanfiction]

Reckless Ocean

Fandom: Thunderbirds Rating: Teen Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort Characters: Gordon, Scott, John

Being grounded with a broken leg was not going to stop him when a brother was in trouble.

@whumptober-archive​ day 20 “lost and found” using the prompt trapped under water.  Back with Military Bros because where else was I supposed to go with an underwater prompt?

Gordon hated it when Scott had to do an underwater rescue.  The problem wasn’t that Scott wasn’t trained in them – he was the most trained of all Gordon’s brothers due to the single fact that he was Thunderbird Four’s backup operator, and Gordon certainly didn’t give him any slack at all during training.

The problem was Scott’s instincts.

At the end of the day, Scott was not an aquanaut.  He was a pilot, through and through, and Gordon had heard Virgil mutter something about sky for blood more than once when their biggest brother was out of earshot. Scott was born to fly, not swim, much in the same way that Gordon was born to swim, not fly.

They had both crossed territories, learning everything they needed to know about their opposing environments from each other.  Gordon had many memories of hours spent in the cockpit of their little training jet as Scott patiently talked him through everything over and over and over again until it clicked, and just as many memories in various pools, tanks and even oceans introducing his biggest brother to his world.

Gordon had his pilots’ license.  Scott had his aquanauts’.

Gordon was eagerly awaiting the day that Alan passed the last of his aquanautical exams and could replace Scott as backup aquanaut.

After all, space was Alan’s first love, and Gordon’s begrudgingly achieved space rating had him well aware that space and the ocean were as alike as they were different.  In particular, there was the threat of death lurking the moment they left the safety of their respective craft, which was something Scott lacked respect for.

There were many stupid stunts and quirks that vied for the honour of one day being the end of Scott Tracy, so Gordon couldn’t explicitly say that this would be the death of him, but it was definitely one of the contenders jostling for pole position right then.

Going EVA in the depths of the oceans was daft at the best of times; their suits were constructed to withstand the pressure for a little while, but mother nature would always win out in the end, so unless it was strictly unavoidable – like, for example, your submarine being annihilated, and no Gordon wasn’t still bitter about that one – it wasn’t worth the risk.

Scott was a born risk-taker. That fact surprised no-one that had been in the same room as him for a minute.  It was also the reason Gordon had found hair dye in Virgil’s bathroom, heard John extol the delight of being ginger, and was half-expecting to find grey hairs in his own sooner rather than later.

Right then, it was the reason Gordon was dragging his battered body, complete with broken leg and sturdy, reliable crutches, down to Thunderbird Two’s empty hangar. The green giant herself was off elsewhere with Alan and Virgil on board, both brothers frantic but too far away to do anything.  Kayo and Shadow were in London with Lady P, and last Gordon heard, John was trying to get hold of external help.

It was an exercise in futility; Thunderbird Four had deployed not far from Tracy Island, and there was nothing close enough to reach her in time – or Scott.

Nothing except International Rescue, and Thunderbird Two might be out, and Thunderbird Four might be the one in trouble, but Brains was a genius and there were always backups.

The submarine pods didn’t hold a candle to Thunderbird Four in speed, agility, capacity, or anything else, but if Gordon made some adjustments to their make up, then…

It was probably a good thing John was too distracted to see what he was up to, because he’d almost certainly stop him, no matter that it was their best shot at saving Scott.  It was probably another good thing that Brains was in the other hangar and therefore couldn’t see the state Gordon was making of Thunderbird Two’s hangar in order to get both a dragonfly and submarine pod constructed, before using the former to relocate the latter on the runway.

His leg had been highly unimpressed when he’d stuffed it into his uniform, refusing to go into the water without full gear, otherwise he would just end up in need of rescue himself. It was even less impressed at the scramble into the dragonfly pod to operate it, and made its protestations known loudly as Gordon hauled himself out of that one and into the submarine pod.

All he could really say was thank goodness it was near the end of the healing process, because there was no way he’d have been able to do all of that on a fresh break.  As it was, he was probably messing it up rather more, but it was his leg or his brother, and no matter how much of an annoying big brother Scott could be, there was nothing that would ever have him choosing himself first.

Remote controlling the dragonfly pod to lift him and the submarine pod away from the runway and down to just above the water was fiddly, but Gordon had had the best teacher when it came to aircraft.  As soon as he was dropped, he sent it careening back to the runway before forgetting its existence and focusing on his own domain.

“What are you doing?”

