#| thread: class 4 entity

[novankenn]

Altered Destiny

= Eight =

(So through the poll, which can be found on the Chapter Page, my readers would like to see this Jaune in a more of a Healer/Cleric style role, over that of a Tank/Paladin one. So Chapter 4 has been revised to suit. Thank you to everyone who participated. I will be using powers and feats from D&D Neverwinter as I don't have access to any significant materials from D&D 3.0/4.0/5.0)

Glynda sat quietly watch the worst student of her class, tossing and turning in a restless sleep. Occasionally she would mumble something, though it was too low and Glynda was too far away to catch what she was saying. Not that Glynda was paying attention. She was more focused on what to do with Jaune.

From the short amount of contact with her, Glynda knew there were going to be several issues, the main one being Jaune's own acceptance of her situation. Talking with a professional would help, but Glynda doubted it would be fully successful.

Her mind then wandered. She took in Jaune's new body. Her body was slim, lithe even, but it was complicated by her now new proportions. Her hips were fairly wide, plus her bust was quite substantial. Jaune was going to have issues with her balance, probably even walking was going to require a process of practice.

Glynda thought back to the stumbling dash to the bathroom. Jaune had barely remained on her feet. The previous Jaune had been improving, Glynda saw it. His confidence was growing daily, and his ability to actually spar, to counter and fight was blossoming, but now. Glynda was afraid these changes were going to shatter Jaune.

As Glynda was watching her sleeping form, Jaune found her self in a strange place. She was standing in a flower filled meadow. All about her waits tall tulips and daisies. The sky was a myriad collection of reds and purples, like one would see at dusk. Seeing no one, Jaune started to walk. The tall grasses and flowers gently brushing against her hospital gown, clade form.

Above the light faded, and stars began to fill the indigo sky, and still she walked. Slowly, as the light faded and the field of flowers took on a more dream-like quality, she saw a pair of figures seated yet floating in the air, almost as if they were seated upon the very tops of the flowers.

Figure One: Ah, there you are, Jaune. Welcome. You must have many questions, ask them, as I have the answers you seek.

Figure Two: So this is the mortal for whom you rewove the threads for. Interesting...

Jaune: What is going on? Why?

Figure One: We have brought to this space between realities to answer your queries. To ease your mind, my child.

Figure Two: As for why my sister's actions... you have potentially great fates ahead of you, niece. One that was not to end with your... foolhardy choices that day.

Jaune: I don't understand.

Figure One: That is to be expected, daughter. Much has changed for you, and more is to change. Your metamorphosis is yet to be complete.

Jaune: Huh? What does that mean?!?

Figure Two: Perhaps we should introduce ourselves to your child, sister.

Figure One: Yes, that would be prudent. Daughter I am Selune, Goddess of the Moon.

Figure Two: And I am her twin, Shar Mistress of the Night.

Jaune: What is going on? There are no such names on Remnant. There is just the Brother...

Selune: Yes, the brother Gods... petulant children, unworthy of their place as this world's patrons. When they left this world to its own devices, they left a void in the astral plane.

Shar: One that is drawing the attention of other entities and beings like us. Entities both benevolent and malevolent.

Jaune: I... what did you do to me?

Selune: Your choices that day ripped the tapestry of your life, you shredded your possible futures... futures that depend on your survival, so I rewove your fabric, and spliced your frayed life thread back together

Jaune: I... I... I don't understand? Tapestry? Life Thread?

Shar: Perhaps it would be better, niece, if you asked the true question you seek answers to.

Jaune: ... why am I now a girl? If you did whatever it is you did... why have I changed?

Selune: Your life thread was frayed and was not strong enough to hold the weave... so I pulled from the ether a thread of possibility.

Jaune: Huh?

Selune: Threads of Possibility are those you have no choice about, no control over, unlike threads of Fate. They are chances such as your gender at conception. If you were a multiple birth, and similar such requirement for life.

Shar: Your thread that determined you as male was weakened to the point it broke. My sister had to grab another thread to save you...

Jaune: And this thread...

Selune: Would have been your life thread if you had been born a female. Your life as a male had ended that day at the bottom of the chasm. Your male body broken beyond repair... to save you and your potential...

Shar: You had to be refashioned as female.

{Table of Contents}

[foxnangelseo]

Strategic Partnerships: Collaborative Approaches to Investment Success in India

India, the land of myriad cultures, rich traditions, and a history steeped in diversity, has emerged as a global economic powerhouse. With a population of over 1.3 billion and a robust economic framework, India presents a compelling landscape for investors seeking opportunities in diverse sectors. The country's journey from an agrarian economy to a burgeoning hub for technological innovation and economic growth has piqued the interest of international investors, drawing attention to the myriad investment options and the importance of strategic partnerships in navigating this dynamic market.

The Indian Economic Canvas: An Overview

India's economic landscape is a vibrant tapestry woven with threads of progress and transformation. Fueled by demographic dividends, a rapidly expanding middle class, and an insatiable appetite for technological advancements, the country stands at the forefront of global economic growth. Its GDP, expected to continue ascending, cements India's position as one of the world's fastest-growing major economies.

Investment Magnetism: Reasons Behind India's Allure

The allure of investing in India extends beyond its sheer market size. The country's business-friendly environment, marked by economic reforms, regulatory ease, and a proactive government, beckons investors from every corner of the globe. Initiatives such as "Make in India," aimed at bolstering manufacturing, and "Digital India," promoting digital infrastructure, further solidify India's stance as an investment hotspot.

Diverse Investment Avenues

1. Technology and Innovation: India's tech prowess has become globally renowned, with its IT sector serving as the vanguard of innovation. Home to a burgeoning startup ecosystem and tech giants, investing in India's technology sector offers a kaleidoscope of opportunities, from AI and cybersecurity to e-commerce and software development.

2. Renewable Energy: As the world grapples with climate change, India's commitment to renewable energy sources presents an attractive investment avenue. The country's ambitious targets for solar and wind energy generation foster an environment ripe for sustainable investment options.

3. Infrastructure Development: The infrastructural metamorphosis in India, encompassing smart cities, transportation networks, and logistics, beckons investors eyeing long-term growth prospects. Investments in infrastructure development projects unlock a myriad of opportunities across sectors.

4. Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals: The healthcare sector in India is undergoing a transformative phase, offering investment prospects in hospitals, pharmaceuticals, telemedicine, and health-tech startups. The convergence of technology and healthcare presents promising avenues for growth and innovation.

The Crucial Role of Strategic Partnerships

Navigating the labyrinthine Indian market requires a nuanced approach, and strategic partnerships serve as a cornerstone for success. Collaborating with local entities or established players offers a trove of advantages that pave the way for sustainable growth and success.

1. Local Insights and Expertise: Partnering with indigenous entities provides invaluable insights into local consumer behavior, market nuances, and regulatory frameworks. This knowledge is instrumental in crafting tailored strategies that resonate with the Indian audience.

2. Access to Networks and Resources: Teaming up with local partners grants access to an expansive network of suppliers, distributors, and industry connections. This access streamlines market entry, accelerates growth, and optimizes operational efficiencies.

3. Risk Mitigation and Shared Responsibilities: In a market as dynamic as India, sharing risks and responsibilities with trusted partners mitigates the inherent challenges of market entry. Collaborative efforts lead to resource optimization and a balanced risk profile.

4. Cultural Adaptability and Sensitivity: Understanding the cultural fabric of India is pivotal for sustained success. Strategic partnerships ensure cultural adaptability, fostering stronger relationships with stakeholders and consumers.

In this vibrant economic landscape, strategic partnerships play a pivotal role in unraveling the complexities and unlocking the vast potential that India offers to global investors.

Investment Success Stories: Illustrating the Power of Collaboration

Several success stories stand as testaments to the efficacy of strategic partnerships in India. Multinational corporations forging alliances with local enterprises have yielded remarkable results, fueling market expansion, innovation, and sustainable growth.

One such exemplar is the collaboration between a renowned global technology conglomerate and an Indian startup specializing in artificial intelligence. This partnership facilitated the amalgamation of cutting-edge technology with local market insights, resulting in the development of AI solutions tailored specifically for the Indian consumer base. The synergy between global expertise and indigenous knowledge accelerated market penetration and garnered widespread acclaim.

Another noteworthy success narrative revolves around a multinational infrastructure firm partnering with an Indian conglomerate for a large-scale smart city project. The collaboration leveraged the foreign partner's expertise in smart city planning and execution while harnessing the local partner's understanding of regulatory landscapes and consumer preferences. This collaborative effort not only expedited project completion but also laid the groundwork for future infrastructure ventures.

Investment Options in India

1. Equity Investments: Investing in Indian equities offers investors exposure to the country's vibrant stock market. With a diverse array of companies spanning various sectors, the Indian stock market presents opportunities for both short-term gains and long-term wealth creation. Whether through direct stock purchases or through mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), equity investments remain a popular choice among investors seeking growth-oriented opportunities.

2. Real Estate: The Indian real estate sector, with its steady appreciation potential, attracts both domestic and international investors. Residential, commercial, and retail segments offer diverse options for investment. Recent regulatory reforms and government initiatives, such as RERA (Real Estate Regulation and Development Act), have enhanced transparency, making real estate investment more attractive.

3. Government Securities and Bonds: Investing in government securities and bonds provides a safe avenue for investors seeking stability and regular income. India's government securities and corporate bonds offer competitive returns compared to those in developed economies. Additionally, tax-free bonds issued by government entities often provide attractive tax benefits.

4. Startup and Venture Capital Investments: India's burgeoning startup ecosystem presents lucrative opportunities for venture capitalists and angel investors. With a robust network of incubators, accelerators, and funding platforms, investing in startups across various sectors like technology, healthcare, fintech, and agriculture can yield substantial returns.

5. Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs): InvITs and REITs offer an avenue for retail and institutional investors to invest in income-generating infrastructure and real estate assets, respectively. These investment instruments provide regular income distributions and the potential for capital appreciation, making them attractive options for income-oriented investors.

6. Fixed Deposits and Savings Schemes: For investors prioritizing stability and guaranteed returns, fixed deposits in Indian banks and post office savings schemes remain a viable option. These instruments offer a secure way to park funds while earning relatively risk-free returns.

7. Commodities and Gold: Investing in commodities and gold is a traditional yet enduring choice for investors in India. Gold, especially, holds cultural and financial significance, serving as a hedge against inflation and economic uncertainties.

Investing in India presents a compelling proposition for global investors due to its burgeoning economy, diverse sectors, and growth potential. The country's market offers a multitude of benefits, making it an attractive destination for investment.

Firstly, India boasts a robust and resilient economy characterized by consistent growth rates, a burgeoning middle class, and a young demographic dividend. This demographic advantage fuels consumer spending, creating a vast market for various goods and services, thus attracting investors seeking substantial market potential.

Secondly, the Indian government's proactive approach towards economic reforms and policies aimed at improving ease of doing business has significantly enhanced the investment climate. Initiatives like "Make in India," promoting manufacturing, and the liberalization of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) norms across sectors have bolstered investor confidence and facilitated smoother entry into the Indian market.

Moreover, India's diverse investment avenues across technology, renewable energy, infrastructure, healthcare, and real estate offer investors a wide spectrum of options to diversify portfolios and mitigate risks. The rapidly growing technology sector, in particular, with its vibrant startup ecosystem, appeals to investors seeking innovation-driven opportunities.

Strategic partnerships with local entities or established players play a pivotal role in navigating the intricacies of the Indian market, offering valuable insights, access to networks, and risk mitigation strategies.

In essence, investing in India provides access to a thriving market, robust economic fundamentals, diverse investment options, and opportunities for strategic collaborations, making it an enticing destination for global investors looking to capitalize on a dynamic and growing economy.

Choosing the Right Investment Strategy in India

Selecting the appropriate investment avenue in India necessitates a comprehensive understanding of risk appetite, investment horizon, and financial goals. Diversification across multiple asset classes is often recommended to mitigate risks and optimize returns. Additionally, staying abreast of regulatory changes, market dynamics, and economic trends is crucial for informed investment decisions in the Indian landscape.

India, with its kaleidoscopic blend of opportunities and challenges, beckons astute investors seeking to capitalize on its economic prowess. The landscape teems with multifaceted investment prospects spanning technology, renewable energy, infrastructure, healthcare, and more. However, the key to unlocking the immense potential lies in strategic partnerships that offer a compass to navigate the complex terrain of the Indian market.

As investors embark on this transformative journey, embracing collaboration with local entities or established players becomes imperative. Strategic partnerships serve as conduits for shared success, fostering innovation, market expansion, and sustainable growth. They infuse investments with the quintessential blend of global expertise and local insights, catalyzing success in the Indian market.

In essence, strategic partnerships embody the ethos of unity in diversity, bridging global aspirations with local acumen, and steering investors towards the zenith of success in India's thriving economic ecosystem.

This post was originally published on: Foxnangel

[westernassignmenthelp]

Java Assignment Help

We provide best services for Java Assignment help with our experienced and professional writers at Western Assignment Help. Java is a high-level, versatile, and widely-used programming language known for its portability, security features, and its ability to build robust and scalable applications. Here’s a detailed explanation of Java Assignments:

1. Object-Oriented Language:

Java is primarily an object-oriented programming (OOP) language. This means that it models real-world entities and their interactions as objects, making it suitable for complex software development.

