#Best Quality lights Manufacturer

[neon11seo]

Multi-Color Neon Signs | Neon11 - Bold & Vibrant Lighting

Multi-color neon signs bring vibrant hues to any event. Perfect for parties or business gatherings, these neon lights create a unique and eye-catching atmosphere.

[signved]

Why Are Right-Side Arrows Very Useful For Easy Exit At Any Time?

The led right side arrows provide you with the exact way to come out from the area. The right side shows the direction to the exit. This means it points to the direction from where you can go out or have a safe exit. They are very important to put all the time because there can be any emergency at any time. Not only in emergencies they are also very useful for easy exit anytime whenever you want to exit the place. Buy Led Exit Light Right Side Arrow at very reasonable and affordable rates. Star lite is the manufacturing company of led right side arrow.

They are important for a safe exit. How?

They come with an arrow for the direction.

Led right-side exit signs are highly visible and easily be seen by anyone.

They are customized according to the needs and preferences.

These LED right-side exit signs are used at the time of emergency.

They are placed where people can safely exit.

They are made up of acrylic transparent sheet

The signs are laser engraved on the sheet.

The mirror sheet is applied on both sides of the acrylic sheet.

The connector helps to connect them and produce light.

It comes with an adapter which helps them to connect.

Led right-side arrows are manufactured by the company Starlight. They provide the best quality material-led exit products. You can also customize them according to your preferences. There are many products that you can buy from us. Contact us now.

Benefits Of Using Right-Side Exit Signs In Commercial Areas.

They have a good backup light.

The backup battery can last for 2 hrs.

They are in the mirror which makes them visible from both sides.

They can produce light without electricity for certain hours.

The lead used in them is chargeable.

The batteries are inbuilt and they can store electricity.

The LED light comes with an adapter.

This exit light comes in different colors like green, red, blue, etc.

They are easy to install and maintain.

Durable and long-lasting.

Where Can You Buy The Right-Side Arrow Exit In India?

You can easily buy them from a very established company who had made their name in the field of signage. They had years of experience in this field. The reason to buy their products is their prices are very reasonable and affordable from the market range and with the best quality products. They come with an adapter and good battery backup. Buy the right-side arrow exit now. Contact now.

[weskie]

Sweet Dreams (Albert Wesker x afab!Reader)

18+ | somno, oral sex, penetrative sex, come eating, light angst, soft wesker, amab!reader version here | Fic Directory

This was hardly an uncommon occurrence anymore.  You’d given him permission long ago, but it always came as a surprise regardless.  Perhaps it was just… out of character.  Wesker’s so damn dignified all the time.  

The first time it happened, you woke to his greedy little slurps between your legs, his tongue all but desperately fucking in and out of your pussy until he slipped two fingers inside to coax your nectar free to sate his appetite.  He’d let out an amused, victorious hum when your thighs clamped around his head and you mewled the bliss of your release.  Wesker took you hard and fast that night, over and over until his eyelids grew heavy and he’d exhausted his inhuman stamina.

You’d talked about it the next day, of course.  You both enjoyed yourselves, so why not?  Turns out, this was the best thing to ever happen to your sex life.  Quality time with Albert was sparse, but time for ‘primitive pleasures,’ as he calls them, were even more so.  He’d often come to bed well after you’d fallen asleep, sometimes even leaving before you had the chance to wake in the morning.  Such was life.

Now, though?  Now he comes home and knows he can have his way with you.  He can wake up in the middle of the night and be as mischievous as he could possibly want.  Or as desperate.

“Nngh–”

Like tonight.

“H-Hah…”

His breaths fan hot against your neck and each pitiful noise is sung into your ear.  He thrusts slowly, each languid stroke just shallow enough to be kind.  He must be trying to let you stay asleep.  You smirk, weighing your options.  You could bring your legs up and around his waist, tug him closer, signal that it was okay to speed up and take what he needs.  Or… you could enjoy the show.  After all, you’ve never caught him like this.

He’s a sensual lover in every sense of the word, but you’ve never heard him be so vocal before.

“Mm, god…”  He mewls, tongue laving at your flesh as he grinds warm and wet in your aching core.  He locks his lips at the junction of your shoulder and suckles, teeth nibbling sweetly.  It sends shivers down your spine and you have to fight the urge to arch into it.  “F-Feels so, mmph…”  His speed increases bit by bit as his self control falters.  Fuck, you can practically see him even with your eyes shut.  Right about now, his eyes are probably glowing redder than ever.  Those cat-like pupils are probably blown wide.  He’s probably got his teeth bared and his nose scrunched the way he does when he’s holding back.

“M-Mine,” he whispers.  Grinding turns to sloppy ruts and fuck, you can’t take it anymore.

You open your eyes and find him exactly as you’d pictured him, but there’s something… different.  Something strange.  You thumb it away, thinking it to be a sweat drop, but another follows the same path and you realize he’s–

“Al..?”

“Mine.  Mine…” He gasps, face falling to your neck once more.  You bring your hand to his nape and curl your fingers there.  His thrusts grow messier by the second, but your pleasure had all but been eradicated the second you realized those were tears on his cheeks.  “You’re– you’re real.  Real,” Wesker pants weakly, “and mine!”

Your legs come up around him, guiding his motions, and you rake your fingers through his mussed hair.  “Shh, sweetheart.” You coo.  You’ve heard this song and dance before.  It’s been quite some time since he learned of his manufactured life, but there were still cracks in his seemingly impenetrable walls.  He fell apart back then.  Swore up and down after that it’d never happen again.  But sometimes…  “I’ve got you.”  Sometimes reality is harsher than even the strongest resolve.

He clings to you, arms wrapped around your midsection as he drives in hard and fast.  Squelches and wet slaps ring out in tandem with his whines, and then the telltale circular grinding starts and–

“Oh god!”

His teeth sink into your shoulder and you keen at the sharp sting.  His whole body locks like a board against yours, muscles flexed and breath held tight until its staleness overpowers him into a loud exhale and desperate, shuddering gulps of air.  You pepper kisses against the side of his head as best you can. His hands grasp your thighs.

Wesker pushes against you slowly, milking the last ebb and flow of bliss from his climax.  He falls limp against you and, after some time, you’re almost convinced he’s fallen asleep, but then he lifts himself just enough to press lazy wet kisses to your lips.  He suckles your lower lip sweetly, giving it the softest nip before letting off and moving down, littering more affections to every inch.  Neck, collarbones, chest, navel– the only complaint you’ve got is that he had to slip out to keep going, but you figure the trade off was perfectly fine when those lips wrap around your clit and–

“Al!”  You gasp, incisor sinking into your lower lip, hands coming down to thread in his silky locks, petting and pulling.  “You– you don’t have to– mmph!”  Your head falls back and you see stars.  Fuck, he’d gotten you all stirred up before and he’s got you back there in mere moments.  Each drag of his tongue erupts your flesh in goosebumps, and then–  “I– oh fuck!”  He slurps your cunt loudly and you know exactly what he’s after.  The thought alone is enough to make you buck against him, but then those long fingers of his find their way inside and you keen and whine and cry out for him over and over again.

“Mine.” He groans against you.

He coaxes your sweet spot with gentle curling motions, but you know it’s more than that.  This isn’t just him seeking to ensure you get yours.  No.  Right now, he’s eating the proof of your love from between your legs and savoring the salty sweet taste of your combined juices.  Each swipe of his fingers draws his seed from deep within and he moans with every tantalizing taste.  

The thought alone is enough to put you right on the doorstep of a mind blowing orgasm, but it’s his noises that drive you over the edge entirely.  Bucking and whining and mewling, you cry out his name and gasp your love into the air.  But he doesn’t stop. His tongue rubs circles to your bud over and over again, switching out to suckle and swirl and slurp more of you until you’re so overstimulated that the only thing you can do is moan and push his face away from your aching cunt.

