#( PSA ) • important files.

[mossmx]

PSA

Ehi... just got a mail from my fave image hosting site that they will shutdown and therefore all images uploaded via them will no longer be online

I do not have the spoons rn to go back and manually fix all the links — I will eventually, just not in the near future.

If you can't see some of my art here or on AO3, or lj/dw, that's the reason.

This is a good occasion to say that if you feel like saving my images you're allowed to, images on the internet have a short shelf- life (I lived through enough image hosting goodbyes to know this...) so if you really like something saving it on your own devices is your best bet.

[snufkepo]

7/25/24 update they're still at it and they still don't understand what they're doing wrong this is their Instagram account:

Only users that have content directly affecting them can report for intellectual property, so if your work is stolen report the post.

~~~

7/23/24 update: the user has taken down the stolen content ❤️ I'll still keep the post up in case there's any repeat cases in the future from the same person, but I'd appreciate if there were no further confrontations to this user

~~~~~

hi wild kratts tumblr here is a nice casual "please be aware of this user" post of the following individual on tiktok. pictures have been attached.

i reached out to this person 3x in their comments, (their DMs are only available if you're mutuals), and they seemingly have deleted my comments. because i sincerely want the posts that took my work down, I'm creating a PSA about the issue.

if you are a wild kratts artist posting on tumblr, chances are high this person reuploaded your work without permission or credit. I'm unfortunately one of these people, and I want to express explicitly, right now, I do NOT want anyone to reupload my work without my knowledge, explicit consent, or credit. here are the following people i know that have their work stolen:

@clementartz @ranfordgallus @littlecrittereli @beanskcid @burntnoodls11 @starruby-123 @yes-asil @jessadamsdraws @creatorping @vazaez

it is fully possible for there to be more people out there, i've just cataologued the ones i've recognized.

There is an example in particular I want to go over in more detail.

Warning for the following of mentions of incest.

I'm going to emphasize this STRONGLY. I do NOT, never have, never will, and will not condone any form of incest, or any type of proshipping, for that matter. It is uncomfortable and distasteful that this user reuploaded my work not only without asking or credit, but also with the assumption that my work is proshipping. I do not want to associate with those types of people, so it is especially important to me to remove this post and all associated stolen content.

In addition, it just generally sucks that this person reuploaded a work that's really personal to me, (my high school graduation artwork), because that's something that reflects a major event in my life in particular. To have it cheaply reused for likes and attention removes the meaning I put behind the piece, disrespecting me, the artist, and my intention behind it.

If you're one of the people who's had their work stolen, you can file an Intellectual Property Report on TikTok. This is the action I will take for the work stolen from me.

Though their account appears to have some original works, their general post catalogue consists of mostly stolen content, so reporting their account rather than just a singular post is also an option if they've been a repeat offender to your work, + might be easier for those who haven't had their work stolen but still hope to help.

If you, the reuploader, are seeing this post, I want you to know I don't hate you, nor do I want anyone to attack you. I want you to know that this behavior is wrong, and is disrespectful to the artists whose work you exploit for your own personal gain. Even if you did leave credit, permission is always an expected courtesy of reposters from artists, so please, for future reference, take that to heart.

We're all people. Please be nice to each other and respect each other's boundaries.

[just-antithings]

Okay more of a PSA

I'm irish so to my fellow irish citizens who are proship and receiving death threats from other irish people, stop blocking and start filing legal reports. Not sure if reports work for people who live overseas but if someone irish threatens you Talk to someone regarding if its possible to report it.

cyberbullying in ireland is a crime and heres whats included:

abusive messages or slagging on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram

offensive comments on videos or posts

spreading rumours online

i get it ACAB but its important to leave a paper trail so they can look back and realise this is a repetitive pattern and cant ignore it when the next report from someone else happens. (Its okay to not be able to report it especially if you may face discrimination. But if its possible for you to file a report please consider it)

Heres the link to the section in the law regarding threats in general:

https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1997/act/26/section/5.

Online death threats is being taken a lot more seriously now and appearing in the news articles thanks to it getting so out of hand. Mary lou donald (political figure) was threatened and a man was arrested on suspicion of making threats to kill or cause serious harm under Section 5 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997. In fact mary lou donald stated it was "online abuse" so maybe use that instead of "cyberbullying" to be taken more seriously.

