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technetiumai · 2 years

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Postcards to Penelope

I’m starting a new project! And I’m hoping to find some helpers/collaborators!

I’m psyching myself out a little with posting this, so I’m just going to put what I wrote in the description of the interest form (here’s the form, btw: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSecj8EbP26XDPjpqyqhsgjlMjA4GaMZjc-dTPiSCdEcl5Q3Ow/viewform?usp=sf_link). So if you read this, you don’t need to worry about reading that.

I’m looking for people to participate in the execution of a fic told through postcards sent to willing members of the fandom, with history slowly being released online in the form of Penny and Shepard's notes to each other in road atlases, cryptozoological texts, VW bus manuals, and the manuscript pages from books they've written/are writing together.

It is current day 2023, and Shepard and Penelope have been travelling around the US doing magickal research for several years. Penny heads back to the UK for a short period of time, leaving Shepard to fend for himself. He takes this opportunity to do more in depth research into the quiet zones.

What I need:

Primarily---Postcard Recipients:

People (US only for this part of it) who are willing to have postcards sent to them, and post them somewhere where other members of the fandom can see them once they've received them.

The fic works under the conceit that Penelope has spelled scraps of paper with her name on them for Shepard to paste to his postcards/letters to her, so that they will arrive in the mail wherever she happens to be.

The actual people receiving the postcards will be supplied with these scraps so that they can use them to cover their real addresses.

The reason it is restricted to the US is because that's 45 cents/postcard vs. $1.45. I'm pretty bummed about that, but it is what it is.

Yes, Shepard is using US postage and it is still reaching Penny in the UK, it's part of the spell, roll with it!

Secondarily---Lore Contributors:

If there is anyone unable or unwilling to participate in the snail mail portion of this, I am going to need to go

deep

into lore, particularly of the American folk legend, urban legend, cryptid, and American-maybes-and magickal-places-(which I have taken to calling 'maples' in my head)-that-we don't-know-about varieties, and am hoping that people may be willing to collaborate with that portion of it.

This role can take up as much or as little of your time as you want. It does not have to take up any more of your time than you might spend talking about fan theories on discord (or indeed any time at all, if you change your mind about participating), it will just take place in Google Drive documents or rather than discord or tumblr, to avoid spoilers for anyone not participating.

I will have documents laying out what I am using as accepted canon within this universe and documents, that will be able to be edited by anyone with a link, that will contain particular questions that I specifically am trying to answer within my story and any ideas that anyone involved wants to contribute.

If it seems kind of silly that I'm trying to take extra steps to crowd-source this part of the fic (which it kind of does to me, which is why I bring it up) I am basically trying to write the entire history, metaphysics, physics, etc. of the entirety of the magickal US (and extending into the rest of North America), which I don't think I can do alone, nor do I think I should.

Anyone contributing will be given credit, and if this project, or portions of it, are posted on AO3 they will receive joint writing credit/the fic as a gift/credit in the notes, as they see fit.

Anyone who has any ability to give sensitivity input as to the inclusion of Native American legendary creatures and locations would be particularly appreciated.

You can not be a lore contributor if you are receiving postcards.

Tertiarily---Agent of Chaos:

If anyone wants

even deeper

involvement in the project, I'm looking for one person who might want to be a full collaborator. I'm very interested in the idea of a person playing a third party magickal force, where I am Shepard and Penny (and the postcard receivers are also Penny, to a certain extent), and this collaborator is acting as a force to prevent/confuse/f*ck with Shepard and Penny's communications.

This person and I would workshop what exactly the role of this person would be.

I imagine my writing a bundle of pre-written, pre-addressed, pre-stamped post cards to this person, and they do.... something? Like I said, we'll workshop it XD. This idea is clear as mud to me, but I love it enough I just wanted to put it out there.

Unfortunately this will possibly also need to be someone in the US? (But we can talk about it.)

Where the lore contributors will only have special access to world-building elements, and postcard recipients will only be engaging with the story as it happens, if there is an agent of chaos, they would likely either be instrumental in the creation of the entire plot, or would at least be aware of it (or at least as aware as I am XD).

Here’s the interest form again: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSecj8EbP26XDPjpqyqhsgjlMjA4GaMZjc-dTPiSCdEcl5Q3Ow/viewform?usp=sf_link

People who expressed interest (in the form of ‘eyes’ and ‘zoomeyes’ reactions on discord 😂): @martsonmars @raenestee @skeedelvee ... I guess that’s everyone who’s tumblr I know.

#Carry On #Postcards to Penelope

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cocrante · 1 year

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[HAIKAVEH WIP]

note: haikaveh, I wanted to publish this part of the fanfiction in its entirety, but I realized it was really long so I summarized it. I will publish the whole story as soon as I have all the pages ready. I'm currently working on it and I hope to have everything ready at least for december ahah

trigger warning: injuries, blood

for @mikopikopon who asked for more drama ahah i hope you may like it 💗

WHEN KAVEH LEFT THAT MORNING, he didn't imagine that he would be attacked by the desert raiders, let alone be kidnapped by them. It all started when he went out that day to study an ancient building in the desert, accompanied by his faithful robotic assistant who helped him scan the entire area. However, while he was hand-writing the building's details, he overheard some voices, talking to each other, organizing to desecrate a tomb. Kaveh realized he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and had to leave before they noticed his presence. Unfortunately, he was caught just as he was about to leave. In the sudden confusion that ensued, he could only shout to Mehrak to seek help, then everything went dark.

When Kaveh woke up, he found himself slumped against a wall. His vision was blurred due to the blow he had received to his head as well as the blood that blurred his vision. He could taste blood in his mouth, and his lip throbbed and burned. He was in pain all over, probably had some broken bones as well. He couldn't quite make out where he was. The torchlight didn't illuminate the room well, but from the smell of incense and the structure of the walls, he had to assume he was underground. Most likely, he was inside the temple he had been studying, in a room that was low enough to be found but not so deep that it couldn't be reached. He didn't sense any noise around him, nor did he see anyone's presence. However, he couldn't stand up either; he had sharp pains in his chest and feared that in the commotion, he might have cracked a rib or worse, broken one. He ordered himself to stay calm, knowing that if he had been kidnapped, there was a reason for it, and they wouldn't abandon him. Just then, as if in response to his thoughts, a man stepped forward from the shadows. He was a burly and tall man, and Kaveh could clearly see that he was mocking him with a smile. In that moment, Kaveh had to do everything possible to remain calm and comply with any requests to gain time.

Meanwhile, in the sunlight, Mehrak was returning to the lodgings that both Kaveh and Al-Haitham had rented for their research. It was a fortune that his roommate had also gone with Kaveh that day, and when Mehrak returned to the small apartment, he found him at the desk transcribing his notes. For Al-Haitham, it was a surprise to see the little robot alone, a surprise that quickly turned into concern. The two were practically inseparable, and he was sure something had happened to Kaveh. "Where's Kaveh?" he asked, beginning to feel anxious at his absence. Mehrak started to explain everything in his indecipherable language, but all Al-Haitham could hear were incomprehensible sounds. "I don't understand" he said, growing more and more nervous. Why did Kaveh have to choose such an obscure language for his 'whatever it was'? He ran his hand through his hair, sighing to calm himself. "Can you show me where you were?" he thought that might work, and indeed, as requested, Mehrak projected the area Kaveh had been studying just a few hours ago, showing him a video of what had happened. Without further ado, he left, ordering the robot to go find Cyno and show him the video he had just seen. He knew he would need more help to save his roommate.

Finding Kaveh was no small feat, but with the help of the General and other men, he managed to find a way to access the underground tunnels without any obstacles. However, as he turned corners, he always made sure the corridors were clear. In most cases, they were, but other times he had to raise his sword and interrogate the mercenaries. He didn't want to hear any answers other than what he had asked for. The situation was putting him in a state of panic. He had no idea what state he would find Kaveh in, but from the video, he knew he wouldn't find him in good health. The mercenary told him where to go before losing consciousness, hoping they hadn't deceived him, which wouldn't have been convenient for them to do. Turning towards another corridor, he heard groans of pain. His heart suddenly became lighter, but he had to hold back his emotions. He quickly approached to that voice and found him lying along the wall, covered in fresh bruises and dried blood. “Kaveh" his voice trembled as he knelt down in front of him, feeling his legs give way. "I knew you would come" he managed to say, although speaking was really difficult for him at the moment and all that came out was a whisper. "Mehrak came to call me. I shouldn't have let you come here alone" he lowered himself towards him, trying to wipe his face clean of bloodstains. Seeing him in that semi-conscious state was excruciating. At that moment, Al-Haitham felt a lot of hatred and frustration towards himself. He knew where Kaveh would go that day. Kaveh even asked him if he wanted to come along, but he refused. It could have gone differently if it weren't for his stubbornness, and the idea that he could really lose him was tearing his heart apart. "Haitham, are you crying?" he smiled with an effort, reaching out his hand to his roommate's face, wiping his cheek. "I'm sorry" he said, placing his hand on top of his, holding it against his cheek. "I'm sorry" he repeated again, moving Kaveh's hand towards his lips, kissing the hand that he missed kissing so much, as he missed everything about him, but he was too proud to admit it. But now, seeing him like this, he didn't matter anymore. "It's okay" Kaveh replied, trying to reassure him. "Help me up, please" Al-Haitham nodded, wanting to believe he was okay even though the wound he saw on his forehead was unnerving, and the cut on his lip seemed to be getting worse due to infection. If that wasn't enough, as soon as he helped him to stand up, he heard him grunt in pain, and seeing him holding his chest, he suspected he might had a broken rib. He wasn't okay, and they had to get out of there as soon as possible. It was probably a reckless move, and seeing his current condition, it could only make things worse, but at the moment, he was alone and couldn't rely on anyone else but himself. So without waiting any longer, he lifted him on his shoulder, letting him complain about the pain, and together they left the tomb where Kaveh had been held captive.

Once outside, Al-Haitham tried to take the shortest route to the village. It was almost evening, and the sand dunes were tinted red by the rays of the sun. Soon it would be dark. For half the journey, it was a silent trip, interrupted only by Kaveh's heavy breathing when he experienced a sharp pain in his side. Then, halfway through, he spoke up. “Do you ever wonder if it could have worked between us?” he whispered, his energy fading. “Maybe it could have if you haven’t been so stupid” Al-Haitham replied, looking up at the sky, which was filled with stars. “Stupid” Kaveh repeated, coughing what must have been a laugh. “You have been irrational” he said, resting his forehead on his head. “But I shouldn't have to go away” a tear fell from his eye as he thought back to the past events, and again, they both fell silent for a while until it was Al-Haitham's turn to speak. “I've thought about you often over the years” he confessed, though he was embarrassed. “I didn't want it to end like that between us. I didn't want you to leave my life” he said, his voice breaking as he thought of what could have been avoided if he hadn't behaved the way he did. He knew Kaveh was rather sensitive, certainly more sensitive than he could ever be, yet he didn't think much before hurting the most important person in his life until he saw him leave, leaving behind only an empty space one morning. “I wish it could be like it was before between us” he whispered, his breath catching, receiving no reply in return.

When Al-Haitham arrived in the village, the moon was already high. Luckily, he found someone waiting for him, and with their help, they laid Kaveh on a cot. He had been unconscious for a few hours now, had lost a lot of blood and his breathing was irregular, but everything would be okay. Al-Haitham was offered a place to stay for the night, but the thought of being separated from Kaveh again made him decline. He would stay by his side all night, guarding him in case he woke up. For a while, he watched him, occasionally brushing his hair away from his eyes. The village doctors had bandaged his forehead and cleaned his wounds. A small scar would form on his lip that would go away in a few days. But he would have to rest for a long time, and the idea of having to tell him almost made him smile. Kaveh hated sitting idle. He would have to continue his work, but instead, he would be confined to bed. With this thought, Al-Haitham fell asleep on the chair, thinking about the scowling face Kaveh would have the next day.

