Windows xp language pack
QB64
2015.07.18 21:34 OneSoupdaloop QB64
A subreddit to discuss all things QB64. QB64 uses the simplicity of QBasic, but with a slew of newer commands, not to mention massively expanded capabilities. It's designed to be 100% backwards compatible with your old QBasic programs too!
2011.12.24 05:18 Flargus Blender 3D: Help and Questions
For help with Blender problems, also consider visiting https://blenderartists.org/c/support or https://blender.stackexchange.com/
2024.05.17 00:06 Different-Ad4862 [GM4F] The Marked Lands - A 5E DnD Campaign
Deeptown was aflame.
A large inferno raged, washing the town square in waves of sweltering heat and spitting sparks. The babbling surge of the River of Dreams was overwhelmed by the roaring of flames; heavy smoke stacks obscuring the light of the thin, silvery moon that stood vigil above the valleyed town. The windowed houses that ensconced the town square, built of oak and plaster, reflected back the orange illumination in haunting visage. Even the incessant warblings of hundreds of cicadas and katydids were drowned out by the sharp snap of stacked burning logs. There was only one sound that trumped all others.
Music.
Thin, bright trilling flutes. Heavy, rumbling drums. A singular lute whose owner took liberties in the finer points of playing. And, more than that, dozens of hesitant yet warm voices sang. They sang of life and love and hope. They sang of Tohlen and Sayn. They sang for the Festival of Plenty. Large stalls packed the corners of the space and, betwixt these stalls, a man from a group of pack-laden individuals cried out, "Trader, merchant, mender! Vendor, gossip, letter handler!" The merchants, misty-eyed and smiling wide, trudged down the road with graying travel packs nestled between peaked shoulders. "I've got gut and needle and knives and wines! Water for travel and open to haggle!" Each flat-footed step upon the ground lent itself to a grand chorus; a jumbled mess of metals, glassware, and other oddities heralding their arrival. Nervous lovers made wide, clumsy steps around one fire. In the center, a hurried stage had been constructed and was lit by the four bonfires. A troupe of performers acted out some bawdy play or another, making indecent jokes and enrapturing their growing audience.
At the height of this reverie, miles and miles away, a group of robed figures rode hard and fast with a purpose that would cause a few wandering paths and destinies to begin to intertwine…
—
🠪 20+ is a must on my end. I’d like experienced and mature writers who don’t have any qualms telling a story that veers into mature topics at times. 🠪 Third person literacy. This one is pretty self explanatory. I write strictly in third person and put my focus into quality before quantity. 🠪 Has a focus on pushing the story alongside the DM. There should be enough meat in the post and enough new content to give adequate space to formulate a response for all parties involved. I cannot tell you how many times I've worked up a post only to be greeted by a word by word response of what occurred in my own post and nothing more, leaving a sour taste in my mouth with nothing for me to build off of or react to. I hold to the philosophy of a 'give and take' in roleplay. No one person should be in control of the conflict or cliffhangers or what have you, though I as DM will have a heavier hand on presenting information. Poison a drink, introduce new character traits, or even piss off a new antagonist. Anything works as long as it's communicated and brings something of value to the roleplay. 🠪 Comfortable with expanding the world and creating the plot together. Like I previously mentioned, the pieces of The Marked Lands are together, though the specifics are things that must be worked out. I don’t care much for plotting out every exhausting detail prior to writing. I would just enjoy someone who didn’t mind adding their own twists and ideas into the story. 🠪 Discord only! — If any of this has caught your interest, feel free to send me a message detailing any ideas you might have and a little about yourself! The world of The Marked Lands is one of my new favorite pet projects that I’ve worked on and I’m excited to get to explore and flesh it out more in depth to tell awesome stories in.
submitted by Different-Ad4862 to roleplaying [link] [comments]
A large inferno raged, washing the town square in waves of sweltering heat and spitting sparks. The babbling surge of the River of Dreams was overwhelmed by the roaring of flames; heavy smoke stacks obscuring the light of the thin, silvery moon that stood vigil above the valleyed town. The windowed houses that ensconced the town square, built of oak and plaster, reflected back the orange illumination in haunting visage. Even the incessant warblings of hundreds of cicadas and katydids were drowned out by the sharp snap of stacked burning logs. There was only one sound that trumped all others.
Music.
Thin, bright trilling flutes. Heavy, rumbling drums. A singular lute whose owner took liberties in the finer points of playing. And, more than that, dozens of hesitant yet warm voices sang. They sang of life and love and hope. They sang of Tohlen and Sayn. They sang for the Festival of Plenty. Large stalls packed the corners of the space and, betwixt these stalls, a man from a group of pack-laden individuals cried out, "Trader, merchant, mender! Vendor, gossip, letter handler!" The merchants, misty-eyed and smiling wide, trudged down the road with graying travel packs nestled between peaked shoulders. "I've got gut and needle and knives and wines! Water for travel and open to haggle!" Each flat-footed step upon the ground lent itself to a grand chorus; a jumbled mess of metals, glassware, and other oddities heralding their arrival. Nervous lovers made wide, clumsy steps around one fire. In the center, a hurried stage had been constructed and was lit by the four bonfires. A troupe of performers acted out some bawdy play or another, making indecent jokes and enrapturing their growing audience.
At the height of this reverie, miles and miles away, a group of robed figures rode hard and fast with a purpose that would cause a few wandering paths and destinies to begin to intertwine…
—
🠪 20+ is a must on my end. I’d like experienced and mature writers who don’t have any qualms telling a story that veers into mature topics at times. 🠪 Third person literacy. This one is pretty self explanatory. I write strictly in third person and put my focus into quality before quantity. 🠪 Has a focus on pushing the story alongside the DM. There should be enough meat in the post and enough new content to give adequate space to formulate a response for all parties involved. I cannot tell you how many times I've worked up a post only to be greeted by a word by word response of what occurred in my own post and nothing more, leaving a sour taste in my mouth with nothing for me to build off of or react to. I hold to the philosophy of a 'give and take' in roleplay. No one person should be in control of the conflict or cliffhangers or what have you, though I as DM will have a heavier hand on presenting information. Poison a drink, introduce new character traits, or even piss off a new antagonist. Anything works as long as it's communicated and brings something of value to the roleplay. 🠪 Comfortable with expanding the world and creating the plot together. Like I previously mentioned, the pieces of The Marked Lands are together, though the specifics are things that must be worked out. I don’t care much for plotting out every exhausting detail prior to writing. I would just enjoy someone who didn’t mind adding their own twists and ideas into the story. 🠪 Discord only! — If any of this has caught your interest, feel free to send me a message detailing any ideas you might have and a little about yourself! The world of The Marked Lands is one of my new favorite pet projects that I’ve worked on and I’m excited to get to explore and flesh it out more in depth to tell awesome stories in.
2024.05.17 00:06 Different-Ad4862 [GM4F] The Marked Lands - A 5E DnD Campaign
Deeptown was aflame.
A large inferno raged, washing the town square in waves of sweltering heat and spitting sparks. The babbling surge of the River of Dreams was overwhelmed by the roaring of flames; heavy smoke stacks obscuring the light of the thin, silvery moon that stood vigil above the valleyed town. The windowed houses that ensconced the town square, built of oak and plaster, reflected back the orange illumination in haunting visage. Even the incessant warblings of hundreds of cicadas and katydids were drowned out by the sharp snap of stacked burning logs. There was only one sound that trumped all others.
Music.
Thin, bright trilling flutes. Heavy, rumbling drums. A singular lute whose owner took liberties in the finer points of playing. And, more than that, dozens of hesitant yet warm voices sang. They sang of life and love and hope. They sang of Tohlen and Sayn. They sang for the Festival of Plenty. Large stalls packed the corners of the space and, betwixt these stalls, a man from a group of pack-laden individuals cried out, "Trader, merchant, mender! Vendor, gossip, letter handler!" The merchants, misty-eyed and smiling wide, trudged down the road with graying travel packs nestled between peaked shoulders. "I've got gut and needle and knives and wines! Water for travel and open to haggle!" Each flat-footed step upon the ground lent itself to a grand chorus; a jumbled mess of metals, glassware, and other oddities heralding their arrival. Nervous lovers made wide, clumsy steps around one fire. In the center, a hurried stage had been constructed and was lit by the four bonfires. A troupe of performers acted out some bawdy play or another, making indecent jokes and enrapturing their growing audience.
At the height of this reverie, miles and miles away, a group of robed figures rode hard and fast with a purpose that would cause a few wandering paths and destinies to begin to intertwine…
—
🠪 20+ is a must on my end. I’d like experienced and mature writers who don’t have any qualms telling a story that veers into mature topics at times. 🠪 Third person literacy. This one is pretty self explanatory. I write strictly in third person and put my focus into quality before quantity. 🠪 Has a focus on pushing the story alongside the DM. There should be enough meat in the post and enough new content to give adequate space to formulate a response for all parties involved. I cannot tell you how many times I've worked up a post only to be greeted by a word by word response of what occurred in my own post and nothing more, leaving a sour taste in my mouth with nothing for me to build off of or react to. I hold to the philosophy of a 'give and take' in roleplay. No one person should be in control of the conflict or cliffhangers or what have you, though I as DM will have a heavier hand on presenting information. Poison a drink, introduce new character traits, or even piss off a new antagonist. Anything works as long as it's communicated and brings something of value to the roleplay. 🠪 Comfortable with expanding the world and creating the plot together. Like I previously mentioned, the pieces of The Marked Lands are together, though the specifics are things that must be worked out. I don’t care much for plotting out every exhausting detail prior to writing. I would just enjoy someone who didn’t mind adding their own twists and ideas into the story. 🠪 Discord only! — If any of this has caught your interest, feel free to send me a message detailing any ideas you might have and a little about yourself! The world of The Marked Lands is one of my new favorite pet projects that I’ve worked on and I’m excited to get to explore and flesh it out more in depth to tell awesome stories in.
submitted by Different-Ad4862 to AdvLiterateRP [link] [comments]
A large inferno raged, washing the town square in waves of sweltering heat and spitting sparks. The babbling surge of the River of Dreams was overwhelmed by the roaring of flames; heavy smoke stacks obscuring the light of the thin, silvery moon that stood vigil above the valleyed town. The windowed houses that ensconced the town square, built of oak and plaster, reflected back the orange illumination in haunting visage. Even the incessant warblings of hundreds of cicadas and katydids were drowned out by the sharp snap of stacked burning logs. There was only one sound that trumped all others.
Music.
Thin, bright trilling flutes. Heavy, rumbling drums. A singular lute whose owner took liberties in the finer points of playing. And, more than that, dozens of hesitant yet warm voices sang. They sang of life and love and hope. They sang of Tohlen and Sayn. They sang for the Festival of Plenty. Large stalls packed the corners of the space and, betwixt these stalls, a man from a group of pack-laden individuals cried out, "Trader, merchant, mender! Vendor, gossip, letter handler!" The merchants, misty-eyed and smiling wide, trudged down the road with graying travel packs nestled between peaked shoulders. "I've got gut and needle and knives and wines! Water for travel and open to haggle!" Each flat-footed step upon the ground lent itself to a grand chorus; a jumbled mess of metals, glassware, and other oddities heralding their arrival. Nervous lovers made wide, clumsy steps around one fire. In the center, a hurried stage had been constructed and was lit by the four bonfires. A troupe of performers acted out some bawdy play or another, making indecent jokes and enrapturing their growing audience.
At the height of this reverie, miles and miles away, a group of robed figures rode hard and fast with a purpose that would cause a few wandering paths and destinies to begin to intertwine…
—
🠪 20+ is a must on my end. I’d like experienced and mature writers who don’t have any qualms telling a story that veers into mature topics at times. 🠪 Third person literacy. This one is pretty self explanatory. I write strictly in third person and put my focus into quality before quantity. 🠪 Has a focus on pushing the story alongside the DM. There should be enough meat in the post and enough new content to give adequate space to formulate a response for all parties involved. I cannot tell you how many times I've worked up a post only to be greeted by a word by word response of what occurred in my own post and nothing more, leaving a sour taste in my mouth with nothing for me to build off of or react to. I hold to the philosophy of a 'give and take' in roleplay. No one person should be in control of the conflict or cliffhangers or what have you, though I as DM will have a heavier hand on presenting information. Poison a drink, introduce new character traits, or even piss off a new antagonist. Anything works as long as it's communicated and brings something of value to the roleplay. 🠪 Comfortable with expanding the world and creating the plot together. Like I previously mentioned, the pieces of The Marked Lands are together, though the specifics are things that must be worked out. I don’t care much for plotting out every exhausting detail prior to writing. I would just enjoy someone who didn’t mind adding their own twists and ideas into the story. 🠪 Discord only! — If any of this has caught your interest, feel free to send me a message detailing any ideas you might have and a little about yourself! The world of The Marked Lands is one of my new favorite pet projects that I’ve worked on and I’m excited to get to explore and flesh it out more in depth to tell awesome stories in.
2024.05.17 00:04 magbooroo 14 q50 wanted to give out at red light? 185k miles
I’ve had this car for a few years now and this has never happened. I was driving fine for an hour and suddenly when I was at a red light, the car started choking and wanting to give out.
Replaced my car battery recently and now my fob keeps coming undetected but thinking maybe that has to be changed too. Have always put premium, been a few occasions throughout the years someone else has put regular gas. No codes shooting out.
185k mileage.
Hoping it’s spark plugs or cleaning the maf sensor? I haven’t had them changed out in a very long time, found some on Amazon with coil packs that was fairly priced. Thoughts?
IgnitionDoctor Iridium Spark Plugs and Coil Packs of 6 Combo Compatible with 2007-2020 Select Infiniti EX35, FX35, Q50, QX60 & Nissan Altima, Maxima, Murano V6 2.5L 3.5L UF550 5C1727 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YYRH3DB?psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_ud_ct_E18KN6VGDER4CNXP4B31&language=en_US
If no to the spark plug coil pack, there’s also this but I’m not sure if I need to change the coil packs as well https://www.ebay.com/itm/315182443285?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ma_4lntjrq-&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=QVOfMmc3Q9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
submitted by magbooroo to q50 [link] [comments]
Replaced my car battery recently and now my fob keeps coming undetected but thinking maybe that has to be changed too. Have always put premium, been a few occasions throughout the years someone else has put regular gas. No codes shooting out.
185k mileage.
Hoping it’s spark plugs or cleaning the maf sensor? I haven’t had them changed out in a very long time, found some on Amazon with coil packs that was fairly priced. Thoughts?
IgnitionDoctor Iridium Spark Plugs and Coil Packs of 6 Combo Compatible with 2007-2020 Select Infiniti EX35, FX35, Q50, QX60 & Nissan Altima, Maxima, Murano V6 2.5L 3.5L UF550 5C1727 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YYRH3DB?psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_ud_ct_E18KN6VGDER4CNXP4B31&language=en_US
If no to the spark plug coil pack, there’s also this but I’m not sure if I need to change the coil packs as well https://www.ebay.com/itm/315182443285?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ma_4lntjrq-&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=QVOfMmc3Q9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
2024.05.17 00:00 NavigatorHenry How does a noob start??
I have a spare laptop from a few years ago (a HP envy laptop 13 with an intel core i7 CPU and 8 GB or ram) and it is currently running windows 10 (very slowly) I heard from some friends at college that I should move over to using the Arch distro of Linux but I have never used a OS different from Microsoft ones (my first pc was windows XP) but looking at some videos about Linux computers they look beautiful with customisability using a thing called bspwm, I have quite a bit of coding knowledge in python as I am studying Computer Science if that changes what I should do if I want to try out Linux on my device. if anyone has some advice to trying out Linux please leave a comment
submitted by NavigatorHenry to linux4noobs [link] [comments]
2024.05.16 23:55 Mystical_Legend Can I be broken beyond repair?
Hello everyone! I have decided to leave my thoughts here, so whatever happens, happens, I just feel like I should do it somewhere. Oh my, I typed a lot, I'm not even confident enough that this will be read, but hey I've got nothing to lose. So, I'm a guy who just recently hit 20 and the ways I think and feel are changing and I am having difficulties because of that. This will be related to my feelings, thoughts and my wishes, the last part is something I'm not used to having. The main problem will be my father who is not supporting that. However I wouldn't say it's just some "disagreement" or anything, but something bigger. So I will leave some stuff I've been through and how I felt at those times. I hope someone can help or anything
Before school: I would be super talkative with the family and neighborhood kids, just being annoying and putting out some childlike opinions and just being a little loud burden when I'm comfortable. When I'm not, I'd just be the quiet kid I've been taught to be, not nice bothering grownups, they're scary
Elementary school: As a kid I never had too many friends, I always attached to that one person and was connected with them the most and it was enough for me. However I happened to have some silly luck where whenever I'd get attached to someone they would magically appear to move out of the country and I'd find a new friend and repeat the same cycle. Definitely didn't hang out with multiple people at once. Wasn't aware this was doing something to me. A lot of them were friends that played a lot of video games and I got into playing video games too. A bit too much perhaps because it would happen to delay everything, including my knowledge of everything till this very day. Both in elementary and high school I was a straight A, "gifted kid" and all that nerd stuff. Of course I did it all because I feared the reaction of my parents if I wasn't doing as good as I was supposed to. My mom was more understanding than my dad. I could always ask her things like "Would you still love me if I wasn't getting As?" and she would comfort me and all the good stuff. I was always afraid of my dad so I never had deeper talks with him. Even today, I have deep talks with my mom and love spending time with her but I can end up being all day alone with my dad and we share 20 words. But now not that much because of fear but because of habit I guess. My whole life goal at this stage was just not making him angry. I didn't have any hobbies, just burning through games and school books. When it was time to go to highschool, I picked some random school not directed into anything, (uhh I don't know the words, gymnasium? the school that has a little bit of everything, nothing specific, English is not my native language) it was kinda directed to coding but not really, I picked it because, hey I like games, this should be fun, I could make games.
Highschool: My habits have hit me, and I realized I'm not really engaging in healthy human activities so I have been so afraid of not being able to make friends. Because I usually spent my social time with one friend in my house or their house I didn't really know anything about my town or places or activities or whatever at the age of 15. I was scared of simply being too far behind on everything and that I couldn't make friends. However I happened to find some kid who was just like me and I clicked with him. Oh my, repeating the cycle, am I not? However I didn't want to repeat the cycle. And I wanted to go meet more friends from the class and see what's up, I'm tired of feeling like an outcast. I've been lucky and I've met some great guys where I've seen what it means to have self-respect, self-love, a backbone, goals, how you can rebel against things you find ridiculous and all the most insane of them all, ~confidence~. Thanks to being in that group of 5 friends, I've been taught so many things I should have known ages ago and I was able to feel okay around people, start going to the gym, going out in town, advancing even as far as going to different towns and trying out things I didn't feel comfortable thinking about before. Was able to talk to girls on a deeper level and had an embarrassingly late realization of "hey, they're human too!". Things I did were nothing too crazy ever, I still had my dad's ideals hanging over my head, so I never felt comfortable engaging in some things like drinking or going to parties out late (well, he wouldn't allow me to leave the house late anyways). Eventually I figured out I can just lie to him to make things less complicated by twisting the story a little bit, that's how I ended up going to another town. The first time I confronted him about something bigger, is when I wanted to go to another country on my own so I could meet up with my girlfriend at that time and I was tired of him not allowing me stuff and I just dropped my first ever assertive-ish sentence to him. "I want to ask you something but I don't want your answer to be no". He allowed me to, was taken aback though. That trip was one of the most beautiful experiences I've ever had in my life. I think he allowed me to only because it was a girl in question, and I wasn't really having girl friends in highschool, was scared because of all the generalization I've heard from my father and the relationship between my parents, and I truly wasn't excited about the whole idea of marriage. My dad is very traditional and he loves being in control of my life because he believes that a man should fully provide for his family, that he should simply deal with this deal with that, that a wife must obey him, that parents are most important no matter how they act yadda yadda. A lot of old thinking I never agreed with but couldn't do much about it anyways so let's just live I guess. However one thing I did continue in highschool is my addiction to video games. But then I stopped because I felt guilty for not studying and felt guilty for not learning about music or town areas all my friends know. So I started listen to music properly and I got hooked to it. This has grown into a bigger problem now and I'll go in the final stage of my life because I feel like this is so much text.
University: (if I say uni/college, I'm talking about the same thing, I don't know if there's a difference between the two words) Oh well, you remember how I said that the addiction is gonna make a problem? Well, I started studying engineering. Thanks to my high grades and me doing the entrance exam relatively well, I got into the "toughest college in the country". Now, the fun part is that now that I have to detach from listening to music for multiple hours a day and absolutely doing stupid dances and releasing my energy outside because I don't know what to do with it, I realized I never thought about what I loved... And, well let's just say I don't really know if engineering, nor coding was the way to go. Crisis time. However I don't like anything, what do I do I'm gonna lose my mind. Well, let's just try having friends? I met some of the most beautiful souls ever on this university and I have reached the point of being able to "be myself" and show the world my weirdness and all the goofy opinions and statements my mind creates. I go to that college sometimes just to see all those beautiful people again and again. They're serious about what they're doing and about their studies, I wish them the best, I really hope I don't negatively affect them. However, I tried to research a bit on what I might actually truly love. And after stumbling through life this last year while pretending everything's okay when dad asked, and telling the truth to my mom, I stumbled onto psychology. And well I have went to that college, to see the lessons and classes and wow, studying can be fun? So I'm thinking about finally taking a wrong turn on this path I was always meant to take from the beginning of my life, and follow this, just to see what's gonna happen. What's the purpose of pushing software engineering when I know I'll feel about it like any other job. I'm not money hungry anyways, I'm hungry for being fulfilled. I've confronted my dad about wanting to change my career, to which I've been called many names, been extremely judged for my choices and I've been told to cut off my hair and stop going to the gym as punishment (I'm not planning on listening to this). I've never been physically abused by my dad, but I'm scared if he's insane enough to do something to me now because he set me a timer of 7 days to cut off my hair. Oh yes btw, I always wanted to have long hair and he never agreed, I was too scared to ever do it. Recently I've changed my mind and he hates it so now he wants it gone. I'm genuinely concerned if he's gonna launch on me with scissors or something ridiculous. You see, even now I am so easily manipulated and controlled by fear and I'm sick and tired of that. That's probably the reason I never got out of religion, my fear is just too strong for me to do it. I dislike that, I wish I could transfer fear into love, I have never learned how to do that though. Will I always be like this? Will I always be a coward and just say "yessir" to everything? I don't want to anymore. I'm tired of being a puppet. I'm tired of having to prove I'm smart or capable or hardworking. I just want to have something with which I can say "I did this on my own, I committed to this, I wanted this" not "well it was good for me". I want to start following my heart and throw my brain out of the window. And now I'm scared of things like "what if I was wrong all along and he was right", "what if I don't find any jobs in this country because of this", "what if he throws me out of the house or starts abusing me". Well I don't know, but I feel like I want to commit to psychology, and I'm gonna do it, I'll be on my own, no ideals from other people, just me, and my wishes. But these words and all the things affect me a lot and they always have. And I get demotivated and stop caring about everything, which just makes my addiction to blasting music on my headphones and badly dancing even stronger. I'm scared of it happening again. But I've never been this sick of it all, I feel like I won't go down without a fight anymore. So I ask in the text once more, can I truly be broken beyond repair, or can I break all the chains tying me down? Because I want to know if I should just abandon all hope and embrace the tradition and insanity along with it, or just run and not look back.
If you have read all of this, I am very grateful to you, hopefully I have been collected enough to construct sentences that make sense, or that it all makes sense overall. Anything is appreciated. I love you all and wish you the best <3
submitted by Mystical_Legend to Healthygamergg [link] [comments]
Before school: I would be super talkative with the family and neighborhood kids, just being annoying and putting out some childlike opinions and just being a little loud burden when I'm comfortable. When I'm not, I'd just be the quiet kid I've been taught to be, not nice bothering grownups, they're scary
Elementary school: As a kid I never had too many friends, I always attached to that one person and was connected with them the most and it was enough for me. However I happened to have some silly luck where whenever I'd get attached to someone they would magically appear to move out of the country and I'd find a new friend and repeat the same cycle. Definitely didn't hang out with multiple people at once. Wasn't aware this was doing something to me. A lot of them were friends that played a lot of video games and I got into playing video games too. A bit too much perhaps because it would happen to delay everything, including my knowledge of everything till this very day. Both in elementary and high school I was a straight A, "gifted kid" and all that nerd stuff. Of course I did it all because I feared the reaction of my parents if I wasn't doing as good as I was supposed to. My mom was more understanding than my dad. I could always ask her things like "Would you still love me if I wasn't getting As?" and she would comfort me and all the good stuff. I was always afraid of my dad so I never had deeper talks with him. Even today, I have deep talks with my mom and love spending time with her but I can end up being all day alone with my dad and we share 20 words. But now not that much because of fear but because of habit I guess. My whole life goal at this stage was just not making him angry. I didn't have any hobbies, just burning through games and school books. When it was time to go to highschool, I picked some random school not directed into anything, (uhh I don't know the words, gymnasium? the school that has a little bit of everything, nothing specific, English is not my native language) it was kinda directed to coding but not really, I picked it because, hey I like games, this should be fun, I could make games.
