#wire straightener and cutter

[ssdartvader]

Making a calendar

1) You need to download a Word file with a calendar by month. 2) You need to be able to work with tables in the Word. 3) You need to place the table with the calendar at the bottom of the page (usually calendars are placed this way) 4) Choose the images you are interested in, this was the biggest difficulty for me, because my personal collection of photos of sweet Morfydd is about 800.

5) Save the resulting Word file as PDF for printing.

6) Print the calendar in a photo printing salon - ask for 300 g / m2 paper, and glossy or matte - this is optional.

link to the finished calendar

making a binding. 1) For this you will need to take 60 cm of copper wire with a diameter of 1.5 mm, straighten it. 2) it is necessary to thoroughly clean this wire so that the solder lays well. 3) take an iron cylinder with a diameter of 10 mm. wind a spring from this wire. 4) take side cutters and bite off the rings from this spring. You should get 16 rings. 5) now you need to use a soldering iron, a soldering iron with a power of 45 W is suitable for this. You will also need rosin and lead-tin solder. Do not forget about pliers to hold the rings during soldering! 6) you need to perform a tinning operation: applying a small amount of solder to the ends of the rings. To do this, you need to heat up the soldering iron to the temperature of solder melting - and this is 315 degrees Celsius, touch the heated tip of the soldering iron to the rosin, then to the solder, then again to the rosin, and with a small amount of solder bring it to the ends of the rings. Hold the tip on the ends of the rings for a while - a necessary condition - you need to heat up the copper of the rings! You should succeed - the solder should remain on the ends of the rings. The tinning operation is complete.

7) you need to mark the places for future holes for the rings. The distance is 12 mm. and from the edge of the page 5 mm. 8) use a drill and a 2.5 mm drill bit to make holes - then the holes for the binding will be neat. My mistake was that I took an awl to make holes - that's why they turned out sloppy. 9) take galvanized iron wire with a diameter of 1.5 mm to make a calendar holder. 10) insert the resulting tinned rings in the amount of 8 pcs. into the calendar. Now you need to take the calendar holder and insert it into 8 rings.

Then, insert the remaining 8 rings, and you should have a holder inside the binding. 11) you need to put cardboard on the cover of your calendar to protect the cover. 12) you should bring the tinned ends of the rings together until they touch. Now use a heated soldering iron and solder the rings. Be sure to hold the rings with pliers while soldering! 13) Use a needle file to make the surface of the rings smooth. 14) You can hang your finished calendar in place, it is ready.

This way you can create your own calendars with your favorite content!

[thefuriousmagician]

Wire Maintenance

SM-33 was... off. It wasn't something Huyang grew particularly worried about, as they jaunted about in Coruscant. At first, Huyang threw it up to SM-33 being in an uncomfortable environment. Licensed by an At Attin family or not, SM-33 didn't particularly enjoy Coruscant. Huyang didn’t consider asking SM-33 about it until he was walking them back to the T-6 and SM-33 was loping a little further behind than usual.

They got on board, Huyang setting aside his bag of metals and wires he had gotten from the materials shops they visited and SM-33 all but dragging himself along to the cockpit. Huyang called after the pirate, “Thirty-Three! Are you alright?”

“What?” SM-33 turned before he got into the cockpit, standing at the doorway.

“Are you okay? You’ve been… well, I can’t describe it, but you feel different today. In a bad way.”

SM-33 grunted, head lolling so he could look anywhere but at Huyang. Finally he grunted, “Tried ta give myself me own maintenance. Didn’t work out too well, I suppose. I’ve been feelin’ slow all day.”

Huyang hummed. He pressed a button on the wall and the table in the adjoining living quarters lifted out of the ground with a hiss. “I can take a look at it, if you’d like,” Huyang suggested.

33 huffed, fingers clenching. “I don’ need yer help, ‘Yang, I can repair me own damn self.”

“And I didn’t say you couldn’t! But I’ve found it’s nice to let another do it sometimes. They might see something that you didn’t. And I have enough materials to spare.”

“You just wanna take a look inside me ta see how I tick.”

“That too,” he pat the table. “So. Will you let me take a look?”

The pirate stared. Huyang tilted his head. The pirate continued to stare. They were in a staring contest now.

Huyang didn’t particularly like the idea of that, so he straightened. “I’m going to get my toolbox. If you’d like me to work on you, wait for me on the table.”

If there was one thing he learned about SM-33, it was that he was a bit iffy about asking anyone for any form of help. SM-33 liked fending for himself; the idea of getting assistance didn’t seem to agree with whatever values he held in his processor. So Huyang decided to take this approach: turn around and let the pirate choose while his back was turned.

Huyang walked into his workshop, and took a little longer than he usually did to gather his tools and materials. He made sure to be a little louder than usual too so SM-33 knew what he was doing.

He came back to the living quarters with his toolbox and suppressed an amused huff when he saw SM-33 sat on the table, staring ahead with his maintenance hatch in his back open. Huyang approached, setting down his toolbox. He had to get up on the table behind the droid to reach the open hatch in his back.

He winced when he saw the jungle of wires inside. No wonder SM-33 felt off. The wire placements were haphazard, some of them longer than they should be, and there was barely any organization inside. He didn’t comment on it, and instead picked up his tools and started working.

He got into a rhythm as he worked. Wiring was a tedious, mind numbing process, but Huyang had always enjoyed it. It was like solving a particularly rewarding puzzle. Fixing SM-33’s wires was similar, but it felt more like brushing out an organic’s unruly, tangle filled hair. He started low, and worked his way up, deciding that was the best way to tackle the issue at hand.

He tilted his head when he heard SM-33 let out a gruff, gravely noise, but didn’t comment. It was only when he heard SM-33 do it again, did he bring it up. “Thirty Three? Are you okay? I’m not hurting you, am I?”

SM-33 let out a questioning grunt, “Mmgh-huh? No. Ya ain’t hurtin’ me.”

“Oh. Okay. I’m just making sure. Tell me if I am.”

“‘Course, ‘Yang.”

Huyang proceeded with his work, listening closely to SM-33.

He dealt with a particularly unruly wire; this one he had to snip and replace with a longer one. SM-33 grunted when Huyang clipped it away with his wire cutters and let out a long sigh when he soldered the new one in place. That’s when it clicked for Huyang and his vents let out a flustered huff of hot air.

Oh. Oh. Those noises were good then.

Huyang brushed his thumb over his finished wires experimentally and SM-33’s micro joints in his back twitched. The pirate let out a soft sigh, leaning into the contact.

Huyang asked, “Does it feel better?”

“Aye. Are ya done?”

“Nearly,” Huyang ducked his head back down to work on the last amount of wires. “It was a bit of a mess back here.”

Instead of being indignant like Huyang suspected he would be, SM-33 grunted in agreement, pliant after the work done so far. “Aye. Not me best work. Normally have a mirror ta work with but…”

“I assumed as much.” Huyang pondered for a moment before asking, “What happened to your mirror?”

“Ah. Got shattered in th’ crash the Cinder had during th’ pirate invasion on At Attin. Been meanin’ ta get a new one.”

“Did you get one while we were out today?”

SM-33 chuckled. “Aye. I shoplifted it when you weren’t lookin’.”

Huyang paused in his work. He blinked. Then he shouted, indignant, “Thirty Three!”

“What? Ain’t that big of a deal.”

“Where?! We need to pay for that!”

“I ain’t tellin’.”

“THIRTY THREE!!”

Huyang gave up trying to pry the information out of the pirate after a long while. He finished him as he argued, and maybe he slammed his maintenance hatch shut a little harder than was necessary.

That made SM-33 cackle.

Huyang rolled his photoreceptors, and shoved 33’s shoulder as he dropped off the table. “Get to the cockpit before I call the enforcers on you.”

“Ahh, ya wouldn’t.”

Huyang didn’t answer, only packed up his tools and headed back into his workshop. If his photoreceptors were squinted in a smile, SM-33 didn’t see it.

[callmeleonardo]

Odachi Tutorial

heres kind of an explanation on how I made Leo's odachi +kind of a tutorial so you can look like this

Shit you'll need:

Lots of cardboard

Scissors or box cutter (be safe 😤😤😤)

Paint

Lots and lots of hot glue

Hot glue gun (obviously)

Masking tape (if you do the same thing I did)

Further instructions below ⬇⬇⬇

Okay so step one- figuring out big this thing is gonna be

A quick Google search will tell you that a typical odachi is 3-4 feet long, even reaching 5 feet in extreme cases

I wanted to make mine five feet, but that would make it literally the size of me (im 5'1") so I opted for slightly shorter

Heres a size ref for mine:

(The staff is 5 feet exactly)

So first things first, you'll need to cut your pieces out. I made the blade roughly 3.5 feet in length, and the handle is 7 inches. You can adjust however you'd like, but I made it so both my hands can fit comfortably on the handle. For the blade and handle I used regular cardboard (abt 1/8 inch thick) and for the hilt I used 1/4 inch thick cardboard, which was so hard to cut through oh my god- box cutter is highly recommended if you choose to use thicker cardboard there.

You will need to cut out two blades (ik, exhausting-) to glue together, because just one will bend and flop, so having two glued together helps reinforce it.

To make the handle, cut out a rectangle of cardboard; mine was 5x7 inches, but do whatever feels right. Basically just crease and roll up the cardboard until you have a solid log of cardboard.

Paper example here:

Glue your handle nice and tight, and set it to the side.

Okay- so for my swords, I decided to wrap the handle and hilt with blue masking tape for a couple of reasons. Number one, I didn't want to paint it, and number two, taping it would give me the wrapped look Leo has on his swords. You don't have to tape it, but it ended up saving me later on with keeping the pieces together, so I recommend it.

So if you do decide to tape it, here's how you can avoid my mistakes and jump right to the solution.

Right now you should have: a taped handle and hilt, and two blades, glued together.

The issue I faced was that hot glue alone wasn't enough to secure the pieces together because the blade was to heavy. So I used a method I call the octopus method. its kind of hard to explain, so here's a helpful little example.

Wrap a piece of tape around the top of the handle (the side that will be attached to the hilt) but make sure you only stick half the tape on. (If this makes sense-) So a bit of tape should be not attatched to the handle.

Make little cuts all the way around

Fold the little fringes(?) Downwards so it looks kind of like an octopus (hence the name)

Then stick your handle onto your hilt, press the tape down nice and smooth, and glue the ever living hell out of it

You can vaguely see it here

And when I say a LOT of hot glue, I mean a LOT of hot glue. If you feel like you're doing too much, youre probably not.

I used the octopus method to attach the blade to the hilt as well, and it worked very nicely.

You can go ahead and let that dry (it'll take a whileeee since you need to use a ton of glue to keep it secure; so make sure you keep it propped upright in a way it'll dry correctly.

Also don't forget to paint the blade-

I had the idea after I finished, but if someone Iowans to try and let me know how it goes, its be awesome, but I had the idea to take a wire hanger or something of the like, straighten it out, and kind of insert into into the middle of the sword (going from the handle to the blade) to help with stability.

I thinkkkkk that's about it?

