Isometric drawing plumbing

isometric art

2012.02.24 12:37 altibear isometric art

Isometric art from animation and videogames

2017.03.01 02:25 Rockachaws Isometric D&D

2011.05.05 23:03 1point618 SF, fantasy, post-apocalypse, and other genre visual arts

SF, fantasy, and post-apocalypse visual arts. Explore the visual aspects of imagined worlds. All speculative visual arts are welcome, from space vistas to fantasy landscapes to ruined cities to psychedelic paintings to dreaded monsters to f'ing dinosaurs!

[link]

2024.05.14 16:54 CookiMaster Picking a blurb for Sci-Fi Romance Book

Getting ready to publish a novel in the next month or two, and I've written three different blurbs so far. If anyone wants to read them, please let me know which one seems the best to you. Thanks.
1:
A remnant of humanity lives on beneath the protection of an immense dome. Bereft of history and ignorant of anything beyond the dome's confines, they inhabit an encapsulated and automated City. A vast metropolis built atop the mechanisms which ensure their survival.
All is not bliss however. Residents increasingly hear of illegal actions by those whose curiosity draws them to off-limits areas beneath the City. Police lieutenant Lewis Clay has more than lawbreakers to deal with though. His relationship with a longtime girlfriend is on the rocks, and soon falls apart.
Catherine Westall spends most days working at an orphanage, but her ordinary exterior hides a well kept secret. She’s a delver; one of those who flaunt the City’s laws in their expeditions to restricted sublevels.
When Lewis attempts to arrest Catherine for delving crimes, she narrowly escapes, hoping never to encounter him—or get caught—again. Chance spoils that. Meeting once more in social circumstances, both decide perhaps it’s possible to look past those aspects they find distasteful in the other.
Beginning a more involved, and personal, relationship, they grow closer just as conditions in the City grow bleaker. Earthquakes of unknown cause frighten the citizens, just as everything from plumbing to appliances start to lose reliability. Slowly trusting one another more, Lewis agrees to join Catherine on an expedition below the City. A journey to hunt the disturbances’ cause, and one which will place both in more danger than they’ve ever encountered before.
2:
For Catherine Westall and Lewis Clay, the dome-covered City is the only home either has ever known. They're both curious though, about why the lights on the dome's underside move from east to west over the course of each day.
That curiosity is one of the few things they have in common; considering Lewis works as a police officer, and Catherine involves herself in the practice of delving. An illegal activity which takes its practitioners to forbidden areas beneath the City. She risks her safety, in part, to secure money for the orphanage she manages. Lewis—bound by his duty—tries unsuccessfully to arrest Catherine after becoming stuck with her for a time in the off-limits underbelly. Escaping, she hopes never to see him again, but he, having learned of their shared curiosity, tries to hunt down leads regarding her identity.
Meeting again at a fundraiser for the orphanage, they come to realize that even with their conflicting legal views, they enjoy each other’s company. Planning to meet up again, both wonder if a friendship — or even something more — could be possible.
While his goal increasingly becomes to learn more about her — even to the point of beginning delving himself — he struggles to keep their relationship from damaging his career and other friendships. She finds herself growing fonder of him, while still uncertain what secrets may be safe to share with the charismatic police officer.
Both seek to deepen their relationship, but as more and more citizens blame delvers for an increase in mysterious failures around the City, they find themselves drawn into the dangerous business of trying to diagnose the problems. As inexplicable earthquakes begin to rock the City, both wonder what they’ll be able to accomplish, and whether their lives, or their home, can ever return to normal.
3:
Lewis Clay joined the City police force in hopes of helping his fellow citizens; knowing the job would bring him into contact with criminals. Even encountering delvers—those who make illegal expeditions to the City’s underbelly—wasn’t out of the question. He never expected to actually meet one though.
Catherine Westall, frequent delver, never expected to meet a policeman during one of her expeditions, but there Lewis is, clearly not buying her story about getting lost.
He doesn’t get her name before she escapes his botched arrest attempt, but the two do learn more about one another, including the uncommon curiosity they share. Most residents have never wondered why the City was built, or what — if anything — exists outside the dome above their heads.
Catherine works at an orphanage; interested more in nurturing the children than her bank account. Indeed, the institution is chronically short of money, and her affection for the kids leads to risky profit-seeking delves.
They meet again by chance; neither really looking for a relationship, but finding unlikely companionship in the other. Trust doesn’t come easy, between a law enforcer and a law breaker, but Lewis gains his own interest in delving, just as she struggles to balance career, hobby, and romance.
It isn’t a simple love story however. Necessities more fundamental than law or love are always in demand, and systems providing food, water, and air all begin to falter one after another.
Lewis and Catherine wish they could just enjoy their burgeoning affections, but as quakes begin to rock the City, they realize the most dangerous parts of their lives — so far — are fast approaching.

submitted by CookiMaster to selfpublish [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 07:11 tab_rick The Ultimate Guide to Finding the Most Comfortable Bathtub For You

The Value of Choosing the Right Bathtub

The bathtub occupies a crucial role in our homes and is frequently thought of as a calm sanctuary. It’s not simply a place to get clean; it’s also a place to relax, think, and find comfort after a long day. Given the wide variety of forms and styles on the market, selecting the most comfortable bathtub may be a painstaking process. The decision should not be made carelessly because the ideal bathtub may greatly improve bathing comfort and promote well-being.

Knowing Bathtub Shapes and How They Affect Comfort

The comfort of a bathtub is significantly influenced by its form. It affects the quantity of water the tub can hold, how it fits in your bathroom, and how one’s body lays inside of it. The soaking experience is directly impacted by the geometry of a bathtub’s form. For instance, oval and slipper tubs are popular options for people looking for a pleasant bath with back support because of their gentle curves, which offer a natural recline that supports the back and neck. On the other hand, unless properly created with ergonomic considerations, square or rectangular tubs, with their clean lines, may give a more modern style but may influence comfort.

https://preview.redd.it/dbhj7j0urb0d1.png?width=612&format=png&auto=webp&s=d0c0d77879a5b63e9fed32c92c1e43e4736c558f

Type 1: Oval Shape Tubs: The Classic Choice

Oval tubs have endured because of its timeless shape that works with a variety of bathroom aesthetics.

Advantages of oval shape for relaxing

In particular, oval bathtubs are linked with comfort thanks to their shape. Its delicate contours let your neck and back naturally recline, encouraging a calm posture. Oval bathtubs are safer since they don’t have any sharp corners, especially in homes with kids. Oval tubs are favored by 37% of homeowners, which reflects their lasting appeal, according to a Houzz poll.

Situational recommendations for oval tubs

Oval bathtubs possess versatility and can seamlessly complement both traditional and contemporary bathroom aesthetics. They are particularly suited for spacious bathrooms, where they can serve as a luxurious centerpiece. Additionally, smaller versions are also readily available to accommodate compact spaces, ensuring that everyone can enjoy a comfortable bathing experience in smaller spaces. Oval baths are an excellent choice for couples seeking to share their bath time.

Type 2: Round Shape Tubs: Embracing Circular Comfort

Round bathtubs are a representation of luxury and space and provide a distinctive bathing experience.

The advantages of round tubs’ roomy design

There is plenty of space to sprawl out and unwind in a round tub because of its form. After a stressful day, they are a wonderful way to unwind. They are an excellent choice for a protracted, leisurely soak due to their vast dimensions. 41% of bathers, according to an MTI Baths survey, prefer a longer soak, which is possible thanks to the huge water storage capacity of circular tubs.

Ideal situations for selecting a circular bathtub

Larger bathrooms and rooms with lots of space are ideal for using round bathtubs. They provide an impression of grandeur and elegance and act as a lavish focal point. They might not be the greatest option for small bathrooms because of their size. If you have enough space, a circular tub is a terrific option for anybody looking for the most comfortable bathtub because it may greatly enhance the bathroom’s aesthetic and comfort level.

Type 3: Corner Shape Tubs: The Ultimate Fusion of Luxury and Practicality

Corner baths are the ultimate in elegance and functionality for the discriminating homeowner who refuses to compromise. Why settle for the mundane when you may upgrade your bathing experience even in the most intimate of settings?

Why are Corner Tubs the King of Space-Saving Designs?

Corner tubs are more than simply bathtubs; they are a fashion declaration. They are cleverly designed to slip neatly into nooks and convert even the tiniest bathrooms into luxurious retreats. Consider creating a spa-like sanctuary in your own home, replete with built-in seats and the relaxing embrace of whirlpool jets. For individuals who like bath time rituals, these tubs provide plenty of room for your favorite bath toys, books, or perhaps a glass of wine. It’s more than simply a bath; it’s an experience with all the bells and whistles.

Choosing the Ideal Corner Tub: Aesthetics and Functionality

When it comes to corner bathtubs, it’s all about creating your own little hideaway. To guarantee a flawless fit, consider the size of your bathroom as well as the peculiarities of your plumbing. Dive into the universe of design options, from the classic beauty of the triangle shape to the modern flare of rounded corner bathtubs.

Type 4: The Unique Charm of Drop-In Shape Tubs

Drop-in bathtubs offer a unique blend of practicality and aesthetics, delivering a modern look and a relaxing bathing experience.

Benefits of installing drop-in bathtubs economically

Regardless of the tub’s form, drop-in tubs are often less costly and simpler to install than standalone tubs. Due to its placement inside a deck or similar pre-designed surroundings, this type of tub may effortlessly fit into the bathroom’s decor. An integrated drop-in bathtub, like the sort of tub, is the ideal choice for homeowners who are constrained by space but yet want to enjoy a high-quality bathing experience.

When designing drop-ins, take aesthetics into consideration.

Like acrylic tubs, drop-in tubs come in a number of shapes, allowing homeowners a choice of ornamental possibilities. Add stunning tile work or a distinctive deck material to them to create an amazing bathroom focal point. Because of the many different design options, drop-in tubs, like the acrylic tub, are a popular alternative for homeowners searching for a modern and comfortable bathtub solution that also preserves water temperature.

Type 5: The Elegant Slipper Shape Tubs and Their Appeal

Slipper baths provide a stylish and comfortable bathing option with its distinctive high-back design.

The advantages of ergonomic slipper baths

The high-back design of slipper tubs, which provides exceptional neck and back support, makes them among the most comfortable bathtub alternatives for long soaks. They are well-liked by those seeking a lavish bathing experience since they have a historic allure and make the bathroom seem sumptuous.

Maximizing the slipper tub in your bathroom

Because of its unique style, slipper bathtubs may draw attention in any bathroom. Bathrooms with a vintage or classic design in particular benefit from their old-world charm. When placing the slipper tub, make sure it is in the middle of the room, with one side of the tub featuring a slope for back support and the drain on the other side. It might be placed next to a window for a serene view or in the center for a striking effect. Add vintage fixtures and dim lighting to it to make it more appealing.
Modern slipper baths strike a balance between design and use by having a traditional look with modern comforts. If you’re making your very own private retreat, a single slipper bath is ideal, has a drain on the opposite side, and only has one side with a slope for back support.

Type 6: Square Shape Tubs: Modernity and Minimalism

With its distinct edges and crisp lines, square bathtubs give bathrooms a modern, minimalist look.

Square bathtubs’ visual attraction in modern designs

Modern architecture designs that emphasize straight lines and geometric shapes are reflected in square bathtubs. They are popular in modern and minimalist bathroom designs because of their symmetrical shape, which gives them a sleek and elegant appearance. 29% of respondents to a Bath Trends poll said they favored square tubs for their contemporary appearance.

Functional concerns for the use of square bathtubs

While square bathtubs have a contemporary look, their straight edges may not necessarily make them the most comfortable option for long soaks. But a lot of contemporary square bathtubs are made with comfort in mind, giving a relaxing soak. Before buying, the tub must be tried out for comfort. The fact that square tubs are frequently smaller also makes them ideal for tiny bathrooms or apartments in cities.

Type 7: Rectangular Shape Tubs: Timeless Elegance

Because of its classic design and capacity to offer both convenience and elegance, rectangular bathtubs have remained popular for many years.

Why a lot of people still adore rectangular tubs

Rectangular bathtubs were perfect for persons who wish to take long, peaceful baths since they offer a wide interior and provide much space. The straight lines of a bathroom design may add a timeless elegance to both traditional and modern bathroom designs. It’s important to consider breadth while choosing freestanding bathtubs as well. The standard length of a freestanding tub is 48 to 72 inches, and its typical width is at least 30 inches.

Some suggestions for improving comfort in rectangle baths

Despite the fact that rectangular bathtubs are inherently large, the level of comfort may be boosted by including extras like whirlpool jets, ergonomic backrests, or even padded headrests. This must also be considered because a deeper tub provides a more immersed bathing experience.

Conclusion: Selecting the Best Bathtub for Maximum Relaxation

Understanding your own tastes, aesthetic criteria, and practical requirements are all important steps in the search for the most comfortable bathtub. To make sure that every bath is a restorative experience amidst the abundance of possibilities, it is imperative to put comfort first.

Some of the crucial factors to consider while choosing a bathtub

It’s important to take form, size, material, and design into account while selecting a bathtub. Understanding the advantages that each design offers might help one make an informed choice. Whether it’s the ergonomic comfort of a slipper tub, the contemporary attractiveness of a square tub, or the timeless beauty of an oval tub, making the perfect pick may completely change the bathing experience. The sturdy alternative of stainless steel tubs is readily accessible in a range of designs. There are inexpensive solutions to think about, and they may keep heat effectively. Enameled steel tubs are prone to chipping and scratches, though. If you are comparing less expensive choices, they are also heavier than acrylic tubs.
✩The benefits and drawbacks of each style of bathtub are compared below; to make the best decision, consider your own tastes as well as the unique circumstances of your home:

Bathtub Type	Advantages	Disadvantages
Oval Shape Tubs	– Timeless design suitable for various aesthetics.– Ergonomic shape for natural recline- Safer with no sharp corners.	– May require more space compared to other designs.
Round Shape Tubs	– Symbol of luxury and spaciousness.– Ample space for relaxation.– Hold more water for deeper soak.	– Not suitable for smaller bathrooms due to size.
Corner Shape Tubs	– Space-saving design.– Fits snugly into corners.– Can include spa-like features.– Suitable for small bathrooms.	– Might not be as spacious as other designs.
Drop-In Shape Tubs	– Easy installation.– Cost-effective.– Seamless integration with bathroom decor.– Offers additional storage options.	– Might require a pre-built surround or deck.
Slipper Shape Tubs	– High-back design for neck and back support.– Vintage charm adds elegance.– Suitable for long soaks.	– Might require more space due to design.
Square Shape Tubs	– Modern and minimalist design.– Suitable for contemporary bathrooms.	– Straight edges might not be as comfortable.
Rectangular Shape Tubs	– Spacious interior for long baths.– Timeless design suitable for various aesthetics.	– Might require more space compared to other designs.

submitted by tab_rick to KKRsolidsurface [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 22:29 goodnewsjimdotcom GAME RELEASE! Starfighter General first official lasting MMO patch. Space is boring, so you must design around making it fun, and all good mmos now are designed around end game.

A video of some random game play: https://youtu.be/EK2xB3xCFjQ

If you want to jump in and play: https://store.steampowered.com/app/658480/Starfighter_General/

I'm trying to make the spiritual successor to Xwing for 90s DOS everyone craved, but Lucas Arts never delivered. I was also inspired by Wing Commander Privateer who's title led me to imagining building a giant fleet by buying more and more ships and making friends.
It has a bunch of bugs but these will be fixed in a week or two. It's still pretty fun and a base by which a HUGE HUGE potential WOW killer will be made on. fairly long patch notes of a subset of what I plan on doing in the future are at the bottom.

My take Diablo2 skill tree/Path of Exile Talent tree: https://youtu.be/E8h9E4lw2jk?si=LVK8hQOtWez6Riwy&t=16 Very pretty to watch.

I'm exhausted... I spent close to a year on this patch... And the last 3 months was nothing but sleep, code, sleep, code, body necessities, balanced against being stress sick, normal sick, and trying not to break down due to being isolated non stop working... About 2000 hours in this patch alone, on top of 10,000 hours in the past 6 years before that, and I use an anthology of game resources that took me 20,000 hours to make. There's some bugs due to Unity compiling standalone improper from editor, but they'll be fixed, as well as the story line not in... It's a spoiler, but people say my SCI FI is better than any scifi man's ever written, it's at least good:

Cut scene spoiler of next patch assemble link by hand:

rum ble.com /v4tf892-spoiler-female-ai-voice-all-of-starfighter-general-mmo-patch-1-quests.html

-> What's next timelinie

NOTES:COMING SOON, AND FORECAST->Story missions non stop, techs around em, story's awesome!

