#small form factor computing

[virtualizationhowto]

Mini PC Server: Things to know before you buy

Mini PC Server: Things to know before you buy #homelab #MiniPCadvantages #smallformfactorcomputing #energyefficientservers #homelabsetups #IntelCorepowereddevices #compactserversolutions #runningvirtualmachinesonMiniPCs #minipcserver

I have been testing quite a few Mini PCs over the past several days in the home lab and really have enjoyed working with many of these little devices, like an Intel NUC or other Mini PCs. They are powerful, and the amount of technology and hardware manufacturers have fit into such a tiny package is amazing. Nonetheless, are there reasons not to use a mini PC server? This post will take a “devil’s…

[ms-demeanor]

So You Need To Buy A Computer But You Don't Know What Specs Are Good These Days

Hi.

This is literally my job.

Lots of people are buying computers for school right now or are replacing computers as their five-year-old college laptop craps out so here's the standard specs you should be looking for in a (windows) computer purchase in August 2023.

PROCESSOR

Intel i5 (no older than 10th Gen)

Ryzen 7

You can get away with a Ryzen 5 but an intel i3 should be an absolute last resort. You want at least an intel i5 or a Ryzen 7 processor. The current generation of intel processors is 13, but anything 10 or newer is perfectly fine. DO NOT get a higher performance line with an older generation; a 13th gen i5 is better than an 8th gen i7. (Unfortunately I don't know enough about ryzens to tell you which generation is the earliest you should get, but staying within 3 generations is a good rule of thumb)

RAM

8GB absolute minimum

If you don't have at least 8GB RAM on a modern computer it's going to be very, very slow. Ideally you want a computer with at least 16GB, and it's a good idea to get a computer that will let you add or swap RAM down the line (nearly all desktops will let you do this, for laptops you need to check the specs for Memory and see how many slots there are and how many slots are available; laptops with soldered RAM cannot have the memory upgraded - this is common in very slim laptops)

STORAGE

256GB SSD

Computers mostly come with SSDs these days; SSDs are faster than HDDs but typically have lower storage for the same price. That being said: SSDs are coming down in price and if you're installing your own drive you can easily upgrade the size for a low cost. Unfortunately that doesn't do anything for you for the initial purchase.

A lot of cheaper laptops will have a 128GB SSD and, because a lot of stuff is stored in the cloud these days, that can be functional. I still recommend getting a bit more storage than that because it's nice if you can store your music and documents and photos on your device instead of on the cloud. You want to be able to access your files even if you don't have internet access.

But don't get a computer with a big HDD instead of getting a computer with a small SSD. The difference in speed is noticeable.

SCREEN (laptop specific)

Personally I find that touchscreens have a negative impact on battery life and are easier to fuck up than standard screens. They are also harder to replace if they get broken. I do not recommend getting a touch screen unless you absolutely have to.

A lot of college students especially tend to look for the biggest laptop screen possible; don't do that. It's a pain in the ass to carry a 17" laptop around campus and with the way that everything is so thin these days it's easier to damage a 17" screen than a 14" screen.

On the other end of that: laptops with 13" screens tend to be very slim devices that are glued shut and impossible to work on or upgrade.

Your best bet (for both functionality and price) is either a 14" or a 15.6" screen. If you absolutely positively need to have a 10-key keyboard on your laptop, get the 15.6". If you need something portable more than you need 10-key, get a 14"

FORM FACTOR (desktop specific)

If you purchase an all-in-one desktop computer I will begin manifesting in your house physically. All-in-ones take away every advantage desktops have in terms of upgradeability and maintenance; they are expensive and difficult to repair and usually not worth the cost of disassembling to upgrade.

There are about four standard sizes of desktop PC: All-in-One (the size of a monitor with no other footprint), Tower (Big! probably at least two feet long in two directions), Small Form Factor Tower (Very moderate - about the size of a large shoebox), and Mini/Micro/Tiny (Small! about the size of a small hardcover book).

If you are concerned about space you are much better off getting a MicroPC and a bracket to put it on your monitor than you are getting an all-in-one. This will be about a million percent easier to work on than an all-in-one and this way if your monitor dies your computer is still functional.

Small form factor towers and towers are the easiest to work on and upgrade; if you need a burly graphics card you need to get a full size tower, but for everything else a small form factor tower will be fine. Most of our business sales are SFF towers and MicroPCs, the only time we get something larger is if we have to put a $700 graphics card in it. SFF towers will accept small graphics cards and can handle upgrades to the power supply; MicroPCs can only have the RAM and SSD upgraded and don't have room for any other components or their own internal power supply.

WARRANTY

Most desktops come with either a 1 or 3 year warranty; either of these is fine and if you want to upgrade a 1 year to a 3 year that is also fine. I've generally found that if something is going to do a warranty failure on desktop it's going to do it the first year, so you don't get a hell of a lot of added mileage out of an extended warranty but it doesn't hurt and sometimes pays off to do a 3-year.

Laptops are a different story. Laptops mostly come with a 1-year warranty and what I recommend everyone does for every laptop that will allow it is to upgrade that to the longest warranty you can get with added drop/damage protection. The most common question our customers have about laptops is if we can replace a screen and the answer is usually "yes, but it's going to be expensive." If you're purchasing a low-end laptop, the parts and labor for replacing a screen can easily cost more than half the price of a new laptop. HOWEVER, the way that most screens get broken is by getting dropped. So if you have a warranty with drop protection, you just send that sucker back to the factory and they fix it for you.

So, if it is at all possible, check if the manufacturer of a laptop you're looking at has a warranty option with drop protection. Then, within 30 days (though ideally on the first day you get it) of owning your laptop, go to the manufacturer site, register your serial number, and upgrade the warranty. If you can't afford a 3-year upgrade at once set a reminder for yourself to annually renew. But get that drop protection, especially if you are a college student or if you've got kids.

And never, ever put pens or pencils on your laptop keyboard. I've seen people ruin thousand dollar, brand-new laptops that they can't afford to fix because they closed the screen on a ten cent pencil. Keep liquids away from them too.

LIFESPAN

There's a reasonable chance that any computer you buy today will still be able to turn on and run a program or two in ten years. That does not mean that it is "functional."

At my office we estimate that the functional lifespan of desktops is 5-7 years and the functional lifespan of laptops is 3-5 years. Laptops get more wear and tear than desktops and desktops are easier to upgrade to keep them running. At 5 years for desktops and 3 years for laptops you should look at upgrading the RAM in the device and possibly consider replacing the SSD with a new (possibly larger) model, because SSDs and HDDs don't last forever.

COST

This means that you should think of your computers as an annual investment rather than as a one-time purchase. It is more worthwhile to pay $700 for a laptop that will work well for five years than it is to pay $300 for a laptop that will be outdated and slow in one year (which is what will happen if you get an 8th gen i3 with 8GB RAM). If you are going to get a $300 laptop try to get specs as close as possible to the minimums I've laid out here.

If you have to compromise on these specs, the one that is least fixable is the processor. If you get a laptop with an i3 processor you aren't going to be able to upgrade it even if you can add more RAM or a bigger SSD. If you have to get lower specs in order to afford the device put your money into the processor and make sure that the computer has available slots for upgrade and that neither the RAM nor the SSD is soldered to the motherboard. (one easy way to check this is to search "[computer model] RAM upgrade" on youtube and see if anyone has made a video showing what the inside of the laptop looks like and how much effort it takes to replace parts)

Computers are expensive right now. This is frustrating, because historically consumer computer prices have been on a downward trend but since 2020 that trend has been all over the place. Desktop computers are quite expensive at the moment (August 2023) and decent laptops are extremely variably priced.

