#those are mostly people who work in Big Data though

[didyougaming]

Hi, gamers. I know the results of the Sandwich Poll have been gnawing at you. So many people wondering whether they answered correctly, which as a reminder is a very important factor in determining which afterlife you end up in when you die. Please understand that I needed a lot of time to internally process these poll results and also that I've been kinda busy/tired. But the people need to know, so here we go.

In total, we received 372 responses. I also spent a lot of my weekend annoying anyone who would listen to me in person about these questions, but I didn't write those answers down.

Question 1 was fairly non-controversial, as it should be. It is worth noting that 3.2% of respondents chose to write-in an answer, and most of these write-in answers were what scientists would call "bad" and "not really useful." So you can assume a 3.2% margin of error on everything in this survey. That's how statistics works.

Question 2 is where we see a real divide. Most respondents consider a sandwich cut into two separate but equal pieces to be one sandwich. This is a real shame, because it's the wrong answer. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Question 3 considers whether one piece of bread cut in half and used for sandwich-making results in a sandwich, and surprisingly the majority of respondents do consider this to be one sandwich. This is really interesting, because despite ending up with functionally and aesthetically the same result as one of the pieces of the sandwich from question 2, a significant number of respondents believe the results to be inherently different. I wish there was a way to better track how much overlap there was for those two seemingly contradictory answers, but the big Sheets page Google Docs is daunting and I don't feel like figuring out how to parse that data, so we just need to accept that we'll never have that exact number. That's how statistics works.

Question 4 mostly just cements the findings of the previous two questions. I do want to point out the one person who answered "who the fuck does this". Sandwich shops do this. Go to a sandwich shop for once in your life and really watch them do their work. Open your eyes.

Question 5 did not get me a lot of useful data, as it turns out having a question that only allowed for write-in answers was a bad idea. However, there are more or less two camps for people who really took these questions seriously and gave it their all. The first school of thought suggests that intent is the most important factor, and if you deem what you've made to be a sandwich, it's a sandwich. While I appreciate the critical thinking on display here, I believe in the other school of thought, which is that when you put ingredients between two breads that's a sandwich, baby. There is a sub-school of thought here that requires those two pieces to be whole pieces, but that's wrong.

One question that I should have included in the survey I think proves my point. If you order a sandwich platter from a deli and they use a single really long piece of bread (think like a several foot long hero) into multiple sections, you would say that you have sandwiches, plural. If you wanted to grab one, you wouldn't say "I'm going to grab a 64th of a sandwich" because you would sound deranged. Despite being parts of a larger whole, they are still ingredients between pieces of bread, and thus fit the definition of "sandwich."

Anyway, thank you for coming on this non-gaming detour with me. It was extremely important that I prove a friend wrong on this topic, and even though I don't think I did that and I think he's choosing to double down on his incorrect opinions, I'm still choosing to spin this as a personal and moral victory. New actual DidYouGamings will come out as soon as I discover any new facts about video games (right now there's only a couple hundred facts about video games at all and I've basically covered all of them.)

[linkyu]

tell me about your defense contract pleage

Oh boy!

To be fair, it's nothing grandiose, like, it wasn't about "a new missile blueprint" or whatever, but, just thinking about what it could have become? yeesh.

So, let's go.

For context, this is taking place in the early 2010s, where I was working as a dev and manager for a company that mostly did space stuff, but they had some defence and security contracts too.

One day we got a new contract though, which was... a weird one. It was state-auctioned, meaning that this was basically a homeland contract, but the main sponsor was Philip Morris. Yeah. The American cigarette company.

Why? Because the contract was essentially a crackdown on "illegal cigarette sales", but it was sold as a more general "war on drugs" contract.

For those unaware (because chances are, like me, you are a non-smoker), cigarette contraband is very much a thing. At the time, ~15% of cigarettes were sold illegally here (read: they were smuggled in and sold on the street).

And Phillip Morris wanted to stop that. After all, they're only a small company worth uhhh... oh JFC. Just a paltry 150 billion dollars. They need those extra dollars, you understand?

Anyway. So they sponsored a contract to the state, promising that "the technology used for this can be used to stop drug deals too". Also that "the state would benefit from the cigarettes part as well because smaller black market means more official sales means a higher tax revenue" (that has actually been proven true during the 2020 quarantine).

Anyway, here was the plan:

Phase 1 was to train a neural network and plug it in directly to the city's video-surveillance system, in order to detect illegal transactions as soon as they occur. Big brother who?

Phase 2 was to then track the people involved in said transaction throughout the city, based on their appearance and gait. You ever seen the Plainsight sheep counting video? Imagine something like this but with people. That data would then be relayed to police officers in the area.

So yeah, an automated CCTV-based tracking system. Because that's not setting a scary precedent.

So what do you do when you're in that position? Let me tell you. If you're thrust unknowingly, or against your will, into a project like this,

Note. The following is not a legal advice. In fact it's not even good advice. Do not attempt any of this unless you know you can't get caught, or that even if you are caught, the consequences are acceptable. Above all else, always have a backup plan if and when it backfires. Also don't do anything that can get you sued. Be reasonable.

Let me introduce you to the world of Corporate Sabotage! It's a funny form of striking, very effective in office environments.

Here's what I did:

First of all was the training data. We had extensive footage, but it needed to be marked manually for the training. Basically, just cropping the clips around the "transaction" and drawing some boxes on top of the "criminals". I was in charge of several batches of those. It helped that I was fast at it since I had video editing experience already. Well, let's just say that a good deal of those markings were... not very accurate.

Also, did you know that some video encodings are very slow to process by OpenCV, to the point of sometimes crashing? I'm sure the software is better at it nowadays though. So I did that to another portion of the data.

Unfortunately the training model itself was handled by a different company, so I couldn't do more about this.

Or could I?

I was the main person communicating with them, after all.

Enter: Miscommunication Master

In short (because this is already way too long), I became the most rigid person in the project. Like insisting on sharing the training data only on our own secure shared drive, which they didn't have access to yet. Or tracking down every single bug in the program and making weekly reports on those, which bogged down progress. Or asking for things to be done but without pointing at anyone in particular, so that no one actually did the thing. You know, classic manager incompetence. Except I couldn't be faulted, because after all, I was just "really serious about the security aspect of this project. And you don't want the state to learn that we've mishandled the data security of the project, do you, Jeff?"

A thousand little jabs like this, to slow down and delay the project.

At the end of it, after a full year on this project, we had.... a neural network full of false positives and a semi-working visualizer.

They said the project needed to be wrapped up in the next three months.

I said "damn, good luck with that! By the way my contract is up next month and I'm not renewing."

Last I heard, that city still doesn't have anything installed on their CCTV.

tl;dr: I used corporate sabotage to prevent automated surveillance to be implemented in a city--

hey hold on

wait

what

HEY ACTUALLY I DID SOME EXTRA RESEARCH TO SEE IF PHILLIP MORRIS TRIED THIS SHIT WITH ANOTHER COMPANY SINCE THEN AND WHAT THE FUCK

HUH??????

well what the fuck was all that even about then if they already own most of the black market???

[dandylovesturtles]

late night posting but I had a thought that spiraled into mostly Disaster Twins banter and I wanted to write it just because of that

I have no plan I’m just going sorry if it just kinda ends

takes place immediately after the events of Evil League of Mutants

———

Donnie’s in his bunk, doing one last nightly check of all his socials, when the curtain to his room is opened and shut. He doesn’t have to look to know who it is - his other brothers have the decency to knock.

“What do you want, Leo?”

He doesn’t answer right away. Donnie hears the sound of his desk chair rolling over concrete and looks down to see Leo making himself comfortable, reclined back so he can see Donnie without craning his neck.

Great. Donnie returns to his phone and waits for Leo to speak.

“I just can’t stop thinking about what happened today.”

“A lot of things happened today, so you’ll have to be more specific.”

“Uh, about Lou Jitsu being our dad, duh! I mean, it’s crazy!”

“Oh, I know.” Donnie actually grins at that, looking up at his ceiling. “Of all the people it could have been! You know, I’ve sequenced all our DNA, and if I go through the data perhaps I can isolate his badassery in genetic form!” He wiggles in excitement. “Maybe I can even make my own Lou Jitsu clone…”

“Okay, cool it on the mad scientist junk for a second,” says Leo, rudely jerking him out of his tiny Lou Jitsu fantasies. “I’m just saying… he’s our dad.”

“Yes, as we’ve established.”

“I mean, all four of us.”

“Good job, Leo, you are two for two.”

“And that makes us brothers. Like… biologically.”

