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clanwarrior-tumbly · 2 months

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when y/n gathering scrap to meet quota and heard a noise and quickly turn around to see coil-head stop moving they slowly walking backward to try not get killed, after a long while they managed to escape from the coil-head. now y/n heard a rumor about a very familiar entity with a funny nickname peanut (its scp 178 if your curious) but it have very valuable information to know since its familiar to coil-heads when looking at the enemy will not move until your not looking at it

"Just be cool..it's all for the Company...all for the Company...."

Uttering that small mantra, you approached the large humming machinery, your eyes being set directly on the prize: a glowing yellow apparatus. The powercell of this entire facility.

It was worth a good fortune in the name of meeting quota, although it didn't come without its risks.

Like plunging you into total darkness and being stupidly heavy to lug back to the ship.

Unfortunately your crew sent you to retrieve it alone, as they were adding up how much the scrap piles were worth, buying stuff on the terminal, and looking out for eyeless dogs.

But for all you knew, they could be doing fuckall while you're risking life and limb every second you remained in this building.

Then again, that's just a normal day when working for the Company.

You kept your scanner going, cradling the giant apparatus close to your chest. It was your only source of light right now, as your flashlight was out of battery--and it made you look like a giant walking target for whatever monsters lurked here.

Speaking of which-

--New creature data sent to the terminal!--

"...what did I just scan?"

Stopping in your tracks for a brief moment, you took a look around the room, not seeing any sort of creature moving...

Only to suddenly hear loud footsteps rushing at you from behind, and in panic you swiftly turned around. The glow of the apparatus illuminated something humanoid that stopped short in front of you, allowing you to fully take in its horrifying appearance.

It was a creature that looked like a mannequin, with nails piercing its body, no forearms, and its head attached to a metal spring that bobbed as it stopped in-place. It had two hollow eyes and a broken mouth that made it incapable of expressions...yet you felt very afraid staring up at it.

"Shit..th-there's something here, guys.." You muttered into the walkie-talkie, praying somebody would pick up.

"We see it." One of your crewmembers' voice responded. "It's...a Coil-Head. Just got the data."

"Coil-Head? That's what they call these things?"

"If you wanna get specific, it's a Vir colli-"

"Whatever, not important. How much longer do I have until midnight?" You huffed.

"You got time. You're close to the exit!"

"Okay...well what do I do about this thing? I'm looking right at it."

"This is gonna sound weird, but just..keep doing that and head for the exit. But whatever you do, don't l-"

*krrrrrrrt*

"...one more time? I didn't catch that last part."

"........."

"Oh my god..you're kidding me, right?" Briefly glancing at your walkie-talkie, you realized the battery died and groaned, although the Coil-Head suddenly moved an inch closer, its head bobbing violently. "Woah--okay, okay..I'll keep looking at you, I guess....I don't want any problems."

It didn't answer, and simply stared.

"Christ..why does something like this exist at all?" You mumbled to yourself, keeping a tight hold on the apparatus as you slowly backed away, trying to keep your ears and scanner open for anything that might creep up behind you.

God forbid it was another landmine, spider web, or Bracken.

This was genuinely terrifying, especially knowing you were wandering through a near pitch-black facility with this mechanical creature following you every time you had to break line of sight.

Now that you've lost all communication with your crew, the only way they could tell if you're alive was on the monitors. You didn't even know what time it was. All you could do was pray to whatever god was out there in this vast universe that you'd get back to the ship before they decided to take off without you.

Surely, they wouldn't abandon one of their own..

Then again, you were all told to do "whatever it takes" to survive long enough to meet the next quota.

Even if it meant ditching and killing each other, or leaving the moon's atmosphere before midnight to keep tabs on whatever scrap was salvaged for the day.

But regardless, you had to survive..and so you did your best to maneuver around the facility with the Coil-Head in your sights at all times.

Its mannerisms did remind you of some other creature you have researched from a different and not-so-ethical company. Although right now, you're not too focused on that.

Not dying was more important.

........

"You made it!!"

"Yeah, no shit..my arms are killing me.." Dropping the apparatus unceremoniously on the ship floor, you looked at your fellow crewmates--two of whom were arguing about which moon to route the ship to next, while only one acknowledged your close call with the Coil-Head.

At least somebody cares.

But now that you've had time to calm down, you remembered what you wanted to do once you returned here safely.

"Y'know, that Coil-Head reminds me of this one creature I've read about back on Earth..its mannerisms are similar." You hummed, before heading to the terminal, irritated by the arguing duo. "Move. I need to look up something."

"Oh thank god." One of the employees huffed, shaking her head. "Please jump on the terminal before this dumbass routes us to Titan and blows all our money."

"Why are you being so stingy?! We can afford it!"

"We can't afford dying just because you wanna go to the deadliest moon! You think it's gonna be like Experimentation? A cakewalk??"

"No but it sure as hell's gonna give us better loot! We may have an apparatus but it's not gonna sustain us!"

"...can you guys take this conversation elsewhere? I'm going in." You squeezed between the pair and managed to get your hands on the keyboard, pulling up the internet (with speed that sucked since the Company tended to be cheap like that).

Curious, they stopped their squabbling and looked to what you were typing, bringing up a data profile for a creature called-

"SCP-173?"

"Yep. Or as they call it, the Statue..but I like its nickname "Peanut" a little better." You chuckled as you read its containment summary and description. ""The object cannot move while within a direct line of sight...object is reported to attack by snapping the neck at the base of the skull"...yep....the vibes are similar. Interesting"

"I thought snapping necks was the Bracken's job." One crewmember joked. "You're telling me that Coil-Heads and this Peanut might be cousins?"

"Maybe whoever designed them took some inspiration...though I wonder how it could snap someone's neck if it doesn't have any hands.."

"I kinda wanna see that happen. Any volunteers?" The Titan-obsessed employee laughed, but the dead silence and blank stares they received from all three of you caused them to tense up. "...I-I was only kidding...jeez.."

"If we run into another Coil-Head, we're leaving you behind to stare at it."

"Wha----are you really that mad that I suggested going to Titan???" They snapped.

"Since you're acting like a total nincompoop who should know we don't have the proper equipment yet...yes." You answered flatly, to which they groaned in annoyance.

"You're all jerks...I wish I had a new crew."

"In space, no one can hear you whine. Now let's go to March. We still got one day left to make some extra bucks, okay?"

"Fiiiiine, "Captain". Whatever you say."

#clanask #lethal company x reader #lc x reader #coilhead #coil head

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feyarcher · 10 months

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It's the loss of community from all the social media site distasters of the last year that really gets me. Musk blew up twitter because ????? and I lost a huge source of my regular connection to certain communities and the world generally. Reddit is now fucked because its owner has decided it is cool to be a mini musk or something and so many communities are getting destroyed.

Some people leave immediately when the ship starts sinking. Some people are forced out because the lack of accessibility literally steals their community spaces from them. Others stay to laugh at the asshats in charge. And bad actors come in to make the remnants of the communities into cesspools.

And what are we left with? There is no other platform that entire communities can move to in the exact same way they were before. There is no way to track where every single person who brought value to your community chooses to go. And the scatter remnants are different, forced from text based to [whatever the fuck tumblr is] based or fucking video based. (The turn to video based content with your real identity attached is a whole thing for another time). Or private discord forums that you have to already know about to be able to find because message boards where you can find community and answers with an easy search are gone.

Our communities have been wonderful much of the time (if you can manage to filter out the awful and the rage bait and curate your experience), but we built them on private companies that somehow don't give a fuck about the users who drive the entire value of their site. They focus on advertisers and data collection and never improving the actual experience of the users who mean everything to their stock prices.

The undervaluing of mods, the highlighting of asshats paying $8 to spout off nonsense, the complete lack of caring about what actually makes their platforms useful. And the collateral damage is me, losing communities and news sources and amusement that I have relied on for years. In order to what? Impress investors who are equally stupid and refuse to focus on building a good product and instead focus on what? Ads half of people block anyways? Appeasing the ego of a guy who should take his halfassed spaceship to Mars and not come back?

And the only real short term option we have to fight back is to leave. To not give them our engagement. To tank the stupid metrics they care so much about. At the cost of communities. Of easy information access. Of discovering new people and ideas completely by accident that change your whole world.

Sure, in the long run we can work on shifting to "better" sites. Ones that are open sources or ones we build ourselves. Make your own website. Get involved in modding not for profit sites. But none of it brings back the communities, the connections, the people that we have lost along the way. And today, I'm just fucking sad about it.

