#a fine scientific experiment indeed

[aunhinged]

Drunklock concept: The experiment gone wrong

Sherlock, holding an empty beaker: You said I needed to loosen up, so I scientifically determined how much vodka it would take to make me relatable.

John: You’re not relatable, you’re just drunk.

Sherlock, smugly: Experiment successful, then.

John: And you drank it out of a beaker, didn’t you?

Sherlock: Science is about precision, John.

[talonabraxas]

Venus & Mars ‘Cosmic Lovers’ Talon Abraxas

Venus and Mars

Venus and Mars are the planets closest to the earth; they refer to what is most personal and primordial in the make-up and the behavior of a human being, to the most intimate factors in the life of an individual.

Venus moves inside of the earth's orbit, Mars outside of it; and this fact alone tells what meaning they have in astrology. Indeed the basic meanings attributed to each of the planets in our solar system is neither a matter of chance nor the result of millennial observations by astrologers and empirical tests; these meanings are deduced essentially from the place the planets occupy in the solar system and in relation to the earth.

Thus, because Mars is the first planet outside the earth's orbit, it represents fundamentally outgoing activity and the organic and psychological instrumentalities which make such an activity possible (for instance, at the physical level, a man's muscles, his adrenal glands releasing quick energy for action).

In contrast to Mars, Venus — the first planet inside the earth's orbit — refers to man's ability to bring into the field of his consciousness and inner life the results of his experiences, and thus to pass a feeling judgment — pleasurable or painful, elating or depressing, good or bad — upon these experiences which Mars made possible.

The symbolic characters traditionally used to represent Mars and Venus can best be understood if we relate them to the one for our planet, Earth. In many medieval paintings we find God (or even the emperor, as a divine ruler), holding in his hand a globe surmounted by a cross. This is the earth, as the home of Man, whom God created in His image and likeness.

According to a persistent and widespread occult tradition, the planet Venus is the spiritual twin of the earth. It was from Venus that some eleven millions years ago a host of spiritual beings came upon our planet to give to animal-like human beings the divine "seed" of self-conscious intelligence and moral responsibility. The Greek myth of Prometheus is an abridged version of the same event.

It is also said that wheat, perhaps corn and bees (and probably ants also, as everything has its shadow aspect) were brought along in some manner from Venus. Even the Hebrew Bible has its version of this "descent" upon the earth of quasi-divine beings when it speaks (Genesis 5) of the coming of the Sons of God who took as wives the daughters of men.

Whether this be fact or myth (but what is the source of myth?) the astrological (and astronomical) sign for the earth is that of Venus inverted — and we should remember the old saying that "the Devil is God inverted." Here on earth the — cross dominates the circle or globe; on Venus it is the circle which stands over the cross. What does this mean?

When one looks through a small telescope or gunsight often a cross made of two fine threads (the web spun by the black widow spider-makes the best) helps us to focus our observations or aim This most ancient symbol, the even-armed cross, is not only a Christian image — its meaning reaches into the very depth of existence, and especially of human existence, for man is that being in whom all powers and faculties can reach a clear and sharp focus. The value of our modern science and its rigorous type of logical thinking is that it is a discipline of thought which makes possible the most precise focusing of our attention — our discrimination and, in general, our mental faculties.

This indeed is the function of earth life and of incarnated man — to be precise, accurate and sharply discriminative in conditions in which an either-or judgment (an intellectual-rational or a moral yes-or-no judgment) is imperative. But man can go too far — and perhaps has gone too far — along this road leading to the sharpest possible focusing of his mind and energies, and our modern scientific civilization, based on the "specialist," may yet prove how disastrous this "too far" can be.

Venus, on other hand, refers to a realm of existence in which a whole view of life dominates the opposite earth trend toward the sharply focused analysis of a multitude of details. The circle is a symbol of wholeness, of infinite possibility. The Venus symbol tells us that in that Venus realm "with God everything is possible," because the consciousness of the whole is ever present.

The Divine is also ever present. Yet it is present in close association with the "human" (i.e. the cross). It is a consciousness of wholeness emerging from the many crosses of existence. You start with the cross, the crisis, the tragedy, then you rise to the total vision, the conscious fulfillment or plenitude of being.

On earth man starts from an unconscious fullness, of which the Garden of Eden is the Biblical symbol, then he has to emerge from this Edenic childlike unconsciousness in which he passively reflects the Divine Image — and the emergence occurs through crises, through conflicts, through "sin" (the "negative way" which leads man to light out of sheer horror in the realm of darkness).

About the 6th century B.C. humanity experienced a rebirth in mind. A new mind began to operate, whether in the Asia of the Buddha or the Europe of Pythagoras and the Greek classical era. This was an -emergence from a more naive, earthbound consciousness of life energies and sex power. It led to the Cross on Gethsemane and to European rationalism. It is only now that the Venusian type of mind is beginning really to operate in humanity — the sense of the whole, intuitive thinking, and the emergence of a global society.

In the astrological gylph for the planet Mars there is also a circle and — if the figure is correctly drawn — an arrow pointing up to outer space at a 45-degree angle above the horizontal. The 45-degree angle is very significant in that it marks a direction of maximum intensity in electromagnetic fields. The circle here represents the biopsychic field of man's personality, and when internal pressure builds up to an explosive point it is released in a "Martian" outgoing. What we have therefore in the Mars symbol is a picture of simple, spontaneous release of energy.

One can relate it to the symbol for Sagittarius, but in this hieroglyph we see a release which stems not from a circle but actually from a cross, whose vertical arm has been bent by a dynamic urge to expansion. It is probable that the direction of the arrow is not at a 45 degree angle to the horizontal, but rather at a 60 degree angle — which would make it coincide with the direction represented by the cusps of the Third and Ninth Houses of a birth-chart And the sign Sagittarius has much to do with the Ninth House of the horoscope.

[driftward]

Title: FFXIV Write 2024 - 26. Zip Characters: Ryssthota Sundstyrwyn, Zoissette Vauban, Klynt Gohtawyn, Y'shtola Rhul, Thancred Waters Rating: Teen Summary: Scientific progress goes 'zip' Notes: Too ambitious by half

A black blob of ichorous fluid, oily and thick, floated in midair in the middle of an elaborate contraption made of glass, brass, and crystal. Steam gently wafted out of the device from various vents, as fluid became fluids, being processed, filtered, agitated, vaporized and condenses, until at last another black drop of the dense liquid dropped into the middle chamber and came to float, joining the black blob. Its surface shimmered in an oily rainbow.

"And we are to drink that?" asked Y'shtola, her nose wrinkled.

"I cannot believe I volunteered for this," groaned Thancred.

"Cowards," challenged Klynt, grinning at the other two.

"Be nice," said Zoissette.

"It's fine! It'll be fine!" crowed Ryssthota. "This will be the greatest coffee ever made, probably!"

Nyx stood nearby as silent witness.

Zoissette looked around the lab. "We are certain C'oretta has been sufficiently distracted? I fear if she got any of this in her system, she will vibrate enough to shatter the bonds of reality. Or at least the experiment."

Ryss shrugged. "I'm pretty sure she said she'd be in Ul'dah today, probably distracted by her latest boy. Look! I think we got enough for all of us."

"I am not so certain about this experiment of yours, Ryssthota," said Y'shtola. "I am oft curious as to the bounds of natural science, but I cannot imagine such a foul looking result having any decent taste."

"Don't most of you usually stick to tea, anyroad?" asked Thancred.

"Yes, and indeed, Ryssthota meant to surprise me with a surpassing cup of tea. However, unfortunately, we found that the tea leaves do not survive well this process."

"It's easier to get the oils to sublimate out of a coffee bean," supplied Ryss. "And the vacuum chamber can be controlled to just around the vapor point in such a way that we can easily isolate those exact aetheric properties that we're interested in, resulting in... well, we're about to find out."

Ryss grinned. The last few droplets drifted towards the hovering liquid, which coalesced into a singular black orb. It wobbled in place for a bit, its surface bulging and compressing, as it spun, almost on the edge of of instability. But then, with a final vibration, it settled, and now, at some sort of mass limit, it floated down towards a spigot as the apparatus spun down.