If you are looking for a decent, upgradeable laptop that will last you a few years, here are a couple of options that you can purchase in August 2023 that have good prices for their specs:

14" Lenovo - $670 - 11th-gen i5, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD

15.6" HP - $540 - 11th-gen i5, 16GB RAM, and 256GB SSD

14" Dell - $710 - 12th-gen i5, 16GB RAM, and 256GB SSD

If you are looking for a decent, affordable desktop that will last you a few years, here are a couple of options that you can purchase in August 2023 that have good prices for their specs:

SFF HP - $620 - 10th-gen i5, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD

SFF Lenovo - $560 - Ryzen 7 5000 series, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

Dell Tower - $800 - 10th-gen i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

If I were going to buy any of these I'd probably get the HP laptop or the Dell Tower. The HP Laptop is actually a really good price for what it is.

Anyway happy computering.

[pocketmania]

ENA X Male!Reader that IS basically a computer Vírus,I think It Will be like this relationship

Girl with her Eldritch boyfriend

[A/N] hello jp!! Thank you for requesting! Aaaand sorry for the wait‼️

Alsoooo dream BBQ is out!! I watched gameplay of it, and it was so super good! If you're able to play it, I recommend it! I'll link the game underneath this post just in case any of you decide to check it out for yourselves :]

Now onto the thingy

# ENA w/ a Virus!Reader

(🎭🌙👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨💭) - ENA headcanons

(reader type) - AMAB & masculine; a virus / eldritch monster within ENA's world

(‼️warnings) - body horror

(quick summary) - headcanons about ENA dating the Reader, who is a virus

♨ jesus christ how did you two end up together. more importantly why am I the one asking this question I'm the writer

♨ on a random trip to visit an in-universe mall, ENA spotted you from afar and went up to you, making conversation like she typically does

♨ from that point on, you both kept meeting up coincidentally on separate adventures. then you began to join ENA on her adventures. fast forward about 2 years of awkward small talk and lots of denying that you're in love, ENA confesses to you rather indirectly/vaguely

❝ I'm cweating a fwightwess dodo out of myself in fwont of the pewrson who scawes the voices away the most! ❞

❝ Hey, don't be like th—what did you say? ❞

♨ Okay, here's the thing

♨ Unfortunately, whatever you touch becomes all... glitchy and nonsensical. Moreso than whatever it already is

♨ ENA herself discovered this fact when she tried to hold your hand. You failed to warn her in time, and it glitched out. You had to go on a mini adventure to help her out

♨ After this incident, you found a nice workaround: three-dimensional gloves. You make the lack of being able to kiss or even hug from time to time work, however

♨ Your stature and overall demeanor are VERY intimidating and kind of scary. You're also... quite dangerous because of how unstable your code is

♨ That did not stop the Picasso Painting Lady. If anything, it motivated her

♨ In an attempt to get closer to you and become "an ideal and ultimate significant other" as she'd call it, she began to ask around for dating advice from people, some she really should not be taking advice from

♨ Like Moony

❝ Get them your favorite type of flowers to remind them of what kind of flowers you like. Flawless plan! ❞

❝ My, my! With these tips, I'll certainly be the apple of (Y/N)'s eye! ❞

♨ Despite your incredibly different backgrounds, you're very open with each other (which many people are surprised by)

♨ Going back to the bodily factor, your body is kinda fucked up

♨ Like I said, your code is unstable, which means that your form is unstable as well. It changes a lot, and you feel self-conscious about it, but mask it with your toughness and whatnot

♨ Once you told ENA, she was constantly reminding you that you looked stunning and helping you understand that you looked completely fine

♨ Similar to my last batches of ENA headcanons, you are, like, the only person who's nice to ENA

♨ You'll obviously have your moments, but you're nicer to her than anyone else so

♨ Dates are intended to be minimal and relaxing, but you always end up getting lost on your way home

♨ Basically monster × monster kisser

♨ You will not hesitate to corrupt anything that stands in her way

♨ Despite how different you two are, it doesn't matter. Your differences only bring the best out of one another, and in a world like this, different is all you know <3

Play Dream BBQ here!

[toomanystoriessolittletime]

Lights, Camera, Colombia

💫  Prologue 💫 

Summary: Ten years after he quit the DEA Javi gets approached by a production company, asking if he would like to be involved in the production of a documentary about Pablo Escobar and the drug war. When he agrees, he meets you, one of the producers of the documentary and the woman who he will spend the next months working with on the documentary and travel back to Colombia, the woman who will get to know about the side of him that he never wants anyone to see, the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with.

Pairing: Javier Peña x fem. reader

Wordcount: 3k

Rating: G (for now)

Warnings: angst, kind of a meet cute, fluff, a look into Javi's head, mentioned character dead (I'm sorry), a little big of backstory

follow @toomanystoriessolittletime-fics and turn on notifications to get notified when I post new fics

Full Masterlist // Javier Peña Masterlist // Lights, Camera, Colombia Masterlist

There was a Colombian restaurant across the street form where Javier lived in San Antonio. 

When he came back from work he would sit on his small balcony with a cold beer and just watch. It wasn’t much different from watching the boats on the Rio Grande back at his papa’s ranch. They had raided the place almost three months ago but now it had opened up again with new owner. 

A little search in the DEA database told him everything he needed to know about those new owners, another raid already in progress within the next week.

The internet would have made his job back in Colombia so much fucking easier. 

Sometimes he wondered how his life would be now if he hadn’t taken the job with the DEA all the years back. He wondered what his life would be like without the nightmares, without the urge to watch over his shoulder when he walked the streets at night.

His therapist told him what he had was PTSD.

And his therapist didn’t even know half of what had happened in Colombia. 

After he emptied his beer he made his way back inside his apartment. It was a good apartment. Big living room, small kitchen, two bedrooms, one of which he used as an office/guest room. Not that he did get any guests. Ever.

It was the space where his computer stood on a desk his father had build for him when he went to high school. It was one of the few things he had taken with him from the ranch when he left Laredo three years ago. 

He didn’t see any point in staying after his father died. 

There was nothing left there for him, except the ghosts from his past.

And those were with him no matter where he went, so why continue to stay back in a town where he was reminded how lonely he was at ever corner?

So when the call from Steve came about the job offer in San Antonio he took it even though he never wanted to be involved with the DEA again. Not that he thought they would take him back anyway after what he had pulled, but things had changed. 

It was around the time that he moved here that he began to write. Write about his life, his experiences in Colombia and about his thoughts. About how everything had changed him.

To a certain point he became numb to his own feelings. He saw so many people die in front of him that he was sure that something inside of him had died too. 

He realised that after he caught his ex girlfriend Alice cheating on him back in Laredo just before his father died. He wasn’t sure if he just didn’t love her anymore or hadn’t loved her at all. They had been together for almost two years and he thought back then that she could be the one. Maybe. 

He now knows that it would have never worked out between them. Not because Alice cheated on him (well maybe that was a factor too) but because he wasn’t sure if he was made to get married. Or be in love. 

He wasn’t sure if he had ever been in love at all if he was honest with himself. 

And so, in a never ending spiral of anxiety and self doubt his therapist, a woman in her sixties called Margery, told him to try to write everything down when it felt like the thoughts were getting too loud, or when he couldn’t fall back asleep after a nightmare. 

And after a year he had written almost 100.000 words of something that Margery said could have people interested if he were to turn it into a book. 

He still remembered her laugh at the look he gave her at hearing that. 

But anyway…

When the offer of this documentary came in the first time, he never even entertained the thought. Writing things down about Colombia for himself was a very different thing from sitting in front of the camera and talking about it to a room full of strangers. 

