#i go into extensive explanation mode

[sirlancenotalot]

[all-the-fish]

Oh, you know, just the usual internet browsing experience in the year of 2024

Some links and explanations since I figured it might be useful to some people, and writing down stuff is nice.

First of all, get Firefox. Yes, it has apps for Android/iOS too. It allows more extensions and customization (except the iOS version), it tracks less, the company has a less shitty attitude about things. Currently all the other alternatives are variations of Chromium, which means no matter how degoogled they supposedly are, Google has almost a monopoly on web browsing and that's not great. Basically they can introduce extremely user unfriendly updates and there's nothing forcing them to not do it, and nowhere for people to escape to. Current examples of their suggested updates are disabling/severly limiting adblocks in June 2024, and this great suggestion to force sites to verify "web environment integrity" ("oh you don't run a version of chromium we approve, such as the one that runs working adblocks? no web for you.").

uBlockOrigin - barely needs any explanation but yes, it works. You can whitelist whatever you want to support through displaying ads. You can also easily "adblock" site elements that annoy you. "Please log in" notice that won't go away? Important news tm sidebar that gives you sensory overload? Bye.

Dark Reader - a site you use has no dark mode? Now it has. Fairly customizable, also has some basic options for visually impaired people.

SponsorBlock for YouTube - highlights/skips (you choose) sponsored bits in the videos based on user submissions, and a few other things people often skip ("pls like and subscribe!"). A bit more controversial than normal adblock since the creators get some decent money from this, but also a lot of the big sponsors are kinda scummy and offer inferior product for superior price (or try to sell you a star jpg land ownership in Scotland to become a lord), so hearing an ad for that for the 20th time is kinda annoying. But also some creators make their sponsored segments hilarious.

Privacy Badger (and Ghostery I suppose) - I'm not actually sure how needed these are with uBlock and Firefox set to block any tracking it can, but that's basically what it does. Find someone more educated on this topic than me for more info.

Https Everywhere - I... can't actually find the extension anymore, also Firefox has this as an option in its settings now, so this is probably obsolete, whoops.

Facebook Container - also comes with Firefox by default I think. Keeps FB from snooping around outside of FB. It does that a lot, even if you don't have an account.

WebP / Avif image converter - have you ever saved an image and then discovered you can't view it, because it's WebP/Avif? You can now save it as a jpg.

YouTube Search Fixer - have you noticed that youtube search has been even worse than usual lately, with inserting all those unrelated videos into your search results? This fixes that. Also has an option to force shorts to play in the normal video window.

Consent-O-Matic - automatically rejects cookies/gdpr consent forms. While automated, you might still get a second or two of flashing popups being yeeted.

XKit Rewritten - current most up to date "variation "fork" of XKit I think? Has settings in extension settings instead of an extra tumblr button. As long as you get over the new dash layout current tumblr is kinda fine tbh, so this isn't as important as in the past, but still nice. I mostly use it to hide some visual bloat and mark posts on the dash I've already seen.

YouTube NonStop - do you want to punch youtube every time it pauses a video to check if you're still there? This saves your fists.

uBlacklist - blacklists sites from your search results. Obviously has a lot of different uses, but I use it to hide ai generated stuff from image search results. Here's a site list for that.

Redirect AMP to HTML - redirects links from their amp version to the normal version. Amp link is a version of a site made faster and more accessible for phones by Bing/Google. Good in theory, but lets search engines prefer some pages to others (that don't have an amp version), and afaik takes traffic from the original page too. Here's some more reading about why it's an issue, I don't think I can make a good tl;dr on this.

Also since I used this in the tags, here's some reading about enshittification and why the current mainstream internet/services kinda suck.

[literallys-illiteracy]

Project Moon 8'th anniversary stream overview:

Cut for spoilers

God fucking bless this company, "nervous, one minute *clears throat*"

//as per last time, i will have some thoughts on each section which will be elaborated on in a marked subsection of each area, primarily it will be an overview and analysis of the content shown

Note at the start "This may be a long stream".

Revealed timeline.

Year in Review:

(Graph 1, Pictured, Monthly average players this year)

(Graph 2, Pictured: Daily Active Users)

New ID and EGO extraction:

Devyat association Sinclair (seen in a prior teaser) and Asymmetrical Inertia He EGO Heathcliff.

Sinclair 000 ID:

Likely a rupture ID similar to Rodion's Devyat.

This ID appears to use the same Courier system that Rodion used as well, being able to retreat from battle.

Skill 1 appears to be 2 Blunt coins. Skill(s) 2,3, and 4 seem to each be 3 Blunt coins.

Rather than a skill 4 it seems to be just an empowered skill 3 however, without the coin reuse at all.

It will be interesting to see if this ID can stand to beat Talisman Sinclair's bench passive slot.

Heathcliff He EGO:

Likely a tremor EGO due to its seeming relation to the "bell of truth" abnormality named Clockwork-Time Roly Poly in Mirror Dungeon.

Both the corrosion and awakening appear to be blunt damage EGO with either 1 or 2 coins, however there is a chance for a coin reuse system on the awakening due to the repeated animation before the final strike.

If this EGO is in line with the Roly-Poly, it will likely relate to fragile somehow, and may introduce a new tremor type, or reintroduce Tremor-Fracture to relate its Fragility concept.

Mirror Dungeon 5: Mirror of the Dreaming:

It is noted that this Mirror Dungeon changes are going to be long in explanation and extensive.

Party revive is noted, alongside "Combat changes" likely to include the new Chain Battle system, and abnormalities/EGO that are designed to use said system such as the Devyat ID and latest Fell Bullet EGO.

New EGO gifts, Choice Events, and Theme Packs. This confirms the return of the mirror dungeon floor pack system, allowing us to complain about getting the bosses we chose to fight.

The "new choice events" is likely referring to those that appeared in both Canto 7 and RR4, being "Dreaming Electric Sheep (which likely will be the source of Imitative Generator)", Portrait of a Certain Day, King in Binds, 400 Roses, Rose Hunter, and Hurting Teddy Bear.

There are changes to the pack system, allowing us to change between the hard and normal packs in the selection menu as shown, also i checked the EGO gifts shown in the image, they're all ones we've seen before.

Within Hard mirror dungeons, you have a selection choice between 4 EGO gifts, and the ability to select 2 of them, alongside both their associated Mounting Trials

In this hard pack, a "special shop" is able to spawn.

Within normal difficulty dungeons, the final floor is moved to the 5th rather than the 4th as is current, similar to how current Hard dungeons work.

Shops and rest stops are now one in the same it appears (once again, no new EGO gifts shown).

The aforementioned "Special Shop" that appears within hard packs.

This allows to swap out more skills, it will contain more EGO gifts, and will be able to fuze up to 5 EGO gifts together at once, which likely is due to the increased number of gifts that will be received specifically at floor end.

Duplicates of EGO gifts, they do not apply stacking bonuses, but rather are able to be fused.

When revived, sinners will have their SP set to zero, however all other sinner's SP will remain the same on floor start.

More abnormality battles will be present, and upon winning battles against said abnormalities (boss fight abnormalities encountered in elite or normal encounters), one will receive the EGO gifts related to the abnormality, as if they completed the fight through an encounter.

Hard mode fog of war changes, allowing you to see 2 nodes ahead rather than the current one.

EGO gifts are planned, for the aforementioned abnormalities most likely, and several that are unrelated or completely new.

In both images, fusion "tree's" are mentioned, with fusion gifts that are able to be fused (currently impossible as tier 4 gifts may not be fused), where new and weaker EGO fusions are added, which may be fused into double fusion, or fusion^2 EGO gifts.

Next Week, 28th of November.

5th of December.

some point this season, we will be able to gain achievements, and challenge the dungeon past floor 5 without the rewards, as an added Roguelike challenge mode.

Monthly ID rotation, reoccurring missions, and Quality of Life UI improvements such as a clear timer.