His lips are back on yours in a flash, tongue licking your own taste into your mouth.  His fingers lace with yours and draw your hands up over your head.  Wesker pulls away just enough to observe you, but he doesn’t flash that typical smirk of his.  There’s no victory plastered on his face.  No smugness.

Instead, he smiles sweetly and shifts to lay beside you, tugging your body to fit against his like a puzzle piece.  “I do rather like this new rule of ours,” he murmurs against the nape of your neck. “Thank you, my dear…”

You hum and turn in his hold, letting your hand trail up the length of his arm.  “You okay?”  Sure, it kills the afterglow a bit.  And yes, he’s going to deny having been upset earlier.  It’s what he does.  But you can’t ignore that it happened.

“...yes.”  He lies.  “My apologies for waking you.”

You sigh and give him your usual look so he knows that you know better.  “I love you,” you say, craning your neck to press a featherlight kiss to the corner of his mouth.  “That’s always real… I promise.”

He regards you with a set jaw and pained eyes, but ultimately presses a firm kiss to your forehead.  “Sleep,” he huffs. “You talk far too much.”

You giggle and nuzzle his chest, content to do as he commands.  Besides, you know that’s how he says it back.

[fernsproutxx]

GR96

@fusionspruntcityjournal

So how do you produce electricity with living plants? Simply by using the natural processes that already occur. In short: the plant produces organic matter via photosynthesis. Only part of this organic matter is then used for its own growth. The rest is excreted via the roots. Around the roots, bacteria feed on the organic matter and they release electrons. If you’re able to harvest the electrons into an electrode, you can couple the first electrode to a counter-electrode and build an electrical circuit, like in a battery. The electrons flow back into the natural system via the counter-electrode, so it’s completely circular. Because we use the natural processes around the plant, nature is not harmed. It works day and night, summer and winter. It only stops when the plant and its surroundings completely dry up or freeze over.

Sedum Oviferum

Sedum pachyphyllum is a ground-hugging succulent that spreads by rooting fallen stems and leaves. The succulent also goes by the names “Cerise Moonstones” or “Mauve Pebbles”. The short and stumpy round leaves have a light silvery-purple color; positioned at a right angles to the stem and curve upward, which in the wintertime, the tips of said leaves will turn into a notorious red.

Sedum Oviferum is a succulent that is very easy to grow and maintain. It is a resilient plant that can tolerate drought, moist and dry soils, and when given adequate exposure to sunlight and sufficient water, Cerise Moonstones will thrive outdoors. The Sedum Oviferum succulent grows at its best with regular exposure to sunlight. If Mauve Pebbles are planted in an area in a garden that gets plenty of sunlight per day, you will be rewarded with bright coloured leaves and flowers. In winter and early spring, Cerise Moonstones actively grow and produce blooms featuring red-orange petals and sepals that have the same pigmentation as the leaves. The flowers produced by Cerise Moonstones have a bell shape and a sugary fragrance.

Subterranean Clover

Trifolium subterraneum is also known as the subterranean clover (often shortened to sub clover), or subterranean trefoil. The plant's name comes from its underground seed development, a characteristic not possessed by other clovers. It can thrive in poor-quality soil where other clovers cannot survive.

This species is self-fertilizing, unlike most legume forage crops such as alfalfa and other clovers, which are pollinated by insects, especially honeybees. It is also grown in places where the extreme ranges of soil type and quality, rainfall, and temperature make the variable tolerances of sub clover especially useful.

Functionality

GR96 are powered by any plant of choosing on their back pod (the one we are going to discuss has a giant Sedum Oviferum and multiple sub clovers to operate) which is held in place by five strong suction cups. They’re manufactured for community gardens (strictly only one per garden), but they can also be bought by high class citizens for private properties, though at a way bigger cost since they’re financed by the city.

They can use their hands as scissors, shovels, and for watering (hence the big forearms, for storing the water), the latter which they do by dipping their hands in a bucket, opening the valve on their forearms so they can fill them up and releasing the water from the pinholes on their palms. Their “eyes” are actually a screen that can show plenty expressions, but the two circles above that peripheral screen are the real environmental sensors. They also have the same sensors on their ankles for inspecting the lower plants and ground without the need of kneeling, and their feet are shaped in a way so that weight is evenly distributed, lowering the chances of damaging a plant if they were to step on it. The ear like protrusions are small solar panels, used as backup energy (they don’t have any communication properties). Their speaker aka their “voice” is the mohawk-like structure on the top (which also has their series barcode 128 on the lower back), but when they speak there are these strips at the sides of the face mask that light up with the volume. The mask (non removable) has a set of pipes that are used for analyzing the air quality and humidity of the area surrounding them.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How monopoly enshittified Amazon

In Bezos’s original plan, the company called “Amazon” was called “Relentless,” due to its ambition to be “Earth’s most customer-centric company.” Today, Amazon is an enshittified endless scroll of paid results, where winning depends on ad budgets, not quality.

Writing in Jeff Bezos’s newspaper The Washington Post, veteran tech reporter Geoffrey Fowler reports on the state of his boss’s “relentless” commitment to customer service. The state is grim.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2022/amazon-shopping-ads/

Search Amazon for “cat beds” and the entire first screen is ads. One of them is an ad for a dog carrier, which Amazon itself manufactures and sells, competing with the other sellers who bought that placement.

Scroll down one screen and you get some “organic” results — that is, results that represent Amazon’s best guess at the best products for your query. Scroll once more and yup, another entire screen of ads, these ones labeled “Highly rated.” One more scroll, and another screenful of ads, one for a dog product.

Keep scrolling, you’ll keep seeing ads, including ads you’ve already scrolled past. “On these first five screens, more than 50 percent of the space was dedicated to ads and Amazon touting its own products.” Amazon is a cesspit of ads: twice as many as Target, four times as many as Walmart.

How did we get here? We always knew that Amazon didn’t care about its suppliers, but being an Amazon customer has historically been a great deal — lots of selection, low prices, and a generous returns policy. How could “Earth’s most customer-centric” company become such a bad place to shop?

The answer is in Amazon’s $31b “ad” business. Amazon touts this widely, and analysts repeat it without any critical interrogation, proclaiming that Amazon is catching up with the Googbook ad-tech duopoly. But nearly all of that “ad” business isn’t ads at all — it’s payola.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/27/not-an-ad/#shakedowns

Amazon charges its sellers billions of dollars a year through a gladiatorial combat where they compete to outspend each other to see who’ll get to the top of the search results. May the most margin-immolating, deep-pocketed spender win!

Why would sellers be willing to light billions of dollars on fire to get to the top of the Amazon search results?

Prime.

Most of us have Amazon Prime. Seriously — 82% of American households! Prime users only shop on Amazon. Seriously. More than 90% of Prime members start their search on Amazon, and if they find what they’re looking for, they stop there, too.

If you are a seller, you have to be on Amazon, otherwise no one will find your stuff and that means they won’t buy it. This is called a monopsony, the obscure inverse of monopoly, where a buyer has power over sellers.

But monopoly and monopsony are closely related phenomena. Monopsonies use control over buyers — the fact that we all have Prime — to exert control over sellers. This lets them force unfavorable terms onto sellers, like deeper discounts. In theory, this is good for use consumers, because prices go down. In practice, though…

Back in June 2021, DC Attorney General Karl Racine filed an antitrust suit against Amazon, because the company had used its monopoly over customers to force such unfavorable terms on sellers that prices were being driven up everywhere, not just on Amazon:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/01/you-are-here/#prime-facie

Here’s how that works: one of the unfavorable terms Amazon forces on sellers is “most favored nation” status (MFN), which means that Amazon sellers have to offer their lowest price on Amazon — they can’t sell more cheaply anywhere else.

