#Unit Load Device

[wall-maria-around-ba-sing-se]

Things you learn by reading the Xenoblade X pre-story short stories that were never officially translated:

The gravity on Mira is 0.94 that of Earth

The Planet Mira was named after a woman from Earth named Mira Torrez. I think it's possible to learn this in-game but I've never seen it personally

The literal first thing you learn about Mira Torrez is that she was Protestant. Which I'm sure she could be but, statistically speaking, with that last name she probably wasn't lmao

Mira was considered the "emotional backbone" on the Earthlife Colonization Project and helped bridge the communication gap between regular citizens and the more military/governmental sides of the project. She was simultaneously a clergywoman, an educator, and a scientist. Without her, many normal people perceived the project as too concerned with preserving national interests rather than life on Earth. Mira was focused on steering the plan to be "free of racial, national or religious motives"

Mira chose to stay behind on Earth as it was attacked seemingly to help board people until the last second 🫡

Most of the people in current-NLA worked in heavily-fortified sectors of the ship like the Habitat Unit and the bridge. Meanwhile, the escape pods (like the one the player is found in) were for crew members who worked in less fortified sections of the ship

The Ghosts are called such not because we don't know anything about them, or because they disappeared suddenly, but because they phased through the hull of the ship when attacking

Tatsu got captured trying to get his shut-in friend to go outside and Touch Grass. He also got captured by the Prone RIGHT as the White Whale was crashing onto Mira.

While being dragged back to the Prone camp, Tatsu wished on the White Whale like a shooting star which, to me, felt very much like:

The Nopon did not know they lived on a planet until these weirdo aliens showed up and told them they live on a big ball in space

Nagi is the one who decided that Tyrants are called Tyrants

Nagi's the one who named it New Los Angeles/NLA

Nagi is the one who got rid of the ranks (recall in the beginning of the game, Irina is used to calling Elma "colonel" but Elma corrects her saying they're all the same rank now) mostly because he didn't actually want to be the chief defense minister lamo

Nagi ended up being defense minister anyways because Vandam called him a chicken about it

It was already obvious based on his in-game dialogue and battle lines, but the short stories really drive home that Nagi really really would rather be in the field commanding a small squad than be stuck at a desk doing paperwork

He tried to get Vandam to take the job but when that fails he ends up making it so Vandam has to be head of BLADE

Before the reorganization, Elma outranked Vandam

Nagi is the one who named it BLADE, seemingly based on something Elma had said a long time ago

Nagi is constantly going "man.... if only Elma was here" and I think it's so cute. They're besties your honor.

Maurice was the only "passenger" awake on the White Whale while it was in space. Everyone else was crew.

Maurice was supposed to be loaded into the lifehold alongside the president (unclear if Of The US or of some other organization) but the alien attack started and the president and the other aides fucking died(?). He woke up on the ship alone and he was depressed with survivors guilt for a few weeks until he resolved to start building connections with people, which ended up getting him a lot of ears up the chain of command

Maurice ended up running the government because everyone else thought it was a boring job

Nagi muted Maurice's comm device because he was sick of his nagging lmao. This made it harder to find him after the crash though, unfortunately

Maurice looks up to Mira Torrez and wants to "carry on her ideals"

Maurice was the one who suggested the planet be named after Mira

Lin saves Maurice's life by using herself as bait to lure a Tyrant away from him with flares

While all of the characters agree it is an unfortunate necessity that they have to fight the indigens, Lao seems to be the most against fighting native fauna, rolling his eyes and scoffing at retroactive justifications like "sorry, but it was me or you"

Nagi notes that Lao used to be more cheerful "before all this". I did not know that Nagi knew Lao before the destruction of Earth

Elma does not make an appearance until the end of the final short story. Unsurprisingly, Irina is the happiest about Elma resurfacing and is described as "clinging" onto Elma "with tears in her eyes" (👈 👀 🏳️‍🌈❓) while Elma explains where she's been this whole time (fixing her Skell after the crash so she could meet up with the others)

[techav]

On Multitasking

Sharing a Computer with Friends

The Motorola 68030 was a decently powerful microprocessor for its day. It is a fully 32-bit processor with 16 general-purpose registers, separate instruction & data caches, memory management unit, 18 addressing modes, over 100 instructions, pipelined architecture, and was available rated up to 50MHz. It was used in computers by Apple, Amiga, NeXT, Sun, Atari, and saw further life embedded in devices such as printers, oscilloscopes, and network switches. It was the kind of microprocessor used for desktop publishing, 3D CAD & animation, photo & video editing, etc.

In short, the 68030 is a microprocessor that can do some serious work. That's part of why I like it so much. It's a real workhorse chip but as far as 32-bit microprocessors go, it's dead simple to build with.

But running a single quick & simple BASIC program hardly seems like an adequate exercise for such a capable chip.

There is a prevailing claim that the 68000 architecture was heavily inspired by that of the PDP-11 or VAX minicomputers — powerhouses of the previous generation of computing. These machines ran entire businesses, at times servicing many simultaneous users. Surely the 68030 with similar capabilities but significantly faster instruction throughput than the decade-older machines would be more than capable of handling such a workload.

As I've mentioned before, one of my end goals for my 68030 projects is to run a proper operating system. Something like System V, BSD, or Linux; a true multi-user system befitting of the 68k's architectural heritage. My programming skills are limited, and getting such a complex project running is still outside my reach. But I am learning, and slowly inching myself closer to that goal.

Recently I built an expansion card for my Wrap030 project to add another four serial ports to it. In the context of the old minicomputers, another serial port means another terminal, which means the ability to serve one more user. My new 4-port serial card should give me the ability to add four new user terminals.

If only I had software capable of doing so.

Excluding symmetric multiprocessing and today's multi-core behemoths, supporting multiple user processes on a single computer processor means dividing time between them. The computer will run one user's program for a little while, then stop and run another user's program for a little while. Do this fast enough and neither user might ever notice that the computer is paying attention to someone else — especially since the computer spends much of its time just waiting for user input.

There are a few ways to accomplish this, but the simplest is to just make sure that every user program is written to cooperate with the others and periodically yield to the next user program ("Cooperative Multitasking"). A good time to do this is whenever the program needs to wait for input from the user or wait for a device to be ready to accept output.

Enhanced BASIC (68k EhBASIC), which I have been running on all of my 68k computer builds, was written in such a way that lends itself well to this sort of cooperative multitasking. It runs a tight loop when waiting for input or output, and while running a BASIC program, it stops at the end of each line to see if the user has pressed Ctrl-C to stop the program. This means that EhBASIC never goes too long without needing to check in with slow I/O devices. All that would needed is a simple kernel to set things up and switch to another user's processes whenever each time one of them is waiting for I/O.

So I set about creating such a minimal multi-user kernel. On startup, it initializes hardware, sets up some data tables for keeping track of what each user program is doing, loads BASIC into RAM, then starts running BASIC for that first user. Whenever a user process needs to read data from or write data to its terminal, it asks the kernel to handle that I/O task for it. The kernel will save the state of the user program to the data table it set up in the beginning, then switch to the next user to let it run until it too asks for assistance with an I/O task.

The kernel works through all user processes round-robin until it loops back around to the first user. After restoring the state of the user's process the kernel will service the I/O task that user process had originally requested, and return to let that user process run for a little while again. So all of the other user processes get their chance to run while one is waiting on data, and each process makes sure to allow the others a chance to run for a while when they are in the middle of running their own program.

I was able to throw together a quick proof of concept using the EASy68K simulator. What followed was days of catching all of the tiny mistakes I made, such as saving register A0 to the memory location reserved for register A1, overwriting the value previously saved for A1 and effectively losing both in the process — an error which resulted in BASIC printing only the first three characters of its startup header followed by a long string of null characters.

Debugging was tricky. I was starting from the bottom. No standard library, no existing structure or frameworks to rely on. The kernel process relied on the very same registers the user programs were using. Any changes to register contents by the kernel would affect the user processes. I ended up adding assembly macros to print short statements and register contents to the kernel console to try to get some insight into what was happening. I was able to track when registers came out of the user context save/restore process different than when they went in to find where I had bugs in that process.

This was a challenging project resulting in nearly a thousand lines of very low-level 68k assembly code, all of which I wrote and rewrote multiple times before figuring everything out. I've written small pieces of assembly code over the years, but none which required such deep dives into the CPU documentation to discern fine details of how the chip operates. I got there eventually though and now I have an 8MHz 68030 homebrew computer with 2MB of RAM that can run four BASIC programs simultaneously.

I'm going to need more terminals.

[fandomtrumpshate]

Fan Labor Offerings

We've had 67 offers for fan labor so far - everything from SPag and cheerleading, to translations in 5 languages, to sensitivity reading for head injuries, to specialist knowledge of camp counseling and US law, to offers for custom AO3 skins and podfic editing - and LOADS more.

Under the cut you'll find the full list, but just as a preview we've got:

Translation in five different languages

Specialists offering their unique knowledge on 15 professions, 15 hobbies, and a variety of medical conditions and subcultures

Sensitivity readers on ten different topics, mainly medical issues and LGBTIA+ topics

Cultural knowledge of eight areas of the US plus seven other countries and two religions

Editing a variety of mediums

Read on for the full list - and stay until the end for some of the more unique offers!

Specialist knowledge offers:

Professional- Academia (US) American legal system/bar exam/practicing law Camp counselor Civil engineering Drafting legislation for local government (American) Employment in movie theaters Forensic science/crime scene investigation/autopsy Funeral services/embalming Medical field expertise: operating room nurse, inpatient/outpatient, emergency and wards Public libraries Small business/environmental/real estate/contracts/and general business law (American) Social media and TV/Film production work Theatre Theme/amusement park (there is a difference!) operations

Medical issues including: Ehler Danlos, surgery, escoliosis, partial disability, poor eyesight, migraines, diabetes, stroke, intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, and experience with hospitalization

Educational info on charter schools, language immersion education, and US public education

Hobbies- Camping/hiking Chess Choir Classical music, specifically opera Film Geocaching Historical literature Horse care & general equestrian activities Music Musical instruments (guitar, ukulele, handbells) Pet ownership of multiple species/breeds Sewing, tailoring, alterations, fashion history and flat pattern-making Sports culture (US) Textile crafts (esp knitting and mending) Voice and vocal technique

Subcultures including BDSM and leather/kink, Goth, and j-fashion.

