#sounds like it might be a hardware issue

[tailoringtay]

I might not be around much, I've been battling computer freezing issues for a month and not making any progress so that's been having me pretty down XD

[treasure-mimic]

So, let me try and put everything together here, because I really do think it needs to be talked about.

Today, Unity announced that it intends to apply a fee to use its software. Then it got worse.

For those not in the know, Unity is the most popular free to use video game development tool, offering a basic version for individuals who want to learn how to create games or create independently alongside paid versions for corporations or people who want more features. It's decent enough at this job, has issues but for the price point I can't complain, and is the idea entry point into creating in this medium, it's a very important piece of software.

But speaking of tools, the CEO is a massive one. When he was the COO of EA, he advocated for using, what out and out sounds like emotional manipulation to coerce players into microtransactions.

"A consumer gets engaged in a property, they might spend 10, 20, 30, 50 hours on the game and then when they're deep into the game they're well invested in it. We're not gouging, but we're charging and at that point in time the commitment can be pretty high."

He also called game developers who don't discuss monetization early in the planning stages of development, quote, "fucking idiots".

So that sets the stage for what might be one of the most bald-faced greediest moves I've seen from a corporation in a minute. Most at least have the sense of self-preservation to hide it.

A few hours ago, Unity posted this announcement on the official blog.

Effective January 1, 2024, we will introduce a new Unity Runtime Fee that’s based on game installs. We will also add cloud-based asset storage, Unity DevOps tools, and AI at runtime at no extra cost to Unity subscription plans this November. We are introducing a Unity Runtime Fee that is based upon each time a qualifying game is downloaded by an end user. We chose this because each time a game is downloaded, the Unity Runtime is also installed. Also we believe that an initial install-based fee allows creators to keep the ongoing financial gains from player engagement, unlike a revenue share.

Now there are a few red flags to note in this pitch immediately.

Unity is planning on charging a fee on all games which use its engine.

This is a flat fee per number of installs.

They are using an always online runtime function to determine whether a game is downloaded.

There is just so many things wrong with this that it's hard to know where to start, not helped by this FAQ which doubled down on a lot of the major issues people had.

I guess let's start with what people noticed first. Because it's using a system baked into the software itself, Unity would not be differentiating between a "purchase" and a "download". If someone uninstalls and reinstalls a game, that's two downloads. If someone gets a new computer or a new console and downloads a game already purchased from their account, that's two download. If someone pirates the game, the studio will be asked to pay for that download.

Q: How are you going to collect installs? A: We leverage our own proprietary data model. We believe it gives an accurate determination of the number of times the runtime is distributed for a given project. Q: Is software made in unity going to be calling home to unity whenever it's ran, even for enterprice licenses? A: We use a composite model for counting runtime installs that collects data from numerous sources. The Unity Runtime Fee will use data in compliance with GDPR and CCPA. The data being requested is aggregated and is being used for billing purposes. Q: If a user reinstalls/redownloads a game / changes their hardware, will that count as multiple installs? A: Yes. The creator will need to pay for all future installs. The reason is that Unity doesn’t receive end-player information, just aggregate data. Q: What's going to stop us being charged for pirated copies of our games? A: We do already have fraud detection practices in our Ads technology which is solving a similar problem, so we will leverage that know-how as a starting point. We recognize that users will have concerns about this and we will make available a process for them to submit their concerns to our fraud compliance team.

This is potentially related to a new system that will require Unity Personal developers to go online at least once every three days.

Starting in November, Unity Personal users will get a new sign-in and online user experience. Users will need to be signed into the Hub with their Unity ID and connect to the internet to use Unity. If the internet connection is lost, users can continue using Unity for up to 3 days while offline. More details to come, when this change takes effect.

It's unclear whether this requirement will be attached to any and all Unity games, though it would explain how they're theoretically able to track "the number of installs", and why the methodology for tracking these installs is so shit, as we'll discuss later.

Unity claims that it will only leverage this fee to games which surpass a certain threshold of downloads and yearly revenue.

Only games that meet the following thresholds qualify for the Unity Runtime Fee: Unity Personal and Unity Plus: Those that have made $200,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 200,000 lifetime game installs. Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise: Those that have made $1,000,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 1,000,000 lifetime game installs.

They don't say how they're going to collect information on a game's revenue, likely this is just to say that they're only interested in squeezing larger products (games like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, Fate Grand Order, Among Us, and Fall Guys) and not every 2 dollar puzzle platformer that drops on Steam. But also, these larger products have the easiest time porting off of Unity and the most incentives to, meaning realistically those heaviest impacted are going to be the ones who just barely meet this threshold, most of them indie developers.

Aggro Crab Games, one of the first to properly break this story, points out that systems like the Xbox Game Pass, which is already pretty predatory towards smaller developers, will quickly inflate their "lifetime game installs" meaning even skimming the threshold of that 200k revenue, will be asked to pay a fee per install, not a percentage on said revenue.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Hey Gamers!

Today, Unity (the engine we use to make our games) announced that they'll soon be taking a fee from developers for every copy of the game installed over a certain threshold - regardless of how that copy was obtained.

Guess who has a somewhat highly anticipated game coming to Xbox Game Pass in 2024? That's right, it's us and a lot of other developers.

That means Another Crab's Treasure will be free to install for the 25 million Game Pass subscribers. If a fraction of those users download our game, Unity could take a fee that puts an enormous dent in our income and threatens the sustainability of our business.

And that's before we even think about sales on other platforms, or pirated installs of our game, or even multiple installs by the same user!!!

This decision puts us and countless other studios in a position where we might not be able to justify using Unity for our future titles. If these changes aren't rolled back, we'll be heavily considering abandoning our wealth of Unity expertise we've accumulated over the years and starting from scratch in a new engine. Which is really something we'd rather not do.

On behalf of the dev community, we're calling on Unity to reverse the latest in a string of shortsighted decisions that seem to prioritize shareholders over their product's actual users.

I fucking hate it here.

-Aggro Crab - END DESCRIPTION]

That fee, by the way, is a flat fee. Not a percentage, not a royalty. This means that any games made in Unity expecting any kind of success are heavily incentivized to cost as much as possible.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A table listing the various fees by number of Installs over the Install Threshold vs. version of Unity used, ranging from $0.01 to $0.20 per install. END DESCRIPTION]

Basic elementary school math tells us that if a game comes out for $1.99, they will be paying, at maximum, 10% of their revenue to Unity, whereas jacking the price up to $59.99 lowers that percentage to something closer to 0.3%. Obviously any company, especially any company in financial desperation, which a sudden anchor on all your revenue is going to create, is going to choose the latter.

Furthermore, and following the trend of "fuck anyone who doesn't ask for money", Unity helpfully defines what an install is on their main site.

While I'm looking at this page as it exists now, it currently says

The installation and initialization of a game or app on an end user’s device as well as distribution via streaming is considered an “install.” Games or apps with substantially similar content may be counted as one project, with installs then aggregated to calculate the Unity Runtime Fee.

However, I saw a screenshot saying something different, and utilizing the Wayback Machine we can see that this phrasing was changed at some point in the few hours since this announcement went up. Instead, it reads:

The installation and initialization of a game or app on an end user’s device as well as distribution via streaming or web browser is considered an “install.” Games or apps with substantially similar content may be counted as one project, with installs then aggregated to calculate the Unity Runtime Fee.

Screenshot for posterity:

That would mean web browser games made in Unity would count towards this install threshold. You could legitimately drive the count up simply by continuously refreshing the page. The FAQ, again, doubles down.

Q: Does this affect WebGL and streamed games? A: Games on all platforms are eligible for the fee but will only incur costs if both the install and revenue thresholds are crossed. Installs - which involves initialization of the runtime on a client device - are counted on all platforms the same way (WebGL and streaming included).

And, what I personally consider to be the most suspect claim in this entire debacle, they claim that "lifetime installs" includes installs prior to this change going into effect.

Will this fee apply to games using Unity Runtime that are already on the market on January 1, 2024? Yes, the fee applies to eligible games currently in market that continue to distribute the runtime. We look at a game's lifetime installs to determine eligibility for the runtime fee. Then we bill the runtime fee based on all new installs that occur after January 1, 2024.

Again, again, doubled down in the FAQ.

Q: Are these fees going to apply to games which have been out for years already? If you met the threshold 2 years ago, you'll start owing for any installs monthly from January, no? (in theory). It says they'll use previous installs to determine threshold eligibility & then you'll start owing them for the new ones. A: Yes, assuming the game is eligible and distributing the Unity Runtime then runtime fees will apply. We look at a game's lifetime installs to determine eligibility for the runtime fee. Then we bill the runtime fee based on all new installs that occur after January 1, 2024.

That would involve billing companies for using their software before telling them of the existence of a bill. Holding their actions to a contract that they performed before the contract existed!

Okay. I think that's everything. So far.

There is one thing that I want to mention before ending this post, unfortunately it's a little conspiratorial, but it's so hard to believe that anyone genuinely thought this was a good idea that it's stuck in my brain as a significant possibility.

A few days ago it was reported that Unity's CEO sold 2,000 shares of his own company.

On September 6, 2023, John Riccitiello, President and CEO of Unity Software Inc (NYSE:U), sold 2,000 shares of the company. This move is part of a larger trend for the insider, who over the past year has sold a total of 50,610 shares and purchased none.

I would not be surprised if this decision gets reversed tomorrow, that it was literally only made for the CEO to short his own goddamn company, because I would sooner believe that this whole thing is some idiotic attempt at committing fraud than a real monetization strategy, even knowing how unfathomably greedy these people can be.

So, with all that said, what do we do now?

Well, in all likelihood you won't need to do anything. As I said, some of the biggest names in the industry would be directly affected by this change, and you can bet your bottom dollar that they're not just going to take it lying down. After all, the only way to stop a greedy CEO is with a greedier CEO, right?

(I fucking hate it here.)

And that's not mentioning the indie devs who are already talking about abandoning the engine.

[Links display tweets from the lead developer of Among Us saying it'd be less costly to hire people to move the game off of Unity and Cult of the Lamb's official twitter saying the game won't be available after January 1st in response to the news.]

That being said, I'm still shaken by all this. The fact that Unity is openly willing to go back and punish its developers for ever having used the engine in the past makes me question my relationship to it.

The news has given rise to the visibility of free, open source alternative Godot, which, if you're interested, is likely a better option than Unity at this point. Mostly, though, I just hope we can get out of this whole, fucking, environment where creatives are treated as an endless mill of free profits that's going to be continuously ratcheted up and up to drive unsustainable infinite corporate growth that our entire economy is based on for some fuckin reason.

Anyways, that's that, I find having these big posts that break everything down to be helpful.

[ms-demeanor]

So I see you recommending Dell laptops... Not to seem hostile or anything, but what do you think of their negative reputation, if you were aware of it? The story gets passed around a lot that Dell laptops throttle their processors when on third party power supplies.

Now, I can see both sides of that issue pretty thoroughly. I don't know that I've seen it be true, although it certainly sounds that way from the warnings that Dell computers issue when you plug in a third party power supply. I also don't know that it's necessarily that bad of an idea to reduce power consumption when on a dubious power supply, as much as it might seem like an anti-competition strategy. But then again, it really does seem like an anti-competition strategy...

Just thought it might be something that you would have some interesting thoughts about, especially when you're talking about what computers to buy.

It is an anti-competition strategy! Those sorts of things are pretty common in the computing world (HP's Dynamic Security is a great example).

My answer is that it's shitty that they do that however every manufacturer out there wants to pull some shit like this and the only appropriate response is to get gud (in this case trawl forums until you find experienced users discussing the tools that they use to fix this issue).

Dell pulling this shit with power supplies isn't good, but it's also not as bad as whatever the fuck apple has going on. It's also not something that every user notices on every laptop; we sell non-oem chargers to Dell owners regularly but you just don't notice the throttling if you use the computer the way that most home-users do.

Basically I think that we all need to accept that there are varying levels of user hostility that corporations are going to try to get away with and that your purchases and engagement with a brand should be driven by what level of that you're willing to put up with and what level of that you're willing to work around. A regular user might be willing to put up with this from Dell because they're unlikely to notice the problem. I would be willing to put up with this because I know I can break it. A regular user might be willing to put up with bloatware from Lenovo because they aren't aware that it's bullshit. I am willing to put up with bloatware from Lenovo because the first thing I do with any new computer is rip out everything I don't want.

The real answer, the answer that nobody likes, is to become a weird linux guy and evangelize for open source software and hardware hacking at every opportunity.

