#shitty old software

[bugged-ubuntu]

The fuck do you mean you need .NET 2??????

[ultrakdramamama]

240620 shinee KEY 키 Single ‘Tongue Tied’ | Teaser Image 4

➫ 2024.06.26 12AM KST / JST

#KEY#키@bumkeyk #SHINee#샤이니 #Tongue_Tied#KEY_Tongue_Tied

[plague-of-insomnia]

more people should be talking about the single frame of ✨Agni✨

[pseudophan]

What happened to your laptop ?

i left it somewhere after my internship on friday and i don't know where!! i genuinely did not realise until i was about to walk out the door like an hour and a half ago. has not crossed my mind at all whatsoever. but now that i think about it i'm like... i don't think i had it with me off the bus... but did i even bring it ON the bus? is it at the shopping centre where i stopped to eat? i have no idea. i've contacted all the lost and founds imaginable though and they're all like nah nothing here, so..

but also it hasn't pinged since i turned it on at 10am on friday, i turned it off before leaving around 1 and it doesn't look like it's been turned on since. i guess i just have to wait and see if anyone contacts me but otherwise im fucked lol

[jaspers-a-writer]

Woe

ADHD Dog and her autism wizard best friend be upon ye

[pippin-pippout]

For those following the SAG and WGA strikes there’s new shit a-brewing, this time targeting background actors (aka extras).

Some may know that one of the issues SAG is fighting is that studios want to take virtual scans of background actors and use them in perpetuity (meaning forever) without any additional compensation to those background actors. So you would just see a bunch of AI generated humans in future movies based off of a background actor that worked one day.

This is already shitty because working as an extra for 3 days on a union set (if you receive a union voucher each day) is one of the main ways to qualify for SAG eligibility. This means that a lot of actors working background do not yet have union protection and likely do not have an agent or manager to protect them. Disney has already allegedly told background actors to do this on the set of Wanda Vision: https://www.avclub.com/wandavision-background-actors-say-disney-scanned-them-1850709900

Here’s where it's worse.

There is one main company that supplies background actors for major union and non union productions. Central Casting. They love to brag about their very long influence in the industry - in old movies dating back to the 40s you can hear jokes about hiring extras from Central Casting.

Central Casting has been including an electronic document for all actors in their database to sign as part of onboarding. Signing it gives Central Casting the right to use your images, your videos, and YOUR LIKENESS in perpetuity, forever. They would OWN your likeness. Instead of it being a studio supplying the AI background actors, it would be Central Casting instead.

Receiving any work from Central Casting in the future is conditional upon signing it. No signature = no extra work = no extra income for union actors trying to make health insurance minimums, no union extra work for pre-SAG members.

SAG already reached out to Central Casting to tell them to stop. Central Casting refused.

Edit to say: this is not new. It’s part of actors onboarding and is called the Photo, Image, and Video Release. It’s phrased to sound like you are just giving them permission to use your image and video for CC’s website and promotional purposes. But the actual language is much broader. It's only recently being brought up as a point for discussion because some casting directors (who are generally supportive of the strike) started pointing it out.

Central Casting is owned by Entertainment Partners which is also a giant software conglomerate and owns a lot of the software used to organize background casting and pay actors. https://www.ep.com/company/about-us/

[daftpatience]

YEAH YEAY OKAY! here we go! welcome to i get to infodump about pens again, yay yippee!

what's the difference between ballpoints, rollerballs, and gel pens?

ballpoints, rollerballs, and gel pens all use a ball-socket mechanism that continuously coats itsself in ink as it rolls across a page. what makes them all different from each other is in the ink composition!!

ballpoint pens have an oil based ink paste. the ink is very thick & requires more pressure to write with, and can get kinda skippy as the tip gets dirty or clogged, but is able to stick to many more surfaces like receipts, plastic, really shitty paper, etc. it can be hard to wash out of things that you get it on, since it's more waterproof than other inks.

one of the neat things about this type of ink is that you're able to shade with it by varying pressure. lots of artists make great use of this!

hybrid or low viscosity ballpoint ink is often just ballpoint ink with an added lubricant to make it write smoother and flow better.