The next morning he woke up early, feeling very tired and having slept in an uncomfortable position. However, when he woke up, he saw Kaveh already awake and working, with his assistant Mehrak by his side who was surely telling him about yesterday's events and how he had heroically gone to warn his roommate and then Cyno. Kaveh smiled at every sound emitted, and seeing him well was the most beautiful thing he could have hoped for that morning. Then Kaveh noticed that Al-Haitham had woken up, he lowered his face to the drawing he was making feeling a little embarassed. It didn't take him long to understand that he was portraying him, it wasn't the first time, but it had been years since he had probably portrayed him. "Thank you for coming yesterday" he said. "Mehrak told me that you were worried" he smiled, probably thinking about how he had lost his composure and how he would have loved to see him agitated and lose his calm. "You would have done the same" he replied, intertwining his hands. "It's true, but you're not so reckless as to need to be saved" he lowered his gaze to the notebook. "I should have managed it myself, I didn't want to worry you" his eyes filled with tears again, that situation was all wrong. "Kaveh" he took his hand in his. "I still want to worry about you" he looked him in the eyes, gently caressing his hand. After what had happened, he had realized that despite everything, Kaveh had never left his life. He had tried to forget and move on, but the idea of losing him had destroyed him more than he wanted to admit. However, Kaveh took his hand back. It had been several years since they had broken up, and he had taken a long time to try to feel better and move on. Even though he was back in his life now, he felt the things would never be the same again. Not that he had never thought of giving him another chance if he had asked for it, but now he had to think about it. He didn't want being hurt by him anymore, nor did he want to cry for him. "Haitham" he sighed heavily, trying to sustain his gaze. "Right now you're not lucid, and neither am I. We'll talk about it as soon as they discharge me, I promise" That was the only right thing to say at that moment. They both needed to think about it. It wasn't like the Akademiya days anymore. They weren't two teenagers in love making eternal promises, now things were different, and they both had become adults and needed to talk like adults. "Okay" he agreed to that request. Kaveh had always been more mature in these matters, and the fact that he wanted to talk about it hinted that there would be things to discuss. Al-Haitham would wait. "I'm going to talk to the doctor" saying that, he got up and putting on his selham he left the room where they had taken him the night before, leaving Kaveh alone with his thoughts.

#📌 : wip #🖇️ : fanfiction #tw: injury #tw: blood #tw: violence #kavetham #haikaveh #kaveh #alhaitham #sumeru men #genshin impact

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botanyone · 3 months

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Confronting the Realities of Motherhood in the World of Science

Confronting the Realities of Motherhood in the World of Science https://ift.tt/ZiXe4qg Erin Zimmerman is a scientist, journalist, and mother. In her recent book, Unrooted: Botany, Motherhood, and the Fight to Save an Old Science, Zimmerman successfully captures the challenges surrounding woman and childbearing people in academia through her personal journey. By walking readers through her thoughts and encounters, Zimmerman highlights the mental and physical toll that being an academic and mother has on a person. Her truthful and elegant writing voices the concerns that women have been experiencing, mostly in solitude, for the entirety of science’s existence as a professional career. The interpersonal conflicts of a work-life balance in science. Zimmerman discusses her time working in herbaria and collecting plant specimens, while navigating the conflicts of life as a woman. She reveals her difficulties dealing with creating a functional work-life balance in a field that praises those without one, a common issue for many in academia and science that certainly needs to be addressed. I desperately wanted people to see me as a professional and not just a harried mother in over her head. I tried to work harder to make-up for any lost time and to show that I was dedicated to the project, but it felt like the delicate balance I’d established was starting to disintegrate. As a new mother, she is able to convey the major gaps in support and the difficulties or working in a field that is not structured for family-oriented women. She emphasizes the inequalities between genders in academia especially as a mother, and the additional difficulties it poses in a field where jobs opportunities are fleeting. [My supervisor] talked sometimes about raising his two now-adult children while building his career, how it had been challenging, but he’d managed it. Yet in the next breath, he’d mention that his wife had stayed home with their kids when they were young. Having worked in herbaria across the globe, Zimmerman uses her experiences in botany to raise a red flag on the critical need to preserve plant specimens for the future and continue herbarium research. A single specimen may stand in for an entire species, gone from the living world. Or there may be many of a kind, collected over decades or centuries, that tell a story of how life for this organism changed with the climate, the air quality, or the local ecosystem. Her rawness and honesty give a fresh view on science and personal conflicts not widely discussed in the media but are critical to science and working women everywhere. Zimmerman also provides resources for readers to get involved in botany at any stage of life or education, in an attempt to expand the field and create opportunities in science. What can readers expect? A realistic look into the life of a woman who undergoes the journey from graduate student to the working world, while also being a mother. Unrooted: Botany, Motherhood, and the Fight to Save an Old Science, is a unique combination of personal narrative and botanical history that takes readers through the personal journey of a woman who experienced what many others have or have considered going through at some point in their career. Zimmerman gives the full scope of the tribulations experienced by a person working in an overlooked field and as a woman in science. This book is great for adults just starting out their careers or are looking for a fresh perspective from different experiences, and is relatable to anyone in academia or other intense careers. Her reality will relate to women of all ages who have been or still are in the rigor of academia and open the eyes of those who are not. The post Confronting the Realities of Motherhood in the World of Science appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ June 09, 2024 at 08:20PM

#Botany #Plant Science #Botany One

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ailtrahq · 1 year

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While critics have been busy writing eulogies for Meta’s metaverse dream over the last few years, Mark Zuckerberg’s latest demonstration of its photorealistic avatars shows it could be pretty far from dead after all.Appearing on a Sept. 28 episode of the Lex Fridman podcast, Zuckerberg and the popular computer scientist engaged in a one-hour face-to-face conversation. Only, it wasn’t actually in person at all.Instead, the entirety of Fridman and Zuckerberg’s conversation used photorealistic realistic avatars in the metaverse, facilitated through Meta’s Quest 3 headsets and noise-canceling headphones.Here's my conversation with Mark Zuckerberg, his 3rd time on the podcast, but this time we talked in the Metaverse as photorealistic avatars. This was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. It really felt like we were talking in-person, but we were miles apart It's… pic.twitter.com/Nu8a3iYWm0— Lex Fridman (@lexfridman) September 28, 2023 Observers often have fun ridiculing Meta for dumping billions of dollars into metaverse research only to seemingly produce cartoonish avatars and wonky-looking legs. However, in this case, users on social media, including those from Crypto Twitter, seemed to be genuinely impressed by the sophistication of the technology.The Metaverse has upgraded pic.twitter.com/QT1LAkjQGB— Dexerto (@Dexerto) September 28, 2023 “Ok the metaverse is officially real,” wrote pseudonymous account Gaut, a rare moment of seemingly genuine praise from a user typically known for his satirical and sarcastic takes on current events. “9 minutes into Lex / Mark metaverse podcast I forgot I was watching avatars,” wrote coder Jelle Prins. Fridman and Zuckerberg speaking as virtual avatars in the metaverse. Source: Lex Fridman Podcast.Fridman alsoshared his impressions of the experience in real-time, noting how “close” Zuckerberg felt to him during the interview. Moments later, he explained how difficult it was to recognize that Zuckerberg’s avatar wasn’t his physical body. “I’m already forgetting that you’re not real.”The technology on display is the newest version of Codec Avatars. First revealed in 2019, Codec Avatars is one of Meta’s longest-running research projects which aims to create fully photorealistic real-time avatars that work by way of headsets with face tracking sensors. However, users may need to wait a few years before donning their own realistic avatars, said Zuckerberg, explaining that the tech used requires expensive machine learning software and full head scans by specialized equipment featuring more than 100 different cameras.This would be, at the very least, three years away from being available to everyday consumers, he said. Still, Zuckerberg noted that the company wants to reduce the barriers as much as possible, explaining that in the future, these scans may be achievable with a regular smartphone.The most-recent demonstration comes just one day after Meta unveiled its answer to ChatGPT, revealing its newest AI assistant Meta AI, which is integrated across a range of unique chatbots, apps and even smart glasses. Source

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dmsap7g2 · 1 year

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Intermission #2 - Updated Concept

Week 12 - 18/04/23

I've had an idea about our element approach - I've been consuming a lot of content about the history of ancient Greece and the culture of the Age of Antiquity. This has led me to research about the Greek interpretations/philosophy of the natural (classical) elements. I think there's some interesting writings and ideas from the period about what our chosen elements mean within the ancient Greek interpretation.

- Daithí

THE ELEMENTS

The system of classical elements was first introduced by ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosophers(1). Each element was proposed independently of each other, before Empedocles of Acragas proposed they all existed together, marking the emergence of the first system of the natural elements(2). This system was endorsed by the likes of Aristotle, one of Antiquity’s most influential philosophers, who learned it from his teacher Plato, who learned it from Empedocles himself(3). The system consists of the elements fire, water, air, and earth, in no particular order. Being an ancient precursor to the scientific periodic table of elements, these foundational pillars of nature, and therefore our universe, have been interpreted in many cultures across the ages. Through our project, we want to create our own interpretations of these elements through recontextualization of sound, much like the ancient Greeks chose to do through the mediums of the visual and written arts and philosophy in their time.

As suggested by Denis, I took a look at Murray Schafer's The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World, paying particular attention to pages 9-10, where Schafer discusses the features of a soundscape in detail. The structure that Schafer provides on each key feature of a soundscape and their function(s)(4) was greatly inspiring within the context of crafting a soundscape for our own piece.

- Daithí

SOUNDSCAPE

Keynote

Establishes the tone of the composition.

Anchor; reference point - other elements modulate around it.

Utilising sounds of "archetypal significance"

Signals

Lay in the foreground.

Consciously listened to, may change throughout.

Organised within complex contexts - transmits different messages to listeners.

Soundmarks

Sound which is unique or contains qualities which make it noticeable.

Once identified, it has a placement within the overall soundscape.

Schafer also delves into ideas about "sound images" on pages 123-124, and how musical notion over centuries, that is visually representing sounds which haven't occurred yet, has created perceptions of frequency correlating to "where" a sound should be placed within a vertical axis in a soundscape according to the listener(5). We have discussed the context of a sound art piece during lectures and how it can play a big role in how we perceive a piece of work - whilst Schafer is critical of this particular perception, the idea of placing sound elements within a soundscape is relevant to our piece as interpretation and recontextualization are key to our classical elements concept, and application of a set placement of the groups element sounds could lead to an interesting sound narrative. This would allow each element to stand on it's own within the pieces narrative. As an example:

Fire/Air - higher frequency, textural, ambient

Water/Earth - lower frequency, rhythmic, repetitious

Our experimentation with the goal of creating a conceptual soundscape for our installation gels with the Greek philosophy of the natural elements quite well, providing weight to our initial concept of interpretation of nature to our piece. Whilst it won't inform the entirety of the piece, it will allow us to create a conceptually linked aesthetic for our piece. Schafer's words on the elements of a soundscape also provide another minor tie to our focus on nature and breaking down our thinking into individual elements and how together they create an overall context.

REFERENCES

(1) K. L. Ross. The Greek Elements. Friesian. Last updated 2021. Accessed 17 Apr 2023. https://www.friesian.com/elements.htm

(2) R. Bertrand. History of Western Philosophy and its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Simon & Schuster. New York. 1945. p. 43.