Future Patches ->Non Stop Missions in Star System Sol until that story arc panned out and the next enters.
->Bounty System:Allows Player vs Player... Except people who don't want to be doing PVP will get insurance refund money of damages if/when the offending player pays up or gets captured as Bounty.
->70,000ish star stystems per core, 24 cores to dive.
->Warp drive lets you see actual stars warp by you that exist, aim for the star you want to explore, hit warp.
->Space Opera of partially Ai driven, partially Next Gen personality Memento system to have realistic aliens who grudge match you or befriend you.
->Unlimited player MMO
->Fleet building and Fleet Destroying, soft perma death hardcore means its a thrill of the rise and thrill of fall, rinse and repeat! Aim for higher personal bests of fleet sizes
-> Star System capture, control, taxing, law imposing. People can challenge to take over your star in an 2 hour window where your friends are on... If they're not on, AI will use their craft. So build big alleginances for star control power.
->Better UI hull/shields/armoetc such as NES style Brick Icons for stats ->Transfer between shields/thrusteweapons power
->more sanity loss special effects
->Radar
->Better targetting
->Multi Targetting of friend/foe/neutral/quest...
->Fleet General Commands to allies of flight style: ie defend me, skirmish(fight optimally), attack target, bomb target, evasive manuevars, flee(rout) ta
->Weapon escalation: I) rockets/homing missile/cluster rockets, rocket spam mitigated by chaff, ECM, or a bold force shield ejection II) Lasers will always hit, and heat up your ship, so you're encouraged to rotate your ship's sides to absorb heat in multiple places. III) Bombs you need to travel in a straight line without much damage for 7 seconds ->very long range for shelling bases out of turret range IV) Rail Gun V) Destroyers/Capital Ships VI)
->Bounty Combat PVP system
->Magic enabled
->Cockpit overlays
->Custom Attribute Allocation to stats you prefer from leveling up.
->96 most bilious bosses
->More Galactic News Network tickers
->Enable reduction in manueverability based on encumberance, volume limit of cargo
->Crafting based on real world Molecular structures, make materials out of periodic chart elements, and use those materials to make gears, levers, switches, interchangeable parts of a variety of styles. .Hopefully this becomes educational to people entering Chemistry Class later and beneficial to humanity.
->Favorite foods, drink, sanity preservation
->Elaborate 16 supernatural elemental magic systems
->traders and galactic encounters randomly, get cosmos gems to access untold areas, maps of places no one can get to...
->Secret, get ingame podcasts when available by hitting alt+p, ALT+P AGAIN CYCLES THROUGH THEM, CTRL+P CLOSES EM,
-Memento system
-Scientific items system elaborations evident
-power recover of various systems rates, shots costing powers
-Allegiance & Dark Allegiance system where by helping others or the illusion of helping them raises your power, fame, and status in the Galaxy.
-Live Omnipotent roleplay
--MMO Mode leaderboards such as EXP
--More enemies with fun catch phrases?
--what ASPECTS DO YOU WANT WORKED ON MORE? Send ideas and buy triderium. Forums or email is cool.
--multi drops, more rares, uncommons
--more advanced inventory->Scroll deeper, limited by volume, weight slows your thrust + adds collision damage & kickback, sort with different filters, better descriprtion, items catch on fire in inventory, emit toxic gases, melt, get destroyed by oncoming heat attacks or collisions
--Ability to dimensionally recover items picked up previous session... You have em saved on server, just can't see when you load until next patch.... Use upgrades when you got em!
-Conquer Stars and setting taxes and laws
-story history replay dialogue
-more achievements
-Asteroids properly breakinto more than oen
-Give android race an android sounding voice
--Three forms of Ground Combat: GROUND COMBAT FORM I) One is a classical First Person Shooter (FPS) with vehicles.
GROUND COMBAT FORM II) One is tactical Real Time Turn Based Game(RTTG) from top down, almost isometric. RTTG will give you the feel of a classic orthogonic chess like game with cover, vision and such, yet everyone plays at the same time. RTTG mode happens when you enter populated towns, not because the server can't handle infinite players in a small zone, but because it feels more intense when any action and fight can start from the shadows. Movement is freer and faster when no one has fights going on nearby.
GROUND COMBAT FORM III)One is a 3d Fighter Game you'd see in Arcades from the 90s, but with the ability to change targets.
Starfighter General is the Everything Game. And it's for real. Let me know what you want me to dev next. Virtual Goods buys lets me sub contract parts out to make the game faster. Talk about what you want, and if you got the money, be a driver, push this game's development faster. I'm a 64x coder, people who meet me don't believe people like me exist, so I get things done... I just have literally 0$ funding at the moment. You'll see things in Starfighter General you thought were impossible and things never done before... Be a believer, or heck, just play and enjoy.
KNOWN BUGS: 1) Iron ore is called a book 2) Collision detection on giant space ships is clunky and can be very annoying if you get close 3) Vision obscuring of mesh fog in junk yard 4) Laser angle not straight 5) TEXT RENDDER DEPTH of chatting aliens, or targetting computer needs fixed so always visible.
Enable Prime Skils(21):
Attribute is the attribute that influences the skill, Min Int is the minimum intelligence to acquire skill, skill point costs is the number of skill points required (each intelligence you get 1 point), and the name, well, that's the Name:
Mining ships, transport friggates, shipping containers, tugs, destroyers, capital ships, limi
Closing about determination and the long play... If you're of meager means like myself... You can enjoy the challenge MMODE over the long haul... Always getting stronger, never weaker, the ship upgrades, your level, your ascended masteries, your money, your credits, and most of all your own skill level and reflexes that you don't notice but is always increasing.
Name:"Munitions Motorhead" //assault damages Attribute:dexterity MinInt:0 PointCost:4
Name:"Fleet Architect" //general gains to larger fleet Attribute:intelligence MinInt:13 PointCost:10
Name:"Quarry Champion" //mining bonuses Attribute:intelligence MinInt:9 PointCost:6
Name:"Pet Sympahthyry" //charm pets, higher battlemon fight with you, higher morale, Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:5
Name:"Merchant Maestro" //merchant Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:4
Name:"Diplomatic Impunity" //diplomat Attribute:charm MinInt:12 PointCost:4
Name:"Space Speed Ace" //go fast Attribute:dexterity MinInt:0 PointCost:4
Name:"Universal Researcher" //science-shield Attribute:intelligence MinInt:16 PointCost:5
Name:"Intruder Adept" //sneaky Attribute:stealth MinInt:11 PointCost:3
Name:"Astro Archaelogist" //relic finder Attribute:intelligence MinInt:12 PointCost:4
Name:"Midnight Star Drifter" //preserver of self Attribute:agility MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Mixmaster Mechanologist" //crafter Attribute:intelligence MinInt:15 PointCost:6
Name:"Celestial Trailblazer" //explorer Attribute:intelligence MinInt:9 PointCost:2
Name:"Gangster of Smug" //running contraban, con artist Attribute:stealth MinInt:0 PointCost:3
Name:"Cuthroat of the Constellation" //assassin +crit hit Attribute:stealth MinInt:0 PointCost:6
Name:"Seeker of Destiny" //find magic, starts weak due to 10 missing Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:10
Name:"Wing Broman" //buffs//alliance//loyalty Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Dimensional Void Shifter" //cult of the cloak, friends up phantasms dimensionally more Attribute:stealth MinInt:0 PointCost:5
Name:"Racing Destruction Vet" //Ex destruction derby guy Ram Offense/Defense Attribute:endurance MinInt:0 PointCost:3
Name:"Motley Steward" //Friends with Disgraces in Underground Places...Rowdy good for nothin but keeping company with other rowdy good for nothins:+Hires +Recruit enemy Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Trash Baron" //+1 tractor beam lolz extra drops Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:3
Enable Flex s(66)
Name:"Combat" Attribute:dexterity MinInt:0 PointCost:4
Name:"Electronics" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:13 PointCost:3
Name:"Cyborgs" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:17 PointCost:4
Name:"First Aid" Attribute:wisdom MinInt:9 PointCost:3
Name:"Surgeon" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:17 PointCost:8
Name:"Androids" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:17 PointCost:4
Name:"Weapon:Plasma Bolts" Attribute:dexterity MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Greater Reasoning" //core Attribute:intelligence //order MinInt:9 PointCost:1
Name:"Decipher Codes" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:12 PointCost:1
Name:"Martial Arts" Attribute:dexterity MinInt:0 PointCost:4
Name:"Chemistry" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:5 PointCost:3
Name:"Forage" Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:1
:Name:"Quick Draw" //core Attribute:dexterity //blade MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Taunt" Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Annoy & Pester" Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Lie" Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Politics" Attribute:charm MinInt:12 PointCost:3
Name:"Disguise" Attribute:stealth MinInt:9 PointCost:2
Name:"Critical Hit" //core Attribute:luck //chaos MinInt:0 PointCost:3
Name:"Atomic Energy" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:18 PointCost:4
Name:"Pulse Engineering" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:16 PointCost:4
Name:"Fly Aircraft" Attribute:dexterity MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Drive" Attribute:dexterity MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Pilot Shuttle" Attribute:dexterity MinInt:12 PointCost:3
Name:"Read Instruments" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Navigate" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Remember" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Pick Lock" Attribute:stealth MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Ambidexterity" Attribute:dexterity MinInt:0 PointCost:4
Name:"Pick Pocket" Attribute:dexterity MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Distract" Attribute:stealth MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Explosives" Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Construct Trap" Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Fire Artillery" Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Fortitude" //core Attribute:endurance //body MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Interrogate" Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Law" Attribute:wisdom MinInt:13 PointCost:2
Name:"Popularity" Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Confidentiality" Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Sport" Attribute:agility MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Facilitate" Attribute:luck MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Gamble" Attribute:luck MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Cheat" Attribute:stealth MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Deceive" Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Intimidate" Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Space Craft Repair" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:14 PointCost:2
Name:"Aircraft Repair" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Automotive Repair" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Labor" Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Advanced Mathematics" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:12 PointCost:1
Name:"Detective" Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:3
Name:"Perception" //core Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Soliciting" Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Rapid Fire" Attribute:dexterity MinInt:0 PointCost:3
Name:"Safe Crack" Attribute:stealth MinInt:9 PointCost:3
Name:"Auto Mechanic" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Investigate" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Forensics" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:13 PointCost:3
Name:"Survival" Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Lore" Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Butt Kiss" Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Insult" Attribute:charm MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Hardware" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:0 PointCost:1
Name:"Bureaucracy" Attribute:charm MinInt:9 PointCost:1
Name:"Leadership" //CORE Attribute:strength //earth MinInt:13 PointCost:4
Name:"Solicitating" //core Attribute:charm //storm MinInt:7 PointCost:1
Name:"Negotiation" Attribute:charm MinInt:14 PointCost:3
Name:"Vetinarian" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:13 PointCost:3
Name:"Junkyarder" Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Tactical Analysis" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:0 PointCost:3
Name:"Resourceful Mining" Attribute:wisdom MinInt:0 PointCost:3
Name:"Evasive Manuevars" //core Attribute:agility //water MinInt:0 PointCost:2
Name:"Nanotech Engineering" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:17 PointCost:4
Name:"Astrobiology" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:17 PointCost:3
Name:"Metallurgy" Attribute:intelligence MinInt:14 PointCost:3
Name:"Infiltrator" Attribute:stealth MinInt:14 PointCost:4
Name:"Stealth Ops" //core Attribute:stealth //dark MinInt:9 PointCost:2
Name:"Tough Grit" //core Attribute:willpower //fire MinInt:0 PointCost:2 //LOWER EFFECT OF SANITY HITS, lower hungewater costs lacking/etc
Low coolness Upgrade the targeting computer:3 target classifications:Enemies/Missions/Allies:With allies, you can then send fleet commands to them. Encounter rates-Different random encounters in space
---upgrade ideas ->NEW ITEMS ->nEW CATCH PHRASES ->IDEA FOR PROGRESSION OF MOBS gnn MISSIONS

submitted by goodnewsjimdotcom to spacesimgames [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 22:22 goodnewsjimdotcom Starfighter General official lasting MMO patch, I tried to make space fun.

A video of some random game play: https://youtu.be/EK2xB3xCFjQ

If you want to jump in and play: https://store.steampowered.com/app/658480/Starfighter_General/

My take Diablo2 skill tree/Path of Exile Talent tree: https://youtu.be/E8h9E4lw2jk?si=LVK8hQOtWez6Riwy&t=16 Very pretty to watch.

Cut scene spoiler of next patch assemble link by hand:

rum ble.com /v4tf892-spoiler-female-ai-voice-all-of-starfighter-general-mmo-patch-1-quests.html

-> What's next timelinie

NOTES:COMING SOON, AND FORECAST->Story missions non stop, techs around em, story's awesome!

submitted by goodnewsjimdotcom to spacegames [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 20:33 genZcommentary I watched NATLA before watching the cartoon and now I'm watching the cartoon. Here are my thoughts on Book 2, Episodes 12-13

Hello! Here we are again, back for another ATLA commentary.
Before we get started I do want to point out that I’m numbering and labeling episodes according to how they appear on Netflix. Episode 12, as I understand it, is actually two episodes. However, since they’re presented as one thing here, that’s how I’m watching it.
Brief update on other projects: I thought I’d try watching the first Harry Potter movie, but realized it’s two and a half hours long. That’s, at the bare minimum, five hours of commentary writing. So… yeah, we’re gonna hold off on that lol I’m also considering watching a superhero/comic book show called The Boys, because I accidentally caught part of a trailer for it that my girlfriend was watching and it looks very interesting. I’ll be doing the new Game of Thrones commentary next, not sure when exactly.
Okay, let’s go!
Episode 12- The Secret of the Fire Nation

Well that’s a heck of a title! I hope we learn something juicy!

It’s nice to see Aang and Katara bending for fun, thought I’m surprised Aang is so willing to encase himself in a block of ice. You’d think he’d have some trauma from that lol But also, I love Katara’s hair when she lets it down.
Yeah… I’m kind of surprised Aang is taking Appa’s loss as well as he is, considering how he reacted last episode. Since Sokka is talking about walking to Ba Sing Se, I take it they’re not going to be spending time looking for him? But then, didn’t the sandbenders say they sold him to a merchant from Ba Sing Se? Maybe he’s there, and Aang’s banking on that hope.

I know I keep applying real-world logic to a cartoon show, but wouldn’t Ba Sing Se get awfully crowded if they’re constantly taking in refugees from the rest of the Earth Kingdom? Iroh put the city under siege for almost two years. What if the Fire Nation does that again? More mouths to feed makes starvation quicker!

Iroh and Zuko are refugees. I still can’t get over that irony lol Hey, it’s Jet! My goodness, he’s onscreen for less than ten seconds and he’s already planning a robbery. He and Zuko are going to get along just fine, aren’t they?
The cabbage merchant! Always a delight to see him and his cabbages! Also hilarious that a bunch of people are impersonating Aang (thought it probably would be less hilarious if any of them met Azula). If passports are necessary, how did Zuko and Iroh get tickets? Also, good on Toph for taking advantage of her privilege lol
Hey! I think that’s Suki! Her eyes are drawn really distinctively and her voice sounds familiar! Two seconds after pressing play: it is Suki! Don’t you just love my long winning streak of figuring things out right before they let us know? Lol

Glad to see ATLA Suki appreciates Sokka’s muscles just as much as NATLA Suki lol

Someone took the pregnant family’s tickets and belongings. Is that how Zuko and Iroh got their tickets? Zuko’s robbed families before, so I wouldn’t put it past him.
Well damn, Suki got her armor and makeup on real quick, didn’t she? Hm… Sokka’s worried about her. I think Suki’s going to interpret that as him being sexist again but he’s probably traumatized from losing Yue. He’s been through way too much to still be sexist. If he still had a misogynistic bone in his body, Toph would have beaten it out of him by now.

Well the Serpent’s Pass looks terrifying. Also, this pregnant lady took one look at some scratched graffiti saying “Abandon Hope” and immediately started crying, saying “How can we abandon hope? It’s all we have!” Like… come on, lady lol Just because you see graffiti telling you to do something doesn’t mean you have to, otherwise I would have called quite a few people for a good time by now.

Hope is a distraction, huh? I guess I can see the logic of that from a practical application perspective. But it’s kind of a depressing philosophy for a monk to have.
Holy shit! Nope, I would not be walking along a cliff path that narrow! I will build a rowboat and paddle my way to Ba Sing Se.
Toph is really carrying the team (and some refugees too) this episode.

There’s a fine line between being protective and being smothering and Sokka has hopped, jumped, and skipped right over it.

Zuko’s not wearing his blue spirit mask. Not that he needs it, he and Jet work together like cogs in a machine. Ironic lol
Ow! Geez, that rejected hug hurt me lol Katara’s right though. Bottling up emotions just makes them worse in the long run. You have to allow yourself to feel bad sometimes. Granted, you can’t fly off the handle like he did last episode, but that’s a reaction. You can control your reactions, but you can’t control your feelings.
“It’s a beautiful moon.” “Yeah, it really is.” Okay, I know Sokka said last episode that Yue is the moon, but he was tripping on peyote. Does he actually believe that Yue is the moon now? Is Yue the moon now? I interpreted her death as he sacrificing herself to bring the moon spirit back to life, not to become the new moon spirit.
“Who is this guy? Is he taller than me?” Dude, we were having a moment. Damn it, just kiss her! Well actually, the moon’s right there so if Yue really did turn into the new moon spirit, it might be a tad awkward to kiss in front of her. But what’s he gonna do, only ever show intimacy during the day?

Um… I’m probably reading too much into this Smellerbee scene with Iroh and Longshot and I’m almost hesitant to say what I’m thinking because I can just imagine the backlash I could get for voicing it. And it’s not like ATLA has had great LGBTQ representation up to this point, so… Yeah, I’m probably just seeing things that aren’t there.

You know, I’ve never really cared a lot about Jet as a character (in fact, I’m kind of surprised to see him again. I figured he’d be a one-off character) but I am really enjoying his scenes with Zuko and Iroh. They have so much in common, which is probably the point of this whole juxtaposition. If he only knew who they really were lol
Of course Iroh believes in second chances. He’s the best. And also, he’s living proof that some people deserve a second chance.

Uh… Katara parting the sea while leading refugees to safety invokes a certain comparison, doesn’t it? But can I just say that I love how her solution to crossing the gap is to literally walk through the ocean instead of making a raft out of ice and floating across. She just never misses an opportunity to flex on everyone, does she? Lol

Momo continuing his pattern of trying to kill every small animal he sees is something I’ve come to treasure.
Is that the unagi?! I think that’s what it’s called/spelled but I haven’t seen that episode in a while. It would be fitting if Suki and the sea serpent both share the same episodes lol No that’s not the unagi. It’s a different color. Um… what exactly was Sokka planning to do if the sea serpent actually accepted his offer and ate Momo? Considering how he reacted to losing Appa, I don’t think Aang would be too happy with him.
Oh, now she’s making an ice bridge. Not as much of a flex as maintaining an air bubble so they plumb the depths but it is faster. Oh, Toph can’t see on ice. And she can’t swim? An earthbender not being able to swim feels like a stereotype for some reason, even though I have absolutely no reason to think that lol
“You can go ahead and let me drown now.” That’s gonna be a favorite joke of mine, I just know it lol And I’m pretty sure this is probably a jumping point for a Sokka/Toph ship. What does the community call that? Soph? Tokka? (How old is Toph, anyway? Probably Aang’s age, right? That’s… probably not an appropriate ship then)

Why does Ba Sing Se’s wall remind me of The Wall from Game of Thrones? Obviously not made of ice though lol

Okay, time for ATLA’s viewers to experience the miracle of childbirth!

Like I said earlier, ATLA isn’t heavy on the LGBTQ representation, but I swear I’m picking up on some tension and chemistry between Jet and Zuko (Juko? Jeko? Zet?). And now half of Jet’s little group is an LGBTQ allegory for me lol Even the dialogue between Jet and Zuko in this scene is slightly suggestive.

So… can Katara waterbend the baby out or…
Baby Hope, eh? Probably not a super common name in this world.
Oh? Was that Aang’s way of telling Katara he loves her without actually saying it? Aww. And hey, he’s heading off on his own to search for Appa. Which… honestly kind of feels like he should have been doing that this whole time lol
Yes! Get some, Sokka! Wait, nevermind. I fucking hate that line. Ugh No! I’m not gonna be a bitter old lady on this watch-through! They’re kissing and it’s very sweet and I love that for them!
Um… there’s a giant metal dildo on the way to penetrate Ba Sing Se! Lol but seriously, how technologically advanced is the Fire Nation? A giant mobile drill of that scale would be a marvel of engineering even by our modern standards.

Well hey, there’s the title card letting me know when the next episode starts.

Woah, the way the drill moves is so cool! I’m legitimately wondering if such a thing would actually be possible in our world with our physics. I don’t know why we would want to, but still. And of course Azula’s leading this attack. She gets all the best opportunities. And she’s smart too! The war minister guy is dismissive of the earthbenders, believing his drill to be impervious to earthbending attacks. You can practically smell the hubris. But Azula leaves nothing to chance and she sends her girls out to neutralize any potential threat.
And this is why we love Azula. She’s not just a scary villain, she’s a competent villain.

And the Earth Kingdom general shares the War Minister’s hubris. Why are the people in charge always the worst people to be in charge? Also, I love that Toph is the one to point out that Iroh broke through the wall.

So the Earth Kingdom’s elite Terra Team force were taken out by two teenage nonbenders from the Fire Nation in about twenty seconds. How have they lasted this long? Lol (I say two, but let’s be honest. Ty Lee’s doing the heavy lifting here)
Yes! I love that they acknowledge Sokka as the “Idea Guy”!
Iroh has got rizz for days lol I’m kind of surprised he only ever had one son. Jet wants to recruit Zuko. I’m totally down for that! They’re such an interesting pair!

I really love that Katara, whose probably the best waterbender in the world at this point, respects Ty Lee enough to recognize how dangerous she is. And Sokka had an idea! They’re going to take down the drill from the inside. Because how the hell else are they going to stop something that big?

Again with the underestimation! I swear Azula’s the only competent person in the entire Fire Nation military since Iroh retired.
Okay, engineer Sokka figured it out. It’s all a little too easy, isn’t it?

Ah shit, Jet just realized the truth, because Iroh used firebending to heat up his tea lol I think he’s getting a little too relaxed.

Okay, just the fact that they slice through metal with water at all is pretty impressive. And the drill has reached the wall, and Azula still doesn’t look impressed.
Oh yeah, I guess this is a pretty high stakes battle for them, huh? If they lose Ba Sing Se, they basically lose the entire Earth Kingdom, right? Omashu’s already fallen, the smaller villages and whatnot have no real defense. Ba Sing Se is the last big puzzle piece to world domination (aside from the water tribes, but they’re so isolated they’re not really a threat).
I love that Toph’s nickname for Aang is Twinkle Toes. Also I laughed at the War Minister’s face when he was side-eyeing Azula just then. +That’s the face of a man who’s about to be punished!

lol Sokka’s the only one with more rizz than Iroh! Maybe a legitimate battle strategy here would be to woo Ty Lee into switching sides? Aside from Azula she seems to be the most dangerous one. No offense to Mai, but she is kind of the odd woman out here.