If you have any questions, my ask box is always open! And if you use my tut to make a sword, feel free to show me! Id love to see ^ ^

Twin katana tutorial here

@did-i-mention-the-shirt

[thatrandombystander]

24 metre roll of wire cut up for my feather supports and it still wasn't enough.... need another 6 or so metres.....

Pretty sure my hand is swollen where it was gripping the cutter. These were not easy to cut. .....I'm just hoping I picked the right wire diameter that will be strong enough to hold up under each feather weight and I won't have to redo all the cuttings with a thicker wire lol

Need to straighten these wires as much as I can, plus iron, measure and cut the fabric feathers to rough size before I can get to gluing them! 💪

[duranttoolcompany]

Durant is a leading Manufacturer and Distributor with more than 75 years of Count and Control Products, Wire Machinery, Coil Handling, Material Feeding Equipment, and Rotary Turntables for factory automation, exhibit/display, stretch wrapping, and all stainless steel models. Counters, Decoilers, Uncoilers, Pallet Decoilers, Stock Reels, unwinding machines, rewinders, recoilers, coil straighteners, material lubricators, material oilers, roll feeders, electronic servo feeders, air feeders, scrap cutters.

[abigailjohn2023]

Crucial Jewellery Creating Methods You Must Have in Your Equipment

Just like medical practioners and their dark bags and aspects using their toolboxes, people that are into jewellery making need to have several resources in their package in order to work with the pieces they're creating. If you're taking up jewellery making, it is a must that you have these instruments since it will make your projects easier for you.

Therefore, what methods can you must have in your toolkit whenever you work with jewellery making? Here are only some of the basic resources that your hobby requires. silver solder

Pliers are Standard in Jewellery Creating

Pliers are the absolute most important instruments that you'll require to own when you art jewellery. There are many kinds of pliers and here are some of them you will use.

1. Large nosed pliers. Big nosed pliers act as extensions of one's fingers. You use them for folding cables or for straightening or pulling at them. You can shape the cable with this kind of pliers.

2. Level nose pliers. Level nose pliers are employed for shutting clasps and crimps. In addition they perform better with jewellery tasks that require thinner wires.

3. Round nose pliers. Round nose pliers are pliers with a narrow and tapered nose. They're used largely for opening jump rings and for producing nice little rings on your jewellery wires.

Other Jewellery Creating Tools

Apart from pliers, you have to have other methods in your jewellery making kit that could help you choose up your beans, handle your jewellery parts properly, for surrounding your pieces and for saving them. What other resources do you need for jewellery creating? Listed here is a list.

1. Jeweller's files. Jeweller's files will allow you to file away at the sharp ends of one's line so they would maybe not damage whoever will be wearing your jewellery pieces. They're also referred to as needle files.

2. Polishing cloth. You need polishing cloth once you hold your line to align out jewellery. This can reduce any scrapes on your wires as you do the job.

3. Rulers. A ruler is essential for ensuring that you've the proper amount of cord for the part you are working on.

4. Storage boxes. Obviously, you'd desire a destination for a keep all of your methods, drops, wires, clasps, conclusions and the rest that you need to produce your jewellery pieces. Storage boxes will perform the job for you. Ensure that you obtain boxes which have spaces which means that your methods and items may well be more organized.

5. Tweezers. It may be difficult to get little objects for developing jewellery such as drops, clasps and results with only your fingers. It can be difficult to keep your use just your hands. Tweezers can help you choose up goods that are also little or too hard to hold.

6. Wire cutters. Wire blades are, while the title suggests, used to make sure that you've the proper amount of wire that you want. In addition you need this to cut at your stops if you are performed working with your jewellery project.

They're just a few of the necessary instruments that you need to own in jewellery making. These tools will help the task that you want to do on your own jewellery making tasks a lot easier.

[writerleo86]

Terravenger - Season 5: Part Two - Episode 443 (Do Not Copy)

   In the kitchen room at an apartment during one early morning, the youth Cutter found a person washing dishes by the sink before him.

   Cutter wore a sleeveless gray shirt with a thick red band around each shoulder. Printed on the top center of his shirt was a black symbol resembling a gliding bat. He had on a golden belt with a golden oval worn as a buckle. He also wore a pair of long bottoms that were made with gray leather that had red marking. He had a thick gray pad covering each knee. And he wore a pair of black boots that covered not only his feet, but his ankles as well.

   He put on his eyeglasses and gathered his books into his red backpack.

   The other person was revealed as a young man that had fair skin, dark-brown eyes, short light-brown hair, and a thick beard. He wore a collared green shirt with long sleeves, long black cargo-pants, and long black combat-boots. He also had a long black warmer covering each wrist. And a picture of a long silver key vertically printed on the right leg of his pants.

   Before a set Cutter could open the front door, the man stopped him.

   "Don't be out too late," He told the youth.

   Cutter turned his face toward the man and responded "I'll be fine Dad. This won't be like Talga. I have Duo with me this time."

   The young father named Theo lowered his head and said as his son hurried off "Hope so. Duo's a good dude. I'm sure he'll straighten my son out."

Terravenger -- Season 5: Part Two -- Episode 443:  A Genius With a Rough Past

During one bright morning, a younger Cutter Evans stood at the front of a large building which had barbed wire around the roof.

Cutter had a younger and puffy face. And he had neither a beard on his face or earrings. His blond hair was still short, but it was lowered. And he wore a pair of clear eyeglasses. He had on a light-gray outfit consisting of a short-sleeved top with a white T-shirt underneath and long pants. He also wore a pair of white socks and dark-blue slippers. His golden tattoo was freshly printed on his left shoulder. And he carried a red backpack.

He spotted another person standing before him as the gates that lead out of the area slowly opened.

This was a slender boy with fair skin and brown eyes. He also had short but wavy brown hair. He wore a white T-shirt with a V-neck collar, a thick black belt with a squared silver buckle, and dark-blue jeans. He also had on a pair of gray socks and white shoes. And he wore an opened pale-brown coat that had long sleeves.

The brown-haired youth kept each of his hands in each pocket of his pants as Cutter walked a few steps toward him. And the stranger gave a soft smile after a puzzled Cutter looked straight into the boy's eyes.

   Later, Cutter met with his friend Duo Storms at the Information Center of the Midas Academy.

   Duo wore a light-blue undershirt with a dark-blue circle printed at the top center of its front. The shirt also had dark-blue lines forming Xs all over. He had tight blue pants with yellow designs at the top, a thin white belt with his MAF badge as the buckle, and short brown boots. His helm-shaped tattoo was also shown on his left shoulder.

   After they bumped each other's fists, the pair walked toward the elevator which was at the center of the Academy's First Floor. They also found the younger student -- Ren Ravenstone -- standing at the middle of the crowd inside the elevator.

   Duo made his way to the right side of him and implied "We keep runnin' into each other!"

   Ren faced him and cried "Hey you!"

   Ren wore a black top with silver at the middle of the chest area while the top had no sleeves. He also had on long black bottoms and black boots. And placed around his forehead were a pair of black goggles.

   "Hey Blondie!" greeted Duo. "We need to stop meetin' like this!"

   Cutter remained by Duo's right side as he cried "I remember this guy! He was helping at the Playground Area!"

   Ren carried his white backpack along with a pair of books which he held in his arms.

   And the blond-haired youth told them "I'm Ren Ravenstone, a Fifth-Year."

   "That's right!" implied Duo. "You're the Commander's nephew. We met at the Funeral too."

   "Yeah," said Ren. "Thanks for comin' and payin' your respects."

   "Not a problem!" Duo told him. "Tai's a cool dude. I wish I knew him better though."

   An excited Ren shook his head and responded "Tai was so cool. We were like brothers. He was the main one that protected me, especially when I came out."

   "You're gay?" said Duo. "That's cool! I know how hard that is. My aunt was like you on her day. I was probably the only one that supported her. She's a great person, the best really."

   The door of the elevator began to open. Then some of the crowd walked out including Ren.

   Ren informed Duo "We should hang sometime."

   Duo yelled to the younger student as the door slowly closed "Hey! I'm Duo by the way!"

   "Duo huh?" called Ren. "Nice to finally get your name!"

   After the door finally closed, Cutter gathered with Duo at the middle of the small crowd on the elevator.

   "You're not gonna leave me out in the cold, are you?" joked Cutter.

   Duo gave a soft chuckle and said "I only have eyes for you. Don't worry."

   Cutter gave a quick laugh and Duo responded "It's fine. I don't think he needs me as much as you do. But you came a long way since we met."

   "Yeah!" implied Cutter. "I was in bad shape. Meditating didn't help much."

   Once the door opened once again, the pair walked out of the elevator. And they found themselves on the Third Floor of the Midas Academy.

   "You just needed someone to talk to," claimed Duo. "Someone that's been through some of the shit you have. I was happy to be there."

   Cutter gave another chuckle and replied "I'm so glad they let me meet you after my release. I definitely needed someone at my corner. I know my dad wouldn't understand."

   Duo stopped walking and told his friend "Ya'll should really talk. Your dad's probably been through the things you have. And I know he's understanding."

   Cutter stopped behind him and responded "That old man's probably going to lecture me just like my mom."

   "Maybe not," Duo replied. "Your dad's not that old you know. I'm sure he has stories that would shock you."

   Cutter felt his left shoulder which had his tattoo using his right hand as he lowered his head with sorrow.

   And he told Duo "Maybe you're right. Reaching out to my dad isn't such a bad idea."

   Duo shook his head and said "You definitely came a long way from the days of usin'. Chances are that you started because you didn't have a support system. Your folks weren't around much, mainly your dad. Now you're living with him."

   Cutter gave a soft yawn and implied "Mom was either working or dealing with her new husband to notice me. And it's not like I had my dad around at that time. That's why I turned to pills."

   Duo placed his left hand on his friend's right shoulder and told him "You know I got your back Bro. We just got through moppin' the floor with the two clowns yesterday. We can get through anything."

   A smiling Cutter placed his left hand on Duo's left wrist and responded "Yeah. I'm sure we'll do okay, even here. This city is the best place for me to start over. My life... And my relationship with my dad."

   Duo shook his head and added "And I'll be there every step of the way you know."

   At a large, frosted area that was surrounded by ocean, a large block of ice stood at the farthest corner. Lowering toward the frozen structure was a familiar individual.

   It was the young-looking man known as Goran. He had fair skin, a well-built body, a strong face, and a pair of warm purple eyes. And his short dark hair had a two-horned style at the top. He wore a collared black shirt with long sleeves along with a pair of black dress-pants, dark-purple socks, and black dress-shoes. He had on a long black coat with long sleeves and it was opened. He also had a large black square with a white skull placed on the front left side of his coat. And he wore a pair of thick black sunglasses.

   Once he stepped foot on the ground of snow, the wicked man looked up at the center of the icy block as two men dressed in white medieval armor hurried behind him as they each carried a long broadsword and a large shield.

   The soldier standing at the left side had yelled "Stop! You are not permitted to stand here!"

   And the other told the intruder "You will leave here at once!"

   A calm Goran slowly turned and began facing the two soldiers with no emotion.

