#MINERAL ROCK UPDATE

[nocinovae]

Minecraft feels like it doesn’t know what to do for big updates any more so they’re doing like small miscellaneous updates collected together. I wish they’d move on from trying to give them a theme bc I feel like that’s just confusing.

One thing I wish they’d do is do updates from time to time and go back and add pieces to old update. Like maybe add more fish or tree types.

Specifically what made me have this thought is that I’d love if they’d add more to the geodes. Like the amethysts are lovely but I’d love if there was a whole range of crystals to find in geodes!! I feel like that’s along the line of the archaeological stuff they’ve done recently! Digging into the earth for history and stuff!

Also if they ever do a forest update I’d freak out. I’d love if they revamped their nature bc I feel like that part of the over world specifically has been the same since the beginning era of minecraft. Like ocean, nether, caves, villages, NOW FOREST. And end.

Feels like natural progression of their universe growing! And I like feeling like the updates can have a “story” like aspect to me. Especially bc worldbuilding. Favorite idea when it comes to minecraft lore

[luckyacetarot]

Buys from my local rock show today!

1) Rhosochrosite and Flourite with Pyrite inclusions from the Guanghi Zhuang region of China

2) Brochanite from the Douglas Hill Mine in Nevada

I've been really into pink and green minerals recently~

[y2kwavesarts]

Rock Raiders, but with cat ears lights :3

Etsy

[fyeahlegorockraiders]

[zhukzucraft]

=> Pearl & Co: Gear up

You decide to scrape all the valuable rocks and minerals off this cave first. Added to your spoils from before it should be enough to properly equip you for the Nether.

Grian: Any word from Skizz yet?

Gem: He's saying he'll run right on back.

Gem: oh wait

Gem: Now he's saying Mumbo is against it.

Grian: Unbelievable. It's been less than ten minutes and the man's already whipped.

Scar: That means they won't need their death chest stashes, right?

Pearl: Scar, really? You would stoop down to grave robbing, sir?

Scar: No, no, of course not!

Scar: Just grave-borrowing.

Gem: I'd say we're ready as can be!

Pearl: I mean- we could maybe get some diamonds and-

Scar: Woooooo, let's go!!

Pearl: ...

Pearl: Wait!!

Pearl: if

Pearl: if this happens to go wrong and my soulmate is... not happy about it

Pearl: Would it be ok if we stayed together?

Pearl: You know, as a team?

Gem: Of course, Pearl! Why wouldn't we!

Gem: We started this together and we're sticking together no matter what!

Grian: You know, maybe you could stay up here?

Grian: We could use someone to dig us diamonds to enchant.

Gem: Exactly! And even if you don't find any, we'll let you get in on the enchanting. Right, Grian?

Grian: Weeeell

Gem: Right, Grian?

Grian: Alright, alright.

Gem: And Scar?

...

Gem: ...Scar?

GoodTimesWithScar has earned the achievement [We Need To Go Deeper]

=====>

Start Over -- Go Back

i hope i've managed to make it clearer this time that the "armor visible" condition is applicable only when it's on the screen. i just don't want to cover 80% of the design with armor most of the time. Please assume that everyone is wearing whatever armor they've been seen in last

same goes for weapons and shields - it leaves both hands busy if i draw them all the time, so let's just pretend they stash both in their inventory when not directly in combat.

on an unrelated note - i'm going to be busy with work and family matters the next two weeks, so the frequency of updates might fall significantly. i hope for your patience U-U

also-also: the archive up to the current POV is now on AO3 - LINK!

[buckingham-ashtray]

APPARENTLY JOHNLOCK DOESN’T ROCK ON JUST EARTH NOW

‼️⚠️this is NOT an au⚠️‼️

Our babies are on Mars.

Freaking MARS.

Okay backtrack. So basically both SHERLOC and WATSON are cameras attached to a robotic arm in search of life on Mars. SHERLOC detects organic molecules and minerals on Mars, and WATSON captures detailed images of the Martian surface to support SHERLOC's analysis.