(3) P. Ball. The Elements: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. New York. 2004. p. 1.

(4) S. R. Murray. The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Destiny Books. Rochester Vermont. 1994. pp. 9-10

(5) ibid., pp. 123-124.

#sound art #soundscape

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loquaciousquark · 4 years

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E111 (Redux! Oct. 13, 2020)

Gooooood evening good evening good evening, all! I started the VOD late for this recap and somehow the first four or so minutes of the show have a Twitch audio copyright claim, so I am reduced to only reading Brian's lips when he asks if we're on the internet. Hilariously, Marisha's background room is a comfy-looking blue/gold fabric wall with a ceramic colorful abstract lamp and a yellow silk scarf over the lampshade, and Taliesin's is an industrial looking games room in grey and black with multiple monitors, overhead speakers, and mysterious metal fixtures behind him. What a treasure this group is, honestly.

Tonight's guests: Marisha Ray & Taliesin Jaffe, discussing episodes 110 and 111 again. I wildly speculate once more about what might have caused their absence: jury duty? Sam appearing on The Masked Singer? Something to do with the animated show? One day, we’ll know, one day... (One day this “copyrighted audio” section will come back from the wars, too. Ugh!) Finally! The audio comes back to reveal Brian discussing the endless reality of digital meetings and Marisha talking about (I think) her glare-reducing glasses she’s wearing. Welcome to the New Age (welcome to the New Age, to the New Age).

Announcements: Marisha suggests checking out Dimension20, another live tabletop gaming group, which premieres live on Wednesdays at 4pm (CollegeHumor).

Brian immediately wants to know how they feel about the revelation that Molly is alive. Taliesin’s personal reaction: he “knows some things” he can’t talk about and is aware of several possibilities that might be going on, but had a sneaking suspicion that there would not be a body for them to find. He says it’s almost all there for anyone to see in past material. Marisha’s personal reaction: she just wants to know how she’s doing with her theories, & was trying to block Tal’s face out deliberately as she was going off on her theories in the last episode. Taliesin says he thought her ideas were pretty good!

Cad has no clue what to think - it’s like listening to your friends talk about Buffy. Marisha thought it was a 50/50 Molly would still be there, but Beau had no idea. Not that it mattered, because as soon as Matt went through with it the reveal still blew their minds. Tal laid out his plans for the character with Matt during Campaign One (towards the end) after they all got their VM tattoos.

It is a “horrifying and gross” thing to dig up a body, and Beau was pretty reluctant to do it. Tal, as Cad: “Sometimes dead’s better.” The moral quandary of trying to speak with a dead friend was very different here than the frequent occasions they used the spell in C1.

Taliesin says his poker face is very bad, so it’s easier for him to over-react and let it all play out. The only other player he can see very easily from his place in their current setup is Travis, and because he knows Travis doesn’t watch TM, tweet, or participate in social media, he admits he thoroughly enjoyed watching Travis freak out at his freaking out. He says he only knew about 20% of what Matt described at the end of that episode. He was picking things to mug to increase Travis’s surprise. I love this so much.

Taliesin provided the table left leg shake; Travis provided table right. Ha!

Beau is really accepting her role in the Cobalt Soul. It’s good when “as a person, you feel like you can settle into your calling. Sometimes you can do more from the inside than fighting from the outside.” It’s a mirrored but opposite path of Keyleth from C1; Beau felt like she was too good for her duty, while Keyleth thought she wasn’t good enough.

Caduceus is not a big believer in jumping to conclusions. He does have an idea/notion of the “city of the undead” and thinks all this necrotic energy must come from somewhere, and wonders if this is the “capital of anti-death.” He’s willing to believe whatever he sees. This is one of the few things that trigger a bit of loathing and disgust in him. It was terrifying that the Wildmother didn’t know anything.

Beau is pretty confident in her Charlie Day impression laying-out-the-research last episode. She enjoyed taking the things that were known & extrapolating around them; this is a huge facet of Marisha’s own personality and she really enjoys it, so she built a character this time that would allow that kind of puzzle-solving. It’s also why she repeatedly notes when Beau journals, so she can avoid metagaming. Trent’s mention of Vess Durogna’s tomb raiding was completely circumstantial, and the only reason she’d made the connection to the Tombtakers was because she’d recently reviewed those notes for a separate unannounced project. Sometimes she tries to make connections and Matt is like, “It was...just descriptive. Just flavor. The curtains were red...” and she has to discard a paragraph of notes. She feels like it’s still something they have to do because of “look at what he does! Look! It’s totally valid!”

Cosplay of the Week: @kitsunstudios with a gorgeous Caduceus with a very intricate silk vest.

Caduceus’s takedown of Trent! One of my favorite moments in the entirety of C2. Taliesin felt Trent was an asshole; Caduceus felt sorry for him because of how dumb he thought he was. Caduceus’s response was "this is the dumbest man I’ve ever met in my life. He’s so dumb! Is nobody going to tell this guy how dumb he is? Oh, they’re all freaked out. Somebody needs to tell this guy he’s an idiot before somebody gets hurt.” (Marisha: “Before?”) Tal says it was the product of several years of therapy and many drunk conversations with Whitney Moore. It was from a genuine place of concern from Caduceus. “How are you allowed to have this much power and be that dumb?”

Brian loved how funny it was to watch everyone tiptoe around Trent and then Caduceus bulldoze through the end of the meal.

Taliesin: “Damage doesn’t make you interesting or better. It’s not what makes you good. Character isn’t found in damage. Just recovery.”

Brian & Marisha commiserate going through the stage where believing surviving something automatically made you a stronger person, better for the pain; instead it just meant you had to pick up the pieces after. Marisha talks about how strength through survival may be true for some people, but it shouldn’t be considered a necessity. Taliesin talks about how he used to think he had to be miserable to write. Brian talks about how believing he liked reading and writing miserable things only limited him for years.

Marisha feels it’s a C2 theme that almost all the PCs have someone trying to handwave or take credit for their accomplishments or explain their pain as being for their own good (Trent, Beau’s dad, Obann). She thinks it’s interesting to see all the various ways people try to take credit for your work/delegitimize you as a person. She loves that RPGs allow you to explore these odd moralities in interesting ways. The only way to fight it is to have a sense of your own self-worth, which is a problem a lot of the M9 started with.

Caduceus likes everyone, and really likes people who appear to need role models (Eodwulf). “With the right friends and the right bar and the right attitude, I think he’d be okay. Come over here where it’s so much better. That seems like an exhausting friendship that you have there.”

Marisha loves the mix of personalities in the M9; Veth, Cad, & Jester were all “we kind of like them!” after the dinner, and she immediately made eye contact with Travis and they both shook their heads. She knows Beau has to go along with it for Caleb’s sake for now, but she & Fjord are pretty sus of Trent’s proteges.

Beau is less concerned about Artagan’s relationship to Jester because “he showed his ass--she’s less worried about Jester now because a little of the magic is gone.” It’s a little like becoming an adult and realizing your parents are also just adults & human. Caduceus wasn’t suspicious of the Traveler for a long time until they got to the island. Aside: Taliesin loves the pantheon in D&D. “The notion of attempting to apply common Western conceptions of religion to a world where you have a pantheon of interventionist gods as baseline makes no sense to me. Everyone admits that every other god is there and doing shit; it has more in common with ancient Rome than anything else.” Now that he knows it was a con, he feels the wind had been taken out of it. He does have a sense that Jester’s gotten back together with an ex: “I hope that I’m really happy for you.” They’re both interested to see how Jester navigates the new relationship.

My internet goes out, of course. I panic for a second, thinking I’ve lost everything above, but all is well! Thanks, Form History Control addon!

Marisha loved punching Artagan, but regretting rolling so poorly. “I miss violence.” Dani lets us know it’s been about four episodes since the last battle.

There’s no way the Cobalt Reserve doesn’t have a single document on the Eyes of Nine. Beau believes “there are no real secrets” because people are just bad at not writing things down. For there to be no information at all seems really suspicious for her.

Fanart of the Week: @oddalchemist on twitter with some awesome Beau conspiracy red-thread boards overlaid a distant shadowy Molly walking away.

Caduceus feels a little guilty for really enjoying his time right now with the M9 and not wanting to go home. He’s starting to suspect that he’s going to go home very different than when he left. “He has the softest problems. I don’t know if I want to move back in with Mom & Dad.”

Beau is trying to get comfortable with the idea of being happy. Jester is probably Beau’s first real best friend & one of the first healthy female friendships she’s ever had. As long as she still has Jester in her life, she doesn’t care. For Yasha... “At the end of the day, Beau is a lonely person and has always been a lonely person. And I think you kinda reach this point where once you’re not lonely anymore, you can kind of come out of the fog and realize that was horrible! And terrifying! And is even more terrifying now that I know what I could have, and I don’t want to go back to that. At the end of the day Beau doesn’t want to be lonely anymore. There’s always been that flirtation with Yasha, but everyone had to figure their own shit out. And now it feels like it’s coming out a little bit of that haze, maybe this actually could be...” There are a lot of ways they complement each other & are good-different from each other. Marisha believes people can be attracted to more than person at once.

Caduceus doesn’t think nature turned against him on Rumblecusp, it was just a reality of nature being dangerous and violent. “He has a complex relationship with nature.” He doesn’t expect special treatment.

Thoughts on the mansion: “Man, it’s nice to be seen.” Marisha: “I don’t know how I ended up becoming the Scanlan of this campaign, but I’m living for it.” It felt like an echo of “I’m better for having known you.” They compare Marisha taking specific notes on the campaign to Liam taking specific notes on people’s favorite tapestries, comics, etc.

They talk about missing theme parks and daydream a park version of the mansion in CritRoleLand. It’s lovely.

Taliesin never expected Divine Intervention to work; he just wanted to roll some dice. He’s still processing what he saw/heard. They all agree it was very useful in the Vokodo fight.

Vilya! Marisha: “Ah! Ah! Ah!” As a player, Marisha was so deep in Beau’s eyes she didn’t pick up it was Vilya at first (especially since Matt really emphasized they should not be looking for C1 NPCs). Marisha’s brain melted. She bawled her eyes out on the ride home after that episode. Right after it ended, Laura told Marisha “Keyleth finally gets her happy ending,” and it makes Marisha emotional again since Keyleth’s story ended so bittersweetly. She talks about the very real feelings of “just wanting them to be happy, though!” She went back and listened to all her old Keyleth playlists. Everyone was teary after the episode. “Everyone has these 100% real memories of being these characters and having these good times.”

And that’s that for that! Thanks for your patience, all, and is it Thursday yet?

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long post for ts

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tarysande · 4 years

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It’s the Dose that Makes the Poison: Lucifer Thoughts and Speculation

I’m going to throw the entirety of this under a cut because spoilers. I’ve been rearranging the pieces on the table and I have some meta and a plausible(?) theory about how things might shake out.

...this is almost four thousand words long, and frankly? I feel I’ve barely grazed the surface.

Also, I put it on AO3 for ease of reading and/or in case anyone wants to have, idk, threaded conversations ;D

Okay. Here are a bunch of the pieces. (Or the piece is here, as it were.)

First: The show has always been about redemption; the showrunners throw that word around all the time. Second: I don’t think we’re going to see an endgame or a narrative where God is evil. So, how to make the concept of literal Hell work, then? How to explain or justify the idea of a father who a) kicked his kid out of the house and sent him to Hell for-literal-ever and b) created children for specific “of God” purposes.

