#or perform basic system maintenance

[dirt-nerd]

Yes this! I know so many people- and weirdly often younger people- who take terrible care of their computers! Like laptops shouldn't be running like ass after only 2 years! Most forms of technology have some form of basic maintenance requirements that people really need to take the time to learn if they care about sustainability!

As much as I agree that programmed obsolescence is definitely a thing I also think some people are very careless.

Like, if you break your phone after 1,5 years every time but the average is 2,5 (I’m being very generous here because I’m very clumsy and my phone is nearly 6 years old) then the problem is you.

If your 9 yo computer is slower than a grandpa but then someone else come, wipe out everything on it and now it’s a sightly disable 25 years old speed wise then buying a new computer won’t truly resolve the problem because the problem is you.

Same with books, cable, bag, clothes,…

‘Don’t change if it isn’t broke’ is good ONLY if you take care of your stuff. There is no difference between someone buying a new shirt every month because they want to and you having to buy a new shirt every month because you are damaging them.

*of course I’m talking in equivalent situations. If you break your phone every year because you have a job that makes you it more likely for whatever reason that it will break then you aren’t in this situation. If you break thing more often because you are poor and you can’t buy things of better quality then you aren’t in this situation. Same with disabilities that make it more likely to be clumsy or rough in your movement Etc

[inbabylontheywept]

Soviet Birds.

The secret facility that I work in has holes in the ceiling. We don't know how to get them fixed.

We tried asking the government to fix it, once. We told them that the holes in the older parts of the facility had gotten large enough to fit birds through, and that birds were getting through, and that, perhaps, a Soviet Spy could fit through as well.

After all, it is well known that Soviet Spies and pigeons are approximately the same diameter.

Our hope was that that this vague and nonsensical threat would put a little fire under Uncle Sam's feet. If the fed couldn't be bothered to give a shit about the giant gaping holes in the roof of our facility, perhaps they could be persuaded to give a shit about... Soviet Spies.

This attempt at manipulation 100% blew up in our faces.

See, the government does not need to be persuaded to give a shit about Soviet Spies. It still wakes up most nights, drenched in cold sweat, terrified and confident that a Soviet Spy is hiding in their nightstand. If it sees a rock on the ground, it flips it over, pistol drawn, ready to shoot the Soviet Spy it fully expects to slither out from underneath. Which is to say: The government is crazy. So when we dropped those two words - inflitration risk - in the repair request, they came in guns-a-blazin'.

Does that mean that they fixed the roof? Of course not. Don't be stupid. No, instead of performing basic maintenance, they installed a state of the art alarm system throughout the facility - lasers, sonar, the works - and told us to always be on the guard. Because of the roof holes.

Then they left.

So now we had an extremely good alarm system... and birds. Which have combined in incredibly obvious and predictable ways to produce an unending fountain of problems.

For Example: About once a month, someone gets called in by the local airforce dispatch because AAAAAAAAAAA a Spy is in the Rad Lab! We're all gonna die! Except every time, it's a bird. And I get why we have to check, but every time, the dispatcher is panicked and the person going out has to be like listen, listen: It's a bird. It's always a bird. It's been a bird every month for the last fifteen years. It will be a bird next month. All this stress? Bad for your heart.

Second Example: Sometimes, birds get in while we're actually working. And when it's in the morning, you know, it's a nuisance, and it stops testing (we are not going to risk irradiating a bird) but it's not an all-hands-on-deck situation because it doesn't take ten hours to get a bird out. But surprisingly often, the bird gets in riiiiight at closing time, and in that situation, everyone goes feral because nobody can leave until the alarm is set, and we cannot set the alarm while the bird is there, because the bird would immediately trigger it and then we'd have to stay another 4 hours to confirm that it was not a Soviet Bird.

So in order to go home, everyone's top priority is Get That Bird. And we have a system for it.

Step 1: The test stands tend to be located in rooms with 30+ foot ceilings. We can't catch birds in places like that - so we have to lure the bird into the relatively low ceilinged (8 feet only) upper offices.

We do this by turning all the lights off in the test rooms, then putting floodlights by the exits. I don't know why this works - some kind of evolutionary brain fragment shared by both Bugs and Birds - but work it does. The birds almost always follow after the lights. From there, it’s just two guys moving the floodlight and a third guy to turn off the lights.

Step 2: Everyone else has been waiting for this step. There is this long stairway up from the basement level into the offices, and in the final stage, the floodlights are brought to the base of the stairwell to bring the bird up. At the top of the steps there will be a group of tennish people, waiting for the signal. The light guys will set up the final transfer, everyone will tense, and then, swish...a bird will flit up the stairs and into the offices.

It's like watching werewolves on a full moon. Before the bird cometh, we are engineers. Nerds. Pale and skinny things, trembling under the fluorescent lights. After the bird, we are beasts. Feral, gnawing things, glowing under the orange sunrise of the 70's halogen floodlights.

And like all beasts, we cannot help but give chase.

Step 3: The were-engineers begin the hunt. The goal at the start is not really to catch the bird - just exhaust it. So the pack simply does not relent. Because the stakes are going home on time, the group is basically given free reign to go anywhere in the building. If someone's door is open, and the bird goes inside, they're going to have to deal with ten sweaty panting maniacs leaping around their office. They don't get to say that they're busy, or remark on how all this movement is a terrible distraction. They are allowed to sit in silence during the chaos, and perhaps thank the war party for chasing the bird while they sat comfortably on their ass. This has been explained several times, and it will continue to be explained until cooperation is achieved.

Anyway.

The chase can go on for quite some time. Sometimes, the bird will get tired and find a crevice to hide in, where it can then be reached through standard cornered-bird catching techniques.

Other times, it will slow down enough that someone can actually yoink it out of the air. But this will go on until someone catches the bird and triggers Step 4.

Step 4: The Finale. This is the get-the-bird-out-of-the-building stage, and it requires someone to adopt a specific role: To Become the Sacrificial Vessel of Bird Removal.

This job is both coveted and feared. It's coveted, because holding a wild bird in one's hands is a precious thing. To feel how small, and fragile, and scared it is, only to free it from the building? That is what it's like to be a benevolent God. But the cost! Oh, the cost. The entire time the Vessel is in motion, the bird will be biting the hell out of their fingers. And I cannot emphasize enough just how painful bird bites are. Their entire face is a set of needle posed pliers, and they know tricks the even the cartels haven't figured out yet. So there's always a little hubbub about who shall be The Vessel while onlookers, stranded outside The Office of Bird Capture, can only look on. Quiet arguments and pleas are heard, little fragments of fear and pride and glory trickling out of room like the silver dust left behind in a bag of well shook quarters. The sound of concensus is silence, and the argument will go on until that's all that's left. And then, from the darkness of the final office, the chosen sacrifice will step forward: Hands gently cupped, tears streaming down their face, fingers trembling from the pain of the ongoing bird chomps.

