#Motor Breakdown Cover

[tf-animated-out-of-context]

One last round of trivia:

"The Stunti-Con Job" exists as both a comic and a BotCon script reading; the plots are the same, but the script reading added a subplot featuring Minerva, a medibot determined to meet Ratchet at all costs, who's somehow dragged Warpath along on her quest. (She does also appear in the comic version - see below.)

The script reading also featured a musical interlude - a duet sung by G1 and Animated Grimlocks. I don't think it went according to plan.

Like the story's title, the comic's original cover pays homage to the classic British comedy film "The Italian Job". (As do the picture captions on the relevant TFWiki page.)

Sideswipe and Breakdown share a body-type (first seen on Rodimus Prime) - possibly a callback to the G1 episode "Masquerade", in which that iteration of Sideswipe was disguised as Breakdown. (The same applies to Jazz and Dead End, and, more or less, to Optimus and the Motor Master.) In-universe, all the Stunticons underwent spark transplants into Autobot frames - except Toxitron, who's a clone of Optimus. Not a very successful one.

Cheetor, meanwhile, is a retool of Blurr - a fact Sideswipe remarks on four BotCons later, in "The Return of Blurr". which takes place at about the same time as "The Stunti-Con Job". Hence Blurr's appearance in the latter, in the High Council box alongside Cliffjumper - still cubified, and no doubt still talking twenty-four to the dozen.

Strika's Team Chaar, seen at the very end of this story, has undergone a reshuffle since "Transwarped" - Oil Slick is still there, unfortunately, but Cyclonus, Blackout and Spittor have been replaced by Mindwipe, Sky-Byte, Scalpel and Blot.

As for Autobot cameos, there are too many to list, but most of them are here:

(Botanica is also in this frame, but further up in the High Council box. TFWiki claims that Tap-Out is somewhere in the crowd; I can't see him, though.)

[matrixxsystem]

Boots With The Spurs (the real first chapter)

"Turn left here."

"Where?"

"Just- Up here, left- Left! Your other left!"

"Don't yell at me!"

"Then don't miss the turn!"

"Do you wanna drive?"

"I would but I can't!"

"Well-! Oh.. S-Sorry Don.."

"..It's fine.. just... You stick to driving and I'll stick to giving directions okay big guy?"

"Yeah... Okay.." The drive seemed to take forever, going from New York all the way to "the middle of nowhere" wasn't exactly around the block. Donnie glanced back to where Mikey was sitting, a Jupiter Jim comic in metal hands Donnie had loaned him while his were still recovering. Leo was sitting next to him, watching Mikey read to him doing his signature voices for all the characters. There was a faint smile on his face but it was overcast by the dark circles under his eyes and the bandages covering his limbs. Everyone still had injuries that were hearing but Leos took the most time considering he got the worst of it.. Well, him and Raph really. Raph was another case, it had only been four years since the "Kraang incident" and everyone seemed to be dealing with their own aftershocks even now. 

Leo lost his arm coming through the portal back to Earth, his mind was a mess, constantly having nightmares and losing sleep over his memories. Raph lost his right eye, and split a new alter from the time he was possessed by the Kraangs parasites. Donnie suffered severe nerve damage in his back that sometimes flared enough to cause seizures, Leaving him bedridden, sometimes for days. And Mikey's carpal tunnel got worse, with mild Tendinopathy added to his diagnosis only meaning he wasn't able to use his hands half as much as he'd like to. He could hardly hold a pair of chopsticks long enough to finish a meal before his hands started to cramp up. But they all helped each other through it, they all took turns playing nurse and making sure their family was okay. Or as okay as they could be at least.. The final straw that made them want to leave the city was when Splinter passed away and Leo had a minor mental breakdown. They all decided to go somewhere they didn't have to hide. Somewhere quiet, without the constant reminders of everything they'd lost or the constant threat of danger. With the NYC foot clan disbanded there was less crime, and less reason for them to patrol or try to be heros there. "This is it." Donnie said as he pointed to a driveway that was coming up. "Decrease speed and proceed into the driveway." 

"On it, so.. This is like... A house big enough for all a' us right?"

"Something like that. But fret not, I have a plan to make sure its able to accommodate all of our needs." Raph parked the car, everyone perked up now that they'd stopped moving. Mikey rushed to open the door, excited to see what their new home was going to be like. He expression quickly went from ecstatic to confused. "Dee.. Are we at the right place? This one looks... Janky"

"It is 'Janky' Michael, it's a large plot of land I only managed to get for cheap because of it's quote unquote 'Jankyness' so.."

"It's not janky, it's just a fixer upper is all! Nothin' a lil elbow grease and.. uh... Regular grease can't fix!" Leo got up last, following everyone out of the turtle tank. The overgrown grass and weeds, the dirt road beneath his feet, the warm breeze against his back.. "Raph as fun as this brotherly DIY project sounds, were all seriously injured and none of us can hold or lift anything long enough to repair the front door  let alone this entire house. This is a job for my tech.. The last job for them..." He took out a remote from his pocket and pressed a few buttons, dozens of small robots sprung from the tank and ran towards the house. Scanners covered the house, barn, and even the yard. Then they took a moment to calculate before they started humming with energy. 

"Donnie..?"

"They're supposed to sound like they're about to blow up, the internal motors are half the size of their exoskeletons to give them extra power. Just sit back and be amazed." A few took to the lawn, what looked like a mouth turning into spinning blades that trimmed and seemed to eat the grass. Others went to the house, and started repairing the wood, spewing resin and metal threads, gnawing the broken wood into clean cuts and merging them with the spun material. Others did the same with the barn. And the last few flung themselves into drains and pipes, cleaning them from the inside. They all came together, mixing the materials they'd harvested and made it into paint, coating the house and barn. And after five minutes the house looked brand new, like they were transported to a completely different place.

Donnie gently clapped his hands together and the robots disappeared into the house, "Alright fam, we have two hours, sixteen minutes and forty three seconds till the sun sets. As long as you stay on the property you are free to do at you please, but be reminded there are wild animals and birds of prey about and I won't have a foolproof fence up and running till the bots are finished recharging. Mikey's ordering dinner for us when he feels up to the task and we will be calling first dibs on rooms with the usual exception that the biggest one goes to Raph and I get one downstairs." 

Leo glanced between them with a nod, "I'm uh.. I just wanna sit out here for a bit, stretch my legs and all if it's cool with you." 

"In the grass? I mean, suit yourself but take a shower when you get inside cause, eugh, dirt.."

"Donnie don't you love gardening?"

"Ironic isnt it?" 

"Oh oh I want to pick my room! C'mon Red let's go see what it looks like on the inside!" Raph took Mikey's hand and let himself be pulled into the house, Donnie was busy walking the perimeter and taking measurements, just his usual nerd stuff. Leo went and sat in the grass, it looked faded and dead, but it wasn't as scratchy as it looked, it was actually kind of soft.. He felt another warm breeze and laid back, one arm behind his head as he looked up at the sky. It was so quiet compared to the city, no cars, busses, or trains. No one shouting or promoting anything in the streets. Not even the constant chatter of birds and various stray animals. Sure everything ached, but breathing the fresh country air made that pain seem so small. 

"Leo- Hey, Leoo"

...

"Jesus Crimmity Leo get up before you catch a disease-"

Leo opened his eyes and suddenly the sky was dark. He saw Donnie standing over him with an unamused expression. "Oh.. Hey Dee... I uh"

"You fell asleep. It's fine but maybe do it inside the house next time? Kay?"  Leo rolled his eyes as Donnie offered his hand to help Leo up. He knew by now as much as he didn't want to admit it that he needed to accept defeat. He took Donnie's hand and stood up, "Thanks. What did Mike end up getting for dinner?" 