Highschool: My habits have hit me, and I realized I'm not really engaging in healthy human activities so I have been so afraid of not being able to make friends. Because I usually spent my social time with one friend in my house or their house I didn't really know anything about my town or places or activities or whatever at the age of 15. I was scared of simply being too far behind on everything and that I couldn't make friends. However I happened to find some kid who was just like me and I clicked with him. Oh my, repeating the cycle, am I not? However I didn't want to repeat the cycle. And I wanted to go meet more friends from the class and see what's up, I'm tired of feeling like an outcast. I've been lucky and I've met some great guys where I've seen what it means to have self-respect, self-love, a backbone, goals, how you can rebel against things you find ridiculous and all the most insane of them all, ~confidence~. Thanks to being in that group of 5 friends, I've been taught so many things I should have known ages ago and I was able to feel okay around people, start going to the gym, going out in town, advancing even as far as going to different towns and trying out things I didn't feel comfortable thinking about before. Was able to talk to girls on a deeper level and had an embarrassingly late realization of "hey, they're human too!". Things I did were nothing too crazy ever, I still had my dad's ideals hanging over my head, so I never felt comfortable engaging in some things like drinking or going to parties out late (well, he wouldn't allow me to leave the house late anyways). Eventually I figured out I can just lie to him to make things less complicated by twisting the story a little bit, that's how I ended up going to another town. The first time I confronted him about something bigger, is when I wanted to go to another country on my own so I could meet up with my girlfriend at that time and I was tired of him not allowing me stuff and I just dropped my first ever assertive-ish sentence to him. "I want to ask you something but I don't want your answer to be no". He allowed me to, was taken aback though. That trip was one of the most beautiful experiences I've ever had in my life. I think he allowed me to only because it was a girl in question, and I wasn't really having girl friends in highschool, was scared because of all the generalization I've heard from my father and the relationship between my parents, and I truly wasn't excited about the whole idea of marriage. My dad is very traditional and he loves being in control of my life because he believes that a man should fully provide for his family, that he should simply deal with this deal with that, that a wife must obey him, that parents are most important no matter how they act yadda yadda. A lot of old thinking I never agreed with but couldn't do much about it anyways so let's just live I guess. However one thing I did continue in highschool is my addiction to video games. But then I stopped because I felt guilty for not studying and felt guilty for not learning about music or town areas all my friends know. So I started listen to music properly and I got hooked to it. This has grown into a bigger problem now and I'll go in the final stage of my life because I feel like this is so much text.
University: (if I say uni/college, I'm talking about the same thing, I don't know if there's a difference between the two words) Oh well, you remember how I said that the addiction is gonna make a problem? Well, I started studying engineering. Thanks to my high grades and me doing the entrance exam relatively well, I got into the "toughest college in the country". Now, the fun part is that now that I have to detach from listening to music for multiple hours a day and absolutely doing stupid dances and releasing my energy outside because I don't know what to do with it, I realized I never thought about what I loved... And, well let's just say I don't really know if engineering, nor coding was the way to go. Crisis time. However I don't like anything, what do I do I'm gonna lose my mind. Well, let's just try having friends? I met some of the most beautiful souls ever on this university and I have reached the point of being able to "be myself" and show the world my weirdness and all the goofy opinions and statements my mind creates. I go to that college sometimes just to see all those beautiful people again and again. They're serious about what they're doing and about their studies, I wish them the best, I really hope I don't negatively affect them. However, I tried to research a bit on what I might actually truly love. And after stumbling through life this last year while pretending everything's okay when dad asked, and telling the truth to my mom, I stumbled onto psychology. And well I have went to that college, to see the lessons and classes and wow, studying can be fun? So I'm thinking about finally taking a wrong turn on this path I was always meant to take from the beginning of my life, and follow this, just to see what's gonna happen. What's the purpose of pushing software engineering when I know I'll feel about it like any other job. I'm not money hungry anyways, I'm hungry for being fulfilled. I've confronted my dad about wanting to change my career, to which I've been called many names, been extremely judged for my choices and I've been told to cut off my hair and stop going to the gym as punishment (I'm not planning on listening to this). I've never been physically abused by my dad, but I'm scared if he's insane enough to do something to me now because he set me a timer of 7 days to cut off my hair. Oh yes btw, I always wanted to have long hair and he never agreed, I was too scared to ever do it. Recently I've changed my mind and he hates it so now he wants it gone. I'm genuinely concerned if he's gonna launch on me with scissors or something ridiculous. You see, even now I am so easily manipulated and controlled by fear and I'm sick and tired of that. That's probably the reason I never got out of religion, my fear is just too strong for me to do it. I dislike that, I wish I could transfer fear into love, I have never learned how to do that though. Will I always be like this? Will I always be a coward and just say "yessir" to everything? I don't want to anymore. I'm tired of being a puppet. I'm tired of having to prove I'm smart or capable or hardworking. I just want to have something with which I can say "I did this on my own, I committed to this, I wanted this" not "well it was good for me". I want to start following my heart and throw my brain out of the window. And now I'm scared of things like "what if I was wrong all along and he was right", "what if I don't find any jobs in this country because of this", "what if he throws me out of the house or starts abusing me". Well I don't know, but I feel like I want to commit to psychology, and I'm gonna do it, I'll be on my own, no ideals from other people, just me, and my wishes. But these words and all the things affect me a lot and they always have. And I get demotivated and stop caring about everything, which just makes my addiction to blasting music on my headphones and badly dancing even stronger. I'm scared of it happening again. But I've never been this sick of it all, I feel like I won't go down without a fight anymore. So I ask in the text once more, can I truly be broken beyond repair, or can I break all the chains tying me down? Because I want to know if I should just abandon all hope and embrace the tradition and insanity along with it, or just run and not look back.
If you have read all of this, I am very grateful to you, hopefully I have been collected enough to construct sentences that make sense, or that it all makes sense overall. Anything is appreciated. I love you all and wish you the best <3
2024.05.16 23:54 Weirderthanweird69 Generalists vs Specialists
 | https://preview.redd.it/gckb0krdxu0d1.png?width=1140&format=png&auto=webp&s=b510d0e7a13cf199013931064ca9c881588fa4b2 submitted by Weirderthanweird69 to Totaldrama [link] [comments] Owen is a generalist since his body can survive a lot in eating challenges, combat challenges, survival challenges, anything except intelligence challenges. Gwen is a generalist since she's good at everything except maintaining relationships which doesn't matter for challenges. Heather won immunity so many times, she is a generalist having the brains, the flexibility, the body, etc. Duncan is a generalist. Like Gwen, he sucks at maintaining relationships, but doesn't factor to how he's the lone MVP of the Killer Bass, the only Killer Bass to win a total drama season (sorry Geoff I don't count RR) Leshawna got the sociability, the fighting power, can eat a lot, they really packed a lot of good qualities in this character. Geoff is a generalist, being calm minded, strong, just Owen without the tankiness. Still good at eating challenges though. Izzy is a generalist, she knows how to survive, how to fight Chef, good at so many challenges, her loco personality is what brings her down. Bridgette is also a generalist. Like Duncan said, she's good at sports, fairly intelligent, a threat in the game. Just Bridgette sucks at survival and eating challenges Courtney is a generalist. I forgot to bring up, generalists don't tend to be dominant in a specific area. Abusive leadership and getting Duncan, DJ, and Geoff in a Killer Bass alliance to snipe Eva, Sadie, and Tyler isn't part of the challenges. Beth is a generalist. She is so average, she wetn under the radar in total drama action, and somehow made it to the final 2. Cody is a generalist. He is crafty and quick thinking, but I am not sure he has a specific dominant strength. He is ok in challenges. As for the specialists we have DJ, he's dominant in cooking challenges and would have gotten immunity and cut 8 minutes of the TDA pet episode if he didn't quit early on. Lindsay, she is good in fashion, fairly intelligent when dealing with make up, but a deadweight everywhere else. She is more than a dumbass, but she still is a dumbass. Trent, he's only good in music. He is fairly mediocre in challenges being a pain magnet, and would have rocked total drama world tour if his personality wasn't killed in total drama action. Eva, outside of beating the living crap out of any living thing, including sasquatches, and having the strength of hulk, she is a nuisance. A nuisance in the sense she'll gamer rage and use her hulk strength on her own team. Harold, he has a couple mad skills in his toolkit. These mad skills have been seen. He's god awful in so many types of challenges if he doesn't have mad skills in them. Plus he's a nuisance to most of his team8s. Katie and Sadie. I don't even know if they thrive in something aside from team motivation. They would've rocked in the ridonculous race. Tyler. He's got wicked strong fingers. These fingers have saved his team from death in TDWT. Aside from being a pain magnet and always being injured, he has his jock moments. But they're rare, and when they happen, it can be game breaking. Justin, sexy man. His only thing is his looks, he's bout to charm anyone with those pupils(Caleb should've gotten pupils in his design). But outside of looks, Justin is a deadweight as seen in total drama action. Injuries make him a free vote. Noah, the big brain. He is good at solving puzzles, figuring out who is manipulating who way before others can find out, can outsmart many people. It's just Noah is too unlikable for people to even see how smart he can be. Ezekiel, the guy with wasted potential. He probably has the aim of a hawk with his hunting skills(ignore the fact he accidentally shot his mom), and knows 8 languages. I think the Killer Bass would've won dodgebrawl if he didn't get the first boot. He's a dead weight everywhere else though, making mistakes with his words and getting punished for it. |
2024.05.16 23:52 jeanrenefefe How to upgrade a Creative Zen Micro to 128gb (with and without a VM)
I know this is an iPod subreddit, but it's the most active subreddit dedicated to mp3 players (I think). I know there are some fans of these players around here but let me know if you want this gone though.
After a few frustrating weeks of trying to upgrade my Creative Zen Micro to 128gb, I finally succeeded on upgrading it. Here is a step by step.
This was tested on a Windows 11 machine (called Host from now on).
Download Virtualbox. Use your own Windows XP SP2 image or find one (google: archive + WinXPProSP2ENG). Download the Windows Media Player 10 updater from archive.org Download the Creative Zen Micro drivers and upgraders from archive.org
Install Virtualbox. Install Windows XP on Virtualbox - this can be a big step if you don't have much experience in this field, but there are plenty of tutorials on how to do it - check the references below.
Now that you have your Windows XP VM (called Guest from now on) up and running, go to the Devices tab on the top of your screen and click on "Insert guest additions CD...". This will insert a virtual CD containing some Virtualbox drivers and you'll get a pop up on your Guest machine. Install them and reboot your machine.
Turn off your Guest machine.
Connect the Zen Micro to your Host machine. Your Host machine should recognize the player with no trouble.
In Virtualbox, click on your VM machine and go to settings > USB > USB2.0 > click on the 'plus' sign and add your device there. The name should be "Creative...".
Now, in the same settings menu, go to the tab "shared folders" and click on "add". Now, choose the folder you want to share between the Host and the Guest machines. Give it a name and a mount point. I picked "sharewithxp" for all the fields, including the name of the directory on Host. Check 'auto-mount' and 'make permanent' (if it exists).
On your Host machine, copy the files MP10Setup.exe, ZenMicroPDE_PCFW_LB_1_11_01.exe and JB3MV2_PCWDRV_US_2_01_00.EXE to the shared directory you just created. Also copy MP10Setup.exe.
Turn on your Guest machine and go to "My Computer". You should see your shared folder in there. Copy all the files from there to your Guest's desktop.
Install MP10Setup.exe - this upgrades the Windows Media Player from 9 to 10. By experience, Windows Media Player 11 was problematic and apparently 9 isn't ok either. Stick to WMP 10. This was key for me. It really didn't work without WMP10.
Install JB3MV2_PCWDRV_US_2_01_00.EXE - these are the drivers for the Zen Micro.
Disconnect your Zen Micro from your computer. Connect it again. Go to devices > usb on the top menu and make sure your device is selected.
Execute ZenMicroPDE_PCFW_LB_1_11_01.exe If everything went according to plan you should now see an "Upgrade" button. If you see said button - congratulations because this was the most painful part of the process. I realized that when the device is correctly loaded, the executable won't open right away - It takes a few seconds. If the device wasn't fully recognized, you'll see a message saying "Your player is not connected, please connect your player".
(If you got the dreadful second message and no "upgrade" button, try to reboot your Guest machine. Disconnect and connect your player again. Make sure it appears on the devices menu.)
Now that you have a working environment, let's move to the fun part.
Format your micro sd card (fat32 if I'm not mistaken) - I used a Sandisk Extreme 128gb (the golden ones) and it worked fine. Insert the micro sd on your CF-to-SD adapter. I got the the only adapter I could find (red one).
Disassemble your Zen Micro - there are tutorials and videos around that show you how to do it better than I possible could - check the references below.
Remove the CF card from the mp3 player and insert the adapter. Pay attention to the position of the old CF card. CF cards don’t have a big distinguishable difference on one side like sd cards do. It's really easy to get mistaken and connect it on the wrong side. The only differences are the slots/openings on both sides of the CF card/adapter - one is larger than the other. When the adapter is connected and in place, its label should be visible (pointing upwards). Take a picture of the original CF card if needed or check the video in the references below.
Assemble everything back but do not insert the battery right away.
Toggle the power button to the left and hold it that position. Insert the battery. You should now be in recovery mode. Navigate to "format all" and click ok. Navigate to "reboot" and click ok.
Connect your player to the computer and, in the Guest machine, make sure it is selected on the devices > usb menu.
Open ZenMicroPDE_PCFW_LB_1_11_01.exe If everything went according to plan, the upgrade button should now be visible. Click. Wait. Enjoy.
PS: Inside the Creative Zen Micro link, there is also an upgrader for the most recent version - 2.21. I haven't tried it because I don't think it brings anything that interesting to the player. There are also 2 older drivers in there - also untested.
References: https://www.reddit.com/ipod/comments/18e1698/creative_zen_micro_upgraded_from_5gb_hdd_to_a/ https://www.instructables.com/Upgrade-the-Zen-Micro-5gb-to-8gb-on-the-Cheap/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=VERkcCTJFyI https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-boot-and-install-from-iso-in-virtualbox/
submitted by jeanrenefefe to ipod [link] [comments]
After a few frustrating weeks of trying to upgrade my Creative Zen Micro to 128gb, I finally succeeded on upgrading it. Here is a step by step.
With a Virtual Machine
Given that the software part can get very frustrating, I suggest that you first focus on creating a working environment based on your stock mp3 player. This will limit the number of things that can go wrong.This was tested on a Windows 11 machine (called Host from now on).
Download Virtualbox. Use your own Windows XP SP2 image or find one (google: archive + WinXPProSP2ENG). Download the Windows Media Player 10 updater from archive.org Download the Creative Zen Micro drivers and upgraders from archive.org
Install Virtualbox. Install Windows XP on Virtualbox - this can be a big step if you don't have much experience in this field, but there are plenty of tutorials on how to do it - check the references below.
Now that you have your Windows XP VM (called Guest from now on) up and running, go to the Devices tab on the top of your screen and click on "Insert guest additions CD...". This will insert a virtual CD containing some Virtualbox drivers and you'll get a pop up on your Guest machine. Install them and reboot your machine.
Turn off your Guest machine.
Connect the Zen Micro to your Host machine. Your Host machine should recognize the player with no trouble.
In Virtualbox, click on your VM machine and go to settings > USB > USB2.0 > click on the 'plus' sign and add your device there. The name should be "Creative...".
Now, in the same settings menu, go to the tab "shared folders" and click on "add". Now, choose the folder you want to share between the Host and the Guest machines. Give it a name and a mount point. I picked "sharewithxp" for all the fields, including the name of the directory on Host. Check 'auto-mount' and 'make permanent' (if it exists).
On your Host machine, copy the files MP10Setup.exe, ZenMicroPDE_PCFW_LB_1_11_01.exe and JB3MV2_PCWDRV_US_2_01_00.EXE to the shared directory you just created. Also copy MP10Setup.exe.
Turn on your Guest machine and go to "My Computer". You should see your shared folder in there. Copy all the files from there to your Guest's desktop.
Install MP10Setup.exe - this upgrades the Windows Media Player from 9 to 10. By experience, Windows Media Player 11 was problematic and apparently 9 isn't ok either. Stick to WMP 10. This was key for me. It really didn't work without WMP10.
Install JB3MV2_PCWDRV_US_2_01_00.EXE - these are the drivers for the Zen Micro.
Disconnect your Zen Micro from your computer. Connect it again. Go to devices > usb on the top menu and make sure your device is selected.
Execute ZenMicroPDE_PCFW_LB_1_11_01.exe If everything went according to plan you should now see an "Upgrade" button. If you see said button - congratulations because this was the most painful part of the process. I realized that when the device is correctly loaded, the executable won't open right away - It takes a few seconds. If the device wasn't fully recognized, you'll see a message saying "Your player is not connected, please connect your player".
(If you got the dreadful second message and no "upgrade" button, try to reboot your Guest machine. Disconnect and connect your player again. Make sure it appears on the devices menu.)
Now that you have a working environment, let's move to the fun part.
Format your micro sd card (fat32 if I'm not mistaken) - I used a Sandisk Extreme 128gb (the golden ones) and it worked fine. Insert the micro sd on your CF-to-SD adapter. I got the the only adapter I could find (red one).
Disassemble your Zen Micro - there are tutorials and videos around that show you how to do it better than I possible could - check the references below.
Remove the CF card from the mp3 player and insert the adapter. Pay attention to the position of the old CF card. CF cards don’t have a big distinguishable difference on one side like sd cards do. It's really easy to get mistaken and connect it on the wrong side. The only differences are the slots/openings on both sides of the CF card/adapter - one is larger than the other. When the adapter is connected and in place, its label should be visible (pointing upwards). Take a picture of the original CF card if needed or check the video in the references below.
Assemble everything back but do not insert the battery right away.
Toggle the power button to the left and hold it that position. Insert the battery. You should now be in recovery mode. Navigate to "format all" and click ok. Navigate to "reboot" and click ok.
Connect your player to the computer and, in the Guest machine, make sure it is selected on the devices > usb menu.
Open ZenMicroPDE_PCFW_LB_1_11_01.exe If everything went according to plan, the upgrade button should now be visible. Click. Wait. Enjoy.
PS: Inside the Creative Zen Micro link, there is also an upgrader for the most recent version - 2.21. I haven't tried it because I don't think it brings anything that interesting to the player. There are also 2 older drivers in there - also untested.
References: https://www.reddit.com/ipod/comments/18e1698/creative_zen_micro_upgraded_from_5gb_hdd_to_a/ https://www.instructables.com/Upgrade-the-Zen-Micro-5gb-to-8gb-on-the-Cheap/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=VERkcCTJFyI https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-boot-and-install-from-iso-in-virtualbox/
Without a VM (native Windows XP running on a modern computer)
Soon.2024.05.16 23:47 Michael_Jegueson Audio Problems - Twitch Channel Rewards
Hi everyone! I dont have much knowledge with OBS just yet, but Im experiencing a problem.
When I'm with OBS Window maximized and someone claims an audio in chat, to scare me or represent my lack of habilities, the audio comes out clear. But when I switch through my PC opened windows and someone claims an audio, the audio becomes distorted somehow, is there a possíble fix for this or configuration im missing? Or is it a case that I need a 2° screen, to leave OBS always showing on the screen? Down below its a link with a short video with what im experiencing. Sorry about my bad english, its not my native language.
Audio Issue - Video
submitted by Michael_Jegueson to obs [link] [comments]
When I'm with OBS Window maximized and someone claims an audio in chat, to scare me or represent my lack of habilities, the audio comes out clear. But when I switch through my PC opened windows and someone claims an audio, the audio becomes distorted somehow, is there a possíble fix for this or configuration im missing? Or is it a case that I need a 2° screen, to leave OBS always showing on the screen? Down below its a link with a short video with what im experiencing. Sorry about my bad english, its not my native language.
Audio Issue - Video
2024.05.16 23:46 Noahboi10123 Animaniacs Game Pak for windows 10 error
 | Anyone know how to fix this? submitted by Noahboi10123 to animaniacs [link] [comments] (i already have quicktime insatlled btw) https://preview.redd.it/6k84m2anyu0d1.png?width=1366&format=png&auto=webp&s=0976220759a5e01873586290b0a614cec76ea3f8 |
2024.05.16 23:37 bashful_pear Just found this beauty on my car
 | They are so insanely beautiful. This is the first encounter I've had to take a photo. I joined this group because close ups of these little guys made me realize that most spoods are actually way cuter up close. This prompted a mini photo shoot at the packed park today.... I was the weird lady taking pictures of a bug on her back window in the parking lot. 🤦♀️🤷♀️ c'est la vie. Don't need an exact ID but does anyone know if they are a she or a he? submitted by bashful_pear to spiders [link] [comments] |
2024.05.16 23:35 SuperCustodiam A Buyer's Guide to the AL Ships
This is a straight to the point buyers guide for people that are wondering if any of the AL ships are worth buying or not. I am here to give you an idea of what's worth, and what's not. I will rank them in descending order for convenience. Keep in mind that these are from my own opinions on the game: my word is not law. These are just my recommendations from my personal experience and a spur of the moment deal personally.
Besides that, she also has un-nerfed version of radar, at a 30 sec vs 27 sec on Cleveland. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but if you run Consumable Enchantments and or Surveillance Radar Mod 1, you have a larger number that the percent based changes will take affect on. Essentially, with both the commander skill and 2nd slot upgrade, you get 39.6 sec vs 35.6 seconds on duration. So a radar build is not bad compared to Cleveland. Besides that, she doesn't have access to the catapult fighter consumable, but that is super seceded by radar and anyways so who cares.
And above all else, it is a Cleveland, which is IMO, a very competitively viable cruiser at tier VIII, with it's very small citadel, thin profile / narrow beam that leads to a lot of over-penetrations, good DPM, good concealment, and good AA. It really only lacks in the speed, gun range, and shell flight time problems, which can be remedied with skill and positioning.
As far as the commander voice acting, Rie Takahashi voices Montpelier. If you do not know who that is or do not care, and just want to know if the commander's voice is annoying or not, then be happy that she isn't overtly grating compared to some of the other commanders you can get. I find her rather composed, cool, and relaxed, fitting the trope of kuudere, if you even know what that means.
TLDR: Premium Cleveland with higher sigma, slightly lower RoF, Longer lasting radar.
Other than that, you retain all the upsides of Fast action Damage Control Parties, the tough hull design of the Sovetsky Soyuz. The only other thing you DO NOT get is the AA, as she has the Hull A of Sovetsky Soyuz, and in turn has worse AA overall. In fact, she has such bad AA that only Musashi beats her out in having worse AA for Tier IX battleships. So yeah, CVs that know their targets will have free reign on you, so stick close to allies in CV matches.
Now a I'll be honest with you, Rossiya is not a super competitive BB at tier IX, so this choice is really just down to being different in few ways instead of blatant copy paste. Really, only AL Montpelier is the only super competitive option here. So above all else, Rossiya is a side grade if anything and you should not fear of having FOMO for not getting her. Besides, she's not an historical ship that is going to get removed because it was OP, so fret not (COUGH COUGH MUSASHI, COUGH COUGH ALASKA, COUGH COUGH MISSOURI).
Lastly, the commander is voiced by Manami Numakura. I can really only characterize her as cool, tough, deep voiced anime woman archetype. I dunno really how to explain it that well, so I apologize for anyone that likes her due to my poor description.
TLDR: Premium Sovetsky Soyuz Hull A with 1.8 sigma and standard battleship dispersion.
OK, with those two out of the way, I want to put a disclaimer here that the next ships are purely optional and not super worth it IMO and really only selected for being different than the rest, I.E. not something that is currently offered in other ships / premium ships already in-game.
Now, while she is not unique in any way, she is not a bad battlecruiser for tier VII standards. This mainly comes down to the 50mm deck plating she has in a tier wrought with battleships with just 26mm of plating on their decks. Really, any tier VII battleship that has more than 27mm of plating is really competitive in this tier, simply because they don't get overmatched or full-penned by HE. It's sort of why Scharnhorst '43 is so popular and good, since she doesn't get chunked for 10k when hit by 15 in + guns (380mm guns for ya'll metric nerds).
Besides that, she's not slow as hell, going at a decent 28 knots, has 15in guns herself, has fast acting DCP, and is the first ship in the german battlecruisefast battleship line that gets that sweet improved secondary dispersion formula, which despite the 9km max range, means that she has free DPM to let the game play itself essentially. Combined with torpedoes, she can bum rush many slower and weaker battleships that the german battlecruiser line is famous for. And on top of all that, she also has hydro for better pushing to see torpedoes earlier, or push smoked up ships.
Now for some cons, the guns, while using battlecruiser dispersion have an awful 1.5 sigma, so your shot grouping is... bad. Do not be surprised if a lot of your shells in your salvo get a mind of their own. Besides that, she's on the below average end of HP for tier VII, at 56k. Also, she does have 25mm bow and stern. She does have a 30mm extended belt (colloquially known as an ice breaker), which is followed by 120mm extended belt, that protects the lower portion of the ship from overmatch bar 18in guns that she MIGHT face in the likes of Georgia, Sun Yat Sen, Musashi, and Tsurugi, and Adatara. Still, that doesn't mean she is immune from overmatch, as the odd shell can still get through her bow and stern and chunk you, so do not bet on it 100%.
Now that is for the most part, the review. However, for any true fans out there, they know that Prinz Heinrich from AL is actually a P-Class cruiser, AKA Schill in this game. Since Schill was a limited time ship that required whaling for her, and that wargaming dropped the ball and just did "Oh this ship has the same name! Here ya go!" then you know how much this kind of sucks. If you just like Prinz Heinrich, and want her as a premium, you can ignore this tidbit, but for any true fans that DO NOT have Schill, you're shit outta luck.
As far as commander goes, the voice actor, Hiyori Nitta, does a wonderful job characterizing a carefree and bubbly character. As previously mentioned, I recommend putting her on Schill if you really care about game accuracy, that is, if you even had Schill to begin with.
TLDR: Premium Prinz Heinrich copy-paste. Get it only if you really like Prinz Heinrich (the ship) which is actually pretty good for its tier, and want a premium version of it, or Prinz Heinrich as the character.
