#workstation for machine learning

[universallychildtimemachine]

Top Legal Technology Solutions Companies

In today's fast-paced world, the legal profession is experiencing a profound transformation, and it's all thanks to the rapid advancements in legal technology. Gone are the days when legal professionals relied solely on paper-based records, endless hours of research, and face-to-face consultations. Legal technology is ushering in a new era, offering greater efficiency, transparency, and accessibility in the legal field. This editorial will explore the evolution of legal technology and the profound impact it has had on the practice of law.

[kingshovelbug]

im sorry but i need to geek out somewhere and screaming into the void on tumblr is less likely to get me flayed than on twitter, especially if i get terms wrong. plus i can do a read more and yall can click into the tech talk if you want to verse it bombarding your twitter timelines

so idk if i only liked it or if i actually put it in my queue but i saw a post that talked about a few pieces of tech that focus on user repairs and being sustainable (fairphone and frameworks laptop) and after doing some more research into what they have to offer i actually really excited that these products are finely hitting the us market and that people are moving away from the belief that super smooth streamlined glassy = the future. being able to reliably repair and keep what you have alive verse throwing the whole thing away when maybe all you needed to do is add more ram to your current laptop (something that i would do with my laptop to keep using it for a few more years if it wasnt glued shut and i was at risk of cracking the screen) or swap out a fuse.

i know big corporations dont like it but i truly do believe with how much tech we use on a daily basis that the way that we are going to be more environmentally friendly is to move back to tech that we can hang onto for as long as we can and to recycle and then reuse what we cant. like with the frameworks laptop. i saw that they just partnered with coolermaster to create a case specifically so that you can reuse you motherboard, cpu, etc and make a portable workstation. you could dual wield with the laptop you just upgraded if you want to dedicate specific tasks to one or the other. they also specifically mentioned that you could screw it into the back of a monitor and create your own all in one. guys thats cool as shit??? if you had a 3d printer and some time you could even create that yourself

on top of the actual hardware part moving to open source programs when your able. when i update my desktop i plan on running linux. it might have a learning curve compared to windows but in terms of performance??? ive heard that it runs smoother even on older machines, that its more efficient because isnt running stuff in the background that tracks your data and shit. now i understand that not everyone can do that because there are some programs that dont play nice with linux but for my needs at least it does everything i would need it to. and maybe a couple years down the road we do figure out how to run these programs on certain flavors of linux since its open source and people fiddle with it so much. (still looking for alternatives to like word and excel though, i use google docs since its free but i want to move away from them as much as i can too since they laid of their youtube music team (i believe?? it might of been a different branch) for trying to unionize)

if anyone knows of any other smaller companies that actually focus on sustainability and user repairability please let me know. theres certain pieces of tech that i think are now unfortunately behind a software repair paywall, things that used to be just machines and are gaining more bells and whistles like cars and refrigerators if that makes sense. but the more we push for these things to be repairable by us the consumers id hope that would change, or there would at least be options that dont need specific companies to repair them or else they blow up

[cyberstudious]

Tools of the Trade for Learning Cybersecurity

I created this post for the Studyblr Masterpost Jam, check out the tag for more cool masterposts from folks in the studyblr community!

Cybersecurity professionals use a lot of different tools to get the job done. There are plenty of fancy and expensive tools that enterprise security teams use, but luckily there are also lots of brilliant people writing free and open-source software. In this post, I'm going to list some popular free tools that you can download right now to practice and learn with.

In my opinion, one of the most important tools you can learn how to use is a virtual machine. If you're not already familiar with Linux, this is a great way to learn. VMs are helpful for separating all your security tools from your everyday OS, isolating potentially malicious files, and just generally experimenting. You'll need to use something like VirtualBox or VMWare Workstation (Workstation Pro is now free for personal use, but they make you jump through hoops to download it).

Below is a list of some popular cybersecurity-focused Linux distributions that come with lots of tools pre-installed:

Kali is a popular distro that comes loaded with tools for penetration testing

REMnux is a distro built for malware analysis

honorable mention for FLARE-VM, which is not a VM on its own, but a set of scripts for setting up a malware analysis workstation & installing tools on a Windows VM.

SANS maintains several different distros that are used in their courses. You'll need to create an account to download them, but they're all free:

Slingshot is built for penetration testing

SIFT Workstation is a distro that comes with lots of tools for digital forensics

These distros can be kind of overwhelming if you don't know how to use most of the pre-installed software yet, so just starting with a regular Linux distribution and installing tools as you want to learn them is another good choice for learning.

Free Software

Wireshark: sniff packets and explore network protocols

Ghidra and the free version of IDA Pro are the top picks for reverse engineering

for digital forensics, check out Eric Zimmerman's tools - there are many different ones for exploring & analyzing different forensic artifacts

pwntools is a super useful Python library for solving binary exploitation CTF challenges

CyberChef is a tool that makes it easy to manipulate data - encryption & decryption, encoding & decoding, formatting, conversions… CyberChef gives you a lot to work with (and there's a web version - no installation required!).

Burp Suite is a handy tool for web security testing that has a free community edition

Metasploit is a popular penetration testing framework, check out Metasploitable if you want a target to practice with

SANS also has a list of free tools that's worth checking out.

Programming Languages

Knowing how to write code isn't a hard requirement for learning cybersecurity, but it's incredibly useful. Any programming language will do, especially since learning one will make it easy to pick up others, but these are some common ones that security folks use:

Python is quick to write, easy to learn, and since it's so popular, there are lots of helpful libraries out there.

PowerShell is useful for automating things in the Windows world. It's built on .NET, so you can practically dip into writing C# if you need a bit more power.

Go is a relatively new language, but it's popular and there are some security tools written in it.

Rust is another new-ish language that's designed for memory safety and it has a wonderful community. There's a bit of a steep learning curve, but learning Rust makes you understand how memory bugs work and I think that's neat.

If you want to get into reverse engineering or malware analysis, you'll want to have a good grasp of C and C++.

Other Tools for Cybersecurity

There are lots of things you'll need that aren't specific to cybersecurity, like:

a good system for taking notes, whether that's pen & paper or software-based. I recommend using something that lets you work in plain text or close to it.

general command line familiarity + basic knowledge of CLI text editors (nano is great, but what if you have to work with a system that only has vi?)

familiarity with git and docker will be helpful

There are countless scripts and programs out there, but the most important thing is understanding what your tools do and how they work. There is no magic "hack this system" or "solve this forensics case" button. Tools are great for speeding up the process, but you have to know what the process is. Definitely take some time to learn how to use them, but don't base your entire understanding of security on code that someone else wrote. That's how you end up as a "script kiddie", and your skills and knowledge will be limited.

Feel free to send me an ask if you have questions about any specific tool or something you found that I haven't listed. I have approximate knowledge of many things, and if I don't have an answer I can at least help point you in the right direction.

[purpleqilinwrites]

the body is a soft animal.

a/n: i have a long-ish fic planned for a cyberpunk 2077 au with nanami on the brain. i just had a specific scene that haunted me and i didn't where to put it in terms of the fic, so i just wrote it (also because i needed a taster of sorts to motivate me into writing the rest of the fic). also, this is the longest piece i've written in a while, so i just want to celebrate a little haha.

fandom: jujutsu kaisen

character: nanami kento

genre: general / fluff (can be read as either platonic or romantic)

info: cyberpunk 2077 au; reader is a ripperdoc; nanami is a merc

warnings: mentions of injury; mentions of killing

synopsis: nanami wasn't sick but still, he found his way to you.

word count: 2.4k

companion fic to "these unfamiliar intimacies".

