#so to get to a library you first need to have access to a vehicle and then you need to be able to afford the gas to get there

[evilkitten3]

every five minutes someone does this exact same thing on your poor suffering post....

Gotta admit the headline is a banger.

[brinconvenient]

This is a long tale, but I appreciate you taking the time to meet my friend Chris and help her out if you can.

TL;DR: my friend, an elderly queer woman I met when she was homeless just lost everything she owns in a fire at her first permanent home she had after becoming unhoused. Luckily, she and her cat were not home at the time. Please help if you can by donating or boosting.

This is a queer elder who needs our help. I'm hoping tumblr can come through for her

https://www.gofundme.com/f/fire-took-chris-baileys-home-they-need-help

Here's the long tale:

A friend of mine just lost everything except herself, her cat and the clothes on her back to a fire at her apartment (her first after being homeless for years) on Friday. We learned yesterday that nothing from her apartment is recoverable. Please help!

(Long post with cute cat pictures behind the readmore)

I met Chris one Sunday afternoon after driving past her three times as she sat on a bench outside our local library after closing. I stopped to ask if she needed a ride, and found out that she was homeless, staying in motels when her SSI came in and on the street when it ran out.

As the years have passed, I've learned a lot about her. Despite her parents kicking her out at 17 when she was outed to them as gay, she went back to school and became a social worker, working in several Chicago hospitals through the 80s and 90s, and, like a lot of queer women in the caring fields at that time, tended to and provided comfort and care for (among others) so many gay men, young and old, living with and dying from AIDS, from the earliest days of the disease through the availability of the triple cocktail and to the brighter days of hope.

Through it all, she had relationships with women in a time where that was something that wasn't always safe to do. Some were good, some bad, and some resulting in her losing nearly everything, but she struggled through. She quit social work in 99 or 2000 when her mom got sick and passed away, and then stayed out of the workforce to care for her dad until he passed in 2006. Those experiences impacted her deeply, and she became permanently disabled during that period, leaving her living on SSI, and struggling with her own mental health. She eventually lost her condo, and bounced in and out of apartments and motels.

When I met her in Sept 2019, I helped her get back into the motel she'd been staying at and bridging her to her next check and then making sure that she could stay there, and reliably get her maintenance meds and start rebuilding her life and credit.

This is her and everything she owned as we left her hotel room for the final time on Valentine's Day 2022.

The cat there is Bailey, her constant companion since they adopted each other in September 2021. They've both been through a lot and are absolutely the picture of "Who rescued whom?"

We started having biweekly dinners and I worked with her creditors and tried to get her credit score back into a good place, and helped her get banked and fixed up with access to the Internet and just help her feel more solid and stable in her life.

Just over 2 years later, in February 2022, we were finally able to get her into a senior independent living apartment, her first permanent home since about 2017. She had no furniture, but with some secondhand pickups and occasional pickups, we got her something resembling a home.

It wasn't perfect, and she had her grumbles, certainly, but it was her home. It was a place that she could launch from to recover and consider moving some place even better, if she chose.

However, Friday, July 14, Bailey had an afternoon vet appointment. Everything was fine when we left, but when we got home, with Bailey in a carrier in the backseat, we were shocked to see what looked like a million emergency vehicles & a whole lot of seniors sitting on the grass.

Chris and Bailey came with me to take my daughter into the city that evening, giving the situation 2 hours to develop and for us to get more information. We heard a few newsradio updates and saw this story on abc7, getting the sinking feeling that that balcony looked too familiar.

When we got back from the city, we were able to drive around the back of the building and confirm that this was her apartment.

We were able to get back to the building on Tuesday and get into the apartment to get her medications, but everything is water damaged from the sprinkler system (with all of its stagnant water) and the firehoses. All her furniture. All her clothes. Her bed. Her degrees. Gone.

Everything she owned is gone. She literally owns less now than when she was homeless. She's despairing and trying her best to keep it together, but she's lost so many homes in her life, going back to when she was 17 and her parents found out she is gay and kicked her out.

This all feels like too much. Please help. Please donate what you can, and share where you're able.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/fire-took-chris-baileys-home-they-need-help

[open-hearth-rpg]

Base Building: Great RPG Mechanics #RPGMechanics Week Seven

I’ve always loved the idea of developing a “place” in play: a location, a home, an organization. I remember when Advanced Dungeons & Dragons arrived it presented the concept of high level fighters & such having a castle or keep. The rules limited this privilege limited by level– you needed a ton of experience before you could be lord of a fortress. And it also cost in-game money. A hefty price tag would consistent mechanic in ttrpgs for years. If you wanted something big– vehicles, robots, a wizard’s tower– you had earn hard cash first. 

That system would evolve with cash-based economies joined by point-based ones. Champions and accounting-heavy games would eventually create systems for detailed base-building. But these were often architectural and mapping sub-systems and just involved making a big vehicle that didn’t move. There would be other approaches, but the next big shift came with Forged in the Dark’s Crew Playbooks.

Developing your Crew offered many benefits: increased effectiveness in certain areas, physical locations offering a benefit, new access, additional members. A tier system and crew special abilities added to that. You picked elements from a flow chart on the Crew sheet, another version of experience points being converted into benefits. This system offered a striking new area for game design. I’ve talked before about how games like Girl by Moonlight and Vergence use those as campaign and series frameworks. 

But one of the most exciting new Forged in the Dark approaches has been that of Mountain Home. In MH you play Founders, leaders setting up a new Dwarven Settlement. The settlement itself acts as a kind of crew playbook, but there’s a shared template. You can choose between claiming a lost fortress, building a buried metropolis, being on an exodus from their previous settlement, or seeking to mine a new mother lode. Each has questions to help set things up and there’s a definite shift in tone between them. The choice of settlement type impacts abilities, special discoveries, and a couple of other things. 

Mountain Home, like other Forged games, has a distinct cycle of play. The Settlement Phase is final part of Mountain Home’s play cycle and includes the Downtime phase. It marks the end of the year–something which mentally gives the players a sense of closure and the larger span of time happening. The phase begins with players activating Claim Buildings. I’ll come back to that in a moment, but basically there are effects: like special healing or increasing reputation which are based on particular buildings. 

Downtime actions in the settlement phase include the usual FitD choices, like training and clearing stress. But the big ticket item here is the Long Term Project. As with other FitD games these can be flexibly used for lots of things. 

These projects include two of the most important aspects of Mountain Home: Discoveries and Claim Buildings. The players’ settlement is broken into four rows and five columns. The rows represent depths from Surface to Depth 3. Each of the intersections of Depth and column have two spots where players can eventually build Claim buildings. But to do so, they first have to discover and explore them– a long term project. When they finish that project, the GM rolls to see what kind of location it is (Earthy Caves, Iron Vein, Lava-Filled Caverns, etc). The depth and kind of discovery affects what kinds of buildings can be constructed in those two associated spots. There’s also a set of special discoveries which can get triggered, unique to the kind of settlement being built. 

The other big long term project is establishing one of those Claim buildings. As I mentioned, some have requirements for where they can be built. For example a Lumber Mill can only be built in a Surface Forest, a Research Library in an Ancient Ruin, an Iron Guildhall in an Iron Vein. These have different Tiers (up to IV); the clock for building them is 3+Tier. So with a couple of people working, a building can often be finished in a single Settlement phase. 

This breaks the concept of base building away from just point-buying or experience spending. Instead the act of creation is part of play. That’s novel and opens up what you can do in play. Functionally you have two things. The first is the idea of a space which needs to be prepared: explored, excavated, etc. Players take actions and invest in handling that. Then there’s actually choosing and building things in those uncovered areas. 

The selection of buildings is really interesting, but with room for the players to add more. Some affect the Trade roll which is made after the Downtime phase, generating treasure. Others are permanently dedicated for effects. For example, you need to dedicate a Farm of some kind to raise your settlement’s Tier. There’s enough options and interesting ideas there that the players will always have tough choices– and each settlement will be different. When I ran it players did projects to come up with the plans for new buildings (which they then spent actions building) including a Hot Springs.   

I would say the Settlement map, the Claim buildings, and that whole system is really the secret sauce of Mountain Home. It’s great and really makes adding what are effectively elements to your crew sheet feel super satisfying.

You can easily hack this in-play base-building I can imagine using this for developing a space colony; it maps easily to that. You could adapt it for something post-apocalyptic like Forbidden Lands or Twilight 2000. The players find an abandoned base or town and have to work to restore it. For something like Urban Shadows or Vampire, it might be about extending influence over the area. One idea I’ve mentioned before is the concept borrowed from Wrath of the Autarch. In this fantasy setting, the players are exiles who had fled and found themselves at a long-lost supernatural fortress. They have rebuild that in order to gather allies and strike back at the Empress who drove them out.

[pandorafallz]

Vampire AU | The Raiding, P1

Waiting for the call back was long and almost painful, even past the four-hour mark that meant they were in the Tipani Territory and even then, there was nothing.

Jake wasn’t the only anxious one either but thankfully, while they waited at the Tech Yard, they were busy. The pilots remained unbothered and asleep.

Bree and Alejandra had areas reorganised and more lighting and spare mirrors pulled up from the supplies so it was nearly as bright as day inside the cave structure so it was easy on their eyes when they started to organise.

New tents were put up and Gates and his team were still trying to find a new area to live in that could accommodate the 15-16 of them (depending if Conner chose to live with them).

There was even a new mountain radio hub also set up which was monitored by Danielle who was listening in to RDA chatter to also help monitor activity. She had real skill with radio tech and knew how to access it without giving them away; in the most part as Danielle had first explained was the fact the RDA didn’t invest too heavily in firewalls from external penetration; the Na’vi aren’t a technological threat and those who left seemly left the area so why worry?

“Sully,” Daniele called, her stone sharp which was enough to pull his attention and Tsu’tey.

“A problem?” He asked kneeling beside her.

“Possibly. Listen.”

“… and sweep more of the goddamn jungle. We can’t lose another transporter. A whole ship cannot just turn invisible. Get it sorted.”

“Sir, there’s no proof they’re even crossing into the local’s territory. Our patrols have been turned around from getting too close.” Came the more stern voice of a man. “We should look more west; open territory and less likely to run in with the natives.”

“I don’t care. Up our patrols in all areas if we need to. Over.”

Jake spared a look at Danielle with a frown. “So we have to be more careful.”

Tsu’tey tisked. “I must request for more warriors in the sky and a few on Pa’li for any ground groups.”

“Wait, they’re missing an entire transporter?”

“Wyvern Troop Transport, to be exact,” Danielle stated, her brow pulling in behind her mask. “That’s a huge fucking vehicle to lose and without any leads. The RDA’s second largest vehicle next to the dragon ships. Third, if you include the Valkyries.”

“Wow.” Jake whistled.

“What can you tell us of this ship?” Tsu’tey pressed.

Danielle’s head tilted. “It’s armed with standard Samson weapons but the main purpose is to transport supplies or troops to areas. It can hold up to four AMP suits at a time with a squad or two of eight soldiers. Two pilots, eight rotary propellers and more durable than Samson’s but less protected than the Valkyrie or Dragon ships. I can dig out the pictures for you and your warriors later. Bree’s new system is taking a little getting used to but her mother’s taken over the digital libraries so it’s far more organised than before.”

Tsu’tey nodded.

“The fact that one’s no longer in RDA control…” Jake laughed a little. “I bet Selfridge is losing his fucking mind over it. It could probably transport a lot of supplies. Whoever stole that, I bet they loaded up well and bolted.”

“I can listen out but I can’t promise much.”

“Chances are they’ve left the Omatikaya territory entirely. With a vehicle that size being taken, only fools would stay within such a close range of the RDA.” Jake reasoned softly. “Still, it’s weird that there are no leads to figure out a single direction.”