Being the weird linux guy doesn't serve most users, though.

(I do have a fair number of weird linux guy posts, but the specs post is for people who are are significantly less tech literate)

[leggerefiore]

Mechanical Envy

cw: fluff, light jealousy

pairing: Cyrus/Reader

🌌🛰☄️🌌🛰☄️🌌🛰☄️🌌🛰☄️

There was nothing but frustration on your mind as you attempted to turn off your phone again to see if maybe it could fix this reoccurring issue where it just decided that it had no signal whatsoever. The free Poryphone was certainly cute, but its functionality in comparison to your Rotom phone was beginning to annoy you. Sitting down at a table in the plaza, you stared at the infernal device as the screen turned back on.

No signal was to be found. Even after a few moments of waiting. You felt like you were going mad. The next step in this process would be to head to a certain evil team's hideout and bug their totally terrifying and emotionless boss to please be a good boyfriend and help you out. However, someone appeared to throw a wrench into everything. Your name being called out made you jump as you had not expected to see anyone familiar around.

Volkner unexpectedly popped into the plaza with a rare smile and wave. You returned the gesture and greeted him politely before awkwardly turning back to the phone with a sigh. It seemed that this would be on pause until after you had a catch-up with an old friend. Your actions captured his attention, and his gaze, too, shifted onto the device. “Is something up with your Poryphone?” he asked before moving to sit down with you. Well, you supposed it would not hurt to tell him. He was a bit of a gadgeteer himself, despite his ability to somehow send poor Sunnyshore into hours long blackouts regularly.

“Yeah, it just stopped having a signal, and I don't know why,” you showed him the issue on the phone as he nodded along with your words, “I've tried all the basic things, but I guess I'm going to have to get it repaired.” Volkner seemed to perk up at that bit of information.

“Well, there's no need to go to a repair shop,” his face turned serious once more, “This seems interesting.” Ah, of course. He was bored. You wanted to laugh. Your phone troubles turned into entertainment.

“… I wasn't exactly planning on going to a shop,” you shrugged. Cyrus would definitely help you, just out of his pure fascination with machines if not out of his love for you. Still, it might be more convenient to just let Volkner do whatever he wanted. He was not currently trying to “perfect” spirit or create a new world or whatever else Cyrus was up to while leading an organisation of bowl cuts. You seriously doubted he could do anything that bad to your phone, too. “Feel free to,” you offered him, “You're probably still faster than what I had in mind.”

He nodded and quickly got to work on your phone after getting some tools. You watched curiously as he seemed to do some minor diagnostic work before coming to some conclusion and going into the device's hardware. It took quite a while as he worked, but you were fascinated enough by examining his thought process and movements that it felt like no time whatsoever. There was a strange game you made in your head about comparing his techniques to Cyrus's own. Their similarities were eerie, but their differences showed just how far-off they were from one another.

When he finished, he turned on the phone again, and you watched as the signal marker reappeared. A few minor tests proved that it was indeed working once more. A sigh of relief left you. “Here I was terrified you were going to cause some sort of blackout,” you joked lightly as you tapped around to make sure it was truly in working order for yourself. Everything seemed as it were previously with no apparent issues to be seen.

“I still could,” Volkner offered back with a chuckle, “You seemed really interested in watching me. Do you want to learn how to tinker?” You pondered the question. Did you? Learning how to take apart some devices did sound interesting, but your confidence in yourself just was not there. Plus, you could see the downside in learning from Volkner. His capability was obvious, but his intentions could vary.

“Nah, it was neat seeing it in action,” you shrugged, “Thanks, by the way.” He shrugged back in reply. As a way to better show your gratitude, you offered to buy lunch for you both while you caught up. He eagerly took up the offer. Needless to say, you learnt he still plagued the poor port city with his gym renovations, and Flint was still his best friend.

The evening sun was slowly singing in the distance to eerily remind you of the unexpectedly long amount of time you had spent with Volkner ultimately. When you both parted, you began the awkward trek to the Galactic hideout. You did not exactly approve of what Cyrus was doing, but it seemed too difficult to talk him out as it was. Somehow, you felt that spending time with him gave you the ability to better convince him about rethinking things.

However, your journey was interrupted by a familiar pokemon hovering ominously among the houses of the street. Darkrai. Its blue eye seemed to spy you. A cry left it, and it began to float towards you. Before it got too close, though, Cyrus seemed to appear from out of nowhere. His gaze was intense as he walked to stand in front of you. A cool evening wind blew through the isolated area. You felt confused. Was he wandering? Not exactly like him, but you suppose everyone did from time to time.

“… You stepped out for longer than you specified,” Cyrus finally spoke to break the awkward silence, “It crossed my mind that you might have been taken hostage by another organisation in an attempt to blackmail me.” You held back laugh at his phrasing. Oh, he was worried about you but did not want to admit it. His concern was genuinely touching. Suddenly, however, his face became even harsher than it normally was. “I find you with another man… Letting him work on your phone,” his voice seemed to grow strangely hurt at the latter part, catching you off-guard.

“Cy,” you stepped towards him with a sweet smile, “Volkner offered to help me with an issue. You've been so busy lately that I just took him up on it.” His expression only intensified at that.

“So you then take him out to lunch? And let him offer to show you around machines?” his tone was dark. Another urge to laugh had to be fought back. Was Cyrus seriously jealous over this? Of all things in the world that could possibly make him jealous, it was another man fixing your phone and offering to show you how to work on electronics.

“Are you seriously jealous right now?” you asked him lightly and moved forward to hug him. Cyrus tensed up by both things and stared forward blankly. “My Cy should know that I love only him,” you told him lovingly as you nuzzled your face into his shoulder, “You're acting like you did when we were younger.”

Cyrus suddenly seemingly had something snap in him as you felt his hand quickly grasp your chin. His lips pressed against yours as he held you closely to him.

“… If anyone shall teach you to tinker, it will be me.”

Well, if he was offering, you suddenly felt a bit more inclined to agree.

“Teach me how to make a Rotom fan.”

You loved the absolutely mortified expression you managed to draw out onto his face from that.

(You later spotted him doing his own diagnostic work on your phone and checking Volkner's handiwork. Judging by his expression, he was somewhere between impressed and angry. You just let him continue to work whatever feelings were haunting him out. It was always best to avoid his speeches about the uselessness of emotion and spirit when possible.)

[weemsgay]

Topic of Study

Can someone tell me why I have two other fics planned besides this and Love Notes??? I'm obsessed.

Larissa Weems x PhDstudent!Reader

Summary: Arriving to Nevermore on fellowship is a normie PhD student writing their dissertation on Normie/Outcast rhetoric and relations. The best way to research is hands-on, so reader has decided to make Principal Larissa Weems their main object of study.

AO3 link

As you exit your Uber in the Jericho town square, you start to glance around for the Nevermore Academy driver expected to meet you. Hm, not here yet. The coordinator you were in contact with offered to have you collected at the train station in Burlington, but you preferred to use the time in the quiet solitude of the Uber to think and prepare instead. Your Uber driver didn’t seem to mind, and for that, you were going to leave a large, thankful tip.

Once out of the car, you were excited to stretch your legs and chug the rest of your water. You check your phone before heading to the trunk for your luggage. You’re not exactly sure who is meeting you now, because there is an automated email saying the usual Nevermore driver is out sick with stomach pox (whatever that is…).

Resolved to figure it out as you go, you pull your bag and suitcase from the trunk and wave a thank you to your Uber driver as they seem to scurry away quickly from Jericho. You begin to walk towards the fountain in the middle of the open space surrounded by shops and sidewalks. The town square looks quaint; you notice a flower shop, a convenience store, a hardware store, and a couple other small businesses throughout the square. However, what truly caught your eye was a café. Caffeine sounded so, so good. Traveling always exhausted you. Too much to think about and plan. It made your anxiety flare.

Heading towards the Weathervane Café and Bakery, you find yourself grateful to have a place to rest for a moment and wait for your now unknown Nevermore driver. The gloomy, overcast sky looked like it could open up and pour rain at any moment.

Shuffling your suitcase in the door to the café, you eye a back booth out of the way so that you don’t disturb anyone with your items. You’re not sure you would bother anyone since there aren’t many people here anyway—maybe the post-lunch lull is in full effect. You notice a black-haired, tattooed barista making an espresso for a customer. After looking around and deeming your belongings safe enough, you dash over to the counter to be next in line.

“What can I get you?” you hear coming from the black-haired woman behind the counter. In response, you ask, “May I please get a light roast vanilla latte for here?” You aren’t sure how long you’ll be waiting to depart for Nevermore. You might as well get comfortable. Before you could mutter “thank you,” the barista nods and takes your outstretched payment before turning around to complete your order.

You briefly walked back over to your claimed booth to take off your jacket and check your phone for any notifications. You didn’t expect the barista to bring you your drink. As far as you could tell, she was the only one working out front. Turning to you, she speaks almost teasing, “New, huh?”

Your eyes meet the luggage at your feet. “Yeah, I guess the suitcase does make it hard to blend in.” You notice the woman has a tousled bob and nose piercing; she stood looking at you, expecting you to continue. “I’m doing a fellowship year at Nevermore Academy to finish my dissertation.”

The barista eyes you suspiciously as if she is trying to make up her mind about something. You catch on and ask “What’s the look for?” Finally, she relents, “Okay, I don’t want to sound insensitive and ignorant, but are you an outcast?”

There it is. Honestly, you were waiting for this question. “No, I’m not. I’m actually researching outcast and normie relations. I figured the best way to dive into the issue was to live it and immerse myself in it as much as I can.” There are only a couple of all-outcast schools in the U.S. You applied to Cresthaven in Virginia and didn’t bother with the one out west. You heard it was in an underground bunker and immediately crossed it off your list. The most promising (and controversial due to recent events) was Nevermore.

To be frank, you were a little nervous for how your research would be perceived after following the news and disruptions here over the last year. Scary…but also kind of exciting having first-hand knowledge and experience relating to your work.

The barista seems to lower her guard. You learn her name is Imogen, and you two begin to share some of the funny TikTok’s you’ve seen about outcasts and normies. You’re giggling when the door opens and a bell chimes signaling a new customer.

The tallest and most attractive woman you’ve ever seen enters. You’re not sure how someone can seem so delicate and feminine yet powerful and in control at the same time. This is coming from someone quite well-versed in queer theory and the wonderful fluidity of gender and power. To have you stumped and frozen by this statuesque woman is quite a feat.

“Oh, there you are!” pronounces the woman cheerfully, as if she had been searching for you. Her voice was lilting, a touch of rasp, and delicious like honey.

You hesitate, trying to find out if your silence would encourage more of the beautiful sound. She then introduces herself as Larissa Weems, the principal of Nevermore. At the end of her detailing what happened with the original driver, you notice you’ve been staring at her throughout her entire introduction. Suddenly, your mouth goes dry and your cheeks flush. Imogen, the barista, chuckles and gives you a wink before backing away to let you flounder.

You begin to reason, “I apologize for not waiting outside where we had planned. I did not know who would meet me, and I wanted to explore a bit of Jericho before heading off.”

“Nonsense. In fact, let’s sit and have a cup together.” The taller woman visits the counter, and you overhear her order a hot chocolate. Jealousy showing, you didn’t even think to order such a cozy drink. You love hot chocolate.

Eventually she comes back over to you with her hot chocolate in hand, also deciding to forgo the to go cup. You attempt small talk, saying you adore hot chocolate and that you should have gotten it in the first place. The principal assures you that it is delicious and lives up to the hype. You vow to order one to go, jokingly. She, unexpectedly, offers you a sip.

Principal Weems had already been sipping the drink, and there were red lipstick stains on the mug. Throwing caution to the wind, you look her straight in the eyes and make a choice to bring your mouth to the same spot hers was. Her momentarily taken aback expression fades quickly into an unreadable façade.

“Mmmmm, you were not lying.” You let out, feeling the warmth travel down your throat. “Thank you for letting me try it.” The other woman looks down at where you had taken a sip and back to your lips. She sees that there is a bit of her red lipstick on your own lips now. She calmly removes the glove from her right hand, leans forward, and swipes her finger across your lips to collect the red residue.

With a smirk and feeling quite cheeky, you remark, “Talk about normie/outcast relations.” The woman looks out the window in an effort to conceal her own budding smirk and seems to be slightly flustered at the interaction. Or possibly the implication.