Oh please let me get Aang and Azula 1v1! I really badly want to see how he fares against her without everyone else helping him. He’ll probably have to use the Avatar State to defeat her.
Ty Lee dives into the slurry after Katara and Sokka while Mai refuses. Yeah, Mai is the weak link here in Ozai’s Angels (I love that name, by the way).

Did Aang seriously think the general was going to hear him from that high up? Lol Toph’s helping Katara bend the slurry (how convenient that it’s both water and earth!). Ty Lee’s still trapped in it and the drill is about to blow. If I hadn’t learned my lesson on the last post, I’d probably be worried she might die in the explosion. But this is a kid’s show, she’ll be fine.

Here we go! Aang vs Azula! Her fighting style is so elegant. Every move she makes feels on purpose, if that makes sense. Like, whenever Aang fought Zuko, Zhao, or NPC firebenders their style is a little more chaotic and fearsome and rawr, you know? But Azula’s totally calm. Everything she’s doing feels calculated, and it’s working! If she hadn’t had to dodge that boulder after blasting Aang back she might have been able to deliver a finishing blow!
She beat him! He’s unconscious! Okay, well not anymore lol See… that right there was hubris (actually, it was kid’s show writing but whatever)! He was out for like fifteen seconds. She should have roasted him where he lay instead of picking him up and gloating.
Another fight with Azula ends in a draw with neither one beating the other! I’m starting to get a little peeved with all this edging lol but that was great! Azula is an absolute beast!

Okay, the way Aang hammered that rock spike into the drill was pretty epic. Mai’s “We lost” (and thank you for your contribution to the fight, Mai lol) is interesting. It’s true, they did lose. Not in the combat sense, Aang couldn’t beat Azula, but he didn’t have to. He just had to hold her off. Maybe that’s kind of a metaphor for the Fire Nation military in general. It’s very powerful, but it’s also marred by incompetence and weaknesses. Many of its generals are prideful and blind to their own weaknesses, or just outright incompetent. Look at this fight: even Mai just kind of gave up halfway through. If Ty Lee wasn’t trapped in the slurry, she might very well have been able to beat Katara, Sokka, and Toph, especially since they don’t Appa this time to bail them out. And if Mai had been with her, she might have been to break Katara’s concentration with a thrown weapon, thus freeing Ty Lee from the slurry.

I wondered how the Earth Kingdom lasted so long and maybe that’s just it. They can’t beat the Fire Nation, but they don’t have to. They just have to hold them off and the Fire Nation’s own shortcomings will end up beating themselves. It’s a hundred year stalemate.

Looks like Jet’s going to be causing a problem for Iroh and Zuko. I wonder if his relationship with them is what’s going to finally let him realize that not all Fire Nation people are inherently evil?

Hey, that’s Baby Hope! And Iroh gets to fawn over her too and I love that for him. You know, if Aang defeats the Fire Nation in a timely manner, Hope might actually get to grow up in a world at peace. Well, kind of. I’m sure there’s going to be massive issues with racism from generations of propaganda painting the other side as inhuman, huge demands for reparations, not to mention the territories the Fire Nation currently occupies. It’s been so long that there must be at least two generations of Fire Nation citizens who were born in and grew up in the Earth Kingdom, and I’m sure there’s been interbreeding with the Earth Kingdom people, because that’s what always happens with colonizers. Once they become established, genocide is pretty much the only way to get rid of them, and I doubt the Avatar is going to allow that.
So Hope’s probably going to grow up in pretty interesting times!
Um… is Ba Sing Se a city or is it a little walled country? Cuz all I see are farms and plains!
Katara, I love you, but you’re wrong. Team Avatar is going to catch on because it’s awesome, and that’s that.
Episode 13- City of Walls and Secrets

Oh, there’s an inner wall. So Ba Sing Se is kind of like the country in Attack on Titan! Oh yeah, in all of the excitement I almost forgot about Appa. Seriously, how many episodes has he been missing now? Damn, now that’s a city!

Yeah… something’s up with Joo Dee.
Walls inside that help maintain order? You mean walls that protect the rich and elite from the dirty poors? Lol Oh, Katara just confirmed it. They pen up all the poor people into a walled ghetto.

lol when Iroh’s talking about someone bringing home a lady friend, does he mean himself? Or Zuko? It is really interesting how their views of Ba Sing Se differ though. Iroh’s talking about getting a home, socializing, building a life, and he’s even found them jobs! Zuko sees the same situation as a prison.

Well, I’m glad Jet’s turning over a new leaf by letting the authorities handle things. Too bad I don’t trust the authorities to be any better.
Toph knows what’s up. Joo Dee is purposefully brushing Sokka off and distracting the group. I’m not sure why at the moment, but something is clearly up.

Of course they’re going to work in a tea shop! Lol Zuko’s right btw, all tea is hot leaf juice. Well, except for the teas that are hot root juice.

The cultural authority of Ba Sing Se, who guard their traditions and are called the Dai Li. Yeah… maybe it’s my conservative religious upbringing but when I hear about people “guarding their traditions” I immediately think of abuse, propaganda, and oppression. Generally people who are obsessed with traditions tend to be conservatives, who by their very nature cannot allow progress or improvement.
Someone important is trying to keep them under constant surveillance and prevent them from seeing the Earth King. In NATLA, there were spies in Omashu. Since Ba Sing Se is much bigger and more important, I imagine it’s riddled with Fire Nation spies as well, and somebody high ranking might be a traitor.

Joo Dee is kind of scary lol and clearly the citizens are terrified of her. But what’s interesting to me is that she’s preventing them from giving information about Appa, which suggests that whoever is stopping them from seeing the Earth King also has Appa. But why? What would be the point of keeping Aang away from Appa? Is it to restrict his mobility and make him easier to capture?

So people aren’t allowed to talk about the war, and the Dai Li seem to be responsible. But why? If everyone knows there’s a war going on anyway, why keep people from talking about it?
It’s lucky that Iroh borrowed his neighbor’s spark rocks, but why would he refrain from firebending in what he assumes is privacy? Unless he knows he’s being watched.

Huh, is the king’s pet bear the first normal animal on the show? Lol I am digging this undercover plan though.

I love that this show lets its characters try on different looks from time to time, even if they are mostly the same outfits. Katara and Toph’s high society get-ups are gorgeous!
The lost boys- I mean, freedom fighters are turning on Peter Pa- I mean, Jet. The weird thing is… he’s right! They are firebenders! But his behavior still isn’t healthy!

Okay, let’s go! Jet’s hurling accusations and attacking them in public! And now Zuko’s fighting back with swords. It’s the duel of the dual-wielders! Honestly, this is probably good for Zuko. He needs to blow off some steam after everything he’s been through.

Well how about that? Security at the palace is actually competent and Toph can’t bluff her way in.
This Long Feng guy is cultural minister to the king, which means he’s probably the bad guy! And also we haven’t met any other high ranking government officials with names, so he’s currently the only option lol

Geez, Zuko straight up intended to decapitate Jet right there. If Jet were a little slower, he would have! Man, I hope they do this fight scene in NATLA.

Uh-oh, scary lady Joo Dee is the scared one now. But can I just say how much I like her facial expressions?
Yeah… can’t blame them for arresting Jet. He did look like a crazy person.
The Dai Li’s specific brand of earthbending is very cool! It almost doesn’t seem like bending at all, if that makes sense. The stones they use are like a part of their own body. And of course Long Feng is their leader.
Okay I get the king is just a puppet and Long Feng is the real rule of the country, but I still don’t understand why he doesn’t allow mention of the war in the city. I mean, it’s common knowledge! A significant portion of their population are literally refugees fleeing war! Who doesn’t know
Oh… is it the king? Does the king just not know there’s a war happening and Long Feng keeps it from him so he can stay in charge? I mean, that’s still a stretch but it would explain why he doesn’t want Team Avatar talking to the king.

Jet is being hypnotized. Also, I do want to point out that I have seen “There is no (whatever) in Ba Sing Se” many times in the wild lol it’s nice to see where it comes from!

Ah… Long Feng is holding Appa as leverage over Aang.
I didn’t think Joo Dee could be any scarier but here we are! This episode almost has horror movie vibes.
Concluding thoughts: This was a fantastic couple/throuple of episodes! I loved seeing Suki again, and I really enjoyed how the refugee subplot ties so perfectly in with Iroh and Zuko. The whole drill sequence was probably the best “action” the show has had thus far and that’s saying something. It’s also nice to have my suspicions that the Earth Kingdom has its own corruption problems and bad guys confirmed.
I have a new theory to replace my “Iroh’s going to die theory”. They’ve been showing us all season how Zuko isn’t really cut out for life on the run, whereas Iroh embraces it. I think they’re driving to a separation between Zuko and Iroh. He may not have died, but narratively speaking Zuko and Iroh have to part ways permanently or semi-permanently for his character to grow. Iroh has been propping him up and supporting him this whole time, now it’s time for Zuko to leave the nest and become his own person.
My new theory is that Iroh will enjoy his new life in Ba Sing Se so much that he elects to stay there permanently, whereas Zuko is too restless to do so. He can’t go back to the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom will not accept him, so his only choice is to join Team Avatar, where he will likely end up teaching Aang firebending.
And to expand further on a previous theory of mine, which was: Azula will kill or depose Ozai. I’ve accepted at this point that death is off the table. Kid’s show and all that. But I noticed something… lots of people were quick to say that Azula would never kill Ozai. But not one person has said she wouldn’t depose him in those refutations (unless I’m misremembering but I don’t think I am). Since you all know not to hint at things or spoil them, I think your eagerness to point out that she won’t kill Ozai is an attempt to mislead me into thinking the whole theory is wrong so I’ll be surprised when she ends up deposing (not killing) him. I mean, I could be wrong but I have a strong feeling that the final villain is going to be Fire Lord Azula, with Ozai in exile somewhere (that would be fitting! The man who banishes his own son ends up being banished himself!).
Maybe that will even be the conclusion of Zuko’s arc! While Aang goes off to save the world from Azula, Zuko splits up to confront Ozai himself! Where we are in the show right now, it really does feel like Azula is Aang’s primary antagonist whereas Ozai is Zuko’s primary antagonist.
By the way, from here on out, no confirming or denying my theories either way, okay? Let it unfold naturally, and let me figure things out on my own. I mean, where’s the fun in just giving me the answers?
And also, some of you could be a little nicer with your criticisms. I had to block someone last time I posted and I don’t want to do that anymore. It’s fine to disagree with me, it’s fine to explain why you disagree with me. Hell, most of you do! I don’t mind that, I like that we all have different views of things even if I don’t agree. It makes things interesting! But don’t talk down to me, don’t use belittling language, don’t be disrespectful. Whenever I don’t like something about ATLA (or like something about NATLA) some of you seem to take it as a personal insult or something.
Just be polite, that’s all I ask.
Okay, I’ll see you same time next week probably!

submitted by genZcommentary to ATLAtv [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 20:32 genZcommentary I watched NATLA before the cartoon and now I'm watching the cartoon. Here are my thoughts on Book 2 Episodes 12-13

Well that’s a heck of a title! I hope we learn something juicy!

I know I keep applying real-world logic to a cartoon show, but wouldn’t Ba Sing Se get awfully crowded if they’re constantly taking in refugees from the rest of the Earth Kingdom? Iroh put the city under siege for almost two years. What if the Fire Nation does that again? More mouths to feed makes starvation quicker!

Glad to see ATLA Suki appreciates Sokka’s muscles just as much as NATLA Suki lol

Well the Serpent’s Pass looks terrifying. Also, this pregnant lady took one look at some scratched graffiti saying “Abandon Hope” and immediately started crying, saying “How can we abandon hope? It’s all we have!” Like… come on, lady lol Just because you see graffiti telling you to do something doesn’t mean you have to, otherwise I would have called quite a few people for a good time by now.

There’s a fine line between being protective and being smothering and Sokka has hopped, jumped, and skipped right over it.

Um… I’m probably reading too much into this Smellerbee scene with Iroh and Longshot and I’m almost hesitant to say what I’m thinking because I can just imagine the backlash I could get for voicing it. And it’s not like ATLA has had great LGBTQ representation up to this point, so… Yeah, I’m probably just seeing things that aren’t there.

Uh… Katara parting the sea while leading refugees to safety invokes a certain comparison, doesn’t it? But can I just say that I love how her solution to crossing the gap is to literally walk through the ocean instead of making a raft out of ice and floating across. She just never misses an opportunity to flex on everyone, does she? Lol

Why does Ba Sing Se’s wall remind me of The Wall from Game of Thrones? Obviously not made of ice though lol

Okay, time for ATLA’s viewers to experience the miracle of childbirth!

Like I said earlier, ATLA isn’t heavy on the LGBTQ representation, but I swear I’m picking up on some tension and chemistry between Jet and Zuko (Juko? Jeko? Zet?). And now half of Jet’s little group is an LGBTQ allegory for me lol Even the dialogue between Jet and Zuko in this scene is slightly suggestive.

Well hey, there’s the title card letting me know when the next episode starts.

And the Earth Kingdom general shares the War Minister’s hubris. Why are the people in charge always the worst people to be in charge? Also, I love that Toph is the one to point out that Iroh broke through the wall.

I really love that Katara, whose probably the best waterbender in the world at this point, respects Ty Lee enough to recognize how dangerous she is. And Sokka had an idea! They’re going to take down the drill from the inside. Because how the hell else are they going to stop something that big?

Ah shit, Jet just realized the truth, because Iroh used firebending to heat up his tea lol I think he’s getting a little too relaxed.

lol Sokka’s the only one with more rizz than Iroh! Maybe a legitimate battle strategy here would be to woo Ty Lee into switching sides? Aside from Azula she seems to be the most dangerous one. No offense to Mai, but she is kind of the odd woman out here.

Did Aang seriously think the general was going to hear him from that high up? Lol Toph’s helping Katara bend the slurry (how convenient that it’s both water and earth!). Ty Lee’s still trapped in it and the drill is about to blow. If I hadn’t learned my lesson on the last post, I’d probably be worried she might die in the explosion. But this is a kid’s show, she’ll be fine.

Okay, the way Aang hammered that rock spike into the drill was pretty epic. Mai’s “We lost” (and thank you for your contribution to the fight, Mai lol) is interesting. It’s true, they did lose. Not in the combat sense, Aang couldn’t beat Azula, but he didn’t have to. He just had to hold her off. Maybe that’s kind of a metaphor for the Fire Nation military in general. It’s very powerful, but it’s also marred by incompetence and weaknesses. Many of its generals are prideful and blind to their own weaknesses, or just outright incompetent. Look at this fight: even Mai just kind of gave up halfway through. If Ty Lee wasn’t trapped in the slurry, she might very well have been able to beat Katara, Sokka, and Toph, especially since they don’t Appa this time to bail them out. And if Mai had been with her, she might have been to break Katara’s concentration with a thrown weapon, thus freeing Ty Lee from the slurry.

Looks like Jet’s going to be causing a problem for Iroh and Zuko. I wonder if his relationship with them is what’s going to finally let him realize that not all Fire Nation people are inherently evil?

Oh, there’s an inner wall. So Ba Sing Se is kind of like the country in Attack on Titan! Oh yeah, in all of the excitement I almost forgot about Appa. Seriously, how many episodes has he been missing now? Damn, now that’s a city!

lol when Iroh’s talking about someone bringing home a lady friend, does he mean himself? Or Zuko? It is really interesting how their views of Ba Sing Se differ though. Iroh’s talking about getting a home, socializing, building a life, and he’s even found them jobs! Zuko sees the same situation as a prison.

Of course they’re going to work in a tea shop! Lol Zuko’s right btw, all tea is hot leaf juice. Well, except for the teas that are hot root juice.

Joo Dee is kind of scary lol and clearly the citizens are terrified of her. But what’s interesting to me is that she’s preventing them from giving information about Appa, which suggests that whoever is stopping them from seeing the Earth King also has Appa. But why? What would be the point of keeping Aang away from Appa? Is it to restrict his mobility and make him easier to capture?

Huh, is the king’s pet bear the first normal animal on the show? Lol I am digging this undercover plan though.

Okay, let’s go! Jet’s hurling accusations and attacking them in public! And now Zuko’s fighting back with swords. It’s the duel of the dual-wielders! Honestly, this is probably good for Zuko. He needs to blow off some steam after everything he’s been through.

Geez, Zuko straight up intended to decapitate Jet right there. If Jet were a little slower, he would have! Man, I hope they do this fight scene in NATLA.

Jet is being hypnotized. Also, I do want to point out that I have seen “There is no (whatever) in Ba Sing Se” many times in the wild lol it’s nice to see where it comes from!

submitted by genZcommentary to TheLastAirbender [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 18:35 BarrettLeePE M&P Riser Diagrams in Revit

My company is looking to standardize on this effort and get our risers into Revit, since we are already contractually modeling to LOD 300.
We've decided to update our various piping accessories to utilize annotation symbols for plan views, which are single line drawings. And we have decided to use the "fine" view (double line) for the risers.
With Autocad, we would use the same symbols for valves and accessories that you'd see on plan, just tweaked for the isometric view angle. Now that we are in Revit we are using actual geometry for most items and would like to utilize smart tags. For scheduled items there is no issue (hammer arrestors, air separators, etc). But for common items like shut-off valves or strainers I'm trying to figure out how these should be annotated.
So far my only idea is to add some things to our defined annotations list and use tags that display those. (BV = Ball Valve, THRM = Thermometer, etc.)
But I am curious what others are doing.
https://preview.redd.it/jc3m68r9y70d1.png?width=793&format=png&auto=webp&s=6987f4000158741b48ca86eeb0040bbdb439d7a9

submitted by BarrettLeePE to RevitMEP [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 15:05 nomass39 I found an old recording of the most gruesome TV show ever broadcast

