#because for some reason that update is unsupported?

[natjennie]

aougughhhh i can't get anything to fucking work i hate you macs forever and ever

[anheliotrope]

It's always "funny" to remember that software development as field often operates on the implicit and completely unsupported assumption that security bugs are fixed faster than they are introduced, adjusting for security bug severity.

This assumption is baked into security policies that are enforced at the organizational level regardless of whether they are locally good ideas or not. So you have all sorts of software updating basically automatically and this is supposedly proof that you deserve that SOC2 certification.

Different companies have different incentives. There are two main incentives:

Limiting legal liability

Improving security outcomes for users

Most companies have an overwhelming proportion of the first incentive.

This would be closer to OK if people were more honest about it, but even within a company they often start developing The Emperor's New Clothes types of behaviour.

---

I also suspect that security has generally been a convenient scapegoat to justify annoying, intrusive and outright abusive auto-updating practices in consumer software. "Nevermind when we introduced that critical security bug and just update every day for us, alright??"

Product managers almost always want every user to be on the latest version, for many reasons of varying coherence. For example, it enables A/B testing (provided your software doesn't just silently hotpatch it without your consent anyway).

---

I bring this up because (1) I felt like it, (2) there are a lot of not-so-well-supported assumptions in this field, which are mainly propagated for unrelated reasons. Companies will try to select assumptions that suit them.

Yes, if someone does software development right, the software should converge towards being more secure as it gets more updates. But the reality is that libraries and applications are heavily heterogenous -- they have different risk profiles, different development practices, different development velocities, and different tooling. The correct policy is more complicated and contextual.

Corporate incentives taint the field epistemologically. There's a general desire to confuse what is good for the corporation with what is good for users with what is good for the field.

The way this happens isn't by proposing obviously insane practices, but by taking things that sound maybe-reasonable and artificially amplifying confidence levels. There are aspects of the distortion that are obvious and aspects of the distortion that are most subtle. If you're on the inside and never talked to weird FOSS people, it's easy to find it normal.

One of the eternal joys and frustrations of being a software developer is trying to have effective knowledge about software development. And generally a pre-requisite to that is not believing false things.

For all the bullshit that goes on in the field, I feel _good_ about being able to form my own opinions. The situation, roughly speaking, is not rosy, but learning to derive some enjoyment from countering harmful and incorrect beliefs is a good adaptation. If everyone with a clue becomes miserable and frustrated then computing is doomed. So my first duty is to myself -- to talk about such things without being miserable. I tend to do a pretty okay job at that.

[autolenaphilia]

It's remarkable how easy Linux Mint is to use, compared to Linux's general forbidding reputation. It was really easy to set up for me who has no coding knowledge. I had to fiddle with the boot order in my BIOS a bit but no biggie. Follow the installation guide on the website, and you will be fine. You can boot from an USB too, and test out the OS before installing it and wiping your drive. Transfer data to an external drive before you do.

And you probably won't have much trouble once it is installed either. The default settings are reasonable, and can be changed. It's a very easy to use OS. I have had no problems doing most of the ordinary things I use an OS for. My most used programs on Windows was already things like Firefox, VLC media player and Libreoffice on windows, and they function just as fine on Linux Mint (and are indeed installed by default).

Gaming has given me some trouble, but honestly Lutris has solved most of them. Granted I run mostly so old games on this laptop that Scummvm and dosbox is a solution for many of them. And installing 32 bit libraries has solved others (running the command in this link in the terminal solved so many issues alone). I play very old games, if you can't tell.

Sure, part of how Mint is so user-friendly is that it imitates Windows graphical user interface. But to be honest, it does mean users coming from Windows are already used to the interface. And Mint imitates only the parts of it that work, like the taskbar. And Microsoft has had a bad habit of making the gui look like a phone or a tablet for years now, so Mint does a Windows-like gui better than Windows at this point.

Mint is better than Windows in being a user-friendly operating system in general. Windows being spyware and full of bloatware is well-known and LInux gets away from that bullshit. And just how polite MInt is about updates is a massive improvement. No forced reboots here while an update takes ages to install.

Mint is a long-term support distro, which means it focuses on stability over the latest updates to packages and programs, introducing updates not when they are first released, but after a while when any bugs have been ironed out. And that improves the OS's stability a lot, which I value over getting bleeding edge updates. If you want updates as soon as they happen, and are willing to tinker a bit to fix things, there are other distros which use a rolling-release model.

It is less demanding on the hardware without compromising functionality. Like the majority of Linux distros takes up way less space on the drive and less memory compared to Windows, you can get more life out of an old computer this way.

There are so many older computers that still function fine hardware-wise, but since the specs on that hardware are too weak to switch to a newer more-resource hungry version of Windows, the machines are abandoned because the OS ends up unsupported and unsafe to use. Windows 10 support is going to end in 2025, it might be extended, but the end of w10 support is going to be a blood bath for this very reason. So many computers can't meet the specs for Windows 11 that the switch will be painful. And I would urge you if you are affected by this to upgrade to a LInux distro instead of getting a new computer just for windows 11.

[mareastrorum]

More tinfoil hats for LitMoR!

Oh boy, so I posted a conspiracy theory chart here (pre-chapter 24), for the connections between characters in @grayintogreen's Life in the Margins of Redemption series on AO3. Here is the updated version:

Quite a lot of messy updates. I also added unhinged/unsupported ideas in teal, but everything else is supported by text.

More excerpts under the cut:

So first, let's look at Lucien's captures/kidnappings. I didn't get that deep into any of them in the last post, but we'll go in chronological order.

Jagentoths (815)

As mentioned in the earlier post, the Jagentoths offered Heather Dougal 1,000 gold for Lucien, which she turned down. Then their thugs murdered the Dougals and took Lucien to the Jagentoths. Reese mentioned they could sell Lucien for 800 if they passed him off as a girl. The numbers didn't match up.

It turns out that A. Allard specifically wanted to "make sure the brat bleeds," to whatever end. That explains the discrepancy with the amounts.

2. Dodger (815)

This wasn't discussed in the last post, but in there's something divine in the way screams can sound, Dodger also caught Lucien and forced him to join his gang.

Of course, Dodger was then murdered by one of the other kids 4 years later (819), and Lucien was alone on the streets until he met Cree, Tyffial, and Jurrell.

3. Jagentoths (824)

Then the Jagentoths caught Lucien and his friends in 824, beat the living crap out of them, and sold them off. Turns out Lucien's big buyer on the coast was A. Allard:

There was also a letter to provide context:

So, for whatever reason, A. Allard was not satisfied with Lucien living on the streets with other orphans. Why didn't he care what the Jagentoths did with him in 815, but he was disappointed in 824? Did something change? Or was living on the streets of the Run not terrible enough? What was their goal in making Lucien suffer?

(Note: I don't think Lucien was actually 12 here, probably just so slight that he seemed younger than he was.)

4. Claret Orders (824)

Next, the Claret Orders rescued the kids before they reached the coast (from OUADYA):

This one turned out to be relatively benign, and judging by Vax's comments in the Commune (discussed below), this was the Raven Queen taking action.

5. Somnovem (833)

So, this is a pet theory: I don't think DeRogna killed Lucien for her own purposes. I think the Somnovem wanted her to.

Think about it. DeRogna had nine red eyes. If she got all of them before the ritual, why did the Somnovem give her more eyes than any of the Tombtakers? If she got them after the ritual, why did she have any after killing Lucien? Neither makes sense unless the Somnovem had some special purpose for her.

In addition, the Somnovem's plan for the Nonagon hinged on getting Lucien's soul into Cognouza so they could force him to fix things. But if an Astral Projection spell had worked properly, then Cree could have gotten him out with a simple Dispel Magic, unless the tether to his body was cut. Destroying such a tether is only possible with very specific things that explicitly are capable of it, like a Githyanki sword or an Astral Deadnaught's attack. So the Somnovem probably couldn't break an Astral Projection tether.

