With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Attention Counting]

A treaty federation built on consensus where the states are independent nations? I don't know, the American Union? AU?

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The AU abbreviation refers (or at least, previously referred) to Australia. I'm not sure how our friends from the land down under are doing but let's keep it open for them. Why not just add an "s" at the end? Something like... the American Union State?

We marched north as traitors, and came home as kings! Every man a king!

Spoiler: American Union State

Kaiserreich was a balm to my soul. I racked up 10,000 hours in the mod over the years.

 

[Mr Zoat]

if we work together

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[m_d]

Limit us to things made before the Equalizing Plague.

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Should all be 'Equalising' I think, or maybe 'Equalizing'.

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I think both are acceptable in British spelling. 'z' is used in the Oxford standard, chosen to conform to a the Greek suffix used in the root word. 's' is used in some other British dictionaries and style guides. I couldn't say which is more common.

I would note that the term itself used in this fic has been inconsistent, let alone the spelling. It's possible that Thanagarians have different ways of referring to it depending on the background of the speaker, similar to how different generations use The Great War vs. The First World War vs. World War I to refer to the same historical event, even within the same geographic and linguistic background in our world. I mean, given that the people using the terms are not even all from the same continuity or planet, some variation would not be surprising, though Paul has a habit of picking a name for something and being consistent with it even when it would be more socially acceptable to shift terms dependent on context, and this case seems to be an exception.

vis:
'the Equalisation Plague', used in:
- Headhunted (part 4) by Commander Fel Andar of the Blades of Alstair to Paul
- Rampage (part 5) by Paul in conversation with Jade about Shayera Thal/Hawkgirl II
- Foundation (parts 11 and 12) by Lantern Paran Dul to Paul, and Paul's internal thoughts respectively
- Wing and Dagger (part 23) by High Mor Krandor Vat of Thanagar internally
- Workhorse (part 23) by High Mor Krandor Vat of Thanagar internally

'the Equality Plague', used in: Wing and Dagger (parts 2, 6, 18, 21) by Sharon Parker/Chay-ara/Hawkgirl I-ish, Paul, Raquel Ervin/Rocket, Bleez
- Conqueror's Moon (part 9) by Renegade Paul/Grayen to Shayera of Earth-50
- Workhorse (part 10) by Bleez to Paul and Jade
- Codominion (part 17) by Paul to Bleez

 

[Sockmonkey]

He can just pirate their content. What are they going to do? But can't Earth just use Mars content instead? They do seem to be psychologically similar enough to love Earth content.

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Most martian stuff would have a telepathic component that would require martian biotech to play it back properly.
Do the Tamaranians still have any of their media archives stashed away?

 

[Mr Zoat]

I think both are acceptable in British spelling. 'z' is used in the Oxford standard, chosen to conform to a the Greek suffix used in the root word. 's' is used in some other British dictionaries and style guides. I couldn't say which is more common.

I would note that the term itself used in this fic has been inconsistent, let alone the spelling. It's possible that Thanagarians have different ways of referring to it depending on the background of the speaker, similar to how different generations use The Great War vs. The First World War vs. World War I to refer to the same historical event, even within the same geographic and linguistic background in our world. I mean, given that the people using the terms are not even all from the same continuity or planet, some variation would not be surprising, though Paul has a habit of picking a name for something and being consistent with it even when it would be more socially acceptable to shift terms dependent on context, and this case seems to be an exception.

vis:
'the Equalisation Plague', used in:
- Headhunted (part 4) by Commander Fel Andar of the Blades of Alstair to Paul
- Rampage (part 5) by Paul in conversation with Jade about Shayera Thal/Hawkgirl II
- Foundation (parts 11 and 12) by Lantern Paran Dul to Paul, and Paul's internal thoughts respectively
- Wing and Dagger (part 23) by High Mor Krandor Vat of Thanagar internally
- Workhorse (part 23) by High Mor Krandor Vat of Thanagar internally

'the Equality Plague', used in: Wing and Dagger (parts 2, 6, 18, 21) by Sharon Parker/Chay-ara/Hawkgirl I-ish, Paul, Raquel Ervin/Rocket, Bleez
- Conqueror's Moon (part 9) by Renegade Paul/Grayen to Shayera of Earth-50
- Workhorse (part 10) by Bleez to Paul and Jade
- Codominion (part 17) by Paul to Bleez

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[Duke Long]

I think both are acceptable in British spelling. 'z' is used in the Oxford standard, chosen to conform to a the Greek suffix used in the root word. 's' is used in some other British dictionaries and style guides. I couldn't say which is more common.

I would note that the term itself used in this fic has been inconsistent, let alone the spelling. It's possible that Thanagarians have different ways of referring to it depending on the background of the speaker, similar to how different generations use The Great War vs. The First World War vs. World War I to refer to the same historical event, even within the same geographic and linguistic background in our world. I mean, given that the people using the terms are not even all from the same continuity or planet, some variation would not be surprising, though Paul has a habit of picking a name for something and being consistent with it even when it would be more socially acceptable to shift terms dependent on context, and this case seems to be an exception.

vis:
'the Equalisation Plague', used in:
- Headhunted (part 4) by Commander Fel Andar of the Blades of Alstair to Paul
- Rampage (part 5) by Paul in conversation with Jade about Shayera Thal/Hawkgirl II
- Foundation (parts 11 and 12) by Lantern Paran Dul to Paul, and Paul's internal thoughts respectively
- Wing and Dagger (part 23) by High Mor Krandor Vat of Thanagar internally
- Workhorse (part 23) by High Mor Krandor Vat of Thanagar internally

'the Equality Plague', used in: Wing and Dagger (parts 2, 6, 18, 21) by Sharon Parker/Chay-ara/Hawkgirl I-ish, Paul, Raquel Ervin/Rocket, Bleez
- Conqueror's Moon (part 9) by Renegade Paul/Grayen to Shayera of Earth-50
- Workhorse (part 10) by Bleez to Paul and Jade
- Codominion (part 17) by Paul to Bleez

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Interesting, I was not aware that z was acceptable in such words.