   "This is sacred ground!" replied the soldier remaining at the left side. "You must leave or suffer!"

   "Do not interfere with me," Goran said in a stern voice.

   "We will remove you if you do not comply!" yelled the soldier standing at the right.

   Then Goran lifted his glasses which revealed his enchanted eyes. Both of the soldiers were soon retrained as if each of them were tied by rope.

   "By the gods!" cried the soldier at the left.

   And the other soldier yelled "What sorcery is this?"

   Goran gave a charming smile and responded "Just stand there for a moment. I'll help myself."

   He faced the large block of ice once again as a third eye opened on his forehead.

   Goran called in a pleasant voice "Release!"

   And cracks began to form on many parts until the block of ice finally blew into shattering pieces.

   "No!" yelled the soldier at the left.

   The other soldier yelled "Curse you Outlander!"

[mariacallous]

This story is part of a joint investigation between Lighthouse Reports and WIRED. To read other stories from the series, click here.

Mitch Daniels is a numbers guy, a cost-cutter. In the early 2000s, he tried and failed to rein in congressional spending under then-US president George W. Bush. So when he took office as Indiana governor in 2005, Daniels was ready to argue once again for fiscal discipline. He wanted to straighten out Indiana’s state government, which he deemed rife with dysfunction. And he started with its welfare system. “That department had been rocked by a series of criminal indictments, with cheats and caseworkers colluding to steal money meant for poor people,” he later said.

Daniels’ solution took the form of a $1.3 billion, 10-year contract with IBM. He had lofty ambitions for the project, which started in 2006, claiming it would improve the benefits service for Indiana residents while cracking down on fraud, ultimately saving taxpayers billions of dollars.

But the contract was a disaster. It was canceled after three years, and IBM and Indiana spent a decade locked in a legal battle about who was to blame. Daniels described IBM’s sweeping redesign and automation of the system—responsible for deciding who was eligible for everything from food stamps to medical cover—as deficient. He was adamant, though, that outsourcing a technical project to a company with expertise was the right call. “It was over-designed,” he said. “Great on paper but too complicated to work in practice.” IBM declined a request for comment. 

In July 2012, Judge David Dryer of the Marion County Superior Court ruled that Indiana had failed to prove IBM had breached its contract. But he also delivered a damning verdict on the system itself, describing it as an untested experiment that replaced caseworkers with computers and phone calls. “Neither party deserves to win this case,” he said. “This story represents a ‘perfect storm’ of misguided government policy and overzealous corporate ambition.” 

That might have been an early death knell for the burgeoning business of welfare state automation. Instead, the industry exploded. Today, such fraud systems form a significant part of the nebulous “govtech” industry, which revolves around companies selling governments new technologies with the promise that new IT will make public administration easier-to-use and more efficient. In 2021, that market was estimated to be worth €116 billion ($120 billion) in Europe and $440 billion globally. And it’s not only companies that expect to profit from this wave of tech. Governments also believe modernizing IT systems can deliver big savings. Back in 2014, the consultancy firm McKinsey estimated that if government digitization reached its “full potential,” it could free up $1 trillion every year. 

Contractors around the world are selling governments on the promise that fraud-hunting algorithms can help them recoup public funds. But researchers who track the spread of these systems argue that these companies are often overpaid and under-supervised. The key issue, researchers say, is accountability. When complex machine learning models or simpler algorithms are developed by the private sector, the computer code that gets to define who is and isn’t accused of fraud is often classed as intellectual property. As a result, the way such systems make decisions is opaque and shielded from interrogation. And even when these algorithmic black holes are embroiled in high-stakes legal battles over alleged bias, the people demanding answers struggle to get them. 

In the UK, a community group called the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People is trying to determine whether a pattern of disabled people being investigated for fraud is linked to government automation projects. In France, the digital rights group La Quadrature du Net has been trying for four months to find out whether a fraud system is discriminating against people born in other countries. And in Serbia, lawyers want to understand why the introduction of a new system has resulted in hundreds of Roma families losing their benefits. “The models are always secret,” says Victoria Adelmant, director of New York University’s digital welfare state project. “If you don’t have transparency, it’s very difficult to even challenge and assess these systems.” 

The rollout of automated bureaucracy has happened quickly and quietly, but it has left a trail of scandals in its wake. In Michigan, a computer system used between 2013 and 2015 falsely accused 34,000 people of welfare fraud. A similar thing happened in Australia between 2015 and 2019, but on a larger scale: The government accused 400,000 people of welfare fraud or error after its social security department started using a so-called robodebt algorithm to automatically issue fines.

Another scandal emerged in the Netherlands in 2019 when tens of thousands of families—many of them from the country’s Ghanaian community—were falsely accused of defrauding the child benefits system. These systems didn’t just contribute to agencies accusing innocent people of welfare fraud; benefits recipients were ordered to repay the money they had supposedly stolen. As a result, many of the accused were left with spiraling debt, destroyed credit ratings, and even bankruptcy. 

Not all government fraud systems linked to scandals were developed with consultancies or technology companies. But civil servants are increasingly turning to the private sector to plug knowledge and personnel gaps. Companies involved in fraud detection systems range from giant consultancies—Accenture, Cap Gemini, PWC—to small tech firms like Totta Data Lab in the Netherlands and Saga in Serbia.

Experts in automation and AI are expensive to hire and less likely to be wooed by public sector salaries. When the UK surveyed its civil servants last year, confidence in the government’s ability to use technology was low, with around half of respondents blaming an inability to hire top talent. More than a third said they had few or no skills in artificial intelligence, machine learning, or automation. But it’s not just industry experience that makes the private sector so alluring to government officials. For welfare departments squeezed by budget cuts, “efficiency” has become a familiar buzzword. “Quite often, a public sector entity will say it is more efficient for us to go and bring in a group of consultants,” says Dan Sheils, head of European public service at Accenture.

The public sector lacks the expertise to create these systems and also to oversee them, says Matthias Spielkamp, cofounder of German nonprofit Algorithm Watch, which has been tracking automated decision-making in social welfare programs across Europe since 2017. In an ideal world, civil servants would be able to develop these systems themselves and have an in-depth understanding of how they work, he says. “That would be a huge difference to working with private companies, because they will sell you black-box systems—black boxes to everyone, including the public sector.” 

In February 2020, a crisis broke out in the Dutch region of Walcheren as officials realized they were in the dark about how their own fraud detection system worked. At the time, a Dutch court had halted the use of another algorithm used to detect welfare fraud, known as SyRI, after finding it violated people’s right to privacy. Officials in Walcheren were not using SyRI, but in emails obtained by Lighthouse Reports and WIRED through freedom-of-information requests, government employees had raised concerns that their algorithm bore striking similarities to the one just condemned by the court.

Walcheren’s system was developed by Totta Data Lab. After signing a contract in March 2017, the Dutch startup developed an algorithm to sort through pseudonymous information, according to details obtained through a freedom-of-information request. The system analyzed details of local people claiming welfare benefits and then sent human investigators a list of those it classified as most likely to be fraudsters. 

The redacted emails show local officials agonizing over whether their algorithm would be dragged into the SyRI scandal. “I don’t think it is possible to explain why our algorithm should be allowed while everyone is reading about SyRI,” one official wrote the week after the court ruling. Another wrote back with similar concerns. “We also do not get insight from Totta Data Lab into what exactly the algorithm does, and we do not have the expertise to check this.” Neither Totta nor officials in Walcheren replied to requests for comment. 

When the Netherlands’ Organization for Applied Scientific Research, an independent research institute, later carried out an audit of a Totta algorithm used in South Holland, the auditors struggled to understand it. “The results of the algorithm do not appear to be reproducible,” their 2021 report reads, referring to attempts to re-create the algorithm’s risk scores. “The risks indicated by the AI algorithm are largely randomly determined,” the researchers found. 

With little transparency, it often takes years—and thousands of victims—to expose technical shortcomings. But a case in Serbia provides a notable exception. In March 2022, a new law came into force which gave the government the green light to use data processing to assess individuals’ financial status and automate parts of its social protection programs. The new socijalna karta, or social card system, would help the government detect fraud while making sure welfare payments were reaching society’s most marginalized, claimed Zoran Đorđević, Serbia’s minister of social affairs in 2020. 

But within months of the system’s introduction, lawyers in the capital Belgrade had started documenting how it was discriminating against the country’s Roma community, an already disenfranchised ethnic minority group. 

Mr. ​​Ahmetović, a welfare recipient who declined to share his first name out of concern that his statement could affect his ability to claim benefits in the future, says he hadn’t heard of the social card system until November 2022, when his wife and four children were turned away from a soup kitchen on the outskirts of the Serbian capital. It wasn’t unusual for the Roma family to be there, as their welfare payments entitled them to a daily meal provided by the government. But on that day, a social worker told them their welfare status had changed and that they would no longer be getting a daily meal.

The family was in shock, and Ahmetović rushed to the nearest welfare office to find out what had happened. He says he was told the new social card system had flagged him after detecting income amounting to 110,000 Serbian dinars ($1,000) in his bank account, which meant he was no longer eligible for a large chunk of the welfare he had been receiving. Ahmetović was confused. He didn’t know anything about this payment. He didn’t even have his own bank account—his wife received the family’s welfare payments into hers. 

With no warning, their welfare payments were slashed by 30 percent, from around 70,000 dinars ($630) per month to 40,000 dinars ($360). The family had been claiming a range of benefits since 2012, including financial social assistance, as their son’s epilepsy and unilateral paralysis means neither parent is able to work. The drop in support meant the Ahmetovićs had to cut back on groceries and couldn’t afford to pay all their bills. Their debt ballooned to over 1 million dinars ($9,000). 

The algorithm’s impact on Serbia’s Roma community has been dramatic. ​​Ahmetović says his sister has also had her welfare payments cut since the system was introduced, as have several of his neighbors. “Almost all people living in Roma settlements in some municipalities lost their benefits,” says Danilo Ćurčić, program coordinator of A11, a Serbian nonprofit that provides legal aid. A11 is trying to help the Ahmetovićs and more than 100 other Roma families reclaim their benefits.

But first, Ćurčić needs to know how the system works. So far, the government has denied his requests to share the source code on intellectual property grounds, claiming it would violate the contract they signed with the company who actually built the system, he says. According to Ćurčić and a government contract, a Serbian company called Saga, which specializes in automation, was involved in building the social card system. Neither Saga nor Serbia’s Ministry of Social Affairs responded to WIRED’s requests for comment.

As the govtech sector has grown, so has the number of companies selling systems to detect fraud. And not all of them are local startups like Saga. Accenture—Ireland’s biggest public company, which employs more than half a million people worldwide—has worked on fraud systems across Europe. In 2017, Accenture helped the Dutch city of Rotterdam develop a system that calculates risk scores for every welfare recipient. A company document describing the original project, obtained by Lighthouse Reports and WIRED, references an Accenture-built machine learning system that combed through data on thousands of people to judge how likely each of them was to commit welfare fraud. “The city could then sort welfare recipients in order of risk of illegitimacy, so that highest risk individuals can be investigated first,” the document says. 

