#what is spoof detection

[cognitiveinequality]

Reading Guards! Guards! for the first time in eons and newly vibing with Pratchett's extremely cinematic storytelling. And now immensely sad there is no LOTR-commitment-level film in existence directed by Edgar Wright or Taika Waititi or James Gunn and starring someone like Tom Hardy at his most Eddiebrockian-'sad wet beast'-core best as Vimes.

[morlock-holmes]

Something to watch for, which I learned from stage magic but which is extremely relevant to detecting scams as well:

The magician or scammer will *tell you* how he is going to prove his honesty.

The magician rifles through the deck until you say "stop", then he says, "Are you sure? I'll keep going if you want." and asks "Now, you agree that you could have stopped anywhere you wanted, so there's absolutely no way I could know which card you got" and because it's a magic show and you aren't paying close attention you didn't notice he didn't deal a card from where you stopped, he dealt the bottom card of the deck.

The magician doesn't ask you, "What would it take for you to believe this" because you might say, "I'd need you to use a sealed deck" or "I'd have to personally shuffle the deck" or some other proof that would make the trick impossible.

Magicians say "You agree that if I did *this*, it would mean *that*, right?" and you say yes, and it feels like you are the one who got to verify things, but of course the magician is lying and the proof is nothing of the kind.

Scammers do the same thing. A really concrete example is phone scammers pretending to be working for the government will say, "Look, I see you're skeptical if I'm who I say I am, I'm going to hang up and call back, and you'll see on the caller ID it says, 'FBI' and that tells you that I'm really working for the government."

Now, caller ID can be spoofed pretty easily, so it doesn't prove anything at all.

But it *feels* to you like you demanded proof and the scammer was willing to give you the proof.

But you didn't tell the scammer what out would take to prove it to you, the scammer told you what the proof would be.

This is actually like a really basic thing to look for if you want to start decoding magic tricks and scams.

[wreched-moth]

I watched Psych pretty much every day throughout high school, I have seen every episode more than once and my brother still will turn on an episode and act like I can’t give a full plot rundown within 10 seconds of the start. Buddy, this is my show, I have this one thing, don’t second guess me.

[luthsthings]

NEW: Malware threat via text files with links

[April 7, 2024]

Do NOT download or follow links from these fake mods:

    “S4 CAS Tools” on Nexus from user fubruss

    “Loading Screen Randomizer” on Nexus from user fubruss

    anything else from the Nexus user fubruss.

These are NOT the Sims mods they claim to be. They are text files with links leading to malware.

No legitimate mod download will EVER consist of only a text file (a file ending in .txt).  Be alert for other versions of this way of spreading malware.

If you downloaded either of these, delete them NOW and run a virus scan. NOTE: This malware does NOT require that you run the game for it to install itself, and is not what ModGuard is designed to detect and stop.

This is also another case of mod-spoofing, using the names of legitimate mods. The legit mods are S4 CAS Tools by the late CmarNYC (Mod the Sims, dated 18 March 2023) and Loading Screen Randomizer by Tesuto (Mod the Sims, dated 9 January 2024). 

Much gratitude to Tumblr Simmer 1-800-cuupid!

[anim-ttrpgs]

@janus-wants-to-stargaze for some reason it won't let me answer this ask properly so here it is.

For the most part, the Drow Mistress is supposed to handle Competency, but it’s still a pretty early, pretty untested system very much subject to change.

2. That’s a good point and something to consider, I’ll make a note of it!

3. Yes, that is correct, with the only exception being that for Servants you take points out of the Skills to add to their Endurance as well. If it’s confusing, you should check out the character creation section of one of our other games, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, which has an almost identical skill system. Eureka is in a much further along stage of development, so the mechanic is explained much better there.

4. At the moment, humans have very different resting needs from elves, plus the fact that they can’t see at all in the dark. That second thing is something I intend to flesh out a lot more as the game continues to be developed.

5. There’ll be more lore and explanations of just about everything in the setting as the game continues to be developed, right now it’s just in alpha stage. Although, less focus on the he-elves than female elves is an intentional design choice, since as much of the rules text and lore as possible is written from the Drows’ perspective. The lack of focus on he-elves is meant to be representative of the sexism of the society being presented.

Misogyny in real life rarely manifests as an overt, violent, raging hatred of women, those are just the cases that get the most attention. More mundanely it often manifests as an indifference or disinterest towards women, men as the default, and women as an afterthought.

The misandry in Silk & Dagger is meant to read like that.

6. Yeah at the moment, the game has just kinda the bare minimum with regard to Traits, but that’s because it’s still in alpha stages. By the time the game is finished, I’d like it to have as many Traits as Eureka.

Like how Eureka draws a lot of Traits from characters or tropes from noir, detective, and horror fiction, we have a lot of sources of inspiration to draw on for Silk & Dagger, it’s just a little slower going because I personally am less familiar with a lot of them. It’s also the fact that the game hasn’t been thoroughly playtested yet so the way they all the mechanics fit and work together isn’t 100% clear. Once the game has been played more, I’ll be able to come up with some traits that really mess with the way the mechanics work, like Eureka has.

But in the future you can expect Silk & Dagger Traits to draw inspiration from:

Maid & butler fiction (yes this is a genre)

Sports and martial arts fiction

Regency drama

Sitcoms

*sign of the cross* Horny isekai anime

7. For sure, servant hierarchy is something we really want to flesh out before the game is finished.

8. Same response as #7.

9. With the possible exception of drider, we have no intention of expanding the race roster, as the relationship between the two playable races is part of the core dynamic. I may even state in the rulebook that for all intents and purposes regarding gameplay other races do not exist.

Really, race in Silk & Dagger is not intended as a commentary on “race” in real life, one of the main reasons it’s even a thing is because race is a thing in the source material that Silk & Dagger is spoofing.

What Silk & Dagger is “doing” with “race” has less to do with the real world concept of “race” and more to do with the people who are suited for what society expects of them, and the people who are not.

Humans in Silk & Dagger are people who are well-suited for the environment of the surface, and would be mostly fine there, but they’re not there, they’re forced to be underground in caves, where none of their innate strengths apply. This makes them pretty shitty at everything compared to elves, who also aren’t really suited to thrive in this environment and society, but are much more innately suited to it than humans.

