#raise 3d printers

[fireheartedpup]

On the list of things that you need protection to work with safely, lest you develop reactions to lifesaving medical equipment: 3D printers, gel nails, toys that were marketed to children

[foibles-fables]

HZD's opening scene with Rost's exposition & demonstatiom about the tribe's culture & really cool artworks/crafts & also hints of Rost's personal story & Teersa blessing the naming of Aloy is sad to look back on now bc— as mystical & magical as it feels the first time around —all of Rost's exposition feels flat when the Nora are kind of a footnote to brush past/turn away from once Aloy's POV sets in. Even moreso in HFW when all that exposition & lore gets watered down to 2 or 3 "well ig that's the guy who raised her" namedrops in lieu of the futuristic Apple Vision Pros 3D printers AIs & immortal CEO's in X-men suits flying around. As much as the opening is awestriking, it feels like the Horizon games themselves don't really enjoy the world they've built at all & instead push to recenter focus on near-future 21st century corporate tech metropolises that feel so lifeless by comparison to the original hook of the games. I mean, this is obvious just from comparing the amount of "Datapoints"(21st century texts on near-futuristic USB thumb drives) vs "Scanned Glyphs" (actual written material by Aloy's supposed contemporaries). There's like 5 times as many filler useless lore texts written from the POV of a random civilian/tech businessman/USA military personnel complaining about their consumer tech gadgets & robots taking their jobs or w/e vs the amount Scanned Glyphs from contemporary tribal peoples, especially the Nora, Rost's people and culture, which are practically nonexistent despite being the opening sequence that invites players to immerse themselves in their world. After 5 minutes, the games themselves doesn't seem to want to immerse itself into that world or its artistic vision either, & instead yap exposition via holograms for 40+ hours, twice, abt some Ultron/Magneto type villain that feels more & more detached from the original setting.

I do genuinely enjoy the way HZD handled the paralleled storytelling of action taking place in the new world while slowly making piecemeal revelations about the old world, through both main quest information and world datapoints. I think the reason we see fewer glyphs from the new world is that the Carja (adopted by the Oseram) and Quen are the only ones to have a codified system of writing. Which is why I'm glad we got to see the Nora oral history in action during the Proving!

Here's hoping we get to see the Nora in a new light come H3, given Aloy's growth. You're correct that our perception of them was skewed, given the fact that we're playing in Aloy's POV. The Nora are an awesome tribe and I highly recommend folks do some reading about their culture.

I also fully agree, however, that HFW made that full pivot into sci-fi WAY too quickly. We deserved one more game of familiarizing with/leaning into the current world. The idea of stabilizing the biosphere was right there. Again and again, I'll say that the Zeniths would make the perfect culminating threat in game three instead of game two.

[rages-ooc]

Helpless vs. Useless: Chad Charming

Inspired by a poll on the Descendants subreddit asking who the most USELESS AK was, where Chad has taken a severe lead.

Chad Charming is not useless. He’s a great man to have on your side if you need help in literally anything. Chad is helpless, and the difference is absolutely striking in his character-- let me explain.

Chad is never shown as useless. Bumbling at times, sure, but even in those instances he’s never being shown as someone who’s stopped trying and is just in the way, no help at all, not even attempting to help. He’s thrown his entire self into trying to help.

The problem is, Chad is extremely helpless.

When we read the first Isle of the Lost book, we find out from Ben’s perspective that Aurora raised Audrey to never want for anything-- that Aurora’s mentality is that her daughter should never have to suffer like she did. With that in mind, it’s very reasonable & safe to assume that most of the AKs were likely brought up the same way, especially including Chad. Looking at all of the work Cinderella had to do in her life until she met her prince, I find it HIGHLY unlikely Cinderella would have wanted her son to be forced to work for anything he didn’t want to do. So he probably didn’t learn a lot of useful, relevant skills in life, but he definitely learned things like sports, fencing, etc., because it’s what he wanted and excelled in.

Am I positing this as a good thing, no, of course not! But it’s definitely relevant in the discussion today. We see throughout the movies and books he appears in that Chad is trying extremely hard to do better, and at times proves to be far smarter and more helpful than he’s given credit for.

In D2, Chad is revealed to have 3D printed himself a key to Jay & Carlos’ room so he can use their 3D printer. Reasonably? He’s a prince. Chad could easily ask his parents to buy him one. But we learn in School of Secrets Chad has a problem with, ahem, “losing” his phone and just having his parents pay for a replacement. Between that and some other impulsive, likely expensive choices we see him make in this movie and others... it’s very possible his parents wouldn’t buy him one. And so he found a workaround to access what he wants. Is it good, no, but it does establish one thing: Chad is definitely smart enough to get what he wants when he wants it. He’s not useless, he just needs motivation.

And a primary piece of motivation for Chad is Audrey.

In and before D2/leading up to Cotillion, between the movie and Evie’s fashion book, we come to realize Chad has spent a painstaking amount of time trying to get his Cotillion outfit absolutely perfect-- much to Evie’s chagrin, because she notes how picky & persnickety he is in her book/around his sketch. He’s dedicated ages upon ages (& not to mention how much he probably spent) to getting his outfit perfect-- and he drops everything and misses Cotillion entirely to come to Audrey’s rescue over a phone call.

Once again, he’s Chad. If he wants to do something, he will find a way to make it happen-- re, the key. But instead of finding some way around going himself, he goes to help, even though as discussed, he probably doesn’t have the practical skills to help at all.

In Audrey’s diary, she notes that at some point she was on a walk with him, wherein he noted she seemed down, and Chad decided to try and cheer her up by telling her a funny story about Jaques the mouse. She disregards it, & him, but that doesn’t discount it from the Chad side. He saw her upset, he cares about her, he tried to do something to make her feel better. It’s not much good, but it’s what he had & came up with. He’s still trying.

Which brings us to D3. Oh yes, unarguably his motivation was to protect himself. But that doesn’t mean Chad didn’t try at every turn and, when he knew it wasn’t helping, he just did what he was told and accepted that was what he had to do. Still not useless-- he was doing exactly what he intended the entire time: protecting himself. Just helpless-- doesn’t actually have the practical skills to do anything but achieve his own goal of self-preservation.