I did think the wording was inconsistent, but I couldn't be arsed to check and I figured I had misremembered. Glad to see my initial memory was actually correct this once. I did consider the possibility that different people would have different spellings or wordings, and if that had been happening here I wouldn't have corrected it. I corrected it because Oh El was using different spellings of the word within ten minutes of each other, and it seemed unlikely to me that he'd suddenly change his mental spelling without it being explicitly mentioned, and such inconsistency is, as you say, unusual for him.

 

[ziggrrauglurr]

"I was… Thinking. About how computers store data."

"I can use a word processor."

"Ah-. The important point is that the term 'cloud' is nonsense. All data is stored in a physical location. Right?"

"Yes?"

"Now, with older forms of data storage, connecting to where the data storage existed in the physical world required things to move around. I remember reading about a computer where they couldn't work out how data was getting from one point to another, because according to the design of the system it shouldn't be able to. It turned out that two locations were close enough together that the data reader could be made to jump across from one-." He gives me a blank look. "Ah, like a record player with two records, and you hit the needle to make it jump to the other record."

"Ah! I understend now."

"So… Is there a way-?" His eyes widen. "There i-?"

"An indirect evocation, made by-." His mouth slowly forms into a smile. "Thet is brilliant."

"My knowledge of magic is slightly better than your knowledge of server architecture, but-."

"You can evoke the God of Lies by evoking the God of Lies. But you can also evoke the God of Lies by lying a great deal."

"Yes?"

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Couldn't read during the week, sorry if it's an old discussion, ...

but, this is the first time in all the years I read this story that a concept didn't really grok...

The informatics parable being told is really odd. I work in IT and I can't understand what is supposed to have been happening, because it doesn't seem possible at first glance...

Could anyone explain what they think is being told?

Spoiler: What I think is being told

The parable is straight,

a reading device was jumping between two machines because of "physical" proximity, without not being clear to people. T

he only way for that to happen is with a switch, like the ones that floppy drives for institutions used to have, you could change the computer accessing the drive with a physical switch making it cheaper to provide a drive to many machines. If that's the story, then how it relates to the old adage "Cloud is someone else's computer"...

I might be wrong in something, is so, tell me, thanks!

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th September 2013
20:51 GMT

I push open the doors to the public house and I'm halfway across the floor to the bar before the thanagarian marines engaged in midday drinking around me have finished double-taking. Surprise surprise, the drinking den closest to the capital's military spaceport is the sole province of the soldiers who work there. And… A couple of officers on one corner table, presumably to keep an eye on the rest.

Jade was looking around in suspicion as I led us here, but it wasn't until I walked inside that she actually stopped. Bleez on the other hand wasn't particularly bothered, but she's now stuck standing behind Jade in the doorway.

The barwoman -a scarred thanagarian woman who probably works as her own bouncer- gives me a look reminiscent of a cat that can't quite believe that the mouse is walking up to it; confident that it could kill and eat it but kind of curious how the mouse thinks this is going to go.

Since this is still 'social drinking' time, the bar stools are unoccupied while the soldiers huddle around tables-.

I hear a thud and an excited shout from the far side of the room as an arm wrestling match concludes itself, and the loser growls for a moment before downing… Ah, I'm not sure what that is but from his reaction it doesn't taste very nice. Winner and loser then shuffle around as a new pair clasp hands and the huddle around them place new bets.

Well, the bar's free, so I take a stool and beckon to the barwoman.

"One glass of dritz, please."

Her remaining eye boggles at someone doing the thanagarian equivalent of walking into a gold rush saloon and asking for a glass of Champagne.

"And-." I turn around as Jade just about finishes her threat assessment and gives me an unamused look. I smile and make a gesture of appeal, and she-.

And she walks with complete confidence and poise across the common room, her eyes moving the exact minimum amount required to give her warning if one of the patrons tries something.

Bleez on the other hand just strolls after her, and she gets-. Well, she's not done up as she would be on stage and I don't think they're recognising her, but they do recognise that she's higher class then them. I caused confusion and it's turning to low level hostility, but I'd say we've got a good three minutes before anyone makes an issue of our presence physically. But these thanagarians are low class. Probably living in barracks because they come from the undercity and the barracks are better.

Jade reaches the bar, and turns so that her back is to it while she can see the room. Bleez on the other hand just takes the seat next to me.

"And a glass each for my friends."

"We don't serve dritz here."

"Oh." Bleez looks at me. "Yeah, a place like this is not going to serve dritz."

"How about-?"

Bleez bats me with her wing. "Just-. Three qwarts of blurn, and-. Not the 'for aliens' version."