But DeRogna didn't break the tether. She broke Lucien's soul. When Lucien comes to in Cognouza (also in screams), Ira suddenly decided to bring up DeRogna and tell Lucien that she took the tome:

Why? What purpose was there to tell Lucien that unprompted? I think Ira wanted Lucien to fill in the blank because the Somnovem didn't say DeRogna sabotaged the ritual--Lucien assumed it.

And if that's the case, then Lucien never had a chance once he was convinced he needed to do the ritual. The Somnovem had been planning to kill and capture him from the start. And that explains why Ophelia had nightmares of the Somnovem when she was pregnant in as in the painted parlor, ophelia dreams.

So, yeah, the Somnovem have been planning to get their Nonagon for a long time, and I think DeRogna was just the final piece to get that done.

Anyway, the remaining kidnappings (6-8) were in the LitMoR stories themselves, so I won't recount them. That's just keeping track. Lucien's almost to 9! I bet he gets a prize. (The prize is suffering.)

Onto the second topic: The Allard Family!

As discussed above, there was an A. Allard that tried to buy Lucien, but Ashley's too young, so it must have been someone else. Then Jester sent Sendings (TO ASHLEY) that got us more.

So Ashley had an uncle that was also an A. Allard, but he's dead. This also confirms that Ashley was NOT involved in the Jagentoth's torment or the attempts to abduct Lucien earlier. So Jester sent to her mom, then Ashley again:

So now we know Ashley had an uncle named ALDER (A TYPE OF TREE) and a brother named Pomeroy (APPLE ORCHARDS), both dead. HMMMM. And based on Alder's letters, Marion was deceived that he was nice. They're all shitheads.

Considering that the prior post noted that Ashley wasn't supposed to get the Blade of Broken Mirrors, he might have been the reason they're both dead. After all, if Alder was actually doing the work of interfering with Lucien's life (and theoretically fucking with Cognouza), then he was probably the one with the knife. If Ashley was the "black sheep" maybe he was rejected by the people carrying it out. No way to know for sure yet.

Next is Rowan, or her new name, Marianne Mardoon:

Honey hair, hazel eyes, and asymmetrical bangs. SHE'S ROWAN! I KNOW IT! She even visited the coast a few months back--perfect timing for the Court of Nightmare's party. Even though Rowan was a half-elf and Marianne is a human, that just bolsters the idea that she's a changeling!

(Note: Alder died 3 years ago... the same year that Lucien died. That's quite a coincidence. If it really was Ashley that did it, why did he do it at that time? And if he did, why is Rowan/Marianne helping Ashley now? Maybe she doesn't know. THE PLOT THICKENS.)

But anyway. Marianne was engaged to Alder from the coast. The only Alder from the coast that we know of now is Alder Allard! So since someone had to have tipped him off about the purple tiefling being raised by a nice elderly couple, that must have been Marianne. And if the Allards were trying to make Lucien "bleed," then Marianne probably also was the reason Ophelia was adopted by Jack Mardoon to take over.

And now Marianne is leaving for the east:

What is to the east that the Seven would be interested in? Bazzoxan and the King's Cage! That's the last champion the Seven need to break the fanes, and that would complete their group of 7.

(Note: Because they have Zerxus, they don't need Yasha for the fanes. But considering Jayne's prior interest in Yasha (especially how her in danger triggered Molly going berserk), I don't think that means the Seven don't have plans for Yasha.)

Next, let's look at the stuff we learned in the Cleric Club's Commune:

First, the Court of Nightmares wasn't a front for anything.

Yves Allard was just doing his own thing, not some ulterior motive beyond the Court's activities. But as the last post showed, Jayne was there messing with stuff. So that suggests Jayne wasn't working with Yves when she was messing with Molly. Considering that Jayne is truly devout to Tharizdun, perhaps that just solidifies that Yves was a poser like the rest of the Court.

Second, the Betrayer Gods as a group aren't involved in this conspiracy:

Judging by the description, that it "begins and ends everything," they "tried to contain it," and it's not really anyone's ally, I bet this is Tharizdun. And it seems Tharizdun can affect fate just as well as the Matron--suggesting that the glimpses of creepy stuff we saw in Ophelia's side story wasn't just Cognouza reaching out, but the Chained Oblivion as well.

Of course, that might have still been Cognouza, but the darkness and ooze makes me think Tharizdun was involved in putting Ophelia (and Lucien) in the Somnovem's sights. Since it can affect fate, perhaps it was the reason Lucien was Ruidusborn too.

Third, Vax cheats with the Commune a bit.

Lucien wasn't meant to "live." Like, Vax is bending the rules here, but he might be keeping in the spirit by being cryptic. Did he mean that Lucien wasn't supposed to survive or is it the distinction of survival/living that Lucien threw at Molly previously? Hard to say. Maybe Vax is referring to the theory that the Somnovem might have been the reason DeRogna killed him, so his death was always the plan. Or maybe he wasn't supposed to have control of his own life. Cryptic jerk!

Vax also said "every single bit" of Lucien is at risk. I feel like he's also including Molly as part of Lucien there. Then Vax warns Cree not to let him falter "for love or for selfishness." So there's going to be risky choices where choosing love or selfishness could ruin everything. But if he included Molly as a "bit" of Lucien, could that also mean Molly might make such a choice? Maybe!

Next, let's talk about the Pattern.

During Beau's presentation of her conspiracy theory chart (hahaha), Lucien and Cree noted that the shape of it was reminiscent of the Pattern. However...

Lucien never got that good of an understanding of the Pattern despite that it was something apart from Cognouza and the Somnovem. As mentioned in the prior post, patterns are important to the Allards, strengthening the idea that the Pattern has something to do with Tharizdun. It could be how Tharizdun influences Cognouza's corruption, but it doesn't seem like it would be outright control. If it was control, then there'd be no need for the Allards to do anything to fuck with Cognouza because Tharizdun would do that itself.

And speaking of the Pattern, the Somnovem previously hinted that even though they don't have the book, they might be able to reach out to people that have survived Molly's/Ira's attack:

And the only known survivor is Trent Ikithon. Oh, boy! Looks like this could get way worse.

(NOTE: READ THE SIDE STORIES. THEY HAVE JUICY BITS.)

So that's all the updates for now. This is getting even more juicy!

[project-sekai-facts]

oh yea btw admin about the download error you went through that you mentioned, i had the exact same thing happen to me (mostly since it tried continuing to a campaign screen and then failed) when the update rolled out and i made it work after pressing okay and trying to download again which took two tries but it worked in the end (for a little bit until i had to clear the cache because of my phone acting up with permissions forcing me to restart it for something i still have no clue about but it gave me roughly another gigabyte of storage for some reason), it probably isnt a compatibility issue because my phone is ancient and knowingly unsupported and the game still ran to the point of it at least being playable, so idk

yeah it took me a few more attempts but i did manage to get in this morning. thanks for the tip!!