There are plans to release this in stages, as:

which is the reasoning behind the weekly additions that are listed above, which allows for Consistent quality assurance and constant content rather than a large release and a dead period.

Seasonal ID:

The Manager of La ManchaLand Don Quixote:

actively making use of the bloodfeast keyword, akin to the other bloodfiend ID's

This ID's kit will vary depending on the present allies, specifically changing when other La Mancha Land ID's are present.

Specifically, skill 1 is the Priest, skill 2 the Barber, and Skill 3 The Princess.

This ID's skills will be adaptive to multiple situations alongside their defensive skill,.

The defence skill was not shown, however, i believe that this ID's skills will be Slash, Slash, and Pierce respectively.

Wealth and Fame:

"We will need to increase our revenue to make the following a reality: add more enjoyable functions and high fidelity cutscenes; To Begin Production on a new game; or to release animations (Advertisements, previews, Short episodes, full length movies, and/or anime)

Sinner Target Extraction Changes:

Sinner Target extractions will now feature event extraction ID's and EGO from the preceding season, not including those obtained through the event itself such as Chef Gregor, or Multicrack Heathcliff.

In the future, target extractions may have association or syndicate themes, such as a blade lineage themed extraction

Returning Intervallo's with Voices:

Most intervallo in the game are unvoiced, this was due to the ease in creation and flexibility that it allowed them to create and release, with less strain caused by alterations and adjustments within the dialogue.

Adding voices to these intervallo in post is fareaser as the dialogue is already set in stone, which means that there is no worry of future alterations.

These intervallo will be returning with higher level in a "hard mode", each featuring 2 EGO relating to the intervallo's theme.

Why EGO? the sinners tend to receive id's of increasingly powerful characters and LCB's story progresses, releasing ID's for intervallo returns means that they may be, story and lore wise, held back by the strengths of the characters present in past intervallo. However, EGO are free from these concerns, which makes us believe that they are a better choice for the intervallo returns. This does not rule out the release of ID for intervallo reruns, if there is a valid inspiration an ID may be released, however it will primarally be EGO. When an intervallo is voiced, characters will be featured as paid announcers such as the Gnomes, Jun, and Aeng Du.

(Paraphrased) (quoted because Tumblr decided i couldn't have images)

Announcers will be extractable from Ideality (yisang) and from standard extractions, {green marker}: More Money For Anime

Ideally they will also be adding voice acting to the mini episodes between both intervallo and canto's.

5th Walpurgisnacht:

Library of Ruina theme.

2 Full Stop Office Fixers, Hong Lou Liwei and Gregor Stephan (or so appears).

Der Freischütz EGO, sinner unknown, likely Heathcliff due to his being the only Sinner yet to receive a Walpurgisnacht release, and his lack of inclusion in the aforementioned ID.

Intervallo 7.5 1:

Regular Check Up:

episode about health checkups for sunners, specifically their mental corrosion and distortions(?).

This will take place in T Corp.

Refraction Railway Line 5, The Merry Go Round:

As of now there are no definitive gimmicks for this event, however it will cycle similar to RR2.

Yield My Flesh to Claim Their Bones Rerun:

Intervallo 2: Nocturnal Sweeping:

Ill give you two guesses what SWEEPING is going to be about, especially a NIGHT in the BACKSTREETS

Canto 8: The Surrendered Witnessing:

Hong Lou Canto.

Ill let @lu-is-not-ok pick this apart, as they are far better at Hong Lou analysis than i am, as it has been aeons since i read Hong Lou Meng and i don't plan to re-read it any time soon.

Mili Asia concert tour:

this year was delayed due to Cassie's delivery, the current goal is for the concert to be held during the 9th anniversary sometime around the 18th of November 2025.

live tickets will be sold separately for Korea and Japan.

Concert will only feature Mili songs from the Project Moon games.

Starting in Korea, and ending in Japan.

Collaboration:

(Slow, manual movement of powerpoint to the centre of screen while the vtuber model dissapears)

Arknights Collaboration video plays.

(re aligning of the presentation while talking)

"We were invited into Hypergryph headquarters, exchanged merchandise of our games and had a fruitful discussion"

KJH's signed Lappland poster.

4 sinners will be receiving crossover content.

Though it is too early for a full on reveal, the sinners who are getting said EGO have been revealed.

Faust, Hong Lou, Ishmael and Gregor.

We do not currently know who each sinner will be paired with for this collaboration, however if i were to wager it would be Kal'tsit for Faust, and potentially texas for Ishmael (they're both stoic lesbians i think it works).

Reimagined outfits and combat skills will be used as inspiration for the EGO skills. Why EGO skills? see above rendition of this same question. ID's are representative of the power that a certain character may hold, which would alter perceptions of the ID.

One (1) operator from arknights will be featured as a (presumably Paid (more money for the anime)) announcer for the game

Long Term R&D Goals:

ID Skin functionality: Akin to layered armour, using growth materials (shards n threads) to use one ID's animations and moveset layered on top of another's.

EG. Barber Outis appearing as Magic Bullet, and that (the Yi Sang) is a skin and not an ID being San from the Streetlight Office in Library of Ruina, which is not going to be released as an ID, but only a visual.

They are learning how to monetise this game it seems.

However, this is a long term goal, as each ID has different cinematics, effects, and coin counts on each skill, such as altered effects due to charge.

HHPP Store expansion:

Enhance Immersion by making use of panoramic projection.

the physical store is being expanded, separated into different areas, the cafe, a Ruina themed section, followed by a section representing each Canto of Limbus Company.

2024 AGF (anime games festival):

merchandise being sold:

ID acrylic cards

Limbus Company zip-up Hoodie and attachable patches. note that these hoodies are the same in design as to those worn by the sinners in the Intervallo 1 teaser Image.

Employee ID card and casing. Employee cards for each sinner excluding dante.

W corp Cap (like the ones worn by the ID's, Outis, Don, Faust, Meur, Etc.)

2025 EGO callender.

Paper bag

EGO can badges, including: Sunshower Yi sang, Everlasting Faust, Lesbian Don Quixote, "Contempt, Awe" Ryoshu, Yearning-Mircalla Meursault, Cavernous Wailing Hong Lou, Fell Bullet Heathcliff, Blind Obsession Ishmael, Hex Nail Rodion and Sinclair, Sunshower Outis, and Solemn Lament Gregor.

The Director will have an autograph signing at saturday and sunday from 4-6pm.

HHPP Popup Cafe:

In Busan there will be a popup cafe of HHPP selling several popular dishes.

There are currently conversations being had with other pop up retail booths and locations, namely PAX west 2025.

The merchandise sold at the AGF will later be sold at the popup cafe's, and then later at the main HHPP itself.

In Game rewards:

*director clears his breath*

1300 Lunacy and a 10 pull dextraction ticket.

Thanks You for watching.

Also Thank you for reading this~

[skyward-floored]

Of course I'd love to hear more about Courage of Ages! How do the Links meet? Which Links meet and what're they like in your story?

Aaah yes of course!! I’ll start with the how they all get stuck together:

This was all thought up before totk was anything more than singular teaser trailer so it likely doesn’t fit in with all of that, but it all starts with the Yiga. After the events of botw they’re believed to be mostly just a group of stragglers, and not much of a threat in anyone’s eyes. But they’re actually just underground, united by a new leader who wants revenge.

Link killed both their old leader and the calamity, and the Yiga want to take him out more than anything. But this new leader is smarter than Master Kohga was, and even more ambitious, and after finding some old records, has the brilliant idea that instead of taking out just this Link, they’ll take out every Link all across history.

It’ll be revenge for the countless times the hero defeated the one they worship and serve, his continued defense of the princess and protection of the land. All the Yiga need is a way to do this, and after a long and extensive search, the clan finally locates the Harp of Ages.