rollerball pens use water based inks. fountain pens, felt tip pens*, and dip pens all usually use water based inks. because of this, rollerballs are very free flowing and rarely clog, but paper choice is more important and some folks can find them to be leaky or overly wet. the writing experience is not as glidey as a gel/ballpoint since the ink is not thick, but it doesn't need a heavy hand. rollerballs enjoy more colour options than ballpoints and can have very dark blacks, but aren't waterproof unless the ink is pigment based instead of dye based. *felt tip pens feel very different than any of the other pens on this list cause of the soft point, they put out ink in a very even and somewhat dry way, and can also use alcohol inks, like copic markers. alcohol inks soak very deep into the page and dry very fast, and blend very differently. i'm not as familiar with them!

gel pens use inks that are made of pigment suspended in a water based gel. these inks tend to be very thick and put out a wet line that takes a longer time to dry. gel pens are most likely to clog and skip due to this, since the ball is not as evenly coated in a substance so thick. gel pens do have the widest colour options and can be fully opaque (ie. pastels, whites, etc) but are often very frustrating as they clog up and get old and dried out.

as a bonus, true technical pens are a whole different kind of beast and have very specific standardized nib sizes and colours. cad software has largely replaced the need for extremely precise technical drawing, but artists still like pens like the rapidograph! they're made differently everywhere but generally, instead of a ball, there is a small tube of a precise diameter with a little wire inside it that controls the ink flow. they can't be held at a lot of angles and aren't as versatile as other pens, but they put down incredibly crisp lines.

yippee yay pens!! wahoo!!

[commodorez]

What do you think would surprise a person from the 1950s most about modern computers?

How disposable they've become. We toss away computers like old socks.

How we got away from the model of timesharing for so long, only to go right back to cloud computing. People were so eager to personalize the experience, it's why things like the PDP-1 came into existance in the late 50s.

How much software went from this thing that was freely, openly shared as just a point of fact to a world where people pay for software regularly.

How much people trust a computer to think for them. A computer cannot think, it can only do math really fast, *you* have to think about how to make use of that platform to make your workload easier. People using computers in the 50s understood this implicitly, and now some people want shitty autocomplete to do the hard part for them. The human tasks that are worth doing, but that's a whole rant in itself.

How much computers just get powered off, or just run without doing anything, because of how plentiful and commonplace they are. In the 50s, no computer time was wasted, it was too expensive. If the machine was operational back then, it was busy.

[jess-total-mess]

I went digging through youtube, old posts, and shitty websites, along with my memories, and here you go! Hopefully these are accurate.

2013 — Unoffical Tumblr event “Mishapocalypse” happened, an online flash mob event wherein which Tumblrinas change their profile pictures to a specific picture of Misha Collins of Supernatural fame.

2014 — Users were given the option to get Tumblr Pro for free, and those who accepted were given top hats on their icons. Prompty after this, @staff announced that “Everyone with a top hat is now marked for account deletion. This is the only way we could destroy this horrible website. Happy April Fools day.”

2015 — The “Executive Suite 2016 Productivity Edition” essentially changed Tumblr into office software, allowing spreadsheets for memes, calculators that gave incorrect answers, and Coppy. Who gave “helpful tips”.

2016 — Tumblr voted to select the “new lizard king”, from Rick, Debrah, Mop and Wretched Tooth. However, more famously, an edited @staff post reads “for april fools we’re deleting this entire site sayonara you weeaboo shits”.

2017 — The Tumblr Horse Game was a feature that, when clicked, took users to a game wherein you had to collect shit from a pixelated horse. If you failed to do so, the horse died.

2018 — The answer to Bitcoin, is Tumblcoin! A parody of crytocurency.

2019 — Tumblr Memories, in which Tumbeasts were set loose. Remember them? The mascot from 2011, for service interruption announcements.

2020 — There was seemingly no prank this year. This was COVID-19.

2021 — Tumblr released “non-fungible tumblcryptids”, a parody of NFTs. There was a supposedly limited amount of them.

2022 — A light switch, when activated, would open up a variety of colourful things on the desktop dashboard, including a “Summon Crab!” button, which would summon a crab when activated. Other buttons made different sounds.

2023 — A feature similar to the Discord reaction function was temporarily added, using basic emojis.

