#tech explained

[wildhemlock]

For Security Purposes, I am Shutting Down the Wild Hemlock Facebook and Instagram Accounts

Meta knows every website you visit that has the Meta Pixel installed.

And who you are.

Don't worry - I'm staying here on Tumblr! But stop by and take a look at the New and Improved WildHemlock.Com!

As explained by The Register, Hacker News, and elsewhere, all of the apps created by Meta (formerly Facebook) are exploiting a permission in the Android operating system to track everything you do on mobile web browsing apps such as Chrome, Firefox, and even partially DuckDuckGo. According to LifeHacker, the mobile web browser Brave successfully blocked the tracking. I could not find any information about other web browsers such as Vivaldi or the many additional Firefox flavors.

So how is Meta doing this exactly? First, let’s talk about apps. The Instagram app only allows you to post via mobile app which is additionally nefarious. When Meta’s apps are installed on your phone, it will continually run in the background as a service. This grants the app additional privileges. For a popular example, YouTube didn’t always use to be able to make a video play while you were using another app. It was rewritten some time ago as a service, as opposed to a normal app, and now it can play both audio or picture-in-picture while you use your phone and other apps because it has more permissions. This is the type of app that Facebook and Instagram are.

Android services have access to what is referred to as localhost. Think of it like the local device hosting the app – it is an address which loops back to your phone. The address is 127.0.0.1 in web browsing – it points back to your own computer. If you were hosting a service on your computer, it would open service when you type “127.0.0.1” into the address bar of your web browser. This is very useful for developers, both on a mobile phone or computer, especially for testing network programming.

Wild Hemlock Will NEVER Install a Meta Pixel Script!

Learn More @ WildHemlock.Com!

[shlimon]

Noise-cancelling headphones: basically tiny wizards casting anti-sound spells inside your ears using microphones and physics. 🎧✨

[chetnazoringa]

Monochrome Printer Meaning: Why You Might Need One

Ever seen the term monochrome printer and wondered what it actually means? You're not alone! In today’s world of tech jargon, it's easy to get confused. So, let’s break down the monochrome printer meaning in simple terms 👇

🔍 So… What Is a Monochrome Printer?

The monochrome printer meaning is pretty straightforward: it’s a printer that uses only one color—black—to print. No color cartridges. No fancy graphics. Just clean, black-and-white prints.

They’re designed for people or businesses who mostly print documents like:

Essays

Invoices

Reports

Forms

If you’re not printing photos or colorful flyers, a monochrome printer could be exactly what you need.

✅ Why Do People Choose Monochrome Printers?

Once you get the monochrome printer meaning, it’s easy to see why they’re so popular:

🖨️ Fast printing – Great for high-volume jobs 💰 Low cost per page – Only one toner or cartridge 🧽 Low maintenance – Fewer parts = fewer problems 📝 Sharp text quality – Super clean for docs and forms

Perfect for students, remote workers, and small business owners!

🏁 Final Thoughts: Why the Monochrome Printer Meaning Matters

Knowing the monochrome printer meaning helps you avoid spending on features you’ll never use. If you mostly print black-and-white documents and want something fast, affordable, and reliable, a monochrome printer is a smart choice.

No color? No problem. Just pure, print-ready performance. 🖤🖨️

[munaeem]

Airplane Mode: What’s the Deal With That Little Toggle?

Hey there! Picture this: you’re about to take off on a flight, juggling your carry-on, and the flight attendant chirps over the speaker, “Please switch your devices to airplane mode.” You tap that little airplane icon, but have you ever wondered—what’s it actually doing? I mean, it’s 2025, planes are high-tech, and yet we’re still doing this? Let’s break it down like we’re chatting over…

[bluerosefox]

Eldritch Kidnappings

hmmmm a Kon/Danny/Tim idea? Maybe? Depends if anyone wanna ship all three but leaving it open ended (or if Tim is already dating Bernard just make it a Kon/Danny only?). AND a deaged Ellie.

Red Robin and Superboy (the original) were at a JL meeting. It was boring to be honest. Nothing to much was happening besides the normal stuff for all the heroes there. No big crises or world/universe ending danger.

Or at least it was...

Because not soon after a glowing green portal ripped opened and a large eldritch creature stuck its huge head and half of its body out. Every hero there went on high alert and into fighting stances, ready to defend the Watchtower. Once the creature was halfway in the room its eyes snapped opened, glowing near Lazarus Pit green colored but like brighter? neon?, and darted around the room before stopping right on Superboy.

Without warning or words the creature quickly reached out, using at first two arms/hands before more sprang out and swatted away heroes in the room that attacked. It quickly took a hold of Superboy who tired use his strength to get free but found the being stronger than him. Red Robin, in a panic to save his best friend (and crush, shhh maybe) quickly joined in but instead of being swatted away like the others gets snagged by a hand and soon found himself captured as well.