#reddit blackout #the downfall of twitter #im not even touching on the damage tiktok has done to how we engage with each other online #this is not a shot at tumblr or their staff who i think are generally working in the right direction #but tumblr isn't profitable so how long until we lose this space too #allie says stuff sometimes #excuse my rant #wall of text

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minniethemoocherda · 4 months

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Iridescent: Chapter 13

Summary: When Jazz is promoted to Head of Special Operations, the last thing he expected was to have to work with a face from his past.

A/N: Fair warning that the violence is going to be a bit more graphic from this point onwards sorry! Xxxxxxx

Ao3

Jazz opened up the spec op private comms

"Hound after you've dropped off Mirage, I need you to track Skywarp!" Jazz ordered, having to shout over the sound of Prowl chewing out the twins nearby.

After receiving an affirmative, Jazz marched back over the two remaining commanders, passing by the twins who looks appropriately guilty for once.

"We should retreat! Before more of our people are injured." Optimus suggested, firing out from behind where they had managed to build a makeshift barrier out of the rusted remains of whatever structure had once been built here.

"Why?" Jazz asked, casually throwing a shuriken over the barrier, that judging by the following scream, confirmed that it had found its target, as he ducked down besides his friend. "So that they can eventually break the doors down or simply drop a big ass bomb and kill us all inside instead of out here?"

"I agree with Jazz." Prowl declared.

Even after everything that had happened today, Prowl openly agreeing with him, still managed to surprise Jazz.

"We have to hold them out here. If the other seekers invade the Ark then we will loose the Autobot headquarters and most likely the war." Prowl finished.

Optimus paused, probably consulting with the Matrix, however that worked, as he considered their plan. After a moment he nodded.

"Very well, here is where we shall stand our ground." Optimus said, his voice that of a Prime instead of the awkward data clerk Jazz used to know.

Of course as soon as that plan was decided, Blaster chose that moment to interrupt the three of them with an incoming comm. Except it wasn't the communication expect on the other end of the line.

"This is MacCadam's base calling the Ark, can you hear me?" Elita-One's voice echoed in their ears.

"Ariel." Optimus breathed. Jazz hadn't heard their leader sound so relieved since becoming a Prime. It was shortlived however as worry quickly returned. "Has Bumblebee-"

"Yes he reached us safe and well." Elita was quick to reassure them and despite the distance, Jazz could hear the smile in her voice. "I sent him back with the information I am about to tell you. Our communications had been sabotaged. We are able to contact Teletran-1 but within the last hour we've found our Head of Communications grey in her room with a blaster wound through her mouth."

"Do you think the guilt got to her?" Jazz wondered aloud. It would certainly explain things. Perhaps too cleanly.

"It would appear so. When we lost communication Chromia became adamant that you're base must also have been sabotaged so she straight left for the Ark. I sent Silverstreak to keep an eye on her. Not long after they left, we were attacked by Soundwave."

"If Soundwave's there and Starscream's here then where is Megatron?" Optimus asked.

Jazz caught Prowl's optics. By the way they flashed, he knew that they bad both come to the same conclusion.

"He is planning an attack on our two weapons specialists who are currently out of range, outnumbered and unaware that they're headed straight for a trap." Prowl stated.

Shit

"Our long range individual comms are still dismantled." Elita-One reminded them. "We can only contact Teletra-"

"AHHHHHHH!"

She was interrupted by Blaster's screams before the call cut off entirely. Which could only mean one thing. That Skywarp had infiltrated their communication room.

Jazz didn't need to say out loud what they all already knew. That Ironhide, Chromia and the rest of their team's lives now relied on them kicking Skywarp's ass and fixing whatever mess she had made to their long range comms.

Which was going to be a problem considering the fact that the communications room had access to the camera outside the hanger doors so that they could see anyone heading inside.

Thankfully, Jazz was a spy for a reason.

"I know a secret way inside." Jazz told them. "But as amazing as I am, it would be a lot easier to take her down if I had some help."

"Prowl, accompany Jazz." Optimus ordered. "I will ensure that we hold the Seekers back."

Prowl didn't look particularly pleased at the idea of teaming up. Prowl wouldn't have been Jazz first choice either but with his best agent injured and the other occupied, he didn't have much of a choice left. Regardless Prowl wasn't going to argue with their Prime, so after a few pointed words to the twins reminding them to actually follow orders, he turned to Jazz.

"Lead the way."

Prowl kept his blaster poised as he reluctantly followed Jazz around the outwards of the Ark, keeping watch for any Seekers who might have noticed them under Optimus cover fire.

Prowl was reluctant to leave the front where he believed that his tactical skills would be most valuable. He could have said these concerns aloud. Optimus had always welcomed his troupes to voice their objections which was something that Prowl's previous authority figures during his time as an enforcer had never approved of. But ultimately, Optimus was their Prime who's decision had failed to steer them wrong yet, so Prowl trusted his judgement.

He soon realised that Jazz was leading them towards the end of the Ark's old thrusters. The ship was once capable of interstellar flight but had not been used for such purposes since the golden age of Nova Prime. Now the thrusters were rusted and sealed up due to their misuse.

At least that was what Prowl had been told. However Jazz was currently entering through the centre of the left thrusters' exit port where he was able to unscrew a loose panel, that lead into a gap between the main energon line and the wall.

"This is where Hound secretly feeds his rations to the local turbo-foxes and where I'm pretty sure Bumblebee has been sneaking out at night." Jazz explained before he crawled inside. Prowl made a mental note to inform Red Alert of the security breach when this whole ordeal was over, before following him inside.

It was a tight fit for Jazz and an even tighter one for Prowl. Even with his doorwings pressed flat against his back, it still hurt to drag their edges against the steal walls and without even enough room to turn his head, Prowl was left with no choice but to stare directly at the curves of Jazz's ass as they scraped along the gap. Thankfully, it wasn't long before Jazz shoved open a grate opened into a storage closet.

Although, Prowl almost immediately missed the gap, as here he was pressed chassis to chassis, with his only option to look directly into Jazz's face.

Thankfully the spy, made no comment on their positions when he spoke.

"I ain't getting a response from Hound but Bluestreak said that the last thing he told her was that he heading towards Communications."

Prowl let out a vent that he hadn't realised he'd been holding when he learnt that Bluestreak was alright. He knew that the young sniper was more than capable of protecting herself but as the older sibling he couldn't help worrying whenever she was out of the realm of his protection.

Prowl watched as Jazz slowly opened the storage door to the corridor, sliding his blade between the small slit as he glanced around.

After a moment he gave a thumbs up of an all clear and strolled out of the cupboard. Prowl wasted no time in doing the same. Once outside, they took up the same unspoken positions that they head before, with Jazz leading the way, blade in hand, whilst Prowl protected the rear, blaster ready. Although now that he knew what Jazz's rear looked like, he found it hard to concentrate on protecting it.

Fortunately, they didn't encounter any resistance along the corridors since most able bodied mechs were outside battling against the seekers.

Unfortunately they couldn't hear any signs of a scuffle or regain access to their long range comms which was not a good sign.

Once they made it to Communications, cautiously, Prowl poked his head around the door.

Skywarp was wrecking havoc on Teletran-1, ripping out wires and smashing screens like a rabid animal. At the very least it didn't appear like she knew exactly what damage she was doing but that didn't necessarily mean that it would be any easier to fix.

At her feet lay Hound, Blaster and Red Alert. A short range blaster shot had taken out half of Hound's torso. Miraculously, it hadn't appeared to have hit any vital organs, but by Prowl's calculations, that would matter little as he would soon to bleed out his remaining reserves of energon. Blaster had a large dent on the side of his helm but otherwise appeared unharmed. Red Alert was the only one conscious, however they were powerless to help as Skywarp had hogtied them up in a tangle of cords. Prowl knew that the stress of witnessing Skywarp wreck all of their carefully crafted systems was causing more pain than any injury could have ever done.

"You gotta plan commander?" Jazz whispered.

Before Prowl's battle computer had any time to respond, he heard the sound of footsteps behind them.

Out of the corner of his optic, Prowl caught Jazz wield his knife in the same moment that he raised his blaster.

Thankfully, it wasn't sneak a Deception attack. Instead it was Mirage, leaning heavily against the wall, as he dragged himself long the corridor.