Officials in Rotterdam have said Accenture’s system was used until 2018, when a team at Rotterdam’s Research and Business Intelligence Department took over the algorithm’s development. When Lighthouse Reports and WIRED analyzed a 2021 version of Rotterdam’s fraud algorithm, it became clear that the system discriminates on the basis of race and gender. And around 70 percent of the variables in the 2021 system—information categories such as gender, spoken language, and mental health history that the algorithm used to calculate how likely a person was to commit welfare fraud—appeared to be the same as those in Accenture’s version.

When asked about the similarities, Accenture spokesperson Chinedu Udezue said the company’s “start-up model” was transferred to the city in 2018 when the contract ended. Rotterdam stopped using the algorithm in 2021, after auditors found that the data it used risked creating biased results.

Consultancies generally implement predictive analytics models and then leave after six or eight months, says Sheils, Accenture’s European head of public service. He says his team helps governments avoid what he describes as the industry’s curse: “false positives,” Sheils’ term for life-ruining occurrences of an algorithm incorrectly flagging an innocent person for investigation. “That may seem like a very clinical way of looking at it, but technically speaking, that's all they are.” Sheils claims that Accenture mitigates this by encouraging clients to use AI or machine learning to improve, rather than replace, decision-making humans. “That means ensuring that citizens don’t experience significantly adverse consequences purely on the basis of an AI decision.” 

However, social workers who are asked to investigate people flagged by these systems before making a final decision aren’t necessarily exercising independent judgment, says Eva Blum-Dumontet, a tech policy consultant who researched algorithms in the UK welfare system for campaign group Privacy International. “This human is still going to be influenced by the decision of the AI,” she says. “Having a human in the loop doesn’t mean that the human has the time, the training, or the capacity to question the decision.” 

Despite the scandals and repeated allegations of bias, the industry building these systems shows no sign of slowing. And neither does government appetite for buying or building such systems. Last summer, Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance adopted a decree authorizing the launch of an algorithm that searches for discrepancies in tax filings, earnings, property records, and bank accounts to identify people at risk of not paying their taxes. 

But as more governments adopt these systems, the number of people erroneously flagged for fraud is growing. And once someone is caught up in the tangle of data, it can take years to break free. In the Netherlands’ child benefits scandal, people lost their cars and homes, and couples described how the stress drove them to divorce. “The financial misery is huge,” says Orlando Kadir, a lawyer representing more than 1,000 affected families. After a public inquiry, the Dutch government agreed in 2020 to pay the families around €30,000 ($32,000) in compensation. But debt balloons over time. And that amount is not enough, says Kadir, who claims some families are now €250,000 in debt. 

In Belgrade, ​​Ahmetović is still fighting to get his family’s full benefits reinstated. “I don’t understand what happened or why,” he says. “It’s hard to compete against the computer and prove this was a mistake.” But he says he’s also wondering whether he’ll ever be compensated for the financial damage the social card system has caused him. He’s yet another person caught up in an opaque system whose inner workings are guarded by the companies and governments who make and operate them. Ćurčić, though, is clear on what needs to change. “We don’t care who made the algorithm,” he says. “The algorithm just has to be made public.”

Additional reporting by Gabriel Geiger and Justin-Casimir Braun.

[workingforitallthetime]

hello, i would like to talk at you for a bit about girl!rutger and adam and the boys and girls can't be friends verse.

what if adam and rutger were still longtime best friends, but it was girl!rutger? never lived in the same place, but kept seeing each other at tournaments and CAA events and always hit it off, reflecting the same brand of goofy energy plus hard-nosed competitiveness right back at each other.

like, imagine every photo of rutger on adam's canonical instagram except rutger's a girl. rutger in a bikini floating in adam's pool. girl!rutger and adam arm in arm on the beach at CAA camp, towels draped over their shoulders. girl!rutger at the baggage claim, just a stupid little picture adam posted when he picked her up at the airport one time, but somehow years later it's still in his saved stories.

adam's friends are like "are you hitting that or what?" and adam's horrified. "she's my best friend!" adam protests. ok, his buddy says, then give me the inside track, you can be my wingman. and adam's like no, absolutely not, don't talk about rutger like that.

meanwhile rutger rolls her eyes whenever her friends ask if anything's going on with her and adam. "boys and girls can be friends," rutger huffs, swishing her ponytail over her shoulder. rutger considers herself pretty enlightened on that front. she can have a best friend who's a boy. she's cool like that. maybe other girls can't be friends with boys without falling for them, but rutger can.

and rutger already has a boyfriend, anyway. cutter's great! they're together all the time. and yeah, he's always hovering and draping his arm around her when the ntdp plays the steel and she and adam get a few minutes to catch up on the concourse afterwards, but it's not like cutter has anything to worry about. adam's just a friend.

once they're off at at college, long distance is hard though! like, rutger and adam have basically never lived in the same place but every time they see each other at a camp or a tournament or a hughes party it's like they pick up right where they left off. but cutter's not like that. now that he's in boston and rutger's in michigan, talking on the phone is so awkward. rutger keeps accidentally missing cutter's calls and forgetting to call back, and then he's mad the next time they talk, and that makes rutger less likely to call him, and it's just a whole big thing.

college is, like, so much fun though. it's great to finally be on a team with adam, and their teammates are awesome, and living in the dorms is fun, and there's just always so much fun stuff going on! cutter's just kind of... a distraction from everything else in her life that seems so much more immediate.

they'll probably straighten everything out at world juniors. they just need some time together, right? and that's exactly how it works out! it takes a couple of days but pretty soon she and cutter are right back to normal. everything's easier when they can just, like, make out in the back of the charter bus instead of talking.

wjc is such an intense little bubble. even with seamus rooming with her and gavin and duker down the hall, michigan seems so far away. after a few days rutger's not even texting her other umich teammates. adam's not texting her either. but whatever, it's different for him going to team canada than it is for rutger to just go down the road to usa hockey. she gets it.

she does look over at the other side of the ice during warmups before their game against canada. she's not, like, going to distract adam if he's focusing or whatever. but if he wants to say hi, she wouldn't want to miss it, is all.

"looking for someone?" cutter plows to a stop in front of the bench, blocking her view.

rutger plays it off like she’s not startled. she picks up the closest water bottle and squirts it at cutter’s jersey. "checking out bedard, obvs."

“yeah, sure.” he skates away and rutger hops over the boards, snags a puck, and wires it over trey’s helmet, so it bangs into the glass after missing the net entirely.

---

a couple of weeks after world juniors, cutter texts her. he’s been doing some thinking. long distance isn’t working for him. maybe they should take a break.

rutger immediately facetimes him, indignant. “you’re breaking up with my over text????”

“oh so now you pick up the phone,” cutter says.

“i…” rutger stammers. “fuck off.”

“have fun with adam.” cutter hangs up before rutger can protest that adam’s her friend.

rutger looks furiously around her dorm room. where’s seamus when she needs her? she storms down the hallway to gavin and johnny’s room and dramatically bursts through the door. “cutter and i broke up.”

“aw, babe.” seamus immediately gets up from gavin’s bed to give her a hug. “i’m sorry.”

“shocker,” gavin says.

“be nice.” seamus swats him. “we’re mourning.”

“what?” rutger demands.

gavin shrugs. “just didn’t seem like you liked him that much.”

“of course i liked him! it was almost our two year anniversary!” rutger’s lip starts to tremble. it feels like she failed.

“what’s up?” rutger hears adam’s voice as he walks into the room.

“rut and cut broke up,” gavin says, indifferently.

a tear trickles down the side of rutger’s nose. their nicknames always sounded so good together.

adam makes a sympathetic noise and offers her an arm. rutger gratefully wraps her arms around him and sniffles against his t-shirt.

behind her, gavin snickers.

“stop laughing at me,” rutger says miserably into adam's chest.

adam pats her back reassuringly. maybe she'll live. maybe this isn't so bad. maybe it will be nice not to worry about cutter anymore. and there’s so much else going on! the second half of the season is so much fun, and she and adam are finally playing on a line together and they’re killing it, just like they always knew they could. now she can focus on hockey. now she can go out and really dance with guys, not just her teammates. now she can...

rutger picks up her head. "hey, now i can hook up."

adam stops patting her back.

rutger flounces over to the bed and snuggles up next to seamus. "who should i hook up with?"

seamus pets her hair. "maybe wait a little bit?"

"or not." rutger pokes gavin. "who's moyle's lacrosse friend?"

gavin snorts. rutger makes him and johnny talk through the merits of the entire men's lacrosse team. she doesn't notice when adam leaves.

---

lacrosse players are... well, they're okay. they're fine. rutger hooks up with a couple of them, at a couple of different parties. the second one is ryan, or maybe justin. he gropes her tits like he doesn't remember they're attached to the rest of her. rutger shrugs her neck away from his mouth and straightens her bra out and tells him she's going to find her friends. maybe she should try football players.

she snaps the elastic out of her ponytail and redoes it as she walks down the stairs of the senior house. adam's watching her from the beer pong room. his eyebrows pull together when he sees her expression. "everything okay?"

rutger points at the solo cup in his hand. "can i have a sip?"

"take it." adam hands the cup over. he drapes an arm around her. rutger steps out of her heels so she's a little shorter, and leans against his side.

---

everything falls into place as winter turns into spring. holtzy gets healthy, frankie gets healthy, and they go on a tear through the playoffs. rutger makes out with a few more people at a few more parties, but mostly it's good to be with the team.

after the big 10 tournament, rutger gets pleasantly buzzed on watermelon truly. she trips going down the porch steps at the senior house and grabs adam's elbow. "fucking heels." she straightens up, shifting her feet in her shoes so her toes aren't so pinched. "ugh, i'm going to have blisters." the heels are so cute, though, and they make her legs look about a million miles long under her little skirt. worth it.

adam crouches down a little. "want a ride?"

"oh, for real?" rutger swings a leg over his back. "awesome!"

adam straightens up and she wriggles into a decent piggyback position. he tucks his hands under her knees and starts to walk them back toward south quad. the night smells like springtime trees, everything blooming. rutger rests her cheek on adam's shoulder.

adam carries her all the way into the lobby and leans forward so she can reach the elevator button. as the slow dorm elevator makes its way up to their floor, rutger tries to slide off his back. "i think i can make it from here."

as soon as she says it, she stumbles over her heels on the dismount. adam catches her around the waist, and impulsively kisses her.

rutger's not expecting it and the kiss only sort of lands on her mouth. it's bad.

adam lets her go. he's looking at her, aghast. "sorry, i..."

rutger's aghast too. she and adam are winners. they can't have a bad kiss. that's just not who they are. "we can do better," rutger says, firmly, and kisses him for real.

the elevator doors open. they close again. adam backs her against the elevator wall as the slow descent to the lobby begins. this is great! why hasn't she thought about kissing adam before? he's actually a really good kisser! rutger smacks blindly at the elevator buttons, trying to get back to their floor while adam's tongue is still in her mouth.

by the time rutger's lying on her back with her tiny little skirt flipped up and adam's tongue tracing a path up the inside of her thigh, it occurs to her that maybe cutter was right about some stuff after all. well, whatever. cutter broke up with her. she can hook up with adam. it's not like adam's in love with her.