2. Platform Independence:

One of Java’s most significant features is its platform independence. Java programs are compiled into an intermediate bytecode that can run on any platform with a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). This “write once, run anywhere” principle allows Java applications to work on various operating systems without modification.

3. Strongly Typed:

Java enforces strict type checking during compilation, which helps catch many errors at compile-time rather than runtime. This contributes to program reliability.

4. Automatic Memory Management:

Java uses a garbage collector to automatically manage memory, allowing developers to focus on coding logic rather than memory allocation and deallocation. This reduces the risk of memory leaks and makes Java programs more robust.

5. Rich Standard Library:

Java provides a comprehensive standard library, called the Java Standard Library (Java API), which includes classes and packages for tasks such as file handling, networking, database connectivity, and more. This extensive library reduces the need for developers to reinvent the wheel.

6. Multi-Threading Support:

Java supports multithreading, allowing programs to execute multiple threads concurrently. This is essential for building responsive and scalable applications.

7. Security:

Java incorporates various security features to protect against common security vulnerabilities, such as buffer overflows and unauthorized access. The Java Security Manager allows developers to specify security policies for their applications.

8. Exception Handling:

Java has a robust exception handling mechanism that helps identify and deal with runtime errors gracefully, preventing applications from crashing.

9. Portability:

The portability of Java applications is a result of its bytecode and the JVM. Developers can write code on one platform and run it on another, provided that a compatible JVM is available.

10. Rich Ecosystem: – Java has a vast and active ecosystem with numerous libraries, frameworks, and tools. Popular frameworks like Spring, Hibernate, and Android (for mobile app development) are built on top of Java.

11. Community Support: – Java has a large and active developer community, which means that there are plenty of resources, tutorials, and forums available for support and learning.

12. Versatile Usage: – Java is used in various domains, including web development (Java EE), mobile app development (Android), enterprise software, game development, scientific computing, and more.

13. Backward Compatibility: – Java places a strong emphasis on backward compatibility. Code written in older versions of Java typically runs on newer Java versions with little to no modification.

14. Open Source: – The OpenJDK (Open Java Development Kit) is an open-source implementation of Java, ensuring that Java remains accessible and adaptable.

In summary, Java is a powerful, versatile, and reliable programming language that’s suitable for a wide range of applications, from small utility programs to large-scale enterprise systems. Its portability, security features, and extensive standard library make it a popular choice for software development across various industries.

[holyjak]

250k LoC Clojure, 50:50 code and test. Topics: custom programming language, type/schema checking, monorepo, polymorphic data with Specter, using (extended) Component, with-redefs for testing, deterministic simulation, ... .

Type/schema checking (with predicates enabling checks far beyond types): clearly document data x don't overdo it -> during the construction of types (via a custom defrecord+ macro) and at a few strategic spots throughout the codebase where lots of different types flow. Only occasionally annotate fn args / return val - "We find instead that being consistent about how we name things is good enough for understanding the code." They have 600 types (remember, they implement among others a compiler) and extra 500 assertions (checking higher-level properties rather than simple types).

The lack of static typing in Clojure scares a lot of programmers who have never used Clojure, and all we can say is that with a little bit of thought in how you organize your code it’s not an issue at all. And doing things dynamically means we can enforce stronger constraints than possible with static type systems.

Monorepo with 4 modules - leveraging AOT to speed up REPL startup in dependent modules.

Polymorphic data with Specter - a compiler is heavy on types and deals with nested and recursive data stuctures, and needs polymorphism - the perfect use case for Specter. Protocols are not flexible enough and composable enough, contrary to Sepcter's polymorphic defprotocolpath, which enables nested manipulation, i.e. a path such as [some-path polymorphic-subpaht sub-path...] for setval and similar. (A protocol can give you a polymorphic accessor function, but you can't leverage that in the middle of a Specter path.) "Protocol paths [..] greatly reduce the number of manipulation helper functions that would be required otherwise."

Organizing complex subsystems with Component: Component enables them to start/stop subsystems in a defined order, and to inject mocks in tests. They added support for doing part of the initialization / tear down on a separate thread, where necessary.

Using with-redefs for testing: to mock dependencies, inject failures, and, interestingly, most often to redefine log-like no-op fns placed at strategic places of the codebase to get insights into what is happening, f.ex. once called durable-state-checkpointed => check that the expected events happened at expected times/order.

Deterministic simulation: write 100% reproducible distributed systems tests by running our whole system on a single thread and randomizing the order in which entities execute events (details). It heavily utilizes Component's support for dependency overrides (primarily of the executor-service-factory component used by anything that needs threads, and the system clock component) and redefs (e.g. of promise).

From the Conclusion: "[Clojure] enabled us to build powerful abstractions not possible in other languages, remove all ceremony whatsoever, and utilize powerful testing techniques." Also noteworthy: "Plus we’ve had multiple members on our team start with no Clojure or functional programming experience and they were able to get up to speed quickly."

RPL's new language and tool

RPL is creating a developer "tool reduces the cost of building large-scale end-to-end applications by multiple orders of magnitude," and its foundation is a new general-purpose language build withing Clojure with ± 60 macros (though they produce bytecode, not Clojure), with "semantics [..] substantially different than Clojure".

It has first-class continuations, which "makes it extremely good at async, parallel, and reactive programming. All of these are foundational to the large-scale distributed infrastructure we’re building."

The vast majority of applications are not going to need to develop a full language like we have. But there are plenty of use cases where a focused DSL is appropriate, and we have examples of that too. The ability when using Clojure to customize how code itself is interpreted, via macros and meta-programming, is an incredibly powerful capability.

RPL codebase consists of this new language and its compiler, abstractions for parallel programming, their implementation as a distributed cluster, a webui (=> see what's running on the cluster, the current status of operations like scaling, and telemetry showing what’s going on in users' applications), and an enhanced fork of Specter. I.e. the key parts seem to be a language with first-class support for async, reactive, and parallel programming, and a built-in cluster(ing).

The RPL Tool isn't "just for the initial construction of an application, but also encapsulates deployment, monitoring, and maintenance. It implements the first truly cohesive model for building software applications – a set of abstractions that can build any application at any scale with greatly reduced engineering cost." Why? Because "Building scalable software applications today is extremely expensive, requiring the combination of dozens of different tools. The engineering involves countless arcane tasks that are far removed from actual application logic. The narrow focus of each individual tool, and the lack of a cohesive model of building end-to-end applications, causes the engineering cost to be orders of magnitude greater than it could be." (Both from RPL's About page.)

[verbosebabbler]

Making Codex Entries

Thanks to the Watcher of Threads, I now know where the builder menu is for the Codex of Ruin. When on the page of any codex entry, click on the bottom left credit to Lobotomy Corps, and it will open up a codex entry builder menu where you can change the entries or make your own. The urls having the encoded data in the url seems like a necessity brought about by having the ability to make own codex pages where new data gets encoded as a new data string.

