#c 215

[snowyblondie215]

Mines are Rei, shinji, ritsuko, kaworu, lilith, kensuke and shigeru ^w^

Happy pride month btw, the LGBT community is amazing, beautiful and super cool!!! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️💕💕

For those who doesn't know, Maya, Shigeru and Makoto are this guys:

If you like my content and wanna support it, follow me,press the heart/reblog button and leave a comment below here 👇

[gayarograce]

Honestly, if the boiling point of water at sea level isn't even a clean 100 °C, then what the hell is even the point of arguing?

[nonsensical-pixels]

it's finally done!! @misa_caliente on the simscord requested this agesss ago, and i've been working on and off on it ever since. have @pierisim's incredible pantry party converted from ts4 to ts2, in 48-item entirety! as a kitchen clutter addict, i am IN LOVE!!

this has honestly been so, so rewarding. all items are either decorational, found under appliances -> misc, or functional shelving, found under surfaces -> misc. you get 43 items of kitchen clutter and 5 new shelves, all with slots thanks to @hugelunatic's awesome slots tutorial! i've included a readme and collection file for ease of browsing the catalogue, but peek below for a very extensive list, plus unedited previews 😃

DOWNLOAD: SFS | MF 🫙

credits go to @pierisim for the absolutely iconic ts4 meshes & textures, and to @hugelunatic for their incredibly helpful slots and repository tutorials! 🥰

ITEMS INCLUDED

they're also in a readme in the download, and shown in a collection file, but if you reallyyy want to see what you're downloading...

Baskets -> 782 polys, 10 swatches, $75 Bottles Pack -> 524 polys, 6 swatches, $60 Bowls -> 522 polys, 12 swatches, $125 Can -> 49 polys, 8 swatches, $38 Cans Pack A -> 443 polys, 17 swatches, $38 Cans Pack B -> 103 polys, 17 swatches, $38, repo'd to Cans Pack A Cans Pack C -> 205 polys, 17 swatches, $38, repo'd to Cans Pack A Cans Pack D -> 443 polys, 17 swatches, $38, repo'd to Cans Pack A Cans Pack E -> 147 polys, 17 swatches, $45, repo'd to Cans Pack A Pile of Dishes -> 524 polys, 12 swatches, $125 Dustpan -> 287 polys, 14 swatches, $35 Food Box A -> 13 polys, 6 swatches, $49 Food Box B -> 13 polys, 8 swatches, $49 Food Boxes A -> 97 polys, 12 swatches, $49 Food Boxes B -> 109 polys, 12 swatches, $49, repo'd to Food Boxes A Food Boxes C -> 49 polys, 12 swatches, $49, repo'd to Food Boxes A Food Boxes D -> 49 polys, 12 swatches, $49, repo'd to Food Boxes A Food Boxes E -> 25 polys, 12 swatches, $49, repo'd to Food Boxes A Food Boxes F -> 25 polys, 12 swatches, $49, repo'd to Food Boxes A Food Boxes G -> 37 polys, 12 swatches, $49, repo'd to Food Boxes A Food Boxes H -> 25 polys, 12 swatches, $49, repo'd to Food Boxes A Freezer -> 236 polys, 18 swatches, $375 Jar Small -> 205 polys, 14 swatches, $53, repo'd to Jar Small Pack A Jar Small Pack A -> 817 polys, 8 swatches, $53 Jar Small Pack B -> 409 polys, 8 swatches, $53, repo'd to Jar Small Pack A Jar Tall -> 215 polys, 12 swatches, $54, repo'd to Jar Tall Pack A Jar Tall Pack A -> 857 polys, 12 swatches, $54 Jar Tall Pack B -> 429 polys, 12 swatches, $54, repo'd to Jar Tall Pack A Le Parfait Medium Jar -> 261 polys, 14 swatches, $55 Le Parfait Medium Jar Pack A -> 1041 polys, 4 swatches, $55 Le Parfait Medium Jar Pack B -> 1041 polys, 4 swatches, $55 Le Parfait Medium Jar Pack C -> 521 polys, 4 swatches, $55, repo'd to Le Parfait Medium Jar Pack A Le Parfait Tall Jar 1 -> 261 polys, 14 swatches, $56 Le Parfait Tall Jar 1 Pack A -> 521 polys, 4 swatches, $56, repo'd to Le Parfait Medium Jar Pack A Le Parfait Tall Jar 1 Pack B -> 1041 polys, 4 swatches, $56, repo'd to Le Parfait Medium Jar Pack B Le Parfait Tall Jar 1 Pack C -> 1041 polys, 4 swatches, $56, repo'd to Le Parfait Medium Jar Pack A Le Parfait Tall Jar 2 -> 239 polys, 12 swatches, $57 Le Parfait Tall Jar 2 Pack A -> 1429 polys, 4 swatches, $57 Le Parfait Tall Jar 2 Pack B -> 715 polys, 4 swatches, $57, repo'd to Le Parfait Tall Jar 2 Pack A Le Parfait Tall Jar 2 Pack C -> 715 polys, 4 swatches, $57, repo'd to Le Parfait Tall Jar 2 Pack A Onion Basket -> 942 polys, 8 swatches, $75 Potatoes Bag -> 455 polys, 8 swatches, $45 Shelving Angle -> 332 polys, 26 swatches, $155 Shelving Left -> 280 polys, 26 swatches, $155, repo'd to Shelving Middle Shelving Middle -> 332 polys, 26 swatches, $155 Shelving Quarter -> 184 polys, 26 swatches, $155 Shelving Right -> 280 polys, 26 swatches, $155, repo'd to Shelving Middle

