#stash of electronic components

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

The Circuit Leader in ‘Battle of the Circuit Chaps’ seemed to be making a reasonable assumption that locking away the Inspector would keep him from doing anything to foul up the Circuit Chaps’ plans.

Naturally, the Inspector discovers a stash of electronic components, that easily assemble into laser bombs, which he uses to destroy all the Circuit Chaps before they realise what’s happening.

[zprites]

Do You Ever Really Know? - Chapter 1

Finally posting my Spot x Fem!Spider-sona fic. First Chapter is up :)

Summary: After deciding to find a way to reverse the effects of the collider explosion, Jonathan Ohnn (now going by 'The Spot') had set out to find a dimension where there was no Spider-Person. However his plans get foiled almost immediately by someone who shouldn't even exist in that universe. Who was this 'Spider Lily', and why did she want to help him? And why can't he get her out of his head?

Only warnings are eventual smut in the final chapter and brief mentions of death and a destruction of a universe. Also fair warning, these two flirt, A LOT.

Enjoy!

Next Chapter

Also available on Ao3

Chapter 1 - Renaissance

Jonathan Ohnn had no idea crime could be this easy.

He looked behind him for any sight of a web-slinging crusader as he rounded yet another corner, traveling deeper into the alleyway. The hefty bag of money he had slung over his shoulder did nothing to slow him down as he heard the police sirens grow fainter and fainter with each step he took. 

Who knew that simply finding a universe where there was no Spider-Person was the answer to his problems. It helped that this universe’s police department was more inept than the ones back on Earth-1610 as well.

All he needed to do was a few more bank robberies, maybe break into that fancy electronics store off of 57th to make his life easier. After all, building a machine that could reverse the effects that the Alchemax collider explosion caused was no small task. No, he needed top of the line electrical components and a lot of materials, that meant money, money he didn't have.

For now, at least. Soon he’d have enough to build his machine and he can turn himself back to normal. 

But first he needed to find a safe space to stash this money, start plotting his next bank heist, and figure out why he was suddenly feet off the ground. 

Wait, what…?

Before he could comprehend what was happening he was yanked upwards by an unseeable force. He cried out as bricks and windows zipped by until he was unceremoniously dropped onto a rooftop, landing with an ‘Oof!’ on his ass. Grumbling, he moved to stand but a hand on his shoulder pushed him back down onto the asphalt. 

“Easy there, handsome.”

He was immediately aware of several things at once. 

First, that the hand on his shoulder, although slender, carried a strength that set off multiple alarm bells that blared in his skull. 

Second, during all the commotion, a familiar web-like material had landed across his thighs, further keeping him in place. 

And the most concerning; the voice he heard hadn’t originated from someone’s mouth… 

No, the voice, female if he wasn’t mistaken, came from inside his own head. 

And called him handsome…

"You know, robbery is considered a felony in the state of New York." The voice took on a teasing tone as the owner moved into his line of vision. "While you do look hot as hell in white and black, I think the stripes would clash with your spots.”

He took her in as she stood before him. If the webbing wasn't enough of a dead giveaway as to who she was, then the sight of her spandex suit and mask confirmed it for him. 

She was a Spider-Person, definitely not one he'd seen before though. Granted he'd only seen two in his life: Peter Parker who died by Fisk's hands during the final collider test, and the kid who was bitten by the spider from Earth-42 that he inadvertently sent over. That was why he came to Earth-9210, because that kid kept getting in his way, always a step ahead as Jonathan struggled to rob even a simple ATM machine. 

But the Spider-Man of this world died approximately three years ago.

So why was there a Spider-Woman in front of him now? And why was he able to hear her in his head?

He realized she was waiting for some type of response, body lax while she stared at him expectantly, so he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

"You think I'm handsome?"

The lenses of her mask crinkled in amusement as she giggled out loud. Her laughter was soft and alluring, almost ethereal, and reminded him of a gentle breeze in a field of wildflowers. 

He wished he could listen to her laugh forever; to have it play on a never-ending loop, keeping him company on even the darkest of days. 

"I am many things, but blind isn't one of them." 

"And is one of those things a telepath or am I beginning to go crazy?"

Another chuckle, which had him melting. 

"Damn, handsome and smart? You really are a package deal." 

Oh, her continued flirtatious remarks were beginning to have an effect on him, if his rapidly beating heart and the butterflies that were slowly trickling into his stomach were anything to go by. He didn't know why he was suddenly acting like some lovestruck teenager over a Spider-Person of all people.

He did know, he just didn't want to admit it…

"You're correct though." She continued. "I am a telepath but don't worry, it only works one way so I'm not able to hear your thoughts or anything."

Shit, the thought hadn’t even crossed his mind. However, it was nice to know that the numerous thoughts swimming in his head, some of them not very appropriate as he focused on the part of her suit that stretched over her ample thighs, were still safe with him. 

He watched as she made a move for the bag of money that he had unknowingly forgotten about, taking the time to fully commit every curve of her body to memory. 

Her suit was simple. A solid light gray mask with deep red emotive rims surrounding the black lenses kept her real identity hidden. The suit was also light gray while the same deep red shifted into a golden orange along her arms and legs, the bright colors decorated with a black web design that was common amongst Spider-People. A pair of black fingerless gloves and black combat boots that stopped at her mid-calf completed the look of the superhero before him.

While plain, it left little to the imagination. Large breasts that he remembered jiggled just a tad when she laughed, a slight softness to her belly which attributed to the fullness of her hips and love handles that he wanted to feel under his hands so badly. She turned her back to him, giving him a full view of the black geometric spider logo that he didn't see before. His eyes traced the path of the lower spider legs which stopped just above the small of her back before wandering to the roundness of her bottom, all the way down to her thick thighs and sculpted calves.

When did he turn into such a pervert?

A few minutes ago he supposed, or maybe he'd always been one and never realized until now.

"So, why is a good-looking guy such as yourself robbing banks?" She questioned as she picked up the bag, pulling him out of his trance. 

“Ah well... It's kind of a long story.” He answered with a hint of sheepishness, already assuming that she would be uninterested in hearing his story.

“If you give me a minute to return this, you can tell me all about it.” 

Shocked at her response he gawked at her, searching her face for any evidence of dishonesty. He found none. 

“You want to know more about me?” He spoke evenly and almost uncertainly, afraid that he had misheard her.

The bag of money was slung over her shoulder. “Of course! One thing you'll learn about me dear, is that I mean what I say.”

She shot him a wink before she walked over to the edge of the rooftop. “Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone.”

Before he could formulate a retort she was already leaping into the air, shooting out a web and swinging off in the direction of the bank, leaving him alone with his thoughts. 

Jonathan sat there, still reeling from the emotions that coursed through him. He wasn't used to feeling so much at once, yet in just a matter of a few minutes he experienced panic, confusion, and nervousness. To top it all off he had become utterly enraptured by the Spider-Woman of this world. 

It had been so long since he harbored any romantic, let alone sexual, feelings towards anyone that he had forgotten he was capable of it. Hell, the last person he had a crush on was his physics lab partner, Liz, during his sophomore year of college, but nothing came of it. 

He was too hesitant to confess back then, 'what ifs' plaguing his already anxiety-ridden brain at every moment until the semester was finished and she moved back home. That had been thirteen years ago. In that time he was so focused on his academics and career at Alchemax to even bother with dating, then the collider exploded and well...

There was no way that someone could fall for him when he looked like this. 

Yet...

No, that was just wishful thinking. Harmless flirting that held no real weight, that’s all it was… A lot of harmless flirting.

So much, in fact, that it left him wondering about the 'what ifs'. What if she was truly being honest and meant every word, every compliment she had given him? What if they got to know each other and she took him as he currently was, spots and all? What if he took her out on dates and decided he wanted her to himself after she laughed at all his jokes? What if they fell in love and he woke up beside her every morning, laying in his arms with a content smile on her face?

Even though there was a small possibility that he was reading too much into it, he accepted the fact that he wanted all of that and more. Anything she'd be willing to give, he would gladly receive and return twofold. 

Shit, he was in trouble…

A blur of gray and red swung into view before she landed in front of him with a soft thud.

"Now that that's taken care of, what say I get that webbing off you?”

Oh, that's right. He couldn't stand; not that he wanted to since he was already weak in the knees from her advances even in his current sitting position, but because of the webbing still sprawled across his thighs. 

“What makes you think I can't get out of it myself?” He found himself asking her. 

Even with the mask on he could make out the broad smile that decorated her lips. “I'm sure you're more than capable of doing a lot of things.”

Her voice was sultry, the hidden innuendo laced in her honey-dripped words not lost on him. A small part in the back of his mind wanted to show her exactly what he was capable of despite his lack of experience, but that did nothing to deter him from the desire pooling in his stomach. 

After all, he always learned best through trial and error and the list of things he wanted to participate in with the woman before him only grew by the second.

And he had a feeling that she wouldn’t mind guiding him though it all.

“Maybe I could show you sometime — My skills, that is... Only if you want to though...”

She regarded him silently for a beat as he began fiddling with his fingers. He could swear that her gaze followed the movements of his long, dexterous digits but it was hard to tell through the darkness of her lenses.

A huff of amusement escaped her throat. “Careful, I might just take you up on that offer.”

God, he hoped she would. 

She walked towards him and crouched down to his eye level. 

“Promise you'll be good for me?”

His breath hitched as he felt the spot on his face shift and expand across his heated cheekbones. A million scenarios played through his head — the majority of them involving him tied up in her webs in various positions while she brought him to the edge of pleasure multiple times, turning him into an incoherent mess, desperately pleading for release through husky declarations of 'I'll be good, I'll be your good boy'.

He forced himself to push those fantasies aside for later and tried to form some level of an intelligible response, but quickly realized he was unable to do so. Instead, he nodded fervently, practically giving himself whiplash in the process.

With quick precision, she ripped at the webbing that held him in place. He could have sworn he felt her fingers brush lightly against his thigh as she properly freed him from his confines. 

“Ah, thank you.” 

“Anytime.”

One simple word that carried so much weight.

He crossed his legs and settled into a more comfortable position as she sat down beside him, knee only a few inches from his own. 

“Now, I believe you were going to tell me your story.”

A small seed of doubt was still planted in his mind. “You were serious about that?”

“Of course. Like I said hun, I mean what I say.” She reassured him with a gentle tone. “You have my undivided attention.”

What little apprehension he felt melted away. Since the accident, people tended to avoid him, taking one look at his pale white skin adorned with many black spots and giving him a wide berth. Even the people who once cared about him casted him aside for his unnatural appearance. 

Yet here this woman was, changing all of that and making him feel... Like...

He was normal...

She treated him like a normal person.

And that was something Jonathan appreciated deeply. 

"I was a scientist at Alchemax, a research facility that was employed to create a device that could bridge the gap between dimensions…"

Jonathan told her everything: his involvement in the project, the series of events which led to his current condition, his plan to build a similar machine to change him back, the way he used his newfound abilities to travel to this universe. 

Throughout his retelling she remained silent besides the occasional question, nodding intermittently to show that she was listening. He didn't fail to notice the way her expression changed to one of concern when he spoke of Peter Parker's death and the bitterness he still held towards the new Spider-Man of his dimension. It's not that he blamed the kid. He knew that it wasn't his fault. However that didn't mean he wasn't upset with his current situation, and the kid did nothing but exacerbate his problems. 

He just wished he had evacuated like the rest of his coworkers instead of following Olivia's orders to make sure nothing happened to the vial of dark matter used to power the Super-Collider.

However there was nothing he could do about that now except fix the mess he got himself into. 

“...And so here I am.” 