Hell

In 5x01, Lee says, “Whose Hell is this, anyway?” and ... I think that’s the crux of the matter. In S3, Lucifer realizes he gave himself the face of a monster because he felt monstrous. But the truth is, he didn’t just give himself the face.

He gave himself the place, too. 5x01 is littered with clues that indicate this. Lucifer says “you to your torture and me to mine.” Lee’s entire speech—the one that pushes all Lucifer’s buttons because of course Lucifer’s projecting all over Lee’s “worst memory”—might as well be Lucifer talking to himself (not unlike Uriel in Lucifer’s hell loop). You know, the part of Lucifer that’s starting to understand all the psychological stuff Linda’s been yammering on about.

Lucifer created Hell. To torture himself for what he believes he did. He created the mechanism that you can walk out any time you like—but no one ever does. None of the doors are locked, right?

On some level, Lucifer, who is all about fairness and justice, looked at what he did and decided the Hell as we’ve seen it was the appropriate punishment. And with Lee, Lucifer almost figures out that the goal of “Hell” isn’t to eternally loop through guilt-fueled self-torture but to forgive yourself and apologize or make amends or not repeat the mistakes. Most of all, learn that nothing changes if you stay in the loop and the only way to break the loop is to take risk that you might fuck up and do something that you feel guilty for again.

Names/Family

Something that’s always jumped out at me is that no matter how many millennia have passed, Lucifer—to whom nicknames and names are canonically really goddamned important—always refers to his family by their familial connection to him “brother, sister, Mum, Dad.” When he banished himself from Heaven—and I’m starting to think he did—he didn’t stop feeling like he was a part of his family. Even when he wanted to eat Amenadiel’s heart someday, he still called him “brother.” Even when Uriel was threatening Chloe (and Mum), he was still “brother.”

For that matter, isn’t it interesting that all Lucifer’s estranged siblings refer to him by the name he chose for himself—not the one he was given? Except, of course, when they want to hurt him. We’ve known since what, S1? That Lucifer cannot abide the name Samael. Even Uriel calls him Lucifer. Or Luci. Mum calls him Lucifer. Lucifer was given Poison of God and he chose Bringer of Light. And everyone who loved (and loves) him said, “All right. Lucifer it is.” And though Lucifer is originally a little eye-rolly with nicknames—Luce, Luci—it’s fond, not the “I’m going to rip out your spine and beat you to death with it” response Samael elicits. Essentially, Samael is Lucifer’s deadname. And people who use intentionally are dismissing and rejecting the identity Lucifer chose, which is vile.

When I was researching/writing Taking the Fall and I knew I wanted to talk about the name thing, I came across this quotation ascribed to Paracelsus, and it really resonated: “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison, the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison.” The dosage, in fact, is the difference between whether something is a poison or a cure. And if that doesn’t align with the themes of the show, I don’t know what does.

Lucifer has spent all this time thinking he is a poison; he has never imagined that he might be a cure. (To angels embracing their free will; to ending the sharp black and white segregation between Heaven and Hell; to darkness, to fear. Yet the more Lucifer learns and the healthier he gets, the more we see cures in what he does: i.e., Brody and also, you know, solving crimes.)

Michael, on the other hand, means “Who is like God?” It’s meant to be a rhetorical question, but in the universe of the show, I think Michael’s twisted version is that he used the question “Who is like God?” to plant the seed of Lucifer’s rebellion ... and is now answering the question “Who is like God?” with the reply, “I am."

Maze

But just in case we head too far down the Lucifer is Great line of thinking, we’ve got a big old example of how he’s still a poison, too.

Contrast this discussion of family with the lesson Lucifer still needs to learn about Maze—he’s managed to absorb that she’s not his servant anymore, but he’s still clinging to that soulless demon/just a demon dismissiveness. And despite self-worth coming from within, bitches, Maze still hasn’t truly absorbed that. She still looks outside for validation—and resents or backslides when she doesn’t get it. Especially from Lucifer. Because Lucifer was the first being to treat her like she mattered. She admires him. Looks up to him. Loves him. In many ways, Maze is the shadow of Chloe—drawn to Lucifer but never, from his perspective, his equal or his partner.

And he, for all the strides he’s made, still default to “demon” as derogatory and dismissive. Something she can’t transcend, even though all the evidence suggests the contrary. As long as Lucifer sees Maze as just a demon, she can’t truly escape from that identity.

Why does Maze keep “betraying” Lucifer? It’s tempting to think it’s because she’s a demon. Because she doesn’t have “a soul.” But that’s not true. She can learn; she learns from “betraying” Chloe and doesn’t do it a second time. She learns from “betraying” Linda and Trixie. Even she and Amenadiel seem to have reached a real (and much more healthy) understanding of who they are to each other.

She keeps betraying Lucifer because he keeps deserving it.

Servants

The thing is, I think there’s something important in Lucifer’s “You’re not my servant anymore” to Maze. Because I think angels believe they are God’s servants. And I suspect the reason God’s been so AFK is because he really wanted them to ... break free of that. On their own. Without him telling them to—because if he told them, it wouldn’t be choice anymore. It wouldn’t be free will. It would be Following The Will of DadGod.

Here’s another relevant Paracelsus quotation: “No one who can stand alone by himself should be the servant of another.”

Angels self-actualize. They have powers. Sometimes those powers change (as with Amenadiel). I don’t think angels ever lacked free will.

What is self-actualization but literal free will? You become what you believe you are; you do what you think you’re supposed to. You literally change based on your choices and feelings about those choices. Angels basically have human free will on a kind of EXTREME SCALE that they’ve remained mostly ignorant of throughout time. But how do you get your kids to figure something out without telling them how to figure it out when they’ve all got this WILL OF DAD complex? He gave them the tool of self-actualization. When they didn’t ... do that, he created humanity. He tinkered with the model. Took away the names and the powers that were such a stumbling block for his angels and such a shining example of how he failed them. If someone hangs on your every word, if you are not just their father but their master, how can they ever know love? Trust? How can they ever be free? Be themselves? I think God wanted his angel children to learn from his human children and was disappointed when they pretty much decided to just be remote and Angelically Superior All The Time, instead. Of course, that's mostly on him, too.

Except Lucifer. Because Lucifer’s curiosity (yes, from the beginning of time) kept bringing him so close to figuring things out. (Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven, amirite, Paradise Lost?) And as close as he was to figuring things out, Lucifer was still prideful and selfish and superior. The result was what happened with (and in) Hell. Things got twisted down there; he was in a God role over the demons and he was not hands-off. Cue endless loops of pain and torture and despair and self-recrimination and poison. Lilith may have started their pain, but Lucifer, however unintentionally or ignorantly, continued it.

At least Lucifer could escape it sometimes. Those poor demons. Those poor abandoned children. They had two rocks.

Pretty sure there’s going to be an echo of Dad abandonment with his angel kids and Lilith of her demon kids, by the by. Because abandonment is a theme. And good intentions or not, well, you know what they say about the road to Hell.

Humanity The more Lucifer interacted with humanity, the more he learned from humanity. And, of course, the entire journey of the series has been about Lucifer learning, growing, adapting, changing because of this. And not in a Superior Angelic Way, but in a person-to-person real way. Not just with Chloe. With everyone. But yeah, Chloe is the catalyst—precisely because (as Amenadiel says) she’s the only mortal who sees Lucifer for who he really is, without her reflected desires getting in the way. No one, no one else can truly reflect back to him his worthiness or lack thereof.

Does Chloe have a power? It’s not laser-beam hands. But I’ve always thought Chloe has the power of seeing things and, in seeing, encouraging others to see, too. And this is most obvious with Lucifer, whose power has never let him be seen. Because of his power, he can never know if the reactions of others are about him or about their own desires.

What agony for someone whose chosen path is bringing light: to be forever hidden in the shadow of the light others see.

Until Chloe.

Michael tells Lucifer his greatest fear is that of being unworthy. We know Lucifer has always feared he’s not worthy of Chloe. But now that she’s told him, shown him, his worthiness? You’d better believe that he will never, ever abandon her—will never, ever let her suffer from her worst fear. Gosh, and by suddenly being invulnerable again, it’s almost like he’s assured that, isn’t it? “You make me vulnerable” was about his walls. “My invulnerability ensures I will never, ever abandon you,” is all about hers.

So, back to learning from humanity. We’ve seen Lucifer and Amenadiel do it. It’s been hinted that Azrael has done it, at least a little. Then we have Michael’s frustrated tale of how the other angel siblings are taking note of Lucifer’s actions—with the implication being that maybe they’re learning, too. Maybe they’re starting to understand that they can be more than they think they have been made to be. More than just a “Something” of God.

Control

Meanwhile, of course, Michael’s concocted some kind of Make Heaven Great Again plot—ironically, it appears, by doing exactly what he accused Lucifer of doing: believing he can run things better than Dad. And, I suspect, by trying to set himself as Master and his siblings (and other assorted peons) as his servants. Only, he’s not doing it in Lucifer’s ultimately forthright (and even honest) way of “This sucks and I’m rebelling” but in a conniving, secretive, Machiavellian way that probably sounds a lot like “Dad says” or “Dad’s not here” or “Who is closer to God than I?” ...

Who is like God, indeed. He even throws down the word archangel when he speaks to Dan: an angel above even other angels. I’m 99% sure that word’s never been used before on the show. Because that’s what Michael desires. To be more. To be everything. To control.

He’s what Lucifer was as the Lord of Hell. He’s everything Lucifer has made such progress toward overcoming.

Incidentally, and also essay-worthy: This is why the progression of the scene where Lucifer and Chloe make love is so incredibly (heh) important: Lucifer of the perfect appearance, perfect pocket square, perfect car, perfectly clean apartment; Lucifer of control control control control ... surrenders. He offers. She accepts. And in these first moments—“Incredible,” he breathes before they’ve done anything more than kiss—she is above him, in control ... and nothing bad happens. Nothing hurts him even though she makes him hurt-able. She doesn’t take advantage of him. She loves him; she treasures him; she protects him. It’s beautiful. It’s everything he’s been so afraid he could never have.

And for the first time (very possibly) ever, he sees himself as worthy. He sees himself as belonging. He believes he is not alone; he is not lonely.

Power

Amenadiel “lost” his power to stop time when he decided he didn’t want to stand apart from humanity anymore. Essentially, just as he lost his wings when he was so horrified and disgusted by what he’d done (to Lucifer, with Malcolm, etc.) he caused himself to Fall. He regained his wings when he made it his purpose to bring Charlotte to Heaven. He stopped time again in S5 when the question of humanity—of his own child being human, and thus ‘not like him’ or ... not that ‘special’—reared its head. With the nuns, he reflects their love of God, right? And in part, that’s because he’s in this father (or Father) role now.

Angel powers, like all power really, are double-edged. In the wrong hands or twisted the wrong way, a good power can bring about evil. Look at the almost throwaway line with Brody in 5x02: Lucifer’s “desire” power—so often spun as about sin or hedonism—brought Brody peace and forgiveness. That Lucifer doesn’t lie or take without giving in return indicates that, on some level, the level that values true justice—and even a bit of mercy—he was never able to use that power against others (the way we see Michael do with his); he didn’t want to use as he felt he’d been used; he also didn’t want to feel used by those whose desires he provided (this is why the parade of one-night stands and “it was just sex—great sex, but just sex” partners upset him so much back in S2). Favors—and even the give and take of sex—were a way to balance that scale. Again, this could be a whole essay all its own.

This makes me suspect that the dark side of Lucifer’s powers played some part in his Rebellion. That he abused desire the way we’ve seen Michael abuse fear.