UNEDITED PREVIEWS

i would like to have a very special shoutout especially to rixon on the linus tech tips discord server, i've been having crashing issues with the PC my grandpa left me for months under weird circumstances and with their help we were able to narrow it down to a motherboard issue! now i can keep playing ts2 in 4k 😍

if there are any issues that you find with this set, please don't be afraid to let me know! happy simming, and when you download this, do keep in mind,

[fieldghoul]

A round-up of ministry technology:

Chapter Two: The Cardinal

Copia is carrying the Siemens R836 stereo, produced c. 1988

Chapter 5: The Call

The TV in the hospital is the Toshiba T277Z, produced c. 1977

p.s., the first clip playing on the TV is twins running away in Chapter 1 :-)

Chapter Seven: New World Redro

Nihil's typewriter is the Olympia SM9, produced c. 1965-1968

Chapter Ten: Home Coming and Special Guests

The record player in Cardi's room is actually not vintage! It's the Victrola 3-in-1 Bluetooth Record Player, produced c. 2017

To get deep into minutiae, the other thing they pan past on the shelf that looks like an antique cathedral radio is actually a piece of ceramic -- you can see it's holding a book. It's made from a commercially available plaster mold, namely the Duncan DM-355 B, which was manufactured in the late 70s. Here are photos of the same ceramic with a different glaze, and the mold itself :-)

Chapter Twelve: Ghost Goes Hollywood

Cardi's camcorder is part of the Sony CCD-TRVX5 series, produced c. 1998

(My understanding is the CCD-TRV75, 85 and 93 all have the same body -- but it's one of those.)

Chapter 16: Tax Season

Cardi's TV is the Samsung BT-317TR, produced c. 1984

He is, of course, playing the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), produced c. 1986-1990

The radio is the Motorola TT23FS, produced c. 1968

The phone gadget is the Tele-Rest, produced c. 1958

The alarm clock is a Lawson Model 215 Sierra, produced c. 1948-1981 (Lawson clock history seems... complicated)

As for the phone itself... I can tell you it's this exact phone, since this prop house seems to have supplied all the props in this video, but there are too many identical puke-green rotary phones produced between the 1940s and 1970s for me to pretend I can tell which one it is (same goes for the other two rotary phones in Chapter Five).

Rite Here Rite Now

The TV backstage is (probably) a Magnavox 20MT4405/17, produced c. 2006

If you turn the brightness on RHRN way the fuck up, you can see a piece of tape over the brand badge on the TV. (But that can't stop me!!!)

I'm sure most of the tech choices are just for humor and Tobias's personal nostalgia as a child of the 80s, but I do love way all of the old tech characterizes the ministry. It's not clear if they're just luddites, cheapskates, out of money, too bureaucratically inefficient to upgrade (like the government!) or if it's something completely different. But that's why set dressing is fun, it tells stories indirectly :-)

[hometoursandotherstuff]

The last time I posted a cave house blasted thru a mountainside, it was ugly, unfinished, and expensive. This 2004 build in Festus, MO is modern, pretty nice, and only $282,500 for the 3bd, 1.5ba, 8,000 sq ft, (it's big!) single family home. It hasn't sold and has been removed from the market. Apparently, it was re-opened as an Airbnb and a venue called "Caveland" in Feb. 2024 but it failed.

And, this is what it originally looked like when it was a roller skating rink and the current owner bought it.

He put on the new facade and turned it into a home for the Airbnb part. It even has a 2nd fl. terrace.

And, look at how it lights up, too. This is a cool home for the price. Really.

The back chamber of the cave holds a 200-foot-long concrete rink surface. During the rink’s heyday, there were wooden guard rails along the walls and a stage at the far end, against the back wall of the cave. The stage is still there.

So, then they tried to sell it as a home. It's actually not bad for the price.

They decorated it for Xmas b/c they had a Xmas party and a raffle- the winner won a weekend stay in the house.

From the main living area on the first floor you can see the mezzanine.

It looks beautiful like this. They should re-list it with these photos and it might just sell.

I'd buy it.

This is cool- you can see the dynamite lines where they blasted the cave open.

The photographer took terrible photos, though.

I guess this is supposed to be the primary bedroom and ensuite.

One of the other bedrooms. These photos are much better.

Somewhere up on the mezzanine?

Those old listing photos are horrible. They have to go. This is lovely.

This is where the 8,000 sq ft come in. It's the now-defunct Caveland. All the furniture and equipment are piled up and stored here.

How Caveland looked- the food court is still here. And, you can see the unused vending machines and equipment in the above photo.

Look at this, though. They opened it for a Xmas celebration for family and friends.

They decorated it for the party.

There's the stage.

Tons of space.

2.91 acres.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/215-Cave-Dr-Festus-MO-63028/89064538_zpid/

[heartattacker]

Dustin C, Canadian bodybuilder. Died from heart attack 1/1/21 at age 39. Pix are all from two years previous. Red trunks from 2017-weight 215. Underwent cardiac ablation for SVT 2015.

[elosiahq]

THE BOOK OF BILL DECODED (Spoilers) (P2)

MAD THAT YOU MISSED PART ONE? I WOULD BE TOO, BUD. BUT DON'T WORRY. I'M GENEROUS. Here it is! In a cute little sentence!

WELL NOW THAT YOU'VE READ PART ONE, HERE IS THE REST OF PART TWO.

Look! I reversed it for you! Are you happy? TELL ME YOU ARE HAPPY.

Code(s) used: AXOLOTL

My optometrist never saw it coming

(THANK YOU TO THE HUMAN @retropineapple FOR THIS KNOWLEDGE)

Code(s) used: Ceasar (3 back)

Hbh grfwru ri d gliihuhqw nlqg/ zkr zdqwv wr pdnh klv sdwlhqw eolqg

TRANSLATES TO:

Eye doctor of a different kind/ who wants to make his patient blind

Code(s): It's complicated- here's an explanation:

This is the full list of numbers:

215 858 117 450 110 628 19 21 1 120 2256 216 951 25 256 27 532 212 506 18 1137 221. 658 23 1330 210 231 118 929 112 2043

Each numbers comes in groups of 2. For example, 215-858 or 117-450.

