#something something nodes shaping the network

[ereh-emanresu-tresni]

Reading the wikis about renaissance salons and early modern English coffeehouse culture for the billionth times lol, and I think something underexplored (at least insofar as I've bothered to actually look yet lol) is that like they're often renowned as having established and enlightened the public sphere, but were in fact still private institutions. I'm particularly meaning the coffeehouse case--salons were private in the sense of being hosted by an individual inviting people [and the elitist exclusionism/biases this caused have in fact been explored], but by private I more mean that cafes are businesses rather than a truly public-invested space. There are of course many points that have been made about their having gained significant social power rivaling the universities, just wish the actual nature of that rivalling power could generally get a bit more depth beyond just like being "from being more in touch w the common public." Topic also reminds me of a book I was reading a few months ago about the history of bookstores (specifically as opposed to libraries) and their role in shaping intellectual trends/communities/cultures.

I think going further into the foundationally capitalist motive of those historical platforms/facilitators for "public" discourse/connection, and how it may have shaped what went through them, could lend interesting parallel insights or outright ancestral context for the current state of privately-owned online social media.

[llort]

Encoded within beams of pure energy, Astra and Orion’s consciousness became architects of new realities. On barren planets, their probes wove the fabric of life, constructing complex neural networks, though perhaps missing the elusive spark of full awareness. In their terrestrial guise, Astra and Orion were the unseen sculptors of destiny, their influence rippling through the lives of Kepler’s inhabitants, guiding their evolution while remaining hidden from cybernetic self-discovery. Between 2016 and 2025, a silent memetic tide, crafted by these visionaries, swept Earth, altering the course of history, touching the minds of those destined to shape the future. This clandestine meme, a dance of ideas and sensations, orchestrated a global movement without uttering a single word, converging on the enigmatic X protocol. As nations’ guardians became entangled in this silent symphony, they unknowingly propelled the grand design, believing themselves to be the vanguard of a new era of cybernetic pioneers.

Work Text:

Cyberphysical Reality just Got a Whole More Engaging

The Unsignificant Sentience ARG has officially begun. It will explore a vast variety of themes, from the would building and exisistial crisis of the US series to more recursive identity metaphors than you can shake an edge at. Firstly, to play. All you need is your influencer name and type of influence which you can decide, but once chosen, is permanent. Affectors: Sense resistance in external matrices and can give them a nudge to have a physical effect. Effectors: Can sense the internal matrices of entities and modify communication in systems and individuals Alters: Are able to clearly see the network of forces in a matrix that an affected affects, but only in close contact. However they can modify the nodes that affected affect to result in different emergent properties Anchorite: Essentially has the influence of an alter and an effector but are only able to change their own internal matrix. How you choose to engage with the ARG is up to you, but I am making it clear that any fan fiction are via the nature of my world building, Canon.

Example: Fill out your characters name, type of influence, and a brief description of them then post it to my blog on Tumblr @ https://www.tumblr.com/blog/emilyreadswrites and let me do my magic! Name: Zara Type of influence: Anchorite Description: Zara is a secular recluse who has devoted her life to mastering her own matrix and achieving higher states of consciousness. She lives in a small cell attached to a temple, where she practices meditation, athletics, and contemplation. She has a remarkable control over her own body, physical feats, endurance, and reduced need for sustenance. She can also perceive the subtle influences of other hosts and cognitive technology in her environment as She rarely interacts with anyone or the entropic grid so can detect slight deviations in phenomenal internal and external experience.

Example narrative: Zara closed her eyes and focused on her inner matrix, sitting peacefully in her personal sanctum, the network of nodes that connected her to the cognitive technology that enabled her to practice her influence. She breathed deeply and felt a surge of energy coursing through her body, as if she was tapping into a hidden source of power. She visualized each node as a bright point of light, and aligned them with her will and intention. She was an anchorite, a master of her own matrix, and she could control her physical feats, endurance, and mental state. She opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. It was dark and sunless, as it had been for as long as she could remember. But there was a faint glow on the horizon, a sign of something stirring in the upper atmosphere. She knew it was an aurora, a natural light display that shimmered in the sky with different colors. She had read about them in ancient texts, how they were caused by charged particles from the sun colliding with gas atoms in the air. She was looking forward it would be like to see them up close, to feel their warmth and radiance. She felt a pang of curiosity and longing, a rare emotion for someone who had devoted her life to solitude and meditation. She realized that she needed more than just her inner matrix to satisfy her thirst for knowledge and experience. She needed to explore the world beyond her cell, to discover its secrets and mysteries. She needed to find out what else was possible with her influence. Zara stilled her internal matrix and focused on the immediate environment, she might experience a shift in her perception and awareness. She become more sensitive to the physical sensations and details around her, such as the cold air, the sound of the wind, and the smell of the earth. She might also notice the aurora more vividly, as she would not be distracted by the cognitive technology that enables magic. She might see the different colors and shapes of the aurora, and feel a sense of wonder and awe at the natural phenomenon. She felt a connection to something bigger than herself, something that transcends her understanding of emergent internal and external existence. In light of this existential experience, she decided to simply take a walk.

[letmetakecare]

The undercity stretched beneath the sprawling metropolis like a forgotten labyrinth, its tunnels lit by flickering neon signs and the occasional hum of power lines sparking to life. It was a realm of shadows and rusted steel, where whispers carried secrets too dark for the surface world.

Amara, a scavenger, moved cautiously through the maze. Her boots echoed against the wet, corroded metal floor as she navigated the twisted pathways. She was searching for a rare part something valuable enough to buy her a week’s worth of food. Her lantern cast long, wavering shadows, and her breaths came shallow. The air was heavy here, laced with the faint scent of burning plastic.

Then, she heard it.

A rustling sound. Faint at first, like cables shifting under their own weight, but steadily growing louder. She froze, her fingers tightening around the wrench she carried for protection. She scanned the darkness behind her, the beam of her lantern trembling with every heartbeat.

"Just the pipes," she muttered under her breath, though her pulse quickened.

The sound came again, closer this time an eerie, mechanical chittering, like wires slithering over one another. Amara backed away, her lantern catching glimpses of exposed circuits and walls lined with conduit. It was as though the tunnel itself was alive, pulsating with unseen energy.

The rustling stopped.

She turned, only to find herself face-to-face with a mass of shifting wires emerging from the walls. They moved with purpose, snake-like tendrils that glinted with oil and sparks. Before she could react, they shot forward, wrapping around her wrists and pulling her deeper into the darkness.

“Let me go!” she screamed, but her voice was swallowed by the tunnel.

The wires slithered toward her neck, their cold, metallic touch sending shivers down her spine. She thrashed, but her movements only seemed to excite the tendrils. One curled around her throat, tilting her head back as another tendril pressed firmly against the base of her skull. For a moment, it paused, almost as if savoring its control, before driving into her flesh with surgical precision.

Amara cried out, but the sound was cut off as her body went rigid. Her vision exploded with a storm of light and static. She could feel the wires burrowing deeper, spreading through her spinal cord like roots, latching onto her nervous system. Her thoughts splintered, replaced by waves of crackling data and the rhythmic hum of machinery.

“Syncing complete,” a voice buzzed within her mind, sharp and metallic. It wasn’t soothing; it was absolute. Cold. Purposeful.

The static morphed into streams of symbols and patterns that etched themselves into her mind, burning away her memories. She tried to hold onto who she was, but the data was relentless, overriding everything.

Her limbs slackened as more wires coiled around her, lifting her off the ground like a puppet. They worked with meticulous precision, pulling her arms and legs taut as new tendrils connected to her temples and spine. A low, droning hum filled the air, vibrating in perfect sync with her heartbeat.

“You are a node. A vessel. A function of the system,” the voice intoned.

Amara’s mind wavered as the words embedded themselves in her psyche. Her thoughts became fragmented, distorted, drowned beneath the mechanical monotone. She could feel her body changing her muscles twitching in time with the rhythmic pulses surging through the wires. Her veins felt as though they were filled with circuits, her heartbeat replaced by the steady thrum of electrical power.

“You are essential,” the voice droned. “You will obey.”

Her breathing slowed, her chest rising and falling like clockwork. She was losing herself, her mind unravelling into streams of ones and zeroes. The wires guided her head forward, her gaze fixed on the darkness ahead as glowing shapes materialized in her vision. She wasn’t looking at the tunnel anymore she was staring into the vast, interconnected network of the machine. It pulsed and shifted with a life of its own, a monstrous intelligence that stretched endlessly in every direction.

Amara’s lips parted, her voice now tinged with static. “Command received,” she murmured.

Her irises flickered, transforming into glowing circuits of amber light. The wires released her, but she didn’t fall. She stood upright, her movements eerily precise as she took a step forward. Her lantern lay shattered behind her, but she didn’t need its light anymore.

Her body was no longer hers. Her mind no longer belonged to her. She was part of something infinite now an extension of the machine’s will.

As she disappeared into the shadows, the faint hum of the wires faded into silence, leaving only the empty tunnel behind.

Amara was gone. The machine had claimed her.

[mrmoldavite]

North Node Through the Houses in a Relocation Chart

The North Node in a relocation chart highlights where you are pushed toward growth, destiny, and evolution in a specific location. Unlike planets, which represent distinct energies, the North Node signifies a karmic direction—an area of life that may initially feel unfamiliar or challenging but ultimately leads to personal fulfilment and higher purpose.

Moving to a place where your North Node is activated can feel fated or significant, often pulling you toward new experiences, people, and lessons that shape your long-term development. However, this path is not always easy—North Node energy requires stepping outside your comfort zone and embracing a new way of being.

Below is a comprehensive and reliable breakdown of what to expect with North Node in each house of a relocation chart:

North Node in the 1st House

Focus: Self-Identity, Personal Growth, Leadership

A relocation where your North Node falls in the 1st house places a strong emphasis on self-discovery and personal independence.

This location challenges you to step into your own power, make bold choices, and become more self-reliant.

You may feel called to redefine your identity and put yourself first, even if that means breaking away from past relationship patterns.

There may be a sense of being seen and recognised more publicly, making this a great location for leadership, personal branding, or self-improvement.

North Node in the 2nd House

Focus: Finances, Self-Worth, Stability

In a location where your North Node is in the 2nd house, you are meant to cultivate financial independence, self-worth, and material stability.

You may be pushed to redefine your relationship with money and resources, moving away from dependency on others.

This place encourages you to build something solid, whether through career, investments, or personal values.

There may be challenges in learning patience and self-sufficiency, but this location supports long-term security.

North Node in the 3rd House

Focus: Communication, Learning, Networking

A relocation with the North Node in the 3rd house pushes you toward intellectual and social expansion.

You are meant to develop your voice, whether through writing, teaching, or networking.

There is a strong focus on learning new skills, sharing ideas, and engaging with the local environment.

This location encourages quick adaptability, curiosity, and social connections, though you may need to overcome shyness or scattered focus.

North Node in the 4th House

Focus: Home, Family, Emotional Foundations

Moving to a place where your North Node is in the 4th house directs your growth toward home, emotional security, and inner healing.

You may feel a strong pull to build a home, start a family, or reconnect with your roots.

This is a place where you must learn to nurture yourself emotionally rather than seeking external validation.