"We don't have drinks for aliens here, either."

"Well… Three drinks for me, then."

The barwoman doesn't immediately move, but after a brief moment of hesitation she turns and takes three large metal tankards off the back wall.

"Why are there cages?" I half-turn to see Jade looking up at the… Large ceiling-mounted… Enclosures. "Do thanagarians have gogo dancers?"

Bleez looks up for a moment, then shakes her head. "Not in places like this. Those are for cage matches."

"Wait, really?" / "Cage matches."

"Sure!"

"They're not very big."

"It's a wrestling thing, not full-on sparring. You're not supposed to use your wings. You wanna try?"

"Hah! No. Unless I master nth metal threading, even a thanagarian child would be stronger than me."

Bleez looks at Jade, who carries on surveying the room for a moment-

"There!" Tha barwoman thumps down our drinks. "And you better finish them! That's my mother's recipe."

-before glancing her way and noticing her interest. "My unarmed style focuses on agility, not strength."

I turn back to the bar-. Ah, that's the horrific abomination against the brewer's art I remember. "Your armed style focuses on agility, too." I pick up the tankard with.. a little ring assistance and nod to the barwoman. "Gatz."

And then I put it to my lips and tip it up… The smell is actually quite nice, and the flavour is alright. It's the texture that forces me to make an effort to avoid gagging -that and the wriggling- but with my rings eliminating my need to breathe...

I put the tankard down empty, and smile at the barwoman.

She looks slightly less unimpressed about me being here.

"Huh." And so does Bleez. "Now, really, you're supposed to belch really loudly and then throw the tankard at someone."

"I'm not going completely native. Bloody useless thanagarian mercenaries…"

The barwoman snorts. "That aimed at me? This isn't some spacer bar."

"Yeah, but they're all ex-military, aren't they? Or current military working for the bald-pinioned Crows."

She rolls her eye. "I'll leave a bad review for you. Company?"

"Blades of Alstair. Seriously, if the bar thing gets boring, find a more professional-" Ah, she knows the name. "-outfit. Regular, well-paying work within their risk threshold, and I get five minute's notice before they fly off."

"Where?"

"Vega. Sure, a couple of big players got taken down, but that just means that all the little wannabe operators are going to be kicking up a fuss. If they were getting bored, I could have found something more exciting for them to do. There any other outfits around here?"

"This is a military bar-." She looks past me. "Uh."

I turn-. Jade's walked over to three… Women who could be Shayera Thal's sisters, except they're carrying axes rather than maces-.

I look further, and see the heavily scarred target post.

The one whose turn it is currently throws an axe, managing to hit the middle ring. Jade's right arm moves, and there's a knife in the bull's-eye and three sets of hostile eyes focused on the interloper.

The closest one spreads her wings slightly. "Not enough weight."

Jade shrugs. "Weight doesn't matter if you can't hit the target."

"If my axe hit you and your knife hit me, I know which of us would still be standing."

"If it hit." Her hand moves again, and another knife hits the target next to the first. "And if you were immune to poison. Which you're not-."

An alarm blares from the ceiling, and curses are muttered from around the room as every soldier begins piling-.

Bang!

An officer stands, his tankard slamming into his table. At once the soldiers around the room settle, their movement towards the exit becoming more orderly.

"What's that?"

"Nothing you need to worry about, alien. You drinking anything else, or am I throwing you out so I can clean up and go home?"

 

[hkim]

Someone did it agaiiiiiin

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

7th September 2013
20:51 GMT

I push open the doors to the public house and I'm halfway across the floor to the bar before the thanagarian marines engaged in midday drinking around me have finished double-taking. Surprise surprise, the drinking den closest to the capital's military spaceport is the sole province of the soldiers who work there. And… A couple of officers on one corner table, presumably to keep an eye on the rest.

Click to shrink...

I see OL and company are keeping busy. I presume they're here to dig for information about the Blades of Alstair taking a powder in Vega through local contacts, rather than a quick round down the pub after a long day.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Jade was looking around in suspicion as I led us here, but it wasn't until I walked inside that she actually stopped. Bleez on the other hand wasn't particularly bothered, but she's now stuck standing behind Jade in the doorway.

The barwoman -a scarred thanagarian woman who probably works as her own bouncer- gives me a look reminiscent of a cat that can't quite believe that the mouse is walking up to it; confident that it could kill and eat it but kind of curious how the mouse thinks this is going to go.

Click to shrink...

Admittedly, this mouse could pick the cat up and slam them around the room a couple of times, relatively speaking.

Since this is still 'social drinking' time, the bar stools are unoccupied while the soldiers huddle around tables-.

I hear a thud and an excited shout from the far side of the room as an arm wrestling match concludes itself, and the loser growls for a moment before downing… Ah, I'm not sure what that is but from his reaction it doesn't taste very nice. Winner and loser then shuffle around as a new pair clasp hands and the huddle around them place new bets.

Click to shrink...

Nice touch with a shitty beer being the penalty for losing. Really showing their warrior aspects.

Well, the bar's free, so I take a stool and beckon to the barwoman.

"One glass of dritz, please."

Her remaining eye boggles at someone doing the thanagarian equivalent of walking into a gold rush saloon and asking for a glass of Champaign.

Click to shrink...