“Yes, very good. You have a fifth grade understanding of biology, gold star.” He looks away from his phone and down at Leo, and feels a sudden rush of panic. “Aaaand you aaare emotional about this… for some reason.”

“Am not,” argues Leo, even though he clearly is. Leo doesn’t cry much, but sometimes his eyes get all big and shiny like he wants to, and now is one of those times.

Donnie cringes. “Are you sure you don’t want to have… whatever conversation this is with Raph or Mikey?”

“No.” Leo scowls. “They’d be all… weird about it.”

“I’m going to be weird about it!”

“Dee, can you just… listen a sec?”

He knows if he tells Leo no after that, Leo will get up and leave… but he feels bad doing that. No matter what reasoning led him to choose Donnie to hear out these feelings, if Leo gets rejected he’ll never tell anyone and just sulk in his room instead.

So Donnie sighs. “Fiiine. But I’m not sharing any emotions tonight.”

Leo snorts, but after a second he starts talking again. “I just… know it shouldn’t matter, because we’re brothers no matter what. But… I don’t know. I always thought, since we’re different species… But now I know we all have the same dad! And it doesn’t matter, but… doesn’t that make you kinda… happy?”

Leo’s looking at him expectantly, and Donnie mulls it over. Does it make him happy? He’s never thought too much about it before, but maybe there is something nice about sharing that connection.

He already said he’s not talking about feelings, though, and anyway… “I already knew.”

Leo is out of the chair and in his face in a second flat. “What do you mean you already knew?”

“Not that Lou Jitsu is our dad, obviously!” He isn’t intimidated by Leo, but he pulls back anyway so he has more room to properly display his annoyance. “But I sequenced our DNA, remember? And it took some work, because of the highly complex processes involved and the fact that we don’t have DNA that is purely human or turtle-“

“Donnie-“

“-anyway, I isolated our human DNA and found enough similarities to determine there was a 92% chance our human donor was the same person. So I already knew that we are biologically brothers.”

Leo gapes at him. “And you didn’t think to tell us that!?”

“I tried to tell you! I laid all my findings out in a powerpoint, and you said, and I quote, “Donald, it’s been fifteen slides already, if you have any more I’m shoving you in a sewer pipe and leaving you for the rats.””

“Hey, don’t pin this on me! You’re the one who didn’t put the important information up front! Effective scientific communication is critical!”

“The point is that it’s all important, and thus impossible to pare down! So if you could just be patient once and a while, you’d actually learn something!”

“Well maybe I just thought you would tell us something this important straight out!”

Donnie is all geared up to keep fighting him on this, but just like how he can tell when Leo is emotional but trying to hide it, he can tell when Leo is hurt and trying to hide it. Arguing doesn’t feel good when it’s like this.

He backs down with a small shrug of surrender. “I just… didn’t think it was that important. I mean, it’s like you said… We’re brothers no matter who our human donor or donors are.”

The hurt slips off Leo’s face as easily as it came, and he smiles just a little. “Yeah?”

“Yes. And if I’m saying it then it’s obviously right.”

Leo rolls his eyes, but he’s still got that smile so Donnie knows all is forgiven.

Leo decides to extend an olive branch too, apparently, because the next thing he says is, “What would you even do with a Lou Jitsu clone, anyway?”

“I haven’t decided.” He looks at Leo, then sighs and scoots over. “Since you’re here, you can help me brainstorm.”

Leo’s smile turns into a full grin, and he pulls himself up into the bunk. It’s a tight squeeze, but they fit.

[padme4000]

Respect BG3 Modders

I am so sad and angry at the people disrespecting modders since Patch 7's release. Mostly seen on discord servers and nexus.

Both the disrespect to the modders porting to toolkit but also the blatant disrespect towards modders who haven't ported yet to mod.io or have chosen not to port to it.

Modder is not porting to mod.io

Modders have every right to say no to porting to mod.io/IGMM whether it is a big mod or small mod. It is their right.

They are not obligated to give you a reason why. Their reason is their own and should be respected.

Do not turn around and then disrespect these modders by threatening to port their content yourself.

And especially don't turn around start bullying/threatening the modder in hopes to pressure them to port it.

Larian does not condone porting other people's content without consent just like nexusmods doesn't. So content found to be porting without consent will be removed from mod.io just like it would on nexusmods.

Which brings me to the below which does touch point on why it is just not feasible right now for some mods to be ported to mod.io even if the modders of those mods would want to:

Porting to the Toolkit

Porting our mods to mod.io/toolkit isn't a straight forward thing. I even had to make a guide to help part of the process. But we also have to create a lot of our files from scratch which is a ton of work.

Whether a small or big mod.

I had to copy/paste data into 400+ lines to port the mods I have already. And that is not counting the different columns either. I really hurt my hands doing so. Even though I paced myself.

Even my small mods took a lot of work. It is not feasible currently for some mods to be ported to the toolkit. Some mods would need 1000 or more lines redoing from scratch. For a hobby and the health of our hands that is not currently feasible.

Also it takes a ton of spoons to learn new things. The toolkit is a new thing. Especially when you're used to another method.

Be patient.

And again if a modder does not want to port their mods to mod.io for whatever reason, just respect that.

Hell you're free to learn modding yourself and make your own assets. Just don't use others assets without permission.

As a side note thank you to everyone respecting each other and modders decisions.

[uyuforu]

Jungkook' Solar Return Chart 2023 - 2024 Analysis

What is a Solar Return Chart?

A solar return chart is a chart that literally describes your year from your birthday of a year until the day before next year. For example, Jungkook's 2023-2024 Solar Return will starts on September 1st 2023 until August 31th 2024. It describes the year for you, what will mostly happens. It said as a solar return chart because your sun returns in its home sign (your natal sun).

How to check your Solar Return Chart?

Go to astro.com > Free Horoscopes > Horoscope Drawings and Data > Extended Chart Selection

Enter your birth day, month, year, time and location

Where it's written chart selection with "natal chart", scroll to Solar Return Chart

On the box down there you can add asteroids to see more details ("additional objects")

-> This post will be featuring a dear anon, we talked a lot about this, I will be talking about his solar Return Chart and I will add what she told me as her opinion of it. Hope you enjoy!

✌️ anon's predictions

‧₊˚✩彡 So a spoiler: He'll be doing a shit ton of shadow work and healing in 23-24 and you'll know why.

‧₊˚✩彡 Also even though there IS a 5H stelium I don't think any relationship would occur because homeboi will be focused on himself AND himself only.

‧₊˚✩彡 So he has Jupiter, Uranus, North Node and Chiron in 12h.

‧₊˚✩彡 Chiron at 19 degrees in Aries: He'll stop people pleasing, wanting to be who HE is, would show individuality, start confronting, healing his inner child, stepping into his power, becoming independent, creating boundaries for himself and others. Self love will be a big theme too as it's in Libra degree.

‧₊˚✩彡 Its ruler is Mars in libra at 3 degrees in 5h: Again healing his inner child and falling in love with himself, accepting himself, etc.

‧₊˚✩彡 North Node in Aries at 25 degree: Becoming a leader, creating his own path, being himself, focusing on himself, wanting freedom, becoming self reliant. It's at an Aries degree so it intensifies these themes.

‧₊˚✩彡 Its ruler in 5h Mars in libra at 3 degree: Again about self love, innerchild healing, wanting creative freedom, re-evaluating shit from school years. (The reason for me talking about self love and not relationships is because we have Aries here and Aries are very much about me, myself and I. He moves on VERY FAST from relationships so he doesn't have any baggage about it)

‧₊˚✩彡 There is a conjunction in Jupiter, Uranus and Ascendant too!

‧₊˚✩彡 Jupiter in Taurus at 15 degrees: extreme luck, business tactics and GROUNDING in money matters because he NEEDS it. It's at a Gemini degree and you know what it is.

‧₊˚✩彡 Its ruler in 4h in Leo at 12 degrees: He'll learn the value of family and homeland. He'll be admired in his homeland(overseas too because its in Pisces degree and it is about foreign affairs as well)

‧₊˚✩彡 Uranus in Taurus at 23 degrees: His views on money and possessions will change, he'll learn to be independent in those cases too. It's at an Aquarius degree so it could also be that he'd join people for business purposes(which he already did by collabing).

‧₊˚✩彡 The Uranus and Jupiter conjunction tells me about him learning to be smart (he applied for trademark on his logo <being smart and not letting others take advantage of him anymore> {very much Aries} and being successful in doing it) in business and money game, also needing independence.

‧₊˚✩彡 Uranus conjuncting Asc: He'll also "upset" those that admired him by being rebellious and not playing by their rules. ☆Jupiter conjunct Asc: Personal growth, beneficial relationships and HUGE luck in material/money matters.

