When Romance Smoked; Memory Survives

"Stuff like this is made to brainwash young girls into thinking that they can 'fix' dangerous men. Such girls usually end up in abusive relationships and their parents are right to worry."

It is rather strange to come across such a gross generalization, operating on an assumption that girls are blank slates whom anyone can manipulate and who can't distinguish between real and make believe on top of it.

In my entire "career"(if you can call it that) of engaging with fiction , the girls and women that I have run into in fandoms happened to be some of the most intelligent, talented, cool, witty and insightful people I have ever met. I've devoured the fics they have written. I have delighted in the arts and edits they've made. Their perspectives and interpretations about the characters and their relationships are genuinely fascinating to read about regardless of whether I agree with it or not. They are the ones who are most often at the receiving end of the antis' ire for no valid reason but they just keep deriving joy and inspiration from their favourite characters and ships and keep sharing it with others through stories, art and thoughts. They are not just smart but incredibly resilient, sensitive and aware not just about the media they consume but about the world around them and its issues.

After asking the question, "what kind of font does the SM-13's terminal UI utilize?" Our friend over at @fontseeker gave us an answer, and with it, an even greater discovery!

It's the bios font from the Acer 710 computer from 1987. You can download it as part of The Ultimate Oldschool PC Font Pack.

Because of course they'd use a real BIOS font! Why would they not? These guys are detail junkies!

Unfortunately for them, so am I.

While I have an entirely different reblog thread about the font, a detail snagged my attention. It's a BIOS font. For the Acer 710.

Indeed, the ACER 710 is truly a computer you can count on. - Acer Technologies Targets Comdex (1987) [ PDF ]

[ Image Source ]

Some facts I've learned about this computer:

Its original retail price was $995.

It was one of the fastest 8088-based PCs available at the time.

It was part of the very first line of computers released after the company officially rebranded from Multitech Electronics to Acer Technologies Corp. in June 1987.

Acer actually went through the trouble of modifying IBM's standard system font glyphs for its BIOS text display.

It originally shipped with the Acer KB-102A mechanical keyboard. It has Alps SKCM Blue clicky switches.

The system’s dedicated 14-inch dual-frequency monochrome monitor (the MM-14) won the Die gute Industrieform award in Germany.

It was marketed as a "small footprint" system, designed to reclaim huge amounts of desk space compared to the monster IBM computers of the mid-1980s. It was specifically designed to be compact.

Unlike many computers of its day that required separate expansion cards for freakin' everything, the 710 had its graphics (supporting MDA, CGA, and Hercules monochrome) built directly into the motherboard. This computer was a one-stop shop!

Did the C.O.I. snag a 383-year-old motherboard for the SM-13? Not likely. We can truly, finally, place this movie's setting in a Cassette Futurism genre outside of the Iron Lung.

These guys were using operable 1980s technology in the year 2370 AD. What an absolutely insanely niche way to nod at the outside world! We can assume that this is a hunk of junk and not worth missing by their standards, as it was built into a burner sub, so we can then assume that the technology of Iron Lung is a little ahead of this. Possibly 90s to early 2000s if we really want to push it.

None of this cheerleader stuff for soccer, oh no sireee, I mean, no disrespect to cheerleaders who put a LOT of work and effort into their performances, but somehow "Rah-Rah! We're the best" from peppily gymnastic young things can't quite match the sheer power of entire stadiums of grown up fans yelling at the top of their lungs things like....

It's unclear if this one originated with the English of Scottish games (spelling of "old" as "auld" notwithstanding), but either way, well done.

And it's striking home too! :D

Page 34

yeah that's right, rocky full sentences time.

i also need you all to know the actual translation of "pebble" isnt like the small rock pebble, it does literally translate to "baby" and simon would hear it as "baby". i wrote "pebble" because grace translated eridian babies as "pebbles" for his own amusement. therefore: you, the viewer, get the grace terminology.

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