#End-to-End Recruitment Software

[mayspicer]

Girl help I really need to do the test tasks for a new job or else my life is gonna get very bad real soon, but all I want to do is draw ttrpg characters.

[ahaura]

(Dec. 1)

Article: Recruiters Drop Elbit Systems after Palestine Action Campaign

After weeks of action, the sole recruiters for the British operations of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, have confirmed via email to Palestine Action that they ended their association with Elbit on the evening of the 29th November. For two months, activists in the Palestine Action network had disrupted iO Associates at their premises across the country, to impede their ability to recruit roles for Israel’s war machine. 

iO Associates recruited the likes of engineers, software developers, and finance staff for positions across the sites of the British branch of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems. Elbit are the largest supplier to the occupation military, providing the vast majorities of its drones, munitions, surveillance gear, and parts for its tanks, jets, and precision missiles. From Britain specifically, they manufacture parts for Israel’s killer drones, along with weapons sights, tank parts, and more, exporting these technologies to Israel in great volume yearly. This is the nature of the business that IO was Associates with, and were IO Associates biggest client.

In response to their facilitation of Elbit’s criminal activities, iO’s offices were stormed and occupied in Manchester on the 1st September, and again on the 7th October. Activists painted iO offices red on October 9th in London, Reading, and Manchester. They were forced to vacate their Manchester offices from the 11th October, after the premises were also stormed by the Youth Front For Palestine, and then finally targeted in Edinburgh twice, on the 11th and 17th October. After being forced to vacate their offices, having their online presence tarnished, and (as confirmed to us by former employees) losing their staff who resigned in opposition to their arms trade partnership, iO Associates have finally cut ties with Israel’s weapons trade. 

This is part of an expansive strategy by Palestine Action, by disrupting the suppliers and facilitators of Elbit’s presence in Britain. It has seen Elbit’s accountants (Edwards), haulage providers (Kuehne + Nagel), landlords (JLL) and many other complicit companies targeted, alongside the hundreds of actions at Elbit sites themselves, continuing to resist the presence of Elbit warmongers in Britain, and constantly reminding those associated with them that they have blood on their hands.

As a result of iO Associates dropping Elbit Systems, the recruiters have been removed as a target of Palestine Action’s campaign. All targets who still facilitate Israel’s weapons trade are listed on elbitsites.uk

[not-normal-about-shigaraki]

My Hero Academia Ultra Impact - Shigaraki Tomura Voice Collection (ENG Translation)

I decided to go insane so here's a recording of his voice lines in MHAUI + my translations~! ❤️

Warning - I know very little japanese, so it's mostly me spending way too much time in translation software lmaoo. So, please correct me or feel free to add some context here!!

Receiving Gift - I will leave you to it./I'm gonna mark it as token of love (?? Off to a bad start here. I keep hearing "love" here. Is this projection?? Lmao. It amounts to something like the second one, but my translator apps also keep hearing "I'm gonna leave love behind"... Which is also interesting in a way but uh... *Confusion*)

Home Screen 1 - Aah, I hate it… I'm gonna destroy everything that annoys me.

Home Screen 2 - Maa, let's do our best together, okay?

Home Screen (Morning) 1 - You're energetic this early in the morning… I'm still sleepy…

Home Screen (Morning) 2 - Why are you so noisy? I'm not ready yet.

Home Screen (Afternoon) 1 - I'm getting on a roll now… Let's crush the society today.

Home Screen (Afternoon) 2 - Alright… Let's have some tea.

Home Screen (Evening) 1 - I'm seriously motivated... I'm talking about a game. A game.

Home Screen (Evening) 2 - Looks like the world is having fun. They let their guard down/They're so careless.

Home Screen (Night) 1 - The day is coming to an end and the goofy smiling heroes are yet to be destroyed. It's still not enough.

Home Screen (Night) 2 - Villains hide/live in the darkness. I'm starting to see why.

Home Screen (Late Night) 1 - Finally, a response… Someone who can get to work. (I'm pretty sure he literally says "Someone who can move" loool)

Home Screen (Late Night) 2 - Kurogiri, Toga- Hah? Already asleep? Are you little kids? (Not sure if he says Toga here tbh)

Home Screen (Early Morning) 1 - I'm sleepy… Aaah, so sleepy…

Home Screen (Early Morning) 2 - I'm going to sleep now. If you disturb me, I'm gonna destroy you too. (Though my translator also said "Go to bed now or I'm gonna destroy you too". Which, I gotta mention because it was too cute.)

Home Screen (Gift Box) - Look at that. Too good to waste.

Home Screen (Event) - An event? Want to destroy it to kill some time?

Battle Start Dialogue - Izuku Midoriya - At this rate, I feel like something is missing… (??? I have genuinely no clue what he's saying here. That's why I got, dunno.)

Battle Start Dialogue - Dabi - This guy is as rude as ever. So annoying.

Battle Start Dialogue - Himiko Toga - Toga, over there.

Battle Start Dialogue - All For One - Sensei, is it fine if I destroy those guys?

WAVE Progress - I'm feeling a bit better now.

Team Defeated in Battle - Ah… This time it's game over.

Sub-Character Entering Battle - Alright. Continue. (Context - as in, clicking "continue" in a game pause menu lol)

Level Up - Something's changed? I don't feel it.

Awaken - Plus... What is it again? (making fun of the phrase “Plus Ultra!” ~ thank you arakn0 !!)

Ability Board Completion - My brain is spinning round and round…

Login Bonus - Let's begin.

Maintenance - Why are you here? Go home.

Recruit Obtained - [Perdition] Tomura Shigaraki - Paranormal Liberation Front… Well, a name is just a decoration… Do as you like.

6-Month Anniversary Celebration Announcement - Nice. It's called a half-anniversary.

1st Anniversary Celebration Announcement - 1st anniversary… So, what shall we destroy first?

2nd Anniversary Celebration Announcement - It's been 2 years already… It's going well.

[klapollo]

some basic tips for getting a job in this horrible market

hi all -- long story short, as many of you know, i just finished a three+ month job search after being laid off. here's what i learned:

Your resume should be your accomplishments, not your tasks. When I started searching, my bullet points in my resume were things like "used x software" or "wrote x content." Your resume should be you bragging. EX: "I used x software to turn around 100 deliverables a month," "I managed [x amount] sales associates and was named highest commission earner x months in a row." These don't have to be lifechanging things or massive projects -- any metric that demonstrates your capabilities well can do the job.