---

rutger thinks that adam and his tongue make for an ideal friends with benefits situation. because she and adam are friends, so this must be friends with benefits. boys and girls can be friends! rutger is determined to prove it! friends can hook up! even if it's like every weekend, and at the frozen four, and rutger isn't hooking up with anybody else! even (especially) if they haven't really talked about it! every time rutger thinks maybe she should clarify that this is absolutely definitely friends with benefits, she gets distracted by adam's tongue and she decides that there's no reason to disrupt a perfectly delightful status quo where her best friend also loves going down on her.

i want all of this to come to a head when gavin and seamus hook up and it immediately blows up in everyone's faces. luca and johnny are team "how could you do this to seamus" and gavin expects adam and rutger to have his back, which rutger absolutely does.

"like, how were you supposed to know she thought it was a whole thing?" rutger hangs her head over the edge of gavin's bed and kicks her feet up against the wall. "like, you can hook up and still be friends," rutger pronounces authoritatively. "it doesn't have to change anything." she looks upside down at adam, sitting in johnny's desk chair on the other side of the room. "right, adam?"

"...yeah." adam says slowly. "i guess so." the legs of the chair scrape against the floor as he stands up abruptly. "i'm gonna... go... find luca, i guess."

anyway i don't want to get into act 3 where everybody's sad. eventually girl!rutger realizes that clinging to the principle of boys and girls can be friends is much less satisfying than admitting that a best friend who you also have amazing sex with is actually just a boyfriend. idk how it all goes down but there's definitely a scene where a chastened rutger shows up on adam's doorstep, full of tears and dramatics.

[electricalstudents17]

CIHS EIM STRANDS WORKSHOP TOUR-BASIC ELECTRICAL WIRING TUTORIAL

WIRING ELECTRICAL TOOLS

1.PHILIP SCREW DRIVER

DEFINITION : THE PHILIP SCREW DRIVER WILL BE USED TO TIGHTEN THE SCREW ON OUR WIRING BOARD TO ADJUST THE CONNECTION OF THE JUNCTION BOX, UTILITY BOX AS WELL AS THE PANEL BOARD AND OTHERS

2. FLAT SCREW DRIVER

DEFINITION : A SCREW DRIVER WITH WITH A FLAT WEDGE-SHAPED TIP THAT FITS INTO A SLOT IN THE HEAD OF A SCREW. TYPE OF: SCREWDRIVER. A HAND TOOL FOR DRIVING SCREW; HAS A TIP THAT FITS INTO THE HEAD OF A SCREW.

3.LINE MAN PLIERS

DEFINITION : USED IN THE ELECTRICAL TRADE TO CUT , STRAIGHTEN , AND BEND WIRE , AND ALSO TO TWIST WIRES TOGETHER WHEN MAKING SPLICES

4.LONG NOSE PLIERS

DEFINITION :PROPER USE OF LONG NOSE PLIERS : USE TO GRIP SMALL OBJECTS , REACH AWKWARD PLACES , HOLDING WIRES, BEND LOOPS , AND ATTACH WIRES . WORK INVOLVING SMALLER GAUGE WIRE.

5.SIDE CUTTER PLIERS

DEFINITION : SIDE CUTTERS ARE USED ON WIRE AND THE LEADS OF ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS , AS WELL AS TO STRIP INSULATION . STRIPPING REFERS TO SAFELY REMOVING THE OUTER LAYER WITHOUT DAMAGING THE CONDUCTORS UNDERNEATH . IF THEY DO GET NICKED , THE CONNECTION MAY BREAK OR IT COULD CAUSE AN ELECTRICAL SHORT CIRCUIT.

6.LEVEL BAR

DEFINITION : A LEVEL IS A TOOL USED TO DETERMINE WHETHER A SURFACE IS HORIZONTAL (LEVEL ) OR VERTICAL (PLUMB ). WITHOUT THIS , YOU CAN'T BUILD A HOUSE THAT WORKS WELL OR LOOKS GOOD —NOT TO MENTION HANG KITCHEN CABINETS OR TRIM OUT A DOOR.

7.WIRE STRIPPER

DEFINITION : WIRE STRIPPERS ARE AN ESSENTIAL TOOL FOR ANY ELECTRICIAN OR MECHANICAL ENGINEER . WIRE STRIPPERS CREATE A NEAT AND TIDY CUT TO REVEAL YOUR WIRES , READY TO BE SOLDERED OR HAVE A CONNECTOR ATTACHED

8.PULL PUSH RULE

DEFINITION :A PUSH -PULL RULER IS A TAPE MEASURE THAT CAN BE WRAPPED TOGETHER IN A COMPACT CASE . IT IS USED TO MEASURE LONG , SHORT AND STRAIGHT LENGTHS . THE BODY OF THE TAPE MEASURE IS THE CASE.

9.MULTIMETER

DEFINITION: A MULTIMETER OR A MULTITESTER, ALSO KNOWN AS A VOLT/OHM METER OR VOM, IS AN ELECTRONICS MEASURING INSTRUMENT THAT COMBINESSEVERAL MEASUREMENT FUNCTIONS IN ONE UNIT. A TYPICAL MULTIMETER MAY INCLUDE FEATURESSUCH AS THE ABILITY TO MEASURE VOLTAGE, CURRENT AND RESISTANCE

A VIDEO IS ABOUT CIHS EIM STRANDS WORKSHOP TOUR-BASIC ELECTRICAL WIRING TUTORIAL

#activityemtechcihs

#youtube

[ahedderick]

Farm

   I know everybody’s experiences are different, but as a farmer, getting undressed is like:

Why are there beans in my pocket?

Oh THAT’S where my wire cutters are

AUGH! TICK!

But where did I put the packet of beans, I need to put these extra beans away

yuk, mud; EW that’s not mud!

How did I cut myself? WHEN did I cut myself?

[bends over to pull socks off, gets stuck and can’t straighten up]

OW

ok, I’m ready for my shower, now.

[matthew5016512]

Week 7 - Sketch Modelling

The task to make a model of our chosen bottle design. The old adage of "you learn more from your failures than your victories" held true for me this week; through trying to make a model of the faceted bottle I envisaged and developed concept drawings of over the last 2 weeks it quickly became clear that what seems to work in 2D does not need to cooperate when you add a third dimension.

Material choice was simple, but probably overkill. For the cap (given it is a standardised part) I went for a different material, specifically Aluminium. I've been playing around on the lathe again for a few personal projects so figured it would be a quick side project to make the cap. Making the cap required only two machining operations and took all of 15 mins.

In the first operation I faced the end of the stock off and turned it to the required diameter (28mm). I then removed 3mm of material from the end leaving a step down to a 16mm diameter section from which I would form the domed top. I roughly interpolated the curve of the dome by eye, and filed it smooth with the lathe running at low rpm's (pictured below). After that I used a hacksaw to 'part off' the cap from the stock.

The second operation began once the cap had been cut off, flipped and mounted in the chuck. I faced off the underside and brought it to the correct length. Then it was a simple matter to machine the undercut 3mm up the shaft (at a diameter of 26mm) and it was done.

Cap pictured clamped in the chuck after the final machining had been completed.

On to the foam (and woes!)

I began with tracing the front view of my faceted bottle and laser-cutting it in cardboard at 1:1 to make my template. Immediately I realised the lack of symmetry and uniformity of the profile presented challenges, but I ignored this and ploughed forward, reasoning I'd figure it out as I went along. Oh man.

Template on top of the 45mm thick foam block...

The advantage of having a cardboard template was that I could use it as a guide to run the hot wire from the hot wire cutter against to help me produce the front profile. This worked ok, but the wire was slightly kinked and so Ideally I'd replace it or put more tension on it next time to straighten it out.

The block cut out (note the apparent size difference is due to the closeness of the camera).

Once I had the block cut out it was time to make the transition edge around the perimeter, as well as cut out and trace the central face of the front view onto the block.

Following on from that I carved the faces away as best I could. At this point it became apparent that the 3D form needed to differ from the 2D concept if I was to achieve all flat faces. The depth of the faces on the front edge also presented a problem as I needed to leave enough material for the bottle to stand upright on.

Figuring out the complex geometries and creating flat planes between the front face and the transition edge (the plane separating the front and back of the bottle) took a couple of attempts for each face, I wound up practically shaving 1-2mm away at a time, trying to get the faces to intersect correctly. The final result still left a bit to be desired, but sanding helped, getting rid of the marker pen and helping to flatten the faces a bit more.

The final product:

Overall I am happy with the quality of the model I produced, but I feel my design leaves something to be desired both in it's overall form - it requires some refinement and changes to the number and position of faces to sit better in the hand, and the "gem cut" edges would certainly need to be slightly filleted in any final design so that it sits more comfortably in the hand. It has given me food for thought and I will need to either refine this concept a bit more, or change to another of my concepts as I am not satisfied the current design would lead to a user experience which is both novel AND enjoyable.

Take-aways: Drawings will only get you so far, having a model in front of you makes it much easier to conceptualise complex 3D shapes, and to understand what is and is not possible.

Modelling in soft materials is more difficult than I am used to with wood and metal - foam is much easier to scratch, indent or tear and requires delicate handling to not damage it.

Having a model to hold in your hand really helps in understanding how it interacts with your hand. No matter how cool a concept is or how pretty it looks and bottle that is not comfortable to hold or interact with will be passed over for one that is.

[isolaradiale]

(Enlarged picture here)

Footsteps were a little odd for Ofiuco, seeing as she hovered everywhere. But she kept pace with her increasingly nervous companion as they walked to the door, watching him flit here and there to straighten things along the way.

“Y-you were kidding about the chaos, right? Pap--er, Dr. Caelum told me you can make jokes now.” “Nope. It’ll happen, somehow.” “Oh... I was hoping you were joking.”

Hanging the last of the signs in the lobby, the two went to the entrance, standing in front of the large, ornate wooden doors. Waiting for the opening chime.

“You’ll be fine, Janus.” “Right. Right--” “Probably.” “Probably!?”

On the ninth grand chime of the great big clock in the lobby, Ofiuco put her hands on her side of the double doors, giggling.

“That time, I was joking.” “A-ahaha...?” “Just do what I do, and you’ll be fine.” “Okay. Be cool like Ofiuco... got it.”

He didn’t necessarily need to breathe, but Janus found himself taking a deep breath anyway before putting his hands on the doors.

“Ready?” “As ready for inevitable chaos as I’ll ever be, I guess.” “Okay. On three. One...” “Two...”

Three was mouthed by both AI in unison as they officially opened Tempus Museum, letting the morning sun bounce off every perfectly placed corner to illuminate the lobby for the coming guests.

                                                    ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 

The unusually high traffic in the Archimedes Ward was explained in a single text, coming through with everyone’s daily events and promotions that morning:

Join us for the opening week of Tempus Museum: Art Gallery and Studio! Come to see works of art, leave with works of your own! No prior experience needed, simply join the festivities and special events inside and outside the museum.

