#Like... it isn't IMPOSSIBLE. It is certainly DOABLE

[awritersbro]

i went to a grocery store ON HALLOWEEN and they already had some Christmas stuff set up. Like... Guys. Dudes. We live in Michigan. If we wanted Christmas all year we would just go to Frankenmuth and visit Bronner's. Wait your turn you ridiculous semisecularized holiday.

[queenklu]

Seeing AI discourse about writing college papers reminded me of the time I got Called In To A Professor's Office over a paper I wrote that he thought was plagiarized.

See, the thing I had realized about myself by that point was that I am...VERY BAD....at reading the assigned books. I have every intention of doing so while in class, but the instant I'm out of class the book no longer exists (what adhd). So by the end of the year I would always wind up getting screwed over in the book buy-back with books I'd literally never cracked the spine on, because it turned out speed-reading sparknotes could get me through class discussion and I'd developed a System(TM) for panic-writing an essay the night before.

This system was: find an online pdf of the book. Skim. Read summaries. Pull quotes from pdf. Bullshit. Estimate the page number for any citations because no one actually checks those, and use the publication data from the syllabus for the works cited. This works Very Well if you are, like me, a sarcastic asshole who knows teachers want to read an entertaining essay instead of yet another regurgitation of whatever sounds academically "best."

So here's this history class, which actually turns out to be an english class in disguise, and we are told to read and write an essay on The First Autobiography Ever Written in the English Language, which just so happens to be about a lady who had FOURTEEN kids, suffered a psychotic break, and spent the rest of her life campaigning to become a saint.

It's called The Book of Margery Kempe. I cannot express to you how smug I am to find a pdf of the exact same copy we'd been told to buy, down to the same publishing house and year of publication. I won't even have to bullshit page numbers.

...It's written in Middle English.

Here begynnyth a schort tretys and a comfortabyl for synful wrecchys, wherin thei may have gret solas and comfort to hem and undyrstondyn the hy and unspecabyl mercy of ower sovereyn Savyowr Cryst Jhesu, whos name be worschepd and magnyfyed wythowten ende, that now in ower days to us unworthy deyneth to exercysen hys nobeley and hys goodnesse....

This is fine, College!me thinks. A little tedious, but clearly the entire class has successfully done the reading enough to talk about it, so it must be doable. They probably had discussions about the language and I forgot to pay attention.

So I write the essay, pulling quotes from this middle english pdf that I can only half read, but that I can certainly form opinions about. Is it my best essay? No. Is it snarky? Yes. Is it in MLA format? That's mostly what they'll be checking for.

Then the Professor pulls me aside after class and asks to speak with me in his office. I have another class that I have to go to, and because I'm commuting in to college I won't be back on campus until two days later; he says that's fine, and all of this is settled and we've parted ways before it hits me how fucking fucked I am.

It must be the book.

He's going to call me out on not buying the book.

Can he tell I didn't read the book?

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

And I have two days to stew in it.

By the time our meeting rolls around I am a Mess. He is going to fail me. I am going to die. If I open my mouth at all I will burst into tears. Perhaps there is the slimmest chance if I act Normal this will be fine??????

P: So I read your essay...

Me: *using my Normal face* ⊙.☉

P: ...and I'm just wondering...

Me: ⊙.☉'

P: ...where you got the quotes?

Me: ⊙.☉'''

P: .....because the version of the book we read....isn't in Middle English.

Me: ⊙.☉??????????

P: I actually thought you might have plagiarized it--

Me: ⊙.☉!!!!!!!

P:--but to be honest it's written so entirely in your style that it's impossible this essay is plagiarized.

Me: ........⊙.☉.....

P: .... Anyway.

P: Just wanted to chat.

P: Uh. You're free to go.

Me:

HERE'S THE LESSONS LEARNED:

Just buy the book Cite the pdf. The professors Do Not Care how you've read the book as long as they can plausibly believe you've read it.

Just read the book Listen. I wasn't going to get anywhere near an ADHD diagnosis until my 30s. And if they can't tell you didn't read the book, then is it really the same as not reading the book? I think Margery would agree you gotta make some shit up to get anywhere in life.

Being a sarcastic asshole in my academic papers saved me from a plagiarism charge.

[home-fire]

Mini Statue Resources

I've spent a lot of time looking for miniature statues of the gods to use in my travel altars, and in my search learned that mini statues-- especially anything under 3"-- are very hard to find. A lot of people have also seemed interested in the Hestia mini I have, and asked where I got her. So I thought I would share some resources I've found for very small statues and advice for finding them yourself. I hope they'll be helpful!

Sellers I've Found

3DvoPrinting (etsy)

They have a nice selection of 3D of prints of classical sculptures, including a lot of less "popular" statues. They come between 3-5" tall, priced around $12-18. I just put in an order for a custom size (1.5-2") of the Hermes and Asclepius figures, and they offer custom larger sizes as well.

3DorisArt (etsy)

They have a large collection of prints, but my interest was in the 4" line, which range from $17 to $28. I contacted them about getting smaller prints of these and they said that was doable. I haven't ordered from them yet but hope to get a custom size Dionysus soon.

MurphicIndustries (etsy)

This is where I got my mini Hestia! They have this whole set available, and also sell figures individually. They come in 32mm, 48mm, 54mm and individual figures start at $4-5.

twogreenthumbs.com

They sell mini garden supplies, and have a section with mini garden decor, including a lot of classical statues (I think these would probably have a spike under the base that you'd need to remove). Most of them are between 2.5 and 3.5" tall and $7-8 each. They also have a lot of mini pedestals and urns as well.

Edensart (etsy)

They sell dollhouse minis, including 1:12 scale prints of marble statues, including some classical ones. They're extremely small and so lower detail, and run around $6.60

BigManSmallWorld (etsy)

They specialize in very fancy and detailed art pieces for dollhouses, and their minis are already painted and decorated. Most of their mini statues are $30+

Advice for finding stuff on your own:

Although there are a lot of resources out there for finding smaller statues, I've found getting anything under 5" very difficult and under 3" almost impossible. For 3D prints if you can't find something in the size you want, I'd suggest finding one you like in a similar size and asking about getting it printed smaller for you.