Nanami Kento

When you remotely unlocked the door to your clinic after hearing Nanami's voice over the intercom, the first thing out of your mouth was "Are you hurt?" He was inclined to say that he wasn't. At least, not physically. He came to see you after a particularly taxing gig that also happened to be physically strenuous, but it wasn't the lingering soreness in his muscles that made him want to see you.

"I'm not," he said after a while.

You had turned away from your workstation in the interval between your simple question and his admittedly late answer, and he could easily guess the next thing you'd ask him.

The question "Are you sick?" was formed in a warped version of your voice, ringing in his ears before the words left your mouth. Your voice didn't register the same way it did when he imagined it in his head, and it made him think that maybe, just maybe he was a little bit sick, after all.

"Physically, no."

You gestured to the examination table beside your workstation, turning your back to him once more to start up the necessary diagnostics equipment for a full-body scan. Nanami acquiesced, quietly crossing the room and adjusting the backrest himself before removing his shoes and then lying down.

The synthetic leather was freshly sanitised, traces of the bergamot-identical antiseptic spray you favoured wafting up into his nostrils. Glancing up at your side profile, he couldn't tell if you had been napping on the examination table before he interrupted it by unexpectedly announcing his presence over the intercom.

When you spun yourself to face him in your swivel chair, he lifted his hand so that you could jack him in for the scan. There was a sound that confirmed the security of the connection, and then there was a different sound that signalled the start of the process. A loading icon began playing in a loop on the little square screen on the largest of the machines, hovering over text that read "SCAN IN PROGRESS". The two monitors on your desk lit up, one with empty progress bars that quickly filled up and the other with a multitude of pop-up messages he didn't bother reading.

"From a medical standpoint, you're entirely healthy. All your cybernetic implants are in good working condition as well," you said, disconnecting him from your equipment. "If you'd like more specific tests run, we'll have to move to the university hospital in Shibuya."

Nanami met your gaze, and he wondered if you had to learn it. If you had to learn to keep your eyes emotionally vacant but intellectually keen. If it ever came in useful when breaking a notably dismal piece of news to someone.

A sigh escaped him before he could reel himself in.

"I came here to talk, actually," he said, sitting up. Your eyes never wavered. Instead, you simply hummed in acknowledgement and drew closer to him on the examination table.

Nanami readjusted the backrest so that he could sit comfortably, though it was more to keep his hands busy. He didn't know what he was doing. What was he trying to accomplish? He did mention wanting to talk. What did he want to talk to you about anyway? His relationship with you was strictly professional. The conversation that could potentially alleviate the pinch in his chest would have to be one between him and a friend he trusted with his life, and he didn't have many of those left.

"Would you like something to drink?" Your voice came from the far side of the room where you had a wall-mounted control panel. He cleared his throat and requested a hot black coffee, to which you nodded before tapping a few buttons on the screen.

You wheeled yourself back to him, crossing the span of the room in one kick, and you informed him that one of your service androids would be bringing his coffee within the next three minutes.

"Thank you," he said, and he felt like he was having his first non-work-related human interaction in decades. Had he spent so much time completing gigs alone that he had socially regressed to a kid who couldn't hold a conversation? Nanami cleared his throat again to banish the thought.

As much as he hated to admit it, maybe Gojou was right to suggest that he accept a few gigs where he'd be forced to work in a team. Gojou, despite his number of obvious flaws, was occasionally able to offer a piece of sound advice, after all.

The service android swiftly ducked into the room with two mugs and exited at the same speed before Nanami caught himself. He thanked you for the drink again, blowing on the surface of his coffee and then testing the temperature with a sip.

The coffee was just right in temperature and more than excellent in taste, and he gave a low hum of appreciation as his first sip slid down his throat.

He looked at you over the rim of the pristine white mug in his hand. You were watching the spheres of ice move in a current of your own creation, bobbing erratically as you twisted the straw you held between your thumb and index finger this way and that in the amber liquid.

"Whiskey?" he asked, fumbling over the singular word and cursing inwardly at himself for it.

You shook your head, appearing not to notice his perceived blunder as you continued swirling your drink with the straw. "I don't drink alcohol," you said. "It's apple juice."

The conversation halted when you picked up your drink and motioned for him to consume his. Nanami obliged, content to cup both hands around the warm mug in between tiny, leisurely sips of coffee.

There was something quite precious about your manner now that he had the proximity and the silence to observe you. You chose a sweet juice instead of every alternative that was available in your extremely well-stocked clinic. Your drink was served in what must be a personal mug with the caricature of a dog painted on beneath the transparent outer layers of glaze. These little things chiselled away at the stoic image of you he had from his first meeting with you, even if it was nothing but a vague recollection of his anaesthesia-laden mind.

Nanami almost laughed into his last sip. He thought of you the same way almost everyone else thought of him. The irony wasn't lost on him.

"Have you ever killed someone and regretted it?"

His temporary good cheer loosened his lips in a way that even a whole bottle of whiskey could not. One moment had him holding his laughter back out of politeness. In the next moment, some words in a fairly unfortunate sequence left his mouth before he could process them.

It spoke to the capricious state of his emotions that he didn't want to take them back.

You blinked slowly, your face tilted in his direction even if you weren't looking directly at him. He suddenly became intensely attuned to the whisper of your air-conditioning system, the consistent tick-tick-tick of the mechanical clock hanging by the door, the dull hum of the machines as they awaited another order from you.

"No," you said, looking him in the eye and propping your cheek against an upturned palm. "I do everything with purpose."

It shouldn't be of any concern to him. He was well-acquainted with the wretched state of the world he lived in. It'd be supremely difficult to find a person who hasn't killed someone by the time they've reached adulthood. He wasn't surprised by the insinuation in your reply.

It was your choice of words that left him feeling like he had trespassed on what should be a secret.

The touch of your knuckle to his chin alerted him to the fact that he had been gaping at you. Nanami immediately apologised, clenching his jaw when he wasn't speaking to keep from making the same mistake again.

He wanted to put the topic to rest. If you weren't elaborating of your own accord, then it wasn't his right to pry. In spite of this, he was still curious. Who did you kill? On what occasion? Have you killed more than once? On purpose?

You were taking your time with your apple juice, cheek still in your palm and eyes fixed on a spot on the mostly bare walls that was apparently visible only to you. From the other end of the folding coffee table, his traitorous mind superimposed a likeness of you sitting in the same chair adjacent to him.

You were leaning slightly over the same table, facing away from him as you expertly broke open the shotgun in your hands. The empty shells clinked against the surface of the table when you shook them out of the barrels. There was an open box of ammo sitting to your right. Your hand knew exactly where it was when you reached for fresh shells to slide into your weapon. You brought the barrels back up to close the break, and it was the sound of a click too real to be his imagination that snapped Nanami back to you.

'Everything with purpose,' you said. You would've made an excellent merc. Better than him, even.