Fandom does not negate the seriousness of the threat, a few months ago i noticed more and more irish antishippers getting too comfortable online with sending threats and then citing freedom of speech. That doesn't apply to ireland and i will not pretend it applies, if antis want to break laws then they have to face the consequences.

.

[mistydeyes]

Hi! I don't think your rules link on your master list is working? (It might just be the Tumblr app being silly) but I've like to request a COD fic with a reader who has a moderate to severe penicillin allergy is accidentally given it while out in the field. Cut to the 141 ripping the medic who didn't check the medical tag a new one and being all protective and shit.

omg nooo thank you for bringing this to my attention, I'll get it fixed bc I love it when y'all request things! I absolutely love this idea too!

Just a little PSA but penicillin allergies are SERIOUS. If you have one, you are automatically not allowed to get anything related to penicillin (including amoxicillin, ampicillin, etc). You also are limited in your drug selection as people with severe allergies can't get any similar antibiotic drugs such as cephalosporins. You may experience hives, rashes, and even anaphylaxis if administered. So it’s always important to have a note in your medical file and notify any medical professionals about the nature of your allergy.

Okay, my little pharmacy soapbox is over, let’s move on to the blurb.

warnings: depiction of wounds and violence, swearing

pairings: 141 x g/n!reader

┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊

You were the newest member to join the 141. Excelling through your training, you were eventually handpicked by Captain Price to join his team. You were known for your sniper skills, rivaling that of Ghost. You were even more known for your call sign. In your years of being in the army and part of SAS, you became affectionately known as 'Plaster'. Your buddy came up with it as you had been the only one in the squadron to never need to go to the infirmary (avoiding cuts and bandages aka plasters) and also were notorious for outdrinking any recruit that tried to challenge you.

That's why when you ended up in the medical tent with an infected cut, the 141 boys were surprised. Before your intake, you had been providing overwatch on a building as Gaz, Price, and Soap infiltrated. Ghost was in the building across from you, also providing support. As you checked your sights, you immediately heard Ghost over the coms yell, "Behind you!" It was too late as the enemy had taken the opportunity to pull you by the legs and begun to swing his knife. You tried to react quickly but ended up with a slice to your arm before Ghost could take the man out. You knew once you recovered Price would be teaching you a thing or two about hand-to-hand combat.

However, he would have to wait as you had woken up that morning with a high fever. The cut was shallow, only requiring some soap and water and a simple bandage. Somehow, it had become infected. You groggily went to the field hospital. Once there, they removed the bandage and saw the area was red, extending past the initial wound. The field medic brushed it off, saying they would prescribe you some oral antibiotics for a little more than a week. As he cleaned and redressed the wound, he handed you a small pill bottle with ‘Augmentin’ written on it. Before you left, you popped the small, oval pill into your mouth and were sent on your way.

As soon as you exited the tent, you made your way back to your own to get some rest. Your tongue felt puffy in your mouth as you navigated through the maze of tents. Maybe you had bit it in your sleep?

You walked in and sat on your cot, noting Soap sitting across from you in his. You then felt slightly out of breath but assumed it was due to the humidity and sand debris in the air. You lay down, listening to Soap recount the successful mission before you began to hyperventilate. You felt like you were drowning as you tried your best to breathe.

"Oi, are you okay, Plaster?" was all you heard before the world went dark.

When you woke up, you were surrounded by your concerned squadron. You looked around and realized you were in the medical tent. As you tried to sit up, Price put a hand on your shoulder and lightly pushed you back down.

"God, Plaster you gave us a heart attack. You went into anaphylaxis," he began and you were shocked. It wasn't like you were allergic to peanuts or anything but then you realized you were allergic to ampicillin. Something you had learned after a childhood run-in with meningitis.

Price confirmed your suspicions as he added, "that fucking muppet of a medic gave you amoxicillin/clavulanate. Apparently he hadn't realized you were severely allergic to all penicillins," he said through gritted teeth.

You realized that must have been what that white pill was and mentally slapped yourself for the mistake.

"I'm sorry, guys," you began to say as you looked around at their faces. They looked so worried for you and you felt stupid for the simple mistake.

"Ah, it wasn't your fault, Love" Gaz spoke up. "Plus, the 141 got to show the medic what happens when you almost kill our best sniper."