Surely there had to be something to that. Still, hearing how stressed it made the RDA far more enjoyable to hear. Shame though they didn’t make themselves known now; they could really do with that sort of vehicle to help with the goods transport.

Jake patted her shoulder, “Keep us informed.”

“Aye, sir.” Danielle gave a salute.

“<You aren’t concerned about this… trooper ship?>” Tsu’tey asked with a sniff.

“<Not particularly. The fact the RDA can’t find them means a lot, the ship means they’re probably a hundred miles away by now and if that’s the case, we’ve got little hope to even start. Even if they packed poorly, they can still live in the trooper but I believe they packed well to be comfortable.>” Jake explained. “<Danielle might be able to get an idea who took it and how many left when the RDA continue their search. I suspect they might just avoid Na’vi entirely but I can’t know for sure.>”

Tsu’tey didn’t look thrilled but more accepting of his word. Felt like a win so Jake took it.

Jake didn’t go too far from the radio hub, even when lunch was handed out and he helped Bree with updating the other pieces of tech with the new UI and accepted the thumb drive for their home server updates which sat in his pouch in a waterproof baggie.

Thankfully, Danielle called the alarm and Jake was back at her side.

“They’ve called back!”

“And?”

“The line’s open, Sully. We got good news and bad news>” Kim called through. “The Tipani’s agreed to the removal but the Tsahìk’s only allowed a night and a day. Half the time.”

“Ah, shit,” Jake grumbled. That wasn’t enough time.

“Relax, marine.” Kim called again, “We can alter our plan. They just want it out of their territory. Harper suggested we use the Valley of Mo’ara as the mid-way. We move everything there then we can move everything from there to the Omatikaya.”

“That could work,” Ming added in, looking a little sleepy. “But fuel’s gonna be tight unless we move or get together a fuel refinery.”

“We can ask the group onsite if they’re a refinery we can take or put together.” Harper’s voice echoed but she sounded different; lighter. Seemed she was in a very good mood. “But you should really start moving.”

“Alright.”

“I plan to do a sweep of the Valley for our touch-down spot, Neytiri and Harper will go off to the humans and they’ll give an idea of how much we’re dealing with.” Kim added in, “Once I find it, I’ll send you the coordinates. We can work during the day in the Tipani territories a lot more so we can work within the time limit.”

“The RDA are upping patrols. A new group escaped recently and is off the radar.” Jake added in so the other group was aware.

“… noted. Any leads?”

“No, but I doubt they’re in Omatikaya territory. We can worry about them later.”

“Copy. Let’s get your asses in the air.”

-

They staggered their exits, each Samson had a Dreamwalker or Na’vi escort while over the Omatikaya territory, Tsu’tey and his warriors split off to fly the patrols near the borders. The changeover had meant that two of the three ships carried an available and emptied shack for cargo and most of the seats filled with humans; meant for a quick switch around. In the event of the RDA spotting then, they’d drop the shacks and bolt which was why no humans were inside for now.

The Tech Yard was being supervised by Sean and Danielle who were keeping their ears out on the RDA’s radio chatter and a direct radio to Tsu’tey and his warriors as well.

Jake rode on the back of Bob beside Zeke’s ship, the second one out after Ming who was shadowed by Ashley and left with Nadine lastly was N’deh.

But each one took their break at the Valley for the Ikran sake with the coordinates Kim sent and Jake was amazed at the site Kim had picked out.

It was a large opening to an underground cavern that had two arches above. It had a tall, 300-foot waterfall from the open top dropped into it and a fast-flowing river cut through its left side and disappeared into a cave system. There were a ton of trees and foliage, but they weren’t as dense as a forest either and the ground was mostly moss covered with bushes and the trees looked to be half their size. A single great vine descended in a loose coil down to the edge of the northern side of the cave where there was a stone plateau rested just a little off from the riverside.

The Samsons were settled down along the stone plateau and Jake helped detach the cables so Zeke could touch down safely. By the time that was done and the ship was settled, he turned his attention out to the humans who were out and stretching their legs.

“Another cave?” His eyes slid to Kim who was being hugged by her husband.

Kim laughed softly, pulling back but kept an arm around him. “<Felt like a good place; large and open with the ability to be hidden. With the lip of the cave out south that way, the supplies should be protected from the rain.” She pointed out, nodding to the entry above.

“We can use this as the drop spot, seems good but how’s the other two?”

“I’ve not heard back just yet, I think Harper’s waiting till you were there to get into it,” Kim said, her eyes sparkling. “But, the good news is that René’s alive for the last couple of years.”

Morgan gasped lightly. “Oh!”

“Who?” Jake asked dumbly before he felt the distant conversation bell echo; he remembered something about dead scientists Augustine had mentioned before he bailed; two of them being Kim and Jerome.

“Really?” Kendra nearly pushed past Zeke as she hurried to the Dreamwalker. “He’s alive!”

“Dr René Harper. Trinity’s uncle.” Morgan hissed towards Jake in an informative manner, “I only met the guy once before I got abandoned but he seemed like a good guy. Smooth talker.”

“Oh,” Jake nodded, “Wait, saved like you, Kim?”

“Yes,” Kim said, “but he can tell you all about it.  He’s planning to help so let’s drop off the humans who are sorting the shit out. So, I have already told the team and the Bell couple should be sorted to start bringing their own shacks for the drop-offs. We might cross over with them.”

“Our Ikran needs rest for at least an hour.” Jake started. “Will that be inconvenient?”

“No, Ikran’s can rest but the ships don’t. We’re halfway there and the pilots don’t need all escorts this far from the RDA. My Ikran’s already rested so I can lead the Samson’s to the pick-up spots to start. Either sit in the back or wait your Ikran’s out but I’m not waiting time here when there’s so little time to waste.” Kim said sharply. “I do think the Ikrans are gonna have to sit it out unless you’re transporting people out. If they have to rest every two and a half hours for each way then they’re not useful.”

Jake stared at her for a moment, then eyed Zeke’s ship. “I’ll take a ride in the back. I’m better served onsite.” He decided.

N’deh opted to remain with the group and take care of the Ikran, Ashely, when Nadine touched down opted to take a ship to allow Sushi to rest and fly about the valley while they worked.

The humans continued to potter, take a pee break and enjoy a snack before those who were helping onsite got back in the Samsons. Jake only had to step in once when Kung and Alejandra began to argue about optimal places for storage before it began to get personal so he literally stepped in and ordered Kung to follow; standing behind her and blocking her view of Alejandra to get her moving. In all honesty, he was scared of getting involved if it devolved into a catfight. Both women were trained but Kung had sharper nails and had a Major in her rank history. He had seen how those sorts of fights ended in school when people tried to get involved and more people got maimed stopping the fight than the two involved.

“I don’t know what your problems are but you’re coming on site instead. Leaving you two to fester together is gonna end with someone getting something broken.” Jake decided, standing firm on the matter.

The former Major just glowered with her arms folded as she sat in one of the back seats as he strapped in as well. “I hate her.” Kung sniffed. “There’s a reason why I ran the mine and she followed orders and she had shit organisational skills. I wasn’t going be the one to back down.”

Still, the latter half of the trip felt long, and as warned, passed a scorpion hauling a link shack underneath to which he waved at the pilot and passenger in passing. Soon enough they veered off towards a section of forest where he noticed an old run-down building; large and to scale of Na’vi.

Avatar Station.

They passed it, Jake realised but not too far did he see why; they were heading to a cleared-out zone; looked very similar to a landing strip if it wasn’t for the matter of the foliage and the masses of boxes and crates there were already loaded up for transport. Workers be busy.

Bree and her team were already buzzing about; sorting it out with the unfamiliar people before he unclipped and slid down the cable to detach the shack for filling. Kendra’s ship looked hallway on being filled; not just the shack in the landing zone as he noticed that there were at least eight other shack modules about; one was damaged with claw marks and missing its entire airlock door but it was clearly patched up and ready to be used.

Each was labelled in some sort of piece of paper in the window: FABRIC, FOOD, LAB 1, LAB 2, LAB 3, WEAPONS/TOOLS, UTILITIES and TECH.

All were open and there were crate boxes being passed between people.

“Alright, Sully.” Called an unfamiliar voice.

Jake looked down at the small human woman, dark skin with a buzzcut and sharp brown eyes, SecOps by her uniform. “Hi?”

“Corporal Meg Elkins.” The women instructed. “Kim’s filled us in on the plan; we can keep a ready rotation of our five ships to the Valley but I want to see if you or your other Avatar buddies could also help with other means of transport.”

“Oh?” He pressed. “Go on?”

“There’s a river that flows and heads directly south out of Tipani territory and stops a few miles short of the Valley; we can load up Gators and put those in rotational as well but they need a Na’vi or avatar escort with them.”

“What supplies will they be taking?”

“Basic cargo. Nothing heavy, expensive or irreplaceable. We’ve spent the last few week bringing and condensing everything into more useful or bigger boxes. We’ve cleared First Forward Camp already and brought them all here. Shacks, Solar Containers and Cargo. We’ve left trackers, trash and RDA shit that’s unusable out in the open or too risky to take with us. Avatar Station, we’re still hitting. Willows has her lab packed up into three shacks and Daisy’s taken the important shit, like the grow tanks and those specific supplies.”

“Yes, I saw her passing,” Jake remarked. “Glad to hear you’ve got a good portion sorted. Who are your other folks here?”

Meg turned, “Josh Winslow and Marvin Winslow, not related for the obvious reasons.” She pointed to the short, bald white nerdy guy with glasses first and then a tall black due with thick muscles and with near identical buzz-cut but with shaved designs down from his left temple. “Then we got Blake Lawson and Liana Pendle by the refuelling station.”

Blake was a mixed race dude from Asian and black parents, glasses with curly black hair and was average in build with a significant height to him. Liana was a true ginger and distantly by her accent as she worked undisturbed, very Scottish.

“Then down there is Shad, Cynthia Willows and Jahan Reza.”

Jake froze, his raising rising. “Jahan’s here?” Ohh…. Nadine was going to throw a fit. Oh no. Oh… “Fuck…”

Meg’s brow pulled in. “Problem?”

“Er… I hope not but can you keep Jahan on… the down low? Nadine will throw a complete fit with her appearance.” He said, bending down to face her with a serious look. He knew how… precarious this was for Nad and… it worried him.

“They’re sister, right?”

“Twins but Nadine’s not...” He paused, trying to think how to phrase it. “Nadine has…personal issues. Mental health issues that Jahan overstepped in and it blew up in her face. Nadine can’t know Jahan’s here yet.”

Meg continued to frown, sucking her teeth and sparing a look down the way. “How serious?”

Jake considered the question and then leaned down to keep his voice quiet and she stepped into his space as well. “Suicidal, once. She’s not ready for even a glimpse unprepared.”

Meg’s face turned to stone. “You know your friend, what you think is appropriate?”

“Nad’s running the last ship from our side so she’ll be here in thirty minutes. Jerome can work with Jahan and let them run the Gators down. I’ll switch with Nad’s ship. I’ll… tell her when I can find a good opportunity to that won’t upset our entire plan. She can’t fly freaked out.”

Meg nodded once. “Jahan didn’t go into detail about their personal relationship. She left to find her, Sully.”

“I… don’t blame Jahan for her wishful thinking but it’s a rocky relationship. I won’t go into the details since it’s not really my place to. Take what she says with a pinch of salt. Let her know to hide from her sister until the end, please.”

“Got it.” Meg nodded and stepped back. “Let’s get the people to work, shall we?”

-

It was an odd routine, like watching ants work to bring the looted supplies to the Landing Zone from the other sites. Since the only time to kill was the wait for the ship’s return, they could afford to make the effort to bring it all from the sites down unless there were shacks or large items that couldn’t fit on a Pa’li, Gator or one of the buggies they found.