I've had the most luck looking for mini-garden, dollhouse, and gaming miniatures. Searching by height is generally useless, but including scale can be helpful.

A lot of places have the statues misnamed (the Hermes statue I ordered, for example, is listed as Apollo) or aren't identified at all, so looking for generic terms like "marble statue" "god" "goddess" "classical" etc can be helpful if the right name isn't bringing anything up.

There are also a lot of Etsy sellers that specialize in dollhouse minis that have one or 2 little statues (esp. the more popular ones like Apollo Belvidere, Venus de Milo etc.) I've only included ones here that have a decent selection of them, but there are certainly options for little statues on Etsy beyond what I've shared.

The only statue of Aphrodite/Venus anyone wants to make replicas of is the Venus de Milo, so good luck to you if you're looking for literally any other representation they are on in a million. (I've included 3 here so...)

There are also some old school gaming minis that are Greek myth-themed, such as Foundry's series, but old school minis tend to be overall much more expensive, less detailed, and generally less aesthetically pleasing.

[romeoisalesbian]

I'm not qualified to give mental health advice but something that legitimately helped me get out of the rotting lethargy of my cocktail of mental issues was to take a bunch of inconsequential activities I knew i usually enjoyed and slapping them on a wheel of fourtune style wheel and spinning it a few times each day. Like bam write a poem bam paint something bam write a nice letter to a friend bam go for a walk. and I gave myself imaginary points for each task so i made it possible to WIN.

Obviously this isn't a one size fits all solution -- I still struggled to motivate myself to do the wheel-mandated things-- and I certainly found it more doable when I paired it with actual other mental health treatment, but it helped me feel less like I was wasting my time or my days.

For me, a lot of my anxiety and my urges to do nothing but feel bad all day stemmed from issues with wasting my time and being so overwhelmed by what I should be doing that it was impossible to start. using my Dumbass Wheel kinda gave me permission to say that any task is porductive if I enjoy it or it gets me moving, and that was a whole big deal for me!

I also noticed that, over time, it became a lot easier to get some agency in what I wanted to do with my day. Sometimes I would spin the wheel and get something I absolutely didn't want to do, and I would think about what activity I wish I had spun and do that instead! For me, it almost gave me permission to WANT to do inconsequential, fun shit without all the guilt!

I don't know if this would be helpful for everyone, and I know this post is probably pretty obvious and honestly a little dull, but I felt like I should share because it has been a game changer for me and my cocktail of mental health issues

so anyways GAMERS GAMIFY YOUR MENTAL HEALTH MAKE DOING THINGS INTO A GAME THAT YOU CAN WIN

[pkmnomegaverse]

Putting this here to remind myself but my fav bit of wildly contradictory information to come out of the leaks was the image showing that there's a 10 year gap between DPP and BW. But then later on you get Red and Green's character art saying that they are 20 in SuMo. Which are impossible to have at the same time, since for those two to be 20 in SuMo, it would need to be about a 2 year gap between DPP and BW.

To me it always seemed kind of obvious Red/Green were in their 20s in SuMo because Green especially is giving off college aged frat boy on summer break vibes, but I digress (the speculation I saw thrown around for why age 20 for them is because SuMo was the game developed as the 20th anniversary celebration of Pokemon). Ultimately it's hidden info for a reason since the above leaks do seem to indicate that even if the 10 years was "canon" at one point, Gamefreak was perfectly fine retconning that to have fun cameos (which mood). Mina being in Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee also lines up a bit better with a 9 years between RGB and SuMo timeline. That cameo always confused me since seemed impossible to make work, but given the idea the timeline perhaps got retconned...

But I still ain't changing things! A more condensed timeline is certainly more appealing than a spread out timeline, so it's tempting, but the amount of traveling groups that would require me to rework isn't worth it at this point. Will perhaps ponder.

I do think at some point tho I will sit down and see what reworking the timeline to be “more true to the vision painted by the leaks” would look like. I think it’s more doable than I’m giving myself credit for, although I know it makes some of the ages wonky. But I am curious still what it would look like.

[missizzy]

A Game Novice's Baldur's Gate Log, 148 Hours In: Two fights I ultimately couldn't avoid, and also two more

Masterpost

(Note: this will definitely contain spoilers for all I've played through, and probably quite of a bit of the later stuff I've also seen.)

I have been very aware this week that not everyone who plays through this game is in much of a hurry to rescue whichever of their companions ends up needing it. And that's very understandable. There was more than one moment during the week that I thought maybe I really should've gotten the party up to level 12 first.

But sometimes when you create a character, she will inevitably take the story over. Sara had now been in agony for days over not going immediately. She wanted Lae'zel back, and she wanted the cultists that were killing her neighbors in the park at least mostly dead, and it just felt impossibly wrong to delay her doing it much longer.

It also felt kind of wrong, honestly, when she initially tried not to fight Sarevok, given that a century ago, she was one of the ordinary inhabitants of the city he terrorized. But she needed to get the location of the Bhaal temple out of him. During my first go at that scene, she more or less let Minsc provoke a fight, I discovered just how hard he was to hit while dealing too much damage, and I ended up exiting without saving and deciding I'd do that scene with Karlach instead.

But really, I should've known it wasn't going to be as easy as that. That even if her companions allowed Sara to claim herself as wanting in and having killed the people whose hands we'd looted off Dolor, she was never going to pass the deception check necessary to convince him. So I found myself with that fighting happening for the second time, wondering if I'd just made it worse for myself with two barbarians who were both struggling to hit Sarevok.

But once it became clear that damaging Sarevok wasn't going to be easy for my casters either, I decided to once again try a little more spell variety, and had Shadowheart break out the bless for the first time. It was the perfect situation to do it, too, since he seemed oddly fixated on killing Sara and didn't attack the others, so with his minions downed quickly enough concentration wasn't a problem. He still wasn't the easiest thing to hit, but we did it enough to win.