2024 — Every user was given the option to opt-in to the boop o meter, and could boop, super boop, and evil boop other users who also opted in, earning up to three badges by doing so.

[evilchocolatebardrawings]

>Be me, computer guy for Gear Station.

>Recently, the Bosses had a new smart security system installed. Meant to check in on employees, catch people who are supposed to be banned, and cut down on illicit activity.

>When it sees someone out of place with its facial recognition software, it sends a notification to my computer to be acted on accordingly.

>That's how it's SUPPOSED to work.

>Couple of weeks ago, get this notification: "Subway Boss Emmet detected at front entrance"

>Check footage.

>It's a woobat.

>Teehee.jpeg

>Figure it's a one-off error.

>New notif, minutes later: "Subway Boss Emmet detected at front entrance"

>Check footage. Woobat again.

>Probably just the same woobat from before...

>"Subway Boss Emmet detected at front entrance"

>Check footage. Shiny woobat this time.

>Start going through old footage to see if there were any other mistakes.

>Notice a a few trainers who are on the banned list walk right past the camera without the security system recognizing them

>Check database of facial recognition data. Fine and dandy.

>Search internet forums for people having the same problem.

>Find tons of complaints from dissatisfied users on manufacturer's own forums.

>Software is apparently just shitty.

>Suddenly remember that the security notifs are also sent to the bosses' phones

>Go and tell Boss Emmet.

>He says that while they knew it was flawed, the security system was a gift from the mayor so they can't have it replaced with a better one without looking ungrateful, so it's staying for at least a year.

>Boss Ingo walks by.

>"Why brother, where did your wings go?"

>Boss Emmet dons a thousand yard stare. "A year can't pass soon enough."

>Boss Ingo got his later though.

>"Subway Boss Ingo detected at front entrance"

>Cryogonal.

[veryace-ficrecs]

Leverage Redemption Fic Recs

This list will include all ratings and tags, so read at your own discretion! :)

Happy LevRed Season Finale!!

Find Previous Leverage Lists here! (Leverage, Tap Out Job, Carnival Job, Rundown Job)

Our Unexpected Family Reunion by cminerva, GlassFullOfSass - Rated G

In which Harry meets more of the extended Leverage family.

The Job-Gone-Wrong Job by Grammar_Beane - Not Rated

Eliot’s voice came out tense. “Breanna’s gone. Her comms are dead.” Parker’s eyes widened, but she allowed no other tension to enter her body. “Okay. Plan doesn’t change much. Sophie. Go in. Find Breanna.” “I can’t.” Sophie’s voice grew cold as she saw the man standing at the front door. “Jim Sterling’s here.” --- The job was going perfectly. Until it wasn't. Now everyone's in an unfamiliar role, Breanna's been captured, and it's all resting on Harry Wilson to save her.

Not An Emotion by nerdsandthelike - Rated T

Breanna: Did you hack Lockheed Martin?! For me?!!

Hardison: No, I hacked Lockheed Martin because they’re shitty people who deserve to have their corruption exposed to the world. I downloaded their R&D software and drone specs for you.

How each member of the Leverage Redemption team shows Breanna affection.

After Date Night by Grammar_Beane - Rated T

The Leverage OT3 gets patched up after date night. – – – “Does this sort of thing happen every date night?” “No,” Eliot replied, at the same time Parker said, “Yep!” “It might be becoming a theme,” Hardison admitted.

Three of Twelve Job by WhenICantWrite - Rated G

The one where Eliot fights a lion

Parker's Peculiar Polyculians by Singing_Siren - Rated T

Emotions are… fiddly. She can’t grab onto them, hold them close, and inspect them like she does the stuff she steals. What’s the difference between attraction and love? Is it sex? That seems too simple, and emotions are never simple. Sophie taught her that. But Hardison taught her that things don’t have to be complicated, that going with the flow isn't as bad as she thought it would be. “You know,” Parker starts, “before I met you all, things were so much simpler.” What was it Eliot said when they were conning those Nana-Haters? ‘Parker has a very binary sense of right and wrong.’ Before the team got together, she saw the world in black and white. Now she can see shades of gray. There are even hints of color when she closes her eyes. (or: the aftermath of the Polygeist Job, featuring a Parker who's been through enough therapy to detangle some of her feelings)

The Habeas Corpus Job by hyacinthgirlboy - Rated T

Harry knows where he stands with this crew. Breanna is their little sister. He’s just a guy who handles their contracts sometimes. And yet here he is, drinking their bourbon in their house when something had gone horribly wrong, and it had been his fault. A mark's clever fakeout causes Harry to spiral a little. Breanna and Sophie are there to clear up any misconceptions.