You laughed as Soap described how once the field medic rushed in with an Epi-Pen and they carted you off to the tent, the boys confronted the medic. Apparently in his haste, he had overlooked the very important note that you were not to be given anything related to penicillin, including the prescribed Augmentin.

"You should've seen his face when Price lifted that poor fucker," Soap laughed loudly. "Better yet, I'm sure he pissed his pants when Ghost walked over and held him by his collar. Ghost is one scary motherfucker." To this comment, Soap received a slight slap on the back of his head.

You were appreciative of their efforts but couldn't imagine the lashing they would be getting from their superiors.

The ever-quiet Ghost ended the story by saying, "It was just a little taste for all of what you went through. I'm glad you're doing alright despite that idiot."

You cracked a smile as you lay in bed, appreciating your teammates who defended you like brothers.

As they left you to rest, you could hear Gaz whisper, "You don't think the laxatives in his tea were a little much?" You realized that this medic's life would be made a living hell for the remainder of your tour.

Years later it became a running joke. As you sat in the bar recounting stories of your service, Soap loudly joked, "And to think, Plaster almost got taken out by a little cut and some medicine." That earned him a hard slap to the back of the head.

┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊

a/n Did anyone else watch NCIS? every time someone mentions getting a slap to the head, I think of Gibbs.

[digisims2]

The real reason I logged in today was because I installed couple of Sims, each in their own folder so I knew I'd get duplicates and planned to sort them out but before that did this important little step:

Searched the whole folder for *.package to get all the package files listed. After that I set the order to "size" starting from the biggest one and it revealed me this;

Now you're probably wondering, what's so bad about these randomly named files I've highlighted. Well, maybe you've heard of the file that can make your game crash at for example sim aging to elder? Or perhaps your game randomly crashes when random sim enters your lot? Sometimes the file is called "uhkjhihjkj(11)" and it's a file that likes tagging along with packaged Sims and occasionally people pack it together with recolors that are actually using in-game meshes thinking that it's an oddly named mesh.

Well it's not a mesh. This file has few characteristics that make it pretty easy to spot: firstly usually the random name (or the uhkjhihjkj(11) mentioned earlier), secondly the file size, I've seen few slightly different sized ones but usually it is 6807KB or 6.64MB depending on where you check the size. Thirdly, if you open it in SimPE the contents will look like this:

It contains 1534 CRES resources, and as you can see it's CRES:es of all(?) base game accessories, clothes, hairs and who knows what else. The list is so long I never bothered checking it all though. Point however is that for whatever reason this file corrupts very easily and causes game to crash at random moments. And even if it doesn't corrupt it's just plain junk file that's taking space on your hard drive.

Now you're probably (hopefully!) looking through your Downloads folder to see if you have this file/these files and that's a good idea. Also good news is that you don't need to panic, if you find this kind of file in your game just delete it. Nothing will break, nothing needs it so your recolors will remain working. It's literally a junk file and it's perfectly save to delete so please do so.

I felt like making this little PSA since I realized that not everybody probably is aware of this stupid file lurking out there in random downloads. + this way I can just link this post whenever it sounds like somebody might have this particular issue with their game so I won't need to type it all over again every time.

[murdersuicidematinee]

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light

It's been a while since an episode was a complete, unmitigated disaster from beginning to end. Hosts going through it, movie abysmal, audio files swallowed by dark gods. This month we inflicted Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light upon ourselves, for critical damage. If you know or care about Yu-Gi-Oh! you too will feel your life points drain as we display about as much in-depth knowledge of the franchise as we have about Star Wars. There are cards, and there are righteous twinks. That's about all we've got. IMPORTANT: Do not educate us about Yu-Gi-Oh.

Featuring: corncob PSA, all of the Beatles in a big bed together, that movie with the countdown, Pegasus Undertale's brat summer, a Saw trap for Cami personally, and a bunch of words I probably can't say on iTunes. But don't worry, I can reclaim.

-

Movie: Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light (2004) Director: Hatsuki Tsuji Rating: there are better things you could be doing with your time

Follow our Patreon for show updates, episode notes, stills and more!

intro and outro music: "Everyone in Town Wants You Dead" by Singing Sadie

[hekknisanidiot]

PSA TO ANYONE USING BLENDER ON LINUX

If you haven't already, go into Edit -> Preferences -> File Paths and set "Temporary Files" to LITERALLY ANYTHING EXCEPT /tmp.