Even more to my relief, he had the map to the temple on him. Except then I very quickly realized it was pointing us straight to the scary fight with the delayed Power Word Kill I'd reloaded out of earlier. Still, having had time to think about said fight, I found myself coming up with about 12% of a plan for it, and thought it might now be doable. After a long rest.

So, after a meeting with Dammon, which was nice but a little sad because he still couldn't fix Karlach, I decided to honor Minsc's request to deal with the Zhentarim he'd set on the Guildhall. With him rotated back in, we went there, listened to Roah Moonglow's spiel, and since Sara didn't really like either side she left the decision of what to do to Minsc. When he declared he was siding with the Guild for this one, we duly fought her and her allies with the Guild's help, which was probably worth it just for being able to loot a whopping 10,000 gold off of her afterwards. Money for more arrows, healing potions, and other useful things may not be a problem for a little while.

Of course, then I had to keep Minsc from then going after Nine-Fingers Keene, too, since we were by now in no shape to fight everyone left in the Guildhall. Fortunately I just made that check, Minsc confused everyone, himself very much included, by even speaking about working with her in the future, and we got out of there with no further harm save his having an existential crisis.

We went back to the tavern after that. Sara did her best to talk Minsc through said crisis, though she certainly isn't the best person for that. Since my plan for dealing with the Farslayer included Astarion, I had him feed off her that night. I took him, Minsc and Shadowheart to just before where the fight would trigger. I ended up pausing there, and spent the next day writing a little piece featuring Sara and Gale that took place on that night before.

My plan was to speed Astarion to wherever the Farslayer was located, and use either his sussar dagger or one of his arrows of arcane interference to break the Power Word Kill. And on all of my attempts at that fight that lasted long enough, this plan actually worked. But I hadn't quite realized just how many minions he had on hand, and just how much damage they could do while not being in the best locations for hitting.

After my second attempt failed, I swapped out Shadowheart and Minsc for the druids and their AOE spells. Which resulted in another rant about the city from Halsin; Sara might actually be losing her patience with him over that. I also decided to first go back up to the streets and see if I could buy more elixirs of fire resistance, since I couldn't even find the one I knew we had. (Much later, I eventually spotted in Jaheira's inventory.) I couldn't find any, but we went back to Jaheira's family's house, since I now knew how to get to her underground hideout, got her things, equipped Halsin with the staff, and even bought him some new armor and a couple more healing potions before returning to the Undercity.

The AOE spells actually didn't help as much as I had hoped. But I did, at long last, figure out how to make good use of their wildshapes. That cave bear really can do a crazy amount of damage, and I got Jaheira across the bridge alive largely because she was being an invisible panther. Though by the time the whole party was across, we were all in bad enough shape that with one of the ladders up where the Farslayer had been and the invisible minions still were destroyed, I took everyone under the structure just to give them cover. When the Farslayer was also hiding there, it was ultimately quick work to kill him.

At which point everyone else poofed, and the fight was suddenly over. Rather disoriented, and thinking they might still be hiding nearby, I short rested, had Halsin heal Jaheira further before swapping him out and Shadowheart back in, and then went looking for either Orin or more trouble. I crept through the adjoining building continually expecting to run into more trouble, and didn't. I did the same to the environs outside the temple entrance, when I found them. Then, when I discovered I couldn't lockpick through that door, I went around again to see if there was another way in. Finding nothing, I looked it up, and read about needing an amulet. Fortunately we'd looted it off Sarevok.

I had also read beforehand that there would be a difficult check to keep Lae'zel alive, but we could avoid it by provoking a fight before the cut scene played. I got us to partly down the stairs, and then was left to decide who would shoot at Orin first. There, my shipper heart ended up prevailing, and indeed, all four times I provoked the fight, I did so by Shadowheart throwing a guiding bolt at her. It actually hit on the last successful attempt, too.

The first two attempts went south pretty quickly, as on realizing I really had to stop the sculpture from restoring Orin, I made an attempt each time to destroy it, both of which came to nothing. Ultimately I would have to look that up, and read a suggestion from someone to thunderwave all the sancturied cultists off the platform to shut it down. I tried this on my third attempt, but didn't take that many out before I had two people down and was looking very bad, and so reloaded again.

I then decided to see if I could get the party closer, to at least give Shadowheart a better chance to hit at the start. I got too close, and triggered the cut scene. I actually tried to get Sara to intimidate Orin not to kill Lae'zel immediately, a check it wasn't impossible for her to make. But when I rolled at 8 on it, I reloaded without even waiting for the guidance die to roll. It was only an hour later I remembered the existence of inspiration. If I had in the moment, I might have tried using it.

But by the time I remembered, I'd won the fight anyway. It wasn't easy to keep Jaheira up long enough to knock everyone off, though Astarion at one point used the two thunderwaves he had available to take two minions out of the fight. Once the sculpture stopped restoring Orin, it was a simpler matter all of us just hitting her until she croaked. Sara actually went down literally right before Astarion was able to run over and deliver the final blow, which was definitely the kind of dramatic moment that would've done quite well in an action movie.

Fortunately Jaheira then quickly got Sara up before either of the remaining two skeletons could kill her, and we killed them quickly enough. I left off last night having just gathered Orin's netherstone and short rested. I haven't even woken Lae'zel up yet. There will definitely be more fic about that next week.

