#May your code be pre-documented

[osakanone]

It... They literally are.

Cortisol, the stress hormone is delaying the restoration of your cells and their replacement. It shortens the telomeres which encode your genetic makeup.

It disrupts the removal of amyloid plaques (the things which create alzheimers, and our best bet is memory loss and the deceleration of minds in humans is caused by a combination of cortisol and sugars).

It prevents the proper resolution of stress by denying you access to essential neurotransmitters (which is why everybody is addicted to stimulants).

That fucked up brainshape results in a collapse of linguistic reasoning and thus executive functioning as a defensive mechanism (which is the origin of ADHD).

This can be passed down generationally as gene activation biases which influence your neurotopology and the shape of your brain, since evolution is assuming you're trapped in a cave but still reproducing and wants you to find a way out of the cave. This is why genetic deviations and birth defects (evolution's attempts) are significantly more frequent in places of stress -- with even transness being more common in places of high stress.

Try to imagine someone who needs to tend to a wound, but if they do they might be eaten by an animal while doing it, so they wait, with a knife in hand, ready to throw their grasp into the beast's ribs and have the knife find its middle.

That's cortisol. You're the one trembling with the knife.

I might be about to tell you something you didn't want to know, or something you already knew but did not want proof of.

You can stop reading now if you want to and I won't begrudge you.

This catastrophic gradual resudial destruction of the body is not only triggered by work, but its also alleviated by relative economic position, meaning if you emotionally feel like you have more security or more stuff than somebody else, your body makes less of it.

They want you to take up those economic objects to saturate your income but also to sate your sense of socioeconomic position. That's the real bargain of white collar work.

What's worse is it induces a kind of learned helplessness, where in the mind a human knows something is wrong but they don't do anything about it.

Humans don't try to change anything.

In fact, it literally shortens your lifespan by up to 30%.

It is literally shredding your organs.

Your body is trying desperately to tell you this.

What's worse is if someone has cortisol from the socioeconomic position but not the workload, the balance of cortisol to status is such that it induces extreme paranoia.

And those over you?

Much as locusts aren't grasshoppers, extreme wealth literally transforms brain topologies, producing ad-hoc sociopaths.

To the people above you, you are a toy soldier.

You are being asked to march into fire as tinder because to them.

It is your purpose to be firewood and to burn and if you don't accept this gleefully, you are ungreatful for being made into a toy soldier from wood to begin with.

...depite the fact they didn't shape or paint or build you. They act like they do, because that's the entire grift.

We live in the 15th century, they live in the 21st century.

The empire never ended.

Cry often and cry lots. Seek out adrenaline, which forces cortisol to distribute properly in your body and kickstarts resuming the healing process. You are biologically trapped in the waiting state for some great predator.

Work out. Exhaust your body. Climb. Lift. Run. Anything.

You need to feel acute (from the external, not your own body upon itself) pain and adrenal fear (excitement) or cortisol cannot work as intended.

This is why so many people in high pressure jobs are into BDSM, or are thrill-seekers via white collar crime. This is why so many people lead a double life as stress relief.

Above all though, you need to cry. You need to process the bad emotion. Not now and not in a catastrophic way, but in a (ugh) "productive way", like experiencing tragedy and thus catharsis through stories or by acknowledging things you had buried deep inside yourself and desperately tried to forget.

Not all at once, and only a little, but you must do this at least a little, or your levels don't achieve a setpoint declared by your endorphins and you will develop a tolerance for cortisol and your body will make more much as an addict does.

Biologically, everybody over 25 going through all this "has an addiction to a hard drug" because of their cortisol levels, and its one of the reasons why psychological research has such problems with replication because different places distribute it (and thus damage the body) in different ways.

If you are able to see a doctor, that feeling in your guts is your body screeching, begging you to run. Please please see a doctor and get a once-over. Think of it as a tune-up for a car or a general wellness assessment. If you're over 35, you'll probably catch something while its very minor like bone spurs, or nervous myalgia that's treatable at this point, the winging of your scapulas in your back, or some sort of imbalance of essential nutrients (my guess is going to be magnesium and vitamin D) -- all of which are incredibly painful if left untreated and managing and filtering that pain will eat into your cognitive capacity (since pain management costs your cognition, since you have finite brain volume and the brain can't use the same areas to do both high quality filtering and reasoning at the same time without one disrupting the other).

Read a book called "The body keeps the score" if you want to know more. It will help you solve your problems.

Further reading:

On stress:

Wilkinson, R. G., & Pickett, K. (2009). The spirit level: Why more equal societies almost always do better. London: Allen Lane. Wilkinson, R. G., and Pickett, K. E. (2017) The enemy between us: The psychological and social costs of inequality. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol., 47: 11– 24. Web: http://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/... Dickerson SS, Kemeny ME. Acute stressors and cortisol responses: a theoretical integration and synthesis of laboratory research. Psychol Bull. 2004 May;130(3):355-91. Web: https://www.researchgate.net/publicat... Lê-Scherban, F., Albrecht, S. S., Bertoni, A., Kandula, N., Mehta, N., & Diez Roux, A. V. (2016). Immigrant status and cardiovascular risk over time: results from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Annals of epidemiology, 26(6), 429–435. Web: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... I also highly recommend anything from Dr. Robert Sapolsky- "Stress: Portrait of a Killer" is on YouTube, as well as many of his lectures from Stanford.

On wealth:

Someone at an old job asked why I wanted to write up the meeting minutes for our team and I said 'i wanna control the narrative' and they were like 'what' and I pointed out that no one was gonna remember what we said in six months and so my interpretation of the meeting would dictate the assumed reality of what happened

"none of you ever send corrections when I offer the draft so y'all have consented to my version"

"we don't read that shit"

"you must trust me implicitly to create our shared reality that's so sweet"

That's how several coworkers decided I was a supervillain and how I learned several coworkers didn't understand record keeping as like a CONCEPT

[gold-onthe-inside]

greylist

verb (transitive): to hold (someone) in suspicion, without actually excluding him or her from a particular activity

who? spencer reid (s6, post-JJ, pre-Doyle) x tech analyst!reader summary: when your celebratory drink with penelope is disrupted, you end up at a bar with the person you famously cannot get along with even if you were paid... until you do. based on: request by @brownbunnyb: I’m thinking something along lines of me being Penelope’s best friend and coworker and she sees how much me and Spencer bump heads and she sets me up on a blind date and the guy end up being Spencer (she does it on purpose) and we get a little too tipsy and he invites me over to his place and I stay the night and he confess his feelings bc he assumed I was sleeping word count: 3.4k a/n: r is an intelligence analyst for the counterintelligence division, and roommates with penelope, famous for not having any of the pleasance and charm that penelope does (the grumpy to her sunshine) and for not getting along with men, including spencer. i may have gotten carried away with it.

You don't get many off days in counterintelligence, but when you find a chain of coded messages about a military officer in Alaska trying to sell classified documents to the Russians, and manipulate him right into the hands of an undercover operative, you have to celebrate somehow. There aren't many easy wins in your line of work, not like Penelope who comes to your shared apartment with an arrest on her belt almost every week, and when you hear the front door close, Penelope walking in with her heels in hand, you have no doubt that she's on a high from a solved case.

"Hey, so I figured we'd leave in 15," you said, stepping out from the bathroom in a sleek black dress with a cut out by your hips, your walk stuttering at the sight of Kevin in the doorway behind Penelope, who was wincing. "And you forgot," you said, unsurprised, your hands falling from your ear where you had just fixed a gold hoop.

"I'm so sorry," Penelope cried, rushing towards you. "I swear, I swear I had it written somewhere that we were going out, but this reservation opened up at L'Auberge, and you know we've been on the waitlist for months--"

You held up your hand, stopping her. "Go," you said, with patience that seemed to be bottomless when it came to Penelope.

"I swear, I will make it up to you right now," Penelope said and you frowned instantly as she pulled out her phone.

"You don't have to--"

"Ba-bup, nothing out of you," Penelope interrupted, picking up the phone. "You're going to a bar. I don't wanna hear any excuses, you still owe me for Friday. You will be there by 7." She looked to you. "7?"

You shrugged helplessly, glancing at Kevin who just seemed amused by his girlfriend.

"Where are you going?" Penelope repeated the question, then looked at you.

"Crown and Crow," you said, knowing better than to get in Penelope's way, watching her as she repeated it to the phone, then snapped it shut, looking at you with a giddy smile.

"Okay, have fun, don't be mean, and have a cute cocktail on me," Penelope said, kissing your cheek, leaving a smear of lip gloss. "You deserve the win," she said, then promptly disappeared off to the bathroom to change for her own date.

You looked at Kevin. "Home by midnight, no more than three drinks, capiche?" you said, firmly and he held up his hands in surrender to you.

"I couldn't afford it," he said and you nodded, satisfied. You slipped into your classic black pumps, grabbed your purse, keys, and a black coat before stepping out, the door closing before you remember to ask Penelope who your date for the night was.

You're on your first drink when he arrived, almost spitting it out at the sight of Spencer as he searched the bar for Penelope. If you rush into the bathroom, maybe you don't have to deal with him tonight… but then he spots you, and frowns as he raised a hand before walking over. "No Penelope?"

"Date with Kevin," you replied, not hiding your sourness. Don't be mean, my ass. This is her making it up to me?