When humans express that their bodies are not suited for what this society expects of them(can’t see in the dark, ears less sensitive to subtle sounds, too big to fit through certain tunnels, etc.), the response is that they’re dumb, lazy, ungrateful, parasitic, worthless, etc.. Humans need “sleep,” which is something that many Drow don’t even think really exists, and that humans are al just lying to get out of work. Elves don’t need “sleep,” they just have to sit down every once in a while, humans are just being lazy and don’t have the willpower to push through like elves do.

This is kind of like being disabled.

10. You want the etiquette to be even harder to follow?! Granted, there are a few extra bits we considered for the etiquette rules, but most of the ones that were cut were cut because they were too subtle and really didn’t end up suited to the vocal descriptive gameplay of a TTRPG. Maybe if Silk & Dagger was done as a LARP, then they could be expanded more, but good luck organizing an accurate Silk & Dagger LARP anywhere outside a BDSM club or something hahaha.

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

The Internet Is Forever: Part Two

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.9k

Summary: A man is going around killing women in their homes and filming it for all to see. It's heartbreaking to watch but you're determined to catch him before he can hurt anyone else.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Season Five Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

x

Penelope logs out of video chat to continue doing her work. You have the video now so you go over it with a fine tooth comb. The unsub walks up the stairs and briefly looks into the camera. Only his eyes are shown.

"Look at that. He's acknowledging the camera. He knows his audience is watching. We know the MO, so the question is how. What kind of job gives him access to the victims' houses?"

"It has to be a network job like an IT guy. You know, someone to hook up your internet. It gets them inside their house and into their computers."

"I went through all the women's internet service providers with a fine-tooth comb. They all used different companies and had no overlap with sales reps," Detective Fordham says.

"What about the onsite tech support?"

"Clean as a whistle. They all had alibis with no criminal records."

"What I don't understand is why he takes the bodies with him after they're dead. It'd be one thing if he took them while they were still alive, but he's accomplished his task. He murders them and he completes the performance. Why risk carrying a corpse to his car?"

"There must be some postmortem behavior or signature or something we're not seeing."

"Let's think about that for a second. He's sharing this murder with a crowd of onlookers. What could he be doing to these bodies just for himself?"

"Hey, guy." Derek walks into the room while on the phone. "Garcia's got something for us." He puts her on speakerphone. "Go ahead, baby girl."

"I have some good news. First, here is the thing that sucks. I located the network the unsub is using in Boise, and it is the victims' own wireless network."

"Does he hack in before he starts the murder?"

"I don't think so. Hacking is obscenely time-consuming. I just make it look easy because I'm a genius, and he's not me. My guess is that he's got to lurk around their network for at least a couple of days to a week before he kills them."

"That's brilliant on his part," John says.

"Yeah, he knows when we follow his online paper trail. It'll lead us right back to the murder site."

"What's the good news?" you ask.

"Hackers are very loyal to their spoofing techniques, and if they think no one's watching, they'll use the same roads over and over. If he goes through Russia, China, and North Korea again, I will catch him so fast he won't know what hit him.

"That's only going to help us if he commits another murder."

"Yes, that's also true."

"Garcia, if he does stream this again, how much time will you need to find the network?"

"I'm just guessing here but seven minutes?"

"That's not fast enough. He's in and out of the house in five."

"Shoot. I'm going to have to trim my time down, then."

"Garcia, get it done. JJ, we need to call a press conference. Now that we know how he's killing these women, we need to get it out there," Hotch says.

"Okay," she nods.

Spencer walks into the conference room with the picture of Dorris he took from the fridge.

"I know what connects the victims. I was staring at pictures of the victims and I knew there was a pattern connecting them, but I couldn't tell what it was until I broke it down mathematically. Why are we so drawn to celebrity faces? Because there's a symmetry to their beauty--the eyes, the ears, and the ratio of the forehead to the chin. The more balanced they are, the more appealing they are to our eyes."

"These women aren't celebrities," John says.

"No, but there are similarities between them, and it wasn't until I scanned their pictures and got it to the guys at Quantico that I had a full breakdown." He pulls up a picture of all three female victims. "Strip away eye color, hair color, and skin tone." He does so and reveals their geometric faces. "What are we left with geometrically?"

"They're all slightly dystopic. The left eye is slightly lower than the right eye on all the victims. All the noses are narrow. The forehead has the same ridge."

"He might not even be aware that he sees it in them. There have been studies that suggest that we pick our spouses subconsciously based on facial symmetry that we recognize. Consciously or unconsciously, when he recognizes it, he has to destroy it which means he only has interest in the bodies as they relate back to him."

"What if they are a reflection of him?" you ask. "Remember what he did at the end of the video with Dorris? He wiped a tear away. It's another act of compassion he's not capable of. His narcissism prevents him from that. In the Greek myth, Narcissus was so self-absorbed that he fell in love with his own reflection in the water."

"Exactly," Spencer backs you up. "He finds women with the same face, he strangles them, and then stares at them after they've died. Whose image does he really see? His own."

You now have a profile to give to the Boise police department. John gathers his men and women to hear what your team has to say.

"Most of us take the internet for granted. We forget about texts that we share or updates we put on social networks, but the internet never forgets. Once it's out there, it's out there forever. We all know about the horrific deaths that get shown on the web--the murder of a journalist or the stoning of an Iranian dissident. Those murders are immortal. This unsub craves that same immortality."

"He recognizes his face in theirs, and he kills them as a way of saying, 'This is what I look like.' We think this also informs his compulsion to take the bodies with him. He takes them to a secondary location where we believe he preserves them so that every time he looks at them, he sees his own ego reflected," Spencer explains.

"Fortunately for us, this means we have a good idea of what he looks like. Based on the shape of the victims' faces, we have a rough composite sketch." JJ passes the sketch around. "This unsub is an expert with computers and home networks. Look into criminal records of men with extensive computer training."

"We know you've already looked into the victims' computer IT settings, so we'd like to expand the search. Look into electronic stores, computer distributors, and IT departments where the women worked," Spencer says.