[rozinaaa]

SCREAM (Screens Certainly Rule Everything Around Me)

Surprise, surprise. It's another critical blog post from someone who literally designs screens for a living (that same person also had a keen interest in technology during art school), so this is actually pretty ironic, considering that I work in tech (what's even more ironic is that this time last year, I actually wanted to work in tech to the point where I wished that I studied something "more practical" like Computer Science, although now, I'm craving the opposite as I've now spent the past six months working within the tech industry, and I'm only just facing the brunt of it now), but I want to lead a more analogue life, which is basically impossible to do in 2024, since society now assumes that everyone wants and has access to some sort of screen that can connect to the internet, so that they can do literally everything ever, and also because I fear going backwards and not really keeping up with the times.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm being ungrateful by taking all of this frictionless convenience all for granted (especially with everything else that's going on in the world right now), since this ultimately will make my life easier, but at the same time, I don't want to end up being a phone zombie and middle class office drone (I'm actually okay with the concept of being middle class (after having come from a somewhat decent working class background, although it was probably on the border between being a part of the working and middle class, so thankfully it wasn't too bad), but it still feels like a shock to the system as a lot of friction has suddenly been removed in a very short amount of time) at the same time, where all I do is drift mindlessly from one screen to another to another until I die, which isn't really going to be a remarkable way to live.

What's even more depressing is being out in public, where everyone (save for a few people who spent most of their lives without screens, although some of these people might not belong to older generations) just stares at their phones but looking absolutely miserable and expresionless as they do it, where they flick their thumb through the screen as though their life depends on it, sometimes being so addicted to the point as they become unaware of their surroundings, which becomes frustrating when they're doing it as they walk (I've done this, but I've done it in a short and productive way, such as firing off a quick text or looking at directions, where I aim to get that one task done as quickly as possible), especially if they're just mindlessly scrolling through social media as they're doing it.

To add salt to the wound, I see people doing work on their commute (when there's space available), and although it does seem like a productive use of time, I find that even worse, since I know that I'm going to stare at a screen at an office for 8 hours instead, but then again, they might have larger workloads than me and tight deadlines to meet, so they might not actually have a choice in how they work, since I usually use the (often dreadful and soul sucking) commute to just have some time to myself and to mentally prepare myself for the workday as well as unwinding at the end of the day, although it isn't particularly relaxing.

To be honest, I didn't realise how much screens ruled my life until I had to design them, and although I do enjoy my job, I sometimes want to do the analogue equivalent (perhaps becoming a craftsperson or learning a skilled trade, although these typically require a lot of maths, and it is doable for me, though it will take longer to be able to grasp different concepts), just to be able to get away from the screens for a while and do something where I use my mind and hands at the exact same time (my current job is the complete opposite of the warehouse job that I had when I was 20, because although I moved around a lot and worked long and physically demanding shifts, I didn't get to use my mind as much, and for my current job, I use my mind a lot more than my actual body, which can also have consequences), so being able to use both my mind and body (I typically enjoyed art school since there was usually a healthy balance between the two) at the exact same time would be a happy medium for me.

I've started doing (mostly) screen free weekends, mainly to get into the real world a bit more, as well as only using my personal devices when I absolutely must do it, and this mainly started to avoid feeling burnt out at my job, not to mention that (due to the nature of my job) I now subsconsciously analyse everything about screens, which also puts me off from looking at them when I don't need to look at them, so I guess this can be viewed as a blessing in disguise that I could only truly appreciate when I actually had a job that dealt with this, and where I've currently worked in it long enough to be able to notice the impact that screens actually have on me, instead of taking it all for granted, since I now know what goes into designing different screens for one single product.

[emptymanuscript]

While not a happy watch, I feel like this does an unusually good job of explaining what is going on with a difficult (like any of them aren't difficult) climate issue.

I'm actually finding her videos generally in this vein: very well explained, quite well informed and reasoned, not terribly encouraging, definitely snarky, but mostly controversial for the way she is saying things rather than the basis for her logic.

I looked up this video because I ran into someone saying she was anti-climate science and she referenced this video as a defense... which seems like a pretty darn good defense to me. This is not a Climate Change Denial video.

She's saying pretty much the opposite of we shouldn't do anything. She's not saying that fixing climate change is bad. She's saying our current metric, how we're measuring success versus failure, for doing so is bad because it can't succeed for multiple reasons.

1) we CAN'T fulfill the metric we currently have, net zero carbon emissions, with the technologies we currently have (including potential ones that might come on line in time).

2) even if we COULD reach Net Zero, it wouldn't do what we want it to do: lower global temperatures. So she wants to change the metric. Her argument is that we need to reach a Net Negative carbon emission. Unfortunately, we're farther from that than we are from Net Zero.

That isn't saying, anywhere, don't do this stuff. Just that we have to think differently about it and move our priorities. Essentially, it is past too late to mess around and figure it out and try to address the niceties. We have to precision target the exact problem, carbon dioxide, and make it a cultural, political, and personal priority to make this happen.

One of the things she sort of speeds by is that part of the issue with the idea of Net Zero is that, while we are certainly the biggest by a tremendous amount, our technology isn't the only producer of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. I've been given to understand that one of the biggest mysteries in climate science right now is that we know there is a large number two producer. Something else is pumping out tons of CO2 but we have no idea what it is or where it is coming from. Nothing we've modeled or identified is the source. We've tried to trace it to us and the fallout from what we've done but nothing we've yet to find or model is adding up to what we're observing. Which means even if we achieved Net Zero today, the CO2 levels would continue to rise. Just not as fast. Again, not a reason to do nothing, a reason to do more, a reason to apply more brain power to the problem to come up with more possibilities.

In some ways I am weirdly more encouraged lately.

One of the things my wife always comforts me with is that while we, as a species, are terrible at preventing problems with room to spare, once we finally realize the situation is desperate, we're actually pretty ok at figuring our way out of impossible problems.

I feel like I've seen that borne out in recent years. When we actually turn our full attention to an emergency, and treat it like an emergency, amazing things happen.

It's just a matter of convincing enough of the right people in the right way to think of it as the emergency situation it is and getting us going on the correct path to solve it (and fighting hard enough against the backlash).

And it really doesn't have to be all THEM.

One of the really encouraging thoughts I've run into in regards to climate is to start thinking of it in regards to emissions per capita. What the individual emits. We, personally, can contribute and control that to a doable degree. Not necessarily easy but doable.