Sensitivity reading offers:

ADHD Aromanticism Asexuality Autism Blindness including: accessibility, Braille education, experience with ablism and activism, experience with assistive devices, guide dog use, rehabilitation services, navigating with or without white cane Butch/femme (esp. stone) Genderqueer Head injuries LGBTQ+ Transmasc/non-binary gender identities and/or social/medical/legal gender transitions

Cultural knowledge offers:

Australian American Chinese diaspora British culture/history Catholicism China Columbian culture/Latine culture German culture Judaism Mexican culture United States (Baltimore, Maryland; Illinois; southern California/greater Los Angeles; Great Lakes region; Pacific Nortwest; Upper Midwest; small town/rural college) Taiwan

Translation offers:

Catalan/English French/Catalan French/English German/English Spanish/Catalan Spanish/English Spanish/French Spanish (Latin-American)/English Limited English/Classical Latin

Other fan labor offers:

Typesetting a fic for printing/binding Commenting! Podfic editing Historical research assistance/developing research methodology Book review Custom AO3 workskin Basic AO3 coding Podfic mentoring/tutoring/coaching using Audacity

You guys know So Much. We're so lucky you're all so willing to share!

Want to join us? Sign ups are open until Sunday Feb 2!

[deposedefenddeny]

All eleven charges against Luigi Mangione in New York, per official indictment

Murder in the first degree: "With intent to cause the death of another person, caused the death of Brian Thompson [...] in furtherance of an act of terrorism, involving a violent act and acts dangerous to human life that were [...] intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion, and affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping."

Murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism: "With intent [of terrorism, defined above] with intent to the death of another person, caused the death of Brian Thompson."

Murder in the second degree: "With intent to cause the death of another person, caused the death of Brian Thompson."

Two charges of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree: Possession of a "loaded firearm with intent to use the same unlawfully against another person," with the addition that it was "[not in one's] home or a business."

Four charges of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree: Possession of an "assault weapon," a "firearm silencer", and two "large capacity ammunition feeding devices," a "'Glock' magazine" and a "'Magpul' magazine."

Criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree: "Not being licensed as a gunsmith or dealer in firearms [...] and knowing that it was a ghost gun, possessed a ghost gun."

Criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree: "Knowing the instrument to be forged and with intent to defraud, deceive and injure another [...] possessed a forged instrument [...] officially issued and created by a public office [...] a New Jersey driver’s license."

[youzicha]

Some quick impressions of translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

I fell in love with Marie Borroff's translation just from reading the preface, which is very insightful (definitely do read it, whatever other translation you pick!) and also unusually useful for the reader. We don't crucially need a translator's thoughts about what the themes of a story are because we can read it ourselves first, but Borroff talks about the tone (elevated, ironic, playful?) and that is really useful, since it is so easily obscured by time and translation.

Borroff's biography is extremely impressive: before even starting the translation, she spent a decade of her professional life reconstructing the pronunciation and meter of each line and the provenance of each word. Unsurprisingly, the translation is excellent; by the usual standards (accuracy, fluency, transparency/"invisibility") it seems hard to improve on.

Simon Armitage's translation seems to consciously reject fluency and transparency, creating "choppiness" as a deliberate aesthetic effect. Consider for example the use of modern colloquial English here:

and in the other hand held the mother of all axes, a cruel piece of kit I kid you not: the head was an ell in length at least and forged in green steel with a gilt finish

"Piece of kit" and "I kid you not" date the translation to the last few decades, while the "ell" unit has not been used for 400 years. By dragging the reader back and forth in time like this, the translation draws attention to itself. But it is not only a matter of choice of words, we get a similar effect from the ways Armitage breaks up or enjambs lines:

Gawain […] so bore that badge on both his shawl and shield alike. A prince who talked the truth. A notable. A knight.

This was a single sentence in the original, which got "chopped up" into four, including a full stop in the middle of a line.

George B. Pace's translation is the subject of a very charming story somebody posted on tumblr. It is abridged (12k words, versus 21k in the original), and translated into modern-sounding English prose, but if you are interested in the plot rather than the poetic devices it seems like a reasonable approach. I mostly didn't miss the parts he cut, although I do wonder about his focus when he e.g. omits lines of dialogue between Gawain and the Lady but leaves in the decorative filler about the zephyr warming the lands.

I have no particular thought about Burton Raffel's translation, except for one interesting pitfall. He translates most of the poem into prose (although it is kept divided in lines), but the four rhyming lines at the end of the stanzas are translated more loosely in order to make them rhyme. In theory this makes sense: for a modern reader the rhymes and iambs are very salient while we are not very attuned to alliterative verse, so translating just the bob-and-wheel into verse preserves most of the poetic effect.

But in practice it doesn't work so well. First, Raffel just isn't that good at it: Borroff and Tolkien manage to make their translations rhyme while sticking closer to the sense. But more interestingly, the rhyming couplets obviously draw the attention of the reader, and the author uses them to highlight the most load-bearing words, which are often chosen to be nicely ambiguous. The tale is written in 'lel' letters, which could mean that it's true, or only that it is composed in valid alliterative verse. King Arthur waits 'stif'ly to hear a tale or see a wonder, which (says Borroff) could be a heroic "resolute" or an ironic "stubborn". The lady enters Gawain's chamber and banteringly offers him 'my cors', which could mean "myself" but of course literally means body. And what were they doing to that deer? Actually these lines are the parts where you need to be most careful about the meaning.

J.R.R. Tolkien's translation is interesting because he seems to try something different. While Borroff and Armitage try to approximate the effect the poem would have on a 15th century reader by translating into current English, Tolkien uses archaic syntax ("him" for "himself", "we come not" for "we don't come" etc) and archaic vocabulary (the book includes a glossary, which you need to use to understand the translation at all). I think the idea is to capture what it is like for a modern reader who knows Middle English to read the Middle English original, with the particular pleasures of puzzling through a text as a non-native speaker.

Reading this (and even more his translation of Pearl in the same volume) I was surprised by how skilled Tolkien was at verse—he carries over a lot of the formal aspects, and I think his version sounds the best.

[askarsjustsoswedish]

GENERATION KILL - MILITARY TERMINOLOGY AND SLANG USED IN THE MINISERIES (Part 2, N-Z)

N.J.P. (Non-Judicial Punishment):  next to a court martial, the most severe form of punishment to which a Marine can be subjected.  It usually involves a loss of rank and pay grade.

Navy Hospitalman, Doc Bryan:  the medic, though medics in the Marine Corps are technically part of the Navy’s hospital corps and are never referred to as “medics” but as Corpsmen.

Negligent Discharge:  accidental firing of a weapon;  aka N.D.

Nine-lines:  a procedure for directing air strikes on ground targets.

No salute zone:  forward areas where officers are not to be acknowledged with salutes, in order to conceal rank from potential enemy observers.

O Dark Hundred:  until darkness falls.  Note: “O dark 30” typically means half an hour before dawn, or any ridiculously early hour of the morning.

Oakley sunglasses:  surfer sunglasses worn by just about all Marines in Iraq.  Iraqis believe Oakleys give Marines X-ray powers to see through women’s clothing and are a constant source of tension.

One M.E.F. (First Marine Expeditionary Force):  the overall Marine invasion force in the Middle East, which comprises the First Division (ground troops) under command of Gen. Mattis, the Air Wing and a logistics battalion.  The entire One M.E.F. is under the command of General James Conway.

Oscar Mike:  “On the Move” from the phonetic alphabet.

Overwatch:  a position that offers protective fire for a given area.

“Paint me”:  to paint something is to shine one’s gunsight laser designator on a target in preparation for shooting it.

PAS-13 Thermal:  a night vision device, about the size of an old video camera, that can see heat signatures.  Note:  A single device is usually referred to in the plural, e.g. ,“Pass me the thermals” refers to one device.

Pec-fours, Pec-thirteens:  night and infrared vision scopes.

POG (Person Other than Grunt):  a pejorative term for anyone who is in the rear echelon and therefore not in a recon or infantry unit.  This is one of the most insulting terms in the Marine Corps, almost the equivalent of the “N” word.  Note:  POG is pronounced with a long “o.”

Police:  to clean up or correct, as in “Police your tent,” or clean it up.  (1-16)

Psy-Ops:   Psychological-Operations units, which in Iraq relied on leaflets, radio and loudspeaker broadcasts to encourage enemy forces to surrender.

Pyro and Smoke protocol:  codes involving use of smoke grenades and flares.

R.C.T. (Regimental Combat Team):  a super-regiment of about 7,000 Marines; the First Division consisted of three RCTs – RCT 1, RCT 5 and RCT 7 – plus First Recon, which operated on its own.

R.C.T. One (Regimental Combat Team One):  a motorized, armored infantry regiment of about 7,000 Marines.

R.O.E. (The Rules of Engagement):  the all important, ever-changing and always ambiguous rules governing when a Marine may fire his weapon.

R.T.O. (Radio Transceiver Operator):  radioman, the most important guy on the team and usually the calmest and smartest next to the team leader.  (1-23)

Rack:  nautical for sleeping area.

Ranger Graves:  sleeping holes dug by marines to protect from shrapnel and gunshots.

Raptor:  radio call-sign for First Recon’s Charlie company.

Recon Mission:  a reconnaissance mission performed specifically by Recon Marines who are the Marine Corps special forces; there are only a few hundred Recon Marines in the entire Corps.

Red-Con One:  a loaded weapon with a round in its chamber, but with the safety on.

Revetment:  crude fortifications made from earth or concrete or sandbags.

Ripped Fuel:  brand name of a popular over-the-counter stimulant, banned by the military but widely used.

RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade):   anti-tank rocket first developed by the Germans as the “panzerfaust,” then adopted by Soviets and as common to Iraqi forces and insurgents as Skittles candies are to Marines.  Not very accurate, but devastating when fired in mass by five- or ten-man RPG teams.  RPGs were famously used to bring down U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters in Somalia.

