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autobot-ratchet · 5 months ago

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MTMTE 12-13

MTMTE 12

still so cute that Tailgate's happy place is movie night

damn they really just cut right to the aftermath of the battle like “oh yeah btw Rewind's injured and Swerve got his face blown off. Just to let you know. Okay back to the present”

Drift is in his element, look at that smile, you go baby, slice those dudes up

gfdjks poor First Aid is so done with Chromedome's fussing, give the guy a break he's just worried about his husband

also yeah god this is the first time we get to say explicitly that they're married, isn't it? I remember being completely fucking floored by that the first time I read it, like “wait what do you mEAN THEY'RE ACTUALLY TOGETHER??? LIKE IN THE ROMANCE WAY?!?!?” like I had picked up on the queercoding vibes but then the comic was just like “yeah coding-schmoding, they're queer” and I simply could not believe that shit lmAO

also btw Cyclonus is injured too. Just fyi

I've made fun of Tailgate for embellishing his past accomplishments but damn does he do a good job of stringing Rewind along lmAO kid's a pretty good liar under enough pressure

I love how they show us that horrifying panel of Swerve's fucked up face without context and then later the context turns out to be “yeah he just accidentally shot himself in the face.” he looked down the fuckin barrel of the thing god lmAO

I love the concept of innermost energon so much. For a race that's constantly morphing and changing to give away the one part of themselves that always stays the same no matter what, the fuckin romance of it all

I love Tailgate trying to gas up Chromedome by constantly trash-talking Dominus just on principle alone lmAO “Oh that's Rewind's ex? Fuck that guy he's got nothing on you” “Tailgate he was an incredible person” “Incredibly cringe, maybe”

sorry I am now distracted by the idea of Tailgate using the word “cringe,” that wasn't nearly as much of a thing when this comic was coming out but he absolutely would, holy shit

ooohhhgdjhfs Drift recruiting Chromedome for The Overlord Thing while he's at his lowest and Rewind's incapacitated is so slimy, he really does have to do all the dirty work for this project huh

Cyclonus immediately goes back to help Tailgate clean up, he's making progress, we're getting thereeeeeeeee

I think this is the first time (of many) that Cyclonus looks at Chromedome and Rewind's relationship and is like “...........huh.” Like, he definitely uses them as a framework for his own relationship with Tailgate and wants what they have, even if he doesn't quite realize it at this point

Ah, right, I forgot that Whirl helps Rewind jump his spark out of guilt for nearly killing him alongside Cyclonus lmAO

And Cyclonus protected Rewind.... nnnnNNGFHSDFNgsdf *points at Cyclonus* HAHA YOU HAVE FEELINGS... YOU CARE........

MTMTE 13

I like the implication that this isn't the first time Drift has grabbed Swerve like a football

also love Cyclonus calling Drift too young, both of you are old as dicks

I will never be able to think about the bit where Swerve asks Drift to be his roommate and Drift is like “no thanks, in my off time I prefer to be alone in a state of heightened isolation exploring the limits of solitude” without thinking about that vine that's like “sorry dude I can't go do social event, I'm busy” and then it cuts to him in his room alone, drinking a can of beer with one hand and playing jock jams on a keyboard with the other, this one, this is the vine

I fucking forgot Swerve was still here, I thought they closed the door on him lmfAO they really just had that whole conversation with the door wide open

I'm still so sad we only got the good holomatter avatar generator after Ratchet had used his old one, not to mention everyone whose avatars we never saw. Every day I wonder what Drift's avatar would've looked like

Magnus shoving his way between Swerve and Tailgate, making Tailgate scoot three entire seats over

“I think the program is struggling with human gender- Do I look like a 'Mary Sue?'” ah-HAH *slaps knee*

Aww, I forgot Magnus's avatar is Verity, that's so sweet. I didn't know who Verity was the first time I read this, but now that I do it does hit different lmAO

fuckin rip Magnus. Fhdksjkl I just noticed Rewind recording in the background, you can see the light of his camera on his silhouette

“Why do I get the impression that you can't remember your worst enemy?” nnnnnnNNNNNGGHH

drunk Magnus is cute

“Where IS Chromedome?” “Oh, he's, erm... I'm sure he told me...” NNNNNNNGGHHFFGHGHFGH

“Savor this feeling, everyone. You never know what's around the corner.” yEAH, YOU GUYS SURE DONT...

Cyclonus teaching Tailgate to sing in old Cybertronian... Tailgate said earlier in the issue that Cyclonus was the only link to his past and that was defs on purpose so that this could be Cyclonus's moment of realizing that Tailgate is much the same for him

aww Swerve, buddy... I mean to be fair I would've done the same thing in Blurr's position, Swerve comes on a little strong, but oh man. Swerve's not a bad guy, he's just unbearably lonely but Blurr never could've known that

oh right this is the first little written blurb we get hell yeah

Rung quietly marveling at the miracle of Cybertronian physiology like. That's YOU!!! That's more you than you could ever know!!!!! He doesn't even know that he's the originator of all that!!!!!!!!

it is still so funny that Rung regained the ability to move by getting so sick of Swerve's shit that he subconsciously mustered the power to move his arm so he could shush him

mmmmphphgndfm one of the only things Rung remembers during his recovery period was the smile Skids gave him when he corrected the mispronunciation of his name... SKIDS IS REAL SWEET........

gfdjk the gang watching Cyclonus browse a gift shop like they're ethologists and Cyclonus is a species of animal they've never seen before

godjdfska Magnus trying to make a joke and failing harder than anyone ever could is still so funny.. HE'S TRYING OKAY........ Also, absolutely hysterical joke to be telling to Rung specifically

God Rodimus is such an ass lmAO “What is wrong with people” he asks the therapist, genuinely. Simply solve mental illness, why don't you

ooh, get him, Rung, stick to your guns, attaboy

God. Watching Rodimus lie through his teeth about investigating the voice Rung and Red Alert heard... I mean, it was never going to work out, bringing Overlord onto the ship, it was a doomed endeavor from the start, but seeing all these moments of Drift and Rodimus trying to keep it under wraps is just so bitter lmAO They did their best, their awful, awful best

#mtmte retrospective

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shadowthief78 · 1 year ago

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Thoughts about Ego’s Backstory

Warnings for manga spoilers for Blue Lock below the cut!

So Ego is obviously one of the driving forces behind Blue Lock: he’s the organizer, the head coach, and I’m willing to bet he probably designed a good portion of the building/Blue Lock holograms/etc as well. But for such a majorly impactful character, we really don’t know much about him.

What we do know is:

He had a restricted diet sometime in the past

He has some kind of old friendship with Noel Noa

He used to have a job that required a special diet (possibly an athlete)

Above: Proof that Ego had some kind of career in the past that restricted his diet so he couldn’t eat instant ramen.

Above: Proof that Noa and Ego knew each other before Blue Lock.

I would like to put forth the consideration that his backstory went something like this:

Very talented athlete, went overseas because Japan was too small for him (much like Sae Itoshi), met Noel Noa along the way, failed to score a winning/somehow very important goal, returned to Japan and faded into obscurity until Anri hired him for the Blue Lock Project.

Here’s why I think that, and also take this with salt because it’s really mostly circumstansial evidence.

Firstly, in chapter one. The imagination story that Ego gives: pass or not at the World Cup? Maybe he’s just being imaginative but from what has been shown, Ego isn’t the kind of person to tell stories for the sake of stories. They’re always an allegory, like the famous “luck is bird shit” one. Is Ego drawing form parsonal experience?

Now, I’m not necessarily sure that he’s played in the World Cup. It might have been another game. But the possibility is there.

I also find the following page intersting: even though Isagi is speaking/narrating the “nameless striker” part, Ego is the focus of that panel. Heck, Isagi hardly earns a spot this page! This might be me just not noticing a lot of things, but it seems odd that Isagi referring to himself is superimposed over Ego and not, say, a picture of Isagi having lost. So, is/was Ego also some “nameless striker”?

What really made me consider all this was the panel below, from ch56, when Ego is explaining to the JFA why Blue Lock is necessary instead of just natural talent growth. Again, this might be a strech, but I don’t think it’s too far off to say that Ego might have experienced something very similar.

Afew pages after, we get this shot: Buratsuta saying failure isn’t allowed and Ego without a snarky comaback, for once? I do think this speaks to Ego having some failure in his past that impacted his philosophy of Blue Lock today.

And finally, Ego is so careless about his life after Blue Lock. Take a look at these three pages in Ch 131:

Ego doesn’t care! He’s giving up! He’s completely abandoning the one single thing he’s spent months or possibly even years building and defending!

Why?

What could have possibly affecte him to the point of willingly and knowingly giving up on something he’s spent countless hours designing the best possible training regimen for?

Listen, I really think Ego wants to help the Blue Lock participants succeed where he couldn’t. That’s why he calls them “lumps of talent,” “diamonds in the rough,” etc. Yeah, he does it kind of insultingly, but those things... they aren’t bad at all?