There are many things I headcanon and believe about Chad. Helpless, clueless, stubborn as a mule, possibly autistic, but definitely not useless. Never useless. He has proven he can be useful so long as he’s motivated to be.

[jacentric]

heres some of my fibers and metalsmithing work if yall wanna see it :) im putting it all under the cut so i can explain them a bit lmao (and theres also a good amount of them)

this one is probably my favorite maybe ever. its a self portrait and i dyed the three colors in the background that arent solids and the patterns in my hair and shirt i designed in illustrator and printed them out on fabric with this rly cool fabric printer. this is also 60x80 inches so its big. and the backing fabric is also fully dyed (the photo on the right featuring my cat helping ofc)

these are little keychains/zipper pulls of pride flags that i dyed most of the colors for (excluding the basic rainbow) and wove on an inkle loom. we sold them to raise money for various queer charities (i started this project after a shooting at a queer club in my state. we donated about $500 to them)

these rings were lost wax cast in sterling silver and bronze. the two on the left are knit and purl stitches and i hand carved them out of wax. the next three are cat food, corn, and a tractor tire and those i designed in a 3d modeling program and 3d printed them out. and the last one is a design from a spoon handle that i took a mold of and then cast.

this one is another favorite. instead of weaving just one solid fabric, this is weaving two at the same time (called double weave) and basically the black butterflies can be/are a seperate fabric than the purple ones. but they are interwoven together to make this pattern. it took foreverrrr to weave this and i came up with the pattern myself. (i was also individually picking up the strands to make the pattern based off of my graph paper sketch)

another weaving here that ended up being like 2x3 feet big. i wove it on a giant frame loom i made. its a tide pool and for our critique i submerged it in water and had a little aquarium pump running to create some waves. a fun fact about this piece was i made it when i first started watching foolish. this took absolutely forever and i watched foolish build the xd statue wings at the same time so we were 'suffering' together XD

i definitely have more to share if anyone wants to see them but ill end with this one for now. this is a copper chain mail pocket that can be used to help dye fabric. i made all of the jump rings myself (winding wire around a dowel and then sawing the spring into rings and which also took forever) and the chainmail pattern is called japanese 6 in 1. there is one slightly bigger and thicker ring with 6 smaller ones coming off of it. and it is so satisfying to hold bc its so heavy and makes such a nice noise. and the fabric dying bit, when dying with natural dyes (marigolds, logwood, etc) you need a mordant that basically allows the color to 'stick' to the fabric. most of the time, ive used alum which comes from aluminum, but copper also works. so i get to skip the step of pre-soaking the fabric in an alum mixture and can instead just put my marigolds into the copper pocket and that will mordant it and the same time its being dyed. you can see the little yellow fabric sticking out of the pocket there and that was dyed using the bag.

anyway if you made it this far down thanks for reading and id looove to talk more about any of this if you have questions or want to see more works of mine,, i have a lot XD :)

[awkwardgtace]

A Normal Afternoon

Day 13 Banter! I went back to the other prompt I got from @da3dm for this one.

Rhys is playing some game while tangled up in his string, his human brothers joke back and forth with him

A Normal Afternoon

Felix sighed as he stared at Rhys. The fourteen year old borrower was currently hanging upside down in front of his face, tangled in the thread he used as a rope. With narrowed eyes Felix poked at the young borrower, more amused than he was letting on. This was at least the fourth time today Rhys had done something like this. He was just waiting for the request to get him unstuck… again.

“I will defeat you Sir Grump!” Rhys shouted. Felix raised an eyebrow.

“Oh?” he smirked. “Why is that?”

“I’m the hero this world needs, the one it deserves!”

“So you’re Batman today?” 

“Fool forgetting the one who’s defeated you so many times!” 

“I think defeating me would mean you don’t get tangled in your own string all the time.” Rhys squeaked, getting a real smile out of Felix.

“I was bitten by the tiniest radioactive spider the world’s ever seen and it made me who I am!”

“Oh so it’s spiderman today.” He shook his head, letting out a sigh that made Rhys start spinning around. 

“You can’t beat me by making me dizzy Sir Grump. I have you trapped right where I want you.”

“It looks more like you’re trapped while I’m casually sitting on the couch under a vent.”

“That’s what I’ve lured you to think, that confidence is your downfall.”

“Why am I Sir Grump anyway? I would think you could pick a better name now that you know more about me.”

Before Rhys could answer, the door to the house opened and Ryder walked in. His black hair had been let down, falling around his face as he carried in a heavy box. More of the things for his 3D printer, or random things he thought Rhys could enjoy. Shockingly the cat tree had gone over fairly well, it helped they didn’t tell him it was a cat tree. 

“Meticuloso. My arch nemesis, you think teaming up with Sir Grump will help you!” Rhys called out. Ryder looked up confused. Felix nodded and Ryder finally noticed the borrower hanging upside down next to him. A grin slipped onto the man’s face as he walked over. “I can beat you both no problem. This trap is nothing to worry about.”

“I thought I was trapped,” Felix quipped. Ryder fell onto the couch next to him. Rhys hung just between them, Ryder slid down a bit so the borrower was between both their faces.

“When did I become an enemy? I thought I was your ally yesterday?” Ryder laughed.

“You can’t fool me Meticuloso, I knew your plan all along. Secretly conspiring with Sir Grump to… to uhm… to…” Rhys trailed off a bit. Felix gave Ryder a look, they were in it now.

“Ah, you’ve caught me in my dastardly plan to take over the world. Only Sir Grump could aid me in my wicked ways.”

“I knew it! I’ll stop you. That’s why I’m spiderman!”

“What is my role in this exactly?” Felix had narrowed his eyes with a smile.

“You’re making the uh… the… The clothes that’s going to take over everyone’s minds!”

Ryder burst out laughing. Felix crossed his arms and leaned closer to Rhys. Like this he could see the tiny bags under the miniscule eyes. The mirth started to leave him, but the grin on Rhys made it hard to be upset. They’d been trying to lock up all the sugar, but it looked like Rhys found his way in… again.

“I think the first thing my dastardly clothes will do is make borrowers hyped up on sugar sleep,” Felix smiled. Ryder made a dramatic gasp next to him.