And this scene is what organizes people. Not leadership, not truly. No one can think and coordinate a crowd while their fingers are being attacked with a combination nutcracker/ear piercer. But the crowd sees the suffering of their annointed, and it is driven to do everything poossible to make the process flow. People instinctively flair out, finding the fastest path outside. Doors are held open. Paths are cleared. Someone, somehow, always knows the way forward and can describe it to the sufferer. Left, left, forward. Corner closet. Yep, there's a hall in there. Forward. Two-hundred more feet man, you're doing great. Just hold it together a little longer. You're killing it.

Then the final door swings open, and the bird flees out into what remains of daylight. And yet, even here, the deed is not yet done. I cannot explain it in words, but the crowd that helped is never content until they can see and speak on the Bird Vessel's wounds. They all have to pull the fingers back and see what was given. Estimate the price: One day to get better - No, three - No, a week! Are you blind? Do you see that blood blister? -Yeah, that's not going away anytime soon - Damn, can you believe how feisty those things are? Like wolves without teeth.

(They cannot help but touch as they go. It has always been this way. Even Thomas was not content until he felt the wounds in Christ's hands.)

Only when the last of the helpers has seen, and commented, and commended, will the engineers scatter. It is their return from the underworld that announces to the sun living surface dwellers that they too can go home. (@somerunner tolja it needed to be a post.)

[robin-evry]

what if!!! hear me out 🙏🙏 yuu was a robot/miku inspired…IT SUCKS but like…miku kinda..yuu mikyuu…😓😓

Sure no worries, no judgement from me, ask and you shall receive

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐔𝐔 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐎𝐓 🤖👾🎤

A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. But they can act independently if their creators allow it.

( English is not my first language )

Day 3 : robot!yuu

In a world full of technology and robots. Robot!yuu was the number one idol during that time and was in the number one group of the century ; vocaloid, imagine during the middle of a performance one of their solo concerts, a black carriage arrived and they suddenly shut down.

They turned on when it was an orientation ceremony. Since robot!yuu isn't technically an organic being, they would be put between the ignihyde dorm or ramshackle.

After Crowley gave them a cellphone or asked idia if he could do maintenance to connect them to social media of twisted wonderland, by doing this they started to upload their albums towards the internet and it blew up, people are loving it, it's getting headlines about a new genre of music, and the music getting about stream by millions around the world, Robot!yuu created a genre of music. A revaluation towards the music Industry.

This managed robot!yuu to get rich overnight and allowed them to buy more expensive and to fix the ramshackle dorm more to get more expensive technology for their maintenance, Robot!yuu was planning on giving half of the money to Crowley as a thanks but he only received 1/4 half of the money.

Even tho robot! yuu is an idol, their master builds them with an offensive and defensive system, they have extremely tough metal that is hard to find as well an offensive mode, they have a lot on their arsenal attacks, energy beams, rocket launchers, shield mode, and more.

They are also able to connect to any device and hack it without any issue, they manage to hack ignihyde technology without an issue. And they are waterproof

Robot!yuu also can digest and drink things without an issue, they have a special component on their stomach to make sure they can digest things normally.

During VDC they dominated the competition. Lasers, mist appears and light sticks wave around for their presence. They change outfits depending on the song, it was literally a Miku concert.

Congratulations neige Leblanc is now one of their fans, when going down the stage, he literally ran towards you and started asking a billion of questions with stars amongst their eyes

Vil was a little sour but also amazed about robot!yuu performance, he would ask them for choreography and music ideas from them as well as fashion opinions. He originally wanted robot!yuu to transfer into ignihyde but they refused due to ignihyde has the complete equipment for them or ramshackle.

Pomifiore dorm started to take notes and tried robot!yuu fashion styles. Idia is also a supporter of them and basically a super fan, robot!yuu would come to ignihyde to help him with games or help him maintain ortho, Robot!yuu is basically a sister towards Idia and Ortho.

sorry if it's short, this is by far I could come up anon

[dailyzedaphfacts]

Fun fact!

Zedaph knows how to perform basic maintenance on Decked Out 2! He was properly taught on how to retrieve stuck decks from the system but he's had experience fixing the redstone as early as day three of the game!

As Jevin stated, if anyone can fix the game besides Tango, it's Zed.

(source 1, source 2)

[sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog]

You may wonder what this whole Awesome Coffee Club thing is all about. Today I was reminded what it’s all about:

In 2019, the unpaid intern who runs this tumblr account visited Sierra Leone’s Kono District. Kono is the among the most impoverished communities in the world due to a long history of enslavement, colonialism, and civil war. A decade ago, Kono’s healthcare system was in a state of collapse--clinics had no running water or electricity or paid staff, and inconsistent supplies of medications and other necessities.

As a result, Kono was the epicenter of the global maternal mortality crisis: One out of every seventeen women could expect to die in childbirth. Over 10% of children died before the age of five. 

Beginning in 2014, Partners in Health began working with Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health to bring change. This started with the basics at the region’s hospital, Koidu Government Hospital: running water, 24-hour electricity, and hiring nurses, community healthworkers, cooks, facilities management staff, and so much more. 

At the time, KGH’s maternity ward had a dirt floor. Many people were dying for want of an emergency C-section or a blood transfusion. By 2019, this was getting better--two functioning operating rooms were able to perform C-sections, and a blood bank could address postpartum hemorrhaging. But it was still inadequate, and maternal and child mortality were horrifyingly routine.

To address the crisis, PIH Sierra Leone directors Jon Lascher and Dr. Baillor Barrie wanted to build a world-class maternal and child health center that could save thousands of lives yearly while also serving as a teaching hospital to train the next generation of Sierra Leonean healthcare workers. They told us they needed $25,000,000 to break ground, and would probably eventually need another $25,000,000 to support the hospital’s operation over its first few years.

I am, as unpaid interns go, doing quite well, but not THAT well. So our family committed what we could and asked others to join us, and within two years, we passed that $25,000,000 goal. Together, we’ve now raised close to $40,000,000. 

Today, I visited the site of the Maternal Center of Excellence, the first wards of which will hopefully open next year. Nearly all of the construction team are from Kono, and 65% of them are women--they work as welders, engineers, planners, laborers, and so much more. You see three of them above. I had the privilege of talking with them about this project. The young woman to the right, Success, told me that her dream is to work for the hospital her whole life, helping to maintain and support it. One of the other women told me, “We are passionate about this work because it is the future of our country. And we know that we and our friends will someday give birth here.” I am so proud that our projects support their training and livelihood, and so grateful to have them as colleagues in this work.

The hospital--which will include over 100 maternal beds, a NICU, and enough operating suites to perform over 10 emergency C-sections per day, will also require ongoing funding for staff, stuff, systems, maintenance, and more. Our hope is that open-ended projects like the Awesome Coffee Club and Awesome Socks Club can help provide that funding, although the most efficient way to support this project is to donate directly! 

So that’s why this tumblr, and the awesome coffee club, exists. World-class maternal and infant healthcare is coming to Kono, a wonderful and  too long impoverished by colonialism and extractive capitalism. It is only a first step. There is so long to go. But what a first step.