"Have you killed someone and regretted it, Nanami?" You threw his question back at him. It was very uncharacteristic of you, and it gave him a pleasant tickle. He knew you as someone who diligently avoided small talk, and yet, here you were.

"I have," he started, careful to taste his words before he spat them out. "I accepted a gig to dispose of a cyberpsycho. I only found out that he wasn't at fault after the deed was done. I—"

He paused, but he wasn't sure what for. There were plenty of other related things that he was leaving out. You didn't need to know. Or did he not want you to know?

"Did the cyberpsycho hurt anyone before you were contracted to kill him?" you asked. There was that tickle again, running up his chrome spine and settling into spaces between the individual vertebrae. The very same spine that you had painstakingly put together yourself just a few months prior, when he had to be hauled into your clinic in bloodied bits and pieces.

Nanami nodded. "He killed 4 med techs and injured 13 other lab staff. An entire wing of a research facility was ruined," he said, and it instantly transported him to a day earlier when he was on that Militech property far outside city limits once again.

The entire building had been cordoned off a few days before his arrival. Business carried on as usual in the rest of the compound that was unaffected. It was only the ground zero of the cyberpsycho attack that looked like a scene out of those old-fashioned zombie apocalypse movies Yuuji enjoyed watching.

"If you hadn't neutralised him, he would've hurt more people," you said. "There's no reason to feel regret if your purpose was to protect people."

He had been a police detective before he did away with his badge and became a merc. The desire to protect was the lifeblood that kept him going before the change in career, even when the uniform he wore and had admired as a child was what the people committing atrocities against other people were also wearing. It was the same desire to protect that moved him to remain in a line of work where his hands would always be sullied by death.

How did you know? Maybe he was a children's picture book to your knowing eyes, open and simple to read.

When Nanami looked up from his hands, he intended to thank you. For listening to him, and for letting him feel heard. The pinch in his chest remained, but it had lost its nails after sitting by you for a little while.

When he met your eyes for the first time in what must've been at least half an hour, there was an unknown but very much welcome tenderness in them that he hadn't seen from you before. 'Tender' would've been one of the last words he used to describe you, before this conversation. He'd hazard a guess that you preferred being identified on the other end of the spectrum: 'efficient', 'immovable'. The same words other people used to describe him, too.

At this moment, you were tender, and he was breathing it in, basking in it. It was strange to feel soft, especially when the bulk of his body was an arrangement of predominantly metal parts engineered into the remains of his flesh.

The urge to thank you for putting him back together bloomed in him from all the half-formed thoughts in his mind. He wasn't so brazen as to believe that a lesser ripperdoc would've been able to manage what you have. There was a reason Gojou entrusted him to you in his time of emergency.

"You're good at this," Nanami said, instead. To tell you what was in his heart seemed to breach the boundary line of professional etiquette between a merc and his ripperdoc. Maybe there would be a time in the future when he could run his mouth in your presence, a little treat for him that hopefully amused you too. Maybe it would happen soon.

There was a quirk that nipped at the corners of your lips. He counted it as a smile, mirroring you in equal proportion.

"That's the first I've heard of it," you said, lifting your cheek from your palm and straightening your posture. The veneer of a stoic ripperdoc quickly took over the half-smile you graced him with.

"I'll be back when I need a listening ear," he said, presenting you with an offering – of goodwill? Friendship? – and surprising himself with the magnitude of hope he was attaching to it.

You blinked. He watched you visibly inhale, and you looked unsure of how to respond. There was a slight wrinkle in your brow as you mulled his declaration over. "Do come back," you said. "Don't wait until you've been bisected again to come see me."

Nanami chuckled at the unexpected joke, though comedy might not have been your intention. Your half-smile was missing from your face, but the amicable glint in your eyes told him everything he needed to know.

[accio-victuuri]

excerpts from this Sohu Entertainment article about SBMS : Xiao Zhan and Bai Baihe co-starred in "The Sun Is With Me", the director and screenwriter responded: They are 100% suitable for the roles

After talking to director Song Xiaofei and screenwriter Li Xiao, we learned that this project is composed of many "coincidences". For example, the screenwriter did not know in advance that Xiao Zhan had experience as a designer, but the character Sheng Yang happened to need Xiao Zhan's designer skills.

Li Xiao also lamented that Xiao Zhan gave him surprises beyond the characters given by the screenwriter. "In the scene where Sheng Yang and Jian Bing reunited, Xiao Zhan's whole state was beyond my expectation. Heart-pounding, affectionate, awkward, happy and disappointed, there were many layers of complicated feelings. I didn't expect him to perform them all. When I watched it, i was very impressed.”

He has a sense of age, a kind of persistence that is rare in today's people." After meeting Xiao Zhan, Li Xiao decided to integrate his "focus and persistence" into Sheng Yang. Sheng Yang has been obsessed with Jian Bing for ten years. "This point is added based on the characteristics of actor Xiao Zhan, so he and Sheng Yang are completely suitable."

According to director Song Xiaofei, the compatibility between the starring role is 100%. "Our actors are all very good-looking. Xiao Zhan and Bai Baihe are 100% suitable for their roles. Xiao Zhan has big eyes and big facial features. When you put them in the picture, I am a photographer, and they all look great." I feel very comfortable. It happens that he has done design and studied painting. Sitting at Shengyang's workstation, when he turned on the computer, he happened to have operated all the software. Like the three-dimensional design drawing of the moon cake gift box, he also If you know how to operate the machine, you can shoot him directly with the machine, which is very realistic."

Xiao Zhan, who was born in Chongqing and majored in design, returned to Chongqing to play a designer role. In the eyes of the audience, this is also a coincidence. However, after the main creator revealed the secret, we learned that this coincidence actually includes some of their considerations and designs.

"Why not choose Shanghai? Shanghai also has a strong urban feel. But considering that the actor has lived in that environment since he was a child, and he has this life experience, it will be easier for him to get close to the character and he will be more confident in his performance." After inspecting Chongqing at that time , Later, the director felt that the romantic night scene of the city was very suitable for the temperament of "SBMS". In addition, Xiao Zhan, the actor who plays Sheng Yang, is familiar with Chongqing, so he finally chose Chongqing. "As long as he is placed in Chongqing, his suitability will be perfect."

"There are many traces of his life in Shengyang's home, including the basketballs placed at home, posters on the walls, green plants on the windowsill, etc..." The director hopes that the audience can capture the reality from these details feel.

There is also a "coincidence" that the protagonists of "SBMS" "happen" to have an age difference, which is a popular sibling relationship on the screen in recent years.

But the creators didn’t want to use the sibling relationship as a “gimmick.”

"Every emotional model has its own merits, but our protagonists happen to have an age difference. Because this is the first time for both of us to write such a pure emotional drama, we hope to bring all our true emotions to life. All the love feelings of thirty or forty years are poured in at once." Screenwriter Li Xiao explained.

In addition to the love between brother and sister, what also triggered discussions were the social topics involved in the play.

In the company where Sheng Yang works, workplace bullying and workplace harassment among employees occur from time to time; the protagonist’s life is also accompanied by propositions and confusions that cannot be escaped in urban life, such as pressure to get married, red lights on marriage, middle-age crisis, divorce cooling-off period, but also family pressure, ordinary people's sense of "unworthiness."