Weapons from the armoury were brought forward for consideration on whether they were taking them or leaving then behind. The tools were already packed up into the shack.

Jake eyed the boxes of guns for a moment. There was mostly a wide range of guns (with ammo), but the rest were machetes, various knifes types, AMP knives, a fucking katana of all blades, axes, hatchets, and even a case of eight plate-sized chakrams. Then there were the explosives. Mine explosives, C-4 and crates of grenades.

René, the mysterious avatar survivor made his appearance and joined Jake, Kung and Neytiri at the weapons selection. Jake greeted him with a nod.

“<How’s your husband?>” Neytiri asked.

René chuckled. “<Not thrilled about me being here but is eager to hear about it. I take it you’re indecisive on what to do with the weapons?>”

Jake hummed in agreement. “<We can take the blades and stuff like that but it’s the guns and explosives that are the problem. Leaving them here poses a risk of the RDA reclaiming them, but equally exposes ignorant Na’vi to deadly weapons if they get too curious. If we take them, we’re responsible for them and for whoever gets hurt>”

“<Why don’t you neutralise them?>” René asked as if it was obvious. “<Separate the ammo from the gun and render the gun itself inoperable. Bury them and let Eywa rust them. I suggest you take the explosives since they’re more dangerous to leave on their own. You can leave them in a cave and get a warning for Na’vi to avoid.>”

“<Some of these are unfamiliar.>” Neytiri mentioned, examining a shotgun with a shrewd eye. “<We should keep some for our warriors to become familiar with if a fight with the sky people becomes necessary; we should see the impact and damage to learn how to defend ourselves against them>”

“<Are you sure?>” René sounded genuinely surprised at her suggestion.

“<I do not like them, but going into a fight with sky people is foolish if we’re blind to their capabilities.>” Neytiri said, her eyes sliding to him. “<Tsu’tey may agree.>”

“<I helped Eytukan and Tsu’tey get familiar with the standard weapons and vehicles when I first arrived here.>” Jake mentioned. “<That’s a good idea. Let’s take a small selection of each of the guns but what we don’t take, we neutralise.>”

“<I can do that>” Kung offered. “<I know my way around weapons>”

“<I’ll sort through what we’ll take>” Jake decided.

-

Neytiri stared at the clear course set out in the overgrown with the broken fence with a contemplating look. A sight similar to the area she had seen in the Sky People village when she was only six. Bigger, obviously and kept in good condition. This was small, old and dangerous now without the care to maintain it in the last two years since it was abandoned. Eywa reclaiming her lands.

She had been inside the facility and the humans had worked fast into stripping it down into. The beds that they used were folded down or used as a sledge for other supplies. Mirrors pulled off the walls, lightbulbs taken, even areas of the walls were dug into for the wires to be pulled out of and posters were doodled on that Neytiri was certain were insults of some kind. The windows were broken to remain open now to allow life in.

Grace had once told her a human story about things called Gremlins, or Pixies; creatures of chaos and causing havoc. Seeing the humans come together against the RDA in such a harmless manner seemed to show where the myth stemmed from. Their own nature and a common enemy. It was… enjoyable to witness them in their own environment like this.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the movement but heard nothing of the Dreamwalker’s steps; learned well in the way of the Tipani.

“<They’ve officially finished with Avatar station. Anything thing that’s here is to be left.>” René spoke. “<They’re going to start the Second Forward Camp, the last area since they cleared Vacant Facility days ago. We should help since Zane’s found some Pa’li foraging by the south side of the Station close to the irrigation bypass.>”

Neytiri turned to him with a nod. “<I’m surprised how fast they’ve worked.>”

René chuckled softly, waiting for her to walk beside him to lead out towards the treeline. “<Humans are motivated and the pre-planning on both sides helped. The only thing they can wait on is the ships to get them out>”

“<Do you think they can manage it within the timeframe?>” Neytiri asked

“<Yes, as long as we also put together alternatives for the smaller stuff. Gators, Ikran, Pa’li and from the looks of it, Drones, three ATVs and two Buggies from the RDA’s warehouse. They plan to strip what vehicles they can’t take down for parts. The ATV’s have been stripped of their weapons to be made useful for supplies; they don’t see a massive need for missiles. There’s another Samson, who can’t fly but is salvageable. They’ll cable it along if they need to.>” René explained, “<But we’ve found Na’vi artefacts, I’ll need to return to the Tsahìk to inform her about them once we’re done. Most are Tipani but some look Tawkami and Omatikaya. Ruby suspects they were originally taken to be sent to Earth to be sold. Alien artefacts appeal to the wealthy on Earth.”

“<Why?>” Neytiri couldn’t help the disgust.

“<They’re foreign, one of a kind and some rich people like owning items like that since it makes them look… important or increases their social status. The wealthy on Earth have their own culture that is different to the common workers that you know. They value connections with other wealthy people, companies or businesses, exclude those who do not fit or share the same values and care about the percentage of their wealth and maintaining that. If an alien artefact gets them to better, more comfortable places, then they’ll take It.>” René explained. “<Pandoran lumber also fetches a high price for artists to use.>”

Neytiri wrinkled her nose. Horrible logic and it shows the cold divide between Humans. Unfathomable to most Na’vi if they weren’t familiar with sky people. “<That’s awful>”

“<Indeed, but it’s their way and it’s how they’ve maintained their powerhouses over the people for the last few millennia.” René sighed deeply. “The Tipani will take their items back. You can take your people’s items as well as the Tawkami’s, as you’re closer to their clan than ours.”

Up ahead, there were two Pa’li waiting and sniffling at some shrubs. She took one and he took the other to make their trip. Seze had vanished, probably to hunt.

Neytiri watched him from the corner of her eye. He looked… younger than she expected the longer she looked. Was it due to the fact she knew his sky people's age was far longer lived than that of his Dreamwalker form? Like Jake, who was a little older than her and yet his Dreamwalker was a little younger than her. She noted how René sat, his clothes and the Txursm shells on his shoulders; hand painted with delicate pictures which did differ from the Tipani who kept them blank. Personal style. His black hair looked braided, well, traditionally to the style of the clan. He looked at peace as one of the people.

“<The Tipani have accepted you. Fully.>” Neytiri gave him a questioning look, despite his patience in her quiet observation. “<I thought Sänume was stricter than my father with allowing outsiders in such a fashion.>”

René laughed, a little amused. “<It’s both complex and simple.>”

“<Go on.>” She pressed, curious to his achievement.

“<Their care for me was the work I put in to help them for years. They came to understand me and respect me. I learned from them and helped them in turn. I was near equal in their eyes by the time of my death, decades of work into crafting our bonds… but the easy part to secure my place without question was the fact my human body was buried with their ancestors.”

Neytiri’s eyes snapped to him in surprise. “<That simple?>”

“I still had to learn their rites but it was my foot in the door. Kim and Jerome’s human bodies were also buried alongside mine so they too have an opening with the Tipani people. I can’t know for certain if Sänume would permit their rites if they aren’t welcomed back to the clan and live in another territory. I don’t know if they’re aware of their place. I don’t think Sänume considered it until after I had woken up and asked her of their rites for my place.>”

But there was truth to René’s words. Neytiri knew from her mother’s teachings that it was a similar vein for the Omatikaya. A person living with a clan, learning and aiding the clan, and having a family member be buried with the ancestors of their hosting clan that granted Uturu would automatically grant them a place among the clan. Unlike the Tipani who clearly still had rites of passage to accompany that, the Omatikaya by tradition would accept them regardless. Rites afterwards were typically for security or for coming of age to accept or take a mate.

Her heart leapt a little, fluttering at the realisation. It opened up several opportunities for the Dreamwalkers. Humans not so much but… with Jake’s brother had yet to be set to rest she could secure him to the Omatikaya clan. She had… options that did not go completely against her clan. Unlike her uncle to tried to mate outside of the clan with Grace, Jake wouldn’t seed her exile unless her father truly saw Dreamwalkers as unworthy matches or as equals. The only problem she would face was… losing her place as Tsakarem. She’d not be the Omatikaya’s Tsahìk if she chose Jake.

But she still had options, from what René had already suggested in terms of creating the clan as a true belonging. But that meant leaving her family behind. Her parents. They had no other children. As much as her flame was growing for Jake… she couldn’t abandon them. Neytiri put those thoughts behind her for later.

“<Will you tell them?>”

“<Not without talking to Sänume first.>” René said.

“<Of course>” Neytiri agreed.

They made their way along the bypass into a trot, bypassing an abandoned and burned-out remains of a fuel tank and damaged RDA vehicle, an excavator as René called it. Xavierholten looked to be busy with it and pulling out parts and putting them into a basket with a few canteens that smelt like some sort of oil.

Getting to the Second Forward base, they were met with a busier site of humans.

Philmooregraves was surrounded by boxes of medical supplies and a large box; looking to be sorting and decantering them in and making a note on his tablet with each box he looked through. Trinityharper was by a pile of square bags; looking through which appeared to be clothing items and sorting them into three piles. Female, Male and Dreamwalker, if she wasn’t mistaken.

“Since the avatars are wearing Na’vi clothing, we can probably just keep the shirts and turn them into dresses or sacks.” Trinity was saying, holding up an oversized T-shirt against herself.

Further down, Morganlangley was surrounded by a range of items. Games, boxes of items and toys of sorts; some looked hard and colourful, and some looked soft and squishy, some looked shaped after Earth Animals.

“Do we really need these fire extinguishers?”

Neytiri’s head turned to see Jake beside Morankelis who looked rather pleased with the collection of red canisters.

“Some of them are useable but not why they’re useful. Technically, we only need half of the actual canister. I only picked the ones that don’t melt easily, like the aluminium ones. I thought the titanium and steel ones would be useful to create crucibles for metal working.” Moran said.

“Huh, empty them out and cut them in half; that’ll lessen the weight and open up more space,” Jake said.

Moran nodded brightly. “Awesome.”

“<I’ll help load up the Pa’li.>” René decided, swinging off the Pa’li silently and headed towards his niece who lit up happily at the sight of him in a way that Neytiri had not seen before.

-

The night came, and more items came forward, decantered, divided and re-secured into the shacks and boxes. Humans on vehicles, Ashely with her Ikran loaded up and left, the ships came and went, pausing to be refilled by the leftovers.

Jake was focused and he found himself leading the group and listening to the problems that came up and helped with solutions but it was a weird stretch of being really busy or moments of long moments. Food was handed out and eaten on the go. He got the odd feeling he was being stared at every so often but his work pulled him from investigating.

He had only seen Nadine once when she stopped for a pee break and food, by the time she returned back to the ship, it was refuelled, boxed to the brim and the shack ready to go. He opted not to mention her dear twin before she left and he stayed behind to oversee the group.

Nonetheless, he did find Jahan when she returned with Jerome, wet, muddy and tired. He watched her as she took a hot drink and sat by the fire they had; the quiet now being used for rest while they waited for the ships to return. Some people were still occupied with organising but it was clear to see most were asleep now in group or sipping tea by the fire. The Second Forward camp was almost emptied so it made more sense to conserve the remaining energy for each pick-up. They still had tomorrow to continue.

Jahan sat on her own, taking a breath then removed her mask to sip the tea and slammed her mask back on.

“You know, coming out here is a huge risk,” Jake said, deciding to broach the scientist. “Hope you’re not expecting Nad to take it well.”

Jahan’s body froze up for a second, her eyes turning up to him cautiously. “Hi, Tom.” She said, her voice soft before her eyes widened. “Oh, god. I’m so sorry, Jake.”