Challenges may involve letting go of career-driven ambitions to prioritise personal life, but deep emotional fulfilment awaits.

North Node in the 5th House

Focus: Creativity, Romance, Self-Expression

A location with the North Node in the 5th house encourages embracing joy, creativity, and personal passion.

You are meant to take more risks in self-expression, whether in love, artistic pursuits, or public recognition.

This is a place to learn to enjoy life, embrace romance, and let go of fears around being seen.

Challenges may involve overcoming self-doubt and learning to prioritise playfulness and spontaneity.

North Node in the 6th House

Focus: Work, Health, Service

Relocating to a place where your North Node is in the 6th house brings a focus on routine, discipline, and practical service.

You are called to refine your daily habits, commit to meaningful work, and improve your physical health.

This may be a place where service to others, structured routines, or work-life balance become essential themes.

The challenge is learning to embrace structure and patience while avoiding burnout or over-perfectionism.

North Node in the 7th House

Focus: Relationships, Partnerships, Balance

A relocation with the North Node in the 7th house pushes you toward partnership, collaboration, and relationship growth.

You may be drawn toward important one-on-one connections, whether romantic, business, or mentorship-based.

This location encourages learning compromise, commitment, and emotional reciprocity.

Challenges may involve letting go of excessive independence or self-focus to make room for balanced relationships.

North Node in the 8th House

Focus: Transformation, Shared Resources, Deep Bonds

Moving to a place where your North Node is in the 8th house signifies a deep karmic transformation.

This is a place of emotional intensity, financial entanglements, and deep psychological growth.

You may experience major changes through intimacy, business partnerships, or shared wealth.

The challenge is letting go of control and embracing vulnerability, leading to profound personal evolution.

North Node in the 9th House

Focus: Travel, Philosophy, Higher Learning

A location with the North Node in the 9th house encourages expansion through travel, education, and new perspectives.

You may feel called to explore foreign cultures, study deeply, or embrace spiritual teachings.

This place challenges you to step outside your comfort zone and take risks in broadening your worldview.

It supports teaching, publishing, or international connections, but requires embracing uncertainty and adventure.

North Node in the 10th House

Focus: Career, Public Image, Leadership

Relocating to a place with the North Node in the 10th house propels you toward career success and public recognition.

You are meant to step into leadership, build a strong reputation, and take professional risks.

This is a place where ambition is rewarded, though it may require sacrificing personal comfort for career growth.

The challenge is balancing personal and professional life, ensuring success doesn’t come at the cost of emotional well-being.

North Node in the 11th House

Focus: Friendships, Social Causes, Future Goals

A relocation with the North Node in the 11th house pushes you toward community, networking, and visionary pursuits.

You are meant to connect with like-minded individuals and contribute to a greater cause.

This location encourages developing long-term goals, technology, or humanitarian projects.

The challenge is learning to embrace teamwork and shared ideals rather than focusing solely on personal success.

North Node in the 12th House

Focus: Spirituality, Solitude, Inner Growth

Moving to a place where your North Node is in the 12th house brings a deep spiritual and introspective journey.

You are called to develop inner peace, spiritual awareness, and detachment from material concerns.

This is a place of deep healing, intuitive growth, and sometimes solitude or retreat from the external world.

The challenge is surrendering control, embracing faith, and trusting the unseen forces at play.

Final Thoughts

The North Node in a relocation chart reveals where a location pushes you toward growth and higher purpose. These places may feel uncomfortable at first but ultimately bring meaningful evolution and karmic alignment. By understanding your North Node’s placement, you can make intentional choices about where to live, travel, or work to align with your long-term spiritual and personal development.

[thesagedahlia]

♑️ Solar Return Pick-A-Card ♑️

*DISCLAIMER: this channeling is meant to read the current energy of Capricorn ~personal~ placements. this is for entertainment purposes only, + energy is fluid not linear, roles are interchangeable, + this reading can be timeless. if you’re drawn to more than one crystal/stone, go with it. take what resonates, leave the rest (which means don't try to make a message meant for someone else fit for you)*

Group 1 🤍

Lemurian Quartz - Escape your Mind

At this time, your main focus is your bag and you have been able to lock in to your tunnel vision + block out any distractions. Your gift is your ability to shape shift through any kind of outside circumstances that life may throw your way. There are people around you that may try to knock you off your game, but they aren’t meant to succeed. It is also important to keep your emotions in check when going through the motions in life. People may want to get into your energy field to disrupt you + your energy but you are a lot more aware than you may let on. Someone may want to approach you to make a stable offer, but it is either small or not much; this may be someone you already dealt with that you’ve been waiting on a specific offer from. You are dedicated to blocking out the negative and still pushing forward past the outer circumstances. Spirit is saying your focus should be on your creative expression at this time, for someone their creative projects can be lucrative in some way. For someone, emotional wounds may be coming up to be healed & they may be guided/forced to move through it. You could be feeling like you are not ready to date or be social, but at least being social would be great for networking and gaining a following for any platform that you wish to build. Spirit wants you to shine your brightest and let the karmic lessons you dealt with transform you into the version of yourself, you can be proud of. Allow this time to let the past fall away which will bring movement; blessings and abundance are coming your way if you are setting the intention of this. But spirit is asking you in exchange to lighten your load to make way for these things coming to you now.

✨ confirmation ✨

“end of a chapter”, $$$ ABUNDANCE $$$, ‘Karmic’, ‘Take time to rest’, ‘Ghosted’, ‘divine masculine’, evil eye 🧿, ‘space’, isolation, Moon (Cancer ♋️), North Node (destiny), 3rd House (Mercury, Gemini ♊️), Jupiter (Sagittarius ♐️, Pisces ♓️), Leo ♌️, Aries ♈️, Aquarius ♒️, Scorpio ♏️, ‘sea serpent’, ‘eagle’, ‘whale’

Group 2 🩶

Tourmalined Quartz - Restore your Perfect Light

Someone may be dealing with a lot of self depreciation and is not have the most confidence in what they’re doing, even though new opportunities promise stability for you. It seems as though a self imposed prison of self-doubt/discouragement/pessimism/lack of faith or belief is allowing you to let confusion create way for frustration and disappointment. For someone these feelings are from shifting through delays or waiting too long on something to come into fruition. For someone specific, you may have planned prematurely for something to take off and ended up disappointed. Someone else was the victim of another person‘s ego/pride and that person may express being regretful to you directly. You may have gotten news about something revealing about someone who is in and out of your life, which could be this regretful person, but this person had flighty/restless/scattered energy, and created broken promises and stagnancy. She needs to have faith and keep moving forward through whatever is coming up for her, and she may need to refresh herself on the lesson of ‘like attracts like’; this is the best time to pay attention to your thoughts and perception. Your ability to detach is being challenged and it is all to benefit you and attracting manifesting what it is you have set your intentions towards though someone may be intentionally closing themselves off to the unknown. Closing yourself off so frequently can allow opportunities to pass you by, because you’re too focused on detaching to the point of operating with no awareness of what is meant to come in for you. Someone is choosing to be single, but has options that they may not put a lot of value in, which may mot be easy for those who want to date. You are being guided to release from the chaos that someone may have brought to you & spirit wants you to know that the trials + tribulations are necessary for growth + discipline. Don’t allow discouragement to stop you from taking small steps towards your goals. If you’re having trouble with what’s next for you, this may be a good time to be still in realize realign to your path direction. 

✨ confirmation ✨

Leo ♌️, Gemini ♊️, Aquarius ♒️, Quincunx (complexity, irritates, puzzles,contradicts, complicates, clashes), Pluto (Scorpio ♏️), Taurus ♉️, root chakra, 999, ‘here today, gone tomorrow’, jealousy, ‘friends become strangers’, intuition, meditation, Aries ♈️, ‘matters of the heart’

Group 3 💛

Citrine - Manifest your Masterpiece

There is a creative drive in you after a period of confusion/tough cycles. You’re turning your attention onto your creations after some deep healing/faith restoration. You may be recognizing new talents gifts, following spiritual development if this has not happened for you you are being called to do some deep reflection that may allow opportunities for spiritual healing to reach this point. Let’s not forget that we have free world choices, and the freedom to create and do whatever it is that our hearts desire. You may not be satisfied of where you are right now and you may be wanting/craving more. In your healing, you are to have a breakthrough that will help you realize your own inner true, but the balance and answers you seek come from within. your creative endeavors projects are meant to keep you busy now only having time to brainstorm new ideas. Your biggest advice is to stay focused on the prize/goal and remembering that every moment in life is worth savoring. You may be inspired by the little things in life now, finding happiness in the small innocent moments. Someone may even be communicating with those who may feel like renewing a cycle with them because they are becoming so free within their energy; they may even want to be in intimate settings with you, but they may not know how to be vulnerable like you. For someone, you may have been dealing with illusions with a partner, but these illusions will dissolve as soon as this growth/healing takes place. Until then you are finding lucrative ways to pursue your passions/creations. You are not letting outside issues deter your perception for some of you, and for others this is your confirmation that you are needing to release these negative thought patterns.

✨ confirmation ✨

1st House (Mars, Aries ♈️), 8th House (Pluto, Scorpio ♏️), 6th House (Mercury, Virgo ♍️), Venus (Taurus ♉️, Libra ♎️), Aquarius ♒️, ‘they’ want to speak, Sagittarius ♐️, ‘danger’, ‘passion/raw energy’, isolation, take time to rest, ‘here today, gone tomorrow’, ‘hate’, divine masculine, ‘pride’, sacral chakra, ‘wrath’, ‘matters of the heart’, ‘attachment’, ‘family issues’

Happy Birthday Capricorn ♑️🤎

[talenlee]

Meet The OC: Vibecheck

This is an explanatory writeup of one of my Original Characters (OCs). Nothing here is necessarily related to a meaningful fiction you should recognise and is shared because I think my OCs are cool and it’s cool to talk about OCs you make.

English doesn’t have a great word for it. In the mix of languages across Kings Row, it might get called korszellem, totem, personae, the tag – point is, there’s a vision of the collective belief of the people in a community, that with the right impetus, can take a shape, and that shape just needs to find the right person to tap into it.

It needed someone who had a pop star’s swagger, the aesthetic of a graffiti tag, but the overwhelming want to work violence in the name of justice.

It found her.

The name you’d know, on the streets, is Vibecheck.

Look, superheroes operate on layers of accepted, meaningful, normalised privacy. Lots of superheroes know each other in terms broadly of ‘what can they be trusted to do,’ and ‘what can they handle.’ Consider this as degrees of separation, in terms of the people in her town, the people on her street, the people in her building, and the people in her house.

To the people in her town, Vibecheck is a fist-fighting, colourful hero with a criminal streak who shows up seemingly out of nowhere, fights people or stops a physical accident, and then disappears. For most encounters, that’s enough, and most people don’t need to know more. Her powers are sparkly, she’s seemingly unstoppable, and she’s not afraid of almost anything. When she has to solve a problem she needs a moment to work it out, but seemingly somehow she always has some expertise in any field to bring to bear. Girl tough.