[themirokai]

now I wanna know- why isn't drinking water free in the US?

Hi there friend! Thanks very much for taking the bait from this post. Buckle up, this is a long one.

If you want to put out a cistern and collect rainwater and use that, congratulations! Your water is free! Plus the cost of maintaining your cistern and keeping it clean. If you’re lucky enough to live somewhere with a high enough water table to have a well, then your water is also free + the cost of the well and well maintenance.

But if you want water to come out of your tap on demand and you can’t or don’t want to maintain a cistern and you can’t or don’t want to have a well… you need public water!

How do we get public water? Well, a government entity (usually. there are some private utilities, but that’s a different post. I have strong feelings) has rights to take water out of a river or a lake, or they have a reservoir, or they have access to an aquifer. Then they have to transport the water out of the source. This generally requires aqueducts or massive pipes, which are expensive and need to be maintained, which is also expensive. The pipe leading out of one of my utility’s reservoirs is 12 feet in diameter.

Does the water go directly from the source to your home? Nope! It gets piped to a water filtration plant! The process of modern water filtration is complicated but it involves both physical and chemical treatment to make sure the water isn’t carrying any parasites, harmful bacteria, or pollutants and it has the right pH. Not only are these filtration plants extremely expensive to build and maintain but the process of operating them is extremely expensive, both in terms of hiring skilled staff and having appropriate materials for the filters and chemical treatment.

After the treated water (called “finished water” in the biz) is ready it does get piped to your house.

If you use public water, do you know where your local water filtration plant is? No? That probably means it’s not in your immediate neighborhood, which probably means it’s several miles or more away. To get to your house, the water needs to travel through an extensive pipe network. These pipes are smaller but they have to remain pressurized so that no contaminants can get into the water on its way to your house. But pipes break! Especially if you live somewhere with a freeze/thaw cycle. Maintaining this pipe network is, you guessed it, expensive! It requires materials and extremely skilled workers who perform in very very difficult conditions. Plus lots of engineering to keep the whole system pressurized even when one part of it breaks. Oh, and you know what lots of pipes were made out of in the early 20th century? Lead! So all around the country utilities need to make extensive and costly infrastructure upgrades because now we know lead pipes are really freaking bad.

Okay, so you get the basic picture. And I haven’t even gotten into Safe Drinking Water Act compliance, but most of that happens at the filtration plant. Oo! Or desalinization because some utilities pull their water from the sea and need to take the salt out. I know basically nothing about this except that it is likely complicated and expensive to do at scale.

This is essentially why I get frustrated by people who argue “why should we pay for something that falls out of the sky?” Because finished water doesn’t fall from the sky and it sure as hell doesn’t fall from the sky into your faucet. (Side note: as a public utility official I have been screamed at by the “it falls from the sky” people. A thing I like about the private sector is that people scream at me a lot less.)

Now, there is a very strong argument to be made that because water is necessary for human life, it should be provided by the government for free to everyone. And just like the costs of roads or public education, this should be part of the public budget and paid for by taxes and no one should have a water bill. I don’t disagree with this. I’m sure that’s how it’s done in some countries.

I don’t have a well-researched answer on the history of water utilities but I do have some facts and some (very) educated conjectures. Water rights in the US are complicated (another separate post!) but they’re based on private ownership. Ever since white people came to this country people have been claiming ownership over water and charging each other money for taking water out of rivers or lakes or the ground. You can measure how much of it someone uses and charge them for it. Water is treated like a commodity because unlike other public goods, it *can* be treated like a commodity and then, you know, capitalism. Again, I’m not saying that’s right.

But as a society, if we believe that no one should have a water bill, then we need to figure out how to pay for all the very expensive steps in the process I outlined at the top. Could that just be taxes? Sure, if you have a system that supports taxes at that level. Do I believe that public funding of water infrastructure would be a fuckton better than a lot of things we use taxes for now? Absolutely! But that requires massive institutional change and this isn’t generally an issue that people know enough about to demand change.

If you read this far, congratulations! You now know more stuff about drinking water!

[dimespin]

What are the social implications of saratoans deciding to live outside the house system? What are some difficulties a pair who decides they want to live on their own might face? What are some of the advantages?

A lot of professions tend toward living this way so that the person can live in the same building as their office or business - it's especially common with people who work with secret, private or valuable information or materials, where reducing the number of people constantly walking around the area helps make security simpler, and maintaining a quiet home work space is desirable.

Lawyers, spellwriters, librarians, and accountants often live separately from their family in smaller homes, depending on the kind of work they do in their fields.

For that reason, while it's viewed as eccentric and antisocial, possibly curmudgeonly, and often seen as shirking family responsibility to some degree, it still has an air of respectability. Professional recluses (Atlas fits the stereotype basically)

Not everyone who chooses that lifestyle has the benefit of a respected career though, they tend to be viewed more negatively in that case, often associated with having troubles too great to allow a person to live with others or being too toxic even for the houses that take just about anyone like dead houses (like PenWell's) often do.

The pros: more control over one's own life, reduced responsibility for others (like avoiding being roped into childcare with no warning), less involvement in complicated family drama, fewer interruptions or disruptions of your work,

The cons: more responsibility for basic home management planning and chores (getting food, tracking when things will run out, tracking and paying bills, cleaning, building maintenance etc., - in the normal house system these are elder duties to either perform or keep track of and assign to others), more expensive due to economy of scale, risk of social deprivation and the negative effects to mental health that that causes, less social support when they need it if they haven't maintained relationships

[isolaradiale]

November was perhaps the most frustrating time of the year for Ofiuco. The Stars were always running maintenance on the island's functionality, making sure that even in a worst case scenario there would still be systems to fall back on if things went wrong outside of their own plans. It didn't happen often, but sometimes things slipped in that they didn't intend on.

But every November the Stars performed a big backup of the island's data. It was a lot of work, and involved pausing the city altogether so that the citizens that lived there had no idea that anything was amiss. That day, in this year's case November 8th, would feel like it had happened to them. Even though it actually hadn't.

"Why does this always fall on me to do? It's boring..." Ofiuco knew the reason. Her main body had evolved past her original schematics, but her robot body within the island's setting had all of the tools installed to make the data backup easier. None of the other Stars were allowed to touch that body since it was an extension of herself.

Ofiuco wasn't focused on the task at hand like she should have been though, so she didn't notice that she had accidentally hit the wrong button. "OOPS!?" At least until it was too late. Just like that, everyone's data in the city had been wiped. "...Good thing this is why we have backups in the first place." Everyone in the city was reconstructed from that backup, but something was wrong. Something that Ofiuco didn't catch at all.

All of the character data had been reinstated but it was jumbled. Characters were recreated as if they came from different worlds altogether, which would lead to a crisis that only some were able to realize. But how long would it take for the Stars to notice?

WHAT'S GOING ON?

Welcome to our last new event of 2024, ALTERNATIVE ALLEGORY!