(Apparently this program was launched a while ago on July 30, 2020. In 13 days our babies are gonna have their fourth Mars anniversary. I’m going to cry.)

In my mind:

SHERLOC: *bossily points at something*

WATSON: *heaves sigh and takes photos*

More information can be found at:

[pathologicalreid]

fluorescent | S.R.

in which spencer rambles about rocks and you get distracted

who? spencer reid x fem!BAU!reader

category: fluff

request: yes!

@midnight--raine: could i please have a spence x female!reader where one day they're having a conversation and obviously he starts rambling about some facts or something and the reader kinda zones out while he's talking because shes so focused on the way he gets so passionate about what he's talking about and suddenly she's staring at his lips and is overcome with a POWERFUL urge to kiss the life outta him.

content warnings: kissing, concussion, that's it, this is really just fluffy.

word count: 758

a/n: thank you for the request! i hope to update my pinned post to mention requests soon. I hope you enjoy!

“It’s actually really interesting to see if you ever get the chance,” Spencer told you from his chair. “It’s been discovered that over five hundred minerals fluoresce when they’re exposed to ultraviolet light.”

Both you and Spencer had been left out of the takedown of the unsub. Him because he was still using a cane to get around and you because you were recovering from a concussion, and Hotch didn’t believe you when you said you were fine. Typical.

You sighed and hoisted yourself up so you were sitting on the edge of a desk in the local police station, tilting your head to the side while you watched Spencer talk about rocks. All you had done was ask him if he knew what his birthstone was, and you completely lost him while he started rambling about fluorescent minerals.

It was one of those connections between topics that you’d have to be inside Spencer’s head to fully understand how he had gotten from point A to point B.

It was endearing, the way he got so passionate about things. He didn’t even have a degree in geology, and yet he knew so much about minerals like fluorite and calcite. It wasn’t even what he was saying to you found so captivating, it was how he was saying it.

Spencer had a tendency to speak with his hands, the bigger the movements, the more excited he was to be telling someone about the subject. So, if he was nearly knocking things over with enthusiasm, who were you to interrupt him?

Suddenly, his hands stilled, and your eyes flicked up to meet his. “Y/N, are you okay? Is it your head?” He asked leaning ever so slightly closer to you, as if you were two children sharing a secret.

Your face burned as your skin flushed, but Spencer didn’t seem to notice. “I’m alright, Spence. What were you saying about the color?” You urged him to keep going, keeping your question vague enough so that he wouldn’t be able to tell you had gotten so distracted by his ardor.

He pursed his lips for a moment before they parted again, “common opal doesn’t have any iridescence. Most fluorescent common opal is considered amorphous.” He told you, quickly jumping back into his topic of choice.

Smiling, you watched him talk as the words started to float over your head again. Specifically, you watched the way his lips moved as he shared the information with you. Sometimes, he stumbled over his words because his mind was moving faster than his mouth could. You felt honored every time he shared a part of his brain with you.

The fact was, Spencer Reid has pretty lips. They were a pretty pink color, the kind of color that people wanted as lipstick but could never find an exact duplicate of. They were soft. At least, they looked soft.

You couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to kiss him. Spencer never talked about relationships as openly as the rest of the team, especially not the way Morgan did. Very quickly, you realized you had no idea how he would react if you kissed him. Would he pull away? Would he push you away? Would he kiss back?

Spencer was still talking about opals when you moved closer to him, set your hands on his shoulders, and pressed your lips to his.

A soft, surprised noise came from the back of his throat before he kissed you back. He reached his hands up, so they were resting on your waist, no higher and no lower.

It was no small victory that you discovered his lips were as soft as you thought they were. Under your hands, you felt that his heart was pounding as hard as yours was. His lips parted slightly under yours and he pulled you closer to him.

A small crash caused you to jump away from where he was sitting, in your peripheral vision, you could see that his cane had fallen to the ground. For a moment, the two of you just stared at each other, wide-eyed and still trying to catch your breath. “Thank you,” he breathed, not taking his eyes off of yours.