Shimakaze really needs no introduction. It is the old school torpedo boat that coined the phrase "Torpedo soup" or at least contributed to that phrase. It can put 3x5 23k damage, 12km Type 93 long lance torpedoes into the water. It has some of the best concealment for her tier, getting down to 5.6km surface detect, and good speed at 39 kts (42 kts when speed boost is active). It has been here since the games launch, and well, admittedly, or at least in my opinion, has seen better days.
Still, while some other DDs might have powercrept her a little, you can't mistake the fact that a well played Shimakaze can terrorize a team that lacks the tools to pin her down. Even if that is seldom the case most of the time (48% win rate on NA out of 8 million battles), the ship still has strong tools when played to it's strengths. 23k damage torpedoes are no joke... if you get hit by them at least, as they have a pretty awful average reaction time of ~9.35 sec (according to wows ship builder). Now, this can be sort of remedied with building for torpedo speed, getting torpedo tubes mod 1 and swift fish to decrease that time to ~8.5 sec, but that's still far above the average of 7.8 sec most torpedoes have in other nations. Still, if you get the right angle, devstriking a full HP battleship is not uncommon if you get a perfectly lined up shot. Thing is, it takes WAY more skill and positioning than you think it does, especially considering that most top tier players sort of know what they're doing, and that a lot of top tier ships can run hydroacoustic search these days.
Combined with the fact that she has some of the worse gun DPM of any tier X DD, and has fairly low HP for the tier, it can be fairly hard to play this ship unless you get just the best matchmaking ever. It's a real feast or famine type ship, which I would say summarizes most of the IJN Shimakaze line in general, bar maybe the mid tiers. All this really means is that Shimakaze is NOT the most competitive DD at tier X, as arguably many other nations have better torpedo boats, or better yet, opt for hybrid boats that can defend themselves fairly well, such as the Pan Euro DDs. Still, as mentioned earlier, if played to her strengths, she can be a good ship, but all I am arguing for is that she is not a meta ship, at least in my opinion.
Now, onto the whole Special Ship thing. Yes, this IS a tier X ship that can be bought for money. And YES, this is like the ARP Yamato deal, allowing noob whales to skip to tier X and forgo all the blood sweat and tears that goes into grinding to top tier.And YES, IT'S A SHIMAKAZE, THE TIER X NOOB MACHINE. I DO NOT HAVE HIGH HOPES FOR MANY AL SHIMAKAZE PLAYERS EITHER. With that out of the way, what benefit do you get for getting a special ship version of Shimakaze?
Well, to start, Special ships essentially have the premium bonus package already baked in, I.E: +50% Credits, +100% Ship XP, +100% Commander XP, +100% Free XP. On top of that, you also have a reduced repair cost compared to a standard tier X. Besides that, you can freely swap commanders onto this ship like a premium ship with no retraining required, making it a good trainer. These are the ONLY 2 reasons that make this ship more economically viable compared to Shimakaze. While the bonus package on Shimakaze can achieve 1 of these 3 effects, the other two, reduced repair cost and free commander swapping, puts this above standard Shimakaze as a result.
So, unfortunately, This is a slightly better Shimakaze. So if you REALLY like Shimakaze, and want a premium version of it, well, here it is, for a lot of goddamn money. Like $100+ expensive. Go figure ya know?
Also, the commander is voiced by Saori Hayami.
TLDR: Special Ship verison of Shimakaze. Take if youare a whale have a lot of expendable income to burn, AND really like Shimakaze (The ship), and or really like Shimakaze (the AL character).
Now, this is the last of the semi-unique AL ships, as every other one has been copy-paste. Yukikaze at the very least is different in that she has F8 torpedoes. These differ than Kagero's choice by having less range, (8km vs 10km), higher damage (21k vs 20k), faster reload (104 sec vs 112 sec), and higher speed (76kts to 67kts) which also leads to a better reaction time of ~8.8 sec vs ~9.45 sec.
Now, does this make Yukikaze better? No, not really, as 8km is rather short range for high tier standards. It does make them almost break past ~8 sec reaction time with a full torpedo speed build, the best of any type 93 torpedo, but combined with the fact that it has no other differences in gun handling, DPM, HP, and consumables, I find this shorter ranged torpedo to be a high risk high reward setup, which already exacerbates high tier IJN DD gameplay further than it already is, being so heavily feast or famine.
I can really only recommend this ship if you really like Kagero for whatever reason and really like the 8km F8 playstyle. That and if you like the history of the ship and or like the character of the ship, voiced by Kana Yuuki, despite how annoying and self aggrandizing her character is made out to be.
TLDR: Kagero but 8km F8 torpedoes.
OK, now for the ships I really do not recommend at all for varying reasons. The reviews are going to be more brief from here on out.
She is essentially a worse Albemarle, having no Spotter Plane, and garbage DPM for the tier. Really, the 9.2 in guns really only offer 59mm of pen vs 34mm, and better AP pen with overall flatter flight times, but not by much. The armor is Okayish, but trust me when you will get smacked through your bow and stern often, as you have a stepped citadel that if you get overmatched through either direction, you WILL get citadelled. While you get that 50% cit and hull repair party, it really doesn't matter that much when it happens so often, or you just get straight up dev striked. Combined with the lack of spotter plane, that 16km gun range will feel really short, especially when you are bottom tier.
You can at least be happy that the AA she has is up to par in how she is in AL, as it's best in class for her tier. Well, mostly, but her Flak Count is above average at 6+1, and combined with always having defensive fire, I recommend getting the commander skill Focus Fire Training, so you get that +1 flak cloud for 8 in total, which combined with Defensive fires flak buff, those flak bursts will do 7k a pop, Which is the equivalent to instantly destroying about 7 to 3 planes depending on the type if they run into it while DF is active.
Besides that, the commander is voiced by Shizuka Ishigami, and well, pretends to be a catgirl.
TLDR: Get this if you really really, REALLY want Cheshire and you don't have one, or because you really like the AL character.
The commander is voiced by Nozomi Yamamoto, and personally, I enjoy the happy go lucky characterization she has. This might be the ONLY reason you want to get Hornet, that or because you like the cool skin the ship has, and or the free 10 point commander.
TLDR: Get regular Hornet with 25% discount. ONLY buy this if you love AL Hornet (the character) to pieces.
That said, I can only imagine you getting these ships for the same reasons for Hornet, and that is because you are a fan of the AL characterization of these ships, as Azuma is voiced by Kiyono Yasuno, and Agir, Ayane Sakura. Or you just like the ship skins.
TLDR: Get Azuma and or Agir for free with Coal. ONLY buy this if you love AL Agir / AL Azuma (the characters).
Anyways, Roma herself sucks.
The guns have so much muzzle velocity that you will overpen targets 50% of the time. Combined with the Italian / french dispersion, which is one of the worst battleship dispersion formulas for battleships. So, they are fairly inconsistent guns as a result. Still, if the guns behave, they are pretty mean, as they have a lot of penetration for 15 in guns, on par with some of the best penetration for tier VIII battleships. They also have the best damage for 15 in guns for the tier as well. The gun handling is at least not total crap, as they have 30 sec 180° rotation time, which is above average for most BBs. The forward gun angles are decent too, at 31°, but her rear angles are worse at 40°.
Speaking off, the armor is fairly good at a first glance, with 45mm deck, 70mm deck sides, and a fairly small superstructure which has extra protection from her 90mm dual purpose guns 40mm barbettes and the conning tower. The citadel is slightly above water, but it is not a turtleback, so you WILL get punished for being broadside, considering the armor is 375mm + 40mm of armor or protection. The 40mm inner plate is not overmatchable at least, which is a small plus. At least, compared to the tech tree Tier IX and Tier X that have 25mm plates under their turtleback.
She also gets points for good concealment for her tier, being among the best, at 13.39km base, 11.7km max.
Overall, she's... a tough and sneaky nut to crack, unless she shows broadside. The guns themselves are a massive dirce roll each time, and kind of suck. When they behave though, usually at range, they are amongst the best 15in guns at tier VIII.
Oh and Roma is voiced by Yui Kondou.
Oh wait. This supposed to be Littorio. Whoops. Then that would be Shizuka Itou that voices her. And Yes, if you didn't know, this is for all intensive purposes SHOULD be AL Roma. The simple version of this is that the Vittorio Veneto class all had striking unique features that set them apart at a glance. There was a controversy a while ago about AL Littorio literally being Roma with a skin, as if you demout the camo, the Roma nameplate is still there. Same goes for our Tech Tree Vittorio Veneto, as it is too, just Roma. In fact, the upcoming Spanish Tier IX premium Victoria will be the first version of Roma that is somewhat different. But honestly, it doesn't count.
TLDR: It's a freaking Tier VIII BB on 80% off. Get it while it's hot I guess. Besides that, she has poor gun handling and accuracy, but strong armor (when angled), and good concealment.
submitted by SuperCustodiam to WorldOfWarships [link] [comments]
Best Pick: AL Montpelier
This is a premium version of Cleveland, the USN tier VIII CL. However, unlike the later AL premiums, AL Montpelier was unique in at least, a very minor way: She has tighter shot grouping due to a 2.15 sigma versus the standard 2.0 at the cost of slower reload at 0.5 sec slower (7 sec vs 6.5 sec). The result is overall consistent salvos, at the cost of just a little DPM that can be fixed with Adrenaline Rush and Top Grade Gunner, depending on how you build her.Besides that, she also has un-nerfed version of radar, at a 30 sec vs 27 sec on Cleveland. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but if you run Consumable Enchantments and or Surveillance Radar Mod 1, you have a larger number that the percent based changes will take affect on. Essentially, with both the commander skill and 2nd slot upgrade, you get 39.6 sec vs 35.6 seconds on duration. So a radar build is not bad compared to Cleveland. Besides that, she doesn't have access to the catapult fighter consumable, but that is super seceded by radar and anyways so who cares.
And above all else, it is a Cleveland, which is IMO, a very competitively viable cruiser at tier VIII, with it's very small citadel, thin profile / narrow beam that leads to a lot of over-penetrations, good DPM, good concealment, and good AA. It really only lacks in the speed, gun range, and shell flight time problems, which can be remedied with skill and positioning.
As far as the commander voice acting, Rie Takahashi voices Montpelier. If you do not know who that is or do not care, and just want to know if the commander's voice is annoying or not, then be happy that she isn't overtly grating compared to some of the other commanders you can get. I find her rather composed, cool, and relaxed, fitting the trope of kuudere, if you even know what that means.
TLDR: Premium Cleveland with higher sigma, slightly lower RoF, Longer lasting radar.
Runner Up: AL Sovetsky Rossiya
This is a premium version of Sovetsky Soyuz, the VMF (Soviet Navy) Tier IX BB. Like Montpelier, she is slightly unique to her tech tree counterpart, bar being premium, by having standard battleship dispersion (USN, Royal Navy, German, etc.) instead of Russian BB dispersion formula that gets way better inside 15km. She does also have 1.8 sigma versus 1.7 sigma, for slightly tighter shot grouping. So, while Soyuz excels at mid range, Rossiya excels at long range, which does reasonably well considering the average high tier meta these days.Other than that, you retain all the upsides of Fast action Damage Control Parties, the tough hull design of the Sovetsky Soyuz. The only other thing you DO NOT get is the AA, as she has the Hull A of Sovetsky Soyuz, and in turn has worse AA overall. In fact, she has such bad AA that only Musashi beats her out in having worse AA for Tier IX battleships. So yeah, CVs that know their targets will have free reign on you, so stick close to allies in CV matches.
Now a I'll be honest with you, Rossiya is not a super competitive BB at tier IX, so this choice is really just down to being different in few ways instead of blatant copy paste. Really, only AL Montpelier is the only super competitive option here. So above all else, Rossiya is a side grade if anything and you should not fear of having FOMO for not getting her. Besides, she's not an historical ship that is going to get removed because it was OP, so fret not (
Lastly, the commander is voiced by Manami Numakura. I can really only characterize her as cool, tough, deep voiced anime woman archetype. I dunno really how to explain it that well, so I apologize for anyone that likes her due to my poor description.
TLDR: Premium Sovetsky Soyuz Hull A with 1.8 sigma and standard battleship dispersion.
OK, with those two out of the way, I want to put a disclaimer here that the next ships are purely optional and not super worth it IMO and really only selected for being different than the rest, I.E. not something that is currently offered in other ships / premium ships already in-game.
Optional 1st Pick: AL Prinz Heinrich
This is a premium version of Prinz Heinrich, the tier VII german battlecruiser of the Ersatz Yorck class. She is a 1 for 1 copy of Prinz Heinrich: no special differences here besides premium benefits.Now, while she is not unique in any way, she is not a bad battlecruiser for tier VII standards. This mainly comes down to the 50mm deck plating she has in a tier wrought with battleships with just 26mm of plating on their decks. Really, any tier VII battleship that has more than 27mm of plating is really competitive in this tier, simply because they don't get overmatched or full-penned by HE. It's sort of why Scharnhorst '43 is so popular and good, since she doesn't get chunked for 10k when hit by 15 in + guns (380mm guns for ya'll metric nerds).
Besides that, she's not slow as hell, going at a decent 28 knots, has 15in guns herself, has fast acting DCP, and is the first ship in the german battlecruisefast battleship line that gets that sweet improved secondary dispersion formula, which despite the 9km max range, means that she has free DPM to let the game play itself essentially. Combined with torpedoes, she can bum rush many slower and weaker battleships that the german battlecruiser line is famous for. And on top of all that, she also has hydro for better pushing to see torpedoes earlier, or push smoked up ships.
Now for some cons, the guns, while using battlecruiser dispersion have an awful 1.5 sigma, so your shot grouping is... bad. Do not be surprised if a lot of your shells in your salvo get a mind of their own. Besides that, she's on the below average end of HP for tier VII, at 56k. Also, she does have 25mm bow and stern. She does have a 30mm extended belt (colloquially known as an ice breaker), which is followed by 120mm extended belt, that protects the lower portion of the ship from overmatch bar 18in guns that she MIGHT face in the likes of Georgia, Sun Yat Sen, Musashi, and Tsurugi, and Adatara. Still, that doesn't mean she is immune from overmatch, as the odd shell can still get through her bow and stern and chunk you, so do not bet on it 100%.
Now that is for the most part, the review. However, for any true fans out there, they know that Prinz Heinrich from AL is actually a P-Class cruiser, AKA Schill in this game. Since Schill was a limited time ship that required whaling for her, and that wargaming dropped the ball and just did "Oh this ship has the same name! Here ya go!" then you know how much this kind of sucks. If you just like Prinz Heinrich, and want her as a premium, you can ignore this tidbit, but for any true fans that DO NOT have Schill, you're shit outta luck.
As far as commander goes, the voice actor, Hiyori Nitta, does a wonderful job characterizing a carefree and bubbly character. As previously mentioned, I recommend putting her on Schill if you really care about game accuracy, that is, if you even had Schill to begin with.
TLDR: Premium Prinz Heinrich copy-paste. Get it only if you really like Prinz Heinrich (the ship) which is actually pretty good for its tier, and want a premium version of it, or Prinz Heinrich as the character.
Optional 2nd Pick: AL Shimakaze
Hoo boy, this one might be controversial. This is a special ship (NOT a premium ship) of IJN DD, Shimakaze.Shimakaze really needs no introduction. It is the old school torpedo boat that coined the phrase "Torpedo soup" or at least contributed to that phrase. It can put 3x5 23k damage, 12km Type 93 long lance torpedoes into the water. It has some of the best concealment for her tier, getting down to 5.6km surface detect, and good speed at 39 kts (42 kts when speed boost is active). It has been here since the games launch, and well, admittedly, or at least in my opinion, has seen better days.
Still, while some other DDs might have powercrept her a little, you can't mistake the fact that a well played Shimakaze can terrorize a team that lacks the tools to pin her down. Even if that is seldom the case most of the time (48% win rate on NA out of 8 million battles), the ship still has strong tools when played to it's strengths. 23k damage torpedoes are no joke... if you get hit by them at least, as they have a pretty awful average reaction time of ~9.35 sec (according to wows ship builder). Now, this can be sort of remedied with building for torpedo speed, getting torpedo tubes mod 1 and swift fish to decrease that time to ~8.5 sec, but that's still far above the average of 7.8 sec most torpedoes have in other nations. Still, if you get the right angle, devstriking a full HP battleship is not uncommon if you get a perfectly lined up shot. Thing is, it takes WAY more skill and positioning than you think it does, especially considering that most top tier players sort of know what they're doing, and that a lot of top tier ships can run hydroacoustic search these days.
Combined with the fact that she has some of the worse gun DPM of any tier X DD, and has fairly low HP for the tier, it can be fairly hard to play this ship unless you get just the best matchmaking ever. It's a real feast or famine type ship, which I would say summarizes most of the IJN Shimakaze line in general, bar maybe the mid tiers. All this really means is that Shimakaze is NOT the most competitive DD at tier X, as arguably many other nations have better torpedo boats, or better yet, opt for hybrid boats that can defend themselves fairly well, such as the Pan Euro DDs. Still, as mentioned earlier, if played to her strengths, she can be a good ship, but all I am arguing for is that she is not a meta ship, at least in my opinion.
Now, onto the whole Special Ship thing. Yes, this IS a tier X ship that can be bought for money. And YES, this is like the ARP Yamato deal, allowing noob whales to skip to tier X and forgo all the blood sweat and tears that goes into grinding to top tier.
Well, to start, Special ships essentially have the premium bonus package already baked in, I.E: +50% Credits, +100% Ship XP, +100% Commander XP, +100% Free XP. On top of that, you also have a reduced repair cost compared to a standard tier X. Besides that, you can freely swap commanders onto this ship like a premium ship with no retraining required, making it a good trainer. These are the ONLY 2 reasons that make this ship more economically viable compared to Shimakaze. While the bonus package on Shimakaze can achieve 1 of these 3 effects, the other two, reduced repair cost and free commander swapping, puts this above standard Shimakaze as a result.
So, unfortunately, This is a slightly better Shimakaze. So if you REALLY like Shimakaze, and want a premium version of it, well, here it is, for a lot of goddamn money. Like $100+ expensive. Go figure ya know?
Also, the commander is voiced by Saori Hayami.
TLDR: Special Ship verison of Shimakaze. Take if you
Optional 3rd Pick: AL Yukikaze
AL Yukikaze is a similar version of the IJN DD Kagero, but with F8 torpedoes and no option for torpedo reload booster.Now, this is the last of the semi-unique AL ships, as every other one has been copy-paste. Yukikaze at the very least is different in that she has F8 torpedoes. These differ than Kagero's choice by having less range, (8km vs 10km), higher damage (21k vs 20k), faster reload (104 sec vs 112 sec), and higher speed (76kts to 67kts) which also leads to a better reaction time of ~8.8 sec vs ~9.45 sec.
Now, does this make Yukikaze better? No, not really, as 8km is rather short range for high tier standards. It does make them almost break past ~8 sec reaction time with a full torpedo speed build, the best of any type 93 torpedo, but combined with the fact that it has no other differences in gun handling, DPM, HP, and consumables, I find this shorter ranged torpedo to be a high risk high reward setup, which already exacerbates high tier IJN DD gameplay further than it already is, being so heavily feast or famine.
I can really only recommend this ship if you really like Kagero for whatever reason and really like the 8km F8 playstyle. That and if you like the history of the ship and or like the character of the ship, voiced by Kana Yuuki, despite how annoying and self aggrandizing her character is made out to be.
TLDR: Kagero but 8km F8 torpedoes.
OK, now for the ships I really do not recommend at all for varying reasons. The reviews are going to be more brief from here on out.
Skip 1: AL Cheshire
Only get this if you really, REALLY want to get Cheshire right now. Currently, regular Cheshire is off sale, and cannot be obtained. For whatever reason you think you might need Cheshire, this is the only way to obtain her at the moment in AL form. Which more than likely means that if you want her, you are more than likely a fan of the AL character, as the ship itself is pretty bad. Kind of polarizing given that Cheshire in AL is pretty meta, and her in WoWs she's pretty solidly in D tier for competitiveness.She is essentially a worse Albemarle, having no Spotter Plane, and garbage DPM for the tier. Really, the 9.2 in guns really only offer 59mm of pen vs 34mm, and better AP pen with overall flatter flight times, but not by much. The armor is Okayish, but trust me when you will get smacked through your bow and stern often, as you have a stepped citadel that if you get overmatched through either direction, you WILL get citadelled. While you get that 50% cit and hull repair party, it really doesn't matter that much when it happens so often, or you just get straight up dev striked. Combined with the lack of spotter plane, that 16km gun range will feel really short, especially when you are bottom tier.
You can at least be happy that the AA she has is up to par in how she is in AL, as it's best in class for her tier. Well, mostly, but her Flak Count is above average at 6+1, and combined with always having defensive fire, I recommend getting the commander skill Focus Fire Training, so you get that +1 flak cloud for 8 in total, which combined with Defensive fires flak buff, those flak bursts will do 7k a pop, Which is the equivalent to instantly destroying about 7 to 3 planes depending on the type if they run into it while DF is active.
Besides that, the commander is voiced by Shizuka Ishigami, and well, pretends to be a catgirl.
TLDR: Get this if you really really, REALLY want Cheshire and you don't have one, or because you really like the AL character.
Skip 2: AL Hornet
This is just Hornet. You can get her cheaper with a 25% discount coupon. It's also a CV, which I imagine is not everyones cup of tea.The commander is voiced by Nozomi Yamamoto, and personally, I enjoy the happy go lucky characterization she has. This might be the ONLY reason you want to get Hornet, that or because you like the cool skin the ship has, and or the free 10 point commander.
TLDR: Get regular Hornet with 25% discount. ONLY buy this if you love AL Hornet (the character) to pieces.
Skip 3 & 4: AL Azuma and AL Agir
These two are just Agir and Azuma, coal ships, that you can get absolutely for free. They are also not really the best Tier IX cruisers anyways, as Azuma is super vulnerable to battleships, and Agir doesn't match up to the likes of other large cruisers at this tier.That said, I can only imagine you getting these ships for the same reasons for Hornet, and that is because you are a fan of the AL characterization of these ships, as Azuma is voiced by Kiyono Yasuno, and Agir, Ayane Sakura. Or you just like the ship skins.
TLDR: Get Azuma and or Agir for free with Coal. ONLY buy this if you love AL Agir / AL Azuma (the characters).
BONUS: Commander Pack
Hahaha no. Unless you really love AL and don't mind by dropping... looks at price... 100$+ USD and getting a ton of fully voiced commanders, then go for it. The only other reason would be because you are a fresh player and need 10 point commanders for most of the nations in this game, which is really only useful if you need say concealment expert on destroyers for example, then sure, go for it if you find that to be an OK option.EDIT: BONUS BONUS: AL Littorio
I forgot AL Roma, I mean AL Littorio is also a thing, and on an 80% sale.Anyways, Roma herself sucks.
The guns have so much muzzle velocity that you will overpen targets 50% of the time. Combined with the Italian / french dispersion, which is one of the worst battleship dispersion formulas for battleships. So, they are fairly inconsistent guns as a result. Still, if the guns behave, they are pretty mean, as they have a lot of penetration for 15 in guns, on par with some of the best penetration for tier VIII battleships. They also have the best damage for 15 in guns for the tier as well. The gun handling is at least not total crap, as they have 30 sec 180° rotation time, which is above average for most BBs. The forward gun angles are decent too, at 31°, but her rear angles are worse at 40°.
Speaking off, the armor is fairly good at a first glance, with 45mm deck, 70mm deck sides, and a fairly small superstructure which has extra protection from her 90mm dual purpose guns 40mm barbettes and the conning tower. The citadel is slightly above water, but it is not a turtleback, so you WILL get punished for being broadside, considering the armor is 375mm + 40mm of armor or protection. The 40mm inner plate is not overmatchable at least, which is a small plus. At least, compared to the tech tree Tier IX and Tier X that have 25mm plates under their turtleback.
She also gets points for good concealment for her tier, being among the best, at 13.39km base, 11.7km max.
Overall, she's... a tough and sneaky nut to crack, unless she shows broadside. The guns themselves are a massive dirce roll each time, and kind of suck. When they behave though, usually at range, they are amongst the best 15in guns at tier VIII.
Oh and Roma is voiced by Yui Kondou.
Oh wait. This supposed to be Littorio. Whoops. Then that would be Shizuka Itou that voices her. And Yes, if you didn't know, this is for all intensive purposes SHOULD be AL Roma. The simple version of this is that the Vittorio Veneto class all had striking unique features that set them apart at a glance. There was a controversy a while ago about AL Littorio literally being Roma with a skin, as if you demout the camo, the Roma nameplate is still there. Same goes for our Tech Tree Vittorio Veneto, as it is too, just Roma. In fact, the upcoming Spanish Tier IX premium Victoria will be the first version of Roma that is somewhat different. But honestly, it doesn't count.
TLDR: It's a freaking Tier VIII BB on 80% off. Get it while it's hot I guess. Besides that, she has poor gun handling and accuracy, but strong armor (when angled), and good concealment.
2024.05.16 23:34 goBerserk_ Project Napoleon Chapter 4
Fletch gently pushed open the large and lavishly decorated bronze doors of the university administration building and ambled out into the portico. He set his cup of coffee down on the pedestal of a granite pillar and pulled his cigarette case from the breast pocket of his tan trench coat. The old chief inspector plucked a cigarette from the ornately engraved case with slender fingers and wondered why the Kael let him come at all.
Something felt very off with the whole thing. The more he thought about it, the more he questioned the story he got. Mike Anderson was certainly depressed, but as far as Fletch could tell, he had not displayed any suicidal behavior. And why now? Fletch thought. Things were on the upswing for the kid. His grades were excellent, his family situation was good, and he was out of the house more this term than the last. Fletch scratched his mustache. Why would the seals hide the autopsy and the gun? He brought the cigarette to his lips, snapped the filigreed case shut, and slipped it back into the breast pocket of his coat. Fletch flicked open his lighter and sighed as he lit his cigarette. Murder.
