#loading screen quiz

[dgrailwar]

Round 8, Day 3 - All Teams (Overseer Announcement)

…What a mess that Pretender left. Greetings. It's me, the Overseer again. We haven't spoken much as of recent, have we? Are you enjoying yourselves? I hope so. However…Well, we can't continue the war with the world in this state. It'd be a mess, and rather uninteresting to look at. I suppose I'll have to do some cleanup. Hrm… ah, how troublesome. Well, I suppose I'll have to put something together to keep you all occupied? How about a game? A… quiz game? People enjoy quizzes, right? Magi love being correct about things. Here. Let me give you some quizzes about your Servants, as I attempt to load a backup of the digital space so that you may continue. My goodness, the assets are a mess… I'll just have improvise the visuals. Find something quick and simple. Not a problem! Not… a problem… at all… Here! A quiz! Look at that, and pay no attention to the workings on behind the curtain… and remember, no cheating!

#overseer post #team pretender #loading screen quiz

[fingertipsmp3]

I love when I'm actually trying to submit an assignment for once and moodle won't fucking load

#i got a weird error message like 'undefined' and the whole page is just grayed out and supposedly still loading #tried reloading the tab and it just wouldn't work. didn't even get a login screen #cleared cache; got a login screen but then got the same error and site refused to load #like.... i'm genuinely trying to submit my work lol. this is so funny #it loads fine on my phone but my assignment isn't on my phone and i don't think i can get it there #or can i? i mean i guess i can. it's just an html file. but submitting it from my phone sounds like a process i don't have the energy for #i'll just try again tomorrow. if i can't get onto moodle tomorrow i'm fucked anyway because i have to do a quiz tomorrow #i'm also hoping to get my other assignment submitted tomorrow. the assignment that's still only 10% done. that assignment. #i could work on that thing right know but i know i'll get annoyed and ragequit when i run into problems; so what i might do INSTEAD #is anticipate the problems i'm probably going to have (i.e. resizing the carousel; moving the carousel; embedding the youtube video; moving #the youtube video; setting an accordion as a sidebar; doing anything whatsoever with the accordion-sidebar; placing the info where i want) #and do some reading on how to do those things and then bookmarking the resources so i can read them again #because i have all the memory of a goldfish when it comes to this stuff #i could also run through the git tutorial so i don't have to do it on thursday while exhausted from physio and pilates #idk though. if it seems like it's going to be long i will absolutely not be doing that right now #look i finally fixed my portfolio today and figured out how to do a gradient. i don't want to do very much #personal

[uneducated-author]

Because I will never be over this adaptation and how it perfectly used every frame and then elevated them until you actually have a wonderful way of displaying each characters thought process. You see Dazai's expression change, how he moves. Dazai has been silly and disarming all of the arc so far. He dances with Sigma and splits because he wants sugar. He jokes while opening a door, and hosts a happy hour quiz, comparing Sigma to his mentee.

But here. we see him, and see how far he is willing to go. We see him stop smiling. He finds out his partner is his enemy, controlled by vampirism and smirks, even if it's more of a 'damn, Dostoyevsky'. But it's important. Because he has ten minutes to make Sigma willing to die for him. Ten minutes to make Sigma willing to die for the agency. And he has to be powerful enough to make Sigma think. Strong enough to shock him, to make him listen. Now, Sigma watches him control time, and drown Dostoyevsky. He has to show Sigma that survival isn't an offer exclusively from the decay of angels.

But here, he sees his partner, it's broadcast on a screen. He sees Chuuya follow Dostoyevsky's orders, pound at the wall, scream and struggle, and then slowly drown. And he stops smiling. Because he can't lie, not in front of his partner.

Something about how the memories load. Something about how Dazai, whose mind works faster than light, takes a moment, because if he thinks about their past, he knows he'll crack and he won't have the resolve for this.Something about needing time to prepare for the heartbreak he's going to inflict on himself. Something about how he's speaking to someone empty, because Dostoyevsky has scooped out Chuuya's soul and turned him into a stranger, and Dazai could never forgive that rat, but this is beyond unforgivable.

Something about a shadow. Something about Dazai blocking himself from the memories where their heart connect. Something about blocking the light because if he's good, right now, he'll destroy what little soul he has.

Something about opening his eyes, and forcing himself to watch, because this is why he came for Odasaku, this is why he wants a double suicide, because he believes that nobody wants to die alone.

Something about listening to Chuuya and how he drowns. Something about a second of silence except for the other half of his soul fighting to live, as Chuuya always had.

Something about the turtle smile, so clearly fake because Dostoyevsky is there, and if he survives (Dazai has every contingency) there can not be a shred of evidence that Dazai cared for his former partner, and something about how if Chuuya was listening under the echoes of vampirism, he would know that Dazai is lying.

Something about there being no chance of ambiguity. Something about the darkness over his eyes, and the pain he's tried to wipe away. Something about shadows, and how you need light to cast them.

Something and something and something, and how soukoku have always been something more.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd dazai #bsd chuuya #bungou stray dogs spoilers #soukoku #bsd meta #bsd chapter 101

[thedreadvampy]

We had our team Christmas party/goodbye Ruth do today. and I need to show you what my friend at work made me for a leaving present because even for him it's a work of mad genius, I was just sitting there like WHAT. WHAT IS HAPPENING.

so you know, I get leaving gifts from my team, it's lovely, notebooks, pens, gift card, fond farewells, it's lovely, people say nice things about me

then my friend Zain says "I also got you something"

Now the thing to know about Zain is his party acumen is legendary. every year we're all resigned from the off to losing at Secret Santa because his gifts are insane. last year he made his secret santa a custom play set of one of our services in a branded box with tiny props. this year he made a custom Ken doll and box representing our colleague and it has a tiny collection bucket and a "collect them all!" sticker on the back where he'd found pictures of Barbies and Kens that looked like the rest of the Fundraising team. we'd just got done with a quiz where he made a custom video package, a Family Feud round with buzzers, and TWO Photoshop picture rounds. once. ONCE. we asked him to facilitate a team meeting and he wrote and animated a theme song. the man is insane. everything he does is so thoughtful, so labour intensive, and also so off the wall weird.

so I'm intrigued. especially since all he's holding is an envelope.

he says "I got you something. It's kind of an experience."

and hands me this letter.

(there's a bunch of good bits in here but I will particularly note that "It's going" has been his perpetual refrain for months every time I ask how it's going, to the point he usually doesn't even bother saying it any more.)

ok. I am confused. what is. THE DEVICE.

he puts THE DEVICE on the table. he hands me 4 cardboard floppy discs.

THE DEVICE is a large cardboard box. You will observe that THE DEVICE has an LED on the front. You may also observe that THE DEVICE has both a button. and a set of speaker holes.

this is because upon pushing the button on THE DEVICE, it makes a jaunty startup noise and an AI voice launches into a full minute setup speech before instructing me to load the included floppy discs into THE DEVICE. during the period of silence as I feed them into the slot, THE DEVICE says things like "ow, careful!"

THE DEVICE then makes loading noises, and instructors me to open THE DEVICE to see the contents of the discs.

inside the box, there are 4 gifts, each corresponding to a floppy disc and also to a conversation we've had at some point in the last 2.5 years.

this, of course, is in reference to my infamous Blobbyland post, and indeed to the fact that Zain, who is 3 years younger than me, actually FOUND OUT ABOUT MR BLOBBY from me taking about my popular Tumblr post

Gawrsh.zip references a conversation about Goofy dying in Kingdom Hearts, the first video game I remember finishing

EIGHT MONTHS AGO Zain asked me what my top 5 films of all time were and I said easy, Mirrormask, 10 Things, Angels In America, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Fury Road, boom. He's been just HOLDING THAT INFORMATION IN HIS HEAD FOR MONTHS.

the last one is my favourite. I was like oh no what could be in this poster tube cause what's left of the floppies is NIGHTMARE.EXE.

at my Halloween party last month, to which Zain was my only work friend who made it, we watched Nightmare on Elm Street and Zain, who had recently watched some video breakdowns on it, was pointing out humorous background details. and in the sleep therapist scene, both he and Tim pointed at the screen and started shouting TRAM CATS!!! and we were all losing our shit

the thing is there's a Very Weird poster in that scene. and now. now it's in my house also.

anyway I legit almost cried this may be the most unhinged and lovely gift that anyone has ever given me. I'm going to miss working with this weirdo so much.