To be fair for OL, he's generally been hob-nobbing it in Thanagarian culture, so he might not have realised a local dive bar might not has a wine cellar.

"And-." I turn around as Jade just about finishes her threat assessment and gives me an unamused look. I smile and make a gesture of appeal, and she-.

And she walks with complete confidence and poise across the common roof, her eyes moving the exact minimum amount required to give her warning if one of the patrons tries something.

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No doubt the more sober ones are taking note of that and re-evaluating her threat rating in their eyes. Slightly.

Bleez on the other hand just strolls after her, and she gets-. Well, she's not done up as she would be on stage and I don't think they're recognising her, but they do recognise that she's higher class then them. I caused confusion and it's turning to low level hostility, but I'd say we've got a good three minutes before anyone makes an issue of our presence physically. But these thanagarians are low class. Probably living in barracks because they come from the undercity and the barracks are better.

Click to shrink...

And Bleez is probably just being dismissed as 'shy little rich girl slumming it with her weird alien friends.'

Jade reaches the bar, and turns so that her back is to it while she can see the room. Bleez on the other hand just takes the seat next to me.

"And a glass each for my friends."

Click to shrink...

Hopefully one of them knows more about the local booze. Bleez?

"We don't serve dritz here."

"Oh." Bleez looks at me. "Yeah, a place like this is not going to serve dritz."

Click to shrink...

Good, see? If he'd asked her first, they could have avoided the embarrassment.

"How about-?"

Bleez bats me with her wing. "Just-. Three qwarts of blurn, and-. Not the 'for aliens' version."

Click to shrink...

I wonder if that's anything like the concept of spicy Asian food for 'not-locals' - toned down in spiciness considerably for weaker American palettes.

"We don't have drinks for aliens here, either."

"Well… Three drinks for me, then."

Click to shrink...

And if her alien friends should happen to 'borrow' them, well, she's not going to complain.

The barwoman doesn't immediately move, but after a brief moment of hesitation she turns and takes three large metal tankards off the back wall.

"Why are there cages?" I half-turn to see Jade looking up at the… Large ceiling-mounted… Enclosures. "Do thanagarians have gogo dancers?"

Click to shrink...

This doesn't seem the sort of place, really.

Bleez looks up for a moment, then shakes her head. "Not in places like this. Those are for cage matches."

"Wait, really?" / "Cage matches."

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They must be short and bloody, if they start in arm's reach.

"Sure!"

"They're not very big."

"It's a wrestling thing, not full-on sparring. You're not supposed to use your wings. You wanna try?"

Click to shrink...

Makes sense to me.

"Hah! No. Unless I master nth metal threading, even a thanagarian child would be stronger than me."

Bleez looks at Jade, who carrying on surveying the room for a moment-

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That's impressive. I thought OL was improved to his peak physical condition. Then again, that's probably not close to peak human condition for DC Humans.

"There!" Tha barwoman thumps down our drinks. "And you better finish them! That's my mother's recipe."

-before glancing her way and noticing her interest. "My unarmed style focuses on agility, not strength."

Click to shrink...

Lots of tumbling, for instance, and slicing weak points with blades or nails...

I turn back to the bar-. Ah, that's the horrific abomination against the brewer's art I remember. "Your armed style focuses on agility, too." I pick up the tankard with.. a little ring assistance and nod to the barwoman. "Gatz."

And then I put it to my lips and tip it up… The smell is actually quite nice, and the flavour is alright. It's the texture that forces me to make an effort to avoid gagging -that and the wriggling- but with my rings eliminating my need to breathe...

Click to shrink...

...Now I don't want to know what was in there. Hopefully his Ring can eliminate anything harmful once it's in his gut.

I put the tankard down empty, and smile at the barwoman.

She looks slightly less unimpressed about me being here.

Click to shrink...

That or she's trying to work out if you cheated somehow, given the Power Ring.

"Huh." And so does Bleez. "Now, really, you're supposed to belch really loudly and then throw the tankard at someone."

"I'm not going completely native. Bloody useless thanagarian mercenaries…"

Click to shrink...

Ah, a good way to segue into his reasons for coming here, eh?

The barwoman snorts. "That aimed at me? This isn't some spacer bar."

"Yeah, but they're all ex-military, aren't they? Or current military working for the bald-pinioned Crows."

She rolls her eye. "I'll leave a bad review for you. Company?"

Click to shrink...

Ah, I get it now. The bar is loosely associated with mercenary bands. So people can come here to make contacts and contracts as needed... If they can pass the test.

"Blades of Alstair. Seriously, if the bar thing gets boring, find a more professional-" Ah, she knows the name. "-outfit. Regular, well-paying work within their risk threshold, and I get five minute's notice before they fly off."

"Where?"

Click to shrink...

Ah, she's curious, I see. I'm guessing the running out is atypical.

"Vega. Sure, a couple of big players got taken down, but that just means that all the little wannabe operators are going to be kicking up a fuss. If they were getting bored, I could have found something more exciting for them to do. There any other outfits around here?"

"This is a military bar-." She looks past me. "Uh."

Click to shrink...

So she can't really be seen handing out hints. But a few veiled comments...

I turn-. Jade's walked over to three… Women who could be Shayera Thal's sisters, except they're carrying axes rather than maces-.

I look further, and see the heavily scarred target post.

Click to shrink...

Ah, the thanagarian equivalent of pub darts.