Ofiuco made a little oopsie that slipped past her radar and accidentally deleted everyone's character data during the yearly big backup. Good thing she had the previous day's basic backup to reinstate them!

But something corrupted the backup, and while all of the characters were reinstated, all of the data has been jumbled up.

Because of this, the characters have been recreated as if they were from different worlds altogether.

Think of this as a chance to design an AU for your character, like Lloyd Irving from Tales of Symphonia as if he were an Ace Attorney character, for example!

All threads must be set on November 9th or later. The characters will believe they lived through November 8th, but the city was in maintenance mode on that day and wasn't actually active!

This event will run until 11:59:59PM EST on Friday, November 29th!

WHAT ARE THE RULES FOR DESIGNING OUR CHARACTER'S AU?

You can pick any series from the masterlist to design an AU version of your character from! You only require mun permission if you're using an original character's world instead. You cannot use a series that is not on our masterlist.

You can design an entire backstory for that character as if they're from that world, however you must abide by our fandom OC policies. This means you cannot give them direct ties to any characters from that canon.

Similarly, you can give them powers or change their appearances according to the setting but must abide by our fandom OC policies regarding what is or what isn't acceptable. That means you can't give them any powers that rival or surpass the main characters. Powers are uncapped for this event so this isn't too limiting.

You aren't required to AU your character if you don't want to! That said, if you want participation for this event you will need to write with someone who is AUed.

Whether your character realizes they have been AUed and remember their original canon or not is up to you! Do whatever you think works better for what you plan!

You can change your character's AU if you'd like! You're not bound to one for the whole event, you can have several!

To make it easier for others to keep track of what you've done, we recommend making a post describing the AU and everything that has changed.

If you have any questions about the event, please send them to the masterlist! We will not be answering them in the Discord server so that everyone can see the answers!

[usafphantom2]

This is not a picture of a manufacturing assembly line

This is a picture of the SR 71 Program Depot Maintenance (PDM) input back shop at site 2 Palmdale, California. Directly under the titanium panels are the fuel tanks.

The triangle-shaped panels were for reducing the radar cross-section. Everything about this beautiful SR 71 had to be invented because of the high heat; traditional sealants to seal the panels would break due to the extreme temperature range from very, very cold outside to very, very hot inside the plane.

The SR-71 was trucked from Burbank, assembled at Palmdale, and Flight Tested, then delivered to Beale.

SR-71s would disappear while being rotated in and out of maintenance, so there is no certain tail number that only stayed at, for instance, Beale, Okinawa, or Mildenhall. I once asked my father Butch Sheffield, which SR-71 did you fly in? and he said ALL of them.

This picture shows a full-blown phased inspection where the entire aircraft and systems were thoroughly inspected. Every 800 hours, the plane would be sent south to Palmdale, California, for the Periodic Depot-level Maintenance (PDM) inspection performed by the Lockheed Skunk Works. This six-month-long inspection is where the aircraft is basically taken apart, inspected, modified, upgraded, put back together, and flight tested.

When making the A-12/SR -71 at Palmdale, they had trouble dealing with the titanium. Lockheed engineers used a titanium alloy to construct over 90 percent of the SR-71. Titanium was challenging to work with and unavailable in the United States in large amounts. It was available in Russia!

Lockheed did have a big problem early on;it discovered that spot-welded parts made in the summer were failing very early in their life, but those welded in winter were fine.

They eventually tracked the problem to the fact that the Burbank water treatment facility added chlorine to the water they used to clean the parts to prevent algae blooms in summer but took it out in winter. Chlorine reacts with titanium, so they began using distilled water from this point on.

Linda Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

[bekolxeram]

I feel like no one is asking the important question ever since the pre-8x05 interview with Oliver came out...

Robinson R22

It's small, it's lightweight, it's fast, it's agile, the 2-seat Robinson R22 is the Cessna 152 of the rotary world, meaning it's by far the most popular model for basic pilot training.

Everything from its 2-bladed semi-rigid teetering rotor system, to its T-bar cyclic design keeps the production and maintenance costs of the R22 to a relatively affordable level, hence allowing more aspiring pilots to achieve their dream without breaking the bank. Due to its popularity, employment opportunities are also easier to come by. Once you've successfully gotten your flight instructor license, you can basically accumulate flight hours while earning money by instructing other students.

Please don't be mistaken, the R22 is popular among student pilots solely for its cost effectiveness. It's in no way an easy helicopter to fly. Because it's so light, the controls are extremely sensitive, some may even say twichy. The first 10 or so hours in the R22 can be quite a frustrating experience. Instead of you flying the chopper, it'll feel like it's flying you, that it has a mind of its own. Even the most experienced former military pilots who spent their entire career flying attack helicopters may feel like they're writing cursive in the sky for their first couple of hours in the R22 before slowly getting used to it. But if you manage to tame this beast, you can basically learn to fly anything.

The Robinson rotor system design also makes it very susceptible to mast bumping. (Yes, even more so than other similar teetering rotor designs) While it can be prevented by adequate pilot training (to avoid instinctively overcontrolling the aircraft), once it happens and the rotor separates from the mast, it's basically always a death sentence.

But the most important factor that may disqualify the R22 as BuckTommy's training helicopter of choice, is its lack of cabin space and low weight limit. It has a maximum cabin width of 3.7 feet, which is cramped even for normal sized people, let alone our 2 human tanks. Not only will they be pressed flush against each other (kinda hot ngl), their shoulders will be squeezed tight by the doors, which makes the overall flying experience very uncomfortable, even a bit limiting. The maximum weight the R22 can carry, including fuel, luggage and occupants, is 490 lbs. If you want to have enough fuel to last for more than 30 minutes, that leaves you only 400 lbs to spare. I strongly suspect the combine weight of these beefcakes exceeds that number.

Robinson R44

The Robinson R44 is basically the bigger, 4 seat version of an R22. It has all the advantages of the R22 in terms of performance, cost effectiveness and abundance of employment opportunities (It's the most produced piston engine helicopter), with the added bonus of a more spacious cabin, a higher weight limit (it's designed for 4 occupants after all) and less sensitive controls as it's quite a bit heavier.

It still has the same heightened risk of mast bumping, and it's more expensive to rent and operate than the R22 (seeing that it's double the size).

A unique advantage of starting your pilot training in the R44 is that once you get your PPL (private pilot license), you've already had enough experience in a 4 seater and you can immediately take your friends and family to the sky with you, no transition or additional training needed. I think Buck will appreciate that.

Schweizer S300

Unlike the Robinsons, the Schweizer S300 was designed especially for training purposes, so it's much more forgiving to fly for student pilots.

It has a 3-bladed fully articulated high inertia rotor system, making it very stable in flight and eliminating the issue of mast bumping. Its conventional but clean cockpit design also makes the learning experience more straightforward. The cabin can be configured into a 2 pilot training setup, or a 1 pilot+2 passengers one, so naturally, the cabin is quite spacious as well.

It has a traditional cyclic in the middle for controls, instead of the T-bar in Robbies.