[girderednerve]

apologies dear friends i continue to be: a grouchy old man, obsessed with libraries

my new job is fine objectively like there is nothing wrong with it but my boss is very "do storytime, do more storytime, we must schedule storytime," and does not really listen to anything i say, such as 'i would like to do less early literacy programming so that i have some time to do programs for elementary & early middle schoolers,' or 'please schedule me on the youth desk instead of giving me nothing but unstructured office time, leaving me isolated & uninvolved in the day-to-day operations of the library, with which i need to rapidly develop familiarity,' or 'our desk schedule actually should not be rigidly set a month in advance, because we need to be flexible & can work out desk coverage on a department level,' or 'you actually do need to have a clear & specific plan for emergencies, including severe patron issues, & this plan should be communicated to all staff instead of vaguely stashed four folders deep in the shared drive'. (actually when i repeatedly pressed for clarity on who is in charge at any given time she posted an updated chain-of-command document which listed, for some reason, me? as third in line in case of emergency? which is just bugfuck)

it feels very frustrating & i know that many of these problems will resolve themselves as i begin to actually do programs—i haven't been able to because all programming at this library must have at least 2 weeks' advance notice, and i came onboard right after thanksgiving/needed time to get my bearings at least a little—so we can get some cute kid pictures to placate the board & build more of a sense of what is needed. but i still don't really know how to pull reports so i can't weed, i only just got ordering credentials this week & have had to find $2k of books to add to a library collection with which i am largely unfamiliar & for which i have absolutely zero circulation numbers, & nobody has actually given me an up-to-date budget (i am meant to guess, i suppose?). it feels kind of like a slow ongoing disaster; i know this feeling is partially because i have 2 hours' round-trip commute to worry & stew & so on, but i also am just like. girl you are a bad manager. you have persistent staff issues because you are not good at managing people. every meeting you are in is worse because you are in it. you cannot handle interpersonal tensions by having your assistant make friendly 'reminders' to all staff which are obviously about a single person, that never works. i have really strong feelings about management for a person who does not want to be in management! should probably try to walk that one off!

i cornered the adult services/sysadmin librarian today to talk to him about some stub ideas i have for kid programs about 'learning to code,' because we have (apparently) gotten lots of requests for this kind of thing, & basically everything on offer is just buzzwordy bullshit like 'make a bracelet that spells your kid's name in binary using different color beads!' or 'buy this expensive piece of edtech which will be unsupported in six months & anyway only introduces kids to our very closed environment!' or 'just let them spend some time on the computer, so their elastic little brains can pick up digital literacy skills by exposure :)'. so i had some ideas which seemed less like, um, nonsense, but i don't actually know how to code (am stupid) so i wanted to run them past him to get a sense of whether there was any real content there. i want to build a little model transistor & talk about why computers use binary. i want to use a makey makey to have the kids construct a sort of human circuit by holding hands, so we can model a logic gate. i want to write an if-then chart together & roll dice to determine which dance moves we do (cf. a ucla comp sci prof's exercises with her four-year-old). i want to use a makey makey to make a simple morse code transmitter so we can talk about encryption & transmission. i want to make an escape room so we can practice some very basic math & simple decryption (& also persistence!). i want to have tweens play scaled-down capture the flag to think about security. my boss just wants me to do three storytimes a week into infinity

anyway i am still marinating on my computer skills for kids concepts (it's mostly buzzwordy bullshit! even the stuff i want to do is kind of bullshit, lol) & plotting my wind tunnel/paper airplane prototyping program & figuring out when i can schedule my middle grade graphic novel book club. i am trying to figure out how this job might be doable. maybe someday i will want to go to work. america autem delenda est

[jasonntodd]

i’ve been getting a lot of asks about my mods and i promise i’m not ignoring them but i’m currently going through some things irl so i’m extremely busy. i’m tragically moving back to the states and having to help my parents with their move while also still trying to find a full time job, but coincided with this is me also trying to find a place to live for myself and my friend in a completely different state than my parents, so i haven’t had time to go on my computer to send/find/create links to download my mods, etc. i may have promised before i would but right now it’s not a priority for me, so idk how long it’ll be before i’ll finally have time to sit down and answer all the mod asks i’ve gotten in regards to downloading my mods.

sorry for the inconvenience but i hope you‘ll understand when i say that modding and my me mods aren’t something i’m thinking about bc it’s just not important to me right now. especially when considering the newer mods being released or updated, i’m not sure what’s currently compatible and what isn’t because i no longer have a mod page to keep track of bugs - so the longer i go without modding, i’m thinking that i’ll stop the links to my mods as a whole too. i’d rather not “release” unsupported mods until i decider to get my modding shit together lol bc i’d hate to be the reason your game broke or something is buggy.

[big-gay-bird]

3, 6, 10, 12 💖

Yay thank you as well! :D

3. what, if any, disability aids do you use? (mobility aids, sensory aids, braces, communicative devices, IVs, etc. meds also count here). do you customize them/their containers/outsides?

Oh heck yeah is this another excuse to talk about how cute my new pill boxes are?

I needed a new system to better keep track of my mid day pills so here it is! It had been a few years and I was honestly looking for an excuse to update!

Another fav mobility aid I use is my sunflower covered cane! I feel like it always brightens up the world around it a bit and I get a lot of compliments!

(That’s not all my mobility aids but those are some important ones I took time to personalize!)

6. what's something good that's come out of being disabled?

Honestly they’ve made me way better at being around and understanding where kids are coming from! My autism helps me relate when the one year old I baby sit is sensorily overwhelmed, my body not cooperating generally helps me understand why they get frustrated about not being able to stand unsupported.

I hate when people are really rude about teenagers, because as a person with BPD and ADHD I empathize so much with their brain development and how they process things as a result!

Side note but it makes me so mad that disabled people are considered bad parents by default for this exact reason.

10. whats something youve come up with or integrated into your life that makes disability easier, besides typical aids?

POTS is the kind of chronic illness where you need like systems upon systems upon systems.

My environmentally conscious followers are gonna hate this but keeping around emergency 16 oz water bottles, especially in my car, by bed, and in my purse, is a literal life saver. (I do carry around a gallon of water when I can but it’s not always something feasible for a lot of reasons.) I also have flavored salt tabs dispersed EVERYWHERE in my life. I not only have reusable ice packs of all sizes in freezer but I have emergency single us ones in the car.

12. what's something (a struggle, a symptom, a weird phenomenon, or even a funny experience) people don't realize about your disability?

So I’m low vision from birth in one eye due to a benign growth on my optical nerve but one thing that some POTSies are even surprised by is how much my POTS can affect my vision on a bad day.

Midodrine is a gdamn miracle drug I swear because a lot of my waist up POTS problems are finally more manageable and predictable, but like when it comes to driving I am much more worried about my vision plummeting than fainting behind the wheel when it comes to safety concerns related to the disorder.

(I wouldn’t be shocked if this is also tied to my neurodivergence in some way too because how well I am coping with that aspect of life seems to play a role too?)

[dj-cublex]

CUBLEX'S STEAM DECK RATINGS

A variety of game ratings for games I've tried that Steam currently doesn't have a rating for, and why I chose them

Absconding Zatwor - Playable! You have to hold down the right touchpad and slide your thumb around for movement, and if there's anything else you do I'm unaware of it because this game isn't good

Ascent - Playable! Gameplay is just the D-Pad (perfect!) but menu isn't controller navigatable. Right touchpad works great for this.

Binaries - Verified! It just works. Simple platformer, makes sense.

BIT.TRIP VOID - Unsupported. Crashes on bootup. The other original BIT.TRIPs probably do this too, considering BEAT and RUNNER are Steam classed as Unsupported. Another point for the Vita!

CROSSNIQ+ - Unsupported. Boots into the Unity "select your resolution and quality" thingy, and trying to confirm your options and get to the game doesn't work as for some reason the mouse cursor refuses to go low enough to actually press the confirm button.

Ekstase - Verified! Again, it just works. Menus can be a little odd, but I've been able to navigate with controller only. If it gives you issue, right touchpad's your guy.

Velocibox - Playable! And if you usually play the game on stick anyway, it's Verified! (D-pad doesn't work by default, but you can definitely configure it to do so.)

Vividlope - Playable! ALMOST Verified, but none of the resolution options fit the screen without letterboxing. Everything else is perfect, and I'm not picky, but that's how it is.

You Have 10 Seconds 3 - Verified! Simple game controlwise, so it makes sense.

I'll probably edit/update this post later down the line to add more. Most of these are good games, so I recommend trying em out!