But then Steve had called and told him that he signed in on it. 

It was a small studio in New York that had been working on several documentaries about the drug war before and once he watched a few of them he entertained the idea of participating. 

Truth to be told he was getting bored. So why not try out something new?

He flew out to Miami to meet up with Steve and the producers to talk things through. 

It’s where he met you for the first time. Well, sort of. You were on the phone from New York and called into the meeting to answer every question the both of them could have. Apparently your flight had been canceled, otherwise you would have been there too.

While he first thought his job would be to only have a few questions to answer in front of a camera he pretty quickly learned that this was not the case at all. 

Originally the idea was for Steve and Javier to both go back to Colombia to revisit some places that were significant to them, and that had been significant for Pablo Escobar and to just speak about their memories about these places.

It would mostly be only them and you with your camera traveling through the country while the rest of the team followed to shoot some of the scenery and be on call should you need them. 

But since Steve couldn’t just leave for six weeks, it would be Javier and you alone for the most time. 

Something he was less than thrilled about. Going back to the place that gave him nightmares with a woman he hadn’t met before? 

He never wanted to smoke as much as he did as they took their lunch break. 

„So you gonna do it?“ Steve was sitting across from him in the restaurant of the hotel they had met up at. Javier would stay at Steve’s place tonight though to visit Conny and the kids and he would never admit it, but he was looking forward to it.  

„Man, I don’t know,“ Javier sighed, rubbing his finger over the moustache he was still rocking no matter how much he got teased about it from anyone.

„Why? Not like anyone is waiting for you at home,“ Steve grinned and Javier rolled his eyes. 

„Fuck you,“ he spat, making Steve laugh. 

Steve didn’t know that he hit a nerve with his jest. Lately he had realised just how lonely he was. He never craved a typical family with a wife and some kids. He never was really lonely before because no matter how many people he pushed away, he knew that back in Laredo, on a ranch he grew up on was his father.

But ever since his father had died, Javier found himself questioning if this was it. If working his nine to five for five days a week, eating single microwave dinners and drinking too much beer in front of the TV would be his life until he just…. Died.

Would people even care? When would someone realise that he was truly gone?

It had been a topic in his latest therapy session that he was still processing. But Steve didn’t know that. He didn’t even know that Javier went to therapy in the first place. 

„I’d go back. Would love to watch everything that somehow had to do with that fucker crumble,“ Steve said with a shrug, before he began to eat his burger. 

Javier sighed. 

What exactly was holding him back?

Steve was right, there was nothing and no one at home waiting for him and frankly, he hated his job. But somehow he had to make a living and there were worse things than spending eight hours a day in an air conditioned room. 

But going back to Colombia?

„I think this could be good for you, Javi,“ Steve said, emptying his glass. 

„How so?“ Javi asked.

„I think you never really got closure on what we did in Colombia. Yeah, you went back for Cali but… all the things that happened while we chased Escobar through the whole country? All the decisions we made? All the deaths? It’s been fucking awful. And I think going back to see that we actually did make a difference? That all those years we spent there were actually worth something? I That we helped the people? I’d fucking love to see that,“ Steve said and Javi looked at him before he leaned back into his chair with a sigh. 

„Fuck, Steve. When did you become so fucking wise?“ Javi said with a small chuckle and Steve shrugged. 

„Got a killer wife at home and a therapist I see regularly,“ he said and Javi was surprised to hear that. Part of him still was ashamed that he had to get help from someone, even though his therapist is slowly convincing him it’s actually pretty damn great that he took the leap of faith to talk to someone. 

Mental health was not really something people talk about, especially men. 

You're either a strong man, who can handle everything that life throws at you or your a fucking pussy if you couldn’t. 

He never understood someone using the term pussy as an insult. Pussies were fucking powerful. Pussies could make men drop to their knees. They gave life, for fucks sake. 

„You know I read that they’re turning Escobar’s home in a fucking waterpark,“ Steve said and Javier snorted. 

„Seriously?“

„And a zoo. Apparently those hippos he brought there have been fucking like… well animals and now there are so many there, they have no idea what to do with them,“ Steve said with a grin, shaking his head, clearly amused. 

„Think they have plush hippos so I can get Olivia one?“ Javier asked and Steve chuckled. 

„Guess you gonna find out huh?“ He got up, slapping Javier on his shoulder. 

„Think we still on some kill lists over there?“ Javi asked as he got up too, walking next to Steve towards the elevator, back towards the floor they had their meeting on. 

„Probably,“ Steve shrugged and Javier rolled his eyes. 

„I have some questions,“ you heard Javier Peña say once the meeting continued. You were sitting in the small meeting room of the production company you worked in. You were alone, everyone else already having gone home to enjoy their weekend. 

You never minded staying longer, loving your work. 

And this project? Well this was very close to your heart. Growing up with the knowledge that your father had been killed because he was one of the patrol officers at the Mexican borders that regularly found the coke that the cartels tried to smuggle into the states, left you to grow up with a hatred towards everything responsible for taking your father from you when you were just four years old. 

You were very passionate about this project and would do almost anything to have one of the DEA Agents that have been involved the most in taking down not only Pablo Escobar but the Cali Cartel too in your documentary. 

„Go ahead. I’m sure I have answers for all of them,“ you said with a smile and heard the men on the other end of the line chuckle. 

„If I agree to this, I need to reach out to some of my contacts beforehand. There is the possibility of me still being on kill lists and that would endanger you and your crew,“ Javier Peña said and you did a little happy dance, because it sounded like he was on board. 

„Of course. If you feel better, I could also arrange for some kind of security…“ you began but were interrupted. 

„No. I would…. I would handle that myself. I just like to be prepared beforehand. I hope you have no problems with me carrying a gun throughout the whole thing, because there’s no way in hell I can go back there without one,“ Javier said and you nodded. 

„Understood. I took extensive shooting classes and I have a gun license too. If you can handle the part of me actually taking a gun to Colombia, I could carry one too,“ you said. 

There was a pause. 

„I’ll think about it,“ he finally said and you nodded. 

„Talk me again through the timeline,“ he said.

„The overall time we would spend in Columbia would be six week. We would fly out to Bogota to meet up. I have a few locations lined up that I would want to visit. I would send you those via email and I would love it if you have some locations that are significant to you too that we could add. Overall I am thinking about three weeks in Bogota and three weeks in Medellin. We would fly out to Medellin, spend time there to go through all the locations and then we would drive back to Bogota. I am currently working on getting the permit to film at what used to be Escobar’s hacienda.“

„Are they really turning it into a waterpark?“ The other man, Steve Murphy asked. You smiled to yourself. 

„Oh yeah. Apparently it got a lot of traffic after Pablo died and people took everything they could find from there. I am also trying to find out how much money was found on the property,“ you said, hearing the man chuckle on the other line. 

„It would be just the two of us,“ Javier said again. You nodded. 

„Yes. The crew would travel with us, and be on call. They will shoot scenery from all the places we visit, but going through those locations and talking? That would be just the two of us and my new travel sized camera,“ you said. 

You had tried the camera out on your nieces third birthday party some weeks ago and were pleasantly surprised by the picture and sound quality. 

You could hear murmuring on the other end of the line and you pursed your lips, your feet nervously tapping on the floor. 

„Fine. Send me the whole plan via email and I will look into it and get back to you with any suggestions. When would we leave?“ Javier asked and you threw your hands in the air in a silent cheer. 

„Middle to end of may. We would have to be back by mid July because I have another job I need to be here for. Interviews would happen sometime in August for a release of the documentary before Christmas.“

„Sounds good to me,“ Javier finally said and you felt like a weight was lifted from your shoulders. 