You’re unsure if she seems flustered due to the likelihood she’s almost always in control or if she has her own internalized barriers to outcasts/normies or sexuality. You file away this information, because, honestly, it was fun teasing her. To your surprise, though, she continues to drink her hot chocolate from the exact same place as before.

You two end up talking for another 45 minutes about your travels, your program, and the work you hope to complete at Nevermore. You ask about her job, the students, and what she does in her downtime on the campus. You also ask her if it’s possible to get some background information surrounding Jericho. In response, she offers to walk around with you if the weather permits.

Before you can fully gather your belongs and head towards the door, Imogen the barista catches you to give you her number and say goodbye. You begin to push your luggage towards the door when Principal Weems offers to carry it to the car for you. After some convincing, you yield to the obviously stronger woman. The taller woman takes your suitcase and bag as if it is the easiest thing in the world to lift, not even wrinkling her fashionable ensemble, and makes her way out of the Weathervane. The van parked across the street is a short trek, and you two place the luggage in the back and lock the car. Principal Weems looks at you expectantly to initiate a stroll in one direction or another.

Of course you are trying to understand as much history surrounding Jericho and Nevermore as you can. Knowing a bit more about the current and past state of normie/outcast relations can kick start your deeper research into local lore. You also can’t help but want to prolong the time you have with the tall and comforting older woman. At your current height, she is almost a foot taller than you, and you must pick up the pace a bit when beside her.

With the scenery change, you finally have the chance to examine the woman without the obstructing table and barista’s curious eyes. Principal Weems embodies femininity in a manner you could never accomplish. She is wearing heels and exquisite clothes; you don’t know anything about designer brands, but you’re sure they pale in comparison to her impeccably tailored clothes. Her hair is frozen in the most pristine updo that liken her to a Hitchcock heroine. You’re not sure a Hitchcock heroine’s figure would hold your eyes as long, though.

You are struck with the overwhelming urgency to know as much as you can about the woman. Does she have secrets? What is her skincare routine? What is the feeling she gets after finishing a good book? How much older than you is she? You’d like to know anything—any morsels of information you can obtain from her or about her.

The two of you continue walking and talking, and occasionally your fingers accidentally brush against each other as your arms swing side by side. The sun is starting to set, and the taller woman looks at her watch and curses under her breath that time has gone by so quickly. She implores that you two need to head to the academy.

Having made it back to the van, you two sit in comfortable silence for the 20 minute drive to Nevermore. Mentally, you make a note to discuss outcast powers and identities since she likely has a wealth of information at her fingers as the head of the school. You hope the older woman is content with you asking about her professional and personal life.

Once Principal Weems carries your luggage up the steps of the school, she informs you of your rooming accommodations. As a fellowship candidate, you will be staying in the faculty residential wing, rather than the student dormitories. You blurt out impulsively, “is that where you stay?” The woman lifts an eyebrow at the inquiry but answers honestly that her living quarters are downstairs attached to her office.

It being fairly late, you part ways with the captivating woman and begin to get settled in your room. You end up going to bed with a warm feeling in your stomach as you ruminate over the day’s activities and conversations. After a few minutes, you sleepily turn over and jokingly jot down a new title for your dissertation thesis.

“Examining Attraction Between Outcasts and Normies: A Case Study of Larissa Weems”

[j-a-nuary]

Robotwink 5000

WooSan -> WooSanSang, background SeongJoong (along with references to Princess & Puppy)

Warnings: 🔞non-explicit, but still nsfw🔞 Wooyoung is a sexbot but he's also so much more than that, supernatural elements, told from Hongjoong's POV kinda (I was going for a David Wong-ish thing), San is [checks notes]... it says here "a fucking loser"???, Hongjoong is a genius and knows way too much about his friends' sex lives, Seonghwa is being mysterious, Yeosang is only mentioned.

=====

Wooyoung was having an issue. A clash of sorts - not quite outdated hardware struggling to keep up with a driver patch. Most likely anyway. I hadn't run the diagnostics yet. It wasn't exactly a hassle to do it remotely, but there were other reasons I was hesitating.

When I got the little alert that a file path wasn't working correctly, I had checked if San and his boy toy were live.

They were.

"Something went thunk," Wooyoung moaned as San's hands gripped at his hair, "please try again."

For a second, San looked confused. But then Wooyoung opened his mouth and settled it onto his dick.

"Fuck… Woo…"

San's cumming face was… not as hot as one might expect. Then again, almost no one actually looks good when they're cumming. Except maybe Princess…

Wait, no, gotta focus. For diagnostic purposes, of course.

"Measly little error," Wooyoung positively purred, running his fingers through the streaks of cum San had so kindly deposited onto his face, "try again."

And that, ladies and gents, is how Choi San discovered he liked being degraded.

How do I know what that night was like? Well that's the thing people forget about the Robotwink 5000: he's always recording, and his memory can be downloaded.

Also he and San operate an erotic streaming site that specializes in "True POV".

Perverts.

=====

"Hyung! I have a massive problem!" San was looking around my garage, like he was expecting someone who gave a shit to pop out of the shadows.

"The sexbot I helped you build can only speak in those stupid error codes you wrote, and also you've had an awakening of your degradation kink?"

"God," he sighed deeply, momentarily looking off dreamily, "fuck yeah I have."

I nodded, eyes sticking back on the screen in front of me. I reached for my coffee cup. It felt too light.

"Welcome to the club. Did you bring him over?"

"Wait," San paused, looking suspicious, "how did you already know?"

I shrugged, glaring at my empty coffee cup.

"I saw the footage."

I also paused. For dramatic effect.

"Live."

If I hadn't heard the sounds San makes when he cums, I would have thought a teakettle was signaling its readiness. But I have, so I knew it was just the sound of a loser in distress.

"Should have thought of these things before making that website," I groaned. Standing and stretching for a moment gave San enough time to stop whining. I headed for the coffee machine.

"Can't you just do it remotely?" He asked, trailing after me.

"Sure," I shrugged, "but it helps to have him in front of me."

"Why?"

Something in San's tone made the hair on the back of my neck prickle. I set my cup under the nozzle and punched a few buttons before turning to speak with him.

"Don't you mean 'why's that hyung?'"

He had the decency to look embarrassed, but a defiant tightness remained in his jaw.

"Why's that hyung?"

"Better…" I pursed my lips, eyeing him for a moment before actually answering.

"Less chance of degradation of data if I'm doing tests in person. Also makes pushing any updates faster and easier."

The coffee machine spluttered and dinged, signaling that it was finished. I turned back around to grab it before returning to my work station.

"Fine," San relented, "I'll text him."

=====

"Something goofed!" Wooyoung smiled in greeting, "try again."

"Shit dude, it sure did." I gestured towards my work bench, "take a seat."

"Uh-oh," Wooyoung shrugged before hopping up onto the bench, "that's not available."

"Alright, I have an idea of what the problem might be," I held a cord out towards him, "do you mind?"

"That's just not possible," Wooyoung took the cord. His left eye rotated until the port was visible, and he plugged it in. "Try agaiiiiiiiiìììïîįīîı…"

His voice glitched, changing tone unpredictably until he eventually went silent and still. I turned towards my computer to take a look.

"Ugh," San shuddered, "I still don't understand why you had to make that his port."

"Easy to hide," I muttered, "did you try to teach him French?"

"Huh?"

I pointed at a file folder on my screen. San leaned forward.

"Why would I teach him French?"

I didn't have an answer for that.

"Maybe he did it on his own?" San pressed.

"How would that even happen?" I asked, exasperated. "My code might be good, but he's not going to spontaneously get ideas like that."

"I don't know," San huffed, "why does he know English?"

"Are you seriously going to tell me that hasn't come in handy at least once?"

"No, no, that was a good call I guess."

"This is going to take a while," I sighed, "you want to get dinner? I buy, you fly?"

San made a face, but nodded.

"What?" I asked, already tired of his shit.

"What what?"

"You're obviously feeling some type of way, so just say it."

San was visibly rankled by my calling him out.

"I'm not!" He protested, "I just…"

He glanced at Wooyoung.

I shrugged, laughing as it all came together.

"He was made to your specifications, not mine."

=====

"Puppy?"

I resisted the urge to fall to my knees at the call. Not in front of Wooyoung, inactive as he may be. Definitely not in front of San.

"Puppy?" San blanched, "what the hell?"

I could only shrug. Arguing would just highlight the nickname, and that was the last thing I wanted to happen.

"Ah," Seonghwa approached as quietly as ever, seeming to appear from the shadows rather than walk into the room. "Working on something important?"

I nodded towards Wooyoung's slightly limp form on my work table, "he's having some issues."

"Poor thing," Seonghwa sighed. He stepped closer, reaching out and running his hand through the black and blonde hair on the machine's head. He always did have a soft spot for… well… just about everyone and everything else.

I heard a choked sound from San, something between a cough and a growl. I rolled my eyes.

"Relax Sannie," Seonghwa laughed, "nobody's going to take your precious Wooyoung from you."

My eyes were getting sore from all the rolling they'd been doing today.

=====

"Puppy."

I worked myself closer to master, pressing my nose into his neck and licking at the slightly salty tang of sweat there.

"Let me take a look at Wooyoung's code."

I pushed myself up, sitting so I could give master a questioning look. He smiled up at me, reaching up to run a finger under my chin.

"Speak."

"Does master know coding?"

"Master knows a lot of things," his fingers trailed down to the collar I was currently wearing. He slid one through the loop, tugging me down roughly. "Including some code. Now," his other hand cupped my chin, fingers digging cruelly into the muscles of my jaw, "open up and stick that tongue out for master."

"!"

=====

Whatever Seonghwa did to Wooyoung's code fixed the issue. It did more than that though.

"There's something wrong with Wooyoungie."

San was pacing around a card table I had set up in my garage-turned-workshop.

"Wrong how?" I asked from my swivel chair.

I had several maps laid out on the table. One of just the country and Japan, overlayed with a transparency that I was using to track storms in the East Sea.

He paused, then quickly resumed his circle of anxiety.

"It's hard to explain," he stopped, tugging a milk crate from a shelf to use as a stool, "especially without sounding like an asshole."

"So you'll sound normal then," I laughed.

San cast a hurt scowl in my direction, pouting lips and sharp eyes.

"Sorry," I nodded at him, "tell hyung what's wrong."

He deflated then, slumping onto the only available space on the table. I tensed at the movement, but saw that he had landed on a section that had the Waterman butterfly projection laid out. I hadn't started working on that one yet.

"Hsdfynme," he mumbled into his arms.

"Speak up Sannie."

He groaned, then lifted his head just enough to rest his chin on his arms.

"He's defying me."

I stared at him, blinking as I deciphered his words. After a second, I spoke cautiously.

"You… wanted him bratty though?"

He groaned again, slumping back into his crossed arms. He must have left his mouth free from the material of his sweatshirt though. When he spoke, it was clear enough to be heard over the constant whirring of my assorted projects.

"I think he wants to break up with me."

I snorted, rolling my eyes in the safety of his slumped position.

"He's a robot," I reminded him, "he doesn't want anything."

=====

I want to note that the following has been reconstructed based on a combination of reviewing footage from Wooyoung's internal memory, and some drunken admissions from a night of drinking with just San, me, and Mingi. I've tried to avoid taking too much liberty with the narrative, but observation taints everything. Still, this is, more or less, an accurate depiction of a very personal and tumultuous moment in their relationship.

"I want to fuck Yeosang."

San gripped Wooyoung's hips so tight that he could feel the unnatural sharpness of his frame through his synthetic flesh.

"Y…" he faltered, not quite believing what was happening. "What?"

"Actually I want Yeosang to fuck me," Wooyoung clarified. "And I want you to watch."

San was no longer interested in testing the limits of the new lube they were trying out.

The lube was less viscous than their usual brand, less likely to gunk up the works of Wooyoung's self-lubricating system. I would be embarrassed to admit how much time I spent working on this, but it actually has more applications than you might think.

"Why'd you stop?" Wooyoung asked.

San released his hold on Wooyoung. Unsteady on his knees, he quickly fished through the sheets to find his boxers.

"Sannie?"

San ignored the call of his name. He had gone pale, feeling ill. Tugging the boxers on, he scrambled over to his desk. Stacks of mail, magazines, and seemingly every other bit of paper that filtered through his life were lifted and ruffled through.

"What's wrong?"

San grit his teeth, wishing Wooyoung would stop talking. He should have accepted my offer of a remote control. He should have just stuck to fleshlights. He should have fucking organized his desk!

"San…" Wooyoung was quieter now, but the call of San's name was accompanied by a soft touch against his arm this time.