As a result, I have made a test draft entry for myself. But for others who wish to make their own entries, I will explain the different components of the entries to the best of my ability. 

~~~

Names are usually formatted like “The WORD”. 

There are associated code designations for the characters, but I do not know how they are constructed or what each part means at this time. Theorized to be related to these words listed alongside the text box in the builder: conceptual, object, willpower, fixation, unknown. 

Risk level refers to how dangerous the entry subject is used in Lobotomy Corps. Ranging from least to most dangerous designations: ZAYIN, TETH, HE, WAW, ALEPH

The Roman Numerals of the Personal Stats and Thematic Concepts actually correspond to number values: I is less than 22, II is less than 44, III is less than 88, IV is less than 88, and anything more is V.

The six primary Personal Stats exist in dualities, where to construct you choose the word and the number value. The dualities are:

EXTERNAL and  INTERNAL,  PATIENT and IMPATIENT,  IDEALISTIC and REALISTIC,  CURIOUS and ACCEPTING,  LOYAL and FREE, ENERGETIC and CALM.

There is a secret duality of GNOSIS and IGNORANCE that’s rarely used. 

The Thematic Concepts are words associated with the subject. One of these words typically refers to the entry’s Homestuck Class, Homestuck Aspect, and at least one of the Magnus Archive Entities. 

The three tips are used to give specific details about the entry subject.

Abnormality Work Favor refers to the concepts used in dealing with abnormalities in Lobotomy Corps. The Roman Numerals here refers to how the worker’s level in a certain concept affects the outcome. The range of possible outcomes are: Very Low, Low, Common, High, Very High. The Higher the effect, the more effective that type is in subduing the entry. I do not fully understand what kind of work these terms mean individually.

I am generally unsure about Stability Level.

Abnormality Defense refers to how the entry resists the different damage colors of Lobotomy Corpse. The red symbol refers to damage to health. The white symbol refers to damage to sanity. The purple symbol refers to damage that affects both health and sanity. The blue refers to damage towards health based on a percentage of max health points. You write in a number value for each, corresponding to these labels: Absorb if number is less than 0, Immune if equals 0, Resistant if less than .4, Endured is less than .9, Normal if less than or equals 1, Weak if less than 1.9, and any larger labeled Vulnerable.

Here is a first draft of my own entry:

[mysticmachmir]

Judaism, Circles, and Circle-Casting

What's the Point of a Circle?

Magical Circle Definition: A temporary space with clearly defined energetic boundaries that provides a known space for ritual, magic, or similar controlled change.

"Casting a circle allows us to create an energetic space that supports our work in the physical space we have available. Since we do our ritual in a variety of spaces, many of which spend most of their time being something else (a living room, a public park, a rented room in a friendly business or community building), we need a way to make the space stop being those things, and start being a space where ritual, magic, and transformation can happen more easily."

This is a definition from a religious witch, a priestess of a coven. Obviously, this is not Judaism or a Jewish witch. However, if we want to incorporate some type of this into our practice, we need to understand what is its purpose. Asking why we have a ritual is just as important as how to craft one genuinely. For more information on crafting Jewish ritual and researching into Jewish traditional rituals to serve your purposes, please inquire this series on Tumblr.

Magical and Mystical Circles in Judaism

The Talmud: Honi HaMe'egal

One of the most concrete examples is using a circle to invoke and demand something of G!d. Here is a summary of what he did, but the sources via Sefaria are Taanit 23a:4-Taanit 23a:5-10. 

"His surname is derived from an incident in which, according to the Babylonian Talmud, his prayer for rain was miraculously answered. On one occasion, when G!d did not send rain well into the winter (in Israel, it rains mainly in the winter), Honi drew a circle in the dust, stood inside it, and informed G!d that he would not move until it rained. When it began to drizzle, Honi told G!d that he was not satisfied and expected more rain; it then began to pour. He explained that he wanted a calm rain, at which point the rain calmed to a normal rain."

The Bible and Folkloric Uses of Circles

However, there are many times we see circles used in Judaism. In the TaNaKh, magic circles first appear in Jewish tradition in the Bible, when Joshua encircles Jericho seven times in order to collapse its walls. We also have circles during Simchat Torah, weddings, Hoshana Rabbah, and funerals. Circles are used quite a bit in Jewish ritual, whether we realize it or not.

The use of protective circles, so familiar in medieval sorcery, also starts to appear in Jewish practice. Such circles were also used to protect the birthing bed of pregnant women (Sefer ha-Chayyim 2.8). Smaller circles drawn around a wound or area of illness on a Body presumably exorcised the malaise-causing spirit. 

The book Zera Kodesh (“Holy Seed”),  written in the 16th century, describes making concentric circles on the ground (usually three or seven) with an iron blade, often with an inscription or the names of Angels added. The Baal Shem Tov once defeated a priest-witch by making a protective circle with his staff (Megillat Setarim). 

In YIVO's Folklore of Ashkenaz class, by Professor Itzik Gottesman, he discusses the different ways circles were used by Ashkenazi Jews. He discusses that "Circling [was used to] ward the demons off the body. Circling, and circles in general, have found their way into Jewish folklore in a number of ways. Circles are considered perfect shapes and have a magical power to keep away evil. … Round objects also have symbolic value. At the first meal from returning from a burial, the family is given bagels to eat. One interpretation of this is so that we remember the round cycle of life and death, and it reinforces belief in reincarnation, which has been very much part of Jewish belief in the Diaspora. The [Rabbinic] responsa also mentions other circle customs: to circle the graves with thread, which were later used as wicks and candles to be lit for the ill person in the synagogue; in order to stop the spread of swelling on the eyes, it was circled with a ring; and in order to prevent further growth of a hunchback, it was circled with the hand of a dead man."

Noam Sienna, a Jewish scholar, speaks of other minhagim: "Drawing circles is also a common practice in the Mediterranean/Sephardic Jewish world to protect birthing mothers and newborns — it’s often drawn with a special sword or knife, and participants would also themselves walk in a circle around the cradle or around the room while reciting a protective formula like Psalm 91."

In Midrash, it is written: "For the circle has no beginning and end. And regarding this pleasure the scholars of truth hinted in their midrash, "the Holy One Blessed be He will make a circle for the righteous in the World to Come."

Kabbalah

A circle represents infinity because it has no beginning or end. In Kabbalah, the samech (a letter that is an enclosed loop) represents the infinite power of the Ein Sof, G!d’s infinite light. 

This video from Chabad is about an hour-long shiur on the concept of the sacred geometry of the circle, but essentially the Rabbi discusses how the circle is the most common and natural shape in Nature that G!d has created. Pebbles, the globe, ripples of water, the cycle of time itself is the most perfect shape and represents the week, 7 days. Seven and the circle are connected, as 7 is a very important number in Judaism connected to time. I do recommend watching if you're interested in numerology, sacred geometry, and math connected to divinity.

Modern Circle-Casting Rituals

Typically, when people think of circle casting, they are called to Wicca's ritual of circle casting, calling on the archangels (which sounds extremely similar to the Jewish krias Shema  - and Wicca was invented in the 50s, so you know who took from who there), calling on the watchtowers (Book of Enoch), and etcetera. This is not a process I am necessarily interested in. Here is one take of mixing Wiccan circle-casting with Jewish and Celtic theology/elements (this person is Jewish). Note: If you are a monotheistic Jew, or otherwise don't want to "mix" your practices, I do not suggest using this example of ritual. Also, the Zohar-pentagram connection is… questionable.

There is also the circle-casting suggested from Tehomot: Jewish Witchcraft*, which I'll outline here. I prefer this one because while yes, it is connecting back to the Wiccan tradition, it is not melding much of the religious elements, and only a few ritual pieces. Instead, it incorporates a lot more Jewish ritual and connection to Hashem. If it were me, I would remove the athame aspect of it and it would align more for my needs.

Visualization of the circle as the boundary of Gan Eden:

Athame/tool - shooting out fire like the spinning blade protecting Gan Eden

Gan Eden - orientations to the east, four rivers in the garden

Instead of calling on the watchtowers, call on the names of the rivers as found in Torah

He says that the "casting of the circle brings you from Malkhut - etheric double of the physical world. You are going up the Tree of Life and the Four Worlds in circle work/spirit work - from physical to spiritual (Assiyah to Yetzirah, Malkhut to Yesod)". 

The purpose of using a circle is asking for help - from G!d, angels, guardians, to ask help to change Assiyah/Malkhut/physical realm.

How To Cast (According to Tehomot)

1. Be properly prepared. ritual for preparedness - oil/shower/ centering. Once in the circle, anointment w/ oil and/or ring a bell/musical note

2. Draw the circle - saltwater, incense, or candle

3. Corner call - the four rivers and four elements. 

4. Summoning entities to hold the corner of the circles - angels, spirits, whomever 

5. The evocation of G!d, recite psalms and say for what purpose

6. Calling on ancestors to be present

7. Magical work/ritual

8. Worship element - a prayer to G!d, offerings (kiddush)

9. Closing - release ancestors, release the corners, draw the circle backward and ground the energy

Finally, in the book Magic of the Ordinary, there is another "circle-casting" ritual that he posits is from compiling symbolism from Jewish texts in this new ritual.

Tools: Bird feather and a fallen branch found naturally. This ritual is to be performed outside as it is written in this book. It is asked that you meditation with this stick and infuse your breath into it before using it to draw the circle.

If the ritual for which you are making the circle is to heal something, undo something, process something, make space for newness in some way or another, draw the circle counter-clockwise. Walk around the circle as you are drawing it and chant (I am only writing the English, get the book for the Hebrew): "Here I am Here I am Here I am, G!d Breath, Please support me" 

(Take a Breath) "I and the Unnameable, The Infinite One So again-- I and ho, I and ho"

(Take a breath, and then louder): "I and ho I and ho Support me, Please"

Repeat as much as you need until the circle is complete. You need to draw it seven times. Then, step inside the circle and chant into the four directions: "Toward your support do I direct my hope, O G!d I direct my hope, O G!d toward your support O G!d toward your support do I direct my hope"

Take your feather and sweep it across the inside of the circle and chant: "For the sake of the unification of the Holy Blessed One be He and the Shekhinah Through this rite, done in awe and in love to join The name Yah with Wah in a complete union"

Then wave the feather to the sky in circular movements while chanting "Yah" toward the sky and downward again sweeping it across the earth chanting "Wah". Do this three times and leave your tools in the center of the circle before stepping out. The circle is finished, and you can begin any rituals  - calling forth spirits, performing ceremonies, or leading gatherings. 

(Yah and Wah are two names of G!d, riffing off the Holy Name in an acceptable way as it is not the full name. If you are uncomfortable with this, you can replace it with a name of G!d comfortable for you). 

*The person who made this podcast is an apostate and is now a Messianic Baptist. He has a post where he says that Jesus is Torah and to deny Jesus means you are denying G!d. I do not support Messianic Judaism, so I have decided not to link his work. You can still find it online, easily. This podcast is from a time where he identified as a Jewish witch and was becoming a Rabbi.

If you like my work and writings, feel free to tip me here: https://ko-fi.com/ezrasaville!

Sources:

The Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism Encyclopedia by R. Geoffrey Dennis Magic of the Ordinary by R. Gershon Winkler Chabad Gleewood Sefaria Noam Sienna YIVO’s Folklore of Ashkenaz Tehomot: Jewish Witchcraft (Podcast) Liorah HaMasovevet

[vanishingpod]

Sunday Audio Drama Recs!

Happy Sunday from Team Vanishing Act! Here are four more shows we love that we think you will love too! 

1) Death By Dying: This show is an all time Hall of Fame favorite round these parts (these parts being our hearts? I guess, idk, lost the trail of that metaphor). Death By Dying is about the Obituary Writer in a small town, and every episode is centered around an obituary he is writing (or will write by the end of the episode). There is literally nothing we don’t love about this show, from it’s dark, wry tone to its hilarious worldbuilding to its genuine creepiness to its ability to turn on a dime from silly to genuinely melancholic and deeply touching. There are so many memorable characters (the Button-Eyed Raven, the Slapper, Pastor Jeff) and bits (the apricot battle in the town market, OW’s immaculate fashion sense, Gert, the line “he wasn’t the talk of the town, but he was the talker of the town”) Over the course of the five main-plot episodes it goes on a truly, insanely well-crafted journey with one of those tone shifts in the last act that feels at once like a huge twist but also inevitable and right. It reminds me so much of Over the Garden Wall in its final episode and I mean that in the best way possible--spooky and dark but also oddly comforting, existentially sad but also life affirming and hopeful. This show means a lot to us here and we hope you’ll give it a shot. Find them @deathbydyingpod​

2) Windfall: Alright it’s acton-adventure time, y’all! This show has it all: a full, sweeping instrumental score; a sprawling large-cast fantasy/sci-fi action adventure vibe; reluctant, flawed, morally grey heroes; saying “fuck capitalism”; intricate, lived-in worldbuilding; some of the best voice talent out there; etc etc etc. The show takes place in the nation of Windfall--ever since a castle appeared in the sky, the city has been built upward towards it rather than out, and in a sort of vertical Snowpiercer move, the wealthy live further up, with the poorer classes down below. Our protagonists are a series of “grounders” who get tangled up with the business going on upstairs when one of their own is recruited into the military police (the Wolfpac), creating ripples among our cast that force them to decide where they stand. It’s a grand adventure in every sense told incredibly well--the writing on this show is some of the best you’ll find out there in audio drama and it’s executed in a fantastically immersive way that I hope will sweep you away like it did to me. (Not on tumblr, but find them on twitter here.)

3) Palimpsest: Gothic, atmospheric, psychological anthology fiction fans, this one is 100% gonna be for you. The first season of Palimpsest tells the story of Anneliese, who records an audio diary as she moves into a new house after a breakup, still dealing with the death of her sister--the story is very much a slow burn tale of Anneliese being haunted by the memories of the house, but also bringing her own haunting to the house. Horror stories like this need to be threaded so carefully--they have to keep that slow simmer at just the right level to feel like it could bubble over at any moment, and they have to know when to let it loose. Palimpsest knows what its doing, and rest assured you’re in good hands--trust these fantastic creators. As mentioned, its an anthology series, with a different setting and protagonist each season (season two is set in the 19th century, season three during the Blitz in London), with a common thread connecting them all, so choose what appeals to you! (Not on tumblr but find them on Twitter here.)