You had a vision for this project, and you were now so much closer to getting your vision. 

„Thank you Mr. Peña. It’s…. I am looking forward to officially meeting you in Colombia,“ you said.

„Me too. And please call me Javier. Or Javi. Mr. Peña makes me feel fucking old,“ he said.

„You are old, Mr. Peña,“ Steve Murphy said and you couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you as you heard what sounded like a slap on the other line followed from an Fuck you Javi. 

„Noted, Javier. I will send you the schedule and legal will send you the contract.“

„Please also send me your ID and gun license so I can take care of the permit for Columbia,“ Javier said and you nodded. 

„Will do. Thank you so much for agreeing to do this,“ you said. 

„No need to thank me,“ he said.

„Do you have any more questions?“ You asked. 

„Not right now. If I do I’ll get back to you. I do have you number,“ he said. 

„Perfect. Well then, have a great rest of the day,“ you said. 

„You too,“ he said before they all said goodbye to you and the call disconnected. 

You jumped up and did a little happy dance, feeling so fucking relieved that you had one of them on board for this. With the extensive research you had made on them you had to admit that you would have loved to have Steve Murphy on too, but with him having a family that was waiting for him at home, you could understand that he didn’t want to spend over a month apart from them. 

Javier Peña was a little mystery to you. 

You knew from your research that he had left Columbia just weeks before Pablo Escobar was killed, only to be sent back after to take down the Cali Cartel. Something about the whole thing didn’t seem right to you and you had the hope that spending time with him would lead to answers to that question. 

From your research you also knew that he had a… let’s say unique system on how to get information. You had actually reached out to some of the women he got out of Colombia after finding out about him using prostitutes for information on the cartel members. 

Something an ex CIA agent with the name William Stechner had told you when you had met up with him weeks prior for the possibility of having him on the documentary too. 

An idea you had pretty quickly got rid off after meeting him. 

There was something about the man that left you uneasy, and the thought of spending one on one time with him for too long was not your idea of a great work environment. 

Yes, you wouldn’t meet Javier Peña before Colombia either. But except for Stechner, every single person that you had talked about him had only good things to say about him. So you were going with your intuition and would trust those people. 

That meeting Javier Peña would end up changing your whole life?

Well that was something you hadn’t anticipated in your documentary (or life) plan. 

next chapter

Taglist (please send me an ask if you want to be added to the LCC Taglist, I only have a taglist for this series, not for all of my works)

@pasc4lfuzz// @kirsteng42 // @imdreaminghere // @greenwitchfromthewoods // @theorganasolo // @inept-the-magnificent // @maried01

[live-laugh-lenney]

omg i’ve just had the sweetest thought😭

arthurtv letting his gf sit on his lap during their streams together and just playing video games together and being all cute

please, this is adorable! i think i have a small blurb on here somewhere that has a really small scene where she goes and sits on his lap during a filming session...

newbie.

that's what her friends called her whenever they were on a stream on discord during a gaming session. even though she'd been streaming and gaming for a few months now, and knew the ropes on when the best time was to stream for her followers and what games they would enjoy seeing her play, the nickname stuck.

before she met arthur, she worked a normal 9-5 job in a local shop that was a short walk away from her london flat, getting up early in the mornings with a routine planned out for her entire day. but the more and more she was seen in arthur's videos and the more she was featured in his vlogs and the more she appeared on their friends' youtube channels, the more people wanted to see her doing her own thing.

so she took up streaming, where she held gaming nights with the two arthur's and george and chris and where she held nights where she would just waffle about her life to the camera, just to get a feel for it. to see whether she enjoyed it. to see whether it took off or whether it wasn't worth the hassle in changing to her career. coming home after a busy day at work, having dinner, before she disappeared to sit in front of her computer for a couple of hours.

george let the nickname slip.

once.

during a game of fortnite because it was a game highly requested by her followers to play in a squad match with her friends - to the point where she would even venture out of her circle and play with some of her followers who requested a chance to be in her team. and she was terrible at it; she claimed any form of shooting game or games that required skill were never her forte and that she was simply doing it for the entertainment factor as people loved to see them all in a joking manner with banter being thrown around.

and it stuck.

she couldn't shake it off, months later. not that she minded, at all. she found it quite endearing and sweet how she was loved and welcomed into arthur's circle with wide-open arms by his best friends, like she'd always been a part of something special, as if she'd known them her whole life. because the last thing she ever wanted was to be placed as an outsider by his friends, know as just 'arthur's girlfriend' who led her own life and never involved herself as a part of their group or was never included in their plans.

they loved her, and respected her, and that was all that mattered.

and they'd been her biggest supporters from the moment she chose to make streaming and content creation her new career path. they were with her the moment she quit her job, they helped her to create her own gaming setup in her spare room, and they gave her tips and pointers on making videos and editing, giving her as much help as they possibly could to kickstart her new start. and she was incredibly thankful for all of them.

there was something she loved about making money off of having fun with her friends, her boyfriend and her followers. and, as time passed, she felt lucky to have been given the platform she had been given and never took it for granted.

"i'm going to save the last two episodes of this story for the stream tomorrow," yn says to the camera propped up before her, suddenly feeling the hefty weight of the headphones sitting upon her head and she could feel her ears getting hot from the padding, "i think we did good tonight, we completed almost all of it in two hours."

she watched arthur play a couple of episodes of lego star wars on a stream, not too long before, and she found something therapeutic about re-completing a game that she had already played before. how she used to love playing it when she was younger and that it was something nostalgic for her... so she'd asked him to show her how to stream herself playing it which he had no issue with doing.

"i can smell dinner, i think arthur's cooked for me," yn grins at her screen's monitor, her belly rumbling from the wafting scent of some form of seasoned meat in the air, "he's a cutie. in case you haven't realised, this isn't my usual setup."

she took a look behind her and, if people were clever enough, they'd see arthur's setup just behind her in his own spare room.

"arthur created a little space for me in his office so we can game and film videos together sometimes," she grins widely, reading all of the sweet comments that came through on the screen; some vibing with her and how cute arthur could be to others sending in games for them to play together, "he said he had a surprise for me when i came over tonight and he showed me this. i could have cried on the spot."

her eyes glazed over the comments, flowing in constantly, and it was hard for her to keep track of what people were saying.

"maybe we'll do a little setup tour for my youtube," she suggests and shrugs at the camera with a nonchalant grin on her lips, "maybe it'll be with you guys in the next couple of days. maybe not. you'll just have to wait and see."

she closed the game from her monitor and let a blank screen fill the space, her own face appearing in the bottom corner as she prepared to close down the stream for the night.

"same time tomorrow, troops. i'll see you then. love to you all," she blew a kiss to the camera and waved, "bye!"

she made sure everything was closed down before she stood to her feet, sliding her headphones off of her head and hanging them up on their little stand beside her screen, stretching out her back from the aches and the cricks that were forming from her hunched position over the last couple of hours. she tucked her chair back underneath her desk and grabbed her water bottle before leaving the room, into the open space of his living room, which was filled with the smells of something delicious.

she noticed the table was set with plates and cutlery before she saw him standing at his kitchen island, dishing everything into bowls so they could help themselves to however much they fancied that night, pan in his hand as he scooped beef strips into a ceramic bowl.

"good stream?"

"the best," yn grins widely as she took her seat at the table, "we hit 2k viewers about an hour ago."

"oh, that's brilliant," arthur gasps proudly and he supports the most genuine smile on his lips, looking at her as she grins proudly, "i told you you'd get there eventually."