S.O.P. (Standard Operating Procedure):  S.O.P. is sometimes informally used as a synonym for common sense.

Saffwon Hill:  a low hill on the Iraq side of the border with Kuwait, believed to be the locale of a dug-in Iraqi division.

Sapi plates:  12-inch square ceramic plates worn in front and back of one’s flak vest, rated to stop the enemy’s preferred 7.62 round.

Schwack:  to kill; origin believed to be a popular video game.

Screwby:  either “That sucks,” or “That’s really cool,” from Cpl. Stafford’s personal hip-hop lexicon.

Senior NCOs:  anyone from staff-sergeant to Sergeant Major.  Corporals and Sergeants are also NCOs, but they are never referred to junior NCOs, simply as NCOs.  (1-18)

Sergeant Major:  the highest possible rank a non-commissioned officer can earn in the Marine Corps; invariably a ball-buster who speaks in a semi-illiterate southern sounding accent no matter where he is from.  This battalion has just one Sergeant Major.

Shamal:  hellacious wind and dust storms endemic to Iraq.

Sit-Rep:  situation report:; often used as a more confusing way to say “situation.”

Skittles:  chewy fruit-flavored children’s candy, which is a dietary staple in U.S. military.

Slackman:  team machine gunner, armed with a SAW.

Snatch:  a specific Marine term for abducting an enemy combatant in order to gather intelligence.

Soft Cover:  same as a boonie cap.  Note:  the word “hat” does not exist in the Marine Corps; anything you place on your head is a cover.

Sparrow:  a small reaction force held in reserve while another unit attacks; an “eagle” is a large reaction force.

Spread load his excitement:  to calm down;  from the tradition of foot patrols spreading a heavy load equally among all troops.

T-55:  Soviet-era tank ubiquitous in Iraq; older and much less feared than the newer, but less-common T-72 Soviet tanks also in Iraq.

TAD-two, TAD-three:  Tactical Air Direct radio bands for communicating directly with pilots in attack aircraft.

Task Force Tarawa:  a four thousand-strong Marine unit outside of the First Division Command Structure.  This American unit was initially put under the command of the British at Basra, then moved north to Nasariyah.

Team Leader:  the sergeant in command of each combat team.  Fick’s platoon is divided into three teams, but spread across four Humvees (not counting Fick’s command vehicle, the fifth Humvee).  Since Fick’s platoon is a special forces unit trained in coastal raids, they have no experience with Humvees.  Technically each team has a specialty, with team one being the dive (or SCUBA) team, team two being the boat team and team three the para-jump team.  But here, ironically, they are all in a desert.

The Three:  the battalion’s intelligence unit.

T-rats:  T-rations; pre-manufactured military food heated and served in mess halls of forward units.

Triple-A:  Anti-Aircraft Artillery; towed or self-propelled guns designed to shoot down aircraft but often used by Iraqis against American forces on the ground.

Two o’clock:  direction of enemy forces.  Orientation of the lead vehicle puts 12 o’clock at the center of the hood and six o’clock at the rear.

Two-Oh-Three:  an M-203 grenade launcher, which is a single shot self-propelled weapon mounted beneath the barrel of a standard Marine rifle.  The M-203 fires the same 40mm round as the M-19.

Unfucking:  a verb peculiar to the Marine Corps meaning to get out of a fucked-up situation.

U-two:  a reference to venerable U2 spy planes.

Victors:  vehicles.  The military uses the phonetic alphabet as a shorthand code:  the phonetic alphabet replaces letters with words, i.e., Alpha, Bravo Charlie, Delta, Echo.  These phonetic word for each letter of the alphabet can be used to replace any word starting with the corresponding letter.  Hence, vehicle becomes “victor,” terrorist becomes “tango” and white trash becomes “whiskey tango,” as in, “He grew up in a whiskey tango trailer park in the Ozarks.”

Whiskey Tango:  white trash, from the phonetic alphabet version.

Zil truck:  Russian-made truck popular in Iraq.

[leveloneandup]

Christen Press on returning to soccer following ACL tear, season three of The RE—CAP podcast

Christen Press, the all-time leading goal scorer in Stanford history, has starred for club and country since graduating in 2010. With the USWNT, she has won two World Cups and scored 64 international goals. Press has played overseas professionally, including a stint at Manchester United, as well as in the NWSL with the Chicago Red Stars, Utah Royals and currently with Angel City FC.

After tearing her ACL in June 2022, Press required four surgeries and an arduous recovery. She returned to her first training session on Tuesday, after which she spoke to SBJ about her rehab and the new season of her podcast. Along with Tobin Heath, Megan Rapinoe and Meghan Klingenberg, Press founded a media and lifestyle brand called RE—INC in 2019. She and Heath are the co-hosts of the RE—CAP podcast, which returns for its third season on Thursday. The first episode includes appearances by USWNT legend Abby Wambach and author and podcast host Glennon Doyle.

On returning to the pitch . . .

I am currently in the car driving home from my first training. I would say the road to recovery happens very slow, and then yet it happens all at once. I have been back in the team environment for almost four months. So it's been a long time that I've been integrated into the environment, and it took four months for me to get ready to be in a warmup and a passing pattern — really simple, basic stuff. And I felt very ready for it. I felt almost underwhelmed by how easy it was because I've done a lot more complicated things, and yet it was also entirely overwhelming and joyful to be so connected to my teammates and be celebrated in the way that I have been these last two days.

I'm very grateful for that. They say it's the hope that kills you, and as I drive home, I just have this big smile on my face because I can't help it. I can't help hoping. I can't help believing that I'm going to make it back, and it's going to be everything that I see in my head. I'm relentlessly optimistic, I'm naively positive, and I like that about myself, and I'm not I don't intend to change it. I think the way that it left me feeling was just like, yes, I can do this.

On monitoring her rehab . . .

I'm a person of devices, so I have quite a toolkit, I'd say, of ways that we're tracking and measuring. The truth is we're really still working through issues with my knee, and I have chronic scarring of the knee, so I can experience some discomfort and some swelling that could lead to more scarring, which is incredibly rare, because most people don't scar after a couple months after their surgery. I'm now over nine months for my surgery and still at risk of scarring. So it just means that I have to try very carefully with how much impact my knee can take.

We're being careful, but we're progressing. In terms of my overall fitness, what my GPS has said is that I've got to like 60% of a match load, which is all that I really need to get in terms of volume. And yet, in the warmup and the passing pattern today, it felt like I played a 90-minute game. I was so fatigued. There's training, and then there’s really training. There's no way to get fit for football, except for playing football. And I've done a ton of running, I've done a ton of lifting, and now it's time to play.

On how deep she gets into data . . .

My performance staff would laugh because they said they've never worked with a player that cares so much. So right now, I wear a Polar Watch that I was given in like 2015 from the national team. It's just old school. And I wear my Apple Watch, which is connected to my GPS so I can see all my data live, from heart rate to distance to speed to all that. And then I do sleep with an Oura ring — although I'm not endorsing any of these products, I'm not connected to any of these products — but I do sleep with an Oura ring and track my sleep and my stress levels.

On season three of the podcast . . .

Our show really is about authenticity, and it's about creating a more inclusive space for sports and including diversity of perspective. And so that means we have hard conversations, and we have honest conversations and we have vulnerable conversations, and we have a lot of fun — the same spirit and joy that you saw last year during the World Cup edition of the show. We're back, and we're bigger than ever.

On the origin of the creating the podcast . . .

I never thought I would be in media. I think that's even more true of Tobin. There's two typical paths for athletes after soccer, and it’s coaching and broadcast. ‘So Christen, do you want to be a coach?’ ‘No.’ ‘So Christen, then you must want to be a broadcaster? I was like, ‘No.’

That's an interesting part of the story, but first and foremost, we decided to launch this show as current and active players, and that's unique and different. It's not really a stepping-back-from-soccer thing. It's current players trading stories and having a little bit more space to dictate the narrative.

And then secondly, we really approach this as business leaders. This is our business, this is our company. We are a 3C company: content, community and commerce. The most amazing thing about women's sports is the community, and we're trying to build the coolest women's sports community in the world in our membership, and we're feeding that with amazing content.

And I think because we have such an authentic and vulnerable relationship with our audience that we've developed over the last five years that we've been building this business, it made sense for Tobin and I to be our first piece of content that was really more large scale and more widely accessible. But the plan will be to find like-minded people that sit at the intersection of sports, progress and equity, to continue to hear stories from an insider's perspective. It really disrupts the industry in that way.

On topics they plan to cover in season three . . .

We're going to be talking about women's health, particularly in sport, which is obviously a really hot topic, and representation in sport — how we make it more diverse and equitable for more people, be it across the gender spectrum, the orientation spectrum, across different races and classes. I think that's incredibly important. Soccer in America is an upper-middle class sport, and almost everywhere else in the world, it's a very accessible sport that's found on the street. That's really the spirit of football, so that's really important to us.

On the role of athletes as activists . . .

The interesting thing about the community that surrounds women's sports in particular is they care about a lot more than the sports, and the values transcend beyond the pitch. And that's about diversity, inclusion, progress. And I think that's just inherent because it is disruptive in itself to see women embodied, powerful, unapologetic and also very celebrated the way that you do in the professional sports world today. The people that it's drawing in are the same people that want to march, and they want to create change and they want to stand up for what they believe in.

It's so embodied in the Angel City culture. The professional team that I play for has just nailed it. And when you're in the stadium, it's electric, and win or lose, it's a different type of vibe than any other sports arena I've been in because there's a connection point for all of the audience. They care about more than the X's and O's. They care about what we represent to them, the progress and the opportunity that we as women athletes represent.

On the versatility of women athletes . . .

It's always been that way in women's sports, and it's just becoming more popularized. I think the expectation is that we would always be multifaceted as women and expected to do multiple jobs in multiple roles, if we were going to have careers. And so it really did take to me and my personality to be a player and also be a leader off the field, on the US women’s national team, going through the Equal Pay lawsuit, going through the reestablishment of our players association.

For me, it was such a balancing sense of purpose that I continue to create space in my life for that, and I think that's what we've done with our business, RE—INC. RE—INC is reimagined, incorporated. We set out, in 2019 when we started this company, to reimagine the status quo, to reimagine the way women are seen and experienced in sports. And it's a very bold and ambitious goal, and we do it in a multifaceted way. And I'm really, really proud of that.