[techtired]

How To AirPlay From Mac to Roku

One more expected necessity nowadays is the integration of technologies, such as AirPlay Mac to Roku. Apple has a sharing feature lets you stream items from your computer to other gadgets, including the streaming media player. This enables uploading videos, photos, and audio, but the other does not. Suppose you are interested in improving this workflow and learning more about the future of moving beyond the computer screen and into a media player. In that case, this guide will be helpful. We will also explain why the media application is the best fit for connecting such gadgets. Section 1: Preparing for Sharing First, you need to check if your media player and computer have the required features to share files. Checking Compatibility Mac: This sharing feature is compatible with computers with newer operating system versions. This capability comes included. Roku: Sharing currently works for many streaming media players using current software. For instance, there are models such as the Smart Soundbar. If you want to be sure about the model of your media player, you can get it from the settings. For instance, if your software requires updating, you can look for the update in the settings. Enabling sharing on the media player Power on the device and go to settings. Turn on sharing. You can also set an extra condition as a code to enhance security. Make sure both your devices are connected to the same wireless connection It would be best to do this by clicking on your computer's media file— a video, image, or music. Go to the sharing icon or tab from the menu and select the mirror Mac to Apple TV. You can choose the player you want if other media players are available. If you set a code, you must enter it on the TV to connect. Your media should now appear on your television. A specialized media app can enhance the watching experience in cases of lag or connection issues. Part 2: Reasons Why the Media App is Among the Best The computer and the media player provide sharing capabilities, but there are issues with specific formats or latency issues. It is compatible with most formats and has fast streaming capabilities. Here's why it's the top solution: Here's why it's the top solution: Extensive File Support While essential sharing may sometimes fail due to unsupported formats, the media app supports almost any file. Regardless of MP4, MOV, MKV, and AVI formats, this app opens and plays them with no additional codecs. This flexibility suits users with different media who want to share it without issues. Optimized Streaming Some of the many advantages of sharing include that with the media app; files can stream instead of having lags and buffer times. There is very little lag time when watching videos; you can watch videos in high definition, etc. Streaming eliminates the problem of synchronization of the devices to make your experience a better one. Intuitive Interface You can freely control media and streaming because the interface is friendly. To use it: Install the App: You can download it from the web and install it on your computer. You can obtain it from the official website or the app store. Open Media: Open it and click on the link to stream the file. Connect Devices: Click the streaming icon, and if the devices are on the same network, select your media player if it is available. Enjoy Streaming: Your media is ready on your player with no interruption. It is more advantageous than essential sharing, notably for large or high-definition files. Custom Playback Another helpful function is the ability to control the video playback. Some features you can easily set include speed, subtitles, and even audio and video options within the application. This level of control is not possible otherwise, which provides a substantial streaming benefit. It also supports External Audio and Captions. For example, you can use external audio tracks and subtitles when streaming foreign materials with multiple soundtracks. Make sure to download subtitles within the application to avoid any issues. No Extra Equipment Needed The app requires no additional hardware or software on the media player. It is software that you can download and install on your computer and stream effortlessly. Reliable Performance There is more consistent streaming stability than sharing lags or even stuck videos. It manages the playback of even large media files well for improved full-high-definition video. Secure Streaming Wireless streaming has the disadvantage that other users can view your files. The app employs encrypted protocols for the content to ensure your media stays private. Conclusion Sharing is fast, but some issues may be faced with specific formats. Elmedia Player provides the best solution to avoid the problems mentioned while using the media app. Full compatibility with devices and easy playback controls make it an ideal solution for seamless streaming between devices. Whether the user is watching movies, listening to music, or viewing photos, this app offers the best streaming with smooth playback and performance. Next time you want to stream media, you can use it to share. Read the full article

[apacbusinesstimes]

Strategies for Remote Work Culture Management

The world’s recent changes have affected all systems like education, health, politics, and finance. People have faced a lot of uncertainties one among them is work culture. For the unsupported circumstances, organizations had to adopt a remote work culture. Remote working might make employees happy for various reasons but managing workers remotely is a big challenge to the organization. This article will help you learn some of the key strategies to manage the team in a remote work culture and also the importance of a virtual mode of management.

Virtual team interactions

When we are working remotely the only mode of interaction is virtual. Hence timely meetings with the team are very important to track the working of employees. Using tools like Zoom or Microsoft Teams can make an effective video conference. When we face interaction barriers it leads to confusion at work and might also mislead the process in turn affecting the results. So less or no interaction will surely result in downfall.

Communication protocols

Communication acts as an elixir of life in remote working. It is the only way to help or guide us in the working process. Clear communication and exchange of thoughts is necessary. The tasks must be understood properly as it is not easy like face-to-face interaction with the leader. Leaders should be available through chat or emails quickly to resolve doubts or for any sort of problem, the team is facing. When the response is late the work gets delayed, so the communication medium must be checked often for the work updates. Technology enhances communication as it enables messaging, video calls, or file-sharing tasks regardless of place and desktop barriers.  

Regular work updates

Remote leadership also needs to get regular updates regarding the process of tasks. It is necessary to conduct one-on-one sessions to learn about the particular growth and work of an individual. It is also essential in arranging meetings for the entire team which is a virtual team collaboration on professional guidelines. When these updates are not taken regularly team becomes lethargic, which is not a good sign of enthusiastic employees and hinders the performance of the team. 

Managing work time 

Scheduling of working hours needs to be taken care of, where it shouldn’t be overtime for employees. Do employees enjoy working from home? Yes, it is comfortable in many ways and especially the traveling time is saved which reduces tiredness. 

When the company is managing globally the time zone constraints need to address. The scheduling of meetings and working hours must be done accordingly, as the geographical change cannot hinder the team’s performance. 

Plan your day 

This key point implies for the work life. In remote work, it is more specific as you tend to delay the process, you might have the privilege of waking up late or just before the login time and it will affect the work. Hence planning your work for the day can help you to balance the work. We also must schedule the working time apart from our daily personal routine. When we are at home we try to do other tasks along with our job which leads to doing office work overtime to complete the day’s work. Hence differentiating both personal and professional time can help you in managing your daily activities.

Distraction in work

I feel working in remoting has more distraction than the workplace. For example, if you’re working at home you will be facing multiple distractions such as external sounds, household tasks, people at the house, Neighborhood problems, and to some extent pets as well. Hence you will lack interest in work and also peace of mind.

Social media distraction, a human tendency to often check notifications, you will lack concentration because of Instagram, Netflix, Twitter, etc. With all these environmental changes you will have to react, which will cause changes in your work efficiency.

Be Kind and patient 

Tough remote team management is difficult but trust your team and the talent it has, do not rush or hurry for anything. Focus on the outcome rather than activities when the work is done by the end it is not necessary to check about the folk’s working process. Remote jobs have appraisals and recognition in a different way, so encouraging the team is important. Handling the team and situation in a kind and empathetic way helps gain team trust and respect. 

Conclusion

In short, remotely guiding or managing a team has its pros and cons but understanding each team member and their working way will make it a bit easier it is all about the knack and strategies you apply for team management. Remote leadership can be effective through video conferencing, and building a trustful team, which can enhance the growth of an organization.

Visit More : https://apacbusinesstimes.com/strategies-for-remote-work-culture-management/

[lovefingerprint]

What Is the Lowest PHP Version I Need to Have for WordPress?