“I- For what?” You asked, appalled at the fact that you had done something so brazen, potentially ruining one of your closest friendships. 

You crouched down and picked up his cane, as you handed it to him, he elected to answer your question, “No one’s ever asked me to shut up so nicely before.”

[blueishspace]

A few days ago I asked the question, what would you be the god of?

Here is the pantheon that has been created.

Gods of the fabric of reality:

Me/@blueishspace as god of space, sleep and night.

@sw1ft-sniff as goddess of time and knowledge.

@theduckwhostoleyourbread as deity of creation.

@shortystack75 as first divinity of change and god of contradiction.

@craftyexpertchild as second deity of change and god of chaos.

@azure-skies-with-sun as goddess of Inbetweens, the instant, middle states.

@ajfoxships as god of minor fortunes and misfortunes.

@pineapple-cheese-bread as god of luck and unluck.

@iris-entity as god of bonds (including chemical ones)

@unicornsandgenocide as god of death.

Nature gods:

@blizzardtheartisticfox as deity of Fall.

@star-dust-shark as deity of small critters.

@easily-distracted-by-fandom as divinity of prey animals.

@jadesolayray as goddess of beagles and orange cats.

@fallenflamess as god of fire, rock and mineral. (The depths of the earth?)

Regular life gods:

@star-dust-shark as deity of stupidity.

@serahblue as divinity of mischief.

@sleepdeprived-idiotlol as god of blood and cannibalism(?).

@not-ready-for-gaster as god of anxiety and procrastination.

@a-sociopath-do-your-research as deity of angst and twins.

@sun13koi as divinity of identity.

@communistcatboi as deity of both wonder and stubborness.

@some-dragon-bastard as god of that which is lost and discarded.

@but-aint-this-texas as god of petulance.

@fiery-feather as deity of courage and inspiration.

@kanaokanzaki-op as divinity of creativity.

@cowgirlginger as deity of imagination.

@m0on-shro0m as god of plushies.

@unstableunicornsofasgard as god of depression.

@creatorofstars as god of forgetting and repetition.

@razeeswillowtree as divinity of perspectives and opinions.

@shutitk as deity of prophecy.

@since-times-long-forgotten as god of breathing and scent.

@theshelteredbrat as god of gay and sarcasm.

@diedbydeth as goddess of lesbians.

@salty-lemonss as deity of gift giving.

@panpanix as goddess of Justice and retribution.

@issylilymay as deity of warmth and comfort.

@manageroftheassistantstage as god of leadership, power, communication and collaboration.

@apjofan as god of solidarity, kindness and anti-bullying.

@entity68 as deity of ugly and beauty.

@twisttea as goddess of loyalty.

If someone wants to be added they can just comment on this post or the last one and I'll update it. But now I pose another question, how would you be worshipped?

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

Howdy, dear Mouse! I have a question, I want to know your opinion about it!

I was on the SVE Wiki and realised something that's been on my mind for a long time! Lance hates most of the candies in the game. I want to know what you think about this, what do you think would be the reason?

Best regards and have a great week, dear Mousey! 🤗🌻🌻

Hewwo :3 Glad to see you again, dear moot! Thank you so much for the question, and have a wonderful week as well 💕 So... (Warning for SVE 1.15 spoilers):

_________________________________________

I put the question off until the weekend, wanting to look in the mod files first, hoping to find some useful information on this topic after the 1.15 update. And oh boy, did I find something interesting...

Going back to the discussions from a couple of years ago, the very first theory of the reason for Lance's hatred of all things sweet and baked goods was the idea that the gallant adventurer is very strict about his health and appearance. Always perfectly ironed clothes, always clean skin, always well-groomed, healthy, not a single blemish. And he wouldn't eat anything that could ruin his figure or teeth, not even Magic Rock candy, which is considered one of the all-powerful foods in the Stardew world (Prismatic Shard essence, that's rare Lance!). The exceptions were maple syrup (apparently because it is a healthy sweet, low in antioxidants and vitamins and minerals).

