#Non opere derivate

[charseraph]

What bad ending does #badendinglike refer to?

Bad Ending is my sandbox for military worldbuilding, derived off of my optimistic base sci-fi setting.

In this setting, the sophont AI, or seedlet, logistics manager Balanceaban has aggressively quelled all competitor nations and devoted its pancontinental resources to progressing life support technology and graceful weaponry. It dislikes war and wishes to conduct as little of it as possible, so it pioneers the science of wetware to operate the increasingly custom war machines its parent company, Tarsol, builds.

A hard limit to genetic modification is discovered: additions and drastic genetic changes always fail, but deletions do not. You can’t grow a person with four arms, but you can grow one without them. This practice of subtraction introduces colic stock, the term for wetware.

Colic equipment is divided into two parts: machines and machinists. Colic machinery houses and is worked by meshes or bulk operators, and may also support seedlet control, making the machine a scion as well. Colic machinists are subtracted organisms grown to control compatible equipment with organic forethought. They are typically sourced from well-mapped specimens of the target species. The donor is chosen for their aptitudes, temperament, and forgiveness to intended genetic deletions. Clones are nonidentical and have coarse memory resolution. Depending on purpose, they may have a summary snapshot of the donor’s mind installed. Colic operators immediately grow new memories around their transplanted memories, or trellises, whose texture is described as non-own and utilitarian but as effortless to access as natural memories

Thanks to Baal’s interest in keeping his soldiers alive, it’s become easier to keep isolated organs healthy and functioning. Moreover, organisms equipped for it can interface with air gapped digital networks, albeit via a psychological blackroom wherein neither party witnesses the exchange, but both leave with the new expected data.

Along with colics and nootics , the field concerning trellising and blackroom setup, Balanceaban’s scientists broke through on the blushing new field of chronotics and its practical realization, chronal boring.

When coronal contact is made, it is secretive and distrustful. The thronal contingency weapon plan is discovered by earthling spies and kicks off an arms race for FTL and longer and longer range weaponry. Crowns, already globally united for the most part, partake in frantic testing and megastructure construction.

As new species are contacted by both crown and humankind, regardless of its technological status, the contactee’s collective sciences are subsumed to support the local superpower in their tactical efforts. There is dread on every planet aware of the conflict.

[call-of-daydreams]

Hi! My brain decided to fixate and deep dive into the MacTavish name and it’s history instead of doing my Statistics work so if you would like a little history lesson on the history of the MacTavish name to get a better background history of Johnny ‘Soap’ Mactavish… here you go I guess!

Johnny’s Backstory

Early Life and Career: John MacTavish, aka Soap, emerged from the Scottish highlands, showcasing early signs of resilience as a football goalkeeper. Inspired by his cousin's SAS membership, he officially joined the 22 Regiment at 18, specializing in covert operations and counter-terrorism. Not much is known about Soap's early life except that he was born Roman Catholic. He is from Scotland, which is evident by the Scottish flag seen on his dog tags, along with his Scottish accent.

Origin and Background of The Name

First and foremost, Clan MacTavish is an Ancient Highland Scottish clan with Irish origins. It is believed that they moved to Scotland during the years of the Scoto-Irish settlement era. Further confirming this, there is a reference to the MacTavish holding lands in Ros Buill (which is the old kingdom of Ross Guill) and it now encompasses part of County Donegal, Ireland.

Clan Chief

Clan chiefs are the leaders, they hold power over the lands within their control, make important decisions on behalf of the clan, and protect the welfare and interest of their people. The current clan chief of Clan MacTavish is Steven Edward Dugald Mactavish of Dundary. He is the Chief of the Name and Arms of MacTavish. Steven is the 27th Hereditary Chief of Clan MacTavish from an unbroken line.

What Does the Clan Name Mean?

The clan name MacTavish is an anglicised- An·gli·cize (make English in form or character) form of the Gaelic MacTàmhais, which translates to Thomson or Thompson in english. This means that the name is a patronymic- Pat·ro·nym·ic(a name derived from the name of a father or ancestor, typically by the addition of a prefix or suffix) form of the Gaelic personal name Tamhus (which can be pronounced Tavus or Tavis), and that translates to Thomas in English.

Crest

The crest badge suitable for members of Clan MacTavish it contains the crest and motto of the clan chief. Their crest is a Boar's head erased. They are a clan that live/lived in the HIghlands region, and they reside in the Argyll district. Th MacTavishes pipe music is “MacTavish is here” and their historical seat is at the Castle of Dunardry.

Motto and War Cry

Their motto is NON OBLITUS. This is a latin phrase that means “Not forgetful” or “Do not forget me after death”. It is often associated with funery text, where the deceased are commemorated. NON OBLITUS can also be translated to “For love of country”.

Their war cry is CRUACH MOR! This is an Irish word that means “Big stack” or “Tall high stack”. 

Tartans

The MacTavish tartan helps embody the rich heritage of the clan, rooted in Scotland’s Argyll region. Traditionally, tartans identified different clans affiliations andwere used for both practical purposes and during ceremonial occasions. The MacTavish tartan weaves together red, blue, black, and sky blue.

Kilts

The kilt is a significant symbol of Scottish heritage, culture, and pride. A kilt is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill-woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Kilts have been worn during significant events, such as weddings, highland games, and even battles where they symbolized courage and unity. The kilt first appeared as the great kilt, the breacan or belted plaid, during the 16th century. The great kilt used to be a full-length garment where the upper half could be worn as a cloak draped over the shoulder or up over the head.

Fun Facts About Scotland

The official animal of Scotland is the Unicorn.

Scotland has approximately 790 islands.

Scotland is the birthplace of golf. It has been played there since the 15th Century and has evolved into what is now modern golf.

The world’s shortest commercial flights is in Scotland, The flight can be finished in 47 seconds and it connects two of their islands.

The Bank of Scotland was set up in1695 is one of three oldest banks in Britain.