"I... I am unable to reach Hound on internal comms. His... his last message was that he was head to-towards Communications." Mirage stammered, trying to be quiet but Prowl winced as their gasping breathes echoed across the silent corridor. Miraculously, Skywarp must not have heard it over the sound of her own destruction.

"Do not engage except for long range weapons." Prowl ordered, calculating that their chances of success would drastically decrease if Mirage were to witness Hound in his current state. And he hadn't even taken into account yet that whilst the cut across the spy's chest plate had been welded shut, Prowl knew that anything even remotely strenuous easily rip it open again.

Before Mirage could protest Jazz interrupted.

"Your invisibility ain't going to do shit if you start leaking very visible energon everywhere so do as he says." Jazz told him.

Prowl was unbothered as Mirage glared in his direction before biting his tongue and remaining at the end of the corridor. It made sense that the spy would be more likely to listen to a friend then a commander and Prowl did not care who the orders came from as long as Mirage followed them.

"Hey," Jazz hissed to get his attention. "If that big brain if yours hadn't come up with a plan yet, then I've got one." Prowl was not put at ease by the edge of Jazz's grin. "Knight."

It took a moment for Prowl to comprehend what it even was that Jazz was suggesting. It took a further moment for him to run it through his battle computer. After another he nodded.

Prowl lay flat against the corridor floor as Jazz peaked around the edge of the doorway, the side of his visor titled just so that it reflected the light off one of the remaining monitors, catching Skywarp's eye.

In an instant she had materialised in front of their Head of Special Operations. Jazz feigned surprise as Prowl crawled past the now tussling pair into the communications room.

Prowl ignored the flash of guilt as he climbed over Hound's body even though logically he knew that only Ratchet had the power to help him now. Besides, the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. And Prowl's current goal was saving two of their commanders plus their squads.

Prowl crouched down besides Red Alert, removing the plug gagged into their mouth and untying them as quickly as he could. This close, he could feel the heat radiating from their sensory horns that threatened an impending systems crash.

"Focus on what you can control." Prowl ordered once he had freed them of their restraints. "Can you recommend the wire to establish long range comms?"

Red Alert's eyes were wide and Prowl wasn't entirely convinced that they weren't going to crash. But if anyone was used to handling stress under pressure it was the Ark's security director.

With a jerked nod, Red Alert forced themselves towards Teletran-1.

With the first step of their plan in action, Prowl turned his focus back onto the fight behind him, to find that Skywarp had a writhing Jazz pinned under her armour. Wrestled that closely intertwined, Mirage would be unable to take a clear shot even if his condition hadn't drastically hampered his ability to aim.

Getting to his feet, Prowl grabbed Skywarp from behind, the teleporter too startled to make a jump to avoid being thrown from her victim. She produced a blaster, from where, Prowl did not have the time to figure out. But before she could fire it, he caught her wrist, yanking it upwards so the shot fired into the ceiling instead of his helm. He then turned so his back faced her front, snapping her wrist in the process and shot her with his own blaster. She dodged at the last second so he missed her spark but it still managed to blast a hole in her shoulder. Skywarp keeled over, using the remains of her hand to plug the gaping wound in her shoulder.

Whilst she was down, Prowl turned his attention to Jazz who was staring up at him, that infuriating smile for once wiped clean from his face.

Prowl allowed himself a small sense of satisfaction. He spent so much time behind the scenes of battles that their troupes had forgotten the fighting skills that had earned him the position in the first place.

As he helped Jazz to his feet, Prowl caught a glimpse of Mirage where he was hidden behind the corner of the corridor. Prowl would have to see Ratchet to get his optics checked as he thought that he saw a flash of respect in the spy’s eyes.

"You know I was just pretending to be loosing as a distraction right?" Jazz said as he fought to catch his breath, a cheeky smile now back on his face.

Prowl did have time to dignify that with a response as in an instant Prowl found himself upside down, pedes brushing the Ark ceiling. Skywarp cackled, spitting energon at his face, then disappeared. He did not have time to calculate a plan before the floor suddenly came crashing towards him. A fall from this height might not kill him but it would certainly do processor damage that would negatively impact the outcome of the war.

Suddenly, someone crashed into him, rolling them both in mid-air. The next thing Prowl registered, he was looking up at Jazz, illuminated by the ceiling lights and cradling his helm from where it was currently lying in the spy's lap.

"Smooth moves Commander." Jazz said, his smile saying that words could not. That now they were even.

The moment when ruined when Skywarp, screeching like a rabbit cyberwolf tried to pounce on them.

Thankfully, Mirage was able to shoot her in her already injured shoulder, blasting her arm off in a mess of tangled wires.

"Sorry." Jazz grinned.

Before Prowl could ask about what, Jazz dropped him, leaving Prowl sprawled on the floor.

Prowl pushed himself back to his feet so that he could properly yell at him. He cut himself off at the sight of Jazz biting down on Skywarp's uninjured shoulder. Prowl could only watch in disbelief as Skywarp teleported randomly along the length of the corridor, thrashing around and crashing into walls. But Jazz must have a vampiric set of denta as nothing she did could shake him off.

From this angle, Jazz couldn't reach her spark, so Prowl watched as he stabbed his blade into Skywarp's waist instead.

She reappeared, screaming on the Communications floor.

Prowl wasted no time, grabbing a broken metal pole. Again, unable to reach her spark with Jazz still sprawled on her back, he instead skewered it through her leg. Then stamping on the end, he bent the mental until he had hooked Skywarp's leg into the floor.

Prowl kept his blaster trained on her helm as Jazz finally clambered off her.

"Girl, when was the last time you had a shower?" Jazz asked, wiping his mouth with a grimace.

Prowl knew that Skywarp's injuries would not trap her forever. He had yet to find a prison that could. But for now, her teleportation abilities weren't going to be an advantage in battle when she was in too much pain to fight.

Prowl kept guard over Skywarp as Red Alert, who was muttering expletives under their breathe, re-connected the mess of shredded wires. Mirage had managed to hobble to the room by this point. He dropped to Hound's side, grabbing at the debris surrounding them to try to fill in the injury whilst Jazz hailed Ratchet.

On the one working monitor, Prowl watched as on the screen a single shot severed through both of Starscream's thrusters. He couldn't stop the swell of pride at the knowledge that Bluestreak was the only one talented enough to make that shot.

However, Prowl was going to have to update his folder on Skywarp's abilities to teleport within her line of sight as in the next second, she appeared on the monitor screen, a chunk of her leg missing from where it was still nailed into the communications floor. Prowl watched as outside the Ark, she helping her Trine commander to escape as the seekers called for a retreat.

"I've fixed Teletran-1!" Red Alert cried.

It was unfortunate that the Skywarp had escaped. But their primary goal had been to contact Ironhide by re-establishing long range comms so overall Prowl considered the mission a success.

Prowl marched over to the console, wasting no time in connecting the long range call.

"Ironhide, this is Teletran-1. Do you copy?"

"Huh what?" Ironhide answered, sounding startled by the long range comm. Prowl ignored the incorrectly worded response and continued.

"We believe that you are heading into a trap. Megatron is-"

"Yeah yeah we know." Ironhide interrupted, the usually gruff soldier still sounding frazzled. "Bumblebee must've figured out what he was planning because he found where Megatron was waiting and provoked him into revealing his location and... oh Primus. We... when we saw what was happening we tried to stop him. We tried to fight back but.. but..."

"What happened?" Prowl demanded.

Ironhide took a shuddering breath.

"It's Megatron. He kidnapped Bumblebee."

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maddiviner · 1 year

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How would one perhaps cast a glamourbomb?

Note: This article describes some stuff people did in the past. It’s not safe or wise to do that kind of thing nowadays, if it ever truly was. I don’t recommend engaging in these activities, but wanted to answer this anyways. The word itself made me nostalgic, but conflicted? Yeah.

Glamourbombs, at least as I know the term, aren’t spells in the traditional sense. They are (were, more like) magical performance pieces. They touch the “mundane” world with some sort of occult interjection. This was (perhaps thankfully) most common in places where the veil between “mundane” and “weird” was already thin: libraries, universities after midnight, anime conventions, places like that. While I don’t doubt people still do this today, the trend was at its peak around the turn of the century.

At the time, I was in middle school. As the Millennium (holy f**king s**t! its Y2K!) approached, the apocalypticism wasn’t just limited to the Christian kids. Those of us who weren’t Christian or just came from more secular families still saw things like hysteria about Y2K glitches and especially climate change. A lot of that was pretty scary to us, especially considering some of our more fundamentalist-minded neighbors were saying the world was going to end and “Jesus was coming back.”