‧₊˚✩彡 Now the 5h because it's the most aspected house with 12h. He has sun, mercury and mars in 5h.

‧₊˚✩彡 Sun in virgo at 8 degrees in 5h conjunct Mercury at 18 degrees: Identifying his innerchild by focusing on it, changing his views on love and relationships. Waking his delulu self up and realizing what actual love is and also realizing that he really hasn't been in love because of his delulu expectations (but he'll know that it exists when he meets his wife)

‧₊˚✩彡 Mars in libra at 3 degrees: It has been aspected to Aries so its more about "me" again so self love but also realizing that his intense thoughts about love and relationships are very delulu since the time he started dating (again would also realize that no relationship was actual love and they were just delusions too).

‧₊˚✩彡 It's ruler Venus in Leo at 12 degrees in 4h: He'll be loved/admired/adored in his family/homeland (overseas too) and gain more fame too. I see him starting to invest more in lands,etc. Due to Uranus and Jupiter's ruler being in 4h too and he'll be lucky in it!!!

‧₊˚✩彡 Capricorn Pluto in 9h at 28 degrees: So what I've noticed is that half of the things this year will be focused on his homeland/family. He'll reform/change his beliefs/views on life,spirituality,etc. That will be different and foreign to his homeland/family. Its ruler Saturn in Pisces at 3 degrees in 10h: He'll start diving deeper into spirituality. His views on career will change,after this year he may spiritually start making decisions in his career.

‧₊˚✩彡 Moon in Pisces at 29 degree: He'll be highly sensitive and emotional,it will be a completion of his spiritual lessons. Will imagine and think more about his wife,fall in love more deeply with her. Would also make emotional connections with big communities. Its ruler is in the same house so it's gonna double up.

‧₊˚✩彡 Neptune in Pisces in 11h at 26 degrees: Will open himself to learning more about spirituality and focus on his future become more dreamy and imaginative. Would also think about stepping up the future business game. Sort people from his circle that don't have a good influence on him.

‧₊˚✩彡 Moon and Neptune conjunction: Will have vivid dreams and exciting imaginations about his wife(i could've talked about other things but its Pisces we're talking about so its romance for sure and I'm certain about it being his wife because we have late Taurus degree in Neptune and late Leo degree moon, these both tell us that its his endgame we're talking about). Will imagine his life with his future wife too!! (That's cute)

Summary: He'll be getting big fat bags, will be himself and say fuck you to those that don't want him to be that way, be independent, big on self love and healing, being creative/imaginative about his future (especially his wife) have vivid dreams, transform his views, dive deep into spirituality and be open to learning it. It's a shadow work and self love/embracing, new views on money and beliefs, healing his self created wounds, being independent, becoming more spiritual and falling in love more with his future wife.

Uyu's Predictions

‧₊˚✩彡 Scorpio DSC: To me it's a year of being single, it's not a year of being in a relationship, it gives me the hermit kind if vibe. 7H is empty meaning nothing serious is over there this year.

‧₊˚✩彡 Sun in 5H conjunct Mercury: Focused on this year is creativity, fame, being under the light for our ideas, conducting mercury (voice) so focused on singing and singer ideas. His album went out after his birthday so I'm not shocked it happened during this solar return. Sun in 5H could make him dating or enjoying flings, flirting, but not searching for a serious relationship.

‧₊˚✩彡 Mars 5H Libra 3°: Mars shows one's drive and ambition during that year. In 5H it means all ambition are focused on creative ideas, he will have many ideas for this year and it's all about art and so his career. The 3° (gemini) means to me the ideas are really focused on his voice, and so singing. So technically the focused this year is his career.

‧₊˚✩彡 MC Aquarius: Career is more important and focused on social medias, and in foreign lands. This also shows because how much JK has been present on social medias already? He ain't stopping. 5° (Leo)= creativity, art, etc.

‧₊˚✩彡 Venus Leo 4H 12°: Def more focused on family life. There could be a changment in his home life, how he feels loved and secured. 12° is pisces and there could be some hidden stuff coming out, and it may change a lot.

‧₊˚✩彡 Taurus Rising: Rising means how you appear this year. Jk will appear as very stable, harmonious and expensive person. A bit secretive or just looking cold or introvert, but more like shy and distant, looks like he enjoys to be on his own, and he enjoys his sh*t basically. Uranus conjuncts the rising meaning he may look different or just unique this year. He could look very weird or just people don't recognize him in a way. He may change suddenly? (could be bald hair for military lol)

‧₊˚✩彡 Capricorn over 9H: Traveling and foreign land are part of his job much

‧₊˚✩彡 Saturn in 10H: Limitied in career, mostly I think caused by military service that is happening quite quick and early in this solar return chart

‧₊˚✩彡 Moon conjunct Neptune in 11H: People will have delusions about him this year, mostly on social medias. It could be people creating rumors about him, or just gossips. Or it could be people building a fantasy about him on social medias. There is for sure an illusions that people create about him on social medias. And hear me out on this one, you will understand after why I said that. I said in my BTS Tarot Reading about military that people expect JK to have the time of his life during military while he will not enjoy it so much in reality (based on cards), and it actually make sense to me in this src. The illusions people create about him could be related to that, people expecting him to haver a good time and actually ignoring the reality about him. It conjuncts moon, his emotions, which means people will not see it or notice the reality of him. It's also in Pisces, that represents the hidden things. Like bro, everything is connected. Why do I think it's related to military? Keep reading....

‧₊˚✩彡 Aries 12H: So 12H is all about the spiritual stuff and hidden things, like the hidden worlds, etc. If we focused on this part, and remember what Aries is about, you can then remember that sign is about anything that involves physical body, the war and so military. Fighting too. In the 12H it means it's part of the spiritual world, but such a sign in it would make me feel like it's more a shadow work, because it's about fighting. So this military service was just right there, in that year.

‧₊˚✩彡 Aries Chiron conjunct Aries North Node in 12H: Chiron is about traumas and the wounds, whatever it is and where it is, it is never pleasant to experience. Man this is literally in Aries in the 12H. Do you still think he will enjoy it????? Yep. Literally to me it means that he will not like military and will mostly see it as a painful experience than anything. It's also in libra degree which means it's also unbalanced time for him. There are no harmony and he hates that. He will experience such a shadow work to do, for real. But, don't worry too much for two different reasons. The first reason is that it conjuncts North Node, which represents your purpose this year, and it's also in Aries 12H with an Aries degree. THIS was his destiny this year, okay? He needs to go to military, because it's his Korean duty but also for shadow works. Shadow works are supposed to make you work on yourself, and any triggers you have or red flag (in a sense) for you to grow up (in a sense). So he needs to go through it.

‧₊˚✩彡 Jupiter in 12H: This is the second reason you don't need to worry. Jupiter shows where you will be more lucky in/at. It's also in the 12H, now not conjucting Chiron and NN, but in the same house. So despite the rough year spiritually, we know it has to happen. But it will also bring him a lot of luck and abundance afterwards. And here's the thing about shadow works: it's literally "blue sky after the storm". Or the rainbow after the storm, I don't remember. But you see what I mean, it's literally realizing how lucky you are and how the universe blessed you to go through a shadow work. He will realize how lucky and bless he is that it happened, and how much he grew spiritually. He will grow spiritually for sure.

Thank you for reading! Requests are open but make sure to read the rules first!

back to index ; ask ; requests ; rules

[elvenbeard]

A Day in the Life (like any other) - 2076 edition

Time for some big VP projects again :3 This one was so much fun to set up, edit, and assemble into a post (several, really, I took so many pics). I'll share some more details on all scenes below the cut but yes. I really wanted to give a glimpse into how I picture Vince's life to look like when he still worked for Arasaka - and how, specifically during late 2076, the days began to bleed into each other, he got trapped in an endless cycle, and, in hindsight, was lucky that Jackie helped break him out of it all.

Days for Arasaka employees start early and are long - on a relatively calm and normal day, he probably would have to get up and get ready between 6-7 am. At that time he needed lots of meds, boosters, drugs to get out of bed in the morning and make it through the day somehow, keep up his performance the way it always used to be prior to some traumatic event TM that happened in early/mid 2076.

He lived close to Corpo Plaza though at least, so walking to work was feasible, and a means to get some semi-fresh air and actual movement in during a day otherwise spent mostly in front of the computer.

Occasionally I think Jenkins would call for a morning meeting (and few people would like those), where he'd discuss important measures, plans, and so on. Some more impressions from this, because I love setting up big group scenes:

Most of Vince's day would probably have consisted of data analysis, overseeing and planning strikes against enemy corporations on big and small scales, and maintaining Arasaka's own security and secrets. I love the many little glimpses into the dark and twisted corpo workday we get through what NPCs say and the Corpo dialogues, but I'd love to know even more!