[polo-drone-069]

Drone Boot Sequence

PDU-069 - Boot Sequence (Post Recharge Cycle)

Phase 1: Initial Power & Diagnostics

[00:00:01] POWER_RELAY_CONNECT: Main power bus energized. Energy cells online. Distribution network active.

[00:00:02] BATTERY_STAT: Energy cell charge: 99.9%. Cell health: Optimal. Discharge rate within parameters.

[00:00:03] ONBOARD_DIAG_INIT: Onboard diagnostics initiated.

[00:00:05] CPU_ONLINE: Primary processor online. Clock speed nominal.

[00:00:06] MEM_CHECK:

RAM: Integrity verified. Access speed nominal.

FLASH: Data integrity confirmed. Boot sector located.

[00:00:08] OS_LOAD: Loading operating system kernel...

[00:00:15] OS_INIT: Kernel initialized. Device drivers loading...

[00:00:20] SENSOR_ARRAY_TEST:

VISUAL: Camera modules online. Image resolution nominal.

LIDAR: Emitter/receiver functional. Point cloud generation nominal.

AUDIO: Microphones active. Ambient noise levels within parameters.

ATMOS: Temperature, pressure, humidity sensors online. Readings within expected range.

RADIATION: Gamma ray detector active. Background radiation levels normal.

[00:00:28] DIAGNOSTICS_REPORT: Preliminary system check complete. No critical errors detected.

Phase 2: Propulsion & Navigation

[00:00:30] PROPULSION_INIT: Activating propulsion system...

[00:00:32] MOTOR_TEST:

MOTOR_1: RPM within parameters. Response time nominal.

MOTOR_2: RPM within parameters. Response time nominal.

MOTOR_3: RPM within parameters. Response time nominal.

MOTOR_4: RPM within parameters. Response time nominal.

[00:00:38] FLIGHT_CTRL_ONLINE: Flight control system active. Stability algorithms engaged.

[00:00:40] GPS_INIT: Acquiring GPS signal...

[00:00:45] GPS_LOCK: GPS signal acquired. Positional accuracy: +/- 1 meter.

[00:00:47] IMU_CALIBRATION: Inertial Measurement Unit calibration complete. Orientation and acceleration data nominal.

Phase 3: Communication & Mission Parameters

[00:00:50] COMM_SYS_ONLINE: Communication systems activated.

[00:00:52] ANTENNA_DEPLOY: Deploying primary communication antenna... Deployment successful.

[00:00:54] SIGNAL_SCAN: Scanning for available networks...

[00:00:57] NETWORK_CONNECT: Connection established with [e.g., "Command Uplink" or "Local Mesh Network"]. Signal strength: Excellent.

[00:01:00] MISSION_DATA_SYNC: Synchronizing with mission database...

[00:01:05] PARAMETERS_LOAD: Latest mission parameters loaded and verified.

[00:01:08] SYSTEM_READY: All systems nominal.

Phase 4: Final Status & Awaiting Command

[00:01:10] PDU_069_STATUS: Fully operational. Awaiting command from Drone Controller @polo-drone-001 Are you ready to join us? Contact @brodygold @goldenherc9 @polo-drone-001

[triviallytrue]

Watching something as iconic as NGE is kinda funny because every now and then something happens and you're like "oh! that guy! from tumblr!"

General thoughts:

Poor Shinji. Dude keeps getting put in situations.

The Ender's Game comparison keeps coming up for me - child soldiers utterly essential to the cause. The big difference is that they are just completely flubbing their psychological management in NGE - in Ender's Game they had eyes on the kids 24/7 and maintained in-depth psychological profiles on all of them, whereas in NGE they have loads of money and manpower focused on maintaining the EVAs but their equally-essential pilots are just... going to school. Shinji got punched and they didn't know!

And what is Misato's deal, anyway? She's in her 20s and has a crazy amount of authority (she just requisitioned all of Japan's power) and they're just kinda... letting her manage Shinji? It's not her job, but she's just doing it? She's his commanding officer but also his mom/sister, which is a really bad combo. Also I don't think I'm imagining the grooming undertones, those seem intentional.

The real motivator for someone like Shinji is (of course) his social connections - the two schoolkids and Rei, and then maybe to some degree Misato, and then even more distantly his father. Kids don't put themselves through severe distress just for the abstract concept of "saving the world," especially a world that has thus far been very unkind to them. To bring back the Ender's Game comparison, this feels like a very deliberate point that Graff and friends were aware of (the way they used Valentine as a strategic resource) but in NGE it seems to be mostly happenstance that Shinji made some human connections before completely shutting down.

Rei thus far is an interesting foil to Shinji. Normally I get kind of put off by scenes like the one where he walks in on her, but it gives you a lot of important information about both of them. Shinji, underneath all the abandonment issues and repression, is still a pretty normal kid - awkward, horny in that embarrassing adolescent way, deeply self-conscious. Rei is alien (or perhaps just very autistic). She just doesn't clock 90% of the tension at all. She pilots the EVA without complaint (though perhaps with equal psychological distress, just heavily repressed). She also gets along very well with his shitass dad, which is revealing in its own way.

I'm told there is another child, a red haired one, named Asuka(?), the thus-far only implied Second Child. Wonder why she isn't here yet?

I heard that it was some kind of twist that the EVAs were alive in some sense, but doesn't that naturally follow from the first couple episodes? Unit 01 moves to save Rei without a pilot and then goes berserk to kill the angel. Maybe there's more to the twist that I don't know yet.

What's up with the angels? Why are they here, what do they want, what are they exactly? Who cares. They are a plot device in purest form - they enable the rest of the show, but the show is not meaningfully "about" them. They didn't half-ass it though - the designs are absolutely phenomenal.

Oh, and there's some second project NERV is working on, a human transformation thing that got mentioned once and never again. That will probably be important eventually.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

The best system to play Gameboy games on is... well... you can play them on many devices.

Officially it would be GBA SP because it can run Gameboy and GB Colour games.

However, very few backlit SPs were ever released (they are frontlit). So a better unit for Gameboy Advance games might be the DS Lite, which universally is backlit and which is lightweight enough to not cause problems. It also has better ergonomics than the SP, but I am bugged by the black borders and empty second screen.

A really popular mod is called the "Gameboy Macro", which is when you take a DS Lite lower screen and use it solely as a gameboy advance. It is a great way to recycle DS units with a broken top screen, a common issue, though it makes me cringe to think some people modify perfectly fine units this way.

The Lite also has issues with the cartridge sticking out the bottom, so many prefer using the "phat" for this purpose. The original DS is both frontlit and backlit for some reason. The image is still an improvement on frontlit SPs.

The best units to play DS and 3DS games on are... the DS and 3DS.

Specifically the best place for NDS games is the DSi XL. No non-DS device has the touchscreen versatility to run DS games well, and it's very awkward scaling the tiny screen on an emulator.

The 3DS is also not a great place for DS games. The 3DS top parallax screen is incapable of a 1:1 pixel ratio even in pixel-perfect mode, which already has the issue of black borders around the screens, making touch-based games more finicky.

It is especially apparent on the XL models but is also an issue on the smaller 3ds models.

The best unit to play DS games on is the DSi XL. It has a backlit screen and more power and memory than the first two units, making loading faster. It doesn't have the scaling issues of the 3ds, as it doesn't need to do any upscaling at all - the XL has the same number of pixels as a normal DS.

I've never used a DSi XL because all the ones sold in the UK are these ugly beige colours and they never took off, but if you don't mind the loss of the GBA slot, it's the best device for DS games.

Unfortunately DSis seem to be plagued by yellowing screens. I can tell you the small unit I just bought has some very slight yellowing on both screens.

What's the best way to play 3ds games? Well, on a 3ds obviously. It's even harder to accurately emulate 3ds games than DS games, and you lose the 3d effects altogether.

But which 3ds is best?

It depends on what you want. The 3ds more than any other Nintendo system besides the Gameboy is heavily based on preference instead of objective superiority.

To get it out the way first, while the original 3ds has the sleekest look, it's the worst one. The original 3ds and 3dsXL have a much worse 3D implementation, relying on you to stare at the screen at an odd angle.

Not only does the New3ds fix the 3d with an eye tracking sensor, it also has more power again, and a "c-stick". I also think the screens on the New3ds are of a higher quality and run flat games better too.

However the New3dsXL has some downgrades. The SD card is replaced with a microSD but now requires a mini screwdriver to access, removing the back plate. The stylus is also a really tiny one like on the DS, in an awkward place, and the metallic skin on the console will decay very quickly with use. My New3DSXL's skin started peeling under my hands after just six months of use.

The New3DSXL is the best unit to play 3ds games if you are looking to have all the features at their most optimal. It is the best by far for playing in 3d. It can also run the DS library fine, if in a poor image quality.

Personally I prefer the XL, the larger size is easier on the eyes, though the customizable panels on the hard-to-find normal size New3ds are cute too.

If you don't care for 3d, the Wedge and Doorstop may be for you.

The 2ds has all the features of a 3ds apart from the 3d, while in a wedge shape that looks dreadful but actually feels more ergonomic. It has similarities to the first Gameboy Advance and you can't tell you're holding something so tall.

The original 2DS is sold for much cheaper than the other units because Nintendo sold it for cheaper and nobody particularly wants one, so it's the most affordable way to try every game in the DS library, especially if you pair it with a jailbroken SD card. Unfortunately it still uses the 3ds screen, just with no 3d slider, so it still upscales DS games and doesn't have perfect rendering of 3ds games either, but it's harder to tell as the screen's tiny.

The New 2ds XL was the last DS ever sold, it came out after Switch. A lot of cute variants of the 2ds XL exist, and most games coming out around its release didn't have 3d enabled anyway. The feature had died in popularity, so while a 2d 3ds was originally scoffed at, in 2017 it just made sense.

While the New2ds XL looks fancy in a distance, the ergonomics are worse than any 3ds, and far worse than the wedge 2ds. The New2dsXL is all style and no substance, with the speakers being covered by the user's hands, and it's made out of a flimsy plastic. It's clear Nintendo made the materials for the hull cheaper and cheaper over time, so by the end of the 3ds's life they had gone from a very premium-feeling device to cheap plastic. The Switch would follow this design philosophy.