"You'll see, just get inside before something eats you"

"Pfft.. Okay"

Leo headed inside, opening the door to reveal a surprisingly nice place..? A few feet ahead was a straight staircase leading to the second floor. To the right was a open archway into a decently sized kitchen with an island counter and everything they needed, well, except the food but all the appliances were there! To the left was probably going to be the living room, right now it was pretty empty but it wouldn't take love for Donnie to fill each corner with a plant or Mikey to staple his art to the walls and make it look more lived in. He could see it now, how lively this place would be once they settled in and started their usual shenanigan's.. What were their usual shenanigan's again? He rubbed his eyes trying to think back to why they even left New York in the first place.. He knew his dad passed away but that wasn't the only reason right? 

"Hey Leo! Come check out our rooms!!" Leo snapped out of his thoughts and saw Mikey waving at him from the top of the stairs. He smiled a little and put his hand on the railing heading up to see what the commotion was about. 

"Alright alright I'm coming! Which rooms did you guys pick?" Mikey was practically bounding in place as he waited for Leo to reach the top, widely gesturing to a door that already had an Encanto style sketch scribbled onto the front. "This is my room! It had the best lighting for art! Raphs is the one across from yours over there!" He walked past him pointing to the door with a small blue sticker stuck on at eye height, on the left side of the hall, the back of the house. Then to the door on the right with several red stickers. "Donnie says the one next to mine can be his too so he has a room up here to store stuff, but dont worry that's why he gets the small one hehehe" Leo nodded a little, opening the door to his room, it had a bed, classic. Some empty shelves, a small dresser and two boxes which were presumably his stuff from the tank. He looked back to Mikey who stood in the doorway, still looking so excited he might combust or something. "Soooo? What do you think?" 

"I think.." He shrugged and put his hand on Mikey's shoulder, "It's nice. Really. I can't wait to put it all together, maybe you could make some posters to liven the place up a bit when you're up for it?" 

"Ohhh that's a good idea! Yes! Well need one with cats, and one with lasers! And one with a cat, shooting lasers!!" Leo let out a little chuckle, Mikey always had the craziest ideas..

"Hey Donnie said you took care of dinner, so what're we having?" 

"He didn't tell you? That silly goose, I got some stew from some local restaurant. The.. The Fancy Phrog or something idunno, but it's really good! The dining room is through the kitchen, or there's a hall behind the stairs that goes there too so, take your pick! I'm gonna see if Raph wants seconds"

Leo nodded and left after Mikey, heading downstairs and taking a right to see the rest of the house on his way. The living room had a bookshelf and a long couch, a few of the robots from earlier had formed a monkey chain and were passing books from a box up to the bot who was neatly placing them on the shelf. There were a total of three rooms in that hallway, one was a full bathroom on the left, then Donnie's lab/room in the middle, and a spare room that they had agreed would be their medbay across from the archway to the back of the dining room. Donnie was sitting at the table, he didn't have his phone like he usually would, not even a tablet or projector.. Instead he had a notepad and a pen scribbling something down with one hand while he ate with the other. Leo took the blue bowl that hadn't been filled yet and served himself from the container on the table. "Watcha writing there..?"

"Code.."

"... Okay .. For what?"

"A sentient tractor"

"I'm sorry what!?"

"Kidding. Sort of.. It is code, but it's... How do I put this in a way a Leo would understand- I want a function that lets the machine assess the situation and use variables to determine the best course of action, but the parameters for those variables isn't set in stone, so it needs to be able to adapt and understand a vast blanket of skills to have a full and accurate assessment.."

"...Okay so, a robot with opinions?"

"Sure, well go with that." 

Leo shrugged and ate his food, he was never a big fan of vegetables but the stew was pretty damn good.. His mind wandered back to why they were there in the first place, it was something unpleasant for sure but why couldn't he remember? He looked back up at Donnie, "Hey... This is.. It's gonna sound stupid but can I ask you something?"

"That's never stopped you before."

"Oh ha ha, but seriously, why did we move out here again?" Donnie's hand stopped writing, he looked back at Leo a little confused at first but there was something else too, he was nervous? "You don't recall you're morphine induced rant about wanting to be a 'cowboy baby' or however the Vine goes?"

"..No- But c'mon that can't be the only reason we left the city right? I mean, you guys wouldn't leave everything just cause I randomly blurted out that I wanted to be a cowboy, while I was loopy"

"Well- No that wasn't the only thing that provoked us leaving. But if you don't know the reasons maybe it's better to keep it that way? Your brain might be trying to protect you from information you might not want to know?"

"Oh please, I saw big mama shoot webs from her ass and saw Jericho throw up the special sauce that's used on his food. I think I can handle whatever my brain is worried about!" Donnie sighed, putting his pen down, "Leo, I shouldn't be the one to talk about this really.. But a lot of bad things happened, it was just a constant stream of bad luck and injuries, nearly losing everything, and everyone.. It was bad, so the less you remember the better."

"...But that doesn't answer my question-"

"Then ask someone else! I can't talk about it."

"Can't or won't??"

"Fine. I won't talk about it." Leo huffed and leaned back in the chair. "Ugh... Whatever" Donnie took his bowl and notepad, heading into the kitchen then to his room downstairs. And Leo was alone again. 

-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-

The next morning rolled around  and it seemed like the only thing to do was unpack, anytime Leo tried to ask Raph about why they were there he was only met with, "Go ask Raph" which really wasn't helping.. When he asked Mikey he was also told to "Go ask Raph" so, it was a lose-lose battle really. Eventually he gave up and finished unpacking his boxes, there really wasn't much besides his knick knacks and comics. Most of his other things were trashed or left behind.. He was older now anyways, a lot of what he kept in his teens just didn't spark joy like they used to. 

He pulled out a string of photo booth pictures with him and what used to be his boyfriend, he scoffed at the pictures but he'd held into them all this time. It showed him, on his twenty first birthday and the guy beside him with his arm around Leo. Some dog yokai with blonde fur and a streak of blue dye in his hair, he had a drink in hand and so did Leo. They looked messy and absolutely trashed, but happy. If he was being honest he didn't remember much of that year or the one before it, but like Mikey says, if you don't remember then maybe it's not worth remembering? He set the pictures down on his dresser and flattened the boxes under his arm, "There's gotta be a way to remember all the stuff I'm missing right..? Maybe Cherry can help.. Leo headed out of his room and downstairs where Mikey had dragged Brick, one of Raphs alters, to play "Downbeat" a game Leo never understood, I mean all you do is shake dice and then yell 'downbeat' it's not very fun in his opinion. "Hey, can you help me Mikey-"

"Downbeat!" 

"Mikey hey-"

"Oh! Hey Leo! You wanna play with us?" 

"I'd rather stick my tail in an anthill, then in a fire- Sorry, no, but I do need your help with something soo.. Can you come here for a sec" Mikey pouted a little but put the dice down and headed into the kitchen with Leo, "What's up? Need help rewrapping your nub?"

"Wha-? No, no this is unrelated to me. I need to talk to Cherry" 

"Well, Brick's fronting right now, it might be rude to ask him to leave?"

"I know, that's why I need your help.. Think maybe you would be down to bake? You get to cook, I get to talk to Cherry, you two get some quality time?" Mikey narrowed his eyes at him for a moment, "I don't know why you need to talk to her, but I do want to break in our new kitchen so.. Fine, I'll do it." Leo smiled and put his hand on Mikey's head ruffling the air where hair would be. "While you do that I'm gonna go see what Dons up to, any idea where hes at?" 

"Yeah uh, he's in his downstairs room, the middle one." Leo nodded and headed through the dining room to get to Donnie's room, he knocked seven times in a special pattern. "Password" 

"Wha-? Donnie, open up I did the special knock"

"Password." Leo sighed and rubbed the bridge between his eyes, "God damnit- Just- Open the goddamn door." After a moment of silence the door opened, "You sir, are no fun."

"It's too early for this."

"It's 11:15."

"My point stands."

"State your business"

"Brotherly shenanigan's."

"For or against?"

"For, it's already in motion"

"Seeking asylum then?"

"Why would I do that with you? No, I'm killing time while I wait for the pay off." 