So, about that power of fear, then. I mean, it just sounds negative. How can FEAR be positive, right? But if Michael were using his powers to draw out fears so they’re named and dealt with (LIKE PEOPLE DO IN THERAPY???) instead of manipulated for personal gain—it could be a very healing power (LIKE THERAPY???).

Greatest Strength/Greatest Weakness

The absolute thematic and narrative brilliance of twin brothers having the powers of fear and desire whilst also being held back BY the “power” of their twin is so amazing it really needs its own essay. But I do want to mention this relative to the overall arc heading forward. Much of Lucifer’s work with Linda has been about addressing his fears; he’s made a ton of progress with this. As I mentioned earlier, with Linda’s guidance, Lucifer has been drawing out his fears in a safe(r) space and learning to deal with them and heal. And, in doing so, his own power of reflecting desire has increasingly been less and less about artisanal honey and car batteries and more about drawing out desires that help others heal, grow, become their best selves, release their inner demons.

Michael is (both literally and figuratively) twisted by his desires (to be powerful, to be stronger/better/more admired than his brother). I’ll bet some cold hard cash that if Lucifer’s the source of the original injury to his shoulder/wing, Michael has self-actualized into keeping that injury—perhaps even magnifying it—to a) manipulate others into feeling sorry for him, b) to remind everyone who looks at him how awful Lucifer is, and c) to trick people into believing he’s weaker than he is.

At the end of the day, fear and desire are two of the strongest motivating forces in the world (universe); the show is showing us all the messy ways those forces come into play. And it’s also showing how connection and love and trust are the forces that both fight the worse facets of these powers and that let these forces be useful in helpful and ultimately healing ways.

Because THERAPY.

Home

So, we know we’re rolling toward what was meant to be a series finale; it’s time to start tying loose ends together, right? Again and again, the question of home comes up. Lucifer only ever refers to Los Angeles as his home. Maze, on the other hand, still defaults to Hell as home.

Hell as we know it is over. But Hell as a place where Maze tries to impart the lessons she’s learned on Earth to her abandoned, twisted-by-hate-and-loneliness-and-Lilith siblings? Perhaps even with Eve “mother of all humanity” at her side to help clean up some of the mess Lilith made when she decided to abandon connection in favor of more selfish desire? I think that’s plausible, while also managing a significant nod at where Mazikeen ends up in the comics and a heavy dash of “the things we learn from therapy and/or being best friends with a therapist.”

Now, I know the question of how things will end for Chloe and Lucifer is contentious in fandom. So, you know, grain of salt. I don’t think Lucifer’s home is Los Angeles; the Los Angeles in Hell wasn’t enough because it didn’t have her in it. In a literal embodiment of “Home is where the heart is,” Lucifer’s home is with Chloe. And since Chloe’s worst fear is abandonment, Lucifer will do what it takes to stay with her—because that’s what’s most important to him. The utterly unselfish choice. I think there’s some pretty reasonable foreshadowing (Lilith’s choice—if that choice was even real, of course—for example) that Lucifer may choose to renounce his immortality. Or to give it to someone else. Or that immortality won’t matter at all anymore.

From his reactions in 5x07/08, we know that Lucifer’s identity and ideas of usefulness/self-worth/worthiness of love are still connected to his identity as an immortal with powers; I think, though, he’s beginning to piece together the complications therein, especially regarding questions of partnership and vulnerability and equality.

Personally, Human!Lucifer has never been my preferred outcome, but I can see how it might work/might be what they’re heading for. Even if I’d still prefer the “you can use me as a bullet shield” partnership with supernatural elements—because those have always been at the heart of their partnership. The strengths of one make up for the weaknesses in the other (and vice versa).

Hell (Redux)

Finally, I’m still pretty sure we’re going to see a complete overhaul of the Heaven/Hell dichotomy. One with a lot less THIS IS THE WAY IT IS BECAUSE CONTROL and a lot more CHOICES MATTER (maybe Linda can have a turn as a salamander after all). And a major catalyst, of course, is Lucifer and his love for the chosen family on earth (and through them, a renewed love for the estranged family he’s never actually stopped loving; 5x01 basically makes canon that it's not that Lucifer hates his family—it's that he's terrified of disappointing them again, of causing problems again).

So why does Hell have to change?

Because right now, every human he loves is sure they’re going to Hell. And after all the time and all these friendships, can you really see Lucifer being okay with that? Okay with Ella or Linda or Dan or Trixie tormenting themselves for all eternity? When he wasn’t even okay with Mr. Said Out Bitch doing so? When he gave this guy who he barely knows every opportunity to change his fate in ways he’s never done for any other tortured soul? Because they had a tenuous connection on earth?

Can you see him being okay with Chloe choosing Hell to be with him?

When it boils right down to it, Lucifer has learned to love others. And I think, especially given his revelations about self-loathing last season, that love isn’t going to let him be okay with or encourage the self-loathing in others. Love—selfless love, real love—is, in fact, the cure to the very concept of Hell.

And it’s also the cure to the very concept of Heaven, too.

How could Heaven ever be perfect if the people you love aren’t in it?

It can’t. It might be more silver and have fewer demons, but I don’t think it’s any less an eternal torture. Eve basically tells us as much.

So, on that note, I’ll leave you with another fine quotation from Paracelsus:

“When a man undertakes to create something, he establishes a new heaven, as it were, and from it the work that he desires to create flows into him... For such is the immensity of man that he is greater than heaven and earth.”

And that, I think, is going to be the takeaway. We create what we are; we choose what we create. And in the act of that creation, we choose whether we are the poison or the remedy. And if we make mistakes, slip up, hurt people, hurt ourselves—it’s not a Hell-sentence. It’s the dose that makes the poison. We learn, we grow, we apologize, we strive to make things better, we love and love and love and love, and we never stop striving to be the cure.

#lucifer morningstar #chloe decker #deckerstar #lucifer on netflix #lucifer meta #lucifer speculation #lucifer season 5 #lucifer s5 spoilers #who asked for 3K+ of meta speculation?#no one #but here it is #long text post #very very long text post #lucifer thoughts

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bluesakura007 · 3 years

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AOS Khan headcanons

I felt the urge to get these ideas I have out into writing because of how little this is delved into in STID, and because the books and comics and things aren’t really canon. I did take some inspiration for his backstory from the Khan comic series and another couple of tiny little bits that I found on Memory Beta though. ^^

Childhood and Origins

- He was born in 1970, his birthday being February the 10th. His mother was Dr. Sarina Kaur, an Indian biochemist living and working in New Delhi, but he has no biological father of any kind because after months of theoretical research, Sarina managed to successfully conceive a child from just one parent. This was because of a project in which she was investigating the possibility of asexual reproduction in human beings like in some species of plants and insects, hence it was dubbed the Chrysalis Project.

- Whilst Khan was still in utero, his mother introduced some adjustments into his DNA such as providing him with the ability to better remember events from the early years of his childhood and adding a few different ethnicities into the mix. The European ethnicity became the dominant one, which is why he has a light skin tone, blue eyes and an English accent despite being born to an Indian parent.

- She named him Khan after one of her grandfathers, gave him his surname after the 15th century poet Singh el Bashir and chose his middle name as Noonien after Noonien Prasad, her boyfriend who died from cancer while she was pregnant with Khan and who would have been a fatherly figure to him.

- Sarina was very caring and benevolent towards Khan, who she would often call her beautiful boy. The fact that her son looked so different to her and that she’d originally conceived him for the purpose of scientific research did nothing to stop her from loving him very dearly.

- She later died when he was four years old due to an accident at her laboratory one day: it started a fire in which she perished as she tried to escape. When the now orphaned little Khan found out about his mother’s death, he felt frightened now that he was alone and ran off into the streets of the city, moving from place to place every night with no other possessions except for his blanket.

- After a few days, he came across a group of half a dozen other street orphans led by an older boy with a heart condition named Tanvir Acharya, who allowed Khan to join them, making him the youngest member. The ragtag seven would go around exploring the city together and would make their days of living homeless feel that little bit less sad, and over the next year Khan and Tanvir became best friends, to the point where they ultimately saw each other as blood brothers.

- After a year, Khan, Tanvir and the others in the group, and several other orphans, were kidnapped off of the streets by men working for a geneticist, Dr. Heisen, and taken to be turned into genetically enhanced “supermen” via DNA-altering experiments.

- Another seven years on, when Khan was twelve years old, he and the others at the facility they were being kept at were now all Augments and were still in the captivity of Heisen and his scientists. Khan and Tanvir hatched a plan for the both of them to escape and then come back to liberate the others later on: they dug their way out of the facility grounds through the floor and fled in separate directions, promising to rendezvous at this time later on when they’d go back for the others, with Khan going off into the Gobi Desert. However, Khan was recaptured five days later thanks to the use of his neural inhibitor implanted in his and the others’ bodies in order to inflict pain at the push of a button. Upon his return to the facility, he found out that Tanvir had also been recaptured, but that he had died due to the use of his own neural inhibitor inadvertently stopping his heart, his condition having “slipped the net” from his enhancements.

- After another three years, the teenage Khan, having become embittered towards Heisen and his scientists, and the others took control of the facility after working together to remove their neural inhibitors, and after Khan killed Heisen by crushing his skull, he and the other Augment children finally escaped and left to see more of the world.

Global Rule

- Khan and the group of friends and comrades he had by then, some of them being other Augments that had also escaped from their own facilities, took control of the Indian government in 1990 and established The Great Khanate, an Augment government power encompassing India, Nepal, Mongolia, the Western half of Russia and the Middle East. The world was also ruled over by six other Augment powers: Alexander Newton in charge of the Empire of Newtonia and Verity Cheng leading the Cheng Federation - these two being the Great Khanate’s allies and respectively encompassing North America and the Eastern half of Asia - along with Asahf Ferris at the head of the Ferris Dominion in South America, Ama Owusu leading the African Caliphates in the entirety of the African continent, and the Khanate’s enemies allied with each other, respectively the Oceania and European powers led by Bernard Maltuvis and John Ericssen called Maltuvisland and Pax Europa.

- While the Cheng Federation and the Empire of Newtonia adopted the same rules of benevolence towards their subjects that Khan did, with the African Caliphates also doing the same, the Ferris Dominion extorted money from its own, and Pax Europa and Maltuvisland committed many executions of human enemies and expanded their territories the most aggressively.

- Verity, Alexander and Khan all promised to back each other up in the event of a war against John and Bernard, as defensive border skirmishes were shared with these two; these were made more difficult by the start of the Eugenics Wars in 1992, which meant that for the next four years every Augment power had human forces working against them as well. Ama and Asahf preferred to stay neutral during Khan, Verity and Alex’s cold war against Maltuvisland and Pax Europa - they both basically sat back away from the chaos sipping tea and saying “This is fine”.

- While the other four’s identities were public knowledge - Ama and the others in the African Caliphates government were greeted as heroes for freeing the citizens of Africa from the poverty and dictatorships that they were living under - Alex, Verity and Khan all kept their faces and voices as leaders a secret, going by false names in public.

Personality Traits and Interests

- Although Khan has a cold ruthlessness towards his enemies who incur his anger, and even then he can still have a merciful side to some of them, he’s benevolent towards animals and children, as he knows that they’re innocents. He’s still also merciful towards people who aren’t directly involved in the activities of said enemies or don’t know what they’re doing, and as a result tries to avoid killing these non-direct accomplices if he can help it.

- He was taught about Hinduism from an early age, but he doesn’t really follow any religions.