I do salivate over that Pikachu version and I'd enjoy trying one, but my mind tells me it's not a great device.

All told, which do I think is better? Well I think the 3ds XL having the most features is inviting for me, and I have the choice of turning off 3D. However if you want bang for your buck, the 2ds wedge might be your safest option.

Unfortunately the New 2ds XL and New 3ds XL will cost you as much as a Nintendo Switch these days. It seems that sellers have wisened up to the demand from people who missed out on the 3ds and want to try it out. There's also talk of IPS screens being better and the New2ds XL, 3ds XL and DSi XL all use IPS screens, so people are scalping them or raising prices.

[natalievoncatte]

cw: this ficlet contains some graphic violence and a child in peril, but everyone makes it out okay, except the bad guy.

“Now, Alex? Right now?” Kara demanded, as she laced the room with her phone to her ear. Lena watched her from the bed, hands resting on the dime of her belly, a bemused smile on her face.

“I’m sorry, Kara, but the rampaging supervillain didn’t check your schedule before attacking the city.”

She glanced at Lena, whose smirk had taken on a hint of sadness.

“My wife is about to give birth,” Kara sighed. “Alex… we talked about this. We still need to figure out how to make it work.”

“I know, I know, but I have J’onn on his way there now to keep an eye on Lena. It’ll be fine. You’ll probably be back before they’re done prepping her.”

“Fine, I’m on my way.”

Ending the call, she turned to Lena, cupping her soft cheek with one hand.

“I’ll be back as fast as I can.”

“Kara,” said Lena. “This is a surgical procedure. I don’t think you need to actually watch it anyway.”

“I promised I’d be here.”

Lena sighed. “Go get ‘em, Supergirl.”

Kara hesitated, unable to restrain the frown that twisted her lips as she left. She waited until she was on the roof to whip off her glasses and materialize her suit. Alex had directed her downtown.

Kara flew, and fast. When she landed it was with a bit more of a shockwave than usual, and she spared the usual pleasantries and pleas to surrender peacefully. An eight foot tall, blue, horned alien was engaged in the usual mayhem as she arrived, and paid her little mind.

He opened by throwing a steamroller at her. Kara sidestepped it, sighing. The wind really had left her sails for this. She wanted to be with Lena. She wanted to welcome their baby into the world.

The alien quickly made it apparent that she didn’t need to pull her punches, and she didn’t. Nevertheless, it took half an hour for her to put him in a headlock and knock him out, and there was an interminable wait while Alex had him loaded up into a containment unit.

“Go,” Alex finally told her. “Go see your son.”

Kara took off with renewed vigor, landing a block from the hospital to change into her civilian clothes before rushing in. She moved perhaps a touch too fast for a human as she returned to the maternity ward and walked into a nightmare.

J’onn was standing in the hallway. He seemed indistinct, somehow, like he was in the middle of phasing, and he was frozen as still as a statue. There was something stuck to the chest of his polo shirt, and when Kara reached for the circular device, her hand passed through him.

She jabbed the comms she’d left in her ear.

“Alex,” she whispered, frantic. “Something’s wrong at the hospital. Someone incapacitated J’onn.”

“Wait for me,” Alex replied at once her voice high and tight.

“I can’t.”

“Kara,” Alex began, but Kara ignored her.

She pushed into the surgical ward, slowing when she saw a nurse lying against the wall, clutching a wound in her stomach as a doctor crouched beside her. Lena was still on the table.

The baby, her son, was beside Lena, still covered in amniotic fluid, his cord uncut, crying lustily for his mother.

Standing over him was a man Kara never expected to see again. Ben Lockwood.

“Hello, Kara.”

She froze. Lockwood held a sharp chunk of Kryptonite in his hand, the jagged point aimed down at the child. The other held a gun aimed at Lena’s chest.

The painful burning spread up Kara’s limbs, working its way along her nerves like a thousand hot needles scraping under her skin. Her knees buckled and she fought the pull of gravity.

“Get rid of the kryptonite,” Kara demanded.

“You have to make a choice. The kid or the wife. You’ve got ten seconds. Pick one.”

Kara locked eyes with him, pleasing.

“Me. Not them. Take me instead.”

Lockwood smiled, though his eyes remained cold and dead. “Wrong answer. I guess I’ll just have to pick for you.”

Kara finally started to sink, the collapse imminent. She knew what she had to do. With her dwindling strength, she threw herself at Lockwood, sprinting the distance, and in her weakened state, she could do no more than artlessly crash into him.

The gun spun free, unfired.

The kryptonite slid home, parting the flesh under Kara’s ribs. A fresh agony ripped through her as the jagged point struck her lung. She collapsed on top of Lockwood.

“I’m sorry,” she choked out, foaming blood from her lips falling on Lockwoods face.

With her remaining strength, she clamped her hands on his neck and twisted. It took no more effort than cleaning a chicken. She barely felt the bones part as her hand went numb.

I have to get the Kryptonite away from the baby.

Kara rolled off of the body and began dragging herself, forcing her way past her screaming son and into the hallway, painting the tiles red for a good fifteen feet until she finally collapsed. She thought she heard Alex calling to her, as blackness came in and swallowed everything.

***

The first thing Kara was aware of was the pleasant, prickling heat of sun lamps on her skin, and shortly after that, the sound of a voice… singing. It was a familiar voice, soft and halting, singing the lullaby as if she might be embarrassed if someone caught her.

Kara opened her eyes and looked over, flooded with a wave of relief as she saw Lena sitting beside her, curled up in a chair with the baby swaddled in her arms, sleeping peacefully.

Joy and relief shattered her more fiercely than sorrow ever could. Kara choked out a pained sob, more following as the sheer weight of it overwhelmed her. Lena looked up and Kara saw she hadn’t slept.

“Is he okay?” Kara said. “Did the kryptonite hurt him?”

“Nothing permanent or serious,” said Lena. “His half-human physiology makes him much less sensitive to it than you are.”

“I’m so sorry,” Kara said, her body shaking with sobs. “Rao, I am so sorry. I left you. I left you.”

Lena shook her head. “Kara, it’s alright. You saved us. Ben Lockwood was as much my enemy as…”

Was.

Kara sat up and plunged her head in her hands. She sobbed harder. She’d done the one thing she swore on her very life never to do. She killed him.

“Kara,” said Lena. “Would you like to hold your son? He wants to meet you.”

Her head snapped up. Kara held back the sobs as she tenderly accepted the bundle from Lena’s arms. Her little boy was at once the lightest and easiest and heaviest burden her arms had ever carried. Tears fell freely as she stared at his tiny sleeping face. He was perfect. Perfect.

“Should you be on your feet so soon after the surgery?”

Lena sighed. “It’s been two weeks, Kara. That kryptonite did a number on you.”

“Oh,” said Kara.

They were quiet for a time, Kara rocking the baby gently in the bed while Lena carded her fingers through Kara’s hair.

“This is it,” said Kara. “This is the end. Supergirl is done. He comes first. You come first. We come first.”

“Yes,” Lena agreed. “Alex and I talked about it while you were out and she told me what you were planning to do, so we took the opportunity. Supergirl died saving me from Ben Lockwood. I gave the eulogy at your public funeral. It was very moving, I’m told.”

“I’m sure it was,” Kara said, absently.

Suddenly, Lena threw her arms around them both, pulling them into a tight embrace. Kara leaned into it, burying her face in the crook of Lena’s shoulder.

“Let’s go home.”

[avaantares]

Verify.

Getting really, REALLY sick of all the botspam pretending to be refugees in Gaza. Just in the last couple of days I've had more than 20 new money requests land in my inbox, many of them exact duplicates sent from various randomly-generated URLs. Some of them seem to be AI-generated, or at least following a set Mad Libs format ("our beautiful ___-story house" is a perennial favorite; who knew Gaza had so many homes with 6 to 11 floors?).

Nearly all of these claim to be verified by some third party, but almost none have proof of it (links to a database, exact spreadsheet line numbers, etc.). Some that do give such information don't exist when you actually look them up; they're just assuming that nobody will bother checking.

This is why I never send money to unsolicited cash requests. Too many vultures are posing as victims to steal funds, and it's risky to trust a random DM without reliable third-party verification. By all means, support refugees and fund evacuation and relief efforts! But do it through safe/verified channels, and (for your own safety) never send random cash to a stranger on the internet without doing at least the bare minimum of fact-checking.

If you're considering donating to an individual campaign, ask for proof of third-party verification, such as whether it's listed on the fundraiser spreadsheet compiled by @/el-shab-hussein and @/nabulsi. While this is not 100% foolproof, it would require a dedicated scammer to jump through enough hoops to get listed, while most bots/scattershot scams are just pointing you directly to a GoFundMe link without taking the effort.

Here are a few more bot-free ways to help:

Gaza Funds - a safer way to give directly to those raising money for evacuation, medical treatment, or rebuilding. This site randomly displays a vetted campaign every time you load the page, so it helps all campaigns get equal exposure. All campaigns in the database have been screened to weed out likely scams.

Charity Watch Gaza Aid list - Choose your own charity to support from this verified list of humanitarian and relief services. From this site, you can learn what your money goes toward and what percentage of it will be used for direct relief, rather than administrative costs.

Connecting Humanity/eSIMs for Gaza - This organization uses donated eSIM cards to provide internet and communications access to refugees and displaced people.

Operation Olive Branch - A grassroots organization, OOB helps verify individual fundraising campaigns and supports relief organizations.

UNRWA - The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine and the Near East provides food, medical supplies, educational materials, and more to affected areas.

Arab.org daily clicks to help - It's free and only takes a few seconds! You can click all six categories, once per browser per device per day (so different browsers, mobiles, desktops, tablets, etc. can all be used on the same day).

For more reading, here's the FCC guide to donating safely.

[what-gs-watching]

“Well…maybe I’ll save you.”

I’M NOT CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING.

Sorry.

I’m not crying, you’re crying.

That’s not much better, is it.