"Noted. Entry granted." Leo stepped into Donnie's room, a few boxes were stacked along the walls, a table was set up with a chair and one of his forearm crutches leaning against it. Along with a bed on the opposite wall. A potted plant already sat on the table beside a stack of papers. "Getting all settled in are we?" Leo joked as he went and sat on the bed. Donnie gave a little shrug as he sat back in his chair, taking one of the papers off the top of the pile and sketching something out. "Yeah yeah, I know, I should be focused less on causing trouble and more on fixing things up or whatever clever advice you have in mind."

"Well that wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but close enough. You're still healing, not just physically either."

"Whats actually funny, is that you guys keep telling me that I'm healing, but you still won't tell me what I'm healing from- I mean if you're going to lie at least make it convincing"

"Oh what? You want me to break your foot or something?"

"I'm just saying a physical injury is way more of a reason to be bedridden than a mental one"

"Well think of it like your brain being punched, is that a mental image wounded enough to make you stop acting like a dum dum?"

"I didn't come here to get roasted."

"Then you came to the wrong brother, my sanctuary comes at a price, otherwise what would be the means to harbor such a fugitive within my quarters?"

"Ugh, I lose braincells when you start using big words-" Donnie rolled his eyes as he kept writing, it was only quiet for a few more moments before one of the small robots that had rebuilt the house came to his side. They both looked down at the small machine and waited for it to do something. 

It started dancing

Leo looked more and more confused and Donnie just nodded along, "Mhmm, Mhmm, I see" He muttered as the little jig went on. "Oh you can't be serious- Did you actually program them to talk through dance? Just give it a voice box-!"

"Shhh! He's not finished. Please, Stephan, continue."

"Stephan??"

"I said shhh!!" He watched as the robot danced for another minute or so before bowing, Donnie gave a small applause and leaned over to extend his hand, picking the robot up and examining it closely. "Well- Are you gonna tell me what it said?"

"..You're still here?"

"Yes! And I'm being nosey! So what's the deal with that thing?"

"To answer your previous question, yes and no. The dancing itself wasn't the form of communication but it was the steps. The tapping was mores code, he was informing me about the structures that were reformed and the ones that would need to be repaired by hand."

"..Oh?"

"Ill be taking care of it later, thankfully with the long, long drive out here I had plenty of time to rest and gather strength so that I would be able to do a fair amount of physical labor provided my bots were unable or I was unable to have one of the Raphs help me since they're quite a bit stronger. But don't worry about it."

"Well hey wait I can help-"

"Did you not listen to the part I said fifteen minutes ago? You, my dear dum dum, are still recovering and are down one arm. While you'd be a good supervisor, or even director if you could read blueprints, it still wouldn't be as much help as the physical strength required to say, lift a post or a seventeenth of a ton of bricks. So, the gesture is appreciated but I'll pass. Besides, you're still seeking shelter correct? Just, sit here and don't touch anything. We'll watch a movie or something you approve of later." 

"Are you seriously gonna go out there?" Donnie looked unamused at his poor attempt to prevent him from leaving, "Should I be worried?" He asked, pushing some papers aside to organize them while he waited for Leo to try and rationalize how much of a dum dum he was being. "Well- No.. But..." Donnie rolled his eyes, "Then yes, Once all the repairs are fully complete we can start doing the real work." He got up from his chair, about to head out. "Real work?" Donnie nodded, "But of course." He looked back to Leo as he stood in the doorway.

"You didn't think I'd purchase all this barren land and not plant something, did you?"

[voidsentprinces]

Void, your AU doesn't sound so bad.

List of things that are happening in Voidsent AU:

Voidsent Prince exist imagine the Archfiends able to just summon the swarms of Voidsent they call on but all across Eorzea like Lightwardens do. The only saving grace is most of the Princes are cognitive and have control over these mass swarms. But if one were inclined to do so, they could overwhelm an area in a bell. While five of these Princes are said to been hunt down by the Void Hunter's Guild. Wrath and Sloth have been missing. No one has spotted or met them but they are speculated to exist since the others introduced themselves as Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, and Pride.

There is a fog over the northern sector of the Central Shroud. No one who goes into it, no matter if its a skilled adverturer, explore, or a Garlean Legion ever come out. If they do, they are catatonic or incoherent. It is impossible to reach the Haukke Manor or cross over to the Fallgourd Float area from here. Even the gate's watchmen have to be changed out every 2 - 4 days or they have a psychological breakdown. At the same time this fog mysterious descended, the Padjal and Gridania loss all communication with the Elementals.

The Sahagin are at war with one of the Voidsent Princes, Envy. Who has been going on one-man raids against the Breeding Grounds. Slaughtering entire clutches of the Tribes out of spite. Limsa Lominsa can't really send a parlay in to aid the tribes without drawing the ire of the Prince. And the Leviathan and Titan summonings from Kobolds in reaction, have become increasingly more and more desperate. Threatening to wipe La Noscea off the map from earthquakes and tidal waves.

Ishgard has "fallen" for 20 years after a cult known as the Sanguine Court, rose up and over threw the Holy See. Only a few of its Noble Houses escaped to Gridania in the process. It would be bearable if the Sanguine Court sent out hostile forces to attack Gridania or Idyllshire or any of the surrounding area. But after the initial take over, its just been dead silence. Nothing comes out of Ishgard, nothing goes into Ishgard. Garlemald sent a few legions to go test its defenses and a few spies to information gather. None ever came out.

Recently a skirmish in Eastern Shroud near Baelsar's Wall turned into a route. The Knights of Ishgard Exiled and the Twin Adders were pushed out of the region as Garlemald pushed its way fully into the Shroud proper. They razed the Slyphlands after Gridania and her allies were forced into a retreat.

Gridania is completely isolated. During the Battle of Carteneau it revealed a being they aided in stopping most of the damage of Dalamud's Fall with the aid of Louisoix. But in revealing such a being who also survived, where Louisoix perished, it alienated Ul'dah and Limsa Lominsa from dealing with Gridania. Forcing them to face Garlemald, the mysterious fog, and the occupation of Ishgard by the exile's foes on its own.

All of this is troublesome. But worse of all, at random intervals for seemingly no reason. Something has occasionally taken over bodies of people. Male, Female, Beast Tribe, Soldier. Garlemald, the East, Thavnair, Sharlayan, La Noscea, etc. It doesn't seem to matter. From time to time, it just...occurs. The person's eyes with be covered in black as they bleed black out of their orifices. They will go into a fit for a short period. Before, whatever it is, takes over motor controls. It will either grow extremely hostile trying to kill everything around it or it will drop dead soon after. The few who survive a run in with it say the person possess will just keep asking the same question over and over: "Where is my, son?"

[furby-science]

The Sterling Saga: The Hardest Part is Getting Started...

I'm what the kids call a Scorpio/Sagittarius cusp. It gives me the worst qualities of both, but the Sagittarian ones are especially irritating. I can handle living a life of hermitude and psychological trauma (I'm missing out on a fireworks show as I type this). What I can't handle is constantly being haunted by the ghosts of my own dumbassery.

I know they're there. I anticipate them. I do everything I can to keep their rattling chains out of my halls.

...so you would think that, even with my tendency to get an idea in my head and then haul off and relentlessly pursue, I would at least have had enough sense to back up my talking furby on fucking Google Drives or something.

...I did not. Thus begins our next great adventure!

Let me give you a little breakdown of how Sterling works. His main computing system is a Raspberry Pi Zero W attached to a speaker and motor controller. His programming is stored entirely on a microSD card. This is the primary copy of his data. His old backups were stored on an old computer of mine which I no longer have, though the hard drive is still in my possession. I hope. I haven't gone through my moving boxes yet.

So, I can take two routes when it comes to retrieving Sterling's data: I can either go through a million boxes, find that hard drive, get an adapter, plug it into my wimpy-ass Lenovo Yoga and get to the data that way, or, I could pop Sterling open, pull out that MicroSD card, pop it in a card reader and back up the primary copy onto the Yoga and the cloud for safekeeping.