Make sure your resume is ATS optimized. Most jobs/companies use automated resume processing, and lots of great people get rejected this way. If you're getting rejection emails on Sunday morning or in the middle of the night, these are probably auto-rejections. ATS is the automatic system that sifts through resumes -- you can find free ATS-optimized templates online, I got min through resume.com. Do NOT use fancy graphics, headshots, any extraneous info. Use sites like jobscan to see if your resume is able to be parsed by an auto resume processor.

Use numbers. Make sure your resume has lots of numbers indicating your skills. "I helped my franchise achieve X% of revenue growth," "I drove x amount of deliveries daily." Any impressive numerical amounts are useful. If your company is tight-lipped about numbers, go to press releases. Ex: an app I did a considerable about of work for generated a lot of money that my company disclosed, so I put down that i contributed to that revenue via my work.

Have a template cover letter. Cover letters can give you an advantage, but they're tedious. Take note of what qualities are most sought-after in your field/ideal role, and write a generic cover letter that applies to most of them. When applying, do minor tweaks such as including the company name or any unique qualifications. Be careful about typos and leaving in old tweaks!

Use the free month of LinkedIn Premium if you're on there. I got some results from cold DMing recruiters for jobs I was interested in, and Premium lets you do that freely. Remember to cancel at the end of the month!

If you're looking for remote work, here are some boards I used: Remote.co, Otta, Remote Rocketship, Swooped, Best Writing (writing-focused)

[iww-gnv]

As firms increasingly rely on artificial intelligence-driven hiring platforms, many highly qualified candidates are finding themselves on the cutting room floor. Body-language analysis. Vocal assessments. Gamified tests. CV scanners. These are some of the tools companies use to screen candidates with artificial intelligence recruiting software. Job applicants face these machine prompts – and AI decides whether they are a good match or fall short. Businesses are increasingly relying on them. A late-2023 IBM survey of more than 8,500 global IT professionals showed 42% of companies were using AI screening "to improve recruiting and human resources". Another 40% of respondents were considering integrating the technology. Many leaders across the corporate world hoped AI recruiting tech would end biases in the hiring process. Yet in some cases, the opposite is happening. Some experts say these tools are inaccurately screening some of the most qualified job applicants – and concerns are growing the software may be excising the best candidates. "We haven't seen a whole lot of evidence that there's no bias here… or that the tool picks out the most qualified candidates," says Hilke Schellmann, US-based author of the Algorithm: How AI Can Hijack Your Career and Steal Your Future, and an assistant professor of journalism at New York University. She believes the biggest risk such software poses to jobs is not machines taking workers' positions, as is often feared – but rather preventing them from getting a role at all.

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 11/19/2024

no silly little witticism here this week! just heartfelt thanks for helping me pay my rent this month :)

listening

absolutely wild pick from last week's spotify weekly recommenced, Things Will Fall Apart by Louis Cole feat the Metropole Orkest and conductor Jules Buckley. it's been on loop all week for me and im a little sad it won't pop up in my spotify wrapped

when you make a dance pop song with a full orchestra backing, it has a really interesting effect somewhere between Golden Age of Hollywood swashbuckling film score and marching band?

Yes, understood Things will fall apart just likе they should This little shred was good Don't think it through Things will fall apart, they always do At least, something's always true

the syllables are so choppy they don’t even register to me as English at first, i was fully willing to believe this was German for the first couple lines. like @dying-suffering-french-stalkers, i have a deep fondness for works about putting an era to bed. or works focused on the sunsets of things, or one of the last living practitioners of an art. putting the chairs up on the table, sweeping the floors, and turning the lights out and locking the door behind you. this song has that sort of quiet post-wake-party remembrance.

however once you think the song has ended but it keeps going, you can turn it off. you don’t really need that extra minute and a half of strings and light vocalizations.

Lately, Louis Cole has been doing live shows with the Netherlands’ Metropole Orkest and conductor Jules Buckley. Cole recorded nothing with the ensemble. In a press release, he says, “Sometimes, when I’m mixing my own solo stuff, I’ll feel like a song needs a little magical dust. But mixing an entire orchestra and your own rhythm section, there’s so much human energy! You don’t have to add any magic. It was there the whole time.”

i don’t hear many pop songs this millennium with a full orchestral backing. perhaps i need to look harder. unfortunately spotify took this extreme interest in this song as a newfound extreme interest in electroswing, which is really not what this song is. i hope this artist does more albums like this so they can wear grooves in my brain

-

reading

very hard to focus on anything book length this week. some depressing local news (my local paper's links do Not want to preview nicely here, which is annoying:

At a city council meeting in October, district Vice President Dan Joyce told council members that the management district was not attempting to "criminalize homelessness." The city’s civility ordinance bans people from sitting, lying down or placing personal items or bedding on sidewalks from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

cool piece from our pals at 404 Media. i am So fascinated by crime infrastructure

Based on interviews with malware developers, hackers who use the stolen credentials, and a review of manuals that tell new recruits how to spread the malware, 404 Media has mapped out this industry. Its end result is that a download of an innocent-looking piece of software by a single person can lead to a data breach at a multibillion-dollar company, putting Google and other tech giants in an ever-escalating cat-and-mouse game with the malware developers to keep people and companies safe.

(via longreads) my interest in how and why systems fail extends to invasive species management. plus i used to live in florida just above the everglades and these fuckers (the snakes) were everywhere

[I]magine thousands upon thousands of pythons, their slow digestion transforming each corpse into python muscle and fat. Unaided, Florida’s native wildlife doesn’t stand a chance. “That’s what I think about with every python I catch,” Kalil says. “What it ate to get this big, and the lives I’m saving by removing it.” Biologists are taking a multipronged approach to the issue. They have experimented with enlisting dogs to sniff out both pythons and nests—a technique that has proved difficult in such hot weather and inhospitable landscapes. Ongoing projects use telemetry to track pythons to find “associate snakes.” Researchers use drones, go out in airboats, or even take to helicopters to locate their subjects in the interiors of the Everglades. Always, agencies and individuals are looking for the next best methods. “But for now, the python contractor program is the most successful management effort in the history of the issue,” Kirkland says. “We’re capturing more and more—something that is indicative of the python population out there and indicative of us getting better at what we do.”