I heard this originally, I think, from someone quoting the representative from India at an earlier global climate summit. India, he pointed out after being shamed for its carbon emissions, may be # 3 in climate emissions per country but the country is actually really quite good in climate emissions per capita. The population is significantly larger, so yes, the climate emissions are still a problem in need of a solution, but if we measure by how much the average individual emits, they are significantly lower on the list. They're # 129.

My country, the US, on the other hand, drops from to #2 to # 11. So there's a LOT we can figure out as individuals to reduce our carbon emissions. And I find that encouraging and empowering. There's stuff we CAN do.

AND, it can be BOTH.

Love that dialectical thinking. I always feel healthier in my head when it kicks in.

Our policies and institutions and leaders can enable our personal capabilities to make positive changes as individuals toward lower emissions just as we as individuals can enable their political capabilities to push for national and global changes in policy and infrastructure.

The situation is dire AND we can do something. It is too late to get a perfect world or even our compromise ideal AND we can still ameliorate and eventually fix the problem. We can be BOTH the problem AND the solution.

[quantum-lion]

Nihilogony vs logicogony

nihilogony = nilogony = cosmogony from nothing

versus logicogony = cosmogony from logical physical foundations.

see: axiomatization of physics, David Hilbert, David Tong, David Deutsch, Chiara Marletto, Max Tegmark

Stephen Hawking made nihilogonous (nihiLOgonous) = nihilogonic (nihiloGOnic) comments like: a universe from nothing, but he wasn't really a nihilogonist (nihiLOgonist). He didn't present nothing itself as an active ingredient of existence; instead he was a logicogonist = logical physical foundations are the cause of physical existence.

Brian Cox never stops speaking about cosmogony from nothing. He isn't a nihilogonist. He is a bad thinker and also dishonest. Nihilogony isn't standardized as a word, and weak thinkers are able to play unethical sophistry amongst nihilogony (active involvement of nothing itself in cosmogony; do not confuse it with the void = spacetime with virtual particles) versus logicogony (self-causality of physical allomathematics/ allomathematics means mathematics based on different axiomatics: axiomatic list, axiomatic algorithm or hybrid axiomatics, able to workaround the problems of axiomaticity: axiomatic incompleteness, axiomatic inconsistency, and axiomatic incalculability; at least one of these problems is unavoidable, and a physical allomathematics can workaround the other two, by creating a smaller mathematics, limited on creating a physical foundations [infinite are possible]). Common mathematics have foundational problems, see: Kurt Gödel and Bertrand Russell, thus cannot physically exist. A physical allomathematics can workaround the problems of axiomaticity = of axiomatic systems, with workarounds, like forms of entropy (the expansion of the universe is ontological entropy), Heisenberg's uncertainty principle [or other forms of uncertainty in different universes], and other tricks we don't yet know (they aren't the same for all the universes). These axiomatic workarounds don't cancel the problems of axiomaticity, but can manage it by limiting what the physical axiomatic system can do.

These are opinions. Most opinions are wrong in philosophy, especially about hard topics, but they have to be recorded.

Why cannot we avoid allomathematics = mathematics with different axiomatics, and simply use common mathematics to describe all universes? Universes are logical, the supernatural isn't only unreachable and unteachable, but it's also impossible to scientifically hypothesize, because it lacks logical foundations, and it's impossible to have specific characteristics = identity = existence = substantiality. Most universes being logical can be represented in common mathematics, but certainly not all, because weird and incompatible allomathematics are possible to postulate. Nevertheless our universe seems compatible to common mathematics. Why not only use common mathematics to describe it? Because it's own and exact allomathematics will give us bigger insight. Now we use our own version of mathematics, which is a mathematics good for general calculations but not tautological to the physical foundations of our particular universe. In mathematics is a taboo to create allomathematics but its certainly doable. Also certain allomathematics are better for solving particular problems than common mathematics which is more generic. Of course we should transcribe anything we find in common mathematics, but there isn't an omnitranscriber amongst all the infinite allomathematics. That's one of the many reasons there is no general calculator (it would require infinite formulas and algorithms which are by no means self-evident neither easy to find in a step by step manner). There is no true general intelligence, because infinite memory cannot locally exist.

[pollyna]

Around 1995.

Andrew does recive a lot of strange request, when he gets a new Admiral uniform to work on. Admiral Kazansky's one is almost innocent, if innocent is the way he's going to use it but that isn't something he should bother with. He asks for an internal pocket, on his left breast, large enough to fit three photographs, not visible to an outside eye and not impossible to reach/use because sometimes he's going to take the photos out to watch them. And it has to be done on both his jackets. Andrew has just the time to take a pick on the photos and the subjects are a young aviator and a kid. Probably Admiral Kazansky son's. He forgets pretty quickly about it, after another Admiral asks him for a modification to the zip of his pants because- Andrew doesn't finish to read the description.

June 2011

Admiral Kazansky has three stars on his jacket and their already talking about giving him a fourth one. Andrew doesn't know what this man does to get promoted this fast but, at least, he still doesn't make strange requests. Just his pocket, always the same size and measurements. It's unusual but sometimes it happens and when Admiral Kazansky himself walks in his shop he shouldn't be looking around to see for the kid, kids?, he always has a photo on him. There's another person with him but he surley isn't a kid but a captain and he's looking around the place like is the first time he sees it. It's certainly the first time Andrew sees him. The Admiral is nice and probably the less chatty of the group, signs on the line at the end of the page for six times and asks if the pocket is still doable. Andrew is going to answer that yes, it's a pocket not a two way lampo because receiving a blow job during a call is more important than the call itself! when the other man asks what pocket?

The one the Admiral has his sons photos in? Andrew answers and maybe he should really learn how to shut the fuck up because Kazansky's face is red and he looking everywhere but on the table. You totally have a pic of Bradley there don't you? he asks taking the jacket and opening the pocket with the most childish reaction Andrew has seen in a while. Oh Tom he murmurs before start laughing this man thinks I'm your son and you had a photo of me on you since 95?! God man if I could go back I would beat some sense in the instructor who gave you the callsign. Iceman my ass.