Otherwise, Blender will save your Autosave/Recovery files to /tmp.

/tmp is a location stored in RAM, and when your PC turns off, the RAM is cleared, along with your unsaved project.

Meaning if your whole PC crashes/locks up, or if your power goes out, or even if you simply just forget and turn your PC off, you will lose your blender project.

Yes regular saves are important. You should be using regular saves. You shouldn't have to rely on autosaves. But people forget. I myself am not in the best habit of doing so. And when fecal matter collides with the oscillating air conditioning unit, it's better to have something than nothing.

So... yeah. Check your settings, set your own temporary directory, make sure your work is safe.

[fcntasmas]

friendly (and a little passive aggressive if i’m being honest lmao) psa:

when a fanfiction author posts their work on a specific platform, it doesn't give you or anyone else the right to repost it elsewhere without their explicit permission.

authors post their work for FREE to share their stories with you; you taking their work and posting it elsewhere — whether or not you claim it as yours — is a violation of the trust they’ve granted you as a reader. it doesn’t matter if you credited them. it doesn’t matter if you just wanted to share a story that brought you joy with more people. that’s what a hyperlink is for.

besides that, an author has the right to decide where their work is published, and reposting it without permission is not only a violation of their intellectual property rights, but under the DMCA, even if you’ve credited the work appropriately, it still constitutes copyright infringement.

(this is especially important to know for certain fic authors who may be concerned about their work being misrepresented or misattributed in any way. you CAN file a DMCA takedown notice if this ever happens to you.)

legalities aside, it can also just. lead to confusion and disputes which would not only be stressful for everyone involved, but it drives a wedge between authors and readers everywhere moving forward — which should not be the case in what’s meant to be a collaborative and encouraging community, honestly.

basically, your best bet here: don’t be an asshole. don’t be presumptuous. respect an author’s work. if they’ve only posted a work on AO3 and nowhere else, that doesn’t mean you get to take it and post it on Wattpad. (or fanfic.net, or any other fic site.) it probably means that’s the ONLY place the author wants their work to exist, since that’s where they can continue to interact with their readers, clarify anything that may have been misconstrued, or even update/edit something they’re not proud of/don’t agree with anymore in the future.

and, if there comes a day when an author wants to delete the work, we want to make sure it’s deleted FOR GOOD. we can’t fucking do that if someone’s decided to take it upon themselves to post it anywhere else.

if you or anyone you know has reposted fic to other sites without explicit permission before, please, please take the stories down. don’t do it again. it’s disheartening, it’s annoying, and, quite frankly, discouraging to authors.

there’s a reason so many fic authors stop posting their stories. numerous individuals have had their trust and intellectual rights violated before, and it just — makes us not want to post these stories anymore, for fear we’ll lose control of what’s ours.

try to be better. seriously.

[thedawner]

hey I really enjoy your style and brush packs! I've bought a couple of the packs, and I wanted to ask if you have any tips for using your brushes/getting the most out of them? Like what sort of brushes would you say work best for coloring/shading/lineart - some are obvious (ex liner for lineart) but I struggle with picking ones to use and what works!

Hello, thank you very much for the support! Let me know which program you got 'em for and I could try to highlight some particular ones from there.

I like to try to use the lineart brushes both for sketching, lining and coloring, especially the brushes that are like "Thick Tone Pencil"(or similar) or have coloring changing features to them!

Also, this is a more general answer:

🔶 I usually use brushes named around the word "Shale" for lineart and I usually sketch and color with those too. If you use Procreate the Personal Shale from this free set is my most frequently used:

I try to treat it like a very springy, multipurpose brush pen.

I've first tried to make something similar for Photoshop here(and later on re-made the brushes for CSP and Procreate):

From the sets above I like to use the Dried Up Ink/Dry Ink brushes both for lineart and for painting. I draw over loose paint strokes with it to define shapes or to re-make what I painted over! Those sets also contain painting brushes such as Flat Varnish Oil/Painty, Textury, Triangly/Oil Brick which could work well if you want to go for a thick, mushy oil pastel/oil paint texture. For thin, precise sketching, I like to use the Concept Art Lad!

🔶 I also like sketching/lining/coloring/painting with the coloring changing tone brushes such as the ones from these sets:

When painting with color changing brushes, I like to color pick from what the brush randomly generated for me and build up on that!