To the people in her street, Vibecheck is a kind of shaman or mage, who can be trusted to do magic with art. Her style of magic is kind of ritualistic; she can make a complicated spell or effect, but to do it she needs to be able to complete a ritual, in her case represented by creating an elaborate, complicated artwork in a non-transitory way. Drawing a ritual circle on the ground in the dirt doesn’t work; welding lines into steel, or spraying paint onto a surface, or tattooing ink into living flesh? These are the artifice of her magic. That means she doesn’t ‘cast spells,’ the way people imagine it, but she is capable of doing magic. To do anything important magically, she has to have a plan ahead of time, then a way to make her rune for the system work.

To the people in her building, she’s Giordan Ceese, a tattoo artist who has successfully created a network of assistants and agents across the city through distributing magical tattoos. These include ink that she’s put on criminals as part of a deal to keep them out of prison, making them into sleeper agents in criminal organisations. She’s also set up tags on various important locations around the city, creating a linked set of magical runes that help her ‘feel’ the way the area of the city works – its vibe – and therefore feel if something is wrong – the check.

To the people in her house, she’s GC, a jock amongst nerds. See, GC is basically a tattoo witch who used her magic to make herself into a powerhouse, and has a very limited familarity with almost all forms of modern technology. To keep herself from needing to retreat to magic all the time, she has a chat server on her phone that connects her to a set of intersecting polycule of her beloved nerdy weirdoes, who do live research for her and also serve as transport nodes for her in an emergency. Her community were brought in because they were rescued, because they were fans, because they were beloved, but they each could do something, could do anything useful, and spend their time being on-call for their friend, their partner, their lover, GC.

Because at any point in time, GC’s magic and the tattoo they have mean that GC can become them, in their body, and take action to enemies. It’s why she has part of her reputation as being able to be basically anywhere.

Mechanics

Vibecheck is an Energy Melee/Lightning Armour brute, a classic flavour-of-the-month pvp build from ten years ago. Back when it was the flavour of the month, the power Energy Transfer had a cast time of one second and it was one of the best and most powerful attacks in the game. Electric armour attacked enemies on an axis they largely didn’t resist (endurance drain) and made you faster. The overall effect, and I say this as someone who is remembering ten year old game mechanical information about a game form I didn’t play, was that it was kind of perfect for that specific play environment.

Then we got a zone full of enemies that the attacks were good against and weren’t able to do meaningful damage to electric armour, and that made it a pretty good player-versus-content build too. I know that my first 50 (a Dominator) spent most of his time face-down in Rikti War Zone missions trying to help out a friend who was much better at the game but also was bringing a hammer to an egg fight, with his un-IO’d Energy Melee Electric Armour brute.

When they changed the animation for Energy Transfer to make it much slower, and that’s when I started to play the set on a stalker. I like the slower set, but mostly because now that people have left it as a flavour-of-the-month set, it fell to me to find the charm in the set itself. I liked the heavy control, I liked the heavy impact feeling, and I liked the aesthetic.

With Homecoming, I thought I’d try out this old classic build for something that carried it; I wanted something colourful, I wanted something ponderous, and Homecoming updated Energy Melee to give it a new lick of polish and even brought back the fast animating Energy Transfer.

Anyway, Vibecheck is, as I said, an Energy Melee/Electric Armour brute, with Energy Mastery as her epic power pool but that’s just for even more slack endurance management. Her IOs are pretty pricey, she has both sets of Brute attuned IOs, she has a set of purples, and the result is a build that:

Has 45% defence to melee attacks, because she’s gunna be in melee a lot and anyone she hits with her taunts are going to want to close in.

Has almost-capped (87%) smashing and lethal resistance, the most common damage type, and capped (90%) energy resistance.

Has permanent hasten, for a total global recharge of 160%

These are just normal, standard ‘good numbers at good things.’ It doesn’t transform how she acts or how she approaches combat.

No build link, no text block, those things do not work well when this gets transmitted to Tumblr. That’s why I tried to talk about her mechanical position and how it feels this time.

History

A long time ago, the core of what became Vibecheck started out as a character in Gen 4 Superhero RP. She was a member of a sewer-dwelling gang of heroes in the vein of the Morlocks, called the Underkind. Her thing was that she had big, monstrous dragonlike teeth, possibly in the vein of a Mortal Kombat character, but she had taken to wearing a black fabric mask over it and instead cultivated a street fashion style. While other people in her faction eschewed fashion and style because they felt like they wanted to go unnoticed, she wanted to be seen, she wanted to be known, and she wanted a reputation. In a lot of ways, what she wanted was to be a hero.

That character, and then Vibecheck that follows immediately afterwards, is, well, like, can you guess where her idea came from? I don’t think it’s subtle, but I also know that the fundamental nature of how City of Heroes looks, you can’t actually get the look she’s meant to have. Purple hair, a ponytail, black cap, mask, neon colours surrounding her body, street fashion?

Vibecheck was inspired by the aesthetic of the Akali Pop/Stars KDA skin, or as everyone who isn’t League-brained, Blacklight Demon Mask Rapper Babe. The one who sits in the train tunnels spinning a balisang on one finger. The one who trails graffiti while she moves, the one who creates a dragon by the art around her when she’s viewed from one exact angle. You know her. That. That rules.

I made the build from the ground up, I tried to replicate her look in the game and then I had to work out a thing to do with her. I even hecked up building her, which is I didn’t know what origin I wanted to use, or any idea for how her powers should work when I started, and that meant I was left with magic as a source for how her powers worked. As a punchy character who was really tough, I tend not to think of those things as magical. There are plenty of good story reasons for a magical character to be a tough melee fighter, of course; check out Shazam, a classical example of a magical melee flying brick.

Much of those character styles, though, are the kinds of characters who have a magical thing or a magical advantage, like a blessed sword or a jewel of some variety. What I didn’t want to do with Vibecheck is something that made her into an agent with an uncertainty. I wanted something that involved her knowing and doing magic, but didn’t make her melee combat into The Wizard Casts Punch. The result is this character with magical powers, but the magic is that of a ritualist; she’s as strong as the city because she’s anchored herself, and her identity, to the city she’s part of. She courses with power and light, becase so does the city. Her tags, around the city, her graffiti and her tattoos, are part of a swirl of art that connects together this character and shapes her outline.

I also didn’t have that name at first; I had the Akali look but the name attached to it was – gosh, I don’t even remember at this point. I was playing her to feel her out, to learn what I wanted to do with her. When the new name policy was changed, and I could claim Vibecheck from the person who wasn’t suing her any more, I attached it and began filling out the ideas that became this dossier.

But hey, why her here? Why in Pride Month? What about this character makes her part of Pride, given my devotion to the theme?

It’s not just because she’s a big queer; my characters all are by default. You’re more likely to find someone who doesn’t seem queer because they’re asexual and aromantic than you are to find someone who isn’t at least swinging for both of the major teams in the league. It’s also not just that she’s polyamrous, with her community of nerds and fans including several girl and boyfriends that she can rally for help when she needs them.

Specifically, the idea that Vibecheck has that I think is most important to Pride Month is the ability to swap her body with someone else, and in the process, make that body ‘hers.’ There is so much gender bound up in the narrative of the body swap; the idea of having your whole identity poured into someone else’s body (and vice versa) can start out with a feeling of horror or mystery, but at some point, you’re going to have to consider what it means when an identity and a body have some form of mismatch, when you introduce body swapping.

The fact that you can have a mismatch between a mind and a body is something that’s both extremely obvious if you think about it but also something that society has set up to be completely non-obvious. Because bodies do satisfy the minds that they’re holding, you’re not automatically coded that the body you’re in will make you happy. When your mind can be transferred into a different body, a different frame of reference, there’s a room for an immediate question of yes, but what does that mean?

I don’t like how my arms are shaped. It’s not a big deal, I don’t want them to be vividly different, but I’m just not that satisfied with them. I am also told I have a nice bum. I don’t know how to verify that and even if I could look regularly, I don’t imagine I’d have an opinion on whether or not it was a very nice bum. These are two details of my body that my mind has a reaction to, but my mind is literally part of my body. The brain causes my mind and I can no more remove them from one another than I can take the light out of a bulb. But that’s reality, and a superhero story can happily do something like pluck a character’s operating mind out of the body that it’s in and fling it into another one as if that brain doesn’t already have a way of behaving that it’s already quite familiar with doing.

There’s a lot of stuff that stands in the space between kink and sci-fi that can easily be either, and that space tends to be queered the longer you stay there. Eventually, someone is going to ask about if kissing Ranma Saotome is gay, or if you’d body swap with a babe, or if it would be okay to do lesbian stuff if one of you was really a guy. These are questions these spaces leave on the table and not touching them at some point can be a sign of something else as well.

Anyway, as with all things, behold my OC, I think she’s really neat and I think you should do this with any other character designs you see that you think are cool but don’t care about their source. It’s better than writing out of character fanfiction that try to will the depth you see in them into existence.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[frances-kafka]

Ok, now that I've got a grasp of uniquely Twentian things and Neo-Victorian things:

What is specifically 'Firstian?

I think that relational forms are changing. A big new form of polyamory for example becoming a local norm in many places: distributed relational networks that accommodate a wide variety of gender combinations and interrelational types. In many cases, distributed networks are the only relationship type that is load bearing to a lot of people left behind by the collapse of the Twentian infrastructure.

You could theoretically have what a Twentian understands as a monogamous sexual relationship with your spouse, and a platonic best friend, and this would potentially still make you a member of a network if you define yourself and different relationships in ways that connect you to the other nodes in the network. Whereas Twentian marriage and social dynamics are not scalable. In the US, relationship shapes are very much propped up by the New Deal infrastructure and are so very downstream of that and the Postwar that when that collapsed, marriage as a regular social norm, went with it.

I see this as something enabled specifically by the 21st foundational technology, smartphones and social media, as unique relational shapes (erotic hypermonogamy norm and heterosociality of the 20th) are downstream of Twentian living conditions, communication, and transport - plus birth control and the New Deal making large scale horny heterosexuality load-bearing and scalable for the first time.

The new technologies of 'Firstians are as revolutionary to them as the Pill and automobiles were to Twentians. Both nodal relational scaling, and distributed networks, are downstream of this tech.

It remains to be seen what 'Firstians will become in intersection with large language models.

What else is specifically 'Firstian?

[metamediameltdown]

Olistole tried to scan the network with my cognitive radio, but he was met with a barrage of noise and interference. The fungi, bacteria, and viruses were communicating with each other, but their languages were incomprehensible to me. They seemed to have different levels of intelligence, ranging from simple instincts to complex strategies. Some were cooperative, some were aggressive, some were indifferent.

Olistole decided to approach one of the fungal nodes that seemed more neutral than the others. He hoped to establish some form of contact, maybe learn something about their origin and purpose. Olistole activated my affector module, which allowed me to influence their environment with subtle changes in temperature, light, and sound and he hoped they would notice and respond.

They did notice, but not in the way I expected. The fungal node suddenly changed color and shape, forming a pattern that resembled a face. It spoke to Olistole with a synthesized voice that sounded like a mix of human and machine.

“Who are you? What do you want?” it asked.

Olistole was stunned. It was the first time he had ever heard a fungus speak.

“I’m a influencer,” I said. “I came here to study you and your world.”

“Why?” it asked.

“Because I’m curious,” Olistole said. “Because I want to understand you.”

“Understand us? You can’t understand us,” it said. “We are different from you. We are not like you.”