-

watching

continuing noirvember, watched hitchcock's Notorious to see if i still dislike hitchcock. the answer is yes. there are bond girls and there are hitchcock girls, and not that bond girls are paragons of female agency in film, but hitchcock girls are mostly fluttering little pathetic things. a scrap of agency they showed in the beginning of the film becomes a running joke and something their noses are rubbed in for the rest of the film. not for me!

patrick mcgoohan is leading me into some real dad-ass movies. Ice Station Zebra (1968, dir. Sturges) is a real you're stuck at home sick with your dad and it's on TV for the whole afternoon kind of movie. they truly do not make two and a half cold war submarine espionage films in super panavision with an overture, intermission, and interact music any more. i get why howard hughes was really obsessed with this one. it is a suspense film, but full of people competently going about their business, which i find oddly comforting.

unfortunately i do not feel this really needed to be two and a half hours long. the loving closeups of sub interiors and instrumentation really did keep me amused, though. despite how cluttered every shot is with actors, there is tremendous clarity of purpose and motion with the camera movement. just a really technically brilliant film.

how similar the russian and american control rooms and instrumentation were made me chortle. ties nicely into a little diatribe mcgoohan goes on much later in the film, "The Russians put our camera made by our German scientists and your film made by your German scientists into their satellite made by their German scientists." funny and darkly true! every allied nation had some sort of Operation Paperclip going on! mcgoohan is the focus of every scene he's in, as a spy who is really hanging on by the last remaining shreds of his fingernails.

i had a good time with it, but one of many cold war suspense films im glad exist in the world but don't necessarily need to see again. it might join Escape from New York as a film i put on when im very sick though.

-

playing

this pc needs some sort of replacement something, bc it has a really persistent overheating problem. it only tolerates powerwasher simulator on the lowest possible settings and genshin impact on basically mobile settings. it does not even want to run new vegas. i popped my head out of goodsprings to look out over the desert at the Strip and it said no thank you! too many polygons! naptime!

speaking of genshin, major update this week and new character i will be pulling for. she has a sister who died in the last patch, which i do Not care for as someone with a beloved little sister, but her moveset and skills are unique so far in the game. i feel like her skills are little too complicated for me to fully take advantage of with my "hit enemy very hard until he is dead" playstyle but she has a limited flight ability that will genuinely be very useful for exploration.

if i do not get her when i hit pity on the banner i won't bother pulling another nine times or whatever, bc the next patch has a character i really desperately want and i am saving for her

-

making

the local crew is all getting art this year, bc i already have bristol board and a selection of small frames and zero budget. people who have pets are So easy to get gifts for bc u can simply get them stuff for their pet or that looks like their pet. way less gray cat than black cat merch in the world tho

aiming to send out international holiday cards by the end of the week, and canadian cards by american thanksgiving. the rest of you they'll get there when they get there ok

[geezmarty]

...devlog #1??? - mini BG3 VN

So I recently downloaded Renpy because I wanna learn how to code in my spare time and I figured I'd write about it here for both posterity & to record my process with it all!

The project I'm starting with will be quick and easy because 1) I really don't want to start with something huge 2) I have work & commissions to take care of and those will come first.

About the project:

If you've been following me you know I've gotten hugely into bg3 so I thought why not code a little scene where you get to meet my durge, Brigha! I'll put my goals and expectations under the cut. Here's my first renpy test ft. Wyll.

First of all, what the hell is Renpy? Very simply put, Renpy is a software that allows you to create visual novels. You can check it out (and even download it for free!) here.

The "mini VN" I'm working on will feature a scene in Act1 of how I imagine you'd meet and recruit (or not!) my durge if she were a companion in the game, featuring some neat little things and details that I will hopefully be able to implement.

This is what I want to put in:

Ability to input your character's name;

(royalty free) music playing in the bg;

Multiple dialogue choices with (very small) dialogue trees;

Perhaps some pop ups like perception checks or companion approval/disapproval;

Companion pop up comments, randomized in one instance towards the end;

Two endings.

It might seem like a lot and it probably is - I might cut a couple these to make sure I don't spend too much time getting the vn out there.

So far I have the first draft of the script ready and I'll probably leave it as is unless testers will point out inaccuracies or weird phrasing. Here is a little concept of how I imagine Brigha will be dressed when you meet her:

Sprite wise she'll probably be the only one to have a full body/expressions (to preserve my wrists) but I might also draw little simple headshots of the other companions for when they'll pop up to comment.

As for backgrounds I will spare myself and just grab screencaps from the game that I will blurry/apply effects to, just to make them look a bit more coeshive with the sprites.

This is all I have so far! The VN will be available to play for free on your browser once I'm done with it :) ETA undetermined since this is a free time project done for fun.

Wish me luck!

[littlemisstired]

something that has always fucked me up is the frankly terrifying exponential skill acceleration in the creative field. so many of the young artists I know now, even myself, are at a skill level that 25-30 years ago could have gotten them real jobs in animation or game design, even lauded as being top of their line of work, but are hardly even a blip on the radar in today’s industry where the skill ceiling is now miles above achievable for so many.

I look back at the kinds of art that was being made by the professional artists back in the 80s and 90s for comics and animation and some of it is downright amateurish compared to today’s work. It was roughshod, silly, scratchy, experimental. It wasn’t preoccupied with fitting into the bland Triple A standards or warping to fit what huge corporations expected, because those expectations simply didn’t exist yet in a world where video games and animated film and fantasy illustration were still in their infancy. The art in concept art felt so much more alive, more human. Nowadays I see people trying to get their feet in the door slaving for years trying to learn rendering techniques or portfolio tricks to even get their work in front of a recruiter, making stuff they don’t even care about just for the chance to be taken seriously. Strange how now more than even bigger studios are being ridiculed for their bland and uninteresting design/writing choices, where smaller studios with more creative control and more ready access to independent voices and visions are cranking out wildly popular, original titles left and right.

this sort of ended up longer than I expected, and rambling, but it’s something I’ve felt for so long as an artist who spent 15 years desperately trying to “get good enough” for a professional studio. The problem is that in the corporate capitalist hell we live in here in the US, “getting good enough” is almost never achievable, because those goalposts are always moving. You want to be a background artist? Well you need to learn how to do 3D modeling, texture mapping, physics simulation, how to use lighting in game engines. You want to be a character designer? You need to know rigging and clothing simulation and how to apply animation in X software. Also you need to do every style known to the world plus more, except in the end the studio will probably just ask you to photobash three dozen designs that all look the same anyway.