"We overuse the term narcissistic in our culture, but we're going back to the psychological definition," you say. "Every aspect of this man's life has been constructed around an inflated sense of self. Unsubs like this are particularly vulnerable to what's called narcissistic injury. If his self-worth is attacked or damaged, he will lash out."

"If you find this unsub, do not challenge him publicly. Say you just want to talk to him to see if he knows anything about the brilliant mastermind who's stalking these women. Under no circumstances should you denigrate him. As difficult as it is, we need to talk up his exploits as if we respect him," Hotch says, concluding the profile briefing.

JJ is able to get a last-minute press conference with the local press. She shows a picture of the sketch she passed around. He's a white male, roughly five-foot-ten, and highly skilled with computers and networks. She encourages everyone to monitor the information people post about themselves on social media. When she opened up for questions, she didn't realize the backlash she might get.

"How did the FBI generate this sketch if there were no eyewitnesses?"

"Can you comment on the rumor he has some sort of facial symmetry with his victims? Does he look like them?"

"Why would he target women who look like him?"

"What should people do to protect themselves? Change their face?"

Who the hell told them about the profile before the FBI was ready to release it? JJ handled it like a pro but she waltzed back into the station with a look of annoyance and frustration.

"Hotch. Somebody leaked our profile. The press started asking questions about facial symmetry."

"It must have been one of your officers," Hotch says to John.

"Look, my guys were checking their cell phones but that's just habit now."

"I talked to the press independently, and I can get this off the 10:00 PM news but this went out live."

"What are the chances he didn't see it?"

"Not good," Hotch sighs. He takes out his phone and dials Penelope. "How are you doing with pinning down the network?"

"I was just about to call you. Remember how I said he was spoofing his signal off different servers? Well, it turns out some of those are a decoy meant to waste my time."

"Does that mean you can find him faster?"

"Yes. I can write a program that filters out the decoy--" Alarms start ringing on her computer. "Oh crap."

"Is that him?"

"Yeah, okay, I'm going to have to filter this one on the fly."

"Can you send us the feed?"

"Yes. I think I can intercept it in Ukraine."

Hotch pulls the phone away from his ear and looks at everyone.

"He's going live."

Penelope sends the live feed through and you take a seat because you know you're going to be overwhelmed. The video starts and the unsub is practically running toward a house.

"Look at the way he's moving. He's not slow and deliberate. This guy's pissed."

"He saw the press conference," you sigh.

"Alright, what do we see? Any determining markers?"

"It's a one-story cottage."

"It could be anywhere."

"Is there a number on the house?"

"No, he's already at the door."

"Garcia?" Hotch asks and places her on speakerphone.

"He's using twice as many proxy servers."

There is a small white box behind the live footage of words coming through like a comment section on a Youtube video.

"This window here on the bottom, is that the chat room?" Emily asks.

The video switches to a camera inside the house, inside the kitchen. You're so anxious that you're bouncing your leg rapidly to try and give you something else to focus on. A woman is by her fridge looking in while the unsub enters her back door.

"There she is."

"He's in the house, guys."

"He's completely changed his MO. It is way too early. There's too much light. What happened?" Derek asks.

"Someone asked the wrong question at the press conference," JJ answers.

"Turn around," you whimper. "Please just turn around."

The man gets closer to her. The camera keeps switching angles from inside the kitchen, inside the dining room looking into the kitchen, and the POV camera on him.

"Maybe she can fend him off."

"She has new kitchen appliances. Can we track them through work orders?" Spencer asks.

"He'll be gone by then."

"Garcia, give us something," Hotch urges.

"I'm stateside now. I'm almost to Idaho. I just need more time."

"You're not gonna have it."

"Yes, I will. I will," Pen panics.

The unsub reaches the woman and begins strangling her on live video. You put your thumbnail in your mouth and begin biting it while still bouncing your leg. You can't seem to look away.

"Forget the unsub. Can you run a trace on everybody in the chat room?" Hotch asks.

"I can't do both, sir. Let me do this."

"Garcia, tag the viewers. That's an order."

It's too late. She's already dying. Tears are rolling down your cheeks but you don't make a sound. She gasps for breath but stops fighting him off. She's losing. She's dying... She's dead. Penelope quietly gasps and you wipe your tears.

"Penelope, don't do that to yourself. I know what you're thinking. It's not your fault."

She appreciates your comfort but she doesn't believe you.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[221blurkerstreet]

PART 3 Holmes, Marple & Poe: A Holmes, Margaret & Poe Mystery (book by James Patterson): "In this thrilling story of crime and corruption, three detectives keep their identities secret, and NYPD’s Det. Helene Grey is on a mission to unmask them—no matter who gets killed along the way. In New York City, three intriguing, smart, and stylish private investigators open Holmes, Marple & Poe Investigations. Who are these detectives with famous names and mysterious, untraceable pasts?" - Published 2024 Holmes Is Missing: A Holmes, Margaret & Poe Mystery (book by James Patterson): "Success has come quickly to Holmes, Marple & Poe Investigations. The New York City agency led by three detectives—Brendan Holmes, “the brain,” Margaret Marple, “the eyes,” and Auguste Poe, the “muscle”—with famous names and mysterious pasts is one major case away from cementing its professional reputation. But as a series of child abductions tests the PIs’ legendary skills, the cerebral Holmes’s absence leaves a gaping hole in the agency roster. Only by closing ranks and solving the mystery within can they recover all that’s been lost." - Published 2025 --- Lost in Limehouse - Olaf Hytten as Sheerluck Jones, 1933. - "A slapstick burlesque of 19th Century Victorian melodrama featuring a parody of Holmes and Watson who rescue a heroine held by a mustache-twirling villain in a den of caricatured Chinese gangsters." Limejuice Mystery - Herlock Sholmes marionettes, 1930 - "The film, also known as "Who Spat in Grandfather's Porridge?," is a parody of Sherlock Holmes stories starring string puppets and a detective named "Herlock Sholmes". The film depicts a murder mystery in a Chinese opium den." Sting of Death (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgHvNgPTN04&t=1s) - Boris Karloff as Mycroft, 1955 - "Sting of Death is the 11th episode of the first season of the American TV series The Elgin Hour starring Boris Karloff as Mr. Mycroft. Produced by ABC (American Broadcasting Company), and aired on 22 february 1955. 52 min. While the name of the main character is Mycroft, the sherlockians will recognize a retired Holmes (bee culture, investigating methods, pipe smoking). The episode is based on H. F. Heard's novel "A Taste for Honey."" The Man Who Disappeared (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8vpH5tzC2Y&t=1s) - John Longden as Sherlock Holmes, 1951 - "An adaptation of the story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about a very wealthy businessman with a strange secret." A Case of Hypnosis - 1952 - "Fair Spoof of Holmes. Prof. Lightskull and Doc Twiddle are trying to locate the whereabouts of a magician who has the power to change people into anything they want but more times than not he plays the part of a jokster and instead turns them into strange creatures." The Speckled Band (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R2jczHfuFw) - Alan Napier as SH, 1949 The Copper Beeches (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMgoNx-vv40) - Georges Treville, 1912 Man With The Twisted Lip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM27uaF31CU) - Ellie Norwood as SH, 1921 The Screaming Bishop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxwqk_cWcG8) - Hairlock Combs cartoon/short film, 1944 Dramatized SH cases (1954) / (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWX1hfU1FFvpnwyNxpxYItHGqqR6PC16E) - John Gielgud as SH - Ralph Richardson as JW That's what I've got so far! Def will be adding more as I find more, LOL-