Both options are time consuming, but one of them is the fun kind of time consuming and the other is the boring kind of time consuming. So, I'm going with option 2. If option 2 ends in tragedy, I can still hopefully buy a new rig and do an emergency recovery of the data that exists on that hard drive. Hopefully it won't come to that - if I was smart enough to put him together, I should be smart enough to take him apart, right...?

"How in the hell did I do this...?"

After unceremoniously cutting open the zip tie and pulling off his fur, I was met with a sight I vaguely remember: the non-electrical wire that holds the bottom of his carapace in place, covered by insulating tape, and above that, the wires leading to his touch sensors.

One interesting thing of note is that the wire actually goes into his shell, rather than being wrapped around the outside of it. I have no idea why I did this. Surely, there must've been a reason. To keep the battery hatch in place when the hardware wouldn't fit, maybe? I'm not entirely certain, but why else would I take such an approach? Running that metal wire so close to the hardware is just asking to short circuit something otherwise, unless it was positioned just right.

I undid the wire with some pliers, and this is the part where I chickened out. I don't have a screwdriver well suited for unscrewing him, or needle and thread for his ears for that matter. Not to mention a MicroSD card reader (besides my phone that is). After suitably defiling him, I put the old man back together the best I could and made a shopping list of supplies for tomorrow.

The current plan is to get the necessary supplies and very carefully extract that card, ideally without harming Sterling's hardware. Though if I do, it's not a huge loss: I can easily replace aluminum tape or a speaker. I can't easily replace three months' worth of nonstop, agonized coding - or a friend, for that matter.

And so he sits, like a sleeping Buddha unfazed by the ever-shifting cycle of samsara while I scramble to purchase an appropriately sized screwdriver.

If only I could be so enlightened...

[dystini]

Indycar - Social Media

Who, what, where to follow.

Social Media

NTT INDYCAR SERIES YouTube - videos go back 15 years. Twitter Instagram TikTok

Team Penske (Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Will Power) YouTube - a mix of all the series Penske runs in. Go look for the Penske Games - they're hilarious. Twitter Instagram TikTok

Andretti Autosport (Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood, Romain Grosjean, Devlin DeFrancesco, Marco Andretti) YouTube Twitter Instagram TikTok

Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team (Pato O’Ward, Alexander Rossi, Felix Rosenqvist, Tony Kanaan) By far the most active and on-trend of the Indycar teams. YouTube Twitter Instagram TikTok

Chip Ganassi Racing (Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Alex Palou, Marcus Armstrong, Takuma Sato) YouTube Twitter Instagram TikTok

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (Graham Rahal, Christian Lundgaard, Jack Harvey, Katherine Legge) YouTube Twitter Instagram TikTok

Juncos Hollinger Racing (Callum Ilott, Agustin Canapino) YouTube Twitter Instagram TikTok

Ed Carpenter Racing (Rinus Veekay, Ryan Hunter Reay, Ed Carpenter) YouTube N/A Twitter Instagram TikTok N/A

Dale Coyne Racing (David Malukas, Sting Ray Robb) YouTube N/A Twitter Instagram TikTok N/A

AJ Foyt Racing (Santino Ferucci, Benjamin Perdersen) YouTube N/A Twitter Instagram TikTok N/A

Meyer Shank Racing (Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud) YouTube N/A Twitter Instagram TikTok N/A

Indianapolis Motor Speedway YouTube Twitter Instagram TikTok

Indy NXT (Indycar Junior series) YouTube Twitter Instagram TikTok

Media/other

RACER YouTube Twitter Instagram TikTok N/A

Marshall Pruett YouTube Twitter Instagram TikTok N/A

INDYCAR on NBC YouTube Twitter Instagram TikTok

Nathan Brown (IndyStar) YouTube N/A Twitter Instagram N/A TikTok N/A

Dalton Kellett (former driver) YouTube Twitter Instagram TikTok (tech explanations)

Speed You Later YouTube N/A Twitter Instagram TikTok N/A

TikTok

Misc Caterina Masetti Zannini (Callum Ilott's girlfriend) Behind the scenes and Indycar tech explained, some F1 content. James and Becky Hinchcliffe (hasn't been updated in some time) Honda Performance Development - features all series that use honda engines so you'l have to search for the Indycar stuff.

Drivers Pato O’Ward Conor Daly Callum Ilott Christian Lundgaard Alex Palou

Instagram

Misc PitFit (The gym a lot of drivers use)

Podcasts

Racer's Roots - A deep dive into the history of motorsports and the genealogy of the racers we know and love.

The B1tch Stop is a podcast about motorsport hosted by Charlotte, Almay and Steph: an exasperated sports fan who'd make a better team principle than half the paddock, someone that reads about the aerodynamics of cars for fun, and a woman with a lot of opinions and no driver's licence. Follow for biweekly breakdowns of major race series (including F1, 2 and 3, Formula E, W Series, F1 Academy and IndyCar), the judgement of professional drivers based on their birth chart, and very valid and correct opinions about which drivers would catfish each other.

The Race IndyCar Podcast Race reviews and analysis from the fastest circuit racing in the world. Jack Benyon hosts, ex-Indycar racer JR Hildebrand adds expert knowledge, while a host of special guests bring colour and insight. Join us for the ride!

The Week In IndyCar The Week In Indy Car features one or more guests to weave through the latest news in North America's premier open-wheel series and its related junior formula. Like The Week In Sports Cars show, it's an interactive affair driven by listener questions submitted via social media.

Motorsport101 - covers F1, MotoGP and FE as well as IndyCar

Did I miss anything? Have a podcast to recommend? Send me a message.

[grandgobbobarb]

Gonna try doing a solo apocalypse world thing again AZ a writing exercise.

Brainstorm timr...

I like Waterworld apocalypse, so we have that. The skies are crisp. The water is clear. And salt. Everywhere. Fuel is scarce and water must be distilled to be drinkable. The salt gets into everything. Land is rare and jealously horded. Storms rage without warning and can wash fleets under.

I'm going to make two PCs: A Waterbearer and A Chopper.

Initial sitch under cut

First, the cutter. I decided they would have adopted the name of a sea God, but didn't want Poseidon. So I opened Wikipedia. Scrolling looking for cool names I saw someone unexpected: Indra as God of Storms. Yes.

So Indra Stormlord, the Chopper. Cool +2, Hard +2, Hot -1, Sharp +0, Weird -1. Of ambiguous gender, they are wirey, weathered, with eyes scorched by sunburn scars. Their hair is bleached grey by sun and salt.

I'm replacing the motorcycles with sort of high performance individual sailboats. Almost surfboards with sails. Gonna call them seaskimmers. Each has a gasoline motor, a sail, and room for one comfortably. Except Indra's. His is a large flashy sailboat painted with Lightning. Slower than his gang's seaskimmers, it has a powerful gas guzzling engine. Powered up it has Speed+1.

Indra's gang is well armed and disciplined, but the sea-skimmers are fragile and in constant need of maintenance. (3 harm 1 armor small gang vulnerable breakdown). A couple standout gang members are Bullet (Indra's second in command), and Diamond (the best merchant in the gang).

Indra themself wears a 1 armor leather overcoat with mask, an smg (2 harm close area loud), a machete (3 harm hand messy), and a large amount of polished stone jewelry worth 2 barter. Their moves are *pack alpha*, which let's them order their gang around, and *fucking thieves*, which let's them check if their gang has stolen something they need.

Then our Waterbearer. The sample names include Deer, which I adore. She's going to be very tall, skinny, and skittish, with darkly tanned skin covered in scars, and wild eyes. Cool +2, Hard -1, Hot +1, Sharp +0, Weird +1.

Their water source is the only source of clean fresh water around. It's in a grotto on a small island choked by lush vegetation and full of birds. She calls it the Den.

There are three laws in Deer's Den, all punishable by permanent Exile:

Leave all weapons on your boats.

Leave all grudges on your boats.

Do no violence.

Because water is life, and the Salt is the corruption of humankind's violence.

