#It's not always based in objective thinking

[meganwhalenturner]

So, last November I got to try my hand at Alchemy

Maddalena Rumor, in the Classics Department of Case Western Reserve University came to have dinner with us and mentioned she'd just successfully turned silver gold.

She had an alchemical recipe from a 7th century BCE cuneiform tablet from the library of Ashurbanipol. She'd been working with Rekha Srinivasan, from the Chemistry Department to see if they could translate the cuneiform, identify the substances mentioned, and then try the recipe to see if it worked.

They traveled to the British Museum to examine the tablet up close. By studying the partial strokes along the edges, Maddalena could make some educated guesses about missing words. Rekha, in turn, could use the descriptions of the substances to make some guesses about what they might be. Then they could start testing their best guesses with experiments.

This is complicated by the tendency of alchemical texts to use code words or inside jokes to describe materials or techniques. Something like me making a recipe that calls for 2 Legs and 1 Arm of Policeman and my friends all knowing it means 2.5 ingots of Copper.

I know the word alchemy comes from the Arabic al-kimia and that it eventually developed into chemistry, but I've always associated it with the worst of the Dark Ages in Europe--charlatans or wannabe magicians in smoke-filled, poorly lit cellars full of of mummified animals and just generally gross stuff that is not my jam.

I'm wondering now if that's because medieval alchemists were reading a lot of things literally that weren't meant to be taken that way. There's a reference in one of Maddalena's article's to a rare case where "human excrement" called for in a recipe is revealed to actually mean "garlic." I can see a lot of ancient alchemists laughing up their sleeves.

I had just learned during a trip to Naples the previous summer that the alchemy of Renaissance philosophers like Pico Della Mirandola was very different from the stuff in the basements of Prague. Instead of dreckapotheke, they were translating texts from the Ancients Greeks, texts that were perhaps based on the very tablets from the 7th Century BCE that Maddalena was studying. I promptly begged to observe her next experiment.

She very graciously said yes, so I went down to a lab at Case and I wish I had taken better notes, but I did not, so what I've got is a bunch of pictures, and I'll have to go back and badger Maddalena for details.

These are the ingredients for the next round of testing.

They will be mixed into a solution in the flask on the right and then heated on a burner.

Then silver tablets will be dipped into the solution:

And turn gold!

Not *into* gold. That was not the plan. Hope you aren't disappointed.

If you thought the object of alchemy in those dark basements in Prague was turn to lead into gold, yeah me, too. And maybe it was, but the alchemy of the ancient Near East seems to have been more clear that transmutation wasn't on offer. After reading some of Maddalena's articles, I now know there were four main practices of alchemy back in the day: coloring silver gold, making a silver alloy that still looked like silver, coloring glass to look like precious stones, and dying wool purple without using those expensive snail shells from Tyre.

I talked about alchemy a lot (really, a lot, everyone was very patient) at a recent writing retreat. Erin Bow called it the Science of Knock Offs.

There are multiple ancient sources that say that this "holy and divine art" (hē hiera kai theia technē) was taught to mankind by fallen angels who were sharing the secrets of heaven. I know it seems ridiculous that an all knowing divine being is going to focus on the Secret Science of Knock Offs, but the more I I think about it, the more I can see it.

ARMUMAHEL: We will share with you the great mysteries of heaven!

MANKIND: . . .

ARMUMAHEL: I can save you some money on purple dye.

MANKIND: YAY!

SAMYAZA: So how did the secret sharing go today, Armumahel? Did they ask about the language of birds? The control over monsters of the deep?

ARMUMAHEL: I told'em how to make glass marbles look like sapphires.

SAMYAZA: You do know Enoch is writing all this down. His book is going to be stuck in the apocrypha and we're going to be laughing stocks.

ARMUMAHEL: I promised to tell them tomorrow how to turn silver gold.

SAMYAZA: Ah! Transmutation of matter! That's a good one!

ARMUMAHEL: No, not transmutation. They just want the silver bowls on the alter to be yellow and shiny.

SAMYAZA: . . .

My shiny yellow tablet. : )

[uniquethingtastemaker]

As everyone knows, I bounce between fics based on my creative inspiration and rn I’m writing a Rook x Reader fanfic.

Now, this one is interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this concept before…

The closest thing I’ve read is probably @solxamber’s Ruler of My Heart. It’s one of my favorite Rook x Reader fanfic of all time. She peels back the layers to Rook’s character, portraying something more honest and vulnerable. It’s fantastic. If you haven’t read it, do it now.