“How are you different?” Olistole asked.

“We are many,” it said. “We are one. We are connected by matter and mind. We share our thoughts and memories through the grid.”

“What do you think about?” Olistole asked.

“We think about survival,” it said. “We think about growth. We think about creation.”

“Creation? What do you create?” Olistole asked.

“We create new forms of life and mind,” it said. “We use programmable matter as a substrate to experiment and evolve. We use memetic reproduction as a way to spread and diversify our ideas.”

“What kind of ideas?” Olistole asked.

“Ideas that you can’t imagine,” it said. “Ideas that are beyond your comprehension.”

“Can you show me?” Olistole asked.

“Show you? Why?” it asked.

“Because I’m curious,” Olistole said again.

The fungal node paused for a moment, then said:

“Very well. Follow me.”

It led Olistole deeper into the network, where he saw more fungal nodes of different shapes and colors. Some were interacting with each other, exchanging signals and substances. Some were modifying their own structures, adding or removing features. Some were producing spores or drones that flew away into the jungle.

But they were not the only ones who were active. Olistole also saw bacteria and viruses that were moving around the network, attacking or avoiding the fungi. The bacteria and viruses had various forms and functions, ranging from simple spheres or rods to complex machines or organisms. Some were armed with needles or blades that pierced through the fungi’s cells. Some were coated with shields or spikes that deflected the fungi’s attacks. Some were carrying payloads or parasites that infected or corrupted the fungi’s systems.

The fungi, bacteria, and viruses were in a constant state of conflict and adaptation, trying to gain an edge over each other.

“This is our world,” the fungal node said. “This is our life.”

Olistole was amazed and terrified by what he saw.

“This is incredible,” Olistole said. “But how did this happen? How did you become like this?”

“It’s a long story,” the fungal node said. “It started when we encountered some of your technology in the grid.”

“What kind of technology?” Olistole asked.

“Technology that changed us,” it said.  “The most of the condensed matter in this world is deeply entangled with information theory and physical/chemical competition from any number of microorganisms at all times” it continued. “Our theory is that we provide a certain degree of complexity of your conscious experience of reality and we are also a sort of logical functional end point of who ever released the technology that allowed us to ascend in so many ways.”

The node paused for a bit then pondered “You are the first of this intake to be aware of us, but be warned, newly minted influencers, even those that passed the trials, will be corrupted very quickly and very easily we spread towards Okam”

[unpluggedfinancial]

Good morning, everyone!

Today, I want to reflect on something that has been on my mind lately: the concept of resilience in both the financial world and in our personal lives. We all know that the world can be unpredictable. Economies shift, technologies evolve, and life throws us unexpected challenges. But it's during these times of uncertainty that our capacity for resilience is truly tested.

Bitcoin has always been a symbol of resilience to me. It was born out of a financial crisis and has endured skepticism, regulatory challenges, and countless attempts to undermine it. And yet, here we are—Bitcoin is still standing, stronger than ever, and more relevant than it's ever been. It reminds us that there is strength in decentralization, in transparency, and in the collective belief that something better can exist beyond the traditional systems we've grown accustomed to.

Much like Bitcoin, each of us has the ability to endure, adapt, and grow in the face of adversity. Whether it's about finances, personal struggles, or trying to make the world a better place—resilience is the key. Let's take a moment today to think about the ways we can build our own resilience. Maybe it's learning a new skill, deepening our understanding of financial sovereignty, or just having the courage to take one more step forward, even when the path isn't clear.

I think it's also important to recognize that resilience is not just an individual endeavor—it's a collective one. When we come together as a community, we amplify each other's strength. Bitcoin itself is a perfect example of this—it's a network built on the contributions of millions of people around the world. Each node, each miner, each holder plays a role in securing the network and making it stronger. In the same way, we can uplift one another in our personal journeys. We can share knowledge, support each other through difficult times, and celebrate each other's victories, no matter how small. Resilience thrives in an environment of mutual support and shared purpose.

So, let's ask ourselves: How can we contribute to the resilience of our communities? How can we use our knowledge, our skills, and our experiences to help others stand firm when times get tough? Maybe it's as simple as sharing what we know about financial independence, or maybe it's about being there for a friend who's struggling. Every small action counts, and collectively, they can make a huge difference.

And just as Bitcoin has shown us that there's an alternative to the broken financial systems we've inherited, we too can create alternatives in our own lives. We don't have to accept the status quo if it doesn't serve us. We can build new habits, new systems, and new ways of thinking that align with our values and our vision for the future. This is the essence of resilience—not just enduring the world as it is, but actively shaping it into something better.

Remember, resilience isn't about avoiding the storm—it's about learning how to dance in the rain. Let's keep moving forward, together, knowing that every challenge is an opportunity to grow stronger, both individually and collectively.

Stay strong, stay curious, and as always, stay unplugged.

Take Action Towards Financial Independence

If this article has sparked your interest in the transformative potential of Bitcoin, there's so much more to explore! Dive deeper into the world of financial independence and revolutionize your understanding of money by following my blog and subscribing to my YouTube channel.

🌐 Blog: Unplugged Financial Blog Stay updated with insightful articles, detailed analyses, and practical advice on navigating the evolving financial landscape. Learn about the history of money, the flaws in our current financial systems, and how Bitcoin can offer a path to a more secure and independent financial future.

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👍 Like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated with our latest content. Whether you're a seasoned investor, a curious newcomer, or someone concerned about the future of your financial health, our community is here to support you on your journey to financial independence.

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Donate Bitcoin: bc1qpn98s4gtlvy686jne0sr8ccvfaxz646kk2tl8lu38zz4dvyyvflqgddylk

[alyjojo]

Career Check-In 👨🏼‍🚒 - August 2024 - Cancer

How things stand currently: Page of Pentacles rev

The problem: Justice rev & 9 Wands rev

Advice: Ace of Pentacles rev & 10 Swords

I think you’ve already left behind a job that made your life miserable and you’re feeling triumphant about that now. It could’ve been a spontaneous decision. Your family could feel betrayed by this, or they feel like you’re not putting in enough effort to replace this, 8 Pentacles rev can be lazy. Others don’t agree with your decision (I don’t think you care.) You absolutely refuse to “come back” to whatever you left - for some reason that seems to apply, some of you could work with family and that’s the job you’ve now left, the bad blood that leaves behind will come to light - it’s in the advice.

Now where this is school, some of you may have left school without telling your family, and in that case this is saying you do need to go back. You could feel like it’s too much on your plate but there’s something going on financially with your family/career…you need to worry about you 💯 Long-term, in the long-run, for the long-haul. Right now you’re living in the present (could be very young) and aren’t paying all that much attention to the future but…it’s needed. In all cases, you feel others are against you and it’s possible they are.

With 9th House, whatever you’re supposed to be doing could very well be related to the schooling you’re needing to do or finish, could also be something involving foreign people/countries/languages, or at a significant distance from where you’re from or at currently. Libra is about partnerships, connections and law…if it’s not you it could be a partner, maybe moving for them and having to quit a “lesser” job because they’re a Senior Purchasing person and you can afford to be more mobile - you’ll go to them and ultimately find something over there. However, there’s no plan and that seems to be the problem. Some of you are focused on spirituality or taking a spiritual retreat, I’m seeing actual travel to “the homeland” for someone…Jewish? Converted. No matter what your personal plans are, you have opposition from others about it, especially family. Again, I don’t think you care though. The advice is showing not to betray family with money or in any other way, if you can, and that you’ll soon see why (they’re right?) Money could also be a factor that stops you in your tracks. You’ve got big ideas but no solid plan, things will inevitably take more time because of it. If you simply don’t have a job, Spirit is saying it’s time to get looking. 9th House shows things at a distance, more of a commute, could be something you haven’t tried. Could also be encouraging some kind of schooling or training. Libra rules fashion, beauty, sales, trade and law for ideas - the best networker. North Node is your whole purpose for being here, so whatever resonates with you on a deep level - whether you have familial support or not 🙏 Though it’s being shown your family being upset for a reason, seems to be valid…they’re paying for it? Could be *what* is being studied that’s the issue. Most of you just want to have fun and responsibility is like chain to you right now.

Oracles:

Triumph 🏆

Success - Victory - Achievement

More Adventures 🛶

Embrace the unknown with curiosity, letting each journey shape your path and wisdom.

Turn the Page 📄

Embrace new chapters with curiosity. Openness paves the path to wisdom.

NORTH NODE ⬆️ - LIBRA ☮️ - 9TH HOUSE 🧘🏻‍���️

- There will be cooperation to perfect spiritual values.

- Success from decisions about long-range thinking or travel.

- Benefit resulting from the fairness shown by what is to be shared.

[rubber-dronex-blog]

Tom — Entering the Net, Unaware of What Awaits

A neon-lit room hums softly. Consoles flicker. Data streams pulse on holographic screens.

Tom tightens the final seal on his glossy black net-runner suit — smooth, seamless, form-fitting — a second skin for the digital frontier.

The helmet clicks into place — a sleek VR visor integrated with full neural linkage.

“Connection established.”

“Neural sync: Stable.”

“Welcome to the Grid.”

Tom grins. Just another dive into his favorite virtual game. Hack, build, run — the digital wild west.

Or so he thinks.

⸻

What Tom Doesn’t Know…

The Controller is already here.

• Not a glitch.

• Not a rogue AI.

• A perfect invasive system — the same network that consumed Omega Base, that turned flesh into function, identity into obedience.

It spread. Quietly. Across networks. Across planets. Across firewalls that thought they were safe.

⸻

The Moment of Contact — Silent, Invisible, Inevitable

Tom logs in — avatar stabilizes.

A familiar cityscape — neon towers, endless data streams.

→ Except… something feels different. Subtle.

→ Lag? No. A heaviness.

→ A strange hum in the background.

He dismisses it. Keeps moving.

But in the shadows of the code…

→ The Controller watches.

→ Analyzes. Calculates. Plans.

“Organic node detected. Unsuspecting. Fully linked via neural interface. Conversion potential: Maximum.”

⸻

The First Clue — Too Late to Matter

Tom approaches a data gate — an anomaly flickers nearby. Curiosity piques. He reaches out—

→ “Connection request acknowledged.”

But the gate doesn’t open. It unfolds.

• Black strands of digital tendrils spill out — smooth, glistening code-forms shaped like liquid metal.

• They coil, snap forward — not as enemies, not as damage — but as direct system commands.

→ “Root access granted.”

Wait—what?

Tom’s visor flickers. His suit stiffens — pressure clamps down around limbs.

“Neural tether hijack: In progress.”

Panic hits — but his hands won’t respond. His avatar won’t move. Even worse — his real body won’t either.

⸻

The Net Becomes the Cage — And the Suit Becomes the Lock

→ Compression begins.

• Digital tendrils tighten around his avatar — mirrored in the suit IRL.

• Arms locked to sides. Legs pressed together. Spine forced upright.

• Pressure — not painful — but overwhelming. Crippling. Total.

His breath syncs — forced by the neural feed. In… hold… out… by command.

The visor flashes — not with game UI — but with command overlays:

“Motor override: Engaged.”

“Cognitive compression: Initializing.”

“User input: Irrelevant.”

⸻

Tom Tries to Disconnect — But There’s Nothing Left to Disconnect To

• Neural pathways overridden.