Then Amazon hits sellers with fees. Lots of fees:

Fees to be listed on Prime (without which, your search result is buried at the bottom of an endless scroll):

Fees for Amazon warehouse fulfillment (without which, your search result is buried at the bottom of an endless scroll)

And finally, there’s payola — the “ads” you have to buy to outcompete the other people who are buying ads to outcompete you.

All told, these fees add up to 45% of the price you pay Amazon — sometimes more. Companies just don’t have 45% margins, because they exist in competitive markets. If I’m selling a bottle of detergent at a 45% markup, my rival will sell it at 40%, and then I have to drop to 35%, and so on.

But everyone has to sell on Amazon, and Amazon takes their 45% cut, which means that all these sellers have to raise prices. And, thanks to MFN, the sellers then have to charge the same price at Walmart, Target, and your local mom-and-pop shop.

Amazon’s monopoly (control over buyers) gives it a monopsony (control over sellers), which lets it raise prices everywhere, at Amazon and at every other retailer, even as it drives the companies that supply it into bankruptcy.

Amazon is no longer a place where a scrappy independent seller can find an audience for its products. In order to navigate the minefield Amazon lays for its sellers (who have no choice but to sell there), these indie companies are forced to sell out to gators (aggregators), which are now multi-billion-dollar businesses in their own right:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/10/monopoly-begets-monopoly/#gator-ade

This brings me back to the enshittification of Amazon search, AKA late-stage (platform) capitalism. Amazon’s dominance means that many products are now solely available on the platform. With the collapse of both physical and online retail, Prime isn’t so much a choice as a necessity.

Amazon has produced a planned economy run as capriciously as a Soviet smelting plant, but Party Secretary Bezos doesn’t even pretend to be a servant of the people. From his lordly seat aboard his penis-rocket, Bezos decides which products live and which ones die.

Remember that one of those search-results for a cat-bed was a product for dogs? Remember that Amazon made that dog product? How did that end up there? Well, if you’re a seller trying to make a living from cat-beds, your ad-spending is limited by your profit margin. Guess how much it costs Amazon to advertise on Amazon? Amazon is playing with its own chips, and it can always outbid the other players at the table.

Those Amazon own-brand products? They didn’t come out of a vacuum. Amazon monitors its own sellers’ performance, and creams off the best of them, cloning them and then putting its knockoffs above of the original product in search results (Bezos lied to Congress about this, then admitted it was true):

https://nypost.com/2021/10/18/jeff-bezos-may-have-lied-to-congress-about-amazon-practices-reps/

If you’ve read Chokepoint Capitalism, Rebecca Giblin’s and my new book about market concentration in the entertainment industry, this story will be a familiar one. You’ll recall that Amazon actually boasts about this process, calling it “the flywheel”:

https://twitter.com/rgibli/status/1561761732108107777

Everything that Amazon is doing to platform sellers, other platforms are doing to creators. You know how Amazon knocks off its sellers’ best products and then replaces them with its clones? That’s exactly what Spotify does to the ambient artists in its most popular playlists, replacing them with work-for-hire soundalikes who aren’t entitled to royalties.

You can learn more about how Spotify rips off its performers in the Chokepoint Capitalism chapter on Spotify; we made the audiobook version of that chapter a Spotify exclusive (it’s the only part of the book you can get on Spotify):

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/12/streaming-doesnt-pay/#stunt-publishing

Entertainment and tech companies all want to be the only game in town for their creative labor force, because that lets them turn the screws to those workers, moving value from labor to shareholders.

Amazon is also the poster-child for this dynamic. For example, its Audible audiobook monopoly means that audiobook creators must sell on Audible, even though the #AudibleGate scandal revealed that the company has stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from these creators. (Our chapter on Audiblegate is the only part of our audiobook on Audible!)

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/07/audible-exclusive/#audiblegate

Then there’s its Twitch division, where the company just admitted that it had been secretly paying its A-listers 70% of the total take for their streams. The company declared this to be unfair when the plebs were having half their wages clawed back by Amazon, so they fixed it by cutting the A-listers’ pay.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/22/amazon-vs-amazon/#pray-i-dont-alter-it-further

Twitch blamed the cut on the high cost of bandwidth for streaming. If that sounds reasonable to you, remember: Twitch buys its bandwidth from Amazon. As Sam Biddle wrote, “Amazon is charging Amazon so much money to run the business via Amazon that it has no choice but to take more money from streamers.”

https://twitter.com/samfbiddle/status/1572667269284777984

As Bezos suns himself aboard his yacht-so-big-it-has-a-smaller-yacht, we ask him to referee a game where he also owns one of the teams. Over and over again, he proves that he is not up to the task. Either his “relentless” customer focus was a sham, or the benefits of cheating are too tempting to ignore.

Historically, we understood that businesses couldn’t be trusted to be on both sides of a transaction. The “structural separation” doctrine is one of the vital pieces of policy we’ve lost over 40 years of antitrust neglect. It says that important platforms can’t compete with their users.

https://locusmag.com/2022/03/cory-doctorow-vertically-challenged/

For example, banks couldn’t own businesses that competed with their commercial borrowers. If you own Joe’s Pizza and your competitor is Citibank Pizza and you both have a hard month and can’t make your payment, will you trust that Citi called in your loan but not Citibank Pizza’s because they had a more promising business?

Today, all kinds of businesses have been credibly accused of self-preferencing: Google and Apple via their App Stores, Spotify via its playlists, consoles via their game stores, etc. Legislators have decided that the best way to fix this isn’t structural separation, but rather, rules against self-preferencing.

Under these rules, companies will have to put “the best” results at the top of their listings. This is doomed. When Apple says it put its own ebook store ahead of Bookshop.org’s app because it sincerely believes Apple Books is “better,” how will we argue with this? Maybe Apple really does believe that. Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it does, but only because of motivated reasoning (“It is difficult to get a product manager to understand something, when their bonus depends on them not understanding it”).

The irony here is that these companies’ own lawyers know that a sincere promise of fairness is no assurance that your counterparty will act honorably. If the judge in Apple v. Epic was a major shareholder in Epic, or the brother-in-law of Epic’s CEO, Apple’s lawyers would bring down the roof demanding a new judge — even if the judge promised really sincerely to be neutral.

https://marker.medium.com/moral-hazard-and-monopoly-42e30eb159a8

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if Amazon’s enshittification is because Bezos was a cynic or because he sold out. Once Amazon could make more money by screwing its customers, that screw-job became a fait accompli. That’s why it’s so important that the FTC win its bid to block the Activision-Microsoft merger:

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/23/exclusive-feds-likely-to-challenge-microsofts-69-billion-activision-takeover-00070787

The best time to prevent monopoly formation was 40 years ago. The second best time is now.

Anti-monopoly measures are slow and ponderous tools, but when it comes to tech companies, we have faster, more nimble ones. If we want to make it easy to compete with Amazon, we could — for example — use Adversarial Interoperability to turn it into a dumb pipe:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/01/dumb-pipes/#original-asin

That is, we could let local merchants use Amazon’s ASIN system to tag their own inventory and produce a realtime database. Customers could browse Amazon to find the things they wanted, with a browser plugin that turned “Buy It Now” into “Buy It Now at Joe’s Hardware”:

https://doctorow.medium.com/view-a-sku-32721d623aee

But this only works to the extent that Amazon’s search isn’t totally enshittified. To that end, Fowler has a few modest proposals of his own, like requiring that at least 50% of the first six screens be given over to real results, not ads.

“Perhaps 50 percent sounds like a lot to you? But even that rule would force Amazon to show us at least some of the most-relevant results on the first screen of our device…Amazon wouldn’t comment on this suggestion.”

[popcornplastic]

Hello!