4) The Magnus Archives: I almost definitely don’t need to sell this here, it’s fantastic and has deserved love and acclaim--but we do love it and want to shout out what we love about it! We started listening around Halloween of last year and shot through two seasons in a very short period of time. If you want that perfect marriage of horror anthology and overarching slow build narrative, this is really the perfect example. The first season eases you in to the general concept with one-off stories of various people’s experiences with the supernatural entities, which they report to The Magnus Institute--these reports are read aloud by the Archivist, who we get to know personally as time goes on and he becomes less and less skeptical and more and more entangled with said supernatural entities. You, the listener, start to slowly hear commonalities, you hear names come up that you’ve heard before and recognize similar experiences from subject to subject, and the show trusts you to piece these together yourself early on, to be an active part of the narrative alongside Jon. It makes it feel like such an interactive, immersive, addictive experience, and you want to keep listening because you don’t want to lose track of the threads you’re connecting. Even when you don’t know the characters who work for the Archives that well yet, the stories are genuinely scary (the cave diving episode in particular is true Nightmare Fuel and an excellent stand-alone horror story), and when you do get to know them, it’s even scarier because you care about them getting caught up in this terrifying world where there are no rules of fairness and true evil runs free. (Also there’s a whole meta-narrative about how it feels to be a millennial stuck in a job you hate that actively seems to be set out to kill you in horrible ways and it. is. RELATABLE.) (Don’t think they’re on tumblr, but find them on Twitter here.)

If you love these shows, please consider leaving them a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser so they can get the word out to more potential listeners!

Previous recommendation posts: one, two, three, four, five, six. 

[monstersdownthepath]

Deity: The Keeper of Masquerades

(Art by @celenewashere​!)

Lawful Evil Archfey of Clocks, Fear, and Surveillance

Domains: Darkness, Evil, Knowledge, Law Subdomains: Shadow, Fear, Espionage, Tyranny

A mire of mystery surrounds the entity known as the Keeper of Masquerades, a fog so thick that anyone attempting to learn about him can expect to be turned around and lost before they even finish following the first thread. Hundreds have sunk permanently into that mire, never to be seen again. Perhaps they found answers, but more likely than not they found nothing but their own ends. The Keeper seems very keen on keeping any and all information about himself hidden from everyone and everything. His name, if he has one, is unknown. His true form, if he has one, is unknown, the most anyone ever sees of him being the shadow-shrouded mannequin bodies he inhabits now and again. His past? He certainly has one, and it is the first verifiable fact of his existence; he was once member of Count Ranalc’s inner circle, a dutiful butler and notekeeper for the shadowy Eldest. Ever since the Count’s disappearance, the Keeper has apparently begun attending to the affairs of the land Ranalc left behind.

Despite his status as an Archfey, he has at times sat in on meetings among the Eldest--an honor that must normally be granted by one of the demigod Fey themselves, yet the Keeper does not seem to require permission--though he has no true say in their matters and holds very little sway over their actions. He is merely there to record and offer polite advice when asked, ostensibly assuring that the distant Count is kept up-to-date on all matters the Eldest still discuss and all goings-ons in the First World. He is subservient and obedient, and willingly offers his services to the Eldest, despite their role in removing Ranalc from power.

For those below the Eldest of the First World, however, the Keeper is an entity to be avoided at any cost. An enforcer of a terribly rigid and inflexible order; the second verifiable fact of his existence is that there is little he despises more than needless chaos.

The Keeper holds the unique position of bringing law to the lawless the First World, though the laws he upholds seem arbitrary to the whimsical inhabitants. He believes in ideas such as how time should always move forwards, never backwards and certainly never side-to-side, that gravity should always be aimed downwards, that point A should always lead to point B. Yes, he believes in a First World that more closely mirrors the rigidity of the Material Plane, seeing the Material as the perfect culmination of the God’s work and thus something to be imitated, rather than ignored for the sake of--eugh--freedom. 

Few things are more of an anathema for the Keeper than the concept of true freedom. The messiness and the wasted time that come from countless individuals merely lazing about in their own little worlds infuriates the shadowy being, to the point that the third verifiable fact of his existence is that there’s absolutely nothing he despises more than people wasting his time. The Keeper carries on his person a pocketwatch, a simple thing with no apparent magical power. When it is closed, he is speaking. When it is open, that is when you are allowed to speak, with him carefully measuring how much time you’re allotted. If it shuts in the middle of your sentence, you’d best end it right there, for continuing to speak after your allotted time will see the wrath of the Keeper visiting you. There is a morbid joke among fey that most are born with a reflex that quiets them upon hearing the soft, metallic click of the watch shutting, while mortal-folk have to learn the hard way.

The “Masquerades” that the Keeper keeps fourfold. The first and most publicly-known is the literal masquerade balls he holds at the borders of Ranalc’s realm, Nighthold, during which the invited disguise themselves entirely as they feast, frolic, and dance about for the amusement of the hidden host which, rumor says, dances among them. While most will make their own objectives upon being invited, the true purpose of these events is as much a mystery as the Keeper himself, with many believing them to be little more than a means for the Archfey to bring himself some levity. However, if it were simply a case of harmless fun, the invitations would not be so insistent.

“It’s a bad idea to go, but a worse one to decline” is the common saying when regarding the Keeper’s parties. Ignoring or, even worse, tossing out the invitations will see more of them appearing in more worrying and private locations, such as within the bathroom, within secret getaway rooms, within clothing, or even tucked inside the recipient‘s hand upon waking. It’s not known what happens to those who decline one too many times, though such beings are never seen again.

The second masquerade for which he is Keeper is the masquerade of safety (or privacy, as some would say) in the First World. In the stead of Count Ranalc, the Keeper oversees an army of Ankou and shadowy fey that is unrivaled in its size and spread, with rumors sometimes hyperbolizing that the Keeper has eyes all over the entirety of the infinite First World. This is not nearly the truth, but it is a lie he enjoys playing into. Whatever its true size, it gives the Keeper a significant enough reach to hold a knife to the throat of any fey that gets a bit too big for their britches, or one who starts antagonizing the rulers of the First World a bit too much.

Agents of one great Fey or another, even those of the Eldest or Archfey, may find themselves visited in the darkened hours by the servants of the Keeper to deliver polite cease and desist warnings. “Failure to heed these warnings can be costly to one’s estate,” quoth the Keeper, “And I will neither condemn nor curtail the actions of my associates in their pursuit of justice against those who threaten the balance of power.” While trickery, throne theft, and backstabbing are common pastimes of the ever-whimsical Fey hoping to stir the pot, most have learned that such acts are best done in the daylight, where the claws of the Keeper struggle to reach. At least then they get a head start.

------

Obedience and Boons

------

Not a single being has ever seen what the Keeper truly looks like (though if rumors are to be believed, many or all of the Eldest know; the Lantern King is the usual suspect). Even his most trusted Feysworn are spoken to entirely via his mannequin proxies if he deigns to meet them ‘in person’ at all, and those who’ve served him without failure or falter for their entire lives are still not allowed to set a single toe inside his shadowy lair, the Nevermoor. Barely a handful can truthfully claim to have done so much as step on the threshold of the Nevermoor, and just what secrets and treasures it may or may not contain is the third masquerade none but his chosen know the truths behind.

“Secret Police” is a polite way to describe the Feysworn who bow to the sinister mannequin. His fey minions are more comfortable in the dark, so it is his mortal minions within the First World walking among the general population during the daylight hours, enforcing his will and keeping the peace. Inquisitors are the most common breeds of adventurer to flock to the Keeper, though the investigative and attentive types of any class are welcome. Those with a knack for assuring the pecking order is disturbed as little as possible, and maniacal chaos and disruptive disorder are kept to a relative minimum. The Keeper prefers mortals who can deal with such messes both quickly and quietly. In return for their service, they earn certain freedoms both in and out of the First World, the sigil of the Keeper serving as something of both a badge of authority and a permit to excuse certain actions... though reckless abuse of this authority can earn one’s own disappearance.

The Keeper’s grip rarely expands into the Material Plane, as that is the realm of the Gods, not the Fey. Agents in the Material are typically delegated to settling matters of fey origin and little else, slapping at the hands of upstarts seeking to dig their wretched little nails into what does not belong to them. However, in a strange way it can be said that the Keeper cares for the Material, seeing it as the ultimate creation of the Gods and thus something to be preserved and protected. His grip falters, but his eyes still gaze with a curious mixture of fondness and envy. Threats to lands he has grown especially fond of are responded to with his aid, though rarely ever directly; as he is not ‘authorized’ to meddle in the Material, he does so entirely in secret, his Feysworn masquerading as members of other faiths if they display Divine magic at all.

Using the Fey Obedience feat, a worshiper of the Keeper gain s certain Boons upon reaching a certain amount of Hit Dice. These Boons are granted at 12HD, 16HD, and 20HD, though the Feysworn Prestige Class allows someone to achieve the Boons much, much sooner. The Keeper’s status as an Archfey means he grants very simple Boons; spell-like abilities that may each be cast 1/day.

Obedience: Pretend to meditate for an hour to a sound that is soft but repetitive and unrelenting, such as the ticking of a clock, dripping water, construction work, or a distant waterfall. During this time, keep one of your eyes open just a crack and listen closely, watching and listening to what everyone around you is doing. Benefit: Gain a +4 profane bonus to Sense Motive checks and saving throws against Fear effects.

Boon 1: Clairvoyance/Clairaudience

Boon 2: Symbol of Fear

Boon 3: Weird

The Keeper does not seek the power of the Eldest. He is happy with his own station and does not overreach. Overreaching is a result of greed, after all, and greed is what began the First War. His station is set, and he shall remain in it. So too shall he assure others remain in theirs.

[dailycharacteroption]

Conversion Corner: Various Random Races part 4

Vortigaunt (Half-Life franchise)

 Still Starfinder, but this time we’re tackling an interdimensional alien, rather than an interstellar one in the form of the Vortigaunts from the Half-Life franchise!

Initially the enemies of the protagonist Gordon Freeman, they would later become his allies and even revere him for his role in freeing their race.

Hailing from, (or at least longtime residents of) an interdimensional set of floating rock islands called Xen, which exist within a place between dimensions (oftentimes also called Xen, though if we integrate the race into Starfinder, this might be part of the Astral Plane or the Drift), the vortigaunts were the slaves of the entity known as the nihilanth, serving him both as workers, but also as foot soldiers during the Black Mesa Incident, and later went on to join forces with and live in harmony with the humans of Earth.

Vorigaunts are humanoid creatures that stand about a head shorter than most humans due to how their necks carry their craniums, and sport digitigrade legs, a pair of human-analogous arms with two long fingers and thumb, as well as a smaller third arm in the middle of their chest used primarily for guiding food into their downward-facing lamprey-like mouths. Said mouths rest on a forward-slung head beneath a large crimson central eye and a crown of three smaller eyes.

In addition to these physical features, vortigaunts also seem to be able to manipulate an energy that blurs the lines between bioelectricity and positive energy, given their ability to both use it as an attack and as a form of healing as needed.

Perhaps due to that ability, the vorts possess a deep spiritual aspect of their culture, believing they can perceive and manipulate the threads that hold reality together, and they very well might be right, with many vortigaunt elders being capable of incredible reality-bending feats, making them suitable candidates for classes like mystic and witchwarper.

A life of servitude and freedom have taught the vortigaunts lessons in the value of independence, and there are few enemies they fight with as much ire as slavers and tyrants, no matter what corner of the multiverse they are in.

 +2 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Cha

Hp: 6

Size and Type: Vortigaunts are Medium Humanoids of the Vortigaunt subtype

Racial Traits:

Bioelectricity: Vortigaunts have incredible control over metabolic energy and electricity. A number of times per day equal to 3+ Con modifier, they can discharge a bolt of electricity as a standard action at targets within 30 ft. . If done with hostility, this is a ranged attack that deals 1d6 electricity per 2 character levels and heals the vortigaunt for 1 point of HP damage per 5 damage dealt. If used without hostile intent, it heals an ally for 1d8+1 hp per class level, or restores 1d8 charges to a technological item. Additionally, by spending a full round action instead of a standard action, a vortigaunt can use this ability without expending a daily use, but only if there are power conduits or technological items that run on charges within 5 feet, draining 1d8 charges from a battery if used to power this ability.

Electricity Resistance: Vortigaunts have electricity resistance 5, which can be stacked with one other source or electricity resistance.

Otherworldly Understanding: Vortigaunts gain a +2 to Life Science, Mysticism, and Physical Science checks.

Vortigaunt Senses: Vortigaunts have blindsense (positive and negative energy) up to a range of 30 ft.

 That about does it for today, though I’d love to also come up with some mystic and witchwarper spells keyed to vortigaunt abilities. Tune in tomorrow for the final playable race!

[wanderingnork]

okay so I’ve identified the thread of all my favorite horror stories: sheer undiluted weirdness.

serial killers, invading aliens, revenant ghosts, scheming demons, hungry monsters, vengeful gods, and evil scientists are all well and good. they make for good tales. I’ve enjoyed and adored plenty of them.

but the stories I love are the deeply, deeply weird ones. what is this temporal anomaly in the woods? how about those stairs? why did the tap water turn into a vector for interdimensional terrors? why does that book induce murderous urges in its readers? what is the thing following you? what is up with this smiling man dancing down the road? or this forum user posting strange messages? and what of this play about a king in yellow? that meteor striking the earth? that hand sticking from a brick wall? that screaming thing in the sewers?

those are the ones that stick. the ones i turn over and over, wondering about and wanting to revisit. overwhelmingly strange. almost entirely inexplicable. you can conjecture, you can theorize, and in the end you will come up with nothing. just the knowledge that this thing exists. that it is. that there is nothing you can do about it, nothing you could have done to avoid it, because it is an event, a phenomenon, perhaps without any malice at all. destructive. terrifying. and simply, merely, there.

below the cut, I’ll list the stories I mentioned above.

sweet dreams. :)

Most of the stories here involve violence, and all have trappings of disorientation, fear, helplessness, and loss. I’ve tried to warn for the films that go the extra mile with such things, as well as specific warnings for certain topics. It should be noted that most of these have either full-blown downer endings, or implied downer endings. I recommend doesthedogdie.com if you want more specificity than I’ve given here for most of the movies. (Or send me an ask/message. Anon is on!)

The Endless (2017): two brothers explore strange happenings in a cult to which they once belonged. Shit gets weird fast. warning: suicide, questioning reality

Search and Rescue series: an r/nosleep series about unusual and frightening occurrences in an unidentified American national park. Stairs are important. warning: child death, body horror, getting lost