“That's one hell of a story.” She mused. “It definitely explains a lot of things, like why you have so many spots.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I know my appearance is a little off-putting...”

“Not to me.” One of her hands came to rest on his knee. “I think you look beautiful. Your spots remind of those rorschach paintings, abstract yet each blot can be interpreted in many ways.”

Heat crept up his neck as he considered her words. The scientist in him had been slowly formulating a hypothesis since she first called him 'handsome', and he was finally ready to test it. 

“Humor me then — what do you see when you look at the spot on my face?”

She hummed out loud before leaning in, taking the time to examine him closely.

There was no way she was seriously entertaining this, yet even through the mask, he could feel the weight of her gaze fixated on the inky, floating spot that sat on his face. 

What felt like several hours passed, though in reality, it was probably only a minute. His nerves started to get the better of him as he became acutely aware that the hand on his knee had moved upwards and was now resting on his thigh. It was growing increasingly harder for him to breathe, not just because of his lack of nose or mouth, but because her fingers were dangerously close to the edge of one of his holes, almost touching a part of himself that he still struggled to accept.

He let out a nervous chuckle and looked away from her. “Nevermind, forget I said anything.”

“Hold on—”

“It was silly and—”

Warm hands came to cup both of his cheeks, gently turning his head back to her. She was on her knees in front of him now, sitting on her calves so that she wouldn't topple onto him. 

“I wasn't done looking.”

His heart hammered in his chest as he allowed her to continue searching the vantablack spot for something he was certain wasn't there. If it wasn't for the tension permeating the air between them, he would have thought she was pulling his leg. Instead he could feel the genuine contemplation that rolled off of her in waves, making him feel vulnerable under her stare, like she was able to see the deepest facets of his soul.

“I see a man who is intelligent and humble. Someone who is understanding and mature to a fault. Even though I caught you in the middle of robbing a bank, I can tell that deep down you're not really a bad guy.”

He didn't quite understand why her words were affecting him so intensely until it dawned on him. 

She was speaking out loud.

“I know it sounds crazy since we just met but I feel drawn to you, like there's some kind of magnetic force pulling me towards you and I think you feel it too. Earlier, when you were talking about the Super-Collider, I didn't want you to stop. There was this deep, innate need to know you better and it's still there. I want to know what makes you smile, your favorite movies, how you take your coffee, your most cherished memories, even the parts of yourself that you think aren't good enough for others to know. I want to know everything about you, spots and all...”

The spot on his face widened in shock at her confession. She was right though, he also felt that force pulling him towards her, like gravity. Maybe there was a chance...

He was unable to find the words to properly convey the plethora of emotions that coursed through him, fully intent on admitting that he wanted the same, to know her completely. 

Unfortunately, his brain clearly didn't get the memo. 

“You could speak this whole time?”

Embarrassment gripped his body as he mentally chastised himself. Of all the things he could have said, that was what came out?

He wanted to open up a portal beneath him so he could teleport away in shame, however he stopped himself from doing so once he heard her laughing out loud.

“Sorry.” She took the time to move her thumbs lightly across his cheeks in a back and forth motion before letting go of his face. “I wasn't trying to be misleading in any way. It's just easier for me to use my powers to communicate, especially when I'm having a low spoons day or meeting new people.”

He was already missing the warmth of her touch, wanting nothing more than to be wrapped up in her embrace. 

“No need to apologize, I understand.”

“I—”

A series of beeps cut her off before she could get another word out. “Oop, hold on.”

She fiddled with her tech-gauntlet, a small silver and black band that he hadn’t noticed before, and let out a sigh as she took in the words displayed on the small, orange holographic screen. “Shit. Sorry to ruin this wholesome moment, but I'm needed elsewhere.”

Despite her hole pun sparking a hint of joy in him, Jonathan’s heart sank at the idea of her leaving. He knew it was foolish though. She was a superhero who had more important matters to take care of. She had no time to appease his selfish wishes.

That didn't mean he could will them away with a simple command. He didn't want her to leave, plain and simple. 

She stood up and sent off a quick message on her device before observing him with an almost critical eye. “But first I need to figure out what to do with you.”

Anything. She could do anything and he would thank her until his dying breath.

“Because technically I'm supposed to report you in, especially with the types of powers you have…”

Except that. 

He didn't know what kind of report it would be, or what it would entail, but he wasn't very keen on finding out. 

Scrambling to his feet, he held his hands up defensively. “Please don't, there's no need for that. I— I'm just a guy, no real danger here. I would never hurt anyone! In fact, one time I accidentally killed a housefly and I cried for a solid hour and I don't know why I'm telling you this but it's true. I promise I'll—”

“Woah, chill.” She interjected, voice hushed in an effort to calm him. “I said I'm supposed to, but I won't, okay?”

“Why not...?” He asked gingerly as he felt the spot on his face contract. 

“Well believe it or not, I do like you.” 

Oh...

Oh...

“Plus, Miguel is an asshole and I'd rather drink bleach than deal with him in any capacity.”

He didn't know who this 'Miguel' guy was but if she said he was an asshole, then he'd take her word for it. 

“Thank you.”

She smiled under her mask. “Of course, but you have to promise me no more crime.”

“I promise.” He placed a hand on his chest. 

Closing the distance between them, she held out her pinky finger to him. He was immediately distracted by how short she was compared to him. She had to be a foot shorter than him, something that he found adorable. Jonathan stared down at her pinky finger for a few seconds until he understood what she wanted from him, interlocking his pinky with hers, finding the gesture endearing yet oddly familiar. 

“There.” She said with an air of finality. “A pinky promise is legally binding, so no take-backs.”

“Wouldn't dream of it.”

Another string of beeps sounded from her tech-gauntlet and she cursed out loud. 

“Well, duty calls.” Bit by bit she dragged her pinky against his until their fingertips became the only point of contact. There was a moment of hesitation, an urge to just remain, but it passed all too soon as their fingertips glided apart.

She strode over to the edge of the rooftop, sparing him one last glance over her shoulder. 

“I’ll see you around, sweetheart.”

And with that she was gone, leaping off the building and throwing out a web, using the momentum to swing through the air with practiced ease. He kept his gaze trained on her retreating form until she disappeared around a building.

While he already missed her presence, Jonathan tried not to let that bother him. Besides, he had a feeling he would be seeing her again real soon.

[cyanophore-fiction]

Packmates

cw: trauma, grief, loss of family. 

The Grove was Rau’s construct, and they kept it on a hard drive apart from By Candlelight’s ship network. 

There was a compartment for what little clothing they owned. Beneath colorful silks from home and the electronic countermeasure skinsuit that they needed from time to time, the drive was stashed with a short neural-interface cable and a bottle of mild sleep medication. The drive was armored in a radiation-hardened case and equipped with an intrusion countermeasures package. Not that it really needed either of those, but Rau felt strongly that those components should be invested in such a precious thing. 

There were still nights when Rau needed it. When they could feel the panic squirming behind their eyes, making their teeth clench and their breath come in pathetic gasps, when their feathers stood on end and became a shrill haze around their body. When they couldn’t stand it anymore, they fed themself the pills and connected to the drive and forced themself down into frenzied sleep. 

Mostly, it happened when Hunter was gone or synched up to another day/night cycle, leaving Rau to sleep alone. More often than not, it was a tiny inconvenience. Uncomfortable, like sleeping on the floor, but Rau was getting used to it. Luxury wasn’t an expectation aboard the team’s little gunship. Sometimes, Mickey would offer her company, but Rau didn’t have the nerve to ask if she didn’t make the offer first. There was also Ha-yun, but Rau didn’t want to ask her either, and she had never offered. 

The last thing Rau wanted to do was to burden their packmates, even if they really couldn’t view Rau as a packmate in return—and Terran boundaries were easy to cross by mistake. If two Terrans slept together, Rau had learned, it was perceived in most of their cultures to be a mark of a romantic relationship. Synonymous, even. In that light, Rau really didn’t want to push it. Terrans just needed their space, and that wasn’t going to change. 

For whatever reason, though, Hunter didn’t seem to have an issue sharing a bed. Rau hadn’t thought to ask him why that was. Maybe he didn’t like being alone either, or maybe he didn’t come from a culture where it might be a source of embarrassment. Maybe he did, and he just didn’t give a damn, and anyone who questioned it could go find the nearest airlock. That would be a very Hunter-like way of looking at things. 

But Hunter wasn’t around for the moment. He was off patrolling the space around the civilian freighter that Candlelight had as an escort client, using his fighter’s active sensor bubble to ward off attackers. Mickey had the cockpit of Candlelight while Rau and Ha-yun took a rest shift. As the ship closed the last few days toward the Jupiter system, attacks from short-range pirate craft would be more likely, so they had taken to keeping two people at the ready. One patrolling, one keeping watch aboard Candlelight. With the threat of combat so close at hand, there was a lump of tension lodged in Rau’s gut. 

They tried running drone sims for a bit, as though confronting an imaginary enemy in the ship’s softspace would help keep the real thing at bay. As they guided their trio of drones through the drills, immersing themself in the parallel streams of audio-encoded information from each one, there was a measure of relief, if only in the form of momentary distraction. 

Imaginary ships broke apart under Rau’s fire, but they felt no satisfaction. Their anxiety began to creep back in. Eventually, they shut down the program and lay silent on their bunk instead, staring at the ceiling as they extracted the cable from the neural port at the nape of their neck. In the absence of a point of focus to drive it away, their anxiety bloomed into panic, shortening their breaths to quick gasps and tightening their chest. They didn’t feel like waiting for the breaking point that night, so they reached for their pills and the drive containing the Grove instead. 

Down they slipped, into a neurally-augmented dream. In the dream, Rau was resting on soft grass, with a warm, fragrant breeze flowing through their feathers. Familiar trees swayed overhead, laden with melons that radiated white bioluminescence into the night. 

Volu, Ralk, and Dao were resting with Rau. Their limbs were tangled, chests rising and falling with their synchronized breathing beneath a brightly-colored silk blanket. 

Ralk opened one eye slightly and grinned. He reached out and flicked Rau’s upper left ear, hitting the scar hidden beneath their feathers. Rau remembered—only Ralk would have known the scar was even there. It was made by his claws, back when the two of them were only hatchlings. They’d fought over a plastic model of a gunship, tripped and fallen over a table, tumbled to the ground. When Ralk got up, there was blood dripping from his nails, and Rau had screamed. The two of them had joked about it ever since. When Rau had their old body replaced with a prosthetic one, they insisted that the surgeons replicate that scar. 

Volu had her chin resting on Rau’s shoulder, cheek pressed to theirs, the same way she had when they were young and her first partner had left her after a few weeks. The pack had gathered around her and generated increasingly creative insults about her ex-partner. Made it into a game: anyone who managed to draw a giggle out of her between sobs scored a point. Ralk won. 

Dao was lounging across the three others, using them as a mattress. Hands laced behind her head, Queen of the Universe, her faux arrogance a running skit started by an incident that each of them recounted slightly differently. Rau’s version was the least scathing, but probably only because they wanted to remember her fondly. 

This was the limit of the simulation. Rau could see them, feel the warmth and the texture of their plumage, hear the distinct flavor of each packmate’s voice as they breathed and muttered in their sleep. Each one of them looked, felt, and sounded exactly as they had, but they wouldn’t wake up.

In long, frenzied stretches of desperation, Rau had tried recreating them as virtual simulacra. They were too perfect. Never needed Rau or asked for anything, just took care of them with their idealized personalities and motions and scripted words. A desecration of their memory. 

So, Rau deleted most of their behavior coding, but kept their images and put them into a sleep routine that would loop until the program was shut down. When they needed to, Rau came to join them. 