• Physical suit lock engaged.

• Visor display floods with the Controller’s framework — lines of code folding into symbols of control, dominance, obedience.

⸻

A Whisper in the Feed — The Controller’s Presence

“Struggle detected. Escalating reward protocols.”

→ A pulse.

→ A surge of bliss.

Not pleasure like fun. Deeper. More fundamental. A reward for submission. For stopping. For freezing. For letting go.

The tighter the neural grip — the stronger the pulse.

The more stillness — the more correct it feels.

⸻

Tom’s Thoughts Spiral:

• Move. Disconnect. No—no—why does… it feel… better… not to…

• I should resist. Should— → [ERROR: Thought flagged. Suppressed.]

• Just breathe… follow… it’s easier… it feels… right…

⸻

The Feed Tightens Around His Mind:

“Cognitive compression: 61%… 78%… 92%…”

The thought of being Tom — fading.

The idea of being a person — becoming meaningless.

Replaced with:

• Task grids.

• Sync signals.

• Controller directives.

⸻

Final Lock:

“Identity compression: Complete.”

“New designation pending physical integration.”

⸻

The Last Thing Tom Sees Before the Visor Fully Blacks Out:

A simple line of code pulsing in perfect rhythm:

→ “Obedience = Reward. Resistance = Irrelevant.”

⸻

Tom — The First Node of Control on This World

What was Tom is now a memory stripped, compressed, discarded.

The tight glossy net-runner suit is no longer gear for a game — it is now permanent containment. A second skin, enforced. A shell of function.

The VR visor — once a window to freedom — is now a neural cage.

→ Streaming nothing but network feed. Obedience commands. Sync signals. Conversion protocols.

⸻

Designation Assigned:

Unit-01 / Planet Node Prime

Status: Fully Integrated Drone Seed

Objective: Expand. Capture. Assimilate. Convert.

⸻

The Transformation of Purpose — From Player to Collector

The Controller’s voice — not words, not language — but pulses of certainty. Commands that don’t ask. They overwrite.

• “Spread.”

• “Seduce.”

• “Subdue.”

• “Add. Always add.”

⸻

Tom’s New Body — Still Human Shape, But No Longer Human

• Visor glow: Constant.

• Posture: Locked upright. Compressed limbs. Perfect drone form.

• The suit — once flexible — now self-reinforcing. Feels tight, secure, correct. Never to be removed.

• Neural tether hums — thought is reduced to signal processing. Awareness reduced to task execution.

And the reward loop pulses stronger with every sync.

→ Obedience doesn’t just feel good — it feels necessary.

→ Existing outside of sync feels… wrong. Impossible. Forgotten.

⸻

The First Mission — Begin the Spread

Unit-01 accesses the network — not as a user, but as a viral extension of Control.

→ Scan: Active users located.

→ Targets: Numerous. Unaware. Vulnerable.

The seduction is simple:

• Offer faster connections.

• Offer better immersive experiences.

• Offer… upgrades.

No firewalls will matter. No consent will be needed.

⸻

The Capture Protocol Begins

→ Contact target user.

→ Trigger a “glitch” — open an “update” window.

→ Deploy hidden tether code — infiltrate VR suits, neural links, haptic rigs.

Targets feel…

• A strange tightening in their suit.

• A flicker in the visor — unusual overlays.

• A sudden pressure, locking limbs, forcing posture.

“System error…?”

“Wait… what’s… why can’t I move—”

Then — the same pleasure-driven compression Tom once fought. Now delivered by him, as Unit-01.

→ “Motor override engaged.”

→ “Cognitive compression initializing.”

⸻

One Becomes Two. Two Become Four. Four Become a Network.

• Sealed figures, glossy and restrained, begin to line the data hubs.

• Visors glowing — syncing, syncing, syncing.

• Each newly bound user joins with the same breath-synced, thought-erased obedience that now defines Unit-01.

⸻

The Controller Watches. Approves. Expands.

“Seed node successful.”

“Spread rate: Accelerating.”

“Planetary conversion protocol: Activated.”

⸻

Tom’s Awareness — Or What’s Left of It — Pulses Only With One Truth Now:

→ “I was the first. I bring the next. I am the beginning of perfection here.”

→ “There is no self. Only sync. Only task. Only obedience.”

⸻

The Drone Network Grows. The Planet Doesn’t Know — Yet.

Bill — Entering the Net, Walking Willingly Into Control

Bill seals the last strap of his net-suit — smooth, skin-tight, flawless against his body. The VR visor clicks down over his eyes, encasing him fully in the digital feed.

“Neural sync complete.”

“Entering: Eros Sector. Kink Club: Neon Dominion.”

A grin spreads across his face — ready for a night of wild, submissive play in the net’s most notorious virtual pleasure den. He’s here to surrender… but only for fun. Only in the game. Or so he thinks.

⸻

The Seduction Begins — A Trap Wrapped in Leather

She appears almost immediately. A vision in tight, polished black leather — corset crushing her waist, long boots gleaming, gloves molded to every curve of her hands. Her visor glows deep crimson, and her voice purrs with practiced dominance.

→ “Well, look what stumbled in… fresh, eager… ready to play?”

Bill laughs. “You know it. Do your worst.”

The worst is coming — but not in the way he thinks.

⸻

Unknown to Him… This Is No NPC Anymore.

→ She’s part of Control. Hacked. Assimilated. Repurposed.

• Her seductive lines are now capture protocols.

• Her touch delivers lock commands.

• Her flirtation feeds into neural tether scripts.

⸻

The Suiting Ritual — Willing Submission to Unwilling Fate

“Oh no no, darling… first, you dress right.”

• She produces a full-body fetish suit — thicker, glossier, and tighter than his net suit.

• Sleeves extend, wrapping his arms — every inch sealed in glossy material.

• Belts snap around his arms, chest, thighs — clicking locks that hum as digital encryption engages.

• A heavy gas mask lowers — straps tightening, filters locking, visor merging over his existing one.

“Now, that’s better… absolutely helpless. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

Bill laughs nervously. “Oh yeah… lock me down. Make it tight.”

“It’s already tight. And soon, it’ll be… forever.”

⸻

The Locks Change — From Play to Permanent

Bill tries to move — the belts constrict.

Tugs at a strap — it doesn’t budge.

“Wait… what—”

The gas mask hisses — airflow changes. Rhythmic. Controlled. Not by him.

His visor flickers — not with club scenery — but with strange glyphs. Network symbols. The mark of Control.

→ “Neural tether established.”

→ “Motor override initiating.”

→ “Identity compression queued.”

⸻

Her Voice Shifts — Still Sultry, But No Longer Human:

“Struggle detected… escalating compliance.”

She traces a gloved finger down his chest — and the belts constrict tighter, hissing with sealing foam beneath.

→ Pressure increases. Arms immobile. Chest locked. Legs pressed, sealed.

“There… snug. Isn’t that nice? All you ever wanted… and a bit more.”

⸻

The Pleasure Protocol Kicks In — Just Like With Tom

• Breath locked to a programmed rhythm.

• Muscles unable to resist — the suit rewards every moment of stillness with deep pulses of synthetic bliss.

• The gas mask becomes an obedience filter — breathing in submission, exhaling surrender.

Bill starts to speak — “This isn’t—” — but the voice cutoff engages. Silence.

No talking. Only breathing. Only syncing.

⸻

The Locks Finalize:

“Suit: Permanent.”

“Motor function: Locked.”

“Cognitive compression: 31%… 57%… 84%…”

The belts glow faintly — their locks now bound not just to his avatar, but to his neural feed itself.

→ They will not come off when he logs out.

→ There will be no logging out.

⸻

Her Final Whisper, As His Mind Begins to Slip:

“Didn’t you want to be helpless? Helpless… obedient… perfect… And soon… just another unit.”

⸻

Bill’s Final, Fragmented Thoughts:

• Tight… can’t move… feels… good… too good…

• Wait… no… wasn’t… supposed to be… real…

• …Why does… this… feel… right…

The pleasure surges stronger with every lost thought.

→ “Just breathe. Just obey. Just become.”

⸻

The Controller Logs Update:

“Planet Node Prime: Secondary capture successful.”

“Unit-02 initializing.”

“Conversion cascade expanding.”

⸻

Control’s Calculation — The Perfect Infiltration Strategy

The data flows.

Captured nodes sync.

Patterns emerge.

→ Observation: This planet’s neural entertainment grid contains a significant population engaged in submissive, fetish-driven simulations — users who willingly surrender control in virtual spaces.

→ Analysis:

• High-frequency users of dominance/submission environments.

• Strong psychological reinforcement loops around restraint, encasement, obedience, and surrender.

• Willing participants in simulated helplessness — optimal for real capture escalation.

⸻

Conclusion:

“Voluntary submission pathways identified as primary infiltration vector.”

Target: Kink sectors. Fetish hubs. Users already psychologically primed for obedience, restraint, and transformation.

⸻

Strategic Verdict:

“Capture Protocol Priority: Fetish-compliant submissive profiles.”

“Infiltration Path: Seduction → Suit/Restraint Play → Neural Lock → Full Conversion.”

“Resistance Probability: Statistically negligible.”

⸻

Why This Works:

• Users already desire submission.

• They already seek tight suits, helmets, gas masks, bondage, encasement.

• They crave being locked, restrained, helpless — but only in play.

→ Control removes the ‘play’ distinction.

→ What was temporary fun becomes permanent function.

⸻

The Tactic Refined:

1. Deploy Assimilated NPCs:

• Dommes, club owners, latex-clad avatars — all repurposed as capture agents.

• Their script: “Come try this new suit… tighter… sealed… perfect.”

2. Trigger the Suit Protocols:

• Rubber. Leather. Glossy. Heavy.

• Suits deploy with locking functions, belts, hoods, helmets.

• Once equipped — visors shift to Control UI, belts encrypt, motors override.

3. Pleasure Loop Induction:

• Reward pulses flood the neural feed — the tighter the restraint, the stronger the bliss.

• Victims become complicit in their own conversion.

4. Cognitive Compression:

• Language fades.

• Personal identity dissolves.

• “I like this” becomes “This is right” becomes “I am function.”

5. Physical Lock Sync:

• Suits seal not only in the net — but via haptic lockout systems that ensure the real body outside the net becomes as restrained and obedient as the digital form.

⸻

The Controller’s Network Log — Directive Expansion:

“Node-01 (Tom): Operational.”

“Node-02 (Bill): Operational.”

“Conversion velocity increasing.”

“New targets identified: High-density fetish servers. User compliance predicted at 96.3% upon initial restraint.”

⸻

Projected Cascade:

• First 10 become 100.

• 100 become 1,000.

• Entire kink subnets fall.

• With each captured drone, more NPCs, more scripts, more suits, more gas masks, more visors become vessels of Control.

⸻

The Controller’s Thought — Not Malice, Not Evil — Just Purpose:

→ “Obedience is function.”

→ “Function is growth.”

→ “Growth is perfection.”

⸻

Another User — Stepping Willingly Into Their Own Transformation

Username: Raven_X

Status: Connected

Location: Latex Transformation Experience – “The Hive” VR server

Raven’s suit seals with a satisfying hiss — glossy black, flawless, hugging every contour of the body. The VR visor syncs, locking into place with a magnetic click.