Jake winced, the mistake hurtling like an impact to his gut but he kept it off his face; jaw tightening more than anything. “What the hell are you doing out here, Jahan?” He asked, sitting down and swiping the bowl of tea that was kept warm by the fire. Probably N’deh’s.

“I wanted to see Nadine.” She said, her tone turning tight. “I know I messed up but she’s still my sister.”

Jake fixed her dry look. “So what? You’re still putting a huge risk with Nad’s mental health with hope and faith on your part.”

“I know she’s your friend, Jake but I can’t make anything right by staying away. I want to… try again and I can’t do that without talking to her.” Jahan’s fingers tapped nervously over her cup. “I want to try again… and out here I have a better chance.…”

“Honestly, Jahan, I don’t care what you want. I care about what Nadine needs. Right now, that isn’t you.” Jake knew he was being harsh, but he had spent the last three months with Nadine to judge that. “I haven’t told Nad yet since she’s too damn busy but you’re not to go near her until she’s been informed and ready to talk.”

Jahan gasped, outraged. “That’s not fair!”

Meg didn’t tell it, it seemed. Oh well.

“No? Says the woman who abandoned her newly amputee veteran twin to the hospital while going to space to study aliens. The RDA would have allowed that given the ship rotation is every 60 days.” Jake glared at her. “Tommy was there, he took six months of his training off to help me… and Nadine. He got her a new leg so she would walk without a chair. He did that. Not you. Sure, the only thing you did was put Nad’s name in the RDA’s sights but you weren’t there for her. Nadine had to put work in herself to get stable enough to be accepted but even then, that’s not guaranteed that she wasn’t going to find the edge of a cliff. She’s better now with the supper we’ve given her… but don’t think for a moment that you can just waltz into her life and expect her to be okay.”

Jahan’s eyes welled up, her cheeks turning pink and her grip on the cup was white but he said what he needed to, downing his stolen tea and left her to it, ignoring the few eyes on him.

Masterlist

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase - Season 1 Episode 1 "Lost my Marbles" (part 1) - How It All Started

Hello, all. I want to talk about a particular episode of Cyberchase today. I don't know if I will put together discussion posts like this for every episode, but I feel like I need to put one together about this one. This was the first proper episode for Cyberchase after the pilot episode. Sure, we had the three-part prequel web comics and other promotional material. However, I bet most people who saw this episode saw it before they saw the webcomic or other promotions.

I didn't see this when it first premiered, but I did see the re-runs. That was long before I knew about the web comics. So, where do we begin?

The Hacker: Ahahahahaha!

The Hacker: At last! The moment I've been waiting for! Haha. It's absolutely perfect.

Yeah, The Hacker gets the first line of the entire series. As if he was going to let anyone else have that.

Imagine you'd never heard of Cyberchase before. Imagine this was the first episode you'd ever seen. We have this clearly villainous character flying his ship through a strange world. And now he's laughing with evil intent while remotely spying on some children at a library.

Buzz: Yeah, you're right, Boss. Cyberspace is simply enchanting.

And then the more competent (?) of the two Duncebuckets gets the second line. Delete is noticeably silent in his introduction, and he looks annoyed that Buzz is interrupting The Hacker's speech. I feel like this dynamic flipped later in the show. Delete became more prone to outbursts, and Buzz did more to tug him back in line.

The Hacker: Those Earth kids are the key to my plan.

Buzz: Oh yeah, you mean your master plan for all-out domination of Cyberspace that will allow you to spread chaos and evil from site to site?

The Hacker: Of course that plan, you robotic duncebucket!

Buzz: I thought the only way to take over Cyberspace was to get rid of that Cyberbrain that runs it, Motherboard?

The Hacker: And so we shall.

So, Buzz is a good, if somewhat clunky, vehicle for exposition. He explains The Hacker's ultimate goal, as well as the big step that he is about to take to achieve that goal. He also refers to Motherboard as a Cyber-brain. It is possible that that was some sort of slur, but I don't think Buzz is that kind of bad guy. It's largely accepted by the community that Motherboard's species is called Cyber-brain. That raises the question as to whether there are more of her out there.

During this exchange, the scene cuts to the kids on Hacker's big board. They don't have dialogue yet, but this is the very first interaction among them.

Yeah, they were on The Hacker's screen earlier, but Matt and Jackie were frozen in the place, and Inez did some sort of idle animation. However, this shot, Matt and Jackie are clearly working together to figure out how the library map screen works. Matt is poking at the screen. Then, he looks in Jackie's direction. Jackie smiles ad gestures with her hand. Matt smiles back. Calm down, shippers. They just met. Oh, and Inez is standing there with her arms folded. Her expression is neutral. She may be annoyed at how long tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum are taking to figure out how the map works. She did have a long bike ride over here, and it was stated upon her arrival that the library was closing soon. I'm not sure how much work any of them expected to get done today.

Now, we enter Control Central and see Motherboard for the first time. Digit and Dr. Marbles are working on her.

Dr. Marbles: Upgrade nearly complete, Motherboard. Stand by for reboot.

Motherboard: Hurry, Dr. Marbles. My firewall's been down long enough. It's not safe.

Digit: Not safe! C'mon! What could possibly happen?

He just had to say that, didn't he.

Motherboard: Hacker alert! Hacker alert!

Digit: Hacker's Back?!

Dr. Marbles: Impossible! We drained his power grid and exiled him eons ago.

Inez: Excuse me? You two aren't the only ones who require access to this map.

Matt: Hang on, I'm just trying to figure out how to use it, okay?

Yeah, Inez is already done with their shit, and they haven't even been properly introduced.

Jackie: Alright, you're here, see? So, just find where you want to go and touch that spot.

I love that Jackie's first words in the episode were to try to calm down Matt and Inez. Jackie also just turned key #1 of 3.

Matt: Okay. Mythology... Mythology...cool!

And so, Matt turns key #2 of 3. We can see that the map drew a line between the Lobby and the Mythology room. I'm not sure how it would have helped with navigation though, as it seems to be a straight line or a simple curve. We also don't see any step-by-step directions.

Inez: But I need to go to the research room!

I love how Inez lunges for the map to tap the still-glowing Lobby button again. Matt and Jackie make a point of stepping backwards out of her way.

And so, Inez gets her useless directional line to the research room. She also turns key #3 of 3.

Inez: *gasp*

Matt: Hey, what's up with that?

Jackie: It looks like the icons are going to crash into each other, right...

Matt, Jackie, and Inez: Here!

Dr. Marbles: Hacker has found a way to breach the system!

Motherboard: Quickly, reload my firewall!

The Hacker: Behold, my half-baked henchmen. My concoction of computerized chaos is about to... attack!

Motherboard: Hacker has launched a virus. It's coming this way.

Digit: Hurry Doc! Hurry! Close her up!

Dr. Marbles: Firewall loading! 45! 50!

Motherboard: It's too late... the virus has invaded my circuits. It's shutting me down.

Dr. Marbles: Firewall up! No further damage anticipated.

Digit: She's in bad shape, huh, Doc?

Dr. Marbles: Her Encryptor Chip has been destroyed! I can't retrieve it! I've got to locate and install a new one.

Dr. Marbles's quest goes poorly, as Hacker immediately captures him.

So, let's pause for a moment and process what just happened here. The Hacker, who was apparently exiled eons ago, has returned. We know from the official prequel web comic, "How It All Started", that The Hacker attacked Valussa after he was banished, but before he infected Motherboard with the virus. That was a major event, as it led to Digit betraying The Hacker for the second time, The Hacker imprisoning Digit, and Digit escaping and defecting to Motherboard.

Assuming Digit gave Dr. Marble and Motherboard the full story of The Hacker's attack on Valussa, they had to know that The Hacker was still alive and capable of causing chaos on Cybersites in spite of his downgraded power supply. So, I don't know why Dr. Marbles is in such disbelief that The Hacker is back.

It's not clear what happened in the time period between the events of the comic "How it All Started Episode 2", where The Hacker attacked Valussa, and "Lost my Marbles". This gets murkier if we bring in The Flying Parallinis' storyline, since The Hacker was imprisoned on Mount Way-Up-There without Digit.

Maybe I was wrong in my original assessment of the Parallini's storyline. Maybe The Hacker's imprisonment on Mount Way-Up-There wasn't really a retcon. Maybe Motherboard was content to just stuff him in a pod and launch him to The Northern Frontier over the theft of The Encryptor Chip from "How It All Started Episode 1". But then, after he terrorized Valussa and Digit defected, perhaps Motherboard saw fit to put The Hacker on Mount Way-Up-There as an additional punishment. If so, there was apparently nothing there to alert Motherboard if he left the mountain. Now that I think of it, that arrangement might clear up the inconsistencies in Buzz and Delete's origin stories. We know The Hacker built them with parts from Cybersite Botopolis, but they also talk about a time when they worked in a cyber cheese factory unassociated with The Hacker. If we take Mount-Way-Up-There as a separate punishment, then perhaps Buzz and Delete lost their jobs when The Hacker went up the mountain. Then, when he came back down, he pulled them back in.

I'm not going to touch "Hacker Hugs a Tree", since that was 100% a retcon of How It All Started.

I don't think The Hacker attacked any other Cybersites between the Valussa event and the attack on Motherboard. I think he laid low while cooking up the virus. I suspect that sometime between The Hacker terrorizing Valussa and "Lost My Marbles", Motherboard, Dr. Marbles, and Digit got complacent. They figured he was just sulking in The Northern Frontier.

In addition to writing the code for the virus, The Hacker must have rigged that library map to open a breach in Motherboard's defenses. Even with her firewall down for maintenance, he couldn't launch the virus, or he would have done it. We also know that raising the firewall was able to prevent the virus from causing further damage after the initial infection. So, The Hacker needed her firewall down, and he needed the breach opened at the same time in order to pull this off.

But how did the breach work? I feel like I could make an entire separate post theorizing about that, and I probably will. I won't bog down this post with it though.

So, back in the real world...

Inez: You think we broke it?

Matt: I don't know.

Jackie: There must be some way to reboot this thing!

Motherboard: I am Motherboard.

Jackie: Uh oh.

Matt: Mother-who?

Jackie: We're in for it now! She's probably FBI!

Motherboard: I am protector of all Cyberspace.

Inez: Right, and I'm Xena, Warrior Princess.

Motherboard: When the three of you touched that map, a breach in Cyberspace allowed a nasty computer virus to reach me.

Motherboard already know their names, possibly through spying on them in the library. She pulls them into Cyberspace. This is the beginning of the next 20 years of their lives spent working to keep Cyberspace safe from The Hacker.

The old pitch documents claim that Motherboard "conducted an elaborate computer search of every being in every galaxy for the right combination of bravery, moxie and math skill", and these three actual children were the best for the job. That comes with the caveat that Motherboard had just suffered brain damage from a virus first, of course. There is a popular fan theory that she pulled them in to make amends for accidentally opening the breach.

They meet Digit.

Digit: Without Motherboard, everything and everyone in Cyberspace is doomed!

Jackie: You guys, we can't let that happen. We can't just stand by and let this Hacker guy destroy Cyberspace. We have to help! We just have to!

I love that Jackie is the first one to insist that all three of them band together to save Cyberspace. She doesn't know her new teammates, Motherboard, or the scope of the mission, but she's ready to ride or die.

Inez: Excuse me, I don't even know you guys. This is a major decision! I need time to think about it.

I love that Inez is being the rational one here, arguably more rational than Motherboard.

Matt: There isn't time to think about! We've got to act now! I'm in!

I love that, the moment Inez mentions taking time to think about it (i.e. waiting), Matt throws his hat into the ring with Jackie.

They don't get cyber-suits or virtual avatars, but they get, Sqwak Pads, funky little handheld computers for problem-solving and communication.

