storymaker14

[storymaker14]

[storymaker14]

Well... It's written. 💚❤️

The final draft, of the final (please, God, let it be the final) chapter of the Vulcan Fluff series, Secrets and Memories, is written, and stands at 35,600 words -- way under the estimate, primarily because the size of the final section increased way less than expected. But whatever.

So, my plan remains: read over the whole thing Monday, do a little bit of polish as necessary (especially the final bit), and then leave it alone for a week. I know how that week is likely to be occupied, with some real life stuff. Then next Monday, come back and see what's what, and see if it's ready for people to see it.

Which reminds me 😁 I did go back and change that character's name in my copies of the previous stories; I will probably at some point subtly update what's on Tumblr, because I've made other tweaks as well. I will likely leave the spoiler in place, because (1) I haven't ruled out third and finals on everything, and (2) the poll I put up has spoken.

And once VF4 is up... Well, it'll be time. I have no clue how much time, effort, and etc, it will take to get The State of Our Union published, but that'll be my next goal. Which is just kind of a holy 💩 moment, really. After that?

...

I don't know.

That's a weird feeling after nearly two years of solid creative purpose. I mean, yeah, third and finals on the other VF stories, but I just did a 35.6k third of a 27.7k second in three weeks flat; the rest of VF combined is 44.4k, so I don't think it's hubris to say it won't take too long when and if I do it.

Oh, and before I forget: if you read the first chunk of Secrets and Memories and think, hang on, the math doesn't math... that's intentional and will be addressed, I promise 😁

See you soon.

[storymaker14]

Today hasn't been very good. Reblog to cover prev in blankets and tell them everything is going to be okay and they're loved.

[storymaker14]

VF4 Pre-Postmortem, and What Comes Next

It’s been a while since I gave you an update, so here it is.

Given the progress I’m making, it looks pretty likely that I’m going to finish VF4 – Secrets and Memories – by the end of the week. Then I’m going to do the usual: let it rest for a week, re-read and make final changes, send it into the world.

And then.

I honestly want to do third and finals on the rest of the Vulcan Fluff series, but that’s starting to feel like productive procrastination. So instead, it will be time to lean in on The State of Our Union. I’ll look for potential test readers and cover artists and companies to self-publish, and maybe even subtly reach out to my local Barnes and Noble about that Local Author shelf of theirs. And then, The State of Our Union will enter the real world, and I will cross something off my bucket list. Then we might see about third and finals.

It’s all been mad, it really has. I am so glad, though, that I decided to let the Christmas 2024 deadline just blow by and do a third draft of VF4, because I really need to get this one right. And it’s big. Like, if you take the rest of the series together in their second-draft forms, that’s 44k words. VF4 alone is expected to be 36-37k. But yes, that means the whole series is 80-81k words, which makes sense given how long I’ve been working on it. And given that there is an actual tendency toward my third drafts being 20-25% longer than my seconds, that would put it more in the 90k range if I did go back. (The State of Our Union stands at 99,741 right now. Yeah.)

I feel like I have more to say about VF4, and VF in general, but maybe once it’s done and out there. But seriously, y’all: do second and third drafts. It takes more time, but the benefits to your work are so worth it.

[storymaker14]

You are absolutely correct, Donaar; if you iterate that function thrice, you end up with the original input. That would explain it!

Hey, found something else interesting.

The infinite series 1 + x + x^2 + x^3 + ... can be represented as 1 / (1 - x). Analytic continuation tells us that we can plug any value except 1 into it.

What about i?

The value after every term is tracing a square: right, up, left, down, repeat. So it might not come as a surprise that the formula for the infinite sum gives us 1/2 + 1/2 i -- i.e. the middle of the square.

What if we plug that in, though? Now the point is moving, turning pi/4 radians to the left, going sqrt(2)/2 times as far, repeat.

Now the point is approaching 1 + i, it would seem. What if we plug that value in?

The path it's following is similar to the last, but different in an important way: move, turn pi/4 to the left, go sqrt(2) times as far, repeat. Now it's not approaching anything, but we can still find out answer using the formula.

The answer is: i.

I don't know what, if anything, this means, but yes, it goes in a loop. Cool, huh?

[storymaker14]

[storymaker14]

And then the Section 31 movie comes along and fucks it up even worse! Augh!

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE

Stardates... are a pain in the ass. Especially when you're trying to place items ranging from the 2230s to the 2380s and have to use FOUR DIFFERENT SYSTEMS.

That is all.

[storymaker14]

Hey, found something else interesting.