Several cups were filled with the liquid and handed around.

"I think I'll call it Zip," said Ryssthota proudly. "Wuff that's thick."

"That," said Thancred gamely, "Is what she said." He downed his with a hard swallow, and shook his head violently. "Whew! Tasty."

Klynt just cackled at Thancred as she poured hers in her mouth, and seemed to chew on it a bit before swallowing. "Huh. Interesting texture. Kinnae tingly."

"Buttery, almost," said Y'shtola, sipping at hers and making a wince. "And almost singularly offensive to my sensitive palate. Is this perhaps an expression of a desire to exceed Nyx in culinary extremes?" She sighed, and quickly swallowed the rest of it.

Zoissette grimaced, but then after a moment, frowned, and looked down into her empty cup. "Okay, that is not as bad as the rest of you were selling."

The five sat around, setting down their empty cups, and looking at each other. Nyx stood silent as their sixth, just watching.

"Wonder how long it takes to kick in?" mused Thancred out loud.

~*~

"We need to evacuate!" yelled the human up at Ryssthota, who grunted at him in response. "Your lab is in the middle of a war zone!"

"One, don't exaggerate," she said, annoyed. "If we were in the middle of a war zone, there would be mortars and drop shuttles and stuff."

The human held up a hand, and she stopped to watch. He gestured at the shutters behind them, then hit the button that caused the slats to fold open.

Outside, in the distance, several energy mortar rounds landed with distant thuddy thwoomps. A drop shuttle carrying soldiers hovered down low to the ground, the people it was carrying bringing up their shields and weapons, beginning to fire before it even touched down. Under heavy fire itself, it only hovered long enough to disgorge its cargo before its thrusters fired and it rocketed back up to the sky.

"Oh. Huh," said Ryssthota. "You know, I thought the local gangs had gotten into a pretty heavy music scene."

"I know for a Krogon like you this must seem like a regular vacation spot, but we're pulling all scientific and civilian teams out now!"

"Okay but to be fair, I have been very busy and very distracted with, if you would have let me continue, two! I am on the verge of solving the other half of what could be the greatest scientific discovery of our time!"

She put down a device in front of the man and grinned at him.

He frowned at it, then looked up at her.

"A coffee pot."

She looked down at it. Despite the addition of a miniaturized mass effect engine, an eezo reserve canister, and an omni-tool, it did rather look like the simple table top coffee maker it had started life as.

"Look there's more to it than that now."

"Nevermind. Point out what stuff my people need to grab, help hup up anything you need yourself, and we need to -go-. You can tell me about this 'amazing scientific' whatever whatever on the way!"

The room rumbled as some more energy mortars landed rather closer than she cared for, and she sighed, turning and pointing at things while tucking the coffee pot under an arm.

"Alright, fine. It all started when I was thinking about ways to try to expand my people's natural element zero manipulation abilities..."

~*~

A thin line appeared in reality, blue and glowing, and with a high energy zip! noise, Ryssthota sprung back into existence.

What a rush! She thought to herself. She had done it at last! She had breached the so-called biotic barrier! Forget seeming to teleport short distances just to punch some guy in the head (though that was its own fun), she had concentrated so much biotic energy with such mental focus that she had created a pinch in space time itself!

Unfortunately, she had not stopped as fast as she had liked. As the blue glow around her faded, she looked around.

This looked like a bizarre sort of proto-civilization work facility of some sort. She could see off to one side a holographic emitter, with a picture of some sort of unrecognizable craft suspended in it. Dominating the bay was what looked like a mass effect drive core, except there was no eezo mass inside of it, and the external shielding had never been installed. It instead looked like they were using it as a dais for another holographic emitter.

As she swept he gaze around, she saw a whiteboard with a copious amount of notes on it. She frowned at them. There were a lot of words on there she did not recognize, such as 'dynamis', 'aether', and 'omphalos'. There were lots of equations though, some she recognized from her own studies into hyperphysics and suprarelativitiy. And words she did recognize, like 'resonance', 'interdimensional', and 'cascade'. Off to one side was a priority list. In big letters was the sentence THANCRED IS BROKEN, and under that, What happened to Y'shtola???, and lots of equations and speculation next to that.

She turned, slowly, to look at the rest of the lab. In the middle was some kind of glass and brass and was that crystal? apparatus. Controlling it appeared to be a set of planetary rings, right now not so much 'spinning' as seeming to move so fast as to vibrate. And there was another human in here, a short one, black with purple fur so dark as to be almost black. War paint on half of its face. And weird triangular skin flaps on either side of their head. Ears?

"Hey, you. Where am I?"

"Gage Acquisitions company workshop. Gage Acquisitions headquarters. Lavender Beds ward 6, plot 6. Gridania. The Black Shroud. Eorzea. Etheirys."

Oh. A VI of some sort. She didn't recognize any of those names, but the VI probably wasn't going to be of much help here. She moved on.

There was kind of a shimmering field surrounding the edges of the place, and it looked like it might keep her from leaving. She walked towards it, and began to reach a hand out towards it.

"Containment protocols are in place until the current situation is resolved. Please do not violate containment protocol," the VI said. Ryssthota pulled her hand back. Best not to mess with that until she knew more.

She looked back. There were four shimmers in the air that she had ignored until now. They looked sort of like the malfunctioning output of a holoemitter, but now she wondered if they were what was being contained. She peered closer. Each one seemed to contain a person.

Back to the whiteboard. Some of these notes, she could make out. She rubbed her lower jaw as she read carefully down it, eventually getting down on one knee to be at a better height. No matter where you went in the universe, nothing was ever built for Krogans unless it was a weapon, a military vehicle, or Krogan built itself.

There equations were mostly complete. She did not recognize all of them. But she did recognize one that they seemed to be having trouble with. She was not sure what it solved, exactly, but she did the math, scrawling on the whiteboard with some kind of paint stick they had left nearby, and finished it out with the necessary numbers.

She turned. The apparatus they had built was utilizing these equations to accomplish whatever they were trying to do. Maybe she had been pulled here.

Maybe she could pull the people who had been working here back.

She went to the vibrating control thingy, and took a deep breath in. With a moment of focus, she glowed blue once more, her biotic field activating. Reality seemed to slow down, and the vibrating planetary rings of the control thingy slowed down as well, to the point where they were simply spinning.

Ah, she could see it now. She reached in carefully, and made adjustments. Five parameters, one already solved, and she could solve the other four.

Sort of. There were still parts missing. Problem for later, try to get this science team - and she was certain it was some kind of scientific team - back now, and try to ask them questions.

Once she was done, she glanced over at the whiteboard one last time, found out where they had put the 'go' button, and committed.

She released her biotic field. Time sped up back to normal. And then, around her, the four shimmers collapsed.

Zip!, and a long pole of a human wearing some kind of robot suit - or were they just straight up a human looking robot? With a weird helmet that had some crystals in it appeared. They had black fur, tied back in a long ponytail. Probably a human in a robot suit. Why would you put fur on a robot.

Zip! and another person, this one almost her own height appeared. They had slate blue gray skin, and huge triangular ears, and tusks. Feet unshod, two toes each, a hand with three fingers. Green fur. Ryssthota immediately liked them. They looked like a sturdy sort. They appeared to be wearing animal skin and wood? Which was odd.

Zip! and another human appeared. This one was shorter than the first one in the robot suit. Also, their nose looked funny in a way Ryssthota couldn't quite identify. They were wearing some kind of two-tone jumpsuit, blue on black. Black short cropped fur with bangs that came forward into the face.

Zip! and the last one appeared, also a human. Wearing a white coat. Silver fur. Black boots.

The last immediately went to the ground, clutching his head. "Oh gods, I feel as though I have had greatness thrust upon me," he groaned, curling up on himself.

The robot suit person immediately pulled a metal shield off their back and held it in front of them, poking their forearm out from around it. Their hand disappeared and a barrel of some sort appeared. "Help!"