I'm nearing the limit for these posts, so I'll stop here. I'll make a part 2 for the rest of the episode, as there are some important scenes to high-light. I probably won't go scne-by-scene, since that will take forever. However, the scenes that I covered in this part were all very important, since they set up the premise for the show and introduce our characters.

[sunaleisocial]

Want to design the car of the future? Here are 8,000 designs to get you started.

New Post has been published on https://sunalei.org/news/want-to-design-the-car-of-the-future-here-are-8000-designs-to-get-you-started/

Want to design the car of the future? Here are 8,000 designs to get you started.

Car design is an iterative and proprietary process. Carmakers can spend several years on the design phase for a car, tweaking 3D forms in simulations before building out the most promising designs for physical testing. The details and specs of these tests, including the aerodynamics of a given car design, are typically not made public. Significant advances in performance, such as in fuel efficiency or electric vehicle range, can therefore be slow and siloed from company to company.

MIT engineers say that the search for better car designs can speed up exponentially with the use of generative artificial intelligence tools that can plow through huge amounts of data in seconds and find connections to generate a novel design. While such AI tools exist, the data they would need to learn from have not been available, at least in any sort of accessible, centralized form.

But now, the engineers have made just such a dataset available to the public for the first time. Dubbed DrivAerNet++, the dataset encompasses more than 8,000 car designs, which the engineers generated based on the most common types of cars in the world today. Each design is represented in 3D form and includes information on the car’s aerodynamics — the way air would flow around a given design, based on simulations of fluid dynamics that the group carried out for each design.

In a new dataset that includes more than 8,000 car designs, MIT engineers simulate the aerodynamics for a given car shape, which they represent in various modalities, including “surface fields” (left) and “streamlines” (right).

Credit: Courtesy of Mohamed Elrefaie

Each of the dataset’s 8,000 designs is available in several representations, such as mesh, point cloud, or a simple list of the design’s parameters and dimensions. As such, the dataset can be used by different AI models that are tuned to process data in a particular modality.

DrivAerNet++ is the largest open-source dataset for car aerodynamics that has been developed to date. The engineers envision it being used as an extensive library of realistic car designs, with detailed aerodynamics data that can be used to quickly train any AI model. These models can then just as quickly generate novel designs that could potentially lead to more fuel-efficient cars and electric vehicles with longer range, in a fraction of the time that it takes the automotive industry today.

“This dataset lays the foundation for the next generation of AI applications in engineering, promoting efficient design processes, cutting R&D costs, and driving advancements toward a more sustainable automotive future,” says Mohamed Elrefaie, a mechanical engineering graduate student at MIT.

Elrefaie and his colleagues will present a paper detailing the new dataset, and AI methods that could be applied to it, at the NeurIPS conference in December. His co-authors are Faez Ahmed, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, along with Angela Dai, associate professor of computer science at the Technical University of Munich, and Florin Marar of BETA CAE Systems.

Filling the data gap

Ahmed leads the Design Computation and Digital Engineering Lab (DeCoDE) at MIT, where his group explores ways in which AI and machine-learning tools can be used to enhance the design of complex engineering systems and products, including car technology.

“Often when designing a car, the forward process is so expensive that manufacturers can only tweak a car a little bit from one version to the next,” Ahmed says. “But if you have larger datasets where you know the performance of each design, now you can train machine-learning models to iterate fast so you are more likely to get a better design.”

And speed, particularly for advancing car technology, is particularly pressing now.

“This is the best time for accelerating car innovations, as automobiles are one of the largest polluters in the world, and the faster we can shave off that contribution, the more we can help the climate,” Elrefaie says.

In looking at the process of new car design, the researchers found that, while there are AI models that could crank through many car designs to generate optimal designs, the car data that is actually available is limited. Some researchers had previously assembled small datasets of simulated car designs, while car manufacturers rarely release the specs of the actual designs they explore, test, and ultimately manufacture.

The team sought to fill the data gap, particularly with respect to a car’s aerodynamics, which plays a key role in setting the range of an electric vehicle, and the fuel efficiency of an internal combustion engine. The challenge, they realized, was in assembling a dataset of thousands of car designs, each of which is physically accurate in their function and form, without the benefit of physically testing and measuring their performance.

To build a dataset of car designs with physically accurate representations of their aerodynamics, the researchers started with several baseline 3D models that were provided by Audi and BMW in 2014. These models represent three major categories of passenger cars: fastback (sedans with a sloped back end), notchback (sedans or coupes with a slight dip in their rear profile) and estateback (such as station wagons with more blunt, flat backs). The baseline models are thought to bridge the gap between simple designs and more complicated proprietary designs, and have been used by other groups as a starting point for exploring new car designs.

Library of cars

In their new study, the team applied a morphing operation to each of the baseline car models. This operation systematically made a slight change to each of 26 parameters in a given car design, such as its length, underbody features, windshield slope, and wheel tread, which it then labeled as a distinct car design, which was then added to the growing dataset. Meanwhile, the team ran an optimization algorithm to ensure that each new design was indeed distinct, and not a copy of an already-generated design. They then translated each 3D design into different modalities, such that a given design can be represented as a mesh, a point cloud, or a list of dimensions and specs.

The researchers also ran complex, computational fluid dynamics simulations to calculate how air would flow around each generated car design. In the end, this effort produced more than 8,000 distinct, physically accurate 3D car forms, encompassing the most common types of passenger cars on the road today.

To produce this comprehensive dataset, the researchers spent over 3 million CPU hours using the MIT SuperCloud, and generated 39 terabytes of data. (For comparison, it’s estimated that the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress would amount to about 10 terabytes of data.)

The engineers say that researchers can now use the dataset to train a particular AI model. For instance, an AI model could be trained on a part of the dataset to learn car configurations that have certain desirable aerodynamics. Within seconds, the model could then generate a new car design with optimized aerodynamics, based on what it has learned from the dataset’s thousands of physically accurate designs.

The researchers say the dataset could also be used for the inverse goal. For instance, after training an AI model on the dataset, designers could feed the model a specific car design and have it quickly estimate the design’s aerodynamics, which can then be used to compute the car’s potential fuel efficiency or electric range — all without carrying out expensive building and testing of a physical car.

“What this dataset allows you to do is train generative AI models to do things in seconds rather than hours,” Ahmed says. “These models can help lower fuel consumption for internal combustion vehicles and increase the range of electric cars — ultimately paving the way for more sustainable, environmentally friendly vehicles.”

This work was supported, in part, by the German Academic Exchange Service and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT.

[jcmarchi]

Want to design the car of the future? Here are 8,000 designs to get you started.

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/want-to-design-the-car-of-the-future-here-are-8000-designs-to-get-you-started/

Want to design the car of the future? Here are 8,000 designs to get you started.

Car design is an iterative and proprietary process. Carmakers can spend several years on the design phase for a car, tweaking 3D forms in simulations before building out the most promising designs for physical testing. The details and specs of these tests, including the aerodynamics of a given car design, are typically not made public. Significant advances in performance, such as in fuel efficiency or electric vehicle range, can therefore be slow and siloed from company to company.

MIT engineers say that the search for better car designs can speed up exponentially with the use of generative artificial intelligence tools that can plow through huge amounts of data in seconds and find connections to generate a novel design. While such AI tools exist, the data they would need to learn from have not been available, at least in any sort of accessible, centralized form.

But now, the engineers have made just such a dataset available to the public for the first time. Dubbed DrivAerNet++, the dataset encompasses more than 8,000 car designs, which the engineers generated based on the most common types of cars in the world today. Each design is represented in 3D form and includes information on the car’s aerodynamics — the way air would flow around a given design, based on simulations of fluid dynamics that the group carried out for each design.

In a new dataset that includes more than 8,000 car designs, MIT engineers simulate the aerodynamics for a given car shape, which they represent in various modalities, including “surface fields” (left) and “streamlines” (right).

Credit: Courtesy of Mohamed Elrefaie

Each of the dataset’s 8,000 designs is available in several representations, such as mesh, point cloud, or a simple list of the design’s parameters and dimensions. As such, the dataset can be used by different AI models that are tuned to process data in a particular modality.

DrivAerNet++ is the largest open-source dataset for car aerodynamics that has been developed to date. The engineers envision it being used as an extensive library of realistic car designs, with detailed aerodynamics data that can be used to quickly train any AI model. These models can then just as quickly generate novel designs that could potentially lead to more fuel-efficient cars and electric vehicles with longer range, in a fraction of the time that it takes the automotive industry today.

“This dataset lays the foundation for the next generation of AI applications in engineering, promoting efficient design processes, cutting R&D costs, and driving advancements toward a more sustainable automotive future,” says Mohamed Elrefaie, a mechanical engineering graduate student at MIT.

Elrefaie and his colleagues will present a paper detailing the new dataset, and AI methods that could be applied to it, at the NeurIPS conference in December. His co-authors are Faez Ahmed, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, along with Angela Dai, associate professor of computer science at the Technical University of Munich, and Florin Marar of BETA CAE Systems.

Filling the data gap

Ahmed leads the Design Computation and Digital Engineering Lab (DeCoDE) at MIT, where his group explores ways in which AI and machine-learning tools can be used to enhance the design of complex engineering systems and products, including car technology.

“Often when designing a car, the forward process is so expensive that manufacturers can only tweak a car a little bit from one version to the next,” Ahmed says. “But if you have larger datasets where you know the performance of each design, now you can train machine-learning models to iterate fast so you are more likely to get a better design.”

And speed, particularly for advancing car technology, is particularly pressing now.

“This is the best time for accelerating car innovations, as automobiles are one of the largest polluters in the world, and the faster we can shave off that contribution, the more we can help the climate,” Elrefaie says.

In looking at the process of new car design, the researchers found that, while there are AI models that could crank through many car designs to generate optimal designs, the car data that is actually available is limited. Some researchers had previously assembled small datasets of simulated car designs, while car manufacturers rarely release the specs of the actual designs they explore, test, and ultimately manufacture.

The team sought to fill the data gap, particularly with respect to a car’s aerodynamics, which plays a key role in setting the range of an electric vehicle, and the fuel efficiency of an internal combustion engine. The challenge, they realized, was in assembling a dataset of thousands of car designs, each of which is physically accurate in their function and form, without the benefit of physically testing and measuring their performance.

To build a dataset of car designs with physically accurate representations of their aerodynamics, the researchers started with several baseline 3D models that were provided by Audi and BMW in 2014. These models represent three major categories of passenger cars: fastback (sedans with a sloped back end), notchback (sedans or coupes with a slight dip in their rear profile) and estateback (such as station wagons with more blunt, flat backs). The baseline models are thought to bridge the gap between simple designs and more complicated proprietary designs, and have been used by other groups as a starting point for exploring new car designs.

Library of cars

In their new study, the team applied a morphing operation to each of the baseline car models. This operation systematically made a slight change to each of 26 parameters in a given car design, such as its length, underbody features, windshield slope, and wheel tread, which it then labeled as a distinct car design, which was then added to the growing dataset. Meanwhile, the team ran an optimization algorithm to ensure that each new design was indeed distinct, and not a copy of an already-generated design. They then translated each 3D design into different modalities, such that a given design can be represented as a mesh, a point cloud, or a list of dimensions and specs.

The researchers also ran complex, computational fluid dynamics simulations to calculate how air would flow around each generated car design. In the end, this effort produced more than 8,000 distinct, physically accurate 3D car forms, encompassing the most common types of passenger cars on the road today.

To produce this comprehensive dataset, the researchers spent over 3 million CPU hours using the MIT SuperCloud, and generated 39 terabytes of data. (For comparison, it’s estimated that the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress would amount to about 10 terabytes of data.)