For his lunch he'd actually leave the office, and if no coworker invited him elsewhere, Vince would always be drawn to the Plaza. Find a nice spot to sit or just walk around the Plaza a couple of times to clear his head and sort his thoughts for the rest of the day. In 2077 it's still one of his favourite places in all of NC, and watching the holographic fishes swim their circles has something calming and meditative about it. Spoiler alert, in that spot he's sitting here in these pics he ends up after Mikoshi, stumbling out of Arasaka Tower. He just sits down and passes out watching the fish ;_;

But now, back to 2076:

I figure, with the kinds of high stakes missions Counterintel probably carries out, a lot of planning has to go into them. And preparation as close to real-life condition as possible. So I think the agents probably play through their missions in cyberspace prior to carrying them out in the real world, in a safe environment, recording everything, and analyizing it the next day during the morning meeting.

As a very traditional Japanese corporation it's probably customary at Arasaka to not really be allowed to leave your workplace before your boss hasn't. So It often gets late, everyone is tired and frustrated, and not rarely the same groups of people would end up in the same bars. Vince doesn't and didn't drink back then, but being in and around Japantown certainly was an opportunity to stock up on drugs or otherwise numb himself from what his life had become at that point.

He was never very close to any of his coworkers besides Harry, who I always pictured as some kind of guiding figure for him. He was there long before Vince started at Arasaka, and he'll probably remain there in his little cubicle for as long as he still cares to keep to himself and a low profile, just doing his thing well with little ambitions to make it big. The latter is what usually breaks corpos their neck, but I think for every V, Jenkins, Abernathy, there are at least a dozen Harrys who are content with being a tiny, insignificant cogwheel in the huge corporate machinery.

Vince's days would often end way too late and at that time he's incapable of sleeping without pills and the like, so it begins how it ends: self-medicating in the hopes it will somehow make this never-ending cycle easier to bear.

[balioc]

One thing about theater LARP is that, by structural necessity, it has an odd relationship with the concept of visual appearance (and other forms of sensory data).

In media with strong visual components -- movies/TV, video games, comics, etc. -- things are largely defined by how they look. Characters, in particular, often have vivid character designs that do a lot to establish their identities in the audience's mind. Physical settings, similarly, get a lot of mojo out of being visually distinct.

In text-only media, of course, there are no images. But there can be visual descriptions, and those can do a lot of work. (My impression is that popular prose media has become more and more "visually styled" over the course of the last six decades or so, as movies and TV and games have become more and more influential on authors and audiences alike.) Readers vary widely in how much they're inclined to construct images in their head, how much they develop "visual headcanons," and so forth...but to the extent that you can paint a compelling picture with your words, that's mostly a good thing. The same goes for tabletop RPGs, even though much of the "writing" and "design" work is being done by the players and the GM rather than an author-as-such.

When you're writing a theater LARP, you actively want to avoid establishing visual detail whenever possible. Your characters are going to be played by actual people, after all -- by multiple people, who look different from each other, and who aren't being hyper-selected for looking exactly like the character on the page. Your physical settings are going to be put together in the venues you have to hand, with the decorations you have to hand, and even being an amazing LARP-style set designer goes only so far when you're trying to turn a big empty room into a castle or whatever. Every visual detail you establish is a potential source of friction between the text and the game reality, a point of counter-immersion. Every visual detail you establish is a potential burden on the players who have to try to account for that in their costuming, on the set designers, etc.

So you learn to write around those things...to create characters whose distinctiveness doesn't partake in visual detail...and the heavily visual nature of so much contemporary prose starts to feel like a crutch.

[schro4444]

About the Kaito keeping his secret ID through Refuge In Audacity do you think Conan stuck with his first guess that KID was younger than 20 or later dismissed it as KID wearing a mask? (Ik this isn't relevant to the kuroba sitcom but I had Ditto in the brain haha)

I personally hc that he logicked it away as "he can't be THAT young, learning all those skills he has would take time" and then Kaito TOLD HIM his mom was Phantom Lady who did crazy gymnastics so she couldn't have been very old and dissappeared a scant 20 years ago and Conan went "welp"

Ik that Hakuba figured KID's age through DNA and then compared to highschool databases across the country, but first that's not how DNA tests work, the length that tells how old someone is changes from person to person, and second, I'm not familiar w Japanese laws regarding privacy and DNA databases but I'm fairly sure that what Hakuba did was like. Super illegal. Probably why Hakuba hauled ass back to London after that case actually, I bet he only got away with it bc nepotism (IT'S SURE ILLEGAL IN THE UK)

I still rlly want to know if Hakuba sat KID down w an optometrist board and an IQ test though, HOW did he get that data. Like I bet Toichi and Chikage never even got Kaito tested bc they thought it funnier to keep people guessing just HOW smart he was, plus Kaito wanted to share class with Aoko and Nakamori wanted her to be in a class where she could make friends her age, and that was the end of the topic

(oh man this ended up long, MY BAD)

first of all, omg im honored, tysm for reading ditto :D <3

GREAT QUESTION I think conan kept it in mind, but became less sure of himself over time. conan/shinichi has a pretty skewed idea of what kids are capable of doing, and I think he knows this about himself, so it’s reasonable for him to think “...nah, it would be insane if a high schooler was doing all this… right?” and if he was basing his original age guess off of what he could see of kid’s face and body shape, well, he learned very quickly that kid can change any of those traits at any time. who’s to say that kid wasn’t wearing makeup/a mask/anything else that might change his silhouette? …left to his own devices for long enough, conan can become a victim of his own overthinking, lol.

aaaand then kaito dropped the Phantom Lady tidbit. that, if anything, seemed to me like a peace offering of some kind? possibly meant to even the playing field between them? as always, it’s hard to tell what shinichi and kaito actually Know in canon, though I’m of course personally a fan of them knowing the least amount of information possible while still being as intelligent as we know they are. because shenanigans >:D

if we want to have fun with it ;) , I think the phantom lady reveal only narrows down kid’s age to,,,,, younger than 30? ish? it mostly gives conan an upper limit, since he doesn’t know whether kid was born before or after her retirement, and she easily could’ve retired in her early 30s. what it Does confirm is that this kid isn’t the original one, but that only narrows his identity down to “probably a protege of kid #1.” from there, the biggest bit of provable evidence against kaito is that his father died right when the original kid disappeared, but that’s still a pretty big logic leap to make when you aren’t around kaito all the time (like hakuba is). and toichi had students, too! who knows who else he taught besides yukiko and sharon? who is more likely to be kaitou kid: an undercover protege of toichi’s, or his teenage son who has an alibi for multiple heists?

best I can tell from some brief research, in Japan, DNA collection isn’t regulated for law enforcement, but hakuba isn’t law enforcement, he’s a consultant at best. I think other DNA tests for ppl age 16+ require consent of the person, and 16 or younger require the consent of a parent. hakuba has NEITHER. hakuba was saved from being a juvenile criminal by nepotism and the fact that nakamori laughed in his face instead of charging him with obstruction of justice or something. and yeah, that’s Absolutely Not How DNA Tests Work adjfksjdj

FR THO!! now I’m imagining hakuba chasing kid through a museum yelling “WHAT NUMBER LOGICALLY FOLLOWS THE SERIES ACCORDING TO THE GIVEN PATTERN” while kid answers with, like, extremely confused perfect accuracy. “400 iq” honestly sounds more like something hakuba made up to explain the fact that kid could answer the iq test questions while rappelling down a skyscraper lol. and I totally agree, kaito’s probably never been officially tested—it’s important for kids to be with their peers, especially when you’re already likely to have child prodigy syndrome. also because kaito and aoko get along so well, they would run the risk of never making other friends (cough shinichi cough). plus, the kurobas probably like to avoid official records as much as possible, and scoring even in the 160+ range would gather attention that their family of internationally-wanted criminals does Not need

[dsmprarepairbb]

i'm very excited for this as a rarepair enjoyer! this is a great thread on the subreddit that might be a good starting point to think of cut-off qualifications: https://www.reddit.com/r/FanFiction/comments/eohtgm/what_exactly_counts_as_a_rarepair/

while i'm very on board with this event, i think trying to say 'anything but dnf' can feel too targeted, and i don't think it's the intention at all, it might make people feel singled out or unwelcome here. for instance, i think karlnapity and quackbur are also ships that are worth disqualifying (and i say this as someone who loves those ships XD).

good luck with putting this together though! i know a lot of work goes into these things <3

I held onto this ask for a long time for a very specific reason: I really enjoy spreadsheets. I wanted to wait until after I had closed the interest check so I could go through all of the submitted ships so I could get some data to back up my reasoning.