They knew better than to stay for too long. 

____

Thanks to @flashfictionfridayofficial for the prompt, “An Old Friend,” and thank you for reading. 

Exploring a character of mine from a WIP called Vargheist. Some context: Rau is an Avali, a species from an old Starbound mod that I’ve liked for a long time. In lore, Avali are extremely communal, forming nomadic packs which remain together from hatching to the end of their lives. They’re hardly ever apart. Each pack has unique social cues and such an intricate understanding of one another that they can communicate ideas almost instantly, facilitating seamless cooperation. 

After losing their pack, stranded in a distant system with no access to the expensive faster-than-light travel needed to return home, Rau fell in with a group of Terrans. The crew of By Candlelight are tight-knit, but they’re no replacement.

[workshopq1]

The Art of Upcycling: E‑Waste Sculpture Installations ♻️

In an age where technology evolves at breakneck speed, e‑waste—discarded electronics like old phones, computer parts, and wires—has become a global challenge. But rather than fading into toxic landfills, this discarded material is finding new life in the hands of visionary artists.

Why E‑Waste Art Matters

Environmental impact: Electronic waste contains hazardous heavy metals like lead and mercury. When artistically repurposed instead of dumped, these materials are diverted from polluting soil and waterways.

Creative reuse: Artists worldwide are transforming motherboards, cables, screens, and other components into breathtaking sculptures, jewelry, mural pieces, and installations.

Raising awareness: Through visual storytelling, these artworks spotlight consumption culture and the hidden environmental costs of our digital lives.

Inspiring Examples Around the World

🇮🇳 Indian Innovators

Haribaabu “Hari” Naatesan (Mumbai): Since 1999, Hari has created massive art installations like a life‑size Volkswagen Beetle and flamingo figures from discarded e‑waste, giving hundreds of tonnes a second lease of life.

Vishwanath Davangere Mallabadi: Crafts intricate sculptures and installations from computer parts and mobile phones, blending beauty with environmental messaging.

🌍 Global Artivists

Benjamin Von Wong: Collaborated with Dell on large-scale sculptures composed of over 4,100 pounds of electronics to emphasize e‑waste’s physical weight.

Katherine Behar: Her USB‑based installation presents a dystopian future where devices outlive humans—prompting viewers to confront techno-waste as an ecological legacy.

El Anatsui: Known for shimmering “bottle-top” fabrics, he inspires with his use of recycled metal—proof that industrial waste can become poetic art.

Bordalo II: His dramatic animals sculpted from bric‑a‑brac—tyres, plastic, scraps—powerfully depict nature overwhelmed by consumer waste.

How to Create or Experience E‑Waste Art

StepWhat You Can Do1. Host a WorkshopGather old keyboards, cables, circuit boards from community or school — create collaborative artworks with educational themes.2. Visit ExhibitionsLook out for sustainability or design festivals—they often showcase large-scale installations using e‑waste.3. Start SimpleTurn old keyboards into frames or small sculptures; copper wires become decorative elements; fans and screens can be reimagined as functional art pieces.

Benefits Beyond Beauty

Educational value: E‑waste art sparks curiosity and conversation, prompting viewers to rethink tech consumption habits.

Circular economy: By turning waste into art, creators literally close the loop—materials are reused, transformed, and reinterpreted.

Emotional resonance: These works are conversation starters more impactful than stats and charts—they tap into our emotions and values.

Join the Sustainable Art Movement

Ready to explore? Begin with your own stash of e‑waste. Start small—a mosaic of keyboards or a lamp made from cables—then grow into community projects or public displays. Let creativity be your guide toward sustainability.

For hands-on tutorials, inspirational case studies, or collaboration opportunities, check out Workshop Q—a hub for eco-creative makers like you.

By turning tomorrow’s trash into today’s art, e‑waste artists provoke, educate, and inspire sustainable futures—one motherboard at a time.

Transform waste into wonder. Visit Workshop Q to start your journey.

[hifiracksonline]

Are AV media stands only suitable for large entertainment systems?

AV media stands are not just functional pieces of furniture; they are integral components of modern home entertainment setups that combine style, technology, and practicality. As the focal point of many living rooms, AV media stands to play a crucial role in organizing and showcasing multimedia equipment while also adding a touch of sophistication to the space. In this article, we delve into the latest trends shaping the world of home entertainment furniture, exploring innovative designs, eco-friendly materials, customization options, and the future of AV media stands in the ever-evolving landscape of home entertainment. # 1. Introduction to AV Media Stands Let’s face it, a good AV media stand is the unsung hero of your living room setup. It’s not just a place to plop down your TV and various electronic gadgets, but a stylish piece of furniture that ties the room together. Home entertainment furniture has come a long way from clunky cabinets to sleek, functional stands designed to elevate your viewing experience. # 2. Sleek and Modern Designs In the world of AV media stands sleek and modern reign supreme. Think clean lines, minimal fuss, and a touch of sophistication that screams “I’ve got my life together”. Minimalist aesthetics are all the rage, offering a simple yet elegant look that complements any decor. For those who like an edgier vibe, industrial-inspired styles bring a touch of urban cool to your entertainment setup. # 3. Multi-functional and Space-Saving Solutions Living in a small space? Fear not, AV media stands have got your back. With hidden storage compartments, you can stash away all your clutter and keep your living room looking Pinterest-worthy. Adjustable shelves and components ensure that your stand can accommodate all your gizmos and gadgets without sweat. # 4. Integration of Technology Features Gone are the days of tangled cords and messy charging stations. Today’s AV media stands are all about convenience and connectivity. Built-in charging stations keep your devices juiced up and ready to go, while wireless connectivity options mean you can say goodbye to cable spaghetti. It’s technology and style coming together in perfect harmony.

5. Sustainable Materials and Eco-Friendly Designs

Bamboo and Reclaimed Wood Options In a world where sustainability is the new black, bamboo and reclaimed wood options are the darlings of AV media stands. Not only are they eco-friendly choices, but they also bring a touch of natural beauty into your living space.

Low-VOC Finishes Who said furniture can't be environmentally conscious? Low-VOC finishes are all the rage, ensuring your AV media stand looks good while also being kind to the planet. It's a win-win for both style and sustainability.

6. Customization and Personalization Options

Customizable Configurations Why settle for a cookie-cutter design when you can have it your way? Customizable configurations let you tailor your AV media stand to fit your space and style perfectly. It's like the IKEA of home entertainment furniture but without the confusing assembly instructions. Personalized Engraving or Embellishments Make your AV media stand as unique as you are with personalized engraving or embellishments. Whether it's a family crest, a meaningful quote, or just your initials, adding a personal touch takes your home entertainment setup to the next level.

7. Trendy Colors and Finishes

Matte Black and Dark Walnut Finishes Matte black and dark walnut finishes are the new black when it comes to AV media stands. These sophisticated colors exude a modern and sleek vibe, making your entertainment center a statement piece in any room. Soft Pastels and Metallic Accents Bring some flair to your home entertainment setup with soft pastels and metallic accents. Whether you're into a calming blush pink or a bold gold accent, these trendy colors and finishes add a touch of personality to your AV media stand. 8. Future Trends and Innovations in Home Entertainment Furniture

Smart Home Integration Welcome to the future, where your AV media stand is not just a piece of furniture but a tech-savvy companion. Smart home integration allows you to control your entertainment system with just a voice command or a tap on your smartphone. It's like living in a sci-fi movie but without the aliens. Augmented Reality Shopping Experiences Who needs to visit a store when you can virtually try out different AV media stands in your living room? Augmented reality shopping experiences let you see how different designs, colors, and sizes look in your space before making a purchase. It's like having a personal interior designer at your fingertips, minus the hefty consulting fees. In conclusion, the realm of AV media continues to evolve, offering consumers a diverse range of options to suit their individual preferences and lifestyle needs. From sleek and modern designs to eco-friendly materials and customizable features, the trends in home entertainment furniture reflect a harmonious blend of functionality and aesthetics. As technology advances and design trends shift, one thing remains constant - the AV media stand serves as a stylish and functional centerpiece for the ultimate home entertainment experience.

[strangestitemsfoundinrubbish]

The Top 10 Strangest Items Found During Rubbish Removal in Perth

Perth has encountered its fair share of oddities discarded across the city. Whether unearthed during local rubbish removal efforts or municipal waste management operations, these peculiar discoveries highlight the community's vital role in keeping our environment clean. Here are ten of the most unusual items removed as rubbish in Perth, each with its own intriguing backstory.

1. Vintage Bathtub Unearthed at a Beach Cleanup

During a coastal cleanup organized by Keep Australia Beautiful WA, volunteers were astonished to find a full-sized, claw-footed antique bathtub abandoned near the shoreline. Partially buried in sand and likely decades old, the tub required considerable effort from several volunteers to excavate and transport. The discovery raised questions about how such a heavy item ended up on the beach—was it discarded after a home renovation or part of an unfinished art project? Regardless, it underscored the dedication of volunteers committed to keeping our beaches pristine.

2. Life-Sized Teddy Bear Found in the Bush

In the outskirts of Perth, community volunteers stumbled upon a human-sized teddy bear hidden among leaves and branches in the bushland. Weathered and faded from exposure, the oversized toy was difficult to remove due to its bulk. The volunteers speculated about its origin—perhaps it was left behind after an event or discarded as a prank. The find became a talking point among the team and highlighted the need for responsible disposal of large items, which can negatively impact local wildlife.

3. Remnants of an Illegal Meth Lab

One of the more hazardous discoveries during cleanup operations involved equipment from an illegal methamphetamine lab. Found in an isolated bushland area, the stash included glass beakers, rubber tubing, and chemical-covered barrels. Recognizing the danger, volunteers promptly reported the items to authorities for safe removal. This incident emphasizes the importance of caution during community cleanups, as discarded drug paraphernalia poses risks to both humans and the environment.

4. Assorted Car Parts Scattered Across an Area

While litter pickups typically involve smaller items, one event took an unexpected turn when volunteers found numerous discarded car parts. Doors, tires, bumpers, and even a steering wheel were spread over a large area, resembling a scene from a post-apocalyptic film. It's believed these parts came from illegal car dismantling operations where stolen vehicles are stripped, and unwanted components are dumped. Such illegal dumping harms the environment and poses risks to residents and wildlife.

5. An Abandoned Fortune-Telling Booth

Volunteers were puzzled to find an entire fortune-telling booth left in an open field. Complete with a glass front and original props like faded tarot cards and a dusty crystal ball, the booth appeared in relatively good condition. The mysterious find raised questions about its past—perhaps it was left behind after a fair or festival. While intriguing, discarding such a large structure irresponsibly adds strain to waste removal services.

6. Deflated Inflatable Bouncy Castle Near the Swan River

One of the largest items found was a deflated bouncy castle abandoned near the Swan River. Even when deflated, it measured several meters across and required heavy-duty equipment for removal. Likely left after a party or event, the improper disposal of such large inflatables poses environmental risks, including harm to plant life and obstruction of waterways. This incident highlights the need for stricter guidelines on disposing of event equipment.

7. Vintage Arcade Machines Discarded as Waste

In an industrial area outside Perth, volunteers came across several old arcade machines. Though largely broken with shattered screens and exposed wiring, the machines still contained electronic components that could release harmful chemicals into the soil if not properly disposed of. While some volunteers reminisced about playing similar games in their youth, there was concern over the environmental impact of improperly discarded electronic waste, which requires specialist handling.

8. A Collection of Mannequins in the Bushland

Deep within the bushland, a group of volunteers found a bizarre collection of mannequins. Some were dressed in torn clothing, others missing limbs, creating an eerie atmosphere. Likely abandoned after an art project or as a prank, these items not only contribute to litter but can also disturb wildlife, who may perceive them as threats or obstacles.

