#i didn't add links because it was taking too long to compile all this lol

[acaplaya-musings]

VoicePlay Visuals - what I got wrong (and other cool BTS stuff) (part 1/3)

So for those of you who still are unaware, I'm currently a member of VoicePlay's Patreon (and Geoff's too) (just for a few months), and I've been having an absolutely great time so far, especially in now having access to Behind-The-Scenes (BTS) content of each of VoicePlay's videos!

However, as I was whizzing through the BTS stuff, I was thinking about my VoicePlay Visuals posts, and about some things I said that weren't entirely true - whether I said something I believed to be correct that wasn't, or whether I simply made a wrong guess. I wanted to share my newfound knowledge with all of you (which is fine btw, people share this sorta stuff in the comments section of reaction videos all the time), but I didn't want to go back and edit a bunch of posts or reblog a bunch of them to add addendums, so I thought I'd do a sort of "addendum compilation" instead! (In three parts, just to keep these not too long). I'll also share some stuff where my guess was right, and additional interesting things I didn't originally know/notice. And you don't have to read a bunch of my previous VoicePlay Visuals posts before reading this (and I won't be mentioning every single post/video anyway), but if you wanna find the original posts I refer to, they're linked in each title.

Part 1 below the cut!

This Is Halloween: "I don't really have anything to say about J's full transformation, but it would be unfair of me to not include him as well, and it's definitely a very impressive costume. Almost like one of those rubbery fully-covering-the-head costume mask things, but like it's his actual face?" - I was pretty close! For the "full Wolfman" look, J was wearing a special prostethic face/mask thing, specially sculpted to fit his face, with just his mouth/chin area left uncovered! - Additionally, Eli's fake chin prostethic thing actually also goes up and over his cheeks, making them look puffier and making them look puffier and "blending" it all together more effectively. - And bonus fun fact: It was apparently Earl who carved all those pumpkins, except for like one that was done by Geoff 😁

Bang!: - Found out what leopard-print article of clothing Layne was wearing! His belt is leopard-print, apparently! (Okay, I can't actually take credit for this one, someone in the comments of the BTS pointed it out and I took their word for it as I forgot to look myself, lol) - The place they filmed the video really did have all those cool backdrops, and so many more, split between two large rooms! - J was the one who got to throw the giant rubber duck at Layne 😝

Butter: "Geoff is looking at his phone, Layne is taking selfies on his phone!" - Not quite! They were both filming! (At one point in the video anyway). The footage they took got included in the BTS video, it's great 👌 - Also the reason the height difference between Layne and Eli in the group shots doesn't look quite as stark as in something like the Wicked Medley is because here Eli was standing on a short wooden box or something like that, not even kidding 😂

Halo Theme: "Those shoes are definitely cool. Who was wearing them, I wonder?" - It was Scott! - Also when that blue pulsating light thing landed on Scott's shoulder in the video (the "red team! blue team!" bit), there was actually a blue light being shone on him from the side to get the proper lighting effect. - (Also did you know that Rek Dunn (whom the video is dedicated to) used to help film some of the BTS content? I realised when I was watching the BTS for the Panic Medley that he was the one holding the camera and talking to the guys for some of the clips)

Wicked Medley: "Love the giant clock backdrop, very cool" - Yeah, turns out the whole background is one giant flat backdrop, and it took like 4 hours to full set up! Man!

"I adore Emoni and Rachel's makeup looks in this one." - The makeup looks even better in natural light! - All VoicePlay videos are filmed after the audio of the covers has been fully recorded/completed, obviously, duh. Often the vocallists will be properly singing at least some of their parts during videoshoots, but the audio all gets dubbed over for the final product. Rachel was purely lip-syncing in this video, because she had lost her voice! Thankfully/obviously it happened after she had finished recording her vocals, but she still did a great job of making it look "realistic" in the actual video.

The Dragonborn Comes: "Apparently what Cesar is wearing is like legit chainmail or something and was fairly heavy. Go big or go home I guess?" - Yep, it weighed 20 pounds apparently (approximately 9 kilograms). In between takes, Cesar would often just lie down on the floor on his back to try and rest/not have to feel so much of the weight, rip - The metal-looking gloves were real as well - they came coated in some sort of anti-rust oil that had to be wiped off prior to filming - And yeah Layne's hair really was a vibrant blue - I'm guessing Rick did it with coloured hairspray or something.