Which, combined with the spell they use to track Link, are going to use to forcibly bring all the heroes of courage throughout history to their time, then wipe them out all in one blow in honor and revenge for their old master and the Calamity. (Maybe even a sacrifice of that magnitude could bring him back!!)

...Problem is, the yiga kinda suck at figuring out how the harp works, and making it and their spell work together.

So instead of just bringing in all the Links in one go, the heroes are being yanked around to different times, pulled to each other like magnets, trying to figure out what’s going on and also Not Die. There are a few smaller Link groups that get formed before they all wind up together (...and then get snapped apart again), and those are the main dynamics that get formed. But they switch around a fair amount.

As for which Links? ...Pretty much all of the game ones haha. I have 13, or 14 I think? I wanted to play with a big group, and add in some Links that aren’t always in this kind of au.

Here’s a list of them all and some stuff about them :)

...

Cloud is skyward sword Link, he’s generally pretty chill and nice, but is really really annoyed he got dragged on this quest. He was in the middle of his honeymoon for Hylia’s sake. Has some white streaks in his hair from Demise’s lightning, the others say it’s because he’s old and refuse to drop it even after hearing the correct explanation.

Mini is minish cap Link, he’s the youngest out of everyone here. Gives off big innocent vibes, but he’s as fierce as anyone else in the group. Really nice and sweet, it’s surprising to everyone how good of a fighter he is. Doesn’t care too much about being seen as a kid, so long as it doesn’t cause any problems...

Kaleidoscope (Kal) is four swords Link, he’s one of the quietest of the group. He suffers some weird effects from using the four sword on his adventure, where his brain gets confused and thinks it’s running around in multiple bodies again. It usually doesn’t cause any issues. Usually. Also really good at sewing, which comes in handy quite a lot.

Sprite is ocarina of time/majora’s mask Link, and he is not happy to be here. He’s in the 12-13 range and it’s rather obvious. He thought he was done with time travel ever since that dumb war (hw) he got sucked into, and he doesn’t want to be here. At all. Especially since it seems like (at first) the one Link he wants to see again isn’t even here.

Gloam is twilight princess Link, he was the first Link to be sucked into this. Affectionately refers to anyone younger than him as puppy (which is most of the group), and sometimes has trouble not being in constant big-brother mode. Has a strange sadness about him sometimes. Worries a fair amount. Can also turn into a wolf, and while doesn’t stress about keeping it secret, he also doesn’t come out and just tell everyone. This gets confusing.

Light is four sword adventures Link, he’s a slight mix of the game and manga. He’s got a quick tongue and is seen as one of the more annoying of the group, but he’s determined to stop this threat, and one of the few actually good at working on a team. Also suffers some strange effects from the four sword, though his are more emotion-based than Kal’s. Sometimes his shadow looks weird.

Windy is windwaker/phantom hourglass Link, and he’s kind of just rolling with all of this. He already got plunked into an alternate world one time, this is kinda like that. Makes fast friends with pretty much all the others, especially Light (they’re besties lol), and can usually keep his big-brothering to a manageable level. Really good at navigation.

Spirit (Dove) is spirit tracks Link, and he’s... kind of freaked out by all of this. Yeah he can fight pretty well, but trains are really more of his thing and it’s kind of overwhelming getting yanked around through time like this especially since that one guy is the Hero of Winds what— Can also see ghosts, which is... interesting.

Hibiscus (Hib) is a Link to the past/oracle of seasons/ages/Link’s Awakening Link, and is the most experienced person here. He’s the unofficial medic, has a pretty good guess as to how they’re all being pulled through time, is very sensitive to magical changes, keeps a level head, and... kind of never got over Koholint. Looking at him you’d never guess, though. He’s made some incremental progress in that regard, but it’s also pretty hard for him to be around Cloud, who talks about his Zelda a lot. He also gets time-travel sick. Lucky him.

Hue is a link between worlds/tri force heroes Link, and has an outfit for every occasion. Seriously. He’s learning how to be a blacksmith, but he wants to go into enchanted jewelry and other stuff like that someday. Magical items fascinate him, and though he sometimes focuses more on outward appearances then he should, he’s a nice guy. Even if the green hair streaks are a bit weird.

Brownie is the original legend of Zelda/the adventure of Link Link, and he’s just. Really stressed. He went from being hunted by one cult to another, and being in such a large noisy group puts him seriously on-edge. The most skilled with magic out of their group. He tends to keep to himself, but he gravitates towards the other more quiet Links, like Kaleidoscope.

Era is hyrule warriors Link, and due to all of his time shenanigans, he doesn’t join until a bit after everyone else. The oldest of the group, and visibly stressed by the fact that there’s only a handful of adults and he’s one of them. Was really close with Sprite in the war, it was terrible for both of them when it ended. Is also in a bit of a tricky political situation when he gets pulled away, one he really didn’t want to leave in the middle of.

First is the link from the manga in the back of the Hyrule historia (with some tweaks). He is a ghost. He doesn’t know how or why he’s here. Only Spirit and Gloam even know he’s here, they’re the only two who can see him (...that they know of, and Gloam can only do it as a wolf). He can’t physically interact with barely anything, and watching all of this go down is extremely stressful. He wishes he could help.

And Slate is breath of the wild Link, and he’s convinced that this is all his fault. He’s the entire reason the Yiga are screwing with time and dragging all these heroes here (...heroes who didn’t fail...) and he’s desperate to stop them. Aside from the guilt dragging him down, he’s one of the more upbeat Links. He’s the unofficial cook, is often humming something to himself, and is the best archer by a long shot.

[justdrawlynn11]

So in the Sonic underground au how does being roboticized work with them already being robots? (Side note I love this au so much, Sonic underground was my favorite show growing up)

Okay, so here’s what I got for roboticization in the Celestial Underground Au. So the factor of being roboticized is in multiple levels to it.

Roboticization in the CU Au is a bit different from the original source(Sonic Underground) due to multiple factors, such as the main cast and at least over half of the population of Superstar Kingdom (yes that’s the name of the kingdom for now)being animatronics.

Roboticization physically enhances an animatronic and ‘human’ person’s body and ability, it’s like an “upgrade” of sorts.

In depth explanation below.

Physically:

For humans it works the same as it did physically for any organic (there’s plenty of different animal species)characters from Sonic Underground, with all of their flesh being converted into metal.

Animatronics on the other hand, when getting roboticized, are “upgraded” to be superior to their former selves physically and strength wise.

Any clothes the roboticized wore when roboticized will also fully fuse with the “person’s” body(like the original from what I can tell), no need to change clothes when roboticized or something.

Mentally:

Mentally on the other hand is a different can of worms. Overall from the outside the roboticized are not their former selves, being a husk meant to fulfill either the command of the Creator or his forces, or to be ‘improvements’ of their former selves to create the Creator’s desired superior world.

For most roboticized people their former consciousness is basically in a comatose state, unaware of anything happening and basically in mental storage asleep.

Then there’s rare cases, like with the chamber that Moon was roboticized in not comatosing the former self, but them being trapped inside their own heads and forced to watch their bodies move out of their own control(the Creator made this chamber like this because Sun’s magic wouldn’t work if he was permanently comatose, he also tested it on a few people before Moon).

De-Roboticization and a bit on Sun and Moon’s powers:

First off, a character’s innate magic is separate from their magic medallions. The medallions add onto the characters magic ability but they are separate(Like hair extensions or something). Sun’s VERY powerful magic for example isn’t related to his medallion, but his magic can boost the power of his or his siblings medallions.

So for de-roboticization I need to address Sun and Moon’s medallion powers. They are the vocalists of the family and if they were to sing the theme song they couldn’t be allowed to sing together or else they’d probably explode everything(I’ll explain the siblings powers fully later and how they collaborate with each other), but alone they’re not strong enough to do more than use it as defense/offense.