Me and Lila always carved dozens of jack o’ lanterns every October, so they’d absolutely saturate our lawn on Halloween night. It was our thing. But looking back on it, now that I’ve lost her, I just feel bad for the pumpkins. I almost relate to them, somehow. The way they were carved up, had everything of substance inside of them torn out, and left as hollow, rotting shells with forced smiles.
Needless to say, I didn’t cope with her death well. I didn’t want to cope with it. I wanted the world to drown in the black sludge of my grief. I loathed the people I saw going about their lives, unaware that the world had already ended the moment Lila died. The Earth shouldn’t keep spinning. Life shouldn’t go on. Not without her.
Even my relatives bringing me along on a trip to Kauai only made it worse. The most gorgeous place on Earth, and it made me sick with hatred. Nothing that beautiful deserved to exist if Lila wasn’t ever going to get to see it. It wasn’t fair.
I thought I’d never enjoy or care about anything again. Then I discovered media preservation.
It started with taking some of Lila’s old VHS tapes to a video repair place to fix some issues with the footage before it’s digitized. The job fascinated me. In a universe based on entropy, where everything inevitably fades away and is forgotten… restoring something lost is like snatching it from the jaws of death, right? Like flipping the bird to the universe and its so-called ‘natural order’. People die, but information doesn’t have to.
Now, it doesn’t matter how small — be it some god-awful plug-and-play licensed game, or a cereal commercial from 80’s — it’s my mission to recover it in as high a quality as I’m able, and make sure it’s freely available online for as long as possible.
A couple weeks ago, I came across a big haul. Four boxes of old VHS tapes offered up on E-Bay for dirt cheap. Most of the tapes were just recordings of Cheers episodes already preserved in higher qualities, but one Maxell E-240 caught my interest.
First of all, I’d never seen one so melted. Sure, sometimes they were left in an attic too long, and the colors and audio start to degrade. But this one looked like it had survived a house fire. It was covered in soot and the smell of smoke, and had the overall shape of a chocolate bar left out in the sun a little too long.
Second was the label, which read in neat sharpie: ᴇᴘɪꜱᴏᴅᴇ 4,679,329 ᴍᴀʀ 8 2035.
The casing was so disfigured, I had to bust it apart just pull out the tapes and respool them in a fresh cassette. I tried to iron out the creases in the tape as best I could, but I had no illusions about it accomplishing much — the mylar surface had been irreparably warped in places by whatever fire had half-melted the thing.
Imagine my despair at the sight of that dreaded ‘ɴᴏ ꜱɪɢɴᴀʟ’. I could clearly see the tape wasn’t blank, yet no amount of adjusting the tracking or trying different TVs or VCRs accomplished anything. Just as I was about to give up, though, the thing just suddenly started playing properly at the exact instant the clock struck 3 AM, as if it had only now decided to work. My all-nighter had paid off.
I didn’t dwell on the fact that this ‘miracle fix’ had been impossible. If I’d had any sense, I’d have torn the horrid thing out of my VCR and buried it beneath holy ground. Instead, fool I was, I sat down and watched.
At first, the thing seemed unwatchable. The audio was so distorted that the show’s theme song emerged as a low, crackling, staticky wail that made my head throb, and the logo was completely indistinguishable through the flickering and interference. I thought it was a lost cause for a moment. But then a figure appeared and cleared away the static, like Moses parting the Red Sea.
It was the sight of the show’s host that hooked me. He was just… perfect. Perfect in every way. I knew it just looking at him. Infinitely handsome and likable and charismatic, and he always said the exact perfect thing. The only issue is, I don’t remember a single thing about him now, in the same way you can’t remember a dream that seemed so clear to you while you were experiencing it. He just appears in my memory as this abstract blur in a sharp suit. Yet at the time, I was awestruck, even before he said a single word.
I can’t even remember a word he said. It was like he was speaking another language, one I felt as opposed to heard. I’ll try and transcribe it as best I can into words, but know that it’s only a pathetic imitation.
“... for another night of laughs, prizes, and fun for the whole family, with your host, #####!” I noticed that the audio and visual distortion seemed to suddenly intensify the instant he said his name, rendering it completely illegible. Idiot I was, I figured that was a coincidence. “Tonight is a night of celebration, folks, because thanks to the support of loyal viewers like you, we have just been approved for, get this: two hundred thousand more seasons!”
The “live studio audience” went wild with applause. I put that in scare quotes because, as far as I could tell, besides the host, the studio seemed completely empty. As if he was standing on a plain white stage that extended outwards into infinite darkness on all sides.
“For those just joining us, the game here is simple…” He explained that this was some sort of a trivia show. Every time a guest got an answer wrong, it brought them a little closer to some sort of unspecified ‘punishment’. And if they got it right? He smirked. “Well, they get to delay the inevitable.”
I wondered what he meant by ‘inevitable’. I didn’t have to wonder long.
The host gestured to a curtain that hadn’t been there moments ago, which raised to reveal a middle-aged man. You know the type — bushy mustache, gray hair, round-rimmed glasses. Kind of guy you’d have doing your plumbing. He couldn’t look any more out of place stood up and restrained in that — what the hell is that?
I recognized that metal coffin-looking thing from a medieval torture museum I went to once. The iron maiden. The lid hung open, countless long, needle-like blades poking inwards, threaten to poke a million new holes in him if it was shut.
His situation was not lost on him. “Where… where am I? What the hell is this!?”
“Oh, lucky guess!” The host ‘joked’. More canned laughter. “I know you always loved watching those trivia shows, Malcolm? Weren’t you always sitting there, grinding your teeth, seething that it wasn’t fair? That you should be the one up on stage, winning big?”
The man paused. Even he seemed mesmerized by the unreal perfection of the host before him. “I… this is a… game show?”
“All you have to do is answer a few questions! Think you can handle that, Malcolm?” He pulled out a cue card without waiting for an answer. “And our first question! What were you doing the night of February 18th, 1998?”
The man seemed baffled. “Just… sat on my couch watching the NFL, I think? I’m not sure how I’m supposed to remember —“
He let out a startled squeal as a horrid buzzer sounded. On cue, the lid slid a third of the way closed, making him flinch. “Oooh, I’m afraid that’s the wrong answer, Frank! But you know what? I’ll give you one more chance. What were you —“
“Following a girl home!” The man cried out. “F-from the bar. There, are you happy?”
“Cor-rect!” The canned audience began cheering! “Such honesty! Now, our second question: just what were you carrying while you followed her?”
He hesitated for a little too long. And then the buzzer sounded again, and the lid slid so near to closing that its blades began poking uncomfortably against his skin. He tried to press himself against the back of the maiden as well as his restraints would allow. “Jesus! Okay! A knife, a knife!”
“Awww, if only you’d said that just a second earlier!” Another big question. “Our third question: why, Malcolm? Why did you do it?”
That set Malcolm off. He started thrashing, clawing, screaming. “Let me out of this thing, you maniac! You can’t do this to me! Do you know who I am? Is this some sort of sick joke? My lawyers will have your head for this, you—“
And then the buzzer. All of a sudden, the lid slammed shut full-force, and the man was utterly silenced save for an unnatural, drawn-out wheeze. “Another wrong answer, Malcolm! I’m afraid I was looking for: ‘because if I can’t have her, no one can’!”
I admit it. I laughed. Out of shock more than anything. How was this allowed on TV? I took it as some sort of dark comedy show, and it was kind of satisfying to see that freaky character get his comeuppance. Still, there was something unnerving to me, seeing the man’s eyes through the openings in the maiden. Wide and red and terrified. They just looked a little… too real.
But the maiden disappeared as quickly as it came, before I could dwell on it too much. “Oh, envy! Definitely one of my favorite sins.” More laughter. “Stay tuned, folks! We’ve still got a night of fun and games in store for you! But first… how’s about a word from our sponsors?”
Cut to a corporate logo which I again couldn't recognize.
“This segment was made possible by Buer Health, which has recently announced a brilliant new initiative to protect our citizens from skin cancer by removing their skin completely.”
The camera cut to a massive industrial building, resembling a solid concrete cube around 50 meters in width and height. Its surface bore arcane symbols etched using carvings of wailing, tormented faces. The host would occasionally be rendered inaudible by a deafening metallic scraping from within, though he didn’t seem to notice. The only protrusion from the building’s cubic shape was a single smokestack, belching a scarlet red smoke into the atmosphere. A queue of gaunt figures waited at the entrance, herded and coerced by their grim overseers, and there were no words to describe the procession of scarlet ghouls limping out the building’s other end.
“Owing to the nonlinearity of time, the brand new Grand Skinpeeling Machine has spontaneously appeared several years before construction deadlines, and indeed, before it was even conceived of by anyone in our timeline. People have rushed all the way from Malebolge just to try this miracle of technology out on opening day, and so far, the reviews have been stellar!”
He shoved his microphone in the face of a shambling thing that could only scarcely be called a human. Tatters of flesh clung to its exposed musculature, blowing in the wind. Its eyes were the only hint of color in that sea of bloody red, and they were wide, white and terrified. The thing screamed and wailed for as long as it could before the last tendons connecting its jaw to its face snapped, and it was left to choke and gurgle.
“An amazing wail! The results speak for themselves, folks. The Grand Skinpeeling Machine is a hit!”
So far, I was still laughing along and having a good time. The sight of the next ‘guest’, however, started making me nervous.
It was an old lady.
She couldn’t be a day younger than sixty, the sort of sweet elderly woman who in a just world would be cooking chocolate chip cookies for her grandchildren in a comfy cottage somewhere. But here she was, tied to a metal chair, eyes wide, shaking like a leaf. Unlike the last contestant, she seemed to know exactly what was happening.
“In exchange for our loving endorsement, they’ve agreed to loan us one of their star employees. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for: the Liqisma!”
Something slunk from the darkness far behind her — or perhaps it’d be more apt to say that the darkness birthed it whole-cloth. It was like a living shadow, and it took my eyes a moment to register what I was even seeing.
How do I even begin describing this creature? I could say it looked almost human, or at least like something that may have been human long ago. Or I could start with its skin, which was all black and shiny as latex and seemingly smooth on first glance, but if you looked closer you’d realize it was covered in a million tiny reptilian scales, almost like a shark. Its head was a bald man’s, utterly devoid of any distinguishing features, like the basic stock template for a human being. It was notable only for a complete lack of pupils and irises, its eyes a pure white.
Its body defied basic biology in so many key ways, I had to stare it at for what felt like an eternity just to wrap my mind around its physiology. It was at least five or six meters long, by my estimate, composed of multiple human torsos stacked one on top of the other like segments of a centipede, each melding with the ones around it at the waist and shoulders. Each torso sported a pair of short, stubby arms that propelled it with terrifying grace. It ended with a pair of human legs, perpetually bent on their knees, beneath a ‘tail’ that looked more like its coccyx was poking free from its body.
The old last could clearly hear it, and kept futilely trying to turn her head around enough to get a peek at what stood behind her. I mouthed uselessly, don’t. You don’t want to know.
“Glad you could join us again, Miss Wethersby! Judging by our ratings last week, you seemed to have been a fan favorite!”
Her voice was so soft, I could barely hear it below the static. “Oh, God. Please, why won’t you people let me go? I’ve told you, I’ve never done anything, never hurt anybody. There must be some sort of—”
He waved a hand over her, and it seemed to forcefully snap her mouth shut. “Please, Miss Wethersby, save your breath for our questions!” Another cue card. “Your first question, my friend: where did you and your husband buy your first home?”
She had to think about it for a long time. Eventually, she cried out, “Alabama! Tuscaloosa, Alabama!”
“Ding ding ding! Why, you’re already doing better than our first contestant! Next question: what breed of dog was your childhood pet?”
She had a pained look on her face as she thought. Eventually, a timer started ticking down. It wasn’t visible, so it wasn’t clear how much time she had left exactly, but the sound it made got more shrill and high-pitched with every second. “Miss Wethersby, need I remind you that we have a time limit on this show?”
A tear ran down her cheek. “I… I keep telling you people, I don’t know. I have dementia, I can’t remember, please—”
That buzzer again. “I’m afraid that was the wrong answer! Liqisma?” The old lady shuddered at the sounds of hundreds of feet drawing a little closer to her. “Now, your first grandchild. What did he look like? What color were his eyes? His hair?”
She was crying harder now, like it hurt her that she couldn’t remember something so dear to her. “I told you I can’t remember! Why are you doing this to me!?”
“If you don’t remember them, why would they remember you?” The host mocked as the buzzer sounded, and the beast drew a little closer. “Really, do you believe they still even think about you? Or do you think they’re glad that the old bag of bones isn’t there sucking up their inheritance?”
This went on for… God, it could have been an hour. I was glued to the screen all the while, frozen with terror, praying for this nightmare to just end, for her to make it out okay somehow. He poured over every little detail of the life she lived and the people she loved, delighting in how little of it she could still recall.
And the thing grew closer, and closer… until she finally felt multiple pairs of hands resting upon her shoulders. The thing was looming over her now, and a long, black tongue a few feet in length emerged from its mouth and ran trails of dark saliva over the back of her head. She looked broken down, eyes raw from crying, and I could tell by the dampness of her dress that she’d wet herself.
“Now, Miss Wethersby, our time here has been fun, but I do believe it is time for our final question. Tell me, what is the name… of your only son?”
She couldn’t even answer anymore. She just stared ahead, like her mind was a million miles away. He cackled as the buzzer sounded one final time, and threw his cue cards aside. “Thank you for playing, Miss Wethersby. Better luck next time.”
I would say the thing unhinged its jaw like a snake, but that’d be an understatement. The way the thing’s face malformed and wrinkled and stretched as it opened its maw, it no longer looked even remotely human. Its jaws must have parted at least thirty centimeters apart, revealing a second, pharyngeal pair of jaws that lashed out and gripped the woman’s skull, pulling her headlong into that darkness.
I could hear bones crunching and snapping as its throat constricted down around her body, peristaltic muscles compacting her into a meat slurry, bit by bit. Yet she just wouldn’t die. Even as her skull and upper body were already crushed and compacted, organs and muscles pressed into mulch, she still kicked her legs, twitched her fingers, let out a gurgling that must have been some attempt at screaming. She was squirming even as the beast snapped its jaw shut around the last of her, condemning her to whatever torments awaited her inside the creature.
And all the while, that horrible laughter. “Don’t worry, folks! She’ll be back next week! And the next. And the next…”
Needless to say, I wasn’t having fun anymore. In fact, I had to turn away and fight the urge to throw up. I stood, about to turn the TV off and —
“Ah, ah, ah! Don’t touch that dial, now!” I froze. There was something chilling about the way he said that, staring right into the screen as if reacting to what I was doing. I hated that grin on his face. “The real show is just beginning.”
And with the barely restrained excitement of a child on Christmas morning, he yanked back another curtain, and I recognized everything.
I recognized that crappy bootleg knockoff Always Sunny in Philadelphia jacket that was so gaudy and terrible it instantly became her favorite thing in her wardrobe. I recognized those subtle hints of slight acne she disguised as fake freckles. I recognized the way her gray eyes would remind me of those overcast mornings at the beach at Hilton Head and pointing out all the cannonball jellyfish washed up on the sands. I recognized that tattoo of the name ʀᴏᴄᴋʏ, how I’d held her all night long as she cried into my shirt after her childhood cat had died.
It was Lila.
I shuddered, gasped, fell from my seat as if I’d been punched in the stomach and the air had been knocked out of me. I couldn’t breathe. This couldn’t be real. I was dreaming right now. I must be. I just had to wake up.
But I couldn’t wake up. Nothing I could do dispelled the sight of her curled up in that… that thing. That bronze statue of a bull, horns jutting on either side of a head that roaring silently up at the heavens, all while the love of my life was locked in its hollowed out belly, visible only through a pane of glass. I could hear her cry out in shock at where she’d found herself, and every whimper felt like it drove a knife through my chest.
The host soaked in the moment. It was ecstasy for him, the suffering of it all. He stared dead into the camera like he was looking right at me as she called, “What is this? Where am I?”
“Why, I have good news, my dear Lila! You’re exactly where every American dreams of being: you’re on TV.” He pointed to the camera. “And we have a very special guest in the audience tonight. Your very own beloved Jackson!”
I shuddered, hearing my own name ooze from his fetid lips. His façade of perfection was slipping, and there was something so profoundly ugly beneath it. Her eyes snapped to the camera, confused, despairing. “Jackson? Baby? What — what’s happening? What is this?”
I don’t know, I thought, gripping the sides of the TV so hard my knuckles turned white, but I’m going to get you out of there, baby. I’m going to find whoever did this and I’m going to bury them all so far beneath that studio that they’ll never-
“I’m afraid Jackson hasn’t joined us quite yet, my dear. But if you truly love him, surely you’ll give him a show to remember, won’t you?” He taunted her. “All I want, after all, is to ask you a few questions! In fact, I’ll offer you a special deal: get even a single answer right, and I’ll let you go free! But get one wrong and, well…”
On cue, a fire was lit beneath her. Small, smoldering for now, but she whimpered as she noticed the heat. We both realized in that instant what this was. By now, I was screaming things I can’t repeat here, and slamming my hands against the TV screen as if I could reach through and save her.
She bit her lip and acquiesced. Not like she had any room to argue. The host grinned and readied a cue card. “Your first question: where are you, Lila?”
“I… I don’t know. How am I supposed to know?”
“You do know, Lila. You know exactly where you are.” He smirked at her. “Here’s a free hint: what’s the last thing you remember, before you woke up here?
She thought about it… and choked back a sob, visibly shaking as the realization slowly settled in. “But… but why? I… I…”
The horrible wail of the buzzer cut her off. “Oooh, too bad! I’m afraid you’ve run out of time!”
Seemingly as if on its own, the fire doubled in size. Sparks licked the belly of the bronze bull, and began to ever-so-slowly heat the surface. She pawed around in the tight confines, searching for any reprieve from the scalding heat all around her as the metal grew hot like it’d been left out in the sun on a summer’s day. “Please! Oh, God, let me out of this thing! It hurts! It hurts!”
The host seemed to breathe in her pain as if stealing a moment’s indulgence. “Now that there is no doubt about where you are, my dear, let us proceed to the second question.” He switched to his next card. “Did you believe in God, in the end?”
“O-of course!” She pled her case as if she was being tried in court. “My entire life… every day I gave to the poor, helped the sick, did whatever I could to honor Hi-“
“I’m afraid you misunderstood my question. I asked, did you believe in him at the end? The very moment your pitiful little life was snuffed out?”
“I always believed! I’d never forsake Him!”
“Yes, yes, I know. You lived a good and holy life, didn’t you?” He cackled. “But what of the very end? You and your little husband were so excited to deliver your first little baby boy. But o, tragedy! It all went wrong, didn’t it? Your precious little boy didn’t make it through childbirth… and you followed closely behind.”
“That whole business with the botched pregnancy, it was… what do you call it? Ah, yes. A ‘test of faith’. And I’m afraid you failed. In your final moments, you watched the light fade from your child’s eyes, and you assumed — wisely, in my humble opinion — that no ‘kind’ and ‘loving’ God would allow something like that to happen.” He laughed. “Funny how after a lifetime of dutiful service, all it takes is one little mistake at the end… to bring you here. To us.”
I’d never seen such depths of despair in a person’s eyes. Such emptiness. Like with every word, he’d been scooping out another piece of her until she was hollow. And then that buzzer roared again, more shrill than ever, and I could barely see her little window through the smoke and flames. The belly of the bull was turning orange in places, and I could hear her flesh start to sizzle like meat on a grill. There are no words for the noises she made. No words at all.
“And our last, final question,” he continued. “What were your last words to your poor, beloved Jackson?”
“I love you!” I called out the answer. Bloody fingerprints stained the TV screen from my slamming my hands against it, as I screamed the answer over and over. “I love you, I love you, I love you!” At some point, I forgot that there was ever a question. I was just screaming it at her as if hoping that she could hear it, that it could bring her a modicum of comfort in that place.
The buzzer sounded again. I couldn't bring myself to look. All I could hear was the roaring of the bull, and the steam rising from its bronze nostrils.
The curtain fell. Silence drowned the sound. The host dropped all pretense that he hadn’t been speaking directly to me. “Now, Jackson. You just might be one of my new favorite audience members this show had ever had. I know this must have been hard for you. But if you’ll just stay tuned, I have one more show I know you’re certain to love!”
I didn’t bother to touch the remote. After all, nothing could be worse than what I’d just seen, right?
Wrong. Horror wracked me as the curtain rose, and I saw the man chained to a chair. I pulled away like a caveman witnessing fire, cringing and stuttering, face wet with sweat. It was the sort of fear that worked its way into your bones like a bad chill, that left you shaking, teeth chattering.
It was me.
An older me, sure. But not by much. Ten years, maybe. A gaunt and hollow version of me, one twisted by ten years of depression and hard drugs. But it was unmistakable.
His eyes widened as he recognized the host. “Oh — oh God, God please no! It can’t be — oh Christ, let me out of this chair, you —“
“Come, now! We wouldn’t want to use the lord’s name in vain, would we? I mean, that would be a sin!” The host laid a hand on the other me’s shoulder. “It may have been a few years since you watched our program, but I’m sure you remember the rules, don’t you, old friend?”
The other me was wordless, on the verge of hyperventilating, just as I was. The host was giddy with delight. “Now! Our first and only question is one I’m sure our viewer will be very interested in: what sins, exactly, do you think landed you here?”
The other me tried to speak, but the words caught in his throat. I could see it in his eyes. The years of self-destruction, the bitter hopelessness, the whirlpool of nihilism and vice and decay. The suffocating depths of a man. The darkness. How could he put it into words?
The sound of the buzzer was like a pig’s squeal. “Mmm, I’m afraid that our viewer is going to have to figure that out for himself! In the meantime, your punishment? Well, we wouldn’t want to spoil anything…”
The curtains slowly began to fall just as a couple other of those black, grotesque monstrosities emerged from the darkness. The curtain covered them all before I could get a good look at their obscene, twisted, asymmetrical figures. All I could hear was the crunching, the sound of skin tearing like paper, the screaming that went on for longer and louder than a human throat or vocal chords could endure.
The image and audio were beginning to distort, glitch, burn away. The tapes were physically melting as they played. My VCR was starting to overheat, sparks pouring from its front panel. The host voice jumped around in tone, his voice fading into the static blur as the tapes bubbled and boiled and distorted. “But, my friends, I’m afraid that concludes tonight’s episode of our show! So, with a final farewell to our dear, beloved viewer, Jackson…”
Just before the image melted away, the camera seemed to jump forward until his face filled the screen, his eyes piercing into mine as he cackled in that singsong voice.
“See you sooooon~”

submitted by nomass39 to nosleep [link] [comments]

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2024.05.12 18:42 spunchy M&B 2024 Warsaw 1: Why Is Money Difficult?