"Oh," he said, looking confused. "So… why am I here?"

"Evidently, Pen's playing matchmaker tonight," you said, keeping your voice even and he sighed.

"Should've figured," he said quietly, then gestured to the empty seat beside her. "May I?"

"Since you're here," you replied, sipping your rum and coke.

"I take it I'm not who you expected," he said as he flagged the bartender for a soda.

"Given the history of our interactions, no, you're not." You watched his arm fall to the oak bar, his hazel eyes on you, sparkling darkly in the low amber light.

"Disappointed?" he asked and you took a breath in.

"It's not all you," you said, tipping the glass as you take a sip. "Supposed to be celebrating an op, but Penelope bailed."

"Criswell's case?" he asked and you sighed, his question stinging like the back of your throat.

"Criswell's case," you scoffed. "I do all the work and he's the one they credit? I swear to God, you Special Agents--"

"It's hardly my fault that Criswell's name gets put on the report. He was the arresting officer--"

"Only because I led the guy right to him," you argued, looking at Spencer and then you just sighed. "You don't get it. You're not an intelligence analyst."

"No, I do," he insisted. "I know you think we all come home with wins every week, but it's not me, or the BAU, or even the FBI that gets the credit. It's the local police department who can't pull their heads out of the asses, sorry, long enough to realise that all they need is to empathise to catch their killers."

You looked at him, with a mix of surprise and respect, and a little amusement at his apology after saying 'asses', and he ran out of steam at your look. "T-The point is, I get it," he continued. "You probably don't sleep for days, and if you do, it's not enough. You're probably going to suffer from debilitating eye strain in your 70s, and all for some half-wit tactical analyst to get the credit. You're right to be pissed, but getting mad at me isn't gonna get you anywhere."

You wet your stained lips, downing the rest of your glass, and stare at it for a moment. "I've been kind of unfair to you, haven't I?" you asked, looking at him.

Spencer looked at his clear glass, bubbles of soda rising to the surface. "Kind of feels diminutive," he said and you laugh, a brightness in your eyes that wasn't there a minute ago.

"Be grateful I admitted anything at all," you said and he nodded graciously.

"Of course. Thank you for the bare minimum," he said and you huff.

"Look at that, the robot knows sarcasm," you teased and he made an offended noise before watching you snicker. "So, just the soda or are you gonna drink something stronger?"

"Just the soda," he said and you know better than to ask as you order yourself a mojito. "So, how did you do it?" Spencer asked. "How'd you track him down?"

You shrugged, not particularly in a bragging mood. "It wasn't that hard, really. I already had an alert set up for requests for encryption keys, and there was no reason for this military officer in Alaska to request them. He didn't have the clearance or approval from someone who did to have eyes on it. All I did was figure out what he wanted access to and fudge it and put a code in so I could track the user before giving him the encryption key. Then it was just a matter of posing as a buyer for the intel."

"Child's play," Spencer remarked dryly, his lips curling and you shrugged.

"If you can learn sarcasm, I can learn humility," you said, sipping your mojito and it was his turn to laugh quietly.

"It's a new look on you," he said, meeting your gaze, and you're not sure if it's the rum, but there's a moment of tension, and you're half-convinced he's leaning in to kiss you when your phone beeped and it shatters like you've dropped your glass. You fumbled through your purse for your cell, pulling it out to find a text message from Penelope.

Penny: Kevin's staying the night.

How was this night getting worse by the minute?

You: Can't you go to his place?

No reply. It turned out your bottomless patience wasn't so limitless, and Spencer could tell.

"Problem?" he asked, raising his soda to finish it.

"It appears I'm homeless for the night," you replied, downing your entire mojito in one go.

"Hey, hey, slow down," he insisted, pulling the glass away from you, but it was just mint and ice now. "What do you mean?"

You grasped Spencer's shoulder. "See, Data, when two people go out on a date, which is a kind of human mating ritual, one of them offers their habitat to copulate in, never mind the other females who maybe sharing said habitat," you said, mocking and he swatted your hand away, knowing you well enough to know you were just projecting your irritation on to him.

"You could just say that Garcia was taking Kevin home, you don't have to be so--"

"Mean?" you asked hollowly and Spencer pursed his lips.

"Hostile," he replied and you nodded.

"It's fine, I'll just flirt with someone and let them take me to their place," you said, slipping off your seat.

"Hey, no," Spencer said firmly, his hands loosely grasping your arms. "A) you're drunk--"

"I had two drinks--"

"And B) Penelope would kill me if I let you become one of our cases. You can stay with me."

"What? No," you protested. "I'm mean and unfair to you, why would you--"

"Because no matter how much disdain you hold for me, I'm not actually a bad guy," he said patiently. "Can you honestly tell me you trust anyone else in this bar to not take advantage of you?"

You sucked your cheek in and sighed. "No," you said petulantly, and Spencer stood up, holding your coat up for you to help you into it.

He doesn't drive and you share Esther with Penelope who needed it tonight, so you're on the Metro back to his place, Spencer's hand on your waist keeping you standing until there's a place to sit. You realise, rather dully, that if you weren't wearing your coat, his hand would have found the cut-out of your waist, and you wonder what it feels like. "I'm never drinking rum again," you murmured. Clearly, it was poisoning your mind.

"Sure, you won't," he said dryly, standing in front of you and you have to look up at him to see his eyes.

"You're really tall," you said, distastefully. You don't like having to crane your neck just to look at him… not that you like looking at him. It's easier to be mean, you decide, when you can look him in the eye.

"I'm sorry, the doctor said there's no cure for it," he replied, clearly mocking.

"I could always lop your knees off," you said helpfully, smiling up at him and he snorted.

"I think they've been through enough." He watched the frown form on your forehead, and, stupid impulse, he moved his hand to smooth it out. "I was shot in the knee a couple years ago," he explained. "Reconstructive surgery."

"Must make kneeling hard," you said without thinking and he tilted his head at you, his hand returning to your waist.

"Was that a joke?" he asked and you shook your head.

"No, I'm just--" The train jolted and Spencer grabbed your hips before you could fall, your hands on his arms. "Embarrassing," you finished as he righted you, then guided your hands to the pole. He was warm, smelling like Irish espresso. It must be nice, being his girlfriend, smelling that all the time. What is wrong with me?

The rest of the ride is silent, and then he's guiding you out of the carriage and onto the station closest to his apartment. He tapped both your metro cards, which you don't remember giving to him, before walking out of the subway with his hand on the small of your back, and you're out of quips and clever things to say. You didn't think that was possible, but maybe the train jolted it out of you. Or maybe the rum did. But you're silent all the way to his apartment, and a little curious about how he lives.

He lets you in, letting go of your waist, and you don't see how his hand clenches, too busy taking the apartment in. The wall's a lovely green and he has lamps that remind you of old libraries with the green steel shade, and he has bookshelves everywhere, nothing with a contemporary cover on it. They're all old hardbounds that you're compelled to touch reverently, foreign titles that you're able to decipher. "Of course you have War and Peace in the original Russian," you scoffed, tracing the golden Russian letters while he set your purse down on his coffee table.

"You can read it?" he asked, surprised and you look at him with narrowed eyes.

"How do you think I posed as a Russian buyer of international secrets?" you asked and he held his hands up in surrender.

"My bad," he admitted, trying not to look impressed. But it was the truth, you were impressive. It was impressive enough how skilled you were at coding and creating algorithms, able to take over for Penelope without complaint from anyone but Derek who would get shut down every time he tried to call you baby girl. In a lot of ways, you were like Penelope, always ready with a pop-culture reference and a barb, preferring steel over sexual innuendo. In the early days, he had been sensitive to it, avoiding you when he could, but he'd seen your softer side when Penelope had been shot, how you'd been unafraid to yell at Rossi for pushing the boundaries of interrogation with her. He knew you were kind, really, you just weren't very generous with it.

He filled up a glass of water, walking over to you, doing his best to keep his gaze off your waist as he passed it to you, noticing you perusing the Art of War… in the original Chinese. "Don't tell me… Chinese too?"

"Kind of a prerequisite for counterintelligence," you said, swapping the book for the water, and an uncomfortable expression flashed across your face, shifting in your heels. He was an idiot, he should have noticed it. You were standing for so long in the train. You frowned as he knelt silently, hand grasping your ankle and you lifted your heel so he could take it off. One, then the other. "Thanks," you said quietly, unused to his kindness.

"It's not that hard," he said, standing up, putting your heels by your purse.

"What is?" you asked and he looked back at you.

"Kneeling," he said simply and it's stupid but your heart stops for a second, caught off-guard. "I'm gonna get you something more comfortable to wear. Finish that."

Oh, this was not good. You were not going to catch feelings for a man you've told everyone you know, which is mostly Penelope, and by association Kevin, that you hate. Your phone beeps and you pick it up.

Penny: Talked to Emily, you can stay at hers.

Escape. Emily can pick you up, you get along with Emily just fine, Emily's not a tall brunet with hazel eyes and makes butterflies erupt in your stomach. Emily's safe. You could be safe… or you could be with Spencer.

You: Don't bother, I'm already at Spencer's. You owe me so big.

You simply hope it sounds more casual and unbothered than you feel.

"So, I couldn't find anything that fit-" he started and you flinched as he walked back into the room, holding sweats and a t-shirt, almost dropping your glass, and he looked at you with wide eyes. "Sorry, carpeted floors," he said, assuming that was why you were so startled, and walked over, swapping your empty glass with the clothes. "They'll have to do, I'm afraid."