“That’s truly awful,” he shook his head. A single finger was brought up to poke Rhys. It sent the borrower swinging while circling in the air. “I can’t imagine a worse fate than having to be still with too much sugar.”

“Fiends! I’ll never allow this to happen,” Rhys started to squirm. Felix and Ryder shared a look, he was truly stuck this time. “Sugar is all important. The best way to be awake at all times! I’ll never let you force borrowers to sleep!”

“I’m going to get some scissors.” Ryder stood up and walked off, Felix was left with a spinning Rhys desperate to get away.

“You know Sir Grump doesn’t exactly fit if you’re going to have me making clothes.”

“I won’t lose to you.” Rhys was grunting in his efforts to get away. Ryder came back, falling back onto the couch and sitting up straight. Rhys paused to stare down at the scissors. “Your threats won’t work on me! I-I won’t be tricked.”

“You know it’s only to get you down.” No matter how much Rhys trusted them, sharp objects terrified him. Especially if it was in one of their hands.

“You won’t win Meticuloso. I can g-get down on my own. And I’ll stop your dastardly plot with Sir Grump.” Felix finally brought his hand up to make Rhys lie on his palm. The borrower flipped over, but it was clear this time was worse than the others. He kept Rhys’s focus.

“So if we get you down you run off and eat a ton more sugar so you continue not to sleep? When’s the last time you slept?”

“Uhh… a few days I think.” Rhys offered an innocent smile. Felix saw Ryder lifting his hands up. If he kept Rhys busy it should help stop him from panicking. Tweezers could work to get the string around him, they just had to get him down first.

“A few days of no sleep and Sir Grump and Meticuloso are the best names you could come up with?”

“They sounded better than Captain Fashion and The Creator.”

“Those sound more like hero names.”

“Exactly why it wouldn’t work for you to be my arch enemies!”

“I told Ryder he shouldn’t show you those hero movies.” A fake gasp from the borrower squirming in his hand. It still shocked him how small Rhys was. That he actually trusted them too.

“You’d take my education from me? How else am I supposed to learn about the world? Remember I’m just a fourteen year old uneducated borrower.”

Felix rolled his eyes. “If you keep using that excuse on me we’re finding a way for our dad to come teach you. He still works as a substitute teacher sometimes, he should know how to teach even you.”

“But I don’t wanna meet other humans and you guys wouldn’t force me cause you're my brothers and you love me… right?”

Felix’s face softened and a snip sounded a few inches above Rhys. Ryder smiled as he pulled the scissors away and set them on a coffee table. Felix took that as his chance to lie down on the couch, putting his legs over Ryder’s lap. His brother let out a groan, but didn’t move. 

“That is true, guess it would be hard to force you to meet him if we love you,” Felix smiled. Rhys looked a bit scared in his hand.

“Don’t worry Rhys, I wouldn’t let Sir Grump sick a human on you for something as awful as school,” Ryder winked as soon as Rhys looked back at him.

Felix didn’t say anything. He got himself comfortable before setting Rhys over his heart. His youngest and smallest sibling squirmed again, arms coming free. Tiny hands met the skin on his palm. He curled his fingers in and surrounded Rhys, a slight squeeze of reassurance.

“You both really wouldn’t just show me off to other humans, right?” Rhys asked.

“Not unless it was the only way to save your life,” Ryder said. Felix squeezed Rhys again, a silent way of agreeing. Rhys squirmed even more.

“Can you untie me now?”

“Nope,” Felix popped the end of the word. “If I get you untangled now you’ll sneak off and eat more sugar instead of sleeping. Take a nap, you can be batman later.”

“I told you I’m spiderman!”

Despite the shout Rhys stopped squirming. It didn’t take long for Felix to notice the tiny body relaxing against him. The smallest increase of the weight over his heart. Ryder leaned back to stare at the ceiling, Rhys was a much heavier sleeper than he realized.

“You think he’ll ever agree to meet mom and dad? Or even Del?” he whispered. Felix shifted his hold enough his voice would rumble against Rhys less.

“It’s up to him. Dad would love these games he wants to play, so would mom,” Felix smiled. “They loved all the crazy games you used to come up with.”

“Yeah they did…”

They sat in silence after that. Felix could faintly hear Rhys snoring in his hand. It would be nice to give such a lonely kid a bigger family. Actually learning to read, maybe even write. Using his curiosity for something other than chaos. Ryder had mentioned Rhys was eyeing the 3D printer lately. Until Rhys allowed it things would stay as they were, and they weren’t bad this way either.

[definitearticle]

Shared with permission:

What to do:

Choose your class - we have a big fight coming up, and we need everyone.

Artificers: It's time to make sure your 3D printers are working, and you are linked to a good maker group. Access to all healthcare, not just reproductive rights, will be at risk soon, which means we should have a good network for ensuring that people can access 3-D-printed prosthetics and accessibility equipment. https://3d.nih.gov/collections/prosthetics

Barbarians: protests are coming. We don’t even know what for yet, but if last time is any indication, there will be a lot. Check your boots/walking shoes. Make sure your go bag is packed for game day. https://www.law.nyu.edu/centers/race-inequality-law/protest-tips

Bards: I see you already. Posts are up, and videos are rolling. Ensure you’re formulating a good network of people you’re watching and promoting. Guild bards get more done. And the traditional media bards seem not to be getting the support or are being silenced, so let’s make our own. Support and promote Substacks and Patreons for creators and writers who may get silenced on other platforms soon.

Clerics: Open the sanctuary doors. Start placing the bookcase in front of the attic door now so it won’t raise any eyebrows when needed later.