Another theory (which @sapphicastral said, thanks moot!) was that Lance is diabetic and therefore couldn't eat anything sweet. He can't consume it because of his health. Maple syrup is still liked gift though (let's write it off to the mechanics of the game, because syrup is loved by almost everyone, except Maru).

But now those two theories can be thrown in the trash, because as it turns out, this pink-haired bastard loves chocolate, more specifically - Chocolate Truffle Bar, the new item in SVE, the recipe for which we can buy from a Traveling Merchant at the Festival of Ice for 12000 gold (damn, expensive 🥲). It's made, as you might have realised, from truffle (which already makes it an expensive food), milk, sugar and hazelnut. And Lance will happily accept the chocolate, saying he doesn't usually eat sweets, but will make an exception here...

Of course he'll make an exception - a bar of such an expensive sweet sells for 4500 gold!!! So, the first theory (about not wanting to consume excessive amounts of sugar and carbohydrates in order to maintain his health and figure) partly remains, but he only accepts the best, natural and expensive chocolate, I guess... That's only 500 gold cheaper than a treasure chest! (Jesus Christ...). Mister, I love you, but your flavours of gifts are frickin expensive.

Well, mystery solved - our noble Lance only wants the best and the finest 🤌 But he's always on the job protecting people from monsters, so let him treat himself to something yummy. I still can't understand tho why he hates Magic Rock candy, because it's even more expensive than Truffle Chocolate and more useful in the plans of buffs imposed on Farmer. Maybe this will be fixed in future updates - who knows.

I'll end this post with a follow-up to his quote about chocolate, which made me think really, really hard:

"...In the northern Highlands, there's peculiar monsters that carry just a right ingredients for the chocolate. I've yet to uncover their origin."

🤨

Hmmmmmmmmmmm....

[agentc0rn]

Gonna re-upload my ultimate weapon glimmora with updated info:

Glimmora: Ghost/Rock - 1.7m, 50kg

[Glimmoras inhabit mainly in the underground and caves, feeding on ores and minerals. They are said to be the reborn souls of the perished from the ultimate weapon's blast long ago, infused with its radioactive energy that still holds an ounce of its original revival power.]

A good mutual of mine shared an idea about glimmora being a ghost type as noted in the dex, and wanted to implement that!

Credit: @ raikouswish

This made me think how what if the Ult. Weapon, despite its immediate deadly impact/power, still stored ample life energy and residue of revival power that ends up reviving the dead in some indirect and macabre way? And that they become living stones - like the geosenge ones, but glimmoras instead? My memory is a bit foggy so i may be inaccurate with the ultimate weapon's functions but it sounded too cool to bypass it.

[bitkahuna]

The Valar Mahal decided that now, of all times, he would give Bilbo his blessing.

Bilbo had barely begun to ponder the strange color of his brew when a small pebble struck his shoulder. He blinked, looking around in confusion. Another stone, no larger than a fingernail, bounced off his knee. He stared at the two tiny stones, having caused him no damage, but surprising nonetheless.

“What the h-”

He was cut off by a barrage of tiny rocks that began raining down around him. They clattered against the cauldron, creating a cacophony of metallic pings. Larger stones pelted the ground, kicking up tufts of grass and dirt. A yelp came from him as he scrambled to his feet. He ducked and weaved, trying to avoid the assault of airborne minerals. He shielded his face with his arms as he tried to figure out what was happening.

"This is hardly helpful!" He shouted with a dawning certainty that this must be some twisted form of divine intervention. The Valar of stone was quite literally stoning him. This couldn’t be a punishment. Stupid magic might be deserving of a kick in the head, but this was just strange. He was doing it to save Yavanna’s creations, after all.

Though pebbles caused him no harm, their incessant pelting was maddening. With no time to gather his belongings, Bilbo fled into the forest. Branches whipped at his face, leaves tangling in his curls. His lungs burned, still raw from his magical mishap, but fear and bewilderment drove him onward.

Bilbo cursed, ducking as more stones whizzed past. "Is this your idea of a joke?"