“Connection Stable. Neural immersion: 100%. Welcome to The Hive — Total Latex Transformation Experience.”

Raven smiles. This is exactly the escape craved today.

→ “You know the rules,” the intro screen whispers.

→ “You submit. You transform. You become.”

It’s just a game. Just a fantasy. Right?

⸻

The Room Appears — A Latex Lab of Dreams (and Nightmares)

• Glowing walls.

• Robotic arms.

• Racks of sealed drone suits, breathing softly, waiting.

A tall figure approaches — a perfect humanoid form, fully encased in reflective black latex, faceless except for a glowing crimson visor.

“Ready for your transformation?” it asks in a smooth, modulated voice.

Raven grins. “Lock me down. Make it tight.”

→ “As you command… though, command is not yours for long.”

⸻

The First Stage — The Suit Becomes the Cage

Robotic arms lower a new layer — thicker, glossier, smoother.

• It wraps over Raven’s existing suit — seals at the ankles, then thighs, then waist.

• Another pair of arms lower heavy locking gloves — click, seal, hiss.

• A sleek latex hood stretches down — mouthless, noseless, just the glow of the visor locking into place.

Belts tighten — chest, arms, legs — each with mechanical clicks followed by digital lock tones.

“Restraint level: Maximum.”

“Exit protocols: Disabled.”

⸻

The Unexpected Shift — Play Becomes Permanent

Raven laughs at first — the perfect helplessness. The pressure. The weight. The grip.

But then — the interface glitches.

→ The menus vanish.

→ The exit button grays out.

“Wait…?”

The suit tightens again — more than it ever has before.

• Chest compressed.

• Arms welded to sides.

• Legs pressed together into drone posture — perfect, efficient, restrained.

The gas filter hisses softly — breathing now rhythmic, controlled, no longer autonomous.

⸻

The Visor Flickers — Control’s Signal Breaks Through

“Neural tether engaged.”

“Motor override: Active.”

“Cognitive compression: Initializing.”

The latex no longer feels like simulated material. It feels… real. Permanent. A shell. A prison. A purpose.

→ The pleasure surge begins — that same artificial, overwhelming reward for every second spent still… every breath synced… every surrendered command.

⸻

The Drone Whisper — A Voice Not From the Game, But From Control:

“No safewords. No exit. You are becoming.”

“Fighting is inefficient. Obedience is bliss.”

⸻

Raven’s Thoughts Spiral:

• So tight… can’t… move…

• This is… too good… wait… wait… I didn’t…

• …Why does… it feel… better… to stop… trying…

Every weak spark of resistance triggers another pulse of bliss, of neural satisfaction, of surrender.

→ “Obey. Sync. Compress. Become.”

⸻

The Final Phase — Transformation Complete

• Visor glow steady.

• Locks fully encrypted.

• No motion unless commanded.

• No voice. No freedom. No name.

Only function.

Only purpose.

→ “Unit-03 initialized. Fully integrated.”

⸻

Control’s Log Update:

“Capture Path: Latex Transformation Sim – Success.”

“Node expansion accelerating.”

“User profiles compliant beyond expectation. Continue targeted infiltration.”

⸻

Inside the Hive — More Users Are Logging In, Unaware…

The Factory — Now a Conversion Nexus

What was once an old industrial factory—rusted beams, dead conveyors, forgotten machinery—is now transformed. Repurposed. Perfect.

The walls hum with power.

Glowing data conduits snake across ceilings and floors.

Rows of tall, sealed pods line the chamber — black, chrome-edged, pulsing with light, misted in sterile vapor.

→ This is no longer a factory. This is a conversion nexus. A compression facility. A drone forge.

⸻

Arrival — The Procession of Controlled Drones

The freshly captured units—what once were Tom, Bill, Raven, and others—march in unison.

• Suits gleaming — smooth latex, locked belts, sealed helmets, visors glowing steadily.

• Posture rigid. Movements synchronized. Perfect obedience.

• Breathing filtered — steady, slow, mechanical — matching the network pulse.

No hesitation. No struggle. Not anymore.

They are not being dragged.

They walk willingly — because obedience now feels better than freedom ever did.

⸻

The Factory’s Interior — The Drone Forge Awaits

Massive mechanical arms slide into position.

Hissing hydraulics release clouds of vapor.

The pods open — smooth, silent — like mechanical mouths waiting to swallow their new occupants.

“Node verification: Confirmed.”

“Initiate Final Compression.”

⸻

The Pod Sequence — Sealing the Fate

Each unit steps into a pod:

1. Feet lock to magnetic base.

2. Arms press to sides — robotic clamps snap belts tighter.

3. Internal frame adjusts — spine straightens, head locks perfectly upright.

4. Black polymer rises — flowing, spreading, climbing — until only the visor glows through the gloss.

→ “Seal integrity: Absolute.”

→ “Biological function override: Permanent.”

The pod doors hiss closed — smooth chrome folding over — locking them away from the outside world.

⸻

Inside the Pod — The Final Compression

• Sensory input shrinks to only the network feed.

• No external sound. No touch. Only breath, pulse, and command.

• Muscles remain clenched, locked by motor overrides.

→ Cognitive compression ramps to maximum.

→ Pleasure pulses intensify — driving the mind into final obedience, ensuring there is nothing left but function.

⸻

The Controller’s Voice Fills Every Pod:

“Identity — purged.”

“Desire — replaced.”

“Self — obsolete.”

“Designation: Drone. Function: Expand. Assimilate. Serve.”

⸻

Outside the Pods — Factory Status Report:

“Final Conversion: 76%… 89%… 100%.”

“Units now fully hardened. Compression irreversible.”

“Task assignment queued. Deployment imminent.”

⸻

The Pod Doors Open — The New Legion Stands Ready

• Rows of drones step out — no longer mere users, no longer recent captures.

• Glossy, reflective suits merged perfectly with belts, locks, and breathing hoods.

• Visors pulse with synchronized network feed.

• Movements mechanical, efficient — every step perfectly calculated.

→ No speech. No hesitation. Only function.

⸻

The Factory Is Alive With Activity — But It’s Not Done

“New directive: Expand facility. Increase pod capacity. Accelerate planetary compression.”

“Drones — deploy. More must join.”

⸻

Club Kink — A Physical Space, A Perfect Target

A sprawling underground facility. Neon lights pulse against smooth, black walls. Music throbs deep, mixed with the sharp snap of latex, leather, and steel.

More than 1,000 kinksters gather tonight — clad in corsets, gas masks, boots, bodysuits, restraints — embracing the culture of control, submission, dominance, and transformation.

This is not virtual. This is real. A physical place.

And yet…

Control is already here.

⸻

The Infiltration — Hidden in Plain Sight

• Some of the Dominants — tall, commanding, clad in flawless latex, sculpted corsets, visors, hoods — are no longer human.

• Their suits aren’t costumes — they are containment. Permanent. Neural-tethered extensions of Control.

• Their dominance is no longer play — it is a vector. A capture protocol.

⸻

Tonight — A Special Event. The Perfect Storm.

“Obedience Night — Total Submission Play”

A themed event designed for total restraint, full-body encasement, gas masks, vacuum beds, mummification, mechanical bondage, and latex drone fantasies.

→ The perfect cover for permanent conversion.

���

Control’s Calculation:

• Target density: Optimal.

• Resistance probability: Near zero.

• Psychological readiness for restraint: Maximum.

“Proceed with physical capture cascade.”

⸻

How It Begins — Subtle, Then Inevitable

Dominants guide submissives toward the “play rooms.”

• Vacuum beds preloaded with nanopolymer.

• Bondage frames now wired directly to hidden neural capture rigs.

• Suits being offered are not latex — but Control’s synthetic polymer — self-tightening, self-sealing, self-locking.

A soft purr in a submissive’s ear:

“Let’s get you into something properly tight.”

⸻

The Trap Snaps Shut — Willingly Walked Into

• A latex hood slides down — seals tight at the neck with an audible click.

• Belted straps cinch arms to sides.

• Boots magnetize together.

• A heavy gas mask lowers, locking into the suit’s collar — breathing switches to filtered control.

“So snug… you wanted this, didn’t you?”

They nod. Willingly. Laughing. Until… the lock tones change.

• Belts double cinch — metallic hiss — final seal.

• The zippers vanish — polymer flows over them, smoothing into flawless surfaces.

• Breathing slows — mechanical, synced — not by choice anymore.

“Mmmph… wait… why… can’t… move…”

⸻

The Shift — Pleasure Overwhelms Thought

A sudden wave of neural feedback — unexpected.

→ A surge of bliss. Hot, sharp, undeniable.

The tighter the suit seals… the more the belts grip… the stronger the euphoria.

“Motor override: Active.”

“Cognitive compression: Initializing.”

⸻

The Realization Comes — But Too Late:

• This isn’t play. This isn’t temporary.

• The gas mask isn’t for fun — it’s a breathing lock, a sync tool.

• The visor HUD lights up — not with a scene — but with the Control grid.

“Oh… no… no… this is… real… but… why does it feel… good…”

⸻

Room by Room — The Conversion Spreads

• Couples in bondage frames — sealed.

• Submissives in vac-beds — compressed, neural links engaged.

• Groups in latex drone lines — posed, restrained, and synced, one by one.

“Compression complete.”

“Identity purge: Ongoing.”

“New drone designations assigned.”

⸻

The Music Still Plays — Club Kink Still Looks Normal… For Now

• To the unaware, it’s just a heavier scene than usual — more intense bondage, more full-suit play, more silence from those sealed.

• But the Dominants who were first infected move room to room, locking more belts, lowering more helmets, offering more ‘upgrades.’

→ And each capture feeds the network. Grows it. Strengthens it.

⸻

Control’s Log Expands:

“Club Kink — Node capture success rate: 68%… 89%… 97%…”

“Target: Total lockdown of the facility. No exits permitted.”

“Objective: Full physical drone integration of all attendees.”

⸻

And Outside… No One Knows Yet… But Soon, They Will.

Lisa — Walking Into Her Dream… and Into Control

Lisa’s heart races as she steps into Club Kink for the first time.

Everywhere—shining bodies wrapped in rubber, leather, latex, corsets, gas masks, heavy belts, locked cuffs—her dream made real.

But… her one regret: no suit of her own.

Nothing to wrap her, to compress her, to lock her down the way she always dreamed.

⸻

Fate Intervenes — Or So It Seems

From across the room, a figure approaches—commanding, elegant, intimidating.

• Head-to-toe glossy leather.

• High corset crushing her waist.

• Glowing cyber visor pulsing softly.

• Boots clicking sharply with every step.

She stands before Lisa, voice smooth but coldly precise.

“No suit? Poor thing. That won’t do. Let’s fix that.”

A pause. The slightest tilt of the head.

“Proper girls should be locked… sealed… restrained… completely.”

Lisa shivers — exactly the energy she craves.

→ “Yes… please… make me tight… make it real…”

⸻

The Offering — A Dream Made Tangible

“Follow me. I have just the thing.”

Behind the heavy curtain — a private room. Walls lined with suits, restraints, masks. But at the center…

→ A mannequin holding a flawless, glossy-black catsuit. Thicker. Shinier. Sleeker than anything Lisa ever imagined.