The recommended minimum PHP version for WordPress is 7.4. WordPress also works with older PHP versions, so you can still use them if necessary. However, it's always best to use the latest version of PHP for security and performance reasons. When it comes to PHP versions, it's important to understand the concept of end-of-life for PHP versions. End-of-life refers to the point at which a particular version of PHP is no longer supported with updates or security fixes. This support ends because newer versions of PHP are available. Keeping up with these updates and transitions to more recent versions is essential to ensure your website or application remains secure and functional. Failure to do so can lead to vulnerabilities and potential issues in the future. The support lifecycle for PHP is broken down into two support phases before it reaches end-of-life: Active Support and Security Support. Active Support Each PHP version is fully supported for two years from its initial release date. During this phase, PHP versions receive regular patch releases that contain bug fixes and security patches. These updates are typically released monthly unless there are no bugs or security issues. Security Support After two years of active support, PHP versions are supported for an additional year for critical security issues only. Releases during this phase are on an as-needed basis, depending on the number of problems reported. Once the three years of support are completed, the PHP version reaches its end of life and is no longer supported. Check here to see if your PHP version is unsupported https://www.php.net/eol.php Your WordPress Theme May Require 7.4 or Higher If you're looking to optimize your WordPress theme, it's worth noting that some newer themes may require PHP 7.4 or higher for optimal performance, security, and features. Themes incorporating modern coding practices and leveraging the latest PHP features may even recommend or work better with PHP 7.4 or higher. This aligns with a broader trend within the WordPress and PHP communities, as developers increasingly recognize the benefits of using the latest PHP versions. To determine which WordPress themes require PHP 7.4 or greater, you can check the theme's documentation or contact the developer for more information. It's important to ensure that your website uses the recommended minimum PHP version for WordPress to ensure optimal security and performance. To check if your hosting PHP version is compatible with your WordPress theme, you can follow these steps: - Check Theme Documentation: Start by checking the theme's official documentation. Many themes mention the recommended or minimum PHP version in their documentation. Look for a "Requirements" or "System Requirements" section. - Contact Theme Support: If you need help finding the PHP version information in the documentation, contact the theme's support team. They should provide the required PHP version for the theme to function correctly. - WordPress Theme Repository: If you downloaded the theme from the official WordPress theme repository, you might find PHP compatibility information in the theme's description or other details. - Review PHP Features: Themes that use newer PHP features and coding practices might be more likely to require a higher PHP version. If your theme uses features introduced in PHP 7.4 or later, it indicates that your hosting needs to support at least that version. - Compatibility Checker Plugin: Plugins are available in the WordPress plugin repository to help you check the compatibility of your theme and plugins with your hosting environment. One such plugin is "PHP Compatibility Checker." Install and activate it, and it will scan your theme and plugins to provide information about their compatibility with the PHP version you're running. - Contact Hosting Support: If you have figured out the required PHP version for your theme and need help determining which version your hosting is using, contact your hosting support. They can provide information about the PHP version on your server. - Update PHP Version: If your hosting's PHP version is not compatible with your theme and you want to use that theme, consider updating your hosting's PHP version. Most hosting providers can change the PHP version through their control panel or dashboard. When PHP becomes outdated, it can severely affect your WordPress website (Outdated PHP Version Warning) WordPress relies heavily on PHP, and it plays a pivotal role in shaping every WordPress website. PHP is not only a fundamental component of the backend but also significantly influences the frontend of your WordPress interface and pages. It empowers website development by not only being present in page templates and plugins but also by composing all the files that constitute the WordPress dashboard. This versatile scripting language provides us with extensive capabilities when it comes to building and managing websites. Here are some of the most common consequences of not keeping it updated: - Security vulnerabilities: Outdated versions of PHP may have security vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. Vulnerabilities can lead to data breaches and other security issues. - Performance issues: Older versions of PHP may not be optimized for modern hardware and software, leading to slow performance and poor user experience. - Compatibility problems: As other technologies evolve, older versions of PHP may not be compatible with newer software and hardware. Incompatibilities can lead to errors and other issues when running your website or application. - Lack of support: As PHP versions become outdated, the community may no longer support them. This means that you may not be able to get help if you run into issues or need to troubleshoot problems. Overall, keeping your PHP version updated is essential to ensure your website or application's security, performance, and compatibility. When PHP becomes outdated, it can severely affect your website or application. When PHP becomes outdated, it can severely affect your website or application Remember that running an outdated PHP version can impact your WordPress website's security, performance, and functionality. It's generally recommended to use a PHP version supported and actively maintained by WordPress and the hosting environment. Find A Reliable Web Host (with a Supported PHP Version) Fingerprint Marketing can maintain your WordPress website and provide modern hosting with supported PHP versions. Our hosting platform is the industry leader in managed hosting, with features designed specifically for WordPress site users. Keep your site fast and secure with hosting that has a long-standing history of keeping sites secure so that you won’t have to worry about a site catastrophe. We’ll make sure your site’s functionality is in top shape. Your website, pictures, and content will load quickly, all while the search engines help customers find you. Let professionals manage your site, freeing you up to work on things you love and would rather do. This is what keeps you competitive in the marketplace, saves you money, and gives you space in your head to think about warm sand between your toes and a cool drink in your hand. Kind of awesome, right? Read the full article

[mourning-again-in-america]

my college experiences have been a series of rapidly dodging bullets that I blundered into like a complete fool:

first, I decide to go to a no name school because it's cheap and has a cool great books school that it's taking ownership of. I double major in cs and great books, realize the cs department has three people and the curriculum hasn't been updated since '09, switch to math and get snippy with the head of the great books school over Freud (where I argued that Freud is offering no means of deducing analyses from dreams and he told me to basically shut up and keep reading which was fair of him at the time), then I start repeatedly having issues in the pre-modern poli sci course, where I tried to correct someone's misapprehension that Aristotle was not a utilitarian and getting rebuked by not offering textual evidence, leading into an extended tussle over Rousseau, where I took issue from the get go with the theory that technical problems are obviously less soluble than social problems, *even in the 1750s* and my attitude was found unwanted, so I did abstract algebra work (which I hadn't taken yet) which I had prepared, for which I was accused of doing homework in class and was told that I couldn't major in the school, and also I had a finitist crisis learning analysis from a (reasonably) unsupportive math department known best for its accounting courses.

went back to school and had to relearn how to write multiple paragraphs on command, leading up to an epic 18 hour period where I completed an 8 pager and a 2 pager (single spaced) for Italian Americans and a one pager for Jurisprudence...and the Italian Americans papers were cut down to 6 pages (combined) because nobody else did the work. I think I doubled of tripled my writing output this term, and 15 credit hours + 20 hours of work a week left me abandoning everything in my life while dealing with some of the most idiotically socjus brained bullshit you can imagine that everyone just smiles and nods to

it's like martial arts training for the mind but I would much prefer a different way of going about the whole "make young adults obtain large amounts of debt when they don't have much of an independent credit score" thing, coupled with the way some professors enjoy intensity and some don't and it's hard to know which is which ex ante

I don't really get people who drop out of college because for me college was really fun and trying to be adult with job is like nightmare mode. But I guess some people just have confusing incomprehensible preferences from the bizarro world.

[autolenaphilia]

I keep being aghast at people still using old unsupported versions of Windows. Like these people were angery at Valve announcing they would stopping supporting Steam on Windows 7 and 8. And like there is a lot to be angry at Valve for, lootboxes in Counter Strike and so on, but this???

Steam not supporting Windows 7 and 8 is because Microsoft has stopped supporting those operating systems. And you shouldn't be using unsupported operating systems, at least if you are going to connect them to the internet (which is a requirement for Steam).

Windows, like any operating system, is very complex, and there are inevitably going to be security flaws, holes in the system that malware and malicious actors are going to exploit. And a major part of support is the developers, Microsoft in the case of Windows, fixing those security flaws with security updates as they are discovered. When the devs stop supporting an operating system, any remaining security holes in the system will not be fixed, and they will inevitably still be some left, because again any operating system is super-complex.

So if you keep using an operating system that is unsupported, and connect that machine to the internet, you are going to become a prime target for any hackers out there, who will exploit those remaining security holes to infect you with ransomware, or turn your computer into part of a botnet, or exploit it for cryptomining.

(you can use old versions of Windows, but only safely if that machine has no internet access. Such machines are both used professionally to run old software that is useful, but has no real replacement, and by video game hobbyists to run old Windows games off disks. That is not a problem, it becomes one if that machine has internet access)

Now I don't expect Microsoft to support all versions of Windows forever, no creator of software practically can do that, so no one does.