BUT when their medallions(individually) are boosted with an external power they have the power to basically mentally de-roboticize someone, or at least give someone who had no control over their own body via an evil force(like possession or something) control over their body once more.

They cannot do this to each other with their own respective medallions(Sun couldn’t de-roboticize Moon with his own medallion and had to use Moon’s, same would go vice versa) so that’s why Sun needed to use MOON’S medallion to help Moon stop being trapped in his own head(they can use each other’s medallions if needed via a spell).

The magic is only the first part, as the second part of de-roboticization is allowing someone to gain full control of their body back, for example while Moon could move his body and prevent himself from actively attacking, his body was still IN attack mode and was trying its best to do as much harm as possible.

Here’s where Solar and Sun’s collaboration comes into play. Sun asked Solar for help in seeing if they could get Moon back(before Moon’s de-roboticization), and Solar agreed. So he tried his best to semi-self teach himself how to override and get rid of any influence the Creator has on a hosts body(like the coding).

Sun tried his best to help where he could and neither of them really PLANNED for Moon’s de-roboticization to happen as soon as it did(the trigger for the reunion), so Solar was working the best he could(with Nexus’ help now that Sun wasn’t hiding from the triplets and he didn’t have to keep it a secret).

They found out how to override and get rid of the Creator’s influence on a roboticized persons code and body

ALSO-

For the hypothetical question of ‘Why didn’t Sun or Moon use their powers to de-roboticize people before this point?’:

They didn’t know that they could just give others their free will back with extra magic for a boost, and they were trying to not get caught as well as they could and the Creator could’ve tracked them if they used enough magic to give someone their mental freedom back, and they’re probably aware that using their medallions together would cause everything to explode(or something). Sun had gone off of a last ditch effort from Solar’s hypothesis in order to try to de-roboticize Moon. Sun had told Solar about Moon’s old nightmares for potential futures(I will write about this one tomorrow), Solar then created a hypothesis based off of reversing the nature of the future Moon was so scared of that he got nightmares. And it worked.

My little goober trying to unpack all of that after spending multiple days contemplating this topic and staying up far to long to finish answering this ask(I also went to my state fair earlier and I’ve been up for about 20 hours when I need to be fixing my sleep schedule) (@derpymuffins33)

[octopuscityblues]

Kafkaryan, The Wrath Of Cod

June 2024 Progress Report

TLDR: Unfortunately we had to push back our planned release date again. We don't have a new date yet, but we're trying our best to bring you Octopus City Blues as soon as humanly possible. We're very sorry about that. The rest of the update will go over some of the things we've been working on and provide additional context for the delay.

Progress

Starting in April, Marina (benevolent tentacle artist) and I (Firas, malevolent snail) significantly changed the way we work. Previously, art and development were mostly done independently and we communicated on a weekly or biweekly basis. We switched to a virtual office kind of setup where we dedicate fixed hours to working together every day. It's been going great so far and we feel much more motivated and productive.

Our current target is the Robot Graveyard, the lawless wasteland at the base of Gold Tower. We're mainly working on the remaining interior locations such as the Conman's shop or the cyborg club.

By the way, we recently released yet another demo update, based on all the quality-of-life and interaction improvements made since the previous one. These include:

🦔 Kaf the Hedgehog is now 33% faster and has 100% more walking frames! 

🖼️ Intuitive top-of-the-line settings menu to crank up your sim's colors to 11. 

🎨 New text background colors to make your eyes bleed. From the grimy "Jungle" to the ominous "Caput Mortuum". 

💬 Switch between the gossip and item menu modes like a pro using Q/E keys or the gamepad's shoulder buttons. 

🎮 Say goodbye to gamepad confusion! The simulation will reliably remember the most recently used controller. 

🍄 Beetles crave mushrooms. Drop the right item in the plaza and watch the little critters go! 

😷 You no longer have to "touch" dirty objects or people to interact with them. Standing close by is sufficient. 

🤖 Sacrificing Mom to science will pay off sooner.

🪲 And numerous other fixes, copy editing changes, and a host of new potential bugs for you to discover!

I'm also happy to present one of several music tracks that the newest addition to our team, Shannon (omnibenevolent troubadour), has been working on:

There's a lot more happening behind the scenes. For example, Julia (unambivalent wordsmith) went over and helped improve large portions of the script, while Karl (ambivalent doodler) is practicing card tricks.

The Delay

Octopus City Blues has had a long and rocky journey over the years, so I apologize if the following is too long and boring. Nevertheless, you all deserve an honest explanation for the delays. Back in late 2021 when I was pitching the project to the Midgame Fund, the plan looked something like this:

Early 2022: Demo play testing

Late 2022: Release of Act 1 in Early Access.

Mid 2023: Steam Next Fest demo

Late 2023 / Early 2024: Release of Act 2

Later in 2024: KS reward fulfillment, possible localization and console ports

After getting funded, the helpful investors at Midgame Fund advised against Early Access and recommended releasing both acts together. Much of 2022 was spent on discussions, planning, and extensive play testing that took place in two main rounds. The testing feedback showed us that we still had much to do, particularly when it came to guiding the players.

By early 2023 we were struggling to follow the original plan as we addressed all the testing feedback. That's why I decided to cut a lot of planned content and rewrite the story so that it no longer had two acts. The original acts were separated by a 10-year gap, which would've required a lot of art editing and writing completely new responses for every character.

The next play testing round coincided with the Indigo event. Even after all the changes made, some players were still struggling with certain parts or running into bugs. That's why we decided to participate in the October Steam Next Fest edition instead of the June one. The release date was pushed back to Q1 2024.

The Next Fest event itself was a great success. After years of neglecting marketing, we used 2023 to promote the project and make it more viable financially. On the other hand, the event left us with even more feedback, some of which we were still addressing in January (2024). The release date was pushed back to Q2.

In early 2024 the Q2 release plan was still feasible. However, things temporarily took a turn for the worse after our last update. The first roadblock was due to real life developments and personal circumstances that impacted the availability of key team members. Thankfully, everything is back to normal now.

A more general problem is that the more we get done, the more work we end up creating for ourselves. The complex branching quest design means that the amount of testing needed can grow exponentially. Automated testing and play testing rounds can only take us so far.

The next obstacle had to do with the 2023 rewrite. Taking a story with many characters and intertwined elements and completely rewriting major parts of it turned out to be much trickier than expected. Some major plot elements simply didn't work in the new framework, and I had to make additional changes to improve the story's overall pacing and consistency.

At first I thought we could still release the main parts, and then slowly restore some content after release.  That would've meant early adopters and our biggest supporters wouldn't get the complete intended experience. There are also many more things we'd like to tackle after release (Kickstarter rewards, localization, porting) instead of adding more content.

To be clear, there are some things that we still plan to add after release (as free DLC). In particular, there are the arcade games and the quests related to them. While not part of the main story, they were in our original pitch (and much of the art is already done).

All of this brings us to our current plan. The story is still in one act, but some previously cut areas and quests will be restored. As mentioned in the previous section, we've adopted a new way of working since April and have been slowly adding the remaining areas and characters to the simulation. While things look promising, it's hard to tell what will happen tomorrow or if additional play testing will require even more changes.

OCB is something that particularly benefits from these play testing rounds, because the more we can anticipate the player's actions (e.g. trying to combine the knife and baby items), the more fun and immersive the experience feels. Obviously, we can never get rid of every bug or address all feedback before release.  That's why we'll just have to find the right balance.

We still have to finish the following parts: Graveyard (in-progress), Big Beef, Turkeys, and the ending. Of those, Big Beef is the most involved one. I changed the planned release date on Steam to simply 2024 because that's our goal, but please keep in mind that it's not a release date either. We'll only announce a concrete release date once all of these areas are done and work primarily shifts to testing and polishing.

If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read all of that! We remain as committed to this project as we were on day one, and we're genuinely trying our best as flawed and naively optimistic humanoids. We owe it all to your continued support and understanding.