- He likes the feeling of riding a horse, because of the freedom it grants of being able to ride through wide open spaces with nothing holding him back.

- He keeps it locked away underneath the surface and keeps himself cold and aloof around his enemies and strangers, but if you’re a person that he really trusts he can let his emotions shine through. Khan’s got a big heart, it’s just been tainted by his experiences.

- What he’s also got is a hidden fondness for chocolates and a disliking for spicy foods, the latter of which being ironic due to the fact that he grew up in India.

- He has a loathing for the scientists who turned him into an Augment, who took away a normal childhood that he could have had and also ended up taking his best friend away from him, as they and the ones working for the other Augment facilities around the world during the 1970s and 80s effectively dressed up their selfish goals of using supermen as human weapons in a facade of idealism.

- However, Khan bears no ill will to the rest of mankind and this is why he committed no atrocities towards his human subjects while leading the Great Khanate - the fond memories he has of Sarina, of the happy days before she died back when he was four, are a reminder to him that not all non-enhanced humans are selfish and that they’re capable of kindness. Khan loves her very much in return, which means that although he may become ruthless and enraged in the heat of battle, he’ll never take out this rage on the human race in general, as doing so would be an affront to the memory of his mother.

#khan noonien singh #khan #khanbatch #khan singh #into darkness #star trek into darkness #star trek #star trek aos #aos #aos khan #into darkness khan #star trek headcanon #stid

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linklethehistorian · 3 years

Text

New Working Link to DarkestJay’s English Translation of Fifteen & Commentary on the Discrepancies Therein (PLEASE READ)

Information below the cut for length, as well as spoiler information relating to my article.

If recently you’ve tried to access DarkestJay8686’s English Translation of Fifteen on WattPad through the link I provided at the beginning of my article, you’ve probably already noticed that that link is, unfortunately, very dead; the reason that this has happened is because, sadly, as of late, they — and other translators in the fandom who also post their works to WattPad — have been facing a struggle with their works constantly being flagged on the site and forcibly removed for copyright reasons multiple times over, forcing them to eventually give up and move their content somewhere else where it would be safe from harm.

Upon learning of their arrival on a new, safer platform, I had considered simply exchanging the old link out for the new one at the beginning of my article, where it was before, and altering my notes to reflect this, and I’m sure that I still will as soon as I can find the time to rework everything properly, but in the meanwhile, there’s something I’ve also badly needed to discuss with you all about these translations for some time, and what better time and way, I thought, than to do it in this post where I provide you with the new link?

I’m sure that many of you reading both my article and their translation have noticed that back in the Arcade scene, there was something I had mentioned happening in the novel that didn’t quite match up with DarkestJay’s presentation of those events — namely, Sheep being the first to leave the building, instead of Dazai and Chuuya; well, that difference is actually quite important as one of the main reasons why, while their work may overall be excellent and I do encourage everyone to read it regardless, I still personally would never recommend making it the only thing you read if you want to truly understand Fifteen and all of its events 100% correctly.

Yes, I am saying exactly what you think I’m saying: my information within my article was NOT incorrect — Jay’s translation of the scene, however, was, and if you don’t believe me, you can go read Lea’s translation of the scene and see it for yourself.

Now, before I say anything else, I want to make this 100% clear: I in no way am intending to imply that Jay’s work on the whole is anything but exceptional, nor am I even remotely saying that you shouldn’t read at all; in fact, I highly recommend you do read it in its entirety, because despite a few small mis-steps, as someone who owns two copies of the original Japanese light novel, has read many an English translation, and knows this story extensively well, I will be the first to very enthusiastically say that this translation is actually quite good and very, very helpful overall — an absolutely essential resource for anyone who does not speak the original language but still wants to read, experience and understand Fifteen as if they could. I am extremely, extremely grateful and appreciative of their hard work in making that possible for all English speakers, and I don’t ever want to come across as anything else or make it seem like any of that is any less than true.

That being said, though, it nevertheless absolutely cannot and should not be your only resource on the matter, because if it is, you will unavoidably end up being misled on some matters — unintentionally, of course, but still misled all the same.

Because this was translated well after the anime came out — unlike Lea’s partial but nonetheless equally wonderful translation, which came into existence very shortly after the novel was first handed out in theaters alongside DEAD APPLE, a whole year before the animated adaption was even a concept — DarkestJay’s translation does have some points where it is extremely clear that said television show’s rather poorly handled and highly inaccurate interpretation very heavily affected the OP’s perception of things, and thus caused the OP, Jay, to incorrectly interpret and translate certain parts of some scenes and/or dialogue that otherwise might not have been super clear to someone not fully, extensively familiar with the language.

Specifically, as I mentioned above, there is the one particular instance among the many that I can easily point out: due to the pre-knowledge of the anime’s awful take on the story, there is a point in this translation where Jay simply assumes it to be true that Dazai and Chuuya were the ones to leave the Arcade, with Sheep calling out to their retreating backs, and thus incorrectly translates it as such, when in fact it unfolds in exactly the opposite manner in the original version of the tale; likewise, there are also many bits of dialogue throughout the entirety of the book where the perceived “understanding” of the characters’ nature’s as the show wrongly presented them caused Jay to take the liberty of wording things in certain different ways, or make certain alterations to the type of punctuation used that Jay believed suited them, rather than leaving them in their unaltered states, as they were intended to be read.

This is the major issue with going into a project like this with this kind of confirmation bias; no matter how good your intentions may be, because you expect that you already understand something or know what’s going to happen, you’re much more likely to think it’s safe to cut corners, and rather than carefully researching the context, tone, and other specifics and particulars of every line before you write it out and post it — the way you would if you started with a completely blank slate and no idea of what would happen in it — you will more often than not just assume that it plays out in the way you expect it to if it seems close enough, and quickly go with that presumption as if it is fact without bothering to make 100% sure of it.

Again, no offense to OP, because translation work is very hard, and as I said, overall, it is a wonderful translation and I do think it’s well worth the read, but problems like this are why I personally recommend anyone reading this to also check out Lea’s translated summary with excerpts and translation of the bonus chapter in conjunction with Jay’s, as Lea’s came out long before a Fifteen anime was even a concept and, as such, was completely unbiased — therefore being an excellent source to check facts against where possible.

Of course, there are definitely also some points where both translations are different but neither is actually wrong — as while Lea’s is less literal about every phrasing so it’s not super awkward sounding in English and flows better to read, Jay’s is almost always more literal instead, and thus differences in personal preference for wording can easily diverge while still getting the point across fine in both — but these instances are much different from the ones where it is clear Jay actually slipped up, so I’m sure you won’t have trouble defining them. As much as I would like to be of help in this regard, I must sadly inform you that I will not personally be pointing out all of these slip-ups here at this time, nor do I have any plan to do so at any time in the foreseeable future. for I have neither the time nor the desire to go about critiquing a fellow fan’s work when I’m already dedicating enough time and energy just to writing about the mountain of mistakes that the anime made without also adding more difficult and unnecessary extra work onto that.

If you have any questions about a particular line in the translation and if it indeed is correct, you can absolutely feel free to send me an ask about it and I will try to help you with it to the best of my ability, but beyond that, I will not be engaging with the matter much farther than I already have.

(However, on one last note, I will, for now, add that — as I expect this might become a point of much contention and is something that will come up in my article later on, anyway — the “it must be because I love you” scene that you will find in Jay’s translation is actually not exactly one such instance where a mistake was made, at least in regards to the “‘I love you” bit; if you’re curious about the exact details of how that all works, you can read about it in my post here. So yes, that does indeed exist, and you are free to take it in whatever way you want. I’m not personally an SKK shipper myself, but if that’s your thing, then good for you — go for it and enjoy it; it can be canon support for your ship if you want it to be.)

Thank you for reading, and, as promised, here is the link to Jay’s new account, as well as their Twitter, and where you can currently access their translation of Fifteen. Enjoy.

[See the recent related addendum]

[View the masterlist of my article]

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asfaltics · 3 years

Text

A brown moth fluttered.

The curtain was down, and the carpenters were rearranging the “No, no, no! I can’t breathe 1 volatile I can’t breathe.” And such a fit of suffocating 2 “I can’t breathe,” she would sometimes say 3 and the minisnever! I can’t breathe it in fast enough, nor hard enough, nor long enough.” 4 and started up up. to return to the tent, only to check him No, I can’t breathe the same air self in the act as often as he started, with ye to-night, but ye’ll go into the he lost consciousness in uneasy dreams 5 meet me at the station. I can’t breathe in this wretched 6 “sickening down there — I can’t breathe! I can’t stand it, Drewe! It’s killing me!” — Tears 7 struggling to altitudes that I can’t breathe in. I could help him when he was in despair, but he is the sort who 8 sometimes I find I can’t breathe in it. Perhaps some folks will say “so much the worse for you” 9 it seems if I can’t breathe in the house. not dared hope 10 “Well, I won’t wear ’em. I can’t breathe” “Sure! Blame ’em!” “I can’t breathe a square breath.” Oh 11 things I regret I can’t breathe. 12 bramble bush. I can’t breathe. I can’t eat. I can’t do anything much. It’s clear to my knees. 13 I can't breathe, I can't talk, 14 lying on its “I can’t stay here I can’t breathe” side, the cork half-loosened. A brown moth fluttered. 15 “I can’t breathe beside you.” 16 the needs of any reasonable young lady. “I can't breathe there, 17 I can’t breathe — I really need the rush of this wintry air to restore me!” 18 I can’t breathe no more in that coop upstairs . tablet ; two he said is what you need.” of flame shoots through a stream of oil 19 no friction. It’s friction—rub- / asthmatically.] “I can’t breathe deep — I can light and of reason. But I’ve a notion 20 out of it. I can’t breathe in the dark. I can’t. I / She withdrew 21 “I can’t breathe or feel in” 22 Up a flight of stairs, and there was the girl, sitting on the edge of an untidy bed. The yellow sweater was on the floor. She had on an underskirt and a pink satin camisole. “I can't breathe !” she gasped. 23 I can’t breathe in the dark! I can’t! I can’t! I can’t live in the dark with my eyes open! 24 One never gets it back! How could one! And I can’t breathe just now, on account of 25 that old stuff, I could shriek. I can’t breathe in the same room with you. The very sound of 26 don’t! I can’t — breathe.... I’m all — and bitter howling. 27

sources (pre-1923; approximately 90 in all, from which these 27 passages, all by women)