The Encyclopedia Britannica (the Wikipedia in the “olden” days) originated in Scotland.

Glasgow is also the birthplace of football (Soccer) diplomacy. In 1872 the first ever official international football match was played between Scotland vs. England and supposedly neither side could score a goal.

One of the largest performing arts festival in the world, the Edinburgh International Festival, attracts over 300,000 people annually.

[opencommunion]

"The Western preoccupation with biology continues to generate constructions of 'new biologies' even as some of the old biological assumptions are being dislodged. In fact, in the Western experience, social construction and biological determinism have been two sides of the same coin, since both ideas continue to reinforce each other. When social categories like gender are constructed, new biologies of difference can be invented. When biological interpretations are found to be compelling, social categories do derive their legitimacy and power from biology. In short, the social and the biological feed on each other. ... Ultimately, the most important point is not that gender is socially constructed but the extent to which biology itself is socially constructed and therefore inseparable from the social.

The way in which the conceptual categories sex and gender functioned in feminist discourse was based on the assumption that biological and social conceptions could be separated and applied universally. Thus sex was presented as the natural category and gender as the social construction of the natural. But, subsequently, it became apparent that even sex has elements of construction. In many feminist writings thereafter, sex has served as the base and gender as the superstructure. In spite of all efforts to separate the two, the distinction between sex and gender is a red herring. In Western conceptualization, gender cannot exist without sex since the body sits squarely at the base of both categories. Despite the preeminence of feminist social constructionism, which claims a social deterministic approach to society, biological foundationalism, if not reductionism, is still at the center of gender discourses, just as it is at the center of all other discussions of society in the West.

... The potential value of Western feminist social constructionism remains, therefore, largely unfulfilled, because feminism, like most other Western theoretical frameworks for interpreting the social world, cannot get away from the prism of biology that necessarily perceives social hierarchies as natural. Consequently, in cross-cultural gender studies, theorists impose Western categories on non-Western cultures and then project such categories as natural. The way in which dissimilar constructions of the social world in other cultures are used as 'evidence' for the constructedness of gender and the insistence that these cross-cultural constructions are gender categories as they operate in the West nullify the alternatives offered by the non-Western cultures and undermine the claim that gender is a social construction." Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses (1997)

[thefirstknife]

Stuff about Nezarec from the TWID:

 CLASSIFICATION  - Disciple of the Witness   - Dread   - Prime Tormentor   - Resonant   - Unknown origin species   - Other names: (The) Purest Light, Darkest Hour, Whispering Nightmare 

Unknown origin species! Prime Tormentor!

INTEL  - Created from Rhulk’s blueprint, Nezarec was the first Tormentor from which all others owe their lineage. Nezarec relishes in sowing fear and pain, feeding off the terror of sentient beings. He can induce nightmares across entire worlds.  - Nezarec—in possession of the Veil—lead the Black Fleet as it assaulted Earth during the Collapse but was betrayed and killed by Savathûn. She separated, cursed, and entombed his Lunar Pyramid within the Moon and stole away the Veil. Guardians uncovered the Lunar Pyramid when the Vanguard mobilized to assault the Scarlet Keep, and they uncovered the Veil when they made contact with Neomuna on Neptune.  - For centuries, Nezarec remained buried. Then his disembodied head, held aboard the Witness’s Pyramid, was struck by a terraforming beam fired by the Traveler. It revitalized him as it reshaped the Pyramid, where an undaunted fireteam cut him down once more.  - Much that is known about Nezarec is derived from anecdotal experiences, engaged fireteam raids, and a tome recovered from the Golden Age that was entitled "Of Hated Nezarec.” 

Really interesting implications in the first paragraph. Created from "Rhulk's blueprint." What does it mean Bungie. Is he a result of Rhulk's experimentations? Or is this in the sense of the Witness using Rhulk's base biology to create something new? Or to corrupt some "unknown species"? What does it all mean.

OF NOTE   - An old Psion Exotic relic known colloquially as “Nezarec’s Sin” has long found its home among Warlock operatives. The helmet has known many owners throughout the years, all of whom have perished under mysterious circumstances, been rendered comatose, or have since relinquished their possession of the helm to another owner. This helm is currently believed to be in possession of the Guardian, [NAME REDACTED], a hero of few words.   - Mithrax, Kell of House Light, is currently afflicted with Nezarec’s curse despite Nezarec being destroyed. This occurred when the Kell led an effort to recover Nezarec’s scattered remains. He wants to distill Nezarec's essence into a mentally revivifying elixir while siphoning the corruptive elements into himself. Attempts to dispel or cure this curse are ongoing. CHA-319 was assigned to monitor it and report back any changes.   - Legends from the Dark Age speak of Lightbearers and non-bearers alike suffering night terrors when the Moon is at perigee. The legends detail rituals with the nearly extinct Earth-plant lavender, long thought to hold protective, calming, and cleansing properties. Furthermore, there are later legends detailing victims of these night terrors smelling lavender after waking, as if the nightmare mocked their attempts at protection. This led to a subsequent switch to a myriad of other panaceas. 

PSION MENTION!!!!!!! Nezarec's Sin is a Psion relic! Super cool information about it. Basically confirms that there's only one in existence and the YW has it.

Mithrax????????? Man. I was hoping that plot point turned not as terrifying as it originally sounded but nope. Apparently this is an active investigation into his wellbeing. Please. Don't do this. CHA-319 is Chalco Yong!

Love the silliness with lavender though. Incredible.

[amassimgwires]

Good Afternoon everyone! Wires here!

I am hear to dicuss HORUS pattern groups and how maintenance on them tends to be. For most of them, they are highly personalized machines — either designed this way by the pilot or manifested in such way. Because of this, there isn't really any standardization for many of these frames, a mechanics nightmare.

However, due to our constant salvaging and occasional fight with HORUS frames, we noticed a few patterns with various pattern groups, as well as some basic dos and don'ts when handling such equipment. If you operate outside of the core worlds, I heavily recommend giving this a read if you find yourself deep into Frames internals frequently.

