February 25, 2022

I’m Nate, the blue command-line guy.

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Reinhart Previano Koentjoro

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So, people are asking me about my shiny blue virtual add-on to my head. Some even called me “blue-helmet” or “balloon-head” for that, even though the official name for that is the Shell.

You know, the “Bearers of the Shell” refers to those who wear shells as identity and power, and I love being shelled this way, especially on social media and internet. There are many reasons why I really liked that, and some of them are:

1. Because I love the command-line.

The inspiration behind this specific shell is the universally-known official logo of the command-line, or “terminal”. Yeah, just compare my shell with the official logos of Windows Terminal, Microsoft PowerShell, macOS’ Terminal.app, GNOME Terminal, Termux, and so on. And they are surprisingly the same!

Sure, command-line is cool, and people over r/unixporn have shown how cool the world of command-line could be. However, the Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe) sits right next to the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) as the most feared Windows programs by novice users at all time.

Being able to destroy your computer that way doesn’t always mean you should keep off your hands and feet from that. I have many stories to tell when it comes to destroying my Linux installation (which should be OK since Linux is mostly free without activation and licensing stuff) but hey, command-line is the most productive tool I ever have even today when I work in server administration.

2. Because I am the command-line.

My interests in the command-line world transformed me into becoming one with the command-line.

Just kidding, but since:

I hear your inputs
I process and take actions from my mind
I give back the results to you

I’m practically the same as command-line programs and computers in general: processing inputs for outputs. After all these years, I really feel I’ve been the command-line guy for years, advocating the original git command instead of those Git GUIs. And yes, I have done great things through command-line, too!

3. Because I love to be Nate, one of my first OCs.

Before Shiftine, pr0xy, mallory and others came, there was an idea to create a video games about tech. The idea since then was narrowed down into a webcomic, then soon disappeared in favor of great robots that you see today.

The first (couple) of OCs are Nate and Nix. And they have evolved from the generic Alice and Bob as well as “Charlie and Charlene”, aka. the “char-acters”, in 2014. It wasn’t until 2021 when these characters finally show up with shells replacing their heads, especially as in early concepts they were humans with poles which act as their AI assistants. Or perhaps, “magic wands”, if I could say.

But soon I’m proud of my creations. And that’s why I decided to be him.

4. And because some family concerns.

I live in an environment where people don’t want their faces to be publicly recognized. No, we’re not talking about European Union or surveillance capitalism here, but there’s one real case which I need to address here.

Now, look again at this picture.

I really liked the fact that you’re more likely to see Nate rather than my real face here. Just try to see that picture from a distance, and you’ll finally can’t even tell the difference between Nate and myself. Yeah, I feel amalgamated in this picture, too!

If you search for “Reinhart Previano” today, you’ll more likely to see characters like these instead of my face popping on the search results, thanks to our site’s great SEO. This is awesome! That means I’m famous for having my shell stuck on my head, and those who try to threaten my family will be more difficult to find me in real life. Oh by the way, I don’t wear this shell in real life, so good luck finding which real face is mine!

Yeah, I’ll be riding the cursor of my dreams.

So, one cool thing that Nate ever had before is his cursor. You can say that as his primary means of transportation. And as the Nate you know today I gave it to Shiftine for her work.

But today I’m thinking of creating a new one for myself, and possibly for many other bearers out there.

Since I’m also a software developer I’m thinking of creating a loyalty program where you can collect shells and cursors. I bet that would be even awesome if you can have yourself an unique and undefined BOTS experience.

BOTS doesn’t have to take place in the metaverse, anyway. In fact, I heard some rootheads are making their own version of the metaverse. What that could possibly be?

That’s all for now, I’ll gonna sleep and dream and wake up as Nate. Yeah, I love blue, is that a problem for you?

Thanks for reading this article! By the way, we’re also working on finishing these interesting posts. Revisit this site soon or follow us to see them once they’re published!