The one whose turn it is currently throws an axe, managing to hit the middle ring. Jade's right arm move, and there's a knife in the bull's-eye and three sets of hostile eyes focused on the interloper.

The closest one spreads her wings slightly. "Not enough weight."

Click to shrink...

Well, she's just asking for an ass-kicking at this rate.

Jade shrugs. "Weight doesn't matter if you can't hit the target."

"If my axe hit you and your knife hit me, I know which of us would still be standing."

"If it hit." Her hand moves again, and another knife hits the target next to the first. "And if you were immune to poison. Which you're not-."

Click to shrink...

And I know it might be silly to ask where she's keeping the knives, but I know the answer: Everywhere.

An alarm blares from the ceiling, and curses are muttered from around the room as every soldier begins piling-.

Bang!

And officer stands, his tankard slamming into his table. At once the soldiers around the room settle, their movement towards the exit becoming more orderly.

Click to shrink...

Heh. Throwing his metaphorical weight around to get them to show some professionalism. Nice.

"What's that?"

"Nothing you need to worry about, alien. You drinking anything else, or am I throwing you out so I can clean up and go home?"

Click to shrink...

Sounds like she's not expecting any more business for the day, then. That alarm must have been serious.

Hoo-boy. Somehow, I just know whatever that was is related to OL's visit. Not necessarily because of any direct action, but we all know how trouble follows him. It only remains to be seen what or who is starting shit, and whether OL's presence is responsible somehow. With any luck, OL won't have to involve himself directly, though...

 

[Duke Long]

Bleez looks at Jade, who carrying on surveying the room for a moment-

Click to shrink...

'carries'

The one whose turn it is currently throws an axe, managing to hit the middle ring. Jade's right arm move, and there's a knife in the bull's-eye and three sets of hostile eyes focused on the interloper.

Click to shrink...

'moves'

And officer stands, his tankard slamming into his table. At once the soldiers around the room settle, their movement towards the exit becoming more orderly.

Click to shrink...

'An'

Does blurn have live worms in it? Sounds interesting in the duck foot sense. I guess it makes sense (in a comedic way) as a drink for bird people.

 

[Signaller]

Her remaining eye boggles at someone doing the thanagarian equivalent of walking into a gold rush saloon and asking for a glass of Champaign.

Click to shrink...

Champagne.

If it helps, with words like that I tend to keep an internal monologue of "pronouncing" them as spelled, in this case cham-pag-ne.

Jade's right arm move, and there's a knife in the bull's-eye and three sets of hostile eyes focused on the interloper.

Click to shrink...

moves

 

[Mr Zoat]

'carries'
'moves'
'An'

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

Does blurn have live worms in it?

Click to shrink...

No, of course not.

It has live maggots in it.

Champagne.

Click to shrink...

CURSE YOU, PECULIARLY NAMED CITY IN ILLINOIS!

 

[mastermenthe]

CURSE YOU, PECULIARLY NAMED CITY IN ILLINOIS!

Click to shrink...

https://www.reddit.com/r/illinois/comments/1pxhomb/whats_the_most_uniqueinterestingstrange_illinois/

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

The informatics parable being told is really odd. I work in IT and I can't understand what is supposed to have been happening, because it doesn't seem possible at first glance...

Click to shrink...

Are you familiar with Crosstalk ? The idea that you can accidentally send a signal intended for one physical location to another because the wiring for both are not shielded and stacked next to each other? Say I have two servos on a robot arm, one for x-axis and one for y-axis. Arm is a tight fit and you end up stacking the control lines for each axis on top of each other. They are insulated so there is no shorting, but close enough to induce a sympathetic current ( especially if in your squeezing you ended up wrapping you wires around a steel support and accidentally make a small transformer coil out of your control lines.)

Now you have a situation where you send a signal down to the x-axis, but it gets picked up by both servos, and your robot starts acting funny. Same thing can happen with any electronic signal, analog or digital. In early computers this could happen to memory storage as well, giving an indirect method of accessing or altering stored data.

The intent of the magical talk is the shrine is designed to send and receive to something like a God of Corruption, but not directly to boss smiley, but Smileys 'nature' means he is inherently 'close' enough to the intended recipient to pick up on it indirectly.

As anyone who has dealt with trouble shooting such things for electronics, it is a bitch to track down.

Edit: An alternative way to put things is like this. Say I want to get in touch with a God of the Hunt on the sly. So I make a shrine to hunting, with all the thematically appropriate stuff like trophies and weapons and such.

BUT, I make it as Generic as possible, nothing specific to a particular god or mythology. Now that shrine is transmitting on the Hunter God frequency, but with no names or specific attached most gods just ignore it like you would junk mail in the post, since it's not for you, just folks in your area. Except for the one hunter god that was expecting it.

 

[PDV]

'

across the common roof,

Click to shrink...

common room

 

[Mr Zoat]

common room

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[Signaller]

Are you familiar with Crosstalk ? The idea that you can accidentally send a signal intended for one physical location to another because the wiring for both are not shielded and stacked next to each other? Say I have two servos on a robot arm, one for x-axis and one for y-axis. Arm is a tight fit and you end up stacking the control lines for each axis on top of each other. They are insulated so there is no shorting, but close enough to induce a sympathetic current ( especially if in your squeezing you ended up wrapping you wires around a steel support and accidentally make a small transformer coil out of your control lines.)