[alpaca-clouds]

For those of us who've not touched bg3 but are a fan of sexy vampires...Could you give a quick rundown on Astarion? Or is his lore too extensive?

Sure enough.

I will put this under a cut, though, for those who do not want to be spoiled. (Now I? I totally spoiled myself for the part of the plot I have not reached because with work my plaing has gotten slow.)

So, Astarion is one of your main companions in the game. The very, very short of the game set up (in terms non-DnD-players can understand): You got kidnapped by tentacle monsters who put a tadpole into your brain that is gonna turn you into a tentacle monster as well. Through circumstances you escape the tentacle monsters though before you can be turned and now try to get the tadpole out of your brain before you can grow said tentacles.

Now, your main companions all have the same issue. So does Astarion. You meet him soon after escaping the tentacle monsters. He appears to be an elf, some of your companions note he is a bit pale, but at least my very stupid bard was like: "He looks perfectly fine to me."

But of course you are gonna find him nibbling on your neck sooner or later. And from there on you find out a bit about him.

Now, this sad, sad vampire has been stabbed 200 years ago on the streets of Baldur's Gate, upon which he was found by a vampire. Cazador. Cazador was like: "You can die or you can allow me to turn you into a vampire." And Astarion wanted to live. So he allowed himself to be turned.

But Cazador only turned him into a vampire spawn. (Explanation: In DnD it is a weird mix. Vampires can turn you by just biting you, but until you drink their blood you are only vampire spawn, giving your vampire sire a lot of control over you.)

Cazador is the most horrible, shittiest asshole to ever have walked under this sky. He proceeded to take this poor vampire man who was now under his control and tortured him, raped him, prostituted him, abused him, and at times even used mind control to make Astarion torture himself. According to Astarion Cazador liked his screams so much.

Boy, I am looking forward to killing Cazador. (Or rather letting Astarion do the deed.)

Now, Astarion's character quest mostly involves the fact that Cazador carved something into his back. You will find out, that it is basically a spell that is meant to sacrifice Astarion and his vampire spawn siblings in a ritual so that Cazador can through that gain powers no other vampire has ever had before.

And boy, Astarion is so sad and traumatized and I just wanna hug him and tell him everything is gonna be alright, okay?

The game really managed to gut punch me, before I got spoiled.

See, if you do the romances, it is very dependend on the character how quick you get to a sexy time scene. In the case of Astarion the romance quest starts with him offering you sex. So me, horny as I am, was like: "Yay, let's fuck the sexy vampire." Only to then later learn of his tragic backstory and figure out that the reason he offers you sex that early is, that he never had anyone look out for him before and had thought it was conditional on him offering sex. And I was like: "Oh. Oh baby. Oh baby. I am sorry. Q-Q"

But he is really well written.

Not to spoil too much here, but for the first two acts he is like a very abrasive asshole. Because he is in full survival mode and he does not understand what is going on and all that. And all he ever knew was cruelty and violence. So he thinks that it is the only way to act. But if you are playing a good, heroic character he is slowly gonna come around to you. And he slowly is gonna start to believe that indeed you are being good because you are good and not because you have some greater goal. And then in Act 3 the sweetest thing happens, when you are nice and he suddenly... is also acting nice. It is just so sweet.

But yeah, I wanna hug him and hold him and kiss him and make everything alright. And I will probably spend a good while writing healing fics for him.

[theleechyskrunkly]

8, 10 and 14 for Paige and Aurinelle :)

motivation to answer asks has fallen upon me 🙏

Paige:

8- That would be his relationship with his parents, specifically his mother. Seeing her perform such wonderful plays and songs was so strikingly beautiful to him it basically inspired all his life aspirations.

He wants to create music worthy of being sung by people as talented as his mother, and he wishes for his compositions to be as popular and engaging as his father's.

10- Uuuuuhhh 🧍‍♀️Well, I guess this truly depends on which of Paige's morals are being challenged, but knowing Paige, he's likely to choose whichever path is less likely to affect him negatively in the long run. As I've said before, Paige likes to avoid conflict. (Sorry this answer is so vague. My understanding of morals as a concept is very limited 😓)

14- heh... does this even need an explanation 😭? Well, Paige strongly expresses himself through music (I know, shocker 😱) he tends to make new lyrics daily based on whatever mood he's feeling!

Rather than having a talent for lyric writing and music composition, Paige picked up the skills from all the music he heard his dad make, which allowed for creative flow in his young mind!

Aurinelle:

8- Oof there's no way this could be anyone outside his family because haha isolation, but I think that out of all his family members, the one that impacted him (not positively) the most was with Nellie.

This one has some lore drop to it on why Aurinelle doesn't trust himself to not harm anything smaller than him so buckle up I guess 💀

There was this one time in which Aurinelle was extremely sick. Nellie, being nothing but a little baby around the age of two, swam into Aurinelle's room to play with him, unaware of how sick he was. The issue is that when he's sick, Aurinelle's senses dull and he becomes highly alert to whatever comes near him and aggressive. So when Nellie touched his sleeping form, Aurinelle instantly went into fight pr flight mode, thinking it was a predator. Unfortunately, Aurinelle never chooses flight.

He attacked without having assessed the situation yet, and accidently blinded one of Nellie's eyes. Since that they he's refused to willingly touch anything that he could potentially harm, and that includes his little sisters. While his mums have tried to reassure him that it was as accident and that no one was to blame, he still hasn't gotten rid of the unease that comes with coming into contact with others, specially small or adorable people that might activate his aggression.

10- Aurinelle would stick to his morals no matter what, so he's likely to choose whatever option does not deviate from his beliefs, regardless of future outcomes.

14- This is actually a wonderful question! Aurinelle doesn't express himself as clearly as someone like Paige does, but he does enjoy expressing himself to fashion! While Aurinelle doesn't go out much, whenever he does he tends to wear Y2k fits (yes. This man wears CROP TOPS. It's the hottest thing istg). He's got anyone he passes swooning 😖 Aurinelle does like lighter colors btw! I wouldn't say pastel and stuff like that, just like, idk, lighter colors 😭

His other form of self expression would be his gems (they glow different colors with whatever emotion he's feeling) which he takes extensive care of.

Tagging: @thehollowwriter @elenauaurs @cyanide-latte @distant-velleitytant- @xen-blank

[super-rangers]

Does Regina realize people can see who's watched their tiktoks...? lol Janis is somewhere like 'Regina has watched 26 of my last 27 videos...' Like, girl, go incognito mode or the jig is up

I'm going to be vulnerable and admit that I didn't know this about tiktok, so by extension, I didn't put that into the story lmao

i don't post videos on tiktok at all. You're telling me people can see that shit?? damn.

anyways, I think Regina rationalizes it by being like 'well we're friends now and friends watch each other's videos'

(incidentally, it's the same explanation Janis gives herself when she starts to read too much into Regina watching her tiktoks)

[inconmess]

Kinda an open question but after a discussion with @gyorklady, I have a doubt. Elsie said she specifically requested to run circles with only the Grimms because they knew her secret and it was reluctant if the character creation video was anything to go by. But it also raises a few questions.

How did they even chance upon it? How did Cosmo and by extension, Oscar come to know of Elsie's secret? Was it because someone tipped off about Elsie and she became Cosmo's assignment through Candela? Was it one of Cosmo's networks that tipped him off about Elsie's nature and made him approach her, not through Candela but later became Candela business anyway?

Why did Elsie specifically ask for Oscar and Cosmo only. I get it, they know the secret, yes. But she also shows fear that the beast may do something that she'll regret and doesn't know about Oscar's deal so why was she not scared to go out with Oscar and Cosmo?

Have Oscar and Cosmo seen Elsie in beast mode before? We know Oscar hasn't been attacked by Elsie before because he specifically states that it is one thing to know and another to experience but have they actually seen her in beast mode before or was it the first-time for all of them to see Elsie like that?