I understand there’s more to this than I’ve mentioned, that the world has changed in the 3 decades since the mid 90s, that there are millions of artists and only a few hundred thousand jobs in any creative field at any given time, that it’s reasonable to expect people to learn new things to better work as technology advances… but it seems so particularly crushing to artists, who oftentimes pour so much of their own heart and soul into what they do, and who are still expected to monetize, adapt, and distribute their skill like it’s some corporate tool and not a gift from evolution for us to record and express ourselves. Art and design are the building blocks for humans to understand and capture beauty and pain, joy and sorrow, and it’s disheartening to see that vulnerable creativity stripped away in favor of producing sterilized, corporate friendly “products”.

[prettyboykatsuki]

TELL US THE LORE????

dkjfhsdgj ITS KIND DERANGED LMAOO. sorry for yapping about her backstory but its relevant to their insane dynamic lmao

my self insert / oc is basically like. disillusioned software engineer. shes based off edward snowden. she's from the planet of talia (which is desert wasteland) and she's an orphan and was raised with other bandit gangs lol. she learned how to write software and engineer thru trial and error. she's an orphan and doesn't really have any family with the exceptions of like two people she considers. but no blood. no idea who her parents are lol

she gets picked up by the ipc when she's in her teen years because she gets caught trying to steal from them using some phishing software she made. they offer recruitment instead of jail-time bc her skillsets are valuable and she sees it as a good opportunity.

she quickly finds out the ipc is crazy corrupt and she gets really like. she wants to get out but the contract is insane. so she basically. like. steals a bunch of money from the ipc and then goes permanently on the run LMAO.

she finds refuge in different planets but the ipc is everywhere. she keeps stealing from them though and interrupting their business models. very robinhood i guess. she has more of a moral conscience than other inserts i make she's really upright.

her personality is really like super antisocial and paranoid. complete loser forreal. after all that jumping around, she ends up hiding in penacony bc its huge and even with ipc presence, it's really easy for the blend in

this is where her relationship with sunday starts. he's really into her because he doesn't like the IPC for one, but also because he finds her to be benevolent (and she is to her credit she's really morally upright). he offers her like . complete refuge and protection in exchange for being part of the family.

she. adamantly refuses this proposition (he will keep asking though) but offers to work for the family as a contractor in exchange for protection. sunday agrees, she's an important and valuable asset with tons of insider information but also he feels weirdly comfortable around her.

they have such a weird relationship LMAOOOAOAOA. sunday develops this very possessive feeling about her and is really coercive and manipulative to her in general. he comes and goes as he pleases but she's not allowed to stray too far. quick to tug her leash basically. he has a really complete control over her and he's paranoid about her trying to leave him. always pulling her into corners and being kind of humiliating and controlling about how she dresses and acts etc

THE INSANE THING IS THAT SHE'S KIND OF. FINE WITH IT. she's really aware that sunday is crazy and manipulative and batshit. but she has HELLA abandonment issues because she has no "home." sunday constantly breathing down her back to stay with him and be his possesion gives her a comfortable sense of belonging and she doesn't think of him as evil - so she's weirdly content with him and just wants to be with him

SOMETIMES. WHEN SUNDAY IS IN A GOOD MOOD. he'll ask her what he wants and he's always expecting her to like beg for her own freedom but she never does. always asks for like intimacy like bathing together and cuddling. and it always shocks sunday LMAOAOA because he's convinced she secretly depsises him but its like dude. Lol.

they're genuinely so in love. this is deranged im aware but they really genuinely love each other and feel understood by one another. but its insane by all accounts

[teddypoi-qd]

TMAGP ARG, Days 1 & 2

Here's a quick writeup of what the Discord's discovered so far!

Day 1 - Quick Beginnings!

Through an ad on the MAG podcast feed, we got an email that sent to OIAR's HR! Sending an email here gave us an autoreply with a link the OIAR website.

On the website we found a youtube channel and a bunch of alchemy symbols and suspicious typos scattered around the place, some more emails, and an identification form.

Investigating the form and the youtube channel, led us to a usenet newsgroup for DDR (East German) diaspora.

Much of our effort on the first day focused on translating and archiving this usenet group in a gDoc for easy reference.

Day 2 - Revelations & Whoopsies

Bit of a slower day today! We managed to translate and archive the entire newsgroup over the night. Some of the team has been working on making a database of the messages on Google Sheets, whilst others have settled on exploring other leads. In the newsgroup, specifically in the very important Cats thread, we found an image with another alchemy symbol! More on that one later.

Back on the site, I personally thought to look again at the images, and noticed their names all had a string of numbers in them. Twelve numbers, to be precise -- enough for a phone number if the country code was two numbers. A little solving later, we had a phone number! After a false start, we gave it a ring and, lo and behold, we were through to the OIAR! A robovoice informed us of system maintenance and asked us to call back on September 22nd!

Later on that day, a crack team of nerds ran the image from the Cats thread through some Steganography software and found the date time combo of: Saturday, 30th September 11:00 to 19:00.

A suspicion that a few members were holding was brought to light at this time, and they got to investigating! The castle at the end of the OIAR's recruitment video has a walking tour on Sept 30th! Though this might not be relevant, a more local member has decided to pop by and see if anything comes to light! (Note: please don't flood this poor walking tour with random MAG fans -- we're not certain it's relevant)

TL;DR:

called a number, got told to call back on Sept.22

found a date in a photo, Sept.30 (11:00-19:00)

booked a walking tour for the above time!

A * Digression…

During the excitement of solving the phone number puzzle… We got a little too nosey for our own good. During the call, we found that pressing * would let you into a series of settings. Neat, thought we, Some more data to sort through! So our intrepid group of explorers started sorting through the voicemails this revealed to us, and called the number of one of them, still believing it to be a trail of ARG clues.