Not only is Sheng Yang closer to contemporary young people, but when we turn our attention to Sheng Yang's family, we can still see the screenwriter's touch on life. Shengyang's mother, Luo Meijuan, works as a supermarket weigher. Her life has always revolved around the trivial daily affairs of her family and children, but she bought a 3,000 yuan skirt for a class reunion. When her husband Sheng Xiangqiang, a sanitation worker with a low income, found out, they had a big quarrel. This plot sparked heated discussions on short video platforms.

How to describe the characters in life, and how to capture the psychology of Sheng Xiangqiang and Luo Meijuan in this incident? Li Xiao told Sohu Entertainment that this is actually a "feeling of unworthiness" - stemming from an inferiority complex, subconsciously believing that one is not good enough and does not deserve good things. "I also discussed this feeling of unworthiness when communicating with psychiatrists. This situation is more common among my parents' generation. In their eyes, 3,000 yuan was a huge sum of money ten years ago, but now it is only If they can buy a skirt, of course they will be reluctant to part with it. Because they have suffered a lot, they will cherish material things even more."

"I think the so-called social topics are actually people's topics." In the view of director Song Xiaofei, the intensive social topics of "SBSMS" are closely related to the sense of reality that the series pursues. "For a 26-year-old social worker, encountering Pua in the company and being suppressed by his boss may be something he encounters in daily life. As long as there are people around and as long as someone's story happens, there will be these topics."

"We didn't insert topics very rigidly, we just followed the protagonist's story and brought it naturally. Because in fact, if we want to, there are many topics that can trigger discussion, but those may have nothing to do with our Shengyang story, so we won't Put it inside." Song Xiaofei added.

During the interview, the director also shared a short story.

Before the filming of "SBMS" officially started, Xiao Zhan approached Song Xiaofei and wanted to know what the director thought of Sheng Yang. "Xiao Zhan asked me if I wanted him to be thinner, or if he needed me to be stronger. I said that I think Sheng Yang must be sunny and healthy, and the audience needs to see wider shoulders."

Xiao Zhan listened. On the filming set, he took every moment to do push-ups and pull-ups using on-site props to achieve Sheng Yang's body shape from the director's perspective.

[cocoon2010]

music is stupid and gay and for the devil. music software exists to hurt you. if you have ever considered opening an instance of a digital audio workstation the devil is trying to taint your soul and you should throw every machine you own into the creek and learn a trade.

[mudwerks]

(via AI can now master your music—and it does shockingly well | Ars Technica)

My teacher is a veteran musician whose band has had both major label and indie record deals, and he loves the analog, the human, the vintage, the imperfect. So it didn't surprise me to learn that he still likes to mix tracks with an old analog board or that he has a long-time "mastering guy" who finalizes the band's albums.

...So I was expecting some line about the slight edge that ears and hands still held over our machine overlords. Instead, I heard: "In the last year, LANDR has improved so much that it now sounds as good as, or in some cases better than, things we've had mastered professionally."

A few weeks after our conversation, Apple released version 10.8 of Logic Pro, its flagship digital audio workstation (DAW) and the big sibling to GarageBand. Stuffed inside the update was Mastering Assistant, Apple's own take on AI-powered mastering. If you were a Logic user, you suddenly got this capability for free—and you could run it right inside your laptop, desktop, or iPad.

So this is something AI is very good at, and for musicians like myself the ability to get quality mastering done at a price point that is affordable is huge. 

Also - I use Logic Pro so I can use Apple’s version without additional cost - which is plenty good for now.

[owl-liberation-now]

🧙‍♂️ FELLOW TUMBLR ANIMATORS:

If you're using Adobe Animate on an iMac and you have the issue of frameskipping/lag when using the timeline, YOU ARE NOT ALONE AND ALSO I BRING HOPE AND AN END TO YOUR PLIGHT!!

So I switched to Animate 2021 from Flash CS5.5 last week because the autosaver took 45 seconds to back up and using my laptop while hotdesking I realised its only 6 seconds save time on AA2021. That really adds up when you autosave every six minutes because Animate is unreliable and crashes frequently.

But alas. My woes were just beginning. Specifically the woes that look like this:

I thought this was because my iMac has only 8gb of RAM and unfortunately its the kind you can't install upgrades to, so I basically thought I was just fucked. But it turns out this is a problem with all 4k/5k Apple computers, because Animate is terribly optimised and its vector system was never designed to run on HD machines. Because Animate is worse than Flash and keeps getting worse with every successive build.

BUT FEAR NOT!!! there IS a workaround:

If you go to apps and get info on Animate, then and then check open in low resolution, THEN when you reopen Animate it'll run buttery smooth again (though it will look slightly soft-focus because of pixel interpolation). AFAIK this option is only available on Catalina-Ventura, however Ventura onwards allow you to change your native resolution to be lower (Catalina, for whatever godforsaken reason, does not have this option).

FINALLY, if you're still on beautiful beloved Mojave, DO NOT UPGRADE UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO!! Catalina ended 32 bit program support which means you can't run Flash CS5.5 anymore (you can install it on the latest Mojave even if it gives you an out of date error, you just gotta open package contents on the installer -- the files are on archive.org and there's at least one good jailbreaker out there in the usual places for Mac).

DOUBLE FINALLY, if you're not a veteran of Flash/Animate who pairbonded with it from childhood, USE KRITA or TOONBOOM HARMONY or LITERALLY any other software. Adobe software legitimately keeps getting worse and worse and Animate is by FAR the worst of all of them. It is so much better to learn a new workstation and be a bit slower for a couple months than locked into the worst company of all time that uses predatory pricing tactics and keeps getting worse and worse with every build. and also if you don't use Animate or Mac computers, please share this anyway so no one else has to skulk around on the internet feeling like giving up, looking for cheap busted iMacs with cracks on the screen because they think they need to shell out to continue making cartoons. Thank you for listening 🧙‍♂️✨💖

[markokaformd]

The Future of Pop-Rock and Jazz Fusion Music

Pop-rock and jazz fusion have been significant pillars in the evolution of modern music, each bringing its unique flavor to the musical landscape. As we move further into the 21st century, these genres are witnessing an exciting transformation fueled by technological advancements, cultural shifts, and the relentless creativity of artists. This article explores the future of pop-rock and jazz fusion, delving into emerging trends, potential innovations, and the evolving tastes of global audiences.

The Evolution of Pop-Rock: A Brief Overview

Pop-rock, a genre that seamlessly blends the catchy elements of pop with the raw energy of rock, has been a dominant force in the music industry for decades. From The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in the 1960s to modern-day icons like Coldplay and Maroon 5, pop-rock has continually adapted to changing musical trends while maintaining its core appeal.

The Influence of Technology on Pop-Rock

The future of pop-rock is closely tied to technological advancements. The rise of digital audio workstations (DAWs), synthesizers, and music production software has already transformed the genre, enabling artists to experiment with sounds and styles that were previously unimaginable. As artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning continue to develop, we can expect pop-rock to evolve in unprecedented ways.

AI-driven music composition tools are beginning to influence how pop-rock songs are written and produced. These tools can analyze vast amounts of musical data, identify patterns, and even generate new melodies or chord progressions. While some argue that this diminishes the human element of music creation, others see it as a way to push the boundaries of creativity.