It was a hopeless case. These days, warrants were approved by the seals, and even if they weren't, he doubted that he could get one anyway. His suspicion of foul play was backed by nothing but his instinct.
Fletch watched students hustle and bustle through the plaza in front of him as he puffed away at his cigarette and pondered his theory.
But why kill him now? They could have done it in complete secrecy while he was a POW. And it couldn’t be to keep what happened in Philadelphia under wraps. His death brings more attention to it. And he wasn’t a rebel. So why? Fletch sipped at his coffee as he flicked ash from his cigarette. Vengeance? Did he kill some noble brat during the war?
Fletch scratched at his grey mustache and glanced at his watch. I’ll have to follow that thread. He tossed his half-smoked cigarette into a puddle as he briskly walked down the steps and through the university plaza.
The withered investigator was deep in thought when he entered the parking lot. What do I tell that Enrique chap? He unlocked his car and crawled in. I certainly can’t tell him that his mate’s been clipped with no evidence. Fletch turned the key, and the engine of his little Volvo sputtered to life. It’s no bleeding use. I’ll just tell the lad they weren’t interested in sharing and keep my suspicions to myself.
As he reached for the shifter, Fletch noticed a delightfully thick manilla envelope stuck in the gap between the center console and the passenger seat.
He pulled the envelope from the crack. Gingerly, he opened it and pulled out a small note. It read We’re even now, prick.
Fletch smiled and couldn’t help but mutter, “The game is afoot,” as he flicked through the stack of documents inside.
Isabella poked her head into the large office and saw Professor Dret’la with a ball of dark green yarn on her lap and bone darning needles beset with carvings in her hands.
Isabella was struck with confusion. What? She crochets!?
The professor looked up from her labor, spotted the confused girl outside her door, and called, “Come in.”
Isabella walked into the office and took a seat. She gestured to the yarn in the professor's hands. “What are you making?”
The professor smiled as motherly as one could with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. “It will be a hat for my son. He just received his commission as a junior biologist, so he has to rummage around in freezers to get samples for his whole research team.”
Isabella blinked. This was not characteristic at all for the quick-tempered professor with a penchant for launching chalk across lecture halls at the mildest provocation.
Isabella shook off her shocked expression and gave the tall professor a dimpled cheek smile. “That’s so sweet! I’m sure he’ll love it. One of the best gifts I’ve ever received was a thick wool sweater from my mamma during a training exercise off the coast of Norway.”
The professor, still smiling, sat up straight. “I hope that’s the kind of reception I get.”
The professor’s demeanor hardened as she stowed the yarn and needles in the desk drawer. “Now, let's get down to business.”
Isabella gulped.
“To start, congratulations. You’ve passed our testing and been selected for officer training.”
Isabella asked, “Who else was selected?”
“There are nine others: Robert Rhodes, Elena Pavel, Hal Jellico, Zheng Li, Brooke Halsey, Colow Aden, Magnus Tordenskjold, Bill Lee, and Kazuya Yamamoto.”
Isabella didn’t recognize all the names.
“Should you choose to accept, you will be taking a prep course taught by Colonel Ocidea and I starting next week and lasting all through the summer. If we deem you ready, you’ll ship out for basic training and then off to the Royal Military Academy, where you can earn your commission.” Dr. Dret’la leaned in close to Isabella. “Do you accept?”
Without hesitation, Isabella answered, “Yes.”
“Mike, come over here. You’re going to want to see this.” Calty voiced from her seat in the front of the cockpit.
Mike rolled off the couch and walked into the front of the cockpit as the captain shouted, “Decelerate!” Mike couldn’t help but grab onto the back of Calty’s seat as the FTL drive kicked into gear. The cockpit glass dimmed just before blindingly bright blue jets of fire from the front-facing engines came into view. A bright green circle flickered onto the glass surrounding a marble-sized dot darker than the rest of the now dim screen. The dots and circles expanded at an extreme pace until they took up most of the display. Another dot appeared—minuscule compared to the other—surrounded by a red circle. The growth of the shadowy dots and the circles around them slowed and then stopped entirely as the engines sputtered out.
The HUD faded out of view, and the tint of the glass slowly lightened, revealing a vast planet embraced by blue-green ice with a colossal foundry in its orbit. The planet, a gas giant called Drassus, was orbited by four rings. One was made of containers, and the other three were made up of loose ore gleaming in the nearby star's light. Exhaust chimneys spewing gas and fire sprouted from the otherwise spherical foundry, giving it a sea urchin-like profile, which, together with the weave of pipes bringing fuel from beneath the icy surface of the planet below, made the foundry resemble an old naval mine.
The captain strode up to the front of the cockpit. “One-third ahead and steer 14 degrees left. We’re unloading in bay three.”
Six mech suits and a tug exited a plasma-shielded hanger as the ship came to a halt. The mechs glided to the front of the ship and started dismounting the external cargo bay from the Broken Fin while the tug hitched onto the opposite end of the ten-kilometer-long rack of containers.
A little while later, the tug pulled away with the load of containers, and the comm system blared to life. “Broken Fin, you are cleared to leave. The UO corporation thanks you for your business.”
The captain replied, “Our pleasure. Broken fin out.” as the ship pulled out of the loading bay.
He turned to the navigation officer and said, “Lock in coordinates for jump to Kael Prime.”
The captain went to the central control board and pulled up traffic control. “Tower 1, this is the Broken Fin. We request a jump slot to Kael Prime from Drassus.”
“Broken Fin, request granted. Your departure slot is at 16:33.”
Mike glanced at the top right of the ship's HUD and looked at the time. 16:21.
Better get my stuff together…
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ship shuddered ever so slightly despite the inertial dampeners as it exited FTL. Mike was lounging on the couch with his bag at his feet. He was ready to get off this tub.
Mike idly watched flames lick at the cockpit window as the ship descended into the atmosphere of Kael Prime. He looked at Dreki, who was sitting on the other couch. His muscles bulged through his clothes despite wearing a white sweater so large it could be mistaken for the sail of an average-sized boat. Mike asked, “Do you know anything about what’ll happen to me now?”
The big Kael shifted in his seat. “Technically, I’m not supposed to tell you anything, but what the hell.” Dreki pulled the collar of his sweater down, revealing an angry white number burnt into his iron-gray skin just below the collarbone. “First, you’ll get branded.” He released his shirt and pointed to a small scar on the side of his head. “Then you’ll get an AR implant.”
“Where will I be getting that?” Mike asked.
“The Imperial Science Academy. We’re going to be staying there for a few days. They’ll run a bunch of tests and get you fitted for equipment there. After that, I’ll drop you off at the spaceport, and you’ll be off to Tlaxcalssus for basic training. After that, I don’t know.”
“Thanks.”
The ship shook as it touched down on the landing pad. “Time to go.” Dreki shouldered his pack and walked out the door. Mike fiddled with the straps of his bag as he followed Dreki down the ramp and to the far side of the ship, away from the rest of the passengers. Mike's nose was immediately assaulted with the acrid smell of sulfur from where the fiery exhausts of engines had melted asphalt. The spaceport was swarming with vehicles and filled with the constant roar of ship engines and a symphony of smaller equipment. Power loaders and mechs loaded and unloaded heavy cargo, shuttles bustled to and fro with passengers, baggage carriers snaked through the crowded landing pads, and vehicles that looked like floating garage doors zipped through the air at ankle height, bringing pilots and crew to their ships. Mike couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the absurdity of it all. Here he was, in the heartland of the enemy, walking through what was essentially a ten-acre parking lot.
Dreki plopped his bags on the ground and yawned as he stretched his arms over his head. “Our skiff will be here in a minute.”
Mike tuned out the beeps and whirrs of the tank-sized forklifts and mechs unloading the ship and gazed out beyond at the horizon. You’re not in Kansas anymore, bub. Mike thought as he studied the skyline of the imperial city basked in the glow of the early evening sun. Some of the buildings wouldn’t look all that out of place on Earth, but the skyline was assaulted with abominations that pissed on the laws of physics as Man understood them. Tusk-shaped skyscrapers defied gravity with their seemingly unsupported curves, and even more absurd were pyramids stacked atop another point-to-point like hourglasses. Any delusion of normalcy that Mike could come up with was shattered.
Dreki picked up his bag and pointed to a slab of black marble speeding towards them at ankle height. “Here’s our skiff.” A railing popped out of the center as the skiff came to a gliding halt. Dreki boarded the skiff and took hold of the rail, and Mike followed suit.
They sped through the spaceport and stopped outside what looked to Mike like a train station. Dreki shouldered his bag and stepped off the skiff. Mike stepped off and quickly fell in pace with Dreki. The big Kael led Mike into a grand station bustling with people. Most were Kael, but there was a smattering of other species. Some stared at Mike, others glanced, but most completely ignored him as he followed Dreki through the hall and onto a platform. Unfamiliar aliens clearly weren’t an uncommon sight here.
The walls of the station were covered with mosaics depicting Kael warriors from the distant past. Dreki noted the human's curiosity and said, “The founders of the clans.” He leveled a massive hand toward an opulent, towering mosaic of a Kael warrior wielding a bronze falx. The imposing figure's body was made of blue gemstones, the eyes rubies, one tusk silver, and the other gold. “That’s the founder of my clan, Drekalla Gold Tusk.”
Mike asked, “How’d he manage that?” As he followed Dreki into a mostly empty train car.
Dreki plopped down on a bench. “He was the war priest of Hroptaug the Conqueror during the unification wars. After the wars were won, Hroptaug granted us the Steam Hills.” Dreki pointed through the train window at the mosaic of another warrior whose body was made of milky white pearls. “That one,” He paused and spat on the floor, “Tiblan the Terror, challenged Drekalla to a duel for most of that land. Drekalla was cutting him to pieces, but the craven poisoned his blade. Just before Drekalla could deliver the final blow, the poison reached his heart, and Drekalla died. The only wound on his body was a cut across his forearm that barely drew blood.” Dreki rolled up his sleeve, showing a scar that reached from his elbow to the middle of his forearm. “Every K’alla is cut the same way to remind us of the blood feud.”
Mike inwardly sighed. Kael and their damned feuds… “How long ago was this.”
“Seven thousand four hundred and fifty-one years ago.”
Mike held back a snort. The absurdity of it all. The first human law codes came about to stop blood feuds, and out here, they have feuds that have lasted longer than Earth's recorded history.
“How’s that feud been going as of late?”
Dreki’s face sagged, “Not good.”
They both grew quiet. Mike shuffled uncomfortably.
Mike glanced at the route display and broke the silence, “What's with the middle city, inner city thing?”
Dreki relaxed slightly. “Oh, so the city used to be a fortification. The inner city is actually a volcanic island. The middle is built over the river, and the outer city was built on the banks.”
“I see.”
The doors closed, and the intercom sounded, “Next stop, the inner city.”
Dale Robert’s wrinkled face was unreadable, and his highly decorated black and blue dress uniform immaculate as he led a horse through the street. He felt the eyes of thousands of onlookers on him, and he hated it. The pure black horse had a black leather saddle on its back. Two tall, glossy black boots were placed backward in silver stirrups, and the elaborate hilt of Mike’s basket-hilted broadsword jutted from the top of a black leather scabbard buckled to the saddle. Roberts followed the horse-drawn caisson bearing the flag-draped coffin of his old commanding officer. Not much farther now, he thought. The sounds of the cartwheels rolling and the horse’s tack jangling were wholly drowned out by boots stamping the ground in unison. Almost all of the 1800 survivors of the 801st regiment were there, resplendent in their dress uniforms, marching behind Mike one more time. The local police and fire departments joined them.
Roberts was unsure about it all. He felt that the poor kid's family would have preferred a smaller service back home in Colorado instead of this damn near royal procession. And Roberts was damn sure that the seals did not give their permission for this, no matter what the police chief said.
A reporter ducked through the police barricade and tried to ask the marching soldiers questions, but they remained stone-faced as the procession marched nearer to the gates of Philadelphia National Cemetery. Roberts handed the reigns of the riderless horse to another man in uniform and joined seven other members of Charlie platoon in pulling the casket from the cassion. They silently began their march to the grave, closely followed by General McCarthy, the man who was Joint Chief of Staff, and the color guard. Bagpipers began to blare, “Going Home.” Roberts heard the sound of gravpulse engines and looked up in dismay as a Kael gunship broke through the low clouds and descended to just barely above the cemetery. A loudspeaker blared, “Disperse at once.”
submitted by goBerserk_ to HFY [link] [comments]
Something felt very off with the whole thing. The more he thought about it, the more he questioned the story he got. Mike Anderson was certainly depressed, but as far as Fletch could tell, he had not displayed any suicidal behavior. And why now? Fletch thought. Things were on the upswing for the kid. His grades were excellent, his family situation was good, and he was out of the house more this term than the last. Fletch scratched his mustache. Why would the seals hide the autopsy and the gun? He brought the cigarette to his lips, snapped the filigreed case shut, and slipped it back into the breast pocket of his coat. Fletch flicked open his lighter and sighed as he lit his cigarette. Murder.
It was a hopeless case. These days, warrants were approved by the seals, and even if they weren't, he doubted that he could get one anyway. His suspicion of foul play was backed by nothing but his instinct.
Fletch watched students hustle and bustle through the plaza in front of him as he puffed away at his cigarette and pondered his theory.
But why kill him now? They could have done it in complete secrecy while he was a POW. And it couldn’t be to keep what happened in Philadelphia under wraps. His death brings more attention to it. And he wasn’t a rebel. So why? Fletch sipped at his coffee as he flicked ash from his cigarette. Vengeance? Did he kill some noble brat during the war?
Fletch scratched at his grey mustache and glanced at his watch. I’ll have to follow that thread. He tossed his half-smoked cigarette into a puddle as he briskly walked down the steps and through the university plaza.
The withered investigator was deep in thought when he entered the parking lot. What do I tell that Enrique chap? He unlocked his car and crawled in. I certainly can’t tell him that his mate’s been clipped with no evidence. Fletch turned the key, and the engine of his little Volvo sputtered to life. It’s no bleeding use. I’ll just tell the lad they weren’t interested in sharing and keep my suspicions to myself.
As he reached for the shifter, Fletch noticed a delightfully thick manilla envelope stuck in the gap between the center console and the passenger seat.
He pulled the envelope from the crack. Gingerly, he opened it and pulled out a small note. It read We’re even now, prick.
Fletch smiled and couldn’t help but mutter, “The game is afoot,” as he flicked through the stack of documents inside.
Isabella was struck with confusion. What? She crochets!?
The professor looked up from her labor, spotted the confused girl outside her door, and called, “Come in.”
Isabella walked into the office and took a seat. She gestured to the yarn in the professor's hands. “What are you making?”
The professor smiled as motherly as one could with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. “It will be a hat for my son. He just received his commission as a junior biologist, so he has to rummage around in freezers to get samples for his whole research team.”
Isabella blinked. This was not characteristic at all for the quick-tempered professor with a penchant for launching chalk across lecture halls at the mildest provocation.
Isabella shook off her shocked expression and gave the tall professor a dimpled cheek smile. “That’s so sweet! I’m sure he’ll love it. One of the best gifts I’ve ever received was a thick wool sweater from my mamma during a training exercise off the coast of Norway.”
The professor, still smiling, sat up straight. “I hope that’s the kind of reception I get.”
The professor’s demeanor hardened as she stowed the yarn and needles in the desk drawer. “Now, let's get down to business.”
Isabella gulped.
“To start, congratulations. You’ve passed our testing and been selected for officer training.”
Isabella asked, “Who else was selected?”
“There are nine others: Robert Rhodes, Elena Pavel, Hal Jellico, Zheng Li, Brooke Halsey, Colow Aden, Magnus Tordenskjold, Bill Lee, and Kazuya Yamamoto.”
Isabella didn’t recognize all the names.
“Should you choose to accept, you will be taking a prep course taught by Colonel Ocidea and I starting next week and lasting all through the summer. If we deem you ready, you’ll ship out for basic training and then off to the Royal Military Academy, where you can earn your commission.” Dr. Dret’la leaned in close to Isabella. “Do you accept?”
Without hesitation, Isabella answered, “Yes.”
Mike rolled off the couch and walked into the front of the cockpit as the captain shouted, “Decelerate!” Mike couldn’t help but grab onto the back of Calty’s seat as the FTL drive kicked into gear. The cockpit glass dimmed just before blindingly bright blue jets of fire from the front-facing engines came into view. A bright green circle flickered onto the glass surrounding a marble-sized dot darker than the rest of the now dim screen. The dots and circles expanded at an extreme pace until they took up most of the display. Another dot appeared—minuscule compared to the other—surrounded by a red circle. The growth of the shadowy dots and the circles around them slowed and then stopped entirely as the engines sputtered out.
The HUD faded out of view, and the tint of the glass slowly lightened, revealing a vast planet embraced by blue-green ice with a colossal foundry in its orbit. The planet, a gas giant called Drassus, was orbited by four rings. One was made of containers, and the other three were made up of loose ore gleaming in the nearby star's light. Exhaust chimneys spewing gas and fire sprouted from the otherwise spherical foundry, giving it a sea urchin-like profile, which, together with the weave of pipes bringing fuel from beneath the icy surface of the planet below, made the foundry resemble an old naval mine.
The captain strode up to the front of the cockpit. “One-third ahead and steer 14 degrees left. We’re unloading in bay three.”
Six mech suits and a tug exited a plasma-shielded hanger as the ship came to a halt. The mechs glided to the front of the ship and started dismounting the external cargo bay from the Broken Fin while the tug hitched onto the opposite end of the ten-kilometer-long rack of containers.
A little while later, the tug pulled away with the load of containers, and the comm system blared to life. “Broken Fin, you are cleared to leave. The UO corporation thanks you for your business.”
The captain replied, “Our pleasure. Broken fin out.” as the ship pulled out of the loading bay.
He turned to the navigation officer and said, “Lock in coordinates for jump to Kael Prime.”
The captain went to the central control board and pulled up traffic control. “Tower 1, this is the Broken Fin. We request a jump slot to Kael Prime from Drassus.”
“Broken Fin, request granted. Your departure slot is at 16:33.”
Mike glanced at the top right of the ship's HUD and looked at the time. 16:21.
Better get my stuff together…
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ship shuddered ever so slightly despite the inertial dampeners as it exited FTL. Mike was lounging on the couch with his bag at his feet. He was ready to get off this tub.
Mike idly watched flames lick at the cockpit window as the ship descended into the atmosphere of Kael Prime. He looked at Dreki, who was sitting on the other couch. His muscles bulged through his clothes despite wearing a white sweater so large it could be mistaken for the sail of an average-sized boat. Mike asked, “Do you know anything about what’ll happen to me now?”
The big Kael shifted in his seat. “Technically, I’m not supposed to tell you anything, but what the hell.” Dreki pulled the collar of his sweater down, revealing an angry white number burnt into his iron-gray skin just below the collarbone. “First, you’ll get branded.” He released his shirt and pointed to a small scar on the side of his head. “Then you’ll get an AR implant.”
“Where will I be getting that?” Mike asked.
“The Imperial Science Academy. We’re going to be staying there for a few days. They’ll run a bunch of tests and get you fitted for equipment there. After that, I’ll drop you off at the spaceport, and you’ll be off to Tlaxcalssus for basic training. After that, I don’t know.”
“Thanks.”
The ship shook as it touched down on the landing pad. “Time to go.” Dreki shouldered his pack and walked out the door. Mike fiddled with the straps of his bag as he followed Dreki down the ramp and to the far side of the ship, away from the rest of the passengers. Mike's nose was immediately assaulted with the acrid smell of sulfur from where the fiery exhausts of engines had melted asphalt. The spaceport was swarming with vehicles and filled with the constant roar of ship engines and a symphony of smaller equipment. Power loaders and mechs loaded and unloaded heavy cargo, shuttles bustled to and fro with passengers, baggage carriers snaked through the crowded landing pads, and vehicles that looked like floating garage doors zipped through the air at ankle height, bringing pilots and crew to their ships. Mike couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the absurdity of it all. Here he was, in the heartland of the enemy, walking through what was essentially a ten-acre parking lot.
Dreki plopped his bags on the ground and yawned as he stretched his arms over his head. “Our skiff will be here in a minute.”
Mike tuned out the beeps and whirrs of the tank-sized forklifts and mechs unloading the ship and gazed out beyond at the horizon. You’re not in Kansas anymore, bub. Mike thought as he studied the skyline of the imperial city basked in the glow of the early evening sun. Some of the buildings wouldn’t look all that out of place on Earth, but the skyline was assaulted with abominations that pissed on the laws of physics as Man understood them. Tusk-shaped skyscrapers defied gravity with their seemingly unsupported curves, and even more absurd were pyramids stacked atop another point-to-point like hourglasses. Any delusion of normalcy that Mike could come up with was shattered.
Dreki picked up his bag and pointed to a slab of black marble speeding towards them at ankle height. “Here’s our skiff.” A railing popped out of the center as the skiff came to a gliding halt. Dreki boarded the skiff and took hold of the rail, and Mike followed suit.
They sped through the spaceport and stopped outside what looked to Mike like a train station. Dreki shouldered his bag and stepped off the skiff. Mike stepped off and quickly fell in pace with Dreki. The big Kael led Mike into a grand station bustling with people. Most were Kael, but there was a smattering of other species. Some stared at Mike, others glanced, but most completely ignored him as he followed Dreki through the hall and onto a platform. Unfamiliar aliens clearly weren’t an uncommon sight here.
The walls of the station were covered with mosaics depicting Kael warriors from the distant past. Dreki noted the human's curiosity and said, “The founders of the clans.” He leveled a massive hand toward an opulent, towering mosaic of a Kael warrior wielding a bronze falx. The imposing figure's body was made of blue gemstones, the eyes rubies, one tusk silver, and the other gold. “That’s the founder of my clan, Drekalla Gold Tusk.”
Mike asked, “How’d he manage that?” As he followed Dreki into a mostly empty train car.
Dreki plopped down on a bench. “He was the war priest of Hroptaug the Conqueror during the unification wars. After the wars were won, Hroptaug granted us the Steam Hills.” Dreki pointed through the train window at the mosaic of another warrior whose body was made of milky white pearls. “That one,” He paused and spat on the floor, “Tiblan the Terror, challenged Drekalla to a duel for most of that land. Drekalla was cutting him to pieces, but the craven poisoned his blade. Just before Drekalla could deliver the final blow, the poison reached his heart, and Drekalla died. The only wound on his body was a cut across his forearm that barely drew blood.” Dreki rolled up his sleeve, showing a scar that reached from his elbow to the middle of his forearm. “Every K’alla is cut the same way to remind us of the blood feud.”
Mike inwardly sighed. Kael and their damned feuds… “How long ago was this.”
“Seven thousand four hundred and fifty-one years ago.”
Mike held back a snort. The absurdity of it all. The first human law codes came about to stop blood feuds, and out here, they have feuds that have lasted longer than Earth's recorded history.
“How’s that feud been going as of late?”
Dreki’s face sagged, “Not good.”
They both grew quiet. Mike shuffled uncomfortably.
Mike glanced at the route display and broke the silence, “What's with the middle city, inner city thing?”
Dreki relaxed slightly. “Oh, so the city used to be a fortification. The inner city is actually a volcanic island. The middle is built over the river, and the outer city was built on the banks.”
“I see.”
The doors closed, and the intercom sounded, “Next stop, the inner city.”
Dale Robert’s wrinkled face was unreadable, and his highly decorated black and blue dress uniform immaculate as he led a horse through the street. He felt the eyes of thousands of onlookers on him, and he hated it. The pure black horse had a black leather saddle on its back. Two tall, glossy black boots were placed backward in silver stirrups, and the elaborate hilt of Mike’s basket-hilted broadsword jutted from the top of a black leather scabbard buckled to the saddle. Roberts followed the horse-drawn caisson bearing the flag-draped coffin of his old commanding officer. Not much farther now, he thought. The sounds of the cartwheels rolling and the horse’s tack jangling were wholly drowned out by boots stamping the ground in unison. Almost all of the 1800 survivors of the 801st regiment were there, resplendent in their dress uniforms, marching behind Mike one more time. The local police and fire departments joined them.
Roberts was unsure about it all. He felt that the poor kid's family would have preferred a smaller service back home in Colorado instead of this damn near royal procession. And Roberts was damn sure that the seals did not give their permission for this, no matter what the police chief said.
A reporter ducked through the police barricade and tried to ask the marching soldiers questions, but they remained stone-faced as the procession marched nearer to the gates of Philadelphia National Cemetery. Roberts handed the reigns of the riderless horse to another man in uniform and joined seven other members of Charlie platoon in pulling the casket from the cassion. They silently began their march to the grave, closely followed by General McCarthy, the man who was Joint Chief of Staff, and the color guard. Bagpipers began to blare, “Going Home.” Roberts heard the sound of gravpulse engines and looked up in dismay as a Kael gunship broke through the low clouds and descended to just barely above the cemetery. A loudspeaker blared, “Disperse at once.”
2024.05.16 23:28 aPaperPlate [Discord] [duet] [5e] [sandbox campaign] [asycnch] [live optional] GM looking for players
Looking to GM a rules-light longterm sandbox. Play by post RP, posting an average of once per day with as many as 3 times per day and at least every two days. Open to one on one text based, group/party text, group voice and/video, etc.
About me: I'm a Cis Het male, married, caucasian American. Very LGBTQIA+ inclusive and welcoming to any and all ethnicities. Experienced with dnd 5e, pathfinder 1e, daggerheart, and freestyle text rp.