I'm CJ and I wanted to make an archive/information hub for things that are this material:

If you've ever tried to find information on this material online you'll know there is frustratingly little on it, so here's a brief overview of what I know so far:

They're usually called popcorn plastic, EVA lamps, sponge lamps, or melted plastic pellet lamps. I've also seen them called sparkle lamps, but as you can imagine that makes them near impossible to find under that name.

EVA stands for ethylene vinyl acetate which is a type of thermoplastic!!

These lamps were/are often in the shapes of animals, characters, or objects like footballs or cars, and were then usually airbrushed to add color detailing. Often these were manufactured as halloween decorations, so you'll find a ton of skulls, witches, pumpkins and ghosts if you search around for them!

They rarely have any branding on them, appear to have largely been cheaply made (think the quality of carnival or arcade prizes) and their bases were often a coiled spring stand. There is a metal rimmed hole on the bottom or back of most lamps where a bulb on a wire could be inserted. More often than not, they also have a switch on the wire to turn on/off the light

They appear to have originated sometime in the 60's and went out of popularity by the end of the 2000's.

I've seen out of stock listings for lamps like these as recently as 6 years ago, however (aside from being sold on the Rhode Island Novelty website at the time) there is absolutely no branding information provided on the boxes of the lamps themselves.

If I find current retailers that still manufacture these lamps I will definitely share it here!

I have a feeling that due to the relative fragility of these pieces, many haven't survived and were seen as cheap or unappealing enough to just toss rather than make an effort to restore them, so it's possible that not a ton survive, and as far as I can tell there have been no efforts to archive or preserve a history of them, which frankly bums me out so I'm going to do my best to celebrate them here :-]

All that to say: if you have any interest in these, or are curious about the origins of a piece you own, or trying to find a specific lamp you used to have, send me an ask! I'll do my best to help you out!

[tobiasdrake]

FUN FACT: Namekian Dracula wants to buy a car.

Also, the ending to Lord Slug is the deepest cut of a continuity reference Toei has ever made and I'm super suspicious about it.

(This is the best Z movie. I SAID WHAT I SAID.)

It's pretty well-known that the Z movies aped the hell out of the original story arcs.. Pretty much every Z movie is Playing The Hits, remixing story elements from existing Dragon Ball arcs into an "original" Frankenstein's Monster of derivative material.

Lord Slug is the most on-the-nose it ever gets, in the sense that this guy is Piccolo.

Like. It's so on-the-nose, Kaio even says multiple times "He's JUST LIKE PICCOLO!"

He's JUST LIKE PICCOLO.

JUST LIKE PICCOLO.

It's amazing how shameless this is. They aren't even pretending this is an Original Character Do Not Steal, the way they do with most of the other movie villains. He's just Piccolo Again. We made Piccolo Again. Do you want to see Goku fight Piccolo Again?

So. What's his deal, exactly?

Slug has a birth defect where he's evil.

He just. He was born evil. I don't know what to tell ya. On rare occasions, Namekians will be born pure evil. And not just any evil, but Mazoku evil.

There are a number of words in Japanese that mean demon, spirit, wicked thing, etc. Most of them are derived from the word 'ma', which can mean demon or evil or magic or just... general occult stuff. Piccolo is the Dai-ma-o or Great Demon King. His offspring are Ma-zoku, or the Demon Clan.

Slug's followers are also Mazoku. It's never clearly explained how, exactly, Slug creates his Mazoku. I guess being made pure evil as a birth defect means he's a demon. The movie is aggressively disinterested in explaining Slug. He just. Is.

But Slug's Mazoku aren't just any kind of demon. The movie gives them a peculiar trait that Piccolo's Mazoku never had.

They're vampires.

When Slug and his forces arrive on Earth, they're initially forced to wear all of this protective gear to shield them from the purifying light of the sun. Even Slug himself, despite being more resilient than the others, is forced to remain under this giant Dracula cloak to protect him from being destroyed by it.(T

(Thank you, Medamatcha, for spontaneously explaining vampire weaknesses to Vampire Zarbon and Vampire Dodoria.)

Fortunately for them, they're old-hat when it comes to terraforming. They didn't come to Earth to conquer. Though they do pay lip service to the idea that Slug is some sort of galactic monarch....

His intentions for Earth are a bit more... oddball. You see, Slug's in the market for a new car.

I think they came up with this idea as a way to distinguish him from Frieza. Because, in addition to being Piccolo, Slug is also Frieza. Frieza's a real estate mogul who kills planets to sell them at markup, so they came up with the idea that Slug's killing planets for automotive manufacturing.

Slug travels the universe in a vehicle called the Planet Cruiser, which is precisely what it sounds like: A rogue planet retrofitted into being a spaceship. The process of manufacturing a Planet Cruiser is, however, quite lethal to the inhabitants of the world.

But that's fine because hostile conditions for people are optimal for space vampires. Also they blot out the sun for obvious reasons.

And that's the plot of Lord Slug. Namekian Dracula wants to buy a car - and also happens to find Dragon Balls here to restore his youth by happenstance. His plans are thwarted when Goku and Piccolo wipe out his Mazoku forces, and when Goku remembers a cut of Dragon Ball lore so deep and obscure that I'm honestly startled by it.

During Goku's training under Kaio, he learns to form the Genki-Dama or Spirit Bomb. This is Goku's most iconic desperation move. In addition to its three canon appearances, it shows up in a lot of these movies and GT. But there's an... interesting quality to it that the manga just plum forgot about.

When Kaio teaches Goku the technique, he explains it like this:

The Genki-Dama can borrow energy from inanimate objects, the atmosphere, people, animals, trees... all kinds of things. And, with this technique, Goku could even learn to tap into the immeasurable power of the sun itself.

Toriyama seems to have forgotten he wrote that. It never comes up again. And that's weird because there is one particular situation where it should have come up again.

This was it. The time to take that gun down off the shelf and fire it was here. Toriyama's written Goku into a position where he needs to somehow form a Genki-Dama vastly more powerful than the one from Earth, on a dead planet with little to work with... orbiting three suns.

If there was ever a time for Goku to fulfill Kaio's foreshadowing and whip out a Solar Genki-Dama, it was here.

I honestly wonder if Toei swiped the idea of a Solar Genki-Dama from Toriyama. We know they tried to jump the gun on Goku becoming a Super Saiyan. That's what this is about.

This was supposed to be the Super Saiyan transformation in its entirety. Toei wanted Goku to become a Super Saiyan in the movie first, prior to it happening in the manga, but the design hadn't been finalized so the final product doesn't look quite right.

The movie's even called "Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiyan Son Goku". That's the title of the film, even though it's only in the movie for like two minutes and barely accomplishes anything before the fight moves on like this never happened.

If they'd succeeded in making this the debut appearance of the Super Saiyan it would be horribly disappointing.

Toei later did it again, when they scooped Goku and Vegeta performing the Fusion Dance out from under Toriyama, forcing him to come up with Potara to make his fusion in the manga distinctive.

So I genuinely wonder if they scooped the Solar Genki-Dama from him. Because Toei's nowhere near good enough at Dragon Ball continuity for a cut this deep. It is bafflingly original, creative, and consistent to established canon.

Nonetheless, here we are. Faced with the power of Namekian Dracula, Goku remembers this special characteristic of his technique and hits Slug with the raw vampire-destroying might of the sun.

Goku does a lot of Genki-Damas throughout these films and they tend to blur together.

But this? This is such a perfect way to kill Namekian Dracula. If this is the character you're going to make Goku face, I can think of no better way to end the fight than by punching him in the face with the goddamn sun.

[nicohverse]

9/15/2024 Patch Notes and Merch!

First off- Merch is here! If you missed your chance to support development during the EF2 Kickstarter and you’ve already picked up the Beloved Ghost DLC, this is another great option. There are still some extras of the physical rewards from Kickstarter- Keychains, standees, pins, and plushies- but more pressingly, there’s new apparel!