To guard her Den, Deer carries the ceremonial hunting rifle of her office (2 harm far loud), the only weapon allowed on the island. Otherwise she wears little, just a hand woven read skirt, and a series of ivory bangles worth 4 barter.

She hass three special moves: *lawbringer* which let's her attempt to be lenient with enforcing the laws, *embargo* which let's her go aggro to Inflict d-harm by denying water, and *peacemaker*, which let's her call rivals to Deer's Den to negotiate peace.

Deer's Den has three major NPCs: Stag (Deer's guardian), Sparrow (who keeps a library on the island), and Doe (Deer's lover)

In the past Deer was the first person to stand up to Indra's gang, cowing them into submission. Ever since, Indra has served Deer's Den as a sort of field enforcer, keeping the small island safe. (Indra HX+3 with Deer. Deer Hx +2 with Indra)

Next part: initial threats facing the Den.

[thisaintascenereviews]

Bilmuri - American Motor Sports

Let me ask an honest question to open this review up, because it’s something I’ve noticed a lot the last year or so — what’s up with everyone and their mother becoming a country artist? Hell, Post Malone has a new country album coming out next month, MGK dropped a Zach Bryan cover recently, and Shaboozey’s new album (that I absolutely love) is a full blown country / folk album, and even some alternative artists are getting in on it. Bilmuri, the longtime project from former Attack Attack clean vocalist and guitarist Johnny Franck, just put out a new album, entitled American Motor Sports, and this album is one of my favorites of the year.

This was my proper introduction to his music, as Franck has put out so many albums over the course of the last decade, it’s always hard to figure out a good starting point. I figured this would work, because this is a 28-minute album, and he’s also signed to Columbia, at least according to Apple Music. I don’t know JC this is his debut project with the label, but that’s huge. I did hear bits and pieces of the opening track, “Better Hell,” and I was excited, especially if the rest of the album shared that track’s sound: metalcore-meets-country. It’s “yallternative” if I’ve ever heard it, and my god, it rules. American Motor Sports is the perfect summer album, because of its sound, its catchiness, and its energy. It’s also just a great album, through and through.

The funniest thing is that this album is really nothing unique, but as I always say, it’s the execution. American Motor Sports is really fun, catchy, energetic, and written incredibly well. The hooks are absolutely infectious, the breakdowns are some of the crunchiest I’ve heard in awhile, Franck’s vocals are fantastic (as well as the few guests that pop up), and the lyrics are surprisingly poignant a lot of the time. Bilmuri is known for making memes, especially about himself, but the lyrics don’t reflect that, so you can look at this album at face value.

Seriously, if you want some wonderful hooks, you’ll have them for days here. Almost every track is an earworm, especially “Better Hell,” “Emptyhanded,” “All Gas,” “Spinnin’ You Around,” or “2016 Cavaliers (Ohio),” this is one of the catchiest albums I’ve heard in a long time. This is just a lightning in a bottle type of album, where everything came together in the most perfect way. Even the guests are pretty good, which include country singers Dylan Marlowe and Mitchell Tenpenny (the latter of which also appeared a couple of years back on State Champs’ Kings Of The New Age), pop singer Knox, and pop band A R I Z O N A.

It’s Franck that really makes this record shine, and his vocals are impeccable, but his songwriting is so sharp, catchy, and clever, you can’t help but love it. This is one of my favorite albums of the year, and I doubt it’ll change. Some of my favorite albums of this year that I had on the list, let alone real high, have either gone down, or fallen to the wayside (despite still really enjoying them), kind of just because something better came along, but this album is a mainstay for sure. I really, really love this album, and I’ve been listening to it constantly, especially with every song getting stuck in my head. I just have so much fun with this thing, I can’t help but really love it. This is one of the best albums of the year, and if you haven’t listened to it yet, you really need to get on that, because it’s killer.

[spookysaladchaos]

Global top 13 companies accounted for 66% of Total Frozen Spring Roll market(qyresearch, 2021)

The table below details the Discrete Manufacturing ERP revenue and market share of major players, from 2016 to 2021. The data for 2021 is an estimate, based on the historical figures and the data we interviewed this year.

Major players in the market are identified through secondary research and their market revenues are determined through primary and secondary research. Secondary research includes the research of the annual financial reports of the top companies; while primary research includes extensive interviews of key opinion leaders and industry experts such as experienced front-line staffs, directors, CEOs and marketing executives. The percentage splits, market shares, growth rates and breakdowns of the product markets are determined through secondary sources and verified through the primary sources.

According to the new market research report “Global Discrete Manufacturing ERP Market Report 2023-2029”, published by QYResearch, the global Discrete Manufacturing ERP market size is projected to reach USD 9.78 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 10.6% during the forecast period.

Figure.   Global Frozen Spring Roll Market Size (US$ Mn), 2018-2029

Figure.   Global Frozen Spring Roll Top 13 Players Ranking and Market Share（Based on data of 2021, Continually updated）

The global key manufacturers of Discrete Manufacturing ERP include Visibility, Global Shop Solutions, SYSPRO, ECi Software Solutions, abas Software AG, IFS AB, QAD Inc, Infor, abas Software AG, ECi Software Solutions, etc. In 2021, the global top five players had a share approximately 66.0% in terms of revenue.

About QYResearch

QYResearch founded in California, USA in 2007.It is a leading global market research and consulting company. With over 16 years’ experience and professional research team in various cities over the world QY Research focuses on management consulting, database and seminar services, IPO consulting, industry chain research and customized research to help our clients in providing non-linear revenue model and make them successful. We are globally recognized for our expansive portfolio of services, good corporate citizenship, and our strong commitment to sustainability. Up to now, we have cooperated with more than 60,000 clients across five continents. Let’s work closely with you and build a bold and better future.

QYResearch is a world-renowned large-scale consulting company. The industry covers various high-tech industry chain market segments, spanning the semiconductor industry chain (semiconductor equipment and parts, semiconductor materials, ICs, Foundry, packaging and testing, discrete devices, sensors, optoelectronic devices), photovoltaic industry chain (equipment, cells, modules, auxiliary material brackets, inverters, power station terminals), new energy automobile industry chain (batteries and materials, auto parts, batteries, motors, electronic control, automotive semiconductors, etc.), communication industry chain (communication system equipment, terminal equipment, electronic components, RF front-end, optical modules, 4G/5G/6G, broadband, IoT, digital economy, AI), advanced materials industry Chain (metal materials, polymer materials, ceramic materials, nano materials, etc.), machinery manufacturing industry chain (CNC machine tools, construction machinery, electrical machinery, 3C automation, industrial robots, lasers, industrial control, drones), food, beverages and pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, agriculture, etc.

[ironheartedfae]

Timing: Current Probably Location: The streets Feat: @mayihaveyournameplease & @ironheartedfae Warnings: None! Summary: :)

Everything was irritating. The way the air was too warm, the way it made her clothes stick to her skin, the way her hair was falling on her forehead. Far more grown out than Darya had ever let it get. Ren wasn’t really ever in a good mood but today was particularly bad. And it was about to get a lot worse. At least for a bit. She’d have to listen to that awful man, hear the voice coming from his mouth rather than imagined through the text he put online. Thankfully, it wouldn’t be for long. 

Twitchy gloved hands fiddled with the knives in her pockets. Her two trusty balisongs, then several others hidden around. Just in case. You could never be too prepared for a hunt. Certainly not with something as devious and obtuse as the creature going by the (probably stolen) name Beau Bueford. He’d named the place, and she was going to be on time. She might even smile to try and sell the act she’d come up with. Lure him in closer. Make use of that awful fae bond that was supposed to make her feel all warm and welcome even if it only ever made her feel nauseous and empty. 

The lamplit street was mostly empty. Good. There were several alleys for the deed to be done, and several rooftops she could escape to. If all things went well, she’d be home before midnight. And no more names would be stolen by this unruly beast. 