The brush sets above have a brush called Wispy Sketching Brush which I use for bold and loose brush strokes! It's like a sable brush but covered in graphite(that also changes colors with each stroke).

🔶 There are also a lot of flat, tone brushes for shading in those sets too and a few more in here:

That one above contains a series of Blocky Marker brushes that I like to use for fairly much everything.

🔶 There's also this free PS brush pack which imports decently in Procreate and CSP that has a brush called Soggy Pencil. It behaves like a regular sharp pencil tip, but if you make it bigger, you can create dusty, blurry or out-of-focus effects:

[juliasreblogs]

PSA

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING GOOD AMD HOLY IN THE WORLD. STOP. DOING. DUMB. THINGS AROUND. RAIL. ROAD. TRACKS. IN. A. VEHICLE. you will ruin lots of peoples days I promise. Some dumbass just tried some Duke Caboom type shit and attempted to jump some tracks resulting in a really hard hit with the tracks instead of jumping them. Resulting in a train driver having to file a report, the train master of that territory now has to send an email to all track inspectors in that territory, meaning who ever is available has to go out to those tracks (ON OVERTIME MIGHT I ADD. TAKING AWAY THEIR TIME FROM THEIR FAMILY), inspect them and asses the damage, if the track is damaged one of two things need to be done. A slow order put on the track (speed limit for trains) or they take it out of service. Meaning the track cannot be used until its fixed. So please. Stop. Doing. Dumb. Things. ON. TRAIN. TRACKS.

Just fyi.. I'm at my parents for the weekend for the eclipse this weekend. And my dad got called out for this shit while me and him were on the way out he door for a movie date 😭

Im mentioning so we can get some traction please. This is important. @officialtinder@the-official-publix@shakespeare-official-account@google-news-official@life360-i-swear@gnomiwizard@jupiter-the-god @kroger-fr @nanochittle @yes-im-youtube-kids @literally-hottopic @actually-kroger

[freedomxfire]

The most important key to emotional healing and freedom:

Is changing your perspective.

The key to changing your perspective is asking questions.

One of the most simple and effective methods to finding emotional healing and freedom is this practice:

Find a cozy, comfortable, quiet place where you can be alone and undistracted. Put your phone on DND, leave it in another room, silence it, hide it under the covers, whatever you need to do.

Get a journal or a notebook, or if you are trying this right now and you have neither, open a blank note or doc on your phone as a last resort (writing things down with our hands is proven to have beneficial effects including on our healing. You can still do this with DND on.)

Choose whichever hurt, habit, or hangup is nagging at you the most lately, and start writing down all the questions that you have about it. They can be as naive or basic or juvenile as they seem or really are, nobody's judging you on this private piece of paper. Write down as many that freely come to you.

Work through the list one at a time. On a new blank page or area, write down the first question again. Ask the question in your mind. Then, close your eyes, and sit in silence for a while. 5, 10, 15 minutes. Write down whatever thoughts come to your mind in response. Stop only when you get to one that feels like an epiphany or really rouses your emotions or prompts more epiphanies or more questions.

Follow whatever thought trails they take you on.

Write EVERYTHING down. If there are new questions, right the questions down. If there are more answers, write the answers down. All the questions. All the answers. All the thought trails. All the epiphanies.

Do this for every question you wrote down in the beginning.

Keep asking questions and silently, quietly waiting for answers (eyes closed! It really helps) until you start to feel less pain from the hurt, until you find a way to work through and conquer the habits, until you find a way to get over the hangups.

Find someone completely unrelated to the hurts, habits, and hangups to talk to when you need to process this stuff. If your dad hurt you, don't go talking to your dad or anyone else he's related to. They are biased and won't help. Even your best friends are biased. If you can afford it, try therapy. If you feel like you have no one, try AI. The AI will include "go to therapy" in every answer, but it will also offer new questions to reflect on and new perspective... and it can still help. Or try messaging me. I will also offer my best help.

Don't give up.

One final note - save every piece of paper or digital file in a place you can easily look back on it, because you are likely to want to, either soon or in the distant future when you're marveling at how far you've come or just want to remember all the new perspective you gained.