1 ex “Her Last Appearance,” in Peters’ Musical Monthly, And United States Musical Review 3:2 (New-York, February 1869), “from Belgravia” : 49-52 (51) “Her Last Appearance” appeared later, “by the author of Lady Audley’s Secret” (M.E. Braddon, 1835-1915 *), in Belgravia Annual (vol. 31; Christmas 1876) : 61-73 2 snippet view ex The Lady’s Friend (1873) : 15 evidently Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924 *) her Vagabondia : A Love Story (New York, 1891) : 286 (Boston, 1884) : 286 (hathitrust) 3 ex “The Story of Valentine; and his Brother.” Part VI. Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine vol. 115 (June 1874) : 713-735 (715) authored by Mrs. [Margaret] Oliphant (1828-97 *), see her The Story of Valentine (1875; Stereotype edition, Edinburgh and London, 1876) : 144 4 OCR confusions at Olive A. Wadsworth, “Little Pilkins,” in Sunday Afternoon : A Monthly Magazine for the Household vol. 2 (July-December 1878) : 73-81 (74) OAW “Only A Woman” was a pseudonym of Katharine Floyd Dana (1835-1886), see spoonercentral. Katharine Floyd Dana also authored Our Phil and Other Stories (Boston and New York, 1889) : here, about which, a passage from a bookseller's description — Posthumously published fictional sketches of “negro character,” first published in the Atlantic Monthly under the pseudonym Olive A. Wadsworth. The title story paints a picture of plantation life Dana experienced growing up on her family’s estate in Mastic, Long Island. Although a work of fiction set in Maryland, the character of Phil may of been named for a slave once jointly owned by the Floyds and a neighboring family. source see also the William Buck and Katherine Floyd Dana collection, 1666-1912, 1843-1910, New York State Historical Documents (researchworks). 5 OCR cross-column misread, at M(ary). H(artwell). Catherwood (1847-1902 *), “The Primitive Couple,” in Lippincott’s Magazine of Popular Literature and Science 36 (August 1885) : 138-146 (145) author of historical romances, short stories and poetry, and dubbed the “Parkman of the West,” her papers are at the Newberry Library (Chicago) 6 ex Marie Corelli (Mary Mackay; 1855-1924 *), Thelma, A Norwegian Princess: A Novel, Book II. The Land of Mockery. Chapter 12 (New Edition, London, 1888) : 432 7 preview snippet (only), at Ada Cambridge (1844-1926 *), Fidelis, a Novel ( “Cheap Edition for the Colonies and India,” 1895) : 289 full scan, (New York, 1895) : 261 born and raised in England, spent much of her life in Australia (died in Melbourne); see biography (and 119 of her poems) at the Australia Poetry Library in particular, the striking poems from Unspoken Thoughts (1887) here (Thomas Hardy comes to mind) 8 snippet view (only) at F(rances). F(rederica), Montrésor (1862-1934), At the Cross-Roads (London, 1897) : 297 but same page (and scan of entirety) at hathitrust see her entry At the Circulating Library (Database of Victorian Fiction 1837-1901) an interesting family. Montrésor’s The Alien: A Story of Middle Age (1901) is dedicated to her sister, C(harlotte). A(nnetta). Phelips (1858-1925), who was devoted to work for the blind. See entry in The Beacon, A Monthly magazine devoted to the interests of the blind (May 1925) a great-granddaughter of John Montresor (1737-99), a British military engineer and cartographer, whose colorful (and unconventional) life is sketched at wikipedia. 9 Alice H. Putnam, “An Open Letter,” in Kindergarten Review 9:5 (Springfield, Massachusetts; January 1899) : 325-326 Alice Putnam (1841-1919) opened the first private kindergarten in Chicago; Froebel principles... (wikipedia); see also “In Memory of Alice H. Putnam” in The Kindergarten-primary Magazine 31:7 (March 1919) : 187 (hathitrust) 10 OCR cross-column misread, at Mabel Nelson Thurston (1869?-1965?), “The Palmer Name,” in The Congregationalist and Christian World 86:30 (27 July 1901) : 134-135 author of religiously inflected books (seven titles at LC); first female admitted for entry at George Washington University (in 1888). GWU archives 11 OCR cross-column misread, at Margaret Grant, “The Romance of Kit Dunlop,” Beauty and Health : Woman’s Physical Development 7:6 (March 1904): 494-501 (499 and 500) the episodic story starts at 6:8 (November 1903) : 342 12 ex Marie van Vorst (1867-1936), “Amanda of the Mill,” The Bookman : An illustrated magazine of literature and life 21 (April 1905) : 190-209 (191) “writer, researcher, painter, and volunteer nurse during World War I.” wikipedia 13 ex Maude Morrison Huey, “A Change of Heart,” in The Interior (The sword of the spirit which is the Word of God) 36 (Chicago, April 20, 1905) : 482-484 (483) little information on Huey, who is however mentioned in Paula Bernat Bennett, her Poets in the Public Sphere : The Emancipatory Project of American Women's Poetry, 1800-1900 (2003) : 190 14 ex Leila Burton Wells, “The Lesser Stain,” The Smart Set, A Magazine of Cleverness 19:3 (July 1906) : 145-154 (150) aside — set in the Philippines, where “The natives were silent, stolid, and uncompromising.” little information on Wells, some of whose stories found their way to the movie screen (see IMDB) The Smart Set ran from March 1900-June 1930; interesting story (and decline): wikipedia 15 OCR cross-column misread, at Josephine Daskam Bacon (1876-1961 *), “The Hut in the Wood: A Tale of the Bee Woman and the Artist,” in Collier’s, The National Weekly 41:12 (Saturday, June 13, 1908) : 12-14 16 ex E. H. Young, A Corn of Wheat (1910) : 90 Emily Hilda Daniell (1880-1949), novelist, children’s writer, mountaineer, suffragist... wrote under the pseudonym E. H. Young. (wikipedia) 17 ex Mary Heaton Vorse (1874-1966), “The Engagements of Jane,” in Woman’s Home Companion (May 1912) : 17-18, 92-93 Illustrated by Florence Scovel Shinn (1871-1940, artist and book illustrator who became a New Thought spiritual teacher and metaphysical writer in her middle years. (wikipedia)) Mary Heaton Vorse — journalist, labor activist, social critic, and novelist. “She was outspoken and active in peace and social justice causes, such as women's suffrage, civil rights, pacifism (such as opposition to World War I), socialism, child labor, infant mortality, labor disputes, and affordable housing.” (wikipedia). 18 ex snippet view, at “Voices,” by Runa, translated for the Companion by W. W. K., in Lutheran Companion 20:3 (Rock Island, Illinois; Saturday, January 20, 1912) : 8 full view at hathitrust same passage in separate publication as Voices, By Runa (pseud. of E. M. Beskow), from the Swedish by A. W. Kjellstrand (Rock Island, Illinois, 1912) : 292 E(lsa). M(aartman). Beskow (1874-1953), Swedish author and illustrator of children’s books (Voices seems rather for older children); see wikipedia 19 ex Fannie Hurst (1885-1968 *), “The Good Provider,” in The Saturday Evening Post 187:1 (August 15, 1914) : 12-16, 34-35 20 OCR cross-column misread, at Anne O’Hagan, “Gospels of Hope for Women: A few new creeds, all of them modish—but expensive” in Vanity Fair (February 1915) : 32 Anne O’Hagan Shinn (1869-1933) — feminist, suffragist, journalist, and writer of short stories... “known for her writings detailing the exploitation of young women working as shop clerks in early 20th Century America... O’Hagan participated in several collaborative fiction projects...” (wikipedia) a mention of St. Anselm, whose “sittings” are free, vis-à-vis “Swami Bunkohkahnanda”... “Universal Harmonic Vibrations”... 21 OCR cross-column misread (three columns), at Fannie Hurst (1885-1968 *), “White Goods” (Illustrations by May Wilson Preston) in Metropolitan Magazine 42:3 (July 1915) : 19-22, 53 repeated, different source and without OCR misread, at 24 below 22 ex Mary Patricia Willcocks, The Sleeping Partner (London, 1919) : 47 (snippet only) full at hathitrust see onlinebooks for this and other of her titles. something on Mary Patricia Willcocks (1869-1952) at ivybridge-heritage. in its tone and syntax, her prose brings Iris Murdoch to mind. 23 Katharine Wendell Pedersen, “Clingstones, A week in a California cannery.” in New Outlook vol. 124 (February 4, 1920) : 193-194 no information about the author. the journal began life as The Christian Union (1870-1893) and continued under the new title into 1928; it ceased publication in 1935; it was devoted to social and political issues, and was against Bolshevism (wikipedia) 24 ex Fannie Hurst (1885-1968 *), “White Goods,” in her Humoresque : A Laugh on Life with a Tear Behind it (1919, 1920) : 126-169 (155) 25 ex snippet view, at Letters and poems of Queen Elisabeth (Carmen Sylva), with an introduction and notes by Henry Howard Harper. Volume 2 (of 2; Boston, Printed for members only, The Bibliophile society, 1920) : 51 (hathitrust) Carmen Sylva was “the pen name of Elisabeth, queen consort of Charles I, king of Rumania” (1843-1916 *) 26 OCR cross-column misread, at Ruth Comfort Mitchell, “Corduroy” (Part Three; Illustrated by Frederick Anderson), in Woman’s Home Companion 49:8 (August 1922) : 21-23, 96-97 (hathitrust) Ruth Comfort Mitchell Young (1882-1954), poet, dramatist, etc., and owner of a remarkable house (in a “Chinese” style) in Los Gatos, California (wikipedia) 27 Helen Otis, “The Christmas Waits,” in Woman’s Home Companion 49:12 (Christmas 1922) : 36 probably Helen Otis Lamont (1897-1993), about whom little is found, save this “Alumna Interview: Helen Otis Lamont, Class of 1916” (Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, 1988) at archive.org (Brooklyn Historical Society)

—

prompted by : recent thoughts about respiration (marshes, etc.); Pfizer round-one recovery focus on the shape of one breath, then another; inhalation, exhalation and the pleasure of breathing; and for whom last breaths are no pleasure (far from it); last breaths (Robert Seelthaler The Field (2021) in the background).

1 of n

all tagged breath all tagged cento

#breath #cento #couplet #couplets #I can't breathe

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dailytomlinson · 4 years

Link

It’s no secret how strong Louis Tomlinson’s relationship with his fans is and always has been; he’s said so many times how lucky he feels to have them, how much he appreciates their dedication and loyalty and how much he feels like he’s never doing anything on his own because it’s always a team effort. And during these difficult times, nothing has changed, if the way he’s being more active on social media to encourage people to stay home is any indication. Setting a good example, our Doncaster boy is, in fact, spending more time at home and focusing on his second favourite hobby when he is online, which is checking on us! (His absolute favourite one is definitely thanking us without even needing a reason to, but I’m not enumerating all the reasons why we don’t deserve him so let’s try to stick to the topic.) Whether it is to remind us to stay safe, to suggest music to listen to during quarantine (Have you ever heard of Walls by Louis Tomlinson? It could probably be the only good thing that happened in 2020, check it out!); to acknowledge fans projects like the #LouisBalconyParty where Italian stans blared his discography from their balconies, or windows or the #WallsOlympics where his fans from all over the world were involved in a streaming tournament; to praise care workers; to tease his boys James Blonde and Miami Vice; or just to interact with fans and send us “loads of love”, our Lou never fails to prove how much he cares about his Louies. No matter how hard some media try to paint him negatively from time to time, we know the real Louis is a thoughtful and caring person who wants to make people happy and help those less fortunate whenever and however he can. Throughout the years he has donated to a lot of charities and people in need, most of the times privately, never making a big deal out of it and not even sharing it personally on social media unless it was to spread awareness and raise more money thanks to his huge generous fanbase. He’s met many children suffering from many syndromes, keeping in contact with them even after the meeting and sending them gifts and donations. He’s recorded, with other musicians, a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge over Troubled Water” to raise money for the survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire. Louis is a patron of The Eden Dora Trust that funds research into childhood encephalitis; of Stacey’s Smiles, that supports families affected by childhood cancer; of Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, which serves children and young adults with a shortened life expectancy (in 2017 he purchased the entirety of their Amazon wishlist to give as Christmas gifts); of The Harvey Hext Trust – A Siblings Wish, which provides personalized memory boxes to help preserve memories of a lost sibling; and of the Yorkshire Children of Courage Awards, which recognise outstanding children and teenagers despite their difficulties. Tomlinson has supported so many campaigns: the National Health Service’s Voices campaign; the Red Nose Day (he even colored his hair red!) to keep children safe, healthy and educated; the Channel 4 and Cancer Research’s Stand Up To Cancer campaign, appearing with his bandmate Liam Payne on Gogglebox. He has played in multiple charity football matches, including Bluebell Wood Charity Match in Doncaster 2012, Pros vs Stars 2014 and Soccer Aid 2016; in this occasion, he took care of a little deaf girl, Summer, who was originally assigned to Robbie Williams, but Louis reached out because he knows some sign language and held her close to him all the time to make her feel safe. Louis hosted the Believe in Magic Cinderella Ball in 2015, where terminally ill children were treated like princes and princesses, donating £2,000,000; he’s signed stuff to raise money for various causes; he’s sent heartwarming videos to some of his fans who were fighting cancer. Tomlinson visited Youth on Solid Ground as part of BBC’s Children in Need staying for the whole session playing Football, coaching and chatting to the kids and a toy drive in Atlanta, where his appearance wasn’t even planned; he was just in the city, heard about it so he went there, donated toys and also played soccer with some of the children. He’s performed at charity concerts, like the “Live. Life. Love: concert for suicide prevention” or the special show for War Child UK to support their work protecting children affected by conflict. His lovely mum Johannah once mentioned that when Louis suffered a bad press day he used to say to her, “Come on mum, let’s make someone happy today,” and that says everything you need to know about him as a person. Things may be different now in many ways, but Louis’ heart of gold is still the same. He has been through so much, on a personal and professional level, but he never gave up, he never let anything take away his bright smile and he never lost his optimism and glass-half-full attitude. The same attitude he tries to pass on to his younger siblings and to his stans, through his words, his actions and his lyrics. One of the most appreciated songs from Walls, “Two Of Us” — an emotional tribute to his mother who sadly passed away in December 2016 — was also written to inspire and help others through grief. “Despite how difficult it can be to deal with these things when people are watching, if I have the possibility to help even one person, that’s massive,” Louis said. Yet, as time goes by and fans manage to tell him how much the tune has actually benefitted them, he is still surprised. “I still can’t even really comprehend that. I can write stuff that can actually have a real positive impact on people. And you know actually help through a proper horrible time.” Louis Tomlinson literally brightens up our days and lives. We call him “sun” for a reason, after all!