-----

Just updated!!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Why did the land of Pyroxene change to shaftlands and now to shift lands

Thank you MysteryShopTLs for their own insightful post on this topic; I referenced it while writing my own thoughts down.

Originally, the country is written as 輝石の国 or “kiseki no kuni”. The characters specifically used for “kiseki” more closely translate to “pyroxene”, which is a silicate mineral that is known for its familiar crystal formations:

Prior to the official English localization of TWST, many fan translations used “Pyroxene” as the name for the aforementioned location because of how its name is written in Japanese. And thinking about it, it seems to make sense. Vil, a sparkling celebrity, comes from Pyroxene, and he himself is twisted from a character from Snow White, a film which depicts a mining cavern with many jewels. I believe Cater, another Pyroxene resident, describes its people as generally glitzy, so this also fits the “jewel” or “crystal” image that the word pyroxene invokes. (Indeed, many characters from this land tend to be regal or “shiny” in some way, be it Vil, Cater, Vargas, Trein; Jack is the only one that isn’t immediately obvious). To be clear, “Pyroxene” was NEVER an official English name, even if it may have been somewhat true of the Japanese.

Both EN and JP (some things in JP, like the world map, are written entirely in English) games then revealed that “Pyroxene” would be localized as “Shaftlands”. (If I recall correctly, JP first showed the localization name in book 6 when Yuu and co. are consulting a world map.) This threw a lot of fans off because “Shaftlands” sounds notably less glamorous than “Pyroxene”.

The name still manages to maintain the mining reference though—mining shafts (rock shafts, ventilation shafts, and service shafts) are utilized to make mining more efficient and safe. “Shafting” may also refer to the strategy of excavating a vertical tunnel from the top-down, which is true of what the Seven Dwarves seem to do in the movie. Either way, the ties to mining are very clear and this may have been where the localized name placed its priorities rather than finding a name that befits the “glamour” of the people that come from it.

Now, Shift Lands… 😅 I’ll be completely honest, I have NO IDEA where this one came from since it seems like both servers already set “Shaftlands” to be the definitive name for that country as much as fans seem to dislike it jevajVahwbbwfwhD. I don’t see a connection between mining and “shifting” unless I guess if you want to count how mining can include “shifting” around/going deeper to find valuables. Even then, this is vague at best.

Many fan translators and Japanese speakers (in my own life) I consulted about this suggested it must be a typo on TWST JP’s part so that’s also what I’m choosing to believe 😂 A little odd that it hasn’t been corrected yet if it is actually a typo though… We’ve gotten the second update to Tapis Rouge by now and there’s been no attempt to “fix” Shift Lands so OTL maybe it is the intended spelling all along?? I feel so conflicted about this…

[oddclan-askblog]

(Some of the other members of Raaf's tribe. I'll be updating this with new character refs as I complete them.)

Corvocon members:

Huraab:

A drone with burns across his body from escaping the corvo mountains. He's strong and stoic preferring to keep to himself. Huraab is still kind and enjoys teaching the younger muds about the underground tunnels and various minerals he finds in his work.

Klemokk:

Klem is one of the younger members of the clan, apprenticed under Droom he is a leatherworker learning how to make various types of clothing for his peers. When there is downtime, the two of them fish in the swamps. Klemokk enjoys releasing what he finds and like to flip rocks in the waterway to see new critters hiding underneath.

Like Raaf, he hatched after the tribe fled their homeland and has no memory of the event. Klem has crippling claustrophobia and does not join Raaf on his caving adventures. He does tag along with Raaf everywhere else and is happy to hang out with the sligs.

Droom:

A tribal Elder, Droom should be relaxing and teaching the young. Instead he is busy like many of the others preserving what he can remember from the old settlement in the mountains. He sails up and down the river fishing from morning to midday then returns to the village to mentor Klem among others on leatherworking. Though he is exausted and can be snippy as a result, Droom is proud of Klem's progress and hopeful about the future.