And back up my reasoning it did.

A total of 75 ships (including DNF) were listed by people who said they were interested. I took all of these ships and looked them up on AO3. I decided to look at AO3 for this as this is going to be mostly about content creation, and I feel that utilizing the otp:true function helps a lot.

Of the 75 ships, 15 didn't show up on AO3 at all, no matter how much I looked. For the rest, however, I noted down the number of works both in the tag as a whole, and with the otp:true filter. I put this into a spreadsheet and generated a pie chart using the otp:true data that looks like this:

Due to this discrepancy, I feel that it is valid of me to make this current rarepair big bang only exclude DNF. I am retracting prior statements of excluding XDNF, as that ship was lower than I had thought. In the future, the list will be refined, but for now, the only ship excluded is DNF.

Further reasoning below the cut.

So, this is not the only chart that I did. I also did a pie chart of the unfiltered ships as well.

As you can see, this percentage is lower that otp:true, but you can still see that the gap is quite large. No other ship even compares. Also worth noting is that in this view, fics where a poly relationship is present can skew the results, as many chose to tag their fics not only with the poly ship, but also the individual pairings (or smaller groupings) of that ship.

I also generated a bar graph, but due to the amount of ships its very hard to read. The first label, DNF, is even pushed off the view so you can't see it, but I will attach it here anyways as reference.

yeah its...bad lol. Its so hard to read.

I am aware that in the link you put, there are multiple ways to go about this. As I said, in the future this will be changed. I am most likely going to make a tier list of sorts for these ships based on this data. Also, I did not calculate based off of percentage of fics in the fandom itself as so many of these fics are crossovers, and I felt it was a futile effort.

Also, for those curious, I'm going to post the data I collected just for funsies. The ones with a -1 were the 15 that didn't show up at all. They had to be denoted this way to ensure that they were sorted correctly. You can see that Karlnapity (#8) and quackbur (#4) are also listed!

(I also calculated what percentage of ships tagged like that were also true because I'm a nerd who likes writing formulas lmfao)

I love dnf! Its fun! But you gotta admit that its reach is significantly more than other ships'. Also a fun aside from a friend:

[whentherewerebicycles]

oof guys some days I feel very competent at my job and some days I feel a little in over my head. today it’s definitely the latter… I think it was just a lot of being in meetings with high-ranking admins who have been here for 10+ years and thus have LOTS of knowledge of context & lots of strong opinions about these big institution-wide issues. I don’t think I ever embarrass myself in these types of meetings (mostly because I try not to talk too much and instead focus on asking questions… maybe that’s embarrassing in its own way but feels better than accidentally saying something stupid/ignorant). but they always make me feel very conscious of how new I am both to the institution and to this type of role!! however I am trying to remind myself that these people didn’t start out knowing everything about our university system or about how to think at this level… they have accumulated that understanding over many years of being involved in lots of different initiatives at different levels. I can learn these skills and the fact that I don’t have them quite yet doesn’t mean I’m ill-suited to the job or doomed to be less effective than my longer-tenured coworkers. but it does means I need to do some thinking about what those skills are and how to build them over time.

(also a lot of these meetings were about using data to inform institutional recommendations and I feel VERY insecure about my ability to draw conclusions from quantitative data. I don’t have the training and I’m not totally sure how to get it at this stage. then I start getting in my own head about being stupid with numbers, which makes it harder to see the ways that I could still contribute usefully to these discussions even if I can’t be much help with number-crunching. I could also think about how to develop these skills but honestly I just find it all SO BORING it’s hard to motivate myself to even want to pay attention. not something you are really allowed to feel at this level though!!)

I think the other problem is that I’m feeling a little bit checked out because of the pregnancy. it’s partly just that I feel pretty tired and physically worn out all the time… so it’s often easier to focus on the concrete small tasks on my plate than to do the big picture conceptual thinking I was doing at the start of this position. it’s also partly that I’m three months away from being out for six months, which makes me feel less motivated to tackle big stuff… it’s easier to wrap up loose ends than to launch new projects that will have to be put on the shelf for a long time. and then idk I feel like I’m allocating a huge chunk of my intellectual and emotional resources to preparing for parenthood, I guess? like the background hum in my brain these days is all about trying to get ready for this huge self-shattering life transition. not that you can ever be ready but I feel like so much of my energy is focused on my personal life right now when in the past it’s been much more skewed towards work. that seems normal under the circumstances! but it’s hard to figure out how to rebalance, or if I even need to rebalance at this point. like is it ok to be consumed by impending parenthood and to not feel quite as invested in or interested in my career for a stretch?? is that ok or do I need to work more actively to correct it?

[onedappercat]

Tag Game

I was tagged by @adverbian so I’ll give it a go! I’m going to subtract the data from the fic I’m listed as co-creator on though, because I only provided art for it. ❤️

How many works to you have on ao3?

11

What’s your total ao3 word count?

356,295 - I’m a long fic person. 🫠

What fandoms do you write for?

Good Omens

Top five fics by kudos:

Queen of Hell - Crowley becomes the Queen of Hell to avert the second coming. Explores his past relationship as Lucifer’s lover.

The Last Dance - A 1941 speculative piece of Aziraphale’s apology dance.

Why Does the Ortolan Sing? - Human AU where Crowley is a busker at the coffee shop that Azira falls in love with. Crowley is already in a toxic relationship with a mobster.

One Vision - My first fic and my take on the Second Coming. Ends in South Down with a cat.

The Devil’s Love - Pre-fall Crowley doesn’t realize Lucifer’s plans for him, and Aziraphale has a crush.

Do you respond to comment?

I try to. Sometimes it takes me a couple days to work up the spoons for it, but I love receiving comments! I try and say more than just a thank you, but at the very least I try and do that.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I’ve written so much angst, I can’t really say what someone else would consider the angstiest ending.

I have two pre-fall fics: The Devil’s Love and The Queen’s Fall, so obviously that is going to end in angst. I’ve had the most people comment that The Last Dance broke their hearts. Technically Do It Again is a hopeful ending, but… Well, archive warnings exist for a reason. 🙃

What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably my first fic, One Vision. It was how I dealt with the end of s2, so it was pretty positive. I’ve since embraced the angst, although I still tend to end things positively.

Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet…

Do you write smut?

I’ve written smut scenes in very plot-heavy fics. Still rather new to it, but my latest has really pushed me further into it. I can only write it when I’m dead tired, for some reason…

Craziest crossover:

I’ve been quite taken with Red Sonja Crowley… I posted Battle Raiments and Camping Gear, but didn’t list Red Sonja as a fandom because it’s just clothes. 😅 They are crack art posts, but I guess they are crossovers.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Doubt it.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but that would be cool!

Have you ever co-written a fic?

I’m listed as co-creator on Tale of the Sea Bucca, but I only did art. I joined the Drabble for the GOAD Writer’s Guild celebration, so that was a kind of mini co-writing thing.

All-time favorite ship?

Aziraphale/Crowley for life. They’re the only reason I’m writing fics. I enjoy writing Crowley/Lucifer simply because it’s rife with angst.

What a WIP you want to finish, but probably won’t?

I usually only write one thing at a time, with the exception of Queen of Hell, which I wrote outlined all three parts at the same time.

What are your writing strengths?

I’ve been told recently that I’m great at presenting the mental effect a toxic relationship has on someone without it devolving into torture porn. That means a lot, because I’ve tried handling it with fineness. I’ve also been asked if I was Neil Gaiman because I made someone hate God and feel for Satan. 😆

What are your writing weaknesses?

I feel like my smut could be better. Honestly, don’t get me started on my weaknesses or I won’t stop.

Thoughts on dialog in another language.

Cool! I’m not confident enough to do it myself, but big props to those who have.

First fandom you wrote for:

As a kid, I think I wrote X Files fan fics during study hall, but never posted anywhere. Mostly about John Doggett dying and Mulder coming back. 🙃

Favorite fics you’ve written:

Even though I don’t normally read human AU, I’m really enjoying writing Why Does the Ortolan Sing? because of the depth to the story itself. I adore my Crowley in the Queen of Hell series and the dynamic between Lucifer and Aziraphale. I want to write them again, but I don’t have a story yet.

I haven’t re-read it for a while, but I was really proud of The Last Dance. It’s also the only fic I’ve written that I’ve seen recommended to others, which is an honor.

I have no one to tag, because everyone I know has probably already been tagged. 😅

[hahahahawk]

I want a fake person to live in my computer. But not like that.