Aterrados/Terrified (2017): a quiet neighborhood in Buenos Aires descends into terror as horrible entities besiege the residents. warning: child death, implied suicide, body horror, jumpscares

In the Mouth of Madness (1994): a horror novelist disappears after drafting a manuscript that drives people who read it insane. The investigator searching for the novelist uncovers more than he bargained for. warning: insensitive portrayal of mental illness, questioning reality

It Follows (2014): after sex with her boyfriend, a teenager is stalked by an implacable, unstoppable force with her death in mind. warning: discomforting consensual sex

The Smiling Man / 2AM: The Smiling Man: an r/letsnotmeet post detailing a strange encounter with a man dancing down the road at night. The 4-minute-long short film is, perhaps, more terrifying. warning: chases/pursuits, jumpscares

funnymouth: users on a forum (almost twenty years ago) meet a disturbing new member of the chatroom. Things go very, VERY wrong. warning: body horror

The King in Yellow: a fictional play invented by Robert W. Chambers. The play isn’t written out by Chambers, but it plays a role in four of his eerie short stories: “The Repairer of Reputations,” “The Mask,” “In the Court of the Dragon,” and “The Yellow Sign.” Act I is fine, but Act II does unpleasant things to people. I haven’t read the stories for a while, so can’t give thorough warnings. Given the time, be prepared for racial/sexual/class prejudices, as well as a more general theme of insensitive portrayal of mental illness.

“The Colour Out of Space” / The Color Out of Space (2019): a short story by H.P. Lovecraft in which a meteor lands on a rural farm. A strange and terrible color for which men have no name begins to transform the farm and its inhabitants. It has been adapted to film (starring Nicholas Cage), and I found the movie honestly better than the original story, though YMMV. warnings: both come with body horror, poor treatment of mental illness, violence to animals, and family violence - the film comes with strobe effects.

The Empty Hand: a brilliant short story by Owlturd Comix. The protagonist discovers a hand sticking out of a wall. warnings: body horror sort of?

The Tunnel (2011): investigating an abandoned plan to recycle water from a reservoir, a news team enters abandoned railway tunnels beneath Sydney, Australia. In the darkness, they discover exactly why the government abandoned the plan. warnings: claustrophobia, darkness, stalking, attempted drowning

[beyondtheglasswall]

execute: class relationship_call

right then, it’s time to set up a permanent relationship/plotting call for this boy (and his robot self, once he unlocks that)! 

by liking this post, you’re confirming to me that you’re okay with me:

hopping into your IMs/inbox OOC for plotting/threading purposes!

making random starters between our muses when it feels appropriate!

also sending random IC asks when it feels appropriate!

just generally any kind of relationship between our muses, pre-established or threaded out!

with that out of the way, here’s some of the categories!

friends

being a highly stressed college student who got kidnapped to another world, friends are nice to have. doubly so if you’re the type who gets lonely easily. takuya’s naturally a fairly friendly person, so he’s liable to form bonds with most people he runs into (intentionall or otherwise). basically, if you’re here, you’re on at the very least a first-name-basis with him!

science nerds

takuya’s a computer scientist first and foremost, but he’s got a lot of interest in various scientific topics and fields! he’s by no means a genius, but he’s had so much exposure to quantum mechanics and sciences from other worlds that he’s pretty good at understanding the basic principles. he’s learned the basic logic of one alternate universe, why not add a few others to the list? whether this extends into friendship or just two people exchanging thoughts and theory, this category is if you want our muses to share some deep discussion about this stuff!

extradimensional entities? eldritch abominations? idk just general reality warpers club

don’t let his mundane appearance fool you--takuya’s actually an existence that operates in 7th dimensional logic, due to the rules of the exa_pico multiverse and world transference. what that essentially means is [4 hours of dimensional theory/wave science lecture]--

okay in all seriousness, this is a pretty specific category reserved for the chars who operate “outside” normal logic. the type who don’t really exist the same way other muses do. they might notice takuya’s not quite what he seems, and what that leads to all depends on where we take it! maybe they have a discussion on the nature of their existences? maybe they’re curious why an otherwise normal human is like this? or maybe they’re just bored and want to talk to someone who might understand them! regardless, for all you truly incomprehensible existences, be you magic or divine or monstrous, this is the category for you!

rivals/enemies

it’s difficult to really become enemies with takuya, as he’s fairly patient with most people. that being said, he’s also the type who takes responsibility over one’s abilities very seriously, and doesn’t take kindly to people abusing that power. pretty straightforward--if your muse is the type to do that sort of thing, expect a very displeased/angry college student to. idk throw a shoe at you. these usually take more to plot than most, due to takuya’s nature as a person, so i’d appreciate it if we discussed this in more detail!

other

idk whatever else you’d like to do? takuya’s a pretty flexible person, and he can adapt to most people! maybe they bond over a shared love of sweets, or over feeding the cats in the red light district? or maybe they both want to investigate the mysteries of the city, and form a partnership over it? or maybe they form a rivalry in an arcade--basically anything you can come up with!

aside from these things, i should note (as i’ve said on my rules page) that takuya isn’t open for romantic relationships at this moment! i’m sure i’ve implied it pretty heavily via various drabbles on here, but i wanted to put it to word just in case! of course, crushing on him is allowed, but... i apologize in advance if/when they eventually learn he’s taken. ;v;

---

with all that said, i’ll be DMing people who like this post to trade discords and twitters so we can freely talk about stuff! if you have any preferences or plots in mind, please let me know!!!

[mmmmalo]

Jade & Bec

[This is an experimental post, exploring the threads between Jade & Bec, which will be updated regularly unto some semblance of completion.]

Are you familiar with the concept of trolls as manifestations? Cool, awesome, here’s a strange edge-case:

Tavros informs Jade that he prevented her death by commanding Bec to redirect a bullet into a villain’s heart. Jade informs Tavros that the “villain” was in fact her Grandpa, and Tavros attempts to defend his misguided heroics with the dignity of a wounded puppy dog. The strangeness: if Tavros is manifesting for Jade, why is he explaining Bec’s motivations for killing Grandpa? After all, Tavros directed Bec to do something Bec was already going to do – both of them are concerned with Jade’s safety. One might conclude that Bec (like Tavros) misjudged (not really) the danger presented by Grandpa (Harley). However, the manifestation of Tavros implies that these motivations also apply to Jade, despite her vocal insistence that Tavros is wrong.

What gives? Here’s a possibility broached in the second half of the conversation:

What if Bec is Jade’s imaginary friend? Tavros’s inexplicable manifestation for two parties would then be explained as voicing the thoughts of a mind divided. This would mean Jade shot Grandpa, albeit with several psychic buffers.

I realize that this would contradict the birth of Bec seen in Jade’s dreams, and that’s certainly not something to be ignored -- but then the trolls acting as psychological manifestations would likewise seem to contradict their existence as alien entities. The uncanny dissonance comes with the territory of dream logic, maybe.

Another reason to think Bec may have always already been a part of Jade: in the same way that cherubs seek to rekindle a primordial union, the kids in Homestuck universally aspire to a reunion. When John seeks to reunite with Dad, their separation analogous to the scratch on Dave’s record, an emblem of his fractured sense of self. John’s distance from (his image of) Dad is met with anxiety, and the urge to unite with that image drives much of his behavior throughout the story. Critically, a consequence of conceiving of this union as a re-union is that John fancies himself as having spawned directly from Dad’s image. (x)(x)(x)

As her riveting anthro treatise indicates, Jade similarly wishes to unite with Bec. The creation of Jadesprite corroborates this, as does the eventual realization of dogtier!Jade. But what could it mean for Jade to think of this as a RE-union? There’s certainly the sense in which Jade romanticizes shedding the trappings of civilization and embracing animal instinct, which can be conceived as having preceded humanity as we know it. In that sense, Jade could be said to be “returning” to a state from which humanity ostensibly divorced itself.

Put in familial terms, you might say humans are descended from beasts. Thus phrased, Jade being raised by a dog seems like a very apt metaphor.

Bec being Jade’s creation would admittedly invert this sense of who is parent and who is child, but there’s precedent for that sort of thing. The metaphor rich soils of Alternia has an upper class defined by the lower class trappings of Juggalo culture, after all. At this point I only want to establish a starting point for considering what it would mean for Bec to have already been Jade.

Main topics for future additions:

Why would Jade want to shoot Grandpa?

What are we to make of Bec’s powers if he is an extension of Jade?

(and of course, further justification for either of these questions being asked)

[5/3/2019] Topic: Jade & Lightning

First, a comment:

zenosanalytic

the parent stuff seems pretty easy, considering that it's de riguer in Homestuck for kids to be the parents of their parents

so like: Bec would both be a creation of Jade, and her primary parental figure. The different would be that, whereas with the B1s&2s it's a literal genetic link, with Jade and Bec it'd be more role-based.

...'difference' rather -__-

Thanks -- that’s further reason to regard that twist as a non-issue, except insofar as it may evince confusion on Jade’s part.

To get into the subject of why Jade would want to shoot Grandpa, it would be worth it to review and reevaluate stuff leading up to this. Namely, Jade’s fear of lightning.

When John entered the Medium, he had several near-falls: slipping on a staircase, launching into the air with his new Pogo-Hammer. Each encounter with the possibility of mortal descent was followed by the appearance of large ogres, who begin their assault after John looks down into the abyss. The ogres are physical manifestations of John’s abstract fear of heights, a fear which began with his fall from the slime pogo, and which Sburb stoked by placing his home on top of a huge spire. (Or perhaps it would be better to say that heights are the aspiration, and falling is the fear)

Subsequent encounters between kids and the monsters on their planets can be similarly understood as reactions to fears exemplified in some early trauma. Rose slams an ogre face-first into the oceans of LOLAR, which reminds her of the drowning of Jaspers. Dave gets his neck slit by an agent, which is an echo of the decapitated apartment building suspended over a bloodpool of lava, itself an echo of the fracturing of Dave’s identity from fraternal emasculation. In each case, the challenges posed by the game are directly sourced from some psychological fixation.

In Jade’s case, the appearance of her first imp is triggered by an aurora that bears a striking resemblance to lightning, giving a fairly direct indication of Jade’s fear. What’s more, the form of this manifestation is a callback to Bec’s first appearance! Naturally, this could be explained as simple callback reminding us the imp has inherited Bec’s powers via prototyping. But insofar as the imp is a manifestation induced by the image of a thunderbolt, the sequence suggests that Jade’s fear of lightning is closely associated with Bec.

There are precedents for this connection: one is rooted in the idea that the sylladex is itself a medium for the abstract expression of thought. When Jade attempts to draw her Eclectic Bass back into her Pictionary Modus, she instead captures the ghost image of Johnny 5, a sentient robot. This error is not a random occurrence, but rather a short circuit of mental association. Eclectic is two letters apart from electric, and Johnny 5 emerged as a consciousness due to a lightning strike, like a metallic Frankenstein monster. Immediately following this error, Bec appears and zaps Jade back to her room. – the dog is somehow both the interruption of this line of thought and its culmination.

The invocation of Frankenstein allows us to make some sense of the earliest iteration of this pattern: a pumpkin carved with the visage of Bec nearly awakens Jade when the reader tries to drop it on her head. 4 points:

John covered his walls with clowns and rude epithets; Rose scrawled frantic permutations of MEOW; and Dave drew SBAHJ. Each instance involves the kids expressing some kind of subconscious fixation or fear: John and his social anxiety, Rose and the echoes Jaspers’s swan song, Dave and the fever dreams within his art. There are no comparable drawings on the wall of Jade’s home, nor in her room on Prospit, but rather than concluding that Jade is an outlier to the trend, I would contend that Jade carved the face of Bec onto the pumpkin in her sleep instead. This again indicates a dread for Bec buried in Jade’s mind -- or rather, that Bec is an expression of some unspoken dread?

The pumpkin drop is echoed in drunk!Rose’s account of Newton’s mythic realization of the law of gravity. Rose says the proverbial strike of apple-to-noggin is symbolic of inspiration, the sudden intrusion of an idea. The same can be said of the pumpkin as a symbol: recall that the gift that inspired Jade to begin gardening in the first place was pumpkin seeds. So that which threatens to awaken Jade is the idea of Bec, again situating the scene

That the “reader” executes the drop is not arbitrary. It is crucial to the structure of the scene that the impetus for this attempted inspiration comes from beyond the fourth wall, for reasons I will elaborate upon in due time.

The inhabitants of dream bubbles are at times referred to as the dreaming dead, invoking the age old metaphor of death as a long sleep. The corollary is that awakening is akin to coming alive. As the allusion to Frankenstein via Johnny 5 might suggest, the flash of Bec-associated inspiration from beyond bears the possibility of no only awakening Jade, but of bringing her to life.

More lightning talk tomorrow.

[5/6/2019] Topic: Grandpa Harley

Let's skip to the end (and sort out the messy filler afterward): Jade's fear of lightning seems to be linked to a sexual assault at the hands of her grandfather.

An early hint comes by way of another reference to Johnny 5. Having alchemized the thunderstruck robot, Jade finds herself swarmed with notifications from the manifest Eridan. The Prince impresses upon her Ahab's Crosshairs, a weapon which had been previously established as a phallic lightning bolt (x). Knowing that the weapon will somehow make it to her grandson* Jake, Jade muses on the question of who she might have kids with. Eridan in turn balks at the thought of "pink wwigglers comin out a your owwn personal torso" -- a turn of phrase that obviously alienates us from childbirth, but also presents us with the image of worms or maggots wriggling in Jade's body. Rot blends with an image of fecundity, like the scarabs in the Mummy. We don't have the tools to make sense of this overlay of death and birth quite yet, but we will return to it. For now, consider this scene as a collage whose elements we cannot yet organize.

The more overt indication comes via Clubs Deuce. Recall when dream!Jade beat the snot out of CD for stealing the queen's ring, only to reveal that back in reality, Jade's dreambot was beating the stuffing out of dead!Grandpa? The juxtaposition suggests that Jade's violence towards CD in her dream is a displacement of some latent aggression towards Grandpa. Much later, just before Cascade, there is a payoff of sorts for this linkage: another lightning aurora hovers in the distance as Jade prepares for the scratch, and it triggers the return of CD. He drops in from the sky and kills Jade with an explosion of foam, knocking the Genesis Frog into the Forge in the process. The foam is ejaculatory, and the depositing the frog where it may gestate prior to its final descent/ascent to Skaia is an insemination. We infer that CD is playing the role of Grandpa in this display.

In response, Jack kills the shit out of CD, just as Bec killed Grandpa. The retaliation has echoes elsewhere. Recall the gag in which Hussie riffs on the end of the Neverending Story: he rides a white dog-dragon and avenges himself upon some bullies with a blast of stupid green dog barf. (Aside: it is out of the current scope, but worth noting that Hussie and Falkor respectively bear emblems of influence by Vriska and Lord English) The sequence is a silly mirror of Becsprite's annihilation of Jade's imminent meteor (the seed) with an immense blast of green fire. Entry sequences tend to involve some esoteric depiction of a character's trauma, and in this case, the meteor directly represents the "bully", Grandpa. (And perhaps to a lesser extent, bullies like Karkat, who in their own way posed a violent, intrusive threat to her (emotional) well being)