"Don't touch me!" San lashed out, shaking his arm away from Wooyoung.

"Sannie just talk to me," Wooyoung pleaded.

No, San thought to himself, robots don't know how to beg.

"I can't believe my fucking sex toy wants to fuck other people," San muttered, turning his attention back to his search through his desk.

"I'm not your sex toy San," Wooyoung snapped, "I'm your boyfriend."

San whirled, clenched fists at his sides, only to be met with Wooyoung sulking.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?!"

"I don't know," Wooyoung pouted. "I don't like when you say things like that. At least not when your dick isn't in me at the same time."

San shook his head, turning once more towards his desk. He knew the manual had to be somewhere around here.

"You literally don't like anything. You don't dislike anything. You do what you're programmed to do except now there's some fucking error that makes it so that even my glorified fucking fleshlight says I'm not fucking good enough," he continued his search as he spoke, "as if I didn't specifically commission you to avoid exactly this fucking issue. Finally!"

San held the very unofficial, very handwritten, user manual in his hands. Turning to face Wooyoung, he started flipping through the pages.

"I know there's a fucking off switch…" he mumbled, trying to decode my handwriting.

Note: my handwriting is perfectly fine. San is just a dumbass.

"Off switch? Sannie, what are you planning to do?" Wooyoung took a few steps back from San.

"A full fucking reset," San didn't look up, still piecing together the scrawl on lined paper, "if I have to."

"San… baby," Wooyoung took stock of how he was, unfortunately, on the opposite side of the room from the door, "you don't want to do that. Not really, right? Let's just talk about this, okay?"

"Vol… volume control?" San read aloud, "god this would have come in useful a few times."

"You can't do this," Wooyoung kept trying to get through to him, "you'll end up regretting it!"

"I already do!" San finally looked up from the papers in his hands.

"You don't mean that."

"Mute…"

"San don't!"

"Authorization…"

"Please!"

"Number…"

"Baby please!"

"8-1-8-1."

Wooyoung's mouth kept working but no sound came out. He looked confused for a moment, then angry. San shook his head and turned back to the manual.

"Fucking stupid," he muttered.

He ran his fingertip down the page, looking for anything that seemed relevant.

Wooyoung took to throwing a silent tantrum. He threw pillows at San, who simply lifted an arm to guard against them as he read.

"Can't believe I fell for a fucking machine…"

Wooyoung tore the blankets off the bed next. They proved much less throwable than the pillows however.

"Should have known he… it, couldn't love me back…"

Wooyoung paused.

San wasn't reading anymore. Not really. He had found the power down command already. Now he was just trying to psyche himself up to actually use it.

Normally, he could have just asked Wooyoung to shut down. He didn't think he'd agree in the current situation however.

"Power down, authorization number 8-1-8-1."

The room was still. Silent.

"Just one person that didn't eventually get bored with me," San finally looked over to Wooyoung.

Wooyoung stood, still as a statue, duvet still in hand. He held it against his chest, as he had thought it might protect him.

"Was that really so much to ask for?"

=====

"What did you do to his code?"

Seonghwa looked up from his book with mild curiosity.

A frantic knocking had interrupted our perfectly good warming session. Seonghwa had given me permission to answer the door before casually tucking himself away as I made my way across the apartment.

I ran my tongue along my bottom lip, nervous about him possibly guessing what master and I had been up to.

"Hello to you too, San."

"Hyung," San gripped the front of my shirt. He looked like he was about to cry, "what did you do to him?"

"It wasn't Hongjoong," Seonghwa called from his position on my couch. "I fixed the verbalization issue."

San dropped his hands from where he was holding onto me, pushing past me to stare at Seonghwa.

"You did something to him," he almost whispered, "you changed him."

Seonghwa shook his head.

"No," he said curtly, "I only let him speak freely. So he could tell you what he wants."

"What does that even mean?!" San was getting angry now. I stepped forward, trying to place a calming hand on his back.

"Get off!"

The shove sent me teetering, dangerously close to falling.

Immediately, Seonghwa was on his feet. I felt his hand on my arm, saving me from falling to the floor. I regained my feet, offering a quiet thanks to him as we watched San start his pacing.

"He's a machine hyung. He doesn't have wants or needs. He serves a purpose!"

Seonghwa caught him by his collar. San let out a strangled yelp, trying to pry Seonghwa's fingers from the cloth and get away.

Seonghwa's grip only tightened.

"You should be kinder to the things you care for, Choi San."

Maybe I should have reviewed the patch that Seonghwa had written. When Wooyoung had passed testing with flying colors, I hadn't bothered. I trusted Seonghwa. Besides, if anything, Wooyoung had done better than when he was first judged as operating well enough to go to San. Before the errors had started. There had been zero indication that any problems would arise from the fix.

"I am kind to him!" San argued, "I give him everything he needs!"

Seonghwa only stared at him. I knew that look, very well. He would stay silent as long as it took for San to finally te-

"At least I thought I did."

San deflated, putting some of his weight onto Seonghwa's hold on him.

Seonghwa and I both stayed quiet, letting him say what he needed to.

"But he doesn't want me anymore."

I frowned. That was literally impossible. Wooyoung was built specifically for San. He was basically coded to be obsessed with him, including tons of specific coding to avoid any potentially harmful behaviors that could arise from that obsession.

"Did he say that?" Seonghwa asked, "did he say that he doesn't want you?"

San was crying. I'm not saying that to embarrass him, it's just the truth of the matter. He was crying and leaning forward to cry against Seonghwa's shoulder.

"No… but he…"

Seonghwa, reading the situation with the same ease as always, took a few steps backwards. He kept San with him, bringing him to the sofa to sit and let out everything we needed to know.

"He told me he wants…" San swallowed thickly, unable to look up yet, "he wants Yeosang."

"You fucking idiot," I couldn't help but let out a derisive laugh. "He doesn't want Yeosang!"

San looked up at me, watery and confused.

"Well maybe he does," Seonghwa shrugged.

I shot Seonghwa a dirty look. He smiled in return.

"Okay fine, but that's not the point."

"What do you mean?" San's voice quavered.

"I mean," I took a seat in one of the chairs I had recently bought to replace the folding ones that usually stood in my living room, "that it's you who wants Yeosang. Wooyoung just picked up on it."

San's mouth opened, surprised. He worked it shut and open and shut a few times.

"Why don't you tell us exactly what Wooyoung said, hmm?" Seonghwa gently asked.

"He said… he said he wanted Yeosang to," San cleared his throat.

We waited.

"He wants Yeosang to fuck him," he finally admitted, "while I watch."

It was Seonghwa's turn to laugh. He immediately apologized, patting San's shoulder softly.

"Sorry," he laughed again, "really. Sorry."

I groaned, leaning back and making a decision.

"Sannie," I started, "I'm going to explain something. I don't really want to talk about it a lot though, okay?"

San nodded.

"You know that I'm bisexual, right?"

Seonghwa's eyebrows lifted, unsure about where I was about to go with this.

San's head tilted, eyebrows furrowing.

"Really?" His lips formed a pout, "I didn't know. But why is th-"

I waved a hand to cut him off.

"It's not important. But on top of that I…" I glanced at Seonghwa.

He was watching me, a single eyebrow lifted. Thanks to San still leaning against his chest, San missed the expression.

"I was, until recently, in a relationship with two people."

San's mouth dropped open. It stayed open this time.

Seonghwa had a strange expression on his face. I would have said it was unreadable, but I knew him better than that. It was a warning. Don't share too many details, puppy. That's what the expression was saying.

"You…" San started, then shook his head. "Did they… know? About each other?"

I nodded.

The room went quiet. San was obviously digesting the information. Seonghwa was busy boring into me with his eyes. I ignored it, knowing I was creating a discussion for myself. What did he want me to do? If I said or did anything in reaction, San would definitely put two and two together - regardless of how upset he was.

"So, what?" San finally spoke up, "what are you suggesting?"

I sighed, leaning forward to place a hand on his knee.

"San, you have held onto your feelings for Yeosang fo-"

"I don't have feelings for Yeosang!" He protested. He squirmed, freeing himself from Seonghwa's arm and standing up again. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Wooyoung is just offering you what you want," Seonghwa explained. "Although he may have miscalculated his approach."

"I don't want to watch Yeosang fuck my boyfriend!"

I glanced at Seonghwa, sharing a lifted eyebrow across the small living space.

"I thought he was just a machine?" I prodded.

"He's… I didn't… it's none of your business what he is to me!"

"If I had to guess," Seonghwa sat forward, crossing his legs to rest his arms against his knee, "Wooyoung didn't just pick up on your attraction to Yeosang…"

San started stuttering out protests, but Seonghwa just kept talking, pushing the conversation forward.

"He probably also picked up on your hesitancy and anxiety about it. He knows you want him, but won't let yourself have him."

I nodded, thinking it over. It was barely a secret between our group of friends and coworkers that San was hopelessly pining for Yeosang. If we could pick it up, Wooyoung - with his array of sensors that could pick up the most minute of changes in a person - would have had no problem noticing it.

"That makes sense," I agreed, "honestly his offer isn't half bad. He probably just didn't propose it properly."

=====

I'll have to admit, the following was shared with me exclusively by Wooyoung. I'm unsure if San knows that I know this. Overall, it doesn't really change anything about how things ended up. It does, however, show that San - for all his blustering mood swings - truly does have a caring heart.

Wooyoung swayed slightly, his booting up taking an extra moment. Typically, he was restarted in a seated position, or laying down. Starting up while standing made him take a few extra microseconds, as his system prioritized his balance before anything else.

He then took a brief moment to himself to review his memories.

Everything seemed to be where he had left it.

"Baby?"

He zoomed in, zoomed out, refocused. The voice was immediately in front of him. San came into focus, crisp as a granny smith apple and clear as crystal.

"You didn't wipe me."

Wooyoung could see the tears gather along San's lower eyelid, building up until the surface tension broke.

"I'm sorry baby," San whispered, reaching up to hold Wooyoung's face, "I should never have said that."

"You scared me Sannie."

"I know. I'm so sorry. I would never do that to you," more tears slid down San's cheeks, "you know that right?"

"You were so mad," Wooyoung replied simply, "I didn't know what you would do."

San let a full sob out, throwing his arms around Wooyoung and crying into his shoulder.

Wooyoung lifted his arms, holding San close.

"I'm so sorry baby. I really am. I would never wipe you! You're perfect right now. I was just so scared!"

"You still shouldn't have said it," Wooyoung admonished. He didn't think the time was quite right to forgive San. Not yet.

"I know! I won't baby. I'll never say it again, I swear!"

San stood up straight, once again taking Wooyoung's face into his hands.

"I was so scared," his voice cracked as he explained, "I thought you were tired of me. I thought you…"

His lips and chin quivered, betraying his efforts to keep from crying more.

Wooyoung leaned forward, kissing his cheek gently.

"I could never be tired of you, Sannie."

San pulled his face so that he could kiss him properly. He laid wet kisses against Wooyoung's lips between his words.

"I know."

Kiss.

"I love you baby."

Kiss.

"I need you."

Kiss.

"I love you."

Wooyoung stopped him from kissing him again.

"You're dehydrated Sannie. Let's get you some water."

San pouted, but let Wooyoung go.

Wooyoung made his way into the small kitchen, trailed by San. He got down a glass and filled it at the sink, all while San plastered himself to his back.

Wooyoung turned in San's arms, holding up the glass.

"Drink."

Obediently, San took the cup. He drained it and placed it on the counter next to Wooyoung.

"When did you last eat?"

San mumbled something, but Wooyoung knew what he needed. Internally, he placed an order.

"Food will be here in about half an hour," he said.

"You don't have to-"

"I already ordered," Wooyoung cut him off. "Now explain."

San blinked, like he had somehow forgotten about Wooyoung's wifi connection. He shook his head and sighed.

"When you mentioned Yeosang…" he paused, as if he was unsure about what to say. "I thought you wanted to leave me."

A few pieces slid into place for Wooyoung.

"But you love Yeosang."

"No, baby," San shook his head again, "I love you."

"I know. But you also love Yeosang."

San stared at him.

"You don't have to choose. I just thought you might feel better about it if it was all three of us."

San didn't say anything for a solid minute. He just stood there, staring at Wooyoung like he didn't know if he wanted to kiss him or force him to power down again.

"Three?" Was all he managed to say once he eventually got his voice working again.

Wooyoung nodded.

"But…"

San visibly gulped.

Wooyoung waited.