The neurospicy coping/productivity technique “body doubling” is about seeing someone doing your desired activity helps your executive functioning circuits let you also do the desired activity.

I’m not a scientist about this, I just have a wonky brain that responds well to this (but not working in an open plan office, go figure (that probably has to do with agency and consent, but this is a derail))

Today I tried a utility/tool/“game” called Spirit City: LoFi Sessions. You get an avatar in a cozy apartment, and both avatar and apartment can be customized. You set the lighting/time of day and tell your avatar where to go (“on the bed”, “at the desk”, “on the window seat”, “by the fire”) and what to do (writing, typing, gaming, drawing, meditating, knitting (as a knitter, I judge the knitting animation “not bad”)).

There are lofi-chill out music playlists in the “game” and rudimentary productivity tools like a todo list, a habit tracker, a pompodoro timer, and a “journal” feature.

The gamification is earning coins (by logging in, having the app open, and using the productivity tools) to buy different furniture/clothes and following hints to find new wacky pets.

I’ve spent about 15 years obsessing over productivity tools and techniques, so that side of the utility did nothing for me. I pay for Spotify, so the included music did nothing for me (the songs were pleasant, but repeated too soon for my liking, and I wasn’t interested in manually switching the playlist every 40 minutes). Dress up/decorating does nothing for me.

Needless to say, I got a refund pretty quickly.

Well, I did… but not without some hesitation because holy shit the body doubling aspect did something for me. At a few junctures in the hour-ish I had the program open, I looked over from my main project, saw my avatar typing away at their desk and thought “hell yeah, we’re getting stuff done” then went back to my project without doing any random googling or checking social media.

I considered keeping the “game” just for that aspect, but

The window didn’t fit well on my vertical monitor

The avatar wouldn’t change tasks/take breaks without my input

I would *so much* love to have a CG avatar in the corner* of my screen that would have its own pompodoro timer and mostly spend 5 hours typing on their laptop in a variety of locations, but also model “get up and stretch/snack/drink water” for me.

The interaction I’d want to have with this avatar:

Patting them on the head to tell them they’re going a good job.

I do *not* want that behavior reciprocated to me because I refuse to be complimented by inanimate objects (or people who don’t know what they’re ‘complimenting’)

Them suggesting I take a break whenever they do

Me notifying them when I start a break/get back to work. (I do a lot of flow state work and usually prefer flexible breaks rather than scheduled ones)

I will accept feedback (and data exports) about my working/taking a break patterns

—-

* I think the large default window was both a blessing and a curse for Spirit City. It allowed the avatar to be big enough to feel like a person in an environment instead of a stick figure in a box. But I don’t actually have a lot of screen real estate to give over. So it’s be nice if the program handled being odd window sizes better.

Anyway, Rusty’s Retirement is an idle game that doesn’t scratch the body double itch (though it might if you identify as a robot), but it is a calm farming game that is designed to only take up a strip along the bottom/side of your monitor and it’s been much better for my productivity. It’s great for the occasional quick hit of dopamine (bring it to the front, plant some crops, queue some bot upgrades, put it away again), and also useful for short breaks. On those longer short breaks, I make larger functional and aesthetic changes to my farm, but it generally takes less than five minutes to catch up/run out of content. After that I’m generally ready to jump back into work, and if I’m not it’s usually a sign I need to stand up and take care of some other needs.

[zerosecurity]

Quishing: The Lurking Danger of QR Code Phishing

Nowadays, QR codes are everywhere, linking us to everything from restaurant menus to quick payment options. This widespread use has a downside, though. There's been a spike in QR phishing attacks, also known as "quishing". Recent figures show a frightening 51% increase in attacks over the last year. In a quishing attack, hackers play on our trust in QR codes. They design malicious QR codes to lead people to fraudulent websites. These fake sites aim to steal important info like login credentials and financial data. This type of crime can seriously harm both individuals and companies. Stopping quishing means taking cybersecurity measures. It's key to protect personal and financial information from those who abuse QR codes. Quishing is a big problem because these codes are so often trusted. Key Takeaways - QR phishing, or "quishing," has seen a 51% increase in attacks in the past year. - Quishing exploits the trust and convenience of QR codes to steal sensitive information like login credentials and financial data. - Quishing poses a significant threat to businesses, potentially leading to identity theft, reputation damage, and financial losses. - Robust cybersecurity measures are crucial to mitigate the risks of quishing effectively. - Safeguarding personal and financial information from QR code-based attacks is essential.

What is Quishing?

Quishing, or QR phishing, is a cyberattack that tricks users into using QR codes. Hackers make fake QR codes. When scanned, they take you to fake websites that try to steal your info or money. QR Phishing or 'Quishing' Defined Quishing fools people into sharing their personal or financial details. They do this by using the trust people have in QR codes. It can be hard for people to tell the difference and avoid these traps. Exploiting the Convenience and Trustworthiness of QR Codes QR codes are everywhere now, from menus to payment options. We use them a lot, which makes us feel safe. But, this also means they are perfect for cybercriminals to exploit with their tricks. How Quishing Attacks Work Hackers make QR codes that lead to fake sites when scanned. These codes can show up anywhere - in emails, ads, or on things we touch. This makes them very sneaky. It's harder to spot quishing attacks because we think QR codes are safe. They also use many devices, making it tough for companies to protect us. If you scan a bad QR code, you could be in danger. Finding these scams is tough because QR codes keep their secrets until you scan them. Scammers use our nosiness and feelings to get us to scan codes. This can lead to losing money or facing other online dangers.

The Rise of QR Codes and the Quishing Threat

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, QR codes were mostly in ads and marketing. But, with the pandemic, they're everywhere now. They're used in places like restaurants and for paying. They're even key in health campaigns. However, this increase means more 'quishing' attacks. These attacks imitate trusted sources and fool people into giving up info. The Pandemic-Driven Surge in QR Code Usage The pandemic pushed QR codes into more industries. By 2025, nearly 100 million in the US will be scanning QR codes with their phones. Almost 60% believe this trend will continue. This shows QR codes are now a big part of our future.

The Risks of Quishing for Individuals and Businesses

The use of QR codes has led to a new cybercrime: quishing, or QR phishing. It's a big risk for people and companies, as seen in the first source. A harmful QR code can steal your login details. This gives hackers access to your important accounts and info. Quishing attacks can swipe login credentials. This lets cybercriminals get into someone's crucial accounts. It might be email, bank, or other major services. It can bring on financial problems and threats to your identity too. Financial App Hijacking Bad QR codes might hijack financial apps on your phone. This allows crooks to see your financial info and maybe make fake transactions. They often use quick scare tactics through QR codes. This tricks people who trust the tech's ease and quickness. Exposure of Business Data Bigger businesses are also at risk. Their sensitive corporate data, like customer info, money records, and ideas, might get out. A successful attack can hit the company badly. They might lose money, and their good name, and even face legal issues. The ease and popularity of QR codes make them perfect for crooks. They use the tech's trust and easy-to-use nature to mess with people and companies.

Protecting Yourself from Quishing Attacks

The use of QR codes has increased a lot because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This rise has also brought more quishing attacks by cybercriminals. They create fake QR codes to lead people to sites that steal important info like login details and money. To stay safe, be careful with QR codes and always use good practices. Think Before You Scan Never quickly scan any QR code, even if it seems safe and from a known place. Scammers might put fake covers on real QR codes to fool users into dangerous websites. Always check the code and its environment before scanning it. Manually Type URLs Instead of scanning QR codes, type the URL of the website into your browser by hand. This way, you can check if the site is real and not a phishing site that wants to steal your info. Use Secure QR Code Scanner Apps When you have to scan a QR code, use a secure app on your phone. These apps can spot and alert you about risky QR codes, adding more safety for you. Remain Skeptical of Free Offers Be careful of QR codes that offer free stuff, big discounts, or anything that sounds too good to be true. Scammers often use these to make people act quickly out of fear or wanting the deal. This can lead to giving away important info. Educate Yourself and Others Keep learning about the newest quishing strategies and share what you know with others. Being informed and alert is crucial in fighting these threats. Take steps to protect your online safety and lower the chances of a quishing attack.

The Impact of Quishing on Businesses

QR codes are getting more popular, but so is the danger. Quishing, or QR phishing, attacks are on the rise. They can seriously harm businesses. They cause identity theft, money loss, and damage to a company's good name. By tricking a QR code, a hacker can steal important info. This includes login details and money data. This puts a business's important stuff in danger. Businesses may face big money losses and other expensive problems, like fixing the issue and dealing with the law. Reputation Damage Getting hit by a quishing attack can ruin a company's image. It makes customers distrust them. This bad name can lead to losing market share and make it hard to get new customers.