John materialised in front of him, looking somewhere between horrified and furious.  Gordon didn’t have time to debate with him if he was doing the right thing.  Scott didn’t have time.

“Give me the exact location,” he said sharply, glowering past his brother into the depths as he pushed the pod as fast as it could go.  Compared with Thunderbird Four it was pitiful, but it was all he had.

“Gordon-”

“How much oxygen does Scott have left?”

“Five minutes,” John admitted.  “But-”

“I’m about eight minutes out,” Gordon estimated.  “Tell me, John, is there anyone who can get there faster than me?”

John’s rigid poker face was all the answer he needed.

“Give me the location, John,” he insisted.  “I’ll get him.”

“You can’t swim with that leg,” his brother argued.  “What are you going to do once you reach him?”

Gordon shrugged.  “Improvise.  I’m open to suggestions.”

John closed his eyes for a moment.  It was a quirk of his when he was desperately trying to find another option but couldn’t find one, and Gordon waited somewhat impatiently for the surrender.

It came in the form of a familiar blue icon stuck on a holographic map.

“Be careful,” his brother insisted.  “And I’m not explaining your departure to Grandma.”

Gordon let that threat wash over him to worry about later.  Five minutes until he reached Scott.  Three minutes of air left in his brother’s tank.

It was going to be tight.

“Does Scott know I’m coming?” he checked a minute later as he picked up a faster current.

“Are you crazy?”  John raised an eyebrow.  “He’d work himself up and deplete the tank faster if he knew you were on the way.”

Okay, that was a valid point.

“Does he know someone’s coming?” he revised.

“I’ve told him help is on the way,” John confirmed.  “It hasn’t stopped him trying to get out.”

“It’s Scott.  When does he give up on anything?” Gordon pointed out.

“Good point.”

Three minutes.  One minute of air.

“How’s freeing Thunderbird Four coming along?”  Everything would have been so much easier if his poor Thunderbird hadn’t got caught up in an underwater rockfall.  The Ring of Fire was mean and thoroughly inconvenient when it wanted to be.

“EOS is still working on it.”

So not free yet.  That wasn’t helpful; while the submarine pod was the better option for retrieving Scott, if only because of its smaller size, it didn’t have the equipment or space for any serious first aid.  Gordon would need his Thunderbird for that.

Reports indicated that Scott wasn’t injured, just trapped.  He’d gone EVA to try and locate the underwater cavers in difficulty after Thunderbird Four had got stuck – despite Gordon and John both telling him not to – only for another tremor to collapse in enough of the system that he couldn’t get back again.

Gordon hadn’t heard any reports on the cavers in a while and was choosing to compartmentalise what that meant.

In the light of the submarine pod’s beam, something loomed out of the darkness.  He didn’t need the flash of yellow on his dashboard or between the rocks to identify it.

“I’ve reached Thunderbird Four,” he reported.

“Copy that,” John acknowledged.  “How does she look?”

“Buried,” Gordon said dryly. “Scott doesn’t have time for me to do a full recon, but I’m just going to pass by her stern to see if her airlock is accessible.”

“F.A.B.,” John replied. “Keep me updated.”

Gordon grunted.  “How’s Scott?”

“Out of air and panicking,” John told him.  “Not that he’ll admit to the latter.”

Gordon could well believe that.

“Looks like the airlock’s clear,” he said as he passed it.  There were some boulders that could cause some issues with access, but he was confident that he could get them in.

Now to get Scott.

The blue icon wasn’t much further in, but the blockage needed shifting before he could get to it.

“John, see if you can get Scott to move away from the collapse,” he said.  “I’m going to have to get a little rough.”

Thunderbird Four was the one with the missiles, but the submarine pods were still primarily constructed from the same base as any other pod, which meant they could be customised.  The loading claw Gordon had attached to the bow hadn’t really helped with the aquadynamics but it was worth it for the ability to near-blindly yank at the boulders Thunderbird Five highlighted for him.

He didn’t know if it was John or EOS who had calculated that, but he didn’t particularly care, either. Scott had been out of air for two minutes, and that was about his big brother’s limit.

There was no airlock attached to a submarine pod.  There was, however, a smart little system that allowed them to filter water out, just like an airlock, so after making sure his own helmet and rebreather was firmly fitted, Gordon lifted his harness and let the roof of the pod open up.