For our schedule and links to other discussions, see the Money and Banking 2024 master post.
This is the discussion thread for Economics of Money and Banking Warsaw Lecture 1: Why Is Money Difficult?

Lecture Video

Ideally, we want the plumbing of money and banking to operate smoothly behind the scenes. But only through awareness of that plumbing and its mechanics can we begin to explain what happens when the plumbing breaks. When ignoring the machinery of money and banking, we may be able to devise somewhat reasonable models for how the economy works in normal times, but we won't be able to explain financial crises.
This lecture provides motivation for learning the Money View and calls attention to intellectual/psychological hurdles that people often need to overcome when trying to understand money and banking.
NOTE: The audio in this lecture only plays over the left channel. I recommend downmixing to mono in your computer's audio settings, so it doesn't distract you.
The slides are not always visible in the recording. I've included their content below.

Liquidity

Drawing theory from banking practice, the Money View emphasizes the central role of liquidity. The liquidity of an economic entity (individual, household, firm, government, etc.) is its ability to meet payment commitments as they come due. Failing to settle payment commitments means defaulting on debt. Firms—banks, in particular—that fail to meet their commitments won't stay in business for very long.

"Liquidity kills you quick." —Perry Mehrling

We can divide liquidity into three categories based on the source of money (settlement funds):

Monetary liquidity — the ability to spend money in your possession.
Funding liquidity — the ability to borrow money.
Market liquidity — the ability to sell assets for money.

Funding liquidity and market liquidity depend partly on the general state of the market. To sell an asset or borrow money, you need someone else—a counterparty—to buy your asset or lend you the money. If the market dries up, the counterparties disappear.
Monetary liquidity is the only type of liquidity that requires no counterparty. You can always spend money that you already have. A large enough reserve of money ensures that you'll be able to meet immediate payment obligations, even in times of adversity.

Slide 2: Many Faces of the Global Financial Crisis (1:32 – 7:24)

Crisis of risk management system
- Private: Microprudential, Value At Risk, Basel
- Public: Macroeconomic Stabilization, Inflation Target
Crisis of political economy
- Central Bank and Wall Street (US)
- Central Bank and State Treasury (Europe)
- Central Bank Cooperation (Global)
Crisis of global liquidity system
- Funding Liquidity—Lender of Last Resort
- Market Liquidity—Dealer of Last Resort

Mehrling opens with the 2007–2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). As with the Great Depression of the 1930s and the "stagflation" of the 1970s, I imagine that economists will continue to revisit the GFC for decades to come. There's a lot to unpack.
The GFC challenged the idea that we could prevent financial crises either by getting individual entities to manage their risk better or by attempting to stabilize the system as a whole.
We can understand the GFC as a liquidity event in the global dollar system. Entities became unable to meet their payment commitments. Both funding liquidity and market liquidity dried up. As a result, we learned that backstopping funding liquidity alone (lender of last resort) is not enough. Market liquidity needs a backstop too (dealer of last resort).

Slide 3: From Lender-of-Last-Resort to Dealer-of-Last-Resort (7:24 – 11:22)

https://preview.redd.it/pagb13mdv00d1.png?width=460&format=png&auto=webp&s=07c8c5b1694ba0cd038e33909ba08825c3e767f9
In this visualization of the Fed's balance sheet, assets are on the top, and liabilities on the bottom. Starting in 2008, the balance sheet of the Fed expanded rapidly. It added huge amounts to both its assets and liabilities. And that balance sheet has never returned to the way it was before the crisis.
Starting with this crisis, the Fed backstopped asset markets directly. Being a lender of last resort means prmosing to lend at a high interest rate to those who need it money. Being a dealer of last resort means promising to buy at a fairly low price from anyone who wants to sell.

Slide 4: From Domestic to International Lender-of-Last-Resort (11:22 – 13:33)

https://preview.redd.it/g56uck0gv00d1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=08c9e124856a0f9195b81384cf5a07d9edd928dd
We might normally expect arbitrage to eliminate price differences. When that doesn't happen, it's a sign that something is wrong. In 2008, something was preventing people from borrowing dollars in the domestic money market and lending them off-shore (as Eurodollars).
In 2008, the central banks prevented another great depression by supporting the global system.

Slide 5: The (Fatal) Abstractions of Modern Economic Thinking (13:33 – 14:21)

Representative Agent
Intertemporal Equilibrium
Monetary Veil (Neutrality)
Legal Foundations
Market Microstructure

Liquidity

Standard economics abstracts from money and liquidity. But this means that standard economics won't have much to say about what happens when there's a crisis in the "monetary plumbing."

Slide 6: The Money View (14:21 – 15:45)

Banking as a Payments System
- Copeland (1952): A Moneyflow Economy
- Minsky (1957): The Survival Constraint
Banking as a Market Making System
- Hawtrey (1919): Hierarchy of Money and Credit
- Hicks (1989): Centrality of the Dealer Function
- Bagehot (1873): Dealer of Last Resort

These two pillars of the Money View both concern liquidity. Viewing banking as a payments system emphasizes what happens when you run out of liquidity: you can't make a payment you promised to make. Viewing banking as a market-making system emphasizes where liquidity comes from in the first place: dealers—including banks—supply liquidity to the system by making markets. A breakdown in market-making puts strain on the payments system and causes payment commitments to go unfulfilled.

Why Is Money Difficult?

Slide 7 (15:45 – 17:21)

Why is it so difficult for me to learn this and figure this out? Why did it take me so long? I don't think I'm stupid.
—Lecture

Understanding money means unlearning some of the ways of thinking that economics tends to encourage.

Slide 8: I. Alchemy (17:21 – 18:20)

https://preview.redd.it/4ybe2dvkv00d1.png?width=648&format=png&auto=webp&s=4ac9d9f4f3f78b3246988358ff7197406d2c26a3

Banking is a swap of IOUs

Lecture 1 of the MOOC will properly introduce us to balance-sheet notation. The above diagram shows that, at the moment of loan origination, the bank and the borrower (me) are both promising each other money. It is a mutual obligation in which two promises being made:

The loan is the liability of the borrower and an asset to the bank.
The deposit is the liability of the bank and an asset to the borrower.

We can visualize the same transaction with arrows representing the payments.
https://preview.redd.it/4y5rz41qv00d1.png?width=338&format=png&auto=webp&s=d4a7b6ce64a33ad9b9a253354c21dd2b4f7e6cbd
Here, it is more clear that the bank and the borrower are both paying each other. The green color represents "payment by issuance." The bank issues deposits to pay the borrower. The borrower issues the loan to pay the bank.
Once the loan has been originated, the bank is holding the loan and the borrower is holding deposits in the bank.
https://preview.redd.it/kq4uh3ctv00d1.png?width=338&format=png&auto=webp&s=423cfec8adcbbfe3534d182662c4810c7fe6f52f
I shade the deposits purple to show that the deposits are money to the entity holding them as an asset. The loan is not. The borrower has swapped his own newly issued non-money liability for the newly issued liability of the bank, which is money.
On the balance sheet of the bank, the deposits fund the loan. At least initially, the borrower, by holding deposits in the bank, is indirectly funding his own loan. The bank is intermediating between a depositor and a borrower. The depositor and the borrower just happen to be the same entity. It is as if the borrower deposited cash in the bank and then borrowed the cash back from the bank.
https://preview.redd.it/27ukhv5wv00d1.png?width=762&format=png&auto=webp&s=36acdec075421c1bab9b3baf14b42191943b08fe
The cash is yellow to show "payment by assignment." The cash asset is merely being transferred from one balance sheet to another. But these notional cash flows net out, meaning that no cash actually needs to flow. And if no cash needs to flow, then no cash needs to exist to make this loan possible.

Slide 9: Psychological Barrier (18:20 – 20:32)

Fetish of the "Real": What is being "loaned"?
- Fraud?
Free lunch resistance: Something from nothing?
"Inside" or credit character of money, versus "outside" personal experience of money

The normal language view of a loan is that I can't lend you a bicycle unless I have a bicycle. If I lend you something I don't own, that's illegal or fraud or something. It's a problem. How can you lend something that you don't own.
—Lecture

You can promise something you don't own, as long as you can reliably get the thing being promised. The key insight about money is that it's possible for a promise for money to be money.
In his History of Economic Analysis (1954), Joseph Schumpeter said, “You cannot ride on a claim to a horse, but you can pay with a claim to money.” (p. 305)

Slide 10: II. Hybridity (20:32 – 22:11)

Money Supply, Public and Private

https://preview.redd.it/nqp5kydyv00d1.png?width=448&format=png&auto=webp&s=a9f9e7c55946ebd760346550e31d09605907726b

Central Bank, Government Bank and Bankers' Bank

https://preview.redd.it/wfj3azy1w00d1.png?width=355&format=png&auto=webp&s=bbd880beaa100a64d2a54f9a5b880cbcea99355b
Currency (public money) and deposits (private money) trade at par. That means, they're exchangeable one for one.

Slide 11: Political Barrier (22:11 – 25:37)

Left: Chartalism, Knapp, Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
- Money as creation of the state, "authority"
Right: Metallism, Menger, Austrian
- Money as creation of the marketplace, "trust
Symbiosis: as lichen, algae + fungi

The system is hybrid. It's public and private. Each one adds something, and they mutually support each other. It's a symbiotic system. It's not that one is illegitimate and the other one is legitimate, and that we have to decide which one is legitimate and get rid of the other one. We have to manage a system that has both features, in which the liabilities of private banking and the liabilities of public banking trade at par. How do they trade at par? What makes them trade at par? And when there's stress on the system, that par is under pressure.
—Lecture

Slide 12: III. Hierarchy (25:37 – 26:32)

https://preview.redd.it/po5tezy4w00d1.png?width=473&format=png&auto=webp&s=af604420981962b8a57a8d335f68d1c697beb822

Slide 13: Ideological Barrier (26:32 – 29:28)

Economic ideology: men are equal, but liabilities of men unequal
Westphalian ideology: sovereigns are equal, but liabilities of sovereigns unequal
Credit as promise to pay money; money as the highest form of credit

Slide 14: IV. Instability (29:28 – 31:28)

https://preview.redd.it/6577s3x6w00d1.png?width=397&format=png&auto=webp&s=25a25a304d1221f58893ca350fae5b2dc3b94343

Things that look like credit in bad times begin to have more money-like features. It becomes much easier to spend them, and people accept them as means of payment in a boom. And then, in a bust: the reverse. The hierarchy reasserts itself. The system shrinks. The difference between money at the top and money at the bottom becomes wider.
—Lecture

Slide 15: Equilibrium Barrier (31:28 – 33:11)

Prices "clear" markets, and time is just an additional dimension of commodity space
Instability comes from outside, exogenous shocks absorbed through price flexibility
Incipient incoherence between cash flows and cash commitments absorbed by balance sheet expansion higher up in the hierarchy.

The system as a whole never settles into a stable equilibrium because credit is inherently unstable.

A Moneyflow Economy

Slide 16 (33:11 – 33:28)

Slide 17: Settlement as Coherence (33:28 – 38:04)

"The web of interlocking debt commitments, each one a more or less rash promise about an uncertain future, is like a bridge that we collectively spin out into the unknown future toward shores not yet visible. It is in the daily operation of the money market that the coherence of the credit system, that vast web of promises to pay, is tested and resolved as cash flows meet cash commitments." (New Lombard Street, p.3)
The quintessential banking problem is meeting liquidity needs. Cash commitments and cash flows. It's not a budget constraint.
—Lecture

Slide 18: "like a bridge we spin..." (38:04 – 39:27)

Our imagination of the future determines our decisions in the present. But we're sometimes wrong.

That's what financial crises are like. That's what they're about. You're building in a certain direction, imagining a certain future, and everyone's onboard, and they think that's the future. And then it turns out no. We were wrong.
—Lecture

Slide 19: Hierarchy of Dealers, Prices of Money (39:27 – 43:20)

https://preview.redd.it/meo9c879w00d1.png?width=402&format=png&auto=webp&s=4b309e47a4ce00a4a6f0a882e1047e6c86da53a3

We think about supply and demand, and you don't think about the dealer in the middle, bridging supply and demand.
—Lecture

Financial Globalization and Shadow Banking

Slide 20 (43:20 – 46:35)

This is just not the way the world is. It's not a collection of nation-states. It's a global system. And each central bank is part of this hierarchy. It's not flat. It's hierarchical, the system. And it's a global system. And the natural form of banking for a global system is shadow banking.
—Lecture

Shadow Banking, also known as market-based finance, is "money market funding of capital market lending."

Slide 21: International Hierarchy of Money (46:35 – 48:25)

https://preview.redd.it/ukieu6dbw00d1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b30f3fb90a7b40999cb0217ce8762eb05c18ebb
The world looks different and works differently depending on where in the global hierarchy you happen to be.

Slide 22: Breaking Free of the Triple Coincidence (BIS #524) (48:25 – 51:57)

https://preview.redd.it/hq4gb80dw00d1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=39474a50a588360706762b2ee71b00d0b7520edc
The economy is fundamentally global. It is not a collection of individual nation-states knit together. Yet we often treat it that way when analyzing the economy or taking statistics. The "triple coincidence" refers to the idea that the GDP area, the political decision-making unit, and the currency area all match each other. Our statistics tend to take the triple coincidence for granted, but there's no general reason why it should be true.

Breaking Free of the Triple Coincidence in International Finance by Adjiev, McCauley and Shin (2015)

The dollar, in particular, is a global currency. Most dollar action happens outside of the United States. Depending on where the banks happen to be located, otherwise equivalent states of the world can produce very different statistical measurements.

It's a global system, and the global currency is the dollar. And it's a private dollar. It's the liabilities of banks, not the liability of the central bank.
—Lecture

Slide 23: Hierarchy of Alchemy (51:57 – 54:23)

https://preview.redd.it/2p9hedvfw00d1.png?width=446&format=png&auto=webp&s=86d53c8e1bbccf5a95556b9baf425a88012a7330
At each layer of the international hierarchy, we can see the same kind of swap-of-IOUs alchemy in action.

Slide 24: Payment Versus Funding, I (54:23 – 1:01:42)

https://preview.redd.it/t4ejq9ylw00d1.png?width=928&format=png&auto=webp&s=3ac1bc57bf4102638e1d84072d48e0b8b789d700

Purchase of house facilitated by "alchemy," seller funding and interbank borrowing, in the first instance

Above, I have renamed "Fed Funds" to "Money Market," because "Fed Funds" is just what we call the money market when it's being used by particular entities. I have also combined Mehrling's stage 2 and 3 to emphasize that the money-market funding is what allows the deposit to move in the first place. The seller's bank (your bank) won't take on a deposit liability without an asset to match. And that's what the money-market funding is.
The transfer of the deposit from the buyer's bank to the seller's bank is shaded blue. This is to denote "payment by novation." One bank is paying another by taking on the other bank's liability.
As we saw before with the swap of IOUs, the buyer of the house (me) initially funds his own loan by holding deposits in the bank. But he borrowed those deposits to use to purchase the house from the seller (you). The seller ends up with the deposits.
https://preview.redd.it/28vfgfcpw00d1.png?width=339&format=png&auto=webp&s=3d662197fd501cefa82dcb0db1de1eb6bdb7e573
After the home has been purchased, the mortgage loan is ultimately being funded by the seller of the house. The seller holds deposits in his bank. The seller's bank provides money-market funding to the buyer's bank. And the buyer's bank provides the loan to the buyer.
https://preview.redd.it/ftyp74etw00d1.png?width=338&format=png&auto=webp&s=edbd85d69e98f86f0f9e91281aad2f7533161cef
We can also split the second step into two parts to separate the interbank payment from the money-market funding of the deficit position. To make the balance sheets work out, we can add in the reserves that Mehrling left out.
https://preview.redd.it/lht6w0yww00d1.png?width=928&format=png&auto=webp&s=fd405638fa0c9e556209f8064e4cd5c83c747756
This version uses money reserves to grease the wheels of the trade, but the reserves just end up back where they started.

Slide 25: Payment Versus Funding IIa (1:01:42 – 1:04:53)

https://preview.redd.it/w1z11vwax00d1.png?width=932&format=png&auto=webp&s=48669f9bc4e26d31a11a2426c168711a9575fbc9

Final funding of loan facilitated by money destruction, larger society funding

In step three, the deposit and the money-market funding cancel each other out. There is a mutual release of liabilities. This is the opposite of the mutual obligation we get from a swap of IOUs. The payments are shaded red to denote "payment by set-off." One entity pays another by canceling a debt owed.
Here is the same set of transactions, but using payment arrows.
https://preview.redd.it/6weyhr6kx00d1.png?width=339&format=png&auto=webp&s=a424a89e88dc0d9e19241f96dc38017204b8db64
From the perspective of "society," they're holding an annuity as an asset instead of money. Money has been "destroyed."

Slide 26: Payment Versus Funding IIb (1:04:53 – 1:06:52)

Final funding of the loan facilitated by shadow banking, society funding

Now, the loan is funded in the money market. Unlike with the annuity, which is locked in, the ultimate funding has to be perpetually rolled over.

Slide 27: Crisis and Prices (1:06:52 – 1:07:00)

Now we have some context for this slide we saw at the beginning (Slide 4). The price of money-market funding is being bid up.

Slide 28: Crisis and Balance Sheets (1:07:00 – 1:08:01)

And we understand Slide 3 now, too. The Fed took the shadow-banking system on to its own balance sheet. It became a dealer (or market-maker) of last resort.

Slide 29: System Dynamics and Thought Dynamics (1:08:01 – 1:15:02)

Elasticity of Credit vs. Discipline of Money
- Banking School vs. Currency School
Bankers' bank vs. Government Bank
- Peace finance vs. War (Development) finance
Bank credit vs. Market Credit
- Montary economics vs. Financial economics
Core vs. Periphery
- Global finance vs. National finance

The system we're trying to understand is in constant motion, and it's changing. Sometimes, it's moving and it's in a boom phase–it's the elasticity of credit. Sometimes, it's in a discipline phase–it's the discipline of money. Sometimes, there's wars and it's all public money–it's all government finance. Sometimes, there's peace, and it's all private finance. Sometimes, all the action is in the periphery. Sometimes, all the action is in the core of the system.
—Lecture
System dynamics and thought dynamics are intertwined. The evolution of monetary thought comes along with the evolution of the system as a whole.
—Lecture

Today's globalized world is, in some ways, more like the gold-standard world of the late 1800s than it is like the post-World War II era.