And it’s also worth mentioning that in the three panels, he’s basically lying. Not about the end of Blue Lock, I do think he was genuine about that part, but about the whole premise fo Blue Lock. He said right at the beginning that 299 out of 300 would die (more or less as a metaphor but, still...) but here he’s planned for the future of the remaining Blue Lock members. I don’t know if this was a lie all along or he planned it this way, but his promise of making a single #1 striker would have been broken here had Isagi not refused to accept this future.

Anyways. Ego is such an enigma and I really want more of his backstory. Maybe someone smarter than me has said this all before and I’ve just given an incomplete summary. My brain is shot after all this.

#puffin says stuff #blue lock #ego jinpachi #bllk

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kogarashi-art · 2 years ago

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The latest geeky decor in our collection, inspired by Outer Wilds. Spoilers, probably. Sorry.

So there are campfires in the game where you can pull out your trusty marshmallow-roasting stick and toast a few. The UI doesn't tell you this overtly, but they actually have the mechanical benefit of recovering hit points if they're toasted nicely. Most people just toast them because it's a cute little detail.

The game also has a supernova that happens at a certain point. If you happen to be at a campfire with your marshmallows out when the supernova hits, the supernova will actually toast your marshmallow (it'll go straight to "on fire," but that still counts as toasting it).

So I thought it'd be fun to do one of those "in case of ___ break glass" projects, specifically for this game.

Non-tutorial-style description:

The frame is a 6"x8" shadow box so as to sit comfortably on our bookshelves (we tuck decor among the sci-fi and fantasy novels). Unfortunately I didn't find one I could easily disassemble, so the inner frame (that holds the front clear panel in place) was securely glued. Since the frame was black with a white interior, this meant having to use painter's tape to try to protect the acrylic panel while I sprayed the outside red, and then being careful with sandpaper and a brush as I painted the inside black. You can still see white around the edges. Lessons learned: look for one that can be completely disassembled so I don't scratch/scuff the acrylic or get paint/tape on it by accident.

I don't have a handy vinyl cutter for the letters, so rather than track down someone who had one to cut the letters for me, I opted to have them printed on a backdrop instead. I added a high-res copy of the Outer Wilds Ventures patch from the game, and a starfield taken from the promo art. I'm actually happy with this look.

The marshmallow stick is made from three things. The stick itself is from a decorative apple branch from Hobby Lobby's floral section. I pulled off the apples and clipped off the leaves and extra twigs until I had a good-looking gnarled stick about the right length. Then I hot-glued faux suede around it for a grip. The marshmallow was made from Crayola Model Magic air-dry clay, which is the perfect color and texture if you get the white kind (which is easy to find). I shaped it into a soft cylinder and then poked the stick through it, and let it dry for a couple of days.

Once everything was ready, I wiped down the inside of the acrylic pane with rubbing alcohol and a microfiber cloth to try to get as much dust out of there as possible (because it sticks to the acrylic like crazy). I put the marshmallow stick in next, then used bookbinding tape (because it's the only acid-free tape I currently have) to fix the printed background to the insert card that came with the shadow box and put that in, then put the back of the shadow box in place and closed everything up. Wiped down the front with alcohol and microfiber as well, and now it's sitting in our living room.

Maybe sometime in the future I'll do a tour post of our geeky decor in the living room.

#Crafting #Outer Wilds #geeky decor #non-tutorial #geek decor #in case of fire break glass #in case of supernova #if you know you know

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felixcloud6288 · 11 months ago

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Higurashi: Abducted by Demons Recap

I don't feel like I got all my thoughts out on this arc so I'm going to make a general post. I'll probably do this for every arc.

This is the first arc of the series. So it has to make sure a new reader understands the premise and what to expect through the series. The first half of this arc is very exposition heavy as a result. Once the audience knows what is going on, the story focuses on the mood.

Throughout the first half, we get glimpses of how something is not right about the village but the second half goes completely off the deep end. There will be moments that are more graphic and unnerving than what happens in this arc, but the first arc needed to be extreme so anyone curious will understand whether or not they're interested or can handle this series.

And as for the art style, I absolutely loved how Karin Suzuragi drew eyes throughout the arc. In particular, I loved the moments where a single uncanny panel would be included in an otherwise normal scene.

My absolute favorite panel in the arc is when Rena asks Keiichi if he ate the ohagi. Nothing before or after that panel is unusual. Then that one panel pops in and you can feel a shiver go down your spine only for everything to continue as if nothing happened.

And all it would take is a little bit of detail in her eyes to remove the uncanniness and unease this panel causes.

Since this is the first arc, the story also had to blitz through the process of establishing everyone's closeness. The arc is entirely focused of Keiichi and Rena's relation and how it completely collapses when Keiichi finds out about the series of murders in Hinamizawa. On a reread, Keiichi and Rena's friendship felt like it was focused on to the point the other characters are essentially background characters. Later arcs will flesh them out more, but we don't know much abut Mion, Satoko, or Rika outside their connections to the murder victims.

Similarly, Tomitake interacts with the main cast far more in this arc than he does in later ones. It makes his death hit harder.

Some notes about major characters from this arc:

Keiichi Maebara: He moved to Hinamizawa three weeks ago.

Rena Ryugu: Birth name "Reina".She had moved out of Hinamizawa when she was younger. At some point she assaulted three boys with a bat and smashed every window in her school. In her psych evaluations, she frequently talked about Oyashiro-sama as if she is possessed by it. She moved back to Hinamizawa a year ago.

Mion Sonozaki: Leader of the group's after-school club. She has several misdemeanors due to her actions during the village's protest against the dam project.

Satoko Hojo: Related to the second and fourth set of victims

Rika Furude: Related to the third set of victims

Curaudo Ooishi: A detective with the local prefecture who wants to figure out the cause of all the deaths. He suspects a group within the village is behind the deaths.

Jirou Tomitake: A photographer who visits Hinamizawa several times through the year. He died by scratching out his throat.

Miyo Takano: A nurse at the local clinic. She went missing after the Cotton Drifting Festival.

Satoshi Hojo: Satoko's older brother. He used to be part of the after-school club. He disappeared a year ago. Prior to his disappearance, he started carrying a bat and practiced his swinging. He also became distant from the club.

Now let's go over what we know or suspect about the murder mysteries:

Since 1979, someone has died each year during the Cotton Drifting Festival.

The first death was the director of the Dam Project. He was murdered and dismembered by several people. The person who took the right arm is still at large. However, the Director might still be alive.

The second death was Satoko's parents. They fell off a cliff. The wife's body was never found.

The third death was Rika's parents. Her father died of an illness and her mother drowned herself in the swamp. Her body was never found.

The fourth death was Satoko's aunt. She was beaten to death. Satoko's brother Satoshi also went missing around that time.

The fifth death was Jirou Tomitake. He clawed out his throat after apparently being attacked by several people. Miyo Takano has also gone missing. Tomitake's death is suspected of being drug induced.

Every death has a pattern of one discovered death and one missing person. People in the village refer to the disappearances as the person being "demoned away"

The villagers refer to the series of deaths as Oyashiro-sama's curse due to the connections to the dam project. However, each new victim is less and less connected to the project. Tomitake had no connection at all, and Ooishi suspects the murderers are just targeting outsiders at this point.

back

#higurashi when they cry #higurashi no naku koro ni #higurashi no naku koro ni reread

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vikenticomeshome · 8 months ago

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Cyberchase Web Adventures Episode 4: Numberless Poddles

On April, 13, 2003, the fourth episode of the Cyberchase Web Adventures comic, "Numberless Poddles", was released. The original three-part web comic, "How It All Started" was also rebranded to become Cyberchase Web Adventures Episode 1-3.

This comic was made in the style of the "How it All Started" webcomic, as it was constructed with backgrounds taken from the original "Poddleville Case" pilot. The creators then added drawings on top of these frames. It is known for being a bit more off-the-rails than the "How It All Started" episodes due to some of the backgrounds and characters drawings not fitting together very well. This includes panels that show the stolen Poddle Eggs from the pilot, even though they have nothing to do with this story.

I just want to make it clear that, as far as I can tell, these are the original assets in their original intended placement. I had to re-assemble the panels due to certain assets being spread across multiple archives. However, I did not change anything.

I previously shared pages of this comic on a post that discussed The Hacker's most humiliating defeat. However, this time, I am going to post the whole thing, with the dialogue transcribed.

This comic was originally released for free on the pbskids.org website. It is no longer available, and it was actually fairly difficult to find backups of the images. I am only posting this for the purpose of archiving the content for fans. The only copyright visible is the general website copyright to the Educational Broadcasting Corporation. No specific people were credited for writing, illustrating, or otherwise creating the comic.

As with the three "How It All Started" webcomics, this comic was designed with some simple animations. I cannot reproduce the animations here. However, I have an item on Blue Maxima;a Flashpoint Archive project that reproduces them. That is the place to go for the best possible experience.

Here we go.

Narration: It's morning in happy Poddleville but it won't be happy for long!

Narration: Someone took the Poddles numbers away - and the cheerful world of the Poddles has ground to a complete halt! Without knowing their number no poddle knows what to do!

Narration: Of course - Hacker was behind it. But that meant Buzz and Delete also, er, helped.