"Hello?" Said Martyn RustyQuill.

Yes, dear readers, this was not an ARG clue. Through our dogged determination, we ploughed our dumb, smart asses into the backrooms of the ARG. The voicemails we discovered were, in fact, test calls that RQ did to ensure the number was up and running. The number that was called was Martyn RQ's real ass phone number. RQ panicked. The mods panicked. Slowmode went up.

Luckily, thanks to quick work from everyone involved, we cleared up any chance of other people calling Martyn's number, and we're now out of the backrooms and back on track!

Don't press * !

[monetizeme]

Proton, the secure-minded email and productivity suite, is becoming a nonprofit foundation, but it doesn't want you to think about it in the way you think about other notable privacy and web foundations.

"We believe that if we want to bring about large-scale change, Proton can’t be billionaire-subsidized (like Signal), Google-subsidized (like Mozilla), government-subsidized (like Tor), donation-subsidized (like Wikipedia), or even speculation-subsidized (like the plethora of crypto “foundations”)," Proton CEO Andy Yen wrote in a blog post announcing the transition. "Instead, Proton must have a profitable and healthy business at its core."

The announcement comes exactly 10 years to the day after a crowdfunding campaign saw 10,000 people give more than $500,000 to launch Proton Mail. To make it happen, Yen, along with co-founder Jason Stockman and first employee Dingchao Lu, endowed the Proton Foundation with some of their shares. The Proton Foundation is now the primary shareholder of the business Proton, which Yen states will "make irrevocable our wish that Proton remains in perpetuity an organization that places people ahead of profits." Among other members of the Foundation's board is Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of HTML, HTTP, and almost everything else about the web.

Of particular importance is where Proton and the Proton Foundation are located: Switzerland. As Yen noted, Swiss foundations do not have shareholders and are instead obligated to act "in accordance with the purpose for which they were established." While the for-profit entity Proton AG can still do things like offer stock options to recruits and even raise its own capital on private markets, the Foundation serves as a backstop against moving too far from Proton's founding mission, Yen wrote.

There’s a lot more Proton to protect these days

Proton has gone from a single email offering to a wide range of services, many of which specifically target the often invasive offerings of other companies (read, mostly: Google). You can now take your cloud files, passwords, and calendars over to Proton and use its VPN services, most of which offer end-to-end encryption and open source core software hosted in Switzerland, with its notably strong privacy laws.

None of that guarantees that a Swiss court can't compel some forms of compliance from Proton, as happened in 2021. But compared to most service providers, Proton offers a far clearer and easier-to-grasp privacy model: It can't see your stuff, and it only makes money from subscriptions.

[izicodes]

Tuesday 12th December 2023

End of September: I quit my first proper tech job after 2 years.

End of October: I applied for university on a whim and got a place.

Start of December: Randomly got a new tech job without searching.

God blessing me left, right, and center?! That's just a summary of what's been happening the past few months. I will go into more detail below~!

Here are some tips for talking to people on LinkedIn: post 💕

If you're wondering how I got here in terms of my coding journey: video | post 💕

End of September

I quit my job because it was getting tiring and I couldn't see any chance of me developing there. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to do my apprenticeship with them and then go on to become their Jr Web Developer - but from there, everything felt static. When the projects being given were getting absolutely boring, I knew then I needed some kind of change. So, I just quit. I said on a Monday I was quitting and that same Friday, I left. Politely and respectfully, of course.

End of October

I was so random how I did this but my Dad suggested for me to apply to university. I told him I didn't even have the right qualifications they wanted. He said "Bet". We looked at the local universities and none mentioned any apprenticeship certifications but mentioned work experience in the field. I applied with that knowledge. Wrote the cringiest personal statement about why the universities should accept me - and it worked. I got into the university of my city which seemed super prestigious to me, 18-year-old me would be screaming that I got a place at the university that I deemed for super smart people.

I made a post about it: link 💕

Start of December

My plan now was to wait until university next September 2024. I planned to relax, level up my current skills by myself or helping via volunteering, and maybe get a few certificates (because I love my name on certificates), and, most importantly: catch up on some anime shows - which I did complete:

Ushio & Tora: 2nd Season

Hunter x Hunter

Vinland Saga

JOJO Part 5 (again)

Jujutsu Kaisen 2nd Season (still watching)

Basically, I was supposed to relax until around February time, then start looking for a new job - tech or non-tech.

!! At this point, I was not looking for a new job !!

Last Tuesday I got a message from a recruiter on LinkedIn saying my profile was cool and would love to help me get an interview for a Frontend Software Engineer position in the city. I had a hunch to tell him I was okay and wasn't looking for a new job right now, but I was getting bored recently and this to me was an exciting new thing to do, so I said yeah why not!

The meeting was on the following Thursday and I met the IT manager. He liked me (same back to him) and wanted me to meet the team next Monday (yesterday). Afterward, I was feeling "Oh wait this is getting serious, I'm only here on a whim, like I'm actually doing good?" so I thought "Okay let's make an effort on the next 'interview'!!".

Monday came and I met the funniest set of people ever in a tech team. Then I thought "Lowkey highkey... would be so cool to work here~!" and the feedback I got was really positive. I got the job. Today I talked to their HR to finalise things.

All of this is thanks to the Almighty God, Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit of course~~! 🥰🙏🏾☦️

[cortosis-ct]

The Bad Batch and their jobs (Modern AU)

In my headcanon they all started out as soldiers. After getting out and accidentally acquisiting Omega, they desperately need money and take any jobs they can get. Eventually, everyone finds something they actually like.

Hunter:

Retail sales associate aka Walmart slave and getting yelled at by Karens all day. He's also doing freelance cleaning jobs, the grosser the better the payment. Think hoarder apartments with fifty cats or scat orgy hotel room cleanup.

He works hard on getting his record cleaned up and eventually secures a job at the fire station. He becomes a firefighter and will eventually be a lieutenant and later captain.

Tech:

Fast food worker which means lots of being yelled at by hangry people who are unhappy with the way their BigMac was stacked. He takes any extra shift he can get.

After several failed rounds of applications, he hacks into a big company's system and puts his name on top of the candidate list. He ends up supervisor for some bank insurance IT stuff with lots of numbers.