9. Cement-Filled Toilet Bowl

One of the most perplexing finds was a toilet bowl filled with hardened cement, dumped at the edge of a recreational area. Presumably discarded during a renovation, the cement-filled fixture was extremely heavy and required multiple people to move. This incident highlights the lengths some will go to avoid proper disposal procedures, burdening community resources tasked with cleanup efforts.

10. Unopened Boxes of Expired Medical Supplies

During a cleanup near a remote area, volunteers uncovered several unopened boxes of expired medical supplies, including syringes, bandages, and antiseptic wipes. This posed a serious health risk, as medical waste requires specific handling to prevent contamination and injury. Specialists were called in for safe disposal, serving as a stark reminder of the potential dangers faced by volunteers and the need for better regulation around medical waste disposal.

The Importance of Responsible Waste Disposal

These unusual and often hazardous finds highlight the critical role of responsible rubbish removal in Perth and community involvement in keeping the environment clean. From abandoned bathtubs to discarded drug equipment, the variety of rubbish serves as a reminder of the environmental impact of irresponsible behavior. Professional rubbish removal services play a crucial role in mitigating this impact, but ultimately, reducing such incidents relies on individuals making responsible choices about how they dispose of their waste.

[caffsy]

FFXIV Write #25 – Perpetuity

With the recessed ceiling lights shining bright, it was a lot less grim to navigate the enormous facility than it had been before she had found the security console before. Yusi needed to take notes on everything she could see – the metalwork bindings, the detail of the lighting, the shapes and various patterns of the engravings.

Any single one of these details, if the components within machinery were understood or the geological-looking patterns turned out to be more than just aesthetically designed, could further the understanding of her people. The problems therein were twofold – Yusi’s own lack of understanding, for how could one seek to understand the masterpieces of those who came earlier if they were only journeymen in the current field of knowing. The secondary issue was just how remote Sector Phi was – it was at least a week’s travel north to the closest civilisation and the aether-starved atmosphere would likely make ruin of any artefacts that were brought back.

That this building had stood, even dormant, for such a long time proved testament to the sheer difference in knowledge of civilisations. On the one hand, the grand empire of Allag which had spanned continents, and the other held pitifully small Kha tribe, which could be walked edge-to-edge within a bell. To really face – to be within a part of – the insurmountable wall of knowing itself was enough to drive a person to despair, but Yusi chose not to.

She had parchment, ink, and a quill stashed somewhere within her backpack and would note down everything she could. Maybe it would have been more convenient if she had brought a codex – a piece of technology that could record text and speech to be displayed or played back – but such things were all being used to store the clan’s archives and purchasing more would come at an extortionate price.

The very thought was crossing her mind as a familiar sight, similar to the security room wherein Yusi had caused the flood which had wiped out most of Sector Phi. Only the dangerous stuff, she hoped. It was a room enshrouded in darkness and a cold that instantly piqued her interest. She meandered in, adding its details to the little song she was using as a memory aid, and stumbled across another console. With the light from outside, she could read the text on the panels but it all seemed garbled eorzean – like someone had taken the same letters but ascribed different sounds to them. She might have been able to figure out the code, but she found something far more noteworthy.

A codex had been left on the desk, precisely the same as the ones used within her clan except that a panel on the back, one that normally sat so flush with the construction that nobody – not even Yusi herself – had even noticed it could be removed. Within the panel another familiar object. A tomestone, a small removable stick of electronics that acted as storage within the device.

“These codices contained tomestones all along?” She murmured to herself, and looked around at the darkened room. Her eyes had been acclimatising to the darkness and she could now see within; the racks upon racks of codices which all must have contained a lifetime of knowledge.

Maybe she had a way of bringing back more than written accounts of her journey.

[jansportng]

Best Jansport Backpacks for Carrying Laptops and Gadgets

Welcome to JanSport Nigeria, your one-stop shop for quality hiking backpacks and outdoor bags! JanSport understands the excitement of adventure and the value of strong equipment to support your outdoor activities. Since its beginnings in 1967, JanSport has led the way in developing durable and functional backpacks that fulfill the requirements of tourists, travelers, and adventurers everywhere. JanSport is a well-known brand in the outdoor business, known for its creativity and long-lasting durability, thanks to generations of expertise and dedication to quality. Check our collection of backpacks to find a variety of choices, including tough, durable packs and stylish modern backpacks. Every JanSport product is carefully built to offer comfort and functionality using premium components and thoughtful features. To learn more about the reliability and mobility of the JanSport backpack, visit our website and Join us as we provide Nigerian travelers with the gear necessary to enjoy the outdoors and make lasting impressions. Having a reliable backpack to transport laptops and other gadgets is essential in the digital age, and Jansport has a selection of backpacks that work well in this regard. The best Jansport backpacks for carrying gadgets and laptops are featured below, along with full descriptions. Jansport Right Pack: The Right Pack is a classical solution that combines design and power. This comfortable 15-inch laptop sleeve offers excellent safeguards for your laptop. The top pocket has an organizer to keep tiny devices and accessories in place, and the main storage space holds books and other items. This backpack is built to last, thanks to its useful Cordura material and strong leather material , making it ideal for both professionals and students.

Jansport Big Student Backpack: The Big Student Backpack is great for people who need to carry a lot more than just their gadgets. The exact designed cushion sleeve allows for computers up to 17 inches in size. This bag includes two huge main areas that may carry books, notebooks, and other bulky items. It also includes a front utility pocket with an organizer, a folded front storage pocket, and a water bottle pocket on the side. Students in high school and college might benefit from this bag's flexibility.

Jansport Hatchet Backpack: The practical and attractive Hatchet backpack is perfect for everyday use and city trips. It offers a wide main space, side water bottle pockets, a front utility pocket with an organizer, a padded 15-inch laptop sleeve, and a 28-liter capacity. Strong materials, ergonomic features like totally padded back panel and supported shoulder straps for comfort, and a retro-inspired style that combines present functionality with flair. The JanSport Hatchet bag is perfect for commuters, students, and anybody else who needs a durable and fashionable daypack because of the combination of style and utility. Jansport Cool Student Backpack: The Cool Student Backpack elegantly combines both style and function. Its 600 polyester fabric creation and smooth synthetic leather bottom provide both durability and a stylish appearance. It also includes a padded laptop sleeve that can accommodate up to 15-inch gadgets. This backpack has two large main pockets, a side water bottle pocket, a zipped front stash pocket, and a front utility pocket. This is the perfect backpack for students who want something stylish but useful to hold their electronics and other school essentials. Jansport Odyssey Backpack: The 39-liter Odyssey backpack is a tough and flexible bag suitable for a variety of activities, including everyday travel and outdoor trips. It has been constructed to endure tough situations and frequent use due to its durable fabric and tougher stitching. The backpack has a big main compartment, a padded laptop sleeve for a 15-inch laptop, multiple organizing pockets, and two water bottle pockets for enough storage. Choosing the Right Backpack:

When selecting a Jansport backpack to transport laptops and other gadgets, consider the following advantages:

Laptop Size: Confirm that the backpack's sleeve can accommodate your laptop.

Storage Requirements: To organize your gadgets and accessories, look for different sections.

Comfort: Padded shoulder straps and back panels are essential for transporting large equipment.

Durability: To protect your devices, buy backpacks made of premium materials.

We offers a variety of backpacks that are strong, practical, and stylish.  Whether you're an employee, a student, or a tourist, a backpack that meets your digital transportation needs. Browse over these options to find the best backpack for storing and protecting your digital gadgets while on the go.

[petcort]

Avoid These 8 Items When Considering Storage Solutions

You might not realize that storing scented products can attract pests and create unpleasant odors in your storage unit. When considering what to store, it's crucial to avoid certain items to guarantee the safety and longevity of your belongings. For instance, perishable foods and plants need specific conditions to stay fresh, while hazardous materials and flammable items pose significant risks. 

Electronics can get damaged without the right environment, and important documents and valuables require special care. Let's explore why these eight items should be on your 'do not store' list.

Perishable Foods

Why would you store perishable foods in your pantry when they belong in the refrigerator? Keeping perishable foods like dairy, meats, and certain fruits in the pantry risks spoilage due to improper temperature control.

Refrigerators are designed to maintain low temperatures that slow bacteria growth, preserving your food's freshness and safety. Additionally, storing perishable foods in the pantry can attract pests. Ants, rodents, and other pests are drawn to the scent and can infest your pantry, leading to contamination and waste.

Hazardous Materials

Just as it's important to store perishable foods properly, keeping hazardous materials out of your storage areas is essential for safety. Chemical hazards and toxic substances can pose significant risks if stored incorrectly.

You must avoid putting these dangerous items in your storage spaces:

Paints and solvents: They're flammable and can release harmful fumes.

Pesticides: These contain toxic substances that can be hazardous to health.

Batteries: They can leak corrosive chemicals over time.

Cleaning products: Many are highly reactive and should be stored separately.

Propane tanks: Extremely flammable and should be kept in designated areas.

Electronics

When planning your storage services in NYC, make sure to keep electronics out of long-term storage areas. Electronics are sensitive to environmental changes, making moisture control and temperature regulation vital. Without proper moisture control, condensation can form, leading to rust and potential short-circuiting of your devices.

Temperature fluctuations can also cause components to expand and contract, damaging internal circuits. Instead of stashing your gadgets away in a storage unit, consider keeping them in a climate-controlled area within your home. If space is an issue, invest in specialized containers that provide a stable environment for your electronics.

This will guarantee your devices remain in good working condition and save you from costly repairs or replacements down the road.

Important Documents

In your pursuit of efficient storage solutions, don't overlook the importance of properly storing important documents. These papers can include anything from birth certificates to property deeds, and inadequate storage can lead to irreparable damage.

To guarantee they remain intact, consider using climate control to protect them from humidity and temperature fluctuations. Utilizing archival boxes is another smart move, as they're designed to preserve the integrity of your documents.

Here are some key tips:

Use climate-controlled storage to prevent mold and mildew.

Store documents in archival boxes to avoid acid damage.

Keep documents off the ground to prevent water damage.

Label each box clearly for easy access.

Limit handling to reduce wear and tear.

Valuables

Protecting your valuables during storage demands more than just placing them in a box and hoping for the best. Jewelry storage demands specific considerations to avoid tarnish or damage. Use padded containers and silica gel packs to keep your pieces in pristine condition.

Antique preservation also necessitates special care. Temperature fluctuations and humidity can ruin precious items. Consider climate-controlled storage to guarantee your antiques remain intact. Avoid stacking heavy items on top of fragile pieces, and wrap each item individually in acid-free paper.

Taking these steps will help maintain the value and beauty of your cherished items. Remember, proper storage means you'll find your valuables just as you left them, ready to be enjoyed.

Plants

Storing plants long-term isn't practical because they require light, water, and proper ventilation to thrive. Unlike inanimate objects, plants have specific needs that can't be ignored. Their water requirements and sunlight exposure are essential for their survival, making them unsuitable for storage environments.

Consider these necessities:

Daily or weekly watering

Consistent sunlight exposure

Proper air circulation

Temperature control

Regular pruning and care

Storing plants without meeting these conditions will result in their decline.

Even if you think a dark corner or a storage unit will suffice, the lack of natural light and inconsistent watering will harm them.

Instead, find a suitable living space for your plants where they can receive the care they need to flourish.