QR Code Security Best Practices for Businesses

The use of QR codes is growing fast. Businesses need to be one step ahead to keep themselves and their customers safe from quishing and QR phishing attacks. These attacks come from stealing login credentials. Over 80% of cyber attacks use phishing as their tool. By 2025, nearly 100 million U.S. smartphone users will be scanning QR codes. To fight quishing attacks, companies can follow certain steps: - Educate Employees: It's vital to teach your staff about the dangers of quishing. Make sure they know to check if the QR codes are real before they scan them. Warn them to be careful with QR codes from places you wouldn’t expect or people you don't trust. - Implement Secure QR Code Policies: Make solid rules for how QR codes are used in your company. These rules should cover making, sharing, and using QR codes safely. - Utilize Secure QR Code Generators: Choose trustworthy tools to make your QR codes. Look for ones that let you make dynamic QR codes. These change or expire, which helps prevent misuse. - Integrate QR Code Scanning Solutions: Use apps that look at the content behind QR codes first. This extra step checks if they are safe before opening them up for your team or customers. - Monitor and Respond to Threats: Keep an eye out for any quishing attacks. Always have a plan ready to stop and fix any problems that might come up fast. Following these QR code safety steps will help companies stay safe from quishing attacks. Such attacks have gone up 51% in 2023 in many fields. Staying alert and always working to improve QR code safety is key in today's world.

Emerging Quishing Trends and Future Threats

As QR codes get more popular, cybercriminals are finding new ways to trick people. They're now using QR codes in sophisticated phishing emails. These emails look like they're from someone you know or a trusted business. They make you think it's safe to scan the QR code. The bad guys exploit the trust people have in QR codes to get them to click on harmful links. This can lead to serious trouble, like losing your login details or money information. The number of quishing attacks on mobile phones is also going up. Cybercriminals know mobile devices are often less protected. They're making fake QR codes that take you to dangerous websites. There, they try to steal your personal or money info. Now, crooks have started using dynamic QR codes. They're tricky because hackers can easily change the link they go to. So, telling if a QR code is real or part of a scam is getting harder. In the future, experts worry quishing attacks will keep getting worse. They think crooks will find more ways to take advantage of how much we trust QR codes. As we keep using QR codes more, everyone needs to be careful. We need to use strong security to fight these new dangers. Emerging Quishing Trends Potential Future Threats - Sophisticated phishing emails with QR codes - Targeting mobile devices for quishing attacks - Exploiting dynamic QR codes that can be easily modified - Continued evolution of quishing tactics to exploit QR code convenience and trust - Increased prevalence of fake QR codes leading to malicious websites - Potential for large-scale data breaches and financial losses due to quishing attacks

Industry Perspectives on Quishing

The threat of quishing, also known as QR phishing, is getting bigger. Cybersecurity experts and leaders in various industries are sharing important insights. They are showing us how these attacks are changing and what we can do to protect our businesses and customers. Case Studies and Real-World Examples Cybercriminals are hitting various sectors with quishing attacks. ING Bank saw their customers lose money in 2022 to scammers using fake QR codes. In the U.S., drivers in Texas and Atlanta fell for fake QR codes on parking kiosks, losing their credit card info to hackers. In China, scammers posed as the Ministry of Finance, tricking people into sharing secrets with a fake QR code. These cases highlight the importance of strong security for businesses. Staying alert and putting in place solid defense strategies are crucial. This protects not only the business but also its customers from falling victim to quishing attacks.

Final Thoughts

QR codes have changed how we live daily, making things like paying and finding info easy. But, their use has also led to new dangers. Cybercriminals now trick people through QR codes in quishing, or QR phishing, scams. Quishing attacks have gone up by 51% just last year. Hackers use wicked QR codes to send people to fake sites. These sites aim to steal personal and financial info. With businesses and brands using more QR codes, the risk grows. To fight this, everyone needs to be sharp. Learn about the dangers and use strong security. Be careful with QR codes and always use safe scanning apps. This will help keep your data safe from tricky attacks. The spread of quishing shows we must stay updated on cyber threats. Technology is always moving forward. We all need to team up, follow the best security steps, and protect our digital lives. Let's make sure the ease of QR codes doesn't risk our online safety. Read the full article

[thegeminisage]

tng update time!! we're back, baby. sunday we did "the masterpiece society" and "conundrum" and last night* we did "power play" and "ethics."

*by last night i mean earlier tonight, but i'm typing this at 1am and letting it post tomorrow

the masterpiece society: this one was okay. i was very endeared at first to this guy flirting RESPECFULLY with deanna after the ordeal of 3 rape scenes in one episode but then she shot him down and he kept flirting. WILL my misery never cease

that said, i like that picard was nice to her when she fessed up about fucking with him. i am so fond of saying "treat him really niceys" about data but perhaps we should also be treating DEANNA really niceys. instead of raping her repeatedly.

one hilarious detail i noticed about this episode was that they went out of their way to show us a lot of extras in this episode (sometimes we don't even get this many extras in ten forward scenes) and show us that the extras were. diverse. because if the society is "genetically engineered to perfection." and then you only show white people. THAT puts a whole new spin on things. i'm imagining some joker on the production team looking at a shot of mostly-white extras and frantically calling the casting director on the phone

i was EXTREMELY worried when they asked geordi to work with this woman but he was professional the whole time to my huge relief. actually, geordi had a little bit going on in this ep that i really enjoyed - when these "perfect" people kept implying he would have been aborted as a fetus in their society he gave as good as he got EVERY time and his blind ass DID in fact wind up saving all their lives and GOOD FOR HIM!

i dont really get what the big deal is about 23 people leaving = destroying their society. if you can't plann for people being out then it's your managerial skills that need work. also, they were kinda freaks, so maybe they needed to have their little cult broken up. sorry

conundrum: EPISODES FOR MEEEEE. this episode was just like tabula rasa, except this predates tabula rasa, so really tabula rasa is just like IT. anyway, amnesia. i was gleefully rubbing my hands together the entire time

hands down funniest bit was everyone just assuming worf is captain despite the fact that he's bloodthirsty and insane but the second funniest bit was data the bartender. "where's the android?" "serving drinks in ten forward." "[as data speed types] you must have been one hell of a bartender." 10/10 no notes

also his little chess game with deanna!! wah.

actually no the other funny bit was riker lowkey running around on deanna with ro. and i abslutely LOOOVED he and deanna being flirty with each other. it's ABOUT TIME we got some real food. it's been so sexless up til now that all she did was play with his hair a little and we both went bananas

and then the scene at the END? riker more flustered than we've EVER seen him and these two ladies ganging up on him...mwah. 10/10 perfect.

the villain this episode was good. when he first showed up cathy was like who tf is that and i was like idk some rando im sure he doesnt matter but then the computer named him first officer and it was like !!!!!!!!!!!! they tricked me !!! it's a VERY rare day when tng manages to trick me i was so pleased. i do kinda wish they hadn't theo teennwolfed him though (made everyone else a bit dumber to make him seem smart)

power play: deannna was so hot in this episode she should play male characters more often

i really REALLY wish i had been riker deanna and worf that had been possessed. data's not as much fun when he's someone else and not data. obrien could have come too if he wanted though i guess

PLEASE do not tell rosalind chao to shut her baby up. the last time someone told anyone to shut a baby up in a property she happened to be acting in. well. mash fans know. they know.

i genuinely believed those guys were ghosts until the last second. probably because prisoners makes no sense. also, i think prison for 500 years is too much. can we not just let them die

i love when possessed data tried to prove worf and worf was like lol no. he knows data is 10x stronger than him lmao

i wish guinan had been in this episode it's been ages and i miss her

after how tense and fun the beginning was the end and middle of this episode were kind of anticlimactic. still, it was fun and so it gets a pass. more people should get possessed on the enterprise

WHY DO I ONLY GET 4K CHARACTERS PER TEXT BLOCK staff i'll fucking kill you. anyway

ethics: RIKER/WORF/DEANNA IS REAL IT HAPPENED ON MY COMPUTER SCREEN!

ok, first of all, sorry i have to go ahead and get this out of the way before i get to the good stuff, picard advocating for assisted suicide is NNNOT his best look. in fact it's literally such a fucking bad look. actually. uhh tw for talk of suicide here on down

i understand what they were trying to do. they wanted to present both sides of the ethical dilemma here "equally." but there are some problems with this. firstly, in the real world, assisted suicide is for people with like. terminal illness. worf was fine. yes, he was paralyzed, but he was healthy and had the change to regain a great deal of his mobility. so picard already looks like an asshole because he's advocating for a disabled person killing themselves because they "can't" adjust to the loss.