The short human with the jumpsuit immediately pulled out what looked like some kind of pistol, and frowned at the group.

The tall blue green person just slowly held up their hands. "Whoa hey what's going on. We're all friends here, yea? Spirits brought me here, wonderin' what was pokin' at the world."

Ryssthota could have taken them all, but that was not what she was here for. She also held her hands up.

"Whoa okay hold on," she said. "No shooting. Nobody is going to shoot anyone here. I'm trying to find the scientists that built this place. ... would any of you happen to know where we are or what's going on?"

"Please stop yelling. I can hear a thousand realities and they're all terrible," groaned the person in the white coat from the floor.

The robot peaked out from behind their shield, and after a moment the barrel on their forearm was replaced by a hand again, and they slowly, cautiously returned their shield to their back.

"I was running an experiment on my teleporter," they said. "Uhm, but during it, I experienced an instability spike in my reactor. I tried to get it back under control, and when I did, I wound up here."

The other woman, the one in the jumpsuit, rolled her eyes. "You might say my situation was also an accident. I had set up one of the teleporters to attempt a transwarp teleportation - just an experiment. There was an emergency that necessitated its use rather sooner than I had intended."

Everyone looked at one another.

"I think none of us are home right now," said Ryssthota.

"What about him?" asked the woman in the jumpsuit, pointing at the man in the white coat.

"Oh, I am in every home," he groaned. "My name is Thancred, and everything is terrible forever."

...to be continued?

[thislittlekumquat]

Right but they have a point in regards to the belief in this figures not being based in any sort of fact or evidence,

That’s the difference, the atheist worldview is by far more accurate

We mock flat earthers for being wrong but not other provably false beliefs?

With all due respect, and I mean that, the concept of any sort of divinity is by definition unprovable. Modern science runs into the issue of unprovables quite often. When I was in college, my professors all worked quite hard to ensure that we understood that there are very few absolutes even in science. Many things that we take for granted as "laws" actually have the formal title of "theory", because they haven't been proven, but there's so much evidence in favor of them and the way we operate under the assumption of their truth continues to provide results, that they are essentially, but not truly, laws. Evolution, for example, is not a law as defined by science, but rather a theory.

So, that's one thing to consider. Another thing to consider is that there is not only value in things we can prove or disprove with modern science. I can't scientifically prove that my spouse loves me. I can't scientifically explain why I like my favorite band, or my favorite novel. And yet these are things I know, and they're true in the sense that they form my world, my experiences, and my life. If you try to prove every single thing you believe in, or that you prefer, or that you experience, you'll never be satisfied. To practice science and to live life ethically and happily, you need to understand what science is, what its limitations are, and how to prioritize it as a concept and as a way of knowing. Science, nor indeed any system of knowing, cannot be the be-all, end-all of your thoughts and opinions. I am a scientist and a historian by education, and having both allow me to understand that many of the conundrums we face today are not unique to us, and many of the things we assume our ancestors did not know, they did in fact know (Ferdinand and Isabella and basically all of Europe knew that the world was round. They even knew that Columbs' calculations were wrong about the size of the sphere. They gave him money for other complex geopolitical reasons, and they were his last ditch effort, since every other wealthy patron he approached knew he was wrong and turned him away).

I suspect that the impulse to deny divinity derives in the majority of cases from a sense that the human institutions of religion are frequently abusive and cause as much suffering as they do comfort to their adherents. This is a fair assessment, and you're not wrong to make it. But on an individual basis, there is nothing less intelligent or foolish about feeling that a divine something exists. I am not arguing that religious people are better than atheists. Speaking as a former angry teen atheist myself, I am simply commenting on the fact that it has been a facet of the formal atheist movement for centuries to assume that it's more rational to be atheist. Even if it were, who is to say that rationalism makes one a better person? You're on tumblr, so I assume that there's something here that moves you. Is it a fandom? Is it photography? Is it art? Is it music? None of these are rational pursuits.

So I reject the idea that divinity is demonstrably fake, because it isn't, by definition, and I reject the idea that even if it was demonstrably false, it makes one a better or smarter person to be an atheist. I think it's completely fine to be an atheist, but one must temper one's sense of self-importance with the experiences of others.

P.S. I screenshotted the post because I found it ironic that OP used the word "stigmata", which is a very particular devotional concept and image in Roman Catholicism, among other Christian sects, and a very mystical one at that, in their username, while simultaneously professing to find people who are religious to be stupid and backwards. I think there's something going on there, and it amused me. But I did not bother OP or the person who reblogged it onto my dash, nor did I tag the post in any way to lead people to my post. So I wonder why you, anonymously, felt as if their point is any more valid than mine.

[didanawisgi]

“To some physicists, this indicates that what we call “matter,” with its solidity and concreteness—is an illusion; that only the mathematical apparatus they devise in their theories is truly real, not the perceived world the apparatus was created to describe in the first place. From their point of view, such a counterintuitive conclusion is an implication of theory, not a conspicuously narcissistic and self-defeating proposition.

Indeed, according to information realists, matter arises from information processing, not the other way around. Even mind—psyche, soul—is supposedly a derivative phenomenon of purely abstract information manipulation. But in such a case, what exactly is meant by the word “information,” since there is no physical or mental substrate to ground it?

The untenability of information realism, however, does not erase the problem that motivated it to begin with: the realization that, at bottom, what we call “matter” becomes pure abstraction, a phantasm. How can the felt concreteness and solidity of the perceived world evaporate out of existence when we look closely at matter?

To make sense of this conundrum, we don’t need the word games of information realism. Instead, we must stick to what is most immediately present to us: solidity and concreteness are qualities of our experience. The world measured, modeled and ultimately predicted by physics is the world of perceptions, a category of mentation. The phantasms and abstractions reside merely in our descriptions of the behavior of that world, not in the world itself.

Tegmark is correct in considering matter—defined as something outside and independent of mind—to be unnecessary baggage. But the implication of this fine and indeed brave conclusion is that the universe is a mental construct displayed on the screen of perception. Tegmark’s “mathematical universe” is inherently a mental one, for where does mathematics—numbers, sets, equations—exist if not in mentation?

This mental universe is what physics is leading us to, not the hand-waving word games of information realism.

Read the full article “Physics Is Pointing Inexorably to Mind” (Scientific American).”

- Robert Edward Grant

#mentalism #mentaluniverse

[nikethestatue]

I find it so amusing that all of a sudden an English literature undergraduate degree is to be a revered and esteemed point of view in the interpretation of the ACOTAR series. All the while there have episodically been those in the fandom with PhDs and MDs (psychologists discussing trauma, mental health professionals who have been consultants on screenwriting and writing projects, OBs explaining how having pliable bones doesn’t change the soft tissue of a woman’s reproductive system, etc etc) explaining a particular subject matter expertise being met with severe harassment, accusations of lies about their degrees, doxxing threats to expose them to licensure boards, and all out attacks and assault. You’re telling me that, now, an English lit degree is an authority on interpreting subjective fiction novels and that’s just supposed to be taken as a word of deference?

I mean absolutely no hate towards anybody with an arts degree when I say this (I, too, have one)- but literature is not a science. There is no exact, reliable way to interpret literature. Scholars still debate great literary works throughout history. Lit is not a science. Do some people have a higher level of education that enables them to detect certain literary devices? Sure. But I think the point being missed here is that literature is not a science. It cannot be reliably interpreted outside of any one person’s individual bias. Culture, socioeconomic status, race, life experience all factor into how one interprets art. That’s fine and good. You don’t need a degree in lit to understand ACOTAR and pick up on foreshadowing. Education does not mean you can interpret subjective material without bias. That is the point of the scientific method in interpreting objective data.

One would argue that advanced degrees in most fields, particularly science driven studies where research is conducted in some capacity, are extremely equipped to think critically and analytically about what they read.