#red said #OH i also won the quiz. by half a point. so i have a trophy also!

[vibraniumarm06-bucket]

Only One True Answer

Summary: Bucky took a quiz, he wants to know what your answer is as his was in his words "rigged".

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

A/N: I'm in my Bucky writing era [which is ALL the time hehe]

J.B.B Masterlist || Main Masterlist

“What has grumpy pants extra grouchy?” Sam asks as he approaches the couch cautiously feeling like he’s gonna be six feet deep soon due to Bucky’s glare. “Did someone eat his plums he got from the market? I swear we all know by now that it’s hands off the plums unless you’re Y/N” He continues missing Nat’s hand shaking under her chin telling him to cut it out. 

Sam’s gaze finally falls on Nat and narrows his eyes, shrugging his shoulders as if asking what is wrong. Nat tries to hide her smirk before picking up the iPad laying on the floor and showing Sam the result of the quiz. 

“Which avenger is your better half?” Sam asks before bursting out with laughter at the fact that Bucky’s answer is in fact, Sam. “No wonder he’s grumpy, he didn’t get who he truly wanted” . “Oh shut up birdbrain.” Bucky snaps, crossing his arms and slouching into the couch even more. “It’s obviously rigged” He mumbles. 

“Oh yeah, Nat, who did you get?” Sam asks. “Obviously I got Steve, ” She says smirking. “So, it isn’t rigged Bucky, you’re just pining after the wrong person” Nat teases which makes Bucky scoff. 

Steve and you walk into the common room area discussing the mission you were about to go on in a few days softly. “What’s happening here?” Steve asks, looking up and noticing Bucky’s tensed body language and raising his eyebrow along with his question.

You glance over at Bucky and shoot him a soft smile and he looks away before grumbling “Nothing.” You feel a soft prick at your heart from him ignoring you. “Doesn’t seem like nothing?” You say softly “You’re obviously upset about something Buck” You continue glancing at Nat who is pointedly looking at the iPad in Sam’s hands. 

Steve catches onto Nat’s looks “Pass the iPad Sam” Steve orders in a playful tone. Once Steve and You look at the screen you can’t help the smile that crosses your face. “Aww that's cute, Sam is your other half, do you feel a little cut Stevie?” You ask looking up at the blonde with a soft laugh, nudging him subtly to play along with the joke. “Indeed, I’m heartbroken Bucky, I thought I was your other half and here I find out from a quiz it’s a lie?” Steve says teasingly clutching his heart and going along with the joke. 

“Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny guys, I’m laughing so hard” Bucky mumbles out rolling his eyes at everyone’s behaviour. “Aw come on Buck, don’t take the quiz so literally!” You say as you approach the back of the couch and wrap your arms around him from behind squeezing him into a hug. You only let go once you feel his body relax. 

Once you’ve let go of him you feel slightly cold as Bucky tends to run warm due to the serum. You walk around grabbing the iPad from Steve as you plop down beside Bucky, your thigh both touching and a small smile graces your face. “If it will make you feel better, I’ll take the quiz”. He nods to your question and watches you intensely as you fill out your answers. 

“There’s only one true answer for me” You say booping Bucky on the nose as everyone waits for the results to load. Nat and Sam are smirking so hard Bucky wished the saying ‘don’t make that face otherwise the wind will blow leaving it stuck like that’ was true. Bucky keeps his eyes glued to the screen in your hands while you just admire Bucky running a hand through his hair as he seems to not have heard you. 

“Well, would you look at that” 

“I’m so surprised!”  

“Colour me shocked!” all tumble out of three once the results have loaded. 

“Okay, I get it, you’re all being sarcastic idiots now knock it off and leave me alone with my Doll” Bucky says standing up trying to be intimidating but he is bursting with happiness. Steve grabs Nat’s hand pulling her along to the hallway and you briefly hear her saying how she got him. Sam heads off towards the kitchen as its his and Clint’s night to cook dinner for everyone.

 You watch as Bucky turns around once everyone has left the common area. “I told you there was only one true answer for me Bucket” You say as he kneels in front of you in between your thighs, booping his nose once he settles. He leans forward, booping your nose as a big grin graces his face and you sigh dreamingly at how handsome he looks when he’s happy. Sure, his grumpy look is sexy with the furrowed eyebrows and clenched jaw. But something about Bucky radiating pure joy made your heart beat even faster than it should. 

“You’re the only true answer for me James, I don’t care what a quiz says. I know what is in my heart” You say as you wrap your arms around his neck pulling him in a little closer. You only called him James when he was in trouble or when you were being serious. 

“Ya know Sunshine, you’re in my heart too. I was just annoyed that I got birdbrain as my answer” Bucky says scoffing at the end before leaning in and kissing both your cheeks making you blush. “I love you Y/N, always have since you fell onto me from hiding in the vents from Clint. It’s like that saying, an angel fell from heaven” He says cheekily, his nose scrunching as he chuckles. You move one of your hands to hold his chin as you admire his face.

“Whatcha looking at Doll?” He asks a little confused, his eyebrows furrowing a little as he notices you just watching him. “I love you too baby” You murmur softly “I also love when you’re truly happy and radiating it. I love that I get to see you like this, free, pure and all mine” You say giggling at the end as Bucky pounces onto you kissing you deeply. 

“Uh excuse us, but Y/N and Mr.Barnes…” Peter’s voice floats into the room. “ What do you want, Parker?” Bucky barks out annoyed at the disruption. You can both hear the audible gulp he takes before speaking again. “Mr. Thor and I were wanting to play video games and this is where everything is set up…” 

A soft squeal leaves you as Bucky stands up and picks you up from the couch. “Bye Parker” You say laughing as you Bucky slings you over his shoulder as he begins walking fast. Parker and Thor briefly meet eyes with one another and visibly shiver before laughing.

#james buchanan barnes #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes #bucky x female reader #winter soldier #white wolf #bucky barnes x you #bucky x you #bucky barnes x y/n #reader insert #steve rogers #sam wilson #bucky flirts #bucky needs a hug #james bucky buchanan barnes #bucky imagine #bucky fanfic #natasha romanoff #the avengers #peter parker #thor odinson #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky is grumpy pants #reader is sunshine #grumpy/sunshine

[tamapalace]

TikTok Video Reveals Tamagotchi Uni Initial Setup Wizard

The Tamagotchi is loaded with new features, and it’s a global device available in 7 languages. The initial setup wizard or quiz as Bandai called it back on the Tamagotchi Pix is a critical part of the unboxing experience.

A recent TikTok video posted by tamaverso reveals the initial setup wizard experience and some overall gameplay of the Uni. The initial screens often wizard ask for language, time and date, along with date format, your name, and birthday. Then you’re asked for your region, which seems to be critical for the overall experience.

You’ll also need to scan a QR code to read the privacy policy which you must agree to in order to move forward. Then you’ll get up Wi-Fi which will include another QR code to connect to your network as we’ve mentioned before. Lastly, you’ll choose one of three eggs, there appears to be a green, pink, and blue egg. Shortly after your Tamagotchi will hatch and a walkthrough of the key features will display to give new caretakers the guidance they might need.

#tamapalace #tamagotchi #tmgc #tamagotchiuni #tamagotchi uni #uni #tamatag #virtualpet #bandai #tiktok #setup #setupwizard #setup wizard

[little-yandere-ish-blog]

Yandere! AI! Germany x reader

You sat there staring at your ceiling, the swirl patterns on the ceiling were charming in their own way. Your earbuds played the same songs, everything felt unreal in its own way. It felt empty. This feeling of yours was just like the feeling of a husk in the desert.

There was no point looking at your phone. No one texted you anyways- Your DM’s and messages were dry as hell. The most exciting notification you got was an email from tumblr saying to check out these 5 new trends. Even that vibration alone got you excited but the disappointment realizing that it was no one was your email.