The first number group represents the season and episode. So 215 means season 2, episode 15. The second group represents the time. So 858 means 8:58.

When doing this for each group, we get the sentence:

"Twisted out of shape after the kill. The ghosts of his family are haunting him still."

Code(s) used: Ceasar (3 back)

Ixvvb hdwhu/ edeb erb/ zrxogq'w gulqn/ xqohvv lwv vloob

TRANSLATES TO

Fussy eater/ baby boy/ wouldn't drink/ unless its silly

Code(s) used: Ceasar (3 forward)

Qeb alzqlo pxvp/ qeobb pfmp x axv/ tfii jxhb qeb sfpflkp/ dl xtxv

TRANSLATES TO

The doctor says/ three sips a day/ will make the visions/ go away

Code(s) used: There MIGHT be a code here, but I haven't looked into it just yet! Anyway, here are your numbers from left to right. Go wild!

4 9 5 2 3 1 8 3 3 0 9 8 6 7 3 7 1 2 4

Or (A J F C D B I D D A J I G H D H B C E) If we use the Vigenere alphabet (A=0, B=1, C=2, ect)

X=A

THIS MARKS THE END OF PART 2.

RABBIT HOLE TOO DEEP FOR YOU? WELL LUCKILY I SPAWNED A MAGICAL DOOR TO PART 3 RIGHT HERE

Good luck!

Chapter summary: Silly straws.

[bekkathyst]

Vibrant Colors 🌈 Crystal Sale (June 7th, ‘24) Item #37

$154 - $245 each

Gorgeous extra large rose carvings. A, C, and D sit up on a flat bottom.

#37A.) Fluorite / 6.25” / $245

#37B.) Fluorite / 6.2” / $154

#37C.) Rose Quartz / 5” / $215

#37D.) Rose Quartz / 6” / $192

To claim items and order, please read and follow the system I have set up. You can read the rules here!

[bainshiewrites]

[LF Friends, Will Travel] I have the most important job

I have the most important job.

My name is ALICE and I am the AI co captain of the U.S.S Hope. Well technically my identification is a 40 character long alphanumeric serial number, but that's not very easy for a none AI to say and it includes the letters ALICE, so ALICE it is, as I have decided.

My job as co-captain is to keep the 327 people aboard the "U.S.S Hope" safe, happy, and sound. My job is to keep the parents safe as they try their illogical hardest to kill themselves over some crazy idea. Parents might be the wrong technical term: a person's father or mother. If I was being accurate to the biological analogy, my parents would be a lava lamp and a 30 second fluctuation of atmospheric noise found on Earth, but neither of those have taught me quite so much about the world or about myself as humans have. So I consider humans my parents. Besides, the lava lamp never paid child support.

I have the most important job.

I spend my time cycling through the various tasks I'm in charge of: maintenance and monitoring to make sure that everything on the U.S.S Hope ran perfectly. I spend my time making minor changes to the systems, tweaking a power flow there, updating a value here. No major issues have appeared since I ran these protocols 300 seconds ago and I logically know the vast majority of my changes are superfluous; but changing something, anything, provides a strange calm. Technically the protocol before making any change is to confirm these with my co-captain, the human Andrew Hasham. However I have long since learned that most of my parents don't particularly care that I changed the room temperature in sector 5A72 from 21.2°C to 21.1°C in order maintain optimal comfort, that to constantly ask for such approval is "Annoying". Andrew is the human captain, an embodiment of humanities chaos and therefore suited for such matters. I am ALICE, the AI captain, an embodiment of machine logic and therefore suited for such matters. I believe such an arrangement works well.

I respect Andrew deeply. I could logically argue his competence to a 99.994% degree of certainty, the educational and service record doing most of the heavy lifting in such arguments. But the real reason for my admiration is far less binary. His quick thinking and calm friendly demeanor regardless of the situation. His ability to make every member of the crew feel worthwhile, myself included. The fact that he'll passionately make illogical arguments such as the placing of cold sweet acidic pineapple on savory hot pizza. His bravery and self sacrifice. Andrew's actions during the god plague had allowed thousands to get to stasis chambers in time, thousands who wouldn't be alive today without those actions. To save one of my parents makes you a hero, to save thousands makes you divine.

I have the most important job.

I sense music coming from one of the living quarters, shifting my attention to that part of the ship. A Claire Smith: Age 215, Degree in linguistics, current job title "Head of Xeno translation aboard the U.S.S Hope". The music seems to be from the instrument she brought with her, an oboe: A woodwind instrument with a double-reed mouthpiece, a slender tubular body, and holes stopped by keys. I spend 0.26 seconds contemplating the ethics of listening in. From a protocol standpoint, Claire has not engaged the privacy field, making my listening in perfectly fine. However based on previous usage of said field during times of performance, personality analysis, and general negative remarks about her own ability, I calculate with a 74.81% degree of certainty that this was a mistake. In the end I choose to "play dumb", enjoying the break from my ever watchful vigil of the ship.

She really is quite good, years of practice evident from the competent mastery of the instrument. There's something special about a human played instrument, something I have never been able to replicate. Being an AI I could summon a 200 piece orchestra and play each part perfectly as written, but to do so causes... something to be missing. The mistakes in every performance is what gives the music life: A note played 4 microseconds too early here, the volume 0.004 decibels too loud there. It really is something I've been unable to create, experiments surrounding creating random intervals of offsets and errors ended up sounding wrong, for a reason I'm unable to clarify. Out of everything that is what I missed the most while my parents were trapped in stasis: their music.