"If you knew… why would you…"

Wooyoung lifted a hand to San's cheek, an attempt at encouragement.

"Why would… you said…"

"Why would you only watch?" Wooyoung offered.

San nodded vigorously, glad to not have to say it himself.

"Well," Wooyoung shrugged slightly, slipping his hand slightly lower so it could rest at the base of San's throat. He ran his thumb back and forth against San's adam's apple - multi-tasking at monitoring his heart rate, and slowly adding a sexual edge to the moment.

"Well?" San whispered, trembling slightly under Wooyoung's touch.

Wooyoung's thumb came to a stop, opposite his fingers on San's throat. Gently, just enough to make San's eyelids flutter, he tightened his hold on San's neck.

"Do you think you deserve to touch Yeosang?"

=====

I want to note that at this point in the video review, I stopped the recording and turned to Wooyoung.

"San requested that you be submissive."

Wooyoung shrugged, "things change."

I stared at him for a moment, trying to wrap my head around this development.

"I programmed you to be a sub, albeit a bratty one."

Wooyoung tilted his head, flashing me a smile that made my stomach churn.

That smile should not have been possible. I knew the countless rotors and joints that made up the structure of Wooyoung's face. They could not produce what I was seeing.

"And Seonghwa programmed me to be proactive."

I blinked, not sure if I liked the information I was receiving.

"And we both know how good Seonghwa is at getting others to be more…" Wooyoung hummed, as if thinking of the correct word, "authentic."

He leaned in, lowering his voice as he kept that impossible smile on his face.

"Don't we? Pup?"

=====

Suffice to say, Wooyoung was essentially using San's degradation kink as a tool to ease him into the poly situationship they have going on now.

I still don't know exactly what Seonghwa did to his code. Wooyoung stopped letting me work on him. He says he prefers Seonghwa's contributions, though I still don't know where Hwa learned to do it. I have caught a glimpse of the work though.

It was unrecognizable. It looked like some language I've never seen. I don't mean coding language either. I couldn't tell you what alphabet it uses anymore. It looked like Klingon or something.

As for San… well… he's still a loser. You can tell him I said that. Wooyoung still runs that site, which now features Yeosang, in addition to San, more times than not. I'll openly admit that I still tune in from time to time. More out of morbid curiosity than any sort of erotic urges. It's a gooey window into the mental health of one of my more fragile friends.

Look, we all know things we'd rather not about the people we care about. I just get my information from a live feed sometimes. There's no shame in caring.

=====

Ateez Masterlist

[sylvyspritii]

Do you know any tips for better usage of Virtual Guitarist VST? I know that it doesn't play notes at the 1st bar and some presets require shifting notes to the left a bit, but is there more stuff like that?

Okay i'm sorry for waiting so long with answering this ask, but that's because this is a question that requires a very VERY long answer, and i didn't have the motivation to type it all out until now, because i want to help you, so hopefully you will still read this, and if not, then i hope i can still help others Let's begin! 1. "Notes do not play on the 1st bar" This is an issue with a lot of different VST's and MIDI hardware, i highly reccomend always starting your compositions at the second bar, so, like this screenshot:

2. "Some presets require shifting notes to the left a bit" This is actually a problem on your end, this is because you might have (unknowingly) set your ASIO drivers to something that does not sync properly to some of your VST's, this can create inconsistents timings, but thankfully there are multiple solutions, there is "the easy one" and "oh no, this one sucks, it's hard", i will explain both THE EASY WAY The easy version is to just set your ASIO driver to FL Studio ASIO and put your playback tracking to Hybrid like in this screenshot:

But let's be real, we all have our own setups, and this simple solution doesn't always work, so it's time for a deep delve! THE HARD WAY Go hard or go home, it's time to suffer with weird FL Studio bits and bobbles, but i will try my best to guide you through this

Okay so this is the mixer panel ^

Assign your Steinberg Virtual Guitarist 2 VST channel thing to one of the funny little numbers (we use 1 in this example)

Select the corresponding number in the mixing panel (1 in this example), it will be green-ish now, that means it's selected

Now on the right side of the mixer panel, look down

Look for this, this weird little greyed out clock with the (none), that's the chaos magic that makes time travel possible in FL Studio and it will take some time getting used to Basically, this thing can make your entire channel time travel to the past or future DURING LIVE PLAYBACK That's right, multi-timeline playblack, strap in, we're in for a ride

Click on that thingy, and you will see this menu There's multiple options for deciding your "time", personally, i prefer using miliseconds (ms), because it allows you to be the most precise (Note: the miliseconds option is NOT the best when you are composing a song that has shifting BPM's, if you are using BPM change events, then it is better to fiddle with the samples or beats settings, but this can be very annoying, good luck if this is the case!)

So here's the fun part, you will see this menu when you have clicked on the "Set in ms" thingy So, this will start with 0 of course, that means that it's synced with the main playback timeline

So, because you are "shifting your notes a bit to the left", it means that you are accounting for a delay issue, right? But what if you didn't have to do that? What if you could simply fix the delay by making the sound that the note plays /before/ the note plays? That's what this does! By using a negative value (such as -100), you are instructing the channel to play the note -100 miliseconds /before/ the note is triggered in the piano roll Of course, you will have to fiddle with the precise number, but this will make it so that you don't have to shift the note slightly to the left anymore, you can just place the note like you normally would in a normal synced piano roll, but you can do that! You know what to do now, the rest is up to you, use your feelings to find the right spot! 3. Other Tricks Okay so here's some other cool tricks with Virtual Guitarist 2

Do you see this? Usually, when you play a note in Virtual Guitarist 2, the note will keep "playing", like, it will keep "going", like a reverb tail But, if you place a note with 0 velocity after that, the long previous note will end automatically! To do this, you have to drag the little line in the velocity section of the piano roll (it's at the bottom) all the way down, all the way to the bottom Here's another cool trick:

Okay so remember the previous trick? That won't work if you place the notes close together like this BUT

Go to this stupid little magnet thing on the top left of the piano roll, and change "1/4 beat" to something smaller (much smaller) like "1/6 step"

Now select all the notes

Now do this with your mouse Now, the notes WILL actually stop! Because there's a little small distance between them, this small change makes it so that the first note doesn't "go over" the second note, which makes the zero velocity data of the second note that you gave it trigger properly Okay there's one more cool secret trick

In the preset "Heavy Chords", starting from the 5th octave and going up from there, every note that is F#, G, or G# (and even more shit when you get to the 10th octave) gives you weird little effect sounds Soooooooo, if you wanna use this presets without automatically getting these effects, then shift down the octaves by using CTRL + down on your keyboard But these effects can be cool sometimes though of course!

For example, at 1:32 in Wonderful Heaven, you can hear one of those weird effects from the Heavy Chords preset used in the background (maybe it's difficult to hear, it's not that loud, but in my opinion it's a really cool detail in the song and it's part of what makes the song sound so iconic)

Anyways thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about Tenshi's theme again And yes, i found that Tenshi guitar sample simply by accident because i kept getting annoyed by accidentally triggering that effect until i discovered "wait a fucking second, is that the Tenshi guitar sample thing???" Anyways, i hope that was enough? If you have any other questions like these, feel free to send another ask, but please keep in mind it can take me a while to respond, because i prefer giving detailed answers when it comes to things i'm passionate about Have fun casually time travelling your music!

[undeadorion]

People who fake illnesses and disorders (physical or mental) make me so fucking furious. It does so much damage and yet there’s people who insist you’re a monster if you question anyone’s claims.

My younger sister has Tourette’s. For her it’s a physical twitch that ranges from a hard blink to a shoulder jerk. She is as unaware of it as her own heartbeat. She only knows after it’s happened either because someone reacts to it or her muscles suddenly hurt. She’s was bullied for it in school and it disrupts her life.

And now there’s kids on TikTok faking Tourette’s as if it’s just a silly quirky thing that’s always context specific. And it makes me so angry.

This was sparked by a video about someone very obviously faking DID. And claiming some of their nearly 300 alters had Tourette’s. Not anxiety induced ticks or other psychological issue that could cause. Specifically Tourette’s. A neurological disorder. It could be worse for some than others because if they’re like my sister stress makes it worse. But it’s an issue of the physical brain. Just because you’re running different software doesn’t mean the hardware changes.

But what especially pissed me off was the over done and obviously fake stutter. Sounding the way a stutter might in poorly written fanfic. Speech impediments are not a joke. They’re not a costume. They’re not something you get to put on and take off. They are a real fucking thing and people with them deserve all the patience in the world and to not be mocked by fucking teenagers LARPing their 300 OCs on Tiktok!

I don’t have a speech impediment but I do have a form of aphasia that to some people seems like one. And when people don’t give me 2 fucking seconds I need to work around word I’m missing I want to go fucking feral.

Mental and neurological issues are not a fucking costume. Stop treating it like one. They aren’t inherently quirky. When you do this shit it makes it harder for real people with those and similar issues to be taken seriously.

Note that the “you” here doesn’t apply to anyone likely reading this, especially any mutuals. Im just really mad at people on other platforms and hope that some day they gain some perspective that makes them feel the sheer weight of what they’ve done.

[tricktster]

i mean sure, i’ve spent hours and hours learning how to make my cheap base model 3d printer into something that:

will not catch on fire;

can be controlled using something approximating modern technology, and;

actually performs the function of a 3D printer at a reasonably high level of accuracy and with minimal catastrophic failures

it’s taken some work. like kind of a lot of work. like going from a totally blank slate re: electronics to semi-competently understanding basic circuitry and computer programming to the extent where I am no longer afraid to unscrew the damn thing and fuck around with the control board and wiring. I own a bag of fork terminals and crimping pliars now. I know what a MOSFET is and own at least three. Raspberry pis? I’ve got three now, and one of them is what I use to control the printer now.

Like I took this analog antiquity that had to be manually operated by using a single dial to navigate a bewildering maze of menus and submenus, something that was not only incapable of internet access but could only print from a SD reader so outdated that it could not communicate with 95% of the SD cards on the market… and now I can operate it entirely from my phone, including wirelessly uploading files, AND I can monitor it from an arducam stream the whole time while AI simultaneously monitors it for failures or issues.

And that’s not getting into the hardware upgrades. This thing is the ship of Theseus by this point. I’ve modded and upgraded just about every part, from the frame to the Y-carriage plate, to the heated bed, the z stop, the cooling block, the hotend and nozzle(s); the cooling fan, the extruder plate and lever, thermistor, x and y timing belts and tensioners, bed leveling wheels, bed leveling springs/columns, I popped some hardcore z braces on there, introduced a much more powerful cooling fan in the control boz, I swapped the spool holder out for a heated filament chamber, oh and of course, I built an enclosure out of plexiglass and IKEA Lack side tables with independently controlled fume venting and an IoT thermo/hygrometer sensor inside.

by this point some (perhaps most?) of you are thinking “jesus christ, why TST?? this all sounds like a massive pain in the ass???” and you’re not wrong but look listen. listen. All of that effort, all of that time and effort and all the mistakes and frustration along the way, they were all worth because now I own a machine that can just manifest stuff into existence at my command.

Like it occurred to me last night that it might be nice to own a little glow-in-the-dark model of a low poly panther, you know, just for fun.

an hour later i was holding this:

[ed-recovery-affirmations]

I really struggle right now. I have been in semi recovery for some times, so I'm not better, but like my father says, I am surviving. I do want to recover completly, but at the same time, I have this urge to relapse. Some difficult things are happening in my life right now (like my father's depression and my brother violent mood swings, my sister's school problems...) and as a whole, my family is already very busy with their own problems. When I talk about my issues which are often the same, they are quite dismissed or just put away with some banalities.

I know I have to recover, and I'm the only one that's in charge of doing it. But I'm worried that if I eat the same meals I won't be able to eat enough protein, or veggies, now that I know what macros are and I exercice... Seems like a problem never comes alone. I'm sorry, this is very messy.

How do I step away from self destructives urges whenever I feel down and alone ? How do I get better alone ? (I have a psy but to be honest it doesn't help a lot...). Do I just let go of counting macros like proteins, and if so, how will I be sure I get enough to build a bit of muscles ?

Well, thank you if you took the time to read all this, and take care !

I'm so sorry to hear that you're struggling, and that you're getting put on the back burner because of your other family members' problems. You deserve the attention and support that you need. You may not get these things, and it's difficult not to internalize that and to believe that it's because the loudest people in the room have the most important needs. Their needs do matter, but yours do just as much. I want you to know that, even if your family is unfortunately not able to meet your needs right now.