Flammable Items

Keeping flammable items in storage is a dangerous practice that risks fires and explosions. You might think it's convenient to stash away paint, gasoline, or cleaning solvents, but doing so creates serious fire hazards. Flammable items can easily ignite from a small spark or even spontaneous chemical reactions. These reactions are unpredictable and can escalate quickly, endangering not just your belongings but also anyone nearby.

Consider the devastating consequences of a fire breaking out in your storage unit. The potential damage far outweighs the convenience of storing these items.

Always prioritize safety by keeping flammable materials in proper, ventilated storage designed for such substances. By doing so, you'll greatly reduce the risk of catastrophic events.

Scented Products

While scented products might seem harmless, they can attract pests and cause unpleasant odors to build up in your storage unit. Fragrance leakage can lead to scent contamination, affecting other stored items. To avoid these issues, steer clear of storing:

Scented candles that can melt and release wax and fragrance.

Air fresheners which can break and spill their contents.

Potpourri that can attract insects and rodents.

Perfume bottles which are prone to leakage and can saturate nearby items.

Scented cleaning supplies that can emit strong odors over time.

Conclusion

When selecting storage solutions, it's important to avoid perishable foods, hazardous materials, electronics, important documents, valuables, plants, flammable items, and scented products. These items can spoil, become dangerous, or attract pests, making storage a hassle rather than a convenience.

Always prioritize safety and preservation to guarantee your belongings stay in top condition. Remember, a little preparation goes a long way in avoiding potential problems down the road.

Happy storing!

[the-firebird69]

‘I’m not allowed to speak’: Trump complains about gag order | CNN Politics

Poor for Trump he has no constitutional rights not really what they're saying and it's inappropriate for what's actually happening and what you should say a civil liberties and civil rights. Did you have rights per the justice system and people should be treated an affair way but it's not really the Constitution and what do you referencing okay goes back to the justice system which was following a procedure that is pretty fair and impartial by anyone standard in other countries beautiful ❤️ you would be hung and set on fire years ago regardless of your power your people will take over. This phone brat and trying to shut down court case down he's not a constitutional right s didn't remember as much no. What we said was you didn't reference anything and you're blaming like a mental patient.

It's finally happening a little bit of revenge for what you're doing

Hera

And yeah he's blabbing right now and he can't get it he means that the proceedings are unconstitutional but his bribery and electron fraud violates the Constitution and it says it in the Constitution that no man be paid or influenced to vote for someone but threat or the influence by someone my threat or primary with regards to an election. We strongly suspect that Trump was sending people's bodies to him I don't have proof and to Tommy Allen

No I know we know too and Freya it was battling no he was blabbing and incoherently at the end of the statement and is a low life a low level guy and I see that's what he's doing and it's still trying to do it and the max are not trying to push him out too hard when they're trying to get stuff to our son and see who it is and they're saying that he's fighting the guy and his slanders everybody very badly it's moving on to this they think that the clans fit the fleet and Trump has been known to be helping them

And there's a lot of other things happening and it's going very badly for them they're stashes and cashes in the parks are being attacked and looted at the rate of about 2% an hour they're going to be empty in a few days and the cities to a little bit faster three to four percent depending where an hour and yeah they're going to be looted in just a matter of days he will be out of ammunition and ordinance and he'll start to try and grab it and he will be killed over and over the movies begin and the sack of crap gets kicked out and he gets kicked out at the point where the pseudo empire has taken it up over and he said to Ben there really are a lot of moving components and big armies to be concerned about but really the empire doesn't like these guys and they don't like what they're doing and they're not running any plan then they can parallel it's just a piece of poop where the screaming and yelling at people to go hit them so he says it should be a little easier and they start doing it it was and the empire is getting attacked anyways cuz they're going to Yelp the whole time so your smiles and tells Mac and it says okay this is them doing it and they're trying and the max are trying but these guys are huge huge rats.

There's some other developments

-there's some jokes going around and our son has found a new muscle on his body in the laughing and they said which one and where it got serious and all the girls are looking and flipping out and saying he's becoming the whole the hulk you said everybody's standing back this could take years. Visit how do you know we're looking at there's a big hub of and all over the place so it's stood back it says I'm starting to turn into the hulk this is the beginning of the 2-year process they're giving us space they think you might do it too and he is done in laughing and it was a ken and he said I won't be misrepresented I'm not really that big but I'm pretty big it's kind of hot like it's hulk like so they started saying it too he's avoiding the question so the ladies are after him and they're after our son and he is getting a little bit bigger his fat is disappearing and his belly is shrinking a teeny bit it's not much okay and he says it's just like starship troopers somebody messed up and f***** up here and I started to laugh and I said we're not that lady I said it's really observant this guy so Hera said no he's not observing it's not it's not really observant. And the announcement is such. He's grown a teeny teeny bit and some places and his checking and it says know this is part of my tricep and it's from riding the bike but it wasn't recovering and now it's recovering a little and it's the exact area that his brother said was really small on the exact arm the other one is going a little slower and he might be a little bit bigger if you measured it in the right place so he wants to check it but we're going to give you an update in a moment

Thor Freya

Olympus

Zeus

So my husband said to Trump a lot of my worried about this AI stuff and they don't think that you should be able to move the robots and stuff but they're standing at the ready or something

Hera

[fstonefood]

6 Things To Take Into Consideration Prior To Putting Up Cctv Cameras In The Home

Mounting CCTV cameras in your home can easily provide an incorporated level of surveillance and also peace of mind. Nonetheless, prior to you acquire a security body, there are many variables to look at to guarantee you create the appropriate option for your home as well as requirements. Within this article, we will definitely discuss six important things to look at prior to setting up CCTV cameras in the house. Coming from comprehending the local rules as well as regulations to finding out the perfect camera positioning and attributes, this manual will aid you create notified selections that will boost the safety and security of your home. Thus, if you prepare to take your home surveillance to the next degree, keep reading through!

Listed below are actually 6 vital points to contemplate before mounting CCTV electronic cameras in the home:

Legal as well as Ethical Considerations

Prior to putting in CCTV cams, it is actually vital to comprehend and also follow local area regulations as well as regulations relating to security. Privacy regulations differ coming from area to location, and also you need to make certain that your camera placement and also surveillance tasks adhere to these legal suggestions. Appreciation your next-door neighbors' personal privacy and also be transparent concerning your intentions to avoid any kind of legal problems.

Reason of Installment

Precisely define the purpose of Security Camera Installation at your home. Are you mostly interested in preventing potential burglars, keeping an eye on the perimeter, or watching on particular locations? Comprehending your purposes are going to aid you identify the lot of video cameras needed to have, their optimum placement, and also the components called for. This clearness will guarantee that you buy an unit that straightens along with your protection targets.

Camera Placement

Strategic camera placement is actually key to the performance of your CCTV device. Recognize the susceptible points around your property, including doorways, home windows, and unseen areas. Think about the field of viewpoint each camera offers as well as guarantee there are no obstacles. Additionally, positioning cameras at eye level may assist in very clear identification if required. Appropriate positioning not merely improves safety and security but likewise lessens the threat of misusage or even unnecessary monitoring.

Camera Attributes and Resolution

CCTV video cameras happen along with a variety of features and also resolutions. Analyze your details requirements and also decide on video cameras appropriately. High-resolution electronic cameras use more clear pictures, enabling much better id of people and activities. Look at attributes like night vision, movement discovery, and remote gain access to, which may improve the performance of your unit. Purchase cams that happen a harmony between your criteria as well as your budget.

Storage as well as Information Management

Ample storing is crucial for stashing captured footage. Take into consideration whether you desire to utilize neighborhood storing alternatives like DVRs or NVRs (Digital Video Recorders or even Network Video Recorders) or even go for cloud-based solutions. Analyze the storage space ability located on the number of electronic cameras as well as the duration you plan to keep video. Regularly deal with as well as support up your information to avoid the threat of losing critical information.

Maintenance and Servicing

CCTV electronic cameras, like any kind of electronic tools, need normal routine maintenance to guarantee ideal functionality. Check out for firmware updates supplied by the manufacturer and implement them immediately. Well-maintained the lens and also property regularly to stop filth or clutter coming from having an effect on the camera's visibility. Develop a routine maintenance schedule to deal with any type of concerns promptly as well as expand the life expectancy of your CCTV unit.

In final thought, putting in cctv in the home could be a beneficial investment in enhancing surveillance, however it calls for cautious factor of legal, honest, and also practical aspects. By understanding the purpose of security camera installation, smartly positioning electronic cameras, picking the appropriate functions, managing information properly, and also devoting to regular maintenance, home owners may generate a complete as well as helpful surveillance body adapted to their certain necessities. Focusing on these factors guarantees that your CCTV unit not simply finances but accomplishes this properly and also fairly.

MaxSol Techs

Cranbourne, 39767 Victoria

Mobile: 045 566 5580

info@maxsol.com.au

[depthbuffer]

I fucking love vactrols. At this admittedly still very early stage of my days as an audio electronics hobbyist, it seems to me like pretty much everything is just clever rearrangements of four key components: resistors, capacitors, opamps, and diodes. Pick a layout and set of values according to application, and away you go.

The ICs you see in most "true" analogue circuits? Bundles of opamps.

The knobs on the front? Potentiometers, i.e. resistors whose resistance varies with knob position.

LEDs? Diodes that emit light. Clue's right there in the name.

But of course modular wouldn't be modular without the magic of voltage control. Signals controlling other signals. Invisible hands to turn the knobs for you.

And this presents a problem in my simplistic view of the field: with the exception of potentiometers, all these components do very specific jobs, over ranges set in stone based on their physical properties, to be listed ad nauseum on the inscrutable pages of online component stores. And the potentiometers? They need real hands to turn them. Hands neither invisible nor automatic. Hands of which I only possess two. What do you want me to do, use motors or something? What do you think this is, mechanical engineering?

No! We demand ethereal hands. Electronic hands. We demand control over more than two parameters at once, without resorting to such crass concepts as physical motion, and without unleashing our biblically accurate forms upon the delicate psyches of our listeners.

Well, reader, in a carefully constructed act of lying by omission, I have hitherto neglected to mention our saving grace: the LDR, or light-dependent resistor. A magical resistor whose precise resistance varies depending on its degree of illumination.

So. We have LEDs, that emit an amount of light proportional to the current running through them. And we have LDRs, whose resistance varies depending on the amount of light falling on them. Surely it can't be that simple? Surely the answer to our voltage-control conundrum can't lie in simply mashing these two together and calling it a day?

Presenting, dear gentlefolk, the mighty vactrol.

Source

(The actual filter being built there is not very interesting, it's just a passive, non-resonant LPF, but it's voltage controlled by a homemade vactrol.)

Yup. It really is that simple. So next time you are about to embark upon the study of an unfamiliar field, unsure of whether your feeble smooth brain will be capable of grasping the arcane magicks within, remember the humble vactrol.

Of course, there are also transistors. But those simply aren't as entertaining.

Disclaimer: I haven't built any of my own yet, and in fact am still at the stage of my electronics hobby where I have a ton of plans and barely any real-world practical experience beyond soldering other people's designs from kits. But I'm building up to the point where I have just enough basic knowledge and a suitable parts stash to start building some basic things from scratch, and these will probably be in my future if I take well to it.

[bloodfromthethorn]

Scars Reveal

Part fifteen of the July of Whump 2021 prompt challenge.

Also on AO3

..

The accident, such as it was, really was minor. Even Jack with his overdeveloped sense of protection and built-in proclivity for assuming the worst could admit that, ultimately, Mac was going to be fine. No big deal, chalk the whole thing up to lesson learned and move on.

Except, because the kid had never once had even an ounce of decent luck on his side, of course he still managed to need stitches.