Writing sample: Your eyes flitter open as you come to, not a hint of grogginess or fear, just the light awakening that follows a perfect night's rest. Dawn begins to seep through the shuttered windows of the inn. You breathe in the cold air and shift in your rented bed. You look over towards the water basin and mirror, with your bags packed and ready to go under them. That’ right, you have places to be! In a flury you jump from bed to the door, splash cold water into your face, and look in the mirror. who do you see?
Apply here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf8diq5TiaxUoOZI_4IPhd_LC-DHpLHErnd0KEc3fnQ9sEQgw/viewform?usp=sf_link
submitted by aPaperPlate to pbp [link] [comments]
About me: I'm a Cis Het male, married, caucasian American. Very LGBTQIA+ inclusive and welcoming to any and all ethnicities. Experienced with dnd 5e, pathfinder 1e, daggerheart, and freestyle text rp.
Writing sample: Your eyes flitter open as you come to, not a hint of grogginess or fear, just the light awakening that follows a perfect night's rest. Dawn begins to seep through the shuttered windows of the inn. You breathe in the cold air and shift in your rented bed. You look over towards the water basin and mirror, with your bags packed and ready to go under them. That’ right, you have places to be! In a flury you jump from bed to the door, splash cold water into your face, and look in the mirror. who do you see?
Apply here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf8diq5TiaxUoOZI_4IPhd_LC-DHpLHErnd0KEc3fnQ9sEQgw/viewform?usp=sf_link
2024.05.16 23:28 luiggel remapping Bluetooth keyboard keys
 | First of all, I wasn't sure of what the title should be so I left as that. submitted by luiggel to keyboards [link] [comments] Now the problem: I bought this cheap rebranded Bluetooth Chinese keyboard and it works sufficient for my need, although there are some keys I would like to remap. is there any way to remap them keys somehow? (I am not talking about changing the layout for my language or etc because I already did that.) I bought this keyboard to use with my Samsung Galaxy M51 android 12 one ui 4.1 core, and it works great no problems, but I have some issues:
I have already tried the app keyboard remap helper demo (something) and it helps with this but since I use swiftkey, it isn't ideal to have to change keyboards all the time. Also the problem is not the layout since I already changed to Portuguese(br) which on the phone is written as brazilian(qwerty) but rather just those keys are different. |
2024.05.16 23:26 FullyAutoDracos Is this wrong?
 | Am I doing this wrong? At first I had the Sydney template but a redditor suggested I make it “the plain boring template “ And yes I do know about the gaps. I got hurt in Afghanistan back in 2010. so after I got a M.E.B retirement in 2013 I just went to school. 2013-2015 I was in college but if I add it then my resume will increase to 2 pages I wanna keep it at one. Plus it was ITT tech. I don’t think an employer gives a fuck about ITT. As far as the 2018-2021 gap I was going thru surgery and physical therapy for injuries but I obviously wouldn’t tell an employer that because they don’t care as it isn’t their job. And then moved in 2023 So I’m not really sure what I can do about the gaps. And as far as everything else on my resume Any feed back would be appreciated. Once I go back to college in January I think I will try and do some internships but even then I’ll have to remove work experience that would sort of create an even bigger gap Did I do this wrong? Im not 100% sure what I should change submitted by FullyAutoDracos to csMajors [link] [comments] |
2024.05.16 23:25 smartybrome List of FREE and Best Selling Discounted Courses
Udemy Free Courses for 17 May 2024
Note : Coupons might expire anytime, so enroll as soon as possible to get the courses for FREE.- REDEEM OFFER Marketing Analytics & Retail Business Management using Excel
- REDEEM OFFER HR Analytics using MS Excel for Human Resource Management
- REDEEM OFFER Data Analytics for Project Management
- REDEEM OFFER HTML 5,Python,Django And Flask Framework Full-Stack Course
- REDEEM OFFER Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSC)
- REDEEM OFFER Strategic Creative Thinking
- REDEEM OFFER Complete Course in CATIA
- REDEEM OFFER Design Mastery and Earn with Canva Move From Novice to Pro
- REDEEM OFFER Cloud Computing and Amazon Web Services (AWS) Fundamentals
- REDEEM OFFER OOP Design Patterns in Python
- REDEEM OFFER SQLite databases with Python
- REDEEM OFFER Rapid Aspen HYSYS Mastery 2024: Less Than 1Hour Crash Course
- REDEEM OFFER ChatGPT for Creative Ideas: Generate Powerful Concepts
- REDEEM OFFER 49 Weight Loss Tips You Can Stick To Forever – Be Thinner
- REDEEM OFFER Dieting – Nutrition -Weight Loss Tips for Good Healthy Life
- REDEEM OFFER 39 Travel Tips to Make Your Travel More Enjoyable – 1 Hour
- Linux Security Basics for Beginners
- REDEEM OFFER
- REDEEM OFFER Ethical Hacking: Linux Privilege Escalation
- REDEEM OFFER Cyber Security: Anti-Virus
- REDEEM OFFER AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Mock Exams
- REDEEM OFFER JavaScript And PHP And Python Programming Complete Course
- REDEEM OFFER Easy WPF in C# Windows Presentation Foundation for Beginners
- REDEEM OFFER Browser Automation with Python Selenium
- REDEEM OFFER Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate – Exams
- REDEEM OFFER Python Programming Language Master Python Course (Arabic)
- REDEEM OFFER The Complete 2023 Swift & SwiftUI (IOS App Course) [Arabic]
- REDEEM OFFER 4 Comprehensive Practice Tests for any Python Certification
- REDEEM OFFER 4 Latest Practice Tests for any JavaScript Certification
- REDEEM OFFER Excel Certification Exam Preparation: 4 Practice Tests 2024
- REDEEM OFFER SOLAR COURSE for Beginners of Solar Energy- 2024
- REDEEM OFFER Scrum Master Certification
- REDEEM OFFER GitLab Certified Project Management Associate Practice Exams
- Self-Driving Car Foundational Course with Case Studies 2024
- REDEEM OFFER
- REDEEM OFFER Transforming Oncology Clinical Research & Trials [2024]
- REDEEM OFFER ChatGPT for Product Management & Innovation
- REDEEM OFFER Laravel 10 – Restaurant and Food Ordering Ecommerce (2024)
2024.05.16 23:25 smartybrome List of FREE and Best Selling Discounted Courses
Udemy Free Courses for 17 May 2024
Note : Coupons might expire anytime, so enroll as soon as possible to get the courses for FREE.- REDEEM OFFER Marketing Analytics & Retail Business Management using Excel
- REDEEM OFFER HR Analytics using MS Excel for Human Resource Management
- REDEEM OFFER Data Analytics for Project Management
- REDEEM OFFER HTML 5,Python,Django And Flask Framework Full-Stack Course
- REDEEM OFFER Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSC)
- REDEEM OFFER Strategic Creative Thinking
- REDEEM OFFER Complete Course in CATIA
- REDEEM OFFER Design Mastery and Earn with Canva Move From Novice to Pro
- REDEEM OFFER Cloud Computing and Amazon Web Services (AWS) Fundamentals
- REDEEM OFFER OOP Design Patterns in Python
- REDEEM OFFER SQLite databases with Python
- REDEEM OFFER Rapid Aspen HYSYS Mastery 2024: Less Than 1Hour Crash Course
- REDEEM OFFER ChatGPT for Creative Ideas: Generate Powerful Concepts
- REDEEM OFFER 49 Weight Loss Tips You Can Stick To Forever – Be Thinner
- REDEEM OFFER Dieting – Nutrition -Weight Loss Tips for Good Healthy Life
- REDEEM OFFER 39 Travel Tips to Make Your Travel More Enjoyable – 1 Hour
- Linux Security Basics for Beginners
- REDEEM OFFER
- REDEEM OFFER Ethical Hacking: Linux Privilege Escalation
- REDEEM OFFER Cyber Security: Anti-Virus
- REDEEM OFFER AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Mock Exams
- REDEEM OFFER JavaScript And PHP And Python Programming Complete Course
- REDEEM OFFER Easy WPF in C# Windows Presentation Foundation for Beginners
- REDEEM OFFER Browser Automation with Python Selenium
- REDEEM OFFER Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate – Exams
- REDEEM OFFER Python Programming Language Master Python Course (Arabic)
- REDEEM OFFER The Complete 2023 Swift & SwiftUI (IOS App Course) [Arabic]
- REDEEM OFFER 4 Comprehensive Practice Tests for any Python Certification
- REDEEM OFFER 4 Latest Practice Tests for any JavaScript Certification
- REDEEM OFFER Excel Certification Exam Preparation: 4 Practice Tests 2024
- REDEEM OFFER SOLAR COURSE for Beginners of Solar Energy- 2024
- REDEEM OFFER Scrum Master Certification
- REDEEM OFFER GitLab Certified Project Management Associate Practice Exams
- Self-Driving Car Foundational Course with Case Studies 2024
- REDEEM OFFER
- REDEEM OFFER Transforming Oncology Clinical Research & Trials [2024]
- REDEEM OFFER ChatGPT for Product Management & Innovation
- REDEEM OFFER Laravel 10 – Restaurant and Food Ordering Ecommerce (2024)
2024.05.16 23:23 face_eater_5000 I think this qualifies as a bad suggestion
 | submitted by face_eater_5000 to facepalm [link] [comments] |
2024.05.16 23:22 Cascading_Neurons Potential future problems with Android 15 and later?
Android 15 is on the horizon, and with that comes a few crucial questions for the future of Tasker. Here's a list of changes in the current beta 2:
The main issues are points 5, 6, and potentially 7(?) Could any of these changes change the way that Tasker behaves in future releases? Are any of these changes cause for concern?
u/joaomgcd
Edit: I had to remove the source url as the post was being flagged as spam.
submitted by Cascading_Neurons to tasker [link] [comments]
Source: GApps Flags & Leaks-, some text changes. Beta 2 includes API-related updates from ICU 74. The font file for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean is now a variable font. There’s now a font file for the Japanese Hentaigana font. TextView now allocates additional width for cursive fonts or language characters with complex shaping that may otherwise get clipped.
- Android 15 will block users from installing apps with a target SDK version ≤ 23. Previously, Android 14 blocked apps with target SDK version ≤ 22.
- I previously reported, Android 15 is adding support for 16 KB page sizes. Google says devices with larger page sizes can see improved performance in memory-intensive workloads. Apps with NDK libraries will likely need to be rebuilt to work on these devices.
- 15 includes ANGLE as an optional layer for running OpenGL ES on top of Vulkan. The move to ANGLE will standardize the Android OpenGL implementation. Going forward, ANGLE will be shipped as the default GL system driver on more new devices with the goal for GL/ES to be only available through ANGLE.
- devices that don’t have a HW AV1 decoder, VideoLAN’s SW AV1 decoder (dav1d) can be utilized. As I previously reported, dav1d is a highly efficient and performant AV1 decoder. It’s included by default in Android 15 but is available on Android 11+ devices through a Play System Update. However, apps have to opt in by invoking dav1d by name for now.
- Improvements to the security of intents. Intents that target specific components must match the target’s intent-filter specifications. Intents without an action will no longer match any intent-filters.
- Foreground services that rely on the SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW permission exemption for background starts are now required to have a visible overlay when targeting Android 15.
- dataSync and mediaProcessing foreground service types now have a ~6 hour timeout after which the service is no longer considered a foreground service. If the service doesn’t stop itself, it’ll get stopped with a failure.
The main issues are points 5, 6, and potentially 7(?) Could any of these changes change the way that Tasker behaves in future releases? Are any of these changes cause for concern?
u/joaomgcd
Edit: I had to remove the source url as the post was being flagged as spam.
2024.05.16 23:11 Weathers_Writing They call Silicon Valley the tech capitol of the world. They're wrong
I won't disclose its actual location, so if that's why you're here, sorry to disappoint. It's not time for that yet. However, I do think it's time to start getting the word out. I've noticed an increase in what I'll call "Antennas" lately, or people who can detect cross-planar phase shifts. Without getting into all the math (some of which I don't even know), this is basically a phenomenon which refers to entropy seeping into our universe from other realms or universes or whatever you want to call it. Simply put, people think our universe is a closed system to entropy, meaning that the disorder of any variable in our universe can only increase or decrease in direct proportion to other variables in that same system (the universe). Under this precept, we can establish rules like the Laws of Thermodynamics, and for most people, they're effective. But not for Antennas.
Put another way, if you throw a bunch of bouncy balls into a box, there are a number of different configurations that the balls could take on, with different speeds and magnitudes. You can calculate all of those if you have the right numbers. Now let's say you throw in another set of balls that you don't consider in your calculations of the initial set. Well, then you're not going to get an accurate picture of what's happening. Most people only see the first set and calculate based on that, but some people can see two, three, four or more sets.
You'll understand the concept better when I tell you the story, but I wanted to give you a primer on an important concept that will help you understand why this place, which I'll call "Area X", exists, and what the goals of the people who work there are.
Also note that I'm going to be using the alias "Trent" moving forward. Please refer to me as such in any direct messages.
***
Eighteen years ago I started working as an independent Home Inspector. I dropped out of community college after my first semester (not because I didn't find some of the subjects interesting, but because deference to a man or woman has never been my style) and started working some odd jobs. I did construction work for a couple years, then plumbing. I even drove a garbage truck for six months. I've always found pleasure in using my hands, and getting dirty was never a problem for me. Still, having a boss really dragged ass, so I spent my free time working on creating my own business. It took a few years and lots of savings, but I finally managed to get basic set of Home Inspection equipment: Tyvek coveralls, a cheap half-face respirator, voltage & AFCI/GFCI testers, CO2 and radon monitors, an IR camera, and telescoping mirrors in addition to the boots, safety glasses, electric gloves, ladder, and toolkits I already had on hand.
My buddy at the time was in the business, but he was moving off to the coast, so he helped me get set up and even introduced me to some of his clients. Of course, by that time I had already gotten my State license, but I still was a bit apprehensive to work with insurance agencies. I thought I could make a living working independently, inspecting for mold or sizing up a house for a prospective buyer. Eventually, though, I realized I should probably take every job available to me.
Easing into the business went about as well as it could have. The clients my friend referred to me were very satisfied with my work, and I was able to retain them. Then, in order to increase my reach, I hired someone on Fiverr to build a website for my company which led to a marked increase in traffic and conversions. About six months through, I began to get on a first-name basis with the boys and girls down down at Allstate and Progressive, and they fed me some of the bigger cases. In fact, I got so booked by year's end that I had to hire someone to help manage my schedule and the Excel spreadsheet with all my finances. I capped off a successful year with a 5-star Google rating and a trip to Ireland to visit some family and friends and get piss drunk. When I got back, it was the grindstone all over again, until the summer when I discovered… well, you'll see.
First off, I want to say that I was never one to believe in the paranormal. I grew up watching the movies and hearing the ghost stories round the campfire like every other kid, but it never struck a chord with me. If I can't touch it or see it or hear it, does it really exist? Probably not. So don't go thinking this was a scared man seeing his own shadow. That being said, I had this sense that something was off about this house when I parked along the curb and looked through a large window, perhaps two times the size of my van, to a dingy, dark foyer.
The entire neighborhood was stacked with upper-middle class domiciles, though it seemed like only two thirds of them were occupied, mostly by professionals who commuted to the City every weekday, and the rest were empty. As a man who understands real estate, to say this was strange would be an understatement. Still, I had no problem appraising the mini-mansion for a couple of newlyweds looking to enter the community. I did some research on the property ahead of time, and it seems that it was owned by a couple of old timers who had gone off the grid some time ago. The water and electric bill were both unpaid dating back to 2004 (it was June of '06 now). The bank had repo'd the house (which only had about 100k left on it) and held it for a year and a half before putting it back on the market. I tried to find out more about the old couple who vanished, but there was nothing in the news.
I stepped out of the van in my coveralls and grabbed my suitcase which had my mask, gloves, and eye protection in it. I liked to do a preliminary survey first, running an eye test on the exterior then interior before bringing out the big guns (that way I could identify the areas where I think there could be problems instead of running a metal detector over the whole damn ocean seaboard). I was about to do just that when the window caught my eye again. It felt uncharacteristic of me to be so occupied with this window, but I detoured to the front porch and peeked inside anyway.
Most of the furniture had already been moved out, meaning all that was left was a single three-seater couch, a couple candlesticks on the fireplace mantle, a pristine chandelier overtop a dining room table, and the kitchenware: an oven, gas stovetop, marble countertops, and an island. I could see into the living room very clearly with the afternoon light, but the dining room was dim enough that there were a few structures I couldn't quite make out in the distance. One of them appeared to be some kind of china cabinet or bookshelf—I figured it was the former considering where it was located. The other shadow looked kind of like a grandfather clock. Or at least that's what I thought until it moved.
When I say it "moved", I don't mean to say that it picked up and walked away. If you're not familiar with the Necker Cube, I suggest you search it up, because that kind of illusion is the best way to describe what I saw. At first I was seeing the grandfather clock in a certain way—pushed into the corner of the room—and the next second my vision "corrected" and it was maybe five feet to the left of its former position. I shook my head and looked again and saw the grandfather clock in its second orientation, standing in the center of the room against the wall. I figured I was just seeing things, but even so I spent a little extra time dawdling around the Egress window, taking notes, and delaying the interior inspection.
When I finally grew a pair and went inside, I walked straight to the dining room. Sure enough, the grandfather clock was stowed away in the corner of the room. I spent a couple minutes watching it with my pencil and travel notebook out. I'm the kind of guy that likes to collect hard data when the chips are down. Unfortunately, the clock apparently already had enough fun and was content with sweating me. Oh, well.
I fitted my pencil behind my ear and pocketed my travel notebook, then flipped the rest of the first floor lights on and completed my prelim. I concluded that everything was pretty standard. If anything, the house was in better shape than I'd expect considering it presumably hasn't been lived in for a couple years. I say "presumably" because one can never count out squatters, even during those times. Mainly I was expecting more dust build up and cobwebs than there were. Perhaps someone from the department had come by recently. It's unlikely, but possible.
I did the same check upstairs and it came back mostly clean. There was a bit of staining near the attic I wanted to check for mold. Based on its color, it was probably just a minor case of Aspergillus, but better safe than sorry. Then I got to the basement, and, well, let's just count out the idea of anyone dropping by. I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't what I found.
The first thing that caught my eye was the long, slender body of a birch tree lying pale and dead across a large portion of the even larger unfinished basement's cement flooring. I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn't dreaming, but, yep, there it was. Its crown was sealed up in the wall with only its trunk hanging out, which made me think of those medieval pillory devices which locked up people's heads and arms. Then confetti-scattered around the tree and all over the basement floor was a minefield of broken glass and ceramic tangled up with a set of random objects. And when I say random, I mean random. There was an unfurled Somali flag (the blue one with a single star in the center), some packaged drinks and condiments branded with all sorts of different languages (I could only make out Gaelic and Chinese or Japanese, I couldn't quite tell), a broken dome-shaped security camera, an otoscope (the thing the doc uses to check your ears), Hot Wheels cars (okay that one isn't so strange), and the list goes on.
At that moment, I wasn't freaked out or disgusted. I was more or less just confused. I started walking through the rubble, trying to avoid the sharp fragments but pretty confident that my steel toed boots would crush most the pieces anyway, when I heard a clink just up ahead. I was able to spot the coin in time, just before it jingled to a halt atop an old Life magazine. I picked it up and noted right away its oval shape and bronze color—clearly not American made. I tried reading it, but not only was the language not English, it appeared to be so old that most of the lettering had been filed down. I looked up at the ceiling to see if it dropped from a shelf, but there was nothing that could have been holding the coin. I considered for a moment, looking around at the other junk, and had the crazy idea that maybe all this stuff just appeared here. I popped the coin in my pocket and headed back to the van when I stopped by the tree and realized something. It wasn't a birch tree—it was a palm tree. I just didn't realize because of how ashy and decayed the bark was.
Now at this point you might think I've been acting a little nonchalant for such a strange occurrence, and I don't blame you, but if you're gonna stick around with me that's just something you're gonna have to get used to. I guess I was just born with a screw loose, but I really don't scare easily, and I tend to look at everything pragmatically. If you dig deep enough, you'll always find another plausible explanation. That being said, I do want to get to the part about Area X, so let me give you the rundown on what I learned about this basement.
I ended up trekking back to the van and picking up my gear. I was no longer running the routine inspection, obviously, but I figured I might as well throw 30 thousand dollars of scanning equipment at whatever the fuck anamoly existed in that basement. Most of it came back negative. There was a bit higher-than-usual EM interference as picked up on the voltmeters, but nothing that screamed danger close. Still, it was enough for me to set up my volt testers and IR camera while muddling through the rest of the junk. I won't bore you with another list of items, but I did find one thing of value: a diamond necklace. And not just any diamond necklace, it was one of those Queen-wearing, multi-row, big-jeweled necklaces like out of some Historical Fiction movie from the thirties. I almost didn't pocket it because I'm used to expensive items being owned by someone… someone who might want it back. But I figured if there was ever a place the finder's keeper's rule applied, it was probably in this Quantum graveyard.
7 O'clock rolled around and I hadn't eaten. I'm a pretty bulky guy, carrying my share of both muscle and fat, and most people think that means I need to eat a ton but that's really not the case. Mostly I just get dehydrated easily, especially in the summer. That said, I was bordering on famished territory and considered heading out for a bite when I heard another sound. The first thing I did was check my scanners, and sure enough the voltage needle was fully spun to the right side of the dial. EM interference. Then I went to see what had dropped. I was able to pick the object out pretty quickly since I had spent the last 6 hours staring at the mosaic of a basement floor. It was a silver briefcase, like one of those out of a crime novel, and it was cracked open.
I had this sense then that I was standing at a precipice, and if I opened the briefcase and looked inside, I wouldn't be able to stop whatever would come afterwards. Part of me deep down knew that I was just that type of guy that had to know, and maybe this was my Hamlet moment where it would be a trait gone a step too far. But then again I didn't really believe in any of that sentimental bullshit, so I opened the briefcase.
The gun surprised me a little, but not as much as the piece of paper laid atop a case file reading in large black font, "FIND ME". I expected the envelope to have some missing person file in it, but instead there were all these schematics and blueprints for some kind of device. Whatever it was, it was pretty massive. Some of the lengths were hundreds of meters long. And what's more strange is based on the blueprint's locale, it appeared to be underground. I looked back through the pages a couple times, then checked the note—nothing strange there. The gun appeared to be a simple glock. I was no gun expert, but I had been to the range pretty regularly with my construction buddies, so I got used to the feel of a pistol and rifle and some of the different names; however, I realized pretty quickly it wasn't your standard glock when I couldn't find mag-release. That's when I noticed how light the gun felt. I tried to chamber a round, but again, there was no hammer. What the hell kind of gun was this?
I ended up throwing everything back in the briefcase, including the necklace, coin, and a few Koozies I found that were branded with one of my favorite sports teams (never let an opportunity go to waste). I put up all my shit back in the van and spun over to a local burger joint, got my fill, and went home. I made sure to draft an email to the prospective buyers, telling them the house had several patches of black mold and a bit of a rat problem before drifting off to sleep. Although I really didn't do much of that.
When I woke up, I took a cold shower and downed a can of Reign, then commuted to my gym and got a lift and some sauna time in before making the trip back to the house. I brought some extra supplies with me for some experiments I cooked up while not sleeping the previous night.
First, I had two camcorders set up on a couple tripods in either corner of the basement. I wanted clear footage of these mystery objects spawning in. Then I set up a voltmeter in a similar fashion, but I had a wire extending out of it on a circuit which fed to an alarm that would blare when the reading was over 250 volts. Upstairs, I rearranged some of the furniture so that the small number of tables, chairs, clock, cabinets, and other little pillows or vases I could find were scattered across the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Then I pulled up a lawn chair to the front porch window and waited.
I didn't have to wait long though. In about a minute, I started to notice some of the objects moving. It was strange. When a few of them would shift simultaneously, it was like looking at a holographic card that would change shape depending on where your eyes were in relation to the image. Every time I saw a shift, I felt an awkward feeling in my eyes. They went blurry for a fraction of a second, then there was a twinge of pain, as if my brain couldn't handle the contradictory stimulus. It didn't get more crazy than that though—until the alarm went off.
I had cracked open the small rectangular window in the basement to the side of the house so I would hear it. It took four hours and several strange stares from passersby walking their dogs before it rang, so I was a bit lost in my thoughts, but when I heard the beep I perked up fast. It lasted for maybe 5 seconds total, but what I saw was truly miraculous. The best way I can describe it is a pool of silver or gray or translucent light emerging in the foreground between me and the objects in the different rooms. A series of twisting tentacles sprouted from the gray octopus-like head and spun in a way that reminded me of that little kids ride at the amusement parks. Then the objects started to "heat up" is the way I describe it. Their position became relative, meaning they were here one second, there another, then they popped out of existence entirely. Suddenly the rooms were all empty, then they were full of things I had never seen before. Then five seconds passed and the octopus vanished and it was back to the same old objects in their usual places.
It took a few minutes to process what I saw, and even then I wasn't sure I really saw it. I went inside and looked around at my distribution of the house's furnishings. They were all there, intact. Then I went downstairs to check the cams. I rewinded a couple minutes and played it back, but there was no flying object to be found. Instead, there was some gray static that lasted half a second and then the object, a kid's treasure chest toy, was there on the ground. But you want to know the really strange part? I rewinded the tape again, and when I watched the footage back, the treasure chest was always there.