I'm just a tad concerned about the sheer amount of these you had on hand, but I'm too grateful to worry about that right now!! As said a million times before, I will be reviewing all these as fast as I can!! Thank you!

[pineapplehazard]

LIVE REACTION 8X09

It's 2am for me so I'm definitely gonna have nightmares about John and 'his' deformed voice 😨

Not Maddie PPD mention 😭

The shots in the dogs POV and the little whines and the barks, make me physically HURT (i won't see my dog until next week OK? I am sad and on dog withdrawal)

Eddie already payed for the house (Buck's face☹️)

Also one of them dropped the Brother bomb I think?? 🤢

Chim's face when the building explodes?? ☹️☹️

I don't trust that investigator (I 100% remember the theories that she's the killer and I always agreed but now that she's on screen THAT'S A SURE THING)

Do they realize they look like a gay couple selling their house🤦‍♀️

Buck sabotaging EVERY VISIT 💀

Oh Eddie agrees

EDDIE 😨💔💔 "No ties here????" that's gonna scar right next to the "you're exhausting" scar

NO TIES HERE???????????????????????????????????? NO TIES HERE??????????

No wonder my boy's not looking good in the stills, he's going THROUGH IT

Bitchy Buck, YAY i love their divorce ERAS

The team hug🥺🥹

"maybe the girlfriend tip him" or maybe you killed him? Uh thought about that? I do not trust that woman!!

‼️‼️IT WAS JENNA ALL ALONG‼️‼️ HE TOOK JENNA WITH HIM‼️‼️NOT MADDIE

whiiiich mean that we were lead to believe the police would notice Maddie's kidnapping quickly but it might very well NOT BE THE CASE oh maddie

Goodbye mystery of the "he took maddie and with him"

NOT THE KILLER SAYING JEE YUN

oh my poor Maddie your new trauma barely started 😭😭

ooh billie eilish soundtrack ✨fancy✨

but maddie 😭😭😭

This was the only call not spoofed, guys COME ON

Maddiiiiie😭😭😭😭😭

Ah petty Buck my beloved, I love their new divorce ERA (I'm repeating myself and I don't care!!!)

"Blaze knows how to stay" *blaze immediately leaves Buck's life* 💀💀

Chim is reading Buck like a picture book today💀

And I didn't hear a word of Buck's goodbye words to Blaze cause that dog's SO CUTE (and if you've ever been on facetime with your dog and whoever you were calling put a treat or toy behind the camera to make it seem like your dog is looking at you, you've recognized THAT look on Blaze🤣)

AH not Eddie confronting Buck while Buck's obviously 'the new renter'

The 118 goodbye dinner 🥹

"you two should... hug it out" NOT TO IS HENRIETTA WE ALL KNOW WHAT YOU WANTED TO SAY HENRIETTA

"wherever you go I go" oh no Maddie and Jee are getting kidnap (the promo with Bobby telling Chim "we're gonna get HER back" makes me think not buuuut)

Maddie No!! (I exclaimed shocked as the thing we all knew since November was gonna happen today, do happen today)

ooh a reveal already? okay john (I KNEW IT) (we all did okay ik I'm no genius detective for that one)

Next week is gonna be full Maddie survivor girl mode and I'm here for it. Jennifer is gonna make us all cry and cheer more than ever I just know it, can't wait!!!

[queerfables]

Okay I finally watched 911 and I liked the episode!

Maddie talking the guy into killing himself was super fucked up. Loved that.

Extremely relieved lady detective is evil because she was SO shady. Right from the start oh my god. And then she was like "uhhhhh welllll he has a restraining order against me" and Athena had ZERO follow up questions. Even though the suspect's MO involved sexual assault and in these cases that was notably absent? No thoughts head empty only police harassment!!!

I guess Amber must have staged the suicide earlier and then spoofed the call location, so that no matter when police arrived they could always be just barely too late. Clever in that it's obvious once you think about it, but not so heavily sign posted that it's boring.

I also enjoyed the Buck/Eddie story this episode, although tonally the two arcs were a little disconnected? Even so. I'm pretty surprised by how the story line is going, like how DIRECT they are about Eddie (and Chris) being Buck's home. At this point it seems pretty clear that they're setting that up as an endgame family unit, whether or not Buck and Eddie will be romantically involved, which means I win no matter what and I'm feeling pretty good about that.

All in all, a good episode, though I'm really excited about next week's, I can't wait to see how this stuff with Maddie plays out.