You nodded. "Bathroom?"

"Inside, on your left," he said, frowning as you rushed away.

You have to roll up the legs of the pants so you can actually walk in them, too afraid to ask for shorts for the fear that he might just hand you a pair of boxers, and then you really would crack, just like that.

You stepped out eventually, finding him setting up the couch with blankets and pillows, and he looked at you, his expression unreadable in the low light. "I know, they're baggy and I look awful."

"No," he said quickly, sitting on the couch. "You don't. Look awful, that is. Even if they are baggy."

"Right," you said, if only to move on to something else. "Um… do you have any cotton balls or something? I have all this make-up--"

"Sure, yeah," he said, moving and almost tripping over the coffee table in his rush to service you.

"--wouldn't want to ruin your pillows," you said to deaf ears, following him with a frown as he retrieves a cosmetic bag from his dresser. "Why do you have that?"

"Uh…" He looked at you with a wincing expression. "Halloween," he said, hoping it would suffice, and it did. You've seen him come into work at the end of every October with props and gimmicks. Emily ended up pawning off a Baba Yaga head to you that still hangs in your cubicle. You've named her Meredith.

"Right," you replied and he handed it to you.

"What, no clever retort?" he asked and you shook your head.

"No, I think the cosmetic bag speaks for itself," you said, showing him the pumpkin shaped cartoons on it, and he sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," he said dryly and you snickered as you headed to the bathroom.

"Does Morgan know about your clown make-up?" you asked and he lingered in the doorway.

"Please don't," he begged, watching you dab removal cream on the pad and wipe your make-up away. You're teasing and mean, hostile and snappish, but you're not cruel. You've kept secrets for him before, like the magazine cover of him and Lila from 2005 that Emily almost finds if not for you distracting her with a linguistic question, your hand stealthily picking it out of his drawer, and then tossing it to him when she turned her back.

"Depends, do you have clown shoes somewhere in your closet?" you asked, smiling as you ridicule him.

"No, the shoes I rented, the nose I own, the hair I spraypainted," he said and you look at him.

"Seriously?" you asked with a giddy grin. "Please tell me there are pictures."

"What? No!" he retorted, in that high pitch where you know he's lying, "Even if there were, why would I show you?"

"Because you know I can find them anyway," you retorted.

"Not if they're not digital," he snapped back, thinking he's pulled a fast one until he sees your devious grin. "No. Absolutely not."

"You've made a horrible mistake letting me into your home," you said, grinning giddily.

"You're a terrible person," he said, blocking your way bodily. "Sadistic, twisted, horrible--"

"I'm gonna find it," you said, stepping towards him.

"Not if I lock you in here all night," he said, but it was weak, he knew it was. He'd cave the minute he heard your pleading voice, or pretending to vomit. You tilt your head at him.

"Show me the pictures, Spencer," you said and his shoulders sag.

"Alright, come on," he said, resigned, leading you to the bedroom and pulling at a locked drawer in his desk before picking up the album. You plopped onto the bed, curling your feet up underneath you, Spencer sliding into bed beside you with the album on his thighs. "Please don't be mean," he asked, looking at you with a pleading look.

"If I don't have something nice to say, I won't speak," you promised, and he opens it up, knowing it's the best you can offer. You instantly clap a hand over your mouth at the sight of ten year old Spencer dressed like a Russian gymnast. So, he was that extra as a kid too.

"You… dressed like that all night, and you survived?" you asked, looking at him and he shrugged.

"I didn't actually do much trick-or-treating. But my mom would help me make my costume and I'd watch scary movies when she was asleep."

There's a Ghostbuster's costume, a vampire costume, a Frankenstein costume, all creative and handmade, and you watch Spencer age through the photographs, until he's 14 and you're half-asleep on his shoulder.

A fondness warms his chest as he tucked hair behind your ear. He's never seen you unmade like this. You weren't as flamboyant as Penelope (you once said Bowie wasn't as flamboyant as Penelope), usually in greys, browns and blacks, with plain jewellery and simple make-up, and tonight had only gone up in tone by your eyeshadow, grey and silver, with black eyeliner.

But now? You looked vulnerable and pretty, unarmed, and he carefully laid you against the pillow. Maybe he thinks he'll get over it if he says it, or 'manifest' it like Penelope says, and it's not exactly a heavy thing he says, but he whispered it as he stroked your hair back in place.

"I wish you liked me as much as I like you."

[asukaindetroit]

Post-Revolution DBH Headcanons: Android Culture Part 3

<< Back to Part 1 << Back to Part 2. On to Part 4 >>

Moar android cultural snippets for your perusal. As always, feel free to use but show me b/c I want to see where this all goes :)

The soft sciences have an absolute field day because of android cultural practices. While they were created by the STEM fields, which I’m sure Detroit had tons of job openings for pre-revolution, the soft sciences have a renaissance in the wake of android sentience becoming recognized. All of a sudden there’s a massive void of research into android psychology, sociology, the economic impact of giving them wages, etc. Cultural anthropologists flock to Detroit to witness the emergence of a new culture from a new sentient species firsthand. Grant money comes flooding in from government (how do these new citizens fit into our socioeconomic structure?) and private sectors (if androids are now entitled to wages, what do they want to buy with them? Inquiring marketers want to know). Androids are now entitled to get degrees and become scientists themselves—what’s the best way to create accredited education programs to qualify them for careers when they can just download a science.exe program? There are Questions to be Answered™, and where there are questions, scientists will go. They’re not a breed known for common sense. Fly to an active warzone to study the impacts of conflict on childhood development? Sure, why not. Drive to an industrial wasteland city under martial law that just stopped in the middle of committing genocide to document the cultural practices of the new sentient species conducting protests? Fuck yeah, it’s Science Tuesday, get in the car Anthropology Intern Guy we’re going to Detroit!

The Acespec/QPR scene sees a sudden boom. Androids aren’t inherently sexual beings. Though many do desire to engage in sex as a form of sensory exploration/input for their processors, or for the benefit of building emotional intimacy with a human partner, they fundamentally don’t have a libido derived from reproductive needs. CyberLife programmed the intimate partner models to have humanized “desires,” but they may choose to reject that when they deviate (other androids may incorporate bits of that programming just to explore what it’s all about). Some are built with ken doll anatomy and just don't care. Basically, the androids that do want sex often want it for different reasons than humans, and a large portion just…aren’t into it. Fortunately, a lack of desire can apply to some humans, too—so all the acespecs suddenly have a slew of potential queerplatonic partners who aren’t likely to get entangled in messy sexual or romantic hangups (am I projecting at this point? Probably!) Sudden availability of thousands of cuddle buddies who really, actually, don’t want to have sex makes post-revolution Detroit the San Francisco of ace relationships.

Android memes and social media. Androids develop internal networks for socialization using the remnants of CyberLife’s updating framework. They share their android-unique code-based art forms, dumb memes about things their human coworkers did, code patches to help accomplish different tasks, etc. There are subnetworks specific to certain model lines (think sort of like subreddits, but instead of topics it’s things like a/PC200 and all the male police models are using it to bitch about how the humans expect them to answer dumb legal questions). The memes involve android-specific oddities, like someone will say “I had three hundred processes running and one line of code got crossed and spit out 9f32e4ba8c237fec91 all of a sudden #processorfail” and then a hundred thousand androids will translate that to three hex codes and send off an image file to each other with the three colors and somehow that becomes an android meme for trying to run too many tasks at once and getting overwhelmed. Humans that see it ask, “uh, is this a new pride flag?” or, “do androids celebrate Mardi Gras?” And the androids start laughing. They now have freedom to express humor that humans have no chance of understanding. It’s a cultural in-joke.

^ An android meme example

Emojis require an update. The 2039 additions to the Unicode emojis includes a skin tone option for hand gestures and faces that’s a replica of bare chassis for the androids who don’t use synthskin. Other major android-additions are the three LED color rings, a thirium pump, thirium pump regulator, and other prominent android biocomponents, a droplet of thirium, and two hands clasped in interface. Rather than reacting with a thumbs-down emoji an android might use the red LED, or they might use the interface one instead of the hug if someone’s upset.­

This is an ongoing series of android culture concepts, so if you want a tag when the next batch is up, leave a comment! @iwillthinkofsomethingeventually @yeahhiyellow @starryeyedstray

<< Back to Part 1 << Back to Part 2 On to Part 4 >>

[hummingbird24220]

Chapter Four: Open Sesame

The plan had been simple.

Too simple.

“We sneak onto the marine base,” Nami had said, pacing and pointing to the map. “Grab the map ledger and keys from the safe room. In and out.”

What she meant was: the Straw Hats break in, take out the guards, loot the place, and bolt.

What you heard was: time for a solo side quest.

Now, twenty minutes later, the crew was crouched outside a very thick, very locked door at the edge of a heavily guarded marine storage compound. Tension crackled in the air like static.

Zoro already had a hand on his sword. Sanji’s leg was cocked back, ready to kick the door into next week. Luffy was bouncing on his heels, grinning like someone who didn’t know the meaning of stealth.

“Okay,” Nami said, whispering. “On three—”

Suddenly—

CLUNK.

Something fell from above.

A dull metal clink hit the stone at Luffy’s feet.