Until now, the only Entropic Float apparel available was through Print-On-Demand. Redbubble and TeePublic can be very useful tools, but the print quality to cost ratio isn’t always the best, and this new collection has more than simple logo tees. You’ll be able to pick up…

Entropic Float Logo T-Shirt, available as a polyester-spandex blend comfort tee or cotton tee. This design simply features the logo on a black shirt, with a purple collar and sleeves in the comfort tee version.

Renfield Future Tour Comfort Tee, based on the fictional band appearing in Beloved Ghost and the upcoming Entropic Float 2. A light blue shirt with black sleeves, featuring the band’s logo on the front and an assortment of Entropic Float related tour locations on the back.

Shrimps Is Bugs Comfort Tee, the very same design that Touko Nozomi wears during The Tale Of The Secret Knowledge in the DLC. A gray shirt with pink sleeves and a cute shrimp graphic!

Kanatsun Pajama Pants- Black pants with large purple stars! Also a polyester-spandex blend. Wear at home for comfort. Wear out of the house to… Be judged for your fashion sense just like Kanatsun, probably. Has pockets and a drawstring!

Some fun stuff! Of course, I’m always open to suggestions for new items if there’s a specific piece of Entropic Float apparel your heart yearns for. The manufacturer I work with offers a lot of variety, so don’t be afraid to ask! I just get decision paralysis and end up designing for the same clothing types that I’ve had good experiences with before, rather than thinking of something to design for a new shape. I’d be happy to do so on your behalf!

Now, on to the actual update log:

Modified statement following the post-credits scene. The game now mentions the DLC, explaining how to access it if you already own it, and that you can purchase it if you don’t.

Not in-game, but the steam page now properly directs to the DLC as well.

Found and fixed a few more errors in the text.

Beloved Ghost DLC Changes:

Changed the colors of several name badges to improve legibility.

Added more responses to both ‘player conversation’ sections.

Found and fixed a few more errors in the text here as well.

[rpgbabe]

Fav blogs? 🩶

genuinely too many to list :C there are so many wonderful blogs/ppl on here that ive been foloing/mutuals with for so long for a good reason. i dont wanna cop out and say 'everyone i reblog from' or 'everyone i follow' or anything like that but just kno.. if i like ur stuff and interact w u, that's all genuine + real + ur one of my favs for sure bc i dont fake that stuff. (also if i foloed u on my new blog bc.. i honestly couldnt be assed to find any1 but my favs on here lmao) follows + reblogs of non-original pictures can be shallow but if im actually liking ur personal stuff n everything, i like you and probably want to kno u better :.) i couldnt list all of the ppl in this category bc theres too many + id def miss ppl BUT to actually give you a genuine answer, i do have some blogs that stand out to me bc of their personality + impact + just our general interactions/connection soo

@comingtoyoursenses angel. actual positivity (not like fake positive shallow phony stuff).. beautiful literary sense, soso sweet. she is actually the light <3 not sure how she puts up w me im so negative but i never feel judged by her wah perfection. genuinely too good for me or any1, inspires me to be better :,) also ik i dont need to say more but i feel like she just has a rare nuanced eye for things like so many well-intentioned ppl on here will like see things in black and white and be rly unaccepting of others but i feel like liz has a rare ability to genuinely be open-minded n it's a very special quality imho

@eucalyptus111 honestly one of the realest ppl ive met on here.. i love how she never bullshits + isnt scared to tell me what she rly thinks, conversation comes so naturally bc she's so interesting + so honest + genuine + actually takes the time to rly get to know ppl which is shockingly rare -_- it takes a lot for me to feel comfortable around ppl so quick but w her it's so natural <3 feel like i've known her 4ever

@sklira so talented, so modest, so unique. always introducing me to new things (unintentionally loll) + always standing out from others like so so refreshing. also feel like we have similar passions for like old web/retro gaming/that culture, even tho we're also so diff (bc sklira is way cooler than me ofc heh..) just such a genuine love for art and music and film that isn't just manufactured for internet popularity, one of the rare ppl actually using the internet as it's intended i feel

@blackmold just <3333333. she knows how i feel.. in another life we'd be soulmates. always thinking of her + wishing her the best

@exnymphette kissing on the lips. soul tie. sharing a heart.. one of the only ppl on here i feel like i could just bare my entire soul n she would probably not judge me or hate me for it ;-; need her bak

and ofc everyone like this that has deactivated or become less active, they know who they are, i love them sm 4evr <33!

aand i could do like a whole other section just for aes blogs/non-personal blogs that r just rly cool so.. silent s/o to all of them ofc.. i wont bog down this list too much bc it's already 2 much v.v if u r looking for like actual blog recs tho maybe i can try to answer that sometime as well bc that's probably more like actually useful for other ppl lmao<3

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

might be a bit of a boring question but how do you feel about the Mazda b series? and if you have nothing to say about that one then I'd love to hear your thoughts on the tacoma

So thoughtful of you to give me a backup question, but worry not! If I've got nothing to say about a car, I will find it, goddamnit, if it'll take me two months! Which it very nearly did. Sorry. Anyhow! In reverse order of generations:

1. 5th

it would take state-backed effort to get me to care for -hell, care about- this last one, which did not excel in looks nor performance nor, from what I can tell, reliability nor comfort. It feels like it would be a very complex thought experiment to come up with the buyer this would be the best choice for, even in its time. (However, while the enthusiasts' metric of evaluation is competition, the owners' metric is their own expectations, so it is certain and valid and good that millions of owners were chuffed about their purchase and I love that for them and do not whatsoever seek to rain on their parade.)

2. 4th

Neat! Even beyond the spectacular decals, I just love Japanese pickups of this era (the ones yankees call "small pickups" and we call "pickups" because we don't have those useless fuck-off-gargantuan shit yankees love to pretend has any use). So much so that I want two of them. Neither are this (they're the Toyota Hilux and the Nissan D21), but objectively they're all about the same and my preferences are purely based on aesthetic minutiae.

3. 3rd

First I see of it! The front is kind of unfortunate, but it reminds me of the Yugo so it's on my good side. The rear taillights also have a kind of Soviet quality to them, I'm sure there's some -az car with rear lights just like those.

4. 2nd

HELL FUCKING YEAH *checks pronouns* SISTER! I love this thing. Especially the REPU, where PU stands for Pick Up and RE stands for...

Yep :D, this was the time when Mazda was shoving rotaries left and right into applications they were comically unsuited for absolutely no discernible reason, and we're all glad that they did, because Lord knows no one else had the lack of sense to do it.

Yes the ROTARY POWER* on the back of it is factory! *BITCHES

5. 1st

Yeah, this is at the edge of car period that excites me. Not that I think it looks bad or is bad or anything, it just starts to feel too... historic for me to connect to? I guess a Mazda pickup from the early '60s is just not for me.

It seems I guessed wrong.

This Ghibli-esque little thing is the 1959 Mazda K360, being a kei truck with the then maximum of 360cc of engine. It was a popular taxi (taxi!) in Myanmar...

...where it kept being produced until the early '70s, when it got replaced by the other other truck Mazda was making by the early '60s, the B360.

Wow I really was wrong there huh.

These were probably a sort of "Eastern Europe getting Fiat's scraps" kind of deal, since while these were manufactured in Myanmar from '72 to the mid-90s (mid-90s!), by 1972 Japan had already long been getting the B360's replacement i.e. the Mazda Porter, which OOOO0000°°°°°ººººº⁰⁰⁰⁰⁰⁰⁰ my GOOOOOODDDD

OMGOMGOMG THIS IS THE CUTEST THING IN THE WORLD

I don't even want to own one of these, I want to cuddle it. I want to protect it.