The entry meteor's threatened impact with the earth is but one example of the colliding celestial spheres that seem to haunt Jade. In Descend, Jade's reverie in the golden city is cut short as Jack severs the umbilical chain connecting the moon and planet (child and parent), sending the moon careening into the Battlefield below, crushing Jade. As with the meteors that swarm Skaia like sperm upon an egg, the child-status of the moon renders its crash akin to a seeding. A subsequent collision is more direct: Jake's Hope field versus Jade's green fireball. The entire grimbark scenario was triggered by Jade catching a glimpse of Jake's banana hammock (though of course, on a plot level the transformation was triggered by HIC's mind control). To drive the point home, Jade bemoans her inability to detach her focus from Jake's undies as they duel. As Jade is overpowered, the collision of Hope and Space comes to resemble the visage of Doc Scratch -- this unsettles due both to Scratch's pedophilia, and the way that the mind/body blocking of the scene reinforces the sense of domination from Jake to Jade. Adding insult to injury, the defeated Jade is crushed to death by a long white tower.

All this would seem to have been foreshadowed by Dave's comment on the earth being under assault by planet fucking Jupiter; the invocation of Zeus connects his comically absurd doomsday scenario to Jade's fear of lightning.

Next topic -- motifs connected to imbuing inert matter with the breath of life, and how they relate to Jade's sense of agency.

[elegantshapeshifter]

Even if (almost) all the accused witches were innocent, witch trials are still valid sources

Am I a Murrayite? No. I did a post explaining why the approach I’m referring to is non-Murrayite, it’s called “A pagan-animistic witchcraft history after Margaret Murray” and you can read it here: https://elegantshapeshifter.tumblr.com/post/170696469766/a-pagan-animistic-witchcraft-history-after However, the core idea of Margaret Murray was that all the accused witches were real witches. I say the the exact opposite.

In fact we can say that in *no* trial - included those in which the same defendant turn herself in as a witch in front of inquisitors or judges - we can prove that an accused witch was a real witch.

.: The trials as glimpses of folklore :.

But what we can prove is that the trials - ALL the trials - had the ideas discussed in the courtroom taken from somewhere, right?

Clearly the ideas of the accused witch are qualified as parts of the folklore.

Therefore we have two possibilities for the accused: - or she is an authentic witch (so... no problem, right?) - or she is an innocent person that reports folk legends.

Even the Church, the inquisition, the judges with their trials and their sermons influenced the popular beliefs, and so even if the accused echoed the words and the ideas of the judges, that source (the judges) can still be classified as part of the folklore (either before the trial with the priests’ sermons or after the trial with the bystanders that attended during the delivery of the judgment and then spread the ideas that were spoken).

If we admit that some witch existed outside the trials, we can imagine that there was a sort of heredity in family, with friends, etc. but in order to accomodate the critics, let’s say that no witch ever let in inheritance their tradition.

For the same reason, even if it’s possible that between all those accused witches a real witch could be there, in order to accomodate the critics, let’s say that no accused witch ever was a real witch. They were all innocents.

Ok, done. And now? Now what’s left? The folklore of the time. In fact, through the trials we can tap into the folklore of the time. Trials reveal parts of folklore, and therefore trials are a good source for the knowledge of the folklore.

.: The emulation :.

So... witches existed only in folk legends and not really? Even supposing that initially that was the case, there is the phenomenon of emulation. That is, somebody could have taken inspiration from the folklore in order to emulate these beliefs in real life.

Probably the emulation required several steps, for example it is possible that: 1) there was a vast majority of the population who believed in legends about witches; 2) there were certain people who let food offerings to these legends' characters; 3) there was a minority of people who dreamt these legends; 4) there was an even more restricted minority of people who believed that their dreams about witchcraft meant something and that they were actual witches; 5) there was a minority of minority of minority of people who emulated in physical reality the Sabbath they dreamed.

This idea was put forward by prof. Sabina Magliocco, who writes in her article “Who Was Aradia? The History and Development of a Legend”:

"Ostension is Degh and Vazonyi’s term for the enactment of legends. [...] Ostension always derives from a pre-existing legend: the legend precedes the existence of its enactment. [...] Hypothetically, legends about spiritual journeys to dance with the fairies and receive healing can easily be transformed by creative individuals into healing rituals with food offerings to the fairies and ecstatic dancing to special music. What if some women, inspired by utopian legends of the Society of Diana/ Herodias, decided to try to replicate such a society in medieval Europe? Though we have no proof such a society ever existed, it is not inconceivable that a few inspired individuals might have decided to dramatize, once or repeatedly, the gatherings described in legends. The use of the term giuoco (“game”) by Sibillia and Pierina suggests the playful, prankish character of ostension. A “game” based on legends of Diana/ Herodias and the fairies would probably have been secret and limited to the friends and associates of the creative instigators, who might well have been folk healers. One or more women might even have played the role of Diana or Herodias, presiding over the gathering and giving advice. Feasting, drinking and dancing might have taken place, and the women may have exchanged advice on matters of healing and divination."

Furthermore Magliocco specifies that: “However, it is important to remember that even if a group decided to enact aspects of the legend of Diana/Herodias, it would not have been a revival of pre-Christian paganism, but an attempt to act out certain ritual aspects described in the legends. Moreover, the more magical aspects from the trial reports - night flights on the backs of animals, ever-replenishing banquets, resurrection of dead livestock - could not have been achieved through ostension. We need to consider these as fantastical legend motifs, reports of experiences from trances or dreams, or both.”

I, therefore, don’t believe that the statements of the accused are sources because they were all true witches (Murrayite hypothesis), but they are sources because they record the folklore of the time and so they tell us what possible emulations somebody has or could have carried out.

.: The torture and the discrepancy :.

"But many trials were performed under torture, so they don't count!"

Even under torture if you were saying things that were in contrast with the expectations of the judges or the inquisitors, then obviously you were not (totally) adapting to their pressures, you were not (totally) reporting (only) their ideas, but also previous elements. So, in order to understand if a confession contained real elements of pre-Christian origin or not, this is the method: if the confession is exactly like what inquisitors or judges imagined Witchcraft was (i.e. the Devil, the blasphemy, etc.), the accused was probably repeating what the inquisitors or judges were expecting from her. However, if the story told during the confession wasn’t aligned with what the inquisitors thought, it was probably previous to their influences. So, for example, if the judges wanted to know about the Devil, and then the accused talked about the Fairy Queen and/or King, or about Madonna Horiente, or about Herodias, or Diana, it wasn’t a simple repetition of the fantasies of the inquisitors or the judges, it was *something else*.

It is in this way that even trials that were performed under torture count and are valid and useful for rediscovering the names of pre-Christian Spirits that were still alive in the folklore of the time and possibly objects of veneration in the emulations of folklore. 

This is the method that the famous historian Carlo Ginzburg used. In fact, in we can read from his book “Threads and Traces: True False Fictive” that:

“Between “the image underlying the interrogations of the judges and the actual testimony of the accused,” there was, I explained, a “discrepancy,” a “gap” which “permits us to reach a genuinely popular stratum of beliefs which was later deformed and then expunged by the superimposition of the schema of the educated classes”“.

This gap, this discrepancy, therefore, allow us to accept even trials in which the torture was used. In those trials we simply look if there was such gap, and we look only at the elements that arise from that discrepancy.

.: Satanic Witchcraft vs Pagan-Animistic Witchcraft :.

However, the fact that we can understand which trials bring pre-Christian elements doesn’t mean that only those trials were emulated, that only the beliefs that arose from those trials were emulated.

All the beliefs had the same probability of being emulated.

Even when the judges or the inquisitors pressured the defendant and the accused slavishly repeated their fantasies, this created folklore. Why? Because after the trial, when the sentence was pronounced before the population, the population assimilated those beliefs.

Thus, as previous ideas led to the emulation of a Pagan-Animistic Witchcraft (Animistic because, as I said in previous posts, former pagan Gods became Spirits in a Christian-dominated society), the new ideas produced by the influence of the Church or the judges led to emulate a Satanic Witchcraft.

Between these two possibilities (Pagan-Animistic Witchcraft and Satanic Witchcraft), we also have a third one: When the accused is using the name of the Devil to hide another being, a pre-Christian or non-Christian Spirit (for example in Basque Country Akerbeltz, the local demon which is at the head of the Sabbath, comes from the Goddess Mari; while in Great Britain the Devil is often the spouse of the Queen of Elphame, therefore is the King of Elphame in disguise).

This last hypothesis, however, does not coincide with the Murrayite idea of an "Horned God": demonization didn't happen for a single cult throughout Europe, but could cover practically any pre-Christian Spirit, including female spirits (for example Mari in Basque Country) and not just male spirits.

So, the idea that the Devil is actually a God in disguise and the same God in all Europe is false: he is not a single male horned God that the priests have "mistaken" for the devil, it is the demonization that the priests were working towards *any* non-Christian Spirit. Therefore, to believe that in Spain as in Scotland as in Italy the character that often could be hidden behind the Devil was the same is totally wrong. Whenever the term "Devil" hides a pre-Christian Entity, this Entity is almost always a different one. Therefore we have many Devils for every Nation and region that hide different Gods and Spirit, not a single Devil that hides only one Entity.

However, excluding this third possibility, we can say that there were two kinds of emulators: Animistic-Pagan emulators and Satanist emulators.

The existence of these two types of emulators (although Cohn limits himself to the emulation in dreams) is shown by Norman Cohn in his book "Europe's Inner Demons", where he writes:

“It is clear that already in the Middle Ages some women believed themselves to wander about at night on cannibalistic errands, while others believed themselves to wander about, on more benign errands, under the leadership of a supernatural queen. Later, after the great witch-hunt had begun, some women genuinely believed that they attended the sabbat and took part in its demonic orgies: not all the confessions, even at that time, are to be attributed to torture or fear of torture.”

All that we have said so far can therefore make us understand why witch trials are an excellent source for better understanding of both the folklore of the time and the possible emulation of it, even if we admit that almost all of those accused of witchcraft were not really witches.

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited.

sarahf (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): Last Thursday in an interview with The New York Times, Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa said, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”

The uproar over King’s comments came swiftly, and there have even been calls for his resignation. On Monday, King was booted by GOP leadership from his House committee assignments, and on Tuesday, the House overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning white nationalism and white supremacy (even though it didn’t rebuke him specifically.)

All of this raises a question (two questions, actually):

King has a long of history of making racist comments and aligning himself with white supremacist causes, so why are congressional Republicans taking action only now?

And are Republicans opening themselves up to criticism for not similarly condemning President Trump’s racist comments?

julia_azari (Julia Azari, political science professor at Marquette University and FiveThirtyEight contributor): My answer to No. 1 is that typically this kind of action (stripping committee assignments) is related to some kind of scandal (money laundering, sexual harassment) and not just offensive views.

More generally, American politics has not really figured out what we do with racism. (My residence on understatement island is becoming more permanent.)

sarahf: So the fact that King lost his committee tenure because his views were offensive is pretty unusual?

julia_azari: Yes. I don’t have an exhaustive list, but, I mean, Jesse Helms was in Congress less than 20 years ago, and he was known for “racially charged” comments and ran one of the most notorious race-based ads of all time — but I don’t think he faced any formal consequences.

nrakich (Nathaniel Rakich, elections analyst): I’m a bit baffled by the timing. There are a few different theories floating around — like King being electorally weaker now than he’s ever been (he even got a primary challenger), or Republicans being in the minority for the first time in a while — but I’m not totally convinced of any of them.

Probably the most convincing point I’ve seen came from Jane Coaston at Vox, who pointed out that King used to be seen as a kingmaker in Iowa politics (especially in presidential primaries) and a way for other Republicans to validate themselves as tough on immigration.

But that may not true anymore. There’s (probably) not going to be a competitive GOP presidential primary in 2020, and Trump has now arguably become the GOP kingmaker on immigration.

perry (Perry Bacon Jr., senior writer): The actual words King used, “white nationalist, “white supremacist” were unusually politically problematic. Trump avoids that kind of language, even as he implies all of the same things. Also, the media started pressing Republicans on this, and that put them in a tough spot.

nrakich: Perry, King made a just-as-bad comment (in my view, anyway) in 2013, when he said that undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children have “got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.” But nobody did anything then.

Although it does seem that King was getting himself into hot water more frequently in the 2018 election cycle. And Republicans probably thought doing anything about it before the election was not politically palatable.

julia_azari: There’s a needle being threaded here: People (thinking VERY broadly about the electorate) don’t like overt racism and ugliness, but they also don’t respond well to serious challenges to the racial status quo.

sarahf: So do we think this continues to spiral and that GOP leaders in Congress ask King to resign?

A number of Republicans have begun to call for his resignation, including Sen. Mitt Romney and Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah and Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

nrakich: King’s local newspaper also called on him to resign.

julia_azari: They endorsed his opponent, though.

perry: Elected Republicans can call for him to resign all they want, but unless people and entities like Fox News, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Trump turn on King, then I don’t think this dynamic changes.

The next step here is for King to really lean hard into the idea that he is being prosecuted by the “political correctness” police, the media and the progressive left — playing the victim card against the forces of multiculturalism is powerful on the right. I would argue that it helped get Trump elected. I’m not sure King is done, unless he resigns.