Andrew is looking at the picture and the man in front of him and yeah, he can see the resembles now. Just know he sees the wedding rings around their fingers and when the captain kisses the Admiral he lets him do. I love you, you big softy. But I'm going to find a better picture of us, all together, so you can stop going around with one that makes people think I'm your son or I'm dead. C'mon Admiral, we have place to be and things to do.

Admiral Kazansky smiles at him from half the shop away and they're outside before Andrew can check he sign it all. He shouldn't care, because he has so much work to do and so much strange requests to try and create but he almost let himself giggle a little because Admiral Kazansky is going around the world with the photos of his kid and his husband, safe and secure, just where his heart beats the strongest and it makes him strangley happy and proud of his work.

[torturing-characters-101]

Follow-up question if the withdrawal from alcohol and benzodiazepines is potentially fatal what is the 'correct' way for an addict to get sober without immediately sending themselves to the hospital? Just weaning themselves off with smaller and smaller amounts?

I'm not sure there really is a "correct" way. Certainly the safest is presenting to an emergency department and saying you want to get sober and have them deal with it. In theory you could slowly reduce the dose on your own, but in practice there are a couple problems with this:

First is that while benzodiazepines are packaged in dose-friendly formats, alcohol typically isn't, and it would be difficult to determine the amount of alcohol one is actually ingesting in the first place, let alone come up with an effective schedule to reduce the dose over time. And since withdrawal symptoms for alcohol don't show up until about 3 days after a last dose, it wouldn't be easy to self-correct a weaning schedule that was too aggressive without risking life threatening complications.

Second is that one hallmark of substance abuse disorder is a difficulty controlling the amount of a substance that is ingested. That is why groups like AA are abstinence based- for someone who struggles with addiction, sticking to one drink per day is often impossible, while 0 drinks and avoiding triggers like discussions about alcohol is comparably doable. Especially for someone who is in the very early stages of sobriety, the likelihood of success from self-weaning is likely very low.

It's also important to know that a lot of people with substance abuse disorders need some kind of lifelong therapy to stay sober. This may be in the form of mental health treatment, a support group like AA or SMART Recovery, medication assisted treatment ("MAT"- think a methadone clinic), or a combination.

MAT is a treatment plan where the substance that was abused is replaced by a safer prescribed medication, which is prescribed every other day, then every week, then every other week, then every month with accompanying random drug tests. This is either weaned down or the patient is kept on it for life. It typically has much higher success in maintaining sobriety than abstinence-only plans. You can learn more about MAT here.

- Ross @macgyvermedical

[wr1t3-my-wr0ngs]

Remembering Yesterday's Tomorrow (In the Here and Now) - Part 3

Rex's funeral is a small affair. Although there was no shortage of well wishers who sent their condolences from across the galaxy, when the day arrived, it was only a small group that attended. The crew of The Ghost as many as possible came, as did a few others from the Rebellion. Perhaps most surprising was Mon, who Ahsoka knows has other responsibilities, better places to be.

Their eyes meet at one point during the service, and the Jedi-not-Jedi understands that this is just as personal for the old senator as it is for her, a goodbye to both a friend and a soldier. One of the last of his kind.

One of a kind. Sure, loyal, brave.

He had been a mentor first, younger then her but already well versed in tactics and loss. Her subordinate, yes, but one she leaned heavily on, and learned as much from as she did her Master.

In stolen moments (and all moments were stolen during the war), their relationship had changed, opened up—equals in spirit, if not in rank. Friends, as best as they could be given their circumstances.

Somewhere between him being Captain and becoming Rex Ahsoka had become attached. Hadn't realized how attached until she left the Order. Found herself thinking, not just about her men and her former Master, but him. His not quite a smile. Found herself wondering what he would say about her life in the lower levels.

And then she had run into the Martez sisters, and she missed him then too. More so in battle than at any other time, like fighting with a saber that wasn't her own; doable, but different.

And then she was back, chasing down the lead on Darth Maul, and there was no time for an emotional reunion between her and her Master (It's a regret that she knows she will take with her to her grave, that she didn't hug him when she had the chance, let him know that she cared) but somehow Anakin had made the time.

Made time to give her her sabers, to let the men surprise her. 

Seeing the doors open, hearing his voice, her heart — she was sure— had stopped for just a moment.

It wasn't love, not then. But it was comfortable and familiar and felt like completion even though she was already whole. It could have become something, she thinks, if it hadn't been cut so short. If the chips hadn't been activated and the Galaxy hadn't been overthrown.

If, if, if.

They went their separate ways. She still thought about him, wanted his input, his perspective on the rebellion, the state of the galaxy. Not always, not all the time. But in quiet moments, he would come to mind. She wondered if he thought about her too.

She did her best to keep tabs on him, make sure he was alright. Heard a rumor that he had found some of his brothers, lost track of him again (tried to make contact, never succeeded).

All the while the Rebellion was struggling, lead by Senators that had never truly fought and by people that had been children when the war broke out—spirited, yes, but limited in experience.

She thought of him. Knew when she asked Kanan to trust her friend that she was asking more then she had any right to (not after what he had been through), knew that Rex was what they needed. Hoped he would say yes.

Her heart had beat rapidly as she waited for the Ghost crew to arrive, made her face unreadable, prepared herself for disappointment of not seeing him.

Then Zeb had smiled, and her heart raced faster, could hear the pounding in her montrals as he walked up, purposeful, and came to parade rest.

It was a shock, certainly, because somehow it never occurred to her that he had aged too. That he had changed. But there was no doubt that it was him, and it was his voice, just like she remembered, the same warmth in that smile that made her heart go still.

There were a hundred things she wanted to say, thoughts that flew around her mind faster then she could keep up with and all so important. There weren't words for some of them, but she had always been an action first sort, and as she threw her arms around his neck, she knew.

Despite the years, he would always feel like coming home.

Isn't sure where home is now that he's gone.