Just as quickly as the creature appeared, it retreated back into the still open portal, dragging the two with and not caring at all of the powers, fists, or shouting being thrown at it.

Then it was gone.

Leaving the JL in a panic.

-x-x-

"-And thats why I need your help! I understand its a lot to ask but please, any help will be welcomed." the eldritch being, or rather Danny Phantom begged as he worriedly glanced at them.

So... It turns out the eldritch being was a young halfa ghost hero named Phantom that needed their help stabilizing his clone/sister/maybe daughter?

She was apparently melting and needed stable DNA when he had rushed her to a ghost doctor and was told. But Danny had no clue how to stabilize a clone and the fruitloop that cloned him the notes were bare bones and frankly terrible. In his desperate need for help Danny had sought out clues/advice from his mentor who basically pointed him to Superboy and Red Robin in his frustrating riddling way.

Superboy's DNA had the stable cloning gene/code they needed. Red Robin was smart enough to help figure out a way to put it Danielle 'Elle' Phantom. (it also helped that he had dabbled into cloning during his... bad year)

So yeah, Danny in his panic to save his clone went full on eldritch monster and opened a portal during their meeting and dragged them to the Far Frozen where Ellie was currently suspended in a ecto healing pod and was now begging for their help, promising them anything if they helped out.

The catch? If they put Superboy's DNA in Ellie she'll de-age to her true age and no longer be a 'pure' clone.

Instead she'll be their (Danny and Conner's) kid.

[inkz123]

Chill afternoon while horror preps some stuff for dinnerrr :')

[st-pop2]

The start of my hopes peak tech club brainrot <3

[ganondoodle]

wont have time to work on anything for a few days probably, so uh, since i love reading comments/tags of people sharing their experiences- as part of the preparation for the totk rant script i got another question to ask :3

if you dont like tears of the kingdom, was there a moment that "broke" you, as in, the moment you knew this game is worse than you thought/hoped, and if so what was it?

personally, while i was suspicious after seeing its last trailer, i told myself its just me again and i kept up my hopes for a long time into my playthrough- its hard to point to a specific point since it was a growing feeling of something being off, things didnt make sense and i ever so more wondered how they would pull this all together (they didnt)- i do think the moment i stopped being in denial about it was when i found the shrine of life, the beginning of botw, and found .. nothing, a dingy cave practically licked clean of any traces of the shiekah tech like it never existed, instead of the medical bed a pathetic puddle of water that healed you, no one caring at all, like it actually never happened- i felt like the game pointed and laughed at me for caring about botw, pretty sure i was struggeling to keep it together on stream bc it forced me to realize this game truly is everything i hoped it wouldnt be, even if that sounds a little weird, at that time zelda and especially botw was so much more important to me, a passion for the franchise this game really did end up killing.

[novella-november]

Media Preservation Monday

Yeah, yeah, as of this original post it's actually only Wednesday but hey, take this as a sign to take some initiative, and keep to it each Monday at minimum if you're actively writing!

What's Media Preservation Monday, you may ask?

MPM is your reminder to back up your writing at least three ways at least once a week or whenever you make major changes to your document(s).

Here's some incredibly easy ways to back up your writing:

One your Master Document(s), put a date on the file name, and every day you make changes, "Save As" the Document and change the date. Do this every time or day you make major changes.

Example: You start writing your Novella November Story on November 1st.

You name your master document "Novnov Project 11-01-2024"

The next day, you write some more, and at the end of your writing session, you go to save your document, and instead of simply hitting "Save" you choose "Save As" and save the new copy of the Document as "Novnov Project 11-02-2024".

You now have two copies of your project, and if you keep this up throughout the whole month, you will have a live snapshot of your writing progress.

Each day or after each major writing session, open up the folder containing your document, and back it up. The Easiest and simplest way to do this is to simply email it to yourself, but you can also create multiple backups by:

Save a copy of your dated Master Document(s) to different locations on your Hard-drive, to an external hard-drive, to a thumbdrive, etc.

If you're writing offline on a writing program like Libreoffice, upload a copy of your Master Document(s) to your preffered Cloud-based Writing Program of your choice.

Vice Versa: if you write on a Cloud-based writing program, download it to various offline-based locations.

Download the base document as well as download it as various ebook formats and send them to your ebook library on your phone or kindle or nook or reading app.

Make a personal discord server and upload the document/epub form of your Master Document(s) there [this is also a good way of making a kind of personal journal / diary etc]

Whatever you do, do not be complacent and assume nothing can happen to your writing. Back it up. Preserve it.

Don't have all of your hard work go down the drain because of one tiny unforeseen accident.

When it comes time to clean up your hardrive, always assume you don't have it backed up. Before deleting anything always take the time to copy it over to another physical drive or a cloud drive.