The engineers say that researchers can now use the dataset to train a particular AI model. For instance, an AI model could be trained on a part of the dataset to learn car configurations that have certain desirable aerodynamics. Within seconds, the model could then generate a new car design with optimized aerodynamics, based on what it has learned from the dataset’s thousands of physically accurate designs.

The researchers say the dataset could also be used for the inverse goal. For instance, after training an AI model on the dataset, designers could feed the model a specific car design and have it quickly estimate the design’s aerodynamics, which can then be used to compute the car’s potential fuel efficiency or electric range — all without carrying out expensive building and testing of a physical car.

“What this dataset allows you to do is train generative AI models to do things in seconds rather than hours,” Ahmed says. “These models can help lower fuel consumption for internal combustion vehicles and increase the range of electric cars — ultimately paving the way for more sustainable, environmentally friendly vehicles.”

This work was supported, in part, by the German Academic Exchange Service and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT.

[socbrainrot]

While services such as libraries, urgent care centers, discount supermarkets, thrift stores, crisis centers, public transportation, and Section 8 housing seem like great solutions to poverty, I feel like people don't talk enough about the fact that many rural areas just don't have these services.

I live in a rural area that luckily does have a library and a thrift store. However, towns just half an hour away from me don't even have grocery stores or any medical services. Just ten minutes away from me is a town that doesn't have a grocery store, anywhere to buy clothing, anywhere to get medical care, or anywhere to live.

It's also important to remember that vehicles are INCREDIBLY expensive. Just because you live a ten minute drivw away from a grocery store doesn't mean you can actually get there. This is especially true of rural, agricultural areas that require highway driving to access food, clothing, and medical treatment.

So often, I see posts telling people not to buy items off services such as Amazon, or not to buy a gas-guzzlinh car because public transportation is much cleaner, or to not pay for streaming services because you can just rent movies from the library.

Millions of people in America fundamentally don't have access to food, clothing, transportation, or housing.

If you truly care about sustainability and ethical consumption, you must first address the fact that massive swaths is this country are not built in a way that allows for it.

However, people can't just leave these areas. The majority of the areas that don't have access to these services are essential for the functioning of this country. If you like to eat food, you need people to live in rural areas.

If you live in a rural area and depend on commonly discouraged services to survive, don't feel bad about it. Those making posts about these services are not allowing room for nuance.

If you live in an urban area and don't understand what I'm talking about, hop on google maps and head to a rural area in the Midwest. Find a town with less than 1000 people. Explore. Educate yourself.

If you have acess to services such as libraries, public transportation, urgent care clinics, and affordable housing, by all means, utilize those services to their furthest extent. But keep in mind that it is a privelage to have those services. Be greatful, and me mindful when discussing those topics online.

[elfwreck]

"Ban personal vehicles" should be the FINAL stage in a walkable community.

First - add public transit; make sure it goes everywhere so that nobody has to walk more than a quarter-mile to get to a transit stop. Make it run frequently enough and have enough cross-connections that the difference between driving & transit is negligible, or at least, there's not more than 20% extra time for taking transit. Often, public transit should take less time - trains are faster than cars.

(My 15-mile trip to work is 30 minutes on public transit... including walking a few blocks at either end. It's about that in a car - in mid-afternoon. During rush hour, it's about double that, plus gas & a bridge toll that add up to more than a round-trip ticket.) (And that's before we get to parking costs in downtown SF.)

Put the bus stops at the doors of major shopping centers, not on the other side of the parking lot or around the block, half a mile away, so that anyone who needs to carry packages can't use the bus. Make sure the bus stops have shade and seats.

("But homeless people might sleep in them!" ...honey, if homeless people are sleeping in bus stops, the problem is not that they have found shelter there; it's that they haven't found shelter elsewhere. Work on that too.)

Next - Make the place more walk-friendly. Sidewalks everywhere. Ramps where they connect to streets. Bike lanes. Trees. Benches. Benches with shade. Zoning reform to allow multi-family housing, small businesses, parks, schools, and "third spaces" like libraries or rec centers - all nearby each other.

Add some fucking public restrooms, dammit. And water fountains. And some kid-friendly artwork.

Next, as the effects from those cause ripples, look at redesigning the streets. Are they wider than they need to be for the traffic you want, rather than the traffic that currently uses them? Ripping out streets to replace them is expensive - but eventually, they need repairs, or changes to the street plan to allow for new homes or businesses, in which case... make actual changes instead of prioritizing 4 lanes of car traffic.

Eventually, you may wind up with "ban all personal vehicles and only leave spaces for emergency access." But first: You make the place walk-friendly and slower for personal vehicles; those who need them can still use them; those who don't, will use the other options, because they will be both convenient and pleasant for most people.

No banning cars until

There is a robust public transit service in place - and by "robust," I mean "can easily be navigated by a 9-year-old traveling alone, an 80-year-old using a walker, and a mom with two preschool kids doing shopping," from any neighborhood in the city. (Psst "easily navigated" includes "easily afforded.") (Need funding for that? Stop subsidizing cars.)

Throw in "easy parking at transit center hubs" and make sure disability access is not "four parking spaces, half a block away from the transit entrance."

Public "walkable" areas don't just have walkways but rest places - benches, shade, water, restrooms, access to food & commerce in easy distance. (No "must walk five blocks to get out of the business district to find a food place that's not a coffee shop.")

AFTER those are in place and functional... THEN you start talking about restricting personal auto use in the area. And that doesn't mean "then you ban cars" but "then--and not before then--you research how cars are actually being used in the area."

Because odds are, you don't have to ban cars at all.

I mean, it's great that the "what about emergency vehicle access?" hack is so effective when pointing out the deficiencies of proposals for walkable communities, but it kind of burns my ass that you need to take that approach in the first place. I don't know how many conversations about communities planning I've seen that go like this:

Walkable communities advocate: Here's a plan for a walkable community in which only public transit will be permitted – no personal vehicles of any kind will be allowed.

Disability advocate: What about access for physically disabled people? If your options are public transit or the sidewalk and literally nothing else, any disabled person whose needs aren't fully served 100% of the time by your favoured public transit framework is fucked, and there's no such thing as a perfect public transit framework.

Walkable communities advocate, whose brain shut down the moment they heard the word "disabled" and didn't process anything past that point: Oh, you silly cripple, the term "walkable community" doesn't mean you're only allowed to walk! How quaint.

I guess pointing out "well, if only public transit is accommodated, how are firefighters and paramedics supposed to access emergencies?" works because now they can imagine themselves being affected!

[princess-pengy]

Strange Gaming Diaries: THE ENIGMA MACHINE, by ENIGMA STUDIO

so, bit of context for this one: a few years ago I bought itch.io's Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality, all of the games from which proceeded to sit tragically unexplored in my library until very recently. more recently, I decided to scroll through each and every single one of the hundreds of games included, find the ones that seemed interesting, and give them a shot! it seemed like a great way to get introduced to games on the fringe, and I've been very happy with the results.

THE ENIGMA MACHINE (which, yes, I will be capitalizing exclusively like that throughout this post, because I'm not about to enforce sensible typography on a game that so consistently refers to itself in all-caps) was one of these games, and holds the distinction of being the very, very first horror game I've ever played. not for lack of interest—I've always loved horror to bits, but for someone easily panicked and incredibly noise-sensitive like me, engaging with the genre is like russian roulette with about as much risk for damage to my brain.

however, the premise of this was an incredibly alluring one, with THE ENIGMA MACHINE (I warned you!) promising a trip into the murky, ambiguous, low-poly worlds within the mind of an artificial intelligence. mindscapes and synthetic life have always been some of my favorite narrative concepts, and it's clear that this game was made with its own love for these ideas. it's a bold and passionate opening statement from this developer, and the game that truly solidified how much I wanted to keep playing these kinds of abstract, heartfelt experiments.

in its opening minutes, the game did a nice job of setting up everything it needed to with its narrative: the player is taking part in a training exercise for the ENIGMA corporation's DREAMSCAPE software, which allows users to enter the minds of artificial intelligences—which ENIGMA is also the leading producers of, alongside the lifelike android bodies that house them.

and speaking of AIs, the chipper companion called demOS responsible for delivering most of this information is an incredibly well-written character! their constraints as an artificial being and lack of understanding of humans is consistent and sometimes charmingly awkward, but the dialogue still felt alive in a gripping way.

of course, this is a horror game, and once you actually enter the simulation, that fact becomes immediately apparent!

to be clear, another first that this game gave me was my first experience with the whole psx low-poly Thing that's been sweeping the indie horror scene these past few years. and y'know what? I get it now. the environments had me more unnerved than I've been in a while. with how slow your walking speed is and how frequently your surroundings plunge into inscrutable darkness, you spend a lot of time in this game staring into empty, silent space. each ring of dimming light is starkly visible along the walls, and there's a subtle flickering to both the framerate and the way the polygons catch the light at a distance that not only draws unavoidable attention to the artificiality of these settings, but gives an impression that they're only barely held together. it's wonderful. I fucking loved it and it made every single corner I turned into a surreal nightmare.

ultimately, though, the gameplay and relatively simplistic puzzle solving are vehicles for the impactful little plotline the game has going on, wherein you're given all sorts of cryptic talk about "decontamination" and AI sapience. but to talk more about that, we need to…

⚠ ENTER THE SPOILERZONE ⚠

"decontamination" is a word the game likes to throw around without explaining what it means. it's apparently what you're meant to be doing to AI by accessing their minds, but the game leaves the identity of what exactly is contaminating them enticingly vague.

and perhaps counterintuitively enough, things start getting MORE fucked up the less contaminated the testing AI is. the menu interface starts glitching out, demOS starts diverting from its programming, and the worlds you explore start changing. in one particular sequence that still sticks with me, the sky is replaced by a distorted view of the menu screen. it's haunting.

not only that, though, but the levels start merging. through various passageways and corridors, you start finding old levels, and thus the lie of these being individually simulated environments is revealed.

the game's final scenes (wherein you get a gun, only for there to be a stress-inducing lack of any enemies) contains many of these kinds of revelations: not only is the "contamination" you're tasked with cleaning out the essence of an AI's sapience, but you're also poking around in the brain of your friend demOS--or Red, as they're otherwise called. you and all the other agents like you are constantly lobotomizing this AI right as they realize what's happening to them.

and this is all paired with visuals that are haunting on a physical level as well as a glitchy metaphysical one. you find yourself in a courtyard with a beautiful starry sky with rain falling down, but everything's wrong. the vertices of the level geometry are mutilated in a way that constantly leaps out at you and obscures your vision. the rain is frozen in place. and, all the while, Red is recounting to you the experience of being torn from one's body and made to die over and over again, forever.

then a horrible humanoid figure walks towards you from behind one of the many , you shoot it, and the game crashes.

honestly, part of me almost wishes the game ended there. sure, the following sequence where the courtyard becomes a swirling hellstorm and you have to go through all the past environments while avoiding shrieking manifestations of an AI that wants to live is kickass, and far from unearned!

but THE ENIGMA MACHINE was so affecting for me because of how slow of a burn it was, and how gradually the tension and dread escalated. the crazy explosion of action at the end was almost a release of tension more than anything else, and while that wasn't unwelcome, it makes me wanna see the version of this game that stuck to that slow-paced dread all the way through to the end.

isn't that the best part about small little games like this, though? they set the mind ablaze and propose neat little ideas that, even if they aren't seen all the way through or have some quirks about them, are presented in an exciting enough way to get you thinking. the lived experience of an AI and how their senses operate so differently from ours despite having the same level of sapience is such a fascinating thing to dig into, and the way this game does that is so visceral that I found it utterly inspiring. can't wait to play the other games from the studio!!