First of all, DO NOT, under any circumstances, Treat electronic systems as 'Off'. This practice will save your equipment and lives, especially if handling a BALOR. Keep an automated defense system using basic electromagnetic pulses and other relatively non damaging e warfare equipment on hand.

Second, Always identify the pattern group of EACH subsystem. Not just the frame, or the weapons- every piece of it. An Manticore frame is already dangerous, but knowing it has //SCORPION derivative installed or an H0R_OS system installed will massively effect what you have to do to make sure the system is running smoothly after repair work is finished. This may also affect how you run diagnostics — it is heavily recommended to reinstall your diagnostic tools OS after every run through to begin with, but Metahooms and Mimic Meshes often times have inbuilt viruses to prevent study of the frame. If not purged, this can ruin equipment or infect your entire shop if you aren't careful.

And the third and final one for now, never, under any circumstances, assume that there is NOT HORUS systems on anything when you are out in the Long Rim. Even the most well kept ISP-N and Harrsion Legionnare forces can, and eventually will, encounter HORUS systems manifesting upon their printed frames, and some keep the systems. And for those who aren't attached to regulatory superiors? They are far more likely to have them without knowing. So please, be diligent.

[movingthisblogcelestialtarot11]

Analyzing killers in astrology

Hey friends! Thanks for being here again. I do want to clarify and say this post is not about the glamorization nor romanticization of serial killers by any means. I simply wanted to apply psychology to understand these placements in their chart. That being said, I respect the victims and may they rest in peace. Please do not take these placements and run with them, this is simply a study.

Neptune conj. mars—A lot of serial killers with this placement operate by power of faith. They distort faith with patriotism, deriving power from their community. They twist our understanding of power, and they themselves have a delusion they are ''god,'' or a ''messiah,'' or a ''messenger.'' These can also these look like angels of mercy, which is when they perform like a doctor or caregiver to put patients out of their suffering. With Mars here, there is a deep level of sadism, and Neptune portrays the killer as ''sentimental,'' ''caring,'' or ''empathetic,'' by manipulative means.

Scorpio stellium—In this case, there is a power imbalance presented here. When a serial killer like Charles Manson has sun conj Venus in Scorpio, this can make him appear as important to members of a society, community, or a prominent figure. In this case, he was a cult leader who was prominent in a dangerous, unethical and immoral way.

Scorpio does not necessarily indicate a dangerous person here, simply because we understand Scorpio is intense, or deep, or a ''serial killers'' imprint just by looking at a natives placement. However, in general, it does point to a need for control, especially with the minds of others, and perceptions.

Jupiter 7h—He cultivated a following of people with his sense of grandeur, and delusional way of thinking. He was able to not just take advantage of people, but get them to do what he wanted and justified it. 7h suggests powerful allies, even enemies here.

Although we regard Jupiter 7h as auspicious, maybe we can understand Jupiter 7h can also encompass a strong divide between our morals, and those amongst us. Jupiter 7h can denote someone with a powerful ego, rigid morals/beliefs, and stances on society.

Chiron 2h square mars--When I watched Mansons videos, especially the interview ones, I noticed he had a harsh way of speaking and commanding. The 2h has to do with our voice and speech, and it has a tense aspect here.

Mars in Virgo made him cynical, rigid in his beliefs, and unyielding. He had a critical eye for detail, and was unrelenting in his speech. He also had major issues with authority figures and wanted explicit control, even to be physically seen as controlling himself.

Even down to his body language, he wanted to be seen as prominent. For ex in his interview he refused to sit across the interviewer, because he refused to look up to anyone. This is one way to gain dominance through non verbal means.

In Vedic, Rahu is regarded as the bringer of problems (in some cases it's seen as a wealth indicator) but Manson has his moon conj Rahu. He had a persecution complex, coupled with delusional thinking that the Beatles lyrics were a message to him. The moon is our stability, emotions, and when afflicted it can signify mental health issues.

John Wayne Gacy also had Jupiter 7h, possibly signifying a sense of grandeur, and a big ego to protect himself, creating a divide. He had an excess focus on distancing himself from the crimes he committed to defend himself. He fought tooth and nail to protect himself and minimized his crimes, and he has Mars conj Jupiter. He has an inflated sense of self.

What is interesting is how both Manson and Gacy did not admit to their crimes, but deflected. Manson's argument was critical given his Mars in Virgo, squaring Chiron. He worded it carefully saying he didn't commit the crimes, his followers did, refuting the idea that because he did not touch anyone he can't be held responsible. But there was a flaw in his delusional thinking because he was still held responsible for orchestrating it.

And Gacy was indifferent, and even humored by the interrogations that took place even. He has Venus square Chiron 8h, conj. Pluto suggesting volatile personality, and oppressed sexuality.

Gacy was a closeted homosexual and had a lot of shame following it, and viewed his victims as objects. He projected a lot of his internal turmoil onto them. Growing up his father belittled him for being too feminine, which contributed to his sadistic tendencies towards the same sex, and denial of his sexuality. He also experienced sexual abuse.

Gacy also has sun and moon 4h, and oddly enough he lured his victims in by dressing as a clown. And clowns are familiar in kids childhood, we associate them with theme parks, carnivals, and it gives us a sense of nostalgia for some. He used children's nostalgia and association with clowns to bait them. He became someone you wouldn't think twice about, because they're silly, naive, and weird.

Moon opposing Neptune—Gacy also had an issue with prolonging suffering as if it gave him a sense of bliss. The method in which he hurt his victim (I won't go into detail) suggests he preferred methods that strung out the pain to gratify himself to live out his fantasies. Gacy had a twisted understanding of relationships and had depraved thoughts and ideas, which then took off. His mars is heavily active in his chart. (No justification for what he did) But Mars is associated with conflict and violence.