Druids: Document everything. We’re about to lose a lot of our ability to monitor our natural resources, which means that science will have to look at the data you’re collecting in the areas you love to piece together what is happening to our world. Take daily pictures of the forest document, note the temperatures, and notice the movement of animals. Only time tells when things deviate from the norm, which means getting the data. (It's okay to buy a pretty notebook now)

Fighters: Honestly, it's a lot of the same stuff that I just told the Barbarians, except your go bag will have to be a lot more flexible: Bandanas, water bottles. Review the tapes of previous protests and see what was learned. https://www.law.nyu.edu/centers/race-inequality-law/protest-tips

Monks: Watch, be patient, and be prepared to move quickly and reorient an attacker's energy back at them. https://www.aclu.org/

Paladins: Remember you are strong both offensively and defensively and capable of healing and buffing allies, while also dealing significant damage to foes. But your powers are tied to your adherence to your moral code. So, know what that code is now. Know what your boundaries are. Write them out. Align yourself with missions where you can do the most good, not where you stand in your way. Remember that sometimes, you are at your strongest at just being the wall of moral good between evil and those that evil would hurt. You don’t have to look for the fight. Look for the person in pain. The fight has already come to them. https://transequality.org/

Rangers: Warriors of the wilderness. Defend the forests. Don’t let them come after the USFD again. https://www.fs.usda.gov/

Sorcerers: Look into getting an IUD or vasectomy or support a friend in doing so. Plan B lasts 4 years. Pick up some now. Pick up extra. Remember that Plan B’s efficacy diminishes by 14% for every 15 pounds above the recommended weight threshold, as stated by the manufacturer. Talk to a medical health professional now to know your dosage for the future.

Warlocks: Time to find a larger group or cause to team up with. https://www.aclu.org/campaigns-initiatives/project2025

Wizards: Start creating copies of valuable research now. Look at the government-run agencies and their websites before the turnover, before they are altered or shut down again. https://www.weather.gov/

[nukenai]

So here's a TW for discussing a (year old) pet death but this story will just never get old for me.

On November 29th of last year, I had my dog Striker put down. He was old and I'd had him since he was a puppy, so it was hard, but he was also special needs on a level that far exceeds any human tolerance for Dog Problems (he had severe and random aggression issues, among 50 other things), so it was an interesting sort of feeling. It feels insensitive to say it was a relief but it was for both of us. He had been getting ill, so. Of course I miss the big guy, but man.

So I was pretty bummed out all day. I was texting my sister about stuff and she asked if I wanted to come over to hang out, and avoid some bummers. I said sure, since it's always fun to hang at her place.

So she's working on assembling her new 3D printer, and I start scrolling twitter. I see people hooting and hollering about something. I check the trending stuff, I see "THE BITCH FINALLY DIED". And I'm like, what bitch? Someone died? My sister goes "uhoh".

I look it up.

I cannot believe it.

I raise my wide eyes to my sister. I have a huge smile on my face.

"Henry Kissinger died."

WE STARTED FUCKING SCREAMING. WE COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. HOLY FUCK.

So then the joke started that Striker took Kissinger with him. He dragged him to hell and his punishment is to take care of Striker for all of eternity.

So it's sad that I lost my dog of 14 years. But we had 14 whole years together. That's a lot more than a lot of people get with their dogs.

But holy shit, how fucking funny. A day that will live in infamy for so many reasons.

[tactician]

silly lil masuda method shiny hunt that i did as a small sideproject... i wanted a brave-natured male pichu with volt tackle in a fast ball (who i could name after friede from the pokeani) (then later evolve into a raichu) (idk why but i just associate friede with raichu...?! maybe it's his jacket or something)

ANYWAY this required some fun setup preparations:

volt tackle is only passed down if pichu's parent is holding a light ball... which i didn't have... so i made an electric encounter sandwich and nabbed one from a wild pikachu a la thief

i grinded up bp to use on the item printer so that i could gamble for a fast ball - thankfully i got super lucky on this and got one very quickly teehee

i caught a female pikachu in the fast ball and gave her the light ball - this guarenteed that all her pichu babies would inherit the fast ball and have volt tackle as a move

i had to find a male pkmn from a different real-life region in pikachu's egg group so that i could get masuda method going (did NOT want this hunt to be a full odds one). this pkmn ALSO needed to be brave-natured so i could give him the everstone and pass down the nature. BC THE BRAVE NATURE WAS CRUCIAL!!! (it's a reference to the airship, brave olivine / brave asagi.) i didnt have one in my file of scarlet nor in pkmn home, but i checked some of my older games and had a random brave slakoth from japan in my version of pkmn y!!! so i transferred him up from the 3ds. whoo.

123 eggs later, this lil lad hatched and he is perfect. o7 gonna evolve him eventually but it was fun to plot this out lkfdgldk i really like raising pkmn themed after characters.

[pluralsword]

smol Aileron's done! At least two other customizers have done her similarly using T30 Legends Bumblebee, CW Powerglide, and Windblade parts, we used green stuff to make her taller, give her leg vents, make her thighs thick and curvy, broaden her waist, make her helm shape, and stick arms and wings on/together. Wish we had a 3d printer to design & print, but we really love how she turned it out with what we had! don't have lunar lander yet, still did the smooch from Unicron #6 which you can find as you scroll down.  Hope she gets a toy in legacy or 40th! Here’s the links to the other two customs of her we’ve seen that inspired us: https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/custom-aileron-idw.1131323/ https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/custom-transformers-aileron-idw-comics.1073747/

ID 1 of 5: An IDW1 Arcee (from Legacy Elita) and Aileron custom pair standing on a trans flag with a scifi polityscape backdrop with arms around each other. Aileron is facing the camera, while Arcee standssidewards looking u at the sky. Both are smiling in bright light. End ID.

The smooch! loved that they got time to make out intentionally uwu

ID 2 of 5: The small Aileron custom held up in in IDW1 Arcee's arms, embracing her, one leg bent up behind her, heads close sharing a kiss on a moon pillow backdrop with a moonscape photo behind, the Earth in the distance, loosely resembling their on the lips kiss in Unicron #6. End ID.

The Arcee/Aileron/Greenlight families with Gauge and Sideswipe II ... missing Trypticon of course and didn’t include Sideswipe, Sterling, Anode, and Lug because we wanted to focus on just these bots to show the different versions we have besides the IDW1 ?tank? Greenlight custom we have. They’re so cute... it’s nuts to us that we’re the only person/system in the world who has all these that we know of and we think more people should have them. We are tempted to sell some new Arcees and Ailerons and tiny Greenlights at a con, getting another Gauge would be expensive because she’s made from Sonic Blue Bumble but hey if someone gives us one (also we want to figure out how to give her an excavator arm). Aileron from Topspin was much easier to do since we didn’t use green stuff to mold her, and she has the benefit of scaling with masterpiece sized Arcees whether official or unlicensed! And is broader in the torso. Her shape is one that has made us consider doing an IDW Arcee from the 2012-2014 era shape...

