#cetie (another eden)

[claeculus]

今月のセティーさん

[sentofight]

ooc. protect doggy cxs

[kinetic-elaboration]

November 18: 1x24 This Side of Paradise

Today’s ep: the first, but not the last, instance of Spock’s inner hippie coming out.

Also another ep where Spock is wrong, again. “Absolutely zero chance of survival,” he says, minutes before they find survivors.

I see Spock just volunteered himself for the landing party.

Kirk is such a romantic. “Ah, there’s nothing sadder than a dream that’s died...”

Omicron Ceti III... that reminds me of something... could it be Futuruma?

(It is Futurama.)

“He’s alive, Jim.”

Sulu asking the important questions: is it possible they’re not alive? I mean given some of the ship’s prior adventures, it’s a valid possibility.

Ah-ha, Spock’s old... “friend.” Another hussy he’s cheating on T’Pring with. I guess he’s into blondes.

Kirk is so suspicious. He knows a romantic interlude when he sees it.

This settlement would be very popular today. Simplicity. Gardening. Happiness.

“I wouldn’t know what was right or wrong with a farm if it were two feet away from me,” Sulu says, while sitting right next to the danger plant. I love Sulu. He has such an easy, good-natured humor about him that I really don’t think is appreciated enough.

Spock’s still a Vulcanian, I see.

So he knew Leila 6 years ago... Only six? What was he doing on Earth then?

“It is said he has no feelings to give.” People love to gossip about Spock.

Kirk giving Bones the disk like “Ta-da, friend, I have anticipated your needs!”

I want to know how Bones broke two ribs. Barroom brawl?

“I missed you.” / “Logically, you should be dead.” Wow, what a romantic.

I think it’s interesting that he related his lack of emotions to being a scientist, not a Vulcan. He did that in the Naked Time, too, drawing on his identity as an officer when the space disease made him feel weepy.

Even though Leila is also a scientist.

“We’re vegetarians.” Lol Spock will fit right in.

I find it interesting that Starfleet has the authority to evict these people from the planet.

“It gives life, peace, love”--that doesn’t sound suspicious at all. Is it a drug?

Spock getting hit in the face with the spores is HILARIOUS.

She’s so surprised that suddenly feeling emotions hurts him--duh, he’s not human, so it’s different for him!

So is this Spock’s “inner face”? Ready to declare his love all at once?

“Would you like to use a butterfly net on him, Jim?”

I can’t believe Jim was halfway through his sentence when he was suddenly like “Where’s Spock?”

Spock’s seen a dragon? I bet he liked that.

I really like this romantic theme music.

This is absolutely the attitude adolescent Spock took with Sarek. “I don’t think so Sir.”

“I thought you said you might like him if he mellowed a little.” First, I love when Kirk and McCoy do this like ‘you said this’ ‘no I didn’t...’ thing. And second, they talk about Spock in their off time! 

“The frequency is open but he doesn’t answer.” Leaving Jim on read I see.

Jim does not like this weird Spock, swinging from the tree limbs.

Lol Spock wants to “straighten out” Jim. That raging bisexual? Unlikely.

Spock is under arrest: the charges, silliness while on duty.

I love the creepy music they play over the plants. The music + the look of the plants is very invasion of the body snatchers. They just look alien.

Interesting that Jim is (partially?) immune.

I love when Bones gets really Southern. You can tell he really worked on toning down that accent, but this is his true self.

Oh no, Uhura took out communications, now it’s unfixable.

Plant on the bridge!!! So creepy.

Captain’s log: I’ve been bested by spores.

Spock is very interested in this “mint julep.” He knows what it is! It’s a drink! (He definitely had to ask.)

So the plants are, in fact, aliens. Traveling to space to reach this planet that they like very much.

“It’s a true Eden, Jim. There’s belonging... and love.” The two things Spock wants most!!

“I don’t know what I can offer against paradise.”

I can’t believe that after that long, sad soliloquy, Kirk gets hit in the face with spores lol. It’s just a funny visual!

Kirk’s little suitcase. Full of shirts. All the essentials.

And then... a random medal? I guess it’s there to show that even spored, Kirk still cares about his accomplishments and still has pride in them. Personality-wise, he just doesn’t seem as susceptible.