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3

[senilthesynth]

Controls Systems Suck

This is just a compilation of a very long thread I made on Mastodon so I can share this better. For more context, this is all in reference to my replies to Soatok's ongoing responses to the Matrix dev team re: Soatok's responsible disclosure of security flaws. The TL;DR is Matrix was using an educational implementation of a thing, that explicitly said to not use it in production, and didn't do anything about that for seven years until Soatok found it. Here's a link to my first of the reply chain directly talking about that here: https://furry.engineer/@senil888/112964632462775370

This is why I think the way I do, and why I ultimately distrust the Matrix team and will distrust anyone who behaves similarly. This is 100% copy-paste from my long thread, so it's clunky.

Someone remind me tomorrow morning to talk about the dam project I worked on so I can discuss some of the bullshit that happened there that we could never test in the office, but why what we were able to test still let everything surrounding the bullshit run smoothly enough. Because oh boy there is a lot to talk about. The field I work in leads to all sorts of weird shit that you will never expect until you go on site. I'm kind of surprised some if it worked as well as it did.

never mind I can't fall asleep so you're getting some of it now.

so. The main project I had with my (now former) company in my short time there was for a hydro dam up in the Idaho panhandle. Literally in "Boundary County" lol. That's not important though.

What is important is that this hydro dam - a small one, maybe outputs 4 megawatts during peak spring runoff - helps power the nearby towns via the city-run utility. While it's not the end of the world for the dam to be offline, them being offline means the utility has to buy even more power than if it was running.

Which costs the city a fair bit more money than running the dam themselves, because you have the power generation places that need their money to run their facilities, the transmission companies that need to fund their projects...

So, it's pretty important to help them get back on their feet. And we had a big task - we were to replace their old Allen-Bradley PLCs with our own, and toss in a SCADA system too.

The SCADA system is fairly straightforward when it comes to data inputs - I could just take the data, label it, maybe do some conversions as-needed, and toss it up the chain. For this system, it went generator-connected PLCs to a beefier PLC running more sophisticated software as well as a basic HMI, up to the control house computer that ran a Zenon HMI we developed as well.

The hard part comes in when we actually add in the controls. Which is, y'know, important since we're replacing everything their old PLCs did with our own system and solution. Which meant we needed reference code, since the customer knows their system the best (mostly, we talked with the operators who knew how to run the thing, but didn't 100% know the backbones).

What we got? Was in ladder logic. Which looks very different to structured text, aka what you think of when I say "what does a programming language look like typed out?" So... not only did we need to re-create that, we had to "translate" it into ST as well. Fun!

This is where the controls joy comes in. Each PLC acts mostly the same when it comes to general operations. These outputs are for lights, this output needs to do this thing and get this signal for some time back before another thing can even think about asserting, etc.

Spinning up a hydro generator takes a decent bit of time. Not forever mind you, but there's a lot of steps involved. First you need to get water to, y'know, the thing itself. But you can't just send water straight from the turbine inlet valve (TIV) to the turbines. You need to balance the water pressures between everything because if you don't? Congratulations you just broke the turbine and this generator has to be rebuilt.

Once the TIV bypass does its thing for a while, we can actually open the TIV and start to send water to the turbine. Once water is getting to the turbine, we open up the wicket gates which actually finally let water to the turbines. They're controllable, so we can define exactly how much water gets to flow.

Then it's the usual generator stuff. Get the thing up to speed and, once it's up to speed and stays there for a little while, ya gotta sync the generator phases and frequency to the grid phases and frequency. If the phase angles are off too much, you end up kicking the generator forwards or backwards when the breaker closes to the grid.

That can be... you know... a little violent. So we need that to be as precise as possible, and to close as soon as we're confident it'll safely kick in without breaking anything. So that's the gist of the start-up sequence at the dam. However.

There's a bit of a fail over system with the Zenon HMI. See, the two powerhouse PLCs gather all available data in this system as a form of redundancy. This is fine when it comes to inputs, but again we run into problems with outputs. Zenon can only fully connect with one of the PLCs at a time.

Unfortunately... it's possible for a switchover between the powerhouse PLCs to happen when an operator is trying to send a command.

The absolute last thing we need is for a command to be sent twice during this switchover, because data might not be 100% shared between the two. Some data does only go to one of the powerhouse PLCs, which means the other one is totally clueless as to what that device is up.