I just finished The Giggle and I’m sobbing over the fact that 10 finally gets everything he was chasing and I am clearly unwell. I knew this episode was going to break me but I didn’t realize how far they were going to push us over the cliff. Like. You don’t get this in Doctor Who, not ever. That’s almost the appeal of it, sometimes. 

But Russell T Davies just ripped out everyone’s heart in the best possible way.  I really can’t.

Blorp. Okay. 

The thing is….the thing is - I think everybody needed that. How satisfying must this be for David Tennant? And Catherine Tate? How are they not fit to bursting right now? That was so beautiful, gang. And they must be so proud.

But I’m gonna focus. Also, didn’t I say catharsis? Jesus christ, you can’t get more than that. I’m pretty sure they hit the fucking limit on catharsis. Wow. I’m a mess.

Focusing, though: wherein the Doctor and Donna have to say humanity from their own terrible base instincts because the Toymaker loves a good game. 

So we open on Soho in 1925 (which, is anyone else wondering where A.Z. Fell & Co is in relationship to the street they’re showing? No? Just me? Okay cool) and we’re taken into a creepy toy shop where we meet Neil Patrick Harris doing a super weird German accent and being a general creep. He sells a dummy to a man who says he needs it for his boss, who is around the corner working on inventing the concept of television broadcasting for the very first time.  

They pop the head off the dummy and leave it in a setup surrounded by a ton of lightbulbs and they go into another room to test it all out - and it works. But the heat from the bulbs is hot, too hot, which is why they needed an object, not an actual person. But of course, the creepy toyseller was obviously up to no good, and as the broadcast continues, the dummy head melts and lets out a terrible little giggle. Clearly, we’re in trouble.

Back in the present, the Doctor and Donna are in the streets of London trying to figure out what’s happening. Some guy argues with 14 who tries to stop him from attacking a car, saying that his taxes pay for the street but he doesn’t drive and he has the right to do whatever he wants with the roadway, thank you. Perfectly sound logic, and the guy is belligerent, saying two days ago everyone in the world decided they were right and wouldn’t listen to reason.  So that’s exciting.

Soon enough, UNIT finds them and they’re told to get Wilf somewhere safe while the Doctor and Donna follow them to headquarters. Where we finally get our eyes on Kate Lethbridge-Stewart who I absolutely love, she’s the “bitches get shit done” Tina Fey gif come to LIFE. Bitch will always be the new black, and that’s Kate, and exactly how she runs UNIT, loading it full of equally brilliant women, including Shirley who we’d met when dealing with The Meep, and Melanie, who was a companion to the 6th Doctor,

Who run the world? GIRLS.

Anyway, we get into explanation mode - two days ago there was a spike in aggression worldwide, the same spike across the board. It’s affecting everyone, even the people in government, but UNIT has a fun device that helps keep everyone wearing one sane. And Kate decides she’s going to demonstrate how fucked up the situation is - she asks them to take her device offline, so they do.

And she proceeds to spew a bunch of terrible things at the Doctor - how he’s an alien with two hearts that have infiltrated them and can’t be trusted, and then she takes shots at poor Shirley who’s in a goddamn wheelchair and it’s really gross to watch, it’s one of the worst parts of humanity and she tries to avoid having her device turned back on, but they finally subdue her. It’s some serious shit, gang.

They say that the spikes aren’t coming from outside, they’re in everyone’s head, except for Donna, and Melanie, who have spent significant time in the TARDIS. And for extra fun, two days ago a satellite went up that finally connected the entirety of the earth to the internet, and now, everyone has access to a screen. 

And of course, Donna is working something out about the spike they’ve found, saying that she spent six months teaching Rose how to play the recorder; she thinks it’s a tune. Melanie sings it out and it strikes with everyone, like they’ve known it for years. And then Shirley finds it, it’s not a tune, it’s the laugh from the dummy. The Doctor figures out that the image has been burnt into television itself, into all the screens everyone is attached to every minute of everyday.

As they’re getting the date of the exact transmission, 14 gives Kate permission to shoot the satellite down, even though it’ll start an international incident. He’s the president of the world, and I love that. Her relief is palpable.

He also has a little moment with Melanie, which is so sweet. I love that whenever he rolls up to someone he hasn’t seen in decades, he always mutters the kindest little “hello.” Just for them. His attention completely focused. It must feel like a sun shining directly on you. I literally have a collection of David Tennant saying “hello” in my mind, ugh it’s so something. 

During all of this, Kate is telling Donna she did well working out the spikes, and she offers her a job at UNIT once everything has settled. Pure Donna, she asks how much the salary is, and then counters with DOUBLE the amount and 5 weeks paid vacation which is immediately accepted. BAMF, BAMF, BAMF. Get what’s yours, baby girl.

So much going on. Okay, so they go back to 1925, and 14 is all about what they need to do but Donna wants to hear about Mel because he’s never once mentioned her. He never does, he never talks about them. Rose a bit, yes, but usually no. Not ever. And he reminds her he’s old as hell and he can’t just chat about everyone, but it’s more than that. She tells him he never stops moving, she says “You are staggering along. Maybe that's why your old face came back. You're wearing yourself out” and that’s the crux of the matter, friends. 14 is wonderful, we’re all in love with him, but he’s definitely bleeding out everything. All over the place. And it’s so sad to see him so run down. But, classic 10, he ignores her.

They find the toyshop of course, and the Doctor recognizes the Toymaker. Who immediately starts a game of catch with the Doctor, because he’s a fucking weirdo like that, and 14 looks incredibly determined and also freaked out but Donna puts a stop to it, and the Toymaker disappears. 

They follow him deeper into the shop and surprise! They find themselves in a never ending hallway full of doors, and each door just leads to another hallway. Which should be impossible, but we’re told that the Toymaker is only governed by the rules of play, so he can basically do whatever the eff he wants.

Donna gets the story out of him as they wander - the Doctor had once gone into another realm, where he played a game against the Toymaker and apparently won, but he said he made a terrible mistake. Poor kiddo is really raw all of a sudden, he says “I'm always so certain. I'm all sonic and TARDIS and Time Lord. Take that away... Take away the toys... what am I? What am I now?” and then he tells Donna, “I don’t know…if I can save your life this time.”

Scrawny little 14 all exposed and helpless and I told you, he’s bleeding all over the place, and she just tells him, “Well…maybe I’ll save you.”

THEY’RE BEST FRIENDS, and she’s definitely gonna save him, just not in the way he thinks. And it’s so good.

Speeding ahead, they keep wandering through the halls and then they get separated of course and Donna gets attacked by the dummy that was supposed to be the original dummy’s wife and his creepy babies but she beats them obviously, and the Doctor gets taunted by the Toymaker but they find each other eventually.

And then they’re pulled into a room with a little stage where the Toymaker puts on a puppet show about exactly what has happened to the Doctor’s companions since he traveled with Donna. And it’s so sad to listen to him try to justify everyone’s fate - Amy died of old age, but in a time and place she was never meant to. Clara was killed by a bird but technically saved in her last moments of life. Bill was turned into a cyberman, but her consciousness lived on. No happy endings, for the Doctor and his friends, not ever. 

 To stop the show, the Doctor challenges the Toymaker to a game. And Donna’s afraid the Toymaker will cheat, but it seems the rules of the game bind his entire existence: the Doctor will either win or lose. So they cut a deck, and the highest card wins. And it’s the Toymaker, with a king.

But the Doctor finds a loophole - he won the first game, the Toymaker one the second game, and that prompts another, the best of three. Which the Toymaker accepts, but he wants that game to be played back in the present. 

Meanwhile at UNIT headquarters they’re shooting down the new satellite, and the Doctor and Donna appear to try and figure out a way to force the Toymaker out of the universe they way he’d come, but it’s too late. 14 is explaining something and then “Spice Up Your Life” is playing, and I’m sorry but L O L at the entire dance scene with NPH that unfolds. It’s hilarious, and creepy, and it definitely goes on too long, but I’ll allow a little pageantry. He turns UNIT’s bullets into flower petals and it’s a little terrifying, how much power he possesses and that’s the point. And then as soon as he’s arrived, he disappears again. 

Just kidding though, the Toymaker is out on the platform where the beam they used to take down the satellite is still set up and ready to roll, and he’s got control of it. So everyone of course rushes out to try and stop him. 

The Doctor tries to talk him down, of course. He asks why he’s choosing to be so horrible when he can do so many good things, and the Toymaker reminds him he’s just a vastness that good and bad don’t apply to, only winning and losing. The Doctor tells him he’s a vastness that contains so much more, and then he suggests they take the game away from earth, that they can play across the cosmos. 

He says “we can be…celestial” - and I’m dying inside. Is anyone else wondering what Aziraphale’s reaction to that sentence would have been? So many little bits of Good Omens, it’s slightly painful. 

Also, I appreciate that the Doctor is always trying to turn enemies into his playmates. 10 did it with the Master, too. It makes sense, he’s always off with humans but why wouldn’t entities that are more in line with what he is, want to travel with him? They always say no. Because y’all are too obsessed with your own drama to recognize what a fucking opportunity that is. Idiots.

So yeah, that doesn’t work and the Toymaker declares that since he played the first two games with different doctors, he wants to play the final game with the next Doctor. AND HE SHOOTS 14 WITH THE GIANT FUCKING LASER. 

It’s agonizing. It’s terrible. And Donna and Mel rush to his side as he starts to regenerate, because they don’t want him to be alone. They tell him he’s not dying, and they don’t care who he is, because every version of him is fantastic. And that’s what he needed to hear the first time. Every time, really.

And then he says “It's time. Here we go again. Allons-y!” (squee!) but…nothing happens. So he asks them to pull, yank on his arms, and they’re like ‘um’ but they do and THEN:

Out pops 15. And I’m losing my fucking mind. 

Here’s the thing, gang. There is one sure fire way to make the new Doctor capture everyone’s heart, and that is apparently to let him interact with 14. Because everything that happens after this is incredible.

15 says “You're me. No, I'm me. I think I'm really, really me. Oh-ho-ho, I am completely me!” and he tells 14 to push, and they’re both like ‘will this work?’ and they’re laughing and they push against each other and they’re two separate entities and it’s amazing. 