The Hacker: Perfect, perfect! Without numbers, the Poddles don't have a - Ha! -- clue who they are.

Delete: Yeah, boss - neither do we!

The Hacker: But did you hide the Poddleville records somwhere very safe? So we can get them and I can tell each and every Poddle their number, and what they do - and rule this world!

Delete: Yes but-

Buzz: We forgot where, boss!

Narration: Hacker's plan is stopped for now - until he finds those records!

The Hacker: Do not worry, my little numberless Poddles. I will tell each and every one of you what number you are!

Narration: The Poddles have no choice -- but to follow Hacker if he can give them their numbers back!

Motherboard: Hacker has taken the numbers away from the Poddles! And he made them forget everything!

Digit: You gotta help the kids find the Poddleville records! So -- what are you waiting for? If you and the kids find the Poddleville records first, you can stop Hacker from ruling Poddleville!

The Hacker: Well?

Buzz: Um, we haven't exactly found the records yet boss. But I remember we used one of the Poddles Word Machines to give us a clue.

Narration: Digit overhears Buzz! And now it's a race to the Poddleville Word Machine!

Poddleville Police Officer: Yes, that Buzz and Delete did use our Word Machine

Nezzie: Can you help us find Buzz's clue word

Narration: Press the red button to make letters appear in the white space. Press the blue button when a word is made.

Editor's Note: This very simple puzzle allows us to change the first letter of a 5-letter word. The remaining four letters, which we cannot change, are: "L", "I", "M", and "B". The red button changes the first letter. We start with a "W". Then, we get an "S". Next comes an "F". Then comes a "C". Next comes a "P". Then comes a "D". Then comes a "B". Then the game breaks and fails to load another image. I have all of content, so this is a bug. We know the correct letter is "C", as it is the only one that forms a word, "CLIMB". There's nothing stopping us from clicking the arrow and skipping this puzzle entirely, though.

Inez: Yes! The clue word is climb but climb where?

Jackie: Um maybe Mount Poddle?!

Narration: The records must be hidden somewhere on top of Mount Poddle! But how will they get there?

Matt: Oh no! Without their numbers the Poddles don't know how to run the cable car!

Jackie: Can you help us?!

Narration: The cable car machine can take the kids to the top of Poddleville Mountain - if the Poddles can get it working!

Narration: Poddle Weigh-in

Narration: For the Poddles to get the Cybersquad up to the mountain, they need to know their numbers -- and you can help!

Editor's Note: And now, we play a game of "Poddle Weigh-in". A modernized version of this game, which removes the original storyline, is still on the website.

Narration: Poddle Weigh-in

Narration: Remember: Poddles all need numbers, but their numbers don't have to do with how big or small their bodies are. You can't judge a Poddle by it's cover!

Editor's Note: Don't trust your memory of a given Poddle from the pilot. This one is clearly the mayor, who is number "1" in the pilot. However, this Poddle is showing as a number "8" in this game.

Narration: Meanwhile Hacker finds another way up Mount Poddle!

The Hacker: Now tell me again slowly why did you two hide the records all the way up there!?

Narration: Are the numbers of each Poddle locked inside the Poddleville Vault?

Digit: Yoiks! Are the records in there?

Jackie: And if they are how will we get in?

Inez: We can figure it out - with the help of the Poddles from the cable car! Come on!

The Hacker: Oh good, those annoying kids will figure out how to get in - and then we will snatch the record book!

Buzz: Yeah - now I remember, boss. This is where we hid the records!

Narration: Hacker, Buzz and Delete wait to trick the kids!

Narration: Click on one of the Poddles to go in the red square! Each correct Poddle is part of the combination. Get all four, and the kids are in the vault!

Narration: Hey - you can do this! Put the right Poddle in the red square!

Editor's Note: And now, we solve four simple math equations to unlock the vault. Or we can use the arrow to skip the minigame entirely.

Question #1: _ + 4 = 9

Answer: The Poddle with the number 5.

Question #2: 8 x _ = 16

Answer: 2

Question #3: 9 - _ = 0

Answer: 9

Question #4: _ - 3 = 1

Answer: 4

Narration: The kids have the Poddle numbers - if they can get past Hacker!

Jackie: We got it! The book with every Poddle's number!

Matt: Uh-oh! looks like we just have to get past Hacker!

Digit: Try this on for size, Hacker.

The Hacker: Help! Someone turned the lights out!

Jackie: Now they look much better!

Delete: I'm scared!

Narration: Locked in the vault, Hacker and his pals will have lots of time to chill before they hatch their next evil plan.

Jackie: This should keep them busy for awhile.

Inez: Let's go give the Poddles back their numbers!

Matt: And we couldn't have done it - without you!

Narration: Looks like Hacker will have to do some real thinking to get out of this one!

The Hacker: Well, this lock can't be too difficult, just have to put - um -- the right numbers in. I mean, how hard can it be?

Digit: He didn't win this time!

Motherboard: Thank you - all of you - for stopping Hacker.

Jackie: And Hacke will never win because -

Matt: We've got his number - and it's a zero!

And so, that is the end of this comic.

Now, what did I think of it? It is bizarre. I know the "How it All Started" comics were a little weird, and they didn't always integrate their characters with their backgrounds. However, this is on a whole different level.

You have grainy footage of the pilot episode with non-grainy stickers of the children and Digit on top of it.

You have a shot showing Matt, Jackie, and Inez as they appeared in the pilot with Digit added as a sticker, since we wasn't in the pilot.

You have those stolen Poddle eggs in a few shots, even thought they have nothing to do with the story.

You have The Hacker's infamous double chin, where they put their drawing of Hacker's face on top of his face, as he appeared in the screenshot of the pilot that they are using as the background. They replaced part of his chin from the background with what looks like an electrical cable.

Inez still has her purple star, because they reused the assets from the "Meet the Cybersquad" character bios.

You have The Hacker, Buzz, and Delete in their "giant mode", where The Hacker is about half the size of Mount Poddle, and Delete is towing him up the mountain.

They followed this up with the smallest Hacker ever, peeking out from behind a bush.

They added mini-games, but then, with the exception of "Poddle weigh-in, you can just skip them. With "How It All Started", you did have to beat all of the minigames to move forward.

You have The Hacker's most humiliating defeat, where the kids and Digit stop him with giant Happy Birthday hats.

The kids lock The Hacker, Buzz, and Delete in the Poddleville Vault and leave him to die, which is fucking cold. They know this man needs regular recharges, and they know that Buzz and Delete are too dumb to solve the problem. This feels like an AU where the kids permanently stopped The Hacker

You have Motherboard's congratulation scene with her photo-shopped onto a poorly-drawn flat screen television. The Poddles are running away in terror. This is because the scene that they took from the pilot to use as the background is from when the Mayor of Poddleville is trying to maintain calm, but the tent is collapsing.

10/10. It's perfect. I wouldn't change a damn thing.

#cartoon #cyberchase #2000s #nostalgia #pbs kids #2000s childhood #inez #jackie #matt #digit #web comic #longpost #archived web content

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callipraxia · 2 years ago

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The Unexpected Memoirs of Fiddleford H. McGucket: Chapter Four

Previous Installments: Chapter One (in which we meet Our Hero and learn about his Early Life), Chapter Two (in which Our Hero is Very Confused in the present and deals with Matters Domestic in the past), and Chapter Three (in which Our Hero arrives in a new town and is reunited with an old Friend).

Current Installment: Chapter Four, in which Our Hero develops many Concerns. Content Notes: brief mention of drugs (the character to whom they are mentioned categorically denies using them and they are not depicted), some nightmarish imagery near the end, a burst of ableism and ableist language with regards in particular to mental health occurs courtesy of Bill Cipher, and Bill Cipher is...also just Bill Cipher, and thus a creeping sick creep who creeps and makes my skin crawl as fast as possible in the opposite direction.

Chapter Four

I’ll give credit where it’s due: Stanford did a fair job of sitting still and listening to the tale of my misadventures of the past few years, though I suspect strongly that these things were of minimal, if any, to him whatsoever. He was sunk into a grand vision, an obsession, and everything else faded into obscurity around it for him – but he tried, I think, to focus on what I was saying as long as I was saying it. But then I tried to get some idea of his shenanigans, and, well, it was obvious almost at once that I might as well go ahead and look at the portal.

I had known before I came up, of course, that he was having one of his odd moods about this project – as witness all the oaths about secrecy – but even so: I had to raise an eyebrow when he led me to what at first seemed to be an ordinary wall, only for him to reveal that there was a door hidden behind the panel. Then the door opened, not into a secret room, but into an elevator.

A secret elevator. In a private residence. An honest-to-gosh elevator. I was relieved to see he still had just enough of a sense of humor, I reckon, to grin at my astonishment instead of doing whatever else he might have done.

“Who else have you been workin’ with, to get you an elevator?” I asked finally, and Stanford laughed.

“I built this myself, actually. I’m not completely technically incompetent, you know.”

“I suppose not,” I muttered, following him into the elevator. There were three buttons, rather than the two I expected, and sure enough, it dinged past one door without stopping on the way down. “What’s that for?” I asked.