No admission fee required! Just your imaginations. We hope to see you there!

- Courtesy of the Archimedes Arts and Cultural Society

                                                   ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Perhaps simply calling it an art museum was an understatement. Though decently sized in outward appearances, once one begins to walk through the many halls and exhibits it seems to simply keep expanding, somehow.

Each person can navigate the vast system of hallways, shows, multiple floors, events, exhibits and galleries from a handy app on their Island Issued Phone. In the event your muse does get hopelessly lost, they simply have to wander aimlessly to end up back in the lobby. (Seems counterintuitive, but it works like a charm! Don’t ask us how it works.)

Major parts of the Tempus Museum are outlined there, along with the corresponding events in that area. And speaking of events, you can find more details about them on This Page!

If your muse doesn’t have any artistic talents, don’t worry--we’ve got that covered. Along with their mundane counterparts, each medium and tool in the museum has an Optimized counterpart. These special Optimized Tools will use the minds of their creators to transfer their ideas, thoughts and feelings into their art mediums of choice. What your muse thinks of and wants to appear will be transferred exactly how they imagine.

Optimized Tools will manifest as any artist tools, but here’s a list to get you started:

Painting tools (brushes, paints, palettes, palette knives)

Drawing tools (pens, [colored] pencils, inks, crayons, pastels, graphite, charcoal)

Sculpting/carving tools (wire tools, wood carvings, hammer/chisels, chainsaws, wire cutters, crucibles, blow torches, cement, plaster, soap, wax, sand castle molds, glass blowing, a 3D Printer)

Sewing/weaving tools (needles, yarn/thread, wicker and rattan fibers, fabric, looms, sewing machines)

Culinary tools (cake pans/molds, knives, mixers, chocolate and sugar (and other things), pre-made cakes, piping bags and tips, fondant and marzipan, food coloring and dyes)

Paper crafting tools (paper, glue, tape, stamps, stickers, lightbulbs for lanterns)

Musical instruments (any)

Of course, if there’s a tool not listed here that your muse would like to use, please feel free to let them have it. Sometimes these tools work in unique ways; more details can be found on the Museum Activity Page, linked above.             Note: Using the artist tools for any purpose other than creation will render that tool completely useless! So don’t get any funny ideas about that chainsaw. (This goes for mundane versions of these tools, too!)

While it’s not mandatory to participate in part 1 of the event to take part in part 2, it’s... encouraged to try and find at least one thing for your muse to do here either by themselves or with a friend(s)! What your muses create in this part will affect what kinds of problems Interesting Scenarios they’ll encounter in the next one!

Have fun exploring! :)

Main Body

The most traveled area of the museum is, thankfully, the easiest to get to. It’s comfortable and spacious and perfect for meeting up with others or gaining your bearings. Large, ornate doors made of hardwood and carved with spiral motifs welcome you to the museum. On canvases of beautiful abstract paintings are varying constellations, stars, and celestial bodies that align with the names of the Stars and their assistants, seemingly painted by Janus himself in gratitude. The main body of the museum combines several areas: - Entrance Hall - Lobby, Admission and Information Desks - Cafe and Deli - Gift shop

Events hosted: Street Painting kits, outdoor tool rentals

Canvas Gallery

One of the largest wings of the museum is dedicated to paintings in all sorts of mediums, from watercolors to oils to acrylics and anywhere in-between. There are also many different subjects of these paintings, and include everything from still lifes to portraits to landscapes to things that are just... really, really out there and defy classification.

Muses may find paintings relevant to their home world here. So if there’s a smug old portrait of someone your muse hated in their world, for example, you might find it here. Mocking you.

There’s also a room in this wing dedicated to sketching and drawing, if that appeals more to your muse than paints!

There’s no specific event in this room, but here’s where your muse can go to paint or draw something!

Sculpture Garden

In a couple large climate-controlled domes are a whole bunch of statues in varying poses. Some of them are so life like that aside from their outward appearance, they look like they could get up and move at any moment!

Muses can find tools to make stone, ice, wood, or other natural-material statues and other pieces of art here.

This room has an entrance into a special chilly room for ice and snow statues. It’s a nice way to beat the summer heat.

Event hosted: Garden of What-If’s (Stone and Snow)

Doll Room Parlor

Inside this huge comfortable lounge are all the tools for those who favor the thread. Large tables in here are perfect for laying out fabric and patterns, and about every color yarn and weaving material you can imagine can be found in baskets around the room, sorted by color and material.

Large tools like sewing machines and looms can be found in this room.

In varying places in this room are dolls in beautiful clothes, posing still as if in the middle of tea time activities. Some of them are even holding baskets with materials in them! In other places, dresses and other ornate outfits seem to stand still in motion, fabric flowing in just the right places inside their display cases.

If you don’t have any formal wear for the nightly galas, this is a great opportunity to make something uniquely you without it costing a fortune.

Event hosted: Build A Buddy

Painted Ballroom

While not an artist studio in a typical sense, this grand ballroom is as ornate as a royal palace, with specks and pieces of glittering gold and silver adorning the walls, windows and marble floors. Scenes depicting dancers move in time to the music of choice in gorgeous mirror-like watercolor paintings. The ceiling above the ballroom is painted like a brilliant galaxy, with stars twinkling and gleaming within it.

If the dancing gets too much for you, you can always walk out to the large balcony that overlooks the Sculpture Garden. It’s lit by lanterns of starlight when night falls.

During the day, no one is playing in the orchestra, so the instruments can be picked up by anyone. A muse playing one of these instruments will have it echo in their own unique style.

Event hosted: Gala X-Y

The Forge

Muses that feel at home with metal working and casting, this branch of the museum is for you! Found here are a variety of metals and glass to make unique sculptures with that special shine to them. Your muse may make weapons if they are ornamental and decorative in nature, but if used for combat, they will crumble to dust.

There’s no specific event in this room, but muses may use this studio for all metalworking and jewelry making needs.

Courtyard la Culinary

Despite the glass dome overhead that makes the place more like a temperate greenhouse than a bakery, the climate in this semi-outdoor wing of the museum is perfectly comfortable. Several cooking stations are placed around the dome, decorated in the theme of the seasons (with ingredients and flavors to match!)

If you’ve ever wanted to bake any show-stopping treats, now’s your chance! With all sorts of tools for making candy, cake and pastry, you’ll finally be able to fool people into thinking you can cook like a five-star pastry chef. As a bonus, there are all sorts of gift boxes and wrapping paper so you can make gifts for your friends and family (or enemies? Just kidding, haha... unless...?)

There’s no specific event in this room, but muses with a sweet tooth are encouraged to use this studio to their heart’s content.

                                                   ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Frequently Asked Questions:

“How long will part one for the event last?”

You can participate in part one throughout the entire duration of the event, even when part two goes live!

“When will part two drop?”

Friday, June 4th, is when the big Closing Gallery Party will take place! Be there or be square!

“Do we HAVE to use the Optimized Tools?”

Not at all! If your muse would like to showcase their natural talent, they can by all means. The Optimized Tools are there for muses who want to create things but don’t have the talent or skill. This is so they don’t feel left out in an artist event, or feel like they can’t participate.

“I want to make an art thing, but I don’t see a room for it here listed. What should I do?”

If you have an art medium your muse would like to use but don’t see it here, you have the freedom to make a studio in the museum for that craft! It’s a very... very... big museum.

“Can we destroy any of the art in the museum?”

Try as your muse might, it seems all the art in this building is... oddly unaffected by weapons and abilities. The only exceptions to this are means of erasing or undoing that are typical for the medium your muse is working with. (An eraser will take away a pencil mark, paint thinner will destroy paint, etc.)

Art made outside of the museum also applies to this rule, and strangely, cannot be destroyed.

“Can we interact with Ofiuco or Janus?”

Ofiuco is enjoying herself with the activities here too, and prefers not to be bothered (she’s in the zone...)

Janus will happily help point your muse in the right direction or give helpful advice, but otherwise won’t take the time to hang out with your muses or chat with them. He’s polite, but shy.

“Can we attack Ofiuco or Janus?”

How mean...!

If your muse attempts to harm Ofiuco, their attacks will simply not phase her, and she won’t care. RIP to you, but she’s different.

If your muse attempts to harm Janus, he’ll scream or cower, and your muse will come down with a sudden case of Instant Death and respawn in their room, as Caelum does not take kindly to people attacking his family.

“Will this event have a reward?”

What’s more rewarding than creating something beautiful?

...No? Don’t buy it? Well, for completing any part of the event, your muse will get 100 stars, as stated here.

“Do we need to participate in both parts of the event for credit?”

Nope, but more detail will be added to that in part two!

“Who drew the opening comic?”

That would be me! (Mod Caelum)

“What should we do if we have a question that isn’t here?”

Feel free to send your questions to the Masterlist!

[abigailjohn2023]

Important Jewellery Creating Methods You Should Have in Your Se

Exactly like health practitioners and their black bags and aspects with their toolboxes, individuals who are into jewellery making have to have a few instruments within their system in order to focus on the pieces they are creating. If you should be taking up jewellery making, it is a must that you've these resources since it will make work easier for you. silver solder

Therefore, what instruments do you have to have in your toolkit when you work with jewellery creating? Here are just some of the basic instruments that the hobby requires.

Pliers are Basic in Jewellery Creating

Pliers are the absolute most important methods that you'll require to possess whenever you hobby jewellery. There are lots of forms of pliers and listed below are a number of them that you will use.

1. Big nosed pliers. Big nosed pliers act as extensions of your fingers. You utilize them for twisting wires and for straightening or dragging at them. You can form the wire with this kind of pliers.

2. Level nose pliers. Flat nose pliers are employed for closing clasps and crimps. In addition they work much better with jewellery projects that require finer wires.

3. Circular nose pliers. Circular nose pliers are pliers with a slender and tapered nose. They're applied largely for opening jump bands and for producing nice small rings in your jewellery wires.

Different Jewellery Making Instruments

Aside from pliers, you have to have other tools in your jewellery creating set that may help you pick up your beans, handle your jewellery components properly, for surrounding your parts and for saving them. What other methods do you want for jewellery making? Listed here is a list.

1. Jeweller's files. Jeweller's files can help you record away at the sharp stops of one's line so they'd not hurt whoever will be wearing your jewellery pieces. They are also called needle files.

2. Polishing cloth. You need polishing fabric when you maintain your cable to correct out jewellery. This may prevent any scratches on your own cables as you do the job.

3. Rulers. A leader is necessary for ensuring that you have the best amount of cord for the piece you work on.

4. Storage boxes. Obviously, you would need a spot to keep all your tools, drops, cables, clasps, conclusions and anything else that you'll require to create your jewellery pieces. Storage boxes can do the job for you. Be sure that you obtain containers that have spaces which means that your resources and items could be more organized.

5. Tweezers. It may be hard to grab little products for developing jewellery such as for instance beans, clasps and studies with only your fingers. It can also be difficult to put up your assist just your hands. Tweezers might help you select up goods which can be also little or too hard to hold.