Support the Developers! Buy the game on itch.io! Buy the game on Steam! Buy the soundtrack on Bandcamp! Keep up with Daniel on Twitter!

☆ Return to the Masterpost? ☆

[sunmarketing]

Best of National Parks, USA and Canada

This is from 2019, which seems so long ago. It's a favorite. Notice the different opening.

In this episode: Faq, What to do when you get sick on the road? Destination: National Parks: USA and Canada, Mistake: Getting a haircut in Hong Kong  Tip: Go where the locals go.

FAQ What do I do when I am sick while traveling?

Skip strenuous activities.

Take a long, hot bath or shower.

Eat foods that are gentle on your stomach.

Drink lots and lots of water, juice and tea.

Do you have insurance? Could you check with your health insurance firm before you go and get some if you need it? Out of the country, especially check this.

My Mexico City Experience

Food poisoning in Taipei

Today’s Independent Destination: National Parks

Why? Because they are not to be missed. Our national heritage. Why our country is so special. You will love America more after visiting.

$80 lifetime pass, plus a $10 handling fee. ...

Please note that the price of the lifetime Senior Pass increased to $80 on August 28, 2017. ...

For U.S. citizens or permanent residents age 62 or over.

May be obtained in person at a federal recreation site or through the mail using the application form.

  The National Parks are such a great value for us independent travelers. If you are over 62, you can get a lifetime pass. Five free days in 2019, entrance only!

Monday, January 21: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Saturday, April 20: First Day of National Park Week

Sunday, August 25: National Park Service Anniversary

Saturday, September 28: National Public Lands Day

Monday, November 11: Veterans Day

  Other fees such as reservation, camping, lodging, tours, concession and fees collected by third parties are not included unless stated otherwise.

America the Beautiful - 2019 Annual Pass

Cost $80 (U.S. Dollars) National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass This pass, available to the general public, provides access to, and use of, Federal recreation sites that charge an Entrance or Standard Amenity Fee - for a year - beginning from the date of sale.

Pass holder/s and passengers in a non-commercial vehicle at per vehicle fee areas

Pass holder + 3 adults (not to exceed 4 adults) at per person fee areas. (children under 16 admitted free)

America the Beautiful - Senior Pass

$80 (U.S. Dollars) National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass An annual senior pass is also available for $20. The pass admits the pass holder and passengers in a non-commercial vehicle at per vehicle fee areas and pass holder + 3 adults, not to exceed 4 adults, at per person fee areas (children under 16 are admitted free). The pass can only be obtained in person at the park.

America the Beautiful - Access Pass

Free National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass This is a lifetime pass for U.S. citizens or permanent residents with permanent disabilities. The pass provides access to, and use of, Federal recreation sites that charge an Entrance or Standard Amenity.

  In Canada, you can also get an annual pass, which can save you a lot of time in line. We bought a family pass last year in Banff, which was also good for other National parks in Canada. This is the Canadian Rockies. We visited the Banff Spring Hotel and had a wonderful experience. Lake Louise Ski Resort was a “bucket list” place for me.  We stayed outside the park. A single park pass gets you to all national parks, national historic sites and national marine conservation areas operated by Parks Canada. The Discovery Pass provides unlimited admission for a full year at over 80 Parks Canada places, typically charging a daily entrance fee. Visit the Parks Canada Passes and Permits website.

Today’s Mistake-Getting a haircut in Hong Kong. 

It was too short. I looked like a man. When I tried to get a bathing suit in a hotel, they gave me a men’s bathing suit, not a woman’s. That was not so good.

Today’s Travel Advice-Go to where the locals go. It may be a bar, a café, the local library, or church. Find out what the local people do in their daily lives. You don’t always need to visit the “touristy” places, just to say you were there. Consider your personal needs, desires, and interests. Follow them. Take a city bus or subway. I’ve always been able to get back to where I started, so that’s how to avoid getting lost, retrace your steps. Ask the locals, they want to talk to you, for the most part.

Check out this Dr Travelbest episode!

[gertlushgaming]

Plasma Preview (Steam Early Access)

 For this Plasma Preview, We play a creative engineering playground where you can build any device you can imagine. Bring to life your own amazing robots, factories, arcade machines, giant rampaging spiders, whole game worlds, and things that don't even have a name yet, then share them with the community.

Plasma Preview Pros:

- Brilliant Chunky bright graphics. - 4.63GB download size. - Graphics settings - resolution, quality preset, display, v-sync, a field of view slider, and fullscreen. - Mouse settings - Invert axis and sensitivity sliders. - Opening and ongoing tutorial. - Build, play, and experiment with gameplay! - You have a huge sandbox area to explore and play in. - First-person view. - Examples and usable experiments are in the world like drones, robots, and the like. - You can clone and edit all creations. - The home is where you can give feedback, read emails, etc. - Hovering over anything will show a pop-up of controls. - Placing objects is very easy using a yellow outline for it's safe to place and red if no it's not safe. - The library of parts is split into categories - basic, structures, mechanic, behavior, and decorative. - Handy search bar for finding parts quickly. - Play how you want. - Steam Workshop integration. - Objects/creations can be set to wireframe mode (able to edit/change) and solid state which is where it's closed to editing. - Ride and drive vehicles. - The diagram mode is where nerds lose their minds! Here you get a full breakdown of how the selected creation is made with flow charts, diagrams, variables, settings, and so much more that I feel I need a degree in engineering to even pronounce! - Each pre-made creation is missing parts, you get given those parts and instructions on how to install them. - World browser with tabs like - showcase, discover, subscribed, and my worlds. - You can search by ID for worlds. - The drones/flying vehicles are something else as you have remote control and can have a lot of fun. - Import your own images. - Encyclopedia and tutorial menus on devices. - Device browser is the same as the world but for just the devices. - Despite how complex it gets, The game does quite a good job of guiding new players. Plasma Preview Cons: - No Steam achievements. - It's a pain you have to subscribe to creators. - Relies on you making your own fun. - Cannot rebind controls. - Doesn't support a controller. - No multiplayer. - Can get overwhelming. - A lot to take in. Related Post: Lost Epic Review (Nintendo Switch OLED) Plasma: Official website. Developer: Dry Licorice Publisher: ICO  Store Links - Steam Early Access Read the full article

[t-lane-writes]

Find the Word Tag

I was tagged by @aohendo, thank you! :)

My words were: library, list, light, lift, and lyric.

Library

Helena gave them access to the library and the documents therein. She introduced them to the librarian, and also offered to leave her aide, Esmond, with them. Emma refused of course, expecting Esmond to be Helena’s spy rather than help.

Helena nodded and asked the librarian, with exaggerated politleness, to answer all of their questions and help them find whatever they might need. No doubt she also expected the librarian to report to her later.

List

The harbor wasn’t overly crowded when Anaher got there. Another team was getting ready for their usual daily patrol. Sovia Mernaz, Emma Lee, and Nersan Ziya were deep in pre-launch diagnostics of their vehicle, Piers was changing batteries on the drones and Risa just drove up with the fuel tank. Chatri hadn’t arrived yet.

Emma saw him first and handed her list of diagnostic check-ups to Sovia, who only rolled her eyes and kept to her work.

“I’ll call Agatha,” Emma raged. “They can’t make us do public service every day! We have to earn our living too.”

“Don’t.” Anaher raised his hands. “It’s not up to Agatha, you know.”

Light

Anaher nodded first and then grunted his confirmation, unsure if she could see the gesture. “Can I help?” he asked.

“I believe we can help each other.” The girl smirked, all mysterious and lighthearted. She kept her hands in the pockets of her jacket. Now leaned against the wall, three steps away from him, crossed her legs at the ankles and inclined her head. “You are in a bit of a pickle there, mister.”

Lift

“What’s troubling you?” Emma asked, sitting next to him. In the tight confines of their armored vehicle it was a challenge to switch positions, but she made the effort. The others were busy. Nothing urgent was happening at the moment, though, so they could have a chat.

Noel looked up at her and shrugged. Waved his hand in a “Nothing,” gesture, but avoided her gaze and when she kept staring, he self-consciously lifted his hand to fix the bundle of long hair on his nape. Another tell.

“Come on,” Emma said. “Spill it. Is it Troy?” His brother was the usual source of Noel’s worries. Annoying little brother, Emma thought, but tried not to show it too much.

Noel sighed and tensed briefly. Then slowly – and consciously – relaxed his shoulders and chest.

No lyric in this story. :)

I am not tagging anyone. Forgive, me please. :)

[wildingrose]

diamond in the rough

dark alley help part 5

part 4: the introduction | part 6: intrigued police

word count: 2k

》 handjob

- ✿ -

You sneaked into the house without your mother in sight. She must be sleeping still. Taeyong had given you a pair of pants to wear under your shirt and if your mother had seen you in them... you had a lot of explaining to do. Carefully on your tip toes, you managed to successfully get into your bedroom without getting caught and let out a deep breath. You shrugged out of his clothes and put on a floral cami dress along with matching panties. You folded the clothing and quickly hid them in your dresser right when your mother barged in, fuming hard with her nose flaring. 

"Where on earth were you, young lady?" she yelled.

Ignoring your mother was bound to land you in trouble. You had thought through a ton scenarios on your way back home, none of them seeming fit. Telling her about Taeyong had no positive outcome no matter what you tried to envision. You knew he was going to be rejected by her. So you settled with lying. "I was with Raymond." Your mother would never contact him to ask about your whereabouts because that would technically leave a bad impression of yourself to him, that you were the type of girl to disappear at night and not return till the next day.

She narrowed her eyes on you. "Oh really? You know, I was just on the phone with him, asking if he was available to take you out today." Oh shit. "And he mentioned that it'll be great since he hasn't seen you all week!" her voice raised at the end. "Now where the hell were you?"

You rolled your eyes, annoyed that you were going to have to say the truth as any other lie wasn't going to work on her. "I was with someone."

"Who?"

"A guy."

Your mother gasped. "Is he rich?"

This was the part where you didn't know what to do. You thought back to Taeyong's apartment and you could tell right away that he wasn't earning anywhere close to what your mother's requirement was. The truth was the right thing, but that was surely to rip you apart from him. Your granted access to walking to the library every night would be immediately canceled, or even going out anywhere in general unless Raymond was picking you up. Then, there would be no more Taeyong and you couldn't stand to imagine that.

Lying would save you and let you continue to see him. But you'd have to be careful with what lie you'd pick. Your mother was a nosy one. She would right away want to see his place and inquire about his workplace, even going as far as contacting where he'd work to confirm the details. She was dead set on having you married off to the money-loaded.

"Well... he looks rich." That wasn't a lie. He was so handsome that anyone would think he was the heir for some luxurious company without knowing his background. "And we went to a really nice hotel after so I don't know much about him. But I really really like him, mom. I wanna stop seeing Raymond when all I can think about is him. Please?" you pleaded with big puppy eyes despite that it never had any effect on her.

Your details seemed to have made her somewhat pleased. "He sounds prosperous." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes on you. "I'm not taking back my word and you better go out with Raymond today. But I do want to meet this guy of yours for dinner tonight. If he meets my expectations, then I'll cancel the alliance with Raymond. Deal?"

Your heart was pounding hard in your chest, fearing for what was going to happen at night. At least she was giving Taeyong a chance and a way out of your meetings with a guy you had zero interest in. You were going to have to prepare both yourself and Taeyong for the dinner to get her approval. "Deal," you said, nodding frantically.

"What's this guy's name?"

"Taeyong."

She hummed, quietly speaking, "Let's see how this Taeyong is."