“Just my study. Nothing too interesting for now – at least not compared to what’s - “ he paused for effect, at which point the elevator stopped – “down here.”

I recall that as the doors opened, he sort of bowed and gestured expansively for me to go ahead with an, “after you,” and a grin that made him briefly look almost like a boy again, but I wonder if I didn’t borrow that from the Other Stanford, the real one. Either way, though, I preceded him down some narrow stairs, and when I saw what was at the bottom of them – incomplete though it was – I stopped dead in my tracks, my mouth hanging open for a few seconds before I even noticed it.

“Stanford,” I said, stunned.

I could practically feel the satisfaction radiation off him. “Impressed?” he asked smugly.

“Uh-huh,” said I, and I approached it slowly, with something akin to reverence.

Even in the awe of that moment, though, I...wondered, I think, at some of the design elements. The triangular focal structure, for instance: a triangle, as Stanford noted in his earliest notes, was one of the most stable shapes – but why was it inverted, here? At first glance, I couldn’t figure out how the thing managed to stay standing at all, rather than falling down at the first hint of a vibration, never mind a good storm or even a mild earthquake….

Still, though – this thought was distant and vague as I looked it over, taking in the scale of the thing. “You sure you need my help?” I asked finally, turning back to him.

He was leaning against the stair rail with his arms folded, clearly making as good of an attempt at nonchalance as anyone as wired up as he was could make, but his self-satisfied smirk transformed again at once into a genuinely delighted-seeming smile at this remark.

“Absolutely,” he assured me. “I was able to figure out – I hope – most of what to do – but as for how to do it - “ he shook his head. “That’s what I get for dropping fifth-dimensional calculus so soon...but doesn’t this work out well, anyway? In large-scale mechanics, you’re the best I’ve ever met – probably the best there is - “

“Shucks, Stanford,” I said. “you don’t got to engage in no hyperbole here.”

“I’m not,” he said, and then, blunt as ever, added, “on my own, I’d achieve something extraordinary, sooner or later – but the two of us working together – extraordinary’s not even the word for it. Together, Fiddleford, I doubt there’s anything we couldn’t do.”

* * * * * * * *

My head was still spinning when we left the lab and took the elevator back up to the second level. Keys jingled in surprising profusion as Ford unlocked the door and ushered me into what he’d called his study.

It was a peculiar room – that much, dazed as I was, I realized at once. For one thing, the walls looked like they had all been loosely covered in blank canvas – as though Ford had thought to put up tapestries but had only partially gotten the idea down right. That, however, was not enough to stir up any unease in me – not when I was, after all, talking to Ford, and was, after all, also still myself. Maybe Emma-May had imposed a semblance of order on my life, allowed me to act like I was a little more normal than I was, but my default state was not that of a functioning adult, either, as I have so well demonstrated to the whole community these past thirty years. I did, however, notice all the triangle and pyramid shapes scattered around the place – paperweights and prisms, of course, nothing ominous, but I got the feeling, which made my hands want to drift up to my head, that it was as if some of them were looking at me….

Shaking off that thought, I picked my way carefully between some stacks of books and looked up to find Stanford looking embarrassed again.

“I know, I know,” he said ruefully. “I’m impossible to live with.”

“You sure will be if one of these ever falls on your head,” I said. “I’ll put up with a lot in the name of friendship, but living with a cadaver ain’t among ‘em….”

I had meant this as a joke, but if anything, it just seemed to make Stanford all that much more uncomfortable-looking. “Friendship,” he muttered, fiddling with one of his paperweights. “Right. You’d – I suppose I should - “ He paused for a moment, clearly collecting himself, and said, “I should have mentioned it before, Fiddleford, but – it’s...all right, you know, if you’d prefer for this to be a strictly professional relationship. Going forward, I mean. You don’t have to – put on any...shows, or anything like that, I quite understand if - “

“If what?” I demanded. “Put on shows? Shows of what, for t’Lord’s sake?”

“I got...carried away, before, acting as if – well – it were old times, when of course it isn’t,” he said stiffly. “Despite that, I don’t want you to think you have to – pretend we’re friends again if you don’t want to.”

“You….” I stared at him in bewilderment and a little hurt. “Are you sayin’ you don’t want to be?”

“No! No, that’s not what I meant! I would like it if we were, I just...well. I’m sure you’re very busy, with the wife and the son and all…”

I thought about this for a moment and then I decided to ask a question. Normally I would not have ever said such a thing to him, and I didn’t believe it was so really even then, but – “are you smoking crack?” I inquired.

“...No?”

“Well, you coulda fooled me, talking a fool like that,” I said. “What do you think I’m doing here, anyway?”

“Assisting me with a project in exchange for money.”

“I – well, all right, yes, I’m doin’ that, too,” I conceded, as it was true. “But I reckon I’d have come up here to see about you even if I hadn’t been going to do that! Every time I run into anybody from the old days for going on three years, they’ve asked about you and I had about half-reckoned you were dead! If I just wanted to work on a project for some money, I coulda stayed home and done that! I might aim to stay longer than I would’ve, but I came up here because I was that glad to hear from y’again after forever and a day….”

“Really?” For a moment, the look on his face was both touching and somewhat concerning. Then it clouded over again and just became concerning. “But – you said other people have asked about me, too? What other people? What did they want?”

This sudden shift was as dramatic and unexpected as I imagined my question about his use of hard drugs had been. He did not sound at all pleased about the prospect of others of the old crowd also wanting to know what was going on with him – more, in fact, like he was alarmed by the very idea. Suspicious. One might even say, paranoid….”

“Nobody in particular – not lately. Just when I run across others that was with us at Backupsmore - “

Stanford’s eyebrows were nearly touching, and he looked as though he might run or throw a punch at any given moment. “You didn’t tell anyone anything?” he asked. “Where I am? Or what we’re doing?”

“No! Who am I supposed to have seen in the past week? I’m talking about the whole past few years, since you know, we all figured you’d have the Nobel in the bag by now or something like that - “ I fell silent again, though, as Ford’s shoulders sort of – jerked, and his hand closed on a sheet of paper, crumpling it up. “Stanford?”

“I will soon enough,” he said, in a voice I barely even recognized as his. “If I keep going...and if I can keep it safe.” He looked up at me again, flushed, now, but more as if he had a fever than like he was embarrassed. There was something feverish, too, about the glitter in his dark eyes as he continued. “I’ve had to be – very careful – about my work – keep them from stealing it, or breaking it – I trust you, though. You’re the only one I can - “

“Hey, hey,” I said. “Who’s talkin’ about stealing your work?”

“Nobody in particular,” he quoted me. “But if people knew what we were doing – you’re too good a person, Fiddleford. You, you’re – different – but most people...if most people see someone else standing on the edge of greatness...I doubt they can even help themselves. They have to sabotage him. Friends – brothers – almost anyone, it doesn’t matter anymore then.” He sounded strangely as though he was declaiming – somewhere between an awkward fellow in a freshman speech class and a game master trying to sound impressive. “And considering how many fields we stand to disrupt here – physics, cosmology, mechanics, chemistry, higher mathematics...Anyone would stab me in the back now, if he could. Trust no-one. Except you, of course.”

The thought fluttered through my mind that I wasn’t sure who he was talking to – if he was talking to me or to himself in the second person. Somehow, curiously, neither notion felt quite right….

“Buddy,” I said, shaking my head, “I think you been shut up here too long by yourself.” I laughed nervously, but the laugh and the sentence both died hard and fast as Stanford’s expression darkened. I’d seen him look like that, once or twice, in the old days – but not at me.

“I am not crazy,” he snapped. “I know what I’m doing here. I am not some kind of nut.”

“I never said you was!” I protested. “I’m just sayin’ – like I said already, Stanford – most folks half-think you’re dead, not that you fell off the face of the blame Earth to build some machine for poking holes in the thing!Ain’t nobody coming after your work.”

His shoulders seemed to relax a little, but his eyebrows were still dangerously low. “And you told no-one where you were coming? No-one at all?”

“No. Just like I promised you that I wouldn’t,” I said, a bit offended and therefore letting a little of my feelings on that come through in the way I said it. “And let me tell you, that made for one heck of a conversation with my wife, explainin’ about why I was telling her to write to a P.O. box….”

Stanford studied me for a moment longer – and then, to my surprise, started to laugh. I couldn’t see what was so funny, but I bit my tongue, a bit perplexed-like, until he controlled himself.

“Sorry,” he said, still grinning. “I get...carried away, but I didn’t really doubt you – you know that. I trust you.” He said the last phrase almost...shyly, as though testing out an unfamiliar language. “I trust you,” he repeated, a little more firmly.

I smiled weakly, still more than a little rattled by this whole bizarre conversation. “Well, that’s good to know,” I said. “Especially considering I trust you, too, Stanford.”

I was probably lying, and I probably knew it. It must have been the right lie to tell, then and there, though, because abruptly, it was as if the whole awkward, tense past few minutes had never happened. “Good,” he said. “So – now that we’ve gotten that all out of the way – ready to change the world with me?”