One possible downside of the S300 is the lack of an RPM governor, meaning pilots have to manually adjust the throttle to maintain rotor speed when maneuvering the helicopter. It adds a bit of workload, but it's not hard getting used to.

The major problem with this aircraft is the giant flat windshield in the front creating enormous amount of drag. It may be suitable for training, but absolutely not for any medium to long distance leisure flying. Its range is quite short, and if you run into strong headwind, it can be veeeerrrryyyyy slooooooooowwwwwww.

Guimbal Cabri G2

Watch out, she's the new hot chick kid on the block. She's young, she's smooth, she's cool and she's from France. (Cue gone girl cool girl speech) First introduced in 2008, this bird was designed to be the ultimate training helicopter, combining the sleek aerodynamic fuselage and lightweight 2 seat configuration of the R22, but with extra space for comfort, and the stability and controllability of the Schweizer S300, without the added drag. It's fast, agile, but at the same time safe and comfortable.

Designed by a former Eurocopter engineer, the Cabri G2 has many modern systems in place to ensure the safety of the inexperienced student pilot.

It has a glass cockpit with fully integrated flight computer system. Unlike flying the Robbies, where you only have a analog fuel gauge, the Cabri G2's system constantly calculates and shows you the estimated time you have left in the air with your current amount fuel.

It has a 3-bladed articulated main rotor just like the Schweizer, so mast bumping is not an issue either, but it also has the added protection of a shrouded tail rotor called a Fenestron, which is a trademark of Eurocopter (known as Airbus Helicopter now).

Instead of being exposed to the element like traditional tail rotors, the Fenestron type is housed in a sort of window in the tail to protect it from striking foreign object in flight, thus greatly enhancing its safety.

Like all aircrafts designed in the 21st century, it's largely made out of light composite material, so it can be spacious and sophisticated without compromising on weight.

The Cabri G2 was designed to be very crash resistant. According to the manufacturer, the seats can withstand shocks from a crash with as high as a 2000 fpm descent rate. Its fuel tank is also incorporated with resistant technology to prevent a fuel fire post crash.

With the Cabri G2, learning to fly a helicopter has never been safer, comfier and cooler.

I can't hide my bias to this hot chick beautiful bird, she's just that good, but she's also very hard to find and super expensive to rent. Over 6866 Robinson R44 were ever built, but the new girl Cabri G2? Just around 300. It's very expensive to rent, the hourly rate comparable to a 4 seat R44, simply due to its rarity. But Tommy works in the industry? I'm sure he can pull some strings for his boyfriend if the G2 is what he wants.

Turbine helicopters

The previous 4 models are all powered by piston engines. They're cheaper, easier to maintain, but not powerful enough for bigger utility helicopters operated by the military or authorities. If your goal is to work for those institutions, you'll eventually have to gain experience in a helicopter with turbine engines.

So why not start in a turbine helicopter, you asked? Well, they're super expensive to rent. The hourly rates for the above 4 models are all in the hundreds, but for a turbine one, like the AS350 (the one Tommy flew to the cruise ship and to Vegas with Eddie), it's in the thousands.

Although we're talking about Tommy "knows a guy" Kinard, who magicked a whole AS350 news helicopter for his personal trip to a fight in Vegas, and Evan "trust fund baby" Buckley here. I guess they can somehow get a giant turbine one without any problem like us commoners. They're easier and more fun to fly anyways. (Faster but more stable.)

[nellywrisource]

Worldbuilding through cultural anthropology series – #0 What is culture?

This series aims to serve as a guide for worldbuilding centered around culture and its various components, based on the theories of cultural anthropology. 

To start, let's understand what culture is. Anthropologically, we define culture as the set of acquired abilities and habits shared by a group of people; the elements of this set are called cultural facts. Culture does not encompass behaviors linked to the instinctual sphere of humans.

What are the basic facts of culture?

It is holistic, meaning that each fact must be interconnected with the others. In other words, every cultural fact should have an explanation that links to another and does not contradict it.

It is dynamic, selective, and adaptive. It means it is not immutable and does not stratify over time; instead, it changes, modifies, and adapts to the surrounding environment and historical period. Some cultural facts may be lost and thus extinguish due to adaptation. Generally, cultural facts persist when repeated over time.

It is operational, meaning it includes ingrained and automated habits and behaviors, as well as worldviews (these automated cultural facts make up a habitus [what is habitus?]).

In a globalized world, it has blurred boundaries. Cultural facts can be shared, and differences between one culture and another are subtle.

It is maintained through transmission. As we mentioned, cultural facts are acquired, and transmission is the process that allows the acquisition and maintenance of cultural facts in generations, along with forms of memorization and externalization of memory (mythologies, proverbs, poetry, etc…). Transmission can be:

Explicit: a parent directly teaching a behavior to a child or sharing a worldview.

Implicit: a child observing their mother peel potatoes in a certain way and learning to perform the same actions by imitation without explicit instruction.

When creating your cultural group, consider these fundamental traits for every aspect of its culture.

What are the cultural facts considered by anthropology nowadays?

Worldview

Cosmogonies/cosmologies

Religions

Magical systems and beliefs

Categories and forms of judgment

Values and symbols

Corporeal systems

Production systems

Settlement systems

Livelihood systems

Power systems

Social relationship systems

Forms of memorization and externalization of memory

We'll explore some of these as we continue with this series.

This blog is supported through tips here on Tumblr. If you’d like to support me, please consider giving a tip.

[paperback-rascal]

This illustration is tied to an idea I came up with @kalm5, after I binge watched videos about various vending machines.

The explanation of the premise is under the cut/read more!

Enjoy!

What if clones have only a set amount of meals per rotation? no snacks, no nothing - just the basic, the most effective meals evenly spread out throughout the day. It’s the only food they have. The only unlimited food item available to them without restriction is water... just plain water.

However, there are vending machines scattered throughout every Kamino training facility that can be used by clones for additional snacks (or even more “luxurious” items such as salt/sugar/spices, better grade chocolate, authentic caff/tea, weak beer/alcohol, etc.). The vending machines also have limits of items a clone can get per rotation to limit potential abuse of the system.

The availability of such items is depended on the status quo and performance score each clone has and develops over the years (the score is stored at the forearm chip, so to use a vending machine clones have to swipe their wrists against it’s panel) - the bigger the score the broader assortment of items are available.

Cadets get their points based on their exam scores, battle simulation statistics, etc.

The score clones got in their youth are later transferred as a base score at the beginning of their military career.

The success rate, performance on the field, getting medals, etc. is later added to it - raising it. It also can be lowered due to misdemeanors, refusal to carry on orders, breaking rules, etc.

Despite all CT-[numbers] clones having the same baseline of items available, there are variations or perks for each occupation: medics get different additional assortment of items than sappers, who have different perks than gunners, pilots and so on.

Maintenance staff has the same limitations as cadets. So 99 has the same level-access to goods as kids/teens, thus he can get like... Star Wars equivalent of stale salted crackers, granola bars and juice.