The getting-over-the-spores thing is a little...weak. Like I guess he just cares so much about the ship he can’t abandon it? The thought makes him angry and that kills the spores? A little weird.

And of course, he goes straight to Spock as the first person he wants to save, eve though that involves poking him to anger, which is risky. “Aroused, his great physical strength could kill.” Interesting choice of words lol.

“My mother was a teacher.” Spock doesn’t like mean references to his mom.

Also I guess this is the ep that canonically establishes Sarek as an ambassador.

Kirk has to work really hard and say a lot of very mean stuff to get Spock angry. (Unlike AOS Spock who just hears the words ‘your mom’ and is ready to throw hands.) (In his defense, she did just die.)

Also omg his parents are still alive! Stop talking about them as if they were dead!

“I don’t belong anymore.” Yes you do bb! On the Enterprise!

“Well if we’re both in the brig, who’s going to build the subsonic transmitter?” Impeccable logic. I feel like Spock set him up for that one on purpose.

“Enterprise” in McCoy’s thick Southern drawl.

I like that Spock changed back into his uniform first.

Jim is definitely jealous of Leila.

This Spock and Leila conversation... Really makes me curious to see Spock attempt a romantic relationship.

Saying “that man on the Bridge” is so much more dramatic than just saying “the Captain.” Like... so much more!!

“You couldn’t pronounce it” lol. I’m so glad this scene exists to make it clear that he has a last or family name and also that we will NEVER know it. I completely reject that dumbass fanon name, you know the one. It’s pronounceable! That means it’s wrong!

Hilarious that that’s the note they end on.

I guess Leila was over the spores there for a bit. But I still don’t really have a firm grasp on what her actual personality is. Everyone else’s seemed to change a lot while under the influence.

I feel like they kind of did start a 500 person brawl.

Glad Bones got his mint julep!

“Would you like to see how fast I can put you in the hospital?” I think you already put him in the burn unit!

I can’t believe he throws the mint julep away when the spores go away. Does he not actually like them?

This episode is very judgmental lol. Also, I know they’re humans, but it doesn’t seem in the spirit of the Prime Directive either.

What my mom calls Kirk’s Puritan work/strife values. True. He’s a Midwesterner but he’s a little Puritan too clearly. “Maybe we were meant to struggle” says the man who lives in a post-scarcity utopia.

I kind of feel like Spock DOES want to stroll to a lute.

And of course this whole “poetry” interlude is itself incredibly Dramatic.

“For the first time in my life, I was happy.” What?? No, stop being such a drama queen. Wasn’t seeing a dragon cool? Meeting Jim??

I don't know if I think the concept of just being happy and gardening to survive is so bad tbh. Like... I guess a part of me (the Puritan part?) does rebel at the idea of just being....blank and placid all the time, and never striving for anything. But like that was really the worst the spores did. There's no real explanation as to why it's bad, other than, well, it makes you not so ambitious. I'm very torn about the moral of the story.

Still overall, a very good ep. A good Spock ep--lots to think about re: his characterization, when I’m more awake. A very good Kirk ep, too.

Next is The Devil in the Dark. YET ANOTHER absolute classic. Season 1 really just keeps going at 100mph.

[formalogica]

Prodean Winds (A short story by me)

The mist, gently caressing my body, softly moving strands of my hair, forming the lightest of droplets that seems to droop the grass upon which it coalesces, has a certain timeless wonder to it.

As I gaze ahead, the meadow upon which I stand comes to an abrupt edge. Ahead of it I have a full view of the galactic plane, Sargas an F1 giant, a prominent point of light directly ahead of me. Out of sight, below me, separated by approximately 200m of carbonanopox, I knew Sol's homely light could be found, diligently waiting for our gaze to cross paths. That wouldn't be too long from now. Depending on it's current function, the Orbitat only took a few days to complete it's full orbit of Proda, Tau Ceti's 7th and only prominently ringed gas giant. Proda was just less than half the diameter of Saturn, the Jovian whose Orbitat homed my 6th generation grand daughter, Theta, my first grandchild. I chose Proda as my current Lotus Isolation because of the way it's deep blue winds, with their countless stepped hues, creep along their respective latitudes, spiralling, large and small, forever upon themselves. In the 80 years I had been visiting the Proda Orbitat as a pscyhobiotic geneticist, it's mist seemed to continually bring out the calm of Prodas violent storms, as if the gas giant itself was speaking to me. I had made Tau Ceti my home system for the century.