PSA: If you struggle with suicidal thoughts, schizophrenia, or other intrusive thoughts, it is probably not advisable to do this without professional guidance. I am not a therapist and never will be. I have taken courses on life coaching but that is not the same thing - life coaches cannot address mental health issues. This is what has helped me immensely and still does to this day for new issues that come. I recommend it based on personal experience and other personal accounts I have read of similar practices helping others seeking healing.

I wish you all the best.

[topazadine]

What to do if you're hit by a car while riding your bike

A little PSA because I write about personal injury law firms all day every day for the most part, and I don't see this discussed a lot on good old Tumblr.

I am not a lawyer, btw, I just write this for my job, so don't come to me about legal advice. This is only the stuff that has been burned into my head through hours of researching and writing.

Before you even get on, WEAR A DAMN HELMET. In some jurisdictions, it is the law. In every jurisdiction, it can save your life. You should also wear closed-toed shoes with a good grip and put lights on your bike.

When you have been hit, get to a safe place and then stay still. Don't move any more than necessary. Cars are enormous and they can easily break your spine. You may not immediately know that you're injured because of adrenaline, but the more you move, the more you may hurt yourself. Get out of the way of oncoming traffic and then stay put as much as you can.

Call 911. Again, you may not feel hurt, but you still need to go to the hospital. I cannot stress enough how important it is to go to the hospital RIGHT AWAY. Not only does this ensure you don't have a head or spinal cord injury, but it also documents the accident for insurance purposes.

Never ever ever ever EVER admit fault. Do not apologize to the driver. Don't apologize to the police or EMS for inconveniencing them. Don't say you were in the wrong place. Don't tell the insurance company you probably did something wrong. If the driver or police or anyone tries to bully you, tell them that there will be an investigation that will prove fault.

If the idiot driver did not drive off, get their contact and insurance information. You will need this if you are going to file an insurance claim against them. If they did drive off, then they're in hella trouble and the police will track them down because that is a felony if there's a serious injury.

Take pictures of the accident scene. You should be staying still as much as possible, so if there are any onlookers, ask them to take your phone and take pictures of the scene and your injuries. Make sure they get exterior shots of the car and of your bike. This will help bolster your claim, and you may even get the bike reimbursed for property damages.

Get contact information for eyewitnesses. Ask them to give you their name and phone number, as they can be used as eyewitness testimony. I get that this can be uncomfortable, but explain that you might want to file a claim and people will want to talk to them. Be pushy if you have to.

File a police report. Yes we all hate police, I get it. But file a police report anyway. The more documentation you can have, the better for insurance purposes. Insurance companies may also demand this.

Go to the hospital!! Please please please. I know you're scared of bills if you're in America, but please think about that later. There are ways to get medical bills forgiven or paid for through insurance. Your health and safety come first. And you will need proof that you were injured in the accident, which is what medical reports are for.

Ask the hospital to provide all of your medical records related to the accident. If you work with a personal injury attorney (which you should!!) you can sign a release that lets them do this for you, but get your own copies anyway. Insurance companies may do really scummy shit where they claim your injury was due to a pre-existing condition, so you need this evidence to show that no, your broken arm wasn't broken before the bike accident. (Yes, they really will pull that.)

If you have car insurance, inform your insurance company that you were in a bike accident. It's not always the case, but they might be able to help you depending on your specific policy, especially if the motorist was uninsured.

File a claim against the driver. That's why you need to get the driver's insurance information. Look them up and submit a claim.

Don't speak to anyone else. Don't post on social media, don't tell your family and friends. All this can and will be used against you. After you submit your claim, don't talk to the driver, don't talk to the insurance company, don't do any of that.

CALL AN ATTORNEY!!!

"Blah blah Topazadine personal injury lawyers are scummy and-"

Shut. Most personal injury firms work on a contingency fee basis, meaning that you don't owe them anything if they don't get you at least some settlement. If they don't think you have a claim, they won't work with you. They lose money by taking on frivolous lawsuits. They won't do that.

And why would I lie to you about this? I don't get anything from telling you to call an attorney. I may write articles for one or two personal injury law firms, but there's thousands of them out there, and your case isn't keeping this particular firm's lights on, so I have no reason to care if you call them or not. Except I care about you and fellow bikers.

Anyway.