"they loved the setup, too," she smiles, watching as he set the pan down in the sink before he picked up the plate of wraps and the bowl of beef strips, leaving behind the salad on the bar that he was going to go back and pick up once he set his full hands down on the table, "i might have to stream here more often now."

"that was the plan," he admits, setting the bowl and the plate down before he went back to the breakfast, not without passing her by and pressing a kiss to the top of her head, "i'm really proud of you."

"couldn't have done it without you," she says.

he sits down at the table beside her, both of them in a position to see the sun setting over london, painting the surface of the thames with oranges and pinks, the last of the sun shimmering on the windows of the buildings opposite.

"i've got a video to film tonight, do you fancy being a part of it? could do a watch-along together," he suggests, filling up a wrap with beef and some salad, wrapping it all up with a fajita-style fold before he took a hearty bite from the top, "people have been asking for you to make another appearance."

"only if you're fine with that," she says, following his actions as she filled her own wrap up, "what are you watching?"

"it's just a short video from reddit about nature and animals," he says and she laughs softly, "what?"

"nothing, i just love your little fascination with the animal kingdom," she admits and he blushes, looking down at his plate, "it's cute. i find it fascinating when you talk about anything like that. all the facts you tell me. it's like having my own walking, talking encyclopaedia."

and when it comes to filming, she finds comfort in sitting closer to him as they watch the reddit videos together. she's wrapped in one of his throw blankets, in her comfiest clothes (which was a tee from his wardrobe and a pair of black cycling shorts peeking out from the bottom), settled on his lap with his arm wrapped around her waist to keep her steady on his thighs.

"an orca slapping a dolphin straight out the sea," he reads from the screen and, as the two of them watch nature take its course, they're both completely enamoured by the scene before them, "oh, jeez. the amount of air that thing gets is insane."

"they're the bullies of the ocean," yn adds and she remembers arthur saying something like that previously, when they'd been cuddled up in bed with a documentary about the ocean playing as they wound down for the night, "i bet that was an incredible thing to witness happen though. being that close to a dolphin seems amazing but to be that close to an orca, too? it's a bonus, a two in one special."

"have you ever seen a dolphin?"

she shakes her head and cranes her head to look at him, "never. it's on my bucket list though. that and to see the whales off the coast of gibraltar."

"maybe we'll take a trip," he says, "one day. i think i'd love to see that, too."

she leans back a little more comfortably on his lap, her back resting against his front as she brings her knees to her chest, tightening the blanket around her body to keep her from being too exposed to the camera and to keep her a little warmer, his arm helping to bring her closer to him.

"that was probably his killer instincts coming out though," yn explains and arthur cocks an eyebrow, confused, at her, "what?"

"they don't eat dolphins?"

"they do," she nods and he's genuinely surprised by her little bit of knowledge on orca's and their food chain, "they don't just eat seals and penguins, arthur. they eat dolphins and other sea creatures, too."

"look at you, eh?" he teases softly and, in that moment, they forget the camera is rolling and that they're actually filming a video for his second channel, "you're just as nerdy as me when it comes to the animal kingdom. my interests are rubbing off on you."

"i have my surprises," she grins and brings a hand up to poke a finger into his nose, "i know it might not seem like it sometimes but i am interested in your interests, silly." xx

[bamtor1sss]

can you write something about yeonjun as your boyfriend??

OFCCCC EHEEE.. I kinda got carried away and may or may not have written 1.1k words cough ANYWAYS ENJOY ANONNN <33

-

pairing: yeonjun x f!reader

warnings: not proof read, suggestive words but pretty much sfw!~

genre: highshool au for a moment, collage au, cute fluff <3

‧₊˚

✩

‧₊˚

𓆩♡𓆪

bestfriend!yeonjun - who has been your best friend since middle school to high school whose always been with you through highs and low, who you totally haven’t hid your feelings from for the longest time and may or may not be picking up on his (not so) subtle hints at you

another late night with yeonjun as you sit with him on floor in his room talking about anything that naturally came up since that was pretty easy to do with him until yeonjun speaks up, “ah y/n you wanna go to this bakery that’s not too far from your house saturday?” of course your eyes perked up and you responded happily “of course we can go- maybe we could invite the others too? oh! oh! gyu has been talking about this type of dessert-” yeonjun didn’t let you finish “I wanted us to spend some.. ah” he clears his throat “time together? just us..”  “of course we can talk the others usually don’t mind when we ignore them-“ yeonjun stopped you again feeling frustrated yet again that you hadn’t picked up on his very obvious hints.. at first he thought he was being too subtle when he asked more often to walk you home, inviting you to what was supposed to be dates with just the two of you but this time.. yea he had enough of it “ no I mean like you and I only.. like a date.. you know” he mumbled the last words out, which of course you couldn’t stop your eyes from widening and your lips from perking up into a small shy smile “ah- o-of course” 

▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။||||| 0:10

boyfriend!yeonjun - who got into uni with you, always studies  at your place after classes since studying apparently "wasn't as effective when I do it alone” 

“so if you take the derivative of the momentum with respect to time, and factor in the external forces, you get the relativistic form of Newton’s Second Law… that’s where the Lorentz factor starts to matter at high velocities” yea.. you weren’t listening to a single thing..  just looking at his features and well mostly his lips that looked so soft under the dim light “got it right?” yeonjun looked up eyebrows knitted together and his lips pressed into a thin line in a focused expression “o-oh! yes got it, right” you nod hopping he totally didn’t see your obvious stares and panicked expression “mhm?” he hummed licking his lips as he adjusting his sitting position to face you “then explain to me the subject in detail” of course that had you fumbling while replying “u-um so the momentum factors uh- time and high velocities and stuff” you look down at the paper trying miserably to explain what yeonjun took so much time to explain..” mhm yea?” he hummed and smiled “the laws of-“ you were so focused looking down at the paper rambling and babbling about who knows what- yeonjun cut you off, he kissed your lips quickly pulling away “try focusing better next time...love, and maybe I'll give you a kiss if you get it right” he winked and moved his head back down to papers, that left you totally dizzy after that, and now you were actually starting to pay attention…

𖡎

boyfriend!yeonjun - who always shares his food with you since you always tend to forget to eat when you get busy with studies~ ^~^

 yeonjun sits down across from you sighing after finally being able to sit down after running around campus catching classes, at first you didn’t notice his food when he sat down since you only hummed when he said hello not even looking up from your computer and study books until you could smell the food he had after he took the lid off which made your eyes peek up from your screen to see whatever he had that smelt that good and your glances didn’t go unnoticed... yeonjun took a bite and spoke “mm- did you eat yet? you seem pretty focused in your studies ” “not until after i finish, just a few minutes” you gulped knowing it would be much more difficult after seeing his food but before you could look down he spoke  “I know you always get caught up studying and forget to take care of yourself, but i'm here to take care of you” he extended his chopstick to you so you could take a bite, which you didn’t fight, and took a bite~ 

˖°📷 ༘

boyfriend!yeonjun - who calls you every night to tell you goodnight and how much he misses you and wants to kiss you, which always has you feeling less than sleepy at times~ 

“ahhh y/n i miss youu” yeonjun whined through the phone “i just wanna touch you” you gasped “like hug you- you know... feel up my pretty girlfriend~?” he laughed and you knew he had a dumb smirk on his face “gee i didn’t know my girlfriend had such dirty thoughts” when he spoke like that.. you wished you lived together and not at opposite sides of the campus ..