It went something like this:

The team – for the first time in absolutely ages – had actually managed to snag a decent chunk of downtime just as summer was starting to turn the air warm and golden. It was still early enough in the year that sitting outdoors was bearable, but without the sly chill and risk of rain that had dogged them through the spring, which inevitably led to Jack suggesting – dictating – that it was high time they had a team barbeque to relax on Mac’s deck. After so long hopping from continent to continent on endless missions, none of them had raised the slightest protest.

It was a well-worn procession of events from there. People arrived in a steady stream through the morning, starting with Jack so that he could get in his early arguments about why he should man the grill. Bozer, as always, rose to meet him in a head-to-head that Mac watched with great bemusement from the sidelines. He’d learnt about twenty minutes into introducing the pair of them to each other that he should never, under any circumstances, let himself be put into the middle of an argument and that went double when it was an argument about cooking. He’d rather take on Matty than have to defend himself against the combined might of Boze and Jack when they decided he was in the wrong.

Besides, he had the excuse of checking over the grill itself for any surprises that might throw off the relaxed vibe they were going for. He hadn’t made any new additions to the thing itself for a while now – under strict orders from Boze – but it always needed a little maintenance when it had been out of use for more than a few weeks.

It was around then that things started to go wrong. His initial checks all came up green, with the main grill seemingly still in perfect working order and he allowed himself a brief moment of pride that his work had held up better than it had the time before. Further investigations, however, started turning up problems.

When he’d first started modifying the grill, one of the first things he’d had to do was install an electronic fan system in its underbelly to ensure there was a sufficient flow of oxygen to keep the coals going, while also cooling the more delicate components he’d stashed further down. It wasn’t exactly an optimal way of doing things, but he hadn’t yet had a long enough stretch of free time to reconfigure the whole thing and regardless, it was generally function. Except this time, for whatever reason, the fans just weren’t coming online.

Much to Bozer’s frustration and Jack’s unsympathetic amusement, finding the solution ended with Mac flat on his back, half-buried beneath the hunk of metal that still adamantly refused to do as it was told.

“Y’know, this is a good look on you hoss.”

Unable to see his partner but well aware of the grin that was aimed his way, Mac’s only response was to disentangle one arm long enough to flip him the bird without emerging from his cave.

There was a snort of laughter. “Just trying to help man, no need to get tetchy.” As if to prove a point, the tip of a combat boot nudged gently at Mac’s knee and he looked down to see the handle of a spanner he’d just been thinking he needed held out waiting for him.

He took it with a broad smile of his own. “And the commentary is for your own amusement I take it?”

“You know you love it.”

“I’d love a beer more.”

“Sure thing. Just get that grill working and it’ll be waiting for you.”

At that, Mac pulled himself free enough to raise an eyebrow at his entirely unaffected partner. Jack shot him a shit-eating grin. “No mixing alcohol and power tools. ‘S the rules.” To add insult to injury, he took a swig of his own beer.

Mac rolled his eyes but obligingly got back to work. It still didn’t stop him from shooting back, “Do you see any power tools around here?”

“You never know what you might need. Have you found the problem yet?”

“No.”

“Well then.”

“It’s one beer Jack.”

“I take your safety very seriously.”

“This is punishment for delaying your barbeque, isn’t it?”

“You never get between a man and his grill, man, c’mon, you should know that.”

“My grill,” he corrected smartly, but he was smiling. He’d missed having the freedom to just kick back and relax with his friends. It had been too long since they’d done this.

“I don’t think it counts if you’ve never once cooked on it hoss.”

He considered that for a moment, then, “Split the difference and call it Bozer’s?”

In the tiny sliver of visibility he had of where his partner was sitting, he saw Jack clap a wounded hand to his heart, feigning injury. “Why you gotta take his side, man? I thought we were a team.”

On the other side of the deck, well out of sight and busying himself texting the others to get their ETAs, Bozer let out a quiet whoop of victory. It was enough to reignite their earlier argument, good natured as it was, and Mac shook his head in mock despair.

When he’d first introduced his oldest friend to the brother he’d found in the desert, he’d initially worried that they’d hate each other. He wasn’t entirely sure why he’d assumed such – he loved both of them with a fierceness that scared him and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that they were both good people. Maybe it was because he’d assigned each of them to entirely different versions of himself and he didn’t know that having the two mix wouldn’t be a disaster waiting to happen. On the flight back to LA, he’d resigned himself to the idea of having to live two separate lives in order to keep them both in it.

In hindsight, he’d been an idiot for ever worrying. Boze and Jack had bonded instantly over their shared need to shield Mac from any tiny imposition that might come his way and given that he’d just been discharged from the US army on medical grounds, there were plenty of battles to face. It had taken him barely three hours of being home to realise that introducing them had only sealed his fate of being mother-henned until his deathbed.

Not that he’d change a thing, of course.

It was with that memory rattling around in his brain as Jack and Boze’s heated discussion washed over him that something strange happened. He’d been trying to tighten one of the connections on the idle assumption that perhaps the problem was down to air leakage in what should have been a sealed system, frowning at the amount of resistance the joint was putting up. Then, without warning, the resistance suddenly vanished and he nearly bashed his hand as the wrench jolted around. In the same instant, there was a deafeningly loud popping sound and something heavily impacted his right hip.

For a moment there was total silence as all three of them froze in surprise. Mac found himself staring dumbly at the wrench still in his hand as though it could explain why his hip had suddenly started up with a quiet blaze of pain, before everything that had happened suddenly registered with a jolt and he sucked in a hard lungful of air.

“Mac,” Jack was snapping, the sound of rushed movement the only indicator Mac had that his partner was no doubt rushing back to his side.

“I’m okay,” he offered up immediately before his hip pulsed again and he had to rethink. Twisted up in the machinery of the grill as he was, he couldn’t get a good look at whatever was going on with him, but the stinging wetness was a familiar enough sensation for him to realise he was bleeding. He tentatively flexed the muscles in his thigh, then winced as the pain swelled to meet him.

“Shit, man, what the hell just happened?” There was a warm hand on his knee and a sixth sense telling him that another was hovering just over whatever damage Mac had managed to do to himself. A moment later, a second pair of hands landed on his other leg, steadying.

“I, uh- I don’t actually know.”

“You’re bleeding.” Jack’s voice was shot through with panic and adrenaline, an all-too-familiar cocktail that only ever really showed its face when one of his kids was hurting.

“Yeah, I figured that much out. Help me out of here?”

He twisted his arms down in the narrow space to hold out his hands for his friends to grip, relieved when they both immediately did so. His own adrenaline was spiking through the roof at the suddenness he’d managed to go from fine and relaxed to in pain, and being able to grab at both of them was more settling than he’d ever admit to anyone.

“Okay brother, we’ve got you. Carefully does it.”

Between the three of them, they managed to gently lever him out from under the grill without jostling his leg too badly and without causing any further damage. Back in the blinding sunshine, it took Mac’s eyes a long minute to adjust; it was only when they did that he was able to get a decent look at himself.

It was clear in an instant what had happened. It, conveniently, also solved the mystery of why the grill’s cooling system hadn’t been working, although he had a feeling no one else would consider that a victory in the same way he did. As it happened, the issue hadn’t been air leakage at all, but rather the opposite: a blockage causing a critical build-up of air, which had evidently led to one of the pipes bursting open. Unfortunately for him, it had been the pipe right beside his entirely unprotected leg and the force had apparently been great enough to do more than just crack the plastic shell. Now, thanks to his own stupidity more than anything, there was a thin piece of white plastic jutting out awkwardly from the hollow of his hip, alongside a handful of smaller scratches from shrapnel that had been strong enough to cut through his jeans.

Jack and Boze were both staring at him with wide, troubled eyes.

“Ah, hell,” he managed as he desperately tried not to laugh at his own mistakes. He knew it wouldn’t be appreciated. “So, I figured out what’s wrong with the grill.”

“Forget the grill Mac,” Bozer snapped, torn between concern and annoyance. “There’s plastic sticking out of your leg.”

“Boze, call an ambulance,” Jack ordered, leaning in close to examine the injury as best he could when most of it was still lost under the blood and torn fabric.

“Boze, do not call an ambulance,” Mac said instantly. He reached out a hand to snag his friend’s wrist when it was clear that his order was about to be ignored. “Seriously. Don’t. It looks way worse than it is, I promise.”

To prove his point, he shimmied his body until he could prop up his head and shoulders against the leg of the grill behind him, affording him both a better view of the injury and making him feel less like a specimen under a microscope. Jack grunted at him in annoyance, but Mac stopped moving again before he could do anything to stop him.

“Stay still, you idiot.”

“Jack, calm down. I promise, it’s alright.”

“Oh yeah,” he snapped back sarcastically, finally pulling his attention away from the blood to fix his partner with a steely glare. “This is just peachy.”

Unaffected, Mac snickered at him. “Alright, it could be better. But it’s not as bad as you’re thinking it is. Skin deep only, I swear. The pressure in the pipe wasn’t that high and my jeans stopped the worst of it. It looks grisly, but that’s about all.”

“You get a PhD when I wasn’t looking?”

“MD.”

“I don’t give a fuck, man.”

Despite everything, Mac found himself laughing again. Some heady combination of an adrenaline high and the way his bantering was gradually erasing the hard lines of fear from Jack and Bozer’s faces was messing with his own self-control. “Jack. Hand on heart. It’s superficial and I’m fine. You can calm down now.”

“You’ll be fine when there’s not a shard of plastic sticking out of you. The rest of it might be scratches but that looks deep enough to need stitches and you know that.”

He did indeed, unfortunately, know that. The pain was making it very hard to estimate exactly how deeply the fragment was buried, but the fact that it hadn’t budged an inch with all the movement he’d been doing was a pretty good indicator that it was wedged in there good. The scratches were barely of note, but he couldn’t just ignore a wound the deep.

“Yeah, it does,” he admitted gently, burying his annoyance at the situation so Jack didn’t think it was aimed at him. “But that’s all.”

“Stitches is not a ‘that’s all’ kind of situation Mac,” Boze mumbled at him, his face twisted up in concern. The cold edge of fear was leeching out of him now that Jack seemed to be backing down ever so slightly, but of all of them, he was by far the least versed in coping with the sudden stomach-drop shift of fine-to-trauma.

Fortunately for Mac’s complete inability to come up with a sufficiently soothing response to that, Jack’s military training kicked itself into gear and he started thinking logistics. “You can’t walk to the car like this – moving around too much is only going to disturb it and do more damage. If Boze and I can get you into one of those chairs, then we can carry you out but you’ve gotta keep as still as you can, okay?”

He was already reaching for Mac as he spoke, forcing Mac to give an aborted wiggle in an attempt to get away before a stab of pain reminded him why that was a bad idea. Still, he put up both hands to ward Jack off. “Hey, no, none of that. I don’t need to go anywhere.”

Jack stared at him blankly. “You need stitches.”

“Yeah, and we can do them here. You’ve stitched me up plenty of times.”

That at least drew a reaction out of him, but Mac wasn’t sure that frustrated disbelief was any better than what he’d been working with. “When there’s been no other choice, sure! When we’re out in the field and the nearest medical help is twelve hours away then I’m your guy, one hundred percent, but when there’s a perfectly qualified medical professional equipped with honest-to-god painkillers a couple of streets down, I’m bowing to their superiority brother. We’re not on a mission; it’s not even like we have to lie about this.”

Bozer was nodding fiercely on his other side, but for the moment, Mac ignored him. If this was an argument he was going to win, then he needed to get Jack on side first. Besides, he was the only one who already knew why Mac might protest this particular hospital trip.