ID 3 of 5: In this photo with the flag and polity backdrop, Aileron instead has her fists at the ready alongside IDW1 Arcee with her blades, and in front of them is Sideswipe II (IF Heavy Metal) also with arms raised for battle. To their left is an IDW2 Arcee custom (from WFC Nightbird) with swords alongside Gauge (from Sonic Blue Bumble), Siege Greenlight with Dazzlestrike in gun mode, ER Arcee with an arm around Greenlight and pistol in hand, with a tiny Q-Transformers Arcee in front alongside a Greenlight custom (from WFC Trip-Up) to the roght of the nine is an Aileron customized frommTR Topspin with blasters held up high, with MMC Ocular Max Azalea behind her with pistols on her thighs and two handed broad pink sword over her shoulder, an arm around the larger Aileron.

Some EXRID gals... we really loved EXRID so much it made us feel so good, affirmed and broadened a lot of our feelings and thoughts not just on gender but on international affairs, philosophy, combat, orientation, friendship, and love, and even helped us better understand our relationship with ourselves and one of our out-of-body partners (we kind of have the Arcee and Aileron height and shape difference lmao and there are other ways our lives parallel theirs including that of my system’s oldest headmate, the robot alterhuman who’s been around the whole time) and terms of e.g. our IDW1 Arcee headmate/our Arcee gestalt it was a roller coaster of feelings that helped them to love themselves more. (If you’re wondering why we came out about having transformer fictive headmates it’s very simple: they’re contextualized from fiction we deeply enjoy and think about and write, we share a lot of life together cofronting in companionship, our mental health got better by embracing it, and because we’re tired of hiding and want more than just relying on semi-private spaces to be ourselves/it’s 2023 we no longer give enough shits to be held back by our fear, and @windblade-prime​ being out inspired us (go read her thoughts on transformers she’s very insightful). :3

ID 4 of 5: On the same background is the Aileron custom with her hands on her hips, standing alongside CW Pyra Magna, an IDW1 Arcee custom (from Legacy Elita) and TR Windblade, all in combat stances holding swords. Pyra’s sword is a big blue blade with a guarded hilt that came with the CW Victorion set and resembles the sword she uses in IDW1, Arcee’s are her yellow thermal energy blades guarded hilt sabers (3D printed, found on Shapeways), and Windblade’s is her purple-pink blade Stormfall from her T30 toy. End ID.

Finally, a close-up on Aileron by herself. When we started with Anode and Lug a year ago as our first customs, they were hard and we had to keep revisiting them, but we love them so much, and we’ve learned a lot since then put us in a position to finally do Aileron, which we had been too scared to do/didn’t know how with the space and tools that we have until we discovered green stuff a while ago. We spent far more time molding her green stuff paste on than painting her hehe XD ID 5 of 5: the small Aileron custom standing facing the camera by herself. She has rocket engine shoulders with wings, thick forearms, curvy thighs, and very tall feet (we did that so she would be at her canonical comic height relative to Arcee), and her big wings are bent back behind her busty rounded torso with biolights resembling headlights along the sloping chest that composes most of the torso. She is mostly orange, white, and a deep gray that looks black, and has a light pink face with yellow optics inside an intricate wide helm with a wide crest running across the top of her head to just above her nose.

[sasquapossum]

Oh, the glamorous life of a retired 58yo homeowner.

Item 1 One of the nice things about being retired is being able to do things on a different schedule than everyone else. For example, we ski/snowboard in the middle of the week, because it's cheaper and the slopes are less crowded. We also tend not to eat out on Saturday night. Last night, I made a four-part dinner.

Million dollar dip[1] which is very easy and amazing especially with smoky bacon and sweet onion.

Stuffed skirt steak[2] which was originally supposed to be flank steak but couldn't find any. First time with this one, and it turned out very well.

Roasted brussels sprouts.

Velveeta fudge[3], which is better than it sounds but not as good as I'd hoped so it will mostly be consumed with ice cream.

That's a lot of time in the kitchen, but IMO worth it (despite the complete lack of acknowledgement from my dear wife).

Item 2 While I was working in the kitchen yesterday, I noticed some mouse poop in the space under the kitchen island. Yeah, ick. So I set a trap, and this might have been my quickest kill ever because I found the body this morning. Even more "exciting" is that the hole right next to there is probably where they've been getting in all along. (It's sloppy work for an electrical conduit that feeds the range and smaller microwave.) It's covered over with duct tape right now, which will at least allow me to test that theory. Some day I'll probably fill it with steel wool or something.

Item 3 While finishing the cleanup today (some things needed to soak), I decided I'd had enough with the collection of sold-as-disposable plastic lunch/leftover containers and lids. We hardly even use them since I got some good glass ones, so I put about a dozen of the worse-off ones in the recycle. Then I added about two dozen lids that don't even have matching containers any more. That shelf looks so much better now.

Does that all seem horribly mundane? Well, it is. Even after three and a half years, I feel like I'm still recovering from all the craziness of having a career and raising a child simultaneously. Tomorrow I'll probably do taxes, which I've promised I'll get done before I fire up the 3D printer that's already sitting in the basement. For now, it's back to Sovereign Syndicate.

[1] https://therecipecritic.com/5-minute-million-dollar-dip/

[2] From "America's Best-Loved Community Recipes"

[3] From B Dylan Hollis, of course - https://shop.pbs.org/WE8362.html

[fazbear-ent-official]

Hey so I started a charity that literally just exists to make your restaurants a better place to live and it actually has been doing great. We managed to raise up enough to buy a 3d printer and we made almost a whole box of miniature Freddy & friends bobbleheads. You can have them if it fixes the "kids meal toy knife" problem. I have them in my car right now one sec-

thank you, please bring the bobbleheads in, i'm sure the kids will love them. they refuse to give the knives back if we don't offer them a proper exchange, so we've been trying to trade the knives for hot oil packets (all we got in the backroom) and it's only been a moderate success.

[corner-stories]

then speed force!!!

Bart Allen. Mia Dearden.

Helmets. Projectiles. The God of Speed.

1211 words.

(ao3.)