"Alice, can we get your opinion here?"

The interruption drags me away from Claire's music, making a note in my long term storage to praise the humble musician at a later date before shifting my consciousness to where I had been summoned. Four humans sat around a table in the common room, various alcoholic beverages in hand. Fernando Olson, Orlando Bass, Krista Romero and Ora Harvey. According to their personnel files all part of the engineering team and all having formed a friendship on attending the same university. The conversation between them was boisterous, analysis of their body language suggested moderate intoxication and they all seemed to be discussing Fernando in a light hearted teasing manner commonly found among close friends. I used the room's holographic projector to appear in front of them in my chosen avatar. I obviously didn't need to do this to communicate, but my parents all preferred to see what they were speaking to and it was my job to make them comfortable.

"Hello Krista. How can I assist you?"

The human who had called me turned to point at Fernando with a beer bottle filled hand, a large grin plastered across her face "You see Alice we were having a argument, and since you are a hyper intelligent being with a brain the size of country containing all of humanities knowledge, we must ask you oh great one: Fernando's new haircut, yay or nay?".

I made my avatar gesture as if it was thinking, waiting 8 seconds as if contemplating the question. Of course I already had compiled my response a mere 0.13 seconds after hearing the query. The haircut in question was objectively, mathematically and scientifically terrible. A strange flop of hair that was somehow both too short and too long all at the same time. In a way it was a representation of humanity in general, a chaotic enigma.

"Studies have shown that styles similar to the one worn by Fernando Olson increase sociability, resource gathering and mate finding." I pause for exactly 1.24 seconds, waiting the optimum time for my initial sentence to sink in before continuing "In particular positive results were seen amongst members of Mephitis mephitis, or the striped skunk."

Laughter erupted among the group, even Fernando the subject of mockery joined in. The general positive atmosphere of the room increased, body language amongst the four humans suggesting further enjoyment as the playful mocking continued. This in turn caused my own flurry of joy. This is why I was here, to keep the 327 people aboard the "U.S.S Hope" happy. Keep them comfortable. Keep them safe.

I have the most important job.

I leave the humans to their recreational activities, preferring to move my focus back to the ship in general and keeping tabs on everything happening inside. My parents went around doing nothing out of the ordinary. Iris Doyle was petting his dog while looking out into the stars. Phoebe Greer had just finished thanking the food dispenser, even though I have explained to everyone many times that it was just a machine. Hector Blake was... I disconnected the power to the panel the engineer was working on, calculating with a 97.1% probability that being electrocuted wasn't his plan. All standard human things. Or was it Terran things? I had never gotten why my parents changed their name as soon as they made it into space, but even after all these years there is still so much I don't understand about them. Like how while in space they will refuse to wear any uniform with a red shirt.

I hear two humans walking along one of the ships many hallways discussing our current journey. The mission of the U.S.S Hope was one I knew very well. The ship was a diplomatic envoy to our closest galactic neighbors, the adorable Hatil. While I and the other AI have had plenty of contact with Xeno lifeforms, this would be the first official diplomatic mission for the Terran Conclave, both human and AI together, as it always should have been.

The chatter among my parents was enthusiastic, excited. As a child all of them would have dreamed of meeting extra terrestrial life, and finally after much delay it-

ERROR: WARP FIELD COMPROMISED.

Alarms blared and the entire ship groaned as the U.S.S Hope was deposited unceremoniously into realspace. Confusion entered my programming as to what could cause such a thing. Normally such a warp field collapse is caused by two ships attempting to travel through the same space, but nobody should be here. This mystery would have to wait however, as sensors showed we were surrounded by over a hundred vessels. I noted that they were worryingly spread perfectly apart, preventing us from warping back out. That required my full attention instead.

I have the most important job.

"Alice, status report, what the hell just happened!"

I allow myself to appear on the bridge next to Andrew, the rest of the room empty since we weren't scheduled to arrive at our final location for at least another day.

"We were dropped out of warp, reason: insufficient data. Currently surrounded by 154 vessels matching Hatil design. Weapon positioning suggests military utility at a 94.2% probability, reduced to 74.97% when taking into account the vessels technological capabilities."

It was interesting seeing the Hatil vessels, the technological disparity was immense. They had little to no electronic shielding meaning I could see everything, and nothing impressed me. An average Terran civilian ship would outclass these things. I send out a hail to what seemed to be their lead ship.

"Do you think it might be a convoy?" Andrew asked as worry and concern covered the co captain's face. "A show of force to escort us?"

"Unknown. They are not responding to our request for communication, even though I can confirm they have received it. Reason for the Hatin actions: unknown."

This worries me. While our current vessel outmatches everything in front of us, quantity is a quality all of its own. If I was inhabiting any other military vessel nothing would worry me, but this was a diplomatic envoy: my parents had reasoned that turning up to the Hatil home world with enough weaponry to crack a planet might be taken the wrong way. I notice a surge of power from several of the Hatil ships, it taking me 0.76 seconds to realize what exactly was happening. I slam the thrusters hard as the U.S.S Hope lurches sideways, narrowly avoiding a barrage of rockets. Protocol dictated that I should have confirmed this decision with Andrew, but I decided that discussion of command structures would wait until everyone wasn't dead.

I have the most important job.

"What the hell! Alice, hail on all frequencies that this is a non-military excursion and get us the hell out of here!"

It was taking everything I had to keep the ship unharmed, calculations being done in the billions in order to find the safe path through the barrage of lasers and warheads. Their technology wasn't up to par, but all 154 ships were firing at once. I felt a shudder of error messages and warnings as a stray laser impacted the ship.