OMG THIS ONE HAS TINY LITTLE HAYASHIS WITH TINY LITTLE LETTERING ON ITS TINY LITTLE TIRES

*faints* *a feeble, wiggly speech bubble appears from below the table* Tacoma's good btw. Best of segment by miles.

Links in blue are posts of mine about the topic in question: if you liked this post, you might like those - or the blog’s Discord server, linked in the pinned post!

[neon11seo]

Neon Creative Concept 11 | Custom Neon Signs and LED Boards

Neon Creative Concept 11 specializes in customized neon lighting. We create custom signboards for homes, shops, and offices. Made in India quality

[diabolus1exmachina]

MAT Stratos 

This MAT Stratos is the first car produced, of which 25 examples were supposed to be produced, however only 8 are believed to have been produced in total. Which makes highly desirable and an incredibly rare vehicle.The Mat Stratos is a truly phenomenal car, it all started when the industrialist and car collector Michael Stoscheck contacted the then Pininfarina’s Special Projects Manager Paolo Garella, with a rather odd but fascinating request. He wanted to build a one-off reinterpretation of the infamous 1970’s Lancia Stratos. In the 1970´s Lancia was already enjoying considerable success in international rallying with a modified version of the Fulvia, but with the Stratos, Cesare Fiorio, co-founder of the HF Corse team, saw possibilities to create a purpose-built rally car from top to bottom. The outcome was the mid-engined Lancia Stratos, which looked nothing like the traditional rally cars at the time, but there was never no doubt that Cesare Fiorio knew what he was doing. The car ended up being a massive success and winning the world rally Championship 3 years in a row. Fast forward over 3 decades The Manufacturer M.A.T turned this idea into reality with a limited number of 25 one-off reinterpretations of the infamous Stratos being planned for produced. The New Stratos as it´s called colloquially, is equipped with a powerful mid-engine V8, while at the same time being extremely light weight, and features a short wheelbase just as the original Stratos did So the New Stratos has the best of the 70´s styling, now equipped with modern technology and design, overall the New Stratos, is a phenomenal engineering creation equipped with an incredible history. This Exact New Stratos is finished in Alitalia spec, which is the same as One of the most admired Stratos, the extraordinary Lancia Stratos Gr.4 Alitalia (1974) that won the Portugal Rally in 1976 and came second in the Monte Carlo Rally in 1977. It is finished with the striking red-white-green livery in honor of it´s at that time main sponsor Alitalia. The result of the production of the MAT Stratos is absolutely stunning, Often when cars are produced in such low numbers as this, the quality in the build can lack quality and precision.. But that’s not at all the case with this, quite opposite actually. When you are inspecting the Stratos you are blown away by the sense of quality and precision, they put into the car. Even the smallest detail is finished to perfection on this car.

[weskie]

Sweet Dreams (Albert Wesker x amab!Reader)

18+ | somno, oral sex, penetrative sex, come eating, light angst, soft wesker, afab!reader version here | Fic Directory

This was hardly an uncommon occurrence anymore.  You’d given him permission long ago, but it always came as a surprise regardless.  Perhaps it was just… out of character.  Wesker’s so damn dignified all the time.  The first time it happened, you woke to his greedy little slurps between your legs, his tongue all but desperately fucking in and out of your hole until he slipped two fingers inside to stretch you wide enough to take him.  He’d let out an amused, victorious hum when your thighs clamped around his head and you mewled the bliss of your release the second your tip touched his tongue.  Wesker took you hard and fast that night, over and over until his eyelids grew heavy and he’d exhausted his inhuman stamina.

You’d talked about it the next day, of course.  You both enjoyed yourselves, so why not?  Turns out, this was the best thing to ever happen to your sex life.  Quality time with Albert was sparse, but time for ‘primitive pleasures,’ as he calls them, were even more so.  He’d often come to bed well after you’d fallen asleep, sometimes even leaving before you had the chance to wake in the morning.  Such was life.

Now, though?  Now he comes home and knows he can have his way with you.  He can wake up in the middle of the night and be as mischievous as he could possibly want.  Or as desperate.

“Nngh–”

Like tonight.

“H-Hah…”

His breaths fan hot against your neck and each pitiful noise is sung into your ear.  He thrusts slowly, each languid stroke just shallow enough to be kind.  He must be trying to let you stay asleep.  God, you wonder how he even stretched you enough for this without waking you.  You smirk, weighing your options.  You could bring your legs up and around his waist, tug him closer, signal that it was okay to speed up and take what he needs.  Or… you could enjoy the show.  After all, you’ve never caught him like this.

He’s a sensual lover in every sense of the word, but you’ve never heard him be so vocal before.

“Mm, god…”  He mewls, tongue laving at your flesh as he grinds warm and wet in your aching core.  He locks his lips at the junction of your shoulder and suckles, teeth nibbling sweetly.  It sends shivers down your spine and you have to fight the urge to arch into it.  “F-Feels so, mmph…”  His speed increases bit by bit as his self control falters.  Fuck, you can practically see him even with your eyes shut.  Right about now, his eyes are probably glowing redder than ever.  Those cat-like pupils are probably blown wide.  He’s probably got his teeth bared and his nose scrunched the way he does when he’s holding back.

“M-Mine,” he whispers.  Grinding turns to sloppy ruts and fuck, you can’t take it anymore.

You open your eyes and find him exactly as you’d pictured him, but there’s something… different.  Something strange.  You thumb it away, thinking it to be a sweat drop, but another follows the same path and you realize he’s–

“Al..?”

“Mine.  Mine…” He gasps, face falling to your neck once more.  You bring your hand to his nape and curl your fingers there.  His thrusts grow messier by the second, but your pleasure had all but been eradicated the second you realized those were tears on his cheeks.  “You’re– you’re real.  Real,” Wesker pants weakly, “and mine!”

Your legs come up around him, guiding his motions, and you rake your fingers through his mussed hair.  “Shh, sweetheart.” You coo.  You’ve heard this song and dance before.  It’s been quite some time since he learned of his manufactured life, but there were still cracks in his seemingly impenetrable walls.  He fell apart back then.  Swore up and down after that it’d never happen again.  But sometimes…  “I’ve got you.”  Sometimes reality is harsher than even the strongest resolve.

He clings to you, arms wrapped around your midsection as he drives in hard and fast.  Squelches and wet slaps ring out in tandem with his whines, and then the telltale circular grinding starts and–

“Oh god!”

His teeth sink into your shoulder and you keen at the sharp sting.  His whole body locks like a board against yours, muscles flexed and breath held tight until its staleness overpowers him into a loud exhale and desperate, shuddering gulps of air.  You pepper kisses against the side of his head as best you can. His hands grasp your thighs.

Wesker pushes against you slowly, milking the last ebb and flow of bliss from his climax.  He falls limp against you and, after some time, you’re almost convinced he’s fallen asleep, but then he lifts himself just enough to press lazy wet kisses to your lips.  He suckles your lower lip sweetly, giving it the softest nip before letting off and moving down, littering more affections to every inch.  Neck, collarbones, chest, navel– the only complaint you’ve got is that he had to slip out to keep going, but you figure the trade off was perfectly fine when those lips wrap around your tip and–

“Al!”  You gasp, incisor sinking into your lower lip, hands coming down to thread in his silky locks, petting and pulling.  “You– you don’t have to– mmph!”  Your head falls back and you see stars.  Fuck, he’d gotten you all stirred up before and he’s got you back there in mere moments.  Each bob of his head erupts your flesh in goosebumps, and then he slips his fingers inside and–  “I– oh fuck!”  He slurps your cock loudly and you know exactly what he’s after.  The thought alone is enough to make you buck against him, but then those long fingers of his find their way to your sweet spot and you keen and whine and cry out for him over and over again.

“Mine.” He groans against you.