Seeing this all explode has really made me flashback to how actual licensed professionals in this fandom have been treated for attaching their credentials to their commentary or blog on a subject matter they have actual expertise and advanced training/experience in. Seeing the same people who attacked others with so much vitriol have this defensive energy is truly full circle. I can’t help but think how some of those in this fandom might be sitting back watching the hypocrisy. Where was this energy when actual experts with doctoral degrees and licenses were being attacked? Just wow.

Like you said, Anon, what's amusing to me is that some of these 'degreed' people seem to be under the impression that there is one answer to a written piece of literature. That there is something 'definitive' about their own personal interpretation. Where in reality, indeed, things are being debated for hundreds, and sometimes thousands of years. Everything from the Bible, to Plato, to Shakespeare, to Jane Austen, to Kafka, to Tolstoy, to Tolkien.

There might be some consensus on interpretation of texts, but at the same time, that's all it will ever be--interpretation.

Anna Karenina throwing herself under a train: the number of interpretations of why she did it is as vast as the number of people reading the book. Did she do it out of guilt and shame? Sure. Did she do it out of a sense of despair over her future? Absolutely. Was she a product of her time, where women had no freedoms? Yes. Was she a rebel? Sure. Was she amoral? Certainly. Did she deserve her fate? Yes. Did she not deserve her fate? Also yes.

People just need to calm the hell down and stop acting crazy. Nobody cares if you have a degree. ALso, if you have a degree and you are WRONG In the end, that's just going to be embarrassing. So just be and let others be as well.

[random-twst-and-oc-stuff]

My OCs as angels

Inspired by @ceruleancattail and their TCG thing.

Here, for some more context.

Now, would my children be fallen angels? Yes. But some would be normal angels and others would be guardian angels.

Since I have more OCs on the way, this will be updated. I have a problem.

Now, let's get into it.

Sarah Collins/Kingscholar:

A regular angel.

Might even be a guardian angel, but she's too young for that according to Heaven's rules.

Anyway, her curiosity about the human world made her fall. Well, it was actually one of the causes.

The God was kind enough to send the little angel to explore the human world to satisfy her curiosity. But she had a month to do so or she'd lose her wings, as a lack of better term.

And she was sent off in her human disguise to explore.

But the child was kidnapped during her investigation which made her stay forcibly prolonged. (Yes, getting kidnapped is also in Original!Sarah's backstory. I just forgot to add it.)

Yeah, she's not an angel no more.

Losing her angel privileges wasn't a pleasant feeling. It's quite the painful experience.

She escaped from the kidnappers and went looking for help. Help did indeed come.

She's now living with her new family.

Quinn Francis Johnson:

A guardian angel in training.

They're a fast learner, so they quickly got their human to watch over.

They don't like the human. At all.

Thought about going down there and giving him a piece of their mind numerous times, but held back. Guardian angels are supposed to protect humans, not hurt them.

That was until he said he said something unacceptable.

Screw the rules, he's catching those hands.

Yes, they lost their angel privileges.

It's painful, but homie has a worryingly big pain tolerance, so they're fine. Sort of-

Has no regrets. Would do it again.

At least life in the human world gives them the freedom they never knew they needed.

Beatrice Dawn O'Kelly:

Guardian angel.

Was assigned to watch over a very sweet child.

Of course she wouldn't break the rules. I mean, she's such a good girl.

Well, until she saw the precious child get hurt.

Mama Bear Mode: On

Got down faster than you can say "Angel"

Obviously lost her wings, but it's worth it if you ask her.

Now she works a caretaker in an orphanage. The kids love her.

The child she watched over is also an orphan, so...

Yeah, the two are pretty close.

Rosemary Autumn Nathara Moon:

Regular angel.

Same reasons as Sarah.

Wanted to explore, was allowed to for a limited period of time, but got kidnapped.

Here's the difference though: Rosemary got kidnapped for scientific reasons.

Didn't want to hide her wings and wore them as a cape. Or said it was part of a costume.

Yeah, that was a mistake. Especially when she could feel a feather being plucked out. Girl literally flinched.

Losing her wings was one of the many painful things she's been through.

She got released after a certain period of time.

Her appearance being altered is inevitable along with the name change.

Doesn't think she belongs in Heaven after this anyway, so Nathara doesn't make it a big deal. She does. Petty as hell about it

[scotianostra]

Charles Darwin, was born on 12th February 1809 in Shrewsbury, England.

Yes he is English, but he attended Edinburgh University and he liked us Scots in general, going by this quote from the man:

“Scotchmen are so civil and attentive, It is enough to make an Englishman ashamed of himself.”

As a medical student in Edinburgh, It was on the shores of the Forth, at Prestonpans and elsewhere, that he carried out some of his early scientific work. Long before he became famous for what he discovered in distant southern seas and lands and then used in development of the Theory of Evolution,

Darwin became an expert in the marine life, especially barnacles, of the Lothian coast. He also learnt how to stuff birds (a skill that would be invaluable when collecting scientific specimens during his southern voyage on the ship Beagle, years later). His teacher was a freed black slave, John Edmonstone, who lived in the same Edinburgh street as Darwin. Edmonstone had told him about the South American rainforest in his native Guiana. It’s fascinating to think that this man, John Edmonstone, whose name is all-but forgotten, taught a key skill to Darwin, taxidermy, one of the most influential figures in science. He also gave young Charles an early taste, in his imagination, of one of the globally important natural habitats whose pleasures he would later experience at first hand. Darwin wrote of him:

“By the way, a negro lived in Edinburgh … and gained his livelihood by stuffing birds, which he did excellently: he gave me lessons for payment, and I used often to sit with him, for he was a very pleasant and intelligent man.”

As well as being complimentary of us Scots, Darwin was also a fan of our capital city, he arrived in Edinburgh in October 1825. He and his brother lodged at 11 Lothian Street. He described his lodgings in a letter to his father:

“We got into our lodgings yesterday evening, which are very comfortable and near the College. Our Landlady, by name Mrs Mackay, is a nice clean old body, and exceedingly civil and attentive. She lives in 11 Lothian Street, Edinburgh and only four flights of steps from the ground floor which is very moderate to some other lodgings that we were nearly taking. The terms are 1£-6s for two very nice and light bedrooms and a nice sitting room; by the way, light bedrooms are very scare articles in Edinburgh, since most of them are little holes in which there is neither air not light.

“We set out and walked all about the town; which we admire excessively; indeed Bridge Street is the most extraordinary thing I ever saw, and when we first looked over the sides we could hardly believe our eyes, when instead of a fine river we saw a stream of people.

“We have just been to church and heard a sermon of only 20 minutes. I expected from Sir Walter Scott’s account a soul-cutting discourse of 2 hours and a half.”

Not all was good though, Darwin had no time for Alexander Monro tertius, who had followed his grandfather and father as professor of anatomy, as he describes in a letter to his sister Caroline:

Monro “made his lectures on human anatomy as dull as he was himself.” “I dislike his lectures so much that I cannot speak with decency about them. He is so dirty in person and actions.”

Some years later Darwin visited Edinburgh again, in 1838, on his way to study the geology of Glen Roy. He spent some time on Salisbury Crags, studying the geology described by Hutton.

[toon-tales]

Hiya, guys!

Ok so I've been searching, and where are the Cornelius and Wilbur bonding fanfictions?!

So, i decided to write my own!

Based off a few things:

Wilbur is 8 in this and he's easily fascinated by science so he 'wants to be a scientist' when he grows up, y'know

Wilbur is actually quite smart

....

That's it

Oh and the fact that Wilbur knows every prototype for the time machine

Care day

"Alright," Cornelius surrendered "I'll take care of him." 

"Thanks, Neil," Franny smiled as she joined her brothers for a siblings day out

"Are you sure about this?" Art asked his sister 

"Of course I am," she replied "Why wouldn't I be?" 

"You know how caught up Cornelius gets when he's in the lab," Gaston said 

"And Wilbur is a bit reckless too," Art chimed in, but Franny wasn't going back 

"They'll be fine," she insisted "Probably." 

"What?" 

"Nothing." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cornelius and Wilbur entered the lab. Peculiar gadgets filled the place along with colorful chemicals, and strange contraptions. Wilbur's eyes widened with excitement, eager to explore the wonders of his father's world.