Although Microsoft is partly at fault here. They habitually raise the system requirements for new versions of Windows to ludicrous heights, making their users unable to update their computers despite their computer still working fine. This has resulted in the less wealthy parts of the world still being stuck on unsupported Windows versions. The majority of Armenian computers still run Windows XP, just for example.

And they often make these new Windows worse than the old ones, ranging from needless changes to the UI to invasions of privacy.

And Microsoft are partially to blame for instilling a kind of technological learned helplessness into their users, in order to control them. By hiding information and wrestling control from their users, Microsoft has taught them that they are unable to learn and change and control their digital life.

I think that explains the phenomenon of people who use old versions of Windows. They often can't update their computers to new versions of Windows because of unreasonable system requirements, or understandably don't want to use Windows 10 or 11. And because Microsoft has systematically treated them as unable to learn or take responsibility for their computer, they haven't learned what End of Life (EOL) for an operating system means. And for the same reason, the users feel that doing something like installing another operating system, like a Linux distro that is still supported and would run on their old computer, as something beyond their grasp.

Yet it is absolutely what they should do, and it is not as hard as you might think it is. There are real, sensible reasons to not use LInux, but if the contest is on a computer connected to internet, between old unsupported versions of Windows and Linux, Linux is absolutely the better option. The massive security risk of using an unsupported Windows version is far worse than any drawbacks of switching to Linux. Like it's beyond debate, the contest is between installing a Linux distro and your computer becoming part of a botnet at that point.

And the problem of existing computers being unable to update to supported versions of Windows will only get worse. The jump in system requirements from Windows 10 to 11 might be the worst one since XP to Vista. Windows 10 is supported for now, but support will end in October 2025, less than two years from now. And the percentage of Windows 10 computers that can't update to Win11? 55% if you are being optimistic, more than 75% if you are not.

And because Linux is not seen as an option by the majority, 2025 will mean massive amounts of e-waste as those who have money will dispose of old working computers to buy new ones, and a lot of people who can't afford new computers continuing to use the now unsupported Windows 10. 2025 will not be the year of the Linux desktop, but things will continue to suck because of it.

[fapangel]

D+24 & 25 (March 20th and 21st) Update

google docs

kofi link because I was told linking it once a month is "not enough" well excuse me

General Update:

Strategic:

Serious and growing indications that Belarus is going to join the war:

Observed Belarussian military vehicle convoys moving by road with many vehicles sporting an identification mark; red square or rectangle, all westward movement.

Belarus’s dictator is now openly threatening that any attack on Belarus would be an attack on Russia; a not so veiled threat against NATO interference. This is extremely ominous signaling.

The Kremlin’s obvious desperation to stop the flow of resources into Ukraine from the Polish border, as evidenced by this latest threat to attack “supply chains” of S-300 batteries, the egregious overkill of cruise missiles directed at the Yavoriv training center only 20km from the Polish border (for intimidation, as the military value of the site can’t possibly justify that expenditure,) and Russian state mouthpiece Pravda openly threatening to invade Poland.

Recent Russian nuclear signalling. (Note the US has had E-4 and E-6 nuclear command aircraft airborne pretty regularly as well, but nothing like this swarm.)

As the above collation of reports shows, Belorussian military columns are already in the far-western part of the country. UMoD fears an attack in the Volyn region of Ukraine; the furthest north-west corner of the country. Russia’s maintained a token force (a motor rifle brigade, at best) in this area since the invasion began; likely to keep some Ukrainian reserves pinned in that part of the country.

Invading here would be incredibly risky for Russia given the very close proximity to the Polish border. Russia’s threats against Poland will likely backfire, given that the Russian army’s prowess has been demonstrated to be a fraction of what it was presumed, Poland’s immediate security interests in not having two Russian puppet states on its border, and cultural factors (Poles loathe and despise Russia for very good reasons.) Furthermore the terrain this far west is far more rugged than in the East and even local TDF personnel and reservists could make reaching Lviv to cut the Ukrainian supply line from Poland impossible.

There’s been persistent indications that Belarus’s dictator is unwilling to stick his dick into this meatgrinder and given persistent rumblings of Belorussian civilian dissent, plus the demonstrable failure of Russia’s attack and the potential of Polish involvement it cannot be presumed that Belorussian military morale is much better. It’s entirely possible this is a feint to attempt to draw away Ukrainian troops from the battle zone.

This could also be a feint to draw attention away from an attack by Belorussian forces already in-situ near Mazyr, who might push south on the P28 highway to help secure the Russian LOC’s western flank, and/or contribute personnel to the main efforts against Kiev. If Russian forces NW of Kiev continue digging in, however, this becomes less likely. I doubt the Belorussian military will be expected to sustain a serious advance all the way to Zhytomyr on their own, given the competence Ukraine has demonstrated so far.

Russia’s ships in the Med have left Tartus, and seem spaced out to provide optimal radar coverage over the sea. This is useful from an intelligence perspective as it lets Russia see when NATO ISTAR sorties are flying out of Italy, Greece, Turkey or the major American regional base at Qatar. This is no threat to NATO assets – even without land-based missile and airpower the three carrier NATO task force in the northern Aegean right now could wipe this fleet with a sneeze.

Personnel and Materiel:

Recent UMoD statements about Russia drawing on Naval Infantry units to provide replacements is being borne out by increasing sightings of Naval Infantry obituaries in local Russian media. These guys supposedly were being held in reserve for actual naval landings, but with an unsupported landing effectively suicide Russia seems to be committing them.

Increasing reports of higher level Russian officers being killed in Ukraine. I’m not interested in dickering over exactly how many generals and of what rank were killed; it’s enough to observe that some or most of them are almost certainly actually dead, and this attrition of trained, experienced career officers is going to have a serious impact on Russian operational competence. Observe that the death of this engineer corps Colonel occurred while setting up a pontoon bridge near Izyum. (See prior discussion of military bridging etc.) If units need hand-holding from experienced officers to accomplish important tasks like that, the loss of these personnel is going to hurt a lot.

I’ve seen several more Tochka-U boosters fired at Ukrainian targets, and most tellingly a new batch of Tochka-U launchers showed in in Belarus on a Russian heavy airlifter. As others have observed, their rough looking condition indicates they were probably just pulled out of storage, which makes sense as Russia formally retired the Tochka-U from active service years ago. Russia must be running short on long-range precision munitions; either ones they’re willing to expend or the entire stockpile in general.

The use of a Khinzal missile may also indicate overtaxed PGM stocks, as employment as such claimed by Russia is a waste of the resource if anything else is available. The Khinzal is literally just an Iskander that’s launched from a plane. There’s nothing fancy about it. Any ballistic missile is innately hypersonic. We have had hypersonics since the fucking V-2. Journalists are too stupid to understand this.

Related: Lviv’s crucial airframe repair depot was finally attacked, but, incredibly, commercial satellite imagery shows only four weapons impacted and they were not optimally aimed. (Local officials said six cruise missiles were fired, but two were intercepted by air defenses.) Furthermore, one missile was directed at a parking ramp that any asshole with Google Earth could determine was mostly occupied by long out-of-service MiG-23s (and two Fishbeds.) It is unclear to me how much vital equipment could be stored in a single hangar, but in general such repair depots are rather sizeable and take multiple munitions to put out of action. Given the attack on the parking ramp I find it plausible that Russian forces were attempting to hit active-duty MiG-29s that had been flown in for rapid repairs and return to service – in other words another sniping attack on airframes, not a serious attempt to destroy Ukraine’s long-term capacity to make war.

A nice example of the high-quality equipment the Ukrainian SOF has received to complement their Western-assisted training. Note this soldier’s holding a weapon reportedly favored by the SOF (and seen often in videos of them in combat,) a domestically-built bullpup rifle, which also highlights Ukraine’s rather advanced domestic arms industry.