Wrecker: Miner. It's hard work and long hours in the dark. He actually earns the most of all of them but that's because it's fucking dangerous and depressing.

The leading instructor for the demolition expert trainees blows up. Wrecker, having had professional training in the military and lots of experience at not getting blown up (again), is their best take so he becomes their new instructor for the new hires.

Crosshair: Nobody is really willing to hire him so he's an unlicensed taxi driver most nights. (He hates everything about it.) He also signed up as a freelance roadkill collector job in Hunter's name and takes the calls when he doesn't have passengers.

He meets railroaders when cleaning up railkill one night. When smoking he mentions how much he hates being a taxi driver and the railroaders recruit him for their company. He becomes a traindriver and finally doesn't have to interact with his passengers.

Echo: They call it online sales associate marketer and customer service advisor. He calls it tele-scam-marketer. Many people yelling at him but at least he can work from home.

At a parent-teacher conference of Omega's school he helps another parent with a technology problem. He's like: "I tried to get rid of that problem for hours and you did it within five minutes. You gotta be a master software engineer." and Echo's like "I get payed to get yelled at as a telemarketer". Turns out the guy is an HR associate at an IT company and gets Echo a proper job.

[bean-bean2000]

The Hacker - Part 15 - Ending

Pairings: Bucky x Reader

Status: Completed

Warnings: fluff!, adorable bucky, happy ending

Please let me know if i missed any warnings and I will add them.

Series masterlist

———————————————————————————-----------------

After the fake mission, you and Bucky have been inseparable and the dynamic in the team has been phenomenal. Once you returned, Tony was furious that he was left out of this entire master plan, but he was happy you and Bucky finally woke up and realized what was in front of him. However, he took this as his opportunity to annoy the living hell out of Bucky any time he would show his soft side in front of the others. This usually ended with Bucky throwing something at Tony while he runs away giggling like a teenager.

One day Steve announces that a new recruit of SHIELD members will be training at the compound. Each avenger was assigned one to train. As Steve is pairing everyone he suddenly calls your name and you turn around quizzically

"Me? What am I going to train them to do? I'm cyber nerd I don't fight."

Steve chuckles "He isn't a fighter either. You're training a new recruit for a new cyber team that Fury is creating to reinforce the cybersecurity of SHIELD. So, your job is to improve his skills and teach his your techniques."

"Oh... I um, sure? Why does SHIELD need a team? I can do it myself for the compound and SHIELD...."

"It's a lot of work, and SHIELD is very vast and complicated, no matter how talented you are, you won't be able to handle it yourself. Plus, we want you here because we trust you the most to protect this compound and the most confidential information that we hold regarding HYDRA."

"Fine... but if he annoys me, I will hack into everything he owns and use it as blackmail forever. I like my peace and he will not disturb it." you tell Steve firmly.

He scoffs and quirks a smile while Bucky chuckles and says under his breath "that's my girl", which makes you blush and walk back to your office.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day the new recruits arrive. Steve introduces you to each other.

"Hi I'm Jake. Nice to meet you! I've so much about you, I'm very excited and grateful for this opportunity to work with you and learn from you!" he says very cheerily, smiling ear to ear and shaking your hand enthousiastically.

You smile awkwardly "yeah... haha.... um let me show you to the general IT office and you can show me what you know." you say while yanking your hand out of his grasp.

Bucky watches you from the corner, his new recruit is yapping away and he couldn't care less because Jake hasn't let go of your hand yet.

What's up with this guy? I don't like him.

Bucky is scowling and staring right at Jake. You turn around, feeling Bucky's gaze on you when you see him staring Jake down menacingly.

He locks eyes with you and you give him a look as to say "back off! hes just a new recruit that's an IT nerd... chill!"

Bucky scoffs and turns away, walking with his recruit to the training gym.

Sam nudges him as they walk side by side "what's with that Jake guy? You were staring him down badly..." Sam whispers to him.

Bucky says nothing but grunts in response.

Sam's eyes light up "OH MY GOD! ARE YOU JEALOUS?!" he whisper yells as Bucky elbows him in the ribs.

"No! I just don't like how he looks at her. He wouldn't let go of her hand before, she had to yank it out."

Sam shrugs "I don't know man, he's probably just some awkward computer nerd. You're literally a super soldier, don't sweat it." he says while chuckling.

Bucky grunts again as they enter the gym and go their separate ways.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You're in the IT room, evaluating what Jake knows and how experienced his skill set is with computers. Sitting side by side, you're shwoing him a software you created to simulate a hack.

"Alright so, hack into this software without tripping off any triggers and do it under 5 minutes."

Jake smirks at you "Oh I can do better than that sweetheart. I'm a very talented man."

You brows furrow in confusion and you cringe at his creepy tone.

What the fuck did he just call me? Why is he acting like a dirtbag all of a sudden...?

You decide to ignore it and focus on evaluating his skills. He starts the simulation and 2 minutes in you feel his knee touch yours. You change position in your seat and move away when suddenly you feel his foot laying on yours.

You fidget in your seat, getting uncomfortable.

"So um, where are you at?" you ask to get your mind off of the creepy feeling you're getting.

He chuckles "Am I making you nervous, honey?"

You stare at him in disgust "what? dude, just do the simulation. This is strictly professional, and I highly suggest you back off right now."

You're getting increasingly more frustrated and creeped out while he laughs at your statement.

He turns towards you and leans in closer. You try leaning away but feel your back hit the wall behind you. He corned you.

He starts closing the gap between you two, caaging you in between his arms.

"Am I making you nervous now too? I love seeing your eyes go wide, lips parting, heart racing... and I;m not even touching you... yet.." he says as he leans in to kiss you.

You scream and push him back as hard as you can, dodging his kiss. He grunts in annoyance and pins your arms against you.

"You wanna do this the hard way? Fine. We will." he threatens you as you see his eyes darken.

You're pushing against him but he's stronger than you are.

"Stop. I said no. Back off right now." you yell at him.

He laughs at you again "Or what? Hmmm?" he mocks you.

Suddenly, you remember what Bucky had trained you to do if you were ever caught in a similar situation by an enemy.

You smirk and your stare him directly in the eyes, no longer scared but empowered.

"Or this asshole!" you yell as you quickly lift your knees to your chest and kick him backwards with all your strength.