Drive by ziazippy5379 - Rated G

Harry is driving the girls back from a college visit.

irredeemable by idkimoutofideas - Rated T

“Take that one as collateral,” Fisher said, jerking his chin at Harry. A guard stepped forward and grabbed Harry’s arm, yanking him to his feet. Harry shouted in surprise, and Eliot rose with him, shoulder checking Harry out of the way with a growl—Harry wasn’t sure how he managed to stand, given the blood staining his jeans. Eliot offers to be the hostage when he and Harry are kidnapped together. BTHB: take me instead

the textbook definition by tziporim (ferns) - T

Breanna’s burning the digital midnight oil when Harry shows up looking like a kicked dog.

Old Friends by Singing_Siren - Rated G

“Sophie,” Parker whispers harshly, her left eye twitching an erratic rhythm. Every muscle in her body tenses up like she’s about to break into a sprint, and it takes everything in her not to give into that instinct. Ooh, she wants to get closer. But she can’t! She shouldn’t. “Cameras.” A sensation not unlike a freefall builds in her stomach as she watches the two people that just entered. Blonde hair, a familiar laugh, Maggie Collins with a boring man on her arm and an elegant dress that sparkles in the light of the chandelier. There's a beat as Sophie no doubt nudges Harry out of the way to check the screens herself. “Oh no,” she says eloquently.

Holidays by Anonymous - Rated G

Or, Breanna really likes Halloween, and Harry wants to help her have a great one.

tulips and carnations (and a knife) by oopshenangians - Rated T

Eliot doesn't want to dress up as a knight again. But, if Parker and Hardison and Breanna are all going, then he'll go too. To make sure they're safe, of course. And if he finds a way to secretly confess some feelings to Parker and Hardison along the way? Well, it's just to keep the limbo they've made. And Eliot is very happy to stay in the limbo as long as he needs. based on a Tumblr post by @batserebus over there

After the Job by JMount74 - Rated T

When the job is done there is time to rest, recoup and reflect...before the next one comes along...

won't tell anybody that you turn the world around by crazyness_overpowers - Rated G

Parker asks a question, Breanna reveals an assumption, and Eliot tries not to freak out. Then Parker and Eliot talk about what Breanna's assumption might mean. -- The conversation that happens immediately after "Hey guys? Are we a polycule?", a coda to Redemption 3.09: The Polygiest Job.

[homestuckreplay]

Happy Wriggling Day, Karkat Vantas (?!)

(page 1989-1994)

HIVEBENT?!?!

Freaking the fuck out over here. What’s happening to my completely normal webcomic about the totally average escapades of four human kids. Suddenly we got a whole new character who’s basically being set up as an alternate universe, alternate species, dark John? We’re on the troll planet? But it’s not even a quick trollplanet intermission, like the one with the Midnight Crew and the Felt, this is the actual and real Act 5?????

ok taking some deep breaths to calm down. I think.

Karkat Vantas. I was so sure his name was gonna be Reggie. Previously known to us as carcinoGeneticist. Is the protagonist of ‘Hivebent’, which is like a twisted alien version of ‘Homestuck’, which is my favorite webcomic. Karkat lives on the planet Alternia, which (unlike the Incipisphere), exists within the regular flow of time in paradox space. This story takes place more than 413 million years before the beginning of Homestuck.

It felt pretty obvious that the trolls would play a bigger role in Act 5, maybe even with some flashbacks to their own gameplay, like how the story regularly cuts over to the exiles even while the kids are still the main characters. But this is something else. This is a huge shift, one that gives the trolls near equal importance to the kids. And like every act so far, it zooms the story out further, now focusing on a second planet and soon, a second Incipisphere.