"Alright, my little apprentice, what would you like to do first?" Cornelius asked, kneeling down to meet Wilbur's gaze.

Wilbur pointed at a peculiar machine in the corner. "What's that, Dad?"

Cornelius followed his son's finger and smiled. "Ah, that's supposed to be a time traveler. It's still a work in progress, but one day, it'll take us on incredible adventures through time!"

Wilbur's eyes gleamed with delight. "Can we try it now? Can we go back to the time of dinosaurs?"

Cornelius chuckled and ruffled his son's hair. "Not just yet, Wilbur. It still needs some adjustments. But how about we do a fun science experiment instead?"

Wilbur clapped his hands in excitement. "Yes!" he shouted excitedly and went to the closest table, which, of course, contained colored tubes of different sizes and shapes, but something specific caught his attention. 

"Wilbur! This is too much! " Cornelius yelled worriedly as he saw his son about to put a big piece of sodium in the water.

"Yeah, Dad! Look at it! It's going to create a giant explosion!"

Cornelius quickly reached out to stop Wilbur from placing the piece of sodium into the water. 

"That's too dangerous!" Cornelius exclaimed, grabbing hold of the curious 8-year-old's hand. "Yes, sodium can indeed react explosively with water, but it's essential to handle it with extreme caution and proper safety measures."

Wilbur tilted his head, his eyes filled with confusion, but also a tinge of disappointment. "But Dad, I really wanted to see the explosion! It would have been so cool!"

Cornelius smiled warmly at his son's enthusiasm but knew he can't risk anything while his son was here. "I understand your excitement, Wilbur, but science experiments can be dangerous if not done properly. Let's focus on a safer experiment for now, shall we?"

He guided Wilbur towards another table where various scientific equipment and materials were neatly arranged. Cornelius chose a beaker filled with colored liquid.

"Here, let's try this instead," he suggested, pouring the liquid into a smaller beaker. "This is a simple chemical reaction called an acid-base reaction. When we mix this acid solution with a base, it will create a fizzing and bubbling effect."

Wilbur's disappointment slowly turned into intrigue as he watched his father carefully pour the acid solution into the base. The mixture started fizzing and bubbling just as Cornelius had predicted.

"Whoa! Look, Dad! It's bubbling up!" Wilbur exclaimed, his eyes filled with wonder.

Cornelius smiled as he watched his son's excitement. "Yes, Wilbur, it's the acid and base reacting with each other. This reaction releases carbon dioxide gas, which creates those bubbles you see."

As they worked on the experiment (Wilbur clearly not understanding but still enjoying anyway), Cornelius shared stories of his own childhood experiments and inventions. Wilbur listened intently, his eyes wide with admiration for his father's inventive mind. After they finished the experiment, Cornelius and Wilbur cleaned up the lab together. As they put away the beakers and test tubes, Wilbur couldn't help but ask, "Dad, why do you love inventing so much?"

Cornelius smiled at his son and took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Well, Wilbur, inventing and exploring the unknown has always fascinated me. It's like solving puzzles and discovering new possibilities. It allows me to use my imagination and creativity to make things that can help people and make the world a better place."

Wilbur nodded, absorbing his father's words. "So, when I grow up, can I become an inventor like you?"

Cornelius smiled proudly, placing a hand on Wilbur's shoulder. "Of course, my little apprentice. If you have a passion for it, I'll support you every step of the way. Just remember, being an inventor comes with its challenges, but it's also incredibly rewarding. You'll face failures, but you should keep moving forward."

Wilbur beamed, already imagining the inventions he would create in the future. "I can't wait, Dad! Maybe one day, we can even fix the Time Traveler and go on those amazing adventures!"

Cornelius chuckled, a twinkle in his eyes. "Who knows, Wilbur? Maybe one day, we'll travel through time together and discover wonders beyond our wildest dreams. But for now, let's continue exploring the wonders of science and inventing new things right here in our lab-"

"Why can't we use the time machine now?" Wilbur interrupted his father, his gaze fixed on the still-in-progress time machine. 

Cornelius paused, contemplating his son's question. He knelt down to Wilbur's level and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

"Look, Wilbur, the time machine is a complicated invention. It's not quite ready for human testing just yet," he explained. "There are still some important safety precautions that need to be taken before we can use it."

Wilbur's eyes widened with excitement as he looked at the time machine. "But Dad, imagine all the adventures we could have! I want to see what the world was like in the past!"

Cornelius chuckled and tousled Wilbur's hair affectionately. "I understand your enthusiasm. But you have to promise me you wouldn't get near that time machine alone."

"Ok. But I will help you make it."

"That's a deal then." both agreed as they shook hands together, Cornelius knowing darn well that this promise will be broken at some point, but still smiled with pride at his son anyway. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm back! How was your day-oh" Franny' s voice trailed off as she admired the view before her. Cornelius slept peacefully with Wilbur in his lap, who, in return, wrapped a tiny arm around his dad, they sat against a red machine with tools and papers all around them. 

Careful not to disturb them, Franny closed the garage door gently behind her, and turned to her brothers. 

"See? I was right." 

[philtstone]

40 (wake-up kisses) Peter/Gamora

i honestly couldnt tell u what this is but i had fun with it. inspired by this amazing fic, which healed something deep inside me. not really spoilers for gotg3 bc this is like, unhingedly removed from canon but also not not spoilers, if u know what i mean

The thing of it is, weirder things have definitely happened to Gamora.

Well -- to her version of Gamora, which is, to use a term, herself. The person whose mind-dream-consciousness she's trapped within is younger, and therefore has had less opportunity to experience weird shit.

Then again, Gamora thinks, there was that whole time travel thing.

"What the fuck," other her is saying. "What the fuck, what the fuck. Get out of my head!"

Ugh.

"I am trying," she says. It's a weird situation. Gamora has always been a little paranoid, to be sure, but even she can admit that her presence in this landscape is quite tangibly not an ordinary dream. She is, literally, in her own head. There are two of them, and it's crowded. She can tell. She can tell. Everyone can tell -- something is very wrong.

And it is not, strictly speaking, Gamora's fault that the fabric of space-time-reality-possibly-also-death is in utter tatters, but it's not like she isn't going to take advantage of it. Her family must be looking for her! Peter must be looking for her! Indeed, she is looking for them! She wants more than anything to be alive right now, and to hold her sister in her arms, and to help Mantis decorate her room, and to laugh over dumb jokes with Groot, and to sing tunes with Rocket, and to kiss Peter on the mouth until she forgets how to breathe and also how to feel sadness. She didn't really think about it too hard when she saw her opening. She just kind of wanted. Full body. Desperately. Death has been super sad, and also super boring.

Oh. Maybe, possibly, that could be a contributing factor to her --their -- sudden predicament. That is, the way she suddenly found herself sharing mind-space with another version of herself, who claims -- irately and with no small measure of panic -- that she was minding her own business, trying to get a decent four hours of sleep in, when she was rudely interrupted by a psychotic parasite.

"Ah!" Gamora makes a loud and offended scoffing noise. "Parasite?! I'm not a parasite, you jerk! I'm me. I'm you, goddammit!"

"No," says other her. "I'm me, and you're in my head! Get out!"

"Why don't you let me out?" she growls back, crossing her proverbial arms. It's weird. Like in a dream, she both does and doesn't have a corporeal body, right now. "You're not even supposed to be here, anyway! This is my timeline!"

"And it's my head!" snarls her counterpart, in a way that is really infuriating if only for the fact that she, Gamora, snarls that way. Who does this idiot think she is, doing it the same?

"Fine," Gamora says to herself. "This is fine. Listen. You wake up from your dream, but when you wake up, instead of being you, you're going to be me. Alright? We understand each other. It'll be fine, because you are me."

"I am not you," snaps ... well, her. "You are dead. You are a weird imposter who has been made up by your crazy friends. You have all these -- these insane experiences and stupid memories! And now they're in my head. I knew I shouldn't have hung around those weirdos for so long --"

Gamora's mouth has dropped open. "Excuse me," she says. "My memories are not stupid. What have you got to offer, death and sadness?"