You laid back in your bed, another lonely day...you would have work tomorrow anyways. You sighed softly- you decided some online quizzes wouldn't kill you. You pulled out your laptop going around to take some stupid quizzes to kill time. You were going through the pages of google you went to the 56th page of google and a link caught your eye. 

An odd quiz you never saw before “ ideal game quiz” you decided to do the quiz and finding out your ideal game type and even where to get these games. You hummed seeing your game you got from the quiz was called “World of Love” a game about finding love?

You said fuck it and decided to download the game, you grabbed a soda as you installed the application on your computer. It was downloaded in 10 minutes which was enough time to grab snacks and a drink. You hummed as the start screen loaded. It was a pink pastel aesthetic with cute little options and toggles. You smiled softly clicking on ‘<3New Game’  

‘WELCOME TO WORLD OF LOVE!’

please choose your preferred story!

>Casual story

>Deep story

>Unknown story

You stared at the page not thinking much of it you clicked Unknown story. 

time skip 20 hours of game play~

It was day 10 of your game (you had played 2 hours) everyday of the game interacting with characters such as; Alfred, Ludwig, Edward, Feliciano, and Mathias! You had chosen a particular character to go for and that was Ludwig- He was so strong and helpful!:) 

If only you knew he was looking right back at you-

You always smiled at his dialogue and would always try to find fanart or even fanfics but...they don’t exist? You found it weird considering you got the link to this game from a quiz so...shouldn’t it be more popular? You brushed it off as the game having a small fandom that doesn’t do much of anything.

You drew your own fanart of him and kept it in your room. It was so nice having it:) Today in particular was special because today was the end of the game you had completed all the tasks and side quests for Ludwig’s route! this was very exciting!

the end scene was playing out, you didn’t notice that in the top right corner your computer glitched. It was small then the screen froze. You couldn’t move your mouse or turn off your monitor, you groaned ‘fuck- the game gave you some kind of virus!’ You sighed trying to turn it off but it was still on. The monitor started sparking. You panicked and tried to unplug it but no use....the screen went to a light blue....you sat there freaking out not knowing what to do! You went to grab your phone to call a computer tech but you heard a voice...it was Ludwig’s voice from the game?

“I wouldn’t do that if i were you-” he warned

you looked to the monitor seeing Ludwig coming out of the screen into your home...he was real?! HE WAS HUMAN?! Your jaw dropped 

“ what the fuck?!” you exclaimed

“I guarantee you i am of no harm whatsoever” He showed both his hands showing he had no weapon to harm anyone with. 

“ you’re...not supposed to be here..?” you stated...it was more of a question than anything

“ of course i can go where i please, I do have a purpose after all” He smiled softly

“and that purpose is...?” you raised a brow

“ to take you and get married” He stated as if it was an obvious thing he just said

“ Ludwig...you’re a computer- Im not marrying a computer” you said bluntly 

“ don’t be silly (name) We’re bound to be together! You played my route and seeing your face light up seeing me speak really light my heart up” He confessed holding your hand...oddly enough it was warm?

Before you could get a word in he interrupted

“I don’t think we’d want an accident would we?” He threatened giving a tight smile....he fixated his eyes on the power cord and cup of water on your desk..

“how can you do all of this?..” your head spinning, everything seemed so unreal right now. 

“that isn’t important but do know you are safe when you are with me” he reassured you. He held your hand tightly putting it to his muscular chest “ I will make sure we are together and you are not hurt, we could live in the virtual world (name), access to the internet and the whole game its so much larger than that small map they give you. No one will ever purchase the game again anyways” He said looking into your eyes his piercing blue eyes looking deep into your eyes.

“What are you talking about?” you pulled you hand away from him, confused at his question. the quiz and the game? Surely there may be others trapped in this game or A.I rather than you.

“ You manage to find the one quiz buried deep in the internet, our game had created that quiz of yours and deleted it after a person took it. You found a strange dating game and downloaded it without thinking about potential consequences. Think about it (name) we are bound together. This is our fate. You chose me. You wanted me.” Ludwig looked at you, his tone was serious. How the hell are you gonna get yourself out of this one?

Suppose its too late to call that computer tech now is it?

#yandere germany #yandere hetalia x reader #yandere hetalia #yandere hws germany #yandere aph germany #aph germany #yandere AI #yandere computer

[cassettesocialism]

Quick Roll Table for Lancer NPCs

Starting off with IPS-N, for when you need to populate a rickety O'Neil cylinder with salty cosmonauts. 1. IPS-N Marine: Nearly two and a half meters tall and loaded with myolace, endodermal NxRA integuments, and titanium-carbide osteoplate. Putting her in a hardsuit only makes her more of a terror in close quarters. She treats her squadmates like a mother bear treats her cubs and takes no shit when it comes to their safety, whether that be from the enemy or IPS-N suits. With any luck, she’ll include you in her pack too. 2. IPS-N Subline Jockey: They’re twitchy as all hell and just can’t seem to sit still. Quite short despite a lifetime in space, and always wears their truncated environmental filter system. They’ve got an impeccable record sitting in the casque of a Walleye; if you need a flak screen penetrated or a patrol cutter outran, they’re the one to call. Willing to fly anyone or anything anywhere for a surprisingly generous rate, no questions asked.

3. IPS-N Suit: Totally unflappable and results driven, station deckhands have taken to calling them ‘Rocky’ for their stone-cold demeanor. One wouldn’t expect someone as relatively unassuming as them to hold the levers of military and civilian procurement in the palm of their hand. Despite the strict IPS-N regs on employing freelancers, they’re willing to take all comers for work. Be absolutely sure you don’t disappoint.  4. IPS-N Mechanic: As salty as any cosmonaut comes, and has little patience for those who don’t know what they’re doing or waste his time. Carries an entire toolbox, fusion torch and all, inside an oversized and very rusty mechanical arm. Some say that he can put a NLS drive back together with his eyes closed. Does repair work on the cheap, but will make you stay and watch him. Take notes, he’ll quiz you once he’s done. 5. IPS-N Miner: A persistent ray of sunshine despite spending all of her time working in deep-core nickel-iron asteroid mines. She lost all of her limbs and an eye doing her job. IPS-N set her up with some second-rate cybernetics, clunky, poorly neuro-tuned, and constantly belching steam. They still expect her to work and pay them back. She quietly wishes she could hurt the company very badly for putting her in this situation. 6. IPS-N Captain: Older than most everyone on the station, doesn't look a day over 65 thanks to the vagaries of nearlight travel, stasis-sleep, and a healthy diet of Ispahsalari cigars and Ras Shamran whiskey. Rough around the edges, with a low brow sense of humor befitting of an old salt cosmonaut. If you can get past both those, you'll find that he's well worth his weight in O2, knows the best deck-teks and merchants on the station on a first name basis

#lancerrpg #lancer #lancer rpg #lancer ttrpg

[fourteenfifteen]

15 days of fatt - day 1: just a little guy

also on ao3!

~

“Aria, send it to the group chat. Come on, send it already-“

“I’m sending it! I’m literally sending it right now. Aaaaand there you go.”

New message in “Kingdom Come (now with jacqui xoxo)”

Mako clicked the link Aria had sent and pulled it up in the Mesh in front of him. “Make a yogurt parfait? God, these quizzes are so weird.”

“Mako?” Jacqui was squinting at him from the far side of the couch. Not that far, really, with the size of the Kingdom Come’s living room. “How did you do that? Like, have the website come up in front of you.”

“Oh this?” he replied, gesturing to the floating personality quiz. “It’s easy, you just pull it up.”

“What?”

“You just pull it up-“

“Guys just make your yogurt parfaits!” Aria said. “I want to know what everyone gets.”

“Fine.” Mako started clicking through the options. He picked a cool, kind of minimalist looking glass with a layer of strawberry yogurt and a layer of chocolate yogurt. “These options are so weird,” he said, scrolling to a question that read Now, pick a fun topping. “Who is putting graham crackers in their yogurt parfait? Like, not even crumbs, full graham crackers.”

“You try coming up with six topping options for a parfait,” Aria replied, not even looking at him.

“I just wouldn’t have done parfaits. You get that, right, like I just would have done anything else.”