[aashiqeddiediaz]

Hiii so sorry but I missed everything until this 8:30 Any bullet points you can offer would be so appreciated

hey, sure!

maddie got a call from a man that is weeping on the call, and find out that he's kidnapped someone, has sent athena out only to find out the address is a spoof

eddie's placed a downpayment on a house that buck says is a lil rundown, it's revealed he hasn't told bobby or the team about the move yet

eddie tells buck he needs to figure out what to do with the la house so he's not bleeding cash, and buck offers to help him sublet it, and eddie tells him "i dont know what im going to do without you"

they respond to a fire at an animal shelter, buck goes back in to save a beagle that runs from him in the mask, and just barely makes it out before the building collapses. they learn that beagle is going to a sister shelter.

maddie and athena meed with a missing person's detective about the case of a similar-sounding 911 call,

a bunch of people come through to look at eddie's house and buck wittingly/unwittingly sabotages all of it, and right before the last person comes through, eddie points that out and tells buck to leave. buck does, but comes back for his phone and overhears eddie saying that he has no ties in LA.

at the station, we find buck's rescued the beagle from the shelter and brought him to the station. he and eddie exchange a few tense words re: the move, and that's how the team finds out that eddie's moving. hen, chim, and bobby hug him, telling him he's making the right decision to be with chris. buck is sitting behind them all, looking tense.

[quirkwizard]

What do you think Overhaul and Radio Waves would make?

Quirk Marriage between Overhaul and Radio Waves please 🥺

New Quirk Name: Radio Star

This Emitter type Quirk allows the user to detect, control, and alter artificial electrical signals within a long range of themselves. This control is precise and refined, able to intercept or alter any sort of radio signal traveling through the air, such as spoofing enemy messages or sending a specific one to a nearby phone. This can let the user influence technology as well by influencing how and where the signals move. This can let the user change how the electronics function as well, like misfiring a signal in a car to make it go backwards instead of forwards. This gives the user a dangerous power, allowing them to control the signals around them to undermine their foes. They can disrupt enemy communications, cause malfunctions in technology, side out hidden codes and messages to their allies, bypass electronic devices like car locks, influence technology in their favor, cause immense chaos with large-scale breakdowns and blackouts, or simply turn their own hands as a universal remote for all of their electronics. Though this only works on artificial electrical signals, the power is less useful in areas with little to no technology, and they cannot change the function of the device. The usage of this Quirk is dependent on the user's hands and will require some finesse in order to properly change in the signals.

[twistedtummies2]

Top 12 Edgar Allan Poe Stories

October has come ‘round, everyone! Usually I have some kind of big Event for this month, but this year, I decided to take things a bit easy on myself and instead do a bunch of single-post lists throughout the month, which are thematically tied to the time of Halloween in some form or another. With that in mind, we’ll kick this month off with a tribute to my favorite author: that Master of the Macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was the quintessential “tortured artist.” His life story is a tragic and strange one, just as dark and filled with despair as many of the things he wrote. But for all of its pitfalls and distressing points, there was more to the man than doom and gloom: his writing reflects that, as Poe not only was and still is considered the master of the Gothic horror story, but also was a gifted romantic poet, and even wrote many pieces of humorous satire. One of his greatest contributions to literature was the invention of the modern detective story! Works like “The Phantom of the Opera” and characters like “Sherlock Holmes” simply would not exist if it hadn’t been for the prose and poetry of Edgar Allan Poe. Ever since I was young - perhaps too young to fully appreciate the intricacies of his work - I’ve always admired and adored this writer, and so I figured now was as good a time as any to show my appreciation for all this fellow gave to the world of literature. Most of the stories on this countdown will be Poe’s classic horror stories, but there will be some other pieces as well. I WON’T be including any of his poems, however; I’m saving a separate, shorter list for those. With that said, let’s waste time nevermore! These are My Top 12 Stories from Edgar Allan Poe.

12. Descent Into the Maelstrom.

Many people credit Poe for the invention of the modern detective story, which is true and good. However, there’s one thing I think people could credit Poe for creating that has yet to be officially stated as his invention: the creation of what might be called modern “Survival Horror.” These are stories where the fear comes from the protagonist being thrown into a perilous situation, and the audience - usually in the role of said protagonist - just has to go through it and survive, plain and simple. The horror comes from the helplessness of the situation, and the desperate urge to escape, combined with the perspective being done in such a way that the readers (or viewers, or players, depending on the medium) are the ones who are put through it. “Descent Into the Maelstrom” can sort of be seen as a precursor to this style. It is a story within in a story, told largely from the perspective of a fisherman, who relates to a young friend about how he survived an encounter his ship had with a monstrous whirlpool, out in the open sea. It’s revealed that the sailor’s experience was so shocking, it has turned his hair white and made him appear older than he really is. There’s not much else to the story beyond that, but that’s really all it needs: while we know the fisherman obviously survived, the tension remains as we wait to see how he did it, and learn just how close to his own end he nearly got.

11. Never Bet the Devil Your Head.

Like I said, Poe didn’t just write gruesome tales of the macabre and morbid. He also had a sense of humor, and wrote several works of satirical comedy. “Never Bet the Devil Your Head” is my favorite of his comedic works, partially because it is one of his darkest satires; it’s one of a few stories that feel almost like he’s spoofing himself, in some ways, and strangely reminds me of the work of another great author I love, Washington Irving. (Whether this was intentional or not is anybody’s guess.) The story spoofs the idea that all good short tales should teach some kind of moral lesson, as it begins with the Narrator expressing frustration at the fact his critics have judged him for apparently not including a moral in any past works. He thus relates the tale of a friend of his, Toby Dammit. (Yes, you may laugh at that name as much as you like.) Toby is a man who likes to make rhetorical bets, and is particularly fond of declaring, “I’ll bet the Devil my head!” whenever he does so. One day, the Devil himself comes calling, as he stops Toby and the Narrator at a bridge. Toby, not recognizing Old Scratch, makes the rhetorical bet he always does, claiming he can leap over a turnstile in the center of the bridge. The man makes the jump…and has his head lopped off by a hidden blade (“what might be termed a serious injury,” Poe writes), which the Devil then carries off. As a final indignity, after the bill for Toby’s funeral expenses are paid, the Narrator is forced to have his old friend dug up and turned into dog food. This story is as ludicrous as it is morbid, and while the satire is not by any means subtle, it is pretty funny. It’s the only direct comedy tale of Poe’s on this countdown, and not without good reason.