sarahf: I have to say I’m a little surprised that “political correctness” hasn’t become a big part of the national conversation yet.

nrakich: Perry, last week, I was also skeptical that King’s political career was in any danger. But now that he’s been stripped of his assignment on the Agriculture Committee, which is a big deal in his district, don’t you think that makes it a lot more likely that his primary opponent (state Sen. Randy Feenstra) could actually win?

perry: I don’t know much about his primary opponent, but in general, I would not want to run as a Republican candidate aligned with the people trying to take down King for being too willing to defend “Western civilization.”

nrakich: That’s very much not the tack Feenstra is taking. He’s a hardcore conservative himself, but he argues King’s controversies have made him ineffective. In an impressive bit of needle-threading, Feenstra says people should vote for him because he’s the one who will advance Trump’s agenda most effectively.

julia_azari: One question, which I don’t know how to answer, is whether some critical number of voters who don’t like political correctness also don’t like white supremacy (lots of people hold conflicting views). It may be that the last couple of years — Charlottesville in 2017, Pittsburgh in October 2018 — have tipped the balance of them toward thinking that the latter (white supremacism) is more dangerous than the former (political correctness).

Given King’s 2018 performance — he won re-election by only a few percentage points — it wouldn’t necessarily have to be a lot of people in his district to make a difference.

perry: Like if King paints his GOP primary opponent as a pawn of the media or elites trying to take him down, that would be smart politics.

One obvious shift: Before the 2018 election, the GOP had to worry about every seat. There was a chance Republicans would wind up with a one-seat majority or even a five-seat majority. If that were the case, I don’t think they would be attacking King in this way.

nrakich: Yeah, good point.

perry: Now that they are in the minority, it’s easier to purge the most controversial members.

sarahf: So you really think some of the timing of this is related to the fact that the comments were made after the election?

perry: Totally.

Nothing to lose now — they might have needed King’s seat before. Now, I think he is likely to lose in the general election in 2020. So Republicans have some incentive to dump him and try to field a better candidate for the general.

julia_azari: Yes, I agree with this assessment.

nrakich: See, I think that reasoning is flawed.

The 2018 midterm election was a historically great year for Democrats … and King still won by 3 points. King probably isn’t in electoral danger in 2020 unless it’s at least as good of a year for Democrats.

That said, I think congressional Republicans might agree with your assessment and that’s why they’re nudging him out.

julia_azari: So did King run ahead or behind people in comparable districts?

I’m guessing behind.

nrakich: Yes, Julia, you’re right. Last month, I did an analysis of 2018’s strongest and weakest incumbents, comparing how each incumbent “should” have performed based on their district’s partisan lean, elasticity and the national popular vote vs. how they actually performed.

King was one of the weaker incumbents; he did 10 points worse than we would have predicted.

Steve King was a weak incumbent

The 10 Senate and House incumbents who underperformed by the most in the 2018 elections*

Incumbent Party State or District Expected Margin† Actual Margin Net Incumbency Advantage Elizabeth Warren D MA D+39 D+24 -15 Chris Collins R NY-27 R+13 R+0 -13 Sheldon Whitehouse D RI D+36 D+23 -12 Mia Love R UT-4 R+12 D+0 -12 David Cicilline D RI-1 D+45 D+34 -11 Bob Menendez D NJ D+22 D+11 -11 Jim Costa D CA-16 D+25 D+15 -10 Duncan Hunter R CA-50 R+14 R+3 -10 Steve King R IA-4 R+13 R+3 -10 Rob Woodall R GA-7 R+10 R+0 -10

*Excluding open-seat elections, elections that did not feature both a Republican and Democratic candidate, jungle primaries, elections with multiple incumbents and elections where the incumbent was an independent.

†Based on the state or district’s partisan lean, its elasticity and the national popular vote.

Source: ABC News

So I suppose you could argue that these recent comments could make him an even worse incumbent, and that would cause him to lose the next time out.

But again … you’d have to assume another D+9 (or similar) national environment in 2020.

And if that happens, Republicans are getting wiped out anyway; King’s seat won’t matter.

sarahf: But is what’s happening with King a blip, as he’s consistently been one of the party’s more controversial members? Or is this more of a watershed moment where the GOP says, “we’re not willing to tolerate views of white supremacism in the party”?

julia_azari: It could be an early watershed moment, Sarah.

perry: I don’t think this is a watershed moment. But Republicans have now created a baseline: We will purge you if you openly say that you support white nationalism and white supremacy.

But it’s unlikely that Trump would ever cross that exact line. He and ex-senior White House adviser Steve Bannon have always said they are for nationalism, not white nationalism. Arguably, actions that align with a white nationalist agenda aren’t as problematic, at least politically, as words in support of white nationalism.

Most people who are wary of America getting less white and less Christian can figure out how to not declare their intentions so openly. For example,saying Mexico is sending rapists to the U.S. is pretty racist, but it’s still different than saying, “I support white supremacy” or “I don’t see a problem with white supremacy.”

sarahf: But I do wonder if the litmus test for what is and isn’t an acceptable comment will change?

julia_azari: These things are very slow to change, and one of the things that I think is challenging for Republicans today vs. Democrats 60 years ago or whatever is that racism has taken on more subtle forms in the current era — predatory lending, problems with the criminal justice system — that are much less obviously egregious than lynching and de jure segregation. (Even though the contemporary issues are very serious, and I’d point out that Democrats also contributed to these problems in past decades; no one gets a pass on this stuff).

perry: So I don’t think the GOP’s litmus tests can change much right now because Trump has been racist in many ways. He hasn’t used the N-word or explicitly identified as a white supremacist, but any broader definition of racist behavior will include Trump.

To put this another way: The gap between Trump and King is fairly narrow.

julia_azari: I sort of disagree with Perry about the possibility for this being a moment, though, as I said, I think it will be slow. Here’s David Broder writing about Jesse Helms’s retirement in 2001.

He makes a point that Helms had every right as an elected senator to hold and fight for his views, before condemning those views and arguing against “sanitizing” Helms’ legacy. For elected Republicans to actually draw a boundary around a set of views is very unusual in the American context. Not only was racism the norm, but we have tended to see legitimacy in the process of being elected, not in the substance of the views.

nrakich: Yeah, I think it’s really splitting hairs to argue that there’s a meaningful difference between Trump’s (and other Republicans‘) thinly veiled racism and King’s more explicit racism. And King’s crossing of some invisible line is clearly not the real reason the GOP has condemned him. The real reason is that King is one of 435 and Trump is president.

If that rumored tape of Trump saying the N-word comes out, are Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney going to call on him to resign?

I doubt it.

perry: I think Romney would call for Trump to resign if he was on tape calling a black person the N-word.

Liz Cheney, no.

I think Nathaniel is basically right: Trump is being excused because he is president.

But my sense is that a lot of Americans think racist means only using the N-word or something very, very explicit, and Trump hasn’t crossed that line yet.

julia_azari: Which is sort of related to what I was saying before: We don’t really have a political tradition of holding people accountable for substance as long as they hold power through a legitimate procedure.

sarahf: What I find so interesting in the backlash against King is that he didn’t make a racially explicit comment that targeted one group of people. Instead, he signaled that he thought an inherent racist ideology was OK, and that was enough to spark outrage.

perry: So there is a new book coming out by Duke professor Ashley Jardina called “White Identity Politics.”

She argues that we tend to think of white identity politics as being largely prejudices against groups like blacks and Latinos. What Trump has tapped into, she argues, is not only that racial resentment but also a kind of pro-white-people politics.

So it’s not totally about being against minorities; it’s also a kind of white pride.

I think King hints at these ideas at times.

When he defends “Western civilization,” I think people are hearing that he might think ideas from Africa or Asia are bad. And, sure, a lot of what King has said seems to look down upon people who are not white. But part of what he is saying is that “white people are good and have great ideas.”

julia_azari: Combined with this idea is the belief among white people that they face racial discrimination (it has become a somewhat widespread view). This seems like a key element of the white identity appeal, that there’s an element of grievance, in addition to a pride in one’s identity or background or whatever.

perry: So I do wonder if people talking about racial issues are at times talking past one another. King is saying that he is pro-white, but that is interpreted as being 100 percent about being anti-black or anti-Latino.

So if conservatives aren’t allowed to say that “Western” or “white” culture is good and that Mexican immigrants and Muslims diminish that culture, that would affect more Republicans than just King. You can hear these kinds of views on Fox News, from Trump and from other influential conservatives. If Republicans start purging those views, the impact will go beyond King.

julia_azari: Making coded racial appeals has been a successful strategy for Republicans and, at times, some Democrats (Democrats have moved left on racial issues, even in the last decade). But maybe we’re getting to the point where it won’t be.

perry: I agree with what Julia said, but I also thought it was true in 2002. Trent Lott resigned under pressure from his Republican leadership post in the Senate over something way, way less controversial than many things Trump has said. (Lott praised Strom Thurmond’s 1948 presidential campaign, which was centered on pro-segregation views.)

julia_azari: Yeah, I think these things move really slow.

perry: We may not see a steady decline in the acceptance of racist behavior, but something more complicated, with racist comments being more tolerated at some times than others.

nrakich: I think about that Trent Lott controversy all the time!!

If anything, we’ve moved into a place where coded racial appeals are more socially acceptable, not less — at least in the medium term (i.e., since 2002), not the long term (since 1960) or short term (since 2016).

But I do think that openness is causing us to grapple with coded racism as a society. It’s the latest battle in the culture war.

And the liberal side may very well win in the end. But it took emboldened people on the far right to spark the fight in the first place.

julia_azari: If it is a politically costly move for Republicans to cut King loose, then maybe we are seeing actual change. If not, maybe we are seeing the Lott thing all over again. That was pretty cheap as far as political costs go.

perry: I assume this kind of question is always context-dependent. It is easier to replace a congressional leader or a rank-and-file member of Congress than the president. For instance, it’s easier for Democrats to say in 2018 that Bill Clinton should have resigned for inappropriate behavior with an intern than it would have been to say that in 1998, when Clinton was still in office.

sarahf: So maybe we don’t see pressure on Republicans to speak out against Trump until much later.

julia_azari: But maybe it opens space for a 2020 primary challenger?

nrakich: There are also confounding factors, like Trump’s problems in other areas — i.e., the Russia investigation. If special counsel Robert Mueller’s report implicates him in collusion or obstruction of justice and ends up destroying his legacy, it will be easier for future historians and laypeople alike to pile on him for the other stuff.

I would be curious to see how the legacy of a highly effective, scandal-free racist president would go.

Maybe something like Woodrow Wilson‘s, eh, Julia?

julia_azari: He remains a hero in some liberal circles.

I wrote a piece about a year ago about presidential legacy and one of the things I am most sure about is that the mainstream legacy writers — who historically have been mostly white — are very forgiving of racism.

The line most-often employed is something like, “That’s just what people thought at the time.”

Is it easy for me to imagine people saying that about Americans in 2016 or whatever? No. But that’s probably more about my limited imagination than anything else.

[evanthenerd83]

AO-515 [Research File: Poem Horror]

Item #: AO-515

Object Class: Deter

Special Containment Procedures: The only known copy of AO-515, the original 18[REDACTED] publication, is in DACS custody. AO-515 is to be kept in a locked safe at all times with no fewer than five (5) armed guards stationed outside the containment chamber. Security personnel are authorized to use deadly force in the event of a breach. Any and all personnel attempting to access AO-515 are to be regarded as expendable and are to be terminated immediately. Testing is prohibited upon order of Overlord Council.

DACS is to extend its efforts to the monitoring of all online threads and websites dedicated to horror literature. Any user expressing interest or knowledge of AO-515 is to be detained, questioned, and administered Class A amnestics. Operatives embedded in fringe publication companies are to alert Mobile Task Force Zeta-4 [“Lovecraft Lovers”] as soon as copies of AO-515 are located. It is important that AO-515 is prevented from being published and disseminated to the public. Any located reprinting is to be destroyed immediately. All personnel are to adhere to CQ-Level security protocols.

In the event of major population exposure to AO-515, Protocol-Enlightenment is to be implemented with [DATA EXPUNGED].

Description: AO-515, or as titled “Horror of the Beyond”, is a poem written by [DATA REDACTED], an infamous British poet, during the [REDACTED] era. The length of AO-515 is roughly thirty (30) lines long. AO-515 focuses on a cosmic entity traditionally seen in Lovecraftian horror fiction, hereby designated AO-515-1, that is described by an unnamed narrator. The poem follows the unnamed narrator as he attempts to stop the entity from entering the “real world” via [DATA EXPUNGED]. At the end of the poem, the narrator fails and suffers from a mental breakdown. The history of AO-515 can not be tracked as biographical publications and letters between [DATA REDACTED] and aquattances make no mention of a piece similar to AO-515.

AO-515’s anomalous properties manifest when an individual reads the poem in its entirety. Following this, the subject will begin to experience irrational feelings of fear and paranoia directed towards the perceived existence of AO-515-1. Subjects often believe that AO-515-1 is real and is capable of “bridging” the gap between reality and fiction. Analysis conducted on the text comprising AO-515 result in the detection of anomalous runes typically associated with [DATA EXPUNGED], providing evidence to these delusions. However, the capacity of AO-515-1 to fully engage in reality-bending activity remains to be seen. For this reason, AO-515-1 has been classified as a fictional creation.

Subjects will proceed to suffer from insomnia and neglect their own personal health. Attempts to forcibly feed subjects through medical equipment fail as their beliefs evolve into psychosomatic symptoms, with the digestive system rejecting any edible material that is introduced. Lack of nutrition can result in the subject expiring from starvation. However, this only affects eight percent (8%) of subjects exposed to AO-515. The progression of these effects will usually conclude with the subject committing suicide or suffering from a fatal heart attack due to elevated stress levels.

AO-515-1 is the central subject of AO-515 and the main proprogator of its effects. AO-515-1 is described as a cosmic entity resembling a hybrid of an [DATA REDACTED] and a [DATA REDACTED], possessing a total of sixteen (16) membranous wings and fifteen thousand one hundred and forty three (15,143) eyes. The author makes passing mention of “infinite” tendrils that protrude from AO-515-1’s mass. Further descriptions of AO-515 deteriorate into incomprehensible rambling and jumbled phrases. AO-515-1 is left unnamed for a majority of AO-515 and is primarily referred to with male pronouns. The inspiration for AO-515-1 remains unknown.