The Role of Streaming Platforms

Streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube have fundamentally changed how music is consumed, and pop-rock is no exception. These platforms provide artists with direct access to global audiences, bypassing traditional gatekeepers like record labels. As a result, we’re witnessing the rise of independent pop-rock artists who can cultivate large followings without the backing of major labels.

In the future, streaming platforms are likely to become even more influential. Algorithms that recommend music based on listeners’ preferences will continue to evolve, making it easier for emerging pop-rock bands to find their audience. Additionally, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) could create immersive music experiences that redefine live performances, offering fans new ways to engage with their favorite pop-rock artists.

The Resurgence of Jazz Fusion

Jazz fusion, a genre that blends jazz improvisation with elements of rock, funk, and R&B, first gained popularity in the late 1960s and 1970s. Artists like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and Weather Report pioneered this innovative style, pushing the boundaries of traditional jazz. Although jazz fusion's mainstream popularity waned in the 1980s, it has experienced a resurgence in recent years, driven by a new generation of musicians who are reinterpreting the genre for contemporary audiences.

The Return to Improvisation and Experimentation

One of jazz fusion's defining characteristics is its emphasis on improvisation and experimentation. In the modern music landscape, where many genres are becoming increasingly formulaic, jazz fusion offers a refreshing alternative. Young musicians are drawn to the genre’s complexity and freedom, using it as a platform to explore new sonic territories.

The future of jazz fusion lies in its ability to incorporate diverse musical influences while staying true to its improvisational roots. Today’s jazz fusion artists are blending elements of electronic music, hip-hop, and world music, creating a sound that is both timeless and forward-looking. This genre’s adaptability ensures that it will continue to evolve and attract new audiences in the years to come.

The Role of Collaboration in Jazz Fusion

Collaboration has always been at the heart of jazz fusion, and this trend shows no signs of slowing down. In recent years, we’ve seen exciting partnerships between jazz fusion musicians and artists from other genres. For example, the collaboration between jazz pianist Robert Glasper and hip-hop artists like Kendrick Lamar and Common has resulted in groundbreaking albums that bridge the gap between jazz fusion and contemporary urban music.

As genres continue to blur, we can expect more cross-genre collaborations that push the boundaries of what jazz fusion can be. These collaborations will likely lead to new subgenres and hybrid styles, keeping jazz fusion fresh and relevant in the ever-changing music landscape.

The Intersection of Pop-Rock and Jazz Fusion

While pop-rock and jazz fusion are distinct genres, they have increasingly intersected in recent years. This fusion of styles has given rise to a new breed of musicians who are unafraid to blend catchy pop melodies with complex jazz harmonies and improvisation.

The Rise of Genre-Fluid Artists

The future of music is likely to be dominated by genre-fluid artists who refuse to be confined to a single style. These musicians draw inspiration from multiple genres, creating a sound that is uniquely their own. In the context of pop-rock and jazz fusion, this means we will see more artists who seamlessly integrate elements of both genres into their music.

Artists like Thundercat and Snarky Puppy are prime examples of this trend. Thundercat, a bassist and singer, combines the groove of funk, the improvisation of jazz, and the accessibility of pop to create a sound that defies categorization. Similarly, Snarky Puppy, a collective of musicians from various musical backgrounds, blends jazz, rock, and world music into a cohesive and innovative whole.

The Influence of Global Music Trends

Globalization has had a profound impact on music, exposing artists and audiences to a wide range of musical traditions from around the world. This cross-pollination of cultures is influencing the future of both pop-rock and jazz fusion as musicians incorporate elements of African, Latin, Asian, and Middle Eastern music into their work.

The result is a more diverse and inclusive musical landscape where the boundaries between genres are increasingly fluid. In the future, we can expect to see more pop-rock bands experimenting with jazz fusion elements and vice versa, leading to a rich tapestry of sounds that reflect the interconnected world we live in.

The Impact of Social and Cultural Movements

Music has always been a powerful tool for social and cultural expression, and the future of pop-rock and jazz fusion will be shaped by the movements and issues that define our times. From climate change and social justice to mental health and identity, artists are using their music to comment on the world around them.

Pop-Rock as a Voice for Change

Pop-rock has a long history of addressing social and political issues, from the protest songs of the 1960s to the more recent activism of artists like Billie Eilish and Hozier. As we move forward, pop-rock will continue to be a platform for artists to express their views on critical global issues.

In the future, we may see more pop-rock songs that tackle environmental concerns, gender equality, and mental health awareness. These themes will resonate with a new generation of listeners who are passionate about creating a better world, ensuring that pop-rock remains a relevant and impactful genre.

Jazz Fusion’s Role in Cultural Expression

Jazz fusion, with its roots in jazz—a genre deeply intertwined with the African American experience—has always been a medium for cultural expression. As jazz fusion continues to evolve, it will likely reflect the diverse cultural backgrounds of its practitioners.

The future of jazz fusion will be shaped by artists who use the genre to explore their identities, heritage, and the social issues that matter to them. This will result in music that is not only innovative but also deeply meaningful, resonating with audiences on both an intellectual and emotional level.

A Bright Future Ahead

The future of pop-rock and jazz fusion music is incredibly promising, characterized by innovation, collaboration, and a willingness to push the boundaries of what music can be. As technology continues to evolve and global cultures become more interconnected, these genres will adapt and thrive, attracting new audiences and inspiring the next generation of musicians.

Whether through AI-driven composition, cross-genre collaborations, or music that speaks to the social issues of our time, pop-rock and jazz fusion will remain at the forefront of musical innovation. The blending of these two genres will likely lead to exciting new sounds that challenge our expectations and broaden our understanding of what music can be. As we look to the future, one thing is confident: the evolution of pop-rock and jazz fusion will continue to captivate and inspire music lovers around the world.

[zytes]

A few years ago I started making a video to go alongside the Blood Cultures album I was rlly into at the time - I think a Terrible Life Event happened at the time and made me sorta forget it existed. and also I had a hell of a time during the process bc my PC isn’t a workstation and renders video content at the speed and eloquence of old runny egg. I’m sharing it bc it was a cool idea and I wanna do more w/ it; even if it’s in a different context.

The source of the video is Pas De Deux via the Canadian film board - very popular royalty free footage from the 70s of dancers with delayed feedback in their motions. I think the term is ‘timewarp’ now, for the equivalent effect in AE. I had visions of combining data moshing techniques with the motion feedback to create a trippy new thing.

anyways, it’s a cool thing that I never finished. I wanna do more video, but boy howdy it feels like an entirely different machine. the cautious voice in my heart says ‘make gifs to start :)’ but designing interesting motion is, itself, the hard part to me. I could learn processing or touch designer to help alleviate that and give me new options for output, but those are both, as they say, “high skill ceiling” paths. I don’t know if I’ve got the gusto to learn a new thing from scratch just so I can maybe someday play around with it. beware of the glitch-artist-to-warehouse-party-VJ pipeline.

[izder456]

So, you are new to OpenBSD

Great pick! This is a great operating system. But not for the faint of heart.

I have been daily driving it for nearly two years now. Here is what I found has been helpful for me.