— 

Beau felt good about himself. He was doing community service, practically. The youth of today all wanted illustrious jobs at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and here he was setting up to be a mentor for one of those youths. Truly he was the most eligible bachelor in Maine at the moment. After helping the kid with her resume he’d get her to pose for a selfie together. Then he could write an essay for the town website about how good with kids he is, how much he cares for the future, and how he wants to see each and every youth of the day succeed. Truly he would be a masterpiece of a man to all the single women and men in the town. They would see how delightful he was and flock to him. Beau was practically beaming by the time he arrived at the meeting spot as he imagined the mayor of the town awarding him with a medal for service to the town. All because he went out of his way to help some kid he didn’t even know. 

There had been a little bit of surprise on his end when the girl had suggested they meet in the dead of night, on a near abandoned street. But that was okay. He understood she didn’t want anyone stealing his expert advice. Besides, he’d already told her she was way too young for him. Arriving at the location, Beau saw the shock of red hair illuminated by the street light. “Lali-ho!” He called out, raising a hand in greeting. Beau examined her, hands shoved into her pockets, a slight jitter to her movements like she was waiting for something to happen. Beau let his charming smile pull across his features. “No need to be nervous, I know not everyone’s resume can look as good as mine. Don’t worry dear, I’m going to help you the best I can.” He held out a hand. “Now how about you give me your resume and your name so we can get started?” 

— 

No such lofty  or gracious feelings had been shared by the young thing staring back at Beau. Ren felt nothing but fire in her veins as the swell of magic alerted her that this was the right man. He was fae alright. Bright green eyes scanned each inch of Beau Bueford, just as he was doing the same to her. His cheery demeanor was saccharin, sickly, and shiny. Quite a bit too sweet. Artificial and amplified. If Ren had ever been familiar with cars, and their salesfolk, it might have reminded her of that. Instead, her mind went immediately to a breakdown of strategy.

Intricate swirling tattoos covered nearly every bit of exposed skin not on his face. Though, even there by the ears not quite round enough to be normal, small tattoos had been littered about too. Spriggan. Ren sneered. Thief. Weak little pest worse than the entomae, worse even than the pesky little fae parasites who take things from people's homes. Spriggan were habitual thieves, they couldn’t help it. This one had an obvious affinity for names and that just wouldn’t do. The only way to put an end to this was to get her iron blades buried deep. Knock that smug look right off his face. 

There wasn’t time to give herself any specific protection (like flipping her clothing inside out, what a strange thing to fear…), though Spriggan weren’t exactly known for great fighting prowess. Just a lot of illusions and fuckery. But Ren could keep up with that. She could feel the vibrations, she could know which was real and which was an image. At least better than a human. Though she appeared to have caught him off guard enough, he didn’t suspect much. He was just so annoying. The more he talked the more Ren’s heartbeat kicked into gear, she couldn’t help herself but growl before lunging– 

“The only thing I will be giving you is quick death.” 

—

It was very delightful that his special youth project was another fae. Not only was he giving back in the human community's eyes, but the local fae community would really see him stepping up. Maybe a hot muse would find that very inspiring of him. He'd always had a thing for the muses. There was just something about them that inspired him. Hard to put his finger on exactly what it was. Beau would have kept his asinine talking up, but the fae child wasn't behaving right. A quick death? What could she mean by that? They were both fae, why would she try to kill him?  

Oh, she was actually trying to kill him. Beau fell to the ground as he tried to duck out of the way. What was he supposed to do if someone wanted to kill him? He'd only ever been in one fight with the warden. He'd talked his way out of this one. Beau steeled himself. He would just have to talk himself out of this one. But with another fae? That was the part that confused him. Beau started crawling on the ground, trying to caterpillar away from the crazed fae. 

A fence to a building was in front of him. The grating of the fence was crisscrossed in a tight pattern. Maybe tight enough to keep a knife from poking through. Beau rolled behind it, shutting it tight. "Hey! Hey now!" Beau said, still cowering in a fetal position behind the fence. "We can talk this out. You're really passionate about that BMV job, I get it! I would be too. You don't need to kill me for it! Tell you what, I will personally get you a job there if you help me. It's a great job for a fae like us. We can steal as many names as we want. We can even look at the names before we steal them. Super easy. You'll love it, kid, promise." 

—

As small as she was, Ren had to put every ounce of her weight into every throw to make them land. The force of lunging didn’t stop the way it should have. Of course it didn’t, because there was suddenly nothing to stop it. The man had crouched at just the right angle at just the right time that he ended up table topping the attacker, sending the angry nymph toppling over her own two feet. Gravel dug into the parts of Ren’s skin that hadn’t been shielded by the large jacket and as she rolled to right herself, she silently thanked Emilio and the fact that she had managed to patch things up with him. He wouldn’t like what she was doing right now though. Not at all.

But… maybe this was different. Taking out something like Beau was a boon to society. Her head whipped around, seeing his shadow dip behind the metal fencing. Worse, she heard his voice come straight through. “I do not care about the stupid BMV you LOUD imbecile!!” Any more fire and she would have to become an oread or hesperidae just to keep up. Everything he said riled her up more. Ren gritted her teeth and shot an arm through one of the holes in the fencing. She was certainly tiny enough to do so, but once again her knife only found air. “There is no we, filth.” 

— 

“You don’t care about the BMV?” Beau was indigent. What did this girl mean she didn’t care about the BMV? The BMV was the most magical place on the earth. He had to be hearing that wrong. He shoved a finger in his ear, squishing it around for good measure.  A good bit of ear wax came out with the action. He wiped it against his pants. “It’s the most magical place on earth!” Beau added, repeating the words in his own head. “No we? Little darling, we’re both fae. The we is literally the fair folk. We’re defined by it.” Beau ducked out of the way of another blade shove, crawling a little farther away. “Did I steal someone’s name, you know? I can’t return it. If you kill me it’ll never go back.”

“Okay, okay!” Beau was pushing himself up to his feet, holding his hands up in the universal sign of I am absolutely no danger. “Let’s talk about this! Let’s have a conversation like fae. Why don’t you give me all the reasons you want to harm me?” That was the same trick he’d used on the warden. The same warden. The warden had forgotten then why he wanted to harm Beau, but Beau being Beau had given him a new reason. He’d taken his name. That was why the warden was still hunting him. 

— 

Ren rattled the fence like an angry dog trying to bite the mailman. Too angry to fight smart. None of the others had been this talkative. None of the others had been this infuriating. They were different things (Betrayed, angry, sad,) but not this. Nothing like this. He was trying to appeal to Ren by offering her a kinship in their shared ancestry. It was perhaps the furthest thing from what the girl wanted to hear. 

“This is not personal.” In a movie, this would have been a cool line just before the hero takes down the bad guy. In a movie it would have been so much clearer where the rights and wrongs lay. Instead, it was life. Ren didn’t even have the context to understand what she’d said was practically a trope. Instead, she vaulted herself upward, scrambling up the side of the fence so she could pounce down. End it. Stop his stupid voice, and the stupid words coming from his stupid face. “Monsters like you are why no fae is safe.”

Ren was seeing red. Not thinking clearly. Not thinking about the way anger bubbled up inside her and turned into words that clambered out just as her foot cleared the top of the fence. “I want to kill you. Not Harm. Kill.” She shouted, knives at the ready. An assassin in the streetlight. “I want to kill you Beau Bueford, for hurting humans!!” It slipped away. “For stealing names!!” That too. “For all of the awful mean-spirited things you do!!” The response left her lips and sent her head into a dizzy swirl. Momentum betrayed her for the second time that evening. Propelling the nymph over the top of the fence and hurdling downward. A fugue state falling star. Careening right at the spriggan of the hour. 

— 

An angry fae was a dead fae. That’s what Beau always said. Well, actually he’d never said it before this particular moment. It seemed fitting though. The angry fae who was set on hunting him truly did give him all the reason she wanted him dead. Just like that the threads that held all that information snipped into bits, tearing it from the quilt of her life and sewing it into Beau’s ever growing collection. It was funny. The girl carried so much anger with her, that when push came to shove she dealt her hand too early. Falling for a classic fae trap. 