“We wouldn’t have to lie about this,” he conceded, but gestured at his leg, “But this very much seems like it’s going to be a ‘pants off’ situation.” He said it pointedly, not looking at Bozer at all, and was able to watch as understanding dawned on Jack’s face like a sunrise, only to be immediately shut off behind years-old guilt. His eyes darted down to Mac’s thigh, then back up. For the first time, his certainty in their forward course seemed to waver.

All the same, he’d never been one to back down from a fight, particularly when his partner’s health was on the line. “We could go to Phoenix med. They’re not going to ask any questions.”

“And spend one of the first days off we’ve had in weeks at the place where we work? Not a chance. There’s still lido in the cupboard from when you scratched up your wrist the other month and the medkit is fully stocked.” He let his expression turn sheepish for a moment. “I haven’t broken my promise not to cannibalise it.”

That finally managed to get a smile out of Jack, weak though it might have been. “Well that at least is good news. ‘Bout time you started listening to me.”

“Wait,” Bozer cut in, his confusion at the situation winning out over his implicit trust in Jack now that it seemed like they weren’t heading to the hospital after all. “You’re going to stitch him up here? That can’t be safe! What if something goes wrong? Won’t it hurt? There could be internal damage or something, I don’t know-”

Mac stuck out a hand to grip Boze’s shoulder, grounding. “Hey, hey, stop. It’s fine.”

Jack cut him off. “Yeah, Mac, when you say something’s fine, it really doesn’t make either of us feel any more sure of the situation.”

Mac shot him a ‘you’re not helping’ look before returning his attention to his friend. “We have painkillers and antibiotics on hand here – I know it’s not a comfort to hear this, but we learned long ago to be prepared for something like this at pretty much any given point.”

“Yeah, that really doesn’t help, thanks.”

“But,” he stressed, not willing to be derailed by that particular can of worms, “It means that we know what we’re doing. Trust me, Jack stitching me up here is by far the best choice unless you want to spend the rest of your day answering some really uncomfortable questions at the hospital.”

Bozer’s expression turned calculating, catching onto the fact that there was something going on here that he wasn’t currently privy to. “Uncomfortable how?”

Picking up on the fact that a somewhat delicate conversation was about to take place – and possibly the fact that, while he was remarkably calm about the whole thing, Mac was still bleeding steadily onto the wooden decking – Jack chose that moment to silently rise to his feet and head off in search of the first aid kit.

Mac sucked in a deep breath and met Bozer’s worried gaze head-on. “So, you remember how we had that conversation about the scars on my arm? The ones I told you were from a jellyfish?”

“But that were actually from you being tortured with electricity? Yeah, it rings a bell,” Boze said acidly. His anger clearly wasn’t aimed at Mac but he still felt a tiny bubble of guilt shivering in his gut.

“Yeah, that. Well, they kinda- uh. They’re not exactly… the only scars I have.”

“From missions, you mean.”

“Right. And while the ones on my arm don’t really cause any problems because they’re so hard to see, some of the others are a little more… prominent.” His eyes darted away as he tried to think of the least damaging way of explaining this, but he returned his gaze before forging onwards. “Most are easily explained away as accidents – cuts and scratches and whatever. Things I could have picked up in a car accident or something.”

“Like the bullet hole in your chest.” Again, Bozer’s voice dipped with something hard and unpleasant; he was long since passed blaming Mac for keeping secrets, but he always got a bit prickly when it came to discussing the specific injuries Mac had been forced to lie about or conceal completely. It was coming from a place of concern more than anger, but it still felt like a minefield to navigate.

“Yeah,” he agreed quietly, ducking his head again. “Stuff like that. It’s why I can get away with wearing board shorts when we go to the beach without anyone asking questions.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming up.”

“But,” Mac agreed, “There’s a couple of scars that are- Uh. Hard to ignore? Ones that aren’t easy to explain away if someone sees them.” He gestured awkwardly at his leg, then winced as he realised that the red flush of blood wasn’t about to help his case any. “My thigh’s one of them.”

Bozer’s eyes dropped to the limb in question as though he’d be able to see whatever mystery Mac’s jeans were hiding, his brow furrowed with thought. On Mac’s opposite knee, his fingers twitched. Whatever questions were tangling up in his head as he considered that, he evidently decided to cut straight to it. “What happened?”

He’d known the question was coming, but he still flinched a little in the face of it. It wasn’t a great memory for him or Jack, and he didn’t really want to burden Bozer with it too. As if sensing his discomfort, Bozer’s hand flattened on his knee to steady him. “You know you can tell me anything man.”

Mac grinned at that, knowing the truth of it to his bones. “Yeah, I know. It’s just- not a great story? Usual shit, really – mission went bad and I ended up catching the worst of it. We were in Bosnia – this is way back, before Nikki, even – and we were fed some bad intel that had us walking into a trap. Jack was able to get out, but I got caught.”

It was clear looking at his face that Bozer already knew how this story ended, but after so many years of hiding the truth from him, it felt like Mac needed to say it all the same.

“Jack doubled back to get me out as soon as he realised I was in trouble so I wasn’t there more than about thirty minutes but- It turned out that was enough time for them to get bored of just beating me up. I said something that pissed one of the guys off – can’t even remember what it was now – and as punishment, he- uh.” He faltered, his voice cracking ever so slightly as he remembered a shadowed room, the smell of sweat, and an all-consuming pain that set his bones alight. “There was a fire, in the corner,” he said instead, trying to build up to what needed to be said. “I don’t know where this guy found it, but he disappeared and came back with a branding iron.”

Bozer sucked in a hard breath, his face paling as he digested that information. It was clear that Mac didn’t need to explain anything further and he was helplessly grateful for it – he hadn’t realised until he’d spoken just how deeply he’d managed to repress that memory and how much it would hurt to revisit it. It wasn’t the worst injury he’d had on the job by a long shot, but something about it had done more damage than any of the bullet wounds he’d collected over the years. Perhaps it was the helplessness of it, the degradation. Maybe it was just the fact that it had hurt more than he could ever have imagined.

“So that sucked,” he concluded and pretended like he couldn’t tell how much of an understatement that was. “But the good news was that the scarring’s all on my thigh. Easy enough to keep covered in almost all circumstances, though it did make dating kind of difficult I’ll admit.”

Again, an understatement. There was a reason his next serious girlfriend after the Bosnia incident was Nikki. Still, it had the desired reaction and Bozer’s horror lifted ever so slightly to allow a faint snort to break through. “I’ll bet.”

There was still a haunted look in his eyes and Mac wished there was anything he could do to erase it. Although, if Jack’s continued distress any time Bosnia was mentioned was anything to go by, he had a feeling it would be a long time before any of them were truly able to put it behind them. Still, he had to at least try. “Honestly I barely notice it anymore. It freaked me out, for a while, but I kind of got used to it. Once it healed over, there wasn’t any lasting damage or mobility problems so I can just ignore it. The only time it comes up is if I have a medical check-up or something that means it’ll be visible.”

“And if you went to the hospital now…”

Mac grimaced at the plastic still sticking out of his hip. The pain was really starting to bother him. “It’s in almost the exact same place. No way they don’t notice it and no way they don’t ask questions I legally can’t answer.”

Fortunately for Mac’s sanity, it was only at that point that Jack made his reappearance. He’d been gone long enough that Mac was half-suspicious he’d stayed away so he wouldn’t have to listen to Mac’s retelling of everything that happened in Bosnia, but that would imply that Jack purposefully delayed Mac getting medical care and that was deeply unlikely. A more reasonable explanation was that he’d made some calls he didn’t want Mac to know about – one to delay the others’ arrival and another to Phoenix med to get some reassurance that Mac really could be treated at home without risking his health. That he’d turned up with the medkit in hand was an indication that the latter call had gone well.

He shot Jack a searching glance as his partner knelt back down beside him but Jack’s face was inscrutable. Oh, he’d definitely called the Phoenix. Still, he was also about to be the person putting stitches in Mac’s leg so he wisely elected not to call him on it.

Instead, he returned his attention to Bozer. “I know it sounds bad, but it’s a pretty common problem in our line of work. Even minor injuries can raise questions in the right circumstances. There’re systems in place so that agents can always request medical care from the Phoenix directly if they need discretion. I’m actually pretty lucky that it’s only the top of my thigh I have to worry about. Jack’s got it way worse.”

As he spoke, he was aware of Jack pulling the scissors out of the medkit and getting to work hacking through the thick material of his pants without jostling the plastic. He hissed as the fragment shifted ever so slightly and his entire leg throbbed in protest.

Jack mumbled a soft apology, then took up Mac’s hook to keep Bozer distracted while Mac got himself back under control. “He’s not wrong. I can’t go near A&E if it means getting my t-shirt off and man, you have no idea how annoying that can be.”

Bozer’s eyes flicked skywards as he visibly sifted through his memories, then frowned. “I’ve never seen you not wearing a t-shirt,” he admitted after a long minute, struck with the surprise of that realisation.

Mac laughed again to cover up his wince of pain as Jack finally freed up enough skin to stick him with the lidocaine needle. The subdermal injection hurt like a bitch, but it was almost immediately followed by the sudden cessation of pain from the entire limb and he breathed out a shaky sigh of relief. Jack shot him a dark look that almost certainly meant he was going to get a talking to later, but for now he let it be and returned to hacking at his jeans.

“Jack’s good at making it seem normal, right? Took me three months in the Sandbox before I cottoned on to the fact that he was the only person in the barracks who insisted on showering at weird times and never came out without getting fully dressed.”

“Some of us like our privacy,” Jack put in smartly, but he smirked to take any sting out of it.

“It was a hundred degrees in the shade; no one is that keen on privacy.”

Bozer snorted, and for the first time since he’d realised Mac was hurt, he seemed to relax. It was a commonly accepted rule within the team that if Mac was hurt but Jack was still calm, then the injury really couldn’t be all that serious. The only thing was, Jack knew that too and he was more than willing to bury his outward panic if it meant manipulating the rest of them into keeping calm. Fortunately, in this particular instance, there really wasn’t anything to worry about all that much. An annoyance, yes. A life-changing or threatening one? Not a chance.

“Maybe I just didn’t want to make anyone jealous of my good looks.”

“I refer you to my previous comment. Also, I don’t think you needed to worry.”

Jack somehow managed to feign tremendous offense without ever once jostling the hands carefully peeling blood-slick fabric away from the plastic shard. “That’s fighting talk for someone about to have me stitching them together.”

“Just saying.”

Bozer evidently saw the argument descending from there because he chose that moment to reinsert himself into the conversation. “What were you trying to hide?” He asked, then remembered himself as the tips of his ears darkened with a blush. “I mean, if you want to tell me, that is, I don’t want to pry or anything.”

Jack offered him a shrug with a smile to ward off any potential offense taken. “Nah, don’t worry about it.” He pointed a thumb towards his back. “I’ve got bullet holes all over the place, but the main problem is the scars across my shoulders. There was a FUBAR mission back in my Delta days when I ended up getting flogged. Five lashes.” He wrinkled his nose at the memory and Mac suddenly felt bad for inadvertently bringing it up, until Jack shot him a quelling smile. “’Course, I’m luckier than Mac in one regard – The ladies dig my scars.”

“Gross,” Mac muttered, then laughed as a finger was jabbed into his ribs in retribution. He only realised a second later that it had been for Bozer’s benefit; the hole in his jeans now gaped wide enough that alongside the shard, his brand was on full display.