He looked and sounded like his old self, then – enough that I was almost disarmed. Not completely disarmed, but my guard surely went down. It couldn’t be as bad as all that, I told myself. Oh, he had been to himself up here too long, that much was obvious, and genius always came with its share of crazy, as witness my poor follicles on occasion – but probably, the biggest problem here was just that I had gotten too used to Emma-May and other normal folk, people who didn’t have personalities as outsized as our kind of folk usually did. I just had to recalibrate my expectations a little, and then me and Stanford, we’d be back on the same page, just like we’d always been before.

“I thought you’d never ask,” I joked and went to look at the papers he was now gesturing me toward.

* * * * * * * *

Perhaps it was meant as a peace offering of sorts, a proof that he really did trust me despite his occasionally bizarre behavior in the hour immediately after my arrival, but Ford ended up leaving me alone with his blueprints. He did not, however, leave me alone with his office. When he stood and announced that he had an errand, he proceeded to hover awkwardly by the door until I – distracted in raptures over the documents I was studying – turned a page and, as I did, spotted him standing there with his keys in his hand.

“Wh – oh! Right,” I said, embarrassed, and I stood and hurried to the door. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Don’t worry about it – and bring those with you,” he instructed me. “No, it’s nothing to worry about – there’s just a few things in here that, well, aren’t very good prototypes, or that might disagree with you if you ran into them unexpectedly….”

I raised my eyebrows, hoping he would elaborate on this concerning statement, but all he did was lock the door, repeatedly. “I’ve just got to run an errand in town,” he said, surprising me, after his remark about not speaking to anyone for ten months; for a moment, I allowed myself to hope he’d meant in terms of having a real conversation, and not just...that he hadn’t interacted in any way with another human soul for most of a year. “But I’ll show you around first - “

We took the elevator back to the main floor (“this is just the storage room. Storage room, Fiddleford – Fiddleford, Storage Room -”) and I quickly learned to orient the storage room with the disaster area that was the lounge with the surprisingly coherent, if dusty and obviously under-used, kitchen, where I made him laugh, just about normal-like, by making something of a ceremony out of installing the coffee mug I’d brought for myself, which Em had bought me the first Father’s Day after Tater was born in one of the barren dish-cabinets There were other rooms downstairs, it seemed, but apparently, I could see those later. On the second level, there was evidently nothing I needed to see besides a bathroom, but the third opened up into a sort of triangular attic, where, for my inspection and apparent use, there was a camp bed-looking thing with a lot of blankets on it, a scarred and splintered old chest-of-drawers, a wood table and chair I assumed were meant for a desk, and, strangely, a painting – big old thing in a fancy frame, the kind of thing you saw in old people’s houses, showing a boat in the ocean. The attic had a window – another of those big triangular ones, and one with a pane pattern that gave me the uneasy feeling it was watching me – and that was all; as far as I could tell, nobody had ever even been in it before.

“Will this do?” Stanford asked anxiously, watching me closely for a reaction. “I haven’t been living very – domestically, these past few years – did I forget anything you’d need up here? Any other furniture? I’m sure I can find something while I’m out, if there is - “

“Naw,” said I. “All looks fine to me, thank you.” It actually looked about as comfortable as the grave, but I reckoned I could work on that. Probably, too, I had gotten used to soft living, having a woman around me for so long and all; the last time he’d seen me, for all I knew, I could have lived all right like this.

“Fantastic,” he said, audibly relieved, with a warm smile. “I’ll let you settle in, then - “

I hadn’t brought all that much to settle in with, though, so it did not take me too long to get my clothes put away in the dresser, pictures of the boy and Emma May perched on top of it, and then to get myself back to the plans at the purposed desk.

I had been impressed, I thought, by the sight of the partially completed portal in the basement – but that was nothing to how I felt as I examined the page after page of blueprints in Stanford’s hand in front of me. They were incredibly complex – impressive even when I considered the brilliance of the source. He’d never, after all, had the best knack for machinery; he was better at meddling with something alive than with something properly inert, especially on a big scale like this. Neurons were the wires Stanford worked with, not actual wires like a sensible person, but here….

Oh, there were problems. I saw that straightaway. Sometimes, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what they were – but I knew they were there. Like a sixth sense, I suppose you might say – I knew that if we did things the way Stanford had it written out to do them here and there, we’d be dropping ourselves in the kettle sure enough, even if the overall theory was clearly sound. Very sound. By the time I got to the end, I was almost an optimist again – could just about form the image in my head of the two of us accepting that Nobel -

I started to work on a bit of math that bothered me even though I couldn’t understand why, though, and I suppose – between the long drive and all the emotionally draining experiences, of finding myself in a new place and seeing the portal and its blueprints, and finding my friend, and briefly becoming concerned enough about my friend’s behavior to ask if he was on crack, and so forth – it’s not altogether surprising that I started to nod all too soon at that. It was just a moment, it seemed to me, that I closed my eyes to give them a rest, but while I was sitting up when I rubbed them, I found myself face-down on the desk when I opened them again. More concerning, however, was how I also found myself in much, much too close of a proximity to someone else’s face.

“Stanford?” I exclaimed, sitting up and nearly knocking my chair over pushing it back further away from him. “What the hell - ?”

“Not quite right either time, McFiddlesticks,” he said, and his voice was – not his. That was the only way to describe it. It was high and nasal and grating, and I’d never heard it before in my life. He was smiling in a way I’d never seen Stanford do before, too – far too wide and far too – unmoving, like, to be at all natural. Humans did not keep their faces locked into one expression like that, ever, for more than a few seconds, and I wasn’t sure they were supposed to adopt this grotesque, distorted grin even for that long Then, with an insolent casualness I couldn’t imagine coming from my sometimes rather uptight friend, he winked at me and added, “though ask me again in a few months about that second one, huh, pal?”before, with unnatural speed and strength, he seized my chin between abnormally cold fingers and looked over my face with the detached air of a hunter examining the rack on a buck he’d just shot.

“What do we have here…?” he murmured, turning my head this way and that. He was wearing different clothes than before; why that stuck out to me….“Oh, really?” He frowned slightly, not really at me, as if he’d gotten some answer to his question. “You? Huh. Well, not like you aren’t a freak like the rest of us here, is it – you’re just more normal-looking than some of the others. Yeah, sure, a headcase in the circle, that’s fair. Jeez, I can see why Sixer likes you so much – you probably make him feel good about himself just by existing! You’re even more pathetic than he is, or that slack-jawed suicidal mush heap he calls a brother, and I thought they were both losers...but you, you came with your buttons pre-installed, huh? One of the manias, gotta love those….”

Without releasing my chin – I seem to recall trying to pull away, or to lift my arm to try to push him aside, but nothing I did seemed to matter - he seemed to raise his other hand – it was just as similar to metal that had been in a deep-freezer as the other – and ran it through my hair before moving again to straighten my glasses on my nose where they had been pushed ajar when I’d fallen asleep. “Can’t go shedding your attributes, Specs,” he scolded me. “Plus, it’s not like it would do you any good now that I know you’re one of the big frilly jerk’s Chosen, right? I know you guys when I see you...and I think I'm glad you've come after all. You’ve got no idea how boring Sixer gets to deal with – and who knows? You and me together, I'm pretty sure there's nothing we couldn't do to him...but even if we don't do that...oh-ho-ho, I'm definitely gonna have a lot of fun with you, Specs.”

The thing – because it was a thing; it wasn’t Stanford, nothing like him, not like anything God ever smiled upon – lifted the hand it had used to adjust my glasses again, this time to touch my face almost fondly, the end of its frozen thumb tracing its way around my cheekbone before, suddenly, it finally let go of my chin and clapped me on the shoulder in a twisted facsimile of friendliness before it sauntered over to the attic door.

As I gasped in pain – the places where it had touched me felt as though they had been frostbit – and for air, clutching at my face myself, now, it winked at me again.“For now, though – sweet dreams, Specs. And remember: nothing is what it seems to be.”

I don’t know what I meant to do as it left – to follow it? Fight it? Hide under the bed from it? - but whatever it was, I didn’t get a chance. When I lowered my hands, I found what looked like inchworms clinging to my fingers; more were falling onto my forehead, and I realized, with a rush of nausea and panic, that every bit of hair on my scalp was now inchworms. Desperately, I squeezed my eyes shut as I clawed at my scalp, trying to get them off, to make it stop -

And then I opened my eyes again, and I was face-down on the desk again, the sheet of paper I’d been doing math on now thoroughly drooled on. My hair was in my head, and it was hair; my hands were not a mess of skin and blood and half-dead bugs. My face didn’t feel as though it had been burned by the cold. Everything was as it had been before. As if nothing had happened.

A nightmare. Just a nightmare. That was all. Not real. Not real at all.

Still, it was minutes more, I reckon, before my heart stopped racing, and by the time I finally felt like my legs had the strength to hold me up again, I could tell my face was a mess of snot and tears. Struggling for my composure, I staggered down to the second floor bathroom, threw up, washed my face, and crept, shaking in every limb, back down to the main floor, thinking, I think, of finding a weapon -

But instead, I found Stanford who appeared to be trying to tidy the lounge. He smiled brightly and completely normally at my entrance.