Other Gamora seems to take great offense at this. "I have great memories!" she yells. "They are very -- pleasant! I feel good things when I think of them!"

Hmph. Please. Gamora was there, okay? So what if there are some new ones sprinkled into the mix. She doesn't have time to explore them now, she's got things to do. Places to be. Peters to kiss.

"Maybe it's a scientific issue," she muses, aloud. "If we got Rocket to zap you with something --"

"I am not being zapped!"

"I would wake up. From this weird dream."

"You are the weird dream!"

She hums to herself; uncomfortably, a small voice at the back of her mind wonders if she really did used to be this transparently aggressive, but she dismisses it, as she has more pressing priorities right now. Animation, for example. Living. Breathing air. Kissing Peter, that is definitely up there.

"Maybe if you pinched yourself," Gamora says. "Oh -- ow!"

Other her looks far too vindictive for her own good. Asshole, Gamora thinks, at the same time her younger self says, "Asshole," aloud.

Well, technically not aloud, as all of this is taking place in her head.

"Stop reminding me," other Gamora grits out.

"Maybe you need to find a tear in space, like a blackhole." That seems too Herculean a task. "Or it's an amnesia thing." No; it's a multiverse, unfortunately. And Gamora refuses to believe she ever used to be such a dick. "Maybe I'm being reincarnated. Denarian Dey once said his cousin believed in that stuff."

Annoyingly, other her has now decided to deliberately ignore her, and is refusing to respond, but instead glaring angrily into the middle distance, which Gamora is realizing is the ugly brown wall of her own bedroom.

Wait -- this is not Gamora's bedroom. Maybe it's just what it looks like in the dream.

"It is mine," over-articulates her evil twin. "And stop calling me that!"

Wait -- but she's just had a brainwave! Evil twins are something that happen in fairytales -- those mythical narratives Peter would relay, that he was told through audiovisual tradition during his childhood on Earth. In Terran myths, the woman trapped asleep in her own body could be awoken with true love's kiss!

Her other self, stuck in this state with her, responds to the slow evolution of this brainwave with a slowly-increasing, compressed, red-hot anger.

"I got it!" Gamora says excitedly, ignoring herself. "Peter can just kiss me awake! He does it all the time -- it'll be easy."

"OH," yells her other self, "WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP!"

Gamora freezes. Through her own muddled emotions she feels the keen and sudden prick of overwhelming negative emotion, so visceral she cannot help but real back. She wasn't expecting such a whole-hearted roar of anger, at any rate.

"What is your problem?" she asks, angrily.

"My problem?" Eyes flashing, tense, curled in towards herself, the bitter tang of something deep within her belly ... "My problem? I just want to live my own stupid life! I'm not you! You're the -- the -- the weird audiovisual myth!"

Gamora blinks, sifting her way through three layers of her own muddled emotions.

A stuttering wave of gentleness seeps into her fingers.

Yes, her younger self was aggressive, and angry, but never more so than when she was jealous, envious, confronted by everything she yearned, so close but so impossibly out of reach.

"Oh," says Gamora.

She feels herself turn away, in this weird dream that is not a dream.

It's still a fucking mess, she thinks. But maybe she can learn to be a little kinder to herself.

"I'm sorry," she says.

Uncomfortably, other Gamora jerks her chin. Then softens by an increment. Then shrugs. Then, finally --

Looks suddenly and oddly guilty.

"Thanks," she says.

"Don't mention it," says Gamora.

"Uh, it's just. Well. About the magical morning kiss thing. I ... might have broken up with him."

And, very instantaneously, all thoughts of self-kindness fly out of Gamora's head.

"You WHAT?!"

[spewagepipe]

Plumbing the Depths: Ben Milton's subscribers' hot takes, Part 10

See Part 1 for context. The penultimate hot take is:

D&D (especially modern iterations) are at their most fun when the table doesn't know the rules. The DMs journey is adding complexity onto complexity and then joyfully renouncing it all for self-forgetting simplicity.

This is the one that originally compelled me to choose Ben Milton's hot takes video as the subject of this first series of Plumbing the Depths, so naturally, I have some Opinions.

There are a number of wacky games that revolve around the idea of playing without knowing the rules, including at least one tabletop RPG, Paranoia. The non-practical-joke games keep their rules concealed because discovering the rules is part of the game – if you know the rules in advance, then the element of discovery is lost.

But we know that discovering hidden rules is not what we're talking about here, both because that isn't part of the system of any of the "modern iterations" of D&D, and because the homebrew that the author is proposing here involves keeping the players in perpetual ignorance.

But then what purpose does it serve?

The author has used some extremely obtuse language to describe their reasoning (likely, I imagine, because their reasoning is poorly thought out and this is the best way to conceal that fact). At least one reading would suggest that the author wants to be able to experiment with systems of varying complexity while the players labour under the impression that nothing has changed. But again, why? Are they concerned that the players knowledge of it would unblind the experiment?

As much as I would applaud that level of scientific rigour, I doubt that’s what they’re getting at here either. No matter what system the GM uses, it would be able achieve the same play outcomes with the players knowing it – and, for many systems, the outcomes would be dramatically improved if the players know it.

So perhaps a better reading of that obtuse second sentence is that “The DMs [sic] journey” is the process of learning that “self-forgetting simplicity” makes the best system. But what does that mean, and why would it require player ignorance? Well, I’d wager that “simplicity” here implies that this ultimate system is, of course, Captain May I – and it must be kept secret because the author feels like CMI is a fucking embarrassment that no player would tolerate.

If your players would be unhappy to discover the actual method by which you make rulings in your game, then I’m here to tell you there’s nothing “self-forgetting” about it. Indeed, you’re already an asshole for having deceived them – but probably they’d actually be fine with it if you just told them. The greatest concern is that, among the folks who would make this mistake, there exists a subset who would do it on purpose, because the lie gives them plausible deniability to excuse rulings that they know to be unfair, petty, or malicious. “It’s not me; it’s the game.”

Twice now I have railed against the use of hyperbolical language in these hot takes, so I want to be clear here: a GM withholding the rules from their players is not toxic behaviour. But it is exactly what a GM would do to cover up their toxic behaviour, and since it provides no discernible value in exchange, I certainly would not like to see it become widely adopted practice.

[papillon82fluttersby]

Famous Five Art Nostalgia #06 – Part 1

Introductory post

Masterpost

🧣🔭⚗️ Five on Kirrin Island Again – Le Club des Cinq joue et gagne

Original publication date: 1947 (UK), 1956 (France)

(Original cover art by Simone Baudouin, 1956)

Plot summary (adapted from Wikipedia):

Julian, Dick, Anne and George had planned to visit Kirrin Island for their school holidays, but George's father, Uncle Quentin, is using the island to conduct some secretive scientific experiments. George is frustrated with her father’s idea, but agrees to lend him the island until his experiments are complete.

(George is aggravated that she and her cousins won’t have full rein of the island for the holidays 😢)

(Uncle Quentin busy at work…)

When the Five and Aunt Fanny visit Uncle Quentin on the island the next day, the children are, at first, surprised that their uncle seems nowhere to be found, before getting frustrated when it turns out that the scientist has found a secret entrance to the castle’s dungeons, which the children could never find on their prior explorations of the island. As Aunt Fanny is worried about her husband living alone on the island, they devise a signal system by which Uncle Quentin can let them know everything is okay, using a mirror in the morning and a flashlight at night.

(The Kirrin siblings (and Aunt Fanny, not featured) join George and her fisher-boy friend James [Loïc], who have been preparing the boat for a trip to the island)

(The Five (only three of whom are featured here) and Aunt Fanny go to visit Uncle Quentin on the island)

(Uncle Quentin’s visitors take their leave)

Making the most of their holidays on the mainland, the children go on walks and explore an abandoned quarry. They also befriend an artistic boy named Martin [Martin], who lives nearby with his guardian, Mr Curton [M. Corton].