[s0fter-sin]

one of my favourite aspects of supernatural that you very rarely see in paranormal shows is that sam and dean are already versed in the world they live in. there’s no sudden discovery of ghosts and demons and now they have to learn about them along with the audience; they are born into it and already know all about it. it allows the audience to follow their personal story instead of also trying to figure out this new world and its rules

the first season is full of knowledge we never see them learn; “w*ndigoes are in the minnesota woods or- or northern michigan. i’ve never even heard of one this far west.” […] “great. well then this [his gun] is useless.” (1x02), “you don’t break a curse. you get the hell out of its way.” (1x08), d: “it’s a god. a pagan god, anyway.” […] “the annual cycle of its killings? and the fact that the victims are always a man and a woman. like some kind of fertility right.” […] s: “the last meal. given to sacrificial victims. d: “yeah, i’m thinking a ritual sacrifice to appease some pagan god.” (1x11)

almost every episode in the first season is a monster they’ve faced before that they then explain to the audience in a way that should feel patronising; like it’s the same speech given over and over again but instead, the audience almost feels included in the knowledge. it’s stated with such an innate confidence and comfort in said knowledge that it feels like we already knew it too; “spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. if they want inside, they just go through the walls.” […] “the claws, the speed that it moves; could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog.” (1x02), “it's biblical numerology. you know noah's ark, it rained for forty days. the number means death.” (1x04), “no no no, not the reaper, a reaper. there's reaper lore in pretty much every culture on earth, it goes by 100 different names.” […] “you said it yourself that the clock stopped, right? reapers stop time. and you can only see 'em when they're coming at you which is why i could see it and you couldn't.” (1x12)

they already know and, at least in the first season, already have what they need to kill whatever they’re hunting; already know to salt and burn bones for spirits, fire for a w*ndigo, exorcisms for demons, a silver bullet to the heart for shapeshifters. there’s only three times in the entire first season that they run into something new to them; 1x14 when sam gets his first vision that leads him to another psychic, 1x16 when dean calls caleb for help on the sigil he put together and he tells him about daevas, and 1x20 when they find out vampires are real- and they only don’t know that bc john thought they were hunted to extinction and not worth mentioning

(there’s also technically two half instances if you count one of them knowing something the other doesn’t - sam figuring out the tulpa in 1x17 and dean already knowing about the shtriga in 1x18 - but those still rely on sam and dean having prior knowledge)

even when they’re uncertain about facing something, it’s not bc they don’t know what it is; it’s precisely bc they know what it is and acknowledge that it’ll be a difficult hunt (“i don't know, man. this isn't our normal gig. i mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. this is big. and i wish dad was here.” 1x04)

so much of the tension in paranormal shows typically comes from the main character(s) not knowing what is happening to them/the people around them and having to find out how to resolve it. supernatural is unique in that it operates more like a police procedural. the tension comes from solving the clues and identifying patterns to figure out who (what) the killer is and intercepting before they can take another victim

it’s such a different tone to go for when compared to other shows that came both before, during, and after its run. it sets sam and dean on even footing with each other since they both have the same knowledge going in, and it puts them in a place of authority usually reserved for an outside character

the shows i compare spn to most is charmed, buffy and teen wolf; every main character in those shows are brought into the paranormal world knowing nothing, putting them on the same level as the audience, and they have their mc interact with others already knowledgeable about that world in order to overcome their problem/monster of the week. the audience organically learns about this new world as the characters learn about it. it’s a sound writing strategy that prevents “as we already know”-style exposition but something that complicates it is if your world building isn’t unique or intriguing enough, this slow introduction can become boring

we’ve seen shows like these before; sitting through the same tropes of characters learning to use their powers, struggling with no longer feeling normal/relating to the regular world around them, and not knowing how much they can trust the people already involved in this new world gets repetitive. all three shows eventually reach the same level of comfort with their new world that spn starts with but if the characters aren’t enough to draw you in, you can end up dropping it before they reach that point (and often, before the overarching plot can really kick in and evolve the show beyond the villain of the week format)

it’s the superhero origin movie in tv format; dragged out and overplayed. dropping the audience into an established world of course comes with its own problems but you also have the benefit of pre-existing established character dynamics that let the audience slot in like they’ve always been there instead of just getting to know all the characters while the characters also get to know each other

sam and dean already knowing about the supernatural lets the audience immediately get to the core of the story; the conflict between sam and dean, the search for their father, and the mystery of what killed their mother

[littledemo0n]

Part 2 of loonatics fanart of which i have a bunch but its just red and green cause the brainrot is specifically on them

[thepinkwool]

The Bad Batch (according to my father who can never seem to remember their names)

Handsome leader (Hunter)

Data analyst (Tech)

Mean and grumpy (Crosshair)

Blender arm (Echo)

And of course everyone’s favorite big guy:

Crunch (Wrecker)

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

Okay, all, as promised: here's a compiled list of the Tech Lives fics I've read so far! I haven't read nearly as many yet as I would like, so if your work isn't mentioned here please feel free to add your work to this list! I'm still looking for more recommendations (let's be real, I'm ALWAYS looking for recommendations 😅) and I'm excited to read some more!