“Oh, hello again! All settled?”

“Uh – uh – yeah, s, sure,” I stammered, my heart hammering painfully under my ribs again just at the sight of him, even though he was just standing there, completely normal, not looking or sounding demonic at all. “You – uh – you get your errands done?”

“Not entirely,” he admitted, and presented me with...a bag from a shop. Confused and cautious, I opened it and stared at the contents, too bewildered to recognize them in context for a moment. When I did figure out what they were supposed to be, though, I looked up again, apparently with a question on my face. “Took forever to find banjo strings, though I really did look for microchips, too,” he said earnestly. “If they have those anywhere in Gravity Falls, though, I’m afraid I don’t know where it is...though that doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t exist. It just – isn’t any of the places I happened to go looking today - “

“It – it probably don’t exist,” I managed. “But, uh – that was nice of you – but – Stanford, do you even know what a microchip is?”

And so, dear reader, we reach the end of the contents of that lavender legal pad I found in my writing desk. Apparently, I wrote most of this in an August, probably August of last year, based on some date scribbles in its margins; I say 'most' because the original document ends abruptly with Ford locking the secret office back up. The remaining couple of scenes were written for this presentation since I recalled what they were supposed to be and the company's software went down for a few hours.

Will I finish this? Eh, odds are about fifty-fifty, depends on how things go after my current work project wraps up. Certainly there won't be anything else this week, though, so hope you...enjoyed feels like the wrong word in context, but you get what I mean...what there is now!

#gravity falls #gravity falls fic #gravity falls fanfic #fanfic progress #fanfic update #fiddleford mcgucket #stanford pines #character journal #first person narrator #first draft

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not-too-shoddy · 7 months ago

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Yesterday I decided I wanted to use a mini duffle bag instead of my pebble backpack I've been using since last year when I made it. So I pulled up a saved pattern of mine and loaded up the YouTube video.

The instructions the patterns link took me to was rough to follow and even though the YouTube tutorial wasn't the best, it helped me through with the steps to where I don't think I'll need the video again for if I want to make a bag to sell.

So to start this project, I stared at my tub of fabrics for a good while before deciding on my only yard of cotton duck fabric with the Eiffel Tower and a hot air balloon.

I figured out an interior fabric and cut the pieces down to the size the pattern asked for. I made sure to center out the tower and balloon on the main panels since those were the focal points I wanted on the bag and cut the rest of the pieces with the script and other objects around.

And then I began...

First I put the straps together folding the long edges in by not even a half inch then folding the strap in half and sewing both edges. They seemed short at first but once the bag is together, the top of the bag falls down into it's duffle bag shape.

Once the straps were done, I put the inside pocket together on the inside lining and pinned the straps to the main panels. To do this I sewed the bottom on, went to one side, across the top 3 inches away from the top of the panel, then back down to the bottom.

And was off to the zipper!

The zipper was tricky but not attaching it... It was finding a zipper that I wanted to use. I didn't want the typical zipper I've been using that's moreso for wallets, I wanted a hefty zipper that had a good pull. But I didn't have any so I went in search through the house.

First I took a zipper off a waterproof bag I had. It was long but honestly once it was off the bag - it was flimsy. From there I searched some more and came across an old case I never used anymore. The zipper was heavy with a nice pull that matched the style of this bag, but it was somewhat short. But I could deal with that. There's a three quarter gap between the zipper ends and the bag edges, but I've seen it before on bags and could deal.

So I attached fabric tabs to both ends of the zipper (mainly to keep the zipper pull on the teeth and it also makes it look nicer) and attached the zipper to the panels.

I pressed the folds and top stitched.

Working the side panels was the hardest part to be honest. The video showed a quick little way, but the full explanation I found absent and had to figure it out myself and a couple tries later I managed to attach all four side panels to my panels of exterior and interior fabric.

Once completed and double-checking that there were no holes on the attachments I pulled the bag through the gap left in the lining, checked for the sides imperfections again, and sewed that opening.

The bag was ready and I have to say... I'm pretty impressed with my work.

l'Il be making a sunglass case soon since

everything is so loose inside this bag and

probably a bag organizer too.

I'm debating on making another and selling

on my Etsy Shop so keep an eye open for

that!

In the meantime, happy sewing!

#etsy #smallbusiness #merch #etsyseller #etsyshop #etsysmallbusiness #beginner sewist #handmade #sewing #paris #eiffel tower #hot air balloon #duffle bag

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mtb2450 · 11 months ago

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Yet Another Winter Project

By Mark Bell N7GRB

This winter and with help from Santa Claus bringing an ICOM IC-705 I have completed my third go-box build. Unlike my earlier go-box builds, this one is oriented for POTA activations and a more compact travel solution. (ARES deployment is a secondary consideration, recognizing the power out limitations of the IC-705.)

The first go-box build was based on an ICOM ID-5100 contained within a RIDGID brand Pro Organizer with the RIDGID Tool Cart holding a 30 ah LiFePO4, coax, tools, etc. The second go-box held in a 4U server case an ICOM ID-7100, Yaesu FT-400XDR, PSU and Kantronics KPC3+. These first two go-boxes were oriented at and saw lots of ARES field work. The second box with its IC-7100 also saw service in Parks on the Air (POTA) activations.

There are so many choices to make in building a radio go-box. First step is to define its mission and the requirements to meet that mission. Example, the first go-box with ID-5100 is oriented at rapid deployment to local area ARES operations, primarily voice and if needed off-grid. It also had a Signalink for digital work. The second go-box with its dual-radio setup allows for parallel operation on HF bands and local area voice plus digital operation. Its mission also primarily ARES field work then later POTA. The third go-box build is a mission change with it focusing on POTA wrapped around the ICOM IC-705 radio.

For the rest of discussion, we’ll focus on the power source change for this new build, moving away from the power/tool cart to a smaller, substantially lighter hand-carry box. As before weather resistant.

The DIY power box service requirements include powering the IC-705, its AT-705 tuner, a laptop and charge ports for USB A and C devices. Operating time should allow for half-day POTA operation in both digital and voice modes.

I must say that there was feature creep in the power source solution. With what originally started out as only a LiFePO4 battery with an external battery charge wart saw the inclusion of a West Mountain brand Epic PwrGate. The PwrGate has nice features to include auto switching between battery and external power, battery charging and direct solar panel input.

The Harbor Freight Tactical Ammo/Utility Box used in the construction provides sufficient space for a low profile ECO-Worthy brand 20 ah LiFePO4 battery. It is low enough that it allows me to retain use of the internal, removable tray. One side of the tray is reserved space for the power outlets on the lid. The opposite side is where I store the battery charger. So, if I have external 13.8 VDC for primary power it will use the Epic PwrGate to charge the battery. If I have 120 VAC but not a PSU, I’ll plug in the power wart LiFePO4 charger. Down the road I may add a solar panel!

The top of the box has a quick access compartment that is used for power out connections. There are two sets of Anderson PowerPoles that are for radio and tuner usage. A car 12 VDC receptacle. a combination USB A and C charge port adapter, voltage monitor and a power switch controlling these three items. There is enough room in the tray for the wall wart battery charger (a portion of the tray space is taken up by the lid mounted interior side of the power out devices).

On one side of the box are two bulkhead mounted Anderson PowerPole connectors. One is for solar panel input and the other for external 13.8 VDC input. The third connector is an inline jack socket used by the wall wart charger going direct to the battery’s charge port.

I did not realize when I first added the Epic PwrGate into the box configuration that the PwrGate draws residual (parasitic) power, a small amount but nonetheless a drain source. I could just unplug the battery from the PwrGate when it is not in use putting a little wear and tear on the associated Anderson PowerPoles. Adding the master battery switch between the battery and the PwrGate makes it more user friendly.

All wiring is done with scrap pieces of 12 awg strand wire. Power out from the Epic PwrGate runs thru an opening in the interior tray to a marine grade 6-port (only using three ports) fuse block I had lying around. There’s a master 30-amp auto style fuse between the battery and the PwrGate. If I need to remove the tray to access this fuse, the battery or PwrGate its one pair of PowerPoles to disconnect next to the fuse block.

How much did this power box cost to build? Well pre-Epic PwrGate feature creep roughly $175 (got a great Cyber Monday deal on the battery). Post feature creep right around $400.

Fun stuff … Mark N7GRB

Technical Specialist, GA Section ARRL

#amateur radio #ham radio

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doubledash7 · 1 year ago

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The Sims 2: Uberhood Playthrough - Round 1 (Broke: 1)

Hello everyone! Long time, no post! I took a break for a while and worked on some other projects, but today, I was back playing the game I love, and today it was the first Broke household.

Brandi Broke is the only daughter of Bob and Betty Newbie. Bob and Betty were known for their community work, but they often don't get recognised as much as some families (*cough" Pleasants *cough*). They were not rich with money, but they were rich with values and love.

Brandi fell head over heels for the handsome daredevil, Skip Broke. He brought out her inner party girl, which worried her parents, but as long as she was happy, that was all that mattered.

Everyone knew where they were headed. Despite rumours around town of Skip's line of work in "construction", Brandi was the only one who could tame him. He popped the question. She said yes. They were quickly wed.