And How long has Elsie known Cosmo and Oscar? Cuz she knows Oscar as Cosmo's grandson so I am guesstimating for around 10-20 years but I don't know.

So many questions... so many questions...

Also pretty sure Candela only said Ok to Elsie's request to have only Cosmo and Oscar because they would conveniently have two unknown phenomenons working together and their oldest researcher working to solve two problems that they have no explanation on without them having to request it.

[thehighfiveproject]

But what do I say?

Hello, fellow High Fivers. We hope your Treasure Hunt is going well! (If you missed the Treasure Hunt announcement, no worries: the card and rules and schedule and everything are all right here.)

This Challenge Mode edition of the High Five Project is all about COMMENTING. In your day to day fic reading, maybe this is something you do all the time -- and high five, way to appreciate your favorite fic writers! -- but if you're a little shy about it or don't know quite what to say, this post is for you.

For the Treasure Hunt, we want to be sure that authors are getting fun & interesting comments. We've seen a lot of those fun "but I want to leave as many kudos as possible!" posts, and that would be fun! But we want to do a little more with this project than "I have already left kudos here" -- and more than just a simple "Thanks!" or "Good job!", because that's a kudos in word form. Still fun, but -- let's do more! Let's think of some comment options to leave on our treasures.

The Light 'n' Easy

Keep it simple, keep it tight. Not just 'thanks!' or 'Extra kudos!', but...

I really loved reading this fic, thank you for writing it!

This is my favorite pairing and you wrote it just how I like it -- thank you!

What a great scenario, I felt like I was there! Thank you!

Short, thankful, to the point. You liked it! Tell 'em! Even one sentence shows the author that you appreciate the work.

I See What You Did There

Authors tend to work pretty hard on their stories and they have to make a lot of choices about what to put in, what to take out, how the arc and characterization and everything works. If you like something specific, feel free to be specific.

The way you wrote Mr Spock's characterization is amazing. I really love how you included Canon Storyline and made him say XYZ to Kirk.

The sex scene was AWESOME. I didn't know Kirk could bend that way, haha. I love this fic so much, thank you!

Wow, the plot was really interesting here! I wasn't expecting that twist at all. When Scotty fell out of the hot air balloon -- omg! Great story!

Still short, still simple, but you paid attention! You noticed! Authors love that kind of thing.

Words Are Magic

Did you like a particular line, or piece of dialogue, or even just how some adjectives worked? Tell the author! A quote and a simple explanation of how/why you liked it is a warm drink on a cold day.

Question Time

Feeling more advanced? Sometimes -- sometimes! -- authors are happy to answer questions about their work. We urge you to put in some additional commentary first so they don't feel like a reporter just put a mic into their face on the sidewalk. Tell them what you liked, tell them a line you loved, tell them you were into the bit where X or Y happened; then you might say, "What do you think Spock was hoping would happen when he told Kirk his uniform tears too easily?" The author might give you some special insight into their thought process!

***

These are just ideas to give you a place to start when you're on your commenting quest. You can use this excellent browser extension to make it easier to 'comment as you go' and not forget what you wanted to say -- you can leave a single appreciative sentence -- you can write whole paragraphs telling the author every single thing you dug about the fic. The most important thing is that you give the author their well-deserved high five.

Happy hunting! - 🖐

[darkwingsnark]

🌻

🌻what makes you want to give up on writing? what makes you keep going?

What makes me give up on writing something? Fatigue mostly. Sometimes even things like a tumblr post talking about my opinion on an aspect of media can be so draining for me that I stop in the middle of it and go 'you know what? not important' and exit the page. I do that with verbally talking as well, start an explanation and then realize it'll be long and just end up losing the energy and go 'actually, do you need me to explain this? 'Cause I'm tired of hearing me.'

As for continuing... Boy oh boy, I got two modes: entertainment and spite. I've finished fics out of spite before, just because somebody said something that pissed me [and sometimes by extension my wife Moonie] off enough that we picked up a series again and continued.

Oh, actually... there's one other reason for writing: because I feel like people aren't doing things quote unquote 'right'. That feeling that people are overlooking a story idea or interpretation of canon to the point it makes me roll up my sleeves and go 'ugh FINE. I guess I'll do it myself!!'

[sassymajesty]

hello nina, I'm a different anon and I bring more adblocking knowledge. you mentioned your phone; do you have an Android? if so, I have GREAT news for you: you can just go to your private DNS mode settings and type in "dns. adguard-dns. com" (remove the spaces) and it'll block most ads on your phone, including apps (not just browsers)! it doesn't work for everything - YouTube for example is notoriously difficult - but it works for most things in my experience. you can actually set this up on most devices, including tablets and computers, and even your router if you have access to the settings (username and password are usually either on it or just admin and admin). if you want more info on this, google Adguard private DNS and they themselves have deeper explanations and tutorials. Furthermore, for YouTube specifically, there are a few options, and i recommend looking it up on reddit if you want to read about all of them. however, I personally use and recommend revanced, which you can find instructions for on r/revancedapp; with it, you'll end up with YouTube but better, because you'll get more options for settings, as well as adblocking and even sponsor blocking (as in, it'll automatically skip sponsor sections in videos), while still being able to log in to your account and get your regular sub box and playlists and stuff. lastly, please use Firefox as your mobile browser, bc it's just better and also you can install ublock origin on it. have a nice, ad-free day!

i have an iphone and this message was eye opening regarding how much i cannot do in it. i really don't think i can even access the whole dns shebang (i'm not even sure what that means to be honest. can you tell i'm not tech savy at all?) and the revanced app isn't available here either. and dude, i'd kill for that sponsor blocking. i have it on my laptop, that and no ads are the sole reasons why i spend so much time on youtube

i did just download firefox for my phone though. i've been using safari mostly because it's fine for me, and the icon is pretty (dumbest reason, i know). now i'm off to do a LOT of googling because i don't even know how to install extensions there

update after a quick google search: firefox extensions are not available on ios i see how it is!!!

[1001albumsrated]

#21: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)

Genre(s): Modal Jazz

Of all 1001 albums in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Kind of Blue might be the most heavily written about, and likely one of the most talked about as well. If someone says "hey I'm curious about jazz but don't know where to start" (or, in 2024, googles a recc chart), this is unilaterally the starting point. Kind of Blue is the Rome that all jazz roads lead to (and from!). I wouldn't say it's my favorite jazz album, and you can argue endlessly on whether it's the best, but it's without a doubt the most centrally located. The tunes are highly accessible, but possess enormous theoretical depth and showcase exceptional technical prowess from the players. And while sales numbers are far from everything, Miles drove sports cars and dated models for a reason: Kind of Blue is RIAA certified 5x platinum as of 2019, making it the best-selling jazz album of all time by an enormous margin (beating the 2nd highest, Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters, 5 times over; no, I'm not going to count the fucking Kenny G Christmas album or whatever, we're talking real jazz here).

It's also a landmark in the explosion of modal jazz, turning previous hard bop and bebop styles on their heads. You can find more compelling music theory explanations of modal jazz elsewhere (I'm confident there's an Adam Neely video somewhere that does it justice), but the short version is that it moved the focus from a more traditional "this song is in a key, play chords from that key and solo over them in the same key" approach to a more open ended approach of playing with a focus on the mode rather than the key, allowing for a much wider tonal palette for improvisation and creating a wildly different sound (you can think of modes as a both a subset and a superset of keys; they essentially rearrange a key to change the root note it starts and ends on while maintaining the same collection of notes, which in practice can dramatically change the feel of the key and allows for modulation between keys to sound more enharmonic. This is a super simplified explanation, again, go learn about the theory if you want to know more).