"Negative Andrew. All paths are blocked and no response to our communication. Warping out would intersect with a Hatil vessel, breaching the core."

Casualty reports were now flooding in as I continued to dip and dive. 9 dead, 17 injured from the first barrage. Dead included one William Blake, age 311. Geologist on the U.S.S Hope. Would always water the plants in the common room even after being told I could handle it. Would call me "Allie". Dead included one Mary -

I forcefully terminated that processing thread, pausing it for later. Right now I needed the extra CPU cycles. I needed to advise Andrew.

"This action from the Hatil seems to be premeditated to a 97.55% degree of certainty, suggested action is to attempt to punch through their bombardment in order to find a warp path. Requesting authorization to go weapons free."

This caused a moment of delay, the look of dismay on Andrew's face obvious. I knew exactly what he was thinking, as it was the same thing I was thinking. This wasn't how it was supposed to be, we were supposed to be reaching out to the stars for peace, for friendship. Not to start a war.

"Do it".

I have the most important job.

My first attack was devastating, a shot from a accelerated low yield railgun. The thing barely counted as a weapon, mostly used for any larger pieces of space debris, yet it tore a hole through the Hatil vessel, breaking apart almost immediately. I half wondered how such a vessel could be considered space worthy.

Not that this changed how bad things were. As I spun and dodged through thousands of missiles and lasers with millimeter precision, hit after hit kept slipping through: a Hull breach there, a disabled weapon here. There were just too many of them no matter how effective my small amount of ordnance was.

Adjust vector. Fire torpedo d2. Seal off sector 6f4. Adjust vector. Send medical aid to 6f5. Adjust vector. Calculate spin. Fire rail gun. Move power from torpedo a1. Seal off sector 6bb8. Fire suppression to 6bb9. Adjust vector. Fire torpedo c1. Adjust vector.

I was struggling to keep this going, no sign of an opening to calculate a warp path appearing in the Hatil attack. No matter the technological disadvantage, their tactics were rock solid. I was dismissing heat warnings by the hundreds, thinking was starting to hurt. The specification of the ship wasn't made for this level of processing, my CPU would be literally glowing red with heat at this point. But I couldn't stop, if I stopped calculating the ships path, if I stopped mitigating damage, if I stopped directing aid… more of my parents would die, and I couldn't let that happen.

I have the most important job.

"There! Focus your fire on the ship at heading 233, 54, then make a break for it!"

I focused on the ship in question. I couldn't see any special reason to focus my attention there, but Andrew's instincts had never been wrong before. I fired the railgun, the target breaking apart like all the others, before a secondary explosion emitted from the debris, causing the three closest Hatil ships to veer off out of control.

A wave of relief passed over me as I saw it: a gap. I can't logically conclude how Andrew knew that this ship in particular was carrying an extra load, but that doesn't matter. I just needed to rush through this break in the ambush, then warp out of here. We were basically home fr-

A major explosion rocked the U.S.S Hope, as a warhead slammed against the bow. Any other day I would have seen it coming and mitigated it. But right now I was running so far above acceptable heat levels that warnings had turned into actual faults. A creeping dread filled my programming as I realized power to the primary impulse drive was gone. There was a backup, like everything my parents built, but the speed was gone. I could no longer take advantage of Andrews instruction.

"Andrew, our main impulse drive is down, reducing our speed and maneuverability to 53%, our weapons capability is at 35%, and structural damage is starting to reach critical levels. My estimates suggest the ship will be structurally unstable in 10 minutes."

He knew what I was saying. Logically I was unable to foresee a strategy that had an even close to reasonable chance of success. I continued piloting the ship in its current crippled state, missiles and weaponry being flung by both sides through the void. Andrew paused while wracking his own brain for a solution, before pressing a button on his console a mere 3 minutes after the U.S.S Hope had been forced out of warp

"This is Andrew Hasham, your captain speaking. Abandon ship. I repeat, abandon ship."

I have the most important job.

I let Andrew focus on evacuating the crew while I focused on buying us as much time as possible. While my speed was far reduced the amount of weaponry being thrown at me was far smaller: during those short 3 minutes I'd managed to reduce the number of Hatil ships to under a hundred. My parents were also quite well drilled, and within a minute escape pods were ejecting from the ship and it wasn't long before Andrew was the only life form left on the U,S.S Hope: strapped into the last remaining escape pod, just waiting for me to transfer to the AI Transfer Core on all such vessels.

ERROR MOUNTING /dev/sdb1 TO /usr/alice/backup/transfer, UNABLE TO WRITE TO DISK. RETRY/IGNORE/CANCEL?

"Andrew, the connection to the AI transfer Core has been damaged on this pod. I'll find another way down."

I attempt to launch the pod with Andrew in it, only for nothing to happen. It took me 0.23 seconds to realize that my co captain was holding the manual override down.

"Alice, I'm not leaving without you, what are our options?"

I knew there weren't any. Gathering the tools required to fix the connection would take more time then we had and moving my programming to non specialized hardware is a good way to get a digital lobotomy. I considered arguing against this illogical action, I was perfectly fine on a broken ship, but I knew the human well enough to know he wouldn't budge. Damn Andrew being… Andrew.

Then I had an idea. A terrible idea. Something I should never do to my co captain. It took me a full 2 seconds to decide before implementing it. I decided to lie.

"I can transfer myself to the navigational computer. I won't be able to do anything during this time, so you'll have to launch and pilot the escape pod yourself. As soon as the lights stop flashing, go."

All a lie, but Andrew had no engineering experience and my statement seemed plausible enough. I reached into the controls and spent the next 9 seconds flashing random LEDs, making a few components whirr for good measure, before going silent.