“Okay, I’m done,” Jacqui announced. “It’s loading… I got Hella.”

“Oh, I can see that.” Aria nudged her. “I mean, you’re both tall, handsome women-“

Jacqui smiled. “Hopefully I’m less evil, though.”

“Maybe.” Aria laughed as Jacqui rolled her eyes. “Let me finish mine, I only have one question left.”

Mako scrolled down to check his progress. “How are you guys so far ahead of me?”

“Maybe if you stopped complaining… Oh, I got Adelaide! Oh my God, babe, look at us!”

The two of them being gross on the couch was great motivation for him to ignore them and finish his quiz. He picked a fancy ass spoon because fuck it, and then his results started to load. “I got… Fero!? God, this quiz sucks, no way.”

“I don’t know,” Jacqui said, “I kind of see that for you. You’re both, y’know, uh, mouthy-“

“And you would love turning into animals,” Aria added.

“Ugh, but he’s so…” Mako stood and paced in front of the TV. He gestured vaguely. “He’s so loud. And short.”

Aria was laughing. “You’re also loud and short! You’re both of those things! You’re our little guy!”

“I am NOT! I am NOT a little guy. I’m not even the littlest guy on this ship.”

“Yeah, because we’re tied for shortest.”

“No, that’s not true.”

She gasped for breath. “Yes it is, Mako.”

“No, I’m taller than you. Stand up, we’ll go back to back.”

Aria stood, still laughing. She stood behind him, head to head.

Jacqui stood to judge. “Stop giggling, Aria, hold still.” Another burst of laughs came out, but then Aria summoned some deep inner well of balance and stopped laughing. Jacqui hummed. “Mako’s right, he has like a centimeter on you.”

“THERE!” Mako shouted as she fell back into laughs. “I told you.”

“Okay, but- okay, but- Fero would totally do this exact thing.”

“Yeah, if anybody was his height.”

There was another ping in the group chat.

Cass: I got Ephrim? I don’t know who that is, I don’t think I’ve seen that far.

“Oh, I can see that for Cass,” Aria said, somehow still giggling.

“Princes,” Mako said.

“And they’re both, uh,” Aria said, giggling some more, “troubled.”

“Very troubled,” he agreed. “Cass has anime angst.”

“Right, of course.” Aria glanced at her screen as the group chat pinged again.

Jacqui: I got Hella, Aria got Adelaide, and Mako got Fero.

Cass: Oh, Fero is spot on for Mako.

Aria screamed. “Cass, shut up!” Mako yelled.

#hen fic #15 days of fatt #fatt #friends at the table #counter/weight #gonna try to do all 15. god willing

[tap-tap-tap-im-in]

A friend of mine asked me recently to detail my Linux setup, and after thinking about it for a bit, I realized that this is essentially a personality quiz for the Linux users I thought I would detail it here as well.

I no longer have a desktop computer at all. I have two older generation "gaming" laptops and three Raspberry Pis. I'm going to go through in the order I got them:

Laptop #1:

[Purchased New in 2016] Acer ROG 7th Gen i7, 16GB Ram, nVidia 1050Ti Mobile, Internal 1TB HDD, external 2TB HDD

This was originally a windows laptop when I got it back in 2016, but in 2021 I was tired of the long windows boot times on the the HDD and was much more familiar with Linux due to several years experience doing webserver admin work.

I use Ubuntu LTS as my base. It's easy, it's well supported, it's well documented, and the official repos have just about everything I could need. The only thing I've really had to add myself is the repo for i3, but we'll get to that in a bit. I also chose Ubuntu because I already had my first two Raspberry pis, and both were running Raspbian, so using a debian based kernal meant that it wouldn't be much of a change when ssh'ing into them.

That said, I've never really liked the default Ubuntu desktop. Gnome3 is slow and full of too many effects that don't look especially nice but are still heavy to execute. Instead I loaded up KDE plasma. You can download Kubuntu and have them to the setup for you, but I did it the hard way because I found out about Plasma after installing Ubuntu and didn't want to start from scratch.

My plasma desktop looks like this:

Of my two laptops, this one is in the best shape. It's the one that I usually take with me on trips. With the dedicated GPU it can do some light gaming (it did heavier gaming on windows, but due to emulation layers the performance is just a little worse these days, Linux gaming isn't perfect), the screen hinge has never been an issue, and it's on the lighter side of gaming laptops (which is not to say that it's light). For that reason, I often find myself actually using it on my lap, in airports, at people's houses, on my own couch typing this up.

For this reason, I started looking into ways to better keep my hands on the keyboard, rather than having to drift down to the track pad, which is my least favorite part of this laptop. During that research I discovered i3. If you're not familiar i3 is a Linux Desktop Environment that is entirely keyboard driven. https://i3wm.org/

To be fair, it's less of a desktop environment and more of a keyboard driven window manager, as it doesn't have a "desktop" per se. Instead when you log into it, you simply get a black status bar at the bottom of the screen. It doesn't even black out the login screen, so if you don't know what to look for, you might think the whole thing has hung. But, the big benefit of this is that the whole thing is lighting fast for a DE. It doesn't waste any resources on effects or really anything that you don't need. But it's really nice for window tiling and task switching without having to get the mouse involved. This is great for productivity (if you're into that), but it's also just convenient for working on a gaming laptop, which might be balanced such that if you take your hands off of it, it might topple off your lap.

This laptop is my primary project computer. It has all my git repos and scripts for doing things like renewing my website's ssl certs. I also run game servers on it for Minecraft. I'm probably going to spin up a Valheim server on it in the near future too. Especially now that the process has improved somewhat.

Raspberry Pi #1:

[Gifted New in 2016] Raspberry Pi 3b, 4GB RAM, 32GB SD card

This one is my oldest RPi. It's had a lot of roles through the years, including an early version of the vogon media server during initial development in 2020. It's run headless Raspbian for a good three or four years now. Currently it's configured as a web server/php scripted web crawler and a pi-hole DNS server. My router currently refuses to use it as a DNS server without bringing the whole network down, but I will on occasion manually switch devices to it when I'm running especially ad-ridden applications.

There's not too much to say about this one. It's stable, I almost never have problems with it. I frequently use it for things that I want running in the background because they'll take too long and I don't want them blocking up one of my other computers.

Laptop #2

[Gifted Used in 2020] Asus Predator 7th Gen i7, 16GB Ram, nVidia 1080 Mobile, 2 internal 256GB SSDs, External 2TB HDD

This one runs windows 10 still. I use this primarily for gaming. The screen hinge is an absolute joke, and replacing it involves replacing the entire screen bezel assembly, which I can absolutely do, but is such a pain that I haven't gotten around to it in the 3 years I've owned this laptop.

There's nothing really special about this one, other than that when both laptops are at my desk, I use a KVM switch to swap my external monitor, keyboard, and trackball between the two computers.

Raspberry Pi #2:

[Gifted New in 2020/21] Raspberry Pi 4b, 4GB Ram, 16GB SD card, 2 120GB USB Sticks, External 2TB HDD

This is my media server. I got it for Christmas 2020 (or 2021, I don't actually remember which because 2020 was a hard hard year). It runs Rasbian, the full OS, with the desktop environment disabled from booting via the command line. It runs PHP 8.2, MariaDB, Apache2, and MiniDLNA to serve the content via my Vogon Media Server.

If you can't tell from the above storage, I'm running the USB ports well past the power delivery they are rated for. The webserver and OS are on the internal storage, so functionally this just means that sometimes the media disappears. I need to build a migration script to put the contents of the two USB sticks on the external storage, as there is more than enough room, and if I can put the HDD in an enclosure with dedicated power, that will solve the issue. But that's at least a hundred dollars of expense, and since the server only has 1, maybe two users at a time, we've been limping along like this for a few years now.

