Microsoft unlocks BitLocker for feds

Quote:Last year, Redmond reportedly provided the FBI with encryption keys to unlock the laptops of Windows users charged in a fraud indictment.

The government case [PDF], which claims defendants in Guam fraudulently collected pandemic unemployment benefits, represents the first publicly known instance of Microsoft providing BitLocker keys, according to Forbes.

I like the AI cover


link

but perhaps the original is more to your taste


link

(original ver. video has the lyrics, not that either one is hard to understand)

It's a simulacrum song, except the copy it calls up is Doug himself. Since the copy is Doug, it's also got his equipment, including a helmet playing the song, so it produces another copy. And another copy. And another copy, and another, until the latest Dough is quick enough to turn on his tuneplug at least. The more of them that form the weaker each copy is and they all draw off the same magic pool, so it's very easy to drain himself dry if he's not careful about numbers, but they all have an accurate mental copy, and physical strength and speed fall much slower than endurance, so there's still plenty of use cases where it's just what he needs to handle the situation.

Yes, the last Doug in the line can use a different song without disrupting the rest, as long as he's got it on headphones-only mode. The use of a metasong may also drop the result down to a single copy, depending on its modifier effect.

According to the page banner that went up at some point in the last 12 hours:

Quote:AO3 will be down for about 15 hours starting at 08:00 UTC on January 21 (what time is that for me?) while we make some improvements to searching bookmarks and series. Please follow our status page for updates.

I'm considering having the cast of  Haibane Renmei  (my favorite show) as the characters in need of lodging.

For those not in the know, Haibane Renmei is Yoshitoshi ABe (of "Niea Under Seven" fame, and the character designer of Texnohlyze and Serial Experiments Lain)'s emotional rollercoaster of a non-JudeoChristian[1] sin/redemption story, set in a town with walls no one can see beyond, with two races -- the humans, and the Haibane (halos and itty-bitty wings because that looks cute (paraphrasing the creator)), are hatched from a cocoon without any memories about who they are, and are named after the dream they had in the cocoon, they must work (librarian, clockmaker, baker, teacher's aide, temple assistant), they cannot directly handle money to pay for things for themselves (but can work a cash register), and can only own used goods (food, fuel, and Reki's cigarettes notwithstanding).

The Haibane each, individually, eventually undertake a "Day of Flight" and lose their wings and halo and ascend past the walls, once they've accomplished whatever it is they were supposed to accomplish.  No one knows where they go after their Flight.

The idea being that the remaining 5 Haibane (Rakka, Reki, Nemu, Hikari, Kana) -- after Kuu took hers early on in the series -- have each undergone their Flight, only to all all show up in Manhattan at the same time, same place, broke, in need of a place to stay, and thoroughly confused as to why there's no walls on Wall St.

It'd be a slice-of-life addition to KanriKyara, with five young women (I believe Rakka is 15(?) with Nemu at 21(?) and Reki (20?) -- those two are old enough to buy liquor, at least), with their halos and itty-bitty wings back on, adjusting to the mundane aspects of 2016 (or is it 2026 by now?), and trying to figure out why they've got the wings and halos back.

Not sure, though, if this would fit in given the rest of the characters listed on the Wiki.

This story is available on AO3

A while back we had a pretty long thread of "what would this title be about" but this one kind of needs the description to go with it:

"The Smoking Gun"
cover image is a revolver with a lit cigarette in the barrel

I can't come up with anything better than a tropey noir detective mystery, but I'm sure someone can.

And of course, chime in if you have any odd or interesting image/title/combos but nothing particularly hook-y of your own. It was a lot of fun the first time around even if it did eventually run out of steam, but a few years might have let some batteries recharge.

It seems odd to start a Dearly Departed thread with somebody like this...

Aldrich Ames, CIA turncoat.

Died in prison.

Hi, All~!

I thought I might as well say hello first.

My hobbies are reading, writing (and arithmetic too!), FFXIV, hockey, and being the pet-parent to my Yorkie (or is she my pet-parent?)

Oooh!  The forums are snowing!

Way back when DWII was the only story that Bob had released any part of, we all assumed that it was far enough in the future that anything we could suggest was probably in the shared history of both our timeline and MegaTokyo's timeline.

However, it's now 2026. A.D. Police Files, the prequel to BGC, is set in 2027... and its music scene is audibly different from our own. I think "Doug got a copy of this new song in MegaTokyo" isn't going to cut it any more. And none of the published Steps or Staggers have a local date any later than DWII's local date, if I recall correctly.

So, I see three possibilities:

1. Doug raided the TARDIS's music library when he met The Doctor and Rose in that one-line Nanostep (and the TARDIS actually has a music library).
   
2. Somebody in-universe used the Door to Space-Time to deliver a present from Crystal Tokyo for Doug in DW-S. This one means any of the newest songs are probably unavailable until Doug remembers he has them, which doesn't happen until (IIRC) DWX.
   
3. Somebody IRL is going to have to write a Stagger set somewhere in advance of anything we've got so far. (However, that somebody isn't going to be me -- my plate's full.)
   

click here

Effect: conjures a tiny humanoid in a leotard and tutu, around two inches tall but as strong and capable of moving and jumping roughly equivalently to a normal sized, athletic human. She may also manifest with a normal sized needle and thread to use as a prop like a cane or fencing epee, or for a quick spot of sewing to repair a tear or fasten a few inches of textiles (the results will persist as normal for the material.) Doug can see and hear through her senses separately from his own, and she can hear even a whisper from him at any distance he's managed to separate them within the song's duration regardless of obstacles, vacuum, environmental noise or deliberate jamming/sound absorption. The summon is a dancer of supreme skill and both willing and able to simply perform or give lessons for as long as she is manifested, along with the more tactical scouting or ambush possibilities, or hopping into a confined space to retrieve a small object that fell and bounced out of reach. Care must be taken when standing on or manipulating less durable materials, as while there is some degree of necessary-secondary-powers tactile TK involved to support herself and whatever she is touching, both her feet and hands are teeny tiny and can puncture things that would require tools for a normal sized person with equivalent strength let alone with her needle.