A major points boost is a promotion to higher military rank - especially to commanding position or high preference variants like ARCs or spec-ops (it unlocks more options)

The biggest availability, however, have CC-[numbers] clones.

Some of the perks are just simply locked behind a status quo. So even an perfect behavior and 100% success rate wouldn’t give a “plain” CT-number access to for example... alcoholic beverages - it’s only for CC-[numbers]. CC-[numbers] also can be locked out of certain perks if their score gets low enough.

The best example would be captain Rex who despite being a commanding officer can’t get the same items as his college, commander Cody. Due to Rex being a CT-number. So it’s always a bit awkward when he tags along with other commanding officers but he can get an energy drink or black coffee at best.

---

Funnily enough, of all software at Kamino, nothing is so well guarded as vending machines - it’s unhackable while the vending machines are borderline indestructible. It’s the most frequently updated/modified equipment due to clones always finding loopholes to cheat the system.

The origin of the vending machines was that Kaminoans tried to use the idea of conditioned response to encourage clones to train harder and be more obedient in the field - they hoped it would rewire clones brains, linking high performance with luxurious goods.

However what the long necks didn’t accounted for is that clones are well... humans and turned vending machines to social interaction that has an internal structure known only to clones. one of such interaction is that many clones with high performance score would often get items to those with lowered ones - especially at 501st where thinking outside the box is preferable military tactic by their general, thus many clones from 501st would end up with low performance score at Kamino framework despite being the most decorated of soldiers.

The same goes with Clone Force 99 who have 100% success rate, but also accumulated many misdemeanors and complaints.

===

STAR WARS: The Clone Wars/The Bad Batch © George Lucas/ Dave Filoni/ LucasFilm/ Disney

[inbabylontheywept]

can we get more security clearance stories? they are amazing

Yeah, sure. Remember how getting contractors in to perform regular to the maintenance is basically impossible? One of the issues that we have is that the roof is kind of fucked. Like, in the newer sections, it's fine, and in the older sections, it leaks and we just have big barrels to catch the rainwater, and in the oldest sections there are actual holes. Which is crazy, because the oldest sections are where a lot of the tests happen. Those are almost always the most important parts of the facility. And the holes have been a problem for a while, but it is only "recently" (the last ten years) (yes, that is recent in government time) that the holes got big enough to fit birds.

So we have been getting birds into our secret facility.

This causes several issues.

The first issue is that, surprisingly, the people here are gentle, and they don't like seeing birds die. Some of the old hands are pretty jaded about it, and they have tennis rackets that they used to use for uh... bird removal. But the newer batch threw a fit when they suggested that, so now we have to make a big ordeal out of getting the birds out of the building. And if I sound bitter about it, I'm not - I am one of the people that said absolutely no bird smashing. But it is much easier to catch a bird than it is to just smack it out of the air.

(Another layer of difficulty is the whole "working in a labyrinth" thing. The birds have a lot of places to run.)

The second issue is that sometimes we can't get the birds out, and they die in weird places. This isn't just sad - it makes the test areas smell bad for weeks afterwards, and a lot of us spend the majority of our working hours in those locations. So it's sad and gross and stinky.

And the third issue, which is actually kind of the worst, is that government knows about the "perimeter leaks" (IE, large holes in the ceiling) and instead of fixing the holes, they put extra security measures in place. You know, in case spies climb in through the holes. Which means that, unfortunately, instead of getting the holes fixed, we got a state of the art alarm system, complete with motion detection lasers.

So the birds get in, and we actually can't leave until they get out, because they will, and have, and frequently do, trip the alarms. And when the alarms trip, people get called in to check the site and confirm for the 10,000th time that no, it's not Russians: It's birds.

It's always birds.

(Some of the techs actually kind of enjoy those calls during the weekends, because it means free overtime where there's literally nothing asked of them. Getting the "bird alarm" call is just 4 hours of OT where you check the test cell and confirm, no spies, just birds, then sit there and play checkers or read or whatever until the airforce base calls back and says that it seems safe enough for you to go home.)

(Engineers like those calls less, because we don't get time and a half, and we also don't need the cash quite as much as the techs do.)

Anyway, the crazy scenario is when it's like, 30 minutes to quitting, and a bird gets in. Because now we can't leave until we get the bird out. And the scene that happens is actually quite pretty.

So, the first thing that will happen is that there will be yelling downstairs. The downstairs people are always irate about birds getting in close to quitting. The anger is directed vaguely at the bird, and vaguely at the government, and more specifically at whatever absolute fuckhead bought us an alarm system instead of fixing our roof.

The majority of the crowd of grousing engineers and techs will then move into the upper offices. A couple will break off to grab the floodlight and shine it down the stairs, a few more will prop the doors open, and someone will venture back into the basement to turn off the light.

Click, the light goes off, it's dark, there's this big, warm, yellow pool of light just dripping down the stairs like a river of melted butter, and there's a crowd of tennish people + whoever is poking their heads out of the office to watch. No one will be breathing at all... and then, 9 times out of 10, a little bird will flit out of the basement, up the stairs, towards the light, and trigger the apocalypse.

Everyone chases the bird.

The goal at first is not to catch the bird. That's very difficult, and none of us have very good hand eye coordination. The goal is to thunder along and keep the bird from sitting down and having a breather.

We are there to exhaust the bird.

It is just accepted that this thundering herd will go wherever the bird goes. If your office door is open, and the bird flies in, it doesn't matter what reports you're filling out, or what phone call you're on - you are expected to deal with the panting and scrambling and general primal chaos of the hunting party until the bird goes somewhere else. Eventually, the bird will slow down enough that someone can catch it. This is a semi-coveted position, because, yes, you do get to hold a bird in your hand. And holding a bird is a wonderful thing. They are so soft, and so small, and you feel so careful with the poor thing. But also, it will bite you. Always. And the birds out here bite like needle nose pliers. It hurts so bad. I have been the guy holding the bird before, and it's this kind of beautiful scene again - to be standing there, hands cupped gently around this thing that is chewing the fuck out of the squishy webbing between my thumb and my palm. Tears streaming down my cheeks, surrounded by my little hunting party, that is telling me how much further until the nearest exit, opening all the doors for me. Hushed in the silence as they acknowledge my sacrifice. Inspecting the chomps afterwards and giving their opinion on how long it will be until it stops hurting.

I'm getting a little lost in the sauce here and don't really know how to end this. It's a really good job. Wouldn't be half as fun if it was run in a sane and competent manner.

I'll make this into a post at some point.

[burnwater13]

Din Djarin, Boba Fett, Fennec Shand, Cara Dune, and Migs Mayfeld standing on Morak looking at the Imp base there (out of frame). Image from The Mandalorian, Season 2, Episode 7, The Believer. Calendar by DateWorks.

Name that Band!

“What do you mean, ‘Name that Band’? That’s just a vid of me and the people who helped rescue you.”

Grogu sighed at his dad. Din Djarin was so literal at times. 