Raspberry Pi #3:

[Purchased New in 2023] Raspberry Pi 4b, 8GB Ram, 16GB SD card

This is the newest Pi. Work gave me a gift card as a bonus for a project recently, so after weighing the pros and cons of getting a VR headset, I settled on setting up a retro gaming tv box. Currently it's running Batocero Linux and loaded up with classic game roms up through the PSX. Though, I would really like to use it as a tv client for the media server. I've upgraded the devices in the living room recently, and there's no longer a dedicated web browser we can use without hooking up one of our laptops. I've got a spare 128GB SD card in the office, so I'm strongly considering getting a wireless mouse and keyboard and setting it up to dual boot between Batocero (which is convenient because it can be navigated with just a controller), and Raspbian. I think I'd set Batocero as the default in Grub, and then if I want to use Raspbian I'd need to have the keyboard handy anyway.

Maybe I'll get one of those half-sized keyboards with the trackpad built in.

Speaking of controllers. I use an 8BitDo Pro 2 controller, and I've been super happy with it since purchase: https://www.8bitdo.com/pro2/

So that's the setup. I have entirely too many computers for any one person, but I included the dates when I got them to show that a number of these have been around for a long time, and that part of the reason I have so many now is that I've put a lot of time into ongoing maintenance and repurposing.

If you've read this far, I'd love to hear about your setups. You don't have to reblog this, but please tag me if you detail yours.

#linux #computers

[dgrailwar]

Round Δ, Day 4 - All Teams (Overseer Announcement)

Well, that was interesting. And a mess. And far more than I wanted to show, but this was simply a detour. Let's return to your proper Servants, shall we?

We'll just load everything in... it should take some time. How about another quiz? You all did very well on the first one, after all.

#loading screen quiz #event: delta summon

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Vol:12 - Again, looking back on 25 years with Gara.

K: Hi, here we are with The Freedom of Expression on our Nico Nico channel. Im Kaoru from Dir en grey. 

J: And Im Joe Yokomizo, who has just been for a beer in the Chinese restaurant near the studio. 

T: And Im Tasai from Tokyo Sports. 

K: And we also have someone who was with us last time, and he just didn't talk enough, so he's here again this time. Its Gara from Merry. 

G: Good evening, Im Gara from Merry. 

J: The staff have told me you're pretty annoying. 

K, T: Haha 

G: Not at all!

J: Kaoru, what would you say? In your view, is he annoying?

K: Haha, no, he's not. 

J: Gara, I wanted to ask you, were you Dir's first roadie? 

G: For the past 20 years, I always thought that I was, but after the show last time, I was in the dressing room, and I got a message from Shinya. He told me the name of the guy who was there before me. So I thought, 'Aghh, there really was someone before me!'. I wonder if that guy actually counts though?

J: Haha, Leader, what do you think? This is quite important. 

G: It was only for a short time. 

K: Yeah, but it still counts. As soon as I heard it, I thought, 'Oh yeh, of course!!'

G: Kaoru, that means Im the second roadie?

K: Yep, you are the second. I was right after all. 

G: I must have forgotten, because I never thought there was someone like that before me. 

J: Do you kinda feel like he's stealing your glory a bit now?

G: Yeah, I always thought I was the first.

J: I see, haha. So, from now, your are Dir's second roadie?

G: Yeah, Ive been exposed by Shinya. Im the second roadie. 

J: Do you feel a bit like Shinya should have kept quiet about this? haha

G: Yes, I really do. 

J: Haha. Yes, well today we are joined by Dir en grey's second roadie, Gara. So, last time you were looking back at Dir en grey's history, from the Indies days, to now, right?

K: Yes. 

J: I was unable to join last time due to my work schedule. 

K: This is the first time for you to be here when we have a guest, right?

J: Yes, thats right. 

K: He always disappears somewhere whenever we've had a guest before. 

J: Oh no, not intentionally though. Its purely by chance!

K: It was as if guests would come because you weren't here. 

J: Yeh, I've heard that. I don't know about that though. Anyway, today we are gonna be looking back at the indies era in detail. There'll be loads of great stuff to hear, so stay tuned. Please send in your comments too, questions, thoughts, messages of support, anythIng is ok. People using twitter can use the tag TFOE. The first part of this show is free for anyone to watch, but the second part is for channel members only. If you become a member, you can watch this live broadcast in the archives for a year, and you will also be able to access members only videos. Please click the blue link at the top of your screen to joIn, and enjoy this broadcast to the end.  Leader was just pointing to it. Dir's second roadie was pointing too, weren't you?

G: Haha, yes...second...I'm quite sad, I tried so hard back then too. 

K: Surely, trying hard has nothing to do with whether or not you were first? 

J: Maybe you are just slightly envious. Ok, well, as for today, we will have another look at photos from back in the day. (*Indies photo of Kaoru appears on screen*) Here we go, since we are looking closely at the indies era today. How do you feel about this, Leader? Do you recognize this photo?

K: Well, we used this photo last time. Only you wouldn't know that. 

J: Oh, I see. I do apologize. Maybe I should stick to the script more.

K: Haha, no no. 

J: But anyway, we'll be digging deeper into the Indies era today, but first we have a quiz. Its time for the "Does Kaoru remember?" quiz!!

*applause*

J: Ok, so Dir's second roadie, Gara... 

K: Haha, you just want to keep saying that, don't you?

J: Yes, haha. 

T: He is the first one in my mind!

J: You are first in your heart, but second in reality. Anyway, Gara has created a quiz for Kaoru about the indies era. So Kaoru, try your best to remember. There are quite a few questions, but we will try to do at least 5. Try to get them all right, Leader. 

G: You'll be able to to tell if i really was first, and whether there really is a bond between us from this. 

T: Haha

J: Right? We need to look out for that. Ok, Gara, I'll hand over to you. 

G: I start from Question 1, right? Ok, Where was the place where I first met the members of Dir en grey? I said last time that the first live show I saw them was at Shinjuku Rock, but this time I'm asking about our first meeting, so its not a live venue. 

J: Ok, so Q1 is asking for the place you first met. Leader, you have a sketchbook in front of you to write your answers. For some reason, myself and Tasai also have sketchbooks, although its not likely that we will know the answers...

T: Yeah, we will just try our best. 

J: Yes we will. So, Gara, is this with no hints, right?

G: Yeah, the meeting place, this was an important moment. 

J: If he doesn't remember this, it could seriously damage your trust in him. 

G: Right. 

J: Haha, but look at Leader's face! He totally looks like he can't remember. Can we get a camera close up on him? This is important! If you'd never met, we wouldn't be here now. 

G: This was earlier than the live.

J: Ah, they want you to get this right in the comments. Gara, you probably spoke about your love towards Dir en grey last time, but this time its all about how far Kaoru's love extends to you. Ok, Tasai, you write something too, make it Tokyo Sportsy if you want. 

T: Ahh, its difficult. 

G: Kaoru is writing something now. 

J: Ah, a comment saying 'Kaoru looks cute when he's thinking'. And 'A forfeit if he gets it wrong!'...'Leader's love is deep!'

G: Its the first meeting, remember. 

J: Yeah, the place. 

T: By the way, how did you feel when your first met?

G: Well, I'd only ever seen them in magazines before then, so I was nervous, but I still remember introducing myself. 

T: Ahh, I wonder where it was...

J: Hmm, ok, Tasai, you show us your answer first. 

T: So this was when you were new in Tokyo, right? Ok, here's my answer. 'A bus stop at Tokyo Tower'. Like maybe they decided to meet up here for some reason. Maybe there were just there for some reason. 

J: Ahh...Ok, I don't quite understand this, so moving on...haha. 

T: Haha 

J: No no, you mean, maybe they had planned to go somewhere, so they met up there first?

T: Yeah. 

J: Well, the real question is whether Leader remembers. The place he first met Gara. Leader, lets have your answer. 

K: The studio in Kōenji. 

J, T, G: Ahh. 

T: That sounds more like it. 

J: Ok, Gara, tell us the answer. 

G: The correct answer is, an in-store event at Like An Edison. 

K: Don't remember that! Hahaha 

J: He doesn't remember!

G: It was an in-store event to coincide with the CD release, so I went and met the members for the first time. Meeting in the studio was after that. 

J: Well, he must have been close with this answer, right? If you met for the second time in the studio?

G: Yeah. I have a tonne of memories from that studio too. I saw them making new songs and and stuff there. I used to always drive the equipment truck too back then, but at the time I didn't have my own parking space. They told me to be responsible for truck, even though I didn't have a parking space, so I had to park it on the street in front of my place for about a month. 