After six months in Lotus Isolation, six months of quiet contemplation, so palpable the calm became that it was with me wherever the mist migrated within the Orbitat. The Orbitat was constructed in such a way that there was no need for rain. A slowly migrating mist controlled by convection AI ensured that the Oribtat's Woodland biome remained in perfect harmony. For light & photosynthesis, the Orbitat was essentially a massive Gravflux tube. Light required no power, a gift amongst others given to humanity exactly 300 Sol-years ago from a passing space faring intra-species not so different in culture & conviction to our own. I remember the day of first intelligence-par contact like it was yesterday. Up until that point we'd only ever reconnected with other ancient human colonies. Collectively referred to as the Release, 2312 CE was the Sol-year that would lead to the majority being woken from a waking dream we'd been living for millennia prior. Much was leanrt, much was shared.

Keeping the Jovian turbulence in my minds eye, I had drifted for days with the mist. Blue hues gestating understanding I would soon be cherishing until and through to the next Lotus Isolation in 100 years, the hallowed centennial anniversary marking the date of the Release. Being 2612 CE, this was my-, "the", 3rd Lotus Isolation. Orbitats were as common as moons in the 100 light years that surrounded the Sol System. So much so that a constant stroll among those who went into centennial Lotus Isolation in any of the Orbitats (for that was their primary but rare function) would only see a handful of people per Sol-day. Orbitats were many kilometers in radius, which meant even more in circumference. Aside from the odd brook, the woodland above & below was separated only by meandering star views. From a distance, they looked much like rivers made of space, flecked by stars. Here & there a moon might transit, Proda might pass or Tau Ceti might show itself. I found myself staring out from a sphere of mutli-system flora & fauna toward Sargas & the galactic plane, Sol my birth system just under 12 light years below me. Such Orbitat's were fervently referred to as Edens.

No matter what drew my attention, any turbulence would give me it's calm, and any calm would show me it's turbulence. Just like Proda's massive Jovian hurricanes would instil the utmost calm within my mind, so the galactic plane would bear it's chaotic creation physics at the peripherals of my awareness. Tens of thousands of light years directly ahead of me, I knew Sagittarius A* would be tearing at the fabric of reality, destroying the Universe's continuity, but for good reason. Without that supermassive black hole's annihilation physics, I would not be looking at the galaxy I see before me, I would not be alive. From great chaos comes great order, and from great order comes great chaos. We only have to look at Earth's history to see the latter. This chaotic order, a circle of events that seems to be so inherent in our Universe, that it almost forms a wheel taking us from Big Bang to Heat Death. A paradox within itself, giving birth to a reality terminated by paradoxes, from black holes to extra-dimensions.

Having been born in 1985 CE, looking back at the latter half of my life on Earth, our civilisation had for millennia seemingly been on a trajectory of ever increasing order, becoming apparently better in every regard. After accepting anti-senescence geneering in my 50's, I was fulfilled to witness the Earth cleansed and industry shift it's paradigm. Due to off-planet mining or a collective betterment we never would know, but it certainly gave us the moral boost we required. In 2074 CE, we fixed our home planet. The former half of my life on Earth was awash in a shameful society, one in which I unwittingly had a hand, although looking back we all agree we were aware. Suffice it to say that after the cleansing of Earth, human's would forever be renewed.

Before 2074 CE, we would see a culmination of our mistakes. Back then, humans collectively operated on emotion, under evolved to a degree that almost made their mistakes forgivable. Yet the mistakes were made. People divided each other by race, income, physicality, psychology, religion, culture, location, entertainment preference, food preference, nearly anything that would make one person different from another. Like the mist currently embracing me in it's coolth, like the water droplets coalescing on the grass, everything is one of the same; it's what we touch, what we cling to that separates us from everything else. And like the turbulent winds of Proda stir up a sense of calm within my minds eye, and the suspended Milky Way emits it's chaos in every direction, the Universe carries on, irrespective of any one of it's constituent part's placidity or stirring.