10. The Black Cat.

Many consider this one of Poe’s most noteworthy masterworks. While it doesn’t sit as high for me as some of his other stories - it feels a bit too similar to some other works of his that came both before and after it, which I feel did the concepts involved much greater justice, personally - I do still very much enjoy this story. The tale is told from the perspective of a murderer, awaiting his date with the executioner. The killer relates the details of his ghastly crime, which began when he murdered a black cat that he and his wife once owned, named Pluto. Sometime later, a second black cat came into their lives, which the killer believed was the reincarnation of the first pet, and feared. One day, when trying to kill this second feline with an axe, the narrator accidentally murders his wife in the process. To cover up this heinous deed, he attempted to brick her up behind a false wall in the cellar…but needless to say, things didn’t exactly go the way he expected, once the police showed up. Extraordinarily brutal and highly disturbing, “The Black Cat” is one of Poe’s most ambiguous and unsettling stories, and deserves all the recognition it has garnered over time.

9. Murders in the Rue Morgue.

I have said a couple of times now that Poe is credited with inventing the modern detective story. Poe referred to these tales as “studies in ratiocination;” he treated them more like essays than typical pieces of literature, where the focus was on showing the power of deductive logic in an otherwise inexplicable situation. There were three primary stories in this bunch, two of which are on this countdown. “Murders in the Rue Morgue” was the first and arguably the most well-known and beloved of the bunch, as it combines the elements of a classic piece of what we now recognize as detective fiction, with the trappings of Gothic horror and an almost satirical absurdity, which are so uniquely Poe. The story focuses on gentleman sleuth C. Auguste Dupin, who is called upon to solve a mysterious slew of hideously brutal slayings in Paris. The solution to the crime - SPOILER ALERT - turns out to be that the killings were the work of a sailor’s wayward pet orangutan, who accidentally killed the victims while attempting to shave their faces, the way it saw its owner do numerous times. I love how the solution to this crime is honestly kind of hilarious (in a very twisted way, mind you), as well as totally bonkers, yet the story goes out of its way to make such an utterly insane answer sound surprisingly plausible. You can easily see where future great writers of murder mysteries and sleuth stories, such as Arthur Conan Doyle and G.K. Chesterton, might have taken inspiration. It was a great start to a great genre, and is more than deserving of recognition for that fact.

8. The Pit and the Pendulum.

Yet another example of Poe arguably inventing the “Survival Horror” genre, and honestly, this is probably the very best said example one could have. Once again told from the point of view of the narrator (as most of Poe’s stories were), this tale recounts the experiences of a poor prisoner, being tormented by the Spanish Inquisition. He relates all the ways he was physically and mentally tormented by the Inquisitors, and his cunning attempts to escape his captors. The most notable examples of his torture are a seemingly bottomless pit in the center of his cell, and then later, being stuck under…(pauses)... “Oh. Look. There’s the pendulum of doom! What’s the pendulum of doom doing there?! I did not order the pendulum of doom! It’s overkill! Get rrrrid of it!” (Ahem…sorry, I freaking love that line. XD ) In all seriousness, I can’t recall if the “Pendulum of Doom” concept ever even existed before Poe wrote this story; to my knowledge, it wasn’t a real method of torture/execution, and I can’t remember it being brought up in fiction before this. So, if nothing else, Poe created the original supervillain death trap, and showed just how scary it could be in the process. Doesn’t that earn placement in the Top 10, if nothing else? I thought as much.

7. Hop-Frog.

“Hop-Frog” was Poe’s final story, but you probably wouldn’t guess it from reading this violent tale of vengeance. The story - for once NOT told by an unnamed narrator - focuses on a wicked king and his courtiers, who delight in mocking and abusing their servants. Most notable among their victims are the King’s jester, a hunchbacked dwarf named Hop-Frog, and a dancer by the name of Trippetta, whom Hop-Frog is in love with. The King and his cabinet are fans of practical jokes, so, one day, Hop-Frog offers them an idea for a prank: the King is to host a masquerade ball, and he and his friends are to dress as a horde of orangutans (wow, Poe really liked those, didn’t he?), to scare the other partygoers. The King and his cronies take the jester’s advice, thus falling for Hop-Frog’s trap: the harlequin gives them costumes made out of flammable materials, and, as part of the prank, chains them up and hangs them like a chandelier over the assembled partygoers…before setting them all on fire. As they are burned alive before the horrified revelers, Hop-Frog escapes with Trippetta, pronouncing his vengeance with the words: “this is my last jest!” There is great irony in the fact that Poe probably had no idea this last great declamation against cruelty and prejudice, with a side of Gothic chills, would, indeed, be his last great jest.

6. The Purloined Letter.

This was the third of Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin mystery tales, and it’s the second of the two I mentioned would be on this list. While “Murders in the Rue Morgue” is certainly the most iconic of these tales, I actually think this story is even better. It lacks the sense of Gothic horror and slightly satirical humor the first story has, but it makes up for it by being…well…a darn good detective story! Dupin is called upon for help by the local Prefect of Police, referred to simply as “G.” G wants Dupin to recover a stolen letter, filled with incriminating information, belonging to none other than the Queen of France herself. The police know who is responsible for the theft - an unscrupulous minister simply referred to as “Minister D.” who is using it to blackmail Her Majesty. The problem is that they can’t seem to find the evidence to convict him, nor the incriminating document, even after searching the man’s house. SPOILER ALERT: Dupin later reveals that the letter was in plain view all along. Minister D. had presumed that G. would be searching high and low, so he hid the letter by making it simply seem like junk lingering around in the room, instead of tucking it into some super-secret hiding place. Dupin simply arranged a distraction to make sure Minister D. wasn’t looking, then switched the incriminating letter with a phony, before giving the document to the police. Simple but utterly brilliant; definitely one of the best detective stories ever made, in my books, as well as one of the first.