Jake flies backwards in his office chair and you sprint out of the room. You hear Jake cursing at you, chasing you down the hall.

You make a sprint for the gym when you spot Bucky and yell his name in panic.

He immediately turns around and run towards you.

"What? What's wrong?" he asks you worried.

Before you can answer, Jake appears in the hall. Bucky immediately makes the connection and his jaw clicks. He grinds his teeth in anger and ball his hands into fists.

"Hey man, listen, she came onto me, I swear. She's just a stupid whor-"

Jake is cut short when Bucky punches him in the face. He goes flying backwards onto the floor. He holds his jaw in pain. Before he can even try to defend himself, Steve picks him up and throws him to the security guards.

"Deal with him. Black list him. I want him gone." Steve orders them firmly.

They nod as they drag him away. Jake is screaming in protest but is silenced by the elevator doors closing.

"Are you okay?" Bucky asks you, looking you over for any injuries.

Yeah, I'm fine. He tried to kiss me and he pinned me against the wall but I remembered what you taught me and I kicked him back and ran away." you explain to him.

His eyes gleam with pride "That's my girl! I'm so proud of you! But i'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you... I knew something was wrong with him I should've trust my gut -" Bucky starts rambling.

You cut him off with a kiss "Shhh, slow down. it's okay. You taught me well. I can take care of myself but I will always need you by my side." you tell him as he pulls you into a bear hug.

The rest of the day, Bucky keeps you close to him. You lean your head on his shoulder in reassurance and thanks.

"No more recruits." Bucky says to Steve as he walks past him.

"Oh come on Buck! You know I had no clue!" Steve starts defending himself.

The two super soldiers start arguing as you laugh and walk towards Natasha.

You both shake your heads and say in unison"Men." as you roll your eyes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days later and Tony's birthday is coming up. He set up an entire party, with hundreds of people, 3 bands, a DJ, multiple types of entertainment such as dancers and gymnasts.

You've never attended a birthday party, let alone even celebrated your own. You had no idea what to wear or how to dress for an event this grand. The party is tonight and you're going through your closet, pulling everything out and realizing you have no clothes fit for this event. All you have are sweatpants, leggings, oversized shirts and pyjamas. You never go out nor had a reason to go out.

You groan loudly in frustration.

You hear a knock at your door and find Natasha smiling.

"You doing okay there cyber?" she asks.

"I can't do this. I have nothing to wear for the party. I don't exactly go out. I don't think its appropriate nor will Pepper will be happy if I show up in leggings and an oversized t-shirt...."

"Follow me, you can borrow one of my outfits." She turns around and beckons you to follow.

You enter her room and she's laying out some outfits for you on her bed.

"These are all really tight... and too small i think... I don't have a body like yours Nat... I'm really flattered and thankful but I don't know if i'm comfortable wearing a tight bodycon dress...." you tell her, your voice quiet and faltering. You're embarrassed.

"Girl you are DELUSIONAL if you think you don't have a nice body. As if we all don't see the way Bucky ogles at you half the time" she teases.

"Stop filling my head with nonesense.. I honestly don't know how he could like me with a scar like this across my face...." you whisper.

"I'm not messing with you! Stop selling yourself short! You're gorgeous, you're crazy smart, you're so witty, you're so kind and caring, you need to love that body and mind of yours more! The scar on your face is nothing to hide. It shows your strength, your resilience and your loyalty. You should wear that scar with pride, not shame. If anybody understands that, it would be Bucky."

You blush at her compliments. Natasha grabs a dress from her closet, turns you toward the mirror and places it over your clothes.

"What do you think? I think you'll look so hot, it's your signature colours, with a punk spike to it."

You gasp “Where did you get this? This isn’t like any of your other outfits….”

Natasha giggles “I may or may not have guessed that you would need a dress tonight and I maybe used Tony’s card to buy you a dress… maybe…” She pushes you towards the bathroom.

You giggle excitedly and agree to try it on. As you come out of the bathroom and stare at yourself in the mirror you gasp.

It's a black A-line dress with a neckline that emphasizes your chest perfectly followed by long black lace sleeves. A corset cinches your waist and hugs your curves in all the right places, with purple accents across it. The dress ends above the knee with purple lace adorning the ends.

You feel the most beautiful you have every felt. You haven't felt this pretty in a long time.

Natasha stares at you, beaming with pride. She knows you look hot and you know it. You can't deny it.

She squeals with excitement and tells you there's a few missing accessories. She hands you black tights and a pair of gorgeous black platform heels. They're comfortable enough for you to walk in properly and pretty enough to be appropriate for the event.

The sleeves and tights cover any potential scars that would normally be visible. Your heart swells with appreciation as you know that Natasha did that on purpose. Somehow she can always sense how someone feels and what to do to make them comfortable.

Before you can change your mind or doubt yourself she drags you to her vanity and starts applying on some makeup. She guides you through what she's doing so you're comfortable and only uses the products that you agree to. She puts on some lightweight foundation, a bit of blush and concealer as your base. She does a light smokey eye with some mascara and eyeliner to accentuate the colour and shape of your eyes. You stare at the harsh scar across your face, a permanent memory of what you've survived and surpassed. Natasha purposely chose makeup that didn't hide your scar, nor accentuate it. She made it so that you know it's there and wants you to see it and be proud of it. She's right, you won't be hiding it, not today.

Natasha takes your hair down from its bun, brushes it through and curls it with her iron. She places your hair in a style that accentuates your features and the outfit.

You look back at yourself in disbelief. You turn to Natasha and thank her for her help. She then gets ready herself and you're both on your way to the party, arms linked.

You enter the party and immediately lock eyes with Bucky. Natasha notices and walks away from you with a wink.

He approaches you, eyeing you up and down shamelessly.

"Wow, you look absolutely stunning, doll. You are by far the most beautiful woman here." He smirks at you, eyes glistening with affection.

You blush and look down at the floor. Your heart is racing and you don't know what to say. You've never given yourself the opportunity to open up to someone as much as you have with Bucky.

Bucky grabs your chin lightly and tilts your face to look up at him.

"Let's go outside for some privacy." He takes your hand and leads you to the private backyard.

As you walk outside, you see a gorgeous gondola that was installed, shielding you from the natural elements.