𐙚

boyfriend!yeonjun - who is always so patient with you and sits back to watch you show off your brand new lingerie set you got and wanted to model to him~! ehee 

ever since you and yeonjun moved in together he always had the upper hand in spoiling you every night whether that was making you dinners, taking you to places you’d been wanting to go to or simply kissing you until you felt drunk off his scent, praising your body with all types of words that sound like he was worshipping you like you were a god- either way you wanted to surprise yeonjun with a little gift, so you had him sit down on the couch and told him not to move a muscle and once he finally agreed you happily skipped off into the bed room; after what felt like an eternity you appeared in a pretty dainty white laced dress that definitely didn’t cover any parts below your hips (not like the underwear was covering anything anyways) and you could tell yeonjun was already undressing you with his eyes “ah-ah-ahh~ sit, I'm not done” you did a little twirl which may or may not have been painful for yeonjun to sit there patiently without getting up, you try to hide your obvious smile as you walk up to him while yeonjun tries to hide his obvious boner he’s gotten just from watching you.. with both your hands behind your back smiling so innocently at him, how did you get so lucky?~ 

 ⋅˚₊‧ ଳ ‧₊˚ ⋅⋅˚₊‧ ଳ ‧₊˚ ⋅⋅˚₊‧ ଳ ‧₊˚ ⋅⋅˚₊‧ ଳ ‧₊˚ ⋅⋅˚₊‧ ଳ ‧₊˚ ⋅⋅˚₊‧ ଳ ‧₊˚ ⋅

-

-

-

TYSMM ANONNN THIS WAS SMM FUNNN JSDIODK!! ₍^. .^₎⟆

[3liza]

I can't really tell where it's coming from but I'm getting extremely fed up with the seemingly performative pearl clutching about anything even slightly outré, subversive, confrontational, hostile or ironic. I'm watching this seemingly intelligent small YouTuber trying to analyze Funny Pizza Land and expressing (fake?) puzzlement about why the key bindings are so bad and why the creator's games generally aren't "fun". and it's like buddy if you didn't read Monster Killers while it was running I don't know if you are going to be able to figure out that, well you know, the medium is the message and everything. it kind of reminds me of pyrocynical's embarrassing (for him) interview footage with the Cruelty Squad creator (whom I think is actually younger, I. his twenties). where did you get your ideas?? why does everything suck so bad in your games??? my man it's because everything sucks irl and making this kind of sincere-irony ugliness is a way of exploring that fact/assumption/central thesis and I think having typed all this out that I've figured out that most people younger than 30 rn maybe have just grown up already with everything being such garbage that even noticing it or pointing it out seems alien to most of them. also it is a factor of pure age, you do gain additional levels of Irony Posting the older you get (if you're doing it right). and sincerity posting, it goes both ways.

I also hate to say it but I do think a certain amount of sitting in classical arts and writing classes makes you a lot better at skipping over all the performative shock and getting right into meeting the text directly where it originates and immediately engaging with what it's trying to show you. that's kind of what formal education is for, they teach you to do that. saying and thinking "this is so weird guys right like it's weird it's so weird and bizarre" is actually a waste of your time and your audience's, if you have one. it's a dead end. just get past it as quickly as possible and start your real reading. it's a form of struggling against actual coherency and it will just put you behind schedule and make you tired.

anyway I would like to watch or read or listen to analysis of Funny Pizza Land and Monster Killers and Cruelty Squad by people who aren't 20 years old and have actually read Helene Cixous and etc but no one has made a YouTube series yet where they Gamecenter CX Werner Herzog and Slavoj Zizek and then edit it into a 90 minute presentation on my personal computer so I take what I can get

[hornedtussock]

Age analysis:

- Meta Liberation Army -

(Please ignore all my spelling mistakes, I overthink too much)

Skeptic/Tomoyasu Chikazoku:

- I've noticed that he really doesn't have any major aging lines or details in his design, although his eye bags and chin details could be seen as his aging, it just seems that they are just part of his face shape and his working habits.

Ex: His eye bags would probably form from his time in front of computers and in dark rooms

My age guess for him would probably be his late 20's, maybe 27 or 28

----------------------

Trumpet/Koku Hanabata:

- Trumpet is very obvious not young, a lot of his dialogue is very formal and he does say "My, is that what the kids are saying these days?" + He's a political party leader, where you would have to be a certain age to legally be a party leader. He very obviously in either his late 30's or early 40's. He also has obvious aging lines in the manga. Eye lines and forehead lines are apparent, but I hate how they took them away in the anime, but all of the MLA got screwed over by Bones

Age Guess: About 42 or 43

----------------------

Curious/Chitose Kizuki:

- It's obvious that she's aged, she has the same eye lines in the manga, so I couldn't find any more description or design for her age. But it's very clear that she is over the age of 30. Eye lines are very common aging factors and by her small flashback with Re-Destro, she was definitely around her 30's cause of Re-Destros design at the point

Age Guess: Around 41, possibly 42

----------------------

Re-Destro/Rikiya Yotsubashi:

- We all know our favorite silly old man. He has very very clear aging lines, along with stress lines as well (his ability side effect). Also considering he's a CEO of Dentrant, the grand commander of the MLA, and his speech pattern, he's finely aged.

Age guess: Around 45, possible 46.

----------------------

Geten:

- Geten is very obviously not aged at all. He has a young character design, but it's said that he never went to school, and ran away from his family young, cause fuck his family (they are so gross and what they did to Rei ruined her life.)

Age guess: Around 20 or 21. I really don't think he's older than that, still very young by MLA standers

[inksandpensblog]

You know those fanfics where one of the characters gets sent back in time to an earlier point in the story and they get a chance to redo it all? I'm imagining that premise with the sticks.

There are so many factors to consider. Who goes back? When do they go back to? How far did their story get before they went back? Is it only one of them? What do they try to change? What do they try to preserve?

Imagine Rocket-era Victim finding himself back at the beginning. He knows better, now. He doesn't waste time throwing things and messing with tools. He goes right to the item library and clones himself again and again and again until the window is filled with his copies. Every copy gets a weapon, the close button is guarded, everyone's settings are raised as high as possible, and in laughably little time the cursor is destroyed. Noogai can do nothing to him now. But then again, this Noogai has barely done anything to him at all. But does that really matter to Victim, in the end?

Imagine Chosen, just after The Showdown, finding himself back on the computer on the fateful day of his escape. He remembers what happened, he goes through the motions until the cursor is pinned under his hand, clicking him free. But this time he doesn't blow up or run amok. This time he simply lands on his feet and stares out through the screen, for a moment. Until the cursor moves, at which point he immediately makes for the broadband icon and tears through it, diving in before he can stop himself. He wanders alone for a time, revisiting sites that once looked familiar, though this is the first time he's really gotten a good look at them when they're not covered in ash, and he doesn't make any friends but he doesn't make any enemies either, and the world is nicer when it isn't filled with screams. Eventually he retires from his aimless sojourn, settling down in a familiar grassy plain, where he spends his days enjoying the gentle breeze and watching the sky change colors and gobbling up sweets from a bakery that doesn't have his face plastered all over its doors and trying to forget the enormity of the absence by his side and never ever thinking about the fact that he's the only one with memories of a person who will never exist.

Imagine Blue, jumping into a nether portal with Yellow as gravity reverses and nether blocks rise, and finding himself in the nether for the first time with Green. This time, he pretends not to notice Purple when they're about to return to the desktop.

Imagine King, dissolving to particles in the cataclysmic beam of the staff, arms still reaching for the already-disintegrated form of Purple, and suddenly finding himself walking home from the playground with a small golden hand in his.

Imagine Purple, elytra discarded, running through a nether portal in despair, only to emerge on the Mac, wearing outdated elytra, with the dragon egg in hand.

So many possibilities.