It wasn’t so much that we believed them. We just knew, even as kids, that the scientists weren’t lying about the climate data. We also knew that people were acting really irrationally, whatever their reasons. This fit in well with the notion that some big change was coming. Maybe it wasn’t the Christian apocalypse, but could it be something? Plenty of adults seemed to think so, too.

Online, and in our own (burgeoning) occult spaces, we had our own spin on things. Allegedly, by glamourbombing, we were helping, in some small way, to enchant this increasingly hostile mundane world. Because, as teens and tweens growing up on White Wolf, Captain Planet and Square Enix, we clearly knew what was best for reality!

We had every right to (at least try to) impose it on the rest of the world at every chance. Right? Right?

We’d all read at least two books on witchcraft from Barnes and Noble, too.

In some scenarios of glamourbombing, the point was just to make people going about their day pause for a few seconds, think “Hmm? Cool!” and go on about their lives, hopefully in a better mood. These were usually simple things like flyers seeking a “LOST UNICORN,” a notice that you’re entering a “PIXIE-FREE ZONE,” silly things like that. You still see stuff like this today and (if it’s well-designed) it makes people smile and nothing more.

Other glamourbombs had more complexity. They (sometimes) included a bit of magical technique - an active hypersigil, for example.

When pen drives grew in popularity, they became common tools for glamourbombing, with people filling the drives with “magical” material and leaving them (usually conspicuously) somewhere, like a library.

These hypersigils might take the form of experimental music MP3s, animated loops, even actual .EXE files (supposedly). I don’t know whether anyone was bold or foolish enough to click on something like that, of course.

I was barely in my teens, and definitely still sorting things out when it came both to my personal beliefs and perspective on wider community issues like this. Even then, though, I knew not to click any weird .EXE files.

The larger problem, in case you couldn’t tell?

A lot of this straight-up ignores issues like bystander consent from a magical perspective and, y’know, the problems that can arise from leaving weird/unexpected things in public places.

Also? In case you’re not keeping track, I’m talking about the 2000s here. Early 2000s. As in directly after 9/11. Not exactly a wonderful time to be running around acting weird in public and dumping strange packages. Not a safe or wise thing to be doing. Some people got a tag on that early on and quit such shenanigans.

In the summer of 2003, I attended a summer program for “gifted” 🙄 kids where I took the course focused on Greek mythology. The motley pack of metaphysically-inclined nerds I met there thought glamourbombing was tragically cool, of course. We had all kinds of ideas about “Lost Pegasus” flyers and other Greek mythology-themed things. Thankfully nothing that would’ve been too harmful. We ended up being too shy and busy with schoolwork to actually do any of it.

Sadly, later on, there were some attempts by groups (some of which I’d call cult-like) to recruit using this kind of thing. I won’t name anything that’d put me on anyone’s radar (hopefully), but I remember reading about some of it.

One particularly unpleasant and notorious use of this technique occurred on the west coast in the late 2000s when a cult set up an “art installation” in public featuring a live rat in a maze and some other random detritus. The rat didn’t freeze to death despite cold temperatures, thankfully.

Incidents like that (which was, of course, reported as a bomb scare) probably helped to put a stop to the glamourbombing trend. After all, if you’re (supposedly) after some kind of mind-liberating mass reenchantment of reality, well, nothing could be worse than the whole bomb squad showing up, right?

As the digital age crept on, I think people started to reevaluate attention’s role as a commodity. It’s really easy to get attention if you want it, as things like the “rat in a maze” exhibit (which made the papers) show.

You can’t control what kind of attention you’ll get, though, and you can’t say for certain that what you’re doing won’t have unintended consequences for other people. With that in mind, something like glamourbombing doesn’t seem very responsible, especially right now.

I guess the concept isn’t irredeemable. As recently as 2018, I was posting on Facebook looking for someone to help me slay the green dragon that sometimes lands in the field near the Taco Bell by the highway.

Little pranks and jokes like that can brighten everyone’s mood sometimes. There’s certain contexts, though (my Facebook feed, for example) where it might be appropriate, and others where it wouldn’t.

And the full-on concept of a glamourbomb, designed to “spread magic in the mundane'' with an active sigil of some sort, etc? Hard pass. Doesn’t seem ethical to me nowadays.

And, of course, it’s generally a bad idea to do anything that might be mistaken for a bomb threat.

#witchcraft #magic #occult #chaos magic #witch #witchblr #sigil #hypersigil #glamourbomb #early 2000s #eliza.txt #new occult #postmodern #millennium #tw animal neglect #tw bomb

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mariacallous · 2 months

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Bellingcat: Two Years Since Russia's Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine

Two years ago today, Russia unleashed its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That move has caused widespread destruction, inflamed world tensions and as of last November killed at least 10,000 civilians, according to the UN. Open source investigative techniques have allowed many to scrutinise this conflict from afar. On the first days of the invasion, we set up our Ukraine Civilian Harm Map, which features over 1,500 incidents verified by our team. Our colleagues in Bellingcat's Justice & Accountability Unit have also advocated for a greater role for open source materials in judicial proceedings. Much has changed since those first days. The optimistic projections following Ukraine's successful counteroffensive in Kharkiv Region are a thing of the past. Following Russia's capture of Avdiivka this month and growing hurdles to US military support for Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly has renewed hope for achieving his maximalist goals. This war may last well into 2024 — or more likely into 2025 or beyond. Whatever happens, we'll continue to watch and investigate. In this newsletter, we'll share useful open source techniques from our work on Ukraine and offer examples of the finest open source investigations on Ukraine.

Top Five: Tools, Techniques and Tips

Over the years, Bellingcat's team has shared new tools and techniques with the help of the wider open source community. They've been invaluable in our investigations on Ukraine. Here are five particularly innovative examples:

It's all in the stitching. While camouflage patterns match, the way that camouflage fabric is cut, arranged and stitched can help identify specific uniforms. Bellingcat researcher Michael Sheldon used this technique to investigate a redacted photo of a man holding a severed head in Syria. The same uniform had been worn by a notorious Russian neo-Nazi who fought in eastern Ukraine.

Look at the smoke. NASA's FIRMS tool detects anomalous heat signatures, many of which can be caused by military activity. As Michael found in the same piece, a large smoke plume in an image can provide a clue as to when it was taken by searching the area on FIRMS.

Pierce through the clouds. When ships turn off their transponders and 'go dark', they disappear from online ship tracking websites. When it's cloudy, you may not see them on satellite imagery. So when tracking a Russian ship smuggling stolen Ukrainian grain which had disappeared in this way, we used Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). Much like a bat emits 'sonar' to detect images in its path, this satellite data can show the lay of the land even in the darkest moments.

Save often, save early. Useful footage online is often deleted. Sometimes it's the user, sometimes it's the platform, as such content violates standards on violent imagery. This is where our auto-archiver tool comes in, saving crucial imagery documenting civilian harm in Ukraine and other warzones worldwide.

Cut those corners. Geolocation is a game of patience, but the Open Street Map Search Tool by our colleague Logan Williams allows you to narrow down a search area by selecting visible features listed in Open Street Map. It's also been invaluable in our work on Ukraine and Russia.

Top Five: Open Source Investigations on Ukraine

Over the past two years, we've seen mainstream media increasingly use open source techniques in their reporting on Ukraine. As journalists increasingly adopt this craft, more specialist teams continue to develop new tools and techniques. Here are some of our staff's suggestions for the best open source investigations on Ukraine, in no particular order:

Olga Lubiv recommends Human Rights Watch (HRW)'s investigation into a Russian cluster munition attack on Kramatorsk railway station in April 2022, which claimed the lives of 63 civilians. It used extensive social media imagery and 3D modelling to piece together the incident.

Maxim Edwards recommends the work of Ukrainian investigative team Texty.UA, such as this satellite image survey of the drought caused upstream by the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in June 2023.

Pooja Chaudhuri recommends one of Texty.UA's other notable pieces, a massive visual investigation showing that over 110,000 artefacts from Ukraine are held in two Russian museums.

Michael Sheldon recommends a Reuters investigation that reviewed thousands of documents left behind by Russia after its troops fled the town of Balakliia in September 2022. Further reporting last year revealed the horrifying story of a Russian military commandant who oversaw the unlawful detention of at least 200 civilians in the town, and whose men committed torture.

Charley Maher recommends RFE/RL's interactive map of Russian military bases and fortifications in occupied Crimea.