Our first main problem was fixing this control switchover problem, brought upon the very nature of our design scheme and how Zenon works (which I think they've fixed but I never worked on Zenon myself). Again, we have to account for every possible problem which means figuring out how to make sure a command sent from Zenon "syncs" between devices, since Zenon also controls analog outputs as well. Digitals are fine and easy, but analogs have to be preserved.

I had set up a... bit of a clunky solution, but ultimately it worked and kept that data in sync. One major problem resolved. Of course, this is the real world still, so a problem came up again. There wasn't anything we could do, but our system working as it should let us test it.

What ended up happening was one generator - which was being rebuilt and some different sensors were added - wouldn't report how far the wicket gates were open. This is obviously bad, because now we have no idea if those things are opened, and we can't act on it anymore.

The sensor was a hall effect one, made of steel. There is a window above it. This is a dam, close to the river and a waterfall. I hope you can guess what the problem is. Hint, it involves steel not liking moisture. We cleaned out a COPIOUS amount of rust, and hey look the sensor was finally working again, we got wicket gate data. So we could finally spin up this generator. Which we were able to do...

Except, y'know. Problem time. The generator was vibrating, and vibrating a LOT. Consistently. Every time it started up, a piece of logic I had adapted would run through and trigger an emergency stop. It basically monitoring vibration data, and if ANY input measured over some threshold for more than a few seconds? E-stop time.

So something is still wrong with this generator. We trust the sensors since we're getting good data as the generator spins up, it just... shakes too much. We actually temporarily disabled the logic that trips the generator to monitor its behavior if it didn't e-stop in time.

It kept vibrating, more and more. It would probably shake itself apart if you let it keep going. It also did it consistently, and it was one bearing's sensor that was consistently tripping. (aside: that bearing had also seized up TWICE during prior trips to commission this generator. It also did it again after we left the site)

The only reason we were able to check this case is because what I had written worked and we knew it worked. In part because that same logic was on three other generators, but we were able to accidentally prove that hey, if this happens it'll work.

It turned out the people rebuilding the generator didn't balance the flywheel when they fixed the bearing before, so oops! You can't spin that thing up just yet.

Imagine how bad this whole thing could've been if we weren't as rigorous as we were. Generators could've broken apart. People could've been hurt. Expensive equipment could've gotten seriously damaged. Hell, it might not even have started up because of how much other equipment we had to interface with that we couldn't investigate ourselves.

That client trusted us to get their dam up and running with new hardware that would treat them well for many years to come, and to build a partnership with a firm they could trust. In the end, we delivered and they're supposedly working on more (smaller) projects with them.

I don't know the specifics, but BECAUSE we were persistent in making sure every edge case we could think of was resolved, and fixing everything in real-time as problems came up (and making sure our fixes wouldn't introduce NEW problems)... we were able to tell them "you can trust us." Because ultimately, "n one is obligated to buy from you. You can go out of business tomorrow if everyone decides to never work with you."

It's largely because of my experience with the hydro project that I just can't trust companies, projects, and teams that hide vulnerabilities and failure points and hope nobody finds them. It makes me question how many they actually have hidden when someone does find one.

How many defects does their thing have, if some of the most obvious ones are let through? If this obvious error got through their QA checks, what else is lying under the hood that we don't know about yet? Can I trust this system to be robust enough in the event of a catastrophic failure?

I know cryptography and E2EE in particular aren't remotely comparable to what I've worked on... but what I've worked on is super important. Lives are at stake with these projects. I need to be confident that what I do isn't going to hurt people. Isn't going to break equipment. Isn't going to fail in two years because of an oversight.

I need projects in critical fields that take themselves seriously to ACT like lives are at stake, because maybe some are.

I know this is a giant thread that I'll probably compress into a tumblr post so it's easier to share, but I just. Need to finish with a final thought.

I know lives aren't at stake in a lot of places. But if you're taking yourself seriously, in something as important as cryptography, something that is increasingly important every single day in every field - critical infrastructure included - you need to act like lives are at stake if you fuck up.

I know some of this shit is just a chat protocol, "why are you so pressed" blah blah blah. A lot of people herald E2EE services as a secure way to also talk about protests and labor organization without significant risk of getting caught. Of course, if you don't regularly use E2EE normally the fact you use it might implicate you.

When it comes to organizing? If a court requests data from some service, as little data as possible should be sent out. Because people get jailed or imprisoned for organizing. Those lives are on the line if your system isn't up to snuff.