The first confirmed Russian gun truck has been seen (and captured.) Note the rifle ports and the open top. The angled sides are a nice touch as well. Seems they found at least one welder.

More and more sightings of older Russian tanks in Ukraine. The B model is 80s vintage. This is roughly akin to seeing a National Guard M-60 on the frontline. It’s not as ancient as the A model however, and a few of those have already been seen, as previously documented.

Additionally, multiple very rare T-80UK tanks (models that were intended for export, very high-end) have been seen in Ukraine; either knocked out or captured. Also, the one-of-a-kind T80UM2 tank – a prototype for testing the Drozd active protection system – was destroyed in Sumy Oblast. Additionally yet another ancient T-72A was just captured by Ukrainian forces. Russians are scraping the bottom of the barrel for materiel.

Increasing civilian participation in the war effort, such as civilians applying the now-classic middle eastern trick of a small consumer quadcopter dropping hand grenades. The previously seen conversion of 1950s era RKG-3 anti-tank grenades to air-dropped munitions by adding 3D printed guidance fins has already yielded results. While Middle Eastern fighters are no less inventive, the people now turning their hands to war have access to more technology and the entire stockpiles of their national military to work with.

I am still seeing multiple instances of Russian supply trucks being captured intact with their ammunition. How much of a difference this is making I cannot say, but given the low ammunition stocks Ukraine started with, every bit helps. It’s more significant in that it shows that Russian supply lines continue to be subject to interdiction.

I’m seeing a lot less Territorial Defense Forces securing wins against Russian supply lines. But I’m still seeing SOF ambushes and regular forces hitting supply vehicles on the regular.

First sighting of a Russian Tornado rocket; roughly analagous to the American M31 GPS-guided “70 kilometer sniper rifle.” UMoD alleged that Russia had recently ordered production of this system to go into round-the-clock work; (like with most of Russia’s most modern weapons, they typically can’t afford many and have limited stockpiles. Where’s the T-14 Armata, again?)

This Russian-released video looks an awful lot like a thermobaric weapon going off. Area targets are a valid use for the TOS-1 thermobaric, but given we’ve yet to hear consistent reports of thermobarics used against urban areas, one wonders if the Russians aren’t using this for counter-battery because of larger accuracy issues with their artillery.

Operational

The decline of video evidence of TDF destruction of supply convoys likely owes to increasing Russian efforts to provide them with proper protection. That this effort has already diverted almost three divisions from frontline duties is a success. However I think I’m seeing Ukrainian SOF adapt to this as I’m seeing more and more frequent evidence of mines laid along roads and command-detonated explosives. These allow for incredible destruction without leaving the ambushers very exposed at all. The incredible effort the US and its partners had to make to deal with IED attacks in Iraq illustrate the challenges for Russian forces nicely.

A little more confirmation that Russian forces are now focusing on their efforts in the south/east based on casualty numbers from various fronts.

A recent Russian strike on a shopping mall garage illustrates both the challenge imposed by both sides inability to effectively engage small recon drones, and the cost to Russia of Ukrainian air-denial tactics. The mall’s garage was being used to hide and reload MLRS vehicles between strikes. You can see the Russian drone follow them back to their hideout, allowing the destruction of both the launchers and their ready ammunition stockpile. But the Russians had to expend an Iskander to engage it (far too accurate for a Tochka-U.) Weapons costly as the Iskander (or a cruise missile) are best served by reaching far into hostile rear areas and engaging big ammunition depots located in enemy “safe” territory. This target needed a 500 pound LGB or perhaps a guided MLRS munition. Apparently neither was available.

Persistent aerial surveilance capability by both sides, with neither side being able to effectively and routinely counter it, seems to be turning this into an artillery war even more than normal wars. Ukrainians continue to demonstrate impressive accuracy with old soviet quick-fuze shells (note the burning T-72,) and the Russians continue to lose logistical elements and entire columns to Ukrainian artillery attack. Obviously, this isn’t one-sided. But at worst Ukraine seems to be making very good use of their limited assets in this regard.

Contrast Russians – the boosters of their MLRS rockets are more effective against their targets than the payloads.

See this exhaustive catalog of hospitals deliberately attacked by Russian forces.

Ukrainian Tochka-U strikes continue.

I am continuing to see evidence of both Ukrainian and Russian aircraft shootdowns, indicating both forces are still active. Obviously the Russians are more active and taking more casualties. The value of the Ukrainian Air Force’s continued survival is obvious from this KA-52 lugging six air-to-air missiles; that’s payload space not devoted to air-to-ground weapons, but made necessary by either Ukrainian drones in the AO, or even Defensive-Counter-Air sorties by UKA MiG-29s. Failure to gain ubiquitous air supremacy – or perhaps even air superiority – is blunting advantages that Russia desperately needs to break the stalemate.

Maneuver

No major changes yesterday or today, hence the combination update. UMoD claims will be cited where applicable.

I can’t believe I missed this the other day: this ambushed convoy was said to be hit near Snihurivka, 45km north of Kherson... along the TI505. The mad bastards are actually using that road and getting the expected results. So it wasn’t retreating from Mykolaiv, but the Russian front trying to push on Kryvyi Rih. Phenomenal... if it’s actually from there.

None of it can be geolocated (because of the barren terrain) but I’m seeing an awful lot of footage of destroyed or captured Russian assets said to be around Mykolaiv (which in practice probably means the entire oblast,) most of them on the side of a road. (I saw a few on the 17th and 18th, several more by the 20th and today they’re practically pouring in!) Note the command vehicle; yet another rear-echelon asset that wouldn’t typically be exposed too close to the hot and heavy fighting. (See also this. The 126th is said to be the brigade that the BTG defeated up in Voznesensk was from, so this is likely Mykolaiv area too.) Given this I’d say news of a serious counteroffensive towards Kherson is real. A lot of this equipment may be from the forces that pushed north, too, who are now hastily retreating down the TI505.

As noted in my big effortpost, the first possible evidence of VDV involvement in the assaults on Izyum. UMoD says the town is still in friendly hands. The video Russia released a few days back claiming the town was taken showed a railway bridge that had clearly been rendered unusable by demo charges, and I’ve seen no Russian propaganda videos showing off Izyum yet, so I’m sticking to my theory that the river is complicating their attack. The fact the city is still most likely contested despite them throwing operational reserves and VDV into the fight is not good news for the Russians.

Imagery dropped today of hundreds of shell craters just south of Izyum. Checking this area on google maps shows it’s fairly well wooded. There also is (or was) a village there. The village of Snizhkivka is just north of the Donets river here, one of the ones UMoD indicated was of enemy interest. I suspect this was suppressive fire on area targets to try and support a crossing of some sort.

See also heavy area shelling of this front north of Dontesk city.

As UMoD noted yesterday there’s visible signs of Russian troops around Kyiv digging in. As I said in my artillery post, digging in is not a bad thing and units of any sort will do it whenever possible. However, given the Russian’s have displayed an obsession with blyatkrieg, the fact they’re actually bothering to dig more thorough earthworks for a change is probably more significant than normal.

Just be aware that simply digging revetments doesn’t make for trench warfare. Many military vehicles come with a dozer blade attached so they can scrape their own protection. It only indicates that they’re not planning on an offensive in the very short term.

Ukraine’s deliberate flooding of the plains north of Kyiv are producing dramatic results.

Russia is once again shelling Odessa with its ships and the Japanese Ministry of Defense has spotted Russian amphibious ships from its far east fleet, decks loaded with military vehicles, underway. This might mean the Russians are stupid enough to attempt an unsupported landing and think they can manage it with just a few more landing ships, but more likely this is just more stripping of their garrisons and the shelling of Odessa is to further distract Ukrainian reinforcements from the front line. Given Odessa has mazes of catacombs under the city and local defenders have been entrenching since the war began, Ukraine can afford to keep a fairly light garrison here given the Russians have no chance in hell of a successful attack, even with a successful landing – they just can’t get enough of everything onto the shipping capacity they have to stand a chance of taking Odessa.