It sounds like your family is maybe dealing with some bigger overarching issues that are causing some instability for everyone. It sounds like your brother and sisters' issues, like yours, are also caused by these issues, so they're not likely to get fixed in this environment. I don't know if that's necessarily the truth, it's just a guess. But it does make me wonder if there's anybody you could look to for support outside of your immediate family.

Have you ever heard the phrase "going to the hardware store for oranges?" I've recently heard it in a therapeutic context. This metaphor refers to the practice of going to somebody for emotional support that they're just not able to give. It's as useless an endeavor as trying to buy oranges from the hardware store. No matter how desperately you ask them to sell you oranges, they won't. They can't. They don't have the oranges. This might be your family. It's unfair, but some of us just do get families we can't go to with this stuff. When you are an adult, you will be free to process that as needed and let that set the tone of the relationship, but for now, your job is to survive in this environment.

Do you have any other trusted people in your life? Could be extended family (ones you trust not to repeat your words back to your family), trusted friends, perhaps a teacher or a guidance counselor. Maybe make a list of what kind of supports you are looking for and ask what your support system can give. If your psychologist is an unhelpful one, you don't have to put all your hopes in them. If you can't switch now, you can when you're an adult.

You could also do something like start a journal and write down vents, impulses and urges and where you think they come from, and things you could try in order to help yourself better. If home is not a safe place to keep a journal where your vents might include stuff about your family members, perhaps keep it in a hiding place if you feel you need it at home, or in a school locker if home is simply not a safe space.

I think it might be a good idea to give up counting macros, yes. At least for the time being. When you can eat, eat meals with protein, you don't have to count it exactly. Don't worry too hard about being a bodybuilder right now, just focus on getting yourself enough.

Don't beat yourself up for having a hard day or struggling with negative self-urges like relapse. Be compassionate with yourself. It sounds like you're trying really hard under really stressful circumstances with limited supports available. You should be proud of yourself for trying, every day, even if everyday your best effort looks different.

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2023-12-11

la baguette, etc.

EDIT: god damn this got longer than I expected

Listening: I almost exclusively listened to Against Me! during this trip for some reason. On Saturday night my metro got interrupted and I got kicked out a few kilometers from my hotel, and after watching a couple full busses skip my stop, I just walked back. I put on Black Crosses for the first time, which is a combination of demos and acoustic versions of the songs from White Crosses which is probably one of my favourite punk albums.

I can't listen to some of Against Me! without having a good bad time because of Memories but I do not have that issue with White Crosses. As far as the demo/acoustic versions go, they are much lighter than the mainline releases which is bad if you want something energetic but good if you kind of want to soak in the lyrics.

There's a lot of great ones on Black Crosses including the obvious ones like Spanish Moss and The Western World but the one that really got me while walking back was the acoustic version of Because of the Shame which is positively heartbreaking when given space like this.

Reading: I fell down a rabbit hole on delta-sigma conversion while doing simultaneous reading up on 32-bit float audio and what the hell DSD is. I will reverse explanations.

Delta-Sigma is a collection of techniques used, roughly, to convert between high-sample-rate, low-bit-depth data and low-sample-rate, high-bit-depth data. A delta-sigma audio analogue-digital converter might sample a low-pass-filtered version of incoming signal at 6MHz and 1-2 bits and use that to reconstruct a 16-bit 44kHz version of the signal. Thanks to nyquist and other various equivalences this works with basically zero quantization error if you chose your filters right.

I was familiar with this from class-D amplifiers, which are effectively delta-sigma digital-analogue conversion, which reproduces a low-frequency analogue signal by feeding a pulse-density encoded chain into an amplifier and a low pass filter.

Anyway, DSD is a silly audiophile brand name for an audio codec that stores the 1-bit pulse encoded form of an audio signal rather than storing traditional PCM audio. Fundamentally if your hardware is correct there's basically no difference in information content or density between them.

This led me to these two good articles on dithering and delta-sigma architecture, among others.

Watching: I stumbled across this ongoing good series on YouTube a few weeks ago discussing trends in marketing movies as being "no CGI" when they are absolutely the fuck not. The second part just came out, but here's part 1:

"No CGI" is always a ridiculous claim in basically any modern movie, but this is a really good breakdown of how a combination of irresponsible journalism and intentionally poor communication creates the impression that tons of incredibly effects heavy movies are actually "free of CGI".

Treating computer graphics and effects as some kind of scourge is a misled reflex. It reminds me a lot of backlash against pitch correction, because in most cases people do not realize how much pitch correction is used in basically all music you hear. Big artists playing live performances are even pitch corrected in real time these days.

It's just part of the business, and in a very parallel way, people expect the output of CGI/pitch correction even if they don't know that. If P!nk were to go out on stage and sing her music without pitch correction you'd hear the effects of her ridiculously energetic acts, and people would bitch about it because as evidenced by people who describe good sounding music systems as feeling "like live music", people don't know what live music sounds like! Live music sounds like crap compared to studio production, you're there to inhale six different kinds of cigarette and get hit in the chest by a drunk girl who isn't paying attention to where she's going.

Wow I have a lot of opinions about how people don't realize how much production is in things. This should probably be a post. Later. Hey this is like guys who talk about "no makeup" look-*I AM YANKED OFFSTAGE WITH A COMICALLY OVERSIZED SHEPHERD'S CROOK*.

Playing: Nothing really! Dark Souls stalled not because I'm stuck but because I was doing other things. Making block took up a lot of time.

Making: Hacked together a very basic proof of concept for inserting my own controller into an LED string. As encouraged by definitely unbiased user @compiler-specific I am going to try and write my own DSL for this, which will probably end up resembling a lisp just because that simplifies my life.

Also almost done with hambanner, an IRC ban management bot. I would have finished that if I was not. In Paris. over the weekend. Hopefully this week.

Tools and Equipment: Sometimes you will find that your phone is dead and you need to find your way back to your hotel in a bizzarely convoluted part of La Défense late at night. And at this time you will be grateful that you took the time to orient yourself relative to local streets and the river and the metro station so that you do not have to find a corner to charge your phone and can instead just get back to your hotel. It could happen to you.

[venzilanddeathcult]

BELATED NEW YEARS LIST OF COOL ALBUMS I DISCOVERED IN 2023 OH BOY THIS POST IS GONNA BE LONG

2023 was without a doubt the year ive listened to the most music in all of my life, so there's quite a hefty bit of albums to list, and i'll try to put them in a loose order of when i listened to them, but no promises!

I will limit it to one album per band, while noting the other ones i could have listened to within the text

Sadly, i didn't get around to hearing The Beggar by SWANS yet, so it won't make this list. that said heres the first one lol

SPIDERLAND

(By Slint)

Also known as the "how the fuck did a bunch of dudes in their early 20s make something this fucking great" album

I first listened to this one at a friend's house since he had it on vinyl, and halfway through the album i was losing my shit and repeatedly exclaiming loudly how fucking amazing the album was

It's very hard to put into words just how fucking good this album is, it's definitely one of the albums that put me onto Post Rock as a whole, and changed the way i view guitar playing pretty significantly

Every song feels immaculately constructed (the weakest one being the short instrumental that comes right before my personal favorite, Good Morning, Captain, the final song of the album that's linked above) and the raw emotional output won me over pretty early into my first listen. It is now my second favorite album of all time, good shit, i urge anyone reading who hasn't listened yet to give it a shot

Give their first album a listen too!

THE POD

(By Ween)

Not much i can say about this album i haven't said before i think, so here are the notes i took about it while listening to it for the first time (on a plane ride)

"Listened to this album during the plane ride Might be one of Ween's best It's so noisy and shitty and gross Only enchanced by the plane ride nausea and the very low energy feel the altitude gives It's Like if the Best album of all time got recorded on the shittiest hardware ever i'm Gonna listen to it a lot I can tell The noisiest part of the [referring to the last song here] song started on the most turbulent part of the ride And I was all for it"

I was already a Ween fan by this point, but hadn't listened to their earlier stuff, especially The Pod since every attempt at listening to it made me genuinely nauseous for some reason, but damn did braving through the album pay off. it's one of my favorite Ween albums and every time i get a fever i put it on to at least find some comfort in the wooziness. big recommendation

OCTAHEDRON

(By The Mars Volta)

I've been a Mars Volta fan since very early 2022, but i didn't get around to exploring their full catalogue until after the release of their comeback album later that same year, with Octahedron being the last of them (the rest i gave first listens to in 2022)

It's a decently strong change from their previous album (The Bedlam in Goliath), which was probably their most intense and chaotic album, although it definitely fell flat in a few aspects (Weirdly produced, some filler that could have been cut out that makes some stuff sound samey, something that wasn't much of an issue with Volta albums up until that TBiG)

It feels like it sort of harkens back to their earlier albums such as Frances the Mute and Tremulant while also going forward in a direction that makes sense considering 2012's Noctourniquet.

It's still not something as well constructed as their earlier albums, but it's a seriously good effort and worth listening to at least once, some seriously catchy and memorable songs in here

IN TIMES NEW ROMAN...

(By Queens Of The Stone Age)

I've been a fan of Queens Of The Stone Age for basically as long as i can remember, which only intensified in the pandemic as i would spend my days listening to Era Vulgaris on loop for hours and hours

There was not a single album from them that i didn't love, something about their entire style is extremely appealing to my ears, and when i heard they would release a new album i damn near shat myself and eagerly awaited for news

Then Emotion Sickness came out, with it's Era Vulgaris-reminiscent sound, ESPECIALLY the chorus and i couldn't be happier, there was absolutely no end to my hype

And thankfully, once the album came out, i realized these motherfuckers STILL have it in them to make a really fucking solid rock album, it seems they shed the slightly more polished sound of Villains and went back to that good old rougher sound they used to have, while not ditching some of the bells and whistles that made their reunion records work

Seriously solid album and i'd recommend it to anyone that enjoys this style of rock. good stuff

Church goes here

CONTEMPORARY MOVEMENT

(By Duster)

Shed away all of those memes about Sisyphus featuring a song off this album and underneath you will find a really emotional slowcore album with such an immaculate vibe i can't help but just. sink into it as i listen, if that makes sense

Before listening to this album i was a big fan of that Experimental Dust bootleg, but had never listened to their other stuff until i did

Almost every song is just oozing with this unmistakably Duster sound that is so perfectly melancholic you cant help but just be right there with them, it's some seriously great stuff, lovely album.

I also listened to Stratosphere, but i didn't listen to it much so i don't feel like it fits in this post, but rest assured it's a damn good time as well. Great album, very sad, should probably only listen to it in a good headspace but you do you

WISH YOU WERE HERE

(By Pink Floyd)

Enough said. its peak

same applies to Animals

A FUCK TON OF ALBUMS

(By SWANS)

No, really, just in 2023 i gave first listens to:

To Be Kind

The Seer

White Light From The Mouth of Infinity

Love of Life

Greed

The Great Annihilator

The Burning World

It's too much to talk about, but SWANS is one of my favorite bands, and honestly, if you're really curious, just shoot me a DM for thoughts on any of these albums haha, i'm always overjoyed to talk about music with people, especially SWANS.

loveless

(By my bloody valentine)

One of my biggest regrets is not listening to this album in full earlier than i did. It's seriously such a fucking incredible experience from start to finish that i can't even find much to say about it that hasn't been said before, just give it a listen

MT EERIE

(By The Microphones)

Sorry kids i havent listened to the glow pt 2 yet cant talk about it

I randomly discovered The Microphones on my youtube recommendations one day while listening to completely unrelated music, but clicked due to the artwork catching my interest and was completely enthralled by their melancholic acoustic sound followed by real intense percussion in some songs, and the flirting with experimentation that goes on throughout the entire album, it's seriously great and it touched me in a way not much music has. Big recommendation

IN RAINBOWS

(By Radiohead)

It's hard to say something about this album that hasn't been said already, so i won't.

Give it a listen, even if you're not a fan of their usual stuff, this album still stands out as a pretty interesting project and i enjoy it quite a lot

Also listened to from them this year: OK Computer and Kid A, heavily enjoyed both but In Rainbows remains my favorite

DOOLITTLE

(By Pixies)

Now for my most listened album of the year, spawned from the same night that got me into Spiderland (my 2nd most listened to album...go figure)

Having listened to Where Is My Mind? upon watching Fight Club, that was sadly the only Pixies song i stuck to for a while, but once i heard this album i kept on digging and digging through it to finally get what it is that made me enjoy this band's sound

It actually took me quite a fucking while to fully "get" this album, but the album slowly earned my full appreciation and became something i'd spend days listening to on loop, enjoying the ride from start to finish, it's a seriously good album, and if you wanna hear where some of that 90s rock dynamic came from, this and Surfer Rosa are considered some of the most notable precursors to it, so there you have it. give it a listen!