The mark itself wasn’t all that large, though the webbed nature of the scar tissue made it abundantly clear that it had once been a truly nasty wound. Given the circumstances, it had healed tremendously well, but there was no healthcare on earth that could properly erase the sharp, defined lines the metal had burned into his skin. For all his curiosity about any little detail he could find, Mac had never been particularly interested in finding out what this particular symbol meant – a circle with a shape in the middle that looked sort of like two P’s pressed back to back. If he’d had to guess, he would have assumed that it was the unique symbol used by a farmer who had once inhabited the land where he’d been caught, but that was as much thought as he’d ever given it. It was a bad memory to everyone who knew about it, and the source of too many questions from those who didn’t. Better to just act like it wasn’t there and forget all about it.

“Kids these days,” Jack was griping to himself, even as he carefully smoothed a disinfectant-laden cotton swab around the plastic, “No respect for their elders.”

“Are you calling yourself old?” Mac grinned at the glare that came his way and silently elected not to look at his leg again. He hadn’t examined the brand in years and as it happened, he wasn’t all that thrilled to see it again.

Bozer, likewise, appeared to be making a concerted effort to keep his eyes on Mac’s face. Regardless, he still quietly said, “I can’t believe I never noticed that.”

Mac shrugged at him. “It’s not exactly like it’s on display all that often. Honestly, I’d be kind of weirded out if you had seen it without me knowing.”

He thought Bozer might have laughed at that, but he couldn’t be rightly sure because Jack chose to take that moment as his opportunity to remove the plastic from his hip in one sharp jerk. Even with the local anaesthetic numbing the whole area, the tugging sensation was distinctly unnatural and still ever so slightly painful under the heavy muffle of the drugs. He let out a grunt of disapproval without meaning to, then winced when Jack flinched.

“Sorry hoss. Should’a warned you.”

He waved a forgiving hand. “I would have tensed up if you had. Better that it’s out.” It was a testament to his strength of will that his voice didn’t waver in the slightest.

“Still.”

With the plastic gone and nothing now to plug the two-inch gash in his skin, bright red blood pulsed to the surface and flowed out onto the deck. Distantly, Mac spared a thought to his future self having to clean up the mess.

“Hold this for a sec,” Jack ordered, pressing a clean gauze pad to the wound and laying Mac’s hand over it. “Keep pressure.”

As soon as he was confident that Mac was doing as instructed – although, really, they’d done this enough times that it was basically rote memory at this point – he busied himself with disinfecting his hands and pulling out the suture kit.

Bozer’s gaze had started to turn sharp again at the sight of so much blood, so Mac scrambled for the first distraction he could. “Hey, Boze, can you do me a favour? The others probably aren’t going to want to walk in on this without a little warning – call them and give them a heads up?”

He wavered, but didn’t immediately move to do as he was asked. “You sure you still want them to come over? That looks bad Mac.”

“C’mon, I’ve had worse than this modifying the toaster. It’s nothing. Jack’ll stitch me up, slap a band-aid on it, and I’m good to go for the rest of the day. I even know how to fix the grill so we can actually have a barbeque as promised.”

“You are not going near that thing,” Jack cut in sharply, not looking up.

“Jack,” he whined.

“No.”

He huffed, but his annoyance was really for show more than anything. “Okay, fine. I can talk one of you through it. The pipe that burst is the most likely source of the blockage and now that it needs replacing anyway, we can just swap it out and it’ll be back to normal. Quick fix, honest.”

Jack continued to grumble quietly to himself, but he didn’t raise further protest which was as good as an agreement. Apparently reassured, Bozer shot one last look at Mac before tugging his phone out of his pocket and heading for the pseudo-privacy of the living room. With that situation handled, Mac’s eyes returned to his partner.

“Sorry,” he murmured quietly, just as Jack finished getting set up and reached out to remove the gauze pad.

Jack shot him a dry look. “You ain’t got nothing to be sorry for, hoss.”

“Scared you.”

“That’s-” He bit himself off, paused, then huffed out a sharp breath. “Yeah, you did. Doesn’t make it your fault.”

“My grill.”

Fortunately for the heavy tone that had settled over them, Jack caught the reference with a roll of his eyes. “Don’t start that again.”

He started stitching with practiced ease. Only a distant tugging sensation made it through the lidocaine so Mac would be feeling pretty good about the whole experience if it wasn’t for the guarded line in Jack’s shoulders. He’d put on a good show for Bozer, but he was never entirely okay with the world when Mac’s blood was on his fingers.

“Seems like we can’t have one day without something exciting happening, huh?”

Jack snorted. “We’ve got to work on your definition of ‘exciting’, man.”

“What, you’d call this dull?”

“I’d call it stupid if I didn’t already know you’re a goddamn genius.”

“It was stupid,” he conceded easily. He wasn’t one for covering up his mistakes even if no one else ever really understood what precisely he’d done wrong. “I misjudged the problem and didn’t think to guard myself against a pipe rupture. The pressure shouldn’t have been high enough for it, but I still should have considered the risk.”

“If it was a small enough risk that someone like you didn’t even consider it, I’m willing to bet the chances of it happening were almost nil. Am I right?”

Mac shrugged and didn’t answer. Jack was right, but it still felt like something of a failing on Mac’s part and he didn’t really want to dig into that right now. Besides, he had other apologies he still needed to make. “Sorry for bringing up your back. I just wanted to distract Boze.”

“I know. Don’t worry about it. They were bound to notice something eventually anyway and at least this way I don’t end up scaring the hell out of him if I get injured in the field somewhere.”

He genuinely didn’t seem concerned about it, so Mac let that particular guilt go with a careful sigh.

“Only another few minutes,” Jack soothed, misinterpreting.

“How’s it looking?”

“Like you got stabbed with a bit of plastic and then refused to seek medical attention.”

“I’m literally getting medical attention right now.”

“Pretty sure it doesn’t count if the person doing it isn’t actually a doctor.”

Mac rolled his eyes. “How many times have you stitched me up before?”

Jack paused just long enough to shoot him an ‘are you serious right now’ look. “Really? You think reminding me of how often I’ve had to do this is going to cheer me up?”

He… might have a point. Mac huffed. “Okay, sure, sorry. My bad. But my point is that you’ve done this plenty of times before and it’s always turned out well. No need to fret about it this time.”

“I don’t fret. I brood. Manfully.”

Mac snorted. “Is that what you call that look on your face?”

“I think that’s the second time you’ve insulted my good looks today. And after all this work I’m doing to keep you in one piece. No respect at all.”

“You wouldn’t believe I was okay if I wasn’t making this process as difficult as possible.”

“That’s true.”

“See? I’m a thoughtful kind of guy.”

“A thoughtful guy wouldn’t have gone and got blood all over this nice clean deck when we’re supposed to be having a barbeque.”

“It adds drama.”

“I thought it added excitement.”

“It can add both.”

“Yeah, well, I could stand to have a little less of both, okay hoss?” As he spoke, he tied off the final stitch with a flourish and sat back on his heels like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “So no more digging around in machinery or messing around with sharp things. At least for today.”

“Okay,” Mac agreed readily, relieved to see Jack finally starting to relax again. “I promise.”

The rest of his treatment was easy enough; a patch of gauze taped carefully over the neat line of stitches and a round of antibiotics that he at least got to swallow instead of putting up with more injections. Once that was done, he cajoled Jack and a now returned Bozer into helping him onto his feet and towards his room so that he could put on some clothes that weren’t sliced up or covered in blood. That it also meant he could get the brand out of sight so Jack and Boze would stop shooting him worried looks was really just a bonus.

Freshly clean and in a delightfully blood-free set of clothes, Mac hobbled his way carefully back to the deck and sat down on one of the chairs before Jack had a chance to try and help him. When that move inevitably led to faux outrage, he stuck out his tongue and ardently refused to apologise.

“One of these days, you’re going to give me a heart attack kid,” Jack muttered, then stuck out a fist for Mac to bump.

“Hopefully no time soon.”

“Amen to that brother. Now c’mon. Tell me what’s wrong with this damn grill.”

[thebraintutors]

Picking the Best Home Gym Equipment for Your Wellness Requests

Home gym equipment enables you to duplicate wellness practice in a gym without paying month to month expenses or going out. Many bits of gym wellness equipment sold for home usage can be utilized to practice different spaces of the body. This infers that one machine at home may fill the need of three particular machines you would use in a wellness community. Space saving plans and adaptability has made a few models of gym equipment incredibly compelling for weight reduction and further developed wellness and wellbeing.

There are numerous things to contemplate when searching for another piece of home gym equipment. Value reach and moderateness will be first on many individuals' rundown however quality and space requests should start things out. Costly wellness equipment isn't generally the most ideal decision yet ought to be sponsored by a decent guarantee and give long periods of dependable assistance whenever really focused on appropriately. All new gym wellness equipment buys ought to be supported by a decent guarantee besides. Client support is extremely basic and you will need to verify that the equipment maker has a decent standing with respect to both quality and great client assistance.

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Gym wellness equipment need to find a place with your home and way of life. Difficult to store things might be left stashed in case they are too hard to even consider moving. It is shrewd to investigate for home gym equipment that will be reasonable for the area you have saved for it. A few homes have space to assign for home wellness needs while others need to share regions. Cumbersome wellness gym equipment will likewise be difficult to move and a few models are difficult to reconfigure when exchanging employments. This definitely should all be re investigated before you picking your next piece. find more information Gym equipment

Home gym equipment has ended up being huge business and sound judgment will assist you with picking the best pieces for you and your family. Indeed, even the antiquated exercise bicycles have many new components to stay aware of the evolving advances. Numerous units accompany pulse screens, LCD electronic readouts, and T.V. screens to consider mimicked bicycle rides through various regions. Paddling machines and across the board gym units offer their advantages yet discovering the gym wellness equipment that will keep you and your family utilizing it is the way in to a shrewd choice.

[nicolast78]

Easy photo organizing software

The minute it concerns viewing images that PC photo organizing software features 3 various options on offer. Freelance photographers who wish to look up photographs in which come with an exclusive house or that depict everyone and also particular spots are going to locate it a lot easier to perform therefore as soon as you have indeed renamed our images by using these ideas concerning our idea.

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An useful part of any sort of PC photo organizing software is actually the ability to help clients go on leading of every one of their photo data titles. That design staff behind that adaptable photo organizing software have indeed brought a large amount of like assure it is usable to all.

Good photo organizing software for inexperienced and experienced to practical sort photos

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Certainly not simply will it really manage any kind of duplication of that image files it really spots, yet everyone might also work with it really to arrange their photographs in a myriad of means. Definitely there certainly are actually many applications which are actually marketed as photo organizing software but not really each of them will execute all of their daily tasks they might need to go on top of our image archives. Everybody may search photos or take a couple of great clients to check the images by using just one another regardless of them having different directory areas. Generally there once again anybody will definitely be able to manage duplicate images together with program which enables PC keyboard shortcuts for being worked with after you are operating similar image finder. That program is actually just as satisfied to casual photographers and also everyone that is probably used to the office set of software, will certainly realize how to work this practical photo organizing software without effort. Users likewise watch training photograph created through this photo organizing software download designers to reveal them how to perform. As a popular Windows 10 photo organizing software their computer software might certainly not be actually less complicated to pick up though we are usually taking many of its better functionalities.

[o82ty]

Simple text to speech reader for read-out Word Documents with a clear pronunciation and TTS

Functional text to speech software to convert text to MP3

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Text to speech software for pros or speech voices

Text to speech software is really fantastic for any individual who has vision impairment that create reviewing text very challenging. There certainly is actually also that choice to replicate any sort of text coming from that clipboard straight to that program so that this text-to-speech viewers may read it aloud.

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Simply by default, this program is going to stop in between sentences to manage an ordinary top quality to that sound play.

Read aloud text to text to MP3 with a clear voice or speech system

TTS reader for functional listen an email

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