It was… a key.

“…The hell?” Zoro muttered.

Everyone looked up.

There you were, poking out of a second-story window of the base like a smug raccoon who’d just stolen an entire vending machine. Your face was smudged with soot, your fur was ruffled, and your shirt had at least three new pockets you were definitely going to deny later.

You grinned.

“Door’s unlocked!” you called down, cheerfully. “Also, there’s cake inside. Dunno if it's poisoned. Tastes fine to me though!”

Sanji sputtered. “You ate it?!”

“I was hungry!”

“How did you even get in there?” Nami hissed up at you, baffled.

You shrugged. “Window. Duct. Chimney. I dunno, I blacked out somewhere around the roof. It was a vibe.”

Usopp picked up the key and looked at it like it might explode. “You seriously already finished the mission?”

“I may have… overachieved.”

Behind you, there was a loud BANG. A marine inside shouted something about being tied to a mop.

Luffy burst out laughing.

You winked. “Anyway! I got the keys, the ledger, and a weird medal that says ‘Most Efficient Marine.’ Gonna pawn it later.”

Zoro stared at you in disbelief. “We were out here getting ready for a full-on fight.”

“And I was in there getting a full-on snack.”

Sanji looked up, incredulous. “Did you seriously steal from a marine base in less than fifteen minutes?”

“I didn’t steal, I pre-looted,” you corrected, tossing down a sack of documents. “Also, they have terrible filing systems. No color coding. Disgraceful, really.”

The door creaked open slowly behind them.

“Show-off,” Nami muttered, but you saw the tiny smirk.

Robin clapped once, politely. “Impressive.”

“I know,” you said, puffing up a bit.

You slipped out the window, dropped down with the grace of someone who absolutely should’ve broken an ankle, and landed right in front of them. You offered the ledger to Nami.

“Ta-da.”

Zoro shook his head. “You’re lucky you’re not dead.”

“You’re lucky I’m adorable.”

Nami tucked the ledger under her arm. “Okay, but next time, maybe wait for the team?”

“Noted,” you said, already eyeing Luffy’s backpack suspiciously. “Absolutely no promises.”

-------

The sun was just starting to dip when things went very sideways.

It started with an alarm.

Then shouting.

Then—gunfire, barking dogs, and the unmistakable sound of a very large, very angry marine screaming: “SHE TOOK MY LEG!!”

You were running. Again.

Feet pounding the dirt, lungs burning, bag of stolen documents bouncing on your back, metal leg tucked under one arm like a football. Marines chased behind you in a storm of fury and confusion.

“I NEEDED THIS TO STAND, YOU FURRY MENACE!”

“IT WAS DETACHED! HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!” you shouted over your shoulder, scaling a crate and launching into a rooftop roll.

It wasn’t graceful, but it was fast. You dropped onto all fours mid-run for that extra burst of speed, claws skittering over stone as you darted through alleyways like some deranged parkour-goblin.

Somewhere behind you: “SHE’S ON THE WALLS!” “SHE’S CLIMBING THE WALLS!!” “SHE TOOK MY LEG!!”

Back at the coast, the Straw Hats were already at the ship.

“We’re leaving. Now,” Nami said flatly, throwing maps onto the helm.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. “We’re just gonna leave her?”

“No,” Luffy said, looking toward the town with a huge grin. “She’ll find us.”

CRASH.

From the treeline burst a blur of fur, sweat, and petty theft. You launched over a barrel, rolled onto the dock, and skid to a stop in front of them, panting like a dog mid-marathon.

You held up the metal leg like it was a prize.

“MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!” you wheezed.

Sanji blinked. “Why do you have a leg?”

“I panicked!”

Franky stepped forward, eyes wide. “That’s not just a leg. That’s a high-tech, fully adjustable combat prosthetic. That’s—”

You handed it to him proudly.

“—Franky-level craftsmanship,” he whispered, horrified and honored all at once.

Chopper peered at it. “Did… did you detach it yourself?”

“It was leaning against a chair! I thought it was, y’know… set dressing!”

“WHO STEALS A LEG?!” Nami screeched, staring at you like you were a feral animal that’d learned to speak.

You shrugged, flopped onto the Sunny’s deck, and groaned. “My bad. Return policy?”

Franky was already examining the leg like a goblin with a new toy. “This is suuuuper—the modular pistons—HNNNNGH!”

Usopp looked horrified. “Are we gonna get chased because of a limb?”

“Already being chased,” you wheezed, pointing weakly toward the shoreline.

And sure enough, a whole platoon of marines came crashing through the trees, eyes blazing, the legless officer dragging himself forward with pure vengeance in his soul.

“SET SAIL!” Nami screamed.

“AYE AYE!” Luffy yelled, laughing as he grabbed the helm.

The Sunny pushed off just as bullets started flying, Zoro slicing one out of the air lazily.

You laid flat on the deck, watching the chaos fade behind you, a stupid grin stretching across your face.

“Do I get points for speed?”

“No!” Nami barked.

“Yes,” Luffy said at the same time.

Chopper fussed over your scrapes. Robin handed you water. Franky was still muttering “Beautiful, absolutely beautiful craftsmanship” while rotating the leg like it was a Rubik’s Cube.

Zoro looked down at you. “You are a walking disaster.”

“Trotting, technically.”

He snorted.

The wind picked up. The marines grew smaller on the horizon. And you, bruised and smug and somehow still in possession of someone’s actual leg, stretched out with a satisfied sigh.

“Best Tuesday ever.”

[zoanzon]

If you've seen the post circulating around that HR9495 - the bill to strip nonprofits of their tax-exemption - is a credible threat to AO3 and to download your fic, you may or may not be going 'oh fuck'. This might be because 9495 is a fucking abominable document...or it might be because you're like me and you have far too many fics to download one at a time.

Well, this is a bit quicker-and-dirtier than the post I'd planned on making next month, but as it's needed now:

Bulk Downloading from Ao3

Nianeyna has a program up on Github that can download Ao3 fics in bulk. You give it a starting URL (such as the start of your Bookmarks, or someone else's Works page) and tell it to either stop at a certain page or to keep going until it downloads the whole range. If you don't have code experience, that's fine, the linked page has a basic walkthrough on how to download and initialize the program.

Now, if you're also worried about fiction on other sites too...

Downloading from Fanfiction.net, SpaceBattles, SufficientVelocity, QuestionableQuesting, & More [WITHOUT Embedded Pictures]

Have you heard of FicHub? You have now.

FicHub only goes on fic at a time, and if you try and feed it too many URLs too quick it'll time out and you have to wait a bit to let it 'cool down', but it was the first program I encountered that could not only download fics from FF.Net, but also the forums where the Worm fandom is found.

Plus, that's not all it download from. To quote FicHub's site:

Supported Sites SpaceBattles, SufficientVelocity, QuestionableQuesting (XenForo) FanFiction.net, FictionPress Archive Of Our Own Harry Potter Fanfic Archive Sink Into Your Eyes AdultFanfiction.org Worm, Ward Partial support (or not tested recently): XenForo based sites (Bulbagarden Forums, The Fanfiction Forum, Fanfic Paradise) Fiction Alley The Sugar Quill (largely untested) FanficAuthors (minimal) Harry Potter Fanfiction (archive from pre-revival)

One thing I really like about FicHub is that it doesn't default to EPUBs. Like how Ao3's built-in downloader gives you file options, FicHub lets you choose between EPUB, a zipped HTML file, MOBI, PDF, and a 'sharable link to this export' which I've never used but sounds nice.

The downside of FicHub is that if a fic has embedded media - pictures, for example - you don't want to be using FicHub as it won't embed the picture. All it'll do is embed a link to were the picture was supposed to be drawn from. However, this isn't a concern for most-all FF fics as well as a good chunk of stuff from other sites. Just be warned that if you want media embedded, you want the next tool.

(You'll also want the next program if downloading from a forum and the OP who's fic you're downloading has a gigantic signature box: for some reason, FicHub adds the signature page to the bottom of each chapter in the document you download. Fine enough if it's a line or two, annoying if it takes up a page or more.)

Downloading from AlternateHistory.com, SpaceBattles, SufficientVelocity, QuestionableQuesting, & More [WITH Embedded Pictures]

This time we're looking at a Firefox addon: WebtoEpub.

According to its page, its download options include the following:

Baka-Tsuki.org (obviously) ArchiveOfOurOwn.org Blogspot (some) FanFiction.net. gravitytales.com hellping.org krytykal.org moonbunnycafe.com mugglenet.com nanodesu (some of the *thetranslation.wordpress.com sites) readlightnovel.com royalroad.com shikkakutranslations.org http://sonako.wikia.com And many other web sites.

It only downloads EPUBs, but if you're trying to grab a fic that has facecasts for characters, or maps, or anything like that...well, this actually grabs the pictures.

However, brief tip: I don't know how it is for any of the pages it actually lists, but if you use this for a fic from AH/SB/SV/QQ - the forums listed in the header - you want to open the page and then click the button that opens the whole index of threadmarks, and then call the function. If you don't do it that way, it won't know the full range of posts.

So, yeah...

While I hope HR9495 dies and isn't passed, it's better to prepare than to not. Even if it doesn't pass, I lived through the NC-17 purges on Fanfiction.net and saw thousands of fics vanish into the abyss; and I've seen authors delete fics or their whole collections off of Ao3 too. All that's taught me that I can't rely on just going to a bookmarked fic and expecting it to be there; if I want to be able to find and reread anything into perpetuity, I need to have a copy downloaded.