[caffeinated-chaos-bean]

Mid-2021 Blog Update

Hey guys.

So... It’s been a while. Quite a while... and I want to lay some things out as to why I’ve been gone and the blog has practically been dead in the water for half a year, if not for a whole year. 

I want you to know that what I’m going to say will be in heavy detail. I’m comfortable speaking on it, and what information doesn’t just include me will be using either public details that I know I can share or will be put in a short and sweet manner.

This is your trigger warning: If you need to click off or scroll past due to the mention of extremely bad mental health, toxic relationships and households, the mention of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts, please do so now.

. . .

First off, I’ve lessened the amount of time I’ve been online due to my mental health. I was put on antidepressants as well as told to take anti-anxiety gummies in November and will be weaned off of those starting this October. A lot of my family and relationship drama on top of the world practically shutting down and going into chaos thanks to COVID-19 just took a major toll on me. With so much on my shoulders, stress from living with said things on my shoulders, unsupportive family members, and an emotionally distant partner, I was at one of the lowest points in the life. I’d never had to be on mood-related medication in my life until last November. I’d always been able to handle what was thrown at me, but mid- to late-2020 was what knocked me down that low for the first time in my life. Suicidal thoughts came and went (they weren’t often, only when I couldn’t bottle my emotions up any longer but didn’t have a way to express them either), but even when they did, I knew that it was just in my head. I never once chose to act on them, because to me, that is not a way to solve a problem or escape your inner demons. All it does it put your personal suffering onto those around you -- your friends, family, and those who cared about you even when you don’t see it -- and it doesn’t do anyone any good. When my doctor asked me about suicide, that’s the very explanation I gave her. Yes, they happened, but I’d never act on them; it’s not a way out and it puts your pain onto others and only worsens the situation for the long-term.

Aside from that, though... I move on to other personal reasons for my absence that helped trigger what was mentioned above. Mid-August of 2019, my then fiancé's mother was murdered by two 17yr old boys of whom she and their family knew. Going off the information that was made public, one boy had mixed meth with marijuana prior to the killing. He claimed that my fiancé’s mother mouthed off and made a derogatory comment about his deceased mother, thus sparking the incident. While he claims to have only stabbed her once, the autopsy report shows that her head/face and upper torso were “hacked, slashed, and chopped” repeatedly with “various sharp, bladed objects”. Not only did they murder her, the two individuals also set the grass around her body on fire along with her home. When we found out about this having happened, I had no idea how bad it would have turned my relationship upside-down. My now ex-fiancé didn’t come from a great childhood, there was abuse and CPS, among other things. But he had managed and was a good person. He could make me laugh and tear up at his jokes, sang beautifully, and did everything to make those around him happy. When he lost his mom, it broke him. It shattered his very being, because not only did he know the two who caused it to happen, he also was unable to reconcile and make amends with his mother for what he went through as a child. He was robbed of being able to forgive and be on good terms with her, and it broke him. He stopped communicating with family, he took bereavement after being pulled from work by family the day it was confirmed to be his mother only to to fired 3 months down the line when he tried to go back (fuck Walmart for that btw), and was slowly becoming a hypochondriac. He stopped talking to me, he would cry in his sleep, and grief made him lash out as was expected. But as the days dragged on, his motivation and care towards finding a new job dwindled. He and my mother would fight endlessly and I was caught in the middle of it, as we all were in one household. There were times in which I would keep my phone on my leg and record for my own personal documentation should I need it due to how bad my own mother would belittle me, belittle my ex behind his back, and just scream and go off. When I’d turn to my ex for comfort, he wasn’t much help due to his own deteriorating mental health. He took to discord, specifically the Vampire the Masquerade community, as his escape from reality. He eventually would hardly talk to me at all, show no compassion, and at times I tried to speak with him about getting a new job or suggesting part-time ones that I felt would be easy and as stress-free as possible for him, I would be shooed away without a word; if I tried to further my attempt to have the conversation, he eventually got an attitude and would just say “Bye!” over and over again while shooing with his hand to get me to leave. There were many days where I’d get off work and sit in the bathroom for an hour and cry because of my frustration and how I felt stuck between two people I cared about deeply (ie. my ex and my mother).

My ex has since moved out and no longer lived with us. He and I are no longer together, and he has cut off all communication to me along with his family. He isn’t living in California anymore, really. He met up with discord friends and is in another state. That’s the last I heard from him. That’s the last his family heard. He doesn’t talk to us or attempt to reach out or respond when his family reaches out. I still very much care about him and want him to get better, but if he has to do so by being away from everyone, then so be it.

While I was letting - or shutting out, rather - the emotions I was feeling once he officially moved out, I relapsed with my anxiety tick; with my trichotillomania. I have a good number of smaller, thinned out spots in my hair from unconsciously pulling out strands of hair when my emotions didn’t know how to regulate. I’m still fighting to get this under control, as I do still catch myself doing it and so does my mother. It currently is not as bad as when my ex first moved out and I had to adjust back into sleeping alone and without someone next to me, but I do still pull. I am looking into trying to get my sister to order me a HabbitAware bracelet for me this Christmas in order to help get my tick back under control. I know its something I will live with forever and go in and out of doing, as there is no cure or medication to curb trichotillomania, but its something to help me be more aware of how often I do pull and to train it to no longer be a muscle memory response.

Most recently, I’ve had to stop taking melatonin. I’ve had bouts of insomnia since my ex left, and eventually I took enough melatonin to not only build an immunity to it but also a slight dependence. I was taking more than I should have been, and I noticed the signs of it and have stopped taking melatonin altogether. Due to this, I have switched to hempseed oil gummies. I take 2 before bed and they have helped wonderfully. But, due to how easy it was for me to become dependent on melatonin, I do plan to take brief breaks from the gummies to avoid a similar situation. I also do not plan on seeking an insomnia medication due to the same reasons. I knew what I was doing was wrong and I knew i was becoming addicted, and due to this I do not wish to risk it happening with a prescription sleep medication. I will deal with my bouts of insomnia as they come.

I also am conquering my insecurities towards others knowing I am a fan of Michael Jackson; a moonwalker. In elementary school (5th grade, 2009), I went through a heavy obsessive phase when he passed. I’d never heard of him, and when I listened to his music that firs time I was instantly hooked. I was ridiculed at school after I performed “Thriller” during a talent show; I had classmates going as far as saying that I must want him to kidnap and r*pe me if I enjoyed his music so much. I didn’t understand the gravity of those comments back then the way that I do now that I’m 23, but I still knew to an extent that what they were saying was in now way a good thing. I shut out his music from mid-6th grade all the way until this year. I hadn’t listened to a single song aside from hearing “Thriller” on the radio during October. For my birthday this year, I had a friend take me out of town and get away for a day. The entire time, she surprised me by playing hours of his music when in the car with her. It has since reopened that connection to his music and I’ve been listening to his songs with a fresh take, with the mind of an adult who can comprehend his words and understand finally what he’s saying for each song. As such, I’ve become more comfortable with others knowing I’m a moonwalker. You can have your opininos of the man, you can choose to believe the tabloids and junk media or make your own conclusions after assessing the details and documents of his life, but I will enjoy the same freedom of opinion.

I know this is getting pretty long, but I wanted to fill those who still might be checking up on this blog for any sort of update or spec of life coming from it in on what’s practically killed the blogs for a good chunk of time.

I do plan to slowly start doing stuff again after Halloween. I have a video made that I plan to post for Halloween and I look forward to letting Kikumi and the others be open for asks again. Until then, may the wind guide you all. I hope everyone can have a safe and wonderful rest of August. I will see you in October.