Of the hours she spent in the workshop of Titans Compound, a place where the team could tinker with and maintain their gear, Mia Dearden was fortunate to have company. 

As the team’s designated archer sharpened her trusty switchblade on a whetstone, the team’s designated speedster did god knows what on a workbench across the room. Mia didn’t pay too much attention to him, save for when he grabbed a welding torch for his project, and then the fire extinguisher for when the 3D printer went up in flames. 

After her bout of sharpening, Mia grabbed her freshly stoned knife by the handle and stepped away from the bench. In the corner of the workshop was a wooden target, something she had made by screwing together a bunch of scraps she found around the compound and prayed that no one was using. 

Grasping her switchblade with a tight grip, Mia eyed the target in the corner of the room, then with a mighty swing lobbed the blade towards it like a major league pitcher with something to prove. In less than a second, the knife flew across the room and landed in the wood, the tip sinking itself an inch into the material. 

With the blade landing in the center of the crudely drawn spray paint target pattern, Mia smiled to herself. Clearly, all her target training with Connor and Roy had been paying off. 

After Mia retrieved her knife and returned to her workbench, she heard the sound of a shaking can from across the room. She looked over just in time to see Bart Allen applying spray glue to the inside of a helmet, then placing several strips of strategically cut foam into it. 

Mia stepped across the floor just as Bart flipped the helmet over and placed it flat on the workbench. Said helmet was metallic gray and dome-shaped, akin to what a soldier in WW2 would wear on the battlefield. What made it different, however, was the pair of yellow metal wings welded to the sides. 

It didn’t take long for Mia to pinpoint the inspiration. Her first thoughts went to the old fart that the Flash Family seemed to adore, the one with gray temples who always seemed to dress like a youth pastor. But then suddenly she was reminded of the God of Messengers himself, the one capable of moving freely between Olympus and the Underworld at a breakneck speed. In a way, perhaps he was the speedster who started it all. 

“Nice helmet,” Mia said, placing a hand on her hip as she admired her teammate’s handiwork. “Thinking of rocking that any time soon?” 

Bart smiled as he put away the spray glue. “Ehhhh, it’s just a prototype.” 

Mia nodded and kept her eyes on the helmet, noting something that made her raise her eyebrow. “How does it stay on without a strap?”

“Speed Force!” Bart exclaimed, gesturing with his hands as he did so.

There was a beat, then Mia glared at her teammate, annoyed. “You can’t just say Speed Force whenever you don’t feel like explaining anything.”

Bart nodded, clicking his tongue. “Okay, then do you have approximately an hour to spare as I explain to you the ins and outs of how us speedsters are capable of utilizing a mix of electrokinesis and electromagnetism in a combative manner?”

Mia blinked as her remaining few brain cells proceeded to die inside of her. 

“... no?” 

“Then Speed Force!!!” 

The Archer rolled her eyes. For a few moments, Bart rummaged around his rather messy workspace as Mia took the winged helm into her hands. It was sturdy, yet felt a lot more like a large frisbee than a piece of armor. She imagined what it would be like to rush into battle with such a headpiece, whether one be escorting Persephone to her mother Demeter or fighting alongside her generation of heroes. 

“Hm… thought it’d be lighter,” Mia noted. “What’s it made of?” 

“Just some stuff I found lying around,” Bart replied with a shrug. “Steel, gold spray paint for the wings, an experimental nth metal titanium alloy someone just left here…”

Suddenly, Mia became rather concerned in a span of two seconds. “I’m sorry, what?” 

Bart nodded as if he had just said the most normal words in the world. “Yeah, Tim said something about S.T.A.R. Labs donating a bunch of stuff they weren’t using. That’s how we got the 3D printer! 

Mia quickly recalled that said 3D printer had caught fire an hour ago, then wondered if Bart remembered that as well. 

Somehow, the Speedster managed to remain chill as he reached across the workbench, where he grabbed an open can of seltzer before taking a quick sip. 

“Yeah, I dunno know how much nth metal’s in there, but it just might help improve the throwability,” he continued to explain. “See, the hardest part is getting it to come back to you when you toss it. Y’know, without having to do a bunch of trigonometry shit in your head.” 

“You mean like this?” 

With swiftness and speed, Mia turned her body towards the target in the corner of the room. Utilizing every bit of the momentum, she flung the helmet through the air. It slipped out of her hand like a bullet through a barrel, flying through the air for half a second before striking the lumber structure with a mighty force. 

Unsurprisingly, it bounced off the surface with ease, leaving a prominent dent in the material. Even more unsurprisingly it began hurtling towards the pair of Titans standing in the middle of the floor. 

Mia’s reflexes kicked in and she quickly ducked down. The helmet managed to miss her by half a foot, then after a split second she heard the sound of flesh on metal. 

Crouched on the ground, she took her hands off her head and looked upwards. Standing next to her was Bart, his right arm extended outwards with the winged helm in his grasp. Judging by the look of shock and awe on his face, he somehow hadn’t expected that throwing his invention would transform it into the world’s deadliest frisbee. 

“Yeah,” he said in an uneasy, breathy tone. “Exactly like that.”

Mia could only let out an awkward chuckle. As the Archer stood up and dusted herself off, Bart took another close look at the helmet. For a moment he held it in his hands, feeling the weight of the object just like his teammate had before. In his bright eyes there was an examining look, one that he only had in moments of pure curiosity and allure. 

Once Mia was on her feet, she was greeted to the sight of Bart Allen with a winged helm placed upon his head. It sat on his mess of auburn curls like a crown to a king, like the final piece of the puzzle that was the God of Speed. 

“Lookin’ good, Hermes,” said Mia with a smile. 

Upon hearing the word, Bart raised his eyebrow, intrigued, then let out a hum. Mia could see it in his eyes now that something just seemed to click. 

A subtle, boyish smile came upon Bart’s face as he said — 

“Y’know… I kinda like the sound of that.”

[baphometaverse]

A.I. Generate an image of what an androgynous hairless offspring of my crush and I could look like, flattering lighting and expression, tween-age, wearing ill-fitting sailor outfit, riding war horse, its front feet raised, apocalyptic background: Vatican, Israel, and Smithsonian Institute aflame.