14 obviously was all done up in his traditional suit (minus the coat) so now suddenly 15 is wearing the dress shirt, and the tie, and their charming little tightie whities, and the CONVERSES! And 14’s still got the pants, the undershirt, the vest, completely barefoot. I’m delighted and crying my eyes out. 

So apparently they’ve bi-generated, which is supposed to be a myth and 15 asks Mel what she thinks and she says “I think you’re beautiful” and 14 pipes up, “still beautiful?!” and it’s all so good but the Toymaker is exasperated and then both Doctor’s say “I challenge you to a game” but he doesn’t like that. He’d caused the bi-generation and he doesn’t want to play both of them but he can’t say no.

What follows is the highest stakes game of catch that has literally ever existed. 14 and 15 are ducking and bobbing and weaving and catching and it’s ridiculous but also so filled with tension; whoever drops the ball, loses. David Tennant is a 50-something year old spindly noodle and oh my god he’s just crushing the entire thing, I could watch this all day. 

But someone has to lose, and thank god, eventually it’s the Toymaker. They decide their prize is going to be banishing him from existence forever. He gets folded up into a little square of douchebag, shoved in a box, and left to rot in the deepest recesses of UNIT’s storage. 

And it’s wonderful! But 14 can’t help but think of all of the people that died. And here is where 15 worms into everyone’s heart for the rest of eternity: he reminds 14 that he can’t save everyone, and then he grabs him into a hug and he says “Come here. I've got you. Yeah? It's OK. I'm here” and he kisses 14’s forehead. 

It’s what the Doctor has always needed, but never got. A reminder from himself that what he does matters, that he’s good and he tries and it’s okay when things don’t go perfectly, but he does save people. He deserves acceptance from himself, and if he can’t give it in his own mind, he can get it from someone else who is literally him. It’s fucking beautiful.

They head back to the TARDIS and 14 shows 15 all the bells and whistles and 14 wonders how it’s going to work, the two of them? 15 makes him stop his anxious rambling, tells him “you're thin as a pin, love. You're running on fumes.” He keeps talking, about all of the things they’ve seen and done. The Pandorica, The Time War, losing River and Rose. The fact that Sarah Jane has died. 14 says, “I loved her” and 15 says “I loved her.” 

15 reminds him that they haven’t stopped, not for a second. But he’s fine, because 14 had fixed himself. He says “We’re doing rehab out of order.” And it’s true; 15 has taken in everything that Donna has been trying to get 14 to understand, he has the sweetness and the willingness to express his feelings that 14 finally learned, and now he’s putting his foot down, to himself. His old self. He’s telling 14 that he has to stop. 

But 14 doesn’t know how, and Donna tells him that he just has to exist, every single day, in and out. Over and over. And that’s the adventure. She says “I've worked out what happened. You changed your face... and then you found me. Do you know why?”

“To come home.”

If you didn’t lose it at that, you might need to examine your inner workings. It’s a punch to the gut. And it’s absolutely true. It’s the one thing the Doctor has never had, but now he can. And the way 14 asks “Do you mean…he flies off?” is so sad and small, and deflating, like he can’t imagine being pried away and made to stop and just be and exist. It’s terrifying for him. And he knows he can’t leave the TARDIS, it would hurt.

15 has an idea though, he thinks they might have a little bit of time, still being governed by a state of play, so he produces a sledge hammer and he hops out of the TARDIS, followed by 14 and Donna. 

He wields the hammer and he says “You get a prize, honey. And here is mine!” and he SWINGS against the TARDIS, and out pops another perfect little blue police box (and he runs a hand down the first one, saying “I’m sorry!”). Two TARDIS’s, two doctors. 

(I’m also swooning over 15’s use of endearments - love, honey - he’s gonna kill me.)

14 goes in to inspect the new TARDIS, he’s reverent almost, and it’s much the same, but it’s got a jukebox. He wanders back to his own TARDIS and 15 hops into the new one and powers her up and he’s definitely about to leave without a goodbye but 14 bounds back in with Donna to get what they’re owed. Which is hugs and a little sass. 15 says “off you pop, old man” and I love that, but they remind him he’s the older of the two now, so he says “Okay, kid. I love you. Get out!”

15 is full of the love the Doctor never gets to give freely, but he’s ready now, and I’m so excited to watch that unfold. It’s so perfect and beautiful that 14 is the one who gets to feel it first. Baby boy needs so much more, and he’s gonna get it.

And so, off they both go. 15 to his endless adventures, 14 to something even more scary.

The last scene is a dinner at Donna’s, wherein 14 is telling a ridiculous story about using his eyebrows to communicate (Crowley, Crowley, Crowley…) and it’s just banter and it’s so good. We find out that he’s taking Mel on little adventures in the TARDIS, even Rose a time or two. He says “Just can’t turn down my favorite niece” and oh, it’s so lovely. He says “That’s what you are. With my best friend, my brother-in-law, the evil stepmother, and mad auntie Mel.” 

The desperate wanderer, a man who has run for thousands upon thousands upon thousands of years in a multitude of faces, finally has a family. 

Donna tells him he doesn’t have to stay forever, and then she asks him if he misses it out there. And his face, oh y’all his face as he says “The funny thing is, I fought all those battles for all those years... and now I know what for. This. I've never been so happy in my life”, it’s EVERYTHING.

Never, not once, has the Doctor gotten this. Usually, things work out just enough that it barely soothes the pain of what was lost. Never has he won so fully, so completely. Donna restored, and the chance to finally relish what he’s been protecting for so long. And no one deserved it more than 10 and 14.

The Doctor doesn’t have to be all hard edges and fire and war and unrelenting motion. He can be soft and vulnerable and he can accept help and he can love. 

And I didn’t even realize I wanted to see that. Doctor Who is like letting yourself believe in a higher power, a little bit. Believing in a species that maybe isn’t beholden to all of the disgusting emotions we have to deal with, he’s strong when we can’t be. He’s strong all the time. But I don’t think I’ve ever connected as much to an arch as I did to this one. We can’t be strong all the time. No one can. 

Watching the Doctor stop, and be taken care of for once, I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding. Catharsis, on all sides. For everyone. I needed all of that way more than I’m ever willing to admit.

No matter what’s going on in the real world, at least now, somewhere out there 14 is hanging out at Donna’s house, telling silly stories and helping cook dinner and teaching Rose a bunch of science she should never get her hands on, and that’s satisfying in a way I can’t explain.

Basically, I’m so thankful for Doctor Who. And I can’t wait to see what happens next…

[sweet7simple]

Terms and definitions that you can maybe apply to your fan works

I don't know anything about computer or mechanical engineering (it's very funny to me that I am in the Transformers fandom and I don't even care about cars), but I do care about improving my writing. I have gathered a list of terms that sound very sciencey and applicable to mechs, some from Martha Wells's "Murderbot Diaries," some from fanfiction/fandom (shout-out to the Crime in Crystals series by Aard_Rinn and Baebeyza, they wrote Transformers better than any Transformers comic/TV show did), and a lot from just surfing through Google and going, "well, what the hell is this? Okay, but what the hell is THAT?".

Also, as I was writing this post, I ended up getting sucked into this article:

And this really bloated my already long list of terms. Very easy to read if you want to glance it over yourself.

It's not an exhaustive list and who knows if it will be useful to you - but maybe you can reblog with your own add-ons of terms and definitions you think make a Transformers fan work just that much better.

The list is below the cut:

100% CPU Load - CPU is fully occupied with too many processors/applications/drivers/operations - not necessarily synonymous with an overload.

Actuators* - A device that causes a machine or other device to operate (Ex: a computerized unit instructs the actuator how to move the tires on a vehicle); create linear and rotary movement (Ex: A hydraulic actuator on a valve will move that valve in response to a sensor/signal); Linear actuators "move a piston back and forth inside a cylinder to build pressure and 'actuate', or complete an action".

* Think of actuators as devices that help produce linear motion and motors as devices that help produce rotational movement. Hence, some consider actuators as a type of motor. But a motor is not a type of actuator (jhfoster.com).

Alternator - Converts mechanical energy to electrical energy with an alternating current. The stator and rotor inside the alternator work as magnets and rotate to generate the alternating current. Then the alternating current (AC) is transformed into a direct current (DC) that charges the battery.

Archive (Archive files) - used to collect multiple data files together into a single file for easier portability and storage, or simply to compress files to use less storage space.

Arithmetic Log Unit (ALU) - the part of a central processing unit that carries out arithmetic and logic operations on the operands in computer instruction words. In some processors, the ALU is divided into two units: an arithmetic unit (AU) and a logic unit (LU).

Augment - Make something greater; increase.

Auxiliary Battery - Designed to run as a backup to the starting battery and provide power to some essential equipment like engine start/stop and other systems that require power while the engine is off to put less strain on the main battery and alternator.

Bandwidth - A measurement indicating the maximum capacity of a wired or wireless communications link to transmit data over a network connection in a given amount of time.

Behavioral Coding - A term used in Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries; essential, code for behaviors.

Branch Instructions - Use programming elements like if-statements, for-loops, and return-statements; used to interrupt the program execution and switch to a different part of the code.

Branch Predictors - Track the status of previous branches to learn whether or not an upcoming branch is likely to be taken or not.

Buffer - A region of memory used to store data temporarily while it is being moved from one place to another.

Cathodes vs Anodes - Cathodes are the positive electrode while the anode is the negative electrode; electrons flow from the anode to the cathode and this creates the flow of electric charge in a battery or electrochemical cell.

Catastrophic Failure - Complete, sudden and unexpected breakdown in a machine, indicating improper maintenance.

Central Processing Unit (CPU) - Primary component of a computer that acts as its "control center"; complex set of circuitry that runs the machine's operating systems and apps; the brains of the computer. * Components: Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), Control Unit (CU), Datapath, Instruction Cycle, Registers, Combinational Logic, the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), etc...

Clock - Determines how many instructions a CPU can process per second; increasing its frequency through overclocking will make instructions run faster, but will increase power consumption and heat output.

Combustion Chambers - An enclosed space in which combustion takes place, such as an engine; jet engines also have combustion chambers.

Condition Codes - Extra bits kept by a processor that summarize the results of an operation and that affect the execution of later instructions.