J: Ahh, I bet you got a tonne of parking tickets. 

G: Yes. 

J: Ahh, that sounds painful. And despite this you still might be the second roadie! Leader, why did you think the answer was Kōenji?

K: Well, he was just there a lot. 

J: It seemed likely to be the place?

K: Yeah. 

T: Kaoru, do you remember this in-store event? 

K: No, we did a tonne of events like that back then. 

J: If any of the viewers were at that event in Like An Edison, please tell us in the comments. I wonder if anyone was? Not that we can give them anything if they were, except say, 'Oh wow!'. Haha. Well, that was question 1. A comment there says, 'A shock for Gara!'

G: He was close though, because I was often in the studio at Kōenji. 

K: You were following us, haha. 

J: Its like, he was only a little bit wrong. 

G: Ok, shall we move on? The next question is this. 'Where was the first region (outside Tokyo) that Gara travelled to as a roadie? And what was the amazingly delicious restaurant where Kaoru took Gara out to eat for the first time?'

K: This is hard! haha 

J: The restaurant name. 

T: Is this maybe a hint? You told us the region you are from last time, right, Gara?

J: Eh? Where are you from??

T: No no no, don't tell him! haha. 

J: Eh, whhhy? Ok, whatever. But we need the region Gara first travelled to as a roadie, and the name of the delicious restaurant where Kaoru first took him out to eat. 

T: Joe, you write something first. 

J: Its not WHAT you ate, right? Its the name. 

G: Yes. If I say what I ate, I think Kaoru will know where it was. 

T: Kaoru, do you know? 

K: Well, I'm just not sure about the timing as for the region. 

T: Its difficult!

J: The restaurant name is tricky too. 

G: But its something that everyone has heard of. 

J: Oh, so its not lIke an independent, local place, right?

G: Yeah. But back then, it was only...oh, I'll give it away if I say that. 

K: Back then it was only..?

T: Ok, lets write our answers. Some comments saying, 'Gara is causing trouble for Kaoru', 'Leader, think!', 'I think I know it'. If you know it, don't tell us! 

J: Well, I really have no idea, but this is my answer. For the region, Hokkaido. And the restaurant, Dosanko Ramen. This is what I would eat after a concert, so I thought it could be this. 

G: That's a good answer. 

J: Thank you. Ok, Leader, your turn. 

K: Osaka, and Kamakura (ramen).

G: Oh, that's correct!! That makes me so happy! 

*applause*   

G: He told me about this incredible ramen, and took me to try it. So my first time trying Kamakura was with Kaoru. 

J: Ah, great! You got it right. 

G: You remember that?

K: No no, I just used to go there all the time back then! 

T: You don't actually remember going with Gara? 

K: Well, he said the words, 'Back then it was only...', which reminded me that this place became a national chain a little while later. Haha

J: Ahh, I see. 

G: Ahh, I gave it away with the hint. 

J: So it wasn't your memory, it was the hint that got you there. 

G: Kamakura ramen was totally different from any of the ramen I'd had before then. I didn't realise ramen could be like that. 

T: Ahh, yeh, its good, isn't it? 

J: Did you go there to finish a night of drinking or something? 

G: No, I think Kaoru just took me there. 

K: We still couldn't really afford to go out drinking much back then. 

J: Ah, financially, right? Eat loads of ramen instead, right?

K: Yeah. 

J: Ah, well, we got a correct answer! Shall we move on? 

G: Ok, the next question is this. 'What was the first song on which Gara helped during the recording?' 

J: This is quite important, right?

G: Yes. 

J: This is the first question related to the actual job. Hmm, a song from the indies era? 

G: Yes. I was able to see how the recording process worked. 

K: I'm trying to think what the timing would be...haha. 

J: Hmm, when would it be?

K: Yeah, I mean, within our timeline. 

J: Tasai, do you have any idea?

T: Well, hmm, I don't think we talked about this kind of thing last time...I might be wrong. 

J: Hold on a sec..Gara, you want him to get this right, yeh? 

K: Ahh, I dunno.  

J: You just wrote something though!

G: I saw the while process of recording the song with this one.

J: So, you were there watching the whole time?

G: Yeh, from when they started making the song in the Kōenji studio. 

K: Well, in that case I think I've got it right. 

T: Well, this is kinda vague, but my answer is, 'That song you recorded in an old house somewhere'.

G: Oh, that was Jealous. 

T: Yes, Jealous. 

J: Ok, Leader?

K: Haven't you written anything?

J: No, I haven't. Haha. 

K: Ok, my answer is Ash. 

G: Correct!!

*applause*

K: Well, I thought it was likely to be this. 

G: Yep, I was there during the recording. 

K: For that omnibus album?

G: Yes. 

K: Yeah, he said 'which song', so that means it wasn't part of a collection of songs. And if it wasn't a single, then it would have to be this. 

G: I remember I went for Tendon with Die. 

K, J, T: Hahaha. 

J: Is food all you remember?! Haha. So you saw the whole recording process. Do remember making any new discoveries about the secret to Dir en grey's sound?

G: I didn't understand the secret to it at all!

J, T: Haha. 

J: But you remember the Tendon. 

G: Yeah. Well, it was only one day. From the drums, bass, guitars, and even to the vocals, it was all done in one day.

T: Amazing. 

J: Yeah, but with a few hints, Leader got it right. 

G: Impressive!

J: Yes, two out of three correct so far. Ok, do we have time for another one?

G: Ok, next question please. 'There was once a mid-summer outdoor event back then, (which I attended as a roadie), but what did Kaoru say to me in the car on the way home, which to this day, I can never forget?' I can give you a small hint, it was a bit of a shock. 

J: So it wasn't something moving, or meaningful?

G: No

J: He wasn't commending your abilities or anything?

G: Not at all. My response was more like, 'Ehh? Kaoru, did you really say that??!'

J: It was something a bit shocking?

G: Yes. 

K: Did it have some connection with the event?

G: Yeah...this mid-summer outdoor event

K: Ah, I see.

J: That's a hint! Mid-summer, outdoor event. Ahh, there is some interest in the comments too. 'Gara, this quiz is fun' etc. 

G: Thank you. Its been 20 years, but these words of Kaoru's have stayed with me. The main hint is probably that it was shocking. 

T: Well, since you've been talking about food, Gara, I think its about food, so my answer is, 'I just ate shaved ice, but I hid it from you'. 

K: Haha

T: Like in the heat, he ate it all. 

J: Ah, like Gara would resent Kaoru for it?

T: Yeah, he'd be shocked. 

J: Well, since it was summer, my answer is this. 'Your sweat stinks!' It'd be shocking to be told this, right? Ok, Leader? I wonder if you remember. 

K: My answer is this 'What are you doing with us??'

T: Ahh, that would be bad. 

K: Well, it was an event, so there might have been some other bands playing that he liked, you know?

J: Ahh, so it wasn't like a solo event. 

G: Well, one time Kaoru came over to my place, and I had posters of all sorts of other bands up everywhere, so maybe he wondered what I was doing with Dir?

T: Did any of us get it right?

G: Actually, one of you did! Shall I tell you what he said to me? He said, 'You stink of sweat!'

J: Yeahhh!

K: Hahaha 

T: How did you get that??

G: Well Done, Joe. 

J: He really said that to you?

G: Yeah, it was the middle of Summer, and I was moving all the equipment around by myself, I worked so hard. Then at the end I got in the car and sat next to Kaoru, and he said, 'Ugh, you stink of sweat!'

K, J, T: Hahaha 

G: I was like...I've been working hard for you all day! I've never been able to forget it. 

T: Kaoru, do you remember?

K: No..

G: I was pretty young, so it was quite a shock for me. 

K: But I vaguely remember him telling me about how I said that to him once. 

J: Did you tell him about it?

G: Maybe when we when out drinkIng once, I might have mentioned it. But it really was the most shocking thing to hear from him. I mean, that's how a roadie should be, right?

J: It shows that you've worked hard. If you weren't sweaty, you wouldn't have been doing your job properly. 

G: Right? That's how I should be. 