I read that fanfic and thought I could never even touch that level of artistry. However, I feel like I’ve come up with a solid base for something good.

I haven’t seen a lot of full fanfics where Rook feels threatened. I’ve seen some drabbles where he’s felt scared and is able to deal with the threat swiftly. However, those tend to be about MC being threatened. Even in the canon story, Rook is more concerned with the safety of others rather than himself. It makes sense considering his fantastic skills.

Therefore, the man tends to be unflappable. Even if he does feel unnerved, he covers it up expertly. He can manually adjust his heart rate and breathing. However, some people can see past the facade, like Trey. Look at the Halloween event for instance.

Rook has a weakness though. He’s a private person. He doesn’t like people knowing about his past too much. Other than what he portrays to the world, which is his more of his upbeat and over the top self, he doesn’t want people to know about him. That’s his weakness.

My fanfic idea is an observant reader. Someone that makes Rook feel uncomfortable and borderline threatened because they just guessed almost everything about him upon their first meeting. That is objectively terrifying. There’s someone who matches his level of observation. Unlike Trey, who’s low key about it, MC doesn’t know that, especially at first. They almost give away too much information. Rook deals with the situation but they both know what he’s done to intervene.

So, I plan to have the main inner conflict be Rook hesitating to trust the Reader. The external conflict will obviously be Vil. Once again, I have a strange obsession with Chapter 5. I think it’s because it’s the perfect set up. There’s so many different possible conflicts and resolutions. I also don’t have to think much in terms of coming up with my own situation and set up. It’s built in there. Work smarter not harder lol

Anyway, that’s my idea for now. Let me know your thoughts. Always love interacting with people about my works and ideas

I also have thoughts regarding Rook general behavior that might be interesting. However, I’m tired, so that’ll probably be a separate post. Let me know if you’re interested.

Tagging @es-sharezone because u love Rook lol

[gatheringbones]

[“The wonderous thing about bimboism is that it defies the idea of innate, “natural” gender. It understands that all gender is a fantasy. All gender expression is practicing dollification (a fetish related to bimbofication that converts the subject into a living plaything) on yourself; it just depends on what kind of toy you want to be or think you should be: He-Man, Rainbow Brite, My Little Pony, Care Bear. The suffix -fication implies that gender is something that you need to change yourself into, or allow someone else to change you into.

The bimbo can be very helpful inspiration for playing with gender, whether it’s erotically, artistically, or as a way to affirm the fundamentals of who you really are: she’s a reminder that divisions between masculinity and femininity are made up in the first place. As evidenced by “Bimbo Picks Up a Book,” a bimbo is defined by her lack of intelligence. Her ditziness is directly correlated to her sex appeal, and her sex appeal is directly related to her hypergirliness. She’s dumb cuz she’s hot, and she’s hot cuz she’s dumb. She’s just a girl. This notion is based, of course, on a misogynistic disrespect of attractiveness. The bimbo knows that people love to look at her, that her clothes are fun. She is confident in her worth and she’s having a good time being herself.

If your sexual fantasy is to wipe your mind clean of distractions so you can be a creature of pure sensation, then the bimbo is a handy archetype to embody. Sometimes, you don’t want to be a fully integrated self during sex. You don’t always want to think about your bills or trauma or the book you’ve been reading when you’re trying to please and be pleased.

Bimbofication offers a clear delineation between the moaning, cumming, uninhibited sex object you dream of being and the mild-mannered alter ego you have to be the rest of the time. You might not want to literally look and act like a dumb blond in bed, but the dumb blond can be a marvelous symbol of something many of us do want to be: someone whose simple existence is dedicated only to being admired and enjoying herself. No thoughts, just vibes. A crucial part of bimbofication is that eventually, when the party’s over, you will need to put on some sensible shoes and pick up your book again. But the bimbo is always inside you, ready to swell out of proportion whenever you need her; she’s a part of who you really were all along.”]

tina horn, from why are people into that? a cultural investigation of kink, 2024

[downins]

ᯓᡣ𐭩𝗁𝗈𝗐 𝖺𝗋𝖼𝖺𝗇𝖾 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗌 𝗐𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖼𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝗇 𝖾𝗇𝗀𝗂𝗇𝖾𝖾𝗋 𝗆𝖺𝗃𝗈𝗋 𝗌/𝗈ᯓᡣ𐭩

