https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/03/...me-canary/

Basically, another attempt at replacing third party cookies for advertising with their own, baked in, unavoidable tracking profile builder in Chrome. "Google argues that it is mandatory that it builds a user tracking and advertising system into Chrome, and the company says it won't block third-party cookies until it accomplishes that."

Here's the rub, it uses your own computer cycles to do this now.

Okay.  This one just blindsided me, but it's the kind of Muse-Bites-Man thing that you all love me for.

Just after the bit with me posting the lyrics for the Gorillaz "Clint Eastwood", and then the bit about Micheru confronting Ben, The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes" jumped into my mind and simply would not go away.

At first, I thought of having my character singing it and have it be a bit of insight Uranus and Neptune gets for his character...

...And then I suddenly realized it would have a HELL of a lot more impact coming from Alicia Testarosa.

The idea here is that this would be during the time that Alicia is under the care of Haruka and Micheru... but because of her empathic bond with Benjamin, as well as her own feelings about what they did to Nanoha and Fate...  Yeah, even though they've had experience in caring for a child (Hotaru), caring for one that actively resents them is a whole different ball of wax.

There are several reasons that this is done.

For one, it's because Haruka and Micheru need first-hand experience in dealing with the consequences of their actions.

Another reason is that Benjamin is in no shape at all to be caring for a child - even one that is as close to him as Alicia is.  He could easily slip into neglecting her in the midst of his depression, and Alicia would simply accept it because she feels what he feels.

Lastly, it's seen as a safe option because it's known that Haruka and Micheru won't do anything to harm her in any way, shape, or form.  And even then, they're under the watchful eyes of everyone else at the Westwoods Apartments.

Haruka and Micheru will try to bond with the girl, but to little avail.  While they have accepted that Benjamin is far more than they can handle, and that they have indeed messed up, it still hasn't really hit home for them yet just how badly they messed up.

One of Micheru's attempts is sharing in her passion of music with Alicia - she's picked up on Benjamin's own passion for music and, with her mathematical genius, had started messing around with mash-ups on a virtual mixer board.  So, Micheru gets her a decent quality mixer board and 24-track recorder.

Imagine Micheru's shock when she pauses outside the door to Alicia's room to hear her singing The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes" with even more heartfelt passion and rage than Pete Townsend has ever presented.

And it is only here that they begin to realize.

Alicia is very much her own person.  But that person also includes a good deal of what makes Benjamin the person he is.  This is because while Benjamin's traumas were his own, they now share a trauma between them - the unraveling of Fate and Nanoha's minds.

And with Benjamin's emotional state being what it is?  There are times where she is fully channeling her beloved older brother, and becomes the man himself, only in the form of a little girl.

A little girl with far less self-control than Benjamin, and a very high mage-potential.

There will be a scene where she throws a huge tantrum that looks like a scene out of The Exorcist.  Micheru and Haruka call for back-up and Madoka and Homura come in... only for them to turn around right away and call in Benjamin.

But she is channeling Benjamin's rage so much that she attacks him...  Why?  Because his rage is inherently self-destructive, and what better way to destroy himself than through another person?  Not that this is his conscious feelings, but something on a more primordial level.  Fortunately, no magic because he's got his AMF cranked up.  But as he holds the raging child in his arms, dimorphic expression kicks in and she bites him so hard that she draws blood (the first and only time this will ever happen).  And she stays latched on, not letting go, even after she starts crying.

Benjamin doesn't have to say a word afterward.  He can see it in their eyes.  They now fully understand what it is they have done - how they have nearly ruined more lives than just those of Nanoha's and Fate's.

That night, Benjamin takes Alicia back, caring for her as her big brother.  And the biting continues to occur, as Alicia copes with the intense emotional swings she's experiencing.  Just nowhere nearly as hard as that first bite.

And Benjamin knows the truth behind those bites, because he can feel the emotion through their bond.  One so powerful that he can even hear the words behind it.  The words are not shouted.  They are a gentle and supplicant whisper in his mind, one that leaves absolutely no doubt whatsoever.

i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you...

Poor Inara has her work cut out for her.

Old thread is old

AP story here

Any comment I could make is already made in the article.

... of spoons.



Say hello to Server Tick.

(I blame OpMegs.)

--sofaspud
--also: I finally fixed my login issues!  yay!

As of late, it's been down, and is actually throwing this error:

Quote:Internal Server Error

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    in /home/fanficauthors.net/src/FanficAuthors.php at line 161

#0 /home/fanficauthors.net/src/web.php(411): FanficAuthors->getDomainByName()
#1 /home/fanficauthors.net/src/web.php(90): RequestHandler->checkSite()
#2 /home/fanficauthors.net/src/web.php(26): RequestHandler->handleInternalRequest()
#3 /home/fanficauthors.net/lib/http.php(63): RequestHandler->handleRequest()
#4 /home/fanficauthors.net/public_html/index.php(28): httpApplication->run()
#5 {main}

link

I don't expect I need to explain why an area-effect "Hold My Beer" field lives up to the song name. Of course, it does leave Doug with the impression that using it is sheer genius, at least while it's playing. That's pretty much the entire effect, in fact

e: Well, it could be useful if Doug is somehow treed or otherwise needs the enemy to defeat themselves, but very much a godzilla-threshold level Doug Grenade even then.

Magic Power by Triumph

Meta-power: allows Doug to 'share' his meta-gift.  For the next song he hears, he can give 1 female the same powers he'd get.  Like Doug, they need to be able to hear/understand the lyrics (the song has to be played where they can hear it, not just inside LT's helmet)

Possible variation, with this Meta-song, when the next song triggers, Doug can give someone the power as I suggested above, but LT does _not_ get the enhancement/power, he's just the channel for the magic to go to his helper.

For the second time in the last few months, I've had to decline the membership of a new user who appeared in all other ways to be genuine for failing to reply to my "just reassure me you're not a spambot" email.

I wish I knew what I could do to make it more obvious that it's necessary to reply.  I already throw a bright blue banner up -- visible only to those waiting on their registration -- telling them to expect an email and the need to reply to it.  And I know this guy must have seen it -- according to the admin control panel he's checked the boards at least twice since he registered.  But he hasn't replied -- not even to say "hey, i didn't get an email".

And I'm not going to put the boards at risk by taking pity on him and approving his membership without the email.

But damn, cases like this one really bother me.

I placed an order with Right Stuf last December 26. I just checked their website - everything in my order is now showing as being in stock (two boxes weren't, three weeks ago), but they haven't shipped the order yet.

I placed an order with CDJapan on Sunday. Everything was listed as "Usually ships in 2-4 weeks". They're packing the box today - a half-week after I placed the order. (Monday was a holiday in Japan.) Which tells me where I want to shop for things that don't need English subtitles... but so few Japanese discs have English subtitles, and they're pricey.

I recall placing an order directly with Sentai Filmworks at the same time I placed the order with Right Stuf. That was fulfilled and shipped in a timely manner, on par with CDJapan's turnaround time. But they only have their own titles.

Where do people who still buy Blu-rays buy them from nowadays?