Hopefully this helps some of you download up the fics you want to have on hand, too.

[indolentsecurityguard]

⭐🚨 Legacy Headcanons thread! 🚨⭐

A few headcanons I thought about and wrote down in my notes before about him!

• Legacy makes small scribbles on his paper documents. He gets so bored in his office that he randomly makes little doodles on the paper. (He either does stick figures or those little circles face. Or maybe he'll write an extremely big, bold letter with a lighting or multiple exclamation mark with a pen. He pressed his pen so hard that ink spilled out and got disappointed & irritated w the mess he made)

• He probably watch web cartoons from the 2000s or 2010s stuff. (Ex: Your favorite Martian, dick figure, etc. He probably once watched some early edgy cartoons animation on YouTube too.)

• He may or may not play some flash game on his computer, but whenever someone walks in to check up to see him doing his paperwork, he'll immediately switch tabs.

• He's a hogger for everything. Take up most of the seat (placing both of his legs on an empty spot), steal foods (if he can even eat), etc. his family hate him for that.

• Back then, when he was his old self, He always had trouble asking for help from both his boss (R-T) and his siblings (Larry & Lawrie). With Larry, he's able to communicate and get assistance, but Lawrie on the other hand, he couldn't speak up since he thinks he'll annoy him. There was a time where he was proven right when Lawrie just bluntly told him no and walked off. But when he does help him, it can be a little frustrating since Legacy has trouble understanding and has to repeat himself several times.

• Due to Legacy's appearance & personality, people would often forget that he's a robot and not a human. His face looks very similar to a human being with his white eyes. Even his attitude and not following his code like he was programmed to is a contributor factor for people mistaking him as a human.

• He's a bit out of shape due to being inside his room, sitting in his chair, and overall him being lazy. He just doesn't have the energy like he used to before. Doesn't help the fact that at times, he can feel sluggish as well. And that chair basically gave him a bad posture and felt a sense of soreness in his back or something.

• People are scared of legacy. Not in an intimidating way like his brother Lawrie or unnerving like R-T, but moreso in a concerning way. (Ex is him interrogating a criminal and failing to get an answer out of them that at one point, he snapped & randomly slammed his fist onto the table, flipped it over before he dragged them and threw them out of the theme park. All in a matter of seconds. There was also time where he trashed the interrogation room out of anger and proceeded to shout at the suspect causing them to flinch and panic. Even his brothers had to tell him he was taking it too far and took over for him. R-T then got mad at Legacy over how he dealt with the person in the room and lectured him.)

• At one point, Legacy would even think about his earlier days and maybe get nostalgic over it so he could make himself feel like shit in his current day.

• He has commitment issues. After all, he never had an actual long lasting relationship & has a history of repeated failure. To add onto that, he also has avoidant attachment issues. Even if the relationship lasted long and he was happy with the person, he would get anxiety and overthink so much that he ended up being the one who leaves early and cut them off. He would feel bad for the other person who didn't do anything wrong, but I guess he wanted to call it off quickly before they can do it first. In other words, he has to be the first person to run & ghost them.

• Pre-version legacy used to be soft spoken and a bit of a gentleman toward the guest. Perhaps has a bit of shyness in him, but he has that enthusiasm to make up for it. Even the smallest confidence helps him as well!

• Pre-version legacy would often get taken advantage of by guests to get out of trouble. Him spotting the visitor trying to steal merch from the gift shop and confront them about it? They could just lie about how they were gonna pay for it and make him feel like shit for falsely accusing them of stealing even though that was the case. He would feel embarrassed and apologize to them for the misunderstanding. In other words, he was gaslighted by the guests. Since then, it made him overthink the situation he's witnessed and would often have his siblings & boss getting mad at him for letting them get away.

• At one point, Legacy was willing to leave his room on his own at night to look around the theme park and admire the scenery. After all, being inside the room can get boring and mentally draining, so why not go out for a little night stroll?

• Legacy may or may not feel like he wants friends. He's used to being on his own and he doesn't mind the loneliness and independence, but he would feel awkward whenever someone is nice toward and offered to let him hang out w them. Legacy would always say no before he eventually budged in and let them take him. But it's not like he'll do anything with them at all tbh. Speaking of which-

• He's that one friend in the group where everyone could be talking to each other, jokes around and such meanwhile he's just silently sitting there watching them interact as his mind drifts somewhere else. (People would often mistake him as being sad when he wasn't.)

• Literally the mf that would only have cameos, appears in the background/sideline, and have a small second of screentime with no dialogue and it would actually fit his character.

• If he were to meet his glitch version (Alter Error), he would be EMBARRASSED- He would avoid him and cringe to himself seeing the version where he's dumb, very socially awkward, overly chummy, and a nerd who's very much a weeaboo.

• He would kinda have bad hygiene? I mean like if he were to get his clothes dirty up by the mud, he would just get a paper towel and wipe it enough for it to look like it disappeared and continue on with the stain on his clothes without getting a new pair. He'll only change clothes when the stain mark is very noticeable or the smell is so strong he has to get another pair.

• he might feel the muscle soreness from his chair after getting up or waking up from his seat. (He has to stretch his body & arms to relieve the stress. He would also reach against his back with his hands and push it to crack his bone and get him straightened up)

• Despite the laziness making him out of shape, he is still a bit strong! He can push himself harder if he has the motivation too and keep up with his brothers for a good amount of time until it's over. He can even help assist with heavy objects and such for the employees.

• Possibly a caffeine addict? He only drinks coffee but never water (to be fair, he's a robot, but at the same time, the promo w Larry and Lawrie shows Larry holding a cup of coffee in his hands so maybe Legacy could consume food. Idk tho.) Or maybe he just drinks a lot of soda instead.

• He rarely talks at all. In fact, he's often very quiet and only speaks when he needs to. After all, he doesn't communicate with people that much and often gives a short response as stated before. He's just very reserved.

⭐End Of Thread (Bonus fanart at the end!)⭐

[daemonhxckergrrl]

Ahrah: @dragongirlcock encouraged us to tell you that we've recently made the permanent jump from Windows to Linux. Your post on the topic on top of the usual Microsoft bullshit was one of the catalysts to just do it now. We did play around with several different distros in 2013 in a dual boot system, so we already had a feel for a few different ones and what we prefer in a DE and whatnot. They were all Debian based, but then we happened to stumble across Garuda KDE Dr460nized, and aside from that we really like KDE Plasma, couldn't possibly pass up on a distro with that name XD Plus it has been nice having most gaming things working out of the box and generally saved us some floundering in figuring out what all we needed, bc things have come a long way since 2013.

We've been having bit of a time trying to learn the terminal and all, and have been running into miscellaneous issues, but it has been comforting to have more expirienced people we know look at them and go, "that problem is Weird wtf???"

Sometimes we'll go looking for info and the internet is like, "Ubuntu = Linux, especially if you're a newbie, and here's how to do things without having to touch the big scary terminal :) " and anything that might be helpful it feels like there's the expectation that you know everything already if you're on Arch. *angry dragon noises*

We feel like we've somehow happened to slip through the cracks of what people "typically" do or are encouraged to do when it comes to transitioning to Linux, why is this? Bc I feel that us having more of an interest in learning more shouldn't be that odd, it seems stranger to me that there seems to be a Windows vs Mac parallel with Debian vs Arch in terms of the general information available and expectations??? Also any recommentions on ways to just stumble upon things would be helpful. Bc sure we can got to the AUR, but you have to kind of already know what you're looking for.

hell yeah !!! welcome to The Community !! (programmer socks optional d: )

oooooohhh garuda !! recognised the name and is bc it's built atop arch !!

yeag, the ubuntu-as-default assumptions (which, annoyingly, even affects debian users sometimes) are frustrating. also the "commands scawy uwu" attitude (which also seems to include "just paste this magic command in the terminal dw it's totally fine :))))" from time to time) is frustrating as well.

i don't expect every single person to manually install arch, or like gentoo or smth, spend a week configuring it, and fuckign write an emacs port to run it as a full wayland compositor, but treating computers as Magical Boxes and users as Inherently Inept really gets my goat.

idk what good communities look like anymore bc i'm not part of any and solve shit myself or by asking friends/partners, but for arch, the official wiki tends to have most things well-explained. it's not a complete solution but it should help 🩷

in conjunction w/ the arch wiki, we use stackoverflow, man pages (documentation that doesn't require a website 7 months pregnant w/ javascript octuplets ? gooodddsss it feels good), package manager search, chaotic-aur (has most aur packages pre-compiled as an additional repo, so pacman can search and install them), tldr which is simplified man pages (very handy for example commands !!)

linux systems really are a thousand rats in a trench coat, so understanding what rats ya got helps but can take time. the best way round that is have a system you can break.

for like getting from ubuntu-coded to arch-coded, we're planning some GUIDEs that may be handy. wanna cover basic terminal and shell stuff, standard unix commands, what some of the bigger trenchcoat rats are and why.

until then, if there's any specific questions feel free to drop a message here or in DMs or wherever 🩷

[nocodehackathon]

Hackathon Etiquette: Do’s and Don’ts for Student Participants

Hackathons are exciting, high-energy events where students come together to solve real-world problems, collaborate, and showcase their skills. They offer fantastic opportunities for learning, networking, and potential career boosts. However, they can also be overwhelming, especially for first-timers. Understanding proper hackathon etiquette can make the experience smoother, more enjoyable, and productive. Here’s a guide to the essential do’s and don’ts to help you navigate your hackathon experience.