5. The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar.

This is arguably the single most gory and explicitly grotesque of all of Poe’s stories, as well as one of the most unnerving. I can’t help but feel this particular tale had to be an influence on later writers, most notably H.P. Lovecraft, for its combination of surreal, nightmarish, and viscerally deplorable elements. It’s also one that taps into some primal fears and questions, regarding the eternal mystery of what really separates life from death: a concept that forever fascinated Poe in his works. The story tells of M. Valdemar, an old man who agrees to allow a friend of his - an expert in hypnosis - to induce a state of hypnotic slumber on him while on his deathbed. Valdemar dies while under the hypnotic influence - unnervingly, he is able to speak to the investigators, even after he is dead - but as long as the hypnosis is left in place, his body remains totally intact, as if he is arrested in a state of suspended animation. It is hinted that until his soul is allowed to pass on, his body cannot pass, either. After conducting several experiments on the man, the hypnotist and his colleagues attempt to wake M. Valdemar…and - this is the disgusting part - the man suddenly rots away and decomposes in a matter of seconds before their eyes, literally falling apart at the seams and being reduced to a gory mass of decaying flesh. So gross, so unsettling, and so utterly, utterly horrific…I LOVE IT.

4. Fall of the House of Usher.

This is one of Poe’s earliest horror stories, and it’s widely considered to be the first truly great piece of Gothic literature he ever wrote; other stories before this, such as “Ligeia” and “MS. in a Bottle" do have their values, but “Fall of the House of Usher” is widely regarded as the first actual masterpiece Poe wrote. It is a story that has been adapted and reimagined countless times, and is widely considered one of the author’s most definitive pieces of work. The story focuses on - you guessed it - an unnamed Narrator, who goes to spend some time with a childhood friend, Roderick Usher, as well as Roderick’s beloved sister, Madeline. The Ushers live in a dilapidated mansion, situated on a tiny island in the middle of a murky lake, perpetually surrounded by long-dead trees. Roderick claims to suffer from a medical condition that heightens all of his senses to an alarming rate, while his sister spends much of her time in bed, fighting a terminal illness. The events that occur inside the spooky old mansion will forever traumatize the Narrator, and leave both Roderick and Madeline dead. This is one of Poe’s longest and most complex stories, plot-wise, so I don’t want to give too much away. Suffice it to say, this story has a lot of the hallmarks of later Poe pieces: the themes, motifs, and phobias present are among the most frequently visited in his works following this one, and one could easily make the argument that the House of Usher itself was the inspiration for many a famous haunted house and haunted house story in more modern times. I actually like this story more today than I probably did when I was younger, and it has more than earned its place in my personal top five.

3. The Cask of Amontillado.

This was one of the first pieces by Poe I ever read, and it remains one of my favorites. Once again, our Narrator is a killer, only this time he’s actually given a name: Montresor. It’s indicated that Montresor is a nobleman who lives in Italy, and he has vowed to gain revenge (for reasons that are never made entirely clear) against a former friend of his: a wine-loving gourmet by the ironic name of Fortunato. One night, during Carnival time, Montresor entices Fortunato into a wine cellar with the promise of tasting a rare vintage of amontillado. Montresor claims he wants Fortunato to assure him of the beverage’s authenticity. Once there, he shackles a stupefied Fortunato into a shallow alcove, and proceeds to brick up the place, effectively burying Fortunato alive. The murder plot and the way it is carried out are deeply disturbing, but perhaps the thing that makes the story so particularly fascinating is Montresor himself: Poe leaves some subtle implications of what might be at the heart of this feud that has turned so deadly, but he never gives a clear answer as to why Montresor is not only so intent on revenge, but on using such an extreme method as immurement for his vengeance. It invites the the reader to play detective themselves, in a way, pondering the circumstances around the crime, even as the confession is laid before us.

2. Masque of the Red Death.

In many of Poe’s stories that involve supernatural elements, it’s left ambiguous how much of them are real or imagined. This is not the case with “Masque of the Red Death,” and if that’s not unnerving enough, the actual subject matter of the story will be. To a greatly unsettling degree, this story is arguably more powerful today than it’s ever been. Unlike so many other Poe tales, this one is written in the third person (much like “Hop-Frog”), and tells the legend of a horrible plague that swept across a far-off kingdom. This plague was called The Red Death: it caused its victims to sweat blood, and killed within half an hour. To try and escape the scourge, the “dauntless and sagacious” Prince Prospero has himself, his courtiers, and many of his fellow royals and noblemen take refuge in his castle, where they party and cavort, even as the populace beyond the palace walls are left to die from the epidemic. One night, while holding a masquerade ball, however, the Prince and his allies are visited by a mysterious stranger, who is ultimately revealed to be the Red Death itself. You can probably guess how things go from there. The story is a cautionary tale against the inevitability of death, and how no matter what one tries to do, no one - however smart, rich, or powerful they may be - can truly escape it forever. Haunting and unsettlingly truthful, it is easily one of Poe’s most iconic pieces.

1. The Tell-Tale Heart.

Believe it or not, I first learned of this story because of - out of all things - an episode of Spongebob Squarepants. No, that is not a joke: there’s an episode of Spongebob that directly spoofs this short story. Naturally, of course, I prefer the original, but I figured that was worth sharing for the amusement of it. ANYWAY… “The Tell-Tale Heart” is considered one of Poe’s darkest and most delightfully ambiguous pieces (and that’s saying a lot), and for good reason. Once again, our unnamed Narrator is the protagonist…and also, much like in “Cask of Amontillado” or “The Black Cat,” they’re a murderer. However, the killer has a specific agenda in this case: he’s trying to prove that he ISN’T insane. How does he do this? By telling the reader the story of how he murdered and the dismembered a helpless old man that he cared about (it’s left unsure if they are his father, his employer, or something/someone else), because the old man had a weird eye that gave him the heebie-jeebies. (pauses) Yeah. Great way of professing your own sanity there, big shot. In all seriousness, though, that’s the brilliance of Poe’s story: as the tale goes on, it becomes clearer and clearer to the reader that the protagonist is absolutely out of their mind…and that makes the big event - when he swears he hears his mutilated victim’s heart beating under the floorboards - all the more ambiguous. We can reasonably presume it’s a hallucination, but it’s not directly stated to be so. There’s also the possibility it’s a manifestation of his guilty conscience. On another note, just like Roderick Usher, this narrator claims to once again have heightened senses; could he be hearing something else and making a mistake? Or perhaps…just perhaps…it’s the old man’s ghostly specter, haunting him and forcing him to admit to his crime? None of these answers would be out of the realm of possibility where Poe is involved, and all of them are interesting to ponder. However you read into it, “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a gripping and profoundly troubling tale of madness, murder, and many strange, unanswered questions…in other words, all the things that make this author’s work in the fields of horror and crime so renowned. It is no surprise this takes the cake as My Favorite of the Works by Edgar Allan Poe.