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legionofpotatoes · 1 year

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For real, your take on Mando season 3 is completely on point. But I get not feeling able to say it out loud without a disclaimer before, after, and in the tags to keep from getting shouted at in the reblogs. It's just the messed up nature of being in the SW fandom on Tumblr. Speaking your mind on your own blog is an invitation for buffoonery.

If I were completely honestly, I'm not in the least shocked that's what we got. I've long held the opinion that the worst part about the fandom is the fan opinions and expectations out of a new series, and the expectation that a formula for a show won't change, or that a character will maintain one set mentality/trope while simultaneously offering new, completely different story arcs. It isn't necessarily impossible to pull off, but it takes very careful planning and execution. And, unfortunately, that has never been a strength in this franchise, even before Disney ownership.

For most shows, it's the season 5 slump. After 5 seasons, all the flavor is gone and any additional seasons are painfully rehashed at best. For all the corporate financial squeezing that's been done to Mando since the beginning of the show to wring out revenue like its a wet washcloth, it really tracks that were in this place after only 3 seasons.

IMO the only thing that's going to save Andor is the fact that the end of the story has already been told in Rogue One and its confirmed that season 2 will end at that point of the timeline. If it was going to be a 3+ season show, I suspect we'd see the same treatment.

Anyway, I'll stop flapping my gums in your ask box. Your hot take encapsulated what felt off about this season to me. I couldn't put words to it, but it just felt....meh.

I just disable reblogs and try not to tag it in an inflammatory way, my gripes are genuinely like. basic semiotics and story sense, I'm not going after anyone's childhood or feel-goodness. This is all me-problems and me-expectations with a massive machine of commerce that will never give a shit lmao

I too wrote a couple of posts back in s2 days expecting something of this sort going forward after the weirdly presumptuous cameo-baiting of s2 and whatever in the goddamn hell boba fett did with its mando tie-ins, but an entire season of tirespinning sure was a surprising choice. I think writing for TV is fundamentally different than writing for film, so I didn't really see a clear parallel of incompetence within the franchise; and especially with season 1 being so solid in balancing both the overarching and the episodic stuff I felt like they had a neat ramp to milk a decently long character piece out of.

But I can't help but feel like my main problem with the disney/abrams/filoni/favreau era of star wars is its irrationally strong love for the aesthetic. it blinds them to good choices that will then make for interesting stories. gently deradicalizing, humanizing, and then literally AND figuratively getting din out of his shell so he could open up to a child's love could be such an effective, simple to parse, and wholesome core to structure the series around, but that would upend the aesthetic of their cowboy-ass romp a bit too fast and have an end and an identity and all that non-marketing friendly stuff. so they keep withholding his psyche, they keep giving then taking clear communication tools away from grogu, they keep teasing their bond but never outright stating it (I cannot believe after 3 seasons he still hasn't just looked at the baby and directly confessed he loved him), so they can keep bumping those goalposts back and forth while pretending it's progress. because they are in love with the aesthetic.

again, this is my main problem, I don't see this as a problem writ large or even something that represents a wrong way to do star wars. who the hell even knows how you treat a franchise that large at this point, what importance you assign to aesthetic vs. story, all that jazz. I don't know. they're the ones with the analytics data, so they definitely know better. and maybe that's the saddest part

#no need to apologize nonnie this is a heated subject for all of us lmao #anon #asks #negativity

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hiccupmistress · 10 months

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So earlier today, everyone on twitter got all confused because everything was showing a “rate limit exceeded” error message with no further clarification whatsoever. Then, some hours later, Mister dumb-dumb claims its “totally deliberate u guys” to “address extreme levels of data scraping”, and limiting people to seeing 600 posts per day. That might sound like a lot, but the way Twitter loads its feed, that basically means you get about 30 seconds of usage.

So basically, Mister dumb-dumb spent an unearthly amount of money to buy one of the biggest, most relied-upon social networks in the world, fired all the people who actually worked there, changed the verification badges so instead of confirming celeb accounts are legit, they instead mean “my cult is paying me $8″, claimed an adjective is a slur and is now massively restricting people using the service.

He does claim this is “temporary”, but given this idiot’s track record, he probably doesn’t know how to fix it. Especially since he laid off most of the actual software engineers.

Twitter has, for years, been a primary platform for both communities as well as keeping up on news. If people can barely see any tweets per day, that all goes right out the window.

Twitter got so big largely because it was convenient to get those things on one feed. Netflix got big when it started because it was convenient to have everything in one place, it reduced the amount of piracy that was going on for film/TV because it was easier and more convenient than the old torrenting services of the day. Now, every last studio wants to cash in with its own streaming service, and people are going back to piracy because its more convenient that having 500 different monthly subscriptions. This is the social media version of that. Mister dumb-dumb took one of the most convenient social media platforms and utterly mangled it, so user retention is understandably going through the floor.

Anyway, that means a lot of the communities I’ve been a part of are splitting all over the place to countless third party platforms. I’m not 100% sure yet, but I might be making more of an effort to get used to Tumblr. I’ve never quite felt confident posting here, but its currently the best alternative; Reddit is also going down the toilet with their API changes, Facebook is more built for people you know IRL rather than fandom communities (I never particularly liked the groups systems there), Discord is utterly alien to me and I simply cannot learn how to make the most of it and stuff like Mastodon or random-twitter-knockoff-that-my-mutuals-aren’t-bothering-to-tell-me-what-it-is are too niche and a bit weird.

So yeah, this feed might become more active with videogame screenshots, Star Trek episode thoughts and opinions, neurodivergent ramblings and whatever else, idk.

EDIT: News article with a bit more detail if you want

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66077195

#twitter ded #mister dumb-dumb broke twitter for good #social media's gone all weird #i just want my online community spaces #i need somewhere to talk about my hyperfixations #trust your software engineers #i'm still not entirely sure how to use tumblr

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paldean-ranger-brandy · 11 months

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how does the capture styler thing work? Is it just like a pokeball??

Oh boy. Okay, I’m not a like, tech person but I will do my best to explain. Long post ahead.

So for my followers who don’t know, some rangers operate with a capture styler to help them recruit wild pokemon on their missions, as opposed to working with a standard team of pokemon of their own. The styler has two parts, the base styler itself (pic below) and the capture disk, which looks kinda like a spinning top. The capture disk is launched from the styler and then basically remote controlled. You can control the disk to wrap wild pokemon up by leading the disk in circles around it, and once you’ve drawn enough circles the pokemon can be successfully ‘captured’. If the pokemon attacks the disk or the line that is being drawn around it, the damage will eventually cause the disk to disconnect from the styler. If that happens you have to either grab a back up disk or find a different way to solve whatever problem you’re having.

It’s pretty different from capturing a pokemon in a pokeball for a bunch of reasons. A pokemon captured with a styler is still considered a wild pokemon for all intents and purposes. Capturing will briefly calm a wild pokemon, and help establish some communication between the wild pokemon and the ranger. This is mostly just because in addition to the calming effect, the pokemon will also generally stay focused on the ranger and view them as a friend. Capturing doesn’t magically enable us to speak to wild pokemon in the same language as them (sadly), but it does establish enough of a bond that we can get them to help put out a fire, or move a fallen tree, or just hold still while we treat an injury. Stuff like that.

Capturing is also pretty temporary. Eventually that wild pokemon will get bored of hanging out with you, and will likely wander off to continue its wild pokemon life. Once it gets far enough away the effects of the capture will disappear. Most rangers are also not allowed to lead wild pokemon outside of their natural habitat, for I think obvious reasons. The sylers will track where a pokemon is captured and send an alert when you get too far away from their home, warning you that the pokemon will be released automatically if you go much further. This feature doesn’t apply to Top Rangers, but that’s a different conversation.

Partner pokemon, the one that stays by the ranger’s side the whole time, can also assist in captures by providing ‘poke-assists’. This will affect the behaviour of the capture disk in different ways depending on the type of pokemon providing the assist. Michael, my mightyena, can help lengthen the range of the capture disk to make capturing larger wild pokemon way easier.

Lastly, capturing also does a pretty thorough scan of the pokemon. Once a pokemon is captured we can see if it’s hurt, how old it is, and any previous trainers who might have caught it in a pokeball (that data stays tied to the pokemon forever, even after release). That last one is super helpful for determining if a trainer released a pokemon into a habitat it doesn’t belong in, which can result in fines (which is a stupid punishment, but I digress) or suspension of league participation. The data from captured pokemon is recorded and stays with the ranger union database so that rangers and their home-base operators can monitor population levels and overall health of the pokemon in a given area. We also share that data with pokemon researchers when applicable.