(Also, can I take a moment to offer my highest compliments to all you authors?? You all are FANTASTIC writers and motivate me to up my game too! 😍)

Happy reading and Tech Lives!!!

***Works by other writers:

TBB Season 2 Finale Fix-Its, by Niobium - a collection of stories with various means by which Tech survives (I've only read through the first two so far, but they are very fun reads. One involves Phee having a Jedi background, another involves Hondo... and it goes on!) @niobiumao3

Familiar, by AurumAstra - Tech's experience post-fall plus Omega finding Tech post-epilogue, told from Omega's and Tech's POVs (a work in progress) @gonky-kong

Awake, by PaulSimonBarCarloson - an alternate to the series finale, with many very interesting twists including Tech as CX2 - and with a happy ending

Stolen Time, by KyberCrystals94 - Omega finds Tech post-epilogue and Tech reunites with the family on Pabu @kybercrystals94

Alive, by Lif61 - Echo tries reaching Tech via comms, even though he knows Tech couldn't have survived... (I found it to be a heartwrenching read but the ending is great!) @lifblogs

Works by archivewriter1 - I'm linking the post where the author lists the stories with descriptions. The stories are fantastic and many involve an adorable OC named Darik! @archivewriter1ont

***My works:

Lost and Found - Tech is found and reunited with his family post-epilogue, told from Tech's, Crosshair's, and Phee's POVs

The Lost One - related to the above; more details from Echo's and Omega's POVs, as they find Tech post-epilogue

The Start of Something New - TechPhee including after Tech's return, from Hunter's POV

Protector - Hunter's POV as he learns to adjust post-Tantiss, culminating in Tech's return

[demeterdefence]

even ignoring everything else wrong with lore olympus (which in itself feels impossible) there is just something really egregious and insulting at the way a "modern retelling" over an ancient greek myth just full-heartedly whitewashes the entire culture and mythos.

and it's not like rachel is the first to do it - greek myths and legends have been whitewashed for centuries, depictions of the gods have been categorically stripped of their ethnicity and origins long before rachel got a hold of them. it's the fact that rachel goes out of her way to insult the original myths whenever she can, that she emphasizes and pushes a western-centric mindset and viewpoint over and over and over and not only reinforces the whitewashing, but continues it down the line.

like, this is the first episode.

rachel goes out of her way to mock the original styles and wardrobes of the ancient greek world, and i get her attempt was to make persephone feel "out of place" with the more "modern" clothing that the other gods wear, but it really just does more to a) demonize demeter, who is almost always in traditional clothing, b) sexualize persephone.

go even broader with it, move away from the clothing itself, and rachel doesn't even bother to use any of the ancient traditions that are core to the myths. like for the love of god, she uses a christian wedding for persephone and hades!

greece is the birthplace of modern democracy and had a powerful judicial system, and rachel instead uses the modern / western iteration of court because ... why not

(completely unrelated but the inserts of everyone except eros and aphrodite come from the stupid zoom session zeus had back when he first charged persephone with treason, meaning we have proof yet again that rachel isn't drawing the characters into the scene, she's making pngs and sticking them into pre-arranged backgrounds downloaded from stock images)

and there are ten thousand more examples i could pull, because this is just the whole entire comic. you can look at a lot of modern adaptions and see where things have been modernized respectfully, and where they are done with disdain for the source material - no one is claiming percy jackson, for example, is perfect, but the author took a great deal of care in his research, and the love for the original myths and culture shine through. lore olympus has zero respect for the original stories, exemplified in how rachel demonizes demeter - the actual crux of the myth. it's bad writing and bad research and further attempts to whitewash a rich and storied culture that had people from so many walks of life, who existed in full spectrum of lgbt identity, who did not conform or even know of the world that exists today. you can modernize without erasing it, and rachel's refusal to do so is one of the many issues tacked to lore olympus.

[firephoenix23]

Guys guys guys guys guys do you see who is standing next to Alastor!!!!

It’s Vox!!!!!!! 🤯

[a2zillustration]

Last night I opened a webcomic PDF in my PDF viewer, to read it and enjoy it like a normal human being, and Adobe asked me if I wanted an AI-generated summary of the document's contents because it was "long"

which I hated

so I'm trying to find a way to leave feedback to Adobe telling them I hate this feature, actually, but as it turns out there is no simple way to send an email to support. (I'm going to bite something)