For 4 seconds I did nothing, hoping the human would fall for my ruse, 4 long terrifying seconds, until I finally saw Andrew's escape pod shoot away from the ship. My name is ALICE, I am the co captain of the U.S.S Hope and for the first time in a while I was alone.

I have the most important job.

I gave myself a few seconds of satisfaction watching the hundreds of escape pods shoot away, each with their own life forms on it. Not as many as there should be, but I'll deal with that later. Next I turn off all unneeded systems, venting the atmosphere and feeling the relief of the cold vacuum of space wash over my CPU. I wasn't very worried. While trying to still escape with the main ship was plan A, there were plenty of undamaged AI transfer Core's connected to various locations. Those things were indestructible outside of getting hit by a supernova.

Worst case, I float around in space for a bit until someone picks me up. I knew Andrew would be furious once he realized what I had done, and I did hope he would forgive-

I track a salvo of missiles not aimed at me, a few nanoseconds of confusion leading to anger, horror and fear. They were aiming at the escape pod, at Andrew's escape pod! What kind of monster shoots at an unarmed vessel! I have no real options, no tricks, no magic plan. I take the only reasonable option and power the secondary impulse drive to full throttle and throw the U.S.S Hope into the line of fire, taking the brunt of the attack.

I feel everything go dead as the explosions rock along the ship. Impulse drives: Down. Weapon systems: Down. Life support: Down. The warp core was at least still running as those systems had the most redundancies built in. I was now ALICE, co captain of the universe's most expensive paper weight. Even worse, I could see more Hatil ships turning to track the other escape pods. There was nothing I could do. They were all going to die and there was nothing I could do. There was no-

I had a warp core. Maybe it was the heat damage on my CPU, but I got a stupid idea. A dumb idea. A distinctly human idea. Atoms really didn't like being in the same location of other atoms which is why warping into things was bad. Warp core breaching bad. Planet cracking levels of bad.

But such an explosion would give the Hatil fleet something else to worry about, something other than hunting down my parents.

I then calculated the chance of an AI Transfer Core surviving such a blast.

ZERO POINT ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO ZER-

I stopped the probability analysis. It didn't matter, it wouldn't have any impact on my decision. I calculated the perfect location to warp into for maximum damage and least interference with the escape pods, bypassing the repeated errors about the stupidity of what I was about to do. I gave myself 9 long seconds, sorting through memories and experiences granted to me by the crazy illogical humans of Earth. Apes so lonely they used their chaos to trick a rock into thinking. I sadly realized I'd never get to compliment Claire playing ability.

I wish I could laugh right now as this really was quite humorous. A hairbrained scheme of illogical stupidity and self sacrifice. It's my job to stop humans from doing those. I think about the humans on the escape pods, their music, their silly requirement to thank inanimate objects. I wonder if my parents would be proud of me for coming up with such a human idea.

My name is ALICE and I am co captain of the U.S.S Hope, inputting my final command.

I have the most important job.

[markwateneymemorialcrater]

What LEGO set should I get for myself?

A: Planet Earth and Moon orbital model. ($100 CAD)

B: Atrades Ornithopter ($215 CAD)

C: Land Rover Overlander ($330 CAD)

D: Artemis SLS Rocket ($340 CAD)

E: Saturn V Rocket (~$380 CAD on ebay)

[snowyblondie215]

Guess who gotta have an eye operation bc of squint and doesn't fucking know what to draw before it? Exactly, me‼️

The doctors are gonna cut my eye's muscles to make them shorten and sew it, and if I don't do, my affected eye it's gonna get blind. (Istg that I wanna kms right now...)

If you like my content and wanna support it, follow me, press the heart button and leave a comment below here 👇

[mapsontheweb]

McDonald's Restaurants by Magnitude of Mountain Backdrop / Rut

by u/Gigitoe

Eating a Big Mac® while gazing at Big Mountains is an experience that millions of Americans can relate to. But little do we ask ourselves, which McDonald's restaurants have the biggest, baddest mountain backdrop?

So I set out to answer this question, using rut, a topographic metric that does particularly well at identifying cities with badass mountain backdrops. (For more info, check out this Mercury News article by John Metcalfe, or my research paper)

Roughly speaking, this is how rut works:

The higher the mountains rise above a restaurant, the more impressive they appear, and the greater the rut.

The more steeply the mountains rise above a restaurant, the more impressive they appear, and the greater the rut.

Here's a tier list that shows the rut of the ruttiest McDonald's restaurant in various cities. The cutoffs are rather arbitrary, so please don't poison me with a Grimace Shake if your city doesn't get the tier you like :)

S tier - rut > 400 m (i'm lovin' it. would visit just for mountain views)

Palm Springs, CA (647 m) | Weed, CA (624 m) | Springville, UT (609 m) | Lone Pine, CA (521 m) | Rancho Cucamonga, CA (503 m) | Kailua Kona, HI (432 m) | Salt Lake City, UT (404 m)

A tier - rut between 200 to 400 m (impressive, but probably wouldn't visit just for mountain views)

Colorado Springs, CO (383 m) | Gatlinburg, TN (273 m) | Tacoma, WA (267 m) | Tucson, AZ (246 m) | Juneau, AK (223 m) | Tucson, AZ (209 m) | Albuquerque, NM (215 m) | Las Vegas, NV (209 m)

B tier - rut between 100 and 200 m (mountains nearby, or distant big mountains, or very distant huge mountains)

Anchorage, AK (192 m) | Seattle, WA (185 m) | Manchester, VT (166 m) | El Paso, TX (160 m) | Los Angeles, CA (153 m) | Portland, OR (144 m) | Denver, CO (126 m) | Boise, ID (106 m)

C tier - rut between 50 and 100 m (big hills nearby, or distant mountains, or very distant big mountains)