Generally, rangers who are new to an area (i.e., they were trained and imported from out of the region), and field op rangers (who take on more specialized missions – that’s me!) are the only ones equipped with stylers. Sadly, not ever ranger can be equipped with one, as they are expensive and only produced in Almia. The idea is that rangers who are familiar with the area they are ranging in don’t need the added boost of being able to quickly bond with wild pokemon, as they should already have a pretty good grasp on the pokemon in that area. Rangers without stylers also tend to keep larger teams of pokemon with them in their pokeballs. Also, you have to complete special courses to use a capture styler (or just be friends with a chill ranger…shhh).

That’s the quick summary! Thanks for the ask buddy friend.

#pokeblogging #brandy chat #ranger lore #long post

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deorexploreseve · 5 months

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A mystery, solved?

When I was told that a space station had gone missing, I was incredulous. That seems like a rather strange and improbably thing to just happen. It wasn't even a small station like an Athanor or a Raitaru, or even a Keepstar, but a Gallente Main Science Station. The prospect that something that large could just... disappear... was a mystery too enticing to pass up.

I was given the contract, and I headed out into the black to pursue a few leads.

When you make shuttle runs in Gallente space, you meet... people. You make contacts. Some of those people ask whether you'd be willing to ferry small volumes of restricted goods through customs for large amounts of ISK. And, sometimes, you have bills to pay, so you say yes. When you do that a few times, you start to form a relationship with "your" contact, and get comfortable enough with them that you can call on them if you need them. That was my first step.

His name was Dreven, and he operated out of a Serpentis asteroid mining base in a hidden sector of space inside the Eytjangard system. I set a meeting with him, docked and had a discussion.

Before he would tell me anything, he needed something from me. Rival Serpentis factions had been expanding into nearby sectors of space in Audaerne and Augnais, and they needed to be pruned back so that his compatriots could flourish properly.

Now, ordinarily I would be somewhat hesitant to get involved, especially with helping the Serpentis... but the "help" in this case involved destroying Serpentis assets, promoting infighting, and overall making a mess of things. Who was I to interrupt them when they were committing an error? Before long, I'd located the bases that were near the coordinates he gave me. The results were, well...

My favor having been completed, Dreven told me what he knew. It wasn't much, but it was enough. The station disappeared around the time the gates to Zarzakh activated. He did not know why, but knew that there was a contract for it within the Serpentis, that they were tasked with eliminating the security from around the station and blockading it from all persons for a period of time. As far as actionable information wasconcerned, he was less fruitful. But, I did manage something. I took the documentation he provided and ran it past a decryption and signal analysis expert, and discovered a potential source for the seemingly random signals that were used to communicate information about the contract. Although they were encrypted and bounced through multiple steps, the signals all came from system J100447 in Anoikis. It contained a Sleeper Data Sanctuary, apparently, from which all communications regarding the contract originated.

The location was marked on my map, but there is a substantial difference between wanting to get to a destination in Anoikis and actually getting there. It took weeks of searching wormhole after wormhole, mapping chains of them in my Pacifier, until I found it. Then, having found it, I went there to see if the Sleepers really were sleeping.

They were not.

I readied myself for battle, and fought the Sleepers until they relented. It wasn't easy, but it was worthwhile. Searching the wreckage, I found the Data I was looking for. It gave me the final location of the station, which for whatever reason had been relocated - wholesale - to Anoikis. The only stations of that size class I'd thus far seen in Anoikis were in Thera, but if the Sleepers were experimenting with moving other stations into new systems... well, the implications could be staggering. Jovian space could be its own new region of space, competing with the other four for dominance but clearly having the advantage in many respects.

Still, having the theoretical information and seeing the station for myself were not the same thing. I wanted to put eyes on it before I could truly call the contract complete. That would take tracking down yet another Wormhole system. I did, but that again took weeks.

After diligent searching, and after hacking through the defenses around the station so that I could safely record data about its disposition and status, I had finally achieved my objective. I'd found the station, a Gallente science station, for some reason now located in the heart of Anoikis.

#eve online #anoikis #space art

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penig · 10 months

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So, in the category of Silly and Impossible Sim Challenges, I wonder what mods, cheats, and mechanics you'd have to use to make Murderbot in Sims 2?

Murderbot is a construct of a type called a SecUnit made of cloned human tissue, extremely complex hardware, and software that integrates with both and makes the hardware look simple. Its primary function is to protect, so it has energy weapons in its arms, superstrength, superspeed, a certain amount of self-healing, and can handle multiple sensory and data inputs, utilizing scout drones and a kind of universal internet/virtual reality environment called "the feed." It can, quite literally, fight a running battle with multiple opponents, hack multiple systems, track what's going on in other locations that it has camera access to, communicate and make coherent plans with other intelligent entities over the feed or through direct verbal communication, and worry about what's going on in places outside of its sensory reach, all at the same time. A lot of its time, however, has been spent monitoring a peaceful environment for threats and hacking systems while consuming media.

It can pass as a human augmented with cyborg technology, and has altered its height and its hair production to make this easier. It also runs subroutines to mimic random human movement when it wants to pass. When it doesn't want to pass, it becomes noticeably uncanny valley.

Corporations abuse their SecUnits functions quite a bit, and install governor modules in their constructs that punish them by directly acting on neural tissue, in case they protect the "wrong thing" (like, workers instead of equipment) but after a certain horrific incident, Murderbot hacked its governor module so that it could do whatever it wanted to. It then kept doing its job, lying low and watching media, because it didn't know what else it wanted to do; only what it didn't want to do. This backstory has left Murderbot full of rage and anxiety. It is touch averse and doesn't like being looked at directly or making eye contact with people. Sometimes it has an Emotion and it wants privacy for that.

It is AAA - agender, asexual, and aromantic. It literally has no sex organs, and being used to spy on clients 24/7 has left it not only indifferent to but deeply repulsed by sex - it fast-forwards through sex scenes in media. It doesn't even like the word "relationship," yet its favorite show is a long-running soap opera, and it tracks the personal relationships of its clients closely (ostensibly for security reasons; if a married couple who treat each other and it well retreat to a room it can't monitor they're more likely to be having sex than plotting against it, while two people who hate each other may break out into violence and require intervention to prevent them from damaging each other and/or company property).

It derives operating energy from a rechargeable battery pack of remarkable productivity and longevity. It could mimic eating or drinking, but what it consumed would just sit in a lung till it could be expelled and that's gross. Most human bodily functions repel it more or less, though it isn't disgusted by seeing people eat. It doesn't sleep but occasionally goes offline during recharge cycles, mostly to avoid conversations it doesn't want to have.

The obvious thing is to make it a servo, which should deal with some of the motive-based things; but the first thing you'd need would be a servo default that looked like a humaniform sim, onto which you could add layerable CC accessories. Its bare feet are a particular problem as they are never explicitly described, but the text makes it clear that they're not remotely like human feet. However, as I understand it (I have never played a servo), servos are on the same gender binary as humaniform sims, so we'd need a lot of androgynous CC, too. Its preferred clothing styles are hoodies and loose pants with lots of pockets (for carrying drones and tools and evidence and stuff; it also has secret compartments in its torso, which we fortunately don't have to worry about because of the inventory mechanic), and it wears boots with most outfits. Oh, yeah, and it can detach extremities and still operate them like drones, which I don't think we can simulate but so far in the series it's only done this once. Another difficulty with servos is that Murderbot's core identity is SecUnit and it resents being asked to do mundane chores outside of its function, while Servos were designed and coded with the notion of a housekeeping bot in mind.

Using an editing tool to set its gender preference at -100/-100 should be sufficient for the asexual/aromantic part. Zero social points is obvious; but nice points are a problem. Murderbot is capable of extreme violence even when its rage isn't activated (its rage is usually activated) but it's never unprovoked violence. It would never walk up to a stranger and flick their nose or otherwise pick a fight. It would recoil from flirts or solicitations to dance or play, but if you did get it to play catch with you, it wouldn't throw the ball at your head - it'd be more likely to aim precisely at your hand so that it's almost impossible for you not to catch it. In a lot of ways it's high nice, but the nice gestures are entirely inappropriate to it.