Beau stepped out of the way as the girl fell to the ground. Once she hit the ground, Beau crouched next to her. “To be honest kid, I don’t think I can recommend the job for you.” Beau told her, his voice serious and calm. His signature smile was missing in the moment. “I just don’t think you’re suited for a life of customer service. Anger issues, you know? The customers, they’ll do anything. They love screaming and yelling. You gotta remain calm. I have a feeling you have a lot of anger. Probably why your hair is red. It’s full of rage.” Beau patted her back. “It’s okay. You’ll get a different job.” Beau noticed her knife had landed near them. He picked it up by the blade only to immediately drop it. It stung of iron. “What is a fae like you doing carrying around an iron blade?” He asked her, getting to his feet and kicking it towards her. “You’re going to hurt yourself on that thing.” 

— 

The whirring thrum ringing through Ren’s ears was becoming an uncomfortably familiar thing. Showing up nearly every day since arriving in Wicked’s Rest. Or at least, every day that she went into town. Every day she interacted with locals. Every day she went online and saw things that made her head spin, though… she couldn’t quite recall all of them anymore. 

She hadn’t even put her arms out in front of her to stop her fall. She just… what was she doing here? Where was she? There was sound, a voice, behind her. Trying to focus on it was like trying to stare at the sun. All too bright, too much, all at once. “Job.” She repeated, flatly, dryly. “Wh- Huh??” The whole of the conversation that led here, all of it had been whisked away. It left Ren reeling, nauseous, and unable to process any of what was going on. If there was anger left in her, it wasn’t able to gather up enough to become anything. Heat slipped away, ebbing out into the ground below. 

He was touching her. Who… who was he? Did she know him? He was– no. No that’s not… Ren’s shoulders tensed, pitching up like she was having an allergic reaction to touch. To being close to something awful but not being able to pinpoint why it made her so uncomfortable. Fae. Fae. Fae. Whatever it was, what he was– who was he again? Iron blades. Those still registered as hers. Still something she needed. Her hands felt empty without them. But why did she need them now? 

“Who– are you..?” 

— 

A paternal figure might feel bad for the confused kid in front of him. They might want to talk it out. They might have felt the urge to help a fellow fae who was obviously confused. Not Beau. Beau had tried to help and it had landed with him almost getting stabbed. Beau scowled down at the redheaded fae. “No one who cares to know you.” He answered. His arms crossed over his chest. “You should be disgusted with yourself. You’re a disgrace. A fae carrying around iron blades? And you planned to stab another fae with that? You’re a traitor to your kind.” Beau spat on the ground next to her. “I never want to see you again.” 

Beau had done a lot of shitty things in his life. Beau had stolen names from his fellow faes, he’d bragged to them, he’d led a warden to their door steps and endangered them. None of that mattered, not to Beau, not right now. Not when he knew he had a high horse to sit on. Not when he knew he wasn’t fae traitor. The only time he’d actually put other fae in danger had been an accident. He hadn’t known the Warden was on his trail. It was forgivable. Whatever this was in front of him wasn’t. 

“If you really want to hurt a fae, hurt yourself.” Beau was done here. Beau was tired of being here. Beau walked away. As he walked, his usual happy jaunt entered his step. A whistle came to his lips. A joyful tune filled the empty night air. He hadn’t died. That made it a good night in his books. He’d lived an attack and once again added to his collection. He was happy with how this ended. 

[zoobus]

May I ask why you went to what sounds like extraordinary lengths to turn one of your windows into what sounds like a fully sound-proofed and insulated section of wall? Is the privacy just worth more than the light and airflow? How did you even figure out how to carry out the project?

Initially I assumed you stumbled upon a years old post wherein I filled my window with insulation, covered the window with an extremely heavy 4x8 foot rigid foam sound insulation board, then covered that wall with the heaviest blackout curtains I could find:

But now I've realized you probably mean my current set up, which is frankly just a regular blackout curtain with some left over insulation half-assedly stuffed at the top to keep most of the sun out

(sunbeams are brighter than they appear)

The first setup was due to living right next to a highway in a college town (do not do this, ever). It sucked for a multitude of reasons but the biggest? It was so fucking LOUD. I'm sound sensitive in general, but there's no way the noise pollution wasn't killing the whole apartment. Directly facing a noisy courtyard in an area with zero activities for kids older than 8 to do, lonely dogs barking all day long, 2fast2furious wannabe losers taking 5 minutes to start their cars at 7am before peeling out into the 25mph school zone, poorly designed crosswalk intersections that guaranteed the screeches and honks of near collisions, so many fucking motorcycles and muscle cars ripping their motors at ear rupturing speeds at 2am and ONLY at 2am. I've never had so many noise triggered breakdowns in my life.

It was actually a mutual that suggested the sound barrier setup. I installed that shit the same day. It didn't *fix* the original, but it did muffle them enough for survival. I thank her for that.

For the second one, I just can't sleep when the sun streams in. I'm already a night owl with a day job - why risk leaving a sleep-destroying gap every night? Just keep it closed.

Is the privacy just worth more than the light and ventilation?

I walk around naked and I have electricity. Ventilation comes from other rooms

[apexmotors13]

Stay Safe: Essential Traffic Rules to Follow by Apex Motors

At Apex Motors, your safety is our top priority. As a trusted provider of the Best car repairing services in Kalamna, Nagpur, we believe that responsible driving and adherence to traffic rules are essential to ensure safety on the road. Here's a detailed guide to help you stay informed and make the roads safer for everyone.

Key Traffic Rules Every Driver Should Follow

Always Wear a Seatbelt: Whether you're driving or seated as a passenger, wearing a seatbelt is non-negotiable. It significantly reduces the risk of injury in the event of an accident.

Adhere to Speed Limits: Overspeeding is a leading cause of road accidents. Stick to the prescribed speed limits to avoid fines and ensure control over your vehicle.

No Use of Mobile Phones While Driving: Distracted driving is dangerous. Use hands-free options if you must attend a call, but it's safer to pull over and stop before using your phone.

Follow Traffic Signals and Signs: Red means stop, green means go, and yellow is for caution. Traffic signals are there to regulate traffic flow, so follow them diligently.

Do Not Drink and Drive: Alcohol impairs your judgment and reaction time. Always arrange for a designated driver or use public transport if you’ve consumed alcohol.

Keep Your Vehicle in Top Condition: Regular maintenance ensures that your car runs smoothly and reduces the likelihood of breakdowns. Visit Apex Motors for top-notch services, including the Best car mechanic in Dighori, Nagpur.

Yield to Pedestrians: Pedestrians always have the right of way at crosswalks. Be courteous and let them pass safely.

Use Indicators for Lane Changes: Signal well in advance before turning or changing lanes to alert other drivers of your intentions.

Carry Valid Documents: Always have your driving license, registration papers, insurance, and pollution certificate handy while driving.

Avoid Overloading Your Vehicle: Overloading can compromise your vehicle’s stability and increase the risk of accidents. Stick to the recommended passenger and load limits.

Why Choose Apex Motors?

At Apex Motors, we ensure your car is in the best condition to tackle the roads. Our expert technicians offer reliable solutions for all your vehicle needs. Whether you’re looking for a car mechanic near me or the Best car repairing services in Kalamna, Nagpur, we’ve got you covered.

Our Services Include:

General car repairs and maintenance

Engine diagnostics

Brake and suspension repairs

Oil changes and tune-ups

Emergency roadside assistance

Drive safe and trust Apex Motors for quality service and support. Your journey to safer roads begins with a well-maintained vehicle, and we are here to help you every step of the way.

For inquiries or appointments, visit us today at Apex Motors, where you’ll find the best car mechanic in Dighori, Nagpur, dedicated to keeping you and your vehicle road-ready.