Swimming normally was out. While the water cradled his leg gently, there was no way it could stand up to moving.  One of Gordon’s modifications to the submarine pod had been swapping out the gear it carried; the pods all carried a Jaws of Life for Virgil to don whenever he needed to, a must for anything that came with Thunderbird Two.  After some fiddling with the assembly commands, this one instead carried a jet propeller.

No moving his leg required.

It pulled him through the water, and then through the gap he’d made in the blockade, at a rate of knots, spurred on by the fact that Scott hadn’t emerged the moment a route was clear.

The slack figure in blue hanging limply in the water just past the rocks didn’t move as he approached, unresponsive even as he released the propeller with one hand to pull his brother close.

Blue eyes were still open, but they were hazed over and drifting towards shut.  The biggest red flag was that Scott didn’t even react to the fact that his rescuer was Gordon, who should have been sitting on a sofa in the den with his broken leg up.

Clearly, he was in no state to hold on by himself, so Gordon pulled him as close as he could with one arm before engaging the jets on his propeller again and hauling Scott out of there.

There were no signs of any of the cavers.  Gordon tried to forget about them.

Depositing Scott in the passenger seat and stowing the propeller took longer than he’d wanted, but a broken leg did slow things up.  Gordon didn’t even wait for the cockpit to start draining the water before turning it around and pointing it straight for Thunderbird Four.

Scott was limp behind him and every second counted.

He almost collided with the Thunderbird as her stern airlock opened.  The submarine pod wasn’t so much smaller that it could fit inside, so Gordon ditched it, hauling Scott out and swimming with one leg until he could grab hold of his Thunderbird and yank them inside.

“That pod’s all yours, Thunderbird Five,” he gasped out as the outer door closed and the water drained from the compartment.

“F.A.B.,” John replied. “How’s Scott?”

“Out of air and unresponsive.”  Gordon glared at the water level, willing his girl to drain faster.

He didn’t even bother leaving the airlock the moment the water cleared; instead, his first action was to yank Scott’s helmet off of his brother’s head and tap his cheek.

“C’mon, Scotty,” he urged. “You have air again.”

Leaning over, he detached the yellow rebreather from his helmet and jammed it into Scott’s mouth.

“Air, Scotty. Come on, breathe it in.”

Scott’s eyes were more closed than open, and Gordon found himself holding his own breath as he waited desperately for a response.

The breath that rattled through the rebreather had him sagging in relief.  A second.  A third.

Eyelashes fluttered and Gordon plastered a grin on his face.

“Let’s get you inside properly,” he said, picking up one of Scott’s hands and coaxing it to hold the rebreather in place so that he could wrap a tight arm around his brother and claw his way through the internal door with the other hand, pushed along by his working leg.  The broken one trailed along behind him uselessly.

The breathing strengthened, and by the time they’d cleared the airlock door to slump on the floor of the rear bay, Scott sounded almost normal again.  Blue eyes flickered open, once, twice, and on the third time widened as they focused on Gordon.

The suspicion that this time Scott could see him was confirmed when his idiot of a brother tore the rebreather out of his mouth to gasp his name incredulously.

“Hey, bro,” Gordon grinned in response.

“Your leg-”

“Your life,” Gordon rebuked.  “Now do me a favour and grab yourself a fresh rebreather and sit your ass down, or I’ll have to make you.”

“Not with that leg, you won’t,” Scott snapped.  “John-”

“No-one else was going to reach you in time,” their eavesdropping, space-dwelling brother stated.  “Now, the faster you do as you’re told, the faster you can get him home again.”

Blue eyes shot daggers at the bobbing hologram, and then at Gordon himself.

“You need a seat,” Scott proclaimed.  Gordon shrugged.

“Once you’ve got some more oxygen in you, you are welcome to help me onto one,” he told him, well aware that he wasn’t going to be the one piloting them back.

Scott eyed him judgementally and hauled himself to his feet.  Gordon was certain that his plan was to forgo the rebreather and skip straight to assisting his little brother, but then he staggered and swayed alarmingly, barely catching himself on one of the jump seats.

There was no way Scott could move him without risking more damage, and from the darkening of blue eyes, his big brother was reluctantly aware of that.  Gordon watched from his recline on the floor as Scott clawed his way along the wall until he reached the correct locker and helped himself to a rebreather.

“Any advancement on freeing Four?” he asked John as Scott took a deep breath.

“We have a plan,” the ginger said.  “But it needs both of you strapped in first.”