Part of her had wanted to turn him over to the pyre, thinks that deep inside it would always feel like the only proper way to return someone to the force, (some of the teachings from her childhood, she found, were impossible to shake. Even with her self imposed distance from the Jedi).

But Rex had asked to be put to ground, the same as his brothers and she would not deny him this. 

She feels terribly small, looking at the mound of dirt, a simple marker holding his helmet (white flashes in her mind's eye, row upon row of graves, good men forever hidden under snow, lightsabers at her feet).

No one tries to convince her to come inside, and for that, she is thankful, letting her mourn in private for a while longer. Is surprised when no one comes for her even as night falls, the blackest she has ever known. 

Starless.

Empty.

The grave the only thing she can see.

Not right.

The force eddies around her, swirls and hums, and she wishes that she had her sabers for nothing more than the comfort of them in her hands.

She spins around, desperate to find something, anything in the all-encompassing blackness.

Nothing.

Not the Biituian trees, or the silhouette of the farmhouse. Not the sound of the wind or rustling of leaves. Only the grave to her back and the sound of her breath.

She should move, explore, see how vast the darkness is, but her feet refuse to yield. Whether because of this strange place or her own unwillingness, Ahsoka does not know. Perhaps, in this odd plane of reality, they are the same thing.

The force catches, holding its breath, for what is uncertain, but it builds, and it builds, and it builds until she thinks she could go insane.

Soft hooting draws her attention, the first sound not made by herself in however long it has been, and the tension breaks. The eddies in the force pulling her around to face the grave.

There, sitting atop Rex's helmet, is Morai, lightsabers clutched in their prehensile tail, glowing green and gold.

The convor looks at her, tilts their head and blinks once, before letting out an inquisitive chirp.

Ahsoka blinks back, not sure what her old friend could mean this time, but she holds out her arm in invitation regardless.

Morai spreads their wings and shoots past, dropping the lightsabers at the togrutans feet, but doesn't go far. Instead hovering in the air, head cocked to one side, waiting.

Dropping her arm, Ahsoka looks from her sabers, to the grave, to the bird and back again.

Her heart still aches, will continue to ache whatever her decision. She looks again at the convor who hoots in question, glowing brightly against the black and makes up her mind. Morai seems to understand and settles on some unseen surface.

She takes a moment to rest her hand on the helmet, lets herself feel one last pang of loss and sorrow before collecting her sabers and turns her back on the grave, setting out into the abyss, Morai as her guide.

-----

So I know I gave a sneak peek the last post, but it turned out that that part worked better in the next section then it did this one. Sorry, for the bait and switch. Writing be like that sometimes.

[pawmesan]

Ahh yeah sorry, I disabled them at some point when I was considering discontinuing my tumblr blog, but I ended up posting sporadically after all and forgot to turn it back on :'D

Thanks for your input though! Didn't know about these things (well, I do have the manga, but didn't know about its uniqueness lol sad it got didcontinued though) so thank you very much! There's also a couple other things I remembered later that I wanted to expand upon and/or add. So I'll use this chance to do just that xD

- I've often see people argue against the uniqueness of Gou's situation with Dawn, Tracey and Max. Which I can see the reasoning behind; Dawn was a protagonist too and Max and Tracey were both anime only companions. However Dawn is still based on the DPP protagonist and her goal is not doable in every region, unlike Gou's. Tracey was created when the anime started getting an international release and the creators were worried that people in the US specifically would view Brock as an offensive racial stereotype of Asian people. When he proved just as popular there as in Japan, they brought Brock back for Johto. Also notable that the game devs actually had a lot more worries about the international release and considered drastically changing a lot of Pokémon designs for outside of Japan. Lastly Max is visually based on the schoolkid trainer class in RSE and tied to May. He isn't old enough to go on his own trainer journey either

- I've also seen people mention Gou's first Pokémon being Scorbunny tying him to gen 8. But for that it's important to look at the whole trio this season: Satoshi and Koharu have the most marketable Pokémon, Pikachu and Eevee, while the small Pokémon that Gou carried throughout the series kept changing. That "shouldermon" is a very important role, since you see it do stuff in every episode. With Gou having basically a flexible shoulder among the main three (that sounds so weird out of context lol), they can use the spot to put whatever mon they want on that spot. It might very well be possible that one of the gen 9 starters will take that spot soon, though I'll miss Grookey then :c Also Gou comes from Kanto and his goal is based around Mew, so he's certainly more tied to that region than Galar.

- Another big thing that I especially see his fans worry about: the haters. His haters give quite the wrong image of how controversial his character is and most importantly, among which group. The series' target group is mainly children in Japan and the parents that watch with them. The majority of people that dislike Gou are 20+ years old men, mostly outside of Japan from what it looks like. They are not the target group, Anipoke staff has no benefit from catering to them. And for his popularity among his target group there is not enough information. What is clear though is that PM has risen in popularity again compared to previous serieses. And there sure are quite a few dedicated Gou fans in Japan who would throw all their money at his merch... if it existed lol. So as loud as the haters of Gou are, rest assured that the anipoke staff doesn't care. Iris was the most hated companion at her time, yet now she's back for a great role in all her glory. Also let's not forget how ridiculous the reasons brought up for hating Gou are, like him committing the sin of... rescuing Grookey from Team Rocket or... catching Pokémon at all. And of course the straight up homophobia and even racism of some. Wouldn't consider opinions from people like that remotely impactful and I'm sure Anipoke staff thinks the same.

- Maybe just a side note, but a lot of successfull long running shows, inside and outside of Japan, have a central unchanged cast. It's not impossible to believe that alongside the aforementioned new period in Japan, the idea is for anipoke to become something like that too, so they used this season to build up their future permanent cast.

So with all that said, I think even feigning uncertainty in this case would be lying to myself. Because with all of that laid out, there's no reason NOT to expect him to stay.