CLUBE DA ESQUINA

(By Milton Nascimento & Lô Borges)

LINK TO "Tudo O Que Você Podia Ser" FROM THE ALBUM (10 VIDEOS PER POST LIMIT LOL)

I struggle to choose a singular song to link, because every part of this album is crafted with such intricate musicianship and mix matching of Brazilian tradition with a foreign, beatles-esque flavor which is so smoothly and lovingly woven into the entire record. It's an absolute must for anyone interested in the music of Brazil, and one of my absolute favorite albums of all time. i recommend this one to every person i discuss music with, it's a seriously outstanding achievement of an album. give it a listen.

CENTER OF ATTENTION

(By InI)

LINK TO "No More Words" FROM THE ALBUM

I am a HUGE fan of the Jazz Rap style developed in the east coast during the 90s, and InI's shelved debut is one of those crowning examples i now look to when introducing people to the style. Right from the start the album sets you in it's laid back vibe, with it's nice groovy beats that tastefully sample old jazz records in a way that really adds to the album's whole atmosphere. Great album, give it a try.

DUMMY

(By Portishead)

LINK TO "Sour Times" FROM THE ALBUM

While regrettably not having listened to the rest of their output, this album still manages to blow me away every single time i listen to a song off it. There's something so lovable about the gloomy atmosphere paired with those spy movie ass guitars and absolutely breathtaking vocals. every member plays such a strong part in the album's atmosphere to the point you can pay attention to just one component and still be interested the whole way through. this album is so fucking good. give it a listen

SPEAKERBOXXX / THE LOVE BELOW

(By OutKast)

LINK TO "Church" FROM THE FIRST SIDE OF THE ALBUM

LINK TO "Love Hater" FROM THE SECOND SIDE OF THE ALBUM

Outkast has always been one of my favorites in rap, but i never took the time to listen to their biggest project, the double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, which is kind of two solo albums from Big Boi and Andre 3000 (in that order) packaged as an Outkast album, but god damn, they made it work really well.

EVERY single song in this album is a fucking banger (GhettoMusick being one of my favorites), the only thing holding it down are some skits that, while some of them are pretty funny, still leave you just wanting to get to the next track, but anyone who's listened to enough rap albums already knows how this stuff goes (first wu-tang album, anyone?)

One of my favorite rap albums, give it a shot, i guarantee at least 3 songs from it will be stuck in your head after.

PAUL'S BOUTIQUE

(By Beastie Boys)

LINK TO "The Sounds of Science" FROM THE ALBUM

Another one of such cases where every song is a banger, the songs are all so fucking awesomely creative i can't help but have a wide smile on my face every time i listen, the crazy amount of samples in this album really makes it quite a unique listen, especially as a Beatles fan which means The Sounds Of Science is enough whiplash to give J.K. Simmons a run for his money

Really fun album, give it a shot

MELLON COLLIE AND THE INFINITE SADNESS

(By The Smashing Pumpkins)

LINK TO "Tales Of A Scorched Earth" FROM THE ALBUM

I've been a moderate Smashing Pumpkins fan since i was a kid, with Siamese Dream being a favorite, and Drown being one of my favorite songs of all time at that point, but i never took the time to listen to the album that followed it, partly due to it being so massive, but once i took the plunge i spent the next 2 hours sitting in my chair absolutely floored by every song that came my way. This is a seriously impressive album from start to finish and it's one i'll cherish for years to come, every song feels like it's earned it's place, with both the soft and hard songs being equally interesting and ear catching.

Outstanding album, give it a listen.

THE FAT OF THE LAND

(By The Prodigy)

LINK TO "Breathe" FROM THE ALBUM

I'm usually not much of an electronic music guy, but this album really caught my attention after watching Dario Casali's playthrough of Half-Life of all things, where he said he would frequently listen to The Prodigy during development, so i decided to give it a shot, having heard some of their music (Particularly in the film Kick-Ass) and i spent the next week or so religiously listening to this album on loop, it's so endlessly replayable and just fun to listen to that i instantly became hooked. Aside from that, there's not much to say, it's a very fun, energetic album, give it a shot.

THE ENTIRE FUCKING SYSTEM OF A DOWN DISCOGRAPHY

(By...yeah)

LINK TO "Soil" FROM "System Of A Down"

LINK TO "Prison Song" FROM "Toxicity"

LINK TO "Fuck the System" FROM "Steal This Album!"

LINK TO "Radio / Video" FROM "Mezmerize"

LINK TO "Vicinity Of Obscenity" FROM "Hypnotize" (not sure why people dislike this one?)

Same deal as SWANS, too much to talk about, shoot me a dm about it if you're really that curious, i don't mind.

ALL OF IT IS FUCKING GREAT. GIVE THEM A LISTEN. ENOUGH SAID

F♯ A♯ ∞

(By Godspeed You! Black Emperor)

LINK TO "East Hastings" FROM THE ALBUM

It's hard for me to put into words what listening to this album for the first time did for me. It's one of the most atmospheric, wonderful things i've ever had the pleasure of listening to, all 3 songs in this masterpiece keep me entranced until the very last second, including the very unnecessarily long silence at the end of Providence for the hidden song. I have yet to listen to their next album, which i've been told by a mutual is even better, so i'm very excited for that. Give this one a listen.

MARQUEE MOON

(By Television)

LINK TO "See No Evil" FROM THE ALBUM

god i am not a fan of this album cover

that being said, this album is a pretty nice, post punkish record which reminds me a lot of 80s Talking Heads, but i don't have much to say about it. it's simply a good album, and i recommend it heavily. give it a shot

THE UNNATURAL WORLD

(By Have A Nice Life)

LINK TO "Guggenheim Wax Museum" FROM THE ALBUM

I fucking love Deathconsciousness, but stayed at that album for a while, until, for whatever reason, during my initial playthrough of Dark Souls 1 (great game, by the way, enjoyed it lots) i decided to give it a spin and wound up listening to it for basically the rest of the game. It has this gloomy vibe HANL is known for, but it feels like its played a lot more straight than Deathcon, it feels darker, i dunno.

Very good follow-up, even if i think the previous album is overall stronger, this one is still a great listen

LEAVES TURN INSIDE YOU

(By Unwound)

LINK TO "Radio Gra" FROM THE ALBUM

I regrettably struggle to find much to say about this album, which is a shame because i really do love it a lot.

It has this sound that is at times reminiscent of Slint, which made me immediately fall in love, while still standing out as it's own thing, it's a very good fucking album from start to finish, but that's all i can say about it really, i need to listen to it more, and Unwound's other stuff.

Big recommendation right here

FRANKENCHRIST

(By Dead Kennedys)

LINK TO "MTV - Get Off The Air" FROM THE ALBUM

Dead Kennedys is one of my favorite bands (Old Testament DK anyways, Dead Kennedys without Jello is kinda wack, sorry!), and their previous album, Plastic Surgery Disasters remains one of my favorite punk rock records to date, but i had not yet listened to the latter half of their discography, something i now regret, since it's equally as good.

Frankenchrist is a bit of detour from PSD's VERY harsh sound, sounding a little more rounded, less noisy if that makes sense, but Jello Biafra's biting social commentary and witty writing remains intact through it all and makes for an album as entertaining and awesome as the rest of their work. Seriously great, listen to it.

MAGGOT BRAIN

(By Funkadelic)

LINK TO "Maggot Brain" FROM THE ALBUM

Having started my musical ambitions as an aspiring Funk guitarist (part of why my right hand strums so loosely haha), Funkadelic was always on my radar, with their debut album being one of the albums i listened to the most and looked for inspiration in during the pandemic, but for some reason, i never opted to listen to Maggot Brain until this year, which, as is per usual for albums i dont listen to, was a big fucking mistake, since this album is filled with bangers from start to finish. I love it to death.

An absolute must-listen to any funk rock fans

AT ACTION PARK

(By Shellac)

LINK TO "Crow" FROM THE ALBUM

Being a fan of Steve Albini's work both in production and with Big Black, listening to Shellac eventually was a no-brainer, but i procrastinated on it until a particularly lengthy hospital visit where i had enough time to kill and listened to this album, being taken in by that noisy goodness until the album finished. I struggle to find something to say, but the song structures in this album are so weird and they don't hesitate to stay longer than usual and linger on some chords which gives songs this really punchy vibe i can't describe. Great album.

AND FINALLY....

UNDERTOW

(By TOOL)

LINK TO "Prison Sex" FROM THE ALBUM

I'm a huge fan of TOOL, but never listened to their debut until i saw it on a mutual's top albums list, which convinced me i should give it a shot, and so i did!

...On the fucking last hour of 2023

I shit you not, the album ended in the last fuckign MINUTE of the year. 23:59. Finished listening and immediately got up to await the countdown.

That aside, you can really see how they went from this to Ænima, as it has a lot of the harder parts of that album, with less...esoteric(?) peculiarities inbetween, while still being a really good fucking album and enjoyable from start to finish, there wasn't a single song that had me bored. A worthy album to finish the year with...and this list!

FINALLY finished writing this absolute behemoth of a post, and i hope it at least gets one person to check these albums out.

Here's to a great 2024 for all! Thanks for reading!

[kedreeva]

Same anon who asked about the max for an enclosure here - To answer where I heard it: Uh... Reddit. Sometimes they seem to have good advice but I've heard some other advice that I know sucks so That said, I'm not an owner yet but I'm making plans to become one, and I was actually hoping to get mice from you when I am because I'm in the state. I ordered a 90 gallon tank and it hasn't arrived yet, but I'm also spending over 400$ on hides, toys, and other stuff. (Honestly I might end up spending even more, but I'm waiting until it gets here to see what kinds of things I want to prioritize to fill up more space.) Would you say a big enclosure is inherently bad if the space is utilized properly? I absolutely agree that a big enclosure without enough hides/cover would be far more stressful than a small one with more cover, but I fully intend on going the extra mile and Making It Cluttered Enough even if I have to spend an obscene amount of money on it. (Not to say I haven't already bc. I imagine a lot of people don't spend that much on toys/hides/etc)

I can't fathom the amount of mice that would have to go into a 90g aquarium to make it not stress the mice out. 50+ at least. And the biggest problem is that you would need to literally stack hides upon hides upon hides, and that inherently means that you would lose all airflow, and that's bad. The stink will be tremendous because it can't dry out properly, not to mention the ammonia buildup in the lower levels and the possibility of mold where air isn't moving enough (and when you start blowing air the mice Do Not Like That, at work a lot of the mice would shove things into the air vents to try to stop it). And that's not even really touching on the idea that it's very difficult for you to make sure you're health checking every mouse routinely; can you tell all 50 apart at a glance? Can you check them for health issues well enough? Will you have to disassemble the entire setup to do so appropriately? How do you know if one is sick at the bottom or just didn't come out today because they were asleep?

Honestly, aquariums aren't ideal past the small like 10g or a 20 longs, really. The ONLY reason I'm using a 30g is because it was already in the room and I have a single-morph colony project that's all on the same F generation.

It's also not really about the money spent, the mice 100% prefer garbage cardboard they can chew up to any store bought hide I've ever put in with them. If you give them a choice between plastic, ceramic, wooden, and cardboard, you will almost certainly find them all crammed into the cardboard, MAYBE the wooden, but the problem with wooden equipment is that it's really difficult to sanitize and it can hold stink and bacteria and parasites even through being washed. Think like... You wouldn't use a wooden cutting board for meat, because you can't really clean it properly to ensure food safety? Same thing with wooden hides and gear for mice. It's also about the health of the mice due to airflow and ammonia. It's about the stress of having that much open space unless there's a lot, a LOT, of mice and tight spaces built into it. Even with aquarium fans to help move air, I'm not sure you'd be able to keep it dry enough.

There are a lot of animals where bigger enclosures are better... Mice are not on that list. Ideal caging is a 20g long or a storage tote that's been modded with hardware cloth on the sides to provide airflow. Lab bins are actually really comfortable for them because they're usually small and opaque and feel like a secure place. Wire cages can be 'okay' but again, those kind of have too much airflow such that even though it's enclosed to YOUR perception, it still FEELS like an open space to them because they have terrible eyesight and just feel a bunch of moving air and Sounds.