I later came to understand that these poppings in-and-out of our reality are only conceivable to a conscious mind that can track the interference patterns—not rote computational instruments. In fact, even most people can't do it (although everyone has at least a slight awareness of it, even if only subconsciously). Plus, locations like the basement of this house are very rare and kept under tight lock. That became obvious to me two days later when, after my normal morning routine, I pulled up to a driveway and curbside filled with unmarked government vehicles. Either bravely or stupidly, I pulled up to a few officers (they were wearing suits in 85 degree weather, so I assumed…) who were idling by the large fence of crime scene tape and asked them what the score was.
"There was a crime," said the short man with a unibrow.
"Oh, is that right? Damn shame. Someone break in? I have a niece who lives nearby, so…"
The man looked at his two compatriots, both of whom were wearing sunglasses and a "get this civilian fuck out of here" expressions. "Oh, yeah," he started in a reassuring tone that was so condescending it would have annoyed anyone except me, "we found a body. We think it was a homicide. Best to keep your kids away from here for a while."
I thumbed the stubble on my chin, my other hand outstretched on the wheel, and considered moving on, but my mouth had other ideas. "That right? But uh, isn't this house vacant? I mean, I don't remember no one living in it."
The short man, now tall with temper, said, "Yeah, some squatters. We think there was a dispute over some drug money. Nothing for you to worry about though, we got it under control. Now if you wouldn't mind moving along, we have a lot of work to do."
Oh, I'm sure you do, I thought, but only said, "Of course, sir, sorry for keeping you from your job." Then I rolled up the window and cruised on, keeping my eyes on the house which slowly diminished in the side-view mirror.
Luckily I had been smart enough to break down my camp and lug home all my equipment each night, so I didn't leave anything incriminating. I didn't move the furniture back, so maybe that would come back to haunt me, but considering the kind of shit going down in that house, I didn't think they would notice.
For any of you wondering about the conclusion of the house story, I went back a couple weeks later after the suits had left and the tape was taken down and confirmed that not only was the basement entirely cleaned out, but it was no longer exhibiting any strange properties. I looked for a story related to the house, maybe a made up murder of some kind, but there was nothing. That bastard lied to me and didn't even bother to cover his story up.
Now, in the aftermath of an event such as this, I really only had one of two options. I could forget it, move on, continue living life. The necklace was surely worth a fortune. I could sell it and have enough to retire, or at least hire enough people and expand my business large enough to retire within ten or so years. Or I could take all that money and invest it in my own PI business with only a single objective: finding out what those people knew, and why they were hiding it.
I think you know me well enough by now to guess which line of reasoning appealed more to me.
***
For the sake of brevity, I'm going to omit most of my encounters along the journey to discovering Area X. There's a lot to tell, and if it appeals to you perhaps I'd be willing to share at a later date, but for now I want to get this part of the story, the more proximal part, out in the open.
Three years ago, I discovered the source of what I'll call "The Receiver". This is the device that was schematized in the documents that I found in the briefcase. What it does is a complex answer, and how it does it is pretty much all speculation, but here's what I've been able to find out: this universe we live in is a node in a network of many other spaces. These spaces exist in higher dimensions that we cannot directly perceive, but using a conceivable analogy, just think about a flower with petals. The petals are these other dimensions which bleed into our world, which is at the center. However, it's not that pretty. We see the physical world through the lens of spacetime: sizes, speeds, etc. These other dimensions don't necessarily have space or time. In fact, what actually exists there, I couldn't say. The only data I have on them is from two sources: correspondence information and server data from the secret agency (which I'll call "the Organization") that keeps this under wraps, and first-hand experience with realms from these other entities, either directly (I experience it) or through the eyes of someone else with the same or greater abilities than I possess.
I referred to these people with abilities earlier as "Antennas", and I will continue to use the term. Antennas really come in three flavors, marked by the strength of their ability: weak Antennas, like me, are able to observe spontaneous interactions between our universe and other dimensions (phase shifts) when there is a strong force of collision like existed in the basement; moderate Antennas may see phase shifts occur at any point, and they usually are able to retain memories from across the different transformations; strong Antennas, and I don't know if they exist yet, but they are able to consciously interact with these other realms and cause phase shifts to occur.
I mentioned that moderate Antennas are able to retain memories from before and after a phase shift. Technically, all Antennas have this ability, but it's about degree. I can recall only very specific instances and without much detail. Moderates are usually able to pick out much more nuanced minutiae. At the lower end of moderate scale, most of those details fade or get fuzzy over time, but for the very strong Antennas, they hold onto almost everything. One other property that scales with strength is interaction with other conscious entities. Only a small percentage of moderates are able to do this. What's interesting is that these entities can possess (yes, like ghosts) people who aren't even antennas, but no one is aware of such possession at this deep of a level. I have several companions now, and only two have had interactions with these otherworldly beings. Not all of them are malevolent, some of them are whimsical or kind, but there are a fair share of demons out there.
Getting back to the point, Area X started as a government funded project in the 70's. At that time, they were focused on a few subjects: Artificial Intelligence, DNA sequencing, and psychedelics. Yes, they were part of the infamous LSD experiments. But they looked at these subjects through a common lens—there was something that the burgeoning tech industry, fueled by the advent of a commercial computer market, was missing. As the tech giants rose in the early 2000's and began to collect mass amounts of data, this other agency was decades ahead in a different metric, although it was completely (and still is) hidden from the public. Their efforts to understand psychedelic experiences led to a formalized method of understanding interactions between multiple realities. They built certain scanning equipment to detect anomalies like the one I found in the basement; although their tools were much more sophisticated and didn't utilize voltage readings. Then they ran tests in these areas. One area in particular is a hot-bed of phase shift interactions. That's where Area X is located (and the Receiver).
The Receiver is a giant electromagnetic orb that has trapped the kind of multi-dimensional energy that causes the phase shifts; since the Organization seized control of the lab, it's effectively become a map of the Earth in relation to these other worlds. For the past twenty or so years, the Organization has been studying this map, using the data big Tech companies have collected to essentially develop a Rosetta Stone for interpreting the meaning of the fluctuations in their scanning equipment. Recently, the public, though going the long way round, was actually pretty close to a breakthrough in this same department until recently when ultra-powerful LLMs surfaced, and the whole world began going down what I'd argue is the wrong rabbit hole of language processing. But I digress.
Area X is essentially a private military base built for defending the most impactful piece of technology ever invented. With the Receiver, the Organization now has the power to essentially predict any and all future outcomes, the only thing holding them back is the limitations of their own scanning equipment which will get better with time. To put it into perspective, the Organization has access to a kind of data allocation tool which in one day can produce over ten thousand times that the Big Data companies combined would be able to filter through in the next decade. You might think, then, that the problem is merely asymmetric power, and that is certainly a concern, but it isn't the main concern. The main issue is that this organization is actively recruiting (and kidnapping) Antennas from around the world in an effort to find or make one of them into a strong Antenna. In other words, they want a subject who is able not only to see the future, but to manipulate it at will.
balance to the world. I've been working on amassing resources, capital, and building my own team, and now I'm ready. You might ask why I'm posting this here. Wouldn't it be better to keep all this secret? Well, yes, it would be. But that's the problem. Nothing is secret anymore. They know about me and the others, and if I don't make a move, they will. In a way, this is a letter directly to the organization that I know, and I'm coming.
In a different way, I wanted to release this information to the public. There are lots of people out there waking up and realizing that the world they experience is not the one others experience. If you think you might be an Antenna, don't be afraid—you have a special gift that can be controlled. If you want more details on how to control it, or if you're interested in my mission, don't be afraid to reach out. This hasn't always been my life's work, but it is now.
At least until I die.
submitted by Weathers_Writing to weatherswriting [link] [comments]
Put another way, if you throw a bunch of bouncy balls into a box, there are a number of different configurations that the balls could take on, with different speeds and magnitudes. You can calculate all of those if you have the right numbers. Now let's say you throw in another set of balls that you don't consider in your calculations of the initial set. Well, then you're not going to get an accurate picture of what's happening. Most people only see the first set and calculate based on that, but some people can see two, three, four or more sets.
You'll understand the concept better when I tell you the story, but I wanted to give you a primer on an important concept that will help you understand why this place, which I'll call "Area X", exists, and what the goals of the people who work there are.
Also note that I'm going to be using the alias "Trent" moving forward. Please refer to me as such in any direct messages.
***
Eighteen years ago I started working as an independent Home Inspector. I dropped out of community college after my first semester (not because I didn't find some of the subjects interesting, but because deference to a man or woman has never been my style) and started working some odd jobs. I did construction work for a couple years, then plumbing. I even drove a garbage truck for six months. I've always found pleasure in using my hands, and getting dirty was never a problem for me. Still, having a boss really dragged ass, so I spent my free time working on creating my own business. It took a few years and lots of savings, but I finally managed to get basic set of Home Inspection equipment: Tyvek coveralls, a cheap half-face respirator, voltage & AFCI/GFCI testers, CO2 and radon monitors, an IR camera, and telescoping mirrors in addition to the boots, safety glasses, electric gloves, ladder, and toolkits I already had on hand.
My buddy at the time was in the business, but he was moving off to the coast, so he helped me get set up and even introduced me to some of his clients. Of course, by that time I had already gotten my State license, but I still was a bit apprehensive to work with insurance agencies. I thought I could make a living working independently, inspecting for mold or sizing up a house for a prospective buyer. Eventually, though, I realized I should probably take every job available to me.
Easing into the business went about as well as it could have. The clients my friend referred to me were very satisfied with my work, and I was able to retain them. Then, in order to increase my reach, I hired someone on Fiverr to build a website for my company which led to a marked increase in traffic and conversions. About six months through, I began to get on a first-name basis with the boys and girls down down at Allstate and Progressive, and they fed me some of the bigger cases. In fact, I got so booked by year's end that I had to hire someone to help manage my schedule and the Excel spreadsheet with all my finances. I capped off a successful year with a 5-star Google rating and a trip to Ireland to visit some family and friends and get piss drunk. When I got back, it was the grindstone all over again, until the summer when I discovered… well, you'll see.
First off, I want to say that I was never one to believe in the paranormal. I grew up watching the movies and hearing the ghost stories round the campfire like every other kid, but it never struck a chord with me. If I can't touch it or see it or hear it, does it really exist? Probably not. So don't go thinking this was a scared man seeing his own shadow. That being said, I had this sense that something was off about this house when I parked along the curb and looked through a large window, perhaps two times the size of my van, to a dingy, dark foyer.
The entire neighborhood was stacked with upper-middle class domiciles, though it seemed like only two thirds of them were occupied, mostly by professionals who commuted to the City every weekday, and the rest were empty. As a man who understands real estate, to say this was strange would be an understatement. Still, I had no problem appraising the mini-mansion for a couple of newlyweds looking to enter the community. I did some research on the property ahead of time, and it seems that it was owned by a couple of old timers who had gone off the grid some time ago. The water and electric bill were both unpaid dating back to 2004 (it was June of '06 now). The bank had repo'd the house (which only had about 100k left on it) and held it for a year and a half before putting it back on the market. I tried to find out more about the old couple who vanished, but there was nothing in the news.
I stepped out of the van in my coveralls and grabbed my suitcase which had my mask, gloves, and eye protection in it. I liked to do a preliminary survey first, running an eye test on the exterior then interior before bringing out the big guns (that way I could identify the areas where I think there could be problems instead of running a metal detector over the whole damn ocean seaboard). I was about to do just that when the window caught my eye again. It felt uncharacteristic of me to be so occupied with this window, but I detoured to the front porch and peeked inside anyway.
Most of the furniture had already been moved out, meaning all that was left was a single three-seater couch, a couple candlesticks on the fireplace mantle, a pristine chandelier overtop a dining room table, and the kitchenware: an oven, gas stovetop, marble countertops, and an island. I could see into the living room very clearly with the afternoon light, but the dining room was dim enough that there were a few structures I couldn't quite make out in the distance. One of them appeared to be some kind of china cabinet or bookshelf—I figured it was the former considering where it was located. The other shadow looked kind of like a grandfather clock. Or at least that's what I thought until it moved.
When I say it "moved", I don't mean to say that it picked up and walked away. If you're not familiar with the Necker Cube, I suggest you search it up, because that kind of illusion is the best way to describe what I saw. At first I was seeing the grandfather clock in a certain way—pushed into the corner of the room—and the next second my vision "corrected" and it was maybe five feet to the left of its former position. I shook my head and looked again and saw the grandfather clock in its second orientation, standing in the center of the room against the wall. I figured I was just seeing things, but even so I spent a little extra time dawdling around the Egress window, taking notes, and delaying the interior inspection.
When I finally grew a pair and went inside, I walked straight to the dining room. Sure enough, the grandfather clock was stowed away in the corner of the room. I spent a couple minutes watching it with my pencil and travel notebook out. I'm the kind of guy that likes to collect hard data when the chips are down. Unfortunately, the clock apparently already had enough fun and was content with sweating me. Oh, well.
I fitted my pencil behind my ear and pocketed my travel notebook, then flipped the rest of the first floor lights on and completed my prelim. I concluded that everything was pretty standard. If anything, the house was in better shape than I'd expect considering it presumably hasn't been lived in for a couple years. I say "presumably" because one can never count out squatters, even during those times. Mainly I was expecting more dust build up and cobwebs than there were. Perhaps someone from the department had come by recently. It's unlikely, but possible.
I did the same check upstairs and it came back mostly clean. There was a bit of staining near the attic I wanted to check for mold. Based on its color, it was probably just a minor case of Aspergillus, but better safe than sorry. Then I got to the basement, and, well, let's just count out the idea of anyone dropping by. I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't what I found.
The first thing that caught my eye was the long, slender body of a birch tree lying pale and dead across a large portion of the even larger unfinished basement's cement flooring. I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn't dreaming, but, yep, there it was. Its crown was sealed up in the wall with only its trunk hanging out, which made me think of those medieval pillory devices which locked up people's heads and arms. Then confetti-scattered around the tree and all over the basement floor was a minefield of broken glass and ceramic tangled up with a set of random objects. And when I say random, I mean random. There was an unfurled Somali flag (the blue one with a single star in the center), some packaged drinks and condiments branded with all sorts of different languages (I could only make out Gaelic and Chinese or Japanese, I couldn't quite tell), a broken dome-shaped security camera, an otoscope (the thing the doc uses to check your ears), Hot Wheels cars (okay that one isn't so strange), and the list goes on.
At that moment, I wasn't freaked out or disgusted. I was more or less just confused. I started walking through the rubble, trying to avoid the sharp fragments but pretty confident that my steel toed boots would crush most the pieces anyway, when I heard a clink just up ahead. I was able to spot the coin in time, just before it jingled to a halt atop an old Life magazine. I picked it up and noted right away its oval shape and bronze color—clearly not American made. I tried reading it, but not only was the language not English, it appeared to be so old that most of the lettering had been filed down. I looked up at the ceiling to see if it dropped from a shelf, but there was nothing that could have been holding the coin. I considered for a moment, looking around at the other junk, and had the crazy idea that maybe all this stuff just appeared here. I popped the coin in my pocket and headed back to the van when I stopped by the tree and realized something. It wasn't a birch tree—it was a palm tree. I just didn't realize because of how ashy and decayed the bark was.
Now at this point you might think I've been acting a little nonchalant for such a strange occurrence, and I don't blame you, but if you're gonna stick around with me that's just something you're gonna have to get used to. I guess I was just born with a screw loose, but I really don't scare easily, and I tend to look at everything pragmatically. If you dig deep enough, you'll always find another plausible explanation. That being said, I do want to get to the part about Area X, so let me give you the rundown on what I learned about this basement.
I ended up trekking back to the van and picking up my gear. I was no longer running the routine inspection, obviously, but I figured I might as well throw 30 thousand dollars of scanning equipment at whatever the fuck anamoly existed in that basement. Most of it came back negative. There was a bit higher-than-usual EM interference as picked up on the voltmeters, but nothing that screamed danger close. Still, it was enough for me to set up my volt testers and IR camera while muddling through the rest of the junk. I won't bore you with another list of items, but I did find one thing of value: a diamond necklace. And not just any diamond necklace, it was one of those Queen-wearing, multi-row, big-jeweled necklaces like out of some Historical Fiction movie from the thirties. I almost didn't pocket it because I'm used to expensive items being owned by someone… someone who might want it back. But I figured if there was ever a place the finder's keeper's rule applied, it was probably in this Quantum graveyard.
7 O'clock rolled around and I hadn't eaten. I'm a pretty bulky guy, carrying my share of both muscle and fat, and most people think that means I need to eat a ton but that's really not the case. Mostly I just get dehydrated easily, especially in the summer. That said, I was bordering on famished territory and considered heading out for a bite when I heard another sound. The first thing I did was check my scanners, and sure enough the voltage needle was fully spun to the right side of the dial. EM interference. Then I went to see what had dropped. I was able to pick the object out pretty quickly since I had spent the last 6 hours staring at the mosaic of a basement floor. It was a silver briefcase, like one of those out of a crime novel, and it was cracked open.
I had this sense then that I was standing at a precipice, and if I opened the briefcase and looked inside, I wouldn't be able to stop whatever would come afterwards. Part of me deep down knew that I was just that type of guy that had to know, and maybe this was my Hamlet moment where it would be a trait gone a step too far. But then again I didn't really believe in any of that sentimental bullshit, so I opened the briefcase.
The gun surprised me a little, but not as much as the piece of paper laid atop a case file reading in large black font, "FIND ME". I expected the envelope to have some missing person file in it, but instead there were all these schematics and blueprints for some kind of device. Whatever it was, it was pretty massive. Some of the lengths were hundreds of meters long. And what's more strange is based on the blueprint's locale, it appeared to be underground. I looked back through the pages a couple times, then checked the note—nothing strange there. The gun appeared to be a simple glock. I was no gun expert, but I had been to the range pretty regularly with my construction buddies, so I got used to the feel of a pistol and rifle and some of the different names; however, I realized pretty quickly it wasn't your standard glock when I couldn't find mag-release. That's when I noticed how light the gun felt. I tried to chamber a round, but again, there was no hammer. What the hell kind of gun was this?
I ended up throwing everything back in the briefcase, including the necklace, coin, and a few Koozies I found that were branded with one of my favorite sports teams (never let an opportunity go to waste). I put up all my shit back in the van and spun over to a local burger joint, got my fill, and went home. I made sure to draft an email to the prospective buyers, telling them the house had several patches of black mold and a bit of a rat problem before drifting off to sleep. Although I really didn't do much of that.
When I woke up, I took a cold shower and downed a can of Reign, then commuted to my gym and got a lift and some sauna time in before making the trip back to the house. I brought some extra supplies with me for some experiments I cooked up while not sleeping the previous night.
First, I had two camcorders set up on a couple tripods in either corner of the basement. I wanted clear footage of these mystery objects spawning in. Then I set up a voltmeter in a similar fashion, but I had a wire extending out of it on a circuit which fed to an alarm that would blare when the reading was over 250 volts. Upstairs, I rearranged some of the furniture so that the small number of tables, chairs, clock, cabinets, and other little pillows or vases I could find were scattered across the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Then I pulled up a lawn chair to the front porch window and waited.
I didn't have to wait long though. In about a minute, I started to notice some of the objects moving. It was strange. When a few of them would shift simultaneously, it was like looking at a holographic card that would change shape depending on where your eyes were in relation to the image. Every time I saw a shift, I felt an awkward feeling in my eyes. They went blurry for a fraction of a second, then there was a twinge of pain, as if my brain couldn't handle the contradictory stimulus. It didn't get more crazy than that though—until the alarm went off.
I had cracked open the small rectangular window in the basement to the side of the house so I would hear it. It took four hours and several strange stares from passersby walking their dogs before it rang, so I was a bit lost in my thoughts, but when I heard the beep I perked up fast. It lasted for maybe 5 seconds total, but what I saw was truly miraculous. The best way I can describe it is a pool of silver or gray or translucent light emerging in the foreground between me and the objects in the different rooms. A series of twisting tentacles sprouted from the gray octopus-like head and spun in a way that reminded me of that little kids ride at the amusement parks. Then the objects started to "heat up" is the way I describe it. Their position became relative, meaning they were here one second, there another, then they popped out of existence entirely. Suddenly the rooms were all empty, then they were full of things I had never seen before. Then five seconds passed and the octopus vanished and it was back to the same old objects in their usual places.
It took a few minutes to process what I saw, and even then I wasn't sure I really saw it. I went inside and looked around at my distribution of the house's furnishings. They were all there, intact. Then I went downstairs to check the cams. I rewinded a couple minutes and played it back, but there was no flying object to be found. Instead, there was some gray static that lasted half a second and then the object, a kid's treasure chest toy, was there on the ground. But you want to know the really strange part? I rewinded the tape again, and when I watched the footage back, the treasure chest was always there.
I later came to understand that these poppings in-and-out of our reality are only conceivable to a conscious mind that can track the interference patterns—not rote computational instruments. In fact, even most people can't do it (although everyone has at least a slight awareness of it, even if only subconsciously). Plus, locations like the basement of this house are very rare and kept under tight lock. That became obvious to me two days later when, after my normal morning routine, I pulled up to a driveway and curbside filled with unmarked government vehicles. Either bravely or stupidly, I pulled up to a few officers (they were wearing suits in 85 degree weather, so I assumed…) who were idling by the large fence of crime scene tape and asked them what the score was.
"There was a crime," said the short man with a unibrow.
"Oh, is that right? Damn shame. Someone break in? I have a niece who lives nearby, so…"
The man looked at his two compatriots, both of whom were wearing sunglasses and a "get this civilian fuck out of here" expressions. "Oh, yeah," he started in a reassuring tone that was so condescending it would have annoyed anyone except me, "we found a body. We think it was a homicide. Best to keep your kids away from here for a while."
I thumbed the stubble on my chin, my other hand outstretched on the wheel, and considered moving on, but my mouth had other ideas. "That right? But uh, isn't this house vacant? I mean, I don't remember no one living in it."
The short man, now tall with temper, said, "Yeah, some squatters. We think there was a dispute over some drug money. Nothing for you to worry about though, we got it under control. Now if you wouldn't mind moving along, we have a lot of work to do."
Oh, I'm sure you do, I thought, but only said, "Of course, sir, sorry for keeping you from your job." Then I rolled up the window and cruised on, keeping my eyes on the house which slowly diminished in the side-view mirror.
Luckily I had been smart enough to break down my camp and lug home all my equipment each night, so I didn't leave anything incriminating. I didn't move the furniture back, so maybe that would come back to haunt me, but considering the kind of shit going down in that house, I didn't think they would notice.
For any of you wondering about the conclusion of the house story, I went back a couple weeks later after the suits had left and the tape was taken down and confirmed that not only was the basement entirely cleaned out, but it was no longer exhibiting any strange properties. I looked for a story related to the house, maybe a made up murder of some kind, but there was nothing. That bastard lied to me and didn't even bother to cover his story up.
Now, in the aftermath of an event such as this, I really only had one of two options. I could forget it, move on, continue living life. The necklace was surely worth a fortune. I could sell it and have enough to retire, or at least hire enough people and expand my business large enough to retire within ten or so years. Or I could take all that money and invest it in my own PI business with only a single objective: finding out what those people knew, and why they were hiding it.
I think you know me well enough by now to guess which line of reasoning appealed more to me.
***
For the sake of brevity, I'm going to omit most of my encounters along the journey to discovering Area X. There's a lot to tell, and if it appeals to you perhaps I'd be willing to share at a later date, but for now I want to get this part of the story, the more proximal part, out in the open.
Three years ago, I discovered the source of what I'll call "The Receiver". This is the device that was schematized in the documents that I found in the briefcase. What it does is a complex answer, and how it does it is pretty much all speculation, but here's what I've been able to find out: this universe we live in is a node in a network of many other spaces. These spaces exist in higher dimensions that we cannot directly perceive, but using a conceivable analogy, just think about a flower with petals. The petals are these other dimensions which bleed into our world, which is at the center. However, it's not that pretty. We see the physical world through the lens of spacetime: sizes, speeds, etc. These other dimensions don't necessarily have space or time. In fact, what actually exists there, I couldn't say. The only data I have on them is from two sources: correspondence information and server data from the secret agency (which I'll call "the Organization") that keeps this under wraps, and first-hand experience with realms from these other entities, either directly (I experience it) or through the eyes of someone else with the same or greater abilities than I possess.
I referred to these people with abilities earlier as "Antennas", and I will continue to use the term. Antennas really come in three flavors, marked by the strength of their ability: weak Antennas, like me, are able to observe spontaneous interactions between our universe and other dimensions (phase shifts) when there is a strong force of collision like existed in the basement; moderate Antennas may see phase shifts occur at any point, and they usually are able to retain memories from across the different transformations; strong Antennas, and I don't know if they exist yet, but they are able to consciously interact with these other realms and cause phase shifts to occur.
I mentioned that moderate Antennas are able to retain memories from before and after a phase shift. Technically, all Antennas have this ability, but it's about degree. I can recall only very specific instances and without much detail. Moderates are usually able to pick out much more nuanced minutiae. At the lower end of moderate scale, most of those details fade or get fuzzy over time, but for the very strong Antennas, they hold onto almost everything. One other property that scales with strength is interaction with other conscious entities. Only a small percentage of moderates are able to do this. What's interesting is that these entities can possess (yes, like ghosts) people who aren't even antennas, but no one is aware of such possession at this deep of a level. I have several companions now, and only two have had interactions with these otherworldly beings. Not all of them are malevolent, some of them are whimsical or kind, but there are a fair share of demons out there.