Slide 30: Inflation? (1:15:02 – 1:19:15)

Goods prices, the fourth price of money, a work in progress
Formed by market-makers in primary commodities: oil, wheat
- Spot vs. forward, storage public and private
- Tax-based Incomes Policy?
Labor as primary commodity
- Reserve army of the unemployed
- Job Guarantee as buffer stock?
Economics of the Dealer Function

This lecture was seven years ago. In 2024, Mehrling is still working on his theory of inflation. Here's a recording of a talk he gave in February.

Perry Mehrling Opening Keynote: A Money View of Inflation - The Fourth Price of Money

Please post any questions and comments below. We will have a one-hour live discussion of Warsaw Lecture 1 on Monday, May 13th, at 2:00pm EDT.

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2024.05.12 01:10 whosims1985 Question, any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am in the oil/gas industry and part of my job is to field sketch piping systems in order to turn them into isometric drawings.
Typically our clients pay us to sketch their in service piping, and then we send it to our CAD department to create the actual Isometric drawing.
However, the client in this case is cutting costs and expects clean “CAD” style drawings from a field sketch.
My question is, is it possible to upload one of my field sketches and quickly get all of the lines straight kind of something similar to a “live trace” in Adobe Illustrator?
I am aware that I can upload the sketch as a layer, turn down the opacity, create a new layer and trace the lines. I have done that which looks really good, but I have a dozens of sketches and it will take me forever to complete these drawings using that process.
Any tips on how to make this quicker? I added a picture of one of the sketches for reference.

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2024.05.11 22:24 rubenhak Self GC Kitchen and Bathrooms

Hi,
Another rookie here trying to self-gc kitchen and bathroom remodel. Need to redo a kitchen and 5 bathrooms. Where I am from labour is insane and I need to save costs. We did remodeling before through a GC but I had to be quite involved as well. I can also do PM activities and understand dependencies.
Here is what my plan looks like. I'd appreciate some input on this:

Design the kitchen with the help of the cabinet company. Design the bathrooms.
Order major material: cabinets, tiles, fixtures, toilets, tubs / pans.
Order appliances.
Order lighting fixtures, recess lights.
Get engineering drawings that shows plumbing, electrical, cabinets, etc. Need a minor separator wall torn down, it is not load bearing.
Apply for a permit (have no idea what it takes).
Get a demolition crew to tear down kitchen and bathrooms.
Get carpenter to make framing related alterations. Frame and mark exact locations of where fixtures and mounting points would be.
Plumber to change water and drain lines.
Electrician to run outlets, lights and switches.
At some point here expect the inspector to verify framing, electrical, plumbing and waterproofing.
Someone to put the drywalls, prep the surface, install hardie-backer walls,.
Wait and apply the texture.
Wait and paint the walls.
Tile person installs floor and wall tiles.
Installation of kitchen floor tiles.
Installation of tub/shower pan, floor and wall tiles. Not sure if it would be the plumber installing the tub/shower pan or the tile person.
Wait and apply grout.
Installation of kitchen cabinets, vanity, sink, faucet etc. (who should I look for that?)
Installation of countertops
Electrician comes back and installs lights that needs to go over the tiles, etc..
Installation of major appliances.
Painter comes back to do final touchups.
Once all is done another crew comes in and installs hardwood floors.
Tada... Ready to move it. Hope this is not in 24 months :D

I understand that there will be lots of hiccups with contractors increasing the prices, not showing up, some things behind the walls not up to expectations, city giving us a bit of a hard time, and maybe ourselves changing things along the way, but I believe this is manageable and worth taking the effort. Would appreciate some input on the steps above. As you noticed I wasn't clear about which "professional" should I call to take care of the certain parts. Also, would be great to get some input on how to work with the city for permits.
Thanks!
Edit: Noone is living in the house and I can tolerate some delay.

submitted by rubenhak to homerenovations [link] [comments]

2024.05.11 20:55 LaraStardust Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 10, 2024

Welcome to the Peanut Gallery! Today I saved Storyteller's intro to a file, and Ukraine is getting a little bit thumped. This is apprentice Lara filling in for the master thestoryteller987 who is particularly missed at times like these because now you'll see just how much I actually don't know geographically. Remember I know less than nothing!

Russian forces began an offensive operation along the Russian-Ukrainian border in northern Kharkiv Oblast on the morning of May 10 and made tactically significant gains. Russian forces are likely conducting the initial phase of an offensive operation north of Kharkiv City that has limited operational objectives but is meant to achieve the strategic effect of drawing Ukrainian manpower and materiel from other critical sectors of the front in eastern Ukraine.

Numbers seem to suggest Russia has between 50,000 and 80,000 men on this job, with a 20\;1 artillery advantage. ISW assesses that this push is likely less about running for Kharkiv City and more about pulling man power away from other sectors (Chasiv Yar) so that they can sttart making gains. ISW thinks Russia is aiming to get in artillery range of Chasiv Yar but won't actually try and take it until June July, which tracks. they're estimating an advance to about 20k, sitting at time of report at 30k and artillery with a range of 25k (k being km.).
Now, this is certainly the start of an offensive, not sure if we're still in spring here or this is technically the start of the summer offensive, but the reason this is happening, I think, is stated very well by Ukraine:

Pavlyuk noted that he is working to stand up 10 new Ukrainian brigades ahead of the anticipated summer 2024 Russian offensive operation and noted that equipment, and not manpower, is the main bottleneck in Ukraine's defensive operations.

that lays squarely at the feet of the US. I'm sorry, but it really does. Russia's successes can literally, right now, be chalked up to the US wasting what, 2 months? Just saying.

Russian forces will likely leverage their tactical foothold in northern Kharkiv Oblast in the coming days to intensify offensive operations and pursue the initial phase of an offensive effort likely intended to push back Ukrainian forces from the border with Belgorod Oblast and advance to within tube artillery range of Kharkiv City

Like I previously mentioned, I should think it is Russia's idea to advance forward, bomb the crap out of the city for a month or two, then wander on forward and take the rubble. It's kind of what they do.

The limited efforts that Russian forces are currently conducting do not suggest that Russian forces are immediately pursuing a large-scale sweeping offensive operation to envelop, encircle, and seize Kharkiv City, however

See? I read the ISW report before I post now! Aside from that though, does anyone think russia actually could? ISW mentioned themselves that Russia actually doesn't have the best record when it comes to operations like what they are doing now, plus that some of the troops are not going to be very combat effective.

Russian offensive operations along the Kharkiv international border likely have the strategic objective of drawing and fixing Ukrainian forces to this axis to enable Russian advances in other areas of eastern Ukraine.

Think of it like this\; Your job is to defend a house from someone breaking in. So they go to the back garden, and hurl a brick through your window. You dash towards the back, so they go to the front and smash another window. You dash back the other way. They go to the side, and smash a window there. You run that way. Accept now, you're thinking there's three people, you're not sure which to defend, you check the bedroom and duck into the bathroom on your way back to the front room... The person outside notes you've just left the front room unguarded, and drives a tank through your wall.
That's Russia. They're hitting Ukraine hard in several areas, hoping Ukrainian's will either panic, and run around aimlessly, or that because they're straining to keep up, a breach will open up and Russia will drive a tank into their front garden. And from their perspective: it's win win, either they make a breach and bam, or they get to bomb the crap out of Kharkiv City,. All at the low, low cost of about 50,000 husbands, sons and scumbags.

ISW continues to assess that Russian forces will likely struggle to seize Kharkiv City should they aim to do so.

ISW throwing shhade. Or more realistically, this is ISW saying: Every time Russia tries to take a city, Ukraine defends it hahrd until it's nothing more than rubble.

Russian forces likely decided to launch offensive operations along the international border area to take the best advantage of the relatively brief time left before Western aid arrives at the Ukrainian frontline at scale.

Okay, so I was a little harsh earlier to Uncle Sam/. He has finally put down his beer, gone outside and cracked open his gun shed. the problem is that it's just not there yet. We're going to see some heart heavy news out of Ukraine for a bit. But remember, Uncle Sam trademark democracy and liberty are on their way.

Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavlyuk stated that the war in Ukraine will enter a critical phase in the next two months and commented on recent Russian advances around Chasiv Yar and Avdiivka.

Basically, he says what I said but in more detail and with better explanations. He also said he prefers his steak medium rare. don't believe me? this is why you should read ISW's report!

US President Joe Biden approved up to $400 million worth of military assistance for Ukraine as part of the Presidential Drawdown Authority Fund on May 10.

Woo! Grandpappy President gave Ukraine pocket money in the form of air defense missiles for Patriots and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS); Stinger anti-aircraft missiles; equipment to integrate Western launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukrainian systems; HIMARS ammunition; 105mm and 155mm artillery rounds; Bradley infantry fighting vehicles; M113 armored personnel carriers; Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles; Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles; Javelin and At-4 anti-armor missiles; HARM missiles; and other equipment and weapons as well as exactly one fuck you notice to Russia, sent first class on, hopefully, some fighter planes.
Much as I am joking here, to me, this reads like a huge package Bradleys alone are worth their weight in gold. Once this actually gets to Ukraine, this will be a whole big bbag of woop ass.

Ukrainian forces conducted a drone strike on the night of May 9 to 10 against an oil refinery in Kaluga Oblast that Ukrainian forces previously struck in March 2024.

Pop! We fixed it! Pop pop! No we didn't.
Someone should really do refinery bingo, because I kind of can't.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is retaining his position in the Russian government for Russian President Vladimir Putin's new term of office, and there have been speculations but no confirmations of changes to Putin's cabinet.

the short of it? Bootlicker kept his position., an unexperienced economist but seasoned bootlicker got a new job. Putin surrounds himself with yes men as usual. What's new.

US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb stated that US defense officials partnered with SpaceX to stop the Russian military's unauthorized use of Starlink internet terminals in frontline areas of Ukraine

I admit? I did not undewstand this point. Russia has been piggybacking on Starlink? But this was the same Starlink that was turned off to stop Ukraine using it for offensive operations? So he can't do that to Russia because... Still, it's good news! But why do I feel like this good news was with a healthy payment to Mr stickup his ass got too much money as it is?
Which, okay side track for a minute, fun fact: Twitter's basic teer is 10,000 tweet retrievals per month at the app level for a not cheap $100 per month. $100 is, in my humble opinion, possibly something a dev could crowd fund, or as an accessible program maker myself, I could maybe cough over. But lets do math: 10000/30=333.33 333.33/24=13.87
So that's 14 requests (be generous( per hour, or 1 request every roughly 4 minutes. If you only have 1 user. I'm sorry how are you supposed to make this program again? Next teer up is $5000 a month, which if I had $5000 spare a month, I'd not be posting on Reddit right now!! And this implemented by the guy who has a net worth of 193.2 billion. He's that strapped for cash.
Anyway, rant over. Back to Ukraine, sorry everyone. clears throat

Russian forces recently marginally advanced near Donetsk City and in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area.

Marginally is still forward, and it's likely we'll continue to see news like this over the next week or two.
Honestly I think part of why Russia is suddenly on the offensive is, 1, dry soil, but 2, election is over. He can stop pretending to care for the next 5 years now.

Russian and Belarusian authorities continue to illegally deport Ukrainian citizens, including children, to Russia and Belarus.

Legally? War crime. Morally? This is just sick.

Pavlyuk argued during his interview that the possible future loss of Chasiv Yar will have no "decisive significance" for the Ukrainian war effort, which is consistent with ISW's running assessment that the Russian seizure of Chasiv Yar would be operationally significant.[31] ISW uses the expression "operationally significant" to describe an advance that can alter the course of a campaign composed of multiple individual battles. ISW refers to advances that merely push the frontline back some distance without securing major objectives or significantly increasing the odds of securing major objectives as "tactically significant." The seizure of Chasiv Yar would shift the frontline further west and create a large and defensible Russian salient from which Russian forces could launch further offensive operations north, west, or south. A possible Russian seizure of Chasiv Yar would not result in the immediate collapse of the Ukrainian eastern line but would change the configuration of the frontline to a degree that would set much more favorable conditions for future Russian offensive operations against Ukraine's belt of "fortress" cities, which runs from Slovyansk to Kostyantynivka and form the backbone of Ukraine's defense of Donbas.

Included at the bottom of the report because it explained a lot. And would make a lot of sense if you can see a map. alas, I can not. I still need to order my tactile maps of Ukraine that show this city level information.

Ukrainian officials continue to warn that Russian forces are systematically and increasingly using chemical weapons and other likely-banned chemical substances in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Support Forces Command stated on April 5 that Ukrainian forces have recorded 371 cases of Russian forces using munitions containing chemical substances during the last month and 1,412 cases of Russian forces using chemical weapons between February 2023 and March 2024.

Please give Ukraine what they need to bring this war to an end.
‘Q’ for the Community:

Largely we are going to see somme dark reports coming out of Ukraine for a little while. So if you could go back in time to change this up to the limit of 1 year, what would you do?

Join the conversation on /TheNuttySpectacle!

submitted by LaraStardust to TheNuttySpectacle [link] [comments]

2024.05.11 20:37 rubenhak Self GC Kitchen and Bathrooms

Design the kitchen with the help of the cabinet company. Design the bathrooms.
Order major material: cabinets, tiles, fixtures, toilets, tubs / pans.
Order appliances.
Order lighting fixtures, recess lights.
Get engineering drawings that shows plumbing, electrical, cabinets, etc. Need a minor separator wall torn down, it is not load bearing.
Apply for a permit (have no idea what it takes).
Get a demolition crew to tear down kitchen and bathrooms.
Get carpenter to make framing related alterations. Frame and mark exact locations of where fixtures and mounting points would be.
Plumber to change water and drain lines.
Electrician to run outlets, lights and switches.
At some point here expect the inspector to verify framing, electrical, plumbing and waterproofing.
Someone to put the drywalls, prep the surface, install hardie-backer walls,.
Wait and apply the texture.
Wait and paint the walls.
Tile person installs floor and wall tiles.
Installation of kitchen floor tiles.
Installation of tub/shower pan, floor and wall tiles. Not sure if it would be the plumber installing the tub/shower pan or the tile person.
Wait and apply grout.
Installation of kitchen cabinets, vanity, sink, faucet etc. (who should I look for that?)
Installation of countertops
Electrician comes back and installs lights that needs to go over the tiles, etc..
Installation of major appliances.
Painter comes back to do final touchups.
Once all is done another crew comes in and installs hardwood floors.
Tada... Ready to move it. Hope this is not in 24 months :D

submitted by rubenhak to HomeImprovement [link] [comments]

2024.05.10 22:02 Chef-Andrew Plumbing in double vanity

Thanks to those who have helped previously on here. I’m about to plumb in a double vanity from what was previously a single.
Just wanted to make sure I was going about it the right way. I’ve done some (likely terrible) drawings to illustrate my idea, is there any glaring issues with this? Or a better way to do it?
Thanks!

submitted by Chef-Andrew to Plumbing [link] [comments]

2024.05.10 20:13 Midnight_Egyas Possible to reverse a pitless adapter?

I live in Northern Wisconsin. Our frostline is quite a ways down (70" +). Far beyond what my 50-year old back can handle digging by hand. lol When I built our cabin and had the well drilled, I rented an excavator to dig the trench from the house to the well pipe below the frost line, and installed the pitless adapter at that level. The current pressure tank is in the cabin, so obviously the well-pump pushes water up, out the pitless, through that poly-pipe line, and into the house's pressure tank.
So that's how things are now.
Now that we're living on the property full-time, we want to build a bigger house up here (in the next few years) and convert the cabin into a guest house. As a first step in this process, I want to build a well-house at the site of the well-head. I want to install a large pressure tank inside the well-house, and connect the cabin to it. That way I can remove the pressure tank from the cabin. This will give me more room in the cabin's bathroom (where the current pressure tank is located) and provide a much larger pressure tank to draw from. In the future, the plan is for the new house to also connect into this same, much larger pressure-tank.
With the new tank being in the well-house, the water line from the well pump will no longer use the pitless adapter. Instead it will come out of the top of the well pipe and get plumped into the tank. I do not want to have to dig-up that water line to connect back into during this process. Like I said before, it's quite deep.
That brings us to the central question......
Is there an adapter piece that will allow me to "reverse" the pitless adapter?
That way the water line from the new pressure tank could go back down the well, and connect into the current pitless adapter. The plan is for the water will come up from the well, out the top of the well pipe, and to the new tank. Then from the new tank, it would be plumbed back down the well to connect into the current pitless adapter. Then the water would flow into the cabin as it does now.
https://preview.redd.it/17zphol13nzc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=162677fe20e8c6e2c49b4071f71f6da99660e3c1
Is this possible? We currently have a pitless that looks like this picture. I'm assuming you can't just take off the inside piece, flip it, and reconnect sadly. I'm just wondering if I could buy a new inside piece that would have the water pipe opening on the top instead of the bottom.
Make sense?

submitted by Midnight_Egyas to Plumbing [link] [comments]

2024.05.10 17:51 Pawkkie Hypergeometric AristoStats - Suggestions for Aristocrats Ratios

I've seen a lot of folks asking questions about and discussing appropriate ratios of different card types in aristocrats decks recently, so I wanted to take the opportunity to provide an example of how to use probabilities to determine what might be best for your specific deck.
I'm a very longtime [[Teysa, Orzhov Scion]] player. Here's the decklist I use, and the primer that goes along with it. This post is basically summarizing the hypergeometric discussion from that primer, so feel free to go read it in its entirety there if it's of interest to you.
The bottom line that I'd recommend is identifying the range of turns in which you want your deck to present a lethal threat, determine how many cards you'll get to see by the start and end of that ideal range, and add cards to bring the probability of drawing each piece you need up to where you want it. The key takeaway I've learned from examining my own decklist that I'd like to share is that, in my opinion, quantity of card draw is more important than any other category of card, because seeing more cards improves the odds of seeing every category of card, while being really efficient on deck space. Once you have a sense of the probability benchmarks you'd like to hit, you can iteratively tune the number of expected cards seen by your target turn against the number of hits of whatever card type in your deck until you get to a balance that makes the most sense for your deck.
I think all of these ratios are commander and deck dependent, so I'll walk through using my Teysa list as an example because it's what I'm familiar with, and then add some thoughts about how you might apply the same idea to other commanders in a more general sense.
I'm also abbreviating some of the tables, because I can't post images in this sub and manually copying over Google Sheets tables to Reddit tables is beyond tedious lol.
For context, my Teysa deck tries to win its games with finite drain rather than infinite combos, and attempts to do so between turns 7 and 9. Keep these goals in mind as we look at some stats.

Draw

I'm proposing that we want to base our mulligans around card draw, and so our goal is to reliably start the game with card draw in hand. The reason for this will become clear once we get to the other card categories, so bear with me for now. How much card draw do we need to do that? Based on u/PapaZedruu's outstanding Henzie primer, which inspired me to do this analysis in the first place, we can examine Yuriko's cEDH deck for ideas. [[Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow]] needs a one-drop on turn 1 to ninjutsu in Yuriko on turn 2, and these decks run 13 one-drops for the purpose. Why 13?

Copies in Deck	Chance of 1+ in Opening Hand
11	57.36%
12	60.75%
13	63.91%
14	66.84%
15	69.68%

A 64% chance seems fairly arbitrary, right? The answer is mulligans.

Initial Chance of Success	Mul1	Mul2	Mul3
57.36%	81.82%	92.25%	96.69%
60.75%	84.59%	93.95%	97.63%
63.91%	86.97%	95.30%	98.30%
66.84%	89.00%	96.35%	98.79%
69.58%	90.75%	97.19%	99.14%

After taking the free mulligan with this count we hit an 87% chance of success, and the benchmark we're looking for is a 95% chance to have a draw spell in hand by the mulligan to 6. This is obviously not a guarantee, but if it's the benchmark that cEDH is comfortable using considering their other deck space requirements, it's a benchmark that works for me. Okay great, we can very reliably start the game with a draw spell in hand. Why does that matter?