Seeing the trolls’ adventure is probably gonna accomplish a few things:

- Teaching us more about Sburb’s intended gameplay, in a session that goes mostly to plan, to compare the kids’ session against

- Possibly revealing the Ultimate Riddle/purpose of the game, since the kids may never discover it for themselves

- Getting to know the trolls better, so that we’re more sympathetic to their cause, and find it harder to ‘pick a side’ between them and the kids when the two groups have conflict

- Getting to read about a bunch of characters who are just the worst, in so many ways, in contrast to how most of the kids have always been relatively kind and polite, and even Dave is starting to get character development – just like the MC intermission, reading about people who suck can be a lot of fun

- Giving us background on the trolls’ planet, which makes the storyworld feel bigger and more fleshed out, instead of just vaguely saying ‘uhhhh there’s other planets out there, somewhere’

- Chance to make up a bunch of silly names for things along the lines of ‘appearifier’ and ‘cookalizer’ – we’ve already got ‘respiteblock’, ‘larval awakening’ and ‘wriggling day’, and that was just in a single page. This may be much faster paced than our introduction to the kids, but there’s still gotta be jokes.

- ??????

Karkat is similar to John in a few ways. First, our story starts on the equivalent of his thirteenth birthday. Second, his room has the same configuration – small chest of drawers to the door’s left with miscellaneous items on top, software beta poster on the door, movie posters on both sides, and what I’m guessing is the trolls’ equivalent of a bed on the right, though it looks more like a giant larva. Third, they both ‘have a passion for REALLY TERRIBLE (ROMANTIC) MOVIES’ and ‘like to program computers but are NOT VERY GOOD AT IT/NOTORIOUSLY PRETTY AWFUL AT IT’ (p.4/1994). The color palette of Karkat’s room is much darker, as is the sky outside, and he’s angry, violent, mad at his own friends, and specifically interested in computer viruses. In his glorification of violence he’s more like Dave than John, to be honest, but overall he’s set up as the shitty mean kid in contrast to John’s goofy weird kid.

This guy has a lot of troll pals and their adventures are going to be quite extensive and convoluted, to an even greater degree than one perhaps may be accustomed. (p.1993)

Today is June 12, 6/12, and ‘Karkat Vantas’ has 6 syllables in each name for a total of 12. He’s six solar sweeps old, and later he’s going to play Sburb with five other friends, meaning a six-player session, even though we know there are twelve trolls. So it seems like 6 and 12 will be the key numbers this arc instead of 4 and 13, and Karkat (I can’t get over having a name for this guy, for real) currently only knows five of the other trolls. Unlike Earth where only one Sburb session was ‘successful’ (ie. its players made it to the Medium), on Alternia, there will be two successful sessions. The two groups will enter the same Medium and meet each other that way, but their success won’t be dependent on each other – in fact they’ll probably be racing to beat the other group, and it might not be possible for both to win the game. At least, that’s my best guess based on what we know about the trolls’ session so far. A 12-player chain would be a lot to keep track of, and competitive Sburb seems more appropriate for the trolls than the kids’ collaborative Sburb.

Act 4 left a fair few cliffhangers – John’s missions with the queen’s ring and getting Jade into the Medium, Rose’s attempts to destroy the game from the inside, Jade falling from her exploded bedroom while a meteor looms overhead, the ongoing destruction of Skaia – and it hurts that they won’t be resolved for a while. Plus I missed the kids during the Intermission, so I’m sure I’ll miss them more here. But I am very excited to learn more about the trolls, their group dynamics, their home planet, and especially their game sessions.

I still have some act4posting to finish up because of the many huge revelations I’m still processing from that. If there’s about to be twelve new characters introduced in act 5, I’m gonna try writing shorter reaction posts to the new pages without too much analysis, and then do character studies for each of the trolls as they’re introduced if time allows.

[laswells-ashtray]

CAUTION READING THIS SHIT, KINDA HURTS BITCH 💖

*flops across* I read a thing about a brain implant guy asking for a beer and saying 'i love my cool son' while being paralyzed. And it had this horrible thought of... Not-ai Adler? Android!Adler?

He's getting old, and he's slowing down, but suddenly he isn't. He's looking better, he's keeping up with the best of anyone. Mind is sharper, reflexes quicker.