What personal injury attorneys can do for you:

Talk to the other driver, insurance company, etc, on your behalf so you don't have to deal with it

Determine how much your injuries are worth according to precedent and something called an injury multiplier (basically more serious injuries get more money)

Consider your future medical needs, time off work to recover, how much to repair or replace your bike, etc

Ensure the insurance company doesn't lowball you (which they will if you don't have an attorney)

Help you file paperwork

Get access to surveillance footage and other resources the average person cannot find

Hunt down and contact eyewitnesses for their testimony

Review medical reports to prove how the accident happened

Consult with experts in bike accidents who can support your argument

Add in non-economic damages like pain and suffering or emotional distress

Negotiate with insurance to get more than you could get on your own

Advise you on what is a fair settlement

File a lawsuit and represent you in court if necessary (not always necessary, many cases are settled out of court)

Again, you lose nothing but some time by contacting a lawyer. If you're not sure, check the firm's site to see if they work on a contingency fee basis, which means their payment is contingent on you winning. They deduct their fees from your settlement so you pay nothing out of pocket.

Also, personal injury settlements are usually tax free, so you won't even be hit with a huge tax bill at the end of the year, either. There is very little risk to talking to an attorney except maybe being hounded by dozens of lawyers you gave your contact information to.

Insurance companies are scummy and will do everything in their power to prevent you from getting a dime. You need someone to advocate for you, especially when you're scared, overwhelmed, and vulnerable from an injury.

Stay safe out there!

[everwitch-magiks]

Prompt: drink the stars. Go wild with pairings!

Thank you for the prompt! ♡ Here's a little Ellen and Oscar on their honeymoon!

It’s the first morning of their honeymoon, and Ellen’s knee-deep in the files Johnson sent at 3a.m.. She’d tell herself this is an exception, that this case is unusually important—but God knows that’d be untrue. Her saving grace is that Oscar is no better; he’s across their expensive suite, on the phone with the firm back home. Their eyes catch. Oscar makes an apologetic face. Ellen shrugs. She rises and gets the champagne from the cooler. Pops it. When she gets back to work, it’s with a glass of bubbly in hand and her husband right next to her.

Drabble PSA: I’m no longer taking drabble prompts, but I’ve got a few more to catch up on before I wrap up this round of the game! ♡

[syntia13treeman]

Case files 06.01

We've got a new monster! I repeat, we've got a new monster! Also this call was made just 3 days before Sam heard it! The monster is roaming the streets as we speak!

Ahem. Let us begin.

What I think happened in:

Case 06.01, the case of "Prickly Hugger – a cautionary tale for muggers" or

"I'm scary and pointy!"

We've gathered here today to talk about Mr. Needles.

Who is Mr. Needles? Mr. Needles is a local. He grew up here (somewhere in London), and he'd seen the neighbourhood go from 'nice' to 'dreadful' over the years. (He had a hand in that, though he won't say how). He used to feel lonely and hollow, but has found something to remedy that. Some kind of mark. Don't worry about it.

Mr. Needles does not look dangerous. On the contrary, he seems like an easy mark, a perfect victim (a perfect lure). This particular night, some knife-wielding ruffian fell for it and tried to mug him. Mr. Needles let the mugger get very close, before deploying needles (they come out from under his skin from thousands of tiny holes). (…does it hurt? Every time. Mr. Needles doesn't mind. He's experimented with BDSM before).

He happily glomped the mugger and made sure to position himself over muggers face (and his eyes). The needles broke off after digging into the mugger's flesh. (It's OK. They grow back).

When the mugger was already on the ground, moaning and bleeding, Mr. Needles decided to call emergency service. This was not his first hmugger, but his first emergency call - he's not very clear on how exactly they work, but he does know where the local contact centres are located.

After a little bit of back-and-forth with the dying mugger and the various operators, Mr. Needles ended the call without actually stating their location, so it will probably be some time before somebody stumbles upon a body full of needles, lying in a pool of blood.

Somewhere in Lambeth, a police operator is feeling rather unsettled and will be looking over his shoulder on his way home for at least few days. (And maybe he'll meet an unassuming little man fond of hugging).

Other important things to know about Mr. Needles: Mr. Needles is a very scary monster.

He can smell fear. He can smell fear even over the phone (which probably means it's not actually scent he's perceiving, but that's just a technical detail).

If his scare-factor is challenged, Mr. Needles becomes agitated and rattles his needles like an angry metal rattlesnake. It is not advisable to question his scariness. He WILL take offence and threaten to stalk you.