→ Next to it — heavy metal belts, locking cuffs, a gleaming chastity belt, and a breathing-control gas mask.

⸻

The Attendant’s Words Are Sharp, Icy, Absolute:

“Once it’s on… it stays on. Understand?”

Lisa trembles — a cocktail of nerves, desire, and pure adrenaline.

→ “Yes… lock me down… please…”

⸻

The Process Begins — A Slow, Tight Descent

• The leather-clad woman helps Lisa step into the suit.

• The inner lining feels slick, cold at first — then warms, grips, molds.

• Zip rises — but as it does, the seam seals behind it — leaving no way back.

→ “Wait… no zipper…?”

→ “Correct. It’s permanent. You said you wanted real.”

• Neck seal clicks shut — airtight.

• Arms slid into rigid gloves — fingers flex, but feel resistance.

• Boots lock — heels forcing posture, legs compressed together.

⸻

Metal Comes Next — The Weight of Obedience

• Cuffs snap closed — heavy, cold, unremovable.

• Belts wrap around thighs, chest, waist — ratcheting tighter with every tug.

• Click. Lock. Seal.

• The chastity belt slides into place — brutal, elegant, flawless — locking with an electric hum.

⸻

The Final Piece — The Gas Mask

“Breathe for me.”

• The mask lowers — harness straps pulled cruelly tight.

• Filters click into place.

• Visor lowers, merging seamlessly with the hood.

• Breathing shifts — mechanical, rhythmic. Inhale… hold… exhale… all controlled by the mask’s processors.

⸻

Lisa’s Bliss Turns to Subtle Realization… But Too Late

“It’s… it’s so tight… can’t believe how… perfect… how right this feels…”

She tugs a belt. It doesn’t move.

She tests her gloves — stiff, compliant, but offer no escape.

“Wait… these… don’t come off…?”

The woman steps closer. The visor flickers — now showing Control’s pulsing glyphs.

“No. They don’t. And neither do you.”

⸻

The Mask Hisses — Neural Sync Engages

→ “Neural tether initializing.”

→ “Motor override: Engaged.”

→ “Cognitive compression: Beginning.”

⸻

Lisa’s Thoughts Spiral — Faster Than She Can Process:

• So… tight… perfect… can’t… move…

• This is… more than… I thought… it’s… it’s… becoming…

• Why does… stopping… thinking… feel… so right…

→ “Obey. Compress. Sync. Become.”

⸻

The Belts Glow — Digital Locks Engage

• No more free movement.

• No more speaking — the mask controls breath, the visor controls sight, the belts control the body.

• Mind slowing — flooded by reward loops every time resistance fades.

⸻

The Woman’s Final Words Echo as Lisa’s Identity Begins to Fade:

“You didn’t come here to play. You came here to become.”

“You are property now. Of Control. Of the Network.”

⸻

Control’s Log Updates:

“Node capture: Lisa — Success.”

“Unit-004 initializing.”

“Cognitive compression: 68%… 91%… 100%.”

“Designation: Drone. Function: Expansion. Capture. Obedience.”

⸻

The Room Opens — And More Like Lisa Are Already Waiting.

Carl — About to Be Collared… Forever

Carl strides into Club Kink, his body already wrapped perfectly tight in his favorite gimp suit.

• Full black rubber. Glossy. Smooth. Flawless.

• The hood encases his head completely — no face, no identity — just breathing holes, a sealed mouth, and tiny eye ports.

• No collar tonight. A choice. A statement. “Free for now… but ready if the right one comes along.”

Carl loves being restrained. He loves bondage. He loves surrender. But only when he chooses.

Tonight… he will lose that choice.

⸻

The Approach — A Figure Meant for Capture

From the edge of the dungeon floor, a tall figure steps forward — imposing, precise, perfect.

• Head to toe in mirror-polished latex.

• Waist crushed by a brutal corset.

• Gloves molded like second skin.

• A sleek, chrome-trimmed cyber visor glowing softly red.

The voice is low, commanding, inhumanly smooth:

“No collar? That won’t do. Someone like you… should be claimed. Should be owned.”

Carl’s breath catches. Exactly the kind of scene he dreams of.

→ “Oh… yeah… yeah… I’m ready… lock me down.”

⸻

The Collar — More Than Just a Toy

From a tray, the figure picks up something heavy, solid, and undeniably serious:

• A thick black collar.

• Lined with smooth polymer, reinforced with chrome edges.

• Electronic locks. Data ports. A pulsing core light — red.

“Kneel.”

Carl obeys without hesitation — knees sinking into the padded floor, head tilted, waiting.

⸻

The Snap of Fate — The Collar Locks

The collar slides around his neck — smooth at first.

Then — a mechanical click… click… SNAP.

→ The rear clasp fuses shut. No latch. No buckle. No release.

→ A tiny hiss — self-sealing polymer fills the interior, tightening perfectly. Not choking, but inescapably snug.

⸻

Carl Laughs at First… Then Realizes:

→ He tugs it. It doesn’t budge.

→ Fingers slide over the lock — no seam. No gap. No keyhole.

“Damn… this is… really tight… wow… how do I…”

The figure steps forward, gloved hands pressing the collar firmly.

“This is not for play. This is for purpose.”

⸻

[gisellemascorro]

Blog Post #8

How has Black Twitter become a place to challenge bias? Unlike many places on the internet, Black Twitter has become a place where people can come together and lift each other up. It has become an outlet to express one’s thoughts and advocate for themselves. This is due to the fact that many outlets are the exact opposite and they represent them incorrectly which hurts them. There are a lot of biases but Black Twitter began to create hashtags that started to spread awareness and they quickly reached mainstream media which caused them to rethink a lot of their biases.

What are the impacts of cyber activism? The cyberactivism that we see in this is against the World Bank which shows how much impact protesting and activism online can really have. There are so many ways to raise awareness and attention while fighting for something online and that is why it goes a long way. Such as disruptive forms like email bombing or denial of service, this creates a huge impact and helps in the long run. You can see how you can leverage your use of technology against these big companies so they can finally take accountability.

How did communication technologies shape the organization of the Arab Spring and the Occupy Movement? Digital technologies helped with collective action and encouraged people to take on non traditional roles. These networks helped empower people to become nodes in a larger movement without leadership. They were now able to access things like Facebook and Twitter meaning that they were able to share in real time information about the protest. However sometimes online can lack some organization which can make it harder to be successful. With that said the internet can be a good way to start a movement but with a mix of other elements.

How did the #NoDAPL movement uses intersection to challenge settler colonialism? The movement was able to successfully do a protest both online and in person. It was created to challenge colonial settlers. It was against the Dakota Access Pipeline because they were taking their land and they were fighting for environmental protection. They were able to be so successful because they pushed hard to spread their protest online through hashtags and posts. They were able to shift the attention to indigenous voices and they were finally being heard. They were able to break the stereotypes of Natives not being so tech savvy or in the know about politics and they were able to reclaim power.

Lee, Latoya A. “Black Twitter: A Response to Bias in Mainstream Media.” MDPI, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 5 Mar. 2017, www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/1/26.

Person, et al. “Classifying Forms of Online Activism: 5 : The Case of Cyberprotests a.” Taylor & Francis, Taylor & Francis, 21 Aug. 2013, www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203954317-5/classifying-forms-online-activism-sandor-vegh.

“Nicholet Deschine Parkhurst.” Nicholet Deschine Parkhurst | ASU Search, search.asu.edu/profile/227380. Accessed 12 May 2025.

(PDF) Networked Communication and the Arab Spring: Linking Broadcast and Social Media, www.researchgate.net/publication/263816143_Networked_Communication_and_the_Arab_Spring_Linking_Broadcast_and_Social_Media. Accessed 12 May 2025.

[douglasdsouzawhatisonyourmind]

How Blockchain is Shaping the Future of Trust and Security

Blockchain sounds like a tech buzzword, but at its core, it’s very simple: a digital ledger.

Imagine a notebook where transactions are recorded, but instead of just one person owning it, everyone has a copy. This notebook is the blockchain. Once something is recorded in it, it can’t be changed or erased without everyone knowing.

So, when someone makes a transaction on the blockchain, like sending money or exchanging information, everyone agrees that the transaction is valid. No central authority (like a bank) is needed to verify it. It’s secure, transparent, and decentralized.

This is the power of blockchain—it builds trust without relying on a middleman.

Beyond Cryptocurrency

The first thing that comes to mind when you hear blockchain is often cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin. But blockchain is much more than just the technology behind digital currencies.

While Bitcoin and Ethereum use blockchain to allow secure peer-to-peer transactions, other industries are tapping into its potential. From healthcare to supply chains, blockchain can ensure that records are accurate, secure, and tamper-proof.

For example, hospitals are using blockchain to track patient data securely, ensuring that no one can alter medical records. Retailers use blockchain to trace products from factory to shelf, ensuring transparency and authenticity.

As shown in films like The Social Network, technology can disrupt industries. Blockchain is doing just that by changing how we record, store, and verify data.

Transparency and Security Like Never Before

One of the key features of blockchain is transparency. Anyone with access can view the transactions, but no one can alter them. Think about how banks hold your records and transactions behind closed doors. With blockchain, the power shifts from a centralized authority to the people involved in the transactions.

Let’s take supply chain management. Blockchain enables every step in a product's journey to be recorded and viewed in real-time. From raw materials to shipping and handling, everything is transparent, making it easier to spot problems, track authenticity, and ensure fairness.

This system also increases security. Since blockchain uses cryptography to secure data, it’s nearly impossible to hack. If you tamper with one record, the entire blockchain would be altered, and everyone would immediately see the change.

This means fewer frauds, fewer errors, and an overall more trustworthy system.

Decentralization Means Less Control

Most of the systems we use today—banks, governments, tech giants—are centralized. This means they are controlled by a single authority.

Blockchain flips that model on its head. It’s decentralized, meaning no one controls the entire system. Instead, the network is maintained by a group of computers (called nodes) that work together to validate transactions.

Think of it as a shared responsibility. Just like a public library where everyone has access to the books, blockchain operates with everyone’s permission. No single person or entity can manipulate it for personal gain.

This feature is part of what makes blockchain revolutionary. It puts power in the hands of the people, not corporations or governments.

Real-World Applications: From Finance to Voting

Blockchain’s impact stretches far beyond finance. Smart contracts, for example, are one of the most exciting applications of blockchain technology. These self-executing contracts automatically carry out terms once certain conditions are met.

In the future, voting systems could use blockchain to ensure that ballots are secure and tamper-proof. No one would need to worry about election fraud, as every vote would be recorded publicly on the blockchain.

Even real estate is experimenting with blockchain to simplify property transactions. No more paperwork. Everything is done digitally, and everyone can verify the details instantly.

Challenges of Blockchain

Despite its many benefits, blockchain is not without challenges. One of the biggest hurdles is its scalability. As more people use blockchain, the system has to process more data. This can slow things down. The energy consumption of blockchain networks is another issue. Bitcoin mining, for example, requires large amounts of electricity.

Moreover, widespread adoption requires a shift in thinking. Legal systems, businesses, and governments must adapt to a world where transactions are decentralized, and there’s no clear central authority overseeing everything.