SECONDLY, the use of "can't" was very poorly done here. if picard had said, worf is too stubborn to change his beliefs, he WON'T adjust to this because he will refuse to try, that would be a LOT BETTER than saying "worf CAN'T adjust to this, it's too many lifelong values to change."

and finally, if we really wanted to be "equal" about the debate, it wouldn't be about worf's ability or inability to adjust to being disabled, it would be about his BELIEFS. like his society and heritage, which he cherishes so deeply because he felt disconnected from it for so much of his life. instead picard was just like "worf is way too much of a pussy to do this just let him die lmao"

like he seriously tried to persuade will to KILL WORF. worse, to help worf kill himself!! JUST BECAUSE WORF WAS DISABLED. he even guilted riker about it: "he wouldn't have asked if he didn't know he could count on you." girl what the FUCK

ok anyway, speaking of will: his reaction here was so strong i wonder if he knew someone who'd killed themselves before. NOT that i'm complaining about a strong reaction. FINALLY we are getting some solid worf/riker Content. maybe asking your commanding officer to kill you is romance or whatever. i loved their argument to little bitty pieces. compare to: riker in tears next to deanna's sickbay bed. ooough i am eating. according to the wiki they actually cut a scene of nose-to-nose yelling and i'm mad about it. LET THEM PUT THEIR FACES TOGETHER. give me something to live for

deanna in this episode too. her kneeling by the fallen worf and murmuring "let me help you." her making him talk to his son. him BASICALLY asking her to be his kid's new adoptive parent should he kick it

oh speaking of alexander. he said some really troubling things this episode. such as, "my mom always said klingons had dumb ideas about honor" and "i don't care about being klingon." HIS MOTHER WAS RACIST..............if alexander decides the klingon ways aren't for him that's fine but that should be a choice HE GETS TO MAKE what an insane way to be raised. meanwhile people are out here calling worf a deadbeat and he put aside his suicide plan for alexander specifically

other shocking things about this episode: beverly was sooooo good actually. she was channeling bones energy in her fury and i mean that as the highest possible compliment. that other doctor quite literally KILLED A PATIENT because she's so sketchy and focused on her own glory "oh i need tokeep a professional detachment" YEAH SO YOU DON'T FEEL GUILTY ABOUT KILLING PEOPLE. bones would have torn her limb for limb and i'm very glad beverly did too. i just don't understand why she was allowed to like leave the ship and go back to practicing medicine. she should have her medical liscene revoked. was this too also in the name of "both sides" of the debate girl this isn't fox news she KILLED A PATIENT for her own personal gain just space her ass!

the fake-out with worf dying was expected but them faking us out for so LONG was a surprise. i was like how are they gonna get him out of this one and it's literally the klingon anatomy. double of eeeeeverrrything. wow that sure is something. funny that worf has ridges on sooo many places. love that it took until season 5 to see it

also, that surgery scene was GROSS. im not normally squeamish but that little worm thingy they put into him looked awful

devastated there was no worf/riker reunuion at the end but other than that and picard and that other dr lady not getting fired it was extremely good. one of my favs so far i think actually.

tonight: "the outcast" and "cause and effect." i've started spoiling myself w/ episode summaries in order not to get surprised by 3 rape scenes in a row again and ik what both of these are about and im soooo excited for it

[gloryride]

3 and 18 for both Virgile and Vanessa on the oc questions thing? 👀

Thanks for asking ♥♥ the question about weapon is perfect, as i replay with both, i thought about it ^^

[oc asks if you're interested]

weapon of choice? any particular reason they chose their weapon?

VANESSA

Vanessa prefers not to kill, but to go behind their backs to neutralise enemies or knock them out. Her favourite? A good old-fashioned baseball bat! She has two of them, a pink one and a gold one, but any improvised weapon that can stun works too.

When it comes to guns, she's team silent power pistol. Small, discreet and effective, it's undetectable. In game, she first uses Kongou, then Seraph offered by Padre, with a silencer installed. And after PL, Her Majesty silent pistol, a real gem!

And when it's there to eliminate, especially the scavs for whom it shows no mercy, it's SMG! A good machinegun does a great job killing the bastards. She loves the Militech M221 Saratoga SMG, and even have the Fenrir. In my hc, a Maelstromer gave this gun as a gift !

VIRGILE

He's a netrunner, so he doesn't need a weapon to take down enemies. Virgil doesn't like killing, so he prefers to knock out his enemies using hacks rather than killing them for good (even though he works with Valentin, who is quick on the trigger). So he's made his own daemons and hacks to suit his needs, enabling him to neutralise the enemy without violence.

But having a weapon is always useful. As a nomad, he learned to shoot rifles from his grandfather and knows how to use precision rifles, such as the SOR-22, a rifle common in the Free States. But he prefers tech rifles, and has a Militech M-179 Achilles that he takes with him when he works in the Badlands. In game, he has the Widow Maker, and I have hc that Panam gave him after picking it up from Nash (a reconciliation gift).

But a rifle isn't always handy, so he's got a pistol. I hesitated for a long time between a smart and a tech pistol, but I preferred the smart, because he can use smart-targeting more easily. A smart boy can only use a smart gun! In game, he first got a Kang Tao A-22B Chao, and now I'm waiting until I get to Dogtown to give him a nice Tusnami Kappa whose design I think is too cool, and especially the Crimestopper iconic because he has a chance of uploading Cripple Movment quickhack + CRIT damage!

their opinion on lying, stealing, and killing?

VANESSA

Vanessa a moral compass on a case-by-case basis Lying: not a big deal, if it's not malicious or to protect someone. Everyone lies a little, don't they? On the other hand, she doesn't lie to her family. At worst, she avoids the question! Stealing : from the corpo? that's good, you've got to rip those scumbags off. For her, it would just be a way of spreading the wealth more evenly. Robbing the bastards too, that's fine. The rest is morally questionable. Killing: scavs, shitty corpos, assholes … some people deserve to die, she doesn't even think about it. After that, she's against wanton murder and attacking innocent people. She would never accept a contract to kill a decent person.

VIRGILE

Virgile is very strict about the way he believes Lying: he hates people lying to him, and prefers a hurtful truth to a lie. Does he lie? Of course, but it's mostly to hide something about himself, or silly lies where he quickly gets caught out because he's such a bad liar. But in general, he's honest. Stealing: apart from data on the net, he doesn't steal. Killing: He hates killing, it repulses him. He has fewer scruples when it comes to scavs or raffens, but he rarely kills anyone unless forced to by the situation.

[irradiatedsnakes]

I wanted to ask how you learned how to prep/preserve specimens and how u got your permit to do so. And also if you had any advice for general taxidermy work. I want to try and see if i could do that sort of work for my school too, since they dont have anyone doing it right now and the current specimens are looking really sad from neglect.

are you asking specifically about bird specimens? they're really the only ones i know how to do, besides bone cleaning. if you want i can make a tutorial with pictures when i work on that flycatcher i posted the other day sometime in the nest week or two!

i don't personally hold a permit, i do the work for my university in a university lab, and they keep the specimens, so the university (and the professor in charge of the bird collections) is the permitted entity. if you're in the us and want to pursue getting your own permit, this looks like the place: https://www.fws.gov/program/migratory-bird-permit but i wouldn't know about the actual process.

unfortunately, i haven't had much taxidermy experience. it's something i'd absolutely love to learn for sure, but i've only ever actually done one proper taxidermy mount.. and it was a cheapy little workshop at an oddities fair, lol. not counting my bird specimens though, i guess i wouldn't call those taxidermy since they're not posed or anything but maybe they count?

yeahh, our collection was looking pretty raggedy too. our university used to have a massive, proper bird collection but when the professor in charge of it retired many years ago, it was given to a museum, so our remaining collection is small, relatively informal, and mostly for teaching purposes vice any research. a lot of our older specimens are in rough condition, lacking in collection/prep data, and many were done by students without much experience so are often not very well-made in the first place (no shade to those students of course, i've made plenty of mounts that look just narsty.).

i'd see if the professor in charge of your collections has a speadsheet or log of the specimens on hand, and if not, maybe make a log yourself! me and my former partner-in-bird-prep made a big spreadsheet of our university's collection since the previous log was out of date, so we have a complete record of our specimens and can add to it whenever we make a new one.

we've also been able to add to our collection primarily because the bird prof here had a freezer full to the brim with dead birds that have been waiting for years to become specimens, just lacking in people to do that for them. so, i suppose see if your school has a similar stash, and if not, try and spread the word around to keep an eye out for dead birds! lots of our specimens just come from students and faculty who found a dead bird on a walk and thought to bring it in, with all the specimens that aren't that being from a yearly window-collision survey.