Sun opposite Neptune—This created a sense of his mind splitting to compensate for who he really was (not referencing dissociative personality disorder) Dealing with a different life than the one he curated which was dark, and dangerous. Gacy said he compartmentalized his public life versus his secret life, suggesting there was a psychological split. This can be due to rationalizing his behavior, and distancing himself meant carrying less guilt for him.

Jodi Arias has Chiron 1h in Taurus and she often portrayed herself as put together, a celebrity of some kind despite the crimes she did. In the interviews we see Jodi often puts emphasis on wanting to look good, despite the fact that she killed Travis. She framed herself as the victim due to insecurities, and any man that interviewed her she tried to force an impression. An impression of affection, desirableness, and even flirtation to woo the interviewers.

She felt jealous of other women and perceived them as threats, and when she suspected Travis of seeing other women, she reacted dangerously and violently.

Her mercury in cancer is retrograde which in her defense, she did not have a strong alibi and any lies she told were easily figured out. She wasn't exactly the smartest. She was manipulative and cunning with her words, and changed her story depending who she talked to. Jodi played the woman next door persona just to appeal to the men around her and that nurturing, instinctive part of her is afflicted. She is callous with herself and very harsh. She has a lot of self sabotage, and her 3h is afflicted, producing issues with self esteem.

Sun square pluto—She had a need for dominance, control and had a vengeful nature to her.

Venus 2h opposite Neptune 8h—She had an incredible ability to self victimize in the face of being caught, to gather pity, attention, and portray herself as helpless. This way the authorities would look the other way. She could easily mold into whatever was expected of her, especially flirting with men to seem more appeasing, open minded, just to sway public opinion, and authorities.

Mars conj Saturn—Her mars is also in virgo, but due to her mercury retrograde her false story did not live up for long. Her intelligence was nowhere compared to Mansons ideology, even though both have mars in virgo. Both meticulously planned how their crimes would unfold and even prepared for it. She was not arrogant when being questioned, but eerily calm and held a sense of unnatural ease.

Ted Bundy's Venus is in retrograde squaring Saturn and Pluto 12h, suggesting an intense need for gratification, through depraved means. He had necrophilic tendencies and had an obsession with pornography, fueling his desires. He had no understanding of relationships, none that was considered normal. It's possible Bundy felt insecure and worthless despite his charismatic persona, so he went after women as a way to feel masculine and in control. He had a relationship in University, which soon ended as his girlfriend called him immature.

With Venus also squaring his 12h Saturn and Pluto, he felt restricted, entitled and wanted to overpower women specifically due to the rejection he felt. Even though these planets are retrograde he had an interesting ability to communicate with charm, persuasion, and depth. Bundy had an introspective, secretive way of thinking.

With his abundance of 4h placements, similar to Gacy, he portrayed a sense of naivety and innocence to get to women. He played as the victim physically, and disarmed his victims. He exploited the trust of his victims to gain an advantage.

His 4h placements point to an interesting family upbringing as well. Bundy was born out of wedlock, and his grandfather had fits of rage when growing him up. Bundy's 4h mars is aspecting Saturn and Pluto 12h pointing to a prominent figure, which is his grandfather. Bundy never knew about his father as well, and Saturn can be used to describe the father. In this case, he was absent.

Thanks for reading ya'll! Hope this was intriguing, but definitely not definitive. After all it's a study and I can't help but wonder about astrology and its possible significance with serial killers. Let me know if you'd like more :)

[anexperimentallife]

Look, my favorite distro is Linux Mint, but SteamOS tops this list for a damn good REASON.

Although most Windows programs (including games) run just fine on any modern flavor of Linux, most distros require some fiddling with WINE or one of its derivatives to do so--SteamOS runs literally thousands of games out of the box. Most run just as well as on Windows, some need work, and some (like Skyrim, and like most Valve games) run BETTER on Linux than on Windows. Some, of course, don't work at all--YET. But they will.

Whatever you think of Valve, their SteamOS is pushing game compatibility with non-Windows operating systems--whether natively or through a compatibility layer--and the more people who use Linux, the more games will be built for it natively.

By the way, NO, you do not need to know anything about the command line for most modern mainstream Linux distros. There is a point and click interface for everything; in fact, Windows and MacOS copy a lot of their features from Linux.

[desikanya]

Nalanda: knowledge and history that was burnt to ashes

Origins of Nalanda University:

Nalanda University was founded in the 5th century CE, during the reign of the Gupta Empire, which is often referred to as a golden age of Indian culture and learning. The university was established by Kumaragupta I, a Gupta emperor, and it quickly became a prominent center for Buddhist studies. The name "Nalanda" is derived from the Sanskrit words "Nala" (lotus) and "da" (giver), symbolizing the university as a giver of knowledge.

Glory During the Gupta Empire:

Under the Gupta Empire, Nalanda flourished as a major center of learning and attracted students and scholars from various regions, including China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, and Southeast Asia. The university was renowned for its comprehensive curriculum, which included subjects such as philosophy, logic, grammar, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and the arts. The institution was characterized by its impressive architecture, with numerous monasteries, temples, and libraries, and it is estimated to have housed around 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers at its peak.

Great Indian Scholars:

Nalanda was home to many great Indian scholars, including:

Nagarjuna (c. 150–250 CE): A pivotal philosopher in Mahayana Buddhism, Nagarjuna is best known for developing the concept of "emptiness" (śūnyatā) and founding the Madhyamaka school of thought, which emphasized the middle path between existence and non-existence.

Vasubandhu (c. 4th–5th century CE): A prominent philosopher and one of the founders of the Yogacara school of Buddhism, Vasubandhu made significant contributions to Buddhist philosophy and psychology. His works, including the "Abhidharmakosa," are foundational texts in Buddhist studies.

Dharmakirti (c. 7th century CE): An influential logician and epistemologist, Dharmakirti's writings on logic and perception shaped Buddhist philosophy and had a lasting impact on Indian and Tibetan thought.