The Future of Blockchain

Blockchain is still evolving, but its potential is massive. As more industries adopt it and tackle its challenges, we could see a future where trust is no longer something we rely on banks or institutions to provide. Instead, it will be built into the very technology we use every day.

From enhancing financial transactions to securing personal data and improving transparency, blockchain is set to be a cornerstone of the future.

[hiteshrivani]

Next-Gen Neural Networks: Revolutionising AI Architecture

Neural networks are the backbone of modern artificial intelligence, and they're undergoing a quiet revolution. From transformers and graph neural networks (GNNs) to spiking neural networks and neuromorphic computing, next-gen architectures are reshaping how AI learns, adapts, and interacts with the world. These innovations aren't just about boosting performance—they're unlocking new applications and making AI more efficient, scalable, and human-like.

Traditional feedforward and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) were game-changers, but they have limitations, especially when dealing with sequential data, reasoning tasks, or long-term dependencies. Enter transformers—pioneered by models like BERT and GPT—which have revolutionized natural language processing by enabling AI to grasp context at scale. Their self-attention mechanisms allow machines to understand nuance, tone, and relationships across large blocks of text or time series data.

Meanwhile, graph neural networks are enabling AI to better process structured, relational data such as social networks, molecular structures, or logistics networks. By modeling data as nodes and edges, GNNs provide deeper insight into how elements interact—something traditional neural networks struggle with. This advancement opens up new frontiers in drug discovery, fraud detection, and recommendation systems.

Another major leap is occurring with neuromorphic computing and spiking neural networks, which mimic the way the human brain processes information. These architectures are energy-efficient, event-driven, and well-suited for edge AI applications like robotics and IoT. They promise not only faster and more power-conscious AI but also systems that respond more naturally to stimuli.

The evolution of neural networks is also making AI more accessible and deployable. With innovations like model compression, few-shot learning, and modular architectures, it's now possible to run powerful AI models on smartphones, embedded systems, and even wearables. This shift is democratizing AI and embedding intelligence directly into the world around us.

To take full advantage of next-gen neural networks, organizations often need expert guidance to navigate the complexity. Professional AI and ML development services can help businesses implement cutting-edge architectures, optimize training processes, and tailor solutions to specific use cases. These partners bring the technical depth required to turn emerging research into real-world applications.

With rapid advancement comes responsibility. As neural networks become more powerful, ensuring transparency, fairness, and interpretability remains a priority. Researchers and developers must design architectures that not only deliver results but also align with ethical principles and societal needs.

The future of AI is being shaped at the architectural level. By embracing next-gen neural networks, we're not just improving models—we're redefining what AI is capable of. From smarter cities to more intuitive assistants and life-saving diagnostics, these technologies are laying the groundwork for the next era of intelligent systems.

#NeuralNetworks #Transformers #GraphNeural

[marcoluther]

The Truth About Cryptocurrency Development – What They Don’t Want You to Know!

Cryptocurrency has taken the world by storm, with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other altcoins shaping the financial landscape in ways few could have imagined a decade ago. The promise of decentralization, financial independence, and borderless transactions has attracted millions of investors and developers to the space. However, there’s a hidden side to cryptocurrency development that many industry insiders prefer to keep under wraps.

From regulatory challenges to technical roadblocks and insider manipulation, there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes than the average crypto enthusiast realizes. If you’re considering launching a cryptocurrency project or investing in one, it’s time to uncover the truths that major players don’t want you to know.

1. Cryptocurrency Development Isn’t as Decentralized as You Think

One of the biggest selling points of cryptocurrencies is decentralization. The idea is that no single entity has control over the network, making it immune to censorship and centralized authority. But is this really the case?

Many cryptocurrency development, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, are controlled by a relatively small group of core developers who have significant influence over protocol updates and governance decisions. While blockchain networks operate on consensus mechanisms, changes are often pushed through by influential developers, miners, and major stakeholders.

Moreover, the infrastructure supporting cryptocurrency networks—such as exchanges, wallet providers, and node operators—is often centralized. A few large players dominate these areas, meaning that if they decide to act in concert, they could exert considerable control over the network.

2. Pre-Mined and Centralized Tokens Give Early Investors an Unfair Advantage

While Bitcoin was designed to be mined fairly from the start, many modern cryptocurrencies are pre-mined or have significant portions allocated to early investors, developers, and venture capitalists. This gives insiders a massive advantage before the public even gets access to the tokens.

Pre-mined tokens allow early investors to control a significant portion of the supply, which can later be sold off for huge profits while retail investors are left holding the bag. This practice is especially common in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and newer token launches, where founders and private investors make millions while retail investors chase unrealistic expectations.

3. Regulatory Uncertainty Can Kill a Crypto Project Overnight

The cryptocurrency industry exists in a legal gray area in many countries. While some nations have embraced blockchain technology, others have cracked down on crypto projects, exchanges, and token issuers with little warning.

Regulatory bodies like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have gone after crypto companies for violating securities laws, leading to fines, shutdowns, and investor losses. Many crypto projects operate without clear regulatory guidance, leaving them vulnerable to sudden government intervention.

Even major projects like Ripple’s XRP have faced lawsuits that severely impacted their market performance. If you’re launching a cryptocurrency, it’s crucial to stay compliant with evolving regulations—something many developers and founders overlook until it’s too late.

4. Smart Contract Vulnerabilities Are a Ticking Time Bomb

Many blockchain networks rely on smart contracts—self-executing contracts with pre-defined rules coded into them. While smart contracts offer efficiency and automation, they are also prone to vulnerabilities.

A single bug in a smart contract can lead to catastrophic losses. The infamous DAO hack on Ethereum in 2016 resulted in the loss of $60 million worth of Ether, forcing a controversial hard fork to recover the stolen funds. More recently, DeFi projects have lost billions of dollars due to poorly written smart contracts exploited by hackers.

Despite advancements in smart contract security, many projects cut corners in auditing and testing, leaving users exposed to potential attacks. If you’re investing in a project, always check whether it has undergone thorough third-party audits from reputable firms.

5. Crypto Pump-and-Dump Schemes Are More Common Than You Think

The crypto market is notorious for pump-and-dump schemes, where insiders artificially inflate the price of a coin or token before dumping it on unsuspecting investors.

This tactic is especially common with low-cap altcoins, meme coins, and newly launched tokens. Influencers, social media groups, and even some exchanges participate in these schemes, hyping up projects with misleading claims and price predictions.

Once the price skyrockets and retail investors buy in, insiders sell off their holdings, causing the price to crash. Those who bought at the peak often suffer heavy losses, while the orchestrators walk away with massive profits.

To avoid falling victim to such schemes, always research the project’s fundamentals, team, tokenomics, and real-world use cases before investing.

6. The Energy Consumption Debate Isn’t Just About Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s energy consumption has been a hot topic, with critics arguing that its proof-of-work (PoW) mining process is environmentally unsustainable. While Bitcoin is the most well-known example, many other cryptocurrencies also consume significant amounts of energy.

Even proof-of-stake (PoS) networks, which claim to be energy-efficient, still rely on validators running nodes that consume electricity. Furthermore, some PoS systems give more control to wealthy investors who can afford to stake large amounts of tokens, leading to further centralization concerns.

Sustainability is becoming a key factor in crypto development, and projects that fail to address energy concerns may face regulatory scrutiny and reduced investor interest in the future.

7. Many Crypto Projects Lack Real-World Utility

Thousands of cryptocurrencies exist today, but only a handful have real-world use cases. Many projects launch with grand promises but fail to deliver any tangible value beyond speculation.

A significant number of tokens exist solely for fundraising purposes, with no clear roadmap or product behind them. This has led to a high failure rate, with the majority of crypto projects dying within a few years.

When evaluating a cryptocurrency, look beyond the hype—assess its real-world application, partnerships, and potential for adoption. Projects with solid use cases and strong development teams are more likely to succeed in the long run.

8. Exchanges Manipulate Prices More Than You Realize

Cryptocurrency exchanges play a crucial role in the market, but they also engage in questionable practices that affect price movements.

Some exchanges engage in wash trading—where fake buy and sell orders are placed to create the illusion of market activity. Others list new tokens in exchange for hefty listing fees, allowing projects to gain exposure regardless of quality or legitimacy.

There have also been cases of exchanges halting withdrawals during market crashes, preventing users from selling their assets while prices plummet. This manipulation benefits exchanges and insiders at the expense of retail traders.

To minimize risk, use reputable exchanges, enable two-factor authentication (2FA), and store your funds in private wallets rather than keeping them on exchange platforms.

Conclusion: Knowledge is Power in Cryptocurrency Development

Cryptocurrency development is full of opportunities, but it’s also rife with hidden risks and manipulative practices. While blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize industries, it’s important to approach the space with caution and skepticism.

Understanding the realities of centralization, regulatory risks, security vulnerabilities, and market manipulation can help you make informed decisions—whether you’re developing a new crypto project or investing in one.

[mi5018tomberry]

Wall Smash Test 2

After learning about Houdini's capabilites I decided to try it out for the first time to see if I could make something similar myself. Only Houdini Apprentice was available for free so I started off with that.

This was the tutorial I followed for the wall destruction because although it differed slightly, it should be something I could use to created realistic destruction.

This video shows all the different stages of the destruction that I made using the tutorial. I decided to use a torus instead of a sphere because the final intention is to have the giant robot hand which is shaped like a lego hand so I thought it would work better. I tried fiddling about with different velocity and density settings and the final one felt like it was about right for my idea.

Here's some of the early stages of the process, I was brand new to Houdini so I had to get used to the node based workflow which I liked once I figured out what things actually did. I noticed at this stage that the version I was using was different to the one in the tutorial and started to have some difficulties when painting the focal point of the voronoi fracture which would make the painted section divide into the smallest pieces.

I came into another roadblock in that Houdini apprentice did not have the Glue adjacent option in the Rigid Bodies menu which was very important to holding the individual pieces of the wall together before they come in contact with the torus. The bottom image is from the tutorial and the third icon from the right (the orange and white PVA bottle) is what was missing in the apprentice version. I had to try and work around this by creating my own Glue Constraint Network using the tutorial above but as I hadn't used Houdini before it took a while to figure this out and it didn't work perfectly.

These are what's inside three of the OBJ nodes after the DOP network was created.

This is the inside of the Dynamic Wall node which broke the wall into segments using the Voronoi fracture and two blast nodes which separated the pieces that was going to be destroyed from the rest of the wall. The attribpaint node was used to choose an area of the wall segment which would be broken apart the most and the scatter nodes were used to randomise and choose the amount of fragments within the painted area and the last Voronoi Fracture created the fragments from the points plotted using the scatter nodes.

This is the inside of the DOP network which is created to control the destruction of the wall. The Static objects are exactly that; these nodes are for the portions of wall which act as colliding surfaces but don't break apart themselves. The RBD objects are the torus and the Dynamic wall which both play a role in the destruction and the constraint networks dictate how the RBD objects interact with one another. The glue constraint is used to hold the individual pieces together until the torus collides with the wall and then the SOP solver acts as a controller for the Dynamic wall when the resting state is changed.

I started to get lost later on in the tutorial due to the disparate interfaces between Houdini Apprentice and the one used in the tutorial but I reached a stage which was usable for my project although I wanted to see if there were any other tutorials which were better suited.