What we don't know about Mr. Needles:

Sewing needles or syringe needles? I've seen fanart depicting classic hand-sewing needles, but I don't think that works for the simple reason that the mugger is said to be bleeding to death rather quickly, while the needles are still in him. Every stab-wound PSA reminds us to leave the 'weapon' in, because it slows the bleeding. So I posit that Needle's needles are hollow, promoting fast blood-loss. He even says "This isn’t some poxy blood test," when arguing his scariness, which I think supports this.

What is Mr. Needles? A monster-ified human, or a human-shaped monster? He says he grew up here – does it mean: - he was just regular boring human before he grew prickly (how did it happen?), - or was he once just a tiny itty bitty prickle of unease in the back of somebody's brain, before feeding on collective fear of the locals, and growing big and fearsome, until he could manifest as a fully fledged, physical monster (what prompted it?). - Or was he once a tiny baby monster, toddling underfoot and biting ankles? (kidding ;) Smart money is on the first option, but I rather like the idea of the second. We'll have to wait and see, I guess.

How old is he? He seems to be rather new to the whole 'being a monster' thing, so whatever he was in his youth, I think he became Mr. Needles fairly recently. Like maybe...hm, about a year ago? When some other things started happening for no apparent reason?

Are muggers his usual prey? I doubt it. The line "once they realize their mistake" could mean "they thought I'd be easy mark – oops, surprise!", but it could just as easily apply to "this good Samaritan though I needed help," or "this random passer-by thought I was harmless and not danger to them". He also says he's proud of making the streets unsafe at night, so I think he is a predator that just also happens to eat other predators. Top of the foodchain kind of deal (or at least he likes to think of himself as such).

What is his name? The transcript says 'Needles' and I'm calling him this for now, but I don't believe it's what he calls himself. I bet when we meet him and he introduces himself, it will be with an overly long, pretentious edgy name, sth like Dr. Sharp, the Terror that Stabs in the Night, or similar.

What does he mean by "the land is marked now, same as me"? What happened to the land? Too much man-made destruction (physical mark)? Too many man-made tragedies (metaphysical mark)? An apocalypse seeping in from a nearby universe (eldrich mark)? Something else? All of them at once? What? *gnawing at my keyboard over a tiny inconspicuous remark*

[sweetdreamspootypie]

Yet another PSA from your friendly neighbourhood ward nurse

If you or a close person ends up in hospital please check in and make sure we have your contact details correct.

We go over the personal info form with all newly admitted patients, but these days most people don't have phone numbers memorized, and even though we check, contact numbers for next of kin often don't work when we try to call you.

Check your phone and make sure you've got an emergency contact number set up

Make sure your important people are clearly labelled (I have my people saved by actual name, but then also labelled with relationship like mother and housemate, and have them starred as important contacts)

Check in with your older relatives or neighbours - make sure that they have this set up in /their/ phones as well

And if they are older and at risk of becoming confused when unwell, it may be worth setting up their phone so it does not require a password

I don't know if that's official recommendation or not

All I know is that the other night, we had a new admission brought in by his neighbour, who had checked on him because she hadnt seen him in a few days

She found him collapsed at home - weakened because of Covid

None of the contact numbers we had on file for his family worked

He collapsed again within an hour of us receiving him

He was dead within 5 hours

The only person we could call was the neighbour who brought him in

The only reason we managed to contact his family at all was because he had his phone in his pocket, it didn't need a passcode to unlock, and the doctor could go through the numbers that shared his family name

Please

Wear a mask

Get vaccinated

Check on your neighbours

Check on your elderly and at risk community members and family

Go through safety precautions with them - make sure they have these things set up

Help them set up their phones so they can easily use them even if feeling confused

That's the difference between dying alone or not

[nando161mando]

sorry for the ping, but since most of us deal with zip files here, I thought this was important.

PSA: If you use 7-zip, please check which version you are using.

24.07 and earlier are no longer secure and have a serious vulnerability so be sure to update to 24.08 (released 11-Aug-2024) if you have not updated or downloaded it recently.

Note that 7-zip does not auto-update, and should never be downloaded from anywhere except for from the Developers own website: https://7-zip.org/

https://cybersecuritynews.com/7-zip-vulnerability-arbitrary-code/,