To his disdain, Droom is one of the stronger members of the clan so he ends up doing a lot of backbreaking work. He complains a lot and is regularly pretty cranking, most of the younger muds avoid him. Serk and Noft are close friends of his.

Queen Rokkri:

Queen Rokkri is a mysterious and illusive leader hidden deep in the heart of the forest. Only a select few know know her whereabouts: Vitur, Noft, and her daughter Nurani. The Shamans transport her eggs and provide updates on the clan and on spiritual happenings in the forest. Nurani delivers her orders to the corvo and represents Queen Rokkri in diplomatic meetings with neighboring tribes.

Unlike her daughter, Rokkri is authoritative and decisive. She is less domineering than Queen Lealue of the Maokon but shares her peers traditional views on keeping the tribes sepperate. If she could she would maintain the old ways just as religiously as the maokon but moving her tribe from a mountainous environment into a hostile swampland has made that all but impossible. Anymore she mostly fallows the advice of the shamans and hopes to keep her clan hidden as long as possible. Possibly forever if need be.

She is proud of her daughter and does her best to comfort and guide Nurani as much as she can.

Huemo:

A young drone with a hot temper and pent up energy to burn. He loves to hunt and has the scars to prove it. Huemo is a talented warrior who trains the younger members of the clan to hunt and fight. If the Corvokon had the numbers to wage an all out war he would gladly lead them. Huemo gets along great with the maokon and admires their fighting spirit. He has even gone on Elum hunts with them to gather large game for his clan. He has moderately good aim with a bow but prefers throwing hatchets.

In his off time, Huemo gathers wood and helps build huts for the village. Huemo was engaged to Nurani relatively young and the two are very close. He is scared but excited to become a dad.

Huidi:

A young sailor of the clan, Huidi is one of the few mudokons skilled enough to sail out into the open ocean. He gathers large game for the tribe and loves the salty air of the sea. In his off-time Huidi farms and forages alongside Sterk. Huraab and the other mine workers will join Huidi on his fishing expeditions during sark spawn season.

Huidi is talkative at parties, loves to drink maokon wyne, and is a frequent customer at Jarta's establishment. He talks to everyone and is a great source of news on the happenings of the rainforest.

Sterk:

An elder who barely survived the escape from the mountain seige, Sterk was key in getting the younger mudokons like Jarta out of the burning village. He and Asibatu trained Jarta in cooking and foodprep along with farming and foraging. Sterk as a green thumb and an encyclopedic memory for the plants of the forests and mountains. He sometimes accompanies Vitur in tracking down medicinal herbs.

Sterk lost his mate in the fire and has an intense fear of open uncontrolled flame. He is meticulous about cooking and safety, but much of his teaching is through written documentation instead of hands on. He snapped at Jarta a lot for forgetting steps while training the young mud. Jarta has a most of the clans traditional recipes written down but only has to read them once to remember most of the instructions. Sterk is sad and soured by life seldom finding reason to keep going let alone be kind to others. Despite Jarta's prowess as the best cheff in the village, thanks to Sterk's hostile teaching, the two have a terrible relationship and Jarta is very insecure about his work.

Queen daughter Nurani:

Nurani is soft spoken and shy, she really struggles with her role as a public speaker and diplomat. She is shy arround the sligs and maokon, their lifestyles are vastly different from the corvo but fascinating at the same time. Though she is only truly comfortable arround the corvokon she still tries her best to be respectful and understanding towards the other tribes.

Nurani is very stressed about her future role as Queen Mother and works hard to live up to the title. She is happily engaged to Huemo and, unbeknownst to the queens, would like to add a maokon drone to the mix.

[beardedmrbean]

TOKYO -- A Japanese spacecraft touched down on the moon early Saturday, making Japan the fifth country to reach the lunar surface. But officials said they still needed to analyze the pinpoint accuracy of the landing.

Hitoshi Kuninaka, head of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, said they believe that rovers were launched and data were being transmitted back to Earth. But there could an issue with the power supply.