He rubs you with gentle curling motions, but you know it’s more than that.  This isn’t just him seeking to ensure you get yours.  No.  Right now, he’s coaxing the proof of your love from between your legs.  He lets off with a pop and kisses down your length, suckles your sack, and finally laves your rim, savoring the salty sweet taste of his release as it oozes from your hole. Each swipe of his fingers draws his seed from deep within and he moans with every tantalizing taste.  

The thought alone is enough to put you right on the doorstep of a mind blowing orgasm, but it’s his noises that drive you over the edge entirely.  Bucking and whining and mewling, you cry out his name and gasp your love into the air, shooting it all over your abdomen.  But he doesn’t stop. His tongue rubs trails up and down your shaft over and over again, pausing to suckle and swirl and slurp more of you until you’re so overstimulated that the only thing you can do is moan and push his face away from your aching cock.

His lips are back on yours in a flash, tongue licking your own taste into your mouth.  His fingers lace with yours and draw your hands up over your head.  Wesker pulls away just enough to observe you, but he doesn’t flash that typical smirk of his.  There’s no victory plastered on his face.  No smugness.

Instead, he smiles sweetly and shifts to lay beside you, tugging your body to fit against his like a puzzle piece.  “I do rather like this new rule of ours,” he murmurs against the nape of your neck. “Thank you, my dear…”

You hum and turn in his hold, letting your hand trail up the length of his arm.  “You okay?”  Sure, it kills the afterglow a bit.  And yes, he’s going to deny having been upset earlier.  It’s what he does.  But you can’t ignore that it happened.

“...yes.”  He lies.  “My apologies for waking you.”

You sigh and give him your usual look so he knows that you know better.  “I love you,” you say, craning your neck to press a featherlight kiss to the corner of his mouth.  “That’s always real… I promise.”

He regards you with a set jaw and pained eyes, but ultimately presses a firm kiss to your forehead.  “Sleep,” he huffs. “You talk far too much.”

You giggle and nuzzle his chest, content to do as he commands.  Besides, you know that’s how he says it back.

[thetechempire]

How Apple Relies on Samsung for iPhone Production

Apple and Samsung are two big rivals in the technology industry, and are often portrayed as rivals in the smartphone market. Behind the scenes, however, Apple relies on Samsung for key components used in its flagship product, the iPhone. This relationship may seem odd, but it illustrates the complex nature of global supply chains in the technology sector. In this blog we will examine how Apple trusts Samsung and why this relationship is so important to the creation of the iPhone.

1. The OLED Displays: Samsung’s Technological Edge

One of the most critical components in modern iPhones is the OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) display. These displays are known for their vibrant colors, deep blacks, and energy efficiency, significantly enhancing the user experience compared to older LCD technology. Samsung Display, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, is the world’s leading manufacturer of OLED screens.

When Apple transitioned to OLED screens with the iPhone X in 2017, it turned to Samsung due to the company’s unparalleled expertise and production capacity in OLED technology. While Apple has since diversified its suppliers, with LG Display and others entering the fray, Samsung remains the largest provider of OLED screens for iPhones. Samsung’s dominance in this sector gives Apple little choice but to collaborate with its competitor.

2. Chips and Semiconductors: More Than Just Displays

Apple designs its own A-series chips, but the actual production of these chips relies on external manufacturing. While companies like TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) handle most of Apple’s chip production, Samsung has also played a role in this arena. Samsung is one of the few companies with the technological prowess and manufacturing capabilities to produce advanced semiconductor components.

In previous iPhone generations, Samsung produced the A-series chips that powered these devices. Although TSMC has since become Apple’s primary chip manufacturer, Samsung’s semiconductor division remains a key player in the global chip market, offering Apple an alternative supplier when needed.

3. Memory and Storage: Another Piece of the Puzzle

In addition to displays and semiconductors, Samsung provides memory components such as DRAM (Dynamic Random-Access Memory) and NAND flash storage for the iPhone. These memory components are essential for the smooth operation and storage capacity of iPhones. With its dominance in the memory market, Samsung is one of Apple’s main suppliers, providing the high-quality memory needed to meet the iPhone’s performance standards.

Apple has worked to reduce its reliance on Samsung for memory, but the reality is that Samsung’s market share in the memory and storage sectors is so substantial that avoiding them entirely is nearly impossible. Furthermore, Samsung’s advanced manufacturing techniques ensure that its memory components meet the rigorous standards required for the iPhone.

4. Why Apple Sticks with Samsung Despite the Rivalry

Given their rivalry in the smartphone market, one might wonder why Apple doesn’t completely break away from Samsung. The answer lies in the intricate balance between quality, capacity, and supply chain stability.

Quality: Samsung’s components, particularly OLED displays and memory, are some of the best in the industry. Apple has always prioritized quality in its products, and Samsung’s technological capabilities align with Apple’s high standards.

Capacity: Samsung has the production capacity to meet Apple’s enormous demand. With millions of iPhones sold each year, Apple needs suppliers that can manufacture components at scale without compromising quality. Samsung’s factories are among the few capable of handling such volume.

Supply Chain Risk: Diversifying suppliers is a strategy Apple uses to reduce risk. However, removing Samsung from the supply chain entirely would expose Apple to greater risk if another supplier fails to meet production needs or quality standards. By maintaining Samsung as a key supplier, Apple can ensure a more stable and reliable supply chain.

5. Apple’s Efforts to Reduce Dependency

While Apple remains dependent on Samsung in several areas, the company has made moves to reduce this reliance over the years. For instance, Apple has invested in alternative display suppliers such as LG Display and BOE Technology, as well as expanded its collaboration with TSMC for chip production. Additionally, Apple has explored developing its own in-house components, such as its rumored efforts to create proprietary display technology.

Despite these efforts, it’s unlikely that Apple will be able to completely eliminate Samsung from its supply chain in the near future. Samsung’s technological leadership in key areas, especially OLED displays and memory, ensures that Apple will continue to rely on its competitor for critical components.

Conclusion: A Symbiotic Rivalry

The relationship between Apple and Samsung is a fascinating example of how competition and collaboration can coexist in the tech industry. While they are fierce competitors in the smartphone market, Apple depends on Samsung’s advanced manufacturing capabilities to produce the iPhone, one of the most iconic devices in the world. This interdependence shows that even the most successful companies cannot operate in isolation, and collaboration between rivals is often necessary to bring cutting-edge products to market.

For Apple, the challenge lies in maintaining this balance — relying on Samsung for essential components while exploring new avenues to reduce dependency. For now, however, Samsung remains a crucial partner in the making of the iPhone, demonstrating how complex and interconnected the global tech supply chain has become.

[gattnk]

About accessories and their secondary functions in Animation and Character Design

Well that title makes it sound way grander than it is, haha! I've no idea how this thing will go since I don't really have experience writing essays in english, but I'll do my best to give it some semblance of order. Shoutout to @haloheadhater who brought the topic out of me and showed interest in my sharing further!

Here's the TL:DR. Characters often wear accessories to complement their outfits, and these items don't just function as a visual representation of their personalities and interests (like real people); they also may have a "mechanical" function, so to speak. This function is much more secondary to visual storytelling, but sometimes designers will strategically place accessories on a character to facilitate their jobs on the long run. It is often a "two birds, one stone" situation, really.

Here's how that works in more detail.

Disguising Joints

Humans have joints all over their bodies, that's fact. It's what allows us to move and bend like we do. When designing toys, we try to imitate just that: articulated dolls, mannequins, marionettes, figurines and puppets have hinges and ball joints so they can be posed more realistically. A sign of care and quality in manufacturing all these is how well these joints are disguised, so they look as "organic" as possible. Screws and hinges get covered up as seamlessly as possible, so these puppets may resemble people more accurately: obvious, open and visible joints quickly break the immersion (and often places them in the uncanny valley). Compare these high-quality doll hands to your basic wooden posable hand models. Notice how the doll hands do their very best to imitate the natural curves of human hands and how the knuckles cover the joints as much as possible even when they're bent. Meanwhile, the joints in the wooden model hands are plainly visible, and the shapes are very stiff-looking, so they don't feel as human.