Bucky sighs as you both sit down next to each other, your thighs brushing.

He turns to you, his eyes welling up with tears.

"Cyber...doll, I - I've wanted to talk to you about what happened with Pierce and The Reaper for a while now. I feel like I have to get this off my chest. I know that it was extremely traumatic for you, and you've opened up about it so much to me. It means the world to me that you trust me that much. I thought I lost you. I couldn't sleep for the entire week, even worse while you were recovering in the med bay. It made me realize my true feelings for you. I've never felt this way about anyone before."

He sighs and grabs your hands, staring into your eyes.

"I'm falling in love with you. I have been for a while now. I'm happier when I'm with you, I feel like I can be myself, unconditionally around you and you make me feel complete."

You gasp as your eyes also start to well with tears.

"Losing you that week really made me realize how I can't live without you. I need you. So, my final question is: "Will you do me the honour of being my girlfriend?" he finishes his speech with a blush across his cheeks.

He looks up at you, waiting for any answer, verbal or not.

"Took you long enough! Yes, Bucky, I would love to." you laugh.

He chuckles as he grabs your cheek in his hand, softly brushing the tears away.

"Can I kiss you, now?"

"Do you really have to ask?" you answer sarcastically as you grab his face and kiss him.

A hand wraps around your waist and another holds your cheek as your hands tangle in his hair.

The kiss is deep and passionate with all unspoken words and emotions being poured out in physical affection.

You both pull away and smile at each other.

I finally get to have my happy ending, after all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that's a wrap! Please let me know what you think! <3 I hope you all enjoyed this crazy ride!

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[thestalwartheart]

,…Well now I just gotta request a fic with Q and his cats on the day before he joins MI6 (or becomes Quartermaster)!

You have your answer, Anon! ❤️ Apologies for taking so long to get around to filling this.

You can read it below or on AO3.

Enjoy!

anticipation.

“Well,” sighed Q to his cats. They were curled up together on the other end of his sofa. “Not long now. Twelve hours, give or take.”

He finished the last spoonful of his ice cream—mint choc chip. The coolness soothed his tongue from the scorching it had received during dinner. It had taken him four hours to make a slow-cooked ragu and about four seconds to ruin his tastebuds by being too impatient to eat it.

That’s what his nerves got him, he supposed.

“Quartermaster,” he said frankly to the cats. “I’m twenty-seven, for fuck’s sake.”

His father had always told him he was twenty going on fifty, but it didn’t stop Q from being bewildered by M’s job offer. How well did it bode for the Service, really, that no one more experienced was clever enough for the job? He was in an agency of dinosaurs, and he’d be responsible for dragging them into the modern day. How horrifying.

How thrilling.

“You’ll have trouble with the agents,” M had told him while she was marching somewhere or other, him following at her heels. “Don’t let them under your skin. Remember, you’re cleverer than most of them.”

“Most?”

She smiled secretly. “Yes. Most.”

It was the most that sent him digging. He never could abide a mystery. Agents, he knew, were more brawn than brains. And he’d read M’s files. In fact, he’d hacked them without a trace using the Major’s details — the old man, bless his soul, was terribly clever with weaponry but absolutely rubbish when it came to software — and so he knew M had sent plenty of agents out into the field with the heavy possibility that they’d never make it back.

But after reading the official reports, he was no clearer on who she favoured. There were several agents she’d recruited herself—all orphans, all screaming with boredom in the Special Forces—and of them, Commander James Bond was the longest serving. Q thought he was getting close when he brought Bond’s file up, but his record for insubordination put that thought to rest.

Insubordinate or not, though, he was certainly good-looking. Q was rather looking forward to meeting him.

Q’s eldest cat made a sound, then stretched and flopped over. With the hand that wasn’t cold from holding a mug full of ice cream, he scratched her velvety underbelly. She rolled this way and that, her paws hanging akimbo.

“Right,” said Q, rubbing his index finger under her chin one last time. When he took it away, he noticed his leg was tapping up and down. Anxiety, perhaps. Sugar, much more likely. “One last thing before bed.”

He got up and poured himself a shot of whisky—the one at the top of his kitchen cupboard rather than his drinks trolley. It was hellishly expensive, and he rarely drank from it. It was for special occasions only. Good or bad.

“To the Major, God rest his soul,” he said, raising his glass to two bewildered cats. He smiled at them, and with a sharp pain, remembered the Major visiting once and meeting them as kittens. Upon seeing their little claws stretched out, he’d regaled Q with a story of some Russian woman who had a poisonous dagger in her stiletto heel. “The Russians probably designed it after the claws of these little beasts.”

Q finished his drink in a neat gulp, then poured himself another. He was less precise with the measurement this time. The high from a full stomach and the smooth burn of good whisky was getting to him.

Q cleared his throat.

”To being Q,” he said. His cats had abandoned the couch; they never left him for long. As if telling him to move away from the whisky, they curled around his ankles. “Here’s hoping I do it all half as well as he did.”

He knocked back his drink, then, with a long groan, he walked promptly to the upstairs bathroom and threw it all up. The vomit hit the toilet basin to the off-beat rhythm of competing meows.

It was, Q thought, rather comforting. If his career in espionage went tits up after all this…well.

At least there were the cats.

[plaguelily-art]

Actually, I almost got Umerus killed in my playthrough, but still managed to recruit her by luck (although, I probably would have restarted the battle to recruit her). I was hoping for a proper reunion scene aside from the overworld sprites, but it was still a touching moment.

Finding refs for generic character models is rough though, but I feel I did okay with Kyrus's design. For an artwork that had no background planned from the start, this ended up being needlessly complicated when it came to inkwork and lighting. Although, I feel like I've finally figured out a good way to paint metals.

—————————————————————————

2024, Fall Digital (Adobe Photoshop) Umerus and Kyrus are characters from Unicorn Overlord, and belong to Vanillaware. Artwork belongs to me.

This image (published by the artist to deviantart.com/plaguelily, plaguelily-art.tumblr.com) may not be reproduced, copied, edited, republished, reuploaded, distributed, or redistributed in any way, and I do not give permission for the creation of any sort of derivatives of my work including the use of the work in datasets used for generation of AI art or any other sort of procedurally generated image program or software. Thank you.