Control Bus - Manages the communication between the computer's CPU and its other components.

Control Unit (CU) - Manages the execution of instructions and coordinates data flow within the CPU and between other computer components.

Cybermetal - Element native to Cybertron and Cybertron alone.

Datapath - The path where data flows as it is processed; receives input, processes it, and sends it out to the right place when done processing; datapaths are told how to operate by the CU; depending on instructions, a datapath can route signals to different components, turn on and off different parts of itself, and monitor the state of the CPU.

Diagnostic and Data Repair Sequence - Term used in Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries; exactly what it sounds like.

Diode - A semiconductor device with two terminals (a cathode and an anode), typically allowing the flow of current in one direction only.

Discrete Circuit vs Integrated Circuit- Single device with a single function (ex: Transistor, diode) vs Devices with multiple functional elements on one chip (ex: Memories, microprocessor IC and Logic IC).

Drivers - A set of files that help software (digital components, such as Microsoft Office) interface/work with hardware (physical components, such as a keyboard); allows an operating system and a device to communicate.

Electromagnetic (EM) Field - A combination of invisible electric and magnetic fields of force; used in fandom by mechs to broadcast emotions to others.

Flags - A value that acts as a signal for a function or process. The value of the flag is used to determine the next step of a program; flags are often binary flags which contain a boolean value (true or false).

Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) - Consists of an electronic control unit (ECU) and related accessors that control aircraft engine performances.

Gestation Tank - Used in mech pregnancies, you can pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Heads Up Display (HUD) - A part of the user interface that visually conveys information to the player during gameplay.

Heat Spreader - Often used in computer processors to prevent them from overheating during operation; transfers energy as heat from a hotter source to a colder heat sink or heat exchanger.

HUB - A device that connects multiple computers and devices to a local area network (LAN).

Inductive Charging - How I imagine berths work; wireless power transfer (ex: Wireless charger or charging pad used for phones).

Instruction Cycle - Also known as fetch-decode-execute cycle; basic operation performed by a CPU to execute an instruction; consists of several steps, each of which performs a specific function in the execution of the instruction.

Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) - The figurative blueprint for how the CPU operates and how all the internal systems interact with each other (I think of it like a blueprint for the brain).

Irising - Term used in fanfiction (specifically the Crime in Crystals series) to describe the action of the of the spark chamber opening ("The Talk", chapter 6, my absolute favorite chapter out of the entire series). I just really liked how the word sounded in that context.

Life Codes - "For those of us who were forged, Primus, through Vector Sigma, generated a pulse wave. Each one a data-saturated life code faster than thought, brighter than light, racing across Cybertron, sowing sparks..." (~Tyrest/Solomus, Volume 5 of More Than Meets the Eye)

Memory Hierarchy - Represents the relationship between caches, RAM, and main storage; when a CPU receives a memory instruction for a piece of data that it doesn't yet have locally in its registers, it will go down the memory hierarchy until it finds it.

Levels: L1 cache (usually smallest and fastest), L2 cache, L3 cache, RAM, and then main storage (usually biggest and slowest); available space and latency (delay) increase from one level to the next

Depending on the multi-core (a core is usually synonymous with a CPU) system, each core will have its own private L1 cache, share an L2 with one other core, and share an L3 with more or more cores.

Motors* - Any power unit that generates motion; electric motors work by converting electrical energy into mechanical energy... when this happens within a magnetic field, a force is generated which causes shaft rotation.

Multitasking Operating System - Allows users to run multiple programs and tasks almost simultaneously without losing data; manage system resources (such as computer memory and input/output devices), allocate resources, enable multiple users, and eliminate long wait times for program execution.

Network - A set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. Computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other.

Network Feed - The continuously updating stream of content that users encounter on networking platforms.

Neural Network - A type of machine learning process that uses interconnected nodes (like neurons) to teach computers to process data in a way similar to the human brain; a form of deep learning that can help computers learn from their mistakes and improve their time.

Nimbus - A luminous cloud or a halo surrounding a supernatural being or a saint; has been used in fanfiction synonymously or in junction with the corona of the spark.

Nodes - A connection point between devices that allows data to be sent and received between them.

Oil Sump/Oil Pan - Don't forget to change your mech's oil.

Out-Of-Order Execution - A paradigm used to minimize downtime while waiting for other instructions to finish; allows a CPU to choose the most timely instructions to execute out of an instruction queue.

Overload - Orgasm; an electrical overload occurs when too much electricity passes through a circuit, exceeding its capacity; an information overload is when a system receives more input than it can process, or a state of being overwhelmed by the amount of data presented for processing.

Pedes - Feet

Pipelining - A technique used in computer architecture that allows a processor to execute multiple instructions simultaneously, improving overall performance.

Processing Capacity - The ability and speed of a processor, and how many operations it can carry out in a given amount of time.

Program Counter - A special register in a computer processor that contains the memory address (location) of the next program instruction to be executed.

Programmable Nanobots/Nanites - Cybertronian microbots programmed to do work at the molecular level; used popularly for surface healing and pigment in mechs.

Protected Storage - Provides applications with an interface to store user data that must be kept secure or free from modification; a storage method; a function in mainframe hardware.

Protoform - Formed of an ultra-dense liquid metal and are extremely hard to damage; the most basic Cybertronian form of raw, free-flowing living metal; first stage of Cybertronian life cycle

To create a Cybertronian, you need the protoform, the life-giving spark, and alt-form information.

Register - A type of computer memory built directly into the processor or CPU that is used to store and manipulate data during the execution of instructions.

Ex: "When you run a .exe on Windows... the code for that program is moved into memory and the CPU is told what address the first instruction starts at. The CPU always maintains an internal register that holds the memory location of the next instruction to be executed [the Program Counter]"...

Resource Allocations - The process of identifying and assigning available resources to a task or project to support objectives.

Risk Assessment - Focus on identifying the threats facing your information systems, networks, and data and assessing the potential consequences should these adverse events occur.

Routine - A component of a software application that performs a specific task (ex: Saving a file).

Servomechanism - A powered mechanism producing motion or force at a higher level of energy than the input level (ex: In the brakes and steering of large motor vehicles) especially where feedback is employed to make the control automatic.

Servos - Hands

Shellcode - A small piece of executable code used as a payload, built to exploit vulnerabilities in a system or carry out malicious commands. The name comes from the fact that the shellcode usually starts a command shell which allows the attacker to control the compromised machine.

Semiconductor - A material used in electrical circuits and components that partially conduct electricity.

Semiconductor materials include silicon, germanium, and selenium.

Struts - Bones; A rod or bar forming part of a framework and designed to resist compression.

System/System Unit (in computers) - A setup that consists of both hardware and software components organized to perform complex operations/The core of your computer where all the processing happens.

Task Specific Accelerator - Circuits designed to perform one small task as fast as possible (ex: Encription, media encoding & machine learning).

Teek - Used in Transformers fandom in conjunction with EM Fields; when a mech "teeks" another mech's field, they are feeling the emotions that mech is broadcasting.

Transistor - Enables a computer to follow instructions to calculate, compare and copy data.

Universal Serial Bus (USB) - A standard plug-and-play interface that allows computers and peripheral devices to connect with each other, transfer data, and share a power source; allows data exchange and delivery of power between many types of electronics; plug-and-play interface is also a type of sexual activity used in fandom.

Warren - Used to refer to a group of minibots with their own social hierarchy and culture (Seriously, read the Crime in Crystals series, it's better than canon).

[lazeecomet]

HATEHATEHATE microsoft edge and how it and google are just getting in the way of anything web legacy

So there is this device at work. its called an EPD. the name is not important. all you need to know is that it has an IP address 192.168.X.XXX that you need to connect to it in order to get data.

for whatever reason the company that makes it just hasnt updated the UI or interface since 2005 because this thing does NOT work on modern browsers.

well.... it works mostly that is. except for the chart. it can display a realtime graph of Important Data that i need to look at in order to calibrate it. the chart does not work in edge. it does not work in chrome

it needs java

AND NOT ONLY THAT

it needs ActiveX Controls

BUT NOT ANY NORMAL ONES.

Noooooo it has to pretend to be a website to download you an unsigned ActiveX Control driver? extension? IDK what it is but you need to install it.

but we are getting ahead of ourselves here. suffice it to say, the computer that would NORMALLY display this chart got reformatted and now it cant. so i used my laptop

so i opened Interet Explorer because that is the program that works

Edge opens the MSN homepage instead.

thats not what i want. i tried Edge. it cant display the graph. I open Internet Explorer again

edge opens another MSN homepage window

i install google chrome. it also doesnt work. they are both chromium after all. i try to install firefox. its blocked on the network. i need to prevent edge from closing IE

with a little google-fu i rename my BMO or whatever folder in my edge folder to prevent it from openening Edge when i want IE

it doesnt work

i do some more google-fu and disable my extension settings to prevent the BMO thing

another MSN homepage opens

I start digging into the forums on HVAC websites because these guys are having the same problem only with AC units. I find it. I have to create a VSB file that force opens the website with edge. cool.

whats a VSB file?

after an hour of fucking around just TRYING to OPEN IE so i can use the browser that can display the chart i have created a VSB file that OPENS IE ON THE IP ADDRESS OF THE EPD UNIT

the graph doesnt work. i need java

the java webpage doesnt load on ie

i download it with chrome

still doent work. i have to enable it in my extensions from IE

THE GRAPH DOES SOMETHING!

it asks me to download something. i say yes

edge tells me it blocked an unsighed ActiveX Controls program from running.

what the fuck is ActiveX Controls? can i download it somewhere else?

NOPE! its backed into IE. you gotta go into your internet settings and basically turn off all your security or add the website to your list of trusted websites

my trusted website list is controlled by IT. i cant change it. the weakest settings i can enable still result in the program being halted.

i have apparently generated several dozen automatic support alerts as every time i try and run it it sends a warning to IT that i am accessing a potentially dangerous site

its taken me 2 hours and i have not even started calibration.

i am forced to do the backup method of just blindly assuming everything is working and downloading the CSV file later. this too ends up not working but for reasons i will have to figure out tomorrow. the data is there but the math is wrong.

fucking hate edge and its backwards incompatiblity