Grogu knew exactly who was in the vid he was showing his dad. He didn’t need his dad to tell them that some of these people helped him when Moff Gideon had sent the special battle droids after him on Ossus. He’d seen Fennec and Daimyo Fett two days earlier when they had vid night and he introduced them to the ‘Best of Diggle and Daggle’. That had been a lot of fun. The look on Fennec’s face when the giant sand fish crawled out of it’s cave… priceless.

“Grogu, where do you get these things? Did you sign up for some new comms site again? I’ve told you to stay off those things. They’re nothing but bantha scat.”

Wow. Someone was cranky.

“Peli.”

“Uff! I should have known. I asked her to show you how to perform basic maintenance on R-5. What did you two do with that time?”

Grogu wondered if he could fake his dad out with a non-answer answer and then thought better of it. Din Djarin was already cranky about something. His dad normally didn’t care about the stuff Peli and Grogu talked about while she was demonstrating cleaning or data collection techniques. They had actually discussed sensors and ranges and calibrations before they started down a rather fun and funny tauntaun trail.

“Sing.”

“Singing?! The two of you wasted valuable time singing all those old songs she knows? Did she even look at R-5 while you were goofing off?”

Yikes. His dad was really mad now and Grogu hadn’t meant for that to happen. He and Peli had been talking about certain sensors being too sensitive and Peli commented ‘Ya mean like when yer dad gets called on at a sing-a-long?’ 

Grogu had nodded and then he had begun to laugh. Din Djarin hated singing on a good day, although he did it all the time when he was in the privy or the ‘fresher. He hated it twice as much when it happened in public and was a special request as part of someone’s naming day celebration. Everyone knew that but they liked watching him get worked up and then stumble through the song with them. It was nice to know that even the hyper competent Mandalorian Bounty Hunter had something he couldn’t do as well as the average galactic citizen.

“Sensors.”

Again, the truth was the best Grogu could do. He didn’t think his dad was going to patiently listen to the whole story of how they started with a very deep technical discussion of sensors and how their settings made a big difference in how the complex tracking systems on the N-1 worked. Too sensitive and you were tracking scurrier fleas across the desert. Too dull and a bantha could step right in your path and you’d only notice when you were covered in fur. You wanted something in the middle. 

That’s when Peli had offered that how sensitive a device was depended on a lot of factors, like components, packaging, and price. Grogu commented that sounded a lot like people. That’s when Peli made her statement about his dad and Grogu had laughed. Peli had laughed too and said, ‘Just think of it kid, if he was in a band they’d call it Mando and the Wailers!” 

Grogu shook his head and signed to Peli, largely because he couldn’t stop giggling, that the band’s name would have been, “Din Djarin and the Drones”. Grogu had fallen over when he finally got that one out. Peli had loved it and started making up a song that they would have been known for. It had started out ‘I’ll bring you in cold, so cold, so cold, I’ll bring you cold, ice cold, froze cold’. Grogu had loved it and they spent the rest of their time singing songs that were based on things his dad had said and they made no sense whatsoever. It had been a lot of fun. 

When his dad came to get him later that day Grogu was so tired he ate his flash frozen frogs and fell right to sleep. The Mandalorian didn’t have a chance to ask him all about sensors and Grogu hadn’t told him about the song that started, ‘I like those odds, Dank Farrik, I like those odds…”

The next day they had traveled to Freetown to visit Cobb Vanth. His dad and the Marshal had so much to talk about that Grogu had gone to the cantina and spent time with Tanti and Jo. They’d listened to a lot of music and Grogu had taught them some songs he’d learned from Peli. 

Oops. He’d forgotten all about that. Was that why his dad was so annoyed? Grogu looked up the Mandalorian and coo’d thoughtfully.

“Cobb Vanth told me you have a very nice singing voice and I should really ask you to give me lessons. Now, what I want to know is why you’re so comfortable singing in Gal Basic with other people and I just get one word if I’m lucky?”

Dank Farrik!

To be continued…

[mysteryshoptls]

SR Ortho Shroud - Rabbit Gear Vignette

"The Rabbit Imitation Test"

[Clock Town – Race Venue]

Ortho: YAY! WE WON THE RABBIT RUN RACE!

Silver: Ortho, is your body alright after falling into those pitfall traps?

Ortho: Yep. I've done the emergency maintenance on all damaged parts already.

Silver: I see. Well, don't overextend yourself.

Ortho: I have no problem just moving around normally. Thanks for your concern, Silver-san.

Ortho: Since I entered the race without prior planning, I was able to gather a lot of data on what functions I lacked…

Ortho: So when I get back to campus, I'll upgrade my Rabbit Gear right away!

[Ignihyde Dorm – Ortho's Room]

―One week later

Ortho: Oookay. Assembly complete!

Ortho: I repaired all broken parts, so all the Rabbit Gear specs should be vastly improved now.

Ortho: I changed the heavy monocoque body into a ladder frame chassis, so that improved my overall weight.

Ortho: I completely restructured the basic design from the ground up, and restored the anti-gravity system that I had removed.

Ortho: Alright, time to retrofit it and test it out.

[Sports Field]

Ortho: Prototype Rabbit Gear Mk-II activated. All systems green.

Ortho: Starting Performance Test!

Ortho: High-speed mobility…

[tup tup! tup tup!]

Ortho: Satisfactory. Continuing on to Flight…

[ZOOM!]

Ortho: Satisfactory. Landing…

[thup]

Ortho: Satisfactory. Next...

Ortho: Fire the laser!

[BOOOOM!!]

Ortho: The laser power is also satisfactory.

Ortho: Good. All the standard functions are working perfectly.

Ortho: Alright then, it's time for the big one… The Rabbit Imitation Test. First, I have to turn off the flight feature.

Ortho: Perfect. After all, the greatest feature of this Rabbit Gear is that it should imitate a real rabbit.

Ortho: Walking…

[tup tup…]

Ortho: Satisfactory. Movement…

[hop! hop!]

Ortho: Satisfactory. Hopping…

[jump!]

Ortho: Satisfactory.

Ortho: …Hmmm.

Ortho: Everything moved smoothly, and is perfectly stable. The test results are all satisfactory.

Ortho: But… I feel like something's still missing.

Ortho: This Rabbit Gear I designed should be able to become more rabbit-like.

Ortho: What can I do to make it even more like a real rabbit?

[Sports Field]

Ortho: What can I do to make it even more like a real rabbit?

Silver: Is that you there, Ortho?

Ortho: Ah, Silver-san.

Silver: You seem to be wearing your Rabbit Gear. The sight of you in that outfit reminds me of our trip.

Ortho: The shopping we did, the festival and race… That was real fun, huh.

Silver: Yeah. However, why are you wearing your Rabbit Gear here, on campus?

Ortho: Since I finished repairing every part of the Rabbit Gear that broke during the race, I was just doing a function test.

Silver: I see. Has it returned to normal?

Ortho: Yep. And I didn't just fix it, but I overhauled its performance completely.