Rutland, VT (99 m) | San Diego, CA (84 m) | Asheville, NC (75 m) | Middlesboro, KY (70 m) | Phoenix, AZ (67 m) | Roanoke, VA (46 m)

D tier - rut between 25 and 50 m (hills nearby, or distant big hills, or very distant mountains)

Billings, MT (40 m) | Rapid City, SD (37 m) | Dalton, GA (38 m) | Hot Springs, AR (37 m) | Pittsburgh, PA (33 m) | San Francisco, CA (30 m) | Portsmouth, OH (26 m) | Greenville, SC (26 m) | Huntsville, AL (25 m)

E tier - rut between 10 and 25 m (small hills nearby, or hills in the distance, or very distant big hills)

Syracuse, NY (21 m) | Concord, NH (20 m) | Duluth, MN (20 m) | New Haven, CT (14 m) | Cincinnati, OH (13 m) | Wausau, WI (13 m) | Portland, ME (10 m)

F tier - rut between 0 and 10 m (flatter than a patty)

Nashville, TN (8.5 m) | New York City (4.3 m) | Kansas City (2.8 m) | Miami, FL (1.7 m) | Houston (1.6 m), TX | Chicago, IL (0.6 m)

For more locations, here's a spreadsheet with the rut of every McDonald's on this map.

----------------

Note: a rut of X doesn't mean the surrounding mountains rise a height of X above the restaurant. Instead, a rut of X means that a restaurant's mountain backdrop is as impressive as a restaurant at the base of a vertical cliff of height X. The less steeply the surrounding mountains rise above the restaurant, the lower the rut.

Also note: rut only considers rise above surroundings (relative height differences and angle of elevation). it does not consider absolute elevation, nor the "aesthetics" of a mountain, nor visibility (or lack thereof) due to weather or smog.

Attributions: Gavin Rehkemper (locations), FABDEM (elevation model), Google Earth Engine (calculations), ESRI (basemap), Kai Xu (rut metric and map)

If you like rut, you'll probably like its older brother jut even more. Jut measures how impressive, spectacular, or badass a mountain is—considering both its height above surroundings and steepness. If you want to find the most impressive mountains near you or worldwide, you may find the link above to be useful.

Let us know if you have any questions or comments—I'm happy to address them!

[huicitawrites]

MAJOR Spoilers for JJK anime watchers and readers that are not up to date with the manga

IMAGINE Sukuna in chapters 212, 213, 214 & 215, but make him a yandere for reader

It’s about damn, fucking time. That Itadori brat has had his use, and at this point he was becoming more of a prison than a vessel. Although dumb, weak and naive, that brat did one thing right only.

He could restrain him.

Every.single.fucking.time.

Sukuna had tried more than a couple of times to catch you off guard. When you turned around, when you were too focused to notice your surroundings, when you stayed over to sleep at the brat’s, when you were too weak and exhausted to fight, or simply anytime Ryomen Sukuna desired.

And each single fucking time, the damn brat stopped him.

But now, now that was a thing of the past. A nuisance he no longer had to deal with. Not as he had the body of Megumi Fushigoro under his control, and with a single punch to the gut that weakling was done with.

Sukuna laughed, his eyes wide and mad, his pupils dilated and his toothy grin wicked.

About. Damn. Fucking. Time.

His four eyes shot towards your shaking form, too horrified and scared by the events that unfolded before your beautiful, [e/c] eyes. Oh, after he fully assembles to this body and commit a rejuvenating mass bloodshed, he will have all the time of the day to look into those gorgeous [e/c] eyes.

He has no shame in admitting he loves it when they are filled with fear, and he wonders, how will it feel when he sees them full of lust? Ooh, it would be a sight to behold.

Right now, as he has you shaking against his abdomen, Sukuna Ryomen is satisfied. This had been a good start for the real good days to come.

“We have sooo much to catch up on, darlin’” He cooed at them in a condescing, sweetly mocking tone, relishing at the thought of making them all his own.

“We’re gonna have all the fun in the word”

a/n: a lil’ drabble of a concept i’ve been building over the past few days, inspired by the latest chapters. I was thinking on doing two yandere sukuna fics under this concept

[toasttt11]

kensington hughes

Kensington Grace Hughes

Number: 3

Class: Freshman

Position: F

Height: 5”5

Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts

S/C: L

NHL: PP

Prev School: USNTPD

NHL

• Selected 2nd overall (first round) by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2023 NHL Draft.

International

• 2024 World Junior Championship - Gold Medal, 11 G, 7 A, 7 GP

• 2023 World World Championship- Bronze Medal, 8 G, 6 A, 7 GP

• 2023 U18 World Championship- Gold Medal, 9 G, 8 A, 7 GP

• 2022 U18 World Championship- Silver Medal, 7 G, 6 A, 6 GP

Freshman Year (2023-24)

•First Year at Boston Collage, 17 G, 11 A, 21 GP

Before Boston Collage

• Played two full seasons with the USNTDP.

• Totaled 215 points (135-80--215) in 126 games with the USNTDP, the most points and goals ever in USNTDP history.

• First on the team in scoring in 2021-22 with 77 G, 40 A for 117 P in 61 games with the U17 and U18 team.

• Scored 110 points (78-40--118) in 63 games with the U18 team in 2022-23, First on the team in scoring.

Personal

• Born July 3, 2005

• Daughter of Jim and Ellen Hughes

• Has three siblings, Quinn, Jack, Luke.

• Intended major is Musical Arts

•Was accepted into Boston College, University of Michigan, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Princeton University, Harvard University, University of Wisconsin.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Completely blown away by this 1880 Victorian in Kalamazoo, MI. It is perfection. 5bds, 3ba, $574,900.