(Timmy is an artist! [I love how George is berating Timmy for making a mess, all with a proud smile on her face 😊])

(Timmy enthusiastically helps the kids dig for prehistoric artefacts – so enthusiastically indeed that Julian’s cheek gets grazed by a flying arrowhead; meanwhile, George is doing pull-ups!) [Note: Friendly reminder that this illustrator depicts Julian with dark hair. 🙃]

(Anne sensibly frees her hands before climbing down the quarry that the Five are intent on exploring)

Uncle Quentin sends an unusual signal that morning and, when the Five and Aunt Fanny make another trip to the island, he says that he suspects the presence of intruders come to spy on his work. After much coaxing, George agrees to leave Timmy with her father on the island as a precaution.

(Uncle Quentin shows his visitors a cigarette stub that he found on the island, indicating the presence of intruders, while Aunt Fanny desperately tries to feed him a sandwich as Quentin, on his own, regularly forgets to take his meals)

(George tries to watch for her father’s signals and, mostly, news of Timmy)

The Five visit Martin at his home, discovering that he got his ankle injured while exploring the quarry with his surrogate father.

(Julian and Anne admire Martin’s paintings)

(Anne helps Martin with his injured ankle while George, who’s been mistrustful of Martin from the start, glowers in the back)

Uncle Quentin sends his “all is fine” signal in the morning, but George gets worried because Timmy wasn’t with him in the tower, despite her father’s promise to bring him. Although her cousins dismiss her worries on account of Uncle Quentin’s frequent forgetfulness, George sneaks out at night and rows to the island. She sees the two intruders coming up from underground and, after they have walked away, she explores the passage and finds her father, who explains that he was caught unawares by the two intruders that morning.

(Uncle Quentin, being held hostage by the intruders)

For safekeeping, he gives her the notebook that the intruders have been looking for. George rescues Timmy from a nearby cave where the spies had locked him up, but she doesn’t have time to escape before the villains arrive. So she sends Timmy away with the notebook, with instructions to hide… But instead of hiding as instructed, Timmy follows the tunnel, which happens to lead to the quarry that the children have been exploring on the mainland. From there, Timmy joins Kirrin Cottage and brings the notebook to Julian.

Julian, Dick and Anne follow Timmy to the quarry, where they find Martin suspiciously carrying spades and torches. Martin spills the beans about Mr Curton, explaining that his guardian is part of a gang trying to steal Quentin’s secret formula for alternative energy, and vows to help.

(Martin tells the Five about Mr Curton’s shady activities)

The boys dig up the passage while Anne goes back to Kirring Cottage to call for help. On her way back, she sees Mr Curton slipping on the path to the quarry and injuring his leg.

(Mr Curton loses balances and falls into the quarry while attempting to join his accomplices on the island)

(Julian, Dick and Martin clear the way through the under-sea tunnel leading from the quarry to the island)

The boys join George and her father underneath the island while fishermen come to the island following Anne’s call for help, causing the intruders to leave earlier than planned after setting an explosion meant to blow up the island, using Quentin’s tower. Quentin is released from the tunnel just in time to stop the explosion.

Mr Curton and the two spies are arrested by the police. After the rescue, Martin is admitted to an Art School and is then free from his unscrupulous guardian.

~~~~~~

Bonus:

(This picture of George and Anne, just because I like it!)

(And our renowned artist Timothy-Dagobert deep in thought contemplating some of his oeuvre 🎨) [Note: This is the splash panel that illustrates the title page.]

~~~~~~

Cover art through the ages:

(Disclaimer: This is not an exhaustive list; sometimes the dates are difficult to pinpoint; and I have purposefully not included editions that re-used similar cover art, with differences only in layout and font style.)

(Original cover by Simone Baudouin, Hachette, 1956 – the Five observe the island through a spyglass from the mainland. Please note how Dick is tickling Timmy’s nose with a twig while George is enjoying a close-up of her beloved dog's snout!)

(Subsequent cover by Jeanne Hives, Hachette, 1966 – from a princess in the previous book (link), Anne has now been upgraded to queen. Nice going, Anne!)

(I want to give this illustrator some flak for drawing George with longish hair, but these were the 70s when men used to wear their hair long, I guess... J.P. Morvan, France Loisirs, 1975)

(A view of the island with its newly-built tower by Jean Sidobre, Hachette, 1980)

(The visual of the island with its tower is understandably a popular theme with the illustrators for this book. This one is from Umberto Nonna, Edito Service, 1981)

(Yep, you guessed it, another view of the island with its tower, courtesy of Yves Beaujard, Hachette, 1988)

(A view from INSIDE the tower for a change! Paul Gillon, Hachette, 1996)

(Munch and Prunier give us this extra-glowy tower set in the middle of the castle ruins - I love this visual! Hachette, 1999)

(Running dramatically into the sunset... Frédéric Rébéna, Hachette, 2010)