“We’ll work on that one,” Gordon said.  Movement caught his eye and he snapped his focus from John to glare at Scott.  “We have time, Scott, sit back down. Thunderbird Four isn’t breached so she can sit here for a few weeks and keep us perfectly alive and well.”

Well, he didn’t think she had the food for that stocked right then, but it was also going to be hours, at most, rather than days or weeks before Scott was steady enough to move him.

“If you fall over, we have a problem because I can’t lift you right now,” he added pointedly. “I know it’s a foreign concept, but take your time.”

Scott sat back down heavily and Gordon counted that as a win.

Ignoring his eldest brother, he returned his attention to the second in line.  “The others know he’s safe?”

The look John sent him was a clear what do you think look.  “You know how I said I’m not defending your stunt from Grandma?” he said. Gordon winced.  “Well, you can include Virgil on that list, too.”

“Does saving his sorry butt count for nothing?” he pouted, shoving a thumb in Scott’s direction.

“I wouldn’t like to say,” John shrugged before vanishing.

Gordon huffed.  “You’d think they’d give me some slack,” he muttered.

“You shouldn’t have come.” Scott’s muffled voice floated over to him and he rolled his eyes slowly until they were glaring at the idiot.  “Your leg-”

“You were out of air,” he snapped.  “I was the fastest option.  Any other option and best case you’d have some broken ribs from the CPR, worst case you’d be shark feed.  Like hell was I sitting back when those were my options.”

The rebreather rattled as Scott exhaled a long sigh.  “I know,” his brother admitted.  “I know, Gords.  But if you’ve messed up your leg…”

“I’ve had my entire back rebuilt,” Gordon pointed out.  “If it comes to it, I could definitely handle rebuilding my leg.”  He’d hate it, but it would be worth it.

The quiet keening sound was definitely not supposed to have escaped Scott’s throat, but it did, and told Gordon exactly how much his brother hadn’t wanted to hear that.

“But my leg is fine,” he promised.  “I didn’t use it to swim, and I used the crutches the whole time I was setting up.  At worst I might have set it back a week or so.”

Scott sighed again.

“I still disagree,” he said, because he just had to get the last word.  Gordon didn’t feel like giving it to him.

“You know what I’m not hearing?” he asked airily.  “I’m not hearing thank you, Gordon, for saving my butt after I ignored your expert advice and got myself stuck like an idiot.”

“Gordon…”

“But that’s okay,” he continued.  “It’s not like we do this saving people thing for gratitude, but some acknowledgement of which one of us is the idiot would be nice.”

His brother shuffled where he sat, too full of energy to sit still even when he was breathing in clean air after suffocating.  “You’re right, Gordon,” he admitted, and Gordon eyed him curiously.  “I should have listened; I’m sorry.  And thank you.”

“Anytime,” he replied. “Preferably never, but anytime.”

Scott chuckled.  “I can agree with preferably never.”

It was another half an hour or so of glorious sibling interaction, from banter to more serious topics like how to evade Grandma’s latest batch of kitchen disasters, before Scott set the rebreather aside and stood up.

In Gordon’s professional opinion, it was still too soon, but considering it was Scott, the fact that he’d even wrangled that long was an impressive, unlikely-to-be-repeated feat.  He was steadier on his feet, though, and strong arms had no problems helping Gordon up and guiding his hobble across to the jump seats.

Neither of them sat down particularly gracefully, but they were down and, after a moment, strapped in firmly.

“We’re all set for freedom, Johnny,” Gordon chirped, grinning at the turquoise promise of a death that would never actually be served.  “Get us out of here.”

“F.A.B.,” their brother agreed as Scott rested his head back against the headrest.  “Hold on.”

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then Four lurched. Something that sounded suspiciously like new scratches in her paintwork reverberated, and Gordon shot a mock-glare at Scott.  “I’m not taking the blame for those.”

His brother chuckled thinly. “I can live with that.”

She shuddered again, her propellers churning as Thunderbird Five pushed them into action.  For a moment, nothing else seemed to happen, and then she was moving.  Even without being in the piloting seat, Gordon could feel the hum of the craft as she took to the currents once again, freed from the boulders at last.

“Thanks, John,” Scott’s smile was small but genuine.

“I’ll pilot you two home,” their space-residing brother told them.  “It won’t take long.”

Well, it wasn’t like Gordon was up for getting to the cockpit, and he didn’t want Scott out of his sight, either.  From the glance Scott gave him, the latter point was mutual.