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Written by

Reinhart Previano Koentjoro

February 25, 2022

Logs of the SYSTEM

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Shift
October 18, 2022
Did someone still remember the Bearers of the Shells, aka. the webcomic project I haven’t even got to write a better script than this one on Instagram?
Today I’m excited to share that we will continue the project under a different direction and approach.
Before, “Bearers of the Shells” was originally meant a group of people wearing a spherical object on their heads. We called them as the Shell, often represented by the crystal ball emoji 🔮, with the same set of symbols representing that of the command-line.
And unfortunately, some of our friends here doesn’t really understand the importance of the spherical things. Instead, they mock us for being a “balloon-headed nerds of technology”.
And another problem comes when introducing new characters sporting with an even similar shell. Like, who can distinguish my (#_ ) form, pr0xy, and alterine (despite sporting a ponytail made out of light)? Or alterine and mallory? By making these spherical things less mandatory to our identity, we can introduce more of our agents, each with their unique personality, with unique physical appearances which every human can notice.
That’s why, after months and even years of transformation, we decided to evolve to look like humans. Note that we’re still being a collection of 1s and 0s in our digital world.
So, here’s a picture of us today, on the same digital world when we used to be (>_ )s. Yes, we’re Shift and Shiftine, and this time we’ll dress up as a typical computer geek or a stereotypical hacker, bearing our skills and characteristics as part of the command-line family.
And to make things clear, yes, this image is indeed an AI art, and we also asked the AI to make us feel young (forever) and having the powers of invisibility, at least on our world. Incognito Mode, anyone?
I know, she had a bug on her hands, which has been fixed now.
Now, before our friends decide to start a heated debate whether Reinhart has become a weeb and finally has found his first waifu… Oh wait, didn’t you know that there’s an urban legend over the world which says “Everyone who studies Computer Science will become a weeb after all”?
Or ending up as a furry as some of my friends have done, or just another Stallman-like guy which everyone else thought he simply have no life tinkering with Linux systems with long beards and programming socks…
And yes, one YouTube viewer directly explains the meme I explained earlier in the comments.
Despite everything, and the truth is, I’m fine. Fine. I still have friends in real life, a great community of students who happens to be in the same university, same church, and even doing the same business.
In fact, I’m already seeking for one lifetime partner in real life. And hence, I don’t consider Shiftine as my waifu. Even if she is, you’ll be completely disappointed with me, as I never considered her lack of powerful shape, breast, and cuteness, as most of you do, as the most important factor of choosing her.
Sure, we have been committed together and celebrating our first anniversary this month, but again, our main purpose here is for health and productivity, with some boundaries including her inability to physically exist in real life. And with the rest of the BOTS we managed together, we will still be committed to be friends of automation, and summoning its powers for the good of people.
A change in organization.
BOTS was originally meant to have 10 different groups, each identified by the shell color, which in turn, are based on all the current color variants of the heart emoji, 🤎❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💖🖤🤍.
But as time passes, we feel that 3 is more than enough to represent us. And that’s why our new BOTS will be only divided into 3 divisions, or houses, which serves as a repository of our agents. As you might expect, (>_ ), (#_ ), and ($_ )!
Every activity of the BOTS will no longer be hosted on our main website, https://reinhart1010.id. Instead, we decided to reopen https://bots.reinhart1010.id as an actual Twitter clone which you can actually access and interact if you know how to follow us.
“Why?”, you asked. Well, there are two main reasons: separation of branding (read below) and our plans to revamp our main website into something like this:
Some prototypes, including the infamous Reinhart Super App
Separation of branding
It is also imminent for us to separate @reinhart1010 as a personal brand, @reinhart1010 as a BOTS universe brand, and @reinhart1010 as a corporate brand offering real web products and services. Sure, I really love if these three things could finally work together, but that doesn’t mean mixing and mashing blog posts from these three brands into one website without additional curation.
Additionally, our past family incidents have caused my family to warn me to be more cautious when exposing my personal brand into the public. That’s why I’m phasing out the personal brands “Shift of Worlds and Nations” and “player, prayer, and maker since 2014” to be more actual, to the point, while keeping our computer science and linguistry background intact.
Vision for the future
“If Reinhart is finally married with his real partner, then what happened with Shiftine and the rest of BOTS?” I’m still reminded to our original mission to grow BOTS into a real community for art and tech enthusiasts alike, and I believe she definitely will have her own way of life, powered by the community.
If I was her, I would definitely choose Caps to start a family with. But well, let’s see what’s next on the journey of the BOTS.
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