(Concluding our series with another view of the island and the tower – although this one is extra-glowy: George is going to damage her eyes looking at it with a spyglass like this! Auren, Hachette, 2019)

~~~~~~

Thanks for reading and see you next time!

[professorlizzard]

Week #44

302. Sights Untold: A HUD goggle store. These big, ornate and unwieldly goggles will allow you to see and analyze new experiences at ease! They also make you look as nerdy as the average Baldarf in average baldarf fashion looks like.

303. Skeleton Warriors: A LARP equipment store. The equipment are provided by skeletons, for skeletons, but really, anyone can try out what it feels to be a cliffhanger prone skeleton. They also sell adventure modules too, such as the "What? HOW?" series, that tries to explore the possible origins of the adventure skeletons.

304. Mountain Hillworks: A mountaineering center. There are indeed a few mountains, on the Azure Court, and the novanosed are quite adept at guiding tours on them. Despite them being subterranean, they know how to make a molehill out of a mountain.

305. Cave Skeptics: A scientific society of non scientists. The Cave Bishops might gain powers from all kinds of cave myths, but surely, not all of them are true. The cave skeptics analyze the claims of cave based blessings, and figure out which ones originate from different sources, like bites from radioactive olms.

306. The Underground Lighthouse: A tower that provides light for a cave system below. Under the guidance, Baldarves can show the intrigued hikers what it feels like to live underground. Its all controlled and safe, even if its more lit than actual caves.

307. Museum Of Extra Fine Art, Fine Like Diamond Dust Fine: An art museum. Contains many pieces crafted by the Worms Of Grace, all rather dadaist, or inexplicable like "Bootalism". And yet, each of them reflects your very soul.

308. Zilleon's Short Tours: The house of a private tour guide. As a Zeppeldrake, he will slowly float across the town, and tell tales about the various cultures setting up shop in Embassy Town. Stickmen and Holeworms particularly like these tours, as the slow pace allows them to take in the wonders unheard of on their insular homelands.

[kellanved-ammanas]

TF2 Drabbles: Demo/Engie/Medic - Rouge Science

Summary: Demo doing rogue science with Engie and/or Medic?

~

“You know, in hindsight, leaving the three of you alone in charge of the base was probably a bad idea. I don’t what I was thinking.” Her arms crossed as she tapped her foot, Miss Pauling glared down at them. “I should’ve known this was going to happen.”

Demo couldn’t exactly disagree with that assessment especially when they stood only a few yards away from what remained of the base. Which was less than half of it. As was always the case with explosives, one going off exploded everything else explosive around it as well. The fact that they’d been working in his lab only made the final explosion that much bigger.

“Thanks to me, no one got seriously injured though,” Medic said, jovial and proud despite their failed experiment. “Or we did but we’re all fixed up now.”

“Yeah. And the opposite side of the base is still standing… mostly,” Engie added. “So really it ain’t as bad as it could’ve been.”

“And it mostly ain’t our fault.” Demo was an expert, accidents like this didn’t happen when he was actively in charge. “We wasn’t even in the room at the time.”

“My hypothesis,” Medic said, lifting a finger, “is that one of the cages was faulty, allowing one of the bread monsters to escape and try to attack one of the others. Exploding both of them in a process, setting everything else off too.”

Miss Pauling didn’t look the least bit appeased. “Why were you guys even making exploding bread monsters in the first place?”

“We was gonna catapult them at the enemy,” Engie replied. “I even had the catapult machine about built. Lucky my workshop’s in the part of the base that’s slightly less destroyed so it might still be intact. If not, it shouldn’t be hard to rebuild even if I gotta start over with the blueprints too.”

“No more bread monsters. They’ve caused more than enough trouble already.”

Demo could understand her reasoning, the bread monsters had indeed caused quite a lot of trouble, this destroying most of the base thing being the biggest issue of all. They should’ve taken more precautions to prevent this, especially since they were working with explosives that could propel themselves and wanted to bite anything and everything they could put their mouths around. So not exactly a normal explosive and thus different safety rules applied. On the other hand though, with how different their scientific disciplines were, it wasn’t often the three of them had a chance to work on something that they could all equally contribute to. And they’d put so much time and effort into it. If not for this misstep, they’d have had everything ready to wreck havoc on the enemy team when team battles started up again. So…

“All right, fair. No more bread monsters for a bit. But once the base is rebuilt, we’re going back to making our explosive monsters. We’ll be more careful though, promise.”

Miss Pauling gave him a measuring look, making him feel almost like a child getting scolded again. “Fine. But only because I think it’s a good idea. The Administrator told me to warn you to not ever make a mistake this bad again though. She doesn’t like having to pull in construction workers to rebuild. It’s a lot of work for us to hide what we’re doing out here from them and killing all of them is a lot work and rises too many potential complications. Understood?”

“Understood,” the three of them said in near unison. A warning from the Admin herself was not to be taken lightly. So they would have to be extra careful next time. Not that they weren’t going to be anyway, just they had that little bit more incentive to do so now.

[dayshoroscope]

Taurus is a sensuous sign

That being said, Taurus is indeed associated with certain traits according to astrological beliefs. Taurus is an Earth sign ruled by Venus, which is often associated with sensuality, beauty, and pleasure. People born under the Taurus sign are said to appreciate physical comfort, enjoy indulging in the finer things in life, and have a strong connection to their senses.

However, it's important to note that personality is influenced by a wide range of factors, including genetics, upbringing, life experiences, and personal choices. While astrology might provide some entertaining insights, it's not a definitive guide to understanding oneself. If you're interested in self-analysis and personal growth, it might be Taurus is a sensuous sign more beneficial to explore psychological theories, introspection, and self-reflection in a more evidence-based manner.

It seems like you're looking for a self-analysis based on your astrological sign, Taurus. Taurus is indeed often associated with sensuality and a strong connection to the physical world. People born under this sign, which typically falls between April 20th and May 20th, are said to have certain personality traits and tendencies. Keep in mind that astrology is a belief system and not scientifically proven, so take this information with a grain of salt. Here's a general overview of Taurus traits:

Sensuality: Taurus is ruled by Venus, the planet of love and beauty, which contributes to the sign's strong sensuous nature. People born under Taurus are believed to have a deep appreciation for physical pleasures, including art, music, fine food, and luxurious comforts.

Stability and Dependability: Taurus is an Earth sign, associated with practicality and stability. Taurus individuals are often known for their dependability and grounded nature. They prefer consistency and are typically reliable friends and partners.

Strong Willpower: Taurus is represented by the Bull, symbolizing determination and a strong will. Taurus individuals are known for their persistence and dedication to their goals. Once they set their sights on something, they're unlikely to give up easily.

Materialistic Tendencies: Taurus is often linked to a desire for material security and comfort. While this can lead to a strong work ethic and financial stability, it's also important for Taurus individuals to find a balance between their material pursuits and other aspects of life.

Loyalty and Relationships: Taurus individuals value loyalty in their relationships. They tend to form deep, meaningful connections and are committed to their loved ones. However, their stubbornness can sometimes lead to challenges in compromise.

Appreciation for Nature: As an Earth sign, Taurus individuals are often drawn to the natural world. They may find solace and peace in nature and outdoor activities.

Resistance to Change: Taurus individuals can be resistant to change, as they prefer familiar and comfortable environments. This can sometimes hinder their personal growth if they're unwilling to step out of their comfort zones.

Remember that astrology is a form of belief and not a science. While some people resonate with their astrological traits, others may not find them accurate or relevant to their personalities. It's important to take these descriptions as general guidelines rather than strict rules for how you should behave or think. Your uniqueness goes beyond your astrological sign!

[lifechanyuan]

Practitioners Should Not Accumulate Material Energy

Xuefeng

May 8, 2013

(Translation edited by Qinyou)

The vast majority of self-cultivation theories and practices instruct practitioners to accumulate energy, particularly emphasizing the avoidance of sexual activity to prevent energy loss. They also advise against excessive joy or sorrow to conserve energy.

Indeed, from the perspective of energy accumulation, the teachings of great masters throughout history are correct.

However, I must ask: What is the purpose of accumulating energy? Will amassing sufficient energy enable one to become a celestial being or a Buddha and reach higher LIFE spaces?

Let’s analyze this step by step.

Firstly, money, treasures, and material possessions are forms of energy, as are vitality and semen. All material things are energy, and so are spiritual and soul aspects.

Undoubtedly, for ordinary people, it is essential to accumulate energy, particularly material energy, to properly address life’s needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and health. But for those cultivating to become celestial beings or Buddhas, what kind of energy should they be accumulating?

Under what circumstances does enlightenment occur? There are many circumstances, but one critical condition is when energy is at its lowest. When a highly ambitious person falls ill, their ambition generally diminishes. It is at this point that they begin to explore and yearn for a world beyond the material and physical. As the saying goes, “As a person nears death, their words become kind.” Why do people become kind when they are about to die? Because when death is imminent, they have almost no energy left, leading to a degree of enlightenment. This means that when energy is at its lowest, people come to understand the essence of life. After going through a near-death experience, they see through the illusions of the world and find the right path.

Christ Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” What does this mean? It means that the more material energy a person has, the harder it is to enter heaven. How many wealthy people are willing to give away all their possessions to attain a beautiful future life? Very few, indeed.

Experience shows that the more material energy one accumulates, the harder it becomes to elevate the quality of one's LIFE. Only by closing one door can another open. When a person focuses their mind, time, and energy on accumulating material energy, the door to heaven closes.

Is having more energy always good? I once said that giving a dog a mountain of bones and meat would provide it with ample energy. But can this dog become a dragon? The answer is no. Not only will it not become a dragon, but its canine nature will be strengthened, making it believe that being a dog is just fine. Similarly, when a person has abundant material resources, they may feel content with their human existence and be less inclined to engage in rigorous self-cultivation, thus missing the opportunity for self-elevation.

After sexual activity, both men and women feel fatigued, which indicates that energy has indeed been consumed. But is this energy consumption beneficial, or is it better to accumulate energy without consuming it?

What are the results of non-consumption? One’s temper may become irritable, the mind unbalanced, and one may easily become lost in thoughts when alone, find it difficult to focus, suppress oneself, miss out on life’s wonders, and feel less joy, rejecting beautiful things and lacking a longing for a good life and future.

And what about the results of consumption? One’s temper becomes calm, the mind balanced, one can focus better, find everything in the world beautiful, desires diminish, confidence increases, and the longing for a good life and future intensifies.

There is no scientific evidence to prove that refraining from energy consumption leads to becoming a celestial being or a Buddha. Sexual essence is material energy and should not be accumulated.

The conclusion is: Practitioners should not accumulate material energy but should focus on accumulating spiritual and soul energy.

So, what is spiritual and soul energy?

Friendship, harmonious relationships with those around you, a beautiful environment, and a peaceful life are examples of spiritual energy.

Selfless contribution, labor creation, joy, delightful experiences, longing for a good life, romantic and affectionate interactions, flirting, etc., are examples of soul energy.

Am I right? “The spring river warms, and the ducks know it first.” You know best whether the shoes fit.