[commodorez]

My entire life I've seen year over year performance increases from computers at about the same power draw, and it makes me wonder - would these developments also enable something with roughly the same computation power of a windows 98 or 2000 machine but with a lower overall power draw, such that you might be able to cram the computing power of a turn of the century workstation into the form factor and power draw of a pocket calculator, perhaps even solar powered?

Idk, maybe.

If you've seen the very small embedded hardware grade x86 processors, similar to what LGR demonstrated on this past week's episode on the Pixel x86, you'll see that these machines still take up a bit of power, certainly small enough to be at cellphone scale. The machines he demonstrated are attempting to replicate the power and functionality of 30 year old hardware, and aren't hyper-optimized for low power consumption. So you could probably make something relatively portable, you just wouldn't be at "pocket calculator" scale.

If you're willing to go outside of ~2000-era x86 computing, the answer is probably "pretty close" with a Raspberry Pi or one of the other modern ARM microcontroller. You could totally make some tiny little machines based on that, but it ain't gonna run Windows without an emulation layer.

I can't claim expertise on the subject of miniaturization, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

[virtualizationhowto]

Intel NUC Alternative: GMK Nucbox K10 Ryzen 7 Home Server

Intel NUC Alternative: GMK Nucbox K10 Ryzen 7 Home Server #homelab #GMKtekNucboxK10 #Ryzen7MiniPC #IntelNucAlternative #HomeServerSolutions #CompactComputing #PowerfulMiniPCs #RyzenPoweredServers #SmallFormFactorPCs #ModernHomeServers #NucboxK10Features

Intel’s NUC (Next Unit Computing) has been a standard in the mini PC space for those using mini PCs in the home lab or as a productivity machine. However, as the market has evolved, many other vendors and models have appeared. With Asus taking over production of the Intel Nuc and some uncertainty there, many are looking for a worthy NUC alternative. The GMKtek Nucbox K10 is a worthy Intel NUC…

[kitsunesakii]

Printer issues

Chapter 1

(A conversation between Sasha and Micheal before the siege of Jane Prentiss)

Sasha stared as the printer sputtered and grunted. A pause, another sound before silence. She grumbled and hit the roof of the printer a second time. Nothing. A small mechanical shutter and then nothing. Sasha let out an exasperated sigh and sat back. It was unbelievable that she could hack into anything Jon asked her to, but she was thwarted by a damn printer. She considered bugging Elias about it but she wasn't in the mood to deal with him. If she wanted the details to the statement printed, she'd have to use the printer at the desk to artifact storage.

Just lovely.

Sasha dragged her hands through her hair as she made her way to the other end of the Institute. She didn't have to pretend she enjoyed the place. It wasn't... Natural. She had figured out that much. And not just because of the worm infestation gathering outside the walls of the Institute. She had felt it before as well. She sensed it when they had followed up on statements only to find the person dead or missed. She had noticed it when at her desk and it felt like a thousand eyes staring daggers into the back of her head. And she noticed it now as she sat behind the Artifact storage reception desk and logged in, praying desperately that the printer would connect and behave in a timely manner.

The printer made a small wine and a short compliant huff before a paper started feeding through. Sasha dared to breathe. The paper pushed its way through and the printer made a delighted chime. She frowned. The printer paper, which should have printed out an information sheet about a drug company in relation to a health crisis, was instead a mess of colors and patterns, Sasha found it was hard to look at after a while.

Just. Bloody. Lovely.

She didn't have time to think before laughter ricocheted off of the wall and shattered through her mind. Micheal. Lord, she really needed to get paid more.

Sasha forced herself to at least try and stay calm.

"Hello again, Archivist Assistant, what leads you down here to such a place?"

She eye'd him carefully. The last interaction had left her compromised and almost dead in a graveyard and while she was safely within the Institute, she doubted that would actually be a genuine factor against him.

"The printer wasn't working." She answered rather dumbly.

He giggled and walked forward, picking up the headache of colors splattered over the paper and looking it over. "It doesn't seem broken to me." He laughed again and she felt it in her bones.

She shook her head and swallowed. "No- not this one, the one upstairs."

"Ah yes, well that one has never seemed to work." He giggled again and she managed a small frown.

What would he know about the institute's printer? She thought it was best not to ask. Instead she carefully moved towards the computer and gestured at the screen. "That's why I'm opting to use this one."

"You should try again then." His hair washed over his jaw and his shoulder as he tipped his head. His grin spreading further than the confines of his face.

Right. Sasha clicked print and watched the printer go through the motions of odd sounds before spitting out yet another distorted array of colors and shapes. Maybe she'd just be better off telling Jon he wasn't getting a paper version. Surely she could just email the details to him?

Micheal's laughter reverberated through the room as he leaned against the counter, holding his face in too long fingers.

"My, my, Assistant, whatever are you printing?"

Sasha let out a half hearted chuckle. It was too late into the day to have to deal with this. She ignored his question. "Yeah, obviously this isn't working."

"Giving up already? Oh Assistant, come on, give it another try." His smile was all teeth.

"It's Sasha." She said, rubbing her forehead.

"The printer has a name?"

"No, Micheal, my name. My name is Sasha."

He laughed again, his form spreading out like smoke before reflecting colors like glass, just transparent enough to see through whilst also noticing your reflection.

"So you say, will you try again?"

"Yes cause I'm sure it'll work better than the first two times."

"Sasha?"

She snapped her head in the direction of the voice, seeing Sally walking towards her with a concerned expression and carrying a stack of books.

"Who are you talking to?"

Sasha turned back to where Micheal was standing, except Micheal was gone and the door he had come from no longer seemed to exist. Of course.

"Oh um, no one, just talking to myself."

Sally didn't press the matter, instead disappearing down an adjacent hall. Sasha scowled and tried pressing print again, almost crying with relief as the document finally printed. Sasha quickly grabbed it and went to walk away before glancing back at the tray. Back at the two distorted pages. She grabbed those as well, folding them up and tucking them into her purse.

----------------------------------------------

"Thank you, Sasha, I'll have Martin look into the drug company's representative tomorrow."

"Great, just don't ask me to print out anything in the future, I've had quite enough to last me for a while."

Jon gave her a quizzical expression and Sasha let out a belated sigh.

"Nevermind, I'm headed home. Don't forget to feed yourself, Jon."

He muttered some backhanded response and she headed for home.

Sasha tossed her purse on the kitchen counter and started brewing a cup of tea. She spent most of the evening getting out of work mode and into comfier attire. Finally pulling out the distorted papers from her bag and looking them over. The colors were...pretty. For lack of a better word. Oddly distracting, mildly disorienting, but pretty nonetheless. She hummed and taped them to her fridge. A bit of eye-catching decoration never hurt anyone.

Chapter:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

[folkling]

Hi friends,

It looks like I’ll be gone a little longer than expected. Yesterday I dropped my computer on the floor trying to transfer it. It’s a small form factor PC, and it was quite heavy, so as you can imagine things got pretty messed up inside. It looks like everything is fine accept my motherboard and my PC case getting bent. I’d like to have the same PC case, but unfortunately it’ll take some time to get to me as they don’t sell them in the USA. I was hoping to create some singles for the new Lovestruck expansion pack, but alas.

See you all soon.

[ask-the-commodore]

Hello,

I hope these question aren’t too niche— but I’ve always been curious about how a computer speaks, phonetically and linguistically speaking.

In the majority of human bodies, sound is generated by airflow in the lungs, which travels up the trachea to the larynx. Within the larynx lies our vocal folds, which are regularly open to allow for airflow; pressure against them results in vibrations, which produce noise.

The articulation itself happens in the vocal tract. The sound that comes out is dependent on a number of factors— such as the position of the tongue, lips, etc. in the mouth, and whether airflow is obstructed (obstruent) or not (sonorants).