Sacrifice Outlets

When do we need to see a sacrifice outlet? In my deck at least, we want to see a sacrifice outlet by the time we're trying to win the game, which means turns 7 - 9. They're certainly useful before that to help us generate value or dodge exile effects, but we have a lot of incidental sacrifice built into the deck's card draw options in particular, so that's less of a concern. The primary purpose for sacrifice outlets is to be used to win the game alongside drain effects and a sufficient quantity of sacrifice fodder. With that purpose in mind, how many do we need to reliably see one by the time we're trying to win? Again, abbreviating these tables to save me a lot of typing:
Seven Sac Outlets

Cards Seen	Odds to Draw More Than 0
16	72.11%
23	85.31%

Eight Sac Outlets

Cards Seen	Odds to Draw More Than 0
14	71.89%
20	84.76%

Nine Sac Outlets

Cards Seen	Odds to Draw More Than 0
13	73.43%
18	84.93%

Ten Sac Outlets

Cards Seen	Odds to Draw More Than 0
11	71.03
16	84.39
19	89.43

Eleven Sac Outlets

Cards Seen	Odds to Draw More Than 0
10	71.03%
16	87.19%
18	90.38%

Unsurprisingly it depends a lot on how many we're running in the deck. I've abbreviated these tables to show only three cases for each count; the first case is the breakpoint at which we're more likely to draw 2+ sacrifice outlets than we are to draw 0, the second case is the breakpoint at which we hit an 85% chance to see one, and the third case (if it's within reason) is the breakpoint at which we hit a 90% chance.
Let's start with our expectations low. My deck is running 7 sacrifice outlets, and the first breakpoint is at 16 cards seen, where we have a 72% chance of seeing at least one. How many cards have we seen by our target of turn 7?
Cards Seen

Turn	Cards
0	7
1	8
2	9
3	10
4	11
5	12
6	13
7	14
8	15
9	16

So if we need to see 16 cards to hit the breakpoint, and we're seeing 14 naturally, how do we see 2 extra cards? That's right, we build our deck to have a 95% chance of starting the game with card draw in hand. It's very reasonable to expect our draw engines to each draw two cards a piece on average; all of the sacrifice cantrips do, and while we'll occasionally have variance such that [[Tallyman of Nurgle]] falls in the 0 - 1 range, we'll also occasionally get variance where [[Plumb the Forbidden]] or [[Braids, Nightmare Arisen]] draws us 6.
Awesome, so we can reliably see 16 cards by turn 7. Can we do any better than 72% though? It's more likely than not, but it's not at all close to the 90% benchmark I'm more comfortable with. To hit an 85% chance with 7 outlets we need to go all the way to 23 cards, 9 more than we'd see naturally, which isn't feasible. You can check out some of the other tables for varying values with different card counts.
The first one to get right up to 90% is the 10 sacrifice outlets case, which gives us just shy of an 85% chance to see one by turn 7 (the start of our window), and a 90% chance to see one by turn 9 (the end of our window) assuming we can see just one additional card (Surveil lands are the bomb dot com).
The ideal breakpoint in a vacuum might also be considered 11 sacrifice outlets, which gives a more than 87% chance of seeing one by turn 7 with two extra draws, and finally a 90.38% chance to see one by turn 9, without any additional draws. This means if we get those two extra draws we're building around, we do manage to hit the 90% benchmark we keep referencing.
Okay but I'm running 7 sacrifice outlets what the heck, how does this help. This is why tutors are so good in aristocrats decks. It's extremely important not to overload your tutors with how many cards you're treating them as at once, and in this deck I treat them as exactly both a sacrifice outlet and a drain effect. I'm running 3 tutors, which puts us up to 10 sacrifice outlets.
This still isn't 11, which is largely because I have found seeing an additional card by turn 9 extremely reliable with the Surveil lands being printed, and I don't think the extra 1% chance of seeing a sacrifice outlet without requiring that draw is worth an entire deck slot. I'm then going to extend this benchmark of "10 cards = 85% by turn 7 with planned 2 extra cards seen, 90% by turn 9 with one additional card seen" across the rest of the deck's construction. Totally personal preference though, like I said this is just an example meant to showcase how this kind of probability math can help with deckbuilding.

Drain Effects

This is basically the same math as the sacrifice outlets, so I won't just restate everything. Drawing two of them is much better than drawing two sacrifice outlets, but these cards don't have much use outside of trying to win the game which the sacrifice outlets do, so I'm going to ignore this nuance for the sake of simplifying the math. Following the sacrifice outlets, we should run 7 of these and count our 3 tutors to hit 10 total for the same reasons.

Sacrifice Fodder

Fodder is more similar to the card draw category than it is sacrifice outlets and drain effects, because we can put it to such good use in the midgame for value, particularly value in terms of drawing cards. I run 15 fodder cards, which gives us an 85% chance of seeing one by turn 4 without any additional card draw, and a 90% chance of seeing one by turn 6 without any additional card draw. If we instead assume we've seen one extra card by turn 5 as we're working towards seeing two by turn 7, it's reasonable to assume this 90% is frequently accelerated from turn 6 to turn 5, which is a very reasonable time to resolve any of them. I find 15 to be the right number for me because it satisfies the same threshold as card draw in the opening hand, which also maintaining very high chances to be draw outside of the opening hand, as we've already decided we're focusing our mulligans around our draw effects instead. Much like not wanting to overload our tutors, we also don't want to overload our mulligans.

Everything Else

All of the other things a deck wants to do can be examined in the same way, and then interpreted by the deck builder to help make decisions about ratios. I'm not going to go into detail on my own deck here because if you're interested you can just read the primer and this post is certainly long enough already. By way of example, I'm using the benchmarks of having a 90% chance of seeing two "removal spells" by turn 6 to be able to try to stop an opponent on the same timeline as us from winning, assuming our decks are of roughly even power; I'm also running 10 finisher effects to meet the same numbers as sacrifice outlets and drain effects without overloading my tutors, and choosing to run more of these than either sacrifice outlet or drain effect because they're generally high impact at any point of the game and have the best role compression, allowing many of them to be used as fodder or recursion etc.

Summary

This post is less interested in saying exact numbers everyone should run, and more trying to emphasize that you should consider using hypergeometric probabilities to help you determine how many you want to run in your deck. Are you trying to win between turns 10 and 12? Maybe turns 5 and 7? Those numbers are going to have very different requirements. Do you have a sacrifice outlet or a drain effect in the command zone? Do you have specific combo lines you want to hit? Do you not want to run any tutors? That's also going to hugely skew the numbers.
I really recommend just using Google Sheets, which is free to use and extremely googleable to learn, and lets you look at a whole bunch of information all at once. Note though that the standard HYPGEOMDIST function only returns a probability for an outcome of exactly the count you've specified. So filling a table of say, Cards in Deck vs Cards Seen where you're interested in seeing the probability of at least one card of a given type, you'd want to setup the formula as 1 - HYPGEOMDIST(the case in which you draw 0 copies), which is equivalent to any case that isn't exactly 0 cards.
I cannot fathom hating spreadsheets, but if you do, there's a nice and simple hypergeometric calculator hosted on AetherHub, and a convenient card combination calculator if you're curious about the odds of having multiple specified card types in a particular set of draws at once.
Best of luck in all your aristocratsing! :D

submitted by Pawkkie to EDH [link] [comments]

2024.05.10 11:30 BrightPenguin I tried making my first hidden object game that was a failure

The process of making it was extremely fun though but learning the coding, unity and drawing as a complete beginner was tough. I do want to do it all over again but this time do it right, can anyone list what they really want to see in hidden object games they play? I was thinking of boxes where you click it to open it and find stuff inside but then people might be mad that they have to click everything in the game. I also tried making isometric drawings but I guess I should stick to pure 2d?
Link to my Game for anyone kind enough to offer criticism

submitted by BrightPenguin to HiddenObjectGames [link] [comments]

2024.05.10 01:48 CoHousingFarmer This is what I will do on the day Democracy dies.

This is what I will do on the day Democracy dies.

This comprehensive strategy is designed with the specific purpose of protecting groups most at risk during such political transitions—political activists, minority communities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and other groups that frequently find themselves targeted by regimes and movements hostile to democratic norms. (i.e. MAGA)
The intent of this strategy is to offer a dual-phased approach that prepares for both pre-election and post-election scenarios. By doing so, we aim to ensure that the rights and safety of at-risk populations are maintained regardless of political developments. The strategy encompasses a series of actions focused on enhancing data privacy, establishing covert safe havens, and creating paper organizations to provide both legal and social cover. Each element has been carefully crafted to blend into the community seamlessly, thereby minimizing the risk of detection and retaliation by potential adversaries, including groups like MAGA, known for their hostility towards certain demographics and ideologies.
The details outlined here are not merely precautionary; they are essential in a time when political unpredictability can lead to sudden and severe consequences for those standing on the front lines of advocacy and social change. This introduction sets the stage for a strategy that is both protective and adaptive, ensuring that all measures are grounded in a deep understanding of the risks involved and the absolute necessity for discretion and thoroughness.

Background Context

Political Climate Overview

The global political landscape is currently characterized by increasing instability and a troubling shift toward authoritarian governance. This trend manifests distinctly in various regions, contributing to a world where democratic principles are routinely challenged and often undermined.

Increasing Volatility: Across the globe, nations are experiencing heightened political instability which, in many cases, precipitates the rise of authoritarian rule. This instability often stems from economic distress, social unrest, or perceived governmental inefficiencies, which authoritarian figures exploit to consolidate power.
Shifts Toward Authoritarianism: Recent years have seen several governments adopt practices that are starkly authoritarian. Examples abound where states have suppressed free speech through censorship, manipulated electoral processes to maintain power, and systematically weakened the independence of the judiciary. These actions not only compromise the checks and balances essential to democratic governance but also threaten the fundamental rights and freedoms of their citizens.
Hostility Towards Democratic Norms: A significant rise in movements and ideologies that oppose democratic norms has been noted, often under the banners of nationalism or populism. These movements exploit fears and prejudices, rallying support through divisive and sometimes xenophobic rhetoric, posing a direct threat to the pluralistic fabric of societies.

Vulnerable Groups

In this increasingly authoritarian environment, certain groups find themselves particularly vulnerable to persecution and discrimination. Their exposure to risk is exacerbated by their visibility and their perceived opposition to authoritarian values and practices.

Political Activists: Typically the first in the line of fire, political activists face significant dangers under authoritarian shifts. Their efforts to organize opposition, promote democratic values, and protect human rights often make them targets for harassment, arbitrary detention, and worse, as they are viewed as direct threats to authoritarian interests.
Minority Communities: Ethnic, racial, and religious minorities frequently endure increased discrimination and violence when authoritarian regimes rise to power. Such regimes often scapegoat these communities, enacting policies that strip them of their rights and freedoms, and in some cases, actively encourage acts of violence and persecution against them.
LGBTQ+ Individuals: LGBTQ+ communities are exceedingly vulnerable under more conservative or outright authoritarian regimes. They may face draconian legislation, social ostracism, and violence. These measures not only threaten their personal safety but also seek to erase their presence from public life.
Other At-Risk Populations: Refugees, immigrants, and individuals with dissenting ideological views are also at significant risk. They may confront stricter immigration controls, risk of expulsion, and exclusion from political participation. Under authoritarian regimes, these groups often experience a harsh curtailing of their freedoms and a denial of their right to partake in society.

The Threat of Project_2025

A specific example of these growing threats is the emergence of initiatives like Project_2025, which symbolize the strategic and organized efforts by authoritarian groups to reshape societies according to their ideologies. Project_2025 is often cited as a blueprint for systemic change intended to dismantle current democratic frameworks and replace them with systems that suppress dissent and centralize power. This project is not merely a theoretical risk but a concrete plan that could lead to significant repression of any form of resistance or criticism.
This background context sets the stage for understanding the critical need for a robust strategy to protect vulnerable groups and preserve democratic norms. The following sections will delve into the specifics of pre-election and post-election strategies designed to counter these threats and safeguard the fundamental rights and freedoms of those at risk.

Pre-Election Strategy: Part 1 - Data Privacy and Social Media Scrubbing

Objective

The primary objective of this part of the strategy is to safeguard personal data to protect individuals from potential threats in a politically unstable environment. By minimizing the digital footprint, the strategy aims to prevent hostile entities from using online activities and histories against individuals, especially those active in movements or communities that could be targeted in a regime shift.

Importance of Data Privacy

In the context of potential authoritarian shifts, personal data on digital platforms can be weaponized against individuals. This includes identifying personal networks, political stances, and other sensitive information that could lead to harassment or worse. Protecting this data is not just about privacy; it's about maintaining personal safety and freedom in the face of growing surveillance and repression.

Actions

Timing and Planning

When to Begin:
- Initiate the data scrubbing process six months prior to critical political events, like elections or significant legislative changes, to ensure that the data is irrecoverable by the time these events occur.
How to Plan:
- Set up a phased plan that includes initial assessments, periodic reviews, and final checks. This plan should cover all platforms where personal data might be stored, from social media to cloud storage services.

Content Removal

Types of Content to Remove:
- Political Statements: Remove posts or likes that clearly align with specific political ideologies or opposition movements. For example, deleting tweets supporting political protests or Facebook posts criticizing government policies.
- Group Affiliations: Withdraw from public or semi-public social media groups that are directly associated with activist movements or politically sensitive causes. For instance, leaving a Facebook group dedicated to organizing protest events.
- Personal Beliefs: Scrub any content that expresses strong ideological beliefs that could be targeted under a new regime, such as blog posts advocating for controversial reforms or Instagram posts supporting marginalized communities.
Reasons for Removal:
- Removing such content significantly reduces the risk of being targeted based on historical data. This proactive step is crucial for individuals who could be directly impacted by policy changes, ensuring that their online presence does not inadvertently expose them to risks.

Privacy Education

Educational Initiatives:
- Workshops and Seminars: Conduct these sessions focusing on teaching effective methods for securing online profiles and handling personal data. For example, a seminar could demonstrate how to use Facebook’s privacy settings to hide past posts and tighten profile visibility.
- Online Resources: Develop comprehensive guides that detail steps for data auditing on popular platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google. These guides would offer instructions on reviewing and deleting old posts, checking app permissions, and understanding privacy policies.
- Community Outreach: Collaborate with local libraries, schools, and community centers to spread awareness about the importance of data privacy. This might include setting up informational booths, distributing flyers, or hosting Q&A sessions with privacy experts.

Examples

Example of Effective Content Removal: Jane Doe, an activist, reviewed her Twitter account and removed tweets that could be controversial. She deleted tweets advocating for large-scale protests and any direct criticisms of political figures known for their harsh retaliation against dissenters.
Community Education Example: A community center hosts a monthly workshop where participants are taught how to scrub their digital footprints effectively. These workshops provide hands-on training on privacy settings for major social networks and strategies for minimizing personal data exposure online.

This refined approach to data privacy ensures that individuals are not only aware of the risks but are also equipped with the tools and knowledge to protect themselves effectively. By systematically reducing their digital footprint, individuals can navigate politically turbulent times with greater security and confidence.

Pre-Election Strategy: Part 2 - Establishment of Covert Safe Havens in Plain Sight

Objective

The primary purpose of creating covert safe havens is to provide secure and discrete support networks for vulnerable individuals in anticipation of potential political instability. These havens are designed to integrate seamlessly into everyday community settings, offering legitimate public functions while maintaining a dual capability to protect and assist those in need. This approach ensures that these safe havens can operate without attracting undue attention, blending naturally into their environments while fulfilling their protective roles. By carefully selecting and managing these dual-functionality locations, this strategy not only provides vital support and protection for vulnerable individuals but also ensures that these safe havens remain sustainable and integrated within their communities. This seamless integration into everyday life is key to maintaining the operation's discretion and effectiveness, safeguarding those at risk while minimizing the chance of detection.

Actions

Selection of Locations

Choosing the right locations is critical to the effectiveness and discretion of these safe havens. The criteria for selecting these locations include:

Community Integration:
- Locations should be well-integrated within the community, serving as familiar and accepted places that naturally attract a diverse range of clientele. This integration helps the safe haven to appear ordinary and unremarkable, reducing the likelihood of scrutiny.
Visibility and Accessibility:
- While the locations should be visible enough to be considered a normal part of the community, they must also feature private spaces such as basements, cellars, or back rooms. These areas should be easily accessible to those in need without drawing attention from the general public.
Economic Viability:
- It is essential that these locations can sustain a legitimate business model. This not only supports the community financially but also underpins the covert operations, ensuring they can continue without financial strain or suspicion.

Dual-Functionality

These locations must adeptly balance their public and covert functionalities:

Public Business Functions:
- Types of Businesses: The strategy focuses on establishments like coffee shops, bars, community farms, maker spaces, and recreational venues like RV parks or camping grounds. These businesses are generally well-received and frequented by the public, providing a solid cover for the covert activities.
- Community Services: Each business should offer valuable services such as food production, educational workshops, or leisure activities. These services contribute positively to the community, enhancing the business's credibility and integration.
Covert Support Functions:
- Plausible Dual Use Areas: Utilize existing structures that naturally offer privacy, like root cellars on farms or basements in urban buildings. These spaces should be typical of the property and require minimal adjustment to serve as safe areas, thus avoiding any construction that might appear suspicious or clandestine.
- Transport Services: Implement transportation services that align with the business model. For example, a delivery service from a farm or a mobile workshop from a construction site can double as a method for safely moving individuals in need. This strategy includes using common roles like Uber drivers for transportation, where the individual being transported is actually posing as the uber driver for a white family, blending into a service role, reducing visibility and suspicion from MAGA.

Implementation Examples

Farm Example:
- Location: A community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm that is well-known for its fresh produce and community engagement through regular farm festivals and events.
- Dual Functionality: The farm features a large barn or a root cellar typically used for storing seasonal equipment and produce. This can also provide temporary shelter, offering a safe and private space for at-risk individuals. The regular turnover of visitors and workers for legitimate agricultural purposes ensures that any additional traffic blends in without arousing suspicion. Furthermore, depending on the last two minutes of hate, MAGA may overlook minorities or immigrants if they are in a non-lucrative looking service role, such as produce picker.
Maker Space in Urban Area:
- Location: Situated in a bustling mixed-use neighborhood, this maker space is a hub for creativity and innovation, offering classes in carpentry, electronics, and more.
- Dual Functionality: Besides the public workshop area, there's a secure back area designed for project storage. This space can also function as a discreet meeting point or temporary safe area for individuals who require shelter or a momentary escape from external threats. Furthermore, a maker space is a place full of tools, skilled craftspeople, and materials that can be repurposed for other uses, such as [ REDACTED ].

Pre-Election Strategy: Part 3 - Formation of Paper Organizations

Objective

The primary goal of forming paper organizations is to establish entities that provide legal and social fronts for covert operations, safeguarding vulnerable groups. These organizations serve to legitimize and camouflage the broader protective activities under the guise of engaging in widely accepted or non-controversial community functions. By strategically leveraging these types of organizations, the strategy ensures that protective measures are embedded within non-controversial, community-valued services. This careful planning helps maintain the sustainability of the operations, reduces the risk of exposure, and enhances the long-term viability of protecting vulnerable populations amidst political turbulence.

Actions

Types of Organizations

Select organizations that are universally accepted and less likely to attract negative attention from antagonistic groups such as MAGA:

Sports Clubs and Teams:
- Focus on sports that are popular and carry positive, community-building connotations. These organizations can organize local leagues, tournaments, and training sessions, serving as a natural gathering point for the community and a cover for larger mobilization efforts.
Garden Clubs:
- Establish co-ops or community gardens that involve activities related to food production, which are generally viewed positively and align with subsistence and sustainability goals. These can also serve as educational centers for farming techniques, appealing to a broad segment of the community.
Kennel Clubs
- Set up organizations centered around animal care, such as dog training clubs or equestrian schools. These activities appeal to animal lovers and are unlikely to draw suspicion from conservative groups. They also provide opportunities for fundraising and community involvement.