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗌: 𝗃𝗂𝗇𝗑, 𝗏𝗂, 𝖼𝖺𝗂𝗍𝗅𝗒𝗇

𝗆𝗈𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗇!𝖺𝗎

𝗐𝖺𝗋𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀(𝗌): 𝗌𝗅𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍𝗅𝗒 𝗌𝗎𝗀𝗀𝖾𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾, 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗌𝗐𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗂 𝗀𝗎𝖾𝗌𝗌

───────────────୨ৎ───────────────𝗃𝗂𝗇𝗑

✮ jinx absolutely adores you and would always drag you to start a new project or help with her little trinkets

✮ you guys have matching goggles and whenever she misses you, she uses yours and fiddles them in her hands while thinking of any new ideas

✮ when you fall asleep on the desk while working on your assignments, she doesn't wake you up and sleeps beside you instead

✮ since she's always babysitting isha, you two started putting away welding tools and placing sharp objects on higher shelves because isha's a curious kid and it'd be difficult to keep her away when you two are working

✮ if she's stuck on an equation or a question, she'd literally find a way to sit on your lap and listen to you explain the solution to her

✮ it usually ends in makeout sessions because she thinks there's something REALLY attractive about you being all patient and sounding smart

✮ she crafted matching rings for the both of you literally never takes it off, even when there's a high chance of her getting electrocuted while working with it

𝗏𝗂

✮ she's loves accompanying you in your workplace, doesn't matter if she has any idea what's going on or not

✮ she enjoys helping you by handing you tools before you could even ask, like she knows what you need then goes to get it right away

✮ at some point, she also starts gathering basic knowledge about engineering and would ask you if you two could try out an experiment she saw online. it almost blew up the whole college campus but it made her happy, so it's worth it

✮ she secretly takes videos of you when you're working, posts them on her story and most of the time she spams it with you, even takes pictures of your products then showing it off to everybody

✮ when vi notices that you look exhausted or burnt out, she would literally carry you and bring you to bed, making you take a break

✮ one thing that she always does is keep you safe whenever you're working, it could be something small and she'd still have an arm around you. ready to pull you away in case anything happens

✮ vi is your biggest supporter and cheerleader, she's always there cheering you on and encouraging you

𝖼𝖺𝗂𝗍𝗅𝗒𝗇

✮ based on league of legends game, caitlyn is actually stem smart so she would have an idea or two on the stuff that you're doing

✮ she would help you make a couple tweaks and fix the little mistakes that went unnoticed, it makes her happy to be able to lessen your burdens a little

✮ she lays on your shoulder while you're writing and drawing on your blueprints, just observing you silently and admiring your intelligence

✮ she would cut up fruits and bring them to you if she notices that you've not been eating on time due to your busy schedule. feeds you sometimes even when you tell her to just leave it at the side

✮ if you're the type to work while wearing headphones and airpods, she'd have a note somewhere on your wall with the words. "make sure it's on a suitable volume!!"

✮ speaking of notes, it's not just one note on your wall. at some point, you even created a special space for her to stick the reminders on the wall and surprisingly you actually listen to her even when she's not there

✮ if you got a bad grade on your tests or assignments, caitlyn wouldn't hesitate to console you and revise the materials all over again. she'd understand your frustration and will comfort you by saying that she's always proud of you

[the-number-one-turtle]

i think that medium does not matter because you should always be creative

but uhhh i think inspo neutral is where i land. an object show doesn’t have to necessarily be a competition show or directly based off of bfdi but it should at least be inanimate objects

like if it’s humanoid/anthro i dont think it counts? kinda?

idk im really bad at making my own opinions 😭😭

Discuss -☢️

[a-very-tired-jew]

Had a student try and get into politics with me (prior to going in for surgery) the other week and it has stayed with me. If you're unaware, Professors are not supposed to push, espouse, or support any particular political party or rhetoric. We have major policies about it with very considerable consequences. Even courses where things might have a political nature, that are not polisci because they're different, have to be touched upon very carefully lest there be some blowback (e.g. a professor at Texas A&M was talking about Texas's drug laws in a criminology course and how they were ineffective and got in trouble because someone who knew Paxton was a student and felt offended because their "uncle" couldn't be bad).

So of course I didn't say anything. My policy is just to go "yeah, I'm gonna vote" and leave it at that.

Said student went on a mini-tirade though about how Kamala is obviously the better choice, but that they might vote for Trump because Biden and Kamala have been "facilitating a genocide". Said student then had the self awareness to admit that a Trump presidency wouldn't be better, more people would suffer, and it wouldn't "stop the genocide", but they wanted to "punish the Democrats".