To me, this album is an old friend. This is one of the first albums that really made jazz click for me. Like most non-jazz listeners, I felt at the time like the bulk of jazz I heard was either dreadful old man coffee shop music or the sound of toddlers causing a directionless racket in the studio. I remember being in my bedroom as a teenager, listening to low quality rips of these tracks in the early days of YouTube, mind blown at the sounds I was hearing. It was laid back, but still had a lot of motion and technicality, and was deeply evocative. Today, so many years later, I feel the same things I felt then. Kind of Blue is one of those very rare, special albums that simply doesn't wear out. I've heard it a million times and can anticipate every note, but it's still a joy to listen to every time.

The version I'm listening to today is the 2007 Japanese SACD (another fascinating element to Kind of Blue is how radically different the various versions of it out there sound, with different mixes often completely rearranging the soundstage). This edition is one of my favorites; it's still the more modern Mark Wilder mix and benefits from the higher degree of clarity his mix brings, but it has a warmer, more laid back feel to it than most of the other iterations of his mix on various other formats. My chief complaint on his Miles mixes in general has always been that they're overly bright, to the point of Miles' trumpet often sounding harsh, and this is one of the very rare versions of the KoB Wilder mix that feels more natural to me.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the quality of the personnel on this one: the sextet here is an extension of Miles' "First Great Quintet", featuring the dynamite rhythm section of Jimmy Cobb and Paul Chambers, with the impressionistic Bill Evans on piano (and his replacement Wynton Kelly on Freddie Freeloader, as Evans was mostly retired from the band at this point after burning out from the band's rigorous touring schedule), and the all-star sax section of John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley. All of the players (with the exception of Cobb) were great bandleaders in their own right, and all were top-notch players. We'll see most (if not all) of these folks again on this list, with a few showing up later as bandleaders. This is one of the things that I've always found appealing about jazz: every week is a crossover episode. I'm forever discovering that a player I love played as a sideman on this other album, and the bandleader on that one used to play with this other guy, and so on in a web that seems to stretch out forever. Jazz is far from the only thing I listen to, but it's one of the easiest genres for me to get engrossed in on account of the constant interconnections between players (my obsession with Wikipedia and Discogs diving and biography reading doesn't help).

Also of historical interest is the fact that only a few weeks after recording the final KoB sessions, John Coltrane would return to the studio to record the legendary Giant Steps with his own band; this album, for reasons beyond any and all comprehension or semblance of good taste, has been excluded from 1001 Albums. It's laughable to omit both it and My Favorite Things, both of which are major touchstones in jazz (soloing over Giant Steps, referring to the song rather than the album here, is still a mountain that any serious jazz player will climb today during the process of mastering their instrument). And maybe it's my huge obsession with free and spiritual jazz talking here, but I think there's a strong argument for including at least one of Coltrane's freer post-A Love Supreme albums; his interplay with Pharoah Sanders is spectacular, as is the way he and his wife Alice lock in, and those albums would go on to inform all flavors of "out" jazz and experimental music to come (also, while I'm complaining, it's equally ridiculous to omit both Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane from the book as bandleaders, and doing so really shows the authors' collective ignorance when it comes to any jazz that cuts deeper than surface level).

Ok, I'm done griping about the list (for now). Anyways, Kind of Blue is one of the highest pinnacles of musical achievement, yes you MUST hear it before you die. If you somehow haven't heard it, log off and go listen. You'll thank me later.

Coming up next time: we pivot back to country with the legendary Marty Robbins album, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs (or, for the terminally online, the one with Big Iron on it 😉).

[athenafire2000]

I wanted to chime in about the speculation on SpaceX’s involvement in the communications here, among other things. I have no direct involvement with OceanGate or the mission, but I’m an engineer that’s done some work with and research on underwater communications and have a basic understanding of several of the elements at play here. First and foremost, most traditional wireless communications don’t work underwater (I know “Wikipedia isn’t a reliable source” but this page has some good explanations on why this is if anyone is interested). From the videos linked in the above posts (including this one) it does not appear that the submarine is tethered, which really only leaves one other option for communications (discounting the one-way military communications systems from the Wiki): underwater acoustic modems. Some of these modems can work at the depths at which the Titan would have been operating, and are capable of very slow two-way communications. This article gives an overview of the technology used in a somewhat comparable vessel taken to the Challenger Deep (Mariana Trench): “...Considering 1,200 baud (the speed of transmission in communications) was considered a slow dial-up in the 1990s, the 20 or 30 baud that [the crew was] working with meant text messages were incredibly slow to send and receive—seven seconds, to be exact. 'You can send text messages, but it takes time. And an actual voice communication, which is also possible, then is taking seven seconds to go from the bottom to the surface. And we’re reporting every 15 minutes.’” One of the missing passengers, Hamish Harding, actually happened to be on the Mariana Trench expedition discussed in the article. Based on the video and some of the previously mentioned sources, the quote from the article seems to line up with how communications were described on Titan. In addition, I noticed a piece of equipment attached to the submersible in the video that looks fairly similar to a commercial acoustic modem: 

Certainly only speculation, but further convinces me that this is most likely the mode of communication between the submersible and the main vessel. It seems to me that Starlink was providing an internet connection to the main vessel on the surface, and likely had nothing to do with direct communications to the submersible. Again I can’t confirm this, but it seems highly unlikely that Starlink communications, or lack thereof, would have a significant impact on the ability of OceanGate to communicate with Titan. 

I was a bit surprised to learn that there was not some kind of tethered  communication and/or power backup for such a vessel as there are for many deep sea ROVs (see this and this article), but it seems like it’s less common to tether to manned vehicles, possibly because they’re typically controlled from onboard, not from the surface, as well as to avoid the tether becoming snagged or entangled, or disturbing the sea life or sea floor in some way. 

I also saw an interview earlier today--unfortunately I can’t remember the particular news outlet but if anyone recognizes it and can link it I would appreciate it--where the expert they were talking with had worked extensively with the coast guard in the past and expressed surprise that there were not deployable beacons on the submersible that could be released in emergency situations such as this, so that signals could be sent out to and picked up by the coast guard and other organizations to aid in locating the vessel. This is primarily important because currents can cause the vessel to move in vastly different directions from what may have been expected, and such beacons can greatly narrow the search radius. 

Also, this article seems to imply that the maximum depth of Titan is 4,000 meters. The depth of the Titanic is 3,800 meters. Typically the engineering factor of safety on any kind of system that is meant to, you know, keep humans alive is a LOT higher, I would expect at the very least 1.5 to 2 times anything you might actually need, not merely 1.05. For lifting people on rigging, for example, the standard is 5. For spacecraft, it’s 1.4 to 1.5. Sometimes there’s a factor of safety built into the estimate, so while they say the max is 4,000m, it could really be more like 5,000m (1.3 vs 1.05). Still, struck me as a bit concerning if the article is accurate and I’m interpreting it correctly. This also means that if for some reason they get pushed deeper than the maximum rating, the submersible could implode due to the pressure if it hasn’t already. In addition, this article and several others I looked at mentioned that OceanGate failed to have its vessel approved by the DNV, “an independent organization... which certifies vessels like submersibles and issues a list of regulations for such products” despite their marketing materials saying it would meet or exceed these standards. However, in the video linked earlier, the reporter read the waiver aloud and it stated that it was not certified by an independent organization. The article also had a statement from a previous passenger, Mike Reiss: “‘They’re learning as they go along … things go wrong. I’ve taken three different dives with this company and you almost always [lose] communication.’”

Actually very recent update I just saw, according to CNN sonar was able to pick up banging noises in the area, and it’s being investigated: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/20/us/titanic-shipwreck-vessel-missing-tuesday/index.html this could be a sign that the vessel is intact and the crew is alive, but hopefully we’ll find out soon. 

Was not expecting to fall back into my Titanic rabbit hole tonight but here we are. Sorry if the sources are a little jumbled. Best wishes to the crew and those searching for them.