Dustin was their first born, a spitting image of his father. He was a bright boy, but did have a knack for getting into trouble. But this was only the beginning!

Beau followed soon after, and Brandi found herself outnumbered (as also evidenced by the toilet seat always being left up!). However, they were blessed with a third child, little Andrea, the only girl. Brandi thought her family was complete, until an unfortunate pool ladder accident tore their young family apart. It turned out that Skip had been a witness to Bella being at Don Lothario's condo the night she disappeared, and it was only recently discovered that his death was no accident. It was meant to keep him quiet...permanently!

Our round begins with the kids heading off to school. Andrea trails behind her brothers. School has never really been her strong suit.

With her kids growing up and Dustin soon to be an adult himself, Brandi thought it was time to get back into the workforce. Since she had three options in her wants panel, and she didn't attend university, I used the career calculator to work out which career she would get. Brandi ended up getting a job in the Architecture career as a Cement Mixer.

It was then time for Dustin and Beau's joint birthday parties. They just had a small gathering of Ruby Broke (Skip's older sister) and cousins, Trigger and Susie, along with Susie's husband, Parker Langerak.

Dustin and Beau sure grow up looking fiiinnne!! I fixed a lot of genetics in Pleasantview, so they look a lot more like a mixture of their parents. Parker had to ruin this shot, stuffing his face with cake.

The next morning, Brandi got ready for her first day back in the workforce., while Dustin was immediately thinking about moving out. Since it would be tough for him to move out on his own, my thinking was that he would move across the street to live with Ruby and Trigger. I see Dustin as someone that just wants his independence, and he feels he will get that by living with other sims as roommates.

Beau returned home from school with Justin Kim. A strange coincidence, as I was planning to pair them up. While Justin lives in Strangetown, I had thought that since the drama with Bella's disappearance, Pleasantview and Strangetown have become quite close, and Sims travel between the two often. I imagined that Justin had travelled to Pleasantview with his family for a visit and he met Beau. The two hit it off immediately and Beau invited him back home to hang out.

And while they had only just met, Justin was smitten, and he initiated a first kiss with Beau. Awwww!

..................................... And....this also happened. Thanks ACR!

Another big mention is that I moved Danny and Sarah Crittur into the Broke household. Sarah gave birth to her puppies while Brandi was trying to give her a bath. Welcome Duke, Daisy and Coco Broke!

Although money was certainly going to be an issue with so many dogs. They could barely keep sufficient savings as it was. Ruby came by to visit to check on the new puppies. Brandi and Ruby are very close, especially following Skip's passing. It's also helpful that Ruby lives right across the road, so she was also a big help in looking after the kids.

And she continued to help even more, offering to buy one of the puppies. Brandi offered to give her one for free, but Ruby insisted to pay. Brandi began to think that maybe if they sold the other two puppies, it would greatly help her kids financially.

Unfortunately, Brandi was unable to find anyone else to buy the puppies. Brandi wanted to make sure that they were looked after though, so the animal shelter took them in. Bye Coco and Daisy! We hope that we will see you again in a future household!

Soon it came time for Andrea to grow up. I had always wanted Brandi to have a girl since it was fixed that she would have a boy, but the game had to throw a curveball at me. Andrea is a Romance sim, just like her father. I even rolled to see if she would be a Hopeless Romantic sim, but nope, a regular, loving, woohooing, Romance sim. This should be interesting!

My pairing for Andrea is Angus Dane. He is the son of some premade sims (I wonder if anyone can figure out who??). Angus is a Family sim too, and I thought these two would be perfect for each other. I wonder if their relationship will last.

Andrea and Angus had a date, along with their first kiss. Given how rich he is, Angus was also able to afford a nice thank you gift. Thanks Angus!!

And we ended the round with Brandi trying to prepare some burgers and fries for Beau and Andrea, but ended up burning them. Poor Brandi! Hope you enjoyed this part and I hope it's not too far between parts next time. We will be visiting the second Broke household next time, which has Trigger, Ruby and will have Dustin added as well.

#the sims 2 pleasantview #the sims 2 #the sims 2 uberhood #the sims 2 broke family #brandi broke #beau broke #dustin broke

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parsasadjadi · 1 year ago

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Positive Fragments

youtube

The final project of the semester! It’s a clay mold of a wired fence with fingers sticking out of it, trying to escape. My college experience! “No Of-Fence.”

I knew I wanted to go out with a bang before graduating. Something that could symbolize my college experience, while still being less convoluted and confusing than my previous casting project last spring. I knew this should subvert viewers’ expectations, and still give them a chance to participate and gain a sense of unease (per the previous project).

I knew from reading Joanne Merwood’s article for the QCQ that I wanted something derivative of an object denied of its usefulness/purpose. What could fulfill that? Well, we’re always working within this wired cage outside. With such a cage, one would feel trapped. But you can still see what’s going on outside. You can still get a sense of direction and happenings. But by making a negative and turning that into a positive without being delicate, any holes are blocked out! So that cage becomes a purgatory, like a library or an office without a window. That’s a very mind-numbing experience. One could interpret some of those fingers being the middle fingers, as in “no offense.” as in I liken the fingers sticking out to those residents who couldn’t escape Pompei.

With the last three years of college (and really, the last dozen years going to school), I felt like a slave to my assignments and work. I might have been advancing my education and credibility. But my lack of direction and foresight held me back from experiencing so many opportunities. So many social events. So many clubs. So much fun. And now that I’m graduating, I’m just ready to leave and let go of all that crap.

I realized that I wanted the piece on the wall, but I didn’t have the foresight to put a string when I poured that plaster. I ended up reusing my amateur ladder from the last project, placing the plaster on the top step. It needed to be kept steady on the most unstraight step! Happily, it added to the tension of the piece, especially with there being four steps, four being the number of years it usually takes to complete your Bachelor’s.

Normally for final presentations, we would first do the performances, let the audience interpret them, and then the author does their explanation before getting the final critiques. For this one, I reversed the order. First, I let the viewers touch my piece without dropping the fragile thing. Audience feeling tensed and unease: check! Then I let them interpret the thing before I explained where I was going with it. And finally, I do the attack! It would've gotten worn out or destroyed anyway. Viewers’ jaws dropped! Shattering my “college experience” with the hammer wasn’t necessarily me despising those three years I spent. It was just a release of stress and moving on. There was no of-fence intended!

I had brilliantly hidden that hammer behind that wood panel, but the bag with the graduation cap was out in plain sight. That was meant to represent graduation coming close but…still concealed. But I may have just feared that jamming the bag behind the wood would tarnish it. I’ve gotten some criticism about how some of this was not thought out until *during* the presentation, and even relied on the audience too much. To be honest, I’ve had other assignments and projects that I struggled with devising and fleshing out not just this project, but the sculpture projects in time. Lack of direction.

I’ve also been told that I could’ve elevated the idea further. As proud as I am of how this one turned out, it’s hard not to agree. Since then, I've considered how I would expand this sculpture more…but I’ll hold it for some other time. I also wish I had someone else filming the audience's reaction. That would've been baller!

This semester has been a whirlwind. I wish I’d devoted more time to over-the-top sculpting. I’m sad to leave college without pushing the envelope further. But as it stands, I’m burned out. As I’ve done in the video, it’s time to move on…for now.