“F.A.B.,” Scott acknowledged.

“Oh, and one more thing,” John added, in a tone that instantly put Gordon on guard.  “Just so you know – Thunderbird Two just got back. Virgil will meet you two at the tank.”

With that bombshell, he vanished, leaving Gordon to look across at Scott with a lump of dread settling in his chest.  Big brother didn’t look much better.

Virgil was going to be terrified-furious with both of them.

They were doomed.

[bugboysponky]

Can laptops be charged via USB with a power bank?

This article explains how the power bank can be charged with a laptop.

With the help of AI, we can make our lives easier in many ways. For example, we can create content for specific topics and generate it at scale for different clients. We will discuss some of these things in this section

Can Laptops Be Charged with a Power Bank?

This is a question that everyone asks, but few people know the answer.

Laptops are not always charged with power banks, so why can’t they be? It’s because the battery in laptops has a limited life span. When it is fully charged it will take up to two hours to discharge completely and if you leave your laptop plugged in for long periods of time it will drain your battery completely. You know more after  visit this laptop echo blog site.

Laptops are becoming more and more popular in the workplace. This has made a lot of people interested in using them as a power bank to charge their smartphones. The idea is that if you are working on a laptop, you can charge your phone for free as long as you have the charger with you. But what happens when the laptop is not charging? Can it be charged with a power bank?

How to Charge Laptops via a USB Port With A Power Bank?

Power banks are a great way to charge your laptop and keep it charged up. But, there is one problem with power banks that you can't use them to charge up laptops.

If you have a laptop with a USB port, then you will need to use an external power bank. The problem is that these external power banks are expensive and they also take up too much space in your bag or backpack.

This is an introduction to the topic of charging laptops with a USB port. The first part will discuss the different options available, and the second part will cover some of the best practices for this.

Cable Restrictions are Getting Rid of the Best 'Unlimited' Feature of Laptops

With the increasing use of laptops, many people are facing the problem of how to manage their files. Even if they have a hard drive, it can't be used for everything and they need to store their photos and videos. In order to deal with this issue, many people are using the "unlimited" feature that is available on most laptops. The problem is: these features only work when you don't need them and can't be used when you do. In order to solve this issue, companies have introduced new restrictions on cable usage that force users to use their laptop's "unlimited" feature or else face a fine or even suspension from using their laptop in public places like airports and train stations.

Why You Should Use A USB Power Bank to Charge Your Laptops?

It's a power bank. It's a USB device with a built-in battery. It will charge your laptop. You can use it as a backup power source for your laptop, or you can charge it while you're away from home and ensure that you have enough battery juice on hand when you need it most.

This article is about the importance of USB power banks in our lives. They are used to charge laptops and other electronic devices. But we don't need to worry about them, because we have a USB wall charger which does the job for us.

How To Switch Off Your Laptops Laptop Battery To Save Electricity?

The laptop is a device that can be used for many things. It can be used to work, study, play games, and many more. But it has an internal battery which needs to be recharged every day. When your laptop battery gets low, it will not power up and you will have to wait for the battery to charge again.

What is a Power Pack and How do You Use It?

Power Packs are a collection of tools that can be used to build and maintain content for your website, blog, or social media channels.

Power packs are not just a way of generating content for clients. There are many other uses for them. The most common ones include:

Conclusion

As promised by our previous articles, we have a look at the future of laptops in the workplace. We will discuss how they can be charged with a power bank and how they can be used in different scenarios.

The laptop is an amazing piece of technology. But, it has a limited battery life and the power bank can be used to charge the laptop.

A power bank is a device that can be plugged into your laptop to charge the battery. It is a great solution if you are traveling and need to charge your laptop in a hurry.

[lilidebergerac]

How to manage CC for a smoother game - and other sims 3 tips

Hi there! So I've been on this CC cleanout surge recently and I learned a few things along the way, I thought I would share. It’s a long ass text post, sorry...

BEFORE PLAYING:

The Sims do not have a built-in FPS limiter (FPS is frames per second, google it!) and that can fry up your computer. So start by getting a FPS limiter, I use this one. 

You'll notice this is a tool to start your game too: this is my second tip, never start through the launcher!

Then, go and disable the featureditems folder in your sims 3 folder following this tutorial. This folder keeps pictures of the objects and is useless, it will just slow down your computer.