Official Documentation

So, first things first. You should read the docs. OpenBSD has a very RTFM attitude (as in: Read The Fucking Manual). You will only get out what you put in. Put on that learning cap, and get hacking s0n!

Install Guide - Each platform that OpenBSD supports has a plaintext install guide. This is the first place you should go for a new install. It is in the /<Release>/<Platform>/INSTALL.<Platform> file in the mirrors. Check the CDN mirror to find your architecture. The CDN Link

The F.A.Q. - This is the Holy Grail of documentation. It serves as the main guide for all things OpenBSD. From ports, to managing Virtual Machines with vmm(4)

The Manpages - These are a bit less intuitive. But good to use to reference config file formats, or command-line switches. you can access them with man(1) or apropos(1)

afterboot(8) - after install, type man 8 afterboot in your shell prompt to see what steps you should take on your fresh install.

Some Unofficial Places To Use

The Handbook - This handbook is infrequently updated, and has sometimes incorrect information. Nonetheless, use it sparingly. It is a decent cross reference.

The Jumpstart Guide - This quick and dirty crash course on OpenBSD is quite nice. Worth checking out.

why-openbsd.rocks - This site details different neat features from OpenBSD

OpenBSD Workstation for the People - This page walks through a common desktop setup process for new to OpenBSD users. This is pretty well put. Highly recommend.

Small Tips

I recommend that you hook the machine up to ethernet for the install. Why? Lots of Wifi drivers need firmware and as per canadian law they can’t distribute that so it gets downloaded from the mirrors during the install process. If you don't have a network set up for the install, the system will also attempt to download and install them during the first boot too. The drm firmware for your graphics hardware, cpu, & virtualization hardware also likely need firmware too.

Use a SSD. OpenBSD's filesystem, ffs, is pretty slow. From my experience, it clocks somewhere slightly behind ext4 on linux. Use a SSD and thank me later.

Some Small Misc. Resources

OpenBSD can have iffy performance out of the box. Follow this video for tuning that.

If on laptop, follow solene%'s blog on her program obsdfreqd

I previously had given a bad tip here where I recommended that you use non default partitioning. I retract this. Nick Holland had this to say regarding partitioning:

I reject your claim that the default OpenBSD partitioning sucks (kinda or otherwise). There is great reason for how it is done. Your alternative of a big root partition has big issues.

Not going to go into all the details...but having a small root partition saves you from discovering that your writing something (say...a tape backup) out to a device in /dev is has just been dumping to a file, you have no backup. When root fills, you have an issue.

/usr/local is ALMOST required on a non-stock system. Some packages don't work with W^X and require the wxallowed flag, which is something you DON'T want on any other file system (though it is worth seeing if you can get away without the wxallowed flag -- some ports work just fine without it!).

If you look at the mount options on the default install, there's a magical elegance to them. Places where normal users can write are mounted "nosuid" and "nodev". Places where things can be suid and devices are not writable by normal users. That's a non-trivial security win.

There are mods I do. Most of my systems, I have no desire to build from source, so I don't have a /usr/src or /usr/obj partition, though I often leave them there in case I want to move things around later. The default root of 1G is still bigger than I like (I like catching errors of right stuff, wrong directory early, not later). I usually knock down the size of /home -- I disagree with the philosophy that most people have: "I have a 1TB disk, I want it all allocated!" No -- I prefer to do the base install fairly small, and leave the rest of the disk unallocated until/unless needed. But I've been using OpenBSD for 25 years now...I know what it needs and what I need and how to work with it. Until you know what you are doing, the default partitioning scheme is a great starting point.

His website is here: http://nickh.org

Thanks for clearing that up Nick!

Personally, This is what I do:

I just think that the amount of default partitions is too high.

currently, I split mine up into a few partitions:

a / 4gb

d /usr 4gb

l /usr/local 32gb

h /home (rest of drive)

(I keep my label letters mostly mnemonic outside of a and d, for some reason d felt right for /usr, and a is normally /)

I write ports, so /usr/obj, /usr/package & /usr/ports are symlinked to subdirs in home:

/home/_ports/ports

/home/_ports/obj

/home/_ports/packages

This is so I can optionally use mfs filesystems for packages & obj, and unmount when the compiled objects are too big for memory.

Currently they are mounted as 3gb to obj, and 1gb to packages

Conclusion

Happy Hacking!

[oldguydoesstuff]

I enjoyed your post about the huge printer and even huger mounds of paper you used at DEC. I was wondering—printers (and scanners) are the devil today…but were they even worse back then? I mean in terms of reliability/maintenance/issues printing from different types of machines. I’m imagining a dedicated person having to manage and service it, but maybe the hardware was more robust then?

Big fan of your blog! Lately I’ve been reading several books on computer history of the ‘70s and ‘80s and it’s been really cool to learn more about DEC.

They were probably just as bad if not worse than today, but from my perspective they were almost never down because we had a huge IT department to maintain them and also field service from the vendor (Last one I remember I think was made by Kodak).

Workstations, windows, WYSIWYG editors were still a few years off, so these machines were mission critical and not allowed to fail.

If you like DEC history, you might enjoy this article from my time in the mainframe engineering teams there. (Part of a now-defunct newsletter I may try to cobble together into a book eventually)

[eternal-love-song]

A Proposal of Love

"We should have a baby."

Kirumi's eyes opened wide and she bumped into her work table in her haste to turn more fully toward Kokichi. The sound of screws hitting the floor was the only way she knew she had knocked something over. "I'm sorry, did I mishear you?"

[Kokichi/Kirumi] [Talentswap, Established Relationship, Fluff, Humor, Post-apocalypse, post Hope's Peak]

It was quiet in the bunker. While normally there was anything from sirens to robotic laughter to the yells of her companions, today it was rather quiet. Kirumi had learned to cherish silence almost as much as she had begun to fear it. When the world had been intact, it was normal for her to go about her task silently, inventing and creating whatever her clients requested of her to the best of her abilities. She had been diligent, obedient, and skillful, praised for her work as well as its quality. She had also been solitary, working alone for hours on end at a time. Silence had meant peace, but now silence could mean that someone was hurt, missing, or worse. Silence was a portent of doom.

So it was quiet, but not silent, and Kirumi was grateful for that. There was the soft sound of clacking on computer keys as Kokichi worked in the corner. Usually he was one of her loud companions. He liked to tease or scare others, run around the bunker, and poke at everything on her desk. It was only when he was working that he was at all quiet, and even then he was usually able to multitask enough to talk.

Kirumi looked up from her work table, eyes immediately finding the room's other occupant. Kokichi Ouma, once the Ultimate Programmer of Hope's Peak Academy and now just one of many trying to find refuge in a chaotic world, had his head down and his brow furrowed as he typed away on his laptop. There were pictures over his head, a mix between his own messy doodles and the more crisp images of the Ultimate Artist, Miu Iruma. There were similar pictures near her workstation as the two had designed various machines that they wanted her to create. As the Ultimate Inventor, the only thing that held Kirumi back was lack of materials.

Shuichi Saihara, Ultimate Adventurer, was rather good at scavenging for parts for her or the rest of the group to use. Their supreme leader, Kaede Akamatsu, always had a list of things that needed to be gathered and while Shuichi was the best at gathering resources. Of the rest of the group, The Ultimate Cook, Rantaro Amami, handled their food while the Ultimate Assassin, Angie Yonaga, handled their safety.