AO-515 was recovered from the Miskatonic University in [DATA REDACTED]. The headmaster, [DATA REDACTED], was alerted to the deteriorating mental health of a student and scheduled an interview with the affected. Mr. [REDACTED] noted similarities between the student’s description of AO-515 and other materials previously confiscated by DACS, including the [DATA EXPUNGED]. He proceeded to alert the on-campus representative upon the termination of his interview. DACS deployed several mobile recovery teams and initiated counter-propagation measures in order to prevent further contamination of the student body. Joint operations with Miskatonic faculty enabled Mobile Task Force Zeta-4 [“Lovecraft Lovers”] to terminate the affected subject and retrieve AO-515 without any civilian casualties. The student body was administered Class C amnestics and all records of the subject’s existence were wiped.

Want More: https://evanthenerd83.tumblr.com/post/153026612966/story-and-poetry-series-index

[nuttystrawberrysalad]

Understanding Pipe Fittings

Pipe fittings are components used to join pipe sections together with other fluid control products like valves and pumps to create pipelines. The common connotation for the term fittings is associated with the ones used for metal and plastic pipes which carry fluids. There are also other forms of malleable iron pipe fitting that can be used to connect pipes for handrails and other architectural elements, where providing a leak-proof connection is not a requirement. Pipe fittings may be welded or threaded, mechanically joined, or chemically adhered, to name the most common mechanisms, depending on the material of the pipe.

There is some inconsistency in terminology surrounding the terms pipe, tube, and tubing. Therefore, the term Carbon Steel Pipe Fitting will sometimes be mentioned in the context of tubing as well as pipe. While similar in shape to tube fittings, pipe fittings are seldom joined by methods such as soldering. Some methods overlap, such as the use of compression fittings, but where these are commonplace for connecting tubes or tubing, their use in pipe connections is rarer. It suffices to say that while there are general distinctions, the common usage of terms can differ from supplier-to-supplier, although they represent the same items.

In this article, the concentration will be on discussing typical fittings and connection methods associated with rigid pipe and piping, with a limited presentation of the fittings that are associated with flexible tubes, tubing, or hose.

To learn more about the varieties of pipe, consult our related guide to pipe and piping.

Pipe Fittings Explained: Fitting Materials and Manufacturing Processes

Cast and malleable iron

Fittings for cast iron pipe fall under hubless and bell-and-spigot styles. Hubless designs rely on elastomeric couplers that are secured to the outer diameters of the pipe or fitting by clamps, usually a stainless steel band clamp that compresses the elastomeric material and forms a seal. These hubless or no hub designs are sometimes referred to as rubber pipe couplings or rubber plumbing couplings and are especially popular for transitioning from one material to another—from copper to cast iron, for instance. Bell-and-spigot, or sometimes, hub-and-spigot, fittings are joined today primarily with elastomeric gaskets that fit inside the bell and accommodate the insertion of the plain pipe end or fitting. Older systems before the 1950s were caulked using a combination of molten lead and a fibrous material such as oakum. Cast iron pipe is sometimes joined with bolted flanges, or in some cases, mechanical compression connections. Flanged joints employed in underground applications can subject the pipe to settlement stresses unless the pipe is adequately supported.

While there are both malleable iron pipe fittings and ductile iron pipe fittings available, the improved mechanical properties and lower cost of ductile iron is causing a shift towards greater use of that material.

Fittings for steel (aka, “black pipe”) and galvanized pipe as found in residential and commercial plumbing work are generally cast and referred to as “malleable iron fittings." They can be galvanized. Although standards list threaded fittings up to fairly large diameters, these generally are not used today as the threading of large-diameter pipe is considered needlessly difficult.

Steel and steel alloys

Galvanized malleable iron pipe fittings are often extruded or drawn over a mandrel from welded or seamless pipe. In smaller sizes they are often threaded to match threads on the ends of pipe. As sizes and pressures increase, they are often welded in place by either butt-weld or socket-weld methods. Socket-weld fittings, usually forged, are restricted to smaller pipe diameters (up to NPS 4, but usually NPS 2 or smaller) and are available in 3000, 6000, and 9000 class pressure ratings, corresponding to Schedule 40, 80, and 160 pipe. Socket fittings are welded into place with fillet welds, which makes them weaker than butt- welded fittings, but still preferable to threaded fittings for high-end work. The need for an expansion gap in the fitting precludes their use in high-pressure food applications.

Flanges are also used, with the resulting flanged sections of pipe connected via bolts. The use of flanges makes breaking the pipeline feasible so as to enable replacement of valves, etc. Most pipeline equipment such as pumps and compressors are also connected via flanges for this same reason.

Flange fittings are available in a handful of styles, rated by pressure and temperature. These styles include lapped, weld neck, socket weld, ring-type joint, screwed, and slip-on. The threaded flange is suitable only for low- to medium-pressure applications. The other various welded-on flanges permit higher pressures to be used. Lapped flanges are often used where disconnections will be frequent as the flange can spin freely, simplifying bolt-hole alignment. A special case is the so-called blind flange, which is used to seal the end of a pipeline but allow connection to another pipe or piece of equipment later.

Flanges can incorporate several different methods to seal adjoining faces, including O-rings, seal rings, and gaskets. Seal rings provide an especially tight joint and for the same bolt stress applied to a flat-face gasket, can resist a higher pressure.

Primarily, three standards govern pipe flanges. ASME 16.5 defines the ANSI flange, the most commonly-used flange. ASME B16.47 covers two series, A and B, which represent large diameter applications. Series A flanges are heavier and thicker than Series B for the same pressure and size. Series B flanges are normally selected for refurbishment work. ASME B16.1 defines the AWWS flange, but it is only for flanges used in potable-water service at atmospheric temperatures. Then, there is the so-called Industry Standard flange which is not defined by a governing body but instead reflects historical practice. The dimensions for these flanges are covered by ASME B16.1, the standard for 25, 125, and 250 class cast-iron-pipe flange and flange fittings.

Stainless steel pipe fittings can be used for sanitary applications such as food and dairy processing, and are commonly fitted with quick-connect clamps to enable dismantling of the line for internal cleaning. The flanges for these clamping systems are available as weld-on entities or in many instances available as wyes, tees, etc. with the flange integral to the fitting.

Metal pipes sections may also be joined and built up as pipelines using pipe couplings and other standard black malleable iron pipe fitting such as metal pipe end caps or 180-degree pipe elbows.

Nonferrous

Aluminum fittings are typically cast. They are available in all the same forms or shapes as steel fittings. Aluminum threaded fittings such as caps or nipples are available, as are fittings that feature a combination of threaded and butt weld connection styles. Socket weld options also exist. Welding of aluminum fittings usually requires a MIG or TIG process.

Aluminum pipe is also a popular choice for use in creating handrails, and a host of fittings for structural applications are available, both weldable and slip on/clamp-on varieties.

Red brass fittings such as brass pipe nipples are available corresponding to pipe diameters, and these are often assembled by soldering or brazing.

Concrete

Concrete pipe fittings are available in a variety of styles suitable to their application in large civil projects such as storm-water control. Aside from the typical wye connections, specialized fittings include utility hole portals and various styles of vaults. Typical connections use shouldered ends on the fittings which mate with counterparts on the receiving pipes. A rubber gasket provides for a leakproof joint.

Plastics

Plastic pipe fittings are available in both socket weld (sometimes called solvent weld) and threaded styles, with the former the most common. Socket weld fittings are designed to be welded in place chemically, thereby making installation quick and straightforward to complete. Plastic pipes are usually dry fitted, then marked, as the solvent used to connect them is especially fast-acting. Couplings are typically used to connect and join straight lengths of pipe together.

Fittings are available in standard shapes and styles and with the dimensional size ranges of material common to plastic pipe, including PVC, CPVC, PE, PEX, PP, and ABS.

Common PVC pipe fittings include reducers, elbows, caps, tees, wyes, couplings, unions, and crosses, to name a few. The standard cross-sectional profile for most PVC pipe or tubing fittings is circular, but there are other profile shapes available, such as square PVC fittings. However, these alternative fitting profiles are usually associated with PVC pipe that is designated for structural use, such as fences, railings, or furniture grade use, and are not associated with PVC pipe that is fluid handling applications. Besides PVC, other materials may be used for structural fittings, one example being galvanized pipe railing fittings.

Other PVC fittings include barbed insert designs, which are intended to be used with tubing and are pressed into the tubing and secured with band clamps.

CPCV pipe fittings, as well as ABS pipe fittings (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), also are usually joined with fittings that are solvent welded. Suitable conversion adapters for changing material types, such as from CPVC to brass, are also commonly available.

In some applications using plastic pipe, such as in plumbing for sink drains, certain pipe fixtures such as p-traps may be joined with a threaded connection using nylon washers and a retaining or locking nut. This feature facilitates easy disassembly to clear clogs.

Polyethylene pipe fittings and polypropylene Galavanized carbon steel pipe fitting are usually available with both threaded style or barbed style connections, and socket weld or fused options being also available. Similarly, PDVF pipe fittings also are produced with socket or threaded connections.

Where an air or watertight seal is needed, nylon pipe fittings may be employed and can be used with nylon tube or pipe as well as with other types of plastic or metal pipe.

Glass

In some specialized industrial fluid process settings, glass pipe and fittings are employed. Borosilicate glass offers several key advantages over alternative forms of piping systems. The material has high purity, so it will not contaminate process fluids. The natural transparency of glass permits the inspection of the process as needed, while the smooth surface prevents the development of scale or other residues on the interior surface of the pipe.

Laboratory applications may also frequently employ glass tubing and glass profile fittings.

Glass pipe should not be confused with pipes that employ a glass lining, which would be more correctly identified as glass-lined pipe.

Vitrified clay

Fittings for vitrified clay pipe are available in the typical configurations required for sewer installations. Like cast iron, bell-and-spigot is the usual coupling method for these fittings, with an O-ring or gasket used to seal the joint.

Types of Pipe Fittings: Applications and Industries

Callouts

Threaded fittings follow a standardized format on drawings. The nominal dimension comes before the description. When two or more ends of the fitting are not of the same dimension, the dimension of the run precedes those of the branches, or for reducing fittings, the largest dimension precedes the smallest dimension. Thus, a 1 x 1 x 3/4 Street Tee; a 1 x 1x 3/4 45° Y Bend; a 1 x 3/4 x 1/2 x 1/4 Cross; and so forth. The thread size on threaded fittings will correspond to the nominal pipe size thread as specified by ANSI.

Thread Types

Most pipe applications use threaded fittings whose connections can be typically characterized by one of the following systems:

American National Standard Pipe Threads (NPT)

British Standard Pipe Threads (BSPT)

The principal difference between these two is the taper angle. The NPT system uses a thread taper angle of 60 degrees, whereas the British Standard Pipe Thread (BPST) fittings use a slightly lower taper angle of 55 degrees. In addition to threaded pipe fittings which are tapered, these systems also specify straight pipe thread fittings, which do not rely on a taper to seal against pressure loss or leaks. Generally, a suitable sealant is needed to assure that the seal integrity of the joint or connection is achieved. Most threaded pipe fittings are designed to be right-hand threads, but there are some left-handed (LH) thread options available.

Metric pipe fittings are also available, identified by the nominal outside diameter and the thread pitch. So an M12 x 1.5 metric pipe nipple would have an outside diameter of 12 millimeters and a thread pitch of 1.5 threads per millimeter.

Screw fittings are usually threaded internally. The exception is the street fitting, which, in the case of a simple elbow, has one external thread and one internal thread. Pipes are readily threaded in the field. Joining threaded pipes and fittings can be aided by Teflon tape or pipe compound. When applying the compound, it is recommended that it be placed on the external thread only, to avoid introducing any impurities into the pipeline during joint assembly.

Piping layouts are generally one-line or two-line drawings, depending on the complexity of the installation. Where clearances are tight,and for many shop-fabricated pipelines, the two-line drawing is used, which shows the pipe dimensionally to scale. For simpler installations, the one-line drawing suffices, with fittings, valves, etc. designated symbolically. Pipeline drawings are sometimes shown as “developed,” which assumes the vertical pipes are revolved into the horizontal plane, or vice versa, to allow the entire piping system to be shown in the same plane.

Weldolets

These small, weldable branch fittings reinforce the pipe where a hole is made, eliminating the need to add reinforcing. Different forms of these fittings are available under various trademarks, covering butt- and socket-welded styles, thread-on varieties, as well as some special designs which enable connections at elbows, etc.

Welding process

Pipe ends and flanges are prepared for butt welding according to pipe-wall thickness. For walls 3/4 inch thick or less, the walls are beveled to an included angle of 70° and a 3/16 inch gap is left between them. The welder makes a root pass, a fill pass (or passes), and a capping pass, often varying the filler material between passes. For larger thickness, the pipe is tapered to a similar angle but only partway up the wall. In addition, a small relief angle is ground on the inside wall, serving as the location for a backing ring. Socket welds are generally used for thinner-walled pipes. Welding procedures are spelled out by an engineer in Weld Procedure Specifications and the welder making the weld will be certified for the specific process. Pipes sometimes must be preheated prior to welding and heat-treated after to relieve heat stress.

The necessity of proper pipe-end preparation and the need for careful fit-up prior to joining butt-welded fittings makes the use of socket-weld fittings appealing. No bevel is required for socket-weld fittings and the socket itself serves to align the pipe. About the only special requirement is that the pipe must be backed out of the fitting slightly to allow for expansion during the weld.

Prefabrication of pipeline sections, called “spools,” is often done indoors where automation can be applied to the fabrication process. Pipes joints can be rolled on slow turning machines to bring the work to the welder. Robot welders can be used. Techniques such as submerged-arc welding can be applied for productivity gains.

There are non-welded pipe fittings or no weld pipe connectors available as alternatives to the traditionally welded piping systems. Using a combination of swaged mechanical fittings along with the cold bending of pipe or tubing, this solution eliminates the stresses to the pipeline from the welding operation, reduces costs, and can provide for a modular system that is easier to disassemble or modify as needed.

Plastic pipe, and HDPE pipe, in particular, can be joined by heat welding, sometimes referred to as electrofusion welding. Pipes can be butt-welded or socket-welded. This is a fairly common practice for large-diameter HDPE pipeline installations. A range of specialized equipment is available for producing these welds.