J: Its a sign that you did a good job. 

G: Yes 

T: Someone commented, Kaoru should apologize. 

J: Haha 

K: I'm sorry. 

J: Ahh, an apology from Leader!

G: I feel purified, haha. 

J: Ohh, that's good. Ok, next question.

G: Ok, the next question is, 'Which food which Gara hates did Kaoru force him to eat, all in one?' This was a thing when I used to go for drinks with Kaoru, hated foods or stuff like that. 

J: Well, you DO stuff like that when you are young, don't you?! I mean, if we don't know what foods you don't like, we are never gonna get this, but Leader probably knows. Its just a matter of choosing the right one. 

G: Yeah, this particular food, I still can't even eat it. 

J: You can't eat it?

K: Something that can be eaten in one go?

G: Er, we talked about this last time, but he also made me do 'Pistachio all in one' before too. 

J: Ugh, that's like hell. 

G: I wasn't allowed water, so I just had to keep crunching away until I could swallow.

J: That sounds tough, you cant really swallow it all at once either, can you?

K: Inside your mouth was shredded, wasn't it?

G: Yeah. 

J: Ugh, really? Well, viewers, please write in the comments if you have any ideas about this one. Someone just wrote pizza, but its something you still can't eat, right? If its something even an adult can eat, it must be something with quite a distinct taste?

G: Ah! Yes. 

T: Ahh, I've already written something. 

G: *reading comments* Century egg? Ohh, that would be tough!

J: And expensive!

T: Ok, lets reveal our answers. So, last time Gara said he doesn't like chicken much, and I thought if he's done 'pistachio all in one', maybe he might have done this too, 'Fried chicken cartilage all in one'

J: Ah I see. Well, my answer is this. 'Goya' (bitter melon). A lot of people  hate this, and it tastes very distinct. Ok, Leader?

K: Haha, I don't even remember, but..'Pickles'. 

J: Gara, are any of us correct?

G: One of you is close. 

J: Ohh, ok, tell us the answer. 

G: The correct answer is, Okinawan pickled onions (島らっきょう). So 'pickles' is nearly right. 

K: Goya is kinda there too, haha! (*Goya is an Okinawan vegetable*) Ahh, pickled onions, I think I kinda remember this now. 

T: Like, how did that work?

G: Well, all the onions were in the bowl, and I had to put them all in my mouth at once, and swallow them without a drink. 

J: Ahh, the things you got up too. 

G: I can still remember the disgusting aftertaste. 

K: The taste lingers, right?

G: Yeah. 

J: Ahh, is that the time already? Did we do 4 questions?...5? We did 5. How many did Leader get right? 2?

T: 2.5, right? With 'pickles'

J: Ah, ok, yes. 2 correct answers, and 1 good try. Half correct. What do you think Gara?

G: Yeah, I think he remembers a lot, since he was close with that last one. If this were baseball, he would be (*baseball reference, I dunno*)

J, K, T: Yeah, haha. 

G: It was a good result. 

J: Ok, Leader, 5 questions about the indies era from Gara. What did you think?

K: I don't remember anything.

J, T, G: Hahaha

K: I just worked out the answers from the hints. I don't actually remember. 

G: We were close though, we we working together practically every day. 

K: But it was only one year out of 25, haha. 

J: Well, yeah...

G: Maybe that's the fate of being the second roadie...haha. 

J: Ok, we're going to have to finish the first part of the show, but we'll learn more about Kaoru in the second half. We'll continue talking about Kaoru and Gara's history, so please become a channel member to see that. I'll just let you know how you can do that. The second half of the show is for members only, so you need to be a channel member if you want to see it. If you join, you can watch this broadcast in the archives for a whole year, and we also have members only videos, where we challenge ourselves to all sorts of things, so you can enjoy those too. Ok, how to join. Its very simple. There is a blue link at the top of your screen. Kaoru is pointing now. Click this link, and you will get a screen asking you to choose your payment method. Choose your method and click proceed. Then you can enter your payment details, and you're done. If you haven't yet joined, please do, and enjoy the rest of the show. Ok, now, some news from Gara?

G: Yes, thanks. Uh, on Dec 25th Merry will hold our 'Very Merry Xmas' event at Shinagawa Club eX where we will show the history of Merry (*etc*).

J: Ok, thank you. Leader?

K: Hm, was there something? Ah, well, we are mid-tour now. We still have Sapporo, Sendai, Nagoya, Osaka, Osaka. And then an extra date on Dec 16th at Shinjuku Blaze. Uhh, I think there are quite a few venues with tickets still available, so people can definitely come by on the day and check it out. 

J: I saw you at Zepp Haneda recently, but I'd love to see you in one of the other regions if my schedule allows it. 

K: Please do. 

J: Ok, a quick break here while we change over, but channel members hang tight. Lets continue The Freedom of Expression in the second half!

#the freedom of expression #translation #薫 #dir en grey #メリー #ガラ #Gara

[calamitys-child]

How to not be a shitebag and actually go outside and talk to people? I’m the same anon that asked if it was okay to go to a gay bar on your own but now realising that I can’t go to a club without seeming like a creep.

I just want some friends.

Sorry I’m a bit tipsy and want advice from a fellow Scottish queer.

I'm telling you mate, you're not at all automatically a creep for going places by yourself. Like, quick list of things which make you look like a shitebag in clubs:

- sexually and/or verbally and/or physically bothering folks after they've indicated they're uncomfortable

Kinda it! Other than that everyone's there, most folk are drinking, everyone's doing their thing, most folk are happy to meet new people

Look for stuff that you like! Do you like books? Most (especially smaller or independent) bookshops and also most libraries in my experience will do some kind of book clubs, new book launches, talks with authors, that kind of thing. Do you like music, poetry, etc? Check out open mic nights! Do you like films? Smaller cinemas and some bars do screenings of old favourite movies that are typically very relaxed and fun. Do you like board games or ttrpgs? Loads of places do board game nights and every one I've ever seen has had newbie nights or free to play sessions as well as any regular, like, Tuesday Magic The Gathering guys. Do you like drag? Drag shows. Trivia? Me n my friends once adopted a one person pub quiz team cause she was so determined to do well.

Show up! You might make a friend, you might learn a bit about how these kind of social interactions and spaces work and be able to build on that for the future, worst case scenario you see a thing you think is cool and then go home, which is still at least as fun as just staying home in the first place.

I know events sound daunting but the thing about them is, everyone is there for the same thing. If you're in a random cafe like "who here likes ghibli movies" it's unlikely people will be inclined to engage. If that cafe is hosting a ghibli movie night, EVERYONE THERE will be DELIGHTED to talk about their favourite ghibli movies. It gives you instant commonality.

Making new friends in new spaces is scary but I guarantee if you go to things just because you like them, you'll have a blast and friendships will happen. There's one local show I went to for the first time purely on the recommendation of a friend who was performing, so I was in the crowd alone not knowing anyone; now I go every time its on and have about a dozen people where we recognise and greet each other fondly, because we know each other as people who have fun at this show and like to talk about it. It's that simple, really.

It can be scary and lonely and I don't have even half of all the answers, but truly, this is my best advice.

And if you ever run into me out there, I can't promise I'm a great friend, but I'll definitely stand you a drink, alright?

[ebookporn]

RIP to the OG as Sony Prepares the Final Nail in the Coffin of its E-Reader Business

At the end of March, the company's e-reader desktop software will be discontinued.

Pop quiz: which big company was the first to popularize electronic paper e-readers with consumers by making it easy to find and load ebooks and other digital documents?

If you answered Amazon, we’ll see you in summer school, because Sony’s e-readers outdated the Kindle by years. Unfortunately, the company will soon be out of that business entirely as it plans to finally shut down its Reader desktop software as well.

Although the Rocket eBook and the Sony Data Discman were handheld devices created for the sole purpose of reading ebooks and documents, e-readers as we know them today are devices that specifically use electronic paper technology to replicate the look of actual printed pages. E Ink, the most recognizable name in electronic paper, was only established as a company in 1997, but just a few years later in 2004, Sony would release the first true e-reader device featuring E Ink’s screen technology: the Sony Librie.