Getting back to the point, Area X started as a government funded project in the 70's. At that time, they were focused on a few subjects: Artificial Intelligence, DNA sequencing, and psychedelics. Yes, they were part of the infamous LSD experiments. But they looked at these subjects through a common lens—there was something that the burgeoning tech industry, fueled by the advent of a commercial computer market, was missing. As the tech giants rose in the early 2000's and began to collect mass amounts of data, this other agency was decades ahead in a different metric, although it was completely (and still is) hidden from the public. Their efforts to understand psychedelic experiences led to a formalized method of understanding interactions between multiple realities. They built certain scanning equipment to detect anomalies like the one I found in the basement; although their tools were much more sophisticated and didn't utilize voltage readings. Then they ran tests in these areas. One area in particular is a hot-bed of phase shift interactions. That's where Area X is located (and the Receiver).
The Receiver is a giant electromagnetic orb that has trapped the kind of multi-dimensional energy that causes the phase shifts; since the Organization seized control of the lab, it's effectively become a map of the Earth in relation to these other worlds. For the past twenty or so years, the Organization has been studying this map, using the data big Tech companies have collected to essentially develop a Rosetta Stone for interpreting the meaning of the fluctuations in their scanning equipment. Recently, the public, though going the long way round, was actually pretty close to a breakthrough in this same department until recently when ultra-powerful LLMs surfaced, and the whole world began going down what I'd argue is the wrong rabbit hole of language processing. But I digress.
Area X is essentially a private military base built for defending the most impactful piece of technology ever invented. With the Receiver, the Organization now has the power to essentially predict any and all future outcomes, the only thing holding them back is the limitations of their own scanning equipment which will get better with time. To put it into perspective, the Organization has access to a kind of data allocation tool which in one day can produce over ten thousand times that the Big Data companies combined would be able to filter through in the next decade. You might think, then, that the problem is merely asymmetric power, and that is certainly a concern, but it isn't the main concern. The main issue is that this organization is actively recruiting (and kidnapping) Antennas from around the world in an effort to find or make one of them into a strong Antenna. In other words, they want a subject who is able not only to see the future, but to manipulate it at will.
balance to the world. I've been working on amassing resources, capital, and building my own team, and now I'm ready. You might ask why I'm posting this here. Wouldn't it be better to keep all this secret? Well, yes, it would be. But that's the problem. Nothing is secret anymore. They know about me and the others, and if I don't make a move, they will. In a way, this is a letter directly to the organization that I know, and I'm coming.
In a different way, I wanted to release this information to the public. There are lots of people out there waking up and realizing that the world they experience is not the one others experience. If you think you might be an Antenna, don't be afraid—you have a special gift that can be controlled. If you want more details on how to control it, or if you're interested in my mission, don't be afraid to reach out. This hasn't always been my life's work, but it is now.
At least until I die.
2024.05.16 23:10 Weathers_Writing They call Silicon Valley the tech capitol of the world. They're wrong
I won't disclose its actual location, so if that's why you're here, sorry to disappoint. It's not time for that yet. However, I do think it's time to start getting the word out. I've noticed an increase in what I'll call "Antennas" lately, or people who can detect cross-planar phase shifts. Without getting into all the math (some of which I don't even know), this is basically a phenomenon which refers to entropy seeping into our universe from other realms or universes or whatever you want to call it. Simply put, people think our universe is a closed system to entropy, meaning that the disorder of any variable in our universe can only increase or decrease in direct proportion to other variables in that same system (the universe). Under this precept, we can establish rules like the Laws of Thermodynamics, and for most people, they're effective. But not for Antennas.
Put another way, if you throw a bunch of bouncy balls into a box, there are a number of different configurations that the balls could take on, with different speeds and magnitudes. You can calculate all of those if you have the right numbers. Now let's say you throw in another set of balls that you don't consider in your calculations of the initial set. Well, then you're not going to get an accurate picture of what's happening. Most people only see the first set and calculate based on that, but some people can see two, three, four or more sets.
You'll understand the concept better when I tell you the story, but I wanted to give you a primer on an important concept that will help you understand why this place, which I'll call "Area X", exists, and what the goals of the people who work there are.
Also note that I'm going to be using the alias "Trent" moving forward. Please refer to me as such in any direct messages.
***
Eighteen years ago I started working as an independent Home Inspector. I dropped out of community college after my first semester (not because I didn't find some of the subjects interesting, but because deference to a man or woman has never been my style) and started working some odd jobs. I did construction work for a couple years, then plumbing. I even drove a garbage truck for six months. I've always found pleasure in using my hands, and getting dirty was never a problem for me. Still, having a boss really dragged ass, so I spent my free time working on creating my own business. It took a few years and lots of savings, but I finally managed to get basic set of Home Inspection equipment: Tyvek coveralls, a cheap half-face respirator, voltage & AFCI/GFCI testers, CO2 and radon monitors, an IR camera, and telescoping mirrors in addition to the boots, safety glasses, electric gloves, ladder, and toolkits I already had on hand.
My buddy at the time was in the business, but he was moving off to the coast, so he helped me get set up and even introduced me to some of his clients. Of course, by that time I had already gotten my State license, but I still was a bit apprehensive to work with insurance agencies. I thought I could make a living working independently, inspecting for mold or sizing up a house for a prospective buyer. Eventually, though, I realized I should probably take every job available to me.
Easing into the business went about as well as it could have. The clients my friend referred to me were very satisfied with my work, and I was able to retain them. Then, in order to increase my reach, I hired someone on Fiverr to build a website for my company which led to a marked increase in traffic and conversions. About six months through, I began to get on a first-name basis with the boys and girls down down at Allstate and Progressive, and they fed me some of the bigger cases. In fact, I got so booked by year's end that I had to hire someone to help manage my schedule and the Excel spreadsheet with all my finances. I capped off a successful year with a 5-star Google rating and a trip to Ireland to visit some family and friends and get piss drunk. When I got back, it was the grindstone all over again, until the summer when I discovered… well, you'll see.
First off, I want to say that I was never one to believe in the paranormal. I grew up watching the movies and hearing the ghost stories round the campfire like every other kid, but it never struck a chord with me. If I can't touch it or see it or hear it, does it really exist? Probably not. So don't go thinking this was a scared man seeing his own shadow. That being said, I had this sense that something was off about this house when I parked along the curb and looked through a large window, perhaps two times the size of my van, to a dingy, dark foyer.
The entire neighborhood was stacked with upper-middle class domiciles, though it seemed like only two thirds of them were occupied, mostly by professionals who commuted to the City every weekday, and the rest were empty. As a man who understands real estate, to say this was strange would be an understatement. Still, I had no problem appraising the mini-mansion for a couple of newlyweds looking to enter the community. I did some research on the property ahead of time, and it seems that it was owned by a couple of old timers who had gone off the grid some time ago. The water and electric bill were both unpaid dating back to 2004 (it was June of '06 now). The bank had repo'd the house (which only had about 100k left on it) and held it for a year and a half before putting it back on the market. I tried to find out more about the old couple who vanished, but there was nothing in the news.
I stepped out of the van in my coveralls and grabbed my suitcase which had my mask, gloves, and eye protection in it. I liked to do a preliminary survey first, running an eye test on the exterior then interior before bringing out the big guns (that way I could identify the areas where I think there could be problems instead of running a metal detector over the whole damn ocean seaboard). I was about to do just that when the window caught my eye again. It felt uncharacteristic of me to be so occupied with this window, but I detoured to the front porch and peeked inside anyway.
Most of the furniture had already been moved out, meaning all that was left was a single three-seater couch, a couple candlesticks on the fireplace mantle, a pristine chandelier overtop a dining room table, and the kitchenware: an oven, gas stovetop, marble countertops, and an island. I could see into the living room very clearly with the afternoon light, but the dining room was dim enough that there were a few structures I couldn't quite make out in the distance. One of them appeared to be some kind of china cabinet or bookshelf—I figured it was the former considering where it was located. The other shadow looked kind of like a grandfather clock. Or at least that's what I thought until it moved.
When I say it "moved", I don't mean to say that it picked up and walked away. If you're not familiar with the Necker Cube, I suggest you search it up, because that kind of illusion is the best way to describe what I saw. At first I was seeing the grandfather clock in a certain way—pushed into the corner of the room—and the next second my vision "corrected" and it was maybe five feet to the left of its former position. I shook my head and looked again and saw the grandfather clock in its second orientation, standing in the center of the room against the wall. I figured I was just seeing things, but even so I spent a little extra time dawdling around the Egress window, taking notes, and delaying the interior inspection.
When I finally grew a pair and went inside, I walked straight to the dining room. Sure enough, the grandfather clock was stowed away in the corner of the room. I spent a couple minutes watching it with my pencil and travel notebook out. I'm the kind of guy that likes to collect hard data when the chips are down. Unfortunately, the clock apparently already had enough fun and was content with sweating me. Oh, well.
I fitted my pencil behind my ear and pocketed my travel notebook, then flipped the rest of the first floor lights on and completed my prelim. I concluded that everything was pretty standard. If anything, the house was in better shape than I'd expect considering it presumably hasn't been lived in for a couple years. I say "presumably" because one can never count out squatters, even during those times. Mainly I was expecting more dust build up and cobwebs than there were. Perhaps someone from the department had come by recently. It's unlikely, but possible.
I did the same check upstairs and it came back mostly clean. There was a bit of staining near the attic I wanted to check for mold. Based on its color, it was probably just a minor case of Aspergillus, but better safe than sorry. Then I got to the basement, and, well, let's just count out the idea of anyone dropping by. I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't what I found.
The first thing that caught my eye was the long, slender body of a birch tree lying pale and dead across a large portion of the even larger unfinished basement's cement flooring. I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn't dreaming, but, yep, there it was. Its crown was sealed up in the wall with only its trunk hanging out, which made me think of those medieval pillory devices which locked up people's heads and arms. Then confetti-scattered around the tree and all over the basement floor was a minefield of broken glass and ceramic tangled up with a set of random objects. And when I say random, I mean random. There was an unfurled Somali flag (the blue one with a single star in the center), some packaged drinks and condiments branded with all sorts of different languages (I could only make out Gaelic and Chinese or Japanese, I couldn't quite tell), a broken dome-shaped security camera, an otoscope (the thing the doc uses to check your ears), Hot Wheels cars (okay that one isn't so strange), and the list goes on.
At that moment, I wasn't freaked out or disgusted. I was more or less just confused. I started walking through the rubble, trying to avoid the sharp fragments but pretty confident that my steel toed boots would crush most the pieces anyway, when I heard a clink just up ahead. I was able to spot the coin in time, just before it jingled to a halt atop an old Life magazine. I picked it up and noted right away its oval shape and bronze color—clearly not American made. I tried reading it, but not only was the language not English, it appeared to be so old that most of the lettering had been filed down. I looked up at the ceiling to see if it dropped from a shelf, but there was nothing that could have been holding the coin. I considered for a moment, looking around at the other junk, and had the crazy idea that maybe all this stuff just appeared here. I popped the coin in my pocket and headed back to the van when I stopped by the tree and realized something. It wasn't a birch tree—it was a palm tree. I just didn't realize because of how ashy and decayed the bark was.
Now at this point you might think I've been acting a little nonchalant for such a strange occurrence, and I don't blame you, but if you're gonna stick around with me that's just something you're gonna have to get used to. I guess I was just born with a screw loose, but I really don't scare easily, and I tend to look at everything pragmatically. If you dig deep enough, you'll always find another plausible explanation. That being said, I do want to get to the part about Area X, so let me give you the rundown on what I learned about this basement.
I ended up trekking back to the van and picking up my gear. I was no longer running the routine inspection, obviously, but I figured I might as well throw 30 thousand dollars of scanning equipment at whatever the fuck anamoly existed in that basement. Most of it came back negative. There was a bit higher-than-usual EM interference as picked up on the voltmeters, but nothing that screamed danger close. Still, it was enough for me to set up my volt testers and IR camera while muddling through the rest of the junk. I won't bore you with another list of items, but I did find one thing of value: a diamond necklace. And not just any diamond necklace, it was one of those Queen-wearing, multi-row, big-jeweled necklaces like out of some Historical Fiction movie from the thirties. I almost didn't pocket it because I'm used to expensive items being owned by someone… someone who might want it back. But I figured if there was ever a place the finder's keeper's rule applied, it was probably in this Quantum graveyard.
7 O'clock rolled around and I hadn't eaten. I'm a pretty bulky guy, carrying my share of both muscle and fat, and most people think that means I need to eat a ton but that's really not the case. Mostly I just get dehydrated easily, especially in the summer. That said, I was bordering on famished territory and considered heading out for a bite when I heard another sound. The first thing I did was check my scanners, and sure enough the voltage needle was fully spun to the right side of the dial. EM interference. Then I went to see what had dropped. I was able to pick the object out pretty quickly since I had spent the last 6 hours staring at the mosaic of a basement floor. It was a silver briefcase, like one of those out of a crime novel, and it was cracked open.
I had this sense then that I was standing at a precipice, and if I opened the briefcase and looked inside, I wouldn't be able to stop whatever would come afterwards. Part of me deep down knew that I was just that type of guy that had to know, and maybe this was my Hamlet moment where it would be a trait gone a step too far. But then again I didn't really believe in any of that sentimental bullshit, so I opened the briefcase.
The gun surprised me a little, but not as much as the piece of paper laid atop a case file reading in large black font, "FIND ME". I expected the envelope to have some missing person file in it, but instead there were all these schematics and blueprints for some kind of device. Whatever it was, it was pretty massive. Some of the lengths were hundreds of meters long. And what's more strange is based on the blueprint's locale, it appeared to be underground. I looked back through the pages a couple times, then checked the note—nothing strange there. The gun appeared to be a simple glock. I was no gun expert, but I had been to the range pretty regularly with my construction buddies, so I got used to the feel of a pistol and rifle and some of the different names; however, I realized pretty quickly it wasn't your standard glock when I couldn't find mag-release. That's when I noticed how light the gun felt. I tried to chamber a round, but again, there was no hammer. What the hell kind of gun was this?
I ended up throwing everything back in the briefcase, including the necklace, coin, and a few Koozies I found that were branded with one of my favorite sports teams (never let an opportunity go to waste). I put up all my shit back in the van and spun over to a local burger joint, got my fill, and went home. I made sure to draft an email to the prospective buyers, telling them the house had several patches of black mold and a bit of a rat problem before drifting off to sleep. Although I really didn't do much of that.
When I woke up, I took a cold shower and downed a can of Reign, then commuted to my gym and got a lift and some sauna time in before making the trip back to the house. I brought some extra supplies with me for some experiments I cooked up while not sleeping the previous night.
First, I had two camcorders set up on a couple tripods in either corner of the basement. I wanted clear footage of these mystery objects spawning in. Then I set up a voltmeter in a similar fashion, but I had a wire extending out of it on a circuit which fed to an alarm that would blare when the reading was over 250 volts. Upstairs, I rearranged some of the furniture so that the small number of tables, chairs, clock, cabinets, and other little pillows or vases I could find were scattered across the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Then I pulled up a lawn chair to the front porch window and waited.
I didn't have to wait long though. In about a minute, I started to notice some of the objects moving. It was strange. When a few of them would shift simultaneously, it was like looking at a holographic card that would change shape depending on where your eyes were in relation to the image. Every time I saw a shift, I felt an awkward feeling in my eyes. They went blurry for a fraction of a second, then there was a twinge of pain, as if my brain couldn't handle the contradictory stimulus. It didn't get more crazy than that though—until the alarm went off.
I had cracked open the small rectangular window in the basement to the side of the house so I would hear it. It took four hours and several strange stares from passersby walking their dogs before it rang, so I was a bit lost in my thoughts, but when I heard the beep I perked up fast. It lasted for maybe 5 seconds total, but what I saw was truly miraculous. The best way I can describe it is a pool of silver or gray or translucent light emerging in the foreground between me and the objects in the different rooms. A series of twisting tentacles sprouted from the gray octopus-like head and spun in a way that reminded me of that little kids ride at the amusement parks. Then the objects started to "heat up" is the way I describe it. Their position became relative, meaning they were here one second, there another, then they popped out of existence entirely. Suddenly the rooms were all empty, then they were full of things I had never seen before. Then five seconds passed and the octopus vanished and it was back to the same old objects in their usual places.
It took a few minutes to process what I saw, and even then I wasn't sure I really saw it. I went inside and looked around at my distribution of the house's furnishings. They were all there, intact. Then I went downstairs to check the cams. I rewinded a couple minutes and played it back, but there was no flying object to be found. Instead, there was some gray static that lasted half a second and then the object, a kid's treasure chest toy, was there on the ground. But you want to know the really strange part? I rewinded the tape again, and when I watched the footage back, the treasure chest was always there.
I later came to understand that these poppings in-and-out of our reality are only conceivable to a conscious mind that can track the interference patterns—not rote computational instruments. In fact, even most people can't do it (although everyone has at least a slight awareness of it, even if only subconsciously). Plus, locations like the basement of this house are very rare and kept under tight lock. That became obvious to me two days later when, after my normal morning routine, I pulled up to a driveway and curbside filled with unmarked government vehicles. Either bravely or stupidly, I pulled up to a few officers (they were wearing suits in 85 degree weather, so I assumed…) who were idling by the large fence of crime scene tape and asked them what the score was.
"There was a crime," said the short man with a unibrow.
"Oh, is that right? Damn shame. Someone break in? I have a niece who lives nearby, so…"
The man looked at his two compatriots, both of whom were wearing sunglasses and a "get this civilian fuck out of here" expressions. "Oh, yeah," he started in a reassuring tone that was so condescending it would have annoyed anyone except me, "we found a body. We think it was a homicide. Best to keep your kids away from here for a while."
I thumbed the stubble on my chin, my other hand outstretched on the wheel, and considered moving on, but my mouth had other ideas. "That right? But uh, isn't this house vacant? I mean, I don't remember no one living in it."
The short man, now tall with temper, said, "Yeah, some squatters. We think there was a dispute over some drug money. Nothing for you to worry about though, we got it under control. Now if you wouldn't mind moving along, we have a lot of work to do."
Oh, I'm sure you do, I thought, but only said, "Of course, sir, sorry for keeping you from your job." Then I rolled up the window and cruised on, keeping my eyes on the house which slowly diminished in the side-view mirror.
Luckily I had been smart enough to break down my camp and lug home all my equipment each night, so I didn't leave anything incriminating. I didn't move the furniture back, so maybe that would come back to haunt me, but considering the kind of shit going down in that house, I didn't think they would notice.
For any of you wondering about the conclusion of the house story, I went back a couple weeks later after the suits had left and the tape was taken down and confirmed that not only was the basement entirely cleaned out, but it was no longer exhibiting any strange properties. I looked for a story related to the house, maybe a made up murder of some kind, but there was nothing. That bastard lied to me and didn't even bother to cover his story up.
Now, in the aftermath of an event such as this, I really only had one of two options. I could forget it, move on, continue living life. The necklace was surely worth a fortune. I could sell it and have enough to retire, or at least hire enough people and expand my business large enough to retire within ten or so years. Or I could take all that money and invest it in my own PI business with only a single objective: finding out what those people knew, and why they were hiding it.
I think you know me well enough by now to guess which line of reasoning appealed more to me.
***
For the sake of brevity, I'm going to omit most of my encounters along the journey to discovering Area X. There's a lot to tell, and if it appeals to you perhaps I'd be willing to share at a later date, but for now I want to get this part of the story, the more proximal part, out in the open.
Three years ago, I discovered the source of what I'll call "The Receiver". This is the device that was schematized in the documents that I found in the briefcase. What it does is a complex answer, and how it does it is pretty much all speculation, but here's what I've been able to find out: this universe we live in is a node in a network of many other spaces. These spaces exist in higher dimensions that we cannot directly perceive, but using a conceivable analogy, just think about a flower with petals. The petals are these other dimensions which bleed into our world, which is at the center. However, it's not that pretty. We see the physical world through the lens of spacetime: sizes, speeds, etc. These other dimensions don't necessarily have space or time. In fact, what actually exists there, I couldn't say. The only data I have on them is from two sources: correspondence information and server data from the secret agency (which I'll call "the Organization") that keeps this under wraps, and first-hand experience with realms from these other entities, either directly (I experience it) or through the eyes of someone else with the same or greater abilities than I possess.
I referred to these people with abilities earlier as "Antennas", and I will continue to use the term. Antennas really come in three flavors, marked by the strength of their ability: weak Antennas, like me, are able to observe spontaneous interactions between our universe and other dimensions (phase shifts) when there is a strong force of collision like existed in the basement; moderate Antennas may see phase shifts occur at any point, and they usually are able to retain memories from across the different transformations; strong Antennas, and I don't know if they exist yet, but they are able to consciously interact with these other realms and cause phase shifts to occur.
I mentioned that moderate Antennas are able to retain memories from before and after a phase shift. Technically, all Antennas have this ability, but it's about degree. I can recall only very specific instances and without much detail. Moderates are usually able to pick out much more nuanced minutiae. At the lower end of moderate scale, most of those details fade or get fuzzy over time, but for the very strong Antennas, they hold onto almost everything. One other property that scales with strength is interaction with other conscious entities. Only a small percentage of moderates are able to do this. What's interesting is that these entities can possess (yes, like ghosts) people who aren't even antennas, but no one is aware of such possession at this deep of a level. I have several companions now, and only two have had interactions with these otherworldly beings. Not all of them are malevolent, some of them are whimsical or kind, but there are a fair share of demons out there.
Getting back to the point, Area X started as a government funded project in the 70's. At that time, they were focused on a few subjects: Artificial Intelligence, DNA sequencing, and psychedelics. Yes, they were part of the infamous LSD experiments. But they looked at these subjects through a common lens—there was something that the burgeoning tech industry, fueled by the advent of a commercial computer market, was missing. As the tech giants rose in the early 2000's and began to collect mass amounts of data, this other agency was decades ahead in a different metric, although it was completely (and still is) hidden from the public. Their efforts to understand psychedelic experiences led to a formalized method of understanding interactions between multiple realities. They built certain scanning equipment to detect anomalies like the one I found in the basement; although their tools were much more sophisticated and didn't utilize voltage readings. Then they ran tests in these areas. One area in particular is a hot-bed of phase shift interactions. That's where Area X is located (and the Receiver).
The Receiver is a giant electromagnetic orb that has trapped the kind of multi-dimensional energy that causes the phase shifts; since the Organization seized control of the lab, it's effectively become a map of the Earth in relation to these other worlds. For the past twenty or so years, the Organization has been studying this map, using the data big Tech companies have collected to essentially develop a Rosetta Stone for interpreting the meaning of the fluctuations in their scanning equipment. Recently, the public, though going the long way round, was actually pretty close to a breakthrough in this same department until recently when ultra-powerful LLMs surfaced, and the whole world began going down what I'd argue is the wrong rabbit hole of language processing. But I digress.
Area X is essentially a private military base built for defending the most impactful piece of technology ever invented. With the Receiver, the Organization now has the power to essentially predict any and all future outcomes, the only thing holding them back is the limitations of their own scanning equipment which will get better with time. To put it into perspective, the Organization has access to a kind of data allocation tool which in one day can produce over ten thousand times that the Big Data companies combined would be able to filter through in the next decade. You might think, then, that the problem is merely asymmetric power, and that is certainly a concern, but it isn't the main concern. The main issue is that this organization is actively recruiting (and kidnapping) Antennas from around the world in an effort to find or make one of them into a strong Antenna. In other words, they want a subject who is able not only to see the future, but to manipulate it at will.
balance to the world. I've been working on amassing resources, capital, and building my own team, and now I'm ready. You might ask why I'm posting this here. Wouldn't it be better to keep all this secret? Well, yes, it would be. But that's the problem. Nothing is secret anymore. They know about me and the others, and if I don't make a move, they will. In a way, this is a letter directly to the organization that I know, and I'm coming.
In a different way, I wanted to release this information to the public. There are lots of people out there waking up and realizing that the world they experience is not the one others experience. If you think you might be an Antenna, don't be afraid—you have a special gift that can be controlled. If you want more details on how to control it, or if you're interested in my mission, don't be afraid to reach out. This hasn't always been my life's work, but it is now.
At least until I die.
submitted by Weathers_Writing to nosleep [link] [comments]
Put another way, if you throw a bunch of bouncy balls into a box, there are a number of different configurations that the balls could take on, with different speeds and magnitudes. You can calculate all of those if you have the right numbers. Now let's say you throw in another set of balls that you don't consider in your calculations of the initial set. Well, then you're not going to get an accurate picture of what's happening. Most people only see the first set and calculate based on that, but some people can see two, three, four or more sets.
You'll understand the concept better when I tell you the story, but I wanted to give you a primer on an important concept that will help you understand why this place, which I'll call "Area X", exists, and what the goals of the people who work there are.
Also note that I'm going to be using the alias "Trent" moving forward. Please refer to me as such in any direct messages.
***
Eighteen years ago I started working as an independent Home Inspector. I dropped out of community college after my first semester (not because I didn't find some of the subjects interesting, but because deference to a man or woman has never been my style) and started working some odd jobs. I did construction work for a couple years, then plumbing. I even drove a garbage truck for six months. I've always found pleasure in using my hands, and getting dirty was never a problem for me. Still, having a boss really dragged ass, so I spent my free time working on creating my own business. It took a few years and lots of savings, but I finally managed to get basic set of Home Inspection equipment: Tyvek coveralls, a cheap half-face respirator, voltage & AFCI/GFCI testers, CO2 and radon monitors, an IR camera, and telescoping mirrors in addition to the boots, safety glasses, electric gloves, ladder, and toolkits I already had on hand.
My buddy at the time was in the business, but he was moving off to the coast, so he helped me get set up and even introduced me to some of his clients. Of course, by that time I had already gotten my State license, but I still was a bit apprehensive to work with insurance agencies. I thought I could make a living working independently, inspecting for mold or sizing up a house for a prospective buyer. Eventually, though, I realized I should probably take every job available to me.