Active and playful points are another puzzle. Murderbot can stand still for hours, perfectly happy, watching hour after hour of media and scanning for threats, but it can also sustain heavy mental and physical activity for similar stretches of time. It takes life very seriously but has a snarky sense of humor and an endless capacity for media consumption.

Honestly all the personality points are like that. It's scrupulously tidy but isn't down for cleaning up after anybody - that's one of the things drones and cleaning bots are for. It's cripplingly shy but you only have to look vulnerable and it will adopt you as a client and protect you with its life and then some, even if you're not very nice to it. (We only see it happen once, but it has no reason to lie when it says that multiple clients have shot it.)

Aspiration is hard. It likes winning fights and Popularity is the least sexy aspiration, but the idea of it actively wanting to make friends with people or throw parties is absurd. Fortune sims are very sexy and though Murderbot likes getting paid so it can get its own gear and doesn't have to pirate shows it's not much into money otherwise. Pleasure and Romance are right out. Family would be...technically doable but so, so weird in so, so many ways. And Knowledge...well, it's very smart indeed, and highly knowledgeable in its areas of interest, but it's also prone to using words it knows are wrong but can't be bothered to correct, and it complains about the low quality of learning modules provided by the company it was owned by until the end of the first book, but never provides itself with better ones.

It would have to have max body points and stuck smart milk syndrome, but otherwise start play pretty ignorant.

Probably you couldn't really do it satisfactorily at all, but I'm willing to hear suggestions from simmers who have read The Murderbot Diaries, or have played nonhuman sims before and know where the CC is.

#Sims 2 #murderbot #silliness

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onelonelystory · 1 year

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Listen. Listen obviously tumblr is better than twitter in a lot of ways, especially right now. I genuinely love this site and its general curation and the way staff has been trying to approach its whole business model of late. But what you won’t see me doing is caping for any platform the way some of y’all are so eager to do free advertisement. When you make claims about this site’s moral integrity, when you push for their products and services because you trust them to be honest, you’re betting your own “platform,” but more importantly your place in the community you have made, on whatever tumblr ends up doing with your endorsement. We know they’re already trying to refine their data tracking. What if this site becomes primarily algorithmic? Will you still be happy to encourage people to buy their goods and services like it’s a donation to a greater cause? What if they silently remove their claims that they will not sell the data they have on you? Will you wish you hadn’t signed your name on their billboards then? Are you that eager to let them take the friendships you have built here and make it profitable? I like this site. And because I like this site it’s important to me that I remain aware of its flaws and all the ways it could potentially eat itself whole the way popular technology does once capitalism turns its focus onto it.

#if you want their goods and services buy their goods and services #please do not act like it’s a form of charity #or a societal contribution.

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projectcubicle1 · 2 years

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Top 6 Best Network Sniffing Tools In 2022 - A Complete Guide

Knowing what’s going on with your network from moment to moment is the only way to troubleshoot issues swiftly and avoid downtime. There are lots of tools that give you on-the-fly insights into network performance, but not all are created equal. To help you find the right network sniffer, we’ve ranked the best of the bunch on the market right now.

SolarWinds

As well as supplying products including service desk software for IT departments, SolarWinds also has an impressive Network Performance Monitor package, part of which is the Network Packet Sniffer. As the name suggests, this is capable of quickly identifying the causes of performance snafus, while ensuring that the data that it delves into is displayed in a coherent way. Another benefit of this tool is that it lets you sift through network traffic according to the different types of applications that are being used across the infrastructure. Thousands of apps are supported natively, including common social media solutions, communications services, cloud storage products and much more besides.

Auvik

Like SolarWinds’ offering, there’s a lot to be said about the user-friendliness of Auvik’s competing network sniffing tool. You don’t need to be a mastermind to work out what’s being tracked and analyzed by the software, and this kind of shallow learning curve is very useful in any new tool that’s in line for adoption at your organization. It’s also worth noting that this service is browser-based, which is convenient in terms of not being reliant on a local installation, or being beholden to a specific OS ecosystem.

Wireshark

So far we’ve discussed network sniffing tools that offer free trials, but require payment to unlock the full functionality of the premium experience in the long term. With Wireshark, you get an open source tool that’s free to employ and is backed up by a large community of users, along with a vast knowledge base which you can draw upon to make the most of it. It supports Windows, Linux, MacOS and other platforms, and makes it easy not only to track traffic, but also export the data that’s gathered in whatever format you prefer for additional analysis and reporting elsewhere.

ManageEngine

The NetFlow Analyzer from ManageEngine may have a fancy name, but it also manages to have a clear and unfussy interface and a solid set of capabilities that make it worth considering alongside its better known rivals. You can use it to identify patterns in network traffic, and to oversee the ebb and flow of resource usage, logging everything as time passes and empowering admins with the info they need to make improvements to performance.

Paessler

Paessler’s PRTG platform is a wide-ranging monitoring solution in the same vein as SolarWinds’ equivalent suite, and factors in monitoring for traffic from the web, alongside things like file transfers and mail servers as well. As you’d expect from an enterprise-focused tool, it comes at a price, but you can try it out for free for up to 30 days before committing, which is helpful for budget management. One selling point of this tool is that it offers support for mobile operating systems like Android and iOS, and so is arguably more flexible than some of its rivals.

TCPDump

The most basic of network sniffing is provided by TCPDump, which is entirely command-line based and follows the open source approach to development. You’ll need to get to grips with the syntax it deployed to execute user instructions, but once you have it’s a lightweight and efficient monitoring solution. The thing to remember is that you can always change how you monitor your network, so don’t get wedded to one tool if there’s a better option out there. Read the full article

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shantitechnology · 1 year

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How to solve pressing business issues with the help of ERP software?

It's possible that you sell excellent stuff. You may supply valuable services. And your group might have a lot of experience. Nevertheless, brand-new obstacles await any and all businesses on a daily basis. The question that might have crossed your mind is how will you choose to cope with them moving forward. ERP software is just what you require if you are searching for an efficient and versatile toolbox of any kind.

You have most likely already heard of ERP, but can you explain what it is in more detail? The acronym "ERP" stands for "Enterprise Resource Planning," and it refers to a sophisticated answer to the most common problems faced by businesses.

An excellent ERP Software Company in Pune has listed the top 5 pressing business issues that can be solved using ERP software:

Communication challenges;

Repetitive manual tasks;

Customer data tracking;

Financial disorder;

Decision making.

Let`s discover them closely.

Communication challenges:

You are in a lot of trouble if one of your employees needs to get in touch with another one of your employees in order to obtain critical information. In a setting that requires professional competence, excessive dependence is both a challenge and a danger. You do not want the entire business process to come to a halt simply because one person is unavailable. You want absolutely everybody to have the latest information. In addition, you do not want the participants to continually distract one another. As a result of this, you are going to require some kind of system to keep track of all the relevant information. In this sense, enterprise resource planning software can be just what you need. As a consequence of this, any authorised member of the team can locate the information that they are looking for. Overcome the communication challenges faced in your company with ERP software services offered by the most reputed ERP software providers in Pune, STERP (former Shanti Technology).

Repetition of manual tasks:

In the earliest stages, the only option that is typically accessible is to carry out duties manually. On the other hand, the more your business expands, the more data you may expect to encounter. It is only natural that at some point you will give some thought to expanding your workforce in order to deal with the increased volume of responsibilities. Please bear in mind that an increased number of employees is not necessarily associated with a growing company. You will be able to structure the operations of your business in a way that is both efficient and effective if you choose to implement ERP. For instance, ERP can generate invoices as well as order sheets rather than relying on human accountants. Alternatively, it may supply essential information regarding the products that are currently in stock.

Client Data tracking:

Whatever you decide to do, you should always put the needs of the consumer first. However, it's hard to think of what happens to the personal information shared by the client once the order gets fulfilled. If you avoid the specifics, your organisation will not make any progress toward its goals. If you’re unaware of your client’s needs, you will not be able to satisfactorily address their wants. In the meanwhile, enterprise resource planning software is able to. Your staff will be able to maintain complete records of all correspondence, order history, comments, and other relevant information thanks to this feature. Anyone from your team can deliver the greatest personalised service to a returning customer because everyone is familiar with their preferences.

Financial disorder:

The organisation needs to have a clear understanding of how and where each dollar is spent in order to be financially secure. The difficulty of this endeavour is going to be directly proportional to the number of different procedures that are included in any given enterprise. However, this will not be the case with ERP. It has the capability of storing information regarding orders, production costs, and shipping costs. It is able to do analyses of the data and generate error-free reports with a high level of detail. By the way, using ERP software for your business operations can be great and also it might be possible for you to use other currencies without encountering any additional challenges. Avail the ERP software services offered by the most distinguished ERP software in Pune, STERP, and get your finances organised and well-managed.