#Youtube

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spacenutspod · 1 year ago

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Plenty of areas in the solar system are interesting for scientific purposes but hard to access by traditional rovers. Some of the most prominent are the caves and cliffs of Mars – where exposed strata could hold clues to whether life ever existed on the Red Planet. So far, none of the missions sent there has been able to explore those difficult-to-reach places. But a mission concept from a team at Stanford hopes to change that. The concept, known as ReachBot, is a robot that can support itself using multiple articulated appendages to navigate terrain that would be difficult to reach using other navigational techniques. In addition to being able to traverse complex ground patterns, it could also, in theory, at least scale sheer cliff faces. It was initially pitched as a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts project, where it was awarded a Phase I grant back in 2021. The authors describe the idea as a fusion of two separate technologies developed for different purposes: mobile manipulation robots and deployable space structures. Video showing some of the ReachBot’s capabilitiesCredit – NASA Space Tech YouTube Channel Mobile manipulation robots are relatively common in space exploration. Platforms like Robonaut and LEMUR utilize robotics technology to perform tasks like maintaining the ISS and inspecting other space habitats—however, much of their mobility is limited. Efforts like Lemur pride themselves on being able to navigate tricky terrain, but even it would have difficulty scaling a cliff face. Deployable structures, on the other hand, are more commonly used in satellites. They decrease the space necessary to pack things like solar panels and antennas into a rocket fairing, and they do so by only deploying once they reach space. Typically they use some kind of thermal or electrical smart material, but there is a lot of ongoing research in this area. ReachBot takes the best of both worlds by using the deployable structure as manipulated appendages. This allows it to extend one of its appendages to a new position, secure it in place using an end-effector that can adhere to the surface, and reposition itself by rotating its joints. Fraser explains how we could explore lava tubes on the Moon and Mars. If you’ve ever gone rock climbing, you’ve heard the adage of “three points of contact.” ReachBot uses a similar technique – by only moving one appendage at a time, it can maintain its position while setting itself up to move, albeit slowly, toward its intended target. That intended target could be in the middle of a cliff or the middle of a cave, both of which are exciting areas for sample collection. If ReachBot has to ascend a cliff, it simply extends one of its appendages past the others, secures it, and then pulls itself up. Alternatively, in a cave with a rough floor, it can suspend itself off of different features, including the ceiling. In addition, ReachBot can use its other appendages to secure itself and apply force to the surface. That surface pressure is critical for operations like drilling and is made much more difficult if the system can’t cross-brace itself. The detailed report laid out by the Stanford team showed progress in several areas, including coming up with a controller, researching different end-effector solutions, and coming up with a mission architecture. They also had plenty of plans for future efforts, including testing a prototype in a real-world environment similar to one the robot might encounter on Mars. But for now, the lab is continuing development on it after the completion of the Phase I project. It seems well placed for a Phase II, but nothing has come of it so far. ReachBots also have plenty of use cases for terrestrial applications, so somebody will undoubtedly come along and keep the technology moving along its development path. Learn More:Pavone et al – ReachBot: a Small Robot for Large Mobile Manipulation Tasks in Martian Cave EnvironmentsUT – Lava Tubes on the Moon and Mars are Really, Really Big. Big Enough to Fit an Entire Planetary BasevUT – More Martian Cave Entrances DiscoveredUT – Look down into a pit on Mars. The caved-in roof of a lava tube could be a good place to explore on the Red Planet Lead Image:Artist’s concept of a ReachBot suspended in a Martian cave.Credit – Marco Pavone The post A Robot With Expandable Appendages Could Explore Martian Caves And Cliffs appeared first on Universe Today.

#space #astronomy #news #science

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dougrobyngoold · 1 year ago

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Statues, Pitti Palace, Duomo, & Sunset Views - Florence, Italy

Today we stayed in Florence, visiting statues/fountains (Fountain of Neptune, pictured above), Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens, and stopping for a Florentine steak for Dan and Doug. Our final activity for the day was walking up to Basilica di San Miniato to get our sunset views of Florence.

David of Michelangelo, this is a replica, the original is located in Accademia Gallery in Florence.

Hercules and Cacus.

Perseus with the head of Medusa.

.....and this guy!

After checking out the above landmarks, we headed over to the Pitti Palace. This imposing structure housed three dynasties for about 4 centuries: the Medici, the Habsburg-Lorraine, and the Savoy. Construction began in the middle of the 15th century, but the project was abandoned when the owner, Luca Pitti, died in 1473. It was purchased by the a member of the Medici family in 1549 and the structure was completed. Additions and upgrades were made with each additional owner through the years. Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of the outside of the building, so you will need to look that up if you want to see what it looks like. Inside are a multitude of rooms that are filled with furniture, artwork, and other treasures. There is a lot to see!

A statue of Young Michelangelo.

Wall engraving in one of the rooms - CSU represented!

A magnificent chest in one of the rooms - each panel had a different scene painted in it.

Venus Italica by Antonio Canova - a portion of the palace was an art museum. There was a lot to take in, we definitely got our money’s worth (16 euros/person).

We had this view of the Boboli Gardens out of one of the palace’s windows, so we had to go check that out after seeing the palace.

Garden envy, or should I say “gardener envy”?

Beautiful view of Florence from the lower level of Boboli Gardens.

Looking back at Pitti Palace (oh wait, I did have a picture of the outside) from about half-way up the hillside of the gardens.

Up, up, up - it was a steady, steep climb and it was a warm day in Florence!

A pond, about 2/3 of the way up the hillside, where we decided to peel off and explore one of the side walkways.

The rest of the climb!

A nice, shaded, level walkway - much appreciated!

Tyler did a great job of impersonating this statue!

Fountain of Snouts, unfortunately, no water in it.

Tindaro Screpolato by Igor Mitoraj.

At the end of our visit to the gardens, there was a grotto with these two wall-mounted sculptures (pictured above and below) - kind of grotesque-looking, but we thought it was entertaining and clever.

Our visit to the palace and the gardens wore us all out - time for lunch! Unfortunately, a lot of places close in Florence around 2:00 in the afternoon, so we had our work cut out for us. We finally found a place that met everyone’s approval and had a bit of shade - go team!

Dan - happy camper! A steak in Florence (65 euros!!), fries, and a cold beer - he and Doug said it was amazing.

Roasted vegetables and a marinara pizza for Rachel and Tyler - also amazing and, luckily, not 65 euros!

The steps in front of Basilica di San Miniato, much less crowded than Piazza Michelangelo at sunset.

Florence at sunset, from our spot in front of the basilica.

Rachel and Tyler, enjoying the view.

Ciao, Florence!

#florence #italy #palaces

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donotalwaysbebatman · 2 years ago

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Nightwing #104 (A)

This writer needs to be thrown into the sun. It’s like the more freedom they give him, the more special he thinks he is, and the more pointless and terrible his stories become. I mean, you can even see it in the artist - who’s usually flawless - and how clearly bored he is of the entire script, drawing all these characters to be so stiff and emotionless, not even bothering to have fun with action scenes, which are usually his favorite. Every single time, everyone is just kind of standing there. Not that there’s much room in the script for anything except people standing around, for a lot of the panels.

So Dick gets handed superpowers, just because the writer was like, hurhur, it would be so cool if Dick had superpowers, which like, no? The entire point of the Batfamily is that they don’t have superpowers and have to solve the same problems without them. If you wanted a character with superpowers, it should’ve been one of the other ones, you know, the ones who do have superpowers. Okay, well, because he doesn’t usually have them, obviously Dick will do something new and interesting with them, right? No. He just does the exact same thing that would happen in the background of a random superhero’s comic to illustrate them having a normal day, and it has about the same emotional impact.

(More racist, though. I mean I know this author fucking hates asians, but like. Why did it need to be Americans specifically ‘saving the poor oppressed asians from themselves!!’ when it could easily have been set in an unspecified location, or multiple world locations could’ve been used, or it could’ve been somewhere in America where yeah actually bad things do happen, or just. Skip that entire page completely. It added nothing. Except maybe to prove to us that the writer knows what country Bangkok is in?)

Yeah so it’s just. What would Dick do if he had superpowers. Which, maybe if it weren’t trying to also have three other storylines in one fucking comic, could’ve been interesting. Except probably not, because the answer seems to be, “normal superhero things that would be boring in Superman comics also” and that’s the other thing. Who reads Nightwing for it to constantly be all about Superman??? Stop putting them in there!!! And that’s not even the only time Dick is sidelined in his own story, putting way too much about other characters in a story that already has a main character, it’s in the title. If it isn’t from his perspective, you’re not doing it right!!!

I would say, if you want to write about Superman, write Superman, and if you want to write about the Titans multiperspective, write Titans, but they already let him do that, and he keeps making those ones about Nightwing instead, like learn to write, dude.

Also there was this whole intentionally cliffhanger moment where Dick adopted a baby, which annoyed me because I was like, Dick already has plenty of children pick one of those (he can’t stand nonwhite characters unless he made them up and controls their entire backstory that’s why), and also, why do we need stories where Dick just identically mimics Bruce’s story? Except then she’s immediately written out and Dick isn’t even going to pretend to be her parent. So what was the point? Not to mention it’s a throwaway line instead of an actual conclusion to the arc, because, surprise surprise, this guy doesn’t care about the feelings of a black girl or think of her as more than a prop. At least give us something. But no, she’s just passive and okay with whatever random thing happens and let’s never think about her again because who cares. Why write the story at all, then?

Way too much of it is a leadin to Titans, which I don’t plan to read, because I do not trust this writer at all at this point. Like it’s cool to leave breadcrumbs, but if you can’t put the story where the story is meant to go, maybe put down a few projects and concentrate on what you can do. Or just. Stop writing forever! That would be super cool too!

But the superpowers thing is concluded “and then he easily defeated everyone with his superpowers” okay? Why didn’t you just not give him superpowers, and he easily defeated them with his preparedness, logic, extreme tactical prowess, observation, elite training, technology, etc. like he usually does? If fighting them wasn’t the point, why include it? It’s not like there’s any emotional turmoil. If Dick wanted superpowers there’s been plenty of places he could’ve gotten them, except that would be boring.

Nope, we don’t even have the most basic ass boring conclusion, like superpowers go to someone’s head. Or someone still has to be in touch with regular people. Or I have skills on my own, and I’m proud of them, and I’m good enough all by myself. Or there are downsides to superpowers. Or anything! He just has them and then he doesn’t! Nothing happened at either point! Also the fucking writer forgot his own fucking OC also has powers! She’s so inconsistently characterized because he literally doesn’t care about her!

It all culminates in a big moving speech except that the speech is short and not moving! Like if you were building up to that, why didn’t you even write the part you clearly designed the whole story just so you could write a boring speech to make Nightwing seem special!!

In conclusion, literally every part of this issue could’ve just been tossed and you wouldn’t lose anything from the arc.

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