6. Wire cutters. Line blades are, since the title indicates, applied to be sure that you have the proper amount of wire that you want. You also require that to cut at your stops when you are performed working with your jewellery project.

They are only some of the required instruments that you might want to own in jewellery making. These methods can help the task that you have to do on your jewellery making jobs a whole lot easier.

[ab1tofsp1ce]

A Warmer Refuge

CHAPTER 2: For Both Our Sakes

Masterlist HERE

Pairing: Din Djarin x Fem!Reader

Words: 2.9K

Warnings: N/A

Description: The voyage to Kistern really hasn’t seemed to go according to plan...

He remained silent for a long while. We both did. It wasn’t until we jumped into hyperspace that I made the first sound between us. It was an involuntary yelp, and I caught my mouth with my hand as the universe melted around us into nothing but streaks of light. I’d never seen anything like it, only learning about what it was like from Reten’s descriptions. But those could’ve never prepared me for… The pilot’s seat spun around, and for the first time since the cantina, the Mandalorian was facing me, presumably looking me dead in the eyes. He was leaning forward on his knees slightly, and I wondered at that moment what I looked like. I caught a blurry outline of my reflection in his helmet. “Kistern is three or four days travel, even in hyperspace. The fresher is in the hold across from the ladder. Don’t go anywhere else in the ship. You’ll sleep in that seat,” he gestured to the passenger’s chair I was sitting in. “I’m assuming you brought food with you?” He looked at me expectantly, and I nodded quickly. He then stood up and made his way past me to the door of the cockpit. It was then that I realized I hadn’t even said a word to him yet. “Hey! Um, I just – thank you…” I stumbled over my words. He paused, looked back at me, and gave a curt nod of acknowledgment before the doors opened and he made his way down to the hold. I melted back into my seat, shivering slightly. This was going to be the longest three days I’d ever lived through.

I quickly grew sick of hyperspace travel, both physically and mentally. The Mandalorian had seemingly disappeared, but there was a room off the hold, directly under the cockpit, that I assumed he had gone into. It was for the best, in fact, because it meant he didn’t see how long I spent in the fresher vomiting. In all honesty, I didn’t really think it was the hyperspace travel that was making me sick. My heart was tight in my chest and I had to use what remaining energy I had to stop myself from crying. I would never return home. In fact, I no longer had a home. I had no people, no family, nothing tethering me to the ground. Hyperspace was quieter than anything I had ever experienced before. On Yak’ish Temeen, there was always noise – animals, plants, water, wind, people… anything to fill the silence. But out here (wherever here was), it was empty. I noticed this when I finally collapsed back into the passenger’s seat, drained of any energy I still had. It made me feel hollow, and I could’ve sworn I could hear my own heart in my chest. I felt my eyes droop, my body sinking into the seat. It had been days since I had slept properly. A whole year, if I were to be truly honest. But after that day Kalbier approached me with the proposition of leaving Yak’ish Temeen, I spent the next three nights tossing and turning under my tent, weighing up my options. The silence made these memories sound louder, echoing in my head. The door sliding open startled me out of my trance. He made his way to his seat, checking the navcom and a variety of other instruments. As always, he didn’t turn to me when he spoke. “Are you feeling better?” My cheeks flushed violently. He heard me. That entire time I was spewing up the contents of my stomach he could hear me. I looked down at my fumbling hands. “Um… yes. Sorry… about that.” “Nothing to be sorry about.” He turned his chair slightly to look at me over his shoulder. “But here’s to hoping it’s not a frequent occurrence.” He turned back, facing out to space. “For both our sakes.” I tried not to let that statement faze me. I was exhausted of embarrassing myself in front of him, so instead I lay back in the seat as nonchalantly as possible. The Mandalorian let the silence settle for a while, both of us watching the smashing light particles smear past the windscreen like rain. “I’m going to get some rest. Let me know if there are any problems.” That last bit concerned me a bit. I tried not to overthink about what sort of problems we could encounter in dead space. Instead, I distracted myself by watching him lean back in the pilot’s seat, and from where I sat I watched his helmet lean slightly to the right, resting on the back of the seat. I knew that most likely from this position, if he had his eyes open he would be able to see me staring at him. But, in all honesty, it was the only real chance I had to look at him without feeling threatened by being stared down in return. I began to wonder why he hadn’t removed his helmet. Surely, now that we were safely in hyperspace he could take it off; it must be uncomfortable sleeping in that thing. But I said nothing on it, not wanting to disturb him (or, honestly, even talk to him). Maybe I would ask him later. So here I was, less than three years after I first heard the word Mandalorian, now sitting in one’s ship. I smiled quietly to myself, because if you had told me that then I would’ve immediately questioned what kind of crime I could have possibly committed to end up being captured by a bounty hunter. Genuinely, I would’ve sooner believed I would end up a criminal than move to another planet. And there it was again. That pulling feeling around my heart. I had planned my whole life around the idea that I would live that one life forever. Leaving Yak’ish Temeen would’ve meant leaving behind my family, my people, my way of life… Wrapping my arms around myself, I looked down at the tattoo on my arm. I would never get to complete it. Never get my crest. Never get married… well, at least not traditionally. I sunk into myself, curling up in the chair. Sleep had never felt easier.

I wasn’t sure how long I was asleep, but I presumed that what woke me up was what woke us both up; being suddenly thrown out of hyperspace. Unfortunately, I had not been wearing a seatbelt, but it seemed neither did the Mandalorian, as we were both abruptly thrown out of our seats. Whilst he caught himself on the console in front of him, I barely managed to stop myself falling to the floor. “Are you okay?” He turned back to me, still clutching onto the dash. “Yes. Yes, I’m – I’m fine.” My breath was shaky, and I could feel my heart thumping through my chest. “What was that?” He turned back towards the windshield. “I have no idea.” We both sat in our seats and, to avoid another disaster, I buckled my seatbelt. In front of us I could see a planet to our right, surprisingly closer than I would’ve thought. Apparently, he had seemed to make that same summation. “What are we doing here…” he murmured to himself, studying the dials and navcom in front of him. Then, I heard him curse something under his breath. “Something’s not right with… with the hyperdrive. Stay here.” He spun out of his seat and closed the distance to the ladder faster than I could blink, his cape whipping behind him. I was alone now, adrenaline still flushing in my ears. I didn’t like the sound of this… especially if he seemed concerned. For a few moments, there was only the distant sound of him rummaging around somewhere in the hold. But then he called out my name, which I didn’t even know he remembered. “Come down here! I need your help.” My help? I suppose I am a mechanic, but he didn’t know that, did he? Maybe Kalbier had told him… I undid my seatbelt and shuffled down the ladder to see he had disappeared down a vent in the center of the hold’s floor. “Over in the compartment on the left side of the ladder,” he said, not emerging, “there is a box of tools.” I quickly stumbled over to it and opened it, taking out the heavy metal toolbox and placing it on the floor. “Now, I want you to grab the hull cutter from in there,” he said, sticking his head from the vent and reaching his open gloved palm in my direction. “It’s the one with the –” I placed the tool in his hand. He froze for a second, clearly not expecting me to know which one it was. “Yeah, that one. Uh, one moment.” He ducked back under the vent. I frowned to myself, slowly shuffling over to the edge as he got to work. What could be doing down there that would require a hull cutter? I would’ve never used them in the centrifugal power boxes. That is, I couldn’t imagine what down there could have a hull cutter used on it. I peeked down into the vent, watching him work away at a power box. For a moment, I bit my tongue, but then came to the conclusion that it would be doing neither of us any good if I didn’t help where possible. “Um… I wouldn’t use the hull cutter for that… especially in such close proximity to –” I was thrown off by how he suddenly turned back to look at me from his crouched position in the vent. “… to those reactor wires…”. He straightened himself up, regarding me for a moment. “You think you can take a look at this?” His tone was genuine, even laced with a hint of surprise. “Uh… I mean… I can try?” Apparently, despite my clear apprehension, that was all he needed to hear. The Mandalorian hoisted himself out of the vent, stood up, and gestured for me to take a look. Awkwardly, I lowered myself into the vent, and I could immediately tell even from the smell that something wasn’t right; was that… smoke? I looked at the wires in front of me, then studied the fuse box to my left that had already been opened. There were some wires missing… oh goodness… there were more than just wires missing. Stabilizers, three different electromagnetic hinges, and countless other pieces were simply… gone. It was a wonder we were able to jump into hyperspace in the first place, and a miracle that we weren’t hurtled out of it and right into another planet or something. The speed we would’ve exited at before, with all those pieces missing – it explained why we were so close to that planet. “I need a…” I studied my surroundings. What did I need? What could I possibly do with a few tools that could solve a problem like this? “I need a hyperdrive attenuator if you have one. And a jumper bypass.” I stuck my hand up from the vent and felt leather brush it as he placed the two tools in my hand.

The more I worked, the more it dawned on me just how bad the problem was. This ship had almost definitely been ransacked, and the Mandalorian didn’t seem to be able to offer any explanation as to how or when this had happened. Whoever had done it was smart though… remove all the most valuable bits, ones that could easily be sold on their own, but could still allow the ship to get far enough away that the owner wouldn’t be able to come back and hunt you down. Someone on Yak’ish Temeen had clearly made quick work of this ship and, judging by the path they’d created in their robbery, they had managed to enter from the underbelly of the ship from where it had been parked. If the situation were any less dire, I would’ve marveled at our current dynamic. I was giving orders to a Mandalorian, asking him to go up and check something on the console or hand me a tool. But after a while I emerged with the bad news. “This ship is… it’s really not in good shape. We’re lucky we made it this far because –” and, as if right on cue, the ship shook violently, throwing me back down onto the floor of the vent. The hold flashed red, and beeping noises blared all around us. “Here, quick, we need to get into the cockpit.” I looked up to see the Mandalorian extending his hand down to me, and I wondered if there was an earnest expression under that helmet. I took his hand, and he hoisted me up and out of the vent with such ease that I almost fell back into it. Back in the cockpit, both strapped into our seats, I began to see just how bad it was. Those fragile pillars that had been unknowingly holding the ship together were now falling apart all at once like dominos. Fear had emboldened me now, so I said what I was thinking. “We need to land, now, or this’ll become impossible to solve.” “I – this thing is barely responding” grunted the Mandalorian, presumably referring to the navcom. “I don’t even know where we are, let alone the name of this planet.” “And if we don’t land this ship, we’ll never get the opportunity to find out.” I hadn’t intended that to sound so harsh, and I would’ve been scared of him turning back to confront me about it if he wasn’t so preoccupied wrestling to control the ship. He didn’t even reply, but seemingly agreed with my assertion, because he began landing procedures. “It’s going to be a bumpy one and we’re too high up for me to tell if there’s a safe place to land. This could end badly so strap in.” I certainly didn’t need the verbal confirmation of that, but I said nothing, only gripping onto the side of my seat.