What we know about the missing Sub

For whatever reason this story has absolutely grabbed my attention, and so I will be compiling the information that I can confirm in a decent timeline of events, feel free to message me if y'all feel like something needs to be changed/revised

A company known as OceanGate offers dives to view the wreck of the Titanic, charging 250,000 USD per ride. This sub is not approved by any regulatory body, and is controlled with an xbox controller. The inside is a small tube one would have to sit down to fit inside.

It is not a regular sub, but a submersible, which does not have the power to lauch itself and return on it's own, but instead must be launched and retrieved by a mothership. Thus, constant communication is of the utmost importance.

4 AM, June 18th, an expedition begins. Confirmed passengers are a pilot, a "Content Expert," Businessman Hamish Harding (who posted the linked instragram post,) and two other passengers who are as yet unconfirmed.

Communications with the sub are lost 1 hour and 45 minutes into the dive.

The US and Canadian coast guard begin working together to try and find the sub. The vessel has an advertised 96 hours of oxygen.

The instagram post earlier is found by CNN, although they do not yet divulge who posted it. They reach out to OceanGate for comment and get none.

An additional vessel is dispatched to assist in the search.

The US Coast Guard holds a press conference where they discuss the difficulties in locating the vessel in the remote area it dove into.

Coast Guard surmises that there is 70 to 96 hours of oxygen remaining, although this was reported abt ten hours ago, so it's more like 60 to 86 now.

The coast guard also begins a twitter thread which they are continually updating. They have completed two flights over the area but have not found anything, they will dispatch another plane in the morning.

OceanGate claims to be taking "every step possible" to recover the missing vessel.

Twitter user Kenny Sharpe realizes that he had seen the vessel being towed out to it's expedition and posts photos that he took.

LITERALLY FOUND THIS AS I WAS GETTING SOURCES, Daily Mail claims that the other two passengers are businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, but given DM's dubious journalistic integrity (to put it nicely,) I would take this claim with a grain of salt until other sources confirm it.

I will update this as more info becomes available, feel free to message me with sources if you know anything.

[portal--stuck]

If I go full crossover I think it would be in the Alpha timeline (There are two timelines depending on if they play the Alpha or Beta version of the game Sburb/Sgrub) this is because I think it would be interesting to see the Portal characters interact with the Alpha kids for those that haven’t read Homestuck the Alpha kids are as follow (Images of the kids and Pesterlog quotes will be included so you can get a feel for them): Roxy Lalonde (My girl I love her so much also a majority of this will be gained from the introduction pages except for Lil Hal because I don’t think he has one the reason I am doing this is because I don’t trust myself to describe everyone in a legible way): I would set it sometime before or during her getting over her alcoholic tendencies, she loves wizards, retro gaming, doing fenestrology (which fenestration is the design and disposition of exterior openings of a building however fenestrology isn’t a word as far as I can tell), ectobiology, cats and mutant cats she creates (she preserves specimens from her experiments and a large majority are feline) like Vodka Mutini, she’s good at hacking she blew up Jane’s computer trying to stop her from getting them to play the game which obviously didn’t stop them but, as she says about her hacking skills “Your coding cred is totes ridic, basically making you the HOTTEST SHIT HAXXOR BITCH YOU EVER KNEW, as deadaly* to the grid ass* she is beatuiful*”, and she is the one that seems to have really held everyone together as when there was friendship drama going on people would go through her. TG: well shit jane TG: what am i even supposed to do TG: i cant hit on anybody and appaprently i can entertain nary a frisky THOUGHT about anyboby because apparentley evrybodies OFF LIMITS!!!!! TG: *buncha goddamn typos TG: shit suuucks

Dirk Strider (He’d likely have the most fun with this happening): He loves puppets, he attempts to remain aloof, otherwise he enjoys sequential arts, building robots, setting them to kill mode, and sparring or if he doesn’t feel like a physical fight he will do rap battles with them, he likes horses in general and also unironically likes the My Little Pony character Rainbow Dash, and he is into alpha timeline Dave’s version of Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff (Not sure how he feels about normal/beta timeline Dave’s version). He also really dislikes himself he’s tried (and succeeded) in beheading himself multiple times but, there are always ways to bring him back he may also just enjoy beheadings as he’s beheaded others as well.

TT: I guess. TT: It just registers for me as a reaction which isn't completely unreasonable from her perspective. TT: She is inundated with media coverage of those whom we've claimed as our parental figures. TT: That they are not presently alive nor ever played that role for us as she understands it is just an extension of a much more elaborate and far reaching explanation, which is much harder for anyone to digest in its entirety. TT: Well, anyone who isn't Jake, I mean. TT: Still say you should cut her some slack.

Jake English (My other favourite Alpha kid): He enjoys ALL movies he doesn’t discriminate between good and bad, comics, skulls, fisticuff (basically hand to hand combat), firearms, desecrating (treat with violent disrespect) ruins and defiling tombs, and hunting. He does not like to contemplate frightening fauna due to it’s realness attribute as he lives alone on a giant island with giant creatures to match that may or may not try to kill him. He is self-centered (unintentionally mind you), pretty socially clueless, and he’s not very assertive. Also to kind of go with Portalstuck there’s Wheatley’s whole thing when talking about Chell having brain damage it is theorized Jake may have a bit of brain damage to quote the webcomic “These aren't the kind of things that usually occur to you though, especially after several blows to the head. You continue staring vacantly at the dancing fruit, while that kind of thing keeps not occurring to you.” And Caliborn’s description of him “uu: AND THE BRAIN DAMAGED JACKASS IN SHORTS.” This could be why when Aranea tried to heal him she didn’t get anything obviously physical and touched his head. (She healed Terezi’s blindness using her Sylph of Light powers which she used in healing Jake).

GT: Thats aces. Jane youre a sweetheart. GT: So as i was saying. GT: I cant help but feel like all this stuff going on with dirk like his responders mind games and his brobots mysterious and brutal hazings... GT: Are all like... GT: Man i know this is going to sound crazy. GT: Like theyre all part of a really long term and esoteric courtship process that is bizarre but somehow makes perfect sense in his mind.

Jane Crocker (I have no idea what her thoughts on the situation would be): She is the heir to the Betty Crocker company and is the only alpha timeline kid with a living parent/guardian, she enjoys baking, pranks, detective stories, and situation comedies. She also has many things from the Crocker Corporation such as the Cockercorp Tiaratop which may or may not be subcosciously sending messages to obey, cease reproduction, embrace culling, consume, die, submit, and many other things. She’s typically the most cheerful of them all but can be quick to anger, she's also skeptical, and curious.

GG: No! Cease your lascivious porcolating at once! GG: Roxy, I can see you're set on just wasting more of my time. GG: I understand if you don't wish to play this game, but please try not to interfere with those of us who do! (She doesn't have many long bits of text I can easily find or think of)

Lil Hal (Another favourite and not usually included in the Alpha kids but I love him, also I hope he’d like to have some friends that are also manmade ): A pair of sunglasses Dirk put an auto responder in when he was 13 while Hal is based off of Dirk’s 13 year old self he has undergone some changes he is still mostly Dirk though, he is more likely to entertain flirtations from Roxy than Dirk is (Dirk is canonically gay) and just play along with everyone in general. Originally he typed in the same colour as Dirk only changing it when he would chat with Dirk but, he preferred red so he kept it always rather than remaining orange. I don’t know what else to say other than Hal is great and is an Alpha kid to me

TT: You used to think this shit was hilarious. TT: But if you want the rad dimension of ironic horseplay I add to your life to come to an end, then all you have to do is honor the promise you made. TT: You've delayed long enough, don't you think? TT: The empty kernelsprite beckons, but for how much longer? TT: Do you really think you can keep the clown at bay with your bribes forever? TT: How many bottles of orange soda have you appeased him with already?

Anyways next up for my classpecting and everything will either be Chell or Spacecore as those two are the closest to being finished thus far