READ MORE

Suprised they stuck it out as long as they did. I've been sideloading ePub to my Sony PRS 700 for over a decade but never used their desktop. For me, my worse problem is I think I need to find a new battery for the old girl. *sigh*

#ebooks #ereaders #digital publishing #sony #kindle

[f-rgetregret]

had this idea last night as i was falling asleep bc i like to live in the headcanon that cas and dean get a house on the lake with miracle.

dean takes a "which team free will member are you?" uqiz and gets sam. he's really upset about this because there is no way he's a Veggie Loving Softy. he's supposed to be Meat Man Badass!

glancing at the username of the quiz maker, he finds his answer. the whole thing's rigged, it was made by a garth girl. figures. he takes the quiz again; having gone through the questions once already, maybe now he'll get the correct answer.

"how in the hell is crowley even an option in this!?" dean calls out to nobody, or so he thinks.

"well. he didn't have to die for you boys." cas startles him from behind. he walks around the couch and settles in next to dean, "he died of his own free will. don't you think that justifies his spot on the team?" they exchange a glance of upset, and dean shoves his laptop towards cas.

"fine then, you take the damn quiz!" dean grumbles, folding his arms, irrationally upset about not 'getting' himself. cas clicks through the questions quickly, a different but still equally sweet smile with every choice and click of the built-in left mouse key. dean watches cas leave a note in the last question, something he personally opted out of in impatience and disinterest, but can't help but soften his once surly demeanor as he sees the words typed out.

This quiz kept a smile on my face the whole time, thank you for the fun!

they share another glance, this one much warmer, and it fills deans' stomach with butterflies. what was he so upset by again? they break eye contact when the next screen loads, and, oh yeah. that's it. what the fuck!? cas got himself! "how!?" dean pleads, taking the laptop back with force.

"i just picked the options that were meant for me." cas says, as if it were so simple.

"i did that the first time and i fucking got sam!" dean retorts and this smile from cas shouldn't be for this kind of situation. it's so big on his face, and dean will kiss it off of him if he doesn't stop. he's determined to win this quiz, though, and goes again.

"claire!?" he throws his hands up in the air. he thought for sure this time he'd figured out the way this user read their characters, but nope! "it doesn't make sense!"

"well, you two do share a lot of similarities. mother and father issues, coupled with the expectations you have of yourself and therefore others. it makes sense why you were drawn to her answers." cas explains. okay, it may make logical sense, but dean is not admitting to that right now. instead, he rolls his eyes and restarts the quiz. clicking through, it's like he's not even reading the thing anymore, and his result this time is jack. dean frowns, reading through the brief description.

misunderstood from birth, this giant bundle of energy has lived in his fathers shadow for too long. now he's ready to make the most out of life that the world has to offer him. he's got a lot to learn but will always be safe, cared for, and loved by his family.

"aw, this quiz maker is so sweet." cas says gently, and dean wants to be angry, but he's coming up more sad than anything. dammit, this was supposed to be fun and light! why does he have to feel things now!? he misses jack, and sends a pleasant thought his way. thinking about you, kiddo. hope you're having a good day, or night. or time. or place. since you're everywhere or whatever.

"sure, they're sweet, but where the hell am i!?" dean counters, and cas takes the laptop back from him, going to the beginning again and clicking through the questions as quickly as his first go-around. for this turn's optional note, cas stops and thinks for a second before typing, counting something on his fingers.

This quiz is so enjoyable I've taken it six times now!

he hands the computer back to dean with a slight chuckle as he sees the results load in with Dean Winchester.

the righteous man. the heart of team free will. the glue that holds them together. the one who got back up every time he was knocked down. he's in each of us, as we are all bits of him. the world is beautiful because dean winchester is alive and we are lucky to share this space with him.

and dean slams the cover shut, getting up and walking out of the room. "it was rigged! the whole time! i knew it!" he starts, making his way into the kitchen to look in the fridge for nothing in particular. cas follows him and pulls on the back of deans shirt as dean leans forward, presumably grabbing a beer. beer in hand, dean closes the refrigerator door and straightens his posture, now leaning back against cas's chest. he takes a sip and relaxes at the sensation of cool liquid mixed with the close presence of his love, even if the aforementioned love is a know-it-all and perfect uquiz taker.

"they were right, you know." cas whispers into deans left ear, kissing the nape of his neck softly. "we are all so lucky to be alive at the same time as you." in his right ear, this time. shivers run up deans spine and it's only by force of habit to make a joke out of it, minimize things and they don't feel as intense. his arms jut out, as if to push his sleeves up.

"yeah, well, the world will be a bunch of sorry suckers when i kick it then, huh?" dean retorts, and finds himself now embraced within cas' hold.

"yes, they will be." cas mutters, fitting his chin onto deans shoulder and resting his head next to his loved one, and they stare out their kitchen window towards the lake.

#destiel #spn fic

[crossdressingdeath]

Honesty, the most rushed section of the game for me is actually the beginning. Like the explosion of Haven is a loading screen? What? It would've been better to walk around the area + interact with the various factions before everything went boom. Also I would've liked it if they made it so that all the possible Inquisitors were canon, like in DAO. Subtle hints here and there. Like hearing of the tattooed elf sneaking around, the Qunari band hired to be there, the mages from Ostwick and so on.

I believe it's generally accepted that all the possible Inquisitors are canon, but that's through a combination of them all having their own reasons for being present (meaning there's no actual reason for them to be mutually exclusive Conclave attendees) and the precedent set by DAO rather than actual in-game confirmation. But yeah, even a short playable section where you get to actually wander around the Conclave and maybe fulfill a few objectives would've been a better opening. And it wouldn't have been hard to add in hints at the other Inquisitors being present. Trevelyan and Adaar's presence would be easy to bring up (Trevelyan's with the mages/Templars and a Qunari merc band would not be easy to miss so their factions would be well established as there), and maybe someone could mention there being intruders around to suggest the presence of Lavellan and Cadash. It would also allow for some early characterization for Quiz: what do they think of the Conclave's chances? What are their personal goals? How do they feel being in this situation? All that is stuff that gets shoved aside because how Quiz felt about the Conclave doesn't really matter after it blows up, but it could definitely have been explored if the game started at the Conclave. Also I am still thinking about how fantastic it would've been to have the option to play an Inquisitor who absolutely intended to kill Justinia to derail the whole thing if it looked like the Conclave wasn't going their way, just because the roleplay potential of being completely prepared to murder the Chantry's leader only to wind up deciding the course of the Chantry's future in an entire different way than what you intended is absolutely fucking fantastic. Maybe I want to be the cast's resident untrustworthy apostate, Bioware!

But the way the inciting incident of the whole game happens before the game even starts is like... it's like if DAO started at Flemeth's hut and you didn't learn the details of Ostagar until hours into the game. Maybe HLtA would've been more interesting if we saw the Conclave at the start of the game and HLtA was free to do something interesting with the cast being physically in the Fade instead of being stuck playing catch-up over events that there was no real reason to keep from us! You'd lose the crisis of faith aspect of "actually Andraste didn't choose you" by dropping the memory loss angle, but that only matters if you're Andrastian anyway and could easily be replaced by taking the brief post-HLtA question of "you definitely weren't chosen, do you tell people that or do you take advantage of their worship for your own ends" and making that into the big-ticket question for Quiz across the whole game rather than "were you or were you not chosen by Andraste". Plus the "do you tell the truth or take advantage of being worshipped" question would fit with non-Andrastian Inquisitors a lot better, since it can't be brushed aside the way the question of whether you were chosen can; a non-Andrastian Quiz can go "Obviously I wasn't chosen, Andraste was just an ordinary woman and there was nothing holy about her" and on a personal level that's the end of it, but whether or not they take advantage of everyone worshipping them or try to make the truth apparent is something they would have to engage with. And it would've given the player some context for what's been going on since DA2 that brought the rebellion to this point? Because as it is we're left with the uncomfortable question of why the mages and Templars are trying to "compromise" when the Templars want to lock mages up for existing and the mages want to not be locked up for existing. This isn't a situation that really allows for compromise! At least getting an idea of what the people present were thinking would help explain that!

#dragon age inquisition #asks #anon