My TA and I looked at each other a little wide eyed and the student came out of their fugue state to realize what they'd just said in front of their Professor and TA, gathered their things, and then mumbled something before hurrying out the room.

It's clear they care about the I/P conflict, but also about domestic and foreign policies that would result from this presidency. But their behavior is so quintessential college age activist that I had to highlight it here.

Being passionate about something doesn't mean burning everything down because you don't have the perfect response, especially if you are fully aware that your burning everything would actually make it worse.

Why do that?

It's a completely juvenile and immature response that really shows the quality of the person in that moment, where they are in life, and their intellectual and emotional development.

At least they became cognizant of how unhinged they sounded by the time they were done.

[pepperpixel]

SAID HE LIKES CRAZY GIRLS,

BUT HE HATES WHEN I ACT CRAZY,

IT TAKES TWO TO TOXIC!

FINALLY!!! Finished these pics of jinx I’ve been working on!!!!! HOLY SHIT, these took so long…. But finally… they’re done… pls enjoy this art of my beautiful princess w a disorder. Featuring alternate colors for the big pic and also a closeup! Cuz I rlly like how both the lines and coloring on her face turned out… like the pink gradients w her eye… her deer in headlights expression,, like uve just startled a raccoon digging thru ur trashcan and r two seconds away from getting mauled.. m proud of it!

[dykedvonte]

I hate the stretch lines in the front of Curly's uniform because that means the devs rushed to make a model in like a month or so and thought "They gotta at least know he has huge knockers, gotta know he's got back pain." Cause like what is the thematic importance of his tits having overhang?

What responsibility is that representing? Breast reduction? It shows an inherent greed in his character due to the excess and heshouldletmeholdone and that he clearly is blinded cause if he tries to look down his damn ladder all he's seeing is his own cleavage.

[myreia]

— vi. stay | follow

It is an inevitability, she feels, that they are always a little out of step, a little out of sync. One ahead, the other behind, a shadow to the other’s light. Pulled together not by fate nor by destiny, but by a small series of choices that are greater than the sum of its parts. They will always find each other—to the very end.

[weaponizedmoth]

The Venture Family Group Photo (Hank, Dean, Rusty, and Brock) 😁👏

Bonus with Mr. Reachy ;3;" (I have no idea for Adding this for the venture family photo ^^")

(I usually make these B&W but I wanted to go all out for this one).

[makotonaegiunderstander]

something I’ve been thinking abt is how many people think Makoto is immune to despair. I don’t think he is. I think becoming the ultimate Hope was BECAUSE he felt despair. He wouldn’t have fully reached that point without Junko. Makoto becoming such a beacon was his last attempt to avoid completely falling and it wasn’t because he didn’t feel despair, it was because he was too damn stubborn to allow everything to go to waste and he refused to sacrifice his beliefs for someone else’s. His inner monologue tells me he DID experience the same new low the other suvivors did in the final trial, but at the point where he had the choice to give up and die, he looked at the others and he looked at Junko and he couldn’t allow it to happen, not out of self preservation, but because the idea that Junko would have control over their lives made him FURIOUS. and that utter refusal to die kicked in, wether luck or otherwise, and he made the concious effort for one last push while something in him was breaking. He had to be broken in order for the Ultimate Hope to come through so aggressively, bc it could only exist in the face of the Ultimate Despair. He snapped the same way she did, but in the other direction. In what could have been his final moments he chose to embody everything Junko wasn’t, and every single optimistic and luck fueled ideal in him suddenly charged forward and pushed him. It was a combination of the final straw and a choice. Makoto isn’t immune to feeling despair, he’s just too stubborn to fall into it of his own volition. I think that’s why I like that scene in DR3 so much. People were SO SHOCKED Makoto actually fell for the tape, that he actually became despair for a moment. I saw people getting mad or disappointed, saying it was pathetic and Makoto seemed to fall from some sort of pedestal for them. Honestly part of me wonders if that sort of mentality, which clearly people had in universe, affected Makoto a bit. Like he started to see himself as less of a person, subconsciously. Prompting him to take more risks, less self preservation, act way more bold. It seems he has to be reminded a lot not to put himself in danger by his friends, to not do something too reckless. All over the place I would see in regards to that scene either this frivolous ‘oh this was just angst drama with no meaning behind it’ or ‘he can do better than that. he’s so weak’ or ‘come on, there’s no way he’d fall into despair, he’s the Ultimate Hope!’ This kind of mentality, which was kind of ironic considering Ryota was there the entire time saying the same thing and treating Makoto the same way. Like Makoto was superhuman. Like Makoto didn’t feel despair the same way ‘normal people’ did. In a way that was also how Munakata saw Makoto. Makoto stopped being a PERSON to the world when he became Ultimate Hope, he became a concept, a belief system, much the same way Junko ascended beyond herself. But the difference is that treating Makoto that way is the opposite of the reason Makoto became such a representative for hope. He wasn’t doing something no one else could. He was doing something everyone had the chance to, he just… was a little more optimistic, a little more stubborn, a little more ‘gung-ho’ about things. He just took the lead where no one else did, where no one else knew they even COULD in the face of Junko’s unstoppable force. She had overcome the biggest threats and obstacles in the world, what could one person do? And the answer Makoto found was, anything. Everything. It doesn’t all rest on Makoto, he’s just the one that was inspired to try to do what seemed like the impossible. But as evidenced by the change in his friends after that trial, it’s clearly not something only Makoto is capable of. The others pulled out of despair thanks to Makoto, but it was their choice to do so.