[rentareliablecar-blog]

Questions To Ask Service Provider Before Renting A Car

Are you looking forward to renting a car in Amman Jordan? Well, every car rental company will have their own terms and conditions applied. So, you need to be aware of everything including rental policies before investing in the Best car rental in Amman Jordan for rental. In order to simplify the process for you, we have brought a list of questions to ask your service provider before hiring their rental cars.

Important Questions to Ask

Is the car rental agreement insured?

It is important to ask your Jordan Car Rental company about this because not all agreements are automatically covered under insurance. Mostly, the basic motor insurance is included. Also, there is car hire excess insurance to protect you from unexpected expenses such as vehicle repair if in case it gets damaged. So, carefully verify what insurance plans are attached to the agreement.

What is the daily mileage limit of the rental car?

Make sure to inquire about the daily mileage limit on the rental car you hired before signing the agreement. Keep in mind that if they do not have a strict daily limit, the total miles you can drive might be restricted for the entire hire period instead.

Although unlimited mileage would benefit you as the hirer, it is unlikely to be offered by the service provider of Jordan Car Rental. You never know, sometimes, exceeding the agreed mileage limit will result in additional charges when you return the vehicle. So, ask about the hidden costs and special fares beforehand.

What is the overall cost of renting the car?

This may seem like an obvious question, but it is important to get clear details about the complete cost of renting a car. You have to confirm whether the advertised price reflects the actual cost you will pay. Ensuring clarity upfront can prevent any surprises later on. This will help you decide the best car rental in Amman Jordan. 

What steps should I take if my rental car breaks down?

Unexpected breakdowns can occur with any vehicle at any time. To avoid being stranded, always note the contact details for breakdown assistance during the rental period. In addition, request an out-of-hours contact number for emergencies. If you encounter a problem with your car during the hire, the rental company must provide assistance immediately. Make sure they arrange for roadside repairs or replacements, if necessary.

Wrapping It Up!

Do not forget to ask the above questions to your car rental service provider before hiring the car. Make sure to get a clarification from the company regarding the agreement and policies. If you are looking for a trusted provider, Rent A Reliable Car can be your ultimate choice.

For more details visit our website rentareliablecar.com

[kierasmith]

Replace Or Repair: What Should Be The Verdict When It Comes To Your Car

Irrespective of where you are from or what model you have, when it comes to cars, one of the biggest decisions is choosing between whether to go for a replacement or repairing your old car. It goes without saying that proper maintenance of the car can make sure your car is healthy and running excellent for a long time. You can even make sure of regular visits to collision repair henderson nv, but it can only be well for a long time.

However, after certain years, it is inevitable to be across a situation where you have to choose between repairing your old car and replacing it. Quite frankly, this decision varies from one person to the other as there are many contributing factors out there.

Let us take a look at what should be your verdict.

The safety

It is ideal to get the vehicle checked to spot looming issues and get advice on how serious they are. The more repair estimates get up, along with the forecasts, the closer one can be to deciding on a new car.

The best-maintained cars tend to wear out, given the potential risks of having a breakdown while driving. The new cars today come equipped with a lot of standard safety equipment like side airbags and brakes and optical active safety technology as well. The old car might not have the safety features as it ages, and it might be then it is time to look at a new car as a replacement.

The cost

It almost always costs you less to repair a car than to purchase a new one. Even though something as severe as a blown motor or a failed transmission can cost a lot to replace at a dealership, such repairs still do not cost as much as purchasing a new car.

That amount could certainly make a nice down payment for a car, but there are other costs you have to consider, like the monthly EMI, increased insurance registration costs, and depreciation.

Keeping insurance costs in check

As a used car tends to be cheaper to replace, insurance for an old car will likely be more affordable than covering a brand-new ride.

No more obnoxious noise

The obvious benefit of a new car is the ability to sleep at night without worrying about dealing with another repair the following week. The new car comes with warranties that generally cover the issues for the first three years.

Wrapping Up

While reputed mechanics like the VIP collision center Henderson can make sure to advise you whether you should make a new car or not, you should still do your research before making any decision.

Source: https://tumblrblog.com/replace-or-repair-what-should-be-the-verdict-when-it-comes-to-your-car/

[james34111]

Five Easy Steps to Find the Perfect Icecream Cart for Sale

When it comes to selling ice cream, the right cart can make all the difference. Whether you are starting a small business or adding to your existing one, choosing the right ice cream cart is essential for success. It can be overwhelming to have so many options, but do not worry we have got you covered. In this beginner’s guide, we will walk you through five easy steps to find the perfect icecream cart for sale.

1. Understand Your Business Needs

Before you start shopping, take a moment to think about your business goals.

What is your target audience? If you are selling at family events, you might want a bright, colourful cart to attract kids. For high-end venues, a sleek and professional design may work better.

Where will you sell? The location is crucial. Will you be in parks, fairs, or busy city streets? The cart you choose should suit the terrain and environment.

What is your daily volume? If you plan to sell large quantities of ice cream, look for a cart with plenty of storage. For smaller-scale operations, a compact cart might be enough.

By understanding your needs upfront, you will save time and money later.

2. Decide on a Budget

Ice cream carts come in a wide range of prices, from budget-friendly models to high-end designs with premium features. A well-defined budget will assist you in reducing your selections.

What to Consider:

Initial cost: Basic push carts may cost less, while motorized or refrigerated carts are pricier.

Maintenance: Do not forget about ongoing expenses like repairs and upkeep.

Customization: Adding branding or special features can increase the cost.

Pro tip: It is tempting to go for the cheapest option, but investing in a quality cart can save you from headaches down the road.

3. Look for Essential Features

The right features can make your job easier and improve customer experience. When comparing carts, look for these key elements:

Storage Capacity

How much ice cream can the cart hold? If you are planning long sales days, you will need a cart with sufficient storage for ice cream and dry ice or a freezer system.

Mobility and Ease of Use

Will you need to move the cart frequently? If so, look for lightweight designs with sturdy wheels. A cart with ergonomic handles is also a plus for comfort.

Refrigeration Options

Some carts come with built-in freezers, while others rely on ice or dry ice. Refrigerated carts are more expensive but keep ice cream at the perfect temperature for longer.

Design and Branding

A visually appealing cart can draw customers in. Consider a cart that allows for custom branding to make your business stand out.

4. Test Durability and Quality

Durability is a must for any ice cream cart. After all, it is an investment that should last you for years.

Check the Materials:

Stainless steel carts are durable and rust-resistant.

Plastic models are lightweight but may not hold up in harsh weather.

Inspect the Build:

Before buying, examine the cart’s structure. Are the wheels sturdy? Is the frame solid? Weak construction can lead to breakdowns, costing you time and money.

Read Reviews:

Online reviews and testimonials can give you insights into how well a cart performs in real-life conditions.

This step can help you avoid costly blunders, so do not skip it!

5. Consider Customization Options

Your ice cream cart is not just a tool—it is part of your brand. Customizing it can help you stand out from the competition.

Branding Ideas:

Put your company name and logo in the cart.

Use bright colours and eye-catching designs.

Install a canopy or umbrella for added flair.

Customization might cost extra, but it is a worthwhile investment if it attracts more customers and boosts your sales.

Final Thoughts:

Choosing the right icecream cart does not have to be a daunting task. By understanding your needs, setting a budget, focusing on essential features, and prioritizing durability, you will find a

cart that works for you. Do not forget to add a personal touch with customization to make your business shine.

FAQs

1. How much does an ice cream cart typically cost?

Ice cream carts range from $500 for basic models to $5,000 or more for advanced, refrigerated carts.

2. Can I use a regular cart for selling ice cream?

While possible, a cart designed for ice cream ensures proper storage and temperature control.

3. What type of ice cream cart is best for outdoor events?

A cart with durable wheels, weather-resistant materials, and refrigeration is ideal for outdoor sales.

4. Is customization worth the cost?

Yes, customization helps attract customers and reinforces your brand, often leading to higher sales.

5. How do I maintain my ice cream cart? Clean the cart regularly, check for wear and tear, and ensure refrigeration systems are working properly.