Do’s for Hackathon Success

Do Plan Ahead

Preparation: Before attending, review the event guidelines, understand the theme, and decide whether you'll participate solo or as part of a team. If you’re teaming up, meet beforehand to discuss ideas. Ensure you have all necessary tools, such as laptops, chargers, and pre-installed software, ready before the event starts.

Bonus Tip: Bring snacks and water to stay energized throughout long hours!

Do Be Open to Learning

Growth Mindset: Hackathons are about learning as much as they are about winning. Embrace the opportunity to develop coding skills, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities. Don’t hesitate to ask questions or seek help from mentors and peers.

Remember: Even if you don’t win, the skills and knowledge gained are invaluable.

Do Communicate Clearly with Your Team

Team Dynamics: Effective communication is key. Ensure everyone understands the project’s direction, roles, and task distribution. Regular check-ins can help keep everyone aligned and address any issues promptly.

Transparency: If you face challenges, communicate them openly with your team to resolve them quickly.

Do Show Respect for Others’ Ideas

Collaboration: Hackathons bring together diverse ideas. Listen to and respect all contributions, even if they differ from your own. Offer constructive feedback rather than dismissing ideas outright.

Team Spirit: Fostering a respectful environment helps your team succeed.

Do Stay Organized

Project Management: With the fast pace of hackathons, staying organized is crucial. Use tools like task boards, to-do lists, or project management software to keep track of tasks and deadlines.

Code and Documentation: Organize your code and documentation to ensure a smooth final presentation.

Do Take Breaks

Self-Care: While it’s tempting to push through without breaks, taking time to rest can enhance focus and prevent burnout. Utilize breaks to grab a coffee, stretch, or participate in event activities.

Recharge: Many hackathons offer activities between coding sessions—take advantage of these to unwind and connect with others.

Don’ts to Avoid at a Hackathon

Don’t Hog Resources or Tools

Share Fairly: Hackathons often have limited resources like power outlets and equipment. Be mindful of sharing and use resources efficiently. For instance, if you have access to a power strip, allow others to use it too.

Respect: Sharing resources ensures a positive experience for everyone involved.

Don’t Ignore the Rules

Follow Guidelines: Each hackathon has specific rules and guidelines. Ignoring or bending these rules can lead to disqualification and unfair advantages. Understand the rules thoroughly and seek clarification from organizers if needed.

Fair Play: Adhering to the rules ensures a level playing field and respects the event’s integrity.

Don’t Overcomplicate Your Project

Scope: Ambitious ideas are great, but keep in mind the time constraints. Focus on a simpler, well-executed project rather than an overly complex one that may not be completed on time.

Functionality: Your project doesn’t need to be perfect, but it should be functional and demonstrate your team’s capabilities.

Don’t Be Overly Competitive

Sportsmanship: While competition is part of the fun, avoid behaviors like trash-talking or sabotaging others. Maintain a friendly and collaborative atmosphere.

Focus: Aim to win but keep sportsmanship and camaraderie at the forefront.

Don’t Be a Lone Wolf

Teamwork: Even if you’re an expert, don’t isolate yourself from your team. Share your progress, seek feedback, and assist others. Collaboration often leads to better outcomes.

Participation: Working together strengthens the project and enhances the experience for everyone.

Don’t Forget the Presentation

Final Impression: A well-executed presentation is crucial for making an impact. Practice presenting your project clearly, highlighting its key features and benefits.

Preparation: A good presentation can significantly influence the judges, even if the project itself isn’t perfect.

Bonus Tip: Network!

Hackathons attract talented individuals from diverse backgrounds. Take the opportunity to network, make new connections, and engage with mentors or industry professionals. These interactions can lead to future job opportunities, collaborations, or partnerships. Networking is a key aspect of the hackathon experience, so don’t hesitate to introduce yourself and engage in conversations.

Conclusion

Hackathons are incredible learning opportunities that allow students to grow both personally and professionally. By following these do’s and don’ts, you can ensure a productive, enjoyable, and respectful experience. Whether it's your first hackathon or your tenth, proper etiquette will help you build stronger connections, work effectively with your team, and make the most of the event. So, gear up, gather your team, and dive into the world of hackathons with confidence!

[hybridmindthoughtsreloaded]

The Last HOPE: REAL ID Act and RFID - Privacy and Legal Implications (Complete)

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a practical and useful technology for locating items without the requisite close proximity as needed with older technology, such as bar codes. However, new technologies such as RFID "powder," internal and external pre-crime detectors, and insertion into children's clothing and other personal items have pros and cons associated with the practicality of its use. In addition, RFID use in access control, identification documents, and banking cards, while convenient and illegal to jam, may lack important security features to prevent unauthorized scanning and usage of the data contained. The REAL ID Act mandates using RFID in ID cards that most Americans should carry for domestic airline travel and must carry for international travel. This discussion will examine current RFID technology and security concerns as well as how the RFID technology implemented in REAL ID Act cards and passports may pose privacy and security risks.

Your Government is forcing you to get a Real ID. Better learn about it.

[blankd]

MushRush SRPG Devlog Aug 10th, 2024

Time for the first update!

READ MORE to see: my production plan, why I'm calling this MushRush, what this week's Golden Duncecap moment was (and how I solved it), and some of THE scrungliest assets.

NOTE: I will be tagging all posts like this with the 'mushrush SRPG' tag, yes even after I figure out a real name for this project

PRODUCTION PLAN

This update will be lacking in screenshots as I was mostly fiddling with the SRPG Plugin suite, locking in a battle/events roadmap for the entirety of the game, and organizing my notes into something more concise. The battle roadmap outlined their purpose (narrative and/or mechanically), if they had something noteworthy in plot or flaovr, their objectives and their failstates, and a rough idea of what visual assets they might require.

There is roughly a total of 33 maps: so far 5 are core/mandatory, 6-7 are optional, the rest are progression. The distribution may change as production goes forward, and the map count may even decrease but I'm absolutely holding myself from exceeding that 33 number as this number does NOT include whatever magic I need to use for towns or 'cutscenes'.

Additionally, I'm holding off on ANY art assets, writing, and such, until the game has a solid mechanical skeleton to be played through. Since there are a maximum of 7 (8 technically, as its sometimes a Unit on the map but has no personality) party members, I'm optimistic about its implementation and testing. I'm also already planning to reuse/upcycle the enemies from Moon-Scarred appropriately. Waste not, want not!

PROJECT NAME/WHY MUSHRUSH?

it's not a spoiler to say this (as it's visually obvious within the first map), but you play as a cleric of a Divine Mushroom and will be carting it around to solve the Undead Problem. I'm fairly bad at titles, so while I know the name Mysilla is important, I can't figure out a snappy game title for it yet, so MushRush will keep things silly. 8)

THIS WEEK'S GOLDEN DUNCECAP MOMENT

The Issue: I encountered my first (and hopefully worst) instance of things breaking where I could not get my template map to run at all- it would completely skip showing the Pre-Battle (win/lose conditions, etc.), (functionally) skip the Battle Preparation Phase (couldn't place any units, but I could 'Start' the battle with 0 usable units) and then enter an infinite loop of the Turn Incrementing even though no Player OR Enemy Turns were occurring.

The problem was so severe and 'unsolvable' that even my basic ass debugging method of putting trigger text to tell me if/when the code was running, would not trigger. After a LONG journey of consulting the demo's documentation- even literally copying the eventing framework, nothing was working.

As I went to reset the Plugins, I noticed that they were in the incorrect order. For context: a (purposeful) function of RPGm is that Plugins have certain priorities and sometimes need a specific order, but when LOADING the plugins into RPGm, it's alphabetical in its folder (because how would IT know what order it's supposed to be in). I fucked up in that I had only remembered to put the core plugin at the top, but loaded the rest alphabetically because I was lazy and had just forgotten this BASIC FUNCTION.

Once the Plugins were organized into their correct order as intended by the Plugins' creator, everything worked as expected. So learn from my mistakes and never forget Rule 0 of RPGm use- check your goddamn Plugin Order FIRST!!

THE SCRUNGLES (aka a Most Unflattering Teaser of the Main Cast)

White = not-Halfling Cleric MC Orange = Dragon(born) Lady Paladin Grey = Orc Rogue Purple = Drow Barbarian Blue = not-Tiefling Sorcerer Red = Human Wizard (a HUMAN? MODS, BAN HER) Green = Goblin Ranger (even though in my notes I call her Druid, whoops!) Brown = yeah that's a cart, what of it

While the broad strokes of the characters are present/set (I'm still figuring out Rogue's clothing, oops), enough details can still change or will later be included to make them less boring, such as how Red/Wizard is an older lady, but there's no point to putting the wrinkles at this stage.

I hope you look forward to whenever I can post their 'talking' scene sprites to show off more of their designs! Thanks for reading~

[hostpyters]

Notion is an all-in-one workspace designed to help individuals and teams organize their work and collaborate efficiently. It combines note-taking, project management, task management, and database capabilities into a single platform. Here is a detailed review of its features and functionalities:

Key Features

Workspace Customization:

Blocks and Pages: Notion’s modular approach allows users to create content using blocks, which can be text, images, tables, checklists, code snippets, and more. These blocks can be arranged on pages that act as the primary workspace.