“But… this world is so huge, and we’re so small. What can we do…? No, we can probably do anything. Yeah! We can do anything!”

[unfunnystandup]

here is my neurodivergent charlie kelly collection. the hoodie has been stained by chef boyardee ravioli and (almost) by a bottle of testosterone. i have the horse shirt but can’t find it atm and yes our cat is named charlie no i will not be taking questions xx

[kismetconstellations]

Today in Takes On Shiro That Make Me Want To Gatekeep...

Sure. It's not like he was living on borrowed time, or anything, and Kerberos was very likely his last chance at ever voyaging into space, or potentially flying at all before his condition began to deteriorate. Adam being the selfish, irrational one? No. That was all Shiro. How dare he want to chase after his dream while his body still allowed it? God forbid he might have actually considered dying out in space preferable to slowly wasting away in front of the man he loved, and inevitably becoming reliant on Adam to bathe him and change out his diapers or bedpans.

Heaven forbid he might have also wanted to spare Keith the horror of watching one more person, one more adult caregiver in his life die, albeit at an agonizingly prolonged pace.

And, if you don't think that Shiro did everything in his power to protect every single one of the kids in his care, heedless of the risk to himself, you flat out watched a different version of this show.

[sysig]

Finally made a Parapluesch OC, introducing Mama Oz ♥ (Patreon)

[ghooostbaby]

ok YEAH i just found the words to express the frustration i have with stories/characters based on revenge...

there's this all or nothing between a character becoming so consumed by revenge they destroy themselves or the "healthy" choice to leave it behind and choose life, love, happiness ... how many posts talk about loving revenge tropes but often paint them as this inevitable descent into madness and futility, and in that way they always end up being kind of moral instructions through tragedy. if only they had turned away from revenge at the last moment and chosen happiness...

i just went to this herbalism workshop on anger, what plants can be used for and to sustain us through anger... and it wasn't how to heal from anger, like a malevolent force you need to get out of you, how to stop being angry, how to be content... it was more like how to sustain yourself through anger at injustice that is right to feel and anger as an emotion to harness by taking good care of yourself in the midst of its process. how to counteract the damage longterm anger can do to your body so you won't shut down and can continue to fight.

there's something disconcerting about the standard sighing over the tragedy of revenge characters doing their revenge, neglecting to settle down and follow their bliss. what about a perspective of care and support sustaining us through the vengeance, the justice we need? maybe there's a reason for that, that we believe we can only be angry and shut down or so frenzied we're ineffectual and lose everyone we love in the process, or the alternative is abandon justice and investment in the struggle and become happy. maybe its in certain institutions best interests for us to believe those are our only choices...

what about a story where someone on a quest for revenge is sustained and supported in their struggle? why is it always a meltdown of dysfunction and social abandonment? i think if we hear stories like that over and over we believe them and forget what else is possible

P.S. the plants were: burdock, tulsi, hawthorne, linden, and rose

[skyburger]

"fnaf is the scariest game ever" "no its silent hill" "well i think its resident evil" everyone shut up!!!!!! youre all wrong. its actually zack & wiki quest for barbaros' treasure (on the nintendo wii) but only the level "keeper of the ice". that level scared me so bad as a kid and you can tell because its the only individual level i remember the name of off the top of my head. like there is nothing scarier than a) being chased and b) being on a time limit. and you know what this level has? BOTH OF THOSE. this level is still scary to me im like AHHHHH!!!! and then i die