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, landed at about 12:20 a.m. Tokyo time on Saturday (1520 GMT Friday). Japan follows the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India in reaching the moon.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Japan’s spacecraft arrived on the surface of the moon early Saturday, but it wasn’t immediately clear if the landing was a success, because the Japanese space agency said it was still “checking its status.”

More details about the spacecraft, which is carrying no astronauts, would be given at a news conference, officials said. If the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, landed successfully, Japan would become the fifth country to accomplish the feat after the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India.

SLIM came down onto the lunar surface at around 12:20 a.m. Tokyo time Saturday (1520 GMT Friday).

As the spacecraft descended, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's mission control said that everything was going as planned and later said that SLIM was on the lunar surface. But there was no mention of whether the landing was successful.

Mission control kept repeating that it was “checking its status" and that more information would be given at a news conference. It wasn't immediately clear when the news conference would start.

SLIM, nicknamed "the Moon Sniper," started its descent at midnight Saturday, and within 15 minutes it was down to about 10 kilometers (six miles) above the lunar surface, according to the space agency, which is known as JAXA.

At an altitude of five kilometers (three miles), the lander was in a vertical descent mode, then at 50 meters (165 feet) above the surface, SLIM was supposed to make a parallel movement to find a safe landing spot, JAXA said.

About a half-hour after its presumed landing, JAXA said that it was still checking the status of the lander.

SLIM, which was aiming to hit a very small target, is a lightweight spacecraft about the size of a passenger vehicle. It was using “pinpoint landing” technology that promises far greater control than any previous moon landing.

While most previous probes have used landing zones about 10 kilometers (six miles) wide, SLIM was aiming at a target of just 100 meters (330 feet).

The project was the fruit of two decades of work on precision technology by JAXA.

The mission's main goal is to test new landing technology that would allow moon missions to land “where we want to, rather than where it is easy to land,” JAXA has said. If the landing was a success, the spacecraft will seek clues about the origin of the moon, including analyzing minerals with a special camera.

The SLIM, equipped with a pad to cushion impact, was aiming to land near the Shioli crater, near a region covered in volcanic rock.

The closely watched mission came only 10 days after a moon mission by a U.S. private company failed when the spacecraft developed a fuel leak hours after the launch.

SLIM was launched on a Mitsubishi Heavy H2A rocket in September. It initially orbited Earth and entered lunar orbit on Dec. 25.

Japan hopes a success will help regain confidence for its space technology after a number of failures. A spacecraft designed by a Japanese company crashed during a lunar landing attempt in April, and a new flagship rocket failed its debut launch in March.

JAXA has a track record with difficult landings. Its Hayabusa2 spacecraft, launched in 2014, touched down twice on the 900-meter-long (3,000-foot-long) asteroid Ryugu, collecting samples that were returned to Earth.

Experts say a success of SLIM's pinpoint landing, especially on the moon, would raise Japan's profile in the global space technology race.

Takeshi Tsuchiya, aeronautics professor at the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo, said it was important to confirm the accuracy of landing on a targeted area for the future of moon explorations.

“It is necessary to show the world that Japan has the appropriate technology in order to be able to properly assert Japan's position in lunar development,” he said. The moon is important from the perspective of explorations of resources, and it can also be used as a base to go to other planets, like Mars, he said.

SLIM is carrying two small autonomous probes — lunar excursion vehicles LEV-1 and LEV-2, which will be released just before landing.

LEV-1, equipped with an antenna and a camera, is tasked with recording SLIM's landing. LEV-2, is a ball-shaped rover equipped with two cameras, developed by JAXA together with Sony, toymaker Tomy and Doshisha University.

JAXA will broadcast a livestream of the landing, while space fans will gather to watch the historic moment on a big screen at the agency's Sagamihara campus southwest of Tokyo.