From the very beginning the mist has been with us, but like blades of grass we draw it out. By standing apart, we destroy ourselves. Everything, no matter it's state, works ultimately toward the same objective, here & now.

And here & now, I am.

[welandscapearchitecture-blog]

Higher Ed and the Wall by Elizabeth Redden

President Trump pledged to build a “great, great wall” on the U.S.-Mexico border. News reports indicate he will today sign an order to start building the wall. How would such a barrier, if built, affect cross-border higher education collaborations?

In some ways the direct impact could be minimal, as researchers and students crossing the border are generally doing so at designated border crossings, not jumping over the existing fence that already spans more than 650 miles of the 1,954-mile border, 1,279 miles of which run along the Colorado River and the Rio Grande (Trump told MSNBC last February that about 1,000 miles of wall would be needed because the rest of the border includes "natural barriers"). But while the wall itself might not prove a direct barrier to collaboration, some express concern about potential policy changes that could negatively affect U.S.-Mexico relations and the hostile message a wall could send to the U.S.’s southern neighbor.

“Much of that barrier already exists,” said Sean Manley-Casimir, executive director of the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC), which has about 170 member universities, primarily from the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The association formed in the 1990s shortly after the enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump has said he plans to renegotiate.

“It’s not an enormous change that he’s proposing in some respects. It is just a lot of noise,” Manley-Casimir said.

“But at the same time, I was at the ANUIES conference in Mexico City during the election and the day after when the results became evident,” he continued (ANUIES refers to Mexico’s National Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions). “It was an interesting place to be at that time, because people were very somber …. I think many of them felt hurt by the fact that such a large number of people in the United States had supported a candidate who had such hostile rhetoric.”

In a statement after Trump’s election, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund issued a statement saying that Trump “had built his campaign around thinly veiled anti-immigrant and anti-Latino appeals.” In his kickoff speech for his presidential campaign, in June 2015, Trump described many Mexican immigrants as criminals or rapists. He said then, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best …. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Trump promised to deport millions of people living in the U.S. illegally -- more recently he has said he would focus on those with criminal records -- and said he would end an Obama-era program that granted temporary protection from deportation and work permits to young people, many of them college students, who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children (he has since softened his tone somewhat, even as his administration’s exact plans for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program remain unclear).

Meanwhile, Trump’s signature promise to build a border wall, and to make Mexico pay the billions of dollars it would cost, was a rallying point for many of his supporters. “Build that wall” was a recurrent chant at his campaign events.

“The wall is symbolic,” said Josiah Heyman, director of the Center for Inter-American and Border Studies and a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso, which sits just across the border from the Mexican city of Juárez. “It’s the United States turning its back on Mexico. I think that could erode the good relationships that we’ve built with Mexican students and with Mexican scholars.”

“I hope these relationships are resilient,” said Heyman, who is currently researching sustainable water use and agricultural irrigation in the border region. His research on a binationally shared water basin brings him to another point: “The wall is a kind of symbol that says everything just literally stops at the territorial border, but the local air shed for air pollution or the ground river or the river water don’t stop at the border,” he said.

“We can’t go into the future with what could be called a wall mentality, which is that scientifically and socially and economically important issues are stopped at the border.”

The Obama administration attempted to promote higher education exchange with Mexico through the U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Forum on Higher Education, Innovation and Research, known as FOBESII, and the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund, the latter a public-private partnership that provides grant funding for higher education partnerships throughout the Americas (not just between Mexico and the U.S.). NAFSA: Association of International Educators, one of the private-sector partners for the fund, said in a statement that the 100,000 Strong program will continue in the near term.

“To date, there have been no changes to the program, and with diplomacy so vital between the United States and Latin America, the connections among the institutions brought about by this program will hopefully help bridge gaps in foreign policy for decades to come,” NAFSA's statement said. “Seventy-five percent of the funding for the program is from sources outside of the United States federal government. There are commitments from private-sector partners that will ensure the Innovation Fund will continue through at least the end of 2018, and because an NGO -- Partners of the Americas -- serves as the fiduciary agent for the grant competitions, we expect the initiative to grow and continue to thrive over the coming years.”