Decision-making:

This is the conclusion that can be drawn from all of the preceding information. The process of making decisions is a challenging as well as a responsible aspect of any profession. You will need to cultivate an atmosphere that is conducive to productive coping in order to equip your staff members to do their jobs effectively. The one in which they will never lack an accurate understanding of the state of the company. STERP is one of the most noteworthy as well as prominent ERP solution providers in Pune.

As the company expands, there is a significant possibility that the ship will capsize due to a variety of factors. You have the ability to sidestep some of them. If you run into any of the problems listed above and choose to ignore them, the problems will only get worse. And if you do decide to remedy them, you will need a solution that works for all of them. A method that can be used right now to address a specific issue, as well as one that can be used in the long run. You can revolutionise the way your business operates and establish an effective workflow by implementing ERP software, both of which will contribute to your company's long-term success.

#ERP software providers in Pune #ERP software in Pune #ERP solution providers in Pune

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clientaccountingservices · 1 month

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5 Steps To Enhance Transparency With Virtual CFO Services

Transparency is a must in outsourced services. But with financial services, achieving the right balance is often hard for small-scale businesses. Virtual CFO (chief financial officer) services can offer a guiding hand by offering transparency with efficient management services of accounting firm. Here we will discuss in steps how businesses can enhance financial transparency with virtual CFO services. Step 1: Establishing goals for the Contract Start the journey towards transparency in finances with a clear goal in mind. Discuss your goals with your Virtual CFO, whatever your targets are with the partnership. It will be easier for your Virtual CFO to provide services that meet your needs if both parties set a clear understanding of the goals and values. Step 2: Set up strong systems for reporting Accountability is all about developing methods that are clear and complete. Assemble strong reporting systems with your Virtual CFO that include important financial measures for your business. These reports can include cash flow statements, accounting consultant reports, and profitability analysis to help you make strategic choices and hold everyone in your company accountable. Step 3: Enable access to real-time data It's no longer necessary to wait weeks for business data. Access to real-time data is possible with Virtual CFO services. To get up-to-date financial information at any time, use cloud-based accounting tools. This access to real-time data will promote openness and help you make smart decisions as market conditions change. Step 4: Encourage Open channels of communication An open conversation culture is good for transparency. Promote an environment where people can openly ask questions about the problems. Think of your virtual CFO as a partner who is invested in your financial success. Clear communication channels will help your team address the challenges and capitalize on opportunities. Step 5: Review your finances regularly Maintaining financial transparency isn't a one-time goal; it's a long-term responsibility. Planning regular reviews of your finances with your Virtual CFO will help you evaluate success, spot trends, and change your strategies as needed. The reviews act as markers on your path to transparency, making sure that you're still on track with your overall business goals. About MST: MST offers comprehensive accounting solutions for all kinds of businesses. With Virtual CFO services, cash management, assurance accounting, and compliance, MST's experienced team delivers the right guidance and support for its clients. Explore accounting consultation services with MST by visiting https://www.mstiller.com/

Original Source: https://bit.ly/3xoDmdS

#accounting firm

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kpgtaxation · 1 month

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How Can Geelong's Trusted Accountants Help Your Business Thrive

Running a business in Geelong is exciting!

You have a great idea, the commitment to succeed and also the local community to support you! But here's the catch - in between keeping the customers happy, managing staff, and staying on top of regulations, it is very easy that you can get stressed and find it difficult to manage!

That's where trusted accountants in Geelong come into the picture!

What's the first thing that comes across when you think of them?

Well, we guessed it! The big numbers and balance sheets! But they have a major role to play! They are just like your financial partners who can help your business handle the complexities of finance and help your business achieve its full potential.

This article will enlist the many ways an accountant Geelong can help your business succeed. We'll cover everything from bookkeeping and tax planning to financial forecasting and business strategy.

By the end, you'll understand how a trusted accountant can:

Save you time and money

Reduce your stress levels

Help you make informed financial decisions

Grow your business

But before moving ahead, let's talk something about you! Let's first understand your top pain points!

The Pain Points of Running a Business in Geelong

Let's face it, running a business comes with its fair share of challenges.

Here are some common pain points Geelong business owners face:

Understanding complex tax laws: Tax regulations can be confusing, and even minor mistakes can lead to hefty penalties.

Keeping accurate financial records: Bookkeeping can be time-consuming, especially if you're not familiar with accounting principles.

Making informed financial decisions: How much can you afford to invest? Should you hire new staff? Accountants Geelong can analyse your financial data and provide insights to guide your decisions.

Staying on top of cash flow: Managing cash flow is crucial for any business. Accountants can help you create a budget and track your income and expenses.

Fulfilling your legal obligations: Businesses have various legal requirements, such as lodging tax returns and meeting payroll deadlines. Accountants can ensure you're compliant.

How Accountants in Geelong Can Help You Overcome These Challenges?

Now that we understand the challenges you face, let's see how accountants Geelong can help you overcome them:

#1 Bookkeeping and Financial Reporting

Accurate bookkeeping is the foundation of good financial management. Unfortunately, it's also a time-consuming task. Accountants in Geelong can take this burden off your shoulders. They can:

Set up and maintain a bookkeeping system tailored to your business needs.

Process your daily transactions, including invoices, bills, and payroll.

Reconcile your bank statements.

Generate financial reports, such as profit and loss statements and balance sheets.

Real-life Example - John, a plumber from Geelong, found it hard to manage his paperwork. He spent his evenings and weekends trying to catch up, leaving him tired and unable to grow his business.

But when he hired an accountant, things changed. They organised his paperwork better, so John had more time to focus on plumbing. With accurate financial reports from the accountant, John could make smarter business decisions.

#2 Tax Planning and Compliance

Tax season can be stressful for any business owner. Geelong accountants can help you save money and avoid penalties by:

Developing tax-minimisation strategies.

Completing your tax returns accurately and on time.

Representing you before the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) if necessary.

Real-life Example - Jane owns a bakery in Geelong. When tax time came, she felt worried. Before, she just paid whatever the tax office said she owed. But after hiring an accountant in Geelong, things changed.

The accountant helped Jane with different tax deductions she didn't know about. They also helped her claim all the right expenses. As a result, Sarah's bakery saved a lot of money on taxes.

#3 Financial Forecasting and Budgeting

Financial forecasting helps you predict your future financial performance. This allows you to make informed decisions about investments, staffing levels, and inventory. Accountants in Geelong can help you create a financial forecast by:

Analysing your historical financial data.

Identifying potential risks and opportunities.

Considering recent market trends.

Developing realistic financial projections.

Real-life example - David runs a clothing store in Geelong and is often worried about money running low. He wasn't sure what his future income and spending would be. But with help from an accountant, David made a financial forecast.

It showed him he needed to change how much inventory he had to avoid running out of money later on. By following the forecast's advice, David kept his clothing store financially stable.

#4 Business Advisory and Strategy

Accountants in Geelong are more than just tax and bookkeeping specialists. They can also provide valuable business advice and help you develop a winning strategy. Some areas they can assist with include:

Business structure and legal requirements

Raising capital

Financial risk management

Business expansion

Real-life example - So here you have Emily who owns a home cleaning service in Geelong and is dreaming of making her business bigger. But she does not know where to start. With guidance from an accountant, Emily created a business plan.

It laid out her goals for expanding, who her customers would be, and how much money she might make. The accountant also introduced Emily to banks that could lend her money and kept giving her tips on how to handle her growing business.

The Top Benefits of Working with an Accountant in Geelong (in table format)

For further convenience, we have highlighted the top benefits of working with an accountant in Geelong in an easy-to-read tabular format:

Conclusion

So now that you have understood how Geelong's trusted accountants can help your business thrive, it's time for our final words.

Running a successful business in Geelong requires dedication, hard work, and a strong financial foundation. And accountants in Geelong can be your partner to achieve your business goals.

And if you are looking for trusted accountants in Geelong, you can reach out to KPG Taxation. They have experienced accountants that can help your local business thrive. Also the comprehensive range of accounting and financial services they offer is something which you should consult and see how they can help your business succeed!

#KPG Taxation #accountants in Geelong #accountants Geelong #accountant #accountant Geelong #accountants #Geelong

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