Now you have a situation where you send a signal down to the x-axis, but it gets picked up by both servos, and your robot starts acting funny. Same thing can happen with any electronic signal, analog or digital. In early computers this could happen to memory storage as well, giving an indirect method of accessing or altering stored data.
...
As anyone who has dealt with trouble shooting such things for electronics, it is a bitch to track down.

Click to shrink...

I much prefer relay coils, since if they start acting up you can usually see the problem, and thumping them can be therapeutic.

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

Relays were too slow, too noisy for the stuff beyond on/off. And may melt if abused too much. Still very reliable for intended uses.

Most of the issues I've had were when you try the next steps up the tech ladder in sophistication.

My favorate example:

I was in college visiting a company that was staffed by the local University folks (College = Practical, University = Theoretical ) They were working on a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered, Tele-operated, Mining Scoop Tram.

For control systems they used a full onboard Industrial PC as the brain, which talked to different subsystems via CAN Bus, (a communication protocol for noisy electrical systems, like in your Car's Onboard engine computers and sensors, effectively LAN for heavy industry)

Problem was, despite using this very robust system, every time they put the drive or scoop motors under load they'd lose internal communications. Just get a mess on the comm bus. Room full of very confused post grad engineer types scratching their heads wondering why their 'bullet proof' differential signalling system was going crazy. I wander in....see the fuss....and ask a single question.

'Is the Chassis Live?'

5 Seconds with a Voltmeter answered that question.

Yes

Turns out when they installed the off the rack headlights on the robot, they had shorted it to the steel frame of the robot....and that frame/chassis was being used as their reference ground for ALL the fancy electronics AND the drive motors. It's hard to send Ones and Zeros when your idea of what both is fluctuating up and down like the shithouse seat. Lot of University Profs and Staffers looking very ashamed for missing something a high school automotive student should have been able to spot.

They got a lesson in power/control bus isolation, I got a lesson in not immediately trusting paper experts with physical hardware.

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th September 2013
21:01 GMT

Bleez grins at me. "It'll be fun!"

"Um." My eyes take in the mildly amused barwoman and the blank faced Jade, who is pretending to drink her drink. "I.. don't know…"

"Do you know how often I get to do stuff like this?"

"No, Bleez, I've never been to a thanagarian bar before."

And I was trying to access their systems to find out why a group of half-drunk marines got scrambled. Some ships are moving away from their assigned positions, but Thanagar has excellent interdiction systems so it doesn't seem likely to me that they're actually worried about someone carrying out a landing. They've got teleport jammers, a martial culture where just about everyone knows how to fight to at least some degree and can fly away from a mass landing.

So… Why?

I sigh. "O-. Okay, why me?"

Bleez looks at me seriously. "You're the first guy I've brought somewhere like that that I feel I can do this with. Mostly I go to… You know, fancier places-."

The barwoman shakes her head. "Feel free to do that any time you like."

"Fancier places than this and my managers don't like me doing it and my mother doesn't like me doing it. So come on!"

I look over to Jade. "Jade..?"

"Don't look at me."

"This is starting to sound like something I should ask you about."

"I'm not doing it."

"I-."

She rolls her eyes. "I trust you to be friendly."

Bleez is-. Taking off her outer-.

"Okay, I know I'm a Themysciran, but that doesn't mean we wrestle-."

She drapes her shirt on the barstool , then her skirt, and then she flaps her way up to one of the cages.

Jade regards me placidly.

"For a thanagarian, this is a friend-thing, but you obviously have a total veto-."

"It's fine."

"You understand that, as a human man, having my girlfriend tell me that underwear wrestling another woman is 'fine' is setting off all kinds of warning bells."

The barwoman frowns. "Is wrestling some kind of sex thing for your species?"

"Not always, but it can be."

"Huh. Weird."

"When I was training with the League of Shadows, people wrestled in their underwear all the time. It's fine."

I frown. "Really?"

"You're an empath, Paul."

"And I don't generally poke around your brain without a good reason."

She stares into my eyes for a moment, and then nods. Uh, okay, I'm not exactly sure… Okay, she doesn't… It's a sparring session, she doesn't associate it with-. Ah, good to know.

I send my own clothes into subspace and fly up to the… Huh, the cages have chain… Tunnels you have to push open, which then flop back into place once you're inside. Bleez is already inside, using what little space there is to do warm up flexes-.

I take another look at Jade-. No, the League of Shadows dormitories mean that as far as she's concerned that's not a big deal either. She-.

She frowns at me. Can she actually..? Feel this-?

She's more bothered by the domestic arrangement I have with Taranna and Coutara, which is something that I should address-.

Jade inclines her head slightly. "You're still wearing your rings."

I pull the First Ring off my finger. "Look after them for me?"

I toss it through the bars, and then pull my main ring-

Huh. Slightly warm.

-off and toss it down as Jade catches the First Ring. Not even a shimmer; she clearly has no interest in putting them on.

I give Bleez my full attention. "So why me specifically?"

She blinks in surprise, ceasing her stretching. "I said-."

"We could build a cage on Earth, if you wanted?"

She flexes her right arm, muscle bulging a little. "I know I just look fit, but I'm thanagarian. You know I'm proportionally way stronger than a human woman my shape?"

"Yes."