Before playing your game, always delete the five cache files in your sims 3 folder:

CASPartCache

compositorCache

scriptCache

socialCache

Remove any Screenshots or video files from your Sims 3 folder and put them somewhere else. They slow your game down.

And use the Save Cleaner tool here to clean your saves. 

IN GAME:

Remember to save. SAVE SAVE SAVE! I would recommend Nraas Saver http://www.nraas.net/community/Saver It will prompt you to save every thirty minutes (but you can change the setting to your liking).

Always use "Save as" and have multiple saves. For example "Moonlight Falls 1", "Moonlight Falls2", etc. This will make it so much easier to go back to a former save if something goes wrong! Save in Live Mode and in Map view. For some reason it saves faster and your save will load faster too. Backup your saves. Have a folder somewhere on your computer with all your saves, and thank me later.

Use these three mods:

Master controller

ErrorTrap

Overwatch

MasterController can do loooooooooooots of stuff but for the purpose of smooth gaming, it will allow you to reset a sim, a family of sims, an object, a house or the entire town. It is very useful to reset a buggy sim and I would advise to reset the whole town from time to time too.

ErrorTrap and Overwatch basically catch and correct a number of bugs. Believe me they are essential.

And now for the pièce de résistance...

MANAGING CC

CC is awesome. But if you just throw it all in the launcher, install it and call it a day, your game will probably die, I'm sorry. I assume you already know the very basics of installing CC, like the mods foler and so on. You can always ask me if you need to though!

First thing is to get CC magic here. I won't do a CC magic tutorial, there are plenty of them already, I like this one.  Basically it organizes your files easily, and it merges them together, which will reduce the lag CONSIDERABLY.

Once you have CC magic installed and you know how to use it (do a test with two or three items of CC), we're ready to start!

BACKUP YOUR FILES! CC magic will "eat" them, so have all your CC files somewhere safe on your computer, and on an external hard drive if you can.

Convert everything to packages. Everything. Really. I use this tool. Counters converted to packages can be fussy in game, if their texture breaks use the CASt tool on them, click on the first preset and they're good to go again! Patterns converted to packages sometimes need fixing, here is how you can do it.  Worlds can be converted too. They are the only thing I don't convert cause I'm scared but don't be like me, be brave and do it! 

Use the thumbnail extractor here to easily extract an image of your CC item, making it easier to identify.

Rename your files. Any special caracter like "[" or ")" or "," or accents are difficult for the game to read and will slow it down. "-" and "_" are fine, so use them instead. To rename my files easily, I use ReNamer. Come up with a naming system that will make it easy to indentify a file. Here is an example of what I do: ATS3_Obj_Appliances_4to3_coffeemaker_joejockey ATS3 is the creator's name. Obj indicates that it's a buy item, not a build or CAS one. Appliances tells me where it will go in the game catalog. The rest is the name that was already given by the creator. EDIT: Spaces also slow down the game! Replace them with an underscore.

Compress your files. You can use a tool like the compressorizer  or go the easy route like I do and just tick the "compression activated" box in the options tab of CC magic. It will compress for you, but that will make the rebuild slower.

Mods and default replacement can be compressed and merged in CC magic too! They don't have to be in the legacy part of CC magic. I only put two subfolders in Legacy: a TEST folder where I put any new mods that I have to play test to make sure they are fine, and a Midnight Sun challenge one where I keep the mods I want to use only in my Midnight Sun save, not in my normal ones. It makes it easy to deactivate them when I don't want to use them. BE CAREFUL: overrides have to be in the overrides folder in your Sims 3 folder to work. I can't tell you how to tell the difference between an override and a default replacement, you'll have to do it by hand like I did. If a DR does not work when merged in CC magic, put it in Overrides.

RANDOM CC TIPS:

Don't download houses containing CC. I know they are gorgeous but a sims3pack house can come with 500+ items of CC that you don't necessarily want, and you will never be able to find them and organize them.

Don't download CC folders from other players. It can be disrespectful to the creators and same as above, you don't know where it comes from and have no control over it and what it will do to your game.

Be picky. If you download a set, check every item and keep only what you know you want.

Don't be lazy. If when in game you find yourself noticing a CC item you never use, write it down somewhere and delete it when you're not playing!

Go in the DCBackup folder in the Sims 3 folder from time to time to delete everything, EXCEPT for the ccmerged.package file. You can compress this file with the compressorizer though.

And that's it! It really isn't complicated once you've got the hang of it! Would you like to see how I organize my CC in game via CC magic and collections?