Ortho: But… I feel like it's still missing the proper rabbit-like characteristics, which is the most crucial aspect of the Rabbit Gear.

Ortho: I don't know what I should do…

Silver: …Ortho, I assume you haven't seen many wild rabbits up close, have you?

Ortho: I've never seen one personally��� But I've gathered data on them from books and the internet. I've also studied a lot of rabbit videos.

Silver: I see. You put in a ton of effort.

Silver: However, there are often differences in seeing the real thing and merely reading about it. The first time I left Briar Valley, there were many things that were new to me as well.

Silver: If you see a real rabbit, you may discover something that helps.

Ortho: Oh, I see. You do have a point, Silver-san. But, what can I do to even meet a real live rabbit?

Silver: In the woods behind the campus, there are many wild rabbits.

Silver: I've had the opportunity to interact with rabbits much in my past. I may be able to be of help. Come with me.

Ortho: Yay! Thanks, Silver-san.

[Woods Behind Campus]

Ortho: We're here in the woods behind the campus, but… Now what?

Silver: If we just wait here, the rabbits should start to make their appearance.

Ortho: Eh, really!? But I read in my books that rabbits are really cautious…

Wild Rabbit: [rustle]

Ortho: Heat source detected. What's that over there…? A rabbit!

Ortho: And it's coming over here! I wonder why.

Silver: I don't really understand why, but… Animals often like to approach me.

Ortho: There's two, three… And more! WOW!

Wild Rabbit: [rustle, rustle]

Ortho: Ah, they ran away.

Silver: They must have been frightened by your loud voice.

Wild Rabbit: [shup]

Silver: That rabbit over there is standing up on its hindlegs and looking over at us.

Silver: It's vigilantly watching us. With its ears perked up like that, it's warily listening for any sounds we make.

Ortho: Okay, I see. Maybe if I move around like that, I'll seem more like a rabbit.

Ortho: Alright, I'm gonna try that.

Ortho: [shup!]

Silver: Yeah. You look just like it.

Wild Rabbit: [pitter, patter]

Silver: It came up to me. I'll pat its head.

Wild Rabbit: [hop! hop! hop!]

Silver: And when it's happy, it hops like this.

Ortho: Like this…? [hop! hop! hop!]

Silver: When you want to run away like they did earlier, you want to quickly make a big jump.

Ortho: Simulating an enemy attack, and… Run upon first contact! [JUMP, JUMP!!!]

Wild Rabbit: [runs in circles]

Ortho: Ah. The rabbit is running in circles around you.

Silver: This looks to be how they move when they want to play.

Ortho: It's a motion to play, okay. [runs in circles]

Wild Rabbit: [thump!]

Silver: When it kicks the ground with its hindlegs that forcefully, it must be angry.

Silver: Perhaps it’s in a bad mood, since I am not playing with it.

Ortho: So it's like its Rage Meter maxed out. [THUMP! THUMP!]

Silver: How is it? Are you starting to understand?

Ortho: Yeah. When I get to see the actual thing shown in front of me, it's so much easier to get!

Ortho: When the motion is linked to a specific emotion, I feel like I'm able to reproduce it so much better.

Ortho: Hey, Silver-san. Teach me about its other actions. The more data I can store, the more I'll be able to put to good use!

Silver: Got it. Next is…

[Ramshackle Dorm]

The next day

Ortho: When relaxing, I lay on my side and kick out my legs.

[lounges about]

Ortho: When I'm in a good mood, I hop around.

[hop! hop! hop! hop!]

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!!

Ortho: Hey, everyone, what do you think of my updated Rabbit Gear Mk-II?

Deuce: You seem to have copied a lot of actual rabbit movements. That's amazing.

Epel: Back when I was a kid, I took care of rabbits, and you're acting just like them!

1. You can do so many things!

Ortho: Yep. I've added a ton of different possible variations in motion.

2. You're just like a real rabbit!

Ortho: Yay! You saying that makes all the testing worth it.

Ortho: Thanks to Silver-san, I was able to greatly improve my Rabbit Gear. Thank you!

Silver: It wasn't anything much. Your desire and motivation was just strong enough. That's all.

Deuce: …Hey, Ortho. Why did you fix the Rabbit Gear in the first place, when you're not going to use it anymore?

Ortho: Well, obviously, so I can wear it during next year's White Rabbit Festival.

Deuce: Eh!? Are you going to come to Clock Town next year too? I guess you really liked the festival.

Ortho: Yep. And let's all win the Rabbit Run Race next year, too!

Epel: EH, ALL OF US!? You mean I have to wear that outfit again…!?

Grim: Then, next time, I'm gonna race too! I'll be the anchor leg of the relay and really stand out!

Ortho: Ehh! I want to be the anchor next time!

Silver: I look forward to next year, Ortho.

Ortho: Yeah. I'll completely smash through all the traps and win it hands down!

Requested by Anonymous.

[artsy-hobbitses]

How does the city speakers thing windblade and lightbright work in this au?

I honestly need to collate all the info bits I've put out before this, but basically, Cityspeakers are coders. Like, computer coders. A very specialised set of coders first pioneered in the Caminus outpost on Venus.

TLDR: This goes back to the Titans (Caminus, Antilla, Velocitron) basically being MASSIVE spacescrafts designed to be turned into interstellar outposts that serve a multitude of purposes for the countries (only large superpower countries OR a collective of countries, like is the case for Caminus, can afford to fund one of these--the costs are, pun intended, astronomical) that launch them, usually mining, but all are part of a larger galactic defense system to prevent another Quintesson-like invasion now that earth KNOWS life is out there, and it isn't always kind.

These spacecrafts are created/equipped with a central AI that helps with the colonisation efforts, whether by terraforming or performing something like the sabatier reaction (a loop of this is how Caminus runs/has a water supply) on a mass scale. They are also very deliberately designed in a way that makes them resemble, at times, literal titans ie. head (usually the administrative centre/where Cityspeakers do their work), body (often the residential sector), arms (sectors such as tech and farming), etc that form different divisions of the settlement and can be retracted if necessary for travel or security purposes.

Because the AI needed to perform these functions is so advanced, it has, to an extent, something resembling near-sentience and due to the massive library of information it retains so it can keep an ENTIRE CITY running, basic coding is not enough. Thus, Cityspeakers became a thing, where exceptional coders would be chosen to bond/link with a Titan and help with the coding for say, new districts, and also general maintenance/upkeep. Windblade and Lightbright used to share Cityspeaker duties for Caminus, roles that were passed on to proteges after Lightbright helmed Lodestar and Windblade began to divide her time between Earth and Venus as Earth's First Delegate. Antilla's Cityspeaker's died at the controls during the end of the Antillan War (timeline in first link below) and as a result, Antilla's coding became corrupted after it melded with his rage and grief, and that in turn twisted it into Unicron.

More information on the Titan Antilla can be found here, while the Titan Metroplex (A runaway titan which did not have an assigned Cityspeaker) is discussed here.