The closer we got to the upper atmosphere of the planet, I felt the ship shake harder and get hotter. I squeezed my eyes closed for a moment, silently praying that this wouldn’t be the way I left this universe. For a few seconds it got hotter and hotter, and then when I opened my eyes I could see we were beginning to get low enough to see the ground beneath us. If we weren’t falling out of the sky I would’ve been enamored by the beauty of this planet. It was lush in its colors, with snaking rivers and distant lakes. The forests were dark and immense – I’d never seen anything like it before. I snapped out of my transfixion when I remembered we’d need somewhere to land, and I began scanning the ground that we were hurtling towards. “Over there!” I pointed to an open field on the edge of the forest, still holding onto my shaking seat. “Got it!” He said through gritted teeth. I watched as he wrestled with the steering, the ship jolting slowly but surely forward towards the clearing. I watched the ground loom under us – 300 feet, 200 feet, 100 feet… “Hold on – ” said the Mandalorian as he gripped onto the dash. “I’m going to slow us down for landing but there may be an impact.” I gripped tighter to my seat, closing my eyes desperately. I felt gravity push from beneath me as the ship began to slow, and then –

CRASH

A shock wave jolted through my body, accompanied by the sound of cracking metal. For a moment I sat there with my eyes still squeezed shut, listening to the sound of heat expanding and creaking the joints of the ship around us. “Not the worst landing I’ve experienced,” was all he said, laced with a tone of relief and humor. Humor? That was one word I had never thought I would use to describe the words of a bounty hunter. “Come on,” he said, rising from his seat with admittedly less composure than usual. “This ship won’t fix itself.” It was nice to see he was human in some ways, although he was far more level-headed than I was. In a far calmer hold I could now better assess the full damage we had taken, but it didn’t even take my skill to see what was wrong. I went back to the main vent in the hold, clambered in awkwardly and lay down so as to assess the damage more thoroughly. “We need to replace those missing parts if we wanna get off this planet,” I said, as if he needed my confirmation. He didn’t answer, and when I slide back out, I saw him standing over me at the edge of the vent looking down to where I lay in this dark and oily pit. I realized what I must look like to him right now. I almost certainly had soot and grime on my face, because it coated my hands. I was sweaty and hadn’t gotten my hair out of my face, so it was probably matted. I went pink at the thought. “Make a list of what we need, and what repairs you can do. I’ll try and use the navcom to find a civilization nearby… if there is one.” He lingered for a moment, and I wondered what he was looking at under that mask; the oil dribbling out near my feet, the wires hanging lose out the side of the vent, or my grubby face…

#the mandalorian#star wars#din djarin#din djarin x reader#din djarin x you#mando x you#the mandalorian fanfiction#the mandalorian fanfic#the mandalorian fic#din djarin fanfic#din djarin fic#din djarin reader insert#din djarin x ofc#the mandalorian imagine#din djarin imagine

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

That Be Some Good Buttercream

Summary- Steve and Bucky get your help in replicating a howling commando days battle using Christmas baking fun. But... Does anything ever quite work out the way it should? Set in the same characters I used in Night In, Looking Pretty Fly and Popping Pez and Mismatched Socks. Written for @official-and-unstable-satan​ 300 Follower Celebration Challenge. She still has many prompts, check it out. Prompts in italiacs. No warnings, all fluffy. 

Word Count- 1.6k

A/N- so proud of your accomplishments babes, you are an amazing writer and I love getting lost in your stories and listening to your ideas. I know your just gonna keep going up from here. Love you always babygirl 💚😈💚😈💚😈💚

“Bucky, they came around from the south end” 

“No they did not. I remember Steve, I was there.”

“Yea, and so was I” 

You and Sam had been listening to the two super soldiers carry on at the oversized table in the compounds kitchen dining area for a good hour before you readjusted the volume on the tv once more. Sam, half laying over half the couch remained scrolling on his phone, remarking. 

“Aint gonna do you no good, they just get louder.”

You sigh and hit the off button, he was right. Might as well go see what these two were up to anyways. Pushing yourself off the couch, Sam promptly stretched his legs out onto where you were sitting, making himself comfterable. “See you on the other side Kid!” He joked, settling into watching youtube. 

Wandering in, you saw the two men bent over  large map, Steve with pencil in hand drawing arrows to discern where they started from, stretching it across what looked like a military base. Bucky shook his head. 

“No no no, Punk, I wasnt up there, I was down here” 

“Bucky, I had you up on the highest point, it just looks weird on paper.” 

“You know what, this is pointless.” You could see Bucky getting aggitated with there project, pushing himself away from the table. “We need like... a 3D model to get this right.” 

Steve to straightened up, his arms folding as he looked down at the heavily marked paper. “Well... Tony does have some...” You interrupt in this time, moving over to the table and taking a peek at what they were doing. 

“You know, I have an idea of how to make you two a 3D model.” Both the men quirked brows, curious as to what you had in mind. "Givingerbread reanatcment.” 

You expected a rebuttal, a laugh, anything, since you were joking. But the two of them actually looked thoughtful, glancing at each other. “It would be easier then trying to draw it out” Steve mentioned. “And easier then trying to get Tony to set up the AI model for us.” 

“Plus we get some fucking cookies... Im in.” Bucky grinned, obviously pleased in the options of snacks. What started as a joke from you became a very serious matter as the two Soldiers dragged you into the kitchen. The two of them looking at you expectedly. 

“I was just joking guys, Im not making you a hydra replica gingerbread base. You know how much shit that would take.” At this point you backtracking a bit, wishing the words hadnt fallen out of your mouth so damn easily cause you thought is was funny. 

“Nonsense, you wont be doing all of it. Were going to help.” Steves already moving to wash his hands as Bucky is digging through a drawer and slipping on a god damn “Kiss the Cook” apron, he found in a drawer, ties it swiftly around his back and rolls up his sleeves. 

“You know you always wanted to boss us around Doll.” Bucky smirks, wiggling brows in a teasing manner. “You finally get your chance.” 

You look between the two men, the two of them nodding in encouragement, Steve composed as ever, waiting for You to explain how to start, and Bucky well he was opening drawers, pulling out random stuff that he thought you might use. He held up a spatula with a smirk, slapping the utinsel against his palm. “How about we get this train moving kids.” 

Relenting, you turn to your phone for a recipe. “Okay fine, since you all insist. We need flour, sugar, eggs, ginger, cinnamon....” While your listing, both men are scrambling to find everything, and piling it on the counter, yourself you bring out some bowls, cookie cutters, lets face it. You needed the actual men to decorate like howling commandos. Turning on the oven to get it preheated, you search for decorations. “Steve, store run? We gotta make this accurate you know, and Buckys all dressed up for a day baking. Hate to send him." You just kinda motion lver Buckys getup, the kiss the cook stretched over his chest, the apron a size to small for him really.

Your already grabbing paper and jotting down a detailed list of food coloring, frosting, candies and such. Steve snatched the list when you held it out, he had a general idea of it all and nodded. "Dont hesitate to put Bucky to work. He just pretends to be all intimidating."

You roll your eyes and back in the kitchen theres a "Steve your a dick" retort from Bucky whos looking over the mess of ingredients piled on the counter. Steve, seemingly joyful as he grabbed keys and left, you suspect you might not see him at least another hour or two. No worries, you had the other super soldier on hand.

Heading back in you hand Bucky a bowl and eggs. "Start cracking, separating yolk from white, and no shells." You cant help but from watching him, looking a bit like a lost child, before he he starts to crack eggs and inspect for shells. You watch from the corner of your eye as you put together the dry ingredients, and start mesuring out the molasses, talking him through the rest of the buttercream frosting ingredients.

Dipping your finger in his finished product, you lick the tip of your finger, smirking at his widened eyes. Yea Steve, hes very intimidating. You maybe took a bit to much pleasure in teasing Bucky on occasion. "Mmmhh my very favorite part.... "

He cleared his throat and looked away, it might be a bit mean, but he would give it back later, this was a dance the two of you played. "Okay, what now?" He said a bit gruff and you grab your rolling pin, holding it to him.

Eyeing it a moment, his brow arched. "Ya want me to roll the dough?"

"Yea Buck, nice and thin, since you two want to make all these outer buildings as well." Pointing to Steve's sketching, And you reached in the dough and piled it on the counter on front of Bucky. "And Steve said to put you to work."

"I notice you gave Steve the easy job." He muttered as he started to flatten the dough.

"I knew you were more capable."

Bucky couldn't hide the grin at the compliment, and afterwards you both measured, cut and got the cookie sheets in the oven. Stealing part of the couch back from Sam and watching trash tv till the oven beeped. Bucky vaulted over the couch, head back into the kitchen and pulled them out of the oven.

"Are they firm?" You ask, peeking at them, a light brush of your fingers against them. The room smelled like bake gingerbread and smooth sugar. Tempting delectables to say the least.

"Yup, now what?"

"Cool and mantle your buildings." You say as You slide them off onto wire racks. "Go get the frosting, and I will show you." Already he was rummaging in the fridge to retrieve it. Peeling off the plastic cling, you pick up one of the cooler pieces and edged it with icing. Folding two pieces together. "Easy as that. You try."

Bucky took it so seriously, the tip of his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he piped that icing. His brows furrowed together in a dip right at the center. You bite back a grin and get a large dollop of icing on your finger and flick it at the man. Landing right in his face. He drops his cookie in surprise and blinks though the icing. "Fucken hell, Y/N! Whats that for?" Wiping it off, he flicks it back at you and you squeal getting hit.

That's war!

"Oh its on Barnes" smirking as you grab a cookie and crumble it, shooting it at him. Cookies fly, icing it flung, flour, and sugar is used to blind one another, you two ducked around the table, screaming and yelling insults playfully.

Bucky tried using the hose at the kitchen sink to spray you, in which you ducked and rolled right into him, the two of you collapsing in a heap on the floor among all your hard work, broken and scattered. Steve stood in the doorway, arms laden with two paper bags, his jaw hanging open at the mess. Bucky pokes you to get your attention and the two of you sit up, covered. Head to toe in frosting, flour and cookies.

"I was just gone an hour..."

"Its a long time to be left unsupervised." You shrug as you smear some frosting off your shirt and lick it off your finger, Bucky helped himself to your shirt frosting to since he had thrown half the bowl on you.

"Oh damn, thats good!" He grins.

"What about this is good?! You mean your gingerbread murder scene?!" Steve toed a dead gingerbread man with the tip of his shoe.

Bucky looked around and glared at his friend. "IT WAS HISTORICALLY ACCURATE" His voice raided to defend the mess and you promptly stuff a cookie in his mouth to shut him up.

"Come on Steve. Did the Hydra base not look like this after you two and the howling commandos were done?" You throw a cookie at him which bounced off his chest. "Eat a cookie, you feel better" next to you Bucky continued eating broken gingerbread men, grinning at his friend and nodding.

"Best damn cookies besides your mama's!" Bucky added between mouthfuls

"I just... Pick this up you two before tony throws a fit." Turning with the bags of candy he bought, passing Sam, he ditched them on the man still scrolling youtube

"You couldn't watch them for two seconds Sam?"

"And break up that little love fest? Puh-lease" Sam grinned at Steve and dug into the paper bags looking through the snacks, pulling out twizzlers.

"SCORE!"

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