"Hey Kirumi." She looked over at Kokichi, but his eyes were still trained on the laptop in front of him. Talking didn't seem to get in the way of his typing in the slightest and she wondered what it was that he was working on.

"Yes?" she asked him.

"We should have a baby."

Kirumi's eyes opened wide and she bumped into her work table in her haste to turn more fully toward Kokichi. The sound of screws hitting the floor was the only way she knew she had knocked something over. "I'm sorry, did I mishear you?"

He looked up then, flashing her a grin brighter than the lightbulb hanging overhead. "That depends," he said in a teasing tone. "What do you think you heard?"

Kirumi stared at him for a moment, debating whether or not to drop the topic. As usual with Kokichi though, curiosity got the better of her. "Did I hear you say that we should have a child?"

His grin got wider. "Yep! Sure did!"

Kirumi stared at him. Her silence neither seemed to dim his smile or dishearten him from his strange request. Kirumi sighed as she prepared to approach the topic directly. "Surely you jest?"

"Not at all!"

"You… a child, Kokichi?"

He put his laptop aside as he gave her his full attention. "Does my darling Kirumi not want to have a baby with me?"

There were a million ways for her to say no to that and just as many reasons to do so. She didn't want children, she wasn't certain that he did, they were in the middle of a highly unstable situation, and their relationship was nowhere near the point of… Well, truth be told, Kirumi hadn't been entirely sure of the validity of their relationship at all. When he had expressed interest in her, she'd thought that it might have been a prank and when she accepted the proposal anyway, very little seemed to have changed. They spent more time together, but they were also in the middle of an apocalypse and sharing a small space with five other people, so if there was more that would follow, there was very little chance. Which was another reason to reject the proposal.

Kirumi didn't think bringing that up would be useful, however. Instead, she wiped her hands, brushed off her skirt, and faced him properly to ask, "What is this about, Kokichi?"

"What do you mean?" Kokichi asked in turn, getting up to skip closer to her. "I think I was pretty clear."

Kirumi highly doubted, but the sincere look on his face made her blush anyway. She looked away from him, "Do not jest."

Kokichi came at her like a rocket, nearly knocking her over as he hugged her and held her tightly. "Aww, you're so cute when you blush, Kirumi!"

"I told you not to jest," she repeated, feeling the heat in her face intensifying.

He buried his face in her chest, nuzzling her. "Aww, you don't believe me? Even though I love you sooo much?"

Kirumi shook her head, trying unsuccessfully to brush off the embarrassment. "You're only this affectionate when you have mischief planned."

Kokichi looked up at her. "I guess you could call making a child together ‘mischief’ if you really want."

"Kokichi!"

He laughed, pulling away from her, but not going far. "I mean it, though! I want to create something that has the best parts of both of us! Your looks, my brain, our skills combined. Don't you want a way to show the world our love?"

"I hardly think this is appropriate," she told him. Though she did like the framing of the idea, the more that he said it. Something to symbolize their connection, something that got more affectionate moments from him.

That didn't change the fact that this was a terrible idea though.

Kokichi took her hands. "You like it though!"

"I said no such thing," she told him firmly. She didn't take her hands back though. Kirumi was awful at asking for affection, even when she wanted it. There was something endearing in the way he gave her affection so freely, if not always in the ways that most people would. She enjoyed the way he would crowd her, lean against her, hug her, the way he could be so cheerful and excited. Kirumi wasn't the most expressive of people, but Kokichi was and it was something she cherished even at times like these. Perhaps especially so.

He squeezed her hands. "I know you, Kirumi. You want everyone to see how well we work together. Right? Riiight?"

Kirumi huffed. "There are more important things to be focused on then… whatever you are proposing."

Kokichi glared at her. "Don't ignore it! I want us to have a child!"

"I'm not--"

"Say it."

"What?" Kirumi blinked at him. He was glaring at her even more and even she couldn't decide if he was being serious or not.

"We're talking about having a baby together, don't talk around it," he told her. "Say it. Say that I'm asking you to have a child together. Say it! Saaaay iiiiit!" He dragged out his syllables.

Kirumi sighed, finally pulling her hand out of his to brush off her dress, her hair; fidgeting though she would never call it that. "Alright, fine. Why do you want a… a child, of all things?"

Kokichi smiled at her again, the precious expression falling away like water. Typical of him. "Because I love you, I already said."

"That's hardly a suitable reason," Kirumi told him sternly. "A child is a lot of work, Kokichi. There must be more to it."

"Alright, alright, there is," he admitted. "It's because I want to see if we can!"

"You want…" Kirumi held back a sight. "You want to see… if we can make a child…"

"Yep."

Kirumi stared at him. His smile seemed so simple, so guileless. That was the true lie of Kokichi, making things seem simple when they rarely were. "Now I know that you are simply teasing me. What do you mean when you say that you want us to have a child? Define it for me."

Kokichi sighed. She wasn't certain if he was put out to have to explain his voice or, on the very rare chance that he meant his words as boldly as he'd stated them, because she was being so obtuse on the matter.

"I want us to put our love and sweat and tears into combining the best parts of ourselves!"

Now she knew he was hiding something. He was just repeating what he'd said earlier. She folded her arms as she glared at him. "Be serious."

"Fiiiine," he said with a long, drawn out sigh. "You make the body, I make the brain, and our beautiful love child will be the best parts of us both."

That was when it finally clicked with her. "You mean for us to create…" She closed her eyes, trying to repress the sudden irritation that she felt. "You want us to make a robot."

"Not just any robot!" Kokichi exclaimed. "Our robot love child!"

Kirumi opened her eyes again. "Was it necessary to tease me that way?"

He grinned. "Yep! Otherwise Kirumi wouldn't have realized how much she wants to have a child with me!"

"I did not!" she replied sharply. "I don't want children and if I did, I would not want them now."

"Kirumi was so overwhelmed with her love for me that she couldn't even think straight!"

Kirumi turned back to her work table, venting her frustration by tidying up her workspace. "Honestly, you are absolutely insufferable at times."

"But you suffer me gladly!"

"Reluctantly."

"Joyfully!"

"With much disdain and annoyance."

"Aww, Rumi." Kokichi hugged her from behind. "Did you want to make a baby with me so badly that this is a disappointment to you?"

"I'm going to invent a device to wring your neck," Kirumi told him.

"That's murder!" He objected.

"You won't die,” she assured him.

"Now it's kinky!"

Kirumi let her head fall against the wall as Kokichi laughed behind her. "You are going to give me a migraine."

"Alright, alright," Kokichi said. He took her hand and pulled her away from the wall and over to the table so they could both sit. "I really do want to make something with you. I think a robot would be a great idea. Something that could protect us or help us find resources. The perfect combination of our talents, something that really does show how well we work together." He brushed his thumb over the back of her hand. "Plus, what else would we call it, if not our love child? It'll take weeks of passion and long nights together, it'll bring us closer, and it really will require sweat and tears."

"How long have you been thinking about this?" she asked him.

Kokichi reached over for his laptop, putting it on the table before her and showing her the very complex code he was working on. "A while."

Kirumi wasn't anywhere near as familiar with coding as he was, but she wasn't a novice. She could understand at least some of what was in front of her. "You've already started?"