(Also btw thanks to all the positive responses in the reblogs! <3 Imma go and turn the replies back on now :3 Sorry Haruka for using your reply to textwall more gjfhfkf)

I keep seeing people believe, quite firmly so, that Gou is gonna leave the series once Scarlet and Violet release. But... the only reasonings I ever see for that boil down to "because that's what it's always been like". So now I decided I will list all the reasons why I don't think so and why Anipoke fans should consider the fact that yes, the series is perfectly capable of not sticking to status quo, which PM even repeatedly proved throughout its run so far. Have fun reading my rambling xhfhfhfgf

- Shortly before the announcement of PM, anipoke_pr was created to advertise the new series. While also just a sensible decision in the online world, this marks a notable difference in the marketing of the series.

- Among the advertisements, the sentiment of this time there being two protagonists got highlighted. Gou was the first new character to be introduced. Back in Diamond and Pearl, Dawn was advertised as the second protagonist too though and she visibly took over that role.

- When he got announced, anipoke_pr also showed a concept art from Ken Sugimori, the main character and Pokémon designer for the games since the beginning. Although not all of them have been designed by him, every canon character and Pokémon in the main games has an official artwork by him. Alongside Gou, the only anime-only characters to have that are Team Rocket. As far as I know, the post never specified if Sugimori also designed him, but the artwork does look like a (at least finalised) concept artwork, so it's pretty likely.

- Due to the begin of the Reiwa period in Japan, the directors of the anime said that the series went back to just being called Pocket Monsters to mark the new period. The last time the series was just called Pocket Monsters was the very first season. (Thus why I call it PM in this text instead of Journeys)

- Ever since PM, the anime had a couple notable changes to the storytelling: Satoshi (Ash) does not own any of the new starters, he did not catch the regional bird Pokémon of SwSh (Rokidee), the story takes place over all regions, not just Galar, he owns Pokémon that fans have been hoping for him to have in a long time (like Lucario), he doesn't take on the regional gym challenge, despite Galar emphasizing on gyms more than ever.

- Notably, the episode about how Gou and Tokio (Horace) met is the first episode in the entire series that doesn't even mention Satoshi or Pikachu. Keep in mind this never happened before in over a thousand episodes.

- Gou is, very boldly so, based on Pokémon Go. So unlike any of the previous companions, he is not based on something specific to the new mainline games, but a massively popular mobile game that exists alongside them. Since Pokémon Go adds a new generation each year, by 2024 it will be the only game that lets you catch every Pokémon. Just like Gou's goal. His sweater is by the way a permanently available clothing option that you don't have to buy extra in the game. Him being based on an unrelated game also means one should question why, if he leaves at all, it should be tied to the mainline games' releases.

- On the 25th anniversary date, anipoke_pr uploaded a special video focusing on Satoshi. In it they showed, in chromological order, every moment at which he met one of his Pokémon. Then at the end it highlights the moment he met Gou. Gou is the only other human character to appear, let alone be highlighted, in that video.

- There's a bunch of notable storytelling aspects: The series focuses mainly on showcasing and developing the relationship between the two. They very boldly want you to know that Satoshi and Gou have become very close friends that desire to share a future together (v gay btw heheh). The end of the Mewtwo episode shoves it into your face with Satoshi correcting Gou and saying the future lies in both their hands whilst crossing them. Aside from that being a blessing for shippers, it makes it very clear that this is meant to tell others these characters come in a pack now. There's no Satoshi without Gou and no Gou without Satoshi, they both take the main role together and keep it. Alongside that, we have episodes highlighting and paralleling their goals. That happens in the one where they have to lead a group of younger kids through town as well as in the Project Mew episode with Drake. Back in AG, Drake's advise to Satoshi was very important for the story. Same here, when Drake inspires them by saying that once he reached a goal, he'll just look for another one, because the journey is what matters, not the goal.

- I've seen a lot of people say Project Mew is a means to write Gou out of the series. Why exactly that should be the case, I'm not sure. He has joined the project now, yet has still more than enough time to watch Satoshi's tournament. It has been shown that the next thing Project Mew has to face is Regigigas, with Mew still not in sight. Dropping Gou at this point would mean dropping the entire plotline of at least facing Mew, which would be an incredibly strange decision after having hyped it up for so long.

- Talking about weird decisions, anipoke first and foremost exists as a big advertisement to sell the games and merchandise. It's part of why Pokémon is such an enourmous franchise. Creating a character to advertise their super popular and lucrative mobile game is a pretty smart idea. Dropping that character again after three years after having deliberately designed him for that purpose isn't. I've heard people argue that "Pokémon Go is popular enough, it doesn't need advertising", but by that logic something like McDonald's can stop advertising too because everyone knows McDonald's. However the fact that they keep advertising is how they make sure they keep driving in new customers as well as maintaining the ones they already have. Same with Pokémon. The franchise is so extremely successful exactly because they keep advertising towards new kids (and people in general) despite the already existing success. In other words, from a marketing perspective, it makes no sense to create a character to advertise a game, then drop him just because despite said game still being relevant. More likely than not, Gou will exist for as long as Pokémon Go is a thing that's getting updates etc. So good luck getting rid of him, haters, the gay cartoon boy you hate so much is here to stay.

Idk if I have missed anything now. If so I might just add it to the list. But yeah, I've wanted to do an extensive post about this for a long time. Because we know people who hate Gou try to find any excuse under the sun why he's gonna leave because they want it to happen so badly. But I am also mildly disappointed in the people that do love the character, but instead of doing their research just blindly believe the haters when it comes to this. Because I've really tried to find reasons to believe him leaving so strongly, but all that happened is that I found out how much the "Gou stays" arguments outweigh the other side lol. I guess thanks for encouraging me to do research to make me prove my point.

Now granted, of course it could still, despite everything, be the case. But I just want people to know that it's not the obvious outcome that many think it is. So I'll just keep sticking to my points and if they drop him after all... I'll go on with my life and keep drawing whatever I like, what do you expect me to do dgdgcgdgsg

Thanks for reading my little rant to the very end ugu nya