Send this to my crush along with 3D printed chocolate roses at her work and domicile printers, the thorns made of pistachio nut. Approximate the shape of my lips to also print a temporary rub-on tattoo she is to place on the back of her neck.

[notaplaceofhonour]

So, I’m by no means an expert on knitting & crochet (I have never knitted or crocheted a single thing in my life), but something about the claim being made here just didn’t make sense, so I looked into it. Obviously the idea that companies would lie, cut corners, or use un(der)paid labor for profit is entirely believable—it happens all the time—but something about the idea of companies going out of their way to justify selling a product for less money seems… counterintuitive at best?

It’s a plot that banks on the average consumer a) knowing what crochet should cost, b) refusing to buy it because it’s cheaper than they expect instead of seeing as a great value, and c) greedy companies purposefully devaluing their product to justify selling it for less rather than just raising prices to get a higher profit margin. Not saying that can’t happen, or that big companies never do anything illogical or short-sighted in pursuit of short-term profit increases, but it seems a little far fetched, and I’d need considerably more proof that that’s what’s happening beyond a garment simply being labeled “machine crocheted”.

But actually looking into it, I found a few things:

There actually are machines specifically designed to mimic crochet patterns. Maybe it doesn’t count as “true” crochet from a purist perspective, but to the average consumer, that’s not really a distinction they’re going to know or care about as long as it resembles crochet.

Knitting machines can make granny squares. According to users on r/crochet, there are several tells that show these “machine crocheted” granny square vests are knitted, and I was able to find videos of people making granny “squares” (technically hexagons, presumably due to the circular shape of the machine) with a fairly affordable knitting machine, as well as (actually square) granny square sweater patterns for knitting machines.

Most of the “machine crocheted” granny square garments I could find online were actually closer to $30 than $14, but that’s a very specific number, and after a little bit more digging I found a tiktok with basically the same narrative op was going off of that showed a $14 granny square garment at Walmart. All I can say about that is, if you’re already buying clothes from Walmart, the $5 t-shirt isn’t any less likely to be made by underpaid labor. It seems weird to make it about specifically the machine-knitted “crochet” garments.

There’s no reason for companies that mass-produce clothing to take like 15 hours to make a single vest when automated knitting machines exist. The earlier examples of crochet style on knitting machines are just using low-end ones marketed at hobbyists; the kinds of industrial knitting machines—such as those from Cixing or Steiger, or even Kniterate—that would be used to mass-produce garments at scale for big box stores are actually mostly automated & significantly more sophisticated than the little $30-500 knitting machines you can buy on Amazon. There’s still some work that goes into them, like changing out spools and whatnot, but they appear to work a bit more like 3D printers.

All of that taken into account, it seems like a rather large leap in logic to go from “Walmart is selling a $14 ‘machine-crocheted’ garment” to “this was hand-crocheted by slaves in a Victorian workhouse who are being paid less than $0.50 an hour” with no further evidence. It makes sense that it would be believable—again, obviously sweatshops exist & there are companies that underpay or withhold pay all the time. It confirms beliefs we already have about the world & the feelings of injustice we experience; in a way, it actually makes us feel good to be outraged about it—we feel vindicated. It just doesn’t follow from the information given here in this case.

And in terms of fast fashion, it seems like rather selective outrage to pick on the “machine crocheted” items, and far-fetched to spin out an entire narrative about companies trying to “trick” consumers into thinking an entire technology exists, all so they can cover up what is already fairly common knowledge about fast fashion, based on an inconsistency that most people wouldn’t know if they weren’t super into crocheting, just so they can undervalue their own products.

Ockham’s razor tells me it’s more likely that the mass-produced “machine crocheted” granny square garments were just made with industrial knitting machines.

Apparently, some companies now are labeling mass-produced crochet items with "machine crocheted" to justify selling an entire granny square vest for 14 bucks.

1. Machines cannot crochet.

2. Knitting machines, to my knowledge, cannot make granny squares.

3. Even if there was a machine that could crochet, 14 bucks for an entire fucking vest is still too low to be paying people a livable wage basically anywhere in the world.

4. It takes me, a very fast crocheter, about twenty minutes to make one granny square in a single color with five rows. Multi-color granny squares take more time. I'll say 30 minutes. Next time you see a granny square anything in a big box store, count one row of squares and multiply by 20 (for single color squares) or 30 (multicolor squares). Then consider that it's skilled labor which should have an hourly wage you can live on. Then look at the price tag. This is Victorian piece work poor shit going on.

[qocsuing]

3D Rapid Prototyping Compared to Traditional Methods

Cost Efficiency of 3D Rapid Prototyping Compared to Traditional Methods

With the continuous improvement of 3D rapid prototyping technologies and techniques, push brand including RMT more to the industry, the product development is no longer strenuous. Various firms now stand to cut on time and resources eliminating the use the traditional and inefficient methods during the prototyping phase. This articles focuses on the cost advantage of using the newer technologies over the older or the basic ones while establishing how innovations at RMT are raising the cost efficiency and performance bar. Get more news about 3D rapid prototyping,you can vist our website!

Reduced Initial Investment and Setup Costs

One of the most beneficial aspects when compared to other forms of prototyping and hence the more appealing one, 3D rapid prototyping is mostly cost effective. Traditional prototyping methods, such as injection molding or CNC machining, require expensive molds, tooling, and equipment setup. In contrast, RMT's 3D printing solutions eliminate the need for complex tooling and setup, enabling companies to create prototypes directly from digital designs. For small or medium sized enterprises, this means low upfront operational costs, especially.

Production time ensures quick time to market

The traditional prototyping phase can take a number of weeks and sometimes months for the creation of custom molded parts or tooling. The flip side of this is that with traditional tooling and machining processes, the overall time taken for rapid prototyping is only a few days. Advanced 3d printers by RMT make it possible to produce functional prototypes fast, allowing companies to make changes quickly on future designs and perform more tests before going for actual production. These efficiencies result in reduced labor expenses and a faster time to market for product launches.

Reduction inefficiencies in the use of materials and wastage of materials in production process

With positions like these, one can expect long lead times, material wastage as when processes like CNC machining take place to merely remove material to achieve the end goal. 3D printing, on the other hand, has a completely different working principle- it is an additive process, and thus material is placed only where required in order to limit wastage. Using the latest 3d prototyping technologies at RMT, manufacturers will be able to control their wastage and cut their overall material costs particularly in instances when such expensive materials as metals or specialized polymers are needed.