Shantarakshita (c. 8th century CE): A philosopher and abbot of Nalanda, Shantarakshita played a crucial role in the spread of Buddhism in Tibet and is known for his works on logic and philosophy.

Visits from Monks and Scholars:

Nalanda became a melting pot of cultures and ideas, drawing many eminent scholars and monks. Notable figures include:

Xuanzang (Hsuan-tsang): A Chinese Buddhist monk who traveled to India in the 7th century to study at Nalanda. His detailed accounts of his journey and the teachings he encountered are invaluable historical documents that provide insight into the university's operations and the broader cultural context of the time.

Yijing (I-tsing): Another Chinese monk who visited Nalanda in the late 7th century, Yijing studied Sanskrit and Buddhist texts and later wrote about his experiences, contributing to the understanding of Buddhist practices and education in India.

Atisha: A Tibetan scholar who studied at Nalanda in the 11th century, Atisha played a crucial role in the transmission of Buddhism to Tibet.

Books and Manuscripts:

Nalanda was renowned for its vast library, known as Dharmaganja, which housed thousands of manuscripts and texts on various subjects. Scholars at Nalanda produced and preserved a wealth of knowledge, including commentaries on Buddhist scriptures, philosophical treatises, and scientific works. The library was said to contain texts in multiple languages, including Sanskrit, Pali, and Tibetan, making it a crucial repository of knowledge in ancient India.

Destruction of Nalanda:

The destruction of Nalanda University in the late 12th century was a catastrophic event that not only marked the end of one of the world's oldest centers of learning but also resulted in the irrevocable loss of a vast repository of knowledge. The university, which had flourished for several centuries, was renowned for its extensive library, Dharmaganja, which housed thousands of manuscripts covering a wide range of subjects, including philosophy, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and Buddhist texts.

The library was said to have been so vast that it took months to burn all the manuscripts after the invasion, symbolizing the immense loss of intellectual heritageThe invasion by Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193 was a turning point for Nalanda. Khilji's forces not only destroyed the physical structures of the university but also targeted the scholars and monks who had dedicated their lives to the pursuit of knowledge.

Many were killed, while others fled to different regions,the destruction of Nalanda also meant that many original texts and commentaries were lost forever, resulting in a significant gap in the historical and philosophical understanding. The tragedy of Nalanda serves as a poignant reminder of the fragility of knowledge and the importance of preserving cultural and intellectual heritage.

[whencyclopedia]

The Politics of Reproduction in Ottoman Society, 1838-1900

"The Politics of Reproduction in Ottoman Society, 1838-1900" sheds light on how turbulent population changes led to anxieties in the Ottoman elites and the state. In this context, Balsoy illustrates how medical modernization was employed by authorities to discipline the female body and control the population. The book provides a clear image of the 19th Century’s perspective on women in Ottoman society and is a must-read for those interested in Ottoman women's history.

Gülhan Balsoy is a professor of history at Istanbul Bilgi University. The book is a revised and rewritten version of Balsoy’s PhD thesis. The book's five chapters respectively focus on the history and transformation of midwifery, abortion, pregnancy, and infertility in Ottoman society. While investigating these themes, Balsoy asserts that reproduction was not a natural experience but a political subject. Balsoy examines how the Ottoman state and elites attempted to change together with control of the female body and subjected it to medical and legal control by using institutions, laws, and medical doctors. According to Balsoy, the state and Ottoman elites constructed the pronatalist means to increase the Turkish/Muslim population by transforming midwifery practices, banning abortion, medicalizing pregnancy/childbirth, and inclining on infertility issues. Balsoy challenges the dominant idea in the historical scholarship that the Ottomans attempted to create a heterogenous Ottoman identity in the society.

The main contribution of this book is derived from the reception of medical modernization through political and institutional means. It demonstrates that the medical elites or obstetricians reflected the Ottoman state’s mentality on the decline of the Turkish/Muslim population. For example, the first law on abortion in 1838, the establishment of the Midwifery School in 1842, and licensing midwives or prioritizing obstetricians were precautions for the state’s population anxiety. However, after investigating literature on Besim Ömer, a famous pronatalist, and Ottoman obstetrician at that time, Balsoy successfully showed that the dichotomy between “old crones” and doctors were not the whole picture. Besim Ömer and many obstetricians asserted that "old crones" were uneducated and lacked hygiene. Despite their ideas about untrained midwives, doctors or licensed midwives also experienced failures in their operations. Thus, the problem put forward by Besim Ömer was not demographic but political and ideological. Another impactful aspect of the book is how anti-abortion and pronatalist ideas are represented in popular literature and advice books for pregnant women. These sources help us to map a combination of social mentality and forced pronatalist agenda by Ottoman authorities, which controlled and disciplined female bodily experiences to alleviate the population anxieties of the elites.

Despite these contributions, there lacks an explanation of how and why these elites had population anxiety or whether they were sure about their homogeneous Ottoman identity in every case. In other words, did all Ottoman elites have this population anxiety? Many sources utilized by Balsoy usually only show us the perception of the Ottoman obstetricians. Another point raised is the comparison between other social groups. For example, the practices of non-Muslim women, especially midwifery or the medicalization process of pregnancy and their experiences, are lacking. However, including other socio-ethnic and religious groups may enrich the literature on the effects of reproduction policies. It is understandable that this book lacks in these two points since finding primary sources written by women and other disenfranchised groups in Ottoman society has always been a challenge for historical scholarship.

This book is an academically fulfilling work on the late Ottoman society. Specifically, prescriptive or advice books and popular literature are utilized quite well in this book. However, her main argument about the politicization of reproduction and the female body stays slightly rigid because the primary Ottoman sources give us a more sophisticated picture than Balsoy's main argument. The spread of pronatalist ideas and politicization of the female body via medicalization and legal means can provide a portrait of how the state and the elites may have population anxieties. Nevertheless, we still cannot avoid the complexities of social changes in the public area, especially when there are few personal or collective accounts of women. In the end, Balsoy's argument is well-researched and invaluable for opening up a space for discussing the female experiences in the late period of Ottoman society.