Operational Setup

Compliance with Local Laws:
- All organizations must operate within the legal framework, ensuring they do not attract scrutiny that could lead to uncovering their covert purposes.
Maintenance and Oversight:
- Regularly review and maintain operational protocols to keep the organizations effective and compliant. This includes keeping financial records clean and transparent to avoid audits that could expose the dual functions.
Integration with Safe Havens:
- Use these organizations as legal fronts or logistical hubs for the covert safe havens, facilitating communication and resource distribution discreetly. They can serve as rallying points for community support without directly exposing the linked covert operations.

Implementation Examples

Community Sports Club:
- Setup: A local soccer club that hosts regular matches and youth training camps. It is deeply integrated into the community, providing a robust platform for events that can serve broader agendas.
- Dual Functionality: Leverage the club’s events for discreetly organizing meetings and transporting supplies under the guise of sports activities, utilizing equipment transport as a cover for moving sensitive materials.
Garden Club:
- Setup: A cooperative that offers memberships for local produce and hosts regular workshops on sustainable farming practices.
- Dual Functionality: Use the co-op’s storage facilities and workshops as discreet points for gathering and distributing resources, you can grow food for poor people under the pretense of agricultural activities.
Dog Training Club:
- Setup: Organize a club that offers dog obedience classes and therapy animal training, which can attract a wide array of participants.
- Dual Functionality: Utilize the club’s regular gatherings and the innocuous nature of its activities to conduct meetings and organize volunteer networks for covert operations, masked by the club’s community-focused events. This can be a double edged sword, but you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat animals. Furthermore, trained dogs have their uses.

Section 3: Post-Election Strategy - Pivoting Operations

Objective

Activate and utilize the full scope of prepared safe havens and paper organizations in response to the election outcomes.
Protect individuals from potential crackdowns or aggressive measures by newly empowered government authorities targeting vulnerable groups.

Overall Strategic Actions

Activate Covert Safe Havens and Paper Organizations:

- Evaluate the political environment post-election and determine the level of threat to vulnerable communities. - Activate contingency plans in prepared safe havens and paper organizations to provide immediate support and protection.

Utilize Established Networks and Resources:

- Employ pre-arranged logistics and support systems to distribute resources, provide shelter, and facilitate the safe movement of individuals at risk.

Community Integration Strategies:

- Deepen involvement in local community activities that are non-political and broadly supported to avoid backlash. - Increase participation in community service projects that enhance local development and provide essential services, reinforcing the organization's value to the community and obscuring its protective roles.

Examples of Pivoting Operations Using Small Businesses

Carpet Cleaning Services:

- Use service vans for discreet transportation of individuals and supplies, leveraging routine operations as cover. - Legend has it that Cleopatra was smuggled into court rolled up in a carpet.

Landscaping and Gardening Services:

- Employ landscaping crews to offer jobs and shelter in modified storage units, providing a plausible reason for the movement and congregation of workers. - MAGA has no respect for minorities, but they like mowed lawns. Transporting people of color in the guise of lawn care workers will usually be ignored.

Mobile Pet Grooming Services:

- Utilize pet grooming vans to distribute resources discreetly and move individuals between safe locations under the guise of service calls. - Pet first aid equipment can also be used on two legged mammals.

Food Trucks:

- Operate food trucks to serve dual purposes—providing food to vulnerable populations and acting as mobile meeting points for logistics coordination. - Food trucks can have electronic messaging services, connected to GPS, and deliver data just by driving by.

House Painting Businesses:

- Leverage access to residential areas and use vans for safely relocating individuals under the guise of transporting workers and supplies. - Cans of paint can be used to store all sorts of things.

Residential Cleaning Services:

- Use cleaning teams for discreet distribution of supplies and temporary housing solutions, under the guise of deep-cleaning or house-sitting services.

Plumbing and Electrical Services:

- Dispatch tradespeople to carry necessities and check on at-risk individuals without drawing attention, using routine service calls as cover. - Plumbers carrying large pipe shaped constructions are less suspicious.

Bicycle Repair Shops:

- Implement mobile bicycle repair services for flexible and discreet transport of supplies and aid. - Bicycle frame tubes can have dual uses.

Fitness and Personal Training Services:

- Use private training sessions to provide physical and mental support discreetly, checking on individuals’ well-being under the guise of health and wellness coaching. - A fitness bootcamp fun run can be an actual bootcamp.

Local Bakery or Pizzeria Delivery Services: - Use delivery operations to routinely check on community members under the routine delivery of food, covering a broad area without suspicion. - Bakers are up early every day without drawing suspicion.

Monitoring and Adaptation

Continuously Monitor the Political and Social Environment:
- Regular assessments to adapt operations effectively, ensuring ongoing safety and effectiveness.
- Ready to expand the scope of operations or alter methods based on emerging needs and threats.

Legal Navigation

Strategically Navigate Laws:
- Ensure all activities remain compliant yet structured to conceal their true purposes, adapting to any new legal challenges post-election. MAGA does not have respect for Rule-Of-Law, but low level MAGAts will usually follow the law if it is the course of lease resistance.

Examples of Pivoting Operations For employees in a large Businesses

1. Data Privacy Enhancements

Employee Action: IT staff increase encryption and security measures, adding features like data obfuscation and deliberate vulnerabilities that make data tracking and user identification more difficult for unauthorized entities.
Discretionary Element: These changes are publicly promoted as new advanced security measures to protect customer data from increasing global cyber threats.

2. Supply Chain Redistribution

Employee Action: Supply chain managers discreetly inform resistance networks about locations and times of important emergency supplies shipments under the guise of optimizing logistics for efficiency.
Discretionary Element: Publicly, these changes are announced as strategic adjustments to better meet the dynamic needs of markets and reduce operational costs.

3. Corporate Philanthropy Redirection

Employee Action: Executives redirect corporate philanthropy funds to support 'capitalist' endeavors that indirectly benefit resistance efforts, such as investing in businesses owned by at-risk community members.
Discretionary Element: These investments are framed as exploring new market opportunities and potential high-growth areas, appealing to shareholder interests.

4. Product Development with Hidden Features

Employee Action: Product managers design products that incorporate raw materials which can be easily repurposed or integrated with features that allow resistance networks to piggyback communications.
Discretionary Element: These products are marketed as innovative and versatile, with the added functionalities promoted as providing extra value to consumers.

5. Legal Department Advocacy Against Harmful Laws

Employee Action: Company lawyers actively challenge laws from Project_2025 that might impose severe surveillance measures detrimental to business operations, like mandatory data sharing with government bodies.
Hypothetical Law: "All telecommunications companies are required to install government monitoring software." (I mean, they already have it, but bear with me here, this is an example)
Discretionary Element: Legal challenges are framed as protecting the company's competitive edge and customer trust.

6. Marketing Campaigns with Subtle Messages

Employee Action: Marketing teams develop campaigns that subtly endorse themes of resilience and unity, using coded language that resonates with resistance supporters.
Hypothetical Campaign: Launch a national campaign for a telecommunications product under the slogan "Stay Connected, Stay Strong," which subtly encourages unity and resilience. I'm not in marketing, so I really don't know how to not sound like 1984.
Discretionary Element: Campaigns are officially aimed at boosting brand loyalty and market presence during turbulent times.

7. Community Engagement for Resource Distribution

Employee Action: Community relations staff organize local events that double as distribution points for essential supplies to at-risk populations, such as geriatric health fairs or local business expos.
Discretionary Element: These events are positioned as part of corporate efforts to engage with potential customers, masking their dual purpose.

8. Internal Training on Privacy and Security

Employee Action: Implement training programs that ostensibly enhance employee awareness about privacy and security but also educate them on how to discreetly handle sensitive information about at-risk colleagues.
Discretionary Element: Training is marketed internally as essential upskilling in response to global increases in data breaches and cyber threats.

9. R&D for Dual-Use Technologies

Employee Action: R&D staff focus on developing technologies that can be used both commercially and to aid resistance efforts, such as drones designed for commercial delivery that can also be used for discreet surveillance or off the books deliveries. Police radios that can be used to track the police.
Discretionary Element: The dual-use nature of these technologies is touted as a cost-effective solution to multiple market needs.

10. Strategic Public Relations

Employee Action: PR teams craft narratives around corporate actions that align with resistance goals, framing them as innovative responses to market demands or regulatory changes. (i.e. We think different! We're the rebels from StarWars. ) (Note: It's a trap!)
Discretionary Element: These narratives emphasize the corporation's adaptability and forward-thinking, which is attractive to investors and customers alike, while subtly supporting resistance efforts.

In the face of rising authoritarianism and potential threats, it's understandable to feel overwhelmed by the detailed strategies and safety measures we've outlined. However, it's important not to let panic set in. The purpose of these strategies is not to alarm you but to prepare and empower you and your community.
For many of us, blending seamlessly into our surroundings comes naturally and doesn’t require drastic changes to our daily lives. For those who cannot hide—the most visible and vulnerable among us—it becomes not only an option but a responsibility for their allies to step up and implement these strategies. This dual approach ensures that while some continue their lives with minimal disruption, others work behind the scenes to maintain safety nets and support systems. This collective effort is what builds a robust resistance movement capable of withstanding pressures and protecting its members from harm. It's not just about individual safety; it's about community resilience.
By taking proactive steps now, we ensure that everyone has the support they need to face whatever may come. This strategy is about being ready, not scared. It’s about building a network of support that can operate effectively under pressure while maintaining a facade of conformity to protect all its members.
Let’s focus on being prepared and connected, on understanding our roles, and on supporting each other. With careful planning and solidarity, we can navigate these challenges without fear, safeguarding our rights and freedoms in the process. Remember, the goal here is to keep the light of democracy burning, no matter how dark the times may seem.
sorry if my formatting is all over the place. This is jumble of my notes. I figure perfect is the enemy of good, and some of you have some anxiety over this. The rest of you...should....But It's going to be OK, because we have feet and hands and arms, and we can MAKE it OK.

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2024.05.09 22:43 firstLOL Bath tap is leaking... somewhere. A detective story.

We have a bath that has a freestanding tap. Looking at the arrangement from the room below the bathroom, the tap is fed by a hot and cold PEX barrier pipe, each of which goes into a pushfit 90 (using the correct inserts!) to turn the pipes upwards toward the underside of the bathroom floor, which goes into a pushfit to threaded male adaptor, which then the two tap tails connect to, and go through a hole in the floor, up into the tap body. There is a small hatch in the ceiling of the room below so we can access the plumbing, which is directly below the 90 degree bends. See this simple Sketchup for a rough drawing of what's going on.
We installed this bathroom about a year ago and have probably had 10-20 baths in this time without any incident. However, in the last month or so we have noticed that about 2-3 hours after draining the bath about a pint of water drops out of the ceiling through the little inspection hatch. What seems to be happening is that water is getting into the ceiling (this picture is taken through the little hatch, looking along the feed pipes). When enough of it pools, it finds its way to the hatch and into the room below.
Here are the facts:

The water arrives suddenly, all at once, and then no more arrives. It does not slowly leak out at other times.
Whatever happens causes enough spray to wet the feed pipes at least three or four inches above the level of the plasterboard ceiling so is clearly coming out under some pressure. See the drips/spray in this picture.
If you dry the area down and don't run another bath, all of the joints and pipes etc. will remain completely dry even though they are holding mains pressure water while the tap is closed. There is no slow leak.
Nothing drips while the taps are running, even if you fill the bath completely with the taps running on full pressure.
I have yet to actually see the water fall out of the ceiling, just the aftermath (this has happened four times).
The tap has an integrated shower, which we do use.

I have ruled out the following by cutting large squares out of the ceiling and/or careful application of paper towels to see which bits get wet and which don't:

It is definitely not a leak from the tap body itself (proved with a paper towel that remained completely dry)
It is definitely not a leak through the floor of the bathroom itself (the floor upstairs is dry)
It is definitely not a problem with the bath drain / overflow (proved by opening up the ceiling below it)
It is definitely not any joint other than the one directly below the taps (proved by opening up the ceiling at other points and all those joints are dry)
It is definitely not another bathroom appliance (toilet etc)

Any thoughts? My next move is to run a bath and sit in the room (my daughter's bedroom) until it happens, so that I can see exactly what happens and where the water is coming from.
By a process of elimination it (seemingly) must be an issue with the 90 degree bend up towards the tap, but (a) why does it only leak several hours after the bath has been switched off, and only for an instant (and never when just sitting there under mains pressure) and (b) why has it only just started doing so?
Many many thanks in advance.

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2024.05.09 20:30 InfluenceWide What are some tips to sell my house quickly?

6 TIPS TO SELL YOUR HOUSE QUICKLY
THE BEST TIPS TO ATTRACT BUYERS FASTER
Whether you need to relocate because your new job is starting soon or you're just eager to live in a new environment, it would be best if you could sell your property faster. There are a few things that you need to consider to increase the likelihood that someone will be attracted to your property.
To attract buyers, you also have to make your home attractive. You must show it off so buyers can envision themselves living in it. The more potential buyers you attract, the more you can sell your house with a better deal.
Today, we will talk about marketing strategies to sell your house quickly.
Hire A Real Estate Agent
Hiring a Real Estate Agent would probably be the fastest and easiest way to sell your house. They possess a deep understanding of the local housing market dynamics. Their knowledge enables them to accurately assess the value of your property, ensuring that it is competitively priced to better attract potential buyers.
Because of the long process that it takes to sell a house, real estate agents are the solution to make it easier and less stressful for you; their skills not only help in attaining the best possible price for your property but also ensure that the transaction progresses smoothly, minimizing delays and potential setbacks.
Clean and Declutter
If you want to sell your house quickly, it is obvious to clean it as extensively as possible. From the exterior to the interior, your buyers should see it in its best condition possible. Decluttering is also highly recommended because it frees up necessary space and makes the house much bigger and more appealing.
Think of cleaning and decluttering as creating a blank canvas for buyers to imagine their own lives in the space. By clearing out excess stuff and keeping things neat, you make it easier for them to see the potential of the house. If you can't do it yourself, hire a company to do the deep cleaning.
Depersonalize Your House
Whether you're a fan of a particular sports team or you love floral furniture, depersonalizing your home can help buyers a lot. Depersonalizing means removing personal items such as family photos, unique artwork, or quirky decorations that reflect your tastes and experiences.
Depersonalizing your home creates a neutral canvas, allowing prospective buyers to envision the property as theirs. This blank slate makes it easier for them to imagine how they would arrange their furniture, decorate the space, and make it their own, which makes it easier for them to purchase your property.
Quick Repairs
Buyers often gravitate toward homes that require minimal work, and addressing key areas promptly can significantly enhance your chances of a quick and successful sale. Here are some everyday things that need quick repairs in a house.
EXTERIOR

Roof: Repair any visible damage or leaks.
Siding: Fix any cracks, holes, or damaged panels.
Windows: Ensure they open and close smoothly, replacing cracked or broken panes.
Doors: Repair squeaky hinges, replace damaged screens or storm doors, and ensure locks work correctly.
Gutters and Downspouts: Clean debris and ensure proper drainage to prevent water damage.

INTERIOR
Kitchen:

Appliances: Ensure all appliances are working, and repair or replace faulty ones.
Fixtures: Repair or replace leaky faucets, loose cabinet handles, or outdated light fixtures.
Cabinets and Countertops: Address any damage or wear, and consider updating with fresh paint or refinishing.

Bathrooms:

Plumbing: Fix leaky faucets, repair or replace damaged pipes, and ensure toilets function correctly.
Fixtures: Replace worn-out or outdated fixtures such as faucets, showerheads, and towel bars.
Tiles: Repair any cracked or damaged tiles in showers, floors, or walls.
Flooring: Repair or replace damaged flooring, such as cracked tiles, worn-out carpets, or scuffed hardwood.

Boost Exterior Appeal
The exterior is the first thing potential buyers see, setting the tone for their impression of the property. A well-maintained exterior creates immediate curb appeal, drawing in prospective buyers and enticing them to explore further. Everything must be top-notch, From landscaping to the roof's condition, to ensure you can sell your home faster.
Price It To Sell
Even if you do everything to make the house more appealing to buyers, the most important thing they will check is whether the home's value is worth its price. Pricing it appropriately can generate immediate interest among potential buyers, leading to more showings and a faster transaction.
Overpricing can deter buyers and prolong the time your property sits on the market, while underpricing may result in missed opportunities to maximize your return on investment. By accurately pricing your home based on its current market value and comparable sales in the area, you can attract serious buyers ready to make an offer quickly.
If you want to know more about attracting more buyers, feel free to reach out to me at (703) 562-1788 or [Dan@greetingsvirginia.com](mailto:Dan@greetingsvirginia.com). I’d be more than happy to help you!

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2024.05.09 09:23 RamonTaylor3206 Mastering Isometric Projection: Questions and Expert Solutions

Welcome back, architecture enthusiasts! Today, we delve into the intricate world of isometric projection, a fundamental concept in architectural visualization. Whether you're a seasoned architect or just starting your journey in the field, mastering isometric projection is crucial for accurately representing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface. So, if you find yourself wondering, "Who can do my isometric projection assignment?" worry no more, for we've got you covered.
Architecture Assignment Help
Let's kick things off with a question that will test your understanding of the principles behind isometric projection:
Question 1:
Explain the concept of isometric projection and its significance in architectural drawing.
Answer:
Isometric projection is a method used in technical and engineering drawings to represent three-dimensional objects in two dimensions. Unlike other types of projections, such as orthographic projection, isometric projection maintains the same scale along each axis, resulting in a more realistic representation of the object's shape and size. This projection technique is particularly valuable in architecture because it allows architects to create detailed drawings that accurately depict the spatial relationships between various elements of a building or structure.
The key characteristic of isometric projection is that it eliminates the distortion that occurs in other types of projections, such as perspective projection, where objects appear smaller as they recede into the distance. In isometric projection, all lines parallel to the three major axes of the object—typically the x, y, and z axes—are represented at the same angle to the picture plane, resulting in a drawing that accurately represents the object's dimensions and proportions.
In architectural drawing, isometric projection is used extensively to create floor plans, elevations, and other technical drawings that convey the design intent of a building or structure. By accurately representing the spatial relationships between different architectural elements, such as walls, doors, and windows, isometric projection helps architects communicate their ideas effectively to clients, contractors, and other stakeholders.
Now that we've established the importance of isometric projection, let's tackle another challenging question:
Question 2:
Discuss the advantages and limitations of using isometric projection in architectural drawing.
Answer:
Isometric projection offers several advantages in architectural drawing. Firstly, it provides a realistic representation of three-dimensional objects, allowing architects to visualize their designs more accurately. This can be particularly helpful during the design phase, as it enables architects to identify potential issues and make necessary adjustments before construction begins.
Secondly, isometric projection is easy to understand and interpret, making it accessible to architects, clients, and other stakeholders who may not have technical drawing skills. This helps facilitate communication and collaboration throughout the design and construction process.
However, isometric projection also has its limitations. One notable limitation is that it does not accurately represent the perspective or foreshortening that occurs in real-world viewing conditions. This means that objects may appear distorted or compressed in an isometric drawing, especially if they are viewed from an oblique angle.
Additionally, isometric projection can be challenging to use for complex or irregular shapes, as it requires careful measurement and calculation to ensure accurate representation. In some cases, architects may need to use other projection techniques, such as perspective projection, to accurately convey the spatial relationships of these shapes.
In conclusion, while isometric projection is a valuable tool in architectural drawing, it is important for architects to be aware of its advantages and limitations. By understanding how isometric projection works and when to use it, architects can create more effective and accurate drawings that effectively communicate their design intent.
So, the next time you're faced with an isometric projection assignment, remember the principles we've discussed here and approach it with confidence. And if you ever find yourself thinking, "Who can do my isometric projection assignment?" just know that we're here to help you every step of the way.

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