Reddit... Is a bad place for animal advice usually. I don't go there, but I get sent stuff from there. I see horror stories. I see I'll advised attempts at "bioactive" setups for mice (please... never do this to them, they create too much waste,eat the cleaning crew and all the plants, and can pick up parasites). I see people saying you need a 40g minimum for a single male (please... I'm ill just thinking about anyone doing this to Him). I don't know who is giving them these ideas but I would like to arrange a meeting behind the Denny's. I just want to talk.

I'm very very very sorry that someone convinced you a 90g for mice would be a good idea. I absolutely cannot recommend it no matter how much stuff you put in it. You might be able to figure out a way to make it safe and healthy, with airflow and no chance of mold etc, but I just... there are so many better and easier ways to have a bunch of happy mice. Even if you want 50+ mice, having a shelving unit with bins or something is still going to be healthier for them than 1 huge enclosure; not because they don't love a big colony group, but because human limitations on maintenance of that kind of setup. Like if you maybe got a 50g Lowboy with a custom lid setup, you could have a workable 50g setup like I did for my rats, because you'd have airflow and for space easily. Idk man. You can always try it but up front I don't expect you will like it in practice, and it would be really difficult to maintain it safely enough for them.

[rito-flips]

SQUID INDUSTRIES NAUTILUS: AN IN-DEPTH REVIEW

This is what is hopefully the start of various different balisong reviews that I get my hands on as I progress through the hobby of balisong flipping. While my preferences won't speak for the balisong community at large, I hope to be as objective as I can while still offering my thoughts and opinions where they're appropriate.

Tonight's review will be on the balisong pictured above: the Squid Industries Nautilus. Without further ado, let's jump into it.

TL;DR: The Good: Light, grippy, and flowy flipper that provides a unique experience few other balisongs can replicate. Has a lifetime warranty where Squid will fix any repairs or QC issues. The Bad: How it flips is not for everyone. Plagued with QC issues which shouldn't happen at its price—buying one new is a gamble, and Squid isn't perfect with warranty repairs. (Fair warning: there is a lot of jargon that can sound like word soup to anyone who doesn't flip. I'll try to explain it as best as I can and make another post detailing what everything means)

UNBOXING AND GENERAL INFO:

The Nautilus has a fairly standard unboxing experience. It comes in a simple but nice drawer-style box inside of a cloth pouch, and with it comes a set of replacement hardware (not pictured), a paper card with QR codes that lead to flipping tutorials and tuning guides, and a sticker. Simple and nothing amazing, but well-executed. As for the price, it isn't exactly cheap. The retail price of the Nautilus varies depending on what versions you go for. On Squid's site, the base Nautilus goes for $230 USD, and it only gets more expensive from there. The Winter Nautilus with white G10 scales is priced at $245 USD. The Inked Nautilus, which has a diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating on the blade, retails for $255 USD, while the Carbon Fiber Nautilus, which ditches G10 scales in favor of carbon fiber, retails for $295 USD.

Like all other Squid Industries balisongs, the Nautilus comes with a lifetime warranty—for something as minor as routine maintenance to something as major as bad quality control, it can be sent to Squid to fix whatever might be wrong with it. For the first 30 days, all the owner has to pay is for parts, and after that the owner has to pay for shipping and parts (although the latter might not apply in the case of QC issues).

DESIGN AND SPECS: Originally released on June 4, 2019, the Nautilus was released alongside the Krake Raken or Kraken, which I'll be using as a point of comparison for this design. Less experienced flippers often ask which of the two is "better", which is understandable given their similar prices, with the Kraken trainer starting at $215 USD, the Nautilus starting at $230 USD, and the Kraken live blade starting at $250 USD. However, as someone who owns both and flips both on a regular basis, they simply cannot be compared because of how different they are. The only thing the two have in common is the use of channel construction handles with 7075 aluminum as the handle material. Here are some photos with the two side-by-side: Below: Nautilus (black) and Kraken (purple)

The Kraken is overall beefier with full aluminum handles and a thicker everything, lending it to weigh a normal 4.2 oz. Everything on the Nautilus is smaller and thinner, from the the use of G10 laminate scales for grip to the small size of the channel to the thickness of the handles and blade, lending it to be much lighter at 3.6 oz. These design choices make for a unique flipping experience that I'll expand on later.

TUNING AND QUALITY CONTROL: This is going to be a doozy for a multitude of reasons, and things might get confusing, but I'll try my best to explain everything: The Nautilus runs on a bushing pivot system, which means that as long as the bushings aren't smaller than the blade, the pivot screws can be fully cranked down without them locking up. On top of this, when bushings are tuned correctly, tap (where the blade is touching the inside of the handles), blade rub, and handle play (side-to-side slop) can be fully eliminated for a solid and premium feeling flipping experience. On paper. The reality is that the inherent design of the Nautilus is a huge double-edged sword. Remember how I mentioned that everything on the Nautilus is pretty thin and small? That leaves a whole lot less room for error when tuning. Its use of G10 doesn't help much, either, as the scales have to be aligned as close to perfect as possible in order to have a good tune. Squid Industries has taken a bit of a dip in quality control as of late, but the Nautilus has always been their biggest sore spot for QC because of its design, which many can attest to. Juice Tin, who I talked to on a somewhat regular basis, has had a QC nightmare—their Nautilus had blade rub out of the box alongside G10 scales that were unfinished at best and outright deformed at worst, and tap persisted even after changing the scales and sending it in for warranty (both of our Nauts also happened to be QC'd by the same person, and I had issues as well). Yet another victim of the Naut's bad QC was CamaroEE, who held the Nautilus as one of his dream trainers at the time but was plagued with tap and blade rub that Squid couldn't fix when it was sent to them for warranty repairs, leading him to ultimately sell it and call it "the grayest balisong" in his review for it. I have also had QC issues on my end, albeit to not as much of an extent as others did. My Nautilus came straight out of the box with tap and blade rub, and it took an involved teardown and retuning that lasted over 2 hours to get the issue fixed. As of the time of writing this review, the tap is gone, and while it has a bit more play than I'm normally comfortable with, it's a lot better than before. Here's the thing: I love fixing and working on my own stuff, and I had no problems with fixing the issues my Nautilus had out of the box. The problem lies within the facts that: - I had to do it at all - I expected and prepared for it - I had heard about it from at least half the people I talked to who already owned one These would be at least somewhat excusable if the Nautilus was cheap, but with a starting price tag of $230 USD, I am giving Squid far less leeway here. Someone without the know-how, finally happy they have the money to buy something nice, could very easily buy this without doing the proper research, only to get slapped in the face with issues that many balisongs half its price don't have.

But because I'm no Negative Nancy, enough about my QC tirade. Because it flips very good. FLIPPING:

God damn, this is a fun flipper. The Nautilus has a heavy handle bias, meaning that if you were to balance it on your finger, the point of balance would be about halfway down the handles. Remember how I mentioned that it weighs 3.6 oz? For anyone not familiar with balisong flipping, that is absurdly light for a metal balisong since most balisongs on the market range from 4–4.5 oz, and it shows in how it behaves. The light weight and handle bias make for an almost floaty experience that's difficult to put into words. Rollovers and chaplins are very smooth and take no effort at all. The handle bias means that fans aren't nearly as good as it could be, but the balisong can absolutely still fan—choker fans and Z-chokers are easy to land, and ladders take much less finger strength than on most other balisongs. To top it all off, the G10 scales provide an absurd amount of grip, and I've yet to have it slip out of my hands during flipping. This sort of flipping experience tells me that the Nautilus was built with uncompromising pedal-to-the-medal flipping in mind, and with the people out there who flip the absolute balls off of it, I can't be completely wrong. With nearly everything being so effortless and smooth on the Nautilus, could it be the best flipper in its price range? Well, no. This hobby's so damn subjective that there really is no "best" balisong. The Nautilus has certain things about it that people could very easily dislike, the biggest of which is, funnily enough, the weight. As a small person with grubby little raccoon hands, the light weight and thin handles are perfect for me, but there are people out there who prefer heavier balisongs—one person I've talked to even likened it to a toy with how unsubstantial it felt in the hand for them. The other point of divide is the use of G10. The thing about G10 is that even when it's well-finished, it has a very chalky feel to it that most people don't like if it isn't given some oil (mink oil works great). Many times it can even feel a bit cheap even though it's quite the opposite, both to buy and to work with. Not to mention the balance; the handle bias on it is very noticeable, and there are plenty of people who don't like that much handle bias—hell, if it were heavier, I wouldn't have liked it as much. So, because of that, while it is my favorite balisong in my collection, it isn't a balisong that's as universally liked as much as something like a Kraken is. FINAL THOUGHTS: To close off, while plagued with hit-or-miss QC, the Squid Industries Nautilus is a light, flowy balisong trainer that offers a fun flipping experience that few other balisongs can offer. I want to recommend this balisong so badly because of how much fun I've had flipping it, but because Squid doesn't know how to QC them, I just can't unless you're not one to really care about tolerances. However, I do think you should at least give it a try because it is genuinely one of the most unique flipping experiences out here. If you're interested in buying a Nautilus, it can be found here.

[yesmissnyx]

For the mic issues, first step is to check if your drivers are up to date.

I have a good microphone, but I had similar issues. Turns out it had to be connected to the back of my computer, directly to the motherboard and not the case USB slots (if you're on desktop, not laptop).

You can also confirm if the issue is your headphones by trying with Bluetooth earbuds. May not be as great sound quality but if it persists, you'll know it's the mic.

You may also already have it and I just didn't see you mention it, but getting a pop filter for it does amazing in sound quality. If you don't want to get one right now, a trick one of my friends taught me was putting a sock over the mic (may have to adjust placement and such to avoid a muffled feeling).

Source: me, who worked for too many years as a Geek Squad nerd

Update: I had it plugged into not only the front of the PC, but ALSO a splitter. It didn't like that 😫 It also really seemed to dislike my USB headset, which is my main set of headphones.

It seems to be recording correctly, but now my biggest issue is that my only headphones with an audio jack are ancient and apparently on their last legs...so I will be ordering a new pair of those today!

(I might have a pair of old earbuds floating around...may also try to dig those up just to see if the weird, irregular pops and crackles are the headphones! Because they are irregular, which makes me assume they aren't a part of the recording itself.)

Once I can actually work with clear audio (as in, audio that doeSnT SoUND likE thIS or like it's coming through a tin can), I can start playing with the ACTUAL quality of the audio instead of troubleshooting hardware issues 😭

[howtofightwrite]

I am writing sci fi and was wondering about the viability of a training computer that measures the body during combat. Heart rate, blood flow, all body/muscle movements, pressure, weight distribution, speed, angles, eye movement, etc. Basically pretty much everything you could think of. I am hoping I could make this reasonable without having to wear a body suit, but minimal bodywear or just microchips implanted in the skin as well as sensors placed around the room.

Some of that can already be done. Tracking things like heart-rate, blood pressure, and a number of other vital elements can be tracked with implants, or attached sensors, if needed. Similarly, you can track movement fairly accurately (with the right setup), currently, so it's not that much of a stretch to predict full motion capture and real-time processing in the near future.

What I'm less sure of is how useful any of this would be. Tracking things like heart rate and blood flow would be useful in medical evaluation, and if we're being speculative, implants that track vital functions could be extremely helpful for battlefield triage.

As for specific motion tracking, it wouldn't be as useful as it sounds. Processing that information in real-time (so, while training is happening), would be overwhelming for the instructor. It's not one student, it's an entire class.

Beyond that, martial training has to be adapted to the student. It really is not, “one-size-fits-all.” Different students will have different centers of gravity, their stances will be different, any prior training can result in, “eccentricities,” in their technique that are entirely valid, but don't fit with the training they're currently receiving.

The one place I could see this not being an issue is if your characters were literally clones, who received their combat training through automated systems. In that case, there shouldn't be any physical differences (or at least, shouldn't be any differences within a given clone stock, there may be multiple clone stocks in the military, training for different roles.)

In a normal military setting, you might use a system like this as a way to quickly spot check sloppy technique, but ultimately, it would fall to the instructor to rectify the situation.

As the only means of training,

In a non-military setting, you might see something like this used by dojos to provide individualized assistance to students, but again, it would probably go back to the instructor to personally analyze what the student was doing to trip the sensors.

Even then, I suspect this kind of hardware would be best suited for competitive level martial arts, where you're dealing with very few practitioners, and the goal is to make their technique look flawless.

So, yes, this would probably be doable. But, I suspect it would be more useful to augment training, rather than as a replacement for it.

-Starke

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