Everything's going great, no one really thinks to hard about it. Who wants to notice/realize their loved one is growing old/er. And even after it being so long, Kate and Philip have their annual meetup with their old man. And that's when they notice it, the smiles lines on Kate's face. The extra scars on Philips face. And dear old dad, seems to only have gotten a bit blonder.

That scratch at the back of their head, uncle Mason is gone. And Uncle Woods is being a rat bastard at the facility. Popping wheelies in his wheelchair, and annoying the other residents with a pair of drums. Making passes at the pretty nurses, male and female alike, cause if he's gonna go down its either a bullet or dying while having mind blowing sex. None of that in his sleep bullshit.

Neither kid wants to ask, shooting each other a look to say something and ask. But neither does, neither wants to ruin this peace. This potential dream. And it is Adler who breaks the silence, sighing as he leaned back. Resting his dewy glass on his knees, and slowly takes off his glasses. Blinking once, twice, and there it is. The slightly glowing lenses of an automaton. The same hue as Kate and Philip's.

And he explains, that when he had that near miss with Bell, he began taking 'precautions'. A shitty beta program he heard about, backing up bits and pieces of your memory. And as the years went by, and things got harder, the tech got better. And his job, not yet within reach, not yet finished. He finally made the push, and here he is. Same as he can be, new skin suit and hardware, but the same memories. The same affection and love for his kids. If it's a bug, he'll keep it. Doesn't do any software updates, and only has one specific Russian do repairs. He knows how to keep quiet. Tried to talk Woods into it, but was threatened with a magnet. Yeah he kept those too.

As for how long he'll still be here? As long as it takes, as long as his kids want.

Lia, Val Kilmer dies, and then you do this to me. I don't know what my limit is, but I do know where my vodka is and I'll be reaching for it now.

God, the desire to never lose yourself to the extent that you give yourself away. Jesus Christ.

Mortality and the way we try to deflect that which has taken out generations before us, because we seek the power that they sought with lesser resources.

This is it, you've killed me.

[hauntedfalcon]

I cannot fully express how shitty Photoshop has become and how much it pisses me off as someone who is actively paying for a licensed copy

at every moment the program is prompting you to generate things. generative shape fill. generative canvas expansion. generate text. it's all AI. and not just Photoshop; Adobe InDesign, which has NO reason to be that way, is also pushing generative shit every single time I click on a frame

want to remove the background from an image in Photoshop? the quick select tool now has no option in the toolbar (or anywhere else I can find!) to adjust the tolerance. it does not see the difference between white and 5% grey. it selects things non-contiguously, so an area of 5% grey in the middle of the image? fuck you, it's now gone along with your white background :)

I'm installing an old version right now, but Creative Cloud's version manager only goes back as far as v22.2, and what I really want is Photoshop 2020. these greedy assholes really did shoot themselves in the foot and render their crown jewel industry standard software unusable. piracy continues to be the only viable response to any of this shit

[biggestdev]

The computer & testing corner of my workbench in my basement, featuring:

An old toughbook I got for cheap, zip-tied to a VESA stand, mounted to...

An old Ergotron monitor arm I intercepted on its way to the dumpster from work (needs new bushings, its lopsided and flops everywhere)

My first ever "good" mic i got back in college; a yeti mic and shitty boom arm, migrated down here when I upgraded my main pc

Headphones my roomate gifted me

a crappy 2-channel oscilloscope I bought off a friend.

The idea of having the laptop on an arm is so I can push it out of the way when I'm not using it. It was on the table before, taking up useful space I could use for abandoning projects! There's at least two entire project's-worth of space I got back by doing this, so I'm very proud! I expect piles of random junk to accumulate their quickly.

I only use the laptop to look up random datasheets, flashing microcontrollers with premade code (I 'ain't in the business of writing software, I let someone else do that), and voice training, so most of the time I can "stow" it off to the side.

Though... It's only running windows because I was being lazy. Maybe another project could be installing Linux...

[dimbulbstudiosinc]

Question for the artists of tumblr:

I’ve been thinking about getting into digital art and don’t wanna break the bank on a bunch of pricy hardware and software. I’m planning on trading in my old laptop from several years ago (it’s a pixel book go) and buy a tablet along with a new computer. What should I get? What is the best computer and tablet for digital art? Should I even trade in my shitty computer for a new one? I’d love to hear some thoughts!

Digital art friends lmk!