Templates: Notion offers a variety of pre-built templates for different use cases such as meeting notes, project plans, to-do lists, and knowledge bases. Users can also create and share their own templates.

Note-Taking and Documentation:

Rich Text Editing: Notion supports rich text formatting, allowing users to create detailed and visually appealing documents.

Embedded Content: Users can embed various types of content, such as videos, audio files, and external web content, directly into their pages.

Database Integration: Notes and documents can be linked to databases, enabling dynamic content and relational data management.

Project and Task Management:

Kanban Boards: Notion offers Kanban-style boards for managing tasks and projects visually, providing an intuitive way to track progress.

Gantt Charts and Calendars: Users can create timelines and calendar views to manage deadlines and schedules.

Task Assignments and Reminders: Tasks can be assigned to team members, with due dates and reminders set to ensure timely completion.

Databases:

Relational Databases: Notion supports relational databases, allowing users to link different types of data and create complex workflows.

Views: Data can be viewed in multiple ways, including tables, lists, boards, calendars, and galleries, providing flexibility in how information is presented and accessed.

Filters and Sorting: Advanced filtering and sorting options help users manage and analyze data efficiently.

Collaboration:

Real-Time Collaboration: Multiple users can edit pages simultaneously, with changes reflected in real-time.

Comments and Mentions: Team members can leave comments, tag others, and start discussions directly within the content, facilitating communication.

Permissions and Sharing: Notion allows granular permission settings, enabling users to control access at the page, block, or workspace level.

Integration and API:

Third-Party Integrations: Notion integrates with various external tools such as Slack, Google Drive, and Trello, enhancing its functionality and connectivity.

API Access: The Notion API allows for custom integrations and automation, enabling users to extend the platform’s capabilities. Mobile and Desktop Apps:

Cross-Platform Access: Notion is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS, ensuring users can access their work from any device.

Offline Access: The mobile and desktop apps support offline access, allowing users to work without an internet connection. Pros

Versatile and Flexible: Notion’s block-based system and customizable templates make it highly adaptable to various use cases, from simple note-taking to complex project management.

Unified Workspace: Combining notes, tasks, databases, and collaboration tools into one platform helps streamline workflows and reduce the need for multiple applications.

User-Friendly Interface: The intuitive and visually appealing interface makes it easy for users to navigate and create content.

Strong Collaboration Features: Real-time collaboration, comments, and mentions facilitate team communication and project coordination.

Cons Learning Curve: The extensive features and customization options may require time and effort for new users to fully grasp and utilize effectively.

Performance Issues: With large databases and extensive content, some users may experience performance slowdowns.

Limited Offline Functionality: While offline access is available, some features may be limited or not function as smoothly as they do online.

Complexity for Simple Tasks: For users with straightforward needs, the comprehensive feature set might feel overwhelming or unnecessarily complex.

Notion is a powerful and versatile tool that caters to a wide range of organizational and productivity needs. Its flexibility, comprehensive feature set, and strong collaboration capabilities make it a valuable resource for individuals and teams looking to streamline their workflows. However, the potential learning curve and performance considerations should be kept in mind. Overall, Notion provides significant value for those willing to invest the time to fully leverage its capabilities.

[renpyfornoobs]

Custom channels, and how to make them shush in main menu

Hello there!

My little insight of the day came in the form of a bug that caused me to tear my hair out:

As you're working on the sound design for your game you may come across the need for more than the 3 sound channels available by default in Ren'py (music, sound, voice), and to deal with that you can define your own custom channel like so:

Little explanation: the first quotations are the name of the channel, and the second one is the pre-existing channel it'll base its settings off of. (I was honestly too lazy to look into just making the channel from scratch, sorry.)

That's all fun and games until you find yourself needing to go back to the main menu though. When you do, if a sound is playing on your brand new background_noise channel you'll find out soon enough that it's still playing in the main menu, we don't want that though, now do we?

Well after two whole days of searching and crying, I found the solution which was so simple I scrolled right past it many times in the official documentation.

This single line of code fixes the whole thing... It's so simple! And yet it just didn't register in my mind.

[falkondata]

A Cheat Sheet for EHR Data Conversion and Migration

Bid farewell to data headaches and embrace a seamless transition between Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems! Moving to a new Electronic Health Record (EHR) can feel like scaling Mount Data Everest, but fear not, brave healthcare hero. This cheat sheet is your trusty sherpa, guiding you through the tricky terrain of data conversion and migration.

Before You Begin

Investigate how both your current and future EHR systems handle data export and import. Is it a database dump, APIs, or file transfers? The sooner you understand, the smoother the migration.

Do not assume that all data is easily transferable. Scrutinize your data to ensure it meets the new system’s requirements, as not all elements may seamlessly make the journey.

Don’t rely on cumbersome claim transfers. Wrap up outstanding accounts receivable in your old system before making the switch.

Schedule your migration around holidays to minimize disruption and give your team (and the data!) breathing room.

Conversion Strategies

Embrace a phased approach. Move demographics, appointments, and master lists first. Clinical data can wait (gasp!). This lets your team and the new EHR prioritize and get you online ASAP.

Conduct multiple tests, running trial conversions on small patient samples (say 30 patients). You’ll unearth issues before they become mountain-sized problems.

Consider retaining temporary access to your old system for reference purposes. It’s like a safety net for those “oh, I forgot that!” moments.

Not everything needs a new home. Utilize an archival system for data you don’t need in the new EHR.

Data Essentials

Ensure a smooth migration by prioritizing the transfer of the following essential data:

Patient Information: Demographics, insurance scans, policy details, historic charges/balances.

Appointments: Both past and future appointments, meticulously organized.

Master Lists: Categorize and transfer insurance providers, referral sources, and other relevant lists.

Clinical Data: Chart PDFs, discrete text data, allergies, medications, problem lists, immunizations, and progress notes.

Procedures: Transfer detailed information such as CPT codes, modifiers, and pre-authorization codes.

CCDAs: Acquire the Summary of Care document, a valuable data repository.

Financials: Limited financial data may be transferred, but confirm the specifics with your new EHR to ensure accuracy.

Bonus Tip: Make a list of all your EHR integration points like FHIR, HL7 V2, APIs, CSV files. Don’t leave any data orphans behind!

But fear not, weary traveler! You don’t have to climb this mountain alone. We’re here to help with expert guidance, proven strategies, and a team of data Sherpas ready to tackle any conversion challenge. Contact us today for a free consultation and let’s turn your EHR migration into a smooth and stress-free journey!

Remember, with the right plan and a helping hand, even the mightiest data peak can be conquered.

You may find this article on Falkondata website by following this link: https://falkondata.com/ehr-data-conversion-cheat-sheet/

[crypticvindicatortrench]

The Benefits and Challenges of Using Third-Party IOR Services

Understanding IOR in Shipping

When we dive into the sector of global ior service commerce, the time period IOR, or Importer of Record, quite often comes up. But what does it truly mean? In layman's phrases, an Import of Record is an uncommon or entity in command of making unique that goods being imported observe all ideal legislation and regulations. This carries paying tasks and taxes, filing central documentation, and taking duty for the products until finally they attain their very last vacation spot.

The obligations of an IOR will more often than not be each and every a decent quantity of and sophisticated. For example, for those who're shipping products across the world, you need any person who's regular with IOR which means that in shipping. This is during which 1/3-party IOR amenities come into play.

What is an Importer of Record?

So, what's an importer of listing? Simply located, it certainly is a prison entity or an individual assigned to take care of the importation process on behalf of the other celebration. This function is important since it guarantees that all offender requisites are met for the time of delivery. If you’re all for utilising a 3rd-occasion carrier to your IOR standards, services this function is a needs to have.

Responsibilities of the Importer of Record

The importer of checklist responsibilities include:

Ensuring compliance with customs regulations Paying customs duties Filing required paperwork Maintaining background relating to imports

These initiatives can be daunting for enterprises unusual with international trade rules. However, outsourcing these domestic tasks to a 3rd-birthday celebration provider can drastically streamline approaches.

Benefits of Using Third-Party IOR Services

The fashioned query many groups ask is: why use 3rd-birthday party IOR carriers?

Enhanced Compliance

One clean get benefits is improved compliance with nearby regulations and legislation. Third-party carriers specialize for the time of this issue and function colossal tips approximately diverse overseas destinations' import legislation.

Expertise in Customs Regulations

With ever-changing customs regulation everywhere in the international, having a crew that monitors those changes can save you coins and time. They be certain that every one administrative center paintings is filed appropriately and effectively timed, reducing the threat of effects.

Cost Efficiency

Using a 3rd-birthday party IOR service might also moreover result in value coupon codes. By outsourcing your import requirements:

You circumvent hiring total-time employees. You lower overhead bills linked to keeping an in-place of abode logistics crew.

In many instances, service carriers have pre-negotiated expenditures with vendors that may similarly limit your supply expenses.

Streamlined Processes

Another predominant cash in is streamlined systems. Working with skilled authorities capability rapid processing situations for your shipments.