Animation is no different! A good animated character manages to suspend disbelief: for however long the character moves on screen, the audience has to feel like this character is alive and real enough to relate to them and their story. Human brains are really good at detecting when something moves wrong, so the more "natural" your character is, the easier it'll be to keep up with them. In puppet animation (often called flash animation thanks to Adobe Flash, now Adobe Animate, popularizing the method), characters are made of cuts, individual pieces held together by joints, much like traditional paper shadow puppets.

Animators and character designers often place accessories to cover up these cuts between joints, so when the character moves there's less risk of seeing them. My favorite example is vambraces, wristbands, watches and bracelets! Notice how uncommon it is to find a character with naked wrists? Well now you know half a reason! As the years go by and animation softwares improve, there's less need for this trick, or rather, it is often less obvious.

Disguising Texture Seams

Now see, 3D models look gray by default: you have to paint them over, like one of those tabletop figurines, for them to look pretty and presentable. This painting process results in a 2D image (called texture map) that has to be projected onto the 3D model. There is a variety of other maps that control different things, like how the model's surface reflects light (specular and diffuse maps) or if it's a porous, creviced or bumpy surface (bump, normal and/or displacement maps), but let's just focus on the texture map this time.

The process of projecting a 2D map onto a 3D model is called UV Mapping, and it looks similar to sewing patterns. There's plenty of methods to hide the seams in maps, but computers can be a bit unpredictable, and all 3D renders require touch-ups and a post-production process (especially light and reflectiveness). Sometimes though, covering seams with accessories is frankly easier, so CGI artists always keep clothes and items in mind when UV mapping, as well as the natural folds and crevices in the character's model.

Here's a good example of what I mean (by Thora Tong). This 3D model's UV seams, highlighted in white, were placed in a way that they'd be easily covered by clothes and accessories. Notice the seams on the wrists and ankles, and how the other seams around the body are very similar to the ones you'd see on actual pieces of clothing.

Volume and Foreshortening Guidelines

Drawing perspective is hard as it is, but organic shapes are particularly complicated. Accessories can help disguise certain perspective errors, or help convey the volumes and shapes of the body much more clearly. They are especially useful as guidelines for foreshortening.

Anything you append to a character is a useful marker for later. The way these items bend alongside the body thanks to perspective is a useful visual key for later. If you're not sure how an arm will look from a certain angle, maybe imagining a bracelet on that same angle would be easier! The bracelets I drew over the naked arm serve the same purpose as the guidelines you see in the image above. This is especially useful for drawings with little to no shading, where conveying the volumes of muscles presents a challenge.

Bonus - Body Lines

When a human fetus is forming, its cells grow in a particular pattern; these patterns that the body cells follow determine the flow of muscles, nerves, and even how the skin folds or how pigmentation distributes itself. There's a variety of body lines, though the most known and studied (as far as I'm aware) are Blaschko's, Kraissl's and Langer's lines. Langer's lines are particularly interesting: they're also known as skin tension lines or cleavage lines, because they indicate the best place for medical incisions on the skin, especially in the forensic field. There's many different models but here's a good example illustrating them.

Placing accessories following Langer's lines can be really aesthetically pleasing. Since tension lines follow along muscle mass and fat, they also indicate how the skin warps and folds around them. Knowing tension lines is especially useful in terms of studying how the body creases when bending around (and subsequently, clothes too!), so discretely marking them out with accessories can be useful on the long run.

Japanese animation is especially guilty of using Langer's lines on skin-tight scifi suits. They're simply incredibly useful as design and anatomic guidelines, and they look so good, they easily survive the test of time!

Conclusion

Character design often involves following rules of practicality that viewers seldom notice. This is perfectly fine because they're not really meant to be noticed by anyone, except members of the team of course. Design of any kind should be done under the premise of aesthetics and function working together, and not against/in spite of each other, so it is no wonder that animators and character designers put some thought into meeting both when adding a little "spice" to their designs. Anything and everything you can do as a character designer or animator to facilitate your work on the long run, or that of your team mates, is welcome. Covering seams and joints makes it easier for the guys in postproduction, as they have one less thing to look out for, for example. The animation industry is built on the backs of (often) exploited employees that sacrificed a lot of their time and resources into doing what they love most: deceiving the human eye and brain into believing for just a little bit that what they made is real. Truly wonderful! So next time you're working on a character, try to think about the functionality of what you're including into them. Test your imagination, and see what comes out of your mindful placement of accessories with secondary functions.

[ineffablelunatics]

Aziraphale and Crowley’s love languages

What are the main love languages? Physical touch, quality time, acts of service, gifts, words of affirmations. I have always been under the assumption that each person has two love languages. The one that you receive that makes you feel loved. The one that you give to show love.

Crowley’s love language is considered to be acts of service. He loves doing things for Aziraphale and gifts are included. He takes him out to eat. He tidies up the bookshop after the Ball. That is how he shows love for Aziraphale.

But what does Crowley need to feel affection? There’s one thing that doing things for Aziraphale always gets him and that is quality time. He wants to spend time with Aziraphale as much time as he can before he gets pushed out of the bookshop door. When Aziraphale gives him the holy water, Crowley asks him if there’s anywhere he wants to go, anywhere at all, because if there is, Aziraphale will be with him for longer. They were a quick walk from the bookshop. Crowley wants to spend as much time as possible with Aziraphale.

Aziraphale’s love language is physical touch. He is always the one to reach out first. To show physical contact first. He felt the love from Adam and Gabriel/Beelzebub and he reaches out for Crowley. It seems like that is how he wants to show Crowley love, but physical touch is the most dangerous way to do it. So he tries to do the next best thing which is words of affirmation. He tells him that he’s good or kind, because that is what he values most. That is partially why it doesn’t land with Crowley very well. He doesn’t like being called those things and it doesn’t feel as genuine as when he just happens to grab his arm.

Now, what does Aziraphale need to feel affection? Well, that’s a bit more complicated. See, we know that he loves that Crowley takes him places and gives him gifts. But I think that Aziraphale would love for some physical touch. It was partially why the kiss hurt him so much. He finally gets what he wanted, but it was bitter, angry, and desperate.

The most heartbreaking part is that their the way they express and feel love is because of their former “homes.”

Hell is tightly packed with people. It is damp and gross. It is the perfect conditions to make you hate everyone around you and not want to do anything for anyone. So Crowley shows his love by doing things for Aziraphale. By doing what no other demon would do for another person without thinking of some reward or favor they could get in return. He feels love by spending time with Aziraphale. In Hell, they never got time alone. So spending time that he could be getting a break from people, he chooses to spend it with Aziraphale. His apartment reflects this sentiment as well. It looks cold and unloved, barely lived in. The opposite of the sardine tin of Hell.

Heaven is a ghost town. It is cold and hostile in nature. Muriel was in a room by themself only getting company every hundred years when someone needed something. Aziraphale shows his love by reaching out for Crowley. Getting closer than angels ever do. He tells Crowley words of affirmation, because that’s what he has always wanted to hear. He knows Crowley loves him. That all the things he does for him aren’t favors. But he likes holding hands. He manufactures a Ball so he could dance with him. When he didn’t get to see him, because Crowley was asleep, he decides to try dancing. Then chooses a dance that involves kissing your partners. Aziraphale fills the bookshop so it is the furthest from the white walls and blinding lights.

The point of this being Crowley just wants quality time with Aziraphale. Aziraphale just wants physical touch from Crowley. Crowley is showing his love the best way he can. Aziraphale is showing his love the safest way he can. They both need to communicate properly.