Prototyping with More Complicated Geometries

Creating intricate and more complex geometries by conventional methods sometimes becomes impossible without incurring unreasonable costs. With 3D rapid prototyping however, it is possible to produce precise and detailed components with complex form features that would have been either impossible or too costly to produce through traditional methodologies. 3D printers available with RMT can construct complex designs of prototypes internally rather than assembling multiple pieces which would raise costs in normal processes. This extends the possibility of developing more sophisticated designs in the products without a significant rise in the costs.

Failure Risk Reduction and More Iterations are Possible

One of the problems with conventional prototyping is that it makes it very costly to have so many iterations. Each new prototype may force the use of a new mold or tooling setup which adds more costs. On the contrary, 3D rapid prototyping is not overly time-consuming, meaning several iterations can be made in a matter of hours allowing companies to quickly validate a design before the whole production plant is constructed. The flexible prototyping systems developed by RMT allow the designers to make changes in the design of the parts and try out different material options which minimizes the losses incurred from errors that may occur in the latter stages of production.

Economics for Low Volume Production – Good Value

Traditional techniques seem to be reasonably efficient for mass production but it is a costly option for lower volume runs. The expenses to create molds, the tools and setup for small quantity prototypes or small volume production runs too often seem to have more downsides. RMT’s 3D rapid prototyping technology is particularly effective for low volume production runs as it is easy to set up and cost of manufacture is very low, making it ideal for industries such as aerospace, automotive and consumer electronics.

Starting from a smaller upfront cost, speed of production, cost of materials, and up to the capability of producing intricate designs, there are sinning benefits with 3D printing. Particularly with companies like RMT on the forefront of innovation, the industries can only look forward to more affordable and better solutions in the prototyping and production scenarios.

[trendingrepots]

Additive Manufacturing Market - Forecast, 2024 - 2030

Additive Manufacturing Market Overview:

Additive Manufacturing Market size is estimated to reach US$96.7 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 21% during the forecast period 2024-2030. Ease of Manufacturing Complex Design and Relatively Lower Production Cost for Rapid Manufacturing are expected to propel the growth of Additive Manufacturing Market.

Additionally, Increasing focus on metal additive manufacturing technologies. Researchers and companies have been actively working on expanding the range of metals and alloys available for AM. This includes not only traditional metals like titanium, aluminum, and stainless steel but also high-performance alloys for specialized applications. The development of new metal powders suitable for various AM processes has been a focus area. The integration of Additive Manufacturing with traditional manufacturing processes in companies were exploring hybrid manufacturing approaches that combine the strengths of additive and subtractive methods. This integration aimed to leverage the design flexibility of Additive Manufacturing and the efficiency of traditional methods to optimize production workflows. These factors impact the growth in Additive Manufacturing Market.

𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞

Key Takeaways:

North America Dominated the Market

Geographically, in the Additive Manufacturing market share, the North America region has held a dominant market share of 41% in 2023, Rising government investments and projects in the United States for additive manufacturing have also raised the growth of the market. For instance, to address the challenges in single laser melting (SLM), America Makes awarded GE Global $2.6 million to build an open-source, multi-laser production machine and AM platform. Additionally, in Canada, the rising partnership between research universities in the field of additive manufacturing is also influencing the growth of the market. U.S. is anticipated to lead the global additive manufacturing market with the largest installed base for 3d printer in the world. With such a dominant presence of the 3d printers in the country U.S. is likely to contribute more than one third in the revenue generated by additive manufacturing worldwide.

Metal is the Fastest Growing Segment

In the Additive Manufacturing Market forecast, the Metal segment is estimated to grow with a CAGR of 23.5% during the forecast period. Metals are a better option for 3D printing compared to plastics, as they have more industrial usage. Often the 3D metal printing shows itself to be unique as the new technologies can readily surpass what was offered by traditional processes. In AM of metals a powder feedstock or more rarely a wire is fully melted by the energy input of a laser or electron beam and transformed layer by layer into a solid part of nearly any geometry. The most popular processes for AM of metals are Laser Beam Melting (LBM), Electron Beam Melting (EBM) and Laser Metal. In a survey conducted across the globe, about 23% of the 3D printing materials used are metals. The 3D printing metals segment is also poised to grow as it has a competitive edge over other plastic materials used in 3D Printing. Metal 3D printing is too expensive, furthermore other companies, like Desktop Metal and Markforged, are developing approaches to manufacture affordable metal 3D printers.

Aerospace to Hold Largest Market Share

According to the Additive Manufacturing Market analysis, the Aerospace segment is estimated to hold the largest market share of 34% in 2023, the aerospace and defense industry is a perfect example of how to use additive manufacturing (AM) (commonly referred to as 3D Printing) to produce components that are heavier and lighter than parts manufactured using conventional manufacturing methods. Additive manufacturing or 3D printing has applications in the aerospace industry such as engine compartments, cabin accessories, air ducts among others. NASA researchers are looking into how electroplated SLA parts perform in space. Engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center designed brackets that were 3D printed on printers, electroplated, and sent to space aboard a summer 2022 SpaceX commercial resupply services (CRS-25) mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The results could inform how NASA and possibly other aerospace manufacturers may incorporate electroplating and additive manufacturing into potential future product plans.

Ease of Manufacturing Complex Design

he basic physical difference in how objects are made with the additive manufacturing process produces some major functional differences when compared with other traditional manufacturing processes. The most significant of these functional differences is the ability of additive manufacturing to produce complex geometries that would be difficult or impossible to achieve using conventional manufacturing methods. These intricate geometries are also stronger and lighter than their conventional counterparts. Additive manufacturing eliminates the additional costs normally associated with creating more complex objects. A highly complex component usually costs much more using conventional methods. This is primarily because conventional fabrication methods rely on the conversion of three-dimensional illustrations into two-dimensional drawings for fabrication, as well as the labor cost of assembling such components. However, regardless of the complexity of a component, the method in additive manufacturing is the same. Thus, no additional cost is incurred for manufacturing complex designs using additive manufacturing.