Easing into the business went about as well as it could have. The clients my friend referred to me were very satisfied with my work, and I was able to retain them. Then, in order to increase my reach, I hired someone on Fiverr to build a website for my company which led to a marked increase in traffic and conversions. About six months through, I began to get on a first-name basis with the boys and girls down down at Allstate and Progressive, and they fed me some of the bigger cases. In fact, I got so booked by year's end that I had to hire someone to help manage my schedule and the Excel spreadsheet with all my finances. I capped off a successful year with a 5-star Google rating and a trip to Ireland to visit some family and friends and get piss drunk. When I got back, it was the grindstone all over again, until the summer when I discovered… well, you'll see.
First off, I want to say that I was never one to believe in the paranormal. I grew up watching the movies and hearing the ghost stories round the campfire like every other kid, but it never struck a chord with me. If I can't touch it or see it or hear it, does it really exist? Probably not. So don't go thinking this was a scared man seeing his own shadow. That being said, I had this sense that something was off about this house when I parked along the curb and looked through a large window, perhaps two times the size of my van, to a dingy, dark foyer.
The entire neighborhood was stacked with upper-middle class domiciles, though it seemed like only two thirds of them were occupied, mostly by professionals who commuted to the City every weekday, and the rest were empty. As a man who understands real estate, to say this was strange would be an understatement. Still, I had no problem appraising the mini-mansion for a couple of newlyweds looking to enter the community. I did some research on the property ahead of time, and it seems that it was owned by a couple of old timers who had gone off the grid some time ago. The water and electric bill were both unpaid dating back to 2004 (it was June of '06 now). The bank had repo'd the house (which only had about 100k left on it) and held it for a year and a half before putting it back on the market. I tried to find out more about the old couple who vanished, but there was nothing in the news.
I stepped out of the van in my coveralls and grabbed my suitcase which had my mask, gloves, and eye protection in it. I liked to do a preliminary survey first, running an eye test on the exterior then interior before bringing out the big guns (that way I could identify the areas where I think there could be problems instead of running a metal detector over the whole damn ocean seaboard). I was about to do just that when the window caught my eye again. It felt uncharacteristic of me to be so occupied with this window, but I detoured to the front porch and peeked inside anyway.
Most of the furniture had already been moved out, meaning all that was left was a single three-seater couch, a couple candlesticks on the fireplace mantle, a pristine chandelier overtop a dining room table, and the kitchenware: an oven, gas stovetop, marble countertops, and an island. I could see into the living room very clearly with the afternoon light, but the dining room was dim enough that there were a few structures I couldn't quite make out in the distance. One of them appeared to be some kind of china cabinet or bookshelf—I figured it was the former considering where it was located. The other shadow looked kind of like a grandfather clock. Or at least that's what I thought until it moved.
When I say it "moved", I don't mean to say that it picked up and walked away. If you're not familiar with the Necker Cube, I suggest you search it up, because that kind of illusion is the best way to describe what I saw. At first I was seeing the grandfather clock in a certain way—pushed into the corner of the room—and the next second my vision "corrected" and it was maybe five feet to the left of its former position. I shook my head and looked again and saw the grandfather clock in its second orientation, standing in the center of the room against the wall. I figured I was just seeing things, but even so I spent a little extra time dawdling around the Egress window, taking notes, and delaying the interior inspection.
When I finally grew a pair and went inside, I walked straight to the dining room. Sure enough, the grandfather clock was stowed away in the corner of the room. I spent a couple minutes watching it with my pencil and travel notebook out. I'm the kind of guy that likes to collect hard data when the chips are down. Unfortunately, the clock apparently already had enough fun and was content with sweating me. Oh, well.
I fitted my pencil behind my ear and pocketed my travel notebook, then flipped the rest of the first floor lights on and completed my prelim. I concluded that everything was pretty standard. If anything, the house was in better shape than I'd expect considering it presumably hasn't been lived in for a couple years. I say "presumably" because one can never count out squatters, even during those times. Mainly I was expecting more dust build up and cobwebs than there were. Perhaps someone from the department had come by recently. It's unlikely, but possible.
I did the same check upstairs and it came back mostly clean. There was a bit of staining near the attic I wanted to check for mold. Based on its color, it was probably just a minor case of Aspergillus, but better safe than sorry. Then I got to the basement, and, well, let's just count out the idea of anyone dropping by. I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't what I found.
The first thing that caught my eye was the long, slender body of a birch tree lying pale and dead across a large portion of the even larger unfinished basement's cement flooring. I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn't dreaming, but, yep, there it was. Its crown was sealed up in the wall with only its trunk hanging out, which made me think of those medieval pillory devices which locked up people's heads and arms. Then confetti-scattered around the tree and all over the basement floor was a minefield of broken glass and ceramic tangled up with a set of random objects. And when I say random, I mean random. There was an unfurled Somali flag (the blue one with a single star in the center), some packaged drinks and condiments branded with all sorts of different languages (I could only make out Gaelic and Chinese or Japanese, I couldn't quite tell), a broken dome-shaped security camera, an otoscope (the thing the doc uses to check your ears), Hot Wheels cars (okay that one isn't so strange), and the list goes on.
At that moment, I wasn't freaked out or disgusted. I was more or less just confused. I started walking through the rubble, trying to avoid the sharp fragments but pretty confident that my steel toed boots would crush most the pieces anyway, when I heard a clink just up ahead. I was able to spot the coin in time, just before it jingled to a halt atop an old Life magazine. I picked it up and noted right away its oval shape and bronze color—clearly not American made. I tried reading it, but not only was the language not English, it appeared to be so old that most of the lettering had been filed down. I looked up at the ceiling to see if it dropped from a shelf, but there was nothing that could have been holding the coin. I considered for a moment, looking around at the other junk, and had the crazy idea that maybe all this stuff just appeared here. I popped the coin in my pocket and headed back to the van when I stopped by the tree and realized something. It wasn't a birch tree—it was a palm tree. I just didn't realize because of how ashy and decayed the bark was.
Now at this point you might think I've been acting a little nonchalant for such a strange occurrence, and I don't blame you, but if you're gonna stick around with me that's just something you're gonna have to get used to. I guess I was just born with a screw loose, but I really don't scare easily, and I tend to look at everything pragmatically. If you dig deep enough, you'll always find another plausible explanation. That being said, I do want to get to the part about Area X, so let me give you the rundown on what I learned about this basement.
I ended up trekking back to the van and picking up my gear. I was no longer running the routine inspection, obviously, but I figured I might as well throw 30 thousand dollars of scanning equipment at whatever the fuck anamoly existed in that basement. Most of it came back negative. There was a bit higher-than-usual EM interference as picked up on the voltmeters, but nothing that screamed danger close. Still, it was enough for me to set up my volt testers and IR camera while muddling through the rest of the junk. I won't bore you with another list of items, but I did find one thing of value: a diamond necklace. And not just any diamond necklace, it was one of those Queen-wearing, multi-row, big-jeweled necklaces like out of some Historical Fiction movie from the thirties. I almost didn't pocket it because I'm used to expensive items being owned by someone… someone who might want it back. But I figured if there was ever a place the finder's keeper's rule applied, it was probably in this Quantum graveyard.
7 O'clock rolled around and I hadn't eaten. I'm a pretty bulky guy, carrying my share of both muscle and fat, and most people think that means I need to eat a ton but that's really not the case. Mostly I just get dehydrated easily, especially in the summer. That said, I was bordering on famished territory and considered heading out for a bite when I heard another sound. The first thing I did was check my scanners, and sure enough the voltage needle was fully spun to the right side of the dial. EM interference. Then I went to see what had dropped. I was able to pick the object out pretty quickly since I had spent the last 6 hours staring at the mosaic of a basement floor. It was a silver briefcase, like one of those out of a crime novel, and it was cracked open.
I had this sense then that I was standing at a precipice, and if I opened the briefcase and looked inside, I wouldn't be able to stop whatever would come afterwards. Part of me deep down knew that I was just that type of guy that had to know, and maybe this was my Hamlet moment where it would be a trait gone a step too far. But then again I didn't really believe in any of that sentimental bullshit, so I opened the briefcase.
The gun surprised me a little, but not as much as the piece of paper laid atop a case file reading in large black font, "FIND ME". I expected the envelope to have some missing person file in it, but instead there were all these schematics and blueprints for some kind of device. Whatever it was, it was pretty massive. Some of the lengths were hundreds of meters long. And what's more strange is based on the blueprint's locale, it appeared to be underground. I looked back through the pages a couple times, then checked the note—nothing strange there. The gun appeared to be a simple glock. I was no gun expert, but I had been to the range pretty regularly with my construction buddies, so I got used to the feel of a pistol and rifle and some of the different names; however, I realized pretty quickly it wasn't your standard glock when I couldn't find mag-release. That's when I noticed how light the gun felt. I tried to chamber a round, but again, there was no hammer. What the hell kind of gun was this?
I ended up throwing everything back in the briefcase, including the necklace, coin, and a few Koozies I found that were branded with one of my favorite sports teams (never let an opportunity go to waste). I put up all my shit back in the van and spun over to a local burger joint, got my fill, and went home. I made sure to draft an email to the prospective buyers, telling them the house had several patches of black mold and a bit of a rat problem before drifting off to sleep. Although I really didn't do much of that.
When I woke up, I took a cold shower and downed a can of Reign, then commuted to my gym and got a lift and some sauna time in before making the trip back to the house. I brought some extra supplies with me for some experiments I cooked up while not sleeping the previous night.
First, I had two camcorders set up on a couple tripods in either corner of the basement. I wanted clear footage of these mystery objects spawning in. Then I set up a voltmeter in a similar fashion, but I had a wire extending out of it on a circuit which fed to an alarm that would blare when the reading was over 250 volts. Upstairs, I rearranged some of the furniture so that the small number of tables, chairs, clock, cabinets, and other little pillows or vases I could find were scattered across the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Then I pulled up a lawn chair to the front porch window and waited.
I didn't have to wait long though. In about a minute, I started to notice some of the objects moving. It was strange. When a few of them would shift simultaneously, it was like looking at a holographic card that would change shape depending on where your eyes were in relation to the image. Every time I saw a shift, I felt an awkward feeling in my eyes. They went blurry for a fraction of a second, then there was a twinge of pain, as if my brain couldn't handle the contradictory stimulus. It didn't get more crazy than that though—until the alarm went off.
I had cracked open the small rectangular window in the basement to the side of the house so I would hear it. It took four hours and several strange stares from passersby walking their dogs before it rang, so I was a bit lost in my thoughts, but when I heard the beep I perked up fast. It lasted for maybe 5 seconds total, but what I saw was truly miraculous. The best way I can describe it is a pool of silver or gray or translucent light emerging in the foreground between me and the objects in the different rooms. A series of twisting tentacles sprouted from the gray octopus-like head and spun in a way that reminded me of that little kids ride at the amusement parks. Then the objects started to "heat up" is the way I describe it. Their position became relative, meaning they were here one second, there another, then they popped out of existence entirely. Suddenly the rooms were all empty, then they were full of things I had never seen before. Then five seconds passed and the octopus vanished and it was back to the same old objects in their usual places.
It took a few minutes to process what I saw, and even then I wasn't sure I really saw it. I went inside and looked around at my distribution of the house's furnishings. They were all there, intact. Then I went downstairs to check the cams. I rewinded a couple minutes and played it back, but there was no flying object to be found. Instead, there was some gray static that lasted half a second and then the object, a kid's treasure chest toy, was there on the ground. But you want to know the really strange part? I rewinded the tape again, and when I watched the footage back, the treasure chest was always there.
I later came to understand that these poppings in-and-out of our reality are only conceivable to a conscious mind that can track the interference patterns—not rote computational instruments. In fact, even most people can't do it (although everyone has at least a slight awareness of it, even if only subconsciously). Plus, locations like the basement of this house are very rare and kept under tight lock. That became obvious to me two days later when, after my normal morning routine, I pulled up to a driveway and curbside filled with unmarked government vehicles. Either bravely or stupidly, I pulled up to a few officers (they were wearing suits in 85 degree weather, so I assumed…) who were idling by the large fence of crime scene tape and asked them what the score was.
"There was a crime," said the short man with a unibrow.
"Oh, is that right? Damn shame. Someone break in? I have a niece who lives nearby, so…"
The man looked at his two compatriots, both of whom were wearing sunglasses and a "get this civilian fuck out of here" expressions. "Oh, yeah," he started in a reassuring tone that was so condescending it would have annoyed anyone except me, "we found a body. We think it was a homicide. Best to keep your kids away from here for a while."
I thumbed the stubble on my chin, my other hand outstretched on the wheel, and considered moving on, but my mouth had other ideas. "That right? But uh, isn't this house vacant? I mean, I don't remember no one living in it."
The short man, now tall with temper, said, "Yeah, some squatters. We think there was a dispute over some drug money. Nothing for you to worry about though, we got it under control. Now if you wouldn't mind moving along, we have a lot of work to do."
Oh, I'm sure you do, I thought, but only said, "Of course, sir, sorry for keeping you from your job." Then I rolled up the window and cruised on, keeping my eyes on the house which slowly diminished in the side-view mirror.
Luckily I had been smart enough to break down my camp and lug home all my equipment each night, so I didn't leave anything incriminating. I didn't move the furniture back, so maybe that would come back to haunt me, but considering the kind of shit going down in that house, I didn't think they would notice.
For any of you wondering about the conclusion of the house story, I went back a couple weeks later after the suits had left and the tape was taken down and confirmed that not only was the basement entirely cleaned out, but it was no longer exhibiting any strange properties. I looked for a story related to the house, maybe a made up murder of some kind, but there was nothing. That bastard lied to me and didn't even bother to cover his story up.
Now, in the aftermath of an event such as this, I really only had one of two options. I could forget it, move on, continue living life. The necklace was surely worth a fortune. I could sell it and have enough to retire, or at least hire enough people and expand my business large enough to retire within ten or so years. Or I could take all that money and invest it in my own PI business with only a single objective: finding out what those people knew, and why they were hiding it.
I think you know me well enough by now to guess which line of reasoning appealed more to me.
***
For the sake of brevity, I'm going to omit most of my encounters along the journey to discovering Area X. There's a lot to tell, and if it appeals to you perhaps I'd be willing to share at a later date, but for now I want to get this part of the story, the more proximal part, out in the open.
Three years ago, I discovered the source of what I'll call "The Receiver". This is the device that was schematized in the documents that I found in the briefcase. What it does is a complex answer, and how it does it is pretty much all speculation, but here's what I've been able to find out: this universe we live in is a node in a network of many other spaces. These spaces exist in higher dimensions that we cannot directly perceive, but using a conceivable analogy, just think about a flower with petals. The petals are these other dimensions which bleed into our world, which is at the center. However, it's not that pretty. We see the physical world through the lens of spacetime: sizes, speeds, etc. These other dimensions don't necessarily have space or time. In fact, what actually exists there, I couldn't say. The only data I have on them is from two sources: correspondence information and server data from the secret agency (which I'll call "the Organization") that keeps this under wraps, and first-hand experience with realms from these other entities, either directly (I experience it) or through the eyes of someone else with the same or greater abilities than I possess.
I referred to these people with abilities earlier as "Antennas", and I will continue to use the term. Antennas really come in three flavors, marked by the strength of their ability: weak Antennas, like me, are able to observe spontaneous interactions between our universe and other dimensions (phase shifts) when there is a strong force of collision like existed in the basement; moderate Antennas may see phase shifts occur at any point, and they usually are able to retain memories from across the different transformations; strong Antennas, and I don't know if they exist yet, but they are able to consciously interact with these other realms and cause phase shifts to occur.
I mentioned that moderate Antennas are able to retain memories from before and after a phase shift. Technically, all Antennas have this ability, but it's about degree. I can recall only very specific instances and without much detail. Moderates are usually able to pick out much more nuanced minutiae. At the lower end of moderate scale, most of those details fade or get fuzzy over time, but for the very strong Antennas, they hold onto almost everything. One other property that scales with strength is interaction with other conscious entities. Only a small percentage of moderates are able to do this. What's interesting is that these entities can possess (yes, like ghosts) people who aren't even antennas, but no one is aware of such possession at this deep of a level. I have several companions now, and only two have had interactions with these otherworldly beings. Not all of them are malevolent, some of them are whimsical or kind, but there are a fair share of demons out there.
Getting back to the point, Area X started as a government funded project in the 70's. At that time, they were focused on a few subjects: Artificial Intelligence, DNA sequencing, and psychedelics. Yes, they were part of the infamous LSD experiments. But they looked at these subjects through a common lens—there was something that the burgeoning tech industry, fueled by the advent of a commercial computer market, was missing. As the tech giants rose in the early 2000's and began to collect mass amounts of data, this other agency was decades ahead in a different metric, although it was completely (and still is) hidden from the public. Their efforts to understand psychedelic experiences led to a formalized method of understanding interactions between multiple realities. They built certain scanning equipment to detect anomalies like the one I found in the basement; although their tools were much more sophisticated and didn't utilize voltage readings. Then they ran tests in these areas. One area in particular is a hot-bed of phase shift interactions. That's where Area X is located (and the Receiver).
The Receiver is a giant electromagnetic orb that has trapped the kind of multi-dimensional energy that causes the phase shifts; since the Organization seized control of the lab, it's effectively become a map of the Earth in relation to these other worlds. For the past twenty or so years, the Organization has been studying this map, using the data big Tech companies have collected to essentially develop a Rosetta Stone for interpreting the meaning of the fluctuations in their scanning equipment. Recently, the public, though going the long way round, was actually pretty close to a breakthrough in this same department until recently when ultra-powerful LLMs surfaced, and the whole world began going down what I'd argue is the wrong rabbit hole of language processing. But I digress.
Area X is essentially a private military base built for defending the most impactful piece of technology ever invented. With the Receiver, the Organization now has the power to essentially predict any and all future outcomes, the only thing holding them back is the limitations of their own scanning equipment which will get better with time. To put it into perspective, the Organization has access to a kind of data allocation tool which in one day can produce over ten thousand times that the Big Data companies combined would be able to filter through in the next decade. You might think, then, that the problem is merely asymmetric power, and that is certainly a concern, but it isn't the main concern. The main issue is that this organization is actively recruiting (and kidnapping) Antennas from around the world in an effort to find or make one of them into a strong Antenna. In other words, they want a subject who is able not only to see the future, but to manipulate it at will.
balance to the world. I've been working on amassing resources, capital, and building my own team, and now I'm ready. You might ask why I'm posting this here. Wouldn't it be better to keep all this secret? Well, yes, it would be. But that's the problem. Nothing is secret anymore. They know about me and the others, and if I don't make a move, they will. In a way, this is a letter directly to the organization that I know, and I'm coming.
In a different way, I wanted to release this information to the public. There are lots of people out there waking up and realizing that the world they experience is not the one others experience. If you think you might be an Antenna, don't be afraid—you have a special gift that can be controlled. If you want more details on how to control it, or if you're interested in my mission, don't be afraid to reach out. This hasn't always been my life's work, but it is now.
At least until I die.
2024.05.16 22:56 Same_Efficiency9832 Finally passed it
Hello guys,
I have recently passed the OSCP exam and decided to give something about my experience back to the community as I have always looked out for this kind of posts when I was learning. It took me around 8 months of almost every day learning.
Previous experience: 5 years of SOC experience, Comptia S+,N+,Pen+. Before security I was developing games in Unity with C# and GameMaker with it's proprietary language.
Learning materials:
1st attempt:
Had a fixation on the AD and could not find my way in for initial access.
After 10 hours of struggle getting it, I finally switched targets to a standalone, rooted it in 1 hour and something then went to sleep. I could find the entry in the AD in the last 3 exam hours. These were enough for me to get in, but I did not have time for the last privesc.
I was chaotic in my attacks, not having a solid methodology and doing the same thing multiple times due to not keeping track of what I already did.
Final score: 30 points (although I was a few commands away from passing)
At this point I had all exercises done, all challenge labs except skylark done + a few from Tj Null's list
I immediately started working on my methodology and the way I track progress and previous attempts. I then re-did OSCP A,B,C labs (not very helpful, it did not feel like I was doing them again for the first time) and fully completed the Skylark challenge lab.
2nd attempt:
I could find my entry into the AD quite fast but was stuck there before I could elevate my privileges on the first machine. After 10 or so hours I again switched targets to a standalone, rooted it in 1 hour and something and then went to sleep. Upon waking up I went back to the AD but could not make any further progress.
Final score: 30 points while being further away from passing than in my first attempt...
At this point I had done all challenge labs and all pg practice boxes in TJ Null's list
I must admit that this hurt me pretty bad since I had no idea what hit me. Being into this position, I decided that although I did not pass, I should submit the report that cointains what I could compromise and all attempts of advancing my attack into the AD, so I can get some kind of feedback of what I should do next.
I was then of course, told to re-read most of the pen-200 pdf's modules.
I took the advice since at that point I had no idea of what to do next. I read the guide again from page one to page 870+ to make sure I catch everything. It took 5-6 days. While reading it I could see stuff that I did not see while reading it the first time and these findings included possible solutions to my second exam's blocking point.
After finishing the guide again, I rooted all intermediate level boxes in the PG Practice platform. I even had a streak of 10 machines rooted without a single hint. I was quite pleased with that progress and scheduled my 3rd attempt.
3rd attempt: I got the same AD set as in my 2nd attempt. One of the possible solutions from my research worked and I got to advance my attack into the AD. I finished it 2 to 3 hours total.
It then took me another 2 hours to fully compromise a standalone machine. I was stunned at having 70 points in under 5 hours.
I took a big break to eat well and went back to try and get that 110 score. After 4 more hours I rooted another standalone. I then took another break and tried for 3 hours to get on the last one. I was getting somewhere but decided that it would be better to just go sleep for 5 ish hours and focus on good notes of what I did so far.
I could not sleep well due to having nightmares of bad stuff happening to my computer but it still helped. Drank my morning coffee then proceeded to revert and exploit everything from 0 while taking very detailed notes with screenshots and console input/output.
The report writing took around 10 hours total. I also used some of the report time to sleep better and do it as best as I can.
My advice:
submitted by Same_Efficiency9832 to oscp [link] [comments]
I have recently passed the OSCP exam and decided to give something about my experience back to the community as I have always looked out for this kind of posts when I was learning. It took me around 8 months of almost every day learning.
Previous experience: 5 years of SOC experience, Comptia S+,N+,Pen+. Before security I was developing games in Unity with C# and GameMaker with it's proprietary language.
Learning materials:
- All pwk module labs (exercises)
- All challenge labs (including Skylark)
- PG Practice: Tj null list + all easy & intermediate (community rated) boxes
1st attempt:
Had a fixation on the AD and could not find my way in for initial access.
After 10 hours of struggle getting it, I finally switched targets to a standalone, rooted it in 1 hour and something then went to sleep. I could find the entry in the AD in the last 3 exam hours. These were enough for me to get in, but I did not have time for the last privesc.
I was chaotic in my attacks, not having a solid methodology and doing the same thing multiple times due to not keeping track of what I already did.
Final score: 30 points (although I was a few commands away from passing)
At this point I had all exercises done, all challenge labs except skylark done + a few from Tj Null's list
I immediately started working on my methodology and the way I track progress and previous attempts. I then re-did OSCP A,B,C labs (not very helpful, it did not feel like I was doing them again for the first time) and fully completed the Skylark challenge lab.
2nd attempt:
I could find my entry into the AD quite fast but was stuck there before I could elevate my privileges on the first machine. After 10 or so hours I again switched targets to a standalone, rooted it in 1 hour and something and then went to sleep. Upon waking up I went back to the AD but could not make any further progress.
Final score: 30 points while being further away from passing than in my first attempt...
At this point I had done all challenge labs and all pg practice boxes in TJ Null's list
I must admit that this hurt me pretty bad since I had no idea what hit me. Being into this position, I decided that although I did not pass, I should submit the report that cointains what I could compromise and all attempts of advancing my attack into the AD, so I can get some kind of feedback of what I should do next.
I was then of course, told to re-read most of the pen-200 pdf's modules.
I took the advice since at that point I had no idea of what to do next. I read the guide again from page one to page 870+ to make sure I catch everything. It took 5-6 days. While reading it I could see stuff that I did not see while reading it the first time and these findings included possible solutions to my second exam's blocking point.
After finishing the guide again, I rooted all intermediate level boxes in the PG Practice platform. I even had a streak of 10 machines rooted without a single hint. I was quite pleased with that progress and scheduled my 3rd attempt.
3rd attempt: I got the same AD set as in my 2nd attempt. One of the possible solutions from my research worked and I got to advance my attack into the AD. I finished it 2 to 3 hours total.
It then took me another 2 hours to fully compromise a standalone machine. I was stunned at having 70 points in under 5 hours.
I took a big break to eat well and went back to try and get that 110 score. After 4 more hours I rooted another standalone. I then took another break and tried for 3 hours to get on the last one. I was getting somewhere but decided that it would be better to just go sleep for 5 ish hours and focus on good notes of what I did so far.
I could not sleep well due to having nightmares of bad stuff happening to my computer but it still helped. Drank my morning coffee then proceeded to revert and exploit everything from 0 while taking very detailed notes with screenshots and console input/output.
The report writing took around 10 hours total. I also used some of the report time to sleep better and do it as best as I can.
My advice:
- Do not overly fixate on the AD part. You could compromise the 3 standalones and pass with the bonus points
- Do not overcomplicate the techniques you use. I remember trying to port a Linux exploit into a Windows one by modifying it's source code in my first attempt. Remember that the exam is not supposed to be OSEP level. Just make sure to enumerate well and you will find the path.
- Read the guide again before the exam as there can be stuff you did not pay enough attention to when reading it for the first time while doing exercises. This I think is the best advice I can give you besides doing all labs and all easy-intermediate pg practice boxes.
- Do not try to take shortcuts with this course since the only thing you will be cheating is yourself.