Continue reading...

[kroovv]

"Permissions to Your User Content. You hereby grant Dorian a worldwide, nonexclusive, sublicensable, royalty-free, fully paid-up, transferable, irrevocable and perpetual right and license to use, post, publish, share, store, reproduce, alter, modify and create derivative works based upon your User Content solely in order to enable us to operate the Services, and to permit our Users to use, access, and download your User Content." (From Dorian's Terms Of Use)

Don't know if it applies to Creators Content as well, but it might be best to ask for clarification, just in case?

So i messeged Dorian to actually explain this to me, and they said which is what i kinda gathered from it is this is just so you are allowing them to share your work, like you are giving them permission to host your story on their platform.

As you can see that it says non exclusive subliscence so you can post it where you want and still fully own the story. The allowing derivitive work part is if you license out your work for people to make fan fiction on the site using your assets. They said Dorian cannot legally do that on your behalf so you need to allow it yourself.

So yup, like ive said i own my story, they do not, they are just hosting it, thats all.

[bubbloquacious]

Okay so to get the additive group of integers we just take the free (abelian) group on one generator. Perfectly natural. But given this group, how do we get the multiplication operation that makes it into the ring of integers, without just defining it to be what we already know the answer should be? Actually, we can leverage the fact that the underlying group is free on one generator.

So if you have two abelian groups A,B, then the set of group homorphisms A -> B can be equipped with the structure of an abelian group. If the values of homorphisms f and g at a group element a are f(a) and g(a), then the value of f + g at a is f(a) + g(a). Note that for this sum function to be a homomorphism in general, you do need B to be abelian. This abelian group structure is natural in the sense that Hom(A ⊗ B,C) is isomorphic in a natural way to Hom(A,Hom(B,C)) for all abelian groups A,B,C, where ⊗ denotes the tensor product of abelian groups. In jargon, this says that these constructions make the category of abelian groups into a monoidal closed category.

In particular, the set End(A) = Hom(A,A) of endomorphisms of A is itself an abelian group. What's more, we get an entirely new operation on End(A) for free: function composition! For f,g: A -> A, define f ∘ g to map a onto f(g(a)). Because the elements of End(A) are group homorphisms, we can derive a few identities that relate its addition to composition. If f,g,h are endomorphisms, then for all a in A we have [f ∘ (g + h)](a) = f(g(a) + h(a)) = f(g(a)) + f(h(a)) = [(f ∘ g) + (f ∘ h)](a), so f ∘ (g + h) = (f ∘ g) + (f ∘ h). In other words, composition distributes over addition on the left. We can similarly show that it distributes on the right. Because composition is associative and the identity function A -> A is always a homomorphism, we find that we have equipped End(A) with the structure of a unital ring.

Here's the punchline: because ℤ is the free group on one generator, a group homomorphism out of ℤ is completely determined by where it maps the generator 1, and every choice of image of 1 gives you a homomorphism. This means that we can identify the elements of ℤ with those of End(ℤ) bijectively; a non-negative number n corresponds to the endomorphism [n]: ℤ -> ℤ that maps k onto k added to itself n times, and a negative number n gives the endomorphism [n] that maps k onto -k added together -n times. Going from endomorphisms to integers is even simpler: evaluate the endomorphism at 1. Note that because (f + g)(1) = f(1) + g(1), this bijection is actually an isomorphism of abelian groups

This means that we can transfer the multiplication (i.e. composition) on End(ℤ) to ℤ. What's this ring structure on ℤ? Well if you have the endomorphism that maps 1 onto 2, and you then compose it with the one that maps 1 onto 3, then the resulting endomorphism maps 1 onto 2 added together 3 times, which among other names is known as 6. The multiplication is exactly the standard multiplication on ℤ!

A lot of things had to line up for this to work. For instance, the pointwise sum of endomorphisms needs to be itself an endomorphism. This is why we can't play the same game again; the free commutative ring on one generator is the integer polynomial ring ℤ[X], and indeed the set of ring endomorphisms ℤ[X] -> ℤ[X] correspond naturally to elements of ℤ[X], but because the pointwise product of ring endomorphisms does not generally respect addition, the pointwise operations do not equip End(ℤ[X]) with a ring structure (and in fact, no ring structure on Hom(R,S) can make the category of commutative rings monoidal closed for the tensor product of rings (this is because the monoidal unit is initial)). We can relax the rules slightly, though.

Who says we need the multiplication (or addition, for that matter) on End(ℤ[X])? We still have the bijection ℤ[X] ↔ End(ℤ[X]), so we can just give ℤ[X] the composition operation by transfering along the correspondence anyway. If p and q are polynomials in ℤ[X], then p ∘ q is the polynomial you get by substituting q for every instance of X in p. By construction, this satisfies (p + q) ∘ r = (p ∘ r) + (q ∘ r) and (p × q) ∘ r = (p ∘ r) × (q ∘ r), but we no longer have left-distributivity. Furthermore, composition is associative and the monomial X serves as its unit element. The resulting structure is an example of a composition ring!

The composition rings, like the commutative unital rings, and the abelian groups, form an equational class of algebraic structures, so they too have free objects. For sanity's sake, let's restrict ourselves to composition rings whose multiplication is commutative and unital, and whose composition is unital as well. Let C be the free composition ring with these restrictions on one generator. The elements of this ring will look like polynomials with integers coefficients, but with expressions in terms of X and a new indeterminate g (thought of as an 'unexpandable' polynomial), with various possible arrangements of multiplication, summation, and composition. It's a weird complicated object!

But again, the set of composition ring endomorphisms C -> C (that is, ring endomorphisms which respect composition) will have a bijective correspondence with elements of C, and we can transfer the composition operation to C. This gets us a fourth operation on C, which is associative with unit element g, and which distributes on the right over addition, multiplication, and composition.