"So… Out of my friends on Earth, you're the only one about as strong as me. Kara's, like, way stronger, and Taranna and Jade are weaker. And it's really weird hearing you speaking English."

"I congratulate you on how good you've gotten at it." I roll my shoulders. "So are there any special rul-?"

"HRRRYAH!"

Bleez lunges the-! I plant my feet, lean forwards and try and grab her outstretched arms-! She-.

Huh, she was right about us being as strong as each other.

Her right hand shoves at the left side of my chest while my right arm bats her left hand away. She leans forwards, trying to push me back-.

Left arm under and grab her should and push down and step left-. She stumbles slightly but recovers, getting her legs under her and crouching-

It's a little strange, seeing her grin like that.

-before lunging at my chestooof!

I'm pushed back-. Grab arm pull! Bend left! She's pushing me back but she's lighter than-. Grab-. Leg-!

And lift!

"Wha-?"

Turn and drop!

Bleez is lying on her back with me atop her, lying across her abdomen.

I take a moment to get my breath back.

"So-?"

She flexes her wings, pushing off the ground and throwing me against the cage wall!

 

[CrazyNoVa]

The barwoman frowns. "Is wrestling some kind of sex thing for your species?"

"Not always, but it can be."

Click to shrink...

It's days like these that Paul should be thankful that he primarily has Orange vision instead of Sapphire Vision, because if he did have that, who knows what kind of bizarre, depraved shit he'd be seeing in that woman's heart right now?

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

7th September 2013
21:01 GMT

Bleez grins at me. "It'll be fun!"

"Um." My eyes take in the mildly amused barwoman and the blank faced Jade, who is pretending to drink her drink. "I.. don't know…"

Click to shrink...

For a second, I thought we'd stumbled into an 'In Praise of Eros' branch scene, but then I remembered the wrestling cages. I guess Bleez wants to spend a little time getting up close and personal with OL's Ring-forged beefcake while she has the chance.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

"Do you know how often I get to do stuff like this?"

"No, Bleez, I've never been to a thanagarian bar before."

Click to shrink...

Good show of bravado back there, then, drinking the wriggly beer.

And I was trying to access their systems to find out why a group of half-drunk marines got scrambled. Some ships are moving away from their assigned positions, but Thanagar has excellent interdiction systems so it doesn't seem likely to me that they're actually worried about someone carrying out a landing. They've got teleport jammers, a martial culture where just about everyone knows how to fight to at least some degree and can fly away from a mass landing.

Click to shrink...

Could just be a drill, but somehow, I don't think it's that simple...

So… Why?

I sigh. "O-. Okay, why me?"

Click to shrink...

Need I repeat: Ring-forged beefcake? And Bleez is enough of a xenophile to find humans attractive that way, I suspect.

Bleez looks at me seriously. "You're the first guy I've brought somewhere like that that I feel I can do this with. Mostly I go to… You know, fancier places-."

The barwoman shakes her head. "Feel free to do that any time you like."

Click to shrink...

Hey, they bought expensive drinks. Can't you be at least a little nicer?

"Fancier places than this and my managers don't like me doing it and my mother doesn't like me doing it. So come on!"

I look over to Jade. "Jade..?"

Click to shrink...

Good plan, asking permission from the missus before tussling with a bird-babe.

"Don't look at me."

"This is starting to sound like something I should ask you about."

Click to shrink...

Yeah, he knows that if he didn't ask, Jade would be a lot colder for a while.

"I'm not doing it."

"I-."

She rolls her eyes. "I trust you to be friendly."

Click to shrink...

...Oh, joy.

Bleez is-. Taking off her outer-.

"Okay, I know I'm a Themysciran, but that doesn't mean we wrestle-."

Click to shrink...

Although I don't know how well pankration would work in these circumstances anyway.

She drapes her shirt on the barstool , then her skirt, and then she flaps her way up to one of the cages.

Jade regards me placidly.

Click to shrink...

Ah, perhaps now we see why she's smiling. He's going to strip off too, isn't he? No doubt she quite enjoys the view.

"For a thanagarian, this is a friend-thing, but you obviously have a total veto-."

"It's fine."

Click to shrink...

I wonder if she ever gets a little annoyed by his considerate nature?

"You understand that, as a human man, having my girlfriend tell me that underwear wrestling another woman is 'fine' is setting off all kinds of warning bells."

The barwoman frowns. "Is wrestling some kind of sex thing for your species?"

Click to shrink...

...It can be. Depends on how much clothing is involved.

"Not always, but it can be."

"Huh. Weird."

Click to shrink...

Enjoy your first taste of Earth Bullshit™, even if it's not the crazy stuff.

"When I was training with the League of Shadows, people wrestled in their underwear all the time. It's fine."

I frown. "Really?"

Click to shrink...

I rather suspect the stakes were a lot higher then, and blades were involved more often than not.

"You're an empath, Paul."

"And I don't generally poke around your brain without a good reason."

Click to shrink...

Something he has been doing a lot less of, I'll note. At least on a deeper level than a light glance.

She stares into my eyes for a moment, and then nods. Uh, okay, I'm not exactly sure… Okay, she doesn't… It's a sparring session, she doesn't associate it with-. Ah, good to know.

I send my own clothes into subspace and fly up to the… Huh, the cages have chain… Tunnels you have to push open, which then flop back into place once you're inside. Bleez is already inside, using what little space there is to do warm up flexes-.