This isn't to say "just pick any E2EE service it's fine" because it's not fine to do that. People need a service they can trust, that's reliable, that takes security seriously and does everything in their power to make sure what they do is as secure as possible. From what they know is a fail point, and what they later find out is a new possible fail point.

People need services they can trust that has their best interests in mind. Clients need businesses they can trust that can hold up their end of the contract and deliver a quality solution that fits their client's needs.

Why should anything like this be any different?

EDIT: I wanted to add something else I added.

People die when we fuck up in this industry. We can't allow that to happen, ever. Our trust is built upon proving a track record of quality work done timely. Work that stands the test of time as systems operate. I know a lot of shit is nothing compared to critical infrastructure, but I wish more folks took it remotely as seriously as people in my industry have to. Because if we fuck up, people get hurt. People lose power. Facilities get damaged. Industry stops.

Everything today revolves around power. If the power goes out... so does everything else.

[violetstar-writes]

My Music Playlist for the Yakuza AU/Dark Sora AU

Because why not lol

Check it out under the “Read More”!

Yakuza AU/”Reality Shift”:

 Reign - Yakuza 0 OST

Judgement -Yakuza 0 OST

Two Dragons - Yakuza 0 OST

Baka Mitai - Yakuza 0 OST

Pledge Of Demon - Yakuza 0 OST

Heartbreak Mermaid - Yakuza 0 OST

I’m Gonna Make Her Mine - Yakuza 0 OST

Makoto’s Theme - Yakuza 0 OST

Sora - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

Riku - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

Kairi - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

Roxas - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

Ventus - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

Namine - Kingdom Hearts Chain Of Memories - OST

The Other Promise - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

The Other Promise/Vector To The Heavens - Kingdom Hearts 3 OST

Enter The Darkness - Kingdom Hearts BBS OST

The Dread Of Night - Kingdom Hearts DDD OST

Distant From You... - Kingdom Hearts DDD OST

Xigbar - Kingdom Hearts DDD OST

Sacred Distance - Kingdom Hearts DDD OST

Thirteenth Discretion - Kingdom Hearts Chain Of Memories OST

Tension Rising - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

Wave Of Darkness - Kingdom Hearts 0.2/Fragmentary Passage OST

L’Oscurita D’ignoto - Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance OST

Missing You - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

The Foretellers/Scala Ad Caelum - Kingdom Hearts 3/Back Cover OST

Organization XIII - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

Black Powder - Kingdom Hearts BBS OST

Lazy Afternoons - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

Everything Stays - Adventure Time OST

No Sleeep - Janet Jackson 

Escapism - Steven Universe OST

Snake Eater - Metal Gear Solid 3 OST

Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

Dark/Blight Sora:

Hunter Of The Dark - Kingdom Hearts 0.2/BBS OST

Wave Of Darkness - Kingdom Hearts 0.2 OST

Night In The Dark Dream - Kingdom Hearts 0.2/BBS OST

Castle Oblivion - Kingdom Hearts Chain Of Memories OST

Destiny Islands - Kingdom Hearts Chain Of Memories OST

L’Oscurita dell’Ignoto - Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance OST

The Foretellers/Scala Ad Caelum - Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance OST

Destati - Kingdom Hearts/Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

Night Of Fate - Kingdom Hearts OST

Disquieting - Kingdom Hearts Chain Of Memories OST

Mirror Aqua - Kingdom Hearts 0.2/Fragmentary Passage OST

L’Impeto Oscuro - Kingdom Hearts DDD OST

Keyblade Graveyard - Kingdom Hearts BBS/3 OST

Creep - Deadma5

Sora - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

Kairi III - Kingdom Hearts OST

Riku - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

Roxas - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

Ventus - Kingdom Hearts 2/3 OST

Don’t Think Twice - Kingdom Hearts 3 OST/Utada Hikaru

Sanctuary - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

No Sleep - Janet Jackson (Karma Fields Remix)

I Remember - Deadma5

Here Comes A Thought - Steven Universe OST

Everything Stays - Adventure Time OST

Time Adventure - Adventure Time OST

My Heart’s Descent - Kingdom Hearts DDD OST

Rinzler Recompiled - Kingdom Hearts DDD OST

Missing You - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

Link To All - Kingdom Hearts DDD OST

Tears Of Light - Kingdom Hearts BBS/DDD OST

Sacred Moon - Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days/Kingdom Hearts 2 OST

The Eye Of Darkness - Kingdom Hearts DDD OST