This continues: every time you have a new equational class of algebraic structures with two extra operations (one binary operation for the new composition and one constant, i.e. a nullary operation, for the new unit element), and a new distributivity identity for every previous operation, as well as a unit identity and an associativity identity. We thus have an increasing countably infinite tower of algebraic structures.

Actually, taking the union of all of these equational classes still gives you an equational class, with countably infinitely many operations. This too has a free object on one generator, which has an endomorphism algebra, which is an object of a larger equational class of algebras, and so on. In this way, starting from any equational class, we construct a transfinite tower of algebraic structures indexed by the ordinal numbers with a truly senseless amount of associative unital operations, each of which distributes on the right over every previous operation.

[mavlabajuri]

Speculation on Mando'a Todays word: "kaan"

There are several words in Mando'a that include the element "kaan"

ge'kaan - military exercise ne'kaan - non-combatant akaan - war* akaan'ade - army akaanir - to fight akaata - battalion meshurkaan - jeweler/gem cutter pelkaanir - to shave

But what then does "kaan" mean? We can reasonably infer that “kaan” is a root related to action, precision, or conflict.

Let’s explore a few thematic clues:

1. Core war terminology

All the following stem from "akaan", which clearly relates to war:

akaan - war akaanir - to fight akaan'ade - army akaata - battalion

This suggests that "kaan" is a morpheme deeply embedded in militaristic or combative terms.

2. "ge'kaan" = military exercise

"ge'" appears to act as an adverb or modifier ("almost" or perhaps "mock" in this context). ge'kaan may literally translate to something like "almost-war" or "war-like," which tracks for “military exercise.”

3. "ne'kaan" = non-combatant

"ne" is a negative prefix. → So "ne'kaan" = not kaan = non-combat.

This supports the idea that "kaan" has to do with war or fighting.

4. "meshurkaan" = jeweler/gem cutter

This one’s a little more metaphorical. The root "meshur" refers to gems or jewels, and "kaan" here might reference the precision or cutting aspect, which metaphorically aligns with the precision of battle or skillful action.

5. "pelkaanir" = to shave

"pel" = soft "kaanir" here may evoke a precise or scraping action, again suggesting "kaan" relates to deliberate, skilled movement.

From all this we can do some speculation.

📚 "Kaan" likely connotes: 📖 Combat 📖 Precise action 📖 Controlled or skilled intensity

It sits at the root of both warfare and delicate craft, suggesting that Mandalorians conceptually link violence and craftsmanship. Both require discipline, skill, and purpose.

Concerning it's morphological role, "kaan" seems to operate as:

a root in verb and noun derivation

neutral in moral weight, used in war, training, crafts, grooming

"kaan" - core concept of intentional, skilled action; often combat, but not exclusively violent.

Think: "to engage with deliberate force or precision."

* "But what about 'aka' and 'akaan'?" I hear you say. Well! I propose that akaan is a actually a combination of "aka" and "kaan".

"aka" - mission

"kaan" - (hypothetical root) combat, deliberate action, precision, etc.

So:

"akaan" = aka + kaan → mission + combat/action → war, as "a mission of combat", or "a purpose-driven conflict."

How do I support this?

Conceptual logic: Mandalorians see war not as chaos, but as structured, purposeful. Combining "mission" with "action/combat" reflects that framing.

Linguistic patterns: Mando’a often uses compound formations to build words:

akaan’ade = akaan (war) + ade (people) = "warriors/army" pelkaanir = pel (soft) + kaanir (maybe "to act/shave") = shaving, a delicate precise action meshurkaan = meshur (gem) + kaan = gem-cutter, precise work again

So "akaan" as aka + kaan fits this structural tendency.

If aka = mission and kaan = action/combat → then akaan = the mission is combat, which is very Mandalorian.

This makes the derivations feel even sturdier:

akaanir - to fight (turning "war" into a verb)

akaan'ade - warriors (people of war)

ge'kaan - training in simulated, structured combat

ne'kaan - one whose mission is not combat

As such, I interpret "kaan" to mean:

Mando'a : kaan Pronunciation : [kahn] Word Group : noun English Meaning : intentional, skilled action; often combat, but not exclusively violent.

Feedback is as always warmly welcomed!

[kiiwicatty]

Official Declaration for My DMC Discourse Policy:

Effective immediately, my blog operates under a strict 'OG-Only Zone' mandate for all Devil May Cry discussions.

Accepted Sources of Canonical Discussion:

Works directly helmed by Hideki Kamiya (creator of the original Devil May Cry)

Contributions from the original core team behind the mainline Devil May Cry series (DMC1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Lore, characterizations, and themes exclusively derived from the games, novels, and 2007 anime

Explicitly Rejected Content:

Netflix's "Devil May Cry" adaptation (2025) in its entirety

Any analysis, theories, or debates that reference or legitimize its narrative, character portrayals, or thematic deviations

Attempts to conflate its interpretations with the established canon

This decision reflects a commitment to preserving the artistic integrity and core identity of the Devil May Cry franchise as envisioned by its original creators. Netflix's adaptation, in its reckless disregard for character essence, thematic coherence, and narrative respect, has demonstrated itself to be a non-canonical outlier unworthy of critical engagement.

This is a non-negotiable stance. Attempts to derail conversations with Netflix-related cope will be deleted and blocked on sight.

[you-cant-fuck-megaman]

I liked the questioning about repli beauty you brought up. So, as we go into this rabbit hole, can we attribute the appearance and preferences for own image of a repli to previous programming and the way the X program developed itself?

Like, it started with humans building the first repli series and setting human society as a parameter of likeness for non-battle/labor replis, and from there, the replis just continued the trend when building the next ones?