"Started is a bit of a strong word," he said. "This is just a bit of brainstorming that wouldn't work at all."

Kirumi smiled. "You really want to do this with me?"

Kokichi looked at her with a rare, soft expression. "I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else."

Kirumi had a soft spot for her menace of a partner and moments like this always reminded her why. No one else could make her want to leave her comfort zone or push her limits like Kokichi could. "Alright. Let's do it. Let's make a child together."

There was a loud sound near the door and both Kirumi and Kokichi turned to see Miu in the doorway, a pile of scrapes that she was carrying on the ground at her feet. "You two are going to do WHAT?"

The wicked grin that immediately sprung to Kokichi's face made her sure that was going to be in for a headache.

[luxe-pauvre]

To stop this from happening again, I have come up with a personal Theory of Stuffness, a way to structure and understand my local stuff ecosystem, especially the digital stuff. I divide Stuffworld into the Object (drum machine), the Enhancements (all the extras), and the Experience (sick beats). Another example: The Object is the phone. The Enhancement is the Spotify app. The Experience is that of listening to music. In the past, you might buy a record player and spend 10 years curating a collection of really good jazz albums. You'd read the liner notes and learn new things over time, boring your friends in the process. Now you pay a fee, and some approximation of every bit of recorded jazz is just there on every device that plays sound. It used to take a lifetime of reading reviews and trips to the record store, or going to jazz clubs, and a ton of money. Now the cost approaches free. This is the Great Stuff Discontinuity. You just parachute in, like my kids playing Fortnite. What I was doing with my drum machine was trying to skip learning, attempting to buy talent and accomplishment by configuring my workstation. That's the promise of buying stuff for your stuff: The Enhancements will make the Experience so much better and give you more of the power of the Object. (Am I serious about all this? Well, I was desperate for a grammar to understand what I was doing on Amazon and eBay.) The Object did not give me the Experience I wanted, despite all the Enhancements. But let's not waste it, right? It does no good if it joins the rat king of USB cables and old laptops in the closet. So I've limited myself to one sample and one track, trying to figure out how music works. And doing that—going into student mode, humbling myself before the task of making just one passable beat without using a ton of reverb—has almost instantly made me a better listener, a greater appreciator of the talents of others. I've started to pick songs apart as I commute, suddenly aware of filter sweeps across the drum loops or where they cut the bass before the chorus. If I can't buy talent, at least I can understand its supply chain.

Paul Ford, A Grand Unified Theory of Buying Stuff

[neferess]

alright here’s the licht backstory and extra details for the curious few! ripped from his carrd that is ever a work in progress :’)

tw for slight mentioned transphobia

maxine levina stroeme was born on a stormy night in BOULDER, COLORADO to parents franz stroeme, a german immigrant and small - time inventor, and caroline mia miller, a bridal seamstress on hard times.

their family was a happy one, lovely as could be, and everything was wonderful — maxine was in particular enchanted by her father's experiments, a daddy's girl through and through, and often avoided her mother's insistence on ' girl ' activities, learning how to sew and work the kitchen, avoiding dressing up and gossiping. a rift, some might say, came between caroline and maxine, even if love was still present.

when franz fell ill and eventually passed, a tragedy too early in their happy life, things turned around. the rift between mother and daughter turned worse, and when maxine expressed desire to present as a young man instead of a young woman, maximilian instead of maxine, the rift turned into a chasm.

caroline never truly accepted maximilian after his coming out. her little girl, now a young man in a big and awful world. and maximilian knew. when he turned seventeen years he moved out, lured in by promises of corporation who would sponsor him and his fledgling ideas, and when he turned eighteen he officially began working for the murkoff corporation.

how grand a life, he thought, where people could see him and where people appreciated his ideas, and when he turned twenty - six, after years of being a dedicted employee, he was cordially invited to a secret project — project lathe, they called it, and he was to tell none of it to anyone. so secret in fact, they hushedly told him with viper smiles, that the pay would be tremendously good. maximilian accepted, ignoring the warning signs.

the project required his expertise on the matter of electricity, on the power of lightning, on flow and currents, and he was set to work machines and trinkets without knowing their use. batteries, large and small, flew from his workstation without question. a pontiac car's battery awaiting him all with the instruction to make it work, make it sing, make it able to be strapped to a human without harming them. a power drill, long and sharp, and how to attach it to a puppet.

no question. no voice. just work.

and then things changed.

invited to witness his work, thirty - one year old maximilian saw what he had helped create. and he was horrified.

asking to resign was out of the question, and so he took to sabotaging his work — and murkoff noticed. when he was subsequently abducted from his station and placed into the trials himself, he knew that he had to get out. and fast.

DETAILS / FACTS:

licht's scar came from sergeant leland coyle on their first trial together. underestimating the brutal ex - pop, licht was nearly killed by electrocution. the ability to survive the electric shock, due to knowing the device coyle was using intimately, has since then made him a repeat target of the police man.

licht's favored rig is the stun rig, which he helped develop with engineer cornelius noakes.

licht prefers the fun park trial... if he had a choice that is. unfortunately he is often, much to his own sanity and detriment, sent to the police station due to his increased involvement in its development.

[rogue-trader-samuel-drakon]

Crew Rank 1 & 2

Lord Captain: Samuel Von Drakon

A young captain who inherited his family ship, the Celestial Dragon. He had unlocked his psyker powers at an early age and has had made it so he was sanctioned without giving up his freedom as a rogue trader. He had, of course, later learned he was a perpetual when having run afoul of a very trigger happy inquisitor. He has a pet Wyvach he named Talon, whom he built a psychic connection with. He also has a Fenrisian Wolf that his First Officer gifted to him named Skoll. Though Skoll was much bigger than a normal Fenrisian Wolf, leaving a few to wonder if he is one of the legendary Thunder Wolves. So how that was possible is beyond many on board the ship. He was as well gifted a baby raven named Mel by a female version of Corvus Corax, who he is in a relationship with.

First Officer: Sven Vulrik

Hailing from Fenris, Sven is a tough as nails warrior and able to keep the crew in line. Never backing down from a fight, and willing to get his hands dirty, he is believed by many to have once been an astartes from how massive and strong he is.

High Factotum: Maria Flint

A people person and able to drink anyone under the table, Maria was the perfect choice for the position, as it was her who would often seal the deal on many negotiations. Knowing just what to say to convince people. Just don't play cards with her, as she can read you like a book.

Engineer Prime: Larana-C39

Often times reclusive and seen talking to her servo skull named Keeper of Knowledge, most people, save for the rest of the trch adepts under her command, tend to avoid her. They believe that she despises being near any non augmented life form. The truth is, she is very shy around others. Not the Captain, though. He usually likes to come down to her workstation and just talk, which she greatly appreciates. She has often shown that she is far more upbeat and cheerful than most tech priests when around the captain, and explains she does not hate organic life, as she sees the human body as a complex machine, built from millions of years of evolutionary adaptation. She just seeks to improve upon it further with machinary where it is needed. She enjoys her talks with the captain, and often times forgets about a project when she has them. Only to go all out to make up for lost time after. She is the one responsible for the ship not falling apart a long time ago, and she will make sure it stays that way.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4