HONORABLE MENTIONS INCLUDE…

Morella.

The Gold-Bug.

The Oblong Box.

The Premature Burial.

[anicejuicymurder]

On the recommendation of two friends, I recently watched Deadloch, and it was incredible! Super funny, but the mystery is really compelling too. It both subverts and satirises crime drama tropes and archetypes as well as being a pointed social commentary. Oh, it's also incredibly feminist and critiques toxic masculinity and the patriarchy through that lens. Plus it’s a great buddy cop show! It works on a lot of levels in a way satire or spoofs can sometimes not work

Anyway, you've got the loose cannon renegade detective played pitch perfectly by Madeleine Sami (a lot of comments I saw elsewhere found her hard to bear at first, but she does mellow, and her being OTT was part of the point), the strait-laced (but not straight) local sergeant again played to perfection by Kate Box, and a whole host of wacky and often irritating (but never boring) characters, who, as I said, both play into archetypes of crime dramas but also real life stereotypes.

It's hard to go into more of what I loved about it as a whole without giving away the reveals, so I'll just say I think it was all superbly done. It's a really well crafted show! Hopefully my gushing isn't too effusive but it's rare these days for me to get this sucked in and not be disappointed. It's also set up perfectly for a second so fingers crossed

And for anyone looking for crime dramas with more queer characters, most of the women in the town are lesbians, and the main male cop is gay

(Sorry if any of this doesn’t make sense! It’s super hot today and I’m tired and meant to write this weeks ago haha)

[afrotumble]

John Weatherspoon (January 27, 1942 – October 29, 2019), better known as John Witherspoon, was an American actor and comedian who performed in various television shows and films.

Witherspoon was born in Detroit, Michigan. He later changed his last name from Weatherspoon to Witherspoon. Witherspoon was one of 11 siblings. His older brother, William, became a songwriter for Motown, with whom he penned the lyrics of the 1966 hit single "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted". Another sibling, Cato, was a director of the PBS-TV Network/CH56 in Detroit. His sister, the late Dr. Gertrude Stacks, was a pastor at Shalom Fellowship International, a church in Detroit.

Witherspoon worked occasionally as a model. During the 1960s and 1970s, he began to take a liking towards comedy. During that time, he began his stand-up comedy career. As a result, he had many friends in the business, including Tim Reid (while he was working on WKRP in Cincinnati and The Richard Pryor Show), Robin Williams (also on The Richard Pryor Show), Jay Leno, and David Letterman.

Witherspoon married Angela Robinson in 1988. They have two sons, John David ("J.D.") and Alexander. David Letterman was Witherspoon's best friend and is the godfather to his two sons.

He is best remembered for his role as Willie Jones for the Friday series; Witherspoon also starred in films such as Hollywood Shuffle (1987), Boomerang (1992), The Five Heartbeats (1991), and Vampire in Brooklyn (1995).

In 1977, he became a regular on the series The Richard Pryor Show, an NBC American comedy series. This then led to his appearance in WKRP In Cincinnati in 1982 in the fourth-season episode "Circumstantial Evidence" in which Witherspoon played Detective Davies.

He has also made appearances on television shows such as 227 (1987), Amen (1988), LA Law (1990), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1994), The Wayans Bros. (1995–99), The Tracy Morgan Show (2003), Barnaby Jones (1973), The Boondocks (2005–2014), and Black Jesus (2014–2019). Subsequent appearances were on Good Times, What's Happening!!, and The Incredible Hulk.

He wrote a film, From the Old School, in which he played an elderly working man who tries to prevent a neighborhood convenience store from being developed into a strip club.

In 2011, he starred in a Final Destination spoof with Shane Dawson on YouTube. In May 2013, he featured on "Saturday (skit)", from rapper Logic on his 2013 mixtape titled Young Sinatra: Welcome to Forever.

[possessedscholar]

Though on the outside a Combat Doll appears to be a form of Full Body Cyborg, in truth internally they are vastly different. Full Body Cyborgs are basically an organic brain placed in an entirely mechanical body that has no other organic components. Meanwhile, a Combat Doll does not retain the original brain, instead using a mana-silicate lattice based circuit installed with a… how to word this… with the magically digitized original brain installed into it. Because of this magical digitization, we can keep backups of Combat Dolls and their memories in case of Total Failure. Further, a Combat Doll can sync with copies of herself to ensure memories and what are essentially software updates are kept, and thanks to recent developments synchronization can be done even over distances measuring in AU.

Though regarding the “software updates”, Commander Lily has started doing her level best to spoof the “government-mandated” ones. Don’t let what I’m about to tell you get out, but Commander Lily feels like recent updates and information packets have been structured a bit suspiciously, and frankly Commander Sapphire and I agree. Something big’s coming we think, and Combat Dolls are going to be right in the middle of it, and not in a good way.

We also have a simple, ultimate backup. Every Combat Doll here in Talos has a physically isolated backup brain and body that contains nothing Talos related (save for being, y’know, employed by us), and a Self-Format device that can be activated on their current bodies to wipe them should certain forms of personality tampering be detected. The backups can then be activated by our token non-Combat Doll staff and bam, back again. Every Combat Doll is required to update this final backup body and brain once a week through special proprietary devices of ours, which thanks to Lilith and Meredith’s expertise is capable of leaving out the non-essentials.

Hopefully none of this will be necessary, but still.