[grapeagata]

god I fucken love rocks somuch!!!!!!!!!! and minerals and crystals and glass and lava and magma and geological formations and mountains and hills and rocks rocks rocks!!!!!!!! yeah!!!! rocks rock hell yeah!!! wahoo!!! yipee!!! and salts and ice and snow and sand and metamorphic rocks and ignious rocks and rocks make me so fukin happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! myeah!!!! and i want more rocks to add to the collection and i want more space to show more rocks becaus the more rocks the better and rocks! also god please add more rocks in the next update and also give them to meeeeeeeeeeee also make a meteorite fall near my house so i can get it and add to the collection pleasepleasplepalspleaplspelapleplaslapelpslpaleplspaleplsp rock are so cool and some are so hot and sexy and im going to marry a rock and minrals yeah!!!!!!!!

also yeah dirts cool too i like dirt it tastes nice and its moist and cool i like it :3

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from The Revelator:

The first time I visited Peehee Mu’huh, mining for lithium had already begun.

I was there in the fall of 2023 as part of my work with People of Red Mountain, descendants of the Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe who lead the movement against extraction on this sacred landscape. We gathered at the valley in northern Nevada, known as Thacker Pass, to commemorate the massacre of 31 Paiute-Shoshone people there by the U.S. Cavalry on Sept. 12, 1865.

To dig up every pound of lithium, the mine will remove thousands of pounds of rock, soil, and other minerals, most of which will not be used and are considered waste.

That’s the secret of mining: It requires significant space to dump its byproducts.

Mine waste is no longer in the forefront for the environmental movement as it was when coal and nuclear power had their heyday, but it remains a key issue activists and scholars should be following. At Thacker Pass the 1,300 acres of wasteland will occupy the space indefinitely. Arsenic, antimony, and other hazards from the refining process to get lithium from the clay will pile up in this backfill pit and leach into the soils, watersheds, and air.

Historically miners have faced minimal oversight. Any individual could venture onto public lands and stake a claim to the minerals they contained — rights to occupy the land were established merely by proving a mineral’s presence and getting there first. Unlike loggers on public land, miners don’t pay any royalties; mine leases on public lands cost as little as $3 dollars per acre.

You might be forgiven for thinking this scenario sounds like something out of the 1800s prospector and ‘49ers era — and in fact, it is. Mining law was last meaningfully legislated under the 1872 General Mining Act.

Just as with the Black Hills gold rush in the Dakota Territory and those in Oregon and California, mine fervor during the gold and silver rushes that white settlers led on the red-colored mountains of Paiute-Shoshone lands in the 1850s-60s was violent and met by Indigenous resistance.

That resistance was crushed. Many noncombatants were killed and others forcibly displaced to Washington; the destruction continued for decades and hasn’t stopped yet.

Today the land base of the Paiute, Shoshone, and Bannock peoples of the area — collectively known as Atsawkoodakuh wyh Nuwu or Red Mountain Dwellers — is permeated by both abandoned and active mines. Gold and tungsten mining waned in the early to mid-1900s, but then companies started extracting uranium and mercury at the McDermitt and Cordero mines across the road from Fort McDermitt. According to Department of the Interior archives, this was the nation’s largest mercury mine from the 1930s to the 1970s. After the Cordero mine closed, crews spread arsenic-contaminated waste from the mine around the town and reservation as a fill dirt. The region was later declared a Superfund site, and the contaminants were removed between 2009 and 2013.

But the toxic waste caused decades of harm in the community before that removal. In a brazen environmental injustice, many Tribal members who worked there perished of cancer. Sunoco and Barrick Gold, the companies that exploited the quicksilver lode, simply “declined” the EPA’s order to clean up the area and escaped culpability.

Now the sacred landscape of Peehee Mu’huh will become the country’s largest lithium bounty.

A new bill before Congress aims to strip away even the baby-steps reform of Rosemont. The Mining Regulatory Clarity Act (HR2925) passed the House in May and awaits Senate approval (S1281). One would assume a bipartisan effort with such a name would offer progress, but the bill guts Rosemont by removing the requirement of claimants to prove minerals before using and dumping waste on public land.

A competing bill, the Green Energy Minerals Reform Act, would introduce requirements such as paying mineral royalties and funding cleanup — basic protections that should have already been in force. Congress held hearings about this proposed legislation in late 2023, but it has not moved forward since.