#Louis Tomlinson #United by pop #press #tw death #charity #240420

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benandstevesposts · 3 years

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A Special Report On The Oceans Rise Because Of Climate Change In Louisiana’s Atchafalaya And Terrebonne Basins

While oceans rise because of climate change, the world’s river deltas — home to seafood nurseries and more than 300 million people -- are sinking and shrinking. Originally reported By: By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press

A Special Report From The Associated Press On The Oceans Rise Because Of Climate Change In Louisiana's Atchafalaya And Terrebonne Basins

Erosion, sinking land, and sea rise from climate change have killed the Louisiana woods where a 41-year-old Native American chief played as a child. Not far away in the Mississippi River delta system, middle-school students can stand on islands that emerged when they were born.

Using state-of-the-art airborne systems that include boats and mud-slogging work on islands, making a $15 million, five-year study - investment on the areas adjacent to areas affected in the Louisiana Delta.

Collected data now allows researchers from NASA and nearly a dozen universities across the United States access to computer models that, when coupled with satellite information, will enable them to learn quickly which parts of the Louisianna Delta are dwindling. And the ones capable of being saved over those that are lost causes.

Lead scientist Marc Simard of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory perspective is straightforward -

"If you have to choose between saving an area and losing another instead of losing everything, you want to know where to put your resources to work to save the livelihood of people living there,"

Louisiana holds 40% of the nation's wetlands, but they're disappearing fast -- losing about 2,000 square miles (5,180 square kilometers) of the state since the 1930s. That's about 80% of the nation's wetland losses, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Professor of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at Louisianna Robert Twilley tells the Associated Press -

"I've been working here for 15 years, and one of the most challenging parts about working in a delta is you can only touch one tiny piece of it at any one time and understand one little bit of it."

NASA states on the Delta-X project website:

Mississippi River drains 41% of the continental United States, collecting 150 million tons (130 million metric tons) of sediment per year. But, mainly because of flood-prevention levees, most sediment shoots into the Gulf of Mexico rather than settling in wetlands.

"Deltas are the babies of the geological timescale. They are very young and fragile, in a delicate balance of sinking and growing,"

Louisiana is considering two projects that would divert Atchafalaya River sediment to build land in the Terrebonne Basin, but such decisions are more than a year away, says the state Coastal Restoration and Preservation Authority

Research planes and boats went out in March and April 2021 and will go out again in the fall for the second set of measurements. And two international satellites are scheduled for launch next year, each carrying one of the two kinds of radar used over Louisiana.

NASA reports these efforts are to gauge how plants affect water movement, long-wavelengths of L-band radar can measure water level changes in open and vegetated channels. And high-frequency Ka-band radar can measure the surface height of open water, showing how it slopes -- and where it's moving.

You can find the original report in its complete form, where classic photojournalism highlighting the in-depth background and researched details associated with the Associated Press and similar findings. You may find the piece in its entirety in the window below or by clicking here.

*In this piece, quotes, facts, and writings have been changed from that as they first appeared in the AP report. In some instances, replacing words or sentence editing to allow for shorter scripting and spacing. The intent and meaning remain the same. You can find interesting reports and leads on news and information like this at galaxy8news.com

Originally reported By: By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press

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digitaldandelions · 3 years

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What do I have in common with Superstorm Sandy?

"Why should I care?"

You will learn my superhero, mutagen, backstory.

Most importantly, I'll help you realize your self-worth if you are culturally mismatched and how these may wreck your career path.

This year would mark 9 years since I graduated from NC A&T. I have come to many conclusions since then: particularly, how to forged my career path and why it took so long to accept my talents. I want my story to help you on their journey.

The year was 2012. I had just obtained my Engineering degree after 6 years of hard work, study abroad excursions, and University research expeditions. I would have probably still been at A&T doing Climate Research with the University of Minnesota if I hadn't elected to graduate.

However, it was promptly after the economic downturn. All of my prospects had dried up. Time Warner Cable, while they had appreciated my work, the company had overturned. No one left working there even remembered who I was, never mind how valuable my engineering, production manuals had been. I had pursued patent writing at the US Patent Office in Alexandria, VA, but no one ever followed up with me. It was a dismal time.

Cultural Mismatch: An Aversion to North Carolina

I was living with my parents after 6 years of living abroad, living out of state, and generally just being independent. However, I was severely culturally mismatched. Here is why--

Eden, NC, is composed of retirees with very few economic opportunities for locals. Staying there would have been a lethal financial decision. Additionally, there was virtually no support from the community for people who want to advance.

Eden is a dilapidated Company Town. The city was designed to serve only one company. If you do not fit into the company, there is no job for you. Therefore, Eden's company NEVER hired anyone within my family's zip code. Even if candidates have the expertise, they did not see value in the community. They only saw economical (cheap) standards of living for their workers. To make matters worse, Eden's only company was starting to move out of the city in 2012.

After my time abroad, out of state, and out of the community, I had accumulated values that no one around me could appreciate. While this may sound pig-headed, in this case, it's a practical observation. I had become fluent in Korean, among other things. No one in Eden, NC, could appreciate that. They certainly couldn't fit that skill into their office.

Given my situation, I vowed to move away from North Carolina as soon as possible.

In the meantime, I attempted to salvage my financial situation. I created a freelancing account on Elance, now Upwork. However, 9 years ago, it allowed professionals from India and China to compete with people in the U.S. While someone in India can afford to edit a manuscript for pennies on the hour, I could not.

As an effect, I gained the bad habit of devaluing my work. After the US Patent Office ghosted me, it was a huge blow to my self-worth. Combined with being isolated at my parent's place in a community I had zero connection with, I became desperate for any chance to get away.

By Halloween 2012, I was moving to New York with some family. After living in a metropolitan, world city like Seoul, South Korea, moving to New York seemed like a cure for my cultural displacement. We had a place in Brooklyn, and we were set. I was sure I'd have better luck and find more people to appreciate me in New York.

The Unusual Path of Superstorm Sandy

Superstorm Sandy would hit Brooklyn and the rest of New York a day later. What made the storm so unusual is that it didn't follow the path of usual storms. Let me explain.

The North Carolina Outerbanks juts out far into the Atlantic, serving as a barrier for most of the east coast. Hurricanes naturally go out to the Atlantic after visiting the Outerbanks. It's why New York, New Jersey, and most other states on the East Coast above North Carolina never saw any storms. This is why Jersey Shore (was) such a thing. The entirety of New York City is on a collection of islands out in the bay with 10 to 20-story skyscrapers as the norm.

Meanwhile, North Carolina gets storms so often, the people there know not to build anything on our beaches. We have horrific riptides that will drag you out into the ocean-- and this is on a regular day. There is a huge chance that a whole hurricane will come and tear through your little beach house like a toddler on a rampage. This chance has increased 10-fold with global warming and more active Hurricane seasons.

The North Carolina Outerbanks belong to the birds and wildlife. It's for the best.

Albeit, it seems Superstorm Sandy shares this sentiment. Sandy clipped the Outerbanks and veered right for New York and New Jersey. Subways flooded, property was destroyed, and the Jersey boardwalk till this day is a shadow of its former self.

For my sister and me, that meant that we were no longer moving to Brooklyn. I wouldn't get to New York City until 2013. We settled for an overpriced apartment in Washington Heights.

When I arrived, the job prospects were even lower after a 100-year storm like Superstorm Sandy. After 6 years of getting my engineering degree, I was reduced to temp-work. While I talked about my engineering, design, and rendering experience, people asked me for Excel spreadsheets. Despite moving up the seaboard, I still couldn't find anyone who could appreciate my skills and experience. It was a frustrating time.

When I did settle for underemployment, companies strung me along. They would promise to hire me permanently but only kept me on for projects. I had to learn how to minimize myself to make rent (I wasn't very good at it). However, I did learn a lot about how to serve.

My Mutagen: Navigating Bureaucracy for the Good of the People

One of my favorite assignments was helping people after Superstorm Sandy. One would think people who have lost everything would be inconsolable. However, on the whole, these New Yorkers were strong and gracious.

I learned a lot about reliance from them while filing their paperwork. Many families were devastated by water damage, mold, and loss of life in some cases. Yet, they would still have just about everything they needed for FEMA. If they didn't, listening to people's stories gave them the motivation to come back the next day to get what they need.

I got a chance to work in Staten Island and Coney Island. I would spend hours on the train or on the ferry, just to help old ladies scan through legalese to get what they needed. Most importantly, I found out I could do it quickly. In the Summer of 2013, I helped about 100 families get their FEMA assistance. While I was essentially a (secretary) with an Engineering degree, I was an efficient one. I could find loopholes and clauses to help people get what they need. I developed a system to make it better. More importantly, I learned how to navigate New York Bureaucracy and do it with agile precision. It was temporary, but I took many qualities with me that I still use to this day.

Discovering your Mutagen: Are you Culturally Mismatched?

There is a lot of talk about "following your passion" when you first graduate. There was, certainly, when I had graduated in 2012. However, what good are your passions if they don't elevate other people? Do your passions really validate how you think the world should be?

As individuals, we have much more power than we realize. This power is increased tenfold when we team up with people who have the same values as we do. Even when you feel like you are alone, when you are convicted and stand up for what you believe in, this impacts the people around us. If you put in the work can attract people who have the same values as you.

Stick around. My next blog will explore the effects of "cultural mismatch" in more detail!

Until then--

Stay Determined

#new york city #climate change #cultural values #graduation #graduate life #mutagen #mutant fam #job seekers #self worth #black sheep

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