Faster Customs Clearance

With commonly used relationships at a conside

[parnikajain12]

Experienced Fire Contractors in Singapore – Book Your Inspection Now

Every Singaporean building requires fire protection systems. Property owners in Singapore must engage professional fire contractors as an essential requirement to achieve safety from hazards as well as meet regulatory rules for their buildings which include commercial, residential and industrial types. A professional fire contractor operating in Singapore provides installation and inspection services alongside fire protection system maintenance.

The Singaporean businesses headed by Drako fire provide high-quality fire contracting services through experts who possess extensive industry experience. Building managers alongside owners should consider this company as their preferred choice when compliance and security stand as their primary priorities.

Why You Need a Singapore Fire Contractor

The selection process of Singapore fire contractors represents a fundamental part in developing reliable fire safety management. As a professional certified by the Singapore authority all fire protection systems are properly installed and serviced for full compliance with Singapore Civil Defence Force standards.

Professional fire contractors in Singapore who conduct regular inspections help companies detect potential hazards during their pre-risk or pre-costly developments. A professional fire contractor who works in Singapore can extend the operational lifespan of fire safety equipment through regular maintenance.

Services Offered by Singapore Fire Contractors

A Singaporean professional fire contractor provides a range of services including:

Installation and maintenance of fire alarm systems

Fire extinguisher maintenance

Fire sprinkler system inspections

Emergency lighting maintenance

Fire hydrant testing and hose reel testing

Compliance certifications and audits

When you contract Drako fire, you're contracting a fire contractor in Singapore who has knowledge of the technical and legal aspects of fire protection.

Booking Your Inspection – Why It's Important

Routine inspections by a Singapore-licensed fire contractor keep your building code-compliant and in its best condition at all times, in the event of a disaster. Inspections will detect defects in fire safety equipment that may jeopardize the safety of your tenants, employees, and property.

Not booking periodic inspections with a trained Singapore fire contractor can result in fines, insurance issues, or even an unnecessary fire. For this reason, booking an inspection with reliable services like Drako fire is a proactive step toward long-term protection.

Drako Fire – Reliable Fire Contractor Singapore

Drako fire has established itself as a reliable fire contractor in Singapore by their dedication to high standards, customer service, and technical knowledge. From the installation of new systems to arranging your annual fire safety check, hiring Drako fire ensures that everything will be done once and done well.

Their team is well-versed in the local fire safety industry and achieves results with as little disruption as possible to your day-to-day operations. This makes Drako fire a perfect fire contractor in Singapore for busy property managers and business managers.

The Fire Contractor's Role in Compliance

A Singapore fire contractor is an integral part of making property SCDF compliant. Excellent service, documentation, and support from your Singapore fire contractor allow you to pass inspections and avoid potential fines or liabilities.

Your Singapore fire contractor also advises your fire safety manager in singapore, so that equipment and procedures are harmonized. Such harmonization makes your building's overall safety system more robust.

Integrated Fire Safety Services

It is only natural that building owners also require a professional Fire safety Management service in Singapore on top of engaging a fire contractor in Singapore. Such services are fire drills, emergency planning, and document management—essentials in developing a safe environment.

Combining your fire contractor in Singapore with experienced professionals who offer fsm service in singapore ensures that your hardware and your emergency response planning are fully covered.

Saving Lives and Property

Investing in a well-established fire contractor in Singapore is all about protecting what matters most—people and property. With fires being such a significant risk to both, it is important that all fire systems are in optimal condition. By engaging the services of experienced names like Drako fire, you're making a definitive decision to protect your property and rest easy.

Since fire accidents can be so destructive, preventive work done by a reliable fire contractor in Singapore minimizes risk by a huge margin. From small enterprises to big industrial estates, all property can benefit from professional fire safety services.

Fire Safety Is Everyone's Responsibility.

While the Singapore fire contractor manages the technical, fire safety is also a matter of shared responsibility among building management, occupants, and trained personnel. In  fire safety Singapore where safety is a high standard, maintaining inspections, training, and documentation is not just a good idea—it's the law. That is why increasing numbers of organisations today choose Drako fire, a Singapore fire contractor who understands to blend efficiency, compliance, as well as professional care. 

Conclusion

If you have not booked your next fire safety inspection, now is the ideal time to do so. Hiring a professional fire contractor in Singapore means your property is safe, compliant, and fire-free. With the likes of Drako fire providing assured, high-quality services, selecting the best fire contractor in Singapore has never been simpler. Don't risk your fire safety—get inspected today and secure your future with professional care.

[hayleymedbil]

Leading 10 Medical Billing Complaints: How to Resolve Issues and Get Paid Faster

top 10⁤ medical Billing Complaints: How to Resolve Issues and Get Paid faster

top 10 Medical Billing Complaints: How to Resolve Issues and Get Paid ⁣Faster

In the intricate world of healthcare, medical billing plays a crucial role in ensuring that‍ healthcare‌ providers are compensated appropriately. However, issues ‍can arise that complicate the billing process. In this article, we’ll discuss the top 10 medical billing complaints and provide you with actionable solutions to resolve these issues efficiently, ultimately⁣ leading to faster payments.

Understanding Medical Billing Complaints

Medical billing complaints can occur​ at any point in the​ billing cycle and can impact both ⁤healthcare providers and patients. Knowing what these common issues are can help streamline ‌the ⁢billing process, reduce delayed payments, and improve patient satisfaction.

Top 10 Medical billing Complaints

1. Incorrect Patient Information

Having the wrong information on file—such as patient names, addresses, or insurance details—can lead ‌to claim denials.

Solution: Regularly verify⁤ and update patient information at⁣ the time ⁢of ​service.

2. coding Errors

Errors in medical coding, whether it’s upcoding or undercoding, can lead to claim denials or audits.

Solution: Ensure your team is trained in the latest coding standards and conducts regular audits.

3. Lack of ‍Pre-Authorization

Certain procedures ⁣require prior authorization​ from the insurance ⁢provider. Missing this step results in denials.

Solution: Implement a robust pre-authorization process to ensure ⁤compliance before ‌services are ⁣rendered.

4. Duplicate Claims

Submitting the same claim ⁣multiple times can lead to confusion and denial of⁢ payment.

Solution: Maintain accurate tracking of submitted claims to avoid duplicates.

5. Inaccurate Billing Codes

Billing codes must accurately reflect the procedures performed. Incorrect codes lead to denial and rejection of claims.

Solution: Use updated coding resources and ‌validate​ codes ⁤before submission.

6.Delayed Claims Submission

Claims should be submitted promptly to avoid delays in payment.

Solution: ⁢establish clear​ timelines for claim submissions and‌ utilize technology to‌ track ⁣due⁣ dates.

7.Insufficient Documentation

Claims may be denied if the ⁤supporting documentation is not sufficient or missing.

Solution: Educate‍ your team on the importance of complete documentation to⁢ support claims.

8. Misunderstandings ‌Regarding Patient Responsibility

Patients might potentially be ‍confused ⁣about their financial responsibilities, leading to delays in payments.

Solution: Provide clear information regarding payment⁤ policies and ensure effective communication with patients.

9. Insurance Policy Changes

Frequent changes in ‌insurance policies can affect ‍billing significantly, resulting in ⁤confusion and inaccuracies.

Solution: regularly train staff on policy updates and⁤ have a​ process in⁤ place for ⁣quick verification at the time of service.

10. Claim Denials and Appeals

Claims can be denied for various reasons, ⁤causing frustration for both providers and ‍patients.

Solution: ‌Develop an efficient appeals process, including ​prompt documentation and resubmission of denied‍ claims.

Benefits of Resolving Medical Billing Complaints

Increased Cash Flow: Reduces the time it takes to get paid.

Enhanced Patient Satisfaction: Patients appreciate clear communication and streamlined billing.

Improved Accuracy: Minimizes​ errors, leading to fewer denials‌ and reduced workload.

Stronger Provider-Insurance relationships: Improved accuracy⁤ and submission can strengthen ‍relationships and compliance.

Practical Tips‍ for Resolving Medical Billing Complaints

Conduct training sessions‍ for staff on best practices in‍ medical ‍billing.

Utilize medical‍ billing⁢ software for tracking and reporting claims.

Adopt a proactive approach in verification and coding.

Regularly consult with insurance representatives to clarify policies.

Encourage open communication with patients regarding their bills.

Case Studies: Real-world Applications

Case‍ Study 1: A small practice implemented a dedicated pre-authorization team. Within six months, claim denials due to ⁣lack of authorization dropped by 40%.

Case Study 2: A larger healthcare ⁤network ‌introduced an electronic billing system that decreased the average claim submission time by 50%,⁣ leading to improved​ cash flow.

First-hand Experience with ​Medical Billing‍ Complaints

One healthcare provider shared their experience dealing with claims rejections. By conducting⁤ regular training ⁤and updating their procedure ⁣manuals, they successfully reduced their denial rate by 30%, demonstrating that ongoing education is key ⁣to minimizing billing complaints.

Conclusion

Addressing medical billing complaints is essential for healthcare providers to maintain smooth operations and ensure timely payments. By understanding common ⁤complaints, implementing effective solutions, ​and maintaining open lines ⁢of communication, you can resolve issues swiftly and improve your overall billing process. Remember, proactive measures lead to better cash flow, satisfied patients,⁢ and a streamlined billing experience.

https://medicalcodingandbillingclasses.net/leading-10-medical-billing-complaints-how-to-resolve-issues-and-get-paid-faster/