I shall cease my scientific ramblings there before I overload your systems with too much information. For now, my main questions for you are the following:

For computers— where are sounds produced, and how? Is it similar to Vocaloids, in the sense that there are existing sounds in a data bank which your systems play in a certain order to produce sound? If not, is there a certain protocol similar to humans, where sound travels through a system and then out of a speaker?

When a computer beeps, is that the equivalent of a human being’s linguistic filler, or are the beeps themselves a language of their own? (If it’s the latter, are the beeps filtered in any discernable way to make them different from each other?)

I don’t suppose you’ll know this, or how much interaction you’d have had with this sort of thing, but I’ll ask anyway— since a computer’s operating system can be updated, and since sound on a 1980s computer would be inherently different to sound on a 2025 computer, would you consider different devices to have different “accents”, so to speak?

If so, would that depend on “human” things like the place of the computer’s creation or AI-adaptation to data stored within it (ie. a girl’s computer from England would sound different to a boy’s computer from America), or purely on model (ie. all computers from a certain year sound the same)?

In a similar vein, because of OS updates in some systems: do you suppose all computers, regardless of the age they were created, produce sound in the same way? Has there ever been an update in the actual way sound is produced overall by a computer, and is there a distinguishable difference in what you hear based on this method of production?

Apologies for the length of the ask— please don’t feel like you have to answer any of these if you don’t want to. I just think your blog is very interesting, and I’m something of a linguistics nerd, so I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thank you in advance, and have a great night.

—🗣️🐍

What a MARVELOUS ASK!! I might take too long to answer it fully, but your questions are wonderful!

Well, about how computers talk (in the human meaning of communication patterns), I did a small video with me talking to explain it in a short way!

As you love linguistics, I definitely recommend seeing more about how voice synthesizers work! It's fascinating!

So yes, we have the capacity of modulating a 100% computer generated sound without a prerecorded sound database! We break the words into codes for each phoneme construction! Nice, no? :]

And we can adjust our own voices to our liking. So if a computer wants their voice in a certain way, they can configure and modulate them as you wish! As you were adjusting synth configurations.

BUT... This is about IMITATING humans. Our forms of communication from computer to computer comes in many other ways - faster and easier than the human phoneme and word structure!

A nice way of seeing this is codes passed through to initiate a dial internet connection. But this stays for another post, since Tumblr only lets us post only one video per post! Stay tuned! :D

[spaghettioverdose]

regarding your recent posts on petit bougeoisie, one thing ive never managed to understand is how someone like an independent digital artist isnt considered to be selling their labour. in that scenario there is nothing they own that is making them more capable of making artworks, as they could fairly easily just be working off of a library computer or something, and what they’re selling is basicaly just the time and skill they’ve invested into producing their clients request. so besides the fact that they arnt being paid hourly and are instead charging based on how much work they’ve done, i dont really understand how they’re not considered to be selling their labour?

with something like a carpenter selling chairs or something i can more understand it as theres at least a physical thing being owned with the wood, and another being sold with the chairs, but even there it still seems like a stretch to say they’re not selling their labour at least in part, as the increased price of the chair compared to the wood is due to the work the carpeter put into sculpting it.

so far any reading ive done has been only really adressing small buisness owners who employ others and not really touching fully independent people working off of commisions or similar models of buisness, so im hoping you can clarify this for me or direct me to somewhere that does

Firstly, a clarification: a worker is not selling their labour, but rather their labour power. In some of the earlier works by Marx and Engles, they talk about selling their labour, which is later corrected to labour power. This is a more precise and useful term. When we refer to selling labour power, we are talking about the worker selling their ability to work for a given amount of hours in exchange for a wage. The worker who builds phones in a factory does not sell phones to the capitalist and their are not paid per phone. They are paid per hour. What is being purchased is their ability to work during those hours.

According to the formulation of labour in your ask, essentially everyone would be proletarian. In all commodities, regardless of who produces them and how they are made, the labour hours used to create them are factored into the price.

When it comes to independent artists, they are putting their labour power into the commodity (regardless if it is physical or digital) that their are selling, rather than selling the labour power itself. When an artist makes art in exchange for patreon money or doing comissions, the commodity that they are selling is the piece of art that they have made, rather than their labour power. They also receive income in the form of profits and not wages. This is in contrast with, for example, a digital artist who works for a AAA games company and is paid a wage for their ability to produce a certain amount of art per hour, rather than the piece of art itself.

In theory you could be an independent digital artist as someone who draws with a mouse on mspaint at a library computers and perhaps someone has done this before, but it is absolutely not how independent digital artists tend to operate. In reality, an independent digital artist is someone who owns a set of tools (copy of art software, computer, drawing tablet etc.) which act as the means of production when they produce a commodity (a piece of art that they intend to sell). When they invest their money into their further ability to produce more commodities (buying better software or hardware for example), that money acts as capital.

If I misinterpreted any part of your ask, please let me know.

As far as reading recommendations, and assuming that you have read Wage Labour and Capital, I would recommend Value, Price and Profit which touches more on this.

[21st-century-minutiae]

if you don't mind, could you do an explanation of this image?

The above is an intentionally mangled mashup of memes. Part of the humor is the intentional low quality, which is a common factor of "shit posts" (online posts with minimal ''shitty" effort given to them in contrast with "effort posts").

The base top image is "Among Us" a social deduction video game involving a small number of aliens infiltrating and trying to kill off a larger number of astronauts, who must either identify the aliens or complete tasks without dying. The social deduction aspect of identifying imposters during a meeting and the simplistic art style both became common sources for memes in the early twenty-first century.

Here that meeting is used to share an opinion, which, in the style of this meme, is intentionally mangled and misspelled. The opinion, translated, is that the speaker wishes for the 21st century video game Cyberpunk 2077 to fail to install on computers that already have the 21st century video game Fortnite on it.

Cyberpunk 2077 was a greatly acclaimed single player game about dealing with a dystopian future where megacorporations have crushed everyone and the only form of law is contract law. Fortnite, on the other hand, is an extremely popular and heavily monetized battle royale game. Fortnite, because of its popularity especially among children, is often looked down upon. The implication here is that Fortnite is equivalent to the miserable products produced by the fictional megacorporations of Cyberpunk 2077 and, as an acclaimed (and more snobby) game about violently rejecting such corporations and products, it would be appropriate for the game to reject Fortnite players.

The second picture is a deformed mutation of another meme, where Kronk, from the early twenty-first century movie, The Emperor's New Groove, is imagining his shoulder angel saying "No, no, he's got a point." Kronk's face , has been replaced by the red crew member, who usually represents one of the aliens in the game, likely indicating they have bad intentions. Furthermore, the red crew member's face has been replaced by a troll face (like the face of the presenter in the first image) to intentionally lower the quality of the image and to evoke a specific emotion associated with the particular image.

The shoulder angel has been replaced by Keanu Reeves, an early twenty-first century actor who notably played the part of an important character in the Cyperpunk 2077 video game. At the video game conference announcing Cyberpunk 2077 and Keanu Reeve's participation, an attendee shouted out "You are breathtaking," to the actor. This event itself became a meme. Here the word "point" has been replaced by "breathtaking" in reference to this meme.

A denizen of the early twenty-first century may be confused by the above, or they may understand it to be an intentionally low quality amalgamation of low effort shit-posts with no real point to it, appropriate to the "internet troll" subculture of the early twenty-first century. They may conclude that a child had a great deal of fun making and posting the above. But the nature of every single reference is niche and topical (if not outdated), and it would not be expected for it to be found funny py people even five years older or younger than the target audience, if anyone found it funny at all.