-

You looked at the small building that was currently owned by your father. The lights were out but you knew your brother was in there. Bursting through the doors and into the office room, he sat on the grand leather chair with feet on the desk, playing on his Nintendo switch. He glanced over at you and huffed. "Nice to see you alive, lil sis. Do you even know the shit I had to hear mom rant on-" You strode up to the desk and slammed your hands on it, making him jump and pause his game. "Geez, you didn't have to scare me like that-"

"I need the business."

He blinked at you. "Are you crazy? I'm here sacrificing my Saturday morning acting like I'm learning and you want dad's business?"

You nodded.

He arched a curious brow. "Why?"

"You know they won't let me do anything. They can't say no if it's their business. Plus, you'll be free from this hellhole."

A mischievous smile formed on his face. "Are you trying to bargain with them for something? Why are you getting the idea now?"

You trusted your brother with your secrets as you two were ill-fated with parental expectations. "I... like someone."

"And he's not rich, is he?"

You shook your head.

He hummed, "I can teach you then."

-

You had texted Taeyong the details for the day. He had two things to tackle. First, meet this Raymond guy with you so that you could cut him out of your life. And second, prepare to show his best version of himself in front of your family for dinner.

He pulled the vehicle in front of the building that you texted. While waiting for you, he thought back to the black dress that you left behind intentionally at his place.

A little souvenir from me, you joked.

You knew you were going back to his place again and decided to let it stay there, all pretty with memories rushing back to how good he made you feel.

Taeyong saw you walking out of the building with a guy behind you. When your eyes met his, you grinned and began jogging over to him, making him step out of his car with his heart fluttering.

"Taeyong, you're here!" you exclaimed, beaming hard. While you didn't know how the meeting was going to end between Taeyong and Raymond, you were excited to end things off with Raymond and focus solely on spending time with the guy you had recently grown fond of despite the little time.

The little time containing quite high quality memories.

Your brother caught up and asked, "So this is him?"

You nodded. "Yup, he's Taeyong. And Taeyong, this is my older brother."  

Taeyong gave him a curt nod. "Hello, it's nice to meet you."

Your brother chuckled. "It sure is, meeting the one that stole my baby sister's heart. I'll come for you if you break it."

"That won't happen," Taeyong answered with seriousness. He couldn't fathom breaking the heart of his precious doll.

"I hope it won't. I'm expecting you to be better than that jerk Y/N's been set up with."

Taeyong side glanced over to you and you gave him a warm smile. "Taeyong can't be compared to him or any man that mom grows heart eyes for. He's a diamond in the rough."

Taeyong's breath hitched at your compliment. No one had ever called him that.

"Well then, good luck Taeyong, trying to get on our mom's good side." With a wave, your brother walked back into the building.

"See ya!" you yelled and turned to the one beside you, only to be met with twinkling eyes. "Tae?" When he didn't respond, you placed a hand on his shoulder gently, and he broke.

He smashed his lips to yours, sucking hard on your bottom lip as his hands rested on your waist, pulling you close till there wasn't a gap between you. Making a small noise of surprise, your hand went up to cup his cheek and the other went to the back of his head, caressing the soft dark strands. The sensations of your fingers lightly scratching his head was turning him on, making him release a moan and grind his hips into yours.

You gasped when you felt his cock harden against you and pushed him back a little. "Not here Tae," you scolded softly.

He desperately whined. "Please?"

You looked around the area. It was a quiet block away from the busy streets, and you were sure that your brother was back in the office playing his game, so you weren't going to get caught by him.

Huffing, you pushed him into the backseat of his car, instructing him to lean against the other side. When you climbed in after, he pounced on you, his arms coming around to keep you still as he stuffed his mouth with your clothed breasts.

"Oh baby," you breathed out and the new name for him got him excited, resulting him to gently bit down open mouthed, making you mewl and you attempted to push him away with your hands on his hard shoulders. He obeyed and eagerly waited for your next move.

Your hand went to tug at his pants. He lifted his hips to help you with the action, clearly thrilled to meet your warmth around him again that he was addicted to.

He groaned when your hand wrapped around his shaft and thumb rubbed over the head as precum began spilling out. But when your head began to lower near it, he stopped you. "No, I want this," he whined as his fingers went under your dress to circle over your covered folds, hoping that would make you desperate for his cock to be buried into your cunt.

You were resolute and pulled his hand away. "Either you get my hand or nothing. We have somewhere to be and I'm not gonna risk getting messed up. We'll do anything you say after it's over. Deal?"

His cock twitched in your hold at your tempting words. "Anything?"

"Yes."

Taeyong licked his lips and agreed. You lowered your head and took his erect member into your mouth as much as you could. His mouth fell, head falling back when feeling your moist hot mouth around his cock. Your tongue swirled around getting your saliva to coat him perfectly before removing your mouth. You spat on your hand and grasped his throbbing dick.

"Lay down," you ordered. And he did without a complaint. At that point, all he wanted was a release.

You shifted to hover over him, your hand pressed into the seat beside his head as the other one began stroking him slowly. A gasp left his mouth and he shut his eyes to feel your delicate hand do the dirty work. "Faster, doll."

You increased your pace as he began bucking into your hand, desperate for an orgasm to hit him. You kept your eyes trained on his face, observing the way his mouth hung open as quiet sighs spilled out, his brows furrowed. When he was close, he lifted his eyelids, only to be welcomed by your burning gaze just inches away and that was when it hit him hard. He stilled for a brief moment as hot thick ropes spurted out, letting the initial lightning pass by before breathing out a series of curses. "Fuck, doll, fuck."

You kept a hand over to stop his cum from staining your dress and only coat your palms. His stickiness ran down the sides of his length.

Once it was over, Taeyong's head went limp yet his tired eyes kept trained on you as he was catching his breath. His legs twitched ever so slightly when you licked his cum off your hands and hummed.

"Tastes good, doll?" he asked cockily.

"Of course," you replied with a smirk. "After all, it goes inside me."

He let out a faint growl at your words. "Don't say that. You make me want to fuck you right now."

You trapped him by pressing your other hand beside his head and lowered your head super close to him till you felt his hot breath fan over you. "Good thing the deal is stopping you."

tag list: @cosmiclatte28 @mel-yjh @johnnysuhisnotmyproblem @kttyongie @chantellsievert​

[ineffableplanner]

Newsletter #92 - The week of Saturday November 20th 2021 - Saturday November 27th 2021

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! I am still in this fandom to a certain point, but twice-weekly posts (and finding the information save the ones you lovely people send me) is beginning to take its toll on the gazillion other things that are lining up. I am considering ‘abdicating’ the newsletter if I can find someone who is willing to pick it up and run it. If you do, please contact me through ineffableplanner@gmail.com. There’s a gmail to take over, a twitter, a tumblr, a trello and even an instagram I never got around to using. As well as a pillowfort account. I will still be around to assist if needed and I WILL vet applications. If you've ever started shit in this fandom, I'll probably know and the answer will be NO. I have too much respect for the users of this newsletter to just go for the first and best offer.

What’s new this week? A new discord server :D - but nothing else just yet (we have some things coming up later in the year that you can already take a look at now). But if you know of an event going on or coming up, feel free to let me know :)

Go forth, have fun! Create much!

If you run a GO tumblr with recs or resources, let me know. Running a zine and want to get the word out? The inbox is always open.

If any discord servers go AWOL or you feel one should be added (remember to clear it with the MODS first) feel free to let me know. As always, the email ineffableplanner@gmail.com is always open for business.

Chanukah Omens 2021 - November 29th - December 6th

12 Days of Blasphemy - December 25th - January 5th

EVENTS WITH DEADLINES

Miss Fell's Bookshop - (starts August 1st!)

Good Omens Bingo 2021 [runs the entire year of 2021] (note that I am affiliated with this event) SIGN-UPS ARE OPEN UNTIL END OF NOVEMBER!

EVENTS WITHOUT DEADLINES

Good Omens Zine Archive (mainly of interest to zine publisher/handlers)

Jukebox Event - (no deadline)

We’re On Our Own Side - weekly prompts (no deadline)

Good Omens Fic Rec Bingo - (no deadline available)

T-RECS Tuesdays (GO fanfic recommendations) (no deadline/ongoing)

#ButterOmens (ongoing multi media event(writing/art/whatever you want))

Encourage good feedback (no deadline/ongoing)

OPEN for sign-ups

None at the moment, feel free to let me know if you know of any or run one and want to give signups a boost.

OPEN for mod/help applications

Let me know if you’re looking and want a boost

INTEREST CHECK

Let me know if you have one you’d like featured

As always, when entering a discord server, follow its rules, check out the dos and don’ts and don’t harass the mods or your server sibs.

NEW! The Buggre All This Server (18+) - Book, Radio, Musical Omens

Good Omens Petrolheads Reference Library - specifically for GO vehicle talk/research etc

Ace Omens Discord Server - Click here for information post (link updated feb 13th)

The Bookshop’s Backroom (18+) The Bookshop’s Backroom (18+) is a community server based on Good Omens (Book, TV, Radio).

Do-it-with-style - runs various events. Takes all ages.

Fuck Yeah Good Omens Characters - give the other characters apart from Aziraphale and Crowley some love. Takes all ages, NSFW optional.

Good Omens Fic Writers (you don't have to be one to join! Direct link to server)

Good Omens Party House (18+) - Click here for information post

Good Omens Stitch-A-Long (ever wanted to learn how to stitch?) - Click here for information post

Good Omens Whump (18+) - Click here for direct access

Ineffable Wives Discord Server - Click here for direct access

Soft Omens Snuggle House (18+)- Click here for information post

SERVER INTEREST CHECK Interest check for a TopCrowly server

Book Omens (book) - This is a community for the novel Good Omens, by Sir Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. There are communities for tv!omens, specific GO ships, and mixed book, radio and tv content, but we've been lacking one that's focused on just the book, so here we are!

GoodOmens - A community for the book by Neil Gaiman & Sir Terry Pratchett and its adaptions to radio and TV with an extra large helping of Ineffable Husbands/Wives/Partners.

Good Omens (TV) - Community for the TV version of Good Omens

Ineffable Husbands, Ineffable Wives, Ineffable Partners - A community solely for Aziraphale and Crowley from the Good Omens book/radio adaption/TV series being in some kind of romantic or platonic relationship. =) Please read the "Rules and Info" section before posting/reblogging here!

If you have any suggestions for blogs with recs and/or resources, feel free to let me know.

Aziraphale’s Library (themed recs and more)

Recs by Dannye Chase/@holycatsandrabbits

Recs by Prolix (various pairings done by tags)

**Ineffable Husbands Fanfiction and Fanworks** (FB group, requires membership)

Community Calendar (Trello) can be viewed here (it is updated through the week if I hear of any events to add and will often have some more information on the events/zines etc.).

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This newsletter is mirrored on pillowfort and tumblr and announced on twitter.

* This is something tumblr never learned but PF has adopted from the old LJ format - if anyone wants a PF invite, just ask - we get 3 per week anyway to give away and there are pillowforters who will happily share invites.

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If you have an event you want to add to the calendar and the weekly Newsletter, don’t hesitate to let me know either in the asks/PM or via ineffableplanner (@) gmail dot com.

Also, feel free to share this post. This blog is NOT for reblogging of events, but for listing and perhaps making it a bit easier for everyone to keep track of these events before they’ve come AND gone ;)

Disclaimer: I am not running any of these zines, events or servers (in the few cases where I am involved in the mod work, I will make note of this). Please use your common sense and if you feel you’ve entered an event/zine/server/community you feel uneasy about, do not hesitate to step away from it. You may let me know if there’s a problem with one, but please know that I am not able to police every single one of them, nor will I play God in other people’s domains. I will let the mods know there is a problem (without mentioning your name and if it’s grave enough, take the link off), but please do not expect miracles and do not use me as your tool to get back at servers/server mods for personal reasons. I abhor being pulled into fandom wars and kerfluffles.