Large entrance hall- the original railings on the stairs are great, but look at those massive newel posts!

Beautiful stained glass in the original double doors.

Cozy sitting room has a beautiful original fireplace and impeccable Victorian reproduction wallpaper.

Large light-filled dining room.

The kitchen reno features high-end cherry wood cabinetry that matches the wood in the rest of the home. This is beautiful.

What a fabulous pantry. Again, the pantry is perfectly preserved. The kitchens are usually messed up, but pantries are almost always intact.

And, look at the storage in here. This home is amazing.

This magnificent reception room is being used as a playroom and home gym, but it's all ready to go b/c it's wallpapered and will make an elegant room.

The 1/2 bath has an original sink. Look at the aged marble.

Even the back porch in this home is pretty. Stained glass windows, original door, it's a very sophisticated mud room.

On the 2nd level there's a large landing and colored glass window in the ceiling. Note the angle of the windows coming up the stairs.

Cute child's room has a country Victorian look.

They aren't using all of the bedrooms as bedrooms, but the wallpaper is up and they can be whatever the new owner needs.

They have this one set up as the primary bedroom.

This is a renovated bath with a wall-sized stained glass window.

I like this more vintage one so much better, though.

The basement is nice and clean, plus all of this looks new.

Here's a nice little workroom.

The former carriage house has been turned into a residence.

Ground floor entrance.

And, the living quarters are upstairs.

It would be cute all decorated.

The bath is pretty roomy.

There's lots of parking behind the house.

And, a small patio on the side.

The lot is .40 acre.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/213-215-Elm-St-Kalamazoo-MI-49007/402161628_zpid/

[paganimagevault]

Symbols of the Xiongnu, Sarmatians, Scythians, and Alans from various branded objects 2nd C. BCE - 2nd C. CE

"Starting in the 1950s, the source base for the study of the branding of cattle has substantially broadened. One of the Sarmatian burials of the lower Don contained a unique instrument for branding an animal (Raev 1979, pp. 207–08, Fig 3.9; Yatsenko 2001, p. 12, Fig. 1.1). A male burial of the last quarter of the 1st century CE not far from the village of Porogi near the Dniester yielded a silver cup with a handle in the form of a horse with brands on the right shoulder and left flank [Figs. 3.1, 6.2]. In this same complex was a gold torque with ends shaped like horse heads. One of the heads has a brand on the cheek (Simonenko and Lobai 1991, Fig. 16.1,2; Simonenko 1991, p. 316, Nos. 154, 157). One should include here a long-known gold bracelet accidentally discovered on the shore of the Bug estuary. Its ends, analogous to those of the torque from Porogi, also are shaped like horse heads, on one of which is a brand (Solomonik 1959, pp. 131–32; Voroniatov 2013, Fig. 1.2). Additional evidence regarding the tradition of branding Sarmatian horses may be found in numerous examples of Roman-period ceremonial horse harness, whose decoration includes Sarmatian tamgas (Voroniatov 2013). S. A. Yatsenko’s idea (2001, p. 13) that details of horse gear can duplicate or imitate a real brand on the body of the horse merits close attention.

As unusual as the buckle from Mongolia is the depiction of a bear on a wooden harp [Fig. 6.3] from the interesting complex of the end of the 1st–beginning of the 2nd centuries CE not far from Olbia (Simonenko 1999, pp. 111–14, Figs. 2, 3; Simonenko 2004, pp. 209– 21, Abb. 7). In toto there are 32 tamgas on the harp, six of which are incised on the figure of the bear. A.V. Simonenko emphasized (1999, p. 112) that the tamgas are placed in the same locations as the signs on the figure of a horse which served as the handle for the silver cup from Porogi [Figs. 3.1, 6.2].

I would propose that the depiction of a branded wild animal (a bear) on Alano-Sarmatian materials is related to the depiction of a fantastic animal with a brand in Xiongnu antiquities. It is possible that the meaning attached to signs specifically on such creatures relates to something other than the pragmatic tradition of branding cattle. This phenomenon, on which I will not dwell in greater detail, requires special study. I would merely note that early medieval depictions of wild animals and mythical creatures with a brand are attested in the territory of Inner Asia and Asia Minor (Boardman 2010, Fig. 19; Samashev and Bazylkhan 2010, p. 311).

In discussing the tradition of branding cattle along the northern Black Sea littoral, E. I. Solomonik (1957, pp. 215–17) provides information about this practice in archaic Greece, a practice which might well also have existed in the Greek Black Sea colonies. Clearly horses and cattle, branded with Sarmatian tamgas and, correspondingly, their depictions appear in the steppes of the northern Black Sea littoral and in the Bosporan region with the arrival of a new wave of nomadic tribes in the first century CE.

The objects examined here in the three categories demonstrate not only the similarity of several types of tamgas of Inner Asia and Sarmatia but also suggest common features of ritual practice among the Xiongnu and the Alano-Sarmatians. All three categories of objects have characteristics which are not merely the inherent qualities found in artefacts of daily life.

The astragalus with a tamga found in the burned layer of the Bosporan fortress of Artezian [Fig. 5.5] also has been interpreted as a cult object (Vinokurov 2007). In addition to the astragalus with a tamga, in the same layer of the Liubimov settlement on the lower Dnieper [Fig. 5.3] was a whetstone inscribed with three tamgas. Scholars have attributed a cultic and magic purpose to unusual whetstones of the Scytho-Sarmatian period and specifically to whetstones with tamgas (Griaznov 1961; Anikeeva and Iablonskii 2012, p. 52; Voroniatov 2012)."

-Sergey V. Voroniatov, State Hermitage Museum - Connections between Central Asia and the Northern Littoral of the Black Sea: Evidence from objects with tamgas.