Fernando León García is the president of Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior, usually called CETYS, which has three campuses in the Mexican state of Baja California, just over the border with California. The private university is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges’ Senior College and University Commission and has about 350 U.S.-based students who commute across the border from California to study there.

“In terms of the proposed wall, a fence or wall so to speak already exists (it has existed for many years), and this has not been a deterrent for colleges and universities to promote and implement cross-border collaboration,” León García said via email. “The foundation and progress of said cross-border initiatives are such that collaboration is likely to continue. The dynamics of cross-border collaboration have increasingly become intertwined such that in addition to activities between colleges and universities in the U.S. and Mexico, there are also a growing number of initiatives that involve said institutions joining forces to address the challenges of multinational companies located along both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.”

“It is unclear exactly what measures and when the Trump administration will be implementing (e.g., the wall or stepping back on DACA),” León García added. “But it is evident that higher education institutions are committed to continue the dialogue and promote cross-border collaboration as the basis to develop a global and diverse perspective and greater international understanding, leading to more globally competitive students.”

At the University of Monterrey, a Roman Catholic institution in the Mexican state of Nuevo León, the U.S. is the second most popular study abroad destination, after Spain. “I have concerns with the anti-Mexican rhetoric, but as far as our work is concerned, we have an attitude that we have to wait and see how it develops,” said Thomas M. Buntru, the director of international programs.

“To be honest,” he said, “anti-Mexican attitudes in the U.S. are nothing new. … The rhetoric is a bit more crude, let’s put it that way, but I think we’ve been dealing with that for a long time. I’m not concerned about the physical safety of our students at this point in time. We’ll just have to wait and see how this all develops.”

Gary Edens is vice president for student affairs at the University of Texas at El Paso, which has about 500 students who commute to campus across the border from Juárez -- typically about a two-hour process -- out of a total population of about 1,100 Mexican students. Edens expressed a similar wait-and-see mentality about the possible effects of a wall.

“We already have a fence,” Edens said. “Most of the El Paso city area has a fence that separates us from the border. I think everybody on our campus is in a wait-and-see mode. We clearly have been very closely following all the rhetoric that’s come out of D.C. and happened during the election, but there’s not a whole lot of specificity yet. This community has dealt with the political rhetoric around immigration for decades.”

Edens added, “I think the biggest factor right now for our students from Mexico is actually the peso devaluation. Any time that happens to the peso, it affects the out-of-pocket costs for students.”

“I haven’t heard much about the wall. Clearly our students are always concerned about their ability to cross into the United States, to get their appropriate visas, but until we have more definition about what changes will happen, there’s not much more we can do,” Edens said.

Richard Lange is president of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso. He thinks the proposed wall is a waste of money and resources, but said it’s unlikely to influence the institution’s work. “Because the health on both sides of the border affects the other entity, it’s imperative that we have free exchange of ideas and free exchange of information regarding health issues and diseases and that we collaborate institution-wise and research-wise as well,” Lange said. “Will a wall stop that? No. That occurs through normal exchange, through normal points of entry on either side, and with bilateral communication and collaboration. Walls won’t stop that, and they shouldn’t.”

At the same time, Lange said, “if there’s a change in policy in how we interact with our neighbors, that’s where the impact would occur.”

“That’s the wall I’m concerned about,” he said. “Not a physical wall, but a wall that prevents us from being good neighbors.”

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/01/25/how-will-trumps-proposed-border-wall-affect-higher-education-collaborations-and

-clementine

[claeculus]

今月のセティーさん(2)

this month's Cetie (2)

[claeculus]

Another Eden fanart (2021) - 4-koma - "mischief"

[English]

【日本語】 （…下手なダイアログ失礼します。）

[claeculus]

Another Eden fanarts (2021) - Cetie log Yes, I'm a total simp for him, why do you ask.

セティーさんのログです。 おせちーさん大好き！！

[claeculus]

Another Eden fanarts from 2020 (part 2).

Some random doodles from that year

[claeculus]

Another Eden fanarts from 2020 (part 1).

I was (and still is) experimenting with different coloring workflows, which was why a lot of the drawings have inconsistent style.