Click to shrink...

I wonder if his lack of wings will be a disadvantage here, or will he be a lot more slippery than the usual competitor?

I take another look at Jade-. No, the League of Shadows dormitories mean that as far as she's concerned that's not a big deal either. She-.

She frowns at me. Can she actually..? Feel this-?

Click to shrink...

I suspect that's more 'stop stalling, honey and get in there' than her feeling you looking at her.

She's more bothered by the domestic arrangement I have with Taranna and Coutara, which is something that I should address-.

Jade inclines her head slightly. "You're still wearing your rings."

Click to shrink...

In his defence, that's more something the ladies settled into around him than anything he's encouraged.

I pull the First Ring off my finger. "Look after them for me?"

I toss it through the bars, and then pull my main ring-

Click to shrink...

The original Ring made by Hinon and cast into the Bleed, or Larfleeze's original Ring? A worthy distinction either way.

Huh. Slightly warm.

-off and toss it down as Jade catches the First Ring. Not even a shimmer; she clearly has no interest in putting them on.

Click to shrink...

And she'll defend them quite efficiently if anything amiss happens. At least until he recalls them.

I give Bleez my full attention. "So why me specifically?"

She blinks in surprise, ceasing her stretching. "I said-."

"We could build a cage on Earth, if you wanted?"

Click to shrink...

Oh, boy, I can just imagine the misunderstandings when people see that.

She flexes her right arm, muscle bulging a little. "I know I just look fit, but I'm thanagarian. You know I'm proportionally way stronger than a human woman my shape?"

"Yes."

Click to shrink...

Yeah, the Hawks are also way stronger than they look, and tougher too. Good way to catch people out.

"So… Out of my friends on Earth, you're the only one about as strong as me. Kara's, like, way stronger, and Taranna and Jade are weaker. And it's really weird hearing you speaking English."

"I congratulate you on how good you've gotten at it." I roll my shoulders. "So are there any special rul-?"

Click to shrink...

Ah, I see. She wants a good workout the others can't give her.

"HRRRYAH!"

Bleez lunges the-! I plant my feet, lean forwards and try and grab her outstretched arms-! She-.

Click to shrink...

Not wasting any time getting started either.

Huh, she was right about us being as strong as each other.

Her right hand shoves at the left side of my chest while my right arm bats her left hand away. She leans forwards, trying to push me back-.

Click to shrink...

A typically aggressive fighting style. She really wants to get in close and grapple.

Left arm under and grab her should and push down and step left-. She stumbles slightly but recovers, getting her legs under her and crouching-

It's a little strange, seeing her grin like that.

Click to shrink...

...Somehow, I don't think this is purely a workout for her.

-before lunging at my chestooof!

I'm pushed back-. Grab arm pull! Bend left! She's pushing me back but she's lighter than-. Grab-. Leg-!

Click to shrink...

Not enough room for a real defensive, keep-away play here.

And lift!

"Wha-?"

Turn and drop!

Click to shrink...

So better to go for his own quick takedown.

Bleez is lying on her back with me atop her, lying across her abdomen.

I take a moment to get my breath back.

Click to shrink...

Don't count her out yet...

"So-?"

She flexes her wings, pushing off the ground and throwing me against the cage wall!

Click to shrink...

...It ain't over until someone gives up or stops moving.

This is all kinds of amusing at first glance. OL getting to wrestle practically naked with a friend while his lady watched on? Some men would dream of such a thing. I half-expect something to happen, anyway. Though being without his Rings puts him at a light disadvantage if things go sideways, he can always recall them...

 

[Jankl]

Huh, she was right about us being as strong as each other.

Click to shrink...

So when and how did Paul get strong enough to wrestle with a thanagarian like this? Did he make himself that strong with his rings?

 

[mastermenthe]

Jade inclines her head slightly. "You're still wearing your rings."

I pull the First Ring off my finger. "Look after them for me?"

I toss it through the bars, and then pull my main ring-

Huh. Slightly warm.

-off and toss it down as Jade catches the First Ring. Not even a shimmer; she clearly has no interest in putting them on.

Click to shrink...

NOT AGAIN

- YouTube

Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.

m.youtube.com

 

[Mr Zoat]

So when and how did Paul get strong enough to wrestle with a thanagarian like this? Did he make himself that strong with his rings?

Click to shrink...

Bleez isn't a soldier. Using the Nth metal in her body to maximally enhance her fighting ability takes training and experience that she doesn't have.

 

[Duke Long]

"Okay, I know I'm a Themysciran, but that doesn't mean we wrestle-."

Click to shrink...

The face Wonder Woman makes in that first image is hilarious. Thanks for the hyperlinks hahaha.

"So… Out of my friends on Earth, you're the only one about as strong as me. Kara's, like, way stronger, and Taranna and Jade are weaker. And it's really weird hearing you speaking English."

Click to shrink...

Was going to say how surprising I find this, but it has already been explained. I guess Oh El was either mistaken or joking when he said a thanagarian child could overpower him a few minutes ago?

"I congratulate you on how good you've gotten at it." I roll my shoulders. "So are there any special rul-?"

"HRRRYAH!"

Click to shrink...

Scream and leap!

Left arm under and grab her should and push down and step left-. She stumbles slightly but recovers, getting her legs under her and crouching-

Click to shrink...

'shoulder'