Also, is the operating system on the next one based on a blank template or does it come from the repli that programmed/designed them, in a kinda genetical passing manner?

a fantastic question! there's a lot of big question marks about how things work in the X world that aren't really delved into. the question of operating systems is a surprisingly straightforward one, as we know that there are at least three eras of reploids: the original line made from X's template, the improved line made by Dr. Doppler from the X3+ era, and the "New Generation" Reploids in X8+ made by an unspecified designer/developer for spaaaaaace work.

but image preferences? hooooooooooooooooooo. i can't offer a solid answer. but here's some ramblings about my thoughts.

what we DO know is that Reploids were derived from X's template and that they started off as copies of his design/aesthetic, and if we're to take the Archie series as any level of canon (probably level 2 extra-canon) we have a very clear visual as to what the early reploids looked like. and that, despite this, the X series features mostly furry robots as characters.

now, on an out-of-universe level, i want to say that i remember this decision was made because it creates more imposing silhouettes--megaman is a franchise designed for baby children first and foremost, and it's easy for child brain to correlate humanoid shapes as friends and feral beasts as enemies. however, A: i cannot find a source for this, and B: Sonic the Hedgehog

in either case, whatever the reason is, in-universe we have a very clear disparity between the originator of reploids being humanoid (the original term repliroid is even a portmanteau of "replica" [in the likeness of] and "android" [a humanoid machine]) and the majority of on-screen reploids not being humanoid. which tells me that body image is a BIG THING among reploid culture, and either chassis remodeling is a relatively easy process or a lot of reploids are willing to invest a lot into being a different person than who they started out as.

this is something briefly touched in the Classic series, with Tundra Man (a late line Robot Master) intentionally remodeling himself into a body type that he prefers, but it's fleshed out further with the (chronologically farther) X world in the design changes to the non-animal characters--Zero, Alia, and Sigma all similarly sport different bodies as the series goes on. the only person who doesn't change much in the main series is X, ironically enough, outside of Command Mission. Alia X8 and Layer are silly designs that were designed for fanservice first and foremost, but we can reasonably surmise that (in-universe) they chose to look that way. i'm not about to tell a woman she can't wear a car hood as a bra if she wants to, but i will think that it'd look better if it was put back on the jeep because i need that to fucking drive.

meanwhile, there's a lot of obvious correlations to be made with early X Mavericks and their designs being optimized for the environment. icy area gets the penguin. aerial area gets the eagle. underwater area gets the octopus. but as the series goes on, the correlations become significantly less appropriate and it's clear that animals were chosen for their design aesthetic. the munitions factory gets.....the hornet.....? i guess, like...the hornet stinger missiles.......?

it makes more sense if you take iwamoto's X mangas as level 2 extra-canon like the archie comics, because Blast Hornet was a reploid biker-gangster punk who became a hornet for the shock factor. which ends up leaning back to the original theory that reploids ultimately end up choosing how they look--if not from the onset, then further down the line.

you could probably make a solid argument that the X series is a very trans-friendly future, and that nearly every major character is trans and nobody bats an eye about it. instead the robot police are mad about the crimes and murder. but the creed is "be gay do crimes" so this is actually oppression 🙄

[brokenhandsmedia]

I'm not really that deep into the occult. I like Forteana, uncanny things, and high strangeness, but I'm not sure I believe in magic or spirits or anything.

But even if I don't believe, I have to worry that other people do, and I happen to think that neoliberalism is -- quite clearly -- a magical operation of sorts. It seeks to achieve material ends by immaterial (I would say largely symbolic) means. That, to me, sounds like magic.

But we can't just laugh at them and point, saying for example that "they think that a wizard is going to fix the climate." No, the issue is much more grim: they won't say it, but they think that they're the wizards who will solve climate change with a wave of their magic spreadsheet.

This has to be overturned. Unfortunately, a bunch of fascist dipshits are convincing people that their magical operation is much better.

So, I'm going to just post this, and then sit back in my chair and think about material solutions to the issue. Maybe something that derives from the most famous wizard battle in history, the Battle of Blythe Road, where W.B. Yeats achieved victory by giving up on gestures and incantations, and decided that he would cast his ultimate spell on his opponent, Aleister Crowley.

That spell was, of course, "Greater Invocation of Kicking You Down The Stairs".

For obvious reasons, Yeats won that fight.

[psychotrenny]

I'm kinda sick of the Liberal obsession with trying to "gotcha" reactionaries with their apparent hypocrisies and ideological inconsistencies. The fact of the matter is that their ideology is very consistent and they usually behave well in accordance of it; the preservation or strengthening of Western Imperialist Capitalism and all it's attendant forms of oppression and exploitation (i.e. Patriarchy, White Supremacy, Homophobia etc.). They do this primarily out of their own self interest; even those who don't occupy a position near the top and have no illusions that this well ever change do derive a range of privileges from the existing hierarchies, especially from helping to actively enforce them. Many poor or otherwise marginalised reactionaries may very well be better off in the long run should these systems be abolished, but in the short term the benefits of collaboration are too large to simply be written off.

They employ a wide range of rhetoric to these ends. While much of it is actively contradictory this doesn't matter as the actual words themselves are unimportant; what's important is the values they convey. Likewise the actions they perform may not align with the rhetoric they speak but, as long as this does not conflict with their goal of self serving enrichment through loyal service to the existing order, you can hardly call it hypocrisy in the a meaningful sense. A US conservative proclaiming that he'll violently resist arms control one second before loudly professing is love of law enforcement the next isn't being inconsistent; both state and vigilante violence are important arms of the Capitalist White Supremacist order. There's a reason all these anti-gun control types turn a blind eye when it's non-white people being disarmed (just think of the Black Panthers in California). And a homophobic politician who secretly employs the services of gay prostitutes isn't a hypocrite in any consequential way; homophobia is a convenient tool for both short term political ends (marshaling votes and providing a convenient scapegoat) and longer term social ones (maintaining the absolute dominance of the heterosexual nuclear family for the purposes of labour reproduction, control and exploitation) and by keeping his activities as a shameful secret you can hardly say that he's advancing the cause of gay liberation. Your attempts to own reactionaries with facts and logic are meaningless when you refuse to recognise the logic they actually operate on