The infinite series 1 + x + x^2 + x^3 + ... can be represented as 1 / (1 - x). Analytic continuation tells us that we can plug any value except 1 into it.

What about i?

The value after every term is tracing a square: right, up, left, down, repeat. So it might not come as a surprise that the formula for the infinite sum gives us 1/2 + 1/2 i -- i.e. the middle of the square.

What if we plug that in, though? Now the point is moving, turning pi/4 radians to the left, going sqrt(2)/2 times as far, repeat.

Now the point is approaching 1 + i, it would seem. What if we plug that value in?

The path it's following is similar to the last, but different in an important way: move, turn pi/4 to the left, go sqrt(2) times as far, repeat. Now it's not approaching anything, but we can still find out answer using the formula.

The answer is: i.

I don't know what, if anything, this means, but yes, it goes in a loop. Cool, huh?

[storymaker14]

Bizzaro Right Triangles

Okay, we all know that, if you have a right triangle with sides a and b and hypotenuse c, that means a^2 + b^2 = c^2, right?

So you can have 3-4-5 right triangles, and 5-12-13, and 7-24-25, etc.

And technically, a 1-i-0 right triangle follows this pattern, too, which has made the rounds in the math meme community.

But I found something better and weirder. I found a whole family of better and weirder.

I'm gonna skip a bit of the beginning and start here:

cos x = (e^ix + e^-ix) / 2

That follows from Euler's formula; if you need a walkthrough, I can provide, but I want to start with the above. So then, it follows that:

cos (i*lnx) = (x + 1/x)/2 = (x^2 + 1)/2x

Which means that an angle of (i*lnx) radians in a right triangle will have an adjacent side of (x^2 + 1) and a hypotenuse of 2x. By Pythagoras, then, the opposite side must be (x^2 - 1)*i.

But please note: if x is odd, then the lengths of all three sides will be even, and thus can be divided by 2.

Which means -- are you holding onto your hats and shoes?!? -- means that the proportions of the right triangle with angle i*ln(3) radians... are 5-4i-3.

And for i*ln(5) radians, they are 13-12i-5.

And so forth, with all the familiar Pythagorean triplets sqrt(2n+1)-n-(n+1) showing up, just with one side imaginary and the hypotenuse and remaining side swapped -- so, (n+1)-n*i-sqrt(2n+1). They still fulfill Pythagoras, every single one.

Which I think is, pardon my directness, fucking terrific. But just as a little bonus, please note that this means the triangle with angle i*ln(2) radians, the proportions are 5-3i-4, which is just delightful IMHO.

[storymaker14]

Oh, I *so* have to check this out... and hope it either has subtitles or that my two years of college French aren't too rusty. Thanks, friend!

The sum of the first nine cubic numbers is 2025.

The sum of the first nine counting numbers is 45; 45 squared is 2025.

This is not a coincidence.

Happy New Year, everyone.

[storymaker14]

[storymaker14]

[storymaker14]

Everyone should tell them congrats 😁

Already got my first PhD interview confirmed! :3

[storymaker14]

In case you missed the memo, this is not a coincidence.

not to be a number nerd on main but 2025 (45^2) will be the only square year most of us ever experience. the last one was 1936 and the next one will be 2116

[storymaker14]

Don't share the number in the notes! A counterexample to the Collatz conjecture should not be given away willy-nilly!

Pick a positive integer n. If it is even, divide it by 2. If it is odd, multiply by 3 and add 1. Then, repeat this operation with the result.

Is there any n such that if you repeat the operation above an infinite number of times, you will never reach the number 1?

Yes (please share the number in the notes)

No (please provide proof in the notes)

[storymaker14]

As it turns out, the JJ Abrams Trek movies established a date of birth for the character of Spock; since it was before the Narada appeared and changed history, it applies to the prime universe version of Spock as well.

Therefore, Spock was born on Epiphany in Gregorian year 2230, aka 205 years from today!

[storymaker14]

Y'all, I have a problem. Actually, I have two.

The smaller problem: I gave a character a name five or six years ago, long before this grand Vulcan Fluff series was even a glimmer in my mind's eye. Now, as I finish VF4... I wish I'd named the character something else, for a couple of reasons. Alas, this person has shown up in three of the VF stories so far, and will briefly but importantly show up in VF4. So... Do I go back and retroactively change their name in their previous appearances? Or do I just deal with a choice I made most of a decade ago?

The bigger problem: what is supposed to be a big reveal in VF4, I completely spoiled in a previous story. It wouldn't be too much trouble to remove that spoiler, but again, that's going back and memory-holing that conversation.